Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief
Chapter 9
As soon as Daisuke stepped out from behind the strange gargoyle in front of the stairway, the whispering started again. This time they were much louder, and there seemed to be many more than previously.
Daisuke looked up and down the hallway, and saw no one. In fact, nothing moved, other than the paintings on the walls...
...which suddenly began cheering loudly.
"This way!" a portrait of an old lady called from one end of the hallway. "Come on, Daisuke!"
The paintings cheered, and Daisuke suddenly realized the source of the whispers. It had been the paintings, speaking quietly to one another.
"Hurry, Daisuke! Class is going to start soon!" yelled a young woman astride a black dragon. She and her mount sailed into the next picture as Daisuke broke into a run, following them.
"Good luck!" cried a chorus of children as the dragon soared over them and Daisuke raced past and skidded around a corner.
He took the stairs three at a time, nearly tripping at the bottom, but he caught the handrail and swung over the side, landing in a roll at the bottom near large double-doors. The black dragon flapped hard and hovered above a small cottage in the frame by the door.
"The greenhouses are just beyond these doors and on the left!" said the rider, motioning towards the thick, dark doors. "If you need anything more, just let me know! I'm Seireth the Dragontamer!"
"Thank you!" Daisuke yelled as he pushed open the doors and ran across a very wet vegetable garden and into a greenhouse full of other students. Fortunately, he did not seem to be late, as another student was walking in and even managed to hold the door open for him.
"Thanks," Daisuke said, hurrying to an empty seat that Ron was apparently saving for him.
On the table were several very... interesting-looking plants. At least, Daisuke assumed they were plants, this being Herbology class, but these did not look like any plants Daisuke had seen before.
Instead of green, these plants were a glossy, slimy black, and instead of flowers or leaves, these plants had gross blobs that might have been stems or bulbs. They looked squishy, and on top of all that, they were moving. Ron's face turned a little green, and Daisuke thought that his face looked more like a plant than the ugly thing in the clay pot.
A squat woman walked briskly into the classroom, and the students quickly hushed. This had to be the teacher. "Bubotubers," she said, and Daisuke looked around the class for help, not understanding the word. "They need squeezing." Enlightenment dawned and Daisuke understood that these...plants...were called bubotubers. "You will collect the pus-"
One student yelled loudly at this development, and the teacher quieted him, warning the class to wear gloves when they squeezed the pus from the ugly, writhing bubotubers into jars she began passing out. The class quieted down, and several students opened books and laid them on the table as others put on heavy gloves.
Daisuke glanced over to his apparent partners. Ron was trembling as he put on his thick gloves, Harry was looking at the plant with a mixture of distaste and bravery on his features, and the other person, a girl with bushy brown hair, was trailing her finger along a line in her book.
"It says the undiluted pus contains malapentrine, which can be very harmful to exposed surfaces," the girl said very matter-of-factly. She looked levelly at Ron as if it proved a point. Then she turned her flat gaze to Daisuke. "You should put on some gloves, you know." She laid the book flat on the table and pulled her own pair of gloves, and watched the wiggling bubotuber with determination.
Daisuke looked around for an extra pair of gloves or something, and managed to catch the attention of the Herboloy teacher. She squeezed between students and tables to Daisuke's side.
"Ah yes, you must be Daisuke Niwa, the new student from Germany," she said, looking at him as if appraising his forehead for the value of its contents. She produced a book from seemingly nowhere, and placed it on the table in front of him. "This is your Herbology textbook, and I hope Professor Dumbledore told you about it." She procured a thick pair of gloves from the same space as the book, and handed them to Daisuke. "If you have any questions, it's best just to as-"
There was a cry from another table, and the professor hurried to see what was the matter.
Daisuke opened the book and stared at the table of contents, looking for bubotubers. Flipping to page 32, he found the same page that the girl at his table had been reading from. He slowly read the first paragraph, and then realized that he did not really understand magic in the first place, so it was turning out to be doubly difficult to understand magic in a foreign language.
