(Y/N)'s POV

I turned to Harry, I was shocked he would be willing, Hagrid smiled at both of us and said "Alrigh' then Harry, you go firs' an' (Y/N) after" "As always" I whispered under my breath, Hermione tutted at me, so I nodded reluctantly, content to let Harry go first. He still looked a bit stunned when everyone else backed off, so me and Ron gave him a "gentle" shove.

Hagrid instructed Harry the best he could, Harry took a few tentative steps towards Buckbeak, Lavender Brown whispered "Remember your teacups Harry" from somewhere to my left, if I wasn't trying to be deadly silent, I would have burst out laughing.

There were a few tense moments, at one point Buckbeak seemed to be angry at Harry's approach and he had to back up quickly, Hermione let out a gasp and gripped my wrist, I didn't know what to do, so I just let her hold on. I pretended not to notice, but my heart was beating a bit quicker than normal.

Once Harry had successfully pet Buckbeak, Hagrid got a bit overzealous "Righ' then, Harry," said Hagrid. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!" Harry paled "What!" he said, but before he could protest Hagrid had already picked him up, making him mount Buckbeak, he then patted the creature's hindquarters and it took off.

"Dibs on next" I said aloud, Hermione looked at me like I was a child and rolled her eyes, I normally wouldn't mind but in doing this she released my wrist. After a minute or two Buckbeak circled back, Hagrid pulled Harry from him.

"Well don' Harry, and well don' Buckbeak" clapped Hagrid, we all joined in. Well, almost all of us, Draco was still making jokes in the back, not paying attention.

"(Y/N)?" Hagrid looked over at me, asking if I wanted to try, I nodded quickly and stepped forward. Locking eyes with Buckbeak, I slowly approached and gave him a bow, he returned one, I gave a tentative look at Hagrid who nodded.

I mounted Buckbeak, not needing help like Harry did, the second I gripped on to Buckbeak's feathers Hagrid made him sprint to take off. My whole body lurched back as the creature kicked its powerful legs, as he took off my stomach lurched with me like I was cresting the top of a rollercoaster.

The feeling of flying was, almost indescribable, the wind whipped at my face, it was hard to catch my breath, but when I did it felt cleaner, crisper. I managed to pry my eyes open despite the wind, Buckbeak had taken me over the Black Lake, as we soared above it the sun reflected off the lake to create a truly magnificent scene, like out the pages of a book or a film.

This was a single moment of my life that I knew I would never forget for as long as I lived, this feeling would never be forgotten, this scene before me was something I would look back and smile at on my deathbed. But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

Before I realised it, we had touched down again, there were claps and whoops from the crowd, as I dismounted Buckbeak I took another look into his eyes and smiled, stroking some of his feathers. We were friends now in my book.

"That was amazing" I said as I made it back to the group, flattening my hair out but unable to wipe the smile off my face, everyone else was now much more eager to fly.

Draco Malfoy sauntered over to Buckbeak with confidence, despite Hagrid's protests and warnings. "I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he said to the Hippogriff. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

I knew what would happen before it did, but I couldn't do anything to stop it, Buckbeak reared back on his hind legs and brought down a powerful talon strike on Malfoys arm, he crumpled to the floor and held his arm in pain, blood poured out of it and onto the forest below.

Hagrid wrestled the hippogriff away and distracted him with a ferret, which Buckbeak promptly ate.

In the next second my body moved entirely on its own, I rushed forward to Malfoy sliding on my knees as I got to him, he was whimpering and crying in pain, I looked at the wound, "Malfoy, keep calm, I'm going to do something to stop the bleeding ok?" he nodded, clearly in too much pain to protest, at least I think he did, it was hard to tell with all the squirming he was doing.

I did a simple spell to stop the bleeding, I had asked Madam Pomfrey about it last year the wound closed a little but there was still blood, the cut wasn't very deep. I tried something else "Episkey" was usually for broken bones, and only small ones at that but it was the only healing spell I knew that would help. "Tergeo", the blood around his wound vanished, this was all I could do to help.

"You should take him to the hospital wing to be sure" I said looking up at Hagrid who was looking pale and shaken but nodded anyway. Malfoy was still moaning in pain on the ground. "I'm dying!" he yelled as the class panicked.

