Chapter Ten

Alicia and the Paintings of Hogwarts

She had been on her way to her houserooms when Zoë caught up with her, waiting for the staircase to come down to the landing, still sobbing uncontrollably when Zoë put her hand on her shoulder.

"Alicia? Are you all right?" Zoë asked, feeling a bit stupid for asking.

"He was right, you know. Aurelius, I mean. They don't care about us at all," Alicia said miserably.

"Oh, come on, Alicia. Parents can't help but go ballistic now and again," Zoë sighed.

"No, Mum I can understand, but not Father! He's always been firm but he's never gone off the bend. I want to go home. I want to go back to Stoddard. I hate this horrible school!" Alicia declared. Frustrated and not wanting to wait for the stairs any longer, Alicia turned to face the painting of a dove and jumped into it, disappearing from the frame and into the one next to it, running out of view.

"Alicia! No, come back!" Zoë said in a panic, staring in horror at the hundreds of paintings in the stairwell. "Oh, great, how am I going to find her in this?" Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she disappeared.

Alicia took each frame with a destination in mind. She wanted to just go home, back to the Broom Closet. But every time she tried to jump into the darkness between the paintings, she merely arrived at the next painting, growling in frustration while the portraits looked at her with surprise and concern.

"It won't do any good, you know," she heard a man's voice say from around her. "I made sure of that. Haven't you ever heard of closed circuit T.V.?"

"What do you mean you made sure of that? Who are you?" Alicia demanded, stepping into what appeared to be a painting of an inn where a witch and two wizards posed for a picture. Alicia was staring at one of the wizards, realizing it was a red bearded Dumbledore, but he didn't speak, merely looked at her with concern.

"Just follow the sound of my voice," the wizard said. Alicia's tears had abated now, her curiosity so great that she had momentarily forgotten feeling sorry for herself. A moment later, she found herself stepping into a room filled with paintings and trophy cases. She studied the painting she was standing in, which portrayed a gathering of ghosts, paintings, and students that seemed to be sitting down to have tea and cakes together; the students sitting near the bottom of the painting, while above a door frame, two paintings sat with a ghostly table by their side. The ghosts hovered nearby, and they were all chatting merrily like old friends. It was at that point that Alicia began to recognize the students in the painting.

"Corey? Essie?" she asked softly, the two of them waving at her. "Doug? Taylor? Madame Brittle?" Alicia was in so much shock that she didn't even notice that she had fallen out of the painting and was standing in the Trophy Room, looking at it.

"I'm Danny!" the young girl protested. Beside her, Taylor, who seemed quite thin and lanky compared to now, blushed profusely.

"I'm sorry, Danny. And Professor Ravenclaw, that's you, isn't it, and you're Janus Craw!" Alicia said with amazement. "What are you all doing here? Why, this is one of Mr. Pyther's paintings! And I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you."

"That's my best friend, Angela," Essie explained. "And that's Dame Rachel, the Grey Lady." Icarus smiled, putting an arm around the ghostly woman.

"But where's the man?" Alicia asked in confusion.

"What man?" Corey asked.

"The one I heard out in the stairwell. The one that led me to this painting."

"Oh, him. He comes and goes," Corey shrugged. "Isn't that right, Professor?"

"Oh yes, how true you are, Corey," said a woman's voice. But Alicia blinked, for the voice didn't only come from the painting she was looking at, but also from somewhere behind her. She turned in surprise, staring up above the door where a sleepy, pleasant looking older woman in gold robes sat, pardoning herself for yawning before breaking into a warm smile.

"Who are you?" Alicia asked.

"Alicia," Corey said, standing up by his chair with a rather cocky bow, "May I introduce to you the Portrait of Caprica Dusthorn, first appointed Headmaster of Hogwarts and one of my best friends in all the world."

"Hey, what about us?" Doug protested.

"Well you all are too, of course," Corey said. "Especially after all we've been through."

"It is good to meet you, Alicia, and welcome to Hogwarts," Caprica smiled. "Goodness, is it just me or have you found your way into trouble already? And I thought I was the only Hufflepuff who got into that much mischief."

"I… I got into a fight in the middle of Father's… Professor Snape's I mean… class," Alicia said miserably, sitting down in a chair.

"Wow, already? Good show!" Corey said with a grin. "Who'd you get in a fight with, a Slytherin?"

"No, my cousin Zoë," Alicia said miserably. "She called Father… she said… well, he was, really. Oh, Corey, I don't just don't understand how Father can be such an absolute beast in the classroom! In fact, he's the worst teacher I've ever had in my life!"

"No, you're wrong about that one, Alicia," Corey said, shaking his head. "He is by far the best teacher in this school. You just have to understand Snape."

"Come on, Corey. I mean, you know he ended up my favorite teacher as well," Essie interjected, "but you also know what an old dragon he can be."

