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Feeling the soft feathers beneath her palm, Tori's eyes lit up.
"H-He... he actually let me..." she murmured in wonder.
"Of course. Buckbeak isn't as fierce as he looks. In fact, he's a pretty well-behaved big guy," I said, watching the scene with a satisfied smile.
Lily, who had watched everything in silence, rolled her eyes when she heard that.
'Only Ethan would say something like that about a Hippogriff...'
Completely unaware that I was being silently judged by the white-haired girl, I walked over to Tori, who was still petting Buckbeak.
"So?" I asked with a smile. "What do you think?"
"This is amazing..." she replied, unable to take her eyes off Buckbeak.
With the greatest care in the world, she gently continued stroking the feathers along his neck.
"He's amazing..."
A pure, joyful smile lit up her face.
And with that, the verdict was clear.
She was completely enchanted.
I couldn't help letting out a small laugh. Seeing her almost childlike happiness was simply adorable.
Then, remembering we weren't alone, I turned my attention to the other girl.
Lily was still standing a few steps behind us, watching Tori with an amused smile.
But beneath that, I could also spot a hint of envy... and an overwhelming desire to join us.
It was more than obvious that she wanted to pet a Hippogriff too.
'This girl...' I shook my head with a wry smile.
As bold as she usually acted, she could still be surprisingly shy sometimes.
"Lily?" I called, pulling her out of her thoughts.
Turning towards me, she tilted her head.
"Hm?"
"Want to give it a try too?" I asked, gesturing towards a dark-feathered Hippogriff.
She stayed silent for a few moments, her gaze shifting between me and the Hippogriff.
A second later, she gave a shy little nod.
The small gesture, however, couldn't hide the anticipation sparkling in her eyes.
With quick steps, she walked over to us and stopped by my side.
From this close, I didn't even need to use my abilities to notice how excited she was.
It was practically radiating off her.
Not wanting to keep her waiting, I gestured for the dark-feathered Hippogriff to come over.
As soon as he obediently stopped in front of me, I gave his head a gentle pat, earning a soft, happy screech in return.
Then I turned to Lily.
"You already know what to do from here, right?"
"Mhm," she nodded, not even looking at me.
Her entire attention was fixed on the Hippogriff.
That made my lips twitch.
'And to think they said they wanted to spend the day with me...'
Completely oblivious to my abandoned look, Lily prepared herself to interact with the Hippogriff.
She took a deep breath before slowly stepping forward, holding out her hand just as Tori had done.
When her hand finally touched the Hippogriff, the creature remained perfectly calm.
In fact, he even rubbed his head against her hand, clearly asking for more affection.
"..."
"..."
Lily blinked several times.
Then an enormous smile spread across her face.
"I-I'm petting a Hippogriff!" she exclaimed, unable to contain her excitement. "And I think he likes me!"
I smiled at her reaction.
"Well... now I can officially congratulate both of you," I said all of a sudden.
My words briefly pulled them out of their joyful moment.
Confused, they both turned to me.
"Congratulate us? Why?" Astoria asked.
"Because you're now part of the select group of people who've had the honour of touching a Hippogriff!" I replied, looking proudly at the two Slytherins.
For a moment, the two of them simply blinked, processing my words.
Then they finally realised what had just happened.
They had managed to touch a magical creature famous for its pride — a creature that normally wouldn't even let someone get close, let alone lay a hand on it, without first earning its respect.
And that privilege was granted only to those the Hippogriffs considered worthy.
Only then did they truly understand just how lucky and privileged they were to have been "chosen"...
Even if that had only been possible, for the most part, because of me.
Truth be told, I knew that if they'd followed the traditional way of earning a Hippogriff's trust, the result probably would've been the same.
The two of them had pure, kind, and incredibly bright hearts.
I didn't have the slightest doubt the Hippogriffs would've recognised that and bowed to them of their own accord.
Once they'd recovered from their initial surprise, Lily and Tori turned their attention back to Buckbeak and the dark-feathered Hippogriff.
