Chapter 19
A Bad Day For Chrissie
KIARA
The next day, Sian and I confided in Chris, and I went to confide in Chrissie on my own about the task that Crighton had set me: I had to see them separately, for Sian and Chris still refused to be in Chrissie's presence longer than it took for both of them to give her a contemptuous look.
Chrissie thought that I was unlikely to have any trouble with Beadu at all.
"She loves you," she said over breakfast, waving an airy forkful of fried egg. "Won't refuse you anything, will she? Not her little Potions Princess. Just hang back after class this afternoon and ask her."
Sian and Chris, however, both took a gloomier view.
"I admire Chrissie's optimism," Chris said, "but I think this is going to take a lot more planning than just marching up to Beadu and asking for the memory. It must be a very dark memory for her, judging from what you and Sian have told me."
"I agree," Sian whispered, "which is why she must be determined to hide what really happened if Ma couldn't get it out of her. Horcruxes ... Horcruxes ... I've never even heard of them ..."
"You haven't?" I said, feeling disappointment rise within me; I had hoped that Sian might have been able to give me a clue as to what Horcruxes were.
"They must be really advanced Dark Magic, or why would Zira have wanted to know about them? I think it's going to be very difficult to get the information, Kiara, you'll have to be very careful about how you approach Beadu, think of a strategy."
"Chrissie reckons I should just hang back after Potions this afternoon ..."
"Oh, well, if Chrissie-Wissy thinks that, you'd better do it," she said, firing up at once. "After all, when has Chrissie-Wissy's judgement ever been faulty?"
"Sian, can't you - ?"
"No!" she said angrily, and stormed away, leaving Chris and I alone and ankle-deep in the snow. I turned to Chris, worry etched across my features. He smiled reassuringly at me.
"Don't worry, Kiara," he said. "This will sort itself out eventually. These things do, you know."
I smiled back at him, not entirely reassured, but I knew that he was right.
Potions lessons were uncomfortable enough in those days, seeing as Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I had to share a desk. That day, Sian moved her cauldron around the table so that she was close to Chris, and ignored both Chrissie and I.
"What've you done?" Chrissie muttered to me, looking at Sian's haughty profile.
But before I could answer, Beadu was calling for silence from the front of the room.
"Settle down, settle down, please! Quickly, now, lots of work to get through this afternoon! Golpalott's Third Law ... who can tell me - ? But the Eldest Dawson Girl can, of course!"
Sian recited at top speed: "Golpalott's-Third-Law-states-that-the-antidote-for-a-blended-poison-will-be-equal-to-more-than-the-sum-of-the-antidotes-for-each-of-the-separate-components."
"Precisely!" beamed Beadu. "Ten points for Lion-Heart! Now, if we accept Golpalott's Third Law as true ..."
I was going to have to take Beadu's word for it that Golpalott's Third Law was true, because I had not understood any of it. Nobody apart from Sian seemed to be following what Beadu had said, either.
" ... which means, of course, that assuming we have achieved correct identification of the potion's ingredients by Scarpin's Revelaspell, our primary aim is not the relatively simple one of selecting antidotes to those ingredients in and of themselves, but to find that added component which will, by an almost alchemical process, transform these disparate elements - "
Chrissie was sitting beside me with her mouth half open, drooling absently on her new copy of Advanced Potion-Making. Chrissie kept forgetting that she could no longer rely on Sian to help her out of trouble when she failed to grasp what was going on.
" ... and so," finished Beadu, "I want each of you to come and take one of these phials from my desk. You are to create an antidote for the poison within it before the end of the lesson. Good luck, and don't forget your protective gloves!"
Sian had left her stool and was halfway towards Beadu's desk before the rest of us realised it was time to move, and by the time Chris, Chrissie and I returned to the table, she had already tipped the contents of her potion into her cauldron and was kindling a fire underneath it.
"It's a shame that the Princess won't be able to help you much with this, Kiara," she said brightly as she straightened up. "You have to understand the principles involved this time. No shortcuts or cheats!"
Annoyed, I uncorked the poison I had taken from Beadu's desk, which was a garish shade of pink, tipped it into my cauldron and lit a fire underneath it. I did not have the faintest idea what I was supposed to do next. I glanced at Chrissie, who was now standing there looking rather gormless, having copied everything I had done.
"You sure the Princess hasn't got any tips?" Chrissie muttered to me.
I pulled out my copy of Advanced Potion-Making and turned to the chapter on Antidotes. There was Golpalott's Third Law, stated word for word as Sian had recited it, but not a single illuminating note in the Princess' hand to explain what it meant. Apparently the Princess, like Sian, had had no difficulty understanding it.
