Chapter Nine

The Cursed Wand

After a few weeks of covering the basic agenda, Jennifer finally decided it was time to break out the Puzzlebox.

"We're going to start covering cursed items now," she announced to her Friday class. "I had a hard time getting clearance for me to use these, so hopefully we all will get a lot out of them," Jennifer grinned. "We're going to be covering how to identify cursed items with some basic hands-off identifying spells, how to dispel items, and how to dispel folks affected by an item. Now, can anyone name a reason that someone might have for cursing an item? Draco?"

"To kill someone?" Draco smirked.

"Yes, to kill or cause harm to someone," Jennifer agreed and it appeared on the board. "Harry?"
"To make someone do things that the person cursing it wants them to?"

"Yes, that can be a reason, and also another reason along the same lines would be, to cause someone to do something they wouldn't normally do; not necessarily to control them, but to cause mischief." Jennifer nodded and both of those went on the boards. "There's one more major one. Neville?"

"To protect an item?"
"Of course, absolutely. Protecting an item from getting into the wrong hands is a popular reason to curse something. In fact, some items have the curse 'built' into them when they are created. This is so that it cannot be dispelled except by destroying it. I have a good example of an item like that," she grinned, pulling out her wand, " and it is one I use every day. It's a cursed banshee-hair wand, fully licensed, of course. It is over five centuries old." Jennifer walked around the class, holding it down across her hand so they could see it, keeping it out of reach of their hands.

"Remember not to touch a cursed item if you don't know exactly what it does or what triggers it. When it was made, the banshee wand, which as I'm sure most of you know tends to be a bit hard to control by nature, was tempered with blood so that only a member of my family can use it. Anyone else attempting to use the wand can't control it… the wand itself makes the decision on how it's used, and that, unfortunately, could be very devastating to both the user and anyone around them.

"This, then, is a version of a protection curse, a very powerful one. You won't be working with anything this advanced in this class, but I thought it'd make a good example. Hermione?"

"Why do you risk using the wand at all if it's so full of Dark magic?" she asked.

"Well, it's a really powerful wand," Jennifer said, "and it chose to be with me when I was still very young. On a sentimental level, it sort of gives me a firm connection to my family, who are all long gone now. Besides, as I know I've stated before, it's not about if the magic is Dark or Light, it's how you use it or how you don't use it that matters," she smiled, looking around at them before continuing.

"Now, I'm going to teach you your first item identification spell, but I want to warn you that no identification spell is foolproof. In fact, most cursed items out there are made with protections against identification spells, so sometimes you have to cast quite a number of them to get any reading at all. It does work on my wand because it's a fairly new spell, so we'll give it a go today."

"Question intent!" Jennifer intoned, and the wand acquired a black aura around it. "This also works for some items charmed with good protections as well." She put away her wand and took out her mirror, sitting it before her. "Question intent!" A white aura appeared around it. After a moment, the strange halos faded away.

"Now, I have an assignment to give out, or rather, it's a bit like a scavenger hunt," she tapped a stack of papers with her wand, and they flew to each one of the desks. "You'll find the ten items listed on every one, as well as the location of the item in the school. They're all in plain sight, so no trying to use the list as an excuse to go poking around the castle in places you shouldn't be. You're sixth years, you know your way around. And copying each other won't help either, each list is different."

Jennifer had them spend the rest of the class practicing the spell around the room, with much of the school equipment lighting up before it was done. It was Ron who got the idea that it might be more interesting to check students instead, and that's when he realized there was something odd about Malfoy's pen.

"What's with your pen, Malfoy? It's showing up black," Ron said, loud enough for most of the class to hear.

"Shut up, Weasley, or you're regret it," Draco hissed. But Jennifer had already noticed the exchange and quickly stepped up to look at it before he put the pen away.

"You know, I've seen one of those before. It's called a Cheater's Pen," Jennifer said, matter-of-factly. "Of course, I'm sure Mr. Malfoy couldn't possibly be using it for my class. They're banned, of course. He probably just brought it in today for the demonstration," she said smoothly. "Thank you for bringing it to show the class, Draco, but I'm sure you need not bother with bringing it back into this or anyone else's class again. We wouldn't want it to make you look bad, would we? Nasty things, detention," she warned. Draco nodded stiffly, putting the pen in his pocket.

Ron looked somewhat pleased, but Jennifer saw he thought she had been too easy on him.

Hermione had been unusually quiet lately, although her homework was always top notch. She and Ginny had finally joined the dueling club and was making good progress in catching up with the other students. It was nice to see them all holding their own in most of their matches against Slytherin, almost comforting to Jennifer. In fact, the Slytherin students were starting to grumble about Gryffindors getting extra attention.

