Book 4: Astoria Greengrass and the Curse of Quennell Park
Song rec: "The Big Sky (Meteorological Mix)" by Kate Bush
"Draw a monster. Why is it a monster?"
- "Daughter," J. Lee
"The grief knocks me over,
Like mid-day waves against the rocks,
And now I am a hollow body of devotion,
I tend to my grief like a garden
On my hands and knees,
and watch it
Grow into weeds.
At least there is life here somewhere."
- scully (hellopoetry)
Though the thunder was quieter than the howls of the monster, it made its presence known. The storm broke fresh upon them in a beautiful downpour, and the next blast of the demon's fire fizzled out to splotches of bloody ash against their Shield.
"Aha! Didn't think of this, did you, Euphemia?" Professor Sinistra said, all for her morale, since there was no way Euphemia would hear them.
But the wind still pulled them toward the drop-off. Without the threat of instant incineration if she were to make the slightest mistake, Narcissa was able to spare a second to reinforce the Shield.
"Astoria, let the clouds go so you can help her!" Professor Sinistra instructed.
Astoria cast Freezing Charms upon the heated rock beneath them. Even though the ice melted instantly, their feet stopped burning. She set a second round of Sticking Charms upon them all, hoping they wouldn't be swept again. There was a thin line between being held securely and not being able to walk again, but she managed to figure it out. Anything helped, she thought. Anything helped when your opponent had foregone the manners of duelling and went straight to summoning sea-demons. Once they had their bearing on the cliff again, Astoria cast her Atmospheric Charm out to the panicked ocean, and seized the cloud she and Professor Sinistra had manipulated.
"Do you have it?" Professor Sinistra asked.
"It's difficult at this distance, Professor. I don't have it well!"
"You don't need to hold it so still anymore! I want you to let it rotate now! In fact, help it rotate!"
"Rotate it?" Astoria asked.
"Rotate it?" Narcissa echoed.
"Did I stutter‽" Professor Sinistra exclaimed.
Astoria missed the soft, muddy ground of the Hogwarts battlefield, since there was no way to dig her feet deeper into this rock. No Sticking Charm could make her feel braced enough to perform the colossal task of wrenching the raining cloud in a circular fashion, especially as it got heavier by the second. The demon continued to send fire from its cavernous mouth, and even though the flames no longer reached them, the heat and the smell did. The flame met the rain, making echoing hisses across the seascape as it turned into more steam. Narcissa's Shield was spotted with bloody ash, one of the many problems that obscured Astoria's vision from the very thing at which she was supposed to aim.
"Professor… I'm sorry, but I think I'm messing something up!" Astoria exclaimed as she felt the cloud begin to get away from her magic.
"You are! You are! Good job! Keep doing that!" Professor Sinistra shouted back confusingly.
"Professor, what‽ I'm messing up the spell!"
"Yes, exactly, I need you to!" Professor Sinistra said as another round of boiling steam collided with the Shield. "That's why I gave you such a big job! There's no way it will work from here! With some agitation…"
Astoria suddenly felt a horrible snap of her magic breaking, and Narcissa gasped. The demon in the sea had rolled its head back towards the sky, and its fiery eyes no longer reached them but watched the clouds. Narcissa made her Shield transparent again, and through the dark droplets, Astoria peered out to the storm. A dark discolouration formed in the boiling water near the creature, and in the clouds above, a needle-point cloud dipped down.
"A fucking tornado‽" Astoria screamed.
"A fucking waterspout!" beamed the professor.
With as lissom a body as the demon, the waterspout danced into a dark grey vein, and kicked up high, white spray from the water. With such immense power, the monster was indifferent to the phenomenon, but Euphemia was not. Her own glowing eyes met the form of the dangerously close spout, and she began rolling her arms to encourage the monster away.
