Harry Potter and the Prince of the Enchanted Forest

Chapter 5: In Which Pets Speak

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Daystar and Hermione went onto their first honors class, and Ron and Harry ventured to Divination. This time, Professor Trelawney was showing them the art of Tarot cards. This was a little easier than anything else Harry had attempted in Divination was, since every card and each of their meanings were listed in "Unfogging the Future." There was only one card that stood for death. What chance would there be that Professor Trelawney would chose that one? As Harry drew his cards to tell Ron his predictions, he wrapped his hair in a towel and spoke in a Jamaican accent. Ron cracked up, though he apparently wasn't really sure about the joke. Believe it or not, Professor Trelawney found a way to once again predict Harry's death--yet this time, there was a twist.

"But wait, dear! Look at this one! You may have a chance after all!"

"I do?"

"Yes. A protector is with you. Trust your friends, dear. They shall be your salvation."

Harry still pondered the prediction as he wrote his letter to Sirius. Hermione was ready with her request and followed Harry to the Owlery.

"Now, you make sure you come back as soon as you can," Harry told Hedwig as Hermione tied her message to the owl's leg. "I need you back by Thursday."

Hedwig hooted and soared off.

"What do you need Hedwig so soon for?"

"We got to bring our pets to DADA, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Oh! With all that excitement in Potions, we forgot to ask Snape for those extra ingredients!"

"We got him in a few days. We'll ask him then. I hope he will be helpful as Morwen suggested."

At supper, the four of them ran into Neville. "Hey, Neville," Ron greeted. "How's Morwen's spell working?"

"It's amazing!" Neville told him. "I only glanced at the list, but I can quote it verbatim." He proceeded to do so.

"Excellent! Just don't forget Trevor."

"Oh yeah, Trevor, the most important thing! I won't forget him now."

"Hi Harry!" A gentle hand rested on his shoulder. Harry turned to see--

"Alicia! Daystar, this is Alicia Spinnet, one of our Chasers on the Quidditch team."

"Pleased to meet you," Daystar said shaking her hand.

"Yes. Harry, I just wanted to remind you that Quidditch practice will be tomorrow evening."

"OK. Who's our new captain?"

Alicia smiled bashfully. "That would be me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Madame Hooch talked it over with me. I don't have much longer in school, and I thought it would be cool to lead the team in my final years."

"Well, congratulations! Who's our new Keeper? And aren't we lacking another Chaser?"

"I'll have it all worked out, Harry. Just come tomorrow night, and bring your Firebolt."

"Will do. Thanks." He turned to the others as she left. "I'm glad Quidditch is back. Missed it last year."

Transfiguration was first the next day. It really wasn't Transfiguration as much as it was discussion on the nature of their upcoming O.W.L.s.

"I have to take a test that big?" Daystar was asking the others at the end of class. "Maybe it wasn't a smart choice to be so advanced in years."

"I bet Dumbledore did that on purpose," Hermione told him. "He wants to show your father that you reached your full potential, and what better way than an exam to show your true credentials."

"Maybe so. Morning, Mr. Filch!" Daystar nodded and smiled at the caretaker as they passed him. He gave Daystar a shady look, growled, and walked away. "He was like that when I was here earlier," Daystar told the others quietly. "Does he ever talk?"

"On occasion, but you don't want to stick around for what he says," Ron answered. "It's usually 'detention.'"

At Herbology, right after Professor Sprout called roll, Neville raised his hand. "Neville, the lesson hasn't started yet. What do you possible need to ask?"

"Please Professor, we need hibiscus flowers and rose nectar for DADA in a couple of days." The Gryffindors marveled that Neville of all people would remember exactly what to ask for. As Harry heard them mumble, most of them had already forgotten.

"Oh yes, for Morwen's thing. I'll make sure to gather them at the end of class." From there, she began the lesson, but at one minute till the bell, Neville raised his hand again. "Oh yes, Neville. I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank you for reminding me. Now, what did I need again?"

The day went by quickly until Quidditch practice. Alicia started by introducing the new players, who were both sixth years that Harry didn't know.

"Samson here is our new Keeper. He was a wrestling captain at a muggle summer camp. He's sure to be a brick wall in front of our goals."

