Chapter 11 – Knossos and the Summer Festival
The sun shone brilliantly down on the island the next morning, streaming in through open windows and carrying salty breezes into the houses.
Britomartis closed the door to her bedroom (sleeping less than two hours due to talking with Severus until six in the morning) and looked up and down the hall. Hitching Snookie-poo up on her shoulder, she gazed in curiosity at Ginny Weasley pacing back and forth in front of one of the bathing rooms.
"'I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't know you were in here'," she whispered. "No, needs to be believable ... 'Oh, I'm sorry. I'll just leave now, Harry.' ... No, not that, either ... 'Harry Potter, how dare you?' ... Erk, no."
Glynis appeared out of the room she shared with Elizabeth, combing her fingers through her short black hair. "Good morning, Professor Vox." She yawned, then smirked. "So ... how was last night?"
"My sinister plan to take over the school by using my feminine wiles on Professor Snape is going along swimmingly," Britomartis answered sarcastically. "What's Miss Weasley doing?"
"Oh, Ginny's gone nutter. She's been trying to walk in on Harry Potter in the bath for the past few days, but she always loses her nerve before he gets out." Glynis snickered. "Watch this." She strode up behind Ginny and exclaimed, "BOO!"
"I WASN'T TRYING TO PEEK!" Ginny screeched.
"Nobody said you were," Glynis scoffed.
Britomartis approached the girls and shook her head. "Miss Weasley - "
Ginny blushed bright red and ran down the hall back to her room, slamming the door.
Glynis and Britomartis broke into giggles and went their separate ways.
Britomartis found Draco alone in the dining area, spreading honey over a chunk of bread and nibbling at it.
"Feeling better, Professor?" he asked formally.
"A bit, Mr. Malfoy."
"I would certainly hope so, considering the noise last night." He raised an eyebrow in an obscene manner. "It would be interesting for the school officials to hear that two of their professors were ... participating in lewd acts during a field trip and within the presence of their students."
Britomartis' mouth remained neutral. "I'm quite sure you're concerned about being such an impressionable child."
He continued to keep eye contact with her sunglasses. "Father said you two weren't fit to run Slytherin House - he'd be more than happy to help you on your way to retirement."
"I bet he would," she breathed, then smirked coldly. "Unfortunately, Mr. Malfoy, nothing illegal or immoral did occur - so there is no reason to owl your Father about two friends talking until six in the morning."
"But I heard - "
She picked up a grape from a bowl, popped it in her mouth, then added, "You didn't hear anything. In point of fact, if something did happen, the entire island would have known because of the six-point-five on the Richter Scale earthquake."
Draco's eyes widened and he dropped his honey-smeared bread all over his clothes.
"Best to clean yourself up before we leave today," she informed him.
* * *
They had missed the sunrise rituals, but there was still time before the noon rituals, so the students of Hogwarts participated in the beginnings of the Summer Festival.
Oliver Wood used the word 'quaint' quite often while Draco Malfoy only said the word 'Cretin' once before one of Britomartis' younger nephews pummeled him.
"Summer Festivals are the most informal of the holy days," Britomartis lectured as the group made their way through the market square full of snake charmers and fire-eaters and other street tricksters. "It's really an excuse to have a party to celebrate the summer and all manner of leisure activity. There are Olympic-type events to test strength, speed, endurance, and skill, while the central event of the entire festival is the Bull Leaping Games."
Elizabeth perked up. "Damon said he was participating in the Bull Leaping Games - he said it lasts all three days of the festival and it's a test of ... what'd he say?"
"Dumb luck," Glynis supplied. "Personally, I don't see the appeal of being impaled on a bull's horns."
Oliver smirked. "You find such things proof that men have a collective death wish?"
"No," she snapped. "It proves they have collective stupidity."
Britomartis snorted. "Both men and women participate in the bull leaping, it's not just limited to men." She stroked Snookie-poo. "In fact, I participated in it back when I was a teenager and had thought I was immortal."
"Really?" Elizabeth asked. "You are so cool!"
"Thank-you." She looked up at the sun. "Noon rituals should be starting. I want all of you to sit in on at least one ritual while you're here. I trust you all read your orientation packets."
She lead the way while several heads turned to Hermione.
"Hey, Granger," Fred said. "What did the packet say about the rituals?"
"Wipe your feet at the door, don't make a sound, and don't act like touristy bumpkins," she answered with a cute smile. "Otherwise, you'll be thrown into the pit of snakes."
"Are we bumpkin tourists?" Fred asked his brother.
