Ever the loyal daughter, Anastasia Black is focused on pleasing her parents and holding the together the crumbling relationship between her brothers. At first, she does not think the scarred and quiet Remus Lupin will put a rut into these plans. Tha...
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Remus felt like shit. His head was pounding and his stomach threatened to reject his breakfast of bread lathered with butter that Peter had forced him to eat.
Meanwhile, Ana was bright and cheery. She wore a bright yellow jumper- a nice departure from her dark wardrobe. Her hair looked a mess compared to how it usually did, thrown into a loose braid.
The two walked from the castle to the edge of the forest. She noticed his dark circles and greenish tint- but didn't say anything. It was normal for him to look queasy.
"Have you ever seen a hippogriff?" he asked.
"Only once at a magizoo when I was young. I hardly remember it."
"Then this will count as the first."
He noticed her apprehension once they stepped foot into the forest. "Is this safe?"
"Relatively," Remus responded, smirking. "We aren't going very far in. Why, haven't you been in the forest before?"
"It's forbidden for a reason, or so I thought. Is this how you always end up bleeding?"
The truth was so close, but still so far. "A good portion of it, yes."
He was right. It was a five minute walk through the forest to get to the small clearing. It was rocky, and many small bushes varied in and out of the tall grasses. She followed the path he had made behind him.
Remus laughed. The grass reached Ana's waist, while he was treading about thigh deep. "If we stand on this rock we can see them," he said, pointing to a large, flat rock a few feet away.
Ana gasped when she saw the creatures. They were much bigger than she ever thought. The mother, or what she presumed was the mother, laid in the grass, pruning her baby's feathers.
She had to admit that baby hippogriffs weren't the cutest- they had the head of a baby eagle after all. This specific one was molting, and had grey feathers mixed with the deep golden red of an adult. It was ugly to the eye, but beautiful to the brain.
"They're massive!" she exclaimed under her breath. Even the baby must've been about her size.
She wanted to stay there forever. The weather was decent, and a slight breeze flowed through the clearing. But Remus looked greener every second, and she was getting concerned- not that she wasn't already.
"Are you feeling alright?"
For the slightest moment, Remus actually considered telling her. But Ana's sad, sad eyes kept him from doing so. She had enough to worry about. Her worrying about him dying every month wouldn't help when added onto the pressures she already had.
