Notes: Sorry for the long wait. Work went absolutely mad (and I have no guarantee that it's finally over) and I couldn't find time or energy to write until about two weeks ago. Then I noticed I'd completely lost the thread for this story. You'll probably notice where it cut off in this chapter and I'm not sure I've managed to get back into it. I know where I meant to go next, but no longer how I was going to get there ... Sigh! Oh well, at least this chapter is out. Maybe things will get better from here.
Chapter 13: Mistwalker
Raven was in a self absorbed, grumpy mood the next morning and Rascal decided to keep out of the way and stick with the kittens as much as possible. When Loki seemed more inclined to draw out breakfast and hang around Greypony he decided to go search for some playmates on his own.
Nosestripe was nowhere to be seen, but he recognised the shapes of Blacktoe and Greenlight at the outer rim of the camp where they'd put the horses.
At first he assumed that they were feeding the ponies, but when he got closer he realised that they were just sitting there watching Blueeye clumsily groom her pony.
"Morning!" he called out to the group. He was too curious to see what was going on to wonder whether he was interrupting anything important.
"Hi Rascal." Blueeye smiled at him, but it looked more brave than happy.
"Blueeye big adult priest now." Greenlight said excitedly. "Show Rascal."
And Blueeye proudly pulled back her cloak to reveal the ugly red burns on her bare arms.
Rascal leaned forward and sniffed them cautiously.
"Doesn't that hurt?" he asked the girl, no woman. By the law of the clan she was a young woman now.
"A lot." Blueeye admitted. "But it is an honour. I am a priest now. I can speak in the council. I can do magic. I can summon spirits."
"Couldn't you do that before as well?" She couldn't have learned that much magic in one night, right?"
"Need ask permission." Greenlight explained. "Priest decide when do magic. Kitten need ask."
"Want be priest too." Blacktoe pouted. "Pretty scars."
"Pretty?" Rascal repeated incredulously. "They look all red and painful. I'm glad I'm too young to be initiated."
"Baby." Blacktoe sneered.
"Rascal know better." Greenlight insisted. "We just kittens. No good initiate without learn first."
"Chrss!" Blacktoe hissed at Greenlight.
"Chrss!" Greenlight hissed back unsheathing his claws.
"Me-chrss!" All of a sudden Blueeye looked every bit the adult she was supposed to be.
The two kittens jumped back startled, but continued to glare at each other as they helped Blueeye with her pony.
A little while later Birra arrived and took over insisting that she could ready the pony herself. "I ride." she declared proudly. "I brush."
"I ride Greypony's stallion." Loki informed them excitedly. "Flugga packhorse today."
Rascal froze. "You mean I have to ride your pony?"
"Yes." Loki nodded eagerly. "Is mare. Not problem."
Rascal doubted that. Loki's mischievous red mare might not be as spirited as Blacktoe's Frey, but she was a lot trickier. She had a tendency to sneak up on you while you groomed or saddled her and bite, she kicked and she jumped to the side every time Loki mounted her. Loki didn't seem to mind, but Rascal thought her a very troublesome pony.
"That good." Blacktoe declared unfortunately. "You young pony, we can race. No get tired."
"No be last always." Loki promised. "Is fast pony."
"I'd rather have Flugga." Draco pouted. "I'm used to her. Riding Frey felt all strange and wrong."
"Flugga old. No can race." Loki insisted.
"You want to make Flugga sick?" Blueeye asked. "If you like her, you should ride another pony."
"Or stay with babies." Greenlight challenged. "Babies no race. Flugga no sick."
Rascal sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll try your monster. But don't complain, if I hit her when she bites me."
"Hit right on nose." Greenlight recommended pointing at the spot right between his pony's nostrils. "Is soft spot. She feel."
"You want me to abuse her?" Rascal gasped.
"It not abuse." Blacktoe said. "It like bite her. She bite other pony, other pony bite her. She bite you, you bite her. Is pony language for: 'You no bite me.'"
"No bite hard." Loki pouted. "Is good pony."
"Bite hard." Nosestripe countered. "Make me bleed."
"That long ago." Loki countered. "No bite hard now."
Rascal still decided to take Greenlight's advice and slapped the little mare the first time she nipped him. She was so startled that he could finish saddling her in peace, but got her revenge by bucking him off when he tried to mount her.
