Dark Griffin
Chapter One
White billowing steam gushed from the sides of the Hogwarts Express with a deep hiss as students said their farewells to families and friends. Many had stopped to gaze awkwardly at a first year in particular who had an escort of three Aurors and one ministry official. The Aurors seemed abnormally tense, making sure not to turn their backs to the child, and kept their wands at the ready as if expecting a desperate fight for their lives. One would suspect they would busy themselves scanning the surrounding crowd for possible attackers, but they kept their eyes fixed on the child who seemed quite oblivious of his escort. Perhaps the first year was actually used to this, or even thought of it as normal.
More perplexing than the escort, was the first year himself. The boy was dressed in regular black Hogwarts robes, with dark brown hair that feel an inch short of his jawbone. The odd thing about the boy is that he seemed very light on his feet at times, like he was weightless, ghost walking in a way. In a few rare instances one could have said he skipped a step and drifted just above the stone walk of platform nine and three quarters.
The boy with dark brown hair and darker brown eyes seemed oblivious to his guards or the curious glances the passerby's gave him. The boy was happy, ecstatic to go to the magical school, like a bird being let out of its cage for the first time.
Setting the fact aside the young boy had an ethereal grace or his company that seemed to be treating him as a prisoner more than a soon to be student of Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, he also had a strange black leather collar around his neck. The odd part about is that the neck cuff had no buckle or way to detach it, but iron loops to connect chains of some type. It clearly was not a fashion statement but some sort of irremovable restraint device, undoubtedly with magical properties.
"You have been briefed about this on multiple occasions, so I've got nothing to tell you," the ministry official said stiffly. "Any questions Unit one zero one alpha?"
"No sir," Donovan, or Unit one zero one alpha said in a militant fashion, standing in a rigid position of attention.
"Very well, Dismissed Unit one zero one alpha," he said turning around, not sounding very thrilled about anything in particular. The Aurors backed away until they felt they were at a safe distance where they could turn their backs to the child and flank the ministry official who had to leave the eleven year old by himself, clearly with much more important things to do.
Donovan was interrupted in middle of mentally conceiving his freedom by a small cluster of girls who eyed him warily.
"Three Aurors you know."
"What's that dog collar around his neck anyway?"
"You see him float above the ground for a moment there?"
Donovan sighed as he slung his rucksack over his shoulders and grasped his trunk firmly by the handle. He effortlessly hauled his luggage and handed his ticket to a conductor who examined the ticket and then asked for identification, the new procedure since the end of the second war nearly twelve years ago.
"Yes sir," Donovan said as he set down his trunk and dug into a pocket inside his robes and removed a leather wallet and flipped it open. A picture ID was displayed, the conductor tapped it with his wand making it glow blue, proving its authenticity. The conductor paused staring at a silver badge on the other face of Donovan's wallet.
"The Authority to apprehend and arrest? And to use deadly force!" the conductor said rather bewildered of the child's legal rights. "But you're just a kid!"
"My ticket sir?" Donovan said tiredly giving the man an artic stare.
"Oh yes," the unsettled conductor said handing the boy his ticket and letting him board the train.
Donovan walked down the aisle between compartments, not bothering to check which ones where occupied and which ones were not, like he already knew. After traveling several cars down Donovan opened a door without knocking to reveal no one, but plenty of luggage in the rack. Clearly the occupants had all left for some reason with the intent to return.
Donovan sighed as he shut the door and continued down the train. The next car down he discovered a compartment vacant of both people and luggage, which he claimed for himself.
He slung his luggage most adults would struggle with into the overhead rack with ease and removed two books from his military-style rucksack one titled "Wizarding Warfare Throughout The Millennium" and the other 'Magical Combat: An Art – Written by Alastor Moody'.
Donovan opened the text composed by the Ex-Auror at the placement of the bookmark and allowed himself to become enveloped with the veteran's advice on how to identify a hostile enemy who has taken the identity as one of your own. Donovan hardly noticed that the train had slowly begun to roll forward and accelerate gradually.
Donovan pushed a tendril of dark brown hair out of his eyes as he flipped a page reading through the text, currently reading how the author was impersonated for nearly a year without being noticed in Hogwarts.
The door had just begun to slide open; Donovan reacted instantly.
"Anything off the trolley dear?" an elder woman asked, but stared in mild shock at a boy presenting himself at attention.
Donovan continued to stand at attention and decided to ignore the fact that he had been referred to as a land based herbivore. "I have already been provided with adequate rations ma'am," he said holding his posture firmly.
The lady nodded weakly and left, leaving the door open behind her, and muttered "Always a new one every year."