"He is the best teacher in the school, but he could use some toning down," Taylor agreed.

"Well, I'm not sure it'd be possible for him to tone it down," Danny put in. "Don't you realize what would happen to him in our house if he did?"

"Danny, as I understand it, now isn't like it was when we went to school," Essie said. "It's not like they live in the shadow of Voldemort's death anymore. Those Death Eaters' kids have all grown up."

"What, you don't think those kids aren't now teaching their kids those same values?" Danny argued.

"I think you're all crazy," Doug put in. "Snape did nothing but make our lives miserable for seven years."

"You git, you mean five years, when this painting was made. You didn't have to live through all seven," Corey snorted.

"Yes, but I bet we did," Doug said.

"I just don't understand how any of you can sit there and tell me you think he's one of the best teachers in the school," Alicia said. "It was horrible! And I'm not going back in there again, ever!"

"You have to if you're going to graduate," Danny pointed out.

"I don't care. I don't need this school! I'm going to be a painter, and I already know how to do that, and what I don't know, Mr. Pyther will show me," Alicia said.

"You know it's funny seeing you in here like this," Corey said, picking up a piece of cake thoughtfully. "You were born the year we were painted, do you know that? You were so sick. In fact, everyone says that if Doctor Linde hadn't been here, you might have even died. And then after all that, your name didn't appear into the book until much later."

"Name? Book?" Alicia asked.

"Yes, nobody was sure that you were going to be magic. In fact, I think that nearly everyone was convinced you wouldn't be. But Mom, she was just happy you were alive, and so was Dad. Despite all the problems it might have caused, none of us would have loved you any less," Corey said sincerely. "But then you must have discovered the paintings, and now here you are at Hogwarts with magic to match anyone. Even if you don't understand or like Dad's way of doing things, one bad teacher isn't worth wrecking your future for. And maybe it's true that you don't necessarily need the book part of school to be successful painter, but believe me when I say that Hogwarts is probably going to teach you more out of the classroom than in it. And so will Dad, for that matter," Corey added. "Whose turn is it to pour out?"

"Alicia," Caprica said from above, and she looked up at her thoughtfully. "Would it help if you had someone else to talk to? I'm a very good listener, and a very good secret keeper. You can come here any time you like, well, short of disrupting your class schedule, and I'll introduce someone else to you in case you think coming in here would be too conspicuous. In the meantime, perhaps you can help me fill in some blanks as to what's been going on here in the last decade or so. What say you, shall we be friends?"

"Here we go again," Danny grinned. Everyone in the painting began to chuckle knowingly.

Zoë had beaten the Owl from Hogwarts by mere seconds, explaining as quickly as she could about what had happened to her parents.

"I can't believe the two of you have gone this far already!" Anna told her angrily, reading the note as she put on her jacket.

"I can't believe Severus has gone this far already," Sirius added, earning a dirty look from his wife. "I told you it was a matter of time before he started taking it out on them."

"Sirius, according to McGonagall, it was hardly unwarranted."

"I don't care what these demons did to him. I don't want him yelling at our kids like that. You know how he gets!" Sirius said irritably.

"Well right now what's important is finding Alicia. Why didn't you go get your Aunt Jennifer?" Anna asked, putting on her jacket.

"Well after that Dr. Jekyll - Mr. Hyde episode, I wasn't sure who to trust anymore," Zoe admitted. "I hope Dumbledore doesn't get too mad about me breaking our promise about the Apparation thing."

"As long as no one saw you. You know that's not supposed to be possible, fairy blood or not," Anna said. "You did a good thing coming to us. But let's get you back… the normal way, if you don't mind."

Once they made their way into the castle, Anna and Zoë took to the halls to look for Alicia. But Sirius went straight up to McGonagall's office and knocked on the door, ready for a confrontation. Minerva waved the door open with surprise, Zacchius looking up from the chair he was sitting on in front of the desk, immediately paling.

"Goodness, you got here fast. I was expecting an owl, actually," Minerva admitted.

"I'm not here about Zack, Minerva. Call Severus up here now," Sirius demanded.

"Very well, but I do think you're overreacting," Minerva said, glancing over at a painting who immediately disappeared in response.

"Then you must not have heard yet what happened after Zack got dropped off, like the fact that Zoë and Alicia got into a brawl while Severus was gone and turned the class upside down and upset his familiar in the process."

"Oh, goodness," Minerva said, standing up.

"Yes, and how exactly do you think dear Professor Snape would have reacted coming into a situation like that?" Sirius snapped.

"Sirius, I'm sure he did only what he felt was necessary to handle the situation and get the classroom back in order," Minerva said firmly.

"Oh yes, what he felt, you know what that means, Minerva. He blew up, of course, and because of it his daughter ran right into a painting and is who knows where by now!"

