WENDY DOESN'T LIKE EELS EITHER

The Great Hall was far from being silent, but it had never been so quiet during lunchtime. Students were whispering in between two mouthfuls, casting furtive glances towards the staff table.

Charlie Weasley was eating with gusto, not in the slightest embarrassed by the attention. He had already shoveled down three pumpkin pies and half a chicken, and was now helping himself with large ladles of green peas.

- "Do you think he's part gorilla?" Violet Morgensten whispered, impressed. "He's got hair on his arms and did you see the shape of his jaw?"

- "Shush. Don't say stuff like that, silly!" Miranda Brown protested with a nervous glance at Rose Weasley who was glaring at them from the Ravenclaw table. "He's her family, she's going to kill us..."

Terrence smirked.

- "He's Albus' uncle too, so that you know", he mentioned casually.

Both girls had the same reaction: they instantly turned to Lily who grimaced at their frightened faces.

It was common knowledge that it was better to avoid antagonizing the two redheads.

- "Al, your father… what kind of a teacher is he?" Fabius Macmillan asked, reaching for the sliced roast dish.

- "I don't know, I've never been in class with him", Albus replied very seriously.

- "Who's got him first, this afternoon?" asked Craig Finnigan who had dug a volcano in his potato puree and was now filling it with gravy.

- "It's the Hufflepuff seventh years."

- "Cool…"

The man with messy black hair attracted even more attention than the new professor of Care of Magical Creatures, but the comments about him were rather mixed. Now that they saw him close, the hero looked rather insignificant - his dark stubble thinned his face, his sharp features were drawn with fatigue, his shoulders a bit hunched, the embarrassed smile which made the readers of Witch Weekly weak in the knees didn't seem that charming in real life, and the way he kept pushing up his myopic round glasses was really not helping with the feeling. Overall, the boys thought James had a lot more class than his father. But the girls thought differently.

- "Can you imagine how lucky these gals were to be in school with him..." sighed Eleanor Bones, cocking her head to the side with an ecstatic face.

- "Looks like he didn't have a wink of sleep last night... d'you think he's managing the affairs of the ministry from afar? Wow… they really can't do a thing without him", said Jane Caradoc dreamily. Her empty spoon had been suspended in the air for two full minutes now.

- "He's just as sexy as on the posters!" Alison Corner simpered, looking like a smitten goat.

- "Ooh, those green eyes... they're even more alluring than Albus'…" swooned Sandie Morgensten who put her hands on her mouth, when she got a triple glower clearly meaning she would have done better keeping quiet.

- "Won't you shut up?" Wendy groaned, biting into her sponge cake with the same ferocity she showed in the Quidditch pitch.

Give Albus a break, he only left the infirmary an hour ago.

At the end of the table, James made a show of telling his friends about the trip he had done the summer before with Harry and Teddy Lupin, his father's godson, in the Caucasus.

Scorpius had received a letter and was reading it grimly, in front of his growing cold plate. He had not said a word during the entire Study of Ancient Runes class and had never been so assiduous to take notes in History of Magic.

Hogwarts giant clock rang 1 PM and a flock of croaking crows flew off behind the Astronomy Tower. The elves began to clean the empty tables.

Lily's group of friends, who had finished eating, was making its way to the door, giggling and whispering. They fell silent when the new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts suddenly looked at them intently, frowning.

James sneered whilst his brother sighed, shaking his head.

Lily rolled her eyes.

- "All right, all right", she mumbled, taking out her wand to undo the seam that shortened her uniform skirt.

Her father's frown turned into a curt nod.

- "Now, this is magic", commented Samuel Flinch-Fletchley admiringly. "Even Persnickety Pal has never managed to make her yield."

If you put aside the director who was rarely seen in the corridors, Polycarpus Flaubert - tenderly nicknamed Persnickety Pal - was the grown-up the students most feared in Hogwarts. He was extremely punctilious, did not like children and spluttered. He had been teaching Potions for two years now and everyone was complaining about his predecessor's retirement. Harry had simply shrugged when James had claimed he would never become an Auror if it meant he would have to keep being in class with him in sixth grade. To convince her son to persevere, Ginny had explained Flaubert was harmless compared to the professor the previous generation had dealt with and, armed with this kind of information, Lily had always managed to do exactly as she wanted.

Persnickety Pal, indeed, squawked a lot and his breath smelt of rotten onion, but he stuck to the interminable school rules to the last comma. He would have never, like in Ginny's old school stories, put the life of a student in danger. If you could prove him that his complaints were irrelevant, he turned purple and gasped like a toad. Lily Potter's ridiculously short skirt suffocated his sense of proper, but unfortunately, the standard length of this garment was not indicated anywhere...

