Chapter Fifteen

Clues and Carol Trolls

Corey watched with interest as Harry and the monitor basilisk hissed at each other, while Jennifer stood by, watching quietly. At last Harry sighed and stood back up, shaking his head.

"No, he didn't see anyone at all messing with the chest, and he says he was sleeping near the fireplace all afternoon. Nobody came in again until the next day when you sent Corey in to feed him," Harry said. "And he says he's hungry."

"He's always hungry," Jennifer said, shaking her head. "Thank you, Corey, can you take him back to my office and give him a mouse? Just make sure you get the eye patch on all the way this time."

"Sure, Mom. Come on, Rasputin, let's get you some food," Corey said. Apparently, the large lizard understood that well enough, plopping to the floor and slowly following the teen out the door.

"It doesn't make any sense. We know it couldn't have been any other wand… no two wands are exactly alike," Jennifer said. "And the spells were all there in the wand's memory."

"And yet Severus swears it never left his side," Harry nodded. "But it must have at some point. We both know he didn't do it. We just need to find out how they got it and got it back to him without him knowing it."

"It reminds me an awful lot of the time that Ederick Thurspire says he didn't kidnap my father, and yet his wand said that he did. We never did figure out how that happened," Jennifer said thoughtfully.

"Maybe it's time we looked into that again," Harry agreed. There was a knock on the door and Jennifer let Anna in.

"Sorry, late class. Find out anything?" Anna asked.

"No, but we're thinking about going to talk to Ederick Thurspire about something," Harry said.

"Well, I need to go see Severus about the case, so I'll head to the Ministry after I'm done there. Jennifer, you want me to take anything?" Anna asked.

"Oh, yes, some more books and a couple of potions, if you don't mind," Jennifer said, scrounging around her unkempt desk until she found a prescription from Sagittari, attaching it to the bottles. She also picked up a recent copy of the paper and tossed it in with his books. "That's the last bottle of Subtle Slumber I have, too, and he never gave me his version. I suppose I'll have to go by the book if he needs any more," Jennifer sighed. "I'm sure he'll be glad to see you, though."

"It's the first night I've been free. I had to help Lunette secure a quick court date, and reschedule all her other casework around it, not that she would have it any other way," Anna added.

"I don't know what I'd do without her," Jennifer agreed.

"Well, I'd better be going, I'll see you in an hour or so," Anna said, heading out the door. Harry looked thoughtfully after her.

"Jennifer, did Severus ever tell her about, well… you know," Harry said rubbing his neck. Jennifer looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.

"I'm not sure," Jennifer admitted. "But if he hasn't, I suppose he'll have to now."

Anna sighed as they went through her things for the third time, checking the prescription and potions and anything else that looked magic, flipping through each book suspiciously. She had been to Azkaban several times before, mostly on business, but it felt completely wrong to be coming here to visit her own brother. No matter what they had on him, she knew he didn't do it. Severus wasn't capable of killing anyone any more than she was.

"A visitor? This isn't Sunday," she heard a guard say after another guard approached him. Hinge squinted at Anna, walking over and giving her an appraising look. "You don't look like a court official to me."

"I'm one of Lunette Vallid's assistants," Anna said, handing him the pass to look at. Just then, Thatcher Boltin came up behind the other guard, glancing at the paper and smiling at her.

"It's legit, Adam. I've seen Mrs. Black before. Come on through, Anna. Adam, if you want, I can go get Snape for you," Boltin offered.

"No thanks, sir. I can handle it myself," Hinge said, giving her back her pass and nodding to her warily before heading down the hall.

"He's a real ray of sunshine, isn't he?" Boltin winked at her. "Come on, I'll take you to the visiting room."

"Actually, he acts more what I'm used to prison guards acting like," Anna said. "You, on the other hand, seem out of place."

"Do I?" Boltin said, glancing at her. "Funny, I've always felt like I belong here, myself."

As they walked down the hall, Anna couldn't help but wonder. Could Boltin be the Warden of Azkaban? After all, when anyone needed to talk to the Warden, it was him they went to. Was it all pretense and he was actually covering up for himself?

But before she could think of a question that might hint to whether or not she was right, they arrived at the visitor's room just as Severus and his guards did and Anna's jaw dropped. His entire neck was covered with strange red scars, and she wondered that she'd never noticed before. Of course, he'd always kept his neck covered, she realized, and now she knew why.

Severus flinched but resisted the urge to pull his collar up again, sitting down quietly. Boltin took the things for Severus from Anna and passed them through without a word and then nodded to the other guards they could leave, allowing the two of them some space while he leaned up against the door, polishing his wand.

