Chapter 14
Triphorm's Grudge
KIARA
Not one of us in the Lion-Heart common room slept that night. We knew that the castle was being searched again, and the whole house stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether the Pride-Landers had been caught. Professor Darbus came back at dawn, to tell us that the Pride-Landers had escaped yet again.
Everywhere we went the next day we saw signs of tighter security; Professor Winds was teaching the front doors to recognise a large picture of the Pride-Landers; Match suddenly bustled up and down corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes. Knighress had been sacked. Her portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lord was back. He had been expertly restored, but was still extremely nervous, and had only agreed to return to his job on condition that he was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard him. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their clubs.
I couldn't help noticing that the statue of the one-eyed wizard on the third floor remained unguarded and unblocked. It seemed that Tanya and Geri had been right in thinking that they - and now Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I - were the only ones who knew about the hidden passageway within it.
"D'you reckon we should tell someone?" I asked Chris and Chrissie.
"We know they're not coming in through The Sugarshack," said Chris dismissively. "We'd have heard it if the shop had been broken into."
"Chris is right, Kiara," said Chrissie. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to get into Dragsmede again."
I was glad Chris and Chrissie took this view. If the one-eyed wizard had been boarded up too, I would never have been able to get into Dragsmede again.
Chris and Chrissie had become instant celebrities. For the first time in their lives, people were paying more to them than me, and it was clear that Chris and Chrissie were enjoying the experience. Though they were both severely shaken by the night's events, they were happy to tell anyone who asked what had happened, with a lot of detail.
" ... I was asleep, and I heard this ripping noise, and I thought it was in my dream, you know? But then there was this draught ... I woke up, and one side of my hangings on my bed had been pulled down ... I rolled over ... and I saw Nala Pride-Lander standing over me ... like a skeleton, with a lot of tatty golden hair ... she was holding a long knife, must've been about twelve inches ... and we looked at each other, and then I yelled, and they scampered. The same thing happened between Chris and Simba Pride-Lander.
"Why, though?" Chrissie added to Chris and I, as the group of second-years who had been listening to this chilling tale departed. "Why did they scarper?"
"Yeah, and why did Simba Pride-Lander attack my bed?" said Chris. "I mean, I know that boys can't get into the girls' dormitories, but still ... it doesn't make any sense ..."
Chris did make a good point, but I was wondering mainly about what Chrissie had said. Why had the Pride-Landers, having got the wrong bed - not to mention, one of them got the wrong dormitory - not silenced Chris and Chrissie when they had the chance? And why did the woman not kill me? The Pride-Landers had proved thirteen years ago (as it was at the time) that they didn't mind murdering innocent people, and this time they had been facing eleven unarmed teenagers (six girls, five boys), four boys and five girls on each side had been asleep.
"They must've known they'd have a job getting back out of the castle once you two'd yelled and woken people up," I said thoughtfully. "They'd've had to kill the whole house to get back through the portrait hole ... then they would've met the teachers ..."
Nikita was in total disgrace. Professor Darbus was so furious with her she had banned her from all future Dragsmede visits, gave her a detention and forbidden anyone to give her the password to the Tower. Poor Nikita was forced to wait outside the common room every night for somebody to let her in, while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at her. None of these punishments, however, came close to matching the one her grandfather had in store for her. Two days after the Pride-Landers break-in, he sent Nikita the very worst thing a Dragon Mort student could receive over breakfast - a Howler.
The school owls swept into the Great Hall, carrying the post as usual, and Nikita choked as a huge barn owl landed in front of her, a scarlet envelope clutched in its beak. Chrissie and I, who were sitting opposite her, recognised the red envelope at once - Chrissie had got one from her mother the year before (and before anyone asks, no, a large flaming body did not emerge out of it like Chrissie's mother did. And if you don't remember that, then go back and read the Chamber of Mysteries).
"Run for it, Nikita," Chrissie advised.
