Omninihil

Chapter 7: Says Who?

Author's Notes: The dream sequence toward the end of the chapter is rather scary, but I don't think it's worse than anything in a Disney movie. Sorry this chapter took so long.


The Omninihil table was subdued during dinner, a little island of quiet amid the boisterous dramas being played out around the other five tables. Odelia felt strangely detached and empty after the varied stimuli of new classes, new faces and new problems. A small but insistent voice in the back of her head demanded "Now what?" Deprived of an answer, Odelia stared vacantly at the food spread before her. Nothing to eat; the menu consisted of heavy foods, victuals that asked for commitment and enthusiasm. Odelia was not prepared to give either and nibbled impassively at a roll. Liam's behavior was similar, though Odelia suspected that it was due to the lack of vegetarian selection rather than emotional dilemma. Kira, by contrast, became more animated with worry; she twirled her hair, rearranged the food on her plate, scratched a mosquito bite on her arm, and made idle observations of the other students.

"Look, the Birds are going to the staff table," was the latest in a chain of these remarks. At Kira's behest, Odelia glanced toward the area where the teachers were seated. There, sure enough, were Linnet and Hyacinth. The aspiring pranksters appeared to be in earnest discussion with Professor Flitwick.

"What do you suppose they're doing?" Liam muttered, his sparkle-blue eyes never leaving the Ravenclaws, which resulted in him knocking Odelia's glass of pumpkin juice to the side.

"Well, he's their Head of House," Odelia replied without skipping a beat as she rescued her beverage. Setting it in its rightful place, she shrugged one shoulder. "They could have a perfectly innocent reason for talking to him." The three Omninihils looked at each other in split-second silence.

"Nah," they decided in perfect unison. With the knowledge that mischief was about to take place, three pairs of eyes - one hazel, one green-gray and one azure - rested upon the staff table. All there seemed typical, from Dumbledore twinkling at the world to Snape gazing moodily at Lupin, who was sharing a joke with Professor Vera Vector. In contrast to Snape's glower, Flitwick's demeanor was jolly as he listened to Linnet, who appeared to be explaining something. Hyacinth said nothing but nodded emphatically as her right arm stretched backwards and - Odelia restrained herself from gasping - tipped something into Snape's coffee. She then spoke a few words to Flitwick, and both Birds flew the coop, hurrying back to the Ravenclaw table.

"Did you just see what I just saw?" rasped Kira, light brown eyebrows raised so high that they almost disappeared into her hair.

"I saw," Liam affirmed, stealing a roll of bread right from under Odelia's nose. "The question is, did Snape see it? I mean, he had eyes in the back of his head during class today."

Odelia rapped Liam's hand smartly with her wand and took the opportunity to re-appropriate her roll. "I don't think he saw it; he's too busy glaring at Lupin. Odette told me they hate each other. Watch; I think something's going to happen."

A watched pot never boils, and a watched staff table is only slightly more interesting. The Omninihils observed this as Flitwick took out a wizarding photo album and forced Snape to admire the former's grandchildren, much to the latter's disgust and the viewers' amusement. Professor Sprout thumb-wrestled against Professor Olden, who taught Study of Ancient Runes, with Dumbledore as referee. The exuberant Professor Vector tilted her head back in laughter at one of Lupin's remarks, causing the tip of her chestnut braid to fall into McGonagall's mutton. McGonagall enlightened Vector as to what had happened; Vector apologized sheepishly and covered her face in shame until Lupin handed her a napkin for her hair.

Kira winced at the last episode, her face tinged pink with sympathetic mortification. "Poor Professor - what's her name?" ("Vector," Odelia supplied.) "Vector. That must've been so embarrassing."

"Vector?" Liam repeated in disbelief. "She's not the one who got somebody else's hair in her food!" He wrinkled his nose. "Not that mutton is any good anyway." Odelia was about to add her two Knuts when she noticed Snape lift his mug of coffee.

"Look!" was all that Odelia had time to hiss before Snape to a sip and, spluttering, dropped the mug (which shattered on the floor; apparently it hadn't been protected by an Anti-Break Charm). The Potions master continued to cough, choke, and wheeze. Professor Flitwick dropped his photo album, gave a startled squeak and attempted the Heimlich maneuver, much to the laughter of all of the students. Snape, furious and still coughing, shoved Flitwick away and grabbed Professor Vector's glass of pumpkin juice, spilling some of the beverage onto the unfortunate witch's braid in the process.

