Chapter 7
As term settled down in its usual poor weather and indoor activities, with odd forays into snowy bright days, all those of the Blood Group stiffened as they felt Jade washed with the Killing Curse. Scars burned suddenly white, startling the pupils of those who were teachers, and the friends of those who had the scar. There were enough that Jade was able to shield it from those who had not yet acquired the scar; and Jade was radiating anger and concern; though the concern was not for herself. The blood group felt her draw on them, then felt another young mind join them as a bloodkindred, and felt Jade's call for their joining to aid this child.
And then Jade was icy cold, and preparing to do something permanent to some threat or other; and quite confident that she needed no help to do so.
They would find out about it next time Jade contacted properly.
Jade later contacted Severus and told him that Hedda Schrempf had decided to take out anger on one of her fags – Jade had collected several fags to protect them – and had not cared that the spells she cast would have actually killed the child without blood magic.
"I shall bring in her sister and sundry others to have a group at Durmstrang" said Jade "And start Marauders here too. I thought in the hols; we break up a day after you so we could make it that last morning for my people here."
It made sense; and Severus agreed. If Jade had picked people to blood with, they would be suitable; or at least suitable enough that the knowledge of a blood bond and a whole new family would help to overcome any minor quirks that were not usually considered good traits. He trusted her judgement.
The dancing classes started to while away Saturday afternoons and evenings; of the new ones, Lucy could dance, and so too could Cerellia Yaxley. Severus pointed out that it was a good way to keep fit as well as a preparation for the time when they were old enough for the Yule Ball and Lucy pointed out that dance could aid with serious chanters. This enthused Liriope Hallow who found she was good at chanting, and only stopped asking how it could help when Krait told her that it never would unless she actually applied herself to Arithmancy.
Not that being squashed quieted Elephant's Child for long and Hermione found herself pestered with how to use Arithmancy in chanting.
Fortunately Hermione was happy to become quite technical and if Liriope felt rather mentally bruised from the encounter she was, if no wiser, at least better informed.
Henik was delighted to be taking part in the dancing lessons; he had never even expected to walk, now his muscles had strengthened to the point that he was allowed to dance, if not for as long as the others at least he was allowed to dance! He revelled in it and when Ortensia moaned about having to turn out to do exercise he told her seriously,
"You should be pleased that you have always had full use of your limbs, Fraulein that you have the option to do as all may do or to be as lazy as you choose; but I think that being lazy is ungrateful to the limbs that bear you."
"Well I do not much care what a nasty little…. guttersnipe like you says!" said Ortensia, mindful that racist comments were frowned upon.
"How very lowborn of you to comment in so unfavourable a way" said Sylvana "Henik shows himself to be your superior in manners and the instincts of a gentleman however low his birth; YOU use the language of the gutter of inclination and so display that you are the one who is a guttersnipe, Ortensia. You shame the rest of us."
"But I do not understand!" cried Ortensia "I have looked up your pedigree, and you are pure blooded; why then do you support THAT and shout at me?"
"If you have to ask that it proves so truly that you are not a lady" said Sylvana "Because a lady has no side. I think that is the correct English phrase. All who are mannerly, to a lady are the same; only those who unmannerly are should be given less than perfect niceness. Henik a gentleman is in his behaviour; you a lady are not."
"Ortensia is niculturniy" squeaked Beta.
"What Sylvana is saying in rather over excited and mangled English is that you are rude and rudeness is to be looked down upon" said Lucy in what she fondly hoped was a Malfoy-like drawl.
"And I cannot counter that your German not so hot is on German days because your German impeccable is" said Sylvana ruefully.
"Well I have lived out here for years" said Lucy mildly "And I don't speak Italian at all so Ortensia is at a disadvantage therein. Only, my good ass, you have some strange priorities; we don't actually care that much about purity of blood here, nor about race; only about decent manners and academic excellence. And you don't precisely shine in either respect. You shirk in prep and you are just so going to irk Severus – uh, Professor Snape – for sulking visibly in his class since you tried to bring in a self-stirring cauldron. He's obviously holding his temper in check when you slump at him and droop like a dying daffodil in a thunderstorm."
"I will tell that you used his first name! Surely you do not hope to be his mistress so young? If it is so, he is disgusting and I will complain!"
Lucy stared, then laughed.
"What a poor prune you are!" she said "Professor Snape is my guardian; I use his first name out of school as my brothers do. And I am supposed to remember not to in school; same as his children are not supposed to call him 'dad'. And mostly remember not to do so. Go ahead and tell; I shall get told off snippily for being informal. Tell lies about me being his mistress – and how ridiculous is that at my age! – and you can go to prison for slander."
