Chapter 10: And so the Rebellion Begins...
It ended up that James' nose had been busted, two ribs cracked, a wrist
sprained, and a lung punctured. Madam Pomfrey had been able to fix it all,
fortunately, but she recomended that he stay over a few days to see that he
was alright. By the time he had gotten out, they had only two days of
vacation left.
Harry, Ron, and Hermoine were there immediately outside of infirmirary to
greet him, along with Dumbledore. The three had explained to Dumbledore what
happened to James immediately after Dumbledore had come out of the
infirmirary. Dumbledore had shooken his head and clucked about how he hadn't
been able to see, even though he should have.
James walked out slowly from the doors, back in his regular robes. He looked
tired, and his lips were thin. He looked to them, but said nothing. Hermoine
wrapped him in a hug, one which he didn't return.
"Glad you are better Quaxo." Dumbledore said quietly.
"Same here, the dorm isn't the same without you." Ron said in a soft tone.
"We've missed you." Harry with a small smile. James stared at them, then as
tears welled up in his eyes, he looked away, shaking his head. He looked up
at them after a moment, and Harry noticed the redness around James' eyes,
showing that he'd done a lot of crying.
"Thanks..." He said hoarsely. "I'm really tired right now, and I just want
to sleep." He mumbled before walking off, his shoulders hunched. Dumbledore
sighed.
"That boy's got a lot to recover from. He's been shown that he's got a whole
family he's never known, and he's been punished unjustly for that discovery.
Give him time." Dumbledore said sadly before walking off into a dark hall
that would most probably lead to his office. Harry shrugged and they headed
off to the Gryffindor main room.
James had become more of a recluse, and hardly ever came out of the room
except to eat and use the bathroom. He spoke to no one, not even when he was
spoken to. He sat in his bed and constantly read his text books. They'd all
done their homework early so they'd be free for the rest of vacation. Harry
and Ron had decided to give him some space and did not bother him too much.
Then classes started up once again, and the halls were crowded with students
once more. James still hadn't returned to normal.
It was late Wednesday night, during the first week of the second semester,
and the third year Gryffindors were heading to the top of the fourth tower,
which was the tallest, for star gazing under the supervision of Prof.
McGonagall, and charting the stars. Everyone was shivering under their
cloaks, except for James, who didn't wear one, and seemed perfectly fine.
James was in the far back, and Harry had decided to walk alongside him.
James looked grimmer than usual today, his green eyes hard, and his fingers
clutched tightly into fists. His long telescope was slung across his back.
The telescope was rather old and heavy, most probably bought at a second
hand shop, since it was rather grimy and the metal knobs dented and some
were missing. Finally they arrived at the top and got the final two wooden
telescope perches.
James set up his telescope numbly, not particularly interested in the stars.
The stars reminded him of home, what it was and what it should have been. He
shook his head, and pulled out his quill, ink, and scroll and began to draw
sketches of constellations and their coordinates. There was a faint glimmer
and James leaned in closer into his eyeglass to get a better look, and then
much to his suprise the stand slid forward on the ice. The front leg caught
on a brick and the other two legs bucked upwards, pulling the telescope down
over the edge, James along with it. He was half way down before he realized
he was falling, it had happened so quickly. He wouldn't be able to turn over
in time either. He tried to scream, but as soon as he'd opened his mouth it
snapped back shut as he hit the ground, his head hitting the unburied stone
walkway.
Harry was fully engrossed in sketching Draco (despite the fact it was
Malfoy's first name. Harry reasoned it wasn't the constellation's fault.)
When he heard a clatter beside him, a silent moment then a loud thud. Harry
pulled away from his telescope, which was mounted on one of the permanent
stands on top of the tower and looked beside him to see that no one was
there. But James had been there a moment ago, Harry was sure. Getting
concerned he peered over the edge.
"Professor McGonagall come quick!" He shouted. Professor McGonagall stormed
over.
"What is it Harry that you must..." She said darkly, then saw what he saw
and gasped. There, halfway into the snow, half in the cleared stone walkway,
lay James, sprawled on his back, not moving. "Stay here students!" She
barked as she ran to the entrance, grabbed her broom and took off. Soon
everyone was crowded around Harry peering at Professor McGonagall, who had
lifted the limp James into her arms and had ran off.
"Do you think he jumped? I've heard of people doing that when they're
upset." Neville asked. Harry glared at him.
"James was in shock, something happened, which I won't repeat, but he
wouldn't do something that drastic." Ron snapped, but Harry could tell from
the look in his eyes that it was exactly what he was thinking.
