Chapter Eleven

Sacrifices

As homework began to roll in and Aurelius settled into his schedule, it became clear that meetings with his sister during the weekdays were nearly impossible except for an occasional picnic. Even at Sparring Club (which both he and his sister seemed to outmatch everyone in their respective years,) Aurelius felt an obligation as his year's Tiebreaker to sit with his housemates. At least Platt was quite interesting to watch, Rel thought. He definitely knew how to out-dance his opponent and he was quite cold with his spell selection, barely staying within rules to throw Conner into the mat. Aurelius supposed he was one of the few students who had noticed the occasional disapproving look coming from his mother at the other ring, quite sure from those fiery gazes that she probably would have benched Xavier long before Conner's wand finally rolled out of his hand.

"Another victory for Slytherin," Severus said casually, nodding to Xavier without batting an eye at the angry Gryffindor who quickly joined the other boys in his house, muttering something to them. Soon half of Gryffindor were glaring at Xavier.

"He's really our best sparrer," Horus said, "although you're doing positively fantastic for a first year. We should have this in the bag this term."

"Those Gryffindors look ready to kill though, don't they?" Aurelius said.

"Even better. Their anger at us can be easily used against them. Observe," Horus said calmly. He stood up and walked over to Conner, offering his hand and saying something that Aurelius couldn't hear. Within an instant, Conner raised his wand as several of the students jumped to hold them back. But their attention was so focused on Conner that they missed Stewart stepping over to the Slytherin prefect and planting a fist in his eye.

At the same moment that both Slytherin and Gryffindor students on the bench leapt up to join the brawl, Snape and Craw were in the middle, pulling the two boys apart and quickly separating the handful of students that had tried to get involved.

"Be silent! No one move until Craw and I have given you leave!" Severus shouted in a threatening tone as Jennifer went over to get a look at Horus' eye. "Who started this?"

"All I did was come over to show him a bit a good sportsmanship on my housemates behalf. It was a rough match," Horus said indignantly. "And then he pulled his wand on me!"

"Conner, was there something he said in particular that upset you?" Jennifer asked.

"It wasn't what he said, it was how he said it," Conner said viciously.

"In any case that's no reason to pull a wand out on someone, especially since you should have returned your wand to the stand the moment you came out of the ring," Jennifer said sternly. "Stewart, it sounds as if you weren't a part of this. Why did you accost Horus?"

"Because he deserved it," Stewart said simply. A smattering of chuckles came out of the crowd, quickly subsiding when Severus' icy glare swept over them.

"Crumb, take another student with you and have Madame Pomfrey look at that eye," Severus said. "Craw will take over here while Mr. Donovan and Mr. Gaffney accompany me to Professor McGonagall's office. I expect a heavy point loss out of all this, and a suspension from sparring club for pulling a wand…"

"But I didn't use it!"

"Which is the only reason you're not getting thrown out completely!" Severus snapped. "Do you want to tempt me to make it more permanent, Donovan?" Conner quieted down, but looked hardly any calmer than when he first pulled his wand as he and Stewart were forcefully ushered out.

"Brilliant, positively brilliant," Stock said approvingly as Horus came over, gesturing for Aurelius to come with him.

"You see? Let them take themselves down, that's all we have to do," he said to Aurelius as they walked down the corridor.

"Yes, but look at your eye, it's a bloody mess!"

"All the more reason to celebrate and rub their noses in it when the final points are counted," Horus said. "Anything to win of course, that's what it's all about, isn't it?" He said with a grin, heading down the stairs to the ward.


As hectic as the week had been, Saturdays had always been family days, and Aurelius invariably found himself giving his friends the slip to spend some time with his sister, soon learning she had not changed quite as much from being at school than he might have thought. It was, it seemed, her day to pick the game, for he found himself standing out on the grounds near the hut with Rose and Mandria, waiting for Alex to read up on her latest idea for an adventure.

"All right. We have two male roles and two female roles this time, so I'll take one of the guys," Alex said, snapping her book shut. "Rose, you'll be Marguerite Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel's wife. Mandria, you'll play Susanne her best friend, who's about to be executed…"

"I'm what?" Mandria stared at her. "What did I do?"

"You're the daughter of an aristocrat and the ex-ambassador to Britain. That's enough of a reason, it's the Terror after all," Alex said matter-of-factly. "Rel, you can be Percival Blakeney."

