What a good mail owl! Would she like a sausage? (Of course she would.)

Oh, tea with Hagrid sounds fun, he should--oh no. Would Hagrid be okay with Hermione and Ron coming? Would they want to come? Will Hermione judge him for having planned to spend the afternoon in the library and then not doing it?

He lets Curie finish the sausage while he thinks about it and gets up his nerve.

"Hermione, Ron--d'you want to have tea at Hagrid's house with me this afternoon, if Hagrid says it's okay?" He holds out the note by way of explanation. "If I write back now and ask I think I can get an answer by lunch maybe."

✧˖° treats ˖✧

!! She is being invited to tea. 

She has been taught the etiquette for this (well, okay, she has read books regarding the etiquette for this) but has never ever ever gotten to actually use it. This is very exciting. 

"I would love to! ... Also yes I am sure you can totally do that, Hagrid lives on the grounds, right? The average post owl flies sixty kilometers per hour and the entire Hogwarts grounds is 'between thirty and fifty acres depending on the season' and um I don't think I've ever heard a specific conversion factor but that cannot possibly be that many kilometers I should think." 

"Yeah, I think so. I was worried that he might not see it in time to answer but if Curie brings it to him instead of leaving it in his letterbox he will, won't he."

He scratches out Yes please! Can my friends Hermione and Ron come too? They're nice on the same paper and folds it back up and holds it out. "Can you take this back to Hagrid please?"

Self-important feather-preen, affirmative hoot. She sure can because she is the best mail owl.

Away she goes!

In the meantime, though, their morning is allocated to the last class they haven't had yet. 

"Ouch," comments Fred, looking over Ron's shoulder at his schedule. "Long double Potions with the Slytherins? Dire."

"I dunno who's going to be worse--Snape, or Malfoy and his two pet rocks."

"What's wrong with professor Snape?"

"He's the head of Slytherin. He favours them and hates everyone else."

"And he gives you detention for looking at him funny."

"Not that we ever stopped there."

"...But he's a teacher?"

Yes?

And?

" ..... so .... that would be .... unfair?"

"Right in one."

"You're picking things up quickly."

She has at this point observed the twins talk enough that she knows they do not reliably say truth if they think it'll be funnier not to, and so she is going to make her own judgment of whether Professor Snape seems to in fact be unfair or he's just mean to them because they don't follow the rules, but they are Ron's brothers so she will nod politely and say "good to know?" anyway.

To Potions class!

The Potions classroom is dark, chilly, incredibly ominous, and contains a man who strongly resembles an overgrown bat.

He shuts the door behind the last of them with a flourishing slam and begins monologuing before everyone is quite halfway in their seats. "There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class! As such, I don't expect many of you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those select few..."

"...who possess, the predisposition... I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even ... put a stopper... in death."

Aaaaaaaaa? Also none of those applications sound useful, he doesn't want to bewitch and ensnare people or have fame and glory or make poisons, why would they make poison in class anyway. But mostly aaaaaaaaaaaaa scary teacher. He slides down in his seat a little bit and wishes he had had the presence of mind to sit in the back instead of the middle.

Merlin, this guy is full of himself. It's just cooking with weird ingredients.

Dutiful scribble. Opinions later, notetaking now.