CHAPTER THREE  - A NEW TERM BEGINS

There’s always a price to pay, my dear

You can’t go to China for free

There are lots of assignments for you to clear

Plus books to be read : volumes one, two, three

And you’d better some Chinese culture learn

So you won’t appear quite so ignorant.

“Potter! Weasley! Granger! I want a word with you!”

Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look in the direction of the voice. Professor McGonagall, tall and beady-eyed, was standing at the entrance of the Great Hall. The start of term feast had ended, and the three of them had just left the Hall together with the other Gryffindors.

They turned to follow her, wondering what trouble they could have got into when the term had barely started. Professor McGonagall led them swiftly to her office, sat down at her desk, and waved her wand. Three stools appeared out of nowhere, and positioned themselves in front of the desk.

“Sit,” she said briskly.

They sat down, and looked at her.

Professor McGonagall took out three sheets of parchment, and laid them on her desk.

“Right,” she said in a businesslike tone. “The three of you have decided to take part in the exchange programme. That will mean some additional effort on your part. These are the assignments you will be missing here while you are in China from October to November. We will be giving you extra lessons, but there is no harm if you start reading up on them earlier.” She handed one sheet of parchment to each of them.

Hermione looked pleased, but Ron and Harry’s faces fell when they saw the long list. Ron involuntarily gave a small groan.

Professor McGonagall regarded him steadily.

“You were informed earlier that you would have to do extra work, Weasley,” she said tartly. “You were aware of it when you signed the acceptance form. I am expecting you to perform better than you did last year.”

Ron gloomily nodded, and rolled up the piece of parchment.

“I would like to remind the three of you that while you are in China, you also represent our school,” continued Professor McGonagall. “You should be on your best behaviour at all times. I shall be most displeased if anyone from Gryffindor embarrasses the school in any way.”

“Please, Professor, who else is going, besides us?” asked Hermione, voicing what Ron and Harry had also been wondering.

“The number is small, as this is the first time we are trying out such a programme,” replied Professor McGonagall. “There will be twelve students in your class altogether : six from Tian-Long, and six from Hogwarts. The other Hogwarts students are from Slytherin : Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.”

She saw the looks of horror on their faces, and said in a very final tone, “Remember that all of you represent Hogwarts while you are there. I expect you to put aside any existing animosity and to give a good impression of our school during your stay there.”

Ron couldn’t seem to accept the news.

“But – why them?” he burst out. “Who did the choosing? It must have been Snape!”

Professor McGonagall glared at him.

“Professor Snape, Weasley,” she said sharply. “And it was not Severus Snape, nor I, who selected all of you. The Sorting Hat was asked to make the choice. You should be happy that the three of you are together. We asked the Sorting Hat to choose students who are already familiar with one another, to minimise the chances of homesickness while you are there.”

Ron and Harry’s faces looked mutinous, indicating they had no desire to be familiar with Draco Malfoy.

“Professor,” said Hermione, “Will the classes be in English?”

“They certainly will,” replied Professor McGonagall. “The Headmistress there, Lady Wen-Li, has been planning this exchange programme for some time. She has been encouraging her staff to learn English.”

She looked speculatively at them, then continued.

“Chinese culture is quite different from ours,” she remarked. “I suggest you find out a little about it before you go there. You might, at least, learn how to use a pair of chopsticks. No doubt Jeanne will be able to help you.”

She waved a hand, indicating that they could go.

“Remember,” she said warningly, as they were leaving the room, “any news of mischief on your part while you are there will result in deduction of points from Gryffindor here.”

* * *

With all the extra lessons, in addition to their usual ones, Harry, Ron and Hermione found the next few weeks flying by. Before they knew it, the last day had arrived, before they left for China.

“I’ll never finish all this,” moaned Ron, that afternoon in the Gryffindor common room. Books were stacked all about the three of them, and sheets of parchment lay all over the floor.

Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were sitting a short distance away, and looked up when they heard Ron.

“At first we were pretty jealous when we heard you were going,” said Dean, grinning, “but now I think we’d rather stay.”