He hesitantly pulled out his wand, feeling the same warmth as before spread up through his arm. He noticed that the girl was watching him out of the corners of her eyes as she pretended to focus on her bubotuber. He fingers moved to squeeze one of the boils, and Daisuke quickly looked at his own textbook. He tapped his wand to the book, once, and then drew it back.
The words seemed to melt and swirl together on the page, and then spread back outwards to form proper German letters and words. Daisuke blinked and leaned closer. It had actually worked.
Daisuke felt pretty good about that. He read through the text about Bübotubers, and then pulled on what he assumed to be dragonhide gloves. He moved his jar towards the writhing black bubotuber, and then moved to squeeze what, for all practical purposes, was a plant zit. A thick, yellowish pus oozed out and slopped into the jar.
"Ugh, I don't know if I'll be eating lunch after this…" Daisuke heard Ron say from across the table.
"It's just a plant, Ron, think of it as sap," said the girl, though her face didn't seem to agree with her words.
"But it looks like—" Ron started to complain.
"We don't need to know what you think it looks like," Harry said, concentrating on his bubotuber. "Oh bugger, I keep missing the jar a little."
No one really wanted to look, but the girl slipped out her wand, pointed it to the mess, and whispered, "Scourgify!"
"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said as the pus flew into the jar and left the table clean.
The rest of the lesson continued in very much the same way, except when Daisuke slopped some of the pus on the table and he gave Hermione a pleading look.
"What, am I the only one who knows a Scouring Charm?" she asked when she looked up from her bubotuber. Ron mumbled something to his plant and there was a long pause before Harry looked up suddenly.
"What?" Harry asked, clearly operating from a different plane of existence.
"Well," Daisuke said hurriedly, "I'm new here, so I don't really know anything at all."
Hermione looked at him sharply, in the way that said she was not a person who enjoyed hearing excuses. "Didn't they teach you at your old school?"
"Yes, but it wasn't a magical school," Daisuke explained after a pause to translate her words.
"What, really?" asked Ron, who had stopped mumbling excuses.
Hermione looked embarrassed. "Oh, well, then…I'm sorry I sounded rude earlier. It's just, I think I expected someone from another school to maybe be more prepared than these two." She gestured at Harry and Ron, and then looked at them. "Honestly, O.W.L.s are next year, and I already feel way behind!"
Daisuke suddenly imagined squeezing owls in Herbology class next year, and wondered if magic school was really what he wanted….
"But that's next year!" Ron stared at her with a mix of horror and fascination.
"Yeah, well, that's Hermione," Harry said, looking at the bubotuber with the same look.
"Here," Hermione said to Daisuke, holding out her wand. "The proper word is scourgify. Just point your wand at the mess and say the word. Go on, try it," she prodded, noticing Daisuke's hesitation.
"Scourgify," Daisuke said warily. Some of the pus oozed thickly back into the jar.
"That's real good for your first try!" Hermione congratulated. She cleaned up the rest and suggested that they all get back to work.
After a time, a bell echoed across the lawns and throughout the castle. The students began packing up their books and taking off their bubotuber pus-stained gloves.
"Finally!" said Ron, as he, Harry, and Hermione immediately began walking off together.
Daisuke paused to look down at his schedule. Next was "Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherin." Dismally, he wondered where he was supposed to go, but was also interested in the class. Perhaps he would learn better ways to take care a Wiz.
The remnants of the class filed out as Daisuke made his way to the teacher.
"Excuse me," Daisuke asked, suddenly reminded of the endless English drills he learned during his time at Azumano J. High, "can you tell me where I can find…" Daisuke looked down at his schedule again, making sure to get the class right. "Care of Magical Creatures?"
The teacher smiled and pointed out across the field. "See that little cottage out there?" she asked, and Daisuke could see it, because the walls of the greenhouse were fairly transparent, but he had always thought that the word "cottage" might refer to something a little more…cute. The "cottage" was sitting right on the edge of what looked like a very dark and very scary wood. He reminded himself that even Azumano's wonderful staff occasionally got things wrong, and that language changes over time.
