Carina McGonagall is named after the constellation containing the second brightest star in the sky - and it just so happens one Sirius Black is named after the brightest. They've always had an interesting relationship throughout the years - pranks...
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1st April 1976
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The first of April was the first day that had actually felt like springtime. March had just been wet and miserable weather wise, unfortunately for Remus and James who had had to spend their birthdays in the bitter cold of the classrooms, though James still found a way to throw a very large party in the Gryffindor Common Room. A party that Carina did not attend. Too many random people. Just the idea of it made her start hyperventilating.
However once April came around, the weather seemed to perk up a bit. The trees were growing leaves again and some even had blossom again. And at last, the sun had finally come out of its almost seven month hibernation to shine down on the fifth year Care of Magical Creatures students as they all gathered outside of the Hippogriff pen. "Good morning, Professor Kettleburn," the class chorused with a little more life than they had had for the past few months. Carina was excited to see that just beyond the fence there appeared to be what looked like baby Hippogriffs.
Remus and Carina were the only two in their friendship group who took Care of Magical Creatures except good old Pandora, whose sketches of the animals, and healing charms for them were beyond compare. The OWLs were getting closer but it didn't seem like a scary thing to do for Care of Magical Creatures as it was such a quiet and easy class, with only about fifteen students in total.
Carina and Remus had not grown more distant since her getting together with Sirius; if anything, it had made them even closer. She would hang out in the Gryffindor common room or up in their dorms even more now, and no one really cared or complained about it at all. It was like she had been made an honorary Gryffindor of sorts and Remus was just fine with that.
Exam work had begun across the school. With the OWL work scheme having been drilled into their heads since the beginning of the year, most fifth years were confident about their OWLs - particularly Carina's boyfriend and his equally cocky best friend. It felt weird to Carina to be able to refer to Sirius as her boyfriend; Remus did it all the time to tease both Carina and Sirius. Most girls in her year group who were in a relationship were always constantly saying "my boyfriend this" or "my boyfriend that" but to Carina, Sirius wasn't just her boyfriend. He was... Sirius.
Professor Kettleburn gave them a brief lecture about Hippogriffs, and slyly hinted to them that "a certain creature may be part of the written work for a certain test coming up" and that "certain people may want to read up on said creature in... I don't know, perhaps a certain book that had been set for reading?". He finished off his little talk with a wink and flourishing open the gate to the paddock.
Professor Kettleburn trusted his fifth years, more so than most, so he simply just let them into the pen and allowed them to roam freely while he casually watched from the side lines.
Unlike most of the others who had made a direct bee line to go and interact with the baby Hippogriffs - foals, Carina thought they were called - Carina, Remus and Pandora all stayed off to one side of the little field with the older Hippogriffs. Keeping at least a good few feet away from them still, Carina intently watched all the social interactions of the herd. The leader of the pack seemed to be quite a young male, but most of the creatures seemed to be watching his female counterpart for guidance about what to do. Smiling, Carina did a rough sketch of the paddock and the herd, labelling it neatly with all the social standings of each of the creatures.
Once everyone had cleared away from the little foals to study a specific Hippogriff for their essay, Carina saw it as her opportunity to observe them. Unlike the other students, Carina kept a small distance away from the babies to sketch and watch their interactions and reactions to each other. That was until a few of them came waddling up to her. She didn't immediately dive away or move, so that she didn't frighten them, and the foals seemed to take that as an invitation to jump around and climb all over her. Remus, who had been watching the whole thing, was in peels of laughter as the baby Hippogriffs hopped onto Carina's lap, flew around her head on their little wings and got tangled in her long thick hair. Pandora giggled to herself, as she sketched the situation in her enchanted pencils.
Chuckling to himself, Professor Kettleburn hobbled over to help Carina with the ten clambering and adventurous little Hippogriffs as he called out that it was the end of class. As the group walked away, Pandora showed Carina and Remus the drawing of Carina and the Hippogriffs that she had done. It was beautifully realistic and well drawn but the thing that made it was the soft movements of the pencil figures. Carina, her face cringing, her hands shifting from place to place, her hair flying; the Hippogriffs, jumping about the place, their little bodies dancing, their tiny wings flapping in glee and all falling, tripping and tumbling over every so often; and Remus, rolling around on the floor laughing off to the side and occasionally picking up a rogue baby that had wandered off to the side.
The drawing was beautiful, and Pandora had drawn a few different variations of the entire scene. She gave the first one to Carina, but not before sweeping her wand over the page. This brought it to life with a shimmering array of colours and textures. After adding the highlights and shading, Pandora handed Carina a lovely and strikingly realistic drawing of the class to remember it all by. Her smile widening by the moment, Carina threw her arms around her friends as they walked back up the cobbled stone path and back to the main school building and the Great Hall for lunch.