Nikita didn't need telling twice. She seized the envelope and, holding it from her like a time bomb, sprinted out of the Hall, whilst the Snake-Eyes table exploded with laughter at the sight of her. We heard the Howler go off in the Entrance Hall - Nikita's voice, magically magnified to a hundred times its usual volume, shrieking about how she had brought shame on the whole family.
I was too busy feeling sorry for Nikita to notice immediately that I had a letter, too. Harold got my attention by nipping me sharply on my wrist.
"Ouch! Oh - thanks, Harold ..."
I tore open the envelope whilst Harold helped himself to some of Nikita's cornflakes. The note inside said:
Dear Kiara, Chris and Chrissie,
How about having tea with me this evening round six? I'll come and collect you from the castle. WAIT FOR ME IN THE ENTRANCE HALL, YOU'RE NOT Allowed OUT ON YOUR OWN.
Cheers,
Mina
P.S. Chris and Chrissie, your mother will be joining us, too. We'll explain everything to you three tonight when we see you.
"Mina probably wants to hear all about the Pride-Landers!" said Chrissie.
So at six o'clock that evening, Chris, Chrissie and I left Lion-Heart Tower, passed the security trolls at a run, and headed down to the Entrance Hall.
Mina was already waiting for us.
"All right, Mina?" said Chrissie. "S'pose you want to hear about Saturday night, do you?"
"I've already heard all abou' it," said Mina.
"Oh," said Chrissie, looking slightly put out.
"Where's Crighton?" I asked, looking around at the deserted Entrance Hall and wondering where she could be, seeing as Mina told us in the note she sent us that Crighton would be joining us.
"She's waitin' fer us at me cabin. I told her she could stay there whilst I came ter fetch yeh," said Mina, opening the front doors and leading us outside. "Come on ..."
The first thing we saw on entering Mina's cabin was Noelani, who was stretched out on top of Mina's patchwork quilt, her enormous wings folded tight to her body, enjoying a large plate of dead ferrets. Averting my eyes from this unpleasant sight, I saw a gigantic, smart-looking, long-sleeved black dress hanging from the top of Mina's wardrobe door. And sitting by the fire, was Crighton herself, beaming at us.
"Kiara, Chris, Chrissie, how are you?" she asked, her arms held out in welcome.
"Fine," the three of us said in unison.
"What's that for, Mina?" I asked, pointing to the top of the wardrobe.
"Noelani's case against the Committee fer the Disposal o' Dangerous Creatures," said Mina. "This Friday. She and I'll be goin' down ter London together. I've booked two beds on the Knight Bus ..."
I felt a nasty pang of guilt. I had completely forgotten that Noelani's trial was so near, and judging from the uneasy looks on Chris and Chrissie's faces, they had too. We had also forgotten our promise to Mina about helping her prepare Noelani's defence; the arrival of the Firecracker had driven it out of our minds.
Mina poured us tea and offered us a plate of Bath buns, but we knew better than to accept; we had had too much experience of Mina's cooking.
"Right then, Mina," said Crighton, as Mina handed us our tea and sat down opposite us, both she and Crighton looked uncharacteristically serious. "Shall we discuss why we called them here, Mina?"
"Yes, Professor Crighton, ma'am, I think we should," said Mina.
"Myself and Mina have a bone to pick with you three," said Crighton to myself, Chris and Chrissie.
"What?" I said.
"Sian," said Mina.
"What about her?" said Chris.
"She's in a rather bad state at the moment, that's what," said Crighton. "She's been visiting Mina and myself a lot since Christmas. She's been feeling lonely. First you weren't talking to her because of the Firecracker, now you're talking to her because her cat -"
"- ate Claws and killed Felix!" Chrissie interjected angrily. Chris nodded vigorously.
"Her cat acted as all cats do. Yeh can' blame her fer that!" said Mina.
"She's cried a fair few times, you know - to me, especially," said Crighton. "She's done more than enough work, my Siany has, not only doing her homework, but she's also found some rather good stuff for Noelani's case ... Mina and I reckon she'll stand a good chance now ..."
"Mina, we should've helped as well - sorry -" I began awkwardly.
"We're not blamin' yeh!" said Mina, waving my apology aside. "Yeh've had enough ter be gettin' on with; I've seen yeh practicin' Quidditch ev'ry hour o' the day an' night."
"Mina's right, Kiara," said Crighton. "We're not blaming you, we just thought that you three would value your friend - and in to of your cases, your sister - more than broomsticks, rats or cats. That is all we are saying."
Chris, Chrissie and I exchanged uncomfortable looks.
"She was really upset when the Pride-Landers nearly stabbed you, Chris, and you, Chrissie," said Crighton. "She has her heart in the right place, Sian does, as a sister and a friend, and you three not talking to her is making her feel worse -"
"If she's just get rid of that cat, Chrissie and I would speak to her again!" Chris said angrily. "But she's still sticking up for it! It's a maniac, and she won't hear a word against it!"
"Ah, well, people can be a bit stupid abou' their pets," said Mina wisely. Behind her, Noelani spat a few ferret bones onto Mina's pillow.
We spent the rest of our visit discussing Lion-Heart's improved chances for the Quidditch Cup. At nine o'clock, we bid Mina goodnight, and Chris, Chrissie, Crighton and I walked back up to the castle. As we reached the second floor, Crighton bade us goodnight and the three of us made our way to Lion-Heart Tower.
A large group of people were bunched around the notice-board when we returned to the common room.
"Dragsmede, next weekend!" said Chrissie, craning over the heads to read the new notice. "What d'you reckon?" she added quietly to me, as she, Chris and I went to sit down.
"Well, Match hasn't done anything about the passage into The Sugarshack ..." I said, even more quietly.
"Kiara!" said a voice in my right ear. I started and looked around at Sian, who was sitting at the table right behind us and clearing a space in the wall of books that had been hiding her.
"Kiara, if you go into Dragsmede again ... I'll tell Professor Darbus about that map!" said Sian.
"Can you hear someone talking, Kiara?" growled Chris, not looking at Sian.
"Yeah, I wonder who on earth it could be?" said Chrissie sarcastically, also not looking at Sian.
"Chris, Chrissie, how can you two let her go with you? After what the Pride-Landers did to you both! I mean it, I'll tell -"
"So now you're trying to get Kiara expelled!" said Chris furiously. "Haven't you done enough damage this year?"
Sian opened her mouth to respond, but with a soft hiss, Lucifer leapt onto her lap. Sian took one hard look at the expressions on Chris and Chrissie's faces, before she gathered Lucifer up and hurried away up the stairs and through the door to the girls' dormitories.
"So how about it?" said Chrissie to me, as though there had been no interruption. "Come on, last time we went you didn't see anything. You haven't even been inside Whacko's yet!"
I looked around to check that Sian was well out of earshot.
"OK," I said. "But I'm taking the Invisibility Cloak this time."
0000
On Saturday morning, I packed my Invisibility Cloak in my bag, slipped the Scallywag Map into my pocket and went down to breakfast with everyone else. Sian kept shooting suspicious looks down the table at me, but I avoided her eye, and was careful to let her see me walking back up the stairs in the Entrance Hall as everybody else proceeded to the front doors.
"Bye!" I called to Chris and Chrissie. "See you when you get back!"
Chris and Chrissie grinned and winked.
I hurried to the third floor, slipping the Scallywag Map out of my pocket as I went. Crouching behind the one-eyed wizard, I smoothed it out. A tiny dot was moving in my direction. I squinted at it. The minuscule writing next to it read "Nikita Bore".
I quickly pulled out my wand, muttered "Dissendium!" and shoved my bag into the statue; but before I could climb in myself, Nikita came around the corner.
"Kiara! I forgot you weren't going to Dragsmede either!"
"Hi, Nikita," I said, moving swiftly away from the statue and pushing the map back into my pocket. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing," shrugged Nikita. "Want a game of Exploding Snap?"
"Er - not now - I was going to go to the library and do that vampire essay for Meers -"
"I'll come with you!" said Nikita brightly. "I haven't done it either!"
"Er - hang on - yeah, I forgot, I finished it last night!"
