The Birds and the Bears - Harry Potter Fanfic.

Chapter Twelve. Didactic Detention

Chapter Twelve. Didactic Detention

Teddy's P.O.V.

I meet Vic at the base of the marble staircase at quarter to eight. She blushes when she sees me and I grin. Tentatively I reach out and grasp her hand. To my enjoyment, her fingers lace through mine, and we head palm to palm down in the direction of Hagrid's hut. It looms out of the darkness quite suddenly, as the night is a bit foggy, and we find Hagrid out behind the pumpkin patch holding a pair of shovels and a large lantern. Grawp lumbers around in the nearby forest, grunting and tuneless melody in his deep gravely voice.

"You two got yer gloves then?" Hagrid intones by way of a greeting. "Yes Hagrid!" I practically shout. With his enormous wiry beard of pure white and his sagging wrinkly face, Hagrid is quite deaf and if you want to be heard you must put some volume behind your speech. "Grand. Lets be off then," Hagrid motions for us to follow him. Vic glances at me, her eyes filled with apprehension, and I smile at her. After an incident in Vic's third year involving a kelpy, a boggart, and a doxy she is slightly reluctant to enter the Forbidden Forest.

To my surprise Hagrid doesn't lead us through the ancient trunks. Instead we skirt around the edge until we meet up with the gently lapping bank of the Black Lake. While handing us each a shovel Hagrid says, "Look a' the edge o' the water. See tha' grimy stuff?" He is pointing to an out of place gooey substance that seems to coat the shore line. "Headmistress McGonnagal wants samples for study. We donna' know what the bleedn' stuff is. Put on yer gloves and start shovelin' it up into this 'ere bucket. I'll tell ya when ta stop." He plunks a large bucket down on the sand then adds "Don' touch it mind. It burns like centaur piss." After we acknowledge his instructions loudly he walks off into the forest in the direction of the crashes caused by Grawp.

It turns out that the bluish goo is surprisingly resilient, and stubbornly reluctant to be shoveled. It is a bit like muggle pudding, except each time you pierce it with the shovel it seems to recoil and glom back on to the mass you were trying to remove it from. Vic and I are sniggering as we attempt to get more then a teaspoon of it into the bucket. "It doesn't seem to want to go." Vic laughs then adds "Here hand me your shovel." I do, and watch as she cleverly uses the shovels like tongs, scooping a bunch of the blue goo into the bucket.

We take turns with the tong-shovel method and I tell Vic about my qudditch training regime. She listens attentively and I realize that this is one of the things I love about her. No matter what it is, I know I can talk to Vic about it. She might joke or tease, but she always takes the things that matter to me seriously.

I am distracted by my thoughts until an excruciating burning sensation assaults my hand. "Bugger!" I swear and drop the shovels. "Teddy what happened?" Vic comes up to me and we both look down at what was recently a perfectly good pair of dragon hide gloves. A small drop of the goo has seared through the thick leather and into my palm. I try to shake it off, but the air just seems to make it burn worse. Vic pulls out her wand and murmurs a banishing spell softly, causing the small drop to leave the wound on my hand and then fly into the bucket. "Blimey! What in Merlin's name is this stuff?" I exclaim. Worry creases Vic's forehead as she tries several healing spells with no success. "I dunno, Teddy. I can't seem to heal your hand, and I haven't heard of that many substances that can burn through dragon hide. That kind of leather is supposed to be almost magically impervious." 

We turn to the edge of the water and Vic holds up the lantern that Hagrid left with us high. The deceptively innocuous looking goop lines the shore for as far as our lantern light can permeate the darkness of the falling night. Our eyes meet and no words are necessary, we are both wondering what has caused this goo to exist.

Victiore's P.O.V.

After Teddy and I have filled the bucket with care, avoiding touching or splashing the mysterious goop at all, Hagrid comes back and relives us of our duty. When we show him the wound in Teddy's hand that is still bleeding freely into his handkerchief Hagrid murmurs and oath. "Why dinna yer tell me tha' 'append? Goon up to the infirmary, Ted. 'hat looks sore. This blasted stuff is worse then I though'." he adds.