Hermione Granger and the Centaur Boy

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Chapter One: Abandoned

Hagrid heard a piercing cry of pain coming from the forbidden forest. He followed the sound and soon came upon a snarling wolf attacking something small. He managed to scare him away. Then the moonlight revealed an almost human face — a baby human face. But he could see the crying creature wasn't human at all; it was a centaur. It was quite an unusual baby centaur: His coat was almost golden, and there was a star-shaped birthmark in the center of his head. And his blood was ... he was bleeding badly. The wolf had bitten his leg. Hagrid took off his coat and wrapped the baby in it. Then he carried him back to his hut. The baby centaur needed to rest and heal before it could be returned to the herd.

*~*~*~

A week later...

Hermione pulled her cloak tightly around her as she knocked on the door of Hagrid's hut. The wind was blowing fiercely. She was at Hogwarts to see Professor McGonagall and decided to drop by to see Hagrid. She heard his son was with him, and the little one, Rubeus Hagrid III, was surprisingly normal in size. The half-human blood of both his parents seemed to have resulted in a perfectly human-looking child.

Hagrid was quick to answer the door, but he seemed to be intentionally blocking the entrance. He was acting very oddly. The only other time he'd seemed so suspicious was when he'd had that baby dragon. She knew Hagrid hadn't had a proper pet since Fang died, and she hoped he wasn't hiding anything illegal.

"Hello, Hagrid," she said.

"Good to see yeh 'ermione. Ain't seen yeh since yeh left school."

Hermione smiled. "Well, I was here to see Professor McGonagall, and I decided I couldn't leave without a hello to you. I heard your son is here."

"No, he's with his mother. But I got a picture. Wait 'ere."

Hagrid turned to go in.

"Can't I come in?"

Hermione then heard a very human cry from inside the hut.

"If your son is not with you, who's crying?" She looked past Hagrid before he answered. He shifted enough to allow Hermione to see inside (though she could see nothing out of the ordinary from where she was), and then he moved and allowed her to enter the hut.

She saw what seemed to be a human baby sitting on a bed of straw under a blanket. But the shape was odd under the blanket, not human at all. And she saw why as the baby got shakily to its feet and the blanket fell off. It was an adorable baby centaur with traces of black hair. He was no bigger than a baby goat, and his coat looked quite golden. He wobbled as he walked over to her.

"A centaur! How long have you had him?" Hermione asked as she looked into the centaur’s big, blue eyes.

"Coupla weeks," Hagrid said, getting a bottle and handing it to Hermione. "That's what he was crying for. Give it ter him. He's used ter it now. His legs er much stronger, so he should be ready ter go back soon."

"He's beautiful," Hermione said as she tipped the bottle to his lips. She was sitting now, and his hands were holding her leg as she fed him. He looked up at her, and she clearly saw the birthmark on his head that looked like a star.

"A wolf attacked him. Lucky ter be alive, tha’ baby is," Hagrid said.

"A wolf?"

"In a coupla more weeks, he'll be ready to go back into the forest."

"But do you know his parents?"

"No' exac'ly."

"What if he's attacked again? Hagrid, he's just a baby. He needs his mother."

"He'll be okay with the herd."

"And you know how to get him to the herd?"

"No' exac'ly," Hagrid said. "Centaurs are private folk. Hard ter find when they don' wan' ter be found."

The baby centaur finished the bottle, and without thinking, Hermione began patting him on his back. Eventually, he belched.

"Yeh go' good instincts 'ermione. Make a righ' good mother one day." Hagrid sighed as he looked at the baby centaur. "I' been thinkin'. Maybe I should sen' Charlie Weasley an Owl. He knows ..."

Hagrid kept talking, but Hermione was suddenly seeing the baby locked in a pen somewhere while Ministry officials from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures figured out what to do with him.

"I'll take him," Hermione said, cutting off whatever Hagrid was saying.

"But 'ermione, you can' ..."

"Just until he's old enough to survive on his own."

"He may look a lit'l like a human baby boy, but he's a completely differn' creature."

"He's not a beast. Centaurs chose to be classified as such; you know that. I can take care of him."

"Bu'—"

Hermione already had his blanket and was asking about bottles and his sleeping schedules and other essential knowledge for his care. Hagrid answered her questions in between attempts to think up arguments against her taking the baby centaur. He gave up on it.

*~*~*~

"Hermione," Ginny called, slipping into the house they shared.

The two had shared their current home for a little over a year now. They'd also shared a residence while they were on a research team in Greece. They'd been investigating evidence of a secret alliance of wizards from about 1,000 years ago. They had invented a number of magical cures for mystical ailments that British wizards were still working on. When they returned home, they were so used to being roommates, they’d decided to buy a house together.

Ginny stepped into the kitchen and saw Hermione preparing a bottle.

"How did the interview go?" Ginny asked.

"I'm not taking the position," Hermione said.

"Why wouldn't you ..." the redheaded woman began and then paused. It only just occurred to her that it was quite out of place for Hermione to be preparing a bottle.

Ginny heard a soft tap-tap behind her. It sounded like hooves. She turned and saw a baby centaur. He smiled at her.

"A centaur?" Ginny questioned. "Hermione, it's a centaur."

"Yes," Hermione said, sitting down. "We're going to be taking care of him for a while."

He came to Hermione and started drinking from his bottle.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hermione asked.

" Hermione, do you realize how big centaurs get?"

"He's not a pet. We're not keeping him forever."

"He's a centaur," Ginny repeated.

"Ginny, look at him. Just look at him."

Ginny came over and took a good look at the little one. He was quite beautiful and unusual, even for a centaur. She, too, noticed the odd mark on his head and started to touch it, but then she pulled back. There certainly was something special about him, though she couldn't figure out what it was.

"He is quite beautiful," she said with a smile as he finished the bottle.

"Mama," he said, hugging Hermione's leg.

"What did he call you?"

"It's okay."

"Hermione, he thinks you're his mother."

"Well, I am in a way ... don't worry Ginny. The situation in under control."

Ginny looked doubtful. She agreed that the boy was beautiful, but she didn't feel as maternal as Hermione.

"I know what he is. I know he's not my son, but he's a baby, and he needs a mother."

"It's easier, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Loving a baby. It's easier. I know you shut yourself off after the whole thing with Ron."

"This has nothing to do with Ron!" Hermione said sharply. She calmed herself before continuing. "Listen, he's not old enough to care for himself. And the ministry would cage him and treat him like a beast because they wouldn't know what else to do with him. Centaurs are only classified as beasts by choice; they are as much a being as you or I. They speak and think and learn just as well as any human child. I just want to be sure that, in the absence of an adult centaur, he gets what he needs."

"Okay," Ginny said, never as good at arguing with Hermione as her brother was (then again, nobody was). "But we're going to have to be very careful. This baby is classified as a beast. And no matter how cute and human-like the little bugger is now, that's what the Ministry of Magic sees him as, a beast. And wizards with magical pets, especially those classified at the level of—"

"He's not a pet!" Hermione said sharply. "Listen, he's mine to worry about."

"Okay," Ginny said.

"It's temporary," she said. She stroked the baby hairs on the little centaur's head as he played with the fingers on her free hand.

Ginny could tell by the look in Hermione's eyes that she was already far too in love with the little centaur to let go easily. So she decided she wouldn't argue with her today. It had been a long time since she's seen such joy on her friend's face. After all, what harm could come of it? It was just a tiny, baby centaur.