The Dinner
¤ ¤ ¤
Leaning against a stone wall in the corridor to the dungeond Orion nervously ran his hand through his hair since his mother passed he had not taken care of his hair so even the shortest strands now reached over his shoulders, he felt even more anxious when his jacket made a lot noise, he blushed thinking everyone could hear. When Janna came down the stairs, he calmed down and stopped moving, seeing her walking was at least one thing he did not have to worry about...
"Yer bonne lookin'" Orion grinned, wrapping an arm over her shoulder "no pienk jumper?"
"No... this is a dinner, I'm sure a pink, linty jumper wouldn't do" Janna chuckled, walking with Orion into the Potions classroom.
Janna would not say the room was a classroom after she saw it now, she would say this was a hall for eating in, there was a theme of flowers and Spring, there were long white lilies, pink radial camellias, drooping fires of nasturtiums and glowing white roses. The room was warm with a sweet smell, mellow with a dim orange light that made the drapery seem to glow with its own warm amber light.
Soon as Janna and Orion stepped through the door two people jumped at them with a flower, the boy who put the white anemone in Janna's hair smiled gingerly when he saw the saw scar under Janna's chin, when Janna was allowed to see Orion again he had a neon blue cornflower in the breast button of his jacket.
"Ah, Miss Black, Mister Cintola, right on time!" Slughorn greeted clutching the two with a square tumbler of vivid scarlet liquor, Janna could smell the alcohol from a few feet away as he hobbled toward the pair "I see you have been acquainted with your flowers!" Slughorn presented his drooping white flower in the breast pocket of his tweed waistcoat "Chamomile, the symbol of energy in adversity, Orion, you should know what yours represents"
Orion looked at the blue flower on his jacket "A cornflower, the bachelor's button, funny"
"Oh, yes, yes indeed, I selected the flowers personally" Slughorn spieled, unable to sense the sarcasm in Orion's voice, the large man turned his blue to Janna "The anemone, swift as the wind—how are your extra studies coming along with McGonagall, Miss Black? I heard you were quite beat up after your last lesson"
Janna pursed her lips, having to lie "Yes, I only got nicked by the spell we were practising, nothing too bad sir"
"Outstanding! Well, I better entertain out new arrivals" Slughorn said, moving past Orion "Welcome, Potter" Janna looked over her shoulder to see Albus, thankfully he did not see her while a white haired girl put a purple hyacinth on his blazer.
"C'mon, let's git seats far from ol' Sluggy" Orion murmured moving to the table while taking Janna's arm. "I don't think we should sit" Janna said jerking her head to the empty table, soon they both spotted the name places "Oh Merlin" Janna murmured soon Orion rushed to her side "Gads, yu're sittin' next to Potter" Orion muttered, Janna shrugged, pointing to the other name next to hers "Oh, I'm sittin' on the other side"
Janna rolled her shoulders, feeling the muscles in her back ache.
A small bell rang, a light ting-a-ling ting-a-ling twinkled through the air with this Slughorn caught everyone's attention "The dinner service will begin" there were about six students at this dinner, Laura was definitely there since she was in a striking scarlet cloak.
Awkwardly Albus and Orion came to Janna's sides as they stood behind their allocated seats, Janna glanced at Albus then Orion. Orion moved first gently moving her seat so she could sit down, Albus snuck a glare at Orion who caught him so he grinned mockingly.
Soon the table was bubbling with conversation, starting from Slughorn's left, thankfully Janna, Orion and Albus were sat right across from Slughorn who watched them specifically with gooseberry eyes, curiosity was ticking in his eyes as his eyes moved back and forth from each of the heads one at a time. A second year, Katherine Regetta enjoyed her charms, planning on becoming a textbook writer and a experimenter of new and obscure spells, Slughorn praised her for the protégé she had become to Professor Flitwick, congratulating her experience and position in the field of charms.
The next person caught Janna's attention, one Alexandra Cote, a sixth year who clung to a goblet that reeked of some sort of alcohol but the liquid inside was only pumpkin juice so she must have snuck something into her glass, much to Janna's advantage, she used her wand under the table to increase the amount alcohol as the girl drunk the other beverage.
Alexandra responded to Slughorn's question on her movements this year on a special field of transfiguration, she hiccoughed before answering "Excuse me" she put a hand on her lips "I'm currently trying to relocate a Graphorn, a violent bull who had actually raided a town called Thimbleton, about north from Hogsmead—Hic—oh excuse me, this bull is the lucky number one of an experiment. I have been preparing a tapestry to contain the Graphorn, like how portraits hold a dead person's soul, but this time—!" Alexandra raised her goblet merrily "we will be able to trap the Graphorn within the tapestry, it won't be dead but alive!"
"Where is this Graphorn? I haven't seen one roaming the Forbidden Forest when searching for flubberworms" Slughorn explained, Alexandra snorted and took a swig of her tinted drink.
"Pfft, the creature is inside the castle, a cave that was created during the war, there are other things like a weird crystal-ball-thing with a bird in it, I think it might be a prophecy thingy from the Room of Requirements or something—the Graphorn is safely stored in there like that ball" Alexandra leaned to the first years and patronisingly muttered "don't worry, the beasty is chained up so it can't hurt you"
"By any chance can I harvest some elements from this Graphorn? Or will your experiment require the beast to be whole?" Slughorn inquired, Alexandra shrugged, putting her goblet down and leaning back drunkly.
"Take what you need, horns, whiskers, teeth even! Just no internals, please, he needs to live to preserve him for breeding" Alexandra shrugged, fingering the fluffy pink camellia in her jacket pocket.
While Orion spoke Janna thought to herself, Harry had said implied that the Cite was hidden in plain sight, she had seen a tapestry that hid a hole in the wall a few times while going to charms, possibly since the dead to be unable to move into the tapestry was a plan to make sure they did not see the Graphorn bull guarding the Cite.
Janna had to answer boring questions about herself and Orion, the potions duo, Janna sensed Albus' dislike when Slughorn mentioned this nickname he had created for Janna and Orion. Inquiring the extra lessons Janna had to improvise, she explained there being a combination of a few years advanced transfiguration techniques taught by McGonagall while she also learnt some Dark Arts, Albus was soon blended into the conversation when she mentioned Professor Potter's subject.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro