Chapter Twenty: Standing Outside the Fire
Just after breakfast the next day, Lucy reported to Professor McGonagall's office. Taking a deep breath, she knocked softly on the door, hoping for no answer.
"Come in."
She had absolutely no luck.
She pushed the door open to see the deputy headmistress seated at her desk marking papers.
"Ah, Lucy, Professor Snape said I could be expecting you, have a seat."
She sat quietly waiting to be drilled.
"Do you know why you're here Lucy?"
"I expect it is to tell you what happened at the Malfoy's yesterday."
Professor McGonagall smiled.
"Not exactly. I have already had a report from Professor Snape about what his students told him occured in the Malfoy home yesterday afternoon, there is no need for you to repeat it."
"You believed them then?" Lucy looked up, surprised.
"Why on earth should I not? It does sound rather peculiar, but if their head of house has faith in their word than I won't question it. As for the incident itself, well, that's for the Ministry to sort out. "
"Then why-"
"Are you here? I was wondering, if you would be so kind, as to tell me, Lucy, where you went after you left the house. Apparantly the Slytherin students would not or could not remember." McGonagall raised her eyebrows suspiciously.
Well, it was bound to come out sooner or later.
"I went to the American Embassy."
She wasn't sure what the head of Gryffindor House had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't that.
"The Embassy? The Muggle Embassy?"
Lucy shrugged. "I guess I wanted to go somewhere I felt safe."
"Safe? And you went there?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, the people inside it are there to serve and help Americans like me. I knew I could trust them."
"Trust them to do what, exactly?"
"Look out for me."
Professor McGonagall was no stupid woman, and she could tell from the look of confidant contentment on Lucy's face that whatever had occured inside the American Embassy was something more that just a casual conversation between copatriots. "In what way where they going to look out for you, Lucy?"
"Well, I suppose it will sound a bit silly, but we were really spooked after we left the house, I mean, it felt like someone might have been trying to hurt us or something. And I realized, that, with my family gone and all, if something happened to me, no one might notice, not for a long time."
"Well, that was a silly-"
"So I made friends with the Marines, and some of the secretarial staff."
"Made friends?"
"Mmm hmm. I told them I was away at boarding school, and my parents were divorced, but my dad had been getting more and more angry, and I was afraid that he might come and pull me out of school, and my mom would never know. So I left an envelope with them, and told them that I would check in at the beginning and end of each term, and if I ever missed it, that they were to open the envelope and follow the note inside to get in touch with my mom. But not to open it until then because it was a private matter, and there was no need to piss off dad or alarm mom unnecessarily, she has delicate nerves."
"You told them all of this, and they believed you?" The Deputy Headmistress was speaking very slowly now, as if trying to process exactly what Lucy had said while at the same time coming to understand what had really gone on.
"I was quite convincing."
There was a short silence.
"Lucy, what was in the envelope?" From the look on her face, McGonagall already had an idea.
"A map of London and precise instructions on where to find a certain pub, and more instructions on how to find a certain ally, down which they would have to travel to find a certain storage center to reclaim my belongings, which I would want sent to my mother. Oh, and a galleon, some sickles and gnuts to pay to rent on them, that sort of thing."
"You gave them instructions to Diagon Ally?"
"I told them I needed them to head toward an alternative end of town."
"Lucy, how do you know they won't open the envelope even if you do check in?"
"Because they're Marines, honor is a very big deal to them."
"Do you realize this violates-"
"I never signed anything pledging allegiance to this place, so I can't be in any sort of violation. Besides, I haven't revealed anything. They can't possibly fault me for writing down something about the magical world, you have a whole library full of books, and muggle-born students keep those same books in their homes, where they are a lot more likely to be stumbled upon than locked up in a Marine's locker."
Professor McGonagall rubbed her forehead. "I hope, for your sake Lucy, that that is where they stay. Thank you for your honesty, you may go."
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There was still another day left until classes resumed, and since Warren hadn't come back yet with a meeting time, Lucy and the BA decided to use the morning as a chance to catch up and practice focusing outside.
Spring was finally beginning to come to Hogwarts. Once the sun burned off the damp chill of the early morning air the green landscape came alive. Lucy and Bet were making their way toward a tree near the lake that had protruding roots big enough to sit on or lean against. That is, until a bellowing voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Lucy? Is 'at you? Come 'ere, come 'ere then, quick now!"
Lucy spun around to see Hagrid waving madly at them from his hut.
"What on earth is he talking about?"
Lucy shrugged, "I better go see. I'm doing well in his class and I need that grade to balance out Potions and Transfiguration."
Bet followed at a more elegant pace as Lucy trotted off toward the cabin on the edge of the woods.
"What.....is it?" She panted, hands on her knees.
"What do ye think it is? Yer egg! It's poppin'!"
"Popping!" Lucy stared at Hagrid in horror.
"Aw nuffin to worry about, perfectly normal, means he's about to come out. I was jest comin' up to the castle to find you. Not every day ye see a phoenix come out of an egg now is it?"
"He's hatching?"
"An' about time too. Been in der far too long for a phoenix, must be because he's a runt, follow me now."
"A what!" Lucy had to run to keep up with Hagrid's long strides as he led her around the back of the cabin to a large box in the clearing with a large puddle around it and a stack of ice nearby.
She forgot to ask the question again as she peered in. Sparks hadn't gotten any bigger, but he was indeed "poppin'"; the egg was sporadically bouncing all over his icy nest, hitting the walls of the box and skidding across to the other side. From the scorch marks all around, it didn't seem like Sparks had gotten any cooler since she had left.
Hagrid appeared by her side, a pair of enormous pink oven mitts painted to look like pig snouts on his hands, and a smaller yellow duck-themed pair that he extended toward her.
"Ye'll need those. Been reinforced by Flitwick 'imself, come in handy all the time."
"How long will he do this for?"
"Oh, hards to say, he's a bit peculiar, but not much longer. Now, what ye needs to do is get a hold of him."
"Hagrid, are you insane?" Lucy asked, never taking her eyes off the egg.
"Ye need to be holdin' 'im when he's finally born, imprintin' an' all. Pull these on, quick now."
She tugged on the oven mitts and reached for the egg, which promptly bounced out of reach. It took her another ten minutes of frustration to get a hold of it, although when it was finally in her artificially enlarged hands, the popping was more subdued.
Hagrid nodded. "In the wilds, the mothers, they sit on 'em, cover one hand with the other, like so," Hagrid nudged Lucy's right hand till it was covering the left, with Sparks sandwiched inside.
He wasn't popping wildly anymore, but rather started to vibrate, till both of Lucy's arms were humming.
"Good, good," Hagrid grinned wildly.
