She was sitting opposite me, her blue eyes looking at the creature on the table with fascination. She brought a glove-covered hand forward and stroked the creature’s back. A few sparks came out of its mouth but the girl continued petting it.
My eyes widened. Weren’t girls usually supposed to be afraid of dragons? Or practically any other magical creature which was even close to be termed as dangerous? But this girl seemed quite confident about being at such close proximity with it. It even seemed as if she liked touching the scaly skin.
She grinned as the baby dragon breathed fire.
Yes, definitely a strange girl.
The fire didn’t hurt any of us, of course. The Shield Charm which the teacher had performed around every baby dragon in the room was such that it shielded the humans from the dragons but not the other way round. That meant that we could touch the dragon but we wouldn’t get injured by any of its actions.
There were five baby dragons in the room. One kept on each table for a pair of students. There were ten kids in total. Not many students had considered Care of Magical Creatures an important enough class to be studied for N.E.W.T.s.
We had been theorising about dragons for a month. Now, Hagrid had taken special permission and brought live dragons for us to study.
When he had entered, he seemed very happy. I sensed at once that something unusual was to happen. He hadn’t failed my expectations. The next moment, he had taken a baby dragon out of the crate, which he had been carrying, and held it in his hand for us to see.
Some people screamed, some backed into the room and some just stayed where they were. But none volunteered to take a close look at the dragon.
Hagrid had seemed downcast, but then he recovered and turned back to his teacher mode and gave his instructions. We had to examine the dragon’s behaviour for an hour. Note what it did, what breed it was, how it reacted to what, everything. And then we had to write an essay about it and submit it the next week. A joint essay.
Then Hagrid had placed the dragons on the tables and performed the charms. When we had made sure that the class wasn’t going to be life threatening, we had returned to our respective seats, albeit reluctantly.
But then Hagrid had stopped us and stated that he would be pairing everyone fairly so that everyone would get a chance to contribute equally to the essays.
He had taken names. It was usually in the ‘good/brave student with fair/scared student’ format. And then he had taken my name...
‘James Potter with Adelaide Ricci.’
You! I exclaimed out loud.
‘Me.’ She grinned.
‘Adelaide Ricci!’ I said, astonishment dripping from each letter.
She grinned. ‘Took you long enough. But at least you remember me. I had started to think that I had been buried and forgotten behind those who came after me. Or...’
‘Of course not! It just took me time to recognise you because I haven’t seen you in a couple of years and you were clearly the last person I had expected to see over here.’
‘…or that you had become an arrogant prat and didn’t want to be seen in the company of a common mortal like me,’ she continued, completely disregarding my previous dialogue.
‘Did you even listen to what I said?’ I demanded.
Adelaide chuckled. ‘Oh, I did. But I wanted to complete my other well-thought out reason, so I chose to ignore you.’
I couldn’t help but laugh. Adelaide has always been a bit... different.
‘And,’ she adopted a stern voice, ‘I waited for you to come and visit me, but of course you didn’t. Just because that’s my choice of profession, doesn’t mean that our relationship should be affected.’
I was silent. I had expected an accusation like this. But I still didn’t know how to respond.
She continued, ‘And don’t say that you were so busy that...’
I interrupted her again. ‘You know I don’t lie or I would have made this excuse myself. And you also know why I didn’t visit you,’ I replied angrily. She always succeeded in making me lose my temper, if only for a tiny reason.
‘So, a different choice of profession is an adequate reason for two people to grow apart?’ she asked quietly.
That left me dumbfounded. She was right. We shouldn’t let something as minor as work come between our friendship. Mum and Dad had always taught me to value my friends, and had often advised me to not let anything interfere with a true friendship.
‘I am sorry, Adelaide. You know I’m sorry. But do you really think I’d go to the Lion’s Den myself? You are a reporter, you work at the Daily Prophet! You live in a flat near their building. I couldn’t just walk in there so everyone would gape at me. I would never have been able to reach you anyway. Your colleagues would have pounced on me.’ And then I decided to turn the tables. ‘But you could have come and visited me.’
‘Oh, of course I could! But the only problem is that I work in London and you in China. A tiny distance for you, I’m sure. You know both the places well by now. You can easily Apparate and Disapparate here and there whenever you wish. I just came here on the Knight Bus with an extremely long and bumpy ride, but it was really fun, of course. I just got a two week vacation, and I came here. Stupid me for wanting to waste my precious holiday time just for you. I’m so insane for coming to a place where there will be dragons breathing fire all over me. I should just have sat at home, safe and sound. Well, it’s not too late. I can go back to London. The journey was really fun after all,’ she ranted on.
I didn’t reply. I just watched her. Her eyes shining with anger, her face flushed, her chest heaving. It was a familiar sight, and it always made me want to laugh, but I had never dared. I still didn’t dare.
