A/N: This chapter is a bit longer than usual, but I didn't think that anyone would complain…
Chapter 9: Friendship
Uric was curled up on a couch in the Common Room, reading The Book Of Wild Magic. He would have been out wandering as usual, but both Eustace and Louis had advised him to stay in the Common Room, at least until Headmistress Kurze stopped assigning random detentions to any hapless student who crossed her path. Terry Haribon was still said to be copying every word with double letters in it out of Hogwarts: A History for lingering in the halls. It was common knowledge that it was Uric who had annoyed her, though very few people actually understood why. Uric didn't really know himself, but he was willing to go along with Eustace's and Louis' suggestion, at least for a little while. After all, the badgers wouldn't wait forever.
He was thoroughly engrossed in the chapter on selkie's when he noticed a weight on his feet. Looking up, he saw Mena sitting next to him on the small couch, her robes lying haphazardly over his feet.
"They like that you know," he said. Mena jumped. She had been staring at her feet, but now she turned to look at Uric.
"They?"
"My feet. They like being covered. That's why I wear socks. Can you imagine what they would do if they were uncovered?" he asked. Mena started to answer, but then thought better of it.
"Uric." Her eyes, once again, went back to her feet, and Uric looked there as well. Did she know something he didn't? "I'm sorry I got you in trouble," she said in a low voice. "And I'm not apologizing just because Louis told me too."
"Okay," he said. She looked at him.
"You really don't care, do you?" she asked. Uric thought about it.
"But you're sorry. So everything is okay." She was staring at her feet again. "Want to come exploring with me?" he asked her eagerly, forgetting his friend's advice. She shook her head.
"We can't. If we lose any more points for Hufflepuff, we'll never have a chance of winning the house cup." Uric's face fell.
"Later then?" he asked. Mena looked at him, realizing he truly didn't mind about the prank. Uric could be very annoying at times, but she was very glad she had defended him on the coach over a month ago.
"Mrs. Kurze has to calm down at some point. We'll go exploring then. Okay?"
"Okay." Uric nodded happily and went back to his book. Mena sat there for a moment, expecting him to say something more, than went to get ready for the day.
*****
Dear Uric,
Your father would like an explanation for the letter we received earlier today about your behaviour. He was too busy to read it, but I was able to summarize it for him, while leaving out the worst of Headmistress Kurze's insinuations. Honestly, I have half a mind to come there and give that woman a good scolding of her own. Suggesting that you hexed that girl, than attempted to lie to her about it. I know I raised you right Uric and I know you don't lie, much to our chagrin sometimes. But your father has asked for a full report, so please send one back soon.
Are you eating well there? Drusilla tells me you are fed quite well, but her son Bryton was chubby long before he went there. Your father is very busy with his council work, but I'm sure he would be interested in knowing how your studies are going. Meanwhile, I have been decorating the house for Hallowe'en with the house elves help, but I'm afraid it just won't be the same without you. You must tell me all about your first Hallowe'en at school. Try writing more often sweetheart.
With Love,
Mum
ps Uric, this is your father. Try to stay out of more trouble for the sake of the family. –Alastair Beaufolle
Louis read over the letter one more time, than handed it back to Uric.
"You sure we can't trade parents, Uric? Mine would have crucified me by now," he said. Uric looked up from where he was writing the letter back to his parents.
"I don't think we can do that. It would mean us having to be born over again, and your parents don't look anything like mine, so-" Louis cut him off.
"It was only a suggestion. Never mind." He watched Uric write the letter for awhile, than turned his attention to where Mena was asleep over her herbology text. "Are you going home for Christmas, Uric?"
"Yes. Mum would never let me stay here."
"How about Mena?" asked Louis. He watched Uric write the word 'cockatrice' before answering him.
"I don't know. What do muggle's do on Christmas?"
"Probably the same things we do, only without magic," said Louis hesitantly. He really didn't know much about muggle customs.
"Or maybe, they become magical for just one night, and everyone starts dancing on the table tops and performing amateur dramatics." Uric sounded very happy about the whole idea, though Louis was at a loss to explain what being magical and dancing on table tops had in common.
