Chapter Eight
Confessions and Concessions
"It's times like these that I'm grateful I don't have a sister," Stock smirked. He was standing by the tiny stained glass window in their dorm room, looking out expectantly.
"Worse, they're in the same house so they can gang up on us," Heph said from where he sat in bed, trying to get his summer homework done. "But I think the most tragic thing of all is what's going to happen on the Pitch. I've never seen anyone fly like her, short of Brittle herself."
"They only have one good player," Aurelius said as he got dressed for bed, stepping in the wardrobe and back out in his pajamas. "We, on the other hand, have seven."
"Except that the one good player they have is a Seeker," Heph pointed out. "And a Snape to boot. Which means Xavier isn't about to let us railroad her."
"Xavier? I won't let us railroad her," Aurelius said with annoyance. "And I don't care if Xavier has himself set on being Seeker, I'm still going to try out for the position, and run so many rings around him that he'll have to let me seek."
"I'd be careful if I were you, Rel, you'd have to be pretty daring to be able to outmaneuver Xavier Platt," Stock said. "His turns are tighter than yours. You could get hurt out there."
"Oh, I'm not going to get hurt," Aurelius said, pulling a heavy chain out as he sat on his bed.
"What's that?" Heph asked curiously, coming to take a better look.
The bronze medallion was perfectly round in shape, its back concave and latticed like a shield. On the front of medallion was the shape of a tiny, blackened head of a woman with a fair but terrible face with hair made of snakes, spread out in every direction like sunrays. Around the outer rim, three other faces were spaced around serpents biting their tails, and engraved on the rim were the words, 'Obscurus vera involvens.'
"An acquaintance gave it to me over the summer," Aurelius explained. "It's supposed to protect me from harm."
"It looks old," Stock said, putting on his glasses for a closer look. "Ever think of having it appraised?"
"No… actually, no one knows I have it, except you two," Aurelius admitted. "And I'd rather keep it that way, if you don't mind."
"Well it looks wicked, it is too bad you have to hide it," Heph said. "Although I seriously doubt that it'd actually truly protect you from harm. Impressive gorgon on it though, it looks almost real. Do you think she comes out and stones anyone who tries to kill you?" he teased.
"Oh, come off it," Aurelius said, pushing him back over towards his bed.
"Do you know this acquaintance well?" Stock asked. "I mean, how do you know it's not cursed or anything?"
"I did cast the Question Intent spell on it, of course, but it didn't show up as either Light or Dark magic," Aurelius said, slipping it back under his shirt thoughtfully. "No, I know it's not cursed. He couldn't have done that because… well, it's complicated, actually," Aurelius said, slipping under the covers.
"Well, nobody ever gave me anything that nice unless they wanted something," Heph said.
"Who gave it to you, Rel? Anyone we know?" Stock asked.
"It's possible," Aurelius admitted, but turned over and wouldn't answer anything more.
Bright and early the next morning, Alicia and her classmates raced outside, most of them too excited to eat breakfast when they had found out that their very first class was going to be Broom Flying 101. Her newly reacquired Starchaser Elite was in her hand as she stepped into the lineup, Madame Brittle looking at it thoughtfully as the other students stepped up beside their school brooms. Morfinn began to cough loudly Apparently on top of his allergies, he had managed to acquire a cold as well, looking nervous as the instructor paced up and down the line.
"Welcome, early birds. I hope the cool air is starting to wake you up," she said, turning to face them. "My name is Madame Brittle, Recreational Instructor and Director of Quidditch at Hogwarts, and I will be attempting to teach you the finer points of how to stay on a broom without damaging anything important…" she said, getting a soft chuckle from the crowd. "I meant school property," she added with a smile that earned another laugh.
"Now, first and foremost, there is one thing that must be made perfectly clear to all so that hopefully we will not have to have this conversation again," she said, pacing the line again. "And that is that as far as I'm concerned, no one… and I do mean no one," she said, glancing straight at Alicia, "knows how to ride a broom. Whatever you've been taught or learned on your own before this is completely inconsequential. You will all learn from the beginning how to call and mount, hover, fly and land, and only after we start on more advanced maneuvers may I decide to consider you capable enough of calling yourself a broom rider. You will do exactly as you are told, you will not work ahead of the class without my permission, and no horseplay will be allowed until you've finished the entire course. Now, if any of you here would like to dispute my claim that you don't know how to ride a broom, you are free to challenge me now without consequence, although I must warn you that no student has ever successfully defended their challenge." As she got to the end of the line again, she turned, looking completely unsurprised to see that one of the students had indeed stepped out of line.
