CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: THE REST OF THE YEAR


"Hagrid is back."

The news flowed through the school and reached Malcolm's ears as he sat down to eat breakfast. He had managed to avoid the news by the expedient of not being very popular. After his brother's remarks about Ron Weasley's skill, his cousin's remarks to Potter, and his own winning personality, he spent a quiet night by himself.

[If you call several dozen hooting owls as quiet. At least no one bothers me . . . much.]

"Are you excited," EJ asked as he told Malcolm the news.

"Why? Hagrid doesn't care for me, and I still find him hard to take. At least with Grubbly-Plank I was learning something."

"But Hagrid is fun," Amber insisted. "He always comes up with the unusual."

"Yeah," Malcolm agreed, "Like the flame ending skreets or whatever they were. I still have the burn marks."

Neville snorted when he heard the remark. "I still have burn marks, too, but I think Hagrid has a serious problem. Have you seen his injuries? He must have been in a terrible fight."

"Did he win?" Malcolm asked.

"Malcolm, some of us like Hagrid and we're concerned about him."

"Well don't forget Professor Hem Hem. She's concerned about people like Hagrid as well. She doesn't like half-breeds. You heard what she did to Lupin. He can't get a job to save his life."

EJ said something thoughtful. "She doesn't mind the fact that your parents adopted a house elf."

"She minds," Malcolm pointed out. "It's just that she has bigger fish to fry. I know she's looking for an excuse to take over Dumbledore's job. Once she does that, she'll start dealing with all the little things she doesn't like."

"You keep saying that," Amber told him. "Why aren't you worried?"

"Because I planned ahead. Nob is like family to me, to all of us. When I realized what would probably happen, I worked it so that Nob would be legally part of the family, as far as normal people are concerned."

"But that means nothing as far as the wizarding world is concerned."

"Maybe."

Amber shook her head. "I've talked about this with Ginny and especially Hermione. All of us know how she feels about house elves. Even she admits that there is nothing you can do, because Nob is an elf regardless of what he looks like. Why won't you admit that?"

"Because Nob is what he appears to be," Malcolm insisted.

[And all I have to do is convince about fifty people who couldn't care less about anything I have to say.]

"All I need is my day in court," Malcolm insisted.

*

Malcolm was sitting in the common room trying to write his weekly letter home when Ginny Weasley walked up to him.

"Malcolm, could you stand up for a minute?"

"Sure, Why?" Malcolm asked as he rose to his feet.

Ginny put her arms around his shoulder and kissed him on the lips. When she was done, she said, "Thank you, Malcolm," and walked away.

[I don't know what that was about, but that was wonderful.]

As Malcolm finished the letter, Amber Dowling, who was a third year Gryffindor, walked into the common room. She spotted Malcolm and walked over to him. Before he could say anything, she grabbed his head, pulled him to her, and kissed him. When she was done, she looked wistfully in the air, nodded to herself, and walked away with a polite thank you.

Malcolm wore a quizzical smile as he watched her walk to her dorm. Shaking his head, he picked up his letter and headed to the owlery. As he arrived, Lavender Brown was coming out.

"Oh, Malcolm. I'm glad I ran into you. I need to ask you a favor."

Hesitantly, Malcolm answered, "Sure. What is it?"

"This," Lavender said as she put her arms around Malcolm's shoulders and kissed him. When she broke off the kiss, she smiled at him saying, "Ginny was right about you, Malcolm."

Malcolm stared as Lavender walked off, until she disappeared around a corner.

[What did she mean by that? What was Ginny right about?]

Happily confused, Malcolm owled his letter and headed off to class, only to be stopped by Cho Chang, from Ravenclaw.

"Let me guess. You want to kiss me."

Cho Chang laughed lightly and nodded her head. She then leaned down and kissed him.

"Thank you, Malcolm."

"Did you like it?"

"It was exactly what I expected," Cho said, giving Malcolm another small laugh and a wave of her hand as she went on her way."

Malcolm walked into Arithmancy class and sat down, wondering who was going to be next.

[Hey, maybe somebody slipped me a love potion. That would explain what's going on.]

"Hello, Malcolm," Hermione Granger said as she sat next to him. "Could I ask you a question?"

"You want to kiss me. Right?"

"Why would I want to do that? Ginny told me that kissing you would be like kissing my brother. I wanted to ask if you've seen Ron. He missed breakfast."

*

Malcolm looked up at the calender from his table in the common room. It was already the fifth of December, and his plans had come to a complete halt. He was looking through the legal books for precedents and found one he didn't want. It was from 1682. A senile witch had died and left a legacy to her house elf. It was ruled that a house elf was the property of the estate and could not be considered as part of the household, as a servant could. The house elf was confiscated and given to another owner.

That meant that, regardless of what Nob appeared to be, the Wizards Council would consider him as a house elf. Any effort for a real adoption would give the council the legal right to take Nob away.

[That's what I'm trying to avoid. I wouldn't be so worried but Umbridge was the last person to take this book out. I was right about her all along.]

"Friend Malcolm?"

"Dobby? What are you doing here?"

