Chapter Thirteen:
A New Manipulations Teacher
"Attention students," Ebonyste said, amplifying his voice. "I think it's safe to say that the Masquerade is over. Thank you for having a good time, and for not leaving a mess for Mr. Filch to clean up. Everyone knows how much he'd hate that. We're all looking forward to doing this again for Christmas. Since something killed either a student or teacher—I don't know any details, except a guest of Nezura's found a fresh body about half a minute ago—it would be wise for all of you to head back to your dormitories…where this thing will not be able to get you, probably. I think I'm going to take cover too, so goodbye for now! I'll see all of you later, I hope!" With that, Ebonyste sprinted out of the Great Hall and started heading off to his quarters.
There was a lot of screaming coming from the First Years. The entire room was brought into complete disorder. It had been a spectacular night until Constanza Quirrell had brought the ill news that someone was dead. Ahsimal got to the front of the room and then amplified his voice, trying to get a little order in all of the anarchy.
"Listen up!" he shouted. Everyone shut their mouths so they could hear the Head of Hawkbane. "Everyone needs to remain calm. The Head Boys and Head Girls for each House will lead everyone back to their dormitories. Just whatever you do…don't panic. That is the worst thing you can do right now."
Harry went with the rest of his House to the Gryffindor Common Room. He walked to his dormitory and pulled out the crystal ball that Snitchgrass had given him as a gift before the school year had begun. All of a sudden, he remembered that he needed to meet Skylarke outside his office…with the crystal ball. He had a good feeling that it would be very hard to get out of the Gryffindor Tower without being caught, so he brought his Hawkbane card and Invisibility Cloak with him. He put on his Cloak and hoped nobody saw him as he walked out of the Tower.
He walked halfway across the castle to reach Turret Fifteen, where he entered the Curses & Rootwork classroom and waited for Skylarke outside his office. Suddenly, he heard something right outside the classroom door that didn't sound so great…
"No, please!" Harry heard Skylarke cry shrilly. "Don't take it away from me…anything but that! I'll do anything…anything…"
"I'm losing patience with you, Morty," a raspy voice said. "I think I'll take my payment."
"No, I beg you! It's mine, so let me keep it; something that beautiful doesn'tbelong in your hands!" There were a lot of screams of defiance, and then there were footsteps that got fainter. Skylarke came into the classroom, and his eyes were really wet. "Oh, Harry; I see you showed up like I asked you to. Weren't you worried that there might be something dangerous in the school? First it was those Hawkbane students, and then it was Wolfe Leir, and now it's..." he stopped himself and then said, "…someone else. You'll find out soon enough who the deceased is."
"What was happening out there?" Harry asked.
"Er…nothing," Skylarke said dismally. "Some of the other teachers here amuse themselves by singling me out for bullying purposes; think it is funny. It's really not that big of a deal…would you please follow me inside my office?" He opened the door for Harry, who followed him.
Harry looked around and couldn't help but notice how pristine Skylarke's office was, and how dark. The walls were all covered in bookcases…filled entirely with multitudes of books with eerie titles like: Dark Lords in History, Dr. Hemlock's Guide to the Most Maleficent Curses, 1001 Horrendous Curses for Your Nemesis, Rootwork: As Sinister As It Gets?, Dark Arts Miscellany, Advanced Curses of the Dark Arts, and Curses & Rootwork, Mage's Degree Edition…however, the one that caught Harry's attention the most was a rather thick book bound in green leather entitled Skylarke's Theory, Innovation in Sorcery?. On the front of that particular book, was that seven-point star symbol again.
"Please, make yourself comfortable." Harry found a couple of dragon-leather recliners in the back of the room. Skylarke sat down in one and put away the book that was on his end table in the corner…Dealing with Death by Dr. Iphigenia Hemlock. Harry sat in the other chair. "Well, how did you enjoy yourself at the masquerade until that damn Quirrell woman came in and got everybody to panic?"
"Oh, it was okay," Harry admitted. "I saw you talking to Professor Snape earlier."
"He's been acting really odd lately…very jumpy," Skylarke said. "He flinches whenever I talk to him, and he's even forgotten my name a couple of times. That's peculiar; I thought he viewed me as a relatively close friend. Look, Harry, can I trust you to keep another secret?"
"Sure," Harry said. He liked Skylarke, but he had no idea what the professor was going to say to him. The Curses & Rootwork teacher was an unpredictable man. "I need to tell you something, and I really hope you believe me."
"What a coincidence," Skylarke said. "There's something I felt that I needed to tell you, Harry, but I'm afraid you won't believe me. Would you rather me go first or would you feel more comfortable with that honor?"
"I guess I'll go first," Harry said. "I can tell you why Snape's been acting weird."
"You can?" Skylarke said, a bit confused. "Well, out with it…what's wrong with him?"
"He's not Snape," Harry said. "Remember the gorgonix? I think Ebonyste knows where you can find it, but I wouldn't trust him…he's helping a Death Eater named Mortius who's not only pretending to be Professor Snape, but is also the dad of Marcus Cantarus. Mortius has been parading around as Snape since the end of the 1993-1994 school year."
"Is that so?" Skylarke said. He didn't sound like he thought Harry was losing his mind…he sounded (and looked) like he believed him. "Does Cassandra know about this? Have you got any clues as to what happened to Severus if that's Mortius pretending to be him?"
"Cassandra doesn't know," Harry said. "Mortius used the Laconus Curse on Snape to make him look like him, copied his memories, and then sent Snape back to Azkaban in his place. Only the Dementors knew different, and they really aren't picky with their victims."
Skylarke squirmed a bit in his seat. "You mean to tell me that the Severus Snape I've been talking to since you finished your Third Year was actually Julius Cantarus!" When Harry nodded, Skylarke looked like he wanted to curl up into a corner and die. "That means he knows about the Rings…and about my theory…everything. I'll have to warn Darius and the others. I guess nobody is safe anymore…are you sure that Severus is in Azkaban, Harry?"
"That's what Mortius told me," Harry said flatly. "I think someone might have put some Veritaserum in his drink, because he was very eager to answer questions."
"Speaking of Azkaban…I need to tell you something painfully important. Darius and I are going to head off toward Azkaban after dinner sometime soon, we're thinking about November 5th or 6th, and we were going to bust a very close friend of ours out of that awful hellhole. While I'm over there to help Aurelius get out..."
"You mean Aurelius Fallowin!" Harry exclaimed. "Didn't he murder your family? Weren't you the only survivor?"
"I'm the only Skylarke that's in the world of the Living," Skylarke said, and shrugged his shoulders. "Not that I miss my family; they were a lot like the Malfoys—wealthy and arrogant like that—and none of them really appreciated me that much anyway."
"So you're saying that you're glad your family is dead!" Harry exclaimed. That sounded absolutely monstrous…perhaps Skylarke hired Fallowin and those Death Eaters to do it?
"Quite the contrary," Skylarke said. "I miss them, but I wouldn't pay Darius to bring them back to me..."
"You can pay Ahsimal to bring people back from the Dead?" Harry said, surprised. "I didn't know he did that."
"It costs a fortune," Skylarke said. "I could easily afford it because I inherited all of my family's money, property, and possessions, everything in the will…but I wouldn't waste money on people who never had any respect for me. My parents viewed me as a big disappointment because I was never very healthy to begin with. They idolized my older brother and my little sister—she used to be a friend of your mother's and now she's your friend Marcus's mum—could do no wrong in their eyes. Everything that went wrong was always my fault in one way or another. Now, tell me, Harry…would you want to Resurrect people like that?"
"I guess not," Harry said. Skylarke made a lot of sense…maybe he had a point. "But if you're the only Skylarke they left alive, how come Stella Cantarus thought you were dead?"
"She's unaware," Skylarke said flatly. "Stella's time in the Living world is finally running out…she won't last much longer." He then let out a heavy sigh. "She led Julius Cantarus inside the Skylarke Manor. Severus killed her, but Julius brought her back. He's not so good with Necromancy—honestly, he never was—and so he couldn't Resurrect Stella exactly how he wanted her…she's forced to live—if you can call that living—as a gore crow until her body falls apart. You understand, he didn't mean to kill his guide…just the Skylarkes."
"But, I thought Fallowin killed everyone in your family, except for you," Harry argued.
"Aurelius would never do that; he was never even a Death Eater. Poor guy; he was framed. Since he had already gotten into trouble with the Ministry of Magic before—it was petty stuff like vandalizing Gringotts' Bank, nothing serious—I bet it was relatively easy to pin the blame on him and make him look like the culprit." Skylarke pulled out a letter that had his name on it in Ahsimal's dark, neat handwriting.
