◆

     THROUGH THE HELP OF THE MARAUDER'S MAP, the group of Gryffindors found Rose in the fifth floor corridor after class. Her Siberian cat, Anastasia, had run loose again, and she was frantically looking for her before her next class.

     "She just jumped from my lap after Transfiguration let out and vanished!" She cried, checking behind a large suit of armor. Huffing in exasperation, the sixth year Hufflepuff ran a hand through her mousy brown mane of hair, shaking her head anxiously. "I can't just leave her and go off to Care of Magical Creatures without her. Who knows what she might get into."

     Flynn, who was leaning up against a column, tapped her booted foot in thought for a moment, her face deep in concentration, before yanking her wand from the pocket of her Gryffindor robes and speaking clearly and confidently, "Accio Anastasia!"

     When nothing happened, Fred and George let out a harsh laugh, Robyn covering her mouth with her hand to keep herself from laughing at the frustration and confusion on Flynn's face.

     "Summoning Charms don't work on living things, Flynn," Robyn said. "You think Rose is that daft that she wouldn't have tried that if it would have worked?"

     Flynn shot Robyn a sharp glare. "Of course I knew that," she snapped back. Robyn's eyebrows shot up in speculation. "We learned that in Charms last year."

     Robyn watched as Rose sighed, turning away from the group and returning to her search, peering through windows and behind columns, determined to find her lost cat.

     This wasn't an unusual occurrence. Once or twice a year, Anastasia had a tendency to go missing and turn up a few hours later, having been out wandering the corridors or hiding in the Owlrey, meowing at the owls flying in and out. It seemed that Rose had already scoured those places, however, which meant that Anastasia could be anywhere in the castle.

     Lisa, who up until then had been standing off to the side, rocking back and forth on her small heels, suddenly gasped, drawing the attention of the entire group.

     "Rose, I think I found her!" She called, hopping over to an outlook over a courtyard, leaning over to peer down to get a better glimpse of whatever she was looking at.

     Robyn hurried over to look, followed by Rose who was quickly running back down the corridor to where their group was now standing, looking down at the courtyard.

     Lisa wasn't wrong. Robyn quickly spotted the white and brown cat perched on a bench down in the courtyard, accompanied by a scraggly-looking orange mound of fur that Robyn recognized as being Hermione Granger's new cat, Crookshanks.

     Rose broke off from the group, running back through the halls and down the stairs to get down to her cat. The rest of them followed behind, Robyn hanging in the back of the group with Fred, who was fiddling with something in his hand.

     "Fred, what is that?" She asked, stretching her neck around to see what Fred was holding in his hands, but he yanked it out of view before she could catch a glimpse of it.

     He grinned at her, his freckled face wrinkling from his huge, goofy smile. "This is a surprise, my dear Robbie. Besides, this is only a rough concept, nothing acceptable to be seen at the mom-"

     He was cut off by Robyn fiercely attacking his arms, reaching for whatever he was holding in his hands. Fred was hiding something from her, and that always meant he was up to trouble. She grabbed his hand, prying open his fingers to pull the object out.

     As she victoriously held up the object, Fred sighed in feigned defeat. "I can't keep anything from you, can I?" He said, a lopsided smile stretching across his face.

     Robyn shot back that same goofy grin as if to say, Absolutely not. She then looked down into her hands to see what strange thing he was fiddling with, and noticed it appeared to look like a piece of toffee, though instead of its normal brown colour, it was a dull rainbow.

     "The hell?" Robyn muttered, holding up the small sweet to her eyes to get a new look at it. She looked over at Fred, who suddenly looked very smug and proud of himself. "What are you working on?"

     Fred laughed, saying, "Well, guess there's no point in keeping it from you now. It's a new prank sweet that George and I are developing. We're thinking of calling it Ton-Tongue Toffee. Thoughts?" He looked genuinely curious as they continued down a flight of stairs, turning round a corridor to the archway that led out to the courtyard.

