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Harry
Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, A Book on Tape
Chapter
1
Privet Drive.
The ominous fog makes the nighttime even more hoary and mysterious than
usual,
here in suburban Britannia. Out from the shadows of God knows what
dimension
steps the oldest wizard in the books. The near dead Dumbledore. He is
clearly a
powerful beast and walks with dignity despite his age and attire.
He sees a cat that he knows right before he sets to work. He produces a
wizard’s tool, known as the street darkener and with a
practiced angling of the
arm, begins to siphon away the clarity made from mankind’s
bulbs. Magical deeds
are afoot dear readers, magical darkness a must.
The atmosphere complete, the cat now protected by shadows, transforms
into who
else but Professor Hardcastle McCormick, and old friend, an ally of
Dumbledore,
the half-dead. She is truly a great wizard also and possesses many a
skill that
might aid in tonight’s random errands.
They speak gravely of tonight’s horrible decision. And dear
readers, trust me,
their work tonight is dubious. What are they to do, are they really
going to go
through with tonight’s desperate plan? The choice is clearly
in powerful hands,
as Dumbledore ponders with his gigantic brain.
Just then, a light approaches in the clouds. Shredding through the
stratus,
descends no other than Hagar the Horrible, a huge man that if you
didn’t know
better, you may mistake him for a giant hairy truck. He is
Dumbledore’s gofer,
and now perched upon his sky-leopard; Hagar seems at the end of an
errand that
almost bested him.
But lo, out from his manly pape, he produces the most powerful baby in
the
universe. Dumbledore accepts the swaddled child like the delicate
button of an
atomic bomb. His bowels tense. No false moves here.
Hardcastle McCormick pleads with Dumbledore not to go through with the
plan.
“What plan,” you ask? Well, they are going to leave
this veritable weapon of
the gods, this paradox of babiness and power right here, on a fricken
Muggle’s
doorstep!
But “shhh,” says Dumbledore to the baby, and
“shhh,” he says to the lady, as
Hagar gnashes his teeth in inner conflict and almost drowns in snotty
fearful
tears, his master Dumbledore tells him to wait in the frickin car if he
has to.
And, the baby..is left. The baby, with the most telling of scars. The
baby that
is the seed of power. The baby that is the inheritor of the horrible
hoary
hammer of the gods, Harry, the wizard who was destined to vanquish all
evil,
and if he so wishes, brings it back again! Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s
Stone!
Chapter 2
Harry
Potter wakes to the sound of his evil aunt banging on his
bedroom’s tiny
door. His adopted family treats him so poorly he can barely keep from
incinerating them with any number of spells he keeps hidden way up his
sleeves.
Harry’s room is cool, though. He’s clearly made the
most of it, unlike his
cousin, Roast Beefy, whose birthday happens to be today. His cousin has
no idea
of the power he is toying with. He is indeed a mean little puke who is
borderline retarded and must shout moistly every stupid sentence that
he
manages to piece together.
As Harry prepares breakfast, totally magic-free and labor-intensive,
his
vomit-inducing uncle, Giggle Snort, looks on as the evil mother does
the blind
man birthday dance with Roast Beefy. The living room turns out to be
full of
presents for the nonplussed Roast Beefy Weefs.
Of course, it is never, never, never enough. Chunks of demands splatter
on his
parent’s faces. Harry must stay calm and repress his urges of
igniting the
house in a demonstrative fireball, ending the life of these three
little pigs.
But our wolf remains cool.
The day the family is going to the zoo and on the way uncle Pig Fat
sinisterly
suggests a beating to Harry if he sees any kind of magic out of him. Oh
ho,
dear reader, it looks like Uncle Salt Porker has some idea of our
hero’s
magical brain. His face is the worst.
The family seems to be happy with nothing; a giant Burmese
leopard-eating snake
basks in front of their piggish faces like a poem. And of course, they
want it
to dance for them.
But not our Harry. The sweet wizard in remission is psychically linked
with the
beautiful snake-being. Harry, having dreamt himself of eating leopards,
boars,
and dic-dics. And what do you know, Harry can actually speak with this
creature. Will his talents never stop emerging? Harry, with the social
grace of
a saint, is relating with the orphaned captive pig-hating snake.
It is a beautiful moment indeed and Harry for once feels in tune with
the
natural universe. The snake has no parents, is dangerous, and is
beautiful.
Harry sees himself here, in this snake, like looking at his image in
the
mirror. It is a perfect moment.
Cousin Roast Beefyweefs notices action, and runs over to spoil the
moment.
Harry totally loses it, and frags Roast Beefy good with a Glass-be-Gone
spell.
Wah-oosh! The terrible spills his ass into the cage as the supine beast
nobly
erects himself out and his thanking Harry as he slithers into the
nightmare
hearts of all of the Muggles nearby. Everyone is afraid of this beast
but
Harry. Of course, Harry, who is part of the natural universe now.
And what do you know dear reader? Providence
must have cast the Glass-be-Back spell! ‘Cuz take a look at
the zoo’s new
acquisition! It is a play, a tragic comedy, the lament of Roast
Beefyaweefy! Ha
Ha! The family Porkums is hit palpably with shame. Yes Harry, do laugh
on.
Laugh right into their unthinkable faces.
Chapter 3
As the Hog family enters their home to regroup after Harry’s
formidable blow,
Uncle Porkflaps tries to tear Harry’s wig off, before
remembering Harry is a boy,
and probably, his hair is real.
‘No more magic!’ his throat rasps without its usual
gravy lube. Realizing his
throat is foodless; Uncle Piggums exits for the kitchen.
In the following weeks, Harry falls into a depression. He feels like an
exile
here in this world. He feels alone and hated. Harry, going about his
innumerable chores, picks up the mail, only to be bowled over at the
discovery
of a letter addressed to him!
“A connection is trying to be made,” he thinks.
“Someone needs me.”
Having delivered the mail, Harry tries to conceal his letter, but
cousin
Ragtime Roast Beefy thinks that Harry has a possible cookie or wafer
and takes
away the letter before Harry can open it. Uncle Piggums inspects the
letter as
best as he can with those eyes, and a phantom of fear crawls his
goutish face.
Harry ponders what could be so wonderful.
In the next few days, a miraculous event unfolds. Birds from every
breed and
fashion begin to crowd the PorknChip’s home with letters
addressed to Harry.
The uncle is beginning to feel the pressure. Harry, in a spiral of
depression,
turns to the escape of miniature equine aficionado. He produces many a
wine-out-of-nowhere spell and is drunk every day before noon.
He is only half aware of his uncle’s battle with the birds.
The aviary hoard
perch on everything perchable, tarping the yard, car, roof and all in
hawker-like bird waste and of course, the letters. Every bird revels in
the
madness it is inducing on Uncle Saltporker. The house, under drifts of
letters,
molting, and bird shit, now pushes the uncle to burn anything that is
represented on paper.
Harry, through a cloud of wizard magic and stealthily pinched valium
from the
evil aunt, notices his uncle fraying.
One morning, while doling out biscuits, Harry listens half-heartedly to
his
uncle’s plans for a giant cat to be unleashed upon his
feathery foes, but
Harry’s attention is drawn to the window.
Sunlight. Harry could almost cry at this simple gift of the universe.
If it
weren’t for these awful people, he would cry, but he must not
show weakness, or
else they’ll hand him his ass.
He tries to focus on the yard and the birds.
“Why are they trying to contact me?”
The facts makes its way into his jungle of a conscience, just as a
veritable
fountain of bird-propelled letters issues forth onto the family. Harry
decides
that this is it.
“This is the moment. I must make my move in this masking of a
snowstorm and I
will take one letter into my room and whisper it to my horses and see
what they
think.”
Oh, how the wine talks. But Harry cannot make it to his tiny door. Even
impeded
by the onslaught of letters, the now totally bonkers Uncle Porkstar
crashes
down on Harry. The battle that would have been is now a sad display.
Harry, at the drunken bottom of a depression well and his once
formidable foe
mindless and flailing.
Chapter 4
A crushing blue night lays upon the sleeping porksters. As Harry, awake
and
active, plays out his happiest of sad moments. Sigh. His birthday of
course.
But who could care? Especially out here where love is dashed upon the
rocks
like a rose given as an insincere apology. Love. Don’t give
up on it, Harry!
Make a wish upon it, upon the stars.
But BLAM! BLAM! BLAAAM at the door. The Porktown family scuttles into
position
but what busts in the door is far more than expected. It is Hagar the
Horrible,
the nightmare of hair, a wall of a man. But buried under his woolen
chest is a
heart I’d trust a baby with. After politely shutting the
door, Hagar turns to
the squawking uncle and aunt.
His face is a mask that displays he is no mood and he bends the gun
that is
pointed in his face straight in half. A bullet ejects into the heavens
interrupting an angel’s sleep. But oh no! Harry! Hagar
confuses Roast
Beefyweefs for Harry! No! Don’t take that chili barrel to
Hogwarts! Then Harry
rolls into view.
“I am Harry.” Phew.
Now if you cry easy, be careful here, dear reader, for Hagar produces
for Harry
his first birthday gift. It is a cake, handmade, no less, with love, by
a
warrior of the wind.
“Who are you, nice man?” Harry asks, feigning a
child’s air.
Hagar says, “Hagar,” and tells Harry that he is the
gatekeeper and keymaster at
Hogwarts. Harry is confused, though he knows how to play his cards. A
man like
this could be in the market for a sidekick.
“What’s Hogwarts?”
A masterful play by Harry. Hagar stumbles around with words and seems
put off a
bit at himself. Clearly, sidekicking for Hagar would suck balls. Hagar
can’t
contain it anymore, and just drops his secret.
“You’re a wizard, Harry.”
Harry, with the talent of Lawrence of Olivier, feigns surprise.
“I can’t be a wizard, I’m
just…Harry!” again, with the oil of Olivier.
“Well, ‘just Harry’, I imagine that lions
are just lions, and gods are just
gods. You are a special boy. You don’t know it, but you and I
go way back.”
Harry really wishes that he could have a glass of wine or something
right now.
Hagar gets up from the couch and produces a letter. It is clear now
that Hagar
is a bird-friend for indeed the letters are the same as before. Harry
begins to
read.
“Come to Hogwarts, and become a wizard, Harry Potter it
says,” he reads thus,
aloud. Uncle Baconface races in to interject a spit parade which Harry
translates into a most disturbing disclosure. The pigs knew all along!
They
knew that Harry’s parents were wizards, of course!
And now, the sickest pinched up mouth of an aunt lets out that
Harry’s parents
did not die in a car crash, were but of course destroyed in a much
cooler way,
a wizard’s fight. She begins then to berate Harry’s
mom, calling her names, and
trying to say that Harry sucks and stuff like that. Her venom is sharp;
sucking
is nothing Harry wants to do.
Hagar then steps in, seeing Harry is in no state to argue for himself.
“This
night is going to end good for Harry, end of story.”
As Roast Beefaweefs grabs Harry’s cake and begins to munch
it, Hagar describes
the pigs as Muggles to Harry. Music-hating, magicless Muggles. He lays
down the
law on Harry’s schooling, a big fat YES, HE’S
GOING. Hagar also goes on to say
that the great Dumbledore is the teacher at Hogwarts and will make
Harry into a
man and stuff.
