Chapter Eight
A Conspiracy Revealed
By the time supper rolled around, Anna didn't feel too well. In fact, she didn't really feel like putting up with Severus and Jennifer, who had come to ask her about the Imp incident. Why didn't everyone just leave her alone?
"Whoever was controlling the Imp must have had some knowledge at least of what Anna was," Severus said with a frown. "Although I'm still trying to figure out how that thing got in the school."
"Things have been slipping in other places too," Jennifer pointed out. "There have been numerous Muggles managing to get into the Alleys lately, so maybe the same thing happened here?"
Severus nodded with a frown, acknowledging the possibility.
"We need to go back to old security standards with constant patrols along the grounds. We can't afford for anything else to get in," Severus insisted.
"Why does everything have to try and go after me?" Anna said irritably. "No, don't tell me, let me guess. The magic failing is somehow my fault."
"Now, Anna, none of us really believe that," Jennifer sighed.
"Well apparently someone does. Why else would anyone send an Imp after me?" Anna asked.
"Curious, isn't it, that it would be an Imp, after Fudge sent one at the wedding," Severus mused.
"Well, we know it's not him. I checked the body myself when you were accused of murdering him," Jennifer sighed. "He's dead."
"Look, can't we try and figure this out tomorrow? I really don't feel well," Anna admitted.
"Maybe you should go see Sagittari or Poppy before you leave," Severus said, suddenly concerned. "You may still have some aftereffects from that spell."
"No, it doesn't feel like a spell," Anna said, holding her head in her hand. "I think I'll see if I can't get to my doctor tomorrow." Jennifer sighed silently at Anna but didn't say anything. Why would she want to go to a Muggle doctor? She was sure whatever she was feeling could be cured a lot faster with a potion than anything he might give her.
There was a soft knock at the door and Sirius peeked in, nodding to Severus and Jennifer.
"Sorry I'm late. Dumbledore wanted to talk to me about security. He wants me to come back tomorrow and make sure the castle is sealed," Sirius explained.
"What do you mean he wants you to do it? Castle security is my job!" Severus snapped, standing up. "Why wasn't I informed of any of this?"
"Look, Severus, I'm not here to step on any toes. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me to cover for you while your magic's down. If you got a problem with it, take it up with him, but I'm not going to argue with you about it," Sirius replied. Severus glared at him for a long moment while Sirius met his gaze challengingly. Growling, Severus took off out the door, and Jennifer wasn't surprised when her watch's Severus hand pointed to Dumbledore's study.
"Well, I'd better let you get her home. If that doctor of yours doesn't find out what's wrong, you will check in with Sagittari too, won't you? Just in case it's magical?" Jennifer asked her. Anna sighed softly, knowing that Jennifer was saying that only out of concern.
"All right, I will," she promised. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow after my appointment since Sirius will be here," she added.
Jennifer followed them down the hall until they got to the main stairs, waving at them as they left, looking over the banister thoughtfully. Had the entire world gone mad? Failing magic? Severus losing his own powers? Magical creatures sneaking their way into school? Were they all related, or separate events entirely? Jennifer sighed and shook her head, wondering if they were going to be able to figure it out before anything else went wrong.
Jennifer came back from visiting her children the next day to find Sirius at the gate, using a strange fork-shaped divining rod, which hummed in perfect harmony. He put it away as she approached, waving to her.
"How is it?"
"Everything seems in tact, including the Muggle disinterest illusion that keeps failing in other places," Sirius said. "No doubt about it, the founders knew what they were doing when they set this place up."
"Merlin knew what he was doing when he set the Twilight Arc up, and look how fast it went down," Jennifer pointed out.
"Yes, but the Twilight Arc has also has a few thousand years on the school. If age has anything to do with it, it's probably one of the oldest spells still in effect anywhere. So, if Ancient magic is dying, it makes sense it'd be one of the first to go."
"Severus is convinced it's not dying. At least, he was convinced until his magic stopped working," Jennifer admitted. "But why only him? I mean, if magic was really dying, you'd think it'd hit us all at once."
"Why don't you ask him?" Sirius asked. "Maybe he did something to mess it up himself and he's just too stubborn to admit it."
"Oh, Sirius, really. Besides, I would have known by now. He doesn't know what it is and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't give him a hard time about it. This has really been rough on him."
"All right, Jennifer. For your sake, I'll try to keep quiet. But if he starts trying to boss me around on this security thing, there's going to be a war," Sirius warned as they went back inside. Jennifer sighed, knowing that nothing else she said was going to make much of a difference on that. Well, at least the two men got along a lot better than they used to… she chuckled quietly to herself. Of course, it couldn't have gotten much worse.
Sirius and Jennifer walked over to Anna's office. It was well after lunch, and he wondered if he missed her come in while checking out the Quidditch Pitch. Sure enough, Anna was there, but she didn't look anything close to happy. In fact, she looked quite furious.
"Hi Anna, how was your checkup?" Sirius asked.
"Don't you 'how was your checkup' me!'" Anna said, standing in the doorway of her office. "I thought you said those things were foolproof? Don't worry about, it Anna. I've got it covered, Anna?"
"Does that mean you're...uh..." Sirius stopped short as a couple of students past in the hall.
"Yes I am, no thanks to you! I thought we were going to wait another year!" she snapped at Sirius.
"Ah, well, I see you two have things to talk about," Jennifer said, moving to turn around.
"Oh, no you don't. I want to ask you about this foolproof potion of Severus and yours," she said, heading into her office. Sirius and Jennifer looked at each other guiltily, following her.