At that moment Bet arrived, with Raseph and Lynx in tow.
"Oy Lucy? What's going on?"
Hagrid glanced at the newcomers, and then again at Bet.
"Friends of yers Lucy?"
"Of course, good ones."
Lynx caught sight of the ducky oven mitts. "What on earth are you wearing?"
They started to come towards the box when Hagrid held up a hand. "Stay back der you lot! Not entirely safe."
Smoke began to rise from the ducky mitts. "Ummm, Hagrid, could you help..."
"S'okay Lucy, ain't nothin goin' ta get through those mitts. Just keep a firm grip and brace yourself for-"
At that moment Sparks and the mitts burst into flames.
"HAGRID!"
Hagrid clapped his mitts in glee. "Aw, here he comes, open hands Lucy, keep 'em together so ye catch 'em."
"CATCH him!"
She opened her hands so they were cupped together, and fire rose higher, sank, rose higher, and then collapsed. As it did so, Lucy once again felt a weight in her hands. She peered down into the pile of ashes.
"Hagrid..."
"Let's just wait an see, Lucy, just wait." But Hagrid's voice was very flat.
Lucy waited peering anxiously into the pile of ashes for any sign of movement. After five minutes, she heard the groundskeeper sigh.
"Er, Lucy, I'm-"
At that moment the little pile of ashes began to stir, and Lucy blew on it to dislodge the ash, her hands being full already. She kept blowing ash off until from the depleted pile there emerged a grey, downy head, with a pale orange crest, large eyes, and a small beak.
"Well, would ye look at that?" Hagrid smiled. "Brush 'im off Lucy, he's not big enough to climb out on his own."
Cupping Sparks in her left mitt, Lucy tore off the other with her teeth and began to brush the remaining ash away from the newborn. When he was clear enough to see, Sparks was about the size of her fist, not counting the tail, and she cupped her free hand under him as soon as possible.
By now Lynx, Rasheph and Bet had hurried over, and were peering over Lucy's shoulder.
"He's awful small though, isn't he?" Rasheph asked Hagrid.
"Well," Lucy shrugged, "He's only a baby."
"Nah," Hagrid said, "He's right, that there is an abnormally small pheonix. But he's runt so's I kinda expected that."
Lucy whirled, holding the baby bird to her chest. "Why do you keep calling him that? How can you know he's a runt before he's even born?" At that moment Sparks shook out his feathers to clean off the ash, and Bet giggled.
"He certainly seems fine."
"Come on in the house, you lot, I'll give ye something to feed him right now Lucy, he needs to eat. But after that its part a yer assignment to feed 'im yerself."
As they sat around the fire and Hagrid gave Lucy a dropper and bowl of something between rice pudding and soup to feed Sparks, he set about explaining about runts.
"Well, when ye been in the trade as long as I have, ye learn stuff. An I knew that if that actually was a phoenix egg, nothin' it could be but a runt then. See, phoenixes don't lay eggs real often, because they just keep gettin' reborn, so, who needs to lay eggs. It's really only in troubled times, when phoenixes are gettin' killed-"
"They can get killed? But-"
"Powerful dark magic, there's ways that can strip 'em of their immortality, make 'em so they can't be reborn, but it hardly ever happens. That egg was from a forest in the Transylvanian mountains, one of them places they think powerful dark wizards are hidin' out, could be why the phoenix laid it. But even if a phoenix lays an egg, that doesn't always mean they'll care for it till it hatches. Figure out why?" He raised en eyebrow at Lucy.
"Because its a great big firey pain?"
Hagrid nodded, "Exactly. Takes a lot of work being a phoenix parent, an its not always worth it. So, if things change before the egg hatches, or the parent doesn't think it's worth it to keep caring for the egg, they'll abandon it. Sometimes eggs get abandoned if a phoenix lays it too close to burnin' time, since when they are reborn they're not but babes themselves an' can't care for it. When eggs are layed an then abandoned, they're what we call runts."
"Why?"
"Because egg temperature is so important durin' development. The egg can't get too hot too fast, or it'll burn through all the food in there meant to last it till hatching time. No one knows how long this egg was abandoned before the trader found it, but the longer no one was carin' for it, the more likely it would be a runt, or possibly a dud."
"A dud?"
"An baby phoenix that wouldn't have the energy to rise from the ashes in its first burnin'."
Lucy understood now why Hagrid had been so quiet before Sparks' head had appeared.
"But how did you know the egg was abandoned, how do you know they didn't just take it from a nest?"
"Because it was dirt cheap. Full phoenix eggs cost more than Cornelius Fudge makes in a year, they're powerful ingredients in potions to stop aging, an fight disease an the sort. Besides, its against the laws most everywhere to take an egg away from a nesting phoenix, if you could mind you, parent phoenixes are awful protective; so that drives the black market price up even more for genuine ones."
Lucy looked down at the bundle of feathers compulsively gulping down dropperfulls of broth and wondered.
"Hagrid, does that mean that Sparks won't be as big as other phoenixes when he grows up?"
Hagrid shook his head. "From the look of him now, he'll be a little more than half the size of a normal phoenix, maybe 2/3 or so. An he'll be paler, not so bright red. See how his crest is more orange?"
Lucy nodded. "But other than that, he'll be ok?"
"He came through his first burnin' a little slow, but he came through. That's a pretty good sign that he'll be perfectly healthy."
Lucy smiled and stroked the downy head.
"Oh, while yer 'ere Lucy, how was the trip?"
Lucy's eyes met those of the BA. She glanced down at Sparks and flicked some more ash off his feathers.
"Smokey."
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By the time they were on their way out of Hagrid's, Lucy clutching a small, downy bundle to her chest, the weather had taken a severe turn.
"Oy, looks like another one of those storms," Rasheph pointed to the thunderheads above the lake.
"What storms?" Lucy was distracted by the absolute beyond-adorableness of Sparks' little beak.
"Oh, we've been getting them a couple times a day the past few days. They're really brief, loud, noisy, but it doesn't rain, just gets really dark and windy."
"Lot's of lightening," Lynx added.
A worry line appeared in Lucy's forehead. "And then they just dissappear?"
Bet nodded, stroking Sparks' head. "They blow out almost as fast as they blow in, it's very peculiar...what's wrong Lucy?"
She tried to shake off the worry, it couldn't possibly be THAT.
"Nothing, um, do you mind if we meet later in the week? I have to check on something."
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She worked her way through Asriel's reference notebooks with an increasingly nagging sense of worry. There were dozens of these; Lucy hadn't been through them all because they didn't contain anything new, they just contained his very, very old notes from his late Intermediate years. Whoever Asriel's mentor had been, he must have been fond of dictation. Or Asriel was just an obsessive note-taker.
