3: Trouble with Magical Creatures
It was around the middle of their first year, both Diantha and Thalia got use to their majority of their classes. Of course classes that involved Sirius Black were always a close call. That man had them under his eye and he was not actually a person they could talk their way out. Diantha had looked half of Hogwards to find her cousin, but there was absolute no sign of him, in all honest there was no sign of half of Hogwards. Dissapointed she enterred the library and found Thalia, she looked like she was studying, but her hair looked like a mess and she was rather in a deep thought. "What is up with you?" she asked her friend, throwing herself to the nearest chair. "Thinking" – "Clearly I have figured out that much, about what?"
Thalia was not sure if she should be honest with her friend, because it was just a deep annoying feelings she was having, and she did not want to bother anyone with it. "Nothing special, exams and stuff, I suppose you were looking for Newton?" she asked her friend. And by her sigh, it meant it was correct. "Half of Hogwards is gone, where are they?" – "It is Saturday Diantha, thirds years and above are allowed to go to Hogsmeade this weekend" her eyes widened, almost as she had an idea. "And why are we here?" – "First of all, on Monday we got an exam of Defense against Dark Arts" – "You are a genius in Defense, there is no need to worry!" Diantha said, ignoring that she too would have to do the same exam.
Diantha was a natural talent with potions, of course she knew her way with spells as every wizard should but Thalia was a nature in defense, it scared her sometimes. "You are clearly upset that Newt is there with Leta" Diantha figured it out. "What gave it away" she said, writing down on a paper. "You are actually jealous!" – "What?!" Thalia asked annoyed. "You said What gave it away? You admitted it?!" – "I was not paying attention, I am not jealous, I just do not trust her" Thalia explained, having every reason for it. "Why?" Diantha asked. She had no reason to hate Leta, except for taking away her attention of Newt, but that should not be a big problem, compared how Thalia looks. "She is so wrapped up in dark arts, dark magic, I do not feel comfortable your cousin to be so much around him"
"Do you not feel comfortable for her to be around him, or do you not feel comfortable him being around her?!" – "What is the difference Diantha?" Dantha glared her friend down, she was not getting a no of an answer. "Just admit it" – "Admit what?" – "You have clearly a crush on Newt" – "Newton? Who is 5 years older than me? Who is your cousin? Oh please, he is just a friend which I worry about" – "I wish you would worry so much over me then" Diantha said jealous, and somehow teasing.
"So what are we going to do?" Thalia asked curious. "Not sure, you are going to study isn´t that right?" – "Like I can study with your bored face looking at me" she close her book and Diantha yelled excited. "I heard however this school have magical creatures around it, like in the woods, we could check that out, you like those creatures like your cousin does, right?" Diantha nodded. "But isn´t the wood fobidden?" – "What is the worst that can happen"Thalia rolled her eyes, not believing that there could be danger in a woods so nearby the school.
Thalia closed her books and put them back in her bag, it was a bother for her to leave it back in their dorm so with that in their mind, they headed to this forest. "I wonder why it is off limits to students, third years do have lessons here right?" – "Ocassionaly yes, it is a very old place., hat holds many secrets and houses many creatures, some dark and Dangerous, others friendly. The trees in the forest are considered ancient, they are dense and rough looking from years of exposure to the elements. As the forest's name suggests, it is strictly off limits to students — except in the case of detention, or Care of Magical creatures, lessons that occasionally take place there. Of course, with the various dangerous creatures living in the Forest, few students would even want to venture into it. " Diantha was suprised that she knew so much about it. "How did you even know all of that?" – "I read it once in class during defense against dark arts, I was bored"
Diantha laughed, so even Thalia would often ignore class in her own defense. "What can we find here?" she asked. "I heard of some Hippogriff to be here somewhere" Thalia said, removing the branches out of their faces. "Give me a moment" Thalia asked her kindly not to move away from here. "Avifors!" she yelled, pointing the wand to Diantha who slowly transformed into a white pidgeon. "What did you do to me!" the bird yelled in its own language, however Thalia would not understan it. "Just go up and see what is up there? I will return you to normal in an instance"
Diantha, not having much of a choice flew up, finding the forest dark and wicked at the same time. No wonder students were not allowed in. But she did saw a hippogriff further from them. Immediatly she dived down, dying to be in her own body, which Thalia complied immediatly. "Alright that is on my do not do that ever again list!" Diantha yelled upset. "Calm down" – "What if you were not able to transform me back?!" – "Unlike you, I actually know what I am doing" – "YOU ACTUALLY KNOW? WHAT IS THAT SUP-" Thalia´s hand covered her mouth, fearing of what or who might hear them. "Do you want us to get expelled?!"
After a few minutes of silence Thalia followed Diantha to this Hippogriff she saw in the air, and there he stood. "So what now?" – "Whatever you do, try to be smooth and unoffended. If you offend them, they might do something more than turning you into a bird" - "That again huh?" Diantha asked annoyed. Both approached very slowly, and the Hippogriff showed no agressive or offended epression. Slowly they were very close from it and could study all of its features. "This must be Fleetwing" – "You knew him?" Diantha asked suprised. "I heard Dumbledore talking about it with Brutus Scrimgeour" – "You eavedropped our headmaster with an professor?!"
