The Welshman
by Hyena Cub
Rating: PG-13 for violence, language, and death, especially later on.
Genre: Harry Potter

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CHAPTER 3: The Missing Professor

The next morning, I woke to the sensation of something slimy on my face and jerked away in alarm, my stomach lurching as I nearly fell out of bed. Then a very familiar snickering made it through my sleep-fogged brain and I opened my eyes to see Ke'koa standing there, grinning, holding some fake slime in his hands. I hollered in outrage, waking all the other third-year boys abruptly, as Ke'koa laughed and ran out of the room. He was already dressed, the miserable little git!

Faolan looked less than awake, which was pretty normal for him – he never woke easily, and was less than a morning person. He always had energy-potion vials with him to put in his pumpkin juice…he says caffeine like a really strong cup of coffee, but without the rancid-chocolate taste.

The other boys were grumbling as they sometimes do when one of our gang gets obnoxious, and I finally began to laugh and plan my revenge. I tossed my pyjamas on my bed and got into my uniform, loosely fastening my tie…how I hated ties and usually didn't wear mine if I thought I could get away with it.

Eventually the lot of us got down to the Great Hall without too much carnage, and sat at the Gryffindor table. I looked, but didn't see Arcturus as we sat down and figured he was sleeping late. He was easy to wake, more than Faolan anyway, but he still liked to sleep late.

Breakfast was good as usual…not so grand as the special feasts, but delicious all the same. I had a large plate of eggs and sausages, along with a small stack of toast. Faolan didn't say much until he'd had his caffeine potion, and Ke'koa chattered happily away about his classes.

This year we all had our new classes; we all had Divination just because it sounded weird and fun. Ke'koa had taken Muggle Studies, Faolan took Study of Ancient Runes, and Arcturus and I both took Care of Magical Creatures. Peter had begun Runes and Magical Creatures last year, and loved them both. Every one of us had avoided Arithmancy like dragon pox.

As we were eating, Professor Blake began going up the table, talking to the Gryffindors and handing them their timetables. He spent a bit more time with the first years, assumedly telling them how to find their first classes and making sure they were settling in all right. I liked Professor Blake a lot; he was one of my favourite teachers. He taught Defence Against the Dark Arts, and was head of Gryffindor House. Besides being a fair teacher and a wicked dueller, Professor Blake was nice…you could just go up and talk to him. None of that 'I'm the teacher you're the student' rubbish…he was just an all around good person.

Also one of the most noticeable. He had white hair, though he was a young man. He had near-white skin, and get this…he had pink eyes. One of his eyes was crossed, but they still looked cool. The first time I saw him, when I was in first year, I thought he'd done that on purpose with magic, but I since learned what made him look that way; he was an albino. I'd heard the term before but never really knew what that meant.

He got mocked a lot behind his back by some of the students…people like the Moor twins. But most the Gryffindors never put up with that. We all liked and respected him.

'So, master Ilima,' said Professor Blake as he reached Ke'koa. He adjusted the monocle he often wore as he peered at the timetable. 'Muggle Studies, is it? A fine choice! Too many wizards don't understand Muggles. It's a shame, really.'

'Well, they're weird,' said Ke'koa frankly as he looked over his timetable, and Professor Blake laughed. 'They do weird things…I think they have different brains.'

'To those who have met very few of them, I suppose that seems true,' Blake said. 'But to those of us with Muggle parents, they're not so strange. You get used to them.' He winked at Ke'koa who actually blushed, his dark face getting even darker. I have never seen him blush before, but then he'd never put his foot quite so far into his big mouth before.

I had to stifle a snicker, while Faolan looked like he was about to have a stroke not laughing. I hadn't known Professor Blake was Muggle-born, either, true, but I hadn't called them weird, either. Blake was cool, though; he wasn't offended. If anything, he was amused, especially since Ke'koa was slowly letting himself sink beneath the table.

I grinned at Professor Blake as he came over with my timetable and handed it to me. 'Thanks, sir,' I said. 'You have a good holiday?'

'I did, as a matter of fact,' said Professor Blake, adjusting his glasses a little more comfortably on his face. 'I holidayed in Venice for two weeks. My wife loved it.'

'Bet it was warmer there than it was here,' said Faolan. It had been a bit of a cool summer, even for England.

'It was indeed,' said Blake, handing Faolan his timetable. 'We went to the wizarding zoo there and saw a lethifold…my wife nearly fainted at the sight of it, but I thought it was interesting.'

'Lucky,' I said. 'I want to see one!'