She finally located the one she had looked at only a few weeks ago, when her channels were still raw and delicate and hiding away from people here in the workroom was one of her only recourses for some peace and quiet. She had been worried then about the storm that blew in when the gate closed, and about what other unseen damages she and Diego could have inflicted unknowingly on the environment. It was in that tatty notebook, which seemed to have had a dunk in a lake or been exposed to harsh rain, that she found a rather complete dissertation on weather-working magic.
That was an unusual thing. Weather magery was not a commonly taught or commonly practiced art. It wasn't as rare as earth-sense, and many people had the ability to learn it, but it simply was not commonly taught; mostly because of the huge and potentially damaging impact that a small mistake could have on the area around it. To avoid catastrophes that could arise from even minor dabbling, weather working texts were kept under lock and key, and were one of the only universally restricted texts in the Western Circle.
As she reread the passage she had studied before, Lucy could not tell whether Asriel had or had not learned the art of weather working. What the journal detailed was not the how-to's of the subject, but the symptoms, the consequences on the environment of weatherworking as well as part of the side effects of large elemental spells.
It was from that description that Lucy began to believe the suspicion she had had that afternoon by the lake. The storms that suddenly appeared and suddenly dissapeerd were not natural at all. Someone was working powerful magic, and it was affecting the natural flow of energy. And whatever was going on, it was going on nearby.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& "You really think someone was trying to kill you?"
"I didn't say kill-"
"But you think they were trying to hurt you, with a guard right outside?"
"No," Misha growled and collapsed back onto the sofa. They had taken the Ravenclaw room behind the library again, although the seating arrangement was somewhat different. The students who hadn't gone to London had ended up seated together along one wall, while the Gryffindors who did go were scattered among the Huffelpuff and Ravenclaw knots. Lucy was standing between Saori and Vladimir with the Slytherins, watching Misha try and explain what had happened to Audrey, Mikhail, Maeve, and the Lane brothers.
"What?" William in particular looked confused, "No what?"
"No, they weren't trying to hurt us."
"Well then why-"
"They were just trying to hurt the girls."
The room fell silent.
"How-"
"Well the smoke was coming out of our damn fireplace, and only our damn fireplace, it's a pretty fair assumption that we were the targets!" Mai threw up her hands in exhasperation.
"Could they have been after something in the room?" Costanzo offered.
"We were going to be leaving in a matter of hours, there would have been no need to go to all the trouble..."
"Still, smoking you out hardly seems stealthy, its not like you didn't notice," Warren rubbed the bridge of his nose before resting his forehead in his hand.
"We weren't supposed to notice," Lucy said slowly, remember the groggieness, "We barely woke up as it was, a few of us, and it took a lot more to wake up the boys and Mai...and Saori..."
"Heavy sleepers?" Audrey raised her eyebrows.
"Heavy eaters," Lucy's eyes met Katya's.
"The food," the Russian breathed.
"What?"
"They must have drugged the food, but it was already awful, the only ones who were hungry enough to eat a full serving were the boys, and Mai and Saori-"
"And the Ministry guards," Sasha added quietly.
"Well that explains why all of our screaming wasn't noticed," Koji added bitterly.
"So, you're saying Lucius Malfoy drugged you?"
"Well, it could have been anyone I guess, but it was his house..."
"Where's the article?" Audrey clearly had an idea but didn't say what it was. Lucy produced the paper and handed it over.
"Interesting...." the was an uncomfortable silence.
"Well?" Maeve finally burst out.
"Let me get something straight first. You said after you got back you had lunch, then went upstairs and fell asleep?"
"We packed, but that only took a few minutes, by then we all felt groggy-"
"Thanks to the lovely home poisoning," Koji growled.
Misha rolled his eyes, "And we fell asleep. I didn't wake up until the girls came in shouting."
"And kicking," Dimitri rubbed his bruised forearm.
"What time do you think you left the house?"
Lucy looked from side to side, getting blank stares from most of her roommates. With all the chaos, she hadn't paid any attention to the time....
"2:35," Sasha piped up. Most of the Slytherins as well as Lucy gave her a questioning look, but the small girl just shrugged.
Audrey raised her eyebrows.
Karen let out a frustrated sigh, "So what's so interesting?"
"Only the fact that Mr. Malfoy didn't report anyone missing until six o'clock."
Warren eased himself down in an overstuffed armchair. "That's an awful lot of time to be cleaning the chimney..."
Lesley slumped against the wall and crossed her arms over her knees. "If it was Mr. Malfoy, that just proves there's nothing we can do. We can't accuse him."
"We don't have that kind of power," Alessandra grudgingly agreed.
Audrey sighed, removed her glass and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "We NEED that protective legistlation passed."
Wesley groaned, "It was all we could do to get it written and on the agenda, but Fudge still has the power to table any vote or decision until next year, or the year after that, or the year after that."
"If we don't get it," Katya grimly reminded them, "Merlin only knows what could happen next, to any of us."
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The joint session of the Council of International Affairs and the Board of Governors of Hogwarts wasn't scheduled for another two weeks, at that time the student's proposal would be discussed and voted upon. Until then, there was nothing for the international students to do but wait and listen. And of course, go to class.
For Lucy, there was more than enough going on to keep her mind occupied without that extra burden. Advanced Astronomy had gone to an uncomfortable place as a result of the once-in-a-century celestial and planetary allignments, most of which involved something that didn't rise until around 2am. While class had been cut to once a week to make up for the loss of sleep, you could still spot professor Sinastra's students by the bags under their eyes, and Lucy was no exception. There was also the disturbing fact that she had yet to hear anything from Diego to keep her up at night as well. Faustas had assured her he was probably prevented from long range communication as a part of the Tibeten healing Temple's restrictions, but Lucy was uncomforted. And now she couldn't even ask Faustas about it anymore since he had left for an extended trip to Istanbul and Cairo, and most likely Peru as well. But she was satisfied that he carried with him a detailed account of his observations of the magical storms as well as Lucy's account of what she had been told, which he promised to deliver to a capable weather mage to ascertain what was going on at the school.
Faustas had also promised to return with more information about the Siberian phenomena. The last Lucy had heard a corps of Maintainers had set out into the wilderness to locate and track the dementors, but that had been weeks ago and she was getting anxious.
A door slammed furiously in the stairwell, jolting Parvati out of her nap. Lavender snapped out of her trance and made a snatch at her crystal ball before it could roll off of the table. Sparks squawked and dove onto Lucy's bed, scattering her star charts all over the floor. Lucy sighed and scratched him under the chin.
Lest she should forget, there was always the Harry-Hermione-and Ron show to watch as well.