Ortensia looked frightened.
"I am sorry I did not mean it" she said hastily. "I did not understand that you were his…. guarded one."
"The term is 'ward'" said Lucy "Very well; you spoke in haste. And I say, Ortensia! If you think someone my age could be someone's mistress, and you know someone who thinks it's all right, you should tell a grown up, a lady professor say, because such things are wrong, and if anyone's doing anything you don't like, you need to tell about THAT, because that's an important thing to tell about if anyone at your home is so rotten."
Ortensia stared.
"No, I have not had anything done to me" she said "But I have heard that the village professor likes very young girls to do things with him. It is why my parents want me to come away to school."
"They know then? Why have they not reported it?"
"Why should they? He has not touched ME!" said Ortensia.
"Don't you think that's rather shallow and selfish?" said Lucy, scorn creeping into her voice.
"No; because I am the one that is important to them. Why would they care about poor trash like the daughters of those who work for my father?" she said.
"WELL!" said Lucy "I try very hard to bring you in on things and to show you how life works and then you prove you are a completely self centred little cow to whom other little girls your age don't matter in the least."
"Well not if they're poor" said Ortensia. "The poor are there to be used in whatever way the rich and powerful desire. That is why I do not understand why a penniless creature like this Henik is being paid for to come here."
"Possibly because, if Henik and Arbrek will excuse my terminology because the language is limited, Arbrek's father has more humanity than you or your family" said Lucy. "It makes me hope your family loses all their money because money is all you have and all you find important because you're so damn shallow. Henik is worth a dozen of you; he has more brains, more stickability, more courage and more manners. I'm sick of trying to be nice to you; you bleat like a goat about things you've considered as deeply as a goat can manage; so if you ever speak to me again I'm going to reply by bleating back because I might as well have done all along, because you don't understand plain speech."
"Well how rude is that?" said Ortensia.
"Incredibly" said Lucy "And the first thing an English lady learns is when to stop being one. Maaaaaah!"
Lucy ran off to Severus to report what Ortensia had said of the village professor.
Severus sighed.
"I shall contact an Italian Aedile; their equivalent of Aurors" he said "And pass this on."
Severus proceeded to use the floo to contact the justiciary office of the Italian ministry and explained that this had been mentioned by a little girl whose veracity on certain points he doubted but who he had no reason to doubt in her mentioning this to others of her peer group; though she might very well have misunderstood.
"I'm trying to be fair to both sides" he said "Because she is not very clever and nor is she particularly well aware of how the world wags; she is a protected rich child with very little knowledge. But if she has overheard her parents discussing why they wanted to send her away to school she might have heard and reported the truth. And I should be failing the little girls whose fate she does not care about because they are poorer than her if I did NOT pass on even so nebulous an accusation."
"Signor Professor, this we shall look into" said the Aedile he was speaking to "I do not like this child you teach already; I am not a rich man and I have children coming up school age. But even less do I like child spoilers."
"Go easy, if I may say so; she has SOME knowledge of improper behaviour; she heard my ward use my first name – as all my wards do, boys and girls alike – and all but accused her of being my mistress. Fortunately my ward has heard a few stories and knew what she was getting at, and is also a level headed child not to be upset by it and to find it merely rather amusing as a concept. And had the sense to ask how come this other child knew about such things."
"How does your ward come to know about such things?"
"She and her brothers are not my only wards; in England I was the head of a house, a father figure, and I was told many shocking stories. It is inevitable that children growing up together, once the fear and the danger are past, will confide in each other" said Severus. "Besides, if my wards and children are knowledgeable in principle, they then can alert me of any child they are in school with mentions something they should not know about. Lucy and her brothers were beaten on regularly; and that is one of the least abuses a professor sees. I have seen cursed wounds caused by children being in the way of quarrelling parents, and one child impregnated by her own stepfather having been passed off by her mother as her sister. I have seen a child beaten and treated as a slave because she was supposed to be a squib; and if she had been a squib that would even so not have been right. The child was a late developer; went to school at thirteen, caught up, and took four NEWTs. I've seen it all, Signor Aedile."
The figure in the green smoke nodded.
"I hear the anger in your voice" he said "I had to ask."
"Quite" said Severus.
"I will see what I may find; and I will look carefully too into the background of this Lollini family. It may even so be that she has learned about such closer to home; and I shall be asking, if the parents discussed the risk to their daughter, why then did not THEY report it? What have THEY to hide?"
Severus grinned.
"I rather hope that they splutter and try to fob you off so you have to pull them in for questioning; the child learns her attitudes from her parents of course. Have fun with them!"
