Well. I'm back on weekends. I hope this is posted on the weekend of the thirtieth, but I'm not sure. I'll try my hardest to write on notebook paper during the week and posting on the weekends. I promise. On with the story!
Chapter Eighteen
Legend of the Urdai
"JAMES POTTER!" shrieked Professor McGonagall, her finger pointing accusingly towards the black haired boy in the back of her classroom, who smiled innocently back.
"Yes, Professor?" he asked calmly.
"What did you do to Mrs. Norris?!" fumed the professor, a flaring Irish accent showing.
James shrugged. He was about to respond when Sirius Black piped in, "Well, I personally think the cat looks much better in rainbow color than just orange."
"I assume you helped in this scheme, Black?"
"I wouldn't dare think otherwise, my dear professor," said Sirius happily.
Professor McGonagall sighed furiously.
"In my office, NOW!" she barked. James and Sirius slid from their chairs and towards the back of the room, then into McGonagall's now-cozy office. A small fire was burning in the fireplace, and shadows danced merrily about the room.
James slipped into a chair, and Sirius in the one next to his.
"Wonder how much detention that'll earn us?" Sirius mused thoughtfully, scratching his chin. "We must've broken a record, Jamsie—first day at Hogwarts and we're already in McGonagall's office. Not even my dad got in this quick, and he's supposed to be the master of mischief!"
James grinned. "I reckon a couple days at most. Anyway," he shrugged sardonically, "I agree with you—Mrs. Norris does look better with seven colors all across her."
They both laughed until the door burst open and McGonagall came haughtily in. She took a seat behind her desk, facing the two eleven year olds.
"Never in my life," she said, fighting back what appeared to be a smile, "have I had two boys get detention on the first day of Hogwarts. You should be ashamed of yourselves!"
"Ashamed?!" Sirius looked as though being ashamed of getting in trouble was a crime. "M'dear, as you said, you've never had a pair of troublemakers like us—we set a record! Do we get to be in Hogwarts, A History?"
McGonagall glared him into silence.
"You detention will be tomorrow in the Forbidden Forest, Potter, Black," she said calmly. "Do try and stay out of too much trouble! You may go."
Grinning to themselves, James and Sirius bounded out the door to find Remus waiting for them.
"What'd she give you?" Remus asked.
"Detention tomorrow night," said James happily.
"And you're proud of yourselves?"
"Why wouldn't we be, Remus?" said Sirius easily. "She said she'd put us in Hogwarts, A History if we kept it up!"
"Yeah, right," Remus muttered. "Though I reckon you'll get in that book some way or another…"
The three boys laughed, then the scene swirled from Harry's mind, though he didn't wake.
Harry woke the next morning, not remembering his dream once more, and altogether very confused. Ron was still snoring in the bed next to his, so he quietly changed robes, then crept from the dorm. He was almost to the door when—
"Harry, wait up," Ron muttered sleepily.
Harry stopped at the door, expecting to hear Ron's accusations of his liking Ginny come next, but none did. Only thumps and noises could be heard from within the red-head's four-poster, until finally Ron stumbled out.
"Damned house-elves," he said crossly, "I thought they did whatever you wanted them to. Well, I WANT A TALLER FOUR-POSTER!"
Harry grinned. "Maybe they'll shrink you instead."
Ron thought for a moment of a good comeback, decided nothing was appropriate, and shut up.
"Have fun last night?" he asked instead.
Harry waited a moment before answering, and when he did, he chose his words very carefully as to not set Ron off.
"Yeah, I suppose I did." Other than the fact that I completely left without saying anything to Cho, who was my date. And, oh yeah, I like your little sister. No big deal, right? "How'd it go with you and Hermi?"
Ron shrugged.
"We didn't argue, if that's what you mean," he said. "It was a fairly uneventful night from my end."
Harry grinned. "So, have you realized you're madly in love with Hermione yet, or do you still need an awakening?"
Ron blushed deep red from his ears to his nose.
"Erm…I think I'll go with B."
"You still need an awakening?"
"Yes." Ron nodded fervently. "Anyway, how was Cho?"
"She's nice, but all she talks about is her looks. Even in Quidditch she was complaining about the color of Ravenclaw's robes."
"That bad, huh?"
Harry paused for a moment, not wanting to say anything more about Cho, then grinned. "Yeah, that bad."
"Well," said Ron, "we'll stomp 'em next time in Quidditch to take your mind off things."
Harry was slightly taken aback with Ron's comment; hadn't it been Ron who had insisted upon him asking Cho to the dance in the first place?
"C'mon, I'm so hungry I could eat…well, I could eat anything that didn't eat me first, you might say," said Ron with a grin. He walked off towards the door, opened it, and walked out of the dorm, leaving Harry behind, scratching his head.
Harry was about to follow Ron when a loud shout sounded from outside.
"What the—"
He stumbled over to the window and peered out to see what appeared to be no fewer than several hundred Ministry wizards dressed in green body suits and running around five large cages near Hagrid's cabin. Oh dear, what's he gotten himself into this time? Harry wondered, watching numerous jets of light shoot out of the Ministry wizards' wands.
