Three weeks later, Hermione was no longer feeling quite so confident. She had combed the library, ploughing through every book she could find on Charms, Transfiguration and Magical Creatures, even going so far as to obtain a note from Professor Malfoy (Harry didn't like to think how) to use the Restricted Section. Not one of the slew of counter-curses she attempted on Harry had any effect.
'It's likely there's a particular spell required to reverse the transformation, as none of the all-purpose counters have worked,' she told Harry and Ron dispiritedly after her latest failure. 'But the only book that even mentioned Aitvarases said they didn't exist. A figment of the Muggle imagination accepted as truth by Baltic warlocks, notorious throughout the wizarding world for their ignorance and credulity ...'
'Aitvarases are real, Dumbledore knows about them,' said Harry. 'He was really upset when he thought Voldemort had left one in Privet Drive.'
'What is an Aitvaras, anyway?' said Hermione. 'Some sort of venomous snake, obviously, but is there anything else magical about it?'
'Not exactly venomous,' said Harry. 'Dumbledore says the people they bite catch fire and burn to death. And when I was an Aitvaras, I could fly.'
'You what?' said Ron, his jaw dropping.
'I flew out of the Snake Basket to Hagrid's house,' said Harry.
'Can you still fly?' said Hermione. 'When you turn into a snake, I mean?'
'Dunno,' said Harry. 'I haven't become a snake since Malfoy enchanted me. I'm supposed to be keeping it secret that I can transform, remember?' he added, at Ron's exasperated look.
Hermione shook her head. 'Baltic warlocks -- there are probably whole books on Aitvarases at Durmstrang. Pity Viktor's left school ...'
Ron made a sour face at the mention of Viktor Krum.
'Easter holidays are coming up,' Hermione went on. 'I could go and have a search in the Magical Collections of the British Library.'
'The British Library has Magical Collections?' said Harry.
'Well, not that Muggles have access to, but I expect Professor McGonagall can get me a pass for the Wizarding Reading Room,' said Hermione. 'It's the only place I'd have a chance of tracking down the spell if not at Hogwarts ...'
The day the students who had gone home for Easter holidays returned to school, Harry and Ron were waiting for Hermione in the Entrance Hall.
'Did you find anything?' said Ron, the instant she stepped through the great oak front doors.
'I didn't find anything in the Magical Collections,' said Hermione. 'But I did run across some very interesting information in the Muggle section of the library!'
She brandished a sheaf of parchment in triumph.
Harry and Ron followed her up to the Gryffindor common room, eager to hear what she'd learnt. Hermione spread the parchment out on a table.
'The Aitvaras takes the form of a fiery flying serpent and goes forth to steal grain, milk and coins for its master,' she read aloud from her notes. 'An Aitvaras may be bought from the devil, at the cost of one's soul.'
'The devil!' said Ron.
He moved away from Harry, looking suddenly wary.
'Oh, Ron, that's pure superstition,' said Hermione. 'Quite a lot of things were blamed on the devil in the Middle Ages that turned out to be perfectly ordinary Dark Magic. The point is, those Muggles must have got hold of a real Aitvaras, as it matches Harry's symptoms. And they had a cure. Should an Aitvaras be driven over the threshold of a church, the power of Satan will fall from it, and it shall be from that day forward a holy serpent, a Zaltys.'
'What's that mean, the power of Satan?' said Harry uneasily.
'It means that the curse can be broken,' said Hermione. 'Don't worry about it, Ron!' (Ron's eyes were nearly popping out of his head with horror) 'Honestly, there's no magical proof that devils even exist. The Department of Mysteries tried every spell they could think of to call one up back in the eighteenth century --'
'They tried to summon the devil?' said Ron, 'Were they out of their minds?'
'They had Aurors with crosses and cauldrons of holy water standing guard in case anything showed up,' said Hermione impatiently, 'but of course nothing ever did, and the few modern wizards who've claimed to be in league with Satan were all proven to be either mad or lying to frighten people.'
'I'm more worried about the power of Voldemort,' said Harry. 'Malfoy got the ring from him. Does that make Malfoy my master?'
'I -- I'm not sure,' said Hermione. 'You haven't been stealing things and giving them to him, have you? It won't matter once we break the curse, that's what I've been trying to explain. If that church was built before 1692, wizards may have helped build it. They'd have put spells on to protect it, and forcing the Aitvaras through those enchantments is what untransformed it --'
'Was the Aitvaras really untransformed?' interrupted Harry. 'You said it changed into another kind of snake -- a Saltis? What are they like?'
'The book didn't say much,' admitted Hermione. 'A Zaltys is supposed to bring good luck, and if they eat from a dish, you'll know the food isn't poisoned.'
'Could come in handy if Snape ever decides to slip me something,' said Harry. 'But will I stop finding the Snitch?'
'They wouldn't call it a holy serpent if it was still stealing,' said Hermione, 'so I don't think it can find gold. You haven't been inside a wizarding church since you became an Aitvaras, have you?'
