Chapter 45 The Beast in the Castle
The front door, which was an eye-watering shade of lime green, was a clear indication that Samuel Weasley's house was going to be quite unlike any place that Halo had ever been before. A narrow wooden bridge led from the edge of the lake to the front door of the house, which was maybe twenty feet from the shore. As soon as Albus, who was in front, set foot on the bridge, golden letters quickly began writing themselves on the door.
Residence of S. Weasley
Warmest greetings (unless you are a salesman)
Mind the Garden
Halo frowned at the sign before turning to look around, wondering about what that last part meant. There was no garden as far as he could see. Actually, since the house was surrounded by water, Halo was pretty sure there wasn't any place for a garden to be.
"Come on, you two!" Albus called excitedly over his shoulder. "You're going to love this place, it's absolutely wicked. Oh, and don't worry about the plants. They just want to say hullo."
Before Halo or Cassy could ask what he meant, it became unnecessary to ask. Just as Albus crossed the midpoint of the bridge leading to the door of the house, the surface of the lake began to churn. More than a dozen leaf-covered vines of different colours rose out of the water underneath the bridge, slithering and snaking their way towards Albus. Halo cried out, but Albus just laughed and patted the nearest vine as if he were petting a dog. Dogs, though, weren't slimy, purple and covered with wet red leaves. Halo shuddered, and began looking around to see if there were some other, less-viney way to get to the house. There didn't seem to be one.
"Come on then," Albus said, waving them across impatiently. Halo shook his head violently while Cassy eyed the vines nervously and made no move to cross. "Oh, there's no reason to be afraid," Albus said, seeing their faces. "They're totally harmless."
Cassy and Halo exchanged glances, both knowing that there was nothing for it. They had to get back to Hogwarts as soon as they could. It was already getting dark, and someone was bound to realize they were missing soon. Cassy sighed and set out across the bridge. That, more than anything, gave Halo the courage to take a deep breath and follow slowly after her.
Albus had already reached the front door and knocked a few times, although no one had answered yet, by the time Halo reached the middle of the bridge. The vines, which had been slithering around Cassy and messing with her hair while she giggled, her nervousness gone, slowly turned and began towards Halo. He managed to resist the urge to scream and run off in the other direction, but only just. He wasn't a big fan of animals, or living things in general aside from other people. As far as Halo was concerned, moving plants were as bad as any owl or angry dog. He'd just… he'd had some bad experiences.
The first vine to reach Halo was a greenish-brown vine with bright yellow leaves. It danced through the air playfully, and Halo almost laughed. Maybe, he thought, he'd overreacted. Up close, the vine didn't seem scary at all. It reminded him a little of the giant squid at Hogwarts, which wasn't nearly as bad up close as you'd think. As Cassy reached Albus, who was still standing in front of the door, Halo reached out to pet the vine the way Albus had. Maybe it might help him get over his… well, he wouldn't use the word fear, exactly… but his nervousness around living things.
He'd thought wrong.
As soon as he touched the vine, it recoiled as if his touch burned. The other vines, which were still a few feet from him, began to twist and coil in agitation.
"Halo! What did you do?" Albus cried from the doorway, turning to stare at the plants nervously. Halo stared at his own hand numbly, trying to figure out why this was happening… again.
"N-nothing, honest," Halo yelled shrilly, "All I did was touch it!" As he spoke, Halo took a step backwards to avoid one of the other vines that slithered forward angrily. If he hadn't moved out of the way, the vine would have smacked him right in the face. It seemed to be trying to push him back across the bridge.
"Halo, just stay where you are," Cassy called out, pulling out her wand and starting back towards him. Half the vines turned to block her path, though, while the others continued to advance menacingly towards Halo, who quickly stumbled back a few steps. Albus stared back in wide-eyed confusion while Cassy growled in frustration, unable to do anything. Even if it weren't forbidden to use magic outside of Hogwarts, she wasn't sure she knew a spell strong enough to clear the vines between her and her brother. Once again, all she could do was stand there and watch.
