- matt chia's -
poetry, prose + commentary
poetry, prose + commentary
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Chapter XVIII
Ms. Ee closed her left eye to concentrate ruefully on the desert in front of her. There was nothing at all. Just a wide golden expanse of sand, sand... and more sand.
She sighed, closing her right eye and opening her left to look at Hogwarts in Singapore. It took a few moments for her to adjust, but even then, her field of vision seemed to be smaller. The lights of the castle were suddenly much dimmer than before. There was something over her eye.
She used her left arm (which mercifully was in Singapore) and grasped the thing that was over her eye. It was cold. And rather squishy.
A sudden rush of foreboding swept through her body, but at that precise moment, she looked down to see what was now stuck on her palm.
She gulped.
A lizard lay on her palm, perfectly still. The pads on its feet were soft and sticky. Stuck onto her palm, in fact. She looked down at it, eyes travelling up and down the yellowish, slightly pulsating body. Its bloodshot eyes stared protuberantly up at her.
The contents of the last lunch she had raced up her throat, but she couldn’t vomit.
Her mouth was in the Sahara Desert.
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There was something bright and twinkling high above her. She tried to reach out for it but her arms were too heavy. It came closer, closer, and as it came closer she could see that it was made up of more than one light, all twinkling and swaying. It was getting brighter – unbearably bright –
Rachel opened her eyes and blinked a few times. The candles directly above her were being tossed about in the cool night breeze that flowed in from the open window to her right.
She sat up, quietly wondering where she was, but there were still stars in her eyes.
She shook her head vigorously. The stars cleared, but she had to blink a few more times. The room she was in was bright pink. Hot pink. She liked muted pink, but this was... too much.
She looked around in distaste. Apparently whoever had put her in here didn’t know her colour preferences very well. Looking at her bedside table on her left, she saw a whole stack of get-well cards, all in muted shades of pink. She smiled. Her friends knew her better.
So she was in hospital. St. Mango’s, by the looks of it. But why was she here? She strained her mind to go back to her last shreds of lucidity before she blacked out. She remembered being in the Great Hall, she remembered talking to Desmond, she remembered him pouring a glass of water for her –
A wave of extreme tiredness swept over her suddenly. Even before her world turned black, she had already fallen into a deep sleep. While sitting up.
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Cheryl clutched her –new- broomstick tightly as she walked into Hogwarts. Her friends followed behind her, almost as if she was a superstar and they, her entourage. People turned round, pointing and whispering among themselves, speculating about the long, thin package she was holding.
“Hey Cheryl, is that a Nimbus 2003?� Jeremy called out.
She nodded.
The looks of awe on the faces of those in the room were priceless.
“New?� Denise said, her mouth open.
Cheryl grinned.
The awe in the Hall suddenly increased tenfold, almost bordering on reverence.
As the Griffindoors marched into the Great Hall for the feast, the crowd actually parted for them to enter. Cheryl felt as if she had just been crowned Queen of the Universe.
The Griffindoors reached their table, and sat down.
“Just unwrap your broom and put it in the centre, here,� Muthu said, a grin on his face. “It’s like, the newest broom available here! No wonder they’re all gawking,� he continued, smirking.
The other Griffindoors all nodded fervently. They laid the broom on the centre of the table, and simply basked in the glory of having one of the best brooms available in Singapore.
“How did you get it?� Yvonne asked as she walked past to the Huffelpuff table. “It costs a fortune!�
“With sharing and good bargaining skills, anything is possible,� said Minyu, who was the one who had bargained with the owner of Quality Quidditch Supplies till he had almost been reduced to tears.
Just as a small crowd gathered round the table, ooh-ing and aah-ing at the Nimbus, a few loud snorts that punctuated the atmosphere of utmost reverence announced the arrival of the Slitherings.
“Are you sure that’s real?� Liqin said, a curious look on her face.
“If it isn’t, you’re not a bimbo,� Matt said, sighing. He was usually the most frustrated with girls who had no brains whatsoever.
“Well, I’m not sure you can hang onto that broom, it might be too fast for you,� Yee Tien sneered at Cheryl.
Muthu imitated Yee Tien’s comment with perfect comic sarcasm. The crowd gathered round erupted into hoots of laughter.
“Well, never mind boys, our order has already been sent in,� Zhu’en, who had kept quiet all this while, said finally. My father has been just aching to use some of that large fortune he has, I tell you. And of course, once we get them, we’ll be much better than anyone else here.�
The Slitherings all grinned stupidly, except for Yee Tien who waved impetuously to the Griffindoors and said, “Well, children, enjoy your glory while you can. We won’t spoil your fun. For now.� With a nasty smile, she stalked off with the rest of her slimy friends.
