Chapter 14
The holidays came rushing to meet the students of Hogwarts with an early Easter; and the Firebolt Company announced a time trial to be held for their new prototype broom, and Lionel, Ross and Gorbrin were invited – Gorbrin partly as a courtesy since he loaned his broom and partly to gain more patronage from the Malfoys – to watch. The Rep turned out to be the son of the owner, Malo Twigg the fourth, who wrote personally to the youths inviting them and their guests.
Lionel took Arjelan, the only one of his girls who was in any way interested in quidditch; Ross took his sister; and Gorbrin dithered over Meliandra and his little sister Zajala. Meliandra as a beater was less interested in pure speed however; and he decided to give the treat to Zajala who thought she had just the best big brother in the world.
Lucius was there supervising the Wizarding Wireless Vision televising of the event.
Mr Twigg had obtained the services of Mercury Sykes, the famous racing flyer, son of the same Jocunda Sykes who had been the first person ever to cross the Atlantic by broom and Joscelind Waddcock a long time chaser for Puddlemere United. Mercury flew under his mother's maiden name when racing; he reckoned that it brought him luck. His older brother Vitellius had tried to cross the Pacific under their father's name and had disappeared, presumed perished; like many flyers, Mercury was superstitious. He was also buoyant at the moment; telling all and sundry that his daughter had not long since made him a grandfather again with twin daughters to join a brother who had been named for him.
The Hogwarts contingent did NOT meet each other's eyes over the concept of a Mercury MacMillan; especially those who knew Ernie MacMillan. Presumably Jocunda Waddcock had found one of a rare breed of non boring MacMillans.
Jocunda had flown for the Puddlemere United team for a while until her marriage, though not so celebrated a player as her grandfather; and Gorbrin and Zajala both asked her autograph.
"Heard of you" said Jocunda "The boy that fooled the Murray boy – nice piece of work, I hear you're House seeker?"
"Yes Ma'am, and my sister is a chaser" said Gorbrin since Zajala was overcome by unwonted shyness. "Our House Team Leader got scouted by the Holyhead Harpies."
Jocunda MacMillan snorted.
"Tell her to watch out for Gwenog Jones; the woman's a bitch's bitch. I should know; we were up at Hogwarts together, she's three years older than me and I've had my share of injuries off her I can tell you! Favourite of her house head of course."
"Oh, that was in the time of Horace Slughorn, wasn't it?" said Gorbrin "I heard he had favourites; us Slytherin of the modern era would scorn to be as slimy and nasty as the ones of those days, my brother Draco set a new tone for the house and those Malfoys that aren't Gryffs try to keep up the tradition."
"You're a Malfoy eh? And obviously feel it naturally too….one did wonder, Lucius is such a political creature."
"Dad is GREAT!" said Zajala.
Madam MacMillan laughed.
"Glad to hear it! And Malfoys in Gryffindor….. if your friend isn't happy with the Harpies laddie, you drop me a line; I still have contacts in United and I'll see about having her checked out and made an offer if she's any good. What position?"
"Beater; she and my girlfriend make a good team" said Gorbrin proudly "Kate and Mel have a sheet of plays and play to the strengths of whoever's keeper at the time; we've had a few changes 'cos they will keep leaving after NEWTs. We have Dell this year as he's doing the extra NEWTs and being Triwizard contender – he's one of the ones who invented the charm, he used my broom you see and we put twiddly bits on it to speed it up."
"Yes, it was a rum looking thing; I gather Malo was tearing his hair seeing what looked like a travesty of a Firebolt – until he saw it fly! Hold on, I think dad's ready to go; I don't intend to miss this!"
Mercury Sykes recorded a top speed of two hundred and seventeen miles an hour on the prototype.
Lionel and Ross jumped up and down screaming with excitement.
Malo Twigg junior and Malo Twigg senior pumped their hands in pleasure.
And Lionel was beset by reporters for he was news; not only inventing a new charm for racing brooms but being the Hogwarts champion and having used the Firebolt to do so well in the second task.
As Harry Potter had also used a Firebolt to outwit the dragon and Jade used one to outfly the Graphorn, the Firebolt company was considering using marketing 'as used by Triwizard Champions' and were only sorry that David Fraser had used a transfigurational option in HIS second task not a Firebolt; but as he DID use a Firebolt for his refereeing that did almost count.
Lionel held his own talking to reporters well enough being personable and knowledgeable.
