Hi, all! It's me, Michael here! First, since I lasted updated it, Lily Luna Potter and the New Era of Hogwarts has surpassed the milestone of 70000 views currently having 70603 views. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me and with Lily whether you've been here for five and a third years or are a newcomer. Special thanks to my 40 favorers and 31 followers. Let me make clear that not only did the events of Cursed Child never happen in this story, and not only do Voldemort and Bellatrix NOT have any offspring in this story, but in this story, Delphi does not exist in way. Period. Given my recent reveal that Luna Lovegood is a single woman without kids, there is a surprise coming in this chapter.
Later that afternoon, Devon, Hugo, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily had their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson of the new school year.
Devon, Hugo, Stephanie, Samantha, and Lily all walked down to the sloping lawns to see Hagrid waiting for them. The Slytherins were already standing on the other side of the sloping lawns.
With Flitwick and McGonagall now retired, Hagrid was the last of the old guard still actually working. Lily had a strong gut feeling that Hagrid would continue to work and teach until the day he died.
Care of Magical Creatures was the only class shared by third year Gryffindors and third year Slytherins.
"So, " piped up Hagrid, "Yer gonna do things a little differently this year. In accordance with Headmistress Kirke's wishes, Gryffindors and Slytherins are going ter be working together in this class this year. There will come a time when this whole class will work together, but, I feel it is best fer all the Gryffindors and all the Slytherins ter meet each other one on one first. So, we're in a bit o luck here. With Ainsley, sweet animal lover that she is, transferred away ter the Ultimate University of Wizarding Healing, we now have five Gryffindors and five Slytherins in this class. So, in each of yer next five classes, I want each of yeh ter pair up with a different member of the other house so that after five classes everyone will have been paired with a different member of the other house exactly once. Yeh may pair up now."
Lily found herself approached by an average sized average heighted light skinned boy with hazel eyes and brown hair.
"Hello, " said the boy in a warm and kind voice, "May I work with you today?"
"But, of course, " said Lily cheerfully, "What's your name, then?"
"Lorcan Davis Scamander, " said the boy proudly, "I am the son of Rolf Scamander and Tracey Davis."
"Do you have any siblings?" Lily asked Lorcan.
"I have a twin brother named Lysander. He looks like he's paired up with your cousin."
Lily looked around and saw that sure enough another boy who looked like Lorcan was now chatting with Hugo.
"Lily, " said Lorcan respectfully, "I've overheard you defending the reputation of Slytherin house many times in the past and I just wanted to thank you for it."
"You know, " said Lily thoughtfully, "I know that both Gryffindors and Slytherins in this class have expressed respect for the other house on more than one occasion in these past few years, but we've still stuck to Gryffindors working with Gryffindors and Slytherins working with Slytherins in this class. Much love to Professor Kirke for pushing interhouse relations."
"You know," remembered Lorcan, "Our first ever Care of Magical Creatures was fwoopers. Fwoopers was a lesson that required our full attention and didn't allow us to talk much. Thus, the Gryffindors and Slytherins never made a connection in that first lesson and once that didn't happen in the first lesson we naturally fell into a pattern of working with our own housemates. "
"The first class probably was the best chance for a natural bond between the houses to occur, " admitted Lily, "But, hey, better late than never, eh?"
"Yes," agreed Lorcan.
"So," called Hagrid, "Yeh'll be needing the magical creatures that yeh'll be learning about today. Yeh. So, I'll go and get em. Hang on."
Hagrid was gone for a minute and a nanosecond and returned with five creatures hat had the front legs, wings, and heads of giant eagles and the bodies, hind legs and tails of horses. The creatures had steel colored beaks and brilliantly orange eyes. They had talons on their front legs that were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the creatures was a different color: stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.
"Hippogriffs, " explained Hagrid seriously, "Now, first thing yeh gotta know about hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, cause it might be the last thing yeh do."
All ten students nodded in a respectful way.
"Especially do NOT ever call a hippogriff that offensive "u" word," added Lily.
