The Sunrise of My Heart

The day after the Quidditch match, I found Fred and George sitting gloomily together under the tree by the frozen Black Lake. It was too cold for most students to be outside, but given the circumstances, I could understand not wanting to be near other students at the time. They both looked like they couldn't decide if they were more angry about being banned, or more depressed about it.

"Hey," I said, sitting down beside George. "I heard about what Umbridge did. That's totally awful. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," Fred mumbled, obviously not meaning it.

"I hate Umbridge," I said, narrowing my eyes. "She's taking over the school and turning it into her personal playground so she can ruin everybody's lives."

"Not everybody's," George said gloomily.

"Oh yeah. Not her precious Slytherins. God. I hate Slytherins," I complained.

They both turned to look at me, slight smiles on their faces.

"Okay, yeah, I'm a Slytherin, but that's different."

"True," they both agreed. There was a momentary pause of silence, in which Fred and George both stared at each other. George raised his eyebrows, Fred shrugged and nodded, and then Fred got up and walked away.

"Okay," I said." That was odd. You just stared at each other and Fred left. Telepathic twin thing?"

George chuckled. "Not telepathic. Just knowing what the other one is thinking because we know each other so well. Fred has a lot of homework to do, so he's going to go do that. We were arguing, sort of, because he didn't want to."

"Wow. I wish I had a twin. That would be so cool."

"It's pretty wicked," he agreed.

"Oh, I just remembered something!" I reached into my school bag and pulled out George's scarf that I'd worn yesterday, holding it out to him.

He took it, but instead of putting it on, he leaned forward and wrapped it around my neck. "You keep it," he said. "So you'll always have one."

I smiled and started to say thanks, but then I noticed how close George's face was to mine. I remembered what Ginny had said over the summer holiday about both Fred and George liking me and wondered, could I like George? Thinking about how close he probably was to kissing me, I realized that yes, I could, and did in fact like George, I just hadn't noticed it since I'd been with Draco.
George, as opposed to being hesitant and cautious, smirked at me and simply kissed me, not even bothering to lean in slowly and make sure I was okay with it. Which was something that I was pleased about. Part of George's appeal was his careless attitude.

"You're my girlfriend now," George said casually when he pulled away from me.

"Alright," I answered with a smile. After a pause, I realized something. "Fred's not really doing homework, is he?"

"Of course not," George answered.

"I thought it was weird that he'd be going inside to do homework. So he left so you could get with me, then?"

"Basically," George agreed.

"Cool," I answered, smiling at him.

That night, I had a dream unlike any other I'd ever had. In my dream, I was standing in a long corridor that was shrouded in darkness. Leaning against the far wall was a man standing in the shadows, gazing at me. He was so familiar, so comforting, I knew him without seeing his face.

"You're forgetting me, aren't you?" he asked in a soft voice.

"No!" I said, walking quickly towards him. But the further I moved, the further away he got. "No, I've not forgotten! I remember every day!"

"It's okay," he said. "You can forget. I understand. Remembering must be too painful. I won't be too hurt if you forget about me." As he spoke, he began to fade from view, becoming less and less solid.

"No!" I repeated, running towards him. This time he did not get further away, but he was still fading. "Please," I begged, nearly sobbing. "Please don't go!"

He called out my name, but his voice was so soft that I could barely hear it. And then, just as I reached him, he faded away entirely, leaving me alone and sobbing in a dark corridor.

"Riley!"

I woke up with a gasp, wondering where I was. To my surprise, I was not in the Slytherin room, but in the Gryffindor one, standing at the foot of Hermione's bed.

"Riley," she repeated. "What are you doing here?"

"Sleep-walking," I mumbled, wiping my tired eyes. "I do it a lot when I dream. Did I wake you?"

"You were whimpering in your sleep; it was kind of hard to ignore."

"Sorry. Bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah, I can't really remember it. Anyway, at least I got dressed when I was sleep-walking, so I can just go to breakfast. See you in a bit," I told her, waving and then walking away.

Later that day, we had our first Care of Magical Creatures lesson with Hagrid that year, because he had finally arrived back from his trip. I was probably the only one who wasn't fearfully anticipating his first lesson, but eagerly awaiting it. I, for one, happened to love large scary beast. Or any animal of any kind, really. But bugs don't count. Those are just gross.

"We're workin' in here today!" Hagrid said, indicating the Forbidden Forest. I noticed that his face was swollen with huge cuts and bruises, and that he was carrying a dead cow carcass over his shoulder. "Bit more sheltered! Anyway, they prefer the dark..."

"What prefers the dark?" Malfoy said worriedly, his voice sharp. "Did you say what prefers the dark?"

