CHAPTER SIX

DIZZY AND DISMIUSA

O

"All right, everyone, line up!" screeched Madam Duopold, the Flying instructor.

Albus didn't need Flying lessons. He'd grown up around brooms, and both of his parents were great Quidditch players. His brother, the youngest House player since his father, had already been a star Seeker—James had won all four matches he played against Ravenclaw and Slytherin. But he had yet to defeat the star Seeker of Hufflepuff: Euan Yodelhop.

"From what I've heard, it's seriously amazing that Euan Yodelhop wasn't named Head Boy," Aidan had said. "He's single-handedly won us the House Cup for the last five years in a row, and he'll probably do it again; he's also been a star student and the best duelist the school's seen. The Hufflepuffs think that the Head Boy decision was biased, you know, because Helio Wilcox was a Slytherin, and he chose a Slytherin Head Boy."

Even though he didn't need to learn how to fly, it was still fun to get an excuse to go outside for a flying break on a mild Friday afternoon.

He turned his attention back to Madam Duopold, who was walking around, dropping brooms on the ground around them. She had sharp features, gray hair, and a good sense of humor. She was caustic but likeable; Albus would have liked any teacher who was going to teach him to fly. He stepped aside a broom.

"Everyone here? Yes, good. Step aside a broom, now…"

"Where's Parker?" asked Riley.

"Somehow, I don't see him doing much flying," grunted Madam Duopold. "A combination of self-preservation and liability. Come on, everyone, step aside a broom so that you can extend your wand hand over it!"

The class did so.

"Steel your mind, you're smarter than the broom," she called. "Most of you, I hope. Now hold your wand hand firmly over the broom and say, 'Up!'"

"UP!" everyone shouted.

Albus's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Riley's broom jumped only about a foot above the ground and swung in a violent circle, knocking the brown-haired boy's legs out from under him. Ava Vaughn's broom did not move at all, and the nose of Rose Weasley's broom lifted up a foot off the ground but the tail did not follow. Palila Bell's broom had also jumped into her hand immediately, as did Jonah Baxter-Thornton's, Scorpius Malfoy's, and Jasmine Zabini's. Eftan's broom almost made it to his hand, and he looked up with clear disappointment as Madam Duopold addressed the class again.

"You think a broom is going to want to jump into the hand of someone who wants nothing more than to stay grounded?" barked Madam Duopold. "You think that, if you're thinking 'I'm not taking one foot off this ground,' that broom is going to want to be the broom that carries you up? They may not be sentient but they can sense fear, and if you're freaking out about flying, that broom isn't going to want to take the risk of flying under a nervous wreck. And for those of you who aren't afraid of the broom but still couldn't do it? Just think about flying happily, pretend you're an expert, and try again. Do it right this time! UP!"

Most of the class got it the second time; Riley's broom still swept at him, but he jumped it like a jump-rope, and Ava's broom still did not move.

"You've got an excuse, dear, half of your family comes from a place that definitely has no use for brooms," said Madam Duopold, patting her on the shoulder. "But you! Boy with crazy brown hair. Riley, is it? You don't look Mermish. Get a grip!"

"Tell the broom to get a grip!" yelled Riley back.

Madam Duopold inspected the broom, then handed him a different one and took a step back. "One more time, everyone!"

This time, the class all got their brooms into their hands, though Ava had to lean forward and grab it before it fell back down, and Albus could still see Riley's broom twitching. He smirked; he had taken a dislike to Riley ever since Riley had convinced half the year that Exo was a werewolf.

"Now mount your brooms—step over them, keep holding on to the handle in front of you—what on earth are you doing, Elizabeth, do Muggles ride their horses sideways? The broom goes between your legs. Anyway, when I blow the whistle, you will kick off from the ground, and don't do it like you're scared of hurting the ground, either, I mean kick off hard. Lean slightly back—slightly, unless your intent in this exercise is to slide off the back of the broom like an idiot. This will make you rise in the air slowly. I want you to rise until your feet are above my head, and then tilt your broom ever so slightly forward in order to descend slowly. WHEN I BLOW MY WHISTLE, INGRAM! WHEN I BLOW MY WHISTLE! If you start going up too high too quickly, and you feel like you're no longer in control of the broom, I want you to tumble to the side and slide off—I promise, I will have a Cushioning Charm at the ready in case such an event occurs, don't be afraid of falling. Ready? Anyone need me to say it again?"

