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HARRY POTTER AND THE JADE DRAGON
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Chapter XIII
The Truth About Shan
You said you
would come, but you did not
I cry for you forever gone, I cannot waken yet
Far beyond my reach is the Enchanted Mountain,
And you are on the other side, ten thousand peaks away.
~ Li Shang-Yin, Tang
Dynasty
The dragon
stood there for a few moments, gazing at Harry. Then all at once
it lowered
its head, and began to change shape and shrink. Before long, Shan
was standing there again,
looking rather anxiously at him.
Harry found his voice.
"You're an Animagus!"
She continued looking at him for a moment, then gave a small
sigh. Turning, she went over to
the edge of the cliff and sat down, letting her legs dangle over
the edge.
Harry went over, and stood looking down at her. "What's the matter?"
She was silent for a moment, then looked up at him.
"I didn't want anyone to know about this," she said,
sounding rather depressed. "To the Chinese,
the dragon is a sacred creature. They consider it presumptuous,
for someone to transform into
one. That must be why Liu Pei never told anyone about it."
Harry looked at her. Was this why she had been so cold to Jeanne lately?
"Are you a shape-shifter too, like Jeanne?" he asked.
She was staring down into the gorge. "Not really."
Harry was thinking. Dragons usually sleep at night. That night,
when the old male Bronzeback
came after themwhy had the second Bronzeback appeared? It
should have been fast asleep.
"That was you, that night, wasn't it?" he
said. "You were the second Bronzebackyou chased
the old male away!"
She looked at him solemnly, then nodded.
"Then you are a shape-shifter," Harry said,
trying to get things clear. "You can transform into
more than one type of dragon!"
She shook her head.
"Not really," she said, looking down into the gorge
again. "I'm only a partial shape-shifterI can
only change into a few types of animal."
Harry was surprised. "Which ones?"
She hesitated, before replying.
"Well any type of dragon," she said, not looking
at him, "And" she gave him a quick glance,
then stopped.
Harry was beginning to feel very puzzled.
"And - ?" he prompted.
She fidgeted a bit, tugging at the right sleeve of her robes.
"And, any type of snake," she said in a small voice.
Harry glanced at her pocket, from which LeafSong normally peeked.
He looked down at his
Invisibility Cloak, which was still in his hands.
"Shan," he said, "That night, when I met LeafSong
on the stairs, she said you went to see the
dragons."
She turned to look at him, her face expressionless.
"But I only went over to the Caverns much later,"
Harry continued. "You should have flown
whatever wild dragons there were, roosting in those caves, by
then."
Her face was still expressionless. Her lips, however, twitched slightly.
Harry sat down next to her, and looked at her.
"But you were still standing at the entrance when I got there," he said.
Her eyes were twinkling now.
Harry frowned at her.
"Tell me," he said, in an ominous tone of voice,
"that night, when I let Yang-Kang out from
under the bell, that was LeafSong in my pocket, wasn't
it?"
Shan's lips twitched again, and then, she couldn't control herself. She looked at him, and grinned.
Harry glared at her.
"Do you mean to tell me," he spluttered, "that I was carrying you in my pocket, all the time?"
Shan chuckled, and patted his shoulder affectionately.
"Don't be angry, Harry," she said. "I helped
you, didn't I? You wouldn't have known which
gargoyle was the lion, if I hadn't been there."
Harry regarded her grumpily.
"Why didn't you just tell me who you were?" he said crossly.
She became serious again.
"I told you, I didn't want anyone to know that I can transform," she said, looking shamefaced.
Harry stared at her.
"Well, I won't tell anyone," he said. "Besides,
it's fair and square now, isn't it? After all, you know
about my Invisibility Cloak."
She nodded, then sighed and got up, brushing sand off her robes.
"We have to go back," she said. "The sky's already
beginning to brighten. I'll change into a Silverwing,
and Apparate us back. You'll have to tie Yang-Kang and Liu Pei's
bodies to my back."
Harry looked at her suspiciously. "Are you sure you know how to Apparate?"
"Of course," she said airily, looking mischievously at him, "When I'm a Silverwing, that is."
They went back to where Yang-Kang's body was lying. Harry saw
the onyx tiger on the ground,
and he bent down and gingerly picked it up, and put it into his
pocket.
