Chapter Eleven
Incidents of Coincidence
Jennifer found herself waking to a pair of stormy grey-green eyes, frowning in complete confusion.
"There, she's coming to," Thomas said, gazing at her steadily. "All right, there, Jen-girl?"
"What happened?" Jennifer asked.
"You went head over heels again, obviously," Thomas grunted. "Maybe you should send someone else down there when you need something from now on?" Jennifer blinked then sat up, realizing she was in the small clinic in the Ministry building. Near the door stood Plumeria Plum, looking quite inconvenienced over it all, moving out of the way a moment to let in Ginger Davidson, who walked in carrying a steaming mug.
"Here it is, Minister Craw," Ginger said, handing him the mug, and he in turn held it up for Jennifer, who reluctantly took a drink and grimaced from the taste. "Oh, now, don't give me that! You're lucky I even had everything on hand to make you one, I'm a poison tester, not a doctor."
"Thank you," Jennifer said dryly.
"She can't help it, she's a born critic," Thomas said gruffly, but obviously glad she was looking better when he passed the mug back over to Ginger.
"I wonder where I get it from," Jennifer retorted.
"Is it safe to assume you are done for the day?" Plumeria asked.
"I need to get my notebook…"
"Oh, no, you don't, Jen-girl, you stay put until Severus gets here. Plumeria, go fetch," Thomas said. Plumeria smiled poisonously at him.
"You have no authority to order me around, Minister," she said crisply.
"It's all right, Minister Plum, I'll go get it," Ginger said quickly, not wanting to hear the two of them go at it again.
"Fine, I shall reopen the Archives for you and see if I need to itemize any damages on any of those priceless record books that were dropped in the process," she said, walking out of the room.
"How I utterly despise that woman!" Thomas snarled.
"I am very quickly learning to agree with you," Jennifer said with a nod.
Severus waited impatiently for Hermione to arrive from home before grabbing a key and hurrying out of the castle, glancing at his watch to check the time then at his wedding ring, noting its strangely pale color despite the fact it had begun to gravitate back to blue. He frowned at it slightly, but became more eager to get where he was going, Apparating straight into reception and taking unusually long strides down the empty corridors as he hurried towards the clinic, glancing down every now and then at his ring worriedly.
It was as he was doing this that he turned an abrupt corner and crashed into woman who had been busy reading something off a clipboard, sending her as well as several scrolls and books to the floor.
"Terribly sorry," Severus said sincerely, offering her a hand.
But when she looked up, he hesitated, instantly regretting his offer although not completely understanding why. She was a comely woman, perhaps in her mid thirties, with long black hair that probably covered most of her back when it was in order and curiously dark blue eyes that seemed more sapphire-like than a normal color. Perhaps she was part Veela, he pondered as she stood and tried to make her own flustered attempts at apology. It would definitely explain her looks, and how her weight accented her figure, much like it had come to on his mother-in-law, not to mention the fact…when she bent over to gather her scrolls, Severus quickly turned away and helped her, handing them over and excusing himself as fast as he was able to continue his way down the hall.
Just what he needed right now, Severus thought with irritation. If Jennifer knew there was another one of those in the area, she'd probably either attempt to ban Severus from the Ministry, or at the very least she'd be dogging him incessantly any time he had to come for one reason or the other. He forced the encounter out of his mind as he slipped into the clinic to see Jennifer sitting up and Thomas glancing over her notebook with a thoughtful hand over his chin.
"You know, Jennifer, to be fair, our family has been hunted as much as they've hunted others. This linear descendant thing of yours may just be a sign of it. I'd say there's been many a time when people have tried to exterminate our family line. As you know they nearly succeeded this generation as well," Thomas said dryly. "This family is lucky to have survived for so long, especially after all that foolishness with Lucius…"
"Please, Dad, I really don't want to get into that again. And I'm not talking about just our generation. I mean, I would have thought that at least some of the Craw daughters who got remarried and took a different name would have been able to branch out a bit, but none of those seemed to have carried the line either, and the only one I can account for intentionally dying out is Ambrosia and Andrew."
"Most of the others were simply executed or died from normal circumstances, Jennifer, nobody lived too long in those days. Oh, hello, Severus," he added, and Jennifer looked up in surprise.
"Oh! Severus, I hope I didn't worry you," Jennifer said when he sighed with exasperation, giving him a hug.
"So you did, and here I find you sitting casually in the clinic talking about family trees as if nothing in the world was wrong. What happened?" Severus asked.
"The usual, although Jen-girl had the misfortune of having Minister Pruneface pick her up off the floor this time," Thomas snorted.
"It wasn't all that usual, but yes, I fainted. I feel fine now, really, Dad's just being overcautious," Jennifer complained. Severus squinted.
"What do you mean, it wasn't all that usual?" he asked.