Madam Duopold blew her whistle, and Albus kicked off from the ground as hard as he could, and he found himself immediately hovering at the right height; again, he was one of the few who were able to command their brooms to do so; they were the same group who was able to complete the first task. Riley Andersen kept tilting his broom farther and farther back when it wouldn't go upwards, and he eventually slid off and landed on his back in the grass; Eftan was rising so slowly it was hard to tell he was moving at all; Ava Vaughn was red-faced with concentration but still couldn't get her broom off the ground. It was odd for Albus to be able to do this so easily and watch his fellow classmates struggling so badly.

O

As it turned out, Flying was not the only class in which Albus was able to succeed with little effort while his classmates struggled. He was quickly coming to understand that he might very well be third in his year to only Rose and Aidan, who had immediately become the biggest of rivals in the classroom. Whenever Gryffindor had classes with Hufflepuff—Charms and Herbology—Rose and Aidan had a race to get their hands up first on every question, checked each others' quiz scores to see if the other had finally gotten a score under a one hundred, and each performed every spell that was asked of them in such an outstanding manner that some teachers let them instruct their classmates.

Two months of successful classes rolled by, and Albus was becoming highly regarded amongst the teachers. He was also generally liked and respected by most of the students, excluding the Slytherins. Most of the Slytherins generally ignored Albus with a clear passive-aggressive air, but Eftan and Sylvester Alamandrine were friendly with him. The Gryffindor boys often came to him for help and advice in classes—mostly the boys, while the girls went to Rose for help. But he found that, in general, Luna's words best described him: He was getting by with much less studying than his classmates.

Eftan was also excelling, surprising no one more than himself. He found himself performing spells with ease, and was a natural writer, scoring as high on his essays as the star students Rose and Aidan. He was apparently ignored by most of the Slytherins, however, as he was Muggle-born, so he preferred to hang around with Albus, Aidan, and Alec, who met in the library often to study together, despite being in different Houses. Sylvester joined them on occasion.

James made the Gryffindor Quidditch team again, and was sure to let everybody know of his success when the Quidditch tryouts were over and seven grinning Gryffindors walked into the common room followed by several dozen glum faces.

"And I'm going to beat the pants off of Yodelhop and the rest of the Hufflepuffs this year," growled James.

"You'll have to find your pants from last time," interjected Barry.

Albus was beginning to think that all of James's negative hype was unfounded, about how hard the classes were, and he said so to his brother; James laughed and told him, "Just wait until exams," reigniting Albus's worry. Barry Dunbar again took pity on Albus, though, and told him not to be too afraid, the tests weren't too bad.

Flying lessons were to meet for the last time on the week of Halloween; there wasn't too much to teach and it was getting freezing out on the grounds. According to Madam Duopold, Albus would make a great Seeker. Unfortunately, James was two years ahead of him and would be unlikely to give up his spot on his team. Madam Duopold suggested that he try out to be the reserve Seeker, but Albus decided that could wait until next year.

Halloween was a spectacle at Hogwarts. There was an amazing smell drifting throughout the castle that reminded Albus of his mother's delicious homemade pumpkin pie. There were pieces of charmed black parchment all around the school which fluttered around the ceiling like bats, and the suits of armor would jump out and scream "BOO!" at random. Spider webs were strewn everywhere, and the castle ghosts were out and about more than Albus had ever seen them.

The feast at the Great Hall was also spectacular. He talked with Exo, Jonah, and Toby about the brooms they'd seen for sale at Diagon Alley before the start of school, most of their conversation focused on the Soundsplitter and dreaming about owning one.

"It's never gonna happen," laughed Jonah. "That broom is worth more than my entire house and everything in it."

