Aries fled from the classroom, clinging onto the last shreds of his self-control with all his might. He ran with no heed for direction or destination, only needing to get away. His robes whipped around him as he was almost carried along by the roaring force of his magic which howled through the corridors as a vicious wind. He took corner after corner without paying attention to where he was going, sprinting through a maze of identical corridors until finally he found himself in the entrance hall.
He turned to face the doors which burst open and he staggered out, buffeted on all sides by the force of his anger, manifesting in his magic. His heart was beating a rapid tattoo in his head and his breathing was coming in great, hitching gasps. The wind whipped around him and he let out a great roar filled with rage, grief and loneliness as he fell to his knees. A tree on the edge of the forest, directly in front of him seemed to explode as a bolt of pure magic formed in the whirlwind and struck out at it.
A tear forced itself out of one of Aries eyes, he pushed himself to his feet and wrestled with his magic, desperately trying to get it back under his control. He looked around frantically, panic making itself known with a sick, churning feeling in his stomach, for some way to bleed off the excess power his emotions had unleashed. He stumbled to the edge of the lake and fired off bolt after bolt of unfocused, wild magic into its inky depths. Geysers 10 metres high erupted from the point of impact and Aries gave a feral grin as he vented his anger.
Eventually he sank down, exhausted, and buried his head in his hands, body racked by heaving sobs. Something nudged himself in the side, a head forcing itself under his arm and pleading silently for attention. He let out a weak chuckle "Hey Buckbeak," he was momentarily confused before he remembered that the hippogriff was staying with Hagrid during term time. He stroked the cruel beak with one hand as the other petted the silken feathers absent-mindedly. The creature's fierce golden eyes drifted shut and the boy leaned down, burying his head in the hippogriff's soft feathers.
"I forgot you were here. I bet you like it, being out in the open air, being able to fly, not being trapped in the house, like dad…" his voice faltered and he stopped for a minute, Buckbeak lifted his head, stroking his beak delicately through the boy's jet black curls. "I miss him too, Beaky. I miss him all the time. It's not fair! He was supposed to be cleared! We were supposed to be free! I only just found him again. HE WASN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE!" he choked out, tears now flowing freely "And now I'm all alone. Even though I'm finally here, the place I've heard about in all those stories, ever since I was a kid, I'm still alone." The hippogriff nudged him insistently and Aries looked up into the hard, steely gaze of the beast which nonetheless seemed to be insisting he was not alone. Buckbeak rose from his position curled on the lake shore, onto his knees and seemed to indicate to the boy that he wished to fly. "Really?" Aries asked, dashing away his tears with the back of his hand and clambering on, settling just behind the wing joints, arms wrapped around the hippogriff's feathered neck. "I've wanted to do this since I was thirteen" And the pair lifted into the air with the beating of a pair of massive, powerful wings.
-~ASB~-
Harry tried to swallow the painful lump in his throat as he stormed from the room. He strode off towards Gryffindor tower, biting his lip, fingernails cutting painfully into his palms in an attempt to stop himself breaking down completely. Thankfully he did not meet anyone on his way to the tower, he was sure he would have either lashed out or started crying and not been able to stop. As it was, the Fat Lady's kindly, concerned gaze was almost enough to undo him and he rushed through the portrait hole and up to his dormitory where he kicked off his shoes and curled up under the duvet of his four poster, fully determined to hide in his bed all day.
He hadn't cried for Sirius. Not at the Ministry, not at Hogwarts during the last few days of the summer term. At the Dursleys' he had been consumed by lethargy and depression and at the Burrow it had been too crowded, there was always someone around. That is not to say he hadn't grieved, he had, constantly, but he'd never expressed that grief as tears.
He had never really cried. Or not as long as he could remember anyway, he must have when he was first dumped at his aunt and uncle's. He had soon learnt that it was safer not to draw their attention; he had stopped even crying to himself when he was locked in the dark confines of his cupboard at night. This sort of desperate, painful sobbing which left him feeling exhausted was a new experience for Harry…
He had always known Snape disliked him, positively despised him, and he had hated Sirius but Harry had never thought even he would sink that low. The man really was a bastard. This went beyond his normal spiteful comments and vitriol that he sneered at Harry at every opportunity, it was beyond hateful, it was downright unforgivable. Not only in front of Harry, but Aries too, he'd even commented on Bellatrix "playing" with her victims when Neville was in the room for Christ's sake.
No matter what excuses Dumbledore made, there was nothing that would make him forgive Snape. Dread coiled in his stomach at the thought of facing the greasy git again, after all he had stormed from the classroom of the most feared professor at Hogwarts, but it was soon washed away by his anger.
Oh God, he'd run out of Snape's lesson. He was going to be murdered. And everyone had seen. He'd have to deal with all the questions, the congratulations, the concern. After all, Snape hadn't referred to Sirius by name, so most of them would have no idea what had triggered those reactions from him and Aries. He was not looking forward to facing his classmates' inquisition.
It must have been quarter of an hour later that he finally looked up from his cocoon of blankets and duvets and looked out the window. In the distance he could see a speck that was too large to be an owl, soaring low over the lake. Intrigued, he rose and leaned against the window sill as he peered out.
