Chapter Twelve
Restlessness
It was a very chilly October. Jennifer decided to invoke a bit of professor's privilege by snatching the table in the library closest to the fireplace and pulling over the most comfortable chair, looking dubiously at the pile of books she had yet to go through. At least Hermione had time to help her today, and once Jennifer explained to her the reason behind her questions on Morgan Le Fey, Hermione was a very willing assistant.
"Have you checked the Muggle Mythology section as well?" Hermione asked as she thumbed through a heavy tome called Magic in the Merlin Age.
"Yes, yes, but nothing I've found has mentioned anything about goblins in conjunction with Morgan," Jennifer sighed.
"That's not surprising. As far as Muggles are concerned, goblins are only something they can use to frighten their young children to get them to do what they're told. They'd probably be labeled as something else entirely," Hermione said, reaching over and picking up one of the other books.
"Not helping the matter is that none of these books can get straight who did what," Jennifer said with frustration. "This book has Morgan participating in one event and another claims one of her sisters did it. And this one on Celtic legend thinks that she didn't exist at all and that she's just 'another' legend of Morrigan," she finished, pushing it her way. Hermione picked it up with interest.
"Oh, the Queen of Faerie, Morrigan, Goddess of three faces and Curser of Cuchulain…."
"Among other things, yes," Jennifer said, shaking her head at her pile in resignation.
"Didn't we look up some things on her before? Why was that?" Hermione frowned.
"The Fomorians mentioned her. Blood-sworn enemy and all that," Jennifer said.
"Isn't that an odd coincidence? I mean about the fact that we're here right now looking up Morgan, her direct descendant?" Hermione said, glancing at the book in her hand and tapping it. "I think I'll take this with me. Is that all right?"
"Fine, maybe you'll have better luck with it than I. I never did have the sort of patience for this sort of research. That's more Severus' approach," Jennifer said with a yawn. "I'd rather do my research on first hand accounts."
"Leave it to me," Hermione said with a smile, heading up to the front desk. She nodded to Rose who passed her with a handful of books of her own, glancing around for an empty seat. Finally she spotted a table at the far end of the room with only one student. Slipping her book on Midas in between two others, Rose went over to Aurelius.
"Mind if I sit here?" Rose asked Aurelius, who looked up gloomily from his report.
"If you like," Aurelius said. "But I'm much too busy for conversation today."
"That's all right. So am I, thanks to this essay on Restricted Defense spells from Snape. You?"
"The life of Sir Eustace Maelstrom, for Professor Scribe," Aurelius muttered.
"Oh yes, the wizard whose storm took out the Spanish Armada," Rose nodded.
"Heph and Stock ended up with easy ones and finished yesterday. But they don't have the academic standards that I have," Aurelius said indignantly as he put his quill back to the parchment.
"I suppose Mandria and Alex are still watching Ravenclaw practice. They may actually have a decent team this year," Rose commented.
"Didn't you say you had a lot to do?" Aurelius asked testily.
"Sorry," Rose said sincerely, "Didn't mean to bother you." She opened her book where it had been book-marked at memory charms, but it wasn't long before she found herself distracted. "What on earth is he doing?"
Sighing softly, Aurelius looked up to figure out what she was talking about. Off to one side of the main desk was old Mr. Filch, the school caretaker with several books tucked under one arm. Yes, even Aurelius, who had been there just over a month, could guess that borrowing books in the library was very unusual activity for Filch, but not as unusual as the other thing he was doing. He was smiling.
As the students moved away from the desk, Filch went over to Boulderdash who signed the books out without question as the old caretaker turned to leave. Humming happily and disturbingly off-key, Filch went on out. Boulderdash winced and shook his head, but made no other gesture to silence him.
"Perhaps he's in love or something," Rose whispered.
"Please, don't make me sick," Aurelius said. "Maybe that's what it is. He's sick. Or he's gone balmy. Bet working in this school did something to his sanity over the years."
"I wonder what books he checked out," Rose said.
"Boulderdash will never let you see that. You know he considers that private," Aurelius hissed.
"Then I'll just have to get him away from his desk, won't I?" Rose said, standing up. "And then you can go take a peek while I do."
"You've been spending way too much time around my sister," Aurelius muttered. "Anyhow, why should I listen to you?"