Albus and Cassy were so focused on Halo that they didn't even hear the door open behind them. They didn't notice anything until someone whistled loudly right in their ears, causing them both to jump. The vines, who had nearly pushed Halo back across the bridge, immediately froze at the sound of the whistle, their tips turning slowly to face the sound.
"Okay, okay, that's enough of that," came the muffled voice of a young boy with a heavy Scottish accent. Halo couldn't see who was speaking clearly because the vines were blocking his view, but whoever it was proceeded to talk to the vines as if they could somehow speak back. "Tristan, why are you attacking him?" The stranger demanded. The vines didn't answer, of course, even though the stranger waited for a response. "You should know better," he continued after a pause, "they're here with Albus. Now get out of here. Yes, I'm sure, now go."
None of the vines said anything of any kind, but the stranger had almost certainly been talking to them. Apparently they could understand, because after a brief hesitation all the vines slipped back below the lake. Halo was beyond confused, and when he caught sight of the person who had saved him his mouth dropped open. The whole world had gone mad; that was the only thing that made sense.
The stranger was a boy no older than Halo, although he was nearly a good two inches taller than him. He had bright red Weasley hair that was just visible under a muggle bicycle helmet. Halo wasn't sure why the boy was wearing a helmet, but it was hardly the only strange thing he was wearing. For some reason, he had a mask on that Halo was pretty sure was used by people who raised bees to keep themselves from getting stung. The boy was wearing a raincoat that covered his neck and torso, but he also had pillows duct-taped to his chest and back. He was wearing jeans, blue rain boots and heavy winter mittens that had red reindeer stitched on the hands. Tied to his right arm was a toilet lid that looked like it was some kind of shield, and in his left hand he held a broomstick that looked so old that Halo was pretty sure if anyone tried to fly on it the broom would snap right in two.
"Al! How are you?" The boy said excitedly, dropping his broom and clapping Albus on the back hard. He took of his bee mask and flashed them all a big grin. If he thought that it was strange that Albus had shown up suddenly at his house when he was supposed to be at school, he didn't say so.
"Er, Sammie, why exactly are you wearing…" Albus asked weakly rubbing his back, but Sammie Weasley was no longer interested in him. His attention was wholly focused on Cassy, who was trying her hardest not to stare at the boy with her mouth open.
"Huh-hello, hi," the boy said nervously, fumbling over the words and blushing furiously. "I'm… my name's Samuel Weasley... but you can call me Sammie. It's what my friends call me. Who… what's your name?"
"Cassy," Halo's sister stammered, still trying to wrap her mind around what the boy was wearing. She seemed to be having the most trouble with the pillow duct-taped across this chest.
"Wait, you're Albus's great uncle?" Halo asked as he finally came to join them. Sammie blinked in confusion before bursting out laughing.
"What?" Sammie managed to say between fits of laughter. "No, of course not! That's my Pa, Samuel Weasley III. He's working right now, see. I'm only ten years old, and I'm definitely nobody's great uncle." Sammie finally managed to stop laughing. His voice grew almost serious, and he stood up straight, albeit in a clearly exaggerated manner. "The name's Samuel Joseph Weasley IV, at your service," he bowed low, like a noble lord or something, but as soon as he looked at Cassy he started blushing again and straightened very quickly, looking embarrassed.
"An honour to meet you, Lord Samuel," Cassy said, curtsying with a mischievous little smile. "I am the Lady Cassandra, and this is my manservant, Harold of Wiggins."
"Sammie, just call me Sammie," the boy muttered, sounding very embarrassed.
"And I'm just Halo," Halo muttered, suddenly in a bad mood. He did not like the effect that Cassy was having on the boy, and he liked even less how much she was enjoying herself. "And my big dumb sister is just Cassy."
