CHAPTER 16 – THE PERFECT MAN
14th February. Valentine’s Day. The day where all lovers of Hogwarts are able to express themselves to their spouse.
The trio wasn’t excluded in this lovie-dovie season. Despite her pregnant condition, Rach still get scores of letters and candies from secret admirers just like last year’s Valentine’s Day. Not that she was interested in any of them at all. She was practically an Ice Queen.
Becka had her secret meeting with Cedric and gave him a handmade—or magic-made, to be exact—Valentine’s Day card for him. It was a very interesting card indeed—it emits out a sweet smell of flowers and popped out buds and petals of roses when he opened it. Cedric thanked her and transfigurated a handful of dead ferns into a huge bouquet of love-in-a-mists and forget-me-nots. Those two lovebirds have definitely a beautiful Valentine’s Day today.
Jude did give something to Prof. Snape—a real handmade card. She had quite a talent in drawing cartoons and anime characters and she made the card for him, with no magic at all. Of course, she waited until everyone has left the lab before slipping it onto his desk and left without a word. Draco got something for both her and the baby: a bouquet of roses for Jude and an expensive-looking stuffed lion for the baby. Tony didn’t give her anything, that’s expected.
But that night, Jude had a surprise visit from Mrs. Norris. She immediately went to Jude’s bed and leaped onto her lap. Lucky for her that she wasn’t asleep yet, or she would’ve howled the whole place down.
“What the…Mrs. Norris! What are you doing here?” Jude spotted an envelope in the cat’s mouth. “What have you got there, Mrs. Norris?”
Jude took the envelope and fed the skinny cat with some tidbits she had smuggled into her room as a midnight snack for both her and Max (her appetite was still strong and she had to keep her dog from whining and alerting everybody). Max smelt Mrs. Norris from under the bed and growled. The cat hissed and snatched the tidbit she held out for her before rushing out of the dorm. Jude grabbed Max’s collar just in time to stop him from chasing her.
The envelope felt slightly weighty when she held it. She emptied the contents and brought it near the window to have a good glimpse at it. It was a pendulum. A shiny crystal pendulum the colour of the sunset sky. It sparkled under the moonlight, glittering like a very rare jewel plucked from the crown of Queen Elizabeth. There was also no letter enclosed with the gift, but she saw a gothic ‘S’ engraved on that pendulum.
She smiled. She knew who gave her that pendulum. She put it on and admired the clean-cut crystal that reflected the sunset colours on her palms. She kissed it before going back to bed.
“Thanks, Severus.”
Rach groaned silently as she recalled the secret admirers that were beginning to stalk her like a spy. Looks like her Ice Queen attitude did not stop them from liking her. Those not-so-secret admirers were just driving her up the wall. If only she had someone beside her. Just anybody. Anybody she knew at all. ‘If only I could just “borrow” someone to get rid of those dunderheads once and for all.
“Harry?” Rach muttered to herself. “No, Harry’s not who I want. He may be the Boy Who Lived and the father of this little critter, but he is still liable to be pulverized by them. Ron? Not in a million years! Tony? I have no idea what’s going on in his head, let alone be with him. Darren? Impossible…”
“That’ll be all for today. Class dismissed,” Prof. Snape said as he sat back at his desk.
That’s when Rach hit the jackpot. She quickly approached the cold teacher and asked, “Prof. Snape, sir? Is there any spell that can change animals into humans? A reverse version of the animagus, perhaps?”
“Yes,” Prof. Snape replied, folding his arms. “There is a spell on that. It’s in the lowest level of animagus lessons. Why would you want to know?”
Rach began to give out those cute, pleading eyes.
Slipper slinked and curled round and round the bed as he had his slithering ‘conversation’ with Salem and Max. The canine and feline had a way of traveling around the castle on their own. They’ve come across a lot of interesting things on the way to the Ravenclaws’ house dorm: Dobby and Winky feeding them when they scavenged the kitchen, Hagrid and Fang playing with them while Hagrid did his rounds, Madam Pince shooing them out of the library, Moaning Myrtle seeking a little comfort from them in the toilet, etc…until finally blending in with the Ravenclaw students and slinking into the dorm before the door shut onto their tails.
