Chapter 26
Peter Meter's Scoop
KIARA
We all got up late on Boxing Day. The Lion-Heart common room was quieter that morning than it had been, many yawns punctuating the lazy conversations. Sian had put her hair down again. She confessed to me that she hated putting it up, but she only did it on special occasions, while she scratched a purring Lucifer behind the ears.
Chris and Sian seemed to reach an unspoken agreement not to discuss their argument. They were being quite friendly to each other, though oddly formal. Chris, Chrissie and I wasted no time in telling Sian the conversation we had over heard between Monsieur Legrand and Mina, but Sian didn't seem to find the news that Mina was a half-giant nearly as shocking as Chris, Chrissie and I had.
"Well, I thought she must be," she said, shrugging. "I knew she couldn't be pure giant, because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can't all be horrible ... it's the same sort of prejudice that people have towards werewolves ... it's just bigotry, isn't it?"
Chris and Chrissie both looked like they would have liked to reply scathingly, but perhaps they wanted to avoid a row with Sian mere hours after the last one, because they contented themselves with shaking their heads disbelievingly while Sian wasn't looking.
It was time to think of the homework we had neglected during the first week of the holidays. We were all feeling flat once Christmas was over - everyone except myself, as it were, for I was starting, once again, to feel slightly nervous.
The trouble was the February the twenty-fifth seemed a lot closer from this side of Christmas, and I hadn't done anything about working out the clue inside the golden egg. I therefore started to take the egg out of my trunk every time I went up to the dormitory, opening it and listening to it intently, hoping that at some point it would start to make sense. I strained to think what the sound reminded me of, apart from thirty musical saws, but I have never heard anything else like it, before or since. I closed the egg, shook it vigorously, and opened it again to see if the sound had changed, but it hadn't. I tried asking the egg questions, shouting over all the wailing, but nothing happened. I even threw the egg across the room - but that didn't work, not that I expected it to, anyway.
I had not forgotten the hint that Georgia had given me, but I wasn't exactly feeling very friendly towards Georgia, so for a time I chose to ignore her help if I could avoid it. In any case, it seemed to me that if Georgia had really wanted to give me a hand, she would have been a lot more explicit. I, Kiara, had told Georgia exactly what was coming in the first task - and Georgia's idea of a fair exchange had been to tell me to take a bath. Well, I didn't need that sort of rubbish help - not from someone who kept walking down corridors hand in hand with Khan, anyway. And so the first day of new term arrived, and I set off to lessons, laden down with books, parchment and quills as usual, but also with the lurking worry of the egg heavy in my stomach, as though I was carrying that around with me, too.
Snow was still thick upon the grounds, and the greenhouse windows were covered in condensation so thick that we couldn't see out of them in Herbology. None of us were looking forward to Care of Magical Creatures much in that weather, though as Chris said, the Crabs would probably warm us up nicely, either by chasing us, dragging us, making sure our feet weren't crushed, or else by blasting off so forcefully that Mina's cabin caught fire.
When we arrived at Mina's cabin, however, we found an elderly wizard with closely cropped grey hair and a very prominent chin standing before her front door.
"Hurry up, now, the bell rang five minutes ago," he barked at us, as we struggled towards him through the snow.
"Who're you?" said Chrissie, staring at him. "Where's Mina?"
"My name is Professor Smutty-Stave," he said briskly, "your temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher."
"Where's Mina?" I repeated loudly.
"She is indisposed," said Professor Smutty-Stave shortly.
Soft and unpleasant laughter reached my ears then. I turned; Dani Malty and the rest of the Snake-Eyes were joining us. "All of them looked gleeful (apart from Rea-Bradley, whose look of glee looked fixed), and none of them looked surprised to see Professor Smutty-Stave.
"This way, please," said Professor Smutty-Stave, and he strode off around the paddock where the huge Beauxbatons horses were shivering. Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I followed him, looking over our shoulders at Mina's cabin. All the curtains were closed. I hoped that Mina wasn't alone and ill in there.
"What's wrong with Mina?" I said, hurrying to catch up with Professor Smutty-Stave.
"Never you mind," he said, as though he thought I was being nosy.
"I do mind, though," I said hotly. "What's up with her?"
Professor Smutty-Stave acted as though he couldn't hear me. He led us past the paddock where the Beauxbatons horses were standing, huddled against the cold, and towards a tree on the edge of the Forest, where a large and beautiful unicorn was tethered.
Many of we girls "ooooohed" at the sight of the unicorn.
