Chapter 10
Aboard the Dragon Mort Subs
KIARA
There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when I awoke that morning. Heavy rain still spluttered against the windows as I got dressed in jeans and a T-shirt; I would change into my robes on the Dragon Mort Subs.
Chris, Chrissie, Tanya, Geri and I had just reached the ground floor on our way to breakfast, when Sian appeared at the foot of the stairs, looking harassed.
"Dad!" she called up the staircase. "Dad! Urgent message from the Ministry!"
Chris, Chrissie, Tanya, Geri and I darted out of the way of the stairs, as Mr Dawson came clattering past with his robes on back-to-front, and hurtled out of sight. When myself and the others entered the kitchen, we saw Sian rummaging anxiously through the kitchen drawers - "I've got a quill here somewhere!" - and Mr Dawson was bent over the fire, talking to -
I shut my eyes hard and opened them again to make sure they were working properly.
Alesha Diggs' head was sat in the middle of the flames like a large egg. It talked feverishly fast, completely unperturbed by the sparks flying around it and the flames that were licking its ears.
" ... Muggle neighbours heard bangs and shouting, so they went and called those what-d'you-call-'ems - please-men. Matt, you've got to get over there - "
"But this isn't in my field," said Mr Dawson, confused. "Why doesn't someone like Arthur Weasley go and deal with this?"
"Apparently, Crazy-Head's shouting for you. Keeps saying things like, "I won't stop until I see Matthew Dawson here", no matter how many people try and calm her down. Rambling all sorts, and firing spells at whatever she wants. You know her quite well, Matt, and you know that she'll never stop until you get down there - "
"Here!" Sian said breathlessly, pushing a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink and a crumpled quill into Mr Dawson's hands.
" - it's a real stroke of luck I heard about it, anyway," said Mrs Diggs' head, "I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off - if Peter Meter hears about this one, Matt - "
Mr Dawson sighed and said resignedly, "All right, all right. What does Crazy-Head say happened?" He then unscrewed his ink bottle, loaded up his quill and prepared to take notes.
Mrs Diggs' head rolled its eyes. "Says she heard an intruder in her yard. Says they were creeping towards the house, but they were ambushed by her dustbins."
"What did the dustbins do?" asked Mr Dawson, scribbling frantically.
"Made one hell of a noise and fired rubbish everywhere, as far as I can tell," said Mrs Diggs. "Apparently, one of them was still rocketing around when the please-men turned up - "
Mr Dawson groaned. "And what about the intruder?"
"Matt, you know Crazy-Head," said Mrs Diggs' head, rolling its eyes again. "Someone creeping into the yard in the dead of night?" More likely, there's a very shell-shocked cat wondering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic lot get their hands on Crazy-Head, she's had it - think of her record - we've got to get her off on a minor charge, something in your department - what are exploding dustbins worth?"
"Might be a caution," said Mr Dawson, still writing furiously, his brow furrowed. "Crazy-Head didn't use her wand? She didn't actually attack anyone?"
"I'll bet she leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything she could reach through the window," said Mrs Diggs, "but they'll have a hard job proving it, there aren't any casualties."
"All right, I'm off," said Mr Dawson, and he stuffed the parchment with his notes on it into his pocket and dashed out of the kitchen again.
Mrs Diggs' head looked round at Sian.
"Sorry about this, Sian," it said, more calmly, "bothering you so early and everything ... but your father's the only person who can get Crazy-Head off - despite it not being his field - and Crazy-Head's supposed to be starting her new job today. Why she had to choose last night ..."
"Never mind, Mrs Diggs," said Sian. "Sure you won't have a piece of toast or anything before you go?"
"Oh, go on, then," said Mrs Diggs.
Sian took a piece of toast from a stack on the kitchen table, put it into the fire tongs and transferred it into Mrs Diggs' mouth.
"Fanks," she said in a small, muffled voice, and then, with a small pop, vanished.
I heard Mr Dawson calling hurried goodbyes to Sam, Kat, Perdy and the rest of his children. Within five minutes, he was back in the kitchen, his robes on the right way round, and dragging a brush through his thick hair.
"I'd better hurry - you all have a good term," said Mr Dawson to Chris, Sian, Chrissie, Tanya, Geri and I, dragging a cloak over his shoulders and preparing to Disapparate. "Sian, you make sure Sam and Kat go with you and the others to the Sub House for me, will you?"
"Of course I will," she said. "You just look aft Crazy-Head, we'll be fine."
Mr Dawson kissed his eldest child's head and vanished. Just after he left, Sam and Kat entered the kitchen.
"Did someone say Crazy-Head?" Sam asked. "What's she been up to now?"
"She says someone tried to break into her house last night," said Sian.
"Crazy-Head Grumpy?" said Geri thoughtfully, spreading marmalade on her toast. "Isn't she that nutter - "
"My father thinks very highly of Crazy-Head Grumpy," said Sian sternly.
"Yeah, well, Uncle Matt collects plugs," said Tanya quietly, as Sian left the room. "Birds of a feather ..."
"Grumpy was a great witch in her time," said Sam.
"She's an old friend of Aunt Sue's, isn't she?" said Kat.
"Aunt Sue's not what you'd call normal, though, is she?" said Tanya. "I mean, I know she's a genius and everything ..."
"Who is Crazy-Head?" I asked.
"She's retired, she used to work at the Ministry," said Kat. "I met her once when Uncle Matt took me into work with him. She was an Auror - one of the best ... Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of her. She made herself loads of enemies, though ... the families of the people she caught, mainly ... and I heard she's been getting really paranoid in her old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere."
Sam and Kat agreed to come and see us all off at the Sub House, but Perdy, apologising most profusely, said that she really needed to get to work.
"I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment," she told us. "Mrs Clutch is really starting to rely on me."
"You know what, Perdy?" said Geri seriously. "I reckon she'll know your name soon."
The first time I was at Dawson Manor (the summer before my second year of school), the Dawsons used to own a car, but this was no longer the case, because in our second year, Chrissie and I had to take because a certain house-elf named Dokey shut down the barrier to the Sub House, do that Chrissie and I couldn't get through, because she (Dokey) was trying to protect me from the monster in the Chamber of Mysteries. Anyhoo, I thought Mr Dawson would have got the Ministry cars for us again, but little did I know that during the last couple of years, Joey had been working on a coupe of cars that Mr Dawson bought, and had modified them, like he did with the old car. They were both the same make of car: both were black and they all had the same gadgets on the inside. And they also had the same Undetectable Extension Charm inside.
We split into two groups: Chris, Sian, Chrissie, Merida, Dave, Tanya, Sam and I went with Joey in the first car, and Beth, Kestrel, Joe, Jack, Geri and Ben went with Kat in the second car.
The journey to the Sub House was rather comfortable, even though there were so many of us in both cars. Our luggage all fit comfortably in the back, even thought the owls were rather excited. We got to the quiet street where the Sub House was, as the rain came down harder than ever, and we got soaked rolling our trunks on trolleys towards the grate that would lead us to the Sub House.
I was used to getting to the Sub House by this point. It was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid grate, which we would somewhat fall through on to a sort of waterslide that would take us to the Sub House. The only tricky part was doing in an unobtrusive way, so as to avoid attracting Muggle attention; but seeing as this street was pretty quiet, and that Muggles very rarely came down that street, we were quite all right. We went in groups that day: Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I (the most conspicuous, as we were accompanied by Piggledon, Cattonia and Lucifer) went first; we walked casually over the grate, and slowly slid under it, where we were transported quickly on a slide of water (which fortunately did not splash all over us)), which took us to the Sub House.
