Snips and Scars In Which Quills are Questioned, a harry potter fanfic

Chapter 51, everybody! Again, updates will be spotty for a while, but I'm really hoping to finish book four before the year's out.

Been looking forward to writing Newt for a while now…most of the end of the chapter was written ahead, and Harry's quoting the Casper movie there.

Also I remember learning this in school but what I remember of the Magna Carta was that it was one of the earliest instances of written law and I think the first time the law was forced to apply to the royalty as well? I do remember our history teacher drawing a clear correlation between Britain's long history of traditional-but-unwritten law to America's written-from-the-start constitution.

Slytherinsal, thanks for the review! Yes the scene with Ron and Snips was one of the first scenes from fourth year I wrote, so happy to skip that drama. :D So Voldy is a vampire of sorts…and good question.

Everyone had an opinion on Harry being in the tournament the next day, enough so that Harry decided to preemptively pack his invisibility cloak in his bag, although he did humor Hermione on trying to bluster through it.

"I'll head for the library and see if I can't find anything," Hermione said, speeding through breakfast and running off.

"Congratulations," Ron told Harry. "You got her off of SPEW."

"I thought we were calling it SPMB," Harry said. "I know I voted for it."

"I did too, but I'm still getting a kick out of teasing her for her first choice." Which Harry had to admit was fair.

"Hello Harry."

"Hello Luna—and Fitzherbert, and Colin," Harry said, noting the quill and excited third-year. "You know I didn't put my name in the Goblet of Fire, right?"

"Yes, but I was wondering if you'd be open for an interview," Luna said. "The special edition of The Quibbler is going to be focusing on possible ways and reasons for your name to get in there, and we wanted to open with your perspective, if that's all right."

"I mean I guess, but you know as much as I do—I found out someone had done that to me when Dumbledore read my name."

"And what's your opinion on it?"

"Honestly, I was hoping for a nice quiet year for once."

"Yes, Hogwarts is a lot more exciting than I was led to believe."

"You mean it isn't supposed to always be like this?" Colin asked, nonplussed.

"Usually," Fred said, sitting down.

"But we do our part to keep the chaos high," George agreed, sitting down next to him.

"Hello Fred, George," Luna greeted. "I haven't seen Edmund around Ravenclaw lately."

"Ah, my dear Luna, the Weasley Quintuplet—"

"With help from certain business associates—" Fred put in.

"Are working on the next big thing to please our loyal fanbase."

"I'm sure he'll be showing up with something interesting."

"We'll be calling it Weasley Wizard Wheezes."

"It'll be a blast."

"Literally," they both said, grinning.

Fitzherbert tapped Luna on the shoulder, pointing at the notepad.

"Good point—is it okay if we advertise that?" she asked.

"The more the merrier!" Fred said, nodding.

"We're still nailing down the location, but we should be ready to start mail orders come the holidays," George announced.

Harry decided that he should expect havoc then.

Harry was very hopeful when Dumbledore called him to his office a few days later.

"You figured out how to get me out of the tournament?" he blurted as soon as he stepped through the door.

"Unfortunately, no," Dumbledore said. "The explanation I have been given thus far is that Wizarding law in Britain bears far too much resemblance to Muggle law in Britain—perhaps the Americans were onto something when they decided to start off with a written constitution, but then again they only have a couple hundred years to sort through. In the meantime, Harry, the reason I called you here—may I introduce you to Newt Scamander?"

Harry blinked, registering the older man currently examining Fawkes and complimenting his plumage; said man looked over, smiled brightly as he came over and shook Harry's hand.

"Dumbledore tells me you've got a fantastic new beast for me to look at?" Newt asked, looking him over like Harry had it in his pocket. Which wasn't too far from the truth, except that Snips preferred the hood of Harry's robe. "Already got a good look at those Blast-Ended Skrewts of Hagrid's, those are definitely a five."

"Five?" Harry echoed.

"Oh—in my book I use a rating system to let people know if a certain creature is dangerous; had to have a couple of other people weigh in on that, apparently I tend to be too lenient. But really, a lot of times it's just a lack of understanding on the person's part—you can't fault a creature for behaving true to its nature."

Harry had the distinct opinion that Newt and Hagrid had gotten along swimmingly during the Skrewt meeting.

"Mr. Scamander here is the leading expert on fantastic beasts and where to find them," Dumbledore told Harry. "If anyone can give us any clues on your little friend's origins, it would be him."

Harry nodded, proceeded to have the usual fun time of getting Snips to present himself when he didn't want to be presented; his fingers had a few fresh nips by the time he was able to show him to Newt.

"Is this normal behavior?" Newt asked, with the air of wanting to confirm things.

"Usually," Harry said. "Snips doesn't like being shown off."

"My apologies, Mr. Snips—is he shy?"

Harry debated on that, looking at Snips looking at him with an expression that said just try it. "More opinionated."

"Ah, strong-willed," Newt said, crouching a bit to get a better look at Snips. "Favorite food? General behavior? Well yes I know," he said to Snips conversationally when Snips started growling at him. "But it's often difficult to have a conversation when the two parties don't speak the same language."

"You might try a Quick Quotes Quill," Harry offered. "My friend Luna has one, and it understands Snips well enough."

"Really?" Newt asked, looking like Harry had directed him to a stash of presents.

"Is this true?" Dumbledore asked his quill—when it bobbed up and down: "I'm going to need you and Fawkes to document the school gossip then."

"In the meantime—might we borrow your quill?"

