Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Serpent and the Staff

Jennifer could hear the fans cheering in the distance as she hurried across the grounds to the Quidditch Pitch, glancing at her watch and then at her ring. Severus was, the ring indicated, rather irritated, and Jennifer could hardly blame him. She had barely gotten to the bottom of the stands when there was a buildup from the Slytherin section, so Jennifer stopped and walked up between the gates to watch. Danny and Julie Brim were twisting in mid-air, cutting through the charging Hufflepuff Chasers as the Snitch took a dive in front of them. But as phenomenal a Seeker as Julie Brim was, Danny was a tad more agile on her new broom, and as the Snitch veered upward, Julie's speed widened her turn and cost her priceless inches in distance. With uncanny grace, Danny quickly seized the opportunity and forced her broom up in an almost hop, grasping her hand around the golden ball. The stands suddenly burst with a roaring cheer the likes of which Jennifer couldn't remember ever hearing before, realizing almost at once that nearly all of the other houses were standing and cheering with just as much intensity. Even several Hufflepuffs were standing and applauding enthusiastically.

Danny, kneeling on her broom with perfect balance, spiraled around the Pitch with one hand on the broom and the other on the Snitch, a glorious smile on her face as she reached the field. Severus had arrived even before the last of the team set down on the ground, along with Draco Malfoy, wearing his Canadian Sentinels cloak and smiling proudly at his young cousin. He made a comment to Severus, who nodded to him, and the two of them congratulated Danny before stepping back as the students made their way to the field. Jennifer was quite content to stand on the sidelines and watch the bedlam that followed, nodding to herself happily. It was, after all, Danny's moment, and the first time she had truly been able to win for herself. She had been through a terrible ordeal with such strength, and Jennifer had even less doubt now than ever that Danny had a great future ahead of her.

As March began to wear on, the students' thoughts began to turn to finals as professors began to set out their final agendas for the rest of the year and what was expected of them the last few months. Although finals were not yet pressing in most classes, that was not true of Muggle Studies class where they were expected to turn in their first rough draft on their term paper in a few short weeks. Danny and Taylor, who had noticed early on that Corey and Doug were struggling with theirs, offered to help them out, and with a bit of arranging on Danny's part with Snape to adjust one of her advanced classes to a later time, they managed to find an afternoon a week where they could all work on it. Books were piled high on both ends of the library table as the four of them wrote, Taylor looking over Doug's paper and helping him with grammar, while Danny took the more onerous task of helping Corey with his content.

"There, done again," Corey said, handing it over to Danny, who sighed at him.

"That's only a paragraph more than you showed me last time. It's still only two and a half pages. It's supposed to be ten."

"But I don't know what else to write. I already wrote every thing that mattered. The wall went up. The wall came down. What else is there? I'm not writing too much on that whole Cold War thing, that's Doug's topic, not mine. Besides, he won't let me see his paper," Corey complained.

"I'm not going to let you steal my paper! I'm almost two-thirds done! You've barely gotten started," Doug complained.

"Besides, it's not as if the Berlin Wall necessarily did anything. I mean, of course wizards got in and out without a blink if they wanted, and there were all sorts of stories in these books of regular folk escaping in the old days, and later there were parts so broken up that people could just walk across. The whole thing ended up being nothing more than symbolism," Corey complained.

"Strange, I didn't read anything like that in your report," Danny said.

"Well, no, I'm just saying…"

"Don't say it, write it," Danny said, shaking her head at him. "Put that in there."

"I don't know if I should. Every other class I've tried stating my opinions in I've lost points," Corey said. "And you all are already ahead of everyone after that last game."

"My sister is still angry at me after that last game," Doug said. "So I sat with you guys near the Slytherin stands. You'd think I'd have committed a major crime."

"Well, I wouldn't have even been here to win that game if it weren't for you three, and I'm not ever going to forget it," Danny said, writing another line on her own paper.

"Odd," Taylor said. But he was not looking at what they were doing; he was looking across the room.

"What is it, Taylor?" Corey asked.

"Madame Granger, she just passed by on her way to the Restricted Section with a stack of books…"

"What's so odd about that? She is the librarian," Doug said, rolling his eyes.

"She looks worried," Taylor said, watching her come through the books, shuffling quickly through the last one with a frown. She sighed and looked around, noticing them. They immediately got back to looking busy on their papers as she walked over to them.

"Mr. Willowby, do you happen to remember when Professor Craw's free period starts today?"

"Yes, ma'am, in about a half an hour," Corey said. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no. At least, nothing you need to worry about," she reassured him. "I hope," she added, heading over to where Dame Rachel was sorting books.

"I have the oddest sort of feeling that she's about to get my Mom into trouble again," Corey said, shaking his head and turning back to his paper.

As Severus came down the back stairs after his class, he heard footsteps above him and paused to see who it was. A moment later, Hermione came into view with several books carefully marked. She had one open and was reading through it when she looked up with surprise to find Severus standing at the bottom of the stair.

"And just where do you think you're going?" he asked her suspiciously.

