Chapter Thirty-Five
The Artist Informed
Not long after the sun went down, Francis Pyther entered with an enigmatic smile as he watched the children set up.
"I hear there was some excitement in here since our last visit. All right, Andrew?"
"Yes, sir," Andrew said as he got out Halbert's painting, handing it to him. "Nothing appears to be damaged, either." He rummaged out a blank canvas for himself, deciding to try his hand at painting for a change.
"I'm glad it didn't ruin any of the paintings," Francis said, looking at Halbert. "Mr. Hagrid! I noticed your name in my appointment book the other day! Looking forward to your sitting? For your parents, I think?" Halbert, who had forgotten all about it quickly recovered, glancing at Alicia before nodding.
"Yes sir."
"For their anniversary, I think my receptionist said. It was very kind of you to offer him your card, Alicia," Francis smiled at her. Aurelius frowned, wondering what in the world they were talking about. It was evident that his other siblings knew, however, because they were all crouched behind their easels as if afraid to make eye contact with the vampire.
"Oh, um, of course, anything to help a friend," Alicia said.
"Good! Then after class, would the two of you stay for a moment so we can arrange a weekend to come to the school and start on that? I know the two of you can't go to Hogsmeade yet, but it's quite all right. I'm fine with doing it here at the castle," Pyther said. "Now, let me get my tray and we'll get started."
It wasn't surprising that Alicia had trouble concentrating after that. Even the occasional sneeze from Morfinn was enough to put her off. Zoë and Zack weren't helping matters. They decided to try their hands at caricatures, and their exaggerated pictures… Zoë's of McGonagall and Zack's of Snape, were enough to make Alicia slightly irritated at him.
"His nose isn't that big," Andrew finally commented. Zack looked at him thoughtfully.
"You're right. The nose looks more like yours," Zack said, earning an exasperated sigh from his cousin. Pyther stepped up behind him and began to giggle, quickly stifling it.
"Quite original, Mr. Black. I think you've actually captured
his… unusual… ah… character. Perhaps once you get it done, I will buy it from you," Pyther said with a smile.
"Really? Is it that good?" Zack said, pleased with himself.
"Well, that, and I fear for my life if it ever leaves the room," Pyther admitted. Aurelius sneered, the other Snapes grinning at one another knowingly.
But in what seemed like no time, he was instructing them to clean up for the evening. Alex and Andrew lingered as well, but Aurelius, after a slight hesitation and a suspicious look over at his siblings, reluctantly left the room, knowing he still had a lot to do before bed.
"Now!" Pyther said with a charming smile, setting his painting to one side to dry. "Who would like to explain to me why I'm painting this tall, handsome lad when his parents anniversary is just before Christmas?"
"You know when his parents' anniversary is?" Alicia asked, grimacing. Pyther leaned over a little, smiling at her.
"Who do you think painted their wedding portrait?" he asked. "Come now, Alicia. I've never known you to be a liar. No good artist can be, and yet you did fib to my receptionist. If I'm going to be used, I'd much prefer to know what it's for so I know when to duck and cover."
"You're right," Alicia said, looking over at the others. "We should tell him what happened, he deserves to know."
"Well, not everything, right?" Alex said.
"We can trust him not to tell anyone, Alex," Alicia assured her.
"He wouldn't go to father in any case," Andrew said.
"Should I leave the room for a moment so you needn't talk through me?" Pyther suggested. Alicia blushed apologetically.
"This was your plan, truly. I will go along with whatever it is you decide," Halbert assured Alicia.
In the end they all closed the door and pulled up chairs, the children settling down with fresh cups of tea while Pyther sat listening intently while sucking on the end of his paintbrush. Alicia didn't leave anything out, not even the details of the paintings they were in, although it was obvious her siblings became a bit impatient anytime she stopped to describe them, using terminology none of them were familiar with. But at last she finished the story and Pyther got up, walking over to Aurelius' painting and looked at it thoughtfully.
"Well, he definitely seems to be under considerable stress," Pyther admitted as he glanced at the brush strokes on the painting. "But why is it that you don't want your parents to know? Well, besides the obvious point of having to admit to being out of the castle if you did, which I seriously doubt they'd even bat an eye at considering the seriousness of what you saw."
