Chapter 11

Jade looked around at her assembled sixth form supporters, and Madam Bacsó and Professor Rebet. She had asked the head to convene a meeting in her office including the dour potions master; and had run her wand around to check that no scrying devices were in place.

"Traudl has asked some pertinent questions" said Jade "I told you all – my peer group anyway – that I had not told you all the truth. As things are starting to hot up the time has come for me to share truth; and I apologise in advance for misleading people since it was the only way I could get to actually meet people and have you all know ME without prejudice. ODESSA is a dangerously futile organisation that is bringing eastern European wizardry into disrepute and unless brought down is going to pave the way for a war that is partly rebellion of those ODESSA despises, partly factionism within ODESSA itself and partly bids for power by opportunists. I had to be able to explain this while you were LISTENING to me not resenting an outsider more than you could be brought to see the truth. Now I have shown you what is going on I would prefer to be open and tell you that Nefrita Von Strang is a fiction."

"What do you mean?" asked Madam Bacsó sharply "I have checked your blood; you ARE a Von Strang!"

Jade curtseyed.

"I carry Von Strang blood; because I undertook a blood sharing ritual with my adopted brother, Erich Von Strang Snape. I am Jade Snape; my age is as I have declared because I had been put up a year at Prince Peak because I was good enough. I used a complex chant to make the form of Nefrita Von Strang that I can wear like an animagus form. I tell ya, getting rid of the scar was a very ticklish piece of work!" she shrugged into her normal appearance.

"It's not that different really" said Traudl.

"No; all Malfoys are as alike as any two peas in a pod" said Jade "Minor differences in hair colour and eye colour perhaps, but if you've seen one Malfoy you've seen them all. But Agata, could I have come to you as Jade Snape and asked you to let me be in your school in disguise or otherwise to explain to you how you were being used, how the school has been used?"

"No" said Madam Bacsó. "I do not now know whether to believe what you have told me."

"It's true enough" shrugged Jade "I have tried never to give a lie direct. The only thing I have lied about is feeling distaste for goblins; the girl in my year at Prince Peak who I spoke about, Professor Rebet, she is a friend of mine. Her brother was first goblin in Hogwarts and took six NEWTs; admittedly two were only 'E' grades but that is still respectable."

"More than respectable" said Rebet dryly.

"I suppose so" said Jade candidly "I'm used to Malfoys taking ridiculous numbers of exams and one compares him to his friends, my cousins the Malfoy twins. But if a goblin performs to such a satisfactory standard it can be seen – and Lucius picked up on this point – that despising them as inferiors promptly becomes a fallacy and rather silly. I do NOT however expect to see goblins in Durmstrang; it just isn't going to happen. And I know some people do find goblins distasteful to look at. I'm used to having them around so I don't really notice them as different; but I see no reason not to go ahead with the idea of having an educated goblin elite as THEIR upper class that would help to ease goblins into a more modern way of thinking; because the goblins we saw were much like their English counterparts of several hundred years ago; frankly rather primitive on the whole. They could NOT enjoy the benefits of the equality English goblins enjoy for the simple reason that they would abuse it; and make fools of themselves and receive due punishment for contumely. They aren't in the least like English goblins. They would not be able to succeed in Durmstrang, especially not until the influence of it being mucked with by Gellert Grindelwald and later the Deatheater Karkaroff be thrown off. But I suppose I should first find out whether you want to tell me to get lost now you know I've been living a lie; and if any of you do, I'm afraid I'm going to drop a compulsion on you not to talk about it."

"Not make us forget?" asked Bertel.

Jade shrugged.

"Isn't that a worse lie? I keep telling you I don't lie to friends."

"Then for that I stand by you" said Bertel.

"You are kind to my little sister and the babes; I stand by you" said Traudl "I don't much like gobins but…..babes are babes, and I WANTED that little one I was holding to live; she….she reminded me of my sickly little sister….you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Yes" said Jade "I hoped you would see what I meant."

"I support you; I think really you do not have to ask any of your friends" said Cacilia

"You did not have to heal Wencelada" said Rodica "That was hard work; as I saw in your face while you did it. And you did not know her or me. Anyone who will put themselves out to heal another is a person of ultimate compassion and worth supporting even if feeling a little betrayed by the deception."

