Prisms And Wind Chimes
Minerva McGonnagal the Deputy and Head of Griffindor House was a tall severe looking woman with an icy exterior and sharp cutting wit when dealing with idiots or those who were lazy. She was considered a very prim and proper lady who should never be crossed by her colleagues- though it seemed to everyone else that she and her 'Rival' Severus Snape Head of Slytherin were incapable of getting along as they clashed many a time over the disciplines and detentions that were given to certain members of their houses by one another, but, and this may be hard to believe- in reality they were actually the best of friends.
Now Severus Snape was considered cold, unfeeling and just plain nasty by just about everyone. He was very pale with long hooked nose, a seemingly permanent scowl and shoulder length black hair that was very greasy. He never thought twice about deducting points... unfairly with an additional reputation for being abusive and cruel as many a student from Griffindor would testify. He had for a short time as a troubled teenager been a Death Eater whom Dumbledore considered salvageable and who—in Dumbledores opinion proved himself loyal to the cause against his former master Voldemort. In reality...well, it was true, he was rather hard to get along with but he had a softer side... really he did..Honest. but he did his utmost best to keep that side of himself hidden from everyone else...
Severus...Severus..." Minerva McGonnagal, said as she gently shook the tall sullen looking wizards shoulder. He had dozed off shortly after arriving in the Great Hall for Breakfast as he was still very tired from having to gather along with other ingredients, a large supply of asphodel roots, belladonna and monkshood from within the forbidden forest. He knew it would have been easier just to go to the Apothecary in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley and order up the supplies but the budget was slim to say the least for such expenditures hence the need to gather as much as possible before the school year started.
"Minerva...Can I not just rest my eye's for a few minutes without you disturbing me?" he snapped irritably even as he yawned. He looked at her sourly as she smiled with obvious amusement. "Just what is so all fired important anyway? Did Albus finally give in and agree to finally follow your directions and act his age and not his shoe size?"
"I've been telling him that for many more years than I wish to remember." A chuckle escaped Minerva's attempt to look stern. "But Albus does not understand the meaning of follow the directions... He believes directions are only just merely a guideline.. In short he is a rather eccentric and stubborn wizard."
Minerva talked candidly about Albus to her companion who had once been her student and was now the Potions Master and the Head of Slytherin House as the Headmaster regularly drove both of them to despair with his offbeat ideas on how to improve morale. Whether it be the students or staff that needed the boost. Usually it was at the expense of Severus' sanity—at least that was what the dour Potions Master thought at times.
Severus Snape snorted as he considered Minerva's assessment of their Headmasters' personality was an understatement to say the least. It was true though, Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a very powerful yet eccentric elderly Wizard who seemed to have a penchant for anything odd and unusual... even for a wizard.
He was also famous throughout the wizarding world for wearing mismatched socks which clashed horribly, and definitely those headache producing fluorescent coloured robes that practically glowed at night,(the purple robe with silver moons, planets and stars scattered on them being the most conservative) was considered his trademark.. No matter where he went he could be easily identified even at a distance.
His love of collecting unusual knick knacks... especially bright shiny ones over his long lifetime like the weird silver thing-a-ma-bobs that littered the spindly tables scattered throughout his office was an integral part of Dumbledore's Persona. He wouldn't admit it though as he constantly insisted that they each had special magical properties and that was the only reason he collected them. Of course at the time he was fiddling with a very shiny silver object that looked like a muggle cigarette lighter.
"Be as that may, what is happening that causes you to come and annoy me. The Dunderheads won't be here for a couple of days yet." He asked shortly as an elf appeared with two breakfasts a tea and one steaming hot cup of coffee that Minerva had calmly requested.
"Students—Severus-They are called Students." Minerva responded automatically as he smirked and reached for the hot cup of coffee. "Albus got some new Muggle magazines by Owl this morning." Minerva told him in an offhand manner as if it was just some irreverent titbit of information to be said in passing over a social cup of tea or coffee.
Severus' eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked up from his cup of coffee and frowned. "And?" he asked sharply. "They are probably his usual collection of knitting patterns..." He paused momentarily as he remembered the last time Albus had his hands on a new pattern book. " Though he did get a little out of hand with some of them last time he got that one on decorations with wool..."
"Yes he did go overboard a tad with decorating the castle that time." Minerva agreed as she shuddered slightly and then took a sip of her hot sweet tea. "I noticed that this time some of the Magazines have to do with musical instruments, One of them was on something called optics and prisms and I think another had some ideas as to how to encourage the love of music by combining..."
