Chapter 11
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It was nearing nightfall, even if it wasn't even past five o clock. The sky had begun to turn a honey and amber hue, painting with red silk and violet velvet as the sun disappeared. The grass fields were meadows of vibrant flowers and pale paths of beige and dove grey stones leading down to Hagrid's hut, then branching off towards the Forbidden Forest.
Rebekah followed the path lined with snapping flowers roaring tiny, tiny amounts of fire as she passed. Clutching her robe and coat close, she walked up to Hagrid's door, knocked twice and waited.
"Back! Get back, Fang! Fang!" Hagrid's voice came from within. He opened the door, holding his large canine by the collar. "Uh, 'ello Miss Potter. What can I do for yeh?"
"Hello. Professor Kettleburn suggested I get a special salve from you," Rebekah said, look at the dog. "I thought it would be best that, um, I get it now before curfew is called.
"Er. Alrigh', come on in," He opened the door more and allowed her in. "I'll, er, get it for yeh. Would yeh like a cuppa, Miss Potter?"
"If it isn't too much trouble, sir," Rebekah replied.
The hut consisted of one large room. Plenty of hams and pheasants hung from the ceiling with thick metal hooks. A fire rumbled under a whistling brass kettle. A small window hung over a massive bed tucked with a multicoloured patchwork quilt. A moleskin coat and an obviously used crossbow sat in one corner near the door.
"I don't' get called sir a lot," Hagrid muttered, fixing a large teacup of steaming liquid. "Here yeh go, would yeh like some sugar?"
"Yes, please," Rebekah said, sitting on one of the table chairs. Hagrid placed a very large cup of tea in front of her, plopping one very large spoon of sugar in. "Thank you. It's getting warmer, but it is still very cold."
"Yeah, innit? See, some of the herds keeps tryna steal my pheasants. I've had to keep 'em high up," Hagrid said, pointing to the hooked pheasants. Amber and bronze feathers had been ripped from certain spots and lined the floor. "Damned Hippogriffs, even the Thestrals joined in now."
Rebekah didn't know that the school employed Thestrals, let alone that they allowed them on the grounds. Since only those who saw a death could see them, most people believed Thestrals were a bad omen.
"Thestrals? There are Thestrals at Hogwarts?" Rebekah asked, sipping her tea.
"Yea, what else would've pulled the carriages to school?" Hagrid said. "But yeh didn't see 'em, did yeh? Yeh were on the boats."
Rebekah nodded. "We didn't have time to waste, we all left for the boats straight away. I've wondered what pulled the carriages the older years spoke of. What do they look like?"
"The Thestrals yeh mean?" Rebekah nodded with a smile. "Well, yeh take a horse and take away the skin, make it look like it's decaying and add bat wings."
"Is that why they're considered an Omen? Because of their appearance?"
Hagrid scratched the back of his head, then shrugged. "I believe so. I, eh, can see 'em so they can't be that bad, can't they? Almost time to feed 'em, would yeh like to join me?"
"In feeding them? Sure," Rebekah said and got up, tucking the chair under the table.
Hagrid stood to his full height, reaching for a large satchel. Rebekah followed him out, only after charming her robes warm again. She slightly struggled to keep up, having to jog a little because of their stride difference. Hagrid led her to the edge of the forbidden forest, then he whistled loudly.
A rustle in the foliage made Rebekah flinch. Something tinted red glowed for a second, then slowly closed much like an eye would blink. It quickly disappeared when another rustle came.
Thestrals were fleshless creatures with black coats clinging to their skeletons. Their heads were like a Dragon's, long and angular. They had white eyes, no pupil seen. Wings sprouted from their backs; large, vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they belong to giant bats. They were horses with a reptilian quality that frightened anyone who saw them
A small form, the size of a Muggle feline, flew around the bodies of the group of Thestrals, twisting itself and turning as the creatures nipped at it. The small creature was quite similar to the Thestrals but less horse-like.
"Come on, Norbert! Why do yeh have to mess with them Thestrals?" He waved the creature over. It flew over instantly, going around Hagrid once then twirled around Rebekah several times.
"Norbert?" Rebekah muttered. The creature was mainly dark green scaled with red accents on the muzzle, claws, wings and tail. This wasn't a baby Thestral, as Rebekah suspected at the beginning when she didn't get a good look at it.
This was a Dragon, a mere chick of a few days, was extremely hungry.
"Yea, yeah. Norbert's my, eh, er, my, my," Hagrid grumbled. "'E's my Dragon."
"How do you know it's a he?" Rebekah asked as she tried to get the Dragon to stop spinning around her. When she lifted an arm, it landed and hooked itself like a bat would, flaring its wings and baring teeth. "I read a book about Dragons, females are more aggressive compared to Male ones."
"Well, he bit me on me hand the moment he hatched. He might be a she, I dunno," Hagrid said, watching Rebekah toy with the Dragon's wings and claws. It dug its claws into the tip of her finger and making her wince.
"I believe it is a she, see these talons?" Rebekah pointed to the small hooks on the tips of the Dragon's wings. "Traits of a female. And females are more aggressive. I think Norbert is actually Norberta. I've got the book in my bag."
She quickly pulled out her copy, checked the contents and then flicked to the page. She skimmed her finger over it. "See? Female Ridgebacks are generally more ferocious than the males."
"Didn't know that," Hagrid grumbled under his breath, a light gleam shone in his eyes. "Alrighty, come on. We've got to feed the beasts now."
