Chapter Twenty-Three

Pawns and Kings

"Francis! How are you?" Jennifer beamed at him, giving the overwhelmed vampire a very warm hug while he almost frantically looked behind her to make sure that no one else was with them.

"My dear, you must let me paint you while you're with child. I dare say you are positively the loveliest mother-to-be I have ever seen," Francis told her with a sincere smile.

"Charming as always, I see," Jennifer grinned. "What are you working on?"

"I am restoring some of the Quidditch pictures in here. Dumbledore thought they needed a cleaning and a touch up."

"I'm sure they're positively thrilled," Jennifer smiled.

"Don't listen to him, Jennifer," called a voice from above the door. Jennifer looked over to see Dusthorn watching the three of them. Jennifer didn't miss the wary glint in her eyes. "He's actually here to see if he can get me back to sleep."

"Now, Caprica, not once in the entire conversation did Professor Dumbledore say anything about putting you back to sleep," Francis said, waving his paintbrush at the painting as he went back to his easel. "All he wants is for you to talk to us about what you want done and to stop bothering students about it."

"Francis, Professors, you have to believe me when I say I never intended for those children to go all the way down to the Chamber. Had they spoken to me about it beforehand, I assure you I would have told someone before they'd gotten that far," Caprica said to them emphatically. "The reason I mentioned Salazar at all to them was actually for Jennifer's benefit instead of theirs. I was hoping that perhaps she would take up the search to find out what happened."

"Just a moment… Jennifer? You knew that Caprica was speaking with the students before this?" Minerva asked.

"Well, I didn't exactly see how it could be stopped," Jennifer said, glancing at Caprica and back down. "She does get around."

"Yes, but perhaps you could have mentioned it," Minerva said, her lip twitching thoughtfully.

"Things got a little… bizarre for me after that and it slipped my mind," Jennifer said. "Have a heart, Minerva, you know what I've been through the last few months!"

"Yes, Professor, do be understanding, the poor girl has been through quite a bit and more and in her condition too. Jennifer wouldn't you care for a seat? I'm sure you'd much rather be off your feet," Pyther said, putting his paintbrush down and making such a fuss about it that Minerva sighed and waited until Jennifer was quite comfortable, duly noting that the argument wasn't bound to get anywhere.

"Jennifer can take care of herself, dear chap," Caprica said lightly, voicing Minerva's thoughts quite nicely. "I think she's proven that often enough already. The point I was trying to make was that it was Professor Craw I was trying to entice. But sometimes when major pieces on a chessboard do not move from their comfortable positions, pawns must take up colors. So, it seems that is what happened in this case. The students must have sensed just how important it truly is to find the Cauldron before it comes to harm, and decided to take action because they felt no one else was. I've always said that the pawn is the strongest piece on the board. They have the potential to become even better than what they are, when all the other pieces are stuck being the same."

"But in the process, we almost lost a pawn," Jennifer said, trying to bite back her anger. Minerva let out a short sigh, looking over at her.

"Corey's been in trouble in this school since day one, Jennifer. I'm sure you wouldn't blame a painting for his pure eagerness to jump into constant danger. It was only a matter of time before he would have got it into his head to go down there. As a matter of fact, I'm surprised it took him this long," she said in such a tone that Jennifer couldn't help but smile knowingly.

"All right, so you have a point. I guess I'm more disappointed in myself for thinking that perhaps Severus and I finally got him over that reckless streak of his," Jennifer admitted, to herself as well as the others. Minerva chuckled softly at her.

"Jennifer, you can't make him 'get over' being a Gryffindor," Minerva said with a lopsided smile.

"I bet you weren't this much trouble when you were in school," Jennifer challenged.

"Caprica," Minerva said, refusing to take the bait and turning her attention back to the matters at hand, "what about the chess piece in the library? Were you responsible for that?"

"No," Caprica said innocently. "But I may know who might have been."

"The painting of Bedivere O'Laren," Jennifer said with certainty. "He was the one who helped Hermione set up the chessboard for Symbology class. I have a feeling that finding the missing piece was probably just a conclusion to the lesson."