"I would do unspeakable things for a Soundsplitter," said Toby darkly. "Unspeakable things."

"Like become an Unspeakable?" joked Jonah. "You know, the Ministry of Magic workers… in the Department of Mysteries… Yeah, I didn't think it was that funny either."

"I'd never ridden a broom until Flying," said Exo. "My dad thinks I'll injure myself."

"I wish I could just ride a Soundsplitter, just once," sighed Toby. "Albus, your mom was on the Holyhead Harpies! Think she could get a sponsorship? Think you could get me a ride?"

Albus laughed. "If I get a Soundsplitter, I'll be sure to let you have a ride. I'd be lucky to get a Sheerer 360, that's what James has."

"I heard Madam Duopold has a Sheerer 720," said Jonah. "They came out with a new model just a little while ago, the 1080, but the 720's still a great pick for a logical budget."

As it turned out, Jonah was right. During their last Flying lesson on the first Friday of November, Madam Duopold brought her Sheerer 720, a beautiful broom with a shining black handle, and she let each member of the class take a turn on it, supervising them closely.

The Sheerer was worlds beyond the school brooms in skill; Albus always got a broom that leaned left, or vibrated when he got too high, or had twigs sticking out at odd angles. He enjoyed his ride for two minutes or so, admiring the way the Sheerer turned at his light touch, and then landed, handed the broom to Eftan, and wandered around the grounds while the rest of the class took their turns.

Exo jogged up next to him and walked with him around the field near the gamekeeper's hut. Exo was looking extremely frail again, and Albus couldn't help but note that, again, it was the night before the full moon. As convinced as he was that Exo was not a werewolf—he had seen Exo on two different nights of the full moon—he couldn't help wonder why Exo's illnesses had been, now for the third time, aligned with the night of the full moon. Were there other conditions that varied with the moon cycle?

He decided it was time to investigate: He was good enough friends with Exo that he didn't think Exo would be too angry with him.

"Exo… I really have to ask. What's this condition that you have? It keeps getting at its worst at the full moon, and I know you're not a werewolf but I…" He trailed off at a an annoyed look from Exo, hoping he hadn't offended at all.

Exo huffed and his shoulders slumped. "Dad doesn't like me to talk about it."

"Oh."

"It's sort of a thing that gets stronger about once a month," muttered Exo. "It's just happened to be around the full moon."

"Sorry for intruding," said Albus quickly. "You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to."

Exo was looking extremely drained as he mumbled that it was okay.

"I know you're not a werewolf," Albus reassured him again. "And I don't think anybody's going to pry too much after how you shut Riley down; I won't talk about anything you said."

"After I what?" asked Exo softly, an eyebrow twitching.

"When you blew up at Riley," said Albus, grinning. "That was great."

Exo looked at the school and nodded.

"Think we should get back?" suggested Albus. "It's almost the end of the class."

"Yeah," said Exo, and he looked over at the forest's edge; suddenly, his eyes widened, and a strange look crossed his face.

"What?" asked Albus, catching the look.

"Was that a little kitten in the woods?" asked Exo, confused.

"What? Where?" Albus scanned the trees quickly, remembering suddenly a vision he'd had here two months ago, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw movement.

A small kitten emerged from the trees and stared Exo down. Exo seemed to be twitching at the sight of it, and he backed away slowly; as if offended, the kitten slunk down close to the ground and backed away.

Then, it turned its gaze to Albus, and suddenly it was…

"Tippy?" said Exo, gawking. "But… it was just…"

"I've seen this thing before, whatever it is," said Albus, and watched as the little dog started chasing its fluffy tail. It ran in circles for so long that it became dizzy, and fell over to one side and then sneezed. It was just about the cutest thing that Albus had ever seen, but it still made him nervous for some reason.

"MR. EARLE!" called Exo, and the dog jumped up on all four legs again and something red flashed in its eyes as it stared down Exo; suddenly it was a kitten again, but it was baring its teeth angrily. Then it looked at Albus again, and it looked just like Tippy again, started chasing its tail, and became dizzy again.

