The Voyage of the Caterpillar

Chapter 10: Fairy Wings

The jar was finally lifted out of the darkness. We had been sitting inside the witch's bag for what felt like forever, and we couldn't see a thing. I stepped on Trixie's tail twice.

We were in a strange place now. It wasn't the Apothecary and it definitely wasn't the forest. We were inside another human structure. It was a small room, with low ceilings, small hexagonal shaped windows, and beds with patchwork quilts.

"Where are we?" I asked Trixie.

"Is this where the witch lives?" She wondered.

"Why would I know?" I smirked. She smiled.

We were on one of the beds with the patchwork quilts. The witch was sitting beside us. She kept reading into her bag and pulling out jars of caterpillars- two jars contained my friends. Then the witch picked our jar up, and slowly screwed off the cap. She did the same to the others.

"Hello, little guys," she smiled as the unscrewed the jar caps. "You can come out now."

Trixie and I cautiously crawled out of our jar, as did Kingsly, Patil, and Hermy.

"Guys? Do we make a run for it?" Patil asked, staring nervously at the witch.

"I'm not sure. She seems friendly." Hermy bit his lip.

The witch continued to let caterpillars out of their jars. She was smiling with pride.

"I feel like we should thank her for saving our precious lives," I announced. The others looked at me like I was insane. I didn't let that bother me. I boldly began to crawl over towards the witch.

"Fletcher! What are you doing?!" Trixie exclaimed.

"Hey, you said it yourself that I was nuts," I smiled. Then I walked up to the witch and said as loudly as I could, "Excuse me? Excuse me!"

The witch made a shocked face and almost broke one of the empty glass jars in fright. "You... You're talking! I... I must be crazy! I mean, I knew animals could have feelings, but never could they talk!"

"I'm surprised I can hear you, too." I smirked.

"A talking caterpillar... I knew this was a school of magic, but a talking caterpillar! I don't know what to say-"

"Then I'll say something," I cut her off. "Thank you for saving us."

The other caterpillars crawled around me. I felt Trixie move in beside me, and when I looked over, she was beaming.

"Thank you! Thank you!" All of the caterpillars chorused. I didn't realize how many of us were trapped in the Apothecary until now.

"Well... You're welcome then!" The witch smiled. "I'm happy I finally did something useful."

"Don't say that!" Patil spoke up.

"I'm sure you've done many different things that were useful!" Kingsly added.

"Yeah!" Hermy grinned.

"Aw... You guys are so cute!" The witch smiled. "Oh! I'm Fairy Wings. It's a nickname my friends have called me for a while."

"And I'm Fletcher the nut-eater," I smiled at Trixie.

"I'm Trixie, ex-resident of hazelnut tree number five."

"I'm Patil!"

"I'm Kingsly!"

"Hermy the traveller, at your service!"

Soon all of the caterpillars were shouting out their names to Fairy Wings and introducimg the selves under silly names. Some of the names I heard were 'Maxime who likes berry juice,' 'Horcrux, daredevil supreme,' and so many more I lost track of who was who.

"Its nice to meet you all!" Fairy Wings smiled. "But... What are you going to do? The forest is too far away from here, and students aren't allowed to enter."

"We're in the castle!" Hermy exclaimed. "The castle of the wizards! I've finally traveled beyond the forest, not just to the forest edge!"

"Yes, you're at Hogwarts. In the Hufflepuff second-year girl's dormitories. It's a school for wizards," Fairy Wings explained to him.

"It is pretty nice here..." I looked around.

Just then, there were footsteps. Another witch walked into the room, wearing the exact same robes Fairy Wings was wearing. She had curly blond hair and blue eyes.

"Hannah!" Fairy Wings exclaimed.

"FW! I thought you were shopping! And... What's this?" The witch called Hannah asked when she spotted all of the hairy caterpillars.

"Caterpillars? That talk?" Fairy Wings gave a sheepish smile.

"They talk?!" Hannah was surprised.

"Yes, we talk," I grinned.

"Ah! They talk!" Hannah almost screamed.

"Hannah, look. I saved them from being potion ingredients! They could've died!" Fairy Wings protested.

"But what are you going to do with them all?" Hannah asked.

"I'm not really sure..." Fairy Wings sighed.

"But you can't let them go. We're forbidden from entering the forest," Hannah reminded Fairy Wings.

"Do you think... Do you think Professor Sprout will allow them to stay?"

"Sprout does love animals..." Hannah gave a slight nod.

Fairy Wings turned to all of the caterpillars. "Would you like to stay with me?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Well, would we?" I encouraged with a smile on my face.

"I would!" Trixie responded and smiled at me.

"Me too!" Patil added.

"Me three! I stay with my sister!" Kingsly high-fived Patil.

"I've never stayed in one place before, but..." Hermy sighed. "Count me in!"

The caterpillars began to cheer. "We'll stay! We'll stay!"

"Wow, Fletcher... You're like a hero," Trixie smiled. "You're great at convincing caterpillars. That was a great speech, nut-eater."

"I've never heard you sound so serious," I smirked. She laughed.

"You're a smart one. Again, you've got me. Even smart caterpillars have to learn new things."

The caterpillars continued to cheer. "We'll stay! We'll stay here! Fletcher! Fletcher! Fletcher!!!"

Before I knew it, I was lifted off the groUnd by a few of the caterpillars and paraded around the room. Fairy Wings cheered and laughed.

"I like them," Hannah smiled. "I really like caterpillars."

"Me too," a Fairy Wings laughed as she watched me and the caterpillars. "They've finally found themselves a home."