"Why would he? He has a home with his parents." Harry said softly. It
wouldn't make sense for James to jump, he could go visit his parents in the
summer, instead of staying with the Jellicle tribe. He should have been
elated that he had parents that were living. And what of the clatter that
he'd heard? He looked up to the stand and noticed for the first time that
the tripod stand was leaning over the edge of the castle, barely held to the
castle by the front leg which was jammed inbetween some loose mortar. And
he'd held James' telescope before, it was heavy, and one you had to have a
tight grip on. He also noticed that James' telescope was missing. "He
couldn't have jumped, he fell. He was looking through his telescope, and the
stand gave out and knocked him off the tower, it must have happened so fast
that he didn't have time to scream, or he was too shocked to." Harry
announced pointing to broken stand.
"Harry's right. It makes sense." Hermoine announced, and everyone nodded
their heads in agreement, since Hermoine was hardly ever wrong.
Professor McGonagall kicked the door to the infirmirary loudly, while
shifting James' light form in her arms. He still hadn't moved, and he was
barely breathing. Madam Pomfrey swung open the door, looking irritable and
her hair up in magical curlers. She took one look at James and groaned.
"Lordy me, it was not five days ago that he was brought in here. Bring him
in, quick Professor." She sighed. Professor McGonagall entered and Pomfrey
ushered her to a medical examination table. "What happened?" She barked.
"Fell off the astrology tower, at least he hit some of the snow." Professor
McGonagall whispered. "I've got to go." She said before dashing back to the
observation tower.
James indeed had fallen because of the faulty tripod, which he'd confirmed
after he woke up the next morning. He'd broken his arm, and had hit his head
rather hard, so Madam Pomfrey had decided to keep him over until Saturday
morning to make sure he wasn't 'funny in the head' as she said. It was
Friday afternoon, and Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors were off for the
weekend, and he, Ron and Hermoine decided to go visit James and give him his
homework. As they arrived however, they found Professor Dumbledore waiting
in the hall.
"You hurt Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked immediately. Dumbledore shook
his head and Harry noticed that he was grinning.
"No, I just was leading the Baileys to the infirmary. They appeared quite
suddenly in my study asking anxiously where their son was."
"Who are the Baileys?" Ron asked.
"Quaxo's parents." He pointed inside the door where they saw James,
Grizabella, and Macavity sitting beside each other on the bed talking softly
between themselves.
Grizabella and Macavity stood. "See you this summer Quaxo." She said softly
before kissing him on the cheek. All three wore grins to their ears, which
was saying a lot because their ears were on the top of their heads. Macavity
ruffled James' hair and together they walked out, leaving James to recover.
"It's been a pleasure meeting you Mr. Bill and Anna Bailey." Dumbledore said
kindly.
"Thank you for letting us see our son." Anna said grinning at all four of
them, causing the three to blush. "But we must be going, a rebellion to
plan you know." She said cheekily and they both disappeared in a haze of red
sparkles.
The next morning, James appeared in the dining hall, grinning and walking
with a slight bounce in his step as he went to eat breakfast. Everything
seemed to have returned to normal. He went over to sit with Harry.
"Hey! Nice morning is it not?" He asked, honest cheer in his voice. Harry
smiled slightly and nodded. "Sorry about the way I was acting... it was just
a real shock, and it took me some time to get over it, although I think the
fall might have helped." He said softly, extremely appologetic.
"Well what do you guys want to do?" Hermoine asked after she pushed her bowl
away. Harry and James shrugged.
"We could play in the snow and attack first year Hufflepuffs by rolling
snowballs at their feet, that'd make them jumpy." Ron snickered.
"Oooh... and give it a voice too! I pretty good at throwing my voice, make
it talk to them." James giggled.
"Boys..." Hermoine sighed as she rolled her eyes. "You're not supposed to
tease them like that!" She said harshly.
"We won't tease them, no... we won't do anything, just frighten them away
from a certain pathway." Ron snickered evilly.
"Nah... they'd catch on. Hufflepuffs are gullible yes, but they aren't
stupid. How about we go see Hagrid?" Harry suggested. James looked away for
a moment.
"I forgot to check something in the dorm, you guys go without me okay?"
James said before getting up abruptly and leaving. The three stared at his
back before shrugging. James for some reason didn't like to see Hagrid for
long periods of time, and when Hagrid came over to them at their table,
James acted like he'd rather be somewhere else. However they could never
figure out why.