"Nothing," I said gloomily.
Sian was now waving her wand enthusiastically over her cauldron. Unfortunately, we could not copy the spell she was doing because she was now so good at non-verbal incantations that she did not need to say the words aloud. Chris, however, was muttering, "Specialis revelio!" over his cauldron, which sounded impressive, so Chrissie and I hastened to imitate him.
It took me only five minutes to realise that my reputation as the best potion-maker in the class was crashing around my ears. Beadu had peered hopefully into my cauldron on her first circuit of the dungeon, preparing to exclaim in delight as she usually did, and instead had withdrawn her head hastily, coughing, as the smell of bad eggs overwhelmed her. Sian's expression could not have been any smugger; she had loathed being out-performed in every Potions class. She was now decanting the mysteriously separated ingredients of her potion into ten different crystal phials. More to avoid watching this irritating sight than anything else, I bent over the Half-Blood Princess' book and turned a few pages with unnecessary force.
And there it was, scrawled right across a long list of antidotes.
Just shove a bezoar down their throats.
I stared at those words for a moment. Hadn't I once, long ago, heard of a bezoar? Hadn't Triphorm mentioned them in our first ever Potions lesson? "A stone taken from the stomach of a goat, which will protect from most poisons."
It was not an answer to the Golpalott problem, and had Triphorm still been our teacher, I would not have dared do it, but this was a moment for desperate measures. I hastened towards the store cupboard and rummaged within it, pushing aside unicorn horns and tangles of dried herbs until I found, at the very back, a small card box on which had been scribbled the word "Bezoars".
I opened the box just as Beadu called, "Two minutes left, everyone!" Inside were a dozen shrivelled brown objects, looking more like dried-up kidneys than real stones. I seized one, put the box back in the cupboard and hurried back to my cauldron.
"Time's ... UP!" called Beadu genially. "Well, let's see how you've done! Biana ... what have you got for me?"
Slowly, Beadu moved around the room, examining the various antidotes. Nobody had finished the task by the looks of things, although Sian was trying to cram in a few more ingredients into her bottle before Beadu reached her. Chrissie had given up completely, and was merely trying to avoid breathing in the putrid fumes issuing from her cauldron. Chris was looking at his nervously, possibly wondering what to do to make it better. I stood there waiting, the bezoar clutched in my slightly sweaty hand ...
Beadu reached our table last. She sniffed Chris' potion and passed on to Chrissie's with an impassive look. She did not linger over Chrissie's potion, but backed away swiftly, retching slightly.
"And you, Kiara?" she said. "What have you got to show me?"
I held out my hand, the bezoar sitting on my palm.
Beadu looked down at it for a full ten seconds. I wondered, for a moment, whether she was going to shout at me. Then she threw her head back and roared with laughter.
"You've got a nerve, girl!" she boomed, taking the bezoar and holding it up so that the rest of the class could see it. "Oh, you're like your father ... well, I can't fault you ... a bezoar would certainly act as an antidote to all these poisons!"
Sian, who was sweaty-faced and had soot on her nose, looked livid. Her half-finished antidote, comprising fifty-two ingredients including a chunk of her own hair, bubbled sluggishly behind Beadu, who had eyes for nobody but I.
"And you thought of a bezoar all by yourself, did you, Kiara?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"That's the individual spirit a real potion-maker needs!" said Beadu happily, before I could reply. "Just like her father, he had the same intuitive grasp of potion-making, it's undoubtedly from Simba she gets it ... yes, Kiara, yes, if you've got a bezoar to hand, of course that would do the trick ... although as they don't work on everything, and are pretty rare, it's still worth knowing how to fix antidotes ..."
The only person in the room looking angrier than Sian was Malty, who, I was pleased to see, had spilled something that looked like cat sick over herself. Before either of them could express their fury that I had come top of the class by not doing any work, however, the bell rang.
"Time to pack up!" said Beadu. "And an extra ten points to Lion-Heart for sheer cheek!"
Still chortling, she walked back to her desk at the front of the dungeon.
I dawdled behind, taking an inordinate amount of time to do up my bag. Neither Chris nor Sian nor Chrissie wished me luck as they left; the three of them looked rather annoyed. At last Beadu and I were the only two left in the room.
"Come on, now, Kiara, you'll be late for your next lesson," said Beadu affably, snapping the silver clasps shut on her dragonskin briefcase.
"Ma'am," I said, reminding myself irresistibly of Zira, "I wanted to ask you something."
"Ask away, then, my dear girl, ask away ..."
"Ma'am, I was wondering what you know about ... about Horcruxes?"