"Oh dear, that poor girl. I'll have someone go find her at once," Minerva said.

"Anna and Zoë are already looking for her," Sirius sighed, hearing a knock on the door. He immediately turned around and opened it to see Severus standing there. "Congratulations, Severus. Just when I think you can't sink any lower, you dig another basement."

"I thought a heard a familiar howl coming down the hall," Severus replied, nodding to Minerva as he strode in. Minerva quickly shut the door with a wave of her wand.

"Your children, Mr. Black, did everything in their power today to disrupt my classroom. Now why do you suppose did they do that?" Severus asked. Sirius looked at him disbelief.

"Maybe the fact that their teacher is a complete jerk has something to do with it?"

"Your son had a crude picture stuffed in his Defense book marked, 'Uncle Snivellus' on flaming joke paper. Now exactly where, do you imagine, might he have possibly heard that name?" Severus snarled.

"Dad, I didn't draw it," Zack put in quickly.

"Either way, there are only two who would have done it. Now where did they hear that name?" Severus snapped.

"I don't know, Snivellus, maybe it's so obvious they just happened to figure it out," Sirius said.

"Why you…"

"Severus! He's a parent!" Minerva warned him quickly, Severus clutching his fists.

"A parent using his children to intentionally instigate an old grievance!" Severus snapped.

"He believes it!" Sirius said, laughing incredulously. "Good God, listen to him! He actually believes what he's saying! Zoë's right, you are a jackass."

"Severus!" Minerva barked again in warning.

"Sirius!" Anna shouted. "What have I told you about doing this in front of the children?"

The two of them looked up to see Anna and Dumbledore standing at the door, Zoë and Jennifer standing right behind them, looking in curiously.

"They should see that someone's willing to defend them," Sirius said stubbornly.

"Minerva, perhaps you had better escort Zacchius and Zoë back to my office until their parents are ready to speak to them," Dumbledore advised. "Severus, do you know where Alicia is? I wasn't able to find her from my office."

"What do you mean you weren't able to find her?" Severus said in alarm, pulling out his watch. "She's in the Trophy Room." Jennifer immediately turned and hurried towards the stairs, deftly hopping over a rail to one of the staircases moving just below her to make sure she got there before Alicia decided to move.

"Now, perhaps we ought to sit down and talk this over, shall we?" Dumbledore said calmly. "We'll start by talking about class discipline and what a teacher can and cannot do to keep it."

Severus smiled thinly in triumph. He had heard this speech in reference to his teaching style before, and knew that Sirius would be anything but happy.

Jennifer hurried over to the Trophy Room, several paintings greeting her as she passed them. She peered in to find Alicia sitting in a chair with her legs drawn up, looking at her mother as if she had expected her.

"There you are," Jennifer said with a sigh stepping in. She quickly glanced over her shoulder at Dusthorn, but the old Headmaster was snoring softly. "Trying to find a quiet place to think?"

"Actually, I was talking to the painting of Corey and his friends," Alicia admitted. Jennifer glanced over at it to see everyone in the painting waving at her. "There really aren't many quiet places for me in this castle."

"No, I would suppose not," Jennifer said, sitting down and moving a photo on the end table to the side so that she could see her daughter better, ignoring the protest of the Quidditch player within it. "I heard you had a rough first day in Defense class," Jennifer said. Alicia nodded slowly. "Fighting with Zoë, too, that's not like you. You and the twins have always been so close since you were… well, since before you were born, actually," she chuckled. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Alicia murmured.

"Does it have anything to do with the way Professor Snape teaches class?" Jennifer asked, Alicia grimacing slightly. "If it's any consolation, it took your sister and brothers a while to get used to it too."

"Used to it? Mum, he's a positively horrible teacher!"

"No, he's not. He's actually a very good teacher for those who care to listen," Jennifer said firmly. "But he won't tolerate disobedience in his class, not even the smallest amount. If there's one trait of your father's that I think many may not always appreciate, it's that he does not like to be out of control over any situation, and he will do whatever it takes to regain it."

"But Mum, he doesn't act like this at home… like when he's teaching us forms or when we're taking lessons in the potion lab."

"Well, he's comfortable with the four of you. He knows what to expect and trusts you to do what you're told. Although it's not all about trust, it's a bit more complicated than that, because some of the students… well, I'll not get into to that. Suffice it to say there are reasons he teaches the way he does," Jennifer sighed.

"All of the same, I think if he just taught his class the way he taught us at home, I think we'd all be a lot better for it. I don't like being known as the daughter of one of the most hated teachers in school." Alicia murmured, Jennifer rubbing her daughter's back.

"I always thought it was rather fun myself," the painting of Corey said. The rest of the students in the picture gave him a dirty look.