"Because you're just as curious as I am," Rose said bluntly, going over to talk to the goblin. Librarian Boulderdash was glancing at his work, merely holding his hand out for her to put a book in his hand that never came. "Excuse me, Mr. Boulderdash, but I was wondering if you could help me find a book on restricted spells? I haven't had much luck finding anything."
"Ah yes, Professor Snape informed me that your class would be working on those. Which spell are you researching?" Boulderdash asked calmly.
"The Obliviation Memory Charm," Rose said.
"Hm, I think I know the volume you may find very useful then," Boulderdash said with a bit more enthusiasm, walking her over to the Restricted Section. Rose risked a quick glance back to see Aurelius wandering over to the desk. "Rather nasty spell if misused, you know. Practically incurable, they say," he said, glancing over a title and flipping through it before handing it to her. "You should find this interesting reading."
"Thank you, Mr. Boulderdash!" Rose said feeling obligated now to look into it as she headed back to the table and sitting next to Aurelius who had already gotten back to his seat. "Well, he's right, this may help my report. I should ask him for help more often," Rose admitted. "Any luck?"
"Nothing exciting, just a bunch of practical spell books, years one through four," Aurelius shrugged, checking his spelling before continuing.
"What in the world would he want with those?" Rose said with bewilderment as she sunk back to her seat.
It wasn't until Aurelius returned back to the common room that evening that he learned the answer to that question, explaining to Horus what had happened as the Prefect glanced over Aurelius' work.
"I wouldn't read too much into anything that old codger does, Aurelius," Horus chuckled. "And I'm surprised that Thorny Bailey hasn't guessed the truth by now. Filch is a major squib. He couldn't catch a match on fire with an inferno spell no matter how hard he tried. Anyhow, this report is excellent. You included all the extras we know Scribe normally gives points for. Not that we aren't already way ahead in points, of course."
"Just wait until our first game, we'll smash them completely then," Xavier put in from where he sat at the chessboard across from Henry, who nodded in agreement before making his move.
Upstairs in the dormitory, Heph was already in bed with a pillow wrapped around his head while Stock sat at the table with candles all around, sorting through post.
"You're not going to be at this all night again, are you?" Heph grumbled.
"I can't help it if my solicitor keeps sending me papers to sign. I need to get a rubber stamp with my name on it. I mean, it's not as if my signature is even truly legal without a cosigner. Take my advice. Whatever you do, don't inherit a gold mine," Stock sighed.
"We'll keep that in mind," Heph said dryly. "And while you're at it, invest in one of those candles that only you can see by so I can get some sleep."
"Here's another one from my mum wanting to borrow some money for the holidays this year. They're leeches, all of them. Good thing I don't have any brothers or sisters," he sighed. "I'm sure they'd want money too."
"I know my little sister would be the first in line if I inherited money," Heph yawned. "Drives me mad the way my parents dote on her. She's a demon, really, but all she has to do is curl her bangs and come out in a dress and they give her whatever she wants. I bet Rel over here would be forking it out, though. I mean, I swear you spend more time with your sister here than you do with us. It's positively unnatural."
"If I had a sister that looked like that, I probably would be too," Stock said.
"Oh, don't be vile, Stock," Aurelius said with annoyance, getting ready for bed. "There are just some things about our family that you wouldn't understand."
"Like how your father would marry a goodie-goodie miss prim like your mother?" Heph taunted.
"That's no mystery, one only has to look at her to figure that out. How old is she, anyhow? There's no way she's as young as she looks," Stock said.
"Probably addicted to her own potions more than likely," Heph said.
"That's enough!" Aurelius growled loudly, glaring at them both. "Say another word and you'll earn the worst enemy you've ever dreamed of having!" Heph and Stock glanced at one another, shrugging.
"Sorry, Rel, we were under the impression that you didn't like your mother all that much," Heph said. "We won't mention it in front of you anymore."
Aurelius climbed into bed and pulled the covers over his head. Of course they didn't understand. No one did. He turned over to his side and tried to go to sleep, but ended up lying awake for a long time.
Jennifer suddenly sat up from a sound sleep gasping for air, all the windows bursting open at once and letting in the chill howling wind of a late autumn storm. She leapt up and stood with her head out the window with Ratfly and Dodger screeching and hooting wildly in concern.