"I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me! It's KILLED ME!" "Yer not dyin'!" said Hagrid, who had picked him up. "I'll take 'im, I'm the teacher." "Class dismissed" his voice boomed as he carried Malfoy to the hospital wing, the Slytherins following behind him. 

Draco must have felt a bit better, because he was already making threats "I'll get you for this, you and your bloody chicken." "Well, that could have gone better" I said, turning to the others. They all looked at me with shocked faces, Ron was the first to vocalise it "What'd you go and help him for?"

"He might be a git Ron, but I don't want him to bleed to death" I said, picking up my bag. "I just don't like seeing people hurt." "You punched him in the throat less than a year ago!" pointed out Harry. "Yeah but that was because-" I paused, unable to find a valid point, "Whatever let's just go" I stormed off.

"You don't think they'll fire him, do you?" asked Hermione later in the day when the topic came up "Don't know, but it's still not good no matter what" I said eating some dinner. "They better not" said Ron.

"I can't take it anymore, we have to go check on him" I said, looking over at all three of their miserable faces at the thought of Hagrid being in trouble. We made our way down to Hagrid's hut later only to find him drinking from a large tankard, that was not a good sign. He barely greeted us but reluctantly told us what happened

"'Spect it's a record," he said thickly, as he sat down. "Don' reckon they've ever had a teacher who lasted on'y a day before." "You haven't been fired, Hagrid!" gasped Hermione. "Not yet," said Hagrid miserably, taking a huge gulp of whatever was in the tankard. 

"But's only a matter o' time, I'n't, after Malfoy..." "How is he?" said Ron as they all sat down. "It wasn't serious, was it?" "Madam Pomfrey fixed him best she could," said Hagrid dully, "but he's sayin' it's still agony... covered in bandages... moanin'..."

"What a load of b-" I started to shout angrily, Hermione hit my arm and gave me a look, "Not the time" I sighed and calmed down "I fixed his arm before he was even out of the paddock" "He's faking it," said Harry at once. 

"Madam Pomfrey can mend anything. She regrew half my bones last year. Trust Malfoy to milk it for all it's worth." "School gov'nors have bin told, o' course," said Hagrid miserably. "They reckon I started too big. Shoulda left Hippogriffs fer later... one flobberworms or summat... Jus' thought it'd make a good firs' lesson's all my fault..."

"It's all Malfoy's fault, Hagrid!" said Hermione earnestly. "We're witnesses," said Harry. "You said Hippogriffs attack if you insult them. It's Malfoy's problem that he wasn't listening. We'll tell Dumbledore what really happened."

"And I can explain his injuries weren't serious" "Yeah, don't worry, Hagrid, we'll back you up," said Ron. Hagrid started to bawl and tear up; I was honestly feeling emotional myself. "I think you've had enough to drink, Hagrid," said Hermione firmly. 

She took the tankard from the table and went outside to empty it. "Bit of a waste" I said under my breath. Tears leaked out of the crinkled corners of Hagrid's beetle-black eyes. He grabbed the three of us and pulled us into a bone-breaking hug, I got the worst of it, being in the middle of the others.

After a few moments of weakness, he decided she was right and left the hut for a second "Is anyone else really cold right now?" I asked aloud, Harry and Ron just shrugged. When Hagrid returned to the Hut after he had dunked his head in some water, he stopped dead, staring at Harry as though he'd only just realised he was there.

"WHAT D'YEH THINK YOU'RE DOIN', EH?" he roared, so suddenly that Ron jumped a foot in the air. "YEH'RE NOT TO GO WANDERIN' AROUND AFTER DARK, HARRY! AN, YOU THREE! LETTIN' HIM!" Hagrid strode over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the door.

"C'mon!" Hagrid said angrily. "I'm takin' yer all back up ter school an' don' let me catch yeh walkin' down ter see me after dark again. I'm not worth that!"

"Of course you are Hagrid, you're our friend!" I said trying to drape my arm around his shoulder, this would have been a nice moment but I tripped over a rock, "Ouch" , I tried to brush it off but Hermione laughed at me, Ron and Harry were struggling to stifle a laugh, even Hagrid who was trying to look stern, gave a smirk.

