Chapter Seventeen
Severus Disarmed
Alicia always dreaded the end of the week and her least favorite class, Defense, but at least Zoë was going again. She had been skipping class regularly, showing up only for tests and acing them so completely that it seemed to infuriate Snape, who began giving them pop quizzes at the beginning of each class she didn't attend. She started coming back then, only to step up and walk out of the room when she was done, until at last he began holding the pop quizzes at the end of each class and Zoë reluctantly returned. He had sent notes home, of course, but no Howlers came back, only short replies that Severus crumpled up angrily every time he received one. Zoë had decided that she had proved to both herself and him that she didn't need the class, but had no intention of letting her marks slip because he was being 'snotty' about it.
They were due for another test, so Alicia knew better than to open her books when she took her seat, putting it underneath obediently with her hands on her desk, listening to Zoë and Zack whisper but carefully not answering except for a simple shake or nod of the head. The rest of the class did the same, although Alicia noticed that quite a few of the Gryffindors were hissing at the twins to be quiet or giving them dirty looks. They had just gotten their points thirty into the positive; the first time all year, in fact, and they certainly didn't need them tanked again. Alicia, however, tried to concentrate on her list of basic fear countercurses, going over them in her head to make sure she remembered them all.
That was when she noticed something move under Snape's desk. She tilted her head curiously as the object rocked back and forth, and decided it looked like a small iron egg. Still, she was hardly going to move and check it out. Snape was going to be storming down on them any minute, and she knew quite well what would happen if he found her out of her seat.
"Do you see that?" Zack said out loud, the rest of the class looking curiously over and following his eyes under the desk. "I wonder what the hell that is?"
Just then there was the sound of a loud crash as one of the large windows in the back suddenly shattered and a bird just over three feet high burst in. It was like no bird Alicia had ever seen before. Its huge brass wings flapped menacingly where it stood below the window, with a body that looked to be made almost completely of iron except for its long crane-like brass beak and razor talons. Its flaming eyes stared at the class menacingly and it let out a shriek that sent quite a few of the students to the back of the room. But before anyone could question what was happening, the bird suddenly took to the air again, diving straight for the desk with such strength that it smashed it to bits. Wood and glass flew everywhere and Alicia ducked with her arms over her head to avoid it, not moving from her seat despite the fact that the lantern on the desk had come crashing to the floor, igniting its own oil.
"Alicia! Move, you idiot!" Zoë said as she and Zack took out their wands to try and put out the flames. Meanwhile, the angry bird was busy smashing anything it could find, and Alicia wondered how long it was going to take it to finally turn on them instead. Not long, she realized, as Zoë and Zack began trying to petrify it with their spells. But the spells seemed to have no effect, and as it came towards them, they began to run. The bird wasn't about to chase them when it had a closer target to worry about. For the egg had somehow managed to keep from being destroyed by the falling debris and had tottered incredibly close to Alicia's feet.
"Maybe Alicia's frightened or something," Morfinn said, ducking behind the door as the bird began smashing the student desks in her way.
"She's going to be dead or something!" Zack snapped, contemplating tackling her. Just then, a huge lizard climbed onto Alicia's desk, and the twins had no choice but to back away as Rasputin took charge, bravely barreling into the path of the oncoming bird. "Back up, back up!"
"We can't just leave her there!" Zoë said. "Alicia for god's sake, doodle or something!"
"Doodle?" Morfinn sneezed. "What sort of advice is that?"
Zack had gotten to his belly and had begun to crawl towards her despite the ferocious battle going on as Rasputin tried to pin the bird's wings. But as fiercely as he fought, Rasputin was no match for the bird. Even though Rasputin's eye patch had torn away and he snapped at its beak to get it to look it in her eyes, the bird remained unaffected, pecking deep in the lizard's thick skin. Suddenly the bird paused as it noticed Zack by Alicia's feet. It tossed the basilisk aside with its strong talons as Zack snatched up the egg and volleyed it across the room.
Quickly the bird took off after it, catching her egg in mid-air and setting it down on the far side of the room before turning and screeching furiously at Zack. He stepped away from Alicia and held his wand out, ready for anything. Rasputin, somehow managing to pull himself out of the debris, leapt at the bird before it could attack, attempting to knock it out of the air. But in the heat of the struggle, the room became filled with clam-like bronze disks, clapping against each other with such loud and alarming sounds that Zack groaned and fell to the ground, clutching his ears.
The bird suddenly pulled up, screeching pitifully before turning around, flying out of the broken window at full speed as it tried desperately to get away from the sound. Rasputin chased after her, managing to grip its talon in his jaw. Unable to retrieve the egg, the bird soared out with the basilisk still dangling from her leg.