- "I think your father just got himself a best friend", said Terrence slurping down his pudding with a lot of noises, just to see Miranda Brown cringe. "But if he's this old-fashioned, it might disappoint his fan club."

- "Good for him", Albus said, laughing. "He hates being asked for autographs and yesterday, he told Neville that if he saw one animated badge with his head on it, he was going to quit faster than it takes to say the word Quidditch."

- "Like if he'd run away with everything we have to do..."

Wendy cast a suspicious glance at the blond boy.

- "What are you talking about? What do you "have to do"? And by way, I wanted to ask you: where were you yesterday all day? Don't say "in the infirmary with Al" because I tried to visit him and Mrs. Abbot never let me in."

Albus almost choked on his pumpkin juice.

- "S-sorry", he sputtered. "We… uh. We… sorry."

Wendy's left eyebrow, the one with the tiny carbuncle, puckered.

- "What, "sorry"?" she repeated, a bit fazed. "You've done nothing wrong..."

- "Boys are always in troubles, don't you know that? You should hang out with girls more often", Terrence grinned. He picked up his bag from under the bench and got up, throwing the strap over his head. "Well, shall we go? I don't want to be late for the Charms test..."

Wendy jumped and hastily gathered her things.

- "HA! The test! I had forgotten about it!"

- "I figured so: you were really relaxed for someone who's about to add a T to her collection, Philips."

- "Pipe down, Swanson."

Charlie Weasley's gaze followed them as they left the room still arguing, followed by Albus who was too used to their fights to care.

- "She's not dull-witted either, this one. That might become a problem for us", he muttered under his breath, before helping himself to some more rhubarb mousse under the gaping eyes of the elves.

Scorpius had finished reading his letter and his plate was still full. He crumpled the piece of paper and chucked it angrily at the wall.

Professor Trelawney, who was passing at that time, was startled. Her big dragonfly myopic eyes stared at him in shock.

- "Mr. Malfoy! Violence! Why?" she breathed in a trembling voice. "You could have hurt someone."

Neville Longbottom, a stack of books in his arms, stopped by them.

- "I don't think this piece of paper could have hurt anyone, Sybil", he said gently. "Scorpius did not intend to leave trash lying around in the Great Hall either, I'm sure."

He smiled at the boy who was staring grimly at the floor, biting his lip.

- "Mr. Malfoy, I believe the old fel'... I mean, Professor Flitwick would be disappointed if he had to give you detention for unjustified absence from his class."

Scorpius shrugged.

- "… can't give me detention if I'm not in Hogwarts..." he mumbled.

Sybil and Neville shared a worried look.

- "Come to my office, son" said Professor Longbottom after a while. "Let's have a cup of tea."

The student obeyed without a word, gloomily.

Charlie had not missed a thing.

oOoOoOo

Wendy unclipped the pin that held her brown bangs back and ruffled her hair. She puffed up her cheeks and blew loudly enough to startle Miranda Brown.

- "Why do we must describe what we're doing?" she grunted. She flattened her bangs back and pinned them again. "It's an instinct! As long as our wands are working, there's no need for that much prattle!"

Terrence burst out laughing as he secured the lid of his inkwell. He rolled his remaining scrolls and crammed them in his schoolbag.

- "You've got ink all over", he pointed maliciously. "You should have put more ink on your essay than on your face."

- "Enough, you two", Albus intervened absently.

He was looking around for something and Wendy stopped cleaning her face with the black board cloth that Terrence had 'kindly' handed her.

- "What's the matter?"

- "Have you seen Scorpius?"

The other two mechanically checked the classroom that was emptying gradually.

- "Now that you mention it… nope."

- "He skipped the test, I can't believe it!" Wendy exclaimed, vaguely regretting not having thought about that herself.

Perhaps detention would have been better than the T she was almost certain she would get... She was good in practice, but she couldn't for the life of hers do well in theory.

- "I'm sure he's taking a nap somewhere, lucky fellow" Terrence chortled. He yawned. "No wonder, after that n..."

Albus coughed to cut him and his friend winced apologetically.

- "Oy, you three, move your butts, apparently Care of Magical Creatures class will take place by the lake!" said Samuel Flinch-Flechley, one arm thrown across Craig Finnigan's shoulders.

- "What?"

Fabius Macmillan jumped over a desk, his russet curls spiking in all directions.

- "Did you not hear what the gorilla... I mean, Al's uncle, said over lunch? Where're your brains, Swanson? Lost in blue dreams? How come Potter and you look completely stoned? Where was the private party last night?"

Albus bashed him with his Standard Book of Spells Level 4 and the boy's head rang hollow.

