Chapter Twenty-Five

Hidden Talent

Corey Willowby had taken to avoiding people in the corridors on his way down to breakfast, knowing what was going to come of it. Instead he slipped hastily down to the Gryffindor table, but even then a lot of them were grinning at him as he opened a textbook and tried to look interested in it.

"So Corey," Gail said from across the table, pulling his book down. "Have you heard from your girlfriend lately? Or have you just been holding it all this time?" Several of his classmates burst into laughter as Corey blushed bright red. Finally Doug stood up, yelling above it.

"All right, all right, that's more than enough, don't you think? You've all been riding him about it for weeks now, and I've never heard of you going out of your way for any ghosts. He was just trying to be nice," Doug defended.

"Yes, really, can't this be dropped? I for one am definitely tired of hearing about it. In fact, I've half a mind to start deducting points if anyone else brings it up," Dave Spelling said from where the prefect sat near the seventh year section of the table.

"That's the last thing we need right now, we're seventy points behind Slytherin again as it is, no thanks to you," Perry Dalance said from the other side of Gail. "I hope that wailer you picked up doesn't just make the dance any more of a headache than it's already going to be. You are sure you'll be able to pull this thing off, won't you?"

"Oh, quite sure," Corey nodded.

"Well, you had better do something. Your friend Danny is going to skunk us again in sparring as well, and we need to pick up points fast."

"You forget, Slytherin took a Quidditch loss, and we haven't," Doug said.

"A lot of good that'll do us if you both go traipsing off again to who knows what restricted area," Perry said, shaking his head.

"Perry, I promise, we'll not be getting into any more trouble this year. How can we considering we have to check in with a professor and get an escort to wherever we go anyhow?" Corey glowered.

"If there's a way, you'll find it," Perry said dryly.

As many of the students got up for early classes, some of the other students shifted positions at the table. It wasn't long before several from other houses joined them, including Taylor and Danny, and further down Essie and Aelfred, sitting with some of the younger students.

"How are you holding up, Corey? They still putting on you about the Myrtle thing?" Taylor asked.

"A bit, but it sounds like it's going to be lessening soon if we can take Spelling's threat seriously," Corey said, propping his head up in his hand. "Man, what are we going to do? I mean, no offense, Taylor, but your playing hasn't gotten any better," Corey said quietly.

"Neither has your singing, Willowby," Danny pointed out. "At least now Doug's voice is staying in the same octave."

"Hey, that was only for a few weeks, man, people in this school have trouble letting things go, don't they?" Doug said, looking annoyed.

"Guys, this is serious, we only have two weeks until the dance. And I'm going to have enough jibes having to take with the Myrtle thing without us sucking eggs in front of the entire school," Corey said.

"This band thing was your idea," Taylor told him. "I told you we didn't have enough time."

"Maybe we should just pull out," Doug suggested.

"No way, not after McGonagall went to all that trouble to set us up with practice time and all that. We'd never hear the end of it," Corey protested. "Besides, we'd look a lot worse bailing out than if we got up there and stunk."

"Speak for yourself, that may work for a Gryffindor, but in my house, they'll tear me apart," Danny said. "I say it's time we consider plan B. Because I know from glancing at the you-know-what in the book it's going to take a few days to make it."

"You realize what's going to happen if we get caught, don't you?" Taylor said. "Especially after that Secrets thing?"

"We won't. I have a full potion kit with every extra there is in my room, it's the one thing both my parents seem to encourage me about," Corey said. "So? Are we in?"

"I am in, definitely," Danny said. "I have no intention of being humiliated in front of the school, friends or no friends. No offense," she added.

"Well, I'm in, what about you two?" Corey asked.

"Better than having to hear my sister laugh at me and say I told you so," Doug agreed.

"Might as well, but if I get in trouble again, I fear the Owl post is going to have to charge my father bulk rate for Howlers," Taylor said glumly. The other three grinned at him.

