Harry Potter discovered the thestrals by accident because of course he did.
Beatrice had been in the Den helping Cedric Diggory when she received a message from a house elf saying that Professor Sprout was summoning her to where the carriages for Hogsmeade waited because of a problem with Mr. Potter.
Those words worried Beatrice, she had become rather fond of the strange colorful boy, but he also seemed to attract the weirdest of problems. When Beatrice reached the courtyard where the carriages normally waited all she could see was Harry looking like he was floating in mid-air while Professor Sprout tried to convince the boy that the thestrals needed to get back to work.
Ah. He was on a thestral, not floating.
Wait, could he see them? Who had he seen die? Was it his parents dying that allowed him to see the death horses? Beatrice couldn't see them but a 7th year had done a sketch of them so they could see what the others saw.
"I'll take it from here Professor Sprout, do you know how he ended up out here with the thestrals?" Beatrice couldn't help but ask. The flustered herbology professor looked grateful at her prefect, she was getting too old to be chasing after troublesome eleven-year-olds.
"By chance, from my understanding, Mr. Potter was out exploring and saw the thestrals through the window and had to go greet them, scaring a few other students in the process. The thestrals are quite taken with the boy, usually, they are only this uh playful with Hagrid."
The thought that the colorful boy could end up being another Hagrid made Beatrice want to grimace. Nothing against the kind half-giant but what he thought was harmless was often a XXXX or higher.
"I can't see them, but I know someone who can and we can get Mr. Potter back to the Den after this." Beatrice nodded.
"Then I will leave this in your hands, Miss Hayworth, just call Rizzy the elf if you need any assistance." Professor Sprout patted the girl's shoulder before making her way back to the greenhouses to hopefully have a cup of tea and calm down.
Beatrice watched the smiling boy who was chattering happily to the invisible creatures with more enthusiasm than he had any of his classmates so far and it hurt her heart a little to pull him away. Sighing she called for Rizzy.
"What cans Rizzy be doings for Misses Prefect?" Rizzy asked her with too eager eyes, reminding her too much of the badger she was currently trying to corral.
"Can you fetch me 3rd year Cassius Warrington, from Slytherin? I am in need of his assistance." She asked kindly. The house elf nodded eagerly before popping off to deliver her request. She knew Warrington could see thestrals and was rather decent for a Slytherin. Staying out of house rivalries unless it came to Quidditch.
Rizzy returned quickly with a scowling Warrington. His golden blonde curls would have made another person look cherubic, but on Warrington, it just softened his attempt to look intimidating. He was tall for a 3rd year, already towering over others in his year, but he had the muscle from quidditch to keep him from looking like a bean pole. His most striking feature was his indigo-colored eyes and the way they would shift from dark blue in the winter to purple in the summer. Those eyes were currently looking between Beatrice and a laughing Harry Potter on the back of a thestral in confusion.
"I would ask why you pulled me away from my homework but I am assuming that the boy is the reason," Warrington muttered. "Why is he on a thestral?"
"I have no good answer to why, Professor Sprout has just asked that I get him down so the thestrals can get back to work. But I can't see them and don't want to startle them into getting Harry hurt." Beatrice sighed.
"Well, they seem rather fond of him…" Warrington chuckled. The thestrals were surrounding the one holding the boy on its back, begging for attention like overgrown puppies and not creepy death horses. "Let's see if we can save the badger from the overeager skeletons then."
Warrington helped guide Beatrice closer to Harry and the thestrals so she wouldn't bump into any of them, and Harry finally caught sight of them.
"Bee! Look at my new friends!" Harry said happily, melting Beatrice's heart just a little.
"Ah I can't see them little badger, but I am glad you found new friends. They do need to be getting back to work though and you need to be getting cleaned up for dinner." She tried to coax, not liking that she couldn't see the temperament of the thestrals herself.
"You can't see them?" Harry asked looking appalled at the thought. Warrington couldn't help but chuckle. The kid was cute and not at all what he thought the famed Harry Potter would be like. The boy's eyes swung over to Warrington and Cassius felt like Harry's unfocused eyes were seeing his soul rather than him.
"Can you see them?" Harry asked a little unsure of himself now.
"Yes, I can little badger." Cassius gave a gentle smile that Beatrice had never seen on the serious boy before. Harry lit up though and started to introduce Cassius to his new friends, whom he had all named of course.
"How about I make you a deal little badger, if you come with us to get ready for dinner and to let your friends get back to work, then tomorrow after classes I will take you out to visit them. Deal?" Cassius bartered with a small grin, seeing the eager look on the boy's face.
"You promise?" Harry asked with enough skepticism to make any Slytherin proud.
"I promise." Cassius nodded making Harry let out a happy squeal as he slid off the large thestral's back, landing gracefully on his feet but it still panicked Beatrice slightly.
