When Hagish asked the question, Henry knew he was baiting him for another subject change. It annoyed him greatly but he did really want to tell Hagish all about Broomology. The first day, on Tuesday it was all introductory. The parts of the broom...its functions. Pretty dull. But in the second class that Thursday after…
"I don't think I've ever met a person I hated more than Curtis...but that was before I met Kimmi Slymer," Henry blurted instead. It was abrupt and made Hagish jump and look quizzical and it made Jon jump but immediately look sympathetic. "Not only do I have to have double potions with her and her crummy House...but we had to take flying lessons with them yesterday."
"What happened, lad?" Hagish asked softly.
"I just hoped I wouldn't make a fool of myself in front of her well…" the memories that came back to him made him pause, "she just doesn't shut up about flying. Even when I first met her at Magnolia's!"
"I can't imagine it being more than talk," Hagish supplied gently.
"But the way she boasted, Hagish! She yapped on and on about first years not being about to be on any Grilled Cheese Dueling teams, she'd talk about flying and dodging airplanes to pester 'dimwit Normies' as she'd say." Henry was really letting his temper show. "But it's not just her! Oh no! Even Paddy O'Rourke talked about riding his training broom at five years old around his grandmother's garden!"
Henry didn't want to say this part out loud, but even Jon made it worse. His new friend spoke of flying on his brother Carl's broom at age eight. A Normie mixed with caster boy named Jeremy Tucker tried to talk about soccer with Jon and Henry had to watch his friend put down the sport by saying only using one ball and no brooms sounded boring as all get out. It was breathtakingly disheartening.
"Again, lad, many other students had never been on a broom until that first class," Hagish reached over and tried to put his hand on Henry's shoulder. Defiantly, Henry shook it away. Hagish looked very hurt. "So what happened next…?"
"Taryn Goodfellow had never been on a broom, yeah," Henry ignored Hagish's question and just continued to rant. "Her grandmother never let her. When the Owlenmoons joined us and the Ivybells it was obvious. She's always getting into accidents with two feet on the ground." Henry was breathing heavily but thinking of Esmani Ghadjer...a girl born to Normie parents.
"It's a jarring experience when you're not used to such things," Hagish replied.
"Esmani was nervous too, Henry," Jon said. "Remember that breakfast she bored us still talking about how she tried to study flying tips in a bloody book. You remember Taryn? Hanging on every word?" Henry recognized his friend was trying to cheer him up but when he met Jon's eyes all he could feel was that dark, brooding feeling. He could hear him boast about flying.
"What happened during Broomology?" Hagish seemed to be getting a bit impatient. Henry was struck silent with stewing. This led Jon to take the conversation to a different path.
"And after the book the owl's came?" Jon said. "Remember when Taryn's owl dropped off the package containing her Forget-me-Not?"
"Those orbs that tell you if you've forgotten something. They glow blue, right?" Hagish asked and Jon nodded.
"The moment the girl picked it up from it's packaging it turned as blue as the sky on a summer's day!" Jon tried his best to imitate Taryn's voice, "Oops! Looks like I've forgotten something," she said. "Hagish. She's a strange ranger. Very nice gal...but a strange one indeed."
"You didn't tell him about what Kimmi did!" Henry snapped.
"Oh yes," Jon shrugged. "Well...Kimmi slid over and sort of...sort of just grabbed the Forget-me-Not orb like she owned the thing. Henry and me stood up ready to…"
Hagish gave Jon a look.
"Ready to...have words...but Garspatuon came in and Slymer dropped the orb into Taryn's lap very wickedly. An inch off and it'd have smashed to the ground. She even lied, saying that she was just looking at it."
"Yeah like you can trust her as far as you can see her!" Henry snapped again.
"Okay but boys…" Hagish rubbed the corners of his eyes with his thumb and middle finger. "What happened in Broomology. I gather that Kimmi Slymer has something to do with it but...we're a bit off track."
"Well it was a clear, breezy day…" Jon began.
Hagish gave a sort of look like 'I don't need that much detail.'
"Okay so Ivybell House was already on the field," Jon started again.
"And Owlenmoon came shortly after us," Henry supplied, still very hot. "Madam Hoover had, like a broom for all of us laying flat right on the grass and she made us stand right next to them. I stood next to Jon but we could see Kimmi and her goons just a couple of kids away. I just knew she was up to no good."
