Chapter Four

Unfortunate Surprises

Lucius Malfoy sat in the crumbling house, apparently oblivious to his filthy, dreary surroundings as he stared into a chipped mirror. Within it, he could see the clear image of Jennifer sitting in a red Victorian study with a stack of books at her side, going through them one by one.

"That's right, keep looking," he murmured with a faint smile. "You'll have no more luck finding a solution to your curse than I did to mine." A long shadow came up behind him, but Lucius didn't flinch or look around.

"I see all is going according to plan," Ciardoth said coolly.

"So it would seem," Lucius said, opening up a black-rimmed gold watch and gazing at it. "Of course the real test will come when they enter Hogwarts."

"I assure you, your surveillance will remain completely undetected," Ciardoth said with a thin smile. "Perhaps it's time we focused on your next target?"

"And what about yours?" Lucius asked quietly.

"Oh, I have just as intense a desire of seeing my quarry suffer as you have yours," she said toyingly. "It's in my best interest for you to have your way before your final hour returns again. And then once he is destroyed, everything else will follow my own destruction," she said contentedly. "Death can be such a release from suffering, but I'm sure you see that now."

"Yes, which is one of the reasons I intend to let her live as long as possible, and tortured to the point that it follows her in the afterlife," Lucius said, his eyes filling up with hatred as he glanced in the woman in the glass again.

"I have no doubt that she will be," Ciardoth assured him. "But now, who will be the next to suffer?" Lucius softly murmured a name to her.


The days before school flew quickly by as Severus worked busily in the lab restocking the last of the potions depleted over the summer and Jennifer spent long hours in the library, pouring over medical books and countercurses. The children, however, were quite used to their parents' distracted behaviors, and as those who had jobs finished for the summer they found distractions of their own to fill in the time. Just before Jennifer's birthday, Aurelius' best friend Stock came to dinner, and Aurelius used the opportunity to model off his new robes.

"What do you think?" he asked him, putting on his brand new deep green dress robes. "Think I'm commanding enough?"

"Well, it complements your eyes," Stock smirked.

"Oh come on, now, you're the one who used to dress like a million galleons. You can give me a decent opinion," Aurelius said annoyed.

"My opinion is that you're going to need more than the top line of clothing if you're going to try and fill Xavier's shoes," Stock said. "It isn't going to make a difference what you're wearing if you can't get anyone to listen to you."

Aurelius began by giving him a dirty look, but it suddenly relaxed turning to one of relative surprise.

"Damn, you've changed, Stock." Stock looked thoughtful for a moment, then merely shrugged at him with a smile.

"I love this new style for the robes this year though. Maybe I have enough saved to buy one of my own. And you have three of them! Did all your siblings get them as well?"

"Just me," Aurelius said proudly, glancing at himself in the mirror again. "Everyone got the new vests though, of course. Mum just didn't think it was necessary for everyone to get new robes just because the styles changed. Theirs were all newer than mine were."

"Not to mention you can't go around looking like a ragamuffin when you're now representing the whole House," Stock said with a grin. "And I bet you didn't need the new dress robe."

"Well, Mum insisted the moment she saw the color. What did you expect me to do, complain about it?" Aurelius said, holding his chin up in the mirror attempting to mimic the way Xavier used to hold his.

"I think it makes you look taller," Stock commented.

"Really?" Aurelius said, deciding he liked them even more.

Just then, Alex was passing by the door to show her mother that she finally finished the last of her summer homework when she caught sight of her brother.

"Well, don't you look like a peacock!" Alexandria exclaimed, Aurelius glaring at her. "Nobody told me you got new dress robes too! Why, those even have tailored cuffs!"

"Draping sleeves on robes are out this year, didn't you know?" Stock said.

"Well of course I knew, but really, who cares? It's just a fad, it'll pass before the end of the year," Alex said indignantly. "I should insist on a new dress. After all you got all new things!"

"I grew out of mine, you didn't. Besides, you must have ten dresses in your closet that you've only worn once," Aurelius pointed out.

"Well, some of those dresses weren't meant to be worn more than once!" Alex said, walking over to his closet curiously. "Three new robes? I can understand one, but three? And new shoes?"

"Those aren't new. I got them from Toby's last year, and they don't fit," Aurelius sighed with a frown, turning back to the mirror. "They're still too big for me."

"And what's with all the ties? I swear, this one almost looks like spidersilk!"

"It is," Aurelius said calmly. "It's the only way they can get the grey that shade of platinum. Now, if you don't mind, Stock and I are busy."

"Just how much did Mother spend on you, anyhow?" Alexandria frowned.

"What's wrong with you, Alexandria, don't you want your brother to look his best this year? I'd think you'd be a lot more supportive," Stock scolded her. "Especially considering what he went through to make Slytherin Prefect."

"What?" Alex said, going pale and staring at her brother. Aurelius stared back at her, then rolled his eyes with exasperation.

"Oh, don't tell me they didn't tell you yet!" Aurelius said. "Honestly! They've had all summer to do it."