Greypony had a good laugh at the glaring kitten lying in the snow with a smug looking pony standing over him, but helped Rascal back to his feet and held the pony for his second attempt. This time he managed to stay on, though he decided that he didn't like this horse at all.
"Your father angry with you?" Greenlight asked Rascal once they were on their way. "He no watch us ride off."
"What?" Rascal asked not getting what he meant.
"Raven not Rascal's father." Loki explained. "Is something ... uncle, I think."
"He's my teacher." Rascal corrected. "And an old friend of my father's. Father's only a wizard not a cat, so he asked Raven to teach me."
"Your father not cat!" Nosestripe gasped.
"They do that in south clans." Greenlight nodded eagerly. "Cat marry wizard, have cat kittens. It good for no marry cousin too much. No have many cats left. Templers kill too many."
"Kill cats?" Nosestripe squeaked. "Why kill?"
"Templers bad." said Blacktoe. "Have evil god. Evil god say kill cats."
Nosestripe shivered. "No want go England. No want Templars."
"I want go England." Loki threw in. "Want see wizards in big castle."
"But Templars there." Greenlight warned. "They see you cat, they kill you. No want go England either."
"That's okay." Rascal told them. "You don't have to. You just stay in Iceland. They don't seem to have any Templars here."
"Have Templar." Loki corrected. "But only one. He in Reykjavik. We no go there, we safe."
"What does he do there?" Rascal asked surprised. Why would there be only one solitary Templar?
"Not know." Loki admitted. "Something with wizards and Muggle god. Templars no like Iceland. No like gods. Gods strong here."
"So Raven angry?" Greenlight asked again. "What you do?"
"Not angry. Just hurt." Loki said.
"Hurt?" Rascal asked. "What's wrong with him?"
"You no know?" Loki grinned proudly. "Initiate Raven too."
"What? As a White Wolf?" Rascal gasped.
"No, high priest. He high priest, but no high priest initiate him. So Greypony do. Now lick Raven all morning." Loki giggled. "Like apologise."
"That secret chant?" Nosestripe asked. "Big secrets?"
"Must be." Greenlight nodded. "That why never hear. Not many high priests."
"But why did they do that?" Rascal wondered. "It's not like Raven needs the scars to be master of a dead clan."
"Scars for prove Raven high priest." Blacktoe said as if it were obvious.
"But we know that. Who would he have to prove anything to? There isn't even a clan left for him to lead."
"Mistwalker." said Greenlight. "Scars for show cats from other clans. Always been for that. No for own clan. Own clan know its cats."
"We race to rock now." Blacktoe pointed into the distance. "Frey want run."
And before Draco could come up with an excuse the others took off. Loki's little mare bucked and chased after them without needing any encouragement. Rascal clung to the saddle and cursed the red misfit under his breath. He almost wished for temperamental, but obedient Frey back.
Raven continued to be unapproachable for the next two days, but Rascal didn't mind all that much. He spent his time playing, riding and hunting with the other kittens or watching the priests go about their daily routines. The native kittens might find the cooking rituals and routine repairs on the huts boring, but to Rascal they were still new and exciting and he was extremely proud whenever he was allowed to help.
And then one afternoon three cats strode into the camp in a strict V-formation. In the lead was a thin grey tabby with unusually short fur for the region.
The kittens raced to the central square mewling excitedly, but stopped on the sides when the tabby looked at them with haughty disdain.
"Mistwalker." an excited whisper drifted through the crowd, probably coming from one of the older priests as the younger cats had no idea what the fabled clanmaster looked like.
The three strangers stopped in the middle of the square, Mistwalker in the lead and the other two exactly one body length behind him, all still in cat-form.
There was a moment of tense silence before Greypony and Raven appeared. Side by side, their shoulders almost touching, they trotted up to the three strangers.
Mistwalker regarded Raven with a disgusted frown and when the panther stretched his head forward to sniff the tabby almost simultaneous warning hisses sounded from the two other strangers. Raven froze and retreated a step staring at his left front leg in embarrassment.
Greypony glared at Mistwalker and for just a moment Rascal wondered whether the grey was irascible enough to abort the eagerly awaited reconciliation of the clans by kicking out Mistwalker's entourage on accusations of grave misconduct.
Instead of attacking however, Greypony then proceeded to ignore the newcomers entirely. He poked Raven's cheek with his nose, a rather intimate gesture that looked almost like a kiss to Draco's human raised mind, but was probably an invitation to a head rub.