Beadu froze. Her long, bony face paled instantly. She licked her lips and said hoarsely, "What did you say?"
"I asked whether you know anything about Horcruxes, ma'am. You see - "
"Crighton put you up to this," whispered Beadu.
Her voice had changed completely. It was not genial any more, but shocked, terrified. She fumbled in her breast pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, mopping her sweaty brow.
"Crighton's shown you that - that memory," said Beadu. "Well? Hasn't she?"
"Yes," I said, deciding on the spot that it was best not to lie.
"Yes, of course," said Beadu quietly, still dabbing at her white face. "Of course ... well, if you've seen that memory, Kiara, you will know that I don't know anything - anything - " she repeated forcefully " - about Horcruxes."
She seized her dragonskin briefcase, stuffed her handkerchief back into her pocket and marched to the dungeon door.
"Ma'am," I said desperately, "I just thought there might be a bit more to the memory - "
"Did you?" said Beadu. "Then you were wrong, weren't you? WRONG!"
She bellowed the last word and, before I could say another word, slammed the dungeon door behind her.
Neither Chris nor Sian nor Chrissie was at all sympathetic when I told them of this disastrous interview. Chris thought I could have tried harder to get the memory from Beadu. Sian was still seething at the way I had triumphed without doing the work properly. Chrissie was resentful that I hadn't slipped her a bezoar, too.
"It would've just looked stupid if we'd both done it!" I said irritably. "Look, I had to try and soften her up so I could ask her about Zira, didn't I? Oh, will you get a grip!" I added in exasperation, as Chrissie winced at the sound of the name.
Infuriated by my failure and by Chris, Sian and Chrissie's attitudes, I brooded for the next few days over what to do next about Beadu. I decided that, for the time being, I would let Beadu think I had forgotten all about Horcruxes; I believed that it was surely best to lull her into a false sense of security before returning to the attack.
When I did not question Beadu again, the Potions mistress reverted to her usual affectionate treatment of me, and appeared to have put the matter from her mind. I awaited an invitation to one of her little evening parties, determined to accept this time, even if I had to reschedule Quidditch practice. Unfortunately, however, no such invitation arrived. I checked with Chris and Sian: neither of them had received an invitation and nor, as far as they knew, had anyone else. I could not help wondering whether this meant that Beadu was not quite as forgetful as she appeared, simply determined to give me no additional opportunities to question her.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Mort library had failed Sian for the first time in living memory. She was so shocked, she even forgot that she was annoyed at me for my trick with the bezoar.
"Well, Ma was right when she told me that there were no books about Horcruxes in the library, because I haven't found one single explanation of what Horcruxes do!" she told me. "Not a single one! I've been right through the restricted section and even in the most horrible books, where they tell you how to brew the most gruesome potions - nothing! All I could find was this, in the introduction to Magick Moste Evile - Listen - "Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction" ... I mean, why mention it, then?" she said impatiently, slamming the old book shut; it let out a ghostly wail. "Oh, shut up," she snapped, stuffing it back into her bag.
The snow melted around the school as February arrived, to be replaced by cold, dreary wetness. Purplish-grey clouds hung low over the castle and a constant fall of chilly rain made the lawns slippery and muddy. The upshot of this was that we sixth-years had our first Apparition lesson, which was scheduled for a Saturday morning so that no normal lessons would be missed, but took place in the Great Hall instead of in the grounds.
When Sian and I arrived in the Hall (Chris had come down with Dena, and Chrissie with Larry) we found that the tables had disappeared. Rain lashed against the high windows and the enchanted ceiling swirled darkly above us as we assembled in front of Professors Darbus, Triphorm, Winds and Spud - the Heads of House - and a small witch whom I took to be the Apparition instructor from the Ministry. She was oddly colourless, with transparent eyelashes, wispy hair and an insubstantial air, as though a single gust of wind might blow her away. I wondered whether constant disappearances and reappearances had somehow diminished her substance, or whether this frail build was ideal for anyone wishing to vanish.
"Good morning," said the Ministry witch, when all the students had arrived and the Heads of House had called for quiet. "My name is Wilma Triggs and I shall be your Ministry Apparition instructor for the next twelve weeks. I hope to be able to prepare you for your Apparition test in this time - "
"Malty, be quiet and pay attention!" barked Professor Darbus.
We all looked round. Malty had blushed a dull pink; she looked furious as she stepped away from Crate, with whom she appeared to have been having a whispered argument. I glanced quickly at Triphorm, who also looked annoyed, though I strongly suspected that this was less because of Malty's rudeness than the face that Darbus had reprimanded one of her house.
