Refuge PV Henry Knight Closed

Ever since she was a small girl, Rose had been interested in animals. All kinds of animals, from the more popular furry ones to the less popular scaled ones, to ones with six or eight legs, to ones with a million legs. She had a lot of phases where she liked different animals. When she was much littler, Rose had an infatuation with cats. When she turned about eight, she suddenly became interested in snakes, thinking they were incredibly cool, though that didn't last as long as her cat phase. Then, once she was a little older, she became obsessed with horses. Honestly, it was still one of Rose's dreams to ride a horse some day, and maybe even own one.

That's why it was an obvious choice for Rose to take Care of Magical Creatures once she was allowed to in her third year. Rose had compared her schedule with Henry, her brother, on the first day they had their schedules, and was over the moon that her fellow creature-lover had Care of Magical Creatures class with her on that day. They had also shared the class before, Charms.

Rose and Henry had both just finished Charms, and Rose began packing her things up quickly, picking her bag up and looking around. It was a little bit crowded in the room at the moment, so Rose decided to meet Henry outside. "Henry!" she called in his direction. If she got his attention, she would continue in Arabic, deciding she might as well practice the language Henry was teaching her. "I'll meet you outside?"

She would wait to see if Henry responded, then would leave the classroom, waiting by the door for her stepbrother to exit. They walked away from the classroom together. Since Charms was on the third floor, they began descending the steps that led towards the Hogwarts grounds, where the class was taught.

This was their second class of Care of Magical Creatures, and Rose was excited to have some more hands-on experience with whatever creatures they would be encountering today. "We are going to Care of Magical Creatures, right?" she asked Henry. "I'm not just skipping ahead in the day because I'm excited? Because that sounds like something I would do," she said with a laugh. The day prior to the lesson had not been perfect by any standards, but Rose had kept cheerful throughout the day, driven by her excitement at today's lesson. Rose was walking much faster than she would normally walk, impatient to get to the grounds.

"Have you read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them yet?" she asked Henry. "I reread it last night, if I'm being honest," she admitted. As they emerged onto the grounds, the sharp autumn chill hit their cheeks. It was definitely fall here. Rose was going to ask Henry what he thought they were going to be studying that day, but then she realized- how the heck would he know? So she decided to ask him a more reasonable question. "Are there any creatures that you hope we'll be studying today?" Rose wondered if there was any creature in particular that intrigued him, like some did for her.

It was weird to think that they had met over a year ago, talking about the very same thing they were talking about now. Care of Magical Creatures. They had been barely second years, waiting for their third year.

They arrived at the lesson, and it was clear what they were studying today. In a pen behind the professor were horses, but not just any horses. Winged horses. Rose watched them in a state of childlike wonder. Here she was. They were right in front of her! She was going to be learning about creatures today, alright. The professor began to teach, explaining to the students their origin and traits and stuff. Rose had read about winged horses, and she could name the ones in the pen before the professor named them himself- Granians, and Aethonans. They were beautiful. After lecturing a little bit, he invited them to feed the horses.

Rose glanced at Henry and moved towards the fence gate, one of the first to go through the gate. The redhead picked up a handful of hay and chose one of the brown horses, knowing the more popular kids who thought they were better than everyone else would fight over the Granians. She approached the winged horse gently. "Hello," she said softly, as the horse began to sniff at the hay in her hand. She held her hand out, which held some hay. She tucked her thumb in, like she had learned to do from all the books she had read on horses without wings.

The Aethonan munched on the hay, then turned to Henry, curious if he had any food. Rose began to stroke the horse, first on its soft nose, and then on its neck, as Henry took a turn. "They're fascinating creatures, aren't they?" Rose murmured, watching the horse. "All these years, dreaming of being in this class, and now we're finally here. It's surreal, isn't it?" she asked Henry.

Somehow, this seemed like a refuge from the battles that they were facing. There was no whispering voice in her ear, no people telling her she wasn't good enough. Her parents and blood siblings were nowhere in sight. Everything, for this moment, was okay.