Chapter Fourteen
Willowby and the Willow
After spending Sunday visiting his children, going to Azkaban to update Jennifer's father on her condition, and helping work security at the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff game, Severus hardly needed a potion to get to sleep the next evening. He did, however, take the time to check Jennifer in the hospital wing. As usual, Jennifer was asleep, but there was a half-eaten bowl of porridge at her side. A bowl of stoned kibble lay on the floor, and Rasputin's large head was leaning on the bowl as if it were a pillow. Ratfly was even there, hanging on one of the bars at the foot of the bed, looking around at Severus with bright yellow eyes when he came in. An almost imperceptible smile played across Severus' lips then and he finally went off to bed.
He woke up early and gathered his books, peering once more in the hospital before walking down to the office, intent on getting an early start and wondering exactly what Harry taught the day he'd been gone. But as he approached his classroom he slowed down, sensing something was wrong and hearing strange noises coming from inside. Whipping out his wand he leaned against the door, listening carefully before cautiously opening it, slipping his wand in the opening as he looked around.
Flinging the door open at the sound of crowing, Severus looked around in horror to see a dozen roosters running around the classroom, pecking at each other when one got too close and all flapping their wings when to door came crashing open. A light spell had been placed on the room as well, and Severus wasted no time to dash to his office to find the door wide open. He found that his entire office had been turned upside down, books on the floor, cases open, and potion bottles lying everywhere. As he stood in stunned silence, the roosters started to fuss again as someone came in. Harry ran over to the office door.
"Rasputin?" Harry asked worriedly.
"Upstairs with Jennifer," Severus said. Harry exhaled in relief, looking around.
"I can't believe anyone managed to get this far into Hogwarts. How in the world are they doing it?" Harry asked. "Any idea what they were after?"
"Yes, they were probably after the Tome. Somehow they must suspect that I'm the one who has it," Severus said, picking up a spell book off the floor and putting it back. Harry, suddenly worried, turned around and ran out of the classroom. Severus quickly followed behind as Harry went down the back stairs towards Jennifer's office. The outside door and classroom door showed no signs of entry, but Severus wasn't convinced. He spoke the password and the two of them went in to find everything untouched; the Cauldron still sitting in its place, bubbling away.
"Dumbledore's wards on this room were probably more than enough to keep them out," Harry said.
"Either that or they ran out of time," Severus mused. "They had to have been here very late. Jennifer was given porridge out of the Cauldron last night, so Dumbledore must have been in here to get it for her. Is he in the castle?"
"No, I just left his office. He went to the Ministry to look at some of the tests on the Ladle. I had better go get McGonagall," Harry said. Severus didn't like this; he didn't like this at all. Someone who could apparently get into Hogwarts undetected, someone threatening his wife's life and his familiar's… feeling a chill, he turned back to Harry before he could get down the hall. "Ask her to bring down Corey!"
Doug looked up to see Corey walking into the Great Hall beside Snape, hurriedly taking his seat while Snape continued on towards the back.
"What happened to you? Did you get in trouble or something?" Doug asked. "Is Craw alright?"
"No, not in trouble, and yes, I think she's all right," Corey said. "Actually, I'm not really supposed to talk about it, but I can tell you this much, because everyone's bound to find out. Someone ransacked Snape's office this morning."
"What? What for?" Doug asked. Several of the other students around became interested. But Corey was hoping to get some breakfast in him before it disappeared, as late as he was running.
"Snape thinks they were looking for something. And they filled the class with roosters, too."
"Roosters?" Gail asked.
"Roosters crowing kill basilisks, of course," Corey said, "They were afraid of Rasputin stopping them if they broke in, so they tried to kill him. But Rasputin wasn't there last night; he was somewhere else. And they didn't get what they were looking for, so that's all that matters."
"What were they looking for, then?" Katie asked.
"I can't tell you that," Corey said, shoveling more food in his mouth.
"But how did anyone manage to get in to Hogwarts like that? You can't Apparate in. You can't come in animal form anymore. There's always someone watching the gate, and Sagittari, McGonagall, and Dumbledore are the only one with keys," Perry ticked his points off on his hand.
"And I've heard Dumbledore say that no one can use any of the keys without he and McGonagall knowing about it," Corey added.
"But what about the magic failing all over the place? Maybe magic at Hogwarts is failing too," Gail said.
"Yes, and I heard all the sudden the magic problem is getting worse again. The Ministry building appeared to Muggles the other day, and several of them even made it to the lobby," Perry said, taking out the paper. "Then yesterday, a Muggle boat supposedly ran into Azkaban Island."