"Maybe that's what alcohol is for?" he suggested with a shrug.
"I'll ask my father when I go home. He'll know," said Uric with the certainty of someone whose father had always had an answer. Meanwhile, Louis stared at Mena, debating whether or not to wake her. He finally reached over and prodded her gently with his wand. She didn't even move, so he swished it hard against her hand, quickly hiding it when she awoke and started glaring at them. She looked between them, unable to tell by Louis' calm expression and Uric's, well Uric's usual expression, which of them had awakened her.
"I didn't get much sleep last night." Her tone was dangerous, but Louis decided to ignore it.
"You should go to sleep early tonight, but first I have a question for you," he said. Mena rested her head on her folded arms and stared at him.
"Do you?" she asked in the same tone as before. Louis nodded his head, and found himself leaning in towards her as he spoke.
"Are you staying over the holiday?" he asked. Mena blinked.
"That's it?" Louis rolled his eyes.
"Yes. Will you just answer already!" he commanded. She frowned at him.
"I'm staying here. Father's gone to France on guild business so there'd be no one at home for me," she explained. Louis sat back in the chair again. She was watching him suspiciously. "Why did you want to know?" Louis didn't really want to answer, but knew that Mena wouldn't be satisfied until he did.
"I'm staying here as well. Practically no one from Slytherin does however, not that I'm friends with many of them…I just wanted to make sure there would be someone here I know," he said, trying not to look at Mena.
"You can always go to the badgers," said Uric in a casual tone, never looking up from his letter.
"The badgers?" asked Louis, knowing he was going to regret this.
"Yes. They're very friendly if you know how to approach them."
"I thought you hadn't found them, Uric?" asked Mena.
"Oh no, well, you can only find them when you really need them, not when you really want them, if you know what I mean," he said. Louis and Mena exchanged looks. They doubted that there was anyone who ever knew what Uric really meant.
"If you say so Uric," said Louis doubtfully. Uric nodded his head.
"I do. But don't you worry. If you ever need the badgers they'll find you." He smiled happily at them. Louis found himself smiling back. For some reason he felt a lot better.
*****
Hallowe'en had always been one of Uric's favourite times of year. He would help his mother decorate the castle, and she would tell him the ancient tales of the land, even muggle stories sometimes. And then on Hallowe'en night, father would come home and they would have a party. Sometimes it was just him and his parents, other times it seemed the whole wizarding world was invited.
This year he spent Hallowe'en admiring Hogwart's rather spartan decorations and enjoying the wonderful feast. The Fat Friar even told them a ghost story while they were eating and Mrs. Kurze seemed to have calmed down enough so that she wasn't taking points off of everyone in her line of sight. After the feast there were games in the common room along with liberal amounts of some strangely flavoured drink that the older students seemed to enjoy. No one went to sleep early that night, though that didn't stop Uric from awakening at his usual time.
He woke up and bounced lightly to his feet on top of the mattress. Experimentally, he tried to perform a standing back flip and ended up in an untidy pile on the floor. He froze, wondering if his dorm mates were going to wake up, but lucky for him, or maybe for them, they were all heavy sleepers.
He pulled himself off the floor, gave a bow to the bed for its help and quickly pulled on his robes before heading out the door. Instead of leaving like he usually did, he made his way across the common room. He was distracted by the badgers in the painting on the wall and would have spent the whole night staring at them except he noticed his robes were beginning to flower so he moved on. Much as he would like to test his theory of plant based life forms, tonight wasn't the night.
The doorway he wanted was up a ladder at the far side of the room. He crept up quietly and entered into a slightly different world than he had ever been in. Hufflepuff's colours may have been black and yellow but in this room, a rainbow seemed to have splashed down. Each bed had its own bright colour dominating it, while pictures of prancing unicorns and frolicking fairies decorated the walls. Uric took a step towards a bright red bed and wondered if touching it would turn him red. He touched it, thinking that spending his life impersonating a tomato might be fun, and was disappointed to find his hands were the same colour as always.
