Ch 3-I hate the elf!—Part 1

Soaring through clouds on a giant flying horse is definitely one of the most thrilling experiences that could ever happen to a man. While I have been in airplanes before, this is on a completely different level, it's like comparing, going to a Taylor Swift concert with having Taylor Swift as your girlfriend, there could be no comparison between the two.

With the cool wind rushing through my hair and watching the clouds pass by, I felt like I was in another world (which I was, literally). I couldn't stop my mouth from smiling widely or occasionally shouting in excitement. I was high enough that anyone looking straight up would only be able to see a small dot flying over their head.

I brushed my hands through the smooth feathers on buckbeak's back gently while leaning over a little to lie on his neck. All my worries, anxiety, the excitement of being in the magical world faded at that moment and my mind turned completely silent, the only sound I could hear was buckbeak's wings flapping and the only thing that I could feel was the goosebumps across my skin. I felt as if I was lying on a bed made of feathers and flying on top of the world.

I don't know how long I spent just relaxing, enjoying that calmness, and I would have gone on a lot longer without notice, if not for my stomach suddenly growling loudly in protest. I could feel my stomach shrinking inside of me into a small ping-pong ball, my body needed food immediately or I thought I would faint.

I leaned over a little to the right and looked down, I saw that we were going above a large dense forest.

"Hey buckbeak, look around for a place to land. Will you?" I shouted over to my ride and he screeched in response. I didn't know for sure but I think that screech must have been a yes. We flew straight forward for about 10 more minutes before buckbeak suddenly dived down and when I looked down I could see a small clearing filled with rocks in the middle of the forest.

"Hey, slow down buckbeak," I shouted just as we were about to enter the clearing and brushed along buckbeak's feathers in the opposite direction, "Make a couple of rounds and make sure that there are not some kind of predators around,"

Miraculously he understood me and started to circle the clearing slowly. As I didn't have a wand at the moment, I would be completely defenseless if any wild animal approached me, so I wanted to be sure that It was safe to land.

After a couple of more circles, I had buckbeak land in the middle of the clearing. It was a wide clearing with big and small chunks of rocks lying on the outer perimeter while an empty area in the middle had wild grass growing out of the ground.

I climbed down from buckbeak's back while making sure to not pull any of his feathers. I looked around for a moment before I found a flat rock, perfect for a place to sit.

I took a few moments to stretch my legs and my back which were a bit stiff due to lying uncomfortably for too long and started to think up my options for the future.

Two options immediately jumped out to me. Option no 1, I could apparate to a muggle store and buy some food, but unfortunately without a wand, I would not be able to glamour myself and considering that every television in Britain had my photo as a wanted criminal shown on the evening news show that option would be very risky.

Option no 2, I could call for Kreacher and have him bring me some food. The only reason Sirius didn't use Kreacher while on the run from Azkaban was that he had some serious childhood trauma regarding that house elf. According to my memories, Kreacher was essentially the jailor that his loving mother used whenever she wanted to punish him but was feeling a bit lazy, which was frequent.

Now while Sirius may have hated the house elf irrevocably and couldn't even imagine ever asking for something from him. I had no such problem and it would be the safest option for me too.

"Kreacher!" I shouted while staring into the air. There was complete silence and for a few moments I thought that he would not come but a loud pop suddenly echoed in the clearing and startled the hippogriff who was taking a nap on the ground. A house elf had appeared out of thin air right in the middle of the clearing.

It was bald with small puffs of white hair, and wrinkly skin and was completely naked except for the loincloth around his waist. With his big round eyes, and knobbly arms and legs he would be able to give kids nightmares for days. Kreacher looked around the clearing for a while in confusion before he suddenly noticed me.

"Master called for Kreacher!" he said while bowing very low and mumbling under his breath, "Master managed to escape from Azkaban somehow. Maybe Kreacher should alert the Aurors, Mistress will be very happy as Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke poor mistress' heart..."

"Shut up Kreacher! and stand up straight," I said in a firm voice, "You will not tell anything about me to anyone unless I order you to. Now, I will ask you some questions and you will only answer me with yes or no. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master" Kreacher replied very reluctantly while standing up straight, the magic of house elves making him follow the orders to the letter.

"Can you get me some food?" I asked while trying to hide my eagerness, as getting some food in my stomach came before everything else.

"Yes,"

"Go and bring me something to eat," I ordered him and he immediately disappeared with a pop.

Buckbeak went back to sleep after realizing that it was a false alarm, I was sitting on the rock while shaking my leg up and down while waiting for the food to arrive. About fifteen minutes must have passed before Kreacher came back with a pop, floating a plate and a bowl behind him, the plate had some kind of steak in it while the bowl had some kind of soup. I eagerly took them into my hands, before placing the plate with steak down on the rock I eagerly bought the bowl of warm soup toward my mouth.

Just as I was about to drink the soup, Kreacher's face came into my periphery and the smile on his face immediately made me stop. I looked at the soup for a while before glaring at Kreacher and asking.

"Is it poisoned?" I asked him suspiciously.

"No," he replied, and I sighed in relief but that creepy smile on his face still bothered me. After racking my brain for a while, I asked a different question.

"Will it give me a stomach ache?"

"Yes," he forced the words out of his mouth while losing his smile.

I looked down at the very appetizing soup, my stomach growled again and for a moment I considered drinking it anyway before my senses caught up to me and I put the bowl down with a sigh.

I glared down at Kreacher while rubbing my temples in frustration, suddenly understanding Sirius's perspective a lot more. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths before opening them and looking at the blasted elf with cool eyes.

"Can you go into a muggle shop,"

"Yes, Master,"

"Go get me 5 apples and 5 packets of noodles from the nearest muggle store," I asked after thinking for a while.

He immediately disappeared and came back a minute later with the apples and noodles packets floating behind him. I immediately took an apple from the air and after making sure that it was not spoiled, I bit into it ravenously.

I was on my third apple and the hunger pain in my stomach had been satisfied for the moment before I suddenly realized something and asked Kreacher.

"Did you pay for these?"

"No," he replied while smiling maliciously.

I was conflicted for a moment while looking at the half-eaten apple. After thinking for a while, I closed my eyes and said sorry to the store owner in my heart, and went back to eating my apple.

After I had finished all the apples, I put the packets of noodles beside me on the rock and turned toward Kreacher, and asked.

"Do we have a magical tent in the family,"

"Yes,"

"Where is it?" I asked eagerly.

Kreacher made a face as if he was struggling to get the words out of his mouth. I was confused for a moment before I suddenly realized what had happened.

"You can answer me with more than Yes or No," I said retracting my previous order before asking again, "Now where is the tent,"

"It is inside the black vault," he said.

"Can you get it?" I asked in anticipation.

"Yes, as long as Master asks me to," he said while bowing low and mumbling, "Now that mistress had passed away, Kreacher is left alone with the disappointment as his master ..." I ignored the rest of his mumble as background noise.

"And are there any wands inside the vault,"

"Yes,"

"And can you get me some muggle money from the goblins,"

"Yes,"

"Alright, Go and bring me the best tent you can find, all the wands you can find inside, and convert about 10,000 euros worth of galleons from the black vault,"