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"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry quietly. Hagrid was looking downcast and 
Harry wanted Hagrid's first lesson to be a success. 

"Righ' then," said Hagrid, who seemed to have lost his thread, "so -- so 
yeh've got yer books an' -- an' - - now yeh need the Magical Creatures. 
Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on... " 

He strode away from them into the forest and out of sight. 

"God, this place is going to the dogs," said Malfoy loudly. "That oaf 
teaching classes, my father'll have a fit when I tell him 

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry repeated. 

"Careful, Potter, there's a dementor behind you 

"Oooooooh!" squealed Lavender Brown, pointing toward the opposite side 
of the paddock. 

Trotting toward them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry 
had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but 
the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with 
cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The 
talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. 
Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was 
attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the 
vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the 
creatures. 

"Gee up, there!" he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures 
toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as 
Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence. 

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, 
aren' they?" 

Harry could sort of see what Hagrid meant. Once you got over the first 
shock of seeing something that was, half horse, half bird, you started 
to appreciate the hippogriffs' gleaming coats, changing smoothly from 
feather to hair, each of them a different color: stormy gray, bronze, 

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pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black. 

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, "if 
yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer --" 

No one seemed to want to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, however, approached 
the fence cautiously. 

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud," 
said Hagrid. "Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 
'cause it might be the last thing yeh do." 

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't listening; they were talking in an 
undertone and Harry had a nasty feeling they were plotting how best to 
disrupt the lesson. 

"Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid 
continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh 
wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, 
then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt. 

"Right -- who wants ter go first?" 

Most of the class backed farther away in answer. Even Harry, Ron, and 
Hermione had misgivings. The hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads 
and flexing their powerful wings; they didn't seem to like being 
tethered like this. 

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look. 

"I'll do it," said Harry. 

There was an intake of breath from behind him, and both Lavender and 
Parvati whispered, "Oooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!" 

Harry ignored them. He climbed over the paddock fence. 

"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "Right then -- let's see how yeh get 
on with Buckbeak." 

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He untied one of the chains, pulled the gray hippogriff away from its 
fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side 
of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were 
narrowed maliciously. 

"Easy) now, Harry," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now 
try not ter blink.... Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too 
much...." 

Harry's eyes immediately began to water, but he didn't shut thern. 
Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry with 
one fierce orange eye. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Harry... now, 
bow." 

Harry didn't feel much like exposing the back of his neck to Buckbeak, 
but he did as he was told. He gave a short bow and then looked up. 

The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move. 

"Ah," said Hagrid, sounding worried. "Right -- back away, now, Harry, 
easy does it 

But then, to Harry's enormous surprise, the hippogriff suddenly bent its 
scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow. 

"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatic. "Right -- yeh can touch him! 
Pat his beak, go on!" 

Feeling that a better reward would have been to back away, Harry moved 
slowly toward the hippogriff and reached out toward it. He patted the 
beak several times and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though 
enjoying it. 

The class broke into applause, all except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, 
who were looking deeply disappointed. 

"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him!" 

This was more than Harry had bargained for. He was used to a broomstick; 
but he wasn't sure a hippogriff would be quite the same. 

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"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid, "an' mind 
yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that...." 

Harry put his foot on the top of Buckbeaks wing and hoisted himself onto 
its back. Buckbeak stood up. Harry wasn't sure where to hold on; 
everything in front of him was covered with feathers. 

"Go on, then'" roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriffs hindquarters. 

Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harry, 
he just had time to seize the hippogriff around the neck before he was 
soaring upward. It was nothing like a broomstick, and Harry knew which 
one he preferred; the hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably on either 
side of him, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was 
about to be thrown off; the glossy feathers slipped under his fingers 
and he didn't dare get a stronger grip; instead of the smooth action of 
his Nimbus Two Thousand, he now felt himself rocking backward and 
forward as the hindquarters of the hippogriff rose and fell with its 
wings. 

Buckbeak flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the 
ground; this was the bit Harry had been dreading; he leaned back as the 
smooth neck lowered, feeling he was going to slip off over the beak, 
then felt a heavy thud as the four ill-assorted feet hit the ground. He 
just managed to hold on and push himself straight again. 

"Good work, Harry!" roared Hagrid as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and 
Goyle cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?" 

Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously 
into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon 
people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock. Neville ran 
repeatedly backward from his, which didn't seem to want to bend its 
knees. Ron and Hermione practiced on the chestnut, while Harry watched. 

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had taken over Buckbeak. He had bowed to 
Malfoy, who was now patting his beak, looking disdainful. 

"This is very easy," Malfoy drawled, loud enough for Harry to, hear him. 

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"I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it.... I bet you're not 
dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the hippogriff. "Are you, you 
great ugly brute?" 

It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a highpitched 
scream and next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his 
collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, 
blood blossoming over his robes. 

"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled as the class panicked. "I'm dying, look at 
me! It's killed me!" 

"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had gone very white. "Someone help me 
-- gotta get him outta here --" 

Hermione ran to hold open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As 
they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash on Malfoy's arm; 
blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope toward 
the castle. 

Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. The 
Slytherins were all shouting about Hagrid. 

"They should fire him straight away!" said Pansy Parkinson, who was in 
tears. 

"It was Malfoy's fault!" snapped Dean Thomas. Crabbe and Goyle flexed 
their muscles threateningly. 

They all climbed the stone steps into the deserted entrance hall. 

"I'm going to see if he's okay!" said Pansy, and they all watched her 
run up the marble staircase. The Slytherins, still muttering about 
Hagrid, headed away in the direction of their dungeon common room; 
Harry, Ron, and Hermione proceeded upstairs to Gryffindor Tower. 

"You think he'll be all right?" said Hermione nervously. 

"Course he will. Madam Pomfrey can mend cuts in about a second," said 
Harry, who had had far worse injuries mended magically by the nurse. 

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"That was a really bad thing to happen in Hagrid's first class, though, 
wasn't it?" said Ron, looking worried. "Trust Malfoy to mess things up 
for him...." 

They were among the first to reach the Great Hall at dinnertime, hoping 

to see Hagrid, but he wasn't there. 
"They wouldn't fire him, would they?" said Hermione anxiously, not 
touching her steak-and- kidney pudding. 


"They'd better not," said Ron, who wasn't eating either. 
Harry was watching the Slytherin table. A large group including Crabbe 


and Goyle was huddled together, deep in conversation. Harry was sure 
they were cooking up their own version of how Malfoy had been injured. 
"Well, you can't say it wasn't an interesting first day back," said Ron 

gloomily. 
They went up to the crowded Gryffindor common room after dinner and 


tried to do the homework Professor McGonagall had given them, but