Chapter Twenty-Seven
Wake Up Calls
With a cloud of soot, Jennifer landed back at the Broom Closet, listening to make sure she didn't wake anyone up before trying to get to her feet, grateful for the hand up from Severus.
"About time you got back, I've been here nearly an hour," Severus grunted.
"Come on in and rest a moment. I've made everyone some warm tea before bed," Carol insisted, smiling warmly at her.
"Thank you for taking tomorrow morning off instead of today, Carol, it's been so frightfully hectic," Jennifer said.
"Not at all, ma'am, Mr. Snape has been telling me all about it," Carol winked at her, pouring her a cup.
"And the fact that Willowby and his gang got off easy again," Severus grunted.
"Well. it's not like there's much left to take away, is it?" Jennifer sighed, shaking her head.
"She did seize the instruments," Severus said, sounding quite pleased with that part of it. "But it seems Corey found a 'loophole' in that there was no reference for using those sorts of potions for non-sports or non-academic pursuits."
"So they didn't lose points for it?" Jennifer asked. Severus grumbled.
"She did say she would change the wording on it in the morning, but that is entirely beside the point."
"Well, I agree with you, even if I do know you're biased because since there were two Gryffindors on the band and you'd have still gotten another edge on them," Jennifer said, sitting down.
"Can we 'accidentally' lose his guitar when she returns it before he goes home this summer?"
"I don't think he'd buy it, but we'll discuss that later," Jennifer said, pulling over the sugar bowl. "I think I'd better tell you what happened at the order meeting." Severus looked up with suspicion.
"Now why is it that I have the feeling you've volunteered us for something again?" Severus asked.
"Now don't get ahead of her, let the woman talk," Carol chided him, as curious to what went on at those meetings as the rest of the outside world was.
"Well, first thing's first, I suppose. The Stone of Destiny is definitely a fake," Jennifer said. "Dumbledore took Arthur over to where it was returned to and did some sort of test, and declared it totally non-magical. So it's official, we only have two of the parts and not three." Severus rolled his eyes in disbelief. "On the bright side, Harry's looking into it, so hopefully we won't have to find that part," Jennifer grinned at him.
"I suppose the Cauldron came up as well?" he asked.
"In a big way," Jennifer nodded. "Because, you see, we just found out from Witolf and Dalance that two of the members of Equinox have recently disappeared. They left together a month ago and haven't come back. None of the other members of the Order will say where they were going, but see, one of them happened to be Norman Balmweed…"
"From our board of governors?" Severus said with surprise. Jennifer nodded.
"His wife told Dalance that he had gone on a fishing trip near Galway but should have been back by now."
"Galway? Really?" Carol said, suddenly even more interested. "Me Da's company has some fishing boats out that way."
"Connaught seems to be very connected with the Westernmost Isle, at least, Janus Craw thought so, and apparently so do Equinox. I think they must have been onto something."
"But they still had something we don't, a starting point and a direction," Severus pointed out.
"West?" Jennifer quipped, earning an exasperated look from her husband.
"Do you think they would have tried flying or by boat?" Carol asked, and both pairs of eyes turned to her.
"Flying would probably be the most efficient way, at least for anyone with no boat sense whatsoever," Severus said.
"That'd be a mistake, I think," Carol said, looking at Severus thoughtfully. "There are many small islands hardly big enough tae be anything but a nuisance that aren't listed on the normal maps. A fisherman would know each one by heart if not by name. If ye want tae find an island, first you must find the right fisherman," Carol said.
"What does that matter? I mean, if the island is hidden, I doubt it'd make any difference," Jennifer sighed.
"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Snape, but even if the island was hidden from human folk, somehow I doubt the island is hidden from the fish," Carol said. Jennifer stared at her for a long time, realizing she was right. "Let me send me Da an owl. If he can't do it, sure enough he'll be knowin' who can."
It was several days later while Jennifer and Severus were in the staff room pouring their attention into that year's Gauntlet that a response came back, the owl tapping insistently on the door until Severus got up to answer it, knowing full well that Jennifer had no intention of getting up.
"You know, Severus, I think the cursed mummy trap followed by the two-headed pit-fanged serpent hiding in a pool of mud laced with sleeping potion is a bit much," Jennifer said, shaking her head at him.
"Well, Dumbledore wouldn't let me use any real poison in the mud," Severus said expressionlessly. Jennifer had to look up and study him for a moment to tell that he was joking. "It's from Carol. She says her father is willing to take us… me, out there, and that he may actually have some idea where to look."
"Wait a minute, you do mean 'us,' right?" Jennifer said, frowning at him.
"No, I meant me as in I as in you will wait here until I return."