"I heard it, I was not spying them" – "Of course you weren´t" Diantha teased. But both of them went quiet when they heard something move, it was not them or either Fleetwing. Even the Hippogriff by now got suspicious and jumped in the air, and as quickly came down, hitting Diantha on her head. This was not an small smack but a huge impact on her brain, in the immediate instance she lost her unconscious as Thalia catched her, bringing both of them to the ground. "Diantha!" she yelled but there was no reaction from her, her face was getting cold and her body lifeless. "We need to get you out of here!" she told her, but she could not carry her back alone. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she cast a spell on her friend for the second time today.
Slowly she tried to leviate Diantha far from the Hippogriff, but there was someone else there. "I am such a genious" she said ironically. From the two of them, Thalia should be the one with a good conscience on what is a good idea and what not. She felt a magic trail coming her way, quickly she dived away. The concentration of her spell was lost and Diantha fell on the floor, slowly waking up. "Where am I?" she whispered softly. "Whatever you do stay down!" Thalia ordered, but the young witch had a huge headache that arguing against her was not one of her priorities at the moment.
"Stupefy" Thalia yelled, trying to reach whatever was there, but it was too dark to see. It was a wizard that was for sure. By now the Hippogriff was out of control and Thalia crawled her way to Diantha, she saw spells being directed at them, luckily where they missed, the one casting them must be far from them and clearly not being able to see in the dark. "Protego!" she heard someone yelling, it was not Diantha, she was clearly unconscious, quickly she turned around and found Newton, creating a barrier. At this point she heard Newt use some spell, it must have been Stupefy, or something similiar, but she feared too much for Diantha, to cause any attention. "Here you go" she heard Newt calming Fleetwing down. Before he actually looked own at them.
The moment he would, she knew what was coming from them, at least for herself, Diantha, luckily was unconscious. "Are you alright?" she asked, kneeling down. "I am, Diantha got hit but Fleetwing, but she seems to be alright, there is someone out there" she explained. "Oh no Diantha" he whispered worried, placing her face in his hands, she was cold, and needed assistance quickly. "We need to get her back to Hogwards" – "And how do you plan-" – Apparate" he casted, causing them back to Hogwards. "I think you are not allowed to cause that spell" but Newt did not pulled Diantha into his arms and ran to the nursary.
Maybe two or three hours later Thalia sat next to Diantha´s bed on her right, while Newt stood behind her. "Diantha, she is always causing trouble, bringing herself into danger like this" – "It is not her fault"Thalia explained. "She was bored because you weren´t here, so I sugested to go to the dark forest" Newt moved his head, unsure what to say. "Y-you mean this was your idea?" – "Maybe..." – "T-Thalia, that was dangerous!" he only said. "I know" – "If you know..." it was clearly that Newt was bad in scolding. "I am sorry, for bring her harm" – "Both of you were in harm, it is a good thing that-" he stopped talking, watching his professor enterring the room.
"Professor Dumbledore-" – "What happened here?" he asked suprised. "Diantha fell down the stairs, and lost her conscious" – "Oh my" Dumbledore said worried. "Is she alright?" – "Yes professor, she just needs some sleep" Thalia smiled, trying to make the best out of the lie. "Please let me know if you need anything" he said, leaving them to their own. "You know he knows" – "Well as long none of us gets in trouble he could know everything for what I want to know" "I should have known, leaving Diantha here on her own" – "You two are close, are you not?" she asked him. He nodded while he sat down on the feet of his cousin´s bed.
"Diantha lost her mother as an child, her father is often looking for a way to help them, so I often got to look after her." – "I understand, I was close to her until her mother died, than things got a bit complicated in the last two years" he nodded. "She is lucky to have a friend like you, even after this stunt" – "i am lucky to have a friend like her, if not, I was not the person I am today" she explained. "Being related to the black family does not define who you are" – "It is complicated" she tried to explain.
"Where am i'" Diantha opened her eyes, full of a headache. "Oh you are awake" Thalia said. "Newt?" she asked suprised. "How did you find us?" that was a question Thalia had asked herself for some time, but due to her mistakes, feared to ask. I found one of Thalia´s books, outside the gate, from there I figure it out" – "Good thing you brought your books" Diantha complimented. "None of this is a good thing, it was stupid, and none of it was your fault, but it was stupid!"Thalia yelled mostly at herself. "Newt you had to see it... First she knew the whole history of the woods because she did not take attention in class!" – "Diantha please..." – "Then she transformed me into a bird! I mean it this girl is not what she seems to be!"
"Diantha, will you please stop?" Diantha started excited to tell Newt what she had been through, neither of them telling her that the whole problem was they were being attacked by someone. But Newt had not seen who it was, and it was too dark to search the woods for this person. "Just don´t do it again, you know better than follow Hippogriffs into unknown land" – "Next time can I ride one?" – "Absolutly not" Newt tried to calm his cousin down. "You got seriously hit, go to sleep" Thalia begged, she could not handle any more of this.
When she finally fell asleep, Newt had to go, he still had some things to do for his exams on Monday. "Newt?" she asked. "Y-yes?" he shyly answered. He had matured because he was angry and worried, but now he seemed to be back to his original self. "Thank you, for saving us, my spells are still weak" – "Lets keep that a secret?" he winked at her, susshing with a finger on his lips. He meant of the whole incident, it would bring panic out if someone told the students that a wizard have been randomly casting spells at students. But this was a start of something bad.