"No one is stopping any of you from coming up and practicing forms," Jennifer told them when she heard about it. So the next Saturday, several more students including Malfoy and Crabbe showed up during her morning practice. Ron, Hermione, and Neville weren't too thrilled with the additions (Harry and Ginny had Quidditch practice that day) but somehow Jennifer managed to keep their tempers in check. The tension between Draco and Ron had increased recently, so she decided to keep an eye on them.

Lunchtime rolled around and she sent them downstairs, turning her attention to the training mirror. She'd never told the students the mirror's secret; the mirror was only as tough on a person as the person was to herself. Jennifer had found that she was under constant scrutiny from her training reflection, getting stopped nearly every move while her image tried to get every move absolutely perfect.

"Not eating?" she heard Severus ask from behind her. She glanced up to see him standing in the doorway.

"No, Hagrid always makes a big fuss Saturday nights if I come over full," she explained, turning back to the mirror. Glancing out the door first, Severus walked over and regarded her thoughtfully.

"Any particular reason you've been spending so much time here the last few weeks?" Severus asked, looking at his watch. "I'm going to need to add a room or two to this." Jennifer chuckled softly, earning a scowl from her reflection. "Something's been troubling you."

"I'm fine, really," Jennifer assured him, dismissing her image and walking away from the mirror.

"Now, why don't I believe that?" he frowned.

"Who's the Truth Seeker here anyhow?" Jennifer snapped, hands on her hips. Severus reached over and pulled out her pocket mirror, flipping it open and handing it to her.

"Cheater, you learned that from Dumbledore," she scowled. Severus gazed at her again, wondering how to get her to open up.

"I volunteered to take the Dark Forest patrol tonight, so perhaps after your… 'Harry duty' as you call it, you could walk with me. It should be perfectly safe enough. It has been rather quiet there since what happened last term."

"Gee, I wonder why," Jennifer smirked. Voldemort found out the hard way that as gentle as Unicorns normally were, they were not good to have as enemies. "All right, I'll meet you there," she nodded. It was going to be nice to get away from meeting in the offices for a change.

At Hagrid's, Jennifer got to listen in about how raising the team mascots were going.

"But Hagrid, Gryffindor's crest is a lion," Ginny said. She had been slightly disappointed, on hearing what the other creatures were, since her class were raising raven familiars. "And Ravenclaw's is an eagle."

"Griffons are a bit more interestin', and being as my acquirin' them two eggs was what gave me the idea, I had ta keep 'em"

"I like the coatl's," Harry said. The winged serpents were actually quite friendly, and didn't seem to care much about many of the Slytherin they were to be mascots for.

"And the badgimeras," Ron admitted. He had liked them ever since one of them had taken snaps at Draco the year before.

"And how are your classes going, Hermione?" Jennifer asked. She was quite sure that Hermione was trying to hide something.

"Very well, thanks," she answered, not looking at Jennifer.

"Professor Craw, is what they're saying true about a sleep over for Halloween?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, did that leak out already?" Jennifer scowled. "Yes, it's true. There is going to be a sleep over for all the students in the Great Hall, games and everything. I'm one of the chaperones, as a matter of fact."

It hadn't been her idea to chaperone, though. Dumbledore seemed to think it'd be better to keep everyone together this year because something always seemed to happen on Halloween. But the holiday also provided a great excuse to use a party as a security plan. The four students seemed pretty excited about the idea, trying to grill her for information.

"I don't know how you guys found out about this, but I'm definitely not going to go into any details. You're just going to have to wait," Jennifer said sternly.

"Are you going to be there, Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"Nope, sorrae, I have a bit of business t' take care of this week," he said, "I'm havin' the classes responsible for lookin' after the mascots and feedin' Fang an' all that."

"I'll make sure they're all doing their homework, Hagrid," Jennifer assured him.

After they finished, Jennifer walked them quickly to the castle, shooing them down the hall. But Hermione hung back, waving the others on.

"Professor Craw, there's something I really ought to tell you," Hermione began, looking quite troubled. Jennifer was finally able to get a good look at the girl's face and her eyes went open with surprise.

"You know, don't you? But how?" Jennifer asked, squinting at her. Hermione nodded somberly.

"It just all seemed wrong the way it was told, and so I just felt I had to figure it out… but… what on earth do you see in him?" she asked, making a face. Jennifer quickly put a hand over Hermione's mouth.

"Come to my office tomorrow morning and we are going to have a little talk. You haven't told anyone, have you?" Jennifer asked fervently. Hermione shook her head. "Good. Come right after breakfast, ok? Then you are going to tell me how exactly you figured this out."