It was a very successful event.
And Mercury Sykes declared his intent of using the first production broom of this new series to try to beat the time record of his sister Atalanta in crossing the Atlantic.
Her record stood at sixteen hours, eight minutes; for there were no ley lines to give assist.
Naturally the visiting children and young people would be rooting for him!
Gorbrin and Zajala were glad of the fun of watching the speed trial; when they got back to Malfoy Manor it was to find that the Madams Malfoy had been unable to schedule a meeting with local wealthy witches at any other time to discuss their aid in the Society for the Aid of Marginalised Females.
Some of the ladies were of old family and perfectly civil; Madam Alcippe MacMillan for example, born of the Withers family and incurably childless. As a consequence she doted on other people's children and was cooing delightedly over the most recent additions to the Malfoy family, Gorbrin's latest half siblings Lucien and Justus, born just before the end of the Yule term; and Abraxus, Finn's first child. That he had a Withers family name delighted Madam Alcippe MacMillan and she asked wistfully if she and her husband might be godparents. Scorpius, at nine months old, was into everything and Narcissa had maliciously introduced him into the meeting under pretext of showing him off and actually to disrupt the women she liked least.
Into this category fell Madam Flyte-Johnstone.
She was a distant relative of the co-inventer of the Twigger 90 – without having any shares in the company – whose husband had made money by sheer brilliance selling cauldrons. She had suggested to him making her maiden name part of their name as a double-barrelled name to give more cachet to it; and to suggest the connection to a high-end broom manufacturer as a more respectable way of gaining galleons than selling cauldrons. Madam Flyte-Johnstone was a snob; and she could hardly bear to talk to either Tanjela or Finn. And Nathan, who was Quidditch mad and had been trotted out as being – temporarily – the cleanest of the older ones, had managed to alienate her through having no idea who Flyte and Barker were by saying that he would never fly any broom but a Firebolt; and when asked archly about the Twigger 90 had hooted in derision and said that such was for rich amateurs with no sense or the French who couldn't tell a good broom from a bad one as Achille Crouch-Villeneuve had one and he was a boy everyone sniggered at.
Madam Flyte-Johnston was one of those women who try to take control of every meeting; and who fawn on the aristocratic whilst condescending to those they consider beneath themselves; and she soon put Narcissa's back up by rushing in with HER opinion when Narcissa was soliciting the view of a Madam Ernestine Hardbroom, the wife of a connection of Connie, and a quiet little woman with a deal of common sense. As Madam Flyte-Johnston had already put forward her opinion when Narcissa had asked Tanjela a question and had not taken the hint that Narcissa had continued speaking to Tanjela – and it has to be said that Tanjela used the sonorous spell Lucius had taught her to make her answer known against the powerful tones of the ebullient witch – Narcissa was getting annoyed.
"Madam Flyte-Johnston, are you wishful to chair this meeting?" she asked dangerously.
Madam Flyte-Johnston flushed in pleasure.
"Why if you WISH me to, Madam Malfoy!" she said.
"Good; you chair your meeting; the rest of us will retire to another room; Madam Hardbroom, Madam MacMillan, darlings" said Narcissa, neatly ushering the rest out and leaving Madam Flyte-Johnstone alone.
"Are you sure that was quite polite Cissy?" said Charlotte.
"No it wasn't; but nor was she!" said Narcissa "She interrupted all the time; I will NOT put up with such vulgarity. Ladies, I shall not be inviting her again; and I shall issue orders to the servants if you remind me girls that if she ever calls we are NOT at home."
"She is very managing" ventured little Madam Hardbroom.
"NOT of Malfoys" said Tanjela.
Finn giggled.
"We should maybe get Gorbrin to poison her a little bit" she said.
"She's the sort that wouldn't be embarrassed or abashed no matter how much of an idiot she made of herself on alihotsy" said Narcissa "She'd assume her standing in the community would see her through."
"How true, Narcissa; you have her measure exactly" said Alcippe MacMillan.
"And I shall NOT have her bully Ernestine; who has some very good ideas" said Narcissa smiling kindly on the quiet little witch.
In due course, Madam Flyte-Johnstone, who had expected the rest to return while she wondered why exactly they had gone, got up to look for a lavatory and was intercepted by Reedy and was shown firmly out in the sort of way that suggested the elf suspected her of sneaking around looking for the family silver.
She held forth at length to her own set of course about how stuck up the Malfoys were, and nothing to put on airs about with the contaminating of the family blood by muggles, goblins and who knew what else besides.
