— "YOU'RE AWAKE EARLY."
Nicole looked out of the fire to see Harry at the end of the common room. The girl ushered for him to seat beside her before saying anything, which Harry gladly did so.
"Hermoine keeps on complaining how it takes hours for you to wake up. I've never expected to see you here at 6 in the morning." Harry stated, looking over to the girl. Nicole didn't say anything, instead looking at the fire that continued to crackling fire.
"You okay?" Harry questioned, now feeling slightly worried. Maybe Nicole was pissed of because he kept on ignoring Mcgonagowl the other day, or maybe he did something to somehow piss her off, or maybe—
"Yeah, I'm just disoriented. Just woke up, you know." Nicole mumbled, shaking off her thoughts before a giant smile made it's way on her face. "Guess what? My dad gave me his firebolt! We're definitely going to win the Quidditch cup this year! These is what they use at nationals, Harry."
Harry knew that she was just trying to change the subject, but he decided that there was no harm in going along with it. "Really? Wood's going to be beaming!"
"For sure." Nicole grinned. "Um, Harry... did you take divination?"
"Yes I did." Harry scrunched his eyes in confusion. "Why?"
—
Nicole let out a groan as she sat beside Aurora who was perhaps the only Slytherin in the room. Proffesor Trewlaney made them sit together, probably not knowing about how they had a reputation of ripping each other's throats out whenever they were in a five meter radius.
The girl has heard of divination before, mostly from her father. He complained and told Nicole that he didn't like the subject and thought it was a load of rubbish, but her mom forced her to take it.
The two of them have been chatting about how they heard that Proffesor Trewlaney was a load of rubbish, and Aurora kept on complaining how she wished that she took arithmancy instead of divination.
"Stop whining." Nicole hissed, looking over to her friends. Oh how she hoped that she would be sitting with them instead of Aurora.
"Welcome, my children."
Nicole visibly sniggered.
"In this room, you shall explore the noble art of Divination. In this room, you shall discover if you possess the Sight!" she stepped over the table, which made Nicole burst into a fit of giggles.
"Hello. I am Professor Trelawney. Together we shall cast ourselves into the future." she said excitedly. "This term, we'll focus on Tasseomancy, the art of reading tea leaves. So please, take the cup of the person sitting opposite you."
"Let's see if you truly posses the sight." Nicole mimicked, handing her cup to her sister. Aurora didn't laugh, now instead trying to focus on what was being shown in Nicole's cup.
"The truth lies buried like a sentence deep within a book, waiting to be read. But first, you must broaden your minds."
"Yours looks like a wonky arrow." Aurora mumbled in confusion, trying to skim past her book to see what it means. Even though she didn't like divination, she needed a high grade.
"Yours looks like an apple." Nicole said flatly. For all she knew, it could be a circle. Reading tea leaves wasn't exactly her best suit.
"You, boy!"
Nicole jumped when Trewlaney appeared infront of Neville who was a few seats beside her. "Is your grandmother quite well?"
"I think so." Neville mumbled nervously.
She peeked in his cup. "I wouldn't be so sure of that."
"Found it." Aurora announced, opening the book further so she could read it properly.
"Arrow. The arrow is a symbol of direction. It denotes that caution is required." she began. "There is a sign of difficult news on the way. This symbol is also connected to hearing some favourable news. It is important to understand the exact positioning in your teacup and the direction to which the arrow is pointing."
"Well, what direction is it pointing?" Nicole asked curiosity, now invested.
"It's pointed down." Aurora stated, looking back into the book. "If your arrow points towards the top of your teacup then this indicates that you are likely to have a progressive and happy love life.... uh oh."
"What?" Nicole leaned over to take a peek at the book, but Aurora snatched it away from her and continued to read on her own. "If the arrow is pointing towards the bottom of your teacup then this indicates that you are likely to move into a difficult situation in the near future."
Nicole let out a scoff. Divination. What a load of rubbish.
"Ooh! Ooh!" Aurora suddenly squealed. "You said you saw an apple in mine, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm starting to think divination is not a load of rubbish." Aurora grinned. "More people now live to over ninety and this omen appearing means that you have a happy and content life in the future. An apple signifies good health, happiness and rejoicing. It promises that romantic dreams will be realised." she read, slamming her book to face Nicole with a smug smile.
"I'm getting into a difficult situation. There's no way that's real." Nicole pointed out.
"And I'm succeeding. Sounds right, doesn't it?"
Nicole was about to say something until Proffesor Trewlaney let out a scream.
"Oh, my dear boy. My dear you have the Grim." Trewlaney managed to stutter out. Harry looked at the woman in surprise, not really liking how all the attention was now on him.
"The Grin?" Seamus asked. "What's the Grin?"
"Not the Grin, you idiot. The Grim." Bem, one of the Gryffindors Nicole knew mumbled from beside them. "Taking form of a giant spectral dog. It's among the darkest omens in our world. It's an omen.. of death."
