Chapter 21 - NEVER INSULT A HIPPOGRIFF!

Harry POV

These books that were on the bookshelf were amazing. I spent all of yesterday reading and stayed up relatively late. These must have been written by Rowena Ravenclaw herself! The books were incredibly detailed on the spells, incantations, runes, and rituals performed to create the Room of Requirement. There were a compiled list of arithmetic equations and many different types of runes that I have never even heard or seen that were used to preserve and ward the room.

I then realized that care of magical creatures, my first class of the day, was going to start in fifteen minutes and I had barely eaten anything since yesterday morning! I quickly cast Accio wandlessly on my creatures book and caught it before I ran out of the room and cut through a secret passageway to the kitchen.

Good thing I found that place yesterday!

After asking Dobby for a couple of chocolate croissants, I bolted straight back out and towards the castle courtyard before cutting down towards Hagrid's Hut. I was going to barely make it for Hagrid's class. I saw Hermione near the back of the crowd of students near Hagrid's hut and quickly sprinted towards her. I managed to get there just in the nick of time as Hagrid then started to get everyone to gather around.

"That's it, c'mon now, a little closer! Less talkin if ya don't mind! I got a real treat for you today… a great lesson! So follow me!"

Hagrid started walking to a small clearing at the edge of the forbidden forest.

Hermione at that moment asked, "Harry what happened? Where did you go yesterday, I was looking all over for you…"

She whispered the next part.

"... So was Daphne".

I then slumped my shoulders slightly and felt guilty.

I completely forgot about her after my row with Ron again, and just went on my quest to find a place to sleep…

I was about to explain when Tracey and Daphne came over next to us.

Daphne hissed, "Harry! Where were you? I heard about you and Weasley's… argument… and was trying to find you!"

On the way to wherever Hagrid was taking us, started to explain to the three of them what happened and where I went. Hermione then spoke up once I mentioned the room.

"How do you always find all the secret rooms in Hogwarts Harry? First, it was the room with the philosopher's stone, then the chamber of secrets, and now this room of requirement?"

The four of us then got into a discussion about the room and what I was doing inside. Daphne and Hermione instantly perked up when I mentioned the "ancient" runes in Rowena Ravenclaw's handwritten books. All three of them had smacked me at the same time for that horrible pun. They, however, were still incredibly fascinated and both Hermione and Daphne couldn't wait to read the book. We approached a clearing in the forest where Hagrid told us to stop.

"Right you lot, less chattering! And form a group over there… and open yar books to page forty-nine".

Malfoy then retorted at Hagrid rudely.

"And how exactly do we do that?"

Hagrid turned around and rolled his eyes at Malfoy's remark.

"Well just stroke the spine of course. Goodness me..."

Hahaha, no Hagrid, just no. I highly doubt stroking the spine and opening the book wouldn't cause it to not bite my head off. But I would like to see Malfoy open it...

I then saw Neville about to undo his strap that held his book locked together after stroking the spine. I quickly reached over to stop him from openning it.

"Neville! You don't want to open it now… trust me… and besides Hagrid will teach you what you need to learn, no need to risk getting your head bit off…"

I thought I had overstepped my boundaries when Neville gratefully gave me a smile and stammered out at me.

"T-Thanks Harry".

"Anytime Neville".

Malfoy then chose this moment to make his irritating presence known.

"Hanging out with squibs, half-bloods, and mudbloods now Greengrass? Gosh and I thought you could go no lower!"

Daphne turned around to glare at him, but before she could say anything, Tracey pulled her away back towards me and Neville and we left them behind. Malfoy didn't get another chance to say something as Hagrid coughed loudly before telling us to gather around. He whistled and then a creature emerged from the shadow within the trees from the morning daylight.

It was late October now in Scotland, so these will be the few mornings left with morning sunlight.

"Isn't he beautiful! Say hello everyone to Buckbeak!" exclaimed Hagrid.

Buckbeak then roared and flapped his wings slightly.

"Hagrid… exactly what is that?" said Ron shakily.

I turned to find Ron's face drained of color as he worriedly asked the professor.

"That Ron is a hippogriff. Tha first thing you wanna know about a hippogriff is that they're very proud creatures. VERY easily offended… You do not want to insult a hippogriff, it just may be tha last thing ya ever do…" Hagrid then clapped his hands, "Now who would like to come say hello?"

He turned around to feed Buckbeak some food. When Hagrid turned back, he turned around and looked directly at me for some reason.

"Well done Harry, well done!"

I shook my head and turned around to see everyone including Daphne, Hermione and Tracey, take five steps back away from where they previously were.

Thanks for the warning guys…This must be payback for getting them worried…

I mentally facepalmed. I looked at Daphne and saw a smirk on her face. I then turned to both Hermione and Tracey who had the same silly smirk. I reluctantly slowly walked forward towards Hagrid and Buckbeak. Hagrid spoke up as I approached Buckbeak.

"Ya have to let him make tha first move, it's only polite. So… step up! Give him a nice bow! Then ya wait and see if he bows back and if he does, you can go touch him. If not… well… we will get to that later…"

Thanks Hagrid, that was really reassuring!

Hagrid then whispered to me as I got relatively close to Buckbeak.

"Make your bow… nice and low".