All of a sudden, Harry remembered something Ahsimal had shouted at him, after he'd told the pale Necromancer that he'd forgotten to give Skylarke and "Snape" some rather important letters. Those letters…do you want to know what they were about? They were concerning a close friend of ours that was wrongfully imprisoned. An innocent man is literally dying in Azkaban, Potter, and the longer it takes for Severus and Morty to get those letters, the more time is taken away from my colleague. Harry shuddered…that was the exact same letter Ahsimal had fussed at him about.
"I knew Aurelius was in Azkaban, but I had no idea it was this bad until Darius wrote me." Skylarke looked at the letter sadly. "Darius told me that you forgot to send this letter to my classroom, but I don't see how it could have made any difference on Aurelius's behalf if I had gotten it earlier this week rather than later. The unfortunate fellow would still be imprisoned, just like he has been for nearly thirteen years."
"Can you tell me who was picking on you outside earlier?" Harry asked.
"I see no reason why I couldn't," Skylarke said. "Professor Cyanis was teasing me about my past, and he eventually stole something that has a lot of sentimental value to me…a gold locket. If you find a gold locket in the shape of a seven-point star that plays music when you open it, please let me know. You have no idea how precious it really is to me."
"Why did you want me to bring this again?" Harry put his crystal ball on a stand. "Isn't it the reason you wanted to see me?"
Skylarke stopped talking about his gold locket that Cyanis had taken from him and took a look at the crystal ball Snitchgrass had given Harry. "I talked to Mitzi at the masquerade," said Skylarke. "She said she hates crystal balls and the only type of crystal she sells at her store is the type that fits inside your palm. She's never been a crystal artist, so therefore Snitchgrass lied about where she got that crystal ball for you."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "She said it was a RedStar model, too; it doesn't look like yours."
"Good observation, Harry," Skylarke said. "That's because this is not a RedStar crystal ball...actually, I have no idea what model it actually is. I've never seen a crystal ball that looks like this before…would you mind too terribly if I keep it in here and observe it for a while? I'll even let you use my RedStar while I study the nature of your..."
"I don't have a problem with letting you keep my crystal ball," said Harry. "Go ahead, Professor. Old Lucinda's just a tad on the creepy side, if you catch my drift. She's always hanging out with that pervert Parenein..."
"That's because they're good friends," Skylarke said. "Three of the first Four Hawkbanes were close friends; Lewn, Snitchgrass, and Parenein. None of them really like my dear friend Professor Ahsimal—I have no idea why; he's only intimidating until you talk to him on a friendly level—and I must admit that Wolfe had only started teaching this year…it's odd that he made it into the Hawkbane Society and I didn't…my résumé was as thick as his at least tenfold..."
"Hawkbane Society?"
"That's what they call the group of teachers that are in charge of the Advanced Placement courses," Skylarke explained. "The people inside that society are referred to as Hawkbanes, as you already know. The first Four Hawkbanes—that is Lewn, Snitchgrass, Parenein, and Ahsimal—can appoint other teachers. If Darius ever suggested someone, I guess it's an unwritten rule that the other three will not only push them aside, but make life a living Hell for their new victim." Skylarke looked at the clock and said, "It's two in the morning…how about I give you something to energize yourself? You'd like to look around for a while before you retire for the night, am I correct?" After Harry nodded, Skylarke handed him a couple of tangerine Mood Drops. "This will keep you awake for another eighteen hours at least."
As Harry left Skylarke's office, the gaunt professor walked out as well. "Er…Harry, would you mind helping me with something tomorrow night?"
"I wouldn't mind at all," Harry began, "but I've got an Afterlight Necromancy lesson with Ahsimal."
"Oh," Skylarke said, walking back toward his office. "Thank you for telling me that…I think it's great that you're going to be doing Afterlight. It's some pretty hardcore stuff. You take care, okay? If anything odd happens with this crystal ball, I'll let you know. Er…you're seeing Lucinda tomorrow for that Hawkbane program, right?"
"What about it?"
"Well, try to bring up the crystal ball in your conversation and see what she does. If she gets a bit squeamish, I think it'll be safe to say that she cannot be trusted on your part. Just remember, Harry…be very careful with who you trust. People aren't always what they seem to be on the outside."
Harry didn't eat the Mood Drops. He went straight to sleep when he got back to the Gryffindor Tower, and just put the two Mood Drops that Skylarke had given him on his nightstand for safekeeping. He had a very interesting dream that night:
He was in Turret Eleven, waiting for Manipulations to begin. The room looked the same as it always had—a classroom with Quidditch posters everywhere—it still had the appearance of a college-aged wizard's domain. The door swung open, and Professor Leir walked in. Harry noticed that there were strangulation marks on Leir's neck, and that his eyes were bloodshot…Wolfe Leir was dead, but for some odd reason, he was walking into his old classroom and seemed to want to teach the class. He stood in front of all the students and said in his friendly, familiar voice, "I hate to say this, everyone, but I'm going to have to leave you..."
"NO! Stay with us!" screamed an entire chorus of girls. "We love you, Professor!"
Wolfe looked deader than he had a minute ago. Sirius, Lupin, Quinn Moon, Ella Jorkins, Sally-Anne Perks, Sam McCallisten, Morag MacDougal, Meredith Fallowin, and Cedric Diggory walked through the door…they all looked dead, too. "Wolfe, we're waiting!" Sirius said sharply, tapping his foot. "Quit taking your time and hurry up!"
"But, I—''
"But nothing, Wolfgang; come onalready!" said Lupin, getting impatient like Sirius.
"Three of your four star pupils are going with you, if that's any comfort," said Quinn, Sally-Anne, and Sam. "Malfoy's staying behind…for now."
"He'll run into trouble soon, though," said Quinn.
"Shut up, Quinn!" Sally-Anne hissed. "Wolfie, come with us…it's time you cross over."
"NO!" shouted Wolfe. "I'm not ready…I don't want to be dead yet. Can I stay behind?"
"No," Cedric said curtly. "Professor, you're dead…just like the rest of us."
The Dead dragged the defiant Manipulations teacher with them and they all disappeared before Harry's eyes. The classroom looked so sad, so lonely…so abandoned. It looked as if the entire room was waiting longingly for Wolfe Leir to come back to teach in there.
Suddenly, the atmosphere of Turret Eleven changed dramatically. The posters disappeared, and torture devices were put there in their place. Fire erupted outside, and the interior looked very hellish. At that moment, the door opened. In came Constanza Quirrell, hooded, carrying a bloodstained sword.
"Hello and welcome to Manipulations. I'll be your new teacher! If anyone in here has the bright idea to pass notes or talk in my class…I'll know because I have eyes in the back of my head." She stood up in front of the entire class and said evilly, "Now, allow me to introduce my assistant in this class, my master everywhere else…Lord Voldemort!" She pulled her hood down…there he was, right behind her—
"Harry, it's time to wake up!" Ron said. "Today's Saturday, and you've got to see Professor Snitchgrass for Hawkbane reasons. You're lucky Snitchgrass is cool. I'm stuck with Lewn."
Harry grumbled as he got up, and put on a clean outfit. He combed his hair as best he could, but it still stuck up (like usual) in the back. He ate breakfast with Ron and Hermione, and then started heading toward Turret Twelve, where he would get to talk to Snitchgrass. Harry walked out of the Great Hall, and passed by the Curses & Rootwork, Hypnosis, and Necromancy classrooms to get to the Astrology room.
After waiting outside the door for about ten minutes, Snitchgrass opened up the classroom. "Velcome, 'Arry," she said mystically. "Vat vould you like to talk about in zis session?" She looked at him and then asked, "Did you 'ave a bad dream last night?"
"Yes," Harry said flatly. "Please tell me Constanza Quirrell isn'tteaching Manipulations!"
"I'm afraid she is, 'Arry," Snitchgrass said. "Za stars 'ave told me zis. Zere is somezing seriously vrong vith her aura, though…some sort ov negative power pulses out ov 'er body randomly. Veird voman…be on za lookout vor 'er. She might be in league vith He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."
"Uh…yeah, I kind of get that feeling already. Lucinda?" Harry said.
"Yes, 'Arry?" Snitchgrass said.
"Where did you get the crystal ball you sent me? Skylarke told me that Nezura's Curiosity doesn't sell them, and that it's not even a RedStar."