—
"Looks like Harry is dying again this year." Nicole teased, poking her friends cheek. The boy seemed to have a worried look on his face, and the fact that Ron started to talk didn't help.
"You don't think that Grim thing's got anything to do with Sirius Black?"
"Honestly, Ron!" Hermoine exclaimed as Nicole, Harry, and Ron decided to walk ahead. "If you ask me, Divination's a woolly discipline. Now, Ancient Runes, that's a fascinating subject."
"You have ancient runes?" Nicole stopped walking, looking at the girl in confusion. "Exactly how many classes are you taking this term?"
"A fair few."
"Hang on. That's not possible. Ancient Runes is in the same time as Divination." Ron noted. "You have to be in two classes at once."
"Don't be silly. How could anyone be in two classes at once? Broaden your minds. Use your Inner Eye to see the future!" Hermoine mocked their professor, which made Nicole giggle. They then walked over to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures, which unfortunately, was with the Slytherins.
"Why aren't you in your robes, Nicole? Ron?" Hermoine asked, her eyes darting towards them. Ron merely shrugged; Nicole told her how Proffesor Mcgonagall didn't seem to mind her removing her robes, especially since their next class, Care of Magical Creatures, was outdoors.
"That's it. Come on, now. Come closer. Less talking, if you don't mind." Hagrid said happily.
Nicole stood next to her friends holding the monster book in her arms. She had a hard time with it before Aurora told her that she was supposed to stroke it's spine.
"I got a real treat for you today. A great lesson. So follow me."
Hagrid took them to the sunny part of the forest. Nicole and Harry were first to arrive so they stood at the front of the group, and everyone else arrived in a matter of seconds.
Aurora, however, was standing at the way back. The girl had been chatting with Blaise Zabini how she thought that divination wasn't as bad at it seems, and happily explained that she had a successful future based on her tea leaves.
"Right, you lot. Less chattering. Form a group over there. And open your books to page 49."
"Exactly how do we do that?" Draco asked, sneering.
"Just stroke the spine, of course." Hagrid turned around. "Goodness me."
"I think they're funny." Nicole interjected, as if she wasn't having trouble with it days before. Aurora stifled a laugh at this, but decided to say nothing.
"Oh, yeah. Terribly funny." Draco said with sarcasm dripping out of his tone. "Really witty. God, this place has gone to the dogs. Wait until Father hears Dumbledore's got this oaf teaching classes."
Aurora's eyes went together in confusion. The girl slammed her monster book on Draco's shoulder softly. Hagrid wasn't the best; but he was still pretty cool. Her friend group, however, seemed to find this really amusing.
"Shut up, Malfoy." Harry threatened, stepping forwards boldly. Nicole cheered him on while Aurora did a loud face palm.
Malfoy had a smug look on his face as he thrusted his bag into Crabble's arms, and walked forwards as he still looked quite amused. Suddenly, he looked behind them and plastered a horrified look on his face as he started to scream. "D-Dementor! Dementor!"
Nicole and Harry looked back in fear as they remembered how horrifying the experience was. However, nothing was behind them.
The Slytherins, well except for Aurora, howled in laughter and pulled the hoods of their robes up and wiggled their fingers, saying 'ooh' in a mocking way.
Nicole adjusted the monster book in her hand, about to slam it into the blonde boy before Hermoine held her hand to stop her from going any further. "Ignore him, Nic."
"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid suddenly emerged. Standing behind him was a creature that had the front legs, wings, and head of a giant eagle and the body, hind legs and tail of a horse. Nicole found it very similar to a Griffin. "Say hello to Buckbeak."
"Hagrid, exactly what is that?" Ron questioned.
"That, Ron, is a hippogriff. First thing you wanna know about hippogriffs is that they're very proud creatures. Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a hippogriff. It may just be the last thing you ever do."
Blaise Zabini shot Aurora a nervous look.
"Now, who'd like to come and say hello?"
Nicole, being really intrigued, stepped forward to get a better look at the creature. She was fascinated of it.
"Well done, Harry. Nic. Well done."
The pair looked at each other in confusion at first; then looked behind them. Everyone had stepped back except for her and Harry.
Malfoy bit into a green apple, annoyed. Aurora had a dark look on her face for some reason, which Nicole definitely noticed but decided to ignore.
"Come on now." Hagrid said excitedly. "Now... you have to let him make the first move. It's only polite. So... step up. Give him a nice bow. Then you wait and see if he bows back. If he does, you can go and touch him. If not... Well, we'll get to that later."
Aurora scrunched her eyebrows in worry.
They both walked up closer until they were a few meters away from Buckbeak.
"Just make your bow. Nice and low."
Nicole bowed, keeping her eyes on the creature, stepping forwards carefully. Buckbeak screeched and Harry took a step back, startled at the sudden sound.
"Back off, Nicole. Back off." Hagrid said nervously, which made the girl take a few steps away.
"Let's start off again." Nicole whispered to Harry, slowly moving towards it as they bowed to it again.
It was quite slow, but buckbeak bowed at them back.