Samson answered by throwing a few imaginary punches in the air. All the rest of the players greeted him. Harry was worried for a while, though, that Samson broke a couple of his fingers in a handshake.

"OK," Alicia said. "I'm not going to be quite the slave driver like Oliver was, but I will take practice time about as seriously. We will practice at least twice a week, three times if we can swing it. I'll try to be mindful of weather conditions and homework. I have faith in all of you, but we got a hard match starting off the season with Ravenclaw."

"Ravenclaw?!?" the team said in unison.

"We're not playing Slytherin first?" Fred asked.

"From what I understand, Dumbledore requested that either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff play first this year, to show You-Know-Who if he's watching that he hasn't won, and we're moving on with life. Hufflepuff would have accepted, but I hear they're having a hard time trying to replace Cedric Diggory. I don't blame them."

The whole team went somber as they thought of Cedric's untimely death last year. Then Harry turned his thoughts back to the game. This was certainly going to be a challenge. He won every game against Slytherin, but Ravenclaw came pretty close last time. Cho Chang had a way of tailing him as he searched for the Snitch, and her prettiness nearly got the better of him. Harry, luckily, had been preparing mentally. Hermione gave him a book called World Famous Seekers for his birthday. Harry read their stats closely, but he mainly paid attention to their strategic moves that he watched in the moving pictures. He was sure some of them could confuse Cho but hopefully not hurt her like the Wronski Feint certainly would. Hopefully, he could start putting them into practice tonight.

"Anyway, we have a big game ahead of us. Are we up for the challenge?"

"Yes!" the whole team answered.

"I said, are we up for the challenge?"

"YES!"

"I can't hear you! Are we up for it?"

"YEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!"

"That's what I want to hear. Now, let's go!"

From there, Alicia cheered and encouraged the team through practice. She didn't give a lot of suggestions for better practice, but Harry was able to do each of the moves he had studied. Some of them made him quite dizzy. "It'll get better with practice, Harry," Alicia called.

So Quidditch wasn't quite what Harry expected. He turned his attention to Hedwig's return. Usually, Hedwig was rather speedy, but Harry wasn't sure how far Hermione's house was. If Hedwig wasn't there by Thursday morning, he didn't know what he would do.

Thursday morning arrived, and still no Hedwig. Harry looked anxiously up at the ceiling. "Come on . . . come on . . . yes!"

Hedwig came soaring down from the rafters with a huge package in her talons. She dropped it in front of Hermione and landed before her master.

"Hedwig, I knew you wouldn't let me down," Harry said stroking the owl's soft feathers.

"What's in the package?" Ron said.

"Books," Hermione answered opening it up. The package contained three books with no titles or pictures. "They're rather personal, so don't ask about them."

Harry offered some of his boiled egg to his owl. "Got a treat for you, girl. You're coming to class with me." Hedwig hooted questioningly. "That's right. You're coming with me to Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Only downside is that we have it with the Slytherins," Ron muttered.

"Well, you all have fun," Daystar told them.

"You're not coming?" Hermione asked.

"Nope. I already know the spell, so Morwen excused me. I'm thinking of doing a little exploring. See ya!" He waved and walked off.

"What do you think this potion will do?" Ron asked again.

"I tried studying the properties of the ingredients in The Magic Behind Magic," Hermione answered. "Whatever it is, it's strong."

"Maybe it's a potion that might be too dangerous for humans and she wants to test it on our pets," Seamus said as he walked passed them. "Hope it's not too dangerous. Don't want anything to happen to Jackie here," he said holding up a white mouse.

"Well, I heard it's a nice recipe for Cat Pudding," Draco sneered in Hermione's ear. "And I, for one, can't wait to have some."

Hermione gasped as she heard this, but she didn't pay attention. The DADA room was full of students and pets of all kinds. It looked like everybody had not just cats and owls, but toads, rabbits, tarantulas, even a couple of snakes. "I thought only owls, cats, and toads were allowed," Ron said.

"You had a rat, remember?" Hermione answered. "According to Hogwarts: A History, the animals listed in the introductory letter are merely suggestions. Students can bring any famil--um, I mean magical helper that they want."

