The Wizard, The Witch And The Kneazle

Professor Blaise Zabini, short, slender, with olive-colored skin, black eyes and black curly hair, young, in crimson robes, was climbing one of the narrow stairs of the town of Mont-Saint-Michel, sitting at the foot of the picturesque rock near the coast of Normandy, Mont-Saint-Michel. The top of the rock with the beautiful Gothic abbey, La Merveille, or The Wonder, was seen overhead. Blaise was staying for his summer holidays on the island, having Apparated to there and booked a suite in la Auberge Broceliande - the Broceliande Inn, after the nearby forest in Brittany, where the great Merlin once lived. Blaise liked the island. He already visited the abbey, with its magnificent church, chapels, halls and cloister, and each day he wandered the little town, with its maze of narrow medieval streets and stairs, old shops and houses. Blaise's right hand firmly held a brown leather leash, adjusted to the collar on the neck of a lean, red, spotted tom cat with outsize ears, a tasseled tail, long whiskers and large green eyes - Macavity, Blaise's pet Kneazle. Blaise relied on the Kneazle's excellent cat sense of direction than on his own memory or dubious Point Me Charms that he was only capable of. Macavity was trotting forward energetically, sniffing the air. He was enjoying the new places, and the steep stairs he regarded as a sporting challenge to himself. Blaise was immensely, quietly enjoying the stroll too.

'A charming little town, isn't it, Macavity?' he said to Macavity in French.

Macavity answered, 'Yow!' Blaise was sure Macavity could understand French as well as English, and French was one of Blaise's native languages, after all, and right now they were in France.

'Yes, I know you think so too.' Blaise smiled. 'It's a wonder as this entire hill was called in former times. They began to call only the abbey so only recently, if justly.'

'Yow?' Macavity asked.

'Yes, this is so,' Blaise said.

At this moment someone addressed the young wizard:

'Excuse me, but can you tell me what's the way to the Main Street, please?'

Blaise turned and saw a tall, slim young woman with long, thick, bright red hair and large dark blue eyes, in wide burgundy robes.

'I can, or, rather, Macavity here can lead us both there.' Blaise smiled. 'This town is a labyrinth, but Macavity can find the way to anywhere. I myself would get lost here without him, and my Point Me are lousy, as I'm not really good at Charms, at all.'

'Indeed?' the young witch smiled. 'I think I'll rely on Macavity too. My name is Liatris Beauchamp, and what's your name, monsieur?'

'Blaise Zabini,' Blaise said.

'Oh! The same Blaise Zabini, the author of The Kneazle's Mind: Understanding Your Kneazle's Behavior?' the beautiful French witch said.

'Why, yes, I am,' Blaise said modestly.

'I liked your book very much,' the lady said. 'So thoughtful, and all these lovely mentions of your charming cat!'

'Thank you,' Blaise said.

'He's just as I imagined him!' the Frenchwoman said.

'Mrrow,' Macavity said, came to her and rubbed himself against her hem.

'You're trustworthy, then.' Blaise smiled. 'Macavity knows when he sees an unsavory person.'

'That's a relief.' She laughed.

Blaise definitely was of the same opinion as Macavity. He liked the lovely redhead.

'Well, Macavity, you heard. Lead us to the Main Street,' Blaise said. Macavity said, 'Yow!' and took a waiting posture.

'Let's go,' Blaise said. He offered his hand to the lady. She took it, and they went where Macavity led them.

'Are you long here?' the lady asked. Blaise answered, 'From the start of the summer holidays, Mlle Beauchamp.'

'And still can't find your way in this town?' She smiled.

'I believe the ladders here lead to different places on different days, like some staircases at Hogwarts,' Blaise said.

'Hogwarts...I was there with the Beauxbatons delegation at the Triwizard Tournament in '94,' Mlle Beauchamp said.

'And how you find it?' Blaise asked.

'Lovely,' the French witch said. 'The castle, the lake, the village - everything!'

'I'm glad you think so,' Blaise said. 'I like the place, it's been home to me all these years. I just can't understand some persons of your delegation who disliked the castle, the food and everything else.'

'They're sissies,' she said. 'Sissies and Anglophobes.'

'True.' Blaise nodded.

'How's that nice, funny gamekeeper of yours - Hagrid, such an interesting name?' she said.

'He's fine,' Blaise answered.

'Only Macavity can see the sense in the pattern of these streets,' the lady said. 'I got lost very quickly, and my Point Me are no good either. My charms suck. My talent's in potions.'

'Are you a Healer?' Blaise ventured.

'No,' the lady said. 'I'm an alchemist.'

'Oh! How pleasant!' Blaise blurted out. Then he explained, 'Many of my friends are alchemists, like Trevor Entwhistle, for one.'

'Glad to hear this,' the lady said. 'But of course it's very like you, Professor Zabini'

'Blaise, please,' he begged.

'Fine.' she smiled. 'Then I'm Liatris.'

'The name suits you a lot,' Blaise said. 'I mean, the flower liatris, it's got one tall, slender stem with crimson candlelike blossom. The Americans call it the Blazing Star.'

'The *Blazing* Star...' Liatris smiled.

Blaise smiled in answer.

Shortly after they saw la Grande Rue - the Main Street of Mont-Saint-Michel. Blaise smiled. 'Well, here we are, Liatris.'

'Thank you, Blaise,' Liatris said.

Then Blaise suddenly saw a cute sign, with a powerful chestnut winged Granian horse on it and words Le Cafe Cheval Volant - The Flying Horse Cafe. Blaise said:

'Liatris, don't you think that is a lovely sign there? Look, with the Granian on it?'

'Yes.' Liatris smiled. 'He is just like the horses that pull the Beauxbatons carriages.'

'I remember,' Blaise said. 'I was awed by them, you know.'

'I can easily believe,' Liatris said. 'They're wonderful creatures. This one on the sign is just fine.'

'Yes.' Blaise smiled. 'And the cafe looks a nice place. Can I offer you a cup of coffee in there?'

'Well...' Liatris said. Blaise held his breath. Liatris smiled:

'I wouldn't mind, Blaise.'

'Let's go, then.' Blaise breathed out.