Chapter Forty
Jennifer Craw and the Shield of Snakes
It was the last weekend before the election, and more importantly… at least to the students of Hogwarts… the last game of the season, even though as always, Hufflepuff was expected to win. It was especially true since they were to play Ravenclaw, for although Ravenclaw had a very good team, by luck or misfortune they had lost all of their other games.
Alex was unusually quiet, but then all three Snapes had been since their brother had left. Alex and Alicia's marks reflected their mood, but not one word came from any teacher about the change, not even Professor Snape or Madame Brittle, who had taken over Potions. Andrew did their best to cheer them up, his own grief was reflected rather in long hours speaking to teachers in the evenings, whether it was Snape, Weasley, or Dumbledore himself. But to his sisters he merely offered encouragement, and along with the antics of Zoë and Zacchius attempting to dodge their escorts and sometimes even succeeding, they managed to get through day by day. Rose was watching the twins that day, and they knew better to try and get past her.
"Alicia, can't you just, well, prolong your catching of the Snitch just a little while?" Zacchius begged from where they stood near the walkway that led to the Pitch gates. "I mean, we all know you're that good, but it's rather annoying to have to walk all the way out there and fight the upper classmen for a good seat only to have to leave five minutes later."
"Honestly, I don't really feel much like playing today at all," Alicia said.
"But this is it! If you win this game, you get the Quidditch Cup! You'll almost catch up to Slytherin in points…" Zoë said, but when Alicia looked over at her, Zoë regretted saying anything about Slytherin.
"Just don't win it too soon?" Zack asked. "Give your sister some time to play."
"Don't listen to them, Alicia," Andrew said, Zack frowning at him in annoyance. "I just want the two of you to go out there and have fun for awhile."
"Fun? I can't have fun without feeling guilty about it. It's like last year when Mum was gone… only this is much worse," Alex admitted, leaning on her broom. "She lost herself, but she didn't lose her soul."
"I think once the two of you get out there, you'll feel better," Andrew said. "Just stay on your guard. Don't forget what happened that first game."
"I'm not likely to forget," Alicia assured him. "Let's just get it over with, okay?"
"Good luck," Rose said with a smile.
"Thanks. Watch that lightning line, Alicia!" Alex reminded her little sister said and hugged her before hurrying out to find the rest of her team.
"Come on, we'll walk you over, Alicia," Andrew offered, the other three agreeing and falling to either side of her, still trying to talk her into prolonging the game.
As they neared, Morfinn, who was hovering almost nervously near the team, suddenly bolted towards them, forgetting all about the strap throat he had felt coming on that morning.
"Alicia! There you are!" Morfinn panted and wheezed when he caught up with him. "He's here, did you know?"
"Who's here?" Alicia asked curiously.
"Your brother! Rel! I saw him going up to the stands. Malfoy brought him to watch the game!"
"Really? Show me!" Alicia said excitedly, following him to peek out the gate. True enough, Lucius and Aurelius sat in one of the boxes nearby, while in the teachers box, Snape sat next to the Blacks, Sirius seemingly irritating him by talking to him while both Anna and Severus had a very Snapishly impatient expression on their faces. "Looks like Aunt and Uncle are here too."
"What? You can't be serious!" Zack said, suddenly alarmed. "Please tell me you're joking!"
"Why in the world would they be here? They haven't been to a game all year, even the Gryffindor ones," Zoë said.
"Someone must have leaked what we've been planning, it's the only explanation," Zack said. "We're going to be toast now!"
"Planning? What have you been planning?" Rose asked suddenly alarmed. "Don't tell me you slipped something else by us again!"
"Yes, but someone must have found out," Zack insisted.
"Impossible, Zack, we did all of our planning in the library!" Zoë said, peeking out the gate. But as they peered out to look at the teacher's stand, they immediately noticed Boulderdash and Professor Weasley sitting behind their parents, both of them grinning and waving at them with a smile before Zack had time to shut it again.
"We're doomed this time," Zack said.
"That's lovely, but you Gryffindors are going to have to be doomed somewhere else. The game's about to start!" Pensington told them, shooing them out, shaking their heads as they left. "There may be things said about Hufflepuff, but at least we don't get any of those sort," she said haughtily. Alicia couldn't help but grin at her, checking her broom one last time before mounting the broom, making plans of her own.
As they left the gate, Alicia shot off around the Pitch, but after a cursory polite nod to her father, aunt, and uncle, she shot into a tight pretzel in front of the box Aurelius was in. Alex, who had come out the other gate, suddenly slowed then flew over herself barreling into a tight corkscrew as she passed.
"It seems your other siblings are trying to get some attention again," Lucius tsked.
"I think they're trying to show Father that they support me more than him," Aurelius said smugly, glancing over to where Snape seemed to be intentionally ignoring the exchange. Lucius squinted in his direction.
"Possibly, but let's not lose our focus, shall we?" Lucius said.
"You still haven't told me how you plan to do it," Aurelius murmured softly.
"I? Who says I have to do anything?" Lucius whispered, feigning innocence until an enigmatic smile crept on his face. "As soon as the game is in full swing, get into position."
"Yes, sir," Aurelius nodded, turning back to the game just in time to see the Snitch released. But Alicia, who normally followed the release of the golden ball like a cat watching a bird looked around instead, slipping back out of the way as the Chasers fought for the Quaffle.
It was Alex on top of things, and Alicia watched with a grin and began rooting her on outright as she sped towards the rings. Andrew and Halbert were in the stands near the teacher's box, and they broke into cheers of their own as she tossed it into the upper ring. But the bell hit with a strange 'thud' sound, the points showing 10 for Ravenclaw. Neither Andrew, Halbert, or Rose missed the twins wincing beside them, even though the rest of the crowd around him were clapping in appreciation for the play.
"That's one," Zoë said.
"Come on, Alicia! Get the Snitch!" Zack shouted at the top of his lungs getting dirty looks from several Ravenclaws sitting beside them.
"First you want a long game, now you want a short one. What gives?" Rose asked suspiciously.
"That was before our parents showed up," Zack said, then stood up to try and see where the Chasers were on the other side of the field, Hufflepuff trying to make a second goal. But Carey wasn't budging, blocking the Quaffle easily and batting it back into Ravenclaw hands.
As they sped across the median, Alex found herself with the ball again, tossing it back to Mandria at the last minute and letting her throw it in… her first goal ever! The Ravenclaw crowd went wild again as Mandria smiled and adjusted her glasses, falling back in next to Alex as they raced across the Pitch.
It was at that point that Aurelius slipped down the stairs, making his way toward the back of the Pitch, still paying as much attention to the game as he could. Alicia must have had sight of the Snitch now, for she and the other Seeker dove out of sight between the stands, the crowd's excitement growing again. But as he rounded the corner of the next box, Aurelius was startled to see his mother standing there away from the crowd, watching the field so intently that she didn't notice him when he detoured back in the other direction, deciding it'd be safer to go around the Pitch the long way.
"Get it! Get the damn Snitch!" Zack's voice rang out somehow clear over the crowd as Aurelius passed by, half jogging now with his neck still craned towards the field.
"Man, the Hufflepuff Chasers are lame, aren't they?" Zoë said, shaking her head.
"Alex has the ball again!" Andrew said cheerfully. "And look at Alicia!"
Being a Seeker herself, Rose's eyes were quick to follow the two Seekers as they spiraled around the Pitch, when suddenly she noticed something else from the corner of her eye and realized that one of her friends was in trouble.
"Mandria!" Rose shouted as she scrambled to her feet. The broom had begun to smoke and then caught on fire! At first Mandria hadn't noticed, the speed of the broom fanning the flames backwards, but when she did, she immediately panicked, the flames getting worse before Danny had time to get to her. But just as the fire consumed the stick itself, the teleportation band was activated and Mandria disappeared, leaving the broom to drop towards the ground, the players circling around it and staring at it in confusion. "Thank God, I hope she's all right!"
"I've never seen a broom go up like that, not with all the retardants on them. What could have caused it?" Halbert asked.
"Who's the only person besides the Fomorians that you know can control the elements without blinking?" Andrew murmured.
"Mom?" Zoë suggested.
"I think he means Ciardoth," Zack said. "But if it was her, why didn't she appear yet?" Andrew looked up to the teacher's box to see nearly all of them still standing, and several, including Weasley, had left the box all together. Severus made no move to go anywhere, his wand in his hand as if waiting for another shoe to drop and he was forced to whisk the rest of the players away.
Worried about her friend and what might have caused the fire, Alex lost focus on the game, looking over instead to where Lucius was sitting only to realize he was sitting alone. Where was Aurelius? Instantly smelling a rat, Alex quickly caught the Quaffle only to pass it on, trying to buy herself another minute to get Alicia's attention. But Alicia was hovering at the lightning line where the Snitch had last been seen, looking out into the distance as if scanning for it.
Suddenly, Alicia bolted out of the Pitch. Alex had little time to react, for out of the sky came a dark shadow as Ciardoth dove towards them in dragon form. Alex immediately ripped off the band around her arm and flew further back as a blast of flame descended towards the teams, all of them disappearing in the nick of time as professors began to leap out of the stands with their wands in hand.
Ciardoth merely laughed, rising back up into the clouds out of sight, leaving everyone to wonder where she went. Yet in the chaos, Severus hadn't missed Alex's action and her subsequent flight to join her sister, pointing a finger at Andrew and then in the direction they went while the other hand still held his wand. Immediately, Andrew jumped to his feet as other students got up in answer to McGonagall's call to evacuate.
"Andrew! Where are you going?" Halbert asked him when Andrew broke out of line.
"Family business," Andrew said hastily, before slipping behind the stands. Halbert knew better than to try to go after him, knowing he was probably already invisible.
"Family business, always with the… Zoë? Zacchius?" Halbert said with surprise. Rose, who had been busy trying to organize and calm the students around her and herd them inside looked up when she heard Halbert's desperate call. The bell started to ring, signaling the cancellation of the game. Immediately a sign hidden behind the scoreboard rolled out over the board with a long arrow scrolled over the length and the words, "Professor Snape's nose - actual size!' written boldly underneath.
"Zoë? Zack?" Sirius shouted, Anna glaring at him as if accusing him of encouraging that sort of behavior.
"Zoë? Zack?" Rose called again, still encouraging other students to head on inside. "Now where did they go?"
Up in the stands, unnoticed by anyone, Lucius Malfoy seemed to fade into the mayhem, blending in as easily as a chameleon in a dense forest. But he had not gone completely unseen, and as he turned towards the lake, he realized that he was being followed.
Aurelius ran into the hut and immediately stopped short. The Spear of Lugh wasn't in its normal place on the mantle.
"Damn it! It's supposed to be here!" Aurelius said angrily, quickly searching the back room and office before heading out the back door. "What else can go wrong?" As if in answer, Zack suddenly tackled him, Zoë standing behind him and rooting him on. Aurelius somehow managed to get away, running into the forest with the other two on his heels. But as the twins got inside, they immediately lost sight of him.
"Come back here, you coward!" Zack demanded. Zoë looked around unsurely.
"Zacchius? Do you suppose he might have Disapparated?"
"Of course not! Those Snapes are conventional as they come!"
"Yes, but we're not on school grounds now," Zoë said. Then the two of them heard something and paused to listen, finally recognizing a pair of voices calling Aurelius' name. "I think it's Alex and Alicia! Come on!"
"I don't know if we should trust them!" Zack said skeptically, but Zoë didn't listen, hurrying over to them calling their names.
"Zack? Zoë?" Alicia said in surprise.
"Have you seen Rel?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, got a piece of him too before the coward ran away," Zack said.
"Please, don't fight him! We've just got to stop him!" Alex pleaded.
"From what?" Zoë asked.
"It doesn't matter! It's obvious he's over his head, now! Malfoy is nothing compared to Ciardoth!" Alex said. "We need to capture him for his own good."
"But how? He seemed to poof in thin air, as if he Apparated or something!" Zoë said.
"Don't be silly, even I can't Apparate yet," Alex said. "Alicia, it's your turn."
"Right," Alicia said, somehow managing to get out the sketchpad.
"You take your sketchpad with you on the Quidditch Pitch?" Zoë said dubiously.
"After that first game, yes," Alicia nodded, quickly working with a charcoal pencil.
"Doesn't that get uncomfortable?"
"She never plays long enough for it to get uncomfortable," Alex said dryly. Just then, Andrew appeared quite suddenly in the center of the group, causing them to jump back in surprise.
"What are you doing? You're all supposed to be in the school! Where are you going?" Andrew said, frowning at Alicia's sketch.
"To save our brother, of course," Alex said. "You're in, aren't you?"
"I think we'd better leave it for Father. We're going to end up hurting Rel more than helping him," Andrew said worriedly. "Didn't you see? Ciardoth's involved!"
"Leave it to Snape? Are you cracked?" Zack said, staring at him.
"Andrew, we don't abandon one of our own, you know that as well as anyone!" Alex said, watching as Alicia quickly tacked up the sketch of Aurelius.
"You could always stay here and guard the picture or something stupid like that if you're too afraid to go," Zoë taunted him.
"I'm going," Andrew said at last. Alicia nodded and stepped in, holding out a hand for the next person.
Aurelius waited near the center of the centaur glen, pacing nervously as he kept looking at the watch in his hand, sighing loudly.
"This is not good. What is taking him so long?" he grumbled to himself irritably.
"Waiting for your friend Malfoy?" Aurelius spun quickly around to see Zack standing there with his arms folded, the rest of his siblings and Zoë running up behind him from the cabin. "You didn't really think you could get away with it, did you?"
"You idiots! You shouldn't be here! I thought I warned you not to get involved!" Aurelius snapped.
"Please, Aurelius, you don't know what you're doing! Stop this!" Alex said as she made it to Zack's side.
"I can't, Alex. It's too late," Aurelius said evenly. "I didn't want to have to hurt you, but you made your decision. I guess I finally have a chance to be an only child now. Rest in peace."
"What? You can't be serious!" Alicia said.
"Zoë, let's blast him!" Zack said, pulling out his wand while Zoë merely held out her hands, beginning to glow.
