Six Tales

Six tales

1 - His money's worth?

He's leaning against the battered wooden door of the Shrieking Shack and watches me approach with a barely suppressed smirk on his face. "Well, Dung," he drawls, "have you got something for me?"

"Indeed I do, Mr.Malfoy."

"Tell me, then, my dear fellow. Time is Essence of Dragon Heart, you know."

"It's only money to me, sir, only money. I do not have the ambition that is your prerogative."

"Dear me, dear me. Mundungus Fletcher talks all posh. Aren't you going to be chucked out of the East End for that?"

"Ah, bless yer, guv, where would a poor crook be wiv'out arf a dozen accents? Well, Mr. Malfoy, 'ere's the certificate, and 'ere's the solicitors' report. You are the owner beyond a doubt."

Malfoy flashed a satisfied smile. "I always knew that we were the legitimate owners. One of my less bright ancestors allowed himself to be stampeded out of the land, but, by the Dark Lord, it belongs to us!"

Meanwhile I'm counting the money.

I've cleared it all with old Dumbledore, of course. The land had been stripped bare of all its magical properties when its last owner had moved south from Whitby to London. All that was left was a considerable amount of undisturbed Transylvanian earth.

2 - They call me the old chatterbox

So you want to go to Hogwarts? It's a lonely old place, you know. Since they drove the dragon out, nobody much has anything to do with it. Yes, yes, I know I'm a chattering woman. Give me one second, would you? It ain't the dragon. Even the other dragons disliked her, and helped the monks destroy it. You won't find no dragons there, no, sirs and madam.

No, it's just that nobody likes the place. Since the dragon died, good plants just don't grow there. Good fat kale and barley like you get in Hogsmeade down the valley just won't rise, and the cattle won't eat the grass. Some people say it's cursed, anyway, it's empty.

I'm getting there, I'm getting there! Don't push me. Well, see that hollow between the mountains? Yes, that one over there? That is the pass you want. Walk through that and you will in the Strath Hog, the Valley of Hog. And what would you want there, anyway?

Already gone! I knew it, I just knew it. No time to talk, no time to do anything, always rushing somewhere or other. Wizards, if I ever saw them. Two wizards and two witches. Going to the empty lands of Hogwarts? I wonder what two wizards and two witches want there.

3 - A moment's silence

It's the most beautiful sight you've ever seen. Beneath you, beneath the Tarpeian Rock, the white, regular ruins of the ancient city stretch out among the lush green of decorative bushes, like a garden built around the bones of giants. The sky is like no sky you have ever seen, the blue of the early evening speaks to you as no colour at home has ever done. You know that you come from a lovely part of England; and yet, the sight of Rome stretched out before you, three thousand years of beauty massed together and yet peaceful, seen from this sacred spot of the ancient... you are Pansy Parkinson, rich, sophisticated, one of the heirs of a great house; but here you feel like a happy, silent, wonder-struck child.

You turn to your companion. And you see, in his pale, pointed face, the unmistakeable signs of boredom.

Then and there, you know that it will not work between you, and thank the Gods that you never allowed yourself to be made pregnant or formally engaged.

4 - fertility

Hermione cursed under her breath as she attempted to wrestle a furiously struggling MONSTER BOOK OF MONSTERS back into her bag after Care of Magical Creatures. If only Hagrid had told her that today's lesson would be on Mutable Sirifloin. Ever since the book had caught the smell of the females, there had been no calming it down; and Hermione did not want to be saddled with a whole brood of little snapping books. Reports from the publisher said that good specimens could breed as many as a hundred young at a time.

5 - plans and failures

Couldn't you've picked somewhere else?"

Spike was furious. The tall, white, snake-like monster - whom he knew only too well - had materialized right when they, for once, had the Slayer where he wanted her. He and Drusilla had planned this hunt with so much care: "recruited" the right "soldiers", chosen the place and time... and now, thanks to Voldemort's untimely appearance, the Slayer had broken the encirclement and was gone, with just the dust of two good vampires to mark that she had been there.

Voldemort, in his turn, was not pleased with the tone. "Ah, William," he said, as his terrible white face turned to Spike, "William the Bloody."

A long, corpse-white arm snaked out at Spike, and the hand seized his throat in a grip of steel.

"You speak as though your little vampire wars were anything to the Dark Lord."

...and that was the last thing he ever said. He heard the words "Avada Kedavra"; he turned; he saw, what he had not noticed, that one of Spike's pack had green eyes... and a lightning scar...

Spike had prepared for this hunt with great care.

6 - A visitor in the morning

Hermione woke up. There was a stag in her room, looking at her with unfathomable eyes. Hermione was awake in a moment, eyes wide and horrified, a scream pressing on her lips.

The scream was never uttered. The stag was standing motionless. It was enormous, the tines of its antlers reaching from one end of her room to the other, but it strangely managed to touch or dislodge nothing...

...and then Hermione knew who it was who was visiting her. Astonishment changed in her to grave, awe-struck wonder; she rose, still in her pajamas, and bowed to the great animal.

The mighty antlered head bowed in return, and suddenly the room was empty.
Later in the week she was to find out that Ron and Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom, the Patil twins and the Weasley twins had all received visits.

As long as they lived, they never knew what it was about. But there were times when they felt that something large and wild walked beside them.