Chapter 7
Adelard Löenzahn was assiduously doing his Divination homework – laying out the Tarot cards for a general representation of what might happen in the near future – when he leaped up and bolted to Zlatka's study that she shared with Gisela and Desolina.
"Zlatka, see if you see what I see in my cards" he said.
Zlatka got up and wandered over to his study.
"Someone's in danger… cartomancy isn't my thing you know…. Something to do with water?"
"I see someone drowning" said Adelard "And I say, I think it's sort of immediate."
"Then we must go out to the lake right away" said Zlatka "Time to worry about it being bounds breaking and to send for an adult if the worst is true."
Adelard nodded and hastened out with Zlatka. The moon shone brightly on the icy lake; and threw the stark shadows of where the ice was broken in the centre of the gleaming surface, the water dark beneath it.
Zlatka pulsed the older members of the blood group; and Adelard was left crying with surprise as various figures apparated – in an non-apparating zone too – to appear beside him. Zlatka apported directly above the hole and turned in a dive deep below the ice, casting a warming charm as she did so, and casting a finding spell based on a sentient mind. She soon had a figure scrabbling more and more feebly at the ice above it, hardly able to reach for being weighed down by clothes; and a stroke or two took her to the child's side and her arms around a little body. She pulsed Zlatko; and then she and her burden were being apported back with the assistance of all the bloodgroup and then Zlatka went directly to the hospital.
"Zlatka! You are wet! What has happened?" demanded the nurse.
"This little idiot, I don't know yet who it is, went out on the ice….there are skates" said Zlatka "I've been casting warming charms; the kid is out of it now, but was conscious, just, when I got there. I've still got a warming charm up; shall I help you get these wet clothes off?"
"Yes please" said the nurse. "Why, I think it's one of the first years; a German girl though I don't know her name."
"Nor do I" said Zlatka "Not one of the pests I take an interest in; though if it had been I think I might have known if they were on such silly mischief bent. Thank goodness there's new pepperup potion since the fifth had to review it."
"Indeed" said the school nurse, pouring a goodly dose into the stripped and dried little girl, who was in a nightdress and in bed before even the steam started issuing from her ears showing that the potion was working satisfactorily. "Your warming charms have probably prevented her from taking serious hurt my dear; now let's see to you."
Zlatka stripped obediently and cast drying charms – she had already cast the same on her hair, knowing the dangers of letting heat escape and wise to the fact that up to a third of the body's heat escaped through the head, especially if the hair was wet. She submitted to a dose of pepperup potion and a clean hospital nightshirt and a bed.
Her twin, Gisela and Adelard and a selection of staff came into the ward.
"Ah" said Cacilia "Valda Schutzstab. I suppose this little piece of naughtiness has something to do with her having been in detention with me; she is a wilful, rude and naughty child. Zlatka, my dear, I hope you have taken no harm risking your life like that."
"Oh I apparate well enough that I was never in danger" said Zlatka "I have good warming charms and if anything went wrong I have absolute faith in the power of twin to have Zlatko heave me out. She'll be the child then that half our fags were having an indignation meeting over while they were making toast for us having been, er, 'excruciatingly rude and guttersnipish about things she knows nothing about because of being terminally and egregiously dim even if she can manage Arithmancy' as one of them put it."
Valda had come to by this time and had to listen, squirming, in the next bed.
"Valda" said Cacilia "I can see you are awake; and I think you should explain just why you were on the lake. If you have a reasonable explanation it is time to come up with it to avoid further censure."
"I wanted to skate!" declared Valda "And you kept me in so I couldn't go out and skate with the others and it was too MEAN so I went anyway!"
