Nina's Destiny

Parsley and Hippogriffs

After Transfiguration, we had lunch. Everyone in the Great Hall was whispering about the strange boy on a pegasus that had shown up outside Professor McGonagall's classroom. The story had somehow gotten so messed up, that people were starting to believe that he was a long lost cousin of McGonagall. How did they get that out of my twin brother?

Lav, Vati, and I rushed to finish eating. When we were done, they rushed me up to Myrtle's bathroom. I waved as I was floated onto a toilet seat. Real classy Vati. Lav transfigured an old quill into a small bowl and Vati poured the parsley into it. I still didn't see how parsley was going to help. Vati, then, crushed up some Ambrosia and put it in the bowl. She mixed it with a stirrer she had brought up from the Great Hall. At the same time, Lav was pouring Nectar into the mix. It looked like a golden paste.

I turned around and they began to take the ace bandage off. Lav rolled the blood stained bandage up and placed it in the sink. She grimaced as she held it. The bandages kept the wound from bleeding too much, but didn't stop it completely. The gashes were finally scabbing over until the train incident yesterday. Lav figures it sent me back about a week. Vati began to spread the paste around my back. It was cool against the warmth of my skin. It felt really nice. When she was done, Lav put new bandages around my back that I summoned from my bracelet. I banished the old bandage.

Lav helped me up. She and Vati each had an arm. "So, feeling any better?" asked Lavender.

I closed my eyes. It was like the pain was slowly seeping away. I almost felt no pain, almost. Every now and then, I would get a flash of pain. My back felt so much better. "You have no idea. Parsley, who would've guessed?" We all laughed. Parvati put the rest of the paste in a canteen. "Remind me to thank Chiron next time we see him."

Lavender giggled as she began to float me down to our next class. I was finally going to have a Care of Magical Creatures class. I was really excited. Chiron had helped us figure out how to open the books. Why did someone think it was a good idea to create a carnivorous book? Only Hagrid would assign us that book.

When we got outside, we noticed all the Slytherin's were heading towards Hagrid's hut as well. Great, more Malfoy. Just perfect. "Why do we always have the dangerous classes with the Slytherins?" asked Vati. Lav shrugged.

"I don't know. Why does Dumbledore think this is a good idea?" I replied.

When we got to Hagrid's hut, I saw the most beautiful sight. They had the front half of an eagle and the back half of a horse. "They're beautiful, Hagrid!" I squealed.

"Thought yeh'd like 'em, Nina. These are Hippogriffs. Beau'iful, aren' they?" Lav and Vati nodded their agreement. The rest of the class didn't seem so sure. Well, I think they're absolutely gorgeous.

Hello, my Lady. Wow, I guess since they're half horse, they can understand me.

What are your names?

Buckbeak.

"So," said Hagrid before the rest could answer, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer-" Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached the fence very cautiously. Lav, Vati, and I went up with no fear. Hey, we've fought tons of monsters. We don't scare very easily anymore. The rest of the class didn't come much nearer. "Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know abou' hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do. Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see?Yeh walk towards him, and yeh bow, an' yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt. Right-who wants ter go first?" Everyone except me stepped back. Lav was about to float me back when I waved her off. "No one?"

"I'll do it, Hagrid," I grinned eagerly. Lav and Vati rushed forward to help me over the fence. I could hear Malfoy laughing at me. He wouldn't be laughing if he knew how I got so badly injured.

"Thought yeh'd like ter give it a go," roared Hagrid. "Right then- let's see, how yeh get on with Buckbeak." He pulled the hippogriff I had been conversing with earlier forward. The class seemed to hold their breath. Buckbeak didn't give me a chance to bow. As soon as Hagrid had his leather collar off, he was by my side and nuzzling my hand. I smiled and began to stroke the top of his head. If I wasn't a daughter of Poseidon, he wouldn't have been nearly so eager as to greet me. He nipped lightly at my fingers, and I laughed. Hagrid was spluttering and the rest of the class was staring at me in awe. "Well done, Nina! I reckon he might let yeh ride him!"

"Can I?" I asked. My excitement kept growing. Hagrid was about to give me instructions about how to mount him when Buckbeak knelt down for me.

I do not wish for you to hurt yourself any more, My Lady.

Thank you, Buckbeak. You are very kind.

I placed my hands on his back for support and placed one leg over his back. Buckbeak stood up. Hagrid seemed even more shocked. I giggled. I wrapped my arms around Buckbeak's neck and he took off. He flew me a couple times around the paddock.

When we landed, everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered. "Good work, Nina! Okay, who else wants to have a go?" The rest of the class climbed into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one. They all came over to me to say hello. I pet them all before sending them off to the rest of the class. Malfoy took over Buckbeak. Buckbeak was annoyed by him. Apparently, he has very good hearing and heard Malfoy laughing at me earlier. He refused to bow to the Malfoy heir. I laughed quietly at that. I used the fence to lean on as I stumbled over to Neville. He bowed to his hippogriff and the hippogriff bowed back when he figured out that Neville was a friend of mine. Neville cautiously went over to pet him.

"This is very easy," I heard Malfoy say. Uh oh, he's going to insult me soon. Buckbeak won't like that at all. "I knew it must of have been, if Jackson could do it..." Buckbeak still hadn't bowed back to Malfoy. I started to use the fence to pull myself over to him. Thank the gods for the paste, otherwise I would be in a whole lot of pain. I was closing in on Malfoy. "I bet you're not dangerous at all are you? Are you, you great ugly brute?"Buckbeak slashed at Malfoy.

How dare you insult My Lady and myself, you insolent mortal!

I placed the floating charm on myself and floated swiftly over in front of Buckbeak. Not even Hagrid would be able to stop him now. I placed my hand of Buckbeak's beak and began to stroke him. He calmed down a little and Hagrid managed to put his collar on. "Nina, yeh should have let me handle tha'," he grunted as he pulled Buckbeak away. I simply shrugged and floated back towards Lav and Vati.

"What did that idiot say!" demanded Lav. I told them everything.

"He really shouldn't have insulted you," Vati groaned. I nodded my head.

"I'm dying! I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!" I rolled my eyes. The rest of the class began to panic.

Lavender got a little annoyed. "Malfoy, will you shut up. Nina got hurt 10 times worse than that over the summer and is still feeling the pain. You don't hear her blubbering like a crazed monkey, do you? Nina can hardly walk and she's not screaming! You're not going to die!"

Everyone stared at her and she blushed. People looked at me and I waved. They finally seemed to notice that I was floating, not walking. Hagrid picked up Malfoy and began to run up to the hospital wing. The rest of us began to follow at a walk a few minutes later. The Slytherins were all insulting Hagrid. I noticed that Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis didn't say anything. Wonder why?

"They should fire him straight away!" screeched Pansy Parkinson. Gods, her voice is worse than Annabeth's and Hermione's combined.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" Dean Thomas snapped back.

"He insulted Buckbeak!" added Seamus Finnegan.

The Slytherins went down to their common room, and the rest of us went up to ours. "That was an interesting first day back," Vati grumbled. We nodded our agreement.