...and the Monster of Amristar X
Jun. 2nd, 2008 06:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
subplotkudzuCaution - this one runs a little long....
Chapter 10: The Library Beast!
Lachlan Fitztoggle and his mother apparate into a quiet corner of Platform 9 ¾ so the enormous first year can ride with the rest of the students rather than make the half hour broomstick ride to Hogwarts from stately, haunted Fitztoggle Manor. Lady Fitztoggle neatens her son and admonishes him that much as he has grown used to the company of ghosts at home it’s not good that his friends at school are no longer among the living! Meet people! Talk to your roommates! Join the Quidditch team! Something! Lachlan nods dutifully, vowing that this term he would indeed try harder. His mother gives him a quick kiss and disapparates.
Young Fitztoggle steels himself to making friends on the ride up, but before he can get to the train he is hailed by Dr. Plain. The Muggle is trying to manhandle a large and awkwardly weighted trunk into the train and the student – easily the size of a 4th year – was a likely candidate to help. The Hufflepuff boy is always willing to help, and it’s not hard for the two of them to move the unwieldy trunk to the baggage car. More disturbing was how the trunk’s weight would shift precipitously at each imbalance, emitting a thump and muffled squeal. Lachlan’s curious but too polite to ask.
Inside the cargo compartment student & doctor are dragooned by Kettleburn into maneuvering a levitated chest into place. Lachlan shrugs and lends a shoulder, keeping his hands and eyes well away from the air-holes “One thing ye learn in a haunted castle is no to put yer fingers into mysterious dark holes,” he thinks, but he feels something inside stir with a slithering susurrus. As he turns to leave he sees Kettleburn, sweating from the tension of the delicate maneuver, undulate across his midsection: the center of his layered robe stretches and then contracts! The polite young Hufflepuff asks the professor is everything is OK, only to be reassured, thanked and told that he should hurry to his seat.
The first space he finds is the compartment of his roommate, Pollux Dee, and Pollux’s Ravenclaw friends – his brother Castor, Juliet Moore and Jasmyn Fontaine. Pollux gamely invites him in and the group makes him feel welcome. Lachlan senses his presence is preventing some conversation, and Juliet turns a touch more pale with Lachlan taking up more of the cabin’s enclosed space. The window is open for the entire January ride to Scotland, with Juliet conjuring a small azure flame and Lachlan giving the girl his oversized Hufflepuff scarf to make her repeated ducking out the window for air more comfortable. With the arrival of the snacks cart the group hears rumors of the missing Gryffindor prefect, and how any number of horrible things might have happened to him.
In the prefect’s cabin Daisy gets a more accurate accounting of Mr. Kent’s movements: his extra work with McGonnagal, his romance with Peaseblossom shunted aside for time with Ketteburn’s creatures, and, from the sobbing Miss Parkerson, the tale of how Tommy had told her that he was staying at the school for a special project with Kettleburn. She must have driven him away and now something had, had, eaten him! It was all her fault! At this Regan muttered “Oh for pity’s sake, stop chewing the scenery.” To which Daisy whispered back “Careful dear, your Slythern is showing.” “You say this like it’s a bad thing….”
Aerie calms the girl as Owen gives marching orders: if anyone can find out about Kent’s disappearance they are to inform him and Aerie immediately. It’s clear that Owen doesn’t want to be remembered as the head boy who lost a prefect, and watching his attempts to maintain message control Regan whispers to Daisy “I suppose now Owen’s Slythern is showing?” “When is not?” is the hushed reply, leading to some stifled giggles from the girls and a sharp glare from Aerie.
The train reaches Hogwarts station and the carriages take them to the school. Juliet, still scarred by her mother’s death, is able to see the Thestrals, but as her mother had once lectured her on just such animals their presence does not shock the girl, who has recovered a more natural hue once out of the train compartment.
The next morning Lachlan corners Sky Walker, his roommate, to ask about the Hufflpuff Quidditch team. Sky is part of the Hufflepuff 1st Year Squad (Hufflepuff remain astounded that other houses have no back-ups; they have first years, JV & Varsity teams for maximal bench depth). Sky introduces him to Trundle Corritch, the Hufflepuff captain, who sizes up Fitztoggle as a promising Beater. He grudgingly accepts the youth’s excuse of wanting to get his studies in order before starting extracurricular activities, but it means that things will be harder – Lachlan must face the most dangerous, feared individual in the school, the final arbiter on rules, regulations and all things Quidditch, a fiend with no sense of mercy or justice, bound only by the stark realities of centuries of Quidditch precedent, the dread Madam Hooch! Lachlan swallows audibly but agrees to try, earning a hearty clap on the shoulder and “good lad!” from the varsity team’s lead Beater.
