Chapter Eight: Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire
"All right Edward, you've had it your way, now I must insist that you return to the ministry. There is nothing else for you to do here."
"I'm not so sure Albus."
"Don't tell me you mean to interrogate the rest of the school as well? I'll never allow it. I shouldn't have allowed you to interview the students you did. I'll be up to my ears in owls for the next two weeks I guarantee it. Especially the highborns. They may not be from this country Edward but that does not mean their families are without enough power and influence to make my days a nightmare until they are satisfied. If you tried to intimidate the rest of my students with those ridiculous scare tactics you might just find yourself out a job. Just remember who sends their children here."
"I don't want to interview any more of your students, so you can relax."
"Than what is it that compels you to stay?"
"I still think the school is in danger."
"May I remind you Edward that when Gringott's was not considered safe enough that the ministry placed a certain valuable object in our care."
"From what I understand that object nearly ended up in the hands of You Know Who."
"But it didn't, and that is the important point."
"And the year after that, a, now what did I hear, a basilisk, was it? That kidnapped one of your students and succeeded in petrifying several others?"
"That was also caught and destroyed."
"And then of course there was the fact that Sirius Black, that murderer, seemed to be capable of freely coming and going from the school with ease."
"Whether or not that is true I cannot say, no one was seriously injured."
"And then of course there was the case of that poor boy in the tournament."
Dumbledore's eyes, normally soft and inviting, went cold as the man in front of him tried to use Cedric's death as a pawn in some game. "Yes, we must all hope that the Ministry is able to capture Voldemort soon, then we will all be truly safe." Edward flinched at the name, but composed himself swiftly.
"Yes, we all pray for that. But there seems to be another threat now, perhaps a new ally of the Dark Lord. Wasn't it just last year that some sort of.new magic, was used to transport Death Eaters right onto the Hogwarts grounds?"
"No masked Death Eater entered this school. We did find a relic of some ancient circle deep in the forest, and some skilled mages came and dismantled it last summer, it is no longer a threat. And I can think of a few more dangerous places to find Death Eaters, have you searched the Ministry yet?"
Edward sat there, tight lipped, but didn't respond to the barb. He smoothly carried on as if he hadn't heard that last remark.
"But it still raises questions, Albus. Questions about this circle in the west. Who are they? And more importantly, whose side are they on?"
"I don't think they are on a side Edward. They appear to have flourished quite well for the past several thousand years without choosing a side."
"Well that's all fine and good if they leave us alone, but you understand, don't you headmaster, that we cannot allow them to join the wrong side."
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed. "Speak plain, Mr. Farnsworth, under what circumstances can you presume to 'allow' them to exist?"
"Well you have considered, haven't you, that some of them must be loyal to the Dark Lord."
"And how do you arrive at that conclusion?"
"Well, you said it yourself. They have managed to evade our notice for thousands of years, and then all of a sudden a masterwork of theirs seems to activate itself in the middle of England. We couldn't have done it, so it stands to reason that some of these western wizards must be serving You Know Who."
"You don't think that the Dark Lord could have been learning their arts?"
"Well, I find it unlikely, given his past record, that he would sully himself with knowledge of such a barbaric form of magic. And even if he did, he would need a teacher."
Dumbledore was silent for a moment, then gave a deep sigh, and turned back to his guest.
"What is this all leading up to, Edward?"
"I want to leave one of my men in the school."
"For what purpose?"
"To maintain security, to protect the students, and to snuff out any trouble."
"What kinds of trouble?"
"There have been a lot of owls from parents over the past few years, worried about security at the school. And now there is talk that some of the students might be dangerous."
"What?" Dumbledore was starting to get angry.
"Hear me out, Albus. There have been several students who have told their parents about a student or students that seem out of the ordinary, strange."
"Many students are different, Mr. Farnseworth, we like to encourage creativity and originality among the children. That is not a criminal offense."
"No it isn't, sir, but a dangerous child may unwillingly injure another student."
"Accidents happen all the time, you remember your school days, there is nothing to set up a patrol over."
"That is true, if the student can be controlled. But what happens if this child has skills no one is familiar with? What happens when no one can control him? Then, sir, you have a very volatile situation on your hands."
"I assure you, the students are well under control."
"The ministry doesn't seem to think so."
Dumbledore arched his eyebrow.
"We can't force this, Albus, and you know that. But if you want your advisories to the Defense Minister to be taken more seriously, you could start by taking any measure necessary to protect your students."
The headmaster thought for a moment.
"What would you be doing?"
"My man? Nothing terribly invasive. Sitting in on a few classes, perhaps, strolling the halls. You wouldn't even know he was there."
"I am not going to provide him the passwords to any common rooms."
"No need, no need. If he really feels it is important to search a room, why, you or the head of house could escort him and would be present at all times. This is meant as a precaution, headmaster, not as a takeover."
