Chapter 12 – Settling In
Quincy was doing her homework in our private classroom, writing an essay for our next charms lesson. I was not really in the mood to do the work for that crazy woman's class, especially as I still had two days before our next meeting would take place. I can finish it later. Although... maybe I should get it done... but... not now! Now, I was completely immersed in the book that I borrowed from her with the satisfaction of knowing the one who would get into trouble was going to be Professor Lockhart and not me. The Many creatures in it were ones I had never read about and sounded extremely dangerous. The only one I was familiar with was the dementors, now roaming the world, usually cleaning up witnesses from the muggle world and eliminating mud-blood witches and wizards who started casting spells again despite them being banned from it. My attention was quickly drawn to the rest of the specimens in the book; Graphorns, Nundus, Kelpie, Chimaeras, Wampuses, and so on. Flipping through, watching the life-like, moving pictures, it was like reading a really good horror story.
"Horrible..." I heard Quincy whispering next to my ear and looking up; she was sitting beside me, leaning close, watching the Acromantulas crawl from one end of the page to the other, climbing over and behind the text.
"Yeah, I also hate anything that has more than four legs." I agreed, flipping the page. "But it is a great book! I already got myself an idea!"
"Idea of what?" She asked, watching me with one of her eyebrows raised high. "Want to go into the Forbidden Forest and capture one of them? Good luck with that! I won't stop you if you want to end up as a midnight snack for a monster!"
"Ahaha, no! For one, I don't think any of these beasts would live there! So close to the school? No chance, not with the magic that surrounds the castle and its grounds!"
"Then?"
"I am not planning on getting one of them for real, but I could maybe look up if I could get the effects of one of them!"
"Their... effects? What do you mean?"
"Here!" I reopened the book, flipping to the end of it, where a huge snake was slithering around the edge of the pages, its yellowish eyes glowing in a strange light. Touching the page felt like running my fingers over cold, hard stone, but the moment I blinked my eyes, the feeling was gone, and everything returned to normal.
"A basilisk?" She read the title and the description of not just how they are born but their weaknesses and their powers.
"I am speaking about their eye powers."