Chapter 22 Enraged Dragon
Corin walked casually into the Great Hall. Breakfast had started and the four house tables were full of students in states ranging from almost comatose to perky and awake. Continuing down the center aisle, his gaze moved to the table set aside for the elves and he studied it cautiously. With relief, he sighed and thought, Thank Merlin she's not ther-
"Corintur Raumoraa!! How dare you jump out of the dark and scare me like that! If you even think-" She continued yelling at him in elvish as she advanced towards him threateningly. He backed away from her, hands held out for protection. The whole hall was silent as they watched their young elven professor getting chewed out.
"-and then I'll hang you by your ears from the whomping willow, and you'd better just hope-" Corin was running out of room to back away from his enraged soul-mate, and she didn't show any sign of calming down. Meanwhile, Oron was laughing hysterically at the terrified look on his friend's face. Cor deserves it though, he thought, I was the one that had to endure her ranting when she came in from patrol last night. Now it's his turn.
Corin had been backed into a wall by now and Laurea had him by the collar of his tunic, still yelling threats. As she took a break to breathe, he cut in.
"Rea, I'm sorry!" he pleaded. "I couldn't help it; you know how my ferret impulses are as Quist... I don't think before I do things. It seemed like a good idea at the time..." He winced as these words left his lips.
"IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA??"
Contemplating ripping his tongue out and feeding it to Mrs. Norris, he scrambled for some way to redeem himself. Several students and some of the staff were grinning now. None of them understood a word that was being spoken, but it wasn't hard to figure out that Corin had just said something really stupid. He had the look of someone who was faced with an enraged dragon and had nothing but a stick to defend himself with. Right as Corin was about to open his mouth and try to plead for his life, Laurea covered his lips with hers and gave him a long, mind-numbing kiss.
When she finally pulled away, his brain felt like mush. She gave him a small, amused smile and whispered, "You're so cute when you're terrified. With that said, she walked away with a bounce in her step.
Still trying to process the fact that he'd just been kissed, when only seconds before he'd felt like he was about to be shredded and torn to pieces, all he could say was "Mani-?" (What-?) Not the most intelligent of responses, but that was all that came to mind to say. Meanwhile, the entire hall was filled with loud laughter at Corin's expense. When he finally noticed everyone laughing at him, he flushed with embarrassment and left the hall as quickly as possible.
Maybe I'll just eat in the kitchens this morning... He thought as he fled through the entrance hall and down a staircase towards the kitchens. It was still behind the same painting of a bowl of fruit; he tickled the pear and gave an amused smile when it giggled as the painting opened. Stepping through, he glanced around the familiar high-ceilinged room and saw that nothing had changed from his memory of it. He had fond memories of midnight wanderings under his invisibility cloak to get snacks from the house elves and chatting with Dobby.
He would have continued reminiscing about 'the good old days', but was interrupted from his musings at the sound of total silence in the room. Looking around in surprise, he was greeted with the sight of every house-elf in the room frozen in shock. Corin glanced behind him to see if they might possibly be staring at someone else, but saw no one. Turning back around, he cleared his throat awkwardly and resisted the urge to skip breakfast entirely and run (yet again) from the room.
"Ahhh, hello." Yep, definitely not one of his more eloquent days. But that got them moving and as one mass the bat-eared, tea towel-wearing house-elves gathered around him and stared up in awe and respect for the high-elf in their midst. He was starting to get seriously creeped out when one of the oldest house elves, probably the one in charge, spoke up.
"Can we be getting yous anything Mister elf, sir?" Every single elf in the entire room looked at him hopefully and seemed to hold their breath.
Corin smiled in relief and gave a small nod. "Yes, I'd like some breakfast if that's okay." He was almost blinded by the smiles he got in response and chuckled to himself as about five of the small creatures escorted him to a small table in the corner of the room while the rest scurried back to their jobs. Not five seconds passed before the table in front of him was filled to capacity with bacon, sausage, biscuits, fruit, toast, hot cereal, and several other breakfast foods which could have probably fed about ten people. He could feel the adoring stares from all over the room resting on him, but he paid them no mind as he ate and considered their response to him.
