Harry Potter and the Jade Dragon. Chapter 17


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HARRY POTTER AND THE JADE DRAGON
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Chapter XVII

The Wizard Who Loved China


I long for places far beyond my native shore
To see the Silk Route in the light of dawn
The Yangtze flowing on forevermore,
And mountains created when the world was born.

I'll climb the Wall that never seems to end
See the Emperor on his Dragon Throne
Meet great warriors who may call me friend,
And make this wild and ancient land my home.



During breakfast the next morning, Shan asked Harry whether he'd had a chance
to have a look at the astronomy scrolls yet.

"Not yet," answered Harry. "We haven't had any lessons since we came back.
Yesterday was Sunday."

The first exchange lesson they had that morning was Potions. Harry found himself
wondering what the Chinese students would think of Snape. Pixie, to say the least,
was looking very apprehensive. She didn't look very enthusiastic, either, when she
saw the place where the class was to be held.

"It's so creepy," she said, looking around the dungeon. "We don't have any classrooms
like this, in Tian-Long."

With the exception of Neville, none of the other Gryffindors had wanted to volunteer
for Potions. In the end, Seamus and Dean said they would come for the first month,
while Parvati and Lavendar agreed to attend in January. When they reached the
dungeon, Neville further shocked everyone by taking a seat right in front. Seamus
and Dean seated themselves a few tables behind, and were glaring at him from the
back, muttering to themselves in amazement.

After several minutes, soft footsteps could be heard approaching, coming down the
corridor outside.

"Snape's coming!" hissed Ron, who was seated near the door. The class immediately
fell silent, and there was a rather tense atmosphere in the room.

The door swung open, and to their astonishment, they saw that the person coming
down the corridor had not been Snape at all, but Jeanne.

She strode calmly in, carrying a large box, and going up to the front, placed it on the
desk. She then turned around and stood there, smiling at them.

There was a stunned silence for a few moments.

"Jeanne!" said Harry, at last. "What're you doing here?"

There was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"Conducting this class, so it seems," she answered. She saw Neville attentively sitting
in the front seat, and her smile broadened.

"What?" said Ron, disbelievingly. "What about Snape?"

"Severus is too busy this month to conduct the exchange class," said Jeanne, "so
Professor Dumbledore asked me to step in for him."

Seamus and Dean looked extremely pleased.

"Brilliant," said Dean. "Wait till we tell Parvati and Lavendar. Are you going to take
over our regular Potions classes too?" They looked hopefully at her.

Jeanne laughed, but shook her head.

"Severus has agreed to help out with a project," she said, "but not to the extent that
he has to be relieved of all his classes."

She picked up a sheet of parchment.

"He gave me a list of instructions," she said, looking at it. "Today, you are to prepare
a Confusing Concoction, and next week, a Shrivelling Solution."

The Hogwarts students groaned. They had done both potions before, and knew that
they were extremely tedious to prepare, with ingredients were particularly foul-smelling
and revolting in appearance.

Jeanne surveyed them for a moment, then crumpled the parchment up and tossed it aside.

"I don't see the need to follow that rigidly, though," she said calmly. "This is an exchange
programme, and you won't be sitting for an exam. We shall do something else today."

The class looked relieved. Harry and Ron, who had been seated at the back of the room,
gathered their things and came forward to sit in front instead.

Jeanne explained what they were to do, and then let them start work, going from table to
table to check on them.

"Neville, you knew," said Ron accusingly, when Jeanne had gone to the back of the class
to help Pixie, who as usual was in difficulties. Neville went pink, but grinned at them, and
continued cutting up his ingredients. Harry noted that he seemed a lot more confident now
that Jeanne was there, unlike Snape's classes where he was usually a nervous wreck.

"Why don't you take over our Potions classes permanently," suggested Ron, as Jeanne came
up to Chee Chong who was working at the table just behind them. "Snape can continue
teaching the rest of the Potions classes in the school."

She tapped Chee Chong's cauldron with her wand, to anchor it to the table, before coming
over to Harry's table.

"You know I don't have the qualifications, Ron," she said, looking at him in amusement.
Then, smiling impishly, she added, "And besides, I wouldn't dream of depriving you of Severus'
company."

Ron glared at her, and continued stirring his solution.

