Mudblood

The Thestrals

When the train arrived in Hogsmeade Lyssa followed the herd of older students that had got off in front of her. Second years and above took carriages to the castle and Lyssa didn't know where she was going. She found them soon enough however and attempted to find one she could ride in. She saw the other Slytherin second-years ahead of her and figured that was the best she was going to get. She moved to join them in line when she first saw them. Stopping in her tracks beside her housemates she let out a small gasp. At the front of each carriage was a dark horse-like creature with large bat-like wings. It was beautiful, in a morbid sort of way, like a shadow that had come to life.

"Wow." Lyssa turned to see who had said it, beside her she found Theodore Nott staring at the majestic creature as well.

"It's beautiful," Lyssa breathed so only he could hear her. She was a bit embarrassed honestly, because it seemed that only she and Theo were so taken with these creatures.

"Come on you lot," Malfoy boomed from the carriage, "We haven't got time for your conjoint zone-out session." The two of them quickly hurried into the carriage. Malfoy, Pansy, Milicent, Daphne and Blaise were already inside.

"We weren't zoning out," Theo explained, "We were looking at the horses."

"I don't know when the last time you saw a horse was, but that was not a horse," Lyssa said to him. The others looked at them like they had two heads, everyone except Milicent, who instead just looked kind of sad.

"What are you two nutters on about?" Blaise scoffed, "There are no horses, the carriages pull themselves,"

"You're joking right?" Theo asked.

"Yeah, how could you not see them, they're huge!" Lyssa added.

"Not everyone can see them," Milicent pipped up, "They're called thestrals, only some people can see them," she explained.

"Can you see them?" Lyssa asked her.

"No, but my brother can, he told me about them," Milicent told the group. Everyone was so entrenched in the conversation the Slytherins momentarily forgot that they hated Lyssa.

"So it's not a genetic thing to be able to see them then?" Malfoy asked.

"No, more of like something you do I guess," Milicent was growing visibly uncomfortable as the conversation progressed.

"So what do we have to do?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah, I want to see them," Blaise added.

"No you don't," Milicent warned, "Trust me."

"I want to know though," Theo pleaded, " I want to do what I did that made me better than these wankers." He looked to Malfoy and Blaise, "So I can brag about it of course."

"No," Milicent said simply. Lyssa could admit that she was curious, but if Milicent was this insistent not to tell them she must have a good reason.

"You can't just say you know a bunch of stuff about these magical things only they can see and then not tell us," Daphne whined, "You're supposed to be our friend." Daphne crossed her arms and made a fake pouty face.

"Well I'm their friend too," Milicent waved her hand at Lyssa and Theo, "Well I'm Theo's friend," she corrected.

"And as your friend I want to know," Theo said, "So tell us, we've been sufficiently warned." Milicent took a deep breath and shot Lyssa an apologetic look.

"Thestrals can only be seen by people who have witnessed death." Milicent all but whispered. Lyssa shrunk into the seat, every pair of eyes in the carriage was darting between her and Theo.