They found her in the theater, working out specific set placements of the Dramaturgy for Earnest. Hooch is willing to entertain the argument, and nods at the basic Hufflepuff-ness of Lachlan’s excuse. Still, she is leery of allowing a change to the squad dynamics mid-year. She and Trundle both whip out copies of the Quidditch rules history, the sport’s Talmud, and concede that in 1745 a similar mid-year addition to a training squad was sanctioned on the condition that the trainee be allowed no more than 17 minutes of varsity play over the course of the year. This thorny matter settled, she asked for the students help in moving the sets around as she measured the magical impact of each placement. Lachlan sighed and swore to do some extra research on levitation spells – if he was going to be perpetually used as a pack mule, he would do so as a wizard, by heaven!
Meanwhile, the cabal of Dee brothers, Fontaine sisters & Miss Moore meet and discuss options, starting with what to do with the Onieromancy text. While all acknowledge that it should be returned to the library or Briar, Pollux & Juliet still want to read it. To resolve the impasse Daisy does a complicated bit of transfiguration to copy the text inside a blank journal (much to Pollux's joy). The Hufflepuff starts reading the copied text and Juliet heads to the library while the others visit Briar.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is happy to see them, but still looking rather harried. She accepts the book and congratulates their tracking of its path and Daisy's research. She again warns them to keep on their amulets, and lets them know that she will definitely be sharing this news with the other teachers.
Inside the stacks of the library Juliet loses track of time, shifting texts from the pile of "could contain vital information" to "referenced" on Hindu myth and Indian history. Dinner hour begins and she remains, unaware that she is now all-but-alone in the library. She is surprised when she hears something approach - the scratching of claws on the hardwood floor, the Pok Pok of a beak slamming shut as a creature drew nearer and nearer. Unwilling to face this…whatever it is Juliet scrambles over her pile of books onto the stacks, finding comfort in vertical distance even if it does mean vacating the small circle of light in her work area; the sun has set and the library is shadowy and threatening.
Her high ground avails her naught, however, as the beast rears up, flapping huge wings, extending a razor sharp talons at her as its massive hooked beak snaps! She screams, and toppling over backwards is all that saves her from the assault! Pok Pok! Pok Pok! Her precipitous descent ends with a sense-deadening thud.
Juliet is roused by Madam Pince. The librarian listens to her account with concern, and then casts a wingardium leviosa to carry the terrified girl to the infirmary. Along the way they encounter Lachlan, and Juliet’s attempts to describe the creature make her frantic, forcing Pince to cast Pacifica to quiet Juliet’s roiling emotions. Lachlan is dispatched to inform the Ravenclaw prefect, Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore of the event, and he hastens to comply. Naturally when the others hear of Juliet’s misfortune they race to the infirmary.
Fortunately, by the time they get there Madam Pomfrey had already tended to Juliet’s minor wounds – a few small scratches on the arms, a bump on the head and some bruising on the shoulders where she landed. Daisy listens intently to the teacher’s conversation, which is suitably dire: this account corresponds with the statement of Hugo Bottomly (a Gryffindor first year) who was driven screaming from the stacks the day before. Flitwick decides then that the library should be closed until further notice, and sends Pince a message to that regard – no students without an escort.
The next day Dumbledore makes this official: all students will need an escort to enter the library, and their research will be limited to the topics in class, due to time and personnel constraints. This restriction will last until the teachers capture the beast, with Kettleburn & Trelawney at the fore (the latter because she is sure she can sense the spirit of the mad, stalking entity, and therefore has the best chance to find it!).
What should have been a matter of a day stretches into a week – there’s no sign of the creature on repeated patrols, but several more near encounters by frightened students during the day. The distinctive Pok Pok! noise and skittering of claws send several parties of students fleeing, but the professors are bespelling empty air. The only thing the creature leaves are tufts of golden mane. A griffin, perhaps, to have both feathers and fur? And could the rumors that the beast ate Tommy Kent be true? There is no other evidence of that, and our heroes are stymied, in part because of Juliet’s fierce insistence that she not have to face the beast again.
