Chapter Sixteen
The Imp that Went Bump in the Night
Jennifer pulled her blankets around her, a slight shiver running through her. It was a cold quiet night, and probably a frightfully late hour... and yet she kept hearing an odd, soft noise, like something hitting the floor. She thought about it a moment, turning over, and then opened her eyes, still hearing the noise. She leaned over to look under the bed, but Rasputin was fast asleep. Ratfly wasn't there, and was probably out prowling the property. Cautiously Jennifer sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her warm feet turning cold from the frigid floors. Her legs were quite stiff as she tried to stand for the first time in weeks and her back ached, but somehow she found that she could manage it, working her way over to the door and peering outside to see what the noise was.
The main hospital room was dark, the beds were made and empty, and neither Sagittari nor Pomfrey could be seen. What she did see, however, was an Imp, who was dangling on the highest bookshelf where the medical books were kept, grabbing each one and looking at it before dropping it with a thud.
Jennifer shut the door again and crept over towards the stand, opening the drawer to take out her wand. Slipping on a pair of slippers she found nestled underneath the bed, she snuck back over to the door and peered out of it. The Imp, taking the last book off the shelf, gave it an annoyed toss onto the pile that had formed on the floor. It hovered out of the room, disgruntled, sniffing the air thoughtfully as it flew down the corridor. Keeping her wand in hand, Jennifer tiptoed out to the corridor, watching as it entered a small room across the left hallway, used as a premed classroom for those who wished to go on to healing school. Again, Jennifer heard books being knocked off the shelf.
Was it planning to go through every book in the school, she wondered? If that Imp was looking for the Tome as she thought it was, it certainly wasn't going to find it in this wing. Still, it didn't seem too worried about covering up its tracks. Making up her mind, Jennifer slipped down the opposite corridor, shortcutting through another room to hurry down the back stairs. She glanced cautiously down the hallways, every now and then checking nearby rooms only to find piles of books lying in any that had them. Dreading what she would find lower, she made her way towards the library to find it had not yet been disturbed. Perhaps it would have thought that was too obvious, she mused, slipping back down the corridor and down towards her office. It too, remained untouched. Chances were he was working his way from the top down. If so, it would be getting to the main classrooms soon, and that would definitely slow the creature up. Using that to her advantage, she took a moment to put together a powder, grabbing a few bottles off the shelves and tossing them together quickly before scooping the mixture into a small bag. Then she grabbed her cloak from the rack behind her desk before hurrying upstairs, taking a moment to dust around the doors with the powder before leaving.
It wasn't long before she heard shuffling ahead of her, accompanied by loud squawks coming from the Transfiguration classroom. Cautiously she peered in the door just in time to see the Imp casting a spell at the animals, silencing their cries for help. He giggled, and then picked up the next book. But the sudden silence had another effect, and the Imp became alert of the door creaking as Jennifer tried to open it a little more.
With a snap of the fingers it turned itself into mist and drifted quickly past her before she could react, floating down the corridor with an echoing giggle. Quickly Jennifer moved to follow it, finding herself having a bit of déjà vu as she remembered the last time she had tried to chase something like this through Hogwarts. Then, at least, she had been in a lot better health, and Jennifer had learned from that experience that this sort of thing wasn't something she could handle herself. As she spied the mist drifting into the library, she paused outside to grab her watch and flip it open. Well of course he's in his room, she thought to herself, it was nearly four in the morning. But as she turned and moved to put it back in her cloak, the watch was wrenched from her hand and she gasped in surprise as it floated out of reach, laughter following it.
"Give me that back!" Jennifer shouted, "Or you'll regret it!"
"You can't hit what you can't see!" laughed the Imp from behind her, the watch disappearing out of sight. "Tell me where the Tome is, and I will give it back."
"What Tome?" Jennifer said.
"Oh, you know which Tome. The Tome everyone is looking for, written in Merlin's own hand. The one that Mordred's blood would kill to get his hands on again," the Imp said in a taunting voice. "Give it to me and I shall insure that it won't fall into his hands."
"Oh, great, that makes my life complete. Now I know everyone has a descendant," Jennifer said out of pure annoyance. "I don't know where the Tome is. Give me back my watch."
