The Wizard’s Love Spell

Sunday started normal. But Isabella had a strange feeling in her gut. It wasn't bad. But it wasn't exactly good either. She passed it off as her being hungry though.

Isabella was tired, and she wanted to stay in bed but she had forced herself out and gotten ready for the day. She had a quick breakfast and headed outside. The courtyard was empty, it was early in the morning so not many people were awake.

Isabella decided to take a walk around the school grounds. She was heading down towards the Quidditch fields, when she saw a figure running towards the Forbidden forest. It looked familiar...

The figure wore Gryffindor robes and had messy brown hair, when the figure turned his head to check if anything was behind him, Isabella saw that it was.... Potter. It was Potter.

So she followed him. What could he possibly be up to this morning?

He kept looking back, it was clear that he was trying to hide.

After he was in the forest, he tried less to be inconspicuous. It was easier for Isabella to follow him since he wasn't trying to run away from anything. Isabella wasn't sure how far into the forest he went, but she was starting to wonder where he was going.

They came to a clearing in the forest, with a small lake.

Potter was walking towards something. It was a big creature. It took Isabella a minute to see that it was a Hippogriff.

The creature's feathers were an inky black, and it had sparkling golden eyes, a rare eye color for hippogriffs. Its head was like a giant eagle's, and the rest of the body was like a horse's (except covered in feathers), and it had wings too. Hippogriffs were extremely proud and dangerous creatures, she had never seen one this close.

Potter was approaching the creature slowly, the hippogriff seemed to recognize Nick. It galloped towards him and let Nick stroke the hippogriff's feathered head. Hippogriffs were hard to train, even harder to get close to, but it seemed that Potter knew what he was doing.

But soon the hippogriff raised its head and glanced in Isabella's direction. It knew she was here.

"What's wrong, Charlie?" She heard Nick say. He turned around to look and saw Isabella looking at him from behind a tree.

'Crap.' He thought.

She stepped out from behind it, but made no move to step forward.

".....um hi." She said.

"You followed me!?" He said, sort of frantically.

"Well you sort of looked like you were up to something sketchy."

"Nobody else saw me though.... right?"

"I don't think so."

"Ok phew." He didn't want anyone else to find Charlie. He'd kept a secret for the past two years. If anyone found him, who knows what'd they'd do. Charlie wasn't usually open to strangers but he didn't seem to mind Isabella for some reason. Nick thought it was strange. But overall, Charlie was pretty gentle...

"So... how did you end with a hippogriff?" Isabella said, breaking the silence.

"Long story..." he replied.

"I have all day."

"Ok then, well you should at least greet him."

"Him?" Isabella asked, but she didn't move from her spot.

"Yeah. Charlie. Come on. Just walk towards him slowly." He urged her to come forwards.

"I don't know..."

So he walked towards her and grabbed her hand.

"He's gentle. Come on... plus he doesn't seem to be intimidated by you or anything." Slowly, Nick walked her over to Charlie the Hippogriff. Standing in front of the creature, he looked so much bigger. And frankly, softer too. "Just reach your hand out towards his head. Come on Charlie..."

Isabella was reluctant. Honestly, she was always a bit afraid of Hippogriffs. They tended to attack if you didn't approach them correctly.

Nick reached out to Charlie. Isabella was close enough to touch him, but she looked sort of afraid. Charlie was very gentle. Plus, he'd bonded with Nick over the years. Seeing that Isabella wasn't going to try to touch Charlie he decided to help her out a bit.

"Look." Nick had put her hand very very close to Charlie's beak. Charlie, who detected no threat from Isabella, inched closer to her, causing her hand to be directly on its steel colored beak.

Isabella's heart stopped for a minute. Charlie's beak was cool to the touch, and smoother than expected.

Just as she was about to retract her hand, Nick put his hand over hers.

"It's Alright" he said. "Charlie won't bite. I told you. He's gentle, pretty friendly for a hippogriff." He guided her hand to his neck. His dark feathers were so soft, like silk.

"Whoa. Never thought I'd get this close to a hippogriff. Much less touch one..." Isabella was amazed by the creature. He stood tall and proud, elegantly too.

She continued to stroke the creature, until it walked away to sit in the sunlight by the lake.

Nick had retreated to a shady spot under a large oak tree. He was fiddling with a stick, poking at the dirt.

"So?" She said.

"What?" He asked, without looking up.

"How'd you get him? Or find him?" She asked, and sat down next to him.

"I told you, it's a long story."

"And I told you, Potter, I have all day."

"Ok fine, Bella. It's not exactly a pretty story though."

"I don't mind."

"It was almost five years ago. I was with my dad, camping outside the Quidditch World Cup stadium. It was a day before the final game, I had gone off wandering. I ventured a little too far. I found a group of hunters on the outskirts of the woods. Curious little me just had to take a peek in their tents. They seemed to be gone, so I saw no harm in going in. So I creeped in the tent, and found a small cage. I was so curious at the time I didn't care if I got caught snooping around.

In the corner of the cage, a saw a small lump. It was a bit bloody too. I saw feathers scattered all over the cage. I may have been a child at the time, but I knew enough to know that that, was not how you treat an animal. When I opened the cage, the poor thing curled up, afraid to be touched. I... I felt so bad for it, I couldn't leave it behind. At that time, the hunters had returned from their hunting trip. I had no leave fast. So I opened the cage and took him with me. He was small, I hid him under my coat.

I was barely able to escape without them seeing me. When I returned to my tent, I didn't tell my father. I didn't tell anyone aside from my older brother. He taught me how to care for Charlie. Our house is out far into the country, but our backyard has a lot of trees. I let Charlie live there, I'd check on him everyday. I slowly nursed him back to health, he had been badly beaten with those hunters. It was a while before I was even able to pet him. I have a scar on my upper arm from one time that he scratched me pretty badly. Luckily my brother was able to clean it up so my parents never found out it was from a hippogriff."

"But how'd he end up here, if he was at your house?" Isabella asked.

"I'm not sure. But when I left for Hogwarts I had left him with a lot of food. The first week I was here, I was walking around the castle when I saw him out on the edge of the forest. I snuck out later that night. So I guess he followed me from home. I don't know how though, that remains a mystery." He replied. He had a faint smile on his face.

Charlie had stood up, and ruffled his wings. Those wings were so big.

"Wanna take a ride on him?" Nick suddenly said.

"Wait... what?" But Potter was already pulling her towards Charlie.