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

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CHAPTER 8: The Humpback

After dessert, as we four Gryffindors marched off towards Professor Blake's office, I kept glaring at Ke'koa, because he was singing the Doom Song. So far as I could tell, it was a funeral march, or execution music or something, and it wasn't so funny. I finally told him to knock it off, or I'd turn his hair pink.

When we reached Blake's office, I sighed, and raised my hand to knock. A moment passed, then Professor Blake called, 'Come in!'

I turned the knob and opened the door, hoping I wasn't going to get detention for the rest of the year. We trudged into the office, Faolan closing the door behind us. The office was as interesting as usual. A whole bookcase sat to the left, filled with interesting books. A large cage sat to the right, but it was empty, making me think we'd be seeing a new, strange beast next class. There were odd objects here and there, some photos of Blake's family and various charts, lists, and other odds and ends.

Professor Blake sat at his desk, his monocle wedged in his eye socket, a parchment in his hand. I wondered distractedly how people kept monocles in their eyes; it looked extremely uncomfortable. He looked up, and though he wasn't smiling, he at least didn't look too angry.

'Seems like you boys had a busy day,' he said mildly, peering at us.

I fidgeted, running my hand through my hair, exchanging a look with Ke'koa. 'Er, well, I guess you could say that,' I said. 'Who, er, made you aware of our…er….?'

I glanced up apprehensively, but Blake seemed to be smirking against his will. 'You mean who tattletaled on you?'

My face got a little hot, but a grinned sheepishly all the same. 'Yeah, that too.'

Blake finally chuckled a little, setting the parchment down on his desk. 'Mr Hummel just happened to be in the area and saw your altercation. He jotted down what he saw and sent me this note from the village. He also saw a certain Gryffindor Beater there that should not by all rights have been there at all, but I will assume he was mistaken about the identity of said Beater.'

I felt some relief at that; I liked Sekhmet, and she could have gotten into a whole lot of trouble for leaving the castle grounds. 'I'm glad of that, sir,' I said.

'Well then. You four.' Blake looked at all of us in turn, and looked at my friends, also. Faolan was looking unhappily at the ground, Peter looked as calm as always, and Ke'koa was giving Professor Blake a sort of endearing grin.

'We didn't mean to,' I finally said. 'They started it.'

Blake's eyebrows rose and he regarded me for a moment, then said, 'Perhaps you could give me your account of the encounter.'

And so we did. I began by telling him about going to the Shrieking Shack, and about the stupid Moor twins coming from behind and insulted the Weasley clan, of how they pushed it until Faolan finally lost his temper and was held back by Arcturus, finally breaking free and tackling one of the Slytherins.

'It was his 'dog' comment that did it,' I said quietly, looking at Faolan, who looked like he might cry. Blake knew about Faolan being a werewolf of course; all the teachers did. 'I mean I know they don't know about him, but, well….'

Blake finally sighed. 'Boys, look. I understand—but you can't start throwing fists every time someone says something you don't like!'

'Easy for you to say!' Faolan suddenly burst out, looking furiously up at Blake, his eyes looking very shiny. 'They make fun of me all the time, call me names and—embarrass me, and—don't you know how it feels to get insulted all the time?'

I blinked, a little surprised. Faolan did not usually explode like that at the teachers, especially Professor Blake. His face was red and blotchy and it looked as though this day's unpleasantness had affected him even worse than usual. I exchanged a glance with Ke'koa, and then Peter, who was looking at Faolan in concern.

'It's all right, mate,' said Ke'koa awkwardly, but Faolan didn't give him a chance to say much else.

'It's not!' he said. 'It's not all right, I hate those bastards—they always seem to know what's gonna get me most, and then they say it in front of everyone!' I winced at his language, but Professor Blake didn't say a word, he only let Faolan rant. Maybe he knew that trying to calm Faolan when he was like this was not the best thing to do. Faolan finally started to cry, his eyes spilling over, and he wiped angrily at them with the hem of his riding cloak.

Blake sensed that it was safe to speak, and his voice was not angry, I was relieved to hear. 'I do know what it's like,' said Blake quietly. 'Being born with albinism isn't the easiest thing in the world; I was teased and ridiculed quite often, myself. To this day, the name 'Whitey' makes my stomach clench with anger. As does 'Ghost' and 'Devil' and anything else you can think of to call someone with white skin and pink eyes.'

This gentle reminder that Blake maybe did understand how Faolan felt seemed too much for Faolan. A look of guilt came over his face and he clenched his teeth, sitting down suddenly in a chair near the desk. 'I didn't mean—I mean—sorry, Professor,' said Faolan, putting his head in his hands. Peter went over and put his arm around Faolan's shoulders.