"You believe Skylarke?" Snitchgrass said, and then broke into laughter. "I'm your Hawkbane an' you trust Mortimer Skylarke over me? You must 'ave rocks vor brains."
"I can assure you that I don't," Harry snapped back, getting impatient. "Why else would I be in Hawkbanes?"
"It's not vor your grades, I can tell you zat right now," Snitchgrass said, handing Harry his interim report. "I chose you because ov your potential and sheer talent. I'm za Hawkbane zat doesn't look at grades, as I'm sure za other people in Hawkbane 'ave already told you.." She pulled out two bottles of a light green, fizzy drink of some kind. "Do you know vat zis is?"
"No."
"Zis is splipberry juice," said Snitchgrass, pulling the cap off of one of the bottles. She offered the other one to Harry. "Zey are really good...and vill sharpen your senses." Harry accepted the drink from Snitchgrass, but waited to see if she'd drink hers before he took a sip out of his. She did so, so he guessed it would be okay to take a swig of his drink. "Do you like?"
Harry had never tasted anything like this before…it tasted like a cross between a lemon, a raspberry, and a very juicy blackberry. It was quite delicious, but it made him feel very alert of everything. "What was this stuff called again?"
"Splipberry nectar," Snitchgrass said.
"Well, back on the topic of the crystal ball..."
"Ack, I forgot! I needed to ask you somezing, 'Arry," said Snitchgrass. "It's about za next Hawkbane Quidditch match. You played against Slytherin last time, right?"
"Er, yes, but what about the..."
"You're playing against Ravenclaw on November 5th, understand?"
Harry hated having Snitchgrass cut him off every chance he tried to bring up the crystal ball. "Yeah, I understand. Er…now about the crystal ball you sent me…where did you really get it?"
"A man outside Nezura's Curiosity sold it to me and said it vas a RedStar model. I thought it vould be a nice gift vor you, 'Arry," she said sweetly. Harry didn't really believe her. "Oh, look at za time! 'Arry, enjoy za rest of your veekend, okay? Our session is over."
Harry walked out of Turret Twelve feeling quite disappointed. He hadn't gotten anything truthful out of Snitchgrass. All he'd gotten out of her was a bottle of splipberry nectar. He decided it was about time to pay Hagrid a visit. As he started walking over there, he couldn't find Ron anywhere. However, he did find Hermione was walking over toward Hagrid's hut as well. "Hey, Hermione…wait up!" Hermione stopped for Harry, but she didn't look too happy. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes," she said. "Professor Parenein tried to kiss me, and he really pays no attention to Marcus. Not like that's bothering me anymore, since Marcus has started treating us like garbage, but I really hate spending an hour on Saturdays with that…that pervert."
Harry sighed. "I hate to hear that you're not enjoying the Hawkbane program, Hermione. Actually, neither am I." He showed her the splipberry nectar. "What do you know about splipberry nectar?"
"It's used a lot in potions that deal with bad dreams…it's supposed to make you very alert and it actually sharpens your senses."
"Oh, that's just…perfect," Harry grumbled. "Snitchgrass gave me a bottle during our Hawkbane session."
"Well, that was nice of her," Hermione said. "I think she really likes you." They continued walking over toward Hagrid's hut, until they reached their destination. Hermione knocked on the door. "Hagrid, are you here?"
"Yeah," they heard Hagrid say from behind the door. "Come on in, you two." As Hermione and Harry walked in, Hagrid said, "Why didn't ya come visit me sooner?"
"We just…couldn't," said Hermione. "You understand that, don't you?"
"It's that Hawkbane stuff, isn't it?" Hagrid said dejectedly. "I knew yer both very smart, so it's no surprise that people like Snitchgrass, Lewn, and Parenein noticed yer talent."
"I just wish it had been any other Hawkbane besides Parenein," Hermione said angrily. "He keeps trying to get a sneak peek of my knickers under my skirt."
"He's a dirty ol' man, an' I know it," Hagrid said. "He asked me if he could keep his extra Playboys in here. I said 'no, get yer trash out of my home,' an' he left it anyway. And then he got indignant on me when I had a 'lil bonfire a couple o' days later." He shrugged. "I just don't understand people like that."
"Neither do I," said Hermione.
"Hagrid, do you know anything about splipberry nectar?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I know what it is. If you let it ferment for a couple o' months, it's one of the strongest drinks you can buy. It's even more potent than firewhiskey, and that's saying a lot. Firewhiskey can mess you up for hours…splipberry wine can knock you out for nearly a week."
"What about the nectar?" Harry asked, and he showed Hagrid the bottle. "Snitchgrass gave me some splipberry nectar at my session."
"Aw, the nectar won't hurt ya, Harry," said Hagrid. "It'll just make you concentrate better on everything for a couple of days. Well, it's supposed to do that. It's just a drink, though. No harm done. Why? You think Snitchgrass is out to kill you or something?"
"I really don't know," said Harry. "She's just so…I don't know…secretive."
"That's Snitchgrass for ya," said Hagrid. "She always likes to keep stuff to herself. Everyone thinks she's up to something every once in a while, but then it turns out to be nothing serious. Don't let 'er bother you, Harry. Er…are you going to finish that nectar?"
"No." 'If it had been someone like McGonagall, Flitwick, or Skylarke that had given me this, I'd want to finish it,' thought Harry.
"Can I have it, then? I really like splipberry wine, and all I'll need is to be a little patient before the nectar turns into wine."
"Yeah, sure," Harry handed Hagrid the nectar. "Just make sure it isn't tainted before you drink it. I really don't trust Snitch grass."
"There's nothin' to worry abou'," said Hagrid. "Snitchgrass ain't out to kill you."
Saturday was pretty fun, especially once Harry and Hermione visited Hagrid for the first time in a while. They met up with Ron and Ginny after that and spent a while in the library, where they found Atticus, Celia, and Josh. Before everyone knew it, it was dinnertime. Everyone was at the Hawkbane table in the usual cluster, except for Marcus. He was sitting as far away from Harry as possible. "Is this edible?" Rick asked Harry all of a sudden. On his plate was sushi.
"How should I know?" Harry said. "I don't even know what that is."
"It's sushi," said Hermione. "Yeah, Rick. You can eat that."
"Ugh," Rick said. "It's raw."
"Sushi tends to be raw," Celia said sarcastically. "Honestly, for someone so clever, you can be really stupid sometimes." Rick sunk down in his seat.
"Don't pick on my friend, Wells," Malfoy snapped.
"Nobody asked you to butt in, Malfoy," Celia retorted. "Hey, Josh, did you do your homework for Snape?"
"Honestly, Celia. It's the weekend. He didn't assign anything yesterday anyway!" Josh rolled his eyes.
"Aw…I almost got you, too," Celia said. "Oh well."
After dinner, Harry sat around the Gryffindor Common Room for a while. When the clock read that it was twenty minutes to midnight, he started walking toward Turret Thirteen, where he would have his first Afterlight Necromancy lesson. He saw that there was another boy that was his age inside the classroom as well. "Hello?" Harry said.
The boy turned around to face Harry. "Hi," he said flatly. He had his chestnut hair pulled back into a ponytail, and his eyes were hazel. Harry noticed that he was wearing a Slytherin's uniform. "I'm Blaise Zabini."
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Yeah, I knew who you were. You got Sorted the same year I did," said Blaise. "Did Professor Ahsimal ask if you'd be interested in Afterlight Necromancy?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Well, that means that we're going to be classmates," said Blaise, putting away a mirror he'd been viewing in. He was quite a good-looking fellow, but he seemed to be somewhat unhappy about something. "Are you interested in Necromancy too?"
"Yes, I am," Harry admitted. "Professor Ahsimal's a good teacher, and this subject is very appealing to me."
"Well, that's strange," said Blaise. "Most Gryffindors hate Necromancy because it's considered to be a Dark Art, but I can see why it would appeal to you." He raised an eyebrow and asked, "You're not like most Gryffindors, are you? Someone told me that the Sorting Hat almost put you in Slytherin until you begged it not to. Is that true?"
"Yeah, that's right," said Harry. "What about you?"
Blaise shrugged his shoulders. "The hat didn't say much to me…just that it was placing me in Slytherin. Sometimes I wonder why it did that…when I was a Third Year, Professor Snape said I'd have been a decent Ravenclaw."
"Are you friends with Draco Malfoy?" asked Harry.
"No," said Blaise. "Malfoy and his friends like to tease me…they think I'm gay."
"Are you?"
"No," Blaise said defensively. "I'm just a really sensitive person..."
