way to go, tiger | Lorenzo Berkshire

࣪𖤐 Y3 | 3 . Buckbeak

SATELLITE — HARRY STYLES
'I go round and round, Satellite.'

The next month of school goes swimmingly so. Cassie gets the occasional migraine and has to go to Madame Pomfrey every time she gets one, but other than that, she's doing good. The previous weekend, Slytherin played Ravenclaw in an easy win. Ravenclaw were hopeless against Slytherin, but Cassie just reckons Chang is a shit seeker.

One Wednesday morning, Cassie and her friends head into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid for their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. For early October, it wasn't awfully cold. Cassie untucks her white shirt from her black skirt and loosens her tie ever so slightly. Her hair is in a single french-plait but she wears no earrings or necklace, too afraid of them burning again.

"Dementor, dementor!" Draco exclaims, teasing Potter as per usual. Cassie quite literally rolls her eyes as he, Mattheo, Theo and Pansy put their hoods up and pretend to be dementors. Blaise and Enzo are too busy in their own conversation they don't even notice their antics.

Hermione, being the good friend she is, grabs Harry's shoulder and pushes him away from Malfoy. She scowls at him as she walks away, which, to be honest, made Cassie smile ever so slightly.

Hagrid, their familiar groundskeeper, now professor, walks over with a huge grin on his face. He motions to the gigantic bird-type creature beside him. The bird scrapes across the floor in a huff, nudging its head against Hagrid. "This is Buckbeak! He's a hippogriff— isn't he lovely?" Hagrid explains.

Truth be told, Buckbeak is a beautiful creature. His feathers are a mixture of black, beige and white, contrast to the bright yellow of his eyes.

Beside Cassie, Draco takes a massive bite out of his green apple as loudly as he possibly can. Rory cringes at the noise. "Could you eat that any fucking louder, mate? You might as well be making out with it." she says in a huff.

Pansy and Theo laugh at her reaction.

"Get over yourself, Cass." Draco retorts with a roll of his silver eyes.

Cassie ignores him and turns her attention back to Hagrid. "You do not want to insult a Hippogriff. It might just be the last thing you ever do." he says.

"Merlin, why have it in a school then?" Pansy says. Cassie smiles but she doesn't laugh like Theo and Blaise do.

Draco takes another bite out of the apple and Cassie is this close to punching him in the face. "You chew that any louder and I'll hex you all the way to next Christmas." she spits.

Enzo chuckles beside her. He loves it when she gets annoyed at Draco. He reckons it's one of the most entertaining things to ever witness.

What Cassie doesn't realise is, as she was pestering Draco, everyone had moved a few steps back. Enzo, too, doesn't realise this, so the pair stand out in front of the rest of their class.

"Ah! Miss Diggory and Mr Berkshire! Come on up! Well done!" Hagrid exclaims. Cassie and Enzo share a worried look with wide eyes.

As they starts making her way to the front, their friends snigger behind them, which makes Cassis spin around and scowl at them. They reach the front and Hagrid starts talking again. "You have to let buckbeak make the first move. Once you've approached him, you will bow and he will bow back to you if he trusts you— if not, then— um... we have a problem." he informs.

Cassie, feeling intrigued now, takes a step forward toward Buckbeak. He is a fascinating creature and she, for some reason, wants to know more.

Bravery and adrenaline coursing her veins, Cassie slowly bows at the creature. She looks up at the bird and looks it in the eye, but she can feel Enzo's burning gaze on her back. Cassie starts to get nervous when it remains silent. Buckbeak looks her in the eye still, twisting his head slightly.