"You're lying," the Imp snarled, his face appearing in front of her several times larger than its normal size. "Naughty Truth Seekers that lie must be punished. Go wash out your mouth with soap, or better yet, just take a bath, you smell like a potion cabinet."
A sudden force hit her as the windows at the end of the hall flew open and she felt herself forced out of one, plunging into the frigid waters below the lake. The drop was enough to propel her nearly to the lake floor, and she struggled to swim for the surface. Ss the light began to improve, she hit something hard, for a thick layer of glass covered the lake's surface. Frantically she reached in her cloak and brought out a Gill potion, pushing the lid out of the way with her tongue and drinking down the entire phial until she could finally breathe. One thing was sure, that Imp possessed a lot of Wild magic, more than she was used to dealing with.
As she finally countered the spell on the lake and made her way out of the water, she pondered that perhaps stopping to speak to it wasn't exactly the most brilliant idea she'd ever had. Now it had her watch, and with it, a way to track Severus' every movement.
"He's gonna kill me," Jennifer muttered weakly to herself as she finally climbed onto the steps, managing to get off a dry spell. She had to get that watch back before the Imp was able to find their rooms. Two by two, she began taking the stairs with only her adrenaline to keep her company, knowing that she was going to have to act fast to do anything. But even as she reached the gate and started up the main stairs, her strength began to ebb and she found her head spinning, forced to sit a minute on the landing and close her eyes. It was only a moment later she felt hands around her shoulders.
"Jennifer? Jennifer, what are you doing out here? Out of bed?" Francis Pyther, who had been working on some paintings in the hall above her had looked over the rail as Jennifer came pelting up the stairs and saw her falter, racing down to meet her with obvious concern. "Let's get you back."
"No, no wait, there's an Imp… a pretty powerful one… I think he's heading to our rooms. I'm not sure the painting will stop him," Jennifer said.
"An Imp?" Pyther said, trying to hide the sudden fear that was threatening to well up inside. "Now, now, let's not panic. You need the painting to stop him? That I can do. But we need to get help, right away," he said, glancing up at the wall beside them. "Well, don't just hang there, you heard the woman. Make sure Dewhurst and the Dragon stop that Imp!" he told them, and several of the paintings next to them suddenly became vacant.
"You want us to round it up somewhere?" another painting suggested. Caprica Dusthorn had stepped into one of the vacant frames, looking eager to help.
"Yes, very good suggestion. Maybe the ghosts could help too. Where would be a good place?" Pyther wondered, looking to Jennifer. Jennifer looked around, noting she was on the landing to the second floor.
"Let's get it in the sparring gym," Jennifer said. "I think I have an idea of how to distract it long enough to capture it."
The Imp was very much enjoying his new toy. It was giggling to itself, marveling at how clever the wizard folk had gotten, following the arrow with keen interest until it reached a painting of a sleeping dragon.
The only problem was, the dragon wasn't sleeping.
In fact, he was staring quite dangerously at the Imp in a way that the Imp didn't particularly like.
Suddenly the painting began to move as if it were going to jump out of its own frame. Much to the Imp's surprise, a giant ghostly dragon head snapped at him. The Imp floated out of the way as the dragon came squeezing out of it. From the next painting, a bright-eyed Raven also burst out in a ghostly form, cawing loudly and flapping its wings.
The Imp began casting spells at them but they went right through them. Before it could think about why that might be, more began to come out of the paintings around him. Griffons and Manticores and Badgers and Knights and Wizards began to appear, and the Imp turned into a mist and dropped down the center of the stairwell. But the lower levels were also filled with beasts, and it was forced to veer away from all the creatures chasing it, herding it into the seemingly empty gym.
The mist reformed into an Imp, gazing at all the mirrors on the walls and sniffing at the lack of books, quickly noting the open windows above. It was just as it was about to leave that it suddenly saw the reflection of another Imp in a tall floor mirror, which was sniggering at him.
"Some Imp you are," the mirror said. The Imp on the other side's lips didn't move, but it was eyeing him challengingly. "You're not an expert of magic. You couldn't even get past a painting, let alone find a silly book. I bet your master won't be pleased, oh no. He should have employed me instead, I would have gotten it long before now."
"Who are you to speak, an Imp locked behind silver?" the Imp snarled as the mirror Imp took a fighting position, hands out as if ready to cast or fend off a spell. "Any Imp fool enough to get himself trapped in a room full of silver deserves to get his magic weakened by it!"