But with an incredible howl, the demon arched its long back and raised its ugly fins out of the water. It was too large to traverse the maze of rocks near the cliff without cutting its own gut and dissented with Euphemia's instruction. However, it still dived with her back into the water and emerged the closest to them it had been yet. Astoria could see the ridges within its scales and the green sea flora tangled in Euphemia's hair. Then she was blinded: the monster had a second pair of sun-bright eyes opening up in slits below the jaw. These eyes were more sinister. There was something about them that made one look deeper… a hypnotic effect that showed the heart's worst desires, even more violating than that old, enchanted mirror…
"Don't look at it, Malfoy!" Professor Sinistra screamed, apparently having more faith in Astoria's willpower.
Scrunching her eyelids shut against the four blinding searchlights, Professor Sinistra pointed her wand at her own face, and then drew it upward to the opening in the Shield, at the sky once more.
"Orgone adiuramentum!" she said, and the monster's frying lights shot sideways out of view.
With the unpredicted ascendancy of the professor's spell, the waterspout expanded and, by the sound of the wind, reached speeds no normal waterspout would. Professor Sinistra had gained total control of the thing, which was a testament to her power, since Astoria had lost her hold on Atmospheric magic the moment the funnel had formed.
The rain now came in torrents, not only from the cumulonimbus they had created, but from every cloud as far as the eye could see. Narcissa was forced to raise the bottom of the Shield, so that the rainwater entering their dome could run back out. The thousand voices from the creature screamed again from the frustration of a storm it had not caused, and Professor Sinistra danced the waterspout directly into its mouth, ravaging its forked tongue and the cord that held Euphemia. The demon careened, trying to swim away from the weather, and the whole sky looked like it was flashing as its bright eyes went everywhere.
"GRAB THAT CLOUD AGAIN!" Professor Sinistra shouted as the demon tried to swim away.
"CUMULONIMBUS MOMENTUM!" Astoria cast, and she instantly felt like she was doing one-armed push-ups. It was a tightrope walk between letting it rotate and letting it get away.
"KEEP IT OVER THE DEMON!" Professor Sinistra instructed, but she really didn't have to. Astoria had figured that much out.
It was no longer fire, steam, or blinding eyes that obscured her view, but the rain. Astoria had seen some bad storms over the years, but she had never seen the sky sob like this. The ocean had no discernible horizon or sea level anymore, as it was all splattering grey-blue paint. Then, without warning, Narcissa's Bubble-Head Charms broke, and the cold rain hit Astoria's eyes, weighing down her lashes, and it looked like they had been the ones underwater, not Euphemia. There was no longer any flame at all coming from the demon's suffering mouth. Euphemia was still holding on, but she was hunkered down between the bony horns, and the rain was running rivers down the creature's face. Astoria had a strange feeling, and the closest she could compare it to would be the sensation of being next to a Patronus. Was it the professor's magic?
"REMOVE THE SHIELD!" Professor Sinistra commanded to a very reluctant Narcissa, and to get any cooperation, she had to add the explanation, "I NEED FULL RANGE!"
Narcissa's Shield dissolved, and they felt the rush of wind. Professor Sinistra's arms crossed over and under one another repeatedly as she used both her hand and wand to manipulate the sky. Meanwhile, Astoria held the cloud over the demon and its summoner so that their assault could continue. Professor Sinistra twisted the waterspout onto the head of the monster, and each time, it dived under the water to rise again at a different spot, Euphemia flailing all over the place.
"It's missing Euphemia!" Narcissa exclaimed as the waterspout hit the creature's neck.
"I am trying my best!" Professor Sinistra retorted.
Her braided bun was coming undone in the wind and rain, and everyone's clothes were sodden and cold. Yet Astoria still lassoed the cloud, and the professor still wrenched the sky down upon the demon.
"Cumulonimbus momentum!" Narcissa cast at the same cloud to help Astoria as the monster panicked and moved all over the waves, making it hard to follow.
The waterspout swelled and roared, and Professor Sinistra's arm trembled. She dragged the spout to the ugly, tooth-bared face, and the force of the storm finally hit Euphemia's body. The impact of nature upon her was amazing. Euphemia's falling form was like a flag torn from a ship, and she hit the water with a tiny splash.
