Chapter 11

The five of the first felt deliciously naughty at being in the common room of lordly third years; and gasped in a mix of horror and delight when a section of wall swung open revealing the light of massed lumos charms behind it and masked and robed people holding them.

"Come, oh verminous aspirants to Marauding if you dare" intoned a voice.

They THOUGHT it was Zlatko.

The giggle definitely belonged to Xanthe.

Zlatko poked her. He was doing his best to make it thrilling for the babes and giggles did NOT help. Xanthe worked hard on subsiding; and the five followed on, scared enough and thrilled enough not to be put off by the odd giggle.

Vighard went with Attila, Cacilia, Clovis, Tildi, and Radagas by rather less melodramatic means through one of the entrances in a second floor classroom.

Both groups convened in the Marauding room, the neophytes given pieces of paper to read its location so they might pass the fidelius charm on it.

The youngest ones were duly awed.

On the note of midnight palms were slit, and blood shared; and Vighard wept to find that what wonderful Professor Nagy had said about not being alone was quite true; and that he had family in that professor and others more profoundly close than could ever be imagined.

The feelings of the first year Marauders were summed up by Marlene, who was not known to carry honours for tact.

"Himmel!" she declared "Is it not almost immoral to feel that teachers are human enough to be loved?"

The teachers among the blooded cuffed her very gently with two fingers after, as Volodya explained, the manner of the English. Marlene giggled.

They went back to bed feeling well in need of it, and deeply satisfied beyond any normal satisfaction and were swiftly as fast asleep as the well drugged Simone who had not stirred through the peregrinations of the girls.

And Vighard went to bed happier than he had known it was possible to be, and swearing to protect his little blood siblings.

oOoOo

Ulla-Brit woke the three female Marauders in the morning.

"Are you three coming to the ECC or are you too tired after being out of bed at all hours doing who knows what?" she demanded.

Nedelya, Marlene and Daffodil pulled identical faces. They should have warned Ulla-Brit and Renate and asked them not to say anything; for after a good night's sleep Simone was definitely awake. In point of fact Simone always awoke when the others got up and lay in bed pretending to be asleep resenting Daffodil going off without her, instead of deciding to get up and join in. This morning she sat up in indignation.

"But what is this? Out of bed at all hours? Why? It is not right nor good for you!" she declared. "I will report those boys for making you do this!"

"Get into your silly head that nobody MAKES us do Marauding business" said Daffodil, shortly "And get too into your head that if you fall foul of any bully you'll be GLAD we do extra Marauder business because we'd dare to take on even someone in the sixth. Report us if you will – because if you report the boys you are also reporting us and that we'd make clear – and see what short shrift you get. The Kaiserin knows about Marauder business and our trip was kinda sorta legally sanctioned. Now do dry up! Yes, we are coming, Ulla-Brit; it will be more peaceful, quiet and less wearing to run than to be wailed at by the sobbing boggart."

Simone burst into real tears; Daffodil was over tired and it made her less careful in how she spoke to Simone.

"You are unkind, my Daffodil!"

"I'll be more unkind if you continue to append that possessive" said Daffodil. "All right, I apologise for calling you a sobbing boggart. It was uncalled for. But if you go out of your way to make me dislike you by threatening to sneak, what do you expect? It's not what friends do and if you won't behave like a friend to me, then it's finished and I won't be friendly to you. Nobody makes you get out of bed in the middle of the night, that would be unkind, as you're not of the right calibre to Maraud. So what's to gripe about?"

"I wish you will not Maraud, m – Daffodil!" howled Simone.

"I wish you will not turn on the tears like a baby of five but I guess that's not going to happen either" said Daffodil. "I personally think you'd have more joy out of being friends with Renate who's a nice gentle girl with no particular ambition or causes, but if you want to be my friend you can at least jolly well meet me half way! Now I'm dressed and I'm off; try not to cry too much, you'll give yourself a headache and that would be stupid."

This advice was of course ignored.

oOoOo

Simone fell foul of Attila Nagy in Transfigurations by being dull and stupid at him for the headache she had cried herself into; and on having him demand an explanation for this situation stammered out tearfully how upset she was that Daffodil should be involved in this nasty Marauder group.

Attila looked at her irritably.

"Hasn't anyone explained to you that Marauders stand for fighting bullies and standing up for justice?" he demanded waspishly.

"Well yes, but why can't she have ideals without having to do stupid stuff like get up too early in the morning and go off in the middle of the night?" demanded Simone. "She's selfish and unkind to me!"