"What are we going to tell Lady Wen-Li?" he said.
Shan sighed.
"The truth, I guess," she said. "Lady Wen-Li
already knows that I can transform - she's the only
one, besides you and Robert, and Chen-Kang. She'll probably give
me a lot of demerits, but I'm
sure she'll let you off - she's really keen for the exchange programme
to be a success."
It felt strange to be riding a dragon alone, especially when Harry
knew that the dragon was actually
Shan. They arrived at Tian-Long soon enough, and placed the bodies
in one of the empty caves.
They then went to look for Lady Wen-Li.
The students were having breakfast in the Hall, but Lady Wen-Li
wasn't there. They found her in
her office, together with Master Kung and, to their surprise,
Chen-Kang. Chen-Kang lived near
the Caverns, and he very seldom came to the palace. Harry guessed
he had probably come to
discuss the killing of the dragons.
Shan was right. Lady Wen-Li did indeed let Harry off, because
she was so relieved that the
mystery of the dying dragons had been solved. Master Kung was
very interested in the onyx
tiger; he examined it for a while, then calmly put it in his pocket.
"I will keep this, for now," he said to Harry, "It
will not do for it to fall into the wrong hands." He
paused, and looked at Shan, who was talking to Lady Wen-Li at
the other end of the room. "It is
better that no one knows Li-Shan can transform, so the official
story shall be that Yang-Kang killed
the Silverwing here in the school grounds, and that Chen-Kang
saw it happening, and witnessed
both their deaths."
Shan looked rather subdued as she and Harry left the office.
"While you were talking to Master Kung, she gave me fifty
demerits," she said. "I guess it could
have been worse. She also told me that the Potion that we prepared
for Liu Pei - the one with
dragon bones in it - is supposed to help one to counteract an
attack by the Devil's Curse. That's
why the Silverwing took so long to die. They found a large supply
of the Potion in Liu Pei's office -
he's been making all the students in the school prepare it for
him, and he must have been drinking
a bit every day."
The others had been wondering where the two of them had gone,
of course. Harry decided he
wouldn't tell Ron and Hermione about the Silverwing. Ron would
be cross that he hadn't been
asked to come along, and Hermione would be disapproving. Besides,
it would give away the
secret of Shan's night-flying. The two of them split up, and appeared
in class separately. Harry
gave the excuse that he'd tried exploring the palace again, and
had overheard Master Kung and
Chen-Kang talking about Yang-Kang killing Liu Pei. This story
successfully distracted all of them.
"You mean - Yang-Kang killed all the dragons?" said
Ron, looking startled. "But - we saw him
sitting with the teachers that day!"
"Yes, but he disappeared before the final round,"
said Hermione. "I noticed, but I thought he just
went to sit elsewhere, to get away from Madam Tang. And he appeared
laterhe was one of the
teachers who went to have a look at the dead Bronzeback."
Pixie looked cheerful.
"That means we won't have Liu Pei for Potions any more," she said happily.
--------* * *---------
Harry now knew a bit more about Shan, but he still hadn't solved
the puzzle about her behaviour
toward Jeanne, whom she continued to be cool to. She also refused
to go and see Mrs Chen.
"I don't think she's aware that Mrs Chen is dying,"
Jeanne worriedly told him a few days later,
when he went down to the hut to see how things were. "I've
tried telling her, but she doesn't
seem to want to listen to me."
Mrs Chen was looking worse. She had become very thin and pale,
and didn't seem to recognise
Harry when he went to sit by her bed, as she used to. Jeanne was
spending nearly all her time
at the hut now. She had even stopped attending her Internal Magic
classes.
"I told Master Kung what's happening," she said.
"He was quite sympathetic he even said
I could Portkey back here every week for lessons, after I return
to Hogwarts, if I don't finish
learning all that I'm supposed to."
Harry left, feeling sorry for Mrs Chen. She didn't look like she would last another week.
He was right. The following day, Ron was busy with Pixie, Hermione
was in the library, and
Robert was buried in a book, so Shan brought Harry to the peach
orchard near the lake to
see the school's Talking Tortoises. It seemed that winter did
not come to Tian-Long either :
though it was November, the peach trees were in full bloom, as
if it were spring. The ground
was covered with fallen peach flowers, and it felt as if they
were walking on a pale pink carpet.