After downing the entire glass and returning it to its previous user, Snape collapsed into his chair. "Pepper," he gasped gratingly. "Someone had the audacity to put pepper in my coffee!" Though still slumped in his chair, he had regained all of his usual authority, and his eyes practically glowed with fury.

"He recovers nicely," Liam deadpanned, though the effect was marred by the fact that he had to speak loudly over the commotion. Kira and Odelia were still laughing hysterically, as were the majority of the students. Even a few of the teachers, Lupin included, were having a difficult time hiding their amusement, though the unlucky Vector was busy wiping her hair again.

Odelia noted that the Ravenclaw table seemed no more energetic than the others; she surmised from this that the Birds had told no one of their plan. Good strategy, Odelia mused approvingly, then gave herself a mental slap. Odelia Delwin was not supposed to be thinking like a prankster. Then again, the rebel within Odelia argued, why should you let your parents dictate your very thoughts?

"She's looking at me again!" Liam interrupted in a panicked whisper. Odelia cut her reverie short to deal with the situation at hand.

"Who's looking at you?" Odelia followed Liam's gaze to the Ravenclaw table, but couldn't distinguish the exact subject of Liam's fear. A hunch made her enquire, "Tolkien Girl?" Faced with Liam's confusion, she elaborated "The older girl who wears those big boots and the chain around her head?"

Liam confirmed Odelia's intuition with a nod. "Yeah, her. She's Orla Quirke, a Ravenclaw prefect. She's really creepy!" He added a shudder for emphasis.

"What's so creepy about her?" Kira wanted to know. "Her clothes aren't much weirder than most of you magic people's." Gesturing to her robes, she continued, "I mean, look at what we're wearing."

"She carries a dagger in one of her boots!" Liam exclaimed, trying not to shout. "And when we were on the train, before you came into the compartment…" he lowered his voice. "She said I was - /cute/!" With a tortured expression on his face, he concluded, "She's out to get me!"

Odelia rolled her eyes visibly at the traumatized Liam. "Not to insult your looks, but considering your age and hers, I think she meant you were cute in the way she might think, say, a puppy is cute."

"Platonically," Kira supplied, looking rather proud of herself. In response to Liam's wrinkled forehead, she expanded "In a non-romantic way."

Liam was not to be dissuaded. "I don't care how she meant it. She carries a dagger and she thinks I'm cute. That combination just doesn't work for me." Odelia and Kira looked at each other with a mutual sigh of resignation. "Besides," Liam muttered irritably, "Nobody calls me cute and gets away with it."

The rest of the dinner passed with no more unusual occurrences, and Liam and Kira ascended the stairs with seemingly unburdened hearts. "I'm just going to talk to Lupin for a second," Odelia explained; her housemates nodded in assent. Weaving deftly back through the crowds of students, Odelia found a path to the staff table. There she waited patiently for Lupin to finish talking to Professor Vector.

"I'd say go for it; your changes in the curriculum have been creative and useful so far," Vector assured Lupin with a smile.

"You don't think the school will object to changing such an old order?" Lupin pressed anxiously. Abstractedly he formed his mashed potatoes into a mountain range; he hadn't eaten much of his food.

"With Dumbledore in charge?" Vector laughed. "No way. If anything, it'll be a breath of fresh air. Some of the lessons really need to be updated." Stifling a sigh, Odelia tapped one foot lightly against the stone floor. The further excitement of dinner had left her near exhaustion, and she had never been patient. Her eyes wandered over the other teachers at the staff table; most had retired, but McGonagall and Snape remained in earnest discussion over use of the Quidditch pitch. The latter looked sharply at Odelia.

"Do you need something, Miss Delwin?" the Potions teacher enquired harshly. "Or are you perhaps here to refill my coffee?" With these last words, his expression reached new levels of menace.

Odelia shook her head rapidly, causing a dull ache in her temples. "No sir," she professed, putting a hand on the table to stop herself from staggering. The room had become uncomfortably mobile, and through the spinning she could glimpse Fairfax Garland watching with his usual composure. "I just wanted to talk to Professor Lupin - he's my head of house, you know." The dizziness retreated, but Snape's suspicions did not.

"Is he?" Snape sneered diffidently. "How… appropriate." The Slytherin Head's upper lip curled in an obvious smirk.

