Hogwarts' Shinobi

Chapter 11

If at the start of the year, Sakura was told the events of what was to come, she'd have probably avoided going to Hogwarts. Of course, there were some enjoyable moments, and she'd had fun getting to know Draco more. In fact, she may even go as far as to say they were friends now. But the positives were almost nothing in comparison to the negatives.

But one of the things that had scared her the most was the fact that everybody kept complaining about 'dementors' that guarded the grounds of Hogwarts. Whilst she could see most of the magical creatures that roamed the grounds of Hogwarts, these remained hidden from her sight.

The first school day back at Hogwarts was miserable. She was stuck inside the castle due to the miserable weather outside, namely a thunderstorm with very heavy rain. But by the time dinner came around, her misery was forgotten and she was beginning to feel the excitement welling up inside her. The sound of children singing filled her ears as she stared at their backs. When the song was over, the was polite applause and Dumbledore stood to address the crowd, "Welcome. Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Now, I'd like to say a few words before we all become too befuddled by our excellent feast. First, I'm pleased to welcome Professor R.J. Lupin who's kindly consented to fill the post of DADA teacher. Good luck professor. " There was a large applause for the thin-looking man, 

"Secondly, our care of magical creatures teacher of many years, has decided to retire in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. Fortunately, I'm delighted to announce that his place will be taken by none other than our own Rubeus Hagrid, who'll be supported by Sakura Haruno." Sakura grinned up at the giant as she and Professor McGonagall encouraged him to stand up, causing him to knock over many a glass in the process, 

"Finally, on a more disquieting note, at the request of the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts will, until further notice, play host to the dementors of Azkaban until such a time as Sirius Black is captured. The dementors will be stationed at every entrance to the grounds. Now whilst I've been assured that their presence will not disrupt our day-to-day activities, a word of caution. Dementors are vicious creatures,. They'll not distinguish between the one they hunt and the one who gets in their way. Therefore, I must warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. It is not in the nature of a dementor to be forgiving. But you know, happiness can be found even in the darkness of time, if one only remembers to turn on the light." shortly after, the feast began and the bad news was pushed to the back of their minds.

The following day, around noon, Sakura found herself outside Hagrid's hut once more, it was time for their first lesson with the third years to begin. "That's it. Come on now. Come closer. Less talking, if you don't mind. I've got a real treat for you today. A great lesson. So follow me."

Hagrid stopped the class inside what looked like a ruin,  stone walls surrounding the area, now no higher than one's waist. Trees grew inside the marked-off zone and the ground was littered with pine leaves and cones alike. "Right, you lot. Less chattering. Form a group over there. And open your books to page 49."

"Exactly how do we do that?" the sound of Draco's voice attracted Hagrid's attention causing the half-giant to turn and look at the boy, "Just stroke the spine, of course. Goodness me." Hagrid coughed loudly, attracting the attention of the class before proudly indicating the magical being behind him. The creature, in Sakura's opinion, was gorgeous. she'd already met him a few days prior in order to know what Hagrid was to be teaching the class about, but she still couldn't get over its grace. It had a light grey body, shaped much like that of a horse, and yet its front half was that of a bird. It had taloned claws at the front and a set of smoky grey wings. Its face reflecting that of a bird, with yellow-brown eyes and a partially hooked beak, "Isn't he beautiful?" the man quickly flung the hippogriff a dead rodent to eat before continuing the lesson, "Say hello to Buckbeak."

"Hagrid, exactly what is that?" a certain ginger Weasley asked, a horrified look on his face as he studied the animal in front of him, "That, Ron, is a hippogriff. First thing you wanna know about hippogriffs,  is they're very proud creatures." as he spoke, the half-giant slowly began to approach the class, "Very easily offended. You do not want to insult a hippogriff. It may just be the last thing you ever do. Now, who'd like to come and say hello?" Sakura watched in amusement as the class stumbled backwards leaving only Harry in front, the boy oblivious to their frantic attempts to keep away from the animal.