"Three...two...one..." Lavender turned her eyes to the door, Lucy kept a firm hold on Sparks, and Parvati covered her ears.
*BANG! The door to the room flew open as Hermione stormed in.
"Aww, come on-" As Ron's voice came from the hallway Hermione's arm shot out for the edge of the door and pulled. At almost the same time three wands came up as Lucy, Parvati, and Lavender shouted "Confuto!"
Hermione raised her eyebrows as the door continued to smoothly swing closed, silently.
Hermione shrugged, threw herself on her bed, and screamed into her pillow.
Parvati's head fell back on her own. "This cannot continue."
"Not if we're ever going to get any work done in the room at any rate."
"We could try the common room again..."
"And be massacred by the O.W.L prep-cult? No thank you, I choose life."
Lucy grinned and began scooping up her charts from the floor. This year's batch of fifth years were hitting the pre-test preparation hard. None of the other Gryffindors had much of a clue why, but Ginny Weasley had said something about a bet with the Slytherins, of which there was apparently a lot riding on. In any case, so as not to let the other side in on what they were doing, the fifth years had abandoned studying in any public room and would descend on the common room en masse just after dinner. Anyone attempting to study during that time would have to dodge misflung spells and attempt to block out the chanting that was the current memorization method. Since Lucy was doing most of her studying in the BA room or Asriel's workroom, the little that she had to do in the tower wasn't impacted much by the O.W.L squad, but she sympathized with ANYONE trying to focus on advanced Divination with all that noise.
THUD THUD THUD, three heads swiveled toward the door. Hermione didn't move, but a slightly muffled, "Go away Ron!" came from under her pillow.
"Lavender, Lucy, somebody let me in."
"She's got all the best hexes Ron, that wouldn't be healthy, for either of us."
"Hermione, this is stupid."
"Oh yeah Ron, that's the way to get her to come 'round."
"Stay out of it Parvati, you always take her side anyway."
"That would be impossible, since none of us has a clue as to what in Merlin's name the three of you are up to. But I'll give you this advice Ronnikins: Move your skinny pale arse away from our door right now, or I'll tell little Eliza Hubbaple that you've been secretly harboring a crush on her for the past few weeks but were too shy to tell her. And I'll advise her the best way to profess her love would be to sing to you in the Great Hall, right before a Quidditch match."
Eliza Hubbaple was a second year who had been making calf eyes at Ron for months, much to his embarrassment. It was more than enough to convince Ron to try to talk to Hermione later.
"Now, Hermione, could you at least give us a-"
"No."
"Well fine, be that way." Parvati flopped back on her bed in a huff. Lucy looked at Lavender and shrugged. Hermione pulled a book off the stack next to her bed and began to read.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Four voice unison: "Go away Harry."
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On Sunday evening a notice was posted in the Gryffindor common room:
"The following students will report to Professor Snape's Office Monday morning at 6 o'clock:
Alessandra Dicus
Nichloas Kornakovitch
Svetlana Kornakovitch
Warren Lane
William Lane
Wesley Lane
Lucille Montero
Karen Su" On Monday morning the eight condemned souls stumbled bleary-eyed into the common room and silently made their way to Snape's office together.
The Potions master, looking far to alert for that unholy hour of the morning, was seated at his desk, his quill moving briskly over a ream of parchment. He looked up at their entrance.
"Oh, there you are," he put down the quill with mild irritation, as if he had been expecting them for hours. He shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk, then turned back and handed them each a small piece of parchment.
"It was decided that, to ensure fairness and eliminate the possibility of favoritism, your service sentances from the Ministry would be overseen by a professor other than your head of house. Since Gryffindor and Slytherin had by far the largest number of offenders, Professor McGonagall and myself only thought it fair to exchange students."
At her left elbow, Lucy felt Alessandra sway, Nicholas helped steady her. Karen had gone pale, and Warren had the same look of quiet unceasing determination that made it difficult to believe he had even heard what Snape had said.
"The rosters before you provide a detailed outline of when and where you are expected to report. Absences are inexcusable unless both Professor McGonagall and the headmaster approve them, and will be reported to your Ministry Liason. In addition, any absences will result in additional time spent with myself or Mr. Filtch in detention. Any questions?"
Svetlana timidly rasied her hand.
"Miss Kornakovitch?"
"Why do some of us have more duties than others?"
Snape smiled. "Some of you have less time than the others. For most non- graduating students the service time will be continued next year, however, those students tragically leaving us at the end of the term have had their schedules adjusted in light of this fact so as to complete their sentence before departure."
Lucy looked down at the schedule. Snape was right, Warren had many more shifts than the others, but then she and Alessandra also had the same load.
"But I'm not graduating professor."
Snape gave her a cool smile, "I'm not surprised Miss Montero, but that is not my problem."
"Why do I have the same assignments as a seventh year?"
"A rather astute suggestion was made by the Minstry that since charity funding to international students has been cut, those students relying on it previously might be unable to return next year, and to ensure completion of sentances we should assign all hours for such students this term. Your schedule has been adjusted to account for this."
Snape surveyed the unhappy group, making no attempt to hide his pleasure. "Well then, if there are no other questions, I will expect to see you promptly at the beginning of your shift, which, for some of you, begins immediately."
Lucy, Warren, and Wesley remained behind as the rest of the Gryffindors returned to bed to catch a few remaining moments of sleep. When the door had closed behind them, Snape returned to his desk.
"Mr. Lane and Miss Montero, there is a list of ingredients that need to be prepared for the first and second years' afternoon classes on the front bench. There are freshly arrived and harvested stocks in the small storeroom, I trust you remember how to sort through those from our time together last year Miss Montero, I'll expect immaculate and full containers in the student supply cupboards of Dungeons A and B before you leave for morning classes. If you do not finish, you may complete the task during lunch.
"Don't think I've forgotten you, young Wesley. After an unfortunate accident a glowing purple film remains on the bench tops in E. It is stubborn, but I have devised a way to eliminate it."
"Scouring spells?"
"Not quite," Snape smiled and held up a toothbrush and three tubes of Magical Merlin's triple action toothpaste. "I'll expect the first four tops to be cleaned before you leave here today. That room won't be used till tomorrow, which will leave ample time for your fellow conspirators to take care of the rest."
The three students looked at each other in a stunned silence. Snape had returned to his papers, and looked up again, as if surprised they were still there.
"It's quite a long list Miss Montero, if you feel like eating lunch at all today I would begin immediately. I'll be checking in periodically."
Because the morning just wouldn't be complete without it, Lucy thought to herself, as she saw the word "testicles" on the list and decided that not eating lunch might not be such a bad idea.