"We were afraid that if this came out that we'd put him in more danger than he's already in," Alex said.
"Yes, and Zack did try to tell Father, Mr. Pyther," Andrew said. "But he didn't seem to believe him."
"I still can't believe he's even talking to Lucius Malfoy, let alone going to a horrible place such as that," Alicia added, folding her arms. "That one painting still sends me chills thinking about it."
"It sends me chills to think all of you were in there," Pyther admitted, sitting back down. "That painting is actually a rendition of a photograph that was taken for the Daily Prophet a good sixty years ago. Many were outraged by the horror of it and threatened to boycott the paper… it caused a real controversy. I knew the painter too… Mr. Avaris… he's long gone now, of course. My opinion has always been that his bitterness killed him. I heard from other townsfolk that they had brought that painting out of storage in protest of Hogsmeade's new citizens. The Pannage has become a sort of unofficial meeting place for those wanting to find a way to get them out. You know, I really don't think you should go in there if you can avoid it."
"It wasn't our fault," Alex protested. "We were looking for Rasputin!"
"Yes, that's right," Alicia said miserably. "I've been so concerned about Rel, I've never followed up on trying to find him."
"Here, let me take care of it," Pyther told them. "I don't want the four of you doing something like that again, it could have been a very dangerous situation for everyone."
"You don't suppose Aurelius has Rasputin, do you?" Halbert asked.
"No, I don't think so," Andrew said, shaking his head. "Rasputin's too big, and he wouldn't have been able to hide him in the castle what with Father being a parselmouth too. It must have been someone else."
"Well, all the same, try not to worry about it. I will go to the Pig's Pannage myself and see what I can find out," Pyther said. Alicia frowned at him with concern.
"Are you sure you will be safe?" she asked.
"Oh, don't worry about me! I didn't get to my age by getting into messes I couldn't escape from. In fact, I never go in anywhere unless I know where all the exits are. I can say with both humility and pride that I have turned running into an art form," he chuckled at himself, Alicia smiling fondly at him.
"Sometimes there are worse things than running," Andrew agreed. "Just as long as it's not running from yourself."
"A boy after my own heart," Pyther chuckled, standing up. "Halbert, we will begin working on the portrait after art class and after dinner on Saturdays, all right?"
"You're still going to do my portrait?" Halbert said brightly.
"Of course, monsieur," he smiled. "I already have the voucher, after all, and I do think your parents would love it. One of these days, I'd like to get one of the four Snapes as well."
"The four of us," Alicia murmured, glancing at the painting standing apart from the others before they said their goodbyes and hurried to get to their rooms before curfew.
Francis Pyther watched them go from the doorway, thinking back to everything he had heard as if pondering what to do. After taking another long look at Aurelius' painting, he turned to walk to the closet to make room for them, but then he froze, catching sight of Andrew's painting of a knight as if seeing it for the first time. Without further hesitation, Francis grabbed a couple of the paintings and stashed them in the closet. Then he hurried off to find Dumbledore.
As it turned out, Pyther found himself walking into a meeting between Dumbledore, Sagittari, Jennifer, and Severus. They looked up in him in complete surprise, freezing the nervous vampire in his place.
"Yes, Francis?" Dumbledore said curiously. Severus squinted at him suspiciously.
"Uh…excuse me," Pyther said quickly, walking across the room and slipping behind the curtain. Everyone's eyes followed to where he had gone, Dumbledore's eyebrows raised curiously until the artist reappeared from his sitting room. "It's just as I suspected," he said. "Professor, I believe that Andrew might be making a breakthrough."
"Go on," Dumbledore encouraged him.
"He decided to try his hand at painting tonight, and I don't think it's a coincidence. I think he's trying to tell us something, or perhaps tell himself something although he probably doesn't really realize he's telling himself…"
"Can we get to the point, Pyther?" Severus said in annoyance, Pyther stopping short and nodding slightly to him.
"Well, the point is, he's started to paint a picture of a knight in armor, sir, standing at attention, but without a sword," Pyther explained.
"You believe it has a connection to the disappearance of Gryffindor's sword?" Dumbledore asked.