The perplexed boy got up from his seat and walked towards the door about to close it when a small black furry thing darted inside.
Donovan was caught of guard, something that would have not gone unpunished at the ministry as he reached for his wand. He never cast magic before, but seen it done a thousand times. He should be able to muster a simple stunning spell.
The black creature leapt at the boy and clung to his robes and ascended swiftly. Donovan reached down and snagged the creature by the ruff of the neck and pointed the wand at the creature and it struggled in mid air.
"A Kneazle?" he said identifying the intruding magical creature. Large green eyes stared into Donovan's cold brown ones. Very large pointed ears focused towards Donovan as the feline's black tail, comparable to that of a lion's, swayed back and forth adoringly. The creature made a trilling meow as it looked at the boy innocently.
"Kieran!" a girl's voice called from the aisle. A girl, a few inches shorter than Donovan appeared in the doorway.
The girl gasped in shock as she saw Donovan holding her pet with his wand pointing at the harmless creature.
"This yours ma'am?" he said looking from the infantile Kneazle to her as he holstered his wand.
The girl had long black silky hair and vivid blue eyes; it took Donovan a moment to realize she had a pair of white pearly wings coming out of her back. He had the immediate impression of an eleven-year-old angel.
"Sorry if he bothered you," she said taking the feline magical creature back.
Donovan was about to ask her if she was half harpy as he suspected, but remember how it irritated him when people asked about his heritage. "You need a compartment to stay in ma'am?" he offered.
"Thanks," the girl said as she dragged her luggage inside. "And my name is Celeste by the way."
Kieran leapt towards the door eagerly, but was cut off by Donovan who slammed the door in front of the Kneazle, whose ears drooped slightly in light of his failed escape.
"Likes to run away from you I take it?" Donovan said sitting down on his side and cracking open his book.
"Only when I run after him in return," Celeste explained as she craned her neck to read the title of the book. "Magical combat: an art. You want to be an Auror when you grow up?" she asked.
Donovan stooped reading, but kept his eyes fixated upon the text in front of him. "That's not for me to decide," he said after a few seconds pause.
Celeste looked at Donovan worriedly. "Strict parents?" she asked.
"My mother is dead and my father is in Azkaban," Donovan told her. "I don't have parents."
Celeste feathery wings drooped in embarrassment. "Sorry I brought that up."
"I don't have a problem talking about it," Donovan said throwing his book to the side; he obviously was not going to get any reading done soon. "I never seen my father and my mother died right after I was born."
"So your father was arrested before you mother gave birth? He wasn't a - you know – Death Eater, was he?" she asked timidly. Kieran the Kneazle was busy trying to capture a fly that was bouncing of the window in an attempt to escape.
Donovan grinned darkly. "My father is not a inmate in Azkaban, he's one of the guards."
Celeste's eye met Donovan's in shock. "You're a-a…" she said trailing off.
"Mutant? Freak? Magical Anomaly?" Donovan said with a raised eyebrow.
"Half-breed," Celeste said looking sadly at him. Her pet had just acquired itself the fly it had been going after and begun pawing at the injured insect that wriggled around on the ground. "Like me," she added.
"Half Harpy correct?" Donovan said nodding at her feathery appendages.
"And you're a half Dementor," Celeste confirmed, grasping the concept.
"The only one that has ever existed," Donovan said with a false pride in his voice, like he wished he didn't exist at all.
"I never heard of one before, but then, sorry for asking, what do you eat exactly?" Celeste said cocking her eyebrows.
"Food," Donovan said unable to restrain a small amount of smugness in his voice.
"So then, what can you do, being that your half Dementor?" Celeste asked.
"I can see souls," Donovan explained. "I can fly like a Dementor, as I expect you can-"
"-Not very well with these robes on, way to much wind resistance," she explained. "I have to get a running start as well."
"Probably faster than me I'd imagine," Donovan said giving her a slightly contemptuous sideways glance.
Celeste blinked momentarily. "Hey. My sister said something about seeing a kid who was occasionally floating above the ground. He was surrounded by like ten Aurors."
"Three actually," he corrected her.
Celeste looked at Donovan with wide sparkling eyes. "Your with the ministry?" she said perplexedly.
"I'm ministry property," Donovan said who stared at Kieran who had just leapt up on his lap and mewed at him expectantly. Donovan looked as if he didn't know what to do, like he had never had contact with a domesticated pet before.
"What?" Celeste said in a disbelieving voice.
"My mother died, correct? So my custody goes to my father, but he is a Dementor who is also owned by the ministry. So in short, the ministry owns me," he said straightforwardly as he held out a finger for Kieran to stiff.
"They can't own people!" Celeste said in an outburst.