Many an evening is spent in their favorite Ravenclaw study room – with Pollux slipping in and out as needed, using Bess as lookout –to discern what Kettleburn or Plain or whoever Reg is in disguise could gain from this, other than stymieing the students research into Hindu magic and the history of Reg & Olaf Woden. “If it’s Kettleburn,” Castor muses, “he may have turned Tommy into the creature – he was blonde - but why?” Daisy instead pins her suspicions on Dr. Plain, but again there seems no rhyme or reason to setting the creature on the library.
Speaking of an absence of rhyme and reason, the matter is exacerbated by a group of Gryffindor 4th years, who sneak into the library during the day and hide there to catch the beast. Only the basic precautions shielding the books prevent the ensuing explosions from seriously damaging the library. In addition to points taken from Gryffindor, the trio’s antics earn the enmity of the Ravenclaws, as Dumbledore declares the whole of the library off limits to students.
In a second week of a listless, flavorless and now, worst of all, bookless existence, Jasmyn encounters Hillary Highgarden, Gryffindor first year, in the first floor girl’s bathroom, sobbing her eyes out. When comforted she spills out her tale of woe – that mean old Professor Kettleburn took away her pet ice toad, Cicle. He’s rounding up magical pets in case one is the monster. And Cicle was such a nice toad! So what if when he was startled he absorbed all the heat in a 5’ radius! So what if he’s an endangered species! So what if he’ll grow to the size of a bull mastiff! It was so cute watching him eat freeze dried crickets…. Jasmyn makes her excuses and, after confirming that Willow was in her pocket, ran to warn Pollux, lest Bess also fall afoul of the nefarious Care of Magical Creatures professor!
Pollux, ever the stoic, leads Jasmyn to the green-houses where they might talk to Professor Sprout for an exception to the round up, since clearly neither Willow nor Bess are the monster. The kindly faced herbology professor is sympathetic, but informs the students that this is also due to a recent raid at Genus’ Exotic Pets, whose books show many dangerous animals were sold to students. It’s not just the library beast – it’s the law. Still, as Willow came from China she is not technically part of the round up, and Bess can stay with the Dees until things blow over. She pens a note explaining the situation for Jasmyn to give to Kettleburn in hopes of swaying the teacher to let Willow stay.
The pair have just re-enterted the castle when they encounter Kettleburn, who had been seeking Pollux. The Dee brother is well prepared, as Bess had given him a significant look and leapt out the window mere moments earlier, vanishing into the tall grass. When Kettleburn asks after the cat purchased from Genus’ he is clear in his agreement – why yes, that is where he got the cat, and yes, it is possible that Bess might be a Grymalkin, and, when asked directly if the cat was living in the castle, Pollux answered no. It wasn’t his fault that Kettleburn took that to mean that Bess was living with his parents and not that the cat had taken up residence somewhere outside five minutes ago.
Pollux then nudges Jasmyn to get her discussion out of the way now, so she hands over Sprout’s note. The teacher reads it with increasing gravity, then asks to see Willow. He immediately identifies her as a Ghostling Ferret. He’s very sorry, but it is the responsibility of wizards to take care of both the creatures in their world and their world itself – he must take Willow away. Jasmyn burst into tears and tossed the ferret, yelling “Run, Willow! Run” and then hurling herself into Professor Kettleburn as a ball of fists, elbows and first year fury, allowing Willow to escape through a wall.
Kettleburn is angry but restrained, giving a lecture on how Ghostling Ferrets are an invasive species with no natural predators in England and a rapid breeding rate, and that Jasmyn had not comported herself as either a student of Hogwarts or an upright member of the wizarding community. When he informed her that she had earned a detention and a 10 pt loss for Ravenclaw she nodded sulkily, but obviously didn’t care. As they walked back to Ravenclaw tower Pollux apologized: “sorry. That could have gone better.” Jasmyn was too busy nursing her certainty that Kettleburn would be sacrificing the captured creatures for some nefarious scheme to blame her friend for his miscalculation.
That night in his room Pollux shares the events of the day with his roommate Lachlan. Lachlan shares his story of the luggage compartment in the train, including Kettleburn’s writhing torso. Pollux drags Lachlan along to the next study session so he might relate his observations. The group enters a frenzy of speculation on the hows & whys of Kettleburn’s plans & origins (while Lachlan reads the Dee brother’s account of events so far). All agreed with Castor that the creature in the library is a transformed human – after all, no one had really been hurt by the attacks – and Daisy could confirm that the feathers would turn back to hairs if separated from the central enchantment.