But Aurelius didn't hesitate, and before anyone could move he cast a spell that the others had only ever heard uttered from their mother's lips. The Shrieking Death flew out at them, engulfing them in a painful wave of sound, Zoë and Zack holding their ears and watching in horror as Alex, Alicia and Andrew hit the floor. But as they moved to try and protect them, they too, succumbed to the spell, falling upon their cousins. Aurelius pulled up his wand, checking to make sure none of them were moving.
"Idiots," Aurelius said with a smirk, kicking Zack's body hard in the side. Placing a finger to each side of his mouth, he whistled, then immediately Disapparated.
A moment later, a cloaked figure approached the glen, taken aback by the scene. He had stopped and knelt by the side of the children but quickly turned when the sound of hoof beats thundered around him, Disapparating to keep from being seen.
As the sun began to set and the shadows of the stones grew to its longest length, Jennifer felt eerie, remembering the unusual circumstances that had brought her to Stonehenge on other occasions. Thoughts of the Cloak, Merlin, and her confrontation with Malfoy played in her head where she hunched, her illusion spell disguising her like a rock. Nothing stirred, but even still a tingle ran through her, one that didn't go away after time. She was in the right place, she was sure of it. Nowhere else could they be heading…for Ciardoth's motives were more clear than ever; she wanted control of the gate.
Would she come here even if the Spear was not yet found, Jennifer wondered, glancing thoughtfully at the artifact in her hand. And would she be able to control it if she was forced to? The darkest of fairy bloods may lie in the Craw veins, but dozens of generations separated her from that line. Sighing at the thought of having to try, she slipped a hand in her cloak to extract a cloth and rubbed the Spear with poppy oil once more for good measure.
It was then that she heard a familiar * pop * and looked around to see Aurelius hurrying towards the circle. Jennifer blinked, squinting at him with a frown, wondering when he had learned to do that. But her thoughts of lawsuits aimed at Malfoy for teaching an under-aged wizard without a permit flew right out of her mind when there was a sudden flash and the crack of thunder.
"Boy," Ciardoth said, her voice smooth but cold in her human form. "Where is your master? And where is the Spear you both promised me?"
"Gone, your Ladyship," Aurelius admitted with a bow. "It was not in the Hut as I was certain it would be. I think someone else might have taken it!"
"Of course someone else has taken it, fool! I warned you to beware of Snape!" Ciardoth boomed angrily. "He seeks to write his own destiny still! And it will now be his undoing! Through you, my pet," she added, cupping his chin in one hand while Aurelius stood very still, looking her in the eye but careful not to make a move. Jennifer felt a chill through her, trying to control the thoughts racing within her and wondering whether or not to drag him out when suddenly she noticed another figure, cloaked in black, approach.
She knew it was Severus at once, from his catlike walk to his tall stature. She felt her heart plummet as she pondered what he was going to do, slipping carefully to one side to try and see better without disturbing the illusion surrounding her. It was then she blinked in surprise, glancing at the Spear in her hand then over at Severus, for he too, seemed to be carrying a spear! She glanced at hers again, knowing she wouldn't be able to get an identifying spell off without being detected. No, she was sure she had the right one, she reasoned with herself, feeling it tremble under her fingers as it anticipated the upcoming battle. She was certain she had the right one.
"Let the boy go, Ciardoth!" Severus shouted. Ciardoth immediately turned, leaving a painful scratch on Aurelius' face from her nails as she withdrew them.
"You see? Once again my memories hold true! I see you bring the Spear to me!" Ciardoth said with a maniacal look of delight on her face. "Aurelius is no longer your son, Severus. His soul belongs to me and his life belongs to a fate beyond any mortal who's ever lived before. Can you not see it? The boy's powers have progressed even more than even your puny expectations." Ciardoth said with a smile.
"What I see is a boy misguided by fear and empty promises who has let his emotions get in the way of seeing just how perilous his situation is," Severus said evenly. "Just like another boy I once knew."
"Do you think so?" Aurelius said, laughing in disbelief. "You still think that I am so much like you? Well, think again! You were nothing but a pathetic slave and a servant. I will leave here a leader!"
"Leave? And where do you believe you are going?" Severus squinted.
"Through the gate, of course! I'm afraid where you're standing won't exist after I'm gone. Sorry, no hitchhikers allowed," Aurelius said calmly. "Now if you don't mind, we'll take the Spear now."
"You want the Spear, Aurelius?" Severus said expressionlessly. "The Spear that has never lost a battle, never not hit its mark? Very well. Catch," he said.
Aurelius quickly took a defensive stance as Severus threw it. As Aurelius ducked, he realized that Severus had thrown it at Ciardoth, who immediately crossed her hands in her own defense. But before the Spear hit there, was a blinding light followed by smoke, and Jennifer immediately recognized it as flash powder.