Severus slowly sat up in bed with a sigh and calmly lit the candles. They flickered and sputtered in the breeze but somehow managed to stay lit.
"You haven't had one of these in a while," he commented casually as the windows began to subtly close on their own, leaving only the one Jennifer was standing at open.
"This was different," Jennifer said as the haziness began to clear from waking so suddenly. "It wasn't about that night. It was somewhere else. There were goblins there, hundreds of goblins in chains all mining a huge maze of underground caverns. And then all the sudden they weren't goblins at all, but Fomorians, working the stone with glowing hammers, angry, almost defiant… and then one of them turned, and I saw Ciardoth standing there, holding something. I'm not really sure what, the cavern started to close in on me and I was beginning to black out when I woke up."
"Close in? Like what happened in Myrkinbrek?" Severus asked expressionlessly.
"Yes, I suppose," Jennifer sighed, stepping away from the window and crawling into bed. "Don't you dare close that one."
"Jennifer, you are not going to suffocate in Hogwarts," Severus sighed. "And it's little wonder your dreams are turning ill after all the time you've been spending closeted in the library with Granger lately."
"You're probably right, especially considering what she found tonight," Jennifer said. Severus gazed at her expectantly. "It was a reference in a Muggle book that a high priestess of Morrigan, thought to have been Morgan Le Fey or one of her sisters, lead eight other Priestesses who lived on an island thought to be Avalon. They were said to have waged war on the Underworld."
"Come now, Jennifer," Severus sighed tiredly. "You know as well as I do that no matter how powerful Morgan and her sisters were they couldn't have possibly taken on the demons of Annwn, if there is such a place."
"Yes, that's where my mind went to as well, but Hermione thinks that perhaps that war more down to earth than that. Perhaps it wasn't a reference to any other plane of existence at all, and was instead referring to the actual underworld, and who they truly battled against was the Goblin Empire," Jennifer said. Severus stared at her a moment before snuffing the candles out with a wave of the hand and settling back in. "Oh, Severus!"
"I think the theory is quite stretched and with few facts to keep it from buckling. You have an early class tomorrow, so go to sleep," he advised.
"But Hermione thinks maybe that's how goblins got into the position they did with wizardkind. I mean, nowhere in our history does it say why the goblins felt they had been oppressed for hundreds of years, only that that was the reason they revolted. And Hermione pointed out that the victor writes history, so…"
"Jennifer, if I wanted to hear what Hermione had to say on any subject under the sun, I'm sure all I would have to do is get within ten yards and bother with saying good morning. I could not care less. I merely think you are getting worked up over something not worth losing sleep over," Severus said irritably. "And I'd like the window closed, if you don't mind." Jennifer sighed and waved the window until it was only slightly ajar, turning to stare sleeplessly at Severus' back.
"I hope they're somewhere else. Anywhere else. I hope this isn't… well, what Ciardoth was remembering," Jennifer said quietly, lying back. Severus let out another deep sigh.
"We've been through this before, Jennifer. How many times has someone predicted something concerning you that turned out nothing as you expected?"
"Yes, but this is different. This was a memory. And last year when Icarus told us he had a memory of something, you were quick to react," Jennifer reminded him.
"Ciardoth is hardly Icarus. She uses her ability of sight merely to manipulate or to gain the satisfaction of causing pain to others. And you are letting her," he chided. "Now go to sleep, or I'll be forced to get up and make sleeping draughts."
"Very well, I admit you're probably right. But I'm hardly the only one she's had memories about. I may not know what she told you, Severus, but you wouldn't ask me not to pry without a good reason," Jennifer said. "Whatever it was she said to you has been weighing on you ever since told you and I know it. I wonder if… well, remember when we were trying to wake Thera, and you told Bill you couldn't wish her restored because you had to completely want it?"
"Don't use the W word. And what does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, it made me start to wonder about when you tried to stop the end of time from happening last year. Was it just a fluke, or was there some part of you, perhaps in the smallest amount, that did not want it to work for some reason?" Jennifer asked quietly. Severus sat up and grabbed his robe, getting out of bed.
"Jennifer, you are tired and stressed from your nightmares. I am going to go get you something so that you can sleep. There is enough to be concerned about without you trying to come up with new reasons," he said grumpily, heading to his study.
It was with great relief that Severus found her fast asleep when he came back a few minutes later.