"Ah, I see you two made it to our first Afterlight lesson," Ahsimal said as he came in. "Cassandra and Rhianna are supposed to be here, but since they're in Hogsmeade for the weekend, I won't count this against them. Besides, this isn't like a school course…I won't give you any assignments…except to hone your skills whenever you get the chance." He pulled his long, white hair back into a ponytail with a red ribbon. "Tonight, I'm going to show you what a Type A gore crow is like. I seriously doubt I'd show this to my Hawkbane Necromancy class because they're quite dangerous to a certain type of people. Harry, you and Blaise might have to watch out because Type A gore crows like to attack people who have almost faced Death, but love even more the taste of someone who was been brought back from Death, but not completely Resurrected." Blaise seemed to cling on to every word that came from Ahsimal's mouth. Ahsimal then pulled out a box that had three dead crows in it. "Actually, you can do this with any bird. I just prefer crows so I can be traditional, if you catch my drift."
Harry cringed as Ahsimal pulled out his wand and shouted, "Resorantus!" He turned toward the students and said, "Okay, one of you give me the name of someone who died that you didn't like."
Blaise said, "Er…how about Sam McCallisten? I didn't like him too much."
"That will do perfectly, Zabini," Ahsimal said as he chanted the name, "Sam McCallisten." Then, before everyone, was a transparent apparition of Sam. Harry had forgotten how big that boy's Adam's apple had actually been. It was humongous.
Sam looked around the room and then asked, "What happened? I thought I was supposed to be dead."
"You are dead, Sammy," said Ahsimal, showing off his teeth.
"Oh no! Anyone but you!" Sam shouted, pointing at Ahsimal. "You…you..."
"Separatum!" Ahsimal shouted to silence the ghost. Sam's soul shattered into three fragments. Ahsimal tossed the three dead crows into the air. The three fragments jumped into the bird corpses, and then started to move. "And…voila! Type A gore crows." He then let out a short laugh and let the birds fly around the room. They tried to peck at Blaise and Harry for a moment, until Harry opened the Necromancy door. The gore crows headed straight for Turret Fifteen.
"Damn," said Ahsimal. "I know where they're heading, and I know that there's going to be a really unhappy teacher in a little bit. Oh well, nothing I can do to sustain them now…except turn them to dust. The spell for that is terranecrosis, okay? How about you two try that out?"
"Terranecrosis!" shouted Blaise and Harry at the same time. The crows fell to the ground and turned into dust clouds. "Wow," said Harry. "This is some pretty dangerous stuff, Professor."
"Yes, it is," Ahsimal said, painting his long fingernails at his new desk. Harry noticed Ahsimal had selected a metallic silver color. After that, the pale professor moved on to playing with his rings, especially that really gaudy pewter one with the big piece of obsidian in the middle that was really beginning to make Harry curious. "Necromancy is extremely hazardous, and if you can harness the power of this Dark Art to your benefit, then you'll never have to worry about losing loved ones again. Afterlight is the best kept secret at Hogwarts, in my opinion, but I would like to keep it just that…a secret. Can I trust you and Potter to keep this secret, Zabini?"
"You can count on me, Professor Ahsimal," said Blaise, as he did a bow. His ponytail came undone, and soft, wavy hair flew everywhere on his shoulders.
"What about you, Potter? Can I trust you to keep this class private?"
"Sure," said Harry, taking a closer look at Ahsimal's classroom. He hadn't noticed the macabre beauty of the skeleton chandelier before. The first time he'd seen it, he'd found it not only disturbing, but absolutely sick to use bodies as decoration. Now that he'd been in Necromancy for nearly half a semester, he felt he could really appreciate its sinister charm. It didn't look disgusting to him now; that chandelier was probably the most beautiful piece of art he had seen in a long time, now that he took the time to look at it better. Suddenly, a great horned owl flew through the open door with a letter and a small package in its talons. "It looks like you've got mail, Professor."
Ahsimal rushed over toward the owl, and took the message and parcel. "Thank you very much, Archimedes," he said to the owl, and fed it an owl treat. He put the small package on an end table, and read the letter. "I don't see why Morty insists on sending me stuff by owl. He's only two towers down from here, so he could always walk and tell me this private stuff up in person…"
He rolled his mauve eyes and cleaned his glasses a bit. "I think we're done for tonight, gentlemen. Please review what we covered during the timeframe of this course so you'll be prepared to advance to the next level. Next time, I'll expect you to make Type A gore crows, understand?" Ahsimal showed Blaise and Harry to the door and then closed it. The last thing Harry saw before Ahsimal slammed was the pale, androgynous teacher reading the letter that Skylarke had sent him.
"How do you feel about Afterlight Necromancy right now?" Blaise asked Harry.
"I guess it's kind of okay," Harry admitted. "It would be pretty hard for Ahsimal to teach a boring class, don't you think?"
"I love Ahsimal's class," Blaise said. "I want to become either a Necromancer or an Exorcist once I graduate from Hogwarts. What about you?"
"I'd like to be an Auror," Harry admitted, and then showed Blaise the interim that Snitchgrass had given him that morning. "But I doubt I'll become one with grades like these."
Blaise flinched when he saw Harry's grades. "I thought your grades would be better than this. Your best classes are Defense Against the Dark Arts, Necromancy, and Charms. How in the name of Merlin could you get a 'Dreadful' in Clairvoyancy! Lewn's the worst teacher I've ever had, except for that horrid Umbridge woman last year, and she doesn't do anything, really. I just sleep in her class and I'm getting an 'Exceeds Expectations.' If I actually studied in there a little, I think maybe I could get an 'Outstanding,' but I don't know…it seems like a waste to me. Can you tell me the point of Clairvoyancy? What is its purpose?"
"I guess to stare at Lewn's cute little figure," admitted Harry.
"Little?" Blaise asked. "The only thing little about Professor Lewn is her waist."
"Yeah," Harry said, thinking about that gorgeous, tall blonde. "I guess you're right." He talked to Blaise for a while longer, and then headed off toward the Gryffindor Tower.
"I'll see you in Astronomy, Foreign Magic, Charms, or Manipulations on Monday, okay?"
Harry waved goodbye to Blaise and smiled to himself. 'I think I've made a new friend.'
Harry slept in on Sunday, and woke up around two in the afternoon. He practiced Quidditch with the Hawkbane Team and Phoebus until five o' clock, had dinner, stayed up in the Gryffindor Tower for a while, and finally went to sleep. He had the same dream he'd gotten Thursday and Friday night…the one with Leir in it. Monday was no different, except there was no dream.
Surprisingly, Harry was the first person up on Tuesday in the Sixth Year boys' Gryffindor dormitory. He had his books ready, and he decided that it would be nice to have a bit of time without anyone bothering him before breakfast. He walked out of his dormitory, and walked into the Common Room, to find that Atticus was already down there, in his wheelchair. "Hello, Atticus," Harry said.
Atticus stopped writing his letter and looked up to see Harry. "Hi," he said. "Isn't this a surprise? You're usually one of the last people to wake up on a school day." He smiled and said, "Happy November 4th."
"What's so happy about it?" Harry snapped.
"Oh, nothing in particular," said Atticus. "It just so happens to be my birthday."
"Well, Happy Birthday, Atticus," Harry said. "Sorry, I didn't know that."
"Nah, it's okay," Atticus said, chuckling. He sealed his letter and then put it in his bag. "I'm going to need to go to the Owlery before breakfast. Want to come with me?"
"I think I'll pass," Harry said. "I just wanted to have a bit of alone time before everyone else gets up."
"Oh," said Atticus, shrugging his shoulders and wheeling off. "Suit yourself."
Half an hour later, Harry rushed off toward the Great Hall for breakfast. His first class of the day was Charms with Flitwick. It was pleasant, like normal. After that, he had Foreign Magic with Ebonyste. Surprisingly, it was a rather boring lesson that day. The only thing good about Ebonyste's lesson was the part when he had to take a bathroom break, which lasted nearly half an hour, for some odd reason. Ebonyste swore that he was just having trouble with the toilet, but that long absence gave Harry the perfect chance to introduce Ron and Hermione to Blaise. After his Foreign Magic lesson, that happened to be about Scotland and the Loch Ness sea monster, the thing Harry had been dreading for four days was finally there…his first Manipulations Class with Constanza Quirrell.
