The first week of Hogwarts flew by in an instant in Alexandra's opinion. And true, while most of her lessons remained fairly simple, there were some interesting bits. The Transfiguration professor, Professor Turnwise, demonstrated to the class a complex piece of magic, which involved turning his desk into a live Labrador, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Sumwind, gave the students realistic accounts of exciting cases he had witnessed in his days as an Aurror, which she knew from Harry, was a Dark Wizard catcher, making the students more and more eager to try more complex spells.
"I can't wait until we start making things fly," Fred said one evening, as he waved his wand to make red sparks appear, something they had just learned in a Charms lesson that day. "Professor Flitwick said that we'd be doing that very soon."
"But it seems really difficult," Alanna pointed out, as she opened her Charms book. "You have to get the incantation just right, and you have to make sure your wand movement is accurate."
"What's so hard about that?" Fred asked, continuing to shower sparks from his wand tip. "My aunt said it was really easy, though mind you, I don't think she's ever had trouble with a spell…"
"Hey look," Alexandra said suddenly, looking out the window. "There's an owl!"
"I think that's for me," Fred said, striding across the room to open up the window. "I wrote home last week to tell my parents that I got into Gryffindor. I didn't realize how far it was…"
"Oh!" Alexandra exclaimed. "I completely forgot, I promised that I would write home to my dad as soon as I got here! He must be worried, could I use your owl, Fred?"
"Go ahead," Fred said, tearing open his letter. "Not my owl anyways, it's one of the schools."
Alexandra dove into her bag, rummaging through it to find a quill and some parchment. Once she had retrieved them, she cleared a space on the table where she had previously been working on a Transfiguration essay, and began to write.
Dad,
I'm so sorry I forgot to write sooner; I've been very busy. My lessons are going fine, though we haven't done much magic, but I'm sure we will be very soon. I got sorted into Gryffindor, by the way, which is one of the four houses here. I've made a new friend, her name is Alanna, and like me, her parents are Muggles.
Again, I'm really sorry I didn't write sooner, but I'm doing fine. I miss you.
She paused, her quill hovering about half an inch above the parchment, contemplating whether or not she should write more. She was half ready to add the fact that two of her roommates despised her because of what he had apparently done to Harry when they two were growing up, but couldn't bring herself to do so. After quickly scribbling her name, she rolled up the letter, and looked over at the owl, which perched on Fred's chair. She had never sent a letter by owl before.
"Er," she said uncertainly to Fred. "Am I just supposed to tie my letter onto its leg?"
"Yup," Fred said, folding his letter up and putting it in his bag. "It'll know where to go."
Nodding, Alexandra attached her letter, and at once, the owl took off through the open window.
"You know what," Fred said, watching the owl soar out of sight. "We should go and see Hagrid tomorrow."
"Hagrid?" Alanna asked. "Who's he?"
"He's the bloke who took us across the lake," Fred told her.
"The really big one?"
"Yah, he teaches Care of Magical Creatures. He lives in that wooden hut down by the forest."
"I didn't know anybody lived there," Alanna stated. "I thought it was just a, you know, abandoned shack or something. Is he nice?"
"Of course he is," Fred replied. "Don't let his size fool you, he wouldn't hurt a fly, right Alexandra? You've met him."
"Only once," Alexandra reminded him. "At Lily's fourth birthday. Didn't he end up setting the kitchen curtains on fire with his umbrella?"
"Oh yah," Fred said thoughtfully. "Forgot about that."
"With his umbrella?" Alanna repeated, her voice sounding nervous.
"Let's go down after breakfast," Fred said, ignoring Alanna's comment. "He may have some cool creatures to show us."
The next morning, once the three had finished breakfast, they set off across the grounds to Hagrid's hut.
"There it is," Fred said, pointing to the small house straight ahead.
"What's that thing standing outside his house," Alexandra asked, stopping in her trap. "In the pumpkin patch, look…"
Tied to a tree, was a creature unlike anything Alexandra had ever seen before. It had the head of what looked like some sort of bird, and the body of a horse. And while at the moment, it was lazily grooming its wings, she had the feeling that if it wanted to, it could be quite vicious.
"Not sure," Fred shrugged. "But I'm sure it's harmless. Come on then." He led them closer to the hut.
It turned out Fred was wrong about the mysterious beast; for when the three of them reached the front steps of Hagrid's hut, it let out an angry cry, and began flapping its wings very aggressively.
"Get away! Get away!" came a voice from inside the hut. "He'll scratch yous!" The door of the hut flew open, and Hagrid rushed out.
"Hagrid, what is that thing?" Fred asked as Hagrid tried to calm the creature down.
"His name is Witherwings," Hagrid responded, tossing the animal a dead ferret from around his neck.