"I'm not a person, as I am continuously reminded," Donovan said wondering how to react to a fuzzy black creature that was rubbing up against him. "I remember that Kneazle claws are a vital ingredient in a number of potions." Kieran leapt of his lap with an irritated meow before climbing up into the luggage rack and sitting himself down.
"Why don't they just give you to someone else?" Celeste asked.
"I expect they have plans for me," he said putting his arms under his head as his stretched to more comfortable position on his chair.
"So you're a slave?" Celeste said with a tone of hopelessness in her voice.
"That's one way of putting it," Donovan said looking at the ceiling.
Celeste looked out the window. "Ever thought of running away?"
"Impossible," Donovan denied flatly.
"How come?"
Donovan pulled down his shirt collar and revealed a black leather cuff around his neck. Two Iron loops protruded from either side so chains could be attached.
Celeste hesitated. "A dog collar?"
Donovan sat up and looked at her in the eyes. "It's called a garrote. It has a locater spell worked in so they know were I am at all times. If I disobey an order it will shrink, hence straggling me, until either I comply too my orders or pass out."
"Oh my," she said uncomfortably.
"It can also constrict until it decapitates me entirely," Donovan said as if on a happier note.
Celeste looked out the window and watched a heavily forested mountain slowly pass them. "Are you a weapon?" she said not looking at Donovan.
Donovan looked out the window with her. "And anything else they want me to be."
A long silence plagued the room. Donovan suddenly looked up towards the door as if expecting something, his hand reaching for his wand.
The door slid open presenting a sixth year Head Girl from Ravenclaw with long black silky hair and black window frame glasses. "Hey Cely," she said to Celeste.
"Hey Jen, Back from the prefect car?" Celeste said turning towards her.
"Yeah," the sixth year said tossing her luggage up on the rack. A small black Kneazle darted out of the luggage rack and into Celeste's lap. "Oh! Sorry Kieran! Didn't see you there."
Donovan looked from one to another. Clearly many resemblances were apparent. But the Head girl seemed to lack a set of wings.
"Half sisters?" Donovan asked.
"Yeah," the Head Girl confessed. "We share the same father," she confessed.
"How much longer is this train ride going to be Jen?" Celeste asked anxiously.
"Not even a quarter done yet," Jen said giving her an 'I know what you mean' look. "And guess what I heard during the conference, about a kid in your year?"
"What?" Celeste asked.
"There's a half Dementor that's property of the ministry," she said in a gossipy tone. "Remember that kid I said I thought I saw gliding above the ground? They said he's been raised by military specialists and they call him Unit one hundred and one A-"
"-Jen," Celeste interrupted in a deep tone. "I know."
"What you mean?" Jen said cocking her head.
"It's enunciated as 'Unit one zero one alpha'," Donovan said in a bitter manner, "ma'am."
"Oh my god!" Jen said turning a wonderful shade of red and bringing her hands to her mouth. "I- I'm really, really-"
"-Nothing to apologize for ma'am," Donovan denied. "I can't blame you for being human," he said in a way that reminded her that he wasn't completely human himself.
"Jennifer, meet Donovan. Donovan, meet Jennifer," Celeste said awkwardly, trying to improve the situation.
"Can I call you Donny?" Jennifer said testily.
"Don't push your luck ma'am," Donovan said as he picked up his book 'Magical Combat: an art.'
"I read that one before," Jennifer said sitting down. "Have you read the sequel, Constant Vigilance?"
"Not yet," Donovan said flipping page. "Why they do that?" he said offhandedly.
"Do what?" Celeste said as she waved a quill in front of Kieran who was rolling around on his back clearly enjoying himself as he pawed at the quill, his lion-like tail flailing wildly.
"Remove entire chapters," Donovan said as he started to read the next one.
"What chapter did the ministry remove?" Jennifer said leaning closer so she could see the book.
"Don't know, and I don't expect I'm suppose to," he said sounding like he didn't really care one way or another.
"I got my own copy, hang on," Jennifer said opening her trunk and shuffling through a stack of books.
Celeste ignored her pet momentarily as she watched her sister flip through the pages. "What page?" she asked.
Donovan looked at his own slightly altered copy. "The page before is two seven eight, so two seven niner."
"Niner?" Celeste recited Donovan looking at him like he had problems while Jennifer narrowed down her search.
"Oh my," Jennifer said after she found page two hundred seventy-nine.
"What?" Celeste said as she tried to free her quill from Kieran's playful grasp.
Donovan and Celeste both looked at the book that lay open at the chapter the ministry had taken the liberty to remove from Donovan's copy.
"Battlefield Ethics and The Laws of War," Donovan said perplexedly.