- "Don't you make fun of my uncle. He's a bloody good dragon master."

Fabius shrugged, rubbing an imaginary bump.

- "For what it's useful, dragons..." he grumbled.

- "Studying dragons is a very dangerous thing! Not everyone can improvise themselves a dragon master, it's a delicate and noble art", Rose Weasley intervened in her important voice. "And if you cared for something else than your bellybutton, you'd know how necessary they are nowadays."

She was holding her books on her heart and looked upset.

- "Ah ... she was still here, that one…" sighed Samuel. "Go back to the library, Bookworm. Let normal people breath in peace."

Albus cleared his throat and his green orbs looked calmly at the boy who flinched, blushed and finally lowered his eyes, stepping off.

- "Let's go, Craig. The best seats under the beech will be taken, if we don't hurry."

Terrence watched them go with a wry grin. Fabius Macmillan followed them, gobbling up a squeaking sugar mouse.

Wendy gave an awkward smile to Rose.

- "Sorry", she said. "Boys. You know what they're like… daft. Anyway, we're not all super-smart like you Ravenclaws and, uh ... well, maybe they're just jealous. Not everyone's not like them, in Gryffindor, y'know. There're some nice people too."

Rose glared at her with eyes glistening with tears.

- "I know that!" she hissed. "Both my parents were in Gryffindor!"

She ran off with a bitter sob and Albus heaved a sigh, saddened.

- "Do you think she failed the test?" Terrence asked while they were also taking the direction of the lake.

- "It's because of her parents", explained Albus. "They divorced this summer. Apparently, one of the things her father told my aunt was that she was too - literary."

- "Oh", Wendy gasped. "I'm sorry... I think your brother told me about it, but I didn't realize..."

- "My brother?" Albus repeated, surprised. "When?"

- "Yesterday. When you were in the hospital and Terrence was – nowhere to be found."

The last words had creaked dangerously and the two boys looked at each other.

"We'll have to tell her ..."

"No. We promised ..."

"Al, you know we won't be able to hide this from her for a long time..."

"Shut up. Please."

The silent supplication more than the necessity to keep a secret that could shake all of Hogwarts put an end to the inaudible conversation.

Terrence had tried to convince the grown-ups to include Wendy in the plan, but he had failed.

As for Albus, he was not so sure he wanted to tell the truth about his supposed stay in the infirmary.

Wasn't it going to change everything in their relationship? How would Wendy look at him when she'd know?

The girl suddenly froze.

- "Wow. What happened to them?"

Seventh graders were coming towards them under the arcades. One of them had his arm in a sling, some were limping, others had a black eye or a split lip.

- "... First time we have a class like this..."

- "T'was wicked!"

- "... anyway, if you say again he's rusty, Buxtorf, I'll kill you!"

- "... 's a nutter!"

- "Awesome!"

- "... Never seen something like that ..."

- "… so strong!"

The trio gaped at them as they passed by.

- "With which one of them were they in class?" Wendy finally articulated.

Terrence's eyes were gleaming with anticipation.

- "Defense Against the Dark Arts! They're Hufflepuff seventh years. Al, apparently your father rocks as a teacher!"

His friend nodded prudently.

- "I just hope their parents won't send too many complaints. I bet he confused them with aurors and even when he trains his own men, mum tells him to go easy on them... Terrence, stop drooling, you're flooding the place."

- "Yeah, don't get your hopes up, Swanson", added Wendy whose red cheeks betrayed her own excitement. "Do you think we're going to learn to duel?"

- "You guys are a lost cause..." sighed Albus.

The Black Lake was sparkling in the sunlight when they reached the pier on which were massed the Gryffindor and Slytherin fourth years who shared the class with them.

The students were staring at the stocky teacher who was standing in a small boat, in undershirt. His cropped red hair and the scars on his brawny arms made him look even more impressive. He was grinning broadly, not in the slightest worried by the tentacles of the Giant Squid that were dancing out of the water not far behind him.

- "Welcome, welcome", he thundered. "Is everyone here?"

- "If you'd do the roll call, you'd know..." someone muttered next to Albus and he realized with relief that it was Scorpius.

- "Where were you?" he whispered.

- "Somewhere, Potter", scowled the blond boy. "Focus, now, because if things slip like last night, it will end on the front page of the Daily Prophet. And not because Kevin Mordecrat is butting in things that are none of his concern."

Albus flushed up to his ears and hastily checked that no one had heard.

Yesterday evening.

He only remembered having lost his concentration – when he had wished for a break - but Terrence had told him that the time during which the three adults, Scorpius and he had run behind the dragon had been epic. Toothless had had a lot of fun swimming in the moonlight and overturning every single boat with a playful muzzle...