Thromping through the snow, the three beat upon Hagrid's door, close to the
Forbidden Forrest. There was the barking of Fang, and Hagrid's flat footed
steps before the door was swung open.
"Come in 'ere Ron Harry, Her'moine." Hagrid said cheerfully, his black eyes
dancing playfully under his mass of mussy black hair and beard. The three
entered, grateful to get out of the cold. Fang bounded up to them and
eagerly licked them all on the face, before he returned to his basket by the
fire. Hagrid pulled out a teapot and set it over the fire, and placed a box
of his famous toffees in front of them. They broke off little bits and began
to suck slowly on the sweet treats, which were hard enough to break your
teeth if you bit into them at first.
"So... 'ow di' da Shellicle ball go?" Hagrid asked as he began pulling
chipped mugs from his cabinent. The three stared at him in amazement. "Wha?
I knew yas were goin to da ball. Dumbledore tol' me mos' of 'is trip dere,
cept ow to git dere an' wha' dey di' for a livin. 'E knows oi loike new
creat'ures an' dose Shellicles sure aren inter'esting lot, judgin' by dat
James fella." Hagrid bubbled as he poured the steaming water into their mugs
and added the tea bags.
"Actually we found them not to be so pleasant." Hermoine muttered.
"Considering the leader almost killed James after he asked who his parents
were." She said gravely.
"Oh, dats 'orrible! Don' know 'im well, bu' 'e's so shor' tha' I suspiscion
tha' anyone coul' 'urt 'im iffins dey wan'ed too. So 'ows school goin'?"
Hagrid asked, politely changing the subject, something the three of them
were glad of, the whole thing was an uncomfortable subject, considering the
whole place was now in civil war.
They left for Hogwarts about noon, because Hagrid had to take care of Fluffy
who had a kennel outside inside the Forbidden Forrest. As they stomped up
the stairs and entered the Gryffindor common room, they found Percy stomping
around angrily, apparently waiting for them, for as soon as he saw them he'd
rounded in on him.
"Those bloody friends of James!" He snapped at them. "Will you please tell
your roomate that guests are not allowed in Hogwarts unless it's an
emergency, and that they most certainly not allowed inside dorm rooms!" He
squawked.
"What happened?" Harry asked, totally confused.
"I was sitting here in the main room when all of the sudden all these cat
people show up, nine of them, demanding that I tell them where James was.
James came down the staircase and immediately they told him that they had to
speak to him in private and dragged him off to the dorm room and locked the
door." Percy scowled, before jerking his head to Neville who was waiting
patiently on one of the steps. "I can't get in, I've even tried using magic
and force! You talk to him." Percy barked. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine looked
at each other. Why would the rebels come here? And two were missing, there
were supposed to be eleven of them. Some must have stayed behind to hold
down the fort. But what could they want with James? Maybe there was a threat
against him and they wanted to bring him back home where they could
guarentee he'd be safe.
"Alright Percy, we'll see what's going on, don't get your robes in a bunch."
Ron muttered. The three climbed up the staircase and reached the door that
said 'Third Years'. They knocked heavily on the door. There was the sound
and the door swung open to reveal Mungojerrie, his normally cheerful face
somber.
"What's going on, my brother's gnashing his teeth downstairs." Ron asked
immediately.
"Let em in Mungo." Came a scottish accent that could only come from
Skimbleshanks. "It's their room also, we shouldn't have locked it up." He
sighed, sounding depressed, which was different for the normally perky
railway cat. Harry, Ron and Hermoine entered and then their ears caught the
sobbing. On James' bed was a circle of multi-colored fur. Red and black
could only be Electra, black and gold would be Jemima, white and gray was
Etcetera, cream and gold had to Jellylorum, and red and gold was guarenteed
to Bombalurina, and yellow black and red had to be Rumpelteazer. They were
all huddled over a smaller black figure, James. All of their shoulders were
shaking, and they were the source of the crying. There was a wail and James
fell backwards on to bed, yanking his ears down harshly with clutched fists.
Jellylorum and Bombalurina quickly pulled his gripped hands off his ears and
sat him back upright.
"What happened?" Harry asked Alonzo. Alonzo shook his head and looked close
to joining the group of Queens around James.
"Grizabella... and Macavity, they're dead. They were ambushed on their way
back from visiting James." He said in a choked voice. Harry, Ron and
Hermoine gasped. Harry couldn't imagine how James felt at this moment, but
he knew the feeling of a void of having parents he would never really get to
know. They were about to go over and appologize to James when someone else
spoke.
