Hogwarts Journeys; Ch. 9-25, To be written! Options

[evlpez]

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[agrippa]

James rapped enthusiastically on the door of Hagrid’s hut. They could hear someone laughing inside, and soon Hagrid himself appeared at the door.

“Yeh got my letter, then?” he said. “Come in, come in! Look who’s ‘ere!”

A bedraggled old man wearing a tattered cloak and hat was sitting at Hagrid’s. His blue, bloodshot eyes twinkled as he looked at the boys.

“Dung!” cried James, running to the man and giving him a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Jus’ dropped in to visit ‘Agrid, I did,” said Mundungus Fletcher.

James frowned. “No, really. What are you here for?”

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your freind?” asked Mundungus slyly.

“Philip McKenzie, meet Mundungus Fletcher,” James said quickly. “Philip’s in my year in Gryffindor. Mundungus is... well... he’s...”

“A friend of his family,” interrupted Mundungus.

“And,” added Hagrid, “a member of the ol’ Order of the Phoenix.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” said Philip doubtfully. As Mundungus stood to shake Philip’s hand, he shook slightly and balanced himself by leaning on the table. Slowly, he sat down again.

“OK, Dung – tell us why you’re really here,” said James. He glanced at Hagrid. “You’re not bringing some illegal creature to Hagrid, are you?”

“Calm yer self, James,” said Hagrid. “Nothing illegal going on here. Well, ‘cept the carpet.” He jerked his thumb at an old oriental rug that was rolled up in the corner of the hut.

“A flying carpet?” said Philip.

“What are you doing with that?” asked James. “You’re going to get in trouble again.”

“Slow down there, Jamesy,” said Mundungus. “Don’ worry about ol’ Mundungus. Besides, I had to use the carpet to get that muggle to the castle.”

“What muggle?” the boys asked simultaneously.

“You ‘aven’t seen any unusual muggles about today?” Mundungus’ face contorted as he suppressed a laugh. The boys started at him blankly.

“No ‘uge muggles running around? I mean, really big ones.”

“You brought Duke’s dad here?” shouted James. “But why?”

“Well, it’s like this. I’m sitting at the Leaky Cauldron ‘aving a drink, I am, when this mad muggle bursts in the door demanding t’ know where ‘Ogwarts is. Keeps going on about his kid being in trouble. I tell ‘im that I’ll take ‘im to ‘Ogwarts if ‘e buys me a Firewhiskey, but he grabs me by my shoulder and starts shaking me. O’ course, wands are all over ‘im in minutes, and that quieted ‘im down a bit. ‘E starts crying about his poor son Duke, and so Tom pour ‘im a drink and asks ‘is name, to cheer ‘im up, like.

“Well, when I ‘ear ‘is name is Dursley, I think to myself, I know that name, don’t I? And in a few minutes it comes to me – this bloke must be yer ol’ dad’s cousin, what used to beat ‘im up when ‘e was a tike. So I thought maybe I’d ‘ave a little fun with the muggle.”

“You didn’t!” said James.

“Oh, no ‘arm done, Jamesy. I did what ‘e wanted, didn’t I? Got ‘im to ‘Ogwarts. But first we went on a few detours. See, I ‘ad to pick up some potion ingredients from a contact in Norway. Oh, the great muggle was angry with me. Threatened to call Magical Law Enforcement, ‘e did. But I flew ‘im through the middle of a few clouds, and that seemed to shut ‘im up for a bit. Didn’t even thank me when we finally got ‘ere.”

“Is Duke in a bit of trouble, James?” asked Hagrid.

“I guess. He was one of the Slytherins who cheated on Prof. Longbottom’s exam,” explained James.

“Lucky he wasn’t expelled, then,” said Hagrid.

“Yeah,” said James gloomily. “Sure would have made my life easier, though.”

“Now, Jamesy,” said Mundungus. “You’ve got to ‘ave some folk around who keep your life interesting. That’s what I do for the Ministry.” He laughed, but soon it turned into a deep cough.

“Dung,” said James, “are you OK?”

“O’ course. Jus’ a bit of a cold from all that fancy flying,” said Mundungus, taking a swig from a flask he kept in his cloak pocket. “Now, sit down and tell me about your year so far.”

James and Philip sat down at the table while Hagrid poured them tea. They told Mundungus all about Duke and the other Slytherins, about their classes, and about their professors, especially Professor Jacobson.

“Jacobson?” said Mundungus. “Never ‘eard of ‘im. Oh, I’d love to see ol’ Lockhart, though. He was such a stuck-up pretty boy in the ol’ days.”

Hagrid glanced up at the clock above the back door. “Near time fer supper. You two should get back ter the castle.”

“Aren’t you and Mundungus going to come to dinner?” asked Philip.

“Nah,” smiled Hagrid. “We’re goin’ down ter the Hogshead, now that they’ve let Dung back in.”

The four stood up, and James gave Mundungus another hug. “Good to see you, Dung. Stay out of trouble, will you?”

“O’ course. Tell your dad and mum I says ‘ello.”

The sun was setting behind the castle as the boys ran across the lawn to the front doors to join the rest of the students in the great hall.