"Well, I doubt the magic would fail here without everyone knowing about it," Corey said. "This will be the last place on earth magic would fail at."
"How else do you explain all of these attacks then?" Katie asked.
"The only thing I can think of is that maybe it's coming from someone inside the school," Perry said. Corey and the others looked at him thoughtfully.
"Do you think Perry's right?" Doug asked as they headed down the corridor for their next class. "You don't think Longbottom or someone other student left the Ladle?"
"No, it can't be, he was at the dance with the rest of us, remember? Counselor Vallid looked at each of us, and she'd have known if any of us were responsible," Corey said.
"Yes, but a lot of people left early before they rounded everyone up," Doug pointed out.
"Amadeus was there, though, he was standing near Malfoy when Harry went over to talk to him," Corey said. "Don't forget, I have perfect memory."
"How can we forget? You keep flaunting it in every class," Doug glowered as they headed out to the greenhouses. Danny waved at them from where she stood, watering a large pot of broom snakegrass. "Wow, your project is coming along well."
"Thanks! How are yours doing?" Danny asked.
"I haven't checked on them yet, but I'm sure mine are fine. Mom has Griffonlilies in her garden, that's why I picked them as my project this year," Corey said.
"I wish I could say the same for my goats rue," Doug sighed, heading over to his pot. "Wait a minute!" he shouted out in surprise. "They're gone!"
"Gone?" Corey asked heading over to the pots. Just then he noticed that the arrangement was slightly off, for Doug's pot had been shifted much too close to Corey's. One of the blossoming Griffonlilies suddenly burped, and Corey grimaced. "Doug, it looks like my plants might have eaten yours."
"I thought you had yours away from everyone else's!" Doug barked at him.
"So did I! I don't know what happened," Corey said. Just then he caught Roger Baylor standing in the back of class with some of the other Slytherin boys, chuckling softly. "Although I can get a pretty good idea of what."
"What in the world is all the yelling about?" Professor Spout said, working her way down the aisle and over to the plants. "Oh dear. Well, you'll just have to start another batch, Mr. Brim. Willowby, I want you to cage up those Lilies immediately. I can't have them eating up everyone else's project for the year," she said.
"Yes ma'am," Corey said, still looking slightly apologetic towards Doug.
"They weren't doing so well anyhow," Doug said with a sigh. "Maybe I'll try something a bit easier."
"All right, all right, gather round everyone," Professor Sprout said, waving her arm towards them. "Today, we're going to be working on pruning Gnomeknuckle. As you can see, these in front of you have gotten a bit out of control," she said. Corey stared at his for a moment. Out of control was right; the woody, briar-like bushes were going in every which way, their gnarled bark twisting out of their pots like tiny curled hands, giving the plant its name. "We, of course, use the new shoots in several different potions, any guesses on some of them?" A pair of hands went up. "Someone besides Willowby or Nelson for a change?" Their hands went back down again. "Mr. Baylor?"
"It works to stabilize certain potions? Like, incorporeal draughts and weightlessness draughts, to keep people from accidentally becoming like that permanently?" Roger said.
"Yes, quite correct, and it's also sometimes used in a powder form to stabilize magical scrolls and texts as well… five points for Slytherin," she said. "Now be careful to get well under each knuckle while you're pruning them, and don't go trim any farther down than the second knuckle. Mind, now, they don't particularly like getting their fingers cut off, so make sure you have a good grasp on your shears, like so."
It was strange how easy she made it look, firmly grasping the first branch of the plant and snipping it off, while the remaining part of it swiped at her in irritation. But as they tried it, Corey quickly found it was hard to keep a hold of any one shoot, and it would fight and squirm itself away before he could get a good grasp of it.
Finally he got the grip he was looking for, quickly trying to cut beneath the knuckle when the other shoots of the plant began attacking the hand with the shears, trying to make him get away from them. But triumphantly he snipped off the shoot and went for the next, grasping it firmly again to cut it as they tried attacking him again. The angry plant managed to grasp the fallen shoots and began whipping him with it, making him back off for a moment.
"Looks like Corey's plant is giving him the finger," Roger grinned, several of the other boys chuckling as well. "What's the matter, Willowby, lost your green thumb over the summer?" But Roger should have been paying attention to his own plant, for it had snatched his shears away and in revenge snipped at Baylor's hand, tearing through his gloves as he let out a scream.
"Better than having a red thumb," Corey smirked, but then got too caught up in controlling his own plant to hear Roger's comeback. It was as they were heading out of the class that Roger Baylor caught up to him again, ignoring the warning look on Danny's face.