"True enough," Jennifer said from behind the Imp, throwing the bag of powder at him. The open bag spilled out over him and the Imp turned around with a dazed look, amazed at all the pretty colors before its eyes as it tried to focus in on the three Jennifers standing in front of him.
"Oh… I see, it's you again," the Imp said in a slurring voice, slowly attempting to snap its fingers before falling flat on its face.
Exhausted, Jennifer fell to her knees, wondering if he had felt half as dizzy from the Fairynip as she was feeling now without it, somehow managing to grab the watch and put it safely away. A moment later Pyther was there, cutting a very wide berth around the Imp and coming up nervously behind Jennifer. He was followed by the Raven, who changed back into the ghostly form of Icarus, and the Dragon, who turned back into the form of Janus.
"It worked! Are you all right? You don't look well at all. Is he quite safe? Perhaps we should get out of here," Pyther said worriedly.
"The Imp should be asleep for hours, but we need to contain him before he wakes," Jennifer said tiredly.
"I believe Caprica went to get Dumbledore," Icarus reassured him. "I'm sure he can take care of that."
"Oh, dear. We had best get Jennifer back to the hospital wing this very instant before anyone else wakes up," Pyther said insistently, trying to help her up. "I shudder to think what would happen if Snape saw us carting her about, let alone that we've been helping her chase an Imp around the castle."
"Well, you're about to find out," snapped Severus from the doorway. Francis turned around and shrieked in terror, falling to the ground in a faint. Janus stared at the vampire.
"This is the best we could do as a representative?" he asked with disgust.
"His blood's a bit thin, well, nonexistent really," Icarus admitted with a somber face. "But he isn't a bad chap."
Severus cast an odd red containment field around the Imp and then walked right though the two conversing ghosts to get to Jennifer, picking her up.
"No, wait, I'm not going anywhere without Pyther," Jennifer protested, pointing her wand at the door and shutting it.
"You're going back to your bed and then I want a full and complete explanation of why you are out of it," Severus snapped angrily. "Now open that door."
"Not without Pyther! It can't be more than an hour before dawn and he might not wake up right away," Jennifer said stubbornly, struggling to get out of his grip.
"Your point?" Severus said unconcernedly.
"He helped save my life," Jennifer said starkly. Severus sighed sharply and growled low in his throat, putting her down gently. Then he turned and violently picked up Pyther by the collar, jerking the petrified painter awake as he brought him up to stand, looking straight in his face.
"I hate undead. I hate vampires. And I most especially hate you," Severus growled at him. Trembling like a leaf, Pyther gulped and nodded.
"Yes, sir, I've noticed that."
"Fortunately for you, you're staff now, and I make it a point not to kill staff without Dumbledore's permission. But if you want to retain that position, I suggest you leave now before I forget that," Severus warned, letting go of his collar. Pyther let out a squeaking noise in response before he dove down the hallway and ran down the stairs. "Happy now?" Severus scowled at Jennifer, opening the door and picking her up. "If Dumbledore makes it down here before I return, tell him I'll be back in a moment," he told to the two ghosts. "I'm sure you can handle things until one of us gets back here," he added as he left.
"Did that boy just put us on guard duty?" Janus huffed indignantly.
"It certainly sounded that way," Icarus said glumly, sitting down. "I suppose that's all we're good for anymore." There was a short silence as the two ghosts started at the Imp, still sleeping in the dust.
"I thought my interpretation of the dragon was rather convincing, myself," Janus said.
"Oh yes," Icarus agreed. "Yes, indeed it was."
Severus briskly walked to the ward, not saying a single word as they left the room about what had happened.
"You really didn't have to be so hard on Pyther," Jennifer said softly, not for the first time.
"Don't start," Severus snapped.
"I probably wouldn't have captured that Imp without his help," she added.
"You shouldn't have been trying in the first place. Your job right now is only to get well. I swear I'm going to tell Rasputin to petrify you the next time you attempt to leave without permission."
