Chapter III: Malicia
"Mr. Potter, may I have a word with you," Dumbledore leaned forward as students left the Sorting Hat Ceremony.
"Of course. Ron," Harry paused. He just realized that Ron was there and not in the hospital wing. Hermione must have known all along. "Ron and Hermione, please tell Hagrid I will be greeting him shortly."
"Took you a bloody long time to realize I was here, Harry," Ron said, laughing as he walked off with Hermione.
Harry then followed the white bearded wizard into the back corridors leading toward some old alchemy rooms. As they approached one iron door with silver locks across it, Dumbledore took out his wand and unleashed it on the archway. Flashes of light made the door dissolve completely, and they entered a room that Harry had never set foot in before.
Shelves filled with wrinkled, leather-bound books and aged potions whose dust crusted in layers. Parchments with ancient inked writing pressed upon yellow twigs hug in front of stained glass windows that shed no luminosity. In searching for a light source, Harry ogled in amazement at the firefly ceiling, glittering with thousands of golden pressed insects.
"Incredible," he managed to say as he stumbled into a wooden stool.
"Careful, please do watch where you step," Dumbledore pointed out the palate under Harry's feet that was full of swirls and triangular symbols.
After he leaped off of it, Harry asked, "What is it?"
"That is piece of history. But, I did not ask you here to discuss that. Another time perhaps. No, I came to discuss this." Dumbledore turned to a cloth on the table and pulled it off, revealing Harry's Firebolt.
"Is it, she, doing anything bad?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "Actually, Malicia here was quite cooperative. Her past is a bit hazy, but her first real owner, her maker, was alive right after Hogwarts was built."
"But how is that possible?" Harry asked.
"Well, Malicia wouldn't exactly tell me her origin… She did say her abilities came from another wizard but refused to tell me any more about that. However, she did tell me that over the years, she was taken to many wielding shops, transformed into a better stick. Until eventually, she was made into a Firebolt. She does not seem to remember anything after that except meeting you, Harry."
"But, why didn't she speak to me before?"
"Because Harry Potter never ignored me before!" A high shrieking voice belonging to Malicia growled, floating in the air and hovering a few inches in front of Harry's nose.
"Look, I didn't mean to. I promise," Harry paused and patted Malicia's handle. "I promise to ride you and never to forget about you again."
"If Harry promises, then I will accept." Her face faded away once again.
Dumbledore sighed and nodded his head. "You may take her; however, if anything suspicious occurs, I will have to take her away from you. Understood?"
Harry nodded and grabbed the Firebolt. He raced back to the Gryffindor wing, running up stairs that changed every few seconds. An ugly painting of three hogs wearing men's suits stopped him.
"Password, password, password," each hog said three times in different pitches.
"Oh, no, I never got it!" Harry yelled. He looked around to find anyone he knew that could possibly know it. Down the corridor was Fly walking with another person. However, a black robe covered him or her, hiding everything.
"Fly!" Harry shouted, grabbing his attention immediately. He said goodbye to the stranger next to him and jogged toward Harry.
"Forgot the password and can't get in?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
Fly laughed. "Because you are out here and look puzzled. And besides, I already had to let in another person." He turned to the painting. "Red Riding Witch."
The door swung open abruptly. "Thanks," Harry said and ran toward Ron sitting in a fluffy blue chair near the fireplace.
"Damn you, Ron. I thought you were really sick."
"I was!" Ron defended himself. "Luckily, Madame Pomfrey did a better job than that Polifer. By the way, Harry, what did you do to Pig?"
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.
"Oh, come on. Look at him!" Ron pulled the cover off of Pig's cage. "He's fat. You've been feeding him too much."
"Stop complaining, Ron."
They stared at each other, trying to forget about the fight they had last year. Those bitter words screamed in spite and anger were not of their courteous nature. And yet, it still happened, and all that hatred had to be put aside this year because they were 'friends' again; although, they never could be the same type of friends they were the years before.
After an odd period of silence, Harry spoke up again.
"I'm glad to see you're back though. What are your classes this year?"
Ron pulled a white strip of paper from his back pocket that had black blotches of ink all down the sides. After grabbing it from Ron's hand, Harry skimmed the list out loud.
"The Darks Arts Ancient History… I can't read the teacher's name."
"Snape."
"He's teaching Dark Arts?" Harry asked stunned.
"Just the history of it. He can't really teach us it."
Pausing to take it in, Harry continued. "Polymers and Potions III… Miss Lillifoot… What's this?"
"What?"
"I've never heard of this class before… Medieval Dragons."
"Oh, haven't you heard? Charlie is going to teach a class here. He told me about it when I was in the medical wing. They are going to bring real dragons for us to tame and show us all these methods and—"
Harry's eyes widened. "You know, I never looked at my schedule."
"What do you mean? How could you not?"
"I guess with all these things happening, with visiting Sirius's grave, household chores and Malicia and new students like Fly, I never got around to it. Hagrid bought all my books and covered them. When I brought them here, I never looked at them. That reminds me, I have to pick two other ones today that I forgot. Care to join me?" Harry asked, fiddling with his pockets.
"I suppose so," he responded, sluggishly leaving his chair. He closed Pig's cage and placed the invisibility cloak on it. "That's to make sure no one steals him. You know, with all the new students and all… Don't give me that look, Harry."
"What look?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes again.
"That one! Oh, let's go."
Ron grabbed Harry's hand, and they headed down the corridors and down the staircase to the delivery room, not for infants but for mail and packages. Only sixth year students and above could enter it.
As Harry turned the knob, the door busted open, and someone in a black robe rushed out. The door smacked Ron right in the nose, causing it to bleed.
"Hey now, watch where you're going!" he shouted.
The stranger stopped and replied in a sweet voice, "Quite sorry."
It was definitely a girl due to the pitch, but she never turned around. Harry could have sworn it was the same person in the robe next to Fly. Was it possibly a girlfriend? Before curiosity got the best of him, Harry followed the now injured Ron into the room.
"Ah, here it is," Harry said, standing in front of a mail slot with two thick books. He grabbed them, and gave Ron the letters. The top book Harry carried stretched across in red was the title 'Dragons'.
"Oh, you have my brother's class!" Ron yelled, almost dropping all the papers.
Harry smiled as they left the room quietly. Suddenly, the face of Harry met the floor as he flew down. His books scattered in front of him as Ron stumbled, trying to regain his balance.
"Did you trip, Harry?" Ron asked, watching Harry grumble as he tried to get back up. "Blimey!" Ron saw shiny, plump red lips attached to a broomstick.
"Malicia!" Harry yelled as he crawled back to his feet. "What are you doing here?"
To Ron's surprise, the broomstick spoke back. "Harry Potter left me alone. That was not nice of Harry Potter. Harry Potter promised to fly with me but—"
Ron grabbed the broomstick abruptly and shook it. "Did you put a spell on it?"
"No. That's a Driveller. Hermione knows more about them than I do. Malicia, I will fly with you tomorrow. Now, do not follow me again!"
The face disappeared, and Malicia fell to the ground. Harry loosened his belt buckle a few notches, picked up Malicia and tucked her to the side. He then tightened his mahogany leather belt again.
"Sorry about that. Let's head back to the dorm," Harry said before he picked up his books again and headed off to the Gryffindor Tower.