Accountants don’t write novels

And here’s why: this is what Harry Potter would be like if they did

YOUR HUMBLE NARRATOR, a novelist who also writes columns, has fled from the newspapers temporarily to write some books.

Back in the book world, I was reminded of the time earlier this year when I was featured at a literary festival in Shanghai the same weekend as Scott Turow, the lawyer who wrote Presumed Innocent, a wonderful thriller. It got me thinking. Books from lawyers like him, John Grisham and David Baldacci fill the bestseller lists. Other professionals, like doctors, write too: The Kite Runner for example, by that unforgettable writer, wotsisname.

But where are the accountants?

I put this question to a group of friends who developed a theory to explain the discrepancy.

A lawyer’s job is to delete distracting facts until one is left with an emotionally affecting narrative. In other words, lawyers are identical to novelists, except for the fact that they earn money, drive big cars, live in huge houses with blonde trophy wives called Meghan and deserve to DIE DIE DIE DIEEEEE.

Not that I’m jealous.

No serious novelist would lower himself to “sell out” by doing anything as artistically questionable as “earning money”.  Pah!

Accountants do the opposite to lawyers and novelists. Instead of selecting facts, they’re trained to gather ALL related facts to create a comprehensive record which is entirely free of emotion and as dry as possible.

“The better the accountant, the worse the novel,” said one of the professional people present, made philosophical by my presence, or, more likely, the six empty bottles of Corona in front of him.

That got me thinking again. What sort of adventure stories would serious accountants write? I decided to write one on their behalf. I call this:

 Harry Potter and the Balance Sheet

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a boy called Harry Potter, whose uncle told him he was a liability. But the boy felt unwilling to accept this designation without qualification, since his parents were off-balance sheet, ie, missing.

One day, a strange visitor named Hagrid gave the boy professional advice. “This advice is provided to you without prejudice,” he said. “Your fortunes may go up or they may go down. But due diligence requires me to inform you that you are not a liability of the muggle class, but an asset of the wizard class.”

The young asset travelled to Hogwart’s School for a set of “add value” courses expected by analysts to cause a significant appreciation in his book value. In class, Harry met a female asset called Hermione and thought about having a merger with her.

But he was distracted because an outside party called Voldemort earmarked him for 100 per cent depreciation, ie, death. A huge takeover battle followed, with Voldemort attempting a hostile acquisition followed by a total liquidation of Harry and associated assets.

Harry won by using an unlisted extraordinary item called heroism. In a huge EGM of interested parties at Hogwarts Hall, Harry found that his book value had increased considerably. However, there was no merger with Hermione.

“Also, I haven’t found my parents, who are still listed as receivables,” Harry said.

As a result, analysts suggested that there may be room for subsidiary or spin-off adventures.
*
The following day I emailed the story above to some of the gang my local noodle shop.

They said that it was not as child-friendly as the original, but it DID have a refreshingly different feel about it.

Will it be appearing on bestseller lists soon?

Probably not. JK Rowling’s famously large crew of copyright lawyers will make sure of that.

Unless, of course, they are all too busy writing novels. Heh-heh-heh-heh.
*

Technorati Tags: harry potter humor,harry potter funny

Comments

[Paul]

To carry on the trend, 'what if' an accountant wrote Star Trek II ;

Spock: The taxes of the many, outweigh the taxes of the few or the one...in higher income brackets.
____

Khan: (quoting Melville) From hell’s heart, I audit thee....
____

Sulu: Captain, shields are down to 50%...

Kirk: Scotty, set phasers to short and sell all shares of shields now!!!

;-)

[Lift Lurker]

Accountants generally good mannered in my Lifts, so I come to their defense.

If writers maintained company ledgers, the journal entries would look like this:

19 July
Dark and stormy day. Customer Harry Storms storms in with check payment for $500. Accounts Receivable scaled back by $500.

Cash on Hand ascends by $500. Balance of the world maintained for another day. This starving writer cannot wait to get out of this stink job.

20 July

Dramatic purchase of badly needed office paper. Whoop dee doo. Petty cash mercilessly slashed by $200. Office Inventory upped by $200, only to be thefted by employees once again.

21 July
Sell $4000 worth of product. Total cost to produce $300 (holy cow). Increase Profit Ledger by $3700. I am in the wrong career.

