The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs

God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs

Regulus snuck out of the dormitory early in the morning. It was barely five o'clock and the common room was silent. He still peered over the railing to be sure it was empty - he didn't need to be running into Mulciber. But everyone remaining in the Slytherin house was still asleep in their beds and Regulus had access to the door without anyone seeing. He grinned with pleasure and snuck down the stairs, tugging on his thick wool coat and hugging his Care of Magical Creatures sketchbook to his chest as he slipped out the door of the common room and into the corridor.

He ran down the hall, excited for his plans. He wanted to what sort of creatures Professor Kettleburn kept hanging about the school in his stables. The thought of visiting the stables had excited Regulus for sometime now - he'd been itching to go inside and see everything there was to see in there (he pictured unicorns and dragons and erumpets and loads of other creatures), and now he was finally going to do it.

Regulus ran across the snow-coated grounds toward the stables, which stood far off across the grounds. He slipped and slid over the sloping path that led out to them, leaving footprints in the fresh coat of white that had been produced by the night, laughing as he practically skiied the last few feet, nearly slamming into the door of the stables. His face was flushed from the cold as he pulled his wand from the knot at the back of his head - a trick he'd seen Sirius doing from across the Great Hall, which he'd come to start copying him at - and he pressed the tip of it to the knob of the door. "Alohamora," he announced and the door clicked open and his eyes twinkled as he slipped inside and pushed the door shut behind him.

It was warm in the stables and he took off his Slytherin scarf and the thick wool coat and laid them over a stack of hay bales by the door, tucked his wand back in the knot of his hair, and carried his sketchbook along as he made his way down a long corridor. It was much larger inside than the stables looked like they might be from outside, which made Regulus excited for what might be inside. He passed a messy desk with hopelessly tall stacks of papers in the tray, an open medical kit in the middle that had been recently rifled through, bandaids and little silver tools spilling out of it. There was no sign of Kettleburn, though, so Regulus snuck along.

The corridor was lined with tanks and cages and he peered into a tank with what appeared to be oval ice cubes with glowing red worms in them labelled Ashwinder Eggs and he ducked along and found a tank that appeared empty at first, then upon squinting he noticed there were tiny flecks moving about in there and the label Microscopic Grindylows - "Sea Monkeys"spellotaped to the glass. A bit further and there was an actual grindylow, and 'round a corner there was a cage of bowtruckles and a small cardboard box that was chirruping through breathing holes - a great read stamp read CAUTION: LIVE STOCK across the side of the box. Regulus wondered what was within it.

Finally, he stepped into another room and there were pens lining the walls with various creatures inside them. Most of the pens contained thestrals, the funny black horses that looked like skeletons with strange, bat-like wings. He stared at them in horror and awe at the same time. Cautiously, he approached one of the pens that contained one and he reached up a palm to pet it's muzzle and it leaned its head over the door of the pen to let him, seeming to study him with just as much interest as he had in it.

Suddenly, the sound of a throat clearing behind him made Regulus freeze. He stood very still a moment and there were footsteps - footsteps with an odd sort of shuffling gait - and he winced. He was about to get a detention for breaking into the stables, he knew it, and he turned slowly around, expecting to see a very angry Professor Kettleburn, but instead finding a wizard he had never met before, yet recognized instantly.