"Brilliant, you can help me!" said Nikita, her round face anxious. "I don't understand that thing about the garlic at all - do they have to eat it, or -"
Nikita broke off with a small gasp, as she looked over my shoulder.
It was Triphorm. Nikita took a quick step behind me.
"And what are you two doing here?" said Triphorm, coming to a halt and looking from one to the other. "An odd place to meet -"
To my immense disquiet, Triphorm's ice-blue eyes flickered to the doorways on either side of us, and then to the one-eyes wizard.
"We're not - meeting here," I said. "We just - met here."
"Indeed," said Triphorm. "You have a habit of turning up in unexpected places, Pride-Lander, and you are rarely there for no reason ... I suggest the pair of you return to Lion-Heart Tower, where you belong."
Nikita and I set off without another word. As we turned the corner, I looked back. Triphorm was running one of her hands over the one-eyed wizard's head, examining it closely.
I managed to shake Nikita off at the Fat Lord by telling her the password, then, pretending I'd left my vampire essay in the library and doubling back.
Once out of sight of the security trolls, I pulled out the map and held it close to my nose.
The third-floor corridor seemed to be deserted. I scanned the map carefully and saw, with a leap of relief, that the tiny dot labelled "Tiana Triphorm" was back in its office.
I sprinted back to the one-eyed wizard, opened his hump, heaved myself inside and slid down to meet my bag at the bottom of the stone chute. I wiped the Scallywag Map blank again, then I set off at a run.
0000
I was completely hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak by the time I emerged into the sunlight outside The Sugarshack and prodded Chris and Chrissie in their backs.
"It's me," I muttered.
"What kept you?" Chris hissed.
"Triphorm was hanging around ..."
The three of us set off up the High Street together.
"Where are you?" Chrissie muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "Are you still there? This feels weird ..."
We went to the post office; Chris and Chrissie pretended to be checking the price of an owl to send to their cousin Samantha in Egypt, so that I could have a good look around. The owls sat hooting softly down at me, at least three hundred of them; from Great Greys right down to tiny little Scops owls ("Local Deliveries Only"), which were so small they could have sat in the palm of my hand.
Then we visited Whacko's, which was so packed with students I had to exercise great care not to tread on anyone and cause a panic. There were jokes and tricks to fulfil even Tanya and Geri's wildest dreams; I gave Chris and Chrissie whispered orders and passed them some gold from under the Cloak. We left Whacko's with our money bags considerably lighter than they had been entering, but our pockets bulging with Dungbombs, Hiccough Sweets, Frog Spawn and a Nose-Biting Teacup apiece (of course, I didn't use any of it; I gave it to Chris the next day. I just really wanted to buy something, that was all).
The day was fine and breezy, and none of us felt like staying indoors, so we walked past the Flying Owls and climbed a slope to visit the Howling House, the second-most haunted building in Britain. It stood a little way above the rest of the village, and even in daylight it was slightly creepy, with its boarded windows and dank, overgrown garden.
"Even the Dragon Mort ghosts avoid it," said Chris, as we leaned against the fence, looking up at it. "I asked Madam Nicola ... she's heard a very rough crowd live here."
"Chris is right," said Chrissie. "No one can get into it. Tanya and Geri tried, obviously, but the entrances are sealed shut ..."
I was feeling hot from our climb and was just considering taking off the Cloak for a few minutes, when we heard voices nearby. Someone was climbing towards the house from the other side of the hill; moments later, Malty appeared, followed closely by Crate, Gabber and Rae-Bradley. Malty was speaking.
" ... should have an owl from Mother any time now. She had to go to the hearing to tell them about my arm ... about how I couldn't use it for three months ..."
Crate, Gabber and Rae-Bradley sniggered.
"I really wish I could hear that moron trying to defend herself ... "There's no 'arm in 'er, 'onest -" ... that Hippogriff's as good as dead -"
Malty suddenly caught sight of Chris and Chrissie. Her pale face split in a malevolent grin.
"What are you doing, Dawson? Rickers?"
Malty looked up at the crumbling house behind Chris and Chrissie.