The Sub House was a massive, underground room, where many Dragon Mort students and their parents converged, and they looked like they were swimming in the deep blue pool, which was reflective of the magical blue tiles that made the walls look like the water waves of the sea, the way it was reflected from the lights. At the far end of the Sub House, over a large pool of water were the submarines, which were large and blue and were supported by cables. Piggledon and Cattonia became noisier than ever in response to the hooting of many owls through the mist. Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I stood back from the gateway as Tanya, Geri, Beth, Kestrel, Merida, Joe, Jack, Ben, Dave, Sam and Kat came through.
It was as we were standing thus that I heard two people calling me. I looked around, trying to find where the voices were coming from when, looking over by the ramp to the subs, I saw -
"Grandmother Sarabi! Grandmother Sarafina!" I yelled, dragging my trolley behind me as I walked as fast as I could through the crowd of people in the Sub House. When I finally reached them, I embraced each of them fondly. They told me that they had missed me terribly and that they were glad to see me again. They then asked me if I had enjoyed the rest of my summer with the Dawsons, what I had been getting up to at their house, etc.
When Chris, Sian, Chrissie and the others had come over, we only had enough time to see my grandmothers, Sam and Kat off, for a voice said that we had five minutes to say our goodbyes and board the subs.
"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Kat, grinning, as she hugged Merida goodbye.
"Why?" said Tanya keenly.
"You'll see," said Kat. "Just don't tell Perdy I mentioned it ... it's "classified information until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it", after all."
"Yeah, I sort of wish I was back at Dragon Mort this year," said Sam, arms crossed, an almost wistful look coming across her face as she looked at the subs.
"Why?" said Geri impatiently.
"You're going to have an interesting year this year," said Sam, her eyes twinkling. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it ..."
"A bit of what?" said Chrissie.
But at that moment, the whistle blew, and my grandmothers chivvied all of us towards the ramp and up to the subs.
"Tell Mr Dawson that I said thanks for inviting me to stay," I said to Sam, as the Dawsons, Tanya, Geri and I were going up the ramp.
"I will," Sam called back.
"I was going to invite you to come home for Christmas, Kiara - but ... well, I expect you and your friends are all going to want to stay at Dragon Mort, what with ... one thing and another," said Grandmother Sarabi teasingly.
"Sarabi," yelled Chris irritably, "what do you, Sam and Kat know that we don't?"
"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Grandmother Sarabi, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting - mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules - "
"WHAT RULES?" shouted Chris, Chrissie, Tanya, Geri and I together.
"Aunt Sue will tell you tonight, I'm sure," said Sam. "Of you go, now - and be good!"
Before any of us could say anything else, guards were coming along to move the rest of us to the subs; Tanya and Geri went to the sixth year sub, whilst Chris, Sian, Chrissie, Beth, Kestrel, Merida, Joe, Jack, Ben, Dave and I moved to the Dawsons' special sub. We got in just as the door closed, put our trunks on the blocks that held them in place and then we strapped ourselves in as the sub started moving along the chain slowly, reaching the point over the pool where the chain stopped. We halted in the air for a few moments, before one by one, the subs were dropped into the pool, which started our journey to Dragon Mort.
After our sub had dropped into the water, Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I unbuckled ourselves, as Chrissie said, "Baxter wanted to tell us what's happening at Dragon Mort back at the Quidditch Friendly, remember? But even our own parents won't say anything. Wonder what - "
"Hey, guys," said a small voice next to us. Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I jumped and looked at a tall, chubby, round-faced girl, who we knew as Nikita Bore, who was sat opposite us from across the sub.
"Hey, Nikita, how was your summer?" I asked her.
"Not bad," Nikita shrugged. "How was yours?"
"Great," said Chrissie. "We got to go to the Quidditch Friendly. Did you get to go?"
"Nah, Granddad didn't want to go," Nikita said miserably. "Wouldn't buy tickets. It sounded amazing, though."
"It was," said Chrissie. "Look at this, Nikita ..."
She got up, walked over to her trunk, rummaged around in it and, careful not to knock it down from the block that it was in, she pulled out the miniature figure of Outsider.
