Hi there, thanks for the reviews so far. Silimay, as you can
see, you were quite right, Robert's
character is going to develop more as the story goes. [Oh no,
I have a reader trying to guess
my plot! Well, please don't drop any spoilers. :o) ]
Yes, we'll get to Hogwarts soon. After this chapter, there's
one more in Tian-Long and then
that's the end of Part One. How come everyone thinks Shan and
Harry will hook up? :o)
I shall not divulge anything. But you'll see that things in this
story, as in real life, won't always
turn out straightforward ...
~ Kim (gryffindor1970@yahoo.com)
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HARRY POTTER AND THE JADE DRAGON
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Chapter XIV
Yu-Lin's Revenge
An early cricket
chirps, then pauses;
The dying lamp gutters
Outside my window it is raining
The leaves of the willow
First know its drumming
~ Bai Ju-Yu, Tang
Dynasty
Shan was
very quiet and subdued over the next few days. Robert was right;
she didn't
seem to want to talk to him; they sat at separate places in class,
and would go their own
ways after that. Ron and Hermione, of course, were wondering what
had happened, but
the others didn't seem surprised.
"It happens," said Fatty placidly. "When you
spend so much time together, you're bound
to have some disagreement. They'll patch up in a day or two, wait
and see. I've seen it
happen before."
Shan seemed depressed and rather lost, without Robert around.
She was used to doing her
homework with him, and asking him for help whenever she didn't
understand something.
Harry tried to keep her company as Robert had suggested, though
he could hardly think of
anything comforting to say. She didn't seem to mind him being
around, anyway, and he would
sometimes do his homework together with her, or accompany her
to the Caverns, staying
outside while she went in to talk to the dragons.
One day after Care of Magical Creatures, he stayed to wait
for her, because she wanted to
talk to Chen-Kang about something. Ron stayed back as well, since
Pixie had gone off for
one of her classes. To Harry's annoyance, Malfoy, instead of disappearing
with Yu-Lin as he
usually did, saw them and came over to bother them, an annoying
smile on his pointed face.
"So Potty and the Weasel have both found girlfriends,"
he said softly, looking at them, his
pale eyes narrowing. He glanced at Shan, in the distance. "But
she's a plain Jane, isn't she,
Potter - compared to the previous one."
Harry glared at him. "What are you talking about?"
Malfoy smirked.
"Your previous crush, Potter," he drawled, a sly
gleam in his eyes, "remember - the one who
turned you down for the Ball?" He flicked another glance
at Shan. "She's a poor second, isn't
she, Potter? But I suppose that's the best that you can do."
Harry was furious. How had Malfoy found out about Cho? Cho's
friends must have seen Harry
asking her to the Yule Ball, and blabbed about it to everyone.
"Shut up, Malfoy," said Ron, seeing that Harry was
too angry to speak, "Speak for yourself - no
one'd ever look at you. How much did you bribe Pug-nosed
Parkinson, to get her to go with you?"
"She's better than that cheap little piece of trash that
you're with, Weasley," retorted Malfoy coolly.
"Better send her for a check-up before you do anything serious
with her, in case you catch something
from her - I hear she's had countless other flings before."
Harry held Ron back, because Chen-Kang could see them, and
Crabbe and Goyle were coming
toward them together with Yu-Lin. Shan had also finished with
Chen-Kang, and was coming over.
Malfoy, aware that she could probably set the dragons on him if
she wanted to, gave one last smirk
and left.
"Is something wrong?" asked Shan, coming up to them.
Harry felt his face going red.
"It's nothing," he mumbled, finding himself unable
to meet her eyes, "Just Malfoy being his usual
nauseating self."
Ron was fuming, and his face was even redder than Harry's.
"Piece of trash, indeed," he spluttered, "That
Parkinson - not that they're together, anyway - is always
reading all those porn periodicals - " He saw Shan looking
at him, startled, and broke off. He stomped
off, muttering angrily to himself, leaving the other two to catch
up with him.
