Harry Potter and the Bookwyrm
Author: Jill D. Weber
AKA Jelsemium
Characters Owned by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros.
They are used without permission or intent to make a profit.
Chapt. 5 -- And to All a Good Night!
*** With the Bookwyrm ***
"Your turn," Black said politely.
The Bookwyrm flicked his tongue a few times. "Horse never summoned, she comes unbidden. Cannot be tamed, harnessed or ridden."
After a few moments, the corner of Black's mouth curled slightly. "That would be my old cellmate, Nightmare," he said softly. He studied the Bookwyrm for a few minutes before speaking. "Flies without wings, takes without hands, has no power on Earth, but destroys many lands."
The Bookwyrm sniffed haughtily. "That would be time," he replied without even a token pause to think. He'd heard many variations on that one over the years. He stuck his tongue out at Black.
Black smiled slightly.
The Bookwyrm hurried on to his next riddle. "Destroys wood fast, destroys iron slow. Without it, your life would swiftly go."
Black's smile took on a cruel edge and he answered almost as swiftly as the Bookwyrm had. "That would be the oxidation process. It destroys wood fast by burning. It destroys iron slowly by rust. And without oxygen in my lungs, I would soon be dust." He grinned.
The Bookwyrm did not like the looks of that grin. It reminded him of himself, just before he threw out the winning riddle.
"A man and his son are in an accident," Black said, speaking softly and with considerable malicious pleasure. "The man is killed instantly, the son is rushed to the hospital. The doctor takes one look and says: "I cannot treat this child. I'm too emotionally involved, for he is my son." The Animagus eyed the Bookwyrm narrowly. "How is that possible?"
The Bookwyrm stared. "I take it this is not a case of mistaken identity?" he asked, going against the usual rules of the riddle game.
The Animagus just shook his head. "No. The doctor wasn't mistaken or lying."
The Bookwyrm searched his mind for everything he knew about human relationships. "Then, the man who was killed wasn't the boy's father. He was one of those human spiritual advisors that are called 'Father' and the boy was only his son in the spiritual sense."
Black shook his head. "The doctor was the boy's mother," he replied. "You lose."
*** Behind the Bookcase ***
"What do you mean you can't do it!" cried Fred. "You can speak Parseltongue, can't you? I mean, that whole scandal last year revolved around it!"
"I can speak Parseltongue, but not on demand," Harry said. "I can't tell the difference between it and English. I need to see a snake if I want to speak Parseltongue!"
The other four exchanged looks, then George began to laugh. "Well, if that's the only problem, I know just how to fix that!"
Fred looked alarmed, which didn't make the younger three students feel any better.
"I know the old 'turn my wand into a snake trick'," George continued boastfully.
"But that trick never works!" complained Fred.
"Not to worry," George said. "I never let a little detail like reality stop me!" He pulled his wand and waved his fingers over it. "Nothing up my sleeve! Moses Serpentinus Presto!"
The wand fairly leapt out of George's hand, landed on the floor and turned into a large, wriggling snake.
Hermione jumped back with a small shriek. Ron swore and raised his wand. Harry stepped back with a small hiss of surprise.
"Ron! Language!" scolded Hermione.
"Was that Parseltongue?" Ron asked Harry with hope in his voice.
"Erm, I guess so," Harry said. He looked at his two best friends. "Must have been," he amended. "Otherwise Hermione would be scolding me for using bad language, too."
"It works!" George said in poorly disguised surprise.
"I'd say you're brilliant, except that I got all the brains," Fred commented.
"Guess I just got stuck with the devilishly good looks," George said with mock resignation.
Hermione decided to ignore them. "Try 'alohamora,' Harry," she urged.
'How do you say 'alohamora' in snake?' Harry wondered. He tried, but he kept getting a regular human 'alohamora'.
Finally, George got impatient and grabbed up the snake and stuck it in Harry's face.
Harry leaped back, hissing.
Everybody looked at the bookcase, but nothing happened.
"Maybe it's not the right spell," Ron said.
"Well if you have a better idea for a spell, then I'm all ears," Harry replied.
"Maybe it's not a spell at all," Ron said slowly. "The Bookwyrm seemed balmy about riddles, maybe what we want is a riddle?"
"A riddle about what?" Hermione wondered. She finally stopped pacing and stood there pulling on her lip. "Try the old: 'When is a door not a door?' riddle."
"When is a door not a door?" Harry said, in English.
George stuck the snake in his face again.
Harry looked at it and tried to make himself believe that he was facing the Bookwyrm again. He let out a nasty hiss.
The bookcase didn't move.
"Try it with the answer," Hermione suggested. "When it's ajar."
Harry rolled his eyes at her. "I'm familiar with the riddle, thank you, Miss Granger."
Hermione heaved a very deep sigh.
Harry tried it once more. "When is a door not a door? When it is ajar." He could hear himself hissing and wondered if the joke was as bad in Parseltongue as it was in English.
"Ah, that's done it," said Professor Dumbledore's blessedly familiar voice. "Is everyone all right in there?"
The bookcase swung open to reveal Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, along with Filch and Madam Pince.
Five sighs of relief.
"We're fine," Harry said, gesturing for the others to proceed him. If the door shut when the Parselmouth left, Harry wanted to be the last to leave.
As soon as he was safely in the library, the bookcase shut behind them. Harry looked back, but there was no sign of the door.
"I think some explanations are in order," Professor McGonagall said. She was trying to sound stern, but she looked rather too shaken to pull it off properly.