Raven ducked his head, lifted his leg and gestured towards the spot where his dark mark was hidden under the fur.
"Mrr?" made Greypony, bent his head and licked the indicated spot.
As if he hoped to wash off the dark mark!
Raven stared at him in complete surprise. Even Rascal had never attempted to lick that part of him. Everybody instinctively avoided the concentrated dark magic it exuded.
Mistwalker watched the scene unfold with wide eyes. He had no idea how to react to the interruption of protocol. The demonstrative ignoring of his presence was a deliberate insult, but then it appeared to be in retaliation for his guards' objections to the black cat's greeting, so perhaps his side had broken protocol first and was expected to offer an apology.
It might have helped if he'd had the faintest idea who the black was in the first place. The grey he recognised as Greypony, who'd been very respected among the White Wolf's Clan even before the falling out. He'd never known him well, but they had sniffed noses on one or two occasions.
He also remembered a few of the faces in the crowd, other well respected priests. He'd expected two of them to function as Greypony's entourage in this encounter as was customary in a meeting of two clanmasters.
What he didn't remember was a perfect black in White Wolf's Clan, not even a predominantly black. It was a rare colouring that he was sure he would remember, especially since White Wolf's Clan was well known for producing almost exclusively greys.
The stranger had the aura of a high priest and stank strongly of dark magic, which was probably what had upset his guards. It was a revolting feeling to be this close to a tainted cat, but Mistwalker hadn't been about to refuse a polite greeting. Greypony had chosen to bring the second high priest out like an equal and even ceded him the right of first greeting.
Now that he thought about it, Greypony had probably meant this demonstration of respect towards the black as a signal that he was trustworthy despite his taint and that he expected him to be treated as politely as any other member of his clan.
If so, this meeting had really started on the wrong paw.
He inched forward a little to get a closer look at what the two were doing.
Fur licking? And Greypony's whiskers were hanging down rather contritely. Was Greypony apologising for his guards' behaviour?
That couldn't be tolerated. His clan's behaviour was still his business and not Greypony's.
With a deliberate effort he shoved his disgust aside and stuck his head forward until he almost touched the black's nose. Sniff.
Yellow eyes regarded him with deep mistrust. Just great.
Then the pitch black muzzle came forward and their noses did touch. Mistwalker risked a very little head rub, then quickly turned to Greypony.
Sniff, rub. Apparently the grey didn't want to allow any further greeting than he'd granted the black. Wonderful, he really was offended. Just when they'd made the first step towards mending fences.
It took a very stern glare to bring his guards forward to offer their own greetings. Both restricted themselves to sniffing the black's nose and in turn weren't allowed anything more than that by the grey either. Just barely civil. Mistwalker's whiskers drooped disappointedly.
Their hosts exchanged a long look, then turned in perfect unison and led them towards one of the huts, Greypony's Mistwalker assumed. One after the other all five of them slipped through the door. Maybe things would improve in a more private setting.
Inside they stood facing each other once again. Greypony and the black shoulder to shoulder and still clearly disgruntled.
Mistwalker decided to make a peace offering. He lowered his head in respect towards his hosts and transformed as elegantly as he could. Beside him his companions plopped into human shape with slightly less grace, but elegantly enough, he thought.
Or at least he thought so until the black melted into his other shape as if it were no effort at all. Shabby kittens that couldn't do it without a sudden pop his casual glance seemed to say.
At least Greypony was no more elegant than he himself had been.
"Welcome, Lord Mistwalker." Greypony greeted him. "Please allow me to introduce Lord Raven, Master of the Sacred Forest Clan. Raven, Lord Mistwalker leads the Shorecats, our northern neighbours."
"Sacred Forest?" he couldn't place the name, but Raven's ceremonial cloak was of an ancient style that was only found among the really old clans. Green with silver embroidery. Had he ever heard of that colour scheme?
"They could be considered our closest neighbours to the south, I suppose." Greypony explained. "The northernmost clan in Scotland."
Scotland! By all the gods and elements! While he was just barely keeping in owl contact with a few fellow northener clans Greypony had forged contacts with the southeners. And when Greypony had kindly offered to give him a chance to share in that achievement he'd snubbed a high dignitary who probably hadn't been easy to convince to make such a far trip away form his clan in the first place.
The countries in the south were dangerous places where cats had to tread cautiously in order to survive. Raven was risking everything leaving his home even for a short time. It couldn't have been an easy choice.