"Madam Hoover instructed us to stand next to our broom, hold out our dominant hand and tell the broom 'UP,'" Jon intervened. Barely anyone got their brooms up on the first try. I certainly hadn't. Taryn looked scared out of her mind and Esmani's only rolled over but Henry…"
"Mine flew straight up into my hand. I don't know why but it did," he allowed himself to smile when he at least remembered Kimmi's horrible sneer when her broom stayed right there on the ground while Henry's was firmly in his gripped fist.
"Then Madam Hoover taught you how to mount the brooms, right?" Hagish continued the conversation. Henry and Jon looked at each other and busted out laughing.
"She sure did! And even told Kimmi that her grip was horrid! She must have had a bad gripping technique her whole life," Henry explained through his laughter. As quick as it came, the boys stopped laughing and Hagish just waited patiently, knowing that the real reason they were all working up was drawing near.
"Taryn's strange...but she's really nice, ya know," Jon began. "Hoover told us when she blew her whistle, we were to kick off the ground. That girl must have been so nervous that before Hoover even put her lips to the whistle, Taryn kicked off so hard she looked like a rocket ship! Hoover was screaming for her to come down, Alpaggards were gasping, Owlenmoons were yelling, and Ivybells were laughing, it was chaotic!"
"She…" Henry's voice grew cold, "lost control and fell straight off the broom. I'd guess twelve or so feet, Hagish," when he paused Hagish mirrored the concern for Taryn that the boys had felt. "The broom went who knows where but Taryn was face down right there on the ground."
"She's okay now," Jon chirped. "But she broke her wrist and Madam Hoover told us not to move while she took Taryn to the Healing Wing. She even threatened to kick us out of Harnocks if we so much as laid a finger on her training brooms."
"That dirty, rotten Kimmi just cackled once Hoover and Taryn were far enough away," Henry seethed. "How can you look at a crying person in pain and laugh? She even called her a fat lump on a log." Hagish opened his mouth to saying something but Jon put his hand up.
"Wait, it gets worse."
"Slymer spotted something in the grass," Henry regails, "it's Taryn's Forget-Me-Not!"
"It's that stupid thing Goodfellow's gran gave her," Jon imitates Kimmi's nasally voice.
"Give that to me right now, Slymer, I told her," Henry shrugged.
"Nasty girl just smiled," Jon shook his head.
"This idiot girl jumps on her broom and tells me that she was going to put it up in a tree! I yelled to her to give it back right now and I made my voice all mad and stern," Henry would not mention that Kimmi actually could fly well. So she may not be much of a liar at least in that department. "My blood was boiling, Hagish! I didn't think! I just mounted my broom, kicked hard like Madam Hoover showed us, and…"
"Henry was flying, Hagish," Jon said with wide eyes and amazement. Much like he had looked when it happened. "Kimmi taunted Henry and even though Esmani nagged us not to, Henry was off and the two of them flew together!"
"You what?" Hagish dropped his jaw.
Henry didn't tell Hagish how easy it was for him to fly. The rush of air in his hair, the way the broom seemed to almost know what to do before moving a muscle. The intense joy it brought him hit him like a freight train. He matched Kimmi's height and the two had a standoff. It was like riding a bike he didn't know he ever had learned how to. He leaned forward and the broom flew towards Kimmi like two jousting knights. The other girl ducked out of the way on her broom just in time.
Henry had taunted her which he was definitely not going to tell Hagish.
"No Lobby and O'Doyle to save your braced up teeth!" Henry had said. At the sight of Kimmi looking a bit worried, Henry had realized just how awful that was to say. But her face hardened and showed Henry who she truly was and who he was dealing with. This was not a normal eleven year old girl. This was Kimmi Slymer and she taunted Henry right back.
"Fix your grubby glasses and CATCH me then or…" Kimmi had said but it was Jon's voice that finished the line for Hagish to hear.
"...catch your little girlfriend's snowglobe! Then Henry had to make a choice, Hagish! And guess what he did?" Jon was flailing his arms up and down in excitement. Henry began to blush.
"What did you do, lad?" Hagish wanted to know and Henry inhaled.
