Chapter 10: Magnus and the Ministry
Jean had her head propped up against her hand and was idly drawing circles on the corner of her parchment with her quill. Her eyes drifted between Professor Kinshield, who was lecturing about curse breaking, and the back of Sirius' head. It had been almost two weeks since the Quidditch match against Slytherin and even though Jean never showed anything from the outside looking in, her mind was buzzing with inner turmoil like a hive of angry bees. She was attracted to Sirius; that much Jean was certain of. He was gallant and handsome and played the part of Prince Charming to a T. Yet, there was definitely a flair of deviance to him. Prince Charming had traded his white horse for a leather jacket and motorcycle. No better description of Sirius Black could ever be made. Jean was reminded of her little fling with Viktor Krum back in her fourth year. That was the part of the charm of both Viktor and Sirius; the fact that they were so unlike Jean, and that they were so unlike what she expected; the bad-boy with the heart of gold; the Casanova with the sensitive and understanding side. And, to be honest, she liked being attracted to a man that every girl was attracted to and to have that affection be returned, even though it could be in her head and she had no way of proving that Sirius didn't do this with every girl.
But, from time to time, when Jean talked to Sirius, his hair grew short and red, his eyes turned blue, and Ron Weasley was laughing with her again. She may have liked Viktor, and now, maybe Sirius, very, very much, but she loved Ron. Even though she knew he was dead and also in a time he did not exist yet, she loved him. And if she liked Sirius for some of the same reasons she liked Viktor is that less than her original love for Ron? Also, it took Jean nearly seven years to admit that she truly loved Ron. Almost her whole life as a witch and with Ron had been leading to a moment that now would never happen. Could she so easily replace one man for the next?
And then there was the matter of Matilda. Ever since the Quidditch match it seemed like everywhere she went the Ravenclaw girl was there and radiant as ever with her tight dark curls and grey eyes. Jean could tell that Matilda was very fashion conscious as she clicked around in her heels with her sharply pleated skirts. And every time Sirius was anywhere in the vicinity it seemed like Matilda was drawn into his gravitational pull. Whenever she saw the pair of them together she couldn't really shake the feeling that the pair of them were meant to be together. She had no way to contradict this thought. For all she knew they could start dating again, might get serious, might have even gotten married if Voldemort and Sirius' imprisonment hadn't torn them apart. For all she knew this could be part of the shadowed past that neither Remus nor Sirius ever talked about, like countless other things.
But then, there was that way that Sirius looked at Jean. It was that look he gave her in the shower, that soul piercing stare that was so unlike the way he looked at others. And every once in a while, for a brief second, his stone colored eyes kindled with an unseen fire. His eyes were doing so at that very moment. Jean shifted he gaze slightly and she and Sirius locked eyes, a second later he looked away.
Jean's thoughts were broken when Professor Kinshield sharply clicked his chalk on the blackboard. Kinshield stared out over his classroom. "It's like lecturing a roomful of dead-eyed puppets." He looked up at the notes he was scratching down on the blackboard. He pressed his lips together for a moment. "I didn't like learning this either." With one sweep of his wand the board had cleaned itself. "Alright everyone, put your books away, stand up, and take out your wands." Peter, among others, peeled their faces off their desks to listen to their professor for the first time in many minutes. "I'm going to teach you how to duel."
James, Sirius, and Remus instantly became alert and almost rocketed up out of their seats to help Professor Kinshield move all the desks to make a space for the class in the center of the room.
Once the students had settled down and were standing and staring at Kinshield did the professor begin.
"Now," he said, rolling his wand in between his palms as he walked back in front of the green and red robed students, "to start with, there is the etiquette of beginning a duel. Potter," he said, pointing at James, "get up here and help me." James took a few steps forward. Kinshield brandished his wand in front of his face. James did the same. "First," said Kinshield, "we bow." Kinshield, followed by James a second later, executed a deep bow from his waist. "Then," continued the professor, "we would turn to where our backs are facing each other and walk the agreed upon number of paces. For our purposes here, we'll do five."
James and Kinshield turned to where their backs were pressed against each other and began to walk the five paces. As they did so Kinshield continued to speak. "Once this is completed you turn," Magnus turned and raised his wand, "and begin the duel."
James jerked his wand up, slightly taken aback that his professor was aiming at him, and he wondered if he really was going to duel Kinshield.
Kinshield lowered his wand after a beat and grinned at James. Kinshield pocketed his wand.
"Alright everyone," said Kinshield, "pair off. I'd like you to use disarming spells only for right now and we will advance as we go."