     To their luck, Anastasia and Crookshanks were still sitting on the bench as they arrived, though as Robyn approached, she noticed that they way they were sitting besides one another reminded her greatly of two friends sitting together. They were both meowing softly to each other, as though they were in deep conversation.

     "That's odd," Robyn mumbled to herself, furrowing her brow in thought.

     Fred shrugged. "Well, yeah, that's the point. Wanna hear what it does?"

     As if woken from a trance, Robyn shook her head. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. Of course I want to hear what it does."

     Fred grinned, leaning his back against a column, folding his arms in front of him after beckoning Robyn over with his hand. She glanced back at the two cats, but Rose had already scooped Anastasia up and was softly cooing at her, petting her white fur affectionately while the others talked among themselves. Robyn approached Fred and leaned against the column next to him, placing the candy into his open palm.

     "Now, like any toffee, you chew it up, but this one is going to make your tongue grow absolutely massive. But the colors are supposed to be more vibrant than this," he gestured downheartedly towards the dull assortment of striped colors on the toffee. "When the colors are bright, then we'll know it's perfect." As he spoke, he slowly leaned closer to Robyn, until his arm was touching her shoulder.

     Robyn nodded. "I'll come to your dormitory tonight. Let's see what you've done and figure out why you haven't managed to make it perfect yet," she said bluntly, leaning to rest her head on his arm.

     Fred grinned down at her before letting out a sharp laugh, shaking his head. "You always say the kindest things, Robbie. Not harsh at all," he said, holding a heart to his chest mockingly.

     With a roll of her eyes and a scoff, Robyn pushed herself off of the column to stand up straight, taking the toffee from Fred's hand and stuffing it in her pocket before returning to join the rest of their friends.

◆◆◆

AFTER HISTORY OF MAGIC, which may very well be the worst class Hogwarts offers, what with the ghost of a Professor Binns and his tendency to drone on and on and on throughout his lessons seemingly endlessly, Robyn was anxious to head to Care of Magical Creatures. Though she was nervous about Hagrid teaching a class, as she knew he underestimated the danger a lot of creatures posed, she was aching to do anything other than sit in a dusty classroom listening to a dead man ramble on about absolutely nothing for an hour and a half.

     Robyn, Flynn, and Fred navigated the staircases down towards the Main Hall. From Robyn's left, Flynn let out a massive yawn, stretching her arms backwards. "God, I hate History of Magic," she groaned, cracking her neck from side to side.

     Fred, who was several steps ahead of them down the stairs, paused and looked back up at her, a quizzical look on his face. "You slept the entire hour," he laughed, a grin spreading across his cheeks.

     "The class put me to sleep!" Flynn shot back, glaring at Fred as she slid ahead of him on the staircase before promptly stepping into a disappearing stair. Her left leg sunk into the hole where the stair had been, half of her shin vanishing into the stair. "Damnit!"

     Robyn bit back a harsh laugh, stepping down to help pull her friend out of the stairs. "You sat down and fell asleep before the class even started, Flynn," she retorted, grabbing hold of Flynn's hand in attempts to pull her up from the hole where her leg was continuing to sink into the stair. Flynn's knee was about to vanish beneath the stair when suddenly, a pair of arms snaked around Robyn's waist, hands clasped together in front of her stomach, and roughly pulled her backwards. Robyn kept her tight grip on Flynn's hand, and with the combined strength Flynn's leg was yanked out from the disappearing stair.

     The force of the pull, however, sent Robyn falling backwards into the person who was gripping her waist. Flynn managed to grab the banister, releasing her hold on Robyn's hand so she didn't fall down, too, but Robyn landed roughly on the person beneath her, who let out a sharp grumble in pain.

     "Ow, that hurt, Robbie," Fred groaned from underneath her, quickly letting go of his grip around her waist. Robyn jumped up, startled, once she realized she was sitting unceremoniously on Fred's lap on the stairs.

