The Depth of Deception // H. Potter

flashback: the hippogriff

The autumn leaves had fallen and as winter began to set in, Amara seemed to be growing colder with the seasons. Word had spread that he was after Harry, to finish what he started all those years ago after he supposedly betrayed James and Lily Potter.

The term was fairly uneventful, aside from a few quarrels between Draco and Harry. Amara had begun to ignore them, however, as it only caused Draco to become distant with Amara. After all, Draco was Amara's only sibling, and her twin at that.

"I heard Snape is taking over the defense against the dark arts position for Lupin. How's that going?" Amara asked, putting the bookmark into the book she was reading. Amara's eyes had begun to ache and she desperately needed a break.

"Not well. He's given us loads of homework in both classes. It's an ungodly amount too, with quidditch practices." Draco says, clearly overwhelmed and angry. Amara couldn't blame him for it though, Amara too missed Lupin but for completely different reasons. Lupin was actually a decent professor compared to the two prior years.

"I'm sure Lupin will be back soon." Amara tells him as an attempt to comfort him. Amara wished she knew what crawled up Snape's ass to make him such a strict professor. Maybe if Lupin were here, he'd tell her.

"I hope you're right." Draco speaks softly, probably more to himself than to Amara.

It was time for Care of Magical Creatures. Amara had been a bit nervous, as she was a bit scared of some of the creatures she had read about in her books. Draco, however, was bored with the idea of the creatures and was angry that Hagrid was even teaching classes.

"Isn't he beautiful? Say hello to Buckbeak." Hagrid announced, showing off the hippogriff. Amara made sure she was far back from the front, so she could see everything in her line of sight. She had come up with several escape plans in case this class went south.

"First thing you want to know about Hippogriff's is that they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a Hippogriff. It may just be the last thing you ever do. Now. Who'd like to come and say hello?" Hagrid spoke to the class, being careful to watch and feed the hippogriff.

Everyone stepped back, except for Harry, who hadn't gotten the memo of stepping back. Much to Harry's dismay, he was chosen for the task. Hagrid coached Harry through the process and off Harry went on the back of the creature. The class could no longer spot them in the sky, so they sat down and waited for them to come back.

When they did finally come back, Draco was unimpressed, knowing that he could and would do a better job than Harry.

"You're not dangerous at all, are you?" Draco scoffed, marching his way to the hippogriff. Amara reached her hand out to stop him, but narrowly missed the edge of his robes.

"Malfoy-" Hagrid warned, as the hippogriff jumped up, scratching Draco with his paw. Amara couldn't help but laugh as everyone screamed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at Amara with shocked eyes, wondering why she would laugh at her own brother. They quickly began to laugh as Draco let out pitiful pleas.

"It's killed me!" Draco was being so melodramatic, Amara couldn't control how her eyes seemed to roll into the back of her head.

"Oh, shut up Draco. It's just a scratch." Amara spoke, assessing her brothers injuries as he laid on the ground. The class had gathered around the two as Hagrid calmed the hippogriff down.

"No, Amara! I think my arm is broken!"

"I can break your nose, it might take your mind off the pain in your arm." Amara suggested, helping her brother up. Draco did not laugh, but everyone else did.