I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

Chapter 9

Devyn's heart was in her throat as she followed Hagrid, along with the rest of her classmates, into the Forbidden Forest. Luckily, he didn't lead them too far into it, so it couldn't be anything that dangerous.

It was only when Hagrid lead them into a paddock-like area that Devyn relaxed completely – the paddock meant that whatever creature Hagrid wanted to show them was probably somewhat trained.

"Right, you lot. Less chatterin'," Hagrid said. "Form a group over there." He gestured off to the side and the students started to move that way.

"And open yer books to page forty-nine!" Hagrid added, as though it was a last minute thought. Devyn and Neville both stalled for a second. It only just occurred to her, as she looked down at her extremely animated book (which had been restrained by a belt), that she had no idea how to open it without getting her hand bitten off.

"And exactly how do we do that?" Malfoy asked scornfully. Hagrid turned around and looked at him.

"Jus' stroke the spine, o' course! Goodness me…" Hagrid said as he walked off to only he knew where. The rest of the class was preoccupied with their books to notice Hagrid had gone off in a different direction. Malfoy raised an eyebrow and decided to try out Hagrid's instructions. Once he stroked the spine, Devyn noticed, the growling book calmed down immediately.

Devyn tried her hand taming her own book and was happy to see that it worked. She carefully took off the belt and continued stroking the book's spine until it became completely stationary in her hands. Unfortunately, Neville wasn't as lucky.

He opened his book and it attacked him. Neville shouted in fear and surprise as the book overtook him and he fell to the ground, trying to fend it off. Devyn put her book down on the ground and attempted to get the book off Neville – but it was much stronger than it looked.

"Don't be such a wimp, Longbottom," Malfoy sneered as he walked by.

"Do I even need to tell you shove off?" Devyn growled at him. Malfoy only glared at her.

Luckily, Neville had managed to get the book off and he stood up, his robes shredded slightly. "I'm okay," he said. "Okay."

And then the book attacked again. "Aah!" Neville shouted as the book overtook him once more. By the time that Devyn managed to finally relax the book and coax it away from Neville, Hermione had turned to Malfoy and said, "I think they're funny."

Devyn raised an eyebrow at Hermione's choice of words but soon realized she was saying them in defense of Hagrid, who had, no doubt, chosen the book himself. Malfoy glared once again and said, "Oh yeah. Terribly funny. Really witty! God, this place has gone to the dogs. Wait til my father hears that Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes!"

Devyn growled as Malfoy's cronies chuckled at his 'joke'. If it weren't for the fact that she didn't want to possibly ruin Hagrid's first class, she would have been pummeling Malfoy into mince-meat at that very moment.

However, because she was trying desperately to control herself, she allowed Harry to step up instead and he said, "Shut up, Malfoy."

"Oooh!"

The entire group of Slytherins chuckled at Harry's comeback and Malfoy sauntered up to him. However, before he could open his mouth, Malfoy's eyes darted above Harry and he adopted an expression of pure fear.

"D-Dementor! Dementor!"

Ron, Hermione, Devyn, and Harry all whipped around and looked up into the sky to see – nothing.

That little twit! Devyn thought.

The Slytherins erupted into laughter when they saw that the Gryffindors had fallen for Malfoy's trick. When they turned back around, Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy had pulled up their hoods and were making ghost noises, pretending to be Dementors.

"That's real mature, Malfoy," Devyn said, rolling her eyes. This, of course, was a ruse to hide her anger. Dementors were not a joking matter.

"Just ignore him," Hermione told Harry. At that time, Neville came to stand by Ron, looking shell-shocked. His robes were only a little more tattered than before. Devyn didn't know why he hadn't just taken off his robes. It was nice enough out that you didn't need it.

"You're supposed to stroke it," Ron said, sounding a little too amused. Neville looked at him with wide eyes and said, "Yeah."

Devyn shook her head and leant up against the rock that Neville was standing behind. Hagrid had just reappeared, wearing a string of dead ferrets around his shoulders, and said, after clearing his throat, "Da-da-da-dah!"

Devyn smiled at Hagrid's imitation of fanfare but was soon distracted by the absolutely gorgeous creature standing in front of her.

"Isn't he beautiful? Say hello to – Buckbeak!" Hagrid said. Devyn was instantly taken with the creature, which looked like a Hippogriff. Buckbeak body's was a silvery grey color, but the front half was entirely like that of an eagle's but the back half was that of a horse's. Both his feathers and hair looked incredibly soft. Buckbeak's eyes glowed yellow and watched them all with precise observance.

"Hagrid…" Ron said, gaping at Buckbeak. "What exactly is that?"

"That, Ron," Hagrid said proudly, "is a Hippogriff. Firs' thing you wanna know abou' Hippogriffs is that they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a Hippogriff. It may just be the las' thing you ever do."

Although Devyn was trying to listen to Hagrid, her ears also picked up the whispers of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were no doubt trying to work out a way to sabotage Hagrid's first class.

Oh, no way am I going to let him do that. I will wolf out in front of everyone before I let him ruin this for Hagrid, Devyn thought.

"Now, who'd like to come and say hello?" Hagrid asked them. He turned around to look at Buckbeak, and when he did, the entire class backed away, leaving Harry standing there by himself, so it looked like he had stepped forward and volunteered.

If it hadn't been for Neville, who had ducked down behind the rock and pulled her down with him, Devyn would have stepped forward immediately.

"Neville, what on earth are you doing?" Devyn asked, exasperatedly.