Celeste and Jennifer shared a glance before gaping at the pitiable confusion of the boy before them.
"What does that mean, 'Ethics', is that a made up word or something?" he said looking horribly confused.
Celeste looked as if she was going to start crying into her sister's shoulder when the door to the compartment slid open.
"There he is," a smooth aristocratic voice said. A fifth year Slytherin prefect presented himself complacently at the entrance of the compartment. "Unit one zero one alpha."
"What do you want Lestrange?" Jennifer said standing up acting like a human shield between him and the two first years.
"Oh," he said leaning upon the side of the door examining one of his already perfect fingernail. He had a sort of annoying carelessness in his voice. His frothy black hair fell down to he shoulder blades and was pulled into a ponytail. Everything about Lestrange was impeccable perfection. "Just here to pay a visit to our most anticipated newcomer," he said meeting Donovan's nearly black eyes with his own faint blue ones.
"Don't count your Dragons before they hatch," Jennifer reminded firmly.
"And where else do you expect him to be sorted exactly?" he challenged her smugly.
"My mother was in Gryffindor," Donovan said standing up from his seat, his robes billowed unnaturally, a faint cold wind seemed to swirl outward from his body. It seemed to deprive Lestrange of his comfortable attitude. "I may be required to obey any and all orders from the professors, but you are powerless over me. It's true I have the blood of a Dementor flowing through my veins. Even my normal body temperature is six degrees Celsius lower than the standard human body temperature of thirty-seven. You know what else I can do?" Donovan said as his feet left the ground so he met the Slytherin eye to eye. "Just like Dementors I contain within me brutish physical strength that is undiluted. I could very easily rip your skull in half with my bare hands."
Lestrange was currently clutching the sides of the compartment door to stabilize him as a cold sweet developed all over his body. The whole compartment seemed to be devoured by shadows, the darkness became thicker that in should. The only light came faintly from the window behind Donovan, who became a human eclipse in Lestrange's perspective, except that Donovan appeared to be anything but human at the moment.
"I've never eaten a soul before, always wondered what it would taste like," Donovan said in a clearly in human tone, like some predatory animal surfaced from within. His voice was deep and raspy, his long drawn out breaths were like a death rattle forged in the deepest lair of hell itself.
The terrified Slytherin prefect stumbled backward falling on his bottom and bolted down the train aisle. Donovan slid the door shut and turned around to face two very apprehensive sisters.
"Sorry about that," he apologized. "You wouldn't have any chocolate would you? Really helps after, well, you know."
"I bought some chocolate frogs from the lady at with the trolley," Jennifer said reaching into her backpack.
"You would do well to consume them," Donovan advised as he took his seat.
Celeste was in the corner of the compartment, her wings had wrapped around herself, like a shivering white feathery cocoon. Her eyes were still wide with terror as she looked at Donovan timidly.
For the first time in his life Donovan hated himself for what he was. He also felt sorry for hurting someone. This never encountered before emotion seemed to be harassing his inner conscious in a way he could not describe.
"I uh," Donovan said trying to find the right words. "Celeste I'm sorry I brought up those bad memories, whatever they are."
Jennifer held out a chocolate frog to her little sister. Celeste stuck a hand out from between her white feathery wings and took it with a nod of thanks.
"You can't see our worst memories?" Jennifer said.
"No, it doesn't work that way," Donovan explained. "I'm not skilled in Legilemency or anything."
Celeste nibbled of a leg of the chocolate frog still visibly shaking. Clearly she had a dreadful memory that Donovan brought up.
"I won't hurt you again, I promise," Donovan vowed looking intently into Celeste's sapphire eyes.
"It's okay," Celeste said parting her wings slightly. "You had to scare him away."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
The Hogwarts express traveled on throughout the day and into the night.
"Nearly there," Jennifer said leaning back in her chair.
"Hey Jen," a voice said as the door slid open. A blonde Gryffindor girl from the same year appeared. "Where have you been all the this time?"
"I thought I would be with my sister during the ride," Jennifer said to her friend.
"Well you should see what Rug just got!" she said excitedly.
Jennifer looked to her little sister who was curled up within her wings sleeping peacefully and Donovan who was nearly finished with 'Magical Combat: An Art'.
"Okay," she said getting up and leaving with her friend.
Donovan looked outside his window as he watched Duff Town pass by in the distance. Donovan heard a trilling mew sound come from Celeste and looked at the small Kneazle protrude its head out from between her wings and yawn widely.
Donovan smiled weakly as Kieran managed to free himself from his master's feathery embrace and leap up on the windowsill to look outside.
The breaks on the train were applied and Donovan had to grab both of his books so they would not slide onto the floor due to their deceleration.