Uncle Fat Train spews a slander on Dumbledore in return. Hagar gives
him a
truly horrible look. He points his magical umbrella and starts to say a
spell
like Don’t-ever-talk-again-Fatty. But then, he’s
interrupted by the smacking
jowls of Roast Beefyweefs.
ZAP! goes Hagar with the umbrella, and wah-lah! a curled up cheeto
shoots right
out of Roast B’s bottom!
“Woo-hoo!” shouts Harry. “Bout time he
burst that cheeto! He’s been trying to
birth years! Hahahahah!”
Hagar takes a sip off of what has to be whiskey and hands the flask to
Harry.
Harry takes a giant pull and then Hagar says,
“Let’s get out of here. You like
flying motorcycles?”
Harry replies, “Anything’s better than
crawling.”
They both laugh and hold their bellies like two Santas on opposite
scales, and
then they gather up Harry’s worn out shoes and stuff that
Harry wants to take
with him.
Chapter 5
Midday London
Whilst walking in broad daylight with Hagar the Horrible, Harry bravely
reads
his syllabuses demands.
“Wands, magic sands, one Turkish massage owl…
Where can I ever obtain such
obscurities?”
Hagar makes a knowing ‘O’ shape with his hairy lips
and directs Harry into a
nondescript black plastic business. A bar? Hagar the Horrible,
you’d better
know what you’re getting Harry into. Of course, the barkeeper
knows Hagar’s
bar-darkening frame.
“Hello, Hagar.”
“Hello, Hagar.”
“Hello, Hagar,” it comes from all directions.
“Do you want some beer?”
“No, that’s OK, I have Harry Fricken Potter with me
today, and we’re doin’ some
shoppin.’”
The bar inhabitants crane their fused-up eyeballs in view. They all
want to see
the legend of Harry P. Old women, leathery hats, and grizzly madmen
pinch themselves
under the table to make sure they aren’t dreaming. Harry
handshakes with all.
The defender of the Dark Arts teacher from Hogwarts School
presents himself. His name is Professor Queerman. He stutters, clearly
a fan of
Harry. Harry makes a series of heartwarming gestures in an effort to
calm the
professor’s nerves. Harry is truly a gentleman, and Queerman
feels at home in
his presence.
Hagar moves along the business, for they have tons of shopping to do.
He leads
Harry out the back door and into what appears to be a dead-end alley.
“How do all those people know me?”
“Do you wanna do some shopping or what?”
A Masonic pentagram is described by Hagar on a brick wall, and SHAZAM.
The
doorway to a magical world is afolded back brick by brick for
Harry’s brain to
take in. And ah… Welcome to Calgon Alley.
Dear Reader, imagine music. Lah-deh-dah-deh-dah, alive and
market-placey.
Violins, taking a break up in the air with non-threatening amblings and
a…and a
wreath of tambourine, lightly jangled. Enter scene of what looks like
1800s England
downtown; buildings crowded in unstably around tons of magical kids
with their
parents, scraping together their needs for the upcoming school year.
Witchy
moms, wizardly dads, and worried, hurried Harry acting excited and
happy for
Hagar’s sake.
“Look! A Turkish massage owl! And look! It’s a bat!
Sweet mustache! Wilikers!
Harry watches kids breaking their nose cartilage on the window panes of
broom
stores. This is heaven.
Chapter 6
“I'm broke, Hagar. What do I do? I want that broom back
there.”
Hagar happily extends a finger at the goblin bank of Wobble Columns.
“You got an account up in there, Master Harry.”
They enter the foyer amongst the evil pasty hobbity-uff goody goblins.
They are
running the money show, clever turnips, these needleteeth. Imagine a
human of
about three years of age with antler-like nose and ears, and a
jellyfish draped
over its head, then stuffed into a leprechaun suit.
Hagar prompts the nearest leprechaun teller for a withdrawal from
Harry’s
account. The leprechaun, famousness of Harry aside, demands Master
P’s bank
key. Luckily, Hagar, the key master, naturally produces
Harry’s key.
“What else does he have of mine?” Harry ponders.
Now pay attention dear readers, Hagar then very earnestly gives the
leprechaun
an envelope and says it’s from Dumbledore and that it has to
do with THAT
vault, that SPECIAL vault. The goblin is in time with Hagar and they
know that
this is grave business. Harry pays close attention.
Soon, they are riding to the vaults on a roller coaster. The grossest
looking
humanoid in the world tries to scuttle around on its moon-shaped limbs.
It
tries to remain cool and orders Hagar and Harry to follow it.
It unlocks the door and backs away trying to resemble what it thinks is
a cool
looking person, but in reality, it is freaking Harry and Hagar out
miserably.
The door of the vault swings open and right away starts to blow the
socks off
Harry P. Hagar makes noises out of his mouth but Harry is not
a-vailable. The
piles of gold that are his instantly make everything beautiful for
Harry.
“It’s going to be OK,” he thinks.
Now on to yet another vault.
“More of my gold?” Harry thinks.
The leprechaun lifts a clawed finger up and down, tickling the
door’s back
enough that it unclenches in its threshold and swings open no to reveal
a pile
of treasure, but to reveal a silly little gunnysack. Hagar walks in,
snatches
up the gunnysack and stows it away on his humongous person.
‘This is between you, me, and the little Patty McGrossOut,
ok, HP?’
Harry nods.
Chapter 7
Back on the shopping tour and Harry needs a wand.
“Go up in Edvanders’s, I’ve got to tend
to a few other details and I’ll meet
you in there later,” says Hagar.
So Harry enters Edvanders’s Wand Emporium. The shop is full
to the ceiling with
wands.
Which to brandish? Which one to call my psychic extension?
Harry irks out a few husky hellos. “Hello? Hello?”
JEEPERS! Edvanders rushes into Harry’s view like a scarecrow
carcass, a
dreadful visage, indeed. And a ghastly voice, “Harry Potter.
Welcome.”
Master H is beginning to feel animosity towards is own celebrity. Harry
gazes
at the man’s skin, a ketchupy callous of a face.
“I will make spells that save me from looking like
him.” Harry makes that
mental note, I assure you. The mental notes are stacking.
Edvanders produces a wand that he thinks is suitable for our Harry, but
on the
first try, Harry totally frigs up half of the store with that wily stag
of a
twig.
“His stockpiles of nuclear-level energy will be tricky to
funnel,” thinks the
Edvanders.
He. Is. Tenacious. He pokes around in stacks of wand boxes for round
two. A
bigger wand, he suspects, will be suitable.
Harry, now bored and tired, brandishes again,
but…KABLOOMERS! Destrucción!
Vanders, with a why-didn’t-I-think-of-it-before look, the
look that everyone’s
dad puts on when he’s trying to pick out shoes and clothes
for their kid, even
though they have had thought of this before, from the beginning in
fact, they
just want to draw out the afternoon with needless driving around and
tryings on
because they don’t know what else to do with their kids,
well, he puts on that
kind of look and music galore fills the shop.
He stands in front of Harry like some freaking Amadeus. He’s
no doubt imagining
Harry as his orchestra. A warm light wand, hair-raisingly good idea.
Vanders.
Is. Flabbergasted. At how good of a choice he has made. He starts to
whisper
like a thespian in a particularly juicy role.
“This wand’s brother is the wand of that
scar-maker. The guy who gave you your
famous scar.”
Harry almost dookies a shooter but controls himself. Harry is sick of
whispery
games, and he says normally, ‘What is this
Scarmaker’s name?’
The Edvanders all but holds up a skull and soliloquies, “Oh,
we don’t say his
name, but know this. He is a badass. He could kill anyone, anything. A
gorilla
or a bear, whatever, anything. Anything but you,” Edvanders,
wasteland of a
face, crowds in close. His monologue is stinky. “You are in a
great position.
You are an army of wizards, Mister Potter. Use yourself
wisely.” His breath
cascades over Harry’s unbreathing nose.
“How long must I go without an intake of air?”
thinks Harry. It’s the only
thought that consumes his brain.
Finally, breaking the mood, Hagar taps the window. Holy balls!
He’s bought the
Turkish owl! Hurrah!
Chapter 8
Hagar and Harry sit eating supper in a foggy wine-spewed inn. The
depression
creeps into Harry again. His powers seem infinite. Everyone loves and
fears
him, but he himself can’t seem to find his place among them.
He is outside of
people and the wine flows. So, in an effort to cheer Harry up, Hagar
decides to
tell the tale of Harry’s parents’ death.
“Valmart is the name of the scar-maker’, he
whispers. ‘He’s a wizard with
uncanny powers, but this guy is so evil, as soon as he came out of the
womb, he
put a scar on his own forehead. Well, Valmart went to Hogwarts and
started the
Dark Side club. It was actually the coolest club to be in at first,
everyone
got a kick out of being in a club that stories were told about, you
know,
that’s all anyone ever does anything for anyway, the sake of
a story to be made
of them.
“Well, you can be sure that Valmart earned his share of
stories. Well, the club
got strict; you had to love evil and not be shy about using murder
spells, or
else you’d be murdered. Your parents were some of the people
who decided not to
kill for fun.
“And so, Valmart went to their house and killed them, and
while he was there,
he tried to kill you. You was a baby, of course. But the spell
ricocheted off
your head and hit him instead. Now no one knows if he’s dead,
hiding, or hiding
as someone else, but what’s for sure is he hates you for not
dying. And it’s
sure that if he’s alive, he’ll try to finish off
the job, probably when you’re
sleeping, and he’ll probably look like someone you love, just
to make it worse
when he murders you. So, you know, be on the look out for that, and,
you know,
be careful when anyone loves you.”
“Gulp,” says Harry.
“Yeah, sure, heh. Gulp that down.”
Chapter 9
Whilst walking to the train station, Harry begins to
feel the
stomach
butterflies accumulate. Hagar is then stunned by the time of day. He
must get
that gunnysack to Dumbledore. So, he gives Harry his train ticket and
totally
freakin’ disappears on Harry.
Harry thinks to himself, “What the hell is meant by 9 and
¾? Platforms are not
broken up that way. Wilikers!”
Harry feels dreadfully alone at this point, but in a way, it is a
thrilling
situation. Here he is, a young lad making his way in the world today.
The
stacks of gold coins in his pockets ease his worrying.
Carting along the Turkish owl and luggage, Harry makes his way up to
interrupting a station man, only because he’s afraid
he’ll miss the train.
“Where’s platform 9 and ¾?”
“Fudge off, you fuck,” says the horrible man.
He’s obviously a goutish fucker.
Thank God for the Irish. Harry overhears the redhead mother of a
reaheaded herd
of children speak wizardly, and he knows he’s in luck.
“Follow them, Harry,” says Harry to himself.
“Follow them or die.”
Watching from a distance, Harry sees one boy, cart of luggage and all,
disappear into the brick wall between nine and tenth platform.
“Holy Balls. I’m not doing that,” he
thinks. “Willikers.”
Some more kids whoosh through and another. And Harry’s nerves
begin to settle.
So, finally he goes up to the mother and begs a lesson.
“Excuse me, Irish lady, can you show me how to do
that?”