"I shall endeavour to do so; though of course I hope it is all a, how you say, a unicorn's nest."
Severus sobered.
"Yes, so do I; but I fear that improper relations ARE a village crime" he said. "I'd be interested to know how it goes."
"I shall keep you informed" said the Aedile.
The first were brewing water repelling potions to use on umbrellas and rain coats; and having more or less success. Lucy had, not surprisingly, made a good job of hers; as she said cheerfully, having been raised by Professor Snape and family she had practically been reared in a cauldron. Zoë Gesler managed to make hers rise of its own accord and stick to the ceiling; and could not say what she had done wrong – it took Severus two days to work out that she had used three cloves of garlic not three cloves – and Ortensia had made hers perfectly acceptably except that she had made ten times as much as was required.
"Miss Lollini, can you not read the ingredients?" asked Severus "What were you thinking of? You have made enough water repelling potion to cover a dozen tents! I am not sure we can use all that; just leave it in your cauldron and if I cannot decant it I shall get rid of it."
"The amounts given seemed too little" said Ortensia "And I am not familiar with the English measurements."
Severus sighed.
"You have had a term and a half to come to grips with them; and there are conversion charts on the wall" said Severus "Or you could have queried the measurements given; though as it is a potion I have been teaching for many years, odd as it may seem to you, I think I might just have noticed if there was a mistake in the text book by now and had it altered; or told you to alter it. But what do I know? I'm only the most experienced potioneer in the world with twenty-three modifications to potions published in my name and four original potions published."
Ortensia flushed at his sarcasm. Severus had tried hard – because he did NOT like the child – but some things were just too much!
She was NOT going to let him use her potion for any of his nasty tents, so there!
As soon as Severus had dismissed the class and they were packing up, she poured her potion down the drain.
The smell started pervading at lunch time; and Sirri reported that the toilets were all flooding.
Severus went to investigate and performed Scarpin's Revellaspell to find out where a reverse flow curse had been placed by some errant child with more imagination than good sense.
He found no such spell; but he did find traces of water repelling potion.
He went to the dungeon – flying over the foot deep flood – and discovered that Ortensia's full cauldron was now quite empty.
He returned to the hall where people were gagging.
"Miss Lollini" said Severus quietly but in a carrying voice "Did you, after I told you to leave your cauldron, pour its contents down the drain?"
"Yes I did! I didn't see why you should use it!" said Ortensia "But I can't THINK in this stench!"
"Dear me; that's a shame" said Severus "Because it's all your stench. Come back to haunt you."
Ortensia stared.
"I haven't done anything to the toilets!" she said.
"Oh? What was in that cauldron FULL of potion?"
"It was water repelling potion; what you told us to make!" said Ortensia.
"Exactly; water repelling potion – enough to stop a river in its tracks – poured down the drain. And consequently pushing all water – and anything mixed up in it – backwards" said Severus "I am going to brew at time and expense a counter potion. And, incidentally, since the ingredients belong to the school, by deciding to dispose of the contents with intent to permanently deprive – you didn't see why I should use it – you are also a thief as well as stupid. Why I should use it is because it is my property my girl that you have misused. And when the flood abates, while the others run about outside in watery sunshine, you will be assisting the elves by mopping up the detritus your sad and inept effluvium has produced. The noxious, nephritic and cacaceous odours will, perchance, concentrate your mind."
"But – you can't make me!"
"Can't I? You have made work for the house elves. If you do NOT help them YOU can't make THEM feed you or wash for you; and if you are wearing unwashed clothes for the rest of the term you'll start to smell more than a little yourself my girl. I am required to see you get basic food; that can be balanced with bread and dripping and an apple for every meal. Flout my authority Miss Lollini and you will NOT like the consequences. I will also expect you to apologise to the whole school for causing this miasma of fetid feculence."
"I – but how was I to know what it would do?"
"Miss Lollini, if you are trying to convince me that you are so half witted as not to realise that a water repelling potion repels water, you should not be in a school but in an institution for the incapable" said Severus. "I never heard such a ridiculous excuse! You will tell me next that you are surprised that a shrinking solution reduces something in size! Now go and put on some old clothes – the elves are finding you some – and be ready for your duty. This place is not fit for habitation and I have a potion to brew!"
Ortensia did NOT enjoy her punishment mopping up the smelly backwash of the toilets; she had been given a potion to prevent disease – as had all the elves – and one thing she enjoyed least was being scolded by SLAVES for being a naughty and silly little girl not fit to live with decent folk. The elves – not all slaves if Ortensia had only cared to notice that many wore clothes – did NOT mince their words. Even the ones who had not wanted to be freed were learning a measure of independence and were not pleased to have all this extra work.