'I've never been inside a church at all,' said Harry. 'The Dursleys only went for weddings and christenings and things, and they definitely didn't take me.'
Hermione looked shocked.
'You -- er -- you do know who Jesus is?' she said.
Harry rolled his eyes. 'They let me out of the cupboard to go to school. Of course I know who Jesus is. Born in a manger as there was no room at the inn? They said there was no room at the inn,' he added darkly.
Had his own mother turned up pregnant in Privet Drive, there wasn't a doubt in Harry's mind that he himself would have been born in the Dursleys' greenhouse, or more likely a cell in the Little Whinging Police Station.
'Well ... yes ...' said Hermione, sounding a mite dubious. 'Anyway, whatever protections a pre-Separation church had, Hogsmeade Church will have too. We can go there on our next visit to Hogsmeade and get you put right.'
Next Hogsmeade weekend, Ron and Hermione set off down the road to the village. Harry rode along in Hermione's bag as a snake, so as not to risk having someone see him transform. When they reached the church, Ron pushed the door open and Hermione tipped Harry out of the bag. Harry peered inside, gaining a confused impression of many benches forming an aisle to a screen of carved wood, beyond which was a table on a raised platform.
SMACK!
Hermione brought the empty bag walloping down on the stone doorstep at Harry's tail. He shot through the door in fright to take refuge beneath the nearest bench.
'I'd have gone in on my own,' he said peevishly, changing back into himself and crawling from under the bench.
'The book said you had to be driven,' said Hermione. 'Did it work?'
Harry looked around. 'The candlesticks on the table are plate, but there's real gold behind the wall, and food too. That -- thing -- is full of Galleons, there's one more between those stacks of books and you've got two of them in your pocket. No, I'm still an Aitvaras.'
'Accio Galleon,' said Hermione. The Galleon flew from the books into her hand. 'Fallen out of the collection bag, I expect,' she said, dropping it into the coin slot of what resembled a cast iron parking meter (but without the actual meter) to join its fellows. 'I'm sorry, Harry, I was certain this would do the trick. I don't know what else we can try.'
'How about some holy water?' said Ron, pointing to a marble statue of a cauldron on a pillar, which did indeed have water in it.
'Where are the goblets?' said Harry.
'You don't drink holy water,' said Ron, scandalised. 'You dip your fingers in it ... and cross yourself -- here, like this. No, other side first,' he said as Harry imitated him.
Harry waited a while, but his awareness of the presence of gold did not diminish.
'Sorry, no good,' he said to Ron.
'Ah, well,' said Ron. 'It would've been a miracle if it had worked. A real miracle, they'd've had to make you Saint Harry. I mean, Jesus broke curses with mud and water, but I don't reckon anybody else could.'
'Hang on, Jesus was a wizard?' said Harry, laughing. 'I should tell the Dursleys, they'd never set foot in a church again.'
'Course he was a wizard,' said Ron. 'How many Muggles do you know who can change water into wine?'
For some reason, this seemed to annoy Hermione.
'How many wizards do you know who can change water into wine without a wand?' she asked.
'He had a wand, the wise men brought it to him,' said Ron. 'It was made of frankincense and myrrh.'
'I've never heard of Jesus having a wand,' said Hermione sceptically.
'Look in the Bible if you don't believe me!' said Ron.
He stalked up the aisle to a tall stand by the wooden screen, Hermione trailing after him. There was a book on the stand, massive and ancient-looking. Ron flung it open.
'You see? A wand!'
Hermione elbowed Ron unceremoniously aside and began riffling the book's pages. The figures in the stained glass windows all crowded into the nearest pane to watch and the angels painted on the ceiling stopped the tossing game they'd been playing with their halos to gaze down curiously.
Harry, however, was more concerned with the fact that his last chance to keep his position as Seeker was slipping away. For the thousandth time, he tried somehow to shut his gold-seeing Inner Eye, but as always that simply made the Sight keener. He could sense every ounce of gold in the church: the hoard in the back, the potful of Galleons at the door and the numerous smaller specks scattered about in odd corners. These puzzled Harry until it occurred to him to use a Summoning Charm, which collected six unmatched earrings and the front of a locket with the portrait of a pretty but rather timid-looking young witch.
'Incunabula Press!' said Hermione triumphantly.
Harry turned to stare at her.
'Ron, this is a wizarding Bible,' she continued. 'Drawing Jesus with a wand is just artistic licence.'
'What d'you mean, artistic licence?' said Ron.
'Well, look at him,' said Hermione. 'He looks like an Englishman, doesn't he?'
'I suppose you think he should look French,' said Ron sarcastically.
'Don't be silly,' Hermione snapped. 'He was born in the Middle East, he should look like an Arab!'
Ron opened his mouth, to make a withering retort, Harry was sure.
'Hermione!' called Harry loudly.
Ron and Hermione looked up from their argument.