The Gryffindors and Slytherins paired off, Kinshield walking around the room to watch and advise his students as they began their dueling. James and Sirius immediately paired up and were already walking back the five paces to begin the duel. Remus had also paired off with Lily, which left Jean with Peter. Jean looked over at Peter who looked back at her, coming to the same conclusion she did.
"Well," said Jean, "shall we?"
Peter rapidly nodded his head a few times. "Sure."
Jean and Peter found a clear space in the room away from the other duos of students. Jean raised her wand and Peter quickly followed suit. They both bowed, Jean straight backed and deep still keeping her eyes locked on Peter to see that his bow was a small bending of his shoulders. It looked like his body was curling into his chest. His fingers were constantly readjusting around the end of his wand. Jean righted herself, walked the five paces, turned and took aim. "You ready?" she called out.
Peter nodded his head with the same frantic bobbing motion he had done earlier only this time he didn't speak. Jean decided to not cast a spell until Peter had done so. "Expelliarmus!" Peter eventually said.
"Protego," Jean countered, the weakly cast disarming spell bouncing harmlessly off her magical shield. "Expelliarmus," Jean said immediately after her first spell. Peter's wand flew out of his fingers and Jean caught it in her free hand.
Peter looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry," said Peter glancing down at his feet. "I'm not really good at this."
"You did fine," Jean said, trying to sound encouraging. "The spell was cast well." Jean didn't want to say anything more than that. There was a part of her that was very insistent that advising Peter Pettigrew on anything related to magical combat would be counterproductive in the long run.
"Jean, Peter?" Jean looked over her shoulder at her professor. "Switch partners with Remus and Lily, and try some stunning spells this time."
Jean immediately gravitated towards Lily, leaving Peter for Remus. Remus could help Peter and not feel conflicted about it.
Lily and Jean walked back to the place where she and Remus were previously dueling. Jean and Lily bowed, turned to where their backs faced each other and walked five paces away from each other before they turned and took aim at each other. "Shall we?" asked Lily.
"We shall," answered Jean.
Lily was the first to fire off a spell. "Expelliarmus!"
"Protego!" Jean once again cast the magical shield in front of her. Jean could feel that Lily's spell was stronger than Peter's was. Jean held her spell longer and concentrated her magic more to prevent Lily's spell from reaching her and stealing her wand away.
Lily took advantage of Jean having to block her first spell and whipped her arm around to cast another one. "Stupefy!" she said.
Jean didn't have time to conjure up another protection spell and had no choice but to duck, the red beam of shimmering light shooting over her shoulder. Jean tried to balance herself as she spun out of Lily's way trying to switch her wand into the opposite hand so she could fire a spell from the arm closest to her opponent.
As Jean struggled to right herself, Lily once again took aim and cast a spell at Jean. "Immobilus!"
Jean once again dodged Lily's spell, bending her body in a way she didn't think she could have done if she wasn't dueling. Finally, Jean got her wand into the desired hand. "Rictumsempra!" she shouted still in her slightly contorted position.
Lily dropped her wand as her arms wrapped around her stomach, her hands cupping her sides. When her knees hit the floor the peals of laughter began to burst from her mouth. Lily lay on her back rolling from one side to the other, her heels periodically kicking the floor as Jean's spell continued to work on her.
As Jean righted herself, Professor Kinshield walked over to the pair, pulling out his wand as he did so. He aimed at Lily's thrashing frame on the floor, her midsection still spasming from her laughter. "Finite Incantatem."
Lily's laughing immediately ceased. Lily rolled onto her back relaxing her abdomen and took in great gulps of air before she began to pick herself up. As Lily recovered, Professor Kinshield turned to Jean. "That was very clever," he said." Not many people think of switching to their less dominant arm to cast a spell."
Jean looked down at her wand. The hand that held it was definitely not the hand she used most often, if ever. Jean thought that without the adrenaline that came from her sparring she wouldn't have been able to change hands so easily. And then Jean thought suddenly that without Harry's training in Dumbledore's Army she probably wouldn't have changed hands at all. Jean put her wand back into her dominant hand. "I didn't really think anything of it," she responded.
Kinshield nodded once. "Impressive," he said. "Mr. Lupin," he called out. "Why don't you take a turn with Jean now. Miss Evans," Kinshield looked over his shoulder at Lily who was now standing, but still measuring out her breathing. "When you are ready, pair up with Peter."
Lily and Remus once again swapped partners and Jean squared off against the werewolf. As they proceeded through the etiquette part of the duel Professor Kinshield drifted away and meandered among the rest of the students, although he frequently looked back at the pair.
When Jean and Remus were the allotted number of steps away from each other, they turned and raised their wands. "You ready?" asked Remus.