" - by which time, many of you may be ready to take your test," Triggs continued, as though there had been no interruption.
"As you may know, it is usually impossible to Apparate or Disapparate within Dragon Mort. The Headmistress has lifted this enchantment, purely within the Great Hall, for one hour, so as to enable you to practice. May I emphasise that you will not be able to Apparate outside the walls of this Hall, and that you would be unwise to try.
"I would like each of you to place yourselves now so that you have a clear five feet space in front of you."
There was a great scrambling and jostling as people separated, banged into each other, and ordered others out of their space. The Heads of House moved among us students, marshalling us into position and breaking up arguments.
"Kiara, where are you going?" demanded Sian.
But I did not answer; I moved quickly through the crowd, past the place where Professor Winds was making squeaky attempts to position a few Raven-Wings, all of whom wanted to be near the front, past Spud, who was chivvying the Badger-Stripes into line, until, by dodging around Emily Mac, I managed to position myself right at the back of the crowd, directly behind Malty, who was taking advantage of the general upheaval to continue her argument with Crate, standing five feet away and looking mutinous.
"I don't know how much longer, all right?" Malty shot at her, completely unaware that I was standing right behind her. "It's taking longer than I thought it would."
Crate opened her mouth, but Malty appeared to second-guess what she was going to say.
"Look, it's none of your business what I'm doing, Crate, you and Gabber just do as you're told and keep a lookout!"
"I tell my friends what I'm up to, if I want them to keep a lookout for me," I said, just loud enough for Malty to hear me.
Malty spun round on the spot, her hand flying to her wand, but at that precise moment the four Heads of House shouted, "Quiet!" and silence fell again. Malty turned slowly to face the front.
"Thank you," said Triggs. "Now then ..."
She waved her wand. Old-fashioned wooden hoops instantly appeared on the floor in front of every student.
"The important things to remember when Apparating are the three Ds!" said Triggs. "Destination, Determination and Deliberation!
"Step one: fix your mind firmly upon the desired destination," said Triggs. "In this case, the interior of your hoop. Kindly concentrate upon that destination now."
We all looked around furtively, to check that everyone else was staring into their hoop, then we hastily did as we were told. I gazed at the circular patch of dusty floor enclosed by my hoop and I tried hard to think of nothing else. This proved impossible, as I couldn't stop puzzling over what Malty was doing that needed lookouts.
"Step two," said Triggs, "focus your determination to occupy the visualised space! Let your yearning to enter it flood from your mind to every particle of your body!"
I glanced around surreptitiously. A little way to my left, Emily Mac was contemplating her hoop so hard that her face had turned pink; it looked as though she was straining to lay a Quaffle-sized egg. I bit back a laugh and hastily returned my gaze to my own hoop.
"Step three," called Triggs, "and only when I give the command ... turn on the spot, feeling your way into nothingness, moving with deliberation! On my command, now ... one - "
I glanced around again; lots of people were looking positively alarmed at being asked to Apparate so quickly.
" - two - "
I tried to fix my thoughts on my hoop again; I had already forgotten what the three Ds stood for.
" - THREE!"
I spun on the spot, lost my balance and nearly fell over. I was not the only one. The whole Hall was suddenly full of staggering people; Nikita was flat on her back; Emily Mac, on the other hand, had done a kind of pirouetting leap and looked momentarily thrilled, until she caught sight of Dena Wright overcome with giggles at the sight of her.
"Never mind, never mind," said Triggs dryly, who did not seem to have expected anything better. Adjust your hoops, please, and back to your original positions ..."
The second attempt was no better than the first. The third was just as bad. Not until the fourth did anything exciting happen. There was a horrible yell of pain and we all looked around, terrified, to see Seanan Bongos of Badger-Stripes wobbling in his hoop with his left leg still standing five feet away from where he had started.
The Heads of House converged on him; there was a great bang and a puff of purple smoke, which cleared to reveal Seanan, white-faced, reunited with his leg but looking horrified.
"Splinching, or the separation of random body parts," said Wilma Triggs dispassionately, "occurs when the mind is insufficiently determined. You must concentrate continually upon your destination, and move, without haste, but with deliberation ... thus."
Triggs stepped forward, turned gracefully on the spot with her arms outstretched and vanished in a swirl of robes, reappearing at the back of the Hall.
"Remember the three Ds," she said, "and try again ... one - two - three - "
But an hour later, Seanan's Splinching was still the most interesting thing that had happened. Triggs did not seem discourage. Fastening her cloak at her neck, she merely said, "Until next Saturday, everybody, and do not forget: Destination. Determination. Deliberation."