"So Brim, I heard you finally got a new familiar. How long is it going to take you to lose this one?" he asked.
"Shut up, Baylor, it's none of your business," Doug said.
"Don't you have something better to do? You can't possibly have finished studying for our Charms test yet," Danny said.
"You told me you were going to help me with that. Besides, I got time. Why don't you show us your new familiar, Doug?" Baylor asked.
"I can't, he's never around during the day, but he'll be back in the evening," Doug said.
"I bet you don't even have a familiar. I bet you're just saying that because you're one of the few people in the entire class that doesn't have one."
"That's enough, Roger," Danny said.
"Fine, but I still want to see it. How about after dinner? You can bring out your mouse and show it off to everyone."
"Fine, maybe I will."
"We hang out on the back grounds. See you later," he said, heading back the other direction. Danny watched him go worriedly, before turning back to Doug.
"Doug, I don't know what he's up to yet, but I wouldn't listen to him if I were you," Danny said. "At least, not until I get back to the common room to find out what's going on."
"Whatever happened to you having everything under control?" Doug challenged her.
"Well, to be perfectly honest, ever since Longbottom became a seventh year, it's been harder and harder to keep a grip on things. He's been taking orders straight from my cousin, and I can't do a thing about it. Baylor isn't going to get past this next Charms exam without my help, though, and he needs to stay on the team, so he'd better not do anything stupid, or I dare say I won't help him study," Danny swore.
"That test is next week before your Quidditch game with us, isn't it?" Corey said brightly. The idea of them being out of a Keeper for their next game was a delightful thought, but Danny glared at him knowingly.
"Don't get your hopes up, Corey, I'll just have to win the game faster than your Chasers can score is all," Danny said in a voice that indicated that would be easy, before heading back to her own class. Corey and Doug shook their heads at her as they continued on.
"Danny is right about one thing, though," Corey said as they headed down the stairs towards the Potion Lab. "If Longbottom's taking orders right from Malfoy, we should probably stay clear of them. No need for you to walk into that mess."
"But everyone thinks I'm lying about having a familiar at all, they just think I'm making it up," Doug said.
"Doug, has the mouse even come back after the first time?" Corey asked.
"Of course he has! Whiskers has been back lots of times! Well, not for very long, he often takes off again, but he has," Doug said. "Watch, he'll come by in the evening for sure, and then I can show that Baylor I do have a familiar." Corey sighed then, knowing he wasn't going to win this battle. But he was going to go along to make sure nothing went wrong.
It was as they were hurrying up to the room after dinner that Essie and Angela caught up to them.
"Hi Corey, hi Doug. Doug, I was wondering if perhaps you were still thinking of joining sparring club," Essie said jogging slightly to keep up with the two other boys.
"Oh, uh, maybe, I'm still thinking about it," Doug admitted. "We're hoping to give Slytherin a run for their money this year," he said.
"Well, maybe you could go tonight? And if you see my match, maybe you could give me a few pointers?" Essie asked.
"I'm sorry, Essie, but I got to take care of something. I promised some guys in my class I'd show them my familiar. Maybe next week," Doug said.
"Essie, just come by some time when I'm not busy, I'll help you," Corey said sincerely as the two of them continued up the stairs. Essie stopped and sighed.
"Well, that went well," Essie said sarcastically.
"I told you so, he wouldn't look twice at a younger girl. But you've got other problems. Didn't you hear what he just said?" Angela said.
"Yeah, he said he couldn't go to sparring," Essie said. Angela looked straight at her waiting for it to sink in. "Oh no, I'd better dash!"
"You know you should be studying your Defense instead of traipsing about getting that girl magnet to look at you. He's not worth it," Angela said.
"If I don't go, it's going to make him look bad in front of all his friends," Essie said. "Cover for me, I'll be back as soon as I can," she promised, running up the stairs.
"When don't I have to cover for her?" Angela sighed with exasperation, heading to the Hufflepuff rooms.
Corey was not surprised to see not only Roger, but also Longbottom and Casper Wyatt on the back grounds, along with several others including Greisley and the Liam twins waiting for them on a bench near the wall. Hardly anyone ever went out that way and for very good reason, for it was out that particular gate where there grew a particularly large, particularly dangerous tree. Why they allowed such a menacing thing on the grounds. Corey was not quite sure. In any case, everyone took great care to stay away from it, wanting little to do with its wrath. But where they stood they were perfectly safe enough, and there was little danger of anyone disturbing them.
"So, you came after all," Roger said as Amadeus and Casper exchanged slight smiles. "What did you do, fish one out of Snape's mouse trap?"