"Yeah," said Jean. Jean was the faster of the two and struck first. "Expelliarmus!"
"Protego," countered Remus, Jean's spell bouncing off his magical shield. Almost before his first spell had died away Remus cast a second spell. "Stupefy!" Because Remus had cast his spell so quickly after he had cast his first the spell shot wide and Jean easily stepped out of its way. But Remus took advantage of Jean's relaxed defense, for her wand arm had dropped when she stepped away from Remus' spell. Just as quickly as Remus cast his second spell he cast his third. "Avis Oppugno!" Remus didn't have to be accurate with this spell. It was like buckshot. The single column of white light scattered into many tiny white balls, which morphed into a flock of bluebirds the size of figs.
Jean knew that a magical shield would not protect her against physical entities. She wildly shouted 'Finite Incantatem' before the sharp bills could reach her. The birds disappeared in puffs of blue smoke and grey downy feathers, expanding into a semi-permeable wall between the two students. Jean took advantage of the fact that Remus' vision was impaired. "Tarantallegra!"
Remus felt his legs jerk out from underneath him as he danced across the floor in a sporadic, stiff-legged jig. Remus let go of his wand and flung his hands out to the side in order to keep his balance.
"Finite Incantatem!" Jean whipped her head around, unaware that Professor Kinshield had already returned to them, if he ever truly left in the first place. "Miss Granger," said Kinshield, spinning the end of his wand on the tips of his fingers. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you have learned how to duel before."
Jean shifted slightly on the balls of her feet, the conversation sailing into dangerous waters about how exactly she knew so much about magical combat. "I knew a little," she said bashfully, trying to be modest. "We had a dueling club back at my old school, but it wasn't around for very long."
Kinshield nodded once. "I see." He drummed his fingers on his wand. "Well, perhaps you would like a combatant that is a little more…resilient. James," James stopped what he was doing and looked over at his professor. "Some of your father's skills as an Auror have rubbed off on you I suppose?"
"Yes, sir" said James, puffing up his chest a little bit.
"Then get over here and spar with Miss Granger before she beats the rest of your friends bloody."
James raised one eyebrow both in surprise at Jean, and in apprehension at Kinshield's request. "You sure, sir?"
Kinshield's mouth stretched into a thin smile. "Positive," he said. "She can handle herself, I think."
Jean, followed by Remus, Lily and Peter, who had abandoned their own practicing, walked over to James who stood by an observing Sirius. Kinshield lingered beside them, no longer paying attention to his other students.
James and Jean raised their wands and were about to turn around and walk the steps but Kinshield interrupted. "Never mind all that," Kinshield said, waving one hand to stop them. "Go."
James was fast, faster than Jean had ever anticipated. "Conjunctivitis," James shouted and the spell hit Jean right in the face. Jean's eyes reddened and began to swell shut. Jean stumbled backwards, instinctively trying to rub the irritant out of her eyes, but the action only made the itchy, swollen seeing impairment worse. Half blind now, Jean struggled to orient herself.
"Expelliarmus," said James, thinking that this would be the end of the duel.
Jean heard him though and in a snap she brought up her wand. "Protego!" James' disarming spell was absorbed by Jean's shield. Jean's fingers still clutched at her wand.
As soon as Jean's shield spell was dying away, James pulled off another feat of speed. "Engorgio!" James cried aiming down at Jean's foot.
Through the hazy curtain draped over Jean's eyes, Jean glanced down and watched her foot, ankle and calf swell up like it was stung by a swarm of wasps till it was almost twice its original size. Jean tried to lift her leg but it was dead weight, not responding to any of her attempts at motion. Jean knew that this was what James was hoping for. Unable to see and now practically immobile, it was only a matter of time before James would beat her. Jean lowered her wand from James and aimed it at her own leg. "Reducio," she said. Jean's leg began to deflate, returning to its normal size and with it her use of the appendage. But, the swelling was not going down fast enough, and James was walking towards her.
Then, something happened that James, Kinshield, the people watching, or even Jean never expected. Jean had a combination of a flashback and a panic attack. Through her blurred vision James' figure changed shape, with every step taking a form of a person that Jean feared, a person that longed to see Jean in this predicament, helpless, and with no help coming for her. Lucius Malfoy, Fenrir Greyback, Voldemort, and finally Bellatrix Lestrange. Her painted lips twisted into a sadistic smile, her eyes glinting like firelight on coal. "I like doing it better this way, anyways," she whispered.
