Anything that's not blatant is
a riddle
Please read and review if you can!
Author's penname: Elixa Amethyst
Voices of the Past Part II
Written March 2002 onwards, pre Order of the Phoenix.
All characters and things you recognise, are © JKRowling, no infringement
intended.
All references to
"mediwizard" mean healer.
Read Part I at ?storyid1672635
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Chapter Eight
Albania for a Holiday?
Timothy announced the news mid morning a couple of weeks later in the kitchen of the windmill. Severus just stared at the wood of the table and then did the same to the neighbour's face. Inside me, my stomach felt as if it had dropped out. It was a very bad feeling.
"Albania?" Severus asked again, a certain amount of disbelief in his voice. Mr North nodded enthusiastically.
"To see the dragons. We've wanted to go for years. Now Susan's no longer a squib, we thought why not?"
"I can tell you why not." Severus said. Timothy frowned.
"Voldemort." Severus and I said firmly together. Timothy waved a hand at us.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, he's not there anymore." Severus and I exchanged worried looks. It was going to take at least a massacre to persuade Timothy otherwise.
The date to leave was in the next few days, and we tried our best to persuade the Norths not to go. It was in vain, as they were stuck on going, especially as the wizard travel agency was doing cheap holidays since the popularity of Albania had reduced considerably since the return of the Dark Lord. They left early one morning before anyone was up, surprising the lot of us. Severus was annoyed beyond belief when he went through the house finding they'd gone.
"Timothy you fool, you'll be a sitting duck for Voldemort."
"Look at this." I said, picking up a letter from one of the drawers of the desk which was open in Mr North's study.
"Elixa!" Severus snapped, annoyed at my prying. His arms were folded and his eyes flashed dangerously.
"No listen, it's from Peterson, about the holiday… he's encouraging them to go…" Severus snatched the parchment with his long fingers and read quickly through it. He uttered a colloquial beneath his breath that he repeated in a louder voice when he finished the letter.
"Albania!" McGonagall's voice was surprised; her head was poking from the fireplace.
"Can I come in?" She asked, rubbing her neck as if had a crick in it. Severus stood back to let her emerge from the fireplace. He then picked up some more powder and threw it into the fire.
"Professor Dumbledore, are you available?" He called in the fire. I took Minerva's cloak from her.
"Sorry, I'd just got in that was all, and it's not particularly the warmest day in Scotland." I just gave a slight smile and went to hang up her cloak. As I was hanging it up, I heard the deep tones of Dumbledore's voice greeting Severus and Minerva. I went back into the room and saw Severus pacing up and down, agitated. Dumbledore was stood by the fire, reading the parchment I'd found in the North family house.
"Peterson, Claude Peterson?" Dumbledore questioned.
"Yes Professor." I told him.
"Good morning Elixa by the way." Dumbledore said, glancing between the letter and me.
"Good morning Professor." I managed to catch Snape's eye, and signalled to the kitchen. He shook his head. I sat down beside Professor McGonagall.
"He's in the potions department, yet he turns up at the celebrations, and he's there in the Leaky Cauldron." Severus told the headmaster. Suddenly I picked up on something.
"He was interested in Kerry, a lot when we were there. The minute I introduced them."
"Have you heard from Miss Alanis in the last few weeks?" Dumbledore asked, his voice grave.
"Once, although I've sent her five owls. She replied about two weeks ago." It struck me suddenly that Kerry hadn't been answering.
"Could I see the letter she sent last please Elixa?" I nodded, and left the room to find it. I had a horrible feeling that Peterson had got to Kerry like Timothy and family, and that if he were to do with Voldemort, we'd be in a very difficult situation. I opened my trunk and sorted through the letters. I might as well take the whole lot of them down, I thought. An owl flew through the open window over my head. I ducked and then looked up. It was an owl I almost dreaded to see, Hedwig, Harry's owl.
"Oh Great Merlin." I said.
Dear Elixa,
I remembered the promise, although you might have thought I had forgotten because you hadn't heard from me, and I haven't heard from you. I did dream about Voldemort last night, Sirius has been trying to get hold of Dumbledore all morning, but he doesn't seem to be around, have you heard from him?
Anyway, I dreamt about Voldemort and Pettigrew, he's alive, but he looks terrible. They were talking about a squib and how they could use them to aid them. I wasn't sure if the squib was male or female, it could be the one that turned magical all of a sudden… weren't you somehow involved in that? Or it could be Filch, he's a squib too, but he keeps it very quiet.
I sent Hedwig straight away hoping you'd be with Dumbledore if I was lucky. If you do see him in the next day, please show him this letter, and make contact.
Yours,
Harry
It was an anxious wait to hear something from Albania. Several Ministry wizards had gone straight there, hunting for the Norths. The family was fine, and Ministry wizards were bringing them home immediately. They weren't too disappointed, having seen a couple of native Albanian dragons.
I didn't hear from Harry again, and all too soon it was the end of July, and Severus was talking about packing.
"Where did the summer go?" I asked, helping him clear the lab upstairs.
"Into this." Severus said, holding a bottle up. Inside was a silver coloured liquid, resembling mercury.
"And what, may I ask is that?"
Severus looked down at me with his unreadable black eyes.
"The nearest I've got to perfecting cat version of wolfsbane." I
looked amazed.
"But surely I don't need that?"
"You might if someone decides to have a cat in Slytherin this year, that likes you." I gave a smile.
"I can see what you mean when they say that no-one else could teach potions if you got the job as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." I told Severus, and got back to clearing up.