"Oh, it's so beautiful!" whispered Sarah Rimmer. "How did he get it? They're supposed to be really hard to catch! Not to mention the fact that unicorns prefer women to men!"
The unicorn was so brightly white that it made the snow all around look grey. It was pawing the ground nervously with its golden hooves, and throwing back its horned head.
"Boys, keep back!" barked Professor Smutty-Stave, throwing out an arm and catching me hard in the chest. "They prefer the woman's touch. Girls to the front, and approach with care. Go on, easy does it ..."
So myself, Sian, Chrissie and the rest of the girls of our group walked slowly forwards towards the unicorn, leaving Professor Smutty-Stave, Chris and the boys standing near the paddock fence, watching.
The moment Professor Smutty-Stave was out of earshot, (but that didn't mean we couldn't hear him), I turned to Chrissie. "What d'you reckon's wrong with her? You don't think a Crab - "
"Oh, she hasn't been attacked, Pride-Lander, if that's what you're thinking," said Malty softly. "No, she's just too ashamed to show her big ugly face."
"Dani," I heard Rea-Bradley plead softly to her cousin, "please, don't - "
"Quiet, Keziah," Malty snarled at her cousin, before she turned back to me. I saw Rea-Bradley look crestfallen, before I turned back to Malty.
"What d'you mean?" I said sharply.
Malty put her hand inside the pocket of her robes, and pulled out a folded page of newsprint.
"There you go," she said. "Hate to break it to you, Pride-Lander ..."
She smirked as I snatched the page, unfolded it, and read it, with Chrissie, Zara, Dena and Nikita looking over my shoulder. It was an article topped with a picture of Mina looking extremely shifty.
CRIGHTON'S GIANT MISTAKE
Susan Crighton, eccentric Headmistress of Dragon Mort Magical Academy, has never been afraid to make controversial staff appointments, writes Peter Meter, Special Correspondent. In September of this year, she hired Aoife "Crazy-Head" Grumpy, the notoriously jinx-happy ex-Auror to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, a decision that caused n=many raised eyebrows at the Ministry of Magic, given Grumpy's well-known habit of attacking anybody who makes a sudden movement in her presence. Crazy-Head Grumpy, however, looks responsible and kindly, when sat beside the part-human Crighton employs to teach Care of Magical Creatures.
Mina Wickes, who admits to being expelled from Dragon Mort in her third year, has enjoyed the position of gamekeeper at the school ever since, a job secured for her by Crighton. Last year, however, Mina used her mysterious influence over the Headmistress to secure the additional post of Care of Magical Creatures teacher, over the heads of many better-qualified candidates.
An alarmingly large and ferocious-looking woman, Mina has been using her new-found authority to terrify the students in her care with a succession of horrific creatures. While Crighton turns a blind eye, Mina had maimed several pupils during a series of lessons which many admit to be "very frightening".
"I was attacked by a Hippogriff, and my friend Veronica Crate got a bad bite off a Flobberworm," says Dani Malty, a fourth-year student. "We all hate Mina, but we're just too scared to say anything."
Mina has no intention of ceasing her campaign of intimidation, however. In conversation with a Daily Squabbler reporter last month, she admitted breeding creatures she has dubbed "Shudder-Ended Crabs", highly dangerous crosses between manticores and fire crabs. The creation of new breeds as magical creatures is, of course, an activity closely observed by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Mina, it seems, considers herself to be above such petty restrictions.
"I was just having some fun," she says, before hastily changing the subject.
As if this were not enough, the Daily Squabbler has now unearthed evidence that Mina is not - as she pretended - a pure-blood witch. She is not in fact, even pure human. Her father, we can exclusively reveal, is none other than Feardorcha, whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Bloodthirsty and brutal, the giants brought themselves to the point of extinction by warring amongst themselves during the eighteenth century. We can reveal the handful that remained and were not part of Lord Voldemort's giant ranks joined She Who Must Not Be Named, and were responsible for some of the worst Muggle-killings of her (at the time) secret reign of terror.
While Many of the giants who served She Who Must Not Be Named were killed by Aurors working against the Dark side, Feardorcha was not among them. It is possible that he escaped to one of the giant communities still existing in foreign mountain ranges. If her antics during Care of Magical Creatures lessons are any guide, however, Feardorcha's daughter appears to have inherited his brutal nature.
