House of Hags

"Oh, Asphodel! Look what youve done!"

Dropping an armload of heavy grimoires on the table, Zerekiah Misericordia scowled at his fat black tabby cat, who continued with great dignity to drag his tail through the cauldron of azure sticky potion that Zerekiah brewed for more than a week. Now the potion dripped from Asphodel's tail, pooling on the floor of Zerek's room, as the cat continued on his leisurely strool preening like a peacock.

"Damn it!' he grumbled, wiping his fingers on his pants as he sat back on his haunches. As he sat in the silver moonlight, he tugged absently on his black robes, which had seen much better days and took another unhappy look at the pot of potion.

"I should have kept track of how I mixed it, I knew I should have,' Zerekiah muttered, stirring it with his rod. Cat hairs floated like so much flotsam and jetsam on the surface of tiny cerulean sea. He shrugged. He never kept track of anything.

Outside, on the distant perimeter of the area which was his magical greenery and had been a dwelling place for the friendly garden gnomes, he noticed a familiar man seemed like waving his hand.

Taking a deep breath. Zerekiah stared morosely at his potion once again. He should catch up on some of his potion fabrication, or correct few undergraduate draughts before he got ready to go to a cosy chit-chat. He sighed, lifting again his eyes to look at the window.

A young man continued to wave his hand until Zerekiah came and he complained, "This thing is heavy did you write a complete set of magical encyclopedias?' And why did you gave me a copy of it?"

Zerekiah just gave him a smile and he opened the door and Urquhart followed him bending down to Zerek's pet Asphodel, dreading a discussions of Zerek's work, "I am not needing it, Hogwarts dont offered Dark Arts courses such as Hexcraft.

Zerekiah put his arms around Urquhart and pulled him close resting his cheek on his silver hair telling Hart that Headmaster Doyle decide to offer a brand new course and Zerekiah bet its brilliant,

"What!?" Urquhart looked again at the heavy grimoire. The title page glared up at him. Zerek felt his body go rigid and flares of distress emanated from him. Zerek's arm around the back of his neck fell away and he slowly lifted the copy of the grimoire, his face darkening.

"The Role of Bugs As a Magical Tool in HexCraft", he read aloud. Putting the book on a table, he carefully squared the edges and stared at the bold print of the title," Merlin's beard!", he exclaimed, his face angry and closed. You're serious about this insane bugs and insect stuffs aren't you?"

Throwing himself down on the sofa, he crossed his arms over his chest and threw one knee over the other. His shoe jerked up and down furiously. The cat leaped up to snuggle close to him and he stared down at him for a moment. Then he looked at Zerekiah with disbelieving dark eyes. 'How could you get mixed up in something like that" he asked tensely.

Zerekiah sat down beside him, hesitating to touch him, knowing how difficult it would be for him to accept his boook- if he ever could. He knew Hart had a passion in Dark Arts but he was unsure if Hart will love it when there is a lesson about bugs and insects. After a wretched moment he said, 'let me tell you about it,"

Hart nodded, but he turned his eyes away store at the cuddling, purring cat.

That probability worried him, but he began to explain. " Early in my graduate years, our class did a series of experiments testing the bugs about their capabilities. I told you that at first,I felt disgusted but I ignored that feeling and you know what, I scored far above anyone else for discovering that like pets they have the ability to decipher what man says by means of spells and incantations. Because of this our Care of Magical Creatures Professor took an interest in me.He's done research in the magical insects field for years, and he recruited me to assist in his project. The work brought me a financial grant that I badly needed."

Zerek paused for a moment, but Hart said nothing, though his arms had uncrossed and he was idly ruffling Asphodel's fur.

"I would have done it anything" Zerek said " even if money hadnt been an issue because I am fascinated by the potential of inesct magic. I belive what I wrote in my book about bugs being one of the valuable too for HexCraft."

Urquhart brows twitched as if he struck him, but he didint speak.

So he went on. " Several serious, verified dark witches and wizards have allowed me to study their art. I observe and record how they personally weaved their hexes and jinxes. Some of them use skulls and bones to craft their hex while others use flesh and blood."