"What's all this racket?" Percy barked loudly. Alonzo growled loudly.
"Oh shut it, I don't give a snot about your stupid rules! Have some mercy on
the boy, he just lost his parents!" Alonzo snapped, glaring hatefully at
Percy. Percy had after this sentance whitened incredibly and turned on his
heel and tottered away in shock, whether it had been the fact that he'd just
been yelled at or out of realization of his own callousness, Harry didn't
know. Just then Jellylorum stood.
"We've got to be going James, we've got to keep your parents' cause alive.
But if you need anything, you know where to find us, at the old convertible.
Just remember the password okay?" She said softly, enveloping him in a tight
hug, tears still trickling down her face. James nodded, seemingly unable of
speech at the moment. Bombalurina hugged him next, followed by Electra,
Rumpelteazer, and Etcetera who were all teary eyed. Jemima, being smaller
than James held his chest tightly, and said in her high voice.
"Your mama and papa were a good Jellicles, always remember that, James." She
said between sobs. The three Jellicle males patted James on the back before
they gathered together and disappeared in a haze of silver mist. James sat
there with his back to them, still crying, and clutching a pillow close to
his chest. Slowly they approached him.
"I'm sorry James, we all are." Harry said speaking for them all, who were
shaking their heads.
"T... th... thanks y... y... you guys..." James blubbered. "I... I... I'm
s... s... s... s... sorry they l... l... l... locked you out."
"No, Percy's being a git and an idiot, which he is most of the time. It's
okay." Ron assured.
"Y... y... you're g... g... g... good f... f... frien...friends t... to
have... c... call... me Q... Q... Quaxo p... p... please? Y... you... you've
helped... me... s... s... s... so much, b... but n... n... n... now I... I
just want... to be.... al... alone, o...kay?" He said between choked wails.
Harry felt incredibly trusted, if James would give them his second name,
they'd only heard of four people that called Quaxo by name with his
permission. Dumbledore, Mungojerrie, Rumpelteazer and Munkustrap, although
they weren't sure about him. They nodded.
"Sure." Hermoine said sympathetically Quaxo crawled on his knees and drew
the replaced velvet curtains shut. The three of them stepped respectfully
out of room and let him be for now.
Chapter Twelve: Possesion
Quaxo appeared Monday morning in the breakfast hall, looking like death on a
bad day. His face was gaunt and drawn, and dark bags hung under his eyes, as
if he hadn't slept at all. Which he probably hadn't. He also hadn't eaten,
or come out from his bed. He sat down stiffly at the Gryffindor table and
ate without interest his cereal. After barely eating half of it, he'd thrown
the rest of it away and sat waiting for classes to start.
Quaxo couldn't wait for class to start, so he could get away from his own
problems, which were taunting him like a plague. School work would help him
get away from that. Then he class bell screeched and he stood along with the
rest of the school, and started heading to class.
Harry stayed near Quaxo, as emotional support to show he was there. They
were halfway down to History, when they heard dark laughter.
"As I was saying," Came Malfoy's clear and detestable voice. "I saw this
ugly woman, wrinkles all over her face, in tattered clothing, not at all
proper looking for this school. And the man accompanying her, he was even
worse, his hair sticking out everywhere, in ratty Muggle jeans. And you know
what, they looked like James' people." Malfoy sneered. Quaxo froze and
turned on his heel. Harry turned and watched, making a show of it by pulling
Ron off with him so Quaxo would be even with Malfoy's goons. "So, James, do
you know an ugly gray cat woman and a ratty looking red cat man? I swear if
I looked like them I would have killed myself." Malfoy said loudly. Next to
Harry, Quaxo was fuming, his ears slicked back, and smoke curling out from
under his feet. His wand was clutched tightly at his side as he glared
needles at Malfoy. Harry honestly didn't know what to do.
"Malfoy, shut up, we've got to get to class." Harry snapped.
"Leave him be Malfoy." Ron barked.
"Oh, are Potter and Weasly sticking up for the Mudblood?" Malfoy sneered as
Goyle and Crabbe guffawed, and Ron and Harry began to fume also. Malfoy
turned back to James. "So do you know those two animals, I believe they
stole my watch." Malfoy said condescendingly and shoved Quaxo's shoulder.