Footsteps thumped towards them, and the dog turned and disappeared into the woods again. Albus turned, but it wasn't Mr. Earle who was rushing towards them; it was Uncle Charlie. At school, though, he was Professor Weasley.

"Exo? Albus? What is it?" asked Charlie. "And was that Tippy that just ran into the Forbidden Forest? What's going on?"

"It looked like Tippy now," said Exo. "But it kept changing shape, between a kitten and a dog."

Charlie cast his gaze between the trees and squinted. "What on earth…? There are no shape-shifters in the forest, as far as I'm aware. Are you sure it was the same creature?"

"There's no way it wasn't the same animal," Exo assured him. "We saw it change shape three or four times."

"I saw something that looked like Tippy in the forest before," said Albus, and Exo looked over at him. "Two months ago. In the beginning of the year."

Charlie frowned. "Wilcox and Valon have been stalking around the woods lately," he said. "I hope they didn't stir something up in there. But… a shape-shifter? It can't be a boggart, unless one of you is afraid of kittens? And they prefer dark spaces. What…?" He continued considering possibilities, mouthing them to himself.

When he was finished muttering to himself, he turned back to Albus and Exo.

"If you see this thing again, call me or the nearest teacher immediately," said Charlie. "Do not go near it, do not entertain it, just get a teacher and tell them to try to lure it over to me or Wilcox."

"Why?" asked Albus. "Do you think it could be dangerous?"

"I'm taking no chances," said Charlie grimly, and he cast his gaze back into the forest.

Exo and Albus watched the tree line for a while, too, and then each realized that they might be late back to class for dismissal, and they said goodbye to Charlie and ran back towards where they could see a lone figure on a broom racing through the air.

O

Throughout the week that followed, Albus caught sight of the little shape-shifting dog every time he walked near the forest's edge. It didn't seem dangerous—in fact, it was extremely timid, running away or failing to appear every time Albus was with someone, and as such, no teacher was ever able to find the dog when Albus pointed it out. It started to become the boy who called dragon, and the teachers made less of an effort to appear quickly each time Albus spotted the creature. Finally, Helio Wilcox decided to investigate the matter himself, and accompanied Albus with a powerful Disillusionment Charm upon himself.

"Dizzy appears most near the gamekeeper's hut, Professor," said Albus.

"Dizzy?" said the nearly invisible Wilcox.

"That's what I've named him," Albus muttered, embarrassed at the slip; naming the creature was a pretty childish thing to do, the sort of thing Lily would have done. "I think he responds to the name now, too. I call him Dizzy because he chases his tail every time he sees me and he gets dizzy."

"It acts extremely cute whenever it sees you, does it," guessed Wilcox.

Albus nodded. "How did you know?"

"I have a hunch as to what the creature is," he said. "Exo described it to me, and every description fits. I don't know whether I'm really hoping it's not, or if I'm really hoping it is…"

"Is what, sir?"

"I'll tell you if we find it."

Albus turned to the forest, waited for some of the traffic from the Friday afternoon classes to pass, and looked around. He could not see the dog, but it usually did not appear immediately anyway.

"Dizzy!" called Albus. "Hey, Dizzy, boy!"

Minutes passed and there was no sign of the dog, despite the many times that Albus called his name. Helio Wilcox sighed and lifted his Disillusionment Charm.

"I'm fairly certain it knows I'm here," said Wilcox. "It's time for Plan B."

"Plan B, sir?" asked Albus; Wilcox hadn't mentioned it.

"Always have a Plan B," replied Wilcox. "And never tell anyone that you have it, because that'll make people suspect that you don't have confidence in Plan A."

He lifted his wand towards the castle. "Accio Soundsplitter."

Albus's jaw dropped as a point in the distance zoomed towards them moments later; when it came into clear view, it was the same type of broomstick that Albus had seen in Diagon Alley before classes started. It was a magnificent, shining whitish silver, the same color as the memories that Albus had seen his father place in his Pensieve, with a ring of silvery blue around the tail. Every twig was perfectly smooth; the handle was polished so brightly, Albus could see the forest reflected in it; it looked brand-new.

