expressions as confused and nervously expectant as Ron's and were still gazing everywhere but at the horse standing feet from them. There were only two other people who seemed to be able to see them: a stringy Slytherin boy standing just behind Goyle was watching the horse eating with an expression of great distaste on his face; and Neville, whose eyes were following the swishing progress of the long black tail. 
'Oh, an' here comes another one!' said Hagrid proudly, as a second black horse appeared out of the dark trees, folded its leathery wings closer to its body and dipped its head to gorge on the meat. 'Now: put yer hands up, who can see 'em?' 

Immensely pleased to feel that he was at last going to understand the mystery of these horses, Harry raised his hand. Hagrid nodded at him. 
'Yeah: yeah, I knew you'd be able ter, Harry,' he said seriously. 'An' you too, Neville, eh? An' -' 

'Excuse me,' said Malfoy in a sneering voice, 'but what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?' 

For an answer, Hagrid pointed at the cow carcass on the ground. The whole class stared at it for a few seconds, then several people gasped and Parvati squealed. Harry understood why: bits of flesh stripping themselves away from the bones and vanish-ing into thin air had to look very odd indeed. 
'What's doing it?' Parvati demanded in a terrified voice, retreating behind the nearest tree. 'What's eating it?' 

Thestrals,' said Hagrid proudly and Hermione gave a soft 'Oh!' of comprehension at Harry's shoulder. 'Hogwarts has got a whole herd of 'em in here. Now, who knows -?' 

'But they're really, really unlucky!' interrupted Parvati, looking alarmed. They're supposed to bring all sorts of horrible mis-fortune on people who see them. Professor Trelawney told me once -' 

'No, no, no,' said Hagrid, chuckling, 'tha's jus' superstition, that is, they aren' unlucky, they're dead clever an' useful! Course, this lot don' get a lot o' work, it's mainly jus' pullin' the school carriages unless Dumbledore's takin' a long journey an' don' want ter Apparate - an' here's another couple, look -' 

Two more horses came quietly out of the trees, one of them passing very close .to Parvati, who shivered and pressed herself closer to the tree, saying, 'I think I felt something, I think it's near me!' 

'Don' worry, it won' hurt yen,' said Hagrid patiently. 'Righ', now, who can tell me why some o' yeh can see 'em an' some can't?' 

Hermione raised her hand. 
'Go on then,' said Hagrid, beaming at her. 
The only people who can see Thestrals,' she said, 'are people who have seen death.' 

Tha's exactly right,' said Hagrid solemnly, 'ten points ter Gryffindor. Now, Thestrals -' 

'Hem, hem.' 

Professor Umbridge had arrived. She was standing a few feet away from Harry, wearing her green hat and cloak again, her clipboard at the ready. Hagrid, who had never heard Umbridge's fake cough before, was gazing in some concern at the closest Thestral, evidently under the impression that it had made the sound. 
'Hem, hem.' 

'Oh, hello!' Hagrid said, smiling, having located the source of the noise. 
'You received the note I sent to your cabin this morning?' said Umbridge, in the same loud, slow voice she had used with him earlier, as though she were addressing somebody both foreign and very slow. Telling you that I would be inspecting your lesson?' 

'Oh, yeah,' said Hagrid brightly. 'Glad yeh found the place all righ'! Well, as you can see - or, I dunno - can you? We're doin' Thestrals today -' 

'I'm sorry?' said Professor Umbridge loudly, cupping her hand around her ear and frowning. 'What did you say?' 

Hagrid looked a little confused. 
'Er - Thestrals!' he said loudly. 'Big - er - winged horses, yeh know!' 

He flapped his gigantic arms hopefully. Professor Umbridge raised her eyebrows at him and muttered as she made a note on her clipboard: 'Has: to: resort: to: crude: sign: language.' 

'Well: anyway:" said Hagrid, turning back to the class and looking slightly flustered, 'erm: what was I sayin'?' 

'Appears: to: have: poor: short: term: memory,' muttered Umbridge, loudly enough for everyone to hear her. Draco Malfoy looked as though Christmas had come a month early; Hermione, on the other hand, had turned scarlet with suppressed rage. 
'Oh, yeah,' said Hagrid, throwing an uneasy glance at Umbridge's clipboard, but ploughing on valiantly. 'Yeah, I was gonna tell yeh how come we got a herd. Yeah, so, we started off with a male an' five females. This one,' he patted the first horse to have appeared, 'name o' Tenebrus, he's my special favourite, firs' one born here in the Forest -' 

'Are you aware,' Umbridge said loudly, interrupting him, 'that the Ministry of Magic has classified Thestrals as "danger-ous"?' 

