Buckbeak

**Buckbeak**, later **Witherwings**, was a character in the *Harry Potter book series*. He was a Hippogriff who was first owned by Rubeus Hagrid.

He was sentenced to a beheading for attacking a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but Harry Potter and Hermione Granger helped Buckbeak escape. He was taken by Sirius Black, who was on the run too. He and Sirius lived at 12 Grimmauld Place until he was killed, and Buckbeak was given to Harry in a will. Harry sent Buckbeak back to Hagrid again, and they acted like he was a new Hippogriff called Witherwings.

## Biography

### Prisoner of Azkaban

In September 1993, Buckbeak was part of a flock owned by Professor Rubeus Hagrid. The flock was used in a Care of Magical Creatures lesson, and Hagrid taught Harry Potter how to successfully approach Buckbeak. Buckbeak then flew Harry for a short flight around the paddock. However, Draco Malfoy had nothing but contempt for Hagrid and Harry, and provoked a proud Buckbeak by calling him an ugly brute. Buckbeak then smacked Draco in the arm and he fell over. Hagrid fought to put Buckbeak back in a collar, and cancelled the lesson to take Draco to the Hospital Wing.

The Board of Governors would later be informed and they told Hagrid that he should have begun teaching by using smaller animals. An investigation was then launched to determine the fates of Hagrid and Buckbeak. Lucius Malfoy launched an official complaint and Hagrid was sent a letter asking him to attend a hearing at the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures on 20 April, which Buckbeak would have to attend too. Until then, Hagrid had to tether Buckbeak and he needed to be kept isolated. Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger decided they would build a case for Buckbeak. Hagrid wanted to let Buckbeak run away, but he had no idea how to tell Buckbeak he needed to go into hiding.

Hagrid began letting Buckbeak live in the Hut, where he was fed ferrets. Buckbeak's hearing was brought forward to February, and Hagrid booked two beds on the Knight Bus to go. Hermione had continued to help Hagrid build a case.

Buckbeak and Hagrid took the Knight Bus to attend Buckbeak's hearing at the Ministry of Magic. Hagrid had attempted to look at notes Hermione gave him when he argued in favour of Buckbeak, but he kept dropping them and forgetting them in anxiety. Unfortunately they determined Buckbeak had to be executed because Lucius had frightened the judging panel.

On 6 June, an appeal hearing was to take place at Hagrid's Hut and if that failed, Buckbeak's beheading would happen that day. Hagrid put Buckbeak out by a pumpkin patch. An elderly official and the executioner soon arrived. Cornelius Fudge was their witness and Professor Dumbledore argued in Buckbeak's favour. They lost the appeal and Buckbeak was to get beheaded at sunset. Harry, Ron and Hermione hid nearby when it was about to happen, and thought Buckbeak looked nervous like he knew what was happening. Hermione continued to watch the scene at a distance, and thought she saw Macnair behead Buckbeak.

Later on, Hermione needed to save the innocent Sirius Black from the Dementor's Kiss by going back in time, and knew they needed to fly up to the window of the room he was being kept in. She determined they also needed to save Buckbeak in order to achieve that and then Sirius and Buckbeak would fly away together. They went back in time and watched Hagrid's Hut until they had a window of opportunity to save him. Hermione knew they had to take Buckbeak when Fudge and Macnair had spotted Buckbeak in the pumpkin patch, so they would know Hagrid had not let Buckbeak go. When Hagrid and Macnair signed a form, Harry and Hermione untied Buckbeak and they tugged him away in time. Hagrid was delighted and called Buckbeak a "clever boy" for escaping.

Harry and Hermione needed to keep Buckbeak under control when they waited for the time to save Sirius, but Buckbeak kept attempting to buckle and get to Hagrid again when he noticed him walking nearby, but he calmed down when Hagrid was no longer around. When the Ministry seized Sirius and locked him up, and then went to find the Dementors, Harry and Hermione flew on Buckbeak and saved Sirius, who later flew on Buckbeak to safety on the run from the Ministry of Magic.

### Order of the Phoenix

Buckbeak and Sirius spent two years living together at 12 Grimmauld Place. He stayed in Sirius's late mother's room.

In 1994, Buckbeak took Sirius to a cave near Hogwarts when he wanted to speak to Harry, Ron and Hermione about the Crouch family.

In June 1996, Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy found out that Harry had been contacting Sirius. They needed to stop Sirius finding out that Harry had seen a fake vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius. They gave Kreacher an order to keep Sirius away when Harry tried contact him, and so he wounded Buckbeak. Sirius tended to Buckbeak and didn't hear Harry, who was then coerced out of the confines of safety in an effort to save Sirius, who died that evening trying to help Harry.

## Notes and sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 6
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 11
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 14
4. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 13
5. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 15
6. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 16
7. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 20
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban*, Chapter 21
9. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 4
10. ↑ *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, Chapter 37