TQ staff proudly presents a new spotlight for each month: a feature piece written by one of our brilliant Hogwarts students on a topic or issue they feel is important to them. This month, in honor of St. Patrick's day, we welcome Gryffindor 5th year Seamus Finnegan, as he expounds on the truth about the lucky Irish Imps known as Leprechauns. Contrary to popular belief, both muggle and wizard, Leprechauns are not the happy-go-lucky cereal box icons that they appear to be. Rather, they are someone impish tricksters who go to great lengths to crack a laugh at unsuspecting victims. My experience with the “little people,” as they are known, came about when I was just a lad. I was walking through one of our leas, upset because my mum hadn’t bought me a “snap-to” kit like all the other kids had. While I was trudging through the muck, I came upon a few galleons sitting on a nearby rock. I thought I’d run into a score of luck, and hurried to the neighborhood shop to buy the kit. But by the time I’d gotten to the store, the galleons I had in my pocket were gone. When I went back to the rock, disappointed as ever, there were the galleons, plain as day, sitting in the sunlight. I grabbed them up again, held them tight in my hand, and made my way to the store once more. But when I opened my hand for the shopkeeper, again, the galleons were gone. The shopkeeper must have seen my disappointed face, for he told me to return to the spot where I’d gathered them, take up the galleons, then find a hiding spot where no one close to the rock could see me. I followed his friendly advice, and hid down a dell, waiting. Sure enough, not but a few moments after I’d left, here comes a small green man in a Kelly green coat (great for disguising themselves in the earthly colors of Ireland), a laughing away at my misfortune. When I leapt up to surprise him, he jumped and sprinted away, leaving behind nothing of his gold. I realized that I’d had the misfortune to be the center of the prank of a Leprechaun. Leprechauns, unfortunately, like to fool muggle and wizard alike with their false gold, which can be made to look like any kind of gold substance, as I found out later. They also don’t go about sliding down rainbows, although their magic can produce them, as it did at the Quidditch world cup last year. They are rather the same as other types of imps, who love to laugh at misfortune and are good for really nothing else. However, they are relatively harmless creatures who don’t cause a great deal of damage–unlike some of Ireland’s other magical creatures, such as Kelpies or Banshees (the terrors of the Irish countryside). If Leprechauns are associated with luck it is because you’d be lucky to see it before it made a joke of you. Or if you caught it, a rare occurrence, but with only some reward. You might not receive a pot of gold, but you will gain the satisfaction of knowing you beat a Leprechaun at its own game. There is quite a bit of gratification in that! |