Harry Potter and The Jade Dragon

Chapter 10 ~ The Lady in the Scroll

Harry waited until the others were asleep, then quietly wrapped himself in the Invisibility Cloak and made for the door. He would have asked Ron to come along, except that he still looked as though he was suffering from the after-effects of the rice wine.

As Harry went past Robert's bed, he saw that Robert was still awake, lying on his back and staring into space. He turned his head and looked at Harry, as he passed.

Harry stopped and looked back at him in astonishment. He tugged at the Cloak, to make sure it was really covering him. Robert, however, merely gave him a small smile, then turned around and faced the other way, and closed his eyes.

Feeling rather nonplussed, Harry quietly opened the door and went out. He made his way down the spiral staircase, and almost stepped on something slender and green, which was slithering down the steps.

"LeafSong?" he whispered, pulling the Cloak off his head.

LeafSong turned her head and looked up at him, her forked tongue tasting the air. She looked about as astonished as a snake could look.

Harry picked her up, and put her in his pocket.

"Where iss your body?" she hissed.

"I'm wearing an Invisibility Cloak," he explained to her, in Parseltongue. "Where are you going?"

"Shan hass gone to visit the dragonss, and left me behind," she hissed.

"At this hour?" Harry was surprised.

"LeafSsong planned to follow her, but she doessn't mind following Harry Potter, insstead," added LeafSong. "Where iss Harry Potter going?"

Harry figured there wouldn't be any harm in bringing her along; she was probably more familiar with the palace than he was, and could lead him back if he got lost.

"Just looking around the school," he said.

He made his way down the corridor that led to the Hall of Dragons. Passing the scroll painting of the thickly-forested mountain, he saw that the three tiny figures and the mule must have made it to the top, because they were now descending the mountain instead.

The three young maidens had stopped washing their clothes in the river, and were fast asleep. Harry tiptoed past them, then turned and went down the corridor that Fei Lian the Wind Ghost had come out of, that first evening.

He passed through corridors furnished with carved rosewood side-tables, on which delicate blue-and-white porcelain vases reclined. He came to a large courtyard, open to the sky, enclosing a garden filled with brilliant peonies and chrysanthemums, all whispering to themselves in the pale moonlight. There was a small pond there as well, covered with lotus blooms.

Harry wandered around the garden for a while, then went back into the palace. He went down another corridor, and came upon two ghosts armed with long wooden staffs, sparring with each other.

One ghost looked like a large monkey, standing upright, and tall as a man. It was extremely agile, leaping around and twirling its staff expertly. The other ghost, which was much shorter and had the head of a pig, was whimpering and looking rather tired and sulky. He dropped his staff, and the monkey promptly stopped and waited for him to pick it up, before continuing.

Harry went past the two, and turned down another corridor. He came to another Hall, as large as the Hall of Dragons, but it was dark inside and he couldn't see anything.