Not a sound came out of Quaxo. Then there was a loud snap as his wand
exploded into a thousand pieces, spraying wood bits on the floor. Then Quaxo
pounced. He jumped on Malfoy, knocking him to the floor and began to punch
him wildly across the face, shrieking like a banshee. Crabbe and Goyle stood
stunned, while Malfoy yelped and squirmed trying to get out of Quaxo's
grasp. Quaxo did not relent, and Harry could see glimpses of tears streaming
down his face. Ron had tried to pull Quaxo off of Malfoy, but Quaxo either
didn't care, or was out of his mind at the time, because he jerked Ron off
and continued single-mindedly beating the snot out of Malfoy.
"Quaxo! Come off of him, he isn't worth getting expelled!" Harry shouted as
he grabbed onto Quaxo's tail and began yanking on it.
"What's going on here!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "James Q. Bailey, get
off of Mr. Malfoy this instant." Quaxo didn't seem to hear.
"He can't hear you Professor." Ron offered. "We've tried pulling him off
twice, and it doesn't seem to work." Professor McGonagall raised her wand.
"Petrificus Totalus!" She shouted loudly pointing her wand at Quaxo. Harry
was familiar with the charm. It was called a Body Bind, for good reason.
Quaxo froze immediately, and his hands snapped to his sides. Professor
McGonagall huffed a sigh and pulled the bloody Malfoy to his feet. "Get up
Malfoy." She hissed. She looked down at Quaxo, who was on his knees. He
didn't even look up at her, which was a good thing, Harry thought, because
it would only infuriate her more if he tried to appear helpless and
innocent. "You're going to stay like that for a few moments until you cool
off, and then you're going to Dumbledore, you hear me?" She snapped. "Who
started this and why?" She growled.
"I was just talking to my friends, Professor when he turned on me, like a
wild animal..." Malfoy said, acting totally shocked and innocent.
"Quiet Malfoy. Harry, Ron, what did you see?" She barked.
"Malfoy was saying rather nasty remarks about James' parents, m'am." Ron
said clearly, sending a hateful glare to Malfoy. "We told him to stop, but
Malfoy refused. Malfoy kept pushing it and finally James jumped him and
started punching." He said, seeming appologetic that he couldn't help
Quaxo's case without releasing his private information. Harry looked over to
Quaxo, to see tears streaming down his frozen face, it looked like a statue
crying. McGonagall sighed and gave the counter curse to the body bind. Quaxo
stood, his head ducked and staring to the floor, his face still seemingly
bound. "You two follow me, and don't even look at each other, or I'll turn
you both into toads. Potter, Weasly, Goyle, Crabbe, you come with us, you're
witnesses." McGonagall hissed before marching off. Harry and Ron stood on
each side of Quaxo, while Goyle and Ron did the same to Malfoy.
They arrived at the wall which was covered in gargoyles and Professor
McGonagall shouted the password, 'wool socks' and the door opened. They
entered the main room, which was large and had all sorts of interesting
instruments on the bookshelves, and portaits of sleeping Headmasters of days
past. Dumbledore was seated at his desk with his back to the window.
Immediately afterwards, Harry recognized the second figure seated in front
of Dumbledore's desk. It was Mr. Malfoy, Draco Malfoy's father. Dumbledore
looked up immediately, and seemed somewhat relieved for the interruption,
until he saw Draco.
"Yes, Professor McGonagall?" He asked in his soft kind voice.
"Professor Dumbledore, I found these two fighting in the halls." She snapped
dragging the both of them in front of her by their forearms. Draco looked
chagrined that his father was there, and so did Mr. Malfoy, only that his
son was in trouble. Quaxo however looked like he'd drifted off into another
world, his head was cocked at an odd angle and his eyes seemed glassy. If it
hadn't been for the fact that Quaxo's white hand was covered splotches of
red and Malfoy had a bloody nose, Harry wouldn't have been able to guess
who'd done what.
"I see, well it's fortunate that Mr. Malfoy's father is here. Take the rest
of the boys to class, I shall talk to them later if need be, Professor, I
think I shall only need these two for now. Young Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Bailey,
please have a seat." He said, his voice still soft, although Harry could see
he was disappointed in Quaxo, from the way his light blue eyes had changed.
They were ushered out and Harry took one last anxious look to Dumbledore's
shut doors, wondering what was going to happen in there, before they turned
a corner and it disappeared from view.
"Now, Draco, please tell me what happened." Dumbledore said firmly. Draco
cleared his throat, looked nervously to his father for a moment before
looking directly into Professor Dumbledore's eyes.
"Sir, I was walking back from breakfast, headed to class, minding my own
buisness as I walked with my friends, when James here, turned around,
smashed his wand and began to attack me visciously. I dare say so sir, but
he's an animal, and shouldn't be here." He said, sounding shocked and
horrified. There was a clatter as Quaxo's chair flew back as he jumped to
his feet.