"Oh, come now, Severus. Rasputin is a big softie, and he'd no more petrify me than you would tell him to do so," Jennifer said with a crooked smile. "Put on your hard face all you like for Pyther and the rest, but I know you better than that. Besides, you've no reason to be afraid of him any longer…"
"I'm not afraid of him," Severus snapped quickly, then calmed himself. "Only of what he reminds me of." Jennifer gazed at him lovingly, knowing that had been harder for him to admit to himself than to her. She leaned into him contentedly and would have rather stayed there than to go back into the hospital again, especially when they arrived to find the lights brightened all around. Poppy and Minerva were standing in the middle of the main room in their night robes along with Sagittari, who hadn't even bothered to put on a shirt, and they all looked up in pure relief when Severus walked in carrying Jennifer.
"We were afraid someone might have kidnapped her," Poppy explained, opening the door wide so Severus could get to the back. "Whoever ransacked the room?"
"There was an Imp," Jennifer explained, trying to ward off all the fuss as they insisted on getting her back to bed. Potions were brought to her lips that she pushed away. "But I caught him. He's asleep now. He was after the Tome, and was going through every open room he could find. A lot of other rooms have been ransacked as well," Jennifer explained. "When I heard him in here, I decided I had better follow him."
"It was an insane thing to do! Why on earth didn't you get me when you know quite well I'm right next door," Poppy scolded. She nodded to Dumbledore as he entered behind them.
"I felt all right when I woke up," Jennifer protested. "I thought I could handle one little Imp. Well, actually, his magic did have a bit more punch than I expected," Jennifer admitted, having no inclination of telling Severus exactly where she had ended up. "But Pyther was still working, and he found me and rallied the paintings and ghosts to help round it up so I could catch it."
"Well, I suppose it's a good thing Pyther was in the castle then," Dumbledore said in a tone that made Severus grimace. "Well done, both of you. I have already taken the Imp to somewhere that's safer to speak to him, and I have contacted the Ministry. Perhaps we can finally find out something of our adversary. Sagittari, once everyone is here and Jennifer is settled, I'd like you to come speak to him as well."
"Of course, Professor."
"Wait, I want to hear what he has to say," Jennifer said, instantly receiving several sets of furrowed brows frowning at her.
"You, Jennifer, are going to stay in that bed until I release you from it, even if I have to shackle you to it," Sagittari said firmly. "That's the only way you're going to be able to be well enough to teach next week." Jennifer's face brightened considerably. "But that's only if you're well rested and if I've decided you've not overextended yourself with whatever adventure you had tonight, and if you promise not to leave the castle until I give you permission. I need you to get as strong as you can as quickly as you can so we can get your child back where it belongs before your body forgets you are pregnant, potions or no potions."
"I miss my children," Jennifer protested tiredly, pushing away the two potion bottles from her nose again. "And I want to go to Hogsmeade next weekend."
"Positively out of the question," Sagittari said firmly, glancing around. "And as you can see, I have witnesses to note that order."
"You had better do what he says," Dumbledore recommended. "I believe Minerva would very much like you back to your job again," he said mischievously.
"Without a doubt, Professor," Minerva said smiling thinly.
"And so do I, although mostly I think it'll be nice not to have Severus stomping down the halls and breaking door hinges as he's prone to do when you're not around," Dumbledore added with a wink.
"I haven't broken a door in days," Severus protested with a frown. "But I swear I'll help Sagittari nail this one shut if you think about pulling what you did tonight again."
"Perhaps after our meeting tonight you should come back and keep an eye on her," Dumbledore suggested to Severus, who nodded curtly. "And Sagittari, after she has a full night's… or morning's rest, rather, perhaps you would allow her to return to her rooms tomorrow evening. I'm sure Severus is more than capable of making her follow any strict orders you have." Sagittari was about to protest, but made the mistake of catching the glow on Jennifer's face, one that he had missed as much as everyone the three weeks she had been there.
"Oh, very well," Sagittari frowned. "But expect daily checkups from now on. And enough stalling, take your potions," he ordered. Grimacing, she dutifully took them both, not complaining when Poppy decided to sit with her a bit as the others filed out. Severus gazed at her long enough that she had time to read his thoughts before following Dumbledore and Minerva out of the room.