"Oh come now, that sounds nearly as stretched as one of Thurspire's theories. Can't this just be a mere coincidence?" Severus sighed. "Gryffindors are always drawing knights and the like."
"Perhaps that's true to some extent, but this is very unlike Andrew. He prefers art of mathematical nature, not expressive," Pyther said.
"Pyther's right, Andrew doesn't paint anything short of his models. I don't remember ever seeing him draw anything without a ruler," Jennifer said.
"Let's all go take a look, shall we?" Dumbledore suggested. "Right now, I don't want to rule anything out." Severus sighed and nodded, and Pyther anxiously led the way back to the art room, quickly unlocking the door and stepping in.
"Do you always lock the door in here?" Severus asked thoughtfully, noting that the section of the wall with the passage had been blocked with a table as well.
"I didn't want any chance of anything being disturbed," Pyther explained, going over to the painting and turned it around. Even Severus had to admit that the golden figure on the otherwise white canvas did look astoundingly like the armor in Dumbledore's sitting room.
"There can be little doubt now that Andrew did have some knowledge of the sword's disappearance," Dumbledore said.
"Yes, Headmaster. I believe he may have stumbled onto a loophole within his orders in the process," Sagittari said. "He was merely ordered not to tell anyone, I doubt anything was said not to show anyone. It seems that out of necessity he has created his own means of therapy."
"Yes, I think that's exactly it, Doctor. Professor, he should be allowed to finish the painting," Pyther put in. "Not only might it give us clues to what happened, but it will help him personally work through the ordeal."
"Well, then it would seem it is your job, not Sagittari's, to take over Andrew's therapy," Dumbledore mused, looking at the vampire. "How terribly inconvenient would it be for you to come in every evening for an hour or two?"
"Oh, well, I'm sure it can be arranged with a bit of juggling. As it so happens, I have an obligation to do a portrait for a student here, so I might be able to take care of two bats with one belfry," Pyther said with a smile. Severus gave him a dirty look.
"I hope he's going to be all right," Jennifer murmured, gazing at the painting distantly.
"As do we all, Jennifer," Dumbledore said putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure it will turn out all right in the end."
"There's one other painting I think you should see, Jennifer, Severus," Pyther said, saying the second name in a lower tone. "Over here." He led them over to Aurelius' painting and Jennifer took a good look at it.
The background of the painting was full of dark clouds with ribbons of red and purple shooting through it like smothered sunset light. In the foreground was a mere circle of bronze with a black gorgon's head wrapped in a bronze chain; the individual snakes that made up her hair moving at random every now and then as if looking around.
"I'm not sure how much you have noticed, but your other son seems to be under quite a bit of stress," Pyther told them. "His brush strokes are heavy and hurried… in fact, he's been tearing up his brushes any time he actually does show up for lessons, and his choice of colors and subject matter lately have been, well, quite grim, actually."
"Pyther, I've heard of a fair number of artists who do nothing but 'grim' paintings and are no more depressed than someone who paints daisies. Don't you think you're over reacting?" Severus said sternly.
"No," Pyther said. "Do you see the rolling clouds, the darkness of the impending storm? It's symbolic of inner conflict, and the red and purple of anger and guilt. As for the shield, I'm not quite sure, but the image is chained…perhaps symbolic of something within him attempting to get out, or just as likely a way to keep everyone else from getting in."
"I know where I've seen that face before," Jennifer sighed, relaxing visibly. "It's the face on the medallion he bought. Well, except it had an inscription."
"That may be, but this painting is still a reflection of his emotions right now. I definitely think you need to work on getting him to open up." Pyther said firmly.
"Mr. Pyther, I'll have you know that I have been meeting with my son on a regular basis. Your worries are completely unfounded, and I believe that you are over analyzing your student's work," Severus said.
"I'm sorry, Severus, I understand your being a bit skeptical. But I have studied art for hundreds of years, and in that time have developed an eye not only for the subject but for what might motivate a particular artist. I wouldn't be so sure that whatever advice you are giving him is actually hitting home. He may be getting conflicting advice from another source."
"Pyther, you may have six hundred years of art experience, but you have not a second of experience on parenting. I suggest you keep your opinions on the subject to yourself," Severus said coldly.
