Fish Without A School - Chapter 6

Written by Carolyn Cole Illustrated by Austin Wohlgemuth Inspired by The Students, Staff and Fish of Jack Stuart School



“O Canada, we stand on guard for thee!” The morning announcement was playing on YouTube. Mr. Green had figured out how to connect Sea-berspace to the waterproof speakers he had purchased online for the aquarium. The fish finished singing the national anthem and waited for Ms. Lazaruik to lead them in the school pledge. “I promise to take care of myself, take care of others, take care of this place.” “The only one who takes care of this place is me,” grumbled Araminta to herself.



“Today is T day,” joked Mr. Sikorski as he held a bright blue letter T in front of the camera. “Nope, not that kind of T!” He adopted a cheesy British accent, “It’s Tea Day!” “I don’t like tea,” spluttered Araminta. “It messes with the water quality!” “I don’t know why these people don’t eat regular things … like shrimp and blood worms!” grouched Esmerelda.



Suddenly there was a flash of light! It was the bright sunshine glinting off of … wait, what WAS it glinting off of?? There was a small gold plated object flitting in between the portals of the grades 3 and 4 Google classrooms.

Grade 3 Grade 4

“It’s a bug!” “It’s a bird!” “It’s messing with my aquarium!” screeched Araminta. “It’s a snitch,” Copper stated calmly. “A what??” the other fish asked, flabbergasted.



“Mr. Sikorski has been making recordings of a book called Harry Potter for his class. I’ve been having trouble sleeping, so I’ve been listening to them at night. The snitch is used in a game called quidditch at a place named Hogwarts.” The fish continued to look confused.



“You know what? It will be easier to just show you. Let’s go!” Copper led the way on a tour of the Harry Potter inspired classrooms. “Hey! Ms. Lazaruik had this on the morning announcements!” exclaimed Zola. “I didn’t know *what* she was talking about!”



“So what is this Harry Potter anyway?” asked Zizi. “It’s not a ‘what’. It’s a ‘who’,” explained Copper. “He’s an orphaned boy who learns he is the son of two powerful wizards and that he needs to go to a special school called Hogwarts. There are owls that bring him invitations to the school but his adoptive parents are Muggles and they don’t approve of that sort of thing but there’s a magic train platform called 9 3/4 and you have to run at a brick wall to get to it and … “ Copper trailed off as he saw the glazed looks reappear on the fish’s faces. The snitch flitted by.



“Let’s just follow it,” suggested Copper. The snitch was difficult to keep up with as it darted and flashed, but the Danio family was up to the task. They darted and flashed just as fast as the snitch.

When they looked around to get their bearings, they realised they were no longer in the aquarium or even in the Google Classrooms. There were cobblestones and rustic storefronts. The people strolling about all had tall hats and cloaks.

Copper was wide-eyed. “There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon… ” he quoted. “Everybody! This is Diagon Alley!”



Zalora suddenly squealed as a very long personage came into view. “Hagrid! Over here, Hagrid!” yelled Copper. He was astonished as the huge mountain of leather and hair turned around and started lumbering towards them.



“You heard me?” gasped Copper. “Well, o’ course I heared ya. You was yelling at the top of those puny lungs o’ yours. What are ya, anyhow?” Hagrid grinned good-naturedly at the tiny school of fish in front of him. “But … but humans can’t hear fish!” “Ha! Only half human here!” Hagrid guffawed.



“We are the fish of Jack Stuart School,” explained Mr. Green, the only one who has sufficiently regained his power of speech to formulate a complete sentence. “We are trying to find out where our human friends went when school was cancelled. Apparently, some of them are studying a story about a certain Harry Potter and that information has led us here. Do you suppose you could help us?” “Harry Potter! Well I must say I do know that name!! I couldn’t tell you where your friends are, but if they know Harry, they might be at Hogwarts. Follow me!”



Soon they were at the boarding school. Hagrid introduced them to Harry, Hermione and Ron. “Are their friends wizards?” Harry asked Hagrid. “If they aren’t, they won’t be here.” Harry noticed Zeke and Zachary flitting around with the snitch. “Wow, those guys are fast. I might be able to use them on my team.” “What team?” asked Zachary. “I’m always up for a game!”

But Harry didn’t seem to hear.