The demon's immeasurably long body, though, rose above the water and splashed down headfirst into the ocean, and the impact separated the sea again. It produced a wave bigger than any wave the tides would make of their own accord. Narcissa grabbed Astoria, and Astoria grabbed Professor Sinistra, and they tried to Apparate again out of desperation, but it would not work. Narcissa undid the Sticking Charms, and they all tried to run before the ocean would splash hot over Rowle Ridge.
The wave broke loudly against the face of the cliff, and the burning water came up to Astoria's ankles for a moment, smelling awful, but there was no flood. It receded and was gone. They all paused and breathed for one minute, standing in the rain. The waterspout died, having been broken up by the sea's final parting. The ocean stopped bubbling and sizzling, though it remained confused and unnatural. There was no sign of the creature. Professor Sinistra looked at the sky, and Narcissa looked at the sea, leaving Astoria the only one of them staring at the edge of the salt-tortured cliff. A bad taste salted her mouth.
As she had suspected from the beginning, they still had unwanted company other than the demon and its pet Euphemia. Astoria was met with no haunted sound, no dread sight, no chill of the spine, but she could not remove her attention from the spot. She lamented that she was sensitive to such things, and she deeply resented the Carrows' desire to harass her even after death. Her eyes would not listen to her will any longer, and she remained fixated on the line dividing the rock's edge from the span of water. She was unable to break free. True to what Rabastan had accused, Astoria started making excuses for herself, except this time, the excuses were correct.
I tried to help you both. You didn't want help. You wanted someone to take it out on.
A cold sweat descended upon Astoria's already-dysregulated body.
I wouldn't have killed you if you weren't going to kill your own family. You were wrong. I have nothing for you. Let me go. Let me go.
Her request, as expected, went ignored, and her eyes still would not move. She wanted to disconnect from this memory. She wanted to close this chapter of her life. Never again did she want to smell Alecto's oxtail soup or see the veins in Amycus's violent hands. She wanted to celebrate Euphemia's fall and admire the sky with Professor Sinistra.
"Astoria?" Professor Sinistra uttered, touching her shoulder. It was no use. Astoria was held captive yet again, no longer in a hotel or office, but in the fabric between worlds. The spirits smothered her in glue, because their family tree was riddled with toxic resin, and she had been the only one who tried to salvage amber.
What the hell do you want from me? she demanded.
A pang. She realised that was not the right question.
Why are you trying to warn me…?
Streams of water continued to glisten along the rock by the drop-off. Then something smacked upon it from below. Something alive.
"She's there!" Astoria screamed, breaking the other witches' false sense of security.
They all started firing curses in the direction of Euphemia's body as she hoisted herself back on land and crawled on her belly towards them. Her tangled hair and writhing movements made her look like a sea serpent herself. She was entirely covered with the pages left from her grimoire, her face an ink- and blood-splattered découpage. The image of her was so frightening that Astoria lost the ability to strategise. Euphemia rose and moved closer, and there was nowhere to run, no good way to duel. Without any line of sight through the clinging, wet paper of her grimoire, Euphemia simply absorbed the curses, which became flowering sigils on her pages. If curses wouldn't work, another type of spell would be the line between life and death…
"Cumulonimbus momentum!" Astoria cast, because deep within, she remembered Professor Sinistra saying to never use Atmospheric magic on a person. But Euphemia didn't seem very much like a person. She was a horror.
Astoria finally discovered why a licence was needed to use Atmospheric magic. All of the ink, blood, and water from Euphemia's skin flung off in tiny droplets. Astoria could only imagine what was happening to the water content within Euphemia's body.
Euphemia flung into the air, juddering as if she were a piece of dust in a glass vacuum, and then smacked hard against the rocky ground. Narcissa ran forward and held the cherry wand ready above the sea witch.
"Her neck has snapped," said Narcissa, and she used the tip of the wand to tear the grimoire sheets from Euphemia's dead face.