Cassy gave an exaggerated gasp, fanning herself furiously with her hand as if she were some muggle noblewoman who had just been insulted. After a moment Albus and Cassy started to laugh, and Sammie broke into a wide grin. Halo glared around at the lot of them, still irritated.
After a moment, Sammie straighten up and gave Halo a serious look. "Why did my knights… the vines I mean… why did they attack you when you tried to cross the bridge? They've been trained to leave visitors alone. Did you do something to them?"
"No, nothing, I swear," Halo said, wondering why he'd called them knights. Sammie sure was strange, even for a Weasley. Then again, it must be lonely up here in the valley with no one around. Pretending that he was a lord with knights and a castle and everything wasn't the strangest thing a ten-year-old boy might do to pass the time. "It just happened when I touched one of them."
"That makes no sense," Sammie said with a frown. "They've never done that before."
Halo shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. "It happens sometimes," he muttered quietly. "Living things just don't like me."
Cassy rolled her eyes, while Albus started in surprise and gave him a weird look. Halo scowled at his sister. She was always like this whenever he brought it up.
"It's true!" Halo protested firmly. "Animals go out of their way to attack me all the time! Remember Hannah's dog a few years ago? She said that it had never attacked anyone before, but that didn't stop it from sinking its teeth into-"
"This again?" Cassy said with a sigh, "I thought you'd grown out of it, Halo. Yes, Hannah's dog bit you, grandma's cat doesn't like you much, and that one pigeon pooped on you that one time, but like I've said a million times, Halo, animals do NOT hate you."
"They do!" Halo said, folding his arms suddenly. "And it was more than one pigeon. You just weren't there for the other times."
"So that's why he's so afraid of owls?" Albus said quietly, "I had no idea."
"I'm not afraid-"
"Wait, are you sure animals hate you?" Albus asked sceptically. "Hagrid's dog never attacked you, and neither have any of the owls at school. Maybe-"
"It's only a matter of time," Halo said, his voice surprisingly shrill. "The owls haven't attacked yet because I don't look them in the eyes. They don't attack if you don't look them in the eye. Usually. And Hagrid's wolf-dog hasn't attacked me yet, but I know he's just waiting to sink his teeth…" Halo trailed off into a mutter, shivering and shaking his head to clear it.
Albus exchanged glances with Cassy, and Halo was pretty sure both of them were on the edge of laughter again. That did not improve his mood one bit. He tried to glare at both of them at the same time, but neither of them seemed to notice or care. Sammie didn't join in on the laughter. Instead, he had an unusually serious look on his face.
"Well, cousin Albus, if you're not afraid of owls then maybe you can get rid of the one flying around my living room." Sammie put the beekeeping mask back over his face and gestured at the doorway with his broom.
"That's why you're dressed like that?" Albus asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "Because of an owl? I thought you were hunting the monsters under your bed again."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Al," Sammie muttered, glancing at Cassy for a second before turning away. Halo figured he was probably blushing again under his bee mask. "Ignore him, Cassy, he's talking nonsense. And it's not just an owl. That beast is a monster."
"It is?" squeaked Halo. "I-I'll just stay here then. You lot go on ahead."
"God, you're both hopeless," Cassy said, grabbing them both by the arm and pulling them into the house while Albus followed behind with a big smile on his face. Halo protested furiously, trying to shake off her grip. Sammie Weasley did not seem to mind as much.
As they made their way through the entryway and into the main hallway of the house, things did not get any more normal. The left side of the hall was covered with painted animals that were so bad that Halo wasn't even sure what half the animals were supposed to be. More than a few of them just looked like coloured blobs with ears and a tail.
"These are so embarrassing," muttered a red-faced Albus as they walked through the hall. "I thought your father would have painted these over ages ago."
"Don't be silly, Al," Sammie said with a smile, pointing to a grey blob with what looked like an extra leg coming out of its face "your elephant is a masterpiece."
