12. …Various things are forgotten and remembered
Something sticky splatted against Harry's cheek and then started to smoke. "No, no!
You're doing it wrong." Snape was beginning to look exasperated. "When a kappa
comes flying for your throat the point is not to blow it up but to kill it and gut it. I would
let you use a more basic kill spell but a kappa's bile is extremely toxic. Once it is dead it
starts to eat through the corpse like acid. By the time we got back the only thing we'd
have left is a bunch of rotting kappa hides, though those can be made into gloves useful
for handling volatile acids." Snape grinned as another stupid kappa flew out of nowhere
and landed on Harry's head. Snape dispatched it with a neatly executed spell. "Five
down and just about thirty more to go. That should cover our needs for right now."
"Wouldn't it be more efficient if I just stood out in the middle of that muck there and
acted as bait?" Harry was quickly becoming fed up.
"Oh, no. By the end there would be nothing left of you. Who would there be to carry the
carcasses back to Hogwarts then? Quick, here comes another one. If you just
concentrate I'm sure you can get it right this time."
Harry took aim with his wand, snarling under his breath, and fired. To his great surprise,
the spell worked perfectly and the kappa dropped dead to the ground. After that he
determined to bring down twice as many as Snape. Some revenge is petty, he figured,
but sometimes it's all you've got. Later he would get Hermione to brew up some potion
to slip into Snape's goblet. Something subtle, maybe something that made him giggle at
inappropriate moments. Harry comforted himself with this thought. Snape blasted a
kappa and giggled crazily. Never mind, thought Harry, maybe not a giggling potion.
Elsewhere at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Ginny and Hermione were
curled up on a couch in the Gryffindor common room. Ginny was a good deal calmer
now that Hermione had explained the Plan to her and was expecting her brother back the
next day. (She fully supported any plan to aid Harry, who she had liked for as long as she
could remember.) Hermione, Harry, and the Weasleys were the only Gryffindors staying
over the Christmas break, and so the two girls had the room entirely to themselves. Ginny
was taking advantage of their relative solitude by reading the horoscope in the "Daily
Prophet" and laughing to herself. Hermione was reading a very thick book about water
creatures to prepare herself for the horrible task she would have to undertake tomorrow.
Suddenly, Ginny gasped loudly.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, staring unhappily at a diagram of the kappa's digestive
system.
"This!" Ginny shoved the newspaper into Hermione's face. Hermione grabbed it and held
it out in front of her, reading out loud.
"Annual Malfoy New Year's Ball expected to be the Social Event of the Season."
Underneath this headline was a photo of Lucius and Narcissa waving happily from the
front door of the Manor. Every few minutes or so, a flash of lightning could be seen in
the background.
"Oh…no…" Hermione said. "We forgot about that, too."
Supper at the Malfoy residence was a subdued occasion, given the circumstances.
Narcissa seemed detached as always, and Ron spent the entire time trying to avoid the
gazes of both Draco and Lucius. He hoped that there wasn't a Malfoy cousin or
something stowed away in the manor, because god knows, he would probably end up
sleeping with him too…
Ron picked at his baked chicken glumly until suddenly Lucius stood up and announced,
"It's time to get ready." Ron blinked in confusion, but Draco had already grabbed him by
the arm and pulled him forcefully out of the room.
"Ready…ready…ready for what?" Ron muttered to himself as he frantically tore through
Blaise's ample luggage. Something caught his eye from the bottom of a large suitcase
and he pulled it out, gazing at it in horror. It was, quite obviously, a costume: a red velvet
dress the color of blood, with a richly embroidered bodice and a neckline that appeared as
if it would hover somewhere around his belly button. A red silk cape and demi-mask with
an ivory and pearl-inlaid handle completed the ensemble. He buried his face in the dress
in shame.
"Harry…Hermione…" he said through gritted teeth, "I am going to kill you."
