Chapter Seven: The Lion, The Witch, and the Werewolf
Now, it wasn't all that wildly known (though it was suspected by quite a few) that Madison and Seth were as big troublemakers as they were. They were, of course, but their small reputation at the profession was due to the fact that they were so good at not getting caught.
And so it was one night when they were sneaking around the castle after turning most of professor Rhodes' history books into hamburgers. The transfiguration would at most last a couple of days, even though Madison had been the one to transform them.
Madison could have done the whole thing all by himself, except for getting through the door into the classroom. Seth's unlocking charm was more powerful than his, no question about it. And Seth knew a handy spell that would erase all traces of a magical signature, leaving Professor Rhodes with no way of knowing who it was who had transformed all of his books into a particularly tasty form of muggle fast food.
As they were making their way up the stairs from the class level of the school to the meeting hall, in their invisibility cloaks, of course, they heard someone coming. "Stay still," They told each other. Instead of someone coming down the stairs, they heard the main door open and close. Someone was going to the Room of Transition.
Madison and Seth looked to where they thought the other was. Madison asked, "Do you want to go?" Seth nodded. "Of course. This may be our only chance to get out of Salem for a while."
Seth was referring to the fact that the main door out of the school could not be opened except with a key given to a person by the headmaster that would remove the locking magic of the door. And neither of them had even seen a key like this. They were hoping that the magic would be lessened with its recent opening, and that Seth would be able to open it. His unlocking charm, as said before, was more powerful than Madison's.
Without saying another word the two of them rushed up the stairs to the door. Seth whispered, "Alohamora." The door slowly creaked open, They slipped through the opening, not wanting to open the door further and risk making any noise. Madison slowly shut the door, and the two of them went into the Room of Transition, making no noise at all.
There were several people already in the room. To Madison and Seth's surprise, these people were Marit, Emily, and Aibyoukai. Madison and Seth started working independently now, and each went off to separate corners to wait for the rooms to switch between where it was and the Station Below.
After a short while the three visible people in the room started to talk. "Are you feeling all right, Marit?" One of them asked. Neither Seth nor Madison could clearly hear this, so they crept closer.
"Yeah," Panted Marit, "The transformation isn't for a while." "Long enough for us to get you out of here and to the zoo?" Emily asked in a concerned voice. Marit nodded and winced. Madison and Seth had both arrived at the same conclusion about Marit.
Marit was a werewolf. She had to be; there was no other explanation for it. And Coko had to know about it. The three second years couldn't have opened the door on their own. Though they both knew this, they each had different ideas of what to do with the information.
For starters, they were glad for the extra bit of excitement. Madison had decided he would like to get to know more about the girl. Seth's ideas, however, were far more devious. He was thinking about using the information as potential blackmail. The idea did pass through Madison's head, but he dismissed it rather quickly.
After a while the room had fully transitioned, and the two girls helped the werewolf to hobble out of the room. Madison and Seth went along as well, lifting their cloaks where their feet would show. They had devised this way of finding out where the other was when they had tricked a muggle boy into believing that two pairs of disembodied feet were walking around.
Madison was in the lead, so Seth sped up to him. "Still following them?" Seth asked. "Of course," Madison responded. "Just making sure," Seth told him. "So," Madison asked, "What do you think?"
"They're heading to the zoo," Seth stated. Madison sighed. "I know that. Anything else you've thought of that's NOT obvious?" He asked. Seth nodded, though Madison had no way of knowing, Seth being invisible and all. "Good subject for blackmail," Seth said.
"I thought of that me self," Madison agreed, "But I'm not so sure." "What do you mean?" Seth asked as they followed the three girls around a corner. "Think about," Madison explained, "If you were cursed, how would you feel about being blackmailed about it?"
There was a silence, and Madison took this as a shrug. "But consider it," Seth asked of him. "I will," Madison promised, though he had very little probability to actually agree with the idea. "We're here," Madison told his friend. "I know we are. Remember that time we came down here and almost got killed?" Seth asked. "Yep, it wasn't all that long ago…" "Yes it was," Seth disagreed. "Suit yourself."
At this they came to the entrance of the zoo. Someone from inside opened the door and let the three girls in, then shut it again, magically locking it again.
