Chapter 6

Joint English and Maths class had just finished and now, Atlas was on her way to the Great Hall, a book on Herbology in hand and her face screwed up into one of concentration. In fact, she was so oblivious to the world around her she bumped into a huddle of figures, all snickering and looking up at the ceiling. When their bodies collided, Atlas, of course, came back to the real world and apologised quietly, bending down to pick up her book. Unlucky for her, a foot stamped down onto its leather-bound cover, startling her slightly. She looked up, noting the blue and bronze tie donned at the owner of the foot’s neck.

“Watch where you’re going, Black.”

“Take your foot off of my book, I need to study,” Atlas replied cooly, but didn’t wait for the Ravenclaw to do as she said and instead yanked her book from the floor, dusting it off as the boy staggered. “You’re the ones stood in the middle of a busy hallway, anyway,” she then added and turned her eyes up to what they were snickering and gawking at, only to find a pair of shoes hanging from the beam above them.

“Hello everyone,” An airy voice came and Atlas turned to look down at the side of her, noting a pale blonde girl smiling and also gazing up at the shoes, “my shoes.”

“They’re yours?” Atlas asked, glancing over to the Ravenclaws who had since disappeared down the hall. “Wankers…” she muttered and pulled out her wand, pointing it at the shoes and whisking it sharply to the side, sending the things flying into her arms, “here.”

“Ah, thank you,” the girl smiled, taking and holding the shoes as if they were a baby, bundled in a blanket.

“Do they do that often? Take your shoes?”

“The Nargles? Yes, yes they do,” she nodded sagely and Atlas cocked a brow in confusion, looking after where the other Ravenclaws had disappeared to, “I’m Luna, by the way, Luna Lovegood.”

“I’m Atlas Black,” Atlas smiled, eyeing the shorter girl curiously, she looked airy, like a bit of a ditz really. Most Ravenclaws were like that, very odd in varying ways, not to say it was bad, the fact that they were all so odd, usually made them accepting, so why they seemed to be picking on Luna was lost on Atlas. “So…are you going to put them on?”

“No,” Luna answered simply, still holding her shoes to her chest, Atlas smiled and nodded. “You’re Atlas Black, you know?”

“I know,” Atlas laughed good-naturedly, “I just said that.”

“Your dad is Sirius Black.”

“Yeah.”

“Your mum is Amaya Magianima.”

“Right.”

“You’re named after a Greek god.”

“I think my parents were going for the star Atlas but yeah, you’re right.”

“…that’s nice,” Luna smiled and then turned, skipping off to Merlin knew where. Atlas watched her go, eyebrow cocked and question caught in her throat. She shut her mouth and just stared, Luna looked familiar somehow, as if Atlas had seen her somewhere before, sometime before. 

The bell wrung and many began pouring out of the Great Hall. Lunch had ended. “Merlin’s beard…” Atlas’s stomach rumbled. “Great…”

***

A bark greeted Atlas as soon as she walked into Hagrid’s cabin and the girl turned with a smile, opening up her arms so Fang could jump into them. He pounced, almost sending her over as he licked at her face excitedly. “Fang I missed you too but I really need my book,” she smiled, gently pushing him off of her as she went over to Hagrids little kitchen, plucking up her book from the counter and stroking down its spine.

It made a weird purring like noise and opened, allowing her to flip through the pages until she came across the account on Hippogriffs. A faint smile came to her lips as she quickly tossed Fang a dried slab of dragon steak and left the cabin, taking a moment to show Hagrid she’d gotten her book before venturing off to the pens.

Special privileges of being in the know of all things ‘Care of Magical Creatures’, Atlas had been permitted by Hagrid to go off to the pens herself before everyone else got there. He had let it slip at the welcoming ceremony what his first lesson would be, to which Atlas only laughed and reassured him fondly that he needn’t worry and she wouldn’t tell anyone. It’d ruin the surprise after all.