"Sir?" asked Albus weakly as Wilcox handed him the broom.

"Don't go riding off on it, now," laughed Wilcox. "Not yet, anyway. Here."

He produced a small saucer from his robes, and then he filled it with a clear potion from a black vial. He capped the potion again and handed the saucer gently to Albus so that the potion wouldn't spill.

"This is a simple Sleeping Draught," said Wilcox. "I'm going to leave the scene, but I want you to remain here alone. If the creature comes back, I want you walk about half the distance between you and the creature, slowly, and place this saucer on the ground for it. Then, back away until you're as far away from the dog as you started. Keep a hand on this broom the whole time. Hopefully, the creature will believe it is a dish of water, and will walk forward to drink it. If it does so, and if it falls asleep, zoom away on this broom and find me on top of the Astronomy tower. I will retrieve the creature. This is the important part: If, at any time, the creature becomes angry at all, or makes an aggressive move towards you, or indeed a move at all, mount your broom as fast as you can, and fly into Hogsmeade. That's right—Hogsmeade. Further if it pursues."

Albus started to sweat, and he clenched the broom tighter. He hoped his hand wouldn't shake too much that he'd spill the potion.

"I heard you're a natural on the broom," said Wilcox. "I wouldn't normally let students use my personal broom, but for this special case, I'll make the exception that I don't even make for my son." He started to walk away, but then turned back. "Don't tell Exo I have a Soundsplitter." He winked and continued to walk away.

"Wait," said Albus. "Can…" He was about to ask if somebody else could do it instead of him, but he realized how frightened he would sound if he did. He changed his question as quickly as he could formulate a better one. "Why won't it come out for anyone but me?"

"You said you saw it several months ago, right?" said Wilcox. "I believe that the creature has just singled you out."

"Singled me out?" asked Albus, his throat drying out.

"Not for attack or anything like that," said Wilcox quickly. "Singled you out as a potential owner. It wants someone to take care of it."

With that, he left the grounds.

Albus stared out at the forest, wondering how long it would take Wilcox to get to the top of the Astronomy tower if Dizzy showed up quickly. He cleared his throat and called again.

"Hey… Dizzy? You here? I'm alone now… Want some water?"

It was astonishing how quickly the creature appeared—it might have teleported. Dizzy bounded out of the trees and stopped close to the edge of the forest, tongue hanging out happily, and he began to chase his tail.

Albus took one cautious step forward, trying to smile. The potion sloshed around in the saucer and threatened to spill, and Dizzy stopped chasing his tail, his eyes set on Albus.

Albus took another step forward, and Dizzy backed away slightly.

"It's okay," he said soothingly, and Dizzy relaxed visibly. The dog turned to face him fully and set his eyes on the saucer.

"It's for you," Albus said, and smiled. He took a third step forward, and now he was about a quarter of the distance between them; still freaking out slightly, he decided to place the dish on the ground and back away now.

He closed his hand around the broom and backed away as fast as possible, but still smiled at Dizzy; he held a hand out in a giving gesture, and Dizzy bounded happily towards the potion.

Dizzy lapped at the potion for about five seconds, until he seemed to realize that something was wrong; he cast his gaze up to Albus and glared, then bared his teeth and barked angrily. Albus leapt onto the Soundsplitter as fast as he could, but as he was about to take off, the little dog's eyes drooped, and then the strangest thing happened.

The five closest trees on the forest's edge snapped in half and came smashing to the ground on either side of Dizzy, who chased his tail one last time before curling on the ground and falling asleep, and then vines crept from the fallen trees and circled all around him, covering him completely so that he was not visible.

Albus kicked off from the ground and flew to the Astronomy tower, where, amazingly, Wilcox was already standing waiting for him, slightly red in the face and breathing heavily. Even as nervous as he was, he couldn't help but admire the speed and directional ability of the Soundsplitter; it seemed to obey his thoughts rather than his touch, and as he streaked through the air, he tried to enjoy the ride as much as possible: He would probably never ride a Soundsplitter again. It was truly an amazing experience.

