It's Hard Out Here for a Centaur

Being a centaur in a human’s world is hard.

Humans built transportation in their own image. For them, getting around is simple. You can ride a bus, drive a car, apparate with a wand, or enter the Ministry of Magic building through a public toilet. Centaurs on the other hoof, could not ride in vehicles, could not legally use wands, and definitely could not be seen in public by muggles. A hundred and fifty years before the world was created for large four-legged creatures, in a way, as horses were the transportation at the time. It’s different now. And Copernica hated it.

The Floo Network was how Copernica had to travel when it came to avoiding muggles. As a filly, Copernica was removed from the centaur colony she was born into and placed in a wizard foster home. She learned the ins and outs of human life and though the Canters were welcoming and accepting as any outsider could hope, she was still different. Every experience in her life was met with some sort of obstacle. Using the Floo to travel was the worst for Copernica. She always got sick from it. She had been using the Floo Network daily since she started working at the Ministry.

”Oomph!”

The green flames from the chimney died as Copernica landed in the hearth. Her grunt was loud but silent among the din around her. In the atrium several wizards and witches entered from every end, all talking at once as if Copernica needed something else to add to her migraine. Her head pounded as she wiped the soot from her suit jacket. Underneath it, her white button-down shirt sported a streak of dirt which the centaur guessed was from the last time she wore it. A wizard could have probably known a spell to mend it but of course Copernica was out of luck with that.

Her amble was slow as she left the area, trying to keep her large body from bumping into someone. A witch just down the path looked up at her so Copernica smiled politely but continued toward the elevator before a conversation could ignite. Swarms of paper-airplane memos circled the centaur as the elevator doors flung open. She swatted them away with her tail and entered.

Despite the large crowds at the entrance, no one joined Copernica on the elevator. It was always that way ever since she started working at the Ministry. Before the news got out that a centaur was in the Department for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Copernica would meet many shocked faces as she trotted through the halls. No one ever shared the elevator with her, not even as she moved up from Liaison to Head. Not even when the rumors raised that she was in consideration by the Wizengamot for Minister. Being the Minister would make no difference.

It got lonely in the elevator. It was lonely wandering around the Ministry in general. Copernica recalled how the previous Minister had a whole entourage with him at all times. For a moment she daydreamed what it would like to have someone explaining her agenda, someone else training her on multiple languages, and another to read the headlines in the Daily Prophet.

Damn! she said to herself. She had forgotten to wait for her delivery of the Daily Prophet that morning. She hoped there wouldn't be owl droppings on her doorstep when she got home. She hummed a bit as she contemplated who she could steal one from. She needed to see what they were writing about her that day.

At that moment her thoughts were jarred by a violent shake in the elevator. Copernica was thrown toward the back, hitting her head against a sign hung up too high for the average sized human to reach but it was right in place for a centaur. Maximum weight: 1 Tonne it read.
I knew I should have weighed myself this morning, she thought. You’d think wizards would have, I don’t know, magic to handle this.” Copernica sighed as she heard the alarms go off, warning her that the elevator was now stuck.

Humans built transportation in their own image.

Being a centaur in a human’s world is hard.