Never when I was a student here did they react like this. Even with the headmaster, they adore him and show the utmost respect for the man. But their reactions when I entered the room today bordered on hero-worship. It has to be my race, that's the only possible answer. As this occurred to him, he remembered some of the history he'd learned from his transformation. Elves and house-elves were not related to each other by anything but name, probably because of the pointed ears. But at one point in history long ago, house-elves had been hunted by a wizarding cult, which were very much like the deatheaters, along with goblins, centaurs, werewolves, and many other creatures. This had been before even the time of the founders, and the wizarding world was separated into clans instead of whole governments. Seeing the injustice occurring and how the wizarding world was neither equipped nor inclined to put a stop to it, the elves did.
As understanding swept through him over their reactions, a blur of color caught his eye and he turned to his left and spotted a very familiar, eccentrically dressed house-elf.
"Dobby?" He spoke softly, the name coming to his lips before he could stop it. The rest of the elves around him continued to work, but he saw Dobby pause and look at him curiously before walking slowly over and looking questioningly into his face.
"Sir knows Dobby's name?"
Corin hesitated, wondering how wise it would be to let Dobby know his real identity, then inwardly shrugged. Dobby was his friend, and unless he slipped or was interrogated under veritaserum, he knew the little elf would keep his secret.
"Yes," he gave the elf a small smile, "I look quite a bit different than when you saw me last." At the look of total confusion, he could almost hear what was going on in the elf's mind. 'Dobby has met this elf before? I is almost sure I has never met a high elf... Perhaps at Dobby's old master's house, is where I is meeting him. But High-elves would never be coming to the house of such bad Dark wizards...'
Seeing that Dobby would never guess without a little help, he gave a couple hints. "You once gave me Gillyweed to help me succeed in a task I had to do." He could see the light dawning on Dobby's face, and gave one final hint by tapping Dobby's right sock softly with the toe of his boot.
"MISTER HA-" Dobby started to shriek, but Corin quickly covered the elf's mouth with his hand.
"Shhhh Dobby, no one but Professor Dumbledore knows I'm here." Dobby nodded frantically and Corin removed his hand as it was quickly becoming wet from a waterfall of tears that had begun flowing from the tennis-ball sized eyes.
"You is a high-elf now, sir!! Mister-"
"Corintur Raumoraa." Corin inserted.
"Mister Corintur sir is an elf!! Dobby has always known that sir was brave and selfless and noble but for sir to be a high-elf is the highest honor, the most wonderful, the most respected," The little house-elf would have continued naming off attributes in reference to elves, but stopped when Corin laid a hand on his slim shoulder.
"Thank you Dobby, it's so good to see you." He could see more tears welling in his little friend's eyes and smiled, then checked his pocket watch. "Ah Dobby, I've got to go. I've got a class starting soon, but I'll be sure to come and visit you again. Remember to call me Corintur, or just Corin, okay?"
Dobby nodded happily, "Yes Mister Corintur sir, Dobby will remember. I is missing you, sir, when you was away and those bad wizards is locking you up. Dobby is telling himself to go and tell those wizards how great and good and noble and selfless sir is, but Dobby knows that wizards wouldn't listen to him. Dobby is glad you is back Mister Corintur,sir." With an ecstatic smile, Dobby escorted Corin to the door and Corin left the kitchens with a wave and a smile at the little house-elf's antics.
(sigh) Wow, that took awhile to write didn't it? I apologise profusely for making you wait so long. If it's any consolation my sister has been nagging me for the past four weeks or so to sit down and get it done. (Heehee, love you Julie, hope you're happy now) Well, I'll be sure to update sooner on the next chapter. Leave me a review and let me know what you think!
Arye
