September 6, 1991, Friday 9:30 am Hufflepuff boy's dorm
-Third person POV-
"Hooo?" Naji asked his 'father' if they will be going out today. Tania and Bunta were also getting bored staying in the boy's dormitory.
Their 'father' said, "Sorry guys, I have lots of self studying to do." He showed a stack of white papers that their 'father' called 'module.'
"You can try to explore the castle ,you know? I've been telling you guys for a long time now. Just be careful and watch each other's back," suggested by their 'father'.
The owl, fairy, and toad look at each other and follow their father's suggestion. They flew slowly out the window. They appeared from a small hill by the side of the castle that was covered with grass and dandelions.
The three flew up and over the water and approached a building. They went in and saw a large swinging pendulum. There were some students roaming around. Some pointed a finger at them. Some called them, but most didn't pay attention to them.
Bored, they went out and looked for something interesting elsewhere.
"Hoo!" Naji got excited to see a thin building with many owls. He landed on one of the available perches outside. Tania landed on his head and grabbed his feathers. Being surrounded by numerous birds, she didn't feel at ease.
Bunta was actually big enough to deter the birds. He just needs to pay attention to his whiskers because some stupid ones are drooling over them.
A female white owl landed in front of the trio. It was that boy Harry's owl, Hedwig. They were familiar with her since she stayed with them for a month before coming to the big school.
"Hoo!" "Hhooo!" 🔔"Ting!"🔔 "Croaakk!" Hedwig introduce the place as the Owlery where the owls of the students and the school stayed.
While having their conversation, a huge eagle owl with orange red eyes barges in and started screeching at Naji. He flapped his wings trying to look intimidating.
"Hhooo.." Hedwig rolled her eyes, seeing the eagle owl. The annoying guy had been courting her, but she was not interested. Especially when she learned that he was that boy Malfoy's owl.
The three look at the huge, noisy guy as if looking at a fool. The eagle owl then lunged toward Naji with its sharp talons. Tania immediately flew out of Naji's feather and on to Bunta's head.
Naji didn't move, but when the eagle owl's talon was near him, he circulated a low bolt of electricity around his body. The annoying owl touches his feathers and instantly got electrocuted.
The eagle owl got stunned and dropped to the ground. He was still alive, but was twitching on the floor while foaming from the mouth.
The other owls got scared by Naji's show of power, while some cheered as the eagle owl was a big bully in the owlery. The four just laughed.
They said goodbye to Hedwig and travel toward a gloomy forest. They were reminded of the forest of their aunt Grace, but the forest in front of them wass very dark and gloomy in comparison.
Near the forest, they saw a flock of ravens. From the way they act, the ravens intend to attack them.
Tania was fed up being intimidated by birds, so she created a giant fly swatter made of light and furiously attacked the incoming flock. One by one, black birds fell from the sky. Naji just shook his head while Bunta applauded his twin sister.
After that episode, they proceeded to go in the dark forest. It was eerily quiet in the forest. But they could sense countless creatures hiding around.
They saw a tree with thin green branches and green leaves. When they came closer, some of the twigs moved. They saw thin twig creatures with a few leaf on their head and body.
The twigs became noisy and yelled at them to go away. They realized that the twigs were just scared of them, so they left the creatures alone.
🔔"Ting?? Ting!!! Ting!!"🔔 Tania then said that she sensed some creatures below. The trio then looked at the forest floor but didn't see any creature.
Tania insisted, and she also noted that the creatures were looking at them but with no hostility and malicious intent. They are just curious about their group.
"HOOO!" Naji called out and said hello but didn't receive a response. Instead, they see some footprints appearing on the damp soil. Unable to communicate with the mysterious creatures, they said goodbye and flew in another direction.
The three then came upon a clearing with small bushes, short grasses and few flowers here and there.
Because of their vantage point, they were able to see a small golden creature hiding on the ground. They recognized it as a small horse. Their aunt Grace always turned into a horse when she was in their 'father's' house.
They approach the small golden horse. The three kept a bit of distance to not scare off the little fella.
"neigh?!" The small horse raised its neck to find three creatures hovering above him.
"Hooo.." 🔔"ting..ting"🔔 "croooak!" The trio said hello and said that they meant no harm to the horse. Tania, the least intimidating of the three, flew near the small horse.
The small horse got curious about the small butterfly-like creature, and they began a conversation. With the horse's nod, Tania called out to the owl and toad to come down.
Naji and Bunta landed on the ground and tried their best to look less intimidating. The small horse sniffed the two and nodded. It seems it has an ability to sense if they have bad or good intentions.
🔔"Ting?!"🔔 While they were conversing with the small horse, Tania felt a large group of creatures coming their way. When they looked up, they saw a herd of white horses with a white horn on their head. They recognize them as unicorns like their aunt Grace but without her crystal horn.
The herd, surrounded them and one of them called out, "NEIGHHH!" The small golden horse went forward and started to introduce the three.
The three learned that the small golden horse is a baby unicorn.
The trio started introducing themselves as the pets of someone from the castle. They told the group that they were just exploring around.
There was silence and the herd kept staring at the trio as if judging them.
"Croak???" The toad then saw that one of the unicorns had a nasty wound on its neck with oozing green and silver liquid. He said that they can cure the wound.
"Neighhh???...Neigh." The unicorn was surprised when it heard the toad and walked near and showed its wound and allowed the trio to try.
The three took a closer look and asked what caused the wound. The unicorn told them that it was attacked by a large spider. The creature also has venom and that's the green liquid oozing out.
