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HARRY POTTER AND THE JADE DRAGON - PART TWO
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Chapter XVI
Back at Hogwarts
What I love best
in all the world
Is a castle, precipice-encurled
~ R.Browning
Harry was lounging on one of
the squashy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room,
drinking his fourth bottle of butterbeer. It had been morning
when he, Ron and Hermione
had arrived back at Hogwarts, and the Gryffindors had taken their
return as an excuse to
throw a small party. The evening had been a most satisfactory
one, spent recounting their
exploits in China.
The remnants of the party now lay all about them; empty beer
bottles were scattered
around various parts of the room, half-eaten goodies (smuggled
in from Honeydukes) lay
on the table, while several unopened bottles of pumpkin juice
stood on the floor.
Most of the Gryffindors had gone to bed, leaving only the students
in Harry's year who had
volunteered to clean up the mess. Ron was sitting next to Harry,
Summoning empty beer
bottles to himself and placing them in a large bucket. Hermione,
who had been the only one
to bring a camera to Tian-Long, was packing her photographs away.
She appeared to have
just remembered something, for there was a slightly worried expression
on her face.
"Whassup?" said Harry, looking lazily at her.
"Crabbe and Goyle," said Hermione seriously, "Professor
McGonagall told me, when I went
to hand in my homework, that they've been suspended from the exchange
programme as well."
"They have?" said Ron, his face brightening. "No kidding?"
Hermione frowned at him.
"What's the problem, Hermione," said Harry, stretching
and tossing his empty bottle into Ron's
bucket, "it's an all-round victory for us - we've managed
to get rid of all three of 'em : Crabbe,
Goyle, and Malfoy."
"Well, yes, but don't you see," said Hermione impatiently,
"that only leaves three Hogwarts
students in the exchange classit's disgraceful. The programme
is to let the Chinese students
interact with the British studentsit won't be a proper exchange
programme, if there are so
few of us."
"Oh, didn't McGonagall tell you?" said Dean, who
had overheard. "The rest of our class have
been roped into the programme as well."
"What?" The three of them turned to look at him.
"We've still got our usual classes," said Seamus,
who was with Dean, "but McGonagall told us
before you came back that we're to attend the exchange classes
as well. Not all of them, but
she said that at least three of us have to attend each class,
to make up for the three missing
Hogwarts students. We have to decide among ourselves who's to
attend what."
"Well, some of that is easily solved," said Ron.
"Parvati and Lavendar definitely won't mind
having an extra Divination lesson or two."
"And Defence Against the Dark Arts, that's alright too," said Harry.
"Butwho wants to volunteer for Potions?" said
Dean, casting a sly glance at Neville, who
was nearby, listening.
Neville, however, shocked them by saying, "I'll attend Potions - for the first month, anyway."
All of them goggled at him in surprise. Neville, seeing this, went pink.
"Neville, are you all right?" said Ron at last, breaking
the stunned silence. "I mean, you're not
delirious with fever or anything, are you?"
Neville went pinker, then gave them a sheepish grin. He didn't
elaborate further, though, but
got to his feet and said, "I'm going to bed."
He started going up the spiral staircase to the boys' dormitory,
still grinning. The rest watched
him, mystified.
"Starkers," said Ron, shaking his head. "Anything
happened to him while we were gone? Like,
did Snape force some brainwashing potion down his throat, or something?"
"No," said Seamus, still gaping at Neville in amazement
as his chubby figure disappeared inside
the dormitory, "Everything's as it has always been - him
being terrified of Snape, that is."
Hermione had finished packing the photographs away.
"Where d'you think they're going to sleep?" she asked,
obviously referring to the Tian-Long
students.
"In our dorms," said Dean promptly. "McGonagall
said that there's room for a few more beds,
though it'll be a rather tight squeeze."
"Better make sure the passwords don't have any l's or
r's in them for the next two months, then,"
said Ron, grinning, "or Chee Chong won't be able to get into
the common room."
That night when he got into bed, Harry instinctively expected
to find Ping-Ping there, lying at his
feet. He found himself dreaming he was flying the Silverwing again
over an endless sea of cloud.