"Where did you get those?" Anna asked stiffly. "Those aren't recent, are they?"

"No, I've had them for years," Severus said expressionlessly, folding his hands together. "I could have taken a potion to be rid of them, but I chose to keep them as a reminder to myself; darkness has its price, and will extract it anyway it wants to any who give into it. Once you've crossed the line, it's much harder to stay away from it... you are drawn to it no matter what you do," he said quietly, a distant look in his eyes. "There were often times when I stored the memories of my Hogwarts life in a Pensieve and left to face the Death Eaters as one of them… yet the scars never left me, and served to remind me of the evil they were capable of inflicting on others. I failed to kill someone to purge myself from Muggle impurities, so they took out my impurities in other ways," Severus said, looking over at her. "I still think it was wrong of Fudge and the others to seal your magic, Anna. But at least their putting you in hiding protected you from all of this."

Anna wasn't quite sure what to say. He had told her from the start that he had had many dark years and followed paths she wouldn't have dreamed of going down herself. But hearing him speak of it and seeing a scar because of it were two different things.

"So, how did you contrive to get to see me on a weeknight?" Severus asked after an uneasy silence.

"Ah, court papers from Vallid," Anna said, handing them to Boltin who passed them over quickly before going back to his corner. "Also she wants to conduct a Pensieve test on you on the night he was murdered to make sure you don't have any gaps in your memory. She also wants a list of people who might have been close enough to you to get to your wand."

"The only one I can think of who could have is Jennifer," Severus said irritably, "and she certainly didn't take my wand. I'm not even sure her magic is still working."

"It's still working," Anna said, "but she has an alibi. She and Hermione were combing the library looking for more books on Janus Craw they might have missed."

"When was this third break-in supposed to have happened? I was back in Hogwarts by eleven."

"Around ten or eleven, I believe," Anna said thoughtfully. "Who was on security when you got back?"

"Rolanda and Alvin," Severus said, then rolled their eyes. "Although I'm not sure you could exactly call what they were doing security. You know how the two of them have been lately any time the students aren't around." Anna grinned.

"Bound to happen. The two of them have a lot in common. They did see you come in though, didn't they?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure they didn't miss that," Severus smirked.

"That's good, because that means if the murder happened after that point you have an alibi," Anna said with a nod. "Do you remember using your wand at all when you got back?" Severus thought about it for a while.

"No, but I remember putting it away that night when I went to bed. I would have noticed if it was gone then."

"And what time was that?"

"Nearly Midnight. Jennifer was already settled in."

"Nearly Midnight?" Anna asked quizzically.

"I had gone to speak with Dumbledore immediately after getting back," Severus nodded. "I was in the study the entire time."

"So, if it happened after ten, and you do have an alibi, then how could they have possibly gotten the wand back to you if you were in Dumbledore's office?" Anna asked.

"Impossible," Severus said. Anna couldn't help but nod, tending to agree. It must have happened before that then, she decided. Of course, that also meant it was still likely for Severus to have been the one to have done it.

Ederick Thurspire was not surprised to see them, but he was rather surprised over what it was they wanted to talk about. He had made them comfortable, hoping to learn more about what Severus had been up to, only to find out they wanted to talk about him personally.

"The Azkaban incident? Goodness, why on earth do you want to talk about that?" he asked, looking between Harry and Jennifer suspiciously.

"We thought it might shed light on this whole thing, being that your wand was used in an attack that no one thinks you did as well," Harry said.

"I didn't do it, at least, not consciously," Ederick amended.

"Exactly, which is what makes us think that perhaps this is interrelated. I know the evidence against Severus is surmountable, but he didn't it," Jennifer said fervently. Ederick nodded calmly to her.

"I know. I don't believe he did it either," Ederick said. Jennifer stared at him, completely taken aback.

"You really expect us to believe that? After all you've done to try to pin something on him?" Harry asked. "We weren't coming here for back up, nor did we expect it."

"I know, but you have it anyhow. Severus is far from an innocent man," Ederick said, glancing at Jennifer then back at Harry. "But he's also nearly as paranoid of a perfectionist as old man Craw is. No, this is much, much too sloppy to have been Severus Snape. I'm quite convinced that if he had wanted him dead, first off, he wouldn't have bothered sneaking in twice to look around and he definitely wouldn't have told someone like Harry Potter he was doing it. Furthermore, there certainly wouldn't have been left any obvious clues that it was him."