"Yes, but in the middle of the night?" Minerva asked.

"Not everyone is awake during the day," Francis reminded them as he carefully brushed away the dust on his work.

"So something about the time it was found must have been significant too," Jennifer concluded.

"Yes, it's significant in that students aren't allowed out of their rooms that time of night," Minerva said sternly. "It seems we have another rogue painting in our mist."

"Rogue painting? Well, I like that," Caprica said.

"Now Caprica, you were one of the most renowned Headmasters this school has ever known," Francis said, gazing up at the painting. "Surely if the paintings of the school back in your day began to try and interfere you would be concerned."

"We had a lot more troubling matters to tend to back then than worrying about what our paintings were doing," chided him.

"Yes," Francis said gently, "and so do they." Caprica frowned deeply, muttering something about having to speak with someone before quickly walking out of the frame. "It's going to take me several days to get all of these paintings back to shape again," he said in a much more cheerful, uplifting tone of voice. "I daresay I'll be around, so if you ladies need anything at all, I'll be here every night. Don't worry, I'll not be staying here during the day," he added quickly, looking over at Jennifer pointedly. "There are just some battles that aren't worth fighting, and some chances not worth taking."

Jennifer knew quite well he was speaking of Severus, wondering if Dumbledore had warned Severus that the vampire would be visiting. Severus had often made his feelings known about the idea of any vampire on the premises, Francis being no exception. And Francis, in turn, would do anything he could avoid the most disagreeable confrontations that he always seemed to face around the tall, imposing Defense professor.

"Perhaps if I can arrange a night class for my items course, you might be willing to do a painting class?" Jennifer suggested, looking over at Minerva hopefully.

"Now, that does sound like a lot of fun," Francis brightened, looking between them.

"I suppose it's all right, so long as it doesn't conflict with Aurora Sinistra's classes," Minerva agreed.

"It'll be wonderful having you around again, Francis," Jennifer said warmly, waving to him as the two women left so he could get back to work.

"Ah, if only everyone could be always so glad to see me as Professor Craw," Francis chuckled, talking to the Bludger player leaning on his broom in the painting.

"Well, we're all glad to see you," the teen assured him, his enthusiasm quickly echoed by all of the other paintings around the Trophy Room.

Jennifer was reading on her couch when she heard the sound of a door closing and stepped through into Severus' sitting room to see him putting down Rasputin next to the fire. The basilisk immediately climbed into his box, feeling as tired as Severus himself appeared. He glanced up as she came in, gazing at her thoughtfully.

"You didn't need to wait up," he said quietly.

"Nonsense, I haven't seen you all day," Jennifer said, leaning on the door. "Besides, I know how fast one can get into trouble down there when you least expect it. Remember when Ginny crossed the seal dropping down into that pipe?"

"Yes, I remember," he said, taking off his cloak. "You dangling from my neck, covered in slime. Rather heavy too."

"Hurrumph, and there I was completely awed by your having saved us and all you could think about was how heavy I was!" Jennifer said, folding her arms.

"I didn't say that was what I was thinking about," Severus said, gazing at her slyly. "Anyway, aren't you in the least bit interested about what we were doing down there?"

"Of course I am. Did you uncover anything interesting?" she asked.

"Not about the Cauldron itself," Severus said, sitting down thoughtfully. "But we did learn that Voldemort spent many hours there when he was still a student here… many, many hours. He's left his lasting impression on the memories of that room, so much that it was decided rather early on that I would stand guard outside and help evaluate the spells and curses as Dumbledore uncovered them while he attempted to make some sense out of the memories. How much he learned after I went outside, I am not quite sure. He was in there for a long time and didn't say much when he came out. I'm sure that'll change soon enough once he's had time to absorb what all he learned in there. But for now, you have an early class tomorrow, and I daresay we should get some rest."

"Yes, and then afterwards I think I'll spend my early lunch in the library with Hermione," Jennifer said.

"Now, why is it that I knew you were going to say that?" Severus said wearily, opening the door for her and giving her a suspicious scowl. Jennifer only smiled at him.

