Blood Ties
Part 5
Rating, summary and such are same as before.
Note 1: Thanks Joahn for beta reading the story!
Note 2: Oh. And HAPPY EASTER:)
"Come on Harry. Come on." Hagrid smiled. Harry turned and looked at his friends, only to receive the same fearful look on their faces.
Buffy took a step forward and petted Harry's shoulder. "Break a leg." She flashed Harry a smile, before pushing him towards Hagrid.
Harry swallowed. "I don't want my leg to be broken." He rumbled and started walking towards Hagrid very slowly.
"Now, yer wait for the hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's only polite." The professor explained. "Got eye contact, step up, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait, see if he bows back. If he does, yer can go and touch him. If not?" Paused. "Well, we'll ge' to that later." He shrugged.
Willow moved away and stepped beside Hagrid as Harry slowly walked up towards the hippogriff. "Make your bow." Hagrid said softly. Harry stopped and bowed.
The hippogriff stared at Harry for a second before flicking its wings and let out a loud whistle. Every one jumped at Buckbeak's voice. "Back off Harry! Back off!" Hagrid called urgently. Harry jumped back, only to step onto a branch on the ground, making a sharp noise. "Keep still." Hagrid warned. "Keep. Still."
Buckbeak blinked at the youngster, studying him. After several minutes of silence, the hippogriff bowed. "Well done Harry." Hagrid grinned. "Well done." Harry sighed in relief. Hagrid threw a dead ferret at the hippogriff and it quickly caught it in the air and ate it. "Right. Yer can go and pet him now." Harry swallowed. "Go on. Don't be shy." Hagrid encouraged.
Harry nodded and walked towards the hippogriff. He held out his hand, trying to reach for Buckbeak when it let out another warning whistle.
Hearing the hippogriff's sudden warning, Hermione's hand shot towards Ron's and held it tight. The two Gryffindors slowly looked down, instantly aware of their connected hands. Hermione immediately let go of it and moved away, positioned herself next to Buffy. Buffy raised an eyebrow and smirked when she saw the two flashed faces, but said nothing.
"Not so fast." Hagrid instructed. "Eas' and slow." Harry took a several more steps. "Now, stop and wait for it to come to yer." Harry stopped and waited. Soon enough, the hippogriff moved forward and let its head drop onto Harry's waiting palm. Harry grinned as he started petting Buckbeak.
Hagrid immediately clapped his hands, followed by other students. "Well done Harry! Well done!" He moved towards Harry and Buckbeak. "I reckon he might' let yeh ride him."
"What-" Before Harry could even register what Hagrid was saying, the half giant picked Harry up from behind and put him onto the back of the hippogriff.
"Don't pull any of his feathers, he won't like that." Hagrid said, swinging his hand towards Buckbeak's bottom, hard. The hippogriff whistled and ran forward, its wings flapped open and took off into the air, giving Harry barely enough time to seize around its neck and secure himself on its back.
"Cool." Buffy commented, watching the hippogriff flew into the air.
"May be next time you'll get the grim." Xander said, and they watched as Buckbeak circled the Hogwarts with Harry.
After several minutes, Buckbeak finally landed back onto the clearing. "Well done Harry! Well done Buckbeak!" Hagrid grinned, and helped Harry down from the hippogriff's back. "How's your first day?" He whispered.
"Brilliant, professor." Harry whispered back, grinning when Hagrid blushed at the title. The dark haired Gryffindor then turned towards Willow, and the two quickly exchanged hug, much to other student's surprise. "I didn't see you on the train." He said towards the redhead.
"I didn't-"
"Oh please!" Willow's answer was cut short as Draco snorted, pushing away the students in front of him and matched towards Buckbeak. "I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" He said, closing up towards the large beast.
"Draco! No!" Willow shouted, but it was too late. Buckbeak whistled, standing on its heels and attacked Draco with its front claws. The blond boy screamed and fell on his back, holding him arm, blood quickly spread through his robes.
Hagrid ran forward and positioned himself in between Draco and Buckbeak before it could do any more damage. "Buckbeak!" He warned, holding up his arms, trying to get it to calm down.
Willow picked up a dead ferret Hagrid and brought and waved it in the air, trying to gain the hippogriff's attention. "Buckbeak!" Buckbeak turned towards Willow, and the redhead quickly threw it towards the other end of the fence, sighing in relief when it walked away from Draco and went to claim its food.
"You silly creature." Hagrid shook his head before turning back towards Draco, watching as the youngster rolling on the ground, moaning, rumbling 'it's killing me'. "Calm down. I-it's just a scratch." Hagrid smoothed, shifting his legs, clearly didn't know what to do.
"Hagrid. He has to be taken to the hospital." Hermione said urgently.
Hagrid blinked for second. "Right. I'm the teacher. I can do it." He bended down and picked up the injured student, and stopped and turned towards Willow.
"I'll take care of Buckbeak." Willow nodded at Hagrid's silent question. "Go."
"You're going to regret this! I'm going to make you a bloody chicken!" Draco moaned.
"Class dismissed!" Hagrid announced, ignored the grumbles coming from the Slytherin in his arms, and quickly ran towards the hospital wing. Other students started walking away from the clearing, leaving only Harry and his friends standing there.
"I hope he will be alright." Buffy commented.
"I hope he lost his arm." Ron said.
"Ron!" Hermione turned towards Ron. "It's not funny. We're not going to hear the end of it."
Willow put an iron chain around the hippogriff and turned towards Harry and co. "Wanna join me? I'm going to bring him back to Hagrid's."
"No thanks." Xander blinked. "I would rather keep my arms, thank you very much." He turned towards the others. "Coming?"
"Yeah." "Sure." "Okay."
