Chapter 11

Working as she did in the Swiss Ministry, Frau Accola was able to obtain for her daughter a licence to perform the spell apnoea under age and a clause permitting her to do as she needed for the safety of the muggleborn child under her escort.

Roseli was glad; they would be going the long way by muggle railway because of Miss Percival, though she did explain that a special train was usually laid on from Zurich for the school at the proper time with an arrangement to use a private line that was a shorter distance.

Sarah slept for most of the journey and Roseli fielded a lot of questions about the school, firmly telling the governess that the school was namely chiefly for art, music, mathematics and chemistry, the head's own subject. She was glad that she knew the muggle equivalents! She added daringly that Physics was also held in esteem and hoped that she had remembered correctly that such was what Madam Malfoy had compared much transfigurational theory to. She was glad they had an efficient muggle studies teacher in Professor Nuffield! She explained that she was herself there for the art and was an average scholar otherwise and was a bit of a dunce at mathematics because she had trouble with simultaneous equations; and hoped fervently that this was a part of Arithmancy that was also taught to muggles.

Miss Percival said that Sarah was at least good at Maths and had a good ear for language and had not yet had an opportunity to study more than basic science for the want of facilities.

"Mr Elliot had to leave in a hurry for Riyadh; and obviously Arabia is not a place he would have wanted to take Sarah" she said.

"Oh quite" said Roseli, whose knowledge of Arabia was limited to the concept that it was hot and dry, full of pearls, genies and magic carpets. "Well, I expect you'll want to look around the school too; it's pretty strict in term time because we are co-educational so there are rules about dormitories."

"Sarah will not have a room to herself then?" Miss Percival was taken aback.

"Oh no! You don't get forced to have a room on your own unless you're put in isolation for being terribly awfully naughty when you only mix with other people for lessons; Professor Snape had to do it to a boy last year who wouldn't tidy his own kit and was awfully rude to the servants and made them unnecessary work and he had to sleep on his own in his own mess until he apologised" said Roseli. "Which he did pretty quickly. We have dorms with four to eight; there's five in my dorm because that's how many girls there are in my year; there's two girls' dorms for the first because they're short on boys and we're heavy on boys so two of the boys from the second moved in with the two boys in the first, because it is more jolly to have more people, nicht wahr? And I should think Sarah will in the first form be, from what she has said so she will then in Lilac Dormitory be because it has only three girls at present; Pink has six. But it is cramped to be more than six and Professor Snape said that it would be better to have two dormitories one full and one less full. They are allowed to negotiate to change one with another if they get on better with one from another dormitory; there might be some moves this term with everyone sorted out into friends. But Liriope and Cerellia are friends in Lilac and Zoë is a bit of a loner. We call Liriope 'Elephant's Child' – Kipling you know – because she can ask questions forever."

The idea of literary nicknames pleased Miss Percival even if she was taken aback that the idea of a private room was considered only to be a punishment. The small sizes of the classes however sounded ideal.

"How long has the school been running?" she asked. "Is it small by design?"

"Oh there has been a school for more than a century" said Roseli "But Herr Professor Snape took it over oh, three years ago, and brought in new teachers and modernised it a good bit. Some of the teachers had been there pretty much from when it opened I think." Miss Percival naturally assumed THAT was childish exaggeration! Roseli added "I think that Professor Snape does not want there to be many more than a hundred pupils ever because it is better for high talent to have small classes; as he and Madam Malfoy – she teaches under her maiden name – have private means, they can subsidise the school. Professor Snape thinks that there are not facilities for those with unusual talents in ordinary schools; or only in such private academies that make all of the one skill and do not expect some academic excellence in general fields too. We work hard! But we also have strict rules about leisure and rest and we may not do school work in common rooms. And in the winter, Professor Snape takes advantage of good weather that we go out and play and make up lessons on bad days. We are above most of the worst weather; it is jolly to look down on the clouds while we have brilliant sunshine and can ski outside" she added.

"She will learn to ski then?" asked Miss Percival. "I hope it will not make her cough!"

"Oh it is taken gently; and she will learn singing too to help her breathing; we have a very good singing class" said Roseli. "The delicate ones are watched all the time. And we are all responsible for helping each other too; and expected to make such allowances as are needful."

Miss Percival nodded; she was certainly beginning to like the sound of this school!

Sarah was white with excitement and Roseli had to cast apnoea on her by the time they got to the castle by cable car.

