Chapter 2
Harry Potter
He exited the tunnel around three miles inside the forest. He knew his absence would be noted if he missed the dinner, and so he began to hurry to the castle. His clothes were dirty, but there were still two hours before the dinner so perhaps he could take a shower or else he would need to cast scourgify at himself as he went to dinner.
But three miles inside the forbidden forest was considerably deep, and it usually took three to four hours to navigate out. But during the mid-first year, he had made some friends in forest. He was particularly on good terms with centaurs and had managed to make peace with acromantulas. But his greatest achievement to this date was being allowed to touch unicorn foals without being gutted by their mothers. He had achieved it in near the end of his second year. He was particularly close to one foal perhaps it could give him a ride these creatures were blindingly fast so much so that they could outrun werewolves. Animals were always close to him while living with Dursley in a muggle world he never had a friend and had filled that void with his love for creatures. His ability of being able to converse with snakes only increased his passion for animals.
" Mmmm..... It is unlikely that any unicorn would give me a ride ", he thought to himself.
" Perhaps hippogriffs ", he murmured to himself.
This year Hagrid had taken up the position of care of magical creatures, and he was particularly close to him after the giant man had introduced him to the magical world. He had after all then spent two years under him learning about magical creatures. He remembered the dragon which he had helped raise Hagrid until it was too large to conceal inside Hagrid's hut. They now kept it deep inside the forest almost twelve miles inside the forest. He went every week to meet Norberta with Hagrid this week would not be any different two days more than like Hagrid, and he had planned they would go and visit her.
Hagrid had mentioned that hippogriffs lived beside the centaur forest, and he had read about them in the monster book of monsters that if they bowed to them respectfully and maintained eye contact they could be safely approached.
" Well No time like the present to try ", He said to himself.
He then made his way up to the Hippogriff colony. Spotting a small hippogriff. He carefully approached him or her. By the looks of it, the magnificent beast was barely an adult. Considering it was safe to approach he slowly moved closer. He estimated there was a distance of ten meters between them when he bowed making an eye contact with the animal. The beast after a few moments bowed to him.
He slowly approached the beast.
" What a magnificent creature you are " he said stroking the beast's head.
" I shall name you razor ", he announced to the creature which purred as he stroked the back of the head.
Then he mounted the creature and flew towards the edge of the forbidden forest dropping just at the edge.
" Thank you, Razor for giving me a ride ", he said once again scratching its head and the back of its ears.
The beast purred and left.
Fortunately, as he had flown on a hippogriff he didn't have to navigate the forest which would have taken hours, and he had enough time to take a bath.
He turned only to see a black dog. He realized that it was the same dog which had met him just after he had run away from his aunt. No that was not to be he threw a stunner at it, but the dog dodged it and ran away.
He was getting paranoid.
He exhaled a deep breath which he didn't know he was holding.
" You did not need to scare away the dog ", said a voice
He jumped and aimed his wand towards the region where the sound came from.
He saw a girl in Ravenclaw robes holding a bunny.
" Who are you ", he asked.
" Hmm... that is a difficult question, we all wonder who we are deep down and struggle to make sense of ourselves ", she said simply.
He noticed that she was not wearing shoes.
" Why are you not wearing shoes, and what is your name ?? ", he asked
" My name is Luna Lovegood and I like to feel the grass and the damp and moist soil you should try ", she said
He dropped his wand
" You have befriended a hippogriff that is cool can you teach me. ", she asked.
" Um, you saw that ", he asked a little nervous.
" Yeah I have heard that there are herds of hippogriffs and thestrals inside the forest and if you go deep enough then herds of unicorns. ", she said breathlessly.
" Um yeah but there is also a colony of acromantulas and a village of centaurs ", he said
" Yes but thestral herds how cool is that I have read that it is the only tamed herd in the whole of magical Europe. ", She said
" You can see thestrals ", he asked
" Yes ", she said
" I am sorry that was a little insensitive of me ", he apologized
" It was my mother she died when I was seven in front of me ", she said in a soft voice
" Well I can see thestrals too it was my mother I was two at the time ", he said
" I can show you the herds if you want I and Hagrid care for them ", he offered forgetting all about dinner when he saw her smile.
" Yes please ", she said a little shyly
" Come on follow me ", he said
Then he began leading her through the forest and towards the thestrals herd.
Sometime later
By the time he had snuck into the castle, it was six hours past midnight, and he had been caught by Snape his head of the house. It had been a week of detention, but it had been worth it. He felt as if he had managed to gain a real friend, and it was worth everything to him.
Luna and he had talked about thestrals for hours, and he had shown her around the herd. They had now decided to meet every day at five near the forbidden forest where they would show each other around and together explore the flora and fauna of the forest.