Metanoia • Harry Potter • Book I

Chapter Fifteen

Keziah was only slightly bitter that she had to share the Hospital Wing with somebody regularly. As much as she hated (and refused) to admit it, Keziah felt like the Hospital Wing and its staff was her own little thing.

After speeding down to the infirmary, she saw that Hermione had turned herself into some cat-human hybrid. Dark, coarse fur curled around her whole face and a pair of yellow eyes glowed in the flickering candlelight. Harry and Ron stood beside her, bouncing from foot to foot.

"I like your ears," Keziah joked when she neared the girl.

Despite how upset Hermione was, it didn't stop her from launching a book at Keziah's face. She shrieked and dodged the miniature missile. Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office at the noise.

"Hello Keziah," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just looking for Harry," she said, pressing her lips together to stopper a laugh.

Madam Pomfrey glanced at Hermione. "You've found him. Now you can go enjoy the rest of your Christmas. Don't go spreading around tales."

Then the medi-witch not-so-subtly kicked Keziah out of the wing, slamming the doors.

"Rude," Keziah huffed, making her way to the dungeons so she could tell Theo and Blaise everything.

In all the excitement of Christmas, they forgot about the Chamber completely until Daphne returned. Keziah had no clue her best friend came back until she was walking through the Entrance Hall and was nearly knocked over.

"We have to stop meeting like this," she grinned, looking up at shining blue eyes, pink cheeks and blonde braids.

"I kind of like it," Daphne smiled, brushing herself off. "It's not hurting you, is it?"

After the initial holiday catch-up, which included a recount of a funny incident with Daphne's grandfather, a gravy boat and seventeen parsnips, they settled down in a relatively secluded area of the library to finally open Blaise's book.

Despite being small length-wise, it was rather thick. When Keziah pointed that out, Blaise laughed.

"Are you fat-shaming my book?" he snorted.

"Of course not," she replied primly. "However... are we seriously going to read through this whole thing? I wouldn't be surprised if it has all the creatures in the Wizarding World in it."

"Maybe it has an index?" Daphne suggested.

They paused as a sixth-year Gryffindor passed by, giving Keziah a dirty look. Blaise scowled at them, restrained by Theo from spitting some insults.

Luckily, the book did have one.

"How do we navigate this?" said Theo, sucking on a sugar quill he'd nabbed off a third-year.

"Try snake," said Blaise, already running his finger down the list of Ss, scribbling down page numbers concerning serpentine creatures.

"I doubt it's a runespoor," Theo snorted. "They're harmless."

"Aren't they highly venomous?" said Blaise mildly.

"And?"

"How about a chimaera?" asked Daphne with relish.

"That has a snake tail, genius," Theo reminded her. "Why would Salazar even use something that was part lion."

"Guys!" Keziah snapped, slamming her hands on the table. "This is serious."

Her friends hung their heads in shame.

"Sorry, Keziah," Daphne mumbled.

"What she said," Theo muttered. "How are we even supposed to find this stupid creature? Even with it being a snake, there are still at least twenty beasts to choose from."