It was lunchtime at Hogwarts.
The warm midday sun made everyone drowsy. Brian encountered only a few students along the way; most of the young wizards were presumably taking naps. But the few he did meet already knew who he was.
"Hello, Mr. Brian!" several older Hufflepuff students greeted him enthusiastically.
"Hello. Oh, would you mind touching the corner of your mouth?" Brian said to one of the girls with a smile.
The girl followed Brian's rather odd request and found half a grain of rice stuck to the corner of her mouth.
She let out a muffled squeak and shyly ducked behind a tall, handsome boy, who grinned and said:
"I was going to wait until dinner to tell you."
"Cedric!" The girl punched him indignantly.
"Mr. Brian's makeup looks so good. Do you think he did it himself?"
Only then did Brian realize that he was still wearing the book's welcome gift on his face, but he had no intention of doing anything about it.
The first reason, of course, was that he feared the already angry book would become even less willing to acknowledge him if it discovered that the makeup was gone.
Besides, the makeup really did look quite nice, and it had brought him luck-he had saved a hefty sum on robes, around thirty Galleons, almost a month's salary.
Along the way, Brian also encountered a boy from Gryffindor House with a round, chubby face. He kept his head down as he walked, as though hiding from someone.
Unfortunately, he rounded a corner and crashed headfirst into a pale, blond boy.
"Malfoy!" The round-faced boy went deathly pale. "Sorry! I didn't mean to!"
Malfoy staggered back a few steps. Once he saw who had bumped into him, he became furious, his nose turning red as he snarled:
"Longbottom?! How dare you? You think some pathetic little apology..."
Brian felt that he was about to start throwing punches, so he hurried over and asked, "What happened, gentlemen?"
When the boy named Malfoy saw Brian approaching, the corner of his mouth twitched. He shoved Longbottom aside, turned, and stalked off with a sweep of his arm.
Brian heard him mutter a threat as he turned away. "Just you wait. This isn't over!"
"...Mr. Brian? What should I do?" Longbottom looked up at Brian helplessly.
Brian thought for a moment, then said reassuringly:
"Mr. Longbottom, I saw that you apologized properly just now. But whether Mr. Malfoy accepts your apology is up to him-if by 'this isn't over' he means finding a chance to bump into you too, then you can certainly accept that little bit of revenge.
"If that isn't enough for him and he wants to escalate things, but you don't want to trouble Professor McGonagall, you can come find me in the library. Perhaps I can help."
Longbottom nodded vigorously again and again, saying excitedly:
"Thank you, Mr. Brian! I'll be going to the library a lot for a while! Oh, but I have to get back to my dormitory now. I forgot the equipment I need for this afternoon's class!"
"Off you go. Remember to keep your head up when you walk." Brian watched him run toward the tower.
When he reached the library, Brian found Harry bent over his homework with two other children from Gryffindor House.
The red-haired boy seemed stumped by a difficult question. After considerable hesitation, he finally asked the brown-haired girl for help.
"Hermione, have a look at this question. It's not that I can't do it. I just think my answer might be incomplete..."
With an air of confidence, Hermione snatched the paper from his hands and frowned:
"Incomplete? Ron, you're being far too modest-if the correct answer means filling a jug with water, your answer is the equivalent of putting a spoonful of cola in it."
Ron's face darkened, while Harry stifled a laugh and handed Hermione his paper, asking hopefully:
"How about mine?"
"Hmm...not bad, Harry. At least you're putting water in the jug," Hermione said fairly after taking a look.
Brian didn't disturb them. He put all his belongings in his room, then took the quill to find Madam Pince.
"Thank you for the gift. I like it very much." Madam Pince accepted the quill with a smile and pressed a booklist she had prepared into Brian's hands-five large sheets, written on both sides.
"The library has all these books. You can find them using the shelf numbers I've written down. I've also set aside some books from storage for you."
She waved her wand, and a large cardboard box crammed with books floated into Brian's hands, yet he felt no weight at all.
"The Levitation Charm. It's covered in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One. It has a wide range of uses, and sometimes it works wonders."
Madam Pince explained proudly,
"On Halloween, those three children used this very spell to defeat a troll."
She pointed toward Harry and his friends in the distance. Noticing the librarian's gaze, Harry nervously reminded the bickering pair beside him to keep their voices down.
Brian nodded and asked with concern:
"Hagrid told me about the troll. Has the school still not found whoever let it in?"
He recalled how Dumbledore had used the Levitation Charm to turn his car into a flying car-could someone have turned the troll into a kite with the same charm and led it all the way into Hogwarts?
Madam Pince shook her head:
"No, not yet...still not yet, unbelievably...the professors are more inclined to think it was an older student who didn't understand the consequences but meant no real harm.
"After all, there are so many fantastic beasts far more deadly than trolls-Nundus, Hippogriffs, Erumpents..."
"Isn't there some sort of magic that can track down the culprit directly from the clues?"
Brian blinked. He had a feeling he would be spending a long time poring over books to catch up on his magical knowledge.
Of the fantastic beasts Madam Pince had mentioned, only Hippogriffs rang a bell-Hagrid had said he had tamed a whole herd and paid out of his own pocket to give them extra food every month.
"Not at present, but perhaps someone will invent such magic in the future-then the Ministry of Magic would have to cut down on its Auror positions."
As she spoke, Madam Pince stopped a table of young wizards from opening their sweets with a sharp look.
"And Azkaban would have to expand," Brian said with a smile. "Speaking of which, madam, do you know any way to soothe an angry book?"
"An angry book?" Madam Pince's expression grew serious. "Tell me more."
Brian briefly explained the situation.
"You need plenty of patience when dealing with books," Madam Pince said with a smile. "Perhaps you could use the Levitation Charm to make your book lighter, though it might not be willing."
Brian thought this was worth trying. He returned to his room, picked up the box, and asked, "Good book, I've found a way to make you lighter. Provided you're willing, of course."
The book quietly opened the box a crack.
"Oh, you're willing, are you?"
Delighted that the book was considering making peace with him, Brian picked up a copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One and said to it:
"The method is in this book. Just give me a little time...you forgive me? Wonderful!"
The box opened completely, but Brian's delight didn't last long. He sensed something was wrong-the book that leaped out of the box seemed a little...angry?
Sure enough, he watched the book begin to shake. It swelled until it was more than three times its original size, and a huge mouth suddenly sprouted from its cover-
And swallowed the copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One in his hand in a single gulp!
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