Harry Potter and The Jade Dragon

Chapter 5 ~ The Hall of A Thousand Dragons

Harry lay where he was for a few seconds, then sat up. A wicked-looking ghost was swooping out of the side corridor. He had a sack in his hand, which he suddenly pulled open. Another blast of air came out of it, pushing the students in front of him back down the corridor.

Harry, feeling himself being blown away again, held on to the thick carpet under him, which fortunately seemed firmly attached to the floor. The broken pieces of a blue and white vase that had been on the table lay all about him. The pieces were being blown away in the wind, and he desperately stuck a leg out to block them from doing so.

The ghost swooped around, laughing nastily. He seemed about to pull his sack of wind open again, when another ghost came flying down the corridor. He was carrying a bow and wore a quiver of arrows, and he had a fiery object like a small burning sun in his hand. Aiming quickly, he threw the fiery ball at the mischievous ghost.

The Wind Ghost swore in Chinese, and dodged the ball. Clutching his sack of wind, he tore away down the corridor in the direction of the Pagoda. The fiery ball swung around and came back to rest in the hand of the Archer, who then hurtled down the corridor after the other ghost.

Shan and the others, who had been in front and beyond the reach of the wind, now came back to help Chee Chong, Ron, Pixie and Hermione up.

"The naughty ghost was Fei Lian," said Shan, brushing dust off Hermione's robes, "and the archer is Shen Yi. He is the only one who can keep Fei Lian in check."

"We have a ghost like that at Hogwarts," said Ron. "You'll get to meet him."

Harry had returned the overturned table to its original position, and was looking at the broken vase in dismay. Robert, however, had come over to him. Taking his wand out, he pointed it at the pieces, and muttered something in Chinese. The pieces flew back up onto the table and together into one vase again, looking as good as new.

Harry looked at Robert with dawning respect.

"Thanks," he said.

Robert just gave a small smile, and then went back to Shan's side.

They started off toward the Hall again. The door they were approaching appeared to be a side door, for on going in they saw groups of students, in their robes of green, yellow, white, black and red, entering through the larger main entrance to the left.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm.

"Look at the walls and ceiling!" she exclaimed.

Harry looked up. The ceiling and upper walls were alive with movement. They were covered with frescoes of hundreds of glittering golden dragons and phoenix, all flying and swooping around in an endless dance. He watched them for a while, then felt dizzy, and looked down again.

Pixie giggled. "Pretty, aren't they?"

The Hall of Dragons was almost as large as the Great Hall at Hogwarts. It was filled with round tables, in five groups, each group having tablecloths in the colour of its respective House. Shan was leading them to their table which was with Green Dragon House, and had a forest green tablecloth. To Harry's dismay, Yu-Lin, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were already seated there, not looking too pleased. Yu-Lin obviously hadn't been able to get a separate table for the four of them.

The boy students sitting at the other tables all turned to look at Pixie as she passed them. She gave them a beaming, coquettish smile, leaving them all looking rather weak in the knees, and joined the others at the green table.

"Your friend Chien-Mei is coming," she said to Ron, as they sat down.

Ron looked puzzled.

"Chien-Mei?" he said. "Who's that?"