"You're putting me on!" Alexandria shouted at him. "That's not funny, Aurelius!"

"I'm not putting you on, and I'm not the one who mentioned it anyhow, Stock did!" Aurelius said.

"Well, don't put the blame on me, I didn't know she didn't know," Stock said defensively.

"I didn't know she didn't know either," Aurelius admitted.

"But you didn't tell me on purpose!" Alexandria bellowed again accusingly.

"Because Mum and Dad told me not to," Aurelius said firmly. "Take it up with them!"

"Mother!" Alex screamed, turning to walk out the door. But the ruckus had already attracted attention from downstairs, and Jennifer came in.

"What in stars is all of this fuss about?" Jennifer asked with a frown.

"Oh, Mother, how could you? First he ends up getting all of these new expensive robes…" Alex said gesturing dramatically to her brother.

"Alexandria, he'd grown out of them all. You're done growing," Jennifer said. "And besides, it's nice to get a new dress robe now and then, and you must admit he looks fantastic…"

"…And spidersilk ties? Mum, he has dozens, don't tell me outgrew those! You're giving him special treatment because he's going to be a Prefect, admit it!" Alexandria flailed.

"Oh. Um," Jennifer began, giving Aurelius a dirty look.

"Sorry, Professor. I didn't know you hadn't told her yet," Stock offered quickly.

Just then, Alicia and Andrew peered in, followed by Severus, who frowned at the scene. It only took a glance at Alexandria's furious watering eyes to figure out what had happened.

"Oh," he said simply, glancing at Jennifer.

"We heard Alexandria screaming all the way from the lab! What is going on?" Alicia asked.

"We've been planning to talk to you about it, but things just kept coming up," Jennifer admitted sheepishly, "Yes, well, I suppose that's no excuse and it's time to correct it. Children, Aurelius has been chosen to be the next Slytherin Prefect."

"Awesome!" Alicia said enthusiastically.

"At least it's not Eigil Hauk!" Andrew grinned cheerfully. "Congratulations, Rel! You deserve it!"

"He deserved it? I deserved it!" Alex barked. "First the Defense thing, and now this!"

"Alexandria, even if I had been comfortable with the idea of appointing my daughter as a Prefect, I still would have picked Mandria," Jennifer said, Alexandria staring at her in response. "She is a lot more responsible than you are both in her dedication to her schoolwork and in her behavior, and I would have made the same decision even if you hadn't been my daughter." Alexandria stopped her shouting and stared at her mother, clenching her fists.

"How could you? I never want to talk to you again!" she declared, stomping to her room and slamming the door behind her. Jennifer sighed loudly.

"That was a bit harsh, I suppose," she said, gazing apologetically at Stock over the scene.

"Perhaps it would have been easier if you had told her that last year," Severus mused. Jennifer glared at him.

"Spare me the 'I told you so,'" Jennifer retorted.

"Anyone want to take odds on how long Alex will actually last not speaking to Mum?" Andrew said. Severus nudged him and frowned disapprovingly.

"Considering they're leaving for the school tomorrow, I'd say two weeks," Aurelius said calmly.

"I simply can't leave it like this," Jennifer sighed.

"I doubt she'll listen to you at the moment. I believe I'll go have a word with her," Severus said. "I suggest the two of you get ready for dinner and leave your brother to get ready himself, because I dare think he's not going to want to try and eat in that."

"Oh no, dinner!" Jennifer said, bolting back towards the kitchen as the rest of them vacated the room. Aurelius closed the door behind them, taking out one of his daily robes to wear.

"You know, I've decided that if I ever have kids, I'm definitely going to have more than one," Stock said. "Your family is a lot more dynamic than mine."

"Stock, with all due respect, I think you are absolutely insane," Aurelius said, finally breaking into a grin when Stock couldn't help but laugh.

Alex was already sitting at the table when the two of them came downstairs wearing a face of someone who had drank sour milk, the other two siblings attempting to cheer her up by getting her to talk about the prestige of her going back to school after having a Ministry job. But she wasn't the only grumpy one. As Stock and Aurelius went through the living room, the two of them noticed Thomas sitting at a desk in the back, constantly running his fingers through his hair and glaring at the paperwork in front of him.

"Broken equipment, left and right! This business is costing me more than I get out of it!" Thomas complained in a loud voice to Jennifer, who sighed at him from where she was setting up the dining room. "Not that the scrolls didn't leave me a decent nest egg, but this gold mine is eating its way into it every month!"

"Did you say gold mine?" Stock said, suddenly interested. Aurelius rolled his eyes, wondering why he didn't see it coming as Stock walked over to Thomas's side, curiously picking up one of the sheets beside him. "Oh, you're using Diamond Edge Mining Equipment, I see. So you've Dwarven employees?"

"Dwarves?" Thomas repeated in a loud voice, his face horrified, Jennifer frowned and took a few steps over to the doorway, wondering if she should intervene. "Not in my business. I only employ wizards who have passed strenuous background tests," he said haughtily, Jennifer rolling her eyes behind him.

