You're Being Hugged, Harry

by David Silver

8 - Guiding Stars

Harry adjusted his telescope with his magic, eye set against the sight. Nearby, his quill took notes without his seeing the marks. That was a trick unicorns could learn with a bit of practice. Humans too, come to think.

"You are unusually eager." Aurora Sinistra had snuck up on him, easily done with his vision filled with stars and little else. He could hear his teacher coming closer. "Your notes... Ah, yes. You are not from Earth."

"No, ma'am." Harry drew back from the telescope enough to look at Aurora properly. "My aunt was a big fan of astrology her--"

"--nomy," corrected Aurora firmly. "Astronomy. Astrology is a muggle word. We do not look just to count and label. Great works require the cooperation of the sky."

"Muggles are..." It was not a concept he was that intimate with.

To Aurora's momentarily visible confusion. "People who do not know magic, cannot perform it, and often deny it."

Harry shuffled a little awkwardly on his hooves. "Never met one of those. I mean, only unicorns can do magic where I'm from, but everything else knew unicorns could do it. And they all know magic, what it is and all that."

She patted his shoulder. "You're making me jealous, Mister Potter. You come from a world in an easier state of being." Her finger extended towards his notes. "However, I need you to learn the Earth sky, and not just in comparison to the one you have at home."

His ears wiggled without thought. "Ma'am, will this work when I go home?" He waved up at the sky. "I have different stars back there. How can I learn about them? No offense or anything."

"None taken. You are not incorrect, and yet, if you want to pass, you must learn the Earth sky." She gestured upwards in a wave. "Master it, and the one back home will come all the more easily. You mentioned an aunt with a love of the night sky? I imagine she will gladly assist, but you need to know what questions to ask her. Pay attention, and you'll be ready."

She moved off to coach and assist other students. Harry was far from her only pupil. "Psst." There was Ron, whispering and waving at Harry. "You really never saw these stars?" He hiked a thumb up at the sky itself.

"Um..." Harry looked up at the dazzling collection that was an alien sky. "No."

"No talking," came the stern voice of their teacher, squashing that chat for the moment.

---

Arnavon swished his wand with a dubious smile, only to set it down and scribble in his book, only to put that right back down and grab his wand. "Mmf." He grunted with annoyance, slapping the ground with an almost stomping of his feet. "I can do this."

But could he? He turned to a mirror and fell to all fours, hopping closer to it. The great horned rabbit reflected there looked back at him as he considered himself. "Hum hum... Oh, maybe?" He tucked his wand under his belt securely. "Maybe." He was at the window in a great leap and threw it open to the dark sky. "Be right back!" Not that there was anyone there to be informed.

He took flight, sorta. He was an owl, had a card that proved it, but his flight was more of a series of grand leaps, first to the ground, then forward. The impact of that first landing allowed his legs to coil tightly, propelling his second leap all the faster than the ones that'd follow it. Still, like an owl, he was soaring through the night.

There. Harry had mentioned him a few times, and Arnavon sought him out. He landed right in front of a startled Hagrid with a bright smile. "Good evening!"

"Good evening to you as well, though it's more the night." While he had been surprised, the appearance of a friendly magic beast was not a thing to keep Hagrid off balance. "Aren't you Harry Potter's owl?"

"That's me!" Arnavon bounced a little in place, lifting from the ground a few inches. "My name's Arnavon, and you're Hagrid, right?"

"That's what they call me." He offered a hand to the curious owl. "If you don't mind my admitting, never saw one of you before."

Arnavon took the hand, but only as a handle. Even as they clasped and shook, he was drawing the large man forward into a warm hug. "It's nice to meet you!" To wrestle had once been the tsuki way of handling differences. It still was! To grab and hold came naturally. But to a friend, one did not try to throw them down or pin them. A subtle difference, but it made a hug instead of a fight.

Hagrid laughed at the affectionate greeting. "I'll return the sentiment. What brings you this way? Did you lose Harry?"

"Hm? No no." Arnavon shook his head quickly. "He's learning things. But so am I. You are a master of beasts." He hiked a thumb at himself. "Which counts me, right?"

Hagrid smiled at the phrasing. "Most things that can speak do not like being called a beast."

Arnavon inclined his head. "Beast is just another word for creature, right?"

"It is?" Hagrid rolled a hand in the air. "How does that relate?"

"Creature is what we call anything that can talk." Arnavon bobbed his head. "Where I'm from. So I am a beast, a creature. So are you." He reached out to tap the man on his chest. "And you're an expert on creatures, right?"

Hagrid unleashed a jovial belly laugh at the logic put to him. "That is hard to wrestle with. A person is a beast of sorts, but they typically have no magic of their own. That is where we draw that line. Any animal that is, or performs, magic. Being able to speak is a whole other affair."

Arnavon scratched at his right cheek softly a moment. "Oh. Well, I'm both of those. I need help with my magic. Can you help me?"

"I can certainly try." He patted Arnavon on his shoulder. It was rare he could address another person basically eye to eye, even if Arnavon was no human. "You'll be the first in a while I can just ask how they feel. So, let's start there. What's going wrong, and what should it be doing, so far as you know it?"

Arnavon drew out his wand, showing it off to Hagrid with a waggle. "Princess Cadance, Harry's mom, sent this to me. It's great!"

Hagrid frowned at the waggling magic instrument. "Only a wizard can use a wand."