He bowed to the cat hoping to make amends, but received only a cold glare in return.
"It was in fact his idea to invite you here today." Greypony continued eyes glittering with ... amusement? ... Mistwalker wasn't sure. He didn't know Greypony well enough to read his expressions.
He had heard little about him and what he had was contradictory. An impressive priest of impeccable character they said, but then again called him easy going and even playful. Powerful in any case. That much he couldn't doubt.
He didn't want to get on this one's bad side. He wouldn't be an easy opponent in a fight. The other one, on the other hand ...
Greypony would be tough to beat, against Raven he wasn't sure he'd stand a chance. Both of them at once was out of the question. He didn't even consider the current advantage in numbers. He and his companions were hunters, not fighters. They could fight, oh yes, even had a little experience. Raven however carried himself like a fighter. A fighter who could probably hunt, but that was besides the point.
"I have come here with a message from the Fire Lady." Raven stated while checking his claws.
A declaration that he didn't expect a fight as much as a demonstration of disrespect. Raven clearly didn't think very highly of the Shorecats, though Mistwalker hoped that this might be due to a general dislike of northerners. The old argument that had split the clans had probably left a lot of resentment on both sides and if Raven was only here out of respect to the Fire Lady it was no wonder that he was disgruntled at being snubbed.
Mistwalker bowed deeply. "My respect to the Lady as well as her messenger, then. I thank you for your efforts."
Raven shot him a glare. "I am not doing this for you. I am here out of respect for the Lady and out of concern for the well-being of our whole race."
"The well-being of our race?" Silverpaw gasped.
A break of protocol as the guard hadn't even been introduced, but Raven turned to him anyway.
"The Fire Lady is very concerned about the dwindling number of Catar calling on her and her people. She has sent me to ask you to call in and confirm your continued survival." Raven stated. "Besides that I would be grateful, if you could pass the message on to any other clans or strays you might be in contact with."
"We are also hoping to re-establish communication between all the clans." Greypony threw in. "It should be possible to pass such messages quickly, or send out a call for aid, if faced with an emergency situation. The number of clans has thinned out too much. With only two clans left in this country and most likely similar situations elsewhere we ought to start operating on a wider scale."
Mistwalker opened his mouth to answer ... and closed it again.
"A high council across the borders of northern and southern clans?" he asked finally. "Do you realise what you're proposing?"
"We are proposing nothing of the sort." Raven stepped in. "My mission requires me to contact as many clans as possible. We merely suggest to take a census at the same time, find out how many clans are left and where they are. Setting up new high councils sounds like a worthwhile idea for discussion, but at the moment we are talking of communication lines only."
"A meeting for such a discussion does sound like a good idea." Greypony amended. "Not several permanent councils, but one meeting of all the clans we can reach."
"On the old council grounds?" Mistwalker was doubtful. "The sudden influx of that many travellers to this region will be noticed."
"This is my clan's home now." Greypony said. "It might be acceptable for you and me to meet in each other's huts, but I doubt the foreign clans would like the idea. Neutral ground would be preferable."
"It should be a place that allows for privacy, but can be visited by a large number of people without attracting attention." Mistwalker declared.
"And have equal significance to all clans." Greypony added.
"Stonehenge." said Raven.
"Stonehenge?" Mistwalker repeated incredulously. "A southener council seat?"
"It has a long tradition." Raven explained stretching his claws. "Much older than the division between northeners and southeners. It was one of the oldest council seats, but is now completely abandoned and that is known to the Templars. I know for a fact that they aren't watching the place. It is also a Muggle tourist attraction, so nobody will be surprised to see a large number of strangers in the vicinity. Privacy would be the biggest issue, but I suggest we meet at night and under Muggle protection charms."
"You will be able to arrange that?" Mistwalker asked.
"If we time it right so I can arrive a few days early without rousing suspicion at Hogwarts."
"Hogwarts?"
"Hogwarts." Greypony confirmed not giving any further explanations. "When can you next get away from the wizards?"
"The Easter holidays." Raven replied. "That will be too early, though. I need time to actually look for the clans and my leads to the southern clans are vague at this time."
"I am in occasional contact with clans in Norway and Finland." Mistwalker volunteered. "I can contact them, forward messages to Greypony. Perhaps we can reach the rest of the northerner clans by bird."
"I doubt they will be willing to risk the trip without having actually met us." Raven said. "But I can get away for a weekend from time to time and perhaps they would be willing to visit one of you. You will make a more trustworthy impression on them in any case."