"Wait, you painted that, Albus?" Cassy said, clearly trying hard not to laugh. "It's, er, very unique."
"That was more than three years ago… I was really little," Albus said, staring straight down so he didn't have to look at any of them. Personally Halo didn't think that three years was all that long ago, but he kept quiet so that he didn't hurt his friend's feelings. "And anyways," Albus continued quietly, "it's not an elephant. It's supposed to be a rhinoceros."
"Oh, blimey, really?" Sammie said sounding surprised, "You do know that their horns, um, point up and not down, right?"
"Of course I do… now," Albus said under his breath before quickly pointing to what looked like a horribly painted yellow flower with a face and a tail. "Still, it's not as bad as Rose's lion."
"That's supposed to be a lion?" Halo said in delight. "That's awful!" He couldn't wait to rub this in her face the next time he saw her.
"Oh, wow, who made this?" Cassy asked quietly, stopping in front of an amazingly accurate snake that someone had painted on the wall. Halo had never seen a child's drawing that was even half as good. Its eyes seemed to follow you as you walked by it. Halo shuddered and looked away very quickly.
"My sister painted that one." Albus said, staring at the painting with a smile.
"Wait, Lily painted that… three years ago?" Halo was stunned. She would have been only six at the time.
"She has a real gift," Albus said, still smiling proudly. Sammie nodded in agreement while Halo and Cassy exchanged looks of disbelief. Being artistic was one thing, but neither of them had ever heard of a six-year-old quite that talented.
After staring at the painting for a few more seconds, they continued through Sammie's house, which was full of strange things everywhere you looked. All the rooms in Samuel Weasley's house were messy, unorganized, and full of enough cool things that Halo thought he might have been able to spend a whole day exploring each one. There was a room with three long, wooden tables, all of which were covered with more than a few stains and scorch marks from potions that pretty clearly hadn't come out quite right. It smelled… unique. There was another room, maybe the dining room, where dozens of old broomsticks lined the wall and there was a big table with wheels instead of legs. The table was covered with so many papers, sketches and books that there didn't seem to be any room for eating, but even so a half-empty pizza box sat on top of a pile of books, looking like it might fall over any minute. Albus and Sammie both glanced at the stack topped with the pizza box, but neither moved it to a safer position so Halo figured it was nothing unusual. Halo glanced at his sister, who was staring at the mess around her with disbelief and horror on her face. Halo almost turned to ask Sammie why his mother let the house get this messy before realizing that no one had mentioned his mother at all. There was a pretty good chance, he realized, that Sammie's mother wasn't around, and Sammie might not want to talk about her. Suddenly, he was very glad he hadn't asked.
They came at last to the living room, which had jars, boxes, crates and barrels of all different kinds placed seemingly at random, most of which seemed to be filled with brightly coloured powder. There was an empty fireplace on one wall, but Halo ignored it. His eyes were focused on a large brown owl that sat menacingly on the edge of one of the barrels filled with bright orange powder. Halo immediately took a step backwards as the owl hooted in his direction. Cassy and Albus both said afterwards that it was a perfectly ordinary owl's hoot, but to Halo it sounded angry and aggressive. He backed up quickly, colliding with Sammie who was entering the room behind him, and both boys fell over in a tangled heap.
"Phaethon!" Albus said loudly, sounding very confused. Halo was even more confused as he sat up, rubbing his head and wondering why Albus was shouting nonsense. Albus had crossed the room, and was actually petting the feathery monster, grinning stupidly.
"This is Teddy's owl, Phaethon," he said over his shoulder as the other looked confused. "I have absolutely no idea what he's doing here though…" Albus trailed off as the beast hooted again and lifted its sharp left claw, which had a letter tied to the end of it. It was addressed to Albus.
"H-how did that thing know you were going to be here?" Halo asked shrilly. "I mean, it got here before we did? How did it know?"