"All right, it's a deal," Corey said. "I'm going to study with Essie tonight. I'll get started on it right after that."

Jennifer slipped her feet out of the hot water and into her slippers, hurrying to the door to answer it. Dumbledore smiled warmly at her as she let him in and gratefully accepted a seat.

"I heard you had the afternoon off and since I actually had a spare moment, I thought I would stop by," he explained.

"Yes, I got to reschedule some classes today because Pyther's teaching my Items class how to paint. It should be quite an experience," Jennifer grinned.

"Of that I am sure," Dumbledore said with a chuckle.

"I do have to hand it to Pyther. The paintings, and even Caprica, have been much quieter," Jennifer added, taking her seat.

"Well, yes, I suppose," Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Although I do still hear quite a bit from Caprica myself about certain things. Actually, I wanted to tell you about an interesting letter I received from the Hagrids today," he admitted.

"Oh! I haven't heard from Hagrid in ages, not since Christmas cards, actually," Jennifer said in surprise. "How are they?"

"Quite well indeed. In fact, they happen to be expecting as well."

"Wow, really? And at their age? But then that's marvelous, really! I'll have to write to them," Jennifer said excitedly. "But I'm sure you didn't come down here to tell me just that."

"No, there was an interesting note at the bottom, asking me if I knew anything about Dagda's Cauldron and why someone might be looking for it," Dumbledore added, getting Jennifer's full attention. "The last visit they took up north, the giants had told them that several wizards had come asking them about it."

"The giants? Why the giants?" Jennifer asked in confusion.

"Apparently, from what Hagrid came to understand, he thought they were members of the Order of Equinox," Dumbledore finished.

"If they went to all that trouble to go up there and speak with the giants, they had to have a reason," Jennifer said.

"Yes, I tend to agree,. I believe that they're going about it in the opposite direction than we are," Dumbledore mused. "I think they're beginning at the earliest events that Dagda's Cauldron was recorded and are trying to trace them to the present, instead of going from the present day to the past, as we are."

"Dagda lived during the first invasions of the Fomorians," Jennifer mused. "And the giants were once the slaves of the Fomorians, right?"

"Well, yes, and at the same time, they were Fomorians," Dumbledore said, smiling at her confused expression. "The Fomorians were a race of giants originally from islands in the Mediterranean, who took to the sea after the eruption of a volcano forced them to leave their homelands. They were a civilized culture, very advanced in ancient magics and the ways of the sea, and they are said to have built a vast city somewhere within the Atlantic, hidden by their powerful magic to never be found by outsiders. But within their society, there was a small group of giants that didn't seem to possess the magic skill that the others did. They were ostracized from the others and forced to work as servants, taking on menial jobs and living under terrible conditions."

"They were the same ones that Merlin released from bondage, right? The ones who built Stonehenge?" Jennifer asked.

"Yes. In fact, it was often thought that their turning against their captors during the second Fomorian invasion of Ireland helped drive the Formorians away. That was when they were given a province of their own, and many of them stayed, blending in with the locals until they all but seemed to disappear, although their bloodline still runs deep there. Other giants, too drawn to the call of the sea to stay bound by land, headed north to what were then Viking lands, and have been living there ever since."

"I don't suppose that province in Ireland they were given happened to be Connacht, was it?" Jennifer said.

"Of course, quite correct," Dumbledore said with a slight smile. "And I thought you always said you didn't know your ancient history."

"No, but I know a good honest hunch," Jennifer said. "Maybe the Order of Equinox is on the right track after all, because the last place Craw wrote about in his journal was Connacht."

"Then I suppose we have some catch-up to do," Dumbledore mused. "Our next order meeting will be the Saturday after next, and I'm sure they'll be interested to hear all of this as well."

"Wait, isn't the dance that Saturday?"

"Well, the meeting starts a great deal later in the evening, and I doubt they will miss us if we leave here a bit early," Dumbledore winked. "Besides, I do intend to stay long enough to see how your son is coming along with his new pastime."