"Thank you Rodica; I appreciate your honesty" said Jade.

"She always promised to tell us some day, Rodi" said Volodya.

"Agreed" said Lazlo "Else I had not forgiven the deception even if I agreed with the cause."

"That is true" said Rodica.

"Ritter?" asked Jade.

"You have shown me many truths" said Ritter "And I am ashamed of things I have done following Nachtigall – and he and his father tell greater lies than any you have – and I am ashamed to see that underlings like those goblins are treated as my father would be ashamed to treat chickens. I follow; because you were honest that you had not told the truth in its entirety. And because you are right that change is needed. No TRUE nobleman could contemplate the plight of those goblins with equanimity; it is a betrayal of our Blood not to house them decently."

"I think you'll find that the owners of their accommodation and the factory owners are far from being nobles; but, like all middle classes, wizard, muggle or goblin, want to push themselves UP by pushing others DOWN" said Jade "And those of you, my friends, who were not born of the upper classes can ennoble yourselves by being ladies and gentlemen by inclination if not birth and show that you are above such petty-minded and low down shenanigans. They reason that if goblins are denied contraceptive draughts – they are, you know – they'll breed enough to replace the ones dead early of disease and squalid living conditions. What we need to do though is to persuade the ignorant classes that goblins do not live in such a way by choice; for I suspect many believe that goblins are naturally squalid."

"I should have believed goblins naturally squalid had not it been made clear those apartments were not owned by them" said Madam Bacsó "I thought they lived in houses traditionally held by their ancestors as most wizards do."

"They take over the rent from their ancestors" said Jade "But you will find also, Agata, that poor wizards also rent their apartments and I'm willing to bet a lot of them don't live in much better conditions; and THAT has to be addressed at exactly the same rate as addressing the needs of the goblins or, rightly enough, there will be resentment towards re-housed goblins that would lead to racial hatred and war. It's a delicate balance. We must be fair to the poverty stricken humans too. The ones who have not been to school and are unlikely to be able to send their children to school. Scholarships perhaps for their most talented offspring might be arranged under sponsorship of those of us who are wealthy could be looked at too. Agata, do you agree that what I have said to you at all times makes sense? Do you still support me?"

"I do; not least for my own ambitions as you suggested; unless Jade Snape thinks it now a bad idea" said Agata looking narrowly at Jade.

"I think that your personal ambitions are a necessary drive to get this sorted out" said Jade "There is much in you that reminds me of Lucius; and I'm very fond of Lucius. That the school is the driving force for change and you its glorious leader sits just fine with me. I don't really want any limelight; I'll take it if I have to, but like Harry Potter I'd just as soon be left alone to do research. I've gotten an awful lot of really exciting academic researches on right now, in potioneering and in ancient runes and really ODESSA is the greatest nuisance for coming between me and it, though I suppose if it hadn't existed I'd never have been here with the opportunities to look at different texts to those I've seen elsewhere. Sorry."

Rebet gave a harsh laugh.

"Now if I needed convincing to put support behind you, that would convince me!" he said "You're no revolutionary; you just want education for anyone capable of taking it and you, like me, resent those who are incapable but who can wag some hocheborn tail of ancestors to get in here."

"Yes" said Jade "But their fees WOULD help subsidise another scholarship or two; at least they do at Hogwarts and Prince Peak. Rich fools have their uses; to be well fleeced."

"Time enough in the future to address that" said Agata, not sure how much she wanted peasants in her school "How do we throw off the influence of those who have infected this school with blight?"