Here in the presence of such an honest and loving family, Harry feels
immediate, latent, Helsinki-syndrome withdrawals for the Pork family
project.
He quickly shakes them off when the mother sweetly crimpsons his bottom
and in
Harry goes like a reversal birth, onto and into the brick wall that
stands
ominously in front of him. He overcomes his fears and he is on the
correct
platform. Ta-dah, ta-dah, ta-dah forever. Amen.
“Well bless my nippers,” cries Harry.
“Bless them all day long.”
He stands in awe of the smoking engine, the train that shall propel him
to the
stage that he was born for. Hogwarts Express.
Chapter 10
As the Hogwarts Express drags along the countryside, all the
kids’ hearts race
in time with the engine. The scene is so beautiful. The landscape is
literally
peppered with painters working out masterpiece after masterpiece.
Ron Weasel makes his grand entrance and shares the compartment with
Harry. The
proud lad remembers Harry from the platform and takes a seat. In the
introductions, Ron is stricken with a face almost sacred when Harry
introduces
himself as the HP. The scar is called into question. It is shown and it
is
wicked.
The food service wench appears. Ron, obviously from a family whose
money is
spread thinly over the sheer volume of loin product, cannot buy a
thing. But
the new, newly minted Monopoly chap HP flashes some coin and the new
friends
celebrate over a pole of cakes and frogs, and nipples of Witch Venus,
and rats,
and chocospells, and fruitnuts. You know, wizardly fodder, the same
kind of
junky food you or I would wallow our mouths upon if we were in Harry
and Ron’s
place.
Ron. Loves. Twizzlers. They talk over the syllabus and what’s
to be demanded of
them at Hogwarts.
Ronnie tells Harry that he’s a pot of coffee by day, bottle
of wine by night
type of guy.
Harry says, “Triple that, and you got me.”
They laugh a congenial laugh and both of them realize that they were
instant
friends. Friends forever.
Just as Ron is about to produce yellow pillows, a spell he has learned
and
home, pillows of gold, he and Harry are interrupted by horrible
creature that
is making it’s way down the hall and appears in the doorway.
Only upon closer
examination do Ron and HP realize that it’s a girl looking
for a frog.
Her hair seems to be made up of hair follicle sized serpents, a
pre-pubescent
Medusa. Agh. She demands that Ron continues his spell, but by mere
proximity to
such a wretched creature, Ron cannot concentrate and almost kills his
rat
instead of producing pillows of gold.
She tries to degrade Ron, but only looks stupid. Knowing that these
boys
obviously hate her filthy guts, she sits down and repairs
Harry’s glasses with
a pretty cool spell. The boys have to admit, this creature posing as a
humanoid
has some chops, definitely some chops, indeed. Only after the spell
does she
recognize our HP for who he is.
She intros herself as Harmony and begs Ronnie of his name. He only
growls and
smacks in her general direction. This prompts her to leave, and as a
last ditch
effort to please, she informs Ronnie of his chocolaty covered nose, as
if he
didn’t know.
Chapter 11
Finally, the moment of truth! The God Wheel of Fate has
stopped for all of
these kiddies on yes, yes-in-fucking-deed you will be a wizard, and
this moment
is the first in a series of moments that no matter what feelings the
moments
embody, yes, yes is still the answer. Yes to life and yes to magic.
Just look at their faces; look at their auras. Yes! They are aglow.
Dear
readers, imagine a music that describes a nocturnal heavenly yes as the
children float on the black waters, boating up to the castle
of Hogwarts
School. Harry knows straight away that this shall be a place where he
shall
surely brandish his wand valiantly, he knows in his heart that this is
his
stage upon which he will conjure and conquer the world with his
unworldly
charisma points. Harry trembles and steadies himself in the reassuring
pasty
presence of Ron the Bear.
This moment of yes consumes our Harry. He feels here that he is the
thing of
stories. And for this, he nearly weeps a frenzy of weeps.
Finally, the kids make a formation up to the school’s
entrance. They file in up
the main staircase and are met by none other than Professor Hardcastle
McCormick, rasping her fingerbones in withering patience as the
children gather
beneath her on the front stairway.
She speaks about the school and that the class that is here now shall
be
divided into four different schools total. Her voice is chilling, and
like a
piano made of frozen Windex. Her eyes smoke like smears of fish scales
on her
candle wax stump of a head. She goes on to describe the systems of
merits,
demerits, house cup, et cetera… Snoozers. All the kids are
too tired to listen.
The professor goes on and drones and talks memorably about different
alumni
that everyone should remember, but is interrupted by the child whose
name is
Upfish, who finally finds his frog. A victory for Upfish, but a
staggering loss
for Hardcastle.
After Hardcastle leaves, a dreadful kid with sunburned hair notices
Harry
somehow and calls him out in front of everybody. The murmurs begin.
Finally, like a cowboy, he saunters up to get a look at our HP. He
intros
himself as Mouthoyle, and of course Ronnie busts up at this. The rich
little
bastard starts throwing class trash about Ronnie the Bear’s
hard-earning family
being poor and rabbit-like. Of course he goes for the shame spell.
But HP gets Ronnie’s back by issuing a comment or two so deft
I can’t even
start to reproduce them here. The words do wonders for
Harry’s initial cred
here at Hogwarts.
Chapter 12
The children file into a glorious cafeteria where all the other
pre-sorted students
and teachers are awaiting the ceremony. A welcoming flute song
accompanies
their entrance as candles float in mid-air under a ceiling that appears
to be
made out of glass entirely. The night sky adjusts its clouds above
them.
The faculty table is full of weirdo professors and goblin-faced women.
There
are floppy, pointy head decorations - the true mark of a master
magician.
Hagar, Cromley, and friends sit awaitingly. Professor Dumbledore erects
himself
slowly and tells some jokes about death that most of the kids just
don't get.
He then after warming up the crowd, introduces the blood-eyed cat that
is head
of security, and then introduces the cat's manservant, Dazzler.
He then closes with yet another joke about death perplexing some, and
scaring
most of the children. He sits down, finally.
Hardcastle announces that it is time to begin. Her manners are that of
a jilted
lover's I-didn't-love-him-anyway sort of mood. The child sorting hat
ceremony
begins with the wretched Harmony.
A wise child, she is, and reminds herself not to freak out up there in
front of
everyone. The poor thing has complex on top of complex. She perches on
a seat
in front of all the kids and Hardcastle places an uggity-buggity
looking hat
over her hair. It grind dances on Harmony's head, and grumbles
pleasurably
'Gryffindor'. Applause all around.
Harry thinks to himself that this will be a long, long night.
Next up, Mouthoyle is called to face the grinding hat, but before his
ass
cheeks can even start to pancake out on the stool, he is assigned to
Slytherin.
Some other kids get up and have their fates directed, and a wicked
woman casts
a look at Harry that makes his scar hurt. Ouch! This is the weirdest
woman
Harry's ever seen, a dark, foreboding weirdo that Harry feels certain
will be
the kind of teacher who paddles for fun.
Ronnie the Bear is next for the hat. Ronnie is certain that this hat
will bear
down on him and hunch away at his scalp for nothing. Everyone knows
that
Weasels are put into Gryffindor. Ronnie's twenty brothers and twelve
sisters
are all Gryffindor students or alumni or faculty. The obvious is true -
Gryffindor it is.
Professor Hardcastle tries hard to say 'Harry Potter' like it's no big
deal,
but the room goes quiet. Everyone edges in to see and hear what's going
to
happen next. The rustle of bets and cash is muted between robes. Harry
doesn't
want to bunk with Mouthoyle, but that hat starts in about Harry's
potential and
near limitless talent.
Oh, Harry only winces at this constant bombardment of pressure to
impress. This
damn hat, all these fucking kids and teachers looking at him like he's
a
fucking television.
“I don't care, fuck it. Just don't put me with
Mouthoyle,” is all Harry keeps
thinking. Finally, the hat's oscillations tense and cease upon Harry's
scalp.
Gryffindor it is. Yes. And the universe sighs its magical sigh.
Harry is congratulated wildly by his new bunkmates, but he feels numb
and
distant. A knowing glance is shared between the near dead Dumbledore
and the
virile youth, and he hopes that he can pound a few cold ones.
Chapter 13
Dumbledore casts his stand-without-effort spell following it up with
his most
famous food-aplenty spell. If ever a room full of children has looked
like
little hyenas that have come upon a dead family of zebras, it is now.
Piles of glitzy meat and sweetbreads appear. There are sweaty corns and
honeyed
everything. Talking bones loosen and Harry relaxes into a wine-ish
swagger.
He talks closely with his RA. “Who the fuck is that woman?
She’s got to be a
half troll.”
The RA replies, “No, that’s Professor Snake, she
sucks for the most part, you
know, acting mysterious and theatrical.”
“God, I hate that shit,” replies Harry.
“I’m here to learn, not to watch a
performance.”
Just then, the conversation is busted up by a breeze of hilarious
ghosts. There
are women ghosts and musketeers. Little John the ghost shows up and
demands a
song of farts or else. His friend, the Count of Reeds, whips lashingly
every
child in the face. No one is able to escape his mustached giggle.
A ghost dance begins and the kids watch on as a transparent orgy of
flashdances
and footlooses fog up the rafters of mealtime. Finally, every ghost is
bored,
and evaporates either into the walls or out through the ceiling, and
every
student’s belly is distended with jelly, wine, and pudding
pops. The dinner is
over.
The RAs guide the new Gryffindors into the stairwell. The staircases
are a
maddening, moving architecture that forever fuck up the
students’ days by
moving here and there without warning.
The kids climb stair after stair ad infinitum. Some talk about art,
others
simply concentrate on not vomiting from the intense vertigo.
On top of the wine and the meat that all of the children have eaten,
they’re
just hoping to finally get to their rooms so that they can use the
potty and
acquaint themselves with the water closet.
Finally, they file in front of a painting of the most beautiful woman
ever
around. The RA says the codeword, and the woman in the painting loosens
her
perfect tongue from her mouth and beckons everyone present to enter.
Beyond the painting lies the Gryffindor parlor. Smoking, cards, and
night caps
will all be the room’s main function for the kids, the RA
goes on to explain.
All eyes are heavy. The day has been a storm of excitements, and the
children,
after laying out their uniforms and shoes, are quickly starring in each
other’s
dreams.
It is a beautiful, pale blue night. All the children are wrapped in
their
blankets. All except for Harry. Stroking his bird, Harry is lost in
thought,
bathed in the cold moonlight.
“Who am I now?” he thinks as he winks at the night,
and it seems to whisper
back to him. “You are everything.”
Chapter 14
Harry awakes to yet another tequila sunrise. He and
Ronnie
the Bear are
lost and late for their first class. But when the boys stumble, out of
breath,
into class, they are delighted to find that the teacher is late or out
for
coffee. But in unison, the boys’ faces scream:
“Holy freakin balls!” The cat
has been Professor Hardcastle this whole time! Willikers!
As the professor puts together a clever witticism about tardiness and
George
Washington’s trees full of cherries, Harry makes another
mental note: never pet
cats that you don’t know, no, never pet anything.
