A/N Finished this book last night, so expect quicker updates and watch your chapter numbers so you don't miss any. It is a huge book; I had to put a lot of series setup in it, but my first reaction from my proofer was very positive, so hopefully you'll like it. Anyhow, here's another chapter for you! JCWriter

Thirty-Six

Tests and Theories

Francis rubbed the worry stone in his pocket distractedly as he wandered out of the crypt and up the stairs, his mind on the note that Corey had given him with it, and he found himself pulling it out to read it again.

Pyther... I got this stone one Christmas from Alicia, ironically enough; it has a Dragonheart Diamond in it that if you rub it will glow if your Cosmic Match is around. See, after seeing my new parents together, I had made up my mind that I was going to wait until the right girl came along, no matter how long it took, or just go without. They tried to talk me out of it…fifty-two times all told, but it was more out of worry that I was setting my expectations too high than anything. But had I not waited, I would have never realized she was nearby, growing up under my nose. Then one day it hit me…well, maybe it hit me a little earlier than it should have considering she was a seventh year… but the odd thing is that when you actually think to look at this stone, you already know the answer before you even see it. Still, there's something very reassuring to know when you've been right all along. It's so easy to let self-doubt get in the way of stuff like this. Of course, even if I hadn't had it, something Dad once told me is just as convincing. He told me that you would recognize love by just how damned inconvenient it is when it happens. Man, it sure was for me. Doesn't come close to yours though…Mom and Dad's maybe…anyhow, use it in good faith, old friend. You'll find yourself soon wondering why you ever doubted it at all. Corey.

Pyther stubbed his toe on the step and looked up, realizing he had gone up one more flight than he had intended and turned to walk back down to the second floor, folding up the note. So Corey, at least, was convinced that Alicia and he were meant to be together, but how could that be possible, six hundred years apart? That, more than anything else, had always troubled him, but then when are such matches chosen? Perhaps he had been matchless originally, being dead at twenty-three and all…but was it truly something of a divine order, or simply that fateful night with the muse that tied them? And if so, did that make them any less meant for each other? Pyther sighed at himself angrily. What did it really matter, one way or the other? No, it did matter, Francis realized, for it would make things a lot easier for everyone concerned if it was just the Leanan Sidhe's doing and somewhere out there was who Alicia was really meant to be with…in fact, perhaps she was with Jacob at that very moment…Francis tried to clear the anger boiling up at the thought of Jacob or anyone else with her, knowing he was completely out of line. Isn't that what he wanted, after all, as long as she was happy? Besides, in a few hundred years, what difference was it all going to make, when she was long gone and he was the same as he always has been? Francis strode into the potion room and straight over to the art closet with full intentions of pulling out the Alicia painting and working off the flood of emotions threatening to erupt.

"Good evening, Pyther," said a voice from behind him. Leaping up in complete terror, Francis twisted around to see Jennifer sitting at the desk, wincing when she saw his reaction to his presence. Feeling ready to swoon, Francis put his back to the closet and slid down the front of it, trying to clear his head. "Oh, Pyther! I am sorry," Jennifer said, getting up and going over to him. "I did say I would be back tonight, did you forget? You haven't eaten tonight, have you?"

"I…haven't made it to my office, yet…" he stammered.

"Well, you really have got to stay on it. There's nothing worse than a vampire with thin blood, especially when…" Jennifer hesitated, seeing something change in expression.

"Especially when one's a coward to begin with?" Francis finished, ignoring her hand up and slowly getting to his feet.

"You're not a coward, Francis, you're just easily startled when your mind is on other things," Jennifer said gently. "Why don't you go get something to eat and I'll try to finish up the test schedule I'm on, then we can get those painting tests set up. I hope we didn't lose any more paintings during the holiday," Jennifer frowned.

"I didn't notice any, but I'll check more thoroughly after we're done," Francis said.

"I will help you, Pyther. Boy, will I be glad when more of the staff gets back. It's going to be so hard to have everything ready in time!" Jennifer said with open frustration. Francis suddenly felt a little guilty about spending so much time on the painting lately, knowing his class agendas should have been further than what they were as well.

"I'll be back as quick as I can," Francis said, slipping down the corridor. Jennifer watched him go, letting out a long sigh as she thought about what she had read from him when he had first entered the room.