"I don't know…" Jennifer murmured thoughtfully. "Only…one minute I was fine, the next I was completely out of breath and couldn't manage to regain it."
"Yes, but isn't that what always happens when you have one of these attacks?" Severus said.
"Well, yes, although…I don't remember that closed in feeling I usually get right before everything gets funny on me," Jennifer said. Severus frowned at her, then glanced at Thomas.
"She was down in that close room with towering bookcases for two hours. Door open or not, that'd get to anyone. I know I always feel stifled anytime I need to go down there to look anything up," Thomas put in.
"All the same, why don't you go see Sagittari when we get back just to be on the safe side. And from now on, I or someone else will do that part of the research," Severus said firmly.
"Keep me up to date on this ring business, if you don't mind. I don't like how this is coming to a head all of the sudden," Thomas said.
"You and me both," Jennifer agreed. "In fact, the longer I have it now, the sorrier I am I ever picked the thing out of his tomb."
"Better you having it than anyone else. I'd hate to see what that ring would do to someone who isn't a Craw," Severus pointed out. Thomas nodded thoughtfully as they left the room, lost in thought for a moment before finally getting back up and heading to his office.
Lucky arrived late that evening to find practically everyone had already went to their dorm rooms in attempts of finishing all the homework they had put off all weekend. Most of the lights had been dimmed or snuffed when she slipped into the common room, but she couldn't help but notice that the large door to Lyra's room was open and bright light came from inside.
It was a large walnut door right next to the common room itself, where once hung a fanciful tapestry of knights around a table while outside a strange scaled beast frolicked in a meadow. Whether or not the door had always been behind the tapestry, Lucky had no idea. But once the tapestry had been moved a few nights after the Sorting, no one gave it more than a passing thought. After all, the stairs to the dorm rooms were quite narrow for a centaur, and Lucky couldn't quite imagine a creature like that trying to sleep in a normal bed. A wave of curiosity hit her in that moment, and as quietly as she could she slipped over to the door to have a look.
Lyra stood at a tall desk looking quite frustrated, glaring at her homework as fiercely as if she were challenging it to a duel. When Lucky knocked on the door, she took a step back in surprise, sizing the human girl up, who seemed to be doing the same thing.
"You know, you probably shouldn't take your shirt off like that if you leave the door open," Lucky commented. "You'll end up having half the guys down here stalking outside if any of them catch you like that."
"Why?" Lyra asked.
"Well it's…because they're…well, they're jerks," Lucky shrugged. "What are you working on? Can I come in?"
"I don't know. What sky were you born under?" she asked thoughtfully. Lucky thought back to her Astrology course for a moment.
"Pisces at the rising crown of Virgo. I think that's right," Lucky said. Lyra laughed. "What?"
"It's right, it makes perfect sense for you, especially if your name is Lucky," she grinned.
"Well, actually, it's Fortuna, but don't tell anyone that," Lucky said, earning even more laughter. "It's not that bad!" she scowled.
"It just means it's even more right, that's all," Lyra laughed. "Virgo's crown is a reference to Tyche, who was also called Fortuna. I suppose being a Pisces you must have then been born in the daytime since you can't see Virgo at night that time of year, and therefore in this case rising means morning…usually it's in the first hours of the evening when the constellations aren't hidden. Your ruling house in the day is Venus, so any reference to Virgo at all would have to mean Tyche, although since it's not mentioned, you were born in late morning, when the sun has blinded the planet, you see. I say, though, that means you have opposing symbols! That would drive me insane, I think."
"I have no idea what you just said," Lucky said flatly, although slightly amazed that the centaur was able to get so close to the time of her birth from just that.
"Well Pisces is a water symbol, and Virgo is air," Lyra explained.
"Well, yeah, I knew that much," Lucky said.
"But considering when you were born and the latitudes at that point you must be a strongest with fire. The sun overshadows your other two symbols," she explained. Immediately all the color drained out of Lucky's face as she stared at Lyra in complete horror. "What is it? Did I say something wrong?" Lyra asked with a frown. "It isn't that bad, really! All your signs make you very independent and adaptable too, you know. I just didn't think it'd be such fun to be in constant battle with yourself all the time. Besides, there are a lot worse fates out there! Mine is much worse," she chuckled.
"I'm not sure I believe all that fate stuff anyhow, it's all stupid! The only destiny I got is the one I make for myself!" Lucky snapped at her, while Lyra stared back in confusion. "I make my own luck! I don't need any stupid stars telling me what I can and can't do. I'm the only one who can do that. And you can make your own mind without them too, so whatever it is you think they say, ignore it."
"Ignore it?" Lyra stared at her in disbelief.
"So what homework are you doin' anyhow?" Lucky said, stepping inside. Lyra sighed.
"Transfiguration," she said at last. Lucky winced.
