Chapter 7 – Owls with Letters
"All right, class," Professor Nilworg announced. "Essay due on Monday on the theory of countercurses. And stop grumbling that it's too hard, Weasley, we've been over it four times. Have a good weekend!"
"What weekend?" Michael grumbled. "Mine has been eaten by homework!"
Liz rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard."
"Maybe not for you," Rachel put in. "But for all us normal people, it's pretty near impossible."
Liz shook her head. "If this is your roundabout way of asking for help, the answer is no. Come on, it's time for lunch."
They entered the Great Hall. A crowd of people was gathered around a boy holding a Wizard's Wireless. They were talking so loud that Liz couldn't hear what the bewitched radio was saying.
"Do you have yours with you?" Rachel asked.
Liz nodded and dug around in her bag. Her mother, Luna, had sent it with her birthday letter last year. Of course, Rachel and Michael believed it had been Mrs. Smith who had sent it. Liz hadn't exactly told them this; she just hadn't corrected their assumption. It was better that way for now.
Rachel took the device and began tuning it. There were ads for the latest broomstick and the newest kind of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and the latest hit song blared on one station's "Witching Hour." Finally, they got to a news report that very well could have been the topic of the other group's discussion.
"Yes, on this week's top five booklist, sponsored by Flourish and Blotts. Secrets of the Mind by Penny Nilworg is still at number one, after many months, but The Mind Revealed, by Padfoot Mynoduesp, comes in at a close second. Is there a connection between these books? Readers seem to think so. Lovers of Penny's Nilworg's work despise this new release. There's even talk of an anti-Mynoduesp rally, but no one's ever seen this elusive author! Updates next week during the next top five booklist."
"Weird," Rachel said. "But still, who really cares? They're books. People can be so obsessive."
Liz didn't say a word. She stood where she was, pondering what this could mean. After a minute or two, she decided Rachel was right and went to eat her lunch.
The weather was getting colder, but the Quidditch season was heating up. The next match was scheduled for the first of December, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. Liz was adamant about not participating.
"Come on, Liz, it'll be fun, you can practice Transfiguration tomorrow," Rachel pleaded. Liz maintained her position.
"Everyone will be there," Michael offered hopefully.
"Why go? Everyone knows Slytherin is going to win. The Hufflepuffs are pushovers."
"But Hufflepuff has Kathryn Hertel, the best Seeker in the game. Didn't you wonder why Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor for the Quidditch Cup last year?"
"I was hoping it was because you were too worried about all the homework you didn't do, Michael, but I guess I was wrong. I've been to way too many games this year and last. It's eating into my homework time."
"Don't say that. Think of it the other way. Homework is eating into your Quidditch time," Rachel said. "Besides, there's only been one game this year."
"Go. Have a good time. I need to practice my Switching Spell. Go!"
"We haven't even covered those yet," Michael interjected.
"I'm getting ahead. Now go! You're goin to miss it!"
Rachel and Michael left reluctantly, leaving Liz to her Switching Spells. The first time she tried, she couldn't concentrate, and found her own nose on a begonia with a petal in the middle of her face. Then she focused and switched them back. After a few more tries, she had it down perfectly.
She let her mind and eyes wander. As she thought about her mother's letters, her eyes saw a shape out the window in the distance. Not daring to hope, she threw open the window to (she told herself) tempt in some fresh air. The next minute, the familiar owl handed on her desktop, carrying another letter.
Her kitten, Sunny, came running at it and pounced. "No, Sunny, don't!" Liz cried, trying to pull Sunny off the hopelessly scrabbling owl. A few feather were lost, but no permanent harm was done. Liz stuck Sunny in her trunk, leaving the lid open slightly so her baby cat could breathe, and took the letter from the owl, which snapped its beak irately and took off again.
Over Sunny's pitiful meows, Liz read the letter half-aloud to herself.
Dear Elizabeth,
Hello. How are you doing? What are you doing? How is your second year going so far? How are you doing in all your classes? I'm doing just fine. What are all your hobbies? Do you have a favorite magazine? Mine was the Quibbler, but that was because my father was the editor. I remember, there was one edition of a rival magazine that made everyone who read it go insane. Eventually they burned all the copies and reversed the effects of the spell, but it was still a scary thing.
I've taken too long rambling. Goodbye!
Luna
Liz grinned slightly. Her mother could get so off topic, if there had been a topic to begin with. She lifted Sunny out of the trunk and put in her place the letter. She would look at it again later. For now, she'd try Transfiguration again.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Liz?" Rachel whined as they plowed through the snow toward Hagrid's cabin. "It could go horribly, terribly wrong."