"Witherwings?" Fred repeated.
"Well, his actual name is Buckbeak," Hagrid explained. "But, well, now we call him Witherwings. What're yer doing down here anyways?"
"We wanted to visit," Fred said. He pointed to the two girls, who were still staring at Witherwings with expressions of fear and amazement. "You already know Alexandra, right? And that's Alanna Broklyn."
"Hello," Hagrid said, extending a large hand to Alanna.
"Hi," Alanna replied in a voice higher than usual.
"And good to see yer again Alexandra," Hagrid said, smiling at her. "Haven't seen you since Lily turned four."
"Good to see you too," she said politely.
"Hey Hagrid," Fred said. "You have any neat creatures to show us?"
"Nah, not unless you count ol' Witherwings here," he answered. "Me first few lessons have all revolved around him, he's a hippogriff, in case you didn't know."
"I think I actually remember hearing Aunt Hermione saying something about one awhile ago now that you mention it," Fred said as Hagrid waved for the three of them to come inside his hut.
"Ah, she would know a lot about them," Hagrid said, his eyes twinkling.
He set out a pitcher of pumpkin juice and a plate of rock cakes on the table. "So," he said, taking on of his rock cakes. "How's yer first week been?"
"Boring, we've mostly just learned the theory of the lessons. We've barely done any wand work."
"Eh, don't worry, eventually yer will."
Alexandra picked up one of the rock cakes and bit into it. She nearly broke a tooth, and searing pain filled her mouth, but she showed no sign of any discomfort, as to be a kind guest to Hagrid.
"Anything else interesting happen?" Hagrid asked.
"Nothing really," Fred shrugged. "We're stuck with Slytherin for Herbology, so we have to deal with that. First day a bloke, I think his name was Wretermoust or something, called those two," he nodded at Alexandra and Alanna. "You-Know-What's"
Hagrid raised his eyebrows. "Ohh."
"What'd he call us?" Alanna asked. "Wasn't it mudblood?"
"Yes," Fred said darkly, narrowing his eyes.
"What's so bad about that?" Alexandra asked. "What's it mean?"
"It's a really rude way of saying someone has Muggle blood in them," Hagrid explained. "It's disgusting. So long as you can do magic, your family background means nothing. Look at yer aunt Fred. Brightest witch in her year, and she was Muggle-Born."
"Neville got really mad at him," Fred said. "Gave him detention right there."
"Got what he deserved," Hagrid nodded. "Honestly, we've had enough of that words' reign back during You-Know-Whose time, don't need it again."
"You-Know-Who?" Alanna repeated. "Whose he?"
"I know about him," Alexandra said, happy to finally know something. "James told me about him. He's some Dark wizard that Harry killed, right?"
"Dark is an understatement," Hagrid shuddered. "Can't tell yer how many great witches and wizards died at his hands."
"James said his grandparents were some of them," Alexandra told him.
"Oh yah," Hagrid sighed. "Lily and James Potter. Best witch and wizard of their age."
"Sorry to bring it up," Alanna muttered sheepishly.
"'S fine, 's fine," Hagrid said dismissively. "Think about it all the time to be truthful. The Battle of Hogwarts was probably one of the most terrifying events of my life…"
"Is that the battle that the memoriam in the corridor was talking about?" Alexandra inquired.
"That's the one," Hagrid nodded. "That's the one."
The four sat in silence, sipping their drinks distractedly.
"We'd better get going," Fred said at last. "We have a lot of homework we need to get done."
Alexandra and Alanna exchanged looks. Fred was the last person they would expect to willingly go and do homework.
"Right," Hagrid said. "Better get back up to the castle, they'll be having lunch soon as well…"
After taking a few rock cakes upon Hagrid's request, Fred, Alanna and Alexandra started back up to the castle, careful to keep their distance from Witherwings as they passed.
"Why are we heading up so soon?" Alanna asked Fred. "We don't even have that much homework."
"I know," he admitted, not looking either girl in the eye. "It's just, I don't like talking about the war, and the Battle of Hogwarts, and all that."
"Oh," Alexandra said in surprise. "Oh, okay."
"I mean, I hear enough about it at home; most of my family was involved. I just want to get away from it."
Alanna and Alexandra couldn't think of anything to respond to this. They entered the castle and started up to the common room, which was filled with students. The group managed to find a tiny table crammed into a corner. Without a word, Fred pulled out a book and opened it, but his eyes didn't move as he stared at the pages. Alanna gave her a small shrug, and pulled out her own book. Alexandra rifled through her bag, unsure of what she was actually looking for. She glanced over at Fred, who was still staring at the same page and realized that even if the actual war was over, the effects and aftermath of it would linger on forever.