It may be mentioned in passing that Madam Flyte-Johnstone had passed remarks on Draco's marriage to Grace to the effect of what a strange thing that the scion of so old and noble a family had married such a plain little drab of a creature and who had even HEARD of the Snape family. That Grace bore the zig-zag scar was as nothing to the stupid woman; for her understanding of the war against Voldemort was flawed and minimal. She and her husband were too bourgeois to hold any interest to the deatheaters as potential allies; nor were they the sort to stand against injustice, or even disbelieve the contradictory statements of the ministry of the time. Madam Flyte-Johnston had met Fudge and thought him a perfect gentleman and could see no wrong in his policy to discredit Harry Potter because the ministry MUST know best.
Despite the advent of worthy women, the Malfoy Manor children managed to have an enjoyable holiday; and Gorbrin was delighted to find his twin siblings old enough at four months to giggle at him and be utterly adorable; and small Abraxus, a month their junior hardly less so. He was an engaging little fellow with Malfoy colouring save that his legs were mottled with the same blue of his mother's soft skin; and his eyes a startling bright blue too. And Cosmo, almost three, was old enough to want to follow his big brother around. Gorbrin adored all his siblings; step siblings, adopted siblings, full siblings and half siblings alike, though he felt most responsibility to the children of his mother. And Cosmo was such a symbol of harmony between humans and goblins; and Gorbrin felt that he needed an extra good childhood to have to live up to that. Of the older ones it was perhaps Ian he gave most time to, for Griselen and Genavka were as twins sufficient unto themselves; Zajala a merry child with many friends; Bella a Marauder; Erica had her little group of friends and Nathan too a leader of a group Gorbrin suspected might be the next group of Marauders. Ian had been in a similar situation to himself, the oldest of a broken family, more broken in Ian's case being the child of one of the less salubrious muggle descendants of Lucius' father. A serious child, Ian; and Gorbrin felt drawn to him, though Ian was a Gryffindor. And Ian admired Gorbrin, who was a doer; for though Gorbrin had never had any ambitions to be a Marauder he knew that he wanted his life to make a difference. And Ian was a staunch supporter of his hard working brother.
And they had a wonderful family, that just being together for the holidays was the most wonderful thing in the world.
The holidays were soon over; and Gorbrin felt nervous and excited that he was taking some OWLs early. He wondered if all OWL students felt the same; and asked Lydia Snape when they met on the train.
"Dunno" said Lydia "I'm too placid – or maybe too bucolic – to get excited over exams. Marauders have a motto; if you haven't learned it as you go along there's no point getting feverish and uptight with last minute revision. I'd just as soon go into the exams the day after we go back as hang around for a few weeks; less of what Madam McGonagall calls the 'havers' of those who panic. I never expected to have a viva voce on chanting from your Dad last year; so I never had any nerves at all. I s'pose it matters more to those for whom good results are important; the ones that need a good job. I'm engaged; I'd like good grades but the best exam answer I expect to give is to say 'I will'. And so paradoxically I'll probably do better than those who fret themselves into a fever. If you've got collywobbles young Gorbrin, when you can always re-take next year if you foul up, it's more likely to be too much rich food over the hols."
Gorbrin laughed.
Trust Lydia to be down to earth!
None of the Gryffindors was in any way panicking about exams; even Lalita Khan who had had so much less preparation time than the rest. She had been at school almost two years however; and Lydia had pointed out that in covering most of the electives she had as much of a chance as most and better than some of doing well. Lalita was only doing eight OWLs but she sincerely hoped to have the grades to take NEWTs and stay on in this wonderful school!
Mad and Chad were each taking eleven; and besides with Lydia, Leo and Polly purposed to take the chanting NEWT after their unexpected award of the OWL the year before. Lydia was taking eleven too, since she was also taking the metalworking exam, Professor Jorbal had professed her and Leo on far enough to be worth while sitting it, especially Leo.
As Leo was only taking eight other OWLs he was glad of that; and with the chanting of the previous year might well end up with ten OWLs in total. It did not trouble him that Mad, Chad and Lydia were likely to have twelve by the time they finished; the boys were Ravenclaws after all and Lydia was a Snape.
The whole of the Gryffindor Fifth had signed a pact to neither discuss nor spend long hours on revision; a round-Robin organised by Julia Malfoy and considered thoroughly sensible – a habit of Julia's – by everyone else.