"But it won't," Liz assured her and (though she didn't know it) herself. "Chris can do it. I know he can. Besides, what about the cold? It couldn't hurt to get a bit warmed up."
Liz was planning to teach Chris the Warm Charm. It heated things up slightly and would be useful in the frosty winter air.
"Why don't we use it to melt all this snow away so we can get there faster?" Michael complained, lifting his feet like a snow horse to avoid getting stuck in the snow. Many times it didn't work.
"Because then it would be water, which would get on us and freeze and then we'd get frost bite," Liz told him.
They finally managed to reach the cabin. With frozen knuckles, Liz knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Hagrid said. "Good ter see yeh. Have summat warm, like 'ot chocolate."
"Oh, we were going to talk out here, right, Chris?"
But Chris and the others persuaded her to have some steaming hot chocolate first. Rachel and Michael followed her inside.
"How 'bout I tell a little story?" Hagrid suggested. "Yeh'll like this one, Liz, it involves yer dad."
Liz's heart twinged as Hagrid launched into his tale, which included a pub, a tankard of mulled mead, a hooded figure, and a dragon called Norbert. Hagrid was doubled over laughing and in tears by the end of it, and Liz had heartache so bad she dwelled for a moment on possible indigestion.
"So then they sen' him off ter yer Uncle Charlie, Michael," said Hagrid. The balance was tipped more to sobs at this point. "And I never saw Norbert again. I still wonder what happened ter him."
"He probably had a wife and kids, Hagrid," Chris said.
"And died happy," Rachel added.
"D—died?" Hagrid gulped. The balance was overturned as a cascade of tears tangled themselves in Hagrid's snowy beard. Chris shot Rachel an exasperated look. She widened her eyes questioningly at him.
"We'll go outside now," Michael said quickly. The other three followed him willingly.
"Nice, Rachel," he said once they were all outside. "You had to say died, didn't you?"
"Well, it was in your parent's school days. I doubt dragons live that long, do they?"
"Okay, let's get started," Liz said quickly once Rachel paused. "Today we're going to teach you the Warm Charm. Ready?"
"Correction," said Rachel. "You're going to teach. We're going to help."
"Sure, sure, right," Liz said, waving that away. "Okay, take my wand." Chris took it as if it would disintegrate him or something. "Don't be afraid of it."
"I've just had too many encounters with this thing. Do I really want to try again?"
"Of course you do. Practice makes perfect."
Michael cleared his throat. "Liz, if you were listening in Charms yesterday—"
"—which we know you were," Rachel added, grinning.
"—you'd know that Professor Flitwick gave a long lecture about only perfect practice makes perfect."
"And do you remember why he gave that particular lecture?" Liz taunted teasingly.
"Erm—slipped my mind," mumbled Michael, whose cheeks were as red as his hair.
"Because someone was saying his incantation wrong all week. Hmm, I wonder who that could be," she said, tapping her chin in mock thoughtfulness. Chris smiled, so she addressed him. "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count."
"That wasn't my point," Michael said.
"What was your point?"
"I—I can't remember."
"Good. Let's begin."
Liz taught Chris the incantation, Rahm, and the wand movements. Finding a test subject probed more difficult than the spell itself, as no one wanted to do it. Liz evaded duty by reminding Rachel and Michael that they had to help. Rachel agreed reluctantly.
"Hurry up, my fingers are going numb," she complained.
Brandishing the wand like a sword, Chris said, "Rahm!"
A few seconds passed. Finally, Liz asked, "Well, did it work?"
"Yeah," Rachel answered, "yeah, they're real warm. Warm and toasty. Real hot. Hot. Ow! OW! HOT! BURNING HOT!"
Panicking, she thrust her hands into the snow to relieve the pain, or at least numb it. This only worked temporarily. Her hands melted a huge chunk of snow, so she rushed around, dragging her hands deep into the snow in various places while the others looked on in horror. Her marks soon resembled very scattered footprints.
"Help! OW! Someone! OW! Liz, do that—OW—Feeneet Incantum, hurry! Ouch! HELP!"
"Finite Incantatem!" Liz cried once she regained her senses. Rachel stopped racing about like a maniac and sank to the ground, panting. She was almost immediately half-buried in snow.
"We'd...better go," Michael said quickly.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure we've done enough today," Liz agreed. Chris nodded sadly, looking as if he wanted to unknowingly take a page from Emma's book and snap Liz's wand; instead, he handed it back to her and said goodbye. As she and Michael helped Rachel toward the castle, Liz cast a glance back at him. Chris kicked Hagrid's admittedly un-sturdy cabin. It trembled and released a landslide of snow around him. Things were not going the way Liz planned.