"Is he a goblin?" she whispered to Roseli, of Strang.

"Yes; shh!" said Roseli, thanking Strang.

They were greeted by Severus and Krait.

"Perhaps, Miss Accola you will be kind enough to show Miss Percival around" said Severus "Whilst my wife and I put Miss Elliot through the basic tests."

Roseli had bobbed a curtsey on seeing him, and dropped another in acquiescence. All must have been arranged to look as an English governess would expect then; and she smiled politely at Miss Percival to usher her on a tour.

"You curtsey a lot" said Miss Perceval.

"To the head teacher; it is polite to show respect to a figure of authority" said Roseli "As we rise in the English fashion for a professor when he or she enters the room and fall immediately to silence. Courtesy costs nothing and is something that helps the world go round better, nicht wahr?"

"So it is the custom here? I see. It is very like the books of the Chalet School Sarah is so fond of."

"It is too the custom of the Scottish private school where Professor Snape taught before he took over headship of this school" said Roseli "But the uniform here is because his daughters also have read the books; and why too we speak three languages in school. I have with my English much facility now; I knew none when I started school here, not the September that is gone but the one before."

Miss Percival was startled.

"Why my dear child! I had supposed you had learned for many years! You have done extremely well!"

"Thank you; and too, the English children in my class are quite fluent also in German and I believe also French though it is too a second language for me. That I had already learned, living in Switzerland as I do. Here first is the music room; oh, and they have got in the grand piano for Silvina; I am glad! She is by way of being a composer; her form gave us an impromptu concert at the end of term with Silvina's first real piece in it. It was very good, I thought, but I am not really qualified to comment. Next we have the singing room; the piano in here is a little how do you say, dilapidated. It has suffered, you understand, from being misused by unmusical pupils and to having boys put things inside it to explode when a certain note is played; boys being boys . Miss Bat is very tolerant up to a point; so long as jokes are funny and do not go on too long or are played too often. She is retiring soon. I expect that for her last lesson, Angel Hallow Hellibore will arrange an explosion that showers her with her favourite liquorice sweeties. Over here we have the Chemistry Lab" Roseli thankfully read the title on the door of the potions dungeon and showed Miss Percival in to see a strange set of equipment that was almost familiar that constituted a first class chemistry lab.

Other doors were labelled as considerately and Roseli was impressed by the thoroughness of the staff.

The labels had been prepared in case of a visit by any muggle school inspectors; the illusions already programmed into enchantments in each room.

Miss Percival was inclined to cavil at the four poster beds as unhygeinic.

"But no!" said Roseli "No dust is allowed to gather; it means that each in a dormitory may then if she wishes have privacy by drawing the curtains; and also to determine how much air she wishes. Some like to sleep with the window open at all times and some of us abhor this custom as too draughty; especially those of us prone to earache. Thus we may control our own sleeping environment. We are not either permitted fires in our rooms; though hot air is carried to take the chill off the rooms from the flues, if we feel cold we may then draw the curtains. There are always spare plumeaux also, and hot waterbottles if we wish them. We have too light" she indicated the bulb in the headboard that had a press button to activate the lumos spell "If we wish to read until rising bell; but we are on our honour not to read before five thirty or after our age group's lights-out; and only story books. It is forbidden to do prep in dormitories."

She showed the big common rooms too; there were muggle games in here now as well as playing cards and the storybook shelves. The specific wizarding storybooks had been removed, which still left plenty.

"Kipling is popular I see" said Miss Perceval.

"Oh yes; Professor Snape reads to the first and second on inclement evenings and he got through all the 'Just So' stories and 'Jungle Book' last year" said Roseli "He has a very fine reading voice. I am reading 'Kim' at the moment; I borrowed it for the holidays, but I have not had a chance yet to read it, so I shall do so here. We may also put our own books on the shelves here on the understanding that this gives others permission to read them. It is considered polite to check no-one else wants a certain book, or to bag it well ahead if it is popular."

"A nice choice you have already too" said Miss Percival "None of this modern trash in photo-novels – dear me, a horrible phrase for a horrible concept – nice old fashioned books; Chalet school; G.A. Hentry; dear me, Dimsie; I haven't read Dimsie since I was a girl!"

