Heroes' Journey: To be the Strongest, Be the Weakest

THESTRALS

Hagrid had just finished showing the class how to get the Thestral to trust you. It was a huge horse, with a beak, wings, and a scaly tail. "Anyone want to try?" No one stepped forwards.

"We would!" cried one of the Hufflepuffs.

"Go ahead!"

Amaterasa sped out and grabbed Hebridean by the arm. The Thestral looked at the small, courageous girl and the dazed, confused boy. May as well go easy first, thought the Thestral. It lunged at Hebridean, who instantly ducked out of the way and scampered to the base of a tree. Not so easy, it thought. Hebridean clambered up the thick vines and into the canopy.

"Phew! Horses can't climb trees," Hebridean gasped. Suddenly, he heard the beating of wings. "Flying horse!" he realised.

"Get down here, you Thestral! Leave Hebridean alone!" Amaterasa called from below. Hebridean pressed against the cage of branches as the Thestral climbed in with him. It gave a roar and raced. Hebridean grabbed out his wand. Now or never. "LUMOS!" Oops. Wrong spell. Didn't work anyway... He noticed something strange. The Thestral was just sitting there, staring at him. "Good Thestral... stay there a minute..." Hebridean's heart was pounding as he inched past the creature, wand grasped firmly. Grrr... The Thestral strode towards him. "LUMOS!" It stopped and looked bewildered. In the few seconds it took the creature to figure out that nothing was happening, Hebridean was already swinging to the ground. It soared out and spun towards him, missing by inches. When it zoomed by the fourth time, Hebridean threw a muzzle made of vines around the Thestral's beak. Using that as a rein, he pulled the creature to Hagrid.

"Great work, Hebbie!" two voices shouted in unison. Hebridean looked over to see the just-arrived Krishna jumping up and down by Magpie.

"Next time, try to do it a bit faster. Then you'll be fine," Magpie noted, sketching the scene in a notepad. Hebridean laughed. At least he had one subject he wasn't a failure in now.