"Stop!" Aurelius shouted, and there was a sound of a scuffle as the smoke began to clear. Aurelius stood with his wand pointed at his father who must have tried to grab him. "Drop the Portkey and your wand!" he ordered, waving his wand at Severus' head. Reluctantly he dropped them, glancing over at Ciardoth who was busy taking a closer look at the spear.
"It's a fake! You fool! Did you think it would be so easy to trick us?" Ciardoth said angrily.
"Well, you're hardly known for your sound thinking, Ciardoth," Severus said, glancing back at Aurelius who still had his wand pointed at his father. "You base your knowledge only what you can remember, but how reliable are those memories to you?"
"I have news for you, Snape, I have every intention of changing history this night," Ciardoth said, turning her back to the two of them as she walked towards the center of the inner circle. "Punish him."
"Crucio!" Aurelius intoned, and Severus immediately tensed and closed his eyes, gritting his teeth.
"Where did you learn that? You cannot do this, Aurelius!" Severus managed to get out before Aurelius cast the curse again, bringing him to his knees. "First your siblings…and now this…"
"You alone are responsible! You are the one that betrayed me, just like you betrayed everyone else!" Aurelius shouted. "You're capable of nothing but deceit! You did nothing but hold me back all these years! Now you'll get to experience just what I'm capable of! Crucio!" Crying out in pain, Severus fell to the ground, curling up in such obvious pain that Jennifer couldn't take it anymore, his eyes lidded as if he were about to fall unconscious.
"Enough of this, Aurelius!" Jennifer said, the boy turning in surprise at seeing her come out of a monolith, staring at her wide-eyed. "I don't care how angry you are at us, you can't possibly follow through with what you're doing!"
Ciardoth turned towards her, a smile creeping upon her face as she spied the Spear in Jennifer's hand.
"So it is you who brings me the Spear! Come, hand it to me!"
"I brought it to use it!" Jennifer snapped.
"Good, then you can help me construct the gate! For if you don't hand it over now, you can say goodbye to your dear husband."
"Aurelius wouldn't kill his own father," Jennifer said firmly.
"Why not? I killed my brother and sisters," Aurelius said coldly. Jennifer turned to stare at him starkly.
"I don't believe it! I don't care if I can't read you. I know you're lying!" Jennifer said.
"Then it's time to say goodbye, Mother," Aurelius said, turning the wand back on Severus. "Morsaphyzein!"
"No!" Jennifer screamed, pulling out her wand to stop the spell. Ciardoth immediately descended on her, a blast of electric energy sending her backwards and flinging her to the ground, sending her wand and the Spear spinning out of reach.
"No! Spare J…Juliet…muster…two drakes…" Severus murmured in apparent delirium as the color drained out of his face. Unable to fight off the spell any longer, Severus collapsed, a strange greyness coming to his skin.
Jennifer slowly managed to hold her head up, her eyes focusing in on the ring on her hand, staring at it for a moment before finally sitting up.
"NO! No it can't be!" she shouted, flailing hysterically as Ciardoth reached down and grabbed her arms, still laughing.
"It's done! It's done at last, the cycle is broken!" Ciardoth said, pulling her to her feet while her other hand still held the Spear. "Nothing can stand in my way now! Nothing! Aurelius, fetch your master, and we will finish my part of this bargain!"
Aurelius, who had been kneeling next to his father, stood and kicked him hard before Disapparating. Jennifer tried to pull away from Ciardoth, who was holding her arm so tight that it began to grow numb.
"Please! Let me go to him!" Jennifer pleaded.
"Go to him? He couldn't even remember your name in the end!" Ciardoth sneered at her. "Amazing what pain can do to a person! But soon you will experience that first hand!"
"You can do no more harm to me than what you've already done!" Jennifer shouted defiantly, but Ciardoth merely laughed again, letting her go. Jennifer immediately ran to Severus' side, collapsing by his fallen body.
"Me? I never said I was the one who was going to harm you!" she said cryptically. Jennifer stared her straight in the eye trying to understand what she meant. But then she saw that Aurelius had returned, standing by Lucius Malfoy, who was quickly looking over the scene in surprise.
"What is going on? What have you done?" Lucius asked Ciardoth as he stepped closer, staring at Severus' fallen form and the angry eyes of Jennifer beside him.
"Your protégé was taking advantage of your absence," Ciardoth said. "And dear Jennifer has retrieved the Spear which you and he both failed on more than one occasion to retrieve. Cheer up, girl; you're not long in following him now, I think. For I promised your life to Lucius."
"What?" Jennifer murmured in shock.
"Are you sure he's dead?" Lucius said walking up.
"Of course! I killed him myself with the Fatal Pulse spell," Aurelius said. "Go ahead and check if you like."
"Leave him alone! There's nothing you more you can do to him now," Jennifer snapped as Lucius poked experimentally, finally bringing out his wand and casting the Cruciatus Curse on him. But despite Jennifer's protests, Malfoy watched and waited for the twinge of pain that didn't come. As Jennifer hovered protectively over him, a smile curled upon Lucius' face, looking over at Aurelius and nodding.