She eventually came to the paddock, finding it empty and without her favourite mythical beast, she sighed and pulled herself up onto a large rock, reading through her book with obvious interest. Even when everyone eventually pooled in she didn’t look up, tapping the pages lightly with the tips of her fingers as she continued down the page. 

Hagrid stopped right in front of her and turned to the rest of the class, “Everyone gather ’round the fence here! Closer to Atlas, don’t worry she won’t bite yeh,” he grinned, Atlas looked up from her book with a toothy grin, spotting Hermione in the crowd and waving. “Make sure yeh can see. Now, firs’thing yeh’ll want ter do is open yer books.”

“How exactly do we do that?” A drawling cold voice cut through, a voice Atlas didn’t know but turned to anyway, seeing a boy she recognised as Draco Malfoy, a boy related to her in some way or form. She’d lost track in honesty.

“Yeh stroke their spines of course,” Hagrid said, motioning over to Atlas who already had her book open and ready for the class.

“Oh, how silly we’ve all been!” Draco sneered, “We should have stroked them! Why didn’t we guess!”

“I…I thought they were funny,” Hagrid said uncertainly to Atlas, she offered him a sympathetic smile before he sighed and walked away, looking to the floor with a downcast expression.

“Oh yeah, terribly funny, really witty! God this place has gone to the dogs, wait until my father hears that Dumbledore’s got this Oaf, teaching classes,” Draco spat and Atlas turned to him with a steely glare. A few students noticed it but not the boy himself, impressive in an arrogant sort of way as it was no doubt burning into the side of his too-thick skull.

“Shut up, Malfoy,” Harry said, walking up to him. Atlas hopped down from her rock and watched the exchange, eyebrow cocked in sudden intrigue. They certainly had history. Draco gave one of his lackies his bag and stepped forward, sizing Harry up as if trying to be intimidating. Keyword ‘trying’. Harry stood his ground and Atlas crossed her arms, cocking her head to the side as she began moving forward and stopped beside Hermione.

Draco suddenly looked rather pale, flailing his finger and pointing just behind them, further up into the trees. “Dementor! Dementor!” Harry turned around in a panic and Draco and his friends laughed, taunting the boy horribly. Hermione stepped forward and pulled Harry, gently away, Atlas patting his shoulder reassuringly. “Let’s not forget why the Dementors are here in the first place, shall we?”

Everyone stopped, everyone except Atlas who ignored him and plucked Harry’s Monster Book of Monsters from the floor, brushing it down to give back to him. Draco didn’t seem to like being ignored though, which spurred him on to bigger, nastier, things.

“A serial killer, who killed 12 people, broke out of Azkaban, Sirius Black, and if I recall correctly…he killed his own wife, exploding her into pieces,” Nobody laughed, nobody even made a sound, “even disfigured his own daughter.”

“If you’re going to insult me, Draco,” Atlas sighed, cracking her neck and turning around to face him, a dark look in her eye that laid a blanket of cold amongst the students, “you should at least make sure your comments aren’t without evidence. My father didn’t kill my mother and my facial disfigurement wasn’t down to him either. Fact check, you little prick.”

“Why are you even hanging out with Potter anyway?” Draco hissed and Atlas grimaced.

“What? You suggesting I hang out with someone else? You and your band of…elitists?”

“Better than a Half-Blood, a Blood Traitor and a filthy little Mudblood,” Draco sneered. Atlas drew her wand, aiming at the boy with a glint of fury in her eye. Ron and Harry did the same as Hermione tried in vain to calm the three down, Atlas the most as she looked on the brink of murder. Goyle and Crabbe mirrored the action and Draco smirked at the reaction. “Which one was it? Half-Blood, Blood Traitor or–“

“Don’t,” Atlas gritted, knuckles white around her wand.

“What? I thought The Noble House of Black was all about blood purity, isn’t your family motto ‘Toujours Pur‘?” Draco continued, Atlas scowled at the French. “Didn’t your family enforce the laws against Muggleborns and Half-Breeds? Thought you’d share the sentiment.”

