Chapter 21

Lilith had time off her revision – fortunately being able to fit it around her brewing of Veritaserum – to be a bridesmaid to her cousin Albertine Gregg.

All the plotting she and Sextus had been doing paid off; and Albertine was marrying Ashley Pencastle, Sextus' father and combining their muggle and magical secondhand junk businesses. Mr Pencastle had learned to be fascinated by the wizarding world; and Albertine was delighted with so gentlemanly a business partner – that side having come about before the romance took off – and did not mind him being a muggle. As she said, she knew scarcely any more magic than a muggle for having been brought up without a magical education.

"Am I going to have any siblings?" demanded Sextus.

Albertine blushed.

"We would like children; assuming that doesn't offend you" she said. Lilith and Sextus were well known visitors to her stall, as well as Lilith being her cousin; and Albertine was fond enough of the self contained little boy who hid in an armour of supercilious distain so similar to cousin Severus that it was apparent to Albertine that he hardly stood a chance when Lilith grew up.

"I think it would be cool" said Sextus.

"Well young man, we were going to use some of Albertine's brother Pete's excellent potions for a while to actually enjoy being married before we started a family" said his father "we thought we'd give ourselves the year round before trying for a baby."

Sextus grinned.

"Sounds okay to me" he said "Reckon babies COULD be a bit of a distraction."

"Meh" said Lilith "reckon if they get too irritating you can stick 'em on the stall" and she winked.

Severus, who was attending the wedding to give Albertine away, cuffed her.

"I do like babies" said Albertine "But I didn't want to rear a baby without a husband; I know how hard ma had it. And I never actually hoped to find anyone who was as good as Ashley, who doesn't mind me being part goblin and illegitimate."

"Anyone who minded should have their block knocked off" said Ashley.

"I am in complete agreement with you, my dear fellow" said Severus. "My cousin is a lovely woman; and though it's a quiet family wedding, it's not everyone who gets married out of Malfoy Manor so there's the seal of approval of society on the wedding. Well the society who counts" he added.

Narcissa loved weddings and Lucius had been more than happy to let his friend, and now brother, Severus launch his cousin from Malfoy Manor. It had too swayed Sextus' mother, who had been chary about letting her son attend his father's wedding; which as Sextus told her was dog in the manger if you liked, and he was jolly well going anyway and if she did not give him her blessing he might just choose to stay with his dad and stepmother.

As the law was more likely to give custody of a minor to a married couple, Madam Scarpin bit her tongue and gave her son permission to attend the wedding. And asked exactly what this new bride of Ashley's was like, failing to refrain from giving an angry titter and suggesting that she was doubtless some over-made up very young muggle girl.

Sextus was angry with his mother; he loved her dearly but she had done a lot to actually spoil his relationship with his father.

"Albertine is a cousin of Severus Snape and Severin Prince of the Council" he had said coldly "A somewhat impoverished branch of the family by comparison but they'll be getting married at Malfoy Manor and my friend Lilith is going to be a bridesmaid. And Albertine is quite old, like you and dad" he added with all the tact of a thirteen year old boy.

He reflected on the conversation as he acted as page boy to Albertine, something he had agreed to on the rebound of his irritation towards his mother. It was a good job that mum didn't know that Albertine was part goblin, or she'd have stopped him coming for sure; but unless you knew a lot of goblins well it was not apparent in her face, so even if mum saw pictures in the paper – there would be a shot in the Times in the Hatch, match and despatch pages – she wouldn't realise and stop him staying with dad and Albertine. Madam Scarpin was no social climber but she had enough snobbery to encourage a friendship with anyone related to a council member. And Lilith was related to more than one; and that Albertine could claim cousinship with one too would give him the lever to visit and to get to know his siblings properly. Mum could be a dear but she could be VERY difficult over dad!

oOoOo

The return to school was uneventful apart from the whining of Xanthia Fawcett about how everyone was conspiring against her.

Xanthia had actually gone to the Ministry of Education to complain about her unfair treatment; but even Timothy Gregory, who would have loved a chance to put one over David Fraser, had to admit that reinstating a dropped member of a quidditch team was nothing to do with the Headmaster, but the decision of the captain.