Lachlan then stunned everyone by asking why they didn’t just whip up some Polyjuice Potion to see who the hairs turned them into, and that would tell them if it was Kent or someone else. After a moment’s silence Juliet confirmed that she still hadn’t washed the outfit from 2 ½ weeks ago (earning an eye roll from Daisy) and could still get the hairs, and that Daisy could create the potion given the month of prep time.
Pollux asked Juliet to describe the creature again, and when she began to get worked up again the twins hit her with simultaneous Pacifica & Mentat Acutia spells to calm & sharpen her mind. This description was much less violent, and while none of them place the small, stumpy bird that attacked her Pollux knew someone who could. He led Juliet to the Hufflepuff dorm and posed the question to the portrait of Professor Fogerty. Fogerty identified the beast as a Dirical, a flightless bird that turns invisible, leaving a cloud of feathers. The Dirical is called a Dodo by Muggles, who think it is extinct. No idea what it’s doing in the library, of course.
With the threat diminished the group decided to capture the beast, but couldn’t risk telling Kettleburn lest he was the author of these events. They quickly sketch out a plan: tomorrow night when Trelawney was guarding the library door Juliet would approach her, spinning a tale of awakening out of her bed having been summoned to a small antechamber by the sound of spirits. Trelawney loves this sort of etheric vibration nonsense, and the inevitable attack of Juliet’s claustrophobia would add verisimilitude. Meanwhile, Jasmyn, who was already in trouble enough, would fetch Professor Briar as backup. Earlier in the day Lachlan would use his position on the Quidditch team to secure some brooms for the others, and they would enter through the library windows, where the smell of heated nuts & fruit would summon a no-doubt-hungry Diracal to be stunned by a Somulous spell. Lachlan’s canvas luggage bag to hold the beast once captured.
The plan is executed flawlessly. Trelawney, after a moment’s hesitation, does indeed accept Juliet’s claim of being called by the spirits to this room, and then does her best to “help the child through the trying contact with the next world” as Juliet feels the walls close in on her – being shaken by a frizzy-haired mad-woman didn’t help. Eventually Trelawney brings the poor girl to the infirmary. Jasmyn earns a sly smile from Briar as the DADA professor is once again shown evidence of her students’ cunning & tenacity, and agrees to be present for the endgame of the capture. Daisy’s Alohamora spell opens the locked window, but her broomstick maneuvering fails her as she slips and falls, banging loudly off of a bookcase, a table, a chair and finally the floor. Fortunately there is no one nearby to hear the ruckus. None but the beast, approaching with a Pok Pok, Pok Pok.
Daisy stands her ground, scattering hot nuts and watching the haggard, molting ugly chicken approach from the stacks before it begins ravenously snatching up the treats. They allow the beast several swallows before hitting it with Somulous spells – one, two three in rapid succession – and watch it collapse wobbly legged into slumber. Daisy and Lachlan muscle it into the bag and head to the library door to meet with Jasmyn and Professor Briar for a trip to the infirmary.
Juliet is already there with Professor Trelawney, who upon seeing Daisy Fontaine quickly realizes that she’s been duped. She is sputtering with anger as Pomfrey suggests that she might not be helping the situation. Pomfrey drapes a cloak – purple with blue runes! – over the Dirical and smiles happily as the bird resumes the shape of Tommy Kent. The prefect wakes and speaks: he had planned to make himself an Animagus over the holiday, taking the form of a glorious eagle. Alas, things didn’t work out as planned, and he had spent the last few weeks barely aware in his Dirical form subsisting on the snack foods abandoned by startled students.
By this point much of the faculty is in the room, and Mr. Kent gets a stern upbraiding from Professor McGonnagal, followed by Kettleburn taking 25 points from Gryffindor for good measure. Trelawney also wants to unlimber negative points on Ravenclaw (specifically Daisy & Juliet) for tonight’s rule breaking, but Briar takes the heat off of our heroes and one can’t help but see a twinkle in Dumbledore’s eye as well.
The first years and their prefect also question Madam Pomfrey about the blue and purple cloak. It is a Reality Cloak, which makes anything it covers appear in its true shape. It can’t be fooled by illusion, Animagus powers, transfigurations, or anything else, showing the “true soul” of things under it. Unfortunately for Mr. Kent, it is temporary: under that cloak he’s still a Dirical, and will be until McGonnagal unravels the failed Animagus enchantment. (Even with that, Tommy’ll still spend years turning into an invisible Dodo when startled.) It turns out that Reality cloaks, while expensive, aren’t rare – McGonnagal has one, as should any competent DADA teacher. The students wonder where Reg got his, and where they might get one….