"I think his new pastime is already passed its prime," Jennifer said dryly, but Dumbledore only shook his head and chuckled softly at her.

The rest of the class had already each been assigned to easels and paint when Corey came in, trying to dodge his Mom's sour expression when he quickly slipped over to the only empty easel, getting a grin from Danny who was right beside him.

"Now of course, if we were doing these for real, we would have specific ghost paint for each subject, but the all-purpose base I have given you will suffice," Pyther was saying, "The important thing, is to really know your subject. The more you know, the more animated your painting will be. Now, don't be surprised if the painting you're working on moves around a bit, that's quite normal. Just work with the picture and not against it, and you will do fine," he smiled, showing his fangs slightly. "For your first subject, I suggest you paint your familiar if you have one, or a friend in class. And if you don't have either, bless you. You can take a stab at painting Professor Craw or me. Now, is everyone set? Anxious to get started? Good, begin whenever you're ready," Francis said cheerfully, turning back to his own painting for a moment while the other students worked at getting their familiars to cooperate.

Many of the owls perched themselves on the top of the easels, making for easy reference, while most of the toads did not seem to want to stay on the pedestals that Pyther had provided. Cheshire leapt up on his pedestal and proceeded to take a bath.

"I guess he wants to be clean for his picture," Danny grinned at him, trying to get the right tint of red in her brown for her own owl familiar.

"Stop moving, Cheshire, how can I paint you when you won't sit still?" Corey asked the cat, mixing up the orange paint. But Cheshire ignored him, lifting his leg and cleaning his tail. "Well, I'm definitely not going to paint you like that," Corey said in annoyance.

Jennifer for her part, couldn't get the colors quite right in her mind. She finally gave up and added the colors to the canvas while Ratfly snoozed upside down from the rafter. Francis Pyther finally stepped away from his own painting a moment to peek at everyone else's, smiling when he saw the picture of the yawning bat.

"Why, that's not bad at all, Professor, I dare say with a bit of training you could have made a very impressive painter," Pyther said, smiling with pleasant surprise. "You know, I bet it's your Truth Seeking abilities coming out."

"That and I have an easy subject," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "I can't say the same for some of the students," she added, nodding to one of the Slytherin students who had put his irritated looking black cat on the pedestal for the fifth time.

"Can't we just petrify them? It'd make it a lot easier," Baylor suggested in annoyance.

"My dear boy, you're trying to capture the essence of their soul," Pyther said, drawing his hand up with obvious feeling. "You can't do that if they're as stiff as a board."

Corey had already finished with his painting, watching Danny for a while as she tried to detail each and every feather on her picture, and listening to Pyther on his way around class. Most of the time he seemed to complement the student with either 'What an interesting painting!' or 'A very noble attempt,' but every now and then he would stop and give someone an 'Oh very well done," and on those he lingered longer, talking to them at more length. Finally he got back to where they were, and Danny's painting, it seemed, rated a 'Very well done indeed,' getting Corey's attention again.

"You definitely have your familiar's eyes perfect, it will be a very nice painting once you have finished it. It already wants to turn its head around and look at me," Pyther chuckled. "You must know your familiar very well."

"In some ways, better than myself," Danny admitted, earning another fanged smile from Pyther, who then turned to Corey's painting, blinking with surprise. Sitting on the white page made of five lines and a circle for the head was an orange cat. But the stick cat was anything but unanimated. Rather, he was licking its paw the same time that Cheshire licked his, and then when Cheshire stopped and looked around, so did the cat figure, curling up in a ball at the same time the as the real one.

"My boy, you have a lot of talent," Pyther declared. "I'm not sure in what, exactly, but you definitely have talent," he said chuckling and patting his shoulder. Jennifer looked up curiously, wondering what in the world Corey had done this time.

"What about your painting, Mr. Pyther?" Gail Sisna asked, finishing her own cat's portrait.