"I expect Professor Snape would be happy for you to borrow the books to reacquaint yourself with" said Roseli. "We may borrow from other common rooms if they give us permission; no-one but prefects may go to other common rooms though without an invite. It stops big ones throwing their weight around with us younger ones, or people like Antti Laakkonen interfering in the older ones' business and getting scragged. He's a prig's prig and interfering and thinks he's better at schoolwork than he really is" she added scornfully "He's mostly harmless if you ignore his silly outbursts but he would sneak for something like filling a prefect's galoshes with jelly and you can't pin a notice on his back saying 'I'm a prig, poke me' because it would make him blub. And he was not kind to Hanna-leena when her mother had died so I do not like him."

"Dear me!" said Miss Percival. They seemed to tolerate jokes here then, but if it was not considered right to pull a jape that would make a child blub, the staff presumably had their finger on the pulse. This child had said something about being on their honour not to have the light on at improper times too; a most unusual but excellent school if the honour system worked!

By the time the tour was completed, Sarah had finished her aptitude tests and interview with Professor Snape and was beaming.

She had had the time of her life; being given a wand to try out and told to see if she could make it do anything; it had produced some coloured stars which seemed to please the Professor. Next he had asked her to stir some odd looking concoction in – of all things – a cauldron just like story book witches had; he said seven stirs widdershins, then explained that meant going counterclockwise. At the seventh stir the potion turned rich dark purple. Professor Snape had smiled and said 'good' about that too. He had shown her some paintings in his office which moved; and Sarah had gasped in surprise.

"That's a new one, Sev mate" said the painting of the untidy looking man with glasses.

"The child is muggleborn, James; she's an artist but she's never seen our type of paintings before" said Professor Snape.

"I'm muggleborn" said the pretty redhead with James "And it is an awful shock at first; you'll LOVE magic!" and she smiled kindly at Sarah.

"Place is already going to rack and ruin" growled the grim faced dark haired man in the other portrait. He looked arrogant. "Goblins and elves in school; mudbloods; that Hermione Granger continually talking back to me; I don't know."

"He likes Madam Granger really" said Professor Snape "Phineas Nigellus is a little conservative; he died in 1926."

"He's DEAD?" gasped Sarah.

"It's the only way you can be a talking portrait" said James kindly "Because you can connect with the portrait and interact with the consciousness that is beyond the veil. Otherwise it would be an ordinary sort of moving picture, like photos are, that move about a bit and show the personality but not ….. she hasn't seen any wizarding photos Severus her face is a study."

"I was about to show her a copy of the 'Times'" said Severus mildly, doing so "Here you see, the pictures move a bit; Lucius Malfoy smirking like he's managed to irritate someone excruciatingly; oh, hardly surprising, the story's about him winning a lawsuit. Lucius loves lawsuits."

"Oh, Roseli said he is your wife's uncle; does he know people who are wizards then? Is HE a wizard?" asked Sarah.

Severus laughed.

"Lucius is one of the most famous – or some would say, notorious – wizards in the world" he said "He's probably the wealthiest and certainly has the oldest traceable wizarding family. There's a Roman mosaic in the cellars of Malfoy Manor that goes back to an earlier family home of theirs. He's a school governor of Hogwarts school – the main British Wizarding school – and he's on the Grand Council. He's also got fingers in many muggle commercial pies too and if anyone is a royal family in the wizarding world, the Malfoys are it; and the Blacks too really. You'll be learning to grind the pigments with magical ritual to paint special portraits; and too to make paintings that move. You have more than enough talent; and if you had only had enough to make some colour change in the potion, you'd have been capable of making magical pigments and that would have justified me taking you into the school. Now, however, I really need to break the news to your parents."

"Mummy won't turn a hair; she always swears there's something in her paintings that almost seems to move" said Sarah "Daddy won't really believe it and might think you're a nutter. Sorry sir, but he will" she added. "Besides, they're in Riyadh."

"Distance is of very little matter to a wizard" said Severus. "Well, well, perhaps I shall go and talk to your mother and take her advice on how to approach your father. I'll see to getting your kit and just bill him for it; and….let me see, Willow can come out here to decide what wand you need. Wands are VERY individual; you can get stars out of a school wand, but out of your own you will get much more."

This was when Roseli brought Miss Percival to the office and Severus sent for tea and cakes.

