The Girl Who Saw Tomorrow » Harry Potter

1.6 | Ickle Ronnie The Prefect

Over the days, Sirius' sadness was not overlooked by Margaret, or by the boy who lived, for that matter.

As promised, she had visited Buckbeak the hippogriff with Sirius there to guide her. The majestic creature seemed even bigger being cooped up in the small room. It was proud, however, that much Margaret could tell.

She reached forward, nearly losing her hand, but with the Azkaban escapee gently stroking the hippogriff's wing, the creature calmed down enough to accept the dead fish from Margaret's hand. He devoured it in one go, looking almost expectantly at her. She threw the bag of fishes forward causing him to turn to it.

"A big baby is what he is," Sirius says, shaking his head at his pet.

Halfway through eating, Buckbeak suddenly turned to Margaret before stepping forward hesitantly towards her still outstretched hand to nuzzle into it - a sign of trust.

A peal of giddy laughter left her when the giant animal befriended her.

From that day onward, both Margaret and Buckbeak seemed to enjoy each other's company enough to spend hours with one another. It gave Sirius some reason to laugh, usually finding the time-traveller in his mother's old room, either talking to Buckbeak or cleaning to make the place more suitable for the proud creature to stay in.

"I didn't think he'd have liked to be read to," Sirius comments one rainy afternoon, glancing down at the book in Margaret's lap.

The girl herself looked up with a smile, pausing her reading. "Yes, me neither. Then I tried it last night and he seemed to enjoy it."

As if on cue, Buckbeak made a sound and shook his wings gently, a sign for her to read again. When she didn't he repeated the actions and Sirius understood that Buckbeak was actually interested in listening to the story.

"What story are you reading?" Sirius asks conversationally, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. He sat down in front of the hippogriff and petted his beak affectionately.

"It's a muggle fantasy book called Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

"Oh, I've heard of that one. I think I read it at some point because Lily let me borrow her copy, but I can't really recall it..." Sirius reminisces and it surprises Margaret a bit. She had forgotten that Lily Evans was a muggle-born.

"Um... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... you know," Margaret begins unsurely but Sirius shook his head.

"No, no. It's not your fault. Well then, go on, we don't want an impatient hippogriff," says he with a good-natured smile, not looking as creepy as he did when Margaret had first seen him.

Margaret continued reading, now not just to a hippogriff but also an Azkaban escapee who got suddenly excited when he recalled reading certain parts. Conversations lead to conversations and Margaret found out more about the adventures of the Marauders and Lily Evans.

She was glad that she could distract Sirius Black from the fact that he was about to be alone again in a few days.

She would often spend time with him after that, talking about Buckbeak and even Sirius's Animagus form. A few days later, Harry started to join them too, but both Margaret and he wouldn't speak with each other too much. It wasn't unfriendly, just a little uncomfortable. But the silence was filled with Sirius recounting the moments from the Marauders Era, one that interested both of them enough to forget about the real world outside for a while.

In midst of that, Margaret had gotten to go to Diagon Alley with Ginny, Hermione and Tonks to buy clothes. She had arrived there before them to make a pitstop at Gringotts to open a new vault for herself that did not require her to nearly lose her life while trying to withdraw some money.