Upon reading the letter, Alexandra let out a squeal and practically ran out of the dorm and then through the common room, skipping the last stairs as she marched down toward the entrance hall and left it briskly.
"Hey, where are you going!?" Mike yelled after her as she passed him on her way down the Ravenclaw tower.
"No time to explain! Talk to you later!" Alexandra shouted back at him as she kept running, her heart beating fast in excitement.
Was she going to be late? Was the baby Hippogriff already born? Was it going to be a boy or a girl? Her head was bursting with questions and her heart wouldn't slow down, nor would her legs as she ran as fast as humanly possible.
Alexandra was a panting mess by the time she reached the edge of the Dark Forest and got to Hagrid's hut. She took a quick look inside from his window, obviously only to find it empty.
So she ran toward the woods of the forest, trying to find the place where Hagrid had made a safe nest for Witherwings.
Alexandra had accompanied Hagrid there on many occasions in the past few months to take care of the pregnant Hippogriff. But without Hagrid's guidance, Alexandra felt like she was lost in the woods.
But she had been in the Forest enough times in the past years to finally be able to find her way through it, until at last she came to a stop when she reached them.
Alexandra let out a small gasp when she saw that in the distance Hagrid was sitting on the ground with Witherwings laying asleep in her nest, not looking too good. But then Alexandra's heart fluttered when her eyes fell upon the baby Hippogriff in Hagrid's arms.
"Merlin..." Alexandra muttered under her breath, taking slow steps forward. She tried to bow to Witherwings, but she had her eyes closed and seemed like she hadn't even noticed Alexandra's presence. "Oh... look how tiny he is..."
But just then, Alexandra realized that Hagrid was quietly sobbing and she soon became worried, her eyes falling upon him.
"Hagrid?" Alexandra whispered softly, moving forward to place a gentle hand on his shoulder. "What's the matter?"
"I-it's Witherwings — I d-don't think she's going to m-make it," Hagrid said between sobs before bursting out into full tears. "She's r-really sick."
Alexandra clapped a hand to her mouth, her eyes moving from the baby Hippogriff to his mother, who looked so ill that she couldn't even open her eyes and breathed with effort, as if she were going through so much pain.
"What — what can I do to help?" Alexandra asked desperately, her mind going through all that she had previously read about Hippogriffs. But none of those books had mentioned anything about this.
"I-I don't think there's anything w-we can do," Hagrid whimpered, still holding on to the baby Hippogriff who was calling out for his mother, apparently hungry. "It's t-too late."
Alexandra felt her eyes fill up with tears and she gulped in sadness. "I can — I can perform a charm on her to reduce the pain she's feeling. It's used on magical creatures who've been hurt badly."
Hagrid nodded, but couldn't get himself to utter another word as he cried. So with that, Alexandra took her wand out of her robes and kneeled next to Witherwings who kept shivering and performed the charm.
Slowly, the Hippogriff fell quiet and looked once again at peace. After a long while of staying with her to pay their respects, Hagrid asked Alexandra to go to his hut and feed the baby Hippogriff so he could give Witherwings a proper burial.
Alexandra nodded as she wiped her tears away and then took the baby Hippogriff from Hagrid's arms. She carried him away from there and out of the forest, holding back her own tears.
The Hippogriff was so tiny compared to his mother, yet he was still heavy and was the size of a dog, even though he was just a new born.
Once Alexandra got back to Hagrid's hut, she saw that everything was already set and ready for the arrival of the little Hippogriff. Hagrid had set many blankets in a corner and so Alexandra placed the Hippogriff down on it.
There was a bottle on Hagrid's table and a pot on the fire inside his hut which had warm milk inside it. Alexandra poured the milk into the bottle and then walked toward the baby bird, feeding him the milk.
Once the baby Hippogriff had drank it all, he slowly fell asleep and hid his face beneath his little wing's feathers, breathing peacefully in and out.
Alexandra hugged her knees to her chest as she sat next to him, watching him with a smile on her lips. It was the most adorable creature she had ever seen in her life.
After some while, the door to the hut opened and Hagrid walked inside, his eyes a little red and puffy. But when his glance fell upon the baby Hippogriff, he let a smile form on his lips which was hidden beneath his bushy beard.
"Have yeh decided on a name for him yet?" Hagrid asked Alexandra as he watched the Hippogriff admirably, as if the tiny creature was his own baby.
Alexandra nodded with a smile before saying, "We can name him Buckbeak."