Chapter Thirty-Six

Poetic License

After a little wheeling and dealing and a minimal amount of sweet-talking, Jennifer was able to get Frank Byrd to sit in for her Monday classes so that she could help Sue Williams enforce the "No phones, cameras, or Wiznet devices" sign that was taped to her classroom door. The moment the bell rang, Jennifer slipped into the classroom, smiling and taking a seat by the door so that she could let in stragglers who had forgotten and had been asked to go to their lockers or rooms to stuff their phones away.

Finally they were all settled and Sue took attendance, and then noticed was someone else sitting by the whiteboard that must have come in by way of the garden; a young, handsome, auburn-haired wizard with blue eyes so light that they were almost white.

"Now as you may recall, I promised you a special guest this week, although I really don't think you understand yet just how special this is. Because we have in our presence someone who is known for refusing to make public appearances," Sue said. "Fortunately for us, Ms. Craw pulled some strings to arrange this special treat for us today, so that you can meet one of the poets we've been reading during our wizard poet studies. So, without further ado, I would like to introduce Mr. Janus Edgar."

There were a few sounds of surprise and even eager hands grabbing their Volume I collections out of the book bags... especially the girls... while some of the boys looked completely perturbed by the fact that the poet responsible for some of the romantic poetry that the girls were so into right now was so irritatingly good looking. Jennifer stifled a chuckle after catching some of the glances, and then looked over at her brother with a proud smile.

"It's nice to be here. Actually, as your teacher said, I'm not used to public appearances at all, so I hope you bear with me," Janus admitted. "I thought since you've been reading my first book, we could have a question and answer session, and maybe go over some of the poems you liked the best."

"Okay, but I have a question first," Sue said, when a lot of hands went up very quickly. "Can you tell us how you got into poetry in the first place?"

"Well, when I was younger... before I entered wizard school, actually... a friend of my father came to stay with us who was a literature professor at a non-magic university," he explained. "I was pretty curious about him and about what he did in general, and I probably went a bit overboard when it came to questioning him. I think he handed me the first collection of poetry to get rid of me for awhile, actually," Janus said, getting a chuckle from the students. "Anyway, it was one of the few he had on hand with illustrations, you see, and it was an Anthology of Edgar Allan Poe. Honestly, looking back on it, it wasn't exactly age appropriate, but that just made me want to read it more. The first poem I read was The Raven, and after that, I was pretty hooked. I moved onto Longfellow after that, Frost, and then Twain, and a few other American poets. The professor in question noticed I was gravitating towards narrative poems, so he handed me Lord Tennyson to get me onto the right side of the pond," he said with a grin. "Slowly he worked me out of narrative poetry and into other forms, and that's when I started experimenting with some of my own. And the more interested I got, the less he kicked me out of his room when I wanted to ask him about poetry. He's been my mentor, editor, and publicist ever since," Janus explained. Sue glanced over at the raised hands with a smile.

"Jonathan?" Sue called.

"Just how does one get started if they don't have the advantage of a live-in literature professor?" he asked dryly, and a few of the other students laughed at that. But Janus simply smiled.

"Well, you get a piece of paper and a quill, and you write what's in your heart," Janus advised. "Find someone to critique you if you can so you can make it better, like a teacher or someone else who shares your interest, or even a Wiznet peer group if you're into that sort of thing. Then you send it off to a publisher and pretend it doesn't matter to you when it gets rejected over... and over... and over again. If you're lucky, you might get paid for it, but even if you don't, as long as you write for the right reasons, it's not going to matter. Write because you want to, or because you love it, or if something inside you just tells you that you just have to write."

"Will?" Sue asked.

Will Mason, who looked quite nonplussed the entire time, said, "Why not just make a Wizardnet site and throw your poetry up there, and then just ask for donations or something?"

"You could try that if you want. I'm not on the Wizardnet myself," Janus admitted. "I don't even own a device." The class stared at him like he was from another planet. "My father has a computer in the house, but I don't really use it," he added for good measure when he noticed the strange reception.