After it was all cleared up – and Ortensia was even more put out that most of the professors mucked in to help and did not make a fuss as she was, since the detritus had to be concentrated before an evanesco spell got rid of it – the girl was permitted to take a hot bath.
And at supper Severus explained that there was nothing but bread and cheese and such cake as had already been cooked because the elves had not had time to do anything else but clear up; and called on Ortensia to apologise for all the trouble she had caused.
"Everyone here is rotten to me and stupid about the things that matter in life and I want to go home!" said Ortensia "And I've got nothing to be sorry about, it wasn't my fault I wasn't warned what would happen!"
"My good kid, perhaps you ought to have your wand taken away from you because nobody's warned you that if you point it at your own leg to cast a spell you might get hurt!" said Krait derisively.
"You WILL apologise; or I shall leave it to the school to make their disapprobation felt as only school children can" said Severus. "And you owe me an apology for misuse of school property; and if I do not get such, your father will be billed for the same."
"He can afford it" said Ortensia.
"I hope you can afford the shame of having to pay for your thieving" said Severus "because I shall make it clear to your father that such is WHY he is asked to pay. You will apologise by the end of the week; or you WILL be going home."
"Good; I WANT to go home."
"Miss Lollini, I am not speaking of merely going home as at your request" said Severus quietly "I am speaking of expulsion; with your wand broken as you cannot be trusted to handle magic responsibly. Being sent home in disgrace; I suggest you think very hard before you accept that as a punishment. I can't say that I really want you at my school if you can't learn to be a decent person with a little bit of moral fibre and a little less selfish dishonesty of spirit; but if you are prepared to apologise and try hard, I am prepared to meet you half way."
"You are unfair! You hear him! He is unfair!" cried Ortensia almost sobbing. She had tried lying about her feelings for those rotten goblins to avoid trouble, but this was too much!
Kate Grant of the third stood up.
"From what I've heard from the warts and weevils, Lollini, YOU are unfair; you do not try to be nice, nor to learn that there's more in life than your father's over-inflated wallet. Wealth does not a lady make; and I do hope you don't apologise because most of us are fed up with types like you and would like you to be expelled."
"It needed saying" said AHHa.
"You should ponder deeply, Ortensia, and realise that your values are wrong" said Silvina Brewer seriously "I too made such foolish mistakes; I am much happier now I know more. If you wish to learn to change I will help you."
"I don't want help from any animal lovers!" said Ortensia with venom.
Silvina reeled back.
"Your spontaneous offer does you a very great deal of credit, Miss Brewer" said Severus "And your friends and the staff know that to make it took courage; and appreciate it. Sirri, please take Miss Lollini to the hospital wing to consider her rash and rather unfortunate stand."
Sirri almost had to drag the girl away. Severus sighed; he did not think that this one would change her views once she got home as Silvina had done.
And he very much feared that she would be going home in disgrace.
Ortensia had to be dosed with glumbumble juice when she cried herself into hysterics; and though Krait came to chat with her quietly she merely declared obstinately that she wanted to go home.
After the three days had elapsed to the end of the week, Severus sighed, broke her wand, and sent for her father to remove her for thieving, lying, racism and being a disruptive influence.
Signor Lollini tried to scream and bluster at Severus; who had had enough and turned him into a parrot and told him that he might thus remain until he had calmed down.
There are very few things as silly to have to be as a parrot; and after a nasty bout of shrieking he sulkily calmed down; and duly departed with his daughter.
It was sad; but that was parents for you.
Severus was glad that he had a pleasant announcement to make the next day.
"Hellibore's have challenged us to a quidditch match" he announced "And as they gave us hospitality last time I have offered hospitality this time to them."
Seagh chuckled. The 'hospitality' had started off as non-existent and had been cobbled together in a hurry; now they at Prince Peak would do the visitors proud to show them how a first rate school entertained visiting sportsmen!
"The wee sumpfs reckon the noo that we've no' Jade as seeker that they micht have half a chance against us" he said.
"Frankly old boy, I'm afraid they haven't a chance" said Cenric "Having seen the standard you people play to; of course having an international ref to help out a one-time professional coach and the occasional lessons from Viktor Krumm do help. Like you take lessons seriously; it's a bit of a shock having to actually DO something or be in hot water. I feel half disloyal saying this but Hellibore's is frankly not the school Prince Peak is; and I hope some day to go back there to teach, having learned what standards truly should be."
"THAT is loyalty" said Severus "The desire to improve your old school. I hope the old… er, Professor Hellibore…. Lets you."
"He's aware that pupils from Prince Peak outperform his, sir" said Cenric "And he wants to know how and why; and I'll not hide that he asked me to find out. I take it you would like some real competition?"