“I don’t need a history lesson on how terrible the House of Black is Malfoy,” Atlas muttered with disdain, shakily tucking her wand away as she moved forward, gripping his shoulders hard and leaning into his ear to whisper a few words of her own. “Clearly you do, because if you know so much about the House of Black, you’ll know what they…we do to those who taunt us. If I recall, Auntie Bellatrix is a fan of the method.”

Malfoy pushed her away, doing nothing to make her stumble but instead sending him a few steps backwards, “My father will hear about this.”

“My father will hear about it too, don’t really know if he cares for me these days but who knows? We’ll find out when he makes that 12, 13. Your name’ll be printed across the covers of Daily Prophets around the world…how about that? ‘Sirius Black strikes again!’ I can see it now…” she smiled and finally turned away in triumph, leaving Draco to stare after her, bottom lip quivering before he scoffed and took his bag back from Crabbe, retreating to the back of the two houses.

The smile dropped soon enough and Atlas immediately went over to Hermione, frowning. She reached out and placed her hands on her shoulders, gently and cautious as she surveyed how Hermione had reacted to what Draco had called her. “Are you alright?”

“I’m ok,” Hermione nodded, smiling thankfully. “Thank you.”

“Is he always so…vile?” Atlas asked, letting go and crossing her arms again, glancing once over her shoulder before fully turning back to the paddocks. Hermione remained silent for a moment, contemplating the words to use to describe Draco Malfoy.

“Yes…he’s quite…prejudice, raised that way I suspect.”

“Probably, his dad’s Lucius Malfoy…nasty piece of work, that man…” Atlas scowled around the name.

“You know him?”

“Unfortunately…”

“How do you–?”

A shriek of excitement sounded from their left, interrupting whatever Hermione was going to ask as Atlas’s attention had fully been taken by Lavender Brown – the source of the shrill scream – and to where she was pointing. Hagrid was coming out of the thick, a dozen Hippogriffs following after him, one more eager than the rest. “Atlas!” Hagrid struggled, “Come’n’help me with him.”

Now Atlas understood why the girl was squealing. Without a second thought, Atlas took off her cloak and rolled up her sleeves, hopping over the paddock fence. Hagrid let go of Buckbeaks reins and the giant bird immediately began bounding over to the girl, bowing haphazardly and meeting her in the middle. He pushed his head into her chest at an alarming speed, knocking her to the floor with a dull thud.

There were a couple of screams but most remained in shock, watching as the most bizarre creature they had all collectively seen, nipped and nuzzled against Atlas’s face. It was huge but acted as a small overexcited puppy, even though it held no resemblance to a dog. Buckbeak had the body, hind legs and tail of a horse but his front legs, wings and head belonged to that of an eagle, with talons sharp and glinting, a steely coloured beak and bright happy orange eyes.

“‘Ey Buckbeak, let me up, let me up,” Atlas chastised, smiling but pushing at the giant eagle head pressed against hers, he didn’t relent. “Buckbeak, you persistent git, let me up,” he backed away this time, feathers puffed up at the name-calling. Atlas only shook her head and pulled herself to her feet, brushing herself off of any twigs, “You know I didn’t mean it like that, you cheeky bird.”

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Hagrid said as many people backed away from the fences, “That is Buckbeak!” he shouted and pointed over to the Hippogriff looking over Atlas.

“Hagrid…” Ron’s voice cracked, “exactly what are they?”

“They are Hippogriffs. One thing yeh should know about Hippogrifffs is tha’ they’re proud creatures. Very easily offended. Yeh do not want teh insult a Hippogriff. It just might be the last thing yeh do…” he warned as Atlas picked up Buckbeaks chain and brung him back over to Hagrid.

“But Atlas called him a persistent git!” Ron shouted again and Atlas smirked, looking to the right of her where she met Buckbeaks beak, hanging over her shoulder.

