One Day They'll Know Your Name

Baby names

Three weeks into the semester, Harry finally found time to go see the thestral herd. The professors had all piled ginormous amounts of homework on the students and Hermione was constantly roping the group into research about the Heir. Harry had finally just told his friends he was going to see the thestrals, grabbed his invisibility cloak that he had started carrying everywhere, and disappeared. Ten minutes later he was loaded down with old meat courtesy of the house elves, and shortly after that he was in the thestrals' clearing. He pulled off his invisibility cloak and smiled as several thestral foals scampered over to him. He didn't move until Thanatos, the oldest male, had come up and butted his head against Harry's stomach. Harry laughed and offered the thestral a piece of meat. Thanatos accepted it and the foals crowded around Harry.

There were ten new foals since the first time Harry had come to the clearing at the very beginning of the year, and they were all very exuberant. Thanatos nipped at a couple who had gotten too excited and nearly knocked Harry down. Harry just laughed and offered each foal a piece of meat. Thanatos stood by the young wizard and nudged each foal as they took the meat.

"Do you want me to name them?" Harry asked quietly. The names of the other thestrals had come easily to him, even if he had had Hermione help him find death deities' names. Harry wasn't sure if that was because they had already been named and he had some strange connection to them or if he just had some strange connection to them and it allowed him to name them more easily.

Thanatos tossed his head affirmatively and Harry smiled softly. He looked at the newest members of the herd and saw a little filly struggling to get up after she had fallen over. Harry guessed she was barely a day old and was shocked that her dam was letting her anywhere near him, even if he was very well known to the herd, despite only having been there once before.

"Ereshkigal," Harry whispered. The little filly finally managed to get to her feet and skittered over to him, begging for meat. Harry laughed and gave her another piece. "You grow strong, Ereshkigal. Don't let the world tell you you're a bad omen." The newly named filly gave a playful hooting sound.

The next foal that caught his eye was an older colt, maybe a couple months old. He was prancing around headbutting his fellows. Harry laughed and said, "Andjety," and the colt huffed, running over and almost knocking Harry over in his excitement. Harry just giggled again and offered the excitable foal another piece of meat.

The third foal was another male, and Harry watched for a moment as he bounced around the group, excited, but still shy. He kept looking at his mother and back at Harry. Harry smiled softly and whispered, "Aita." The foal tossed his head and finally butted his way through the crowd to get his piece.

The fourth foal was a female, and she was quite motherly. The little filly reminded Harry of Madam Pomphrey in some ways. Harry laughed softly as she nudged Andjety towards the little stream running through the clearing when he started looking tired. "Persephone," he laughed as she made a whistling sound. She whistled again and trotted over to him, nudging him gently to request another slab of meat.

The fifth foal to catch Harry's eye was yet another colt, and Harry watched as the youngling seemed content to just watch everything and not participate. The foal seemed to be waiting for something, and Harry waited with him. A moment later, the foal pounced on one of his unsuspecting brothers. Harry laughed. "Chitragupta," he said, and the colt perk up his ears and pranced over for a scratch behind the ears and a piece of meat.

The sixth foal was a female and she reminded Harry of Draco in some ways, prancing around like she owned everything ownable. "Nephthys," Harry said with a grin, laughing as she promenaded toward him. Definitely Draco-esque. Harry couldn't wait to tell him about her. He gave her the piece of meat she demanded, then looked around again.