"Yeah, that's not my best subject either," Lucky admitted, walking over to the table.
"I just don't understand the point of it. What's wrong with leaving things the way they are?" Lyra complained.
"Well, it can come in handy in an emergency. Like…say you were all alone on a deserted island or something…"
"How would I have gotten there?" Lyra asked, bewildered.
"Shipwrecked," Lucky said.
"I don't like boats," Lyra said with a frown, remembering her trip across the lake.
"It was just an example," Lucky sighed. "If you got stuck someplace like that you can't get out of, it's a good survival tool, 'cuz you can use what's around you to make life bearable. I know there are times I could have used it before I came here." Lyra grew thoughtful, glancing over her work. "You know, one thing that might help is if you used normal handwriting instead of trying to print it." Lyra blinked.
"What's wrong with my handwriting?" Lyra asked with a frown.
"Well, nuthin', I mean, it's probably the neatest print I've seen, but it must take you forever to write that all out," Lucky said.
"Yes, it does," Lyra admitted with a sigh. Lucky nodded.
"I'll talk to the others about it. We can help you learn cursive when you come study with us," Lucky said. Lyra grinned at her.
"If you say so," she said. "I do like to learn, although I really don't like all this reading. I'd rather learn from someone than read it!"
"Yeah," Lucky said thoughtfully. "Yeah, me too. Can I ask you something?" Lyra gazed at her, baffled.
"Didn't you just ask me something by asking me if you could ask me something?" Lyra said. Lucky thought about it.
"You're right, that's a stupid question, isn't it?" Lucky grinned. "Just how do you sleep on that?" she went on, pointing at what looked to be a large gym mat and a shelf about three feet off the ground and filled with pillows.
"Oh! Well, actually I don't use the pillows much, only if I decide to sleep sitting up like father does," Lyra explained, going over and pulling her legs under her and leaning her elbows and head against the pillow. "I prefer to lie on my side really, it's much more comfortable, but I'm not supposed to," she admitted in a lowered voice, her eyes full of mischief. "Father says it'll mess up my backs when I get older." Lucky tilted her head as she tried to think about it.
"Ya, I can see that," Lucky said after a moment, exploring the room curiously.
"The bed is not even completely necessary, really. I can sleep standing up too. All our elders and guards sleep standing up," Lyra explained.
"Where do you go to the bathroom?"
"Oh, down near Father's hut," Lyra said, trying to chuckle off her embarrassment. "He has a private area just inside the forest, really. I shower there too."
"That's why you have breakfast down there, huh?" Lucky asked.
"Yes, and he's been teaching me how to control my wild magic so it doesn't interfere with my spells before classes too," Lyra explained. "But I am doing better! Even Professor Weasley thinks so. Charms is my best subject now. What's yours?"
"Arithmantics," Lucky said. "Number magic," she added when Lyra looked confused.
"I suppose it would be born under a sky like that," Lyra said. Lucky gave her a dirty look but then turned her attention back to the room. She glanced over at a bureau, the only typical piece of furniture in the entire room, inspecting a rack with room for thirty phials, half of which were still full.
"What are the potions for?" Lucky asked, picking one up curiously.
"Oh, that's just my medicine, I have to take one every night," Lyra said with a sigh.
"Really? You don't look sick to me," Lucky said, putting it back.
"Nothing like that, it just keeps me from coming of age while I'm in school," Lyra said, finishing the last line of homework she was on. Lucky stared at her. "You know, like…well, to prevent me from going into heat."
"Ah! I get it. That time-of-the-month potion," Lucky said with amusement.
"No, I have to take it every day," Lyra said, but Lucky didn't look any less amused as she walked back over to the table. "Father says it'd cause problems in school. This just makes sure my body waits until summer, although I don't know how a silly potion is going to help if my stars decide it's time for me to come of age."
"Man, I'm glad stars don't get to decide when humans come of age," Lucky snorted.
"Really? How do humans do it?" Lyra asked curiously.
"Age, mostly. You know, birthdays, though what that age is kinda depends on where you grew up, sometimes even what religion you are," Lucky explained. "Back where I come from, girls have a big coming out party on their fifteenth birthday…a Quinceañera. There's a special church service, and you meet up with all your friends and relatives afterwards and have a dance."
"Really? When's yours?" Lyra asked with interest.
"Oh, uh, a year and a half from now, not that it really matters anymore. They don't do that kinda thing here," Lucky shrugged, waving it off. Lyra frowned. "Sometimes people throw debutante parties when they graduate here, though."
"Graduate? But that's seven years from now!" Lyra gawked.
"Yeah," Lucky said, propping her head up. Lyra looked somber as well.
"But I'm not even sure I'm going to be alive that long," Lyra said with a sigh. "The stars sure don't think so." Lucky turned and stared at the centaur's serious expression, not quite certain how to react.