“Yeh, well…er…it’s a special case,” Hagrid shrugged. The real reason Atlas and Buckbeak were so close was that they spoke often, so much so that Buckbeak allowed Atlas a jokey comment and Atlas would, in turn, bring him the nicest of meats. A simple agreement that benefited them both. “So,” Hagrid rubbed his hands together as he beamed, “if yeh wan’ter come a bit nearer.”

Harry, Ron and Hermione advanced forward, if only a little and it lit a little pride up in Atlas’s gut, knowing her new friends were the only ones to move closer. “Alright…who’d like teh come and say hullo?”

At this, Atlas scratched the underside of Buckbeaks chin and went back to join her classmates, hopping over the fence again and landing beside Hermione who had her cloak and book bundled up in her arms.

“Thanks,” Atlas smiled, tying the sleeves of her uniform around her waist and tucking her book under her arm. She didn’t say anything when Hermione checked her over for any signs of damage, no doubt worried from when Buckbeak had pushed her to the floor. It did put a little smile on her face though.

“No one?” Hagrid asked, almost pleadingly.

“I’ll do it,” Harry moved forward, startling everyone of the two groups.

“Harry! Remember your tea leaves!” Parvati shout whispered, but he seemed to ignore her, instead, climbing into the pen when Hagrid urged him closer.

“Well done Harry! Come on now,” He took a few steps toward Buckbeak, “Now yeh ‘ave teh let ‘im make the first move. It’s only polite, so, give him a nice bow, then yeh wait and see if he bows back, if he does yeh can go and touch him,” Harry inched closer, trying not to startle the beast, “If not, get away from ‘im quickly like, because those talons hurt, leave behind a nasty venom tha’ sticks around for a bit, dependin’ on how many talons yeh get tha’ is…”

“You got this Harry,” Atlas reassured, a simple smile on her face as she watched. Harry gave her a thumbs up and bowed, however, Buckbeak noticed this and flapped his wings around, in fright, warning Harry to back off.

“Back off Harry! Back off!” Hagrid warned, he did as told but stepped on a twig sending a sharp snapping sound through the air. Hermione gripped Atlas’s hand, startled, “Keep still…” After a moment of silence and a glance from the orange-eyed creature over to Atlas, Buckbeak eventually bowed after a nod of reassurance from the bright-eyed girl. Hagrid laughed, “Well done Harry well done!”

Harry let out a breath of relief and looked back at Atlas who gave him an impressed smile, “You can pet him now Harry,” She supplied, Hagrid nodded in affirmation, so he turned back to Buckbeak and took a few more steps forward, stretching out his hand. The Hippogriff snapped at him for going too fast and Hermione held Atlas’s hand tighter, startling them both.

“Sorry,” Hermione muttered sheepishly but Atlas only winked and squeezed once reassuringly, not letting go. 

“Now, let him come to you…” Buckbeak inched forward smelling Harry’s hand, eventually placing his beak against his palm, Harry let out a small laugh and Atlas grinned. Everyone started to clap, “Well done, Harry, I think he’ll let you ride him now.”

“Wait, Hagrid!” Atlas called out, dropping Hermione’s hand and jumping over the fence.

“Come on, up yeh go!” Hagrid said as he picked him up and placed him on Buckbeaks back, much to the boy-who-lived’s dismay. Hagrid slapped the Hippogriffs behind and he was sent into a sprint, his 12 foot long wings, spanning out beside him as he took off. The other Gryffindor students ran off to the other edge of the fence, watching Harry fly off to Merlin knew where.

“Hagrid…” Atlas sighed, her hands on her hips as she stared after the retreating figures.

“What?”

“You know what…never mind.”

Minutes went by with no sign of Harry’s return, until a small dot manifested in the distance, only seen through the thick of the trees that Atlas had to squint to see through. A whistle blew from Hagrid’s fingers and Buckbeak came to a stop, back hooves and front talons pounding against the forest floor as he slowed himself in front of Atlas who quietly let out a breath and moved to help Harry down. 