"I will need time to discuss this with the staff."
"Certainly, oh, and there was one more suggestion from the Minister."
"Oh really? And what was that?"
"That you not inform the students."
"I beg your pardon? I will have to tell them who he is."
"Tell them he is a visiting guest that will be staying in the school, but no more. We feel it might hinder the investigation, you know how children can be."
"Yes," said the headmaster through tight lips, "I know."
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"So what do you think that guy is here for?" Hermione had not stopped talking about the stranger, who now seemed to have a permanent spot at the staff table, since Dumbledore gave a very unsatisfactory introduction at breakfast.
Ron rolled his eyes. "God's teeth, 'Mione, just give it a rest, ok? He's a strange guy, no one knows him, kinds creepy, he'll probably be prowling around the halls and get us into trouble. It'll be like having another Filch. End of story."
Hermione shook her head. "He seemed weird, as if he knew he was going to be doing something shady. Did you feel it Harry?"
Harry shook his head. He had been too busy trying to keep his meal down. They had a match against Slythering in a little over a week. The match against Ravenclaw had come uncharacteristically early in the season, but the captains had agreed to hold it out of mutual respect; both teams had a lot of new players that needed experience before more crucial games. Hermione had already told him he was being ridiculous getting this nervous when Slytherin was so far away, but that had never stopped Harry from worrying himself sick. Which was exactly what he was doing. His one recourse had been to practice till he was so exhausted all he could do was fall asleep and not have to think about Quidditch. The rest of the team wasn't really taking this idea very well, but he was beyond caring. Dean agreed that they needed the work, and that was all he needed.
No one paid much attention to Lucy's tight-lipped, uncharacteristically quiet behavior.
Lucy knew the man at the table. He had stood in the background slightly to the right of her interrogator all through the interview. He hadn't said a word, but she hadn't liked the way he had been looking at her; she hadn't liked it at all.
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Lucy took a deep breath as she stepped through the wall into the staircase leading to the BA room. This might be a bit sticky. The meeting had been scheduled for over a week, but since Hufflepuff had just beaten Ravenclaw in the last match, she had a feeling tempers were going to be running a little high.
She had no idea.
She heard a loud bang and burst through the door to see a chair fallen over and a fuming Lynx on his feet. Rasheph was already seething and standing in the door from the toilets, his hands balled into tight fists. Bet was next to the fireplace, looking annoyed, tapping her foot and raising an eyebrow as Lucy entered the room. **Trust. Don't want interfere.**
Lucy was surprised, she was coming along well. Although she was fairly certain Bet had meant something along the lines of, 'Trust me, you don't want to interfere,' she had gotten the crucial words through, which was progress.
Before she could say another word the argument continued to explode.
"Take it back!"
"No! Why should I?"
"Because it's not true, and you know it!"
"I know what I saw, Brimstead!"
"And what was that?"
"There is no way that boy was going to beat Cho and you knew it! The Snitch-"
"The Snitch moves with a will of its own, no one could have predicted it would fly that way!"
"That it would fly BACKWARDS! OUT OF CHO'S REACH AND RIGHT TOWARDS YOUR SEEKER! What a marvelous coincidence for you!"
Lynx's voice was cold. "What are you saying, Radu?"
"I'm saying that you cheated. I'm saying that you KNEW your seeker wasn't a match for Cho, you saw she was going to get it, and you used your gift to push the snitch towards your own seeker, right into his hand."
"That's ridiculous."
"I don't think so."
"Take it back Rasheph!"
"I am not apologizing to a cheater!"
At that moment every book from the top shelf flew across the room, slamming into the wall with a bang. If Rasheph hadn't heard Lucy's warning and ducked he'd have been knocked out. But before the books had hit the floor the rest of the chairs overturned and clattered to the ground. The door to the stairs banged open and then shut. The table began to shake.
Bet's eyes grew wide and she quickly doused the fire before any flaming logs could start to fly. Lucy was shaking, but not as much as Lynx. She looked in his eyes and saw he was even more scared than she was. He had lost control, lost his balance, and he didn't know how to take it back.
She did. Without another thought she closed the distance between them and slapped Lynx clear across the face. The shock of it knocked him to the floor. There were no more flying objects, he had his control back. But he was almost as stubborn as she was, he had the same weakness when it came to pride, and as he stood, rubbing his jaw, she could still see the anger in his eyes.
But his loss of control was enough to convince Lucy he hadn't done it. He couldn't have been that angry if Rasheph had been accusing him of something he really had done. There is almost nothing worse than being falsely accused, and that anger had led to the loss of control, she was sure of it. The situation needed to be diffused before Lynx went past the point where she could control him.
"Rasheph," Lucy spoke softly, "I don't think Lynx has the skill to move something that small with that much finesse. He's still practicing with that old Quaffle, remember."
"Maybe he's better than he's letting on. After all, how long has it been since Hufflepuff won the Cup? That's motivation enough."
