Sabra stalked into the Great Hall, her head still aching from her tumble down the stairs but the blood under her eye mostly dry. Her right eye was beginning to puff up and her vision was becoming blurry. She gently touched it and winced; it would be a black eye.
A small crash caught her attention and she looked up, startled. In the Great Hall were about one hundred house elves putting food on the table. She wondered about that for a distracted moment, and then realized that the food's magical appearance the other night had probably been a special event for the opening night feast.
A small tug on the side of her robe alerted her to the presence of a small female house elf bowing nervously at her feet.
"Yes?"
"Miss," the house elf said, "Toggle is wondering if miss cleaned up the tower last night before bed."
"What?" Sabra had to think for a moment, her aching head protesting each thought. "Oh, yes I did. I didn't want to leave it dirty."
"Oh no miss," Toggle said, tugging fretfully on her long ear. "Cleaning the tower is Toggle's job! Miss mustn't clean!"
As she thought about it, Sabra realized that the common room had seemed cleaner as she walked out this morning. "But I like cleaning," she said, "and I don't want you to have too much work; I know you also put the warming pans in our beds. I just wanted to help."
Toggle's big eyes started filling with tears. "Thank you miss," she sniffed. "Miss is kind."
"Miss is kind of hungry," Sabra said, laughing slightly.
"Oh! Toggle is sorry! Miss came to the Great Hall for breakfast!"
"Just a bit," Sabra assured her hastily as no less than ten house elves hurried over, bearing both blue and white trays of food.
"I'll take white," she said, not really wanting meat for breakfast, though she did wonder what there could be to eat other than bacon and sausage, and both of those were pig.
Immediately three trays were set on the Gryffindor table and she was quickly ushered to the seat in front of it. House elves quickly put a plate, fork, knife and spoon in front of her, and one handed her a carefully folded napkin, which she placed on her lap with a "thank you."
Opening the covered trays as the house elves walked back to setting up the Great Hall, Sabra found a bowl of Israeli salad, a platter of pita and a small dish of feta cheese. Smiling slightly at the house elves' kindness, she ripped a pita in half and filled it with salad and cheese. Quickly saying the motzi, she bit in, and made a happy-puppy face around the huge bite. It was perfect.
Finishing off three pitas, she ended with a goblet of orange and pomegranate juice, from which the pitcher just happened to be sitting right by her seat. Smiling again, Sabra looked over at the house elves, just finishing setting up breakfast.
Then she realized something. Where were all the students? None had been in the halls, nor the stair to witness her fall (for that she was grateful) nor the common room or the Great Hall. Why wasn't anyone awake?
She stood up and shook out her skirts, then walked over to the house elves, who were marching quickly into what seemed to be a…painting? She shrugged and tapped the nearest house elf on the shoulder.
he squeaked, and spun around, then saw her. "Miss," he piped, bowing so low that his long pointed nose touched the ground. "How can Monty help Miss?"
"I was just wondering where the rest of the students were." Sabra nodded politely to the half-dozen or so house elves who bowed to her as they passed her on the way to the painting.
"The students are abed miss," Monty squeaked. "Their wake-up is not until seven-thirty. It is still an hour."
"What? They sleep so late?" Sabra shook her head in disbelief, nodded a 'thank you' to Monty and wandered out of the Great Hall. "At Akiba, we woke at six…" She continued her conversation with herself as she walked out the doors of the Great hall, into the Entrance Hall and out the front doors, which were cracked open enough for someone to squeeze through, though for someone of her size, it was a tight fit.
She walked down the front steps and out onto the grounds, fully appreciating its beauty in the early morning light. The lake sparkled, a red line on the surface where the sun's first rays were beginning to shine. An early morning mist lay over the grass, wet with dew, and was blowing gently away, revealing a vast lawn dotted here and there with trees. A forest began a little past where Professor Hagrid's cabin was, but the trees in there were darker, and seemed quite ominous. 'The Forbidden Forest', she supposed.
Setting her sights on a tree by the lake, she walked towards it and was glad to see that the branches were quite low to the ground, and continued all the way up; an ideal seat to read in for a few hours until classes began.
