William Calhoun and the Black Feather. Book I
Chapter 17 Magiflorology

February came, bringing the Wizard History Refutation exam with it. At the exam, William unexpectedly received questions about the ‘Feathermages Night’, which he answered excellently. Surprised to get a topic he was supposed to study only in the first year of a MUni, he looked at Professor Welbeck, but he just gave William a wink, unseen to other students. As for El, he got questions about ‘The Great Feud of Northern Dwarves and Mountain Centaurs’. Happy with the opportunity to personally ‘glorify’ the greatness and bravery of Roderick Bluebeard, El started writing like mad and finished answering his questions earlier than the rest of them. It went without saying that both of them – William and El – successfully passed Magic History Refutation with the highest grades. Thus, by the end of two classes, they both had the maximum of thirty points, and now they were up for the last class of Magiflorology. If they passed it as successfully, they would be able to enter Templedoor.

William visited Gobry every day, like before, and he was glad to learn from Gobry’s reports that there were no more feathers dug out at the Graveyard. As for their investigation, it wasn’t moving any further. To the surprise of two friends, there were no threats from Neuville and nothing was threatening William’s life. Finally, agreeing on the fact that they gave too much meaning to this whole story than they should have and that if Neuville had been a threat to William, he had already been caught by wizhunters, the two friends decided to stop the search for some time. And to devote all of their time to studies. They were going to do their best in the Magiflorology class to pass the exam with the highest grades. And after that, if circumstances demanded so, they would return to the search for Neuville. The two friends hoped they would have enough time for that.

A week passed after the Wizard History Refutation exam. That morning William was supposed to go to the first lesson of the last class of the Preparatory Course – Magiflorology. And so, he was standing by the window, his feathermap unfolded and lying on the desk beside him, waiting for the address of the magiflorologist to appear on it. Ready to peregrine any moment, he was thoughtfully looking through the window at the snow-covered Blackfriars Lane. Soon, there came the sound of crumpling paper and the feathermap showed the address ‘House by the Oak’ in bright red shining letters.

William stared at the address in wonder for a few moments. He considered it too weird even for a wizard’s house. During his studies at the Preparatory Course, he never had had to leave London. Well, at least, he was sure about it all this time.

“I guess, I’ll never get used to the eccentricities of wizards!” he sighed and, pointing his magic feather he had been holding in his hand all this time at the address, peregrined and found himself in the heart of an evening forest. There was a large stone house before him and it was clear from its looks that the house had been standing there for more than even two centuries. A moment later, there was a loud sound near William, making him jump a few steps away in fear, holding his hand to his ear.

“Sorry, mate, didn’t mean to scare you!” El’s voice said, who had just peregrined next to William.

“If you do it again, I’ll tear your feathermap!” William threatened, his ear still ringing. “Hi, El!”

“Hi, Will! This magiflorologist has an awesome house, eh? I wish I had one for myself!” El was looking at the house of the Magiflorology teacher with delighted approval.

“Are you kidding? This house is as old as Welbeck! Or maybe even older! It looks as though it can fall apart any minute!” William noted unhappily.

“So, why is it called ‘House by the Oak’? And why is it so dark here?” El looked around, searching for an oak, but didn’t replace any.

“Funny, right? To fall asleep at night and to wake up in the night-time morning!” William grinned. “I was sure I was the only one surprised with that ridiculous name! You’re used to all kinds of such weird names.”

“May I be trice enchanted if I’ve ever met such a stupid name for a house!” El confessed, still looking around. “There have been some extraordinary names, for example, my great-grandrelative Julian lived in a house that was called ‘Snail Shell’! What did you expect? He was a chronicler!” El explained, seeing the look William gave him at that. “The house was called like that because it was as quiet in there, as in inside a snail shell, so that nothing would disturb its owner.”

“I’ve had enough of weird names for today,” William announced and headed towards the magiflorologist’s house. “Let’s go or we’ll be late!”

“Let’s go!” El replied, following William as he walked around the house and entered the back door. “Awesome! I wish I could live here!” El expressed his delight again, when they came to the foot of the stairs that was actually a twisted living tree. The railings were made of massive branches, with leaves growing on them. “I won’t be surprised if Garville looks the same!” he concluded confidently.

“Even the stone slabs on the floor are overgrown with thick moss!” William remarked after looking down.

“Congratulations, Will!” El grinned suddenly. “You come here for the first time and you already have a whole bunch of friends waiting for you!” he pointed at stone wall covered with thick ivy.

“I thought they were your friends, not mine! You are the master of talking to ivy guards,” William teased him in return.

“It’s so mean of you to remind me of my dark past, William,” El replied with a sarcastic smile. Then he added quickly: “But, seriously, Will! I’ve never been to such a weird house before! Can any wizard live here?”

“Not any wizard, but quite a certain one! And he is called the Magiflorology Professor!” William said.