She saw Lynx about to retort and moved between the two boys.
"Just stop it! Look at what you are doing! Lynx, I don't care what he says, you HAVE to simmer down before you do something you will regret. Trust me, I understand, I've done this before and you don't want to know what its like afterwards. So just, sit in the corner, both of you."
Lynx retreated to one, Rasheph the opposite, and Lucy and Bet took the corners between them.
They sat there in silence, not speaking, not even looking at each other. They had been at it for about half an hour when Bet let out a groan and sprang to her feet.
"This is ridiculous, both of you are as pig headed and stubborn as my grandfather, and none of you have the age to be entitled to such behavior. We are going to settle this once and for all."
Lynx looked at her warily. "What do you intend to do?"
"We are going to see, before anything else, whether or not Lucy is right, if you are capable of a maneuver of that finesse."
Rasheph snorted. "That's no good, he could fake it."
Bet shook her head. "He wouldn't dare do anything but his very best."
"And why not?"
Bet gave Lucy an apologetic looked, then turned around, and using the towel on hand, gingerly picked up Sparks the egg. "Because if he fails, Lucy will kill him. Not to mention fail Care of Magical Creatures."
Lucy eyes grew wide, but Bet met her stare, and there was something about the look on the young girl's face that made Lucy bight her tongue.
The boys were silent, but Bet didn't seem at all concerned at the possibility of killing the egg, and pushed open the bookcase to reveal the entrance to the toilets.
"Well, come on then."
They had no choice but to follow her out.
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"Now, Lynx is probably closer to the egg than he was to the Snitch, and Sparks is bigger than it too, but this is the best we can do."
"I really don't think we should do this, can't there be a net or something?"
"No net, if it was there, it would be too easy for you not to try."
Lynx groaned and looked over the railing, he and Bet were on one of the highest staircases above the main entry hall; Lucy and Rasheph waited anxiously below.
"Ready, set, go!" Bet dropped the egg over the side, and it fell silently, faster and faster. Lynx's face was red and sweating as he tried with all the power he knew to stop the egg in the air before it hit the ground. He couldn't do it, maybe he was slowing it, a little, but he wasn't going to be able to stop it, it was going to crack.
At that moment, when the egg was three feet from the floor, Lynx fainted.
Lucy's eyes snapped to the egg and it halted its perilous dive not six inches from the cold stones. She wrapped her hand in her cloak and gingerly picked it up and gave it a little kiss.
"I hope we didn't scramble your brains, Sparky old pal." She looked up at Rasheph's white face. "That was all me, by the way, I only stopped it after Lynx fainted."
Rasheph raised his eyebrow. "And if he hadn't fainted?"
Lucy grinned and stepped on the stone in front of her, her foot sank into it like a marshmellow. "Cushion stone, of the extra extra soft variety. Plus, phoenix eggs are designed to take a little punishment, accidents do happen you know; I wasn't about to fail Hagrid's class because you were being a prat. Lynx didn't know, obviously; Bet cast the charm from up there while we were getting ready and he was trying not to hyperventilate." She shifted the very hot egg from one hand to another.
"Now, I better go put him back to bed. And I think you have an apology to make," she rolled her eyes towards the stairs above where a crack and a yell rang out as Bet slapped Lynx clear across the face to wake him up.
Rasheph sighed and nodded. "I was an idiot. Listen, I'm sorry we dragged you two into this. Hope he's ok." He gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before starting up the stairs towards the bellowing Lynx.
"God's teeth woman! What the hell did you do that for?"
As Lucy chuckled and turned to head towards the girl's bathroom, she didn't see the tall figure quickly vanishing from its vantage point in the doorway; a vantage point that gave him a clear view of the path of the egg.
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The BA was a tiring experience after that. The boys felt equally bad; Rasheph for making the accusation, and Lynx for losing control, he got a haunted look in his eye whenever he thought about what he could have done. So the meetings became frequent, and longer.
Bet and Rasheph, since both of their gifts were more inwardly centered, worked together most often. They worked to increase shielding, and then alternately, to increase the skill and precision with which they could project. It was more difficult because Rasheph wasn't really a telepath, and Bet didn't receive images all that well. But when a gift is awakened so late, as Lucy had explained, it is usually uncharacteristically strong, and both students found they had the ability to project into each other's heads with enough concentration. Of course, more finesse work required Lucy, but using each other was preferable to Lynx, whose gift didn't use any similar channels, and usually gave them a headache if they worked too hard.
Lucy and Lynx was a regular pairing, mostly because they had the same weakness and Lucy finally found someone she could learn from and teach at the same time. It was often distracting for the other two, because in order to test their ability to control in times of heightened emotion, they had to get each other angry. Which wasn't easy when it was your friend. Usually they resorted to physical violence, hitting each other and yelling until finally something flew that wasn't supposed to, at that point Lucy would cross her eyes or Lynx would waggle his eyebrows and the anger would cease as soon as it had begun. It was painful to watch, but both felt stronger for it.