"Well you don't have to rub it in," Pyther murmured under his breath as Severus walked back over to Dumbledore and Sagittari. "You get declared legally dead at twenty-three and see how far you get." Jennifer smiled at him sympathetically before turning back to the painting thoughtfully.
What if Pyther was right and Aurelius wasn't listening to him? Her thoughts went immediately back to the rift that developed between them last year, the argument before she had regained her full memory cutting through her mind like a serrated knife. There had been so much hatred, so much anger, and it never seemed to have left him…taking one last glance at the painting, Jennifer noticed that Severus was waiting for her and hurriedly stepped over, following him out.
Severus knew his wife well enough to see the hint of dissension, especially when they had gotten back to the room and she immediately went to take care of Dodger and Ratfly in her sitting room, completely ignoring him.
"Well, it sounds as if Andrew's making some sort of progress," Severus said almost casually, walking over to get the tray.
"Do you think so?" Jennifer said, glancing at him almost challengingly before turning back to her familiars. "And what of Aurelius?"
"Aurelius I'm taking care of," Severus said.
"You said you were taking care of Andrew as well," Jennifer said curtly. "How long before Aurelius ends up in a closet? Or worse?"
"We can't spend our lives worrying that our children are going to be the next victim of whatever calamity is going on this year," Severus sighed.
"No, no we can't, you're right," Jennifer said hotly, turning back around. "But until they've graduated and on their own, I plan to worry." Severus met her gaze, nodding at that.
"And Corey?"
"Well," Jennifer said, thinking a moment and shifting uncomfortably. "Okay, not until they're graduated, in a stable home with furniture not made out of crates and are in a stable relationship. Then I won't worry." Severus sighed with exasperation.
"Why is it that if and when they all get to that point, I suspect you'll amend that statement again? Anyhow, it's getting late, and we both have early classes," Severus said.
"That reminds me, I have some papers to look over before tomorrow. I'll be right in," Jennifer said, heading to her desk and sitting down, waving at the sconces above her to brighten them. Severus hesitated a moment, watching her as she pulled out her work and started in, finally walking into their room. Glancing at the clock, Jennifer began checking over the formulas until ten minutes later, when Severus quickly came back in.
"Sorry, forgot something in my cloak," he said, grabbing it from the hook and carrying it over, peering curiously at what she was working on before heading back to the bedroom. She glanced at the clock again, waiting two more minutes before finally slipping out of the chair, making sure he had closed the door. He wouldn't risk another excuse to check up on her at least for a good hour or so, and Jennifer had every intention of using all of the time she could spare, pulling out several of the Dark Arts books and sifting through them quickly.
"This isn't helping, I know all this already," she whispered to herself as she looked up Gorgons. Finally she put them back, listening at the door for a moment. She glanced up at the clock before heading out of the sitting room. Just moments after the door shut, Severus came back in with a question on his lips, stopping short when he noticed the room was empty.
"Now why am I not surprised," Severus said out loud. "And why do I have the sudden feeling that this is really going to complicate things?"
With a lone candle to light the area around her in the dark, almost imposingly large library, Jennifer sat down at a table with a couple of old tomes on mythology, quickly skimming the pages until she found the page she was looking for.
Medusa was the greatest of Gorgons, so famed that in recent years many refer to all Gorgons as Medusas. She had been known as the fairest and wisest of three sisters, who all shared similar fates to become Gorgons, and all would meet terrible deaths. Medusa herself was slain by Perseus by a special curved sword lent to him by Athena. Perseus was said to have used the head of Medusa to kill Phineas and some of his followers before returning it to Athena, who then placed it upon her famous shield, the Aegis, which she often wore as a breastplate. With the strength of Medusa's powers trapped within it, the Aegis gained its ultimate power, keeping the wearer protected from harm. Because of this, it is thought that anyone wearing it would prove invincible in battle.
Jennifer flipped ahead to the picture, looking at it long and hard before reading the passage again. Could this truly be it? But how would he have possibly gotten a hold of such a priceless artifact? It just didn't make sense! Who would give something like that to a young boy? But as she read it again, the words, 'protected from harm' finally hit home and she sat back in her seat. There was only one person who would have had reason to.