The potion class’s door is thrown open, and in dances that
black hole of a
woman, with a scar aching glare. She leans with her best effort to
strike an
attractive pose, while beginning to wet her student’s
appetite with a taste of
what kind of rhetoric could be expected here. The stark impossibility
that such
a thing is human, not to mention a human that Harry has to pay
attention to is
only matched by Mouthoyle’s apparent infatuation with her.
They look into each
others eyes like two serpents on a honeymoon. Snake, astonished that
she has an
admirer, Mouthoyle, astonished that he likes women.
Snake, seeing now that Harry is not paying attention to her lips
syllables and
massages of notes, calls him out and rags on his celebrity in front of
everyone.
Harry is surprised for he was only taking notes intently. Then Snake
demands
from Harry how to make a certain spell. Harry good naturedly says he
just
doesn’t know. How could he? This is his first day! Christ!
Driven by some unholy jealousy, the unfair Snake presses him again.
“What is
such and such?” or “How many rat tails are in
minkerfuls?” Harry again, with
the oil of Olivier, acts humble, demure even, thankful for the lesson.
He
controls his urge to slay Snake’s ears with a few fiery riffs
off his wand.
Snake finally subsides her onslaught. She stupidly feels she has cowed
our
Harry.
At lunch, the kids relax and compare first impressions on teachers.
Ronnie the
Bear tells him that he could hardly see him cowed as such an asshole
back
there. Harry explains to the Bear that subtly and patience are a great
way to
look pretty cool. The Bear has to agree, and they give each other
Fonzie looks.
The rest of lunch is spent on mail reading, which is delivered by a
host of
birds that we the readers are already duly familiar with. Some kids get
letters, others get ornaments that quickly fill with mother’s
blood, and some
desperately wait for their letters to arrive, which shall never, for
they are
the type of kids that mothers never write to.
Harry opts to read the paper.
Now, dear readers, if you’ve ever paid attention to me, now
is the time. Harry
reads aloud to Ronnie and Harmony that the leprechaun bank which he had
been to
earlier on has now been broken into. It was that same vault where the
gunny
sack had been. It was busted into by what is suspected to be black art
wizards
of Valmart’s order. Jeepers! But of course the gunny sack was
gone before the
robbers got there.
Chapter 15
Outside, Harry’s class awaits their first lesson in broom
stickers. Being that
this is the last class of the day, kids are anxious to get rowdy.
Finally, professor Meowmers takes her position in front of the class.
This
morning, Harry does have one thing in common with Mouthoyle, his mood.
A mood
of pity for his frustrated, easily astonished and shallow peers. Of
course
Harry commands his broom with ease, and, like the beginning of Dueling
Banjos,
so does Mouthoyle. Harry later will be displeased with himself, that he
hates
everyone today, Professor Catface, Mouthoyle, Tony the Shrimp, Facer,
Yellow,
Otter Pop and yes, even trusty sidekick Ronnie the Bear.
Whilst Professor Catface Meowmers barks orders, Harry’s
imagination sees before
it a giant cake. A wedding cake. His parent’s wedding cake,
and he wants to eat
it. But then he realizes this cake is Dumbledore’s hat, and
to reach it he must
climb up Dumbledore’s body, using his old ribcage, mouth,
sockets and such as
footholds. But before he can get halfway up the rickety old scaffolding
of a
man, degrading the saintly old professor with his imagined dastardly
feet and
thumbs, he sees that the cake is indeed rotten, black and toppled.
Obviously
forgotten over the years, and adopted as a hat for reasons unknown to
such a
first year as Harry. The daydream is a weak attempt to stay amused
during these
Idiot Guide style classes.
As HP comes out of his revere, he is amazed to realize that his friend
Upfish
has had some sort of serious accident. And upon leaving, Professor
Catface
Meowmers, gingerly escorting Upfish out into the school nursery zone,
the kids
begin to rustle with wild nerves, having been awarded time away from a
teacher.
It seems that Mouthoyle has Upfish’s beloved blood ball, and
is threatening to
crash it.
“Ah, fuck this,” says Harry, and he all but punches
Mouthoyle right in the head
and face. But Mouthoyle, being in the same little bad boy mood, defies
Harry,
and takes the battle of limits up into the lower stratus. Will Harry
defy
Catface Meowmers for a chance of totally burning Mouthoyle? The
wretched
Harmony tries to restrain our Harry, but he is deaf with rage.
Their skill is immediately deft. All the other boys and girls feel like
lower
organisms in the wake of their god-like abilities. In a dazzling aerial
combat,
Harry totally burns Mouthoyle quickly. He gets Upfish’s
sphere, and for good
measure, crashes Mouthoyle’s head into the bricks of the
castle over and over.
After letting off some steam, Harry does a few victory tricks and
flourishes on
his standard school issue broom for the kids below. As he descends, he
descends
on a crowd of homies and newly converted homies who congratulate and
pat him.
Only to be plucked away from his moment by that asshole Hardcastle
McCormick!
Arrgh! What a horrible day!
Professor Hardcastle leads a sulky and punishment expecting Harry down
the
hallways to the Defense of Black Arts classroom. She asks a lizard
hugging,
stuttery professor Queerman if she can see the student known as Major
Wood.
Wood is the captain of the Quidditch team, and Harry sees him as a
Greek
statue, an Adonis in witches’ clothing. Clearly someone that
Harry can relate
to.
Now, dear readers, imagine that song ‘Eye of the
Tiger.’ Yes, for Harry is the
new seeker of Gryffindor. His buddies fall in behind him as they strut
through
the halls. This is a procession of cool kids, and every student dreams
of
knowing them. But, cavalierly, Harry and the effin Bear decide to break
away
from their homies entourage and discuss personal business. But soon,
they are
accompanied by the Wretched Harmony and cannot go into details about
their
thoughts.
But Hello! The usefulness again shows through, as she decides to take
Harry and
Ronnie to the trophy case of honors.
“Behold!” she manages out of her horrible mouth.
“Your dad was also a badass.”
Chapter 16
As the three are making their way thorough the stairwell, naturally one
of
those buggering staircases shifts its course and sets them on a
peculiar level.
The kids, having nothing else to do tonight, their potions mixed,
histories
read, frogs destroyed, they decide to follow fate’s lead.
But soon, the three are able to deduct that they are indeed in the
forbidden
third floor corridor, and if found they will be killed on sight, no
questions
asked. Before they are able to decide whether to continue their
investigations,
the three turn around to see the blood-eyed cat, who indeed sees them
too. They
make haste through the cobwebbery and darkness, only to meet another
dead end.
“Freakin’ door!” HP declares.
“It’s locked!”
Ronnie the Bear quakes, but the Wretched Harmony casts a spell so
badass that
the lock falls apart and becomes a gas of rose petals that go up their
noses
like a baby’s challenge. They are in! And just in time. The
blood-eyed cat must
have summoned its manservant, Dazzler, who idles like a van whose
destination
is being reconsidered.
They are indeed in, but not away from danger, dear readers. Because lo!
Lying
before them is a super-sized portion of God’s freakshow
creations. A
three-headed, giant dog, and it’s getting up from a dream, a
dream of eating
kids, one for each head! And hurrah for the dog, the dream comes true!
Obviously it’s still sleepy, for our three heroes are able to
bar the door and
get away safely.
Harry puts up with the Bear bickering with the Wretch over the
practicality of
a hungry, three-headed dog in a school full of tasty kids, when the
Wretch
points out that it had to be guarding something.
Harry takes note of this, and out of respect for her detective like
prowess,
lets the Wretch vent a little while before he decides to take his leave
with
the Bear.
Both he and the Bear are hoping to score a few bottles of red wine to
go with
the olives they pinched from the kitchen earlier.
Chapter 17
Harry can hardly keep his heart in his clothes as he walks out onto the
Cribbage field with Major Wood. His first lesson in the sport that
could give
Harry an outlet for his gathering rage and power.
Major Wood’s accent is so thick Harry only hears it as a sort
of music, a music
from a shiny, muscular horn. A music of brotherhood and balls.
Harry doesn’t care much about the game’s history
and specifics, but his ears
perk up when Wood comes to what Harry is supposed to do. He hands Harry
an
ancient, leathery club and Harry forces down a nervous throat lump.
Next, Wood
releases a ball that seems to have a will of its own. With all
questions of
what to do dissolving, Harry becomes the club and crashes it out of the
park.
Wood is obviously impressed, and Harry feels a relaxed joy.
Harry knows that passion needs a vehicle, and chasing balls and
wielding clubs
seems pretty sweet, but Harry doesn’t feel totally lost in
these elements of
the game. He still feels like the Harry without a home. A home where he
may go
wild is still not a home for him.
It is at this moment that the Golden Snitch is produced.
Harry is immediately nearly out of his skin with excitement over this
ball. His
destiny is here in this orb. He can feel it like someone just kicked
him in his
fruitstand.
“Catch this ball, Harry, and we win the game.”
Harry’s face explodes into a
smile. The Snitch does a clockwork striptease, and it licks and beckons
lasciviously on the wind. Harry is at home.
Among totally what-the-fuck styled faces, professor Augnaught starts
off a
class on levitation. All the kids sit, bored out of their asses in what
looks
like a courtroom. Feathers in front of them, wands firmly brandished,
every
child is going through the movements of the levitation spell, but their
minds
are on that weirdo teacher. What the fuck is he? He is just so weird!
They all
try very hard to pay attention, but his voice chirps out of his little
bundled
up body in jerky attacks at normalcy.
Every child thinks this but Harmony. Harmony being so wretched herself,
she
feels quite at home with the hideous creature and is able to levitate
her
feather with no trouble.
The bear, being so disgusted with Augnaught, turns his attention to
Harmony.
She seems to think that Ronnie can’t do a simple levitation
spell, and makes a
big to-do of her quick-witted abilities.
Her spell is a delight for the professor. His head looks like a pizza,
left in
a chicken house. Covered in feathery bird sweat and oily discharge.
Yuckers.
Harry only sits there in a stupor. He is overwhelmed with the wretched
Augnaught.
After class, Harry, Ronnie and the boys walk together, doing
impersonations of
the wretched Harmony when the desperate creature herself bustles by,
obviously
hurt deeply. H.P. knows he’s got to make it right, even
though it feels so good
to make it wrong.
Chapter 18
Halloween! Yes!
Glorious floating jackeos in the cafeteria and every student is
feasting. The
spread is beautiful. Apples, candied apples, appled candies, candied
whiskey,
apple fritters, anything you could ever want. Upfish informs H.P. and
the Bear
that Harmony has locked herself in the bathroom. She’s been
crying all day.
Harry feels guilt pangs but Ronnie, Ronnie the Bear, he could give a
fuck.
Just then, Queerman busts in, rambling incoherence, but just then,
everyone
makes out that he’s warning them of a horrible troll, loose
in the school.
Everybody freaks out. Apple chunks hit the floor, floating
jack-o-lanterns fall
from the sky onto kids’ heads and they run around like
cartooned chaos.
The near dead Dumbledore commands everyone’s attention with a
mighty roar.
“Don’t panic,” He says.
“Teachers: grab your spell bags, and we will find this
fucking troll and we will fucking kill his fucking ass.” He
means business, and
everyone takes it seriously. Snake, however, scared out of her
bloomers,
slithers out the side door in cowardice.
