Chapter 46: Dragon Dance
"There were four Houses, each named after one of the four founders," Filius told the crew. "That stairway over there leads to what was, until recently, Ravenclaw Tower. The entrance to Hufflepuff House was back near the kitchens."
"Could we tour the kitchens?" Biscuit asked eagerly.
"Yes, of course," Filius said. "I want to show you our ever-changing stairs first. I believe they were created by Godric Gryffindor himself."
"Hogwarts has such a rich history," Hermione said, coming over to them. "I couldn't help overhearing you. I hope you don't mind. You sound like Americans."
"Aye, that we are, musketeer-lass," said Captain Clark, doffing his pirate hat and bowing deeply. "Tis a pleasure ta be meetin' such a fair young flower as yerself."
"Ahem!" said Ron, hurrying up behind them. "This lady happens to be my fiancé." He folded his arms and scowled at them.
Clark looked puzzled.
"Is there a problem, Ron?" Hermione asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Ron backed up a bit. "Um, no," he said.
Harry and Ginny hurried over to see what was happening.
Those two guys seem familiar. Do I know them from somewhere? Clark wondered.
Oh, no! It's those guys that had that wyvern! Kat realized. And they turned up at Bayou, too. What if they recognize us? "Er, can we go visit the kitchens now, Professor Flitwick?" he asked nervously.
"Good idea," said Filius, who thought it best to leave Ron and Hermione to work out their issues on their own. "Follow me."
Fawkes recognized the word 'kitchens' and took off ahead of them.
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There is really nothing much that you can do about a ghost. Threats of bodily harm are useless because ghosts don't have bodies, and they're immune to most spells. It's usually best to ignore them, but the Hufflepuff ghost could be very difficult to ignore.
When Severus first encountered the Fat Friar on this balcony while he was Headmaster, he had simply ordered the spirit to leave. But although the ghost did leave, he kept coming back. Severus had blustered at him, yelled at him, shrieked at him, and threatened him, but to no avail. The ghost kept coming back.
The Friar had told him that it was his duty as a member of the Little Brothers of Merlin to comfort people in their time of need. That made Severus furious. He didn't need comforting, especially not from a stupid ghost. But somehow Severus kept going out on that balcony late at night, and the Friar continued his attempts to soothe the troubled Headmaster.
Severus hated to remember it, but he had been so painfully lonely in those final days that he had eventually loosened up a bit and started talking to the Friar. They had had quite a few conversations and perhaps he'd told the ghost more than he should have about his past and his mission. There was no harm in it, though. His secrets were safe with the Friar. No one could make the ghost talk. And now that he thought about it, no one could make the ghost shut up, either.
"I was so honored that you let me hear your confessions," the Friar said, "and I wish you had let me give you Last Rites before you left. I felt terrible when I heard about your death."
"I was not confessing," Severus snapped.
"If you say so." The Friar smiled.
"And as you know, I had to leave on rather short notice."
"Well, you didn't die after all, so all is well. I'm so glad."
What a Hufflepuff! Severus thought.
Then Severus remembered his objective. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know anything about someone sending me dreams lately, would you?" he asked the ghost.
The Friar looked puzzled. "Dreams?"
"Yes, I've been having pleasant dreams about Hogwarts lately instead of the usual nightmares. There must be someone behind it, sending them to me, trying to lure me back here or mislead me somehow. But I don't know who, or why. Whatever they want, it can't be good."
The Friar laughed heartily. "You are such a hopeless pessimist! It's probably the castle, you ninny. The castle is somewhat sentient, as you know. It's not just a pile of old rocks. And it tries to look after those who defend it and its students. It's probably trying to help you heal."
Severus had been called a lot of things during his life, but a ninny wasn't one of them. Despite that, he didn't react because he was so startled by the realization that the Friar might be right.
He reached out and put his hand on the castle's stone wall. It felt warm despite the fact that it was a cold winter night. The warmth began to creep into him and he felt reassured. Against all odds, his efforts had been successful. Potter had been set up to destroy the Dark Lord, and the young wizard had survived, too. Even if his mission had failed, Severus had done everything that was expected of him, and more. The castle was pleased.
Startled, Severus snatched his hand fall away from the wall. He wasn't sure what to make of this. He must have been out of his mind to come back here. He turned and fled the balcony.