A side effect was that Lucy left BA feeling both physically and emotionally drained. She'd drag herself back into the common room and collapse on a sofa. Usually Hermione, Lavender, or even one of the boys would bring her back a plate from dinner, and she would nap for a half an hour until Seamus woke her up and reminded her to finish her homework. She had taken to getting as many assignments as possible done before BA, so it was just studying and easier work left after the sessions.
She didn't really say what was going on, not even to Seamus. She was afraid he'd try and interfere. The fact was every time she looked at him was a reminder of what could happen when she lost control, and it made her more determined than ever to conquer that weakness. Diego knew, of course, he thought the method was a little crude, but agreed that it was important. He had managed to get a few nights off, and they usually spoke once a week. It was the second week of November when he dropped the bomb.
"Lucy, I found it."
Lucy shook her head.
"Found what? And where are you? Why don't I hear camels?"
"I'm in the library at Cairo. One of the librarian's assistants is getting married and he needed someone who knew this place to fill in, so I have been temporarily sprung from the stables. Anyway, I've been here for three days, cataloging and filing, and during my breaks I was looking in the basement, and I found it."
"Found what!"
"An old chest in some back room, this place is a maze, the basement runs right into the old catacombs, anyway, it's a book, an old book, and it tells everything."
"I am going to kill you, tells everything about what?"
"The void."
Lucy nearly choked. "The void, THE void?"
Diego smiled and nodded. "Bad news is that its in ancient Sumerian, and I'm horrible with ancient Sumerian. Fortunately, the librarian's daughter has a crush on me, and she's great with ancient languages from this area. I'm sending you the translations chapter by chapter, she said it should only take her a week to do the whole thing."
"What's her name?"
"Honestly Lucy, there are more important things to be concerned about here."
"Please, you haven't dated anyone in three years, this warrants a celebration, now tell me her name."
"It's Zahra, and who said I was dating her? Madre de Dios, are you happy now?"
"Yes, now what have you found out so far?"
"There is no energy in the void."
"What?"
"First chapter, I already mailed it, you're getting them as soon as she can translate and I can copy it. Now pay attention. The void is just that, a void, there is no energy. Energy passes through it instantaneously, so you could theoretically say that it never enters it at all."
"Huh?"
"It has to do with a lot of complicated physics, you don't need to know about, I hope. But the fact is that there is no energy in the void."
"But, I mean, what does that mean for."
"For them? Don't panic, I think they are fine. I mean, the void seems to be chaotic; there are currants, lines of energy moving at an incredible rate, like I said, so fast that they almost aren't there at all, no net energy. It gets sucked out as soon as it enters. But there seem to be pockets in this place, and inside these pockets, it's still."
"What?"
"You are going to have to work with me Luce. Listen, all I'm saying is that there are pockets of stability in this chaos, there's a theory they have to do with gates themselves, since gates stabilize the energy for a short time. Anyway, I think if they got into a pocket, they should be ok."
"All right, so they are in a stable pocket in the midst of chaotic currents of energy in a place with no energy to drawn on."
"Exactly."
"So how do we get them out?"
"This is our dilemma. We've already established that first we have to find them in what is essentially a limitless parallel dimension the size of our universe."
"Correct. And then we have to devise a means of getting them out."
"And because there is no energy in the void.."
"That pretty much eliminates gating."
"Which was are best shot. Exactly."
"No, there has to be a way to gate, I mean, they gated there-"
"They gated there from this world Lucy, whomever made that gate could pull on the energy from Espiritu. You can't pull on that energy from inside."
Lucy nodded. "Listen, I'm beat, and I need to ice my ankle before someone notices the swelling. I am going to lock myself up in Asriel's workroom this weekend. He investigated everything, he has to have some good theories on gate building, and I have an idea of my own, but I need to flush it out."
"No problem. We should have the full text by next week sometime."
"Good, oh, and Diego, give her some flowers."
"What?"
"Zahra, the girl who is translating an entire book of ancient Sumerian, most likely off limits, highly restricted literature, under her father's nose, all for the love of you. Give the girl some god damn flowers."
"Yes mama."
His voice caught a bit there, and Lucy remembered with a pang that Diego had lost a mother in all this. It made her more determined than ever to find a way to bring her back.
She smiled. "Orchids, they're my favorites, every girl likes them. And they are much prettier than roses."
He nodded, "Whatever you say. And Luce, you might want to ice that eye a bit too, it still looks puffy."
Lucy swore and nodded, then watched the mirror image ripple and fade to her own reflection, which did, indeed, show the beginnings of a shiner forming under her eye. She and Lynx were going to have to discuss hitting areas covered by clothing; bruises were a lot harder to explain than fatigue.
