The New Students 4/4

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In the shadows behind Charles, a monstrous form had appeared, a bulbous sac of grey flesh from which protruded short, stubby limbs and a flattened face buried in wrinkles. It snuffled as it moved, emitting a foul stench of dead fish and rotted seaweed. A second stood behind the trio, and from the slash in the wall crawled out two of the ghouls who looked as if they had climbed down from Pickman's paintings.

"Might as well sit down," Hermione grumbled, taking her place beside Harry and Ron.

Charles gave her a puzzled look. "Isn't that a bit blase?"

"Naw." Ron rubbed his aching calves. "This is the place where you give a long-winded speech which explains everything we should have figured out for ourselves."

"There's not much to explain," Charles assured them. Cthullu, may he live forever, demands an annual tribute, to be paid in human brains – which is why Miskatonic University seeks the best and the brightest to fill out their freshman class. We need good brains to keep this place running smoothly! Today the tribute is to be paid – and you three have been chosen for the honor."

"Some honor," Ron grumbled.

"But he's been recruited to be a star athlete!" Hermione protested, gesturing toward Harry. "You can't kill him!"

"He's a jock," Charles sneered. "Jocks don't need brains. Quite a few of our athletes leave their heads in their lockers, so as not to damage their looks in a game. Well then, if you're ready to come along..." He gestured to the behemoths, who shuffled forward.

"Incendio!" Hermione shouted, pointing her wand at the feet of the closest monster. Flames flickered up between its toes.

"It's a water creature," Charles drawled. "Fire can't hurt it."

"But she specializes in water-proof fire," Ron said proudly, even as a look of surprise crossed the monster's face. A moment later it suddenly felt the pain, and began to hop frantically from one foot to the other. Rocks crashed from the ceiling as it pounded the floor, and the two ghouls ran screeching down the side passage as the tunnel caved in.

"Stop!" Ron screamed. "You'll kill us all."

With a wave of her wand, Hermione gathered up the flames into her hand. The behemoth stared at his foot in puzzlement, and Charles smiled with victory. "Well then, if you'll just come with me..."

"Take one step closer, and I'll release this," Hermione growled. "On both of them, this time."

"If you'd rather be persuaded..." Charles gestured with his left hand, and began to mutter strange words whose harsh, guttural tones formed a hypnotic song. The sounds evoked dark, leeching shadows, a miasma of helplessness, an evil, overpowering presence which could not be denied....

"Obliviate!" three voices shouted in unison, and Charles was thrown against the wall by the force of the spell.

Rather dazed and grinning foolishly, Charles staggered to his feet. "Now were was I?" he mused. "Who am I? What are those creatures?"

"Er – they're going to take you someplace where you can rest," Ron said quickly.

"Yeah," Harry added. He turned to the closest monstrosity. "He's the one you're looking for. Take him, home."

The creatures looked at the new students with puzzlement. But then, faced with a choice between one who apparently knew something and one who obviously didn't, they made the obvious decision. Squeezing past the trio, it picked up Charles around the waist and trundled off.

"Have a good day!" Charles called back cheerily.

Hermione dusted off her robes, consulted her map, and pointed back in the direction they had come. "Let this be a lesson to you," she said primly. "Don't trust anyone except your best friend, and then only with a healthy dose of skepticism."

"That's the moral of the day, right?" Ron said sarcastically.

"No, it's what the map says. But I left out a few, ah, descriptive words."

"Of course," Harry said, glancing over her shoulder to read the longer, scathing diatribe.

"Of course," Ron echoed. He pointed to a sentence at the bottom. "But the jokes on him. He can't give us double detention anymore!"

"At this place, anything is possible," Hermione read. She rolled up the parchment. "Of course it is – we're arguing with a map! Come on, let's register before the office closes."

And so the three moved off, their trunks floating behind them, a year of danger and excitement stretching ahead – perfectly normal for any new student at Miskatonic University.