The boy’s hair was messy and poked out haphazardly in different directions, so much so that it took Atlas a good few minutes to get all of his hairs slicked back to their regular positions. “Exhilarating?”

“Yeah…” Harry agreed breathily as Hagrid sauntered over to them, he had opened the main gate of the pen, allowing some of the other students who had apparently been quite emboldened by Harry’s display, inside.

“Well done Harry!” He applauded, as did the other Gryffindors, “And well done Buckbeak!” his next few words became whispered as he guided Atlas and Harry away from the class, “How am I doing on my first day?”

“Brilliant,” Harry got out, still a little breathless.

“You’re doing amazing, Hagrid,” Atlas offered, the man seemed to beam at their comments. “Or well…” she glanced at Harry.

“Professor,” he finished, nudging Atlas who smiled at him with a nod. “You’re telling me you get to do that all the time?”

“Not all the time,” Atlas smirked, but puffed up a bit out of pride, “just sometimes, me and Buckbeak may be close but I much prefer a broom.”

“Oh, yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” Harry agreed, “but it was fun.”

“Totally,” Atlas grinned, holding out her fist, the boy bumped it with an equally as wide smile, thankful that it seemed he and Atlas were getting somewhere – becoming friends.

“You’re not dangerous at all are you?” That same drawling voice from earlier came. Both Harry and Atlas turned to see Draco approaching Buckbeak, lacking all things needed to tame a Hippogriff. One of those things, of course, being respect, “Great ugly brute!”

“Malfoy, no…” Hagrid warned, but it was too late, Buckbeak kicked to his hind legs, flapping his wings in offence and raised one of his talons, striking down on Draco’s defensive arm, doing little to protect him.

It was stupid, Atlas would admit but still, she ran out in front of the giant bird, blocking a second attack thrown at the platinum-blonde brats quivering frame as he continued to hold his bleeding arm, rolling around and crying out bloody murder. 

Three great big talons ripped through Atlas’s skin but she only winced at the pain, dropping her arm and raising her other to ward him off, “Buckbeak, it’s me!” She shouted, trying to raise her voice over the sound of his angered warnings. “Buckbeak!” She yelled, a little harder this time, blood dripping down her arm and soaking her white sleeve.

The creature calmed, opting to paw at the ground angrily instead as Draco continued to wail. Only then did Atlas fully register the pain, grimacing when she touched at the bleeding area and casting a scornful look over in Draco’s direction.

“I’m dying!” Draco cried, “I’m dying, look at me! It’s killed me!”

“You’re not dead you whining pillock!” Atlas shouted, “Merlin, how can one person be so stupid?”

“Hagrid!” Hermione shouted, going forward as the man panicked, his skin going as white as a sheet of parchment, “He has to be taken to the hospital!”

“I’m the teacher, I’ll do it!” Hagrid nodded, picking up the idiot that had caused the mess and hurriedly making his way over to the exit of the pen. Atlas watched him go, holding at the bleeding of her arm and scowling, only to then feel a beak pressing into the side of her face.

“You’re ok Buck,” She smiled, wiping her hand down her front and bringing it up to scratch at his chin, however, he caught a whiff of the blood and immediately backed away, shaking his head and bowing apologetically. “I know you didn’t mean it, Buck. Come on! Buckbeak!”

“Atlas!” Hermione ran over to her just as Buckbeak reached the very back of the pen, his head still down low and his wings slack beside him. “Your arm!”

“Buckbeaks upset,” Atlas frowned, looking off and after her Hippogriff friend as more blood dripped into the puddle beneath her.

“Atlas, your arm, you need to go to the hospital as well,” Hermione urged, stepping in front of Atlas so she had no choice but to look at her. “Hey!” she pushed but Atlas only huffed and dragged her feet over to the exit, Hermione grunting in frustration and gathering Atlas’s cloak and bag to run after her. 

“You’re going the wrong way!”