"Sofia?" Sue called.

"Where do you get your inspiration from?" she asked with a dreamy smile.

"Oh, well that should be obvious from my poetry, really. My family first and foremost, nature, and love when it comes to some of my sonnets and classical forms," Janus replied.

"Ms. Craw?" Sue said with a smile.

"Who are your favorite poets?" Jennifer asked, knowing he'd been waiting for someone to ask him that.

"Edgar Allan Poe, for certain. Emily Dickinson's flower poems, Shakespeare, Lord Byron, and Thomas Moore," Janus said with a smile. "And I suppose if I had to pick a Wizard poet, I'd probably pick Godric Gryffindor, or Ingolfr, I suppose."

"Was Gryffindor a poet?" Sue asked with interest.

"I'm positive that he must have been," Janus replied. "You see, the Sorting Hat, one of Hogwart's artifacts, says a rhyme at the beginning of each year. It doesn't have much to do with its actual function, which is to sort students into their different house rooms. So it is my belief that Gryffindor was probably a poet back in the day, and since he wore the Hat for years before he charmed it, it probably got it from him."

Jennifer found herself staring at her brother, realizing that he had just made a very good point that she hadn't ever thought of before. Just how was the Hat able to create those rhymes every year? That sort of creativity couldn't have come out of nowhere. And just how did the Hat come up with its predictions or ancient historic events when it got in a mood to use those as inspiration for its annual recitation? The more she thought about it, the more she began to wonder. Suddenly there was a beam of the light on her. Looking up to see that the door was open a crack, Jennifer blinked when she saw it was Aurelius standing there fixing his gaze on her. Jennifer waited until he was into the next question of his preferred poetic forms before she slipped out the door, closing it silently after her. There was already a Sonic Shield outside the door.

"What's wrong? Did someone figure out who Janus Edgar is?" Jennifer asked.

"Does Wind and that teacher in there count?" Aurelius asked.

"Oh, no, not really. Wind knew before he came, and Sue figured out we were closely related when she saw us together, but they'll both keep it quiet," Jennifer replied.

"Fine, if the two of you aren't worried about that, then I'm not. And although I was sent here by Father to help guard the door because he knew you'd want to be inside listening in, that wasn't the why I pulled you out of there. Did something come up in class about the Sorting Hat for some reason?" he asked.

"Yes, he mentioned Gryffindor when he was talking about his favorite poets, and speculated that he must have been one..." Jennifer murmured. Aurelius let out a sharp exhale.

"Then could you please ask him to not mention that again?" Aurelius asked irritably.

"I can. And I'm sure he will if we ask," Jennifer admitted. "But I have to admit it has me thinking. Just what is going on with that Hat? I've always just taken it for granted that it was simply behaving within it charm... the one Gryffindor put on it, and then something like a relative perspective charm to give it its personality. But the more that I thought about his point with the poetry, the more obvious it became that it has to be more than that. How can it possibly have that much independent thought?"

"Mum, you need to stop asking questions about it and simply start taking it for granted again. You're about to uncover part of the secret that is keeping Quintin safe from the Maxens," Aurelius said firmly. Gasping softly and paling at how much time Quintin and that Hat were spending together, Jennifer nodded reluctantly.

"Just tell me that whatever the secret is, Quintin is safe," Jennifer said evenly.

"Yes, I think so. He's definitely safer keeping him in the Pact than it is if he loses that protection," Aurelius assured her, his thoughts squarely on how dangerous he thought the Maxens truly were.

"You're right. I'll drop it," Jennifer said, and Aurelius nodded to her thinly.

"Anyway, I planning on sticking around all day to make sure nobody finds out about Janus Edgar that isn't supposed to," Aurelius said.

"Alright. Then I'll go plug that leak. Will you come to lunch with us at Kingler's?" Jennifer asked.

"Sounds great," Aurelius replied. "And yes, you might as well invite your friend too, since she's going to figure out the specifics of who Janus is either way."