When they reached the Thestrals, Hagrid gave Rebekah her own satchel of freshly killed meat. She took a large and heavy piece, holding it out to the creatures. A tall, wide Thestral came closer to Rebekah. He took the flesh between its bony jaws and clamped them shut, gently pulling the meat away from her hand. He threw the piece into the air then caught it, swallowing it whole.
The Thestral circled around her until his flank was to one side and his head started at her from her other side. She could not help but touch the boney creatures. Raising her hand slowly, she kept her eye on the creature. When he pressed his snout into her bloody palm, she knew he was content with her touches.
She giggled when his left wing swooped over her shoulder, hooking itself over her torso and pressed her small body to his large one. He pushed his face into her loose hair, sneezing. He sneezed again when he realised this made her giggle.
Turning his head away, Rebekah looked at where this creature looked. A thinner Thestral with a curvier, but still boney head, stood in the treeline. A young foal stood behind her extended wing. He began to nudge Rebekah over there, using his wing as a strong force to push her gently all the way.
Hagrid kept his eye on the three Thestrals and Rebekah, he knew they wouldn't hurt her. They would have already if they wanted to.
The female came over quickly, pushing her face into Rebekah's. She was too close, making Rebekah shrink away in fear. The male shoved his face into his mate's huffing slight. The female came close again, Rebekah shut her eyes tightly. A cold, wet sensation went over her right cheek, from her jaw to hairline.
She licked her cheek.
The female Thestral licked Rebekah's cheek and then sneezed into her face. The shock of it all made Rebekah burst out in a mini giggle fit. The young foal huffed, glancing at her mother. She received an incline of the head, then the young foal dashed forward and jumped into Rebekah's lap.
After making the Witch fall, the young foal jumped off and circled her as her parents moved away and watched their offspring and the strange Witch.
"It seems yeh've got a knack for creatures, Miss Potter," Hagrid said. "They've seemed alright toward' me but they don' allow me to touch 'em, let alone go near their youngins."
"It does seem like animals and creatures like me," Rebekah said, watching the foal dance around her and then chase a small, white butterfly. "I'll never understand why."
"Yeh best be off, Miss Potter," Hagrid said. "It'll be curfew soon. Yeh needn't get in trouble fer helping me."
"Ok, thank you for showing me Norberta and the Thestrals," Rebekah said, gently pushing the young foal off of her lap and then stood up. "I'll have to visit more often, if that's alright with you, sir?"
"Yeh're welcome to come any time, bring Emperor next time," He said. "He can hang out with Fang. Bye, Miss Potter."
Rebekah had taken only one step before something pulled her sleeve. The male Thestral held it in his mouth, a disapproving look in his eyes.
"If I promise to come back, will you let me go?" The Omen of Death thought for a moment, tugged her sleeve once and then sneezed and nodded. "Thank you."
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"I am disappointed in all of you," Dumbledore said.
Rebekah crossed her bruised arms as she sat across from Dumbledore in his office. Theodore Nott, Hermione Granger, and Draco sat in the other chairs. Snape stood beside Dumbledore, a sneering glare on his sallow skin.
The Slytherins and Gryffindors had Potions that day. Rebekah and Granger were Snape's best students, so they both agreed to compromise during his lessons and be civil toward each other. This caused the two to become friends within Potions class but they didn't interact much outside of class.
The two almost finished their potions when Nott decided to try and drop an extra ingredient into it. If that had touched the substance inside the calderon, it would have blown the classroom up.
"Especially since you are in the same year, should you not get along?"
"I don't get along with people who call others MudBloods or filth," Rebekah spat towards Nott. "I'm not one for name-calling."
"Says the one who called my parents prats!"
"You brought my dead parents into the conversation first, and insulted my Aunt and Uncle by calling them filth! I'd say that's worse. Then you go on and call Granger a MudBlood just because she chooses to participate instead of mess around."
"Is this true?" Dumbledore said. Granger nodded as did Draco, glaring at his Housemate.
"Of course not, Headmaster," Nott said. "I was raised better than that."
Rebekah greatly doubted that when he gave her a look.
"Didn't seem like it to me," Rebekah said under her breath.
"Did you say something, Miss Potter?" Snape asked her.
"No, I didn't. I just sighed, sir," Rebekah said.
"You almost blew the classroom up, you do realise, Nott?" Granger snapped.
"Is that true, Severus?" Dumbledore asked him. He nodded.
"So what's our punishment?" Draco said
"Do you believe that you should get punished?" Dumbledore said.
"No, I shouldn't," Nott said.
"No, we shouldn't, but we will because we broke the rules and got caught," Rebekah glared at Nott, he huffed and nodded.
"That little squabble will cause you all to have detention with Hagrid and help him feed the Thestrals every night for a week," Dumbledore said.
It wasn't just simply a squabble, the two went full out. Rebekah left her wand in her pocket. Although Nott reached for his, she took his wand by force and they both started wrestling on the group. So now both of them had bruises on their arms and legs. Draco tried to pull Nott away, while Granger did the same to Rebekah.
Snape couldn't decide who to punish so he compromised, punishing all four.
Rebekah was not annoyed by the punishment, she was quite content with it. Hagrid was a member of staff, would he know about the third-floor corridor? She could not outright ask him, she'd be put under the watchful eyes of all the staff members. Rebekah would have to manipulate him to spill the wanted information.
How was she supposed to do that?
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