"Sarah seems perfectly suitable for the school" he said "I can arrange to have uniform and equipment brought so she does not have to go back to London for it; the younger ones do NOT have a tailored uniform so I can send her size and a request for a full outfit for the summer term. She may have grown by September so there's no point getting winter uniform until then. She can choose if she wants flame, brown or cream for her summer frock; we let the girls choose as some are more flattering than others dependant on colouring. With her chestnut hair I think flame would be quite striking; but she is lucky to look good in all, save it were better to get a little more colour in her cheeks before she wears cream. The blazer is brown for when they go out. Some girls too prefer to wear a short sleeved cream shirt and brown skirt; but as she is delicate I advise against this as it can get very hot here in summer, even modified by mountain breezes. I strongly suggest she stays up here; the rooms are cool and airy with the windows open; few enough insects get this high so the rooms require no mosquito bar! The air is clear and clean and you may notice she is already breathing without that little catch in her breath."

"She is; and I am most impressed by what I have seen in your school" said Miss Percival "All that remains is to ask the fees so I may write to Mr Elliot and let him know."

"My fees are six thousand pounds sterling a year" said Severus. "plus eighty pounds per week board for her during the holidays which covers activities, outings and so on. Her art lessons are included; we have teachers to cover most talents and visiting teachers for more individual talents. She will probably want sport equipment – skis and skates as well as more standard equipment; and she is permitted no more than fifteen pounds per week pocket money. Out of this she may purchase sweeties and extra stationary – a prettier pen than school issue say – and such fal-di-dals that little girls seem to find essential which are usually at least not as noisy as the toys little boys seem to find essential; and treating friends and such. She will also find that some breaches of discipline incur fines. The fines from such go towards supporting talented children from poor backgrounds to whom we offer a few free places; and it has been mooted that we should also hold a sale of work to add to that when we have captive tourists in for the summer. We have agreed to open our extensive model railway to tourists on certain days for this purpose too; and the profits from the rack railway also. We have" he added dryly "A very enthusiastic railway club; a whole dungeon room is filled with the products of Mr Hornby's endeavours. And large quantities of papier-mâché scenery. The laundry staff had to be appeased with a big box of chocolates after the amount of green paint, bits of paper and modelling flock found its way into fifteen sets of clothes. I leave it all in the able hands of my Latin Master who is also a railway enthusiast. They learn a lot of incidental history and economics from it; and artists are always in demand to make more scenery" he smiled at Sarah.

"I always wanted a model railway but daddy said a girl wouldn't possibly want to" said Sarah "I wanted to build the Island of Sodor!"

Severus laughed.

"Be careful what you wish for – you might just get it!" he said "That petition HAS been made to me; by my younger children as well! Fortunately there are a number of unused dungeon rooms that are available on that level; so you might yet be doing that – and converting trains of the correct type into Thomas the Tank engine and friends since I am told that the diecast matchbox models are not good enough for serious fans of mature years and are only suitable for babies. And this was by a big boy of nine, so I have to assume big boys and girls of eleven through seventeen and the bigger boy of twentysomething will agree."

"That would be AWESOME!" said Sarah.

She moved into lilac dormitory forthwith.

Willow turned up with a wand.

"White willow with a unicorn hair core" she said "Had a feeling I needed to make it; now I see the kid I know why. Unicorn hair makes the best brushes."

"Better than sable?" asked Sarah.

"Yes" said Willow. "Graphorn hair for oil painting; unicorn mane or tail for watercolour. Willow charcoal for drawing same as for muggles. What's your thing, oil, watercolour of pastel?"

"Watercolour mainly but I guess the portraits need oils?" said Sarah.

"Oh, you can do portraits in any medium; it's just that oils are more colourfast and permanent" said Willow "My brother will be teaching you art until you get a permanent teacher; I'll ask him to bring you out the whole enchilada of kit that he reckons you'll need; rather than have Severus running around like a headless chicken finding out what you need. Your wand will do the best job for you if you concentrate on making the job in hand artistic; like when you're turning buttons into beetles think of pretty beetles. It'll do colour changing charms pretty well too, and illusion magic, and fire writing but it might be stroppy about offensive spells. Stick to imaginative corridor curses if you must quarrel with anyone rather than boring old stinging hexes and jelly-legs jinxes. Wands are supposed only to be a focus for your magic power – like a magnifying glass – but they can have their own quirks of personality. Yours wants to create; it'll get profoundly unhappy if you use it too much to destroy. If I was you, I'd learn to cast the vanishing spell without a wand, to deal with rubbish or with any er, evil concatenations you brew up in your cauldron; wands work so much better for you if you keep them happy."