"Get this, you silly little girl," said Attila, grimly, "if Marauders had not been introduced into Durmstrang when we were all essentially held to ransom by ODESSA, your tears and whining would not be met with the mere amused contempt by your fellows and the mild exasperation of your elders, but would have been met by the worst sort of bullies seeing how much they could make you cry. I had a classmate when I was at Durmstrang, and he was homesick, and he cried; he tried to conceal it because he knew enough to try to avoid the tender mercies of the bullies. They stood him on desks to wand-burn his legs; harnessed him up and made him pull them on sleds, naked in the snow, whipping him to keep him warm, kept him fetching and carrying half the night so he never had time to do his own prep and earned whippings from the staff for that and a dozen other abuses. I fought them when I could; because I liked him. But I was one alone, and when you are tied up by the wrists so long that when the staff cut you down your legs fail and you soil yourself from the pressure of touching legs to ground then you can't so easily fight back."

The class gasped at this revelation and Attila found himself pulsed with love and support from those Marauders skilled enough to pick up his remembered distress. He drew a breath, a little shakily, and went on,

"Marauders stand for banding together against such things and accepting that sometimes bullies will hurt them while they do what is necessary. If there had been a couple of others brave enough to stand with me, my friend would not have killed himself in his second term. Because that is what happened. Because he was dubbed a cry-baby and fair game. Now I haven't shared that with anyone before but if you think I of all people am going to listen to someone maundering on about selfishness and unkindness when you haven't got a CLUE what the words mean then you can think again. You should be proud that you have been shown as much kindness as you have from those who are ready to accept the onerous duties of Marauding and not to make their jobs harder by hanging round Fraulein Steen's neck like a limply rotting cabbage. A true friend would be ready to support her, not to try to get her into trouble by ill considered remarks. You're making yourself into an object of derision; try not to lose the compassion of the Marauders by making yourself also an object of despite. Now go to the school nurse and ask her for a headache cure and take the morning out of school; Fraulein Steen is a kind enough child to take notes for you in my class and whatever you miss after it."

"Yes sir, of course I will" said Daffodil.

Simone stumbled off; a headache draft would be welcome. And she wanted to cry again at all the terrible things Professor Nagy had told her about Durmstrang. She had thought her father had exaggerated when he told her to lie low and not to let anyone see if she was homesick, and had told her mother that Durmstrang would make her pull herself together. She could hardly believe it could have been so bad!

She decided to ask the nurse; and was horrified when that matter of fact individual told her that wand burning was quite common and that until the advent of chanting, most of such wounds could only be eased not cured, being by their nature cursed wounds.

"But not as bad as the children twitching and half demented from the application of the cruciatus curse" said the nurse.

"But that's an unforgivable curse!" gasped Simone.

"Oh yes! But still used by sixth formers often enough in the old days – and of course by Professor Schrempf until Nefrita Von Strang killed her" said the nurse. "And Nefrita got her friends and their fags banded together against the bullies and ODESSA, for Schrempf was an ODESSA agent and the headmistress dared not sack her. We have a much nicer time in school now" she added. "I left after my ZP's you know; not that I did not think I could do the work but because I could not stand it any longer. I only came back because as nurse I could at least help some of the little ones. My work is very pleasant on the whole now. Now, I'm not going to pry about who's upset you, but if I were you, I'd be going to some Marauders. They sort things out you know."

"It is they who have upset me!" wailed Simone "They keep my friend from me; she should be my friend and only my friend!"

"My!" said the nurse "Nice little ODESSA type you sound young lady! I should think if you have fallen afoul of the Marauders you probably did something to deserve it – like forcing this friend of yours to do something dishonourable I shouldn't wonder. Well, you're young and have time to learn not to be selfish and controlling so you don't end up being one of the dark witches Marauders go after."

The nurse might have misunderstood what Simone meant about keeping her friend from her – it was not an unreasonable misconception to assume this friend might have been placed under Marauder protection rather than actually being a Marauder – but being called selfish, controlling and an ODESSA type stung Simone enough to actually think. Daffodil too had called her selfish and accused Simone of trying to make her behave dishonourably. She spent her morning cogitating, and it has to be said going over in her own mind how terrible Durmstrang must have been once. Some resentment towards her father also surfaced here if he thought she was to be going to so terrible a place! He was a hard man at times, and Simone had always been cosseted and protected from life by her mother. And it would be why her mother had not been keen for her to come here.

Simone did not especially want to grow a backbone in the way her father had meant, in becoming hardened; but she determined that she could show him up by working hard and not failing as she thought he half expected her to do.

Consequently she thanked Daffodil with genuine warmth for taking notes for her.

"I have not meant to be selfish" she said "I am so lonely though without Maman!"