Now they looked at the majestic winged creatures with even greater admiration.
But admiration wasn't the only thing they were feeling.
A wave of satisfaction washed over them as well.
They puffed out their chests, their smiles turned just a little smug, and for a brief moment they looked like proper young pure-blood Slytherin girls, proudly displaying the trademark pride and vanity of their House.
"We're amazing!" Lily declared, lifting her chin.
"Yeah. We got chosen!" Tori agreed, just as proudly.
Watching the two of them, a fond, amused smile spread across my face.
'Heh... who would've thought these two cheerful little princesses could have such big egos...'
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We spent a few more minutes playing and interacting with the Hippogriffs.
After that, we headed off to meet the other magical creatures living in the enclosure.
Our first stop was the Unicorns' area, since it was the closest one.
Once again, Lily and Tori were surprised to see that, just like the Hippogriffs, the Unicorns let me touch them without the slightest resistance, behaving in a completely gentle manner.
Of course, in the Unicorns' case, things were a little different.
They had always been gentle... with women.
With men, however, it was extremely rare for them to show that much trust.
At first, the two girls even thought about asking me how that was possible.
But after witnessing so many absurd and unbelievable things involving me, they simply decided to accept it as "just another one of Ethan's weird things."
While we were playing with the Unicorns, Astoria spent nearly five whole minutes talking to one of the foals as though it could actually answer her.
Lily and I came to the conclusion that it was a genuine miracle the little one hadn't run away from her.
After that, we continued our little tour.
We visited one enclosure.
Then another.
And another.
Before we knew it, the girls had already met and interacted with almost every magical creature living there.
I showed them the tiny Luminous Fairies, who were still just as shy as ever, hiding behind the flowers whenever someone came too close.
A Niffler nearly managed to steal the gold necklace Lily was wearing, but was caught red-handed before it could escape with its "treasure."
A pair of Bowtruckles ended up adopting Astoria as their own personal walking tree, refusing to leave her shoulder or her hair, much to Lily's amusement.
Later on, a family of Mooncalves timidly appeared on the other side of the enclosure. Once they realised we weren't a threat, they slowly wandered over, leaving both girls completely enchanted by their enormous round eyes.
Obviously, throughout that entire adventure, the girls' favourite creatures were the smaller, cuter ones.
But they weren't the only ones.
The larger, more majestic creatures fascinated them just as much.
Maybe it was just in every girl's nature to love cute things.
But it also had to be human nature to be awestruck by huge, magnificent animals.
By the time we finally left the magical creatures enclosure, Astoria kept glancing back every few steps.
"I want to come back," she said, looking a little reluctant to leave.
I smiled, amused by her reaction.
"Looks like you really fell in love with the Unicorns."
"Not just the Unicorns," she replied without a second thought, "All of them."
My smile only grew wider.
"Well... we can always come back."
Tori immediately turned to me.
"Promise?" she asked, looking at me with eyes sparkling with anticipation.
"Promise." I nodded.
Then I held up my little finger.
With a huge smile on her face, she did the same and hooked her little finger around mine.
And just like that, my promise to her was sealed.
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After leaving the Magical Creatures Enclosure behind, we continued wandering leisurely around the Hogwarts grounds.
The weather was pleasant, so plenty of students were taking advantage of the morning to stroll through the gardens, chat with their friends, or simply relax beneath the trees.
As we followed one of the stone paths, a series of excited cheers and loud applause drew our attention.
Looking up, we soon spotted the six towering stands of the Quidditch Pitch.
Several broomsticks darted across the sky overhead as a group of students played a friendly match.
Even from a distance, we could hear the lively commentary, the cheers of celebration, and the applause erupting from the stands whenever someone pulled off a particularly impressive play.
Lily watched one of the players for a moment before turning to me.
"Want to watch for a bit?" she asked.
"Sure. Why not?" I replied with a shrug.
Beside me, Tori seemed to like the idea as well, nodding with a small smile.
And so, the three of us made our way towards the Quidditch Pitch.
End.
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