"Decorating. Dobby decorated Friend Harry's . . . uh.

Malcolm smiled. "The place Harry goes to that I know nothing about."

Dobby smiled in relief. "Friend Malcolm is kind to poor Dobby. But why is Friend Malcolm so sad."

"You know about Nob."

Dobby inched backward. "Dobby knows what Nob did. All the elves at school know. Friend Malcolm, a house elf does not do what Nob did. Dobby is frightened by what may happen because of this."

Malcolm stared at Dobby and his smile became real. "Dobby, can you repeat that but without any emotion in your voice."

Dobby looked quizzically but began to repeat tonelessly, "Dobby is frightened . . ."

"No. No. No. Before that."

"A House elf does not do what Nob did."

"THAT'S IT," Malcolm yelled, scaring some timid looking second-years who were sitting by the window.. He grabbed Dobby and kissed him. "You're a genius."

"Friend Malcolm is scaring Dobby," the elf said as he backed away.

"Dobby, I had it wrong. I've been trying to prove that Nob is human because he looks human, but that's wrong. It isn't that Nob is what he appears to be. It's that Nob is not what he appears to be. He can't be a house elf because he did something that house elves don't do."

"Nob is not a house elf?"

Malcolm's mind was in a whirl. "No, he isn't. He never was. And I can prove it. I need to talk to Dewey."

Dobby stared at Malcolm as the boy ran out of the common room. He looked over at the second years and shrugged his shoulder. One of the second years stared at the door and said, "I wish they would stop yelling like that."

*

"YOU WHAT?" Dewey yelled causing several people to turn their heads. "You're crazy, Malcolm. The only thing I've got in this family is that I'm the youngest. That fake adoption was one thing but this is just stupid and mean."

"Shut up, Dewey. This is important. And you know why."

Dewey stormed away angrily but stopped ten feet away and turned around, shouting. "Nob is just a stupid house elf. That's all that he is. If you want an adoption hearing, you'll get one. I'm talking to Aunt Narcissa."

"I want you to talk to Umbridge."

"I'll talk to her next."

Dewey walked off angrily in the direction of the owlery, while a dozen students of various houses stared at Malcolm.

"Adopting a house elf?" "What a joke." "Who's the genius?" "Nutter's abound in Gryffindor."

[That went well.]

*

"Hem Hem," Umbridge said a few days later as she walked up to Malcolm at breakfast. "I understand your family wants to apply for adoption. I've arranged for both hearings to take place next Wednesday, before the end of term. That way you can return before the holiday and retrieve your belongings."

"Both hearings?"

"Your brother will explain, you horrid boy." Umbridge sneered. "You have finally lost your usefulness to me." She began to walk away and stopped. "I visited my daughter over this last weekend. Here is a letter from her, and from that little tart you toyed with." She threw two envelopes on his breakfast plate and walked away."

"Two hearings," Ginny managed to ask.

Malcolm shrugged his shoulders. "I'll have to ask Dewey."

EJ snorted. "I'd be careful. I heard all about the last time you asked him something."

"Hello, Love," Draco said tonelessly as he walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"If it isn't marvelous Malfoy," Ginny said sarcastically.

Ignoring her, Draco leaned over to talk to Malcolm. "I need to talk to you. You have to stop your brother. Have him tell Mother he changed his mind."

"First of all, what are you talking about?"

"Malcolm," Draco said testily, "Dewey has talked Mother into agreeing to adopt him to save him from the embarrassment of having a house elf as a brother."

"And your mom fell for that?"

"Your family has applied to the wizarding council to adopt Nob?"

"Yeah."

"And you find nothing wrong with that?"

"No. You saw Nob. You know what he looks like."

Draco stared wide eyed at Malcolm. "If you try to adopt a house elf you will be the laughing stock of the wizarding world."

"Yeah."

"What's going on?"

"It's simple. I get to have Nob as a brother, and you get Dewey. Regardless of how you look at it, I win."

"That was cruel, Malcolm. I'll get you for that."

"Next time, don't ask me to apologize for you."

Draco paused, unsure of whether to grin or frown. He opted on walking away.

Malcolm looked at the people watching him. "At least it's going to be an interesting day.

"It is indeed," Severus Snape said from behind him. "Malcolm, you are supervising the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes today?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Good. Meet me in my office after your first class. Professor Dumbledore has decided that I must have a talk with you, and he won't let me put it off any longer."

"You're very popular today," Ginny said. "Why does Snape want to talk to you?"

"I don't know. He said it was something he kept putting off so it can't be too important. I'll find out in a couple of hours."

*

"Dear Malcolm," Malcolm read as he opened the first letter. He sat in the empty DADA classroom and smiled. "Mother has told me about your loose morals and I must respect her request not to see you again. I have thrown away all my mementos of you and I will start my life with a clean slate. I already have a prospective boyfriend that Mother approves of. Love, Camilla."

[Except for the closing, it was what I expected. Camilla managed to get her mother to approve of somebody. Although she did it by comparing him with me.]

Malcolm opened up the next letter and found tear stains on it. He read with trepidation what it had to say. It wasn't pretty. From the way it read, Gabrielle had listened to, and believed, whatever it was that Professor Umbridge had said about him. It closed with the line, "I never want to see or hear from you again."

When he finally looked up, Professor Snape was standing there. "You were supposed to come to my office. I don't appreciate having to search for you."

"I'm sorry, Professor. I got caught up reading my mail."

Snape sighed as he sat down on the edge of the desk. "Well, we should get this over with. The headmaster felt that you were old enough, and that I should, for some reason, be the one to explain the facts of life to you."

"The facts of life?"

"Yes. Essentially, what happens when a man and a woman, um, get together."

Malcolm crumpled the letter in his hand and stood up. "I know what happens." he said bitterly. "The guy tries to be nice and the girl leads hm on, telling him that everything is wonderful. Then when she gets what she wants she dumps him like a trash bag."

"Well, that isn't . . ."

"No, that isn't all. If she feels like it, she'll come around and say it was all a big mistake, and she'll get the guy all happy again, but just let anybody say anything bad, and she'll throw it in the guy's face without even bothering for an explanation."

"Malcolm, That's all . . ."

Yeah. That's all men are here for. Women just lead us around for whatever they want, and drop us whenever they get bored, because they know that all they have to do is smile and we'll come crawling back because they know we can't help it. They just tease us and make our lives miserable for the fun of it because they know they can get away with it. And if we ever object to anything, it's because we're the ones who are wrong. You just can't win with women, regardless of what you do."

Malcolm sighed and plopped back into his chair, the crushed letter still in his hand. Severus Snape stood up and straightened his robes. "It seems to me you understand the situation fairly well, Malcolm. I'll tell the headmaster he doesn't have to worry."

"Thanks," came the sullen reply.

*

Malcolm sat through lunch and was still in the DADA classroom when the class change came and went. He looked up in mild interest when he suddenly walked into the room.

"You are a hard person to find, even when I ask people where I am."

"Tonks?"

"Your welcome, Malcolm," she said as she changed back into herself. "I received your message and came as fast as I could. I did have to stop by the French Consul's office to pick up a two letters for you."

Malcolm stared in disbelief when he saw that the letters were from Camilla and Gabrielle. "I"M AN IDIOT."

"I appreciate your sentiments, but could you keep it down. This classroom is supposed to be empty."

"Uh, no it isn't. This is the Defense Class."

Tonks arched an eyebrow, then took a misstep as she went to sit down in one of the chairs. "Sorry."

"It's alright. It must be hard, always changing shapes. You're never one size long enough to get used to it."

Tonks smiled. "That was very diplomatic. Most people claim that I'm just clumsy."

"I just remember how it was when I first changed into an owl. I could barely walk, much less fly."

"That's why I like you, Malcolm. You always try to understand the people around you . . .before you try to manipulate them."

"I'm only asking a favor. You can always say no. Besides, I didn't expect for you to actually show up."

"Writing letters to Hogwarts, or anywhere, is no longer a safe occupation. Coming here in person was the only real option. What did you want?"

"It's like this." And Malcolm explained his plan to her.

*

Francis woke up feeling wonderful. He kissed Piama good morning, and dressed warmly to go to work. He knocked on the door to Ralph's cabin and walked in. Everything was boxed up.

"What's going on?"

Ralph looked up in surprise. "You haven't heard? They finished logging the forest. This place is going to be a ghost town. I decided it was time to accept my daughter's invitation to move in with her family. I'm moving to Winnipeg." He reached into his pocket. "Here's your wages and something extra."

Francis counted the money. "Two hundred bucks? That's not much for Alaska."

"Here." Ralph handed him two more pouches. "That's about twenty Galleons, and the other pouch is floo powder. Have you heard of it?"

"Yeah. My brother used it to go back to school."

"This fireplace should still be hooked up to the system. If you know someplace to go, you can get there cheaply at least. Sorry for the short notice."

"Thanks," Francis said in a stunned voice. He walked back to his own cabin to tell Piama the news. There were people from the reservation already there.

Piama saw Francis and handed him a piece of paper. "This is terrible, Francis. What are we going to do. The Tribal leaders sold the Reservation to some strip miners, and this is all I get."

One of the tribal leaders pointed out, "She gets a share for being a member of the tribe, but she doesn't get a full share because she moved off the reservation." He added as an after thought, "Sorry that it can't be more."

As they were left alone, Piama looked at Francis in concern. "What do we do? It's almost Christmas, and we won't have a home after tomorrow."

Francis looked at the check. "This is still a pretty good amount of money. We could get started someplace else on this, plus what Ralph gave me. How about this. You always dared me to prove that magic was real. We'll get up as early as possible tomorrow. We'll make a last stop at Ralph's place, and from there we'll visit my parents."

"But that will take forever. Do you know how much it costs to fly?"

Francis smiled. "We won't be flying. We'll be using magic. We'll go directly to the Ministry of Magic in London and find out exactly where my Mom and Dad moved to, and then we can go there. We can celebrate Christmas with my family."

"Um, Francis. You did tell me the truth about your family?"

"Yeah."

"Can't you come up with a better plan?"