Zack exhaled with relief as the castanets abruptly faded. Severus desperately tossed away debris and scrambled over at Alicia, She was sitting at her desk with sweat beading on her forehead, apparently injured. His terror at the scene he had witnessed had quickly been replaced by anger.
"What is the matter with you? Are you stuck to your chair? What happened? Speak, Miss Snape!" Severus snapped.
"I'm fine, sir," Alicia said softly.
"Fine? What do you mean fine? That was a Stymphalian, a flesh-eating warbird! It could have torn you to shreds!" Severus informed her.
"Yeah, and me along with you!" Zack added.
"I'll handle this if you don't mind, Black," Severus snapped. "Now, answer me, Miss Snape!"
"Didn't you tell us, sir, that at the beginning of every class, we were to remain in our seats and quiet no matter what happened?" Alicia asked evenly. Severus stared at her in disbelief.
"This was hardly a demonstration! You could not possibly have been so foolish as to think for one moment that this was a planned event! You could have been killed!"he said.
"I know, sir," Alicia said evenly. "But at least then I wouldn't have heard you yelling at me again."
Severus stood straight up as if he had been slapped, completely taken aback, staring at her with such intense horror in his face that Alicia slowly got up. She walked out of the room, the rest of the students looking sympathetically after her.
"God, I hate this school," Zoë declared, running after her.
"Professor Snape, the basilisk… I think he was hurt…" Morfinn put in nervously. Forcing himself into action, Snape hurried over to the window, hissing loudly, staring in horror at a trail of blood leading from the window and out of it, disappearing at the edge of the lake. There was no sign of the basilisk.
"Rasputin…" Zack murmured, taking a step closer in sudden remorse.
"Rasputin can take care of himself. Class dismissed," Severus snapped.
Word of the accident spread at lightning speed and hit Jennifer's ears just as she dismissed her class, dashing up the stairs just as Severus came out of the Defense room and locked it.
"Severus?" Jennifer said, as he began down the hall, but he waved her away, having no desire at all to speak to her at that moment. Worriedly she followed behind him to the main stairwell, watching as all the staircases began to move in front of him and she sighed, knowing there could be no doubt to where he was going now. Leaning against the archway, she began wondering where Alicia went.
Dumbledore stared at his appointment book and what had just been written with wonder, contemplating its meaning as he waved open the doors. Within a minute Severus appeared, the doors closing behind him the moment he stepped up to the desk with an expression on his face that Dumbledore had seldom seen.
"Yes, Severus?" he asked quietly.
"I can't do this any more. In fact, I don't think I can even stand another day of it. So forgive me for not giving notice, but I am tendering my resignation as a teacher of this school," Severus said firmly.
"Oh really?" Dumbledore said, sounding a bit curious but not in the least bit surprised. "And why would you want to do that?"
"A student in my class was nearly killed today because of my instruction." Dumbledore looked at him with alarm. "A Stymphalian egg somehow got in my classroom. The mother came to defend it. The student in question refused to move despite its proximity because of rules I had previously set in the classroom."
"I see. Which of your children was it, Severus?" he asked gently. Severus looked up, slightly surprised in spite of himself. "Well, they are some of a very small number of students in this school that would have the sort of nerve it would take to sit there with such a thing going on, and considering also the amount of faith in you it would take to do so, I'd say it would have to have been one of the younger two. Going further, it was probably Alicia, for only she of the four, I think, would be able to disarm you this completely."
"Sir, I am really not in the mood for this sort of analysis. If you don't mind, I'd rather just pack my things and get out of your way," Severus said.
"Yes, well, I'm sorry, Severus, but I just can't spare you at the moment. Request denied," Dumbledore said evenly, turning back to his paperwork.
"This was hardly a request! I'm leaving whether you want me to or not," Severus snapped. "I have nothing left to give at this school, not that what I gave was ever truly wanted. People have trying to get me to leave for years. The students shall be cheering when I walk out those doors and you know it!"
"Perhaps, Severus, but I don't think it's the school you're running away from so much as you're trying to run away from your family, and I'm not about to let you do something that foolish, am I?" Dumbledore said. "Let's be selfish for a moment and pretend that whether or not the school needs you or not doesn't make a difference to you, shall we? Consider then, that right now your wife and four children are here at Hogwarts and are most likely to remain here if you go. Ciardoth is on the loose, and despite our attempts to detect her, we cannot keep her from coming here at will. You would no longer have any way of finding out what your wife and children are doing if you were to leave."
"Not entirely true, I have the ring," Severus said, rubbing his wedding ring, which was right now grey with Jennifer's worry.
"Tell me, Severus, has there been any true color in that ring since the Broom Closet was destroyed?" Dumbledore asked. Severus paused, and then shook his head slowly. "Jennifer may try to hide her depression from the rest of the world, but she certainly can't hide it from you or I, or Minerva for that matter. Alex is bound to be heading for trouble; you know in some ways she feels that she's personally involved in the fight against Ciardoth because of what happened her first year. She's not likely to stay out of it. Andrew is on the very brink of deciding whether or not to truly trust you, while Alicia doesn't know who to trust at all.