Blake sighed quietly. 'Listen, boys,' he said. 'I'm going to have to give you detention…I'll get with you later with the details. And rest assured, the Slytherins won't get out of punishment, all right?'

I sort of nodded, still looking at Faolan a little worriedly.

'All right, Professor,' said Ke'koa in a sort of resigned voice. He and I got more detentions than the others so we were a bit more used to it. 'But if you give me some tedious detention, sir, I'll hold you responsible if I die of boredom.'

Peter gave Ke'koa an exasperated look, and Blake rolled his eyes. 'Somehow I doubt you'll expire, master Ilima. Well, go on then…I'll get word to you tomorrow about your detentions, all right?' Blake stood up and put a hand on Faolan's shoulder and added, 'Faolan, I'd like you to stay and talk with me a bit before rejoining your friends, all right?'

Faolan nodded miserably, and Peter reluctantly left his side.

'Night, sir,' I said as I opened the door. Blake smiled, nodding his head in answer, and I left the office.

None of us said anything as we climbed the many stairs that led to Gryffindor Tower. Ke'koa gave the password when we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and we climbed through the hole one by one. It wasn't until we'd gotten into the empty third-year dorms that any of us said anything.

'Er, about Faolan,' said Ke'koa, frowning and rubbing his hand at the back of his hair, like he did when he was agitated.

'You know, the full moon was just a couple of days ago,' I said quietly, suddenly realizing that was part of the problem. 'I think it affects him worse every year.'

Understanding dawned in Peter's eyes. 'And then those idiots, making that dog comment. And Faolan's so sensitive.'

'I know,' I said, scowling, feeling a sudden, fierce dislike for the people who took advantage of that. 'And then people call him a crybaby or say he's overreacting or being overdramatic or whatever…he can't help it. He just…I dunno. He reacts totally on feelings. More than most people do.'

'Blake was cool about it, though,' Ke'koa said, grinning. 'He coulda given us all a lot more than just a detention for fighting. Hell, he coulda kept us from future trips if he'd wanted to.'

'He could have,' I agreed. 'You know…it's weird, I mean I know kids make fun of Blake behind his back – mostly the Slytherins – but I never thought about whether it bothered him. I guess I just…I dunno, I thought that it didn't bug him. It never seems to make him angry…I wish I could control myself like that!'

'It upsets him,' said Peter quietly. 'I see it in his face sometimes. But he's a teacher, he can't be flying off the handle when he heard someone calling him stupid names, or laughing at his eyes or whatever. And it had to be tough as a kid. Look at how Arcturus gets made fun of because he looks a bit odd.'

I nodded, remembering some of the things people have said about Arcturus. He had an elvish look to him, thanks to that banshee blood, and people like the Moors were quick to notice differences. 'What time is it, anyway?' I asked, not wanting to bother turning around to look at the clock.

'Lazy git,' said Peter with a playful poke into my side. 'It's eight o'clock.'

'That's it?' I turned around myself, then, unable to believe it wasn't later. The day already seemed like it had taken about a week. 'Jeez. Time flies when you're having fun,' I said, shaking my head.

'Well I intend to spend the remaining hours doing that potions essay Pender set the fourth-years,' said Peter. 'What about you two?'

Ke'koa and I exchanged looks, and Ke'koa shrugged. 'Gobstones?' I suggested.

Ke'koa made a face. 'No thanks. Let's have a game of chess.'

'Okay.' Chess wasn't my favourite thing, but at least wizard's chess was better than the Muggle version. I heard those pieces don't move at all, and you have to move them yourself. How boring could you get?

Twenty minutes later, Ke'koa and I were watching a pair of pawns having it out, and Peter was lying on my bunk writing furiously on his essay. The dorm door opened, and Faolan came in, looking very tired. His face was blotchier than ever and his eyes were a bit swollen, but he was actually smiling a bit.

'All right, mate?' I asked, looking away from where my pawn had just been knocked out cold by Ke'koa's. Peter also looked up, looking Faolan over.

'Yeah,' said Faolan quietly. 'Blake—he's just a good one. He just talked with me a while about people who like to hurt other people. He never makes me feel stupid for crying easy…not like Melville.'

I snorted, feeling a rush of contempt for Professor Melville. 'Yeah, she's a petty one, all right. Why don't you come here and help me win this match? Ke'koa's winning…as usual.' On the Quidditch pitch, I was fair at strategy; you wouldn't think so, but playing Beater does require some thinking, not just muscles. But off the pitch, my sense of planning was complete rubbish.