"The poor child has yet to learn how to use a wand, let alone such refinements as wandless or wordless magic!" said Severus. "Interesting theory by the way."

"I've been writing a bit of a thesis on it in my spare time" said Willow "Because I know a heap about a lot of people with interesting wand combinations. I mean, there's the obvious symbology of the phoenix feather cores of Harry and Riddle; Lilith with an elder wand and basilisk crest core is a bit interesting; it implies mastery and suggests it will be best at controlling spells. Krait's a bit good at that too, though her wand is holly with basilisk crest core; and maybe representing the evergreen aspect of the survival of Slytherin's Heiress with the best of the family that missed her father."

"Or it could just mean that she's prickly at times" said Severus "You write a learned book on it my dear and come to all sorts of conclusions that will be uncomfortably accurate for those of us whose wands you know and it'll be a seminal work for NEWT level enchanting in a few years time. Sarah here doesn't care much; and she'll be here a while before the idea of anything but basic spells sinks in!"

"Well she might as well know now" said Willow equably "Excuse me; I have puppies to feed."

"She means her offspring" said Severus "Her husband is a dog animagus – can turn at will into the form of a dog – and it amuses them to call their children the puppies. Which seeing as half of them are already dog animagi isn't actually strictly inaccurate."

"Oh!" said Sarah.

It was a very strange world she now found herself in it; and she loved every minute!

Sarah's mother looked up from her painting of efreeti with the same big luminous grey eyes her daughter had and regarded Severus.

"Now I haven't been rubbing any lamps or rings and you don't look like a genie" she said "But I swear you appeared out of thin air with a sharp snick and a faint smell of ozone."

"You have a good nose, Madam Elliot" said Severus. She looked at him sharply.

"That's the same form of address Lucius uses" she said.

"Lucius Malfoy? Yes" said Severus "I'm married to his niece; we're both denizens of the wizarding world. Your daughter has talent. I mean magical talent; in addition to being artistic."

Mrs Elliot blinked.

"I'm listening" she said.

"I run a school in Austria" said Severus "Along the lines of a magical Chalet School if you will; one of my pupils encountered Sarah and Miss Percival trying unsuccessfully to find somewhere to stay. Miss Percival is NOT used to travel when she is not, as one might say with some discourtesy but an irresistible pun, part of the diplomatic baggage."

"She is a bit at times" said Mrs Elliot "Means well; rather tedious. But kindly to Sarah; and that was most important. You're offering her a place at your school then?"

"Precisely" said Severus "We showed Miss Percival what she expected to see; labs and so on. She's writing to your husband. Sarah says you are happy to know but is chary about her father's reaction. Parents should know what their children are learning, but I'm more interested in the child's well being than the parents' feelings; so I'd rather lie than have her taken away."

"What do you teach then?" asked Mrs Elliot.

"The brewing of potions; charms, transfigurations, enchanting, chanting, Arithmancy, wizarding history, defence against the dark arts, herbology, divination, geomancy, comparative magic, ancient runes, muggle studies – muggles being non wizards – and Latin" said Severus "As well as music and art in magic for the talented; and quidditch, which is our main sport. Think basketball on flying brooms with added balls" he added. "They learn English, German and French to fluency; we ski and skate in winter and dance too. Chanting will strengthen her lungs, we train opera singing style breathing. I've other asthmatics; and spells to stop an attack in its tracks. And I'll see that all the kids in her year learn that particular spell too" he added.

"Donald would not be entirely happy" said Mrs Elliot "He rather poured scorn on the idea of her seeing fairies in the garden where we were living once; told her she was too big to make up such stories and I had to intervene because he was about to punish her for lying when she insisted she had seen them. I pointed out that if her imagination was so vivid she believed she had seen them he should be proud to have so intelligent and imaginative a daughter who would doubtless grow up to be a great artist or writer not punish her for her lovely fancies. He was afraid she would fail to understand the nitty gritty of the real world. I prefer to ignore the nitty gritty of the real world personally; it isn't pretty."

"There's plenty that isn't pretty in our world as well" said Severus grimly "Racism over blood status – how many generations of pure bred wizarding blood you have, or whether you are a goblin or elf – is rife on the continent. It's being stamped out in Britain. We have bad parents, abusive step fathers, thieves, murderers and megalomaniacs too. There are evil wizards as well as good ones and some people are allergic to fairy bites. We try to equip our children to meet the threats the world may throw at them whilst giving them as happy a childhood as we may. Do you advise me to contact you then for the most part and leave you to handle your husband?"