🔔"Tiiiinng!"🔔 The fairy glowed with warm white light and covered the injured unicorn's whole body. The unicorn began to emit a black smoke. It was the venom circulating in its body being purified.
When there's no more smoke coming out. "Crooakk!" Bunta touched the unicorn, and he glowed in a golden light and the wound began to heal until no trace was seen.
""""Neighhhh!!!""""" The entire herd rejoiced and thanked the trio.
At that moment, Naji, Tania and Bunta became welcome guests of the herd of unicorns.
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Hogwarts castle, Slytherin 1st year girl dormitory 3:12pm
- Daphne Greengrass' s POV-
"As I suspected that Marshall is not simple." I'm feeling troubled by what I read from my father's letter. My father was unable to find any information from the ministry about the Witcherly name.
Instead, the information she received was from Selma from the Menagerie. And what she said was...
Tracy suddenly entered our room and called me, "Daph', Malfoy and the others are having a meeting in the boy's room. They're asking for us to join. Seriously! Who does he think he is calling the heir of Greengrass in their room!!!"
My mood got worse hearing that. It's a nasty rule in the dormitory, the boy's can't enter the girl's dorms, but the girls can enter theirs.
It may appear that the rule favor the girls, but our meetings always happen in the boy's dorm. If a girl went in there, they can be said to be 'willingly' going there and nasty rumors can be said about the girl.
With a frown, I joined Tracy and went to the boy's dorm to find the group of first year Slytherin huddled together. I plainly asked, "What's this about?"
"Fix that frown, Greengrass!" Theodore Nott said.
Tracy lost it and yelled, "You dare disrespect the heir of Greengrass family, Nott!?"
Nott snorts and mocked, "Heir? She's a girl. Eventually, she'll be married off to another family..."
I look at Nott and dismiss what he just said. I showed a rare smile and replied, "At least this girl is performing better than all the boys here in our classes."
"B*tch!" Nott stood up and was going to walk up to me but was grabbed by Zabini.
Pansy yelled, "Enough! Put your issues aside. There are more annoying people in our classes."
Draco began complaining, "Yeah, the older Slytherins are not happy with our performance this week. It's one thing to lose to the Ravenclaws when it comes to class.
"But now, the Gryffindor have that Hermoine Granger and the badgers have that annoying Witcherly beating us at getting points." Malfoy points out.
I mock him, "Well what can I expect when half of you are not even trying! I at least earned points."
Nott said, "Pfft. Don't show off coming in second, Greengrass. It will hurt your reputation. Hahaha!"
I replied to Nott with, "Said the guy who planned to get back at Witcherly by asking the 4th years for help. What happened to your brilliant plan, Theodore?!"
"You!!.." Nott almost took out his wand but was held back by Zabini again.
Blaise said, "Enough! Fighting will not solve our problem. We need to deal with Granger and Witcherly and let them know their place!"
The group became silent. I hesitated for a moment but decided to tell them, "I don't know about Granger, but I have to advise you to think twice about confronting Witcherly."
Pansy grinned when she heard my words and said ,"Oh, why Daphne? Do you find that red head beast boy cute? Hihihi"
I rolled my eyes and said, "No, Draco is the only one who like that guy...-----"
"""""Hahahahaha""""""" the group laugh hearing about Draco.
Draco glared at me and was about to throw a tantrum, but Zabini cut in and asked, "What do you mean we have to think twice? Does that guy have some background?"
I sighed and said, "Witcherly said to me and Tracy here that he obtained permission from Dumbledore to bring his three pets to Hogwarts and that he had a license for them."
Nott said, "Obtaining the license is no big deal. All of our families have it for keeping magical creatures."
I sternly repeated, "You overlook what I first said. He obtained the permission from the headmaster. Dumbledore bent the rules for him! Get it?!"
They became quiet and started realizing the meaning of my words. Witcherly's family or background had enough weight to throw around Hogwarts.
I continue, "I asked my father to get information about that guy after hearing that. He sent people to inquire in the ministry, but it appears that there is a gag order in place to protect his information. Not even my family's name can overturn that order."
Now everyone is showing a stern look on their faces. 'Witcherly can influence the ministry?'
"Luckily, we asked around and Selma from the Menagerie told us she known of a red head kid who bought a fairy and a toad a few years back. The boy is friends with the Weasleys. She said that Amos Diggory introduced the boy, vouching that he had an international license to keep XXX magical creature... not his family... Marshall Witcherly himself is named in that license.
"And remember, he has an INTERNATIONAL license which requires him to be acknowledged by at least 3 ministries of different countries.
I finished with, "Selma also said that after Amos helped Witcherly that day, Diggory got promoted a week later. Now, can you still say that Marshall Witcherly has no background?
The group became quiet and Nott and Draco shows bit of sweat in their foreheads.
I changed my tone and said, "Thankfully, Witcherly appears to be a friendly guy. Just don't cross him. Leave his pets alone and also his friends."
Millicent excited yelped, "Ah. I see! Remember back in the Astronomy tower. He made plenty of hot chocolates and snacks! There was enough food for everyone. Even for our group that tried to mess with him!"
Tracy agreed and added, "Marshall is actually a pretty easy-going guy. He still said hello to me and Daphne and still offers food when the situation allows it."
I said, "If you still want to mess with Witcherly then do it on your own. From what I can tell, even without his background, Marshall is no pushover himself. Take Nott's plan, for example..."
Nott gulp a mouthful of saliva. He was thinking, 'Why did I have to swat that guy's fairy?!'
~end chapter ~