Ron gazed at their shirts (one of them wearing a 'He did it. ---' shirt and the other was in a '--- No, he did.' shirt), then replied, "For us, not really."
He caught up with Hermione and Harry, saying, "No, really, what did she say about the ritual thing, Hermione?"
She looked back at him and noticed his own shirt has a large, pulsing cutely drawn pink heart on it. "The Priestesses' costumes may shock some, although they're not as authentic as they used to be when she was a High Priestess."
"How?" Harry asked. "Lots of feathers and snakeskins and such?"
Ron laughed, "Perhaps bones through their noses!"
She glared at him, now noticing his shirt said 'Best Bud' and had an arrow pointing toward Harry. In the back of her mind, she concluded one of the twins may have given Ron one of their old shirts, because the younger Weasley had pointed out all he brought were solid color t-shirts.
Oh, well, their look-out.
* * *
The Central Court of Knossos was the religious center of the Minoan culture, where the current King of Crete ruled alongside the Priestesshood. In fact, the main temple complex of the Mother Goddess was known as the Dapuritojo Potinija ("Potnia of the Labyrinth") because of the palace being associated with the Labyrinth of ancient mythology. Britomartis lead the group through the outer entrance of the palace, her quiet, graceful demeanor spreading through the rest of the group until they were all silent as they crossed the stone courtyard of the palace.
They all ascended the steps of the main stairway, the students gazing at the proud solid two to three story buildings comprising the political and religious center of Crete. Simple in design, but suitable with large windows and multi-storied walkways and open-air rooms, the pillars delicately painted with double-axes and bullheads or plastered with scarlet reds and plated with golden spirals.
Many of the people within the complex were natives, all clad in sacred robes and gowns, some in very little clothing save for roughly woven kilts or plain loinclothes.
Britomartis entered the temple, pausing before one of the Junior Priestesses who dabbed a mark of coriander-scented olive oil between the woman's brows. The Professor turned to the students and stated in a low voice, "We are entering the temple of Atana Potinija, the Idaean Mother of Crete, from whom all are born and all return. Respect and silence are to be practiced."
The scents of incense, honey, and wine wafted through the doorways, the students following their teacher into the world where she had once been a supreme figure of power.
The rooms were lit by large open windows and torchlight, the walls decorated with spirals and round figures as borders and frames. In the center of the first room, women with tiered skirts and tight bodices, their long hair plaited or hanging over their shoulders, made offerings in a large disk with many notches - offerings of milk, honey, wine, barley, olive oil, and other items were poured into the notches, the spicy incense overpowering these offerings. From somewhere in another room of the temple, voices were softly chanting a hypnotic cadence in ancient Minoan.
Those more sensitive could see Britomartis Vox's figure change as the glamour of high Priestess fell over her body, her head raised in knowledge of her place within the temple, and the aura of the Goddess flowed into her form.
She was no longer Professor Vox - she was a High Priestess welcomed back home.
The snake draped over her shoulders slithered around, wrapping herself around the woman's right arm, her head resting comfortably in her palm.
The Priestesses wore the traditional multi-tiered skirts, brightly colored and shaped like bells. Their bodices cinched their waists tightly, displaying enough cleavage to still remain dignified but sensual. They moved about their duties, not noticing the students.
A lone, young voice called out:
"I am the Snake Goddess. I was the charmer of the primordial garden. I survived fire and flood, And I blessed the Fertile Crescent. Poised and potent, I guarded the gates of Crete, And crowned the monarchs of Egypt. I am sleek and supple, sharp and subtle. You will find Me peering among the pyramids, Winding through the labyrinth, Slipping across the Acropolis."
Another more mature voice proclaimed:
"I am the Sacred Serpent, Prophet and protector, helper and healer. With a mind of magic, A tongue of truth, And eyes of mystic wisdom."
An older voice added:
"I spin with the women. With insight and imagination We weave the strands of many lands Into a long and shining tapestry."
A long moment of soft chanting and low drums beating. Priestesses danced sensually like serpents, snakes spiraling down their arms and around their waists, their movements flowing and smooth.
A woman holding a large, delicate gold labrys appeared before the disk of offerings, snakes wrapped around her waist and shoulders, her face solemn and full of the powers of Earth Magic, looking both as old as the mountains and as young as a drop of rain.
"I dance on frescoed floors. I wiggle and wave over mosaic monuments - Coiling, curving, crawling, curling, Soaring, sliding, shimmering, shining - Creating power and passion, Circling the earth with divine visions, I am the Snake Goddess."