"And then there is Aurelius, Severus. I know you have seen the same troubling changes in him that I have. The boy who was once the most loyal of all is now telling on those he once protected to get them into trouble, blaming victims for their misfortune, and using anger to shut himself away from the world. Sixty-five years ago, I saw those same changes come over a boy who was just as brilliant, feeling just as betrayed… and I don't think I need tell you that it did not end well. If you do not stay for any other reason, Severus, you must stay for this one. He is on the brink of choices that will affect the rest of his life, and unless the two of you stand behind him, he will be just as doomed as the one that had no parents at all. More than any Slytherin that's come before him, even more than Draco, even more than Danny, he is going to need Professor Snape here doing what he does best. Tell me, then, can you truly turn your back on that?"
Severus didn't say anything for a moment, looking tired and grey and feeling rather old and battered as he nodded slightly in acceptance.
"I should go see if I can find Rasputin," he said softly.
"Let me come with you," Dumbledore said, getting up. "But you know, perhaps you should consider taking the weekend off, and even Monday as well. You deserve a bit of a break I think."
"No, you're right, Professor, my duties are here," Severus said in a soft voice as they left. Behind them, the appointment book suddenly made a scratching sound as it marked off the entry; attempted resignation by Professor Snape.
It wasn't long before the children were out searching the grounds as well, looking behind every bush; Alex, Mandria, and Rose on one team while Aurelius, Andrew and Halbert took the other. Aurelius hissed loudly, trying to get a response and sending his own familiar out to look for him.
"I can't believe it." Halbert said. "A real Stymphalian bird! Positively frightening!"
"What are they?" Andrew asked.
"Birds of iron and brass from the Stymphalian swamp in Greece. They're very rare meat eaters, and they like human meat most of all. If it wasn't for Rasputin, It's quite possible that both Zack and Alicia would have been lunch," Halbert said. "Andrew, to be perfectly honest, I don't think we'll ever find Rasputin. Not by any recognizable remains at any rate."
"Don't say that! Rasputin is too smart to be eaten," Andrew said.
"Smart? There's nothing smart about that lizard. There never was!" Aurelius said. "All he cares about is how much food he can fit in his stomach. Just like you, actually."
"Rel, he saved our sister's life," Andrew said quietly.
"He shouldn't have had to. She should have been smart enough to get up!" Aurelius snapped angrily. "If anything happened to that lizard, it's because she decided to pull a bravado stunt. She wouldn't have been in any danger if she had moved!" Aurelius snapped. Andrew eyed his brother thoughtfully.
"Is there something about what happened today you want to tell us about, Aurelius?" Andrew asked.
"I'm just saying that you shouldn't make Rasputin out to be a hero just because our sister decided to be stupid, that's all. Come on, he's got to be around here somewhere," he said, hissing his name again worriedly. Instead of a hiss, Aurelius heard his name called, and Alex and the girls ran over to them. "Did you find him?"
"No, he wasn't on the back grounds," Alex panted, "But there's something we overheard that I've got to tell you, Rel. It's about Ciardoth."
"Ciardoth?" Andrew repeated in a hushed tone.
"You know yesterday when your class had that accident in the lab? Well, apparently it really was a distraction, as I suspected. I heard Professor Weasley talking about it to Mr. Filch. Apparently… apparently Ciardoth stole Dagda's Cauldron out of Mum's office," Alex said in a low voice.
"Dagda's Cauldron? The real Dagda's Cauldron? The one with endless porridge?" Halbert asked curiously.
"Well, it can do a bit more than that," Alex nodded. "In fact, they were talking about what measures they need to take to make sure she doesn't use it to poison our water supply. She could take out the entire castle with that thing!"
"Are you sure it's Ciardoth that has it?" Andrew asked.
"Alicia might know. There are paintings in Mum's office that might have seen something," Alex said. "Where is she?"
"My guess would be the Trophy Room again," Andrew said, turning to go back inside. "You know, it's too bad there aren't any regular paintings in the lab or the Defense Room. Maybe we could find out who's helping Ciardoth."
"No one's helping Ciardoth!" Aurelius said. "Don't you know a coincidence when you see one?"
"Yes I do, Aurelius," Alex said. "And I can tell you for a fact that this isn't one."