'Does Hogsmeade have a village PC?'
'No, why?' said Hermione.
'I found this lot,' said Harry, holding up the jewellery. 'Reckoned we'd better hand it in to someone.'
'We'll give it to the vicar,' said Hermione. 'Close the Bible, Ron, we shouldn't be quarrelling in a church.'
She swept down the aisle towards Harry. Ron slammed the book shut, so roughly that had it been one of Madam Pince's books, it would have started beating him about the head.
'If he was an Arab,' he snarled under his breath, 'he was a wizarding Arab.'
Hermione led them round to the vicarage. She told the vicar, a dumpy witch in faded brown robes, that they'd discovered the earrings whilst making brass rubbings. The vicar did not question this story, merely thanking them in an absent-minded voice as she squinted near-sightedly at the picture in the locket.
Ron was in a thoroughly bad mood as they made their way back to Hogwarts, muttering things like 'load of Muggle rubbish' and 'an Arab, I ask you'.
'And I'd like to know,' he rounded on Hermione, 'exactly what's so lucky about a snake that can't find jewellery and Galleons?'
Harry was expecting Hermione to bite Ron's head off, but instead she looked thoughtful. A few paces further along, she stooped to pull up a dandelion that was growing on the edge of the street.
'Can I eat this?' she asked Harry abruptly.
'Eat it?' said Harry. 'It's a dandelion!'
'You can detect food as well as gold, can't you?' said Hermione. 'Is this food?'
'Oh ... oh, yeah, it is,' said Harry.
As they were walking by a hedge on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, Hermione reached over and broke off a piece of vine with tiny, greenish-white flowers.
'How about this?' she said.
Before Harry realised what he was doing, he had slapped it out of her hand.
'That's not food,' he told her flatly.
'It's white bryony,' said Hermione. 'Poisonous, except in very small doses.'
Immediately they arrived at the castle, Hermione went off to the library. Harry and Ron returned to Gryffindor Tower to break the news to Ginny that she was their new Seeker.
'At least we know you're not possessed,' said Ron, as they climbed through the portrait hole. 'The holy water would've scalded you.'
'Nice of you to have warned me!' said Harry.
'I'll rearrange the Weasley Welter to take advantage of your sharp dives,' said Ron, ignoring him. 'Look at it this way, you've been a Slytherin Chaser all year in practice. Now you'll be punching a Quaffle for the right house.'
Ginny was far from gruntled at being put off the Chasing Squad, but Ron promised it was only for one match.
'Next season we'll train a replacement Seeker and you can have Katie's position,' he assured her -- which still left Harry facing a Snitchless future.
As if that wasn't bad enough, he received an unpleasant shock on Monday afternoon when he spotted the vicar stumping up the marble staircase. It was the first time Harry had ever seen her at Hogwarts. That she should make an appearance a mere two days after his visit to Hogsmeade Church struck him as a rather sinister coincidence. Had she somehow guessed what they'd been up to? Could one of the stained glass saints or painted angels have tipped her off to the odd goings-on in the church?
Harry was torn between fear and a strange sort of hopefulness. If the vicar went to Dumbledore with her suspicions, he, Harry, would have a lot of explaining to do. On the other hand, Dumbledore just might know the right spell to break the Curse of the Aitvaras. Gryffindor would no doubt forfeit this year's tournament; Ron would be devastated ... but Harry would be allowed to play Seeker again.
Moving as silently as he could, Harry nipped up the stairs behind the vicar. She headed down the corridor to the staff room, knocked on the door and entered. Unable to follow her inside, Harry lurked beside a suit of armour. After several minutes, the door opened once more and the vicar came out -- accompanied by Professor Snape.
'... must be getting back to the vicarage,' she was saying to him. 'Good I managed to locate you so quickly.'
'Yes ... thank you,' said Snape in a distracted tone, sounding quite unlike his usual self.
He was gazing intently at something in the palm of his hand -- something, Harry registered, that was made of gold. So wrapped up was Snape in his contemplation of the mysterious object that he walked past Harry without even noticing him, to Harry's not inconsiderable relief. Harry waited until Snape had rounded the corner before going after him, keeping the Potions master out of sight, using his Aitvaras power to track the gold.
'What's that you've got there, Severus?' Professor McGonagall's voice floated up the passage.
Harry paused to listen.
'A portrait of my mother,' said Snape. 'The vicar just brought it. It was -- lost to me -- many years ago, when I was a student at Hogwarts.'
'And it's turned up after all this time?' said Professor McGonagall. 'That was a bit of luck.'
'Yes,' said Snape, 'wasn't it?'
Author's Note:
Questions from reader reviews will be answered in my LiveJournal; I'll do the first batch from this fic about a week from now. You can find a link to my LiveJournal on my Author Page; it appears in the "homepage" field. Chapter 3 of "The Curse of the Aitvaras" should be ready around the end of August.
Disclaimer: All characters and concepts from the Harry Potter series copyright J K Rowling.