"I had a feeling it'd be you, Miss Snape," Danny said with a thin smile, folding her arms thoughtfully. "You do know the last time a Snape challenged me to one of these that we both ended up in the hospital wing?" she asked, another chuckle going up.
"I'll be more careful, Madame," Alicia said. "But, if you don't mind my saying so, I know that several professors gave me special permission to use my broom this year, and I feel like I should defend that decision."
"Afraid the other students will give you a hard time about it?" Danny murmured to her. Alicia didn't answer, but the expression on her face did it for her. "Very well, Miss Snape," Danny said in a louder tone. "The goal is to run a course through the defending side top ring to the lower challenger's ring then the center, back through the defending lower ring and around the Pitch once. Whoever gets back here first, wins. If you win, I give you a pass mark and you don't have to take this course for the rest of the year. Otherwise, you fall back in line, acknowledge the fact that you can't ride a broom, and," she said pausing for emphasis, "I remand your permission to use your own broom until I, and not the other professors, believe you have earned the right to use it. Do you agree?"
"Yes, Madame Brittle," Alicia said with a firm nod.
"Good. Give her a school broom."
"What?" Alicia said aghast. "But you're on a Starchaser Elite!"
"Every student who has challenged me so far has been on a school broom, Alicia, I'm not about to give you any advantages they didn't have. Now mount up," Danny said. She didn't bring up the fact that in all of the other cases she had switched to a school broom herself, but something was different about this race and she privately admitted to herself that she was going to need an edge.
As several of her classmates whispered and Morfinn sneezed nervously, Alicia pulled her shoulders back, accepting Phoebe's broom and letting Phoebe carry hers while she strode over to Brittle's side. The rest of the students gathered around excitedly, many of them more eager to see Brittle flying as to see if the challenge would pay off.
Danny went over to the Quidditch box then, kicking it open with her foot while gazing past across the field to where Doctor Sagittari was standing with wand in hand, nodding to the instructor. The students gasped then as she let the Bludgers out, but as they flew into the air, Alicia merely looked all the more determined.
"Not too late to change your mind," Danny said cheerfully, mounting up herself.
"I'm ready," Alicia said simply.
"Then watch for the signal," Danny said, nodding to Sagittari. A shower of sparks went up and the two of them suddenly soared across the Pitch, Alicia immediately getting a lead. Caught by surprise, Danny leaned over and pushed into a more serious speed, finally gaining ground as Alicia whipped up to the first ring, easily dodging a Bludger heading that way.
As they made the turn, Danny pushed ahead and started a gentle descent as they crossed the middle of the Pitch, trying to catch sight of Alicia from the corner of her eye, wondering where she went. But as she turned to make sure she was all right, Danny suddenly realized that Alicia was actually above her still at top ring height. Just as they neared the rings, Alicia suddenly spiraled into the tightest and most frightening nose dive Danny had ever seen, spinning so tightly that she passed mere inches inside the lower ring before heading into another spiral underneath the ring to go in the other direction. Danny veered up quickly through, over, and then out, leaping above the Bludgers before using her broom's pure strength of speed over the school broom to catch up in the straight way, just shy of Alicia as Alicia twisted out of the last ring and started around the course, barrel rolling below a Bludger that past just shy of her head. She had her now, Danny realized; that old school broom was not going to be any match for her Starchaser.
But just as a tinge of guilt began to seep in, Alicia took another unexpected move and did another chilling dive, pulling up so close to the ground that she had to pull her feet onto the bristles of the broom to keep them from dragging. Danny, still at stands' level, had been gaping so much that she had to veer wide to keep herself from running into one of the boxes before diving down to meet her. By then it was too late; Alicia had touched down and broke into a run, her housemates breaking into a loud cheer. Danny landed behind her, leaning over and panting in disbelief. As she stood up and gained composure again, she saw Albus Dumbledore standing in the gate behind them, smiling enigmatically.
"Well! What was that last bit all about?" she said when they finally quieted down.
"To be honest, Madame Brittle, I thought you were going to win," Alicia admitted. "And then I realized that when you told me the rules, you didn't specify what height we had to be to go once around the Pitch. So since you had the better broom, I knew the only way I could win was by taking the shortest route."
