Animals are living. But even if I interpret is as "no living being with near-human intelligence" (with apologies to centaurs), this is odd.
Why is everyone convinced it's just the druids. If it's more likely an amalgamation of multiple different traditions and methodologies, placed in the right location by the use of divination. Aren't the Potters related to the Peverells? A family that was most likely some form of necromancers given how much this story is about discovering the secrets inside folklore. With how much Hazel interacts with the spirits and the dead it wouldn't be surprising if it is something in her blood.
Hazel isn't so shortsighted to only concentrate on one magic tradition. So far she concentrated on the druids because they were the one historical group she new about as a magically uneducated child.
It's "Bellblossom", right?
deep breaths
Sprout seems to just go through the motions of her Head of Hufflepuff work here, as I speculated. But this chapter and the quoted part especially shows her to be delusional, too. Maybe she is too old and tired to actually care for children.
But won't Always Running (or whatever Always Crying should be called now) interfere with that?
"Sally-Anne, Mister Filch, Marvolo, even Professor Flitwick". But also werewolves and hags, right? That was more than five even before Hogwarts.
Humans, not others.
Surely Dumbledore would insist on breaking her staff and forcing her to use a wand. The time before meeting him is running out. Maybe this "baptism" commits Hazel to her decision to not use wand magic, so that not even breaking her staff would allow her to use a wand.
Thankfully only Hazel and Ollivander know about that detail. Ollivander did not tell Sprout that Hazel's staff was the issue because Hazel had already made her choice.
But she already knows? She uses telepathy when talking to either spirits or animals. She doesn't use it with humans because the'd start asking questions, and she extended it to sentient beings in general (Morgan excluded).
No, even if she tries to talk to people through thoughts, they can't hear her.
I thought Dumbledore is willing to suffer a little headache to understand Hazel, or doesn't know or believe he would have it if he uses legilimency on Hazel.
Helps that when Hazel wants to go long distance or has time her teleportation doesn't look anything like apperation. From what I remember she basically opens a rift into the spirit realm and mist comes out to envelope her. It works under the same principles as apperating, doesn't look anything like it though.
When Susan's leg was re-attached during apparation lessons, there was a "puff of purple smoke". Hazel's gentle teleportation produces purple fog. Coincidence? Maybe, but self-sure wizards would assume Hazel's teleportation is a mis-apparation.
It's probably not a coincidence because they are probably variations on the same effect. Granted I don't know if they would make the connection, they probably don't see that purple smoke very often. Even if they do they don't see it in such quantities or behaving like that.
I think students contributed more to turning Hazel away than Hogwarts staff. Lies taught as "history" too.
Professor I know this class is literally worthless for you, no I won't help you, no you have to take it, McGonagall doesn't help either.
Students normally make friends among other students, not professors (which they consider an unavoidable annoyance/evil).
Students also don't normally have a professor take away an insane amount of points for a stupid reason to cause the entire house to despise an 11 year old.
Once again, I share this meme I found, and what I think Albus is going to do to Severus before firing him:
