✧THE LONE FEATHER✧

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"You've got to be bloody kidding me, the Grim?" The eldest Lestrange had groaned into the air further. Yet Cara only smiled up at him. "It'll be alright, at least you know now."
"I can't decide if it's better to tell mother or not."
"In a bit, oh here there are now. See you later Rommy!" Cara cheered, hurrying over towards the Gryffindors with a bright smile.

"Hi!"
"Oh, hello Cara. You signed up for Care of Magical Creatures as well?" She nodded eagerly and eyed Hermione. The 'brightest witch of her age' truly was careless to not hide her time turner properly.

Cara didn't really have much of a care who was on top, but the fact that McGonagal would lie about the final grades peeved her off much more than she wanted to admit.

"I've looked into those Death omens last night. Honestly. If you ask me, Divination's a very wooly discipline. Now Ancient Runes, that's a fascinating subject." Cara blinked to the witch, yes, Cara screamed, make it anymore obvious that McGonagall chose you for the time turner.

"Ancient Runes? Exactly how many classes are you taking this term?" Ron question, and Cara smirked. "A fair few." Was the gal's reply, leaving the Ravenclaw to shrug.

"Hang on. Ancient Runes is the same time as Divination. You'd have to be in two classes at once."
"Don't be silly. How could anyone be in two classes at once?" Hermione beckoned and Cara rolled her eyes.

"I rather go through another year of relearning runes than try and decipher what Professor Trewlawney is trying to say on a good day." The Blue among the red had teased, and the group around her laughed as they made their way into the forest.

Where Care of Magical Creatures was being taught.

"Broaden your mind..." Hermione laughed, mimicking Trelawney's voice and Cara giggled right along. "Use your inner eye to see the future!" And the group had been a bundle of laughter as they caught up with the rest of the class.

The rest of the students had been at a clump at the back near the fence's entrance. Yet Cara had migrated closer to her brother and nudged him. "What'd Rom say?"
"Oh, he's probably groveling it now in charms, what's going on here?" This had truly been their first class with Professor Hagrid, seeing as how he needed an extra few days to get his things in order.

But nobody was at all misplaced, and so Cara had hugged her book tighter. Especially when she caught sight of the dead ferrets about, it caused her nose to twitch in the slight offense.

"Gather 'rough. Find yourself a spot. That's it. Now, firs' thing yeh'll want her do is open yer books—" The Giant had called out, and Ronan eyed his mate as her interrupted right in the middle of the instructions.

"And exactly how do we do that?" Draco earned Hagrid's attention outright, and huffed.

"Crikey. Didn't yeh know? All yeh've got her do is stroke 'em. Look—" the class had followed their professor walk straight to Ms.Granger and calmly run a forefinger down the length of the book's spine.

And Cara grinned as she had gotten that reaction in the summer already, however she pouted.

Seeing how unsure her professor was feeling so she smiled in an attempt to be reassuring.

It must've worked because Hagrid caught his next lines and departed for a moment. "God, this place is going to the dogs. Wait until my father hears Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes." Ronan gawked at Draco.

"Ease up mate, much more trustworthy than the bloke who's lost more limbs than years I've lived." Draco pulled his nose up, but Ronan tilted his head.
"Go on, tell your father. Cause you know my mother would absolutely love to deck that straight to the bin." Crabbe and Goyle had looked between themselves to see their roommates going at each other.

Anger had flashed into Malfoy's eyes as he caught his next victim if he couldn't get Hagrid without angering the Lestranges.

Malfoy might be one name, but Lestrange was might more elite—Especially after the war, and while Draco questioned his father on that front, it was a mixture between Aurora Lestrange and Rabastan Lestrange on their claim to fame.

"Potter, there's a Dementor behind you!" Harry nearly jumps out of his skin, entirely out of fear to turn out only find nothing. Yet when he returned back to his gaze on Malfoy, he caught the lot of them—Minus Ronan, with their hoods up and making eerie OOH and AHH sounds to entice him for an argument.

Cara's shoulders fell at the sight of his cousin's taunt, clearly forgetting that she too had a rather horrific experience with them. Yet of course, his sights only seemed to care about how it'd gage a reaction of Harry Potter himself.

She walks off towards him and offers a friendly smile while pairing it with a glare to Malfoy and the rest. "Really they're just a bunch of idiots. If a dementor is near, the sky would grow exceedingly darker, like a cloud coming over your head. Then your heart starts to an ache of coldness."
"I heard you got attacked on the train as well."
"Sort of, it was after my brother—My elder brother. I just managed to help him get rid of the one in our cart." She claimed, and his eyes grew wide.

However, his comment had been interrupted by a strange beast that pranced forward alongside Hagrid. While it's torso, hind legs, and tail were that of a horse, the rest of him—The front legs, wings, and head all resampled an eagle.

While half the students stepped back in fear, it was the Lestranges that remained steady.

Ronan turned to look his sister who squealed and bounced on her feet.

"Gee up, there!...Beau'iful, isn' he?" Hagrid said, gaging the class.
"Oh, he's gorgeous." She responded, yet nobody else seemed to agree as they just stared in wonder never the less.

"Hagrid. Exactly what is that?" Ron questioned.

"A Hippogriff, o' course. Now, the firs' thing yeh gotta know is they're proud. Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it migh' be the las' thing yeh do. Right then — who wants her come an' say hello?" The offered had stood on the table for no more than a second while Cara's hand shot right on up.

Just as Ronan predicted, tho he too offered a hand.

"Good man Harry. Lestranges, you come up too. I know yeh sister will be dow' her in a few days once she knows." Harry had turned around in shock, clearly seeing that everyone else had backed away from the sight.

But at least he wasn't alone.

Cara turned around and smiled as her brother caught up with her, and the two had gone up first with Harry trailing behind them slowly. However, he had almost tripped in seeing the twins having stopped—He willed himself to do the same.

"Tha's it. Easy now...Good job you three! This here's Buckbeak. Yeh want her let 'im make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Jus' take step forward, give 'im a bow, and if Buckbeack bows back, yeh're allowed ta touch 'im. Ready?" Cara had been the first to take a step forward from the other two, she smiled off to the beast and clicked her tongue.

Gaging his attention.

Hagrid grinned himself, nodding along to see that Cara had excellently executed just what he asked. Leaving Buckbeak to follow shortly in the lead with a slight wiggle.

"Well done Ms.Lestrange!" He clapped, earning herself a bit from the audience off behind her. She had gone off towards Hagrid as her brother repeated the steps as well, and Buckbeak taken back by the sudden array of instinct that these creatures before him were displaying.

Until it was Harry's turn. Having the two experts go first had been a horrible mistake, but he didn't know much better and so he attempted to follow their example and bow. Yet Buckbeak's head cocked, his eyes studying the male in front of him before something disturbed him.

"Back off, Harry! Back off!" Hagrid directed, his wave had been rushed and eager for his student not to get hurt, however that didn't pass up much longer as Buckbeak had soon found himself ducking his beak,

"Well done! Go on, you lot can give 'im a pat now." Cara once again had led the rest towards Buckbeak and cooed to the beast, letting her head touch to his forehead and hummed.

"You have a beautiful coat of feathers lovely...such a good boy." The Ravenclaw ushered out, but it caused Ronan to gulp unsteady.
"Feathers..." He whispered, just low enough for his sister to hear. Everyone had been moved by Harry's death Omen, but even the smallest ones could still cause some sort of harm or a negative outcome.

One just needed to be careful.

"Look at that! You three are a natural!" Hagrid boomed, and Ronan shook his head.
"Not at all sir, we have a lot of experience. Our Uncle lives on a Hippogriff farm in the states." "Romulus is the best flyer with them," She deemed, but Ronan had toppled that and said that she wasn't that bad herself.

"I reckon he migh' let yeh ride 'im now. Who wants to take a go?"
"Come on Harry, it'll be fun!" Cara deemed, but Potter's smile instantly dropped at the offer.
"Excuse me?"

"We'll jus' set yeh behind the wing joint. Mind yeh don' pull any feathers out. He won like that!" While she hadn't been prepared to get picked up by the giant, she settled perfectly behind and smiled to see Harry join her.

"It's alright, I've done this hundreds of times." Cara offered, though Ronan laughed in seeing Potter completely overtaken by fear. "Not to worry, better her than me." He said with a slight smirk, and while he wasn't the most off-putting Slytherin.
He was still a snake.

Just as Harry was about to protest, Hagrid had slapped Buckbeak's hindquarters and Cara instantly gripped Buckbeak's back feathers. The ones that witches and wizards used to use when they rode bareback. And Harry had reacted much the same, only to wrap his arms around her to make sure he didn't fall backwards.

As Buckbeak took a galloping start, Cara leaned forward on her hold to prepare for tackup. And Harry was left with no more explanation, though he had a feeling Hagrid had been looking for an eager student and thus...Here he is.

The extenuation of the Hippogriff's wings caused Harry to gasp. They soon unfolded entirely and let out a powerful WHOOSH to gain up some height before truly going into the direction of the clouds.

Once they rose higher and higher, Harry's hold on Cara had loosed up more than enough for him to start enjoying the thought of flying.

"It's much different than a broom, isn't it!"
"For sure!" The Ravenclaw had leaned forward and guided the grasped feathers to follow her lead, it took a bit of patience, as she doubted that Buckbeak had been ridden for a while.

Or was young.

They managed to circle over the whomping willow, past the Hogwarts castle, and swooping at a very quick speed down towards the Black lake. Knowing that the creature enjoyed this move more than anything.

This is when Harry had finally felt comfortable enough to let his own arms spread out, igniting the feeling of having his own wings. Cara laughed her heart out to hear Harry yell out a cheer, yet it was short lived as they began to circle back.
While Cara hadn't heard the whistle, she understood that Hagrid must've called them back, or that's what she assumed, judging the way that Buckbeak had twitched his head.

 The landing hadn't been all that rough, and the beast had been graceful into slowing down and turning around to tree to return back to the start. Only to stop his gallop right beside Hagrid.

Harry had been the first to slide off before turning towards Cara to aid her. Though it was this that enacted a glare from the semi-friendly Slytherin, it had to do with the bloke's hand holding his sister by the waist.

Over the cheers, Hagrid had bent down to the Gryffindor while Cara had kissed the beast. "Thank you, I'll sneak you some snacks soon for another ride. Deal?" The bird playfully snapped and Cara couldn't help but brilliant again.

"You know Imara is going to be talking your ear off once you tell her."
"Oh I count on it, but at least I got to him first." She grinned rather deviously and had started to walk back towards the rest of the class. However just when Cara had reached for her dropped satchel and textbook, the commotion had caused her to peek up her head and Ronan frowned.

Of course Draco needed to outshine the famous Harry Potter and whyever he made it a point to strut forward towards the beast had caused Cara to grasp.

"Give me a go at that thing. If Potter can do it, it must be easy. You're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute—"

"Draco, no!" Cara said running after her cousin. And Ronan cursed to see that Cara was wearing her boots instead of her school-issued shoes. Leaving him to skid in the effort of racing after her, but like most of their childhood.
She was too quick for him.

Yet it was in a flash, Buckbeak had attempted to alert the stranger to cease his approach—Once that had failed and been ignored, Buckbeak had risen to his back legs and his steely talons slashed down. Malfoy had used his arm to protect the better part of his face while Cara pulled him back and held her hands up towards the beast.

"Ease, with ease!" She hurried, while Ronan had started to drag back his whining and painting friend. "It's killed me! It's killed me!"
"Oh shut up you bloody dimwit, this is all on you," Ronan claimed what everyone was thinking, while it was Hagrid that was much more empathy to the student.

"Calm yerself! Yer fine...Jus' a scratch..." He deemed, but the gash did look fairly deep that Cara sighed.
"Hagrid! He's got to be taken to the hospital!" Hermione called out in the back crowd and Cara nodded, reaching into her potion pouch and grabbing a clean rag before enchanting it. With a quick spell, she bent down with her wand in her mouth as she tried to settle the bleeding and numb the feeling.

"No. I'm the teacher, I'll do it...Class dismissed!" And with that, Hagrid was forced to take Malfoy into his hold and bring him off to the infirmary.

Ronan groaned each and every time he heard a little groan or muffle, leaving him to huff impatiently. "Do you want to owl mother or should I?" His sister questioned.
"Better be Rommy, he's got to owl her with bad news. Better give her something to do at home beside it yeah?" Ronan turned to look at Harry who was still in a bit of shock with the rest of the class.

Or would've had Buckbeak not knocked him back into reality by knocking his head into Harry's harm. "He likes you, a relationship with a Hippogriff is lifelong."
"You don't think Hagrid's going to get sacked now, do you?"
"Oh no, my mum loved Hagrid when she attended and she'll surely stand behind him. Not to worry. Mister Malfoy is as scary as Draco."
"I've met his father...He's—" Cara laughed and shook her head, her cheeks growing a bit red the further she dug herself into a hole. "Oh please, it's my father you really need to worry about."

Ronan didn't know what was worse at the moment. Having to hear about this whole ordeal from his roommate or the fact that now he had to watch Potter around his sister.

Oh Romulus was surely going to blow a fuse.

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Date Posted: 02-06-2021

Time: 11:04

Words: 2793

Okay but Cara and Harry anyone👀
Romulus is going to be a stressed boi this year for sure

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✨Quick Question✨

Would any of you be interested in reading an Alphard Black story?🤞
I've written a prologue and a few chapters so far, I wouldn't replace Saturday's update of Immer Weise/Immer Ende. But I'm really enjoying where this story is going.🤗

Let me know, and until next week--Happy Saturday💙