It dove through the cloud, and he was suddenly back in Liu Pei's
study, looking at the scroll on
the table. A noise behind him made him turn around, and there
was a Dementor, towering over
him. It was coming nearer and nearerand he was backing awayand
then - he woke up.
He sat up in bed, heart thumping, and saw that it was just
past midnight. Getting out for a drink
of water, he noticed that the curtains of Ron's bed were partly
drawn. Through the opening it
could be seen that Ron had lit his wand, and was lying on his
stomach, writing.
Harry went over, and lifted one of the curtains away.
"What're you doing?" he whispered. "You're not doing your homework in bed, are you?"
Ron gave a start of fright, and hurriedly hid the piece of
parchment that he'd been writing on under
his blanket, before he realised it was only Harry.
"Gave me a fright, you," he whispered, taking the
parchment out again. "Oh no" he looked at it,
"I smudged it"
Harry peered at it. It was a letter to Pixie.
"What're you writing to her for?" he whispered incredulously, "you'll be seeing her later today!"
It was too dark to see, but Harry was sure Ron's face had turned red.
"Just letting her know I got back safely," he mumbled,
as if Portkeying back to Hogwarts had
been a long and dangerous journey. "She made me promise I'd
write."
Harry looked at him, slightly exasperated.
"Ron," he said in an undertone, "The letter'll
never reach there in time. It'll take ages for Pig to
get to China, and Pixie will have left by the time he gets there."
Ron looked sheepish. Harry grinned at him, but knew better
than to say more, so he went and
got his drink, and then got back into bed. He lay there a while,
thinking it would be fun to show
Shan and the others around Hogwarts. He was imagining all of them
watching him in admiration
during Quidditch practice (alas, the next match would be in late
February, and the exchange
programme would be over by then) as he zoomed around on his Firebolt,
when he finally
managed to doze off.
Professor McGonagall had informed them that they were to receive
the Tian-Long students
in front of the castle that evening before it got too dark, and
so, at four o'clock, they promptly
assembled in front of the Entrance Hall steps. Winter had set
in early that year, and they found
themselves shivering slightly in their cloaks. The entire class
was there, since all of them were
now involved in the programme. Parvati and Lavendar were occasionally
casting sly glances
at Ron, who was looking irritably back at them. Although nothing
explicit had been mentioned
about him and Pixie the previous night, Parvati and Lavendar had
soon surmised that something
was up, especially as Ron always seemed to be standing next to
Pixie in every photograph; and
they had been looking forward most enthusiastically to the Tian-Long
students' arrival.
Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were there too, but Jeanne
did not join them, as Harry
thought she might. Instead, to his astonishment, Hagrid turned
up.
"Whatever are you doing here, Hagrid?" asked Hermione,
looking surprised as well, as he came
up to them.
"Jeanie tol' me ter come," he said, beaming, obviously
pleased to see them again. "Said yeh'd
need help ter carry all the luggage into the castle. Said she'd
do my chores for me, this evenin'."
"Luggage?" said Ron, surprised, "But - their
luggage already arrived, an hour ago! It's in our
dormsthe house-elves must've brought it up."
Hermione frowned at the mention of house-elves, while Hagrid
looked perplexed. Dumbledore,
seeing him, came up to them, smiling.
"Well, Hagrid?" he said, a twinkle in his eye, "are you here to greet the Chinese students as well?"
Hagrid was about to reply, when Parvati and Lavendar suddenly
cried out in surprise. Harry,
turning to look, realised why Jeanne had asked Hagrid to come.
A large Silverwing was flying
over the grounds toward them. Chen-Kang was seated in front, guiding
it, with Shan and the
others behind him, spaced out at intervals between the spikes
on the dragon's back. To Harry's
astonishment, Robert was sitting at the rear, next to Sang Nila
who was lashed securely to the
dragon's tail. The Silverwing flew low over the lake and hovered
there, its huge wings beating
strongly, as Robert cut Sang Nila free and let him slide into
the icy water with a loud splash.