Daffodil bit off a comment before she made it that she did not want to be anyone's mother; and made herself smile kindly.

"You will be less lonely if you make more than one friend" she said firmly. "Renate is lonely also as Ulla-Brit is a decent enough type but rather inclined to make decisions for other people whether they want them or not. And Renate is so gentle!" she added. "We will all do things together, but if you are friends with Renate also you will have her when I am busy with those things that would scare you both, you know! I do wish you will try the ECC; you will find bigger people ready to help with the things you find hard, you know."

"Well I might" said Simone, to whom help with things she found hard was an incentive in her new-found resolve to show her papa that she could do at least as well as him.

Daffodil heaved a sigh of relief. Poor Professor Nagy to have to remember so awful a time – all the Marauders had just touched him on the arm as they left the class – but if it had got through to Simone it had been worth it.

It might be said that Simone did not forget her tears or sentimental attachment to Daffodil; but she did try to hang on her less, and the, at first grudging, friendship towards Renate did deepen over time and she was to learn the lesson that to have a friend you must be a friend.

oOoOo

To those who were expecting trouble, waiting for it was a bit of a strain; rather, said Zoltan to his intimates, a bit like waiting for the result of a test that you knew you had done badly in and were expecting the professor to wax most irritable.

"And like I felt about coming to school when my mother was busy scaring me with bad stories and telling me how violent papa was" he said with feeling.

Bronislava slipped a hand into his and the others just reached out to touch his arm. Their bloodsong told them how upset he had been by his mother's controlling antics.

"We really ought to be diverting the minds of the little ones" said Sigismund "And by the way, we haven't settled a Marauder name for them."

"The Defending Marauders" said Beremud. "Let's go and teach them some musical magic so they can hold up shield charms simply by drumming on their palms."

"Good thinking" the others spoke in unison.

"And by the way, will we teach them how to get into the maze?" asked Corneliu.

"Yes" decided Sigismund. "They might need it, though I hope not. Without full control of it, it's rather too cold to be mucking around in a maze."

They went to find the younger ones and discovered that Vighard had had a similar idea of teaching them all the jinxes he knew.

They let him in on the Maze secret as well after a brief hesitation. He was their kindred now after all; and if not strictly speaking a Marauder, times like this meant that supporters had to Maraud too.

Vighard was amazed.

"You kids are remarkable" he said. "I was impressed enough when you brought us here in the fire, but now I know a bit more about all that you've done I'm blown away. I'll be proud to help Maraud."

The youngest Marauders were scared and apprehensive; but also appreciative of getting to know more magic than they were ever likely to be finding out without a lot of surreptitious library work, even if they knew what to look for; and when Sigismund gave a yell of delight they might jump, but were aware they were about to learn even more.

"Deafen us, why don't you" said Corneliu.

"WHAT have we been studying on our own time?" said Sigismund. "Only pattern magic! We can brew up an indelible ink and draw the shield charm on the kids, Vighard and Zlatko so they can ignore the cruciatus curse and pain reducing patterns so even if they have their arms twisted they can kinda ignore that too. That gives them the option of doing other magic instead."

"We don't want the little ones acting like they can't feel stuff" said Bronislava "They might be injured without realising it – and besides it might give it away. Older ones being stoic is one thing."

"Well we'll do a lesser reduction on them then and rely on them to ham it up" said Sigismund. "But you reckon it's a good idea?"

"I think it's a brilliant idea" said Vighard. "I wish I'd pissed off Marauders enough to get to spill my guts earlier so I had more time to learn more."

"Well if you're spending holidays with us, Papa and Mama and I can take you through stuff you're interested in" said Zoltan. "And by the way, as mama is your guardian and can become your trustee there's no reason you shouldn't do a year at Prince Peak too."

"I think I will" said Vighard.

The result of this was a lot of drawing for Bronislava as she had to do three little girls as Sigismund declared that the buttocks was the best place to put any surreptitious shield charm, hidden from any but the most close scrutiny and no grown up had any right to be scrutinising anywhere so personal and besides it was a nice smooth surface to draw on without losing the pattern. Zlatko when informed of the Musical Marauders' decision to help protect him raised an eyebrow at their reasoning but conceded that it had a few points. He insisted that he and Vighard would wear robes and lie down and have them raised as the least damaging way of doing this insofar as the dignity of sixth formers was concerned.

The Musical Marauders shrugged; the ways of near grown-ups were strange and as senility was clearly setting in they could not really help it.

oOoOo

When a flying coach was seen to be in apparent difficulties outside the school one chill afternoon, the Marauders and Blooded of all levels heaved a sigh of relief. The waiting was over.