In a bizarre twist, Mina is reputed to have developed a close friendship with the girl who brought about She-You-Know's fall from power - thereby driving Mina's own father, like the rest of She-You-Know's supporters, into hiding. Perhaps Kiara Pride-Lander is unaware of the unpleasant truth about her large best friend - but Susan Crighton surely has a duty to ensure that Kiara Pride-Lander, along with her fellow students, is warned about the dangers of associating with part-giants.
I finished reading and looked up at Chrissie, whose mouth was hanging open.
"How did he find out?" he whispered.
But that wasn't what was bothering me.
"What d'you mean, "we all hate Mina"?" I spat at Malty. "What's this rubbish about her - " I spat at Crate - "getting a bad bite off a Flobberworm? They haven't even got teeth!"
Crate was sniggering, apparently very pleased with herself.
"Well, I think this should put an end to the oaf's teaching career," said Malty, her eyes glinting. "Half-giantess ... and there was me thinking she'd just swallowed a bottle of Skele-Gro when she was young ... none of the mummies and daddies are going to like this at all ... they'll be worried she'll eat their kids, ha, ha ..."
"You - "
"Are you paying attention over there?"
Professor Smutty-Stave's voice carried over to we girls who weren't all clustered around the unicorn and stroking it. I was so angry that the Daily Squabbler article shook in my hands as I turned to stare unseeingly at the unicorn, whose many magical properties Professor Smutty-Stave was enumerating in an even louder voice, so that none of us missed a word he said.
"I hope he stays, that man!" said Perry Party, when the lesson had ended and we were all heading back to the castle for lunch. "That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like ... proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters ..."
"What about Mina?" I said angrily, as we went up the steps.
"What about her?" said Perry, as though he couldn't care less about her. "She can still be gamekeeper, can't she?"
"That was a really good lesson," said Sian, as we entered the Great Hall. "I didn't know half the things Professor Smutty-Stave told us about unicorns until today. What did you think, Chris?"
"Well, it's more a shame I didn't get to pet the unicorn," he said, sounding disappointed, "but I have to admit that there were some really interesting facts he told us about uni - "
"Look at this!" I snarled, and I shoved the Daily Squabbler article under Chris' nose.
Chris and Sian read it, and as they did so their mouths fell open, just as Chrissie's had done.
Sian was the first to speak, and her reaction was the same as Chrissie's. "How did that horrible Meter man find out? You don't think Mina told him?"
"No," I said, leading the way over to the Lion-Heart table, and throwing myself into a chair, furious. "She never even told us, did she? I reckon he was so mad she wouldn't give him loads of horrible stuff about me, that he went ferreting around to get back at her."
"Maybe he heard her telling Monsieur Legrand at the ball," said Sian quietly.
"We'd have seen him in the garden!" said Chrissie. "Anyway, he's not supposed to come into the school anymore, Mina said Ma banned him ..."
"Maybe he's got an Invisibility Cloak," I said, loading chicken casserole onto my plate and splashing it everywhere in my anger. "Sort of thing he'd do, isn't it, hide in bushes, listening to people."
"Like you, Chris and Chrissie did, you mean?" said Sian.
"We weren't trying to hear her!" Chris said indignantly. "We didn't have any choice! The dozy mare, talking about her giant father where anyone could have heard her!"
"We've got to go and see her," I said. "This evening, after Divination. Tell her we want her back. You two do want her back, don't you?" I shot at Sian and Chris.
"I - well, I'm not going to pretend it didn't make a nice change, having a proper Care of Magical Creatures lesson for once - but I do want Mina back, of course I do!" Sian added hastily, as Chris nodded his head vigorously at her words, both quailing under my furious stare (and I thought Sian wasn't afraid of anything? Huh ...).
So that evening after dinner, the four of us left the castle once more, and went down through the frozen grounds to Mona's cabin. We knocked, and Gnasher's booming barks answered.
"Mina, it's us!" I shouted, as I pounded on the door. "Open up!"
She didn't answer. We could hear Gnasher scratching at the door, whining, but it didn't open. We hammered on it for ten more minutes; Chrissie even went and banged on one of the windows, but there was no response.
"What's she avoiding us for?" Sian said, when we had finally given up, and were walking back to the school. "She surely doesn't think that we'd care about her being half-giantess?"
But it seemed that Mina did care. We didn't see a sign of her for the next week after that. She didn't appear at the staff table at meal-times, we didn't see her going about her gamekeeping duties in the grounds, and Professor Smutty-Stave continued to take the Care of Magical Creatures classes. Malty was gloating at every possible opportunity about it.