He nodded appreciatively to the teacher. "Thank you," he said as he turned to the door.
The bottom of Daisuke's robe, which had dried off in the warm greenhouse, again became damp from the wet grass, but the cold drifted further this time, to his ankles. Daisuke wondered who mowed the lawn around here, thinking that if one of his neighbors had had grass this long, undoubtedly that nice lady at the end of the road would have something to say about it. He saw that it was his fellow Gryffindors ahead of him, and hurried to catch up.
Even before he got too close to the cabin, Daisuke recognized exactly who was standing outside it. The enormous form could only belong to Hagrid, who had led him across the lake. Hagrid was currently restraining a very large dog (or perhaps a wolf) by the collar. Daisuke wasn't too sure if he was keeping the dog from jumping at the approaching students, or whether it was to keep him from attacking the crates in front of him.
Daisuke caught up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione just as Hagrid boomed out a greeting. His dog was still whining and leaning against the collar. "Mornin'! Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this—Blast-Ended Skrewts!"
"Come again?" said Ron, and Daisuke was thankful that he wasn't the only one who had trouble understanding Hagrid's thick accent.
Hagrid, however, simply pointed down at the crates with his free hand.
As one, the fourth-year Gryffindors leaned over the crates and met the Blast-Ended Skrewts.
"Eurgh!" squealed a girl as she cringed back. Daisuke saw Dean and Seamus exchange a look and back away slowly. He noticed that after the initial shock, Harry and Hermione made attempts to look interested without looking horrid, and Ron didn't seem to get over the shock.
The Skrewts were a lot like slimy little lobsters. Daisuke supposed that they smelled like lobsters too, but only if the lobsters were dead, and had been sitting out for a while. The crate was filled with probably a hundred of them, squirming and crawling around on their oddly-placed legs and sending out little sparks.
"On'y just hatched," said Hagrid, beaming, "so yeh'll be able ter raise 'em yerselves!"
Daisuke looked around and saw that no one seemed particularly thrilled about this idea, especially the group of students who had just arrived. Daisuke wondered what the Skrewts were good for.
"And why would we want to raise them?" asked a smug-looking blond boy, who Daisuke recognized as the one who had mistaken him for someone else on the train. He seemed to be some sort of spokesperson for the group that had just arrived, which Daisuke believed to be students from another house. "I mean, what do they do?" the boy continued, and although Daisuke also wanted to know this, he did not agree with the blond boy's way of asking. "What is the point of them?"
Daisuke looked down again at the Skrewts, wondering if they had a point at all. Daisuke had been unconsciously hoping for a lesson on care of magical rabbits, and realized this with disappointment. A Skrewt of a darker gray color started attacking one of its brethren with what looked like a thorn attached to its hind end.
But apparently, Hagrid also did not approve of the blond boy's attitude. He heard the man's voice grate out roughly after a few moments' pause.
"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things—I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer—I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake—just try 'em out with a bit of each."
A look of solidarity passed between Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and they walked forward to a bucket of what turned out to be frog livers. Harry stuck in both hands and came up with handfuls of a purply substance that seemed to be even slimier than the Skrewts, which was hard to be. Ron followed suit, and Hermione had the foresight to push back the sleeves of her robe.
Several of the other Gryffindors cautiously followed their lead, and the members of the other house were compelled to do the same. Daisuke walked forward, just behind Dean and Seamus, who were complaining to each other in whispers.
"Ah, hold on righ' ther," Hagrid called, and Daisuke felt the weight of a dead pig land on his shoulder. Daisuke blinked, and then looked behind him. It was no dead pig, but Hagrid's hand. "I've got a book fer yeh, Daisuke," he said gruffly, keeping an eye on the students who were tentatively lowering pieces of grass snake into a crate of Blast-Ended Skrewts.
Daisuke looked up at Hagrid's rather bushy face, and smiled. "Thank you, sir."