"Well done, Harry. Well done." Hagrid swung around, happily smiling at the boy who lived. The boy in question only now taking notice of his reluctant class. "Come on now. Now... you have to let him make the first move. It's only polite. So... step up. Give him a nice bow. Then you wait and see if he bows back. If he does, you can go and touch him. If not -- Well, we'll get to that later." the class watched as Harry approached the man and beast. "Just make your bow." Harry looked nervous as he began to  bow to the hippogriff, "Nice and low."

Buckbeak squawked loudly, frantically flapping his wings. "Back off, Harry. Back off." Hagrid whispered quickly, eyes widened as he kept his eyes on the boy. There was a snap of a stick and the class nervously jumped back. "Keep still" Sakura watched amusedly as the boy remained in a bow as he walked backwards. "Keep still." Buckbeak then chirped rather contentedly before tentatively bowing at the boy. 

"Well done, Harry. Well done. Here, you big brute, you." Hagrid cooed at the animal, throwing it yet another dead rodent as a reward. Harry visibly relaxed, righting himself as he stared at the animal. "Right. I think you can go and pat him now." Harry's relaxed nature instantly being replaced by one of nervousness and fear. "Go on. Don't be shy." Hagrid encouraged the boy forwards. "Nice and slow, now. Nice and slow. Slow." Hagrid watched cautiously as the boy approached the animal. "Not so fast, Harry." Buckbeak snapped his beak warningly at the boy. "Slow down, Harry. That's it... Nice and slow. Now let him come to you." Harry stopped dead, watching cautiously as the large creature approached. "Slowly, now, slowly, slowly... That's it... Yes!" Hagrid celebrated at the sight of Harry happily stroking Buckbeak. Sakura relaxed at the thought that her medical abilities were not yet needed.

"Well done! Well done, Harry, well done!" the was a round of applause from both Hagrid and his class. "I think he may let you ride him now." Hagrid's remark instantly set Harry off, nervousness returning to the poor boy. "What?" But Hagrid remained either oblivious or simply didn't care, instead saying, "Come on." before catching the boy under his shoulders and lifting him up onto the animal, "Hey, hey, hey!" Harry remarked distastefully, not quite willing to actually ride the animal-like Hagrid intended him to. "Put you over here, just behind the wing joint." Harry looked terrified at the idea of riding the animal, and Buckbeak, in return, squawked loudly upon contact. "Don't pull out any of his feathers, because he won't thank you for that." Hagrid then slapped the animal on its rump causing it to rear up and Harry to grab its neck. The animal then promptly bolted, wings opening as it took off, Harry on its back.

When Harry returned to sight, Hagrid quickly called Buckbeak down to the group. The animal racing forwards as it landed. The man congratulated the pair on the flight as he lifted the boy off the animal.

It wasn't until Draco began to push forwards that Sakura begun to get quite worried. "You're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute!" Buckbeak instantly took notice of the fast-approaching boy, wings opening as it loudly called out its distaste. Sakura acted instantly, racing forwards. "Malfoy, no... NO!" Buckbeak reared up, wings open and claws gleaming in the light. The animal reached out to scratch the boy, only, it was not the boy in which it hit. Sakura had since shoved him behind her, safely out of the way. Of course, he felt the pain of hitting the root on the floor, but his eyes looked upwards to see what had pushed him.

All he saw was the pink hair, and the pink hair was all he needed to see to know who had saved him. Hagrid was instantly working on calming down the hippogriff. Sakura dropped to her knees, the claws had gone a lot deeper than she first expected and there were three prominent scratch marks engraved into her arm. Her hand instantly found its way towards the wound, healing it shut as quickly as she could. The pain was still there, it had probably cut the bone as well, but at least she could get to the infirmary without the fear of bleeding out.

Giving the blonde boy a quick nod, the girl flickered out of sight.