A/N: My apologies to anyone who had to deal with the encoding issues. I'm not sure what happened as I do everything through the client. My chapters are all copied and pasted rather than documents uploaded. Thank you for making me aware of the problem and enjoy!
Christmas Eve was upon them before they knew it and Harry was a bundle of nerves. He hardly knew what to get Minnie. He knew she loved books, but she already owned so many and he would hate to get her something she already had or worse, hated. He thought about making her something, but every time he tried to put something on paper he ended up tossing it into the fire. He really was a lousy artist.
Harry stared out the window morosely as he thought how disappointed she would be on Christmas morning without any presents. He knew how it felt not to get any presents. It never bothered him too badly that the Dursleys didn't get him anything nice for the holiday as he knew they didn't like him. However, he loved Minnie. He didn't want her to think he didn't and so he sulked.
As he stared out into the snowy landscape he was shocked to see a large creature waltz out from the tree line. It was the most unusual looking animal with a head like an eagle and a body like a lion. It plucked up something from the field before pushing back into the forest with its prize. Harry jumped up and frantically searched through the library for his magical creature book. Surely, whatever that thing was had to be in there.
He found the book under the couch and flipped through until he found it. A griffin! They were supposed to be beasts of great pride and were extremely rare. Their feathers and claws were used in potions and wand crafting. They were also used as symbols of several houses including Gryffindor from which the family was named. Harry shut the book and stared at the spot the griffin had been thoughtfully.
Perhaps it had dropped a feather pushing through the bushes. If he could find one it would be a great gift for Minnie! He threw on his cloak and snuck out quietly through the back door. It was starting to get dark, but if he hurried Minnie would never know he was gone and he would have the best present ever.
Harry stumbled down the path towards the trees. He could see the indentations in the snow and a small trail of blood from whatever the griffin had hunted. He followed the path closely as he searched for a feather. There was nothing in the field.
He looked at the forest nervously as the shadows from the dimming light began to cast their way towards him. Oh how he wished he could do magic already. He looked back at the house and steeled himself before setting forth into the woods.
It was surprisingly quiet in the dark forest. The birds had gone away for the winter and the small creatures that normally crawled through the trees were stilled. Harry found himself following a trail of broken twigs that seemed to show the continued path of the large creature, but there were still no feathers. Harry bit his numbing lips nervously as he looked behind him and found he could no longer see the edge of the forest. His snowy footfalls were lost in the rocky terrain and his heart began to beat rapidly.
Suddenly a loud crack came to his right and Harry jumped to see the griffin push through the brambles to stare at him. The creature reared on its hind legs and Harry let out a cry.
"Please!" He pleaded. "I don't mean to hurt you!"
The griffin seemed to pause and Harry scrambled on all fours to get away. His back hit the stony back of a large boulder. He couldn't get away. He shut his eyes and waited for the feeling of the griffin's claws tearing into his flesh, but it didn't come. He felt the griffin's warm breath against his hair and he opened his eyes slowly to see the large eagle head above him sniffing. It nudged him with its beak a few times and Harry froze.
It seemed to inspect him for awhile longer before finally turning away and heading back through the bushes. Harry stared in awe as he shakily got to his feet. As he stood three large golden feathers glided to the snowy ground from his robe. He picked them up gingerly and placed them into his pocket.
"Thank you." He said weakly before he turned and ran towards what he hoped would be home.