Lachlan Fitztoggle and his mother apparate into a quiet corner of Platform 9 ¾ so the enormous first year can ride with the rest of the students rather than make the half hour broomstick ride to Hogwarts from stately, haunted Fitztoggle Manor. Lady Fitztoggle neatens her son and admonishes him that much as he has grown used to the company of ghosts at home it’s not good that his friends at school are no longer among the living! Meet people! Talk to your roommates! Join the Quidditch team! Something! Lachlan nods dutifully, vowing that this term he would indeed try harder. His mother gives him a quick kiss and disapparates.
Young Fitztoggle steels himself to making friends on the ride up, but before he can get to the train he is hailed by Dr. Plain. The Muggle is trying to manhandle a large and awkwardly weighted trunk into the train and the student – easily the size of a 4th year – was a likely candidate to help. The Hufflepuff boy is always willing to help, and it’s not hard for the two of them to move the unwieldy trunk to the baggage car. More disturbing was how the trunk’s weight would shift precipitously at each imbalance, emitting a thump and muffled squeal. Lachlan’s curious but too polite to ask.
Inside the cargo compartment student & doctor are dragooned by Kettleburn into maneuvering a levitated chest into place. Lachlan shrugs and lends a shoulder, keeping his hands and eyes well away from the air-holes “One thing ye learn in a haunted castle is no to put yer fingers into mysterious dark holes,” he thinks, but he feels something inside stir with a slithering susurrus. As he turns to leave he sees Kettleburn, sweating from the tension of the delicate maneuver, undulate across his midsection: the center of his layered robe stretches and then contracts! The polite young Hufflepuff asks the professor is everything is OK, only to be reassured, thanked and told that he should hurry to his seat.
The first space he finds is the compartment of his roommate, Pollux Dee, and Pollux’s Ravenclaw friends – his brother Castor, Juliet Moore and Jasmyn Fontaine. Pollux gamely invites him in and the group makes him feel welcome. Lachlan senses his presence is preventing some conversation, and Juliet turns a touch more pale with Lachlan taking up more of the cabin’s enclosed space. The window is open for the entire January ride to Scotland, with Juliet conjuring a small azure flame and Lachlan giving the girl his oversized Hufflepuff scarf to make her repeated ducking out the window for air more comfortable. With the arrival of the snacks cart the group hears rumors of the missing Gryffindor prefect, and how any number of horrible things might have happened to him.
In the prefect’s cabin Daisy gets a more accurate accounting of Mr. Kent’s movements: his extra work with McGonnagal, his romance with Peaseblossom shunted aside for time with Ketteburn’s creatures, and, from the sobbing Miss Parkerson, the tale of how Tommy had told her that he was staying at the school for a special project with Kettleburn. She must have driven him away and now something had, had, eaten him! It was all her fault! At this Regan muttered “Oh for pity’s sake, stop chewing the scenery.” To which Daisy whispered back “Careful dear, your Slythern is showing.” “You say this like it’s a bad thing….”
Aerie calms the girl as Owen gives marching orders: if anyone can find out about Kent’s disappearance they are to inform him and Aerie immediately. It’s clear that Owen doesn’t want to be remembered as the head boy who lost a prefect, and watching his attempts to maintain message control Regan whispers to Daisy “I suppose now Owen’s Slythern is showing?” “When is not?” is the hushed reply, leading to some stifled giggles from the girls and a sharp glare from Aerie.
The train reaches Hogwarts station and the carriages take them to the school. Juliet, still scarred by her mother’s death, is able to see the Thestrals, but as her mother had once lectured her on just such animals their presence does not shock the girl, who has recovered a more natural hue once out of the train compartment.
The next morning Lachlan corners Sky Walker, his roommate, to ask about the Hufflpuff Quidditch team. Sky is part of the Hufflepuff 1st Year Squad (Hufflepuff remain astounded that other houses have no back-ups; they have first years, JV & Varsity teams for maximal bench depth). Sky introduces him to Trundle Corritch, the Hufflepuff captain, who sizes up Fitztoggle as a promising Beater. He grudgingly accepts the youth’s excuse of wanting to get his studies in order before starting extracurricular activities, but it means that things will be harder – Lachlan must face the most dangerous, feared individual in the school, the final arbiter on rules, regulations and all things Quidditch, a fiend with no sense of mercy or justice, bound only by the stark realities of centuries of Quidditch precedent, the dread Madam Hooch! Lachlan swallows audibly but agrees to try, earning a hearty clap on the shoulder and “good lad!” from the varsity team’s lead Beater.