Books towered around the back desk in the library like battlements around a fort, stacked high all around the outside of a central work area. Jennifer put down the book she had been looking at discouraged, blowing her hair out of her face and leaning back to look over at Hermione, who seemed absorbed in the book in front of her. Jennifer glanced at her watch.

"I'm going to have to head to my next class soon, and all I've found are far fetched Arthurian legends and vague references to Fomorian takeovers, and every bit of it is marked speculation," Jennifer said. "We've pulled every book we could find in the library. The clue we're looking for can't possibly be in here."

"All legends are based on some level of truth, Jennifer," Alvin Archibald pointed out, bringing over another stack of books, setting them up on the desk and leaning against them. "You can't expect information which has passed down through so many generations to be entirely accurate. At least our records are better than the Muggle ones, some of their stories of that time period are fabricated altogether."

"Yours aren't much better," Anna told them, quite ready to throw in the towel herself.

"But this passage here is rather interesting…" Jennifer said, reciting, "'Arthur was the last of kings to be taken to Tir Na Nog via the Island of Kings, for it was after returning from his death that Merlin reputedly covered the island in mist and hid its whereabouts from any who might have come across it. It was at that time that the Seal of Callum was once broken into the four treasures and scattered across the lands, making it impossible for anyone to travel any of the known roads to the Otherworld.'"

"And the four treasures refer to the same artifacts that the Sentinels were set to guard?" Anna asked.

"Right. Which makes perfect sense, since the Sentinels were the ones that were supposed to look after the four magics, as well as decide when the world was ready to reopen that gate," Jennifer explained.

"And yet someone must have known its location and how to get there to have gotten the Cauldron there…assuming, that is, that Janus Craw was right and he was looking in the right place," Archibald said.

"My ancestor doesn't seem the type of person to have chanced a journey like this unless he was convinced that it was there," Jennifer put in.

"But if this place was hidden by Merlin, I'm not sure anyone else could have gotten past it," Hermione said.

"I bet I could," Anna said. The other three stared at her, but she just shrugged. "I don't know, I just think I could."

"You know, Anna might be onto something," Hermione said, tapping the book but not taking her eyes off of Anna. "None of us might not be able to do it, we're too wrapped in modern magic. But you're outside of it, and maybe whoever put it there was too."

"You mean whoever hid it might have been an Aethermage?" Jennifer asked.

"Well, if that's true, it should be relatively easy to figure out who did it. There can't have been too many even in those days," Archibald said.

"Assuming they weren't in hiding," Hermione nodded thoughtfully.

"But finding out who did it isn't going to get us any closer to finding out where we need to go," Jennifer said impatiently.

"Yes, but it does mean that when you do know where to go, Anna will have to go too," Hermione said.

"I knew I was going to get sucked into this sooner or later," Anna shrugged. The other three grinned at her.

It was at that time that they had to break back up for their classes, and it wasn't until after dinner that they again took up the search. But Jennifer, discouraged by the hours sifting through books and her aching back, was quite done up even before Hermione shooed the last of the students away so they could work in peace.

She got up from her chair, deciding that her feet were the least of her aches and took a walk around the library, telling them she needed to stretch her legs. The breeze floating in was decidedly warmer than it had been, but freezing rain pelted down outside, tormenting the snow-capped ground as if punishing them for daring to hope for a mild spring.

As Jennifer reluctantly turned to head back to the tables, she saw a wispy, graceful figure pass her and realized at once it was Dame Rachel. The ghost turned as if startled, then smiled at Jennifer warmly, joining her on her walk back.

"Any luck?"

"Nothing very specific," Jennifer sighed. "I'm not quite sure what the paintings were trying to tell us, but I am really beginning to get the feeling what we're looking for isn't in a book. If it was, wouldn't more people have found the island a long time ago?"

"Especially as many times as our dear Hermione has gone through this library," Alvin teased. "Good evening, milady."

"Well, hello, Rachel, I didn't expect to see you down here this late," Hermione said with surprise.

"Sometimes I come down here at night and think, especially cold nights like tonight," she said quietly. "It reminds me a lot of the night I died."