"You did it, then?" he asked excitedly.

Albus nodded.

Wilcox took the broom and mounted it, but before he could take off, Albus stopped him and explained the strange phenomenon; he saw Wilcox's eyes twinkle as the headmaster listened closely. Then, he told Albus to wait at the entrance to the headmaster's office, and took off on the Soundsplitter to collect the sleeping Dizzy.

O

Wilcox was flanked by Professors Valon, Longbottom, and Weasley when he returned, carrying the sleeping dog gingerly in his arms. Professor Valon strode up to the stone gargoyle and said, "Patultius."

The gargoyle jumped aside to admit them, and the wall behind them split in two to reveal a spiral staircase that moved slowly upwards, but nobody stepped onto it yet. Charlie was staring at the dog with utter amazement, and Professor Longbottom was analyzing it closely; Professor Valon actually seemed bored.

"Charlie, I'd like you to go down to the library and take me out a book entitled 'A Comprehensive Guide to the Extinct Creatures of the Magical World,'" said Wilcox. "Bring it back here. Neville, I'd like you to take these vines, which I found covering the creature, and analyze them using any means possible. Zayn, would you fetch me another Sleeping Draught, and a Calming Draught while you're down there? Albus, you can come with me and I'll explain a couple things to you; you deserve an explanation."

Albus and Wilcox stepped onto the staircase and moved up in slow ascending circles, until they reached a gleaming oak door with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. The pair stepped off the staircase and entered the headmaster's office.

It was an odd place—a large, circular room, headed by a claw-footed desk. Behind it were three portraits—the largest, directly behind the headmaster's chair, was Professor Dumbledore. Albus recognized the portrait—his father had one hanging in their house, and from what he could tell, it was the same Dumbledore who could travel between his painting here and his painting at their house. Dumbledore had two slightly smaller portraits on either side. One was a strict-looking woman with a thin mouth and hair tied back in a bun, and the other was a sallow-looking man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose. Albus recognized them, too, from pictures: The first was Minerva McGonagall, the headmistress before Helio Wilcox, and the second was Severus Snape, after whom Albus had taken his middle name. Both of his namesakes were on this wall.

Behind the desk, on either side of the three centered portraits, there were shelves of books and items like the Sorting Hat. Small desks around the room were groaning with the weight of curious artifacts, the likes of which Albus had never seen; many of them were whirring softly or emitting puffs of smoke. The rest of the walls were covered with portraits of other old headmasters and headmistresses, but most of them were asleep. The three behind the headmaster's desk, however, were staring curiously at Wilcox and the creature he was holding.

"Well, Albus," said Wilcox, placing the sleeping dog on the desk. The portrait of Albus Dumbledore suddenly had watery eyes. "Well. I just can't believe what I'm seeing." It was plain that Wilcox was trying hard not to grin like a maniac.

"What is it, sir?" asked Albus, staring at the dog.

"This," said Wilcox, with a grand flourish with his hands, "is a mulunctapol!"

Albus stared, not knowing whether he was supposed to know what that meant.

"A mulunctapol is a creature closely related to the boggart. It has the same shape-shifting power as a boggart, but it utilizes the ability differently. While a boggart will transform itself into whatever frightens us the most, a mulunctapol will transform itself into something nonthreatening, usually cute, in the hopes of being unnoticed—or, better, cared for and adored. You said that the first time you met this one was right after you first met Tippy? That means that you had an image in your mind of Tippy as something adorable; this creature was able to transform itself into that image of cuteness, knowing that you would find it nonthreatening."

"Are mu—mul—er, are they rare?"

Wilcox almost laughed, but stifled it in respect.

"Rare? We thought that the mulunctapoli had disappeared forever. People hunted them down and destroyed all of them. It is one of the few creatures in magical history that had been completely eradicated by wizards. We didn't even wipe out the dragons."

Albus's heart skipped.