"Well done, you two. Well done."
Nicole and Harry stood nervously, letting out smiles of relief. She surely didn't want to get herself killed during the first week of school.
"Here, you big brute, you." Hagrid patted the creature. "Right. I think you can go and pat him now."
Nicole's grin dropped. "Oh no, Hagrid—"
"Go on." he smiled. "Don't be shy."
The girl looked over to Harry, who didn't seem like he would be walking soon. Nicole let out a sigh, walking over the creature with Harry beside her.
"Slow down, you two. That's it..." Hagrid mumbled nervously as the pair stepped up with their hands infront. "Nice and slow. Now let him come to you. Slowly, now, slowly, slowly..."
With their hands infront, Buckbeak went up to them. It had a timid reaction, like what a dog would do when you pet it.
"Well done! Well done, you two, well done!" Hagrid started to clap. Everyone started to clap for them too, quite surprised that they had managed to make the creature like them.
"I think he may let you ride him now."
"What?" Nicole and Harry asked in union. Before they could do anything, Hagrid picked up Nicole and put her on the Hippogiff's back. The girl let out a loud yelp, and Harry stood at the bottom chuckling, glad that it wasn't him.
"You next." Hagrid said simply, carrying Harry and placing him behind Nicole. "Harry, grab on to Nicole. Wouldn't want you falling down. Nicole, Put you over here, just behind the wing joint. Don't pull out any of his feathers, because he won't thank you for that."
"HAGRID, I DONT KNOW HOW TO RIDE A—"
Before Nicole could finish the sentence, Hagrid had slapped the creature's bottom, making it fly away. Harry let out a scream of horror and grabbed onto Nicole's torso.
The girl just laughed loudly, gripping onto Buckbeak tightly so neither one of them could fall down. The creature soared above the trees and rose higher; to the point where the clouds were in their reach.
"IT LOOKS AMAZING!" Nicole exclaimed, looking over Hogwarts. The girl only saw this portion of the school before, but a broom could only take you so far. She definitely preffered Buckbeak over this, and it felt more amazing.
The two of them looked over Hogwarts in awe, and Nicole felt Harry's grip on her torso loosen up and she could feel the boy laughing. Everything was seen from their view. How big the castle was, how beautiful the lake is, and how large the quidditch pitch actually was.
Harry started to yell incoherent words which she couldn't hear because of the loud wind, while Buckbeak carefully dipped down towards the black lake. Nicole had her eyes overlooked at the wonderful sight and suddenly felt her hands being removed from the creature's feathers.
"HARRY! DON'T REMOVE MY HANDS! WE'RE GOING TO FALL OFF YOU BLOODY IDIOT!"
"Trust me!" Harry yelled back, taking both of her hands and placed it in to the sides. Nicole was extremely nervous at first since she thought that they would both fall into the black lake, but they had managed to latch onto Buckbeak while they were screaming loudly out of pure joy.
"WOOOOOHOOO!" Nicole cheered as the creature glided through the water. She could hear her friend screaming in glee, but Buckbeak suddenly rose up which made Harry latch onto her, and her latch on to Buckbeak just on time.
"Oof." Nicole mumbled, feeling out of breath from Harry hugging her torso too tight. The boy said nothing, keeping his grip on her.
They flew above the mountains back to the forest, and back where the clapping crowd awaited for them.
"Well done!" Hagrid exclaimed too the two third years who had really messy hair. "And well done, Buckbeak!" he added with a smile.
Once the creature had stopped galloping, Hagrid carried Nicole down.
"How am I doing me first day?" Hagrid asked excitedly. Nicole grinned, helping Harry as he went down the creature."Brilliant, professor."
"Yes you're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute!"
Nicole turned around and unexpectedly saw Draco. The boy made his way towards the creature smugly, while her sister was trailing behind her.
"Draco! Stop being stupid!"
He ignored Aurora, looking at Buckbeak smugly. The creature didn't respond gladly, letting out a roar as it slashed Draco with it's talons. Nicole stood in shock as the boy fell down.
Hagrid tried to calm it down and sent it away.
Nicole started to giggle uncontrollably, which made Aurora, who was standing next to Draco in fear, furious. "He just got hurt, Nicole! You shouldn't be laughing!"
"Served him right for acting like a git." Nicole mumbled back, which made Aurora let go of the blonde and let Hagrid take care of him.
She stomped at her sister in fury, while Harry backed out and went behind Nicole. He found Aurora strangely scary, since she didn't seem to be like Nicole.
"HE JUST GOT HURT. IF YOU DON'T STOP ACTING LIKE A CHILD IN SITUATIONS LIKE THIS—"
"MERLIN, STOP BEING AN ASS KIS—"
"Shut up!" Hermoine exclaimed, making the twins look at her in surprise. The bushy haired girl looked at Hagrid frantically. "Hagrid! He has to be taken to the hospital!"
Aurora turned around, giving her sister the stink eye before she walked towards her friend and supported him.