With that, she waved her hand, Vanishing the hoops, and walked out of the Hall accompanied by Professor Darbus. Talk broke out at once as people began moving towards the Entrance Hall.
"How did you do?" asked Chrissie, hurrying towards me. "I think I felt something the last time I tried - a kind of tingling in my feet."
"I expect your shoes are too small, Chrissie-Wissy," said a voice from behind us and Sian stalked past, smirking.
"I didn't feel anything," I said, ignoring this interruption. "But I don't care about that now - "
"What d'you mean, you don't care ... don't you want to learn to Apparate?" said Chrissie incredulously.
"I'm not fussed, really. I prefer flying," I said, glancing over my shoulder to see where Malty was, and speeding up as we came into the Entrance Hall. "Look, hurry up, will you, there's something I want to do ..."
Perplexed, Chrissie followed me back to Lion-Heart Tower at a run. We were temporarily detained by Weeves, who had jammed a door on the fourth floor shut and was refusing to let anyone pass until they set fire to their own pants, but Chrissie and I simply turned back and took one of our trusted shortcuts. Within five minutes, we were climbing through the portrait hole.
"Are you going to tell me what we're doing, then?" asked Chrissie, panting slightly.
"Up here," I said, and I crossed the common room and led the way up the staircase, turned left and went through the door to the girls' dormitories.
Our dormitory was, as I had hoped, empty. I flung open my trunk and began to rummage in it, while Chrissie watched impatiently.
"Kiara ..."
"Malty's using Crate and Gabber as lookouts. She was arguing with Crate just now. I want to know ... aha."
I had found it, a folded square of apparently blank parchment, which I smoothed out and tapped with the tip of my wand.
"I solemnly swear that I shall do no good ... or Malty is, anyway."
At once, the Scallywag Map appeared on the parchment's surface. Here was a detailed plan of every one of the castle's floors and, moving around it, the tiny, labelled black dots that signified each of the castle's occupants.
"Help me find Malty," I said urgently.
I laid the Map upon the bed and Chrissie and I leaned over it, searching.
"There!" said Chrissie, after a minute or so. "She's in the Snake-Eyes common room, look ... with Parker and Zamba and Crate and Gabber ..."
I looked down at the Map, disappointed, but rallied almost at once.
"Well, I'm keeping an eye on her from now on," I said firmly. "And the moment I see her lurking somewhere with Crate and Gabber keeping watch outside, it'll be on with the old Invisibility Cloak and off to find out what she's - "
I broke off as Beth entered the dormitory, scowling, bringing with her a strong smell of singed material, and began rummaging in her trunk for a fresh pair of pants.
Despite my determination to catch Malty out, I had no luck at all over the next couple of weeks. Although I consulted the Map as often as I could, sometimes making unnecessary visits to the bathroom between lessons to search it, I did not once see Malty anywhere suspicious. Admittedly, I spotted Crate and Gabber moving around the castle on their own more often than usual, sometimes remaining stationary in deserted corridors, but at these times Malty was not only nowhere near them, but impossible to locate on the Map at all. This was most mysterious. I toyed with the possibility that Malty was actually leaving the school grounds, but I could not see how she could be doing it, given the very high level of security now operating within the castle. I could only suppose that I was missing Malty amongst the hundreds of tiny black dots upon the Map. As for the fact that Malty Crate and Gabber appeared to be going their different ways when they were usually inseparable, these things happened as people got older - Chris, Sian and Chrissie, I reflected sadly, were living proof.
February moved towards March with no change in the weather except that it became windy as well as wet. Now, before I moved on, I should tell you that about the middle of February, about four days after Valentine's Day, I got a letter from my father with some wonderful news.
Dear Kiara,
I am writing this while your mother is asleep, which she needs, seeing as she had a long, hard Valentine's night bringing your brother into the world.
Yes, Kiara, you are a sister! The labour went well, and both mother and baby are fine, although during it, your mother did a lot of yelling at many people, including me, but she was in a lot of pain. We have decided to call him Kion, and your little brother is such a little bundle of joy to be around. Everyone loves him. A picture has been taken and I will be posting it to you with this letter. He is healthy and is already proving himself to be a little bundle of energy, who I'm sure will be keeping your mother and I busy over the next few years - and you as well. We've mentioned you to him a few times and he brightens up when he hears about you, which I think is a good sign that he wants to meet his big sister.
Anyway, I thought I would write to you seeing as your mother and I haven't heard from you in a while. Are you all right? Are you keeping your head down? How are your lessons going? Whether the news is big or small, we want to hear from you, all right?