"The whole idea of a detention is generally to be moderately, er, mean you know" said Cacilia dryly. "It being a punishment. Do you mean to say, you stupid little girl you made the ASSUMPTION that the others had skated without bothering to ask? I never heard of anything quite so mutton-headed in my life; positively retarded! Anyone might take you for French, indeed for so silly a lack of thought. For your information, Fraulein, nobody skated; because the ice was NOT bearing. And if you think I would give up MY skating to give you a detention you might think again. Well, you are not only disobedient to break bounds by going out at night, you are also stupid and thoughtless. You hardly seem capable enough of thought to even be at school; well, we must consider what is to be done about this disobedience when you are out of the hospital wing; I have to take this to the head. Bound breaking and causing others to be in danger is in HER purview."
"What do you mean? I haven't put anyone in danger!" cried Valda.
"No? What about Zlatka Asimova who risked her life going into the water to rescue you?" said Cacilia.
"She said she was in no danger!" said Valda.
"Perhaps; perhaps not. The truly brave are often deprecating about what they do" said Cacilia coldly "And though she IS very able, suppose Adelard had not alerted someone of her calibre when he determined by divination that someone was drowning? He is not a good swimmer, nor especially skilled at charms. If HE had gone in, as I am sure he would have done if Zlatka had not been there, he would have been at considerable risk. And if he had done the proper thing and got a teacher, you might have been dead which Adelard doubtless would have realised and he is too responsible a boy to risk that."
"Well they were already breaking bounds" said Valda sulkily.
Cacilia slapped her hard.
"You are disgusting" she said "HAD they been breaking bounds Zlatka STILL risked herself for your sake; I should have thought a little gratitude for having your life saved was called for; and as much to Adelard. They were breaking bounds for YOUR sake because Adelard read in the cards that someone was drowning AS I told you. He asked Zlatka for help. They broke bounds TO FIND OUT WHO WAS DROWNING! And as to who else was risked, what of the elves who test the ice? If one had slid through your hole and drowned, don't you think that's rather much?"
Valda shrugged.
"Well who cares about an elf?" she said.
Cacilia slapped her hard on the other side of the face.
"Easy to see you really ARE lowborn" she said "Those of us who have some level of birth have a thing called noblesse oblige; which means a duty of care to one's underlings. And even if you had not considered such an elf as a person, the cost to the school of a trained elf is not low. You would be liable for the purchase of another you know; or your family would be morally obliged to give the school any elf they owned. You have none of the instincts of a lady. You are neither remorseful for your misdeeds nor are you even grateful to your rescuers; perhaps you should reflect on what might have happened had not Adelard been a competent diviner and Zlatka an exceptional witch."
"I can guarantee that one of the things that would have happened is that half the first would have celebrated her drowning with a party" said Zlatka cheerfully. "Professor Von Freyer, can't we throw her back in? She owes Adelard and me a life debt so that means we get to throw her back doesn't it?"
Valda shrieked.
"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that Zlatka" said Cacilia.
"Pity" said Adelard "Of course I'm not so very good at reading the cards yet; it was my mistake that I thought it was a PERSON drowning."
"Oh well done Adelard" said Zlatka. This little twerp had actually tweaked the pompous little tick's strings hard enough to make him break out in sarcasm!
Valda dissolved into tears.
"I'd dose her with glumbumble juice if she keeps that up too long" said Cacilia to the nurse.
"Oh I shall; there's nothing really wrong with her, thanks to Zlatka and her warming charms" said the nurse "I'm only keeping them in overnight for observation with pepperup potion as a prophylactic. Zlatka can go if she likes and promises to keep quietly to her bed for the evening."
"I'll brew you cocoa and fetch and carry magazines and books if you like" said Gisela.
"I'd rather you fetched and carried my prep" said Zlatka "If I don't have to stick to durance vile I can do my prep on my knees and Frau Kluba will have to put up with my essay on dung looking like it was written while I was being composted."
Gisela laughed.
"She won't notice" she declared.