"It's a simple matter of respect ma'am" said Jade "That standing for the staff is but one expression of the same. If all students are assured in the belief that they will receive identical treatment regardless of birth or title in terms of discipline and marks in class that is a good start; I believe you endeavour to do so, but if you have seized some power outside the school you will be in a better position to face out those parents who may hold title but who have forgotten what true nobility means. I would be inclined to institute a prefect system; with prefects picked not on their birth but on who you find most responsible; and let them be both your eyes and ears in the school – not as spies, but to alert you if they think there may be any serious discipline problem, to tell you if they believe a child is more unhappy than simple homesickness should account for – so that you have a closer connection to the children. And you can then tell a prefect to take such measures as they feel necessary to remove a fag from an abusive fellow; or drop a word to the wise to break up mischief before it gets to the point that official intervention becomes necessary and such things as that. Problems that may get to the point of requiring heavy discipline, as would make many children feel antagonised and so likely to be MORE of a problem may be nipped in the bud before it gets to that point by prefects. Having nice interfering kids like the Eulenspeigels is handy too, because they would not dream of going to a Professor but might drop a word to a favourite senior or prefect that, say, they think a child in their class is being sexually used by an adult at home or by a senior here – you look shocked, Agata; didn't you know plenty of kids are unhappy because they have parents who beat on them or who do worse? Erich Von Strang saw his father murder his mother and was beaten on regularly, so don't tell me it only happens to English kids. And the levels of abuses to children there never came out before there was the MSHG; set up to be earnestly boring about muggle literature to hide those who were prepared to fight against Voldemort. As the English Customs Club hides us here. It is the nature of the English clubs that there is equality within the club and the self discipline to be properly respectful to Professors and Prefects outside it; and any problem may be aired, from a query about the justice of in school discipline to the fear a child has of returning home because of what is going to happen. Dad ended up with several wards because of the cans of worms that got opened that way. Agata I fear you are an innocent about the wickedness in this world; the selfishness of some parents that can lead to horrible injury if a child is caught between their quarrelling; of the neglect of one child less favoured than others in a family; of the deliberate cruelty some parents can be capable of. It is not dependant on social rank but cuts all across the board."

"Although I faintly resent being called innocent, if such things are happening and I have not known about it I will admit the description may be accurate" said Agata, horrified. "I – I have let the school run as it has always been run; but I know there is more talent, seemingly, in English schools and I want to know why."

"When people feel crushed and depressed they do not perform to the best of their ability" said Jade "And those here high born enough and happy enough at home not to have been crushed and depressed do not receive the competition from their peer group who have been bullied throughout school. I do not approve of a fagging system – though a kid attached herself to me at Prince Peak and firmly assured me that she was my fag; made a nuisance of herself, but she had need for reassurance, so I gritted my teeth and smiled happily at her best efforts to set my room on fire and get shoe polish everywhere and so on – where was I? Oh yes, disapproving of fagging; but here it is custom and so long as there are safeguards like it being forbidden say, to order a fag to do something that breaks the rules that is enforced on the principal not the fag and the prefects watch for other abuses, then it should be all right. Like I took Desolina Uccello from Nachtigall because her little sister told me that Desolina was afraid of Nachtigall's sexual advances on her. Have you not noticed that with our self help group fighting bullies that grades in class have already risen?"

"That is true" said Agata. "Save in Hedda Schrempf's class."

"She's not exactly what you might call a real teacher though, is she?" said Jade "I've a mind, if you don't mind, Agata, to kill her when I've finished my ZH's and take her job. Possibly as part of my cover recruited into ODESSA ; that will depend on what happens."

"I could care less" said Agata "She has never been a satisfactory pupil; and she is a most unsatisfactory teacher. It would have been impolitic to let you kill her during the Triwizard of course; and embarrassing."

"Quite so; I was perhaps out of line calling duel on her then though I did not THEN intend to kill her. I did not know at the time that she used the cruciatus curse freely even on babes of eleven" said Jade "Else I might have tried to force her to attack me and damn the consequences to your school. I don't always do the wisest thing; I get mad sometimes and react according to my conscience not according to good common sense or even strictly according to courtesy. Sorry."

"She uses it on first years? I did not know this!" said Agata.

"She has used it on our fags and then lashed out on the next first year to irritate her because our fags hold the shield charm" said Cacilia "If you did not know that explains why she has not reported them for refusing to submit to her brand of punishment; she still fears you."

"Good" said Agata grimly. "I was ordered to let her throw the killing curse at Harry Potter when she was still at school, in a duelling competition; to test if it would work on him. I found her an embarrassment then too."