"Missing your half-breed pal?" she kept whispering to me, whenever there was a teacher around, so that she was safe from my retaliation. "Missing the elephant woman?"
There was a Dragsmede weekend halfway through January. Sian was very surprised that I had planned to go.
"I just thought that you'd want to take advantage of the common room being quiet," she said. "Really get to work on that egg."
"Oh, I - I reckon I've got pretty good idea what it's about now," I lied.
"Have you really?" said Sian, looking impressed. "Well done!"
I remember my insides squirming guiltily, but I ignored them. As I recall, I had five weeks to work out that egg clue, after all, and that was ages away as far as I was concerned ... and if I went into Dragsmede, I hoped that I would find Mina there, and get a chance to persuade her to come back.
Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I left the castle together one Saturday, and set off through the cold, wet grounds towards the gates. As we passed the Uagadou sub moored on the river, we saw Kovu Outsider emerge onto the top, dressed in nothing but swimming trunks. He was very skinny, but apparently a lot tougher than he looked, because he walked slowly to the edge of the sub, stretched out his arms and dived, right into the river.
"He's mad!" I said, staring at Outsider's dark head, as it bobbed out into the middle of the river. "It must be freezing in there, it's January!"
"Kopa told me that all students at Uagadou are taught to transform into various animals over their time at the school, so they are prepared for any situation," said Sian. "So that must be what he's doing, getting used to the temperature of the water and allowing his mind to concentrate on the animal he can become. Kopa also said that he and Kovu have wanted to see what a British winter looks like for once, so I think this'll be an interesting experience for him - Kovu, I mean."
"Yeah, but there's still the giant squid," said Chris. He didn't sound anxious - if anything, he sounded hopeful. Sian noticed Chris' tone of voice, and frowned at him.
"Kovu and Kopa are really nice, you know," she said. "They're not at all like you'd think, coming from Uagadou. They like it much better here, Kopa told me."
Chris said nothing. He hadn't mentioned Kovu Outsider or Kopa since the ball, but every now and again I saw him scowling, which made me think that he hadn't let it go in his head, but didn't say anything to Sian because he didn't want to get into another row with her.
Just then, Sian gasped. I looked at her and saw that her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright, and a wide, joyous smile was spread across her face, as she looked at Kopa, who was waiting at the gates for her. I should explain here that a few days prior to this one, Kopa had asked Sian on a date, so that she could show him Dragsmede. He said that he had never seen the village before, and, seeing as we students were visiting it, Kopa wondered if Sian would like to spend most of the day there. Sian agreed gladly, and had been smiling brightly about it ever since.
Sian then turned to us, said, "I'll see you at dinner tonight," and ran eagerly to meet Kopa. He seemed to ask her something (the cloth around his mouth fluttered), Sian's head bobbed slightly, and they were off. Don't worry, you'll hear of their date next chapter; but for now, you're sticking with Chris, Chrissie and I, I'm afraid.
And so, Chris, Chrissie and I headed out the gates for Dragsmede. It felt odd to be going without Sian, but I hoped she would be having a good time. Chris, on the other hand, looked grumpy and moody, and Chrissie was watching him anxiously, and I couldn't blame her. I knew that Chris was being protective of his sister, but I also knew that Sian could take care of herself and could date whoever she pleased. Who were we to stand in the way of her happiness? Anyhoo, I kept my eyes open for any sign of Mina all the way down the sloshy High Street, and suggested a visit to the Flying Owls once I had ascertained that Mina was not in any of the shops.
The pub was as crowded as it ever was, but one quick look around at all the tables told me that Mina wasn't there. With a sinking heart, I went up to the bar with Chris and Chrissie, ordered three Butterbeers from Sir Smoothster, and thought gloomily that I might just as well have stayed behind and listened to the wailing egg after all.
"Doesn't she ever go into the office?" Chris whispered suddenly. "Look!"
He pointed into the mirror behind the bar, and I saw Lynn Baxter reflected there, sitting there in a shadowy corner with a bunch of fauns. Baxter was talking very fast in a low voice to the fauns, all of whom had their arms crossed, and were looking rather menacing.
It was indeed odd, I thought, that Baxter was at the Flying Owls on a weekend when there was no Triwizard event, and therefore no judging to be done. I watched Baxter in the mirror. She was looking strained again, quite as strained as she had done that night in the forest before the Death Trail had appeared. But just then Baxter glanced over at the bar, saw me and stood up.