The two of them stared challengingly at each other, and Jennifer wasn't about to give in now any more than she had when they first met. Perhaps she would have won too, had Anna not come in a few minutes later, looking between them curiously as she walked towards the table.
"Am I interrupting something?" Anna asked at last, putting her note-stuffed book down and sitting cautiously between Jennifer and where Severus stood at the other end of the table.
"Severus somehow got it in his head that now that we have a starting point, he's going to try and go find the Cauldron alone instead of taking us along," Jennifer said. Anna looked at him quizzically.
"Actually, I had forgotten you were mixed up in this little goose chase as well, Anna. You may go, of course. I intend to head out directly after finals, if possible, so once you get your schedule for those, let me know," Severus said calmly.
"What about me?" Jennifer asked.
"Jennifer, need I remind you that are due at the second week of June? That'll be only two weeks from then. You're staying here," he said firmly.
"Now just a minute, Severus…"
"You should be thinking about what's best for your child and not your own personal wishes right now. You're not going, and that is that."
"Severus, the Cauldron is my responsibility, not yours. You can't change that just because I'm pregnant."
"No, as I recall, it's Vallid's responsibility. If she wants to go on this fishing expedition she's more than welcome, but you're staying home. You wanted children, Jennifer, your first responsibility is with them."
"I'm not the only parent here! Just because I carry them doesn't make you any less responsible. If I have to stay home, so do you!" Jennifer said hotly. Anna rubbed her head.
"Jennifer, it's time you woke up and faced the fact that trying to act in a normal fashion while in this condition is madness. You're going to make yourself and the baby sick, and I'm not about to worsen that fact by letting you go."
"I am perfectly fine and perfectly able to manage acting 'normally' in my 'condition.' I know my limits and I know what I can and can't do, and if I still feel up to it at that point, I'm going, Severus. With or without you."
"You're speaking utter nonsense. You won't possibly be capable of doing anything by then without my help and I won't let you become a burden to the expedition."
"That is it!" Anna said, and the two of them looked over in surprise, suddenly remembering she was there. She looked at them with a determined expression on her face, and then quickly crossed her arms and back again. Jennifer suddenly felt extremely dizzy and felt quite glad she was sitting down, closing her eyes for a moment to steady herself. "If you can't learn to listen to each other, you should learn how the other half lives!" she snapped. "Work it out! I'm going to go finish writing up my finals." With that, Anna walked out. Jennifer looked up, feeling quite odd indeed.
That was when she realized she was standing, and not only that, she could see herself on the other side of the room. That was also when she realized that the Jennifer she was looking at was holding her head in apparent pain.
"Severus?" Jennifer said quietly, then stopped, hearing the strange low voice coming out of her mouth. She looked down then and saw the drab black robes, finally realizing where she was. "Anna?" Jennifer shouted. She ran over to the closet and opening the door, ignoring Humphrey, who seemed quite surprised and decided to find somewhere else to lurk. She stared at the mirror and at the reflection of Severus looking back and screamed loud enough to wake the dead.
"Good lord, Jennifer, don't do that! What am I wearing? What are you wearing, I mean?" Severus said from Jennifer's form, disoriented. "My… your… something hurts. And I swear this chair is getting harder by the minute. Would you stop that screaming? You're making me look terrible. I don't go into hysterics!" he snapped at her. "Ow? What in the hell was that?" he said startled, holding his stomach with a curious expression. "I'm not sure I feel too well."
"Please tell me this is going to wear off!" Jennifer said, making all sorts of expressions appear on Severus' face that hadn't before. "I am going to kill your sister."
"Not if I get there first," Severus said, standing up too quickly and having to lean on the table at the dizzy spell that hit. "Then again, you go ahead. No, never mind that, get Dumbledore."
But Jennifer spun around and strode over to Severus, pulling him away from the table.
"Fine, but you're coming too," Jennifer said.
"I'm not going anywhere looking like this," Severus said. "Bad enough how you're acting in my form. If any student sees you acting like that, it'll take years for anyone to forget it."
"I don't care! This is our problem and if you think I'm going to let you take the easy road and stay here, forget it. Just because your… I'm… we're pregnant doesn't mean there aren't things that need to be taken care of. And this definitely needs to be taken care of. So let's go," Jennifer said firmly. Severus glared at her. "You know, right now I'm bigger than you and I can do magic now and you can't. I wouldn't argue if I were you."
"I also know for a fact I have a complete arsenal of potions on me and I am just as capable of using them as you are," Severus snapped. Just then they heard the door and looked up to see Rolanda Hooch come in, waving at them.
"Are you two fighting again? Is that what all that screaming was about?" Rolanda said, rolling her eyes. "You know I think nearly every student at breakfast jumped out of their socks a moment ago, Severus, don't you have any restraint?