Harry smiled at Willow. "I'll come with you."
Willow nodded, and the two of them lead Buckbeak back towards Hagrid's hut. Buffy, Ron, Xander and Hermione watched as the Slytherin and Gryffindor left.
"Do you think it will be alright?" Xander asked quietly. "I mean, with Sirius still at large..."
"What does Harry and Willow being friends have to do with Black?" Ron frowned.
"Think about it Ron. He wants to kill Harry, and Slytherin's father..."
Buffy blinked. "But Black won't come here, right? I mean, Hogwarts is guarded by the Dementors..."
The four stared at each other, none of them had answers to the question.
"You seem to be familiar with him." Harry commented as he made the way back towards Hagrid's hut with Willow and the hippogriff.
"Buckbeak's been keeping me company during the summer... or the other way around?" Willow shook her head. "Anyway, he is like my non-arm-biting-horsie."
"Non-arm-biting-horsie?" Harry gave Willow a skeptic look.
"What?" Willow frowned. "I'll have you know that horses are very frightening creatures. They put on their poker face most of the time and then when you get closer - BOOM!" The redhead threw up her hands dramatically, scaring Harry and Buckbeak for a second. "They bite your arm off! They're just like over-size ponies!" Harry laughed. "What? They are evil!"
Harry laughed harder. Willow pouted, securing the chain around Buckbeak's neck to a post next to the pumpkin field. "Laugh all you will, Harry Potter." The redhead put her hands on her hips. "But don't come to me crying when a horse bites your arms off." The dark haired boy laughed so hard that he dropped onto the ground, his arms covering his hurting stomach. The redhead sat down, her back against the strong torso of the hippogriff, her arms crossed in front of her chest, still pouting.
"S-sorry." Harry took a couple deep breaths to calm himself and smiled at Willow. "You're just..." He giggled. "I don't think I've met anyone who is scared of horse. I mean, spider, I understand. But horse?"
"Yuck. Spider?" Willow made a face. "Just yuck!"
Harry giggled again. "You're as bad as Ron."
Willow smiled sadly at the mention of the name, before looking down at her hands. "I don't think he likes me very much." She whispered. "Or Xander." Harry looked at Willow, the giggles died in his throat. He slowly crawled his way towards the redhead and sat next to her. "I think they hate me." She paused. "Or they're scared of me. I don't know which."
Harry looked at the redhead, but didn't know what to say. "Hey," He suddenly remembered. "You still haven't told me why I didn't see you on the train! I'm pretty sure you didn't stay with Draco."
Willow shrugged. "Dumbledore said I can't leave the Hogwarts ground."
"He said you can't leave?"
"Not 'can't' but... You remembered the last time when we met in Diagon Alley?" Harry nodded. "I would have to have someone from the Ministry with me if I left Hogwarts, and well, leaving here only to take a train to come back sounds..."
"Stupid?"
"Well, I'm thinking along the line of 'insane' but... yeah."
"But taking the Hogwarts Express for the new term is a tradition!"
Willow shrugged. "Don't really have much choice in the matter." She turned away and started smoothing the feather of the hippogriff.
Harry looked at his friend quietly; his heart went out to her. His hand reached for the redhead's hand on the ground and squeezed it slightly. Willow turned, smiled sadly at Harry, before looking up towards the sky. Harry leaned back towards Buckbeak, joining the redhead and staring at the sky.
The two of them sat there, watching the clouds floating in the sky silently. "Willow?" Harry asked after a moment of silent.
"Um?"
"Do you know anything about... Black?"
Willow cocked her head and turned towards Harry. "Who?"
"Sirius Black?" Willow looked at him blankly. "The prisoner who had escaped from Azkaban?"
"Oh, right. Him. Yeah. Just enough to know he is very dangerous. They said something about he murdered people or something. Why?"
Harry thought for a moment, before shaking his head. "Nothing."
Willow narrowed her eyes at the dark haired boy for a second, before turning back towards the sky, enjoying the quiet moment between them.
Later that day, Willow walked into the hospital wing with a bunch of flowers in hand. "Hey Draco." The redhead took the chair next to Draco's bed and looked around. "Where are Crabbe and Goyle?"
Draco smile brightened when he saw Willow. "I told them to walk Parkinson back."
The redhead nodded. "How are you feeling?"
"It still hurts." He pouted.
Madam Pomfrey turned towards Draco as she passed by, and shook her head. "Why are you still here?" She asked. "You can go now."
Draco sent a glare in her direction. Willow smiled, and held out her hand. "C'mon." Draco nodded, accepting the hand, and started making their way towards the Slytherin dormitory.
"Wait until my father heard about it." Draco remarked as they made their way down the corridor.
"You can't really blame Buckbeak for that." Willow frowned. "You shouldn't have challenged him in the first place. Hippogriffs don't take this kind of thing lightly."
Draco halted. "Me challenging him! He is not even a 'he' Willow! It is a bloody thing!" He said angrily. "You're not taking that stupid giant's side now, are you!"
"I'm not taking sides. I just don't think it's Buckbeak's fault."
"How could this-" He pointed at his injured arm. "-not be its fault! Oh I know, did Saint Potter tell you to talk to me? Or that mudblood?"
"What? No!" Willow looked modified. "It's not about Harry or Hermione, or anyone!"
"Oh, Harry ha? So what? You're worshiping him now?"
"What the heck are you talking about?" The redhead felt her anger rising every second. "I don't worship him! We're friends!"
"Right! Friends with the mudblood and mudblood lover!" Draco rolled his eyes. "How can you do this? Betraying your own name? Your own blood?"
Willow's face darkened. "You know nothing about me, about my name, about my blood!" She shouted angrily, before disappearing around the corner, leaving Draco standing there, dumbfound.