Jean's survival mode kicked itself into overdrive. She raised her wand and took aim at Bellatrix, and through the façade, James. "Serpensortia!" From the tip of Jean's wand burst a snake, twisting and writhing as it slithered through the air, jaw unhinged, fangs glistening with venom. James started with a shout and stumbled backwards as Jean continued to fire spells in quick succession. "Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus!" James' wand hardly had any time to fly out of his slackened grip before his arms snapped to his sides, his legs locked together and he fell flat on his back with an audible thud.
James' graceless crash landing to the floor got the attention of all the students in the classroom. They all stared at Jean, who wasn't looking at anyone but James. After a beat she broke out of her stunned trance and scrambled over to James to lift the curse.
"James, James." Jean said as James regained the use of his body. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to."
"Are you kidding?" said James interrupting Jean's stream of apologies. "That was incredible. You're fast!"
"Yes," commented Professor Kinshield. "You're very fast."
Jean looked up at Kinshield, once again uncomfortable with his praise and what topics of discussion it could lead to. "Thank you, sir" her voice wavering slightly for she was still concerned about James who was gingerly picking his sore body up off the floor.
"Uncommonly fast."
The tension that was now suddenly between Jean Granger and Magnus Kinshield was so tangible it could be cut with a knife, even though no once else noticed it. Jean looked up at her professor for a long moment. "Yes. Thank you, sir," her eyes saying that this was the end of their conversation. Kinshield relented.
In ordinary circumstances this would probably bring about the end of the dueling practice as well as the end of the class session. However, Kinshield was not the ordinary professor and James was definitely not the ordinary student. "Hey, Sirius," he called out when he was finally standing. "Why don't you have a go with Jean."
Sirius raised one eyebrow and subtly looked over at Jean. The almost imperceptible shrug of her shoulders signaled to him that it was his decision. Sirius tilted his head slightly sideways. "Alrighty then."
The students had clustered around the pair when they faced each other wands raised both no longer bothering with the proceedings. Kinshield sat down on the edge of his desk. "Don't hold back," he said. Jean wasn't sure if he directed his statement at Sirius or herself.
Sirius smirked and did a little half bow with his arms halfway out and down by his hips, palms facing forward like he was a gentleman receiving her at a gala. "Ladies first," he said.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Jean, being very conservative with her spell selecting considering she had flattened James with only the power of nostalgia.
"Protego!" Sirius countered. Sirius looked at Jean, bemused and unimpressed with her first spell. "Expelliarmus!" said Sirius.
"Protego!" said Jean.
"Come on," Sirius goaded, "you can do better than that."
A cold shiver ran down Jean's spine almost paralyzing her. Those were Sirius' last words on this earth before his cousin's spell pushed him into the empty archway, concealed at the heart of the Department of Mysteries, never to be seen again. Jean shook herself out of her daze. She was not helping Sirius by casting easy spells at him. "Stupefy!"
"Protego!" Sirius was clearly pleased that Jean was trying harder, and he began analyzing her as a challenge. "Rictumsempra!"
"Protego!" Jean cried out again. She felt a surge of energy shoot through her arm as Sirius' spell collided with her own, almost shattering its defenses. Jean could immediately tell that this was not just skill; Sirius was naturally a good fighter.
When Jean and Sirius' spells in essence cancelled each other out, Sirius fired off another one. "Tarantallegra!"
Jean was so sapped of energy from her last magical shield she could not conjure another one. With absolutely no grace at all Jean jumped out of the way of Sirius' spell, but she was not fast enough to dodge Sirius' Confundus Charm. Jean felt like she was moving in slow motion and her eyes had turned into a kaleidoscope. First there was one Sirius, then three, and then five, back to three, back to one, and over and over again. Jean knew she was beaten but she could at least attempt to take Sirius down with her. Almost drunkenly, Jean aimed her wand using Sirius' cheeky triumphant grin as a target.
Sirius felt like invisible ropes had suddenly wrapped themselves around his legs. The grin that Jean had targeted so well slid off his face as he tried to balance himself and not fall down. Sirius was too little too late, especially when Jean, still trying to shake off the influences of the spell Sirius had cast on her, tripped over him.
Both Sirius and Jean fell into the wall of students that had developed around them, knocking students every which way before they crashed into the ground, Sirius partially pinned beneath Jean. The impact cleared Jean's head enough for her to interpret what was going on around her. She looked down at Sirius, slightly stunned and scandalized to find him lounging underneath her, his locked legs almost being straddled by her own. He grinned at her as if he had planned the whole incident on purpose. "Well done," he said.
Before Jean could say anything she heard a loud volatile crack. In the domino effect caused by Sirius and Jean falling into their fellow students a wand had misfired. Jean glanced up just in time to see a white bolt of light sail across the room towards Professor Kinshield.