"In a moment, in a moment!" I heard her say brusquely to the fauns, and Baxter hurried through the pub towards me, her girlish grin back in place.
"Kiara!" she said. "How are you? Been hoping to run into you! Everything going all right?"
"Fine, thanks," I said.
"Wonder if I could have a quick, private word with you, Kiara?" said Baxter eagerly. "You couldn't give us a minute, you two, could you?"
"Er - OK," said Chris, and he and Chrissie went off to find a table.
Baxter led me along the bar to the end furthest from Sir Smoothster.
"Well, I'd just thought I'd congratulate you once again on your splendid performance against that Horntail, Kiara," said Baxter. "Really superb."
"Thanks," I said, but I knew this wasn't all Baxter wanted to say, because she could have congratulated me in front of Chris and Chrissie. Baxter didn't seem in any particular rush to spill the beans, though. I saw her glance into the mirror over the bar at the fauns, who were all watching she and I in silence through their bright, slanting eyes.
"Absolute nightmare," said Baxter to me in an undertone, noticing me watching the fauns, too. "Their English isn't too good ... it's like being with all the South Africans at the Quidditch Friendly ... but at least they have a translator with them so I can understand what they're saying, for I don't speak a word of Gobbledegook, I'm afraid to say. Can't speak a single word of it ..."
"What do they want?" I said, noticing how the fauns were still watching Baxter very closely.
"Er - well ..." said Baxter, looking suddenly nervous. "They ... er ... they're looking for Bea Clutch."
"Why are they looking for her here?" I said. "She's at the Ministry in London, isn't she?"
"Er ... as a matter of fact, I've no idea where she is," said Baxter. "She's sort of ... stopped coming to work. Been absent for a couple of weeks now. Young Perdy, her assistant, says she's ill. Apparently, she's been sending instructions in by owl. But would you mind not mentioning that to anyone, Kiara? Because Peter Meter's still poking around everywhere he can, and I'm willing to bet he'd work Bea's illness up into something sinister. Probably say she's gone missing like Bernard Jenkins."
Keeping my composure (for I had to hide all that I knew - or rather, suspected - about Bernard Jenkins), I asked, "Have you heard anything about Bernard Jenkins?"
"No," said Baxter, looking strained again. "I've got people looking, of course ..." (About time, I thought) "and it's all very strange. He definitely arrived in Albania, because he met his second cousin there. And then he left the cousin's house to go south and see an uncle ... and he seems to have vanished without a trace, en route. Blowed if I can see where he's got to ... he doesn't seem the type to elope, for instance ... but still ... what are we doing, talking about fauns and Bernard Jenkins? I really wanted to ask you," she lowered her voice, "how are you getting on with your golden egg?"
"Er ... not bad," I said untruthfully.
Baxter seemed to know I wasn't being honest.
"Listen, Kiara," she said (still in a very low voice), "I feel very sorry about all this ... you were thrown into this Tournament, you didn't volunteer for it ... and if" (her voice was so quiet now, I had to lean in closer to listen) " ... if I can help at all ... a prod in the right direction ... I've taken a liking to you ... the way you got past that dragon! ... Well, just say the word."
I looked up into Baxter's round, rosy face, and wide, baby-blue eyes.
"We're supposed to work out the clues alone, aren't we?" I said, careful not to keep my voice casual, and not sound as though I was accusing the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports of breaking the rules ...
"Well ... well, yes," said Baxter impatiently, "but - come on, Kiara - we all want a Dragon Mort victory, don't we?"
"Have you offered Georgia help?" I said.
The smallest of frowns crossed Baxter's smooth face.
"No, I haven't," she said. "I - well, like I say, I've taken a liking to you. Just thought I'd offer ..."
"Well, thanks," I said, "but I think I'm nearly there with the egg ... couple more days should crack it."
I wasn't entirely sure why I was refusing Baxter's help, except that Baxter was almost a stranger to me, and accepting her assistance felt somehow much more like cheating than asking help from Chris, Sian, Chrissie, my parents or Grandmother Sarabi in my mind.
Baxter looked almost affronted, but couldn't say much more as Tanya and Geri turned up at that moment.
"Hello, Miss Baxter," said Tanya brightly. "Can we buy you a drink?"
"Er ... no," said Baxter, with a last disappointed glance at me, "no thank you, girls ..."
Tanya and Geri looked quite as disappointed as Baxter, who was surveying me as though I had let her down badly.
"Well, I must dash," she said. "Nice seeing you all. Good luck, Kiara."