"I saw Kimmi chuck it and as I saw it fly through the air I just thought...the poor girl just broke a wrist, got a gift from her grandmother, and it was just going to be ruined by someone who is so mean I...time just slowed. I watched the ball rise up...I watched it come down and when I leaned forward I was reaching for the ball while racing gravity itself! I...caught it before it hit the ground."
"You what?" Hagish said for the second time.
"HENRY PUFFER!" Jon tried a pretty poor version of Garspatuon's voice. "Professor Garspatuon must have been called to supervise us and...he was not happy."
"Or so we thought," Henry said. "Kimmi had landed just in time to look rather innocent and I had landed on my butt and was just getting up from the ground…"
"The way he said Henry's name made my blood freeze," Jon said. "He had to go to his office right then and there. I tried to defend Henry. A lot of kids did. Two or three in each House really tried to explain the situation but Garspatuon was hearing none of it. The looks Slymer and her goons gave you, mate. All triumphantly! Made me want to spit on their shoes. I thought for sure you were being expelled."
Henry remembered how Garspatuon marched him up the front steps, towards a marble staircase, and through six sets of doors without speaking a word. He marched steadfast along the corridors with Henry tailing miserably. He hoped he wasn't being carted off to Simbledore's office. He also thought about Hagish and if he'd be disappointed in him. Looking at the very same man across from him...he looked interested beyond reason. He remembered the feeling of panic realizing that he'd have to watch all of his friends graduate and become great wizards whereas he'd be banished back to the Dooflys, which was worse than prison.
"But I didn't get expelled," Henry said, a ghost of a smile formed on his lips. "Garspatuon instead crashed a Mischief Class and called for a boy called Switch! I thought he was calling for a switch to use on me!"
"He called for Ryan Switch? The fifth-year Alpaggard and Captain of the Alpaggard Grilled Cheese Dueling Team?" Hagish asked and Henry nodded.
"He looked so confused," Henry recalled. "Then Professor Garspatuon looked…" Henry couldn't believe how shocked he still sounded, "delighted! He started talking very fast to Ryan and ended up saying how I was perfect to be a Flipper…"
"A what?!" Hagish was now grinning wildly.
"I know! Ryan looked just as excited! He asked Professor Garspatuon if he was truly serious and this strict and tough as nails teacher I thought was going to skin me alive started talking as if he was a young boy in a locker room!" Henry chuckled at the memory.
"Without a doubt," Henry tried to imitate Professor Garspatuon, "The boy's a true natural on a broom. His reaction time is impeccable. I saw it all from my office window. A student threw something in the air and almost instinctively, Puffer was able to follow and catch it mid-air."
"I'm shaking, lad! I can't even believe you did all that in your first go!" Hagish looked like he wanted to fly out of his seat in glee. Henry just nodded and repeated "I know! I know!"
"I'd say it was a thirty to twenty foot dive, Switch," Henry continued to imitate Professor Garspatuon. Not a scratch on him," Henry returned to speak in his own voice, "Switch looked me up and down all over and said I was the perfect build for a Flipper and I was so confused and then Garspatuon said something about breaking the 'first-year' rule of Grilled Cheese Dueling. Switch was babbling about getting me a good broom to use…" Henry put his hand on his chin to recall any other details, "Professor Garspatuon seemed adamant to have a good team this year. He seemed desperate not to be beaten by Ivybell. He mentioned not being able to look Snabes in the eye all of spring term."
"So Henry Puffer, my friend! First year extraordinaire who didn't even know he had it in him is a Flipper on the Alpaggard Team," Hagish summarized in awe.
"Professor said I had to train hard or he may change his mind and punish me for disobeying Hoover, though," Henry shrugged. He kept this bit to himself, but he felt a pang in his chest remembering that Garspatuon ended the encounter by saying Henry reminded him so much of his father."
"When do you get to practice?" Hagish asked.
"After dinner Saturday," Henry beamed and Jon's jaw dropped.
"You didn't tell me that! That's tomorrow! We need to go! You've made me keep this from the fellas and we've got enough time to catch them in the Grand Hall to tell them. Let's go!" Jon grabbed Henry and shuffled him to his feet. Hagish just laughed merrily and waved them away as the boys broke into a sprint for the Hall.
It was nearly seven when they arrived and Henry had finished the tale.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Paddy O'Rourke had said.
