Chapter 8 – Smoke

"Sybill?" Luna called, knocking loudly on the crooked door of the very odd looking house.

Hermione stepped back for a minute, taking in its appearance as best she could.

It reminded her of the Burrow, in its odd irregularity at least. But even though the Burrow was a very odd home indeed, there was love that exuded from every nook and cranny of the property. It could be and was called ramshackle by some, even though it was charming and cozy and warm. But Hermione realized that was because of the people within it, especially when compared to this sad little house.

Sybill's home was put together as though no one cared enough about it or its owner to put it together correctly in the first place. It was all angles, and so lopsided in its design every single part of it appeared to be off kilter, from the door to the windows to the flower beds. This wasn't a design of needed and hurried additions, as the Burrow was. Instead, this house looked neglected in its creation and even unloved in its imbalance. The chimney, which was so large as to look like it belonged on a mansion instead of the tiny cottage, was cracked almost in two. The roof, which could have been very thatched and homey, even though it slanted to the left and down in almost a ninety degree angle, had obvious holes in it where birds nested repeatedly.

Hermione shivered, thinking that it reminded her of an illustration of a witch's house she'd seen an old story book from which her mother read to her when she as a child.

"Why have I never noticed this house before?" she wondered out loud.

"Because she put a Fidelis Charm on it," Luna said, putting a finger to her lips as though it were a secret.

"Are you a secret keeper?" Hermione asked, frowning.

Luna nodded. "I feed her cat when she's away, so it was kind of a must. Oh, I'm sure Tybalt's fine, Lia."

"He is," Hermione affirmed. "He's with Crookshanks at Birdsong, chasing the garden gnomes Molly throws over their fence and onto our property."

"Is that what you ended up naming your home? I like it," Luna said, turning to knock on the door again.

"Thank you. I liked it a lot too, it fits with the number of bir-"

The door swung open, suddenly, and a very highly perfumed smoke poured out of the door, making Hermione's eyes water as she coughed uncontrollably. Luna turned away from the entrance and started pounding her on the back.

"You'll get used to it," she said, handing Hermione a handkerchief from her pocket.

Hermione shook her head, trying to keep from retching on the street.

They didn't notice two spindly arms reaching out to them from the miasma. Strong hands grabbed the two women by their shirt collars, pulling them into the house, which suddenly disappeared from sight, as though it had never been there at all.


"Where's Jibby … Minny … where's your sister, Kreacher?" Severus asked. "Can you Summon her to you?"

Kreacher shook his head gravely and sniffled. "Jibby has been drinking with Winky since she helped the Professor clean Lia's rooms. Kreacher can't do anything with her. Minny's not right in the head anymore –Kreacher thinks her magic has cracked."

Severus sighed and ground his teeth together as he stood up. He paced the length of the entrance hall, deep in thought about exactly what to do next.

He'd not though that finding Lia would be easy – in fact, part of him still questioned whether or not she really could be dead, especially after the dreams he'd been having about her. If anything, he wanted to know what exactly had happened and make sure that Narcissa paid deeply for her crimes.

"We need to get back to Hogwarts and split up," he said, looking up at Ron and Harry. "I would like to talk to Poppy myself about what exactly she's been giving Lia on the first of every month. Can the two of you handle talking to Jibby?"

"I think we can manage a drunk house elf, Severus, but thanks for that," Harry replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ron raised two fingers at him defiantly and glowered.

Severus rolled his eyes upwards to the cracked ceiling, mentally counting to ten as he took his hand off of the wand in his sleeve.

"Kreacher," he said tightly. "Can you take us all back to Hogwarts?"

"Of course, Master Snape," Kreacher replied. He lifted his hands up to the men, and then shook his head and stepped back.

"Kreacher only has two hands. Kreacher will have to take you back separately."

The elf grabbed Severus's arm. He felt the quick whirl of a masterful house elf's Apparation and thought it to be very similar to being jolted by a Portkey, especially now that he had experienced the event twice in a week's time. As soon as they cracked into sight in front of the Hospital Wing, he rubbed his stomach, feeling the remnants of the jolt he'd felt to his abdomen as soon as Kreacher had touched him.

"I'll go get the young Master, now," Kreacher said, bowing as he disappeared again, the crack a little more pronounced now in the cold and quiet halls of the school.

Severus raised his hand to knock on the door to the wing, then changed his mind and opened the door instead.

"Poppy?" he called out. The ward was empty of course, all the beds made and neat as a pin, as though they were waiting for new patients to arrive at any minute.

He turned and walked to the left, past the first bed and down the short corridor to the Nurse's office. Now he decided to knock, though it was a perfunctory curtesy at best.

"Come in," said Poppy's kind voice.

Severus opened the door, and shut it quietly behind him.


"Owww!" Harry cried out as he banged his arm into one of the chairs in the kitchen.

"Sorry, Master Harry," Kreacher said, sighing heavily. "They moved that chair since Kreacher was here this morning."

"It's alright Kreacher," Harry said. "You okay Ron?"

"Brilliant," Ron said, rubbing his stomach slightly. "Can I get a snack?"

