Chapter 7: Explanations

Circe gave a suppressed giggle.

"Being an outlaw is fun," said Uric in a stage whisper.

They couldn't help it. Everyone burst out laughing.

"I'm serious," he growled.

This sent them into fits of hysterical laughter.

Cassiopeia struggled to catch her breath. "Since - when - are - you - he he he - serious, Uric?!" she demanded. Cassi composed herself, then added, "I've - only known - you for a - week and - already - I'm acting - like we've been - friends - forever." She panted for a few seconds, then was unable to control herself any longer.

While Cassiopeia rolled around on the floor, laughing her head off, Sunny, Stormy's sister, looked around their little group suddenly.

"Hey, you guys, where's Kiri?" she asked.

"She usually sneaks over right away, especially for dinner... I wonder where she is." Cassi was no longer laughing. Kiri, a Muggle-born Gryffindor, had never let the separation of houses keep her from her friends. No one really knew how she and Stormy had become associated, but the self-proclaimed insanity case made good company.

Circe and Uric snickered at the part about sneaking over. They weren't supposed to be at the Slytherin table, either. The two would have just leaned over to talk, except that between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables there was Hufflepuff. No one was very hot on the idea of talking over a bunch of... well, Hufflepuffs.

So Circe and Uric were at the Slytherin table, as Cassiopeia would have looked rather obvious trying to blend in with Ravenclaws. She was actually Draco Malfoy's sister, and, though she looked the part with white-blond hair and grey eyes, they couldn't have been more different. Cassi, as everyone called her, was about as much of a personality as Uric. She wasn't insane like Kiri was, but definitely chronically strange. The reason for her personality difference from Draco was probably because she hadn't been raised with her brother. When she was two, she wandered off into the surf during a family holiday to the beach and never looked back. She was brought up by dolphins until she received her Hogwarts letter by seagull. And the rest is history.

* ~ *

At the end of dinner, as the Houses filtered off, one by one, a last search was made for Kiri.

It proved fruitless. Kiri didn't leave with the Gryffindors, and she was no where in sight.

"Cheer up, guys," remarked Uric. "I'm sure that, wherever Kiri is, she'll be able to take care of herself."

* ~ *

Right at that very moment, Kiri had changed back to her dragon form ("It's so much more comfortable this way") and was watching the happenings between Stormy and Morgana with what could only be amusement.

Except that Morgana didn't, exactly, look like Morgana. In fact, instead of Morgana, a very large she-griffin was stationed in the middle of the floor. The great creature was looking extremely pleased with herself.

Stormy took a deep breath. "Let me get this straight." She pointed at Zephyr. You're the Dragonqueen. I've heard of that. It means you're a natural Animagi with the form of a dragon..."

"Not just a dragon, THE Dragon," interjected Zephyr.

"...which means that you can change into the dragon whenever you want, without a wand. Okay. Got that much.

"Now for the hard part. You're..."

Stormy trailed off, glancing at the enormous, half-eagle, half-lion creature seated on her haunches near Morgana's bed.

Stormy still started when she heard, or rather didn't hear, the psychic communication of the griffin. She supposed it was necessary. After all, she couldn't imagine the hooked eagle beak of the Griffinqueen being used to form words. At least not human ones.

< I was born with the ability to change into the greatest of the griffs. >

She stopped when she saw the look on Stormy's face.

She paused a moment, sighed her strange sigh again, then continued.

here she preened her feathers importantly,

"We get the picture," interrupted Zephyr.

The Griffinqueen twitched one of her great tufted ears in irritation, snorted, then said,

"First of all, how come I've never heard of you?" questioned Stormy.

"Well," the dragon began, "Morgana is the first Griffinqueen in a while. I should probably start at the beginning.

"No one knows when the first Griffinqueen was, exactly. Some say it dates back to the very beginning of time. But most people think the tradition began sometime during the Middle Ages, when magic was in its prime.

"In medieval times there were many Griffinqueens, each more powerful than the last. Something strange was noticed, however. There was often a gap of several years between the last Griffinqueen dying, as they serve for life, and the next one being born. Griffinqueens are born, not made, so the people had no choice in the matter. They were confident the new Griffinqueen would appear when needed. And she always did.

"Until late in the Renaissance. Magic had declined by then. As time went by, without a Griffinqueen, people grew less and less hopeful. Finally, they ceased to hope at all. Most wizards, never mind Muggles, had forgotten what a Griffinqueen was.

"Morgana changed all that."

Zephyr nodded to the current Griffinqueen, telling her, "Your turn."

The Griffinqueen nodded, too.

"But... what about Gryffindor? They're lions... and Ravenclaw's eagles..."

"She's right, you know," said Zephyr, thoughtfully. "Hippo means horse, and if griff meant lion, then a hippogriff would be a horse-lion, instead of a horse-eagle...'

sniffed the Griffinqueen.

"Morgana... erm, Griffinqueen... no, that's not right... um.... whatever shall I call you?"

"May I talk to Sharpclaw for a second?" interrupted Zephyr.

Without waiting for an answer, she put an anti-eavesdropping spell about the Griffinqueen and herself.

* ~ *

"Yes, yes, that's all well and good, Sharpclaw, but do you realize how much you just told her?"

Sharpclaw just shrugged. It didn't matter, anyway.

Zephyr continued.

"I mean, did you ever stop to think about how much she now knows?"

Zephyr seemed reluctant to admit anything, but she did say, "I suppose I wasn't all that wise, but that was no reason for you to make it worse."

< I don't see why you're making such a big deal of it. There is such thing as a Memory Charm. I mean, we could all just em>forget tonight ever happened. >

A puff of smoke curled from the Dragonqueen's nostrils.

"Yes, but there would be complications. After all, before tonight, you didn't know me in my human form. And then there's..."

But exactly what there was, Sharpclaw never found out.

Stormy had broken through the anti-eavesdropping barrier.