Zlatka and friends and supporters withdrew from the hospital wing – Zlatka in a dressing gown an elf was sent to fetch her – and Valda was left with her own thoughts.
oOoOo
Valda's interview with the head was not comfortable. Agata Bacsó made it quite clear what she thought of naughty irresponsible children whose own selfish desires brought trouble unnecessarily to others. That Valda had not been punished by circumstances by being ill was, the head said coldly, purely due to the skill of Zlatka and the fortuitous ability of Adelard. Valda had to submit to a caning and to being moved to sleep in the hospital wing for the rest of the term under the nurse's eye, and would be accompanied at all times by an elf under orders to stop her going anywhere she was not supposed to go, as she could not be trusted; and would not be permitted to skate at all even if the ice held but would instead go with her elven escort on nice healthful walks around the edge of the lake.
That was in a way a double punishment; not merely missing something she loved but having to see others participate in it.
The head however made it clear that if Valda would not learn to behave in a reasonable manner, she might go home instead in disgrace with her wand broken; and Agata had her fingers crossed behind her back when she threatened this since she hoped the child would not accept expulsion. Expelling two in one term did not look good. Agata did not see it, as Severus saw it, as a personal failure; but she knew it did not reflect well on her own discipline. Valda should have a chance to redeem herself.
"And do remember you owe a life debt to both Adelard and Zlatka" said Agata "It is as binding as a ritual; and one day it may come back to haunt you if you cannot find a way of showing your gratitude."
A life debt in the wizarding world was a serious business; the debtor could become ill if there was no way to repay it. The number of times members of the blood group had saved each others' lives had made them almost forget the matter; since the blood bonding was a tie so profound it went beyond the tie formed by life debt, in effect nullifying its effects.
oOoOo
Adelard discussed the life debt with Zlatka.
"Well I don't want the brat to owe me anything" said Zlatka.
"That is no longer your choice" said Adelard "I went to the library and looked it up; the life debt must be repaid, or the recipient willing to pay it or they may suffer dreams and other uncomfortable symptoms. And so may the person so owed."
"Hmm" said Zlatka "I wonder if it accounts for the blood oath I made to become a Marauder? We swear to protect and serve, to give up our childhood if need be and to die to protect the weak."
"I never realised so much was asked of you!" Adelard was scandalised.
"Oh we go into it willingly" said Zlatka. "Come on; library work. I don't want that little millstone hanging round my neck. I think blood snobs are disgusting."
"She has some wrong ideas I think about how to behave" said Adelard "Perhaps I should make myself responsible for teaching her so her obligation to me is less onerous."
"Well if you're prepared to take her on and see if you can make her human, good luck" said Zlatka. "Well I suppose you've found your pure bred bride; isn't that where life debts can lead? You certainly want to make sure she grows up half decent."
"Oh dear me" said Adelard.
"Well perhaps you can fake up an accident and let her rescue you instead" said Zlatka.
"That might be as well" said Adelard "Ah, you are correct, Zlatka; here is a paragraph on Vehmgerichten and the like who are expected to risk themselves for others, whose oath supersedes any accidental bond-oath of debt."
"Excellent" said Zlatka. "I thought it must be so or Nefrita Von Strang would have half the ex-werewolves in Germany dreaming about her and being a flaming nuisance. I'll put my excruciatingly talented mind to a way to rescue you from the girl's unwilling oath-gratitude."
"Thank you" said Adelard. "Oh that's interesting; your blood-oath to protect comes under the same exceptions of saving kin, or loved ones; which is sort of the thing anyone might do and so it's not deep enough to form the magical bond."
"Yes? Ah, that too explains other things" said Zlatka, thinking of the bloodkin whose ties were closer than kin or friendship, even between those who had not even met; because if they did meet the recognition would be immediate and mutual.
oOoOo
The good thing that came out of the affair was a justification for teaching divination.
Had not Adelard had some training he would never have been a strong enough seer to have a vision, especially as he had never even spoken to Valda before. The accidental reading showed that those of even moderate power might avert disaster, and Agata made sure to write this up for the governors.
