Dear friends, this
is the sequel to my first story, Harry Potter and the Mirror's
Gift,
which I have also released on fanfiction.net. You might like to
read Mirror's Gift first,
if you haven't already, as some of the characters who appear in
this story were introduced there. ~ Kim
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HARRY POTTER AND THE JADE DRAGON. PART ONE.
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Chapter I
Dragon Post
I had a visitor
tonight
With tidings from a distant land.
Those far-off shores are calling me;
Should I respond? Or stay my hand?
It was a still and quiet night
in early August. Harry Potter turned around in his bed,
and tried to go to sleep. He had just managed to doze off, and
was dreaming he was
zooming around on his Firebolt, for some reason with Professor
Severus Snape in
hot pursuit of him, when a sharp tapping at his bedroom window
jerked him awake
again.
He sat up, half-asleep, and looked at the window. Instead of
the owl he'd expected
to see, there, peering at him through the glass was the strangest
little creature. It had a
slim, scaly, snakelike body, that glittered silver in the moonlight,
and a wedge-shaped
head with two gleaming eyes. It looked, in fact, exactly like
a miniature dragon.
Harry, now wide awake, got out of bed and went over to the
window. He looked out
cautiously, to determine whether the creature was friendly or
not. Tied to its back was
a letter, and what looked like two rolls of parchment, one smaller
than the other.
Harry opened the window, and the dragon flew in and landed
on the bed. Turning its
head, it opened its jaws and blew a small tendril of flame at
the string tying the bundle
to its back, so that the string broke and the letter and parchment
fell onto the bed.
Then, with a pleased chirp, it flew over to Aunt Petunia's discarded
dressing-table
nearby and landed on it, and then sat there, gazing into the cracked
mirror and admiring
itself.
Hedwig, Harry's snowy owl, had been sitting nearby watching
all the while, and gave a
rather sarcastic hoot. Harry went over to the bed and quickly
unrolled the bigger piece
of parchment. He was unable to read it; it was covered with Chinese
characters,
executed in beautiful, flowing brush-strokes. He unrolled the
smaller parchment. It, too,
was covered with Chinese characters, but there was also a horizontal
line drawn at the
bottom that looked as if one might place a signature there. He
then opened the letter,
which turned out to be in English.
-----------TIAN-LONG ACADEMY OF THE MAGICAL ARTS------------------
Dear Mr Potter,
This letter is the English translation of the notice in
Chinese which you have just
received. We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected
to participate
in an exchange programme between Tian-Long Academy of the Magical
Arts, in
Long-Shan, China, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The
programme will be carried out over a period of four months, with
students from
Hogwarts attending classes at Tian-Long from October - November,
and students
from Tian-Long attending Hogwarts during the period December -
January.
The classes you will be attending at Tian-Long include :
Basic Chinese Divination
Chinese Potions
Care of Magical Creatures of China
Protection Against the Black Way
As all the necessary spellbooks will be provided, you are
not required to purchase
any. However, you will need to bring the equipment you are currently
using for
your Potions classes at Hogwarts.
If you are interested in taking part in the programme, please
sign the acceptance
form (smaller roll of parchment) and return it to us. We await
your dragon no later
than 20 August.
Yours sincerely,
Lady Hsu Wen-Li,
Headmistress
Harry read through the letter twice, trying to get over his
surprise. An exchange programme
in China! He'd never imagined such a thing was possible. China
seemed far away, on the
other side of the world. Would he have to learn Chinese? What
would the students there
be like? Who else from Hogwarts would be going?
At this moment, two owls soared in through the open bedroom
window. One was a
minute, fluffy, grey one, which Harry recognised as Pigwidgeon,
Ron Weasley's owl.
The other was a tawny owl, bearing two letters, one with the Hogwarts
crest on it.
Harry opened the Hogwarts letter first.
----------HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY-------------------
Dear Mr Potter,
Please note that the new school year will begin on September
the first. Attached is
the usual list of books and equipment that you will require this
year.
You have also been selected to participate in an exchange
programme between our
school and Tian-Long Academy of the Magical Arts, in Long-Shan,
China. As the
Chinese Magical Community has been isolated from the outside world
for many years,
we are hoping that this exchange will be able to contribute in
some small way to the
gradual opening up of its borders. You are therefore strongly
encouraged to take part.
Please note, however, that this will not exempt you from completing
the usual
coursework at Hogwarts. You will be given extra classes during
the course of the year,
and are expected to spend some of your time in China completing
assignments which
will be handed out to you.
If you wish to participate in the programme, kindly sign
the acceptance form which
Tian-Long Academy will be sending to you.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress
Harry opened the second letter which the tawny owl had brought.
It was from Jeanne,
who was assistant to Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts.
Dear Harry,
Remus and I send you our regards. This is a quick note because
things are quite
busy at the moment. How have your holidays been? I hope everything
is going
well with you.
You must have read Professor McGonagall's letter by now.
I hope you'll take
part in the exchange programme. To encourage you to attend, I
thought I'd
let you know that Hermione and Ron have also been selected. I
may be going
as well, tell you more about it when school starts.
love from Jeanne
Finally, Harry opened Pigwidgeon's letter, which of course
was from Ron. It looked
as if it had been scribbled in a hurry.
Dear Harry,
Exciting news, this small dragon just popped into the living
room and gave Mum
a fright. Seems that Hogwarts is having an exchange programme
with a wizarding
school in China and I've been selected to attend. Sounds interesting,
doesn't it?
I've decided to go. I really hope you're going too. Am writing
to Hermione as well,
I guess she should have been selected, she did so well in the
exams last year.
I'll be getting the usual school stuff in London the week
before term starts, shall we
meet up then? Send a reply with Pig as soon as you can.
Ron
Harry laid all the letters and the rolls of parchment before
him on the bed, and looked at
them. Then, he did the only thing he felt he could possibly do
: taking his quill and ink, he
signed the acceptance form, and tied it to the little dragon's
back. He then brought the
dragon to the window (with some difficulty, because it seemed
to want to continue gazing
raptly at itself in the mirror) and threw it out. He stood at
the window, watching it as it
flew off, high into the night sky, and eventually disappeared.
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