She ran the last few feet to the tree, and tucked her shirt in her skirt securely, glowering at her bulky robes as she tied the skirt part around her waist. Hoisting her self up on the first branch, she cursed in her head as her skirt caught on the rough bark. She shivered for a moment as the cold morning air hit her legs, but quickly forgot it as the next branch appeared over her head.
She realized this as it knocked her hat to the side, nearly strangling her in the process by yanking at the ties around her neck. Now she thought a whole stream of curses as she seemingly patiently tugged it back into place.
When she reached a large branch parallel with another, about fifteen feet off the ground, Sabra untied her robes from her waist, sat neatly on one branch, putting her feet on the other so no one could look up her skirt, and took her book from her side bag. 'Mercycle' by Piers Anthony, one of the books she had found in a small, muggle used-bookstore by Diagon Ally. Opening it to her crimson bookmark, she began to read.
About an hour later and halfway into the book, Sabra looked up, startled by a noise. She peered down through the leafy branches of the tree, and was surprised to see a large dog jumping up at the tree. Taking a second glance, Sabra realized she was mistaken. 'Dog' was, perhaps, not strong enough of a word to describe this pony-sized creature. The huge beast began barking hysterically, sensing he now had her full attention, and was throwing himself at the tree, as if to climb it himself, somehow, to meet her.
Not thinking if it was actually the wisest thing to do, Sabra tucked her book in one of the huge pockets of her robe, grabbed a large fistful of skirt in one hand, and jumped.
It wasn't the wisest thing to do.
Sabra sailed through the air for a moment, and then landed heavily on the ground, her fall broken by bent knees and a patch of less-than-soft grass. She fell backwards, and rolled down a bit of a hill to stop right at the base of some huge something.
"'ello Levi," the something said.
Oh. Professor Hagrid. She struggled to her feet, frowning when her head began aching again, and her black eye became apparent as the professor swam in and out of focus. "Shalom Homoreh Hagrid," Sabra said with a bit of an unsteady bow.
he grinned. "I see tha' Fang 'ere found you." Motioning his hand to the right and snapping his large fingers, he called out "FANG!"
The pony/dog gave a wordless cry for joy, turned his attention away from the tree (which he apparently thought Sabra was still in) and came bounding over. he ran to Sabra and jumped up, putting his elbows (Do dogs have elbows…?) on her shoulders and resting her huge head on top of hers. Sabra noticed he was still stooped, regardless of being on top of her.
he rested there for a moment, quietly drooling on her shoulder, while she concentrated all of her energy on keeping her knees unbent and her back straight, regardless of the great weight pressing down.
Finally, the huge creature jumped down from her, not without first leaving a large quantity of drool on her clean robes. She grimaced and wrinkled her nose, noticing that Professor Hagrid seemed entirely oblivious to his pet's actions.
"I thou' Fang found 'imself a clabbert (1) up in tha' tree, but then I saw ya jump down and land righ' at my feet. I was a bit confused, b'cause neither students nor clabberts take very kindly to be up a' this hour." he chuckled a bit, and ruffled Fang's ears affectionately.
Sabra's eyes widened. "Is there a rule that I can't be outside this early?" she asked anxiously. "I don't want to break any rules, especially not today!"
Hamoreh Hagrid grinned at her. "No rule. Just tha' most students don't wake up 'till 'bout now. You're up pretty early…"he trailed off.
"Hey now Levi. What 'appened to your face? You didn't get in a fight, didja?"
She quickly shook her head, and immediately regretted it as her head began to pound. "No Hamoreh; one of the staircases moved as I was walking down."
"Oh. Well then, why didn' you go to the hospital wing? It's right through those doors!"
"Really? Toda rabah, Homoreh!" she cried as she bowed quickly to him, then raced off towards the small set of doors he had indicated; careful when she remembered that she only had half the vision she should.
Reaching the small oak doors set in the middle of a large building, disconnected from the main castle, Sabra slowed down and briefly touched the chamsa around her neck in place of the mezuzah that would customarily hang on the doorpost.
She timidly knocked on the door and waited until a loud woman's called "come in!" Sabra twisted the bronze doorknob and opened the door.
Inside was a large rectangular room filled with white beds and folding screens. One bed had a screen around it and she heard faint retching noises coming from it. Sabra almost smiled; apparently the British were human and could eat too much at a meal as well.
