World Enough
Chapter 7 - Who's Voldemort?
Hermione was waiting outside the door to Charms when the boys arrived. She was practically vibrating with excitement as she bounced on the balls of her feet and clutched at a worn leather book.
When they were near enough, she began speaking very quickly, and the boys had a little trouble keeping up. "You'll never guess what happened to me! I was in the library gathering up every book that mentioned the Cursed Covenant and while I was walking to check them out, I was reading a bit out of one and not fully paying attention to where I was going, which was very silly of me, when I ran right into someone! All of my books crashed to the floor and as I bent to pick them up, so did the person I collided with. We apologized to each other and I didn't recognize him, so I introduced myself and so did he. His name was Tyler Sims!" She said his name with particular emphasis and Harry and Ron looked at each other. Were they supposed to know that name? She made an exasperated sort of noise. "Sims! One of the 5 Cursed Covenant families?"
Dawning realization lit up the boys eyes. "So you met one of them already, then?"
"No, I met 4 of them! They were on their way to Dumbledore's office and were lost. Tyler came into the library to ask Madame Pince the way, but she had stepped out, so I took them. There was Tyler Sims, like I said, as well as a Danvers, a Parry, and a Garwin. The only one missing was a Putnam. The other boys were uncomfortable when I mentioned that name, but didn't say anything about it. But," she said much softer now, since they'd entered the classroom and didn't want everyone to listen in, "the Garwin boy looks far too much like Malfoy. I'm sure they've got common ancestors. I mean, how many people have you seen with that color hair? Later on, I may have to see if I can trace one family back to the other."
The boys looked at each other again, thinking the same thing: More research. If Hermione started looking into her theory, then it would mean that they'd have to read about it. And they were already researched out, in preparation for the NEWTS they'd be taking at the very end of the year.
Tiny little Professor Flitwick started class then, testing them on the various charms they'd learnt in the past week.
"You can just call me Aine. I don't feel old enough to be known as 'Professor Burke,'" said the girl from where she sat on the teachers desk. "Besides, I'm here 'officially' as a TA, teachers assistant. Charms, if anyone asks. Unofficially, what I'm really here for is you guys. Dumbledore contacted me late last night and asked me if I could come because you four do wandless magic without having had any training in it, is that right?"
The four boys, all sitting or leaning against the students desks, nodded.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"5 years. Since we were 13."
"And what about before then? Did you use only wands?"
"No, we've never used a wand. We didn't have the magic before our 13th birthdays."
"That's strange. Everyone who has magic is born with it. It's in your blood. I read up on your curse this morning on the train and I'm willing to bet that your magic being blocked until 13 is a part of it no one knew about.
"I'd like to see what you can do. That way, I can try to come up with some sort of lesson plan. Oh, and before I forget- if you look at your schedules, you each have two free periods every day, and it would be best to use one of them for our training. The other option is to meet in the evening, but if you do that, the other students will likely ask questions. Anyway, we can figure that out later. Lemme see some magic!"
"What do you want us to do?"
The petite girl drummed her fingernails on the desktop, making a satisfying tapping sound. "How about moving one of those desks away from the wall?"
They all looked at each other and Pogue shrugged and stepped forward. He looked Aine dead in the eye and Used, reaching out to the desk with his mind. She drew a sharp breath as his eyes went black.
There was a horrible grating sound as one desk began to move, it's feet scraping against the stone floor. Aine's eyes sought out which one was moving, then she looked back at Pogue. He was using no incantations and no gestures. This was the rarest, truest form of wandless magic.
Suddenly, Pogue grinned at her and Aine was glad she was already sitting down, because her stomach dropped and she felt light and fluttery. All the desks, including the ones that Tyler and Caleb were sitting on, shot towards the center of the room. Reid stumbled backwards, but caught himself before he hit the floor.
Pogue's eyes faded back to their normal color. "How was that?"
"Fine, good." Aine replied after a brief pause. She hadn't felt like that since fifth year, when she found herself in the arms of Marcus Flint after a bizarre broomstick incident.
Thinking of Marcus, she quickly came back to her senses.
"That's enough for now. I've got a lot to unpack, and I'll sit down and make a list of things for you to do on Monday." She paused, and looked at her watch. "It's 2:30. Classes will be out soon and Dumbledore said you have someone else to meet then?"
