"Harry, you are pulling our legs, aren't you?"
It was the fifth time Ron had asked that question. Harry gave a small sigh of exasperation. He was beginning to wonder if they would ever believe him.
The Gryffindor common room was empty now; everyone else had gone to bed. Only Harry, Ron and Hermione had stayed behind, it had taken Harry so long to tell his entire story.
Ron looked over to where Hermione was sitting, examining the bottle of stardust which had been the gift of the mirror in the cave.
"I mean, it's just way out…" he continued, "you were only gone for an hour or two. How could all that have happened - ?"
Hermione held the bottle up to the light. The dust inside shimmered like a collection of little stars.
"It's really pretty, Harry," she said, thoughtfully, "but I've seen bottles like this in Zonko's…you know, the powder they throw in the air when - "
"Oh, give it back!" said Harry crossly, taking the bottle away from her. "I simply shouldn't have said anything. Why on earth would I make it all up? You can ask Dumbledore, or Lupin, if you want!"
He got up to go, but as he walked round one of the armchairs, he tripped over something on the floor.
"Ouch!" squeaked the Something.
"Neville!" exclaimed Hermione, as Harry, muttering under his breath, got to his feet. "What are you doing, hiding on the floor down there?"
Neville Longbottom got slowly to his feet, his face very red.
Ron stood up, looking angry.
"You were eavesdropping on us, weren't you? I bet you heard everything Harry said!"
"I didn't mean to," said Neville, trembling slightly. "I was trying to read up on Potions" - he held up a rather tattered and stained textbook - "but I fell asleep. I only woke up when you came to this corner and started talking -"
"Why on earth didn't you get up and leave?" asked Ron, exasperated.
"I - I was half asleep at first - thought I was dreaming," stuttered Neville. "By the time I was fully awake, you were half way through - and I knew you'd be mad at me - "
"We are - " said Hermione.
"So you thought - " said Harry at the same time, "- that you could lie there till we went up to bed, and we'd never have known you were there!"
Neville looked like he might cry.
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop," he blubbered. "I promise I won't tell a soul." He looked at Harry. "Anyway, all the stuff you said - it's not really true, - is it?"
Harry looked at the three of them.
"I've had enough!" he said, completely frustrated by now. "I'm going to bed!"
And he marched off toward the dormitory.
Harry didn't sleep well that night. He pretended he was asleep when Ron came up to bed, but later found himself staring into space, thinking about all that had happened.
It had been morning in Kamchatka when they had left, and he really wasn't sleepy. He got up and took out the bottle of stardust and looked at it, turning it around in his hands. He wondered which room Jeanne was in and what she was doing - probably sound asleep by now, he thought, she'd looked so tired.
He held the bottle up. The dust inside swirled and sparkled, and he had that curious feeling again that it was alive.
"What death has taken, will return to you." Could he ever bring his parents back?
He sighed, and put the bottle back in his trunk.
"It's just wishful thinking," he told himself sternly. "Don't try fooling yourself."
Still, it was some time before he fell asleep.
Harry didn't see Jeanne again until more than two weeks later. She didn't appear at breakfast in the Great Hall the next morning, but he had half expected that because of her fear of crowds. Her absence seemed to set the seal on Ron and Hermione's disbelief in the matter, although they were careful not to mention the subject in front on him.
At the end of the first week of school, they went down to Hagrid's for tea, but there was no sign of her.
"Giv'n her the other side of the grounds ter start with, it's better fer her, what not bein' used ter people an' all," said Hagrid, when Harry asked about her. "It's a shock fer her, no wonder, comin' back ter the real world after what she's bin through, not to mention she's more used ter Russian customs an' their way of livin', than what we have here."
"You mean, it's true?" said Ron, who had been listening, amazed. "Harry wasn't just pulling our leg?"
"'Course it's true!" said Hagrid, turning a fierce eye on him. He looked at Harry. "Yeh mean ter say these two didn' believe yer story, 'til now?"
Harry grinned at Ron and Hermione.
"If his story's all true, it's totally unfair," said Hermione indignantly. "We should have been allowed to go to Kamchatka as well."
"I just can't believe it!" said Ron, looking at Harry. "It's completely unfair, that we got left out."
Harry tried not to look smug.
"Just being in the right place at the right time," he said.
"I'd love to go to Russia," said Hermione dreamily. "Do you know, they have this really incredible tradition - "
"How fantastic, to be able to change into any animal you want," said Ron, not listening to Hermione. "I'd like to see her repeat what she did in the staff room."
"Yeh'll have ter wait," said Hagrid. "She's shy about meetin' the two of yer. Tol' her all about you three, o' course." He was taking out a dish of fudge as he was speaking.
Hermione looked at the fudge, and then nibbled some of it.
"This is good!" she said, looking rather astonished. "Hagrid, your cooking's really improving!"
Hagrid went red.
"Ain't mine, actually," he said, looking slightly guilty. "Jeanie did it. Said it's easier fer her ter do the food, what with her bein' able ter do magic an' all, inst'd of me doin' it the other way."