They found her in the theater, working out specific set placements of the Dramaturgy for Earnest. Hooch is willing to entertain the argument, and nods at the basic Hufflepuff-ness of Lachlan’s excuse. Still, she is leery of allowing a change to the squad dynamics mid-year. She and Trundle both whip out copies of the Quidditch rules history, the sport’s Talmud, and concede that in 1745 a similar mid-year addition to a training squad was sanctioned on the condition that the trainee be allowed no more than 17 minutes of varsity play over the course of the year. This thorny matter settled, she asked for the students help in moving the sets around as she measured the magical impact of each placement. Lachlan sighed and swore to do some extra research on levitation spells – if he was going to be perpetually used as a pack mule, he would do so as a wizard, by heaven!
Meanwhile, the cabal of Dee brothers, Fontaine sisters & Miss Moore meet and discuss options, starting with what to do with the Onieromancy text. While all acknowledge that it should be returned to the library or Briar, Pollux & Juliet still want to read it. To resolve the impasse Daisy does a complicated bit of transfiguration to copy the text inside a blank journal (much to Pollux's joy). The Hufflepuff starts reading the copied text and Juliet heads to the library while the others visit Briar.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is happy to see them, but still looking rather harried. She accepts the book and congratulates their tracking of its path and Daisy's research. She again warns them to keep on their amulets, and lets them know that she will definitely be sharing this news with the other teachers.
Inside the stacks of the library Juliet loses track of time, shifting texts from the pile of "could contain vital information" to "referenced" on Hindu myth and Indian history. Dinner hour begins and she remains, unaware that she is now all-but-alone in the library. She is surprised when she hears something approach - the scratching of claws on the hardwood floor, the Pok Pok of a beak slamming shut as a creature drew nearer and nearer. Unwilling to face this…whatever it is Juliet scrambles over her pile of books onto the stacks, finding comfort in vertical distance even if it does mean vacating the small circle of light in her work area; the sun has set and the library is shadowy and threatening.
Her high ground avails her naught, however, as the beast rears up, flapping huge wings, extending a razor sharp talons at her as its massive hooked beak snaps! She screams, and toppling over backwards is all that saves her from the assault! Pok Pok! Pok Pok! Her precipitous descent ends with a sense-deadening thud.
Juliet is roused by Madam Pince. The librarian listens to her account with concern, and then casts a wingardium leviosa to carry the terrified girl to the infirmary. Along the way they encounter Lachlan, and Juliet’s attempts to describe the creature make her frantic, forcing Pince to cast Pacifica to quiet Juliet’s roiling emotions. Lachlan is dispatched to inform the Ravenclaw prefect, Professor Flitwick and Dumbledore of the event, and he hastens to comply. Naturally when the others hear of Juliet’s misfortune they race to the infirmary.
Fortunately, by the time they get there Madam Pomfrey had already tended to Juliet’s minor wounds – a few small scratches on the arms, a bump on the head and some bruising on the shoulders where she landed. Daisy listens intently to the teacher’s conversation, which is suitably dire: this account corresponds with the statement of Hugo Bottomly (a Gryffindor first year) who was driven screaming from the stacks the day before. Flitwick decides then that the library should be closed until further notice, and sends Pince a message to that regard – no students without an escort.
The next day Dumbledore makes this official: all students will need an escort to enter the library, and their research will be limited to the topics in class, due to time and personnel constraints. This restriction will last until the teachers capture the beast, with Kettleburn & Trelawney at the fore (the latter because she is sure she can sense the spirit of the mad, stalking entity, and therefore has the best chance to find it!).
What should have been a matter of a day stretches into a week – there’s no sign of the creature on repeated patrols, but several more near encounters by frightened students during the day. The distinctive Pok Pok! noise and skittering of claws send several parties of students fleeing, but the professors are bespelling empty air. The only thing the creature leaves are tufts of golden mane. A griffin, perhaps, to have both feathers and fur? And could the rumors that the beast ate Tommy Kent be true? There is no other evidence of that, and our heroes are stymied, in part because of Juliet’s fierce insistence that she not have to face the beast again.