“Hello, Max and Salem. What are you doing here?” Rach just came back from the potions lab. She picked up Slipper and stroked his shiny black scaly skin. “Time to go back to your mistresses now, boys. Run along now. Go, shoo, shoo!”
As soon as the canine and feline left, she fussed around with her beloved snake. Slipper loved being fussed at. He coiled and uncoiled around as he heard her say, “Guess what, Slipper? I had this sort of idea, you see. You know those rascals who were hunting me down like a pack of wolves, right? Well, you see, the problem is they didn’t buy my Ice Queen attitude. I’m not yet into relationships, you know? I’m a woman of free will, see? I just want to get them off my tail!”
Slipper cocked his scaly head, as if wanting to hear more of her story. He always did that.
“Listen, Slipper boy, this is interesting! I was thinking that if I could get a pretend-boyfriend, they’ll leave me alone. So, I want to ‘borrow’ someone to do the job. But not just anyone. He has to be someone I know, someone who is close to me. Guess who I chose?”
Slipper looked at her with questioning eyes.
“I chose you! Now, Slipper, don’t be alarmed. I’m not saying that I’m gonna take you to them and say that you’re my boyfriend. That’ll be totally ludicrous! What I’m saying is that I am going to change you into a temporary human, let’s say for about 24 hours or so, with this spell I got from Prof. Snape. It’s part of the animagus lessons. Whaddaya say?”
Slipper cocked his head down, as if saying hesitantly, “I don’t know…”
“Come on! It’ll be fun! Just for 24 hours! Don’t you want to know how it feels like to have 2 feet instead of slinking around on your belly for a day? Think about it! A human for a day! Other animals would kill to get this chance!”
Slipper had a “Well…” look on his scaly face.
“I’ll ask Mummy to send a large, live chicken for you when we’re done.”
That caught Slipper’s attention. He coiled around Rach’s neck and hissed in agreement. Rach grinned as she set him on the floor. She took out her wand, saying, “Stay still now, Slipper. This is gonna be such a thrill.”
Slipper stayed still. He was quite nervous about the whole thing—he had seen how a man looks like and he wondered how he would turn out to be. As he waited for the blow, Rach raised her wand high, the familiar blue and red sparks flickered at the tip, and closed her eyes in concentration.
“Omne conspecti, omni consartia!”
The red and blue sparks trailed out of the wand and engulfed Slipper. Slowly he began to feel the change—from the top of his head to the tip of his tail. An extra layer of skin grew above his eyes and he was able to close them. He dared not open his eyes yet. He feared the results.
After what seemed like an eternity, he heard Rach said, “OK, Slipper. It’s over now.”
Slipper opened his eyes. For the first time, he could actually blink his eyes. It was sensational. Rach wrapped her towel around his lower half and held up a large mirror to let him inspect her greatest work. Slipper was awed at what he saw—he was actually standing on his own two quite wobbly feet. He scanned his fully grown ten-fingered hands and his long, quite muscular arms. He was fairly tanned and quite well-built too. There was a touch of Eurasian in him. He touched his face, amazed at everything he had in it.
As he continued looking, he noticed that he actually had hair on his head, a colour the exact tone of his former snake skin: a mixture of earth brown and stale green. He had slightly protruding fang among his clean, white teeth, but no big deal. And he was marveled by the colour of his eyes—a haunting golden yellow, the eyes of a serpent.
“This is way cool!” Rach beamed. “This is so much better than Polyjuice Potion! Now, let’s get you dressed. I hope you can talk human now.”
“Yess, I guesss sso,” Slipper replied, some of his words came in a slur.
Rach got him one of her clothes and robes that she had enlarged and underwear she ‘borrowed’ from Darren. She taught him how to wear them. Slipper soon got the hang of it. Rach rummaged her luggage and plucked out a pair of her brother’s shoes (which he left it there and completely forgotten about it), waved her wand to enlarge them and passed them to Slipper. With the decent human attire, Slipper actually looked quite handsome.
