The Tale of Azure - Book I: Shades of Green and Blue

Chapter Thirty-Four: The "Tricolour Trio"

Aragog was the Acromantula he was keeping in the dungeons inside of an old chest and feeding him – yes, he was a male – with bread crumbles and a couple of mice.

Myrtle didn't like spiders; in fact, the Boggart lesson had ended with her making the spider being stuck on the floor with some kind of gooey substance. When it was Azure's turn, the Boggart had shaped into the late Vinda Rosier and then a snake-faced man with red eyes, making her have another of her narcolepsy crisis.

"I have the feelin' that Tom found out about Aragog," he added with a serious whisper. "I thought we had been careful, but Tom..." He shook his head before letting out a mirthless chuckle. "Nothin' escapes our Golden Boy. It's like he has eyes everywhere."

Why hasn't the "Perfect Prefect" report it to the Headmaster yet? Those twits' job is tattling on and Riddle is mad strict about enforcing rules. The face of the collected dark-brown-eyed appeared in her mind. What is his endgame, I wonder...

Spiders are not very edible, unlike grasshoppers," Ru's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Real tasty fer Thailand and Burma peoples. Yeh' can find more in Professor Wood's fifth book, chapter eight. Professor Scamander wrote the second half."

"Bugs are also full of proteins," Azure added with a teasing grin to Myrtle who gave the taller girl a deadpan look.

"That does not make me feel better at all."

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"Hello, Buckbeak!"

Buckbeak rose his head, crowing twice in recognizance of the trio. Named by Hagrid, he was also the eldest of five siblings. Myrtle had chosen the name "Hols" while Azure had come up with the name "Ethel" for the last and the only girl. Hols was a bit sickly, so it was not common for them to see her. Ethel, being the youngest and very shy, didn't feel comfortable around strangers. Every Friday afternoon, they liked to visit the baby hippogriffs.

"Ain' yeh' beautiful?" He cooed, tickling the foal's chin.

Azure was the first to greet him, deeply bowing before Buckbeak. It didn't take too long for the hippogriff to react, his head also bowing. Swallowing thickly, Myrtle slowly approached the creature who turned his curious eyes on her.

"Animals are extraordinary judges of character, little Doe," Aunt Siobhan had explained while Myrtle tentatively rested her palm on a pony's neck. "They know that inner beauty is more important than one's looks."

Taking a deep breath, she mimicked Azure, sighing of relief when Buckbeak bowed. Suddenly, she felt a weight on her hands and looked down, finding the white box. "For me?" She asked Azure who winked. "Can I open it?"

Identical grins appeared on Azure and Hagrid's faces as they chorused, "Go ahead!"

She lifted the lid, mouth opening in surprise: inside of the box was a fruit cake with lots of crystallized pieces of fruit and the words "Happy Birthday, Myrtle!" written in blue and green chocolate ganache.

Suddenly, they began singing – rather loudly – the "Happy Birthday Song". As Buckbeak crowed along, she placed her hand around the crucifix Keane had given her and smiled tearfully at her best friends. 

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Squeezing the tube, Azure watched the delicious dark chocolate cream fall on the caramelized apples that decorated the top of the fruit cake and ate with gusto. Her mismatched eyes turned to Buckbeak. The way the hippogriff was sleeping on Ru's lap was so endearing she kicked herself for not bringing her camera and capture the moment.

Or I could paint and give it to him as a birthday gift. If I remember correctly, Ru's birthday is on 6th December...

"We know how much you enjoy nurturing magical creatures, Hagrid," Myrtle commented with an encouraging smile to the Gryffindor. "With some training, you will be a great magizoologist like Mr Scamander."

"Do yeh' really believe that?" He asked quietly. "My Giant blood...people will talk."

Myrtle scoffed. "Let them! They don't know you as we do. You have a good heart." She placed her arms on his shoulders, bespectacled eyes looking seriously at him. "Be more confident in yourself."

Azure clapped vigorously and smiled; for Myrtle to try to raise someone's self-esteem...she had indeed come a long way.

"An explorer, a medic and a magizoologist," Ru said, more to himself before grinning. "We make a great team, don' we?"

"If Holly had gotten the letter, she could be our group's badger," Myrtle pondered aloud. "She works hard and is dedicated when she wants to."

"Or she would join those fan-girls because if I remember, your dear little sister has a thing for dark, tall and handsome boys," Azure retorted. "During the wedding reception, Lord Ichijō got himself a new admirer in the groom's younger sister until his fiancée politely asked her to 'back off'. Another admirer of the twit is what this school does not need."

"Tom Riddle is not the only boy who fills those requirements," Myrtle pointed out. "And you are forgetting one detail: Holly only fancies boys with green eyes."

"That would reduce the number of male students to exactly 459: 30% Gryffindors,", "20% Ravenclaws, 40% Hufflepuffs and 10% Slytherins."

"That's scary, 'Zure. Yeh're scary."

Azure smiled and waggled her eyebrows at Ru. "I prefer the term 'well-informed', my friend."

"The other day, Holly wrote that she wants to go to college and become a successful lawyer." Myrtle sighed fondly. "She would be the first of the family."

"In that case, we would no longer be the 'Tricolour Trio'," Ru remarked with a frown. "Weird name."

"And lazy," Azure added. "If it were me, I would choose something different."

"As in something special that defines us, more than stupid rivalries and blood purity?" Myrtle supplied, undisguised disdain seeping from her last words.

"Like when Dumbledore asked us to imagine our Animagus form?" Ru guessed, mid-eating an orange slice. "When he said that one of Europe's top Transfiguration Masters, Firmino Veiga, would also be there, all I was thinkin' was ta come up with an excuse." His cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "I nearly flunked Transfiguration."

"A little pressure is to be expected," Myrtle reasoned with a shrug. "In the future, he might take one of us as his pupil."

Azure inwardly agreed with the raven-haired's words as she munched her piece of cake, remembering that she had passed out during her turn, which led to the test's rescheduling and a one-week stay in the school's Hospital Wing.

Madam Burnett had insisted very much on it.

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