Harry looked at Ron, rather worried, as they started to follow him.
"Was Malfoy talking about Xiao-Yan?" asked Shan,
also watching Ron. She looked at Harry's face.
"You're not worried about him, are you?"
"Well" Harry was reluctant to say it, "Pixie
does have a lot of admirers. And she plays up to them
as well. They're always giving her flowers and gifts - Hermione
says your dorm is full of them. I can't
help wondering if she isn't just leading Ron on."
Shan looked thoughtfully at Ron's back.
"I don't think so, Harry," she said. "I've known
Pixie longer than you. She can't help being a bit wild.
She doesn't get much attention at home...her parents are very
conservative, old-fashioned Chinese.
Her four sisters were all matchmade with their husbands - all
of them are married now. Pixie's a bit
thoughtless and giddy and she likes the attention she gets, but
she's not serious about it. She's never
stayed with any of her past boyfriends for more than a week, but
she's been hanging out with Ron
for more than a month now. I think she really does like him."
They soon caught up with Ron, and walked on in silence for
a while. As they passed the bamboo
grove, Harry saw a small figure heading in the direction of the
lake. It was Robert, obviously going
to visit Sang Nila.
Shan had seen him as well. Harry, glancing at her face, could tell that she missed him.
"We don't have any classes now," he said casually, "why don't we go to the lake?"
Shan wasn't fooled. She glared at Harry for a moment, then
looked at Robert's disappearing figure
rather sadly, and shook her head.
"I think I'll go to the library," she said quietly,
"I'll see all of you later." She turned and made her
way
toward the palace, without waiting for them.
Ron, who hadn't noticed that anything was wrong, watched Shan going off.
"Sohow are you and she getting along?" he asked.
Harry looked at him in surprise. Ron grinned at him.
"C'mon, Harry," he said, "you do like
her, don't you? I get the impression the two of you would get
along fine, if only Robert wouldn't keep sticking next to her."
Harry felt rather irritated.
"There isn't anything," he said.
Ron looked disbelieving. "Don't tell me you don't like her, at least a bit."
Harry hesitated. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure how he felt
about Shan. He liked her very much as
a friend, of course. The fact that she sometimes made him think
of Cho Chang confused him. Harry
wasn't sure why she reminded him of Cho. After that initial odd
feeling whenever he saw her, he
would often look at her and decide that she didn't look like Cho,
after all. Besides, he wasn't sure
how Shan felt about him. Then, there was Robert, whom Harry couldn't
help liking. Robert didn't
seem to have any close friends; he and Shan were used to being
together, and Harry didn't want
to break them up in any way.
"There really isn't anything, Ron," he said. "Not
like you and Pixie. How are the two of you getting
along, anyway?"
Ron went red, as he usually did whenever anyone brought Pixie's name up.
"I know you people think she's a bit of a flirt,"
he mumbled, looking at the ground, "but she's not
always like that. When you talk to her one-to-one, she's quite
different" He broke off, looking
embarrassed. Harry grinned at him.
"C'mon, let's go back to the Pagoda," he said, deciding not pursue the matter any further.
Harry had noticed that Shan was not the only one feeling down.
Hermione, too, had been
looking moody. She had been spending a lot of her time in the
library, reading whatever
English books she could find there, and would snap at Harry whenever
he asked her if
anything was wrong.
That evening in the Green Dragon common room, Chee Chong, at
Ron's request, brought
his Chinese Chess set out, and began explaining about the different
pieces. Harry was sitting
to one side listening, while Hermione was some distance away,
searching around in her bag
for one of her books. She took some sheets of parchment out, and
then gave an exclamation
of dismay.
Harry looked at her. The sheets of parchment were almost completely
black in colour, as if
someone had dipped them in a bucket of ink.
He went over to have a look. "What happened?"
