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HARRY POTTER AND THE JADE DRAGON
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(The sequel to
HP & the Mirror's Gift)
Chapter III
A New Term Begins
There's always
a price to pay, my dear
You can't go to China for free
There are lots of assignments for you to clear
Plus books to be read : volumes one, two, three
And you'd better some Chinese culture learn
So you won't appear quite so ignorant.
"Potter! Weasley! Granger! I want a word with you!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look in the direction of the
voice. Professor
McGonagall, tall and beady-eyed, was standing at the entrance
of the Great Hall.
The start of term feast had ended, and the three of them had just
left the Hall
together with the other Gryffindors.
They turned to follow her, wondering what trouble they could
have got into when
the term had barely started. Professor McGonagall led them swiftly
to her office,
sat down at her desk, and waved her wand. Three stools appeared
out of nowhere,
and positioned themselves in front of the desk.
"Sit," she said briskly.
They sat down, and looked at her.
Professor McGonagall took out three sheets of parchment, and laid them on her desk.
"Right," she said in a businesslike tone. "The
three of you have decided to take part
in the exchange programme. That will mean some additional effort
on your part. These
are the assignments you will be missing here while you are in
China from October to
November. We will be giving you extra lessons, but there is no
harm if you start reading
up on them earlier." She handed one sheet of parchment to
each of them.
Hermione looked pleased, but Ron and Harry's faces fell when
they saw the long list.
Ron involuntarily gave a small groan.
Professor McGonagall regarded him steadily.
"You were informed earlier that you would have to do extra
work, Weasley," she
said tartly. "You were aware of it when you signed the acceptance
form. I am expecting
you to perform better than you did last year."
Ron gloomily nodded, and rolled up the piece of parchment.
"I would like to remind the three of you that while you
are in China, you also represent
our school," continued Professor McGonagall. "You should
be on your best behaviour
at all times. I shall be most displeased if anyone from Gryffindor
embarrasses the
school in any way."
"Please, Professor, who else is going, besides us?"
asked Hermione, voicing what Ron
and Harry had also been wondering.
"The number is small, as this is the first time we are
trying out such a programme," replied
Professor McGonagall. "There will be twelve students in your
class altogether : six from
Tian-Long, and six from Hogwarts. The other Hogwarts students
are from Slytherin :
Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle."
She saw the looks of horror on their faces, and said in a very
final tone, "Remember that
all of you represent Hogwarts while you are there. I expect you
to put aside any existing
animosity and to give a good impression of our school during your
stay there."
Ron couldn't seem to accept the news.
"But - why them?" he burst out. "Who did the choosing? It must have been Snape!"
Professor McGonagall glared at him.
"Professor Snape, Weasley," she said sharply.
"And it was not Severus Snape, nor I,
who selected all of you. The Sorting Hat was asked to make the
choice. You should
be happy that the three of you are together. We asked the Sorting
Hat to choose students
who are already familiar with one another, to minimise the chances
of homesickness while
you are there."
Ron and Harry's faces looked mutinous, indicating they had
no desire to be familiar
with Draco Malfoy.
"Professor," said Hermione, "Will the classes be in English?"
"They certainly will," replied Professor McGonagall.
"The Headmistress there, Lady
Wen-Li, has been planning this exchange programme for some time.
She has been
encouraging her staff to learn English."
She looked speculatively at them, then continued.
"Chinese culture is quite different from ours," she
remarked. "I suggest you find out a
little about it before you go there. You might, at least, learn
how to use a pair of
chopsticks. No doubt Jeanne will be able to help you."
She waved a hand, indicating that they could go.
"Remember," she said warningly, as they were leaving
the room, "any news of mischief
on your part while you are there will result in deduction of points
from Gryffindor here."
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With all the extra lessons, in addition to their usual ones, Harry,
Ron and Hermione
found the next few weeks flying by. Before they knew it, the last
day had arrived,
before they left for China.
"I'll never finish all this," moaned Ron, that afternoon
in the Gryffindor common room.
Books were stacked all about the three of them, and sheets of
parchment lay all
over the floor.
Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were sitting a short distance
away, and looked
up when they heard Ron.
"At first we were pretty jealous when we heard you were
going," said Dean,
grinning, "but now I think we'd rather stay."
Harry closed his spellbook with a snap. His mind felt too tired
to continue. He
looked at Hermione, who seemed to have finished all her homework,
and was
reading Septimus Snufflegint's Diary Of An English Wizard in
China.
"I can't believe you actually bought that book," he said.
"She bought up every English book she could find in that shop," said Ron sourly.
Hermione turned a page.
"This is an interesting book," she said. "I
wonder why we aren't having any Internal
Magic classes while we're there?"
Ron had taken Hermione's completed History of Magic essay,
and was reading
through it, scowling.
"Internal Magic?" said Harry. "What's that?"
"It's a way of doing spells, without your wand,"
said Hermione, her eyes still fixed
on the book. "Snufflegint says the Chinese have been using
it for years. He says they
believe magic exists inside yourself, and you can learn to use
it, without the help of
a wand."
Dean Thomas, who was still listening, looked interested.
"Is that like what they do in all those Kung Fu
shows?" he asked. Dean came from
a family of Muggles.
Ron was still reading Hermione's essay. "What's Kung Fu?" he asked absently.
Harry had gone over to Hermione, and was reading over her shoulder.
"No wonder," he said.
Hermione looked back at him. "No wonder what?"
"Jeanne," said Harry. "She's always doing stuff
without a wand. She said there were
a lot of Chinese people, where she was living in Russia. She must
have picked it up
from them."
"Perform spells without a wand?" said Seamus. "But
- that would make the Chinese
more powerful than the rest of us, wouldn't it?"
"Not really," said Hermione, her eyes returning to
the book. "Most of what they do
with Internal Magic, any qualified wizard here can match with
a wand. It seems that
most of them there just use it for mundane things, anyway, like
summoning something
if they're too lazy to get it. To use it for duelling, that's
difficult to learn; one has to go
to a special school for Pugilists."
She looked up and saw Ron copying some points from her essay,
and took the essay
away.
"Haven't you finished yet?" she asked. "Hagrid
wants us to go over this afternoon.
We haven't been there for tea since term started, with all the
extra classes, and if we
don't go today, we won't be able to till we come back from China."
"I'll finish soon, if you lend me that," said Ron,
trying to take the essay back. They
started arguing, and Harry, feeling he couldn't do any more work,
left them at it,
and went to look for Jeanne.
Harry hadn't had a chance to talk to Jeanne since term started,
although he saw her
during Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures classes, which she still
helped out with,
occasionally. He had noticed that she did not seem to be wearing
her sullen expression
any more, but tended to look more thoughtful instead.
He spotted her along the corridor, talking to, of all people,
Professor Snape. She
stopped when she saw Harry, excused herself, and came over to
him.
"I'm off to Hagrid's now, Harry," she said. "Are
you coming for tea? He's been
missing all of you."
"I am," he assured her. "I was just going to
look for you there. Ron and Hermione
will be coming later."
They made their way out of the castle. Harry looked curiously at her.
"Are you still helping Snape with Potions?" he asked.
She grimaced, and shook her head firmly.
"I've had quite enough of Potions, for a while at least,
after last year," she said, smiling
rather ruefully. "The most I'm doing is helping Severus gather
ingredients I happen to
come across when I'm doing my rounds."
"Are you and Snape still on good terms?" Harry was
thinking of some of the things
he'd heard Snape say the previous term.
She looked surprised.
"I value Severus' regard more, now, actually," she
said thoughtfully. "I misjudged
him last year. He still seems willing to talk to me, though I
know he still dislikes Remus."
Harry looked at her.
"Married life seems to agree with you," he remarked.
"You look happier now. More -
well, at peace."
She smiled. "Not so moody any more, you mean?" She
paused, as if thinking. "I like
being married," she admitted candidly. "But it's more
than that. The past doesn't haunt
me so much any moreit's as if what I did last term - you
know, sort of made up for it."
Harry felt this was still a sensitive topic, so he decided to change the subject.
"Will you be coming with us to China?" he asked.
She nodded, looking serious.
"Dumbledore has arranged for me to learn some Internal
Magic there," she said. "It
will help me prevent Deorg from possessing me, if our paths meet
again."
They had reached Hagrid's now, and were about to go in, when
they heard someone
calling from behind. Turning, they saw Ron and Hermione running
to catch up with them.