"That Robert is crazy!" said Ron, watching, "Bringing
that Merlion along, when the water's
freezing!"
"Nonsense, he can easily withstand it," said Hermione
loftily, "don't forget, the merpeople live
in the lake too, even in winter. Robert told me Sang Nila wants
to meet them."
Hagrid was standing as if spellbound, watching the Silverwing
which was now winging over toward
them. Seamus and the others, still unused to the idea of tame
dragons - despite what Harry had
been telling them - retreated a few paces.
The Silverwing landed neatly on the lawn in front of them,
and folded its wings. Pixie, obviously
thrilled to see them again, was waving enthusiastically with both
arms.
"RONNIEKINS!!" she screamed, almost falling off the
dragon in excitement, "RONNIEKINS,
WE'RE HERE, WE'VE ARRIVED!!!"
Dumbledore's beard quivered, and his eyes were twinkling, but
Professor McGonagall frowned
and looked disapprovingly at Ron. Parvati and Lavendar burst into
giggles, while Seamus and
Dean began sniggering and nudging each other. Ron's face turned
the colour of an overripe
tomato, and he looked as if he wished the ground would split open
and swallow him up.
"Look!" said Hermione in surprise, pointing at a
tiny figure on Shan's shoulder, "they've brought
Ting-Ting along!"
Ting-Ting seemed to be looking around, and then, all of a sudden, she vanished.
The Tian-Long students dismounted, and Dumbledore and the others went up to greet them.
Harry tugged at Hagrid's sleeve.
"C'mon, Hagrid," he said, pulling him over to the Silverwing, "better enjoy it while it's here."
Dumbledore was speaking to Fatty and the others, and Hermione
began introducing the
Gryffindors. After a while Shan came over to Harry, who was watching
Hagrid petting the
Silverwing, which was staring unwinkingly at him. Hagrid was stroking
it as if it was some
fragile piece of china, looking as if he was afraid any sudden
movements would make it
disappear. Chen-Kang was standing next to him, looking amused.
"Hi, Harry," Shan said, looking at Hagrid, "Is that Hagrid?"
"Yep," said Harry, looking at Hagrid's happy face in satisfaction, "that's Hagrid."
To Hagrid's disappointment, Chen-Kang declined to stay for
dinner, saying he had to
return to take care of his other dragons. Harry and the others
watched as he mounted
the Silverwing.
Hagrid looked like a child whose favourite toy was being taken
away from him. He watched
mournfully as the dragon unfurled its huge wings, and launched
itself into the air.
"Bye-bye, li'l dragon," he said forlornly, waving
at the swiftly disappearing figure, "come back
soon."
"Where did Chen-Kang get it?" asked Harry, as the Silverwing vanished from sight.
Shan shrugged.
"He has his ways," she said, and then added regretfully,
"We're not keeping it, though. It'll
go back to the wild once he gets back. We needed a Silverwing,
because it could Apparate
us here. We had to fly in because we couldn't Apparate within
the grounds."
Hagrid's eyes were brimming, and he was still staring at the sky as if he had lost his best friend.
"Don't feel bad, Hagrid," said Hermione consolingly,
"you'll get to see it again, at the end of
the exchange programme."
Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall had gone inside the castle,
leaving the Gryffindors
to show the Tian-Long students around. To Ron's dismay, Pixie
had struck up an instant
friendship with Parvati and Lavendar, and they were moving toward
the Entrance Hall steps,
giggling and chattering away. Seamus and Dean were examining Fatty's
crystal globe. Neville
was looking at Chester, who was peeking out of Chee Chong's pocket.
"I tell you, you shouldn't have brought Chester along,
Chong," said Shan, rather impatiently.
"He'll freeze here. I had to leave LeafSong behind, because
reptiles don't like cold weather."
"He will get lonesome," said Chee Chong stubbornly,
as Trevor, Neville's toad, looked
interestedly at Chester, who promptly disappeared inside the pocket.
The Tian-Long students seemed keen to look around the castle.
