Rose Weasley and the Hippogriffs of Rolf Scamander

Hugo, Mum, and Dad were still asleep. Ten-year-old Rose Weasley, on the other hand, was up, dressed, and out early. The air was still cool as the fog rose from the grassy path. There seemed to be more of it here in Romania than there ever was back home.

It had been a long night. Mum had insisted that they take a Muggle airplane since they had come from Grandma and Grandpa Granger's new place in Australia. That meant Dad would sleep half the day.

Rose had looked forward to and dreaded this visit to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Trudi's 'Dragon preserve', as she thought of it. On one hand Uncle Charlie was the last Weasley Uncle to marry. She might end up stuck with her younger cousins who were still in diapers.

But the map said, 'Here there be dragons.' If she could just take a little peek around, if she got back before breakfast, and if she stayed within the compound, her parents couldn't complain too much. Surely she'd find something interesting.

Her eyes were glued to the "The All Dragon Issue!" of Wizading Geographic. Her Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry had gotten her a subscription for Christmas and this issue fired her imagination for this, a short visit after a two week stay with her Muggle grandparents, who had just begun wintering in Australia.

She was reading the story about how the Japanese Ministry of Magic had become particularly innovative in its use of memory charms when dealing with the migration patterns of the South Sea Flightless dragons (Draconis Gojiro), as she walked down the narrow road. Occasionally, she would look down to avoid the large puddles that had formed from the rain the night before so she could avoid them. She didn't want to miss a thing when she got to the barns.

Eyes firmly attached to the magazine, Rose didn't notice the Hippogriff grazing in the road. The beast watched her as she approached, without permission.

The Hippogriff flicked its wing when she got too close, hitting Rose square in the chest, sending her flying through the air, straight into a mud filled puddle. She flew up, flipping over as she flew. For a moment, she seemed to hang in the air. She then went face first into the soft mud. She heard a crack as her left leg broke on the rock hidden under the water. The jolt of agony reached her brain first. She coughed up water as she tried to scream.

Somewhere around her someone yelled. She turned herself over and caught a breath of air. Her eyes cleared just in time to see the full grown Hippogriff descending upon her. She tried to rise.

"Perfectus Totalus!" somebody yelled and magic engulfed her. She fell back as the thing- the Hippogriff - pounced on her. She would have screamed in pain and terror as her whole body shook on impact, only she could not move.

I'm going to die. That was all she could think about as the Hippogriff came down, pinning her. The sharp claws were poised to come down on her face.

"Redwing, no," the voice was male, the same one that cast the spell. Rose lay, literally frozen, as the Hippogriff atop her hesitated for a moment.

Then ground shook as the claw came down, right next to her face.

Rose stared at the strange avian face that regarded her with a mix of scorn and anger. Then she was blinking again, breathing again. She felt sensation return.

"Can you move?" the man who cast the spell asked.

Rose moved her arms slightly. "I think so but--" Rose bit down in agony as she moved her legs, "my leg hurts."

"Both?"

"No--- just my left."

"Okay, now don't scream out. Do exactly what I say. That's if you want to live," the male voice said. A spell was cast, the pain in her leg lessened. Rose nodded and swallowed.

"Redwing, step back."

The Hippogriff arched its head to the right, from where the voice came from.

"Shhhhh--shhh, easy girl, she's a fowl. She knows no better," he whispered calmly to the Hippogriff, who looked down at Rose, then at the wizard again. After a moment, reluctantly, she stepped back.

The man pointed the wand

"Now --- Rose?" that sounded like a question.

"Yes?" she replied.

"You're going to stand, slowly, like I tell you. Keep your eyes on Redwing." She nodded. He seemed closer, like he was walking up behind her. "Pull yourself up to a sitting position but leave your bad leg in place." She grimaced and did as she was told.

Don't scream out, not if you want to live, rushed through her mind. Dad would be "very disappointed" with her if she died. Mum... she thought of Mum and focused all the more intently on what she was doing.

Sitting up, she could now make eye contact with the creature in front of her, who watched her intently. "Put your hands in front of you and lean forward." The strange avian eyes were like deep pools. "Now, bring your good leg up, and put your weight on your hands."

As she did so, her hands began to sink slowly into the mud.