"Suppose you two'd love to live here, wouldn't you, Dawson, Rickers? Dreaming about having more space? I heard your family live in a large house, yet have to share everything because there isn't enough space - is that true?"
I seized the back of Chris and Chrissie's robes to stop them from leaping on Malty.
"Leave them to me," I hissed in Chris and Chrissie's ears.
The opportunity was too perfect to miss. I crept silently behind Malty, Crate, Gabber and Rae-Bradley, bent down and scooped a large handful of mud out of the path.
"We were just discussing your friend, Mina," Rae-Bradley then said to Chris and Chrissie. "Just trying to imagine what she's saying to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. D'you think she'll cry when they cut off her Hippogriff's -"
SPLAT!
Rae-Bradley's sentence was interrupted by Malty's head jerking forwards as the mud hit her, which was thrown by me; her silver-blond hair was suddenly dripping in muck.
"What the -?"
Chris and Chrissie had to hold onto the fence to keep themselves standing, they were laughing so hard. Malty, Crate, Gabber and Rae-Bradley spun stupidly on the spot, staring wildly around, as Malty tried to wipe her hair clean.
"What was that? Who did that?"
"Very haunted up here, isn't it?" said Chris, with the air of one commenting on the weather, as Chrissie giggled uncontrollably by his side.
Crate and Gabber were looking scared. Their bulging muscles were no use against ghosts. Malty and Rae-Bradley were staring wildly around at the deserted landscape.
I sneaked along the path, where a particularly sloppy puddle yielded some foul-smelling, green sludge.
SPLATTER!
Crate and Gabber caught some that time. Gabber hopped furiously on the spot, trying to rube it out of her small, dull eyes.
"It came from over there!" said Malty, wiping her face, and staring at a spot some six feet to the left of where I stood.
Crate blundered forwards, her long arms outstretched like a zombie. I dodged behind her, picked up a stick, and lobbed it at Crate's back. I doubled up with silent laughter as Crate did a kind of pirouette in mid-air, trying to see who had thrown it. As Chris and Chrissie were the only people Crate could see, it was Chris and Chrissie she started towards, but I stuck out my leg. Crate stumbled - and her huge, flat foot caught the hem of my Cloak. I felt a great tug, and then the Cloak slid off my face.
For a split second, Malty and Rae-Bradley stared at me.
"AAARGH!" they yelled, pointing at my head. Then they turned tail and ran, at break-neck speed, back down the hill, with Crate and Gabber right behind them.
I tugged up the Cloak again, but the damage was done.
"Kiara!" Chrissie said, stumbling forwards with Chris, and both of them were staring, hopelessly, at the point where I had disappeared, "you'd better run for it! If Malty and Rae-Bradley tell anyone - you'd better get back to the castle quick - but before you do, take these -" she handed me a pack of Wet Wipes from her coat pocket. "Use them to wipe the muck off your hands. Sian said to come prepared for anything, so that's why I'm giving them to you. Now, you must go -"
"See you later," I said, taking the Wet Wipes from her and then, without another word, I tore back down the path towards Dragsmede.
I wondered whether Malty and Rae-Bradley would believe what they had seen. And would anyone believe Malty and Rae-Bradley? Nobody knew about the Invisibility Cloak - nobody except Crighton. My stomach turned over - Crighton would know exactly what had happened, if Malty and Rae-Bradley said anything -
Back into The Sugarshack, back down the cellar steps, across the stone floor, through the trapdoor - I pulled off the Cloak, tucked it under my arm, and ran, flat out, along the passage, whilst using the Wet Wipes Chrissie gave me to wipe the muck off my hands ... Malty and Rae-Bradley would get back first ... I wondered how long it would take for them to find a teacher. Panting, a sharp pain in my side, I didn't slow down until I reached the stone slide. I left the Cloak where it was, for it was too much of a giveaway if Malty and Rae-Bradley had tipped off a teacher. I hid it in a shadowy corner along with the Wet Wipes, then started to climb as fast as I could, my sweaty hands slipping on the sides of the chute. I reached the inside of the wizard's hump, tapped it with my wand, stuck my head out and hoisted myself out; the hump closed, and just as I jumped out from behind the statue, I heard quick footsteps approaching.