"So, what project is Snape involved in, now?" asked Harry, dumping his shrivelfigs into his
cauldron. Chee Chong, behind them, made one of his usual windmill gestures while talking
to Hermione, and whacked his cauldron from the side; but it was now firmly anchored to the
table, and didn't budge.

"It's a Tian-Long project which Lady Han-Yin has decided to handle, now that Master Liu Pei
is gone," said Jeanne, watching Ron chopping toadstools into small pieces. "Potions are not
actually Lady Han-Yin's domain, so she has asked Severus for some advice, because it seems
he's quite an expert in this particular field."

"What field is that?" asked Harry, willing to bet his Firebolt that it was something unpleasant.

Jeanne, however, refused to tell them. She just smiled, then went over to Pixie again, who
was waving frantically at her from the back.

The potion they were preparing was a Singing Solution, from the same family of potions as
the Polyjuice Potion, meaning that the final solution depended on the last ingredient to be added.
Jeanne picked the box up from the desk, and they saw that it was filled with large oranges.
She went around the class distributing them, two to a student. She then passed a small box
around so that they could choose their final ingredient. It was filled with all sorts of small articles :
pieces of uncooked pasta, bits of jade, a shamrock, holly, mistletoe, and several types of flower.

Harry chose the mistletoe, then passed the box to Ron, who took a piece of pasta out. They
dropped the articles into their cauldrons and stirred until they dissolved. They then squirted a
few drops of solution onto their oranges.

The oranges stirred, as if waking from a sound sleep. Two eyes popped out on each of them,
fringed with long eyelashes, and a wide, curving mouth. Each orange then cleared its throat in
a businesslike manner, fluttered its eyelashes, and began to sing. Harry's pair was singing
Christmas carols, while Ron's had plunged into Italian opera.

"I say," said Ron, whose oranges were unusually loud and seemed to be trying to outsing each
other, "If I had known, I'd have chosen the holly instead." He covered his ears, as the noise
grew deafening.

They filed out of the dungeon when the lesson was over, clutching their oranges which were
still singing at the tops of their voices. Jeanne had told them that the solution would wear off
after a day, and that the only way to silence the oranges was to eat them. Ron, unable to
tolerate the noise after a while, began to peel one of his oranges, and it stopped singing at once.

"What are you doing?" protested Hermione, "That was a beautiful aria!"

"Beautiful, nothing," said Ron, leaving the first orange half-peeled and starting on the second.
"It's making me deaf."

Hermione looked indignant. She was carefully carrying her two oranges, who were singing
an old Celtic song. "You don't know how to appreciate Puccini!"

Shan and Robert had chosen the pasta as well, and their oranges had taken one look at
them and launched into Turandot. Shan looked rather subdued. She was still being cool
to Jeanne, and Harry was sure that Jeanne had not succeeded in speaking to her that night
in the bamboo grove. Pixie's oranges were singing a Hindustani song, while Fatty's were
crooning a Hawaiian lovesong.

"This has marketing potential," said Fatty, looking at the oranges with a gleam in his eye.
He took his crystal globe out and tapped it with his wand. Mui Sing's face appeared,
and the two of them started chattering away in Cantonese.

Their next class was Care of Magical Creatures. Because of a clash of timetables,
Professor McGonagall had been unable to arrange a separate class for the exchange
programme, and had arranged instead for the Tian-Long students to attend the regular
class together with the Gryffindors and the Slytherins.

"What're we currently doing for Magical Creatures?" asked Harry, as they made their
way through the snow-covered grounds.

Neville looked glum.

"Hagrid's gotten hold of some fish called Popping Piranhas," he said. "He's keeping them
in a heated tank near the lake."

"Piranhas?" said Hermione, shocked. "Aren't those dangerous?"

"Hagrid doesn't think so," said Seamus grumpily. "These are small ones, and they're not
poisonous or anything, but they give quite a painful bite."

Chee Chong and Fatty looked apprehensive. Pixie began to examine her smooth hands
and nicely-manicured nails, rather worriedly.

Hagrid was waiting for them when they arrived, his beetle-black eyes twinkling with
enthusiasm.

"Good ter see yeh three back ag'n," he said when he saw them, "We've bin havin' a right
treat, these two months," - Parvati and Lavendar glowered at him - "Yeh'll see what yeh've
bin missin', today!"

"That's great, Hagrid," said Hermione, smiling bravely.