Five minutes later and Snips seemed resigned to chattering at Quincy in-between nibbling on biscuits and sipping his tea, eventually allowing himself to be picked up and examined by Newt, who seemed happy to just let him crawl across his hands and dangle from his wrists.

"May I see your teeth please?" Newt asked; peered at Snips' needle-like teeth. "Hm…now the tail and general shape makes me want to say Swooping Evil, but the coloration and head shape is all wrong. Feathers are interesting…you said he's got a nose for potions?"

"Well—er," Harry noised, glancing at Dumbledore. "Snips has been…well, helping me with Potions since first year. Actually pretty sure that's where he ended up in my robes."

Dumbledore seemed interested in this news, but continued to listen as Newt picked apart the information he had been given.

"Understands writing and human communication…might actually be closer to a being than a beast," Newt said, letting Snips crawl onto his hand. "And there's still the question of species rarity—I'll have to ask around."

"No one seems to have ever heard of something like him," Harry admitted.

"Fascinating…we'll have to see about fixing that," he said, handing Snips back to Harry. "In the meantime, can you do me a favor and keep documenting what you learn about him? Once we figure out his particular species we can add him to my book, but that'll need a few longitudinal studies as well."

"Er, sure!" Harry said. "I can um, send you an owl later?"

Newt nodded. "Either that or come find me—I'll be hanging around a bit for consultation for the tournament…you're sure they don't want a cockatrice? I have one in my suitcase," he said to Dumbledore.

"It might be in poor taste," Dumbledore said. "But Hagrid agreed to you doing a few guest lectures for his NEWT students—I agreed that would be the appropriate level, since the names match."

Newt snorted at that; Dumbledore nodded and turned his attention to Harry. "By the way, Harry, towards the end of the week will be the weighing of the wands—as we discussed, avoiding accidentally breaking tournament rules until after we're certain we can is the safest option, and this is still a reasonably safe activity. We'll know for certain before the first task if you're actually participating."

"Here's hoping," Harry said.

Harry had wondered at Dumbledore referring to the weighing of the wands as a reasonably safe activity, got that question answered when he turned up and was waylaid by a reporter.

"So this is the famous Harry Potter!" she said. "Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet, can I trouble you for a quick interview? Not here of course, somewhere a bit more private."

Harry barely had time to register what she had said before finding himself bundled off.

"This'll do nicely, don't you think?" she asked, pushing him to his seat before sitting down across from him and opening her purse.

Harry had to take a moment to register where they were. "We're in a closet."

"Don't let that bother you. Are you familiar with a quick quotes quill Harry?"

"Yeah, my friend has one," Harry said, blinking at it. "Does it have a name?"

"Don't look at the quill Harry look at me," Rita said, waving a hand at him. "Now: what drove you to enter the tournament?"

"I didn't enter—someone put my name in the cup."

"Of course they did—how else would you beat such a powerful bit of magic?"

"I didn't. My friend's quill has a name."

"Remember what I said about not looking at the quill," Rita said, not looking over as the quill perked up to look at him. "What about your parents, Harry? Do you think they'd be proud? Or concerned about such obviously self-destructive behavior?"

"Probably evenly split, from what I've heard—don't the quills usually have questions too?"

"Remember what I said about not focusing on the quill," Rita said, starting to sound irritated—looked it too when the quill forced the notepad over and started tapping insistently at it. "No, and your descriptions are too glowing—dial it back."

Harry had to curl his lips in to keep from smiling.

"What about your opponents?" Rita asked, smoothing getting back on track. "Doesn't it bother you that you'll be facing students vastly more learned than you?"

"Everything about this bothers me, considering I didn't enter," Harry said. "What was the quill's question?"

Rita's lips pursed—

The door opened then and Snips came lighting in, chattering angrily at Rita as the quill quickly scribbled away and Dumbledore stuck his head in.

"Ah," he noised, looking around. "Lovely place to collect one's thoughts, but usually when I do so it's by myself—this really isn't one of the two-person broom cupboards. Moving on—Harry, I hate to bother you, but the weighing of the wands is about to start."

"Right," Harry said, grabbing Snips and getting up. "I guess it was nice meeting you?" he said, mostly to the quill.

"Same," Rita said, shooting a glare at her quill. "I definitely look forward to seeing more of you."

Boy Harry hoped not.

A few days later saw Harry and Hermione with no Ron scanning the Great Hall.

"Has Ron ever gotten up early before?" Hermione asked.

"Not that I recall," Harry admitted. "But he definitely was in our dorm room last night."

"I don't like this," Hermione said as they sat down. "Where could he be? He couldn't have been kidnapped, could he?"

"Dunno—might be Fred and George's idea of a prank," Harry said, glancing down the table—and then looking around when he realized he didn't see any of the Weasleys. "Where is everybody?"

"Oh dear this is worse," Hermione said, wringing her hands.

Harry was inclined to agree—looked sharply when Snips started hopping up and down and pointing to see Ron suddenly run into the Great Hall.

"I asked Harry if you slept in," Hermione said, relief and irritation warring for dominance as Ron crashed into the seat next to them and fought to catch a breath. "Except he says you were gone before he got up. What have you been doing, Ronald? And where are your siblings?"

Ron finally inhaled enough air to be coherent. "My brother Charlie."

"Yeah?" Harry asked, wondering why Ron started with that particular sibling.

"Charlie's here."

"Yeah?"

"For the first task."

"Yeah?"

Ron gave Harry an and? look. "And what does Charlie study?"

Harry started to feel the blood drain out of his face. "Dragons."

"Right. Harry, they've got bloody dragons as the first task."