Harry took a deep breath and began.
*** The Bookwyrm's Forfeit ***
"You lose," Black repeated. "And now I want my forfeit."
"NOOOOOOO!" wailed the Bookwyrm. "I can't get Potter for you! He won! I can't touch him, if I do, then I'll violate my terms of sorcery and… and…"
"You'll die?" Black offered. "Or turn into a regular snake?"
"I'll become illiterate!" sobbed the Bookwyrm as he pounded his head on the ground. "All those lovely books…"
Black eyed him in astonishment. Then something close to a genuine smile crossed his face. "Very well, then," he said. "I won't force that on you, but now you owe me another forfeit!"
"Two?" asked the Bookwyrm as he calmed down. "But…"
"It's two for me or get caught in conflicting geasa," Black said calmly.
The Bookwyrm snorted. "Very well, then, what do you want?"
"First, no more eating people, that's disgusting," Black said.
"What? That's no fair, I…"
"I could demand that you bring Potter to me," Black pointed out. "Your choice, meat or books?"
The Bookwyrm moaned deep in its throat. "Books, of course, but you need to define people."
"Any being with the capacity to think or speak or read," Black said. "And don't think I won't know if you cheat."
"Bugger," sighed the Bookwyrm. "You won't have to know. The Terms of Sorcery will know and that is more terrifying than even you. What's the second one, then?"
"There's another unregistered Animagus around here," Black said. "A rat. I want you to bring him to me alive."
"I may not be able to stay around here very long," the Bookwyrm pointed out. "Unless you mean for me to have to tackle the likes of Dumbledore in a bad mood."
"Very well, if you see the Animagus on your way out, capture him and bring him to the Shrieking Shack."
The Bookwyrm gave Black a very, very dirty look, which phased the Animagus not at all. He sighed and started to slither off.
"Oh, one more thing," Black said.
"WHAT!" demanded the Bookwyrm.
"Happy Christmas."
The Bookwyrm thought of many, many responses to that, and kept them all to himself.
*** In the Library ***
After the explanations (with embellishments) were finished, and a few stray riddles were thrown out and solved, Dumbledore said: "Excellent work on all your parts, ten points to Gryffindor, apiece."
"What?" Filch demanded angrily. "No detention?"
"Really, Argus, do you think that's appropriate on Christmas Eve?"
Filch held up some manacles and shook them. "What could be more appropriate to Christmas than hanging some decorations on the wall?" he asked, grinning hopefully
Dumbledore just raised an eyebrow. Filch sighed. "Come along, then," Dumbledore said. "I think we could all use a mug of hot chocolate after this."
They headed out of the library, with Filch muttering. "Bah, humbug."
*** Behind the Bookcase ***
The large, black dog padded into the room. There was nobody there, but the scent of the students lingered in the abandoned cushions and blankets. The dog sniffed around, then made a nest, keeping the blankets and cushion that smelled of Harry Potter close to his face. Then he settled down with a sigh, went to sleep and dreamed of Christmas the way it should have been.
W W W
Author's End Notes:
Ozma: Thanks! Glad you liked the riddles! Sirius is pretty smart, and he really had nothing to do for his twelve years at Azkaban except think, so I imagine he probably played a lot of word games.
Sila-chan: Thank you! Here is the last chapter of this story. More stories to come!
Sparks: Thanks! I'm writing! Honest! Glad you like my stories!
Kaydee: Thanks, thanks, thanks! I'm glad you think my writing is clever! I do try to tie things together. (That's one thing of many things I like about Rowling's books, how she ties things together like that.) Hope you like the conclusion!
Chary: Thank you so much! I'm glad you think I have the characterizations down. And I'm glad you liked the riddles. The favorite stories thingy is easy. You get the storyid from the header of the story you like. Log in, then go to the favorite story section and paste it into the favorite story id box. You get the author's ID from the author's page so you can paste that into the favorite author's story, too.
Speaking of favorite stories: Chapter 21? Soon? Hint!
SiriusBPadfoot: Thanks for dropping by and reviewing! No, as you see, Harry and Sirius don't meet in this story. Got more story ideas where we'll get some interaction between them. (A Harry Situation will restart soon, I hope.) I was rather stuck on what to do with the Bookwyrm until I realized that Sirius Black was a scary figure, too. Wish I was clever enough to come up with a riddle like the photograph one. I have a list of what I created below.
Karin: Thank you so much for the compliments! I am so glad you like the story! Wow! Translate my story into German? I am very pleased and flattered. Yes, you have my permission. May I put the translation up under my name? Or do you prefer to put it up under yours? Either way is fine with me.
Kaylin: Thank you so much for the applause! Thank you for telling me what lines you liked. Yes, you are right. As far as I know, Harry can only speak Parseltongue when there is a snake present. Or at least something he can pretend is a snake.
The Riddles I created:
Chapter 2: Harry's riddle about his scar.
Chapter 3:
The riddle that Sirius used to introduce himself.
Chapter 4:
The riddle the Bookwyrm made up about Harry being trapped behind the bookcase.
"Flies without wings"
Chapter 5:
"Horse never summoned,"
"Flies without wings"
"Destroys wood fast,"
I learned the "A man and his son are in an accident" riddle way back when I was in high school. It had us stumped, and I used that to stump a lot of my co-workers when I was stocking shelves. It's not so hard nowadays. A sign, I think, of how the world has improved in the past twenty years.