Trying to put it out of her mind for now, she scribbled a few notes to herself on the page she was on then got into her potion cabinet for the test phials. A few moments later, Francis slipped in and got in the painter's closet for the paint of the hands holding the box, putting it on the easel. Jennifer in turn went to her desk and opened up her Puzzle Box, taking out a heavy metal box with a series of valves on five sides and put it next to a set of large glass tubes, hooking one of them to the top of the box.

"I've already ran some extensive tests on the box itself and gauged relative potency loss and air discrepancies in the gas levels," Jennifer said, tightening the valves carefully and checking the lab for any leaks throughout. "If Severus' theory is correct and it goes through an in-between dimension before the gas reaches the box, it should show up in the readings as a greater loss than control. Grab one of the ones with the green dot on the stopper and twist it a quarter of a turn before you put it in the box. The stopper should come free on its own." Pyther peered curiously on the potion rack to see each one had been color-coded and picked one of the three green ones.

"What does it do?" Pyther asked, cautiously turning the stopper and putting it in the box in the painting.

"The green ones are simply basic smoke and concealment. The yellow one is the same but set for a twenty-four hour release. The red is something Severus cooked up in case these first few don't work the way we want. It contains distilled residue that we got from the dust. The orange is the time release version of that."

"Why would you add that?" Pyther asked in surprise, but became distracted when the stopper popped off and the painting became clouded with smoke. "There it goes."

"I have it," Jennifer said, watching the gas work its way out of the pipes and pass through several different testing bulbs. Jennifer quickly scribbled down some notes and numbers, frowning at the results a moment before she flipped another release valve on the metal box and the remainder of the gas expelled out into second set of pipes to dissipate. "Any lingering haze in the painting, Pyther?"

"No, the smoke only appeared for a second or two before it faded away," Pyther said.

"My numbers are a tad lower than control, but well inside margin of error. There could be a pocket of air somewhere or something throwing it off just as easily as anything," Jennifer said with a sigh before checking the box to make sure it was clear before snapping the valves shut again. "Another green, please!" Jennifer ran her numbers again for the last two gasses, completely unsurprised when she got similar results but still so small a difference as to be unrevealing. "Honestly, I shouldn't be surprised, I knew this wouldn't work."

"But Jennifer, considering the gas itself is still showing up in the painting and not just the depiction of the phial, doesn't that mean there must be some getting through?" Pyther asked. Jennifer sighed.

"I don't know, Pyther, really, maybe if these figures are right. But if they are correct, we're talking about a very trace amount getting into that special dimension. If we have to use that method to try and administer a cure, it'd mean it'd have to be extremely potent to even stand a chance of working its way in."

"I don't see how we could possibly administer it to an already sick painting. Can one still use a portal portrait when it's infected?" Pyther asked.

"Yes, well, that's the next part of the experiment," Jennifer said, walking over to him and tapping the phial with the black dot on it. "Infected dust. We're going to intentionally contaminate this painting. First, let's clear some paintings out from the far corner behind my desk. We can put them in the closet for now…"

"I'll do that, Jennifer," Francis volunteered quickly, pulling out his wand to start levitating them down.

"Then, I need to get the painting infected and then put the time release in so we can see if the potion will still leak anything into the dimension if the painting is clouded. But with these numbers, I admit it'll be hard to tell," Jennifer murmured.

"And what of those doctored potions you spoke of?" Francis asked curiously.

"We try those if nothing else seems to be working," Jennifer explained, glancing over the numbers with a frown. "Although if I were you, I'd start making a second test painting as soon as you have time."

But Jennifer soon found that time was a luxury that neither of them really had. She spent the next night in the potion room to finish up her agendas, pausing only to watch the release to go off on the now-clouded painting and write down all the numbers. At her insistence, Pyther went to work on his, stopping only to put the test painting in quarantine before heading down to his office, while Jennifer made her way up to Severus' office to drop off the test results. He was hard at work at his desk, barely looking up when she came in but holding his hand and she put her research in it.

"Trace results at best, Professor," Jennifer said. Severus gave her a dirty look in response, knowing full well this was her way of saying 'I told you so.'

"The timed release still went off?" he asked before flipping the page to look at it.

"No interference from the painting being clouded, apparently."

