Ripped Away

Year Three: Thestrals, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Nostalgic Surprises

When the train finally arrived at Hogsmeade station, Heracles was mostly recovered but still exhausted, and she wanted nothing more than to eat her fill at the welcoming feast and go to bed. Walking off the train platform and towards the carriages that took students to the castle with her friends and Crookshanks at her heels (the only person missing from the group was Dennis, who had split off from the rest of the group to go with the other first years on the boats), Heracles made a beeline for the nearest empty carriage. Or rather, she made a beeline for the pair of Thestrals pulling it.

"Well hello there lovelies. Are you just the sweetest looking things?", Heracles said with a small, serene smile as she gently stroked the heads of the skeletal creatures. Since first years took the boats and in second year she apparated to school, Heracles had yet to experience riding in the carriages that carried everyone in second year and above to Hogwarts, and thus had never had the chance to meet the creatures that pulled them.

Well, that was partially a lie. She had seen the Thestrals from a distance at the start of her first year, and had seen them from afar a few other times during her jaunts in the Forbidden Forest, but she had yet to actually see one up close, let alone touch one, until now. Heracles laughed as the Thestrals nuzzled into her hands enthusiastically, before moving on to do the same thing with her neck.

"Such enthusiasm! Hagrid was right, you lot are all just the biggest sweethearts, aren't you?", Heracles asked rhetorically as she kept petting the creatures. Her friends watched her cuddle air in bewilderment.

"Hera, what are you doing?", Fred asked, deeply confused. Was Heracles's brain still addled by the dementors? No, it couldn't be. If she was still being affected by those foul creatures, she wouldn't look so happy. Heracles squealed as one of the Thestrals playfully nipped her ear.

"What does it look like I'm doing?", Heracles asked them, wanting to tease her friends a little, and all of them felt relief upon hearing the cheerfulness in her tone. Cheerfulness meant she was happy, which meant she was starting to feel better. Colin scrunched his nose, though not unkindly.

"It looks like you're playing with air.", he stated bluntly. Luna smiled dreamily at her yearmate.

"She's not playing with air. She's touching a creature you can't see.", the girl revealed, and everyone looked at her in interest.

"What? You mean the carriages are pulled by some kind of invisible beast?", Ginny asked. Heracles nodded in confirmation.

"That's exactly what Luna's saying, Ginny. These beauties are called Thestrals. They're winged, skeletal horses that can only be seen by those who have seen death, which is why they're invisible to you lot. They get a bad rep because of their looks and their carnivorous nature, but they're very gentle creatures, not to mention smart as a whip. There's a herd of them in the Forbidden Forest, I haven't had the chance to see one up close until now.", the older girl confirmed as she looked lovingly at the two beasts basking in her attention, and Heracles laughed at Ginny's surprised expression.

"What's with that face? You didn't really think the carriages just pulled themselves, did you?", the green eyed girl asked rhetorically, and everyone that wasn't her or Luna shared a look.

"I mean... ", George started to say as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

" ...Yeah, kinda? We've seen our Mum use spells that can make dishes wash themselves, spells that can make brooms sweep the floors themselves, and spells that can make her knitting needles do her knitting for her all the time... ", Fred said, picking up his brother's sentence where he left off with practiced ease. Soon enough, George was doing the same thing.