Hermione was staring at the parchment as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"This can't have happened," she said numbly. "Someone's
done this to me. Someone's poured
ink all over my essays."
Robert, who had been sitting in a corner reading, had also come over.
"Give them to me," he said, "I think I can fix them."
He took the assignments from her, and tapped them with his
wand. The inkstains all turned a
bright, translucent red. Under the red layer, Hermione's original
neat writing was visible, in black.
Harry was fascinated. "What did you do?"
"Separated the new layer of ink from the old," said
Robert. "The black letters have set into
the parchment for a longer time." He began to rub the parchment
with the tip of his wand,
using it like an eraser, rubbing the red layer of ink off.
"It'll take a bit of time," he said to Hermione, "I'll give them back to you later."
Hermione nodded, still looking rather stunned. Robert went
back to his corner, and continued
erasing the ink stains. Hermione went and sat against the wall,
looking glum. She took a book
out of her bag, and began to read.
Harry, seeing that Hermione looked as if she didn't want to
be disturbed, went back to Ron
and Chee Chong, still wondering about the inkstains. First Chee
Chong, then Fatty, and now
Hermione. He wondered if Malfoy had anything to do with it. He
and Yu-Lin were still giving
them sly looks in class, and looking pleased with themselves.
At this moment, Jeanne came into the room, looking thoughtful.
She spotted Robert in his
corner, and went over to him.
"Robert, bring me your robes," she said quietly, "I'd like to mend them."
Robert obediently put the parchment down, and went off to his dormitory.
Jeanne came over and sat down next to Harry. Chee Chong was
now explaining the rules
of the game to Ron. The Chinese Chessboard looked rather similar
to the English one, but
all the pieces were flat and circular. Like the English chess
pieces, they were also talking
and giving instructions, but in polite, gentle voices, and in
Chinese.
"So, we have two armies," Chee Chong was saying.
"You must checkmate the King of the
opposing army. This strip in the middle" - he pointed at
a silver strip of metal that divided
the board in two - "is a liver."
"Liv -? Oh, river, right," said Ron, with a straight face.
They started playing. Ron had difficulty recognising the pieces
because they all looked
similar, and could only be identified by a Chinese character etched
on their tops. Finally,
Chee Chong scribbled the names on pieces of parchment and stuck
it to each piece.
"It's a pity you don't understand Chinese, Ron,"
said Jeanne, watching with interest, "the
pieces are actually thinking their tactics through quite well.
They're giving fairly good advice."
"That's easily solved," said Harry. He took the Translator
out of his pocket, and handed it
to Ron.
Robert had come back with his shabby robes. Jeanne took her
wand out, and began to
mend them. Harry turned to look at Hermione, who was still staring
glumly at her book.
He felt sure she wasn't really reading.
He went over to her. "How's everything?"
She didn't look up. "Fine."
Harry was silent for a moment.
"You're looking a bit down, Hermione," he said quietly,
so that the others wouldn't hear.
"Anything wrong?"
Hermione suddenly lowered her book, and glared at him.
"I'm fine," she snapped. "Just fine. Leave me alone, will you?"
She threw her book down, and stormed out of the room, tears in her eyes.
Harry sat where he was, staring after her. Ron and Chee Chong
were still absorbed in their
game, but Jeanne and Robert had heard, and came over.
"What happened?" Jeanne looked rather anxious.
"Dunno," said Harry, still feeling surprised. "I
just asked her if everything was OK, that's
all. She's been looking gloomy lately."
Robert glanced at Hermione's bag. Four library books were sticking out of it.
"She's homesick, Harry," he said. "Ron's been
busy with Pixie, and you've made pretty
good friends with Shan. But Hermione's not really close to any
of us. She's been by herself,
in the library, most of the time."
Harry felt bad. He hadn't meant to neglect Hermione, just that
so many things had been
happening that he hadn't noticed her feeling left out.
Jeanne got up.
"I'll go have a talk with her," she said, and left the room.
