The Girl Who Lived

Chapter 33

"-ven... Raven, are you alright?"

Her eyes opened slowly, revealing a dark room, surrounded by Harry, Ron, Hermione and a man. She sat up slowly, looking around in confusion. They were still on the train, that's for certain. "Here eat this, it'll help. Don't worry, it's chocolate." the man spoke, holding a piece of it under her nose.

Her hand slowly reached up, shakily grasping the candy in her hand and raising it to her mouth to nibble on. It was then that she noticed that her companion was missing. Malfoy's bag was still on the shelf, so he shouldn't have been far. Her eyes wandered towards the door. "What was that?" she croaked. "It was a Dementor, one of the guards of Azkaban. It's gone now, it was searching the train for Sirius Black. Now if you will excuse me, I need to have a little word with the driver." the man spoke again, standing up and leaving Raven with her brother and friends.

From the rest of the train ride to the carriages that took them to school and even in the Great Hall, her brother refused to leave her side. He sat closer to her than necessary and held on tightly to her hand the entire time. Dumbledore walked up to the podium, holding both hands up in the air to silence the applause. "Welcome, welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now I would like to say a few words before we become befuddled with our amazing feast. First, I would like to welcome Professor R. J. Lupin, who has consented to be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Good luck, Professor." the elderly man smiled, gesturing to a man who stood up to acknowledge the students. "Isn't that the man from earlier?" Raven asked, getting no response from anyone.

Professor Snape looked absolutely thrilled with the new teacher, making the corner of Raven's mouth twitch in a grin. "Oh, an one more thing. As a request from the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play the host to the Dementors of Azkaban. Until such a time is when Sirius Black is captured, the Dementors will be stationed at every entrance on the grounds."

Raven wasn't sure what else Dumbledore had said. She was too busy internally screaming at the idea that those things would be nearby. She felt like she was in a daze throughout dinner, and was finally separated from her brother when the genders went their different ways to the bedrooms. Sitting on her bed, she stared out the window into the rain, one hand dragging the brush Malfoy had given her through her hair. "That's a lovely brush. Where did you get it?"

Raven peeled her eyes away from the window to look at Hermione. She smiled. "I don't remember, honestly. I think my aunt gave it to me saying it was my mother's."

The days passed by without a hitch. Even Malfoy seemed to be avoiding them, though she secretly thought that he didn't want to be targeted by Jinx again. She followed closely behind her brother and friends while she slipped her gloves on, making their way to the woods where Hagrid had set up for their lessons. Among the conversations that fluttered in the air throughout the class, Malfoy's voice rang out clear as day. "God, this place has gone to the dogs. Just wait until my father hears Dumbledore got this oaf teaching classes."

It seemed that between the two twins, Raven had the shorter temper. Harry turned to open his mouth, but Raven had stepped forward first. "Shut it, Malfoy."

'Ooohs' rang throughout the clearing, Malfoy handing Crabbe his bag before stepping up to Raven. Their bodies inches apart, a smirk on Malfoy's face as he observed Raven's glare. His gaze traveled up, a wave of panic washing over his face and a hand pointing up behind them. "Dementor, Dementor!"

Raven whirled around in fear, only for the Slytherins to chortle at her reaction. When she turned around again, they had their hoods up and were wiggling their fingers at her. Her body tensed, launching herself forward to tackle him when Harry grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards the front of the group. "Calm down. Let it go, Raven."

It was about that moment that Hagrid came back with a beautiful creature following him. "Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid smiled. "What exactly is it?" Ron asked. "He is a Hippogryph. First thing you ought to know about Hippogryphs is that they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You don't want to insult a Hippogryph, it may be the very last thing you do."

Hagrid clapped his hands together with a smile. "Now, who'd like to come say hello?" he asked, everyone except Raven stepping back. "Well done, Raven. Well done." He chuckled, the girl looking behind to see that even her own brother practically fed her to the wolves... or in this case, a half-eagle half-horse creature. "You always wait for him to make the first move. It's polite. Step up, and give him a nice bow. Then you wait and see if he bows back... if he does, you can go and touch him."

She slowly walked a couple feet forward, grabbed the edges of her robe and gave the thing the deepest curtsy she could manage. It started fidgeting and flapping it's wings. "Back off Raven, back off." Hagrid whispered, and she slowly stepped back while keeping her head bowed. Her foot stepped on a twig, and she stopped. It seemed to acknowledge her at that moment, and slowly bowed. "Alright, you can go and pat him now."

"Wait... what?" she stuttered, Hagrid motioning to the thing. "Go on, don't be shy."

Raven walked towards it hesitantly, arm out to show the creature what she wanted to do. It snapped, and she jumped back with a small yelp retracting her hand. "Go slowly, Raven." Hagrid spoke, making the girl take a deep breath and walk towards it again slowly. She stopped when she was five feet away from the thing, and held out her hand. "Now let him come to you."

It walked towards her, sniffing the air as if it was a dog. It seemed curious of her... or it was wondering if her hand was food. But her anxiety melted away as soon as it touched the top of it's beak to her hand. She let go of the breath she was holding as everyone clapped for accomplishing the task. She smiled, gently stroking the feathers on the Hippogryph's head. "Aren't you a pretty thing~?"

"I think he might let you ride him now." Hagrid spoke again, making her heart stop. "Wait, WHAT."

Hagrid picked Raven up by the waist, ignoring her whimpers and protests as he sat her on it's back. "H-Hagrid... I don't think this is a good idea."

"Don't pull out any of his feathers, 'cause he won't thank you for that."

"You aren't even listening to me are you-"

Hagrid slapped the Hippogryph's flank, making the thing roar before it took off with a sprint, leaving the girl to wrap her arms around it's neck as the Hippogryph spread his wings and flew. With her eyes shut tight, she could only feel the wind whipping her hair behind her. The creature growled and she opened her eyes and looked down to see water. They were flying over the lake beside Hogwarts at this point, and it filled her with wonder. She could see her reflection, and she didn't feel sick. Her arms slowly unwound themselves from the creature, spreading out wide to feel the wind, and she let out a laugh. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. When they had returned to the class, she still had the big smile on her face, though her hair was wild from the wind. "Well done, Raven!"

Hagrid helped her down and bent close to her height. "How am I doing my first day?"

"Brilliant... Professor." Raven giggled, her smile falling when Malfoy stormed towards Buckbeak. "You're not dangerous at all, are you? You great ugly brute." he frowned, Raven quickly backing up away from Hagrid and the Hippogryph. "Malfoy, step back." Hagrid warned, but he didn't listen. "Draco, stop." She spoke up, catching his attention. Malfoy turned his head towards Raven just as Buckbeak attacked.