"Well, I shall deal with her in due course" shrugged Jade. "I don't much like killing people; but sometimes there are those people who are a danger to everyone else and something needs to be done about it. And I don't think returning her to childhood would work; I think there might actually be some chemical imbalance in her mind that has no conscience about hurting and indeed actually brings her pleasure. And I don't know how to fix it."

"I think some of us are a little relieved to know there are things you do NOT know" said Rebet.

"Oh there's loads I don't know; it's the compensation for being stuck at school another year that there's new research to do" said Jade "But I do so miss my husband and our baby" she sniffed hard.

Cacilia put an arm round Jade.

"But you're a virgin" said Agata "I tested that; and when have you had time to have a baby?"

"Nefrita Von Strang is a virgin" said Jade "It's part of the transfiguration. I was pregnant through the second and third tasks; I got wed at Yule. I'm very good at gaze repellent spells. I was NOT happy to have to deal with ruddy Snargaluffs though. If I hadn't shared with Lionel I'd probably have incinerated the damn things."

"Is HE your husband?" asked Traudl.

"No way! My husband is one of the first cured werewolves; he volunteered to be a test subject while dad was perfecting it. And THAT is what I most want out of ODESSA ; access to the werewolves to cure them. The few that have not been spent in futile attack. You can't reason with a werewolf in wolf form; we had to kill people we might not have had any real quarrel with; and I rather resent ODESSA for that, for sending people so afflicted without telling them what the mission was. Wulf had no idea he was sent against a school! He was captured you see. It started to shake his belief in ODESSA ; the Dementor attack eroded any other loyalties he might have had. So he came over. We rescued his little girl – she's now fourteen – who was born a werewolf because they were kept in ignorance about that too. Kind of makes the normal monthly curse look a little mundane. And for them and their unwilling wolfy colleagues I decided to be the one to do this" Jade sniffed again. "So future werewolves can be cured and be free; and maybe we can even eliminate lycanthropy entirely!"

"I will certainly aid your father with creating more of this cure" said Rebet.

"Thank you Professor; he'll be glad of another volunteer" said Jade "And no doubt he'd love to host a symposium of potioneers with you and Con Hardbroom and sundry others some day soon. Including cousin Gorbrin, goblin stepson of Lucius, who was using Libatious Borage to brew when he was ten years old to make potions to help support his family. He took an 'O' grade in his OWL a year early last year."

"A very talented youth!" said Rebet "If there is such talent amongst goblin kind I have no objection to teaching them; certainly far less objection than to teaching some of the dunderheads I have at the moment!"

"I'm not taking goblins" said Agata firmly.

"Perhaps, sir, you might test some out to see if they warrant a place at Prince Peak" said Jade. "However, as you are all good enough to accept me for who I am, I think we should return quietly to our duties and await the next move from Von Frettchen; who is bound to stick his nose in further to see how he can use the talented Nefrita Von Strang for his own greater good. I should like to turn him; he is a gentleman after all and has the concept of Noblesse Oblige. He is wasted in ODESSA . But we shall see what HE does next. Thank you for your time ladies and gentlemen; I think it's almost supper time."

"Don't forget to put back Nefrita; you're still Jade" said Cacilia.

"Thanks; I had forgotten" said Jade.

Cacilia laughed.

"And that is why we are happy to accept your deception perhaps; that you are so devastatingly honest including about your own faults and omissions" she said.

At Durmstrang only the fifth and the two sixth forms would be going to the Yule Ball; the fourth were exempt, though they might accept invitations from older pupils. Jade pointed out to her group that it worked out very well, being four girls and four boys so they might all partner each other and there no real problem about who was with whom. Though it was half a term away, the build up to the Yule Ball seemed to pervade the school atmosphere here as it did at Hogwarts.

"Not that there is any point trying to chat you up since you are married" said Bertel.

"'Fraid not" said Jade. "Besides Bertel, you'd not like me as a girlfriend; as a friend and mentor you accept me being bossy. For a girlfriend and later wife you would prefer a girl who thinks you are wonderful who hangs on your every word and that isn't me."

"I demand to dance only with Nefrita because she is the only one with a perfect sense of rhythm" said Volodya.