Well, I'm going to finish here. Your brother's crying and I see your mother stirring. So that's our good news. Let us know your news when you get the chance to write, good or bad, let us know.
Love you,
Daddy, Mum and Baby Kion
I was so happy with the news that I started crying. Chrissie, who I was sat next to at the breakfast table, asked me, "What's up? Has someone died? Is it Simba or Nala?"
I shook my head, unable to speak, as I looked in the envelope and pulled out a picture of my brother, who I saw at first glance looked a lot like my father: same face, same shaped eyes (the colour of which did turn into the same light shade of brown as my father's after a little while), the same mouth and the same hair colour. The picture was, of course, moving: my brother, Kion, was covered in a blanket and was waving at the camera, and from the way his body was moving, he was giggling. I smiled at the photograph, feeling contented at how blessed my family was, and delighted that my brother was all right. My brother ... it felt so odd for me to say!
I showed the photograph to Chrissie, who said, "Aww! He's so cute!", which made a lot of people come up to us and look at what all the commotion was about. When they saw the picture of the baby and they asked who he was, and when I told them he was my brother, they congratulated me; among those who were there behind us were Chris and Sian, who I had not expected seeing as they and Chrissie weren't on speaking terms, but I didn't mind. I was just happy for my family, and all day people kept congratulating me and my family about the arrival of my brother, which also included Professors Darbus and Beadu, who I promised that the next time I wrote to my parents that I would send them their best wishes.
Anyhoo, to general indignation, a sign went up on all common room noticeboards that the next trip into Dragsmede had been cancelled. To say that Chrissie was disappointed was an understatement.
"Aww, man, I was really looking forward to getting out of the castle for a few hours!" she said.
"Not a big surprise, though, is it?" I said. "Not after what happened to Keith."
He had still not returned from St Mungo's. What was more, further disappearances had been reported in the Daily Squabbler, including several relatives of students at Dragon Mort.
"Great, now all I've got to look forward to is stupid Apparition!" said Chrissie grumpily.
Three lessons on, Apparition was proving as difficult as ever, though a few more people had managed to Splinch themselves. Frustration was rumbling high and there was a certain amount of ill-feeling towards Wilma Triggs and her three Ds, which had inspired a number of nicknames for her, the politest of which were Dog-breath and Dung-head.
On the first of March, Chrissie and I had been woken by Beth and Kestrel leaving noisily for breakfast. Sian had left much earlier than the rest, wanting to spend as little time as possible in Chrissie's presence in those days.
"Shall we go down to breakfast, then?" said Chrissie drowsily, rubbing her eyes and getting out of bed.
"In a bit, I just want to check something first," I said, getting out of bed, opening my trunk and rummaging in it for the Scallywags Map, which I hid after every use. I turfed out half the contents of my trunk before I found it hiding behind the rolled-up socks in which I was still keeping my bottle of lucky potion, Felix Felicis.
I took the Map back to bed with me, tapping it quietly and muttering, "I solemnly swear that I shall do no good," so that Merida, who was passing the foot of my bed, would not hear.
My eyes turned to the Snake-Eyes dormitory, which I searched closely for a sign of Malty. "Hey ... I don't think she's in her bed ..."
Chrissie did not answer; she was busy trying to wake herself up, whilst getting herself dressed.
I peered more closely at the Map. Where was Malty? She did not seem to be at the Snake-Eyes table in the Great Hall, eating breakfast ... she was nowhere near Triphorm, who was sitting in her study ... she wasn't in any of the bathrooms or in the hospital wing ...
"Want one?" said Chrissie thickly, holding out a box of Chocolate Cauldrons.
"No thanks," I said, looking up. "Malty's gone again!"
"Can't have done," said Chrissie, stuffing a second Cauldron into her mouth as she slid out of bed to get dressed. "Come on, if you don't hurry up you'll have to Apparate on an empty stomach ... might make it easier, I suppose ..."
Chrissie looked thoughtfully at the box of Chocolate Cauldrons, then shrugged and helped herself to a third.
I tapped the Map with my wand, muttered, "Mischief Achieved," though it hadn't been, and than I got dressed, thinking hard. There had to be an explanation for Malty's periodic disappearances, but I simply could not think what it could be. The best way of finding out would be to tail her, but even with the Invisibility Cloak this was an impractical idea; I had lessons, Quidditch practice, homework and Apparition; I could not follow Malty around school all day without my absence being remarked upon.
"Ready?" I said to Chrissie.
I was halfway to the dormitory door when I realised that Chrissie had not moved, but was leaning on her bedpost, staring out of the rain-washed window with a strangely unfocused look on her face.
"Chrissie? Breakfast."