"Yes," Caleb said. "We're going to meet the other two students who're supposed to help us get supplies tomorrow. We met one of them earlier, Hermione Granger?"
"Oh, I know Hermione! She's brilliantly talented and grew up muggle like you four. When she was a third year, she took some advanced electives that I was taking as a fifth year. Got a higher grade, too."
"She said she was a head girl," offered Tyler.
"I don't doubt it. Head Girl is a coveted position, and it goes to the best. You're lucky she's got time to help you. Are you meeting back in the Headmaster's office?"
"No, they're coming to our common room. I think Dumbledore doesn't want us lost in the halls again." Caleb had the grace to look slightly embarrassed at Tyler's words, but Pogue didn't seem to care.
"Well, best get going anyway, then. I want to unpack my clothes at lest before dinner, so I can change out of these. Figure out which free period you wanna meet and let me know. My quarters are through there, so this is where you'll usually find me. If I would happen to be out, just stick a note on the door."
She hopped off the desk and had to look way up to the boys. She resolved to wear heels from now on. "I'll see you guys later, then. Have a good weekend."
They returned her well-wishes and good-byes, and Aine smiled at them as they left. She let her eyes linger on the longer-haired boy for a few seconds longer than she meant to, but not nearly as long as she wanted to.
Everyone, even Hermione, was ready to get out of Charms when the bell finally rang. They all scooped up their things and clustered around the door, each wanting to be the first one through. Last class on Friday was always like this, but usually Hermione detested that type of behavior. Today, she joined the throng. She was eager to get to the meeting.
She, Harry, and Ron all went directly to Gryffindor tower. Harry and Ron went to their dorm room and tossed their bags under their beds, to be forgotten until Sunday night when they'd do their weekend homework, and they changed out of their uniform and into casual, weekend clothes.
After trading her skirt for jeans and shedding her uniform vest, tie, and long black robe, Hermione sat down on her bed and sorted through her book bag. She replaced all of her school books and notes with fresh paper and library books. She then went into the bathroom and checked her hair and face. She had a bad habit of getting ink on her fingers and then brushing her hair behind her ears, leaving ink smudges on her cheeks and in her hair. Today, there was no ink. She pushed her hair behind her ears and a lock sprang right back out.
Making a small noise of disgust, she tugged it straight and let go. It immediately re-coiled and bounced there. Hermione glared at it. After 4th year, she began to let her hair grow, at her mothers urging. Finally, in about the middle of 6th year, it had gotten long enough so that it's weight pulled the frizz she was used to a little flatter, and it now hung in disorderly corkscrew curls. She hated it.
She wished not for the first time that she had Lavender's straight golden locks, but she knew she did not have the patience for straightening charms every morning, nor did she want to dye it. Her brown hair matched her skin tone in a way that she knew blonde never would. She sighed. She'd never tell anyone, especially her two roommates, but she sometimes longed to be more like them. Girly and boy-crazy, putting on make-up, going on dates, and generally not worrying constantly about the fate of the world.
But she could never be like that. And boys were never interested in her, she was much too plain and boring.
'That's not true,' a small voice told her. 'Tyler was noticing you!'
'Only because I plowed into him,' she told the voice.
'Whatever,' it replied. 'We both felt his eyes on you in the hall.'
Hermione began to ignore the voice and left the bathroom.
Shortly after, the three of them arrived in Dumbledore's office. They all three looked around for the Covenant boys, Hermione's excitement rubbing off on the boys, but only the Headmaster was there.
He stood as they entered and made a moments small talk about the days classes before picking up a brown-paper wrapped package and telling them to follow him. They did, and ended up in a little-used hallway on the sixth floor. There ere no classes held in this hall of the one it emptied into, so it was mainly used on Tuesdays and Thursdays when the upper-class Ravenclaws went to and from Ancient Runes.
Dumbledore halted them in front of a portrait she didn't remember seeing when she walked back from Runes, talking with a classmate.
It was a young man, about her own age, but he carried himself with dignity and not a small amount of superiority. "Good evening, Rupert. Rescue any damsels today?"
"Alas, no. But I did shine my armour twice. It's reflective enough to fix my hair in, which will be very handy. You need to look your best when rescuing fair maidens." Rupert looked smug.
Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered, "What a prat!" Harry nodded in agreement. Dumbledore gave the password and entered. The Gryffindors followed him, and the portrait swung shut.
There was a short, dark hall, and then it opened up to a fair sized common room. It wasn't even half the size of the Gryffindor common room, but Hermione liked it's intimate nature and the shelves of books. Glancing at them, she recognized the spines of several past textbooks and other commonly used research books. Ron and Harry liked the tables by the windows that were teeming with foodstuffs, like sandwiches, cookies, and pitchers of pumpkin juice.
Two of the Covenant boys, Pogue and Tyler, were sitting in two chairs by the fireplace, and Caleb was walking down the stairs. "Good afternoon, boys. I trust your lesson went well?"
"I guess. We didn't really do much," said Tyler, looking up.
Dumbledore nodded. "Where is Mr. Garwin? I would like to make introductions and get started."
"I'm here," came a voice from the top of the stairs. Everyone looked up, and Harry and Ron did a comical double-take.
"Damn, 'Mione, you were right! He's got to have Malfoy blood." Ron paused. "It's a little creepy." Harry nodded his agreement.
"Who's Malfoy?"
"A Slytherin tosser."
"Ron!" Hermione scolded him. Speaking like that in front of the Headmaster! Fortunately, Dumbledore had chosen that moment to wonder over to the food table.
Reid raised his eyebrows. He didn't know what the red-head meant by 'tosser' but judging by the tone, it wasn't something positive. He also figured that this wasn't the time to bring up his own new 'Slytherin' status. He glanced at Tyler who usually on the same wavelength, but Tyler wasn't looking at him. He was looking at Hermione.
Reid looked towards the other boys, but was distracted. "Hey, food!"
Caleb, Pogue, and Tyler looked at him, then looked where he was looking. They're eyes widened. None of that had been there before, and, they just realized, they were starving.
Dumbledore turned back to them all. "Please, make your plates and gather back around." That was all the invitation the boys needed. All 6 of them rushed the table. Hermione took it a little more delicately.
While they were picking out sandwiches, the boys of the Covenant said hello to Hermione. "How was your afternoon? Get lost anymore?"
They grinned at her and Caleb shook his head. "These are my friends, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter," she gestured at each one in turn. "And these guys are Caleb Danvers, Pogue Parry, Tyler Sims, and Reid Garwin."
They seated themselves around the fire place, Tyler and Pogue back in the arm chairs and Hermione sat between Harry and Ron on the couch. Reid and Caleb pulled chairs over from the table. Caleb sat between Pogue and Ron, Reid between Tyler and Harry. Dumbledore opted to stand.
"Centuries ago, sometime during the early 1400's, a small wizarding village was founded called Whedonton. It was located somewhere very near the Scottish border, on a small river.
"The people of Whedonton lived quietly, keeping muggles out with special charms and wards. It was this way for several decades, and the village prospered, trading with other nearby villages, both wizarding and muggle. A man by the name of Travers grew up there and became a trader. Unlike the other traders, however, Travers was deceitful. He often made deals with items he knew would break, or would trick people in to agreeing to give him a valuable item in change for something useless.
"Travers would then sell what he had gained at an unfair price to the people back in Whedonton, and eventually, the townsfolk grew tired of it. One day, Travers refused to sell food he'd recently acquired at the same price to everyone, and people decided enough was enough. A group of strong men attacked Travers, snapped his wand, and banished him from the area.
"Things grew better, and for two years, Whedonton was peaceful again. While he was banished, Travers wandered the country like a gypsy, using tricks and thievery to get by, and seeking out the strongest magic users he could find. They taught him much in exchange for things he could steal, and once he was powerful enough, he returned to exact his vengeance on Whedonton.
"He remembered very clearly which men had attacked him and drove him away, and he had a special plan for them. To Travers, it seemed that those men had forcibly taken his life away, by snapping his wand and ripping away the only life he'd ever known. So he came up with a spell to remove their lives. He didn't want to outright kill them, because he wanted them to suffer.
"What he did was to tie the magic in their blood to their very life, making it so that for every bit of magic they used, it would use up a little piece of life. The larger the magics, the larger the bit of life lost.