"Don't tell me it's another one of those potions that doesn't work right because I'm an Aethermage," she snapped.
"Oh, that could be possible, maybe that's it," Jennifer said too quickly. Anna frowned at her.
"You don't believe that," Anna said flatly.
"Sure I do, it sounds, um, reasonable to me," Jennifer said nervously, shrugging. Sirius shrugged supportively along with her.
"Jennifer, you're lying," Anna said, putting her arms on her hips. "I don't know why, but you are, you're such a lousy liar. Did you have something to do with this?"
"Look, don't get on Jennifer, Anna," Sirius said, taking a step over. He tried to put his hands on Anna's shoulder but she stepped back. "Okay, I admit it, I stopped taking Oat's Bane a few months ago and switched to the concoction Jennifer and Severus had been using. She might have given me the bottle, but I took it on my own."
"You helped him?" Anna said, looking furious at Jennifer. "And you didn't even tell me what he was up to?"
"Oh, Anna, I knew you wanted kids," Jennifer sighed, shaking her head at her. "I saw your face every single time you picked one of mine up. But I also knew you weren't ready to admit it to yourself. And when Sirius came to me with this, I thought, well, it'd be nice to have one of yours going to school at the same time as mine. Sirius was really sure that you both were ready, so I gave him the other bottle."
"So you just assumed I wanted this now?" Anna said, stunned.
"Anna, it's been written all over your face for months now…"
"Jennifer! Don't ever look at me again!" Anna barked. Jennifer shrunk back a little.
"Sorry," Jennifer said sincerely, a bit sheepish after seeing how upset Anna was.
Just then there was a knock at the door and Jennifer cringed, knowing who it was. Seeing her reaction, Sirius cringed as well, reluctantly opening the door to let Severus in.
"What is going on in here? Anna, I could hear you screaming from down the hall," Severus said, closing the door and noting the expressions on Sirius and Jennifer's faces.
"They got me pregnant!" Anna explained, pointing at them. The two of them cringed even more while Severus looked at them in confusion for a moment, then it diminished as he focused in on Jennifer.
"So, that's where the missing potion went," he said slowly, frowning at her.
"Yes, I guess it must have slipped my mind," Jennifer admitted with a nervous chuckle.
"Office. Now." Severus said in a deadly calm. Jennifer knew better than to argue, heading for the door.
Sirius opened it, looking at her apologetically. Well, at least Jennifer knew that Anna was privately happy about it, despite the fact she felt they overstepped, Jennifer mused. But she had a feeling it'd be a long time before Anna let Sirius in on that fact. Severus, on the other hand, was not happy, and rather then press her luck, Jennifer went straight to his office without another word.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I seem to have a detention to dish out," Severus informed them evenly.
"Wait a minute! What about him?" Anna asked, pointing at Sirius. Severus looked at Sirius then back at Anna again.
"Anna, you married him, he's your problem. I'm not going to interfere in your marriage."
"Since when?" Sirius challenged him before he realized that wouldn't help his situation any. Severus looked over him steadily.
"Since right now," Severus said, smiling coldly. "Anna, if the two of you decide that you do not want this right now, you'll both need to get with me before the second month has past so I can make a counter potion. But I'm sure you can handle discussing that on your own. Good day," he said, nodding to them and making a quick exit.
Anna stared at the door a little taken back by that. Did her brother really think she'd even consider it? Or was it his way of driving the matter home? Anna looked over at Sirius again, who was looking at the door with concern at Anna. It was plain now they had a lot to talk about.
Jennifer looked up nervously as Severus came in the office, immediately turning on the burners, refusing to look directly at her as he grabbed some ingredients off the shelf.
"I can't believe you did that! What in the world made you think you had the right to dictate what happens in someone else's life?" he snapped angrily at her, adding the first phial, a terrible gassy smell going up in the office.
"Severus, don't you think you're overreacting a bit? Sirius asked for a potion, and yes I gave it to him, but that's all I did," Jennifer replied.
"Yes, and Anna just asked me for a potion to fix this mess, and I plan to give it to her," he snapped, adding another foul smelling phial to the mix. Jennifer stared at his back.
"You can't possibly be serious!" Jennifer said, paling noticeably.
"Deadly serious. It wasn't your choice and Sirius' choice, Jennifer, it was ultimately her choice, and Sirius' second. You of all people should know that! And I have every intention of finishing this and giving it to her tonight!" he snapped.
"You can't give her something like that without talking to her! She might do something she'll regret for the rest of her life, it'll change things forever!" Jennifer protested, getting up and turning his shoulder around to look at him. His eyes seemed to pierce right through hers as she looked at him, locked in a long gaze.
"Yours already did," he said after a moment. Jennifer exhaled relieved by what she saw in his face.
"She wasn't considering it at all," Jennifer said softly.
"She might have," Severus said, reaching over to turn off the burners. "And I would have made it, but not without talking to her. As an Alchemist, you do have some responsibility as to where the potions go after it leaves the lab, Jennifer, regardless of who made it," he added with a stern frown.
"You're right of course. I've been a complete idiot. I really was only trying to help, and I did see in her face that she…" Severus' frown deepened and Jennifer cut her defense off short. "Alright, that's no excuse, you're right. I shouldn't have interfered, and definitely not without her knowing about it. I'm sorry."
"Yes, well, save the apologies for Anna," Severus said in a gentler tone, putting the rest of the bottles back. "Although I suggest it wait until tomorrow. I have a feeling that whatever words she has for Sirius, it is going to take her a while to express them. She's my father's daughter after all."