Professor Blake grinned as he moved on. 'Perhaps in Care of Magical Creatures,' he suggested. 'If you do meet one let me know, I wouldn't mind meeting it myself.'

'Sure,' I said with a laugh, looking over my classes. In fact my first class was Care of Magical Creatures.

All of a sudden, someone grabbed my sides from behind, right where I was ticklish, making me give a startled yell and jump about a foot off the bench. As my friends cracked up laughing, I spun awkwardly around in my seat to see Arcturus standing there with a stupid grin on his face. I called him a word that would have gotten me detention had Professor Blake heard it.

'Is that how you greet a friend?' said Arcturus in tones of great injury. 'A brother? A comrade?'

'When they scare the hell out of me, yes!'

'I thought you Gryffindors were supposed to be brave,' said Arcturus, sitting down next to Faolan and helping himself to a plate of food.

Ke'koa spoke up in my defence. 'Well, the Sorting Hat's over a thousand years old. It's about time it made a mistake.'

'Thanks,' I muttered. There were sometimes when I wanted to toss all my friends out the window!

'Aw, they're just being their normal jackass selves,' said Faolan, slinging an arm around my shoulders and giving them a squeeze. I gave him an appreciative smile…Ke'koa and Arcturus could sometimes go a little overboard when it came to teasing, but Faolan was a lot more sensitive. Probably the only one more so was my cousin Peter.

'Yeah,' said Peter. 'They don't mean anything. And they'll apologize, I'm sure.' It sounded like a casual comment, but I knew Peter well enough to know that it was an out and out order. When he was defending his friends or family, you didn't mess with him! Not even if you were friend or family yourself.

'Thanks,' I said quietly to them, taking a sip of my pumpkin juice.

I glanced over at Ke'koa, who gave me a subtle look…we knew each other so well that the slightest look spoke volumes to us. He was sorry and would apologize later.

Arcturus held up his hands in surrender. 'All right, all right…no need to get violent or anything,' he said. 'Sorry, Calen. You know I just wanted an excuse to put my hands on your body.'

I choked on my juice, grabbing a napkin and covering my mouth as I let a surprised bray of laughter. Faolan smacked a hand to his forehead, Ke'koa was in hysterics, and Peter looked at us as if we'd all sprouted an extra head or two.

'I'm so flattered,' I managed to say after I'd calmed a bit.

We got through breakfast without too much more chaos, then separated for our various classes. Arcturus and I made our way through the throngs of students heading for the first class of the year, and slipped out of the double doors that led onto the grounds.

'Did you ever leave the Moor twins a surprise in their beds?' I asked.

Arcturus gave me an evil grin. 'Not yet…but I will. As soon as I figure out something suitable. So…what's the teacher's name again?'

'Er…Forrester,' I said, looking down at my parchment. 'Professor Forrester. Peter says he's that wild-looking bloke that usually sits next to Professor Blake.'

'Oh, him!' said Arcturus. 'He was new last year, too, wasn't he? I've spoken a couple of times to him and he seems nice enough. He visits Artemis every once in a while, I think they're friends. He uses the paddock outside her cabin for all his outside lessons…and most of them are outside, except in winter.'

'Too bad we don't start things like hippogriffs until fifth year,' I said. 'That's what Peter said, anyway.'

Arcturus made an unidentifiable noise as we made our way out towards Artemis's cabin near the Forbidden Forest. I gazed longingly through the trees on the outskirts of the woods, wishing we could just go in there to have class. Arcturus snorted and dragged me bodily the rest of the way.

Professor Forrester was indeed the 'wild-looking' bloke Peter had mentioned. He had a shock of red hair, yellowish eyes, and darkish skin, as if he spent most of his time outside in the sun. He almost looked like he could be in my family…maybe one of my crazy uncles.

'Well, come on in, come on in,' said Forrester, nodding towards the open paddock gate. 'There's nothing in here that'll hurt you…we save that for later lessons.'

A few people chuckled, including me, but I was rather hopeful…maybe he wasn't just kidding when he said that! 'What're we beginning with, professor?' I asked.

'Well for today, nothing too difficult. We're gonna go over the lesson plan, find out how much you all know about the creatures we'll be studying this year, and go from there. Then we'll meet the subject of our next class.'

Well, my interest was vaguely piqued. Most that stuff sounded like the standard 'first class' stuff, but I was interested in what we'd be meeting. Just so it wasn't a horklump or a flobberworm I'd be fairly happy. Talk about boring!