- "Professor? Is the Giant Squid the creature we're going to study today?" asked Violet Morgensten, raising her hand.

Charlie Weasley shook his head with a big laugh.

- "Oh no, not so fast! We'll get to the squid only by the end of the year - or next week. Nah, today, it is these little beauties you're going to dance with!"

He pulled up a net hanging on the side of the boat while talking and everyone leaned forward to see better.

The water was bubbling, bright and clear, and long thin bodies were swarming in the meshes.

Wendy paled and gripped Albus' sleeve.

- "Oh no, it's worms..."

Adelais Fowler had turned almost as green as the neckline of her Slytherin sweater.

- "I hope we won't have to touch them", she gurgled.

Whistling, Charlie fished the net out of the water and flung it onto the pier.

The first rank instinctively recoiled in front of the tangled mass of eels.

- "All right, then", the man said. "Pair up and get an eel each. Come on, don't be shy. Eels' eyes are a recurring ingredient in the preparation of potions. The farms are essential."

- "Excuse me, professor, won't we be electrocuted?" asked Paul Sommerset.

Apart from the Muggle-borns, no one understood what he meant.

- "Don't we need gloves?" Paul insisted.

- "Nah. A little pinch has never hurt anyone", Charlie guffawed. "Go on, all of you. Terrence, you team up with Scorpius."

Wendy raised her eyebrows, but she had no time to wonder how the two names were already familiar to the new teacher, because the students were fishing up the slimy eels writhing on the pier.

Her face lighted up when she glimpsed the two yellow and black undulating tubes in the net. They looked less gross than their gray and pink congeners.

- "Hey, Al. Let's take these two, okay?"

- "Hum."

He looked even more disgusted than her, but he complied.

Charlie was watching them, smirking. As for Terrence, he had his eyes on the teacher.

What was the dragon master up to again?

The sun was beating on his neck, warmer than at the beginning of the week and if it had not stunk of fish, the afternoon would have been delicious by the beach. Dennis Castorman was plugging his nose and Fabius Macmillan was saluting people with a nasal voice: "Hello dear friend, what a beautiful day for a snake."

Wendy grabbed an eel in her handkerchief and straightened up, feeling nauseous.

- "What do we do now, Mr. Weasley?" she stammered.

Charlie did not answer right away. His eyes were narrowed on Albus whose face was quivering like someone about to be sick.

- "Professor?" squeaked Wendy. "I'm sorry to be so squeamish, but I really don't like crawling creatures and..."

- "Shut up", Albus uttered with a strange voice.

His fist tightened around the black and yellow eel wriggling at the end of his arm. His lips were parched, his teeth were gritted and something was itching in his throat.

No no no.

Keep in control, man.

It was really hard not to snap when he did not understand why he was so angry.

Charlie snorted, happily ignoring Wendy's pleas. He clicked his tongue and clapped his hands.

- "Okay, now you're going to measure them", he said, jumping on the pier and taking a few steps among the students. "We'll keep only the biggest ones and put them in stagnant water basins."

A collective gasp interrupted him. He turned just in time to see splashes on the lake.

- "P-p-professor", stuttered Kevin Mordecrat. "Potter threw his ... eel in the lake."

- "Ah", said Charlie like if he didn't care at all. "Please note that the eel is carnivorous and cannibalistic. To fatten them, we'll feed them fish mash."

Wendy was flabbergasted but Terrence only shrugged when she signed at him.

- "Tss", Scorpius said.

Albus was looking at the lake and he hoped the low rumble tickling his glottis passed unnoticed in the noise of the waves.

- "Have you gone bonkers?" Wendy rasped. "It's not because he's your uncle that you can behave like a marmoset. What's wrong with you?"

- "Miss Philips, if you're not too busy chatting, would you mind telling us what are the eel's predators?"

Her cheeks burnt up under the inquisitive glare of the teacher.

- "Uh ..."

- "Perhaps you could tell us what creature fears eels more than death?"

Terrence took a deep breath. He did not like this game at all. But before he could speak, Samuel Flinch-Fletchley raised his hand.

- "Dragons", he said. "It was in the newspaper this morning. They hung eels all around the Aurors' camp in the Hebrides to protect from the rebels."

- "Very well, young man. Ten points to Gryffindor. Gryffindor is your house, isn't it?"

The Slytherins were groaning, exasperated.

- "But he is completely mental, that one", moaned Dennis. "I'll tell my father."

Violet Morgensten nodded vigorously.

- "Hogwarts' a mess, these days..."

Scorpius snorted.

- "Well, that's nothing. Just wait till we're in Defense Against the Dark Arts..."

TBC

Next chapter : BROTHERS