He sat down in his seat, but looked around the room. None of Wolfgang's old stuff was in the room anymore. The floor had a cedar wood finish, and the walls had been painted jade green. However, the green walls were mostly covered up with humongous antique mirrors. The window had been replaced with a stained glass one. Where Wolfgang's Quidditch posters had been, there were now optical illusion paintings, put in antique frames. There was a particular one that looked like a staircase that never seemed to end. The room smelled like eucalyptus and aloe…it didn't take Harry long to find the incense burner. On the new cedar wood desk, there were tons of eucalyptus-scented candles burning, and a small framed photograph of the late Professor Quirrell. Globes of stained glass were floating above the ceiling, along with glowing crystals. Harry noticed there was an enormous chunk of pyrite on the desk as well. 'It's probably a paperweight,' he thought. At that moment, the door creaked open. Harry turned, expecting to see a yale, but it was only Professor Constanza Quirrell. She wasn't wearing a hood, like in Harry's dream; instead, she had her mousy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She had on some rather colorful robes; they looked like something Ahsimal would wear.
"Hello and welcome to Manipulations. I'm your new teacher, Professor Quirrell. If anyone in here has the bright idea to pass notes or talk in my class…I'll know because I have eyes in the back of my head."She stood up in front of the entire class and said, "Okay, maybe not literally, but I will find out of you misbehave in here." She stroked the piece of pyrite and said, "You had that five-foot essay that Professor Leir assigned on Manipulating inanimate objects. Have you finished it yet? They're due today."
Everyone groaned, except for a few people. Cassandra, Hermione, Atticus, Celia, Josh, Marcus, Isis, and Rick pulled out their five-foot long essays for Mrs. Quirrell to take up. "Excellent. I'm glad to see that not everyone in here is a slacker." She looked at everyone else. "What are you waiting for? Where are your essays?" Malfoy pulled his out and bit his lip. "Malfoy, do you know how long this is?"
"I…I couldn't do five feet..."
"Nonsense!" Mrs. Quirrell said. "You did four and a half feet, Malfoy. That's not what the teacher that assigned the essay to you asked for, so therefore you're automatically getting a 'T.'"
"But, Professor..."
"Don't but Professor me, Malfoy. You didn't complete the assignment. The best I can give you in an 'Incomplete.' Do you understand?" Harry couldn't help but laugh at Malfoy getting told off. Malfoy sunk in his seat and looked absolutely miserable. "Fallowin's younger than anyone else in here, and he managed to complete the assignment."
"Yeah, but Rick's..."
"He's…what? Smarter than you, Malfoy?" Malfoy squirmed, and now a lot of the students that didn't like him were bursting out with laughter. Mrs. Quirrell collected a few more essays, and finally came toward Harry. "Okay, Potter…let me have your essay." Harry handed it over; it was five feet, just like Wolfe had requested. "You met the requirements, but your writing should be so much smoother than this. I'm going to give you an 'A,' because it's obvious you did the bare minimum; it's hardly acceptable." Harry gritted his teeth. 'I spent a lot of my spare time to complete that damn essay…who is she to tell me that I did the 'bare minimum' or not? How would she know?' "Potter, is something wrong with you?"
"No," Harry said angrily. "I put a lot of time and effort into that." Mrs. Quirrell outstretched her hand. "What now?"
"May I see your research?" Mrs. Quirrell said in a falsely sweet voice.
"I…" Harry began. He looked around the room, trying to get some help. None of the other Hawkbane students gave any. "I don't…have…"
"You don't have it?" Mrs. Quirrell said suspiciously. "Very well; I'll let it slide this time for everyone. It seems the only people who kept a list of resources were Snape, Shadow, Apathy, Granger, Turpin, Goldman, and Wells. In the future, if I am to assign you something, I will expect you to keep a list of your resources. I will also want to see your notes." She read something off a piece of parchment and then said, "You just finished inanimate objects, am I correct?" Everyone nodded. "Okay…then I know where we are to begin today. We'll begin our unit on Botanical Manipulation. This will last us at least until the middle of the month. At the latest, we'll finish this unit sometime around the beginning of December." She lowered her reading glasses and said, "Next year, when you'll be dealing with your N.E.W.T.s, it's pretty safe to say that Botanicals will be on your Manipulations exam." Her eyes narrowed at the class for a moment, and then she touched the piece of pyrite again. "Does anyone have any questions for me before we begin?"
"I've got one," said Marcus. "What do you want us to call you?"
"Professor Quirrell will do just fine," Mrs. Quirrell said calmly.
"But, if we do that…we'll get you mixed up with our old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Marcus argued.
"Does this look like a debate team to you, Cantarus?" snapped Mrs. Quirrell. There was a bit of red coming up in her cheeks.
"Well, no, but..."
"I don't want to start an argument with a student. I see the point you're trying to make, so how about I just let all of you call me by my former last name?" Mrs. Quirrell let out a catlike yawn and then said, "Feel free to call me Professor Loxias.I answer to Stanzi too, because that has been my nickname for ages."
Harry raised his hand. "Okay, Stanzi. I've got a question."
"Fire away," Professor Loxias said flatly. She was clearly not very thrilled to have Harry as a student. "Potter, what is on your mind?"
"Why are you here?" he asked.
Loxias's eyes widened, and then she laughed. "Oh, I'm here to teach, of course. Why else would I..."
"No…really, why are you here?"
"THAT IS THE REASON I AM HERE!" she snarled, her whole face turning a pink color. "I do not need to explain myself any more than that to anybody!" Cassandra tapped Harry's shoulder, and handed him a note from Atticus. On the note were the words 'even the prettiest roses have their thorns, don't you agree?' Harry put it in his pocket, hoping that Loxias didn't see it. "Potter, what did you just put away?"
"Nothing, Stanzi," Harry said in a falsely sweet voice.
"No, I saw you put something in your back pocket. Hand it to me, now." Harry defiantly did so, and Loxias read it aloud to the class. "Hm…there's quite a poet in here somewhere. I fully understand the message, though." She rubbed the pyrite again, and then said, "Okay, a few more questions, and then we'll begin today's lesson." She saw Hermione's hand up. "Yes, Granger; what is it?"
"Professor Loxias, I've got a few questions, actually," said Hermione. "The first one is…why is that piece of pyrite on your desk and why do you keep on touching it?"
"Pyrite wards off negativity," Loxias said quickly.
"I've also got a few questions about you and your husband, Professor Quirrell..."
"You may ask me personal stuff after class, Granger. I'll not waste a class period about my life and my dead husband's." Loxias then pulled out an oak sapling. "The first chapter in your Botanical Manipulations unit says that the oak is the ideal place to begin when it comes to this type of Manipulation. I borrowed this from Professor Sprout, and she expects to get it back. I daresay I don't want to go back on my word, understand?"
"Yes, Professor Loxias," the class said loudly.
"Good; glad to see I got my point across to you." She put the tiny tree on a pedestal that was in the center of the room. "We're going to manipulate this plant today. We all know that it is very early November, and it's clearly Autumn. Therefore, we will be making this little tree sprout new leaves today. You'll be bamboozling it into thinking it's around the Vernal Equinox in a moment." Her eyes narrowed again, and then she pointed a finger at Cassandra. "You," she said flatly.
"Me," Cassandra said, a bit confused as to why she'd been called out. "What about me?"
"You finished the chapter already, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did," she said. "But so did Rhianna and Celia."
"Since you finished, Snape, how about you get in front of the class and puzzle the plant?"
"Okay, Professor," said Cassandra. "Whatever." She pulled out her wand and then shouted, "Magara Confundus!" Whatever leaves the oak had left fell to the ground, and then it sprouted new, green ones. "Voila—you've got one confused miniature oak tree."
After Cassandra did it in front of the whole Hawkbane class, everyone was expected to finish the chapter and repeat the same results with the saplings Loxias gave everyone to work on. After trying for nearly ten minutes, Harry got the hang of it. Hermione, Josh, and Celia got it right the first time. Rhianna and Cassandra were having races to see who could manipulate their oak saplings faster. Ron didn't succeed in making his oak grow leaves…all he achieved was making it's already dead leaves turn a very bright purple.
"Weasley, what happened to your tree?" asked Loxia.
"Er…it looks like the leaves turned purple," Ron said. "That's not right, is it?"
"No, it's not," Loxias said coldly. "However, I'll give you an 'Acceptable,' because you did trigger a response from your oak." She walked around the room some more and said, "Granger, nice job…I think your leaves are probably the greenest in here."