"I would" said Severus "It hurts any teacher to see bright, capable youths failing to achieve their full potential because their faculty let them down; I know it has taken me many years to achieve a good standard as a teacher, and that my first few years teaching did NOT equip all my pupils as well as I might. But one can learn; whatever handicaps one temporarily is labouring under."
"Sir?" asked Cenric. Severus gave a grim smile.
"Being Voldemort's closest adviser whilst betraying him to Professor Dumbledore left me snippy" he said "Or as those of the second currently in detention for the disgraceful hair-raising potion fight might say, snippier."
There was rueful laughter from the second who had needed to be de-haired from various unlikely portions of their body when Batty Dubois had added hair-growing solution to their hair-raising potions and had started matters by flicking some at BaHH while Severus had left them to deal with an irate Italian.
Things had gone rapidly downhill from there and the second had let off steam very satisfactorily over the tensions of an expulsion, except Antti Laakkonen and Eve Cherrytree who had fled the hairy carnage with the intent of finding a grown-up to tell.
Punishment given and accepted – the translation of a certain section of Asterix the Gaul into Latin – the second felt, in general, much better for the affair.
"Well sir, if the second team will give us a practise game in the week the first team will be ready for them next weekend" said Victor "We seem to be coming to the end of winter; and frankly it's high enough here to be above most of the weather."
"Yes; and very nice that is" said Severus. "And so I shall tell Hellibore if he is dubious; after all his school is on a lower mountain than ours and suffers from the weather blowing up from Lake Lucerne. Who's in the first team?"
"Fred and Peter Lowther as beaters – it seems to be the traditional thing for Weasley type twins to do" said Victor "Arbrek is seeker of course; I think he's potentially better than Jade though he's still inexperienced. Kate, Angelica and Seagh as chasers, I'm playing Keeper and I'll play Ulrich as reserve because he's the best all-rounder, and Cenric as second reserve for chaser."
Severus nodded.
"It sounds a good team" he said "Second team?"
"Reinulf Grindler and Fred Visick as beaters – there MUST be something in the name Fred that the arithmancers should study that makes them good beaters – Rose Hubble as seeker, because on a good day she's brilliant even if on a bad day she crashes; Emily, George and AHHa as chasers and Sandalla as keeper."
"Quite a height difference – apart from Arbrek" said Severus.
"Can't be helped sir; apart from the Lowthers and Emily, the fourth and fifth fly like old women with too much shopping" said Victor. "Emil Villeneuve is reserve; he's another good all rounder but hasn't settled himself into a position he likes best yet. And I hope next year's intake are a bit more hopeful because the first might as well take up knitting instead except Elephant's Child."
There were the obligatory cries of protest; but not very vigorous ones. None of the first were really that keen on quidditch except Liriope.
The second team took their task very seriously; it was their job to give the first team as good a game as they could to test and prepare them to play the visitors. Rose flew like a demon and ended the game by snatching the snitch by the length of her hand from under Arbrek's outstretched grasp; only to find that the first team's chasers had eluded the second team's beaters and keeper with more success than the second team had managed to do with their own chasers; and the first team won by twenty points.
"That was a damned close run thing" said Victor "Played you kids; you were inspired, and gave us what we needed! Thanks – and I have to say, any success we have against Hellibore's will be as much your victory as ours. NOT that I should count a victory before we play the game; their seeker might be both good and lucky and get the snitch before we can score fifteen times!"
"It was a jolly good game" said Sandalla "We've been doing better since Cenric put together a third team to give us all different people to play, and to bring on people like Liriope. And I say, Victor, it was a rotten dig about knitting because if you encourage Sylvana and Zoë I reckon they'd come on well enough."
Victor laughed.
"Yes, having some lessons from the other Viktor inspired them somewhat" he said. "And Professor Ron is a fine coach too."
The teams were looking forward to the match; and when the boys of Hellibore's arrived blinking slightly into blinding sunshine from the cablecar – Hellibore had decided to fly his boys to the bottom of the mountain as they could then follow terrain, since he lacked confidence to bring them above the clouds – they were greeted by members of the first and second team and taken courteously to a dressing room set aside for them, and juvenile guides then brought them forth for light refreshments before the game.
Every Prince Peak child knew their task; Seagh had spread it about that the visitors were to be overwhelmed with hospitality and politeness and treated as tenderly as visiting royalty to rub it well in how shabbily they had behaved before.
If most of the players did not notice since they just enjoyed the sensation, and had not been part of the school team for that last match the quidditch master DID notice and ground his teeth. And Seagh's cup ran over at the man's expression.