"Hello," a voice said from behind her, and she jumped and turned to face the voice. The words had come from a tall African-English woman in black robes and white wings. (2) She was holding a tray of carefully labelled vials and walking towards the bed with the retching sounds.
Sabra bobbed her head to the woman. "This is the mirpa'ah nurse/hospital wing ?" she asked.
The woman nodded. "Yes," she answered, "and I think that you need a bit of help. Sit there." She indicated a high cushioned bench by the door that led into the main castle.
Sabra walked over and hopped up as the lady placed the tray on a table by the covered bed. She heard murmurs and the gurgle of liquid being poured into a vessel, then the harsh coughing of someone who's just had medicine.
Then the woman came over to the table and pulled her wand out of her sleeve. She prodded Sabra's face a bit but, strangely, it didn't hurt.
As she continued her examination, she chatted with Sabra as if they had met on the street. "I expect you're the new girl, Sabra. I'm the nurse here, Madam Pomfrey. This cut looks old; maybe more than an hour. Why didn't you come here earlier?" Then, not waiting for an answer, she continued. "Well, no matter, I can fix all this up. But next time get here sooner; I can't do as much when it's old."
Sabra nodded, then flinched when, without notice, Madam Pomfrey's wand blazed silver, then red. The woman tutted absently as she parted Sabra's hair to view the bump on her head, then took the girl's spectacles off to examine her black eye.
After a few more moments of silence, the retching in the background having stopped, Madam Pomfrey stepped back. "I've done what I can," she said, sliding her wand back into her sleeve.
"Mah what ? You're done?" Sabra raised a hand to her face and felt her eye and cheek. The skin where the cut had been now held nothing but a smooth line of new, pink skin, and her eye felt perfect when she touched it, but for a small ache where the step had actually hit her face. On her head where the bump had been, the area was still a bit tender, but that was all.
"Wonderful," she said happily. "It feels great!"
Madam Pomfrey nodded her head slowly. "Yes," she said, "I expect it does. The scar will fade in a few weeks, and from now on, come straight to me when you get hurt."
Sabra nodded and hopped off the bench, then stopped, realizing that she didn't know which way to go. She turned to Madam Pomfrey and saw the dark-skinned woman pointing to a large doorway hidden behind dark wooden doors.
"Thank you!" she called, opening one of the doors and going out into the corridor, but Madam Pomfrey was already walking into the back room of the mirpa'ah.
Closing the heavy door behind her, she turned around and gazed down both sides of the corridor, each seeming to stretch on forever.
Sabra rolled her eyes, annoyed that once again, she didn't know where to go. She looked for the nearest painting and found one of a tall girl in a black velvet dress, posing on an elegant couch with a owl perched on the top. Looking closer, Sabra saw glossy black coifs on her head, and a wicked smirk on her otherwise tranquil face.
The painting that had told her to go down the moving staircase!
"At! Ze akol biglalech! Tiri ma'asit at tmunah mirsha'at, metumtenet ve idyotit! You! It's all your fault! Look at what you did, you mean, stupid, idiotic photo! "
"Calm down," the painting said. "I can't understand you when you speak like a savage. But it is sort of funny," she added thoughtfully.
"Savage!Ma amart? Ani asir et hakesem mimech achshav! What did you say? I should de-spell you myself, right now! "
"I said, I don't know what you're saying."
Sabra bit her cheek and counted, in Hebrew, to one hundred by fives. She ten opened her mouth and said slowly, deliberately, in English to the painting, "I am not, nor are any of my people, savage."
She continued. "My speaking in another language is merely the result of my anger at a certain finger-painting picture, not fit to hang on an icebox. And remember this, never forget this: When the Hebrews were in the Promised Land, writing the torah and turning out great scholars, your people were still playing football with the heads of your enemies."
A/N
Booyah! Chapter friggin 9! Oh yeah!
1 A clabbert is a magic animal. Look in that HP animal books. (What's it called again…?)
2 I took a bit of liberty making Madam Pomfrey African-English, but I don't think it says anything about her colour in the books. If it does, just tell me…
Nine….hahahahaha! Go friggin me! I know it's short but I wanted to pump it out as soon as camp was over.