With a sigh, he poked at the blanket and its occupant underneath. A hand flailed out and slapped his arm, making him jerk back and fall to the floor. He waited for her to wake up but nothing happened, so he got up and this time, poked her with his wand. The blanket slowly turned green and Mena sat up quite suddenly. Uric took a step back as she looked around in confusion. Her eyes focused on him and he grinned.
"Good morning Mena. Want to go exploring now?" She glared at him, than took the time to look at the magical clock on the wall. She groaned.
"We didn't go to sleep after the feast until midnight, Uric and its only four now. Couldn't you have waited a bit longer?" Her voice was still full of sleep. She rubbed her eyes and focused on him again.
"What are you doing in the girl's dorm?" Her voice was much clearer now and very angry. Uric smiled pleasantly at her.
"Waking you," he said. She growled at him, and Uric was about to ask her how she did that, since she sounded remarkably like a mother badger, when the pillow smacked full force into his body and sent him flying several feet away to land near the doorway.
"Out," she said. Uric got up and looked at her sadly.
"You're not coming exploring then?" he asked. She summoned her pillow back, though it looked more like she wanted to curse it to pieces instead.
"I'm coming. Just wait outside." She was growling again, but Uric decided to go listen to the badgers and see if they really sounded similar. Mena came down soon and was nearly hit by a plant that was flying lazily about the room.
"You have to duck," said Uric helpfully. Mena just marched over to him and pulled him out the portrait door by his sleeve. She stopped in the middle of the corridor. Uric stopped as well. He stood their patiently and imagined what would happen if all the corridors of Hogwarts were actually rivers. All the students would have to boat from class to class and the doors would have to be magically charmed to keep the water out. Simon wouldn't like the water, though doing potions while floating on top of your chair might be interesting…Mena ground her foot on top of his own and he winced slightly from the pain.
"Now that I have your attention. I thought we were exploring, not staring at the floor all night," she said. Uric shrugged and set off down one of the corridors, following the green zig-zag pattern on one of the carpets. He would have been perfectly happy staring at the carpet all night, but Mena was with him, so maybe he could show her around. Where had he last seen that room made entirely of cheese last?
*****
They didn't find the cheese room, but they did find the room full of useless things (a lot of muggle stuff according to Mena), the room of leaf piles (fun to play in until one of the piles tried to eat them) and a room full of mirrors, which he hadn't seen before. One of the mirrors kept showing him playing with badgers for some reason and Uric wondered if it was the Mirror of Badgers, but Mena wouldn't tell him what she saw so he couldn't check.
Many hours later, Uric led her towards a certain room on the second floor where a ghostly orchestra was always playing. Before they could reach it however, he heard a noise. Acting quickly, Uric pulled her behind a nearby suit of armour. She glared at him and opened her mouth to speak. He frantically signed for her to be quiet and they both stood behind the armour. Mena froze when the sound of soft footsteps came to their ears.
The footsteps came closer and peering through the arms of the suit, they could see a large pair of dark blue trousers come trotting into view. It came fast around the corner, skipping and twirling like there was actually someone in it, though they could only see air. The trousers performed some sort of sliding step dance than disappeared around a bend in the corridor. Only then did they relax.
"What was that?" asked Mena, confused as to why a pair of trousers would be so threatening.
"Those are the Dancing Trousers." Uric almost looked serious. "Once you put them on, you can never get them off. Well, not never. There are some ways, but it takes an awful lot of effort and it's no fun to be dancing forever."
"Have they ever caught you?" she asked.
"Oh yes. Plenty of times. But I didn't feel like dancing tonight and they don't like most people."
"Which explains why they like you," said Mena sourly. She took a deep breath. "Alright. Where to now?" She yawned as she said it.
"This way." Uric went in the opposite direction the Dancing Trousers had taken. He rounded the corridor and ran straight into Varys Nachleen. The dark-haired boy gave him an annoyed look, than straightened his robes, taking extra time to flick lint off of his Ravenclaw badge.
"Of all the people I could have run into," he said with disgust. Uric looked curiously at him, while Mena spoke up behind him.