Chee Chong, in particular,
was rather overcome when he saw how grand the Entrance Hall was.
Unlike the others,
who were urban and lived in countries which had a fair bit of
exposure to western culture,
he was from a quiet village in central China, and being in Britain
was quite an adventure for
him.
"In Tian-Long, the walls and staircases don't keep moving
around," said Shan, examining
a suit of armour with interest. They reached the portrait of the
Fat Lady, and Dean gave
the password (tiddlywinks). Harry had thought Robert might have
trouble getting in through
the portrait hole because he was so small, but he simply transformed
his wand into a staff,
and neatly poled himself in.
"This is so fun," said Pixie, giggling, and glancing
coyly at some of the other Gryffindor
boys in the room who were looking appreciatively at her, "We
don't need a password
to get into the pagodas. The House Animals usually keep watch;
they know when an
intruder is entering, even though there are so many exits."
The girls went up their spiral staircase into their dormitory,
the boys doing likewise.
Fatty, after looking around the room, promptly took a wind chime
out of his lacquer
box and hung it over the dormitory door.
"What are you doing?" Seamus asked curiously.
"It's for good feng-shui," explained Fatty,
very seriously. "It will prevent too much
energy from flowing out of the room."
Seamus looked totally bewildered. Ron, overhearing, looked puzzled.
"But in Tian-Long, we didn't need to have a wind-chime
over the door," he pointed
out.
"That's different," said Fatty, as if the
reason was obvious. "The dormitory door there
didn't face the staircase."
Ron looked as bewildered as Seamus. They were interrupted,
however, by an
exclamation from Chee Chong, who had just opened his trunk. Harry,
turning
around, saw two familiar black and white faces peeping out.
Ron gave a shout of laughter.
"Ping and Pong!" he said. "I don't believe it. Chee Chong, you brought them along!"
Chee Chong protested that he had done no such thing, and that
the Pandas must
have stowed themselves away in the trunk. Seamus, Dean and Neville
watched as
Ping clambered out of the trunk, bounced up and down on the floor
a few times,
and then rolled her way over to Harry.
"I guess they haven't been to Britain before, and they
wanted to see what it was like,"
said Fatty in a resigned voice, as Ping happily clambered onto
Harry's bed and made
herself comfortable there.
They were watching Pong roll over to Neville's bed, on which
a packet of Honeydukes'
sweets reposed, when a chorus of shrieks from outside distracted
them. Rushing out,
they found most of the other Gryffindors crowding around the door
of the girls' dormitory.
Harry, pushing his way in, was astonished to see a large monkey,
the same one he had
seen sparring with the pig the night he had explored the palace.
It was swooping around
the room, its arms full of someone's clothing. He guessed the
clothes must be Pixie's,
because she was shouting shrilly at the monkey in Chinese. It
took no notice of her
whatsoever, and was instead happily flinging each article of clothing
to a different
corner of the room.
"What on earth is that!" said Dean, who had also pushed his way in.
"We don't know," said Hermione, who was standing
near the door with Shan, watching
the monkey in fascination. "It was hiding inside Pixie's
trunk; it flew out the minute she
opened it." She frowned at the boys, who were all crowding
in at the dormitory door. "And
by the way, you do know, don't you, that all of you are
not supposed to come in here."
"It is Master Wu-Kung!" said Shan, looking at Robert
and laughing, "I suppose we should
have guessed, that he wouldn't be able to resist coming along."
Hermione watched with satisfaction as Pixie shook her fist
at the monkey, which was
hanging upside down in mid-air, making faces at her. It then threw
one of her filmy
nightdresses out the window, making her shriek in dismay.
"Master what?" said Ron, watching Pixie with some concern.
"Master Wu-Kung," repeated Shan. "S'un Wu-Kung - The Monkey King."
The monkey had now dropped the remainder of the clothes on
top of Lavendar, who gave
a small squeak of surprise. It then spied Hermione near the door,
and flew over to her,
hovering upside down and peering curiously at her. Hermione, startled,
took a few steps
backward.