"It's nice to know you have some brains to go along with that extraordinary talent of yours. I have never, and I do mean never, seen anyone dive with that perfect precision before."
"I think it's my art," Alicia said thoughtfully. "It gives one a sense of perspective."
"Well, one thing's for sure, I think you earned your pass mark, your broom, and your Seeker position today. And on top of that, for your quick thinking, I'm prepared to give you five…ten...fifteen…?" Danny said, watching Dumbledore lifting his hand higher behind her. "Twenty? Very well, twenty points for Hufflepuff." Another cheer went up, and that's when Alicia turned and noticed Dumbledore standing there, clapping with the rest of them. "Now, I'll give you one moment to congratulate her while I talk to the Headmaster, and then the rest of you get back in line… all except Alicia, of course. Dismissed, Seeker."
"Thank you," Alicia said happily, and then went over to talk to her friends. Danny dragged her broom over to Dumbledore, looking a bit sheepish.
"You're going to make me keep the deal, aren't you? About not doing the challenges again once a student beat me?" Danny asked.
"Why else do you think I let you give her so many points?" Dumbledore said with a wink.
It couldn't help but be one of the things they spoke about at lunch after she was inducted into Rose's Willow Club. Alicia couldn't help but be a bit nervous around the gnarled, intimidating looking tree. But the growing sapling following Rose around in its animated pot was rather charming, although it did, Rose warned her, exhibit violent behavior from time to time.
"Not that it can help itself. It's basic survival instinct," Rose had explained to her. "But don't worry, my tree won't attack anyone while I'm around."
"Except for Stock and a few other people I can name," Aurelius said.
"Well, it won't attack anyone I like when I'm around at least," Rose amended. "But the Whomping Willow you need to be careful around. Never go near it at night, and never go near it without me. He can get very temperamental."
"So Alicia, have you had either of our parents' classes yet?" Andrew asked.
"No, but I have Double Potions tomorrow, and then Father the next two days," Alicia said.
"Double potions, ugh," Aurelius winced. "As if one class time with miss 'let's all be nice to each other' isn't enough." Alex grinned at that.
"I dunno. I had her this morning, and she didn't seem all that different to me than what she has been acting like since she got her memories back," Andrew shrugged. "Although she was irritated about the ingredient situation."
"What situation?" Mandria asked curiously.
"Well, a lot of the students hadn't gotten their herbs and stuff before Corey's shop was shut down, so a lot of them made the mistake of going to Sludgebats. I guess the dried Everleaf was so old that a lot of it had rot and powdered the moment anyone touched it, and it smelled ghastly too. Well, she made everyone go through all of their components, and she had to replace nearly half of their ingredients with the school supply," Andrew said. "It took most of the class time, in fact."
"Honestly! I don't think Sludgebat would have been in business as long as he has if he made it a habit to sell inferior goods," Aurelius snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's not just snubbing it because Father and he don't get along."
"I don't think so, Aurelius. She seemed genuinely worried about them being in danger if they tried to use what they had," Andrew said.
"Of course that's what she'd say, now, wouldn't she? Or maybe she's just trying to drum up support for Willowby's Weeds so that the kids will write home to their parents that they need his to pass the class. Therefore, their parents will vote to keep the shop open," Aurelius said. Everyone stopped eating long enough to stare at him.
"You know Aurelius, I have heard you say some pretty nasty things concerning Corey over the years," Alex said, "but I think that is the wildest idea you've come up with to date. In fact, it sounds more like something that Stock would come up with instead of you. You really don't want him to keep his shop, do you?"
"Well, maybe if he didn't have it, our parents would spend less time blathering about him and actually spend some time and money on us for a change," Aurelius said.
"That's an awful thing to say! Mum and Father have always spent as much time as they could with us, and we've never wanted for everything…"
"As much as they could, that's an absolute laugh!" Aurelius snorted at Alicia. "They've never cared about us as much as they cared about those stupid careers of theirs. You know, most of the other kids I know didn't have to spend their entire lives seeing their parents once a week. They actually worked normal jobs that allowed them to come home every night. Don't you see? We're nothing but another feather in their caps. It's always been about them, not us… except Corey! Corey and his 'Mom and Dad' pal bit and his 'whatever you want, I'll do' suck up bit... it makes me sick to my stomach every time I have to witness it. And all the while with Mum going on about how he 'never had the advantages we did growing up!' So go ahead if you like, go ahead and join the 'poor Corey' party. Maybe all of us will get lucky and someone will blow them up so we can get adopted by someone who actually does care!" he snapped, getting up and storming back towards the castle. As he did, the Whomping Willow suddenly came to life, a loose tendril whipping about and slapping him on his backside, sending him sprawling into the mud.