"Delivery owls are magical creatures," Cassy said, but she sounded a little surprised herself. "They always know where to go to deliver whatever they have to. I heard Mum say once that the best owls could deliver to where the person the letter was addressed to was going to be, but I've never seen it before."
Albus reached over and took the letter, opened it and began to read. Cassy made her way over to read over his shoulder, but Halo and Sammie stayed where they were and exchanged wide-eyed, nervous looks. Halo knew the other boy had to be thinking the same thing he was. The owls had finally become so advanced that they might decide very soon that they didn't need their human masters anymore. When the owls rose up to take over the world, who would stop them? Halo shuddered, while Sammie shifted uneasily under his beekeeping mask and gripped his broom tightly.
Halo was so focused on his own dark thoughts that he didn't notice at first that Albus and Cassy were talking excitedly. He shook his head to clear it as Cassy raced towards him, her face anxious.
"Halo, you'd better read this," She said, handing him the letter. Halo reached out and took it, feeling surprised. It had only been a few weeks, but with everything that had happened it felt like they had given Grayson Vance's book to Ted forever ago. Had he really found something that could help them? Halo turned the letter over and started to read.
Dear Albus, James, Rosie and Company,
I hope you are well, and doing your best to stay out of trouble. I may not have been totally convinced at first, but the more of this book I read the more certain I am that you are right. I have translated almost all of it, and even though there has been no specific mention of any way to set the sky on fire, there are so many troubling and disturbing rites and spells in this book that I am sure that anyone with a knowledge of this "blood magic" would be able to do some serious damage. I wish I could tell you more, but there are too many things that I still do not understand. I have done some of my own research here at the Sion Magic Academy, but so far I haven't been able to piece together how someone would use blood magic to do it. Have you learned anything else about what this ritual might be or who might be behind it? If so, send a reply with Phaethon as soon as you can, so that I can tell you what I know. I do not mean to worry you, but I am afraid we might not have much time. I hope to hear from you soon.
Ted Lupin
Halo gulped nervously, looking around at the others. He didn't need Ted to tell him time was running out, their conversation with Fisher had convinced him of that already. Cassy was frowning, deep in thought, while Albus was pacing back and forth nervously. Sammie was looking back and forth between the three of them, probably trying to figure out what was going on.
"We don't have time to send a letter and then wait for a response," Cassy sighed. "We already know that whoever is behind this is targeting Hogwarts, and that as soon as witches and wizards start dying it might already be too late. If only we had some way to talk to Ted now."
Sammie stirred at that, looking over with a thoughtful look on his face. It helped, somewhat, that he had taken his beekeeper mask and bicycle helmet off. "You need to talk to Teddy Lupin? I might be able to help with that."
The other three turned to stare at him. "How?" Cassy asked, careful not to get her hopes up. After all, the pillow duct-taped across the boy's chest didn't exactly inspire confidence.
"Floo powder of course," Sammie said, smiling. Halo grinned widely. That could work! Halo had seen people talk to each other using the Floo Network without actually travelling, but he had never done it himself. As far as he knew, all you had to do was put your head in the fire place, and you could talk to whoever you wanted. Halo and Albus looked at each other excitedly, but Cassy sighed and shook her head.
"It won't work," she said sadly, "Ted isn't in Britain. He's away at school in Switzerland. Professor Clearwater told us in class that the Floo Network only connects fireplaces in Britain. Everything else is too far away."
