𝑬𝑼𝑷𝑯𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑨|| 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

~6~

Asteria lay in bed, the rays of the sun blocked out by the honey-coloured curtain. Although most of the common room was underground, there was enough space at the top of the wall for a small half moon window which somehow was able to light up the entire dorm.

Her curly hair was sprawled out across her pillow when the golden-brown owl in her room began to shriek. She attempted to ignore the owl which her father bought her in her first year by hiding her head under a pillow. But ultimately, she was unsuccessful and let out a sigh of frustration.

"Ok, ok. I'm awake." She told the bird in a hoarse voice as she threw the pillow off her head and sat up. She squinted at the bird, swearing she could see the owl smirk at the frustrated girl. It soon began to flap its wings inside its cage.

"I'm coming," Asteria said before rubbing her eyes and undoing the latches of the metal cage and allowing the bird to fly out of the window which she had opened.

Then, she got changed into her uniform. Firstly, she pulled her tights up as it was getting colder as well as a button-up white blouse, leaving the top one undone. Then, she pulled the black pleated skirt up and did up her yellow and black tie.

Afterwards, she ran her fingers through her curls and leaned over the dresser to get close to the mirror to do her eyeliner which she had to teach herself to do after noticing other students doing it.

Finally, she tied up her black boots and left the dorm for the Kitchens. Usually, she ate alone in the school's kitchen as it was much quieter and she would get harassed by other students. Over the years, she had even built up a friendship with the elves who worked at the school.

First, she used her wand to make a cup of cold water boiling hot before pouring it into another mug with a teabag in it. Then she stirred the tea and allowed it to steep. In the meanwhile, she grabbed a couple of slices of toast that was going to go out to the Great Hall and cut up a banana into pennies and place them in a pattern on the toast.

Then she sweetened her cup of tea with a spoonful of honey before drizzling a bit of the sweet substance over the bananas. Ever since she was a child, Asteria had an obsession with honey and her mum would often sneak out to buy some from the local muggle market however after her death, she had to steal it.

Luckily, Hogwarts seemed to have an unlimited supply so she would take a few jars and stuff them into her suitcase before holidays.

After quickly downing the toast and the tea, she wiped her mouth and hurried to her first lesson which was Potions with Professor Slughorn.

Asteria found herself quite good at Potions however every time Slughorn congratulated her, she felt as if he was patronising her. When she got into the class, the seats were full except for a desk where no one was sat.

She threw her bag off her shoulder onto the floor and collapsed onto the wooden stool at the empty desk. The Hufflepuff sighed loudly as she held her head up with her hand with her elbow resting on the table.

-☘︎︎-

Slughorn had gotten the students to follow the recipe to an ageing potion. Asteria held her hand up above to ebony cauldron, dropping a green leaf into the potion however she knocked her quill off her desk so she bent down to pick it up.

But when she stood back up again, she bent her elbow which hit the black cauldron which Lily Evans was using. This made the cauldron fall onto the stone floor with a loud clang as the silvery green potion spill out, the puddle growing larger and larger.

Lily Evans was a popular, smart Gryffindor girl with red hair which looks like burning flames. But she was also well known because James Potter had the hugest crush on her and had been asking her out since their 1st year.

"What was that for?" The redhead girl asked loudly which made everyone look over at the shouting Gryffindor. "She only did that because she's a muggle-born," Sirius said which made them all glare at her and the pure-bloods clap. "No, it-"

"Just get out of everyone's sight!" James shouted, interrupting her. She sighed before starting to walk to the door but she had to pass the table of Slytherin pure-bloods.

"I'm glad your mum taught you something before she died." Evan Rosier laughed. Swiftly, she turned around with his wand gripped in her hand and flicked it at the boy which made all of his styled hair fall off his scalp, leaving him bald.

"Miss Parkinson, I suggest leaving to calm down," Slughorn suggested so she left the room. However, instead of waiting outside the class for the Professor to talk to her, she headed down the path towards a small stone hut.

The small hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest belonged to Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Since her first year, Asteria and Hagrid have got on because they were both outsiders. Hagrid went to Hogwarts himself but was patronised for being half human-half giant and even got kicked out for having an illegal magical creature.

They also connected on their love of magical creatures. As she approached the wooden door, she held her arm out and knocked on it clearly. "Come in!" A booming voice called out which made her push the door open revealing the giant of a man sat down at his dining table.

"Aren't you suppose to be in class?" He asked as he looked up at the clock which was barely hanging on the wall. "I am but I was sent out." She replied as she straightened a teapot on a shelf.

Hagrid let out a sigh before getting out of his chair which made the hut shake slightly. "Well if you're here, you can make yourself useful and feed Buckbeak." He told the girl as he handed her a line of dead pheasants which looked tiny in his hands.

Buckbeak was a hippogriff which Hagrid had got not that long ago and he was still very young. Hagrid informed her that Dumbledore only let him get him to teach students once he is big enough.

Asteria nodded and took the dead birds and headed out the wonky front door to the back where a slanted roof made of wooden planks was. Lying underneath the crooked roof on a bed of hay was the hippogriff.

Hippogriff's had the head of a grand eagle and the body of a horse with majestic feather wings. Buckbeak's eyes were a deep orange shade and his feathers were a mix of white and grey however the tips of his wings were a dark black colour. His two front legs had the claws of eagles at the bottom whilst the back ones had hooves.

At the current moment, the creature only reached to her waist but he would grow much bigger, even taller than Hagrid.

The magical creature jumped up when he noticed the Hufflepuff student with the birds. Although he was only young, he was still quite dangerous and to avoid this she bowed at him which made him raise his head up high, making her chuckle before scratching the top of his head.

"Here you go." She spoke in a calm voice as she threw one of the pheasants up in the air which he caught in his beak. She then sighed and sat down, leaning on the stone which made up the hut. The creature then wandered over and pushed her shoulder slightly which made her look over.

"I have one more." She told him as she threw another bird up into the air which made him jump up onto his back legs to catch. Yet again, the hippogriff started to nudge the girl who put her arms up to show she had no food but he still continued to check her hands, his smooth beak wiping against the palm of her hands.

Buckbeak then let out a huff when he discovered no more food and fell beside her, tucking his legs in whilst his head rested beside her legs, allowing her to gently scratch the feathers on the top of his head.