Britomartis fell into the Priestesses' spiral dance, being swept away by magic and ritual older than anything the students and Severus had ever witnessed or felt. Many of the students were fascinated by this figure swirling through the dance, her sundress floating around her legs and her snake-wrapped arms flowing through the motions. This was no Hogwarts professor, but a woman from another world. Women, Priestesses, Goddesses ... and Britomartis blending in, becoming One with the energy filling the temple.
Severus froze in awe, never moving or blinking, afraid to lose sight of her beauty spiraling around the room. Her sunglasses were absent, her moss- green eyes glazed in religious ecstasy, appearing more beautiful and powerful and terrifying than she had ever been. She was in her world, in the temple of her Goddess, fulfilling her place as a long-lost Priestess of Atana Potinija.
Magic pounded through bodies, the air thick with it, as thick as the scent of the incense. Every student felt the archaic power slip into their bodies and organs and cells, drawing alive powers they never knew existed within themselves, giving them a taste of what the Earth is capable of in Her most complex children. And the Goddess spoke, not in words or images, but empathic means, reaching into the hearts of everyone and whispering Her knowledge and comfort.
Several of the students became overwhelmed - Ginny burst into tears, Ron fainted, Oliver and Glynis clung to each other and squeezed the other tightly.
Harry stood where he was, being washed in the energies of the Earth, feeling the history and the lives of the people of this island soak in his soul.
Elizabeth stood transfixed, also feeling these energies - and a desperate sense of wanting to drown in them the rest of her life.
Hermione and the twins remained focused, while Draco was about to fall asleep.
Severus was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from breaking into tears. Not only Britomartis herself, but her own Goddess could forgive and love unconditionally. It was a familiar feeling engulfing him, combining the love of his own Mother and the strength of Britomartis, the only two women in his life that mattered at all to him.
The ritual ended, the soft chants and drumming allowing the participants to ground themselves back into reality.
Glynis and Oliver looked up at the other, realizing they were embraced too closely for their own comfort. They immediately released each other and glared, although both neglected to scoot away enough to completely lose skin contact.
As one, all four Weasleys whispered, "Wicked cool!"
Britomartis did not allow her smile to show. They now knew what she was capable of. Glancing to the group, she noticed Severus gazing at her intently, his eyes filled with a mixture of emotions.
Draco woke up. "What happened?"
He was unmercifully swatted by his fellow classmates for ruining the moment.
The sun shone brilliantly down on the island the next morning, streaming in through open windows and carrying salty breezes into the houses.
Britomartis closed the door to her bedroom (sleeping less than two hours due to talking with Severus until six in the morning) and looked up and down the hall. Hitching Snookie-poo up on her shoulder, she gazed in curiosity at Ginny Weasley pacing back and forth in front of one of the bathing rooms.
"'I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't know you were in here'," she whispered. "No, needs to be believable ... 'Oh, I'm sorry. I'll just leave now, Harry.' ... No, not that, either ... 'Harry Potter, how dare you?' ... Erk, no."
Glynis appeared out of the room she shared with Elizabeth, combing her fingers through her short black hair. "Good morning, Professor Vox." She yawned, then smirked. "So ... how was last night?"
"My sinister plan to take over the school by using my feminine wiles on Professor Snape is going along swimmingly," Britomartis answered sarcastically. "What's Miss Weasley doing?"
"Oh, Ginny's gone nutter. She's been trying to walk in on Harry Potter in the bath for the past few days, but she always loses her nerve before he gets out." Glynis snickered. "Watch this." She strode up behind Ginny and exclaimed, "BOO!"
"I WASN'T TRYING TO PEEK!" Ginny screeched.
"Nobody said you were," Glynis scoffed.
Britomartis approached the girls and shook her head. "Miss Weasley - "
Ginny blushed bright red and ran down the hall back to her room, slamming the door.
Glynis and Britomartis broke into giggles and went their separate ways.
Britomartis found Draco alone in the dining area, spreading honey over a chunk of bread and nibbling at it.
"Feeling better, Professor?" he asked formally.
"A bit, Mr. Malfoy."
"I would certainly hope so, considering the noise last night." He raised an eyebrow in an obscene manner. "It would be interesting for the school officials to hear that two of their professors were ... participating in lewd acts during a field trip and within the presence of their students."
Britomartis' mouth remained neutral. "I'm quite sure you're concerned about being such an impressionable child."
He continued to keep eye contact with her sunglasses. "Father said you two weren't fit to run Slytherin House - he'd be more than happy to help you on your way to retirement."
"I bet he would," she breathed, then smirked coldly. "Unfortunately, Mr. Malfoy, nothing illegal or immoral did occur - so there is no reason to owl your Father about two friends talking until six in the morning."