"Yes, and it has the exact same discrepancy as the others, I see, so that's something I suppose," Severus said, putting it aside.

"Or I simply don't have this lab as tight as the one at home, since I ran most of my control experiments there," Jennifer pointed out. "I'm working on used equipment here, borrowed at that."

"As if Tonks makes much use of it," Severus said, but didn't miss Jennifer's irritated look. "Very well, I'll have Corey make you up more test phials so you can double check before we try mine. However, since the infections seem to have subsided, it can wait until we've finished preparing for the new semester. Have you had time to work on Potions agenda?"

"Some, I still need to update the tests to add in formulas," Jennifer admitted, "But I do have the list of labs I want to teach done."

"Fine. Pyther?"

"Working on it now. I gave him all my old Defense notes to work with, they're a bit out of date but I thought they'd be a good starting point," Jennifer said.

"Considering how unorthodox you taught that course it should probably suit him," Severus said, ignoring the squinting look Jennifer gave him as she tried to get a good read on him to see if he meant that as a jibe or not. "Keep him on it, and get in touch with anyone you haven't heard from about the agenda changes. I'm going to need a full list on my desk by the second."

"The second? But that's less than a week!" Jennifer gaped. "I haven't heard from anyone outside of the castle yet…"

"Then start sending out Owls and get on them, Professor Craw, it is a part of the job, you know. I need to hear what everyone has planned as soon as possible in case any changes need to be made. Include a summary of any new material any of the professors have proposed along with it," Severus said, not looking up. "Oh, and don't forget to send payroll to Gringott's. You did remember to shift Francis to staff?"

"Um…yeah," Jennifer said distantly, but found herself wondering if she had adjusted the budget accordingly. "I think I'll go check Hermione's office and see if anyone's checked in on those agendas."

"Fine," Severus said with a curt nod before going back to his paperwork. But when Jennifer wandered out of the room, Severus allowed himself a moment's pause to think about the situation, shaking his head with a sigh.

Severus saw very little of Jennifer after that. In fact, had it not been for the Map, the watch, and the occasional presence of her cold feet on his back at night, he might have almost forgotten he was married at all. Paperwork showed up on his desk, a bit disorganized but still complete, and somehow it managed to get there on time, if not at the last possible second. Had he seen the state of Hermione's office, he might have been more concerned, perhaps, but fortunately when he did finally decide to track her down a day before the students arrived she was in her own office, double checking the alchemy notations she had added.

"Don't you ever stop to eat anymore?" Severus asked from where he stood in the doorway, scowling at her.

"I thought that was my line," Jennifer chuckled at him but put down her quill when he pointed at her unkempt desk with a frown. Quickly she stacked everything out of the way so he could put the lunch tray down in front of them. "To be honest, I've actually missed having that blasted Cauldron around this week to get porridge whenever I needed. I'll be so glad to get it back."

"So will I, but mostly because I don't feel comfortable with the Ministry's idea of security," Severus said. "Not that it hasn't gotten better since your father's been there."

"Much better," Jennifer agreed. "Except for that little incident with the feather."

"An inside job, technically speaking, as most of their security breaches are. Not to mention I seem to recall that involving a Snape, or something."

"Yes, I seem to recall that," Jennifer said dryly.

"By the way, I don't suppose you've gone down there to look over the current estimates? I would have expected a bill on my desk by now…"

"I have that…um…somewhere…" Jennifer said, and then saw the frown on his face. "Severus, please, can we not talk about work for even half an hour? I haven't done this job in years and as you'll recall the last time it was as punishment. Now I'm stuck doing it when I didn't do anything to deserve it," she said with a chuckle.

"I know the feeling," Severus said dryly. "You did remember to give yourself a temporary raise, I hope?" Jennifer sighed.

"No, come to think of it, I didn't, and it isn't as if it wouldn't be pointless since nearly every penny we have that's not tied up in something has been going into the school anyhow," Jennifer said.

"Well, hopefully the auction this spring will compensate for some of what the school 'borrowed' for the potion lab. I don't suppose you've had time to send a form letter out with the owls about item donations for that?" Severus asked. Jennifer glared at him murderously. "Never mind. Just send me up a current copy of the friends and alumni lists and I'll take care of that myself."