Robert went back to his corner, and continued cleaning Hermione's
essays. After about half
an hour, Hermione came back in. There was a rather odd look on
her face. She picked her
bag up, went over to Robert, and sat down next to him.
Harry watched her, feeling rather nonplussed. Hermione didn't
look upset any more. He
wondered what Jeanne had said to her. Perhaps, to distract her,
she'd asked Hermione to
keep Robert company, until he and Shan patched up.
Robert looked rather surprised (even with his glasses on) but
he gave Hermione a small smile,
then went back to cleaning the parchment. Hermione quietly read
her library book for a few
minutes, then tried to start a conversation. As far as Harry could
tell, they were talking about
books. Robert took his usual collection of books out of his bag,
and Hermione began examining
them.
After a while, Shan came in. She looked surprised to see Hermione
sitting with Robert, but
came over to Harry and sat down next to him, pretending to watch
the chess game. She
occasionally glanced at Robert, though, and Harry knew she was
missing him badly. He felt
rather impatient with Hermione. Shan looked as if she was finally
ready to patch up with Robert;
why on earth must Hermione start trying to make friends with him
now?
Shan watched the game for a while, then got up with a small sigh.
"I'm a bit tired," she said, to no one in particular.
"I think I'll go to bed." And she left the room,
pointedly not looking at the corner where Robert was sitting.
Fortunately, things sorted themselves out the next day, before their Divination class.
Harry and Shan found Yu-Lin and the Slytherins already in the
classroom when they got there.
Harry noticed that Crabbe and Goyle, over the last few weeks,
had become enormously fat.
They had been having a field day with all the good food at Tian-Long,
and must have been
working their house-elf to the bone. They could often be seen
choffing away on various sweet
things in between meals, like the moon-cakes, and wintermelon
sweets. They looked almost as
bad as Dudley - as wide as they were tall, which was ten times
worse because they were a lot
taller than Dudley. Harry wondered what Snape would say when he
saw them, back at Hogwarts.
Robert was also there, sitting alone near the back. He had
been taking his meals in the Hall of
Dragons, because he knew the others would feel uncomfortable if
both he and Shan were at the
table together, and not speaking to each other. Shan hesitated
when she saw him there, and
Harry knew she wanted to patch up with him.
Unsure what to do, she stalled for time by plonking her bag
down on a side table, and pretending
to take her Divination homework out. She pulled out several sheets
of parchment, then gave an
exclamation of dismay.
Harry, suspecting what had happened, went over to her. Sure
enough, the homework was all
covered with black ink.
"What happened," moaned Shan. "I spent ages
on this stupid thing. And I hate Divination. Now
I've got to do it all over again, and she'll give me demerits
for handing it in late."
Robert had overheard, and had come over.
"I'll fix it," he said quietly.
Shan looked at him, then handed him the parchment. Robert took
it, went back to his seat, and
started working on it.
Shan picked up her bag and looked at him, hesitating. Harry
dumped his own bag on the seat
next to him, so that she couldn't sit there, and pretended he
was absorbed in his Book of Changes.
Shan stood there for a moment or two, then went over and sat down
next to Robert.
Robert gave her his usual quiet smile, then bent over the ink-stained
parchment again. Shan watched
him for a while, then stared at the top of the desk in front of
her, and said in a small voice, "Sorry
I've been an idiot."
Robert was still looking at the parchment, but he smiled again.
"It's OK," he said placidly. And after that, everything was just as it had been, before.
Malfoy had been watching Robert cleaning the parchment, and was now smiling in delight.
"People've been pretty careless in this class lately,
haven't they, Potter," he said softly, so that Robert
wouldn't hear. "Lucky for you that you've escaped, so far."
Harry glared at him. "What do you mean?"
Malfoy smiled maliciously, but at this moment, Ron, Pixie and
all the others came in, together with
Madam Tang.
Ron slid into the seat next to Harry, looking agitated.