She hurried out of the pub. The fauns all stood up slowly from their chairs and exited after her. I went to rejoin Chris and Chrissie.
"What do you want?" Chrissie said, the moment I had sat down.
"She offered to help me with the golden egg," I said.
"She shouldn't be doing that!" said Chris, shaking his head. "She's one of the judges! And anyway, you've already worked it out - haven't you?"
"Er ... nearly," I said.
"Well, I don't think Ma would like it if she knew Baxter was trying to persuade you to cheat!" said Chris, who looked deeply disapproving. "I hope she's trying to help Georgia as much."
"She's not, I asked," I said.
"Chris, since when did you become the "new Sian"?" Chrissie asked. "I mean, we already have one of her, we don't need another one!"
I laughed, as Chris said in a pointedly pompous manner that was much unlike his own, "Well, someone has to, seeing as she's not here."
Chrissie shrugged, and said, "All right, then. Anyway, who cares if Diggs is getting help?" I privately agreed with her.
"Those fauns didn't look very friendly," said Chris, sipping his Butterbeer. "What were they doing here?"
"Looking for Clutch, according to Baxter," I said. "She's still ill. Hasn't been into work."
"Maybe Perdy's poisoning her," said Chrissie. "Probably thinks if Clutch snuffs it, she'll be made Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation."
Chris, trying to hide a laugh despite the corners of his mouth twitching, gave Chrissie a particularly serious don't-joke-about-things-like-that look, and said, "Funny, fauns looking for Mrs Clutch ... they'd normally deal with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."
"Clutch can speak loads of different languages, though," I said. "Maybe they need someone who can speak with them in their own tongue, rather than have a translator with them."
"Chris, why are you worrying about poor, 'ickle fauns for?" Chrissie asked him. "You know, maybe you and Sian should think of starting up S.P.U.F. or something. Society for the Protection of Ugly Fauns."
"Ha, ha, ha," said Chris sarcastically. "Fauns don't need protection. Haven't you been listening to what Professor Yawn has been telling us about faun rebellions?"
"No," Chrissie and I said together.
"Well, they're quite capable of dealing with wizards," said Chris, sipping more of his Butterbeer. "They're very clever, and are highly resourceful."
"Uh oh," said Chrissie, staring at the door.
Peter Meter had just entered. He was wearing banana-yellow robes that day, and was accompanied by his paunchy photographer. He brought drinks, and he and the photographer made their way through the crowds to a table nearby. Chris, Chrissie and I glared at him as he approached. He was talking very fast and looked very satisfied about something.
" ... didn't seem very keen to talk to us, did she, Basak? Now, why would that be, do you think? And what's she doing with a herd of fauns in tow, anyway? Showing them the sights ... what nonsense ... she always was a bad liar. Reckon something's up? Think we should do a bit of digging? Disgraced Ex-Head of Sports, Lynn Baxter ... snappy start to a sentence, Basak - we just need to find a story to fit it - "
"Trying to ruin someone else's life?" I said loudly.
A few people looked around. Peter Meter's eyes widened behind his jewelled spectacles as he saw who had spoken.
"Kiara!" he said, beaming. "How lovely! Why don't you come and join - ?"
"I wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick," I said furiously. "What did you do that to Mina for, eh?"
Peter Meter raised his heavily pencilled eyebrows.
"Our readers have the right to know the truth, Kiara, I am merely doing my - "
"Who cares if she's a half-giantess?" I shouted. "There's nothing wrong with her!"
The whole pub had gone very quiet. Sir Smoothster was staring over from behind the bar, apparently oblivious of the fact that the flagon he was filling with mead was overflowing.
Peter Meter's smile flickered very slightly, but he hitched it back almost at once; he snapped open his crocodile-skin satchel, pulled out his Quick-Quotes Quill and said, "How about giving me an interview about the Mina you know, Kiara? The woman behind the muscles? Your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it. Would you call her a mother substitute?"
Chris stood up very abruptly, his Butterbeer clutched in his hand as though it were a grenade.
"You horrible, pathetic man," he said, through gritted teeth, "you don't care, do you, anything for a story, and anyone will do, won't they? Even Lynn Baxter - "
"Sit down, you stupid little boy, and don't talk about things you don't understand," said Peter Meter coldly, his eyes hardening as they fell on Chris. "I know things about Lynn Baxter that will make your hair curl ..."
"Let's go," said Chris. "C'mon, Kiara - Chrissie ..."