"I'm not hungry."
I stared at her.
"I thought you just said - ?"
"Well, all right, I'll come down with you," sighed Chrissie, "but I don't want to eat."
I scrutinised her suspiciously.
"You've just eaten half a box of Chocolate Cauldrons, haven't you?"
"It's not that," Chrissie sighed again. "You ... you wouldn't understand."
"Fair enough," I said, albeit puzzled, as I turned to open the door.
"Kiara!" said Chrissie suddenly.
"What?"
"Kiara, I can't stand it!"
"You can't stand what?" I asked, starting to feel definitely alarmed. Chrissie was rather pale and her eyes were bright.
"I can't stop thinking about him!" said Chrissie in a breathy voice.
I gaped at her. I had not expected this and I was not sure I wanted to hear it. Friends we might be, but if Chrissie started calling Larry "Law-Law", I would have to put my foot down.
"Why does that stop you having breakfast?" I said, bewildered. "He keeps snogging you, doesn't he?"
Chrissie blinked.
"Who are you talking about?"
"Who are you talking about?" I said, with an increasing sense that all reason had dropped out of the conversation.
"Ronnie Vaughn," said Chrissie softly, as she blushed furiously and giggled. This eventually died down as her eyes became glazed and dreamy-looking, and her whole face seemed to illuminate, as though hit by a ray of purest sunlight.
We stared at each other for a whole minute, before I said, "This is a joke, right? You're joking."
"I think ... Kiara, I think I love him," said Chrissie in a straight voice.
"OK," I said, walking up to Chrissie to get a better look at the glazed eyes and the pallid complexion, "OK ... say that again with a straight face."
"I love him," repeated Chrissie breathlessly. "Have you seen his hair, it's all roughed-up and shiny and black ... and his eyes? His big dark eyes? And his - ?"
"This is really funny and everything," I said impatiently, "but joke's over, all right? Drop it."
I turned to leave; I got two steps towards the door when a crashing blow hit me on my right ear. Staggering, I looked round. Chrissie's fist was drawn right back, her face contorted with rage; she was about to strike again.
I reacted instinctively; my wand was out of my pocket and the incantation sprang to mind without conscious thought: Levicorpus!
Chrissie yelled as her heel was wrenched upwards once more; she dangled helplessly, upside-down, her robes hanging off her.
"What was that for?" I bellowed.
"You insulted him, Kiara! You said that it was a joke!" shouted Chrissie, who was slowly turning purple in the face as all the blood rushed to her head.
"This is insane!" I said. "What's got into - ?"
And then I saw the box lying open on Chrissie's bed and the truth hit me with the force of a stampeding troll.
"Where did you get those Chocolate Cauldrons?"
"I found them on my bed!" shouted Chrissie, revolving slowly in mid-air as she struggled to get free. "I offered you one, didn't I?"
"You didn't find them on your bed, you idiot, don't you understand? They were mine, I chucked them out of my trunk when I was looking for the Map. They're the Chocolate Cauldrons Ronnie gave to me before Christmas and they're spiked with love potion!"
But only one word of this seemed to have registered with Chrissie.
"Ronnie?" she repeated. "Did you say Ronnie? Kiara - do you know him? Can you introduce me?"
I stared at the dangling Chrissie, whose face now looked tremendously hopeful, and I fought a strong desire to laugh. A part of me - the part closest to my throbbing right ear - was quite keen on the idea of letting Chrissie down and watching her run amok until the effects of the potion wore off ... but on the other hand, we were supposed to be friends, Chrissie had not been herself when she had attacked, and I thought that I would deserve another punching - not necessarily from Chrissie - if I permitted Chrissie to declare her undying love to Ronnie Vaughn.
"Yeah, I'll introduce you," I said, thinking fast. "I'm going to let you down now, OK?"
I sent Chrissie back to the floor (my ear did hurt quite a lot), but Chrissie simply bounded to her feet again, grinning.
"He'll be in Beadu's office," I said confidently, leading the way to the door.
"Why will he be in there?" asked Chrissie anxiously, hurrying to keep up.
"Oh, he has extra potions lessons with her," I said, inventing wildly.
"Maybe I could ask if I can have them with him?" said Chrissie eagerly.
"Great idea," I said.
Larry was waiting beside the portrait hole, a complication I had not foreseen.
"You're late, Chrissie-Wissy!" he pined. "I thought we could go down to - "
"Leave me alone," said Chrissie impatiently. "Kiara's going to introduce me to Ronnie Vaughn."
And without another word to him, she pushed her way out of the portrait hole. I tried to make an apologetic face to Larry, but it might have turned out simply amused, because he looked more offended than ever as the Fat Lord swung shut behind us.