"I'll give it ter yeh af'er class, so jus' go an' feed the Skrewts, alrigh'?" Hagrid said, and his gaze suddenly swung to a group of girls who had just squealed. They were still at the buckets of Skrewt food. "An' s'okay ter jus' call me Hagrid. 'Sir' jus' sounds funny, and ev'ryone jus' calls me Hagrid anyway." He smiled broadly and then took two steps to make it to the girls and help them.
Daisuke strode forward with determination, and found himself in line behind the blond boy, Malfoy, who had been so rude to the teacher.
"What does that great big lout think he's doing? Just wait until my father hears about this," Malfoy said, and Daisuke could tell by the emphasis on his parentage that he was quite used to saying that phrase. "Crabbe, why don't you get some of the frog liver. I'll see if they like grass." One of the other boys chuckled appreciatively at this idea, but the other, presumably Crabbe, looked a little put-out as he reached down for the frog livers.
Malfoy reached down and plucked out a handful of grass and turned around, coming up suddenly right in front of Daisuke's face.
"Eh, hi," said Daisuke, hoping his smile was less like a grimace than it felt. "I'm Daisuke," he said, holding out his right hand in the hopes that Malfoy would shake it. The boy had grass only in his left hand anyway.
Malfoy gave him a look that other students were reserving for the Skrewts. They stared at each other for a moment, neither moving. Then, "What are you doing standing in my way?" Malfoy asked condescendingly. Crabbe and the other large boy moved into flanking positions, and for a moment, Daisuke was almost intimidated. "Do you realize who I am?"
"No. That's why I introduced myself, and I'm holding out my hand for you can shake it."
The boy rolled his eyes. "I suppose I can forgive a foreigner. Germany, right?" he said, placing his hand in Daisuke's. Daisuke nodded. The boy turned slightly to one of his friends and said to them, rather than Daisuke, "I have a few relatives in Germany, you know." He looked levelly at Daisuke and said firmly, "The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy. If you want to get ahead at Hogwarts, then I'm the man you'll want to have as your friend." His eyes roamed over the class, lingered on the crate that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hovering around, and returned to Daisuke. "There are some people worth knowing, and some people that aren't, if you know what I mean." His buddies smirked at this.
"Maybe," Daisuke hedged. He changed the subject. "What house are you in?"
Draco gave a little, mirthless laugh. "Slytherin, of course." He pointed at his friends. "And this is Crabbe, and Goyle, also of Slytherin. You got put in Gryffindor, didn't you?" he asked, leaning in a little conspiratorially. Daisuke nodded. "Rotten luck, that. I suppose you have to put up with him." Draco's eyes slid to a glare directed at Harry.
Daisuke shrugged. "He's not that bad…."
Malfoy gave him an even look, one that said you'd better think Harry's a loser, dorky German boy.
"Well, I'll see you around," Daisuke said, ready for the end of the conversation. "We've got to, uh, feed the…things." Blast-Ended Skrewts was a mouthful, and the reminder of his nationality seemed to bring his accent to the forefront.
Draco laughed appreciatively. "Things indeed," he said, and then he and his friends went to a crate. Daisuke looked down at the bucket and swallowed, hoping that his breakfast would stay down. He reached his hand into the bucket and pulled out a very slimy, slippery handful of small frog pieces.
He decided to join Neville at his crate of Skrewts, which he shared with two girls who were probably in Gryffindor, seeing as they had also been in Herbology class that morning.
"Oh hi, Daisuke," said Neville. He dropped a dollop of ant eggs into the crate. The girls looked up and took their hands out of the box. Both had tiny amounts of ant eggs in the palm of their right hands. It looked as if they'd been pretending to feed the Skrewts, but hadn't really done anything at all.
"I'm Lavender," said one girl. "You're the new boy in our year."
"We met on the train," said the other girl, and Daisuke realized she was right. He hesitated, trying to come up with her name.
"Pa…?" he hazarded.
"Parvati," she said, smiling. "I'm glad you got put in Gryffindor!" And she did look glad. He remembered that she was a twin, and with a sudden pang, thought of Riku. What was she doing now?
He shook his head and looked down at the Skrewts. "Do they like the…that stuff?" Daisuke asked Neville, forgetting exactly what they were feeding the creatures.