"Why would they do that?"

"Because a mulunctapol has a second defense mechanism, if the first fails," said Wilcox. "It will attack, viciously, and latch its fangs onto the unlucky fellow who startled it. This happened countless times, to people who accidentally kicked it without seeing it, or cast a practice curse into a bush and hit it, or just made it nervous in general. After sinking its fangs into the wizard, it will then suck out his magical power, and use it to kill him or her."

Albus edged his chair slightly away from the creature.

"You have nothing to fear from this creature while it's happy," said Wilcox. "And certainly not when it's asleep. But just remember that you shouldn't make any sudden or aggressive movements. It takes very slight provocation to set off one of these ferocious little beasts. If I scratched behind his ear and accidentally poked him in the eye, he'd level my office in half a second."

"It sucks out magic?" said Albus breathlessly.

"Like a leech," said Wilcox. "Except… once this little one has latched onto you, there's no restoring your power. You're a Muggle. Or a Squib, rather, you could probably still see Dementors and all that…"

"You're a Squib? For the rest of your life?" Albus's jaw dropped; he had never heard of such a dangerous and exotic creature.

"That's right," said Wilcox casually, stroking the sleeping beast's fur. "Why do you think the government killed all of them? They were extremely dangerous, and people were using them as attack weapons, for revenge or general crime. So we decided the world was better off without the mulunctapoli, and we had them exterminated. This was in either the thirteenth or fourteenth century, I believe…"

"1305," said an ancient wizard in a frame to Albus's left. He realized suddenly that all the pictures were just pretending to be asleep.

"1305, then," said Wilcox. "Anyway, after that point, there were no mulunctapoli left in the wild."

"But this one was in the wild," Albus pointed out.

"That doesn't mean that we didn't succeed in exterminating all of the wild ones," Wilcox said. "An intensive study proved that there were absolutely no wild mulunctapoli left in the world. What this proves is that someone had kept them; someone with the intent of breeding them. Possibly as weapons. Maybe even biding their time until now."

"They'd use them… against wizards?" asked Albus shakily. "Against the school? This one was just loose near the school, it didn't attack me or anything…"

"No," said Wilcox. "It didn't. If my hunch is right, then this one must have escaped whatever facility they created him in."

At that moment, Charlie returned alongside Professor Valon. Charlie was carrying a book, and Professor Valon was carrying a vial of potion in each hand. One of them was clear, and the other was light blue on top and pink on the bottom with white froth.

"Calming draught," said Professor Valon, jiggling the multicolored potion. "Remember to shake it up until it's uniform color right before administering it."

"Yes, thank you, thank you," Wilcox said, taking the book from Charlie and the potions from Professor Valon.

He started flipping through the book until he was somewhere near the middle. Charlie and Professor Valon leaned over the book to read with him while Wilcox traced some lines with his finger. Suddenly, he stopped, his mouth frozen in an "O."

Charlie furrowed his brow, but Professor Valon exchanged a meaningful look with Wilcox as he slammed the book shut; the mulunctapol twitched, and Albus jumped back in his seat a little bit, expecting it to suddenly jump out and sink its teeth into Wilcox's leg.

Wilcox took the vial of Sleeping Draught and tipped it to the creature's mouth. It licked down the potion sleepily, returning to slumber when the vial was about half gone. This time, there were no vines to cover it; instead, leaves blossomed from all over the creature's skin and covered it; it was no more than an unremarkable bush in less than a second.

Wilcox plucked the leaves off one by one, and Albus's heart skipped a beat every time he pulled one off; it seemed like the perfect thing to awaken and infuriate the mulunctapol. But the creature stayed asleep as Wilcox pulled off the last leaf, and handed them all in a bundle to Albus.

"Charlie, thank you for fetching the book," said Wilcox. "Could you write and send a letter to your brother Percy explaining the situation? Zayn, stay here for a little while, I'd like a word with you. Albus, would you deliver these leaves to Professor Longbottom?"