The two of them walked up to the door. "Do ye think ye can manage it?" Madison asked. Seth shrugged under his cloak and pulled out his wand. Madison heard him say, "Alohamora," but the door didn't open.
Then Madison had an idea. "Seth, try and remove as much of the enchantments on the lock as you can." Seth said, "Sure. But alohamora won't work. The locking enchantment is on the whole door." Madison nodded. "I know. But do it anyway." Seth turned and closed his eyes, concentrating hard, and waved his wand.
Madison drew his wand, and pointed at the lock. He whispered, "Dohydrana," And the door slowly swung open. He jumped from where he was into the build, but Seth just walked. Straight through a puddle of water.
"Madison," He called. Madison turned around. "Yes?" "That's sixth grade level transfiguration." Madison nodded, smiling, though invisibly. "It took me a while to learn over the summer." Seth asked, "How did you do magic over the summer without the Ministry detecting you?"
"You know my grandmother?" Madison asked. "Yeah," Seth answered, "What about her?" Madison's grandmother was a famous potion brewer. "Any magic within a mile of her house cannot be detected from outside the area," Madison explained. "I was over there for a month when my family went to visit my uncle in Hawaii."
Seth cast his spell that erased the magical signatures, then followed Madison as they searched for the three girls. Eventually they caught up to them, and Marit was floundering on the ground. "Get her in their with the wolves, we don't have time to get her to her own cage." One of them said, and they helped the fast transforming werewolf into the pin with the wolves.
After they had done so, they all watched as Marit transformed. He legs and arms elongated, and her feet and hands turned into paws. She grew a snout, and her teeth grew into sharp points. Her skin turned dark and dusky, and she started to sprout brownish gray hairs. And then the transformation was over.
Madison and Seth looked on with awe and grins on their faces. This was great. They had never seen a werewolf transform before. This was one for the books.
Then they heard Emily's voice. "Wait a minute! They moved the wolves! This is the manticore pen!" She said in worry. "Oh shit," Aibyoukai muttered.
"Did you hear that?" Seth asked excitedly. "How could I not?" Madison answered dryly. "Now we could help them, and get back at the manticore for earlier!" Madison nodded, beginning to like the plan. He still wasn't done being pessimistic, though.
"Assuming that this is our manticore. And we could be killed," He told his friend. Seth shrugged. "And I'm assuming the only reason you're doing this is for further blackmail." Madison asked. Seth sniggered for an answer. Madison chuckled as well. "Let's go then," He said.
By the time they got into the cage, the werewolf and the manticore were facing each other. Seth leaned over to whisper in Madison's ear. "I'll get the manticore." Madison answered with, "Sure."
The werewolf had hear the small exchange and turned to look at them. The manticore didn't have nearly as good hearing, and kept its eyes on the werewolf. Madison moved quietly sideways, but the werewolf could still hear, and fully turned that way. The manticore started to spring, but Seth yelled, "IMPEDIMENTA!" The spell hit the manticore full on, and knocked it back a few paces, though it was far from finished.
The werewolf turned to Seth and prepared to leap, but Madison yelled, "DOHYDRANA!" The blue beam of the spell hit the werewolf in the stomach and bounced off, turning a portion of the bars into water. "Damn it," Madison muttered as the werewolf turned to him. He pocketed his wand, and threw off his invisibility cloak. It would be too much an impediment to his fighting.
Madison guessed here would be where he would see if all of his nights spent teaching himself ninjitsu would help. Ninjitsu was the martial art of the ninjas, and had come easily to Madison. It was a rather strange thing, that one like him would spend so many hours teaching himself a martial art, but he had done it.
Aibyoukai and Emily gasped when the two spells shot out of nowhere, but gasped even louder when Madison appeared. Their first thoughts were that he had found out that their friend was cursed, but their next thoughts were less alarmed. The manticore could have killed Marit, but now maybe Madison could stop that.
But what if Madison or his invisible friend were either one killed? Marit, while she was a registered witch, was not a registered werewolf. If the American ministry found out she would be moved to a werewolf camp and not be permitted to leave or learn magic.
The werewolf lunged and swung at Madison. He ducked, and kicked out at the werewolf's knee. His blow connected with a loud crack, and the werewolf fell, swinging its arms as it did so. Madison was able to jump back out of the way.