We left; many people were staring at us as we went. I glanced back as we reached the door. Peter Meter's Quick-Quotes Quill was out; it was zooming backwards and forwards over a piece of parchment on the table.
"He'll be after you next, Chris," said Chrissie, in a low and hurried voice as we walked quickly back up the street.
"Let him try!" Chris growled menacingly; he was shaking with rage. "I'll show him! Stupid little boy, am I? Oh, I'll get him back for this, first Kiara, then Mina ..."
"You don't want to go upsetting Peter Meter," said Chrissie nervously. "I'm serious, Chris, he'll dig something up on you - "
"I know our parents read the Daily Squabbler, but I'm sure they won't believe anything he'll say about me, so he can't scare me into hiding my face in shame!" said Chris, who was striding along so fast that it was all Chrissie and I could do to keep up with him. The only other person we had seen this angry was Sian when we had seen her hit Dani Malty and Keziah Rea-Bradley across their faces. "And Mina isn't going to hide anymore!" Chris continued. "She should never have let excuse for a human being upset her! Come on!"
Breaking into a run, he led us all the way back up the road, through the gates flanked by winged boars, and up through the grounds to Mina's cabin.
The curtains were still drawn, and we could hear Gnasher barking as we approached.
"Mina!" Chris shouted, pounding on her front door. "Mina, that's enough! We know you're in there! Nobody cares if your dad was a giant, Mina! You can't let that foul Meter man do this to you! Mina, get out here, you're just being - "
The door opened. Chris said, "About t - !" and then stopped, very suddenly, because he had found himself face to face, not with Mina, but with Susan Crighton.
"Good afternoon," she said pleasantly, smiling down at us.
"We - er - we wanted to see Mina," said Chris, in a rather small voice.
"Yes, I assumed as much," said Crighton, her eyes twinkling. "Why don't you come in?"
"Oh ... um ... OK," said Chris.
He, Chrissie and I went into the cabin; Gnasher launched herself upon me the moment I entered, barking madly and trying to lick my ears. I fended Gnasher off, and looked around.
Mina was sitting at her table, where there were two large mugs of tea. She looked a real mess. Her face was blotchy, her eyes swollen, and she had gone to the other extreme where her hair was concerned; instead of it being neat and tied back, it was free and looked like a wig of tangled wire.
"Hi, Mina," I said.
Mina looked up.
"'Lo," she said, in a very hoarse voice.
"More tea, I think," said Crighton, closing the door behind Chris, Chrissie and I, before drawing out her wand and twiddling it; a revolving tea-tray appeared in mid-air, along with a plate of cakes. Crighton magicked the tray onto the table, and we all sat down. There was a slight pause, and then Crighton said, "Did you by any chance hear what my son was shouting, Mina?"
Chris went slightly pink, but Crighton smiled at him, and continued, "Chris, Chrissie and Kiara still seem to want to know you, judging from the way they were attempting to break ... down ... the ... door ..." Crighton finished slowly, as she looked at Chris, Chrissie and I properly for the first time.
"Where's Sian?" she asked, looking quite hurt that Sian wasn't with us.
"She's on a date with Kopa in Dragsmede," I said. Crighton looked shocked, and then she turned her head to the side, her bottom lip trembling and her eyes overly bright. But I didn't have time to think about Crighton's emotional problems. Mina was more important.
"Of course we still want to know you!" I said, staring at Mina. "You don't think that anything that Meter git - sorry, Professor," I added quickly, looking at Crighton.
"I have gone temporarily deaf and have no idea what you said, Kiara," said Crighton, her voice cracking slightly, as she twiddled her thumbs and stared at the ceiling.
"Er - right," I said sheepishly. "I just mean - Mina, how could you think we'd care what that - man - wrote about you?"
Two fat tears leaked out of Mina's beetle-brown eyes and fell slowly down her face.
"Living proof of what I've been telling you, Mina," said Crighton, still looking carefully up at the ceiling. "I have shown you the letters from the countless parents who remember you from their own days here, telling me in no uncertain terms that, if I sacked you, they would have something to say about it - "
"Not all of 'em," said Mina hoarsely. "Not all of 'em wan' me ter stay."
"Really, Mina, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time," said Crighton, her voice strong and normal, looking sternly at Mina. "Not a week has passed, since I became Headmistress of this school, when I haven't had at least one owl complaining about the way I run it. But what should I do? Barricade myself in my study and refuse to talk to anybody?"
"Yeh - yeh're not half-giantess!" said Mina croakily.