The Imp was hardly cooperative. Severus had wakened him with a sour mix of stinkweed, aconite, and camphor, but as groggy as it was, it clamped its mouth shut, refusing to utter one word. Severus wished not for the first time that Imps were susceptible to Veritaserum, but all the wishes and throat pouring in the world didn't seem to help the matter. Dumbledore gently told him then that was quite enough, and called in someone that Severus had only seen briefly a couple of times before. It was Dobby the House Elf, recently promoted to Head Elf of the Castle. He bowed gentile-like to Dumbledore and smiled brightly when he appeared, but the smile didn't last when he saw the creature they were holding, chained to the chair he was sitting on with silver chains. House Elves and Imps had been enemies since as long as anyone could remember… each one seeing the other as nothing but what only the lowest of wizards would employ.
"Thank you for coming Dobby. I was wondering if you happened to recognize this particular Imp?" Dumbledore asked. "He's been most reluctant to tell us anything."
"Dobby doesn't know this one, Headmaster, Dobby would have recognized that horrid smell before," Dobby said, walking cautiously to one side to get a better look. Severus couldn't help but agree. There was a rather odd smell to the Imp… familiar… like a rare ingredient he had chanced to use on occasion… but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"He was searching for a book hidden in this school. Do you think you could find out if your former master might have sent him?" Dumbledore asked.
"Oh, Dobby could, yes, but Dobby doesn't think that would be like Malfoy, sir. He would never trust a creature like an Imp to do something like this," Dobby said, ignoring the jeering look coming from the Imp. "Let alone a mere House Elf. He would not, sir, especially after, well, what happened, sir," Dobby said, reluctant to talk of the matter in front of the other professors.
"Professor, he does have a point. This doesn't fit anything Malfoy would do," Severus admitted, still eyeing the Imp thoughtfully.
"Yes, but if we eliminate him, that would mean that we have yet another person out to find that book, and if I'm not mistaken, I do believe it's quite likely that there's a connection between all three incidents these creatures have appeared to us; this one, the attack at the wedding, and the attack on your sister," Dumbledore said, studying the Imp carefully. But the Imp only glared back without concern.
"What are we going to do to with the Imp in the meantime, Professor?" Minerva asked.
"The Ministry should be on their way to pick it up soon, and then it'll be detained in the Creatures department until it either talks or an owner comes to claim him," Dumbledore said.
"Now why do I get the feeling the owner will never come forward," Minerva said dryly.
"Yes, strange that, I seem to have the same feeling," Dumbledore said, glancing over at Sagittari. "Doctor, do you think you could make some inquiries of some of the other wild magic beings and see if they haven't heard of a witch or wizard employing an unordinary amount of Imps in the last year or two?" Sagittari nodded.
"Of course, Headmaster. And since Imps aren't well known for keeping quiet, or their loyalty, I'm sure we'll be hearing more from this one quite soon," Sagittari said, smiling at the Imp who proceeded to make faces at the centaur.
It wasn't long after that when a tired Deputy of Magical Creatures arrived with a couple of guards came to take it away, providing a sturdy little cage to slip the Imp into. The Imp was quite furious at being put in such a small space, trying to snap its fingers and shake the bars and everything else it could think of as it was taken away, the Headmaster thanking them gratefully for their assistance.
"Now that incident is over, I dare say we all probably need a short nap before breakfast. Come to think of it, I may skip breakfast," Dumbledore admitted with a slight yawn.
"Professor," Severus said, drawing back from the other Professors to walk next to Dumbledore as the others headed to their rooms. "I'm not sure we can consider the first incident at the wedding as a part of this. After all, Jennifer got Fudge to admit that had been his doing."
"Yes," Dumbledore nodded, "That is true, but I still believe they probably have the same origin. Fudge had made any number of connections over the years, and he had to have gotten the Imp from somewhere. After all, Fudge had a few House Elves in his employ, and left to themselves, Imps and Elves will fight quite savagely, you know, so I doubt he would keep both on hand."
"If it is connected to that incident as well, I think it would be hard to miss what direction it'd be coming from," Severus said darkly. "The Order of Equinox seemed to always have a hand in everything Fudge did after he left. And you said yourself that Balmweed was one of the first people in your office the day after Jennifer was poisoned…"
"Now, Severus, let's not jump to conclusions. I agree in that it does look entirely suspicious, but we have no real evidence of any of it. Equinox is a very old and prestigious order, long sworn to protect ancient artifacts and relics. It isn't unreasonable to think they would be concerned over some of the things we're uncovering," Dumbledore said.
"Yes," Severus said, lost in thought.