"S-sure," said Albus. He had no idea how Wilcox was going to keep the creature asleep for as long as necessary, but he decided not to pry; he was grateful enough that Wilcox had explained so much for him. And besides, he wanted to get to the library and find another copy of the book that had shocked Wilcox so much.

Wilcox conjured a slip of parchment, shoved it into the book to mark his page, and slid it into a shelf level with Dumbledore's beard. Then he gathered up the leaves he had plucked from the mulunctapol's body and deposited them in Albus's arms. Trying not to drop any, Albus hurried out of the room after Charlie and stepped on the staircase, which was now descending.

O

"You got to ride a SOUNDSPLITTER?" roared Toby at dinner.

"Why," said Albus, covering his face with his hands, "was that the part of the story you clung to?"

"Because it's a Soundsplitter!" moaned Jonah. "You couldn't borrow it?"

"I didn't know my dad had a Soundsplitter," grunted Exo, now paler than ever.

"He asked me not to tell you, so don't tell him you know," warned Albus. "I'm going down to the library to fetch another copy of the book."

"I can get it for you," said Exo.

Albus looked at him.

"You said he bookmarked a page," continued Exo. "You won't know which part was the shocking part unless you have the book with the bookmark in it. I'll bring some parchment with me when I visit my dad tomorrow morning. I'll find the book and copy the bookmarked page."

"Wow, thanks," said Albus. "Your dad won't notice?"

"He'll be out of the room for a while," mumbled Exo. "What was the name of the book?"

Albus screwed up his face in concentration. "It was something like, 'The Guide to the Extinct Creatures of the Magical World.' The page he was looking at was… on my left when I was looking at it, so it was on his right, and the thing that surprised him was near the bottom. He put the book on a shelf to the right of Dumbledore's portrait, right at the level of Dumbledore's beard. Thanks for doing this for me! I'm just so curious."

"I'll have it for you tomorrow morning," said Exo. "Just don't mention it again until I give you the parchment, because my dad could be lurking, worrying about me."

"Can you get the Soundsplitter while you're there?" asked Toby.

O

True to his word, Exo left the next morning, and came back with a piece of parchment copied directly from the book in question. He continued to mystify the class, though—that night after dinner, when he returned to Gryffindor Tower, he suddenly looked perfectly healthy again. But when he came back after getting the parchment, he looked dreadful, even worse than he did at dinner the night before.

Albus was too excited about the parchment to care about the strangeness of Exo's condition, however, and Exo had said that something on that page made him extremely nervous. Albus unfolded the parchment and began to read. Everything that Exo had written down was pretty interesting, but one line in particular jumped out at him.

The blood of the mulunctapol was used in certain potions. (For further information, see Appendix B of A Comprehensive Guide to the Outmoded Branches of Potion-making.) When the mulunctapol disappeared from existence, these potions became unbrewable, and actually assisted in the collapse of the infamous underground trading circle of Crawthorn. In exchange for MM, the single most strictly banned substance in the world, African underground traders were funneling Exploding Fluid to the British Isles. When the flow of MM ceased to exist, African warlords, who used the potion to create devastating armies, demanded that a substitute brewing method be devised, or the trading link would be severed. No such method was found. MM became the most valuable substance in the world—once it was used, there was no way to make any more. To this day, there has been no reported alternative method to brew MM. But this may be a blessing.

When British suppliers could no longer deliver MM, their African traders refused to supply any more Exploding Fluid until more MM was concocted. This never occurred, and underground trading routes across the world collapsed—British traders also traded the Exploding Fluid to other networks, and those lines were shut down, creating an avalanche that buried most of the underground trading network and started several small wars, such as occurred when British potion-makers invaded Africa to find Erumpents and obtain Exploding Fluid for themselves, and were confronted by the African traders who had restricted their access to the fluid in the first place.

An unconfirmed rumor, but more noteworthy than other rumors due to the mysterious magical ability of the mulunctapoli to control nature, is that the mulunctapoli are servants of Dismiusa (dizz-MYOO-zuh), the vengeful forest spirit/deity that was said to reside in the Forbidden Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts Castle.