Again, she was right, but it would be of no use trying to apologise when she was in such a worked up state. I waited for her to calm down.
Her breathing rate turned normal. Right. Time to say sorry. But before I could say anything, she said, ‘Okay, I have vented it all out. Anything else you want to say other than sorry?’
I smiled. She had always been so unpredictable. It seemed as if she still hadn’t lost that trait.
‘You caught me there. Now, would you brave the dragons and go to my flat or would you like me to book a room in a pub for you?’ I asked her.
‘Oh, I’ll come to your flat. For now, at least. And you’ll be there to protect me, won’t you?’
I laughed again. I had been doing that a lot today, I duly noted.
‘As if you need protection. But if you are too tired, I can Apparate us in front of my building so you’ll just have to climb a couple of stairs. Otherwise, you’ll have to walk for another five miles.’ I looked at her. ‘Do you think you can handle it?’
She glared at me. ‘The knight in the shining armour will be there if the damsel falls in distress, won’t he?’ Saying that, she stalked off past me.
Another Muggle thing. But I knew all the Muggle references because I had taken the subject at Hogwarts.
Smiling, I went after her and soon caught up with her.
We walked on quietly until she started commenting on our surroundings. About how lovely everything was.
The mountains were towering. Rocky and difficult to climb. The peaks used to be covered with snow during winters. The alpine trees on it, tall and straight, and very, very green. There were clear streams flowing, looking like blue, shimmering crystals. Very simple yet quite beautiful.
‘I sometimes come here to be alone,’ I told Adelaide.
‘You’re here in this remote area, and still you feel the need to be completely by yourself sometimes?’ she asked in disbelief.
I nodded my head.
She didn’t say anything but stared at me for some time, trying to read me through. Then she just shook her head and continued walking. But then, I stopped.
‘Okay, Adelaide, jokes aside, I seriously think we should go to my flat on my broomstick. That way, you’ll be able to see the scenery from the air. Neither of us is prepared for a long and weary climb. We can come and hike here later, okay?’
Adelaide looked at the mountains for long. She seemed to be weighing her options. ‘Right. But we fly only till we reach the reserve. Then we go on foot. I want to see some of those pets of yours.’ She grinned.
I agreed without arguing; it would be of no use anyway. And she had listened to part of my plan, after all.
I took out my wand and another piece of wood from my pocket. Pointing my wand to the piece and muttering a spell, I enlarged the wood piece into a broomstick - a Zooming 2250.
‘Impressive,’ Adelaide called from behind. ‘Clearly, you get paid well.’
Zooming 2250 had come out a year back. It was the second best model up to date, and still quite expensive.
‘Hey! I needed this. I’m not playing Quidditch professionally, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten it. I play it with the guys here. But it’s not the same as Hogwarts,’ I explained to her. Then I mounted on the broomstick and motioned her to do the same.
I kicked off in the air when I felt her hands on my shoulders.
‘We could play some day, you and I. A real game,’ she said from behind.
‘You mean Quidditch?’ I asked, flustered.
‘Yes, dimwit,’ she replied back.
‘How long are you staying?’
‘Then I’m not welcome here for long?’ she asked in a would-be offended tone.
‘You know I didn’t mean that.’
‘I know, but checking just in case.’ She laughed. It was close to a giggle, but not a complete one. Adelaide never giggled.
I didn’t reply. I was busy steering the broom in the proper direction.
‘Mmmhmm...’ I heard from behind me.
‘Yes?’
‘Ah, it feels so good! Hair flying in the air, wind hitting my face. Just sitting and feeling.’ She sighed contently.
‘Having a lovely time while I have to do all the hard work,’ I complained.
‘I don’t know for how long I’ll be here. Like I said before, I only have two weeks of vacation in which I plan to get reacquainted with you and also visit my grandparents in France. So, hm, maybe one week here and the second there. I don’t know anything for sure,’ she answered my previous question with another abrupt change in the conversation.
‘Oh, okay. So, would you like to stay at my flat? I have a guest room. It’s small, but I’m sure you’ll do fine,’ I offered. ‘But you should check it yourself first,’ I hurriedly added, unsure now.
‘No, it’s fine. I just need a place to sleep. Even the couch would do. A separate room is a bonus. Thanks!’
‘No problem and we’re almost there.’ I could see smoke, a building and miniature dragons below me.
‘By the way, where’s your luggage?’ I had never seen anything on her except a leather hand bag.
‘Ah, it’s all in here,’ she said. I turned around to face her to see that she was patting the same bag.
I was confused for a moment and then realised. ‘Oh. Oh.’
‘James, look out!’ Adelaide suddenly screamed.
I looked forward and my jaw dropped.
A Chinese Fireball was flying towards us.
Oh, God.