"Vela esu!!" He shouted angrily. "Bathow vela esu Draco Malfoy! Esplatdod
jash, garago, daseeda eppa caragot!" He screamed, both Malfoy's pulled back
from the furious creature that stood before him, even though he barely came
up to their shoulders. He heaved a deep breath, and seemed to sadden
greatly. " Ens Retustou soriptdid apgurl en gasutut, Mr. Malfoy..." He said
in a more rational voice. "...Gestatu velle pasada enda masada gurst dice
flagur hessa." He said in a normal tone, his voice cracking as he fell back
into his seat, tears streaming down his face. Mr. Malfoy glared coldly at
the weeping Quaxo, who'd pulled his knees up to his chest, and buried his
face in his arms. Only Dumbledore seemed saddened by what Quaxo had spouted.
"Dumbledore, you've gotten much looser on your restrictions to get into
Hogwarts, this one's insane." Mr. Malfoy snarled. Dumbledore shook his head.
"No, Mr. Malfoy, James Bailey here, is from the land of Jellicle, and a very
talented student." Dumbledore objected in a slightly stronger voice.
"But that language he was spouting, it could have been a curse!" Mr. Malfoy
hissed. Dumbledore shook his head again.
"No, that's Jellickese, the language of his people." He turned to Quaxo.
"Now Mr. Bailey, will you please give me your side of the story, in english
for Mr. Malfoy?" He asked softly. Quaxo looked up and sniffed.
"Y... yes... I... I... I want t... t... t... to appolo... appologize t...
t... to you Prof... fessor. I di... di... did attack Malfoy. He c... c...
called muh... my mother... an... an fa... fa... father th... theive...
theives, an... tha... that if... he'd... he'd looked like... like them
sir... he'd have killed himself." Quaxo stuttered before taking another deep
breath. "My p... p... p... parents... whom I've j... j... just been re...
united with... were k... k... killed s... s... sir, m... mur... dered on
the... their w... w... way b.. b... b... back from s... s... seeing me
t...t...two d... d... days a... ago. I l... l... lost m... m... my con...
t... t... trol after Malfoy m... m... made th... that comment a... ab...
about them..." He said, his voice a scratchy whisper before he broke down
again. Dumbledore handed him a handkerchief, and Quaxo took it gratefully.
"So, Mr. Malfoy, what do you suggest I do? James is a good student, with
high marks, and has just admitted that he indeed did attack your son.
However your son let loose a rather cruel remark, and it so happened that
his parents were recently murdered. Now Draco couldn't have known, but James
obviously was still grieving for his parents and was irrational when your
son made the comment that he did." Dumbledore said in his soft voice. Malfoy
glared back at Dumbledore.
"It isn't my job to decide punishment, Dumbledore, it's yours." Malfoy
hissed contemptuously. Dumbledore leaned back into his chair with a soft
smile on his face.
"Good, then you won't argue with me as I give punishment as I see fit. Draco
Malfoy, I find that you indeed as innocent as you seem, although if you'd
told me the straight truth this might have been a lot easier, therefore I
deduct only five points from Slytherin, and let you off with the warning to
watch your tongue. Mr. Bailey, I find that you truly were not in your right
mind when you attacked Mr. Malfoy out of grief, therefore I shall deduct no
points from Gryffindor." Both Malfoys looked ready to object to that but
Dumbledore continued. "However you did attack Mr. Malfoy, and therefore you
must be punished." Quaxo nodded in understandment. "Therefore after classes
end today, I want you to go work for Mr. Filch, I'm sure he'll have
something for you to do." Quaxo nodded again. "Now that this matter has been
solved, Mr. Malfoy go to the infirmary and have Madam Pomfrey look at your
nose, and James go to your dorm and cool off, you should not have come to
school in your condition. I'll instruct your prefect to bring you some
lunch. Now, Mr. Malfoy, even though I enjoy our instersesting discussion on
school policy, from a parent's view, I must go now, and so I believe you
know the way out." Dumbledore said softly, before standing. They all took
their cue to leave, however Dumbledore held Quaxo back.
"I'm sorry for what's happened, Quaxo. And I realize you must be going
through a difficult time, so I hope you understand why I've had to punish
you."
"I do Professor, and I truly deserve worse, and I thank you for the mercy
you have shown me." Quaxo said hoarsely before walking out the doors,
leaving Dumbledore staring at his retreating back.
Chapter 11