Hagrid looked pleased to see them.
"Wish I could go ter China wi' all of yer," he said
wistfully. "Yeh're sure ter see
dragons there. Awf'ly fond o' dragons, the Chinese."
"There won't be any in the school, surely," pointed
out Ron. "They're probably not
allowed there, just like here."
"You're wrong, Ron," said Jeanne, smiling. "Remus
and I followed Dumbledore and
Professor McGonagall to Tian-Long during the school holidays,
to look at the school
and see the Headmistress about the programme. They do have dragons
there."
"You've been there?" said Hermione eagerly. "What is it like?"
Jeanne had a teasing smile on her face.
"You'll see," she said. "I don't want to spoil the surprise for you."
"How come you and Professor Lupin are involved in the
exchange programme?"
asked Harry curiously.
"We're not," Jeanne replied. "Dumbledore has
been training me to build up defences
in my mind, so that I can fend off Deorg's attacks, and he wanted
Remus to help as
well. Then we heard that Internal Magic might be a better way
to do it, so Dumbledore
asked us to go along with them, and talk to the Internal Magic
master there."
"What did he say?" asked Harry, interested.
"It turned out he wasn't there, at the time," said
Jeanne, looking rather rueful. "We
went there for nothing. We had a good look around the school,
though. I had to
go over again, last week, to meet Master Kung."
Her eyes twinkled as she looked at them.
"I met some of the students who will be your classmates, there," she said.
"You did!" said Ron. "What are they like? Do they speak English?"
Jeanne looked mischievously at them, as if considering whether
to keep them in
suspense, then gave in.
"Most of them are from overseas, actually," she said.
"Only two are from mainland
China. One is from Hong Kong, one from Taiwan, and two from Singapore."
She saw that they were going to ask more, and said firmly,
"That's all I'm telling you.
We shall have some food now. Professor McGonagall said I should
teach you how
to use chopsticks."
She took her wand out, and pointed it at the table. Three small
bowls of noodles
appeared, with three sets of chopsticks, together with three similar
bowls of rice.
Another wave of the wand, and a platter of meat and round dumplings
also appeared.
"All right," said Jeanne cheerfully, demonstrating,
"you hold the chopsticks, like this,
and take some meat from the main platter, and you pick the noodles
up, like this."
Hermione had obviously eaten Chinese before, because she was
perfectly comfortable
with the chopsticks. The Dursleys, of course, had never brought
Harry to a Chinese
restaurant, so he was all at sea. Ron appeared no better off.
"You hold the bottom stick still, and just move the top
one," said Jeanne helpfully,
as Harry dropped meat all over the table.
Hagrid sat by, watching and enjoying himself hugely.
"You don't expect me to pick the rice up with these,
do you?" said Ron, sounding
aggrieved, and glaring at his chopsticks in an affronted manner.
He tried picking up
one of the dumplings, which looked like round, pearly balls, and
it slipped out and
rolled off the table onto the floor.
"Oh, I've lost my ball," he said, peering under the table for the dumpling.
Hermione looked disapprovingly at him.
"Really," she said, as Fang, Hagrid's boarhound,
came over and sniffed interestedly
at the dumpling, "you're going to disgrace our school if
you don't even know how
to eat properly."
Hagrid chuckled.
"Yeh're not bein' fair, Hermione," he said. "It's the firs' time fer them."
By the end of the meal, Harry felt he'd more or less got the
hang of the chopsticks,
but Ron was still struggling. He was in a very bad mood by the
time they were leaving.
"I've spent the whole day on that stupid essay, and I
thought we'd get some relaxation
at Hagrid's, instead of being tortured like this," he muttered
to Harry.
"Oh, another thing," Jeanne called anxiously from
the window as they were walking
off, "Professor McGonagall said not to forget to pack your
dress robes, in case
there are any special events there."
Ron's face went even blacker.
"Dress robes!" he snarled, "This is just the moment I need to be reminded of those!"
He took his chopsticks out - Jeanne had said they could bring
them back to practise
with - and flung them angrily into some nearby bushes. Then, he
stomped off, fuming.
Harry and Hermione looked at each other and sighed, and then hurried to catch up with him.
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