Harry Potter and The Jade Dragon

Chapter 7 ~ The Celestial City

Harry had just drifted off to sleep that night, in his canopied rosewood bed, when a loud yell from Ron's bed suddenly startled him wide awake.

He sat up quickly, and saw Ron picking something up off his blankets and throwing it away from his bed. He got out of bed, and promptly tripped over something soft and furry, on the floor.

He heard a bouncing sound that seemed vaguely familiar. The lanterns in the dormitory suddenly came on, and Harry found himself lying on his stomach, looking at a small, sad black and white face. He heard a furry voice in his head, speaking in Chinese, in a reproving tone this time. It was Ping-Ping, the Panda.

Pong-Pong was lying some distance away, near the dormitory wall, where Ron had thrown him. Fatty was still fast asleep, but Chee Chong and Robert had come over to see what was happening.

The dormitory door burst open, and Hermione and Pixie came in together with Shan, who had LeafSong coiled around her wrist like a bright green bracelet. Hermione was carrying Crookshanks, her cat.

"What's happening?" she demanded. "We heard someone shouting."

"It is Ping-Ping and Pong-Pong," said Chee Chong, as Robert went over to Pong and picked him up. "They have come into our dormitory."

"He came crawling into my bed," said Ron, looking distinctly ruffled. "Stuffed something into my ear. Scared me out of a sound sleep."

"Oh, is that all," said Hermione, looking rather disgusted. She turned and went out, back to the girls' dormitory, Crookshanks still in her arms.

Pixie giggled. She went over to Ron's bed, and watched him brushing a pile of leaves and other small objects off the bed onto the floor.

Harry looked around to see where Ping had gone, and realised that she had climbed up onto his bed, and was stuffing several objects down his pillowcase. He took hold of her and placed her firmly on the floor, and then took the pillowcase out and shook it. A host of small things fell out : bamboo leaves, twigs, pebbles, a small jade earring, and an ivory comb.

Shan had come over to have a look.

"They're always collecting all sorts of rubbish," she said, sounding rather apologetic. "I don't know where they find half of it."

"How did they get up here?" asked Harry, brushing the leaves off the bed. "The bamboo grove is miles away."

Pixie giggled.

"They get around," she said, coming over and looking at the ivory comb with interest. "They seem to rotate around the school. They spent one term coming to my dorm in Crimson Phoenix, and after that they went over to White Tiger."

"You mean, they're going to keep coming back here?" said Ron, not looking too thrilled at the idea.

Shan laughed, as Pong wriggled out of Robert's arms and fell onto Ron's bed.

"I think they have taken a liking to you," she said.

Harry had to spend the rest of the night with Ping on his bed, curled up somewhere near his feet. Ron similarly had to put up with Pong, who thankfully had run out of objects with which to stuff his ear with. Both Pandas were gone, however, by the time morning arrived.

The morning started off pretty much the same way as the previous day, with Robert routing Fatty out of bed, and all of them hurrying to the Hall for breakfast. This time, to evade the autograph-hunters, Harry brought his Invisibility Cloak along. He excused himself from the table just before the gong sounded to signal the end of breakfast, and waited outside the side door of the Hall, wearing the Cloak, until the others came out.