"All right, class," Professor Nilworg announced. "Essay due on Monday on the theory of countercurses. And stop grumbling that it's too hard, Weasley, we've been over it four times. Have a good weekend!"
"What weekend?" Michael grumbled. "Mine has been eaten by homework!"
Liz rolled her eyes. "It's not that hard."
"Maybe not for you," Rachel put in. "But for all us normal people, it's pretty near impossible."
Liz shook her head. "If this is your roundabout way of asking for help, the answer is no. Come on, it's time for lunch."
They entered the Great Hall. A crowd of people was gathered around a boy holding a Wizard's Wireless. They were talking so loud that Liz couldn't hear what the bewitched radio was saying.
"Do you have yours with you?" Rachel asked.
Liz nodded and dug around in her bag. Her mother, Luna, had sent it with her birthday letter last year. Of course, Rachel and Michael believed it had been Mrs. Smith who had sent it. Liz hadn't exactly told them this; she just hadn't corrected their assumption. It was better that way for now.
Rachel took the device and began tuning it. There were ads for the latest broomstick and the newest kind of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and the latest hit song blared on one station's "Witching Hour." Finally, they got to a news report that very well could have been the topic of the other group's discussion.
"Yes, on this week's top five booklist, sponsored by Flourish and Blotts. Secrets of the Mind by Penny Nilworg is still at number one, after many months, but The Mind Revealed, by Padfoot Mynoduesp, comes in at a close second. Is there a connection between these books? Readers seem to think so. Lovers of Penny's Nilworg's work despise this new release. There's even talk of an anti-Mynoduesp rally, but no one's ever seen this elusive author! Updates next week during the next top five booklist."
"Weird," Rachel said. "But still, who really cares? They're books. People can be so obsessive."
Liz didn't say a word. She stood where she was, pondering what this could mean. After a minute or two, she decided Rachel was right and went to eat her lunch.
The weather was getting colder, but the Quidditch season was heating up. The next match was scheduled for the first of December, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. Liz was adamant about not participating.
"Come on, Liz, it'll be fun, you can practice Transfiguration tomorrow," Rachel pleaded. Liz maintained her position.
"Everyone will be there," Michael offered hopefully.
"Why go? Everyone knows Slytherin is going to win. The Hufflepuffs are pushovers."
"But Hufflepuff has Kathryn Hertel, the best Seeker in the game. Didn't you wonder why Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor for the Quidditch Cup last year?"
"I was hoping it was because you were too worried about all the homework you didn't do, Michael, but I guess I was wrong. I've been to way too many games this year and last. It's eating into my homework time."
"Don't say that. Think of it the other way. Homework is eating into your Quidditch time," Rachel said. "Besides, there's only been one game this year."
"Go. Have a good time. I need to practice my Switching Spell. Go!"
"We haven't even covered those yet," Michael interjected.
"I'm getting ahead. Now go! You're goin to miss it!"
Rachel and Michael left reluctantly, leaving Liz to her Switching Spells. The first time she tried, she couldn't concentrate, and found her own nose on a begonia with a petal in the middle of her face. Then she focused and switched them back. After a few more tries, she had it down perfectly.
She let her mind and eyes wander. As she thought about her mother's letters, her eyes saw a shape out the window in the distance. Not daring to hope, she threw open the window to (she told herself) tempt in some fresh air. The next minute, the familiar owl handed on her desktop, carrying another letter.
Her kitten, Sunny, came running at it and pounced. "No, Sunny, don't!" Liz cried, trying to pull Sunny off the hopelessly scrabbling owl. A few feather were lost, but no permanent harm was done. Liz stuck Sunny in her trunk, leaving the lid open slightly so her baby cat could breathe, and took the letter from the owl, which snapped its beak irately and took off again.
Over Sunny's pitiful meows, Liz read the letter half-aloud to herself.
Dear Elizabeth,
Hello. How are you doing? What are you doing? How is your second year going so far? How are you doing in all your classes? I'm doing just fine. What are all your hobbies? Do you have a favorite magazine? Mine was the Quibbler, but that was because my father was the editor. I remember, there was one edition of a rival magazine that made everyone who read it go insane. Eventually they burned all the copies and reversed the effects of the spell, but it was still a scary thing.
I've taken too long rambling. Goodbye!
Luna
Liz grinned slightly. Her mother could get so off topic, if there had been a topic to begin with. She lifted Sunny out of the trunk and put in her place the letter. She would look at it again later. For now, she'd try Transfiguration again.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Liz?" Rachel whined as they plowed through the snow toward Hagrid's cabin. "It could go horribly, terribly wrong."