"So, I see you got your revenge at last," Lucius said.
"Some of it, at least," Aurelius agreed, glancing at Jennifer.
"Severus always was a fool. I even warned him to watch out when he met his worst enemy. I suppose he didn't listen," Ciardoth said in a melodic tone, tsking coquettishly.
"He wasn't the fool, I was," Jennifer whispered. "For not standing by him sooner."
"At last! The gate shall be reformed!" Ciardoth said with glee as the Lia Fáil, weeping softly near the center of the circle, began to glow. The Cauldron then appeared beside it as Ciardoth held out her hand. "Quickly, Malfoy, the Sword of Nuatha, so I can at last complete the Seal!"
"First, I want my payment," Lucius said. "Release me from the curse this witch has placed upon me so I can finally get my revenge!"
"So this is why you sold you soul to Ciardoth? To get back at me?" Jennifer said in disbelief. "Despite the fact that she killed your wife?"
"My wife wanted you dead as well!" Lucius snarled. "You turned our son against us that night… the night you cursed me!"
"I didn't turn him against you, Lucius. Draco made his own decisions, just as mine made his own," Jennifer said defiantly.
"And now your husband is dead," Lucius said, smiling thinly, glancing over. "Not how I imagined it, of course. I can still recognize him. But you, I assure you, won't be that fortunate," he swore, taking out a wand and blasting her back against a monolith, Jennifer crying out in pain as she did. She slowly reopened her eyes, a bluish haze disrupting her vision as she watched Lucius doubled over in pain. "Ciardoth! Release the curse!" Lucius demanded again.
"Hand me the sword," Ciardoth said with a smile. "Come, come, I promise I won't destroy you until after you've had a chance to torture her as you like. It might prove amusing."
Lucius stood back up and stared at Ciardoth in alarm.
"What do you mean, destroy me?" Lucius growled.
"Oh, not just you. I'm going to destroy everything, of course!" she laughed. "Do you know what happens if you improperly open a gate? It creates a funnel of power that exchanges from one universe to another. But what do you suppose would happen if there was a surge of magical energy at the point when the funnel is at its greatest? We'll all be utterly destroyed! Well, all except the boy, of course, whom I am sending through the gate first. I promised I'd let him go free if he killed his father, and I do keep my word. You, Malfoy, will die with the rest of us, but first, you may do as you like to the woman."
"You are breaking the agreement!" Lucius snapped, storming up to her, completely forgetting Jennifer, who slowly began to crawl for cover.
"I only promised to release you from your curse. I never promised I wouldn't destroy your world," Ciardoth pointed out with a laugh.
"I will not allow it. And you will never get the Sword," Malfoy said defiantly.
"Oh really?" Ciardoth said with a cryptic smile. "Kill him."
Aurelius shrugged, Lucius turning towards him as a blinding blast came out of the boy's wand. Lucius instantly fell over with a look of complete surprise on his face.
"Sorry. You were going to die anyhow, you know," Aurelius told him, closing his eyes before he put his hand in Malfoy's cloak searchingly. Finally he stood up. "The Sword doesn't seem to be on him. It's probably back at the mansion."
"Then go fetch it!" Ciardoth snapped. Aurelius bowed, glancing at his watch before Disapparating.
It was then as Ciardoth was alone and seething that she gazed around, momentarily confused. She stared at the empty spot where she remembered that Snape's body had been and wondered at that, holding her head slightly as if to assure herself that she was remembering the past. As she attempted to step closer, she thought she heard something and turned to where she remembered Lucius had been, and yet he also was gone. Jennifer, who was lying behind a monolith and watching, was even more puzzled than Ciardoth, for what she saw defied all explanation.
For it had been Aurelius who had come up from somewhere behind Jennifer and put the Portkey backwards into Severus' cold hand… at the same time that Aurelius was busy killing Malfoy. And it was Aurelius who, after Disapparating, moved Malfoy's body when Ciardoth went over to study where Severus had been.
Jennifer shook her head; trying to understand how she had seen Aurelius coming from different directions when suddenly Aurelius was back again. Ciardoth immediately focused on him as another Aurelius showed up behind Ciardoth at the same time. But this Aurelius had one notably different feature that the other didn't have. He was wearing the Sorting Hat.
As Jennifer craned her head to try and see what the one with the Hat was doing, she was startled by a * pop * right behind her. It was Aurelius… but this one carried a large bronze shield with the image of Medusa's head and surrounded with snakes. It was the Aegis in its true form, and no longer around his neck. Instead, around his neck was a Time-Turner.
"Aurelius, what are you doing here? There's two of you up there! Do you know how dangerous this is?" Jennifer whispered at him.
"Yes I do, that's why I'm here too," Aurelius grinned at her, putting the shield in front of them as he knelt beside her. "And you haven't seen anything yet."