"I'm going south." Greypony burst out suddenly.
"What?" Raven stared at him. Clearly this hadn't been pre-arranged.
"It's the obvious solution, don't you see?" Greypony said eagerly. "You are tied down at Hogwarts and Mistwalker needs to stay close to his contacts, if he wants to relay messages. I can move about freely, though. So I'll follow up your vague lead, find that mysterious clan and hopefully get other leads from them."
"And where should I send my messages then?" Mistwalker demanded. "I can't organise everything myself."
"Of course not." Greypony sneered. "Your job is to find he Northeners, I'll find the Southeners and Raven remains at Hogwarts giving us a permanent base where everything runs together. We're merely his agents."
This was huge. This was breathtaking. Mistwalker felt very excited and nervous all of a sudden.
Raven stretched his left arm and claws as if he didn't have a care in the world. "You're sure you can leave your clan for such a long time?"
Greypony nodded. "This place is quite safe and there are enough capable leaders in the clan. Our success or failure will have a decisive impact on the future of our race. I'm willing to do anything I can."
"Very well, then." Raven agreed. "In that case we might be able to have our meeting in the summer holidays already. I refuse to set a date before we have made contact with a sufficient number of clans, though. This might still turn out to be harder than we expect."
There was a huge celebration that evening both as a welcoming feast to Mistwalker and as a good bye to Raven, Rascal and Greypony who would leave for Scotland the next morning. Rascal enjoyed himself immensely. He, Greenlight, Blacktoe and Nosestripe chased each other between the fireplaces, tasted each and every dish served, wrestled, played, danced and sang deep into the night.
Loki however spent almost the entire time at near the fire outside Geypony's hut mewling plaintively at his parents. Rascal didn't know what to think of his friend's kittenish behaviour. He was a little disappointed that they didn't spend his last day in Iceland together, but there was too much else going on to waste this time on moping. So he went to say good bye to Loki early the next morning while Raven and Greypony were finishing their packing.
"Why say good bye?" Loki laughed at him. "I come with you."
"You're going to the continent with Greypony?" Rascal gasped. "But isn't that much too dangerous?" That was what Greypony had said yesterday afternoon when the kittens had first learned of the plan.
"Not continent." Loki shook his head. "I go Hogwarts with you. If you can play wizard, I can, too."
"But there's a Templar there and you'll have to go to Mass." Rascal argued. "And you can never show your claws, or purr or meow. And you need a wand."
"Have wand. Buy wand in Reykjavik." Loki said. "Put on your robe then look like real little wizard."
Indeed most of the older clan members owned wands and knew the most important wand spells. It allowed them to visit the Icelandic wizarding communities without attracting attention.
"We'll just say Loki has been home schooled until now and isn't very talented." Raven explained on the way to the floo station. "Maybe his training has been sketchy. As for Religion, well, his English is too bad to understand and answer the Templar and he doesn't know Latin. His mother isn't that well educated and has taught him only in Icelandic."
"And what if he tells him to recite a prayer in Icelandic?" Rascal worried.
Loki stared at him wide-eyed. He hadn't thought of that.
"Then recite a poem. Anything that doesn't mention any names of gods." Raven suggested. "I assure you, he won't understand a thing. Very few people in Scotland know any Icelandic."
Rascal had to concede that fact. He'd rarely if ever heard a more foreign sounding language. It seemed to have nothing at all in common with English. Even the letters were weird.
There was a short discussion over Loki's human name while they waited for their connection to Aberdeen. Loki wanted nothing more to do with it, insisting that it was for babies, while Raven declared categorically that using his cat name would get them all killed.
"How about Loki Grey, then?" Greypony suggested a compromise. "I think we can convince them that Loki is indeed an Icelandic first name."
"That's better." Loki decided. "They will call me Loki then, won't they?"
"Except for most teachers." Draco nodded. "They'll call you Mr. Grey."
"And you have to remember to always call Rascal Draco." Greypony reminded him.
Loki frowned.
"That's a good name for a cat." Greypony assured him. "It means dragon."
"But he's Rascal. They should call him Rascal." Loki declared.
Soon after that they stepped into the fireplace one by one and were whisked to Aberdeen where they tumbled out of another one of the huge international floos that Rascal had already seen on his way to Iceland. This time they were in the arrivals section, though and didn't have to wait in line.
They walked past the line of outgoing wizards and witches, but it was much shorter than it had been at the beginning of the holidays. Only then did Draco fully realise that the holidays were already over and his human friends were in class right now. Tuesday, beginning of third lesson, Flying with Gryffindor. Then they'd have DADA and would they be back in time for Raven to hold their Potions lesson?
There was a rare mischievous smirk on Raven's face as he stepped into the national floo.
"Hogwarts, headmaster's office!" he announced.
Loki immediately followed his example. Rascal would have much preferred to use the Slytherin fireplace, but he couldn't desert Loki, so he too flooed to the headmaster's office.
Albus Dumbledore looked up in surprise at the sudden rushing sound from his fireplace.
"Severus! Welcome back! Did you have a nice trip?" he beamed at his Potions Master who looked surprisingly relaxed.
Clearly the holiday had done him good. He should let Severus get out more often, Albus thought, allow him to enjoy himself from time to time.
"Hello Albus." Severus said sounding slightly distracted.
There was another rushing sound and out of the fire came ... a blond teenager that Albus was quite sure wasn't Draco Malfoy.
"Um ... Good afternoon?" the boy said with a strong accent.
"Headmaster, meet Mr Loki Grey." Severus introduced. "Loki, this is our headmaster. You are to address him as Professor Dumbledore."
Before Albus could ask what all this was about Draco Malfoy arrived, followed by a strange wizard in a light grey cloak.
"Mr. Grey is a friend of mine." Severus explained once Albus had managed to force a cup of tea and a chair on each of them. "He'll be travelling a lot this year and I have offered to watch his son in the meantime."
"Ah," Albus beamed at the boy. "Then we'll have to sort you."
"I think, Loki would prefer to remain with Draco." Severus interrupted. "He doesn't understand English very well and would probably find it too hard to keep up with his own year, so I believe it will be better for him, to start a year below his age level."
"He has passed third year at his school, though?" Albus asked.
"He's never gone to school before." Mr. Grey threw in. "There is no magical boarding school in Iceland and we live rather isolated in the country. My wife has been teaching him at home, but he has had little chance to spend time with children of his own age, so we are quite happy of his friendship with Draco. That is the main reason we decided to send him here, you see."
Albus nodded. "I understand. It will probably set back his education, though."
"Magical education isn't that important for us." Mr. Grey smiled charmingly at Albus. "He will inherit my farm someday, Professor. He doesn't need a Master's degree."
Albus looked from Severus to Mr. Grey, to the two nervous boys in surprise. Severus making friends with a simple farmer? He usually preferred more intellectually inclined people. What Lucius Malfoy's opinion of his son's new friend would be he didn't even want to think about. Hopefully that wouldn't become his problem.
"Alright, if that is your wish, I won't stand in your way." he said. "And I'm sure Loki will make a lot of other new friends here as well."
"Sorry, Professor Lupin." Draco said as they walked into DADA class about ten minutes late. "We were talking to the headmaster."
"Mr. Malfoy." Lupin nodded at him. "I wasn't even expecting you. I thought you'd be arriving tomorrow."
Draco shrugged. "I suppose we got a floo connection faster than we originally expected. We didn't think we'd be back in time to attend class, but here we are."
"Excuse me, but I don't think I've seen you before." Lupin had noticed Loki. "Are you a new student?"
"I'm Loki." Loki nodded eagerly.
"His full name's Loki Grey." Draco explained hastily. "His first language is Icelandic, so he might not understand everything you say."
"Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr. Grey." Lupin smiled. "Now, if you two could please sit down. We were in the middle of a very interesting discussion. Miss Abbot asked why cobolds are classified as dark creatures, when goblins are not."
"Maybe because goblins aren't as dangerous as cobolds?" Draco guessed.
"Goblins more dangerous." said Loki. "Stronger and claws longer. But more intelligent, too."
"No, they're not more dangerous." Theodore contradicted. "They're much less likely to attack a wizard."
"And why is that?" Professor Lupin asked the class. "I think Mr. Grey already gave us a good hint."
Draco looked at Loki in surprise.
"Cobolds too stupid." Loki tried again. "Not understand not attack people."
"Of course!" Blaise groaned. "Cobolds are classified as creatures while goblins are beings. They can't be defined as dark, because they can make a rational choice between right or wrong."
"And being rational beings they don't normally attack people." Professor Lupin agreed. "Correct Mr. Zabini. Five points to Slytherin."
"Loki knew it first." Draco protested. "He just doesn't know words like creature and being."
"Well, consider them five shared points for Slytherin, then." Professor Lupin smiled.
He was a rather nice teacher all in all. Rascal didn't understand why he felt so nervous around him. Perhaps it was the feeling of dark magic that surrounded him, but then Raven had darkness in his aura as well and it didn't bother him at all.
Of course he knew where Raven's darkness came from, while Lupin definitely didn't wear a dark mark. But Lupin was a DADA teacher. He had to have a lot of experience finding and deactivating dark spells. Wasn't it natural that those would rub off on his aura after a while?
Loki turned out to be quite good at DADA, at least as long as it remained theoretical. It took him a little longer than Draco to master the little spell they learned at the end of the lesson, but then Lupin probably attributed that to Loki not understanding the instructions correctly rather than his inexperience in handling his wand.
"I hope we have Dumbledore again." Neville told his friends on the way from Charms to Potions. "Trellawney was boring."
"Not to mention that she kept predicting my death." Harry agreed. "Dumbledore was fun."
"But he made us work." Ron complained. "That potion was difficult."
"Difficult?" Neville stared at Ron. "Even I could have brewed it blindfolded."
"I wish Professor Snape would come back soon." Hermione sighed. "We're not learning anything in Potions without him."
"We brewed a Potion with Dumbledore." Harry pointed out.
"One that we already learned in first year." Hermione countered. "I really don't know how Ron managed to mess it up. I could have brewed it by heart."
"I couldn't." Harry admitted. "Not by heart."
"But with the recipe on the blackboard it was too easy." Neville agreed with Hermione. He could have at least given us something from this year."
"Hey Ron, is it true that Fred and George walked out of their last Potions class and declared they won't comeback until Snape does?" Lavender Brown threw in. "I mean, are those two crazy, or what?"
Ron nodded unhappily. "Its an excuse for skipping, I suppose."
"Nonsense." Neville snorted. "Potions is the twins' favourite class, Lavender. I heard Professor Snape was giving them special projects to further their interest. They must be bored to death with all those amateur replacement teachers."
"It's their OWL year." Hermione said. "And they are ambitious about their Potions grade. It's the most important subject for their career plans. I bet they just thought they can prepare themselves better by reading up on OWL level potions, rather than repeating first year work."
"That's what you think, Hermione." Ron glared at her. "Fred and George don't give a damn about their OWLs. They're probably trying to break their detention record from last year. That's all. I at least am looking forward to another hour of Trellawney. I'm glad Snape's gone." he said throwing open the door to the Potions classroom.
"Well, Mr. Weasley," Professor Snape said with a malicious gleam in his eyes. "In that case, I'm afraid, your luck just ran out."
Ron's eyes widened in horror and he froze in the door.
"Hey, what's the hold up?" Seamus' voice rang out from somewhere behind them. "Come on. I need to wash out my cauldron before class."
"Move, Ron." Hermione tried to push him into the classroom. "We want to get in."
"Oh fuck!" Ron groaned and remained where he was.
"Ten points off Gryffmdor for using foul language and hindering your fellow students' preparations for class." Snape announced almost gleefully.
Hermione squeezed past Ron, followed by Harry. The slightly chubby Neville found it a little harder to get through, but then Seamus and Dean managed to push Ron into the room and the students finally flooded into the classroom.
"Miss Parkinson, what was your last homework assignment?" Snape demanded clearly not impressed by the fact that the class hadn't officially begun yet."
"Two feet on Sherman's tincture, Sir." pug-nosed Pansy Parkinson replied truthfully.
Neville suppressed a sigh. He'd been quite content with his essay after he'd written it, but if Snape was going to grade it, it was probably going to end up a miserable T.
"Sherman's tincture?" Snape frowned at them. "I see you have been slacking off in my absence. Well, we'll just have to speed up our work a little to catch up. Take your seat Weasley, or need I remind you that you are the student least likely to be able to keep up?"
Malfoy was back, too, Neville noticed, and he was wearing Muggle clothes!
There was a second student in jeans and a pullover as well, but Neville had never seen the boy before.
"Apparently his name's Loki Grey." he heard Estella Rushton whisper to Parvati when they went to get ingredients from Snape's stores. "He's from Iceland. Knew a whole lot about cobolds and goblins in DADA."
"He's so cute." Parvati gushed. "And tall."
