Lions of Godric Chapter 1

My second fan fiction my OC in this story is a boy called Starrik, he is a 6'2" and lanky ex-Gryffindor with blue eyes and mid length brown hair. He is kind, loyal, clever and very protective.

Starrik lounged in his brightly coloured tent, listening to the sounds of the carnival that was raging around him. The promise of magic and inexplicable tricks on a sign outside did very little to sway the hordes of Muggles outside, he barely earned enough to eat of a night. He'd run one day, leaving everything behind, his family, his friends, the wizarding world at large. Starrik so often wished that he could take everything back, all that he had said, the leaving, the screaming, everything. But he couldn't, so now he travelled with this forsaken circus, alone and lonely.

Rose Weasley, a contortionist, also a runaway Gryffindor stumbled into the tent, a drink in hand. "Why hello Starrik, you should come outside, this is a carnival, you're supposed to have fun"

He gave her a pointed look for a moment, then gave in and followed her outside. It was pointless to argue with Rose Weasley, she could- quite literally- wriggle her way out of even the most foolproof arguments.

Rose passed her drink to Starrik and led him towards the main tent. The main tent was where all the 'magic' happened in this circus. To get there they had to pass through the extraordinarily large group of Muggles and duck under the fire eaters flame. Rose remembered their first day there when Starrik's hair had caught on fire. A giggle escaped her lips as she thought of the moment.

"Flame-hair again? I swear, every time you so much as look at this tent you giggle." he laughed. He couldn't stay bored long in her company.

"Well it was a very funny moment Starrik" she giggled and led him to their reserved front row seats in the main tent. The best spot in the entire tent.

"It is the entire reason I'm not a fire-eater. I remember it well." he smiled, and took his seat. "Don't you ever get bored of the main show? It is always exactly the same, you remember?"

She cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. "I suppose sometimes I do... but it's still extremely exciting. Don't you get a thrill when you see the horses, the magicians, the wolf baby?"

"Not really. It all juts blurs for me. Though..." he thought a moment, before admitting "With you it does become a lot more fun again."

She giggled again, the drink which she had drunk 5 minutes earlier obviously getting her hyper. "You know what make it even more exciting?," she whispered, "If you watch it from the top of the bar in the middle of the tent. Remember the last time we did it?!"

"Do you remember me falling off?" he laughed. "Rose, do you ever remember that I'm afraid of heights?" he asked. Though, if she wanted them to watch it from up there, he still would. He'd just be terrified the entire time. They'd done it at least three or four times.

"Ah you're a wuss Starrik, you know that?" she giggled. A sudden look of realization came across her face. "I know what I initially came into your tent for... the lions have arrived Starrik!"

"We have lions?!" Now he was a little excited. As was very patriotic of him, the Gryffindor inside him had always been disappointed that there were no lions. "And I'm brave enough, thank you. I'm a veritable lion myself!"

She hit him on the back of his head slightly. "Pffft, lion, yeah right, more like my mum's old cat" Rose froze. This was the first time she had mentioned anything about her past since they got here. Rose sighed and said with much less enthusiasm than her last sentence, "C'mon, they're in the cages in the exotic animals tent"

"Cat's are fierce. Cuddly too." he laughed, but spotted her discomfort and decided to bring it up later. "Lead the way!"

Rose smiled. She led Starrik to the exotic animals tent. And my, was it a sight to see. Scattered in and around the tent were the most extraordinary animals. This circus was well known for finding animals that no one had even seen before. But still, the most exciting animals in that room for Rose and Starrik were the lions. And there they stood in the middle of the room. In their cages. The symbol of Gryffindor.

"Is it weird that I want to stroke its mane?" he asked, breaking the trance that the lions held. The room smelled of faeces and was rather shabby, but the lions made it seem a royal palace.

"Yes Starrik, that is extremely weird, it could bite your hand off" said Rose, though secretly she wished to do the same.

"But it's just so elegant. I could use one less hand anyway!" he joked, sorely tempted.

Rose rolled her eyes and looked around for Marcel, the animal carer.

"Marcel, over here" shouted Rose as she spotted the lanky teenager. It seemed as if almost everyone in this circus was a runaway teenager.

Starrik turned to her. "Do you actually know everyone in this circus?" he asked, curious.

"Yes, I am a very popular and likeable person Starrik, if you haven't noticed" Rose muttered, smirking.

"I had indeed noticed, the contrast with myself is so striking it's hard not to notice." he laughed.

"Really, everyone?"

"Yes, except I haven't met that new fortune teller Magola." she said. "Ah Marcel" she said, a large smile on her face, she reached out and hugged him. "I just wanted to ask if you tell us some cool stuff about the lions"

Shuffling rather awkwardly next to the two, Starrik waited for the story that he hoped would come. He'd say hello to the animal keeper, but he seemed a little preoccupied with watching and talking to Rose.

"Ah yes, the lions, these may look like normal lions Rose, but in fact they are an exceedingly rare breed of lion"

Butting in just a little bit, Starrik piped up "Um, are you sure? They look just like plains lions. Like, exactly like plains lions."

Marcel's booming laugh filled the tent, stirring up all the animals. Rose let herself smile a bit. She would have thought that Starrik of all people would have noticed the difference.

"I mean, they have got some paint on them that looks like spotted lions. But surely you didn't pay extra for that." he asked.

Rose shook her head, "It isn't the paint Starrik. Look at the lions paws. The shape of the nails. The streaks in the manes, when I said that these were the symbol of Gryffindor I wasn't joking, these are the lions of Godric"

Thanks for reading.