The werewolf stood, its leg not broken, and swung at Madison again. He ducked and stood, but saw too late that the werewolf had held its swing until now. He was able to step forward and not get hit by the werewolf's claws, which would most certainly be the end of him.
He flew through the air, still holding on to the werewolf's arm, and was slammed into the bars of the cage, completely smashing up his left arm and shoulder. It was broken in several places, that was to be sure of, and the muscle was severely torn. He yelled out in pain, but kept hold of the werewolf's arm with his right.
The werewolf expected him to let go of its arm when it slammed the boy into the cage bars, but he didn't. The arm was brought down with a crack, and the werewolf launched the boy a good bit away.
Madison was almost able to land on his feet, but twisted his right ankle with a crack. He stood up shakily; supporting most of his weight on his left foot, and drew his wand. He pointed it at a coconut on one of the trees in the pin, and yelled, "Accio!" Glad that Professor Wright had taught his charms class the summoning spell.
The wolf jumped at him, about to come down, and Madison did a last bit of magic, turning the coconut into a block of silver. It slammed into the werewolf's back, the creature letting out a yelp as it was knocked out.
Madison rolled to the side to avoid being smothered under the werewolf, yelping as he rolled onto his injured arm, and the pain knocked him out.
Aibyoukai and Emily watched in awe as all of this happened, and as an invisible Seth killed the manticore. Then Madison's body disappeared, and they sat down to wait for the setting of the moon, when their friend would turn back into a human, and they could leave.
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That night Seth brought Madison to the Healing Ward of the school. Josephine, the resident healer at Southeast Salem, awoke with a start, and, upon seeing the pair of them, Madison floating by Seth's side, blood dripping out of his arm, asked, "What has Madison done?"
Josephine knew the pair of them by name, with all the dueling and Quidditch wounds they received. In their second year they had been in the Healer's Ward a total of thirteen times.
Josephine levitated Madison onto the nearest bed, and handed Seth a small vial. "Give this to him," She ordered, "then get out of here." Seth nodded and did so, helping the liquid to go down Madison's throat, then left. He knew better than to not follow Josephine's orders. She could get really mad.
By the time the reviving potion had affected Madison the healer had gotten him out of his cape and shirt, though tatters of it remained on his arm. He looked at the arm and winced. Though most of the pain was gone, it hurt just to look at the arm.
Several chunks had been torn out, but most of it was still there. It was smashed up and oozing blood. Josephine walked up to him. "It'll be okay," She promised him as she helped him to a sleeping potion.
It wouldn't be, she knew. Madison would most likely always feel the wound he had received that night.
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All in all, Madison actually enjoyed that night. It was a Thursday that day, so he had no worries about missing any classes. The excitement of the night would be with him a long time, and he received a lot of attention throughout the weekend.
At one time, Mohrin Ling, the Gente Quidditch captain, came by and told him to heal up fast. There was a Quidditch match Monday, and they would need their favorite beater.
"You'll be fine," The teary eyed Angelique told him. Madison smiled. "I hope so, Angel." Though a lot of people thought the girl to be annoying, Madison actually quite liked her. Angelique had not left Madison since she had first heard the news Friday morning and had come to check on him.
Chanteau and Seth had just walked into the room. "Hurry up and get better!" She ordered, then dragged Seth out of the room. Angelique stood to go tell her off for being so mean, but Madison held her back with his good arm, snickering the whole time.
When Chanteau dragged Seth out of the room another person entered. It was Dugger. He was dressed in purple and black clothing, three layers of it, all in descending lengths. He was carrying a vial filled with a fizzy green potion. He walked over to Madison and handed it to him.
"I take it this is to drink?" Madison asked. "Uh-huh." Dugger responded. "Why do I get the feeling this is not legal?" Madison asked. Dugger smirked and left the room. Madison gulped down the foul tasting potion, and immediately felt his arm wound lessen.
A few hours later, when Angelique had fallen asleep, her head on Madison's stomach, another person stepped tentatively into the room. It was Marit.
She stared into Madison's eyes for a moment, and then he winked. She smiled and left the room, content in the knowledge that her secret was safe.