"Thank you, Professor Loxias," said Hermione, beaming. The next thing she did was scream because Loxias's eyes were glowing a pale lavender color, and her hair turned a golden blonde. "Professor Loxias? Professor Loxias!" Loxias's hair seemed to bounce as if there was a gale blowing it. A small whirlwind of papers surrounded her, and then complete chaos was brought about in the classroom. Books were falling off of shelves, the ground seemed to shake beneath them, and the glass globes that had been there for decoration fell to the ground and shattered. Harry could have sworn he saw something that looked like red smoke jumped out of each globe, ran around the room for a while, and then disappeared. Finally, the damage ceased, and Loxias returned to looking like her typical self. However, her skin now appeared as white as Ahsimal's, and there were some very dark rings underneath her eyes.
"Professor, you might want to look at yourself. You're scary," said Josh. "Such a freak shouldn't teach a class…especially a Hawkbane class!" Loxias looked in one of the mirrors, and then rushed out of the room in utter panic. It was all so sudden, that even Harry was taken by surprise when Loxias jumped up and sprinted out the door. Five minutes later, the bell rang.
Harry was glad the class was over. He was convinced that Constanza Loxias-Quirrell was far from being a normal person. 'She's probably far from being completely sane, too,' he thought. "Aren't you glad that's over?" he asked Ron and Hermione. They both nodded in agreement.
"Yeah," said Ron. "That woman is spooky."
"I enjoyed her class today, and I don't see what you two are complaining about," said Hermione. "I see a lot of potential in Professor Loxias. She seemed nice enough to me."
"It's just kind of weird that she's letting us use her maiden name..."
"Not at all, Harry," Hermione said, shrugging her shoulders. "She did that so we wouldn't confuse her with Professor Quirrell."
"She's out to get me," Harry grumbled. "Did you see the way she kept egging me on?"
"Did I see the way she was provoking you?" Malfoy said, coming up to the group. He had Rick and Marcus with him. "That damn Professor Loxias embarrassed me in front of everyone."
"I was a bit embarrassed, too," admitted Rick. "She made me look like a prodigy."
"Hey, at least she didn't berate you," Malfoy snarled at his Fourth Year friend. Rick walked off toward his next class and didn't look back. "Potter, what exactly does she have against you?"
"I killed Quirrell, remember?" Harry snapped at Malfoy. "Just leave me alone."
"Hey, I can't do that," Malfoy said, smiling. "What are enemies for, anyway?" Harry groaned, and then pulled out his wand. "Hey, now what are you going to do that for?"
"Get out of my sight," Harry snapped. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you."
Marcus tapped Malfoy's shoulder. "Er…Draco, I think we should leave him alone. He's nutters, you know, and he thinks my mum and dad are Death Eaters."
"Not as nutters as Loxias," Malfoy hissed at Marcus. "But you're right. Maybe we should leave Harry Crackpot alone." He walked off, and Marcus accompanied him. Neither one of them looked back either.
"Don't worry about them," said Rhianna, catching up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. With her was Cassandra. She had a book in her hand that was called Dark Arts Miscellany by Dr. Iphigenia Hemlock. 'I've seen a lot of that woman's books around Hogwarts since I viewed that death memory of Sebastian's,' thought Harry. 'Dr. Hemlock must be popular with the Slytherins.'
"How was your weekend at Cassandra's?" Harry asked curiously. He wondered what Cassandra's home life was like, but he didn't want to sound too nosy.
"Well, I got to meet Teiresias," said Rhianna. "Nice kid, really…especially once you strike up a conversation with him."
"Who is Teiresias?" asked Hermione.
"My younger brother," said Cassandra. "He's very shrewd for a nine-year-old."
"I thought you said he was going to be a First Year this coming up year," Harry argued.
"I did," Cassandra said flatly. "Teiresias is going to start a year early."
"How about Cassandra's parents; what were they like?" asked Hermione.
"A nightmare," said Rhianna. "They were nice to Teiresias and us—I think those two might actually worship Cassandra and Teiresias; you'd have to see it to believe it—but they'd raise Hell with each other. Claudius gave Lydia a sprained ankle and a black eye. Lydia gave him a broken nose. The war is a constant thing, as far as Teiresias told us."
"I'll be surprised if they haven't divorced already by the time Christmas comes around," Cassandra said sadly. "My parents really hate each other, and I think Couples' Therapy was nothing more than just a big joke." She looked pretty dejected by this news, and then asked Harry, "Have you seen my black book anywhere?"
"Er…what black book?" Ron asked jumpily.
"The black book you guys see me writing in all the time?" Cassandra said, giving Ron the eyebrow of confusion. "I've got to have it back…I'm afraid it might have landed in the wrong hands, because I can't find it anywhere."
"I've got it," Harry admitted as he pulled it out of his bag, as well as the two Telemiths that he had gotten from Skylarke and Cassandra. "I found it before the Halloween masquerade. I was going to return it afterwards, but you left with your parents…" He looked at the blood red glass balls and sighed. 'I never looked in those,' he thought, remembering they had been in his bookbag for quite some time. 'It must have slipped my mind.'
"Thanks," Cassandra said dryly, checking her book to see if anything was missing. She even shook it…nothing came out. She got a very accusatory look on her face after nothing fell out of the pages. "Er…Harry, there was a small notepad with a seven-point star on it that was in here as well. I borrowed that from Professor Skylarke, and I'm sure that he won't be happy if I report it missing." Harry pulled the notepad out of his pocket and handed it to Cassandra as well. She smiled blandly and then pointed at a familiar trio. "Hey, look who it is!" she said. "Celia, Josh, Atticus!"
Atticus, Josh, and Celia waved and then walked over toward the group. "Hello everybody," Celia said. Her hair was in a very sloppy ponytail and she was a bit on the sweaty side. Ron still looked at her longingly, nonetheless. "I can't believe that Quirrell's wife volunteered to teach Manipulations. It was really nice of her to back down from her job as a Manipulator to do that." She laughed a bit and said, "I had a little conversation with her after class. She's so sweet."
"She's freakier than Cassandra," Josh said, "and that's saying a lot. Did you see what she did around the end of the class? That's not normal, not even in the wizarding world."
"Professor Flitwick told me that she's got a ton of problems," said Celia. "I really feel sorry for her; she's such a nice lady. I even heard the other teachers say that she's not even thirty-five…and she's already stuck with a dead husband and a ten-year-old son."
"That woman has a child!" Hermione squeaked. "You mean, she…?"
"Yeah, it seems that Quirrell and Loxias have a son named Cecil that's going to attend Hogwarts next year," Celia let out a very heavy sigh. "It's a real pity I'll be at LéAvíans next year since I'm graduating. If what Loxias was saying was the truth, then I'd love to meet Cecil." She looked at her Sixth Year friends and groaned. "You're all so lucky to have another year here!"
"Fortunately for us, we're not lucky," Atticus teased. "Oy, Celia! I didn't know you were going to LéAvíans too!" He then turned toward Josh. "Where will you be attending college, Josh?"
"I'm heading over to America after this year," Josh admitted. He then beamed, showing off his sparkling white teeth. Rhianna wasn't impressed one bit. "I got a full scholarship to Aevumis…in Salem! Witch Weekly is paying for the airplane tickets, too." Atticus and Celia both cheered for their friend, and then they rushed off toward the infirmary.
"Er…Cassandra," Rhianna said, elbowing her friend. She looked a bit shocked.
"What is it?" asked Cassandra, raising an eyebrow at her friend's odd behavior. "Go on; tell me…I want to know what's on your mind."
"Your brother comes to Hogwarts next year, right?"
"Yeah, he'll be here next year…so what?" Cassandra seemed to not understand what Rhianna was trying to point out.
"Teiresias is probably going to meet Cecil," Rhianna said flatly. Cassandra really didn't seem too thrilled to hear that. She grabbed Rhianna by the left wrist, and pulled her behind her. They both rushed off toward the library…again.
"I wonder what's wrong with everybody," Ron said. "Is it just me, or is everyone trying to dodge us?"
"We're not going to dodge you," said two voices. Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned around to see a Third Year girl in Ravenclaw attire, and a Sixth Year girl in Hufflepuff attire. Both of them were very pretty with viridian eyes, gorgeous bodies, and straight auburn hair….it was obvious that they were sisters. The older girl also had a very nice bust, yet the two girls were both very attractive. "Actually, we've been trying to track you three down for quite a while," said the Ravenclaw girl. "My name is Cora Fenrir, and this is my sister Naomi." She walked up to Hermione and shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Granger. I've heard so much about you, and I really wanted to meet you up in person." Cora also cast a very alluring glance at Ron and Harry. "And of course I've heard about Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, too; how do you guys do?"