[grandpa aka Faye Libad aka Fardel]

"" Once upon a time , lived a rich prince.
His assets run by the millions of Randoms, with accrued value brought by the 30% tax he levied on his population, whose income was between 100 and 1000 randoms a year.
The weapon industry would bring 90% of his national income, after tax, but only on the 150% quantity he would export;
The cost of campaigning ( going to war, or starting wars between his neighbors ) for his arm sales would represent a third of his national revenue, minus the bribes (unaccounted ), the costs of his secret services (unaccounted), special weapon research program (unaccounted) ;

One bright morning, when here was as little as 30 % of rain showers he pondered:

What would be the benefit in starting a war with terrorists, in order to appropriate the land of Princess Oila
Would it be a better idea to marry Princess Golda , so that her Army would join mine in invading Princess Urania's land.
Let's do the math
3000 troops at a cost of 100 random a day per mile away from home would cost 10% for the maintenance of a train of horses who would feed on 150 randoms of hay which would have to be carried 25 km + the distance from a way from home, minus the loss due to 30 % chance of rain.
If we consider that we loose 7 % soldiers in peace time, and 70 % in war , time , the loss of national income tax, to be divided by the number of days they survive after the beginning of the year would be deducted to the loss of mind.
if we charge 0,000001 random for the production of 1 million medals of honor for the soldiers to die on the field of duty , plus the document validating this award, plus one ceremony every year, plus 2 randoms we give each widow for the next generation..........We would get 15 % increase on the next poll.""""

Wait a minute,
% poll increase , does item 104020 goes to the left columns of the income ledger or on the right one of the iablity ledger, the hay cost goes to the liability ledger , right columns item 2004020, the balance should balance on ledger 3 item 500250.
The accrued value minus the depreciation goes on the bottom left hand of the revenu/liablity Master book
Wait another minute
If I want to write this damn novel, I shall need 1000 sheets of paper, 5 cartridges of ink.
Since i have to though away 9 pages out of 10 printed pages , the local utility tax will increase by 10 %.
My cost of presenting the finished novel to 1000 editors would be higher than my years' income.
the chance of being published are 00000.1%..
AARRgh
To hell with it
Let me buy Cinderella at 4 random + tax+ shipping

[Karuna aka Kaye Moreno]

wonder if bankers would be included as "accountants" ? Chetan Bhagat the popular Indian author, was an investment banker.

opps..my error....investment bankers for sure must be fiction writers

Nury, have you considered applying to HSBC for a job :)

[Angela]

In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the time of cholera, the main character, Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem in the movie) is an intensely emotional, literate man who gets bored at his job as shipping clerk (accountant?) and writes shipping invoices in rhyme.

I read Chetan Bhagat's one night at the call centre and enjoyed it. I did not finish reading five point someone, somehow lost it at a quarter point something.

[Vernette]

Sorry, I can only imagine, whatever accountants write, it's all financial reports...!!

[TS]

Kirk: Khan, you bloodsucker. You're going to have to do your own debt collecting now! Do you hear me? Do you?

Khan: Kirk? You're still in debt, my old friend?

Kirk: Still, "old friend!" You've managed to make everyone else insolvent, but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target!

Khan: Perhaps I no longer need to try, Admiral.

[beams the ledger away]
Kirk: Khan... Khan, you've got ledger, but you don't have me. You were going to ruin me, Khan. You're going to have to come down here. You're going to have to come down here!

Khan: I've done far worse than ruin you, Admiral. I've liquidated your assets. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; in debt for all eternity in the center of a dead hedge fund... buried alive! Buried alive...!

Kirk: KHAAANNNN!
[echo]
Kirk: KHAAANNNN!

[Peter]

Chuckle chuckle.... what great comments. We could go on forever great hilarious stuff like this but that would put Nury out of a job. Apologies to Lift Lurker but your draft script lacks the "ring of truth" . It should start like this : 19 July 08.43 . Harry Storm storms in with a cheque payment for $298.54 ...."

Which reminds me of my favorite accountant joke ( although actually there are very few good accountant jokes) : Actuaries are actually accountants who found accounting too exciting .