Faolan laughed a little and came over. 'All right…whose turn is it?'

'Mine.' I gazed morosely at the board, then up at Ke'koa's smug grin.

Faolan hadn't arrived in time to save my chessmen from annihilation, but at least I managed to take a few more of Ke'koa's men before he won. By that time, Rory and Dragomir, the other third-years, had come into the dorms, and I was beginning to be tired.

'We can catch up with Arcturus tomorrow,' said Peter, stifling a yawn and shutting his Potions book. 'If Melville didn't chew him into pieces that is.' Professor Melville didn't like Arcturus any more than she liked us.

'Yeah, I'm beat,' said Ke'koa, yawning.

'So I heard you lot got into a fight with the Slytherins,' said Rory with a grin as he began changing into his pyjamas. 'I heard Mr Jacey say that Gideon had a concussion—who did that?'

I knew I shouldn't feel happy about that, but I was, and I couldn't stifle a smirk. 'None of us, actually. It was one of the girl Quidditch players, come flying in on broomstick.' I wasn't quite comfortable with naming her, even to Rory and Dragomir.

Rory let out a bray of laughter. 'Brilliant! Beaten by a girl, that's great. He conveniently left out that part.'

'I bet,' said Peter. 'That's all right though. We'll let it be known.'

It really wasn't the best day I'd ever had at Hogwarts, but I guess it ended up being a bit better by the end. I said goodnight to Peter, then crawled into my bunk, listening to Ke'koa tell Rory and Dragomir the story of the brawl by the Shrieking Shack.

I dunno if Ke'koa's gleeful story was the reason for my dream that night, but it was probably the weirdest I'd ever had. I was back at the Shrieking Shack, working on that essay about Voldemort I'd turned in at the beginning of the term. (I got an E on that, by the way.) I was sitting at a desk in the middle of the field outside the shack, when a strange, distant babble of voices caught my ear. I stood up to see torchlights in the distance, and a crowd of people – Muggles I realized – marching on the village, howling for our blood. They were waving hammers and pitchforks and all kinds of archaic tools as they ran towards me. I'd just turned to run when I woke up, my heart pounding so rapidly I thought it was gonna just stop.

I went back to sleep, feeling vaguely uneasy, and I was tired enough that I dropped off fairly soon. But I still remembered the dream in the morning. It was too weird not to.

--

Next day, I was outraged to hear from Arcturus that he had gotten a week's worth of detention from Professor Melville, but that the twins and their two friends hadn't gotten but one day's worth! And they'd done a whole lot more in that fight than Arcturus had.

'Unfair much?' I asked indignantly as we headed out onto the grounds after breakfast.

'Just a bit,' said Arcturus. 'I'll be writing lines for all of 'em, I reckon. What about you lot?'

'Detention,' said Peter. 'But only one. Dunno what we're doing yet for it, but I know it was a lot fairer than what you got.'

'Yeah, well,' said Arcturus glumly. 'Melville's never been known for being fair, has she?'

'Old hag,' muttered Ke'koa. 'Let's spike her pumpkin juice with U-No-Poo!'

We all cracked up at that, taken by surprise be Ke'koa's vengeful suggestion. U-No-Poo was one of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes products, and it caused acute constipation.

'Bad idea,' I managed to caution between guffaws. 'She's already enough of a tight-arse!'

That was it; none of us could talk for the next several minutes; we were laughing too hard. I finally began to calk down, holding my aching stomach, and lying down on the chilly grass. 'You know,' I commented, 'I gave myself a mental image I never want to see again.'

No one asked what that mental image might be. Based on my last comment, they surely got the idea, and I didn't think any of them really wanted to know more. I didn't want to know more!

'The Moors didn't give you any problems last night, did they?' asked Peter suddenly of Arcturus.

Arcturus shook his head, wiping his streaming eyed; he had laughed so hard he cried. 'No. but that's not their way. Gideon…well if it was up to him, he'd have attacked me in my sleep. But Cuthbert's a bit cleverer than Gideon is. He's waiting. For what, I dunno.'

'For us to be off our guard,' said Faolan. 'Cowardly git.'

'Well, what shall we do today?' I asked.

Arcturus sighed. 'Well nothing that'll take too long,' he said. 'My first detention is this afternoon after lunch. I probably won't be around much until supper.'

'That's all right,' I said darkly. 'Our first Quidditch game is against Slytherin on Friday. I'll make sure Gideon and Cuthbert Moor are kept busy ducking bludgers…I'm sure Sekhmet'll help me, too.'