We all heard the bell signifying the beginning of class from the castle itself, sounding like the chiming of a grandfather clock. I looked around me; we had the class with the Slytherins, obviously, since Arcturus and I had it at the same time. Five Slytherin third-years had taken Care of Magical Creatures, three of them boys. All of them were looking at us belligerently, the Moor twins looking particularly nasty.

Arcturus, used to this treatment by his housemates, made a point of ignoring them as if they were beneath his notice. He spent most of his free time with us Gryffindors, so he got a lot of grief from the other Slytherins, who considered this behaviour nothing less than traitorous. How stupid could you get? Granted Arcturus got the cold shoulder from a fair few Gryffindors, too, but no one in our year. The other third-years knew him well enough.

I didn't have much time to dwell on the Slytherins' enmity. Professor Forrester got everyone's attention by blowing into some kind of giant horn, the hollow blast stopping the chatter short. Rory Brennan, a boy in our year in Gryffindor, jumped, and one of the Slytherin girls gave a little startled squeak.

'That's better,' said Forrester mildly as all eyes turned to him. 'Now, if you could all have a seat and open your books, we're going to have a brief review of the chapters we'll cover this year.'

Forrester was kind of weird, but I decided I liked the man. As he talked to us about knarls and krups and billywigs, it was clear he knew what he was doing, and he seemed to be fair. I supposed one day wasn't enough to know that for sure, but the first impression was a good one.

I was one of the few people who knew that krup owners who lived in Muggle areas were legally obliged to remove the animal's forked tail with a painless severing charm, so the Muggles didn't realize it was a magical creature. (They looked like normal dogs without the tail.) I thought it was a crap law, personally, thinking it was cruel to cut something off an animal, no matter how painless, but the ministry wasn't always concerned with whether their laws were cruel or not.

The subject of our next lesson turned out to be a knarl, which looked like a normal hedgehog to me. Professor Forrester proved differently when he offered the creature a carrot, which it surprisingly turned its nose up at, instead letting a strange little growl and proceeding to tear around the yard, tearing up the grass and digging at the dirt. A few kids giggled, and I blinked at it, wondering if it was mad.

'Knarls are always a good beginning animal,' said Forrester. 'Strange beasts, knarls. Your homework for today is to research knarls and be able to tell me next class why he's behaving like he is.'

Forrester had good timing. As soon as he'd given his assignment, the bell from the castle rang again, signalling the end of class, and everyone got up off the grass, brushing dirt and grass from their robes. Professor Forrester watched everyone began to mill towards the castle, going in ones and twos through the paddock gate. As Arcturus and I went through, I caught sight of Artemis, the groundskeeper, heading towards the cabin with a sack slung over her back. I grinned and waved her way, and she waved back.

'Well, that was okay I guess,' said Arcturus. 'I'm not really all that interested in magical animals…but we're supposed to take two new classes in third year and I had no interest whatsoever in Runes or Arithmancy or Muggle Studies.'

'I like magical creatures okay,' I said. 'I'm just waiting until we can start learning abut the cool ones like hippogriffs and dragons.'

Arcturus laughed. 'Don't hold your breath,' he said. 'I highly doubt they'll ever bring a dragon in here.'

'Maybe…but it would still be cool. Anyway, I have Defence next…you?'

'Transfiguration. Oh joy.' Transfiguration wasn't Arcturus's favourite class, I knew.

I grinned. 'Well try not to turn the teacher into a toad like you did last year.'

Arcturus groaned. 'I thought she was gonna flay me alive…I didn't even do it on purpose! Anyway, see you at lunch!'

I waved, walking with Rory Brennan and Kelly Breen, the only other third year Gryffindors who had taken Magical Creatures. Kelly and Rory were talking about the class, and I asked them why the knarl had acted like it did.

Kelly giggled. 'Knarls are overly suspicious,' she explained as we all went through the double-doors that led into the Entrance Hall. 'It thought Professor Forrester was trying to trap it or poison it or something, do it got all offended and wrecked the yard.' I blinked and she laughed again. 'Sometimes they actually try to attack you…if they're really aggressive.'

Well that was weird! I wasn't sure what to say to that, so I said nothing, and Kelly went back to her conversation with Rory.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was my favourite class, especially the way Professor Blake taught it. He didn't do a whole lot out of the books, teaching us with hands-on work instead, which I immensely preferred! It was hard to just read a book and memorize a bunch of stupid facts. But if I could get in there and do it myself it was a lot easier and a lot more fun.

The Gryffindors had Defence alone, without any other houses. I wasn't sure why some classes were held with one other house and why some were held alone, but they were. My dad said that N.E.W.T. classes are all houses together, since they are generally a lot smaller than normal classes. You can drop classes after you take your O.W.L. exams (or fail the exams, in which case you have no choice) so it makes more sense to put all the houses together.