“Ahh, great!” Rach let out a satisfied sigh. “That’ll do for now. Now, remember, when I show you to those pathetic dimwits, you are to address yourself as…Matthew Roberts Lee. Nickname Matt. Got it?”
“Matthew Robertsss Lee,” Slipper repeated. “Got it.”
Rach cocked her head, as if she heard something. Yes, it was footsteps. Her Ravenclaw comrades have finally come back one by one. She had missed dinner but she didn’t mind. She tugged Slipper’s sleeve and said, “Come on Slipper. Let’s make your first appearance. Remember, your name is Matt.”
Slipper nodded as he let Rach drag him into the common room.
The next day, word was spreading about Rach’s ‘boyfriend’. Rach told everyone that Slipper was her fiancée whom her parents have got for her when she was just a child, and he was here to visit. She was simply enjoying herself gloating around him. He was really astounding and played his part well. All Rach’s secret admirers knew where they stood and retreated from her. Some girls were quite jealous of Rach for having such a perfect man by her side. Some of Rach’s secret admirers were jealous too—more like envy and desire—at Slipper who had already made his ‘first move’ at Rach. They glared at them with a vengeance every time they passed by.
Slipper was pretty amazed himself. Every time they pass by a secret admirer, Rach would deliberately wrap her arms around his arm or leaned her head against his shoulder. As Slipper was used to coiling himself around Rach, he would automatically wrap his arms around her waist or her neck. Usually it felt normal. But this time it was different. Slipper suddenly felt a chemical reaction in him—his heart rate increased, his face felt hot and his fingers became cold. He never felt like this before towards Rach. He found it hard to believe, but he didn’t deny it.
He has fallen in love with his own mistress.
Rach somehow felt a little bit of this chemical reaction in her too. She decided to ignore it. There was no way she could fall in love with her own pet! Yet she couldn’t stop herself blushing.
Jude and Becka knew at once that she’s pulling everyone’s leg. They could see through her lies quite easily. Besides, they never heard Mr. and Mrs. Ravenclaw said anything about getting her a fiancée. They confronted them at the library.
“Alright, Rach, cough it up,” Jude hissed. “We know that’s not your fiancée!”
“Yeah. Neither your real parents nor your Muggle parents said anything about letting you have a fiancée or have any marriage agreements with anyone else!” Becka joined in. “Who are you kidding?”
Rach was unperturbed. “I have no intention to fool you guys. I just wanna keep some good-for-nothing bimboes off my tail.” With that, Rach told them about her plan quietly. Jude and Becka beamed immediately.
“Woah! Way cool!” Jude exclaimed as she examined Slipper from head to toe. “I didn’t know you could turn out to be such a good-looking human!”
“Thanksss,” Slipper replied, scratching his half and elbow-length hair sheepishly.
“I wonder if I could use it on Salem,” Becka considered. “How long does the effect last?”
“24 hours,” Rach replied.
“Then you’d better do more gloating. Time is ticking,” Jude replied and went off quickly with Becka. Potions class, as usual.
“I think we did a great job,” Rach tried to sound casual, her heart still a little bit jumpy. “I think they finally know where they stand. I guess they’ll leave me alone now.”
“All the better, misss,” Slipper replied, wrapping his arms around her neck. “All the better.”
He could smell Rach’s freshly washed hair. She got a bit dirty during Herbology class and had to take a shower. Slipper was glad he’s human; he could smell better with his human nose.
He placed his nose near her hair and inhaled deeply.
Rach walked down the corridor, heading towards the girls’ toilet. She left Slipper alone for a while, telling him to be careful of the might-be vicious secret admirers.
Before she could step into the toilet, she was harshly pushed inside from behind. The attacker then dragged her into one of the cubicles and the door was locked. Rach was annoyed.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?! You can’t do this to me!”