This time Eunice imitated her speech. The table shook with laughter. Yvonne and Denise were doubled over in giggles.
“Everyone, please settle down,� Professor Smurf bellowed from the staff table. Even from this distance Cheryl could see his eyes were twinkling, and he was looking directly at her. She returned the gesture with a small smile.
The Ravingclaws and Huffelpuffs scattered and went back to their own tables. The noise did not settle, though. The Griffindoors were still making a racket. The source of this Cheryl traced to Sunny, who had just read something a pigeon had sent her at the school gates.
“Hey guys!� Yihui shouted jubilantly over all the noise the rest of the school was making. “Rachel’s awake!�
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“Ms. Ee! Are you alright?� Kiw enquired. He could only see what was happening in the Sahara Desert, but what he saw didn’t seem too good. His assistant’s face was slightly green, and there was a dribble of yellowish liquid at one corner of her mouth.
“Ms. Ee? Ms. Ee! OW –“
There was a sharp pain on the soles of his feet.
Kiw looked down and saw the weirdest thing. The sand beneath his feet had parted and there were now two cacti directly beneath them. The cacti looked ordinary – except that each had two long green tendrils snaking out from either side of it. They were, of course, covered in tiny little spines, which explained the sharp pain.
However, the reason Kiw had been able to feel the pain was because the cacti had, using their tendrils, taken off his shoes.
Kiw flashed back to an article he had read recently in The Dummy’s Guide to Herbology, in the section Domesticated Plants:
“The Tickling Cactus was originally from the Mexican desert. Over time, people domesticated it and trained it to tickle its owners’ feet using the two long tendrils that are found only on this species of cactus. Now, these cacti can be found in deserts all over the world.�
Unfortunately for Kiw, he was positively terrified of tickles.
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“Now that we are all watered and fed,� Professor Smurf said, “I would like to introduce a new addition to the staff.�
There was a loud groan. Professor Smurf flashed a smile. Even the teachers hid grins.
“I assure you this lady is not like the two most recent additions we have had,� Professor Smurf continued. “However by introducing her I hope to address one of the more pertinent problems in this school. One of grades. I am sad to say,� and here he sighed and looked dolefully at the students, “that Year Seven grades have been slipping, year after year. Not to mention Year Five results. Although I do not wish to stress all of you, I must emphasise the importance of your O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts. They will affect your future careers greatly. To address this problem, the Ministry has decided to add a new subject to the school curriculum – Muggle Studies.�
He paused, and took a deep breath, before ploughing on. “This subject is only available from fifth year onwards. We know that living in Singapore is already an exercise in Muggle Studies, and most of you already know everything about Muggles, but we hope that you will approach this course from a wizarding point of view. Those who wish to sign up must indicate so on their House noticeboards, latest by tonight. Classes start tomorrow morning.�
“Which of course leads me to introduce our new Muggle Studies teacher. Everyone, please welcome Professor Wanee.�
Professor Wanee was rather tall and slim. She gave a friendly wave and a small smile as a form of accepting the applause that greeted her.
They filed out of the Hall, Cheryl carefully picking up her broom.
“You all want to go for the class?� she asked the other fifth-years around her.
They all nodded enthusiastically except for Hu Ping and Matt who looked at each other then shook their heads.
Muthu rolled his eyes. “Well, of course, you all already have good enough grades. Hmm, actually I have good enough grades, don’t I?� he said thoughtfully.
“Oh your grades are so good Muthu,� Barnabas said sarcastically.
The two of them started bickering.
Eunice rolled her eyes. “Well, at least we finally have a subject we’ll probably be good in,� she said cheerfully.
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She missed him, and wondered where he was. She hadn’t seen him at all the last day of school, and not today either, at the staff table. She missed his crinkled eyes, his thin smile, his mole... well, maybe not the mole.
She looked up. The sky was filled with stars, twinkling softly. The Milky Way was splashed onto the night sky like paint on canvas. Just then she saw a shooting star, a dim orange light in the distance, falling to earth.
I wish, I wish upon a star...
She so wanted to see him again.
Comments:
yay! i love mai broom! wahaha. u stil rock. whahah. hMm. yea. oops u did it again* lalala~
wonder who iz molekiw's gf..whaaha..bahx...
=c h e r y l è g r e a t=
wonder who iz molekiw's gf..whaaha..bahx...
=c h e r y l è g r e a t=
# posted by 
: 10:34 PM
: 10:34 PM
sunny you blur ah. its kiw's gf la. haha. actually true hor. i should write about rachel and desmond. lol...
*shudders at last part* kiw's gf really has g0oD taste. haa. dun everyone agree? =X my hair's standing up..
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