I mustered what courage I could to not shakily bow. I bowed low and held it there. Buckbeak turned to look at me and screeched and flapped his wings. Hagrid then hurriedly whispered at me.

"Back off Harry, Back off!"

I then took a couple of steps back until my foot snapped a twig. I became as still as a rock. Buckbeak, however, had stopped flapping his wings and fell silent. He then shifted forward slightly before lowering his head and bowing as well.

"Oh, well done Harry, well done".

Hagrid turned and threw some more food at Buckbeak.

"Ah here ya go ya big bird".

I let out a sigh of relief and had a small smile on my lips before Hagrid turned to me and gestured for me to walk and touch him.

"Well you can go pat him now, c'mon, don't be shy…" I then lost the small smile I had managed to form. I slowly shifted forward, step by step.

"Nice and slow, nice and slow…"

I reached out my hand and Buckbeak screeched slightly at me. I twitched back slightly from the screech.

"Oh Harry, not so fast, not so fast" chastised Hagrid.

Yeah, your not the one about to get your hand bit off!

I took a few more steps before Hagrid told me to slow down and stop.

"Now let him come to you…"

Buckbeak then slowly trotted towards me and lowered his head down towards my hand. I managed to pated him gently and smiled once I accomplished it. Hagrid started clapping madly with his large hands.

"Well done! Well done Harry! WELL DONE!"

Hagrid then walked over towards me.

"I think he may let ya ride him now".

I stopped patting and spun my head around so fast my neck almost snapped off.

"What?"

But before I could do anything else Hagrid lifted me off the ground. I tried to struggle out of his tight grip.

"Hey hey hey HEY HEY HEY! AH! HAGRID!"

He then threw me onto Buckbeak. Before hitting Buckbeak on his side and whispered to me.

"Oh and don't pull out any of his feathers, cause he won't thank ya for that".

Buckbeak then got off all fours and reared up flapping his wings madly before breaking into a sprint. I scrambled my hands to hug his neck and locked my legs around his waist as he was sprinting. Buckbeak then opened his wings as we approached a clearing not far from where we met him and took off. Barely having a proper grip around him and flying off into the sky.

I couldn't help but yell out "WHHHOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAA!"

I looked down and saw that we really high off the ground already. I looked around in front and saw Hogwarts. It was beautiful! From up here and this distance, Hogwarts looked magnificent. Godric agreed with me as well. It was indeed a sight to behold! Buckbeak flew us in close around the Astronomy Tower and Gryffindor Tower as well. We then flew over where the great hall was situated before veering off towards the Black Lake and then cycling back to the forbidden forest. I let out another yell as the feeling of flying was so amazing.

I mean I played quidditch and flew on my broom, but it was different when I was on Buckbeak.

I then heard a loud whistle and Buckbeak suddenly dived downwards at a sharp angle. He then landed with a thud and galloped across back towards Hagrid. Hagrid helped me off and clapped me on the back.

"Well done Harry!"

By this time most of the class were muttering excitedly about my ride on the hippogriff. Hagrid had moved me away from Buckbeak and started telling me about what he has planned for next class when Malfoy shoved some people out the way and started marching towards Buckbeak. Malfoy then sneered at Buckbeak.

"Yeah… your not dangerous at all are you? You great big ugly brute!"

Hagrid's voice then panicked as he wavered, "Malfoy don't-"

But before he could finish Buckbeak roared and reared up from all fours flapping his wings wildly. The rest of the class screamed and started to run away behind the trees for cover. Buckbeak brought his claws up and were about to swipe down at Malfoy. I summoned my wand out of my robes and pointed in front of Malfoy.

Fuck, I am going to regret this… but he might die… and I don't want Hagrid sacked…

I then conjured a layer of concrete in front of Malfoy as Buckbeak brought her talons down onto him. CHINK! Buckbeak's claws dug into the concrete instead. However, Malfoy still flinched and fell onto the ground at the anticipation of getting trampled by a hippogriff. He then somehow broke his arm as he landed on the floor at a weird angle. He screamed out in pain.

"AHHHHHHHH" yelled Malfoy.

Ignoring his cries of agony, I turned around and waved my wand at the bucket of food Hagrid had used to feed Buckbeak and banished some of the food near him. Buckbeak seeing the food fly past, instantly veered away from Draco and caught some the food with his beak. He then went to chase the other bits that he didn't catch that were on the forest floor. Malfoy scrambled up while clutching his arm and ran away. He was screaming out loud whilst running.

"IT COULD HAVE KILLED ME! WAIT TILL MY FATHER HEARS ABOUT THIS!"

His goons Crabbe and Goyle followed after him. I sighed, knowing that this won't be the end of Malfoy's nonsense. If his grudge over how he suspected I was the one who embarrassed him in front of the hall was any indicator, this spew of Buckbeak might last for a month or two. Then something poked me on my shoulder, I saw Buckbeak chirping sadly at me. I started to pet his head quickly. This is going to be a long day…

Doran's Ring -

Hello everyone! As you might have noticed there was a slight change in the formatting of my writing. I had gotten some feedback that the giant paragraphs lumped together were a bit uncomfortable to read for some people, so I have gone through all the chapters and spaced out the writing a bit better. Let me know if you guys like this format better now and if it is an improvement from before! Thank you everyone for tuning in! I will continue to get the chapters out! :D