The attacker, or attackers—there were two boys—turned around, clasping Rach’s mouth shut. Rach recognized them at once—they were two of the secret admirers who were stupid enough to write their names on their Valentine card, Crabbe and Goyle.
“You…!” Rach started, but muffled by Crabbe’s strong hand.
“Hush, girl,” Goyle laid a finger on his puckered lips. He grinned and whispered, “Don’t worry, Rachel. We’ll be very gentle.”
“What do you mean? Let go of me! Let go…!” Rach choked on her last words when she felt Crabbe’s hand between her legs. Goyle held her down, clasping her mouth shut quite tightly. Crabbe began to kiss and nibble her neck. Rach could feel his breath on her neck. She tried to struggle but they were much stronger.
When Rach thought that she was done for, she realized that the boys’ attack has stopped abruptly. She saw Slipper dragging them away and made them hit the wall. Slipper was glaring at him with those haunting yellow eyes. Rach had never seen Slipper so serious before.
“No one is to lay a finger on my mistress!” Slipper hissed, his slur forgotten. He took Rach’s hand and was about to take her away when the two fatsos rammed their bodies at Slipper. Slipper almost choked as he staggered to get up. Crabbe and Goyle were about to chant something with their wands when all of a sudden, Slipper regained composure in an instant and kicked off the wands, breaking them. The next second, Slipper bared his fangs and bit deeply into their shoulders.
The boys yelled in pain and shoved Slipper away. They fell onto their knees, clutching their throbbing shoulder, complaining loudly. Slipper wiped his lips in contempt and went to Rach. He could feel her trembling. She hadn’t gotten over the shock yet. Slipper slowly wrapped his arms around her and stroked her back. By then his slur came back, “Shh…It’sss alright, misss. They won’t hurt you anymore, misss. I promisse you thisss…”
He helped Rach up and led out of the toilet, still comforting her, leaving the two fatsos still complaining about their pain. After hearing the story from Slipper, the trio wasn’t surprised when the Hospital Wing started to complain about a poisonous snake on the loose.
“Weird,” Jude said as she stuffed in some cream cakes she got from the kitchen. “You’re a python, right? You’re not supposed to have venom; you’re supposed to squeeze them to death.”
“I’m not a pure-bred python,” Slipper replied casually. “My father wass a king cobra.”
The sun has set. It’s almost the end of the day. Slipper followed Rach back to the Ravenclaws’ dorm. The animagus spell was slowly wearing off. He could feel it. His heart sank.
“I had a wonderful time today, Slipper. Thanks for your help,” Rach blushed as she tickled Slipper’s throat, like she did always. She was feeling much better now after the terrifying ordeal, yet somehow she was reluctant to let Slipper turned back to his snake state. She didn’t know why.
Slipper took her hand and placed it on his cheek, closing his eyes to feel the smoothness of her palm. He turned and gazed into his mistress’s eyes. Those sky-blue eyes. He felt so mesmerized because of them. He couldn’t believe that he had been with her for so long, and yet never noticed those beautiful eyes.
“I love you, miss. I love you.”
Before Rach could react, he advanced his face towards Rach and placed his lips onto hers. He let his tongue linger inside her mouth, tasting every corner, savouring every feeling of exhilaration and love for her. Slowly, he felt Rach returning his kiss. They both kissed deeply and passionately, like the whole world were theirs and no one else’s. After they parted, Rach hugged him tight. He could hear her sobbing. She didn’t want to let him change back but it was too late for regrets now.
As the minutes passed by, he felt the change in him. The spell was wearing off bit by bit. Everything on his body began to change. He wanted to stay, he was reluctantly to let go. He wanted to maintain this way, but his body wouldn’t allow it. Soon, he found himself slumped onto the cold floor, hissing, unable to talk anymore. Rach cried even bitterly as she held her snake close to her. She couldn’t deny this feeling any longer.
“I love you too, Slipper. I love you too,” she whispered as the snake coiled itself around her waist, looking moody.
“I’m going to find a way to make this spell permanent. I swear I will.”
No comments:
Post a Comment