There were thirteen tortoises altogether, all of them small
and engaging, the largest about the
size of a large teapot. The two of them had brought their homework
along, and had just settled
down near two tortoises who were singing Chinese opera to each
other, when a postal dragon
appeared and flew over to Shan with a note.
Shan read the note, and a frown came over her face. She placed
it in her pocket, and dismissed
the dragon.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"Nothing," she mumbled, and turned back to the tortoises.
However, Harry noticed that she
wasn't really listening to them. She was staring at them unseeingly,
as if her mind was elsewhere.
Ten minutes later, another postal dragon appeared. Shan looked
impatiently at it, then took the
note and dismissed it. She dropped it in her pocket without even
reading it.
Harry was puzzled, but Shan's face was like a thundercloud,
and he knew he wasn't going to get
anything out of her. They sat in silence for a while, concentrating
on their assignments.
Finally, half an hour later, a third dragon arrived with a note.
Shan lost her temper. She shouted something at the dragon,
then stormed off to the other end
of the orchard.
The dragon gave a quizzical chirp, then looked at Harry. It
came over to him, dropped the note
in his lap, and flew off.
Harry unfolded the note. It contained only one line.
Shan, she's gone. Why didn't you come?
Harry folded the note, feeling sick. He recognised the handwriting;
it was Jeanne's. Mrs Chen
was dead. She must have wanted to see Shan, and Jeanne had sent
the dragons to call her, but
she hadn't gone. What was the matter with her?
He went over to Shan, who was sitting in a corner of the orchard,
scowling at a horn-coloured
tortoise who was singing what sounded like a Chinese folksong.
"Shan," he said, looking down at her, "Mrs Chen is dead."
She looked pale.
"I'm not going," she said, not looking at Harry. "You can go, if you want. I'm staying here."
Harry stared at her for a moment. He felt an urge to grab her
by the shoulders, and shake some
sense into her. If Mrs Chen had still been alive, he might have
dragged her down to the hut, but it
was too late now. Shan was staring at the ground, ignoring him,
so after a while he turned and left
the garden, and made his way to the bamboo grove.
There were no animals outside the hut when he got there. He
went in. Jeanne was there, head
bowed, sitting next to Mrs Chen's still body. To his surprise,
Professor Lupin was there as well,
standing next to Jeanne, a hand on her shoulder.
Jeanne jumped up when she saw Harry, an angry expression on her face.
"Where is Shan?" she burst out. "Why didn't
you make her come? The dragons told me you
were there with her!"
Lupin put an arm around her, and said quietly, "You can't
blame Harry, Jeanne; he couldn't have
made her come if she didn't want to."
Jeanne gave a long, shuddering sigh, and covered her face with
her hands for a moment, then
lowered them. She looked very tired.
"I have to inform Lady Wen-Li," she murmured. She
gently removed Lupin's arm from her
shoulders, and made her way toward the door. She stopped when
she came to Harry.
"I'm sorry I shouted at you, Harry," she said, not
looking at him, "but she was asking for Shan all
day. You don't know what it was like"
She stopped; Harry could see traces of tears on her face. She
sighed, then placed her hand on his
arm and gave it a squeeze, and turned and left the hut.
Harry watched her go. Lupin came over and stood next to him, also watching.
"She - she looks pretty upset," said Harry.
Lupin's face was sober.
"She has reason to be, Harry," he said quietly. "It
isn't only the old lady's death. Something else
has happened : Deorg has disappeared."
Harry turned to look at Lupin in surprise.
"I only told her last night," Lupin said. "About
a week after all of you left for China, Professor
Bubcek sent us a letter. He's had people trailing Deorg over the
last few years. Deorg has been
wandering around Siberia for most of that time, but he has now
vanished without a trace. No one
knows where he is."
Harry felt a chill in his heart. That Dementor he'd seen in
the corridorit could have been Deorg
instead. It had been too dark to see clearly, but Deorg, as Harry
remembered, was tall, and
hooded and robed in black too
He looked at Lupin. He couldn't tell him about the hooded figure
without giving away the fact
that he had been wandering around the palace at night.
"Is that why you're here?" he asked.
Lupin nodded.
