WOOF WOOF
"Alright Fang, I 'eard the door ye don't need te keep woofing." The hut door swung open. "Alright kiddo!"
"Hi Hagrid." Two paws placed themselves on to Ophelia's shoulders and a large slobbery lick was placed upon Ophelia's face. "Nice to see you too Fang."
"I'm glad yeh came Ophelia, got something real exciting to show ye, follow me." Hagrid came out of his front door with Fang and beckoned Ophelia to follow. They passed through his pumpkin patch and then entered some woodland that backed directly onto his garden. After five minutes they seemed to reach their destination. "Ok, yeh gonna need to follow me lead here, normally students aren't allowed near these creatures but yeh different. Now just round this corner is a Hippogriff."
"A hippogriff! Hogwarts has a hippogriff?" Ophelia was stunned, she had found herself reading Newt Scamander's books multiple times and couldn't deny how fascinated she was by all the creatures in the magical world.
"We 'ave a fair few, now from what Professor McGonagall has told me, yer really know yer stuff about creatures so I'm sure yer don't need reminding that Hippogriffs are proud creatures. Easily offended, that they are." Ophelia nodded in return, trying to contain some excitement but she was practically bouncing on her feet like a child on Christmas morning.
"Yes, Scamander said you should never offend one, but I can't see why anyone would want too."
"Yer right, and I agree, beautiful creatures they are. So yer must must wait for the hippogriff ter make the first move. Yer walk towards her, yer bow, then yer wait. If she bows back, yer allowed to touch her and see the extra surprise. I don't think yer gonna need to worry about her returning the bow, yer seem to be a natural around creatures." Hagrid began walking towards a large tree and motioned Ophelia to stay behind him, before walking around the trunk. "Ello there Stormy. I brought a friend for yer, Ophelia come ere." Ophelia edged around the trunk and came face to face with a sitting Hippogriff who's brilliantly orange eyes shot to Ophelia's figure. Quickly Ophelia bowed and within seconds the Hippogriff bowed back.
"Un-ruddy-believable. Go on kiddo, give her a fuss."
Ophelia took a slow step towards the Hippogriff, rather nervous that any sudden movement may frighten the creature. Ophelia reached out the back of her hand and rested it on their head, the bird nuzzled against Ophelia's hand in return.
"Hello beautiful, what was your name again?"
"Stormswift, but I like to call her Stormy." Hagrid had come beside Ophelia now and unbeknownst to Ophelia his mouth was remaining open in a state of shock.
"Stormy, what a lovely name. It's lovely to meet you." Ophelia spoke softly to the creature, lowering herself down to a sitting position. "Hagrid she is beautiful, thank you for bringing me here."
"Yer more than welcome. I gotta say, I ave ne'er seen a Hippogriff trust so quickly. Yer really are a natural."
Ophelia was about to respond until Stormy bent her head down to Ophelia and gently knocked it before letting out a small squawk.
"What's the matter Stormy?" Ophelia returned to stroking the side of her face when she spotted Stormy lifting a large wing revealing a small bundle of feathers. "What is that Hagird?" Hagrid didn't need to respond because a tiny face appeared from the feathers. "Oh. My. God. Stormy is this your baby?" The hippogriff nodded, nodded like a human responding to a conversation. "Can I say hello to them?" Again the hippogriff nodded, she seemed to understand exactly what Ophelia was asking. Ophelia smiled and placed a hand towards the hippogriff chick, allowing it to sense her presence first, Stormy then let out another squawk which seemed to alert the baby. It stumbled on to its feet before clumsily walking closer to Ophelia until it fell straight onto her lap. "Nice to meet you too little one. Hagrid this is amazing."
"It sure is. First Hippogriff newborn I've ever seen. He's ruddy beautiful" Hagrid sniffled beside Ophelia which made her look up to him, he was crying.
"It's a he then?" The chick began nibbling on Ophelia's hands.
"Yeh, yer can tell by the shape of the eye."
"Has he got a name yet?" Ophelia was trying to distract the baby from her hands by giving him a bunch of her jumper to chew on instead.
"Nah, wanted to see 'is personality first."
"Well you've got to name him something to do with his beak," Ophelia let out a little yelp as the chick clutched back onto her hand, "he's a nibbler."
"Yer right there, though he's never come to me yet. Only seems fair yer name him for me."
"Me?" Ophelia removed the chick from her hand once again and this time found a random stick on the ground beside her to occupy him with.
"Yeh, just make sure its two syllables starting with the same letter. Don't know why, but its Hogwarts tradition for the herd."
"Well then I think - ouch Beaky no don't bite - I think it has to have Beak in it. But not sure what else? Hagrid why don't you pick the matching part? They're your babies really."
"Er, really? Yer don't mind?"
"Nope, you deserve to name him more than I do."
"Well, always liked Buck for a name me."
"How about Buckbeak then?" Ophelia turned to see a smile appear on Hagrids face followed by a huge belly laugh.
"Buckbeak it is!"
"It's lovely to meet you Buckbeak." Ophelia stroked the chicks head and felt a large wing wrap around her. It was Stormy's wing. Ophelia felt safe here with Stormy and Beaky, she hadn't even noticed Hagrid step away.
"We should head back now kiddo, it will soon be dinner." Hagrid didn't really want to break the moment up but knew it was inevitable.
"Can I come visit them?"
"Whenever yer like."
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"Where were you all afternoon Ophelia?" Alice asked over the table during dinner.
"Not entirely sure if I'm meant to tell people but Hagrid introduced me to a Hippogriff." Ophelia was feeling so refreshed after her night in with Minnie then her afternoon with Hagrid.
"Oh my god, students aren't even normally allowed near them at least until NEWTs." Alice seemed genuinely interest in the topic. Lily was listening too but she wasn't as fond of magical creatures. Marlene was missing from the table and coincidentally Sirius was too.
"Yeh Hagrid said that, I guess Minnie allowed him or something." Ophelia shrugged, she knew the reason was actually because Hagrid saw her upset yesterday but she didn't want them to know that.
Meanwhile at the staff table Hagrid had occupied the seat next to Minnie whilst Professor Sprout was speaking to a student on the Hufflepuff table.
"Err, I hope you don't mind Professor McGonagall," Hagrid scratched the back of his matted hair, "but I took Ophelia down to meet ur a Hippogriff today."
"Hagrid! What on earth possessed you to do that?" Minnie looked rather shell shocked, she knew they weren't incredibly dangerous but there was a reason why students don't normally interact with them until they're at least NEWT level.
"Well, err, to cheer her up. Ye said she was all for magical creatures and I saw 'ow good she was with me Fang." Hagrid, for a rather large man, felt very small when talking with Professor McGonagall, he had a lot fo admiration for the lady and hated the idea of upsetting her. But a lot of the times he was too hot headed and forgot to think things through - today was one of those days.
"It is done now Rubeus and I can see she is sat at the Gryffindor table unharmed with a smile on her face. I presume it went well?"
"Well? It went un-ruddy-believably well. It's why I wanted to speak about it with yer. Yer see, I've ne'er seen something like it before."
"Like what Rubeus?"
"To start with the Hippogriff bowed before Ophelia had even finished her bow. Then she introduced her to her chick, and she ain't even let me near her chick yet. Weirdest thing was it seemed like Stormy could understand Ophelia."
"Understand her?"
"Yeah, it were like Ophelia could speak to the hippogriff."
"I shall speak to Albus. Thank you for cheering her up Hagrid."
"Yer welcome Professor, lovely girl she is."
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Ok I loved this chapter it was all cute and happy!!! I'm a little obsessed with magical creatures whoops! This was purely a short filler chapter ❤️
QOTC - What would you name a Hippogriff?