Chapter 78: Third Riddle, Novellus Accionites, and Hothoof. (2/2)

- (Scene Break) -

.

Rubeus Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. He stood in his moleskin overcoat with Fang the boarhound at his heels. He seemed impatient to start.

”C'mon, now, move on!” he called as the class approached. ”Got a real treat for you today! Great lesson coming up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!”

The class followed as Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.

”Everyone gather around the fence here!” Hagrid called. ”That's it —make sure you can see— now, the first thing you'll want to do is to open your books.”

The students were confused as they had no idea how to open the book.

The Ravenclaw students frowned darkly; lots of them even looked frustrated as they hadn't got the chance to open their textbooks before the class.

Eddie also squinted at his Care of Magical Creatures' book before he caught Quinn in his peripheral vision. He snapped towards Quinn and blurted.

”How did you open the book?!”

Quinn, who was in the middle of reading, shook his head slightly, turned to Eddie and said with an accusatory tone, ”What is wrong with you! Don't surprise a man when he's reading!”

Eddie's and Quinn's louder than regular argument brought the attention of the rest of the class to them. Everyone saw that Quinn's Care of Magical Creature book was open. And now, everyone wanted to know how Quinn opened the damned book, which tried to bite anyone who tried to open it.

Quinn sighed and looked for Hagrid, but the giant had stepped into the woods and wasn't nearby.

'I guess I have to show them,' Quinn thought as he raised his hand towards Eddie and made a gesture to make him hand over his book.

Eddie handed over his copy of The Monster Book of Monsters, which he had bound shut with a length of rope.

After watching that some others also took out their books: some, like Eddie, had used ropes to bound their books shut; others, had crammed them inside tight bags or clamped them together with binder clips.

”Stroke the spine,” Quinn announced to anyone who was paying attention. ”Look here, like this.”

He removed the length of rope from Eddie's book, dodged the book's bite and gently used three fingers to gently stroke the spine. The book shivered and then fell open and lay quietly in his hand.

”How did you know how to do that?” Marcus asked, as he stroked the spine of his copy and opened the book after it calmed down.

Quinn shrugged in reply, ”I asked the bookstore manager and he told me.” His tone was like he was stating the most obvious thing in the world.

And he wasn't lying. Quinn had to buy The Monster Book of Monsters for this year. He hadn't purchased this book for his British book collection. So when he went to the bookstore, Quinn did ask the book shop manager to demonstrate how to open the biting book.

”I'm back. Look who is here to meet you!”

Trotting towards them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Quinn had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-colored beaks and large, sparkling orange eyes. The sharp talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly-looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck attached to a long chain. Hagrid, who came out jogging, held the chains that were attached to the collars.

”Gee up, there!” he roared, shaking the chains and urging the creatures to move toward the fence where the class stood. Everyone drew back slightly as Hagrid reached them and tethered the creatures to the fence.

”Hippogriffs!” shouted Hagrid happily, waving a hand at them. ”Beautiful, aren't they?”

Quinn tilted his head and tried to see the beauty in the creatures. Once he got over the first shock of seeing something that was half horse, half-bird, Quinn observed the hippogriffs' gleaming coats: changing smoothly from feather to hair, each of them of a different color; stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut, and inky black.

”So,” said Hagrid, rubbing his hands together and beaming around, ”if you want to come a bit nearer -”

No one seemed to want to. But Quinn, with a mischievous grin on his face, grabbed Eddie's and Marcus's robes above their shoulders and dragged them closer to the fence.

”W-What are you doing?!” Marcus whimpered as he stammered in his words.

”Have you gone mad?!” Eddie croaked back as he tried to stand his ground, but Quinn was stronger than him.

”I still remember how you pushed me forward during last year's dueling club,” Quinn cackled as he brought them to the fence. ”Come now, don't be scared, but do remember that if the hippogriffs attack, I will use you as meat shields.”

”Now, the first thing you gotta know about hippogriffs is, they're proud,” warned Hagrid. ”Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Never insult one because it might be the last thing you do.”

”Always wait for the hippogriff to make the first move. Give the proud bird the initiative,” Hagrid continued. ”It is polite, see? You walk towards them; then you bow, and finally, you wait. If they bow back, you are allowed to touch them. If they don't bow, then walk away, but keep an eye on their talons.”

”Now, who wants to go first?”

Most of the class backed farther away in answer. The hippogriffs were tossing their fierce heads and flexing their mighty wings; they didn't seem to like being tethered like this.

”No one?” said Hagrid, with a pleading look.

”I'll do it,” volunteered Quinn, raising his hand high as Eddie and Marcus slowly inched back away.