Many an evening is spent in their favorite Ravenclaw study room – with Pollux slipping in and out as needed, using Bess as lookout –to discern what Kettleburn or Plain or whoever Reg is in disguise could gain from this, other than stymieing the students research into Hindu magic and the history of Reg & Olaf Woden. “If it’s Kettleburn,” Castor muses, “he may have turned Tommy into the creature – he was blonde - but why?” Daisy instead pins her suspicions on Dr. Plain, but again there seems no rhyme or reason to setting the creature on the library.
Speaking of an absence of rhyme and reason, the matter is exacerbated by a group of Gryffindor 4th years, who sneak into the library during the day and hide there to catch the beast. Only the basic precautions shielding the books prevent the ensuing explosions from seriously damaging the library. In addition to points taken from Gryffindor, the trio’s antics earn the enmity of the Ravenclaws, as Dumbledore declares the whole of the library off limits to students.
In a second week of a listless, flavorless and now, worst of all, bookless existence, Jasmyn encounters Hillary Highgarden, Gryffindor first year, in the first floor girl’s bathroom, sobbing her eyes out. When comforted she spills out her tale of woe – that mean old Professor Kettleburn took away her pet ice toad, Cicle. He’s rounding up magical pets in case one is the monster. And Cicle was such a nice toad! So what if when he was startled he absorbed all the heat in a 5’ radius! So what if he’s an endangered species! So what if he’ll grow to the size of a bull mastiff! It was so cute watching him eat freeze dried crickets…. Jasmyn makes her excuses and, after confirming that Willow was in her pocket, ran to warn Pollux, lest Bess also fall afoul of the nefarious Care of Magical Creatures professor!
Pollux, ever the stoic, leads Jasmyn to the green-houses where they might talk to Professor Sprout for an exception to the round up, since clearly neither Willow nor Bess are the monster. The kindly faced herbology professor is sympathetic, but informs the students that this is also due to a recent raid at Genus’ Exotic Pets, whose books show many dangerous animals were sold to students. It’s not just the library beast – it’s the law. Still, as Willow came from China she is not technically part of the round up, and Bess can stay with the Dees until things blow over. She pens a note explaining the situation for Jasmyn to give to Kettleburn in hopes of swaying the teacher to let Willow stay.
The pair have just re-enterted the castle when they encounter Kettleburn, who had been seeking Pollux. The Dee brother is well prepared, as Bess had given him a significant look and leapt out the window mere moments earlier, vanishing into the tall grass. When Kettleburn asks after the cat purchased from Genus’ he is clear in his agreement – why yes, that is where he got the cat, and yes, it is possible that Bess might be a Grymalkin, and, when asked directly if the cat was living in the castle, Pollux answered no. It wasn’t his fault that Kettleburn took that to mean that Bess was living with his parents and not that the cat had taken up residence somewhere outside five minutes ago.
Pollux then nudges Jasmyn to get her discussion out of the way now, so she hands over Sprout’s note. The teacher reads it with increasing gravity, then asks to see Willow. He immediately identifies her as a Ghostling Ferret. He’s very sorry, but it is the responsibility of wizards to take care of both the creatures in their world and their world itself – he must take Willow away. Jasmyn burst into tears and tossed the ferret, yelling “Run, Willow! Run” and then hurling herself into Professor Kettleburn as a ball of fists, elbows and first year fury, allowing Willow to escape through a wall.
Kettleburn is angry but restrained, giving a lecture on how Ghostling Ferrets are an invasive species with no natural predators in England and a rapid breeding rate, and that Jasmyn had not comported herself as either a student of Hogwarts or an upright member of the wizarding community. When he informed her that she had earned a detention and a 10 pt loss for Ravenclaw she nodded sulkily, but obviously didn’t care. As they walked back to Ravenclaw tower Pollux apologized: “sorry. That could have gone better.” Jasmyn was too busy nursing her certainty that Kettleburn would be sacrificing the captured creatures for some nefarious scheme to blame her friend for his miscalculation.
That night in his room Pollux shares the events of the day with his roommate Lachlan. Lachlan shares his story of the luggage compartment in the train, including Kettleburn’s writhing torso. Pollux drags Lachlan along to the next study session so he might relate his observations. The group enters a frenzy of speculation on the hows & whys of Kettleburn’s plans & origins (while Lachlan reads the Dee brother’s account of events so far). All agreed with Castor that the creature in the library is a transformed human – after all, no one had really been hurt by the attacks – and Daisy could confirm that the feathers would turn back to hairs if separated from the central enchantment.