"Oh, wow," said Nikita enviously, as Chrissie sat down again and tipped Outsider onto her pudgy hand.
"So, what are you doing here, Nikita? Why aren't you over in the fourth year sub?" said Sian, not accusing, just curious.
Nikita looked uncomfortable, but she was saved answering Sian's question, for someone had already answered for her.
"That would be because of us, Sian."
We looked at the door to another compartment in the sub, and there stood Merida who had answered Sian, followed closely by Beth, Kestrel and Dave. After Dave had shut the door, he, Merida, Beth and Kestrel sat by Nikita.
"I saw her on her own looking lonely," said Merida, "and I like her and felt sorry for Nikita, so that's why I asked her to sit with us."
"Oh," said Sian, now being the one who looked uncomfortable, for I believed that in her mind she felt she was being accusing, but now felt ashamed of what she had just said. "Sorry, Nikita," said Sian, sounding and looking sincere at her.
"That's OK," said Nikita in a small voice. They both smiled at each other.
"Hey, do you guys want to hear what we heard Malty say?" Beth put-in suddenly.
"What did she say?" I said, before anyone could say anything.
Beth looked smug, as Kestrel said in her soft, wise voice, "Well, Malty said that her mother wanted to send she and Rae-Bradley to Uagadou in south-western Africa, rather than sending them to Dragon Mort - "
"Humph! Well, that makes sense, for we all know what their opinion of Ma is," said Sian, glowering.
"Indeed, sister," Kestrel continued, "and Uagadou, according to Malty, doesn't admit the Muggle-borns and Bright-Brains in, and they're big supporters of the Dark Arts, and practice them over there, too."
"So, if that's the case, why are Malty and Rae-Bradley here and not there?" said Chris. "We wouldn't have to deal with them, then."
"Oh, Malty's dad didn't want them to go too far from home, so that's why they go to Dragon Mort," said Merry.
"Yeah, and we also overheard her talking about what's going down at the school this year." At this, Chris, Chrissie and I sat up straighter, eagerly interested in what Malty said, whereas Sian, who was getting bored with the conversation, went to her trunk, pulled out a sketchpad and pencils, sat back down and began to draw.
"What did you hear?"
"What did she say?"
"What is going on?"
"Well," said Kestrel, and we all calmed down slightly from the softness that her voice produced, "we heard Malty say that she was going to enter something. What the "something" is, we don't know, but what we do know is that her mother told Malty and Rae-Bradley, and that she's excited about it, and that she's considering entering herself. We would have heard more, but Malty, Rae-Bradley and the others were moving away from us, so we didn't get to hear any more."
This was interesting to Chris, Chrissie and I, and for the rest of the journey, all of us (except Sian) were engrossed in a discussion about what could be going on that year, and what Malty could be entering. We were discussing this as we changed into our navy robes, and we were still discussing it as the Dragon Mort Subs were bubbling up to the surface in the Sub Cave.
As the sub doors opened, we heard a rumble of thunder from outside. Sian bundled Lucifer up in her cloak as we left the sub, and climbed the stairs out of the Cave and into the harsh, cold, wet storm. We bent our heads against the downpour, for the rain was coming down so thick and fast that it was as though buckets of ice-cold water were being emptied repeatedly over our heads as we moved towards the stagecoaches.
"Oooh, I wouldn't fancy crossing the river in this weather, even if it is by a portal," said Sian fervently, shivering as we inched slowly along the dark path with the rest of the crowd. A hundred horseless carriages stood waiting for us near the Cave. Chris, Sian, Chrissie, Nikita and I climbed gratefully inside one of them, the door shut with a snap, and a few moments later, with a great lurch, the long procession of carriages rumbled and splashed its way up the track towards Dragon Mort castle.
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A.N.: Sorry for the short chapter, but there are longer ones still to come soon. Oh, and don't hate me for Uagadou, for this is what I created before the stuff on Pottermore came out, which I am not changing because it works with my story.