"Um..." Arnavon's ears managed to fall further than they already were hanging. "Um... I... already used it a few times..."

"Oh." Things grew quiet between them, Hagrid stroking his beard thoughtfully. "That changes things." He began to wobble a hand. "For one, it means you're not a beast, you're a magical creature."

"I already knew that." Arnavon smiled brightly. "I'm magical, and I talk. Magical creature." He hiked a thumb at himself. "Though our magic is not your magic."

"Hold on, hold on, not done. Now, you see--" He tapped the wand, arresting its movement. "Magical creatures are forbidden from having wands. Now, don't look like that." He could see Arnavon's crushed expression. "Not my law. You seem like a nice enough creature."

"But Harry is a creature," argued Arnavon suddenly. "He's a magical creature, and he has a wand, and that's alright, but not me? I'll be good!"

"Harry is at least half human, is the thing." Hagrid moved to settle on a large stump, eyes moving to the glittering stars above. "You aren't, I assume?"

Arnavon's ears danced in the limp way that tsuki ears could manage, their weight keeping them held down. "What if I am?"

"We'd need to know who your human parent is." He wagged a finger at Arnavon. "And claiming that without proof could get you in trouble. We only just met, but I'd rather you not get in trouble."

Arnavon deflated miserably. "Not fair... I'm learning magic. I want to learn more!"

"Some agree with you." When Arnavon peeked at him, Hagrid shrugged expansively. "The goblins and house elves don't like it much either. The gobs in particular, raise a right big fuss about it."

Arnavon waggled his wand at Hagrid with a sudden rebound of energy. "They can't take this."

"Why not?" He reached to do just that, but Arnavon yanked it away quickly. "That won't work if the proper people show up."

"It's mine." Arnavon nodded with certainty. "Made by creatures, for creatures. It was, um, bought by a unicorn's parents to help them do magic." He wagged the wand all the more firmly. "They--"

Hagrid raised a hand, enough for Arnavon to quiet. "On your world, your logic sounds about right. We can't tell you not to have that wand, there." He turned a finger to the ground. "But here, at Hogwarts? You fall under the Earth magic rules. And if you plan on bein' a law abiding citizen, well..."

"I can't have a wand." Arnavon deflated most miserably, looking ready to flop over. "But I was learning magic so well..."

"It ain't fair." But he offered no immediate way around it, just sitting there next to Arnavon. "So... Anything not involving wands I didn't see?"

"Didn't--" Oh. It hit him what was being implied. He tucked the wand away out of sight. "We don't make magic." He waggled his fingers as he sat up, then stood up, all the better for gesturing wildly as he began to do. "But we can direct it. We can move it and target it. Do magic at me!"

It was Hagrid's turn to share a lance of pain. "Afraid I'm just as allowed as you to have a wand. No magic coming from me today... or ever."

"Oh..." Arnavon scratched at his cheek a moment. "But you still like magical creatures? That's nice. I like you. You seem nice."

Hagrid's expression lifted into a subtle smile. "And you just made my day, or evening as the case may be. Still, a considerable talent. I know quite a few wizards that would be delighted to have such a talented owl."

Arnavon burst into giggles. "Harry already owns this owl." He put a furry hand on his chest. "Not that he... owns owns. We're friends! Friends own each other, right?"

"The good ones." He clapped Arnavon on the side. "Which it sounds like you two are. Now, we just met. We don't run that deep just yet. What's giving you a trouble with your ability?"

So Arnavon began to explain how it worked, from his perspective, how he directed magic around him and through him. His horns and his body serving as a cup to hold it in and a tuning fork to align with it. "But it gets stuck!" he wailed with a huff. "The magic goes in but sometimes it just... stays there." He patted his chest with low thumps.

Hagrid reached up and tapped at one of Arnavon's horns, then the other. "Have you considered that owls of your variety really aren't made to be using wands?"

Arnie blinked, well, owlishly, at the idea. "What?"

"You have two of them, right here." He rapped the right horn just hard enough to make Arnavon flinch back and look up at the horn awkwardly. "Naturally made, designed just for you and nobody else."

Arnavon was quiet, but a smile began to grow, spreading across his face in a brighter and brighter expression. "You are a genius!" He surged forward, grabbing Hagrid up in a firm hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Yes, yes... The wand was made for a unicorn. I'm not a unicorn!"

"That you are not," easily agreed Hagrid. He wasn't an owl either, but Hagrid didn't argue that point. "Do your magic your way, and it should work better."

Arnavon hopped back, clapping eagerly. "I have so much to try! Thank you!" And off he went, vanishing from sight almost instantly in the dark.

Author's Note:

Harry gazes at the stars while Arnavon has a realization under the same sky. The two are growing, together, as friends. Thanks, Hagrid. Knew you were good at this.

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Comments

[badninja]

So how will Harry deal with the fact that magical creatures in his former world are not being treated well? Coming from a land where equality is far more the norm it feels like he is just brushing this off by pointing out a loophole.

[David Silver]

10985397
Harry hasn't reacted. He hasn't even been told yet.

[harts fire]

so Arnavon gets a vary good idea from Hagrid now to get things working.

[Teraunce]

6/10 above average story.

[tsaukpaetra]

So the wand is merely a conduit and directing device, at least the one Arvanon has. Experimentation is required, there's new magic to be discovered!