The Slytherins had arrived. Harry noted that Crabbe and Goyle had returned to their usual
size, while Malfoy seemed quite unabashed that he had been suspended from the exchange
programme. He smirked when he saw Shan standing next to Harry.

"Look, Potter and his girlfriend!" he said in a loud voice to Pansy Parkinson, who was next
to him.

Hagrid had gone off to get something, but everyone else turned to look at Harry. Parvati and
Lavendar looked surprised, then started giggling. Harry felt his face going red. He hardly
dared to look at Shan.

I have to, he thought. I've got to face it, explain that there's nothing, to her

He looked at her. She had been looking around, to see who the supposed girlfriend was
supposed to be, before she realised that Malfoy meant her. She turned to look at Harry,
an incredulous expression on her face. Then, to his surprise, she laughed.

"Did you hear that, Robert?" she said, looking at Robert and chuckling, "Did you hear what
Malfoy just said? Don't worry, Harry," she turned back to him, "I know Malfoy's trying to
irritate us. Just ignore him."

Harry felt rather insulted. Couldn't she at least appear a tiny bit embarrassed?

Shan was still laughing. Robert looked at Harry, and smiled at him.

Malfoy hadn't finished.

"Look, everyone!" he was now saying loudly to the Slytherins, "Look at Potter and his Plain
Jane!"

Robert's smile vanished. He didn't say a word, and Harry didn't see him move, but all of a
sudden Malfoy rose ten feet up in the air. He hung there for a few seconds, then flipped
upside down and shot over to the lake, and plunged headfirst into it.

The Slytherins all gaped in surprise, and then hurried over to the lake. Shan glared at Robert.

"Why'd you do that?" she hissed, in an undertone. "You'll get us into trouble!"

Robert looked unperturbed.

"He deserved it," he said mildly, turning to watch in satisfaction. Malfoy was swimming to the
shore as fast as he could, his robes clinging to him and bogging him down. Pansy was shrieking
and pointing at something large that was vaguely visible in the water, pursuing him. He made it
to the shore and scrambled out, bedraggled and furious, as Sang Nila lunged at him with a snap
of his jaws. He looked at Malfoy for a few seconds, a sinister expression in his tawny eyes, and
then slipped smoothly back underneath the surface of the water.

Malfoy was shivering, and Pansy rushed him indoors to see Madam Pomfrey and get him into
dry clothes. They had hardly disappeared when Hagrid came back, whistling cheerfully, carrying
two boxes. He didn't notice Malfoy's absence or the angry looks on the Slytherins' faces as
they came back from the lake, simmering with rage, and casting black looks at Harry,
obviously thinking him responsible for the dunking.

"Don't worry, Harry," said Robert, as they followed Hagrid over to the tank, "I'll own up to
Professor McGonagall, if Malfoy decides to make any trouble over this."

Harry almost didn't mind taking the blame; even a detention was worth it, to see Malfoy being
chucked into the lake.

Hagrid's tank was large, and full of gleaming fish, swimming restlessly to and fro. Contrary to
what Harry had expected, they looked almost exactly like goldfish, except that they were
multicoloured, in shifting hues of rose and green and gold, their shining scales catching the dull
December light and reflecting it.

"Why, but they're beautiful!" exclaimed Hermione, looking at them in amazement. She went
over to the side of the tank, and leaned over to get a better look.

Dean looked warningly at her.

"Don't judge too quickly, Hermione," he said, casting a surly glance at the fish, "we thought so
as well, in the beginning."

Hagrid brought one of the boxes to the side of the tank. Hermione, peeping inside it, drew
back in revulsion. Harry, peering in, saw that it was full of squirming, squishy-looking worms.

"Yeh feed 'em like this," said Hagrid, happily. He scooped up a handful of the worms - Pixie
went pale, and shivered - and stuck his hand out, over the surface of the water.

The multicoloured fish, sensing that food was nearby, all came swimming toward him. Harry,
Ron and Hermione stood by, watching tensely.

It happened very fast. One second the fish were in the water; then, in a flash, four of them leapt
out, and they were not smooth and gleaming any more. With a pop! they transformed into scrawny,
spine-covered creatures, their bodies rough and rocklike in texture, with bulging eyes and jagged
teeth protruding from their mouths. They lunged at Hagrid's hands, and engulfed not only the worms,
but his fingers as well. They hung there, holding on grimly, like small and determined bulldogs.