"Looks as though you people have brought half of Tian-Long
along with you to Hogwarts,"
said Harry, as Ping and Pong rolled themselves in between the
boys' feet into the dormitory.
Pixie was muttering evilly to herself, pointing her wand at
the various corners of the room
and Summoning her clothes back to her. Parvati went over to the
window and Summoned
the nightdress back in.
The monkey was still looking at Hermione in fascination. He
extended one long arm, and
prodded her curiously on the head.
"I thought he was a ghost," said Harry, as Hermione
gave an indignant gasp, and retreated
a few more paces.
Shan was watching in amusement.
"Master Wu-Kung is more than that," she said. "He's
famous throughout China. He's the
greatest prankster that ever lived, and he does whatever he pleases
and travels wherever
he wants to go. No prison can hold him in. He has been hanging
around Tian-Long since
the beginning of the year, but he's been busy training Pigsy lately,
that's why you didn't
see much of him while you were there."
The Monkey King suddenly gave a loud whoop, and leaping up
in the air, did a couple
of somersaults and cartwheels across the room. He then flew back,
and conjuring a bunch
of flowers in his hands, scattered them over Hermione. He then
disappeared with a loud Pop!
"Well!" said Dean, watching in amazement, "I
think this is going to be a really interesting
exchange programme!"
Later that evening, as they went down to the Great Hall for dinner,
the Tian-Long students
attracted a number of curious stares because of their colourful
robes. Pixie, in particular,
was drawing a lot of attention, and not only because her robes
were crimson. Ron was
hovering near her, scowling at the various boys who were looking
at her.
"Interesting," commented Fatty, looking up at the
starry ceiling as they entered the Great
Hall. They sat down at the Gryffindor table, Shan and Robert opposite
Harry. As the food
materialised on their plates, Harry asked why Ting-Ting had come
along.
"She has been hankering to come back to England for more
experience," said Shan, looking
appreciatively at the stew that Robert was spooning onto her plate.
"Says it'll increase her
market value. Lady Wen-Li said she might as well come, she can
prepare Chinese food
for us if we get tired of English food."
Harry found himself wondering what the Hogwarts house-elves,
especially Dobby and
Winky, would make of Ting-Ting.
Chee Chong was eating in silence, looking at the gold plates
and goblets in a slightly awed
manner. Pixie, in between casting coy looks at the boys at the
next table, was also looking
curiously at the staff table. Ron had told her all about Snape,
and this, coupled together
with her great dislike of Potions, had made her feel rather uneasy
about the coming Potions
classes.
"So that's Professor Snape," said Shan, also looking
at Snape, who was looking even more
dour than usual. "He doesn't look as bad as you've made him
out to be."
"That's because you haven't met him close-up, yet," said Ron sourly.
They were halfway through the meal when Nearly Headless Nick,
the resident Gryffindor
ghost, drifted into the Hall and seated himself in the empty chair
next to Shan, smiling away.
"Nick!" said Harry, surprised. The ghosts didn't
usually join them for meals except at the
beginning of the school year, during the start-of-term feast.
"What're you doing here?"
"I've come to welcome our new friends, of course!"
said Nearly Headless Nick, beaming
at Shan and the others. "An honour for Gryffindor, that we're
hosting them for the exchange
programme! A warm welcome to all of you, my dears! Sir Nicholas
de Mimsy-Porpington,
at your service!"
Robert looked his usual deadpan self, but the other Tian-Long
students grinned rather
embarrassedly back at him. Lavendar leaned over and whispered
something to Pixie,
who giggled and looked at Nearly Headless Nick with great interest.
"Nick," said Parvati, in a persuasive tone of voice,
"could you show Pixie your - your - er "
She indicated her neck with her finger.
Nearly Headless Nick's smile faded slightly, and he looked
rather miffed. However, as all the
Chinese students were now looking eagerly at him, he said irritably,
"Oh, very well," and seizing
his left ear, pulled it so that his head swung off his neck. Pixie
gave a small squeal of delight,
and clapped her hands.