Hermione nodded and Jennifer let her go, shaking her head as she watched the girl hurry to catch up with the others. If this kept up, the entire school will have it figured out by Christmas, Jennifer thought grimly.

Jennifer and Severus walked quietly in the darkness until they moved away from the forest's edge. Then Severus summoned a dim, blue wisplight that only lit the area around it, like a soft candle floating in front of them. They talked softly of classes and students, and Jennifer couldn't help but chuckle when she found out what happened the next time Draco tried to use the pen.

"Had he even stopped to glance at the paper, I'm sure he'd have noticed how off his formulas were, especially since a couple of them were review from last year," Severus said in a low voice, shaking his head.

"Maybe him getting every answer wrong on a test like that will convince him not to use the blasted thing," Jennifer chuckled.

"Oh, I took it away from him after the fact as well. We can't have him finding out who countercursed it, can we? By the way, it is your turn for detention, isn't it?"

"Oh, damn, yes it is," Jennifer grinned softly. "Hmm, I'll have to start thinking up something for him then."

They reached a small rocky clearing, and Severus stopped and leaned against a tree, folding his arms and looking at her.

"So, you were going to tell me what's been bothering you," he prompted.

"I don't remember saying that. I only remember saying that I'd go on patrol with you," she corrected, folding her arms as well.

"It's not like you to get preoccupied and not talk to me about it," he said irritably. "And I don't like games. Has it something to do with me?"

"Oh, Severus, of course not. If I had a problem with you I'd tell you," Jennifer said, with sly smile. "It doesn't have anything to do with you," she assured him, putting a hand on his arm.

"It's also not like you to walk around serious all the time and not joking around. You haven't taunted me in over a week," he complained. "I was beginning to think you'd lost interest." Jennifer shook her head at him and kissed him gently.

"It's me I'm mad at, not you," she said, as he passed her a confused look. "I feel like I just can't do anything right. I can't even defend myself without someone always having to come in and bail me out." Severus' frown softened somewhat.

"I've been there before myself on occasion, but I can't help but think that it's a bit misplaced. I've seen you more than once risk everything to save someone else's skin."

"But that's just it, it was other people. And now even that's changing. I didn't really do much to help Malfoy at all at Knockturn…"

"Did you really want to help Malfoy?" Severus challenged her with a smirk.

"Well, no. Still, I wasn't about to stand there while someone cast Cruciatus Curse on anyone, even that pond scum. But my spells just aren't strong enough to measure up one on one."

"If I recall correctly, I remember you cast a fairly powerful one on Voldemort the night of your fatal sleep," Severus reminded her.

"It was a Dark spell, and one meant to help the victim, not hurt him," Jennifer said, "So I played the hunch that he'd have no reason to counter it. Once the gold touch turned the wand, I had every intention of melting it. I didn't get that far," she sighed. "You know, I think that's why I like Neville so much. He reminds me of me when I was in school."

"You must be joking," he said and shook his head at her.

"I am not. I thought I'd never make it through. My Light magic has always been horrendous," Jennifer chuckled dryly. "Part of me always wanted it to be better growing up. I'd give up being able to cast all dozen death spells if it meant having a nice, strong holding spell that nobody could counter." Severus stared at her in surprise.

"You know all twelve? I only know nine. And two of them were said to be lost." He looked at her as if it were an oversight that she knew something he didn't.

"Ha, not in my family. Seven generations since Mallus Craw and still we know it. Here, let me show you a secret." Jennifer took out her wand and made a tiny cut on her thumb, then grazed the blood over the handle of the wand, holding it up to the wisp light. Inscribed on the end of the wand was the Shrieking Death, one of the two spells thought missing. "You see? Here's one. The other one was in an old notebook that Peeves destroyed last year… it's just as well. It means that once I'm gone no one else will know it. Not that I'd ever use any of them. In fact, I've only used one Death Spell on a human being, and you witnessed that one." Severus nodded slightly, remembering the circumstances. Had she not cast the Bleeding Death on Ginny when she had been exposed to a magical snakebite, she probably wouldn't have made it. "So what does it all mean? I have a talent I can't use, and every time I try to defend myself, I grab the first Light spell that comes to mind so that nobody gets hurt," she shook her head.

"Perhaps the problem is more basic than you think it is. Perhaps all you really need to do is to stop looking at that annoying mirror every time you're unsure of yourself and start talking to someone you trust instead," he said sternly, lifting her chin up. It was as he leaned over to kiss her that he noticed an orange light flashing from his pocket, coming from a snoop detector.