Aurelius finally gave his siblings the slip, heading back to his houserooms. How had things gotten this out of hand? The egg had been meant to cause his father trouble, and instead it nearly got his sister killed. And now Rasputin was missing, perhaps lost forever along with conversations about mice and… mice. Oh, what was he thinking, he was only a stupid lizard, so what if he's dead? But the Cauldron gone… and Ciardoth to blame… did that mean what he thought it meant? He pulled out a piece of parchment and began to write. But when he got halfway through he stared at it and crumpled it, throwing it into the fire and then collapsing on his bed. He was going to have to be more careful if he wanted to maintain his control.
As the rest of the children returned to their rooms and the went staff back to their duties, Severus, Jennifer, and Dumbledore went to the Defense Room to assess the damage.
"We're so very lucky that none of the students got hurt," Jennifer said after she picked up a schoolbook under one of the shattered desks and read the name. "These could have been grave markers."
"How could anyone have gotten a hold of one of those eggs? Stymphalian are man-eaters, warbirds, supposedly even pets of Aries. Not to mention an endangered species protected by the Grecian Wizard Forum," Severus said with frustration.
"Um, Severus? Albus?" Jennifer said, standing at a pile of debris near the window and slowly backing up as the iron egg began to wobble violently. "I think Momma forgot to come back for this."
"I do believe it's going to hatch," Dumbledore said. "Jennifer, run and get Doctor Sagittari, quickly!"
"Never mind that, just blast it," Severus snapped, pointing his wand towards it.
"Severus, do you really want a foreign wizard organization over here asking questions?" Albus said, scooping it up in his robe and setting it over closer to the fireplace, which suddenly sprang to life.
"What they don't know won't hurt them! That thing is dangerous! And it's an omen of war!"
"Now, since when have you been so superstitious? Besides, I know what I am doing. I happen to know a thing or two about exotic birds," Albus said.
"If that thing hatches, its mother is quite likely to come back after it!" Severus snapped.
"Then you may want to fix and shutter the windows first, because like it or not, this egg is hatching," Albus said just as a tiny, black beak chipped a hole out.
Growling, Severus turned and began covering and barring the windows, finishing just as Jennifer and Sagittari came in. Sagittari carried with him a heather-lined basket, handing it down to Dumbledore.
"Hurry, we must act quickly! We must get it to my office as fast as possible," he warned them, "We will not be able to move it once it hatches."
"What? Why not? That thing isn't staying in here no matter where it hatches," Severus snapped, watching as Dumbledore slipped the egg carefully into the basket.
"Have you ever heard of animal magnetism, Severus?" Sagittari asked, reaching down for the basket. But the egg suddenly began to crack all over, and Sagittari quickly stepped back. The basket grew extremely heavy and fell to the ground, and the awkward looking iron-grey chick emerged. It shook off the shell and opened its beak expectantly, staring at Severus curiously.
"Oh, dear," Albus said, backing away.
"Oh, nothing. Get that thing out of my classroom!" Severus barked, the chick eyeing him and screeching at the noise.
"It's too late, Severus. We won't be able to move him," Sagittari said. "At least not for a couple of weeks. Stymphalian chicks are metallic in nature. They're magically charmed at birth to be magnetically attracted to their hatching place to protect them from predators trying to steal them away from the nest."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of! Stand back! At least let me do the humane thing and put it out of its misery!"
"Severus! It's just a baby!" Jennifer protested, Sagittari standing protectively in front of it with his arms crossed.
"That thing's mother killed Rasputin!" he barked angrily, the chick shrilly crying out in protest again.
"We don't know that for certain!" Jennifer protested.
"We may never know for certain!" Severus growled. "It's not in their nature to leave anything behind when they eat."
"In either case, it was his mother that did it, not him… or her," Jennifer said.
"I believe it's a 'him,'" Sagittari mused.
"Fine! Fine, raise the little murderer. But I'll have no part in this. I demand to have my class moved to another room!" Severus shouted, the chick flapping in irritation as he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
"Poor Severus," Dumbledore sighed.
"I think I had better go see what I can do," Jennifer said, getting up. Dumbledore nodded to her in understanding as she slipped out of the room.
"A tray of raw ground beef, if you please," Sagittari said, turning over a tray that immediately filled up as he carefully knelt to slip a bit in the bird's waiting beak. "Perhaps we should move the Magical Creatures class in here for awhile, Professor," Sagittari suggested. "The chick will need constant attention until he's old enough to fly."
Dumbledore looked at the chick thoughtfully for a long while.
"No," he said finally. "Ask your top students to help you look after it in the evening hours and during the weekend, but come Tuesday, I want this room ready for Defense. I'll speak to Minerva, Hermione, and Severus about arranging you some class time in here during his conference periods."
"Are you sure that's wise, Professor? Considering how Severus feels? One can hardly blame him," Sagittari said softly.
"No, I do not blame him, Sagittari. But I've decided that I'm not going to humor him either," Dumbledore said, gently petting the chick on the head. He pulled his fingers back in pain when he received a metal splinter for his effort.