It was a hippogriff. Not just any hippogriff, it was Buckbeak, and there was someone on his back. There was only one person crazy enough, not to mention who knew him well enough, to try and fly the hippogriff: Aries. His heart twisted painfully in his chest as he remembered watching his godfather fly away, escaping on the very same beast, but then he grinned fiercely.
Seconds later he had flung the window wide open, Firebolt in hand and dived gracefully from the ledge, soaring away from Gryffindor tower.
-~ASB~-
The door slammed behind Neville as he strode confidently from the room, echoing loudly in the empty corridor. Neville seemed to deflate, all his earlier bravado leaving him as he slumped against the wall, head tilted back, letting out a long, shuddering breath. He couldn't believe he'd done that. Snape had always terrified him, he'd been his boggart for Merlin's sake, but that had changed after the ministry. He felt he'd proved, to himself and to the world that he was truly his parents' son, in more than just biology but spirit too. He'd stood up to his parents' torturer, Snape just didn't compare.
He needed time to think things through so he pushed himself away from the wall and wandered absent-mindedly down to the greenhouses, taking a long meandering path through the courtyard in order to give himself time to calm down. The Herbology professor had recognised Neville's talent at her subject years ago and he had permission to work with the plants outside of class so he often spent the afternoon helping her once he had finished lessons for the day. It helped him relax and distracted him when Snape or Malfoy had been particularly vicious.
When he reached the greenhouse he saw Professor Sprout was working to re-pot some newly arrived seedlings so he joined her. The two worked in companionable silence, the friendly Head of Hufflepuff seeming to accept that her favourite student needed to work through something in his head and the manual task helped him with that, he would speak when he was ready.
They finished the seedlings and Neville straightened from the workbench wiping his forehead with the back of one hand and leaving a smear of earth behind from his soil-covered hands. "We had our first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Snape this morning, I'm supposed to be in there now, in fact" he launched into an explanation of the class' dramatic events, face darkening at the mention of Bellatrix Lestrange but barely stumbling over his own part in the tale.
Professor Sprout stared at him in shock but rested a comforting hand on his shoulder "I think we should go and see Professor McGonagall now Neville, she needs to hear about this as soon as possible". The blonde boy nodded reluctantly but joined her as she washed her hands and headed off across the lawns towards the castle.
-~ASB~-
Had Neville or Professor Sprout looked up as they headed towards their destination they would have seen a figure on a broom plummeting towards the ground in a dive so steep it was almost vertical, pulling out so close to the ground that his toes brushed the grass and rocketing towards the lake. But they did not look up and so they did not see him or the boy flying the hippogriff, they were too focused on the meeting they were about to have.
Harry whooped as he felt the wind rushing through his hair but he was going so fast that his shout was snatched away the second it escaped his lips. He rolled and looped, performing breath-taking stunts with no fear for life or limb, a reckless joy filling him.
He pulled up beside his godbrother and the two teens shared a fierce grin. "Race you?" he challenged. "Other side of the lake and back" agreed Aries as he dug his knees in, making Buckbeak speed up. Harry accelerated in an effort to keep up, neck and neck with the speeding hippogriff. One of Buckbeak's claws trailed along the surface of the lake, sending up a spray of water that soaked him. Aries let out a bark of laughter and stuck his tongue out as he pulled ahead, Harry's indignant expression and "HEY!" only serving to make him laugh harder.
"I'll get you back for that Black! Don't you think I won't! You'll pay! And you, Buckbeak, you great big over-sized chicken!" He yelled after them, but their only response was a cheery wave from Aries and another drenching as the hippogriff very deliberately trailed both feet along the surface of the lake.
-~ASB~-
Far in the distance, in a tower room of the castle, an old man chuckled at their antics as he popped another sherbet lemon into his mouth and sucked on it, gleefully. He leant against the windowsill as he watched the two boys as they raced, apparently, for the first time since they had arrived at the castle for the start of the term, truly happy and carefree.
And so it was that Dumbledore was the only witness to what must have been one of the strangest sights ever seen by wizardkind, a race between the riders of a broom and a hippogriff, but then again, this was Hogwarts- six impossible things happened before breakfast every day.
A/N: thanks to redstickbonbon (my most regular reviewer), doscabezas, cytankee and the reader in LA for reviewing :D it gives me a bit of a boost to actually start writing the next chapter :P so if anyone fancies reviewing, telling me what they like/don't like and any improvements or ideas, that'd be awesome :D
thanks also to my amazing awesomeful bestest little bro Becka, who is my beta and also made the beautiful cover art and even promoted me on tumblr :D the guy in the picture is alex vlahos, (mordred in merlin- not that i watch that) and he reminded me of aries with the curls and the kinda shy and the jumper which looks like a weasley or gryffindor jumper :D also, that's the hogwarts express and buckbeak that are a bit cut off by the stupid format it has to be in :/ and paddy of course, he shall be returning soon, (he's a black irish wolfhound if anyone's interested)
i wrote this chapter so quickly :O and i even have next chapter all planned out :O :O :O anyhoo, hope you liked it- ramble over ;)