Neville looked at her and said, "There's no way I'm gonna let you get near that thing. Did you see the size of its talons?"

Devyn smiled fondly. "Oh, Neville, relax. If you're really that wary of Buckbeak, I won't go near him, okay? Now will you please let me stand up so I can watch?"

Neville looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "Okay," and relinquished his hold on her. She stood up just as Hagrid said, "Well done, Harry! Well done! Come on, now."

Harry looked around frantically and noticed, for the first time, that he was standing alone. However, in order to help Hagrid out, he nodded and stepped forward – but only after Ron gave him a little push.

"Now," Hagrid instructed, "you have to let him make the first move. It's only polite."

Harry kept walking forward slowly and Hagrid said, "So, step up, give him a nice bow. Then you wait, and see if he bows back. If he does, you can go and touch him. If not…well, we'll get to that later."

Harry approached Buckbeak and Hagrid said, "Right. Make you bow…nice and low."

Harry did it, but he seemed reluctant to expose the back of his neck to Buckbeak. Not that Devyn could blame him.

However, it didn't seem Buckbeak liked Harry too much, because he flapped his wings and squawked loudly. Hagrid looked at Harry and said firmly, "Back off, Harry. Back off!"

Harry moved back a few steps, still in a bow, and when he stepped on a twig and snapped it, the entire group of students jumped and Hermione grabbed onto Ron's shirt sleeve. Devyn smiled to herself when she saw this; she wondered if she wasn't the only one with a crush on a friend…

"Keep still," Hagrid advised Harry. But Harry looked up at Buckbeak to watch his movements. "Keep still," Hagrid repeated.

Buckbeak squawked quietly and stamped one of his front feet with the unnervingly large talons on it, but he seemed to relax and eventually bowed to Harry in return.

Hagrid laughed in relief and said, "Well done, Harry. Well done. Here, yeh big brute, you!" He tossed one of the dead ferrets to Buckbeak and he caught it deftly and ate it whole within seconds.

Harry straightened up and Hagrid said, "Right. I think you can go and pat 'im now. Go on, don't be shy."

Harry looked at Hagrid, alarmed, before he eventually started moving towards Buckbeak with his hand extended. At that moment, Malfoy decided to force his way over to where Devyn and Neville were standing with a few other Gryffindors. He and the other Slytherins pushed them out of the way, despite the fact that some of the Gryffindors protested, and Neville practically ran away.

Devyn glared dangerously at Malfoy before following Neville over to where Ron and Hermione were standing.

"Nice and slow, now, nice and slow," Hagrid said. Harry was starting to walk a little faster, but that might have been because he was nervous. Even though she didn't want to, she could smell his fear from here.

"Not so fast, Harry," Hagrid warned, and at that exact moment, Buckbeak snapped at Harry's outstretched hand. Luckily, it was only a warning and he didn't actually bite Harry, but it was enough to make both Hermione and Devyn jump.

Devyn noticed out of the corner of her eye that Hermione's hand, which had previously been clutching Ron's shirt sleeve, had drifted down and enclosed around Ron's wrist. Devyn smiled when Hermione and Ron realized where Hermione's hand was and moved apart from one another, blushing a little.

However, then it was Devyn's turn to blush because Neville grabbed onto her hand as well, out of anxiousness. Devyn tried to stop blushing and she tightened her grip around Neville's, to show him that he wasn't the only one who was nervous for Harry and that she was there.

That's why she thought Neville grabbed her hand, but there may have been another reason and he was just using Harry's predicament as an excuse….

You're over-thinking again, Devyn, Snow told her. Devyn chose to ignore her.

"Slow down, Harry," Hagrid told him quietly. "That's it, nice and slow…"

Buckbeak snapped his beak lightly again and Harry stopped short.

"Now let him come to you," Hagrid said. Harry stopped walking and Buckbeak started moving towards him. Hagrid kept advising him to move slowly until Buckbeak and Harry met in the middle and the Hippogriff nuzzled Harry's hand.

Harry grinned and Hagrid started clapping.

"Yes, well done! Oh, well done, Harry! Well done!"

Devyn grinned at Neville and he smiled right back, both relieved that Harry wasn't missing any limbs or extremities. Despite the fact that their shared anxiousness had vanished, neither let go of the other's hand. They just didn't want to.

"I think he may let you ride 'im now!" Hagrid said as he moved towards Harry.

"What?!" Harry asked.

"Come on," Hagrid said and lifted Harry up like he was a rag doll.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Hey, Hagrid!" Harry protested. Devyn chuckled at Harry's indignation at being lifted up like a small child, but she wasn't worried. Harry was the most talented flyer she knew – if anyone could ride Buckbeak successfully, it was Harry.

"We'll put you over here, just behind the wing joint," Hagrid said and did just that, plopping Harry onto Buckbeak like a parent would a small child on a pony. "Don' pull out any of his feathers – he won' thank you for that!"

Hagrid smacked Buckbeak's flank and the Hippogriff squawked loudly and reared back, causing Harry to lurch forward and wrap his arms around Buckbeak's neck. Buckbeak started charging forward and reached the end of the paddock in no time and stretched his massive wings out and took off into the sky.

Devyn cheered when Harry and Buckbeak took off and then turned around and caught Hagrid's eye. He grinned and she gave him two thumbs up.

Hagrid only grinned wider. So far, his first class was a phenomenal success. The only problem was, it wasn't over yet.