"Tian-Long should actually be quite safe, it's so remote,
and almost as well-protected as Hogwarts,"
he said, "but even so, I've come down whenever I could, to
keep an eye on her."
Jeanne had now disappeared from sight. Lupin turned, and looked at Harry.
"Never mind that, Harry," he said, "there's
something else I need to talk to you about. For the rest
of your stay here, I want you to be very kind to Shan."
Harry looked at him in surprise again. "Why?"
Lupin was looking seriously at him.
"Harry," he said quietly, "Mrs Chen is Shan's mother."
Harry was dumbfounded. He wondered if he had heard rightly.
"Shan's mother?" he repeated. "But - Shan's parents are in Singapore!"
Lupin shook his head.
"Mrs Chen told Jeanne that when Shan was seven, she brought
her to Singapore to be adopted,
because she would have a better life there," he said.
Harry took a moment to digest this, and then a great anger
flooded through him. How could Shan
treat her mother like this? Harry would have given anything to
have a mother still living, and here
she was, refusing to visit her mother even when she was dying.
Lupin saw his expression, and looked sternly at him.
"Don't be so quick to judge her, Harry," he said.
"A lot of things have happened that you don't
know about. Mrs Chen admitted herself that she hasn't always treated
Shan well. It's too late
now, anyway, and she's gone. Shan needs someone to give her support
now, and not reproof.
You'll have to provide it, because none of the others knows about
this, and it would be better
for Shan if they didn't."
Harry bit his lip. "I suppose I'd better go look for her now."
Lupin nodded, and Harry took his leave of him and left the hut.
He began making his way back to the peach orchard, although
he felt sure Shan wasn't there any
more. He had no idea what to say to her. Should he just pretend
he didn't know her secret?
What had Mrs Chen done to her, to have alienated her so much?
He thought about the hooded figure again, and decided that
it couldn't have been Deorg. Lupin
had just said that Tian-Long was as well-protected as Hogwarts.
Besides, if it had been Deorg,
he would surely have tried harming Jeanne by now.
Harry had just reached the edge of the bamboo grove when he
saw a small figure coming toward
him : it was Robert.
"Have you seen Shan?" Robert sounded slightly out
of breath. "She missed Western Magic - " Then
he stopped, and looked at Harry's face.
"Something has happened," he said.
Harry looked at Robert. He felt sure Robert knew all about Shan.
"Mrs Chen is dead," he said.
Robert managed to look startled, even with his glasses on.
He stood, looking at Harry for a moment,
then turned and started off toward the lake in a hurry. Harry
ran to catch up with him.
"That's bad," said Robert. "Shan wasn't there when she died, was she?"
Harry shook his head. "Jeanne sent her a message, but she refused to go."
They were scrambling down the steep steps that led down to
the lake. Harry looked down, and saw
Shan far below, sitting at the water's edge.
They reached the bottom, and hurried over to her. Although
Harry was sure she could hear them
coming, she continued staring out over the water till Robert was
standing right next to her, then
looked up at him.
"Are you all right?" asked Robert.
She looked away, out over the lake, then glanced at Harry.
"So, does the whole school know about it, as well?" she said, sounding rather bitter.
Robert hesitated, then sat down next to her, but she immediately got up.
"I'd rather be alone," she said, turning and walking
off, "I don't want to talk, I don't want company,
I don't want to see anyone."
Robert's lips tightened, and he started off after her.
"Stop it, Shan," he said firmly. "You're just running away. You can't - "
"Get away from me!" she suddenly shouted, turning
around. "Especially you - I know, you know
everything about me!"
"Shan," began Robert - but she was now transforming.
In a twinkling, a large green dragon had
taken her place. With an angry roar, it launched itself into the
air, and flew off.
Robert stood there, watching as it disappeared, then made a
small gesture of frustration with his
hand. He turned and sat down, by the water's edge.
Harry stood there for a few moments, watching him uncertainly,
then came over and sat down
next to him.
Robert was staring out across the lake. After several seconds,
ripples appeared on the surface
of the water, and Sang Nila's large head appeared.
"It's all right," Robert said, as Harry got up in a hurry, "he won't hurt you while I'm here."
Sang Nila swam over and came up to Robert, and laid his tawny head at his feet.
Harry sat down again. Robert scratched Sang Nila's head a while,
but Harry had a feeling his
mind was elsewhere.
