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a faint squeak when she saw it. Yet again, a sickening feeling was present in her stomach. Not only because of what was happening to Ron, but also because of the gleeful reactions from the Slytherins. They were bent double in laughter, whilst the Gryffindors made a line to block Ron from them. They all just stood there, though, as nobody wanted to touch him in the fear of having to touch one of the slugs.

"We'd better get him to Hagrid's, it's nearest," said Harry to Hermione, who looked apprehensive but nodded in agreement nonetheless. They pulled Ron up by the arms and hurried across the pitch in the direction of Hagrid's, Saffron hot on their heels.

"What happened, Harry? What happened? Is he ill? But you can cure him, can't you?" The tiny Gryffindor first year Colin Creevey was there for some reason and seemed fascinated rather than disgusted at the sight that was Ron. He held his camera up at Ron. "Oooh, can you hold him still, Harry?"

Harry was in no mood to humour Colin and with after angry remark, the first year was put in his place and didn't follow the second years who were edging closer and closer to Hagrid's hut. Hermione offered Ron some reassurance that they were almost there, which was true, however, Saffron wasn't convinced in the slightest that 'there' was going to offer any help. He had only ever been a hindrance in the past.

To make matters worse, Professor Lockhart just so happened to be leaving Hagrid's hut the second they got there. Not wanting to have to face him, Harry altered the course of their journey and dragged Ron behind a bush close to them. Saffron followed him without hesitation, whilst Hermione did so begrudgingly.

"It's a simple matter if you know what you're doing!" Saffron could sniff Lockhart's arrogance from a mile away. It came as no surprise to her that he was trying to lecture Hagrid on the things that Hagrid was actually competent at. "If you need help, you know where I am! I'll let you have a copy of my book. I'm surprised you haven't already got one - I'll sign one tonight and send it over. Well, good-bye!"

Once certain that Lockhart wasn't going to return to Hagrid's cabin, the four of them made their way down to it. Saffron knocked on the door harshly and took a step back waiting for Hagrid to answer.

As soon as Hagrid opened the door, it was clear he was agitated by his prior encounter with Lockhart. He had clearly joined the rest of the school with receiving the pleasure or displeasure, depending on which side of the coin the individual laid on, of being exposed to Lockhart. But upon seeing that it wasn't Lockhart, a smile appeared on his face.

"Bin wonderin' when you'd come ter see me - come in, come in - thought you mighta bin Professor Lockhart back again -"

"No, just us," said Saffron with a small smile. She figured she might as well at the very least try to let bygones be bygones. The man had a big heart and good intentions which mattered more than the mistakes he made, so giving him a fresh start in the new year that it was seemed fitting.

Hagrid looked shocked at what had happened to Ron. He helped support him onto a chair and instantly asked the other three to explain the situation while placing a metal bucket in front of him in order to contain the slugs.

"So tell me," Hagrid jerked his head in Ron's direction when they were all sat down at the table together. "Who was he tryin' ter curse?"

"Malfoy," stated Saffron simply, sharing a solemn glance with Hagrid. "He called Hermione. . . " she paused, swallowing a lump in her throat, "He called Hermione a Mudblood,"

"He didn'!" yelled Hagrid in pure shock. He stared over at Hermione, looking for her confirmation seemingly.

"He did," Hermione clarified, staring at Saffron fixedly. "But I don't know what it means. I could tell it was really rude, of course -"

"Rude? Rude is an understatement." Saffron told her, "It's a name for someone who is Muggle-born, an awful name. People like Malfoy use it, to show their 'superiority', he thinks he's better than the rest of us because he's Pureblood. Give me a break. Look at him scraping through classes, while Hermione's is the top of the year."

"An' they haven't invented a spell our Hermione can' do," said Hagrid proudly, making Hermione go a brilliant shade of magenta.

"Exactly," agreed Saffron. "He's pathetic, pathetic,"

"It really is a disgusting thing to call someone," said Ron, speaking up, momentarily free from the slugs. "Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards these days are half-blood anyway. If we hadn't married Muggles we'd've died out."

Saffron winced when she watched his head lunge forward and barf out the slimiest slugs yet.

"Well, I don' blame yeh fer tryin' ter curse him, Ron," said Hagrid fairly, raising his voice to be heard above the racket Ron was making. "Bu' maybe it was a good thing yer wand backfired. 'Spect Lucius Malfoy would've come marchin' up ter school if yeh'd cursed his son. Least yer not in trouble." Hagrid sighed before changing the subject to an immensely more trivial one, much to Saffron's pleasure. "Harry, gotta bone ter pick with yeh. I've heard you've bin givin' out signed photos. How come I haven't got one?"

Letting out what was a mixture of a snort and a laugh, Saffron raised her eyebrows at Harry, who had reddened instantly. He didn't seem to realise that Hagrid was only messing with him as he said:

"I have not been giving out signed photos if Lockhart's still spreading that around ---"

"I'm on'y jokin'," Hagrid patted Harry on the back with a laughing, unknowingly causing him to fall face first onto the table under his weight. "I knew yeh hadn't really. I told Lockhart yeh didn' need teh. Yer more famous than him without tryin'."

"Bet he didn't like that," replied Harry, fixing himself after his unfortunate bump.

"Don' think he did," chuckled Hagrid.. "An' then I told him Id never read one o' his books an' he decided ter go. Treacle fudge, Ron?"

"No thanks," Ron muttered almost inaudibly. "Better not risk it."

After they finished their tea, Hagrid took them outside to see what he had been growing. Saffron insisted on the confirmation that it wasn't a dragon or anything dragon related, and once told it was only pumpkins, she followed him without a problem. They were as big as the ones Squire got at Halloween. The woman was very festive and went all out when it came to decorating, so Saffron wouldn't have been surprised if she bought them from Hagrid.

On second thoughts, due to Hagrid being half-giant, or at least if the rumours about him being so were true, Squire wouldn't associate herself with someone like that. So perhaps not.

It turned out that they weren't the only people to have visited the pumpkins, as Hagrid had met Ron's younger sister Ginny just the day before.

"Said she was jus' lookin' round the grounds, but I reckon she was hopin' she might run inter someone else at my house," Hagrid explained, sparing a wink in the direction of Harry.. "If yeh ask me, she wouldn' say no ter a signed -"

"Oh, shut up," Harry rolled his eyes, whilst Saffron and Hermione laughed, and Ron attempted to, sending slugs spiralling out of his mouth.

Saffron pouted as Hagrid lifted up Ron away from the pumpkins. So much for an easy year, as her first week in Hogwarts, this year had been borderline as eventful as her chaotic year last year. She just hoped that the trajectory would shift again but for the better this time. As the last thing she needed was more mentions or appearances of personal attacks or Lockhart, and yet she felt very confident that there was more to come.