A/N: Right, sorry about the mess with all the chapters. In case no one's looking at the intro anymore, I'm now just going to leave the chapters in the order of updating. I won't go back and fix the ones already updated because that'll inevitably cause more confusion. So yeah.

Right, so, there are a lot of excellent ideas coming through. Now I just need to make my mind work and construct something around them. But keep 'em coming!

Disclaimer: The only similarity J.K. Rowling and I have as writers is the love of strong characters. Other than that, I do not understand her. And yes, that counts as a disclaimer.

Albus Potter fidgeted as he walked to the small hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. His cousin, Rose Weasley, walked next to him. He had asked his older brother, James, to come with him too, but James had laughed and disappeared with his friends. Albus scowled as he thought about it. Rose caught his look, and did an excellent impression of her mother's sigh. "Al, there's no use staying angry at James," she told him.

"He could have come with," Albus complained. "He said yesterday that he wanted to go see Hagrid."

"Well why didn't you go with him yesterday?"

"Because he threatened to hex me."

Rose giggled. She was an interesting girl, an odd blend of her parents. Her mother's brains she had inherited, but she was generally more like her father in temperment. However, when discord loomed between her cousins she became a miniature of Hermione and handled most situations with more tact than her father could ever have managed. "Maybe you should have threatened to hex him back," she suggested.

"Rose, we haven't learned any hexes yet. We've been in school, what, four days?"

"About," she said fairly. "You could always—"

"I swear, Rose, if you say the word library…"

Rose grinned wickedly, a habit she had picked up from her Uncle George, and fell silent. They continued in this way to Hagrid's hut. Albus knocked on the door.

There was a series of loud barks, and a call of, "I'm comin', I'm comin'. Down, Bear, down!" The door opened slightly, and Hagrid's face appeared, all bushy hair and wide smile. The snout of a grey Irish wolfhound was snuffling in the gap between Hagrid's side and the door frame. "Sorry, just a—BEAR!" The door snapped closed, and there was some scuffling heard. Hagrid opened the door. "Sorry. Come in, come—NO, BEAR, NO!"

The dog, Bear, had escaped from Hagrid's grasp and bounded out of the door, nearly bowling over Albus and Rose. He was nearly as tall as they were, but seemed to have the idea that he was still the size of a puppy. He kept whipping around, changing his mind about who he wanted to sniff and whose face he wanted to lick, and repeatedly slapped them in the stomachs with his furiously wagging tail. Hagrid grasped Bear's collar again, and kept him at bay long enough for Albus and Rose to edge in the door past them.

"There now, let's have a look at yeh," Hagrid said, releasing Bear. Bear started sniffing every inch of the children that he could. Hagrid scanned them. "Gettin' enough sleep? How're yer lessons?"

Rose made a very Ron-like face. "Mum told you to check on us," she said.

Hagrid chuckled. "Sit down, then. Tell me about yer lessons," he said. They sat around his table, and he filled three gigantic mugs with steaming tea. "Help yerselves to me rock cakes. Yer fathers used to like 'em."

Rose and Albus exchanged a discreet look. They had heard about Hagrid's cooking from their fathers. Warily, they each took a rock cake and tried it. They lived up to their reputation, and Albus was certain he felt one of his molars loosen.

Bear saved them when he tried to jump into Albus' lap, convinced he was the proper size for a lapdog. He knocked the rock cakes off the table in the process, and effectively squashed the poor boy. Hagrid jumped up and scolded him, dragging the whining dog off of Albus. Albus promptly toppled off of his chair. Bear loomed over him, licking his face. Hagrid dragged him off again.

"Sorry. Still thinks he's a pup. Down, Bear. Sit, yeh mangy dog."

Hagrid sat back down, and Bear contented himself with staring intently at Rose and Albus with gleeful eyes. Rose amused herself by starting a staring contest between herself and the dog, leaving her cousin to recap their first week.

"Professor Pratchett says I'm very good at Charms," Albus was saying. "I haven't even set anything on fire, but Dermot Mullen's blown up six feathers. I'm not very good at Potions, though. Professor Troxel took away five points from Gryffindor when I melted my cauldron by accident. Rose managed to burn a hole in Professor Rowsey's robes in Defense Against the Dark Arts, I'm not really sure how…"

"Because you bumped my elbow," Rose retorted, not breaking eye contact with Bear, who thumped his tail against the floor.

