Chapter 11: 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 coo
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 m
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.
