IT WAS 11 MINUTES PASSED 4 AM WHEN LEER WILCOX'S OBSCENELY LOUD SNORING BECAME TOO MUCH TO BARE. Leer's habit of sounding like some sort of strangled pig during her sleep had been one of the many banes of Anex 'Light-Sleeper' Silvertongue's school life and was the cause of many sleepless nights and disgruntled mornings.

While Anex knew perfectly well she could learn how to cast a silencing charm on Leer's vocal chords there was the worry that she wouldn't have the restraint to ever remove it. The idea of a permanently silent Leer was a very promising one.

Anex, on more occasion than one, had considered doing it the 'muggle-way' and simply taking a pillow and smothering her. But while that would definitely solve the snoring problem, it would also bring on the issue of stopping Leer's breathing altogether. And while Hogwarts was quite a liberal institution in some areas, its rules did no approve of student-on-student murder. It actually was quite frowned upon, if you could believe.

So instead of committing first-degree murder, Anex resorted to using the power of sheer mental will and deadly glares in hopes that they would miraculously cause her roommate to fall silent. But after seven minutes with no results but a throbbing in her temples from concentration and a blunt dryness in her eyes from the intensity of her unblinking stares, Leer remained sleeping with an ever so content look on her face.

In defeat, Anex threw the feathery covers from her body and made sure to take as much time as she possibly could to get ready. But despite how deliberate Anex made sure each of her movements were as she went about bathing, dressing and even did an overly intricate braided hairstyle on the top set of her hair manually instead of using a spell, getting ready still only took Anex a little over an over. Breakfast was nowhere in sight and Anex wanted nothing more than a burnt brown cup of coffee to soothe all her ailments, but alas she was not as skilled in the Summoning Charm as she was with others.

As she crossed through the abandoned Common Room, Anex assessed her options. Sneaking out of the castle in the early morning was much easier than it was at night. Even with all the extra precautions -Dementors- Anex doubted that she would be stopped from having a lengthy stroll through the grounds before breakfast to work off her sleepless frustration. But she had to make the decision as to if she was going to first make her way to the Kitchens and get one of the eager house-elves to whip her up a cup of coffee or if she was just going to go straight outside.

But by the time Anex made it out of the Dungeons, she had lost all enthusiasm to cross the castle and go to the kitchens. So instead she went straight outside, making no rustle whatsoever as she made her way in the direction one of the few secret exits she was aware of. Poseidon found her when she was half-way out of the castle and was surprisingly affectionate as he rubbed himself up against her.

The dim sunlight that usually inhabited the Scottish sky over Hogwarts had only just begun to make an appearance from behind the foamy, thick nighttime clouds and it cast a dull glow over the grounds. There was barely any noise except for those you paid close attention to. Like the faint wind that rustled the trees and the chirping of early-birds who had only just begun to rustle their feathers.

The black-and-white cat had begun to become slightly agitated by the lack of attention Anex was currently giving him as she took a moment of clarity and had started to weave in between her legs. Anex couldn't help but roll her eyes but her lips twitched anyways and she crouched down to give him a light scratch behind his perked ears. It sedated him to point and he seemed content as he let out a pleased purr. Suddenly there was something else furry bumping against her her side and Anex glanced over to see the flat, expectant looking face of Hermione Granger's burnt orange cat. It meowed at her and nudged the hand that wasn't currently petting Poseidon.

"What a bunch of Primadonnas," Anex tsked but relented nevertheless and went on to pet the ball of ginger fur.

When her knees began to ache from crouching and she decided that she had enough cat hair of her brand new robes, Anex stood up. The two cats seemed quite disgruntled by the fault of their pampering but still followed after her when she went to graze through the grounds. Her robes continued to collect damp traces on the hem as she walked in the direction of the Grounds Keeper and newest member of staff lived.

It wasn't the puffs of grey smoke that came tumbling out of the chimney of the small hut that led Anex to the Groundskeepers hut but instead the large paddock just behind it. Anex walked right passed the gigantic Pumpkins and went straight to the fenced off area, eyes wide with fascination at what she saw galloping within the paddock.

Hippogriffs were something that Anex had only discovered the existence of over the summer during her time flipping through the pages of MAGICAL CREATURES; THE RARE, THE DARK AND THE DANGEROUS. While she had never been the most enthusiastic student in her Care of Magical Creatures class, she had found a love for the majestic beasts through the aged pages of the book she had so lovingly poached from the Malfoys.

Seeing them in person now was something extraordinary. They trotted as far as the paddock allowed, strangely alert despite the early hour of the day. Hagrid stood to the side, tossing lumps of meat in their direction so that they could snap it up in their eager beaks.

"How on earth did you get so many Hippogriffs?" Anex asked and watched as Hagrid jumped all but out of his furry, mangled coat.

Eyes wild, Rubeus Hagrid blinked down at the much smaller girl from his towering height, looking absolutely bewildered. "How did ya'-? What 're ya'-?" He began to sputter uncontrollably.