"Of course not, my mouse is smarter than that," Doug said, pulling out the mouse from his pocket and putting on his shoulder. "You see? He's completely tame. I bet I could even teach it how to run messages and stuff, just like Corey's cat does."
"Next thing you know you're going to try to tell us that that little castle vermin you picked up is just as smart as an owl," Amadeus said, smiling daringly.
"I bet he is," Doug said back, folding his arms.
"Well, let's see then," Amadeus suggested, making a slight gesture with one finger. Suddenly Doug heard the screech of an owl descending on him. But before he could duck, the Owl had come and grabbed the mouse off of his shoulder.
"Whiskers!" Doug yelled as the Slytherins chuckled, pulling out his wand.
"You know you might hit your mouse instead if you try that route," Amadeus said before he could cast as the owl flew higher, circling above the grounds. "But then, as far as my owl's concerned, your 'familiar' isn't more than a snack anyhow."
"Put the mouse down, Amadeus!" Corey said, putting his hands up threateningly.
"Attack me, Willowby, and I guarantee you that won't ever see that mouse again," Amadeus said calmly. "I think if you want that mouse back, the two of you are going to have to start cooperating a bit more around here. I will let the mouse go, but only if you promise to keep your bats in hand next week."
"Are you telling us you want us to throw the game?" Doug said.
"Unless you don't want your familiar reduced to dessert," Amadeus said. Corey looked over at Doug. After all, it wasn't his familiar up there, but he knew how he'd feel if it were.
"Alright, Amadeus, you win. Just put the mouse down," Corey said, lowering his hands.
"Everyone hear that?" Amadeus said, looking around to see the rest of them nodding. "If you go back on your word, I promise that the mouse is only the first thing you'll lose," he said.
Then he turned and made another gesture with his hand and the owl flew in closer, but at the last moment, it veered daringly towards the tree and dropped the mouse under its branches. The owl spun out of the way just as the irate tree moved to smack the bird out of the sky.
"Whiskers!" Doug shouted running towards the tree.
As soon as he got close, the tree attacked, snatching his wand out of his hand and tearing it to bits. As Doug backed away, two streaks of fur passed him. Cheshire and Queenie ran to the bottom of the trunk as the tree's branches whipped at them menacingly, trying to tear them to shreds.
"Cheshire!" Corey said, running past Doug with his hands out. "Pacheme!" Corey cast, trying to lull the tree into a calm. But the spell barely lasted a second before the tree began to react again. Corey rolled under the branches while the tree slashed at his arms like a whip as he tried to grab his cat.
"Hey, you stupid tree!" Doug shouted. "You're next months firewood, you know that don't you?" he taunted, standing just outside of the Willow's reach.
The tree turned its attention to Doug, lashing at him. Taking advantage of the distraction, Corey climbed up the trunk to where Cheshire was sitting. But Queenie jumped down and snatched the mouse in her mouth, running like a white beam of light back out of the tree's range. Corey shouted at Queenie to stop, reminding the Willow that he was there. Its branches turned inward and then grabbed him by the leg, picking him up as two larger branches came crashing towards him.
Suddenly there was a flash of red light under Corey's head, hitting a knot on the tree's trunk. The tree stopped what it was doing and relaxed. But Corey was still hanging upside down from its branches, covered in scratches and still clutching Cheshire.
When he risked opening an eye, he noticed Snape several feet away with his wand out. He was standing next to Greisley, who was red faced and out of breath. A moment later, the branches had relaxed enough that Corey came crashing to the ground and Snape managed to drag him out of range. Snape quickly checked him over to make certain his injuries weren't severe.
"What do you think you're doing? Don't you know you might have been killed?" Snape snapped at Corey. "Where is your common sense? Why did you go near that tree?"
"It's not his fault!" Doug blurted out. "Amadeus' owl kidnapped my familiar, and the cats went after it. He was just trying to –"
"Quiet, Brim! I didn't ask you! Besides, you don't even have a…" Severus glanced over at the cat sitting beside Doug and at the mouse now in Doug's hand. Then Severus rolled his eyes. "Greisley, go to the gym and tell them sparring club is canceled tonight," he snapped, standing up and calling up a stretcher, levitating Corey onto it. "As for you, I'll deal with you later," Severus snarled ferociously.
Doug was petrified at the expression on Snape's face, and then realized it was aimed at his mouse rather than at him. Doug clasped his hands around the mouse protectively, and Snape's eyes flickered up towards him. Shaking his head in disgust and disbelief, he turned his attention back towards Corey, taking him to the hospital wing.
