Potty Game: Five Words (Vol. XX)

and reached for Porpentina's hand.

This could be a symbolic reference to their marriage later. Do we need to say more?

Story #156
Started: Sept 28 2013
Finished: Nov 16 2013
Total time taken to write story: 50 days
Total words: 2100
Contributors: Verity Weasley, Julia, Mona, Potteraholic

Fantastic Friends and Where to Find Them

“Newt! Watch out!”

A loud cry made him stop just in time. One step more and he would have been singed by the fiery breath of the reptile staring at him with unblinking yellow eyes from the top of a pile of dirt and twigs. Newt Scamander slowly edged away until he felt his back against the wide trunk of a tree. He hoped Porpentina, whose voice he had instantly recognized, was at a safe distance. These little creatures could give a nasty burn, even though they were only six weeks old. He looked around carefully: the Forbidden Forest was dark here. The trees grew close together, and their leaves were approaching the full canopy of summer. He didn’t want his secret to be discovered – hiding a baby Hungarian Horntail, even in the forest, was a serious offence. Luckily the secret had been safe – so far, but for how much longer? There was now at least one more person who knew about it. Although Porpentina could be trusted, he was still anxious to find out why she was here and how much she suspected of his illicit activities.

“Porpentina?” he asked gingerly, looking up at the spreading branches of a beech tree. Porpentina was perched in a fork, leaning against the trunk, her legs dangling a few feet above his head. She was eating a peach, and the juice was dripping from her hand and making a sticky puddle on the forest soil. She waved cheerfully at Newt and said, “fancy, a dragon here! How on earth did you manage to find one?”

Newt hesitated for a moment. Denying the fact that the presence of the baby dragon was anything to do with him crossed his mind, but Porpentina had probably watched him as he wandered around, calling Firefangs by name.

“It’s a long story,” he replied evasively. “Do you want to pet him?”

“No,” Porpentina answered quickly, “and I don’t think you should either! He doesn’t look very tame to me.”

She swung her leg over the branch and slid expertly down to the ground. She was slim and almost as tall as he was. She wore her brown hair in a long braid and her green eyes sparkled with mischief. Newt was so dazzled by her smile that he forgot about Firefangs for the moment and stood gaping at her. Porpentina too seemed momentarily lost for words, until a plume of smoke and a muted roar from behind the beech tree startled both of them. Porpentina stumbled backwards and Newt had just enough time to grab the front of her cloak before she fell.

“Thanks,” she blushed, steadying herself as gracefully as possible.

The little dragon reared up suddenly, letting out another puff of smoke and flapping its wings excitedly. Porpentina screamed and Newt stepped protectively between her and the little dragon.

“Down Firefangs!” he commanded, then added in a stern voice, “behave yourself!”

The young dragon lowered its head and gave a plaintive sound. Newt couldn’t help chuckling.

“I think he’s jealous. He’s never seen me with anyone else before.”

“Hungry, more likely, I think,” Porpentina said grimly, “and I’d rather not be his food!”

“Of course not,” Newt agreed, “but really he’s only a baby. He wouldn’t hurt a –“

A crunching sound coming from the direction of Firefangs interrupted Newt’s assertion. He had caught a small furry creature, and was rapidly devouring it. Newt looked embarrassed but also quite proud of his young charge.

“You were saying?” Porpentina queried ironically as she raised her eyebrow.
Newt shrugged. “He’s a dragon after all.”

They both laughed and Porpentina came cautiously forward to stand by Newt’s side. Newt realized for the first time how pretty she was. He hadn’t really noticed her before – she was a Ravenclaw and he was a Hufflepuff. They did have Care of Magical Creatures together, but he was so engrossed in that fascinating subject that he barely noticed anything else. Now, however, he was acutely aware of the girl’s closeness to him and the fluttering feeling in his chest that was both disturbing and exciting.

“D-D’you come here often?” he asked when the silence was becoming prolonged, only to realize how ridiculous the question was. He felt himself going red and he wished he could think of something clever or entertaining to say.