Mrs Elliot considered.

"I think so; for the time being" she said "Perhaps when this ticklish business he's engaged on is over, we could visit; and he could see for himself what the school does. I KNOW there's more than is dreamed of in his philosophy, but I love him anyway and so does Sarah. If she's HAPPY and WELL, he'll be delighted and will only meep a little about it not being what he's used to. But then he does that about some of the more er, bizarre banquets we've attended in foreign countries."

Severus grinned ruefully.

"Well I believe the phrase 'one man's meat is another man's poison' can be taken as rather close to the knuckle with some foreign cuisines" he said. "I'll send him then a vague bill for her uniform and sports kit rather than an itemised one; and she doesn't need a broom of her own unless she's talented at quidditch as her lungs improve, she can fly on a school broom."

"Tell me one thing – isn't it awfully uncomfortable?" said Mrs Elliot.

"Cushioning charms" said Severus "Not that strictly speaking they are CHARMS but enchantments; tied in permanently to the broom. Like the enchantments that make it streamlined and keep the wind out of the face; and the turbulence breaking charms in the tail twigs. Brooms are very high tech these days; not like the old things the earliest witches and wizards used to put up with. She'll need a cauldron and potioneering kit and dragonhide gloves for gardening in and art kit; but it's a broom that is a single expensive item. A top of the range broom can cost more than a labourer earns in a year; Lucius buys top brooms for those of his kids who are good at quidditch, as soon as they are old enough to be permitted a broom of their own. Hogwarts does not permit it in the first year unless a child is picked for their house team. Prince Peak –my school – has no such rule, but most people use the school brooms. I didn't skimp on them; they're all good middle range brooms with a few good ones for those in the first team. You'll understand more when you've seen a quidditch match" he added. "At that, perhaps Lucius would be best to break it to him; Lucius is very smooth. I'll talk to him" he said.

"Donald isn't sure if he likes Lucius Malfoy or not I think" said Mrs Elliot. Severus gave a harsh laugh.

"That would agree with nine out of ten of the people who know Lucius – except those of us who are close enough to know the sensitive man inside the snide exterior" he said. "Lucius is all right. He's arrogant, proud, snide, and likes to stick his nose into other people's business, the murkier the better. And he'll go out of his way to see all his dependants and tenants are all right and will go to great expense and trouble on their behalf if he has to. His children adore him and so do his women."

"He DOES have more than Narcissa then? I wondered about the other women I have seen him with…."

"He has four including Narcissa and they all live together" said Severus "And more children than any Old Testament patriarch. Well, I shall leave you to it; and if I were you, I'd put a protective rune into that painting. You've enough magical talent near the surface to give near life to that eftreet; excuse me" he took her brush and worked a couple of runes as though carven in stonework on a pillar in the foreground.

She gasped.

"Did – did that thing snarl?" she asked.

"You heard it then?" said Severus "It did; and I feel a lot happier about leaving you alone with it now. I think I might just send you a book on simple protective runes by culture. It has to be an appropriate culture; and if you ever have a query of that nature, write to me. We get muggle post as well as the usual owl deliveries. I do pride myself on my knowledge of ancient runes; though I'm not a top expert. Take care; I'm glad to have met you."

"And I you; to know that Sarah sounds as though she might be about to have the time of her life; and to have you deal with something that was getting out of hand here" she hesitated "I have been dreading working on it; yet was driven to. Has – has it been controlling me?"

Severus looked into her eyes; made a pass with his wand and stepped back.

"You tell me" he said.

She gasped.

"Why – I can see whole memory paths erased of when I have been painting and not realised how much I have done; it has made me use magical techniques!" she cried.

"I have left the knowledge of them intact, ma'am" said Severus "So you can use them deliberately on more benign subjects. THAT fey individual is, however, now trapped forever in that painting; and I suggest you put a layer of emulsion over the top of him and paint something innocuous on him instead – like a nice cool lake. He has tied himself to fire; a painting of something watery – better yet, a waterfall – will negate his power entirely."

"Thank you" said Mrs Elliot, getting out a tube of flake white "I'll do just exactly that; and you, my fine fellow can squirm all you like. Shouldn't have tried to control me" she added.

Severus reflected that if Sarah had half the ability of her mother she'd be a fine artist indeed.

And HOW like the fey to exploit a partially talented muggle!