"Hey, Celeste," Donovan whispered as he shock her lightly.
"Muh is nit?" she mumbled under her wings.
"Next stop, Hogwarts," he informed.
Celeste sat up and stretched both her arms and her wings to their full span as she yawned, which sounded more like a gentle squeak. The tips of her wings made contact to either side of the spacious compartment.
"Were suppose to leave our luggage and pets here," she said still recovering from her nap, as Donovan was about to pull her trunk down from the lift.
"Oh," Donovan said shoving her trunk back to where it was.
Kieran meowed in protest and leapt expertly into Celeste's right robe pocket.
"If you plan on coming along," Celeste spoke to her bulging pocket, "you better pull that tail in."
The black lion like tail that swayed back and forth adventurously quickly disappeared inside the pocket.
"Ready?" she said looking up at Donovan, who stood several inches above her.
"I'm always ready," Donovan told her as the train came to a complete stop.
Celeste rolled her eyes. "Okay solider, then move out."
"What?" Donovan said somewhat densely as he followed her outside the compartment.
"First years! Over here!" a booming voice called out as soon as he and Celeste got off the Hogwarts express.
"Come on!" Celeste said eagerly as she grabbed Donovan's hand and led him through the crowd. He looked up at a massive silhouette in the distance and made his way through the multitude of Hogwarts students trying to keep up with his half-harpy friend.
"First years! Gather' round ya lot," the immense figure roared through the cool night. The man nearly stood above the train itself.
"Oh my," Celeste said as soon as she arrived at the feet of a half giant and had to bend her neck all the way back to see him properly. Donovan noticed that one of which was actually a peg leg that resembled a log more than anything.
"Hey there lit' angel," the man said in a deep rumbling tone from behind a massive beard of dark gray and brown.
Celeste blushed slightly and her grip tightened on Donovan's hand.
"Fer' those of you who don't know, I'm Professor Hagrid. Thou' wouldn't mind it jus be'in Hagrid," he introduced. "Let's get on our way, eh?" he said leading them apart from the rest of the students. "Steady now! The path head' is a lit' rocky!"
They were led down a narrow winding path which was easily over come by Donovan, seeing that he wore Dragon hide combat boots, and had to prevent Celeste on one occasion from losing her footing.
The difficult path led them to an enormous black lake that reflected the stray night sky and the full moon that hovered above Hogwarts. Donovan could make out the many towers and extensions conglomerated into a complex and mystifying school.
"Everyone into a boat!" Professor Hagrid hollered to everyone. "No more than five to a boat! No less than three!"
Celeste led Donovan to an unoccupied vessel and sat at the bow. Donovan held out a hand to two other boys both with neat blonde hair.
"Twins?" Donovan asked as he helped one into the wooden boat.
"No," one said rolling his eyes.
"We just happen to look exactly alike and be in the same year," the other one finished sarcastically.
Donovan, slightly taken aback sat behind the oars and grasped each one firmly about to begin rowing when they sprung to life on their own and pushed off the shore. "Should have known," he muttered.
"But didn't," one of the twins remarked arrogantly, looking thoroughly bored.
"What in the world?" the other one said looking at Celeste.
"A half hippogriff I think," his counterpart guessed.
"Mother doesn't approve of repulsive half breeds."
"You forgot about the other one," Donovan growled dangerously at them.
The twins both raised their eyebrows. "Why did you have to pick the freak ship, Marcus?" one said in an undertone to the other.
"I'll talk to father so next year he can arrange separate designated Mudblood and mutant boats so this doesn't happen again Thayne," Marcus compromised.
Donovan heard a muffled sob and the thrashing of massive wings. He turned around to see Celeste airborne and heading for the shore, evidently struggling to get their due to the fact she was still wearing her robes, but managing reasonably. Several students gasped in shock upon seeing to what appeared to be an angel in flight.
"She didn't even have the decency to bid us farewell," Thayne said leaning back in his corner of the boat crossing his arms with a disgusting leer of his face.
Donovan looked at the clearly Slytherin-bound Marcus and Thayne and smiled sadistically. Clenching a fist and raising it high, the twins recoiled as far to the back of the boat as possible expecting it was for them, and brought his fist down into the floor of the boat smashing out a gapping hole. Icy black water began to gush though the opening as the vessel began its sink bellow the waterline.
"Have a nice swim," Donovan said with a false kindness before gliding across the lake towards Celeste. He could hear the desperate cries of the twins behind them as the unpleasantly cold waters overwhelmed them.