Don't get Quinn wrong, while he volunteered for a one-on-one with a hippogriff, he did feel fear. Quinn guessed he could defend against hippogriffs. No problem on that front; he could instantly injure the half-horse, half-bird, and get away, but that didn't mean that Quinn wasn't afraid.

He still feared that he could get injured. But in Quinn's mind, it was a waste of an opportunity to not try out new things. If he avoided risks, then he would miss out on a lot of fun stuff in his life.

”Good man!” roared the half-giant, his voice booming with joy. ”Right then, let's see you get on Hothoof.”

Quinn jumped over the fence as Hagrid untied one of the chains, pulled the bronze hippogriff away from its fellows, and slipped off its leather collar. The class on the other side of the paddock seemed to be holding its breath.

”Easy, now,” whispered Hagrid quietly. ”You have to make eye contact, but don't blink too much. They don't trust you if you blink too much.”

Quinn immediately moistened his eyes with magic he learned from Alan when he was learning Occlumency.

Hothoof turned his great, sharp head and stared at Quinn with one fierce red eye.

”That's it,” Hagrid guided from the side, ”Now, bow, bow...”

Quinn followed the instructions, even though he wasn't a fan of exposing his nape to the hippogriff. He gave a short bow and then looked up.

The hippogriff was still staring haughtily at him. It didn't move.

Quinn was about to give the hippogriff the same haughty look, but then the hippogriff suddenly bent its scaly front knees and sank into what was an unmistakable bow.

”Alright,” Quinn beamed as he swiftly walked his way to Hothoof and patted the hippogriff's beak. He patted the beak several times, and the hippogriff closed its eyes lazily, as though it was enjoying it.

The class broke into applause.

”Who is a good boy?” Quinn cooed as he used his other hand to stroke the feathers, but then he turned his head to Hagrid and asked. ”Hothoof is a boy, right?”

”Nay, Hothoof is a lady,” Hagrid shook his head in correction.

”Oh, my,” Quinn turned back to the female hippogriff and cooed once more. ”Who is a good girl? You are, aren't you?”

Hothoof titled her neck to better guide Quinn's hands to the spot that felt better.

”Right then,” clapped Hagrid. ”I reckon she might let you ride her!”

”Hmm...” Quinn voiced as he looked into Hothoofs red eyes and gave it a thought. ”Uh, why not? I could always jump off if things get wild. Ooh~, maybe that would feel the same as skydiving.”

”You climb up there, just behind the wing joint,” said Hagrid, ”And mind you, don't pull any of her feathers out, she won't like that...”

Quinn put his foot on the top of Hothoof wing and hoisted himself onto its back. He used sticking charms to stick himself to the hippogriff's back.

”Let's go, big lady,” Quinn gently patted Hothoof's nape, and Hothoof stood up.

”Go on, then!” roared Hagrid, slapping the hippogriff's hindquarters.

Hothoof's wings flapped open on either side of Quinn, and before he knew it, he was soaring into the sky. The hippogriff's wings beat uncomfortably, catching him under his legs and making him feel he was about to be thrown off.

'Maybe this is like life bull riding,' Quinn thought as he looked below at the trees that made up the forest.

”Oh, yeah. I should do that,” Quinn put his hand over his head, and conjured a cowboy hat over his head. He also made it stick to his head so it wouldn't fly away.

”Yee-haw!” Quinn's voice was drowned by the wind, but his grin was still present on his face.

Hothoof flew him once around the paddock and then headed back to the ground. With a thud, Hothoof's four ill-assorted feet hit the ground.

Quinn looked at the rest of his classmates, pushed up his cowboy hat, and jutted his chin towards them, ”Howdy, people.”

”Good work, Quinn!” roared Hagrid as everyone cheered. ”Okay, who else wants a go?”

Emboldened by Quinn's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. Hagrid untied the hippogriffs one by one, and soon there were people bowing nervously all over the paddock.

Eddie and Marcus practiced on the inky black hippogriff named Stormswift, but they had to run backward repeatedly because Stormswift didn't seem to want to bend its knees.

Quinn stayed back and watched his classmates; his conjured cowboy hat still on his head.

”What a good day.”

.

-*-*-*-*-*-

.

Quinn West - MC - We ride, never worry about the fall. Guess that is just the cowboy in us all. *Click-Click*

Hothoof - Hippogriff - Big Lady of the sky.

.

-*-*-*-*-*-

.

[

Webnovel has been 'shadowbanning' comments recently. This means that any comment that contains profanities in any form, will be automatically deleted.

So, if you are commenting with curses and profanities, censor a single letter or get creative.

]

.

If you have any ideas regarding the magic you want to see in this fiction or want to offer some ideas regarding the progression. Move onto the DISCORD Server and blast those ideas.

The link is in the synopsis!