As she talked Severus's eyes widened in horror! Knowing Dumbledore he wasn't going to just read the magazines and leave it at that-
Severus and Minerva McGonnagal knew that Albus Dumbledore loved music and as far as Albus was concerned he had proved it over and over... every year when the students arrived at school and the sorting and Meal was over, he always proceeded to encourage them to sing the school song before heading off to bed... That wouldn't have been too bad but he would then suggest that everyone could pick their own tune to sing it in! They along with the rest of the staff were resigned to the fact that it would probably happen again this year. He thought of the ear plugs he had hidden away fpr such an eventuality and thought maybe he should offer Minera a set.
"Remember what he always says after all that infernal racket?" Severus asked sourly. "Every year the same thing!"
"Yes Severus, I do." Minerva chuckled. "He always says a magic beyond all that we do."
"Magic? R-i-g-h-t... That is just a dreadful cacophony of sounds." Muttered Severus "What does the idea of having every dunderhead sing the school song to any tune they liked prove?"
"All that proves is ... he's tone deaf!" Minerva whispered softly to Severus who smirked slightly as he nodded his head in agreement.
"Those magazines..." Severus looked somewhat paler than usual which was a feat in itself. "Music, Optics...I wonder what that old hippie is up to now."
"I think I'll go out for a walk. Maybe go for a brew down at The Three Broomsticks." Minerva promptly decided as she stood up. 'You look like you could use some more fresh air and sunshine." she commented.
Severus fought the urge to stick his tongue out at her like some infant. "I'll join you." He replied instead and rose quickly from his chair and they both strode out of the Great Hall, down the corridor to the Entrance Hall and outside with as much speed as decorum would allow.
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Meanwhile Albus was perusing the Muggle magazines with dedicated interest. He studied the designs closely and thought deeply about the ideas that presented themselves to him. His eyes gleamed in a maniacal way as he turned each page. He grinned as he realized that with a touch of magic he could accomplish his own dream of making music and light dance together... Now all he needed to do is find some good solid reasons to hang a few pieces of his own up in strategic places about the castle.
He continued to browse the pages and felt a thrill of excitement course down his spine when he found a bit of historical information. According to the magazines—Wind chimes weren't only meant to be decorative but in ancient times they were used as weather forecasters. The Muggles would hang them in places where they indicated the direction of the wind and the intensity with which it blew by the change in the melody produced. That would be handy in case of a brewing storm he was one good argument in favour of his idea.
Continuing on he found out about other uses such as letting you know when somebody opens a door and the best one of all in his opinion- warding away bad spirits while inviting good ones tos come and stay... His eyes twinkled at reading that bit of information.
He immediately got to work and happily experimented till he was satisfied with the result... The former Headmasters Portraits were amused to see the various creations appear and hang themselves all through the room The most imaginative and prominent one being the representation of Fawkes floating above the desk blowing flames that took the place of the standard tubes or rods used in making wind chimes. Fawkes was sitting quietly observing his master and wondered what the big deal was this time. He too remembered the woolly incidents the last time Albus got some of those Muggle Magazines.
Satisfied with the results so far, Albus opened all the windows to the office to allow the breezes to enter and then sat back to watch what transpired as each ornament moved gently at first with various results in music.
Albus asked Fawkes if he liked the music when the Phoenix made a sound that suspiciously sounded like a wet raspberry as he flapped his fiery wings and then decided to vanish and fly outside for awhile. Albus just shook his head and smiled at his familiars antics and then thought it would be wonderful to fill the rest of the castle with music, beauty and colour so he continued on filling every available space he could think of.
Some chimes he created were very realistic looking representations of many different varieties of fantastic magical animals which he scattered throughout the corridors and in the Great Hall. Dragons, Chimeras, Griffins, Hippogriffs, Centaurs, unicorns, even gnomes to name a few were charmed to sound like the creatures they represented.
The unusual activity was beginning to attract the attention of Peeves the Poltergeist and many of the ghosts who approached cautiously to see what the Headmasters newest craze was.
Albus decided that he would decorate the Owlery also with the theme of hooting Owls and song birds who were twittering and singing as they fluttered in the breezes. Albus never noticed that the resident school owls cleared out quickly, preferring the outdoors and sunlight instead of enduring the tweets and twitters of the imitation birds hanging from the beams and rafters.
Albus then decided to try and combine the sound of wind chimes and colour of prisms so proceeded to the Astronomy tower. He stood for a few minutes watching the celestial wind chimes that glowed and glinted with stars, suns, planets and different phases of the moon.
Even the Divination classroom in the Tower where Trelawney made her home year round wasn't spared as miniature crystal balls, scrying mirrors, divination pendulums and rods were made dangling overhead tapping the long tubes beside them as a gentle breeze managed to find its way around the room.
After several hours of intense wand work and encouraging the somewhat reluctant house elves to help him with the project Albus was mighty pleased with himself and his handiwork as he ventured back up to his office to take another look and readjust the first wind chimes he had created. He was very pleased even as the portraits closed their eyes and covered their ears as the volume of sound increased and the various brightly coloured rainbows flittered across them.