Wencelada, Axel, Grishilde, Zyrillis, all the Twin Marauders bar Zlatko, the Jade Fag Marauders and the Musical Marauders and Volodya went quietly to previously prepared positions in the secret passages, Eulenspiegels and Zlatka to the passages Xanthe and Xanthippe had discovered, the continuation of which led to the staffroom, the four non-marauders to the secret room at the top of the house to hold it as a stronghold, the Jade Fag Marauders and the Musical Marauders into the main passages that ran between the kitchens and the Marauding Room.

The refugees begged succour; there were four of them.

They were duly admitted, and once taken to a bathroom for hot baths and to freshen up they went into action, under the eyes of the carefully installed view-o-sneaks.

"This is easier than I feared" said the leader "I thought we might have to have a bit of a running battle while the others came in. Help me unfold it."

'It' was a circle of rope made up of intricately tied knots; and Volodya told the others that Russians did a lot of ritual magic using the patterns of knots, like and yet unlike the magic in Celtic knotwork.

Laid on the ground and activated by wand, the ropes glowed green; and men with wands at the ready started running out of it, somehow twisting into being upright by swinging over the lip like, muttered Elfleda, who had seen some films, Jareth the Goblin King in Labyrinth.

"A vulnerable moment" said Kjell "And a pity we didn't think to have some kind of attack ready for when they came out."

"Yes but if any got back we wouldn't then get them all" said Leva, watching intently. "We can however sabotage it so they can't get back nor call in any more."

"Won't it alert them on the other end if it stops glowing?" asked Sofie.

"It would if we sabotaged it in a brute force sort of way" said Leva "But I was thinking of getting Volodya to come up with a chant that would subtly change the knotwork so anyone using it, either way, sort of passes through and is immediately gated to somewhere nasty. The middle of the forest where the centaurs are for example, or the bottom of the lake."

"Good thinking" said Volodya. "I think actually I might deposit anyone who touches the area of the gate into fey space. They will never get out and will be caught until they starve to death; but our people might escape or be readily rescued. Either that or send them to a rath somewhere where the fey will deal with them."

Sofie giggled.

"Give them to Jade?" she suggested.

"Certainly not" said Volodya "I like Jade; and her pupils are not yet sufficiently self confident to consider it a high treat."

The Russian troops all left the bathroom without troubling to leave it guarded.

"Amateurs" said Sigismund in disgust as Volodya led the Musical Marauders to sing sweet nothings to the knotwork to persuade it to pass any coming from this end, and immediately re-gate anyone from the other end, to the inside of the Zauberbundesbanke where they would have a lot of explaining to do. Gentle Volodya baulked at the last minute at using his first gut desire to send them to the evanesco place and employed his sense of humour instead. On the principal that bankers have no sense of humour whatsoever when it comes to stray people in their vaults. He did not explain how he came to know the location for gating directly into the German Wizarding Bank; but when Sigismund guessed that Jade had probably found this out in case the fight against ODESSA had needed funds, and to deny them to the enemy he was not far out. The person who had done the cracking of the numbers had been Volodya himself who sometimes was more on the ball than he seemed and who liked to have contingency plans.

oOoOo

"So, Agata Bacsó, you will see that as I have more than enough troops to subdue your naughty children, and we have your youngest members under the wands of my most ruthless men, you have no option but to obey me" said the Russian leader. The first years had been herded to the great hall where many of them were weeping in terror, not merely Simone. Simone actually was trying not to cry since Daffodil was not, and the Belgian girl wanted to impress her idol.

"What kind of an outrage is this?" demanded Agata. "Why have you broken the rules of hospitality in such a way?"

The man sneered.

"The rules of hospitality apply only to people. You have blood traitors here as well as blood taints, and those who would even consort with animals. My cousin Sergei Dolokhov will be avenged for the treacherous way you and your pupils willingly consorted with such animals as those in Prince Peak. You will produce your duelling team."

Agata surveyed him levelly.

"Most of them are not here" she said "As they have applied to undertake time studying higher magic at Prince Peak I thought it reasonable to let them go on a trip."

She had not lied. It would be reasonable for them to go on a trip. If they wanted to.

His eyes burned.

"Higher Magic!" he almost spat. "Snape has you fooled; he knows no higher magic! Only the Order of the Dragon in Kiev have any understanding of ritual and higher magic!"

Agata shrugged.

"Believe as you choose" she said "I note that it is we you attack, not Prince Peak. The pupils currently absent from my school will take revenge for anything you do here."

"There you are wrong you Slavic bitch!" said the man. "For Prince Peak is currently under attack and they will be all enslaved within a few hours!"