Just after breakfast the next day, Lucy reported to Professor McGonagall's office. Taking a deep breath, she knocked softly on the door, hoping for no answer.
"Come in."
She had absolutely no luck.
She pushed the door open to see the deputy headmistress seated at her desk marking papers.
"Ah, Lucy, Professor Snape said I could be expecting you, have a seat."
She sat quietly waiting to be drilled.
"Do you know why you're here Lucy?"
"I expect it is to tell you what happened at the Malfoy's yesterday."
Professor McGonagall smiled.
"Not exactly. I have already had a report from Professor Snape about what his students told him occured in the Malfoy home yesterday afternoon, there is no need for you to repeat it."
"You believed them then?" Lucy looked up, surprised.
"Why on earth should I not? It does sound rather peculiar, but if their head of house has faith in their word than I won't question it. As for the incident itself, well, that's for the Ministry to sort out. "
"Then why-"
"Are you here? I was wondering, if you would be so kind, as to tell me, Lucy, where you went after you left the house. Apparantly the Slytherin students would not or could not remember." McGonagall raised her eyebrows suspiciously.
Well, it was bound to come out sooner or later.
"I went to the American Embassy."
She wasn't sure what the head of Gryffindor House had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't that.
"The Embassy? The Muggle Embassy?"
Lucy shrugged. "I guess I wanted to go somewhere I felt safe."
"Safe? And you went there?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, the people inside it are there to serve and help Americans like me. I knew I could trust them."
"Trust them to do what, exactly?"
"Look out for me."
Professor McGonagall was no stupid woman, and she could tell from the look of confidant contentment on Lucy's face that whatever had occured inside the American Embassy was something more that just a casual conversation between copatriots. "In what way where they going to look out for you, Lucy?"
"Well, I suppose it will sound a bit silly, but we were really spooked after we left the house, I mean, it felt like someone might have been trying to hurt us or something. And I realized, that, with my family gone and all, if something happened to me, no one might notice, not for a long time."
"Well, that was a silly-"
"So I made friends with the Marines, and some of the secretarial staff."
"Made friends?"
"Mmm hmm. I told them I was away at boarding school, and my parents were divorced, but my dad had been getting more and more angry, and I was afraid that he might come and pull me out of school, and my mom would never know. So I left an envelope with them, and told them that I would check in at the beginning and end of each term, and if I ever missed it, that they were to open the envelope and follow the note inside to get in touch with my mom. But not to open it until then because it was a private matter, and there was no need to piss off dad or alarm mom unnecessarily, she has delicate nerves."
"You told them all of this, and they believed you?" The Deputy Headmistress was speaking very slowly now, as if trying to process exactly what Lucy had said while at the same time coming to understand what had really gone on.
"I was quite convincing."
There was a short silence.
"Lucy, what was in the envelope?" From the look on her face, McGonagall already had an idea.
"A map of London and precise instructions on where to find a certain pub, and more instructions on how to find a certain ally, down which they would have to travel to find a certain storage center to reclaim my belongings, which I would want sent to my mother. Oh, and a galleon, some sickles and gnuts to pay to rent on them, that sort of thing."
"You gave them instructions to Diagon Ally?"
"I told them I needed them to head toward an alternative end of town."
"Lucy, how do you know they won't open the envelope even if you do check in?"
"Because they're Marines, honor is a very big deal to them."
"Do you realize this violates-"
"I never signed anything pledging allegiance to this place, so I can't be in any sort of violation. Besides, I haven't revealed anything. They can't possibly fault me for writing down something about the magical world, you have a whole library full of books, and muggle-born students keep those same books in their homes, where they are a lot more likely to be stumbled upon than locked up in a Marine's locker."
Professor McGonagall rubbed her forehead. "I hope, for your sake Lucy, that that is where they stay. Thank you for your honesty, you may go."
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There was still another day left until classes resumed, and since Warren hadn't come back yet with a meeting time, Lucy and the BA decided to use the morning as a chance to catch up and practice focusing outside.
Spring was finally beginning to come to Hogwarts. Once the sun burned off the damp chill of the early morning air the green landscape came alive. Lucy and Bet were making their way toward a tree near the lake that had protruding roots big enough to sit on or lean against. That is, until a bellowing voice stopped them in their tracks.
"Lucy? Is 'at you? Come 'ere, come 'ere then, quick now!"
Lucy spun around to see Hagrid waving madly at them from his hut.
"What on earth is he talking about?"
Lucy shrugged, "I better go see. I'm doing well in his class and I need that grade to balance out Potions and Transfiguration."
Bet followed at a more elegant pace as Lucy trotted off toward the cabin on the edge of the woods.
"What.....is it?" She panted, hands on her knees.
"What do ye think it is? Yer egg! It's poppin'!"
"Popping!" Lucy stared at Hagrid in horror.
"Aw nuffin to worry about, perfectly normal, means he's about to come out. I was jest comin' up to the castle to find you. Not every day ye see a phoenix come out of an egg now is it?"
"He's hatching?"
"An' about time too. Been in der far too long for a phoenix, must be because he's a runt, follow me now."
"A what!" Lucy had to run to keep up with Hagrid's long strides as he led her around the back of the cabin to a large box in the clearing with a large puddle around it and a stack of ice nearby.
She forgot to ask the question again as she peered in. Sparks hadn't gotten any bigger, but he was indeed "poppin'"; the egg was sporadically bouncing all over his icy nest, hitting the walls of the box and skidding across to the other side. From the scorch marks all around, it didn't seem like Sparks had gotten any cooler since she had left.
Hagrid appeared by her side, a pair of enormous pink oven mitts painted to look like pig snouts on his hands, and a smaller yellow duck-themed pair that he extended toward her.
"Ye'll need those. Been reinforced by Flitwick 'imself, come in handy all the time."
"How long will he do this for?"
"Oh, hards to say, he's a bit peculiar, but not much longer. Now, what ye needs to do is get a hold of him."
"Hagrid, are you insane?" Lucy asked, never taking her eyes off the egg.
"Ye need to be holdin' 'im when he's finally born, imprintin' an' all. Pull these on, quick now."
She tugged on the oven mitts and reached for the egg, which promptly bounced out of reach. It took her another ten minutes of frustration to get a hold of it, although when it was finally in her artificially enlarged hands, the popping was more subdued.
Hagrid nodded. "In the wilds, the mothers, they sit on 'em, cover one hand with the other, like so," Hagrid nudged Lucy's right hand till it was covering the left, with Sparks sandwiched inside.
He wasn't popping wildly anymore, but rather started to vibrate, till both of Lucy's arms were humming.
"Good, good," Hagrid grinned wildly.