With great relief, Severus and Corey of them realized that Jennifer had been moved to the private room, the beds in the main room empty as Poppy came over to look over Corey's wounds. It was just as well that he decided to cancel sparring club; Severus was completely exhausted after everything that happened that day. And after getting an account of Corey's side of the story, Severus realized that the matter was far from over. Just what he needed, he sighed softly to himself, then slipped in to tell Jennifer goodnight.
As hard as things had become for Severus, the same could be said for his sister… in triplicate. She still wasn't quite sure how Severus managed to get his magic back, or how exactly he ended up escorting Sirius to her door, threatening all the while to lock them in if they didn't sort something out. Severus was, in fact, in a fouler temperament than she had known him to be in for several years, but she knew it was only his way of attempting to deal with everything life was throwing at him. Sirius was in a bad mood for entirely different reasons, but it soon got sorted out with fewer words than she had expected.
By the next morning, Anna had decided to let Sirius dote on her a bit. After all, it was his fault she got pregnant, and also his fault there were two instead of one, having not taken Jennifer's advice to 'just a sip' to heart. Of course, Severus and Jennifer's addition was hardly his fault, but still she had a right to sympathy for that as well. Ever since the baby girl, six weeks younger than her own had come into the picture, Anna had not been feeling well at all, and not even the nasty potions Sagittari had given her seemed to do a thing to improve it. Her magic was doing strange and peculiar things at times. Often items would drop off of shelves when she passed them, and every now and then she would turn strange colors. One thing was certain; her magic didn't seem to be weakening at all because of her predicament. If anything, it had increased… much to the annoyance of Rolanda, Poppy, and a couple of other witches she knew that had to go without any magic for months.
Anna, for her part, would really have preferred if it had gone completely away; it was rather hard to go out and perform the Muggle portions of her job without such curious things happening around her. Despite that, Anna had become much more comfortable with her life between the worlds. She felt more like she was a part of each rather than an outcast of each now… even taking into account those still wary of her Aethermage abilities. They seemed a lot more relaxed when she was working with Harry on something, which at times she found quite ironic. Many of the same people who believed she had the power to destroy their world also believed that Harry Potter had the supreme power of saving it, and therefore she was never a real threat when he was around. Fortunately, there didn't seem to be any connection between her comings and goings and the way that the magic was wavering in and out.
On Saturdays and Sundays, she spent her time at the Ministry helping Vallid with some of her work as well as working on a Muggle Cooperative with the Law Enforcement team, acting as a go between for some of the wizard officials and the Muggles they had established who were 'in the know.' That was how she happened to be in Thurspire's office with Ederick and Megan when Harry came in with a report in his hand.
"Well, I got the final tests back on the ladle, and I think you'll find this rather interesting, Anna, Ed," Harry said, handing Ederick the report. "It was a rather complex reverse curse, basically like a magic depolarization, tempering the metal in a way that altered the original spell placed into it. Definitely not something an amateur could have done. Whoever did this knew their magical items well."
"Strange… according to this, the magical makeup of the Ladle as it is now is identical to the original report that was filed when the Ministry confiscated it from the Malfoy residence," Ederick said, looking up thoughtfully. "That means that this ladle was altered before that point."
"Yes, which makes me wonder if it was originally meant for Jennifer at all," Harry said. "I think the real reason it might have been altered was to try and assassinate Jennifer's father after he left Voldemort's service."
"That means whoever altered this was probably in the employ of Lucius Malfoy," Thurspire mused.
"What do you think the odds are that he was able to get the Ladle back after Fudge took it from me?" Anna asked.
"It's possible," Harry said. "Fudge was terrified of Malfoy, so he may have given him the Ladle to placate him, or at least keep him off his back about the Tome. But that wouldn't explain how the Ladle got into the school. Vallid talked to everyone even remotely connected to Malfoy that was there."
"Perhaps that's part of the problem," Thurspire said, leaning over his desk. "If Malfoy is involved, which is a distinct possibility considering his background with Jennifer and that he certainly must have known what the Ladle was capable of doing, he wouldn't be foolish enough to use someone we know is connected to him. Rather, he'd use someone no one would suspect. I think we need to widen our search."
"What about the Order of Equinox? Dumbledore says they wasted little time trying to get the Cauldron back. Maybe they know more than they're saying," Anna suggested.
"What we need is someone on the inside," Harry said thoughtfully.
"Oh, don't worry, Harry, the LE department has already been working on that," Thurspire said with an enigmatic smile. "I'm just waiting to hear his first full report."
