Harry Potter and The Song of Light
Chapter 1: Harry Potter Meets Pipey
Disclaimer: I do not own HP or any related characters. Anyone that you don't recognize from the movie (or book) is most likely my creation.

"Harry, I just felt something brush by my leg!" Hermione whispered to Harry. Harry rolled his eyes.

"It's probably just one of the first years' pets that escaped." he told her. Girls, he thought, always making a big deal out of everything.

"Oy!" Ron yelled rather loudly in Harry's ear, "Somebody ate my apple!"

"It's just an apple Ron, there are loads of apples about." Hermione lectured him.

Harry was rather busy trying to clean out his ear. A large amount of arguing seemed to be going on all of a sudden. Everybody seemed to be missing something of his or her plate on the Gryffindor table. However, it seemed to be only fruits or vegetables for some strange reason.

"Harry!" Hermione hissed down his other ear, "I felt that thing brush by my leg again!"

"Do you suppose it's an angry spider?" Ron asked, his face paling.

"Spiders don't like vegetables or fruits, Ron" Hermione told the red headed boy matter-of-factly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well," Hermione sniffed, " obviously whatever is stealing all the food keeps brushing by my leg, and it's definitely not a spider, since only fruits or vegetables have been stolen."

Ron breathed a loud sigh of relief. Suddenly, a loud crunching sound was heard beneath the table.

"Let's all look on the count of three." Harry told his friends. "All right, 1.., 2.., 3!" The three friends looked underneath the table at the same time.

"What is it?' Ron asked quizzically. A small horse-like little creature with hands on its front feet instead of hooves was busily munching upon Ron's snatched apple.

"I don't know." Hermione said examining the strange beast from her upside-down position.

"That's new." Harry remarked. The small thing looked up at them, smiled an insolent little smile, and played a playful little trill on some strange pipes hanging about its neck.

"I see you've all met Pipey." a loud voice boomed out from behind them. All three heads bobbed up in unison. There stood Hagrid, the huge gatekeeper and newly elected teacher. The little creature skipped out from under the table and sat on Hagrid's large foot.

Harry then noticed that the small little thing was wearing brown loose weave pants and a similar shirt. Its fur was dappled grey and it had strange little green eyes that twinkled with mischief. Around it's small, slender neck hung an odd pipe-like instrument and a strange crystal that for some reason, seemed to glow on it's own.

"Pipey?" Hermione asked.

"Yep! I found her skipping about in the Dark Forest, playin' those little pipes. So I decided to call her Pipey!"

"Do you know what Pipey is, Hagrid?" Hermione asked with interest.

"No, I rightly don't. It's got all the other professors yanking out their hair- even Dumbledore doesn't know!"

Hermione seemed frustrated. At that point, Harry could tell that she was determined to find out what Pipey was.

"She's cute tho', isn't she!" Hagrid exclaimed rather proudly. Harry looked into those odd little eyes and found, not the eyes of an animal, but the quick calculating mind of a human.

"Why don't you just ask her Hagrid?" Harry asked.

Hagrid seemed to think about this, then said "I don't think she can talk, Harry." Pipey made an odd gurgling noise at this moment, as if to confirm his story. Her eyes however, seemed to portray a deep sorrow within.

Those strange, enchanting green eyes...