Halo sighed, disheartened, but to his surprise Sammie gave them a shy grin and said, "That's not exactly true." When the others gave him nothing but blank stares, he cleared his throat and continued. "From what my pa said, each country has its own Floo Network because the Ministries of Magic, er, frown on travel between countries by the Floo Network because they would have no way to regulate who comes in or out of the country. Pa says that if the Ministry wasn't busy coming up with things to count and new rules for people to follow, they'd all be out of a job." Albus frowned and looked like he was about to interrupt, so Sammie hurried on. "Well anyways, the connections between Floo Networks all over the world do exist; Pa says Ministry representatives use them sometimes for official travel. The main problem, though, is that normal Floo Powder isn't strong enough to connect two fireplaces that far away. That's why my Pa and I have been experimenting with different types." Sammie spread his hands wide, indicating all the multi-coloured powders in jars, barrels and crates all around the room. After a moment he went to one of the smaller boxes filled with purple powder and picked it up. "You're not really supposed to use them without permission, but Pa doesn't really like asking the Ministry for permission. If you need to talk to Teddy, I can help you. I mixed this batch myself, although pa did all the enchanting."
They all stared at Sammie for so long that the boy started to look uncomfortable. At last, Cassy said in a small voice. "You… made a new kind of Floo powder? That's incredible."
"Oh, um, yes," Sammie said, blushing furiously and seeming totally unsure what to do with the compliment. "It was nothing, really. My pa showed me how it was done, and he did all the magic."
"Are you… sure you're ten years old?" Cassy asked faintly. Sammie blushed even more, his face nearly as flame red as his hair, and didn't say anything. Albus turned to Cassy and grinned. "Sammie won't admit it, but he's a genius when it comes to making stuff, even without magic. He can fix any muggle machine up like it was new, and I bet after a year or two at Hogwarts he'll be showing the Professors how to do their jobs."
Sammie stammered that that wasn't true, but none of the others bought it. Halo was pretty sure Albus was right. A year ago Halo had been twiddling his thumbs in muggle school, waiting for break. He certainly would never have dreamed of trying to invent anything in his free time. He wasn't jealous or anything, not really, but it did make him feel a bit inadequate. Once again, it did not improve his mood.
"Well, let's give it a try," Halo said quickly trying not to think about how not jealous he was. After all, it was hardly Sammie's fault he was a genius who could do practically anything. Telling himself firmly to snap out of it, Halo grabbed a small handful of powder out of the box Sammie was holding and walked over to the cold fireplace before any of the others moved at all. Before tossing the powder into the fireplace, though, he hesitated.
''Um, what do I do exactly?" Halo asked quietly, looking over his shoulder questioningly. Sammie, naturally, was quick to explain exactly what he should do, even though Halo was a whole year older (at least).
"It's not too hard, really," Sammie said, still sounding embarrassed. "Just toss the powder into the fire and say the name of the place you're trying to reach. Since you are connecting to a foreign Floo Network, you have to say the country you want first. Teddy is studying somewhere in Europe, isn't he?"
"Yeah, Sion Magic Academy in Switzerland," Albus said with a nod.
"Anyways, after you throw the powder in the fireplace, you just sit on your knees and stick your head into the fire," Sammie continued as if sticking your head into fireplaces was totally normal.
"Er, is that safe?" Halo said nervously. Sammie blinked in surprise, as if he had never thought about that before. After a few seconds he shrugged and said, "Usually. The connection between far away Floo Networks isn't always as stable as it is in here in Britain, but that powder should be strong enough."
"Halo," Cassy said, flashing Halo her worried-big-sister look that she had used so often recently, "Maybe I should be the one-"
Halo didn't let her finish. He tossed the purple powder into the fireplace. Purple flames hissed as they suddenly flared up out of nowhere. They looked just as hot as normal fire, and Halo gulped nervously. He heard Cassy clear her throat behind him and knew that she was about to volunteer again, so stubbornly he sank to his knees in front of the fire.
"Switzerland!" Halo said loudly, and the purple flames rose up higher, which Halo took as an answer. Halo wondered vaguely where Switzerland was, somewhere near Germany he thought. That seemed quite a long way away. Was Sammie sure his powder was strong enough to reach that far? What if it wasn't?
Realizing he was just stalling, Halo sighed and, as loudly as he could, said, "Sion Magic Academy!" The purple flames danced and hissed, and, with one last deep breath, Halo stuck his head in the fire.