"You've got to be the youngest Flipper in over a century!" Jeremy Tucker added.
The two boys looked just as amazed and impressed as Jon had when Henry had told him. They were gaping at Henry.
"I start training tomorrow night but please don't tell anyone, guys. Ryan Switch especially doesn't want this to get around too much." Both boys crossed 'W's' upon their chests. When Henry looked up, he saw Matt and Jack approaching him. Once they drew nearer, Matt slowly began to clap.
"Well, well!" Matt said through a sly but good humored smile, "You're sure full of surprises, Puffer! Ryan told me and Jack. I'm on the team too! I'm a reviver."
"You're perfect for it," Jack added. "I've been the Grilled Cheese Dueling announcer since my first year! I know all the plays and have seen three different Flippers come and go from the Alpaggard team. You are by far the best judging by aerodynamics alone."
"We're gonna win the Golden Cheese Plate for sure this year! Haven't since Carl graduated. By the way, Switch was practically skipping down the halls. Somehow you proved yourself that you're the real deal," Matt said and hooked his thumbs in his pockets. Jack patted Henry's shoulder.
"You don't play, Jack?" Henry asked and the girl looked playfully taken aback.
"I don't have an athletic bone in my body!" She laughed. "I can't remember the last time I worked a muscle with extra curricular exercise…"
"Do vocal cords count as a muscle?" Matt teased. Jack just shrugged with mirth.
"Yacky Jacky! That's me! I guess that's why I'm great at announcing. I can talk fast and know all the rules and plays and…" she wiggled her eyebrows, "I may have a trick up my sleeve to put my share of help into winning the game." She said no more on that topic even though Henry was incredibly intrigued. "Hey! Matt we've gotta dart! Rodrick thinks he found a new passageway outta here to grab a pint of Popkin Spice Latte." Matt rolled his large, green eyes.
"If it's the one behind the statue of Madre Cosecha...we found that like our first year."
"The first week of our first year," Jack agreed with a head nod. "Stay sweet you two," she and Matt waved to Henry and Jon and then they were off. In their place, someone approached not nearly as welcomed.
"I'm surprised you're still here, Puffer," it was Kimmi Slymer's voice. "I'd have thought you'd be on the first trolley back to your Normie family.
"Pretty big words you've got now that you're safe and sound on the ground with your posse at your side," Henry replied coolly. Jon, Paddy, and Jeremy all gasped taunting "oohs." Kimmi's ears went pink. She stood straighter and tried to look down her nose at Henry.
"You're just talking big because I'm a girl…I can take you! On my own without Lobby or O'Doyle. And then you'd wish you could go back to the Normie world to cry like a baby."
"I don't give a moldy popkin if you were a girl, boy, or a goldfish. Oh wait...maybe even a goldfish has half a brain to realize there are teachers at the Faculty Tablethat can see if something goes down. DId you think of that?" Henry even crossed his arms with a wry smile. He could just imagine steam pouring from Kimmi's ears.
"So what do you say we do not get teacher's involved at all, eh? Tonight. It's Friday, afterall. A Caster Quarrel! You and me! Only wands...no...contact," she was all flushed. "Or are you still too Norm-ified to know what a Caster Quarrel is?"
"He sure has!" Jon spun around on the bench seat at his friend's defense. "I'll be his second and who's yours? Maybe call Auntie Snabes to help ya, eh?"
Kimmi sneered but looked at Lobby and O'Doyle thoughtfully.
"Lobby," she said. "Midnight. There's a trophy room near the Practical Magic classroom. It's always empty and locked from the inside. I can get us in and we won't be bothered. Be there or you will never hear the end of it from me," she then turned on her heel and left with her friends on her tail.
The boys waited a beat and then Henry gasped.
"You saved my skin!" He shook Jon's hand. "What is a Caster's Quarrel?!" Henry thought for a second. "And what does it mean when you say that you are my second?"
"Well...a second is like a partner. I take over if...you die," Jon said a bit too casually. "But...um...people only die in proper quarrels. With you know, real wizards. The most you and Slymer will be able to do being eleven year old first years is send sparks and maybe copied needles at each other. You both don't know any spells that cause real damage. She was just trying to embarrass you. She tried to throw you off with more caster knowledge she wouldn't expect you to know. I bet she didn't even think you'd accept!" Henry just stared blankly.