"All right Edward, you've had it your way, now I must insist that you return to the ministry. There is nothing else for you to do here."
"I'm not so sure Albus."
"Don't tell me you mean to interrogate the rest of the school as well? I'll never allow it. I shouldn't have allowed you to interview the students you did. I'll be up to my ears in owls for the next two weeks I guarantee it. Especially the highborns. They may not be from this country Edward but that does not mean their families are without enough power and influence to make my days a nightmare until they are satisfied. If you tried to intimidate the rest of my students with those ridiculous scare tactics you might just find yourself out a job. Just remember who sends their children here."
"I don't want to interview any more of your students, so you can relax."
"Than what is it that compels you to stay?"
"I still think the school is in danger."
"May I remind you Edward that when Gringott's was not considered safe enough that the ministry placed a certain valuable object in our care."
"From what I understand that object nearly ended up in the hands of You Know Who."
"But it didn't, and that is the important point."
"And the year after that, a, now what did I hear, a basilisk, was it? That kidnapped one of your students and succeeded in petrifying several others?"
"That was also caught and destroyed."
"And then of course there was the fact that Sirius Black, that murderer, seemed to be capable of freely coming and going from the school with ease."
"Whether or not that is true I cannot say, no one was seriously injured."
"And then of course there was the case of that poor boy in the tournament."
Dumbledore's eyes, normally soft and inviting, went cold as the man in front of him tried to use Cedric's death as a pawn in some game. "Yes, we must all hope that the Ministry is able to capture Voldemort soon, then we will all be truly safe." Edward flinched at the name, but composed himself swiftly.
"Yes, we all pray for that. But there seems to be another threat now, perhaps a new ally of the Dark Lord. Wasn't it just last year that some sort of.new magic, was used to transport Death Eaters right onto the Hogwarts grounds?"
"No masked Death Eater entered this school. We did find a relic of some ancient circle deep in the forest, and some skilled mages came and dismantled it last summer, it is no longer a threat. And I can think of a few more dangerous places to find Death Eaters, have you searched the Ministry yet?"
Edward sat there, tight lipped, but didn't respond to the barb. He smoothly carried on as if he hadn't heard that last remark.
"But it still raises questions, Albus. Questions about this circle in the west. Who are they? And more importantly, whose side are they on?"
"I don't think they are on a side Edward. They appear to have flourished quite well for the past several thousand years without choosing a side."
"Well that's all fine and good if they leave us alone, but you understand, don't you headmaster, that we cannot allow them to join the wrong side."
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed. "Speak plain, Mr. Farnsworth, under what circumstances can you presume to 'allow' them to exist?"
"Well you have considered, haven't you, that some of them must be loyal to the Dark Lord."
"And how do you arrive at that conclusion?"
"Well, you said it yourself. They have managed to evade our notice for thousands of years, and then all of a sudden a masterwork of theirs seems to activate itself in the middle of England. We couldn't have done it, so it stands to reason that some of these western wizards must be serving You Know Who."
"You don't think that the Dark Lord could have been learning their arts?"
"Well, I find it unlikely, given his past record, that he would sully himself with knowledge of such a barbaric form of magic. And even if he did, he would need a teacher."
Dumbledore was silent for a moment, then gave a deep sigh, and turned back to his guest.
"What is this all leading up to, Edward?"
"I want to leave one of my men in the school."
"For what purpose?"
"To maintain security, to protect the students, and to snuff out any trouble."
"What kinds of trouble?"
"There have been a lot of owls from parents over the past few years, worried about security at the school. And now there is talk that some of the students might be dangerous."
"What?" Dumbledore was starting to get angry.
"Hear me out, Albus. There have been several students who have told their parents about a student or students that seem out of the ordinary, strange."
"Many students are different, Mr. Farnseworth, we like to encourage creativity and originality among the children. That is not a criminal offense."
"No it isn't, sir, but a dangerous child may unwillingly injure another student."
"Accidents happen all the time, you remember your school days, there is nothing to set up a patrol over."
"That is true, if the student can be controlled. But what happens if this child has skills no one is familiar with? What happens when no one can control him? Then, sir, you have a very volatile situation on your hands."
"I assure you, the students are well under control."
"The ministry doesn't seem to think so."
Dumbledore arched his eyebrow.
"We can't force this, Albus, and you know that. But if you want your advisories to the Defense Minister to be taken more seriously, you could start by taking any measure necessary to protect your students."
The headmaster thought for a moment.
"What would you be doing?"
"My man? Nothing terribly invasive. Sitting in on a few classes, perhaps, strolling the halls. You wouldn't even know he was there."
"I am not going to provide him the passwords to any common rooms."
"No need, no need. If he really feels it is important to search a room, why, you or the head of house could escort him and would be present at all times. This is meant as a precaution, headmaster, not as a takeover."
"I will need time to discuss this with the staff."
