Chapter 27
Theo's POV
I spent the majority of the next week watching the chaos ensue. I was still pissed at her, but she was a delight to watch since the career information started to circulate through the fifth years. I almost wished for a wand holster, in the event that everyone she pissed off would gang up on her without warning. I'd defend her, even though I was aware that she wouldn't want my help.
Nearly three days after Lian snapped, so did those twins from Gryffindor. They turned an entire corridor into a swamp, told Umbridge where she could put her educational decrees, and gave Peeves, the poltergeist, a direct order. Then they flew off into the sunset, never to be seen again. I was pretty sure that Professor Flitwick could turn the swamp back to normal in an instant, but instead he roped it off and kept it. Umbridge and the majority of the Inquisitorial Squad were cracking down hard on the student body, with an all-too-eager caretaker and his psycho cat backing them up. I'd spotted Peeves unassembling every chair Umbridge had ever sat in on several occasions, so that when she next took a seat she would fall flat.
Unbeknownst to the headmistress and her caretaker, the Captain of the Inquisitorial Squad had started her own mission. You could say she went rogue. I couldn't understand why Umbridge thought that Lian would toe the line once appointed a position of power. But to be fair, I hadn't predicted Lian to be quite as cunning as this when we met on the Hogwarts Express. I wish I had; life would have been simpler.
Everything she did was unpredictable, most especially these days. On her way to Quidditch practice, she spotted Crabbe trip a young Hufflepuff boy, and awarded Hufflepuff ten points. She did the same thing on the way to dinner when Goyle shoved a couple of Ravenclaws out of his way. And she did keep her word to Malfoy. At any time, if someone in the squad spoke to her in a tone she felt was a little too disrespectful, she deducted points from her own house. They stopped sassing her almost two days into this pattern.
I don't know how no one reported her actions to Umbridge. Maybe she'd finally established enough credit with the housemates that they didn't dare. Maybe they were biding their time, a prospect which I thought was a bit more likely, which would tie back to my desire for a wand holster.
At the end of the week, I was up late working on Ancient Runes homework, which was both my favorite and most hated subject. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning by the time I finished, and that was when it happened. The footsteps were subtle on the stone floor but it's not like I could miss the girl crossing the common room in her night clothes. Her brown eyes were open but they were vacant of the usual fire that burned there. I didn't anticipate the exit to open for her, so when it did I was scrambling out of my chair and running after her.
"Kowalski?" I whispered, hoping she would reply. "What are you doing?"
"It's gonna be okay…" she mumbled, moving through the dark hallway. "He'll always be there..."
Obviously I had no idea what that meant, but I did know one thing for certain: Lian was sleepwalking. I didn't know much about it, but I'd heard once that you weren't supposed to wake them up. Still, the imagery of her tripping and breaking her head open on one of the staircases kept me at her side. But she didn't climb the marble staircase. Once out of the common room she made her way to Snape's office. I knew she'd been studying in private on Mondays but I didn't think she was stressed enough to dream about it. Once inside she moved through the room, pausing at the desk where a large stone basin sat. I took notice of the Saxon runes inscribed along the sides; one I recognized as the rune for 'reflection'.
Pulling out her wand from her sweatpants pocket-I suspected she never slept without it on her person after the wandless incident at the start of term-Lian raised the tip to her temple and slowly began to remove a strange silvery substance from her head. She then proceeded to deposit the strand in the bowl. It spread across the top layer, revealing a scene of sorts, only I seemed to be watching from the sky, not from the side. I'd heard of these...what were they called again...paravel...penitent...pensive...Pensieve.
But what had driven Lian to unconsciously use it? Had she perhaps done this before?
After leaving the memory, she took a seat in Snape's chair and seemed to settle. Her vacant eyes closed and she released a soft snore.
I should have left. I should have gathered her up and returned to the common room. But what kind of Slytherin would I be if I didn't look?
Just a few seconds… I told myself, leaning closer to the silvery substance. The moment my nose made contact, I felt as though something had gripped the back of my belt and forced me into a head-first dive.
I landed on my feet, miraculously, and stared around at my surroundings, which was not very helpful. I had never seen this place before. I was standing in a forest filled with fog so thick I could only see a few steps in either direction. Standing in front of me was a little girl, about five years old.
She raised her hands to cup her mouth and yelled, "Mommy? Daddy?" A chorus of her own voice echoed back to her, or rather the fog threw it back, not allowing the cry to penetrate it. Mommy...Daddy… Undeterred, she tried again. "Mommy I'm here!" I'm here!...here!...
She turned slowly on the spot, peering into the fog bravely, and I finally saw her face. I'd recognize those freckles anywhere. Little Lian took a few steps forward, second guessed herself, and then turned back. Where was this place? What was she doing out here on her own?
"Daddy! Daddy where are you?" she called again, only encouraging the fog to mock by bouncing her own voice back.
Something tall emerged a few feet away from her. It was completely covered in silver fur, and looked a bit like a skinny bear. Little Lian turned around when she heard its breathing, but it contorted itself and shrunk to hide behind her back. She could still hear it though, and turned on the spot over and over in an attempt to see the thing.
I saw its claws raise up before it punctured her side. It bared its teeth and went in for the bite, when someone rushed out of the woods and fired a jet of flames at the creature. It howled and disappeared, though its fiery outline was still prevalent as it retreated into the mist. Lian collapsed on the ground, clutching her injury, as the wizard who'd come to save her rushed into view. He was a bit younger than Theo had expected, and was wearing plain black robes. Hogwarts robes?
"Merlin!" he exclaimed as he laid eyes on Lian's wound. "You weren't kidding. Come on, stay awake! I'm not going anywhere," he lifted the girl's head as he pulled out his wand.
The memory shifted, likely because Lian could not remember what happened next. The scene changed to that of a huge cave with a body of water that glowed a fluorescent greenish blue. I spotted Lian, who looked a bit older in this memory, sitting cross-legged in blue and cranberry robes. She was alone in this memory too, and appeared to be meditating.
Again, where was this place? Why was she by herself?
There was a soft pop and someone appeared out of thin air beside her. I recognized the same wizard, unaged, from the last memory. This time, he was the injured one. He gave a strained grunt before he fell sideways onto the cave floor, where his blood proceeded to pool around him. Younger Lian, (maybe twelve?) scrambled over to the wizard (opposite choice I would have made,) and gently rolled him onto his back.
"You-" she said, betraying her panic in the way her voice shook. "...who?" The wizard coughed, muttering something I couldn't hear. Younger Lian shook her head. "No, no you'll be fine. I just need to-hOlY shishkabob, that's a lot of blood. Okay, I just need to-uhm-uh-" she tore her sleeve off and pressed it into the gash stretching across his chest. "-I knew I should've been a Pukwudgie," she whined, her fright manifesting itself as tears. The wizard mumbled to her again and she began to really sob.
I felt frozen, in every sense of the word. I wanted to do something, but I knew I wasn't actually in that cave. I couldn't tear my eyes away from her, never having seen her cry in the present. I was unversed as to what needed to be done when people cry-I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen Daphne or Pansy full on weep.
Younger Lian raised her wand to try and do something more, but the wizard forced her to put it down. He repeated his murmurings over, before he vanished from her arms, the cave and it's weird, glowing lake with another small pop. Younger Lian's scream killed my eardrums, and I barely recognized the sensation of being pulled back into Snape's office.
"Mr. Nott, would you care to explain what on earth you and Ms. Kowalski are doing in my office?" asked a very sleepy Professor Snape. One of his eyes refused to open, which I took as a good sign because I doubt very much whether the professor would approach any situation he deemed as serious while his body was only half-awake.
Stifling a yawn, I hurried to reply. "I was in the common room doing homework, when she came out of the girls' dorms, sleepwalking." Even half-present, he still managed to look completely skeptical. "No, really, sir. She came here and removed a memory, and then fell asleep in the chair."
"And you deemed it appropriate to not only follow her but to look into the Pensieve as well?"
Yup. That's exactly what happened. "I suppose so, sir."
Professor Snape nodded, or maybe his head drooped forward before springing back upright. "Please return to your dormitory at once, Mr. Nott." I nodded quickly, turning towards the door when- "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Right. The deadweight. I'd forgotten my wand in my bag, back in the common room, so I was forced to pick her up muggle-style. She wasn't as heavy as I'd predicted, actually she was almost frail to the touch. As I transported her through the dungeons, it occurred to me that she'd lost weight. (I still remembered her jumping on my back and making me carry her to Charms like a common steed.) The difference now was somewhat alarming.
I murmured the password to avoid startling her awake, (I wasn't sure how to explain this,) and once inside the common room I realized the other half of the problem. I knew boys weren't allowed in the girls dormitories; the last bloke that tried was instantly transported to the middle of the lake. Of course, there was another choice, but I opted for placing her gently on the lounger. I stowed my books and things in my bag, pulled out my wand and removed my robe to lay it over her. The vindictive side of me hoped that Warrington would see it, but the rest of me hoped she would wake on her own and retreat to the dormitories before anyone saw her like this. Hmm.
Shortly after, I lay in my bed, trying to understand all that I had seen tonight. Even in her slumber, Lian had known exactly where to find the school Pensieve; indicating that she really was a seer or had at the very least seen it in there before. Probably during her private lessons with Snape. Maybe something in those memories were preventing her from focusing, or sleeping. I was aware of a few memories I wished to leave my mind for a while, one in particular about as traumatizing as what I'd just seen tonight. I distracted myself for a moment in wondering if she still had a scar on her stomach from the animal attack she'd suffered as a child.
The bigger question, I decided, was the identity of the wizard. The longer I thought about it, the more I was certain that he'd been wearing Hogwarts robes. I almost wanted to go back to the Pensieve and look at the memory from different angles, to see if I could get a hint to who he had been. The second memory had been particularly impactful; had the wizard died? If he had, why hadn't Lian been able to see a thestral?
Lian. I could have gone a thousand years without finding someone like her; and yet she had slithered into my life in such a firm way I couldn't picture a single day without her. I craved speaking to her, watching her laugh and just being near her. Recently, I had attempted to withdraw from her. The night where everything went wrong, she shut me out completely and I didn't understand why. Perhaps it was one of those 'I need space' things, which I comprehended all too well. But it seemed to be more than that. I was only trying to protect her from herself that night-not that I was in control of her decisions. That had been painfully clear since day one. What made my fascination with her the worse was that she never stopped being interesting. Every other person I had crossed paths with I could figure out in a second or two, but she was about as good if not better at hiding things than I was. My first impression of her was that she was independant and mouthy, but the very next day she was clever and diligent and as a bonus she performed magic non-verbally. Then she could also fly, and then she was able to speak to others on good terms. She wasn't impressed by Draco, nor intimidated by Zabini, Crabbe or Goyle; she looked at others for who not what they were.
Merlin, I sound like I love...oh.
Later that day, I received a summons to the headmistress's office. (It was in the exact same place as it had been before she banished Dumbledore, as the head's office had refused to let her in.) I suspected she was going to attempt to initiate me into the squad, but when I knocked on the door, it wasn't the high-pitched "come in," I'd been expecting. Rather it was a low grunt of welcome, and when I pushed the door open it was to find my father sitting alone in a pink room upon a velvet cushioned armchair.
He was a tall man, with a somber expression usually, with gray hair and eyes that reminded me of a bloodhound. I never told him this, of course. I hadn't expected to see him, much less in the frilly environment. He'd never come to see me at school before. Something was wrong.
"Father?" I asked formally, gripping my wrist behind my back and standing up straight.
"There's been a development at work," he began, choosing his words carefully. He probably suspected that the office was listening, and knowing Umbridge he might be correct. "I'll need you to start taking on some responsibilities very soon." He stood up and crossed the room to where I stood, clutching something in his hand. Hesitantly, I extended my own to accept whatever it was. He pressed something cold and metal into my palm and whispered, "be ready. You will know when the time is right."
I kept my mouth shut. I'd never talked back to my father once in my life; doing so now when he was growing so frail might finish him off. He still had enough pull at his old contacts to get Umbridge to grant us some privacy. He knew the mail was being watched and he was already so paranoid these days he didn't dare send me a letter. Not that he would anyway. I pocketed the metal item he had given me, feeling sick to my stomach.
My father nodded and clapped my shoulder, like I was a faithful employee, not his only son. "Good man. I must return to the company."
His work he'd retired from about a year ago, leaving it in the care of a steward until I was old enough to take the reins, as it were. I knew exactly what 'company' he was referring to, but again, kept quiet as he moved to Umbridge's fireplace and left without another word.
Just what I needed with exams around the corner, I thought grimly, exiting the way I came.
"Where's your robe?" asked Daphne as we walked to Potions the following Wednesday. I shrugged carelessly.
"It's too hot," I said evasively. I mean, I knew exactly where my school robe was-presently it was draped around one Captain of the Inquisitorial Squad, the hem brushing the floor as it was a bit long for her. She was ahead of us, arguing with Draco over points. I'd have thought that by now they'd be bored of bickering, but upon closer observation I recognized the teasing tone over a taunting one, from Draco. There was a subtle difference, but it was very much present. Zabini joined into their argument with a few comments of his own, adding a few words in Italian, which made Lian laugh.
The exchanges were happening only feet from me, and yet to me it felt like they were happening on the other side of the black lake. What was happening? Had she snuck into their lives the same way she'd crept into mine? But they were so weird about purebloods, it wasn't possible for them to...well actually, that wasn't true. I knew something about Zabini's bloodline that he kept well hidden under his arrogance. Sometimes I wondered if Draco knew. Watching them interact with Lian, I wondered if she knew? If she confronted him about it, that could explain why Zabini was being civil. It still didn't account for Draco's actions though.
It was a work day in potions, namely we were required to perfect any potion we still had trouble brewing correctly in time for our OWLs. Near the front of the class, I noticed Lian was working out of a sixth year textbook rather than notes from previous classes like the rest of us. I suppose on some level it made sense, after all she was technically in her sixth year of school. That made me wonder if she was going to be apart of the OWL exams or if she'd sit for advanced examinations. Had she been doing sixth year homework for the extent of her time here?
"You're going to burn your shrivelfig," Daphne cautioned at my elbow. I snapped back to my surroundings and rushed to save the fig before it became useless. "And if you keep staring at her like that you'll burn a pair of holes into the back of her skull."
"Would that be so bad?" I murmured in reply, wrinkling my nose at the slightly sour scent my fig was now giving off. "Maybe then she'd talk to me; granted, it would be at a high velocity and slightly dangerous to my health."
"And the longevity of this school," she coughed. "Though I'm sure that's already in peril with Umbridge in charge. D'you know she put four consecutive classes in detention the other day?"
"Those Weasley twins know how to make a profit. But don't tell anyone I said that."
"I'll add it to the list," came the brisk reply, before she pulled her wand on my cauldron and vanished the solution that was begging for death. "Get through the year first, and then you can worry over whether or not she still wants to be your friend."
I went to gather fresh ingredients from the cupboard, grumbling silently about how she was my ally, not friend. That brought up the memory of her clarification, way back on the outskirts of Hogsmeade: 'I don't need a friend. I don't need a boyfriend. I need someone I can trust, who will trust me, and that's why I need an ally.' What was the definition of an ally, anyway? Off the top of my head, I imagined it to be more similar to the kind of relationship Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass wanted me to have with their eldest daughter, rather than the supportive partner that Lian had tried to recruit. And she had certainly tried. But I don't think I was as reliable as she'd wanted, or we wouldn't be in this mess.
If I thought that my problems stopped with OWL exams and a very confusing American, I was dead wrong. Unfortunately I got the alert about how mistaken I was about five minutes too late.
A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope you all enjoyed reading it! Hopefully, the fact that you've stuck around this long is because you're waiting to see Umbridge get smacked down and frankly, I'm waiting on that also. I'll try to have Chapter 28 up ASAP! In the meantime, please review!
Preview of next Chapter:
In every book she'd read, every resource had proved that true Slytherins were simply ambitious, cunning, and had a tendency to look after their own. Interestingly, that last bit made Lian think of the U.S. military, "No one gets left behind." Slytherins knew what they wanted and they went for it, no reservations.
I knew what I wanted...I had no idea what I would get, she thought heavily.