Pixie gave an exclamation of disgust and turned away. Hagrid, who was wearing gloves of
dragon-hide, beamed at Harry and the others. Shaking his hand vigorously, he managed to
dislodge the fish, sending them hurtling back into the water. They hit it with a sharp splash,
and immediately became gleaming and beautiful again.

"See?" said Hagrid, looking at them fondly. "Nothin' to it."

"But, Hagrid," protested Ron, "why can't we just drop the worms into the water?"

"Ah, that's wha' the others said, too, bu' it won' work," said Hagrid, looking earnestly at him.
"The li'l blighters only eat live prey, an' once yeh drop the worms into the water, they drown,
and the fish refuse ter touch 'em."

He took out a pile of dragonhide gloves from a sack and began distributing them to the students,
who took them most unenthusiastically.

"Eurgh, Hagrid," said Lavendar, closing her eyes and taking a handful of the worms, "Can't we
feed them something else instead?"

Hagrid began to explain in detail that the fish had very selective appetites, and would only
consume this particular species of worm. Lavendar stuck her hand out over the water, but
the minute the fish jumped out, she squealed in fright and dropped the worms. They sank,
lifeless, to the floor of the tank, and the multicoloured fish turned away from them in disgust.

Parvati and Pixie put their gloves on and came forward, steeling themselves. Harry had the
impression that they were even more afraid of the worms than the fish.

"I think I'm going to pass out," said Pixie faintly, shuddering and averting her eyes as she felt
the worms squirming through the dragonhide. Harry, Ron and Hermione, seeing Hagrid looking
expectantly at them, also pulled their gloves on, and took up handfuls of worms.

"It can't be that bad," muttered Ron, as they leaned over the side of the tank. "It didn't seem to
hurt Hagrid."

Harry was about to reply, when two fish jumped out and fastened their jaws onto his fingers.
The pain was excruciating. He let out a yell, and desperately shook his hand until the fish gave
up and let go. The pain disappeared at once. He pulled the glove off, and glared at his fingers.
There wasn't even the slightest mark on them.

Ron was grimacing and banging his hand against the side of the tank, until his Piranhas finally fell
off. Hagrid came over and peered anxiously into the water to see if the fish were hurt.

"Blimey, Hagrid," groaned Ron, leaning against the tank and pulling off his glove, "trying to kill us."

Hagrid chuckled.

"Takes some gettin' us'd ter, that's all," he said, looking affectionately at the Piranhas, "nothin' like
a li'l nip ter get yeh goin' for the day."

The Slytherins, casting dirty looks at Hagrid, gathered around the opposite end of the tank where
the second box of worms had been placed. Shan and Chee Chong, looking resigned, pulled on
their gloves and came forward. Robert, however, was looking thoughtfully at the worms.

"Wait a minute," he said to them. He took his wand out, and pointing it at the worms, muttered
something. A fist-sized ball of worms flew up in the air and sailed over to the tank. It then hovered
there, over the water. Three Piranhas leapt out, tore several worms out of the ball, and engulfing
them, dived back into the water again.

"Hey, neat!" exclaimed Seamus, looking impressed. The entire class, seeing this, surged forward
and surrounded Robert.

"It's a Hover Charm," explained Robert, looking up at the wall of Gryffindors and Slytherins around
him, "You have to fix an image in your mind of how many worms you want to pull out, or you'll pull
the entire boxful out. And the only incantation I know is in Chinese."

"Chinese? No problem!" said Dean, looking eager. "What is it?"

Robert cleared his throat, and said something that sounded like 'piao fú fei xiáng!'

Shan and the other Tian-Long students were already by the tank, hovering small balls of worms
over the surface of the water.

The Hogwarts students tried the incantation, but the worms didn't rise an inch.

"You have to pronounce it correctly," said Robert seriously, "it's 'xiáng', not 'shàng'."

Hagrid was watching the Tian-Long students, looking rather crestfallen.

"It seems like cheatin', somehow," he said.

Try as they might, the British students couldn't get the pronunciation and the intonation right. The
Slytherins soon gave up in disgust and returned to their end of the tank, grumbling among themselves.
Ron, hoping to impress Pixie, said, "Let's try something else!"