"Whenever you need to do more confessing, you know where to find me," the Friar called after him. "Great costume, by the way."
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"Did that boy really think I was hitting on his girlfriend? I must be older than her father!" Clark said indignantly as they headed for the kitchens.
"I'm afraid he probably did," Filius sighed. "Our Ron is a bit insecure, it seems. I don't think their relationship is going to go smoothly. In fact, it's always been rather rocky, now that I think about it."
"You should have challenged him to a duel," Kat joked. "Pirates versus musketeers! It would have been great fun."
"Knock it off," Clark ordered him. "We're supposed to keep a low profile, remember?"
"Aw, you're no fun!" Kat laughed.
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Try as he might, Severus couldn't quite shake off the warm feelings that his recent encounters had generated. It was unsettling. He entered the Great Hall and waved off a suit of armor that offered him a tray of canapés.
He scanned the crowd. Everyone had obviously put a lot of time and effort into conjuring their costumes. He spotted Xenophilius Lovegood dressed as a Druid with a long white beard. The copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard under his arm suggested that he was supposed to be Beedle. There were several Vikings with horned helmets talking to a Mexican in a sombrero; they appeared to be students. A unicorn and a ladybug were laughing and drinking champagne. Percy Weasley was chatting with a red hen. There were two Merfolk with long green fish tales. A panda, a tiger, and a hummingbird. Some butterflies with big colorful wings. An Egyptian pharaoh with dark skin and a golden mask. A princess with a tall conical hat. Captain Clark and the crew were nowhere to be seen, however. He hoped that didn't bode trouble.
He turned around and came face to face with a daisy wearing radish earrings. "It's nice to see you looking so well, Professor," Luna said, smiling at him from among the long white petals that surrounded her face.
Alarmed, he replied, "I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else, miss."
"Of course," she said, still smiling. "It's okay." Then she wandered off to join Professor Sprout, who was conversing with a tall saguaro cactus that was probably Neville Longbottom.
That girl is uncanny, Severus thought as he retreated to the edge of the Hall and took a seat on a stone bench. Hopefully no one would notice him there.
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Headmistress McGonagall appeared behind the lectern on the stage at the front of the Hall. "Quiet, everyone, please!" she shouted. That didn't have the desired effect, so she waved her wand and created a bright flash and bang. That got everyone's attention.
"Welcome, everyone, to the New Year's Eve War Orphans Benefit Masquerade Ball," she announced. "Some of the students are now going to usher in the New Year by performing a traditional Chinese Dragon Dance for us. That will be followed by Parselmouth, a band of former students, who will preview a song from the rock opera that they've been composing." She thought she managed to hide her distaste for the latter quite well. "Then at midnight we will ring in the New Year, after which the Lawrence Lombard Quintet will charm us all with their 'sweet champagne music' and there will dancing until dawn. Thank you everyone, and Happy New Year!" She created another flash and bang as she left the stage.
Soon a glowing cloud of greenish smoke poured from one of the side halls and a bright pink and green dragon's head poked out. Operated by an unseen student hidden underneath, the head flapped its bearded jaws and more green smoke poured from its nostrils. Fireworks popped and sparkled as it slowly emerged into the Great Hall, its many segments weaving and bobbing as the team of supporting students tried not to get tangled up with one another. Remarks like "Watch it, you clod!" and "Hey, you stepped on my foot!" could be heard from a few of the segments, and the young lady with the rear section shook it vigorously, bringing happy laughter from the crowd as the dragon meandered through the room.
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Filius heard Minerva begin her announcement just as they were reaching the kitchens. "I must return to the Great Hall now," he told the crew. "The Elves will show you around here. Then come join us for the festivities."
It was a good thing that he left because the Elves had recognized Fawkes and were making a big fuss over him. Fawkes was chattering happily at them and they seemed to understand him.
"He wants his birdbath, Mr Pirate, sir," Bingle told Clark. "Come on, we has to get it for him."
"Birdbath?" said Clark. "Well, why not? Lead the way, Elf."
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The trio and Ginny grabbed Clayton Urquhart, pulled him aside, and cast Muffliato.
"What sort of sneaky, backstabbing Slytherin rot is this?" Ginny demanded. "Parselmouth is going to perform? They never miss an opportunity to slag Gryffindors! Harry told me you were having a truce!"