"Look at this," he whispered, opening his bag. The
entire interior of the bag was swimming in black
ink, and Ron's Divination homework had been completely destroyed.
"Malfoy did it," Harry muttered. "Don't know how, but he more or less hinted it, just now."
"Good thing I only had my Divination homework in there,"
Ron said in an undertone, so that Madam
Tang, who had gone to a corner of the room to replenish her joss-sticks,
wouldn't hear, "but the old
cockroach is going to explode. She hates anyone handing in late
work."
"Don't worry, Ronniekins," whispered Pixie from behind,
"Leave it to me." She held out a roll of
parchment. "Here, take this, and just read what's on it when
she calls you."
Ron took the parchment she handed to him, and unrolled it.
"It's blank," he whispered back at Pixie.
"Not for long," she said, "Watch."
She began writing on another blank piece of parchment in front
of her. Words began appearing
on Ron's piece of parchment, as well.
Ron goggled at it, then turned around again.
"That wasn't the question I chose," he hissed.
Pixie dimpled at him.
"No, Ronniekins," she said tenderly, "I've chosen it."
Harry looked at the parchment. The first line went : "Question: Should I one day get married?"
Ron was looking at it with an agonized expression. He turned
around and hissed, "Choose another
question! I refuse to read this in front of Malfoy!"
Pixie, however, merely giggled, and continued writing. Madam
Tang cleared her throat, indicating
the class was about to start. Unfortunately for Ron, she saw him
turning around and whispering to
Pixie, and singling him out first, asked him to read out his homework.
Pixie hadn't finished writing yet; she was flipping through
her Book of Changes, looking for something.
Ron, going red, said, "I haven't finished it yet."
Madam Tang, peering short-sightedly at him from where she was
standing, said severely, "I see
parchment in front of you, with words on it. It is clear, then,
that you have done your homework.
Read it out, Mr Weasley!"
Ron groaned under his breath. Pixie, behind him, was now writing
as fast as she could. He stood up,
face still red, and mumbled the first line.
"Question: Should I one day get married?"
Chee Chong, with Chester perched gloomily on top of his head,
looked startled that Ron would have
chosen such a question, as did Fatty and the others. Yu-Lin gave
a sarcastic smile, while Malfoy
sniggered, and Crabbe and Goyle gave stupid guffaws.
Madam Tang frowned at them, then curtly nodded at Ron to continue.
Ron, anxious to get it over with, began to rattle off the rest.
"I came up with Hexagram number thirty-one : Influence
(Wooing)" - he choked a bit on this -
" 'Influence. Success. Perseverance furthers. To take
a maiden to wife brings good fortune.' "
He stopped, because Pixie hadn't finished writing the next
line yet. He looked at Madam Tang,
and saw that she was still looking expectantly at him.
"Continue, Mr Weasley!" she said, sharply.
Ron glanced at his parchment, and saw to his relief that Pixie
had finished the next few lines.
He took a breath, and without reading through them first, rattled
them off.
" 'The Image : 'the superior man encourages people
to approach him, by his readiness to
receive them.' Interpretation : Marriage is favourable.
This-means-Pixie-and-I-are-meant-to-be
-together-and-we-will-one-day-get-mar-" He suddenly realised
what he was reading, and broke
off in horror. Pixie, behind him, went into a fit of giggles.
Madam Tang frowned fiercely, and shuffled forward. She snatched
Ron's parchment out of his hand,
and looked at it. Then she went to Pixie, and took her piece of
parchment away as well.
"So," she said in her hoarse voice, "twin parchments."
She glared angrily at Ron, who was still red in the face, then
turned to look at Pixie, who was well
known for not being serious in class. "Your idea of a joke,
Xiao-Yan, I presume." She paused,
and then frowning even more fiercely, said, "And where is
your homework?"
Pixie, who was famous for never handing anything in on time,
said with a martyred expression on
her face, "I meant to do it yesterday, but something came
up -"
"Enough!" snapped Madam Tang. "You will do it now, in front of us. Choose a question!"