Julia had got a good half of the Slytherin Fifth to sign it too; there were five boys who would not on grounds it had originated from a Gryffindor but they were Leonard Baddock and his ilk, none of them bullies but equally none of them kindred spirits.
The Ravenclaws were more inclined to interrogate others on how much revision they were doing, especially Daphne Spikenard; and Lydia invented the 'lah-lah-lah ears charm' whereby when someone got boring you placed the charm on your own ears to hear nothing but music. It had its drawbacks, if anyone addressed a sensible question; but in that case, the fifth soon learned to recognise the look of someone listening to another piper – as Mad put it – and to tap the ears if they had a real issue to raise.
Daphne was such a bore about revision and worried so loudly and publicly that the charm was felt to be a sanity saver; Daphne really had no idea, most of the time as she held forth that her captive audience was no such thing and were listening to anything from Celestina Warbeck to Nightwish.
It was probably in Hufflepuff house that most suffering over exams took place; the least academic house there was in some cases real reason to doubt good grades and Amabel Keily managed to have hysterics and needed to spend some time in the hospital wing.
All those who had started their potioneering careers under the training of Professor Snape grinned wryly at the practical; for though they had not had him in THEIR fourth year the rumour that he poisoned fourth years to encourage their antidote brewing had been freely whispered. And here they were presented with three poisons, and the instructions to analyse and brew antidotes for each; and they were permitted the use of a spare cauldron.
This was immediately suspicious; the likelihood being that one of the brews would take twice as long as the other two. The cannier among the class duly tested each poison first to write down its ingredients before applying Golapott's first law.
Once written down, those who knew their antidotes – and as a fine potioneer, Lalita was among their number – realised that much time could be saved in the preparation of two potions at once as far as the half way stage, for the first stages of preparation were identical!
Lydia was almost giggling at how absurdly easy the task was; and promptly went back to re-read in case she had missed a catch and it WAS too easy to be true.
She had read it correctly. It really was absurdly easy.
About half the class finished with plenty of time to spare; and about a dozen had finished so early as to be permitted to leave early.
Comparing notes they decided that they had done very well indeed and went to play exploding snap in the Gryffindor Common Room, Chad, Mad, Leo and the Clough twins being issued an invitation by those efficient Gryffindors who had completed so quickly which was all of them except Theo Weasley, Nell Pettigrew and Uschi Heinz who were still looking as though they would complete in plenty of time.
The written paper was also voted delightful by the well-prepared and Daphne Spikenard threatened to kill Mad if he giggled any more.
There were questions on Golapott's first two laws and on such potions as were covered by Golapott's second law on potions whose efficacy increased over time. Fortunately they only had to know about this in theory and not work out the exponential of the increase for an antidote; though Julia, Lydia and Chad put in an arithmantic formula for calculating the strength of the antidote according to the number of Malfoy lines on a colour-coded revellaspell, this revolutionary way of displaying revellaspell results having been invented by Julia's father and she and her friends were more familiar with both theory and practice than most adult wizards.
The long question was to pick a medical potion and write out its method of brewing and include, if relevant, notes on why the candidate had chosen this particular one.
Lydia, who was rudely healthy, but who had officiated at more than one birth, picked a midwifery potion that would bring efficient contractions whilst also significantly reducing the pain for both mother and baby. Severus preferred to put his trust in potions than in charms where the wellbeing of his wives were concerned. Julia wrote up a vetinarian potion that relaxed an animal to the point it was easy to examine and even perform minor surgery on it; Severus had, on Vladimir Malfoy's request, invented it for studying a sick thestral and it apparently worked so well that Charlie Weasley had been able to use it to give a Ukrainian Ironbelly Dragon a dental examination with only the mildest of scorching. Most people wrote up Pepperup Potion.
Lalita wrote up the fairy flu prophylactic and added that it was very bad for Indian Rakshasa. She remembered it only too well!
There were short questions on memory and forgetfulness potions and their uses; and that too seemed quite easy.
As Lydia joked afterwards, nobody seemed to need the memory potions to write about them.
The transfiguration exam began with the written paper and had a long question on name similarity theory as well as shorter questions on conjuration and switching spells. Lydia for one enjoyed the long question; she had devoured Adalbert Waffling's book on Magical Theory and had no difficulty recalling terms like Assimilative correlation by nomenclature or by association, though the terms were not usually taught until NEWT level. Lydia liked to know why things worked however; and had enjoyed the book Jade had bought her for Christmas. Lydia illustrated the theory by pointing out that with correlation by nomenclature the switch from guinea pig to guinea fowl was facilitated; and by correlation by association one might duly turn Wilfrid Crabbe into a pig or a crocodile into a handbag and by applying both correlative associations a box tortoise into a box.
The practical was fairly standard form.
The conjuratus inanimata test this year was to produce a silk handkerchief; and Lydia produced one with a woven decorative border in an ivy-leaf pattern in damask work and a delicate ivy leaf lace around it.
Equally easy for her was vanishing dirt from a bucket and switching a ball in a box for one in the examiner's hand; too simple to even bother with word or wand in either case.
As it happened the major transfiguration was of a tortoise to a box; and Lydia chuckled and said that she had just been writing using that example. Her tortoise she turned into a polished mahogany box with mother-of-pearl inlay of an intricate pattern of birds and opening to reveal oyster coloured silk in compartments for a potion maker's kit.
Her box made no attempt to wander off nor to eat the lettuce leaf. Lydia turned her tortoise back and explained gravely that she had corrected the mild liver condition the creature had been suffering from before and that he should now live a long and healthy life.
The examiner thanked her in a slightly faint voice.
Mad, who had visited Istanbul and looked at the treasures of Byzantium with his mother – she was looking for muse as she wrote poetry – turned his tortoise into a jewelled reliquary just to be different; and Chad produced a small medieval chest with locks on it and a poisoned needle trap and showed the examiner the workings.
The boxes of the rest of the class were more or less conventional.
The Charms exam started with questions on the incantations and wand movements of five spells, the levitation charm, the bluebell flames charm, the summoning charm, the door unlocking charm, the shield charm and the enlargement charm.
The examiners were to have a few headaches over the answers from a significant number of Hogwarts candidates – the eighteen of them in the MSHG – and a few of the Prince Peak entrants who declared that the question on the Protego charm was a trick question as it was performed wandlessly and in most cases wordlessly by a sheer act of will in picturing it in raw magical pattern. Since several – Lydia included – wrote that this was a spell learned at one's mother's knee before even having a wand especially those who had not started school during the Voldemort years and needed that protection the examiners decided to award equal marks to these answers as to those who described the spell in details since they were obviously very skilled in using it.
The candidates did at least manage to be a little more conventional in their essay on cheering charms; though Daphne Spikenard wrote far more than was necessary and included amusing locomotor charms to make people laugh.
The unkind might say – and Chad did – that as Daphne did not know what cheerful was she had to make a best guess answer about what charms might induce such a state.
The practical followed a standard format; it demonstrated the practical ability. Lydia stopped all the plates dancing, stacking them neatly as she did so; turned a rat yellow, reduced a dinner plate to teaplate size, had an eggcup doing cartwheels and levitated a glass of water and then carefully poured from it into the eggcup to show her control. All the Mad Marauders did this with equal aplomb and control.
Lydia wandered outside after she was released from the exam room to see Argus Filch with Mrs Norris in his arms. Mrs Norris had been looking a bit old for the last few days and Lydia went over.
"Poor Mrs Norris, is she feeling low, Mr Filch?" she asked.
Argus looked up with tears in his eyes.
"Reckon she's dying, Miss Lydie" he said with raw pain in his voice.
Lydia stroked the big tabby cat's head and looked into her eyes.
"She has all her faculties still" she said "Mr Filch, I can't guarantee it'll work but may I try something?"
"Ef you cin do anything ter help her I'll be right grateful Miss Lydie" said Argus "Even ef it's only easin' her passin'."
"You sit in dappled shade with her on your lap where she's comfy and I'll see what I can do" said Lydia.
She firmly drew on the blood group; Mrs Norris was the world to Argus Filch and precious few people had ever done anything nice for him. He liked Lydia and Jade because Krait had been the only pupil he could recall to treat him with respect and kindness; and the little girls had happily tagged along behind him before they were old enough to go to school helping him in his job as caretaker and prattling happily.
Lydia understood the genetic nature of old age; that oxygen itself was ultimately fatal, since it caused the unravelling of the strands of DNA until that caused failures in multiple bodily functions. And it was no good doing a medical transfiguration on the problems in Mrs Norris's liver and kidneys and heart unless she did something to stop them failing again; she had to do a whole body transfiguration into a younger cat whilst leaving Mrs Norris's mind and memories intact.