"Er, we are," Clayton said, trying to smile, "but the Parselmouth bunch have sat their exams and they're finished. There's nothing we can do about them. And anyway, McGonagall said they could perform."
"It's an insult to Gryffindors!" Ginny raged. "An insult to the war dead! An insult to …"
"You've dropped out, Ginny, and you've got no say in what happens here at Hogwarts any more, so butt out," Clayton said a little more sharply than he'd intended.
"Just cool it, Sis," Ron said. "He's right. Minerva said they could perform and there's nothing anyone can do about it."
Ginny was seething. She kept quiet, but she was going to have a word or two with Harry later.
"I'll circulate and apologize to all the Gryffindors that I can find," Clayton told them. "It won't be easy, though, with everyone in costume."
"I'll go with you," Harry said. "It's essential that we keep the peace."
"And anyway, Parselmouth might even be good," Ron added. "Better than 'sweet champagne music', anyway."
"Mom loves Lawrence Lombardo's music!" Ginny retorted.
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Bingle lit a lantern and Clark and Kat followed him through a door at the rear of the kitchens. Fawkes flew along with them. Biscuit stayed behind to swap tips and recipes with some of the Elves.
They went up several flights of stone stairs and stopped in front of a small wooden door. "This is our Keeping Room," Bingle told them. "Elves made this place to keep mementos of the Headpeoples when Hogwarts got founded." He put his hands on his hips and told them very firmly, "They threw these things away. Elves never steal."
"Of course not," Clark assured him. "You guys take out all the trash, so everything that's in it is rightfully yours."
The Elf opened the door and gestured to light the lanterns that lined the walls. Fawkes flew in without difficulty, but Clark and Kat had to get down on their hands and knees to get through the Elf-sized door.
There were many old wooden chests stacked neatly along the walls. "Most of our treasures is packed away in those chests," Bingle said, "but our things from the Four Founders are in this case." He gestured toward a glass cabinet that was lit with a soft glow.
He pointed to a pair of faded red shorts in the centre of the case. Their gold trim was missing in places and the drawstring at the waist was badly frayed. "Those shorts belonged to Headmaster Founder Professor Godric Gryffindor," he said proudly.
Fawkes whistled.
"Lovely," Kat said with a perfectly straight face. Clark gave him a warning look.
"Those slippers belonged to Founder Professor Salazar Slytherin," the Elf continued. They were fuzzy green and silver slippers with curled toes. There was a hole in the sole of the left one.
"This was Founder Professor Rowena Ravenclaw's rain-cloak." It was a grey hooded poncho with a dark blue stripe near its frayed margin. There was a long rip near one shoulder. Presumably it had once been spelled to be waterproof.
"And this helmet belonged to Founder Professor Helga Hufflepuff." It was a somewhat corroded and dented bronze helmet topped with a bronze badger. Fawkes thought it needed a big pair of wings.
"It looks like she must have worn it in a few battles," Kat observed. "Do you have anything from Headmaster Snape?"
"Oh, yes" Bingle said happily. He went to a set of shelves and picked up a cracked copper cauldron. "This was one of his favorite cauldrons. We thinks it gots cracked when he throwed it at Peeves." Then he pulled an old grey nightshirt out of the cauldron. "This was his, too."
"That's very nice," Clark said, but he wanted to get back to the masquerade to keep an eye on 'Captain Hook'. "Is that the birdbath over there?" he asked.
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Severus sat back and began to relax. He had accomplished his objective. He looked around for the crew but it was difficult to see through the dragon's smoke. If he could spot one of them, he could tell them he was leaving early and get out of there before anything went wrong. It would probably be safe to leave the crew on their own. Probably.
Then he saw an iridescent green figure coming toward him through the swirling smoke. It was difficult to make out the details at first, but as it came closer it became obvious that it was a woman. A pair of antennae adorned her blonde hair, a mask with big red eyes covered her face, and he realized that she was dressed as a preying mantis. Her long, green gloves had serrations along their outer edges and her hands were clasped together in front of her, holding her dragon-skin purse.
He fought down the urge to get up and make a run for the exit. That would look way too suspicious, so he sat quietly and hoped that, somehow, she would pass him by.