I met up again with Ke'koa and Faolan (who had both had a free period that morning while we had Care of Magical Creatures), sitting in the front row with them; we always tried to get front-row seats because we liked the class. If we didn't like a class, we'd get back-row seats so we didn't have to pay TOO close attention.

Professor Blake greeted the class with, 'Well! This semester we're going to learn to fight off the creatures you learned to care for last period.' Most of the class laughed at that, appreciating the irony…Peter said that you learn about plenty of dangerous creatures in Care of Magical Creatures, I guessed it made sense that in Defence, you'd learn to fight them.

Our first lesson was on grindylows, which were strange little water demons that liked to grab swimmers and try to drown them. Fortunately their fingers, while strong, are easy to break. It's their defence mechanism, allowing them to escape if need be, and they grow back. When Professor Blake first demonstrated this trait on the specimen he'd brought in for class, most everyone was a bit shocked until he explained it didn't really hurt them, and they grew back in a day or so.

Lunch was a good deal noisier than breakfast had been, since people had classes to talk about. Arcturus was happy because he managed to get through Transfiguration without a mishap, and Peter said that Runes had been good, and I said that Professor Forrester was pretty cool. Kind of weird, but cool.

After lunch, Ke'koa, Faolan, and I had Divination—so we split up once more for class…sometimes it was a pain being in a group with different classes! With Peter being a fourth year, we didn't have any classes with him, and the Gryffindors and Slytherins only had two different classes together…I was very glad for weekends and evenings!

Divination was pretty interesting. It was taught by a witch called Akila MacGilvar, who was dressed in a plain black robe. She said she felt a lot of colors distracted her from receiving the signs she asked for. She didn't really look like a fortune teller…in fact she was the sort of person who just blended into the crowd. Her hair was brown, her face was nondescript, and her mannerisms very generic.

The class itself was in the north tower of the castle, and was filled with small tables and comfortable cushions for seats. The room was filled with cabinets of teacups, shelves of crystal balls, and lots of books. Our first Divination class was on 'tasseomancy'…which was a big, long word for reading tea leaves. MacGilvar was pretty clear on the fact that Divination was imprecise, and that even if a person was able to get the signs, there was always the possibility of misreading them. Practice and understanding of the methods could minimize mistakes, but there was always that margin for error.

As I said, interesting, though I don't think it was for me. I wasn't able to see anything in Ke'koa's teacup except for tea leaves. The only shape I could make up looked like a penis to me, and I wasn't about to say that aloud. Besides, I didn't think that that particular shape was in our book, and if it was, I didn't want to know what it meant!

Our last class of the day was Potions, which was nothing new for any of us. Professor Pender was the teacher for Potions, and he was okay. He was really strict about rules, but he was a fair teacher, and never minded giving you extra help if you needed it. We were set a new potion, a poison antidote, but it wasn't too difficult.

And then, finally, we were free for the day!

Ke'koa, Arcturus, Faolan, and I met with Peter in the Great Hall, where he was sitting at the Gryffindor table listening to a story from one of the girls in his year. Something involving a rogue Venomous Tentacula. I winced; I did not like Venomous Tentaculas. The one that lived in greenhouse three had it in for me – it was always going after me when we had class in that stupid greenhouse.

'Donna doesn't like Tentaculas, either,' said Peter as we approached.

'Well they're evil,' I said matter-of-factly, and the girl laughed.

'You said it,' she agreed.

'Hey…I wonder where Mr. Ryan is,' said Faolan suddenly. I looked up, following his gaze to the staff table, where there was an obvious vacancy in the headmaster's seat.

'Got me,' I said. 'Maybe he's sick or something.'

'But what could he possibly have that Mr Jacey couldn't handle?' Faolan asked. Mr Jacey was the school nurse…though he didn't like much being called 'nurse'. He didn't like 'matron', either, preferring 'Healer'.

I shrugged. 'Or maybe he's taking a nap, or he's got business, or he's doing paperwork…I dunno.' I wasn't really worried about it…I couldn't care less what Professor Ryan was doing that was keeping him from supper; it wasn't really my business.

But Faolan was way too curious for his own good; had been ever since I first met him. He was probably born that way. 'It's bugging me,' he said, frowning up at the high table. 'He never misses meals…you know him. He doesn't like going off his schedule.'

'So go up to his office if you wanna know that badly,' suggested Ke'koa.

