Five
Detention With Kirke
Albus groaned.
"What are you on about now?" A.J. asked. Her hair was sky blue, and had been all day – a sign she wasn't feeling exactly shipshape. They were sitting in the Ravenclaw Common Room, leaning up against the base of Rowena Ravenclaw's statue. The statue kept staring out at the room. Albus smacked his forehead.
"I totally forgot. I have detention with Kirke in a few minutes! It's Saturday already!" Albus said. Scorpius gave a devilish grin.
"Well, best not be late. Kirke will give you more detention just because you were late to this detention!" Scorpius said. A.J. chuckled, but Albus didn't. He didn't want detention, and felt like it had been pushed upon him. It wasn't like he had exactly done anything wrong. He'd just gotten a little heated and wanted to point out what Kirke was going wrong.
"Oh dear." A.J. said, glancing out the window, frowning. "Is it Saturday already?"
"Like I just stated, yes." Albus said.
"Bother." A.J. said, glaring around the Common Room. "I was going to watch quidditch tryouts today. Next year, I'm trying out for the quidditch team."
"Yeah?" Scorpius asked. "What to be – chaser?" A.J. pursed her lips.
"Nah. Keeper." She said. Albus looked at her blankly.
"You want to be a keeper?" he asked.
"Yes." A.J. said. "And it's not like it's that shocking, so you can stop staring. Can't you image me as a keeper?" The thing was, Albus could imagine A.J. as a keeper. She would probably be amazing, considering her dad was a quidditch star.
"I just didn't think that you could be a keeper." Scorpius said.
"Always the tone of surprise." A.J. muttered, getting to her feet. "You best be off, Al. Before Kirke starts to think that you've ditched him. He hates people being late. You know that."
"Oh, yeah. I might show up late just to spite him… but that would get me extra detention. I'll see you two when I get back later tonight." Albus said, jumping up. He grabbed his bag, filled with his quill and his books and raced out of the Ravenclaw Common Room.
When Albus arrived at Kirke's office, Kirke was not there.
In fact, the place looked rather deserted. The man's got to eat! He's probably at dinner. Albus thought to himself, while he sat down to wait. But his intentions of waiting were quite shattered when he heard a very snide voice say:
"What are you doing here?" Albus turned around, twisting to face who had spoken. Balthazar was leaning up against the doorframe of the office, looking smug, as usual. In the past week, Balthazar had become an increasingly large problem in Albus, Scorpius and A.J.'s life. He kept bothering them. He was a Slytherin, as A.J. had found out only two days ago, and he seemed proud of it. Balthazar's seventeen year old sister, Bathsheba, wasn't always around to regulate Balthazar either. Whenever she wasn't around, he'd show up and torment Albus and his friends.
"I have detention with Kir – Professor Kirke." Albus said, tripping up and remembering just in time to call Kirke Professor.
"Well, glad to see someone around here has some sense, putting you in detention. What'd you do, light him on fire? I thought he looked a little burnt during this morning's class." Balthazar said.
"No, I simply told him that he should be giving points to my friend A.J. for answering his questions correctly." Albus said. Balthazar narrowed his eyes and watched Albus carefully for a long moment. Finally he said in a sly tone:
"Well, I'm sure that this A.J. guy is very happy you got in detention. He's probably overjoyed, actually. No one likes you." Balthazar said. Something about what Balthazar said really stung Albus. It wasn't the part about thinking that A.J. was a boy. Balthazar wasn't all that bright, and didn't realize A.J. was short for Amelia-Jane. It was the fact that Balthazar had said no one liked Albus. Now, Albus knew this wasn't true, but it still hurt. But that was what Balthazar was aiming for, wasn't it?
"A.J. is a girl." Albus said in an even and clipped tone. A small smile spread across Balthazar's face. He seemed happy that he was finally getting to Albus and annoying him. "It's short for Amelia-Jane. Get that through your thick head." Albus said. Balthazar looked outraged.
"Excuse me?" He demanded. But before he could continue, Albus had a sudden thought and blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.
"You're excused. But if you don't mind me asking – what'd you do?" Albus said, interrupting Balthazar midsentence. Balthazar looked at highly offended.
"I said: Excuse me! I didn't do anything! And I will have you know that I am one of the smartest people in my family! I've very bright, Potter!" Balthazar snarled. Albus watched Balthazar as he spluttered, and considered before he answered.
"Then why aren't you in Ravenclaw?" He asked. Balthazar glared at Albus angrily.
"How dare you insult me and my family name!" Balthazar screeched.
"But I didn't insult your family name." Albus pointed out. Balthazar had to pause and think for a minute.
"Well, by insulting me, you insult my whole family! We are very high pureblood ranking wizards!" Balthazar snapped. Albus narrowed his eyes and shook his head slightly.
"Blood status means nothing." Albus said.
