The Hippogriff Pen

Al tentatively took Remus' hand and helped himself up, carefully eyeing the hippogriffs in the pen. "Right. I still don't think this is such a good idea. Those things...look mean. No me gusta."

Remus chuckles, leading Al to the opening of the pen. He dropped Al's hand and opened the gate, allowing the other boy to walk in first. "It'll be fine. Trust me. And don't say they look mean while you're around them. They won't like that. It's better to compliment them while in front of them." he shows Al over towards a chestnut hippogriff that's eying them curiously. "Hello there, gorgeous." Remus smiles. He turns to look at Al. "Okay. First things first. You have to bow to her, and try not to blink a whole lot. Making eye contact is a good thing, they like that. It helps with trust, if I recall correctly from class. I'll go first so you can see. You have to move slowly too." he steps forward in front of the gorgeous chestnut hippogriff and keeps his eyes focused on the creature's as he bows slowly. It takes a few seconds and then the hippogriff slowly bows its own head. Remus smiles then steps aside so Al can try. "Your turn."

Al nodded slowly, still not comfortable with the whole idea. The thing could kill him if he wasn't careful! What kind of person willingly walks up to one of those things? "Hey there, beautiful," he complimented quietly as he took a step forward. He licked nervously at his lips, then bowed his body forward slightly, not breaking eye contact with the hippogriff as he waited for it to bow in return.

The hippogriff made a slight noise but eventually bowed in return. Then it waited to see what the two boys would do next. Remus grinned, holding his hand out before slowly approaching the beautiful creature. He waited for it to come to him before he softly patted its beak. "See? They're okay. You're friendly, aren't you, lovely?" Remus knows what it's like for people to either hate or be scared of you for what you are. That's why he's always trying not to judge others or other magical creatures. "You like Al? He's a great guy. I'd say he's a bit nervous, but maybe if you show him how friendly and lovely you are he won't be as nervous. How about it?" Remus smiles and moves out of the way a bit so the hippogriff can investigate the other boy, leaning its head down so its beak is closer to Al's face. "It's okay, Al. Just slowly reach your hand out and let her come to you. Then you can pat her."

Al almost took a step back as the hippogriff moved closer to him, but he decided against it as he figured it would probably only upset the creature. "Um. Hey there...you," he greeted before he gently raised a hand and rested it on the hippogriff's beak, petting it hesitantly at first before he quickly became more comfortable around the animal. "Huh. You're not so bad now, are you?" he said with a grin, gently stroking his hand up and down the bird-like face.

Remus grins in approval as Al grows more comfortable with being near the hippogriff and petting it. The hippogriff decides it rather likes Al and moves closer to nudge his face with its beak and then leans into his hand happily. "And you were worried she wouldn't like you. I think she really likes you." Remus laughs, reaching out to pet the hippogriff too.

Al smiled as the large animal nuzzled up against his hand. "I think so too," he grinned as he continued to pet the hippogriff. "I mean, I still have all my limbs so that's a good thing, right?"

"Yes." Remus nods, chuckling. "That's a very good thing. I bet she'd like you even more if we had food to give her, but I hadn't thought about feeding them today."

"Aw, well that's too bad," he commented as he continued petting the hippogriff. She snorted and he took a few steps back and hopped up onto the fence, choosing to sit on it instead of stand by the hippogriff. "Um. Yes. Well, that's enough of that," he said, trying to play it cool as if he wasn't just freaked out by an animal.

Remus chuckles as he watches Al take a few steps back and hop up on the fence. He gave the hippogriff one last pat on the beak and the went over to join Al at the fence. "Hey, at least you can tell people you've pet a hippogriff now. Hagrid said he wasn't going to be allowed to teach about hippogriffs for a while so a lot of the younger students probably won't get to have this experience. Kind of a shame, really." he looked back over to the chestnut hippogriff that was still watching them. "It must be hard, living a life where everyone's scared of you because of what you are, when you're really not that bad." he commented very quietly. "Dangerous but capable of being friendly, yet no one will believe you.." he shrugged lightly, sort of lost in his thoughts.

Al glanced curiously over at Remus, tilting his head to the side. He felt like Remus was holding something back, but he knew better than to ask him about it. "Yeah, I guess it would be..." He tore his gaze away from Remus to look back at the hippogriff. "They're really not that bad. I've just never been a huge fan of big animals. I like dogs. Sort of. That's about as big as it'll get."

Remus can feel Al's curious gaze on him but he doesn't turn to meet the other boy's eyes. "I love dogs." Especially one dog in general, but that was besides the point and kind of off topic. "Dogs and I always get along so they're one of my favorite animals." Mostly he just gets along with dogs so well because they can sense the wolf part of him and the wolf's relation to the dog. "So, if you don't like big animals then what about small animals? Like...cats or birds or rabbits?" Remus can't stand cats. Cats can't stand him. It's a mutual dislike. Yep yep. Most smaller animals are sort of afraid of him anyway. They can sense the dangerous wolf side of him and are scared of it.