(Can you imagine a novel written by an actuary ? Probably the nost boring ever written. But if there ever was one it would create a new actuarial class of questions like : smoker ?/ drinker? / chronic heat disease? / reader of novels written by actuaries )

[TS]

At one point my father had some novels that had the food recipes printed of the dishes the characters was eating in the story.
I tried to read it, but the whole idea was just so absurd that I couldn't concentrate on the plot.
I had a feeling that the whole book was written just so someone could vent his love for his favourite dishes.

The city streets are dark and wet.
A man in a dark trench coat on the side-walk holds himself close to the brick walls of the darkened buildings as he walks.
The collar is up to his cheeks, his hat down to his eyes and his hands deep in his pockets.

He stops.
Looking up, he can't help thinking of how much the street lighting would be improved if only the city counsel had taken his advice and used low pressure sodium lights.
The yellow-orange light might not be to everyone's taste, but at least it had the best light/energy ratio of any commercially available outdoor light.
Unlike mercury vapour lights, they would also retain their brightness during their entire lifespan.

As he walks on, a car slowly drives by in the opposite direction.
Even without looking, he can feel the eyes of the driver following him.
He can smell the exhaust fumes of the car.
Diesel, he mumbled to himself.
Nice to see that some people think of the environment and buys cars with the most fuel efficient engines available.
There's still much room for improvement though, hydrogen fuelled cars holds much promise.
The nut to crack in this case is the distribution system.
The cost of invading Iraq in 2003, could have financed a hydrogen distribution system in the most fuel wasting country on earth.
If that hydrogen was produced by renewable sources like wind and sun, the seed of independence from fossil fuels would have been laid.

He sighs and turns a corner.

[Nury]

You guys crack me up -- way funnier and cleverer than my effort!

**((BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE))**

[fardel]

Who wants to be independant?
there is more money to be made to be in deep and ant..............

[Chamin]

If Computer Science researchers write novels, they will be like;

"We present a collection of magical activities by Harry Potter, a wizard-candidate at Hogwartz Institute of Low Probability Phenomena Technology[1] who also seeks a relationship with a female colleague named Hermione. ...."

Acknowledgment
==============
This Research (er,... novel) is funded in part by a grant of Smith et al., who are the parents of the first author. The authors also thank ....

References
==========
[1] Publication by the Most Likely Book Reviewer, ....

[2] Publication by the Second Most Likely Book Reviewer, ....

The novels will also feature long sentences that need at least one cup of coffee to finish each of them.

Hm, may be I should consider a merger with a female asset, instead of writing novels :-p

[nekrad]

i really2 like this article

[Christyn Rana]

Thanks Uncle Nury, feels like the story's dedicated to my future career. The last time I worked as a part-time auditor I worked in an office untouched since pre-titanic where my boss always passed by my desk and, uncontrollably perhaps, would pop and squeak from his rear all the way to the toilet. Believe me, I never saw ventilation in that traumatic room. I know my life is ending soon. Farewell my friends.

[TS]

Jane Austen's Terminator

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a terminator in possession of a big gun, must be in want of a victim.

However little known the feelings or views of such a terminator may be on his first entering the past, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their sons.

"My dear John Connor," said his mother to him one day, "have you heard that the future is not set?"

John Connor replied that he had not.

"But it is not," returned she; "for Kyle Reese has just been here, and he told me all about it."

John Connor made no answer.

"Do you not want to know what will happen?" cried his mother impatiently.

"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."

This was invitation enough.

"Why, my dear, you must know, Kyle Reese says that the future is taken by Skynet of large power from the north of America; that Skynet sent down on Monday a terminator to kill you, and was so much delighted with the task, that he agreed immediately; that he is to take possession of a time machine, and go back in time by the end of next week."

"What is his name?"

"Arnold Schwarzenegger."

"Is he married or single?"

"Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single terminator of large guns; four or five thousand kills a year. What a terrible thing for our future!"

"How so? How can it affect it?"

"My dear John Connor," replied his mother, "how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of you stopping him."......

[fardel]

"We could go on forever great hilarious stuff like this but that would put Nury out of a job"

This cannot be:
The mind of a writer feeds on the words which fly around , .
I am sure that for each comment we write is bringing him ideas on a new novel.
The reason why he has disappeared so long is because he is writing five simultaneous novels
( but don't tell anybody, it is a secret )

[Chamin]

Five simultaneous novels O_o! In parallel or serial?