"And if I wave my wand and nothing happens…?"
"Well...the twit said to ignore that she's a girl so...treat her like a bloke, toss the wand, and punch her square in the nose," Jon shrugged like this was common knowledge.
"I'm sorry but...what?" The two boys looked to where the new voice was.
It was Esmani Ghadjer.
"Snitches get stitches," Jon rolled his eyes, not even wanting to engage with her.
Esmani ignored him and spoke only to Henry.
"I heard everything between you and Kimmi Slymer and I just had to come over…"
"No you didn't," Jon mumbled.
She continued on, "...and you simply can't go wandering the castle during even common room free time let alone lights out. Ten o'clock is our bedtime. It's right here on the scheduling scroll. Think of the Alpaggard credits you will lose us if you get caught. And let's be honest...you probably will. You're being a selfish git!"
"It's really none of your business, Esmani," Henry said hotly. The girl looked crushed and Henry's stomach flipped. She wasn't completely wrong...but Henry couldn't look like a fool to Kimmi Slymer of all people.
"Toodles," Jon dismissed her. She took leave with the coldest scowl Henry has ever seen. Deep down Henry wondered if he had made the right choice.
Henry was a nervous wreck as he milled around the common room during the free time. Jon looked completely at ease playing Wizarding Don't Wake the Llama and kept assuring Henry that Kimmi was just bluffing and didn't have the guts to even show up.
"If she tries to throw curses, just duck and roll...I don't know how to block them yet," he shrugged and pulled a stick out of the trembling tower on top of the gaming table. Henry was in a huge, overstuffed leather armchair next to the fire. All of the Alpaggard common room was decorated in the burgundies, purples, and flying llama animal crests. He looked longingly at the upperclassmen who were still allowed to laze about in that large room even when the first and second years were called to bed at ten. Even on weekends…
There was a very high chance that Jon and Henry could be caught today by Feltch or Mayor Whiskers. Maybe he really was pushing his luck. His thoughts swirled as he listened to the other boys that Jon and Henry shared a dorm with fall asleep. Every time he'd close his eyes, he'd see Kimmi's sneering face and the urge to beat her fair and square- once and for all was just too great.
Henry must have drifted off because he awoke to Jon gently shaking him.
"It's half past eleven, time to go, mate," he whispered.
They didn't even bother to change from the pajama bottoms and T-shirts. Henry grabbed his wand and Jon grabbed his. Slowly, they krept past Paddy's bed, and Jeremy's bed, and two other boys, two other boys' beds that the six person dorm held. The trek to the trophy room was now afoot!
On tip-toes, they went down the spiral staircase and into the Alpaggard common room. The fire was all but embers and one sixth year was snoozing on the floor in front of it. The glow casted the whole room in shadow and it made Henry feel very eerie. They were SO close to the portrait that acted as the entrance and exit.
"Ger wabba choo choo," Henry whispered to the portrait of Princess Cordelia, the Alpaggard door entrance. She was sleeping and cranky but swung open a bit too loud. The boys gasped and clapped their mouths to keep quiet when they saw a figure standing on the other side with arms crossed waiting for them
It was Esmani Ghadjer in a pink night gown paired with a scolding frown.
"What are you doing?!" Jon seethed through clenched teeth, "Go back to bed!"
"I could have been a lot worse to you sorry pair," she began in her own stern whisper, "I was this close to telling your brother," she pinched barely any space between her index finger and thumb. Henry and Jon swallowed and looked at each other. Getting Perry involved was out of the question.
The boys stepped over the edge of the portrait hole and breezed right past her. Almost as if they could ignore her, she'd go away. Henry couldn't believe her audacity. And hey...wasn't she out of bed too?
It seemed she was more than a meddler...she was an advanced meddler. Instead of turning back and telling, she followed the boys keeping her voice low but hissing like an angry snake. Henry could feel Jon's frustration rolling off of him like waves.
"It's like you don't even care about Alpaggard. Do you really only care about yourselves? You both are only eleven and you're acting like some macho air heads that need to throw their strength around! It's like you're asking for Ivybell to win the House Cup. I worked hard to earn us that thirty credits when Garspatuon had asked…"
"Es-mon-ee," Jon seethed in a low voice, "just go away. This doesn't concern you."