"Ah, yes, I suppose you want to see what I was doing? It's really not much, a bit hastily done, perhaps. But if you really want to see, I'll show you," he said, smiling enigmatically as he turned the painting around. It was a painting of the entire class, painting. Each student was in it and each familiar, working hard on their paintings, and one of them… Amadeus Longbottom, Corey realized with a grin, had his tongue sticking out slightly as he tried to paint his owl. But the most impressive perhaps was Professor Craw, off in her own corner of the painting, her facial expressions very lifelike indeed as she paused to glance over the class every now and then in between brush strokes. Complements rose up right away along with ahh's of amazement, and Pyther smiled at them and over at Jennifer.

"A memoir of our little demonstration, perhaps, if you can find a home for it?" he offered.

"That would be lovely, I'm sure! Perhaps we should hang it up here in the workroom?" Jennifer suggested, getting a loud agreement from the rest of the class.

"Wonderful, just what we need. A picture of Willowby at Hogwarts," Severus said from where he stood in the doorway scowling while several of the Slytherin students snickered.

"Er, I believe I'll let you handle the painting, Professor Craw," Pyther said quickly, nodding nervously to Severus.

"That's very generous of you, Mr. Pyther. We all appreciate everything you've done both for our class tonight, and for our school restoring the paintings," Jennifer said, smiling in obvious support.

Whatever Severus was thinking, he didn't say as he frowned and slipped out of the doorway. Pyther to exhaled loudly before instructing them all how to dry their paintings and roll them up. As the class let out, Danny and Corey walked to the front of the class, dutifully awaiting their escort to the dorm rooms.

"I say, now that you've painted Professor Dumbledore, and Mom twice, and even us, how about you do one of Professor Snape?" Corey asked in an almost daring voice.

"My dear boy, some people just aren't meant for canvas," Pyther said fervently. Jennifer chuckled softly to herself.

It was the night before the dance when Corey finished testing the potion and corking the four carefully measured phials. Rasputin flicked his tongue at it almost curiously as Corey divided up the four special potions with the potion he had made for his Dabbler's class assignment then quickly cleaning up the lab, turning his attention to Rasputin's box with unusual speed and enthusiasm just as he heard soft footsteps at the office door.

"Haven't you finished cleaning up after Rasputin yet?" Severus snapped at him in annoyance. "I swear every day you take longer and longer at it."

"I had to finish my Dabbler's assignment," Corey explained quickly. "Besides, I think Rasputin is making it harder on me on purpose, and he never seems to have enough to eat. I think he's taking advantage of me."

"Good, after how you took advantage of him, it's only reasonable that he'd do the same," Severus said with a frown, going over to his shelves to make sure not a powder was out or order or a bottle's label not precisely turned towards the front. "Now finish feeding him and get out of here. I have work to do."

"Yes, sir. Thank you for letting me use your lab," Corey said, quickly giving Rasputin a bowl of stoned kibble. Rasputin hissed loudly. "You had a mouse yesterday," he told the lizard knowingly. Severus hissed at the lizard.

"Well, I couldn't have you fuming up Jennifer's office, but I'd appreciate it if the next time that you want to do caustic potions to try and finish them during class. Now get out. I'll take care of the mouse." Severus said, pulling out some drawers in his desk.

"Do I have to take care of him tomorrow? I mean, with the dance and all, we need to set up band stuff and get warmed up right after dinner…"

"The deal was you would take care of him every evening without fail until the end of the school year," Severus said sternly. "And if that band of yours isn't warm now, it never will be. I'll be glad when this is over with and your done making a fool out of yourself so you can get your head out of the clouds and get back to what you're truly good at."

"Causing trouble?" Corey inquired, succeeding in getting Severus' lip to twitch slightly.

"The Physical Arts? Making potions that you keep insisting that the school equipment isn't good enough for? Now go report to McGonagall before I tell her you were dallying in the hallways and she takes off ten more points."

Corey knew better than to think he wouldn't do it. Quickly he headed out, sighing in relief that he hadn't asked him any questions about the potions.