Astoria caved from the pressure of Professor Sinistra's arms round her, and she buried her nose into her sleeve and cried, but she couldn't feel her tears make any difference as the rain continued to pelt them. Would her life be normal after all this? Would she ever unsee it? Was she grown now, was she a witch? Was this war over, was there no more?
For good measure, Narcissa bound up the body tightly and followed by transfiguring it into a bone, which she handed off to Sinistra. Narcissa was the only one with enough wit left to get out of the rain, and she walked under the awning of the A-frame house. Astoria heard the door open behind them. Ahead, the sea and its haunts had gone quiet.
"Let's go get the child," Professor Sinistra said, wiping rain off of her face only for it to be covered with more.
They sloshed their way over to the house, where all of Euphemia's magic had broken, and they met Narcissa in the entryway. She cast Hot-Air Charms upon them, and they were blown comfortably dry, though their hair fluffed out like Puffskein fur. The interior of the house was a bit strange, partially due to its owner and partially due to its triangular shape. The walls were a muted grey, with some artfully exposed wood. There was a large water clock in the centre of the living area, and a potted plant in a window, but otherwise no decorations. In fact, the living area only had plain wooden chairs with no cushions. It was more disturbed than an ascetic lifestyle; it seemed that Euphemia had wilfully deprived herself of normal articles of living in order to exacerbate her feelings of covetousness for the world and the people around her. She owned one pewter cauldron and one clay bowl. In fact, the only thing she seemed to have more than one of were unsavoury texts, sitting atop the table by the hearth.
In the back corner of the house, the source of the sound Astoria had heard earlier was singing a doleful song. It was a thin, black-green bird with a hunched back, rattling and gnawing its cage between cries. Its voice had an equal amount of timbre and emotion as a Doppelvanga's, except its song was decidedly eerie and sad.
"That's an Augurey," Professor Sinistra mentioned. "I thought I heard one sing of rain earlier."
Narcissa led them up the stairs, with her wand out for safety. The house naturally constricted into a smaller space at the top level, where Euphemia's very plain bedroom held only a mattress, directly on the floor, and a closet, which was sure to be quite empty. There was a bathroom without plumbing, similar to the one in the cave where Astoria had spent her Easter holiday. Euphemia must have constantly conjured water from her wand for daily living. What a terrible place to grow up in. Astoria, having almost forgotten about the baby during her encounter with the demon at sea, was now viciously eager to meet the child and take her away to a new life.
When they opened the door to the makeshift nursery, they saw the figure of the infant Levitating above her cot, wriggling uncomfortably. Astoria had never Levitated out of her cot, and that was one of the many warning signs that she would not have what her parents believed to be "adequate" magic. Delphini was crying, but Euphemia must have Silenced her overnight. How cruel. Astoria hurried forward and gently took the child from the air and into her arms. She studied her sad, red face. Astoria was half-expecting an egg tooth to be on Delphini's lip, so it was fantastic to see an absolutely normal infant. Yet even if Delphini hadn't been "normal," she deserved a normal life. Astoria cradled her closely, and soothingly rubbed her fuzzy, dark hair.
"Mrs Malfoy, please undo the spell on her," Astoria said, since she would never point the silver lime wand at a baby even though it belonged to her now.
Narcissa took the cherry and let the baby speak her pain, and it was a very loud and distressing noise, but Delphi had every right to let it be known. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and tears sneaked out of them. She was covered in snot and spit, which Astoria wiped with her sleeve. Like the other rooms, one wall was steeply slanted, and natural illumination came in through the skylight. This room had the most items, and it could not have been more obvious that they were all from Bellatrix. There were baby toys that Delphi had not yet grown into, a basket of tiny clothes, and a rocking chair that had little room to rock on account of the house's shape. But Astoria sat in it and spoke comforting words to Delphi, who would have no idea what she was saying, but would perhaps by some chance enjoy a sound other than Euphemia's voice. Delphini, though, was making another sound in the midst of her cries, and it was not a sound that came from babies, but one that came from angry cats or simmering cauldrons. Astoria was startled. Delphini was really hissing. Narcissa's brow furrowed.