He had seen Xanthia as a fellow Ravenclaw with a complaint against the Head; and had listened to her story in growing horror. He was pompous, self opinionated and inclined to take offence easily; but Gregory was a man of honour at base – he had not seen sneaking into Hogwarts to catch out possible malfeasance as dishonourable, merely as a distasteful necessity - and reading between the lines, the story he heard was one of petty vindictiveness and spite with an intent to use the beautiful game as a medium for that spite. Gregory had played for his House in his time; and the odd jostling of rivals was something he understood well enough, but the wholesale encouragement of out-and-out fouling even suggesting it to babes in the lower school was iniquitous. Fraser had acted perfectly correctly in refusing to intervene; and judging by what the awful girl was saying in setting lines for her for rudeness too.

Gregory wished HE could set lines for rudeness.

He told her off sharply for wasting Ministry time on trivialities and sent her on her way; and opened a Floo communication to David.

David greeted him politely; he was not about to have anything to be used against him.

"You and I don't always see eye to eye, Fraser, but I think we both have the good of the school at heart" said Gregory pompously "And I think you may have a problem."

"Oh?" said David. "I agree that we both live for the good of the school but what problem has come to your notice?"

"A girl called Xanthia Fawcett made a complaint that you'd failed to reinstate her on her house team – a piece of cheek to even ask as it's none of your business – and from what I understand it's all over spite and incitement to cheat."

David groaned.

"What, is the silly child trying to involve the ministry in that storm in a cauldron? Even the original protagonists have shaken hands and cautiously apologised to each other! She's off the team – as I understand it – for refusing to back down after backing the original angry youth who made certain suggestions in a heated state; the excuse is House Honour. And as a Ravenclaw I doubt YOU'D like that brand of loyalty."

"Quite" said Gregory. "Only you see her as a silly child; I saw her as – at first – a very charming, charismatic and winning young woman. Until she lost her temper with me for pointing out that you had acted correctly. Then she was a rude little spitfire, and frankly I wished I could have given her an, er, inordinate amount of lines over the rudeness she designated as 'nothing'. With her beauty, charisma and the charm she CAN exert, can anyone of our era fail to worry about a female Voldemort?"

"Hmm, I see what you mean; thanks Gregory" said David "I can't say she's ever attempted to exert much charm at me – well not so's you'd notice. She tried being flirty to get her own way, which put my back up to start off with; I don't find that sort of behaviour charming. Besides, I'd heard of her in advance; from relatives and from Albus, who ran through his suggestions for prefects with me, and whose advice I took, including over why some supposedly and on paper model students had been passed over. She's from a poorish background with a lot of excessive pride; she's clever; I suppose she's fairly pretty; and she's been used to being a sports hero. I shall watch her like a hawk. She's fallen victim to more than one wind up by Marauders as I understand; the sort they specialise in that only the pompous asses who go out of their way to seek hubris fall into. DO you recall the great Were Knarl scandal?"

Gregory actually laughed. He, after all, had never been targeted over that.

"There had been such a to-do over Myrtle that Slytherin boy made; he deserved it. I mean, it was dreadfully irregular to return a ghost to life, but I think most of us didn't want to believe it because it meant accepting the level of POWER some of you wield; that's why the ministry is afraid of you, Fraser. Wintringham used me because he knows you and I don't get on because I think you rather slapdash."

"Slapdash? I always thought myself excessively cautious, at least compared with Harry" said David. "Whatever I may be, it killed werewolves, which was what was required at the time. I guess those of us who were involved developed this cocky insouciance to convince ourselves we weren't scared. Maybe that's where your perception of slapdash comes from."

"Maybe. Well if she's the sort to get caught out in that sort of thing… what did they do?"

"It being the tenth anniversary of Voldemort's death, they faked up a Parseltongue document that COULD be translated with the passage from Herpo, and set up a place with a secret book that there were clues to find; covered with a muggle synthetic material to feel horrible enough to suggest human skin, with a load of nonsense written in it in a code they invented without actually even bothering to make a meaning. And enchanted to have 'April Fool' come up on all the pages on the first of April. Albus told me all about it; and nearly killed himself laughing over it. Anyone who did not bring a letter they believed to be from Tom Riddle to a member of staff deserves to be caught."

Gregory nodded.

"I agree. Hubris; the desire to know something others don't. Has she got followers or has she alienated the others in her house?"

"Fortunately we've a decent bunch of kiddies who are disgusted that a girl who's just about grown up can act like that" said David "No she has no disciples; and I'll see to keeping it that way – including her twin sisters who come in next September. I'm obliged to you Gregory."

"You're welcome" the ministry man nodded politely. Fraser was at least fair when it counted.

oOoOo

Xanthia's outbursts on the train meanwhile led to an impromptu song from the Stripy Marauders.

"I fawcett here, I fawcett there

I fawcett right and left

And when I get caught out at it

I'm forced to feel bereft

I fawcett now, I fawcett then

I fawcett with a cheat

I try to fawcett down each throat

That I'm a silly giit!"

Xanthia naturally tried stinging hexes on anyone singing this song and consequently completed the journey boneless, with bats pouring out of her nose, farting uncontrollable blues music and with 'git' 'bully' and 'cheat' adorning her forehead and cheeks in zits.

Lilith, discontented with the effect, added a counterpoint to the blues farting to take the place of the bats from Xanthia's nose; and Bella and co told Xanthia it jolly well served her right for acting like a particularly unpleasant specimen of a more than usually childish first year.

They took off every curse but the zits when the train pulled in, merely cancelling the ongoing effect of the pustules that would disappear and fade over about three weeks on their own.

As Bella said, it was fair comment. And if Xanthia was so fond of herself and her own abilities, well she could get rid of them herself, couldn't she, the work of third years should be dead easy for any sixthformer to deal with, even a Ravenclaw.

That Lilith and her friends were far more able than the majority of the sixth was neither here nor there.

The third years sang Xanthia off the train with the refrain,

"Xanthia, Xanthia,

dirty as Merlin's pants thee are

ugly as coelacanth thee are

Xanthi-anthia"

Bella cuffed any one of them she could reach on general principles because the platform MIGHT be accessed by outsiders from Hogsmeade.

oOoOo

David had all the Ravenclaw prefects to tea; and Gorbrin too, whom he asked to take a background role.

Having prefects to tea was an established custom; it did not look untoward, so the fact that he had serious business might be concealed from the rest of the school.

"I think I know the background of the storm in a cauldron surrounding the rearrangement of your quidditch team" said David "Which arrangement is none of my business; except inasfaras the arrangement causes trouble of another kind in school. May I say, by the way, that I applaud your bold decision, Sampta, and your firm moral stance. It's an example to all captains and indeed to the whole house and school."

"Thank you sir; I felt I had little choice" said Sampta "And to tell the truth I was angry; I didn't want my house dragged down by misguided so-called loyalty."

"Quite so" said David. "Admirable! I agree you had no choice; but a weaker character may have backed down before the expostulations of long established team members. You have become an adult over this affair; and I have nothing but praise for you in it. Such quiet dignity and stern stance will stand you in good stead in your career teaching. And my congratulations too to the whole prefecthood of Ravenclaw who have supported you and have not been swayed by the foolishness of any of the three initially involved. Though Randall rapidly discovered the error of his ways, as I understand, and I have been told by Professor Flitwick that he believes that Ferdinand has also come to understand that his behaviour has been unreasonable. It is Xanthia Fawcett of whom I wish to speak to you all; because she is plainly a much troubled girl and it is the responsibility of her contemporaries to do what they can for her."

"What, undo her from the jinxes the third dropped on her for being violent over them singing songs about her whining?" said Ming.

David sighed.

"It is hard to accept that a girl who is turned seventeen can still be quite so childish" he said. "For your ears only – though somehow I suspect Xanthia will manage to speak of her own foolishness – she actually went to the ministry to complain that I had not forced her reinstatement on the team."

"Crumbs sir, is she dippy?" asked Pearl.

David gave a thin smile.

"I believe that Xanthia is a girl for whom the world is supposed to revolve around Xanthia" he said "And when things go contrary to her plan it is obviously that everyone else is conspiring against her. I do not believe that she can perceive the desires and aspirations of others as important, or even maybe real in her own world view."

"What the headmaster just said was" said Ming, in sudden revelation "That Xanthia is like Tom Marvolo Riddle, for whom all other people were as puppets to gratify his whims. Am I correct sir?"

"It is possible, yes" said David. "Hence, as her housemates and prefects I call upon you all to watch Xanthia and try – if possible – to break through to her better self."