"Those are okay. I'm just not a huge animal lover," he admitted with a shrug. "I get how people can be obsessed with animals, but I'm more of a people person, I guess. Why talk about your problems with an animal who can't give you a real response, when you can just talk to your friend or an actual person with intelligent thoughts?"

"You have a point there." Remus nods. "I guess...people just have a habit of enjoying an animal's company more because animals don't really judge. If you tell them your secrets they aren't going to run away screaming or give you these...terrible looks like you're gross or horrible or something like that. They'll still love you. It's nice and comforting, I guess."

"That's...true," he said, resting his head in his palm. "I just...think I'd be really depressed if I could only depend on animals to love me. I d'unno," he shrugged. "That's just me."

"True." Remus shrugs. "In the end it is really nice to be able to trust someone enough to be able to tell them anything without having to worry whether they're going to run away from you or not." He feels a drip of water hit his nose and looks up. "I think it's going to rain..." It was hard to tell through the tree tops but it did seem to look like gray clouds were gathering above them in the sky.

Al glanced up at the sky at Remus' remark. "Looks like it," he noted as he hopped off of the fence. He glanced up at Remus, squinting his eyes as it suddenly started to rain down even harder. "Ready to head inside?" he asked, not really too fond of the idea of being caught out in the rain.

*as Rem cause I'm lazy*

"Yeah, let's go inside." Remus agrees, hopping off the fence too. "This was fun though. Thanks for hanging out with me, Al." He shakes his head, rather dog like, to get his wet bangs out of his eyes.

"Anytime," Al grinned, oblivious to the fact that he was wearing his tight, blue sweater and it was going to be quite the sight for his boyfriend when he walked into his dorm to take it off. "We should hang out more often," he commented as he walked up to the castle with Remus, so he could go obliviously torture his boyfriend. Hehehe.

Reed rushes down to the pen, ready for his next surprise. He only tripped once on the way down and was thankful he didn't get his clothes dirty. He looked around frantically, trying to see if there was something there for him.

Hanging from a tree, obviously within reach, was a little package with Reed's name on it.
Inside was another envelope with a piece of paper inside it and also there was a bag with some cookies in it.
To my darling, Reed,
How is your birthday going, beautiful? I hope it's going well. I miss you right now. Actually, I miss you all the time when we are apart. Sometimes it sort of scares me how much I miss you, and how much I love you, but that's okay because everything is with you and that's what matters. I want to experience everything with you and share everything with you because you are my life and my love. I know I probably sound super cheesy right now, but, hey, I have to tell you all this somehow. I'll just hope you can overlook the cheesy part of it.
Not this weekend, but next weekend, there's going to be a family reunion at my father's new house and I want you to come with me. My father, with my permission, told all of our family members about the fact that I'm dating a guy and they're all alright with it as long as I'm happy.
And I am happy, Reed. I've never been so happy in my life. Everyday I know I'll wake up happy because I get to wake up next to you, and spend most of the day with you, and share everything with you. I wish there was a super perfect way for me to show you just how much you mean to me and how much I love you, but I'm not entirely sure what that way is just yet. So I'm going to start with smaller things and work my way up from there. And tonight I'm going to show you just how beautiful you are.
I know you don't always think you're good looking, but you are, baby. You are. I love the way your hair curls, and how soft your lips are, and how tiny and adorable your nose is, and your eyes are the most beautiful color. I love your small, soft hands, and those tiny squeaky noises you make in the morning when you stretch after just waking up. And speaking of sleeping, I love watching you sleep because you just look so peaceful, beautiful, and innocent. You're perfect, sweetheart, and nothing would make me happier than knowing I could be with you for the rest of my life.
You complete me, baby.
I love you more than you'll ever know.
~Kras
P.S. - Madam Pomfrey has your next surprise.

THEN REED DIES FROM ADORABLE.

Reed spots something hanging down from a tree and bounces over to it excitedly. He laughs at the cookies and tears open the envelope and starts to read. As he's reading, his puts his hand over his rapidly beating heart. This was just too much. He starts crying again and smiling at the words. He didn't even think there was a way for him to possibly thank Kras for all of this. It was all too perfect, and it wasn't even lunch time yet. He wiped his tears away and took a deep breath. He really just wanted to skip the rest of his classes. Reed looked at his watch and figured he'd have enough time to run up to the hospital wing to get his next surprise. He seriously could not get over how perfect his boyfriend was, and how perfect he was making Reed's birthday.