One question. If a writer disappears from real world and the day job to write one novel, does he/she need to disappear from the other four novels to concentrate on one of the five novels?

I know. This kind of questions arise when engineers write novels :-p

[Lift Lurker]

@TS,

There is deep mystery here.

Please explain how can you quote Jane Austen so well.

I vote Colin Firth as Terminator in the movie remake.

[Lift Lurker]

Again in defense of accountants.

The most powerful and imaginative written work of fiction produced by man has been through hands of accountants.

Combination of promise that make politician look like amateurs. Backed up by mastery of numbers that make PhD engineers look like infants.

The series is called Corporate Financial Statements.

Subtitle: Truth may be stranger than fiction, but which one is which?

[grandpa aka Faye Libad aka Fardel]

Multi tasking like computers
Never forget that a writer spits words at the speed of an automatic gun.

The number of novels he/she can write depends of his /her personality.
Look at grandma ( who is soo quiet nowadays)

[Liza Abd Samad]

Ooo! I can write a CScience kind of Harry Potter story, but it'll be in the eye of an IT developer, hehehe~

==============================
Book 1 : Development Log

URL: WEE1FSV03\Mdrive\UK\FANTASY\bigIdea\Book1\Chapter Log\Chapter Log 1-01.rtf
Last Modified: Liza

This text document is used to log information about Harry Potter PS Book 1. Summary information is at the end of each chapter.

Objectives: Planning, design and creation of Harry Potter Component and execute lifeOrDeathEvent(); where needed.

Plot Story 1 --
Component: Privet_Drive_Event
ID ticket: PSB1-1201
Summary: Component_Owl should be able to move SchoolLetter file into Framework_Muggle_Dursley main directory and execute Component_Hargrid.toTheRescue(). Throw runtime exception if Component_Uncle_Vernon.isParanoid();
Complexity Points: 1

Plot Story 2 --
Component: Hogwarts_School_Event
ID ticket: HSB1-1202
Summary: Collect Component_Harry_Potter.ruleBreaking(); and compile into Framework_Plot_Twist.justifiedStudentProtocol(). Note: Reserve a lot of memory space as this may be a very big list.
Complexity Points: more than 10

Plot Story 3 --
Component: Voldermort_Name_Event
ID ticket: VFB1-1203
Summary: If Component_Voldermort.getName().isUnmentionable();, give default string as "YouKnowWho" or "HeWhoMustNotBeNamed".
Complexity Points: N/A

Plot Story 4 --
Component: Fight_For_Stone_Event
ID ticket: FFSB1-1204
Summary: Upon event execution, Component_Voldermort and Component_Harry_Potter should validate each other to prevent binding of same data resource.
Complexity Points: a million

Review of Current Development:
Good - Hero triumps over Evil
Bad - Evil is still a bug issue
Observation - upgrade to Book 2 is necessary
==============================

[Nike Air Yeezy]

I'm very happy to know you. After I watched your products, we expressed interested in it. Then I hope can have the cooperational opportunity. And expect you to visit our website. Here are surprise waiting for you!

[Vernette]

Is there an architect out there who would like to try and write something? O, no, wait, they only come up with series of "design intent"... nothing solid.

Maybe an engineer could come up with something solid based on the architect's intention...

Maybe not, they need the builders to come up with the real thing... who hires many different labourers to put it together...

Basically the labourers could probably write the best novels! hmm...

[TS]

Liza,
It would be easier if your just made the binary available for download, not everybody have access to a compiler.

Lift Lurker,
You can not live for five years in England and not be exposed to classic English literature, most of which is public domain for all to adapt for their own purposes.

This is not a joke, there's a film being made too!

[TS]

The dark forest was quiet. A chilly autumn wind was rustling the leaves and few more fell unseen to the ground in the moonless night.

The wind picked up and leaves from the ground was flung around in a swirl.
Blue-white sparks sprung from the ground and arched to the low hanging branches.

Suddenly a blinding bright white point appeared about a meter over the ground.
In one second it expanded from a millimetre sphere two meters in diameter.
The surface of the sphere was a perfect mirror, reflecting the surrounding forest illuminated by the dancing sparks.

The wind and the sparks subsided and the sphere turned opaque, glowing white from the inside and then slowly faded away.

A naked man stood on the ground where the sphere was before.

The forest was dark once more.

