Chapter 3 "Of Holy Grails, Blasted Volcanoes, and Garden Gnomes (Again)" Foaly's Lab, LEP HQ, Downtown Haven
"Where are we going to send Ark Sool next?" Artemis asked.
"You decide."
"I was just reading this book the other day, and we could send Ark Spool to any place we want…"
"Hey! I heard that!"
"…why not into this book?"
"Hey, good idea! What book is that?" asked Foaly, snatching the book from Artemis' hand. "Hmm…The Da Vinci Code…must be good. My great-grandfather was a good pal of Leonardo's. Any book about that one smart dude must be good. I wonder if my great-grandfather's in this book."
Holly perked up. "I've read that! Let's send Ark Sool to Paris!"
The Louvre (Art Museum), Paris, France, 2000Sool walked down the hallway of The Louvre. Suddenly, he saw a dead Mud Man in the middle of the room. Sool jumped. He ran into another part of the museum.
"Stop right there!" A pair of policemen chased after Sool. "Intruder! Intruder!" They chased him down the hall, up the stairs, down another hallway, down the stairs, into a room. Sool was fast, but not that fast (because he was a bit on the fat side). The police were fast, and faster (and probably fastest, too). After a while they had cornered the fairy. "Who are you, and why are you in the Louvre?"
"What am I doing here, you ask? I am your commander, your superior! Look in my badge! See who I am? Commander Ark Sool, who else!" Foaly created badges for the LEP that could change their appearance so LEP fairies could blend with the Mud Men police when they need to. Sool have to remember to thank him.
The two officers looked down and said, "Sorry sir, sorry, sir, sorry sir." They were both wondering why this commander of theirs were only two feet tall, and why they don't remember seeing him before. Before they said anything about it, the little fairy sauntered away.
Ark Sool visited the washroom, and to his surprise, there was a woman and a man inside. Inside his mike, Holly told Sool that they were trying to get away from the museum. Since Sool was so small, they didn't notice him, until he spoke. "Are you trying to get away?"
They whirled around. They seemed to be relived to see him, not a police officer.
"Yes," the guy said cautiously, "we're trying to get away."
"Well, there's a back door, you know."
"Yes, we know, but there are a million police watching. Do you know that the dead guy is my grandfather? He left us a message to help find the Holy Grail. The Bull, a police officer, thinks we killed him, so we are escaping," the girl said.
"She's not lying, you know." Holly said through the mike.
"Well, I can help you. Throw the tracking device that's in the man's pocket onto the truck outside. Then, the police will be led on a false trail. I will have to mesmerize you so you will not remember me, as I was never here. Ok?"
"Ok, thanks for all your help, and oh, my name is Sophie Neveu, and he is Robert Langdon."
"Ark Sool. Now, hurry. And good luck on your quest, Sophie, Robert."
They done what he said. "Ok, I'll have to mesmerize you now, so just relax. You will now not remember me. You'll remember that the idea for getting away was Sophie's. As soon as I am gone, you will come out of your trance and continue your quest. So long."
Sool vanished.
Foaly's Lab, LEP HQ, Downtown Haven, Two Minutes Before"Hiya Holly! Hi Foaly! Hi, Mud Boy!" In walked Mulch, the kleptomaniac dwarf. "What'cha made?"
"It's a time machine. It could transport you anyplace, anytime, whichever place you fancy, even into books! Ark Sool's our test subject, and right now, he's in the book The Da Vinci Code written by Dan Brown!"
"Cool! Who's Da Vinci?" Mulch saw the remote. "Give me that." He looked at it. "Super Cool!" He looked over to the list of destinations. "What's Pompeii?" He selected it.
"Mulch!" Everyone groaned.
August 24, 79 AD, Pompeii, Italy"Here again! On this same blasted volcano! Foaly, what did I say last time?"
"I don't know. 'Get me out of here?'"
"Yes! And I mean it!"
"Fine, fine, fine." (Grumble.)
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, England, 2004"Hey look! It's that garden gnome again! Remember, Harry, the one we saw at my house four years ago?"
D'arvit, not again! Sool shielded and ran inside the nearest building. It was more like a castle, actually. It was built of red sandstone, and in there were lots of mud people in funny pointed hats walking all over the place, just like the four mud people he met just recently. The walls were filled with pictures that moved, changing staircases, floating ghosts, and there seemed to be no ceiling. After wandering around for a few minutes, he bumped into a really fat, short, round, mean-looking mud woman. He was so surprised that he unshielded.
"Watch where you're going," she snarled, "or I'll dock points off your house." She suddenly realised that he wasn't in a uniform. "If that's you, Potter, in a Charter-skin, than you'd be very sorry you've been born! Come with me."
Charter-skin
using charter magic to weave a skin of an animal. When worn, you will sort of turned into the animal, kind of like Transfiguration. (Check Lirael by Garth Nix or In the Skin of a Lyon found in the great library of the Clayr)
Ark Sool looked closely at the fat woman's face. He looks familiar. Sort of fairy-like…sort of like…myself! He remembered that he had a twin sister who have been captured and mind-wiped by the Mud People 400 years ago. "Who are you?" he asked.
"Dolores Umbridge," she said haughtily, "not as if you don't know anyways."
Hey! That's my sister's name! Better yet, it is my long-lost sister! "I don't expect you to know what I am."
"You're a transfigured student. Has there been some accident while you've been transfiguring? You look like an ugly garden gnome."
"What's up with you mud men and garden gnomes anyway?"
"What's a mud man?"
"You!"
"As I was saying, you should go up to the hospital wing right away. I don't wan't to see your ugly face anymore! Bye." She gave a fake smile and a falsy cheery wave.
Ewwww! For a sister, she is awfully bossy! Maybe I should just leave her here.
"Foaly? Are you listening?"
Nothing.
Sool tapped at the earpiece.
A mud girl walked past the dwarf. She shook her head sadly. "It's too bad that MP3's and any other mechanical stuff work here." She trudged away.
"What?" Sool exclaimed. "So, it have to be outside grounds for it to work?"
"Yup."
"Thanks." Sool went back to Umbridge, who was still waving mechanically.
"Why do I still see you in front of me?"
"I promise I'll go away if you help me move that mud man telephone booth outside the grounds." Sool pointed at the time machine.
"Fine, fine. Curse Muggle Studies. Another of those projects. That professor. I'll make sure to fire him."
Foaly's Lab, LEP HQ, Downtown Haven"Hey! What just happened! The machine suddenly stopped working!"
"Well, where did Ark Sool land?"
"Hogwarts. Where is that place anyway? It reminds me of Chix's wart growing potion for pigs."
"Well," Holly said, "we could always leave him there forever."
"Not a bad idea!" agreed Artemis.
Just then, the machine started working again.
"Awww. What a disappointment," said Holly.
Author's Note:
Thanx again, my dear reviewers! I really liked the idea of having Sool swapping places with Root, but I couldn't think of any plans with Opal in it though. Sorry for this boring, long chapter.