Looking out the tall stately window of his office afterwards he spotted the two Heads of House returning to the castle so he quickly left his office and with a speed that belied his age... It could be those new muggle running shoes he bought while browsing through London last month that enabled him to move as fast as he did but it really didn't take that long to go down the moving staircases to the main Entrance Hall and out of the tall Oaken Doors of the Castle where he waved his arm to attract their attention. "Minerva... Severus You must come inside and see the wonderful decorations I transfigured to bring more music and light into the castle." His eyes twinkled as he held up the magazine. "I got the idea from looking at this magazine. Those muggles certainly have some beautiful decorating ideas."
Looking askance at each other then at the Headmaster who was whistling off key some dippy sounding tune that only he knew, the pair walked towards the school with a sense of foreboding as they knew from experience that not all of Albus' ideas were good. His intentions were good but the results...
Upon entering the castle both Severus and Minerva winced and quickly covered their ears in response as directly above the Entrance was a very large Wind chime with a snake, Griffin, Raven and Badger representing the four houses that as soon as the massive doors swung open in the strong breeze started to gently clink together in a melodious rhythm and then the volume of sound increased to deafening proportions in a chain reaction caused by what appeared to be thousands upon thousands of wind chimes made from suspended tubes, rods and other items made of metal and or wood turned every which way making many different strident sounds in the breezes that filtered in through the doors and corridor windows.
Normally the sounds of wind chimes would be pleasingly harmonious and melodious but this combination... was obnoxiously harsh and discordant to everyone's ears but not Albus's. He was oblivious to the effects of his endeavours as he gleefully escorted his unwilling audience throughout the castle.
Minerva and Severus had to admit that Albus certainly was inventive and as they ventured through the castle trying to figure out how to remove the offensive racket without hurting the elderly wizards feelings, even while noticing that some of the wind chimes were also designed as Prisms that made those muggle 'Disco' balls of the 70's seem tame as dancing rainbows of light from the sun bounced off them. It seemed like the whole castle was completely covered everywhere they looked-no matter where they went... many shapes and styles of prisms and wind chimes hung over Passageways, corridors, in the class.
To give Albus credit there was quite a colourful variety... that was about the only thing 'nice' Severus could think of saying out loud as he unobtrusively cast an Imperturbable Charm over both him and Minerva so that the racket would not disturb them. What both he and Minerva actually thought could not be said unless they relished the chance of ending up in Azkaban.
Albus kept talking about all the wonderful and creative designs that Muggles came up with that impressed him and showed with pride the particular favourites of his own that he had added a few charms to. Luckily for both of them- he didn't notice that neither of them could hear him very well due to the volume of sound surrounding them.
The situation was critical as all 20 or so Ghosts were floating every which away in a panic instead of listening to what Albus had called 'sweet' gentle melodies to soothe the soul. Sir Patrick, Nearly Headless Nick , The Bloody Baron, The Grey Lady, Peeves, even Myrtle who normally stayed within the girls bathroom were floating every which way as they tried to avoid the agonizing sound and light.
Headless Nick stopped for a moment and said to Minerva ... "I Told young Harry once that I was afraid of death. I chose to remain behind. I sometimes wonder whether I oughtn't have.. Now I am certain, but it is too late for me now."
Minerva sympathized with him. She had just come from her own den of torture where she saw her Transfiguration room filled to the brim with wind chimes that not only made a lot of 'music' but also changed their shapes back and forth and others that acted like prisms to send playful and colourful rainbows across the whole room. Some of them vanishing and reappearing out of thin air.
Albus encouraged Severus to follow him down to the dungeons to see how he fixed up the Potions classroom.
Severus sent a glare towards the Headmaster that could have equalled an unforgivable. Minerva who caught up to the two Wizards placed her hand gently but firmly on Severus' arm and shook her head slightly.
As they decended the stairway a muted scream of horror came from somewhere further along the dungeon corridor..
Startled Albus turned swiftly to look at his colleagues and asked with concern. "Did you hear that awful scream? Sounded like someone is being murdered!"
"Psaww. Pure imagination" Severus snapped, "If I allowed a noise like that to scare me your voice would have killed me long ago."
"Severus Snape! You can make a joke." Albus chuckled in spite of himself. "I knew you were going to slip up one of these days and develop a sense of humour."
As they hurried further into the dungeons, Minerva and Severus' noses wrinkled slightly at the old stale scent of fried fish that hung oppressively as they came closer to Filch's office. Going inside they looked around the untidy room and then found the extremely unpleasant and bitter squib caretaker hiding inside a broom closet situated in his office crooning comforting words to his cat Mrs Norris.
"Is there something the matter Argus?" Albus asked the Squib who who glowered at the intruders. Minerva tried to coax the elderly squib to come out but didn't blame him when he refused.
