Buckbeak

Buckbeak
Name	Buckbeak
Born	By September 1993
Species	Hippogriff
Loyalty	Rubeus Hagrid Sirius Black Harry Potter
Book information
First appearance	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Last appearance	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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

He is sentenced to a beheading for attacking a student at Hogwarts, but Harry Potter and Hermione Granger help Buckbeak escape. He is adopted by Sirius Black who was also on the run. He and Sirius lived at 12 Grimmauld Place until the latter's death, after which Buckbeak is given to Harry in his will. Harry gave Buckbeak back to Hagrid and he is called Witherwings to conceal his true identity.

Biography

Prisoner of Azkaban

Buckbeak is part of a Hippogriff flock owned by Professor Rubeus Hagrid. The flock is used in a third-year Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid asks for a volunteer to approach a Hippogriff and brings Buckbeak out of the flock. He teaches Harry Potter how to successfully approach and stroke Buckbeak. Buckbeak then flies Harry for a short flight around the paddock. However, Draco Malfoy has nothing but contempt for Hagrid and Harry, and provokes the proud Buckbeak by calling him an "ugly brute". Buckbeak smacks Draco on the arm and he falls over in pain. Hagrid fights to put Buckbeak back into a collar and cancels the rest of the lesson to take Draco to the Hospital Wing.

The Board of Governors are informed and they tell Hagrid that he should used smaller animals for his first lesson. An investigation is launched into Hagrid and Buckbeak, which worsens when Lucius Malfoy puts in an official complaint. Hagrid receives a letter to inform him a hearing will take place at the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures on 20 April, and that he will have to bring Buckbeak. Until then, Hagrid hasto tether Buckbeak and keep him isolated. Harry, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger try to help build a case of defence for Buckbeak. Hagrid wants to let Buckbeak run away but he has no idea how to tell Buckbeak he needs to go into hiding.

Hagrid starts to let Buckbeak live in his hut where he is fed ferrets. A few months later, Hagrid learns that Buckbeak's hearing is being brought forward to February and books two beds on the Knight Bus to get there. Hermione continues to redearch possible defences to help Hagrid. Buckbeak and Hagrid attend the hearing at the Ministry of Magic, where Hagrid attempts to read from the notes Hermione has given him, but he keeps dropping and forgetting them with anxiety. However, Lucius has frightened the judging panel anyway and they vote in favour of Buckbeak's beheading.

On 6 June, an appeal hearing takes place at Hagrid's Hut. Hagrid puts Buckbeak out by a pumpkin patch by the time an elderly official and the executioner arrive with the witness, Cornelius Fudge. Professor Dumbledore also attends to try and argue in Buckbeak's favour. However, they lose the appeal and Buckbeak is set to get beheaded at sunset. Harry, Ron and Hermione hide nearby when it is about to happen and remark that Buckbeak looks nervous, like he knows what is going happen. Hermione continues to watch the scene from a distance and believes she has seen the axe swing down onto Buckbeak.

Later that evening, Hermione and Harry are advised to travel back in time to save an innocent Sirius Black from the Dementor's Kiss. Dumbledore suggests they that can save more than one life, and Hermione realise they need to fly up to the highest window of the tower he is being kept in. She figures out they should also save Buckbeak. Harry and Hermione travel back to earlier in the day and watch Hagrid's Hut until they have a window of opportunity to rescue Buckbeak unnoticed. Hermione remembers Fudge and Macnair spotted Buckbeak in the pumpkin patch, so they wait to ensure Hagrid could not be accussed of letting the Hippogriff escape. They untie Buckbeak while Hagrid and Macnair are signing a form and tug him away in time. Hagrid is delighted when they realise the bird is gone and calls Buckbeak a "clever boy".

Buckbeak is flown by Harry and Hermione

Harry and Hermione try to keep Buckbeak under control while they wait for the time of the night that they have to save Sirius. Buckbeak attempts to buckle and return to Hagrid when he spots him walking nearby, but calms down when Hagrid has walked away. When the Ministry seizes Sirius and locks him up, Harry and Hermione fly on Buckbeak to the top of the tower and rescue Sirius. Sirius and Buckbeak fly away together and go 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 bedroom.

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 gave Kreacher an order to keep Sirius away when Harry tried contact him. Harry received a fake vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius and tried to comtact Sirius to confirm if it was real or not. Kreacher purposefully injured Buckbeak and while Sirius tended to Buckbeak, he didn't hear or answer Harry who considered this evidence that the vision was in fact real. Harry was coerced out of the confines of safety in an effort to save Sirius who died that evening trying to help Harry.

Appearance

Buckbeak has glossy stormy grey feathers, steely talons, "fierce" orange eyes, scaly front knees, a sharp beak and twelve-foot wings.