Salvia made Adelard write it up in case he ever pursued his studies to NEWT where a portfolio of personal divination experiences was presented as part of the exam rather than expecting all the candidates to produce visions to order. She signed it for him and asked Agata to countersign it too. Adelard was not sure if he would pursue any such studies; but it was worth keeping a portfolio in case, say, he decided to apply to work in an insurance office as an assistant assessor. It opened up his options.
oOoOo
"All right kid; I've been looking up life debts because I want to know what I've let myself in for" said Adelard to Valda.
"Why should I owe you a life debt? All you did was look at measly cards and make a wild guess" said Valda
"You know, Schutzstab, you are going out of your way to exploit the magical bond between us if you think I'm going to let you off being so rude to a final year man without getting creative in jinxing you" said Adelard grimly "Just because I can't do the showy stuff that the duelling team do doesn't mean I couldn't leave you bound, tickled and vomiting slugs if you really go out of your way to be more than usually obnoxious; and by the shock on your classmates faces at your rudeness they wouldn't lend a finger to protect you and I bet any prefect would look the other way. I've been an ass at times myself but to be so rude to a sixer? Honestly! Especially as I am actually trying to help you as well as to get over heavy ground lightly myself. I could, you know, have written up my homework and said that the cards indicated a drowning; and then when you were found drowned, my result would have been validated but I should not have been in trouble for not going out personally to look. Nobody could have expected me to decide to get spooked and actually take it seriously. After all, YOU apparently don't take looking at measly cards seriously; so I guess you WOULD ignore a warning if you saw one."
"The rest of us are going to take any warnings jolly seriously from now on, Löenzahn" called Klaudius Slevernagel "Even if all we manage to land is an undersized Kraken like Schutzstab. There's just no need for that level of stupid rudeness."
"Thus public opinion" said Adelard. "Well, you can leave it and see where that gets you; because I'm not actually bothered if you repay it or not. I discovered that the one who does the saving only gets problems if they have issues with the one saved; and actually you're too insignificant a little girl for me to actually care enough to get worked up over you having the bad dreams. If you want to apologise for your manners you can find me in the senior common room or in my study. Try not to kill yourself again until I've safely left school; I really don't want to be inconvenienced again."
He was applauded politely by most of the rest of the first as he left.
Adelard rather liked that; he had never been popular being too pompous to attract much liking, especially in little ones. But he found that a descent into sarcasm amused those who were spectators. Adelard knew he would never have the biting wit of Zlatko; but even amusing babes was flattering. But it would be improper to foster it just to court popularity; they had supported him because he was in the right and behaving with tolerable dignity.
In which Adelard was quite correct; his irritation tightly controlled had given him a dignity that neither his pomposity nor his occasional loss of temper had ever done; but one did NOT readily jinx a junior into a ball or scream at them; far too lowering to be provoked thus!
His cold telling off actually reached Valda further than the official tickings off she had received; because he COULD have just written up his card reading. Deep down she was beginning to realise that she did owe him her life; and Zlatka too.
oOo
The would-be marauders had lost interest in Valda; they were more interested in trying to find out how the magic in the maze worked. After the musical marauders had caught them trying to poke around and had cuffed them well, Nedelya asked outright.
The Musical Marauders grinned.
"Now if you only take serious notice of Ancient Runes you might figure it out" said Zoltan "It's all based on rune power; how we planted it and the choices of runes and what plants we used. If you get to be full marauders we'll share all its secrets; but for now my advice to you is to do the same as the rest of us and concentrate on your studies and library work and use clever research to pull any japes you go for. And no copying mind!"
"Can we use chanting to enhance the effects of things that we might be dodgy about doing with wand work?" asked Daffodil.
"I don't know; can you?" said Bronislava in a schoolmarm voice.
"Well is it allowed?" asked Daffodil.
"Oh certainly; so long as you know how to undo the effects" said Beremud "Be a bit off if you used it to create some effect that's amusing in the short term but rather irritating if permanent; I mean, the prefects would be waxy if you made them purple for evermore for example."
"That's dull anyway" said Xanthos. "Just jinxes are sort of a bit pedestrian."