"Ooh, Sir Mimsy, I think the ghosts here at Hogwarts are
so interesting, much more than
those at Tian-Long," she cooed, dimpling at Nearly Headless
Nick, who looked embarrassed
but also extremely pleased. Hermione, hearing this, rolled her
eyes and looked at the ceiling in
exasperation.
Nearly Headless Nick spent the rest of the meal entertaining
them with stories about Hogwarts,
and he only left them when they had finished dinner and were on
their way back to the Gryffindor
common room.
"Well, I agree with Xiao-Yan," said Shan, watching
as Nearly Headless Nick waved at them and
then disappeared through the wall of the corridor, "I think
the ghosts here are nice - "
She didn't finish speaking, because a host of large balloons,
filled with water, were now dropping
out from the ceiling like stones, hitting the floor and exploding
in bursts of water all around them.
The Chinese students looked startled at first, then automatically
Shielded themselves. Looking up,
they saw Peeves the poltergeist floating some twenty feet above
them, his arms filled with water
bombs.
"Ickle chinkies," he cackled, looking at the Tian-Long
students. He lifted a water-bomb and,
aiming carefully, threw it unerringly at Fatty. Fatty, however,
had Shielded himself in front, and
although the bomb exploded on impact, the water didn't penetrate
the Shield.
Peeves continued hurling bombs at them. Most of the Chinese
students were only able to partially
Shield themselves, so, soaked and dripping, they converged on
Robert, who obligingly raised a
Shield large enough for all of them. Peeves, after hurling a few
more bombs at them, realised that
he wasn't going to be able to penetrate the Shield, so he began
angrily pelting the Hogwarts
students instead. Harry and the others danced around, trying to
avoid the balloons. Hermione
deflected one with a Banishing Charm; seeing this, the others
began to follow suit, when all of a
sudden all the balloons came to a halt in midair, abruptly changed
direction and shot back upward
toward Peeves, colliding into him in almighty burst of water.
Peeves cursed loudly, spluttering, and then began zooming around,
trying to avoid the remaining
water bombs which were still zipping after him. Harry glanced
sharply at Robert to see if he was
responsible, but Robert seemed as surprised as any of them.
They heard another excited cackling coming from behind them.
Turning around, they saw another
little man in a bell-covered hat and orange bow-tie. He swooped
around, smiling wickedly, then
suddenly dove at Hermione and brushed her soaking robes with his
hand. There was a slight
sizzling noise, and the robes shimmered and became completely
dry. The second Peeves then
zoomed upward to the ceiling, and with a small pop! was
gone. There, instead, hovered the
Monkey King. With a loud whoop of laughter, it conjured up a few
more water-bombs, and
sent them shooting after the real Peeves.
Peeves, cursing angrily, dodged the bombs, and came hurtling
after the monkey, an enraged
expression on his face. The monkey gave a shriek of laughter and
shot down the corridor,
Peeves in hot pursuit.
They watched as the two disappeared from sight. Robert, seeing
that they were no longer under
attack, dissolved his Shield.
"Whatever's up with that monkey," wondered Parvati,
glancing rather enviously at Hermione,
who was looking nice and dry. "He seems to have taken a liking
to Hermione."
Hermione looked as though she didn't know whether this was
a compliment or not. Dean,
looking at the mess on the floor, said, "Better get back
to the common room before Filch
sees this, or he'll think we did it."
They started making their way back, still dripping and leaving
a trail of water behind them.
Ron, watching Pixie wringing water out of her crimson robes, said
to her, "Sostill think the
ghosts here are better than those in China?"
The boys' dormitory, with three extra beds crammed into it,
seemed very crowded that night.
Harry, settling himself in his four-poster, could feel the warm
furry ball that was Ping-Ping at
his feet. Pong had for some reason decided to sleep in Neville's
bed instead, much to Ron's
relief. Chester, once again in his little bamboo cage next to
Chee Chong's pillow, began
chirping his customary night-song, and Harry, listening to him
as he drifted off to sleep, almost
felt as if they were all back in China again.
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Chinese notes :
More information on the Monkey King can be found at http://www.chinapage.com/monkeyk.html
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