CHAPTER 8 – THE VISIT
Harry, Ron and
Hermione were present at another boring History of Magic class with Professor
Binns. Harry made an effort to pay attention on the gargoyles' extinction
episode that the teacher was talking about; of how the gargoyles, stoned
magical creatures, had turned so unbearable at the 1000s that they had been
fenced in a cave that was lost under the place that now was called London.
After a ruthless wrestling, at the edge of a precipice in the cave which was
known as "Gargoyles' Flaw", the gargoyles were massacred and reduced to dust.
The few remaining gargoyles were subdued, paralyzed and distributed around the
world. Most of them were now at the churches. "But one of them keeps
Dumbledore's office," thought Harry.
Madam Pomfrey showed
up to notify the Divination students that they would have their afternoon
period free, since Professor Trelawney was ill and could not teach at the
moment. Then, she told Harry he had a visitor awaiting for him at the Great
Hall.
When the class was over,
Harry went downstairs along with Ron and Hermione to find out who was waiting
for him. It was Sheeba and Harry noticed she was not wearing her gloves.
"Harry!," she said
cheerfully, kissing Harry on the cheek (it was way better than the kissed his
cousin Dudley Dursley got from his chubby godmother, of course, but that made
him deeply embarrassed). Sheeba utilized the kiss to whisper, "Don't be afraid,
Harry, I'm here because of my job."
At this time,
dull-looking Ron and Hermione were staring at her blankly, "Hey, kids! How are
you? I'll lunch with you, can I?"
"At Gryffindor's
table?" Hermione made a harsh face.
"Why not? I'm a
privileged ex-student! Hello, Minerva!" she said to Professor McGonagall, who
walked past them.
"Sheeba," said a
familiar voice and Harry, Ron and Hermione turned around just to see Professor
Snape's strangely flabbergasted face.
"Hallo, Severus!"
every student from Slytherin who followed him passed before them stretching out
their necks to know who that woman was and muttering a lot.
"Are you going to sit
with us at the staff table?" Snape wore the most cretin face Harry had ever
thought he could manage to wear.
"Oh, no. I'll sit with
my godson. You know him, don't you? Harry Potter!"
"Oh, yes, of course,"
Snape was deeply embarrassed, mainly when Harry smiled sweetly and innocently
at him.
"He's an excellent
student, isn't him, Severus? And so are his friends Ron and Hermione. She's the
cleverest girl I've ever met… do you know anybody who's cleverer than her?"
"Well, no… I mean,
they're all very hard-working…"
"Oh, that's so nice of "Thank you to recognize this! I'll see you
later!"
Sheeba stretched each
of her hands to Harry and Ron and walked towards Gryffindor's table, leaving
behind an astonished Severus Snape (who was wondering what he had done wrong).
Half way to where they were intending to go, Sheeba embraced Rubeus Hagrid
tightly, and he practically threw her to the ceiling as he said, "Girl! Where
have you been?"
"I've been around
here, Hagrid. I see you're still raising nasty monsters as if they were little
rabbits, aren't you?"
He grinned, "Well, you
should be a teacher here."
"Maybe when the
current Divination teacher retire?"
No matter how much
Hermione tried to dislike Sheeba, she could not help but liked her. What she had
just done with Snape had cleansed her soul, who had already been called an
"irritable know-it-all" by the teacher more than once. Among the Gryffindors,
Sheeba definitely did not resemble a grown-up, nor did she resemble a woman who
worked for the Ministry's Police. In less than five minutes of chatting, it
seemed she was a student like the others… Ron, who was at her left, kept
treating Sheeba as if she was a Veela, and Harry, well, after the
initial embarrassment, he was feeling home next to his godmother, mainly when
he looked at Slytherin's table and saw Draco Malfoy's fool face. In a moment,
Sheeba whispered just to him and Hermione (who was at Harry's right), "Don't be
duped, this isn't an usual visit, I'm touching everybody and everything to know
who has a Confusion Charm."
When they had finished
lunching, Harry and Ron took advantage of the free time (Hermione had
Arithmancy) to pick up their broomsticks and practice Quidditch. Harry was
trying to teach Ron so then he would be able to play keeper, since the last one
to play this position, Oliver Wood, had already graduated from Hogwarts.
Actually, the two boys wanted to show off for Sheeba. When Harry went upstairs
to pick up his Firebolt, he had an idea and put on the garment Sheeba had given
him. In a couple of minutes, he was at Quidditch's pitch, on his Firebolt,
making loopings.
Ron was using Fred's
broomstick. Some other students helped them; two playing Beaters, and another
one helping Ron at his position.