Cassius was not prepared for the sudden bone-cracking hug he received from the small boy but patted his bright soft hair nonetheless. Beatrice was grinning at the prickly Slytherin.
"I do believe you have made a friend for life." She murmured quietly to him as Harry had still to let go of Cassius.
"I doubt it." Cassius retorted.
"Come on little badger, let's get ready and you can see Warrington again at dinner." Beatrice nudged Harry. Harry finally let go of Cassius but was still beaming up at him. He took Beatrice's hand and waved goodbye to both Cassius and the thestrals, skipping happily back to the Den.
Cassius was sure that was the last time he would interact with the wild colorful boy who lived, but he was apparently very wrong. At dinner that night he was sitting at the Slytherin table like normal, with the Slytherin quidditch team discussing their tactics for the game next month when he was suddenly tackled.
"What the hell?" Terrence Higgs exclaimed as Cassius turned to see who was brave enough to grab ahold of him, only to see the top of orange and purple hair making him sigh.
"Little badger, you should go eat with your friends," Cassius said softly patting the boy's head. The rest of the Slytherins were looking on in bemused horror, no one had seen Cassius act like this before.
"But Bee said I could see you at dinner and it's now dinner." Harry reasoned, looking up at Cassius with a grin.
"Ah well then you have seen me, but all little badgers need to eat so they can get bigger." Cassius countered. Adrian Pucey was watching Warrington like he had grown a second head.
"I can't eat with you?" Harry asked in a sad voice making even the ever-closed-off Slytherin girls want to coo at the small boy. Cassius looked at his tablemates and wondered how bad of an idea this was but he didn't want to make the boy cry.
"Well as long as the rest of the snakes agree to allow a badger to join us then you can eat with me." Cassius settled on saying. Harry turned his puppy dog eyes on the rest of the Slytherins and Cassius had to wonder who would be cold enough to withstand that look.
"Sit down kid, you look like you need to eat something before you blow away in the wind." Marcus Flint of all people caved first and invited the boy to their table. Harry grinned happily and climbed onto the bench next to Cassius. Harry had grabbed a small sandwich to nibble on but quickly found the others piling food onto his plate to make him eat more.
Beatrice watched the Slytherins fold quickly under a small first-year Hufflepuff and knew she worried for nothing. Harry seemed to have the power to melt anyone he came in contact with and enable any mother hen instincts anyone had.
She had to wonder if Harry's puppy dog eyes and waif-like presence would be the thing to unite the houses for the first time in generations.
Wouldn't that be a funny thing to unite over, a need to feed and care for a weird and colorful little boy?
If Cassius thought that dinner would be the last he saw of Harry Potter, he was quickly corrected.
It was Saturday and the students were out enjoying the nice autumn day. Cassius was out by the lake reading, relaxing after having spent the morning running drills with the Slytherin quidditch team. When someone plonked themselves next to Cassius. Now Cassius was fully expecting to see either Adrian or Terrence next to him, only to find Harry Potter… in a blindingly neon pink skirt.
"Hi, Cassy!" Harry chirped, making Cassius' eye twitch at the nickname.
"Hello little badger, what are you doing?" Cassius asked, deciding to ignore the fact Harry was crossdressing for now.
"Joining you! The others are busy today…" Harry said softly and then Cassius realized it was the first year's family day. The families had the chance to floo call or visit briefly to check in on their homesick first years, and Harry had no family to speak of.
"Of course, you can join me little badger. How are you liking your classes so far?" Cassius asked softly, ruffling the boy's hair and getting him to giggle.
"It's hard to do spells wrong." Harry huffed, and Cassius was more confused than normal.
"Why would you need to do spells wrong?"
"Can you keep a secret?" Harry eyed him as suspiciously as his unfocused eyes could.
"As long as it doesn't harm anyone, then yes I can."
"If I do good in school I get in trouble. I know Dudley goes to Smeltings now, but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon wouldn't like it if I came home with a good report card." As Harry spoke, Cassius felt ice fill his soul.
"And what would happen if you came home with good grades little badger?"
"I'd be punished again."
"Punished how?" Cassius was controlling the anger he felt.
"Depends. Probably get hit with the frying pan again." Harry said softly and Cassius couldn't help but pull the boy into a firm hug.
"I will make you another deal little badger. You do the best you can in all of your classes and I will make sure you don't have to worry about punishment okay?"
"You can do that?" Harry sounded wary.
"Promise you that I will make sure you are safe and no harm or punishment will come to you if you do well in school," Cassius vowed solemnly,
"And you keep your promises," Harry said with a small tentative smile.
"I certainly do little badger. Now come, I have some people I want to introduce you to." Cassius said standing up, pulling Harry to his feet as well. Harry just smiled happily and followed Cassius willingly.
Cassius had some investigation to do into Harry Potter's home life and he would be interrogating the other Hufflepuffs for information. But for now, he had a little badger to keep entertained.