"You mean, she's cooking for you?" said Harry incredulously. "I didn't think that was part of her job."
Hagrid went even redder.
"Tol' her that, but she said she migh' as well, seein' she's takin' her meals here an' all."
"No wonder we never see her in the Hall," said Harry, trying some of the fudge.
Hermione looked around Hagrid's hut. It looked a great deal tidier than usual.
"She's been cleaning up for you as well, I see," she said. "Is she staying here with you?"
Hagrid blushed red as a beet.
"'Course not," he said heatedly. "She's got a room in the castle. Dumbledore wants ter keep an eye on her…if she stay'd out, he's afraid she might go runnin' wild, an' that Deorg fellow could catch her an' we might not know fer weeks."
Ron grinned.
"Cooks for you…cleans for you…at this rate, Hagrid, you might as well marry her," he said. "Besides, you said you always wanted to have your own dragon. If she's a shape-shifter, I bet she could turn into a dragon for you."
Harry could see that Hagrid couldn't take much more of the teasing, so he tried to tactfully change the subject.
"How is she, anyway?" he asked. "Is the work all right for her?"
Hagrid looked enthusiastic.
"Couldn' be better," he said, his eyes crinkling into a smile. "She can talk to any an'mal, an' they can talk back to her. Blimey, wish I could do that." He looked wistful.
Harry was surprised.
"I didn't know she could do that," he said.
"Didn' yer?" said Hagrid. "Makes sense, doesn' it? After all, if she can change into an animal, sure she ought ter know some of their language."
Harry had never thought about that.
"Talk'd ter Fang here, firs' thing when she came here," Hagrid continued.
"Really?" said Harry, interested. "What did Fang tell her?"
Hagrid suddenly looked rather crestfallen.
"Said ter tell me, he didn't like my cookin' very much," he said mournfully.
Harry and the others finally met Jeanne the following week. Hagrid had insisted she stay to tea when they came.
She was looking slightly more relaxed now, and was still clad in forest colours, green and brown. Harry had thought she might have conjured some robes for herself by now, but as Hagrid didn't wear robes, she evidently felt that as his assistant, she should follow suit. She had cut off some of her hair and braided the rest, twisting it up behind her head. They found her preparing tea when they arrived, wearing her usual slightly sullen expression; but she smiled when she saw Harry.
"Hi, Harry," she said.
"This is Ron, and this is Hermione," said Harry, hoping they would get along.
Jeanne seemed relaxed enough; she smiled and shook hands with them, and then Crookshanks, whom Hermione had brought along in anticipation of meeting Jeanne, bounded into her lap.
Jeanne was about to say something, when a small blur of feathers flew into the room and landed on her shoulder.
Ron was round-eyed.
"That's my owl!" he said to Jeanne.
"Yes, I know," she said, laughing. She turned to look at Pigwidgeon, who was hooting away excitedly. "He has been visiting me rather often. He tells me a lot of things."
"What things?" asked Ron, eyes even rounder.
She listened to the owl's hooting a while.
"He says, this morning you got up late for breakfast…and your mother sent you a letter…and some sweets also…" She paused, still listening to the tiny owl, "…and he says will you please not put so much sugar in your cornflakes, he prefers it plain…"
Ron was listening, open-mouthed.
Hermione looked excited.
"What about me?" she squeaked. "Does Crookshanks have anything to say?"
Jeanne looked at Crookshanks, who was still sitting in her lap. Crookshanks lifted his squashed face to look at her.
Jeanne said something in a strange language, but Crookshanks made no sound. Instead, he just stared steadily at Jeanne.
Jeanne stared back silently for a while, then smiled.
"He says you're an excellent mistress, only sometimes you study too hard," she said to Hermione. "And he likes sleeping on your bed with you. He thinks you smell nice."
Hermione blushed and beamed.
"But Crookshanks didn't say anything," Harry objected.
"He said it with his mind," Jeanne explained.
"You can read his mind?" asked Hermione, breathlessly.
"That's how most animals communicate," explained Jeanne. "They each have their own language, but there's also a common language which all of them understand. And they have to do it by telepathy, because their mouths are all shaped differently, and not all of them are capable of producing the right sounds."
Ron looked confused, but Hermione looked fascinated.
"But you understand both," said Harry.
She nodded.
Ron was looking rather jealous.
"He seems to have a lot to say to you," he said to Jeanne, nodding at Pigwidgeon.
"That's because he talks about you all the time," she said. "He's terribly proud that he belongs to you. He says so quite often."
Ron's face brightened when he heard this.
Altogether, Harry felt the tea-party went off quite well.
"I should have brought Hedwig along," he said to Jeanne, when they were leaving. "It would have been interesting to see what she might have to say about me."
Jeanne laughed.
"I've already spoken to her," she said, "and she didn't say a lot."
"Oh," said Harry, feeling rather disappointed.
Jeanne grinned at him.
"She just puffed out her chest, and looked very proud, and said, 'I'm Harry Potter's owl.' And that more or less said everything."
To be continued.......