"Not bloody likely," Aurelius said.

"But Rel! He's the hero! I thought you wanted a better role!" Alex said.

"But he acts like a pansy!"

"Only to mask his true identity as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Besides, he's married, isn't he?" Alex pointed out.

"That didn't matter in those days…"

"The only other role left is the bad guy, Citoyen Chauvelin. You're the one that complains about…"

"Not this time," Rel cut her off firmly. "I'll play Chauvelin."

"Oh, all right! I'd rather play Percy anyhow! Now I get to be daring!" Alex said enthusiastically. The other girls looked at her blankly while Rel rolled his eyes. "Anyhow, the scene is, Susanne… that's you Mandria… is about to get her head chopped off in the guillotine. And Marguerite, you are obviously very worried for your friend, having no idea that your husband is really the Scarlet Pimpernel."

"Can't I be worried and we can let Rose get her head chopped off?" Mandria asked.

"Honestly, Mandria, this is acting. You don't think I'd really cut your head off, do you?" Rel said, shaking her head at her. Mandria stared at him for a long time.

"I think the jury's still out on that one," she said. Aurelius rolled his eyes again.

"It's just acting!" Alex insisted, pulling her to one side. "Percy will save you at the very last possible minute and will swordfight Chauvelin. Marguerite will then come and hurry you to safety. Better find a stick for the swordfight, Rel."

"Can I use this, then?" Rel asked, somehow managing to pull a headless broomstick out from his cloak pocket.

"Aurelius Snape! You're not supposed to have a broom at school!"

"It's not at school. I keep it in my cloak's chest at home," he snickered. "Besides, no where does it say I can't have parts of a broom. Only a whole broom." Aurelius said calmly.

"You have the broom head in there too, don't you," Alex said with a frown.

"Of course. Never know when there's going to be an emergency I might need it for. Always be prepared," Aurelius said smugly. "I also have a nice prop for the beheading too," he said, taking out his wand and concentrating on it. "Timeras mactare!" A dark cloud formed around his wand, the smoke lengthening and taking on an odd shape until it finally dissipated. Mandria shrieked when she noticed the wand had turned into what looked like a bloody axe. "Looks good, doesn't it? Oh, calm down, it's just an illusion, Heph taught it to me. He terrorizes his little sister with it."

"Aurelius!" Alex said with exasperation. "They didn't use axes, they used guillotines!" She said, tapping the book poignantly.

"Actually, not all towns had them. Some towns used the axe, while others practiced drawing and quartering. Well, we can't possibly get back home and get the guillotine you made for your Tale of Two Cities episode without being noticed, and I don't think Mandria would like to pretend to be drawn and quartered, would you?" Aurelius said. Mandria shook her head fervently. "Well, there you are."

"All right, Rel, you win again," Alex sighed. Walking over to a woodpile beside the hut, Alex found a small log and rolled it over. "Mandria… Susanne, I mean. Kneel down and try to imagine you're chained up and stuff."

Cautiously taking a moment to wave her hand through the axe and ignoring the look Aurelius gave her for doing it, Mandria knelt down with a somber look on her face.

"That's real good, Susanne, you're a natural. Somber and proud, just how she would have been," Alex nodded enthusiastically, taking a moment to pull her hair up into a ponytail. "Rose, you need to look more worried… less excited."

"Sorry, I've never done this before," Rose said, looking quite interested in the whole thing.

"You're lucky. I've had to do these all my life," Rel said dourly.

"Stand near the hut, Rose… I mean, Marguerite. You don't want Chauvelin to know you're in Paris, because he's threatening to kill your brother unless you tell him who the Scarlet Pimpernel is."

"I thought I didn't know who he was," Rose frowned.

"You don't! Not yet," Alex said impatiently. "All right, I'll try to sneak in. Rel, you do your bit."

"I am Chauvelin, Investigator of the Committee, and have found your entire aristocratic family wanting," Aurelius said with a hint of boredom. "I expect you think that the Scarlet Pimpernel will race out of nowhere at the last minute to free you and duel me to the death to save all of France?"

"Yep," said Mandria, not even pretending to be any bit of an actress.

"Well, it's not going to happen. Time for you to get a permanent hair cut," Aurelius said with a believably maniacal smile, waving his fingers at her as he heaved his axe.