"He's right, you know," Harry said, turning to Jennifer. "This has to be a frame up, nothing else makes any logical sense."

"But we still don't know how they could have gotten the wand," Jennifer sighed.

"Let me poke around Azkaban for a few days," Harry said. "I want to see if I can't turn something up on what happened with Craw when he was kidnapped. With any luck, we can close that case and Fudge's murder at the same time."

Several days passed and Jennifer still hadn't heard from Harry, so reluctantly her thoughts turned to midterm reviews and tests. Heavy snow piled onto the rooftops and the fireplaces roared with gently popping logs. In the staff room, Jennifer flipped through her seventh year book to note what she had been working on for Severus, adding a couple of lines before Anna and Hermione came in.

"Hello there, any news?" Hermione asked as they sat to either side of her at the end of the table.

"Not on my end. Yours?" Jennifer asked tiredly.

"Only that Ederick is actually helping Lunette for a change," Anna said. "She's got him poking about and finding out as much about the prosecution's case as possible. I guess the prosecution is digging up all sorts of old Ministry files on Severus."

"I was afraid of that," Jennifer said, kneading her head.

"Here, let me get you some tea," Hermione said, taking out her wand and pointing at the lunch table. One of the china cups suddenly jumped up on porcelain legs and hopped over to the professor's table, sitting itself by Jennifer and filled up with warm liquid. "There's no need to worry, not with so many working to look after Severus' interests. You can trust Vallid and Dumbledore to stand behind him, you know. And you're on the Council now, aren't you?"

"Yes, starting January first, but I can't vote in this case, of course," Jennifer said, gratefully wrapping her cold hands around the cup. "As for their support, we're still in the same boat about the wand. If we can't find a way to prove he wasn't the one that used it, he doesn't stand a chance."

"Good afternoon everyone," Minerva said, walking into the room with a smile. "Might I ask if any of you are staying this year?"

"Not I, I'm going to visit my parents," Hermione said.

"Going home of course," Jennifer said with a sigh.

"I'm not going to the States this year, I'm needed too much here," Anna said. "So we'll be at the mansion if you need us."

"Not too many students either, another small Christmas group," Minerva said commented. "Dumbledore doesn't have time for a pre-holiday meeting, as I'm sure you know he's been in London every spare moment. Just make sure you have your paperwork filed. And on time?" she added, looking pointedly at Anna.

Just then, Hermione got a strange look on her face and rushed out of the room. Minerva looked after her with a nod.

"Now there's a girl with enthusiasm about her work," Minerva said. Anna and Jennifer gazed up at Minerva sulkily.

Jennifer quickly finished her tea, deciding it might be a good time to start back to her classroom, when suddenly she heard the most horrendous noise she had ever heard in her entire life.

"I thought I told those four not to practice outside of that room," Minerva said, but quickly realized it was too loud and too horrible a sound even to be them. Exchanging quick glances, the three of them soon hurried to the nearest window, realizing it was coming from outside.

"I can't see anything from here," Anna said.

"Professor McGonagall!" They looked over to see Argus Filch in the doorway, looking none too happy to be there. "A pack of Carol Trolls have come down from the mountains and have laid siege to the front gate."

"Good heavens! Get Professor Sprout and tell her to bring up all the earmuffs she can find," Minerva said. "Jennifer, go out there and see what you can do. I'm going to ring the bell and get everyone inside."

"Oh great, that's just what we need right now," Jennifer said, grabbing her cloak and hurriedly putting it on. "Come on, Anna!"

"Wait, what's a Carol Troll?" Anna asked, following behind her.

As the bells started to ring, students began to hurry down the halls as insistent Professors urged them to head to their rooms. Jennifer would quickly stop and inform them the problem, until she finally made it to the front gate. Digging in her cloak, she stopped long enough to bring out two pairs of earplugs, handing Anna a pair.

"Here, we're going to need these. Carol Troll songs aren't deadly like mandrakes, but they sure can do their share of damage," Jennifer said.

"Wait, are you going to tell me what a Carol Troll is?" Anna asked as the earplugs were shoved at her.

"They're trolls that go Christmas Caroling, of course," Jennifer explained hurriedly. "Where did you think the phrase trolling carols came from, anyhow?"

"I don't believe this," Anna said, reluctantly putting in the earplugs and following her out. The ground rolled like an earthquake as the trolls began their own version of "Deck the Halls," small pieces of rock loosing from the walls with every "Fa la la." Filius Flitwick was already standing in the courtyard in pink earmuffs along with Audi Belle, who looked positively delighted.