"It does concern me for your information, Jon," she rolled her eyes. "But whatever...you guys are something else. I warned you. Don't say I didn't. Just remember how much I tried to help when your sorry butts are back home on the trolley tomorrow morning."
She turned to walk back to the portrait and gasp. Henry and Jon couldn't help but look.
Princess Cordelia was gone. Walked out of her portrait for a midnight stroll.
Esmani was locked out.
"I'm dead! What am I going to do!" She whispered shrilly.
"You...I...don't know…" Jon actually was showing Esmani some sympathy. "But we can't stick around with you. We've got to get to that trophy room before it's too late." Henry nodded along with his friend and the two boys left the puzzled girl by the empty portrait that led to her nice, safe bed.
They barely turned the corner when she was hot on their heels.
"Well then I'm coming with you," she said as a matter of factly.
"No you are not," Jon was back to speaking to her with irritation.
"Yes I am, bucko! Do you think I'm just going to sit in my nightgown on the cold floor in front of an empty portrait? Heck no! Stand right here and wait for Feltch to catch me? Nope! The hopes are higher if he finds all three of us. Then I will tell him the truth. Tell him I was trying to stop you sorry bunch. Then you back me up and maybe I can save us some House credits."
"YOU are something else-!" Jon raised his voice and Henry and Esmani both harshly shushed him. "Why not just lie and rat us out or something?" He spoke in more appropriate tones. Esmani shrugged.
"I would never lie," she simply said and Jon actually looked a bit softened with surprise.
"Did you guys hear that?" Henry whispered.
"Sounds like snoring?" Esmani pointed out.
They walked a bit farther, hoping it wasn't Mayor Whiskers, Sceeves, of Feltch. What they found instead, curled up on the floor, was Taryn Goodfellow.
She was fast asleep on the floor in front of the portrait Henry assumed belonged to Owlenmoon. Like Princess Cordelia, the portrait had no subject and the girl was probably locked out too. When the three got nearer, their footsteps startled Taryn awake.
"Oh hey! Thank gosh you found me! I've been sitting here for hours! We had to answer a riddle in order to get in. I never was very good with them, Gran always said so. I kept getting them wrong…" With a look of defeat, her voice got lower, "...and she got so frustrated with me she stormed off into another painting. I've been waiting here ever since."
"How is your wrist feeling?" Henry asked, feeling very sorry for her.
"Good as new," she flexed and rotated it, "Madam Caduceus mended it! Esmani? Does it really take weeks to heal an injury like this in the Normie world? Madam Caduceus was telling me and I...barely believed her!"
"Yes but please keep your voice down…" Esmani answered.
"We've got to go now, Taryn," Henry said right after, "we have somewhere to be."
"Oh please don't leave me!" said Taryn as she scrambled to get up, "I don't want to stay here alone! The Resentful Regal has been past twice already and with each pass, his smile gets bigger and bigger..." she began to cry.
"You twits are going to make us late!" Jon was exasperated. "If any of the four of us get caught...I will not sleep a wink until I've learned some type of spell from Querkle to really get ya! Maybe," he thought, "something to make your butt permanently itchy! I don't know!"
Esmani opened her mouth probably to tell him she knew of such a spell but instead she just sort of giggled. This made Henry giggle and then Taryn giggled. Jon tried to hold out but the absurd notion of Jon using anything to harm someone was so funny the four just sort of chuckled together. Henry sobered the quickest and reminded the company to be very quiet.
And so...two became four as the group crept along corridors with stripes of shadows and streaks of moonlight from the high, stained glass windows. Henry had almost expected to run into Feltch or Mayor Whiskers but it seemed like they had a stroke of luck. On airy feet, the group climbed stairs to the third floor and towards the trophy room.
"See! Bluffing!" Jon said when there was no Slymer or Lobby. "It's 11:58!"
Trying the door proved it to be unlocked which was strange but she did say she knew how to get in. So the four walked in and marveled at the glimmering trophies in the gases. Cups, shields, plates, plaques, and statues winked with gold and silver in the pale moonlight. Esmani's eyes were going every which way to take in the sights but also keep lookout near the exits. Henry had the sense to take out his wand in case Kimmi tried a sneak attack from behind a large case to the right.