Harry closed his spellbook with a snap. His mind felt too tired to continue. He looked at Hermione, who seemed to have finished all her homework, and was reading Septimus Snufflegint’s Diary Of An English Wizard in China.

“I can’t believe you actually bought that book,” he said.

“She bought up every English book she could find in that shop,” said Ron sourly.

Hermione turned a page.

“This is an interesting book,” she said. “I wonder why we aren’t having any Internal Magic classes while we’re there?”

Ron had taken Hermione’s completed History of Magic essay, and was reading through it, scowling.

“Internal Magic?” said Harry. “What’s that?”

“It’s a way of doing spells, without your wand,” said Hermione, her eyes still fixed on the book. “Snufflegint says the Chinese have been using it for years. He says they believe magic exists inside yourself, and you can learn to use it, without the help of a wand.”

Dean Thomas, who was still listening, looked interested.

“Is that like what they do in all those Kung Fu shows?” he asked. Dean came from a family of Muggles.

Ron was still reading Hermione’s essay. “What’s Kung Fu?” he asked absently.

Harry had gone over to Hermione, and was reading over her shoulder.

“No wonder,” he said.

Hermione looked back at him. “No wonder what?”

“Jeanne,” said Harry. “She’s always doing stuff without a wand. She said there were a lot of Chinese people, where she was living in Russia. She must have picked it up from them.”

“Perform spells without a wand?” said Seamus. “But – that would make the Chinese more powerful than the rest of us, wouldn’t it?”

“Not really,” said Hermione, her eyes returning to the book. “Most of what they do with Internal Magic, any qualified wizard here can match with a wand. It seems that most of them there just use it for mundane things, anyway, like summoning something if they’re too lazy to get it. To use it for duelling, that’s difficult to learn; one has to go to a special school for Pugilists.”

She looked up and saw Ron copying some points from her essay, and took the essay away.

“Haven’t you finished yet?” she asked. “Hagrid wants us to go over this afternoon. We haven’t been there for tea since term started, with all the extra classes, and if we don’t go today, we won’t be able to till we come back from China.”

“I’ll finish soon, if you lend me that,” said Ron, trying to take the essay back. They started arguing, and Harry, feeling he couldn’t do any more work, left them at it, and went to look for Jeanne.

Harry hadn’t had a chance to talk to Jeanne since term started, although he saw her during Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures classes, which she still helped out with, occasionally. He had noticed that she did not seem to be wearing her sullen expression any more, but tended to look more thoughtful instead.

He spotted her along the corridor, talking to, of all people, Professor Snape. She stopped when she saw Harry, excused herself, and came over to him.

“I’m off to Hagrid’s now, Harry,” she said. “Are you coming for tea? He’s been missing all of you.”

“I am,” he assured her. “I was just going to look for you there. Ron and Hermione will be coming later.”

They made their way out of the castle. Harry looked curiously at her.

“Are you still helping Snape with Potions?” he asked.

She grimaced, and shook her head firmly.

“I’ve had quite enough of Potions, for a while at least, after last year,” she said, smiling rather ruefully. “The most I’m doing is helping Severus gather ingredients I happen to come across when I’m doing my rounds.”

“Are you and Snape still on good terms?” Harry was thinking of some of the things he’d heard Snape say the previous term.

She looked surprised.

“I value Severus’ regard more, now, actually,” she said thoughtfully. “I misjudged him last year. He still seems willing to talk to me, though I know he still dislikes Remus.”

Harry looked at her.

“Married life seems to agree with you,” he remarked. “You look happier now. More – well, at peace.”

She smiled. “Not so moody any more, you mean?” She paused, as if thinking. “I like being married,” she admitted candidly. “But it’s more than that. The past doesn’t haunt me so much any more…it’s as if what I did last term – you know, sort of made up for it.”

Harry felt this was still a sensitive topic, so he decided to change the subject.

“Will you be coming with us to China?” he asked.

She nodded, looking serious.

“Dumbledore has arranged for me to learn some Internal Magic there,” she said. “It will help me prevent Deorg from possessing me, if our paths meet again.”