Harry approached
Sheeba and asked, "Would it be very dishonest to use this garment to play
Quidditch?"
"I wouldn't do it if I
were you…"
"Why not?"
"I cast some spells on
this garment, so then it would only be used to honest purposes, but if you
really want to try…"
"Okay," Harry went
very high on his broomstick and asked somebody to throw a Bludger on him. The
Bludger came very quickly. Harry thought it was just going to touch him and
change its way, however it just knocked him down the broomstick. It is true it
was just like being hit by a foam ball, he did not feel pain, but Harry simply
started falling. All the boys at the Quidditch Pitch shouted as they saw Harry
broke off from his broomstick. Sheeba just raised her wand and said, in an
impressively calm tone, "Accio!"
Nothing happened with
Harry, who was still falling, but his Firebolt, that was nearly disappearing
from sight, came into her direction. Harry thought he would break all his
bones, however, a second before he hit the floor, he shook in the air as if he
were hanging in a bungee jump's elastic. He hung in the air for some more
moments, and then, he fell on the floor with a "bang". Everybody ran after him,
expect Sheeba, who came walking calmly, holding his broomstick in her right
hand. Harry had already lifted up when she handed him his Firebolt and asked,
"Did it hurt?"
"Nope… but the Bludger
knocked me down anyway."
"This will make you
understand that this garment is perfectly useful for letting you stay safe and
sound, but it won't ever help you win a Quidditch Match. Use your skills
instead…"
Harry rolled his eyes
grimly as he saw three figures walking across the pitch. As usual, Draco Malfoy
and his bodyguards were laughing, ready to take advantage of what,
unfortunately, they had already witnessed. "It seems you've just done bad to
your godmother… shame on you!" Draco begun in his habitual drawl.
"Not exactly," said
Sheeba, who was grinning from ear to ear, "I was teaching Harry how to fall
from his broomstick without getting hurt, and it seems he learned it very well…
If you want to try too…," Draco stepped back; his notable cowardice was visible
on his face. Sheeba looked at him with her big brown eyes, and then, looked at
Crabbe, getting closer to him and touching the tip of his nose… he was way
taller than her.
"This wardrobe is a
Crabbe! You inherited the elephant shape and worm brain from your family…
should I tell you that your destiny is working as an old broomsticks repairer?"
she turned around to face Goyle, who did not lose to Crabbe in the height query
and was currently laughing, "What are you laughing about, Goyle?" she said as
she touched the boy's chest, "Dearest gorilla, you're the same kind of
almost-squib as your father were… poor you…I think that working as a latrine
cleaner is indeed a very bad destiny…"
Draco was glaring at
Sheeba in disdain when she smiled and approached him. Differently from Crabbe
and Goyle, Malfoy was almost as short as Sheeba, and she got so close to him
that she almost leaned on his nose. She twinkled at him, what nearly made him
jump… then, she ran a finger across his face, from his forehead to his chin,
touching his lips (it visibly disturbed him). She started, "Draco Malfoy, the
son of Lucius and Narcissa… they're still conceited, snobbish, intolerable and
mediocre as they were when I met them at school… hum… it seems your father
hasn't solved the problem all the Malfoys have that gives sexual impotence to
all the man in your family at the age of thirty, but you're not going to live
enough to care about it, therefore, don't give a darn to it, okay? But if I
were you," she almost whispered this bit, "I wouldn't get any closer to the
Whomping Willow… at least not while you're like this… you know, a virgin…"
"What kind of madwoman
is your godmother, Potter?" Draco was as red as a tomato, all the boys around
him, including Crabbe and Goyle, were rolling over with laughter.
"She's a clairvoyant,"
said Harry as soon as he could manage to stop laughing, "she has the Touch of
Prometheus."
"I don't believe those
things…"
"If I were you, I
would," added Ron, "she's one of the good ones, she's never made a wrong
foreboding," faster than a Bludger, Draco and his bodyguards left the pitch.
Ron was on the fall,
nearly crying of laughter. Sheeba said to Harry, "You owe me… now I'll meet
Hermione at the library, I'll see you before I go home."
"Hermione may be at
Arithmancy class," said Harry.
"No, she isn't. Her
class ended earlier…" Sheeba shouted from a good distance away; she was nearly
entering the castle.
"Seriously," said Ron,
who was wiping off his tears of laughter, "wouldn't it be amusing to see Malfoy
lacking in sexual power at the age of thirty? Pity it may be just a joke."
"It might be not,"
said Harry, "Did you notice she wasn't wearing her gloves?"