Urquhart made a restless, irritated movement and before he speak Zerekiah added, " I know you are afraid of bugs that is why you are acting like that, but for goodness sake Urquhart! You need to overcome your fears!"

A betrayed sigh escape Urquhart's lips as he turned to study his mentor's face. Then he rolled the cat off his lap and walked and walked across the room in silence to stare out through the glass door, his siff, disapproving back turned toward Zerekiah.

"By the way Urquhart, " Zerekah said. " Is that the reason why you are here? To gave back my book and criticize what I wrote?" Zerekiah paused and after three seconds he spoke again. " Or to convince me not to teach my new discovery in Hogwarts?'

Then Zerekiah patted him on his shoulder and said to him softly, " I thought you are here for my tutorials?"

"Teaching?" Urquhart exzlaimed.

"You are teaching in Hogwarts? And you will teach that stupid lesson not just to me but all the entire students of Hogwats?". He continued as he crossed the rom and look down at the thick sheaf of pages lying on the table

Zerekiah just smiled so he continued, " And how can this little creepy friend of yours possibly have anything to do with Dark Arts?" he asked once again. The tone of his voice was distant and the derision barely concealed.

Zerekiah feel into the sofa and pushed against the back of it as his brain registered Urquhart's question. His face grew hot, he saw a flush of disapointment along his chest as he lower his gaze and felt it spread up the column of his neck to fan across his cheeks and forehead. Yet, he chose to answer his student calmly. " First of all, I thought you already knew that I am now the new Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts? Didn't your mum tell you that?"

Urquhart just shook his head so he went on. " Well to answer your question, I should say that all wizards and witches have the power to place objects within his personal object and in peoples bodies. Like for example the Slug-Vommitting jinx has a power to cause one to spit up slugs."

"In my practice, I use a small bottle or bamboo joint, and inside it is an acromantula, a flobberworm and others. Actually the insects are not really insects but a malevolent spirits . If you want to attach a malevolent spirit to an object or a creature just say Habere Spiritum..."

Realizing that Urquhart was not listening, he got up and stood in front of him and he said softly, " Please try to understand. This isn't a whim to me. My discovery is very serious. And I need to apply it in my teachings. I cannot forgive myself if I just keep it and not share with others."

But when Urquhart lifted his head to look at his mentor, his expression was hurt and mad.

((May I join you? It'd be nice to know another face ))

Jess Potter wrote:((May I join you? It'd be nice to know another face ))

((Yes you may))

No matter how much Urquhart convinced Zerekiah not to practice the magic involving the insects over the next few days, he never listened to him.

It was late evening before the thought came back to his mind. Hmmm, I have a few minutes, maybe I can look up this book of magical bugs and insects.

"Galloping gargoyles, it's heavy, thin paper too. Whoa, almost 1600 pages, this is enormous!" Zerekiah said to himself

"So what is this all about? Let’s see now, Acromantula, Billywig, Firecrabs, Wood Lice, Amblypygi and on, and on, and on. Hey, I only want to know one little thing; Can someone formulate a potion made entirely with these insects ? Wonder if I have to wade through all these pages to find it, or is there a better way. Maybe I could ask someone. No, no, don’t give up now. This will be a great accomplishment if I can find the good news on my own. I don’t need any help. I can do it myself." Zerekiah thought to himself.

Zrekiah just flipped the book open to see what it’s like. Now, this is the fourteenth chapter of How to treat Disease caused by Magical Bugs, and it starts out like this:

“ Scrofungulus -a wizarding illness. It is a contagious disease and is provoked by.... ”

"What in the world I am reading? Nearly 1600 pages, and I didn’t even know where should I find the magical bugs and their properties ! This is not a good start."

Not one to give in to defeat, Zeerekiah took a deep breath and started repeating his favorite motto. “Don’t give up. Don’t give up. Don’t give up.” With renewed determination, he made his way through hundreds of pages until something different caught his attention.