"If she has one" interposed Venilia.

"If she has one" agreed David "I hesitate to ask such a question of any child in my care. I am told that Xanthia can be charming; another point of similarity with Tom Riddle. She must not be permitted to use this to gain ascendancy over any younger children; and as far as possible I charge all of you to keep an eye on her as much as you might, even after she and you have left school. I may too share this possibility with the marauders of the school whose task is to fight dark wizards; but I should very much prefer that a potential dark witch have that tendency nipped in the bud before it develops. Prevention is so much better than cure."

"She's as nice as pie when she gets her own way" said Avice dryly. "Mind you, we all know what THAT defines."

"A bully; quite" said David. "I cannot think that her home life is very pleasant if she is so unpleasant; and I charge you, Wendy, and you, Mesmadora, with keeping an eye out for her twin sisters when they start next year, as you'll then be in the lower sixth and under less pressure."

"We can do that" said Wendy. "And ask the rest of the SAS to keep an eye out too."

"Good" said David. "I should like to find out if there's a miserable uncertain child inside Xanthia that makes her act so haughtily and unpleasantly on the outside; I believe in second chances, no Sampta, that was NOT a request to reinstate her. Only if she apologises to you for rudeness and for the initial offence should you even consider it. As you should not reinstate Ferdinand unless he manages an apology."

"He managed a roundaboutation that might almost be an apology so I said we should see how it went for next year" said Sampta "He's that pompous I don't think he can actually even spell apology, not like normal people do. I went for the spirit of his ramblings, not the words."

"Well done" said David. "Some people, alas, cannot ever admit that they were in the wrong; they feel it makes them lose face. I trust you young people will always remember that to admit to a fault demonstrates a greatness of character and that those who cannot manage to admit to a fault are generally despised and disliked as self-opinionated hypocrites. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with Ferdinand's morals; that is the main issue. But Xanthia needs help; and I do not even know if she can be helped."

"To help someone they need to realise that they need it" said Ming. "It's why Riddle couldn't be helped; he was too convinced not only that he needed no help but that he was in some way superior to all the others. Xanthia IS the same; she's always saying that people might despise her poverty but one day they'll wish they'd been more polite when her true genius is revealed. Which as she's at best half baked at a lot of subjects is a laugh."

"She may be half baked by YOUR standards, Chang, but she IS considered a good scholar" said Peter Hitchens. "You tend to forget that your abilities are on something of another plain. And don't get me wrong, I'd RATHER you forgot that your abilities are on another plain because you're not stuck up about your high achieving abilities."

Ming shrugged.

"I measure myself next to Gorbrin, who's my best friend" he said, nodding to Gorbrin. "Anyway, brains aren't everything; I could be taking a dozen NEWTs but if I was a shit, I'd still be a shit. Er, sorry sir" he apologised to David. David smiled.

"Oh with my prefects I don't stand much on ceremony" he said. "I take your point. Mind you a student who is taking eight NEWTs might have managed a little more of the rich English tongue than some of its more direct Anglo-Saxon words."

Ming grinned.

"Sometimes the coarse and direct is more expressive" he said. "Xanthia picks on those she can put down; and exerts her winning charm on those she thinks it worth sucking up to. She has tried to do so with Erica Malfoy; unfortunately for her, in her first year she already hacked Erica off by showing what she thought of her brother, now our esteemed head boy; and having made up her mind that he was to be ignored, at least she has the self honesty to continue ignoring him."

Gorbrin gave a wintry smile.

"I fancy that she realises that charm isn't actually going to get her anywhere; besides, I think she's hoping I might die in a dangerous career as an auror, in which case any sucking up would have been a waste of her most valuable time."

"Miaow" said Venilia "But alas a justified miaow."

"She has an inflated idea of her abilities – and her charm" said Jack "I think she's genuinely surprised that those of us on the team didn't leap to her defence against Sampta. I don't like the girl; never have. I was a toerag when I started school; and I was fortunate enough to have been well squashed and to get over it. I think the problem is that we have had three toerags of the first water in our year and house – me, Amos Leroy, and Xanthia Fawcett. I got over it. Leroy committed the ultimate sin of trashing Pearl's timer thingy and got expelled; and Xanthia was the least of the three evils in the class for being less loud than we boys, perhaps."