"Well? Give me the Sword!" Ciardoth demanded.
"There's a problem at the mansion. The entire place is swarming with Ministry official, and they're not letting anyone in or out," the Aurelius in front of her explained.
"I do not want to listen to excuses! Get me that Sword!" she boomed, seeming to grow larger. But then she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned just in time to see the other Aurelius stuff the Spear and Cauldron into the Hat and put it back on his head. "What is this?" she shrieked in confusion. But as the two Aureliuses took a step back, six more stepped up to form a circle, each with a wand in hand. The one with the Hat aimed his wand at her, the others following suit. "This is impossible! I do not remember this!"
"Of course you don't," said the one who had the Hat. "We're not in regular time anymore. We're in the Twilight Arc. And this, Ciardoth," the Aurelius with the Hat said as the eight stepped up and joined hands, muttering a spell, "is what you might call a Time Paradox. LUMOS!"
The Aurelius with Jennifer had pulled her down just before Ciardoth was blasted by the simple spell by all sides, but with a force of bomb as each spell, completely synchronized, hit its victim in each one's own true point in time. The Arc itself began to expand and contract, and in the center of it, a rip too dark to be black began to ripple from the top of the Arc to the ground right where Ciardoth stood. She screamed in terror, until at last she was pulled into the crack.
The Aurelius with the Hat suddenly shouted, "Now!" And all the Aureliuses Disapparated out at once. A giant explosion followed as Stonehenge itself seemed to explode, contained only by the Twilight Arc itself.
Debris flew around Jennifer and the remaining Aurelius, and they pulled closer together behind the shield until all that was left was dust and the roar of the blast in Jennifer's ears.
"It's over," Aurelius said at last, sitting up, panting, "she's gone now, gone for good if we're lucky. Man, I could sleep for a week! Guess I should have kept some of that Sleeping Death Potion Father made for myself!"
"Don't bother! I'm going to kill both of you!" Jennifer said, sitting up. "I figured out your Father was still alive when I looked at the ring! You've been planning this all along, haven't you? I can't believe what you put me through! What were you…" she paused then as she stared to see that Stonehenge was still there, looking exactly as it had before it was destroyed, standing up to stare at it.
"Oh…we only destroyed it in the Twilight Arc. It still exists in this time," Aurelius grinned. "You see, we used the Twilight Arc as a barrier to contain the backlash from the Time Paradox I created by being in so many places at once. Since we were all from different times, the Synchronism spell acted to not only magnify the similarities since, of course, I had the same power ability as all the other me's, but it also accentuated the time differences that still exist on a person who jumps through time. This, through the means of the spell… it could have been any spell, really, so I just used a simple light spell… created the paradox that effectively sent Ciardoth out of time herself… perhaps even in AntiTime."
"AntiTime? But that's… well, that's not a real condition! It's just a theoretical place used when coming up with certain numbers in the esoteric study of magical time theory…"
"Well, I guess it's time to write some new theories then," Aurelius grinned, Jennifer shaking her head incredulously and putting her hands on her head, pushing back her hair.
"Aurelius, I know it's going to take a long time before I figure out just what has been going on behind my back all of these months, but I have got to say, what happened here was absolutely astounding," Jennifer stammered.
"Let's just say," Aurelius said, glancing behind her, "I had a good teacher."
Jennifer turned around to see Severus standing there, looking disheveled and sipping on a potion to try to wake himself up but otherwise looking no worse for being spelled countless times by his son.
"Well, I'd like to think you learned one thing out of all of this," Severus said almost casually. "I know I have," he added in a softer tone as he looked at Jennifer, who was shaking her head at him and smiling in relief and exasperation. "I underestimated you utterly."
"Yes, well, you got that right," Jennifer said, brushing off tears. "But I'm much too relieved to even talk about it now! Oh, Severus!" She ran over and fell into his arms, while Aurelius made a play at buffing the Aegis, gazing at his reflection in the mirrored surface thoughtfully at the scratch on his cheek.
"That's what I get for letting him borrow the Aegis long enough to kill him," Aurelius grunted at himself but then smiled slightly, glancing over at where his Father held his Mum befitting a man back from the dead.
Alex had been the first to awaken, finding herself staring into the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. She sat up quickly, startling the Unicorn who took a quick step backwards at the movement.
"Oh!" Alex said in awe as she realized the entire herd was surrounding him, smacking at Alicia beside her until she too began to stir.
"Where are we?" Alicia said, a bit disoriented. But as a white nose poked down towards her face, the details of what happened rushed in, and she too sat up, kicking Zoë accidentally in the process who made such a fuss that soon all of them were awake.
"Unicorns!" Alex said.
"Yes, I think we all know what Unicorns are, Alex," Zack said. "I want to know where Aurelius is! Who cares about them?" A loud neigh directed their attention to a large, heavily scarred Unicorn, and Alex brightened.