They had reached Hagrid’s now, and were about to go in, when they heard someone calling from behind. Turning, they saw Ron and Hermione running to catch up with them.

Hagrid looked pleased to see them.

“Wish I could go ter China wi’ all of yer,” he said wistfully. “Yeh’re sure ter see dragons there. Awf’ly fond o’ dragons, the Chinese.”

“There won’t be any in the school, surely,” pointed out Ron. “They’re probably not allowed there, just like here.”

“You’re wrong, Ron,” said Jeanne, smiling. “Remus and I followed Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall to Tian-Long during the school holidays, to look at the school and see the Headmistress about the programme. They do have dragons there.”

“You’ve been there?” said Hermione eagerly. “What is it like?”

Jeanne had a teasing smile on her face.

“You’ll see,” she said. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you.”

“How come you and Professor Lupin are involved in the exchange programme?” asked Harry curiously.

“We’re not,” Jeanne replied. “Dumbledore has been training me to build up defences in my mind, so that I can fend off Deorg’s attacks, and he wanted Remus to help as well. Then we heard that Internal Magic might be a better way to do it, so Dumbledore asked us to go along with them, and talk to the Internal Magic master there.”

“What did he say?” asked Harry, interested.

“It turned out he wasn’t there, at the time,” said Jeanne, looking rather rueful. “We went there for nothing. We had a good look around the school, though. I had to go over again, last week, to meet Master Kung.”

Her eyes twinkled as she looked at them.

“I met some of the students who will be your classmates, there,” she said.

“You did!” said Ron. “What are they like? Do they speak English?”

Jeanne looked mischievously at them, as if considering whether to keep them in suspense, then gave in.

“Most of them are from overseas, actually,” she said. “Only two are from mainland China. One is from Hong Kong, one from Taiwan, and two from Singapore.”

She saw that they were going to ask more, and said firmly, “That’s all I’m telling you. We shall have some food now. Professor McGonagall said I should teach you how to use chopsticks.”

She took her wand out, and pointed it at the table. Three small bowls of noodles appeared, with three sets of chopsticks, together with three similar bowls of rice. Another wave of the wand, and a platter of meat and round dumplings also appeared.

“All right,” said Jeanne cheerfully, demonstrating, “you hold the chopsticks, like this, and take some meat from the main platter, and you pick the noodles up, like this.”

Hermione had obviously eaten Chinese before, because she was perfectly comfortable with the chopsticks. The Dursleys, of course, had never brought Harry to a Chinese restaurant, so he was all at sea. Ron appeared no better off.

“You hold the bottom stick still, and just move the top one,” said Jeanne helpfully, as Harry dropped meat all over the table.

Hagrid sat by, watching and enjoying himself hugely.

“You don’t expect me to pick the rice up with these, do you?” said Ron, sounding aggrieved, and glaring at his chopsticks in an affronted manner. He tried picking up one of the dumplings, which looked like round, pearly balls, and it slipped out and rolled off the table onto the floor.

“Oh, I’ve lost my ball,” he said, peering under the table for the dumpling.

Hermione looked disapprovingly at him.

“Really,” she said, as Fang, Hagrid’s boarhound, came over and sniffed interestedly at the dumpling, “you’re going to disgrace our school if you don’t even know how to eat properly.”

Hagrid chuckled.

“Yeh’re not bein’ fair, Hermione,” he said. “It’s the firs’ time fer them.”

By the end of the meal, Harry felt he’d more or less got the hang of the chopsticks, but Ron was still struggling. He was in a very bad mood by the time they were leaving.

“I’ve spent the whole day on that stupid essay, and I thought we’d get some relaxation at Hagrid’s, instead of being tortured like this,” he muttered to Harry.

“Oh, another thing,” Jeanne called anxiously from the window as they were walking off, “Professor McGonagall said not to forget to pack your dress robes, in case there are any special events there.”

Ron’s face went even blacker.

“Dress robes!” he snarled, “This is just the moment I need to be reminded of those!” He took his chopsticks out – Jeanne had said they could bring them back to practise with – and flung them angrily into some nearby bushes. Then, he stomped off, fuming.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and sighed, and then hurried to catch up with him.