Neville looked at the Skrewts with an unreadable expression. "It's hard to say."
"Let's try this, then," Daisuke said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. He held up the frog livers as if they were remotely appetizing. The girls giggled.
"Mmmm," said Neville, cracking a smile and sharing a look with Daisuke.
He picked a liver off the top of his handful and carefully lowered it into the box. The Skrewts didn't seem to notice, and continued crawling and sliding all over each other blindly. He dropped a liver in and watched as it slowly sank to the bottom. Lavender flicked a tiny lump of eggs near the next liver that Daisuke plopped onto the mass of ugly gray Skrewts.
Nothing really seemed to be happening.
"Eurgh," said Lavender quietly, and everyone suppressed a laugh.
"Ouch!" yelled Dean, and Daisuke straightened up and looked to the sound along with the rest of his classmates. "It got me!" Dean held up a hand angrily as Hagrid rushed over. "Its end exploded!"
"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off," Hagrid said, nodding and not looking too closely at Dean's injury.
"He should have been sacked last year after the winged thing," Daisuke heard Draco whisper from behind him. He glanced back to Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle's crate. Goyle seemed to be poking the Skrewts, or perhaps stirring them with a stick, and Crabbe was periodically dropping pieces of grass in. With the black robes and the backdrop of the eerie forest, they appeared to be children of the witch trio of Shakespearean fame. Draco was doing nothing, apart from giving Hagrid's back a cool look.
"Eurgh!" said Lavender loudly, calling Daisuke's attention back to his own crate. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"
She was pointing into the crate, at a Skrewt that had what seemed to be a large thorn sticking out of it. It looked like something you wouldn't want to touch, not that you wanted to touch a Skrewt at all.
"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," said Hagrid, and he seemed to be excited that someone was asking a question besides what the creatures were good for. Lavender stopped pointing immediately, and kept her hands away. Hagrid continued enthusiastically. "I reckon they're the males…. The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies…. I think they might be ter suck blood." Daisuke noticed that several more hands were removed from other crates.
"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," Draco said loudly. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?" he finished sarcastically.
"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Herimone answered sharply. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"
Draco rolled his eyes and muttered something to Crabbe and Goyle, and class seemed to resume normally. Harry and Ron kept showering Draco's crate with smoldering glares, which were returned with icy stares from Draco. Hermione did her best to ignore them. Neville narrowly avoided being stung by one of the more ferocious of the Blast-Ended Skrewts, and Lavender just avoided the Skrewts entirely. The bells finally tolled across the castle lawns.
"Finally!" Neville said, dropping his handful of snake grass into the crate. "I'm starving!"
"How can you be hungry now?" Lavender asked, gesticulating towards the crate of Skrewts, who were, after all, not entirely conducive to a healthy appetite.
"Er," said Neville, looking sheepish. He shrugged.
"Daisuke!" shouted a voice that was instantly recognizable as Hagrid's. "Don' ferget cher book!" And Daisuke's Care of Magical Creatures textbook was placed firmly into his hands.
"Thanks," he said cheerily.
"Why don't you eat lunch with us, Daisuke?" Parvati asked, and because she suddenly linked arms with Lavender, it was clear to Daisuke that by "us", she meant only herself and Lavender.
"Is it lunch time?" Daisuke asked, blinking a little stupidly.
The girls giggled and Daisuke agreed, but pretended that he thought Neville was included. He called the boy before he got too far away, and together the four hiked back up to the Great Hall for lunch.
Thanks to everyone who supports me in writing Harry Potter and the Phantom Thief, especially anja-chan, who always betas, and Yammit, who helped me cut this chapter into two pieces. Question: which is better, long chapters but less frequent postings, or shorter chapters and more frequent postings? As much as I'm sure you'd all like it, I can't post long chapters frequently. Anyway, THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READS AND REVIEWS! I'm writing this rather than a few other things I feel more like writing because you all seem to enjoy it so much. Again, thanks for the support. Chapter 10 is already half-way done. Expect it soon.