"I'll show you restraint…"
"Jennifer," Jennifer said quickly, putting an arm on Severus' shoulder. "May I remind you we need to meet with Dumbledore? Now?" she said.
"Fine. Let's go," Severus snapped, finally moving away from the table and storming towards the door. Rolanda's eyes followed them in complete bewilderment, knowing something was wrong, but not being able to figure out what. It was just as well, Jennifer thought. She knew that Rolanda would never let them live this one down.
Corey and Doug were walking out from breakfast, and Doug was quite irritated indeed. Corey sighed loudly, shaking his head.
"You know, you're really taking this a bit more personally than you need to. So Perry's the man of the moment with the girls. He deserves to be. It's the first time any non-Slytherin snake-year student has won anything, and it was the only sparring match Gryffindor won this year. He earned a bit of attention," Corey said.
"Yes, but we won every Quidditch game this year, thanks in large part to us."
"And Perry is the captain."
"Even Carla is hanging on him these days," Doug glowered.
"Give it time, as boring as Perry is, it'll wear off and they'll forget he existed again," Corey said with amusement. "I'm more worried about what sparring did to our points, especially with Danny winning again."
"We're sunk, Corey, let's face it. We had the lead, and we blew it with that Chambers thing. Look, Corey, next year, no adventures, okay? Just ONE year in our Hogwarts history, I would really like to not be known as 'the duo that sank Gryffindor's chance at the cup,'" Doug said. The two boys' paused as the door to the staff room burst open and Professor Craw walked out, scowling fiercely.
"Are you okay, Mom?" Corey asked in alarm, and she turned to look at them.
"What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for class or something?" she snarled. Corey and Doug blinked at her, wondering what they'd done this time. Snape walked out then, shutting the door quietly behind himself while taking in the situation.
"We don't have class for an hour," Doug explained.
"Then go study or something, Brim." Craw snapped.
"Sorry guys, but we need to go speak with Professor Dumbledore about something right now," Snape said, smiling apologetically. "We'll see you later, okay?" he added, walking down the hall.
"Stop being so damned nice all the time," Craw grumbled at him as they turned down the corridor.
"Corey, I don't know what's going on, but I don't think I've ever seen anything as scary as that in my life," Doug said, his face quite pale.
"I think we've been studying too hard," Corey agreed. "Come on, let's go get some air on the Quidditch Pitch before class."
"I just hope our brooms don't decide to turn on us," Doug said, "It seems like it's going to be one of those days."
It didn't take long for Dumbledore to figure out what happened, but quite a while longer before he was finally able to get them back to where they belonged. Jennifer was reminded of her other time in Severus, but it was different than sharing his consciousness with him. This straight switch was definitely not any fun at all, especially after Severus realized he needed to go to the bathroom.
But at last everything was back to normal and Jennifer was refreshed and sitting in her favorite chair with a nice cup of tea to relax her. Severus, however, took to pacing, still irritated that the whole thing occurred.
"Now, Severus, settle down. Anna's in class at the moment but I will ask Minerva to show her up here for lunch and we'll have a talk about it. In the meantime, I am rather curious as to what might have caused her to do it in the first place," Dumbledore said.
"We were having a slight disagreement, is all," Severus grunted, "and I guess that was Anna's way of 'improving matters.'"
"A slight disagreement?" Jennifer echoed in disbelief. "He was telling me that I can't go find the Cauldron now that we have a lead to where it might be. We were planning to leave the moment finals were over," Jennifer explained.
"I was planning to leave. You weren't invited," Severus snapped.
"Severus, this is not your quest," Dumbledore said calmly, shaking his head at him. "You cannot expect Professor Craw to stay home when so much of who and what she stands for is tied into this."
"Everyone who has tried to look for the Cauldron in years has disappeared," Severus snapped.
"We don't know that for sure," Dumbledore said. "And besides, Professor Craw knows her limits. I'm sure if we get to time to go and she doesn't think she's capable of it, she'll let us know. However, this is her expedition, and you're not to overtake it. Professor, you feel free to invite or not invite whomever you wish. And, if you think your schedules can handle it, I can always have Professor McGonagall move some of the finals up a week, so that perhaps you can leave a bit early."
"Thank you, sir," Jennifer said, exchanging a warm smile.
"Just make sure you get with Minerva about any other staff that might be going so that you all might plan for their tests as well. And Severus, I expect you better be a bit more supportive in the near future. I'd hate to hear that she left you behind," Dumbledore said mischievously. Severus stared at Dumbledore for a moment before looking over at his wife, quietly sipping her tea, wondering if she'd even consider it. But Jennifer only smiled at Dumbledore, not saying a word.