"With the arrhythmic clomping the majority of the oafs dancing will do that echoes through the floor you'll scarcely notice" said Jade dryly. "I see that it doesn't matter, by the way, what year the ball starts for; there's always people making fools of themselves."

"It is a bit of a disease, having to pick a partner" sighed Cacilia "And at an age when everything to do with the opposite sex is so embarrassing!"

The fifth were making the usual fools of themselves with giggling girls and tongue-tied boys; Jade recognised the symptoms. The boys were making forays to the small wizarding village that served the school, purchasing flowers and chocolates. The sixth form contingent of the English Customs Hobby Club had been for a brisk walk enjoying the crisp snow on a sunny Saturday and on their return were amusing themselves building a snowman and watching the manoeuvring as would-be lovers avoided asking the question first.

"Why is a small first year going to the village? Isn't it out of bounds?" asked Jade.

"It is indeed" said Cacilia. "OY! ERDMUTE NACHTNATTER! come here!"

The small child came obediently over.

"What do you think you're doing heading into the village?" demanded Jade "It's out of bounds for you verminous first years."

"Please Fraulein, my man asked me to go and buy him a box of sweeties; he's in the fourth but he hopes to be invited to the ball if he can show his regard to an older girl" said Erdmute.

"For whom do you fag?" asked Jade.

"For Ignaz Von Frettchen, Fraulein" said Erdmute.

"I see; he is out of line to order you to break the rules" said Jade "Return to him immediately and tell him you have been caught; and tell him to come here now."

"I think he will not be pleased Fraulein" said Erdmute.

"Will he hit you or anything for being the bearer of such though you are ordered by one of the upper sixth?" asked Jade.

"I do not THINK so" said the child "But he will not be pleased. He may not come."

"Tell him he has five minutes to come or he will be brought; unless he is ill?"

"No Fraulein he is quite well."

Ignaz Von Frettchen did NOT turn up; but the sixth did see the child heading back to the village.

Cacilia moved to intercept her.

"He has sent you again? Why does he not go himself?"

"He does not like to go out in the cold Fraulein" said Erdmute "He orders me; I MUST obey his orders, mustn't I?"

"Not when they conflict with school rules" said Cacilia "You give me the money he has given you for his sweeties; I will return it to him and you get lost with other small types."

"Oh, I am to buy it from my money and he will reimburse me!" said Erdmute. Cacilia sniffed.

"Then just get lost, kid, and don't break bounds" she said.

Jade meanwhile wandered around a circle chanting to herself. The chant was not complimentary towards ferrets in general; and as she walked she traced beside her a complex arithmantic formula in the snow with heat from her wand. As she finished young Von Frettchen appeared in the circle with a loud CRAC! Falling in a heap from what had been a reclining position.

"I sent for you" said Jade "If you don't come on your own poor weak little feet, I must bring you. Your fag says you are not ill; wherefore then do you send her to the village, breaking bounds, when you could go yourself?"

He stared.

"Why should I? It's what fags are for! It's cold out here, I want to go in!"

"Actually it's not what fags are for" said Jade "The purpose of fags is to enable exam students to be freed from silly little chores so that they have more time to concentrate on their work; but such is much abused. And you are surely aware that for little Erdmute you were telling her to break bounds and break the school rules?"

"Oh who cares? Get out of my way; I'm cold! And my uncle will hear about this; he's governor of the school you know!" the eight older ones were surrounding him.

"I know Eduard Von Frettchen" said Jade "And I know that he is a nobleman who goes to any lengths needful to protect his dependants; because he is aware of the obligations of nobility. And you will stay here in the cold until you answer by what right you think you can send a child to break bounds rather than take your own short fat and lazy little legs down to the village on your own errands?"

"I didn't see why I should be bothered; I don't like the cold" said Ignaz Von Frettchen sulkily.

"Sheer laziness then" said Jade "Yes; your uncle WILL hear of this because I shall make full report of how unworthy his heir proves to be. Now get out; and never let me hear of you sending a child to break the school rules again; nor should you ever be so ignoble as to expect a child to use her own pocket money rather than sending her with your purse. You are no ornament to the family Von Frettchen. And be pleased to get off lightly."