'Not a bad idea….' Faolan finally tore his eyes off the staff table and back to his food, which he ate without seeming to taste it. I knew what that meant! He was bound and determined to find out something that had piqued his interest. I supposed it was a bit odd, but I wasn't exactly going to lose any sleep over it.

'I swear,' I said to Faolan. 'Your curiosity is going to get you in trouble. Curiosity and the cat, and all that.'

'Good thing I'm not a cat, huh?' said Faolan with a grin. Then, very quietly, he added, 'Wolves are so much cleverer.'

I had to laugh…how could I argue?

When Faolan didn't join us out on the grounds after supper, I knew he was snooping around after his mystery. I lounged around on the grass being lazy, while Peter went over some homework for his Runes class, and Arcturus worked on climbing a nearby tree. (Climbing trees wasn't easy with robes on.) Ke'koa was out in the middle of the lake, the crazy idiot, looking for the giant squid. Ke'koa and that stupid lake squid had an actual friendship, which I just found absolutely bizarre. The squid would randomly grab Ke'koa by the ankle and drop him into the lake, or Ke'koa would skip rocks into the lake purely to annoy it. It was like they were brothers.

As I investigated my pockets for a leftover Chocolate Frog I was sure I had in there somewhere, I was startled by a yell from Ke'koa. But it was only his old friend the squid, grabbing his leg…apparently Ke'koa had found the thing. 'Nutter!' I yelled as I finally found a Frog in my right trouser pocket. I unwrapped it as I watched Ke'koa wrestle with the giant squid, thinking that I really should rethink my evaluation of Ke'koa as being the most normal one in our group.

'Who is it?' asked Peter, glancing over at my Chocolate Frog.

I looked down at it, hoping rather that it would be Gellert Grindelwald. I was only missing about ten of the Dark wizard series, and Gellert was the most common of them…I had hopes of finding him soon. But no, it was someone I already had two of. 'It's Lorcan,' I said. 'The Welshman; I have him already.'

Peter's expression lit up and he said, 'Oh, could I have him then? I haven't got him yet.'

'Sure.' I handed the Welshman over and watched as Peter read the card's information. The Welshman had gained himself quite a reputation among wizards in Britain. He worked in the Muggle Relations department of the Ministry, and was making history as being the first wizard in centuries to try and mend the rift between the Muggle and the Wizarding world.

I glanced over Peter's shoulder to read the card: Lorcan Fallyn Llywarch – you can see why no one called him by his right name; no one knew how to spell it, and hardly anyone could pronounce it.

Lorcan Fallyn Llywarch, known as the Welshman by most, is known for his work in Muggle Relations, his work gaining both praise and criticism in equal parts. His Ministry-backed attempts to begin closing the rift between our worlds has gained him worldwide fame. A native of Wales and Muggle-born himself, he says that he feels it is time for humankind to be one once more.

A sudden panting noise startled me out of my thoughts, and I laughed to see a soaking wet, very bedraggled looking Ke'koa heading my way from out of the lake. 'That was fun!' he exclaimed.

'You're just weird,' I said as Peter hastily moved his homework away from our soggy friend. Ke'koa was dripping water all over the place.

'But you love me anyway,' said Ke'koa. He grinned and lunged for me, giving me a huge bear hug before I could get out of the way; his sodden robes enfolded me, getting cold water soaked into my clothes, and I protested loudly.

Ke'koa took off, cackling, and I chased the miserable brat all over the grounds before tackling him. It got me even wetter, though, so I didn't really count it as a victory. By the time we both came back to where Peter and Arcturus were, I was almost as wet as Ke'koa was.

'That was the most amusing thing I've seen all week,' said Arcturus with a grin.

'I'm sure,' I said with a laugh. I glanced up at the sky, which was beginning to get dark. 'I guess we should get in…it's probably close to curfew.'

'Faolan never did come back, either,' said Arcturus, frowning a little. 'Hope he didn't get caught snooping. Adults don't like to find out they've been spied on.'

'Yeah, he probably got detention or something,' said Ke'koa as we headed back up towards Hogwarts. I hoped not…Faolan was one of the nicest people I'd ever met, and when he got in trouble, more often than not, he hadn't really meant to cause trouble. He just sorta fell into it.

We said goodbye to Arcturus at the stairs that led to the dungeons, and made our way up the million stairs we had to climb to get to Gryffindor Tower. I was a little surprised to find that Faolan was there in the dorms, waiting for us.

'What's wrong?' asked Peter concernedly, the first to notice that Faolan looked a little worried.

Faolan looked up, frowning, his hand working distractedly through his sand-blond hair. 'The teachers don't know where Professor Ryan is. He just…disappeared.'