Thestral at the Magical Creatures Reserve

Thestral at the Magical Creatures Reserve
Physical information
Species	Thestral
Hair colour	Black
Eye colour	White
Skin colour	Black
Affiliation
Loyalty	Magical Creatures Reserve

This Thestral lived in the Magical Creatures Reserve in the 1980s.

Biography

In the 1980s, Jacob's sibling would often bond with and feed this Thestral.

At some point during Jacob's sibling's time at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore asked Hagrid to give a presentation on Thestrals to the International Confederation of Wizards, hoping to clear up some of the misconceptions around them. More specifically that even a Thestral with limited exposure to strangers will be comfortable working with a large group of them.

To this end, Hagrid asked Jacob's sibling and Merula Snyde to help prepare a Thestral at the Magical Creatures Reserve for the presentation. Merula had strong objections working with the creature because of negative assosiations with them due to "an incident" between her Dark wizard parents and an Auror. She initially only agreed for the potential House points. However, after meeting it she became upset, which in turn upset the Thestral and it flew off.

Though Hagrid was discouraged, Jacob's sibling decided to use this as an opportunity: they could use convincing Merula as practice for convincing the Confederation. Though she was reluctant to get close to it again, she eventually agreed. Their argument swayed her and she began to warm up to the creature, even smiling a little while she worked with it.

When Professor Dumbledore came to collect Hagrid and the Thestral to travel to the conference, he revealed that he knew of the tragic experience in Merula's past and had deliberately arranged for her to work with it; to allow her to face her fear and see that good things, such as being able to work with a gentle creature like a Thestral, could come even from terrible events.

Hagrid later reported that he considered the presentation a huge success, though given that prejudices against the creatures still seemed to be common in later years, it's unclear how accurate his assessment was.

Behind the scenes

• The Thestral's name, just like all creatures in the Magical Creatures Reserve, can be customised by the player. The dialogue of the quest will subsequently change according to the name determined by the player.

Appearances

• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (First appearance)

Notes and references

	Magical Creatures Reserve