The next day we had potions class with Snape, it was never my favourite lesson, but something was happening today in particular to make it even worse. Malfoy had returned to class, he was unbearable.

Every twenty seconds was a new issue, he was milking his "injury' for all it was worth just like Harry said he would. Every few minutes it was "Sir I can't do this" or "Sir my injury" he was making us all help him, smirking at us behind Snape's back.

Neville was having some trouble with his potion so me and Hermione helped him, but Snape being spiteful took five house points from the both of us for helping him, Draco made another big fuss and I was about ready to break his other arm when the bell sounded and we were sent to our Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson.

On our way there we lost track of Hermione, we caught up with her halfway to class, Ron was dumbfounded, "How'd you get there? You were just behind us", she shrugged it off again, more concerned that her book bag had ripped under the weight of all the books she had to carry.

To be polite I helped her carry some, she thanked me with a light blush, both Harry and Ron started laughing at me, "What?" I said in confusion, they just walked off. As we arrived Professor Lupin was already waiting for us, there was a large cabinet behind him.

He got straight to the lesson "Good afternoon class, I have a treat for you today, put your bags down, wands only today" there were murmurs among the class. "Today we will be dealing with boggarts"

"What's a boggart?" I asked. "A boggart is a creature that hides in dark cramped spaces, such as a wardrobe" he explained, gesturing behind him. "now who here can tell me what a boggarts true form is?"

"Nobody knows, the boggart takes the form of whatever frightens you the most" answered Hermione. "That's amazing! How?" "It is simply their nature (Y/N)" said Lupin.

"We will be studying the incantation "Riddikulus" it is one way to counter a boggart say it with me now". The class joined in "Riddikulus!" we all shouted enthusiastically.

"I will need a volunteer" I shot my hand up, as did most of the class unfortunately I wasn't the one chosen. "Neville if you would" Professor Lupin motioned him over, he reluctantly stood in front of us all.

"Now Neville, what frightens you most?" Lupin asked, Neville muttered something "Speak up please" our teacher coaxed it out of him "P-professor Snape" said Neville timidly.

There were a few laughs from the class, but Professor Lupin silenced them quickly "Ah yes, Professor Snape, he scares all" "Now, if I remember correctly you live with your grandmother?"

"Yes, but I don't want the boggart to turn into her either!" He said in a panic. The classroom burst into laughter. After a few more instructions Neville stepped forward, then Lupin unlocked it and out of the cabinet stepped Snape.

"Riddikulus" said Neville shakily, the Snape shaped boggart paused, it was suddenly wearing a hideous hat and robes set complete with a handbag, the room erupted into laughter and the boggart retreated into its hiding place.

There was applause and Lupin asked us to line up, I managed to push my way in front of Harry, but as soon as I did my mind started to race "What will my boggart be? The mountain troll? The chess piece? Nah, not scary, Acromantula? Nah, I've seen worse, speaking of which, maybe Slytherins monster, the basilisk was scary, when I could see it at least, maybe it would be Tom Riddle?"

I was taken out of my thoughts by seeing Ron deal with his Acromantula shaped boggart by giving it roller skates, as he passed by I gave him a high five, in doing this another thought crossed my mind.

A thought that terrified me more than anything I had thought of before, but not for the same reason, if this was my boggart I would die of embarrassment, I'd definitely never live it down. What if it was Hermione?

The sight of seeing Hermione petrified in the hospital wing last year was one of the worst things I've ever had to endure, two equally horrible things could happen if it was my boggart, first would be the endless teasing I would receive that would without a doubt make my school life unbearable, second, what if it creeped her out? Maybe she wouldn't want to be friends anymore, I honestly don't know what I would do in that situation.

It turns out I was too busy panicking to realise I had already made my way to the front of the line, Harry gave me a shove, likely payback for our encounter with Buckbeak, as soon as the boggart transformed I realised it could never have been anything else.