As the Gryffindors more to their rooms of safety, H.P. and the Bear
realize
that Harmony doesn’t know about the troll, and is in certain
danger. “This is
the perfect way to make up to her. We’ll save her, and maybe
sneak a peek at
Dumbledore’s chops.”
Then, running through the hall, they see the troll-sized, giant shadow
going
into the girl’s crapper. Jesus Christ! Harmony’s in
there!
Harry doesn’t think, he knows what he must do.
Through teary eyes, Harmony looks up… and up… and
up and up and up again upon a
troll, huge with pineapple legs and a giant turkey club drumstick.
Wisely, she
slowly backs away and tries to hide in a toilet. But the troll will not
have
it. He swings like a drunken Major leaguer. But triumphant! Music
appears, and H.P.
and Ronnie the effin Bear bust in on that troll. They start selflessly
defending the wretched girl by straight away barraging the troll with
spells
that even mountains could hardly weather. The troll is so stupid,
though, that
he does not even register the pain, but always dead-set in destroying
Harmony.
He goes at her again, crash and whoosh with the drumstick.
Crazed with fists of fury, Harry brandishes the crap out of his wand
and up
onto the troll’s head, no problemo. He shakes that troll back
and forth, and
rams his wand up into the nose, poking over and over what has to be the
smallest frontal lobe in existence. But that troll gets lucky, and
holds Harry
up by his leg. He’s about to bash him with his stupid
drumstick. Whoosh,
whoosh! He’s nearly missing.
But then, who but the brave Ronnie whips out the old levitation spell
and
hovers the troll’s club overhead. Only to command it like a
god right down on
that troll’s grody face. “Thank God for that
hideous little professor who
taught me that move,” says Ronnie.
The giant stumbles in near defeat and falls into the conquered
position. The
kids stay on their toes but wipe their brows with nervous moisture.
Harmony
peels herself away from the wall and Harry retrieves his wand in its
most
boogery, boogery state.
Just then, Hardcastle McCormick and a gaggle of teachers, Snake
included,
bustle into the bathroom. She’s pissed over the
kids’ safety being compromised
and on the edge of a spastic dookie when she sees the troll’s
body.
But Harmony steps up to bat and lays it on the dotted line.
“I was here, crying
like an idiot, and these badass new-gods came in and saved me. If it
weren’t
for them, I would have been in that troll’s stomach, for
sure.”
Harry then, dear readers, notices a tear and blood all over Professor
Snake’s
leg. Snake notices Harry, and he notices that he noticed,
there’s a trade of
noticing going on that’s bewildering.
Hardcastle scolds Harmony and demerits her a hard twenty points. Ouch.
(end of CD one)
Chapter 19
Lunchtime. Harry and the Wretch are eating with the Bear when, out of
the blue,
Snake appears at their table.
“Nice work on the troll thing,” she says, eyes
shifting, “I wish you luck today
in the Cribbage match.”
Harry responds with “I wish you luck on not hating your
parents for mixing up
such an unthinkable person.”
She hobbles off. Harry notices the limp and tells his friends that he
thinks
Snake let in that troll last night, as a diversion, so she could get
whatever
that three headed dog is guarding. Whatever Snake wants is probably the
thing
that Hagar got from the vault. Harmony’s brainworks burn at a
mean rate. She
says that whatever is in that vault is important enough for Snake to
possibly
form an alliance, if she hasn’t already, with Valmart.
Just as it all is coming together, a special delivery for Harry is
dropped by a
post office bird. The package is looked on dubiously, but soon the
three tear
away the paper, wondering at its contents. “Willikers! The
broom I wanted way
back in Kalgon alley! The Necromobenambrosalaphasagoso! Who could have
done
this?”
Well well, maybe, maybe it was Softcastle McCormick. Wink wink, Harry,
wink
wink.
Now imagine a music, dear readers, heavy with cellos at a rapid
staccato.
Cellos held between thighs in a dark room. The little room of
Harry’s chest as
he walks with his teammates to the opening gate of his first test of
Cribbage.
They are a rag-tag group of champions, this bunch, and with Harry the
near-perfect new god, they know they will dominate the day.
Harry is a world laced with rivers of wizardly blood. He is ready.
He throws his leg over his steed and rips the air a new one. As his
teammates
and he swim through the air, testing out the space of the enormous
field of
play, as the announcer squawks a fact that begins to drive the blood up
in all
of the chilled spectators: Slytherin vs. Gryffindor. The autumn air
puts up an
icy fight, but the heat off of Harry alone warms the airy field of
play.
Whoosh and whoosh, the players take their positions. All of
Harry’s worries and
hang-ups and personalities are left in the locker room. Here it is only
the
seeking machine that is Harry Potter. He is so ravenous; he can hardly
keep
from flying over and chomping the fingers off his opponents in a
gesture of
what’s to come.
“Just blow the fucking whistle!” he growls.
Soon, Professor Catface Meowmers is on the field and releases the
balls. That
Snitch brings the animal in Harry right up to his eyeball skins. That
Snitch is
Harry’s desire, his fucking life. Harry knows what he has to
do, and I’d warn
God himself not to get in the way.
The big ball is hauled around the court by a beautiful girl from
Gryffindor
who, without hesitation, crams a few points up Slytherin’s
bum with an
effortless play. She will indeed be an asset for the few years that she
will
attend Gryffindor.
High five, claps, and the ball is back in play, Slytherin’s
favor.
The crowd is half frozen and unresponsive. I guess they need blood
splattered
on their faces to keep them from yawning.
The most hideous boy in the world has the ball. He has a lumber pile in
his
mouth that he is calling teeth, and he is a mean S.O.B. He goes for
some
points, but is denied by our bloodthirsty Major Wood.
Swarm, swarm, swoosh and swarm, the ball goes back and forth again.
Beautifully powerful, earnest warriors of Gryffindor handle the ball
and
release it as a team past the obviously inexperienced Slytherin goalie.
“Fuck yes!” Harry releases a primal yalp.
Surprisingly again, the crowd seems
sedated in the presence of such history-making titans.
The ball is again Slytherin’s, but is denied again by Major
Wood. Joey
Lumbermouth, though, pounds the ball right at our goalie and blamo!
He’s down
on the sand, out cold. Harry positively ignites with rage and
Lumbermouth shows
his namesake as Hardcastle McCormick worries under her muffed ears.
The game proceeds and Slytherin decides that they will just burn a few
points
without the watchful eye of Wood. “Fuck!” Harry
snarls.
The game proceeds again. Harry could kill everyone for this. Woodpile
and Ernie
play rough and unclean on a beautiful Gryffindor player. Those boys are
just
fucking awful. They railroad her into the bleachers, and down she goes.
“Fuuuuuck and sssshiiit!” says Harry. He is all but
Hulking out at this point.
Everyone is outraged as Slytherin scores again.
[Chapter 20]
The game is tied at Chapter 20, and Harry is a pensive, hungry falcon.
Once the
Snitch twinches into Harry’s view he is off in a meteoric
streak of red. But
just as H.P. zips after the Snitch, his broom starts freaking out.
It’s as if
someone had a hold of the broom and is trying to shake H.P. off.
“Is he a bad
Seeker?” the crowd asks. “No, I think his broom is
cursed.”
Harmony, though her ocular enhancing spell, spies Snake. Snake! Oh my
God, of
course! She’s putting a spell on Harry! Ahh! Something must
be done! Ronnie the
Bear curses that Snake a good one as Harmony creeps away. Harry
continues to
flomp and roll in the air, like a doughnut of sorts. Oh no! His big
break may break
him! He’s barely hanging on. Mouthoyle is overjoyed, Snake
continues her
magical broom shaking, and Harry yells fuck-word after fuck-word.
Harmony, though, like a phantom, creeps up the darkened backside of
Snake’s
bleachers. She is so worried Harry will die – he’s
the only person who is nice
to her! So, she conjures up such a hotfoot spell that Snake will have
to
remember it until she is in the grave, where no more hotfoot spells
will ever
tread. Eh! Yes! Snake is so distracted she wrecks all those around her.
Queerman, Monster Mash, Zoomacroom, they’re all pissed at
Snake for tossing
herself about so wildly. Queerman is queerly intent on the
game’s proceedings.
But Harry, Harry has gained control and is after that Snitch like a
fucking
rocket. Ziff! The Slytherin seeker has been after it for a while but I
feel bad
for him, ‘cause he is stupid, and Harry is a rocketized
animal who will stop at
nothing. Yes, they crash each other as the Snitch leads them down,
straight
down into certain doom. Yes they’re going to crash but Harry
loves death, he
says “Bring it on.” Harry is like a demon long dead
with nothing else to lose.
The weak-ass Slytherin turns away, but Harry pulls up just in time. He
is
standing on his broom like it’s an extension of his body. He
reaches out,
almost having the Snitch, and falls.
Oh my God! Is Harry going to vomit? Of course not! Like a leopard,
Harry used
his voracious mouth as his catcher. He’s got the snitch in
his animal belly,
and pop! It’s out! They’ve won! One hundred
thousand points for fucking
Gryffindor!
The crowd goes absolutely bezonkers! The champions in red and yellow
are the
victors. Harry is spent. The crowd is destroying its throats, calling
Harry’s
name. Harry feels right with himself. He’s down there, a new
god who has found
his calling.
He holds up the Snitch and bellows: “I am a beautiful animal!
I am a destroyer
of worlds! I am Harry Fucking Potter!” And dear reader, at
last, the world was
quiet.
Chapter 21
Obviously, our friends have explained to Hagar their fears about Snake.
Hagar
won’t have it, even when Harmony explains the spell she saw
Snake doing, and
the bloody leg, and the hotfoot she gave him. All this does nothing for
Hagar.
Hagar tells each of them to bugger off. Then, in his rage, he
accidentally
drops the name of Nicholas Flannel in association to Dumbledore and the
vault.
“Fuck!” he yells so loud that the birds rattle out
of their trees. “You fuckers
made me spill the beans.”
The kids are unmoved by his outbursts. They press on with questions.
“Who’s
Nick Flannel? What’s in the vault? Are we to die in our beds,
Hagar?”
Hagar has obviously had enough and turns to leave. Harry notices that
he leaves
with the face of a leaving father, a father that leaves forever, if you
know
what I mean.
Christmastime snowiness flakes the castle gently. The scene opens with
Hagar
the Horrible dragging through the snow the largest Christmas tree
available.
High, happy music follows him in, there is a busy bee atmosphere, but
not your
typical busyness you find at the holidays, but an exodus of students
packing
and groveling as a few gross looking professors dick the halls of the
school.
Harmony makes her way through the mostly empty cafeteria and sits down
with our
heroes who are testing their strategical wits with a thunderous game of
chess.
Although Harry is Ronnie the bear’s superior in most fields,
it is strategy and
planning that the Bear is known for; among other traits I’m
sure.
Harmony feels small in their presence and decides to split hairs with
the bear.
“Say, Ron, you look tired, have you ever been tested for
diseases?”
Ron replies “At least I’m not a hideous
fucker.”
She says “Are you going home for Christmas, I’m
going home. I’ve got money.”
He says “No. We’re staying here. We’re
going to find out who that fucking Nick
Flannel is and rule the fucking school. So run home and open your
presents, I
hope you get a new pillow to cry into. Shit.”