Anex stepped aside him so that she was standing directly at the paddocks fences where a Hippogriff stood in all of its silvery glory, scoffing down a piece of something furry. It lifted its head and clicked its beak at her once it noticed Anex's presence. Taking advice from the leather bound book she had read those months ago, Anex kept eye contact and bowed gracefully to the ground. To her delight, the Hippogriff did the same and she almost smiled as it allowed her to stroke its beak.

"I read a book all about them during the summer, I didn't know we were going to learn about them. How wonderful," She stated absentmindedly as she continued to pet the beast that nuzzled gratefully into her hand.

Hagrid continued to sputter out incoherent thoughts as he watched the Slytherin and the Hippogriff Buckbeack interact, taking in the way the animal warmed up to the seemingly cold Student instantly. "I didn't know ya' liked Hippogriffs so much, most 're pretty scared of them."

"Well, that's just people as quite stupid and don't treat them with respect. I think they're quite wonderful," Anex said as the Hippogriff grew bored with her attention and trotted back away. "I suppose they will be today's lesson?"

"Ye'," Hagrid said, nodding his gigantic head.

"Well," Anex began, brushing her hands on her robes and turning back up to the large man. "I look forward to you class Professor Hagrid."

After her encounter with the Hippogriffs, Anex continued her march through the grounds as it still wasn't any time close to breakfast. Poseidon and Hermione's cat joined up with her again as they had been sent off by the Hippogriffs. They flicked their tails as they walked alongside her in the direction of the Whomping Willow.

Anex knew perfectly well to not get anywhere near the thing that had completely destroyed the magical car that Harry Potter and Ron Weasley had crashed into it the year before, so instead of following after her feline companions that continued on, she reclined on a soft patch of grass. Poseidon and his ginger friend seemed completely unaffected by the tree that thrashed its branches at them lazily. Anex wondered for a moment if it ever got tired of whomping but quickly removed the thought as Poseidon evaded a rather heavy-handed hit.

In the quiet morning with nothing but the sound of wildlife around her, Anex allowed her eyes to slid close, relishing in the ease of the situation. She hadn't caught sight of single Dementor and they seemed to be keeping to their promise of staying off the school ground which Anex was extremely happy about as her leisurely stroll would have become a nightmare if they had reared up any of their god-awful heads in her direction.

Her few moments of solace were broken by the sudden sound of stillness. Anew allowed her eyelids to peel back and saw that the once moving Willow had become strangely sedated. Craning her neck to the side, Anex peered from the distance she was away from the tree to see what had caused it to stop its violent antics. In the two years, Anex had been at Hogwarts there had rarely been a time when the Whomping Willow wasn't whomping something. Whether it be a small, harmless bird or a magical car containing two students. And now, it remained still.

"Poseidon," Anex called cautiously as the black and white cat had now disappeared. She couldn't exactly run after him as she would most likely get attacked in the process so all she could resort to was calling even though she knew cats, especially one as moody as Poseidon, rarely came when summoned.

Abruptly, two small, furry bodies appeared from behind the motionless tree, accompanied by an extremely large, shaggy black dog that looked the size of a wolf rather than a dog. Anex scrambled further away despite being quite far from the scene but it was necessary as her cat led the beast in her direction.

Anex knew about Hippogriffs and how to react to them, but she had not found a single book in the extensive library at the Malfoy Manor about gigantic black dogs that looked something out of a book of omens. She gripped her wand of twelve inches, dragon heartstring core and cherrywood tightly.

The trio of animals, led by Anex's traitor of a cat, made their way to her and Poseidon went to rub himself against her legs. She couldn't even glare at him for getting his white patches of fur on her completely black robes as she continued to stare down the large dog.

It looked extremely mangy up close and her nose wrinkled in disgust on instinct when she caught its pungent scent. She was attempting to assess the creature's temperament as if it had allowed its two felines companions to live it must not be too aggressive, to cats at least and that gave Anex some comfort as it leaned its large snout to sniff her.

Anex flinched away as its cold, wet nose touched her wandless hand. She then felt something lick her hand and she yelped, clutching it as if she had been bitten. The dog stared at her, not in aggression or hostility, but with curiosity and expectation.

She made a sound of disgust and wiped the glob of slobber onto her robes that now were not only covered in mud, but now in saliva. Anex then watched as the dog crouched and flatten itself flat against the ground. When she didn't step any further forward, it scooted across the ground until it was directly in front of her. Cautiously, Anex lowered her hand down to its head and gave it a tentative pet. When her hand wasn't instantly snapped at by its intimidating teeth, she continued to then scratch it behind the ears much to its content.

Anex slowly lowered herself so she was kneeling back on the ground as she continued to pet the beast she had been ready to hex only moments before. It then looked up at her with large brown eyes and it was only then that Anex noticed the blatant, raw humanity in this creature's eyes and it felt as though a human quite like herself, was staring back at her; as if it knew her.