The man did not seem to notice and started walking with long confident strides.
He came upon an inn with lights in the windows. In front of the inn there was three horses tied to a hitching rail.

He went inside.
Three men engaged in a game of darts, turned around as he entered.
As they saw his nakedness, they laughed.
One of them taunted him, "have your washing maid taken all your clothes to the boiler house?"

The naked man replied, "I need your clothes, boots and your horse"

All three men laughed and the one who taunted before said, "You forgot to say please".

And so we first meet George Wickham on his determined mission to sweep Elizabeth Bennet off her feet and prevent the Darcys from bringing down the mighty Skynet in the future.

Fortunately the future Darcy family have gotten wind of the plot and have sent back a lone charmer, going by the name of Fitzwilliam Darcy, to counter the evil plot.

[Lift Lurker]

@TS,

I think you hit something quite funny

It is the mis-matching of author to genre.

Austen writes Terminator.

Hemingway write 'The 3 Little Pigs'

Daniel Steele write 'Predator vs Alien'

Nury Vittachi write 'War and Peace' (critics rave: too short! leaves you wanting for more!)

Perez Hilton write 'Star Wars'

Christian Fardel write 'Frommer's Guide to Best Lifts in the World'

[Mahjuja]

@ lift lurker LOL

[fardel]

correction
The fardel's guide of the best Lift lurkers's lifts of the world

[Chamin]

Wow, everybody here is so good at writing that they can even switch genres!

That's a huge difference from researchers whose work I read. They compete to write the most boring paper in past tense passive voice.

[TS]

Chamin,

When I'm writing manuals in Microsoft Word, half my sentences have a green wriggly lines under them with the note, "passive voice, please revise".

[TS]

Clive Barker's
Harry Potter vs Aliens

The pet cemetery was lighted by the round full moon sitting close to the horizon.

Three dark figures was walking on a narrow path between the graves.
The moon disappeared behind a cloud and the three was hooded in the blackest darkness.
They stopped.
One pulled a wand from a coat pocket and mumbled the words "Illuminatis".
The tip of the wand shone brightly to reveal a face with round glasses and a lightning bolt-shaped scar on the forehead.

Hermione also produced her wand from a pocket and the darkness subsided a bit more.

Ron pulled out an iPhone 4, his fingers pegged at the icons on the screen and the flash next to the pinhole camera lighted up "we better hurry, the battery will only last half an hour with this light on".

Hermione asked "where's your wand?"

Ron looked at his feet "it looked so random in the ads that I just had to have one, it multi-tasks now just like all other smart phones have done for the last five years".

Harry shook his head "what has that got to do with you not having your wand with you?"

Ron, still not looking his friends in their eyes "you can get this really cool magic wand app that remembers all those hard-to-remember things you have to say too make it work".
"but when I tried to download it, I didn't have any reception, apparently I'm holding it wrong".

Harry turned around and continued along the path "we got to see Hagrid".

to be continued....

[Lift Lurker]

My friend is movie producer and got inspiration from Uncle Nury Jam.

He also want to write novel. This is his idea for his novel:

* First 6 chapter is preview of other books

* Main story will have 8 different subtitles

* Appendix 1 will contain Outtakes (drafts)

* Appendix 2 will contain Games

He also plan to produce Director's Cut version. Extra 250 pages. Plus extra subtitles explaining producer comments to each sentence in book.

He also plan to produce Blu-ray edition (will fit 4 times as many letters per page as regular edition)

He also plan to produce 3D edition which come with 3D reading glasses. The letters literally LIft out from page. (in all sense of the word literally)

@TS, there is story that in first version of MS Word, the message say "passive voice is detected, revision is advised"

[grandpa aka Faye Libad aka Fardel]

continued, from TS

This is when a dim light appeared in the distance.
It was faint at the beginning , but as it grew bigger ,it was hoobling between the trees
Some strange beat could be heard like the beat of drums, then some kind of ancient songs started to be recognized, but without any specific meaning.
As it grew as big as the moon the three , initially puzzled by this strange appearance ,were relived to see that it was Hagrid , approaching them , on the rythm of her Ipad

[Angela]

Isn't Hagrid the big man with long fluffy beard and hair that could really use rebonding and daily conditioning. A she will never let her hair grow that wild and unkempt.