"He cast this spell at, of course, midnight, and it took immediate effect. When they woke the next day, they went about their business casting spells and charms as usual. The men at work were growing tired, and they went home only to discover the same thing happening to their wives, and even their children. You see, when Travers cast this spell, it affected not only the men, but their entire family.
"A week passed and the families aged, and the first death occurred. They convened and discussed what was happening, and eventually realized that the families were connected by Travers. They elected riders to go out and search, but the search was quick as Travers was still just outside the wards, watching his spell take effect. They ordered him to lift it, but he refused, and, in their anger, killed him.
"That was a terrible mistake, since no one could now know how to counter the curse, since it was Travers own creation, and there was no wand to study. The cursed families tried to continue on, but they found it difficult to continue living with people who were still able to use magic openly, and the traders from the nearby towns became afraid of them when they showed the outward affects of aging.
"Ultimately, they gathered together and left Whedonton. They traveled together for a time, supporting one another and staying to themselves. It was then that they were given the name of 'Cursed Coven' and for a few decades, they were hidden, and people talked of them as if they were only a folktale.
"It wasn't until the late 1500's, when there was a muggle religious uproar, that they were discovered again. The muggles were splitting their common religion into many sects, and none of the sects wanted anything to do with each other, so they began to leave the main towns and resettle elsewhere. It was during these travels that a group encountered the Cursed Coven and brought them back into the public eye. They were discovered at witches, and were driven away. Some were captured and killed, and most of the rest left England totally. Some settled in other European countries, but one group had hidden in a small town called Scrooby, and heard of how several families journeyed across the Atlantic and founded a new colony. They stayed together and, under assumed identities, made the arduous voyage across the Atlantic with the Puritans in the mid 1600's. It was easier not to use magic after the practice they'd had for decades, and the muggles suspected nothing.
"The families, who you know to be Danvers, Sims, Parry, Garwin, and Putnam, began to call themselves the 'Cursed Covenant' now, in correspondence with the few friends they still had in Whedonton and elsewhere. They settled in the new world, and eventually founded a town, that they called Ipswich. Shortly after, they severed all contact with their English brethren." Dumbledore finished, looking a little grim. The boys and Hermione were all staring at him wide-eyed, their food all but forgotten.
"So every time you use magic, your life gets shorter?" Hermione fully grasped the curse; she'd read every book about it in the library and listened closely to Dumbledore's explanation, but she was having a hard time really believing it.
The boys nodded, expressions grave.
"I am having trouble understanding some parts, and I had hoped that you could explain them to us," Dumbledore began again. "You do your magic wandless and without incantation, and only the males in your family inherit the power. Do you know why this is? Neither of those were conditions of the original curse."
"Actually, only the first-born males inherit it. If any of us had a younger brother, he would be what you call muggle. We've never even seen real magic wands before. It has always been this way for us, as far as we know. We have a book, called the Book of Damnation, and it has records of everything, dating back to before Ipswich was founded. It says that no one knows where the power came from or why, but it does have our entire family trees in it, starting with us, and ending with the men who crossed the Atlantic. In all of those families, only the oldest son was listed as being magic. We thought that it had just always been that way, forever," Caleb explained.
"No, not forever. I have a suspicion that your ancestors were attempting to remove the curse, and if they could not remove it, to bind the magic itself. It will take some testing, but my theory is that they put a new curse on themselves to try and make their magic unusable. It must've worked, except in the case of the first-born son. And even then, he does not receive his magic until his 13th birthday. I believe that this is the magics own way of protecting itself. You see, magic is a powerful force. We wield it, but only because it allows us to." Dumbledore paused, giving the younger generation time to reflect upon his words.
"Now, of the Putnam family. Where is the youngest member?"
This time, Pogue answered. "We thought we had killed him." The Gryffindor 7th years looked slightly horror struck, and Caleb's face darkened. Pogue hastened to explain. "See, a long time ago, not too long after Ipswich was founded, American's caught the English fervor of witch hunting. There was a huge which trial in Salem, and several innocent people were killed. John Putnam was also killed. He wanted to go against the rest of the families and show our power, thinking it would give us greater status and wealth. The other families knew that he was wrong, and that we must keep our magic secret, especially during the witch hunts. John Putnam was eventually killed as a witch himself, after a respectable widow accused him of coming inter her bedroom at night in the form of an incubus. He was stoned, and since he wasn't married, the other families thought that the end of the Putnam line.
