Oliver slumped on his bed as he dropped his bag. He'd just returned from a week in the country whereby he had stayed at his grandfather's house but only for the most unfortunate of reasons. The old man had passed away and Oliver was both attending the funeral, helping his father clean the place up and sorting out the property before returning home. While there, in the country side cottage was also Oliver's outer family from his father's side. Two pairs of uncles and aunts both of which had children outside an age range of ten years of Oliver. It didn't make a difference however as Oliver never acquainted with them until the last few years. Reason being, Oliver's father's siblings had outcast him after Oliver's mother was revealed to be a Death Eater. All of which just made the funeral even more uncomfortable.

Oliver visited his grandfather every summer for the last decade, the two were considerably close. It was the only grandparent he had and seeing as how he never interacted with neither his father nor mother's side, he was one of few family too. The entire shock of the news still hadn't set into Oliver, even when at the cottage he was expecting his grandfather to enter the room any moment. Right up until leaving he had that problem. He was in pain nonetheless, even if he failed to believe it. Oliver was bitterly sad.

There was some pre-arrival excitement with the meeting of Oliver's grandfather's hippogriff, but that doubled down to just be more bad news. Oliver's grandfather kept the passing of his close friend hippogriff to himself. Oliver's uncle told them that the hippogriff had passed right before Christmas and so his grandfather held back the bad news so Oliver could enjoy the holiday. He then held onto the news to tell him face-to-face but passed away before doing so. Hearing that from his uncle was the point where the weight of the whole situation overcame Oliver and tears begun to run.

Oliver hadn't felt proper loss his entire life. Sure his mother was basically soulless in the downstairs living room and sure Oliver's pet frog died on the first day of Hogwarts but that was just life to Oliver. He didn't know any different from it since there was no initial attachment severed.

To Oliver, his grandfather was one of his best friends. And to Oliver, that hippogriff was the core symbol of happiness and freedom to him. That hippogriff represented both his grandfather and father to Oliver, his two biggest idols and most of all, he loved that hippogriff. Every summer when he'd escape the bullies of Hogwarts and get away from being around his mother, that hippogriff along with his grandfather would always be excited for Oliver to return. That was the very thing that kept Oliver going through these years, knowing that at the end of the school year, no matter how many wedgies and swirlies he'd get, those two would be waiting for him.

And now they were gone and the lights sizzled out. The cottage was cleared and the barn was emptied. Oliver's world completely changed forever and he had no choice but to grow stronger to adapt to it.