Rotter Tales

The Invisible Knees

Harry Rotter was in one of her mischievous moods. She had spotted Box Privet, her dreadful cousin, hiding a box of chocolate frogs under his bed.

“I’ll just pop into the kitchen and whip up a spell,” she whispered to herself. “A little invisibility trick, and the frogs shall be mine!”

So she clattered about the cupboards, hunting for ingredients. Into her saucepan (which she insisted was a cauldron) went:

• a half-squeezed lemon,
• some glitter from Aunt Petunia’s craft drawer,
• and a spoonful of strawberry jam.

She stirred with great flourish, muttering words that sounded like a spell but were mostly nonsense:
“Vanish-icus, Froggicus, Give-me-chocs-now-icus!”

The potion gave a peculiar POP! and a puff of green smoke. Harry leapt in with both feet and shouted, “Make me invisible from top to bottom!”

The smoke cleared. Harry blinked. She raised her hands — perfectly visible. She touched her head — still there. But when she looked down…

“EEK!” she squealed. Her knees were gone!
Her legs simply vanished from the knees down. Above that, she looked normal. Below — nothing but floating socks and shoes.

She dashed into the hall to find Aunt Petunia, who dropped her rolling pin at the sight.
“Harry Rotter! What nonsense is this? Half a girl! You’ll frighten the neighbours!”

And frighten she did. At school the next day, Harry marched into class, her invisible knees clomping noiselessly. Everyone screamed.
“She’s floating!”
“She’s a ghost!”
“She’s a very short broomstick with arms!”

Box Privet, meanwhile, fainted clean away, landing in the wastepaper bin.

Harry, however, was rather pleased. “I can walk past teachers without them noticing! I can sneak into the tuck shop with only half the usual suspicion! And—best of all—I can terrify Box whenever I like.”

The only problem was socks. Even though her knees were invisible, her feet still smelled dreadful. Nobody could figure out where the stink came from.

In the end, the Headmistress announced a new school rule:
“All mysterious odours, invisible or otherwise, are hereby blamed on Harry Rotter.”

Harry only grinned. “Fair enough. At least I get the chocolate frogs.”