All The Houses

Beautiful Beast

My next class was with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. It was care of magical creatures. I've been looking forward to this class. I didn't know where to go so I found the Ravenclaws and followed them.
"Hi Calandra" A voice said behind me. It was Rose.
"Hi". We talked about our mornings. I told her about Justin's sister. As we walked outside, and away from the castle, we saw a hut. There was a man outside. It was the giant man that had taken us across the lake.
"Hello class. I'm Professor Hagrid and today I'm gonna teach you about my favourite.... hippogriffs. I teach first years about 'em in the first class every year". There was a mutter of excitement.
"Now, before I bring 'em out you all have to promise to respect 'em. Very proud creature, dey are. If you insult 'em they'll attack. Do ye all promise?"
Everyone nods.
"Ok then. Now ya have to bow to 'em, and if they bow back you can pet 'em. Now who wants to go first?"
My hand shot up in the air. Some people looked at me as if I was crazy, but a couple of people were slowly putting up there hands too.
"You, there. You had your hand up first" he said pointing at me. I walked forward eagerly. He brought out the most magnificent creature I had ever seen. His legs were like horse legs and his head was like a giant eagle's head. He flapped his wings proudly. It was the most beautiful beast I had ever seen.
"Come on now, don't be shy. This is Roughclaw." said Professor Hagrid. I walked towards the hippogriff. I bowed so low the my nose was almost touching the ground. The hippogriff stepped forward and for a moment, I thought he was going to attack, but then he bowed his head too.
"Ver' good. Would ya like ter ride 'im?" Asked Professor Hagrid. I nodded eagerly. Professor Hagrid helped me onto Roughclaw's back. Roughclaw stood still for a moment, and then, without warning, he took of. He soared through the sky. I hung on for my life. It was the most amazing feeling. The wind was blowing  through my hair. I was flying and never wanted to go back down to earth. Up in the sky I didn't have a care in the world. But sadly, Roughclaw decided he had enough and began to land. I looked down as he got closer to the ground. Roughclaw wasn't heading back to Hagrid. He was heading for the forest. First years aren't supposed to go there. It's supposed to be dangerous. I began to panick and started yelling at Roughclaw that he was going the wrong way, but he was deaf to my pleas. We landed in a clearing in forest. I climbed off Roughclaw's back and started trying to decide what way to go. Roughclaw was following me and tugged at my robes. There was cry of an animal in the distance. Roughclaw stopped following me and cried back. I stopped walking and watched him with curiosity. He looked into my eyes, willing me to understand something. I walked towards Roughclaw and bowed. He bowed back without hesitation. I climbed onto his back and he took of again. He was flying over the forest, his eyes scanning the ground. Suddenly he dived down, with no warning. We landed once again. They was something cowering behind a tree. It was small and feathery. At first I thought it was a bird, but Roughclaw walked towards it and dragged it from behind the tree. It was baby hippogriff. I bent down to pet it but it nipped me with its tiny teeth. I guess the same rules apply to the babies. I bent my head low and it bowed back. I reached out my hand to pet it. It's feathers were softer than Roughclaw.
"Where's your mom, little guy?" I asked it. It turned around and I thought he was going to run away, but he looked at me to follow him. It led Roughclaw and I away from where we found him. We came to cluster of trees. They was something big lying there. A hippogriff. I walked towards it carefully. It didn't move. I reached my hand out to it slowly and put it on it's chest. It wasn't breathing. Roughclaw and the baby went over to the dead hippogriff and bowed to it. When they stood up, they let a cry. I walked over to Roughclaw and bowed. He bowed back. I did the same with the baby. I lifted up the baby and put him on Roughclaw's back and then I climbed up myself. I leaned forward and whispered into Roughclaw's ear
"Your a very clever creature. Now let's get this little baby safe". He took off. Once again I was flying, only this time it wasn't as comfortable, because I had to hold on to the baby hippogriff who was very heavy. When we eventually landed. The class and Hagrid came running over.
"What did you think you were doing!"yelled Professor Hagrid.
"I..I'm sorry, but Roughclaw just flew into the forest. He was looking for this." I said as held up the baby hippogriff. "We found it in the forest with its mother, but his mother was dead." I continued. I got off Roughclaw's back and handed the baby to Professor Hagrid.
"Right. I think class is over" said Professor Hagrid. "Will you stay for a minute Calandra?".
"Yes sir"
"Where did you find this Little one" he said while cradling the baby hippogriff. I told him the whole story in detail (one thing about us Irish is that we don't know how to make a long story short).
"Right. Well you can go now" said Professor Hagrid. "Ya know Roughclaw really likes you". I smiled and said goodbye, and headed to my next class. That night when I went to sleep, I dreamt I was flying on Roughclaw's back.