At that moment Bet arrived, with Raseph and Lynx in tow.
"Oy Lucy? What's going on?"
Hagrid glanced at the newcomers, and then again at Bet.
"Friends of yers Lucy?"
"Of course, good ones."
Lynx caught sight of the ducky oven mitts. "What on earth are you wearing?"
They started to come towards the box when Hagrid held up a hand. "Stay back der you lot! Not entirely safe."
Smoke began to rise from the ducky mitts. "Ummm, Hagrid, could you help..."
"S'okay Lucy, ain't nothin goin' ta get through those mitts. Just keep a firm grip and brace yourself for-"
At that moment Sparks and the mitts burst into flames.
"HAGRID!"
Hagrid clapped his mitts in glee. "Aw, here he comes, open hands Lucy, keep 'em together so ye catch 'em."
"CATCH him!"
She opened her hands so they were cupped together, and fire rose higher, sank, rose higher, and then collapsed. As it did so, Lucy once again felt a weight in her hands. She peered down into the pile of ashes.
"Hagrid..."
"Let's just wait an see, Lucy, just wait." But Hagrid's voice was very flat.
Lucy waited peering anxiously into the pile of ashes for any sign of movement. After five minutes, she heard the groundskeeper sigh.
"Er, Lucy, I'm-"
At that moment the little pile of ashes began to stir, and Lucy blew on it to dislodge the ash, her hands being full already. She kept blowing ash off until from the depleted pile there emerged a grey, downy head, with a pale orange crest, large eyes, and a small beak.
"Well, would ye look at that?" Hagrid smiled. "Brush 'im off Lucy, he's not big enough to climb out on his own."
Cupping Sparks in her left mitt, Lucy tore off the other with her teeth and began to brush the remaining ash away from the newborn. When he was clear enough to see, Sparks was about the size of her fist, not counting the tail, and she cupped her free hand under him as soon as possible.
By now Lynx, Rasheph and Bet had hurried over, and were peering over Lucy's shoulder.
"He's awful small though, isn't he?" Rasheph asked Hagrid.
"Well," Lucy shrugged, "He's only a baby."
"Nah," Hagrid said, "He's right, that there is an abnormally small pheonix. But he's runt so's I kinda expected that."
Lucy whirled, holding the baby bird to her chest. "Why do you keep calling him that? How can you know he's a runt before he's even born?" At that moment Sparks shook out his feathers to clean off the ash, and Bet giggled.
"He certainly seems fine."
"Come on in the house, you lot, I'll give ye something to feed him right now Lucy, he needs to eat. But after that its part a yer assignment to feed 'im yerself."
As they sat around the fire and Hagrid gave Lucy a dropper and bowl of something between rice pudding and soup to feed Sparks, he set about explaining about runts.
"Well, when ye been in the trade as long as I have, ye learn stuff. An I knew that if that actually was a phoenix egg, nothin' it could be but a runt then. See, phoenixes don't lay eggs real often, because they just keep gettin' reborn, so, who needs to lay eggs. It's really only in troubled times, when phoenixes are gettin' killed-"
"They can get killed? But-"
"Powerful dark magic, there's ways that can strip 'em of their immortality, make 'em so they can't be reborn, but it hardly ever happens. That egg was from a forest in the Transylvanian mountains, one of them places they think powerful dark wizards are hidin' out, could be why the phoenix laid it. But even if a phoenix lays an egg, that doesn't always mean they'll care for it till it hatches. Figure out why?" He raised en eyebrow at Lucy.
"Because its a great big firey pain?"
Hagrid nodded, "Exactly. Takes a lot of work being a phoenix parent, an its not always worth it. So, if things change before the egg hatches, or the parent doesn't think it's worth it to keep caring for the egg, they'll abandon it. Sometimes eggs get abandoned if a phoenix lays it too close to burnin' time, since when they are reborn they're not but babes themselves an' can't care for it. When eggs are layed an then abandoned, they're what we call runts."
"Why?"
"Because egg temperature is so important durin' development. The egg can't get too hot too fast, or it'll burn through all the food in there meant to last it till hatching time. No one knows how long this egg was abandoned before the trader found it, but the longer no one was carin' for it, the more likely it would be a runt, or possibly a dud."
"A dud?"
"An baby phoenix that wouldn't have the energy to rise from the ashes in its first burnin'."
Lucy understood now why Hagrid had been so quiet before Sparks' head had appeared.
"But how did you know the egg was abandoned, how do you know they didn't just take it from a nest?"
"Because it was dirt cheap. Full phoenix eggs cost more than Cornelius Fudge makes in a year, they're powerful ingredients in potions to stop aging, an fight disease an the sort. Besides, its against the laws most everywhere to take an egg away from a nesting phoenix, if you could mind you, parent phoenixes are awful protective; so that drives the black market price up even more for genuine ones."
Lucy looked down at the bundle of feathers compulsively gulping down dropperfulls of broth and wondered.
"Hagrid, does that mean that Sparks won't be as big as other phoenixes when he grows up?"
Hagrid shook his head. "From the look of him now, he'll be a little more than half the size of a normal phoenix, maybe 2/3 or so. An he'll be paler, not so bright red. See how his crest is more orange?"
Lucy nodded. "But other than that, he'll be ok?"
"He came through his first burnin' a little slow, but he came through. That's a pretty good sign that he'll be perfectly healthy."
Lucy smiled and stroked the downy head.
"Oh, while yer 'ere Lucy, how was the trip?"
Lucy's eyes met those of the BA. She glanced down at Sparks and flicked some more ash off his feathers.
"Smokey."
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By the time they were on their way out of Hagrid's, Lucy clutching a small, downy bundle to her chest, the weather had taken a severe turn.
"Oy, looks like another one of those storms," Rasheph pointed to the thunderheads above the lake.
"What storms?" Lucy was distracted by the absolute beyond-adorableness of Sparks' little beak.
"Oh, we've been getting them a couple times a day the past few days. They're really brief, loud, noisy, but it doesn't rain, just gets really dark and windy."
"Lot's of lightening," Lynx added.
A worry line appeared in Lucy's forehead. "And then they just dissappear?"
Bet nodded, stroking Sparks' head. "They blow out almost as fast as they blow in, it's very peculiar...what's wrong Lucy?"
She tried to shake off the worry, it couldn't possibly be THAT.
"Nothing, um, do you mind if we meet later in the week? I have to check on something."
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She worked her way through Asriel's reference notebooks with an increasingly nagging sense of worry. There were dozens of these; Lucy hadn't been through them all because they didn't contain anything new, they just contained his very, very old notes from his late Intermediate years. Whoever Asriel's mentor had been, he must have been fond of dictation. Or Asriel was just an obsessive note-taker.