"Certainly, oh, and there was one more suggestion from the Minister."
"Oh really? And what was that?"
"That you not inform the students."
"I beg your pardon? I will have to tell them who he is."
"Tell them he is a visiting guest that will be staying in the school, but no more. We feel it might hinder the investigation, you know how children can be."
"Yes," said the headmaster through tight lips, "I know."
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"So what do you think that guy is here for?" Hermione had not stopped talking about the stranger, who now seemed to have a permanent spot at the staff table, since Dumbledore gave a very unsatisfactory introduction at breakfast.
Ron rolled his eyes. "God's teeth, 'Mione, just give it a rest, ok? He's a strange guy, no one knows him, kinds creepy, he'll probably be prowling around the halls and get us into trouble. It'll be like having another Filch. End of story."
Hermione shook her head. "He seemed weird, as if he knew he was going to be doing something shady. Did you feel it Harry?"
Harry shook his head. He had been too busy trying to keep his meal down. They had a match against Slythering in a little over a week. The match against Ravenclaw had come uncharacteristically early in the season, but the captains had agreed to hold it out of mutual respect; both teams had a lot of new players that needed experience before more crucial games. Hermione had already told him he was being ridiculous getting this nervous when Slytherin was so far away, but that had never stopped Harry from worrying himself sick. Which was exactly what he was doing. His one recourse had been to practice till he was so exhausted all he could do was fall asleep and not have to think about Quidditch. The rest of the team wasn't really taking this idea very well, but he was beyond caring. Dean agreed that they needed the work, and that was all he needed.
No one paid much attention to Lucy's tight-lipped, uncharacteristically quiet behavior.
Lucy knew the man at the table. He had stood in the background slightly to the right of her interrogator all through the interview. He hadn't said a word, but she hadn't liked the way he had been looking at her; she hadn't liked it at all.
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Lucy took a deep breath as she stepped through the wall into the staircase leading to the BA room. This might be a bit sticky. The meeting had been scheduled for over a week, but since Hufflepuff had just beaten Ravenclaw in the last match, she had a feeling tempers were going to be running a little high.
She had no idea.
She heard a loud bang and burst through the door to see a chair fallen over and a fuming Lynx on his feet. Rasheph was already seething and standing in the door from the toilets, his hands balled into tight fists. Bet was next to the fireplace, looking annoyed, tapping her foot and raising an eyebrow as Lucy entered the room. **Trust. Don't want interfere.**
Lucy was surprised, she was coming along well. Although she was fairly certain Bet had meant something along the lines of, 'Trust me, you don't want to interfere,' she had gotten the crucial words through, which was progress.
Before she could say another word the argument continued to explode.
"Take it back!"
"No! Why should I?"
"Because it's not true, and you know it!"
"I know what I saw, Brimstead!"
"And what was that?"
"There is no way that boy was going to beat Cho and you knew it! The Snitch-"
"The Snitch moves with a will of its own, no one could have predicted it would fly that way!"
"That it would fly BACKWARDS! OUT OF CHO'S REACH AND RIGHT TOWARDS YOUR SEEKER! What a marvelous coincidence for you!"
Lynx's voice was cold. "What are you saying, Radu?"
"I'm saying that you cheated. I'm saying that you KNEW your seeker wasn't a match for Cho, you saw she was going to get it, and you used your gift to push the snitch towards your own seeker, right into his hand."
"That's ridiculous."
"I don't think so."
"Take it back Rasheph!"
"I am not apologizing to a cheater!"
At that moment every book from the top shelf flew across the room, slamming into the wall with a bang. If Rasheph hadn't heard Lucy's warning and ducked he'd have been knocked out. But before the books had hit the floor the rest of the chairs overturned and clattered to the ground. The door to the stairs banged open and then shut. The table began to shake.
Bet's eyes grew wide and she quickly doused the fire before any flaming logs could start to fly. Lucy was shaking, but not as much as Lynx. She looked in his eyes and saw he was even more scared than she was. He had lost control, lost his balance, and he didn't know how to take it back.
She did. Without another thought she closed the distance between them and slapped Lynx clear across the face. The shock of it knocked him to the floor. There were no more flying objects, he had his control back. But he was almost as stubborn as she was, he had the same weakness when it came to pride, and as he stood, rubbing his jaw, she could still see the anger in his eyes.
But his loss of control was enough to convince Lucy he hadn't done it. He couldn't have been that angry if Rasheph had been accusing him of something he really had done. There is almost nothing worse than being falsely accused, and that anger had led to the loss of control, she was sure of it. The situation needed to be diffused before Lynx went past the point where she could control him.
"Rasheph," Lucy spoke softly, "I don't think Lynx has the skill to move something that small with that much finesse. He's still practicing with that old Quaffle, remember."
"Maybe he's better than he's letting on. After all, how long has it been since Hufflepuff won the Cup? That's motivation enough."
