Fog clung low over the grass as the third-years crossed the sloping lawn toward Hagrid's hut, the morning sun still fighting to burn through the damp.
The grounds smelled of wet earth and fresh-cut grass, and somewhere in the distance, the Forbidden Forest creaked like a waking giant.
Hermione tucked her scarf tighter.
Daphne walked with relaxed confidence.
Cassius walked like someone who lived here—as if every path on Hogwarts grounds belonged to him.
Ahead, Hagrid stood beaming beside a winged horse looking beast, a Hippogriph, it's eagle head raised proudly, feathers shimmering silver and rust under the morning light.
"Right!" Hagrid boomed the moment he spotted them. "Gather round! Got summat special fer yeh today!"
The class clustered into a loose semicircle, though most students made sure to stay several meters away from the Hippogriffs' talons.
It pawed at the ground impatiently, wings ruffling.
Harry, Ron were here, along with Cassius and his pair of girls, while he noticed Draco Malfoy lingering at the back—not sneering, not boasting… just watching.
Funny how losing your pedestal humbled you.
Hagrid clapped his hands.
"Hippogriffs! Beautiful creatures, but proud—dead proud. Yeh disrespect 'em, and they'll tear yeh limb from limb. So manners! Manners are important!"
Hermione elbowed Cassius lightly.
"Please don't antagonize the half-bird-kill-beast," she whispered.
Cassius smirked. "I of all people know how to greet a proud creature."
Especially when said creature is a dragon the size of a house who nestles against me like a spoiled cat.
Serepha had ruined him.
Everything else felt small by comparison.
Hagrid scanned the group and grinned.
"Potter! Yeh can go first!"
Harry froze. "M–me?"
"Course yeh! Yeh're good with flyin' beasts—saw yeh on that Nimbus!"
Harry gulped but stepped forward, approaching the enormous silver Hippogriff with the tentative politeness of someone meeting royalty.
Then following Hargrids instructions he bowed low.
"Tha's Buckbeak," Hagrid said proudly.
Buckbeak bowed his great, feathered head toward Harry.
The Hippogriff accepted the gesture, which was the signal for Hagrid to go off the deepend.
"Good lad!" Hagrid cheered. "Now go on, give his back a pat and take him fer a fly!"
Harry was stunned into silence, but Hagrid wasnt taking no for an answer and with one hand picked up and tossed the young wizard onto the Hippogriff's back.
With a sweep of massive wings—
FWOOOOSH
—they launched into the sky.
With a final parting remark by Hagrid.
"Don't pull out any of his feathers, he wont thank you for that!"
The class gasped as Harry shot upward, wind whipping his hair, Buckbeak gliding in tight circles before swooping low over the lake.
For the first time that morning, Harry looked happy.
Absolutely, thrillingly alive.
Cassius found himself smiling slightly.
Good.
He needs wins wherever he can get them.
When harry finally returned, hagrid intoned that the class was not over with this.
"Next!" Hagrid announced, eyes scanning the group. "Cassius! Yeh're up!"
Several students turned to look at him, a ripple of excitement running through the line.
Cassius took his time walking forward.
He didn't bow immediately—not out of arrogance, but experience.
Dragons had taught him that some creatures wanted acknowledgment paired with a display of strength.
Buckbeak watched him approach, talons digging lightly into the soil.
Cassius stopped three meters away.
Met the Hippogriff's amber gaze.
Held it.
But unlike harry he made no move to bow.
The staring contest went on for a number of seconds, and just when Hagrid was about to step in fearing for his students safety.
Buckbeak the hippogriff bowed first, an action to which Cassius responded with a bow of his own.
"Whoa!" the sight burned into everyones eyes, Hagrid included.
As for Cassius he didnt care what the others thought and just walked forward before mounting Buckbeak, fingers sinking into warm, dense feathers.
The Hippogriff once more took off with a powerful leap—
WHOOMPH—
Air rushed past him in a cold, exhilarating blast.
They soared.
High.
Higher.
The ground became a shifting blur below, students shrinking to matchsticks, the lake a sheet of liquid glass.
Buckbeak banked left, then right, gliding smoothly through the open sky.
Cassius breathed in the crisp air.
This… was nice.
But—
It's not Serepha.
Flying on the Hippogriff felt like being carried.
It was about as comfortable as riding on a horse, and yet... something about it felt... off.
Flying on Serepha just felt natural to him, as simple a thing as walking or flying on his custom built broom.
Still… he let himself enjoy it.
Buckbeak dipped low over the lake, talons skimming the water's surface, sending sparkling waves outward.
Cassius leaned forward, letting the cold mist hit his face.
Behind him, the class cheered.
Even Daphne was smiling.
Hermione waved.
Hagrid beamed so broadly that it looked painful.
He'd never seen his friend bow first to anyone, not even him, and yet the hippogriff had just done so to a student.
Cassius let Buckbeak circle one more time before guiding him back to land with a firm—but respectful—shift of weight.
They touched down lightly.
"Brilliant!" Hagrid roared. "Absolutely brilliant flyin'!"
Cassius dismounted with casual ease.
Buckbeak nudged his shoulder before pulling back with a soft, approving squawk.
"Oh come on," Ron muttered from the back. "Even magical livestock likes him more."
~
"Alright!" Hagrid called. "Who's next?"
Before anyone could volunteer, Draco took one bold step forward—
—and froze when Crabbe shoved into him from behind, blocking his path unintentionally.
Draco scowled, but didn't push ahead.
The sheer number of students meant he couldn't simply force his way to the front as he would have last year.
And after a summer where Lucius Malfoy's political power had collapsed?
Draco no longer acted like the sun rose because he permitted it.
He stepped back into the crowd.
Hagrid, oblivious, pointed to a random eager Ravenclaw instead.
The class continued without incident.
Which, Cassius supposed, was good.
No reason to give Harry or Ron access to time travel afterall, just think of the damage those two could do without Hermione there to restrain them.
By the time the bell rang, the third-years were buzzing with excitement, chattering on the way back up the hill.
"That was amazing," Harry said breathlessly, still riding the high.
Ron nodded. "Best class we've had in ages."
Hermione jotted several notes in her parchment even while walking. "It was wonderful. Though Hippogriffs do require delicate social understanding—"
"They're easy if you don't insult them," Cassius said with a shrug. "Or act like prey."
Hermione blinked. "…Most people are prey compared to them."
"Exactly."
Daphne laughed softly at his tone.
Harry shook his head.
Ron muttered something about Cassius needing therapy.
Cassius ignored them all, gaze drifting upward toward the clouds where dragons, not Hippogriffs, belonged.
He felt the faint pulse of Serepha's magical bond across the distance.
Warm.
Alive.
Watchful.
Jealous
Her emotions were as he expected, through their tether he send his intent to take her for a flight itself, and that he'd only done so on another creature this time as was required by the class.