"STOP!" A roaring voice thundered above them as Aurelius looked up in surprise. He was quite sure even his sister couldn't sound that dramatic, and it was a male voice.

Suddenly the most frightening apparition Aurelius had ever seen burst towards him with a look of such decayed horror on his screaming face that Aurelius dove into the dirt, dropping his broom in complete terror as the ghost wailed above him.

"HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO COMMIT SUCH CRIMES AT THIS SCHOOL? NO MATTER WHAT SHE'S DONE!" The ghost boomed as it turned to face them, his face still horrible to look at. But Rose, shivering around the corner, recognized the clothing and noticed the fact the ghost's head didn't sit quite right on his neck.

"Its… it's Sir Nicolas!" Rose shouted at the others as the ghost dove at them again, shrieking. "He must have thought we were really doing it!"

"Well, he's your house ghost, try to talk to him!" Alex pleaded, an arm protectively around her brother as the irate ghost dove at them again.

"I don't think he's going to listen!" Rose protested, ducking again.

Just then there was the sound of pounding hooves as Sagittari charged out of the hut, followed by a fair-skinned woman.

"What unforetold madness is this?" Sagittari demanded, somehow managing to make himself heard above the wailing. "Nicolas De Mimsy, calm yourself at once! There will be no beheadings here today!" Beside him, the woman caught sight of the ghost and her face grew paler and paler until at last she fainted.

Alex and Aurelius, quickly recognizing who she was, scrambled past Sagittari and over to Thera, helping her sit up.

"She's probably never seen a ghost before," Aurelius commented to Alex.

"I'm not sure I have either until now," Alex said shakily. But when the two of them looked over again, Nicolas' face had turned back to normal, although he was still quite noticeably upset.

"I'm sure this is nothing but some sort of misunderstanding. Mandria, are you all right? Come now, it's safe to come out," Sagittari coaxed as the crouching girl crawled out from behind the log and stood up. "Might I inquire then what you four were doing?"

"Well, Alex asked us to help her act out a scene in a book," Mandria said carefully. "That's all, really! I wasn't all that happy about my part, but, well, I didn't mind the getting saved at the last minute bit, but then it was Alex who was supposed to rescue me…" she said, her throat getting dry as she glanced back at Nicolas' haunting stare.

"Book, Alex?" Sagittari asked. Alex meekly stood back up to hand the centaur the book, who glanced at it before turning his attention back to Nicolas. "They were only playing, Nicolas. None of them meant any harm to the girl. Had they truly intended ill, I doubt they would have done it right next to a professor's residence. Don't you think so?"

"Oh, dear," Nicolas said, becoming flustered. "I am terribly sorry! I don't know what came over me! Of course it wasn't! Of course…" he paused and looked over at the still wary gazes of the students, excusing himself quickly and fading into nothing.

"Doctor, Thera is waking up," Alex said, and found that the princess was looking between she and her brother with complete confusion.

"Help her up, please. She's had a terrible shock, and I'm sure the four of you are no better for the incident. Come, everyone inside," Sagittari insisted. "There's tea on the stove, and I think we'd better have a little chat."

"Honestly, Doctor, if I had had any idea something like that would happen, I'd have chosen another book!" Alex said as they stepped in.

Aurelius had to be nudged out of the doorway as they went into the veterinarian's home, which was somewhat vacant of furniture except for a tall table in the center with stools under it for guests. There was one wall with a fairly elaborate kitchen, however, and a huge, cozy rug in front of the fire to sit on, and two open doors that led to sleeping quarters and an examining room and office.

"Do all centaurs live like this?" Mandria asked dubiously as she inspected the Wizomatic Icebox.

"None that I have ever known, even counting the ones that care to know me," Sagittari said. "Alex, pull out some stools. Rose, I imagine you can change one into a chair for the princess, I think she might need a bit of support after that fright," he suggested, getting a small jar out of the cabinet and adding a sprinkle of powder to the tea before pouring out. "There now, it might taste a little bitter at first, but you won't notice after the third sip and I'm sure you'll all feel better," Sagittari insisted, repeating it in Grecian as well.

"I am sorry," Thera said, her words slow and heavily accented. "But what was that outside?"