"Mina, look at what I've got for relatives!" I said furiously. "Look at the Smiths!"
"An excellent point," said Professor Crighton. "My own sister, Siofra, was persecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Siofra hide? No, she did not! She held her head high and went about her business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure whether she can read, so that may not have been bravery ..."
"Come back and teach, Mina," said Chris quietly, "please come back, we really miss you. And if Sian was here, she'd say the same thing. I'm sure of it."
Mina gulped. More tears leaked out down her cheeks and onto her blouse. Crighton stood up.
"I refuse to accept your resignation, Mina, and I expect you back at work on Monday," she said. "You will join me for breakfast at eight thirty in the Great Hall. No excuses. Good afternoon to you all."
Crighton left the cabin, pausing only to scratch Gnasher's ears. When the door had shut behind her, Mina began to sob into her dustbin-lid-sized hands. Chrissie kept patting her arm, and at last Mina looked up, her eyes very red indeed, and said, "Great woman, Crighton ... great woman ..."
"Yeah, she is," said Chrissie, letting go of Mina's arm. "Can I have one of these cakes, Mina?"
"Help yerself," said Mina, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "Ar, she's righ', o' course - yeh're all righ' ... I've bin stupid ... my ol' mum woulda bin ashamed o' the way I've bin behavin' ..." More tears leaked out, but she wiped the away more forcefully, and said, "Never shown you a picture of my old mum, have I? Here ..."
Mina got up, went over to her dresser, opened a drawer and pulled out a picture of a short witch with Mina's crinkled brown eyes, beaming as she sat on top of Mina's shoulder. Mina was a good seven or eight feet tall, judging by the apple tree beside her, but her face was young and round - she looked hardly older than eleven.
"Tha' was taken jus' after I got inter Dragon Mort," said Mina croakily. "Mum was dead chuffed ... thought I migh' not be a witch, see, 'cos me dad ... well, anyway. 'Course, I never was great shakes at magic, really ... but at least she never saw me expelled. Died, see, in me second year ...
"Crighton was the one who stuck up for me after Mum went. Got me the gamekeeper job ... trusts people, she does. Gives 'em second chances ... tha's what sets her apar' from other heads, see. She'll accept anyone at Dragon Mort, s'long as they've got the talent. Knows people can turn out OK even if their families weren' ... well ... all tha' respectable. But some don' understand that. There's some who'd always hold it against yeh ... there's some who'd even pretend they just had big bones rather than stand up an' say - I am what I am, an' I'm not ashamed. "Never be ashamed," my ol' mum used ter say, "there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with." An' she was right. I've bin an idiot. I'm not botherin' with him no more, I promise yeh that. Big bones ... I'll give him big bones."
Chris, Chrissie and I looked at each other nervously. I would rather have taken fifty Shudder-Ended Crabs for a walk than admit to Mina that Chris, Chrissie and I had overheard her talking to Monsieur Legrand, but Mina was still talking, apparently unaware that she had said anything odd.
"Yeh know wha', Kiara?" she said, looking up from the photograph of her mother, her eyes very bright. "After yer eleventh birthday, Sarabi wrote ter me an' told me that yeh felt like yeh wouldn' fit in, remember? Yeh reminded me a bit o' meself then, with yeh mum an' dad gone - diff'rent circumstances, like, but still - an' yeh weren' sure yeh were really up to it - school, I mean - an' now look at yeh, Kiara! School Champion!"
She looked at me for a moment, and then said, very seriously, "Yeh know what I'd love, Kiara? I'd love yeh ter win, I really would. It'd show 'em all ... yeh don' have ter be pure-blood ter do it. Yeh don' have ter be ashamed of what yeh are. It'd show 'em Crighton's the one who's got it righ', lettin' anyone in as long as they can do magic. How you doin' with that egg, Kiara?"
"Great," I said. "Really great."
Mina's miserable face broke out into a wide, watery smile. "Tha's my girl ... you show 'em, Kiara, you show 'em. Beat 'em all."
Lying to Mina wasn't quite like lying to anyone else. I went back to the castle that afternoon with Chris and Chrissie, unable to banish the image of the happy expression on Mina's face as she had imagined me winning the Tournament. I put these thoughts out of my head as we went into the Great Hall for dinner, and for now, you'll have to say goodbye to me, because the next chapter will focus on Sian and her first date with Kopa.
AN: Sorry for being a day late with this chapter, guys, but here it is. I'll have the next one posted on Thursday, so keep an eye out for it. Hope you enjoyed this one.