She saw Lynx about to retort and moved between the two boys.
"Just stop it! Look at what you are doing! Lynx, I don't care what he says, you HAVE to simmer down before you do something you will regret. Trust me, I understand, I've done this before and you don't want to know what its like afterwards. So just, sit in the corner, both of you."
Lynx retreated to one, Rasheph the opposite, and Lucy and Bet took the corners between them.
They sat there in silence, not speaking, not even looking at each other. They had been at it for about half an hour when Bet let out a groan and sprang to her feet.
"This is ridiculous, both of you are as pig headed and stubborn as my grandfather, and none of you have the age to be entitled to such behavior. We are going to settle this once and for all."
Lynx looked at her warily. "What do you intend to do?"
"We are going to see, before anything else, whether or not Lucy is right, if you are capable of a maneuver of that finesse."
Rasheph snorted. "That's no good, he could fake it."
Bet shook her head. "He wouldn't dare do anything but his very best."
"And why not?"
Bet gave Lucy an apologetic looked, then turned around, and using the towel on hand, gingerly picked up Sparks the egg. "Because if he fails, Lucy will kill him. Not to mention fail Care of Magical Creatures."
Lucy eyes grew wide, but Bet met her stare, and there was something about the look on the young girl's face that made Lucy bight her tongue.
The boys were silent, but Bet didn't seem at all concerned at the possibility of killing the egg, and pushed open the bookcase to reveal the entrance to the toilets.
"Well, come on then."
They had no choice but to follow her out.
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"Now, Lynx is probably closer to the egg than he was to the Snitch, and Sparks is bigger than it too, but this is the best we can do."
"I really don't think we should do this, can't there be a net or something?"
"No net, if it was there, it would be too easy for you not to try."
Lynx groaned and looked over the railing, he and Bet were on one of the highest staircases above the main entry hall; Lucy and Rasheph waited anxiously below.
"Ready, set, go!" Bet dropped the egg over the side, and it fell silently, faster and faster. Lynx's face was red and sweating as he tried with all the power he knew to stop the egg in the air before it hit the ground. He couldn't do it, maybe he was slowing it, a little, but he wasn't going to be able to stop it, it was going to crack.
At that moment, when the egg was three feet from the floor, Lynx fainted.
Lucy's eyes snapped to the egg and it halted its perilous dive not six inches from the cold stones. She wrapped her hand in her cloak and gingerly picked it up and gave it a little kiss.
"I hope we didn't scramble your brains, Sparky old pal." She looked up at Rasheph's white face. "That was all me, by the way, I only stopped it after Lynx fainted."
Rasheph raised his eyebrow. "And if he hadn't fainted?"
Lucy grinned and stepped on the stone in front of her, her foot sank into it like a marshmellow. "Cushion stone, of the extra extra soft variety. Plus, phoenix eggs are designed to take a little punishment, accidents do happen you know; I wasn't about to fail Hagrid's class because you were being a prat. Lynx didn't know, obviously; Bet cast the charm from up there while we were getting ready and he was trying not to hyperventilate." She shifted the very hot egg from one hand to another.
"Now, I better go put him back to bed. And I think you have an apology to make," she rolled her eyes towards the stairs above where a crack and a yell rang out as Bet slapped Lynx clear across the face to wake him up.
Rasheph sighed and nodded. "I was an idiot. Listen, I'm sorry we dragged you two into this. Hope he's ok." He gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before starting up the stairs towards the bellowing Lynx.
"God's teeth woman! What the hell did you do that for?"
As Lucy chuckled and turned to head towards the girl's bathroom, she didn't see the tall figure quickly vanishing from its vantage point in the doorway; a vantage point that gave him a clear view of the path of the egg.
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The BA was a tiring experience after that. The boys felt equally bad; Rasheph for making the accusation, and Lynx for losing control, he got a haunted look in his eye whenever he thought about what he could have done. So the meetings became frequent, and longer.
Bet and Rasheph, since both of their gifts were more inwardly centered, worked together most often. They worked to increase shielding, and then alternately, to increase the skill and precision with which they could project. It was more difficult because Rasheph wasn't really a telepath, and Bet didn't receive images all that well. But when a gift is awakened so late, as Lucy had explained, it is usually uncharacteristically strong, and both students found they had the ability to project into each other's heads with enough concentration. Of course, more finesse work required Lucy, but using each other was preferable to Lynx, whose gift didn't use any similar channels, and usually gave them a headache if they worked too hard.
Lucy and Lynx was a regular pairing, mostly because they had the same weakness and Lucy finally found someone she could learn from and teach at the same time. It was often distracting for the other two, because in order to test their ability to control in times of heightened emotion, they had to get each other angry. Which wasn't easy when it was your friend. Usually they resorted to physical violence, hitting each other and yelling until finally something flew that wasn't supposed to, at that point Lucy would cross her eyes or Lynx would waggle his eyebrows and the anger would cease as soon as it had begun. It was painful to watch, but both felt stronger for it.