"I have seventh years in there, how about I go get 'em and we have a lesson in detrolling castles?" Audi shouted.

"I knew we should have went ahead and torn down that bridge across the western ridge when we found it," Filius shouted back.

"Has anybody bothered to get the list yet?" Jennifer shouted to them.

"What, and pay those buggers off? You know what they're demands are like!" Audi protested.

"If you pay them off, it'll only encourage them to come back," Filius said.

"Oh come on, where's your Christmas spirit? Besides, if they keep singing like this, the wall surrounding the gate is going to crumble," Jennifer shouted. "I'm going to go get it."

"What list?" Anna demanded.

"Their Christmas list, of course," Jennifer explained quickly, hurrying out for the gate. Anna stopped in her tracks and watched dubiously as Jennifer ran up and held out her hand expectantly. A huge piece of paper over three feet wide and five feet long was quickly handed to her, and she sat it down long enough to let it roll up, dragging it across the snow and back over to the professors. By then, Minerva and Sprout had appeared, Sprout offering out more earmuffs just as the trolls did a booming rendition of 'Silent Night.' Motioning for the others to step inside, Minerva quickly ushered the professors in and shut the door, taking off her earmuffs and attempting to ignore the rumbling of the door.

"So, can I take the seventh years out and dispose of them?" Audi suggested again eagerly.

"Goodness, I don't think the board would approve of that. Besides, it's not like they hit the castle often, they have over a dozen addresses they annoy, so we only get it every fifteen years or so. Jennifer, split the list up into categories: Food, Clothing, Toys, and General. We'll split up into teams and try to find what they need."

Jennifer cast a spell on it to translate it into something she could read then immediately grimaced.

"Yorkshire Pudding? Pickled Goat? Head Cheese? Ugh, I'm getting nauseous just looking at it, somebody else is going to have to get this one," Jennifer said as she spell-copied the selections on a smaller, much more manageable piece of paper and handed it to Filius.

"Audi and I shall get this one then," Filius volunteered.

"Oh, well, if we aren't allowed to beat them, I suppose the food run isn't too bad," Audi decided.

"Dingy tunics, Pattern coats, Smelly sandals?" Anna frowned, leaning over Jennifer's shoulder.

"Torn linens, tapestries and broken lavatory seats. Argus and I will handle that one," Minerva volunteered. "Why don't you give me the toy list too, Jennifer, I'll hand that to Alvin and Rolanda. The two of you can do the general list. And please, hurry!" Minerva urged, turning down the hall with Argus.

"Most of the stuff Carol Trolls request are things we don't want or need, or things that are broken," Jennifer explained to Anna. "Nose rings…I wonder if those old broken towel rings from the staff bathroom on the main floor would work? Spice rack? Trolls use spices?" Jennifer pondered as they walked down the hall. "I bet one of my old cauldron racks would do."

"A dingy owl-feather pillow?" Anna said, looking over her shoulder. "Old student laundry bag and a trip to the Owlery?"

"You're catching on," Jennifer grinned, handing her part of the list. "I'm going down to the lab to get this. We can meet in front of the door in a few minutes and see what we got left."

It was the craziest scavenger hunt Anna had ever been on, and it didn't help that all the while, the robust voices of the trolls rumbled through the castle and completely distracted her by singing another round of "Deck the Halls." Finally she got back with what she had gathered, adding it to the very large pile of junk growing at the door.

"Quick, before they consider singing 'Ave Maria', I don't think I could handle it," Minerva said, checking the list twice to make sure everything was there.

After a couple of last minute substitutions, and Minerva had gone through each one to make sure nothing valuable had gotten in by mistake, the professors all pitched in to run it all to the gate, putting them in the large sacks they had waiting there. That was when the lead caroler finally stopped singing, rummaging through the sack with scrutiny.

"Ummmm wat dat?" The troll asked, pointing at an old broken gate off one of the Quidditch towers.

"That's a sled," Rolanda said.

"An wat dat?" she asked, pointing at a large metal goblet with a broken handle.

"That's a thimble," Anna answered quickly.

"Oh. All here den," she decided. "One fa da road?"

"No! Thank you," Minerva said frantically. "Happy Christmas!"

"Meny Appie Retterns," she said, slinging a club over one hand and a sack over the other. The large group of trolls began heading back up the mountains, not being able to resist another chorus of 'Jingle Bells' as they left.

"Well if that don't put us all in the Christmas mood, I don't know what does," Rolanda smirked, earning a dirty look from all the rest of the professors.