Hagrid nodded gravely.
"Spread out," Hagrid instructed the class and they did.
Hagrid then went around the class distributing the five hippogriffs to the pairs of students. He reached Lorcan and Lily last and assigned them the stormy gray hippogriff.
"He's descended from Buckbeak!" Hagrid told Lily happily..
"That's so cool!" cooed Lily and Hagrid beamed.
"His name is LongLegs!" roared Hagrid.
Lorcan and Lily looked at the stormy gray hippogriff's legs and saw that his front and hinds legs were very long. Looking around at the class, they saw that the other hippogriffs legs were all noticeably shorter. LongLegs was a fitting name for him.
"Now, " Hagrid addressed the class, "The key ter dealing with hippogriffs is respect. With hippogriffs, Yeh've got ter earn their respect by giving them yers. So, you bow to the hippogriff. If he bows back, you can go and touch him. If he doesn't, back off sharpish, cause those talons hurt. Yeh can decide in your pairs who will try first."
"Lorcan?" asked Lily politely, "Would you prefer I go first or would you like to go first?"
"I'd like to go first," replied Lorcan eagerly.
"LongLegs is all yours for now then," Lily told Lorcan in a warm voice.
Lorcan bowed to LongLegs and waited. After ten seconds, when LongLegs hadn't responded, Lorcan started to step back a few steps but then LongLegs bowed to Lorcan.
"Way to go, Lorcan!" said Lily glowingly as she clapped as hard as she could.
Lorcan then slowly, calmly, and quietly walked up to LongLegs and petted his beak. LongLegs closed his eyes lazily as though enjoying it.
"Well done, Lorcan, and well done LongLegs!" said Hagrid proudly.
Lorcan backed away and said said, Your turn Lily!"
Lily, who felt emboldened by Lorcan's success, bowed to LongLegs and LongLegs bowed back a nanosecond later."
"Is it is common for a hippogriff to bow to a second person quicker after a first person has succeeded with him?" Lily asked Hagrid curiously.
"It's not automatic," said Hagrid in a businesslike voice, "But it does happen more often than not. In this case, I think LongLegs bowed to you quicker because he felt more confident and comfortable after Lorcan's success with him."
Lily approached LongLegs an also petted his beak. and LongLegs again closed his eyes lazily as though enjoying it.
"Well done, Lily, and well done LongLegs!" said Hagrid proudly, "Would either of yeh like ter ride him?"
"Yes!" chroused Lorcan and Lily.
"Can he handle two?" asked Lily hopefully.
"Yeh," said Hagrid simply.
"Especially since you're a midget, Lily," added Lorcan with a smirk.
Lily's insides squeamed. It was bad enough that the Courtney, Stephanie, and Samantha called her midget all the time. Now her newest friend was her calling her that name too. Lily felt stung by this but as usual was too decent of a person and too good of a friend to voice how uncomfortable this made her or her much she hated it.
Hagrid showed Lorcan and Lily the right way to mount and handle LongLegs and Lorcan, Lily, and LongLegs all took off in flight.
Unlike Harry, who'd felt uneasy the first time he had ridden Buckbeak, Lorcan and Lily felt freedom and joy. They felt very comfortable atop the hippogriff and they found flying on him to be quite a joyful experience.
Lorcan, Lily, and LongLegs took a few laps around the sky before landed to ruckus cheers from Hagrid and their classmates.
After dismounting from LongLegs, Lorcan and Lily grinned at each other as their faces lit up.
Lily felt her insides glow as she took in what was happening in this lesson.
Interhouse unity was being promoted, she'd made a new friend, and she'd gotten to pet and ride LongLegs, a hippogriff that was a descendant of Buckbeak.
What a wonderful lesson.
Okay, so this is a bit on the random side, but, does it strike anyone else as odd that Bill, who IS a Weasley produced a daughter (Victoire) who is NOT a redhead yet Harry who is NOT a Weasley produced a daughter (Lily) who IS a redhead. That's honestly a bit weird when you think about it.