'They both play Beater, don't they?' asked Peter.

'No, only Gideon – no surprise there, right? Cuthbert's a Chaser.'

'Best practice hard until then,' said Ke'koa with a grin. 'I reckon Aldora'd knock you out if you played badly your first game.'

I laughed a bit, but it was probably true. Aldora was a nice enough girl, but she could be a tyrant sometimes when she was coaching. I figured it was a tough job, managing the entire team.

It wasn't much of an exciting day, but I was okay with that; I had used up my excitement quota for a few days already. The five of us spent the morning hanging out on the grounds, visiting with Artemis, and playing wizard tag. After lunch, Arcturus had to go to his detention, Peter had choir practice, Ke'koa had Creaothceann practice, and Faolan and I were left to our own devices.

'Hey,' said Faolan as we left the Great Hall. 'Didn't that second-year girl say she was gonna show us how she found us yesterday?'

My eyes widened as I remembered, and a rush of enthusiasm triggered a grin. 'Oh yeah! Let's see if she's still at the table.' That would certainly make a boring afternoon a lot more interesting! Foalan agreed, and he and I trotted back into the Great Hall, stopping at the head of the Gryffindor table. I scanned each side of the table, looking for her head of dark hair, but I wasn't able to spot her. When I asked Faolan a moment later if he saw her, he hadn't, either.

'Well, let's go check the common room,' said Faolan. 'She's not in choir or Creaothceann, is she?'

That was a good question. I was pretty sure she wasn't in Creaothceann, as I never heard of anyone participating in that and Quidditch at the same time. But choir…. 'Well, I don't think she is,' I said. 'If we don't find her, I'll ask Peter later. For now let's check Gryffindor Tower.'

Sekhmet was not in the Gryffindor common room, nor was she in the girls' dorms. (No, we didn't go in there! We asked one of the girls to look for her.) Faolan asked one of the second-year girls if she was in choir, and the girl said she didn't think so, which left us with the option of searching the castle for her, from top to bottom.

'Well, why not?' I asked. 'It's not like we've got anything else to do.'

Faolan laughed. 'I guess so. Let's start over at the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower.'

My friends and I had a pretty good idea of the layout of Hogwarts, though we still got lost on occasion when visiting parts of the castle we'd not been in yet. Still, exploring was one of our favourite activities, and we had a better idea than most the others our age of how the castle is laid out.

Faolan and I began our search by travelling from Gryffindor Tower to Ravenclaw Tower, looking in the loos and asking people if they'd seen Sekhmet.

It took quite a while to search the castle floor by floor, but we got lucky; we found her with a friend on the sixth floor, looking as if she'd been on the way up to Gryffindor Tower. 'Oy!' I called, running to catch up with them. The two second-years turned around, looking surprised, and Sekhmet grinned.

'What?' she said.

I glanced at the boy Sekhmet had been walking with, then back at her and said, 'That thing you were gonna show me today – have you got time to do it?'

She looked blank for a moment, and then her eyes lit up in remembrance. 'That's right! I nearly forgot.' She turned to her friend and said, 'Look, I'm gonna show these guys something…meet you at dinner?'

The boy shrugged agreeably. 'Sure—see you!'

He looked to Faolan and me and gave a sort of wave, which we both returned. Sekhmet grinned slyly at us, looking once around, then gestured. 'Follow me,' she said, turning around and heading back down the stairs she'd just climbed. 'And I swear, if either of you tells--!'

I gave the girl a look. 'If I was going to tell, Sekhmet, I woulda done it yesterday. By the way—you gotta be a bit more careful. Hummel was in Hogsmeade and saw us fighting. All of us.' I gave her a significant look, and she looked a bit startled.

'Oh,' seemed to be all she could say.

'Yeah, Professor Blake called us all into his office and told us about it…said he'd assume Hummel was mistaken about your identity. But I'd not get seen again if I were you!'

She got over the surprise quickly enough, finally shrugging and saying, 'Well, I can't be perfect all the time, can I?'

Faolan gave Sekhmet an odd look, but I just laughed. She was prone at times to fits of ego, and I was rather used to it from Quidditch, but Faolan didn't know her very well. He looked uncertainly at me, but I just grinned and patted his shoulder.

We met a few other people on the way down, but no one paid us much mind as we went down several flights of stairs. Our destination was on the third floor, along a corridor that we must pass dozens of times in any given week; it was on the way to Gryffindor Tower.