Young Von Frettchen stumbled off, shivering to run back indoors as fast as he might.

Jade went to see Madam Bacsó

"I'm not about to name names Madam Bacsó" she said, using the head's name formally indicating that it was school business "But we just caught an older youth sending a first year into the village feeling that as his fag she had to do as he said. I would suggest you might want to remind the school that a fag cannot be ordered to break the rules; and that the fag system is only there to relieve the exam students of onerous little chores that you cannot expect the elves to undertake on top of their other duties. Respect towards the fags should be equal to the fags' respect to their fellows."

Madam Bacsó nodded.

"It is part of a culture of contempt towards those weaker than themselves even though that is only because of age" she said. "I hear one of your goblin brats managed to put Heinrich Nactigall in his place by the way."

Jade grinned.

"Clever kid, Alrik" she said "Herr Quabbelig tried to order him to do something and Alrik bowed with exquisite politeness – we've been drilling both kids – and said, 'I regret, noble wizard as you are not the one paying my wages it would displease the one who is if I undertook tasks for others' all quite respectful and yet so insolent in deeper ways than Herr Quabbelig can even appreciate! And Nachtigall uncertain who pays the kid and so uncertain whether he dared clout him or not and decided – for the first wise act since I've known him – to not. He wants to pay me back for existing still of course and I have no doubt he'll try; and will over reach himself. He doesn't touch my fags; he's afraid I might turn him inside out."

"Could you?" asked Agata Bacsó.

"I haven't got a clue" said Jade cheerfully. "I doubt I'd want to; if I'm going to kill someone I'd rather it was clean. But HE doesn't know that and he'd rather not risk it. I can think of plenty of things to do to him with more amusement value than that anyway."

Madam Bacsó made announcement at supper that a report in general terms had reached her concerning the order given to a fag to break bounds. She waxed irritably upon the subject of ordering a smaller child to break the school rules and re-iterated that the fag system was for the convenience of examination students and the equal convenience of the smooth running of the castle that elves were not used for minor and trivial chores. She further threatened that if there were any more such abuses that came to her notice, she would ban all fagging save for the upper sixth and maybe ban fagging altogether.

That was NOT popular and much was said by the upper school on the lack of wisdom of one who was so blatant in the disregard for the rules through his or her fag that the head should be so unpleasant upon the subject.

Xanthippe giggled and said that next year, when their Cacilia had gone it might be worthwhile seeing how irritated they could make the head by manipulating one of the current fifth into abusing the system and then watching them all squirm when the system got banned. And bearing in mind the hopeless lot that the lower sixth were, her twin actually nodded gloomy approval!

Next year the twins would be in the fourth; and the English Customs Hobby Club was arranging for the fourth and the fifth of next year to inherit the younger fags, so the situation was unlikely to arise; but Xanthe conceded that Xanthippe had a point.

Jade kept her word and sent an owl with a message to Herzog Eduard Von Frettchen; along the lines that when the boy was home for Yule she would hope that his uncle might drop a hint or two of the obligations to underlings due from one of his birth that he should have known even if others of his age knew no better than to send fags on errands to make them break the rules over something so trivial as not being able to bothered to follow his own amatory pursuits.

It was a terse and disapproving missive; and Jade added scornfully that she might not have written to get the boy into trouble had he not seemed to think that if he wrote on his own account, his uncle might back him up. Which, as Jade pointed out, would only be likely if he wrote in such a way as to be presenting a tissue of lies.

As Ignaz DID write to his uncle in an impassioned plea to stop him being pushed around and tortured by the older ones in being made to stand outside in the cold and answer stupid questions because they were jealous of him having secured a fag at his age and did not want him to use the said fag's services, Von Frettchen was not pleased. And if the boy had not lied outright, Von Frettchen knew evasion when he read it!

He wrote back to his nephew adjuring him to read some of the school rules in the library and see if he might find any clause where it justified the use of a fag to break these rules. Eduard Von Frettchen was not pleased with his heir; he was of the opinion that he was spoilt by his mother and sufficiently ignored by his father to make him less a child of the aristocracy than the child of various elves smothered more than mothered by erratic and too foolishly fond affection.

In which he was perfectly correct.