Aurora, your typical eleven-year-old girl with a love of all things girly, had been begging her mums for a pony for years. Although she was sure she could probably convince her Mum Bambi, it was her practical thinking Ma Layla who wouldn’t let her daughters be spoiled and would keep them grounded. It was therefore an extremely exciting prospect that there was a barn in the school that held such magnificent creatures as winged horses.

That was right! Horses.. with WINGS!

As if ponies couldn’t get any more exciting, she was now facing a real life Pegasus!

The first first day that Aurora was able to, she had bounced her way down from the Ravenclaw tower into the school grounds and straight over to the barn to see them for herself. Her blonde hair bobbed in dainty curls over her shoulders as she carefully pushed open the large doors and entered quietly as to not disturb any of the creatures. Her blue/green eyes lit up with excitement as they scanned each stall and cubby, falling upon the creature that seemed to get more exciting with each one. Except for the Flobberworms, they were neither pretty nor fascinating. There was something about their flabby bodies that grossed her out. Her nose scrunched up slightly watching them wriggle their way around their enclosure.

Now where were those horses?

Being his first year at Hogwarts, Wiley really just wanted to explore everything. Magic certainly was not new to him, but everything here was so cool and interesting, he just had to see it all. The only problem was, he didn't really know where to start and there was just so much! But it was a nice day and you couldn't beat going outside! So that was what he decided to do and see what all he could find.

He found that there were a few paths to take once he made his way out onto the grounds, which was also really neat. He ventured one way, vowing silently to himself that he would soon try out the other paths to see where they led eventually. But today it was this way!

Soon enough, he came across a barn and decided to head in. Wiley enjoyed all sorts of animals and he was eager to see what kinds Hogwarts had in their barns. Probably some winged horses! But first, he wandered over to a girl who was watching the flobberworms. He crouched down a bit and peered at them too. "I wonder if it's boring being a flobberworm.." he mused aloud. He could only imagine, considering they only just wriggled around.

Aurora may or may not have been so engrossed in watching and scrunching her nose up at the Flobberworms that she hadn’t heard another student enter into the bar let alone notice when he had joined her. As soon as he spoke she jumped a little and spun around to see where the voice had come from. Her eyes fell upon a young boy of around her age. She straightened back up in attempt to regain her composure and play off the fact that this boy had accidentally scared her.

Maybe that was why the hat didn’t put her in Gryffindor? No, that was probably more likely to be the fact she continuously TOLD the Sorting Hat that she wanted to be a Ravenclaw like the rest of her family.

Anyway, back to the conversation at hand. What was it he had said? Something about it being boring to be a Flobberworm. “If I was surrounded by winged horses and Crups and all these exciting and pretty creatures and I was a Flobberworm, I would be jealous!” Everything was so cute or magnificent and then there was these fat wormy thingies that ate lettuce and slimed their way around their enclosure. “They’re kinda gross” she giggled. Aurora was definitely not one of those kids who picked up worms from the soil when she was younger.

“I came to look for the Winged Horses.” She’d of been interested in the Thestrals too but the petite blonde had been fortunate enough to not have had the experience that would enable her to see them.

The girl need not worry about trying to play anything off because if she had been startled, Wiley hadn't noticed. He was still watching the flobberworms wriggling around and wonder what life really must be like for the little creatures. "Really?" He finally turned to look at the girl when she said she would be jealous. "But you don't need to be jealous, because there's lots of those creatures here right now!" Well, he wasn't sure if there were any crups, to be honest, but he was pretty certain about the winged horses. So essentially they were surrounded by them.

Wiley looked back at the flobberworms and jabbed a finger at the glass to see if he could get one's attention. Or if they would do something. "They're okay," he said, not really thinking they were gross. "They just don't seem to do much of anything. They need something to spice up their lives." Maybe he could think of something. But his attention was diverted again by mention of winged horse.

"Cool! I want to see some too. You ever ride one?" Wiley had, of course. But he wondered if he would be allowed here too. Or if there were special rules, which seemed most likely.

Playing off the startled jump seemed to have worked, either that or the boy was totally oblivious to the fact which she was grateful for. There was no need to completely embarrass herself during her first term at Hogwarts. She was here to make as many friends as possible.. and to learn of course but right now for the eleven-year-old friends were her priority. Unlike her poor sister who had to join a new school and juggle both making new friends and studying for her OWL’s too which sounded very stressful in Aurora’s opinion. She was a little confused by the boys statement and she scrunched up her nose trying to make sense of it. “I meant if I was a Flobberworm I’d be jealous by how pretty all the other creatures are and I’m just stuck wiggling around on my belly” she giggled. Could Flobberworms even feel jealousy? It didn’t look like there was much space in their flabby bodies for a big brain after all.