"Then I will," Jennifer agreed with a chuckle, slipping back inside.

It didn't take more than a quiet word to Maurice for him to agree not to mention Gryffindor again, and the next class went off without a hitch, even through Maurice found himself repeating a lot of the same answers, sometimes with more and sometimes with less information than the first time around. He was more than ready for a break when it was finally lunchtime, and he was also grateful that they were going somewhere well out of the area so that he could relax for a bit.

"You can definitely relax here, Uncle Maurice, it's well protected," Aurelius agreed as they stepped into Kingler's and took the back booth. Jennifer smiled at the choice, remembering how often Mycroft had sat there, knowing now that he did so so that he could duck back into the hallway next to the bathroom if someone unexpected came in. "And nobody will come in that's unexpected," he added for good measure.

"Yes I know," Jennifer said contentedly.

"So your name is Maurice, then?" Sue asked with a smile, sitting down.

"She had already guessed you were a Craw," Aurelius explained to Maurice. "Don't worry, she won't say anything."

"No, of course not! If you did, I'd never be able to invite you back," Sue said with a chuckle.

"Sue, this is my brother, Maurice, and Auror Snape's first name is Aurelius, he's one of my son's."

"That one I figured out," Sue admitted with a grin.

"Hello, Rel! Hello, Jennifer!" Jenny said, walking up with a smile. "Drinks?"

"Darjeeling with lemon," Maurice said.

"Sounds good to me too," Aurelius agreed.

"Coffee," Jennifer replied.

"Same here," Sue said.

"Two teas and two coffees, got it," Jenny said, heading to the back.

"Nice place, it has a nostalgic feel to it," Sue said once they got their drinks.

"Quite intentionally," Jennifer chuckled. "We keep it up to date on some things, but the menu really hasn't changed that much over the years."

"We?" Sue asked.

"Yes, Rel and I are partial owners, along with most of my family and many of the people living in the neighborhood, actually," Jennifer explained. "Sally Kingler is the primary owner, I'm sure she'll be out to say hello when she has the time."

"Speaking of which, what would you recommend, Jennifer?" Maurice asked.

"You probably wouldn't mind the fish and chips here, Maurice," Jennifer suggested.

"Oh, you haven't been here either?" Sue asked curiously.

"No, I was planning to the last time I was in New York, but something came up and I never had the chance," Maurice explained. I've only eaten at the hotel."

"Hotel?" Sue asked.

"Yes, Coven Suites. Do you know it?" Maurice asked curiously.

"I've heard of them, sure, who hasn't, but I don't know the specific one you mean," Sue replied. "Typically my husband and I only visit here one time a year to do Christmas shopping for the kids, but only for a day trip."

"New York City is a great place for it," Jennifer replied with a grin. "This is where I've been shopping all the time since I've been teaching at Whitebridge, actually, not to mention for Coven Nights and order meetings."

"Well, if you ever need a place to stay, head to the main hotel on Central Park West, Jennifer, I'll make sure they keep a room open for you," Maurice suggested, and Jennifer beamed at him.

"Thank you, Maurice. I just may have to take you up on that sometime as late as some of those order meetings go," Jennifer replied.

"Oh? Are you in hotel management?" Sue asked curiously.

"Just my wife is, really, although I do sit on the board, of course," Maurice explained.

"What he means is, they own it," Aurelius translated. Sue dropped the spoon she had been stirring her coffee with.

"Well, Beth, her brother, and I own it," Maurice corrected. "It's a long story, but we were forced to buy the remaining shareholders out and privatize the whole company, and boy was it a mess. If it wasn't for Lucky and Jeffers hand-holding us through the process, I don't know how we would have gotten through it."

"Lucky?" Sue repeated. "Oh, Lucky Chance, I bet. I remember reading once she was Snape's adopted daughter. Jennifer, just how do you keep up with it all?" she exclaimed and Jennifer laughed at that, but never got a chance to reply since Sally had come to take their order and to meet Sue and Maurice.