Naomi rolled her eyes. "You've got to pardon my kid sister; she's such a flirt." She laughed and then said, "Go on, Cora…want to tell them the news?"
"You tell them, bigmouth!" Cora snarled. "You're the one that's recognized, not me!"
Naomi let out a sigh of exasperation. "Very well, sourpuss…Sam McCallisten from Hufflepuff was in the Hawkbane program, but he died. I'm taking his place." She pulled out her new Hawkbane card and beamed. "This makes us classmates, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Harry said, staring at this auburn beauty. She's perfect, he couldn't help but think. 'I bet she's really smart, too…just like Celia, Cassandra, and Hermione.' He didn't have a crush on her, but Naomi Fenrir definitely had Harry in lust.
"Oh, did you hear the other news?" Cora blurted. "Professor Loxias was made part of the Hawkbane society today! I'm so happy for her; she's so sweet."
'Oh no…that can't be right,' thought Harry. 'She just got here. There is no way that her résumé could be better than Skylarke's…'"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive; she got notified that she'd become a Hawkbane during the middle of my sister's class," Naomi said smoothly. "Oh, and some other news..."
"There's more!" Hermione said exasperatedly. "Well, out with it!"
"Cora's dating Rick Fallowin," Naomi said between giggles. Cora looked like she wanted to beat Naomi to a pulp. "Can any of you tell me where I can find Celia Wells and her crowd?"
"They're visiting someone in the infirmary, I think," Harry said. "They walked off that way."
"Okay," Naomi said sweetly. "Thank you!" She rushed off, her slim hips shaking seductively with each step she ran. Both Ron and Harry couldn't help but stare at her lovely body. She soon came back with Celia, Josh, and Atticus.
Cora was still there, with a very angry look on her pretty face. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation when Cassandra Snape had been over here, Harry. Is it true that she's got a little brother that's going to be a First Year next year?"
"Yes, it's true," Hermione answered Cora instead of Harry. "His name is Teiresias, and that's about as far as I know about Cassandra's mysterious sibling."
"Well, I've got a little sister named Marpessa that's going to be a First Year next year. I'm sure she'll meet Teiresias Snape and Cecil Quirrell soon enough. Some of her friends like Michael Silverman, Atreus Miller, Ivy Townsend, Trixie Prescott, Albert Moon—y'know, that crowd—will be attending Hogwarts too." Cora let out a heavy yawn. "I can tell you now; it'll be a much more interesting year than this one."
"Why do you say that?" another voice said. Harry looked behind him to see that it was Rick Fallowin. He was surprised to see that Malfoy was nowhere to be found. "People are dying wherever you look, and others are leaving the school with no intentions of returning…it kind of reminds me of those stories Draco told me about the Chamber of Secrets four years ago. Death can attract all sorts of attention. As a Slytherin, I should know." He then saw Cora and gave her a weak smile. "Hello, Cora; I didn't see you there."
"Hi, Rick," she said sweetly. She had gotten out of her crabby mood as soon as she saw Rick. "What have you been up to?"
"Nothing much…just finishing up an essay Snape assigned on Monday." Rick then looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Do you guys already know Cora Fenrir, my girlfriend?"
"No, we didn't," Ron said, and then gave Rick the thumbs up. "She's cute, Rick; nice catch."
"Just make sure you respect Cora, okay?" Hermione said. "Girls never want to date guys that will take advantage of them, you know."
"I'm not a jerk," Rick said. "Cora can clarify that if you don't believe me." He smiled at his girlfriend and then held her hand in his. "I'd never hurt her. I'd rather die than cause Cora harm." Cora beamed, and then walked off with Rick. She even gave Rick a kiss on the cheek and mouthed the words I love you.
"Aw! That's so cute!" shouted Josh, Atticus, Naomi, and Celia. "Look at Fallowin and Fenrir, everyone…such a cute couple!" Cora and Rick ran for it after that. It was clear that they didn't want to attract any attention. They were both red in the face. "That was so sweet," Celia said, sighing sadly. "I want a boyfriend like that."
"Like Rick?" Josh asked, confused. "You mean you want a scrawny, gangly boyfriend with big ears and a humongous mole right by his nose when you could always go out with me instead? Come on, admit it…I'm sexier than Rick."
"I didn't mean I liked Rick in that way," Celia snapped at Josh. "I meant that I don't want to date someone who's stuck on himself. I don't want to ever date somebody like Gilderoy Lockhart or, let's see…who else is narcissistic and has a big ego? Ah! I know…Josh Goldman!" Josh didn't look too happy with Celia for that last comment.
"Josh, I think you're sexy," said Naomi in her silky voice.
"Yeah," Josh said, flexing his muscles, "You and every other witch at Hogwarts…even the teachers know I'm gorgeous."
"You see?" Celia grumbled. "It's that attitude of yours that makes me less attracted to you." Harry and Ron just watched as Celia told Josh off in front of them. She then turned toward Ron and said, "You're not fully stuck on yourself, are you?"
"Er…I don't think so," Ron said, confused.
Celia smiled, laughed, and then winked at Ron. "You're sweet," she said. "You'll find a girl either this year or next and will make her very happy."
"Actually, Celia," Ron said, obviously not caring anymore if Josh was in his presence. "I like you, and I was wondering if you would like to…go out with me?"
"Are you kidding?" Celia said, laughing. Ron looked pretty dejected by this flat-out denial. "Of course I'd like that!"
"You would!" Ron exclaimed. Harry could tell his friend hadn't believed his ears. He rushed over there and embraced Celia.
Just to see what Josh was doing, Harry looked to his right. "Are you alright, Josh?"
Josh had his fists clenched, and his handsome face had gotten all red. There were misty tears coming from his eyes, but a wrathful look was spread everywhere. "You just made a bad mistake, Celia," he snapped. "I could have been your dream come true…not this plebeian!" When Celia just rolled her eyes at him, Josh shouted, "NAOMI! It's time we leave."
"I'm not going with you," Naomi said flatly. "You may be sexier, but I like Atticus better." Atticus looked every bit as surprised as Ron had about a minute ago. "Atticus, would you like to go out with me?"
"Would I?" Atticus repeated. "You know the answer to that question is Hell yeah, Naomi!" He wheeled over toward Naomi and smiled.
Now this was getting a bit too much for Harry…he was jealous of Ron and Atticus. 'Atticus got asked out by a gorgeous Hufflepuff, Rick's got a cute little girlfriend that thinks the world of him, and Ron's going to start dating the girl he had a crush on. And I couldn't finish a single date with Cho without screwing everything up. This really sucks.' Without so much as saying where he was going, he left his friends. 'They're all lovey-dovey idiots.' It was about dinnertime, but for some odd reason, he felt like he might find something if he went down "Turret Row," the corridor that circled the entire school and lead to each of the fifteen turrets. Besides, he wasn't hungry. Just to kill some time, he did as his instincts told him to do. After walking for quite a while, he saw something sparkling in a wastebasket. 'Now, what is that?' He peered over to get a closer look, and then gasped with realization. 'That's got to be Skylarke's missing locket!' After checking to see if anyone was around, and nobody was in sight, Harry pulled the locket out of the garbage and opened it. A sad-sounding melody played as Harry viewed the photo inside the locket. On one side was a picture of Fallowin and Snape as students, holding up their wands. In the other picture was a photo of a younger Skylarke with Ahsimal. There were three other people who had their pictures in the locket, too. Harry recognized one as Cassandra's mother. Another was a squat man with big ears, thick glasses, and an enormous Adam's apple, but Celia had shown Harry a picture of this chap before; it was Dr. Thaddeus McCallisten, Sam McCallisten's dad. Dr. McCallisten was also Celia's personal Healer…the one that had recommended Mood Drops as medication. There was a very friendly-looking young woman in jeans and a t-shirt, but Harry had never seen someone that looked like that before. 'Maybe I'll ask Skylarke about this locket when I return it to him.'
Harry continued walking down the halls alone, but then saw Cassandra coming toward him, from the direction of Turret Seven. "Were you up in the Aerie again?" he asked her.
"What do you think?" Cassandra said bitterly. "Of course I was, and the whole time, I wasn't disturbed during my Communing Session. Thanks to Sebastian, I…I found out who Mortius is pretending to be." Harry could see that Cassandra also had a black eye.
"You did?" Harry asked. 'I know who Mortius is, but Cassandra needs to know, too.' "Well, who do you think it is?"