Christmas morning.
The snow of Christmas morn falls like angels’ shit as Harry
fumbles through his
last dream and into yet another chink in life’s impenetrably
armored secession
of days.
But behold! Ronnie the Bear has assembled a fine morning’s
fire to take the
edge off. He’s wearing a sweater that he himself has made out
of a dragon’s hide.
“You’ve got a strange bag down here with your name
on it, H.P.!”
Harry overtakes the stairway like an oiled gazelle and in moments is
scrutinizing the gift’s card like a detective. Alas, it
yields no real clues as
to who may have sent it. Ron watches on in boredom. He wonders what
evils he
could be slaying right now. But he thinks of Harry, who needs this
simple joy
of Christmas. Ron, for a moment, is thankful for his own gigantic
family.
Harry, from the bag, displays a sick looking cloak. Ron jokingly
demands that
Harry has to model it.
But lohoho readers! It is a cloak, a cloak indeed, a cloak with a
cloaking
device! An Invisibility Cloak!
Our two heroes stand for moments, pondering its uses, their dastardly
juvenile
minds running wild before a practical plan presents itself.
Chapter 22
The scene opens in the school’s library and a mysterious
floating lantern is
making its way alone in the darkness. It is our velveteen Hamlet,
tipping on
toes towards the restricted portion of the library. Once he is in, he
is
scanning and scrutinizing the spines, looking for two words: Nick
Flannel.
Impeded by its heaviness, and feeling like a ‘fraidy cat,
Harry casts off the
cloak, feeling brave enough to challenge anything. Once visible, he
draws a
random book off the shelves, just to sample some of this over talked
about
restricted content. But – Waaaaagh! Just as Harry was about
to demand of the
face book the whereabouts of Nick Flannel, the screeching voice of
Dazzler
issues through the halls such a horrible tone Harry’s
handbones rattle and he
drops the lantern to the ground. It breaks loudly. Harry knows he could
easily
take this weenie Dazzler, but now is not the time nor place.
Invisibility on.
Hunching through the library, Dazzler unknowingly grazes by our hero,
who is
stealth as a kitten in mittens. Dazzler is a man who obviously has
never heard
the laugh of a lover, never heard the phrase “You are
fine” from a doctor.
Harry exits the library as his heart goes out to the man who is servant
and friend
only to a cat with bloody eyeballs, when, speak of the Devil, the cat,
the
blood-eyed cat, sees Harry! Obviously the cloak doesn’t work
on animalia!
Harry quietly treads ‘round the corner, and dear readers, he
stumbles onto
Snake and Queerman, having an excited talk up against the wall, very
close and
breathy, and in the dark, romantically arguing heatedly. Snake is
demanding
loyalty from Queerman, and Snake seems to hear Harry, oh no, Harry
you’re
breathing too loud! Breathe into your sleeve for God’s sake!
Harry backs away
just in time.
Snake finishes her conversation; their eyes display nothing and
everything.
Dazzler is now upon the professors, and displays the still hot lantern.
The gig
is up! There were kids in the adult books! Snake is off, and Harry
creeps like
an icy ghost through the halls.
Chapter 23
He leads himself into a room he’s never
entered,
just in case they look for
him where he usually goes. The room is huge and empty, and
Harry’s eyes take a
while to adjust to the darkness. As they begin to focus he asks
himself: “What
could that be way in the back, up against the wall? Is it a
king’s mirror, a
giant’s mirror? Why not take a look,” thinks our
hero. “Why not take a deep,
telling look?”
The mirror is warm and perfect, the reflection has no warbles, the form
stays
true when you move. But as Harry gazes, the mirror activates his magic
eye to
reveal a secret image.
“Oh my God. Could it be? Are those my parents?”
Harry asks. Harry knows they’re
dead, but could heaven be here in this cold, cold reflection? The
parents
animate and respond. “This is heaven’s
entrance.”
He reaches out to feel the blue face of his world’s
perimeter. He wonders what
it would be like, what it would have been, if these people would have
remained.
His mother is beautiful. The guy seems pretty cool too.
Harry feels his trapezius along in time with his mother.
“This is mine,” they
say in scary unison. “The shrugs are working.”
Next thing you know, Harry is busting into Ronnie the Bear’s
chamber, disturbing
him out of a beautiful slumber. If this is indeed the gate to heaven,
he and
his champion must enter it together. They swiftly navigate the
castle’s hallway
and cast away the invisibility cloak once into the room of mirrors.
When Ron the Mighty has stood in front of the gate of heaven he begins
to
denounce it. He cries, “Heaven is for those too scared of
nothingness! I will
go no further than my mortal flesh will carry. This mirror is the sick
bed of
heaven, Harry! The eternity of pansy lives!” Ronnie will have
nothing to do
with the mirror. He is only concerned with the flesh and the blood of
the now.
This destroys Harry. Ron leaves him to contemplate his stupid mirror,
and the
design of the cosmos verses the terminal beauty of being a wizard.
For forty-three days straight Harry sits in front of the gate of
heaven,
waiting for either God to appear or for Ronnie to come back and
apologize. To
Harry’s surprise, neither show up. Only near-dead Dumbledore
stumbles upon the
vigil. Harry is considerably weakened, and actually taken surprise by
Dumbledore’s presence.
Dumbledore starts in: “Don’t you want some soup or
cocoa, Harry? Come away from
the light of heaven’s easy life. We need such a valiant,
beautiful warrior as
yourself here to live and to hack the serpents of evil in two, hell,
into two,
into threes and fours! Your life will be the very envy of heaven and
its
slobbery inhabitants. No, Harry. You were meant to stride with us, the
living!
To course with us and our blood. You are meant to end when your share
of that
blood turns brown on the rocks of glory! You and I shall drink tonight,
Harry.
We shall drink to life’s confines, to life’s pearly
end, which is the
nothingness of death, NOT the perpetual pansyness of heaven!”
Dumbledore is shaking with passion. He is beckoning Harry to enter into
the
sphere of manhood. Harry is all but wrapped in a buffalo skin, dancing
and
shaking a bow and arrow around a ceremonial fire. His rite of passage
is here,
now. He’s like a young Native-American, preparing to answer
the question of
life. Dumbledore is all aquiver, awaiting Harry’s answer, and
Harry answers
“Yes.”
Chapter 24
It’s a perfect, clear morning, as Harry steps out into the
muffled crunch of
snow of the courtyard. Harry looks like a man just married. He does a
few
ponderingly paced laps around the frozen fountain, and then decides to
proceed.
He sends his owl up into the clouds, then he enchants the bird with a
spell.
The rarely used Winter-Be-Gone spell. Harry is eager to get back to
life as it was
at Hogwarts. He is eager to have the story return to its tracks, so he
and
everybody else can find out what’s in that fucking vault.
A spring sun shows Pledge streaks on a dark, wooded library where kids
once
again bustle about. Harmony strikes gold in a giant hardbound atlas.
While she
was at home she worked a temp job playing piano in a jewelry store.
Wisely, she
wore a hood as not to distract the customers with her hideous visage.
But,
while she was in the store, she kept hearing, coincidentally, Nick
Flannel’s
name. It was then that she began to formulate her hunch, which, in this
atlas,
she confirms.
“Nick Flannel was the inventor of the Sorcerer’s
Stone, a rock with enormous
powers, such as: lead into gold, horses into gold, immortal life,
giving ghost
to restored body, frag trolls, trolls into gold, et cetera. The stone
is being
guarded by the three-headed dog! The stone is what Snake must want! She
wants
it so that she may live forever with a stockpile of gold!”
Holy shit. It makes total sense.
Our heroes walk briskly through the night, making their way secretly
towards
Hagar’s shanty. This guy is hoarding secrets, they think. But
once he sees who
is knocking at the door, he slams it right in the kids’
faces.
The kids start to yell out: “Hey! What about the
Sorcerer’s Stone? Does that
ring a fucking bell?” The giant knows they mean business.
They start in on Snake, and Snake’s needs again, but Hagar
gets testy. He
explains that every teacher is protecting the stone, including Snake,
with spells
and dogs and flying hatchets and cats and ancient pendulums et cetera.
He seems
to be in pain. Hagar continues to be distracted with something behind
him.
After a while Ron gets sick of the game and demands to know
what’s wrong with
Hagar. Why does he look so haggard and why is he hiding something?
Hagar breaks down and lets it all loose. “One day a few
months back I was
hunting in the forest alone. I’d shot a stag and was tracking
its blood trail
through the forest. As I got deeper and deeper I felt I was being
followed, so
I turned around and shot my crossbow, but my arrow only went through
the
ghostly form of Valmart. He demanded that I give him the
Sorcerer’s Stone, and
I told him that I couldn’t. He then pointed his want at my
stomach and struck
me with a mighty spell. Next thing I know, I’m feeling
kicking and clawing down
in my gullet. This goes on for weeks. I knew I was becoming a mother,
but to
what?
“Later on, after a boating accident in shark infested waters,
me and some
friends were stranded, treading water while sharks feeded on us. One by
one, we
disappeared in a cloud of blood. I alone survived. The reason is this:
my baby
inside me was screaming and making such a riot in my belly the sharks
were
afraid to open me up. So they let me live, and I was found later by
some
fishermen.
“A week ago I finally birthed this egg. Apparently I am the
mother of a dragon.
Now kids, don’t tell anybody; it’s illegal to have
a dragon in here.”
After the story’s confusing conclusion, who should appear in
the window but
that panda cub Mouthoyle, spying! After his fucking ass!
Our heroes walk through the halls, talking of plans of trapping
Mouthoyle and
torturing him, when they are stopped dead in their tracks by Hardcastle
McCormick. She takes them into her office and dons her demerit costume,
hat and
all. This must be serious.
“Fifty points deducted for each of you! It is forbidden to be
out at night, all
of you have detention, even you, Mouthoyle!”
Mouthoyle tries to protest, but soon he is overrun by her barrage of
degrading
talk.
“Spies and thieves!” she spits. “Spies
and thieves!” Her spittle becomes acid
and lands on each of their cheeks, burning little pockmarks as
reminders of
their transgressions. They will never forget.
Chapter 25
Later that night, Dazzler leads the four kids out to their duty of
detention.
It turns out they have to hang with Hagar in the old forest all night
long.
Yeauck! Soon, they are up around the crossbow fire where detention
always gets
started. Hagar speaks of his dragon flying away and how he’s
sad.
“Dragons have no heart,” he blubbers.
The cat’s whore, Dazzler, winces and grinds out words as he
does, but no one
cares, not one fucking soul. But he goes on to grind out sentences on
werewolves and the like, blah. His voice is as hard to listen to as a
dying
loved one calling out to you for help while you are restrained. He
gives up on
using his words and tries to communicate using only his eyes. Oh how
they bulge
and struggle to convey unthinkable meaning. He’s trying to
say that the kids
will surely be destroyed in the forest, so it’s just as well
that he is
indecipherable to the children.
Hagar finally breaks up this stream of incoherence and signals that
it’s time
to go. He grabs his crossbow and his scabbard full of arrows.
Leaves are even scared of this cold evil place and never settle, but
try to
ride wind out from among the trees that have dropped them.