It was Triphorm. She approached me at a swift walk, her red robes swishing, then stopped in front of me.
"So," was all she said.
There was a look of suppressed triumph about her. I tried to look innocent, all to aware of my sweaty face and once-muddy hands - even though the mud had gone, they were still wet from the Wet Wipes and smelled clean - which I quickly hid in my pockets.
"Come with me, Pride-Lander," said Triphorm.
I followed her, trying to wipe my hands dry on the inside of my robes, without Triphorm noticing. We walked down the stairs to the dungeons and then into Triphorm's office.
I had only been in there once before this time, and I had been in very serious trouble then, too. Triphorm had acquired a few more slimy things in jars since last time, all standing on shelves behind her desk, glinting in the firelight, and adding to the threatening atmosphere.
"Sit," said Triphorm.
I sat. Triphorm, however, remained standing.
"Miss Malty and Miss Rae-Bradley have just been to see me with a rather strange story, Pride-Lander," said Triphorm.
I didn't say anything.
"They tell me that they were up by the Howling House when she ran into the Second-Eldest Dawson Girl and Mr Rickers - apparently alone."
I still did not speak.
"Miss Malty and Miss Rae-Bradley state that they were standing there talking to the Second-Eldest Dawson Girl and Mr Rickers, when a large amount of muck hit Miss Malty on the back of the head. How do you think that could have happened?"
I tried to look mildly surprised.
"I don't know, Professor."
Triphorm's eyes were boring into mine. It was exactly like trying to stare out a Hippogriff. I tried hard not to blink.
"Miss Malty and Miss Rae-Bradley both then saw an extraordinary apparition. Can you imagine what that might have been, Pride-Lander?"
"No," I said, trying to sound innocently curious.
"It was your head, Pride-Lander, floating in mid-air."
There was a long silence.
"Maybe they'd best go to Matron," I said. "If they're seeing things like -"
"What might your head have been doing in Dragsmede, Pride-Lander?" said Triphorm softly. "Your head is not allowed in Dragsmede. No part of your body has permission to be in Dragsmede."
"I know that," I said, as I tried to keep my face free of guilt or fear. "It sounds like Malty and Rae-Bradley're having hallucin -"
"Malty and Rae-Bradley are not having hallucinations," snarled Triphorm, and she bent down, a hand on each arm of my chair, so that our faces were a foot apart. "If your head was in Dragsmede, then so was the rest of you."
"I've been up in Lion-Heart Tower," I said. "Like you told -"
"Can anyone confirm that?"
I didn't say anything. Triphorm's thin mouth curled into a horrible smile.
"So," she said, straightening upwards again. "Everyone from the Minister for Magic downwards has been trying to keep famous Kiara Pride-Lander safe from the Pride-Landers. But famous Kiara Pride-Lander is a law onto herself. Let other people worry about her safety! Famous Kiara Pride-Lander goes where she wants to, with no thought for the consequences."
I stayed silent. Triphorm was trying to provoke me into telling the truth. I wasn't going to do it. Triphorm had no proof - yet.
"How extraordinarily like your mother you are, Pride-Lander," Triphorm said suddenly, her eyes glinting. "She, too, was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch pitch made her think she was a cut above the rest of us, too. Strutting around the school with her friends and admirers ... the resemblance between you is uncanny."
"My mum didn't strut," I said, before I could stop myself. "And nor do I."
"Your mother didn't set much store by the rules, either," Triphorm went on, pressing her advantage, her thin face full of malice. "Rules were for lesser mortals, not Quidditch Cup-winners. Her head was so swollen -"
"SHUT UP!"
I was suddenly on my feet. Rage such as I had not felt since the night I had left my grandmother's cottage was thundering through me. I didn't care that Triphorm's face had gone rigid, and her ice-blue eyes were flashing dangerously.
"What did you say to me, Pride-Lander?"
"I told you to shut up about my mum!" I yelled. "I know the truth, all right? She saved your life! Crighton told me! You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for my mum!"