"Just how did you die, Dame Rachel?" Anna asked.

"I died giving birth to a child that wasn't my own," she said in a low voice. "But perhaps should have been."

"I'm not quite sure I understand," Anna said. Rachel paused a moment and looked at each of them as the silence grew, all of their eyes off their books and tomes and on the wispy grey ghost in front of them. Finally she turned and looked at Anna.

"Once I was a lady in waiting, a very long time ago, to a very wise and powerful witch… long before the school was built," Rachel explained carefully. "I happened to catch the attention of a wizard, and although in many ways his attractiveness was hidden, I found myself drawn to him in the way that I hadn't ever before.

"Our relationship at first was of the private sort that was barely spoken of, nor was it one perhaps that should ever have been anything more than a distraction. We kept it as discreet as possible for the several months we shared each other's company; not even his son was aware of my presence. Unbeknownst to me, the wizard had also his eye on my mistress, but his reasons for this were more political in nature. I believe he had hoped that if he could gain her favor he could gain her support, but my lady was a wise woman who had been but widowed a year before. She parried his advances for some time, and was led to believe she had successfully done so. Our relationship, in fact, soon became more known after that, for he had come to realize that all his attempts were coming to naught. Or so I thought.

"One late night my lady came to me very troubled and asked to speak with me. She then confessed a tale of an encounter she had had with the wizard where she was charmed by more than perhaps his words. It was then that she had told me the devastating truth, that she in fact was carrying his child.

"It was an unexpected occurrence on her part, but she was not convinced it was so unintentional on the part of the wizard. She knew that if she bore the child, he would forever have a presence in her decisions and the decisions of their child, and that was something she could not afford. The plans of the school had begun, and she wanted to truly be free to do what she thought was best, and not what another might persuade her was best. And that was when I decided, for the sake of the child and the mother, to take on the role of the child's mother myself, for none would question my pregnancy as quickly as they would have questioned hers.

"Using an Ancient spell that my lady knew, the baby was placed within me and I carried it for her, no one was the wiser. But my body was not prepared to take on such a burden as this, and not long after I bore him, I fell asleep and never awoke.

"I learned after that I had bled to death, but that the baby was well. The wizard was angered by my death, and his anger became focused on the child, blaming him for something he had no control over. He did not want to accept him as his own," Rachel's voice wavered, anger and shame riddled in her quivering voice. "My lady, furious of his actions, took up the babe for herself and adopted him, and did so without anyone else knowing that in fact she was adopting her own son."

"Wait a minute," Hermione said, growing pale. "I always thought you were Rowena Ravenclaw's lady in waiting."

"Yes," Rachel said quietly.

"She only had one adopted son…Icarus Ravenclaw. And his father was…his father was…"

"Salazar Slytherin." Rachel said quietly.

"I wouldn't have ever suspected it…I mean, I always had the impression Rowena was much older than the others," Anna said. "Wise old Ravenclaw, and all that."

"Yes, but records also say there was a sort of timelessness about her. I always thought that meant she was a bit like Vallid or Rosmerta, who don't seem to really fit into any age. She lived a lot longer than any of the others as well," Hermione added. "There are lots of mentions of her coming back to the school now and again over a hundred years after the others were gone to check on things… of course there's little hard evidence of that."

"I say, Jennifer, are you all right? You're so quiet, and you're as white as a sheet," Alvin said, looking over at her with alarm. "Perhaps you ought to eat something?"

"I need some time to think," Jennifer said, getting up. The other three looked after her as she wandered out.

"Maybe someone should follow her," Hermione suggested thoughtfully. Anna glanced at her watch.

"No need, Severus should be getting out of his meeting with Dumbledore by now, I'm sure he'll catch up with her."

"Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything," Rachel said suddenly. "It seems that even after all these years some things run deep."

"I think you did was very noble, Rachel," Hermione said reassuringly. "And I'm sure Jennifer does too. It's her relationship with Icarus that's bothering her more than anything."

"Dear Icarus. If there were only some way that he could find some peace," Rachel said, her eyes betraying her grief over his fate. "Perhaps then I could find my own."