"I bet she's chickened out, mate," Jon had decided.
All four kids jumped but did not say a word when they heard a shuffling noise and a voice coming from the next room. Henry raised his wand but when the voice became recognizable, his blood ran cold.
"Use your night vision eyes, my prince, they are probably very close!"
It was not Kimmi Slymer! That was Feltch speaking to Mayor Whiskers! Thinking in complete adrenaline and fear, Henry waved and flapped his arms about for the other three to follow him. Esmani had to pull Taryn along and they were all barely by the door when Feltch entered the trophy room.
"I know you're in here somewhere," they heard him murmur, "probably hiding."
"Follow me!" Henry mouthed silently to the others and though he was horrified, they did as he said and snuck in between a gallery of decorative armor. Feltch was getting closer! The tension was too much for Taryn and she squealed which alerted Jon to put his hand over her mouth. The force he had done it knocked her off her balance and the two both went down and careened right into a suit of armor.
The resulting clang and clatter could have woken the dead.
"RUN FOR IT!" Henry yelled and the four sprinted down the gallery. None of them looked back to see if they were being tailed by Feltch or Mayor Whiskers. Four young first years ran and ran, banking around the doorframe and all but galloped down the corridor after the next. Henry was at the lead barely knowing where he should be leading to.
"Watch it!" Esmani called from behind Jon but it was too late as all four tore through a huge tapestry that seemed to be right where their Class of Mischief was held. Henry didn't know how they did it...but this classroom was miles from the trophy room.
"I think we lost him," Jon wheezed and bent down to rest his hands on his knees. Henry leaned against the cold stone wall wiping his forehead. Taryn was practically hyperventilating.
"What did I tell you two?" Esmani gasped for her own breath and clutched an aching stitch in her side. "Didn't I tell you?"
"We get it, Esmani," Jon began, "what matters now is getting Taryn back to Owlenmoon common room and our butts back to Alpaggard." He paused for a beat, "as fast as possible, too."
"Kimmi was laying a trap, you realize that?" Esmani said to Henry with her arms crossed. "She pinned you to be the type to get all big and brave and you fell for it." Henry looked at his feet ashamed. "She pinned you down alright! I bet she's fast asleep in her bed with a huge grin on her face knowing she was never going to show and probably even tipped Feltch off that we were." Henry figured what she was saying was right but he kept quiet.
"We got lucky, okay yeah," Jon was rolling his eyes. "We've got to go."
It wasn't that easy. Their luck ran out quite quickly. Once all four were able to calm their breathing, they began to make their way towards the common rooms. Ahead, a doorknob rattled and a big, pompous figure walked right through the wall and in front of the group. He appraised them with delight.
It was Sceeves! The poltergeist gave a squeal in excitement.
"Please don't give us away, Sceeves! We'll get thrown out!" Esmani looked almost ready to cry. Sceeves just floated eye level to her and cackled right in her face.
"Wanting adventure at midnight thirsty firsties? Tsk, tsk, tisky risky itch! Me'thinks Sceeves can be a snitch!" He put a cold finger on Esmani's nose.
"Get away from her!" Snapped Jon. That was a mistake.
"You would take a crack at old Sceeves?" The poltergeist said sickeningly sweet with glimmers of wicked mirth in his eyes. "It's for your own good...lessons learned and all that…"
Henry opened his mouth to protest when…
"STUDENTS HERE! I'VE GOT STUDENTS HERE OUT OF BED!" Sceeves screamed so loud. "FIRSTIES TOO! OUT OF BED DOWN BY THE MISCHIEF MAGIC CLASSROOM!"
There was no time to lose! The four ducked right from under the ghost and ran like their lives depended on it. The corridor ended. There was only one door but it was locked.
"We're doomed!" Jon moaned as he tried to jiggle the locked door open. "I'll be a peddler in Caster's Alley for all my days after I get expelled! No future!" Feltch's footsteps were quick and growing near.
"Move over you lug!" Esmani hissed. She grabbed Henry's wand right from his hand and tapped the lock three times as she whispered, "Enterfy!"
Jon's jaw dropped as the lock clicked and the door opened suddenly. There was no hesitation as the kids piled through it and shut it just as fast. Four sets of ears pressed against it to listen outside.
