Dizmius A.
Cheers to John Donne, for my use of the first line of his sonnet to death, the line continues as follows:
….Though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.
Special thanks to a certain lovely reader A Darker Shade Of Yellow for such a yummy review (I didn't realise the word yummy sounded so… so… Umbridge-y… never mind), so I decided to write another chapter after a few weeks, cause it's given me thinking space, you see…
*Chapter Three*
August 3rd 1996,
"The Annus Annulis Curse." Hermione read from a stack of books "First used in 1256 by the Doge in Venice. Considered by some Wizarding authorities to be beyond control and as such, needs such power and focus to perform, is rarely used."
"Well that's all very well, but what does it do?" Ron absentmindedly kicked one of Hermione's piles of books, which went flying across the floor, one hovering dangerously close to the fireplace.
Hermione rolled her eyes "If you let me continue I might have been able to tell you all in one speech, but you just had to interrupt." She paused meaningfully, "Basically this book says its sort of like a pause button."
"A whatty?"
"Pause, you know…? Oh never mind, its like she's been cursed into suspended animation, she wont grow older, wont move, cant think. It's as if she's dead, but still alive."
"Oh I get it." Ron waved a hand in front of Desdemona's frozen face, mid-scream of fury, laughing to himself. "She cant see this then?"
"Probably not." Hermione conceded, "But I'd be careful. Some cases have been known to awake suddenly and continue the actions they were doing when they were cursed, and she still has a wand you know."
"Why's that then? Couldn't they do the curse right the first time?" Ron snorted, "Can't even take a wand out of her hand?"
"Like I said, its frozen there. I would have thought the ministry have tried to take it out of her hand, because she's a dangerous woman you know… In a lot of the books on the Rising of Volemort." Hermione edged away from the frozen body laying on the large dining table at a painfully awkward angle.
"Any luck?" Remus walked into the dining room with a look of disdain at Desdemona's contorted face. "Such a charming woman…"
"Hermione was telling me about the curse but she hasn't found anything that might reverse it." Ron explained, waving a big leather bound book over the top of the chair. "Says she might just wake up."
"She's waited long enough don't you think?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Over a decade's worth of waiting."
Remus shrugged. "I should find Moody, he said he was going to search the Ministry archives for us, he doesn't want Desdemona to wake up and curse the house down."
"She can't do that." Hermione looked aghast "She's not related to the Blacks!"
"I think you'll find she is actually." Remus sighed, "She's on that tapestry somewhere. Cousin twice removed through marriage of her parents or something. She's the Duke of Pontefract's daughter, he married one of the Black's cousins or something like that."
"The Duke of Pontefract?" Hermione's eyes widened "Didn't his ancestors control the majority of Northern Wizarding England until the founding of the Wizengamot?"
Ron groaned heavily. "No questions on what you got for your History of magic OWL then, even if you refuse on telling us."
~*~
June, 1974
"Excellent, I thought those exams were going to last all summer!" Sirius flopped down on the grass, "Did you see what happened to Wormtail's potion from the back, Moony?"
Peter turned a violent shade of red from his neck upwards, vehemently wishing he could hide amongst the long blades of grass beside the lake.
"I saw the yellow cloud of smoke it threw up…" Remus answered vaguely, staring up at the clear blue sky "Is James out with his broom already?"
"But of course, didn't you hear earlier?" Sirius sat up eagerly. "Snivelly's found his quidditch legs after all!"
"What?" Remus frowned "Snape hasn't been near a broom since you hexed it in his first year to buck him off each time he tried to mount it…"
"Yeah but you know who tried to organise a forbidden forest fly over picnic to mark the end of exams, don't you?" Sirius grinned "Demonic Demona."
"Strictly Slytherins only though." Peter added, happy that he had some information to contribute that Remus for once did not seem to know. "They've found this really swish clearing…"
"So James has gone Slytherin seeking. Once he's scouted the area, that's where we fit in, guys!" Sirius laughed gleefully
"Like, yeah right." A smooth voice interrupted. "Bit of a wild goose chase really, but that's alright I suppose. Jamesy-boy will get his deserves."
"Demona!" Sirius could not have looked more pleased if he tried, "Ooh! Is that a new dress? VERY you! Love the corset. Totally haute-couture aren't you. Daddy pay for the shoes too?"
"Funny, was that supposed to be?" Demona threw a glare at Peter who looked appropriately frightened, and blanched white. "Just cause your family were so ashamed of you that they threw you out!"
"I think you'll find," Sirius gave a bark of laughter "That I left them, not the other way."