"Put your weight on your good leg, and push off." She did so, tilting sideways. She put her arms out fully, struggling not to topple back, into the cold, muddy water that covered her from head to toe. For a moment she wavered. Then she caught her balance, standing tall.

The Hippogriff flicked its tail and seemed to nod. Rose caught its eyes again and held them.

"Now bow, " the man's voice rose slightly, "and don't fall forward."

Rose did so. The Hippogriff returned her bow.

Then it happened. She--Rose, felt pulled into the deep pools of the avian creature. She could feel the Hippogriff--Redwing, she suddenly knew her name, being pulled into her. Then distance, separation, difference melted away, lost meaning. Rose was Redwing. Redwing was Rose.

She looked at herself through the eyes of a wizarding girl child and looked back at herself from the eyes of a Hippogriff. Her human heart beat faster, matching her bird self. She, the girl/ Hippogriff wanted to flap her wings, and fly off, feel the air upon her feathers, floating high upon the currents. Yet her leg was broken, broken by her other self.

She knew the curiosity of her child self. Her hippogriff self saw the humans who sired her and loved her. The thought seemed alien yet... powerful to the bird/horse creature the girl saw her as. She felt the joy, fear, awe of the other her, the hippogriff: who was beautiful and wonderful, savage and terrible.

She picked out the death thoughts that had recently filled Rose. She knew the inadvertent insult she had offered Redwing. She comforted the separate parts of herself with that knowledge. The death thoughts disappeared. Slowly, the wounded pride of a Hippogriff became unimportant. Rose's heart slowed. Together, in a voice human and bestial, they let out the scream the girl had been holding back.

When they finished she no longer existed. Rose and Redwing faced each other once more.

Redwing bowed. With as much dignity as a ten year-old covered in mud could muster, Rose bowed back. Uncontrollably, tears streamed down her face.

The wind gusted behind Redwing as she stretched out her wings. She rose into the air almost vertically, just above Rose, who looked up, pain almost forgotten. Her wings were spotted on the underside, her back covering her white coat that switched from feathers to fur.

She squawked, and Rose laughed. Redwing, who had almost killed her but whom Rose now knew better then any creature in the world, flapped her wings and gained altitude. Rose, fully herself again, took a step to follow, only to start to fall.

Strong arms held her. "Careful," the voice that had brought her to this point said.

He was warm. His linen shirt smelled of wood smoke. She could feel his beard on the top of her head. He didn't speak, letting her watch as Redwing went farther and farther away, finally becoming a dot in the distance.

"You had quite an experience," he added in a whisper as he sensed her reverie vanishing. To that she nodded shyly.

Expertly, he ran his wand over her body, looking for injury. It started to glow a fiery red as it went over her bad leg. As he did so, Rose examined her rescuer. His long blonde hair hung down in a pony tail. He wore a wide-brimmed hat that looked weather-worn, a single feather giving off a soft golden glow. The face was lined, handsome. Icy blue eyes examined her. The dragon skin breeches and plain linen shirt had that same tattered look, though she noted they were clean, other than the mud that came from her. He was muscled, like Uncle Charlie. Vaguely, he looked familiar.

"Thanks," she said shyly.

"You're welcome, Rose," he said with considerable dignity.

Rose remembered he had used her name before. "How did you know-?"

"From Trudi and Charlie's wedding." He smiled, referring to the event that she barely had remembered from when she was three. "I'm Rolf, Rolf Scamander, your Aunt Trudi's brother." With a hint of a smile, he offered her his hand.

Rose couldn't help but smile back and she blushed a little as they shook hands. He then bent down, arm over her shoulder, carrying her out of the puddle and carefully laying her down upon the grass.

"Oh yeah, you're the one who lives in America," she blurted.

Rolf nodded at that. "I did...sometime back." In the pause his whole tone changed. The comfortable smile he wore dimmed a little. "Let's get you cleaned up, Rose."

Rose remembered a picture. He had been standing next to a woman with black hair and copper skin, between Aunt Trudi and her Uncle Charlie and Trudi's other sister. She vaguely recalled a girl who she had played with during the wedding reception, a girl who had his blue eyes and the woman's skin tone. Rose wondered what had happened to that girl.

He pointed his wand at her. "Accio Kyr Hland." Rose was covered head to toe with liquid that smelled pungent. "Sjoda skola purr."