Draco walked in without knocking. Ron looked up at him and had to stifle a laugh that
even now threatened to knock him over with its power. The whole thing was
just…ridiculous. Draco was wearing an impeccably cut black suit with a red cravat, a
black cape, a black mask, and of course, he had enchanted his front teeth to be longer and
pointy. Vampire Draco. No…Dracula Draco.
Could things get any weirder? Ron thought not.
Harry had returned from his Swamp Adventure nearly unscathed – he had a very small
singed patch of hair where his head had caught on fire, his clothes smelled like asphault,
and his face was covered in green goo that he didn't want to think about too closely. The
low point of the afternoon had been when Snape tripped on some pond slime and
careened into Harry, and the two had gone rolling down a hill and into a puddle of murky
water. However, Snape had henceforth been bitten by an overgrown neematoad, and
Harry silently filed the resulting turmoil into his brain under "Memories to be Treasured
Forever."
Exhausted but still amused by the thought of Snape hopping about and screeching like a
banshee on a bad hair day, Harry entered the Gryffindor common room only to see
Hermione and Ginny sitting and staring at him dolefully.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, suddenly worried. "Ginny?"
Ginny silently held up "The Daily Prophet" and showed him the front page. Harry read it
quizzically.
"What?" he asked. "I don't get it."
Hermione practically grabbed him by the front of his sweater and shook him. "They're
having a party! Don't you see? BLAISE'S PARENTS AND HALF OF HOGWARTS
WILL PROBABLY BE THERE!"
"Well, Ron will probably just let Draco do all the talking," Harry said logically, "I'm sure
Draco will do that anyway. It's only for a few hours, and Ron's coming back tomorrow."
"True. But…Ron can get…a little overexcited…" Ginny trailed off. "I don't know if he's
prepared for a party full of Death Eaters and Slytherins."
Hermione still looked put out by Harry's quick dismissal of the whole situation. "Let's
hope he can do it," she said. "If he gives himself away somehow, we are all in deep
trouble." She flounced up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.
Something sticky splatted against Harry's cheek and then started to smoke. "No, no!
You're doing it wrong." Snape was beginning to look exasperated. "When a kappa
comes flying for your throat the point is not to blow it up but to kill it and gut it. I would
let you use a more basic kill spell but a kappa's bile is extremely toxic. Once it is dead it
starts to eat through the corpse like acid. By the time we got back the only thing we'd
have left is a bunch of rotting kappa hides, though those can be made into gloves useful
for handling volatile acids." Snape grinned as another stupid kappa flew out of nowhere
and landed on Harry's head. Snape dispatched it with a neatly executed spell. "Five
down and just about thirty more to go. That should cover our needs for right now."
"Wouldn't it be more efficient if I just stood out in the middle of that muck there and
acted as bait?" Harry was quickly becoming fed up.
"Oh, no. By the end there would be nothing left of you. Who would there be to carry the
carcasses back to Hogwarts then? Quick, here comes another one. If you just
concentrate I'm sure you can get it right this time."
Harry took aim with his wand, snarling under his breath, and fired. To his great surprise,
the spell worked perfectly and the kappa dropped dead to the ground. After that he
determined to bring down twice as many as Snape. Some revenge is petty, he figured,
but sometimes it's all you've got. Later he would get Hermione to brew up some potion
to slip into Snape's goblet. Something subtle, maybe something that made him giggle at
inappropriate moments. Harry comforted himself with this thought. Snape blasted a
kappa and giggled crazily. Never mind, thought Harry, maybe not a giggling potion.
Elsewhere at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Ginny and Hermione were
curled up on a couch in the Gryffindor common room. Ginny was a good deal calmer
now that Hermione had explained the Plan to her and was expecting her brother back the
next day. (She fully supported any plan to aid Harry, who she had liked for as long as she
could remember.) Hermione, Harry, and the Weasleys were the only Gryffindors staying
over the Christmas break, and so the two girls had the room entirely to themselves. Ginny
was taking advantage of their relative solitude by reading the horoscope in the "Daily
Prophet" and laughing to herself. Hermione was reading a very thick book about water
creatures to prepare herself for the horrible task she would have to undertake tomorrow.