She took some bronze coins out of her pocket, and handed them to Pixie.
Pixie seemed quite unabashed. She thought for a while, then
said demurely, "My question is : will
I ever find a man that I cannot conquer?" She then giggled
idiotically.
Madam Tang's eyes narrowed. She made an impatient movement
with her hand, indicating Pixie
should toss the coins.
Pixie did so. She came up with Hexagram number four : Youthful Folly.
"Ha!" croaked Madam Tang, her eyes gleaming. "Let us see the meaning of this!"
She picked up her Book of Changes, flipped to the correct
page, and began reading triumphantly,
" 'The Judgement : It is not I who seek the young fool;
the young fool seeks me. If he asks two
or three times, it is importunity. If he importunes, I give him
no information.' "
Madam Tang's eyes narrowed again, and she glared at Pixie, her eyes glinting.
"Brazen girl," she hissed, "You will get what
you deserve. Here is what fate foretells : A man will
conquer you. He will have dominion over you, and much as you want
to flee, you cannot. You
will do as he tells you to."
Pixie stood there, an innocent expression on her face. She
flicked a glance at Ron, and Madam
Tang's description contrasted so ludicrously with him that she
couldn't control herself, and broke
into giggles again.
Madam Tang seemed incensed.
"Ten demerits for late work!" she snapped. "And
five demerits for being bold! You and Ronald
will stay back here after class, and do twice the homework! I
want it handed in by the end of
the next period!"
She was in a very bad mood after that, and the class was glad when the lesson was over.
Shan and Robert had to leave for their next class, but the
others were free for that period, so
they stayed back to keep Pixie and Ron company while they finished
their Divination homework.
"It's a good thing the demerits here only go to the individual,"
said Fatty, taking a small abacus
out of his lacquer box, and absently sliding the beads on it to
and fro. "And not to the entire
House, as in Hogwarts, or Xiao-Yan would be a real liability to
Crimson Phoenix. She probably
incurs more demerits in this school than anyone else."
"She makes it up by gaining melits," said Chee Chong,
looking around for Chester, who had
disappeared. "The Herborogy Master has a clush on her. He
spends most of his time in crass
giving her melits when she smiles at him."
Pixie, obviously thinking this was a compliment, dimpled at him.
Crabbe and Goyle had disappeared, probably in search of more
food, but Malfoy and Yu-Lin,
seeing that Robert wasn't around, had stayed back.
"Your bag looks even shabbier than usual, Weasley,"
said Malfoy, watching in delight as Ron
tried to remove the ink from his bag with an evaporating spell.
"Perhaps you should buy a new
one - oh, I forgot, you probably wouldn't be able to afford
it."
"Drink ink, Malfoy," snapped Ron. He pointed his
wand at Malfoy, and a jet of ink shot out
of it, staining Malfoy's pale hair black.
Malfoy stood up and snatched his own wand out, but Chee Chong
hurriedly said, "Lady Han-Yin
is coming!"
Malfoy sat down again, as Lady Han-Yin went past the classroom.
She looked in and saw them
there, and smiled at them, then continued on her way.
Yu-Lin looked disdainfully at Chee Chong.
"So, our goody-two-shoes little country bumpkin has saved the day," she sneered.
Chee Chong went red, but said nothing.
"Keep quiet, Yu-Lin," said Fatty, "Chong leads
a far more useful life working on his parents' farm,
during the holidays, than some good-for-nothing persons who only
know how to sit around in their
father's house, giving other people orders."
Yu-Lin looked at Fatty with a curious gleam in her eyes.
"Speaking of fathers, Wing-Fatt," she said softly
and sweetly, "I just received a most interesting
letter from mine, before the class started. There was some information
in it regarding your father."
She took a letter out, and tossed it at Fatty.
Fatty scowled, and picked the letter up. He looked rather pale after reading it.