"It means everything!" Balthazar snarled. Albus studied Balthazar's face sadly. For a minute, he looked like just a normal kid. He looked a little sad, but also a little happy. His eyes weren't angry and filled with loathing. It was like – only for a second – Balthazar didn't hate Albus.
"Let's agree to disagree." Albus said. Balthazar opened his mouth like he wanted to speak, but Albus kept talking. "You know, I've been wondering what you're doing here?" Albus asked. Balthazar's anger returned in an instant.
"I was going to talk to Kirke about a question I had during the lesson that he didn't get to. I didn't know you were going to be here! I have to go!" And with that Balthazar marched from the room. Albus watched him go. He wondered for about the millionth time in the last week why the Slytherin boy hated him. What had Albus done wrong?
Albus got up and began to pace back and forth, watching Balthazar's retreating figure. Finally, Balthazar rounded the corner of the hall and disappeared. Albus returned and sat in the chair that he had been sitting in before. There was a mountain of papers on Kirke's desk. Bored, Albus picked one up. The handwriting was spindly and hard to read.
"A Study of Lost and Mysteriously Disappearing Magical Objects – Part 3 of 19… By Dobifer Kirke and Avanare Lenginivine…" Albus read out loud in a slow voice. He struggled to read the smaller print beneath the header.
I (Dobifer Kirke and from this point on referred to as Kirke) as well as Avanare Lenginivine have been looking into many mysterious objects that have vanished from the face of history. There are many that we see (Such as the Elder Wand) go through history under many different names. But some items have completely disappeared. This is why I (Kirke) and I (Avanare Lenginivine and from this point on referred to as Lenginivine) have been looking into items that have vanished or otherwise disappeared from history.
In previous pages we have looked through the two items known most commonly as the Painting of Ancients and the Dragonflame Wand. Now, we shall look deeper into an item most commonly known as the Faery Book (Alternative spellings and names Fairy Book, Fairy Scroll, Fairy Tome, Faerie Book, Faerie Scroll, Faerie Tome, Feyrie Book, Feyrie Scroll, Feyrie Tome, Faery Scroll, Faery Tome). It is commonly known to hold the knowledge of all sorts of Faeries across the world, and is a very valuable item.
From the information that we could glean from the pages of the books that we used to find out about this item, it would look inconspicuous. That alone, is possibly the reason that it disappeared so utterly and entirely from the history books of wizarding history. From what I (Kirke) read about in the books to find out about the Faery Book, it is a lilac color, with embossed silver writing on the front of it calling it the Faery Book. I (Lenginivine) theorize that over time, age has change the cover just to say Fae Book.
The Faery Book is actually a dangerous relic, that should be protected. But it was lost. The reason that the Faery Book needs to be protected is because inside its pages, there are thousands of important secrets. Not only this, but there is something dangerous trapped in those pages. The book that I (Kirke) read on the Faery Book was very vague about what might happen if the book was opened, but it was claimed that it was very dangerous.
"What are you doing?" Albus whirled around to see Kirke standing in the doorway. The old man eyed the piece of paper in Albus's hand, and then snatched it away from him.
"Keep your paws off my things." Kirke said, stuffing the paper in a drawer. "Today, we're going to be doing some lines. I hope that you will learn your lesson by the end of these detentions."
"Yes, about that – when do these detentions end?" Albus asked.
"Christmas." Kirke said in a dry tone. He drew out some parchment from one of his drawers, and pulled out a quill and a pot of ink.
"What? I only spoke out in class! It can't be worth that long detention!" Albus exclaimed.
"Silence. I suggest that unless you want your detention to be for the entire year, you should keep your mouth shut. And I am the teacher here, do I dictate how long our detentions will be." Kirke said. Albus raised his hand.
"Yes?" Kirke asked after a minute of scanning the room idly. "Do you have a question Mr. Potter?"
"I was just wondering," Albus said in a rather clipped tone, "How long this particular detention shall go on?" Kirke smiled.
"As long as I see fit. I will let you go before tomorrow, let's say that, shall we?" Kirke asked. He continued to scan the room. Albus picked up his quill, and then he paused.
"You haven't told me what you want me to write sir." Albus said, gritting his teeth.
"Oh yes, write: I shall not speak out in class, for it is disrespectful." Kirke said.
"How many times?" Albus asked.
"Hmm? Oh, five hundred and fifty should be good." Kirke said. "And then report back to me. If I think that it is a good amount, you can go. If not, you will continue."
Albus looked down at his parchment, and gritted his teeth. He began to write: I shall not speak out in class, for it is disrespectful over and over again. His hands began to ache from all that writing.
Time ticked by. Minute after minute, hour after hour. Albus watched the clock that hung in Kirke's office when he could get a chance. Finally, he finished, and placed his hands on the table. He waited for Kirke to notice he was done. Kirke did, almost immediately.
"Ah, you have finishes five hundred and fifty lines. Write two hundred more." Kirke said. Albus bit back a snappy retort, and bent his head again to write.