"Did not!" Albus said hotly.

"Did too."

"Did—"

"Alrigh', alrigh'," Hagrid said, laughing. "Now, what's this tha' Neville—er, Professor Longbottom—was tellin' me about Herbology on Wednesday?"

Albus turned a deep scarlet as Rose burst into hysterical giggles. Albus gave her a dirty look. "I'm sorry, Al," she gasped between giggles. "But it was funny. Hagrid, you wouldn't believe that Al—" The glare intensified from her cousin. Rose coughed delicately and schooled her features into a polite face. "I'm sorry, Hagrid, but you'll have to ask Professor Longbottom more about it if you want to hear the whole story," she said primly. When Albus looked away, she grinned at Hagrid and winked.

They carried on together for a comfortable time. Bear was gnawing on the rock cakes on the floor. Albus stopped sulking and rejoined the conversation with Rose and Hagrid. The children were startled by a loud squaking cry from behind the little house in the forest. It was suddenly very quiet around the table.

"Hagrid," Rose said nervously, "what was that?"

Hagrid's eyes became very bright. "I nearly forgot!" he exclaimed, jumping up. Rose and Albus were nearly thrown off of their chairs as the table lurched unexpectedly. "C'mon, yeh've got ter meet Buckbeak."

"Buckbeak?" Rose and Albus repeated. They knew this name well. With an excited glance to each other, they rushed after Hagrid. Bear pelted clumsily after them.

Hagrid led them a little way into the woods. "Can't have 'im out in the open, yeh see," he explained. "The parents migh' raise a fuss." They came into a clearing. Rose and Albus were disappointed to find it empty. Suddenly, Hagrid clapped his hands and hollered, "BUCKBEAK!" Bear barked, startled.

At first, nothing moved. Then, out of the trees just ahead of them, a magnificent beast strode towards them. Its front half and front legs were those of a grey eagle, its hindquarters of a silvery horse. (A/N: Yes, I'm pulling this description out of my ass. Get over it.) Its elegant head, with its imperious amber eyes and wicked-looking beak was turned inquisitively towards them. Buckbeak the hippogriff opened his beak and made another of those squaking cries, this one softer than the other, more inquisitive.

"Oh," breathed Rose. "He's beautiful."

Buckbeak fixed her with one large eye. She squeaked and went absolutely still.

"Do yeh want to touch him?"

"Do I!" Albus said, his eyes riveted.

"Step forward, then." Albus did so. Buckbeak looked at him curiously. "Now bow to him." Shaking, Albus bowed. Buckbeak cocked his head, and bowed back. "There! I think he recognizes Harry in yeh. Yeh can touch 'im now." Albus reached out a trembling hand and stroked the silky feathers on Buckbeak's neck, then turned to Hagrid and grinned. Hagrid turned to Rose, who still hadn't moved. "How 'bout you, Rose?" he asked.

There was a look of great determination on Rose's face as she stepped forward. She bowed very low, and immediately Buckbeak bent in a return bow. She joined Albus in stroking Buckbeak's neck.

"I think he'd let you ride 'im," Hagrid said brightly. He stepped forward.

"Whoa," Rose said loudly. "Wait a minute. He's letting who ride him?"

Hagrid looked confused. "Both o' yeh," he said, as if this should have been obvious.

"Hagrid—"

"He carried yer Mum and Harry, and Sirius Black when yer parents were in third year," Hagrid pointed out, hoisting a limply protesting Albus onto Buckbeak's back. Buckbeak turned his head, seemed to be indifferent to Albus' presence, and turned back around. "He can carry you two." He lifted Rose onto the hippogriff's back behind her cousin. "Mind yeh don't pull out 'is feathers, Al."

"Rose, you're squeezing my stomach out of my nose," Albus informed her breathlessly. She was clinging to him very tightly around the waist.

"Hagrid, I really don't think—" Rose started, ignoring Albus.

Hagrid slapped Buckbeak's rump, who surged into motion. A few galloping steps, and his great wings spread and they were soaring up through the forest canopy towards the blue sky.

A/N: Hm. Not one of my best ones. But hey, I really needed to finish writing something. Thanks for reading! Please review, and definitely feel free to give even more ideas. Honestly, they're all great so far, it just depends on whether my mind feels like supplying the meat to your story bones.