"Harry, you coming?" Ron asked from the doorway, having reappeared upon noticing Harry's absence.
"Get a load of this," Harry muttered, motioning for Ron to come over to the window. More shrieks and cries were ringing out all across the grounds.
"What the hell are those things?" Ron asked incredulously. Giant creatures with a shaggy, golden mane around a yellow-eyed lion's head, a large white body, and a long tail with spikes jetting out of it.
"Chimaera," Harry whispered.
"What's that?"
"Head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon; they're Chimaera. They're one of the more ferocious species of creatures."
"How d'you know that?" Ron whispered back, his eyes still wide as Bludgers.
"Read it over summer when I was bored at the Dursleys," said Harry. "C'mon, let's go down there…"
"What for?! The Ministry'll take care of those things!" Ron said, a terrified expression crossing his face.
"I want a closer look."
"Why?!"
Harry shrugged. "Let's just go. We haven't seen Hagrid at all this year anyway."
"Er—good point, actually." Ron sighed. "Fine, but I'm taking my wand."
Harry, too, grabbed his wand as they walked out of the dorm and headed for the entrance hall. They walked in silence for the most part until they were outside, where a fresh, December breeze was blowing across the grounds. Harry breathed in deeply, and smelled the scent of blood nearby. The Chimaera had been killing something…
"Harry! Ron! Good ter see yeh!" beamed Hagrid as they reached the cabin. The cages were several hundred yards away from here, so Ron felt somewhat safe. "I was jus' gonna go up ter the castle an' invite yeh down to see 'em. Aren't they beautiful?"
"Beauty's not the word I would use—" started Ron, but Harry elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
"Where'd you find those things, Hagrid?" he asked, eyeing the thrashing Chimaera, who obviously didn't enjoy being caged.
"I found 'em in southern Ireland when I went there fer a couple o' days," said Hagrid, still grinning. "Reported it to the Ministry at once, o' course. Then when I got back here, they were prowlin' around in the Forbidden Forest—that's where I found 'em last. The Ministry sent one hundred fifty officials to take care of 'em. Your brother's here, Ron."
"Charlie?" Ron asked. Hagrid nodded.
"Got a passion fer animals," he said happily. "Always liked him durin' his days at Hogwarts."
"Can we get any closer, Hagrid?" Harry asked somewhat eagerly.
"Better wait till they're all stunned," said Hagrid. "Then I'll let yeh get up a little closer to 'em."
Suddenly a Ministry wizard ran up to the trio, panting. It took Harry a moment to recognize Ron's brother again, Charlie.
"Good to see you, Harry, Ron," said Charlie breathlessly. "They're quite a handful, those Chimaera. Two of them already slaughtered thirty of our officials. The female on the left—yeah, that's her—she's particularly restless. Won't let us get within thirty feet of her. We've had to do just about everything to contain them."
"ONE, TWO, THREE!" shouted one of the wizards, followed by all of them shouting, "STUPEFY!" Red jets shot out of each of the one hundred twenty wands and into two of the Chimaera. Both fell to the ground with a thud that reverberated across the grounds.
"It's all very odd how they turned up," Charlie continued, surveying the scene before him. "They were in southern Ireland one day, and the next they're in Britain. Must've tracked you, Hagrid, though I don't see how they could have, as you're quite the expert with animals…odd, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is," said Hagrid after a moment. "I didn' see or hear anything on me way back…"
"Well, I guess it's just one of the many mysteries about creatures like Chimaera, Nundu, dragons, Urdai…there's so many cross-bred animals that we can't tell one from another anymore."
"Urdai?" Harry said suddenly. "Urdai were cross-bred?"
"Yes, that's what we think, anyhow," said Charlie. "Haven't you heard the legend?"
Ron and Harry shook their heads.
"Well, I'm no expert at remembering, so if you want to hear it, I'd ask Dumbledore if I were you," said Charlie. "He's got Sphinx's Order memorized."
"Sphinx?" Ron said, clearly confused.
"Sphinx was the phoenix whose Order told of the Urdai's legend," Charlie explained. "A phoenix's Order is its prediction about the future. I dunno who gave it that name or why, but that's what it's called."
"Has Fawkes ever—" Harry started, but a loud roar echoed throughout the grounds. The bars of one of the cages was splitting, and the Chimaera it had held was getting out.
"Damn!" Charlie cursed loudly before pulling out his wand and charging towards the angry beast, which was throwing aside wizards like flies.
Clouds began feeling the sky again, and Hagrid immediately scooped up Harry and Ron and charged at the castle. The Chimaera's roars echoed all around them as rain began to fall. In Harry's last fleeting glimpse of the grounds, he saw a small orange creature that walked on all fours like a cat, but with three tails and huge ears with black tips.
"Hagrid, wait—"
But Hagrid had already barged through the entrance hall's doors and locked them securely after.
"Get up to the Gryffindor tower," he said hurriedly. "An' don' come ter see me till the Chimaera are gone!"