"I wasn't aware I had to inform you where I was going," Hermione said back in annoyance. Severus grabbed the open book out of her hand before she could protest, glancing over it.

"You were going to take this down to Jennifer, weren't you?"

"Well, yes, if you must know," Hermione said. "I was working on discovering a weakness, then found something very disturbing and thought I had better warn Jennifer in case she wants to try again…"

"Jennifer isn't going anywhere right now. She's already been taking off far too often than it is good for her in her condition. Perhaps it's time you let me on your little research project, especially since Remus and I are the ones in charge of forest security, not Jennifer," Severus scowled.

"Fine," Hermione said, looking over his shoulder and pointing. "Read this." Severus began to scan the passage then stopped, reading it more carefully, becoming more alarmed by the second as he looked up at her searchingly.

"How sure are we that this creature in the Tomb is a Dreadbiter Serpent?" he asked.

"Just speculation at the moment, that's where we were trying to go that night when the Wraith caught up with us," Hermione admitted. "But I just found this passage this morning."

"Then it's a good thing you hadn't gotten any farther that night than you did," Severus said curtly, rereading it. "If this is correct, we may be sitting on an even bigger problem than we thought."

"Should I write Harry?" Hermione asked. Severus looked at her thoughtfully.

"No," Severus said. "And I don't think you should tell Jennifer about it either. I am going to deal with this myself… but first, I think I want to find out more information on who might have stolen the Staff of Eyre. It looks as if we may need it."

Ederick Thurspire looked about as thrilled to have Severus Snape in his office as Severus was to be there. He was a tall, lanky, younger man with golden hair and sharp features, wearing formal Ministry robes that looked as if they had seen better days. There had been a time when he was sure that Severus was working for Voldemort, and that suspicion nearly cost Jennifer her life when he had attempted to arrest him. Severus had never forgotten it nor was ever likely to, and Ederick, despite the events of the last few years, still didn't trust Severus for a moment.

"So, you want to know who stole the Staff of Eyre? You're not the only one, so do we. There were no signs of break-in, no signs of any forced entry and no one saw anything suspicious. It's as if someone just strode in and took it and forgot to sign a release form," Ederick said.

"So what you're saying is that it must have been an inside job," Severus said slowly, squinting thoughtfully.

"I don't see how it could have been anything else. There are too many alarm spells and guards protecting that area. What's more is that there were several equally powerful artifacts there that might have been stolen but weren't. Whoever took it knew exactly what they were looking for. We have not been able to track it, so it's either not being used, or whoever has it knows how the Ministry tracks magic impulses and knows how to block it." Ederick said, watching Severus with a keen eye as the dark man paced the floor broodingly. "This sudden interest in the Staff wouldn't have anything to do with the tremors around Hogsmeade, would it?"

"The school is partially responsible for the Staff. Of course we would be concerned if it came up missing," Severus said.

"Yes, but we spoke with Dumbledore about it the first night. You're here because you're concerned that someone might try to gain control of whatever it is that has turned the ruins into a lair, aren't you?" Ederick asked.

"Must you always jump to conclusions like that?" Severus snapped irritably.

"Well, I've been thinking about that myself, and my suggestion is to try and flood the Tomb," Ederick said. "Going down in there would be a death trap for anyone, but perhaps we can flood out the creature out on our terms, it would be a lot easier to deal with."

"Do you realize how much water that would take? We'd have to siphon off all of the water out of the lake to do it as many passages as there are. Not to mention risking further collapse of the Tomb itself from the pressure. Besides, if that thing is what Madame Granger believes it is, a Dreadbiter Serpent, it'd be extremely dangerous for it to come to surface so near to the town."

"Dreadbiter, it sounds familiar," Ederick said, "Scandinavian, right? Corpse devourers? I thought those were only a legend."

"If only they were," Severus said dourly, turning to face them. "Because if this is one, the situation may be more grave than even you realize, for according to what we've just found out, Dreadbiters have the ability to abstract the memories of those whose corpses they've consumed."

"Good lord," Ederick said, a chill of horror running through him. "But that means this one might have the memories of Slytherin…. and Pettigrew…"

"And Voldemort," Severus finished grimly.

"Who else knows about this?" Ederick demanded.

"As far as I know, only Granger and I so far, although I am willing to assume that whoever was responsible for the Staff disappearing also knows. And for the record, I do know that Lucius Malfoy was poking about the site before Christmas last year, he showed up on one of the school's Hogsmeade excursions," Severus said. Ederick squinted.

"How very interesting," Ederick said. "I'll see if I can't set it up with Minister Peasegood to conduct a few more raids, keeping a special eye out for the Staff."

"Good," Severus nodded to him. "And if it is found, I would like to officially request borrowing it. I'm sure you see I have good reason. But I'm not going to wait long," he added, adjusting his cloak as if ready to leave.

"Wait, what are you going to do if we don't find it?" Ederick asked.

"I'm going to go down there after it anyhow, of course," Severus said. "If that beast does retain even a hint of the evil that Voldemort had, I intend to destroy it, one way or another," he vowed, heading out the door. Ederick looked after him worriedly for a moment then sat down in a slump, wondering what else he could do to help.