Jennifer sighed and glanced at the sandwiches in front of them with no interest at all, pulling over the coffee only to stare at it and push it away again.

"And you wonder why I've gotten so churlish," Severus said and got up, walking over to her components shelf and began pulling ingredients off of it.

"At least you're good at what you do, Severus," Jennifer protested. "It's the fact that I'm so bad at the job that I hate so much."

"Nonsense. You're doing quite well under the circumstances," he said without looking around.

"Severus, I'm a disorganized mess," Jennifer said bluntly.

"You've always been disorganized," he said, glancing at the labels with a frown. "As this potion shelf of yours clearly demonstrates."

"Exactly, that's precisely my point," Jennifer chuckled, shaking her head.

"You'll feel better once you're back in front of a class again," Severus said, turning on the burners.

"Maybe," Jennifer admitted, watching him distractedly. "I wonder if anyone has had their baby yet."

"Potentially, you'll be one of the first to know if you work from Hermione's office," Severus pointed out.

"That's right, the book's in there," Jennifer said thoughtfully.

"There, you see, there's a benefit to this after all. Now, try to get a sandwich down so this sedative doesn't turn your stomach. I think you could do with a good night's rest," Severus said. Jennifer smiled softly, her thoughts going back to that first rough night when she had started teaching and found she had already begun to feel a lot better about the whole situation before he had even gotten the potion to a simmer.

Lucky couldn't help but be grateful to hear the whistle of the train in the distance. It had been pretty quiet the last few days, and despite the constant owls from her friends she was glad to be finally seeing them again. Most of that time she had spent getting used to the idea of having a familiar, not to mention one who had been trying from the very first night to convince the girl that he was the one in charge by appearing when and where he wanted, often when it was most inconvenient. Lucky, however, was not going to have any of that, and turned her room upside down and inside out to pull the rabbit out of wherever it was he tried to hide at no matter how long it took her to find him. In fact, when Connie arrived on the train that night every bureau drawer was pulled out and all the blankets had been stripped off the bed, while Lucky was busy chucking her stuff out of the closet.

"What are you doing?" Connie asked with a sigh.

"Trying to show that stupid rabbit of mine who's boss!" Lucky seethed. "He chewed up my Arithmantic notes!"

"Oh, you got a rabbit?" Connie repeated.

"I got a pain in the ass escape artist is what I got," Lucky spat.

"Don't you have a hat?" Connie sighed. Lucky peered out of the closet in confusion. "What's the rabbit's name?" she asked, opening up her trunk and digging inside, pulling out a wooly cap.

"I dunno, I haven't figured it out yet," Lucky admitted.

"Do you at least have a carrot?" she asked. Lucky searched around and then pulled a carrot from under the bed, and Connie sighed, putting the carrot in the hat and used her hand to keep the hat shut tight. "Here, little buck, come get your carrot!" she said.

"Hey, don't call him names, he can't help his teeth being like that!" Lucky scowled. Connie rolled her eyes.

"Male rabbits are called bucks, Lucky, and as you can see…" she said, pausing to open the hat. "Here he is!" Connie pulled the rabbit out of her hat and looked over at Lucky who was staring at her with a dropped jaw. "There, you see? It's not so hard once you remind him where his next meal is coming from. He's a Holland lop, isn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess. How do you know so much about rabbits?" Lucky asked with annoyance, accepting the rabbit out of her arms and putting him back in his cage.

"My mother has one, an English lop named Velveteen," Connie explained, then went over and put the hat in the rabbit's cage. "There, leave that in there and he'll probably start sleeping in it, so he should start returning to his cage when he gets tired."

"Now why didn't Professor Craw tell me any of that? She had a rabbit!" Lucky scowled, staring at her rabbit a moment before starting to pick up the room.

"Probably hoped you'd figure it out yourself," Connie grinned at her and pitched in getting the room back in order, and between them they were able to get it back together again before heading down to dinner. "Still planning to meet tonight?"

"Yeah, Ambrose said he has something for us," Lucky explained as they walked down the stairs. "And wait until you see how many points we got now…" she began, but Connie had suddenly stopped short on their way to the table, staring at the hourglasses. "Our points? Look at Hufflepuffs!" she gaped. Sure enough, Hufflepuff was well ahead of any of the other houses by well over fifty points when they had been trailing all three just before they left.