“I came here first in Fifth year,” Porpentina replied earnestly. “I wanted to find some samples for my Herbology project. I know it’s a dangerous place, but I’ve been careful to avoid dark creatures and I’ve been coming back ever since then. It’s peaceful here. Sometimes it’s nice to get away from my silly classmates and just be with nature, you know.”

Newt could perfectly understand the sentiment. He often thought most animals were more interesting than most human beings, but maybe Porpentina was different – one of the few exceptions to the rule. He nodded silently, wondering whether Porpentina regarded him as one of her silly classmates.

“I don’t mind you Hufflepuffs though. Sometimes I think I should have been a Hufflepuff.” She paused, as though she was trying to decide whether to confide in Newt. Finally, she said, “you can keep a secret, can’t you?”

Newt was a bit surprised. He thought he was the only one who had a secret connected with the Forbidden Forest.

“Of course I can,” he assured her earnestly, gesturing behind him to where Firefangs was flapping about, trying to fly. It was such a comical sight that they both burst out laughing.

“Wait until he grows up,” Porpentina said, wiping her green eyes with the sleeve of her robes. “How long do you think you’ll be able to keep this secret?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Newt said. “I’m going to be a professional dragon handler when I leave school. But we were talking about your secret.”

Porpentina led him down a narrow pathway lined on both sides by ancient trees and thorny bushes. In places they walked single file, and Newt’s curiosity was getting the better of him. At last they reached a small clearing where the dappled sunlight filtered through the canopy and illuminated a small tree in the middle. Porpentina stopped and stood aside so Newt could see what she was showing him.

“Is this it?” he asked, staring at the unassuming tree.

“Look closer,” Porpentina replied, pointing her wand at the lower branches.

“Are those bright golden leaves hiding something?”

Newt approached the tree, brushing aside the branches. He saw ripe golden peaches growing alongside one another. Carefully, he bent the foliage aside and picked a peach from the tree.

“Peaches! In this climate?” he asked incredulously. “And so early in the year?”

“That’s not all,” Porpentina explained. “This tree provides a different fruit every month.”

Newt gaped at the tree and whistled in admiration. “This is amazing magic! Who did this? How did you get such a wonderful plant?”

Porpentina blushed and looked away without answering. Newt was watching as she absentmindedly picked dirt from under her nails and sudden realization hit.

“Did you do it?” he asked with awe.

“Well, yes, but I’ve kept it secret from everyone while I’ve been perfecting the magic.”

“You’re a very talented witch,” he said, before biting his tongue. He wasn’t quite sure of himself in front of this strange girl and felt unexpectedly tongue-tied. A fluttering feeling in his chest made it hard to breathe properly when he saw Porpentina smile.

“Would you tell me more about this experiment with the tree?”

Porpentina eagerly began explaining how she had started her plant project and the two of them became so deeply engrossed in their conversation that they did not notice the creature until it was only a few steps away. A sudden crashing in the forest made them wheel round in alarm. Porpentina shrieked and Newt whipped his wand out as an enraged unicorn burst out of the bushes and galloped straight at them, horn down. Trying to shield Porpentina from the perilous point, Newt leaped in front of the animal, waving his arms wildly.

“Run, Tina!” he yelled as the unicorn reared, hooves flailing in the air, but Porpentina stood her ground and started edging cautiously towards the animal with her arms outstretched. She was humming a tune which was unfamiliar to Newt but the enraged unicorn seemed to calm slightly. A flying hoof knocked over Newt nevertheless just as he was trying to decide what spell to use. His wand went flying out of his hand, and he rolled into a ball as the animal jumped over him. Newt looked up from the ground hoping that Porpentina had got out of the way – and he couldn’t believe his eyes. Porpentina had managed to step quite close to the creature and was stroking it now affectionately. The unicorn was still stamping its feet and Newt suddenly noticed that it seemed to be bleeding from a large wound on its leg. It looked like it had just been injured by something with sharp claws.

“Look!” he shouted to Porpentina. “The unicorn is injured! That must be why it is so angry.”

We have to help somehow,” Porpentina replied as Newt crawled away from the animal before he carefully got to his feet. He skirted the dangerous hooves and stood just behind Porpentina.

“I don’t know what we can do if he won’t let me touch him,“ he said when he was close and the unicorn started getting agitated again.