They went up the living stairs and soon found themselves on the second floor, which had fewer plants. This part of the house looked more like a usual place for living. But the pleasant impression evaporated quickly the moment they entered the only open door and found themselves in the classroom. Almost all of the enrolees were sitting there, waiting for the magiflorologist, but he wasn’t there yet. The classroom itself was a room with a high ceiling, with real living trees growing in it. They were growing in an unusual way, so that their base formed rather comfortable seats with arms, and there were small tables in front of them, which were made of solid rocks with a smooth surface. Apart from the trees, the room was full of bushes, unusual flowers, and other plants, which William had never seen anywhere before.

“I really like it! Amazing! I’m telling you, Will, this is an awesome house!”

“Yeah…” he drawled. “On the inside the house looks more impressive than on the outside, of course. Come, let’s take a seat!”

They headed to two unoccupied tree chairs, saying hi to Ophella and Fergus on the way. Soon, when everyone was gathered, the magiflorologist came, wearing green robes and holding a short, but very sharp brown feather in his hand.

“Welcome to the House by the Oak!” he greeted them in a carefree voice. “Call me Professor Rinian!”

“Professor Rinian,” Ophella addressed him, “why is the house called like that if there are no oaks growing next to it?”

That mystery seemed to concern not only William, El, and Ophella, because a wave of interested giggles washed over the class after her question.

“Oh, if I only knew!” Professor Rinian said overly sad. At that, those who were giggling openly laughed out loud. “Alright, why don’t all of you introduce yourselves and then I’ll tell you what awaits you in the Magiflorology classes.”

The process of enrolee introduction took no more than five minutes. When William’s turn came, he expected the magiflorologist, like Pickwick and Welbeck, to stare at him with big eyes, as if there was a sample of some rare plant before him. But, luckily, Professor Rinian didn’t even flinch after hearing the name of Calhoun, which made William immensely happy. After the roll call, Rinian started telling about their classes.

“First of all, I’d like to inform you that each of you will get the highest grades in Magiflorology from me, no matter how well you learn the material!”

This announcement immediately found support among the enrolees and all of them applauded gratefully, welcoming this approach. Professor Rinian held up his hand, calling them to silence and reminding William of Tindarius with that, then continued.

“But only on one condition!” Everyone was listening with great attention. “You will have to attend each, I repeat, each single lesson! Those who by the end of classes will have even one missed lesson will get zero points,” he looked around the class, “literally!”

The condition set by Professor Rinian seemed rather fair to William and, like him, all the rest also found that condition acceptable and rather comfortable for themselves.

“As for the material which you are going to study during our classes,” Rinian continued, “it will be rather easy and interesting!” With that, he approached a long table by the wall and with a wave of his magic feather removed the cover that lay over the contents of the table.

It turned out to be full of pots with the same plant of a rather disgusting appearance.

“Please, come closer and take a look!” Rinian invited them.

Soon the enrolees were crowded by the table. After examining the plant up close with his eyes, William found it even more disgusting that it seemed from his seat. The plant was rather tall, with only one petal growing on it. The rest of the plant was completely covered with long sharp thorns. The stem was brown green.

“This is a Paleleaf!” Rinian explained, pointing at the ugly plant. “It is used mainly for medical purposes. As you can see, the plant has only one petal and it is the subject,” he pointed at the petal with the tip of his feather, “your Magiflorology classes will be focused on!”

Everyone exchanges puzzled glances, not knowing whether he was joking or being serious. Rinian spoke again:

“This petal is used to make the Restorative Potion, which is widely used for healing wounds, growing bones together, returning eyesight to those who have recently lost it, and for some other cases as well! But it’s too early for you to know about them. Everything you need to know about the plant is how to Negotiate with it! As for the aim of negotiations with the Paleleaf, it’s this! Each of you must convince the Paleleaf to give you its only petal!”

“Are you serious, Professor?” Fergus Connelly asked.

“Absolutely, Mister Connelly!” he pointed at the petal again. “Pay attention to its unusual shape, rather uncommon for a petal. The plant got its name because of pale yellow colour.”

The Paleleaf petal, indeed, looked more like a small unripe pumpkin than a usual flower petal.

“So, what will we have to do with it?” asked Fergus Connelly again.

“Negotiate with it! More exactly, try to convince it give you its petal!”

“Is that all we’re going to be doing during the classes?” Ophella asked in disbelief.

“Mainly, yes! You will take them home and will work with them every day! And when you succeed, you will bring your sample back and show me the results of your negotiations!”

“Professor Rinian, so you mean that,” El asked, who had greatly enriched his knowledge about magical plants after preparing his report for Pickwick, “if we complete the task by tomorrow morning, we can consider the class complete?”

“Not quite, Mister Gibbs! During our lessons, we’re going to study other plants as well. But the main material of the class is, no doubt, the Paleleaf. However,” he gave El a sly smile, “if you, Mister Gibbs, complete the task by tomorrow morning, I promise to excuse you from the lessons and give you the highest grade at once!”