*

So we all want to be writers, here's something for all of us to learn from:

There was once a young man, who in his youth, professed his desire to become a great writer.

When asked to define “great” he said “I want to write stuff that the whole world will read, stuff that people will react to on a truly emotional level, stuff that will make them scream, cry, howl in pain and anger”

He now writes error message for Microsoft Corporation.

[Angela]

The Picture of Harry Potter
By Oscar Wilde

Harry Potter stepped up on the dais with the air of a young Greek martyr, and made a little moue
of discontent to Lord Valdemort, to whom he had rather taken a fancy. He was so unlike Hagrid. They made a delightful contrast. And he had such a beautiful voice. After a few moments he said to him, “Have
you really a very bad influence, Lord Valdemort? As bad as Hagrid says?”

“There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Potter. All influence is immoral-immoral from the
scientifc point of view.”

“Why?”

“Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul."

[Karuna aka Kaye Moreno]

@Angela, let me influence you !
;)

[Dinu]

Angela,
I hope you don't mind if I tell your story of the young man who wanted to be a great writer to my folks.

You're now my most favourite commentator in this blog! Carry on!

[shrynne]

wow-- you guys are amazing, keeping this blog busy while Nury's away. Such wit and irony.. when there's so much around, why doesn't it filter into our work lives'????
i guess one argument would be so that we can enjoy the creative, funny ones more..but i suspect there is more to that..

on another note, there are companies who's enterprised on personalizing classic novels like 'Dracula' and the Sherlock Holmes series..whereby you can change the name of the characters to whoever you want them to be..and then have it published..it's quite weird to see your name in the finished novel-but fun!

[Angela]

Karuna, you already influenced me on much much earlier post. That one on being asked a very important question, no not about choosing what dress to wear. So I thought long and hard (about 3 seconds total) so that when I am asked that important question, I can answer immediately.

*

Thank you Dinu. Feel free to spread humor and joy all around. I just happened to read that on some website about writer jokes.

[Chamin]

TS,

Hm..., may be Word manuals are right for passive voice sentences.It's not the best software for writing technical papers, so I switched to TEX.

[Munsonmike]

How do I attach a photo?

[TS]

Clive Barker's
Harry Potter vs Aliens
Part II

Hermione followed Harry, but after only a few paces they heard a thud and a grunt behind them. When they turned around, Ron was nowhere to be seen.
They heard a whimper and followed the sound and there in an open grave lay Ron.

“Are you okay” Harry asked.
“I think so” replied Ron “but it really hurt, I think I might have hit a rock”
“No wait, it's not a rock it's a box”
“It's probably the box the pet was buried in” suggested Harry.
“No, I don't think so” said Hermione “that wouldn't make any sense, why would you open up the grave and then leave the box there”

Hermione and Harry dragged Ron up from the grave. Hermione took the box from from Ron.
The box was slightly larger than her palm, “it's too small for the pet that was buried here” she pointed to the gravestone “a cat lay here”.
“Harry, please give me some light here” Hermione said and held the box up close to her eyes.
The box was cube shaped with a lacquered black surface. At first glance the surface looked entirely smooth, but closer examination revealed that the box was made up of many pieces that fit almost seamlessly together.
“It's beautiful” she exclaimed.
“But what is it?” asked Harry.
Ron was rubbing his lower back “it's a pain in the butt, that's what it is” he said.
“I looks like a Chinese puzzle box” Hermione said “they can be very difficult to open, the different sections will have to be opened one at the time in a certain sequence to reveal the contents”.
Ron took the box from Hermione and tried to push a section. Nothing happened. He tried to twist all the the corners and push all the sides with no luck.
Harry tried the same without any luck.
Hermione took the box back. On her first try a section slid smoothly out. In the corner of her eye she saw a face glide across the lacquered surface of the box and she almost dropped it “did you see that” she said with a trembling voice.
Harry and Ron nodded, “it must be like the living paintings at Hogwarts” Ron suggested.
Hermione felt relieved but also a bit silly “you must be right” she pushed the open section back in place “we better get over to Hagrid so we can go back to Hogwarts before daybreak”.

As they walked on they noticed several more open graves, but there was no more boxes in them. They did not notice the dark figure following them.

[Minkha]

My Dad and I are waiting for new adventures of Mr Wong! I hope you won't disappoint us.