She was thinking FAR too much about Flobberworms!

As for needing something to spice up their lives, Aurora had no idea what they could even do without legs or hands or feet or any limbs of any kind.

Thankfully the conversation moved on to the subject that she was most looking forward to seeing. Her eyes lit up with excitement with the mention of being able to ride one. “You can ride them?” she asked with a beaming smile. She had never actually seen one let alone be given the opportunity to ride one. She was sure that her Ma wouldn’t be too impressed if she found out though, she was certain that she didn’t completely trust horses nor would she trust her daughter riding on one by herself. “I’ve ridden on normal ponies and I even rode on a donkey once!” Which obviously wasn’t quite the same level of excitement but Aurora had enjoyed herself nonetheless. “And there was one time we were on holiday and there were these Camels you could go on a tour with and I really wanted to go on one but my Ma said they make you feel sea sick.” It was a risk that Aurora was willing to take but her Ma still wouldn’t let her. Poor boy was going to be out chatted by the blonde who found any reason to talk.

“Oh I’m Aurora by the way!” she giggled.

Wiley paused to consider this girl's explanation, trying to better understand what she meant. "Ohhh," he nodded in understanding as he peered at the flobberworms again. "I get it. Maybe they are jealous. Or maybe they just don't know what they're missing." Which was why he thought he could add a little excitement into their boring little lives. Like a flobberworm party. With tiny little party hats. The thought of it made him chuckle to himself.

Wiley gave an enthusiastic, affirmative nod to the question of whether or not people could ride winged horses. "Yeah! My family has some. I learned how to ride them, it's really fun!" He assumed that this girl never had ridden on a winged horse considering her surprise. "Cool! I've never ridden on a donkey. Or a camel." Those seemed really cool too though. He'd have to ask his parents if they could go do that next summer maybe. He pursed his lips slightly in thought, wondering if they indeed make you sea sick or if they were similar to riding a horse, even if they didn't fly. "I wonder how that could be... because you're not on the sea, they're land animals." It was a weird thought.

Wiley grinned at the girl when she told him her name, having forgotten that bit about introducing himself. Where were his manners? Though to be fair, he was used to most people already knowing him. "My name's Wiley."

Was it strange that Aurora was all of a sudden feeling a little sorry for the poor Flobberworms? Maybe he was right, they couldn’t feel jealousy because they didn’t know anything outside of their little enclosure. “True! Maybe they think that they are the leaders of the world and instead of them being in an enclosure, they think that we are their servants who have to live outside their walls and bring them food every day?” That reminded her of a cat. Just maybe Flobberworms had a superiority complex.

Well now she was jealous. Riding on a winged horse sounded like it could be the most fun she’d ever had. “Did it fly too?” her eyes lit open. She could only imagine floating around like she was on a magic carpet. “My mums took us to a magical zoo before but they didn’t have any winged horses. I’ve been to a muggle zoo too. They had zebras there and they are a bit like horses.” It was amazing that Aurora had any voice left whenever she was speaking to someone, she could talk for England. Maybe she should join the magical debate club, although she absolutely shied away from conflict.

He made a good point. Why did it make you seasick? “I think it’s just one of those silly expressions adults say sometimes.” They did come up with some odd sayings after all. “Maybe it’s the swaying side to side which makes you feel like you’re on a boat?” Which to the eleven-year-old sounded like it would be quite fun but nevertheless her Ma had won that argument.

The boys name was Wiley. She would make a mental note of that in her brain for future reference.

.....................

Wiley was mindblown at that thought. "Wow, just imagine!" he exclaimed after his mouth gaped open for a brief second. He'd never even considered such a thing, but what if that was true. Flobberworms could very well have that perspective on the world. "We just think they're boring little creatures and they might just think they get waited on by us," he laughed at the very idea. But it was interesting to think about. "I think I still want to have a little party for them anyway so they can have some fun."

"Well, yeah, of course," Wiley nodded at the question. He was slightly confused by needing to clarify that he flew on the winged horse, though he quickly realized that it could have just stayed on the ground. "I hope we get to ride them here. Maybe we'll have a lesson about them sometime!" If Aurora thought she had a lot to say, then she was pretty well-matched with Wiley. He rarely was at a loss for words. "Oh, zoos are super cool! I've gone to a lot with my family." He suddenly got a little sad thinking about his brother and sister and his parents, realizing that he missed them. But he recovered quickly.

Wiley considered her reasoning and then nodding, figuring at least that much made sense. "Adults say funny things sometimes. Like raining crups and kneazles, like they are actually falling from the sky but they clearly aren't!" Weird. Maybe this was the same sort of thing. "I guess so.. but winged horses never made me feel that way." Or brooms for that matter. But maybe camels were different.