Muggled

8. The Bait

When Katherine disappeared from sight, her twin stepped into the case once more. Mr. Scamander was feeding the creatures. Isabella found him near a runespoor – three-headed snake of African origin. Snake's skin was of reddish colour and all of the three heads have been hissing at each other as if they're in the middle of a quarrel. 

Isabella didn't dare to come closer – she wasn't particularly fond of snakes. Silvanus dealt with this matter most of the time on his own.

"Mr. Scamander?" She drew a half circle with her foot onto the dusty floor and waited till he turned around.  

When they stood face to face Isabella coughed to relieve the lump in her throat and started talking in a timid voice: "I came to apologise." 

"No need. She is not that bad." Newt replied in a hurry, "A bit unpredictable, but likable." He added and got back to feeding the snake.

Isabella raised her eyebrows. It took her a while to figure out what he was talking about. Is Katie really that likable, compared to her?! Isabella shook her head and focused on why she came here.

"No, no, no. I didn't mean Katie. I meant...the lemon balm tea." She clarified, her cheeks turning pink. Sometimes it took only a trifle to drive her crazy.

"Oh..." he mumbled and scratched the back of his neck.

"But you could've told me about the potion, at least." She added in defence.

"I know..." Scamander looked down to the ground. "...I didn't mean to...I mean...I am sorry too." Saying the last sentence, he raised his head and looked at his companion.

Heavy quiet settled in the space between them.

"Let's forget about it..." Newt said to break the silence. It was more of a question than proposal.

Isabella was happy to agree. One of the corners of Newt's lips lifted into a funny looking smirk.

"Excuse me...I need to..." Newt held out the buckets with food and moved forward to feed other creatures.

Isabella grabbed the leftover one and hurried after him. She stumbled upon the baby niffler that she's met the other day. He was eager to climb up again, so she picked him up and let him sit on her shoulder.

"Weasels, ferrets, mice." Newt said when Isabella finally caught up with him. "Did you feed those to Jack?"

The woman answered without thinking: "Ferrets and mice, yes. But weasels? No." Isabella rubbed her chin. "I don't think there are many weasels around, anyway. Why?"

"That's what I thought." Newt said to himself and threw slices of meat into the rocky area.

Soon a pair of graphorns – large hump-backed creatures with horns – came out to feed on the meat. They were regarded as endangered species by the Ministry.

Isabella tilted her head and expected an explanation. When it seemed it was not coming, she asked again.

Newt put the buckets down and took out the scrap of paper: "Here, look. Lobalugs – venomous, doxies – venomous, streelers – venomous, boomslang..."

"Hippogriffs are not venomous." Isabella pointed out frowning at the crabbed handwriting of Newt's.

"Exactly..." he glanced at her pale face and continued: "I found the weasel fur near Jack's nest. Someone must've used it as bait."

Isabella just stared at the list in Newt's hand in disbelief. Hogwarts was not a safe place anymore.

"Did you hear about the centaurs?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes, we must see them." Newt said concerned. "I am afraid the antidotes might not work."

***

Professor Kettleburn's office was located near the greenhouses. This way he had a quick access to any herbs he needed when taking care of creatures. Isabella examined the room. It was messy and stuffed with boxes – as usual. Some of them packed with books, others contained jars filled with creature food. Besides being covered by several blots of ink, the workbench has also been marked by cracks caused by excessive use. Stray and leaves lied higgledy-piggledy all over the floor. Silvanus rejected all of Isabella's proposals to clean the room. In his words, it was perfectly organised chaos.

Piping voice coming out of the box in the corner caught Isabella's eye. Occamies, which hatched only a few days ago, were calling for attention.

Kettleburn took a jar filled with dried grasshoppers and fed the nestlings.

Isabella tried to persuade the professor to take her and Mr. Scamander to see the sick centaurs. No matter how many reasonable arguments she proposed, none of them made Silvanus change his mind.

"Look at this!" he pointed at the eye patch covering one of his eyes. "Those creatures shall not be messed with!" Professor exclaimed and put the jar back to the box he took it from.

"But, professor..." Isabella begged.

Silvanus raised his hand to stop her: "No buts! Minerva told me about what happened in the forest." He said in an upset voice and observed his former student's reaction.

"I ...I didn't want to bother you, professor..." Isabella said in despair.

She hoped that McGonagall would keep it to herself. But now she deeply regretted it. Who other than Kettleburn would be able to help them to get closer to the centaurs?!

"As for younger Scamander, it was not much of a surprise." Silvanus proclaimed, "He has never been bothered by rules. At least, he has experience! But you?!"

Isabella knew very well that she was just a sidekick. Brew the potion! Stew mandrakes! Clean the classroom! Do this, do that! Yet, she wanted so badly to prove herself useful. Now, it seemed that all of her endeavours led from one failure to another.

Man walked over to a narrow window and looked out lost in his thoughts. Even though, the clothes with long sleeves covered most of his skin, the sunlight showed up the fragments of scarves scrawling from his neck up to his cheek. Scarves of experience.

Kettleburn exposed his wrinkled face to the sunrays passing through the window glass: "There is no big difference between humans and beasts."

Isabella stood in silence. She was well aware that she's already lost the battle. 

"Trust needs to be earned." Silvanus continued, squinting into the light, "As for centaurs as for people."