"Fine!" Aurelius growled as he crawled to his feet out of its reach. "I didn't want to be apart of this dumb picnic thing anyhow! Stupid tree! You'll be firewood someday, you know!" he swore, stomping towards his houserooms to get changed.
"Boy, your brother is getting more Slytherin by the day," Mandria said.
"That's not my brother," Alex said somberly. "Has anyone seen Aurelius lately?"
"Not for several weeks," Andrew replied thoughtfully, turning back to his lunch.
Jennifer yawned, watching as Severus put down another set of numbers, staring at the crystal coil glowing brightly in the center of the room.
"Well?" she asked, feigning interest.
"No change, although the amount of positive energy we are getting from our combined spells seems to be slowly decreasing," he murmured.
"Severus," Jennifer chuckled. "I'm tired, and I have an early class tomorrow. I can't possibly stay focused on the experiment right now. It's been a very long first day."
"Focused?" Severus said thoughtfully, glancing at the numbers.
"Besides, I'm not sure how much farther you can get on this experiment using results from just us and the children. You have an entire school now at your disposal, why don't you get some student volunteers? Offer them free points or something," Jennifer suggested. Severus gave her a dirty look.
"I do not give anyone free points," he said almost indignantly.
"You know who else would be good on this combined magic experiment of yours? Anna and Sirius," Jennifer said, standing up.
"Yes, I was thinking about that," Severus admitted, adding his new numbers into the scroll case. "Only I'm not completely certain how accurate it would be. I need not tell you that my sister's magic is hardly conventional by any means."
"And ours is?" Jennifer challenged.
"More than hers at any rate," Severus said.
"Perhaps the twins then," Jennifer suggested.
"If we can keep them out of trouble that long," Severus said acidly. "Did you hear about McGonagall's class?"
"Oh, the changing the word brazier to brassiere thing?" Jennifer grinned. "Poor Juliet."
"Zacchius claimed it was unintentional, Minerva was wise enough not to buy it," Severus said.
"Freudian slip of the tongue?" Jennifer joked.
"Hardly funny. Well, neither of them had better try any of their trickery in my class. I have this rather strong suspicion that those two will attempt something since we're related, thinking they will get away with it."
"I'm sure Andrew's already warned them about what it's like to be a Gryffindor in your… cl... ah… I mean warned him how firm you are with discipline," Jennifer amended quickly, Severus folding his arms. "Equally. To all your students, of course?" she added with an innocent smile.
"I do not discipline one house more than any of the others. I merely judge which ones are inclined to be problem students and keep on them to make sure they do not become a problem in my class."
"Yes, problem students, and it just so happens the majority of them are in Gryffindor," Jennifer said knowingly.
"Well, yes, but I sort them out by attitude, not by house."
"I see," Jennifer said with a nod. Severus drummed his fingers on the table.
"I should know better than to have this sort of conversation with you this late at night."
"You mean when defending yourself might mean you have to sleep in the sitting room?" Jennifer said with a coquettish smile.
"I could play my violin, you know."
"Two words, Severus: Sonorous Shield," Jennifer teased as the two headed upstairs.
"Those beastly little Gryffindors! How I hate them!" Juliet declared at the Slytherin table the next morning. "Especially the Black twins. They think they're so hot because they went to an American school."
"Careful now," Xavier warned, but Aurelius waved it off.
"She is right, my cousins can be a bit cocky sometimes. But it seems to me that considering it's only the second day of school and Gryffindor is running negative on points, I dare think they will sink themselves," Aurelius said.
"Don't take that for granted. Remember the meeting last night," Xavier reminded him. "We will take nothing for granted this year, no matter how far ahead we are in the beginning. We have to prove to the rest of the school and to ourselves that that tie was nothing but a fluke."
"A fluke that occurred because three second years decided to take a constitutional in the Dark Forest," said Jocelyn Farr, Juliet's sister and the new Slytherin prefect. "And it had better not happen this year."
"It won't," Aurelius said firmly. "And to prove to you my sincerity, I'll even help you set the twins up, Juliet."
"Really?" Juliet said.
"Sure, it'll be easy," Aurelius said. "Because I happen to know who they're sitting class with tomorrow."