"What are you trying to do ..Kill me?" Filch finally asked in a shaky yet strident voice as he pointed towards the wind chimes with miniature chains,metal cuffs, knives, and thumbscrews floating above them and other chimes with minature lifelike copies of Mrs Norris batting their paws against some rods.
"Gee I thought you would like them after all you do like to reminise about the old ways after all." Albus answered innocently. "I got the idea from your collection of antique torture devices." He smiled and helped the squib to his feet and led him out of the closet into the office where an old wooden chair sat beside an equally worn out desk that had an assortment of paper and gadgets strewn upon it. "And I thought you would like to have a couple of musical windchimes featuring Mrs. Norris as you are so fond of her."
Filch's mouth gaped like a fish as he looked up at the massed collection of windchimes then silently sat down at his overcrowded desk with an equally mystified Mrs Norris huddled in his arms.
Meanwhile Severus slipped away from the sickly syrupy scene of Albus comforting the crochety old squib and was stunned with horror when he looked into his classroom he found that Albus had created wind chimes and prisms out of miniaturized cauldrons, potion vials and stirrers among other items that represented his trade.
"Headmaster!" Severus roared, so loudly as to carry throughout the dungeon and into the kitchens where the House Elves had retreated after helping the Headmaster with his project. "I think you've gone WAAAY overboard this time....." his arm swept out towards the spinning objects that refracted the light of the enchanted candles along the walls into his eyes. "Even Potter isn't half as annoying as this display is."
"But they are also great ways to keep unfriendly spirits away...Possibly even Voldemort!" Albus explained as he entered the classroom behind Minerva. "It said so in the magazine."
Severus glowered briefly at the Headmaster then a positively evil grin spread slowly across his face as his black eyes glittered balefully. Albus involuntarily stepped backwards as Severus' wand snapped into view and he brought his own up as did Minerva...though he wondered why she wasn't pointing it towards Severus in defence.
"Minerva-Severus..Just what are you up to?" Albus asked cautiously
"Minerva...you have the same Idea as I do?" Severus asked the elderly witch who was smirking back at him.
She nodded. "I believe so Severus." She looked straight into his dark fathomless black eyes. " Relocation charm?"
"Yes!" Severus nodded and raised his wand towards the ceiling where the offensive items hung as did Minerva.
Albus gulped sadly as both of them suddenly vanished the wind chimes and prisms. He looked about the now empty classroom and sighed. "After all my hard work couldn't you have left a few?"
"Don't worry Albus your favourites are still in the castle." Minerva said primly "They aren't all totally gone..."
"Just relocated to a much better place" Severus shrugged.
"Where They will be appreciated even more so." Minerva declared as Albus looked so despondent.
"Defiantly!" Severus said firmly with a strange unusual glint of merriment dancing in his dark black eyes.
Albus looked bewildered for a moment as he studied the two Heads of House then his eyes narrowed, much like his Potions Masters did on occasion and asked.
"Where? Where did you send them? Better be a real good reason or You both are so Fired." Albus said automatically. He wouldn't though and both knew it after all where would he get another Potions Master or transfiguration Professor of their calibre.
"Oh sure, promises.. always with the promises." Muttered Severus under his breath as he rubbed his left forearm thoughtfully and smirked, while Minerva began to explain carefully... in small Griffindor friendly words...
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At that moment far away from the castle, in Little Hangleton in a damp derelict abandoned mansion which was in great disrepair and considered haunted by malevolent ghosties, a strangely beautiful sound that could be heard not only within the building itself but throughout the normally quiet village increased in intensity till it became loud and raucous like a Rock Concert going full blast.
Interesting to note, not one villager was brave or crazy enough to approach the dreadful old house though. Especially after sundown since the unfortunate death of the elderly caretaker Frank Bryce—who when found, had a dreadful terrified look of horror frozen on his face much like the mysterious gruesome deaths in 1944 of the wealthy and snobbish family consisting of Thomas, Mary and their son Tom Riddle which was never solved.
The red eyed snake like resident of the building—Lord Voldemort AKA The Dark Lord shrieked in fury as many strange and yet wonderful wind chimes appeared out of nowhere and attached themselves everywhere they possibly could. With ever increasing fury he cast charm after charm trying to rid himself of the invading pestilence. The objects in question resisted his efforts as the sunbeams that normally did not penetrate the dreary decaying rooms somehow found their way in to become rainbows flitting across the walls and ceiling in ever increasing patterns even after the sun went down over the horizon.
Not one living being, Muggle or Magical came by to investigate the weird screams, strident musical sounds or the strange light show that emanated from the rotten core of Riddle House all throughout the night.. not even the village's constabulary who chose to wait... after all who in their right mind would want to disturb the ghosties who were obviously having a supernatural party? Certainly not him.
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