     Robyn sighed, looking down at Fred's cheeky, freckled grin, a tinge of heated pink warming her own face. She held a hand out to help him up, saying, "I'll let it slide that you called me 'Robbie' this time, Weasley, but only because I feel bad for landing on you." Fred mockingly waved off the hand, standing up himself and once more taking the lead. "In my defense," Robyn continued, "I was not expecting that."

     "Well, that's still your fault," Fred called back over his shoulder. "If there's one thing I've taught you, Miss Robbie, it's that you must always be prepared. Stay on your toes." With that, he popped up the heels of his feet and proceeded to walk out the main doors of the castle daintily on his toes.

     Robyn rolled her eyes, following him out into the cool September air with Flynn at her side. "You moronic bastard," Robyn muttered, bumping into his shoulder with hers.

     But Fred's attention had been diverted elsewhere. Specifically, to the trio of Hufflepuff robes walking ahead of them down to Hagrid's hut. He bounded ahead, swinging his arm around the shoulder of one of them. As the Hufflepuff girl turned to look up at him with a large smile spread across her face, Robyn's spirit sank away into her stomach.

     Jacinda Fucking Bradley.

     Robyn's eyes narrowed, and she shared a bitterly irritated glance with Flynn, who huffed in annoyance and folded her arms to keep herself from lashing out. They were going to be stuck with Jackie all year long in Care of Magical Creatures.

     Great.

     Finally, they reached Hagrid's hut, where Lisa and George were already waiting for them. Hagrid was busy gathering all the fifth year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in the class together into one large group, though he kept getting distracted talking to the students, a smile stretching across his large, bearded face, kind eyes crinkling at the corner. Robyn could tell he was so ecstatic that he was able to finally teach a class, and teach about something he cared about. While she was still hesitant, seeing his enthusiasm calmed some of her nerves.

     After they'd all gathered up, Hagrid stood in front of the large group of students, waving his arms at his sides as he did when he got nervous. "Welcome, class, ter yer fifth year o' Care o' Magical Creatures. Yeh all know me, I'm Hagrid, please don't bother callin' me Professor, that's not necessary.

     "Anyway, glad yer all here. I know this is yer OWL year, which means a lot o' stress on yer shoulders, but I wanna make this class as fun fer yeh as I can. So, ferst things ferst, follow me!" And with that, Hagrid turned around, picked up a large bucket that was set off to the side, and led the way into the Forbidden Forest.

     Robyn, Lisa, and Flynn all glanced at each other with hesitant looks, but fell into line as the group of students followed Hagrid into the forest.

     "I really hope Hagrid knows what he's doing," Robyn muttered, twirling her wand between her fingers nervously.

     Lisa smiled at Robyn, pushing her own long, black hair behind her shoulders haphazardly. "There's nothing to worry about. Hagrid's great! Rose said the lesson today was really fun, and that it was something he wanted to show everyone on the first day." Her voice, as always, was chipper and excited, but Robyn just shook her head. Lisa could calm Flynn down, but Robyn's realistic outlooks weren't as easily faulted by Lisa's constant optimism.

     After a long hike through the forest, Hagrid finally stopped the group of students on the edge of a large clearing. Robyn couldn't see anything in the clearing other than the sunlight filtering through the leaves of the trees that lined the area where they were all standing.

     "Alrigh', gimme one secund, I have to find 'im, while ye wait, open yer books to page 49," said Hagrid before turning and walking back into the forest. Robyn shared a wary glance with Lisa, leaning to grab her textbook from her pack, which she had set down on a rock.

     The Monster Book of Monsters was a strange book. Robyn had never seen anything quite like it before. The book seemed to be...alive. It growled and hissed, shaking around in her hands as she fought to keep hold of it.

     "What the hell are we supposed to do with this?!" Flynn snapped, wrestling her own copy into a choke hold, if that was even possible to do with a book. The book snapped at her dark brown hair, to which she slammed the book on the ground of the clearing with a loud thud and jumped on top of it. The book let out a long wheeze at it seemed to deflate underneath her.