I had been slightly worried that Beadu might be at breakfast, but she answered her office door at the first knock, wearing a green velvet dressing-gown and looking rather bleary-eyed.
"Kiara," she mumbled. "This is very early for a call ... I generally sleep late on a Saturday ..."
"Professor, I'm really sorry to disturb you," I said as quietly as possible, while Chrissie stood on tiptoe, attempting to see past Beadu into her room, "but my friend Chrissie's swallowed a love potion by mistake. You couldn't make her an antidote, could you? I'd take her to Matron, but we're not supposed to have anything from Fangs' Friendly Funnies and, you know ... awkward questions ..."
"I'd have thought you could have whipped her up a remedy, Kiara, an expert potioneer like you?" asked Beadu.
"Er," I said, somewhat distracted by the fact that Chrissie was now elbowing me in the ribs in an attempt to force her way into the room, "well, I've never mixed an antidote before, ma'am, and by the time I've done it right, Chrissie might've done something serious - "
Helpfully, Chrissie chose this moment to moan, "I can't see him, Kiara - is she hiding him?"
"Was this potion within date?" asked Beadu, now eyeing Chrissie with professional interest. "They can strengthen, you know, the longer they're kept."
"That would explain a lot," I panted, now positively wrestling with Chrissie to keep her from knocking Chrissie over. "It's her birthday, Professor," I added imploringly - yes, I lied, but desperate times called for desperate measures ... don't judge me!
"Oh, all right, come in, then, come in," said Beadu, relenting. "I've got the necessary here in my bag, it's not a difficult antidote ..."
Chrissie burst through the door into Beadu's overheated, crowded study, tripped over a tasselled footstool, regained her balance by seizing me around the neck and muttered, "He didn't see that, did he?"
"He's not here yet," I said, watching Beadu opening her potion kit and adding a few pinches of this and that to a small crystal bottle.
"That's good," said Chrissie fervently. "How do I look?"
"Beautiful," said Beadu smoothly, handing Chrissie a glass of clear liquid. "Now drink this up, it's a tonic for the nerves, keep you calm when he arrives, you know."
"Brilliant," said Chrissie eagerly, and she gulped the antidote down noisily.
Beadu and I watched her. For a moment, Chrissie beamed at us. Then, very slowly, her grin sagged and vanished, to be replaced by an expression of utmost horror.
"Back to normal, then?" I said, grinning. Beadu chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Professor."
"Don't mention it, m'girl, don't mention it," said Beadu, as Chrissie collapsed into a nearby armchair, looking devastated. "Pick-me-up, that's what she needs," Beadu continued, now bustling over to a table loaded with drinks. "I've got Butterbeer, I've got wine, I've got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead ... hmm ... meant to give that to Crighton for Christmas ... ah well ..." she shrugged " ... she can't miss what she's never had! Why don't we open it now and celebrate Miss Dawson's birthday? Nothing like a fine spirit to chase away the pangs of disappointed love ..."
She chortled again and I joined in, doing my best to disguise the guilt I felt at lying to Beadu, but I quickly pushed those feelings aside; I would think about the consequences later. This was the first time I had found myself alone with Beadu since my disastrous first attempt to extract the true memory from her. Perhaps, if I could just keep Beadu in a good mood ... perhaps if we got through enough of the oak-matured mead ...
"There you are, then," said Beadu, handing Chrissie and I a glass of mead each, before raising her own. "Well, a very happy birthday, Caroline - "
" - Chrissie - " I whispered.
But Chrissie, who did not appear to be listening to the toast, had already thrown the mead into her mouth and swallowed it.
There was one second, hardly more than a heartbeat, in which I knew there was something terribly wrong and Beadu, it seemed, did not.
" - and may you have many more - "
"Chrissie!"
Chrissie had dropped her glass; she half-rose from her chair and then crumpled, her extremities jerking uncontrollably. Foam was dribbling from her mouth and her eyes were bulging from their sockets.
"Professor!" I bellowed. "Do something!"
But Beadu seemed paralysed by shock. Chrissie twitched and choked; her skin was turning blue.
"What - but - " spluttered Beau.
I leapt over a low table and sprinted towards Beadu's open potion kit, pulling out jars and pouches, while the terrible sound of Chrissie's gurgling breath filled the room. Then I found it - the shrivelled kidney-like stone Beadu had taken from me in Potions.
I hurtled back to Chrissie's side, wrenched open her jaw and thrust the bezoar into her mouth. Chrissie gave a great shudder, a rattling gasp and her body became limp and still.