"But I heard - "
She picked up a grape from a bowl, popped it in her mouth, then added, "You didn't hear anything. In point of fact, if something did happen, the entire island would have known because of the six-point-five on the Richter Scale earthquake."
Draco's eyes widened and he dropped his honey-smeared bread all over his clothes.
"Best to clean yourself up before we leave today," she informed him.
* * *
They had missed the sunrise rituals, but there was still time before the noon rituals, so the students of Hogwarts participated in the beginnings of the Summer Festival.
Oliver Wood used the word 'quaint' quite often while Draco Malfoy only said the word 'Cretin' once before one of Britomartis' younger nephews pummeled him.
"Summer Festivals are the most informal of the holy days," Britomartis lectured as the group made their way through the market square full of snake charmers and fire-eaters and other street tricksters. "It's really an excuse to have a party to celebrate the summer and all manner of leisure activity. There are Olympic-type events to test strength, speed, endurance, and skill, while the central event of the entire festival is the Bull Leaping Games."
Elizabeth perked up. "Damon said he was participating in the Bull Leaping Games - he said it lasts all three days of the festival and it's a test of ... what'd he say?"
"Dumb luck," Glynis supplied. "Personally, I don't see the appeal of being impaled on a bull's horns."
Oliver smirked. "You find such things proof that men have a collective death wish?"
"No," she snapped. "It proves they have collective stupidity."
Britomartis snorted. "Both men and women participate in the bull leaping, it's not just limited to men." She stroked Snookie-poo. "In fact, I participated in it back when I was a teenager and had thought I was immortal."
"Really?" Elizabeth asked. "You are so cool!"
"Thank-you." She looked up at the sun. "Noon rituals should be starting. I want all of you to sit in on at least one ritual while you're here. I trust you all read your orientation packets."
She lead the way while several heads turned to Hermione.
"Hey, Granger," Fred said. "What did the packet say about the rituals?"
"Wipe your feet at the door, don't make a sound, and don't act like touristy bumpkins," she answered with a cute smile. "Otherwise, you'll be thrown into the pit of snakes."
"Are we bumpkin tourists?" Fred asked his brother.
Ron gazed at their shirts (one of them wearing a 'He did it. ---' shirt and the other was in a '--- No, he did.' shirt), then replied, "For us, not really."
He caught up with Hermione and Harry, saying, "No, really, what did she say about the ritual thing, Hermione?"
She looked back at him and noticed his own shirt has a large, pulsing cutely drawn pink heart on it. "The Priestesses' costumes may shock some, although they're not as authentic as they used to be when she was a High Priestess."
"How?" Harry asked. "Lots of feathers and snakeskins and such?"
Ron laughed, "Perhaps bones through their noses!"
She glared at him, now noticing his shirt said 'Best Bud' and had an arrow pointing toward Harry. In the back of her mind, she concluded one of the twins may have given Ron one of their old shirts, because the younger Weasley had pointed out all he brought were solid color t-shirts.
Oh, well, their look-out.
* * *
The Central Court of Knossos was the religious center of the Minoan culture, where the current King of Crete ruled alongside the Priestesshood. In fact, the main temple complex of the Mother Goddess was known as the Dapuritojo Potinija ("Potnia of the Labyrinth") because of the palace being associated with the Labyrinth of ancient mythology. Britomartis lead the group through the outer entrance of the palace, her quiet, graceful demeanor spreading through the rest of the group until they were all silent as they crossed the stone courtyard of the palace.
They all ascended the steps of the main stairway, the students gazing at the proud solid two to three story buildings comprising the political and religious center of Crete. Simple in design, but suitable with large windows and multi-storied walkways and open-air rooms, the pillars delicately painted with double-axes and bullheads or plastered with scarlet reds and plated with golden spirals.
Many of the people within the complex were natives, all clad in sacred robes and gowns, some in very little clothing save for roughly woven kilts or plain loinclothes.
Britomartis entered the temple, pausing before one of the Junior Priestesses who dabbed a mark of coriander-scented olive oil between the woman's brows. The Professor turned to the students and stated in a low voice, "We are entering the temple of Atana Potinija, the Idaean Mother of Crete, from whom all are born and all return. Respect and silence are to be practiced."
The scents of incense, honey, and wine wafted through the doorways, the students following their teacher into the world where she had once been a supreme figure of power.