"Uh-huh." Demona nodded, "I understand that such a darling popular boy like you needs to preserve his ego, it can be our little secret."
Remus remained silent, watching the proceedings with an outsider's gaze.
"You know, on principle, I don't hex girls… but you're not really a girl are you… so I suppose it wont really count if I …"
Sirius got no further as Demona gave him a hard slap across his face, leaving a red mark. "You deserve everything you get, you and your stupid ego too."
"Happy Christmas to you too!" Sirius shouted after the retreating figure of Desdemona DuCruet. "What did she say about James?" he turned to ask Remus
"There isn't any Slytherin picnic in the forest, James is going to look for nothing." Remus shrugged. "He'll enjoy the flying part just as much anyway I would think."
"Probably." Sirius nodded, "Hey look, its Evans. Time for a bit of James-pushing, eh?" He waved towards Lily Evans who had just walked down the steps from the castle, carrying a carefully bookmarked book from the library. "Hey! Lily, hi!" Sirius left Remus and Peter on the grass and jogged casually over to her.
"Hello Sirius. What did you think of the potions?" Lily asked, putting down her book on the grass with her bag.
"Piece of cake." Sirius grinned, "Hey, seeing as its summer and everything, James was wondering if…"
"If James Potter still wants to ask me out, he should a… know the answer already, and b… ask me himself and stop getting his friends to do his dirty work for him." Lily snapped and sat down with her books "If you'll excuse me… I have some reading to do."
"Ah, you don't know what you're missing!" Sirius clapped his hands together "Romantic broom rides across the lake, candlelight dinners in Hogsmeade, flowers, presents, I could go on forever you know."
"When I want to take notes on James Potter's wooing techniques I will ask his long list of previous one night stands thank you very much."
~*~
August 4th 1996
"Mad Eye couldn't find anything related to Desdemona." Remus said to the tableful of Order members. "He was going to tell you himself, but there was a sighting of Bellatrix Lestrange in South Kent, so he's gone on the chase."
Fred and George Weasley were also sitting at the table, having left school and being of age, they had readily accepted to join the Order of the Phoenix. Since Harry's talk with Dumbledore at the end of the previous summer it had been decided that Harry Ron and Hermione should be allowed to sit in the meetings to be able to contribut their ideas, and be filled in with the necessary details they would need to know. Harry was at present, still at Privet Drive, he had been accompanied to Sirius' memorial service, but upon Dumbledore's insistence, he had returned to the Dursleys house.
"Has Percy said anything at the ministry?" Hermione spoke up, looking slightly apprehensive about talking of Percy infront of the rest of his family. "He was at the service."
"Wotcher, Hermione. As far as I've heard, he's said nothing." Tonks shook her head, her pink hair fading into a silver streaked black. "Observing the proceeding I should think, reporting back to Fudge."
"LOOK!" Ron leapt up from the table, he had been skimming through a book that Hermione had left open on the table, he pointed at a page with detailed rune symbols and coloured scripture. "I FOUND IT! ME! LOOK AT THIS!"
The look of congratulations on Hermione's face was overwhelming "Oh! Ron! This is really good, I'm sure we can turn the curse around now! I can do this rune pattern with the help of my textbook upstairs…"
"What's this?" Molly Weasley walked round to behind Ron and surveyed the page with an equal share of fear and joy. "Perhaps when you do this counter curse you might want some supervision, perhaps Minerva McGonagall or Dumbledore himself or…"
"Well its not complicated." Hermione pointed at the page "It's a lot of ancient latin really, look, you need the rune workings then you simply chant male sit tibi tenebrarum rex, ab initio ad finem sacra ultio, cruenta pugna et epicus furor contra male discipulos ad perpetuam gloriam lucis furor ira tenax contra iniuriam et ruinam rabies ira tenax as many times as necessary due to the rune fixtures and…"
A loud thunk came from the dining room next door, and a scrambling could be heard with a following screaming voice "NO! Lily you don't UNDERSTAND! IM ON YOUR SIDE I…… … um… why…. ……… scenery change… I … I … Lily? No… I… I don't get this, where the HELL AM I?"
The Order members leapt up at raced to the door, pulling it open in time to see Desdemona DuCruet fall to the floor.
"Ah." Hermione's cheeks were tinged with pink.
"Wotcher, she's fainted." Tonks approached the body cautiously, with her wand out. "It's ok, I have her wand, she only burnt the wall hangings a bit at the bottom."
Ron laughed and patted Hermione on the back. "Nice one, mate. Nice one."
TBC