"Voldemort," I told him, "When your dad's... You know... 'Pleasing' him by stroking his 'snake'. When your dad gets too old to do it anymore, does that make you next in line for the job?" I smirked coldly at him and then sauntered off.

"Ready?" Hagrid asked happily. "Right, well, I've bin savin' a trip inter the forest for yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat. Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em--"

"And you're sure they're trained, are you?" Malfoy asked, the panic in his voice very pronounced. "Only, it wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class, would it?" His voice was really squeaky when he was frightened.

"Of course they're trained," said Hagrid, scowling and hoisting the dead cow a little higher on his shoulder.

"So what happened to your face, then?" Malfoy demanded.

"Mind your own business," I snapped at him at the same time Hagrid did. Boy, when I wasn't dating him, I really noticed how rude and annoying Malfoy was.

Hagrid turned and strode into the forest, and we were all supposed to follow. Cheerfully, I skipped after him, humming to myself. The rest of the class, I noticed, was less eager. Eventually, Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed me, and the others slowly followed behind them, treading cautiously.
Finally, Hagrid dumped the dead cow on the ground, stepped back, and turned to face the class. "Gather roun', gather roun'. Now, they'll be attracted by the smell o' the meat but I'm goin' ter give 'em a call anyway, 'cause they'll like ter know it's me..."

He turned and gave on odd, shrieking cry that echoed through the dark trees like the call of some monstrous bird.

I gasped softly, recognizing what kind of call that was. I eagerly began scanning the trees around us for signs of anything, but nothing was moving. Hagrid made the call again, and was just about to make a third call when two white, shining eyes appeared out of the gloom, which then turned into a head, a neck, the flanks, and finally the full body of what looked like a great black winged horse. I grinned eagerly.

"Hagrid, how wonderful!" I said eagerly. "I didn't know we'd get to see these in a lesson this year!"

Most people looked at me like I was crazy, but Harry, Neville, and another Slytherin who's name I couldn't seem to remember all looked like they could seem something too. When I looked back, I saw another winged skeletal horse had arrived, and both were chewing on the dead carcass. Some people nearly screamed to see the meat get ripped off and then disappear.

"Now... Put yer hands up, who can see 'em?" As I'd expected, Harry, Neville, and the Slytherin boy all raised their hands, as did I. "Harry, I knew you would," he said seriously. "An' you, too, Neville, eh? An' Riley? An'--"

"What exactly are we supposed to be seeing?" Malfoy interrupted rudely.

"Thestrals," Hagrid said proudly, and Hermione gave a soft 'oh!' of comprehension. "Hogwarts has got a herd of 'em in here."

Some people were disturbed by the thought of thestrals, thinking they were omens of evil, but I simply smiled and slowly approached one, tearing off a piece of cow meat and holding it out.
"Hey, there," I said softly. "You're so pretty. Do you want to eat?" Slowly, cautiously, the thestral approached me and took the meat from my hand. I smiled and carefully rested my hand on its head, rubbing gently. "You're so pretty," I cooed softly.

Behind me, Hagrid was asking the class questions about the thestrals, but I was too busy tearing off chunks of meat and feeding them to the thestrals to pay much attention.

"Riley," Neville said from a few feet away, getting my attention. "Who've you seen that died?"

"My dad," I answered, still smiling at the thestral I was currently feeding before turning to face him. "When I was ten."

One of the thestrals had curled up by my side, making occasional noises when it wanted food, which I would then give to it.

"Parvati, you should come closer and touch one. It might help your fear if you realize that they're actually quite gentle. One of them is curled up by my side, simply cuddling like a dog would!" I suggested. But, of course, Parvati did not get closer. I didn't mind, though. Nothing could ruin my good mood.

Except, of course, Umbridge. She came down to inspect the class, and by the time she left, I wanted to strangle her. She had made it seem like Hagrid had to use excessive sign language to teach, she'd pretended like she couldn't understand him, she'd written down that he liked dangerous animals, and she'd made him appear to be very dense. Basically, she'd tricked him into messing up without him actually even messing up so she could have him sacked. I was worried about the results he'd be getting in ten days.

"What's it doing?" the Slytherin boy who could see the thestrals asked in alarm suddenly. The thestral by my side had bared its teeth at Umbridge before curling up with its head on my lap, lashing its tail in annoyance at the dumb woman as she walked away.

"I think she she stepped on his tail," I answered, petting the thestral consolingly. "Either that or else it's really smart and knows to detest such an atrocious outfit. Both are likely." The Gryffindors all laughed at that, and even a few Slytherin girls nodded in discreet agreement. Just goes to show that Umbridge has no fashion sense. I smiled as the thestral munched lazily on a piece of meat in my lap, glad that almost any kind of animal could make me feel happy.