The rooms were lit by large open windows and torchlight, the walls decorated with spirals and round figures as borders and frames. In the center of the first room, women with tiered skirts and tight bodices, their long hair plaited or hanging over their shoulders, made offerings in a large disk with many notches - offerings of milk, honey, wine, barley, olive oil, and other items were poured into the notches, the spicy incense overpowering these offerings. From somewhere in another room of the temple, voices were softly chanting a hypnotic cadence in ancient Minoan.
Those more sensitive could see Britomartis Vox's figure change as the glamour of high Priestess fell over her body, her head raised in knowledge of her place within the temple, and the aura of the Goddess flowed into her form.
She was no longer Professor Vox - she was a High Priestess welcomed back home.
The snake draped over her shoulders slithered around, wrapping herself around the woman's right arm, her head resting comfortably in her palm.
The Priestesses wore the traditional multi-tiered skirts, brightly colored and shaped like bells. Their bodices cinched their waists tightly, displaying enough cleavage to still remain dignified but sensual. They moved about their duties, not noticing the students.
A lone, young voice called out:
"I am the Snake Goddess. I was the charmer of the primordial garden. I survived fire and flood, And I blessed the Fertile Crescent. Poised and potent, I guarded the gates of Crete, And crowned the monarchs of Egypt. I am sleek and supple, sharp and subtle. You will find Me peering among the pyramids, Winding through the labyrinth, Slipping across the Acropolis."
Another more mature voice proclaimed:
"I am the Sacred Serpent, Prophet and protector, helper and healer. With a mind of magic, A tongue of truth, And eyes of mystic wisdom."
An older voice added:
"I spin with the women. With insight and imagination We weave the strands of many lands Into a long and shining tapestry."
A long moment of soft chanting and low drums beating. Priestesses danced sensually like serpents, snakes spiraling down their arms and around their waists, their movements flowing and smooth.
A woman holding a large, delicate gold labrys appeared before the disk of offerings, snakes wrapped around her waist and shoulders, her face solemn and full of the powers of Earth Magic, looking both as old as the mountains and as young as a drop of rain.
"I dance on frescoed floors. I wiggle and wave over mosaic monuments - Coiling, curving, crawling, curling, Soaring, sliding, shimmering, shining - Creating power and passion, Circling the earth with divine visions, I am the Snake Goddess."
Britomartis fell into the Priestesses' spiral dance, being swept away by magic and ritual older than anything the students and Severus had ever witnessed or felt. Many of the students were fascinated by this figure swirling through the dance, her sundress floating around her legs and her snake-wrapped arms flowing through the motions. This was no Hogwarts professor, but a woman from another world. Women, Priestesses, Goddesses ... and Britomartis blending in, becoming One with the energy filling the temple.
Severus froze in awe, never moving or blinking, afraid to lose sight of her beauty spiraling around the room. Her sunglasses were absent, her moss- green eyes glazed in religious ecstasy, appearing more beautiful and powerful and terrifying than she had ever been. She was in her world, in the temple of her Goddess, fulfilling her place as a long-lost Priestess of Atana Potinija.
Magic pounded through bodies, the air thick with it, as thick as the scent of the incense. Every student felt the archaic power slip into their bodies and organs and cells, drawing alive powers they never knew existed within themselves, giving them a taste of what the Earth is capable of in Her most complex children. And the Goddess spoke, not in words or images, but empathic means, reaching into the hearts of everyone and whispering Her knowledge and comfort.
Several of the students became overwhelmed - Ginny burst into tears, Ron fainted, Oliver and Glynis clung to each other and squeezed the other tightly.
Harry stood where he was, being washed in the energies of the Earth, feeling the history and the lives of the people of this island soak in his soul.
Elizabeth stood transfixed, also feeling these energies - and a desperate sense of wanting to drown in them the rest of her life.
Hermione and the twins remained focused, while Draco was about to fall asleep.
Severus was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from breaking into tears. Not only Britomartis herself, but her own Goddess could forgive and love unconditionally. It was a familiar feeling engulfing him, combining the love of his own Mother and the strength of Britomartis, the only two women in his life that mattered at all to him.
The ritual ended, the soft chants and drumming allowing the participants to ground themselves back into reality.
Glynis and Oliver looked up at the other, realizing they were embraced too closely for their own comfort. They immediately released each other and glared, although both neglected to scoot away enough to completely lose skin contact.
As one, all four Weasleys whispered, "Wicked cool!"
Britomartis did not allow her smile to show. They now knew what she was capable of. Glancing to the group, she noticed Severus gazing at her intently, his eyes filled with a mixture of emotions.
Draco woke up. "What happened?"
He was unmercifully swatted by his fellow classmates for ruining the moment.