He pointed his wand at the worms.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he said.

The entire box flew up in the air and flipped over, tipping the worms out. They rained down
onto the surrounding area, showering themselves onto the Gryffindors. Parvati and Lavendar
screamed, and there was a mad scramble to get out of range.

"You stupid git!" roared Dean, pulling a handful of squirming worms out from his collar, "We
want them to hover, not come raining down on us!"

Ron, looking mortified, was plucking worms out of his red hair. The Slytherins were howling
with laughter, while the Chinese students, who had been out of range of the worms, seemed to
be trying very hard not to smile. Pixie turned her back on them, but her shoulders were shaking
slightly.

Hagrid was looking worriedly at his worms. Parvati and Lavendar seemed to be in hysterics,
and were frantically brushing worms off their clothes and hair.

The Gryffindors spent the next ten minutes de-worming themselves, after which they had to
collect the worms from the ground and return them back to the box. They then had to brave
the teeth of the Piranhas for the remainder of the lesson.

"First chance I get, I'm going to look up Hover Charms in the library," Hermione muttered,
wincing as three Piranhas fastened themselves to her fingers.

"The thing is, they don't leave any marks, and there aren't any lasting effects, so we can't
report it to Madam Pomfrey," said Seamus gloomily. "Otherwise, we might be able to get
her to persuade Hagrid to find some other creature."

"I'm going to have nightmares tonight," said Lavendar, shuddering and closing her eyes, as
she took another handful of worms. "I'll be dreaming my bed's full of worms" She opened
her eyes, and looked critically at them.

"I think they're dead, anyway," she said in disgust. She went over to Hagrid, and showed them
to him. "Why don't we just stop for the day?"

The worms did indeed look rather lifeless. They seemed to have stopped squirming, at any rate.
The ground was cold, and they had been half-frozen in the snow. Hagrid, seeing this, went over
to the Slytherins' side to borrow some, but their box was almost empty. Not caring whether the
fish were fed or not, they had simply dropped most of the worms into the water, and the floor
of their end of the tank was now carpeted with dead worms.

Hagrid reluctantly dismissed the class, assuring them he'd have a new supply of worms for them
by the next lesson.

"Well, thanks anyway, Ron," said Harry, as they made their way back to the castle. "You got
us off fifteen minutes early."

"Yeah," said Ron, gloomily. He noticed a stray worm in Hermione's hair, and pulled it out.
"Saved the day, I did."

Harry found Hermione later that afternoon in the Gryffindor common room, barricaded in a
corner by several piles of library books.

"Harry," she said at once when she saw him, "can I borrow the Marauder's Map? I want to
see where Professor Flitwick ismaybe we can persuade him to teach us Hover Charms
during our next lesson."

The common room, for once, happened to be empty, so Harry brought the Map downstairs
and handed it to Hermione.

Hermione bent over it, frowning, and then she saw something which drove all thoughts of Hover
Charms out of her head.

"Look!" she cried, pointing with one shaking finger at something on the Map, "Look who Jeanne's
with!"

Harry, who was doing his homework at a table nearby, looked up, startled. "Huh? What?
Who? Snape?"

Hermione seemed almost too excited to speak.

"Diary of a Wizard in China!" she said, rather incoherently.

Harry had a sudden vision of a giant diary with two legs sticking out of it, walking next to Jeanne.
He came over to have a look, but at this moment, the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open, and
Shan and Robert climbed in. Harry hurriedly took the Map from Hermione, but it was too late;
they had seen it.

"What's that?" asked Shan, and then, seeing Harry's face, went red.

"It's all right," she said, quickly turning away, "I'll pretend I didn't see anything."

"No!" exclaimed Hermione. "Harry, show it to themthey might know something - I tell you,
nearly all the English translations in the Tian-Long library were done by him!"

"What?" said Harry, bewildered, "Who?"

"Septimus Snufflegint!" said Hermione, taking hold of the Map and bending over it again, "It's
him! I saw him, together with Jeanne!"

Shan and Robert were standing a short distance away, unsure whether to approach them or not.

"Master Li-Kai?" said Shan, looking mildly surprised. "Is he here?"

Hermione looked at her in astonishment. Harry, examining the Map, saw that Jeanne was walking
up the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall. Next to her was a small dot marked, "Septimus
Snufflegint".

