Hi, guys! I just updated the cover to something I liked better. What do you guys think? Thank you so much for views and the stars.
October was probably the best month of her life so far - if you ignored the Dementors that kept trying to suck the life out of Harry Potter
The pumpkins that decorated the main hall and the Great Hall were huge! Most of them were even taller than The twins, and those two seemed to grow taller by the week.
Of course, they were straight from Hagrid's pumpkin patch and were supposedly not magically enhanced. She didn't know if she believed in that, but she'd let her doubt be good for Hagrid.
The enormous half-giant groundskeeper gone professor was probably one of her favourite teachers.
She had classes with him twice a week, and they were growing to be one of her favourite times of the week. Hagrid had really grown on her - partially because he resembled Madame Maxime so much, who was her former Headmistress.
Anyways, Claire was currently sitting outside the small cabin that Hagrid lived in. The chilly air had forced Claire to wrap a scarf so many times around her neck and lower face she looked positively squished.
"Claire! Aren't ye freezin' half to death?" Hagrid came wandering out from the forest right behind his hut. His great, towering frame and wild, bushy beard made quite the character. But for Claire, it was his eyes that made him special. He had eyes so dark, and they seemed black. Yet their warm nature of them shone like stars in the night. They glowed with happiness and trust - he was the best.
"I just thought I would get some studying done while observing the Thestrals." She nodded towards the black, winged skeleton-like horses who seemed to graze a few meters away.
Hagrid's eyes narrowed for a moment as he also looked towards the Thestrals.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" He said with an almost wistful smile. Claire nodded as she scribbled down a few words. She gazed up at them again.
She did not like to think about why she could see the Thestrals.
They were quite friendly, really. As she observed their weird, scaly forms, one of the bigger stallions looked up at her. He was a great big guy. He shook his head once, throwing it around, and Claire could envision him with a mane. "Aiden seems to like you." Hagrid laughed, his great booming chuckle not scaring the Thestrals at all. Claire looked over at him as he waved once and entered his hut.
Claire got up from the rock she had been sitting on and left her notes behind as she slowly made her way towards the small herd that kept a small eye on her.
They were not afraid of her, and as the curious beings they were, a few stepped a little closer.
The great stallion whom Hagrid had called Aiden took another step closer to Claire. Its almost pristine black head bobbed a little as it moved.
"You sure are pretty, aren't you?" A lopsided smile appeared, and she stretched out her hand to offer it to him. Aiden sniffed her hand and gently pushed at it. Apparently, he did like her. She smiled, shook her head and walked over to get her notes again.
Aiden walked calmly behind her as she made her way to the rock where she'd put her notes. She picked them up and turned around, looking at the horse who loomed over her. "What?" She said, her voice calm.
Aiden reached out without much care and actually grasped her scarf with his a tad sharper teeth. She frowned and huffed a little humorously as the Thestral seemed to guide her back to his pack. "You are aware that this isn't normal behaviour, right?" She laughed, the Thestral just taking her back.
Aiden released her scarf as soon as she was surrounded by the pack, and Claire sat down on one of the protruding rocks scattered around this part of the hidden field. They were shielded on both sides by trees. The only opening was where she had been sitting earlier.
She put her notes down and stared around her, the pack once again grazing calmly on scattered meat.
"Claire?" The almost nasal voice of Percy Weasley rang out through the small field. His voice carried more than expected, and she snickered as he seemed to jump from his own resonating voice.
"Over here, Perce." She patted the grass next to her rock and watched her friend with a bemused smile. He looked less than pleased as he looked around the field - no doubt not seeing anything. He walked over to her with a bored expression, the Thestrals silently moving out of his way.
Perce had no idea he was surrounded by great bewinged horses of 'death'.
"I've been looking for you." His mouth formed into a sour pout. He sniffed the air with disdain and was obviously not too happy to be out here where everything smelled icky.
"It's my free period, Perce." She stated calmly.
And as Percy was just about to go off on what was sure to be an epic run - he took a step forward. One of the Thestrals had not moved.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT!" He shrieked positively.
Claire had been laughing about that episode for days. The self righteous attitude of Percy had worsened, but he had not been mad at her. It was merely that Percy preferred that no one find out that he had been screaming like a girl - because he had touched an invisible creature.
To tell the truth, Percy couldn't get mad at Claire. She was honestly the only one he knew that would not make fun of him - and more importantly, she was the only one he knew that would sit quietly and actually listen to him when he talked about the things he was passionate about.
Yes, Percy knew very well that he came off as rather obnoxious to many people. He had heard that all his life - he did not need to be reminded that he was a 'Humongous Bighead' at all hours of the day.
Of course, he knew that Claire thought he was a bit full of himself sometimes, but she did not think any worse of him for that. And he appreciated that oh so much.
Claire would pick on him whenever anyone ever mentioned Oliver Wood - or future hubby Oliver Weasley as she liked to call him. She only said it, so Percy would hear it, which was one of the nicest things she did for him. She did not judge.
On the 31st of October, Halloween eve itself, madness unfolded.
After the great feast, Claire and the twins had snuck off to roam the hallways before the professors would shoo them all to bed.
They were up to their usual semantics, playing around with Peeves and being shitty little brats - honestly.
"Hey, there's the monster!" George laughed and pointed at the protruding shape of Máni's tail. The large feline was scurrying away from them towards the common room.
"I don't think she likes your face, George." Fred grinned. Claire nodded while smiling, too, not being bothered by her cat. He was probably chasing a rat or something.
And it was weird how they could just shove everything under the carpet, especially when the entire night had an... Ominous feel to it.
They had ignored that feeling, the lot of them - and then... Bam.
Not even an hour later, Sirius Black himself had broken into Hogwarts and attempted to get into the Gryffindor area. He had slashed The Fat Lady's painting, and all everyone could talk about was that he was there to kill Harry Potter.
Honestly, she wasn't sure. Something didn't add up, and Máni did not show up until the next day - in an awfully sour mood.
November passed without any fuss, or - well... The only fuss that would occur was Percy's inane study schedule. It was ridiculous.
Claire would've been completely fine with it if she was not involved. Because, oh yes, miss! She indeed was...
Percy would demand - much to a certain Granger's approval - that the two of them would study at least three hours every day after dinner. And not to forget those five hours he demanded every weekend... By the end of November, Claire wanted to jump off the Astronomy Tower.
While gripping the edge of her Potions book so tight that her knuckles whitened, she stared, twitching, at her dear friend Percy who went off on one of his famous rants on how they should proceed with this and that.
"Ey, Perce..?" Ron's hesitating voice did not break Claire's eye twitching, but Percy looked over at his youngest brother with annoyance.
"What?" He drawled, disapproval dripping from his nasal voice.
"I don't mean to frighten you, but Claire seems to want your guts spilt." He said frankly, and Percy shifted his eyes over to his study buddy, who most definitely wanted to gut him.
"What does he.. - " He started before Claire chucked her book at him. She missed him just barely, and from the couch by the fireplace, everyone else laughed, and the twins cheered.
"Headshot!" They cried out.
Claire got up from her chair and decided to lie on the floor. Her spotty friend Máni came trotting over straightaway, laying down on her stomach.
"Fatcat, can't... BREATHE!" She huffed out as the heavy cat sat up and stared down at her with his huge, judging green eyes. "I so do swear..." She heaved a breath, "NO TUNA!" She tried to peel him off, but he only seemed amused.
"Go get her, Banana! We'll feed you!" Fred laughed.