CHAPTER 9:
MORE STRANGE OCCURANCES
The next two months went quite uneventful. There were no more sightings of the creature ever since that night on the school grounds. Instead, other strange phenomena took place.
Harry could have sworn that he heard the creature's scream-like cry whenever he was alone on the school grounds.
One Friday in early October, Harry was attending a Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid had shown them even more of the newly discovered magical creatures, one of them being the caladrius, a swanlike bird capable of healing a sick person just by being in the patient's presence, and found throughout the European Continent. Today, Harry stood among the Gryffindors and Slytherins for his next Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
In a few moments, Hagrid emerged from behind his hut. "Alrigh'," he called to the students. "Follow me back here. He's ready fer ye!"
Harry marched along with the other students around Hagrid's hut. However, there wasn't anything back there, except for Hagrid's garden.
"Well, where is it?" Malfoy demanded impatiently.
"Righ' in front o' ye," Hagrid replied, pointing to the garden.
There, in the garden, was a large plant, about three feet high. At the top of the plant's thick, green stalk, there was a large, red-orange, closed-up flower the size of a melon.
"A plant?" Malfoy exasperated. "We wasted our time coming to a Care of Magical Creatures lesson to see...a plant?"
"Well, yer half righ', there," Hagrid explained. "Jus' wait a few momen's. Any minute, now."
They all watched the plant closely, not knowing what to expect.
Soon, a light sprinkle began to fall from the cloudy sky.
"Ah, righ' on time," Hagrid announced. "Those augureys never lie, do they?"
Half a minute later, the rain stopped, and the sun peeked out from behind the rain cloud.
Suddenly, after a minute or two of waiting, the plant began to shake slightly, as if something was inside it, yearning to come out. And then, to everyone's surprise, the plant's flower blossomed and sprang open to reveal a soft, wet, fluffy center, almost like the cotton of a cotton plant. Then, there was a chorus of disgusted groans from the students as the center slowly rolled slimily out of the flower and plopped to the ground.
Harry stared at the shapeless, slimy, cotton ball the plant had produced, and he noticed that it was breathing. Then, it stretched out four hoofed legs and stood itself up shakily. Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had just witnessed a newborn lamb emerge from the inside of a flower. All he could do was watch as the lamb trotted around and grazed in the dew-covered grass, baaing softly as it looked up at the students' faces in curiosity. An umbilical cord stretched from the center of the flower to the lamb's navel, limiting its range of motion.
"Righ'," Hagrid began. "Now, can anyone 'ere tell me wha' this is?"
As always, Hermione was the first to raise her hand. "It's a vegetable lamb."
"Righ', ye are, Hermione. Now, vegetable lambs are native ter China, where their bones are collected fer a cert'n practice o' divination, in which they're carved inter what are known as oracle bones. Durin' oracle bone readin'...."
Harry soon found Hagrid's lesson to be quite hard to listen to, but not because it was boring. Far from it, he actually found this vegetable lamb to be rather interesting. What really dragged him out of the lesson was the small red light hovering far above the treetops of the Forbidden Forest.
***
The next day, during breakfast in the Great Hall, the mail owls swooped through the open window, each carrying letters and packages to the students, when a large eagle owl plopped down into Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's breakfasts. A letter was tied to its leg.
Harry untied the letter to see that it was addressed to him, Ron, and Hermione. "Hey, guys," he began. "This is for all three of us."
"That's weird," Hermione noted.
"Open it, Harry," Ron urged him.
Harry tore the envelope open, pulled out the folded parchment within, unfolded it, and read it aloud.
WE KNOW WHAT YOU SAW AND WE ARE NOT HAPPY!!! KEEP YOUR MOUTHS
SHUT OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!!!!!
TO BE CONTINUED
MORE STRANGE OCCURANCES
The next two months went quite uneventful. There were no more sightings of the creature ever since that night on the school grounds. Instead, other strange phenomena took place.
Harry could have sworn that he heard the creature's scream-like cry whenever he was alone on the school grounds.
One Friday in early October, Harry was attending a Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Hagrid had shown them even more of the newly discovered magical creatures, one of them being the caladrius, a swanlike bird capable of healing a sick person just by being in the patient's presence, and found throughout the European Continent. Today, Harry stood among the Gryffindors and Slytherins for his next Care of Magical Creatures lesson.
In a few moments, Hagrid emerged from behind his hut. "Alrigh'," he called to the students. "Follow me back here. He's ready fer ye!"
Harry marched along with the other students around Hagrid's hut. However, there wasn't anything back there, except for Hagrid's garden.
"Well, where is it?" Malfoy demanded impatiently.
"Righ' in front o' ye," Hagrid replied, pointing to the garden.
There, in the garden, was a large plant, about three feet high. At the top of the plant's thick, green stalk, there was a large, red-orange, closed-up flower the size of a melon.
"A plant?" Malfoy exasperated. "We wasted our time coming to a Care of Magical Creatures lesson to see...a plant?"
"Well, yer half righ', there," Hagrid explained. "Jus' wait a few momen's. Any minute, now."
They all watched the plant closely, not knowing what to expect.
Soon, a light sprinkle began to fall from the cloudy sky.
"Ah, righ' on time," Hagrid announced. "Those augureys never lie, do they?"
Half a minute later, the rain stopped, and the sun peeked out from behind the rain cloud.
Suddenly, after a minute or two of waiting, the plant began to shake slightly, as if something was inside it, yearning to come out. And then, to everyone's surprise, the plant's flower blossomed and sprang open to reveal a soft, wet, fluffy center, almost like the cotton of a cotton plant. Then, there was a chorus of disgusted groans from the students as the center slowly rolled slimily out of the flower and plopped to the ground.
Harry stared at the shapeless, slimy, cotton ball the plant had produced, and he noticed that it was breathing. Then, it stretched out four hoofed legs and stood itself up shakily. Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had just witnessed a newborn lamb emerge from the inside of a flower. All he could do was watch as the lamb trotted around and grazed in the dew-covered grass, baaing softly as it looked up at the students' faces in curiosity. An umbilical cord stretched from the center of the flower to the lamb's navel, limiting its range of motion.
"Righ'," Hagrid began. "Now, can anyone 'ere tell me wha' this is?"
As always, Hermione was the first to raise her hand. "It's a vegetable lamb."
"Righ', ye are, Hermione. Now, vegetable lambs are native ter China, where their bones are collected fer a cert'n practice o' divination, in which they're carved inter what are known as oracle bones. Durin' oracle bone readin'...."
Harry soon found Hagrid's lesson to be quite hard to listen to, but not because it was boring. Far from it, he actually found this vegetable lamb to be rather interesting. What really dragged him out of the lesson was the small red light hovering far above the treetops of the Forbidden Forest.
***
The next day, during breakfast in the Great Hall, the mail owls swooped through the open window, each carrying letters and packages to the students, when a large eagle owl plopped down into Harry's, Ron's, and Hermione's breakfasts. A letter was tied to its leg.
Harry untied the letter to see that it was addressed to him, Ron, and Hermione. "Hey, guys," he began. "This is for all three of us."
"That's weird," Hermione noted.
"Open it, Harry," Ron urged him.
Harry tore the envelope open, pulled out the folded parchment within, unfolded it, and read it aloud.
WE KNOW WHAT YOU SAW AND WE ARE NOT HAPPY!!! KEEP YOUR MOUTHS
SHUT OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!!!!!
TO BE CONTINUED