"Yeah, I know. It's the same points," Lucky grinned, jerking her head over at the large crowd at the Hufflepuff table. As the two of them came closer, Constance could plainly see that at the center of attention was Ambrose Bailey, as well as the most extraordinary wooden owl that she had ever seen.

"His name is Archimedes. Toby the Tinker made him," Ambrose said while the wooden owl nipped at his ear affectionately.

"He is very nice, but really, I can't see how anyone could possibly consider him a familiar. He's just a toy," Delia said critically. "I received a little wooden hedgehog of Toby's for Christmas myself."

"And probably just as prickly as you are," Terrence retorted.

"I don't think any of the Professors who allow familiars in their classes are going to buy that thing is a familiar for a moment," Delia said. "Familiars are only real animals."

"They aren't always animals, my sister had a plant as a familiar," Ambrose said defensively.

"Rose had a plant as a familiar?" Lindsay said with amusement. "That figures."

"Honestly, he's just making up stories again!" Delia said with exasperation.

"Just like he made up those hundred points in our glass, eh, Delia?" Terrence said with a smile. "Ambrose, I don't care what anyone else says. If you say he's your familiar, as far as I'm concerned he is, and that's that."

"Thanks, Terrence," Ambrose said, and Archimedes began to bob his head in apparent approval. "Hiya Lucky! Library tonight?"

"Library," Lucky agreed with a nod, glancing at Lindsay who nodded with a smile as well.

"What could you possibly have to do in the library tonight when we don't even have a clue what our classes going to be like yet?" Delia asked. "Or do you know something we don't?"

"Oh, shut up, Delia," several Hufflepuffs said at once.

"You guys do whatever you have to do, Ambrose, you earned it. I'll grab your schedules," Terrence said.

"Thanks, Terrence!" Ambrose said with a beaming smile.

"We'll see you in a bit then," Connie said, and the two of them turned back towards the Gryffindor table. "Things have really turned around for Ambrose over there, hasn't it?"

"Ya," Lucky said, thinking the same thing as they found their seats, receiving several warm greetings of their own from the Gryffindor table.

Much to the surprise of the Fifth House members, Boulderdash came in as the seven of them settled into place with their schedules in hand.

"How in the world did you get those?" Helena asked with open surprise.

"I had a feeling you would be down here tonight, and I happen to have some pull when required," Boulderdash said with his customary, toothy, half-smile half-sneer. "Let's see…Bailey, yours. Black, Glass, Lupin, Snape, and Weasleys," he said. He pondered the last one in his hand thoughtfully. "Hm, got one that perhaps I shouldn't have. Be right back," he said with another sneer before slipping out the door and out into the library where Dale Chance sat, reading. Boulderdash squinted at him a moment then dropped his schedule in front of him. Dale blinked at him in stunned surprise, watching as the goblin went back inside. Meanwhile, the others were busy looking curiously over their schedules.

"Why is it that my Defense class is at night?" Pimra asked curiously.

"I was wondering the same thing myself," Helena agreed.

"Our class has moved to night as well," Laura said, comparing her schedule to Lindsay's.

"There can be only one reason for it," Ambrose said, glancing at Lucky. "I guess we know what class Mr. Pyther's teaching now."

"Pyther teachin' Defense? Él es loco! The Professor's gone mad or somethin'!" Lucky said.

"Bet you get better marks this time, though," Ambrose teased her.

"I'm just glad we don't have those awful books anymore," Lindsay said.

"Thanks in part to me," Ambrose said smugly.

"Ya, well, don't let it go to your head, Bill," Lucky glowered. "Besides, didn't you say we had more important stuff to talk about than your big ego?"

"You don't have to put it that way," Ambrose said indignantly, but the other girls were grinning at Lucky in agreement. "Anyhow, when I got home to talk to Mum about badges or something, I realized we never really drew out a crest or anything that everyone agreed on, just picked colors, so we made these," he said, and brought out two bags, one with brown armbands trimmed on one edge with a rose gold colored satin and a set of spidersilk ties with brown and rose gold stripes. "Consider them late Christmas presents," Ambrose grinned and passed them around.

"These are fabulous!" Lindsay said.

"Yes, these are great," Connie said, but hadn't noticed the troubled look on Helena's face.