"It's Pali! He says they're there to show us home!" Alex said excitedly, turning to the one who had been over her before and petted her mane gently. "Might I ride you, Esta?"
"Riding Unicorns? That's girl stuff!" Zack said indignantly.
"Well, I'm going to run with them," Zoë decided, and immediately turned into a Unicorn while the Snapes gaped openly at her.
"I wish I could do that," Alicia said, getting nudged. At first she thought it was Andrew, but instead it was Jule, Esta's daughter, no longer the frisky filly from last year but now a sleek young mare ready to help. And despite Zack's protest, Andrew had no qualms upon climbing aboard Cody, helpfully pulling the young stallion's hair out of his face so he could see out of both eyes for a change.
"You're going to lag behind if you don't have a mount," Alex pointed out, gesturing to some of the other Unicorns.
"Fine. My sister's not the only one who can show off," Zack said almost indignantly, and a moment later, a rearing young male Unicorn stood in his place. Immediately, Pali neighed again, and the entire herd responded.
Before they knew it, they were racing through trees at an incredible pace, too wrapped up in their personal experiences to realize just how amazing it must have looked to the centaurs they past, or the incredulous looks of Dumbledore and Sagittari standing outside of the hut when they arrived, the three Snapes slipping off completely disoriented as the Unicorns quickly retreated, Zoë and Zack transforming right beside them.
"Never mind, I suppose it won't be necessary to send someone after all," Dumbledore said as Sagittari worriedly ushered them inside.
"We're fine, really! They're the ones acting all goofy!" Zack protested as Sagittari insisted on looking at them as well. "See? This is another reason why not to get involved with any Unicorns," he told his sister.
"Oh indeed yes, I'm sure there are much safer pastimes, like making questionable banners disrespecting school faculty, perhaps?" Dumbledore said. Zack chuckled nervously at that.
"All right, we admit it, what's on our agenda this time?" Zoë sighed.
"Oh, I thought since your parents were actually witness to your antics that perhaps they would decide. In fact, I believe I shall go get them and let the rest of the staff know you're all right," Dumbledore decided, heading out the door as Sagittari escorted Alicia into his office, leaving the rest to relax around the table.
"Doesn't it figure? Our parents get to decide," Zoë grumbled. "That was probably our last great chance at getting expelled before summer."
"Guess we can't do that short of casting Dark magic at one another," Zack muttered, Alex glaring at him.
"Hey! Maybe I can just cast Imperius Curse on you! It worked for Aurelius," Zoë said.
"You dip, it doesn't count unless it's not consented. How long do you think it'd take them to figure out you put me up to it?" Zack asked her.
Suddenly Alex stood straight up and nearly leapt over the table to get to her brother, planting her fist directly in Andrew's eye, who then tumbled on the floor in a heap, while Zoë and Zack rooted them on although neither of them were quite sure what started it. Finally Sagittari came out, managing to pull them apart while Alicia peered out from the doorway, watching them wide-eyed.
"What is this? Having a brawl in my residence? Two students in physical contact?" Sagittari asked.
"And you call yourself a Gryffindor! You got our brother expelled! You vicious little brute!" Alex shouted at Andrew, who put up his hands defensively.
"What? What are you saying?" Alicia said.
"He knew he was going to get spelled! He knew it! The Imperius Curse needs line of sight to work. If Andrew had been following him, he would have been invisible. In fact, he was invisible when we found him. So how did Aurelius get line of sight? Andrew intentionally came out of hiding, that's how! That's also why he didn't fight the spell; because he allowed it! And it didn't come out until all the sudden he made the decision to stay up all night and do the painting to intentionally let it out. Thurspire was closer to the mark than any of us this time! Admit it, Andrew! The spell was consensual!"
"Fine, fine, I admit it," Andrew said, stepping farther back from his sister as she threatened to come at it again. "It shouldn't matter after tonight anyhow if all goes well."
"What's that supposed to mean? Does this have something to do with what happened to us?" Alicia asked as she walked in.
Just then, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Anna came in. Dumbledore blinked in surprise when he saw Andrew's quickly reddening eye as Sagittari handed him a cold press.
"Goodness, are you all right, Andrew?" Dumbledore asked.
"Yes, Professor. I merely tripped and ran into my sister's fist on the way to a partial confession sir."
"I should take note of that," Dumbledore mused. "Confessions may be good for the soul, but they may not be so good for the eyes."
"They may not be too good a pair of rears, either," Sirius said, looking over at the twins. "What is this we're hearing about the two of you intentionally trying to sink your house points all year? And you're under house arrest?"
"They weren't trying to sink the house," Andrew said. "They were trying to get expelled." Sirius and Anna stared at him then turned to look at Zack and Zoë. Fortunately, Sirius was quick enough to keep Zack from giving Andrew a matching set.