"Good man" said Lindhard.
"He has the idea" said Beryx.
"Library work" said Corneliu.
oOoOo
The would-be marauders disappeared into the library to read obscure books in their leisure times – at least when it was not fine and they went outside to take advantage of the good weather. They amassed a selection of odd lore and snippets of almost useful information; and found where the Musical Marauders had marked certain elder Futhark runes. This temporarily sidetracked them; and they carefully removed all the markers and rubbed out pencil notes and smugly informed the Musical Marauders that they had done so.
"Well that's Marauder solidarity" said Sigismund "You got anywhere yet?"
"Not entirely" said Ilarion, hedging a little. "We have lots of notes of interesting stuff."
"Hmm, well, have you cross-correlated it yet to see if any two snippets make an idea?" asked Sigismund.
They brightened and went haring off to their common room and notes.
"Well it keeps them quiet" said Zoltan "And they should be the better educated for it if not any wiser."
oOoOo
The cross correlating came up trumps.
"That Hieroglyph I found about transfiguration" said Ilarion "Can we use that in conjunction with chanting? I just found something on activating runes, like the Musical Marauders did. The word's pronounced 'Sah' and I reckon we could draw it – hook thing, ibis, louvered round window and stick with dibbly bits in the middle. If we draw it on a flagstone with wand writing and add a chant, we could transfigure anyone who stood on it by activating the rune and kind of being more specific with the chant."
"If you think I can design a chant in Ancient Egyptian, think again" said Daffodil "I'm struggling with Greek and Saxon thank you."
"I don't think it has to be all IN Ancient Egyptian" said Nedelya "And as I'm the one who's good at transfigurations, you'd better let me draw it because I can infuse it with – with – with something."
"Good idea" said Ilarion.
"What are we going to transfigure?" asked Xanthos.
"Their clothes" said Ilarion "And make them into Ancient Egyptian stuff; and if we can leave them pulled for a moment into the shape of Egyptian tomb paintings."
This caused much hilarity and enthusiasm.
They decided to dig around a bit more and add the hieroglyph for clothes, 'hebsu' and chant 'Sah hebsu' seven times for good luck before chanting in German – the language they all had in common and native to none but Marlene who was therefore to check the grammar – and then fell to squabbling over how many lines the chant should have and how many syllables per line. Daffodil recalled reading an article about the number twenty three and its ability to be made up of prime numbers and suggested a chant using five, eleven and seven syllables on each of three lines. This was not too difficult a task so the others agreed thankfully.
"Why is twenty three important?" asked Nedelya.
"Dunno" said Daffodil "I was only reading part of the article because the rest was wrapped around fish in the market."
"Well it's jolly enterprising" said Ilarion "Even shopping has opportunities."
They fell to work with more enthusiasm than poetic style.
It was decided that they should use another flagstone to change people back to normal; which meant doing the whole business twice over to operate in both directions.
They almost went for advice at this point; but Daffodil recalled that with magical exclusion circles the direction the chanter faced made a difference and so they oriented themselves very carefully and Nedelya drew the inscriptions carefully with her wand four times over facing in each direction. She had pencilled them first and then they all chanted the Egyptian as she went over them with her wand. The glyphs glowed faintly; but not enough for anyone coming along the corridor in a hurry to notice.
They had picked a corridor near an archway into a cloakroom where there would be much passage of people and where they might withdraw into the archway to observe the results.
It was really very satisfying.
The conspirators may not have managed to make their victims walk like Egyptians – the Musical Marauders could have made a guess and probably made a good guess about where to do the research, but it was out of the league of babes in the first – but even so it was hilarious to see as their first victim Zyrillis Genauschüren walk onto the step, assume a starched linen kilt, jewelled collar and striped headdress and as the fact of his suddenly changed attire was sinking in to put his foot down on the next flagstone and resume his normal appearance.
Zyrillis stopped, turned around, and went back the other way.