“Maybe I can distract him for a while, but what can you do about that wound?”

“We must stop the bleeding and try to close the wound. I know a spell I can try, but we’ll probably need some medicinal plants to help with healing,” Newt explained, directing his wand back amongst the trees, where a bush full of green and pink dittany was growing. He murmured a spell and conjured a small bowl from thin air and asked Porpentina to keep humming while he went to the bush and prepared a poultice. The unicorn was getting visibly exhausted now and had allowed Porpentina to examine the wound closely. When Newt was ready he signaled to Porpentina, who took the unicorn’s head to her chest and continued humming. The animal whinnied in alarm as Newt approached the wound but was too exhausted to protest too much when he put the poultice on, after first using a spell to stop the bleeding and to clean the wound. The spell and the poultice together quickly seemed to close the wound and the unicorn noticeably relaxed.

Porpentina scratched the animal’s neck and said affectionately, “that’s better, isn’t it?” Then she smiled at Newt.

“I think he might let you stroke him now.”

Newt cautiously approached Porpentina at the head of the unicorn and gave it a firm pat. The animal responded by giving Newt a hefty shove, which knocked the boy over, and sent him sprawling into a blackthorn bush nearby. He looked up at Porpentina who bent over him and extended her hand, trying unsuccessfully to conceal her amusement. As he joined in her laughter, he forgot the thorns that had penetrated his robes in a mere second and he felt suddenly giddy.

“Thanks,” he said, wiping the dust off his hands and accepting Porpentina’s help with removing the thorns.

“You know,” Porpentina said, “I think we make a good team, you and I.”

Newt smiled at her. Porpentina’s eyes were shining as Newt replied.

“Yes, we do.”

He drew closer until his face was mere inches away from hers. He leaned in and kissed her. Porpentina’s lips tasted of peach and he savoured the moment to the full. They were both momentarily oblivious to their surroundings. They didn’t see the unicorn who had recovered enough to take a few steps towards them. He lowered his horn as though he had an idea to separate the two young people. As he attempted to thrust his head between them, Newt became aware of his proximity and spun round. With a sudden, instinctive reaction, he lifted Porpentina off her feet and began running around behind the unicorn, dragging her along and laughing. The couple sheltered behind a tree while the unicorn stopped and sampled one of Porpentina’s peaches meekly. Winking at Porpentina, Newt bowed.

“My lady, I have the honour of telling you that henceforth you need never be troubled by any monster attacks. I will protect you to the best of my ability. I’ll be your knight in shining armour if you’ll let me.”

He grinned and reached for Porpentina’s hand.

Verity, I LOVE the title!!!  

I like the story, too. Poor Newt, he never gets to eat that peach (there are compensations though).   There were a couple of slight hiccups on the way, but on the whole, I think it's a good Five Words story. The plot is coherent, and there is a balance between action and description. We haven't written many romantic stories yet, so it's been a nice exercise, too. It's a pity though that Mona and PAH have disappeared.  

The Forest seems a much less sinister place in this story than in canon, but then there may be people (other than Hagrid) who know how to get around there without being hurt, and Newt is likely to be one of them. It would be nice to return to this couple in some later stories (while we are waiting for Jo's new story) and see what adventures they had later in life. 

Now for our new story... I think we have talked about this idea before - we could write some Famous Wizards Cards (unless we have done that before, in which case, please, remind me  ). The setting is after the war, so we can include anyone who became famous in the actual story of the books. The first card will be that of no one else but:



HARRY JAMES POTTER 

Born in

Godric's Hollow in 1980, Harry

Thanks for the compliment on the title, Julia!  

I enjoyed the story too, and it was an interesting change to write a romance. Not the easiest thing to do, that's for sure. Of course, we didn't know it would be a romance when we started it, but that's the way Five Words goes.  I think we did better with the descriptions at the beginning of the story. I think, with these longer stories that we tend to sacrifice description a bit the further into the stories we get, but maybe that's also because the pace is a little slow at times. On the whole, it's a good story though, and I do agree it would be fun to revisit them in the future.

I don't think we've done Famous Wizard cards before. This is quite a daunting challenge - but a fun one!  

Gellert Grindelwald. As a teenager

I know!