"Good morning, class!" Morwen greeted. Everyone looked at her intently as she began to explain this important lesson. "It has been my experience that the greatest defense of the dark arts is your own magic helper. Some call it a familiar, but most witches and wizards refrain from using that term now-a-days because of several reasons. I personally think it's a rather apropos term. The greatest witches and wizards are very familiar with their 'familiar.' That's what I'm going to teach you today."

There was a small pause, and Morwen smiled. "Today, I'm going to get you on speaking terms with your pet."

The students gasped, cheered, and flat-out stared. "But no wizards except for Parselmouths know how to talk to animals," Neville whispered in awe.

"You don't know Morwen," Harry whispered back.

"Everyone, turn your ingredients sheet over," Morwen instructed. "Tap it with your wand and say 'Revealintas!' That will show you the instructions."

Everybody did so. Before long, the students were boiling unicorn water, mixing together peppermint salve; rose nectar; and hippopotamus oil, and crushing hibiscus flowers. Together, the potion looked thick, sticky, and purple, with the consistency of grape jelly

"While the potion is cooling, I need everyone to scoot your desks out of the way. I would ask you to magic them away, but no teacher has offered an empty room to put them. That's it, leave good space on the floor. All right, is everyone ready? Good. Now, with the tip of your wand, all of you dip it into the potion and draw a large circle on the floor, big enough for you and you pet to sit in. Very good. Don't smudge the lines. Now, don't waste the entire potion on the circle.

"OK, now sit in the middle of the circle with your pet. Those of you with big pets like cats or rabbits, take it's right front paw into your right hand. Those with snakes, hold its head in your right hand. Those with small pets, like spiders, owls, rats, and mice, hold the entire body in your right hand. Now, with your wand, put a drop of the potion on your pet's tongue and in both of your ears. Don't poke your eardrum! OK, with the rest of your potion anoint five drops on your head and five drops on your pet's head; that marks the spell.

"This is the important part. You must concentrate. Clear your mind of frivolous thoughts. Your pet must do the same. It might help to close your eyes."

Harry concentrated as much as he could. He stared into Hedwig's huge, dark, almost hypnotizing eyes.

"Now, repeat after me:

"Wind for Clarity

Fire for Sincerity
Earth for Comprehension
Water for Permanence
Make known to me thy tongue!"

Everyone repeated every line after her. There was a cold, rushing wind. Harry looked to see the potion on the floor raised above each person and animal as a shield. The drops absorbed into Harry's skin making him shiver and wince.

"Man, that was cold," a feminine voice said quietly.

"You said it Hermione," Harry muttered.

"I mean I flew over the Alps to reach your godfather last time, and this was much colder. Never do it again."

Harry's eyes grew wide. "Hedwig, did you say that?"

"Of course! What did you think?"

"Hedwig, we're talking!"

"Well yes, of course we are!"

"What? Haven't you had a conversation with a human before?"

"Well, now that you mentioned it, our conversations have been rather one-sided."

Everybody began chatting with their pets, and made new friends. Hermione looked like she was having a rather intellectual conversation with Crookshanks. "Hey look! I'm a Parselmouth!" a Slytherin with a snake said with glee. Pigwidgeon was much more excited about talking to her master than Hedwig was. She was flying all around Ron's head, hooting her head off. Ron was clearly sick of it.

Harry raised her hand, "Morwen, why can I understand Hedwig perfectly but I have no clue what Pigwidgeon over there is telling Ron? Don't owls speak the same language?"

"Good question Harry. Class, you can only understand your pet because that's how the spell works. You can understand your pet's children by default. I'm still working on a universal spell, but I've got a long way to go.

"Now, all of you get to know your pets, and treat them well. Don't leave them just cooped up in the Owlery or kennel or wherever they normally go. Keep them with you in your dorm. If you teacher allows it, take them with you to class. At least, teach your magic helpers what you are learning. This is your homework for the whole year. We're going to learn lots of spells that require magic helper's assistance, and they will probably come in handy in your other subjects, too.

"That's all. Class dismissed!"

Everyone was still delighted and amazed that the animals were talking. Morwen's assignment was getting off to a good start already. As Harry walked out, he heard a boy tell somebody, "I had it all wrong all this time! Jimmy's a girl! I hear it in her voice! I oughta rename her Jimina."

"What is Pigwidgeon saying to you anyway, Ron?" Harry asked.