Racing ahead of the boats Donovan arrived at the shore and looked about through the darkness. The ministry had given him vitamins every day since he was born to help him develop exceptionally in all aspects from nerve conductivity for reaction time to eye function for night vision and long-range acuity. But his eyes were still human.
He heard a faint whimper of pained sorrow from a nearby shadow.
"Celeste?" Donovan called out as he walked towards the soft crying.
A small girl with black silky hair and pearly white wings darted out of the darkness and collided into Donovan. She pressed the side of her face into his chest and began to dampen his robes with her tears.
Donovan was standing perfectly still unsure what to do. What was she doing? Donovan himself had never cried as far as he remembered, save for getting debris and the sort in his eyes, and had never been around other children his entire life to witness them in a distraught manner. Most of his time he spent in the company of stiff adults or harsh trainers who forced him to both his physical and mental boundaries.
"I wish I was strong like you Donovan," Celeste said during a lapse in her weeping on his shoulder.
"No… You don't," he told her after finally embracing her in return. "Trust me on that one."
"You want to know what I saw when you scared that Slytherin off?" she said wiping her noise on her sleeve.
"What?" Donovan said as he noticed several giant tentacles seizing two drowning children from the waters and moving them to a nearby boat.
"When I was seven years old I went with my sister and dad to Diagon Alley by the Floo network, it was my first time. I jumped a few places too far and ended up in some shop Knockturn Alley." Celeste paused as she gathered the courage to continue. "I stumbled into a man who said he would take me to Diagon Alley and led me into a side street were he drew a knife and tried to stab me with it. I remember trying to fly away, but the street was so narrow I couldn't get my full wingspan. I broke my left wing trying to get away from him and he wrestled me to the ground saying things that didn't make any sense. Just before he was able to hurt me an Auror ambush happened, like out of nowhere, and the man was killed after being hit several times by some curses." Celeste clutched Donovan tighter. "His dead sweaty body fell on top of me. He said 'freak' into my ear just before he died."
Donovan blinked several times. "That was Rustle Jugson the Half Breed killer four years back," he recalled.
"Yeah," Celeste said letting Donovan free from her embrace. "I always wanted to be an Auror when I grew up after that, but now that I see the ministry enslaved you and so on-"
"-Your not sure their exactly the good guys you were thinking they were," Donovan concluded. "If I were you I'd just worry about what house I'm going to be sorted in. Me? I don't have to worry about anything, the ministry going to do all the deciding."
"Makes life simple if you get use to it," Celeste said walking down the shore with Donovan towards the cave where the boats headed.
"It's kind of like, well it's hard to say. For starters I don't really care what they got in store for me the next day or anything, whether I know or not I'm going to do it anyway just the same," Donovan tried to explain.
"You've been desensitized," she concluded.
"I have very acute senses, thank you," Donovan said. Celeste gawked at him hopelessly. "I'm kidding, I know what you mean."
"I'm glad," Celeste said as they walked into the cave along the shoreline. "There's suppose to be a tunnel leading up to a door around here," she said.
"There it is," Donovan said pointing through the darkness.
"Where?"
"There."
"I don't see- ah, there it is," Celeste said after they had walked closer. "You've been eating your carrots I see."
"And whatever else the ministry wants me to eat."
"Of course," Celeste said. "We should wait here for the everyone else."
After a few minutes wait the first of the boats reached shore as the students clambered out. Two very drenched twins staggered out of their boat.
"You'll pay," Thayne of them vowed.
"How so?" Donovan asked crossing his arms. "I have no right to property or funds. That's right, they own my wand to my underpants, and can take either away."
"What would the Ministry of Magic do with your underpants?" Celeste asked turning towards him.
"I'd rather that remain a mystery," Donovan said truthfully with a frown.
"Your underpants will be all that's left after my father's through with you," Marcus said trudging to the shoreline, his shoes making a distinct squishing noise.
"Lacking the balls to do anything yourself? Need daddy to fight for you?" Donovan said taking after his personal drill instructor. "Bugger off or I'll use your own wands to physically bore a hole in both your foreheads," he threatened walking off with Celeste after Professor Hagrid who seemed to be intentionally ignoring the entire event.
"I don't think that will be the last of them," Celeste figured as she ascended the steps of Hogwarts. The clunking of Professor Hagrid's massive peg leg echoed down the stone stairwell.
"Nothing we can't handle," Donovan said like it was a homework assignment or upcoming Quidditch match.
Professor Hagrid led the first years through the small oak door that he had to bend over to get through. He led them down a corridor lined with suits of armor and pictures. Magnificent tapestries hung from the ceiling and walls were Donovan noticed several translucent silver figures drifting through the air lazily.