"You'd rather have run into Mrs. Kurze?" she asked. He pretended not to hear her and focused on Uric.
"I think I'll report you to Mr. Kurze," he said.
"Okay," said Uric at the same time as Mena spoke up again.
"You can't, because then you'll have to explain why you're out here as well." She sounded triumphant. This time he glared at her, though she just glared right back. Uric looked from one to the other and wondered if you could bottle stares. He opened his mouth to ask, but Varys broke the stare and assumed a dignified pose.
"Much as I would like to stay here playing. I have better things to do." He gave them a slight bow, as years of social training came to the fore. Uric returned the bow for the same reasons. Mena watched them, a quizzical expression on her face, and didn't even notice when Varys brushed past her.
"For mortal enemies you two are rather polite," she said.
"Mortal enemies?" said Uric in a puzzled tone.
"He doesn't like you Uric, or hadn't you noticed?" Uric looked at her.
"Mum always said to be polite, even if he doesn't like Simon," he said. Mena shook her head.
"The point is that he doesn't like you," she explained. Uric thought about that. He seemed to remember something about Varys not liking him, but he couldn't be sure it was true. He could also remember a giant hamster ice-skating across the Great Hall, which was just as likely, maybe even more so, of being true. He was knocked out of his thoughts by a shout from down the way they had come.
"The Dancing Trousers!" said Mena, her face filled with glee.
"Did you want to try them? I'm sure we can find them again," Uric said. She growled again.
"No. I think Varys is trying them out already." Mena snickered. "I wonder what he looks like doing a country dance. He probably thinks it's beneath him."
"The trousers are beneath him actually," said Uric, trying to understand why she was so happy. At that moment, the Dancing Trousers rounded the corner with Varys wearing them. Mena doubled over with laughter. Varys was doing a passing imitation of an Irish step dancer, and the reason he wasn't yelling anymore was because he was breathing too heavily from the exercise. The boy seemed to be concentrating on getting out of the trousers, but when he saw Uric his eyes filled with anger.
"You," he panted out between breaths, "are going to pay for this." He would have said more, but the trousers switched to taking great leaps and spinning him about on his toes. Uric could have sworn he heard a muffled thump and saw a shoe on the floor for a moment. Mena didn't seem to notice, and continued snickering until the trousers had passed out of sight. Uric looked confused.
"He doesn't like Irish step dancing?" he asked. Mena just shook her head, still shaking with silent laughter. She looked back at the direction in which Varys had gone after the laughter had subsided.
"I suppose we should tell Mr. Kurze about him," she said reluctantly. "But we might be punished." She looked at him where he was drawing a duck on the wall with his wand. "Maybe we'll just send him an anonymous note." She headed off towards the owlery and Uric followed.
"Did you see that shoe?" Uric asked. Mena just ignored him.
*****
Thank you to all my reviewers: Kath, AniMourner, Tidmag and Genraid, Tess, Hinkypunk, Mad Potter, Ozma, Teluekh, Amberdulen, Psycho Cowgirl and Thistlemeg.
Tidmag and Genraid: That question about the curses used on the staircase makes me wonder whether the unforgivables were unforgivable in 1680, though I'm sure Professor Stewart wouldn't have used them anyway. He is an upstanding citizen for all his hatred of Uric. The pretty glass ball is actually an oblique reference to another pretty glass ball (shot through with gold this time) in a LOTR story I am writing with a friend. In Uric's universe all it is, is a pretty paper weight, though when you pick it up the silver does start to swirl through the ball, not that Uric will ever get that close…The strange lady, as you may have noticed, is back in this chapter, or at least part of her is. I'm considering letting Uric really see her next chapter.
Ozma: Thank you so much! I don't know if you've ever seen the show Blackadder, but allow me to recommend it. Blackadder is one of the grouchiest and meanest characters you will ever encounter:)
Amberdulen: Okay, I've polled my friends and no one knows…Who is Jack Handy?
The Dancing Trousers were inspired by Wallace and Grommit's brilliant episode entitled "The Wrong Trousers".
Please review everyone:) Feel free to ask me some questions. I love to explain even the smallest things. Cheers.