"Well, who's he?"

"I told you," said Hermione impatiently, "A Diary of a Wizard in China! He's the one who wrote
it!" She turned to Shan, an eager expression on her face. "You called him by another namedoes
that mean you know him?"

Shan nodded, looking rather puzzled by Hermione's enthusiasm.

"Li-Kai is his Chinese name," she said. "He's a teacher at Tian-Longhe teaches us Western
Magical Studies."

"A teacher?" Hermione looked surprised. "But - we've never seen any non-Chinese teachers
there!"

"Master Li is a recluse," Shan explained. "He lives in a small room in the west wing of the palace,
above the library. He has all his meals there. His classroom is just next to his office, and I don't
think he ever strays from that area."

Hermione was listening to her, amazed. She checked the Map again.

"I'm going to ask him for an autograph!" she said, and hurried up to her dormitory to get her book.

"But, it's not possible," said Harry.

Shan looked questioningly at him. Robert was now examining the Marauder's Map with great interest.

"That diary was written at the beginning of the century," said Harry. "How can he still be alive? He
must be really ancient by now."

"He is really old," Shan agreed, "but his mind is still sharp - " She stopped, because Hermione had
come back with her book, looking rather breathless. Checking the Map, she said, "They're heading
toward the Astronomy Tower! Let's go!" And she sprinted over to the portrait hole, and climbed out.

The others quickly followed.

"Hermione," said Harry, catching up with her, "How are you going to explain how we know he's
here? The Map's a secret!"

"We can say Shan spotted him in the Entrance Hall, and told us who he is," panted Hermione.
She rounded a corner, and collided right into Chee Chong.

"Oh!" "Ouch!"

Hermione had fallen to the floor, while Chee Chong stumbled, Chester clinging onto his shoulder
in order not to fall off.

Chee Chong steadied himself, then reached a hand out to help Hermione up.

"What is happening?" he asked, looking at all of them, startled.

"Master Li-Kai is here," said Shan, still looking puzzled at Hermione's enthusiasm. "Hermione
wants to meet him."

Hermione was already hurrying on her way. The others followed, Chee Chong included. As
they approached the Astronomy Tower, Harry remembered the Imperial scrolls; maybe this
would be a good time to try having a look at them.

They found Jeanne and Septimus Snufflegint outside a chamber a few doors down from
Professor Sinistra's office. Septimus Snufflegint was very tall, and slightly stooped. His
wrinkled face, which sported a short, white beard, did indeed look very old; but his eyes
were keen and bright. They lacked warmth, though, and Harry, looking at him, felt rather
chilled. There was no friendliness in that face, and the look that he gave them was both
intense and searching.

Hermione noticed this as well, and came to a halt, clutching her book uncertainly. Jeanne
looked surprised to see all of them. Snufflegint said nothing, but stood there staring coldly
at them. His robes of white silk were Mandarin-style with long, full sleeves and a narrow
collar, and they looked rather strange on him.

Shan and Chee Chong greeted him in Chinese, and he replied in the same tongue. Harry
and Hermione looked at each other in surprise. For some reason, it was decidedly odd
to hear an Englishman speaking what seemed, to them, to be fluent and perfect Chinese.
Hermione looked impressed. They stood there, listening in fascination as he conversed
with the Tian-Long students, although they couldn't understand a word. Harry, of course,
had stopped carrying the Translator with him now that he was back in Hogwarts.

Snufflegint suddenly noticed Harry and Hermione standing by, and swept a fierce and
brooding glance at them.

"I forget myself!" he said, in his deep voice. "I am back in Britain now, and must use English!"

He stared at them for a moment, before turning to the Tian-Long students again. "As I was
saying, it is most timely that all of you are here for the exchange programme. I need someone
to assist me in the restoration and translation of several scrolls. Someone who knows old
Chinese script, and is good in Astronomy."

Shan darted a look at Robert, and then at Harry. Harry knew what she was thinking; this
was the ideal chance for them to find out whether Liu Pei's scroll was among the Imperial
scrolls.

Robert, seeing that Shan was going to volunteer him, immediately said, "Chee Chong."

Snufflegint turned his cold stare on Chee Chong.

"Yes, it is true I rike Astronomy," said Chee Chong, looking abashed, "but I am not familiar
with lestoring old scrolls."

