Malfoy, who was nearby, also noticed Ivan's ease in taming a hippogriff, and he looked back at Buckbeak with a scowl.
Malfoy immediately stepped forward to stroke Buckbeak's feathers.
"Malfoy, you haven't bowed yet!" Goyle and Clark reminded him.
"Who said anything about having to bow?" Malfoy scoffed. He had seen that Ivan did not bow at all, and had been approved by the Hippogriff. He thought he could not be worse than Ivan!
Buckbeak pawed uneasily, but Malfoy did not notice.
Despite his fear, Malfoy forced himself to move slowly towards Buckbeak, keeping his eyes fixed on the man's movements and ready to retreat.
Buckbeak, who had been appeased by Harry for a while, was unhappy with Malfoy's forceful stroking, but did not react immediately.
"That doesn't seem too difficult…" Malfoy said, looking relieved that Buckbeak had not done anything too drastic, though he managed to keep his composure.
"See, it's easy to make it give in, right? I'm not going to bow to an ugly beast like Potter!"
Goyle and Clark did not reply. They looked frightened and took a few steps back, trembling.
Malfoy then realised something was wrong and turned to see Buckbeak glaring at him with his orange, angry eyes, his forelimbs raised high and his sharp claws flashing in midair as he swung them down at Malfoy!
Below, Malfoy felt a chill run through him, and a piercing scream escaped his lips…
Hagrid, who was demonstrating to a young wizard, heard the noise and tried to grab Buckbeak's chain, but it was too late.
Just as Malfoy thought he might die, a red light from somewhere hit him.
Malfoy's body was sent flying like a kite with its string cut. He tumbled to the ground, covered in mud…
At the same time, he was lucky enough to avoid Buckbeak's claws.
"Behave yourself, Buckbeak!" Hagrid was now restraining Buckbeak with his brute strength, forcibly restraining the enraged hippogriff and tying it to the fence.
Hagrid then went to check on Malfoy, and was relieved to see that Malfoy was unharmed.
"It almost killed me! That damned beast, it tried to kill me!" Malfoy cursed angrily as he got to his feet, still shaken.
Hagrid seemed at a loss. He had not expected his first lesson to go so badly.
"That's enough, Malfoy! As we all saw, you didn't bow like Hagrid said you would, or Buckbeak wouldn't have attacked you!" Harry couldn't help but shout.
"I would have been killed by that thing if it hadn't saved me!" Malfoy yelled, looking back at Goyle and Clark.
"You did a good job. Who saved me?"
In Malfoy's opinion, they were the only ones who would save him, and it seemed that although his two henchmen were stupid, they could be useful in a pinch.
However, Goyle and Clark quickly shook their heads, indicating that they had done nothing.
Malfoy was confused. Who else could it be?
"It was Ivan, Malfoy, who saved you!" Ron scoffed.
"That's impossible!" Malfoy shouted, his face turning green and red.
He looked at the others, and many of the young wizards nodded. They had seen Ivan draw his wand and cast a spell.
Malfoy then turned his attention to Ivan, his face turning red. He tried to speak several times, but nothing came out.
To Malfoy's discomfort, Ivan did not even look at him, nor did he approach him to mock him, as if he had done something trivial.
…
Due to Malfoy's attack, the Care of Magical Creatures lesson ended hastily.
After class, Ivan and the others returned to the castle.
"You shouldn't have saved Malfoy! He didn't even say thank you!" Ron grumbled, feeling sorry for Ivan.
Harry nodded in agreement with Ron's assessment.
"Or Ivan will see Malfoy eaten by Buckbeak? Then Hagrid will probably end up in Azkaban!" Hermione retorted.
That's right… The two of them thought of this and stopped talking.
Ivan didn't care at all. He only saved Malfoy in the hope that Malfoy would behave himself during the school year, so that when Buckbeak was about to be executed, Hagrid wouldn't be heartbroken and get him involved, wasting his time.
Ivan's strategy proved effective, and Malfoy avoided them for a while, not even mentioning the Dementors.
This improved Harry's mood considerably, but it only lasted until the following day's Potions lesson, when it was destroyed by Snape's various ways of deducting points.
"Miss Granger, for the last time, Longbottom must complete the shrinking potion on his own, because five points will be deducted from Gryffindor for your actions!"
"Potter!! You must find Mr Longbottom's antics amusing, don't you? Five points off Gryffindor!"
"And Mr. Longbottom! If you can't complete the shrinking potion on your own by the end of the lesson, I'll deduct ten points from Gryffindor!"
…
During the entire Potions lesson, Snape was constantly hovering over them, and he was able to take back most of the points Hagrid had given him yesterday.
Harry and Ron were so angry, they thought Snape must have done it on purpose…
Ivan, on the other hand, did not immediately use the Time-Turner to return to his previous class, as he usually did, but instead blocked Snape from leaving.
"Professor Snape! I have some Potions questions for you."
"I thought I was clear enough in class." Snape paused, looking annoyed.
Undeterred by Snape's attitude, Yvonne asked, "That's not in the book, Professor! I want to know what happens if you take an ongoing potion and the drinker dies suddenly while the potion is still active."