"I heard he's already fourteen." Millicent Bullstrode cut in. "They made him repeat, because of his bad English. Didn't think he'd be able to keep up."
Loki was a cool name, Neville thought. He wished he'd been named after an old god. He'd even settle for something Greek or Roman, like Professor McGonagall. Neville was such a boring name.
He wondered whether Loki's family was of the old religion as well. Great Uncle AIgie had suggested that the surviving Catar might have fled to Iceland once. Apparently it was a liberal country that was tolerant of other people's beliefs. He wished he'd been born in Iceland.
"Why aren't Malfoy and the new guy in uniform?" Ron demanded suddenly. "Aren't you going to take any points off them, Professor?"
"Because they only just arrived and preferred not to waste any valuable class time on changing." Snape glared at Ron. "Not everybody is as lazy as you, Weasley."
Ron pouted and went back to mashing the roots he was supposed to slice. That was going to cost them even more points, Neville predicted while carefully measuring out two teaspoons of powdered unicorn horn. Then he'd be angry at Snape again and accuse him of some weird plot, probably something that included Draco and Loki and their Muggle clothes as well. It'd get him in trouble and then they'd lose even more points and ...
"Ha-tschu!" He should have concentrated on not sneezing! "Oh no!"
"Longbottom!" Snape shouted.
"I'm sorry, Sir." he said meekly.
"Just clean up your mess."
Neville stated to brush the spilled unicorn horn into his hand, but another violent sneeze overcame him and it was all blown away again, spreading even further on and around his desk.
"Why didn't you go to the hospital wing for pepper up potion, if you have a cold?" Snape demanded angrily.
"I don't have a cold." Neville tried to explain. "At least I didn't before I got here."
"Hm ..." Snape came closer and peered right into his eyes.
Neville tried not to shake too much.
"Do you have any allergies, Longbottom?"
"I ... I don't think so."
"Perhaps you should have Madame Pomfrey test that." Snape suggested. "Go wash your hands and tie a piece of cloth over your mouth and nose. Miss Granger, clean up the spilled unicorn horn. Thoroughly! I don't have any anti-allergy potion on hand at the moment, so any powder you overlook could cause Mr. Longbottom to have another sneezing fit."
Neville sighed. An allergy? As if he needed any more problems in Potions.
Hut hadn't they worked with unicorn horn before? He was sure he'd never had an allergic reaction until now, so maybe he did have a cold after all. It might have only just started. Nevertheless he spent the rest of the lesson avoiding the powdered unicorn horn as best he could.
kaear - Thanks. I particularly love Holiday Blues myself. ... Several chapters showed up empty when I checked Runaway Dragon and almost all my stories were affected. Replace chapter gave me an error message, so I turned to support. It took them so long to fix it that I finally re-uploaded and deleted every chapter of Runaway Dragon. (First one was wrong, but couldn't be deleted, though.) Everything should be there again now, if you start at chapter 2. The others are still awaiting my attention once I have a lot of time to spare. (It's a slow and annoying process to re-upload a whole story ...)
Colibi - Hey, don't I remember you from way back when I was writing MNS? A long time indeed. Welcome back. ... I'm terribly sorry this one's going so slowly. I never seem to find time to write or even read fanfic this year. I'm determined to finish this fic, though ... as soon as I manage to get back into the flow of it. Looks like I'll have to reread everything I have right now first, though, or it'll never be a coherent story. Sigh!
Marauder3Moony - Uh ... sorry? ... I'll try to do better, really!
Preppygirl - And gone again, I know. Glad to hear you like the Catar for themselves and hopefully I'll get back into a regular rhythm of writing and posting now.
anna - Not much about the wedding, I'm afraid. Here are Draco and Sevi back at Hogwarts, though (finally! Wasn't I supposed to have posted that months ago?).
Cattibrie393 - Thanks.
gisse - Thanks. I grew to love that family as well - and so did Draco ;)
The Midnight Poster - Yes, HPHC is complete as it is. It's a deliberate open end, because anything more would break the style of the story and ruin it. There are hints in there what will happen next, but it's up to your imagination and whatever you want to happen can.
the D cousins - Thanks. I don't think I'll write another Mystery fic again anytime soon, though. Those readers who already knew me all guessed right away. And I have so many other ideas that want writing and so little time to write them in ... I'll definitely continue to write, though.
rabid fangirl - Thanks. I'm trying! glares at work