"You don't have to wear the ties if you don't want," Ambrose said, noticing the Slytherin's reaction as well. "But it'd be nice to where at least the arm patches when we're participating in something together or cheering for a fellow housemate."

"I'm sure I can work something out," Helena said, when it was obvious that everyone had noticed her reaction. "But I was wondering if we could talk about points for a moment. Thanks to Ambrose, our points are actually on the same level as the rest of the houses, despite the fact there's only seven of us."

"Not only on the same level, we're ahead of Slytherin," Laura pointed out. Helena nodded to her.

"And I think I know another way we can earn even more. The sparring tournament will be coming up soon. Anyone else participating besides Lucky?" Lucky grimaced at the reminder that she had no choice in the matter.

"The thing is we only cover the first three years, and we have to compete against each other for the top spot. It's more likely it'll just give the other houses more opportunities to pick up points rather than us," Lindsay said.

"Still, we should all participate, give it our best shot. And I wouldn't mind getting beat by Lucky or something, long one of us won anyhow," Ambrose grinned. "How about you, Pimra? You gonna sign up?"

"I don't know, I'm really not good at that sort of thing," Pimra admitted.

"If you ask me, all you need is a bit more confidence," Helena said. "Besides, it's really more about showing up and doing our best. That's worked out for us pretty well so far."

"Fine, but don't be surprised if I'm out the first round," Pimra said.

"Anything else on points, Lena?" Ambrose asked.

"No, not really, just keep plugging away, we're doing great," Helena said. "Although I do have something else. I had a ghost come to me tonight asking if he could attend tonight. Janus Craw."

"Really?" Ambrose said with surprise. "I bet it has to do with us trying to get him to become the house ghost last year."

"I'm pretty sure it is," Helena agreed. "Should I call him? He's probably hanging out somewhere close by."

"Ya. He might even be hangin' out behind you," Lucky said, and Helena turned around in surprise to see where Janus had faded in to view.

"Oh, well, there's that," Helena said with a shrug.

"Good evening," Janus said. "Nice familiar, Ambrose."

"Thanks," Ambrose grinned, while Archimedes seemed to preen his carved feathers.

"I was wondering if the position of House Ghost has yet been filled for this house?" Janus asked.

"No, we've been waiting for you to cave," Ambrose said with a grin.

"That and we haven't had much time to look for anyone else lately," Lucky said. Ambrose kicked her under the table.

"Yes, well, I have been impressed with your efforts, especially yours, Mr. Bailey, to correct much of the history of the Sentinels, so I will make a deal with you. I will become your…organization's…ghost representative, if you will take into consideration adding another member."

"We're always open for new members, Mr. Craw," Lindsay said sincerely.

"I am under the impression that there might be some reluctance to allow my friend in," Janus said, glancing at Lucky who squinted at him suspiciously.

"Well, who is it?" Ambrose asked.

"I would like to nominate Mr. Chance for consideration." Six of the students at the table reacted with enthusiasm. Lucky shook her head. "I truly believe he could use your help right now, more than you know. We could use your help," he said quietly. Pimra and Connie glanced at each other.

"Why don't you want Dale in, Lucky?" Pimra asked.

"He's not a deviant," Lucky said flatly.

"Did you hear his real name?" Lindsay suggested.

"That's not enough! He's still Ravenclaw, through and through."

"You so sure about that, Lucky?" Ambrose said, sounding unusually serious.

"Sure I'm sure! He's mister popularity, everyone knows it," Lucky said.

"Then how come he's not in his house rooms with the rest of the Ravenclaws?" Ambrose asked. "How come he's sitting outside the office door looking at it as if it were a brick wall?" Lucky gazed at Ambrose unsurely, and everyone grew quiet even if they hadn't realized the significance of the remark.

"He is out there, Miss Snape," Boulderdash suddenly put in. He had been reading so quietly at one of the desks in the back that they had almost forgotten he was there. "In fact, I believe he's the only person out there at the moment."

"We're not here to leave people out, Lucky," Ambrose said.

"I agree," Lindsay said. "I think it's time we let him in."

"I agree too, but it has to be unanimous, that's the rules," Laura said. It grew quiet again.

"Lena?" Connie said quietly, and Helena looked over thoughtfully. "Thanks, by the way." Helena grinned at her.