"This is some fabricated story," he snapped, throwing
the letter back at Yu-Lin. "Which can easily
be disproved by a call home."
He started taking his crystal globe out. Pixie, however, had
seen something. She tugged at Ron's
sleeve, and giggling, nodded at Yu-Lin.
Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look. Chester had been crawling
up Yu-Lin's back all the
while. He had now reached her neck, and was disappearing inside
her collar.
"We've got to stop him," hissed Hermione,
but it was too late. Yu-Lin, feeling something crawling
down her back, jumped up and started screaming, probably thinking
it was a spider. The long-suffering
Phoenix on her shoulder gave a startled squawk, and spread its
wings to keep its balance. Still screaming,
Yu-Lin began hitting at her back, and pushed her hand down the
back of her collar, writhing in horror.
Malfoy looked up at her, startled. Fatty and Chee Chong looked
surprised, while Pixie, Ron and Harry
were in stitches.
Yu-Lin managed to get hold of Chester, and pulled him out and
flung him on the floor. Then, her face
white and angry, she pulled out her wand, and before anyone could
stop her, pointed it at Chester.
A jet of light shot out and hit Chester, and he burst into flames.
"No!" shouted Chee Chong, jumping forward. But it
was too late; Chester was now nothing but a
small pile of ashes.
Pixie and Fatty jumped up, and started shouting at Yu-Lin in
Chinese. Ron and Hermione were
watching in confusion. Only Harry, who had the Translator on,
could understand what was happening.
Fatty jabbed at his abacus with his wand, and the beads all
came off their wires and changed into a
swarm of bees. They flew at Yu-Lin, buzzing angrily.
Yu-Lin screamed, and raised her arms to protect her face. Malfoy
took his wand out, pointed it
at the bees, and muttered something. The bees changed back into
beads and dropped to the floor,
bouncing around in all directions.
Pixie, still yelling, also pulled her wand out and pointed
it at Yu-Lin. A bolt of light shot out of it.
Yu-Lin dodged, but the bolt of light sliced through the gold cord
binding the Phoenix to her. The
Phoenix gave a call of triumph, and launched itself into the air.
It flew swiftly once around the
room, its feathers shimmering in the morning sunlight, then darted
out the door, and was gone.
Yu-Lin gave a cry of dismay, her face pale as she watched the Phoenix disappear.
"You little slut!" she screamed at Pixie. "Look what you've done!"
"Don't you call me a slut!" screeched Pixie. "How dare you! When your own mother is a whore!"
This was too much for Yu-Lin. She took her wand, pointed it at Pixie, and snapped out a command.
There was a flash of light, and then Pixie's arms were gone
: two feathery wings had taken their place.
Pixie looked at them in horror for a moment, then continued screaming
at Yu-Lin, flapping her wings
angrily. Fatty had now conjured up some balls of light, and was
throwing them at Yu-Lin.
A deafening explosion at the door suddenly made all of them
jump. Lady Han-Yin was standing
there, smoking wand in hand, her face furious, her eyes flashing
dangerously. Fatty hurriedly
dissolved his balls of light. Pixie stopped screeching, and lowered
her wings. Yu-Lin was looking
at Lady Han-Yin, her face ashen. Only Chee Chong was still kneeling
next to what was left of
Chester, his head in his hands.
Lady Han-Yin pointed her wand at Pixie, and her wings transformed
back into arms again. She
then picked up her crystal ball, and looked at the shimmering
lights within it.
"I see," she said coldly. She pointed a finger at
Yu-Lin's letter, which was lying on the floor, and
it flew into the air and over to her hand.
"The three of you will follow me," she snapped. Fatty,
not daring to use magic to reassemble his
abacus, went and collected the beads by hand. He, Pixie and Yu-Lin
gathered up their things,
and went to the door in silence. Yu-Lin was trembling slightly,
looking at the letter in Lady
Han-Yin's hand.
