Year Three - Chapter Twelve

Halloween arrived.

My whole body was tense for no reason whatsoever, but I reckoned that it was a filthy lie, and my subconscious knew it. Bad stuff happened on Halloween. While I had solved everything, I couldn't help the tickling sensation that no, everything hadn't been solved. The ministry knew Pettigrew was an Animagus, and they had taken precautions against future escape by Animagus from Azkaban's prison.

There was no way he'd escape. There was no way anything bad would happen. I began to relax through the day, and as the Halloween feast went into full swing, I cheered up noticeably.

It was good to be free of worries.

What wasn't good was the large dragon statue in my Room of Requirements, baring its teeth in my direction whenever I walked in.

"All right," I said. "We got you to bare teeth and growl. Now we need to get you to move."

Making a Gargoyle sentient was actually the last stage in a very complex set of charms that could easily be learned, but the proper application of them required more than simple wand-waving. If one wanted the gargoyle able to blink, one had to charm the individual eyelids to open and close at a command from a central charm, settled somewhere within the golem's frame.

Basically, it was like connecting magical wiring through a body to the central processing unit, only the CPU was magic, the wires were magic, and every single nerve connection and extremity had to be carefully inserted within the rock body with utter care and calm, incredible precision, and sometimes even strokes of luck.

"Right foot, left foot," I muttered, "Right foot, left foot." I took a few hesitant steps, on all fours, trying to get the motions that I'd then need the Gargoyle to replicate. If I also wanted it to run, I'd need to insert even more wiring, but for the time being, having it able to walk would be useful enough.

"Threatening glare?" I asked, watching the gargoyle go through the half-narrow eyelids and baring teeth protocol, "Good." I passed a hand through my hair, utterly pleased with my progress. I needed pet projects to survive and avoid practicing Dark and Forbidden Arts, I reckoned.

A cauldron bubbled in the background. Pepperup potion was needed to have the Gargoyle breathe fire on a continuous basis, and I couldn't have a dragon statue without the ability to breathe fire. I didn't know why a simple potion on curing common cold would give magical statues the ability to breathe fire, but I wasn't going to complain about it.

What I was going to complain about was the sudden influx of visitors into my workshop.

"Mister Umbrus," Professor Flitwick said, surprising even me as he appeared through the door. I hadn't set the Room to keep out the professors, but merely the students. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Uhm...creating a Gargoyle?" I answered, puzzled as I pulled myself out from beneath the stone dragon. "Is something the matter, professor?"

"Oh, nothing's the matter at all," the head of Ravenclaw house said with a cheer, moving closer and analyzing the gargoyle critically. "Just wished to tell you that you have received permission to visit Hogsmeade," he continued, tapping with his wand on the dragon's snout. The stone creature growled ever so slightly, "It's getting along quite nicely, I'd say," he continued. "What are you planning to do with it, Mister Umbrus?"

"Extra credit," I answered.

"Ah," professor Flitwick said, "You do realize you have, once more, fixed the house points. Isn't it meaningless?"

"Professor," I answered, "I'm not doing it for the extra house points. I'm doing it for the extra credit I can set in my curricula once I'm out of Hogwarts and looking for a job. Can create Gargoyles is bound to land me a job somewhere, no?"

The professor's eyes twinkled with barely held back amusement. "Ah, Mister Umbrus, I'd give you points for the wisdom of your words. It's saddening that you not only had to be wise, but also set on equality for the students. Ravenclaw might have won the House Cup for a few years if that hadn't been true."

I shrugged. "It's just a cup, professor," I muttered, "What I find silly is how people seem to lose their reasoning when it comes to the House cup and the Quidditch cup, so-"

"Mister Umbrus," professor Flitwick spoke seriously, "It will be a cold day in Gringotts' depths before I allow the Quidditch cup to become a friendly sport and no longer a competitive one," his eyes were those of the duelist ready to turn me into a pincushion for curses and hexes.

"Why are you all like this!?" I exclaimed in disbelief, "It's just a sport!"

"It's the sport par excellence, Mister Umbrus," professor Flitwick said. "Still, keep in mind that Gargoyles' sense of balance is something they must acquire by themselves, and not something that needs to be charmed into them." He turned to leave, "And be careful not to underestimate its weight. It is still rock solid stone, thus ensure you can levitate it away should it attempt to crush you."

"Understood, professor," I answered, watching the diminutive professor leave.

He had barely left that the door didn't even close, but swung open with a sharp bang. An out of breath, red on the face Hermione Granger pointed a trembling finger in my direction. "It's rude to seal the entrance of a public room!" she proclaimed loudly, as if doing an Objection out of a lawyer-like setting. She had her books in hand, and a backpack slung over her shoulder with even more homework. As if she owned the place, she strutted in and took a seat by the large desk which had seen me scribble my own homework down.

"It's also rude to enter without knocking," I pointed out, sighing in disbelief as I returned beneath my Gargoyle for finer tuning.

"You don't knock when you step inside a library," Hermione said.

"Why are you here?" I asked, warily glancing at the incredible pile of homework she had to do. "If you needed a place to do homework, the library's a few floors down."

Hermione huffed, "This place is better." She tapped with her hand on the desk's surface, and absolutely nothing happened. She frowned. She tapped her hand again.

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you want something to drink?"

Looking ashamedly to the side, she gave a weak nod. I snapped my fingers, and a fuming tea cup with biscuits appeared on the desk.

"Bloody unfair," she mumbled, weakly. Her whole face was red, from a mixture of embarrassment and frustration.

I sighed loudly, "If you say so."

"It is!" she said, hotly. Her homework remained forgotten on the desk. "How can you do this and not get punished? How can you get everyone to just...to just like you, even when you're an insufferable know-it-all!?"

I stared at Hermione's sudden outburst, and then pulled myself further beneath the Gargoyle, bringing my wand out. "Maybe because I don't lord it over them? Look at me, I'm Shade Umbrus, and I know everything," I dryly said, running the wand across the stone chest. "I've never said that. There are countless things I don't know, and I'm not ashamed of asking others for help when it's needed."

I quietly began to chant the charm meant to make the Gargoyle stand up on its hind legs, and as Hermione said something I didn't catch, I quietly finished.

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I said," Hermione said, stressing the words out as if I'd suddenly turned deaf, "I'm sorry for thinking you were a Dark Wizard."

"Meh," I said. "Apology accepted. Now do your homework, Hermione. I'm trying to get the Gargoyle to hop on both of his hind legs." I pulled the book on Gargoyle animations to my side with my free hand, and flipped through it for the spell in question.

A few minutes later, just as I thought everything would be nicely over, someone else rattled at my door.

"I brought hot chocolate," Wayne said, stepping inside together with the rest of my gang.

I inwardly wanted to scream when, not ten minutes later, someone rattled on my door again.

"Is Hermione here?" Harry and Ron asked, and then stepped inside.

I really wanted to scream.

This was my Outer Heaven, my paradise!

It was being invaded by the hordes of well-thinking children, and I couldn't help but feel annoyed at that.

Curse you, Sirius Black, for being so incredibly Gryffindorkish!

I will have my revenge, this I swear...

...but only after finishing Wayne's gift of hot chocolate.

You should feel lucky, Sirius Black. My Hufflepuffs' friends are there to keep me pacified.

But eventually-eventually...

...I will have my revenge!