"I'm glad they talked me into it," Helena agreed, and then looked over at Lucky.

"At least if you're going to say no, Lucky, you should go out there and tell him," Ambrose said.

"And she should have to be the one to find us another house ghost," Pimra suggested.

"He's really helped us out, you know, with the abacus and all," Helena put in.

"Not to mention sticking up for us that day with the Coventry twins," Ambrose added. Lucky sighed loudly.

"Fine, fine! I'll do it, but only to get another guy in the house," Lucky said, the rest of the girls breaking out in a cheer.

"So go get him then," Ambrose suggested. Lucky looked at him darkly, but no one else seemed to make a move to join her. Janus simply smiled, gesturing towards the door.

"Fine," Lucky said with a glower, storming out the door and popping it open. Sure enough, there sat Dale with a book in his hand smiling at her curiously. "What are you doing here, Dale?" she asked flatly.

"Reading," Dale said, studying her dubious gaze. "What else would you do in a library?"

"Guess you're about to find out," Lucky said in annoyance, leaning against the door with her arms folded across her chest. Dale looked at her unsurely. "Well, you want in or not?"

"I'm in," Dale said quickly and grabbed his book, hurrying past her as if half afraid she'd change her mind. He stared at the empty office in confusion until she entered the second door and he stepped in to a round of applause and the proud smile of Janus standing in the background.

"Welcome to the Fifth House!" Ambrose said cheerfully.

"Finally," Laura said, and Lindsay grinned at her.

"Yeah, yeah, don't rub it in," Lucky said with irritation.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, because I could really use your help," he said, glancing at Connie and Pimra before suddenly noticing Boulderdash sitting in the back.

"What's up?" Ambrose asked curiously.

"Um…could we…talk?" Dale asked, glancing at Boulderdash warily.

"Anything that can be said in front of the entire house can be said in front of its advisor, son," Boulderdash said evenly, turning the page with no intention of moving.

"It's all right, Dale, he's harmless," Ambrose said, waving it off.

"There's no such thing as a harmless Goblin, Ambrose," Dale said.

"Or wizard, for that matter," Boulderdash added unconcernedly, not looking up from his book. Dale gazed over at Janus.

"You might as well be out with it. It would have come out sooner or later and this at least is a friendly audience," Janus said. Dale sighed and nodded, putting down his book bag and took out his wand and a tiny rectangle, maximizing it back to its original size so they could see an ornate empty frame. Setting it down for a moment, Dale then took out a large scroll case and then gently, carefully, slid out the painting hidden inside and rolled it out for everyone to see.

"Hiya guys!" said one of the students in the painting.

"Corey!" called out Pimra and Connie with relief and delight.

"Corey?" Lucky and Ambrose said more unsurely.

"Hey, what about us?" the painting of Doug protested.

"Don't we at least get an honorable mention?" the portrait of Icarus asked critically, while the image of Janus patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Never mind it was our reunion it was trying to capture, it is always the boy who gets all of the attention."

"We're glad to see all of you," Pimra reassured him.

"We were afraid the Headmaster had put it in the confinement room," Connie said.

"He threatened to. That's when the painting decided maybe it would be better get out of the castle for awhile," Dale explained.

"Wait, wait, wait. Would someone explain to me what the hell is going on?" Lucky said with confusion.

"I have a feeling that's going to take awhile," Connie said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, I can write passes," Boulderdash said unconcernedly, turning another page. "Hot chocolate, anyone?" he added, nodding to the tray on the table. Sure enough, when they reached for the pot it was steaming and several of them took a moment to get mugs while Dale carefully put the painting back in its frame and hung it up on a hook in the room.

"So what I want to know is," Ambrose began once everyone seemed to be settled again, "Does this have something to do with that painting of Professor Dusthorn?"

"It has everything to do her," Dale agreed. "See, Constance, Pimra, and I have been helping Professor Dusthorn with an independent investigation on what's been happening to the paintings."

"Why would you need to? The Headmaster is already looking into it. And isn't that why Mr. Pyther was here in the first place?" Lindsay said.

"Yes, but there's a lot of other things going on that's distracting them, they have other priorities," Connie said.

"Daily operations, fixing the potion lab, that insanity with the board…" Dale offered.