El was already going to rejoice over such turn of events, but Rinian added, as if he had read his mind:

“But know this – during the whole history of Paleleaf existence, there hasn’t been a wizard who could convince it in less than two months!” Seeing El’s disappointed expression, Rinian grinned in satisfaction. “And now I’ll use one of the samples to demonstrate to you what needs to be done to Paleleaf first of all, so that it wouldn’t bite you at the initial stage of negotiations, tearing off your hand or something else!” He pointed his magic feather at the plant and whispered: “Nonmordere!” The colour of the Paleleaf petal turned from pale yellow to a darker shade of yellow right before their eyes.

“What did you whisper to it, Professor?” Roberta Brown asked immediately.

“It’s Latin, Miss Brown. I’ve asked the Paleleaf not to bite! All of you will need to do that before starting negotiations with it,” Rinian explained, then added. “Then you will need to wait for two weeks, so that the Paleleaf could get used to you during that period of time, by being close to you! And your actions towards it should be very friendly, polite and at the same time, extremely careful! If you are rude to it, it will bite you in any case. And, believe me, the Paleleaf can bite really well,” he pointed at long sharp thorns of the Paleleaf. “In case of a wrong approach to the negotiations, the thorns will pierce your hand, and in four cases out of five, the hand needs to be amputated, because the thorns contain poison that can affect muscles, and in a hour, the central nervous system as well, which soon leads to death.”

“But why should we study this plant at the Preparatory Course if it’s so dangerous and even fatally dangerous, sir?!” Roberta Brown asked with displeasure.

“Your magic feather, Miss Brown,” Rinian touched her feather with the tip of his own feather, “is the most fatal being that can only exist!” Then he added in a less strict voice: “Each wizard and witch should be always prepared for potential danger. Unlike demits, we live in the world where unpredictability can await us at every step!” He glanced at William. “Nothing will happen to you if you strictly follow instructions and treat the Paleleaf politely. I’ll demonstrate you with the help of the same sample how you should act when two weeks pass.” Noticing alarmed looks of the enrolees after those words, he added: “Unlike you, I have enough experience not to wait those two weeks!”

Rinian pointed his magic feather at the Paleleaf petal again, but this time he leaned close to it. He whispered something, so that nobody could hear, then an orange beam flew out of his feather. After a few moments, the Paleleaf petal opened a bit more, changing its colour to bright blue.

“What did you whisper to it now, Professor?” Fergus Connelly asked at once.

“That is something you will need to replace out yourselves after you read instructions given in the textbook attentively! And that is where you’ll need to replace the necessary spell! You will replace the description of your further actions on page one hundred and one, which has all the instructions on Negotiations with the Paleleaf. And now,” he turned to the whole class, “I will give each of you a Paleleaf sample, which you will take home with you together with the textbook,” and his eyes suddenly scanned the enrolees, then a question followed: “Whom should I give the sample I’ve already work on a little?”

There was a heated competition among the enrolees, who wanted to take it home. Everyone wanted to save a couple of weeks, as well as continue the Negotiations with the Paleleaf instead of starting them from the beginning. Rinian suddenly looked at William, who was standing silently all that time, waiting to get his Paleleaf sample, without joining the fight for the right to get the half-ready one.

“Perhaps, you, Mister Calhoun?” He took the Paleleaf sample he had just worked on and held the pot out to William.

He was stunned for a moment, but then took the pot and thanked the professor. Everyone took samples from the table and with that the first lesson was over.

When he and El went out to the backyard of Rinian’s house, everyone passing by, except for Fergus, Alfred, and Ophella, were giving him side looks and carrying their Paleleaf pots unhappily.

“So, when have you become Rinian’s favourite, Calhoun?!” Roberta Brown spat and peregrined home.

“Yeah, buddy!” El remarked after her peregrining. “Looks like the Paleleaf can not only bite, but also make other people bite!”

“What’s the matter with them? Is it my fault he gave it to me? If I could, I’d have taken the untouched pot!” William couldn’t hide his frustration with such attitude towards himself from some members of the group, including Roberta Brown.

“As you wish!” El held out his pot out to him. “I’ll happily exchange pots with you, to make you feel better, mate! That’s what friends are for, right?!” he displayed theatrical chivalry, then laughed.

“Take it! I don’t mind!” William said seriously, as he handed his pot to El, this situation being far from amusing for him.

“Oh, come on, Will! I’m just kidding.”

“No, seriously, El! I want you to take my pot, so that others wouldn’t think that I’m Rinian’s favourite! I don’t like this attitude towards myself!”

“Well, if you feel that way, alright!” El agreed, took William’s Paleleaf pot and gave William his. “So, see you tomorrow?”

“Yes,” William nodded.

“Cheer up, mate! That Roberta Brown never showed herself as a smart one, so don’t pay attention to her! Send my regards to Gobry when you visit him!”

“Alright! Bye, El!”

They took their feathermaps out and peregrined home from the heart of the forest.