     "We're supposed to turn to page 49," George shot back with a smug grin. He was holding his book wide open, revealing a spread about the Hippogriff. Information dotted the page, noting its dietary habits and natural environment.

     "Fuck off, Weasley," Flynn hissed in response. "How did you manage to do that, anyway?"

     "What, keep the book from trying to eat my face off? Well, he saw my stunningly gorgeous features and just couldn't bear to maul such beauty."

     Robyn bit back a laugh. She had no doubts that what actually happened what that his and Fred's older brother Charlie had sent them a letter detailing how they should deal with the monstrous book. As a magizoologist himself, Charlie was probably quite familiar with the book and knew how to use it properly.

     As if to confirm her theory, in response to the murderous glare Flynn shot him, George cleared his throat before simply saying, "Stroke the spine."

     As the rest of them did so, Hagrid returned to the clearing, and suddenly the air filled with the odorous smell of dead animal. The reason for that was quickly made clear by the several dead ferrets held in Hagrid's hands as he led the most majestic creature Robyn had ever seen into the clearing.

     A mix of an eagle and a horse, the Hippogriff stood tall, slowly stepping into the sunny grass, sweeping its giant eagle head side to side, eyeing every Gryffindor and Hufflepuff huddled at the sides of the clearing. Its amber eyes met Robyn's own, and she quickly looked down. Some magical creatures demanded respect, and from the way this Hippogriff held itself, she could only assume it was one of them.

     "This here is Buckbeak," Hagrid announced, throwing one of the dead ferrets in his hands towards the Hippogriff, who eagerly caught it in its beak. "He's a Hippogriff, which ye prob'ly already knew from yer books. Now, who wants ter meet him ferst?"

     From across the side of the clearing, a far-too-chipper voice perked up. "I will!"

     Jackie stepped forward, a giant grin plastered to her face as if stuck there by glue. That smile was always there. Robyn didn't understand how someone could be that happy all the time. Doesn't all that smiling get painful after a while?

     "Excellent, excellent! C'mere, Miss Bradley, I'll show ye how ter approach him respectfully. Hippogriffs are boastful creatures. They do not like bein' disrespected."

     Hagrid helped Jackie through the clearing until she was no more than twenty feet away from Buckbeak.

     "Now, all ye have to do is bow real low, and keep yer eyes on the ground until he bows back. If he doesn't bow back...well, we'll discuss that if we get there." Hagrid smiled sheepishly, before patting Jackie comfortingly on the back and stepping away. "Go fer it, Miss Bradley."

     Slowly, Jackie pushed her Hufflepuff robes back, stooping into a deep bow, eyes on the ground, but that obnoxious smile still stuck to her face. As Robyn stood there, thumbing the pages of her book, she couldn't help but hope in the back of her mind that Buckbeak would refuse Jackie's bow and instead run up and kick her into the sky.

     However, her desires weren't met, as Buckbeak slowly met her in the bow, stepping back with his horse hooves, folding his wings up at his sides, and lowering his great eagle head down to the ground. Jackie glanced up to see him bowing, and she jumped up in excitement, clapping her hands together eagerly.

     "Well, would ye look at that. Ev'ryone give Miss Bradley a round of applause!" Hagrid said, clapping his hands, nodding at the group to do the same. While the Hufflepuffs and many of the Gryffindors were quick to applaud, Robyn and Flynn merely huffed, hitting their hands together unenthusiastically a few times to seem like they were part of the applause. From Robyn's other side, Lisa rolled her eyes, prodding Robyn in the hip so she'd put more effort into her applause.

     Shaking her head in defeat, Robyn picked up her applause. Fine. So she bowed to a Hippogriff. Great job, Jacinda Fucking Bradley.

-

dedicated to xonceuponatimex for the graphic above - thanks love!