Hagar kneels down to a shimmery pool of unicorn urine. He explains that
a
prize-size unicorn is nearby and with their help he will kill it with
his
crossbow and win a prize in a local contest. The kids seem truly
interested in
the hunting lore Hagar bestows. Unicorns travel in pairs, unicorns are
white,
unicorns like apples, et cetera. Hagar seems put off and talks like
he’s
halfway there. His dragon’s runaway stole his heart.
Hagar decides to split up the group and everyone is eager for the hunt.
Harry
and Mouthoyle are teamed up together. Now Hagar only does this because
Harry is
an enormous threat and even though Mouthoyle is a son of a fuck, he is
a
powerful little prick. So the two are put together, seeing how
they’ll probably
do fine, even without the help of Hagar and his crossbow.
Harry and Mouthoyle take the northern part of the forest. The other
people take
the rest, the south and the west. Harry and Mouthoyle talk of nothing,
their
hatred curls about their temples like Caesar hats.
Their dog has found the unicorn’s sent, and they make their
way to where they
think it’s bedded down, into a grove of cool dirt and shade,
an inviting nap
place indeed. A wasp of smoke hangs low.
But Ahh! They are too late! Their prey has already fallen under the
hand of
some Dracula. Harry’s scar hurts him intensely and Mouthoyle
vanishes. He
leaves Harry alone, but Harry boldly stands his ground against the
Dracula.
Harry totally hates detention and this prize unicorn is his. If
he’s got to get
a little dirty to get what he wants, then fine. Harry valiantly stands
his
ground against the impeding battle that will ensue. The Dracula is a
formidable
presence. He is not at all afraid of Harry and Harry has to back his
way up
against a giant root to gain substance from the tree to make a larger
spell.
But lo! To Harry’s aid jumps a badass man-horse who is
kicking and threatening
wildly against the prince of blood-drinkers. The Dracula rushes away
knowing
too well his odds are way off in this battle. A man-horse and Harry
Potter? No
way.
This man-horse knows Harry Potter, of course, and like all the
creatures of the
forest, Draculas and werewolves excluded, would gladly die with him in
combat.
Now the man-horse explains quickly that the Dracula was in fact
Valmort, the
scar-artist, and that he, Valmort, is trying to get the
Sorcerer’s Stone.
Harry Potter puts to the man-horse a few well-chosen detective
questions like,
“I thought it was Snake who wanted the stone?”
“No,” says the man-horse. “Snake may be
evil, but it’s Valmort who’s really
after the stone.” The horseman leans in close and blows the
doors off our
hero’s reality. “Valmart is your father. That other
guy is your step-dad. Your
arch enemy, the guy who tried to slay you, the guy who slayed your
mama, is
your dada. Your dad is a Dracula.”
Harry just goes ahead and vomits right there. Tears mix in with the
puke, and
Hagar offers to call detention off early, seeing the trouble.
Chapter 26
Gathered around the fire, four or five cognacs down,
our
threesome unwinds
and works out the details. Neckties loosened, robes unbuckled, they are
relaxing. Yes, they were sort of wrong about Snake. She wants the
Stone, but
not for gold, but to resurrect the Dracula Valmort, so that he can have
a new
body and stage a rematch with Harry. The three know that Harry is a
bad-ass,
godlike new animal, but if Valmort gets the Stone, he may kill the
near-dead
Dumbledore and take over the school.
Harmony takes a giant swallow of cognac and says, “He was
never a dad to you,
Harry. You’re going to have to fight him. You’re
gunna have to beat him.”
Harry knows this is true.
Finals! The courtyard looks like an anthill. Our three stroll
confidently, but
Harry seems to be nursing a head that dealt with one too many cognacs.
The
tests are pretty easy compared to the shit these guys are doing in
their free
time, and Harry sometimes wishes his life was as simple as
Upfish’s.
They talk of lunch and break out onto the common ground when a
child-summoning
tone spills over them and they are helplessly compelled to
Hagar’s hut. Hagar
has done a little head work lately and decides to confess that last
night he
told a Dracula-looking dude in a bar that the three headed guard dog
falls
asleep easily when he hears music. Hagar had to summon the young
detectives to
get this off his chest.
Harry is inconsolable. “What? What could have made you say
that? What do you
think this is a fucking free for all of facts? Why don’t you
go and get on the
school PA and tell everyone my dad is Valmart and I’m half
Dracula! What
fucking good are you? Why don’t you learn to keep a god
damned secret, you hairy
piece of shit!” Harry is ragged. He has had a long day and
good manners are
secondary to his cause.
Harry and his team rush into Hardcastle’s class, all
gangbusters. They start
explaining that the Stone is in danger, and that they have to get
Dumbledore in
order to protect him. Hardcastle is flabbergasted with all of this
news. She
informs the kid that Dumbledore is in London
for the weekend.
“Crumbs and carrots!” cries Harry. “The
stone is doomed! You better be up there
guarding that Stone personally, Hardcastle, because if it’s
gone, and
Dumbledore gets hurt, I am going to hand you your ass when this is all
said and
done! Fuck this!”
Out in the hall, just as the three detectives are beginning to form a
plan, who
but Snake arrives and darkens the hallway with her black robes galore.
“What are you kids doing here?”
“We fucking go to school here.”
“You will be schooled here.”
“You are so fucking stupid,” says Harry, and a
staring match ensues. A staring
match of silent restraint. Of course, Harry is the victor.
As Snake takes her leave, Harry turns to his brother and sister in arms
and
declares “I will fucking feel her blood on my hands
TONIGHT!”
Chapter 27
A disturbingly meaningful fog hangs cataracts all over Hogwarts. As our
heroes
walk down into the Gryffindor common room, they see the frog reclining
in the
armchair that can only be owned by Upfish.
Upfish, in a foolishly loving gesture, tries to keep our heroes from
tasting
victory tonight. He puts up his hands and sucks in his stupid quick
breaths. He
is sweet, but he is being a nuisance. So Harry, wasting no time,
dispatches
Harmony on Upfish. A quick popsicling spell, and Upfish is out. They
decide to
just leave him there, without a blanket, so maybe he can think about
what he’s
done, and what brotherhood really means around here in the Gryffindor
School.
Soon, under the cloak of invisibility, the three make their way up to
the
chamber of secrets, where the dog lies and where the trapdoor to all
adventures
begins. Again, Harry lets Harmony take the lead. She is so much faster
with the
lock spell than he is. The lock is dissolved into a dove, and the door
is
slowly advanced open. But the children are disgusted to see that the
dog is
already fast asleep. Snake has beat them to it and has set up a magical
harp.
Our heroes sadly begin to set to work moving the dog’s hoary
paws off the trap
door. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, for they have to do it
noiselessly and
they try their best to silence their grunts and to keep all of their
efforts
inaudible. Harry notices a strangeness. It’s too easy,
it’s too quiet, and oh
shit, the music has stopped.
Just then, the giant dog awakes itself and is much faster than last
time. It
goes right ahead and takes a big chunk out of Harmony. He bites what is
most of
her head off. She is dead in an instant. Harry is horrified. Out of him
comes
powers he didn’t even know existed. He turns the dog inside
out and then
dissolves it into a pudding, where Harmony is laying there in two
pieces. He
then, with eyeballs turned completely white, recapitulates her form and
makes
her whole again. She is full, she is Harmony of old, and is acting like
nothing
ever even happened. It’s a true marvel and Harry
doesn’t know what to think
about it.
So they go ahead and jump into the trap door, but they land on what I
guess is
a wad of leathery roots that seem hell-bent on rending the wizard kids
limb
from limb. Their bodies become ensconced in the wet black leather,
sinking like
quicksand into the wads of captivity. Harry can’t help but
notice the
coincidence that last night he ate spaghetti. It’s funny to
him that what’s
trying to kill him on the outside is just like what’s
nourishing him on the
inside.
Harmony has escaped with some sort of shrewd spell. She tries to
explain it to
the others, but they cannot understand. She casts a release spell on
Harry and
he is freed, and she tries also on Ronnie, but it just
doesn’t work. Why won’t
it release Ron? Does it know that it can live on the substanance of
such a
warrior for years and need not worry about eating anything else? Well,
whatever
the spaghetti is thinking, Harmony again proves herself and blinds the
wad’s
hidden eye with some crazy sunburst spell and it soon releases Ronnie
the Bear.
He is freed, and they are able to go after the Stone.
Harry is thankful, and for the first time, actually voices his opinion
of
Harmony. “You are amazing,” he says.
Chapter 28
Harry is totally disinterested in the next challenge. He runs through
this
problem like a set of crunches as his mind’s eye daydreams.
He sees himself
dressed as a conquistador, crashing in the phases of werewolves and
bigfoots
with an enormous telescope. He then goes on to envision himself
arriving on the
coast of an undiscovered America.
He mingles peacefully with the natives, and trades secrets of magic
with their
shamans. He makes friends, blending bloodlines of greatness. He teaches
them
wizard spells, and they in turn teach him how to fly across the
continent at
ridiculous speeds. He learns to slay deer with laser beams from his
eyes, and
how to make all things around the house out of buffalo parts.
Harry could live with a woman who had strong, magical jet-black hair.
She’d be
enchanted and almost a giant. She’d carry Harry around on her
shoulder as she
walked through the forest, and he’d hold onto her perfect
ear, smiling. They’d
fly off into the clouds and spend weekends up there, dictating the
North
American weather patterns. He’d not worry about clothes,
because he’d wear one
of those strappy skirts that were popular back then in America.
But then, that world of America, of light and natural beauty, of those
people,
who were so one with the perfect ecosystem, that world dissipates, and
Harry is
back in the dark, hoary bowels of storm-ridden England, trying to save
all of
wizard-dom from his crazed, Dracula-ghost father. Harry almost sobs,
but moves
on. He is a true champion.
As the three traipse through the dark hallways of hell, they come upon
a
challenge fit for only a bear. Giant, sculptural figures stand in lines
of two,
opposing one another. This could only mean one thing. It is the famous
chess
board of Ragmorock.
The Bear enters out onto the board like a World Series winner going for
one
more World Series win. The board is illuminated then by magical
florescence.
The deal is this: Harry and the gang cannot pass without winning this
game. It
is a raw deal in red heat: if you lose, you die.
Soon, it is apparent who should take charge of this part of the
challenge.
Ronnie the Bear begins to dictate how the next couple of moves will
happen. “I
will take charge and make all of the moves. You guys keep your mouths
shut and
try not to get in my way. You act as a bishop, Harry, and you, you act
as,
well, I guess a rook.”
Harmony farts a nervous fart, but no one cares. Every one of Ronnie the
bear’s
atoms are focusing on the task at hand. Imagine God creating, and then
you
would have a beginning of an understanding of the Bear’s
massive cerebral
cortex at work. This invisible opponent must have invisibly shat
himself after
Ronnie’s first move, knowing the challenge he was about to
face. Every battle
the earth has witnessed looks like a Three Stooges scene compared to
this.
Patton, Macarthur, Custer and Charlemagne look on as astonished ghosts,
stuffing
their mouths with popcorn and jujubes.
The game goes on like Napoleon on Ice, a perfect mix of speed and
precision.
The pieces explode and crumble and move into position by the will of
one, one
Ron Weasel, AKA Ronnie the Bear.