After several minutes of silence, Harry finally spoke.
"I don't understand," he said. "Why? Why didn't she want to see her mother?"
Robert continued stroking the Merlion's head a while longer,
then turned and looked at Harry.
Harry wished, for the umpteenth time, that Robert would get a
normal pair of glasses.
Robert seemed to read his mind, and took his glasses off. He
laid them in his lap and looked
hesitantly at Harry, as if he wasn't sure where to start.
"Mrs Chen was very strict with Shan when she was a child,"
he began. "She never showed
her any affection whatsoever. Shan felt that everything she did
would somehow displease her."
But that isn't enough reason for her to treat her mother like that, thought Harry.
"Mrs Chen wasn't always fond of animals either, as she
has been, lately," continued Robert.
"She disliked all wildlife. In particular, she has always
hated snakes, partly because she was
afraid of them. If any happened to come near their home, she would
kill them without any mercy."
Sang Nila shifted his head, and Robert absently stroked him.
"Shan likes snakes as much as dragons," said Robert,
"because she can transform into one. She
considers herself one of them. She spent her childhood watching
her mother beating creatures
whom she considered her friends to death. She wondered, if she
transformed into a snake,
whether her mother would kill her too."
"Didn't Mrs Chen know?" asked Harry, "that Shan could transform into a snake?"
Robert shook his head.
"You don't know what Mrs Chen was like in the past, Harry,"
he said. "She wasn't always the
kind old lady you have seen. She never wanted to have children.
She didn't want Shan when she
was born. I know, because my mother was close to Mrs Chen, although
they were only distant
cousins. When Shan's father found out Shan could transform, he
told her never to let her mother
know. Mrs Chen's dislike of snakes was so great that he felt sure
his wife would disown Shan if
she found out she could turn into a snake."
"But - did she know that Shan could transform into a dragon?" asked Harry.
"No," said Robert. "Mrs Chen didn't like animals
then, even dragons. Shan's father felt it would
be better for Shan, if her mother didn't know."
He shifted his position, and leaned himself against Sang Nila's back, looking up at the sky.
"Shan was very close to her father," he said. "She
loved him more than anyone else. He was the one
who gave her that jade dragon pendant, the one she always wears.
She was his 'little jade dragon'."
Harry was listening. He still felt that Shan was lucky, to
at least have had a chance to have known
her father, unlike himself.
Robert's expression became sober.
"The family was very poor, so when Shan was seven, Mrs
Chen decided to bring her to Singapore
to be adopted. She said Shan would have a better life there. But
Shan didn't want to go. She felt
her mother was trying to get rid of her, and she didn't want to
leave her father.
"Mr Chen himself was against it; he didn't want to lose
Shan. But one night when he happened to
be away, Mrs Chen packed all their things, and dragged Shan, kicking
and screaming, to the
nearest Portkey. She had already pre-arranged everything. She
brought Shan to Singapore, to
my home, and I remember Shan refusing to eat anything for three
days. She had to be force-fed.
She was crying for her father, all the time.
"My parents would have liked to adopt Shan, but we were
too poor. I was always ill, and we
already couldn't afford the medical fees. So we asked my father's
cousin and his wife to adopt
her, which they did.
"Shan had a hard time adjusting to life there. She couldn't
speak English, which she needed to
attend school. My uncle and aunt didn't believe us when we told
them she was a witch, because
she never transformed in front of them, or showed any magical
abilities whatsoever. They were
Muggles themselves, and they sent her to a Muggle school. When
they found out she really was
a witch, they regretted adopting her. She felt, all the time,
that no one wanted her."
Harry was beginning to feel sorry for Shan now.
"That wasn't the worst of it," said Robert, looking
at Harry. "When Mrs Chen returned to China,
she discovered that Mr Chen had gone mad from grief. He couldn't
recognise his wife any more.
He kept asking where Shan was. He would wander outdoors at night,
calling for her. Mrs Chen
wrote to my mother, telling us that her husband would wander up
into the mountains at night,
looking for his daughter. The people in the village below could
hear his voice every night,
echoing among the hills, calling her name."
Harry was silent. No wonder she had been so terrified that
night, when they had heard Yang-Kang
shouting.
"Finally, one night Mr Chen went out and never came back,"
said Robert. "There was a storm that
night, and people think that he must have fallen into a ravine.
