Part - Vampire at Hogwarts

First CoMC Lesson

Riana's POV

We're in the great hall having lunch before Care of Magical Creatures. Ron had to bring up the Grim.  "You haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?" he asks Harry.

"I saw one the night I left the Dursleys" Harry answers.

"Did have yellow eyes?" I ask him.

"Don't know, didn't really look at it's eyes" he states.

"Probably just a stray then" Hermione tells him.

"A grim is no joking matter Hermione. Taking the form of a giant spectral dog, it's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen...of death" I explain.

"My -- my uncle Bilius saw one and -- and he died twenty-four hours later" Ron adds.

"Coincidence" Hermione says.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Ron exclaims angrily. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards" he states.

"There you are, then" Hermione says. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then" she states.

"Honestly Hermione, if it were a real grim he would be dead. I believe it was just a stray as you said" I tell her. "Now we had better get to Care of Magical Creatures" I tell them. They agree reluctantly as Ron mouthed wordlessly at Hermione.

We walk down to Hagrid's hut. Hermione and Ron refusing to talk to each other like toddlers. As we reach Hagrid's hut I groan noticing we have thos class with Slytherin. "C'mon, now, get a move on!" Hagrid calls. "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!" he instructs.

Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, with us following him. Five minutes later, we found ourselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there. We all gather around the fence line. "Now, firs' thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books" he tells us.

"How?" Draco drawls.

"By stroking the spine, am I the only one who figured that out?" I ask. All the others look sheepish. I roll my eyes stroke the spin of my copy of The Monster Book Of Monsters. The book shivered, and then fell open and lay quiet in my hands.

"Well done Riana, ten points to Gryffindor" Hagrid says smiling. The rest of the class start to open their books. "Now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Hang on" he says and walks away. He goes into the forest out of sight.

"God, this place is going to the dogs. Wait until I tell my father that they have this oaf teaching classes" Malfoy drawls.

"Shut up, Malfoy" Harry says.

"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you" Malfoy sneers.

"Oooohh!" Lavender squeals. Pointing toward the opposite side of the paddock. I turn to see a dozen hippogriffs. Each had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain. The ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

"Gee up there" he says loudly. Everyone but me drew back slightly as Hagrid reached us and tethered the creatures to the fence. "Hippogriffs" he declares happily.

"They are quiet beautiful Hagrid" I tell him.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' Hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do" Hagrid explains. I notice Malfoy and his goons not paying attention. I raise my hand. "Yes Riana?" he asks me.

"How should one approach a hippogriff?" I ask him curious.

"Very good question" he tells me smiling. "Yeh always wait fer the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt" he explains. "Who'd like to come say hello?" he asks as he turns to the Hippogriffs.

Everyone but Harry and I take a step back. Hagrid turns back and smiles at us. "Well done Harry and Riana" he tells us. "Harry you can go first with Buckbeak" he states. Harry enters the paddock slowly. Hagrid untied one of the chains, pulled the gray Hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class seem to be holding its breath. Malfoy's eyes were narrowed maliciously.

I lean on the fence watching closely. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink...Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much" Hagrid instructs. "Give him a nice bow. Then you wait and see if he bows back. If he does, you can go and touch him. If not... Well, we'll get to that later" he explains.

Harry gave a short bow and then looked up. Buckbeak was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move. "Right -- back away, now, Harry, easy does it" Hagrid instructs. Harry does so and bows again, this time lower. Buckbeak suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was
an unmistakable bow.

"Well done Harry" I praise smiling.

"Right -- yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on" Hargid tells him. Harry moved slowly toward Buckbeak and reached out toward him. He patted the beak several times and Buckbeak closed his eyes lazily, as though enjoying it. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him" he declares.

Hagrid lifts Harry onto Buckbeak. Placing him in between the wing joint. "Don't pull out any of his feathers, because he won't thank you for that" Hagrid tells him. He slaps Buckbeaks hind quarters making him gallop away. As Harry holds onto his neck tightly. Buckbeak takes off.

Buckbeak flew Harry once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground. He lands gracefully and Harry slides off of him. We all cheer, except for the Slytherins. "Okay, who else wants a go?" Hagrid asks. Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the Hippogriffs one by one, and soon people were bowing nervously, all over the paddock.

I go over to a black one and curtsy. It bows back and I approach it slowly. I stroke it's beak and neck. "You are very handsome" I tell him and he coos happily. Nudging me with his head.

"This is very easy" Malfoy drawls. "I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it...I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you? Are you, you great ugly brute?" he asks Buckbeak. Who he had been patting.

It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high pitched scream. Next moment, Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy. Who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes. I feel my eyes darken as I smell the fresh blood. I curse and get onto my hippogriff. "Fly boy" I instruct and he takes off towards the Black Lake with me on his back.

A/N

Gif above of Buckbeak and picture on the external link of the Monster Book of Monsters.