Care of Magical Monstrosities

"Jus' a bit longer," said Professor Hagrid anxiously. "They'll be here any second now…"

It had already been ten minutes since Care of Magical Creatures was supposed to have started, but Professor Hagrid seemed to be unable to accept the reality that his three favourite students hadn't taken his class. While Care of Magical Creatures' scheduling didn't conflict with Defence Against the Dark Arts' on Mondays, it did on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so it was impossible to take both classes at once without a Time Turner.

Ironically, Professor Hagrid's sixth-year class was now mostly composed of Slytherins, who had no use for a Defence Against the Dark Arts class. When it came to Dark magic, they mostly tended to be on the supply side rather than on the defending side!

Apart from Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini from Slytherin, there was also a handful of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, whose class had been merged into Oleandra's at the N.E.W.T. level. There were two Hufflepuff girls and one Ravenclaw girl, none of which Oleandra had ever talked to.

Sadly, not one Gryffindor had elected to take poor Professor Hagrid's class…

"Sir," said a Ravenclaw girl timidly. "We should really get started; it's already been fifteen minutes…"

The girl's words seemed to snap Professor Hagrid out of his trance.

"Er… yeh, Miss Brocklehurst, I s'pose I really oughta," Professor Hagrid mumbled. "Er… lemme see...."

Professor Hagrid's pan-sized hands shot into his fur coat's deep pockets, and after fumbling around in its furry depths for a few seconds, he retrieved a bundle of coarse sheets of parchment paper.

"Er…" Professor Hagrid stammered, squinting at the messy handwriting on his personal notes. "Forgot me readin' glasses…"

Pansy and Millicent sniggered, which only seemed to worsen Professor Hagrid's panicky state.

"Righ'," Professor Hagrid mumbled. "As sixth-years, ye'll be learnin' abou', er… Magical Creatures, such as, er..."

"Obviously," said Pansy obnoxiously.

"If you don't stop interrupting," said Oleandra loudly, "I'm giving you detention, Parkinson."

A thunderstruck look crossed Professor Hagrid's face— he had completely forgotten that as a teacher, he held the right to hand out detentions like candy.

"Tha's righ', Miss Parkinson!" Hagrid roared. "Shut it, or it'll be detention for yeh— and that goes for the rest of yeh, too!"

Hagrid shot Oleandra a grateful look.

And then… he threw away his notes on his class's curriculum, which was somewhat worrying. Actually, it was incredibly worrying— once Professor Hagrid went off his guided rails, it was impossible to get him back on track…

"I've already decided wha' yeh'll be doin' this year," Professor Hagrid announced loudly. "Who can tell me abou' hybridization?"

Theodore Nott lazily raised his hand.

Professor Hagrid pretended not to see him, as he was looking expectantly at Oleandra— but seeing as she failed to produce an answer, he sighed and turned to Theo.

"Yeh, Nott?"

"The creation of magical hybrids is a highly regulated branch of Alchemy— also known as Life-Weaving Alchemy," Theo explained. "The goal being to create the ultimate creature, by choosing compatible lifeforms that can mitigate or even completely eliminate the original creatures' weaknesses by combining their strengths."

"Five points ter Slytherin," said Professor Hagrid begrudgingly.

That… sounded incredibly dangerous to Oleandra. Not to mention highly illegal.

"Isn't the creation of hybrids illegal?" said Mandy Brocklehurst, raising her hand and confirming Oleandra's doubts.

"I'm goin' ter apply fer a permit with the Ministry firs' thing tomorrow mornin'," said Professor Hagrid confidently. "And yeh won' be combinin' anythin' too dangerous, so don' yeh worry."

It was becoming increasingly obvious to Oleandra that Professor Hagrid's idea of having his N.E.W.T. classes create new experimental creatures had just popped into his head— he had probably got the inspiration from Professor Dumbledore's announcement that he'd be personally teaching the Alchemy class.

Was it too late to switch back to Defence Against the Dark Arts…?

At any rate, with the first fifteen minutes of the class wasted and with the regular curriculum thrown out of the window, there wasn't much that could be done or taught until Professor Hagrid obtained a special breeding licence from the Ministry of Magic, so he ended up letting them go in advance. He seemed rather eager to end the lesson, because as soon as he had let them go, he rushed off into the Forbidden Forest…

…

As Oleandra ascended the steps to the castle, she gave Malfoy a sidelong glance. Surprisingly, he had behaved during Professor Hagrid's class, leaving his girlfriend Pansy to do the bulk of the bullying. Had his father's arrest perhaps given him a chance to rethink his ways…?

"Malfoy…?" Oleandra asked tentatively.

Merlin had warned her that it would be in her best interests to keep him close, so—

"I've got nothing to say to you, blood traitor," Malfoy snarled viciously. "Just leave me alone!"

"Fine, whatever," a vexed Oleandra replied. "See if I care."

In Oleandra's opinion, Merlin could go suck an egg, while Malfoy could just go and shove one of Professor Hagrid's rusty pitchforks up his— ahem. As a prim and proper noble lady, Oleandra was above even thinking about such repulsive places, yes.

…

At any rate, it was too late for Oleandra to drop classes just like that— she'd have to talk to her House Head, Professor Snape… or perhaps, she would just go above his head and talk to the headmaster instead…

"Hang on," Oleandra muttered to herself. "Maybe this is a good thing."

The Lethifold hybrid, which the Dusk Elf had stolen from Professor Hagrid, was susceptible to her species' taming spell. While it was too dangerous for her to return to Nidavellir or to explore Svartalfheim to steal another tamed Lethifold, Oleandra had the physique of a Dusk Elf, which meant that she would probably be able to use their limited spellcasting abilities.

If she were to recreate a hybrid, using the blood samples Hagrid had doubtlessly drawn from her Lethifold when she had left it in his care, then wouldn't she able to tame it? Then, she'd finally be evenly matched with that annoying Dusk Elf, and she'd regain the power of 'unassisted' flight…