Odelia inhaled sharply; after long experience with insults she could spot one a kilometer away, and she wasn't about to let even a Professor get away with such rudeness. "Appropriate? How so?" she queried nonchalantly. She knew well that she played a game far more dangerous than Quidditch.

So did Snape. "Your House has, from what I know, a reputation for containing very," he paused for emphasis, "Unusual members." His tone was smooth ice, but his eyes flashed a message: eat that.

Standing taller than ever, Odelia smiled proudly. "Thank you, sir. I take that as a compliment to our individuality." A view of Snape's disgruntled face made her smile sincere. One to Odelia, announced an imaginary referee, and zero to Snape.

"Excuse the interruption," came Lupin's amused voice, "But I think Odelia needed to speak to me?" Grateful for the respite - for she knew how quickly the tables could turn - Odelia turned to her House Head. Lupin was wearing the expression that Odelia recognized as the one that adults used to mask laughter. "Could we continue our discussion later?" he asked Vector politely. The Arithmancy professor smiled her agreement and distanced herself.

"Thank you," Odelia muttered. "Sorry for interrupting." Lupin waved his student's etiquette away. "The cootie-catcher - is it dangerous?" She clasped her hands together, realizing how cold they were. The whole room had, it seemed, been infused with a sudden chill.

"I don't know," Professor Lupin replied thoughtfully, his head tilted in an appearance of mild perplexity. "I only had time to run one test on it, which scanned it to see if an outside force is controlling it, and the results were negative. I, uh, tried using it -" he allowed himself a smile. "It's still working, and quite accurately at that." Odelia would have given her stash of Fizzing Whizbees to know what the fortune-teller had informed Lupin, but she knew that it was a highly personal question. "I don't think there's reason to worry," the professor continued. "I'll tell you if I find anything."

"Thank you," repeated Odelia. "I'm sorry to be a bother. I just--" she bit her lip, trying to find words to define her nameless fear. "I thought it would be wisest to keep a close watch on it. Good night," she concluded, and smiled her way out of the Great Hall.

Ascending the marble staircase, which looked in the evening torchlight as if it were carved from ice, Odelia wondered that her fears were scarcely alleviated. Consciousness notwithstanding, the cootie-catcher didn't seem all that sinister. It was more of a curiosity than anything else, the sort of thing that her parents might keep on the coffee table as a conversation starter. Always somewhat of a worrywart, Odelia told herself firmly that she was, as usual, overreacting, and she had almost convinced herself by the time she reached the Omninihil common room.

Kira and Liam were waiting for their absent friend, each seated on an opposite end of one of the teal couches. Odelia smiled in appreciated of this gesture of friendship; her friends had always been few and she was grateful for the simplest token of closeness.

"Anything important?" Liam asked inquisitively as Odelia crouched by the hearth, extending pale hands toward the flames. Kira shushed Liam, gesticulating to a red-orange kitten curled sleeping on the couch. Once her hands were warm enough not to wake the animal, Odelia gently brushed her hand across the feline's fur.

"What a darling," she murmured as the cat twitched one pink-tinged ear. "What's his name?"

"Crimson," Kira replied quietly with a smile of indulgence at her pet. "A tribute to--"

"The Crimson Fairy Book?" Odelia finished with a mischievous grin. Kira simply nodded with a semi-rueful smile.

"What is it with you two and fairies?" questioned Liam. He frowned in bemusement, making his forehead crinkle comically. "They don't have much magic, and they're really vain and silly." Kira opened her mouth for an explanation, but scuttled off to the girls' dormitory instead. "Was it something I said?" Liam wondered, staring at the spot where Kira had been.

"I think she's getting something," hypothesized Odelia, stroking Crimson's sleeping form. She sighed as the kitten rolled over. "I wish I could keep Aura in the castle." Before she could spend any more time lamenting the absence of her familiar, Kira returned.

"Here," the redhead instructed, offering a thick orange book to Liam as she reclaimed her spot on the couch.

"The Orange Fairy Book," Liam read aloud, running his thumb along the book's side. He lifted his eyes from the cover and looked expectantly at Kira.

"Not the cover," Kira laughed in exasperation. "Read the book!" Odelia shed her boots to curl up on the couch - no shoes on the furniture - watching Liam's reaction.