"I don't know; she can screech for England" said Avice "And I recall before Leroy arrived late that the year was divided in our house between you and her as the quidditch aces."

"Which as Fawcett isn't a patch on Patil is a bit much" said Jack "It was Sampta's rivalry I feared, not the loud mouthed ninny. Quidditch has lost a fine player if you're going into teaching, Sammy; you won't stop playing, will you?"

"I'll probably be teaching that as well" said Sampta "It's a new school I'll be helping to set up; it's very exciting. I thought I might take the OWL in quidditch beside my NEWTs and then take referee's exams. But you have something, Jack; you were a threat to be sat on because you had family as well as talent to cite; Leroy was a Boy Wonder poor brat; and Xanthia was loud without actually having a whole lot to be loud about. So it's festered and made her worse because nobody ever troubled to squash her thoroughly. Mind you, the Stripy marauders managed to squash me over the Riddle riddle jape and Xanthia was involved in that too. Pushed in on my overweening pride actually" she added.

"Which proves I guess that you're a basically decent person to recognise that you were making a fool of yourself over being jealous of Lilith and showed you had cast iron ones to turn yourself around" said Gorbrin. "No offence intended with the male oriented compliment."

"None taken; and thanks for it" said Sampta. "Jealousy's really very uncomfortable to live with; you hate yourself as much as the object of your jealousy. And if you ask me, deep down, Xanthia is loud and proud because she's jealous; but she hasn't realised it. Her family are dirt poor – well, for a Hogwarts family – and she isn't as clever as she thought she was when she started school; and there are people who are prettier than her. Pearl, Erica, Bella, Mimi, Chrysogon Rufus, though I expect he'd jinx me into a ball for including him in that list; any number of people. And those two striking girls in Hufflepuff who have nobody home inside their pretty shells. Sorry, yes that was a miaow. But the thing is, there are people who surpass Xanthia in every field although she's all round pretty academic and a good quidditch player, very pretty and graceful. And she HATED Lydia Snape especially with the ice ball because suddenly all that grace becomes a tangle of sliding limbs and Lydia – who's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen by the way – has all that beauty and grace on the ice that even dancing with Nick de Mimsy-Porpington can't dispel. Only to admit to jealousy you have to admit that there's something to be jealous of; which means admitting to less than perfection in yourself. And as someone who's been through that on the inside it's HARD. Because you have only your pride left and that pride won't let you back down. And you have to admit it to yourself before you can escape from it and break the cycle. We need to watch out whether Xanthia starts trying to put down the two girls who came from the free school – either one of whom is prettier than she is – because they're poorer than her and have a more irregular background. Just the sort for her to work on."

David nodded.

"Well I trust you'll manage to keep your eyes peeled for such trouble" he said.

"We'll sick the whole onto Erica and the Belle Marauders; Storm and Zephyra are Slytherin so Bella is an adequate watchdog" said Sampta "I know it's going out of house; but frankly if she IS a potential Voldemorta then that's the business of all houses."

"I agree" said Ming "And as head of Ravenclaw I hope my opinion carries weight as much as the person on whom the responsibility for sorting out the storm in a cauldron devolved."

There were murmurs of assent, some a little grudging; but with the Riddle riddle jape, even those who had not been involved felt deeply the fact that the misplaced personal and house pride had made the fall of hubris greater for those who HAD been involved. Ravenclaw house had NOT covered itself in glory in the last few years; and perhaps a willingness to co-operate might help to erase that fact from memories.

The Ravenclaw prefects left their tea party rather soberly.

They had quickly seen the implications of the parallels between Xanthia Fawcett and Tom Riddle; and were aware of their responsibilities to try to prevent the rise of such a would-be dictator again. Though at least the Headmaster had pointed out that the advantage here was that Xanthia had not learned to hide her feelings, and did not, therefore exert a fatal charm on the whole house; and was not even a prefect.

Only with influence could she put together a following; with sycophants to hang on every word and encourage the use of any and all means to rise. And perhaps this had already averted it happening; or perhaps it had at least delayed any descent into the dark arts that might await Xanthia. And perhaps even she might be shown how to be happy without jealousy.