For a long time, we didn't dare let Shan
know what had happened. She was already upset because her father
never wrote to her. My home
was near hers, and she was always at my place because she hated
staying with my aunt and uncle.
She somehow came across her mother's letters one day, and discovered
the truth."
Harry was feeling quite dreadful now. I shouldn't have asked
her about her father, that time during
Potions, he thought.
Robert gave a small sigh. He sat up, and looked out over the lake again.
"I found her sitting in a corner of my mother's bedroom,
looking very pale, with the letters in her lap.
She never said a word about it, or cried a single tear. She went
home soon after that, and we later
heard that she had fallen ill. She was ill for several weeks,
and after she recovered she never did well
in school. I tried to help her, because we were in the same class,
but she failed everything."
Harry was still feeling bad.
"I'd never have guessed it," he said. "She always seems cheerful."
Robert nodded, then shrugged.
"It was a relief when the letters from Tian-Long arrived,
and we came to China," he said. "Her
schoolwork picked up, and she managed to make friends. But she
never forgave her mother for
what she did. She blamed her for everything, and she refused to
go and see her, even though she
knew her mother was staying in the school grounds."
Harry had never thought Robert capable of talking so much, and for such a long time.
"Mrs Chen, by then, regretted the way she'd treated Shan.
She must have found out from my
mother that Shan could transform, and she tried to mend her waysthat's
why she started feeding
the animals, to show Shan that she didn't mind them any more.
"But Shan couldn't forgive her mother, for a long time.
It was only lately that she told me that she
had decided to put the past behind her, and make it up with her
mother. The day before our
Internal Magic test, she told me she was going to speak to her
mother soon. Things might just
have worked out, if only Mrs Chen hadn't fallen into the river."
Harry looked at Robert, startled. Robert, seeing his expression, nodded.
"Shan felt she was a coward, that she should have been
the one to transform and save her mother,
instead of letting Chien-Mei do it. But she had always felt ashamed
of her ability to transform, and
she couldn't bring herself to let anyone know. After that she
tried to visit her mother, but she found
that Mrs Chen could now talk of no one except Chien-Mei. She thought
Chien-Mei was wonderful,
because she had saved her life. Shan felt Chien-Mei had taken
her place, and that there was no
room for her any more."
Harry was beginning to understand, now.
"I see," he said, slowly.
"Shan was very upset," said Robert. "She felt
that fate was punishing her. She already blames
herself for her father's death, because if he hadn't been so fond
of her, he might not have gone
mad. She felt that she had lost her mother now, as well. She felt
that no matter what she did or
how hard she tried, she would always fail. She hasn't wanted to
face the fact that her mother
was dying. She couldn't bear the thought of going to her mother's
bedside, with Chien-Mei there,
and hearing her talk about how wonderful Chien-Mei was."
Robert was silent for a moment, looking out over the lake,
then sighed and got up. Sang Nila,
who had fallen into a doze, stirred and looked up at him. He then
turned and made his way
back into the water, and disappeared beneath its surface with
scarcely a ripple.
"We should go back," Robert said. "Our next class will be starting soon."
He waited till Harry had stood up, and they were making their
way up the stone steps, before
continuing.
"I know Shan doesn't want to face up to the fact that
her mother's really gone. She's afraid
of seeing her mother dead, and knowing that she's caused her mother
nothing but trouble
all her life, and that it's now too late to make up for any of
it."
"Guess there's nothing I can do," said Harry, after a few moments.
Robert hesitated.
"You could give her some company," he said. "She
won't be talking to me for a while now.
She's got her pride, and I'm too close to her. She doesn't like
to think anyone's pitying her,
and sometimes she resents the fact that I know everything about
her past."
"Me?" Harry was startled. "I don't even know what to say to her!"
Robert shrugged.
"No need to say anything," he said. "Just treat
her as you usually do. She likes your company;
she's already told you more about herself than she's told any
of her other friends."
They had reached the top of the cliff.
"I've never seen her cry a tear, ever since that day she
found her mother's letters," said Robert.
"She keeps everything bottled up inside. If she could confide
in someone else besides me, it
would do her good."
He put his glasses on again, signalling the end of the conversation.
They walked in silence,
all the way back to the school.
-