"I can't really tell. She speaks so fast, it just sounds like a bunch of syllables. This assignment is going to be tough on me." Pigwidgeon kept hooting even as he was talking, until Ron turned to her and shouted, "Quiet, Pig! I don't care!"

"Who snuck coffee into your food lately?" Hedwig asked the owl, annoyed.

"Come on," Harry told them. "Time for Care of Magical Creatures."

This time, Hagrid had in his pin a real griffin. It seemed like an interesting animal. Like the sphinx, it really liked riddles. It was easily tamed if the master could answer its first riddle and satisfied if the master tells it a new one each day. So each student had a turn to approach the griffin and tell it a challenging riddle. They had to think of more for homework.

Afterwards was lunch and then Charms. Then as Ron and Harry went to get started on their homework, Daystar and Hermione went to Magic Theory. Harry had Quidditch practice after he was done, so the four of them didn't come together again until supper.

"I wish everybody could take this course," Hermione said excitedly. "They should've required it a long time ago."

"We do have a book on Magic Theory," Ron noted. "I think we had it for Charms."

"Yes, but we never went through it in detail, did we? Besides, I read it cover to cover years ago, and it didn't tell me anything."

"Anything about what?" Harry asked.

"About how magic works! All this time I spend in the library, sure I like reading about magic, it's enjoyable. But I wanted more than anything to know how and why it works, why we are different from Muggles. And none of the books could really give me a straight answer."

"It's because no one really knows, Hermione!" Ron said a little put out.

"But Telemain knows! And we're going to go through it in detail in the upcoming weeks. And that's not all we're doing. Throughout the year, we're going to be working on making our own spell!"

Harry dropped his fork. "You can do that?"

"Telemain says we can! It's our project! We're going to brainstorm in the last fifteen minutes of class what spells we could make, or maybe a spell that could use some improvement. Then we're going to evaluate our choices to see what our major concern is. Next, we're going to brainstorm possible ways to do the spell. Then we're going to evaluate those solutions by what will be easiest to do, easiest to prepare, most efficient, time effective, and so on. Finally, we'll pick the best one and we're going to make it! It'll be great to contribute to the magical community, and getting there will be half the fun!"

Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered, "I think I'd rather not and write that I did."

Hermione glared at him.

"Yeah," Daystar said after he cleared his mouth. "I was surprised Telemain would come up with such a method. Very clever, even for him."

Harry somehow had a feeling he would be hearing much more of this course as the year went on.

Back at the common room, Ron was listening to Pigwidgeon continued yaking. "Can't you talk any slower?" he muttered. Pigwidgeon paused, then went at exactly the same pace as before.

"You know, I was thinking, what if Morwen came a couple of years earlier, and you learned how to talk to Scabbers?" Harry suggested.

"That would have been strange," Ron nodded. "I might have jumped if I heard Peter Pettigrew's voice coming out of my pet's mouth. Then again, I reckon I wouldn't know how Peter Pettigrew sounded like. I guess he would have tried to lead me deeper to the dark side, convince me even more that Sirius Black was evil, maybe even got me to join You-Know-Who. Maybe compared to that, Pig sounds like Shakespeare."

Harry wondered how a wizard would know about Shakespeare, but before he could ask, Daystar questioned about what they spoke. Harry and Ron together quietly explained their whole ordeal from a few years ago about the marauders. Daystar nodded and understood.

Hermione, meanwhile, was in a chair reading one of her personal books. Suddenly she looked up and said, "Daystar! Come look at this!"

"Sure, Hermes," Daystar answered grinning.

Ron and Harry tried to crowd around her chair as well, but she looked darkly at them. "Not you! Daystar!" She pointed to stuff in her book and talked quietly.

"We might as well get up to bed," Harry suggested.

"What's her deal? Does she fancy him or something?" Ron growled.

"Don't be ridiculous. He's a prince. He's probably betrothed, or he'll have to marry only a princess anyway. She would know that."

"Then what's with all the secrecy?"

"I don't know. It's weird, all right."

Harry started getting into bed when he heard a horrible noise. He looked out and saw Peeves and Genie sitting on the wall outside. The kitten was yowling, and Peeves was singing along awfully off key. Harry didn't know how he did it, but midst this noise he was able to fall asleep.