Kinshield saw it too, and his eyes widened. The professor hopped off his desk seconds before the white light connected with the wood and enveloped it in a ball of fire.
"Merlin's beard!" Kinshield shouted, wrestling is wand out of his robes. "Aguamenti!"
As Kinshield showered his desk with the stream of water pouring from his wand, Jean pushed herself to her feet and scurried over to the desk, pulling out her wand as she did so. Seeing that Kinshield was adequately handling the blaze, Jean snatched a pile of papers lying on his desk to keep them from catching fire.
Jean stepped back a couple of paces and glanced down, jolting at the sight of a gold Ministry of Magic insignia staring up at her. Her eyes quickly scanned the handwritten letter. Magnus, I can't spare you anymore, not with this new Muggle family that's gone missing. I'm sorry. Do what you can, but remember to keep it quiet. Constant vigilance! –Alastor Moody P.S Give my regards to Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Miss Granger," Jean jerked her head up at the sound of her professor's voice. "You spared some important papers for me."
"Not a problem," said Jean softly, extending the pile to Kinshield. She flashed him a small smile, hoping that it would distract him from the questions behind her eyes.
Kinshield took the papers and looked back at his desk, which was blackened and still smoldering. "Well, I guess that concludes class for the day," he laughed a little. "I have to go hunt for a new desk." The rest of the class laughed along with their professor as they collected their things, except Jean, who mutely allowed herself to be herded into the hall.
Later, in the Great Hall, when the group had reconvened after their respective classes for lunch, Jean was still silent; rolling her pasta around on her fork as she mentally reread the mysterious letter over and over again.
"Are you alright Jean?" asked Peter, breaking Jean out of her musings. "You're not eating."
Jean looked up at Peter who sat across the table from her. "Yeah," she said, "there is actually." The idle chitchat of the group came to a stop as they turned and looked at their newest member. "James—"
"I'm on your mind?" James joked, "I'm flattered."
Jean laughed lightly, rolling her eyes. "No, seriously—"
"Oh, you're thinking about me," said Sirius, joining in with James, "that's much better."
Jean sighed, a smile creeping onto her face. "Honestly, Lily, how have you lasted these six and a half years?"
"I have no idea," answered Lily glancing over with feigned weariness at James and Sirius who continued to heckle each other over which one of them Jean was really thinking about to amuse the young woman in question.
"I'm listening, Jean," said Remus, "even if Lily and I's children are not."
Jean smiled sweetly as Remus. "Thank you, Remus," she gushed overdramatically, "it's so nice to be listened to."
The group slowly sobered up after that and gave Jean their attention now that she wasn't wearing the somber face she was thinking with. "Okay, listen," Jean began again. "James, Professor Kinshield is a retired Auror, right?"
"Yeah," said James.
"Why did he retire only to start teaching?" prompted Jean.
"Because he's old?" guessed Sirius.
"No," said Remus, "it can't be that. There are older Aurors than Kinshield still in the field.
"Then he was tired of it," said James. "He was Head of the Magical Law Enforcement for more than twenty years." James looked over at Jean. "What brought this up?"
"Well," answered Jean. "You know those papers? The ones I grabbed off Professor Kinshield's desk when it caught fire? There was a letter, a letter with the symbol of the Ministry on it."
"But," said Peter, "James said that Kinshield was the Head of the Department for more than twenty years. He probably still has friends working there. Maybe one of them wrote to him."
Jean shook her head. "This wasn't a 'Hi, how are you?' kind of letter. He was getting instructions."
"Jean, said Lily gently, "are you sure you weren't still confounded, even a little, when you read that letter and that's what you think it said?"
Jean shook her head, this time more vigorously. "No, I wasn't confounded." Jean had no idea how to prove to her friends that she wasn't confused, but then an idea came to her. She looked back at James and Sirius. "Does the name Alastor Moody mean anything to you?"
James' face suddenly morphed into the face that Jean was originally wearing and he stared intensely at Jean, now taking in every syllable coming out of her mouth. "Yes."
"I've only been here for a few months," said Jean. "How could I know that name if it wasn't in that letter?"
James didn't say anything after that. Sirius looked at James and they exchanged glances before he turned back to Jean. "What are you saying Jean?" asked Sirius.
"I'm saying," said Jean "that even though he's our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Kinshield is still working for the Ministry."
Duh Duh Duh! Lol Hello everyone! Missed me cause I missed you. Sorry about the lack of updates for like -ever. I had a full college semester and it was one thing after another. Anywho here ya go. Hugs and kisses! Happy Holidays and have a Happy New Year!