He shoved back through the door, bidding them to bolt it after him. All around him, Harry heard screams and roars echo eerily throughout the castle.
Hermione showed them the Daily Prophet article the next morning about the Chimaera. Harry read over it slowly in the common room.
CHIMAERA ATTACK AT HOGWARTS
Rubeus Hagrid found five Chimaera in southern Ireland on his way back from a top secret mission, writes Edward Frost, Special Correspondent. He reported them to the Ministry of Ireland immediately and then left upon their arrival. The Ministry, however, found no Chimaera, only the nesting grounds of them.
When Hagrid arrived back at Hogwarts, he ventured into the Forbidden Forest on a standard checkup with his boarderhound, Fang, when the dog began barking at something. "I knew summat was wrong; Fang don' bark fer nothin'," says Hagrid. In a small clearing, several Chimaera were feeding on what appeared to Hagrid to be unicorns. The same Chimaera, maybe? Or was it merely a coincidence?
Charlie Weasley, an official for the Regulation of Dragons in Romania, thinks not. "Chimaera are a peculiar breed of beasts," he says. "They have powers behind our control and even imagination. It's my theory, and that's all that it is, a theory, that these Chimaera followed Hagrid back to Britain, though I do not know how."
While attempting to stun the Chimaera, Mr. Weasley was slightly injured, along with thirty others, and there were one hundred slaughtered mercilessly by the beasts. Cornelius Fudge has posted Dementors at all entrances of the school once more, in hopes of stopping such creatures from entering the grounds.
"We have to destroy these creatures before they destroy us," said the Minister. The Chimaera in question were taken to Romania with Mr. Weasley after being stunned numerous times and given Draught of the Living Dead potions.
While the headmaster and Minister work together to solve this problem with creatures, be on the lookout for any sort of creature with a quadruple X rating or over, and if you see one, report it to the Ministry of Magic at once.
"They're putting Dementors everywhere again?!" Harry said incredulously. "This isn't fair!"
"They're trying to protect us, Harry," said Hermione gently. "You shouldn't worry about them. And at least you know the Patronus Charm."
"Yeah, just wait till they come to one of your games again," said Ron, grinning. "You can get 'em like third year."
"I s'ppose you're right," said Harry.
"Hey! Lovers and Harry! Get over here for a minute!"
Blushing furiously, at least for Ron and Hermione, the trio turned to find Fred and George standing in a corner, beaming at them.
"What d'you guys want?" Harry asked cautiously as they approached the twins.
"Just thought we'd let you know," said Fred.
"We're having a New Years' party on New Years' Eve," George finished.
"It'll be in our dorm, the seventh years'," Fred said, then they both nodded once, grinned again, and left the common room for their dorm.
"Well, this ought to be one interesting New Years' Eve," said Ron as the twins disappeared. "Yes, one very interesting New Years' Eve."
(A/N: As tempting as it is to end this chapter right here, I'll keep going 'cause the next chapter will take a while to get up.)
Later on that day, Harry saw Cho for the first time since the ball. She was walking toward the Ravenclaw tower, and Harry, though still weary of the girl, thought it best to apologize for not saying good-bye to her.
"Cho?" he called out. The girl stopped and turned around to face him.
"Yes, Harry?" she said stiffly.
"Er—just thought I'd say sorry for…well…not saying goodnight to you the other night," Harry said awkwardly.
"Oh, it's perfectly fine, Harry," said Cho, smiling to Harry's amazement. "Kirk explained everything to me, and I'm happy for you. I don't like you like I thought I did anyway."
Harry grinned.
"Good…" he said, half to himself. "At least now I don't have…er—am I talking aloud?"
Cho giggled.
"Yes," she said.
Harry felt himself go red.
"Er—sorry. Well, anyway, I'm glad you're not mad," he said. "I'll see you next Quidditch match, I think?"
"Of course. I've been named captain of Ravenclaw."
"Ooh, this ought to be interesting—I'm talking aloud again, aren't I?" Cho nodded. "Um…I'll just leave while I'm six feet under without digging myself further in. Bye, Cho."
"Bye. Oh—and Harry? I had a really nice time the other night. Thank you."
Harry nodded, then turned back to the direction of the Gryffindor tower, happy to have Cho out of the picture hopefully for good. Anyway, he thought suddenly, I couldn't have fought against her in Quidditch if she'd have turned out to like me. It's best this way. And for once, he actually meant it.
***
"Get out the butterbeer, Harry!" bellowed George over the noise in the common room; even with the small number of Gryffindors, there was still quite a ruckus going on. Harry walked over to a table Fred had conjured and pulled out several bottles of butterbeer, then passed one to each person in the common room.
It was seven o'clock in the evening on New Years' Eve, and the party had began for the Gryffindors.
"We've nagged some food as well!" said Fred. "It's on the table, but don't eat it all till midnight!"
That night, the Gryffindors banded together as one, forgetting all their differences, if they had any in the first place, and sang Auld Lang Syne at midnight, blowing whistles and shouting their happiness.