"Just one of the school ghosts, that's all. I'm afraid we might have just frightened him as much as he frightened us," Alex said. Thera immediately broke back into her own dialect while Alex nodded her head completely absorbed in the conversation. Rose and Mandria gazed at each other thoughtfully, while Aurelius drummed his fingers noisily against the table.

"Alex, you're doing it again," Aurelius said at last, Alex looking up in surprise.

"Oh. Sorry. I keep forgetting nobody else can understand when I can," Alex blushed. Aurelius rolled his eyes. "She doesn't quite remember us, I don't think, although we seem familiar. Why is that?"

"Thera, this is Alex and Aurelius Snape," Sagittari said in a slow, patient voice.

"Oh! The childs of two that did help save me!" Thera nodded. "William telled me of them."

"And these are their friends and students of the school, Rose Bailey and Mandria Shea. Girls, this is Thera, daughter of Midas and a good friend of mine," Sagittari finished with a nod. "And yes, I have been helping Mr. Weasley from the bank teach her a bit of English. She is picking it up quite quickly, in fact."

"Why don't you just give her a potion?" Aurelius asked.

"Few potions are good for one if taken constantly, Aurelius," Sagittari said patiently. "Even were that one, I would not recommend it. Thera will learn to adapt to her surroundings much more naturally if she learns the language."

"I have much to learn," Thera said after he said something in her own tongue. "I hope not to lose teachers before that."

"What does she mean?" Mandria asked.

"There will be someone there as long as you need someone, Thera," Sagittari assured her, quickly taking out a basket of flatbread sandwiches and putting them on the table.

"It must be hard without your family and all," Rose said sympathetically. "I know how terribly I'd miss mine."

"Family?" Thera repeated, gazing thoughtfully at Rose. "I barely knew father or mother. My servants I miss, but gone are they, many years behind. I am princess without kingdom," she said somberly.

"Have some more tea, Thera," Sagittari insisted gently. "Would anyone like another sandwich?"

As everyone started on a second, not quite sure what to talk about or what Thera would even understand, there was a rapping knock on the door and Sagittari had Mandria open it. Professor McGonagall smiled a rather curious smile at the girl, nodding distractedly towards Sagittari.

"It seems there is a rather upset ghost in the castle. I came out here to make sure that no one has been… beheaded," she said, attempting to remain serious. "And I also heard a curious report about someone casting a Transfiguration spell on a stick or something?"

"It was an illusion!" Aurelius protested, then scowled as he realized he shouldn't have said anything.

"And just which class did you learn that imaginative spell in? For I may have to have a chat with your professor about their subject matter," McGonagall asked.

"Professor, it's all my fault, really!" Alex stood up, "I was the one who talked the others to act out all of that, and it wasn't as if she wasn't going to get rescued beforehand in any case!"

"Well, she definitely got rescued, didn't she?" McGonagall said, her lip twitching slightly. "I expect the four of you will need to be cautious dealing with Sir Nicolas in the near future, as I'm sure he won't be forgetting about this incident any time soon."

"You think he'll be mentioning it to Professor Craw?" Alex asked anxiously.

"I think you'd better be more concerned about me mentioning it," McGonagall said evenly. "Which I will be if you're not inside the castle before they get back from home." She nodded to them, wishing Sagittari a good evening as she left.

It didn't take the four of them long to get away from the veterinarian and his guest after that, Aurelius quickly took his leave away from the girls to head back to his houserooms.

"What a rather curious day," Rose commented as they walked through the courtyard.

"Yes, I hope Sir Nicolas isn't too upset. Remind me to thank him for rescuing me. Maybe that'll cheer him up," Mandria said.

"Yes, I hope he's not upset too, but I was referring to meeting the princess," Rose said. "What is she doing here, and why is she worried about 'losing her teachers'? Aren't her teachers mainly Bill and Heather Weasley?"

"Well, I suppose she's here because Sagittari can speak her language, but the other part I'm not sure about," Alex admitted.

"She didn't seem to be too keen about her family either, did she? I mean, not like I'd expect someone who woke up to find everyone gone," Rose said.

"Perhaps it's a royalty thing. She was probably looked after mostly by servants," Mandria shrugged.

"She also could still be in shock after everything that's happened," Alex suggested. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, it's obvious that she's being looked after." Rose, however, didn't look as convinced as they went up the stairs.