Year One With the Marauders

The Chicken

The next morning was a Monday, meaning classes were to begin shortly after breakfast. Jay wakes up and looks around; a little confused of where he is at first. The room was cool, but he wasn't cold thanks to the quilts laying over him; he saw plants sitting in the corners and on small shelves. Jay looks to his left and saw his reason for waking up; a window with the sun shinning brightly through.

He gets up, remembering that he's in his new dormitory in the Hufflepuff common room, and gets ready for his first day of classes. Once he's in his school robes, he walks down a hallway into the common room. He looks around the room searching for his twin sister; not finding her, he walks up to the older student who brought them to the common room for the first time last night, the prefect.

"Excuse me? Have you seen my sister?" Jay asks.

"Um... She was sitting here earlier; I assume waiting for you, but I guess she went to the Great Hall for breakfast," she answers.

"Alright, thanks." Jay made his way out of the common room in search of his twin. He climbs up a few flights of stairs until he comes to the Entrance Hall, and finds Leigh standing by the Great Hall doors.

"Morning, Leigh," he says walking up to her.

"Morning, Jay," she answers cheerfully. She tilts her head to look around jay; looking for Kat. "Where's Kat?"

Jay shrugs, "Don't know. I woke up a little late and couldn't find her in the common room."

"Well, I didn't see her in the Great Hall. Maybe she went exploring?"

Jay's eyes widen, "We need to find her. Now!"

"What? Why?" Leigh asks confused.

"She's terrible with directions; she gets lost all the time, and she gets distracted very easily."

"Oh... We should probably start looking then," Leigh says; starting toward the door leading outside.

They go outside and start searching around the court yard. They search for a little bit until they find an older student. They ask them if they have seen anyone with Kat's description; the student mentions seeing some one similar down by Hagrid's hut.

The two thank the older student and run off down to Hagrid's. They eventually get there and see a student outside talking with Hagrid in his garden. As they get closer they recognize the student as-

"KAT!" Jay yell out, relieved to have finally found his twin. "What are you doing down here? We've looked everywhere for you!" He stops and really looks at her then asks, "Why are you holding a chicken?"

"Well, I woke up early, and got bored waiting in the common room. I figured I could find the Great Hall on my own." Kat starts explaining. "Somehow, I got outside and I saw this chicken in the court yard; so I caught him, and was trying to find where he was supposed to be when Hagrid found me with him. We were just talking about magical creatures and how awesome and misunderstood they are. Right, Hagrid?" Kat says; looking up at Hagrid.

"That's right," he replies smiling.

Suddenly, the chicken starts flapping his wings and clucking until Kat releases him. He flutters to the ground and walks over to Jay. Jay looks down and blinks at him.

"What?" He asks it. "Shoo... Go away." He says, waving his hands to make it go away.

Leigh rolls her eyes at Jay, and Kat's story, smiling as she turns to Hagrid saying, "Well, thanks for finding Kat, Hagrid. But we really need to get back to the Great Hall. I'm really hungry."

"Glad I could help. Now, you three have a good first day of classes. And you three come back and chat anytime." Hagrid says with a big smile.

They wave goodbye and head back to the castle to get some breakfast. As they walk up the front steps they hear the flutter of wings and they all turn around to find the same chicken that Kat found following them into the castle.