Suddenly, Ginny gasped loudly.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, staring unhappily at a diagram of the kappa's digestive
system.
"This!" Ginny shoved the newspaper into Hermione's face. Hermione grabbed it and held
it out in front of her, reading out loud.
"Annual Malfoy New Year's Ball expected to be the Social Event of the Season."
Underneath this headline was a photo of Lucius and Narcissa waving happily from the
front door of the Manor. Every few minutes or so, a flash of lightning could be seen in
the background.
"Oh…no…" Hermione said. "We forgot about that, too."
Supper at the Malfoy residence was a subdued occasion, given the circumstances.
Narcissa seemed detached as always, and Ron spent the entire time trying to avoid the
gazes of both Draco and Lucius. He hoped that there wasn't a Malfoy cousin or
something stowed away in the manor, because god knows, he would probably end up
sleeping with him too…
Ron picked at his baked chicken glumly until suddenly Lucius stood up and announced,
"It's time to get ready." Ron blinked in confusion, but Draco had already grabbed him by
the arm and pulled him forcefully out of the room.
"Ready…ready…ready for what?" Ron muttered to himself as he frantically tore through
Blaise's ample luggage. Something caught his eye from the bottom of a large suitcase
and he pulled it out, gazing at it in horror. It was, quite obviously, a costume: a red velvet
dress the color of blood, with a richly embroidered bodice and a neckline that appeared as
if it would hover somewhere around his belly button. A red silk cape and demi-mask with
an ivory and pearl-inlaid handle completed the ensemble. He buried his face in the dress
in shame.
"Harry…Hermione…" he said through gritted teeth, "I am going to kill you."
Draco walked in without knocking. Ron looked up at him and had to stifle a laugh that
even now threatened to knock him over with its power. The whole thing was
just…ridiculous. Draco was wearing an impeccably cut black suit with a red cravat, a
black cape, a black mask, and of course, he had enchanted his front teeth to be longer and
pointy. Vampire Draco. No…Dracula Draco.
Could things get any weirder? Ron thought not.
Harry had returned from his Swamp Adventure nearly unscathed – he had a very small
singed patch of hair where his head had caught on fire, his clothes smelled like asphault,
and his face was covered in green goo that he didn't want to think about too closely. The
low point of the afternoon had been when Snape tripped on some pond slime and
careened into Harry, and the two had gone rolling down a hill and into a puddle of murky
water. However, Snape had henceforth been bitten by an overgrown neematoad, and
Harry silently filed the resulting turmoil into his brain under "Memories to be Treasured
Forever."
Exhausted but still amused by the thought of Snape hopping about and screeching like a
banshee on a bad hair day, Harry entered the Gryffindor common room only to see
Hermione and Ginny sitting and staring at him dolefully.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, suddenly worried. "Ginny?"
Ginny silently held up "The Daily Prophet" and showed him the front page. Harry read it
quizzically.
"What?" he asked. "I don't get it."
Hermione practically grabbed him by the front of his sweater and shook him. "They're
having a party! Don't you see? BLAISE'S PARENTS AND HALF OF HOGWARTS
WILL PROBABLY BE THERE!"
"Well, Ron will probably just let Draco do all the talking," Harry said logically, "I'm sure
Draco will do that anyway. It's only for a few hours, and Ron's coming back tomorrow."
"True. But…Ron can get…a little overexcited…" Ginny trailed off. "I don't know if he's
prepared for a party full of Death Eaters and Slytherins."
Hermione still looked put out by Harry's quick dismissal of the whole situation. "Let's
hope he can do it," she said. "If he gives himself away somehow, we are all in deep
trouble." She flounced up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.