A side effect was that Lucy left BA feeling both physically and emotionally drained. She'd drag herself back into the common room and collapse on a sofa. Usually Hermione, Lavender, or even one of the boys would bring her back a plate from dinner, and she would nap for a half an hour until Seamus woke her up and reminded her to finish her homework. She had taken to getting as many assignments as possible done before BA, so it was just studying and easier work left after the sessions.
She didn't really say what was going on, not even to Seamus. She was afraid he'd try and interfere. The fact was every time she looked at him was a reminder of what could happen when she lost control, and it made her more determined than ever to conquer that weakness. Diego knew, of course, he thought the method was a little crude, but agreed that it was important. He had managed to get a few nights off, and they usually spoke once a week. It was the second week of November when he dropped the bomb.
"Lucy, I found it."
Lucy shook her head.
"Found what? And where are you? Why don't I hear camels?"
"I'm in the library at Cairo. One of the librarian's assistants is getting married and he needed someone who knew this place to fill in, so I have been temporarily sprung from the stables. Anyway, I've been here for three days, cataloging and filing, and during my breaks I was looking in the basement, and I found it."
"Found what!"
"An old chest in some back room, this place is a maze, the basement runs right into the old catacombs, anyway, it's a book, an old book, and it tells everything."
"I am going to kill you, tells everything about what?"
"The void."
Lucy nearly choked. "The void, THE void?"
Diego smiled and nodded. "Bad news is that its in ancient Sumerian, and I'm horrible with ancient Sumerian. Fortunately, the librarian's daughter has a crush on me, and she's great with ancient languages from this area. I'm sending you the translations chapter by chapter, she said it should only take her a week to do the whole thing."
"What's her name?"
"Honestly Lucy, there are more important things to be concerned about here."
"Please, you haven't dated anyone in three years, this warrants a celebration, now tell me her name."
"It's Zahra, and who said I was dating her? Madre de Dios, are you happy now?"
"Yes, now what have you found out so far?"
"There is no energy in the void."
"What?"
"First chapter, I already mailed it, you're getting them as soon as she can translate and I can copy it. Now pay attention. The void is just that, a void, there is no energy. Energy passes through it instantaneously, so you could theoretically say that it never enters it at all."
"Huh?"
"It has to do with a lot of complicated physics, you don't need to know about, I hope. But the fact is that there is no energy in the void."
"But, I mean, what does that mean for."
"For them? Don't panic, I think they are fine. I mean, the void seems to be chaotic; there are currants, lines of energy moving at an incredible rate, like I said, so fast that they almost aren't there at all, no net energy. It gets sucked out as soon as it enters. But there seem to be pockets in this place, and inside these pockets, it's still."
"What?"
"You are going to have to work with me Luce. Listen, all I'm saying is that there are pockets of stability in this chaos, there's a theory they have to do with gates themselves, since gates stabilize the energy for a short time. Anyway, I think if they got into a pocket, they should be ok."
"All right, so they are in a stable pocket in the midst of chaotic currents of energy in a place with no energy to drawn on."
"Exactly."
"So how do we get them out?"
"This is our dilemma. We've already established that first we have to find them in what is essentially a limitless parallel dimension the size of our universe."
"Correct. And then we have to devise a means of getting them out."
"And because there is no energy in the void.."
"That pretty much eliminates gating."
"Which was are best shot. Exactly."
"No, there has to be a way to gate, I mean, they gated there-"
"They gated there from this world Lucy, whomever made that gate could pull on the energy from Espiritu. You can't pull on that energy from inside."
Lucy nodded. "Listen, I'm beat, and I need to ice my ankle before someone notices the swelling. I am going to lock myself up in Asriel's workroom this weekend. He investigated everything, he has to have some good theories on gate building, and I have an idea of my own, but I need to flush it out."
"No problem. We should have the full text by next week sometime."
"Good, oh, and Diego, give her some flowers."
"What?"
"Zahra, the girl who is translating an entire book of ancient Sumerian, most likely off limits, highly restricted literature, under her father's nose, all for the love of you. Give the girl some god damn flowers."
"Yes mama."
His voice caught a bit there, and Lucy remembered with a pang that Diego had lost a mother in all this. It made her more determined than ever to find a way to bring her back.
She smiled. "Orchids, they're my favorites, every girl likes them. And they are much prettier than roses."
He nodded, "Whatever you say. And Luce, you might want to ice that eye a bit too, it still looks puffy."
Lucy swore and nodded, then watched the mirror image ripple and fade to her own reflection, which did, indeed, show the beginnings of a shiner forming under her eye. She and Lynx were going to have to discuss hitting areas covered by clothing; bruises were a lot harder to explain than fatigue.