Harry's heart sank like a stone, but Hagrid merely chuckled. 
Thestrals aren' dangerous! All righ', they might take a bite outta yeh if yeh really annoy them -' 

'Shows: signs: of: pleasure: at: idea: of: violence,' muttered Umbridge, scribbling on her clipboard again. 
'No - come on!' said Hagrid, looking a little anxious now. 'I mean, a dog'll bite if yeh bait it, won' it - but Thestrals have jus' got a bad reputation because o' the death thing - people used ter think they were bad omens, didn' they? Jus' didn' understand, did they?' 

Umbridge did not answer; she finished writing her last note, then looked up at Hagrid and said, again very loudly and slowly, 'Please continue teaching as usual. I am going to walk,' she mimed walking (Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were having silent fits of laughter) 'among the students' (she pointed around at individual members of the class) 'and ask them questions.' She pointed at her mouth to indicate talking. 
Hagrid stared at her, clearly at a complete loss to understand why she was acting as though he did not understand normal English. Hermione had tears of fury in her eyes now. 
'You hag, you evil hag!' she whispered, as Umbridge walked towards Pansy Parkinson. 'I know what you're doing, you aw-ful, twisted, vicious -' 

'Erm: anyway,' said Hagrid, clearly struggling to regain the flow of his lesson, 'so - Thestrals. Yeah. Well, there's loads o' good stuff abou' them:' 

'Do you find,' said Professor Umbridge in a ringing voice to Pansy Parkinson, 'that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?' 

Just like Hermione, Pansy had tears in her eyes, but these were tears of laughter; indeed, her answer was almost incoherent because she was trying to suppress her giggles. 
'No: because: well: it sounds: like grunting a lot of the time 

Umbridge scribbled on her clipboard. The few unbruised bits of Hagrid's face flushed, but he tried to act as though he had not heard Pansy's answer. 
'Er: yeah: good stuff abou' Thestrals. Well, once they're tamed, like this lot, yeh'll never be lost again. 'Mazin' sense o' di-rection, jus' tell 'em where yeh want ter go -' 

'Assuming they can understand you, of course,' said Malfoy loudly, and Pansy Parkinson collapsed in a fit of renewed gig-gles. Professor Umbridge smiled indulgently at them and then turned to Neville. 
'You can see the Thestrals, Longbottom, can you?' she said. 
Neville nodded. 
'Who did you see die?' she asked, her tone indifferent. 
'My: my grandad,' said Neville. 
'And what do you think of them?' she said, waving her stubby hand at the horses, who by now had stripped a great deal of the carcass down to bone. 
'Erm,' said Neville nervously, with a glance at Hagrid. Well, they're: er: OK:" 

'Students: are: too: intimidated: to: admit: they: are: frightened,' muttered Umbridge, making another note on her clipboard. 
'No!' said Neville, looking upset. 'No, I'm not scared of them!' 

'It's quite all right,' said Umbridge, patting Neville on the shoulder with what she evidently intended to be an understanding smile, though it looked more like a leer to Harry. 'Well, Hagrid,' she turned to look up at him again, speaking once more in that loud, slow voice, 'I think I've got enough to be getting along with. You will receive' (she mimed taking something from the air in front of her) 'the results of your inspection' (she pointed at the clipboard) 'in ten days' time.' She held up ten stubby little fin-gers, then, her smile wider and more toadlike than ever before beneath her green hat, she bustled from their midst, leaving Mal-foy and Pansy Parkinson in fits of laughter, Hermione actually shaking with fury and Neville looking confused and upset. 
That foul, lying, twisting old gargoyle!' stormed Hermione half an hour later, as they made their way back up to the castle through the channels they had made earlier in the snow. 'You see what she's up to? It's her thing about half-breeds all over again - she's trying to make out Hagrid's some kind of dimwitted troll, just because he had a giantess for a mother - and oh, it's not fair, that really wasn't a bad lesson at all - I mean, all right, if it had been Blast-Ended Skrewts again, but Thestrals are fine - in fact, for Hagrid, they're really good!' 

'Umbridge said they're dangerous,' said Ron. 
'Well, it's like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves,' said Hermione impatiently, 'and I suppose a teacher like Grub-bly-Plank wouldn't usually show them to us before NEWT level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren't they? The way some people can see them and some can't! I wish I could.' 

'Do you?' Harry asked her quietly. 
She looked suddenly horrorstruck. 
'Oh, Harry - I'm sorry - no, of course I don't - that was a really stupid thing to say.' 

'It's OK,' he said quickly, 'don't worry' 

'I'm surprised so many people could see them,' said Ron. Three in a class -' 

'Yeah, Weasley, we were just wondering,' said a malicious voice. Unheard by any of them in the muffling snow, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were walking along right behind them. 'D'you reckon if you saw someone snuff it you'd be able to see the Quaf