She finally located the one she had looked at only a few weeks ago, when her channels were still raw and delicate and hiding away from people here in the workroom was one of her only recourses for some peace and quiet. She had been worried then about the storm that blew in when the gate closed, and about what other unseen damages she and Diego could have inflicted unknowingly on the environment. It was in that tatty notebook, which seemed to have had a dunk in a lake or been exposed to harsh rain, that she found a rather complete dissertation on weather-working magic.
That was an unusual thing. Weather magery was not a commonly taught or commonly practiced art. It wasn't as rare as earth-sense, and many people had the ability to learn it, but it simply was not commonly taught; mostly because of the huge and potentially damaging impact that a small mistake could have on the area around it. To avoid catastrophes that could arise from even minor dabbling, weather working texts were kept under lock and key, and were one of the only universally restricted texts in the Western Circle.
As she reread the passage she had studied before, Lucy could not tell whether Asriel had or had not learned the art of weather working. What the journal detailed was not the how-to's of the subject, but the symptoms, the consequences on the environment of weatherworking as well as part of the side effects of large elemental spells.
It was from that description that Lucy began to believe the suspicion she had had that afternoon by the lake. The storms that suddenly appeared and suddenly dissapeerd were not natural at all. Someone was working powerful magic, and it was affecting the natural flow of energy. And whatever was going on, it was going on nearby.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& "You really think someone was trying to kill you?"
"I didn't say kill-"
"But you think they were trying to hurt you, with a guard right outside?"
"No," Misha growled and collapsed back onto the sofa. They had taken the Ravenclaw room behind the library again, although the seating arrangement was somewhat different. The students who hadn't gone to London had ended up seated together along one wall, while the Gryffindors who did go were scattered among the Huffelpuff and Ravenclaw knots. Lucy was standing between Saori and Vladimir with the Slytherins, watching Misha try and explain what had happened to Audrey, Mikhail, Maeve, and the Lane brothers.
"What?" William in particular looked confused, "No what?"
"No, they weren't trying to hurt us."
"Well then why-"
"They were just trying to hurt the girls."
The room fell silent.
"How-"
"Well the smoke was coming out of our damn fireplace, and only our damn fireplace, it's a pretty fair assumption that we were the targets!" Mai threw up her hands in exhasperation.
"Could they have been after something in the room?" Costanzo offered.
"We were going to be leaving in a matter of hours, there would have been no need to go to all the trouble..."
"Still, smoking you out hardly seems stealthy, its not like you didn't notice," Warren rubbed the bridge of his nose before resting his forehead in his hand.
"We weren't supposed to notice," Lucy said slowly, remember the groggieness, "We barely woke up as it was, a few of us, and it took a lot more to wake up the boys and Mai...and Saori..."
"Heavy sleepers?" Audrey raised her eyebrows.
"Heavy eaters," Lucy's eyes met Katya's.
"The food," the Russian breathed.
"What?"
"They must have drugged the food, but it was already awful, the only ones who were hungry enough to eat a full serving were the boys, and Mai and Saori-"
"And the Ministry guards," Sasha added quietly.
"Well that explains why all of our screaming wasn't noticed," Koji added bitterly.
"So, you're saying Lucius Malfoy drugged you?"
"Well, it could have been anyone I guess, but it was his house..."
"Where's the article?" Audrey clearly had an idea but didn't say what it was. Lucy produced the paper and handed it over.
"Interesting...." the was an uncomfortable silence.
"Well?" Maeve finally burst out.
"Let me get something straight first. You said after you got back you had lunch, then went upstairs and fell asleep?"
"We packed, but that only took a few minutes, by then we all felt groggy-"
"Thanks to the lovely home poisoning," Koji growled.
Misha rolled his eyes, "And we fell asleep. I didn't wake up until the girls came in shouting."
"And kicking," Dimitri rubbed his bruised forearm.
"What time do you think you left the house?"
Lucy looked from side to side, getting blank stares from most of her roommates. With all the chaos, she hadn't paid any attention to the time....
"2:35," Sasha piped up. Most of the Slytherins as well as Lucy gave her a questioning look, but the small girl just shrugged.
Audrey raised her eyebrows.
Karen let out a frustrated sigh, "So what's so interesting?"
"Only the fact that Mr. Malfoy didn't report anyone missing until six o'clock."
Warren eased himself down in an overstuffed armchair. "That's an awful lot of time to be cleaning the chimney..."
Lesley slumped against the wall and crossed her arms over her knees. "If it was Mr. Malfoy, that just proves there's nothing we can do. We can't accuse him."
"We don't have that kind of power," Alessandra grudgingly agreed.
Audrey sighed, removed her glass and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "We NEED that protective legistlation passed."
Wesley groaned, "It was all we could do to get it written and on the agenda, but Fudge still has the power to table any vote or decision until next year, or the year after that, or the year after that."
"If we don't get it," Katya grimly reminded them, "Merlin only knows what could happen next, to any of us."
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The joint session of the Council of International Affairs and the Board of Governors of Hogwarts wasn't scheduled for another two weeks, at that time the student's proposal would be discussed and voted upon. Until then, there was nothing for the international students to do but wait and listen. And of course, go to class.
For Lucy, there was more than enough going on to keep her mind occupied without that extra burden. Advanced Astronomy had gone to an uncomfortable place as a result of the once-in-a-century celestial and planetary allignments, most of which involved something that didn't rise until around 2am. While class had been cut to once a week to make up for the loss of sleep, you could still spot professor Sinastra's students by the bags under their eyes, and Lucy was no exception. There was also the disturbing fact that she had yet to hear anything from Diego to keep her up at night as well. Faustas had assured her he was probably prevented from long range communication as a part of the Tibeten healing Temple's restrictions, but Lucy was uncomforted. And now she couldn't even ask Faustas about it anymore since he had left for an extended trip to Istanbul and Cairo, and most likely Peru as well. But she was satisfied that he carried with him a detailed account of his observations of the magical storms as well as Lucy's account of what she had been told, which he promised to deliver to a capable weather mage to ascertain what was going on at the school.
Faustas had also promised to return with more information about the Siberian phenomena. The last Lucy had heard a corps of Maintainers had set out into the wilderness to locate and track the dementors, but that had been weeks ago and she was getting anxious.
A door slammed furiously in the stairwell, jolting Parvati out of her nap. Lavender snapped out of her trance and made a snatch at her crystal ball before it could roll off of the table. Sparks squawked and dove onto Lucy's bed, scattering her star charts all over the floor. Lucy sighed and scratched him under the chin.
Lest she should forget, there was always the Harry-Hermione-and Ron show to watch as well.