"A minor problem," said Snufflegint, looking at him in a calculating manner, "I can easily
teach you!"

He turned to Jeanne.

"I mentioned, young woman, that I hope you will join me later for tea," he said, looking at
her with a curious gleam in his eyes, "I have something to show you which you may be
most interested in."

Jeanne seemed rather taken aback.

"But of course," she said, hesitantly, "I don't see why not." She glanced at her watch. "I
have a few chores to finish first, but I should be free after four."

"Splendid," said Snufflegint gruffly. He turned to Chee Chong. "If you are free now, laddie,
I can brief you on what you have to do."

Chee Chong nodded nervously, and Snufflegint, grasping him firmly by the shoulder, as if
he was afraid he would run away, began leading him into the chamber.

Jeanne, however, had noticed Hermione's hopeful expression, and the book she was
holding.

"Professor Snufflegint," she said, "I believe this young lady wants to ask you something."

Professor Snufflegint paused, and stared coldly at Hermione.

"Ifif you would autograph my book, sir," said Hermione rather tremulously, holding the
book out.

Snufflegint took a Chinese seal from his pocket, and stamped the book without a word.
He then gave it back to Hermione, and looked at Jeanne.

"Four o'clock, then," he said. "I shall be honoured to have you grace my table. As you
might know," - glancing at the book Hermione was holding - "I have always found you
shape-shifters most - interesting."

Jeanne looked startled, but nodded. Snufflegint, with another cold stare at all of them,
turned and grimly steered Chee Chong, who looked like a trapped animal, into the chamber.

They stood watching as the chamber door swung shut, and then Hermione turned to Jeanne.

"What is he doing here?" she asked curiously. "Have you met him before?"

Jeanne nodded in answer to the second question. "I met him briefly, while we were at
Tian-Long. Professor Sinistra says the scrolls Lady Wen-Li has borrowed for her need
to be restored and translated before she can study them, and since she isn't familiar with
restoration and doesn't know Chinese, Professor Snufflegint has volunteered to do it for
her."

Harry looked at the door of the chamber, which was now shut.

"He looks like a pretty cold fish," he said. "Hermione, I can't think why you're so keen to
get his autograph."

"Oh, he's not like that in the book at all," said Hermione earnestly, "You should read how
he writesit's so beautifulhe paints pictures in your mind, you can imagine you're there
with him."

Jeanne looked thoughtfully at her.

"It's the first time Septimus has come back to Britain in a long while," she said. "Professor
Dumbledore told me he used to teach here at Hogwarts; he was Dumbledore's teacher.
But he always had a great fascination for Chinain those days, it was a mysterious land,
and little was known about it."

"Yes, I know," said Hermione, looking sentimentally at her book, "He mentioned that in
here."

Harry looked surprised. "He taught here?"

Jeanne nodded.

"Septimus was Astronomy Master when Dumbledore was a student," she said. "But he
always had a great yearning to travel to China. One day he finally gave in to his desire,
and sent in his resignation. He's travelled the length and breadth of the country since, and
his love affair with China has been a long one. He found, after many years, though, that he
still didn't fit in there, yet when he came back to England he found he no longer belonged
here, either."

She fell silent, looking at the chamber door, as if thinking about something.

"How did he end up at Tian-Long?" asked Harry.

"Eventually, he returned to China," she said, looking gravely at him. "Dumbledore says
that he has always been a loner. Perhaps he realised that he would never fit in anywhere,
anyway, no matter where he went. Or perhaps it was because he still felt a stranger there
that the attraction remainedsometimes we always desire what seems to be unattainable.
When Lady Wen-Li started her school, she wanted to include Western Magic as a subject
in the curriculum, and she also wanted someone to translate the numerous Chinese texts in
her library into English, so that east and west could gradually come to understand one another.
That was her vision. So, she invited Septimus to join the school."

"I think I've seen him before, now," said Hermione slowly. "I remember a tall figure in white,
going out of the library one day."

Jeanne smiled at her, then glanced at her watch.

"I'd better be going," she said. "I must finish those chores, or I won't be able to make it for tea."

She glanced at Shan, who was keeping silent and staring at the floor, then smiled at Robert
who was looking solemnly at her. With a nod at Harry and Hermione, she went over to the
nearest window, transformed into a hawk, and flew out.

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