"Think! I know that Mortius has been pretending to be my uncle for a few years. So, that means I've spent a large portion of my Hogwarts life living with a complete stranger…a Slayer; the type of person who wants to destroy my kind and leave none behind. If this keeps up, I'll wind up dead, with no passage back. Does this mean that the real Severus is…is he…" Cassandra's eyes got a bit misty, but she wiped the tears away very quickly. "You didn't see that," she said flatly. "You did not see me cry."
"Sure, I didn't," Harry said sarcastically. 'No wonder everyone thinks she's so creepy.' "By the way, your uncle's not dead..."
"Oh, really?" Cassandra didn't sound so reassured. "Then, where is he?"
"Azkaban," said Harry. "Mortius did the Laconus Curse on him, so he looks like Mortius, and Mortius looks like him."
"Why, oh why, didn't I realize that it was Mortius up until now!" Cassandra was quite upset by this. "If he's been there for so long, why hasn't he killed me already?"
"He needs you," Harry said. "He also needs Celia, Atticus, and me to complete some sort of ritual to help Voldemort. I overheard him talking to Ebonyste."
"Damn," Cassandra said. "Here I was, thinking that I was an insignificant person."
"He needs your mirror, and vampire's elixir, whatever that is."
"Vampire's elixir is just a fancy way of saying 'vampire blood,' Harry," said Cassandra. "It's very similar to the blood of a unicorn, because it can heal most things…if your will is strong enough. Hey, wait…Darius could be in jeopardy, too, couldn't he?"
"It's possible that Ahsimal might be in trouble," Harry said. "The Ministry of Magic suspects him for Lupin's murder more than they thought Snape was." He got quite angered by that thought. "When I find out who murdered Lupin, I'll kill him. No, I am not being melodramatic. I'll kill him, or die in the process."
"Talking about death isn't a good idea," Cassandra said. "Especially if you're still human." She leaned over toward Harry and said, "You know, if you'd like to be made a vampire, it could easily be arranged." When Harry glared at her, Cassandra let out a forced laugh. "It's not like I'm threatening to bite you or anything. I was just telling you that if you'd agree to it, I'd change you into a vampire."
"Well, I don't want to be one," Harry said flatly. "Where did you get the crazy idea that I wanted that?"
"I don't know," Cassandra said, looking down. "It's just…it really sucks being the only one in the school besides Darius. The two of us really have to look out for each other. I even hope that one day…" she smiled a bit and let out a very airy laugh. "No, it's too embarrassing to say out loud…"
Harry was a bit confused. "What are you talking about?"
"I hope that one day Darius will propose marriage to me." Cassandra burst out in laughter. "I can't believe I told you that! I love that man with a fiery passion, you know."
'Damn, even Cassandra's talking about love, even if it is one-sided at present,' Harry thought miserably. 'I've got to find someone who's not thinking about getting a boyfriend or girlfriend…I know! What about Blaise?' Harry then decided to find his new friend he had made in Afterlight Necromancy, but he was just dying to know, "Er…Cassandra, are you sure you want to have a relationship with a teacher?"
"Darius is the only other one of my kind that I could actually date without being perverted that I know," Cassandra said. "I'm afraid that someone who isn't a vampire might treat me like a monster once they find out. Who knows…they might end up stuttering like Quirrell. A vampire caused that trauma, you know."
"Loxias said that the vampire's name was Lawrence Von Dorian."
"When did you talk to Loxias about that?" Cassandra asked, tilting her head to one side.
"Halloween Masquerade, I think," said Harry. "It was when I first met her."
"She said Lawrence Von Dorian, right?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "That's right; the name was Lawrence Von Dorian. Why do you need to know?"
"My uncle on my mum's side is Lawrence Von Dorian. My mum is Lydia Von Dorian, Harry," said Cassandra. She then looked at her watch. "I need to meet Rhianna and Luna in the empty Tarot classroom right now, so it's pretty safe to say I've got to go. I'll see you in Astronomy with Sinistra later, okay?"
"Sure, see you there," said Harry as he and Cassandra went their separate ways. 'Why does she always seem so distant? It's almost as if Cassandra expects everyone to strike her down.'
Harry walked down Turret Row farther and farther, until he saw that Ebonyste was casually striding down the hall as well, walking past Turret Fourteen...the Hypnosis tower. He decided to follow Ebonyste. 'I wonder if he's going to talk to Mortius again,' he thought curiously. That might have proven to be interesting, but it wasn't what Ebonyste was doing. Harry was very confused…right outside Cyanis's turret (Fourteen), glowing in the all-too-familiar emerald green, was the Dark Mark. Ebonyste stopped to look at it, wrote something down on a piece of paper, and then started walking over toward Turret Eight, which was the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. 'Oh no,' Harry thought suddenly, 'Nezura's the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!' He watched Ebonyste very closely as he walked down Turret Row. The long-eared professor stopped right in front of Nezura's classroom door and slipped a letter under her doorstep. Suddenly, Nezura opened up the door. "Er…hello, Mitzi," Ebonyste said very quickly. "Having a nice after-school break today?"
"What do you want, Adonis?" Nezura asked, sounding quite suspicious of Ebonyste.
"Er…nothing! Nothing at all!" Ebonyste sounded very jumpy, as if he was trying to dodge a certain subject. He handed Nezura something in a plastic bag. Harry had to squint to see what it was, and was about to vomit when he saw what was in there…a severed hand, pretty decomposed. "I found this in Skylarke's room. You know that I'm Clairvoyant, too, right?"
"I know that. What's your point, Don? I don't have all day, you know," Nezura said.
"I'm sure that this might help you out with your search for that murderer that's supposedly inside the school this very moment. That hand belongs to Lupin." Ebonyste sounded quite sure of that. "If you don't believe me, go talk to another Clairvoyant. There are about five others in the school, I believe."
"Don't you think an Auror would know that?" Nezura snapped. "Get out of my way, Adonis. I'm going to ask Claire about this hand."
"You go do that, then," Ebonyste said coolly. He then walked off into the shadows. Harry didn't see him come back in his direction. Nezura walked off toward Turret Two, but left her door open. The letter was still on the floor.
Harry kept on walking, and then he saw Ahsimal was on the ground in pain, a wooden stake sticking out of his chest. He looked like he was hurting pretty badly; had Ahsimal been human, that stab probably would have killed him in an instant. Before Harry could rush over there to help the Necromancy Master, Skylarke appeared out of the shadows and helped Ahsimal up and pulled the entire stake out in one quick, strong motion. "How did you manage to get stabbed like that?" he asked in a very interested tone. "Granger didn't like nine out of ten or something?"
Ahsimal scowled. "Oh, shut up, Morty. I'm going to the infirmary, and then I'm going to go round up some friends of ours to help me do something. Are you coming or not?"
"To bust Aurelius out of Azkaban? Are you mad, Darius?" Skylarke said. "Of course I'm going, but remember…Severus is in there as well. We've got to get him out, too."
"We should have done this a long time ago, before things got this bad. I've got a plan, though," Ahsimal looked quite sure of himself, even though his vampire Elixir was bleeding out of him like a small river. He shivered in pain.
"And that would be...?" Skylarke trailed off. "…well? I'm waiting! What's your plan?"
"I must destroy our adversaries before they get too much more in our way." Ahsimal looked quite angry at this point. "They've stalled us so far and even tried to kill me once or twice this year. Morty, you're in danger, too. Doesn't Potter trust you?"
"Well, yes he does, but..."
"But nothing, Morty. Make sure he doesn't think we're evil; it's important, remember?"
"Of course I remember why it's crucial, Darius, but, still…surely there's another way besides taking the lives of others. Death is quite final if you don't have a Necromancer."
"There's no other way," Ahsimal said, walking off with Skylarke. "Aurelius Fallowin and Severus Snape get liberated from Azkaban tomorrow night…and someone is going to pay for doing this to me."
"When are you going to dish out the punishment? Tomorrow night?"
"Maybe …maybe not…it all depends."
"Loxias…she's probably a threat to our cause."
"Constanza would be wise to keep out of our business." Ahsimal then winced in pain. "Can we head off to the infirmary now? This wound is killing me." Skylarke let Ahsimal lean on his shoulder for support as they walked off.
Harry couldn't believe what he had just heard…were Skylarke and Ahsimal both active Death Eaters? Who were they talking about? About Aurelius Fallowin…was he innocent—like Skylarke claimed—or was he really a mass murderer? His mind was racing as he started rushing over toward the Astronomy Tower, Turret Ten. Professor Sinistra wanted everyone to be punctual for her lessons, after all. Harry would absolutely hate to keep her waiting.