Misfits Like Us (Leo)

[Astrid Osborne]

The morning of Saturday, December 3, 2005

On weekends, Astrid volunteered to feed and tend to Hogwarts' unicorns, hippogriffs and thestrals. And so today, she'd gotten up bright and early and made her way down to the (recently-rebuilt) paddocks on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, pushing an oversize wheelbarrow laden with various things for the beasts to eat. Being an innocent girl made it easy for her to approach the unicorns, and being a quarter-giant (she was about 7'3" now) made it slightly safer for her to approach the hippogriffs (though she'd built a good rapport with all the animals).

Unfortunately for her, or perhaps fortunately, she'd never seen death, so she couldn't see the thestrals. When she finally entered the thestral paddock, she tossed produce on the ground and listened carefully and watched the grass for signs of movement. As the invisible creatures came up to her and bit into the produce, she gently felt around for them, patted them, and threaded flowers into their manes so she could keep track of where they were (and count how many were there).

All thestrals accounted for, she quickly found the young one that seemed fond of her; he (she assumed it was a colt) was nuzzling her. "Hello there, Hamish," she cooed to him as she offered him a carrot. It was a name she'd given him based on his tendency to follow her around. She began stroking his mane.

[Leo Sakurai]

With the Forbidden Forest restored to its original condition following the massive fire in early November, Leo had gone back to using his usual route for his weekend morning runs. The long meandering circuit brought him to the edges of the school grounds, round the Great Lake and all the way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. It made for good training, and the scenery was varied and breathtaking at certain points. Still, the sheer length of the circuit meant that few bothered with the full route.

Continuing down the footpath, Leo maintained his pace as his breath condensed into little clouds in the cold morning air. Coming up ahead was the paddock: a place he rarely visited outside of his morning runs, having never taken Care of Magical Creatures as an elective. Nonetheless, he did know a bit about the magical beasts there from the books he had read, and from observing the other students caring for the beasts at the paddock whenever he passed by.

The student on duty today was Astrid Osborne, a Third-Year from Hufflepuff. Though she towered over practically everyone at Hogwarts, she had a gentle disposition, and the magical beasts seemed to like her quite a bit. In particular, one of the thestrals – a young colt – seemed particular fond of her.

“Good morning, Osborne-san,” Leo called when he was within earshot, and he bobbed his head down and up in greeting. “Isn’t there anyone else helping you out today?” he asked, nothing that there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the vicinity. Not everyone could see thestrals – a fact that he didn’t realise until he read about it – and for that reason some of the younger or less experienced students were usually paired up with someone who could. Not that Astrid seemed to need much help; she seemed quite used to the work, and had even came up with a way to keep track of the invisible creatures by threading flowers into their manes.

[Astrid Osborne]

Astrid inclined her head to look up at Leo. She didn't really know the older boy, but it wasn't at all surprising that he would know her--everyone knew her because of how she stood out.

"Hullo," she replied. "I think I've seen you before, but I don't think we've formally met? You can just call me Astrid, I've never really liked going by my surname."

"No, it seems I'm on my own today," she confirmed. "Not many students like getting up this early on a Saturday morning, especially when they tend to stay up late on Friday nights. I don't mind it though, I can do the work myself." She looked down at the colt, or at least at the seemingly-empty space it occupied, as she fed it another carrot. "Can you see them?"



I considered using an English-to-Scottish translator for this, but the loss in readability outweighed the novelty.

[Leo Sakurai]

“Hai, I don’t think so,” Leo agreed; considering how much he stood out as one of the few East Asian students at Hogwarts, he reckoned she would have known him had they been properly introduced. “I’m Leo. Nice to meet you, Astrid-san.” The honorific wasn’t required, but Leo doubted anyone knew enough of his culture to understand the subtle nuances behind why he would use or omit it. He could not use it entirely, but it just felt weird to him to address his seniors by name without any honorifics. And so for simplicity’s sake and to prevent any misunderstandings, he just opted to use them in most situations.

His guess about Astrid being the only student on duty this morning turned out to be right. “Yes, that is very true,” he replied with a chuckle. “Most people don’t want to wake up early during the weekends. Maybe they would prefer if our Common Room and dorms were deeper underground, so the morning sun wouldn’t wake them from their sleep.”

Perhaps sensing how he was looking at the ‘empty space’ before her, Astrid seemed to have caught on to the fact that he could see the thestrals. “Yes, I can, although I’m not sure why,” he confirmed as he shrugged and gave a sheepish smile. It had been that way ever since his possession by Doumeki, back when he had been in Japan. Or maybe it was because the mental connection between him and his twin sister had been re-established then, and his sister – being a Seer – had seen and understood death as a result of her prophetic visions. Either way, it seemed awfully strange to share such information that could potentially cause alarm – or make Astrid think that he was a weirdo or something – so he chose to gloss over it

“But the ‘why’ isn’t important,” he said as he steered the subject of the conversation elsewhere. “Many people who can see thestrals don’t like the way they look because they seem fierce and scary. But how are they different from other animals like lions or wolves?” He reached out tentatively and slowly towards the thestral colt, ensuring that it could see his hand approaching, before finally touching it and stroking its mane. “And I actually think they look quite cool,” he said, as the colt let out a contented whinny. Due to their gaunt features, thestrals weren’t conventionally attractive creatures (if they were even considered attractive in the first place, although some might appreciate their edgy and dark aesthetic). And it was their misunderstood nature that had fascinated Leo when he first heard of these creatures.

Considering how he had already clocked quite a considerable distance for his run, he spontaneously decided on a change of plans. “I’m not sure what I can do, but is there anything I can help you with?” he offered.