Year Four - Chapter Nineteen

There was a reason for the smith. There was a reason for the craftsman. There was a reason for many things, and mine was greater than all others. My eyes burned from the fumes, my expression sour and my skin oily from the remains. I coughed, the bubblehead charm the only reason I hadn't probably died already from the fumes. I needed better air down there, but the only way was through pipes. If I popped out a pipe, then they'd know where my hall of shadows was.

At the same time, there was a limit to how much I could suffer the smell of smoked wood.

"You smell of chimney," Megan said, as if it made any sense in her mind. "Did you fall asleep near one?"

I looked at the Hufflepuff, and then snickered. "I have become the chimney," I snickered some more.

"You look like you could use some rest, Shade," Megan replied, her no-nonsense voice coming right in. We were standing within the Greenhouse, dealing with the quite exotic and interesting Valerian, which was meant to help in some potions that, ironically enough, dealt with sleeping. The smell was mellow, and quite nice. My eyes had been drooping for a while now, but I couldn't really fall asleep in the middle of the lesson.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," I answered back. "Or when I'm dying. Preferably of old age, in a comfy bed, surrounded by a horde of sexy veelas." My brain-to-mouth filter would fizzle and die whenever I was tired, unfortunately. I didn't realize what I had said until I heard a scoff from my side.

"Men," Megan rolled her eyes. "Pigs."

"Aye," I answered with a nod. I trimmed the Valerian in front of me a bit more, gave it a quizzical look, and then deemed it ready for replanting. It probably wasn't, but I was too tired to think about it.

"Wayne, what about you?" Megan asked, "Would you want a harem of sexy veelas like Shade here?"

Wayne stared, half-puzzled. "Easter bunnies," he said in the end. "I saw them on one of my dad's magazines that-"

"Don't want to know that," I said, flatly. "Don't want to know that. Too much information." I snapped, suddenly wide awake. I moved away, swiftly rushing behind two other Hufflepuffs who had been giggling at my antics, though not listening in to what I had been specifically saying. The replanted Valerian delivered to Professor Sprout, I then waited by the Greenhouse's exit for my usual bodyguard company.

"I'm just saying that rabbit eared ladies that give chocolate should stand above Veelas," Wayne said, innocent summer child that he was. "Those turn into fireball throwing chickens."

I looked at Wayne's remark, and then smiled. "Ah, but you see, I like chickens, and hens, and cute feathered things," I quipped. "That's why, to me a Veela's most beautiful when covered in feathers-"

"That so," Amanda said. "You should speak with the Weasley twins then."

I blinked. "Why?"

Amanda's smile should have made me fear for my safety. It didn't, because clearly, I trusted Amanda. I shouldn't have. I really shouldn't have. I had forgotten. I had forgotten that the Weasley twins, those dastardly evil monsters, had invented the Canary Cream joke food.

A feat of temporary human transfiguration-well, no, not really. Just a feat that made feathers appear from one's skin. And I had forgotten it. I had forgotten it until Amanda actually gave me the most innocent of deliciously-looking cream puffs, and I ate it with gusto.

Then, she smiled.

I blinked, and the next second I had feathers all across me. I was a canary. I was a giant canary. I was a giant, squawking canary fluttering my wings along the hallways of Hogwarts. I grumbled as I looked at the source of my current predicament, bent in half with her arms around her waist and laughing, together with Megan and Wayne, at my situation.

I made a coo sound, a rasp, and then I launched myself on the trio, feathers and all giving me a slightly wider appearance. I also made them trip on their feet, landing on a tangled pile under me.

"H-Hey Shade!" Wayne yelped, "You can't nest us!"

"Coo! Coo!" I retorted, angrily ruffling my feathers over them.

"Y-Get off! You're too hot!" Megan complained, "Take it out on Amanda, she's the one who gave it to-"

"Hey! You all pitched in the Sickles for the joke!" Amanda retorted.

I cooed some more, hooted a bit, and then waited patiently until the feathers exploded away from me. Once they did, I coughed and stood up from the trio's crumpled forms. With a twitch of my fingers, I floated all three of them up in mid-air.

"Shade, you can let us down now," Amanda said, trying to move her legs to touch the ground, only to realize that no, she couldn't touch the floor.

"Uhm..." I rubbed my chin, thoughtfully. "Do you deserve being put down?" I asked, before actually letting all three of them down. I sighed. "Nice thing, but a pity they had to ruin delicious cream puffs like that," I acquiesced.

"Got a smile on your face," Megan said, with her usual Hufflepuffish smile.

I chuckled even more at that. "Where would I be without you, I wonder," I hummed as I said that, but it was Wayne who answered, quite straightforwardly.

"Probably in a dark, damp room practicing strange magic," he said nonchalantly. "Forgetting to eat, sleep or go to class."

I coughed nervously in my closed fist and looked away. Well, this was quite interesting.

At the same time, the merciless ticking of the clock could never be denied for long. It was the twenty-fourth of February, ten days after a Valentine Day I had spent burning down love letters from unknown students and strangers, and as the morning came, the bright and early morning of a chilly February day, with the cold wind biting into my skin, and the air growing positively chiller the closer we went to the lake.

The lake's bank was waiting for me, and the other two champions. There was a nervous looking Fleur, a quite silent Viktor Krum, who had indeed gone to the ball with Hermione, so I reckoned the poor girl was currently below the water level and finally myself. I had a mug of hot coffee in hand, and the heat of the liquid made the haze lift from the cup itself.

I could see Crouch Senior in the judges' stall together with the others, and Ludo Bagman did indeed put us at a certain distance. He smiled, and patted his throat for a Sonorus charm. There was quite the crowd on the stalls, and the seats, and yet the nervousness was gone.

I knew what I had to do, after all.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One. . . two. . ." I was waiting for the three when a ripple on the lake's surface spread. I raised both eyebrows. It couldn't be. I had spent weeks, months even, preparing for the day I'd have to, and-

And if she did bring the hostage back up, then it would mean disqualification because I had to do it myself, not with the aid of a living creature. Gargoyles didn't count, but living creatures did.

"Squiddie!" I yelled over the lake's surface, "DO. NOT. FETCH!"

The lake's ripples grew.

Then, a large tentacle appeared from within, as if querying. This gave pause to the other two contestants. "I said, do NOT fetch!" I stressed the last part quite loudly. There was a sinister, quite worrisome wail. "I know! I know it's bad, but you cannot fetch! I'll fetch! I will! Yes!" I thumped my chest, though I doubted the Giant Squid could see me. "I'm going in! You stay there! Stay put! Yes! Atta girl," I said as I watched the tentacle dip below the level of the lake's surface.

I then sighed in relief, and turned to look at Ludo Bagman, who had yet to announce the last number.

"Three!"

Now let me show you the wonders that await thee...

...under the sea! Under the Sea!