"Efficient" he said; and went on his way, ignoring his brief foray again into the fashions of some three thousand years and many miles distance.
"I said that they wouldn't get too waxy if we made them go back to normal" said Ilarion with satisfaction. "We've got a good chance of catching most of the school before somebody decides to care enough to make us take it down."
They munched apples and drank pumpkin juice contentedly watching the entertainment; the major entertainment being in the various looks on the faces of the passers by as they became, briefly, Ancient Egyptians rather than in the change as such. The faces reflected a wide range of emotions from startled surprise to horrified outrage; and there was cheerful approval from the Musical Marauders who went cheerfully to stand on the flag that changed them, each in turn doing the walking like Egyptians poses just for fun. There was some disappointment when Zlatko went through at such speed that he did not notice – or rather it did not impinge on his consciousness for several strides when he came to a sudden halt, turned, saw five giggling faces and said
"Oh it wasn't my imagination then' and carried on at his long legged stride.
Catching Vighard Sternschuppe of the lower sixth was not so funny.
Vighard was furious that his dignity should be so interfered with; he, like Harald Trollkettil, was very conscious of his image. Where Harald would probably only have shouted at the children and then would have reported them, Vighard took issue personally; and when Attila Nagy came along to find out how true was the rumour of a transfiguration taking place in the north lower corridor it was to find that Vighard had grabbed Marlene as the smallest and most delicate child and was twisting her arm up behind her back whilst casting stinging hex after stinging hex at the other four who were valiantly trying to rescue their friend.
"DESIST!" said Attila.
The small ones fell back at the voice of authority; Vighard gave a final vicious wrench to Marlene before letting her go. She collapsed in a heap, fainting.
Vighard dangled from one ankle; and Attila gave the spell a twist to make it pull. The boy yelled. He was suspended in the transfiguration zone too and consequently found the suspension rather drafty in his nether regions.
"Can give it but can't take it eh?" said Attila, kneeling by the little girl. "That's nasty. Fortunately I know quite a lot about medical transfigurations; I'll make it a bit more comfortable for now then I'm taking her directly to the nurse. You lot may follow at your own pace." He apparated away with Marlene.
Jape forgotten the others ran as fast as they could to the hospital wing, breaking most of the school rules about running in corridors, on stairs and using senior passages as short cuts. They were fortunate not to be caught.
Attila laid Marlene on the bed, telling the nurse curtly that he had caught a senior twisting her arm rather viciously; and proceeded to use a magical projection of the child's shoulder to use in a chant to heal her, picking an ancient Irish chant 'Ault fri halt di, féith fri féth' meaning 'joint to joint, sinew to sinew' because that was appropriate for a separated shoulder. He had a lot more knowledge of the power of twenty three than the young conspirators and repeated the chant twenty three times while Marlene gazed rather worshipfully on him, having regained her senses as the pain subsided.
The worshipful gaze was somewhat echoed by the rest of the group when they arrived.
"All right; how did you produce the effect?" asked Attila.
They told him, enthusiastically. He did not seem irritable over it after all.
He nodded.
"An excellent use of lateral thinking in using runic and chanting addenda to transfiguration" he said "Now I AM going to set you an imposition; I want each of you to write it up, including carefully transcribed hieroglyphs. Then, if anyone asks, you have been set punishment. The best copy will be given to Zlatko to file in the marauding book of wickedness and I shall keep the next best for my own amusement."
"I say sir, you're a real brick" said Ilarion.
"Well Marauders MUST maraud" said Attila "Now let me check the lot of you out for any permanent damage… I see he's used wand burning as well as stinging hexes" he added as the Revellaspell showed up cursed wounds "A quick chant to cure that…." He chanted over them and they beamed at him. "Now go away and be not seen for the rest of this wet Saturday" said Attila sternly "And I am afraid I shall remove your enterprising enchantment."
"That's all right sir; we had our fun from it" said Xanthos "And it's taught me an awful lot about transfiguration too."
Attila's stern face relaxed into a smile.