With a long-suffering sigh, Liam turned his eyes from the book to the ceiling. "As if the teachers' assignments weren't enough," he bewailed. Quickly resigning himself, he glanced speculatively at the volume and slipped his hand under the cover, separating it from the pages.

Kira intervened before Liam could begin the process of literary immersion. "Wait a minute; we should get to bed if we're supposed to get up early tomorrow." A deceptively sweet smile graced her visage. "If you like, I'll wake you up extra early so you can read in the morning."

"You're worse than my mother," Odelia observed with a mixture of admiration and annoyance. Kira looked back at Odelia wistfully; to the latter's surprise, Liam struggled up from the couch and bestowed a similarly regretful gaze.

"I wish--" Kira began.

Liam simultaneously muttered, "My mum--" The two exchanged a questioning glance. "You go first," Liam offered magnanimously.

"Oh, I was just going to say," Kira blushed as she looked at her hands, "I haven't really had anyone to wake me up. My parents are great, I mean, but they're awfully busy."

Odelia wasn't sure how to respond to this, but Liam saved her from the effort. "At least they care," he replied with quiet venom, biting his lower lip. "Mine are around the house all day, but all they do is play the guitar or write essays." The very blue of his eyes seemed to darken with anger. "They might as well be ghosts."

Joining in the collective tirade, Odelia voiced her own grievances. "I wish mine paid less attention. Every minute they're lecturing me, or training me, or making me feel guilty, and they always compare me," her voice softened to a hiss, "with Odette." She plucked her parents' letter from her pocket and flourished it. "Just look at this. Odette says this, Odette told us that, Odette is our good little informant and tells us every little thing you did wrong, which is everything you do." With a jabbing motion she pointed her wand at the piece of parchment. "Incendio." The parchment flared orange, than turned char-black and disintegrated.

Odelia enclosed herself in her bed-curtains later that night, hoping that her small sanctuary could shut out the strange, unpleasant feeling that had come over her since burning the letter. Curled on her side, she yanked the teal-and-salmon quilt up to her chin and struggled to clear her mind. Try as she might, her thoughts kept revolving like a lurid carousel: the cootie-catcher, Ignatius's sneer, Odette seated serenely like a queen at court, Aura's flashing eyes, the jam-covered schedules, floating feathers, shouts of "Expelliarmus!" Lupin looking tired, then the cootie-catcher again, everything tumbling together, pieces of an unsolved puzzle.

--

It was unusually foggy for summer, thick blue-gray miasma, swirling slowly as Odette and Odelia rode home on the former's Cleansweep 9. "I wonder why Mum and Dad didn't pick us up at the station," Odelia voiced for the fifth time.

Odette only shrugged, unfazed as usual. "They probably got the date mixed up or something." She gave the broom a cue with her hand, causing it to swerve sharply. Odelia's stomach flip-flopped, but its owner only gritted her teeth. "We'll be home soon," continued Odette. "It's a good thing it's so foggy or the Muggles would've seen us for sure."

"Mm-hm," Odelia agreed, straining her eyes for some sign of the house. "Hey, I think that's it. They've got all the lights on, it looks like." She couldn't restrain a mild screech as Odette brought the broomstick into a steep dive. "You could've warned me about that," she complained; Odette only laughed.

Every light bulb, candle and magical illumination device in the house seemed to be activated, visible even through the mist. Stranger still, 37 Magpie Lane was emitting an oddly orange glow. Someone in the house had left the radio on, and the music sounded uncomfortably like... screams…

Odette landed the broomstick on the lawn. "It's on fire, the house is on fire and Mum and Dad are inside!" Odelia yelled. "We've got to do something!"

Odette nodded. "You're right. It's our duty." Without another word, she rushed toward the burning building with unnatural speed. Odelia tried to move after her sister but found herself unable to budge.

"Odette, come back!" she begged, but Odette ran straight through the door of the house, into the flames. "No!" screamed Odelia.

"Incendio!" replied a terrifyingly gleeful voice.

"No!" Odelia protested.

"Incendio!"

"No!"

"Incendio!"

--

Odelia's eyes snapped open. Gone was the burning house, the screams, Odette and the horrible voice; instead there was only Odelia's Hogwarts bed surrounded by the concealing teal curtains. "What a dream," Odelia muttered to herself, wishing more than ever that Aura was allowed in the castle. Adjusting her tear-stained pillow, Odelia positioned herself flat on her back, determined not to sleep for the rest of the night.