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chapter three | malfoy & the talons

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HAGRID SOON RETURNED with some - very bizarre looking, Maddie thought - creatures. They had the bodies, hind legs and tails of a horse, but the front legs, wings, and heads seemed to be what of a giant eagle, with a cruel, steel-colored beak and large, brilliant orange eyes. The talons on its front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking.

Each of the beasts had a thick layer collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who was jogging into the paddock behind the creatures.

"Hippogriffs!" Jake said excitedly, turning to the two girls with an enthusiastic expression.

Hippo-what?" Maddie pulled a face at him.

"I read about them in 'Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them,'." the blonde continued. "They're... quite... actually, extremely... dangerous..."

"What?" Jess' eyes widened.

"Except when they're tamed! They have a lovely temperament when they're tamed!" Jake added quickly at the horrified looks on the two girl's faces.

Jess and Maddie exchanged unsure expressions - Jake tends to try and lighten any situation. Hagrid could've brought out some dementors on a chain and the blonde boy could've come up with some way of making them seem a bit brighter.

Then again, Hippogriffs did seem to be a lot less threatening than Dementors.

"Hippogriffs!" Hagrid roared happily, waving a hand at them. "Beau'iful, aren' they?"

Maddie had to admit, although strange-looking, they were quite pretty creatures.

"So," said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together. "If yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer..."

There was a slight pause of hesitation, before the first few people to move - Harry, Ron and Hermione, approached the fence cautiously. Maddie, Jess and Jake etched forward a little - but weren't quite as brave as the other trio, yet.

"Now, firs' thing you gotta know abou' Hippogriffs, is they're proud," Hagrid explained. "Easily offended, Hippogriffs are. Don' never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do,"

"Nice," Maddie muttered.

"Yeh always wait for the Hippogriff ter make the firs' move," Hagrid continued. "It's polite, see? Yeh walk towards him, and yeh bow, and yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt,"

Nobody spoke.

"Righ' - who wants to go first?"

Most of the class backed further in answer, even Maddie wasn't willing enough. The Hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their powerful wings - they didn't seem to enjoy being tethered like this.

"No one?" said Hagrid, with a pleading look on his face.

"I'll do it," someone spoke up - and Maddie turned her head to see Harry volunteering himself - though he didn't seem too enthusiastic. It was more or so him doing Hagrid a favour.

"Ooh, no, Harry, remember your tea leaves!" Lavender and Parvati whispered. But Harry ignored them, and climbed over the paddock fence.

"Well, he's brave, I'll give him that," said Maddie, before being scoffed at by Pansy Parkinson.

"Brave,"

Maddie shot the girl an unamused expression.

"Pansy, wind your neck in,"

The short haired slytherin clenched her jaw, before her attention diverted back to the Hippogriffs.

"Good man, Harry!" roared Hagrid. "Right then - let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak!"

He untied one of the chains, pulled the grey Hippogriff away from his fellows and slipped off his leather collar. Everyone held their breath as they watched, unsure of what was going to happen.

"Easy, now, Harry," said Hagrid, quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact... try not to blink, Hippogriff's don't trust yeh if you blink too much,"

Buckbeak had turned his great, sharp head and was staring at Harry fiercely through his orange eye.

"That's it," said Hagrid. "That's it, Harry, now... bow..."

Harry did as he was told, and Maddie eyed them curiously. All she could think about was how cool it would be to have a Hippogriff as a pet - like, imagine, riding round on one of those things, taking them wherever you wanted to go. Fucking sick.

Hagrid's voice grew slightly worried.

"Ah," he said. "Right - back away, now, Harry, easy does it-"

But then, the Hippogriff suddenly bent its low scaly knees, and sank into what was an unmistakable bow. Maddie let out a surprised laugh. Jake was watching with a very enthusiastic expression - itching to now have a go, after Harry had gone first.

"Well done, Harry!" said Hagrid, ecstatically. "Right - yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Harry moved slowly towards the Hippogriff and reached out steadily towards him, before he patted the beak several times - Buckbeak closed his eyes, lazily, as though enjoying it. The class broke into an applause - apart from a minority of Slytherins (talk about dull).

"I want one," Maddie said suddenly to her two friends. "It's decided - I'm stealing one of these, you heard it here first,"

"Yeah, and I bet they'll hate you," said Jess, with a teasing grin. "You'll be one of the few having to back off quickly before they give you a great wallop with one of those talons,"

"Shut up, animals love me. Your owl loves me," Maddie pointed out to Jess.

"Only because you feed her way more than she should be given,"

"She's a growing girl, she needs it!"

"Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him,"

Harry was certainly not as enthusiastic as Hagrid at the thought of riding a Hippogriff.

"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint. An' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that..."

Maddie was beginning to get a bit more restless, now, after standing still for such a long time. She could never keep still for a while - even if she wanted to, she just couldn't help it. No longer than ten minutes and she'd be unconsciously fiddling with something - whether that be a loose thread on her jumper, or plucking and flicking at her quill with her fingers. Today, she picked a leaf from the ground and began tearing at it, sprinkling shreds into the soft September breeze. Jake's expression warmed as he watched the brunette.

"Your fidgety ass can't keep still for five minutes, can you?" he teased with a smile, which she responded to with a playful eye roll.

"Shut up,"

Watching Harry ride this bloody Hippogriff had resulted in many leaves now torn to shreds, courtesy of Maddie and her agitations. But, her boredom quickly vanished once Hagrid had questioned if anyone else would like a shot at befriending a Hippogriff.

Many students set off along the paddock, mainly in groups of three and four as they scattered between the many Hippogriffs, immediately beginning to bow and trying their best to remember what Hagrid had explained to them.

Maddie was good at befriending animals (except cats - cats are evil). She was a talker - so much that, in fact, the girl could talk for Britain. And most animals she'd met liked being talked to, especially in the casual manner Maddie presented to them. It relaxed them, made them feel more comfortable - and that was why she, to the surprise of many other students, was one of the first to succeed in earning the trust of one of the Hippogriffs.

"You're good!" said Jake with a beam, as he and Jess watched with pleasant surprise.

"Yeah, Mads, finally, a subject you haven't failed in yet,"

"I wouldn't speak so soon, Jess, it's only the first lesson," Maddie replied. Other students glanced her way as she patted the Hippogriff.

Ron Weasley was watching from afar with astonishment - he'd expected her to accidentally punch it, or something. However you accidentally punch something - he wasn't quite sure how anyone could pull that off, but Maddie Jordan probably could. He frowned slightly as he watched the brunette, visibly pleased with herself as she soothed her hands over the feathers, and Hagrid called over to her a couple times to remember to be gentle, since she was getting a bit too excited and forgetting to be tender when stroking the creature.

"This is very easy," a voice drawled, as Maddie reluctantly left her Hippogriff to let Jess have a go.

"Be careful, Malfoy!" She taunted from across the paddock, catching sight of the white haired boy practically scowling at the creature threateningly. "Don't get slashed! I'd hate to not have to listen to your whiny fucking voice, anymore!"

Harry overheard and let out a laugh.

"I knew it must've been easy, if Potter could do it... I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" Malfoy said, ignoring Maddie and turning to the Hippogriff. "Are you? You great, ugly brute,"

And then the next thing Maddie knew, she caught sight of a flash of steely talons and Malfoy let out a high pitched scream. All she did was blink and Hagrid was wrestling Buckbeak back into his collar as he strained to get at Malfoy, who lay curled in the grass, blood blossoming over his robes.

"Oh... shit," said Maddie, noticing the long, deep, gash in the boy's arm.

"Reckon you could give Trelawney a run for her money, Mads," said Jess, as the three froze, staring at the disaster of a situation before them.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy yelled. "I'm dying! Look at me - it's killed me!"

Diana was watching him casually, with folded arms and a judgemental grimace, as the class panicked.

"Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid. Maddie couldn't help but notice how pale his face had grown. "Someone - help me - gotta get him outta here-"

Hermione and Jake - both instinctively - ran to open the gate, whilst Hagrid easily lifted Malfoy. Maddie raised an eyebrow at the pair who exchanged awkward glances after unknowingly performing the same action.

"They're so gross," said Maddie.

"Shut up, they're cute," said Jess, smiling at the sight of Jake's cheeks growing a bit pink as he scratched the back of his neck, glancing at Hermione who was equally as awkward. Ron and Harry were way too oblivious to acknowledge it was happening.

Hagrid carried the boy out of the paddock, and the very shaken class followed - many of Malfoy's minions insulting and yelling at or about Hagrid.

"They should sack him, straight away!" Pansy Parkinson said, through tears. Maddie scoffed.

"Okay, you look, and sound, like an idiot," she told her. "Just stop,"

"Preach," Diana nodded at Maddie, before turning to Pansy again. "Suck it up, he got scratched, it's not like his head fell off,"

"Yeah, it was Malfoy's fault!" Dean snapped. Maddie shot him a warm smile.

Long story short, Maddie had a crush on Dean in her first year, but by the end of her second year, she'd actually properly gotten to know him, and it fizzled out. Not that she had anything against him - Dean was lovely, it was just the closer she'd gotten with him, the less she saw him as a lover and more as a friend. And he'd never saw her like that anyway - in fact, to this day, he'd had no idea she used to have a little puppy love thing for him. She and Jess would laugh about it, now, of course.

Everyone climbed the steps into the deserted Entrance Hall, as Pansy said something about going to see if Malfoy is okay, before rushing up the steps and disappearing. And that was when the Slytherins and Gryffindors separated off to their common rooms.

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"The way I thought getting slashed by a Hippogriff might make Malfoy shut up - but, if anything, it's just made his whinging worse,"

Maddie was walking with Jake and Jess and unfortunately had to pass Slytherin table and listen to Malfoy milking his injury.

"Yeah, I dunno what you expected," said Jess, glowering at the boy, as he spoke dramatically to the bundle of Slytherins surrounding him.

Maddie did have a little smirk to herself when Diana spoke up, though:

"Let's see? Ouch, that's nasty... serves you right for being a dick!"

Lee had cackled when his little sister explained to him what happened in her first ever Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

"That's much more entertaining than mine!" he said. "We had to look at Flobberworms - d'you remember, Miles?"

He turned to a blonde boy who sometimes made his odd appearance on Gryffindor table, when his friends from his other houses weren't around, of course.

"Of course I remember," said Milo. "You kept wiping their mucus on my shoulder, I nearly murdered you,"

"He did," George spoke up in conformation, before turning to the blonde boy. "You alright, Miles? Where's your lot then?"

"Kaya and Jae have detention because they somehow put a hole through one of Snape's desks - don't ask how, they're impossible. They're failing their Potions O.W.Ls for definite," said Milo, casually. "And Maisie's doing homework in the library with her mate Cedric,"

"Oh,"

"So, if you lot have a hole in your desk on Thursday, you'll know why," Milo nodded to the three third years. Maddie groaned, even at the thought of Thursday.

Thursdays were the worst day of the week for Maddie, because the Gryffindors and Slytherins had double potions. And well, we all know what she's like in a single lesson of potions, so to double the lesson was practically hell for pretty much anyone in Maddie's class... the classmates, Snape...

...and of course, her new partner Ron Weasley.

She knew he would be dreading it, just as much as she was.