Chapter 184. Oh, isn't this the busy man, Duncan
A rumbling of footsteps sounded outside the workshop shed, and Duncan couldn't help lifting his head, his gaze following the view out of the window.
Two Erumpents came striding along in a light gait, Pro sitting on Ari's spine, with little pixies fluttering up and down in circles at his sides.
Moreover, every pixie's face was brimming with excited smiles, chirping away as they discussed something with great enthusiasm.
Poor Pro opened his mouth wide several times, tilting back his head with a hopeful look to try to join the conversation, but he never managed it.
"How was it — how did you get on with Hog?
Did he bully you?"
Seeing Pro and the pixies pouring into the shed in a crowd, Duncan set down his work, turned, and asked with a smile.
"Very well!"
Pro finally seized the chance to speak and jumped in.
"Although Hog's first impression was a bit fierce, after my introduction — and considering my relationship with him — Hog's attitude improved a lot.
He received them very kindly and took us on a tour of his territory!"
"Is that so?"
Duncan raised an eyebrow, gave Pro a once-over, and then turned to Nofi.
"Though there's a bit of exaggeration, I have to admit he did do well in this matter.
Hog is a good dragon," Nofi replied.
"Oh? Pro, I didn't expect you and Hog to have become so close — weren't you quite afraid of him before?" Duncan asked with a smile.
"Beasts that like shiny things are all clever and friendly and easy to get along with!"
Pro praised himself without batting an eye.
"I was afraid before because I didn't understand him.
Now that I do, of course I'm not afraid anymore, and becoming friends was only natural."
"Was it?"
Duncan narrowed his eyes slightly.
"How many pieces of golden stone did he give you this time?"
Pro's proudly puffed-out chest collapsed at once.
He rubbed his round belly with both paws in embarrassment and gave Duncan a bashful, sheepish grin that seemed to say, "Aw, Duncan, everyone's here — give me some face, don't cut me down like that!"
Duncan shook his head, still smiling.
"Come on then, Nofi, I'll take you to look at your habitat."
"All right!" Nofi said excitedly, and the other pixies bobbed up and down in delight.
Having seen Hog's territory earlier, they had been looking forward the whole time to their own new home, imagining what it might be like.
Duncan led the pixies out of the shed to the endless forest in the middle, and allotted them the small area on the right-hand side.
It was clear the pixies were very satisfied with their new dwelling.
No sooner had Duncan made the announcement than they shot off into the depths of the forest.
"Be careful, all of you!" he called after them.
After the reminder, Duncan made a side trip to check on the Unicorns and the Horned Serpent, then returned to the shed.
He carried on with what he had left unfinished just before — miscellaneous matters that had piled up over a period of time, tedious yet fairly important.
"At last that's done.
Next time I mustn't put things off again.
Everything has to be handled promptly, or if this happens a few more times, I might just drop dead from exhaustion."
Working his aching shoulders with both hands, Duncan rose on tiptoe to place the potion-filled glass phials on the high shelf of the side cabinet, then swung his wand.
The cauldron, chopping board, and small knife on the table flew into the sink by themselves, the tap opened, the water roared, and they began to wash one another.
As the last fleck of residue on the cauldron's surface was flushed away, the tap shut itself off, and the cauldron drifted down to settle under the cabinet.
The small knife sprang up, flipped twice, and landed on the rack, while the chopping board rose slowly, shook itself madly in mid-air to fling off the droplets, then floated back to the tabletop.
All the other items returned to where they had been placed, one after another, and the slightly messy table became clean and tidy in the blink of an eye.
Duncan clapped his hands in satisfaction, stretched, yawned, and dragged his weary body back to the dormitory.
At that moment, the clock's hand on the wall pointed to half past twelve, and the warm dormitory echoed with snores, now light, now heavy.
Following the sound, one saw Neville sleeping sweetly on his bed.
He'd been squeezed dry by Fred and George all day today and had practically fallen asleep the instant he got back.
Duncan gave his wand a little flick, and Neville's snores vanished from his ears.
Only then did he nod in satisfaction, change his clothes, lie down, and drift into sleep.
A new week began, no different from days past, and time flowed swiftly by in a blur of lessons and the end of lessons.
Only, after the holiday master class in Potions and the Defence Against the Dark Arts sparring, Snape found it harder and harder to pick faults with Duncan.
If he wanted to dock points, he could only find some other forced pretext.
So Snape shifted his sights to other students and thrashed them till they were wailing for their mums and dads, shouting that they wanted to drop out and go home.
But after all that yelling, it stayed at words alone.
Over the course of the week, not a single person actually left Hogwarts.
On Friday morning, Duncan and Neville were up early for once, and the two of them strolled slowly to the Great Hall for breakfast.
They paused for a while by Hufflepuff's long table and found Hannah and Ellie near the back.
"Good morning, you two!"
Duncan sat down opposite Hannah and Ellie, yawned, and spoke with a beaming smile.
"Oh, isn't this our busy man, Duncan.
What brings you so early?
To be honest, since the end of the Christmas holiday, I think this is the first time I've seen the two of you in the Hall in the morning," Hannah said with a teasing smile after swallowing her mouthful of bread.
"Can't be helped — I've just got too much on.
Compared with me, even the Minister for Magic counts as an idle fellow.
Isn't that right, Neville?" Duncan said with a laugh.
"Mm-mm…" Neville mumbled indistinctly, his mouth stuffed full of sausage.
"I don't even know what you're so busy with…" Hannah muttered under her breath, when sudden ripples of soft laughter ran through the Hall.
Duncan and the others craned their necks to look and saw Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle coming in from outside.
Malfoy wore a face like thunder, while Goyle and Crabbe looked thoroughly cowed, sneaking wary glances all around.
Their clothes were grimy with dust, and the exposed skin showed a few bluish-purple bruises, as if from falls or knocks.
"What's up with them?" Duncan asked, puzzled.
Though Malfoy and his lot looked bedraggled, it didn't seem enough to set so many people laughing at them.
"You don't know?
We even had class together!" Hannah said in surprise, and even Neville and Ellie turned their eyes on Duncan.
It was as if not knowing were like not knowing that salt is salty and vinegar is sour — one of those everyone-knows facts.
"Heh-heh, I haven't been paying much attention…" Duncan said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
Lately he'd been studying the magic book he'd taken from the Restricted Section, and he had indeed been paying less attention to other matters.
Hannah rolled her eyes, cast a sympathetic look at the three of Malfoy's lot, and said, "I don't know what's got into them lately — they're terribly unlucky.
Whatever they do fails.
In Potions they blew up their cauldron, spattering the classroom with potion and making Snape roar with fury for an entire afternoon — pity he still didn't deduct points from Slytherin.
In Transfiguration they mis-spoke a spell and conjured a filthy rag right onto Professor McGonagall's face, and they were punished with several days of corridor-cleaning.
In Charms they nearly blew the desks apart.
Even walking around, they'll be struck by who-knows-what flying out of nowhere, or trip over something on the floor.
You could say they're having the sort of week where even drinking cold water would stick in their teeth!"
"Tut-tut, that's really quite pitiful…" Duncan said sympathetically.
However, he suddenly felt that the way Malfoy and the others were faring was very similar to the effect produced by a certain thing he had lost.
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