"How niculturniy to swear in front of us" said Ilarion. "This serf has escaped his Boyar masters and is trying to pretend to be a big man."

One of those levelling wands on the children cast the stinging hex at Ilarion.

It was all Ilarion could do not to cast back, disarming the man; but he was there to endure and must cry out as though in pain.

The invader turned back to Agata after having turned a lowering glare on Ilarion.

"You say 'most'. Which then of your duelling team remain?"

"Only the head boy; it seemed inappropriate for him to be out of the castle" said Agata.

"Ah. Well he is the worst offender, and soon he will be begging to be merely enslaved" said the man.

"I shouldn't bet on it if I were you" said Agata. "He is very talented."

"Where is this head boy?" demanded the man.

"I'm here, old boy" said Zlatko. "Would you care to duel me? I find you offensive and your manner to my revered preceptress totally unacceptable."

"Seize him!" the leader nodded to several of his men.

"So brave" sneered Zlatko. He might be expected to fight; and that would reduce some of the fifty or so wanded wizards that there were. He and the other blooded could take them easily, but not when there were innocent school children who might be hurt in the spellfire.

Three of the four sent to seize him strove vainly to move forward as they turned inexorably to stone; the fourth managed to draw wand and cast – predictably – the cruciatus curse.

"Have to do better than that old boy" said Zlatko, disarming him with a negligent flip of the finger and gluing him to the floor. Watching him vainly try to dance to the tarantallegra curse with his feet glued to the floor was entertaining until Zlatko realised that it was causing all kinds of painful dislocations; and this one too became stone.

It was not to be supposed that even Zlatko with the aid of a painted shield charm could stand against large numbers of adult wizards; and the full body bind eventually immobilised him. Seven other wizards had nettles growing out of their noses and were a delicate lilac colour.

Finite incantatum took care of that; the statues were another matter.

"Turn my people back to flesh!" roared the leader.

Zlatko shrugged as best he might.

"Don't know if there even is a spell for it" he said. "Mandragora would work; though you'll have to get some in I should think."

The leader slapped him. Being bound, Zlatko could not ride it; and he silently blessed the Musical Marauders for their pain-negating magic.

"Who is the potions professor?" the Russian demanded "I DEMAND that you fetch mandragora!"

Cacilia came forward.

"From where?" she asked. "Our supplies were completely destroyed last term in a fire; we have replaced only essential supplies, not the most esoteric ones."

"You LIE!" he hissed.

"I am the daughter of a Baron of old and noble line; I do not lie" said Cacilia. "Did you not read in the news about the fire? It was all over the German newspapers when it got out. Or legilimens me; surely someone who considers the magic of Severus Snape to be negligible will find that easy."

He paled but stared into her eyes. He was not very good and Cacilia easily drew up what she wanted him to see, the devastation in the potions dungeon.

"So" he said. "A catastrophic fire. Well they will have to wait while you brew more."

"Certainly" said Cacilia. "You will send someone to purchase mandrakes and other ingredients? I should have thought purchasing the potion might have been better, but as you are happy to wait the three weeks it takes to brew, once you have brought me what I need I will be happy to make the draught."

"It takes so long?" he was horrified.

"Most powerful potions take a considerable while to brew" said Cacilia dryly "It is why the highest scoring ZH potions are prepared in advance – so the candidates have time to brew them."

He snarled.

"Then I will have to have some sent from Prince Peak when they are subdued there – Snape is bound to have some as he plays with potioneering not the manly arts."

"Oh, is that why he always wins against dark wizards because of the inherent superiority of womanly arts?" asked Cacilia brightly.

He ground his teeth.

"Silence woman!" he shouted. "Bacsó – you will tell the castle slaves that they are to obey me and my men, and us only!"

"And if I do not?" said Agata.

"If you do not, my men will take one of those juniors and start by wand burning all the child's clothes off followed by the skin" said the Russian, viciously "Until you DO so order it."

Agata paled and clicked her fingers.

Ritty, the father of Clotie who had been forced to kill herself by Antonin Dolokhov, turned up. He was one who had accepted freedom – but Zlatko had made sure to advise him not to be clothed right before the extra troops had turned up. Agata managed not to blink at his dirty dishclout.

"Ritty, this is the cousin of Gospodin Dolokhov" she said levelly "And I have to order all the castle slaves to obey him as they would me, and also obey his men. You must go immediately and relay the order to the other elves."

Ritty looked shrewdly at the headmistress. She had said 'slaves' not elves.

"Yes mistress!" he squeaked, and snapped his fingers to vanish.

Agata worked on not looking as satisfied as this new Dolokhov was doing. Ritty would be perfectly capable of making his own decision on how to act!