Donovan paused to look at a fairly knew painting of a seventh year boy stabbing Lord Voldemort with a fantastic sword. The paining depicted an epic time of war and strife flawlessly. The strange thing about it was that his wand was turned on himself. The Great Sacrifice of Harry Potter was expertly illustrated in this still painting. Donovan knew of Harry Potter who had mortally wounded Voldemort with the Sword of Gordric Gryffindor and then killed himself by his own wand, for he himself was the final Horcrux that had to be destroyed.
"This way yer' lot," Professor Hagrid boomed out to the first years.
The soon-to-be-sorted pupils of Hogwarts were led around a corner towards a great wooden double door braced with cast iron supports. A tall wizard, or who would appear so if Professor Hagrid was not present, was dressed in dark gray robes the color of an electrified late summer thunderstorm. He hastily taped the cigarette dangling in his mouth with his wand making it vanish upon noticing the incoming horde of young children. He looked as if he had lived a very active life, and was ready to find something more peaceful. A mat of ash-colored hair sat upon his head and he looked as if he had forgotten to shave this morning and showed possible signs of recovering from a slight hangover.
"Thanks Rubeus," he said in a friendly, but worn, voice.
"You be gent' with em'," Professor Hagrid said firmly patting him on the shoulder with a hand the size of a car tire, forcing his aged comrade into an hunched over position. The wizard grimaced slightly as if several vertebrae were crudely uprooted and relocated. He grunted in pain as he slowly strained his back.
"I'll try," he said painfully as Professor Hagrid discreetly, if possible for a man his mass along with a log sized peg leg, opened the doors to the great hall and shut the doors behind him.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," the man greeted as he indiscreetly scratched himself. "I'm Professor Weasley, I'm head of Gryffindor house and teach Defense Against the Dark Arts," he said with a warm smile, his deep blue eyes gleaming lustrously in the torch light. "Not to mention the Quidditch coach and your teacher for your flying lessons as well."
"I read about you on one of them frog cards on the way here!" a chubby muggle-born student piped.
"Ah yes," Professor Weasley said beaming. "I got a considerable collection of my own and will generously trade for anyone who has Agrippa or Ptolemy, but moving on," he said slapping two firm calloused hands together and rubbing them excitedly.
"You are about to be led into the great hall to be sorted into one of four houses," he explained as he cracked a shoulder loudly. "They are as follows: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin," he said the later with some detest in his voice. "A year-long competition happens between these houses of point keeping. Do a good job or deed: get points. Do the opposite: lose them. Too easy," he said in a simple voice. "I may be one of the more lenient teachers of this school as far as rules go, but one thing I will not tolerate is any from of hazing or bullying. You think you're more important or 'superior' than anyone else I'll personally make your already insignificant life not worth living," he vowed in a very foreboding tone, one only acquired from hellish battlefields.
Professor Weasley paused to let this sink in. "Otherwise I'll do my best to be your most interesting teacher," he said on a happier note. He took a moment to check a pocket watch that hung from a gold chain attached to his belt within his robes. "Excellent," he said returning it to his pocket and snapping his fingers. His wand shot out of his sleeve magically towards his palm, he dexterously snagged it with his hand and flicked it at the great door making the massive double door unlatch and swing open.
The inward draft of the swinging door pulled at the First year's robes and hair, and nearly made Celeste stumble foreword being that she was so light and had wings that were snagged by the rushing air.
Professor Weasley snapped his fingers again and his wand flew back up is sleeve.
They began their journey down the legendary great hall escorted by Professor Weasley, whose gray robes billowed majestically.
Donovan gaped at the starlit ceiling above as a shooting star trailed across the sky and faded into nothingness. "I read that Rowena Ravenclaw charmed the ceiling herself in Hogwarts: A History," he recalled still stargazing at the enchanted ceiling.
"Donovan!" Celeste whispered in a harsh tone.
"What?" Donovan said not understanding what she was upset about until he realized he was unintentionally gliding across the great hall. "Sorry," he said grounding himself to the polished marble floor.
Some other students however stared at him wondering what they had just seen.
"What just happened?"
"They must be those half breeds-"
"Half what? Is that possible?"
"Careful, he might suck out - well you know."
Celeste and Donovan sighed in unison at their position. "Just got here and I already want to know how to turn invisible," she moaned as her wings drooped cheerlessly.
Professor Weasley performed an about-face to face the students when he stood by a stool where a tattered archaic hat sat.
"Now," he said to the students. "When I call your name from the list you will - the list," he said suddenly, giving himself a pat down and checking his robe pockets. "The list," he said again in mild panic. "Son of a Bogart," he muttered under his breath upon realizing he had no list. Several students couldn't retain themselves as a chorus of chuckles wafted over the hall.
