The Difference in Reality [A Harry Potter Fanfiction]

Year 3: Chapter 2

Willow, inevitably, was not allowed to go to bed until far past midnight. Of course, early in the morning, she woke up around her usual time of six, and there was no amount of exhaustion that would make her go back to sleep. Willow frustratedly threw off her covers and got herself moving. After rinsing off her face, she quietly slipped out of her dormitory and into the secret room. McGonagall had taken the liberty to transfer her creatures from the train to the room- with the help of house elves, of course. Willow grinned from ear to ear when she stepped through the wall, sunlight already warming the area where Griffin and Phoebe were curled up together in a makeshift nest. She gently stepped on a few pebbles to alert them to her presence. Griffin groggily lifted his head blinked sleep out of his eyes.

"Hey, buddy!" Willow whispered, kneeling down next to him. "Good morning! Wakey, wakey!"

Phoebe groaned and rolled off of Griffin, laying face-down on the soft ground. Willow laughed, rolling her over and tickling her belly, which got her to finally wake up.

"Are you ticklish? Is someone ticklish?" Willow giggled, Phoebe going crazy trying to shake her off. "What's the matter? Does Phoebe have tickle spots? Yeah, Phoebe has tickle spots!"

Phoebe was finally rescued by a slightly jealous Griffin, who barged in and sat directly between Willow and the demiguise. Willow rolled her eyes and began petting him instead, making sure not to touch his sore spots. He was growing super fast and his body, just like humans, was struggling to keep up at times.

"You're just a big jelly bean, aren't you?" Griffin cocked his head at Willow, as if he was almost offended. "Okay, yeah, you pretend you're not jealous, but that doesn't make it true. You're a big attention hog." Griffin flapped his wings. "Yeah, you're still a pretty boy! Your adult feathers are coming in so nicely! You're not a baby anymore!"

Griffin pranced around, enjoying the praise. He flapped his now-darker brown wings and puffed out his chest. Phoebe simply climbed on top of Willow to watch him. The demiguise always appeared to be judging Griffin, but Willow wondered if she was just imagining it. Nonetheless, when Griffin reared up, pretending to be tough, she chattered at him in a sort of reprimanding way. Griffin tossed his head and swiped her with his wing. Phoebe gave up and crossed her arms to pout. Willow sighed and watched as Griffin continued to strut around the forested area, purposely flashing his wings and talons in Phoebe's direction. Leave it to her creatures to form a love-hate friendship, she thought.

Willow passed the rest of the time until breakfast playing with her creatures. Griffin got lots of treats for performing his commands well, but he was beginning to act like a teenager in that he would randomly refuse to listen, strutting around instead. Every once in a while, Willow would tease Griffin for this by shape-shifting into a griffin, performing the command herself, then pretending to eat the treat. Griffin begrudgingly dropped the superior attitude and behaved. Before she knew it, Willow looked at her watch, cursed loudly, and sprinted through the corridors towards the Great Hall. Almost everyone was already there. Willow took a seat across from Harry, unfortunately giving her a perfect view of Draco's impression of Harry's fainting spell across the room.

"That imbecile will get what's coming to him today, mark my words," she growled.

Harry sighed. "It still won't do any good, knowing him. The worst part is he never even saw me faint, so he's making it all up. George said he came running into their cabin."

Willow snorted. "More like sprinting for his life. I'm never going to let him forget that."

Harry half-smiled. "You should have taken a picture."

"If I could have, I would have, and my life would be a thousand percent better." Willow remembered what Draco had told her on the carriage ride. "Do you know anything about this Sirius Black character? Draco thought I knew, then wouldn't tell me when he realized I didn't have a clue who he was, you know, being the little git he is."