Lady Han-Yin was about to leave, when the crystal ball started
shimmering again. She touched
it with her fingertips, then turned and looked at Malfoy.
"My crystal tells me something most interesting, Mr Malfoy,"
she said quietly, coming over to
him. She gestured with one hand, and a jar came flying out of
Malfoy's bag and into her hand.
Inside were several small, black, squirming blobs.
Lady Han-Yin fixed Malfoy with a stern eye.
"This cannot be obtained anywhere except at the Black
Magic shops in the Forbidden area of the
City," she said. "And I recall expressly telling
you that no one is allowed to go there."
Her crystal shimmered again, and Lady Han-Yin consulted it briefly.
"Quite a number of victims in this class, I see,"
she said. She glanced at the letter in her hand. "And
your father's name is mentioned here, too." She looked at
Malfoy, a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"You, too, will come with me, Mr Malfoy," she said.
"Professor Dumbledore will be most
interested to know of today's happenings."
Malfoy shot a resentful look at her, but gathered up his things and did as she said.
Lady Han-Yin led them from the room. Harry and the others waited
till they had disappeared
out the door, then went over to Chee Chong.
"Don't feel bad, Chee Chong," said Hermione, looking
at him worriedly, "Chester's gone to a
better place now. You can get another cricket."
Chee Chong's face was rather red, and he looked close to tears.
"I do not want another clicket," he said, his voice
shaking slightly. With trembling hands, he
conjured up a tiny little urn, and swept Chester's ashes into
it.
"I would like to be alone for a while," he said,
looking extremely upset. He picked his bag
up and left the room, still clutching the urn.
Ron turned to Harry.
"What happened?" he said. "I didn't understand half of what was going on."
Harry told them.
"Wonder what those blobs in the jar were," he added, at the end of it.
"And what happened to Fatty's father," Ron said.
"Yu-Lin is in big trouble," said Hermione, looking
thoughtful. "I've read the school rules in the
English translation of A Brief History of Tian-Long Academyyou
can be expelled if you're
caught trying to transfigure another student in a fight."
Still feeling sorry for Chester and Chee Chong, they gathered
their bags and headed back to
the Green Dragon common room to wait for Shan. This would be their
last week at Tian-Long,
and they had obtained permission to make one last trip down to
the Celestial City that day.
After about half an hour, Shan and Robert came in. They looked
concerned when the others
told them what had happened.
"I hope Fatty is all right," said Shan anxiously,
"I felt sure after the spider incident that Yu-Lin
would try to get her own back on us. I've heard that she's like
that - she's her father's favourite,
and she often gets him to help her in her petty affairs. She hasn't
got the guts to face up to
Robert, so she must have tried to do something to Fatty instead."
They headed for the Caverns. On the way, they noticed quite
a number of postal dragons
flying past, coming in and out of the school.
"Is something happening?" asked Hermione, looking curiously at the dragons.
Shan looked thoughtful.
"I'm not sure," she said. "Lady Wen-Li has been
receiving a lot of mail lately. From what I've
heard, the various Pugilistic Sects want to visit the school earlier
this year, and stay around for
a longer time to select students who intend to join one of the
Internal Magic schools when they
graduate. Lady Wen-Li has refused them entry so far, saying it
isn't necessary, but even so
some of the Sect members have already come down, and are staying
down in the City."
They soon reached the Caverns. Shan saddled WindStar, and they
mounted her. Harry was
so used to dragons by now that he had lost the initial wary feeling
he'd had in the beginning
whenever he saw any of them. Of course, most of the dragons he'd
encountered were tame,
or if they had been wild, Shan had been around to control them.
He wondered what the
dragons in Romania were like, remembering the burns and calluses
he'd seen on Charlie
Weasley's arms.
WindStar extended her large, batlike wings. Harry felt the
familiar thrust of her powerful
muscles, and then they were airborne, rising rapidly up into a
clear, blue, cloudless sky.
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