"But it won't," Liz assured her and (though she didn't know it) herself. "Chris can do it. I know he can. Besides, what about the cold? It couldn't hurt to get a bit warmed up."
Liz was planning to teach Chris the Warm Charm. It heated things up slightly and would be useful in the frosty winter air.
"Why don't we use it to melt all this snow away so we can get there faster?" Michael complained, lifting his feet like a snow horse to avoid getting stuck in the snow. Many times it didn't work.
"Because then it would be water, which would get on us and freeze and then we'd get frost bite," Liz told him.
They finally managed to reach the cabin. With frozen knuckles, Liz knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Hagrid said. "Good ter see yeh. Have summat warm, like 'ot chocolate."
"Oh, we were going to talk out here, right, Chris?"
But Chris and the others persuaded her to have some steaming hot chocolate first. Rachel and Michael followed her inside.
"How 'bout I tell a little story?" Hagrid suggested. "Yeh'll like this one, Liz, it involves yer dad."
Liz's heart twinged as Hagrid launched into his tale, which included a pub, a tankard of mulled mead, a hooded figure, and a dragon called Norbert. Hagrid was doubled over laughing and in tears by the end of it, and Liz had heartache so bad she dwelled for a moment on possible indigestion.
"So then they sen' him off ter yer Uncle Charlie, Michael," said Hagrid. The balance was tipped more to sobs at this point. "And I never saw Norbert again. I still wonder what happened ter him."
"He probably had a wife and kids, Hagrid," Chris said.
"And died happy," Rachel added.
"D—died?" Hagrid gulped. The balance was overturned as a cascade of tears tangled themselves in Hagrid's snowy beard. Chris shot Rachel an exasperated look. She widened her eyes questioningly at him.
"We'll go outside now," Michael said quickly. The other three followed him willingly.
"Nice, Rachel," he said once they were all outside. "You had to say died, didn't you?"
"Well, it was in your parent's school days. I doubt dragons live that long, do they?"
"Okay, let's get started," Liz said quickly once Rachel paused. "Today we're going to teach you the Warm Charm. Ready?"
"Correction," said Rachel. "You're going to teach. We're going to help."
"Sure, sure, right," Liz said, waving that away. "Okay, take my wand." Chris took it as if it would disintegrate him or something. "Don't be afraid of it."
"I've just had too many encounters with this thing. Do I really want to try again?"
"Of course you do. Practice makes perfect."
Michael cleared his throat. "Liz, if you were listening in Charms yesterday—"
"—which we know you were," Rachel added, grinning.
"—you'd know that Professor Flitwick gave a long lecture about only perfect practice makes perfect."
"And do you remember why he gave that particular lecture?" Liz taunted teasingly.
"Erm—slipped my mind," mumbled Michael, whose cheeks were as red as his hair.
"Because someone was saying his incantation wrong all week. Hmm, I wonder who that could be," she said, tapping her chin in mock thoughtfulness. Chris smiled, so she addressed him. "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count."
"That wasn't my point," Michael said.
"What was your point?"
"I—I can't remember."
"Good. Let's begin."
Liz taught Chris the incantation, Rahm, and the wand movements. Finding a test subject probed more difficult than the spell itself, as no one wanted to do it. Liz evaded duty by reminding Rachel and Michael that they had to help. Rachel agreed reluctantly.
"Hurry up, my fingers are going numb," she complained.
Brandishing the wand like a sword, Chris said, "Rahm!"
A few seconds passed. Finally, Liz asked, "Well, did it work?"
"Yeah," Rachel answered, "yeah, they're real warm. Warm and toasty. Real hot. Hot. Ow! OW! HOT! BURNING HOT!"
Panicking, she thrust her hands into the snow to relieve the pain, or at least numb it. This only worked temporarily. Her hands melted a huge chunk of snow, so she rushed around, dragging her hands deep into the snow in various places while the others looked on in horror. Her marks soon resembled very scattered footprints.
"Help! OW! Someone! OW! Liz, do that—OW—Feeneet Incantum, hurry! Ouch! HELP!"
"Finite Incantatem!" Liz cried once she regained her senses. Rachel stopped racing about like a maniac and sank to the ground, panting. She was almost immediately half-buried in snow.
"We'd...better go," Michael said quickly.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure we've done enough today," Liz agreed. Chris nodded sadly, looking as if he wanted to unknowingly take a page from Emma's book and snap Liz's wand; instead, he handed it back to her and said goodbye. As she and Michael helped Rachel toward the castle, Liz cast a glance back at him. Chris kicked Hagrid's admittedly un-sturdy cabin. It trembled and released a landslide of snow around him. Things were not going the way Liz planned.