บท 21: Chapter Twenty

There was something beautiful in the way winter gave way to spring. And I didn't say that only because I had mastered the bubble-head charm and practically went around with one over my head constantly, or because I had a fishing pole and spent some of my days fishing by the lake in tranquil peace. No, the beauty was that the first year at Hogwarts had taught me much, and was still teaching me much.

For example, the House Elves could perfume your bed sheets if you asked them kindly, or if you left them a note. They'd clean the air in a room, help you out in getting stains off robes and whatnot just as long as you tapped somewhere on the castle's walls and got their attention. It was something so interesting, so incredible...and yet nobody else seemed to know this, or if they did know it, they didn't speak of it.

I didn't understand the need for Filch to grumble about getting the messes clean when he could just tap and get a house elf to do it for him. Perhaps it had something to do with him being a squib? Maybe house elves didn't answer non-wizards? Well, whatever. It didn't really matter in the long run.

One thing that caught my attention had been Hagrid's strange purveying in the library about dragon books, which meant the Norberta railway was going strong. Soon, the trio of protagonists would bring the dragon up the highest tower of the castle, which was the Astronomy one. Following that, they'd get their Forbidden Forest punishment together with Draco Malfoy.

"Do you think there's any good way to rack up points for the house?" Megan Jones asked, while I was actually reeling in a hook lacking in bait. The damn merfolks were stealing it. I knew it.

"Study hard, answer properly, destroy the enemies of the House?" I replied nonchalantly, grabbing hold of another squirming worm. There was a spell to make those wriggle out of the ground, and somehow I had gotten practical with it too.

Yes, fear me and my worm-call spell, Lord Voldemort. I will have them eat the soles of your boots!

"We don't have any enemies, do we?" Wayne Hopkins asked, puzzled. He sat on a nearby rock, playing a strange rendition of Wizardry Magical Cards with Amanda.

"Why are you asking me?" Amanda replied, "We Ravens don't have anything like that. My auntie told me that we fly too high to bother with such things."

"Oh, my mom said that we Hufflepuffs stay too well in our cozy hearths to care," Megan quipped. "But my aunt disagrees," she grinned brightly. "Used to fight in the war against You-Know-Who." She whispered the last part as if she was speaking an evil curse. Such precious first years, such innocence that needed protection. Don't worry, the evil bad guy resurrects in three years' time, and by then, the only one who die are the named characters in the books.

Stick to the background, and you will live.

"You-Know-Who killed a lot of people," Wayne whispered. "My dad's lost a few cousins that way."

I threw the hook once more, and then waited patiently for a fish to take the bait.

"In order to answer properly," Megan continued the previous discussion, "Would that mean having the professors pick you most often than not?"

"Technically yes," I answered, "But then, you'd need to catch their attention and not necessarily in a good way."

There was silence for a brief while. "You think the Weasley twins get pressed for answers routinely?" Wayne muttered.

"Maybe that's why they have good grades," Amanda said. I blinked at that nugget of information.

"They do?" I asked.

Amanda nodded. "My auntie says they're just wasted talent."

I shrugged at that, and then felt the fishing pole tug. I pulled back, rose up and planted my feet firmly against the ground. "You caught something!?" Wayne and Megan both asked excitedly, while Amanda simply stood by the side watching.

I kept pulling, gritting my teeth as the thing beyond tried its best to pull back. In a matter of seconds, I was nearly flung off my feet. Two Hufflepuffs and their combined body-weight held me back, and together the three of us ended up holding our ground until even the Ravenclaw joined us.

In a matter of seconds, we all ended up in the cold waters of the spring lake, before just as quickly ending up flung on the lakeside by a massive tentacle. The squid's tentacles floated briefly over the lake's surface, and then dropped below the water, creating ripples.

"My bait and my fishes!" I yelled in the direction of the squid. "A fish!" I pointed a finger in the general direction of the lake. "Give me the fishes!"

Wet beyond belief and miserable from a lack of fish, I growled in the general direction of the Giant Squid's departing tentacles. There was a slap from the lake's surface, a ripple brought forth my a massive tentacle rolling about against the ground, and soon my arms ended up filled with live fishes trying their best to wriggle free. I smiled in the lake's direction. "Thank you, Giant Squid!"

The fishes were not that happy, I reckoned, but little did they know that they'd end up inside a fish tank in the room of requirements, and from there they'd become nice snuffboxes, or other kind of stuff like goblets, for example, or lamps. I was starting to make nice fish-like lamps. My next step would be something a bit sharper, and with an edge to it too.

Was I really turning into an oddball, though? I was doing this just to assuage my own worries about the plot-related situation, and because it was honestly fun to experiment. Perhaps there was a positive reason for wearing a jellyfish on someone's head?

Still, this did not change the fact that I was completely drenched, as were the other three. "Thanks for the help," I said with a bright smile. "Do you want a fish? The Squid gave me too many."

"No," Wayne scrunched his nose with a disgusted look. He shuddered ever so briefly. "We should hurry back, before we end up with a cold."

To the wisdom of those words, we all got back into the castle.

Wayne even showed us the way to the Hufflepuff Dormitory, or how I'd called it: the coziest place in Hogwarts. Unfortunately, he only showed us the way, but kept us from getting in. It was some kind of Hogwarts tradition that only Hufflepuffs could see what it was like inside. Everyone else was barred access.

Still, both Amanda and I ended up climbing the stairs to get dry, myself carrying the basket of fishes.

The door to the Ravenclaw tower barred us access, presenting a riddle the likes of which I had no clue on how to solve.

An older year heard our tries and opened the door from the inside for us, before sighing in tired resignation at the sight of the fish basket. "And we have our first year oddball," he mused in a tired smirk. "Keep the fishes out of the common room."

"Yes sir," I said with a cheerful smile.

The fools didn't know.

Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for one day.

Give a wizard a fish...

...and he'll transmute it into swords.