There are struggles and losses and pursuits and beheadings. All of the
pieces
crumble, all of the pieces turn dastardly, but nothing happens that is
not the
consent of the Bear.
We get down to where the pieces are only a few.
Chapter 29
Here now in the rubble of the last portion of the game, sacrifices have
to be
made in order to gain the checkmate. The Bear’s face is a
phosphorescent mask
of jelly. He is at the last stands of sanity; his mind is swollen,
invisible
behind his retinas. He is mad with the satanic desire to win at all
cost.
“I will die for this!” He is a milkshake of all of
the generals past’s
strategical centers, and he takes out a flask and sips a bit of peach
schnapps.
He yells out to Harry, “You can keep all of my stuff, if I
don’t survive this!”
and he moves himself into position out into danger.
He is putting himself up to the king and putting him in checkmate,
knowing full
well that the queen will have his balls for this. It is a move that
everyone
knows, and everyone has to do, but when you’re not riding a
giant horse out
there, and it’s just a little piece in your hand, it
doesn’t feel quite so
heroic. But believe me, here, it is.
Ronnie steadies himself and gazes right into the slit of the helmet,
looking
for some sort of eyes, but there is none, and Ronnie is felled. Chunks
of his
horse spray-paint Harry and Harmony. She almost goes to him
“Don’t fucking move! We finish this now!
It’s how he would have wanted it!”
Harry screams. He then moves like a bishop right up to the face of that
king,
and takes out a glove, and slaps the king right in the face.
“Checkmate, you
asshole. That was my best friend.”
The game is finally over.
The two run over to check on the status of Ron, whether he’s
breathing or not.
Harmony nags Harry, “Why’d you let him
fall?”
“One more complaint out of you and I will erase your ass!
Sorry. It’s just the
pressure talking.”
Harry then goes on to tell Harmony to stay with Ronnie. Make sure that
his
vitals are clean, and to call the president if he’s not back
in an hour. He
knows what is coming, and he is ready for the challenge.
Chapter 30
As Harry walks down into his fate, he comes to realize that this is the
moment
beyond games, the moment he has been waiting for. Whatever happens, he
is where
he should be.
Before him, down in the cellar, standing before the gate of heaven,
why, it
isn’t Snake at all! It’s Queerman! Queerman!
Queerman tried to kill Harry in
the Quidditch match! Queerman unleashed the troll! Queerman is in
league with
Draculas and wolfmen! Queerman wants the Stone! It’s all been
an act! Harry is
bowled over, he cannot believe he didn’t see this coming.
Queerman this whole
time has been Harry’s dad’s gopher. Snake was
unfairly suspected, and is
probably a lovely woman.
Harry stands before the babbling Queerman and readies himself for
combat. He
puts on his lucky headband and pops his knuckles. All the while,
Queerman
converses wildly with the air.
Harry knows that his dad is a ghost, a ghost Dracula, but he
doesn’t see him
flying around anywhere and wonders who Queerman is talking to. The air,
then,
miraculously becomes thinner, and Harry’s forehead aches. The
air tells
Queerman to retrieve the Stone using our champion, using HP as a
vehicle, for
only innocence can retrieve the Stone from the gate of heaven. The
Stone is
locked inside heaven’s gates and only a pure soul may enter.
A spell is cast, and Harry is forced to walk up and look into the
dreadful
threshold of heaven. He cannot help himself. He looks into the mirror,
and
Queerman demands to know where the Stone is. “Put your hand
in there, boy!”
Harry says “Fuck this,” and reaches into his
pocket. The Stone somehow
manifests in his sweaty hand. “Ah, God this sucks,”
says Harry. He just decides
to back away with the Stone, and maybe he can get out of here, and hide
it
somewhere else so he can decide what to do, once talking with
Dumbledore. He
makes some small talk about how he can’t get the Stone
because once he killed
somebody, you know, a few weeks back, and that prohibits him from going
into
heaven.
Queerman then begins to take his turban off slowly, and even though
Harry
should be making his way for the steps, he’s always wanted to
see what
Queerman’s head looks like.
Just then, AAAAAAAAAAAGH! Holy fucking shit! There’s a sick
ass face on
Queerman’s head! Harry almost vomits all over Queerman.
Harry’s dad’s face
begins to move, like a baby just out of the womb. He calls to Harry to
join
him, and how they could use the Stone together and live in a golden
castle.
Harry’s scar begins to vibrate so hard and fast it causes a
tone that almost
makes Harry explode. He cannot believe what is being proposed to him.
Chapter 31
That crazy, sick ass face is burning everything. He wants that stone
bad. He
wants to paddle Harry so hard. He starts telling Harry all sorts of
fake shit,
like that Harry killed his own parents, and that Dumbledore eats babies
and
Harry is confused and scared. This is his dad talking. He
doesn’t know what to
believe and what to hate. He wants to run off. He imagines that that
man horse
would come in here and take him away, and Harry could ride off on the
man
horse, and maybe they could catch a movie, or make dinner or something.
Something fun. But finally Harry comes out of this revere and holds the
Stone
and absorbs some of its power and waits for the right moment. The
flames are
licking all about and driving him crazy. But that sick face is still
talking.
It wants that stone so bad! Harry can’t believe it.
He’s never seen such rage.
“This is not me. I am not my father. I could throw this stone
into a gutter and
not give one shit.”
So, just then, Queerman whooshes at him, he can’t take it any
longer and lashes
out on Harry, choking him and spitting in his face, trying to kill our
champion. But, Harry gives a ferocious growl and burns that fucker with
a
flaming hands spell. Queerman recoils, but that sick ass face on the
back of
his head just won’t have it. He continues to press Queerman
to, “Get the Stone,
get the Stone!”
Queerman reaches for the stone but Harry valiantly lays his magnificent
hands
on his face, and instantly turns the entire body to crumbling ashes.
At long last, Harry is given the opportunity to cry out, “I
am gigantic! I am
important and unavoidable! For anyone that shall traverse this world, I
shall be
what they have to go through!” Harry yells down into the
empty neck hole, “This
game is over when Harry says it’s over, and no one else!
Harry is the one who
kills around here, and Harry has killed you! I killed you,
Dad!”
Harry picks up the stone just in time to turn around and feel his dad
blow
through him just as everyone has their dads blow into them like a kite,
a kit
of chromosomes blowing on the wind of inheritance. The stream of the
ghostly
Dracula exits and Harry falls asleep.
Harry then dreams of nothing. It is the most pleasurable slumber ever.
Chapter 32
Next thing Harry knows, he’s waking up in the student
infirmary. There are
flowers and cards from presidents and queens and diplomats, and Harry
yawns and
collects his glasses. He seems pleased, like a man can seem pleased.
In walks Dumbledore. Near dead, and beautiful. He talks about Ron, and
Harmony,
and the Stone, and Nick Flannel, and Valmart, and fathers and the way
fathers
can show up on the back of people’s heads even when you least
expect it, but
Harry is way beyond that. He just wants to kick back a few cold ones
and get
through finals.
Harry is eager to move on, and he asks Dumbledore if he’s
seen that man horse
around, and Dumbledore says no, but Harry, sees a glimmer in his eyes.
Harry
seems to guess that God would be happy to know that Dumbledore would
try to
keep Harry from such a union, but for Harry, God is no thing to worry
about.
They continue to chat about death, and stones, and next year, and
whether or
not they plan to replace that one teacher that turned into ash, and
then
Dumbledore leans in.
“Your dad and I, we go way back. He was an evil bastard, but
I loved him. I
loved him so much. He proofread my novel. He liked it. He was the only
one.”
This information seems to set right with Harry. Even though he knows
his dad is
pretty much the quintessential evil person, he doesn’t like
feeling
disconnected from his ancestors. He then goes on to wonder and worry
about his
mother, and whether or not his mother will return to the earth in the
form of a
gas and show up on some lady’s head and go crazy for
obtaining some powerful
stone. But anyway. He decides not to worry about it, and Dumbledore
begins to
pick over what is left of Harry’s candies. Nurses scuttle
about and make little
actions that Harry decides would be the perfect thing to fall asleep
to.
Dumbledore, the scavenger, takes his jelly beans. Harry just
doesn’t care.
Chapter 33
After a while, Harry decides to leave the infirmary and put back on his
cloak
and tie. He walks out and encounters his playmates who have been
anxiously
awaiting him. They quickly compare notes on their adventures and
exchange
shit-eating grins. They all feel great.
The cafeteria is a crazed sea of almost vacationing students. The only
thing
that stands between the kids and summertime is the terrible, Hardcastle
McCormick’s hokey points awards show. Dumbledore laments
another year closer to
heaven, then begins the telling of the points.
“Gryffindor has a measly 312 points.”
The students, well, their morale is very low.
“Hufferpuffer has 420 points. That’s pretty good.
Viacom, well, this year
Viacom has earned 480 points. And Slytherin has 6,000 points. Coming in
first,
they are, the champions. But however,” says Dumbledore,
“Last minute points are
thus.”
Snake is seemingly on the edge of her seat.
“For the Wretched Harmony, in aiding some unmentioned titans
and knowing your
spells, you are awarded 300 points.”
Everyone claps, and she feels welcome amongst her peers.
“Ronnie the Bear. Ronnie the Bear Weasley, you are bravery,
you are courage,
you are chess. 1,000 points.” The applause begin to increase.
“And of course,” Dumbledore goes on. “The
keeper of our hearts, and the true
magician who has bewitched us all, the Adonis, Harry Potter, receives
six
million points for vanquishing the Dracula!”
The crowd goes apeshit, clapping and clapping. This means that
Gryffindor is
now the champions of the year. They get to hold the Stanley Cup, and no
one can
say otherwise.
The entire cafeteria, Mouthoyle, Snake, and Pitstains included, join
in,
supporting Harry. The applause are gigantic. The universe accepts only
love
today, everyone is in accordance. Dumbledore sings a little pleasant
song that
sounds like a flute, a flute that was designed by Jesus Christ.
Gryffindor destroys the other schools in points, and a totally
beautiful glance
and wink is shared by all. The hats begin to fly and now thoughts of
summertime
are rampant. Everyone who does not suck begins to clap each other on
the back
and smile.
Chapter 34
Everyone is packed and has emptied out their dorm rooms, and is
boarding the
Hogwarts Express; summer vacation is about to commence.
Harry must have a word with Hagar the Horrible before he leaves. He
tells his
friends to hold up and make sure the engineer doesn’t leave
him behind. But
before Harry can say one word, Hagar produces a beautiful portable
television
with a clip of Harry’s parents already queued up for
Harry’s delight. This is
the first time that Harry actually looks upon himself as a baby.
“This feels really weird,” he says, and Hagar nods
knowingly.
They hug awkwardly and talk about next year’s problems,
whatever they may be.
And then Hagar tells Harry that he’s got to go trim some
hedges and make things
right for the summer, you have to put seed down for tics and stuff. And
Harry
says “Well, I’ve got to go home to Privet Drive
and all, so, um, I guess I’ll see you.”
It turns out that they do like each other, and it all wasn’t
just out of
obligation. Harry thinks he’ll come back next year,
he’ll come back, and Hagar
will be there waiting for him.
The End.
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