"Pyther hasn't had any other priorities though," Helena said.

"Yeah he has," Ambrose and Lucky said almost at once. Dale simply nodded.

"Paintings here tend to know what's going on in the castle, and from what I understand, they've had reason to be concerned. I mean, if you were a sentient painting and you have your friends disappear around you and not know if you were next or not, how would you feel?"

"But it's just paint!" Laura protested. Dale nodded to her understandingly.

"Yeah, I felt that way too. But I think when you meet Caprica Dusthorn you'll start to change your mind, Laura. Unfortunately, with her being secretary right now it's been hard for her to meet with us, which is where these guys have been filling in."

"Wait, isn't that Dusthorn in this painting too?" Ambrose said, looking at the two paintings in the background.

"They're not as detailed, so they can't do as much," Connie explained. "But that little Dusthorn can call the other one in an emergency."

"There used to be another painting we could use for contact as well, but it was put into the confinement room," Dale said. "This is pretty much the only direct contact we had left for the investigation. Look, it's not our lives on the line, it's theirs…or sentience…or existence, or whatever it is you want to call it. They asked for help, and I think it's our duty to help them if we can. This castle wouldn't be the same without them…can you imagine traveling up those stairs and only seeing blank walls or some dusty old tapestries or something?"

"I miss the Fat Lady," Connie murmured.

"Yeah me too," Lucky admitted with a shrug. "Shouldn't we tell the Headmaster about all this?"

"No!" Connie, Pimra and Dale all protested at once. Boulderdash rolled his eyes but went back to his book.

"Dusthorn made us promise not to go to him unless we had something concrete," Dale explained. "And we think we're onto something, but we need to have contact with this painting to follow up on it so…I need help hiding it so it doesn't get taken away."

"Why don't we just leave it in here? The Headmaster hardly has any reason to come back here," Pimra said.

"Don't forget, he came awful close that one day," Lucky said.

"You could put it along the back wall when you don't need it," Boulderdash suddenly spoke up, some of them turning in surprise after forgetting he was there.

"So we can keep it here, then?" Connie said.

"I don't really think I need repeat myself, Miss Weasley," Boulderdash said calmly. "But I reserve the right to inform the Headmaster if the painting clouds over."

"If that painting clouds over, he'd definitely need to know," Dale agreed solemnly.

"Okay, so now that that's settled, how can we help with the investigation itself, Dale?" Ambrose asked. Dale glanced over and Connie and Pimra.

"Pimra and I have been trying to compile a list of paintings that'd been infected, the order, and everything we know about them," Connie said. "At first, it almost seemed like the older paintings were more vulnerable, but then we got to thinking it wasn't exactly the age that was making them so vulnerable, that maybe it had to do with how many times they'd been repaired or something. I mean, any time you repair something, it's more prone to damage later, but that's when Pimra came up with another idea along those lines…"

"It was Ambrose's paper that really got me thinking about it," Pimra admitted, Ambrose looking surprised. "It's about Mr. Pyther. He's been a resident of Hogsmeade for at least five of his centuries and during that time was known to not only to do many of the portraits but also maintain them. The older the painting, the more likely he's cleaned it or repaired it and all of that, so we're wondering if there's a more personal connection between what's happening and him."

"I don't get it," Lucky said.

"They didn't get sick out of the blue, Lucky, something triggered it, and a reason behind which paintings got it first," Dale said. "You of all people know there's no such thing as true random. We know it's not the age. We know it's not where they were in the castle at the time they got infected. There's got to be another connection, and so far the only other one we know of is that Pyther has repaired each one of them at one time or another. We have other paintings here that have confirmed that."

"If there is a connection, I don't think he knows it," Ambrose put in.

"I can't guess if he does or doesn't, but right now all we got is a theory, and especially now that he's teaching here, we need more than a theory. The best way to test it then is to find a painting or two that Mr. Pyther hasn't touched and see if they're susceptible to the dust."

"What? You mean infect them on purpose?" Ambrose said.

"Long as they're scenery or something and we're not putting a Sentient Painting in jeopardy, yes," Dale nodded. "If that's what it takes to find out the truth."

"I don't think the Headmaster would like that," Ambrose said.

"Then I think you're starting to get the picture why it has to be us," Dale said with a grim smile.