"Three...two...one..." Lavender turned her eyes to the door, Lucy kept a firm hold on Sparks, and Parvati covered her ears.
*BANG! The door to the room flew open as Hermione stormed in.
"Aww, come on-" As Ron's voice came from the hallway Hermione's arm shot out for the edge of the door and pulled. At almost the same time three wands came up as Lucy, Parvati, and Lavender shouted "Confuto!"
Hermione raised her eyebrows as the door continued to smoothly swing closed, silently.
Hermione shrugged, threw herself on her bed, and screamed into her pillow.
Parvati's head fell back on her own. "This cannot continue."
"Not if we're ever going to get any work done in the room at any rate."
"We could try the common room again..."
"And be massacred by the O.W.L prep-cult? No thank you, I choose life."
Lucy grinned and began scooping up her charts from the floor. This year's batch of fifth years were hitting the pre-test preparation hard. None of the other Gryffindors had much of a clue why, but Ginny Weasley had said something about a bet with the Slytherins, of which there was apparently a lot riding on. In any case, so as not to let the other side in on what they were doing, the fifth years had abandoned studying in any public room and would descend on the common room en masse just after dinner. Anyone attempting to study during that time would have to dodge misflung spells and attempt to block out the chanting that was the current memorization method. Since Lucy was doing most of her studying in the BA room or Asriel's workroom, the little that she had to do in the tower wasn't impacted much by the O.W.L squad, but she sympathized with ANYONE trying to focus on advanced Divination with all that noise.
THUD THUD THUD, three heads swiveled toward the door. Hermione didn't move, but a slightly muffled, "Go away Ron!" came from under her pillow.
"Lavender, Lucy, somebody let me in."
"She's got all the best hexes Ron, that wouldn't be healthy, for either of us."
"Hermione, this is stupid."
"Oh yeah Ron, that's the way to get her to come 'round."
"Stay out of it Parvati, you always take her side anyway."
"That would be impossible, since none of us has a clue as to what in Merlin's name the three of you are up to. But I'll give you this advice Ronnikins: Move your skinny pale arse away from our door right now, or I'll tell little Eliza Hubbaple that you've been secretly harboring a crush on her for the past few weeks but were too shy to tell her. And I'll advise her the best way to profess her love would be to sing to you in the Great Hall, right before a Quidditch match."
Eliza Hubbaple was a second year who had been making calf eyes at Ron for months, much to his embarrassment. It was more than enough to convince Ron to try to talk to Hermione later.
"Now, Hermione, could you at least give us a-"
"No."
"Well fine, be that way." Parvati flopped back on her bed in a huff. Lucy looked at Lavender and shrugged. Hermione pulled a book off the stack next to her bed and began to read.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Four voice unison: "Go away Harry."
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On Sunday evening a notice was posted in the Gryffindor common room:
"The following students will report to Professor Snape's Office Monday morning at 6 o'clock:
Alessandra Dicus
Nichloas Kornakovitch
Svetlana Kornakovitch
Warren Lane
William Lane
Wesley Lane
Lucille Montero
Karen Su" On Monday morning the eight condemned souls stumbled bleary-eyed into the common room and silently made their way to Snape's office together.
The Potions master, looking far to alert for that unholy hour of the morning, was seated at his desk, his quill moving briskly over a ream of parchment. He looked up at their entrance.
"Oh, there you are," he put down the quill with mild irritation, as if he had been expecting them for hours. He shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk, then turned back and handed them each a small piece of parchment.
"It was decided that, to ensure fairness and eliminate the possibility of favoritism, your service sentances from the Ministry would be overseen by a professor other than your head of house. Since Gryffindor and Slytherin had by far the largest number of offenders, Professor McGonagall and myself only thought it fair to exchange students."
At her left elbow, Lucy felt Alessandra sway, Nicholas helped steady her. Karen had gone pale, and Warren had the same look of quiet unceasing determination that made it difficult to believe he had even heard what Snape had said.
"The rosters before you provide a detailed outline of when and where you are expected to report. Absences are inexcusable unless both Professor McGonagall and the headmaster approve them, and will be reported to your Ministry Liason. In addition, any absences will result in additional time spent with myself or Mr. Filtch in detention. Any questions?"
Svetlana timidly rasied her hand.
"Miss Kornakovitch?"
"Why do some of us have more duties than others?"
Snape smiled. "Some of you have less time than the others. For most non- graduating students the service time will be continued next year, however, those students tragically leaving us at the end of the term have had their schedules adjusted in light of this fact so as to complete their sentence before departure."
Lucy looked down at the schedule. Snape was right, Warren had many more shifts than the others, but then she and Alessandra also had the same load.
"But I'm not graduating professor."
Snape gave her a cool smile, "I'm not surprised Miss Montero, but that is not my problem."
"Why do I have the same assignments as a seventh year?"
"A rather astute suggestion was made by the Minstry that since charity funding to international students has been cut, those students relying on it previously might be unable to return next year, and to ensure completion of sentances we should assign all hours for such students this term. Your schedule has been adjusted to account for this."
Snape surveyed the unhappy group, making no attempt to hide his pleasure. "Well then, if there are no other questions, I will expect to see you promptly at the beginning of your shift, which, for some of you, begins immediately."
Lucy, Warren, and Wesley remained behind as the rest of the Gryffindors returned to bed to catch a few remaining moments of sleep. When the door had closed behind them, Snape returned to his desk.
"Mr. Lane and Miss Montero, there is a list of ingredients that need to be prepared for the first and second years' afternoon classes on the front bench. There are freshly arrived and harvested stocks in the small storeroom, I trust you remember how to sort through those from our time together last year Miss Montero, I'll expect immaculate and full containers in the student supply cupboards of Dungeons A and B before you leave for morning classes. If you do not finish, you may complete the task during lunch.
"Don't think I've forgotten you, young Wesley. After an unfortunate accident a glowing purple film remains on the bench tops in E. It is stubborn, but I have devised a way to eliminate it."
"Scouring spells?"
"Not quite," Snape smiled and held up a toothbrush and three tubes of Magical Merlin's triple action toothpaste. "I'll expect the first four tops to be cleaned before you leave here today. That room won't be used till tomorrow, which will leave ample time for your fellow conspirators to take care of the rest."
The three students looked at each other in a stunned silence. Snape had returned to his papers, and looked up again, as if surprised they were still there.
"It's quite a long list Miss Montero, if you feel like eating lunch at all today I would begin immediately. I'll be checking in periodically."
Because the morning just wouldn't be complete without it, Lucy thought to herself, as she saw the word "testicles" on the list and decided that not eating lunch might not be such a bad idea.