Triphorm's sallow skin had gone the colour of sour milk.
"And did the Headmistress tell you the circumstances in which your mother saved my life?" she whispered. "Or did she consider the details too unpleasant for gracious Pride-Lander's delicate ears?"
I bit my lip. I didn't know what had happened and I didn't want to admit it - but Triphorm seemed to have guessed the truth.
"I would hate for you to run away with a false impression of your mother, Pride-Lander," she said, a terrible grin twisting her face. "Have you been imagining some act of glorious heroism? Then let me correct you - your saintly mother and her friends played a highly amusing trick on me that would have resulted in my death if your mother hadn't got cold feet at the last moment. There was nothing brave about what she did. She was saving her own skin as much as mine. had their joke succeeded, she would have been expelled from Dragon Mort."
Triphorm's uneven, yellowish teeth were bared.
"Turn out your pockets, Pride-Lander!" she spat suddenly.
I didn't move. There was a pounding in my ears.
"Turn out your pockets, or we'll go straight to the Headmistress! Pull them out, Pride-Lander!"
Cold with dread, I slowly pulled out the bag of Whacko's tricks and the Scallywag Map.
Triphorm picked up the Whacko's bag.
"Chris and Chrissie gave them to me," I said, praying I'd get a chance to tip Chris and Chrissie off before Triphorm saw them. "They brought them back from Dragsmede last time -"
"Indeed? And you've been carrying them round with you ever since? How very touching ... and what is this?"
Triphorm picked up the map. I tried with all my might to keep my face impassive.
"Spare bit of parchment," I shrugged.
Triphorm turned it over, her eyes on me.
"Surely you don't need such a very old piece of parchment?" she said. "Why don't I just - throw this away?"
Her hand moved towards the fire.
"No!" I said quickly.
"So!" said Triphorm, her long nostrils quivering. "Is this another gift from Miss Dawson and Mr Rickers? Or is it - something else? A letter, perhaps, written in invisible ink? Or - instructions to get into Dragsmede without passing the Stingers?"
I blinked. Triphorm's eyes gleamed.
"Let me see, let me see ..." she muttered, looking at her wand and smoothing the map out on her desk. "Reveal your secret!" she said, touching the wand to the parchment.
Nothing happened. I clenched my hands to stop them shaking.
"Show yourself!" Triphorm said, tapping the map sharply.
It stayed blank. I was taking deep, calming breaths.
"Professor Tiana Triphorm, Mistress of this school, commands you to yield the information you conceal!" Triphorm said, hitting the map with her wand.
As though an invisible hand was writing upon it, words appeared on the smooth surface of the map.
"Mr Moonshine presents his compliments to Professor Triphorm, and begs her to keep her abnormally large nose out of other people's business."
Triphorm froze. I stared, dumbstruck, at the message. But the map didn't stop there. More writing was appearing beneath the first.
"Miss Leona agrees with Mr Moonshine, and would like to add that Professor Triphorm is an ugly cow."
It would have been very funny if the situation hadn't been so serious at the time (and if you haven't guessed, I am certainly laughing now!). And there was more ...
"Mr Tusks would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a Professor."
I closed my eyes in horror. When I opened them, the map had had its last word.
"Mr Wormy bids Professor Triphorm good day, and advises her to wash her hair, the slimeball."
I waited for the blow to fall.
"So ..." said Triphorm softly. "We'll see about this ..."
She strode across to her fire, seized a fistful of glittering powder from a jar on the fireplace, and threw it into the flames.
"Meers!" Triphorm called into the fire. "I want a word!"
Utterly bewildered, I stared at the fire. A large shape appeared in it, revolving very fast. Seconds later, Professor Meers was climbing out of the fireplace, brushing ash off his shabby robes.
"You called, Tiana?" said Meers mildly.
"I certainly did," said Triphorm, her voice contorted with fury as she strode back to her desk. "I have just asked Pride-Lander to empty her pockets. She was carrying this."