"That child is a Parselmouth," she said.
Astoria caressed Delphi's tiny head as she held it in her hand. Both witches looked at her like Parseltongue was something Astoria ought to be upset about. However, she didn't care about trivial things anymore after having survived that awful war.
"She will be able to communicate with snakes," Professor Sinistra emphasised. "The language of Parseltongue, passed through the bloodline of Salazar Slytherin."
"Mm, okay," Astoria said.
She already knew about that. Rhiannon had told her long ago. Sure, a hissing baby wasn't exactly the most pleasant thing, but Delphini couldn't help it. That must have been why Voldemort kept a snake handy — no one else would listen to him as much.
"It's not 'okay,'" Narcissa spoke up. "Only those descended from Slytherin have this trait. The Dark Lord was his descendant. This child will be identifiable as another descendant, perhaps even identifiable as his daughter. She is an infant; it isn't as though we can tell her to stop hissing."
"Well, we weren't going to put her in the orphanage anyway," Astoria said.
"No, but we may not be able to convince Andromeda to take her now," Professor Sinistra groaned, rubbing her forehead. "It was bad enough that Andromeda would know the child was Bellatrix's, but this… well, now it's obvious this isn't Rodolphus's daughter…"
Astoria looked at Delphi's little red face again and wiped more of her tears and snot.
"She's just a baby. There's nothing evil about her. You both know that, or else we'd never have come here."
"That's true, but…" Narcissa fretted.
"Neither of you have talked to Mrs Tonks," Astoria responded, "but if Mrs Tonks doesn't want her, somebody in my family will."
"Your family?" Narcissa responded, quite sourly considering all they had just endured together. "I highly doubt your family would house a Parselmouth, innocent child or not."
Astoria's mouth twitched.
"Perhaps you're right. In which case, I'd be happy to take her from Professor Sinistra's care once I'm of age."
All those gossips think I'd be her mother anyway, and they don't even know she exists, Astoria thought scathingly. But Delphini was a very real, very needy baby. Astoria didn't even have her own parents back yet. Her life was anything but put together.
There had to be somebody out there who was capable of accepting Delphini for who she was and providing her with a good home. Astoria accepted the baby, but she had said the previous remark to Narcissa only to make a point. She knew she was incapable of being a mother anytime soon.
Delphini opened her eyes, hiccupping and hissing still. Her eyes were dark and wet and shiny. Astoria was completely enthralled with them, and her Legilimency was ever present for the helpless child. There was nothing of note in Delphi's innocent mind except the need for food and the feeling of fright. Astoria was struck with emotion at the utter simplicity of the young life in her arms. Silly tears welled up.
"What's wrong?" Narcissa asked nervously.
"Please, just… find the baby formula. There must be some somewhere, since it was Euphemia most of the time…"
Astoria moved her face away from the baby so that her tears would drip on the rocking chair instead. Professor Sinistra grabbed the soft blanket from the back of the chair and handed it to Astoria to help the wriggling Delphi get more comfortable.
"Do you recall how in Legilimency in Practice, Gwendela said that in ancient times, witches were only trained to use it on babies?" Astoria chatted, sniffling.
"I remember that, yes," Professor Sinistra responded.
"Well, I'm using it, and there's… there's just nothing in this cute little head," Astoria laughed. "She's just scared and hungry, and looking around the room."
Professor Sinistra looked down at the baby and smiled, too.
"Ah, well, she has no sense of self or anything," Professor Sinistra said in amusement.
They weren't laughing at the baby's expense by any means. It was simply funny that they had all begun that way — stupid and hungry and small. Narcissa came back with a heated bottle of formula; it must have been easy to find in a kitchen so sparse.
"She's about to find out if she likes me or not," Astoria grinned, and she fed the fussy baby. When Delphini looked at her, if only because she was something to look at, Astoria fell irretrievably in love.
"Jonah said to [the fish], 'Behold, I have saved thee from the mouth of the Leviathan; show me what is in the sea and in the depths.'"
- The Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer