Disclaimer: Borrowed from the goddess JKR. May Book Six be out sooner than Book Five was.
Dance of the Mooncalf
There is a small colony of Mooncalves living in the Dark Forest. Your task is to calculate the next full moon, determine where the Mooncalf might be found, perform observations of the Mooncalf, and collect its dung for the greenhouses. You have been given special permission to enter the Dark Forest on the full moon.
"Why do they assign something like this in the middle of winter?" grumbled Angelina throwing a book aside, "Nothing"
"And we know what you'd rather be doing and with whom, too" I teased.
"Oh, get splinched, Alicia"
"That's not nice," said Katie, "After all, Alicia is in the same boat"
"No," I confessed, "I'm not. Not since yesterday."
"Really?Finally?"
"No," I said again, "Angelina."
"Yeah, it wasn't exactly romantic or anything, he just yelled across the common room 'Oi, Angelina want to come to the ball with me?'"
"He's a Weasley and a Weasley twin" Katie said, "What do you expect?"
"Not much more" Angelina grinned, "Now, if the other twin would just get his act together . . ."
"Look," I said, "Mooncalves dance in isolated areas, in the moonlight. Therefore, they would have to be in a clearing of the forest. What we have to do is find a map of the forest and see where the clearings are"
"It also says their dancing leaves large intricate patterns so we'd be looking for some large clearings," Katie added which was generous of her as being a year younger, this assignment had nothing to do with her.
"Well," said Angelina, "let's delegate then. Alicia, you figure out where the clearings are, I'll do the Astronomy and-,"A loud BANG emanated from underneath her chair, "get Fred for that if it's the last thing I do"
Katie stood up with exaggerated casualness as a certain Hufflepuff Triwizard Champion entered the library. And there went my other friend.
I sighed, pulled out my Astronomy text and picked up my wand which squeaked and turned into a mouse which didn't bother me too much until the mouse moved. I shrieked and jumped backward. I hate mice. Stereotypical female trait, I know, but they did cause the bubonic plague. Or was that rats?
I realized that the mouse was not real and the movement had been caused by George Weasley pulling its tail.
I glared at him "You git! I'm trying to study"
"I know, but you're wasting your time"
"And why might that be?"
He flashed me an insolent grin.
"Because, Spinnet, if you had been looking at your moon chart, you would know that tonight is the full moon" Damn him, he was right. It had been staring me in the face the whole time. But I had to get a dig in.
"Oh, and I suppose you know exactly where to find a Mooncalf then"
"No, but we do know the clearings in the forest" George grinned again.
"How??!!"
"Privileged information. However, in the spirit of friendship and Quidditch camaraderie, may I invite you to observe the moon- Mooncalves with us, Miss Spinnet?"
"It would be my pleasure, Mr. Weasley."
At nine that night, we all met at Hagrid's hut.
"Well, looks as if you five got the right night so let's make that twenty five points ter Gryffindor. Now, keep together as we go in, yer know, the Forest's a bit dodgy. Yer ter send up red sparks if anythin' happens"
As we entered the Forest, I noticed Fred take Angelina by the hand and slip off with her. George did as well. Being the more cautious of the twins (not that that's saying much) he decided to point this out.
"Oi, Fred, that could be dangerous"
Fred grinned and winked, "That would be just about right"
Just as we arrived at a possible clearing, red sparks flew up from the forest behind us. Hagrid considered all of us.
"Righ', I'm goin' ter go help them, you had best get on with yer mooncalf observin', yer headin' the right way"
"How pretty" I breathed.
"Look," Lee pointed at a spot on the ground where a shape was emerging. None of the textbooks mentioned how disconcerting it is to watch a Mooncalf leave its burrow. The first parts of the Mooncalf that appear are its eyes and enormous padlike front feet which essentially makes it look slightly like a Basilisk. Now, I normally consider myself to be fairly placid. You have to be when you're fifty feet in the air with Bludgers pelting at you. But this thing scared the heck out of me and I wasn't the only one.
Lee lost his head completely and yelled that it was a basilisk forgetting that were this the case, we'd all be dead. We all forgot as well, panicked and ran in several different directions.
"What was that thing?" I wondered aloud once we'd stopped running.
George looked sheepish, "I think that was a Mooncalf"
"I feel like a complete prat" I said.
"It's not that bad, we just have to find our way back. I know exactly how to do that. Borrowed this from Harry" he pulled a worn looking parchment from his robes, tapped it with his wand and informed it "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"
Words spread across the parchment and suddenly, there was a map of the Forest with people and clearings labeled.
"Where did Harry get that?"
"We gave it to him"
"Well, where did you get it then?"
"Again, privileged information"
"You nicked it?"
"Sort of" George glanced at the map, "It's barely ten and this isn't due until Monday. We could, uh, explore the forest"
"I . . .I want to get really good marks on this. I don't want to miss anything"
"Are you turning into Hermione, Lis? They dance all night, you don't have to observe all night, anyway," he added, his ears turning slightly red, "I. . .uh . . .wanted to ask you something, but it's really hard to get any of you girls alone, you always move in such packs . . ."
"What did you want to ask me?" Hope flickered.
"Well, if you're not . . .I mean, if you are . . .that's . . .do you want to come to the ball with me?"
"YES!" I said so enthusiastically that I was surprised the whole forest didn't hear.
George looked incredibly relieved, "Really?"
"Really."
And the infamous Weasley grin returned, "Then let's go observe the Mooncalves"
I studied him for a moment and shook my head, "They can wait"