'Oh look,' said Faolan, his eyes fixed on a statue set along the wall. 'It's Arcturus's aunt.'

I grinned, knowing which statue he meant; it was a likeness of some humpbacked crone with one eye who Ke'koa had said must be one of Arcturus's less-pleasant relatives. Arcturus said his aunt was a good candidate.

'Is it?' asked Sekhmet, looking amused. 'You mean Arcturus Rowle? I'd feel sorry for his aunt, but I've heard of his family. It's probably true. Anyway, that's where we're going.'

'Er,' I said, feeling a bit confused. 'We're going to the statue?'

'Yep!' Sekhmet looked casually about her as we walked, insuring that we weren't being observed, and Faolan and I did the same. It was a good place to do something against the rules; it was a long corridor with only a few doors (that led to unused classrooms) and the sounds echoed well enough to hear anyone approaching from either end. Once we ascertained we were alone, Sekhmet went over to the statue, grabbed her wand out of a pocket in her blue robe, and tapped the humpback of the witch statue. 'Dissendium!'

Faolan and I were both very startled when the hump in the statue suddenly opened with a low grinding sound, revealing a secret passage that none of us had discovered yet! Faolan was gaping like a netted fish, and I was staring in befuddled shock. We passed that hideous statue how many times a day, and we never realized what was there?

'But how'd you discover this?' I asked, lunging forward to poke my head into the opening. There was a set of stairs leading down, and the passageway smelled like wood and dirt.

Sekhmet grinned furtively, waiting until I'd pulled my head back before tapping the statue again and watching it close back up. 'I was late for Charms one day last year,' she said. 'And I was running, trying to make it before the bell tolled. And I met with Peeves.'

Faolan and I both groaned; we'd had our share of encounters with the obnoxious poltergeist that had been around since who knew when. 'Peeves – that figures,' said Faolan. 'He loves to mess with first-years.'

'Tell me about it!' said Sekhmet. 'Anyway, just as I was sprinting, he tossed about a dozen walking sticks down on the floor right in front of my feet.' She didn't need to explain further for me understand what had happened; she'd sprawled flat on her face.

'Ouch,' commented Faolan mildly, though he was wincing as he imagined it.

'Yeah,' said Sekhmet, shaking her head in irritation; the memory very obviously still annoyed her greatly. 'Stupid git. Anyway, as I was howling in outrage, Peeves was cackling like a bloody hyena, flying off too fast for me to catch. I probably would've just got back up and went on to class, if I hadn't lost my wand out of my pocket when I fell, so I had to go after it. It was right next to this statue. When I bet to pick up my wand, I saw this.'

Sekhmet got on her knees, crouching down low, and touched a spot on the statue's plinth, very near the wall. Glancing once at each other, Faolan and I also got down on our knees, imagining how strange this would look if anyone were to come around the corner just then.

'I don't see,' I began, but then I did. It was barely visible, worn and faded by age, but it was there: a word, carved into the stone. 'Dissemdium,' I murmured.

'Yep,' said Sekhmet. 'Took me a while, but I figured it out…I was very, very late for class. Lost twenty points for Gryffindor from a really annoyed Professor Melville.'

'Figures,' I muttered. 'She wouldn't have done if it was the Moor twins or that idiot Cadogan.'

Sekhmet shrugged. 'I don't care—I'd found something a lot more interesting than Charms!'

'I guess you did,' I agreed, standing up and brushing the dist from my trousers. 'That's just…that's awesome…thanks! I can't wait to tell the others, they'll love it.'

'This the only passageway you know of?' asked Faolan.

Sekhmet nodded. 'Yeah. Except that one you told me about, the one under the Whomping Willow. I've asked around about it, and a few people know it from stories, but not where it leads.'

That was how I'd learned about that passageway myself, from stories told by my dad; I didn't think there was anyone who hadn't heard stories about that tree and the passageway beyond it. I wasn't sure where it went, either, though. 'Come with us sometime,' said Faolan to Sekhmet. 'And we'll show you a couple of others.'

'Brilliant!' she said happily. 'It's a deal.'

'Come on, then,' said Faolan. 'It's nearly supper, let's meet the others in the Great Hall.'

So we said goodbye to Sekhmet and headed downstairs, while she went the opposite way, towards Gryffindor Tower. The possibilities of what she had shown us that day suddenly came to me, and I was nearly overwhelmed by them. Sekhmet had gotten to Hogsmeade Village through that passageway – that meant that we could too. I wondered if the teachers knew about that passageway. If not, it seemed we'd just found a very useful tool.