And Sampta for one doubted the more optimistic outcome; because she suspected that Xanthia could never accept that she WAS jealous.

oOoOo

During the tea party, Xanthia had managed to spread around the rest of Ravenclaw house the concept of a conspiracy of all those who bore the zig-zag scar who had magnified the evils of Voldemort for their own purposes to use it to take power from an elected ministry to keep the poor in their place and perpetuate an evil pure blood aristocracy and that the Headmaster was, as might be seen, a part of this, and the ministry of education merely his puppets who jumped to his command.

"WHAT a lot of crap you talk, Fawcett" sneered Sextus. "David Fraser, supporting the highborn and rich of the wizarding world? Hmm, the penniless muggleborn orphan who was dependant on charity to come to Hogwarts school,, and who has made money by having good ideas to improve our society that have also made him money – like the Wizarding Whirligig taxi company. He's indefatigable and clever; concepts you can't even SPELL let alone emulate. They reduced the power of the ministry because it did NOTHING against Voldemort; and if you dare belittle the losses to those families murdered by him and his deatheaters, those sent insane by the repeated use of the cruciatus curse then you so are sounding like a deatheater yourself. Didn't you READ what they did to Bella Black first time round? And that's bowdlerised I bet because schoolchildren got to read it; and she's seen the actual memories of her old self in the Pensieve so she jolly well DOES know what she's talking about. Calling Flitters a liar are you? I'm sure he'd be delighted to know you think he's conspiring against you. The only conspiracy around here is you conspiring with your grubby self because nobody else likes you to defame the characters of others. And I'd watch it if I were you; there are laws against nasty liars like you."

"It's no lie! You've been deluded by the lies of that Snape girl, who's part of the rich and pure blooded!" said Xanthia.

"Wrong" said Sextus "When her parents got together, neither of them had a bean to rub together; her dad was paying off his muggle father's debts and her mother was raised in a muggle orphanage with no idea of her half Malfoy blood because none of the Malfoys knew about her either. Lucius made amends later; and Krait Malfoy Snape managed to increase the inheritance she got from her muggle ancestors by HARD WORK and CLEVERNESS. Like adapting the muggle gramophone for us to use in the wizarding world; and the muggle sewing machine likewise. Severus Snape is a great man; he took on the care of four orphans when he was poor and was ready to go without for their needs. Harry Potter had an awful home life with his rotten aunt and uncle. Sirius Black – yeah, he's pure blooded and rich, but he might as well not have been when he was fitted up for a murder he didn't do and still risked everything to try to help his godson! The Longbottoms – cured only by some secret ritual from having lost their minds to torture. Lucius Malfoy – pure blooded and rich and well mind-raped by Voldemort, stood torture and mental cruelty as Snape did in order to bring Voldemort down. These are the sort of people who formed the new government, those who had SUFFERED from Voldemort and his cronies; these are the people you accuse of conspiracy? The ones who restored rights to the muggleborn? The ones who gave rights to goblins? Oh yeah, and what's pure bred about the goblins in the council? You're so busy trying to make out that important people who've never heard of you and don't actually give a toss about you have some kind of a hate campaign going against you that you show yourself as enough of a drip to make the people who DO know you want to run a hate campaign against you! Do us all a favour and dry up and try to act like a seven year old not a four year old; I know that still drops ten years off your age but I guess you can't manage to act in double figures at all."

Xanthia went to slap Sextus who used Kung Fu to elude and give her a slap down as she lost her balance.

"Don't try to bully me" said Sextus "I'm harder than you physically as well as magically and intellectually; oh and wait, I'm probably even better looking than you too because you're already getting lines because of all the face pulling and frowning you do. Crumbs, yes; hideous!" As Xanthia glowered at him while she was getting up "Yeah, even PEEVES is better looking than you when you do that; hag children would cower from you in terror at such an ugly visage; actually our hagling is several times better looking than you because she smiles; Griselda, sorry to insult you by comparing this to hags."

"Oh there are ugly hags" said Griselda Greenteeth. "Only they can't help it. Fawcett should be able to help it because she has a good bonework, just such awful expressions."

Sextus tripped Xanthia as she went to slap Griselda.

"Bullying a first year? Tut" he said. "that pustule message isn't enough" and suddenly Xanthia found that every step she took had her feet shouting 'Bully! Bully!'

She fled; the Scarpin boy was intolerable!