Lachlan then stunned everyone by asking why they didn’t just whip up some Polyjuice Potion to see who the hairs turned them into, and that would tell them if it was Kent or someone else. After a moment’s silence Juliet confirmed that she still hadn’t washed the outfit from 2 ½ weeks ago (earning an eye roll from Daisy) and could still get the hairs, and that Daisy could create the potion given the month of prep time.
Pollux asked Juliet to describe the creature again, and when she began to get worked up again the twins hit her with simultaneous Pacifica & Mentat Acutia spells to calm & sharpen her mind. This description was much less violent, and while none of them place the small, stumpy bird that attacked her Pollux knew someone who could. He led Juliet to the Hufflepuff dorm and posed the question to the portrait of Professor Fogerty. Fogerty identified the beast as a Dirical, a flightless bird that turns invisible, leaving a cloud of feathers. The Dirical is called a Dodo by Muggles, who think it is extinct. No idea what it’s doing in the library, of course.
With the threat diminished the group decided to capture the beast, but couldn’t risk telling Kettleburn lest he was the author of these events. They quickly sketch out a plan: tomorrow night when Trelawney was guarding the library door Juliet would approach her, spinning a tale of awakening out of her bed having been summoned to a small antechamber by the sound of spirits. Trelawney loves this sort of etheric vibration nonsense, and the inevitable attack of Juliet’s claustrophobia would add verisimilitude. Meanwhile, Jasmyn, who was already in trouble enough, would fetch Professor Briar as backup. Earlier in the day Lachlan would use his position on the Quidditch team to secure some brooms for the others, and they would enter through the library windows, where the smell of heated nuts & fruit would summon a no-doubt-hungry Diracal to be stunned by a Somulous spell. Lachlan’s canvas luggage bag to hold the beast once captured.
The plan is executed flawlessly. Trelawney, after a moment’s hesitation, does indeed accept Juliet’s claim of being called by the spirits to this room, and then does her best to “help the child through the trying contact with the next world” as Juliet feels the walls close in on her – being shaken by a frizzy-haired mad-woman didn’t help. Eventually Trelawney brings the poor girl to the infirmary. Jasmyn earns a sly smile from Briar as the DADA professor is once again shown evidence of her students’ cunning & tenacity, and agrees to be present for the endgame of the capture. Daisy’s Alohamora spell opens the locked window, but her broomstick maneuvering fails her as she slips and falls, banging loudly off of a bookcase, a table, a chair and finally the floor. Fortunately there is no one nearby to hear the ruckus. None but the beast, approaching with a Pok Pok, Pok Pok.
Daisy stands her ground, scattering hot nuts and watching the haggard, molting ugly chicken approach from the stacks before it begins ravenously snatching up the treats. They allow the beast several swallows before hitting it with Somulous spells – one, two three in rapid succession – and watch it collapse wobbly legged into slumber. Daisy and Lachlan muscle it into the bag and head to the library door to meet with Jasmyn and Professor Briar for a trip to the infirmary.
Juliet is already there with Professor Trelawney, who upon seeing Daisy Fontaine quickly realizes that she’s been duped. She is sputtering with anger as Pomfrey suggests that she might not be helping the situation. Pomfrey drapes a cloak – purple with blue runes! – over the Dirical and smiles happily as the bird resumes the shape of Tommy Kent. The prefect wakes and speaks: he had planned to make himself an Animagus over the holiday, taking the form of a glorious eagle. Alas, things didn’t work out as planned, and he had spent the last few weeks barely aware in his Dirical form subsisting on the snack foods abandoned by startled students.
By this point much of the faculty is in the room, and Mr. Kent gets a stern upbraiding from Professor McGonnagal, followed by Kettleburn taking 25 points from Gryffindor for good measure. Trelawney also wants to unlimber negative points on Ravenclaw (specifically Daisy & Juliet) for tonight’s rule breaking, but Briar takes the heat off of our heroes and one can’t help but see a twinkle in Dumbledore’s eye as well.
The first years and their prefect also question Madam Pomfrey about the blue and purple cloak. It is a Reality Cloak, which makes anything it covers appear in its true shape. It can’t be fooled by illusion, Animagus powers, transfigurations, or anything else, showing the “true soul” of things under it. Unfortunately for Mr. Kent, it is temporary: under that cloak he’s still a Dirical, and will be until McGonnagal unravels the failed Animagus enchantment. (Even with that, Tommy’ll still spend years turning into an invisible Dodo when startled.) It turns out that Reality cloaks, while expensive, aren’t rare – McGonnagal has one, as should any competent DADA teacher. The students wonder where Reg got his, and where they might get one….
