Mountain Fold (Oliver Wood)

Chapter Sixteen

Anna shivered a little as she finished her breakfast. She sat alone at the table since she had refused to get out of bed when Zinnia and Darian had tried to wake her. They had decided to let her sleep while they went to get breakfast. This resulted in her getting up later and finding her friends cocooned in blankets by the fire, they had already eaten so she decided to go get breakfast by herself.

She was just finished when a shadow enveloped her. She turned around to see a looming figure. Hagrid shuffled his feet and looked at her, she was very confused as to why he would want to talk to her, they hadn't ever spoken before.

"Mornin'," he said with a small smile.

"Hello, can I ah... help you?" She asked hesitantly.

"I hear yeh the one that made that lion tha's been roamin the school grounds."

"...Yeah."

"I was just wonderin'..." he trailed off, but Anna could guess what he was going to say.

"I can make you something. If that's what you want."

He grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

"Do you want anything specific?" She asked.

"I was gonna ask yeh ter make a dragon," he started but noticed how pale Anna turned when he said that, so he hastily added, "but I reckon that might be a big. How abou' a griffin?"

"Okay. I can make it now and then come down to your house, if you want?"

They both agreed that would be a good idea and Anna made her way back to the Common Room. She went and got an origami book from her dormitory before joining Darian and Zinnia where there were still curled up near the fire.

"What're you making?" Darian asked.

"A griffin for Hagrid. What colour do you think?"

"Gold. A golden griffin," Darian answered immediately.

"That would look cool," Zinnia added.

"A golden griffin it is then."

The one she chose was quite complex, it would take her about an hour or more to make it and required a larger piece of paper than what she usually used. Darian and Zinnia watched her, they all chatted while she worked. When she had finished she inspected her completed griffin and was happy with how it turned out.

The next challenge was turning to convince herself to leave her comfortable spot by the fire to take the griffin to Hagrid. Neither Darian nor Zinnia would leave their spots, so she had to force herself out alone again. She wasn't going to enchant the griffin in the Common Room, the last thing she wanted to have to do was drag a giant paper griffin around the school. She learnt her lesson when she made King.

She made way down to Hagrid's and knocked on the door, wanting to get back to her friends and the warm fire. Hagrid quickly noticed the little griffin in her hand and invited her in excitedly. She sat in Hagrid's hut with a cup of tea and began to enchant the golden griffin.

Soon there was a little paper griffin flying around Hagrid's hut. Anna quickly realised that it didn't do anything she told it to do, no matter how hard she tried it wouldn't sit still. Until Hagrid told it to.

"Stay!" He told it forcefully and it instantly landed, standing as if it was frozen in place.

Anna huffed and placed it on the floor, being to increase its size. Originally, she had planned to wait until Hagrid told her to stop but she realised that he wouldn't stop her increasing its size until it was absolutely giant. He'd probably only tell her to stop when it was the size of a dragon, and she didn't want to be squished in Hagrid's hut by a dragon sized griffin. She decided to stop when it got to the size of King, perhaps a bit bigger, she was fairly certain this one wouldn't pounce excitedly on her as a greeting, which was slightly reassuring.

Hagrid looked delighted with the griffin, and the griffin seemed to feel the same way. It completely ignored Anna, not that she minded, one giant excitable paper animal is enough for her. Although the griffin looked a little disappointed that it couldn't fly around the hut anymore, Hagrid noticed of course.

He opened the door and let the griffin out, it immediately soared into the air, already developing a love for flying. It shone in the sun and reminded Anna of a giant snitch, it seemed content to fly around for a while, so Anna decided to head back to the Common Room. She still had herbology homework that her and Darian hadn't done yet. Hagrid thanked her many times, and she reassured him that it was fine.

She was very thankful to be back in the warm Hufflepuff Common Room with her friends, who still hadn't surrendered their spots by the fire. She went and got her herbology homework and got Darian's for him too since he didn't want to get up. She was finally able to cuddle up near the fire with no intent of getting up again.

"How did Hagrid like his griffin?" Zinnia asked.

"He loved it."

"I'm glad he didn't ask you to make a dragon, Hogwarts is crazy enough as it is," Darian joked.

"I think he was going to ask that at first, but he changed his mind."

"You don't think the griffin will cause any trouble, right?" Zinnia asked her and noticed the worried look on Anna face, "I'm sure it'll be fine Anna."

Anna certainly hoped that the griffin didn't cause any trouble.