In front of me, laid out on the floor was a set of broomsticks, reduced to splinters, broken. I noticed one immediately, it was a Nimbus 2000, the usually pristine broom now splintered into several pieces, the other took half a second for me to place, a Comet 260 "A step up from the old one isn't it?" Ringed In my head, looking at it splintered into at least ten pieces, a few covered in blood.

I felt sick to my stomach "Of course it was this, it was always going to be this" I thought, Lupin cleared his throat and I was snapped back into the room, I wanted to get this over quickly, "Riddikulus" I said in a hurry, I briefly saw the pieces turn into colourful balloons and fly away as I turned away and hurried to the back of the line.

It turns out Harry's boggart was a dementor, Professor Lupin had to intervene and cut the lesson short, much to the rest of the class's disappointment, as Harry walked past me, I saw he looked shaken, I tapped him on the shoulder and passed him a chocolate frog that I had been keeping in my robes for situations like this.

"Hope it helps mate" I said as I shuffled past him as he gave me a grateful half smile.

For the next few weeks nothing of note really happened, the Hogsmeade trip was at the end of October, everyone was looking forward to it. We were sat in the common room going over homework when Crookshanks and Bones walked in, each of them had a spider in their mouths.

"Clever girl, you being nice to Crookshanks?" She purred at me, they had become friends fast, apparently, they had a lot in common. Hermione was smiling at Crookshanks. Ron wasn't pleased "Keep them away from me, I've got Scabbers in my bag" the second he said this Crookshanks pounced.

"OI!" Ron roared, seizing his bag as Crookshanks sank four sets of claws deep inside it and began tearing ferociously. "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!" I held Bones to my chest, but she seemed eager to join in on the fun new game Crookshanks was playing.

Ron tried to pull the bag away from Crookshanks, but Crookshanks clung on, spitting and slashing. "Ron, don't hurt him!" squealed Hermione; the whole common room was watching; Ron whirled the bag around, Crookshanks still clinging to it, and Scabbers came flying out of the top.

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table, and chased after the terrified Scabbers. Bones freed herself from my grip and scurried after them both.

George Weasley made a lunge for Crookshanks but missed; Scabbers streaked through twenty pairs of legs and shot beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouched low on his bandy legs, and started making furious swipes beneath it with his front paw.

Bones took a more subtle approach, she waited patiently by the drawers pacing back and forth, she knew Scabbers would come out eventually.

Ron and Hermione hurried over; Hermione grabbed Crookshanks around the middle and heaved him away; Ron threw himself onto his stomach and, with great difficulty, pulled Scabbers out by the tail, unfortunately I wasn't fast enough and the second he did, Bones pounced, catching Scabbers between her claws.

"Bones! Drop it!" I bellowed. She looked at me confused, she had won the game, why was I shouting? she gave me a look that was like a pout and dropped Scabbers, who Ron swiftly collected.

"Look at him!" he said furiously to Hermione, dangling Scabbers in front of her. "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!" "Bones has been chasing Scabbers for years, why is it now suddenly a problem?" Reasoned Hermione.

"At least (Y/N) can control his! Unlike some" he glared daggers at both Crookshanks and Hermione. "Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" said Hermione, her voice shaking. "All cats chase rats, Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal!" said Ron, who was trying to persuade a frantically wiggling Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!" "Oh, what rubbish," said Hermione impatiently. "Crookshanks could smell him, Ron, how else d'you think-"

"That cats got it in for Scabbers! he's even got that one to help him!" said Ron pointing at Bones who was sulking in a corner, Ron's eyes darted furiously between Crookshanks and Hermione, ignoring the people around him and who were starting to giggle. "And Scabbers was here first, and he's ill!"

"They're gonna kill him!" "Ron, Bones has been here just as long as Scabbers, after all this time, if she wanted to kill him, he'd be dead." I reinforced Hermione's point "Of course you're taking her side" he spat, pointing at Hermione.

"Yeah, because her side doesn't rely on some great cat conspiracy against Scabbers." He stormed up to the dorm and didn't talk to either of us for the rest of the day, I felt bad for shouting at Bones.

So I used legilimency to explain why and spent the next few hours playing with her, she forgave me eventually. "For the last time, No this isn't payback for the ice cream." I said as she continued to sulk.