"Tell me quickly where they have gone, Sceeves!" Feltch was saying.
"Where's your manners? Didn't your mom teach you to say please," Sceeves cackled.
"Don't test me you brute, where did they go?"
"I can't say another word as long as you say please!"
"PLEASE!" Feltch yelled.
There was silence.
"YOU IDIOT! WHY ARE YOU ZIPPING YOUR LIPS AT ME!"
Sceeves must have vanished because Feltch was saying lawful colorful words.
"I think he thinks this door is still locked," Henry pointed out. "What Taryn?" Taryn had been tugging on Henry's sleeve since they landed in this room. When Henry turned to look where she was looking his blood ran cold for the second time that night.
"Is this the…" Jon couldn't finish.
They weren't in a room at all. They were in a hallway. The out of bounds corridor that Simbledore had warned them the first evening. It was like Henry was in a nightmare!
He knew now why it was forbidden.
At the end of the hallway, the four were looking into the face of a gigantic dog the size of a killer whale. It filled the whole space with its enormous body. Ceiling to floor. The beast had three heads...three mad eyes, three noses that could smell them, twitching in their direction. Three mouths open and drooling with saliva that dropped in sticky ropes from yellow fangs. Henry wondered why they weren't already dead but he could guess that their intrusion took the creature by surprise. It's low warning growls sounded like thunder and it alerted Henry that its surprise was wearing off.
Its menacing eyes appraised Henry, Jon, Esmani, and Taryn. Blindly, not taking his own eyes off the dog's, Henry groped and felt for the doorknob. In a choice between being eaten alive and expulsion by Feltch, he chose the latter.
The door opened and the four fell backwards. Taryn slammed the door shut and the company absolutely flew down the corridor. Feltch must have hurried off to look somewhere else because he was nowhere to be seen. It was the furthest from their mind, though. All the young kids wanted or really cared about was putting as much distance between them and the monster of a dog.
"Veer here, Taryn!" Esmani pointed towards the Owlenmoon common room. The girl stuttered a bit, "but what about the riddle?". Esmani, confidently strode up to the painting of the lady, barely pausing for a second after hearing the riddle. "The Rosebud belongs to the Motherload" she casually answered. With a confused but grateful look on her face, Taryn split from the group and disappeared through the portrait.
The other three reached Princess Cordelia. She appraised them disapprovingly. Disheveled appearance, sweaty brows, and flushed faces each of them must have had.
"Where in the worlds have you…"
"Never you mind! NEVER you mind! Ger wabba choo choo!" Henry was panting. Princess Cordelia looked disapprovingly but opened the door anyway. They scrambled into the common room and luckily, that sixth year student must have woken up and gone to bed. They were alone.
"That thing has no business being in a school," Jon said after a long while.
"You two don't pay attention to anything, do you? Esmani snapped. Her temper was back in full power again. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"The...floor?" Henry knew that sounded stupid so he reiterated, "I was too busy looking at those three heads to really notice its feet, Esmani."
"Not just the floor...it was standing on a trapdoor. It's guarding something. Something important. That's why it's out of bounds. Simbledore doesn't want anyone to get in...or get hurt." That's when what they all had been through really clicked with her. She stood up and glared at them, jabbing a finger into both Henry and Jon's chests.
"I can't believe not only did you two risk your lives but mine as well! We could have been killed or worse...expelled! Oh! The thought! I'm going to bed! She smoothed her hair (unsuccessfully) and her nightgown and turned on her heel. She did not look back at them again even when the girls' corridor door was shut.
Jon just stared after her with his mouth hanging open.
"Who even is she?" He asked exasperatedly. "She made it seem like we dragged her along kicking and screaming!" He was shaking his head very fast now.
Henry was deep in thought. Esmani may be a bit too much at times, but she had given Henry something else to ponder as he followed Jon back to their beds. That dog was guarding something...Hagish said something at Bingpott's that July thirty-first on Henry's birthday. What was safer to hide something you wanted to keep safe? Bingpott's was the safest next to…
Harnocks.
Henry felt his brain click with realization. That pitiful shoebox sized package Hagish had to retrieve from vault seven hundred and thirteen was just above his head guarded by a twenty-five foot dog with three heads.