"Then I should think that all the effort and pain was worth it for you" he said. "I believe you really may be one whose understanding of theory might help your practise; and in due course, when you all become full Marauders you will find certain understanding of many things becomes clearer. In the meantime I think you ought to think of an appropriate Marauder name for your group before some wag dubs you 'The Egyptian Marauders' and you find it sticks."
"Yes sir! Thank you sir!" they chorused.
oOoOo
Attila returned to find Vighard still dangling. He dropped him, none too gently to the floor.
"Get out of the enchantment zone; you do not grace the garb" he said. Vighard shifted quickly. Attila chanted over the zone to remove it, absently casting the full body bind on Vighard as he tried to move quietly away. The wand writing on the flagstones lost what little glow it had and only the pencil remained. Attila did not think there was enough power in the laboriously drawn pencilled hieroglyphs to cause any further disruption. He turned his attention to Vighard, dropping the spell that bound him.
"So you thought you would play the coward in sneaking away, even as you played the coward by picking on the smallest child in that group?" he said softly.
Vighard shuffled.
"I – I thought you had finished with me" he muttered.
"Oh? Then I should not have thought you would have needed to be stealthy then" said Attila. "I have scarcely begun with you. For an adult – you are just seventeen as I recall – to hurt a little girl so badly that had I not been the excellent medical transfigurationist and chanter that I am would have cost her weeks in the sanatorium is disgraceful. And for what? For a silly yet amusing prank that caused no lasting harm to anyone. Why, such a jape was less of a nuisance even than an apple pie bed or jelly in the gumboots or some specie of deadfall; which are all perfectly standard jokes for juniors to play. This piece of mischief was sufficiently sophisticated to return all caught in it to normal as soon as they have realised they have been caught. You are not even in an exam year to have the excuse for hysterical over-reacting; your temper is uncontrolled and you are far too old to get away with behaving like a two-year old."
"SIR!" protested Vighard.
Attila glared at him.
"A two year old unable to express himself clearly might be forgiven for having a temper-tantrum and acting violently even on a mild setback" he said "A boy of seventeen who has not more self control is a disgrace. It's about time you learned self control you have two choices Herr Sternschuppe; you can go to the head, who will probably expel you for bullying so blatantly; or you can sign a paper I shall prepare accepting a punishment of my devising to teach you self control."
"What – what would you do sir?" Vighard was nervous.
"I should implant in you a compulsion, every time you lose your temper and actually begin to act to hurt others for it, that you will take out your wand and fire a stinging hex into your own leg" said Attila. "You are aggressive and violent; and I can only hope that hurting yourself will bring you to your senses and teach you to think before you act in such aggression. If there is a reason you are so violent and you want to talk about it – your home life, for example – then I am willing to do so, and to try to help you explore the reasons that you are as you are to help you control yourself in less drastic ways."
Vighard shrugged.
"Being violent helped one survive the orphanage" he said. "It may be frowned on now, but it helped here in the old days too; and you forget how to control yourself when you find you get further by going at someone like a mad dog."
"Ah" said Attila "In that case, my boy, you are as much a victim as any that you hurt. Come to my office; and we shall talk; and it may not be necessary to place in so drastic a compulsion. Though I WILL want you to apologise to little Marlene AND explain to her and her group. It will be hard; but I suspect rewarding."
Vighard found himself drinking coffee and pouring out things he had thought he had managed to forget, humiliations and hatreds he had suffered and the way he had vowed never to be a victim again. And Attila listened; and nodded. Vighard was one of those wealthy orphans who had been in a Kinderhaus for such; where the preschool apprenticeship for Durmstrang was more likely to train bullies than scholars. And Vighard had minded more being made fun of than being hurt; which argued a sensitivity inside somewhere. And when he had talked it out, he was strangely comforted.
He did not much like the idea of apologising; but Professor Nagy had insisted that it was a sign of dignity and manliness; so he squared his shoulders and went in search of the would-be marauders.