Ten elves suddenly appeared, each with a plate of assorted biscuits, sandwiches, and other food stuffs that they knew Ron to be partial to. He picked a little from each plate before he turned back to Harry.

Harry shook his head, disgusted as he always was over his best mate's ridiculous appetite, made even more ridiculous by the fact that the git managed to remain in perfect shape and health despite the number of meals he ate a day. He snickered softly, thinking that Ron reminded him of a character from a book he'd been made to read in his last year of primary school in Little Whinging.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked, stuffing a chocolate covered biscuit in his mouth. "Oh, that's good. Winky must have had a good morning, she makes those." He licked his lips and moaned softly.

Kreacher looked up at Harry. "Does Master want Kreacher to take him to Winky and 'Minny'?"

"Please," said Harry.

Kreacher led them down the long path of the kitchen to the great fireplaces at the very back. They'd been here before, of course, a number of times during their school terms to nick food off the elves, among other things. But, they'd never been here when the school was so empty, Harry thought, vaguely aware that most of the fires were not lit, and the great cauldrons that he knew to hold vast quantities of stews and soups and chowders were empty now. Even the vague mist of steam and aromatic scents that normally filled the space were gone.

There was one smaller fire burning, just large enough to cook the meals of the castle's few summer inhabitants and along with their guests.

In front of this fire were two tiny elves, one in a tea towel so filthy that it appeared to be rotting off of her body. The second was in a very dirty tea towel of her own. Both were nursing bottles of Butterbeer and talking sullenly, though whether they were talking to each other or to themselves Harry never really did quite figure out.

"Winky was such a good elf to her Crouch's," said the dirtiest one who Harry recognized quickly as Winky. She swayed slightly in her chair and burped loudly.

"Minny -" started the cleaner of the two, hiccupping before taking another sip of her drink. "Minny was so loyal to her lady. She never wanted no harm to come to her sweet lady, nedder ones o' em," she said, slurring a little now.

Harry looked at the number of bottles around them and grimaced.

"Winky always did what was right and what Mr. Crouch wants her to do," she said gloomily.

"Minny just wanted her lady back, she means no one no harm," she said, wailing now. She threw down her drink, the bottle shattering onto the floor before the fire, and buried her face in her long, spindly looking hands, sobbing into them. "Minny wants her Lady Lia to be home where she needs to finally be!"

"Minny," Ron said calmly. He placed his snacks down on the table behind them and walked over to the elf carefully, trying to avoid the broken glass. "Do you know where Lia is?"

Minny sniffled loudly and wiped her nose and eyes on her towel. "She's resting, sir, is all Miss Ciss will tells Minny," she replied.

Ron shot a look back at Harry, who hopped around several house elves who had run up next to the drunk elves to tidy the mess.

"Minny," Harry said, squatting down next to the elf. "Actually, do you want me to call you Minny or Jibby?"

"Don't madder none," she said softly. "Minny isn't 'Minny' or 'Jibby' without her lady. Minny spends twelve years wanting her lady more than anythin' in the world. Then finds outs where she is, hiding with a new face an' a new name." She hiccupped again, loudly. "Minny thought she might gets her lady back, an' thought she was doin' the right thing by telling Miss Ciss about where she was."

She swayed again, veering so far off the stool that Harry caught her in his hands and steadied her back into upright position.

"And when Miss Ciss gots my lady back, Minny was so happy!" she said, smiling now. "My lady's new face was so pretty, and she loved Minny even if she didn' know who her Minny really was." She frowned suddenly, her face darkening with anger before she continued. "But Miss Ciss made Minny tell her all the things going on in the castle, especially about my lady and that bad dark wizard she married when she was still herself." She frowned even more now. "Miss Ciss 'specially wanted to know if they started to get too friendly with each other again. But Miss Ciss says it's just because she wants to know if Lady Lia is happy, so when Minny tells her that he and the lady …" Minny couldn't seem to finish this. Harry had never seen an elf flush before that moment, but he saw a decidedly pink tone darken her long nose and forehead. "Miss Ciss says Minny did good tellin' her, but she makes Minny bring her lady to her and now she won' let Minny see her no more!" she ended, wailing hard now, falling to the ground before Harry or Ron could catch her. They watched helplessly as she beat her arms and legs against the stone floor.

Several of the other elves, who Harry didn't recognize but who Ron waved to with recognition, passed by, turning their nose up at the situation. One even brought Harry a large blanket, motioning for him to cover her up with it.

"No thanks," he said, giving it back.

The elf frowned at him and tsk'ed the two drunk elves before leaving.

"Winky was such a good –"

"Not now, Winky," Ron said. He lifted Minny from the floor and sat her back on her stool, holding her as steady as he could.

"Minny?" asked Harry, "Where is –"

There was a loud commotion on of the other side of the kitchen. Harry looked up and saw Severus storming past the tables, almost at a run, robes swirling behind him as though he was the Dungeon Bat from his memory.

"I know where she is," Severus said, panting a little as he looked down at the scene. "I know where to find her."

A/N: My apologies to all who read this chapter the first twelve hours after it was posted. I put up the first draft instead of the "final", dangit. Thankfully, my shy beta did catch it and admonished me for my error. Love you, "C". I'll get my spankings later ...