Triphorm pointed at the parchment, on which the words of Messers Wormshine, Wormy, Leona and Tusks were still shining. An odd, closed expression appeared on Meers' face.
"Well?" said Triphorm.
Meers continued to stare at the map. I had the impression that Meers was doing some very quick thinking.
"Well?" said Triphorm again. "This parchment is plainly full of Dark Magic. This is supposed to be your area of expertise, Meers. "where do you imagine Pride-Lander got such a thing?"
Meers looked up and, by the merest half glance in my direction, warned me not to interrupt.
"Full of Dark Magic?" Meers repeated mildly. "Do you really think so, Tiana? It looks to me as though it's merely a piece of parchment that insults anybody who tries to read it. Childish, but surely not dangerous? I imagine Kiara got it from a joke-shop -"
"Indeed?" said Triphorm. Her jaw had gone rigid with anger. "You think a joke-shop could supply her with such a thing? You don't think it more likely that she got it directly from the manufacturers?"
I didn't understand what Triphorm was talking about. Nor, apparently, did Meers.
"You mean, Mr Moony, or one of these people?" he said. "Kiara, have you ever met any of these people before?"
"No," I said quickly.
"You see, Tiana," said Meers, turning back to Triphorm. "It looks like a Whacko's product to me -"
Right on cue, Chris and Chrissie burst into the office. They were completely out of breath, and stopped just short of Triphorm's desk, both clutching a stitch in their sides and trying to speak.
"We - gave - Kiara - that - stuff," Chris choked. "Bought - it - in - Dragsmede - ages - ago ..."
"What - he - said ..." panted Chrissie.
"Well!" said Meers, clapping his hands together and looking around cheerfully. "That seems to clear that up! Tiana, I'll take this back, shall I?" He folded the map and put it inside his robes. "Kiara, Chris, Chrissie, come with me, please, for I need a word about my vampire essay. Excuse us, Tiana."
I didn't dare look at Triphorm as we left her office. Chris, Chrissie, Meers and I walked all the way back into the Entrance Hall before speaking. Then I turned to Meers.
"Professor, I -"
"I don't want to hear explanations," said Meers shortly. He glanced around the empty Entrance Hall and lowered his voice. "I happen to know that this map was confiscated by Mr Match many years ago. Yes, I know it's a map," he said, as Chris, Chrissie and I looked amazed. "I don't want to know how it fell into your possession. I am, however, astounded that you didn't hand it in. Particularly after what happened the last time a student left information about the castle lying around. And I can't let you have it back, Kiara."
I had expected that, and was too keen for explanations to protest.
"Why did Triphorm think I'd got it from the manufacturers?"
"Because ..." Meers hesitated, "because these manufacturers would have wanted to lure you out of the school. They'd think it extremely entertaining."
"Do you know them?" I said, impressed.
"We've me," he said shortly. He was looking at me more seriously than he had done before this point. Then he continued, "Don't expect me to cover up for you again, Kiara. I cannot make you take the Pride-Landers seriously. But I would have thought that what you have heard when the Stingers draw near you would have had more of an effect on you. Your parents would have given anything to save you, Kiara. A poor way to repay them - gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks."
He walked away, making me feeling worse by far than when I had at any point in Triphorm's office. Slowly, Chris, Chrissie and I mounted the marble staircase. As I passed the one-eyed wizard, I remembered leaving the Invisibility Cloak - it was still down there, but I didn't dare go and get it.
"It's all our faults," said Chris abruptly. "We persuaded you to go. Meers is right, it was stupid, we shouldn't've done it -"
He broke off; we had reached the corridor where the security trolls were pacing, and Sian was walking towards us. One look at her face convinced me that she had heard what had happened. My heart plummeted - had she told Professor Darbus?
"Come to have a good gloat?" said Chrissie savagely, as Sian stopped in front of us. "Or have you just been to tell on us?"
"No," said Sian. She was holding a letter in her hands and looked as though she was trying not to cry. "I just thought you ought to know ... Mina lost her case. Noelani is going to be executed."
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Ah, another week, another chapter. I hope you keep reading, guys, 'cause more good stuff's coming up!