"Forgot something?" the gentle voice of the Headmistress said holding up a scroll of parchment from behind the table. "I was dropped by your office to turn something in just before the feast to find this still on your desk," she explained with a smile.
"Thank you professor," Professor Weasley said taking the scroll from her.
"My pleasure," Professor McGonagall said in a kind aging voice.
"Where were we?" Professor Weasley said walking back to the stool. "Right. I call your name and you seat your little keister on this stool here. I'll put the sorting hat on that head of yours, don't mind the crazy old voice inside your head, and it will announce your designated house and you will join them at the corresponding table," he explained in a very unconventional way. "Let's get started," he said unrolling the parchment and running a hand through his gray hair.
"Jason Adams," he said while scratching his whiskery chin and holding the hat in his left hand.
The chubby muggle-born student who had noted that Professor Weasley was on the frog cards came foreword and sat himself on the wooden stool.
"Brace for impact kid," Professor Weasley warned just before he drooped the sorting hat over the youth's eyes.
A moment had passed before the hat bellowed out "Ravenclaw!"
"Blue and bronze, right over there Jason," Ron instructed him removing the hat from the new Ravenclaw as his house table cheered.
"Rachel Advant," he called out again. A small girl with pigtails skipped up to the stool and the hat was placed over her eyes.
"Hufflepuff!" the sorting hat bellowed out. The Hufflepuff table greeted her with an enthusiastic applause
"You know?" Professor Weasley said to the sorting hat. "When was the last time someone took you to the dry cleaners?" he said as he dusted it off. "Could spread lice for all I know."
"Just get on with the sorting," the sorting hat grumbled back, a number of the first years laughed at this.
The sorting continued. Timothy Bernard was the first Gryffindor to be sorted while, predictably, Marcus and Thayne Cypher where each sorted into Slytherin, both leaving a trail of water behind them.
"Celeste Dawn," Professor Weasley called out.
Celeste perked up at her name and walked over to the stool. A faint hum of whispers could be heard from all four tables; most likely people making comments about the massive wings she had folded behind her back.
"Hang on," Professor Weasley said whipping the stool off with his sleeve, some water was left behind by the Cypher Twins. "Kay, good to go," he said gesturing to the seat.
Celeste took sat down and tensed her muscles in preparation, as Professor Weasley let the hat fall over her eyes.
No more than a second passed before the hat declared "Gryffindor!"
Spence Douglass was sorted into Slytherin while Chelsea Fairweather was another Gryffindor.
Donovan's attention drifted towards the Slytherin table, were he was the key interest of a certain Prefect who pressed his fingertips together in anticipation.
"Peter Gallant," Professor Weasley called out.
A lanky boy with sandy hair made his way towards Professor Weasley and sat down on the stool.
"I knew a peter once, he posed as my pet rat for my first three years in Hogwarts," Professor Weasley said reminiscently.
Peter Gallant gave him a cocked eyebrow expression.
"Oh right," he said remembering what he was doing and placed the hat on his head.
"Ravenclaw!" the hat exclaimed.
The Ravenclaw table applauded welcomingly as an overjoyed Peter Gallant nearly left with the hat still on his head.
"Hey, I need that still," Weasley Professor said taking it back. "You can have him all you want after the sorting is over."
"No you can't," the sorting hat argued moodily.
Professor Weasley chuckled along with the rest of the school as his eyes trailed down to the next name. The smile on his face faded away as he became lost for words, not believing his own eyes. His fist attempt at calling out the name was an inaudible croak.
He looked up from the parchment at the group of remaining first yeas with a pale face. He spoke in a whisper, but it still managed to be carried over the entire hall. "Donovan Granger."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Authors Note: Yes, I know the last thing that would happen is that Ronald Weasley would never ever, not in a million years, become a Hogwarts professor, but hey, it's my story, what are you going to do?
I've checked, and there is no mention of Harpies being a magical creature in the Harry Potter universe, except in a quidditch team in Wales, the Holyhead Harpies. So that leads to my conclusion that there must be Harpies in the Harry Potter universe, and they are up to interpretation seeing that they are not described any further in all the books and websites that I referred too.
Half Dementor? Not possible, I did the research. They don't have genders and whatnot, so it is not compatible, but hey, it's my story!
Unless you scored a 'Troll' in your common sense course, you've probably noticed that Celeste and Donovan have something going on. Duh… They're first years right now, it's going to be a while before fireworks start launching, don't badger me about putting them together before I should.
Seeing that I haven't much a life I will be working on the next chapter constantly. You can't rush art, as notably stated in Toy Story 2…
I would not have any objection to reviews as well. (Hint-hint)