She began chanting; and she chanted in Finnish to apply Mrs Norris's true name to the business. Mrs Norris regarded her with big green lamps of eyes, trusting and aware that Lydia intended well by her; and Filch stared anxiously from faded and watery blue ones. His story was not an uncommon one for squibs; unloved, an unwanted embarrassment, ill treated and made to skivvy by his family and then derided by pupils who saw him as fair game since he could not retaliate magically he had only ever been loved by Mrs Norris until Krait brought her children into his life. Lydia could not, in fairness, say she loved Argus as much as she loved Remus Lupin; he was not a wholly lovable character. But he was part of her selection of spare uncles and she was very fond of him. And she loved Mrs Norris very much indeed.
As she chanted, magical lines of energy wrapped Mrs Norris; energy that attached to her and started changes from within. Reversing ageing was a serious business; especially for a magical cat, who might be expected to have a lifespan two to three times that of a normal muggle moggy. And that was why Lydia wanted to do it by ritual. With a chant she could more easily draw on the energy of the world around her rather than draw on herself as she would have to do, at least partly, with a conventional transfiguration. And Lydia strongly suspected that if she did it all from within she would give enough of her own energy to age significantly herself. These things do not come free.
If she aged the earth by thirty years it would be as nothing however in its geological aeons; and there was more to drawing on universal energy than that; for there was the energy of heat from the sun. And the breeze that picked up in a gentle vortex around her showed that the temperature around her had dropped enough to cause air movement.
And Mrs Norris was sitting bolt upright now regarding her intently, her ears alert, and her big fluffy tail twitching gently at the end. Lydia came to the end of her chant and sank to her knees.
Argus Filch was weeping in joy and regarded her with deep respect.
"Oh Miss Lydie, I doesn't know what to say!" he said.
Lydia managed a smile.
"Uncle Argus, I'm just glad I can….Lilith's up next year, and we can't have her getting away with mischief without Mrs Norris to find her out, can we?"
Argus understood all that was not said; and seized her hand to shake it.
"Surely little Lilith can't be old enough?" he said, kissing Mrs Norris on the nose. She prrr'pred at him.
"Not really; she'll be rising nine, but she's picked up so much and she's in need of work, formal work, to keep her out of mischief" said Lilith "You give her some good constructive detentions when you catch her at it! She's not afraid of hard work though, like any of us and she'll gladly help any time you ask her even if she's not in trouble."
"Ar, like you and Miss Jade…young limbs you've allus bin, but hard working and willing!" he said. "Oh Miss Lydie, you are good, so good!"
"I love Mrs N too you know" said Lydia softly "And I know that she's just about everything to you…. Reckon she and you should have about the same time left as each other now" and she kissed his cheek.
"Well, you come to my office for tea…. I got crumpets" said Argus.
Lydia was glad to accept; poor Argus was inarticulate over words that weren't vituperative.
Naturally Lydia shared with the rest of the Marauders why she had drawn on them; and they all agreed she had done exactly the right thing.
"I'm afraid I was one of the kids who used to taunt the squib that lived near us" said Mortimer soberly. "I suppose it's partly ignorance and fear of what one doesn't understand; and partly I suppose relief that it's them not yourself."
"That and the fear – unreasonable, illogical and silly – that one might catch it" said Mad. "I remember my mum pulling me away and thrusting me behind her when she encountered a known squib in the street."
"Well your mum's a bit silly isn't she?" said Leo "And she went to Cackle's so she hasn't exactly had what you could call an education."
"Rum that" said Mortimer "That us at the free school get a better education from our excellent professors than some posh schools."
"Well the posh don't need to do anything except marry the right person I suppose" said Chad "Boy am I glad my aunt and uncle are sensible and down to earth and reared me likewise!"
"My mum can't help being silly" said Mad "And I love her anyway."
"Quite right too" said Mortimer "My dad was a drunken bum and times I hated him; but I loved him too, y'know; because with all his faults he did love me and he tried. Not very well perhaps; but try he did. And I guess HE'd have been no different if I had been a squib."
Mad was silent.
His mother doted on him; but she was a shallow woman and somehow Mad suspected that she would have disowned him if he had proved to be a squib. But like Mort's drunken father she gave what she could; and her son accepted that.
Poor Argus Filch! Mad for one determined to go out of his way to be a bit more friendly to him.
Once the busy time of exams was over!