"But at the beginning of this year, right before Caleb turned 18 and ascended, received his full power, a boy called Chase Collins transferred to our school. Really strange things started to happen. A student even died, and we discovered that Chase had some sort of powers, too. We stole his file and read it, and found out that he killed his adoptive parents on the day of his own 18th birthday, and that his real last name was Pope.
"We looked that up in the Book of Damnation, and that was the last name of the woman who accused John Putnam. Turned out, she gave birth to a son, 9 months later."
"So this Chase boy was a Putnam after all?" Hermione asked.
Pogue nodded. "He was a Putnam, and he was seriously addicted to Using. See, with this aging thing, we don't really use magic much, but when we do, it's a..." Pogue trailed off, searching for the proper word.
"Euphoric?" Tyler offered.
"Yeah. The feeling is just over-whelming, like we can do anything, like the world can be yours. It's like a drug, and you really can get addicted to it. And Chase was. He had searched out his real father, and found the dying shell of an old man in a 40 year old's body. His father had been addicted too, but he had pushed it too far. His last act was to will his magic into Chase, giving Chase access to even more power at once.
"Chase thought that if he could gather even more power, by forcing Caleb to will his power over too, that the aging wouldn't happen to him. He was sure that the aging happened because the magic was being used up. We tried to explain that it was the body that gave out, not the magic, but he was crazy. He tried to kill me, kill my ex-girlfriend, kill Caleb's girlfriend, and he did kill that student.
"But Caleb's own father," here, Pogue paused, swallowing, and looking to Caleb, who stood and moved to the windows. Pogue lowered his voice and continued. "Caleb's father had been addicted, too. An old family friend was caring for him, barley keeping him alive, but while Chase and Caleb were fighting, and after Caleb ascended, Caleb's mother went to his father and talked him into willing his power to his son. Caleb received his father's magic just in time, and managed to defeat Chase and rescue Sarah, his girlfriend, who Chase had managed to kidnap right out from under Reid and Tyler's noses.
"But see, when you will your magic away, it's like you just Used and Used until it was all gone, and it wipes your life out immediately, and you die." Hermione shuddered.
"So, you thought Caleb killed Chase? What really happened?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore answered before Pogue could. "Do you remember the boy from your dreams Harry? The boy who you first saw climbing out of a burning pile of rubble?" Harry nodded.
"So you think that Chase is the boy from my dreams? The boy who I saw with Voldemort?" Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, and they all knew that meant that Harry had guessed right.
Reid raised his hand. "Who's Voldemort?"
Whew! It's a record-length chapter for this fic, 10 pages! Well, 9 and a quarter. This A/N will put it to 10, probably. And I'm sorry it took so long. Halloween is a two-day event here (took up Monday and Tuesday) and I worked all weekend, which meant that I got writing done, but I still had to type it up.
Now, a few important things (well, depending on whether you even noticed...): First, in the library scene chapter, Hermione asked whether Reid was the Garwin or the Pope boy. Obviously that should've been Putnam, not Pope. Hermione would not have known the Pope name until after the big discussion in this chapter. Thanks to SweetRocks for pointing that out.
Secondly, I had Reid narrowly escape from the Death Eaters and run down the hall with no shoes on. And then I never gave him any shoes later on, and they didn't exactly have time to pack, and no one offered them new clothes yet, so that leads me to believe that he is still running around barefoot. Obviously, it's been a whole day and someone would've noticed him walking around in stocking feet, so let's try this:
Everyone imagine that Tyler had an extra pair of gym shoes in the back of his Hummer, and we'll also imagine that Tyler and Reid wear the same size or very close to the same size shoe, and we'll go on from there and assume that Tyler said, "Here, Reid. Since you have no shoes on, you can wear these." And naturally Reid said, "Okay. I will put your shoes on, since I cannot make such a long journey with bare feet."
Thus, he is no longer barefoot.
Marah: How is Aine? Acceptable, or do you hate her?
And thanks to all of my reviewers! SweetRocks, Marah, RedRogue, La Rose Noir, animefanqueen, Angelique-du-Coudray1, Crickes, and valaarien!
Please review!