Rose got very warm for a moment as her clothes seemed to boil. Then she was drenched in cold water. A moment later she was dry again, and comfortably warm.

"Nice spell. Kind of weird though." The spell seemed somehow different from her parents' spells.

"Can you tell me why?" Rolf asked, bending down to help her up.

She'd never heard anything like it. She paused, thinking. Then it dawned on her. She had never heard anything like it. "The language isn't the same, is it?"

Rolf nodded. "Gets you in the common room, at least during first year. Now don't put weight on your bad leg." Rose frowned at Rolf's cryptic answer. He caught her incomprehension as he picked her up and put her down. "Old school expression. Maybe you'll understand in a year or so, unless you're a Gryffindor. Ahh--better not to tell your dad I mentioned it."

Her cousins sometimes talked about strange things like ghost teachers and snogging and a hundred other things she wanted to know about. Still, it was the first time she imagined herself going to school and not being in the same house as all twelve of her older cousins and all her aunts and uncles had been in, except Aunt Trudi and Aunt Fleur.

"What language was that?" she asked. She was curious.

"Old Norse," he said, putting his wand in his pocket. "Libra, my other sister, does Archaeological Spell Work. She passes things along."

"And what did it do?"

"Sure you want to know all the particulars?" To that Rose nodded. He whispered in her ear and Rose made a face. "They're clean, aren't they?" Rolf said defensively.

Rose sniffed suspiciously. There was no strange odor. Then another thought crossed her mind and a smile came to her face. "Wait! Can you teach me?" she said excitedly.

"So you can soak your little brother's clothes?"

"Only when he's a prat," Rose said righteously. Rolf chuckled.

"Both of your parents wouldn't be terribly happy with me if I taught you how to summon cow urine." His face was deadpan in a way that reminded her of her Dad. "Maybe in a year or two."

Rolf Scamander was filled with interesting thoughts and interesting ways of doing things. He reminded her of her parents' odd friend, Luna Lovegood.

Lost in thought she took a step on her bad foot and yowled in pain.

"Careful--" He bent down and beside her, putting his arm around her. "We'll need to get you to the infirmary."

"What happened to me?" Rose asked, after he helped her stand.

"You broke your leg."

"No--when I--" What had happened seemed impossible and Rose struggled for words.

"Were you Redwing?" Rose nodded.

"Yeah!" Rose said excitedly, before wincing in pain as she put too much pressure on her bad leg. "How--What happened?"

Rolf just stood there for a second and looked straight ahead. She had seen a similar look in her Mum's eyes a couple times, when she was unexpectedly reminded of the war. "Rose, have you ever looked at an animal, felt like you knew what it was thinking? Felt, for a second, like you knew them?"

Rose thought for a moment. "I think so," she said, thinking of the kangaroos who came close to Granddad and Grandma Grangers every morning while they were there. She remembered the crow, who cawed to her on her way to the Muggle school her mum had her attend.

"I think even sensitive Muggles do it. May have been more common once."

"Why?" Rose asked, trying to understand.

"Can't be sure, but I think people, muggle and wizard, started to live in towns and cities and such." Rolf's tone was meaningful, looked her in the eye, sitting her down again. "They just didn't make the type of close connections with other creatures, like you and Redwing did when she almost killed you. What happened between you two seemed much deeper."

Rose nodded. She couldn't really explain what had happened. Yet it had happened. Rolf seemed to get this.

"Do you know what Legilimency is?" Rolf asked. Rose shook her head and he continued. "It's when you look into the mind of another person." All pretence of moving her had ended. He put her down in the grass and sat down beside her. "I think you just became an interspecies Legilimens today, Rose."

"But it was just Redwing," Rose protested.

"The experience probably broke a barrier in your mind," Rolf said. "Too early to tell--but that's how it usually is?"

"How do you know-- about this?"

Rolf looked away and seemed to look down. "My wife and daughter were able to do this, Rose." His voice was strained. "Willow and Juniper--- they died because of it."

"Oh." Rose put her arms around Rolf, sitting beside him for a long time, so long, that the pain in her leg began to return.

As the sun began to dissipate the fog and warm the land, Rolf gently put Rose aside. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it to her leg, casting the same charm that had numbed her pain earlier. He stood up and then helped her up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary."

"Okay," she said. Quietly, he guided her.