"Oh, well, that's the problem then," Stock said, Thomas squinting dangerously.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You know, why don't we sit down? Dinner's almost ready," Jennifer suggested quickly, but Stock stood his ground.

"The equipment is too heavy for your crew," he explained. "Diamond Edge caters to mostly Dwarven and Goblin teams; they're not properly adapted to Wizard engineers. We ran into the same problem with the Superstition mine when the locals started noticing how many little people were coming into town and the local government recommended we change our work force. Boy that compensation pay hurt, but not so much as the fact we had to change equipment. I mean, wizards can use them effectively with strength potions, but the down time positively ruins productivity. Fortunately for you, I know just the company you're looking for..." Stock said, grabbing the quill in front of him and finding a scrap piece of paper. "Here are the specifics. Oh, and another thing, whatever you do, don't sell the equipment back to the company you bought it from; they'll never make it worth your while. You're much more likely to get a more decent price for it if you check into one of the local Dwarf companies…not Goblins, mind you, Dwarves, they'll be glad to take it off your hands, and since they can fix anything you've broken, they won't over-haggle the price. Since this is heavier equipment than the wizards will need, selling the equipment should cover a lot of what it's going to cost to switch to the lighter version, and what's more important, your repair bills will fall dramatically over the next few months and it'll save you a lot of money."

"Really," Thomas mused thoughtfully, glancing at the numbers. "But how much would they be willing to pay?"

"I tell you what. Give me a list of your inventory and their current condition, and I'll itemize it all for you and Owl it to you before we head off to Hogwarts in two weeks."

"And what do you expect out of this?" Thomas said suspiciously.

"Nostalgia," Stock said with a sigh, Thomas raising an eyebrow at that as he sized the boy up. "I miss the mine, and all the fun I had going over the numbers every month! At least I know you're not going to let it fall into the wrong hands like I did, especially not Malfoy's," he added. Thomas gazed at the boy for a long time, ignoring Jennifer's constant call to come to dinner.

"Fine. But I'm going to pay you," Thomas said.

"Fine. I'll send you a salary bid once I've determined how much work will be involved and how much you can afford to pay me," Stock said with a nod then headed to the table. Thomas raised his eyebrows and then looked at Aurelius, who was shaking his head disapprovingly, but Thomas got up and walked over to him, putting five galleons in his hand.

"Thanks!" Aurelius said with surprise, "but what's that for?"

"Having a friend that just might save me a whole lot of money, of course," Thomas said, heading to the table himself. Aurelius glanced at his grandfather, then at the coins in his hand. Shrugging, he pocketed it.


After a modest birthday breakfast for Jennifer, she and Severus were soon on their way back to school. Jennifer seemed much more at ease about leaving the children with their grandfather this year, and whatever had been bothering her seemed to lessen as she eagerly looked forward to reaching the safety and security of the school. But Severus was quite preoccupied with something else, and he couldn't help but be a it grateful that his wife was too consumed with her own thoughts to look too closely at his own. As they headed up the steps, Hermione Weasley met them at the door, beaming warmly at them and giving Jennifer a hug.

"It's so good to see you! Did you have a good summer?"

"Fair. And you?" Severus said.

"Oh, fabulous! Joanie is getting so big, and she talks nearly as much as Alex does," Hermione chuckled.

"Oh, no! We sympathize," Jennifer laughed.

"Honestly, it's really hard to believe she's almost out of primary school. But anyhow, I hope you don't mind me not staying around too long. I've a new teacher to get settled," Hermione said, turning inside. "Oh, and Dumbledore would like to see you in his office as soon as you can manage it."

"What's the rush? Has there been trouble here?" Jennifer said anxiously.

"Um, no, not exactly," Hermione said, giving her a quick smile before turning back around. "Really, I do need to be going."

"So, who's the new Transfiguration teacher?" Jennifer asked curiously before Hermione got too far up the hall.

"I'm sure Dumbledore will mention that," Hermione said quickly, immediately turning the first corner she came to.

"How odd! Why in the world doesn't she want to talk about the new teacher?" Jennifer asked glancing at Severus who was looking the other way. "And why don't you want to either?"

"Perhaps we should go ahead and see Dumbledore," Severus suggested. "We can go through our things later."

"Good idea," Jennifer said. "But first I'm going to be polite and greet the new staff member," she added stubbornly, heading towards the Transfiguration room. Taking a deep breath, Severus took a quick swig on a potion, quite sure now what to expect as he reluctantly followed his wife. He stood several feet back and watched as Jennifer peered in the doorway and saw Hermione standing next to the slender but voluptuous platinum blonde whose laughter rang like bells as she responded to something the Deputy Headmaster had said.

"Oh, no," Jennifer murmured, backing out of view instead of going in. "No, no, no, there is no way…" immediately she turned and bolted towards the stairs, causing Severus to have to jog to catch up, ignoring his call for her to slow down. She took the stairs by two, all of the staircases falling conveniently in line for her to run straight up to Dumbledore's office, and upon reaching it started banging on the doors.

As they opened, Jennifer saw Dumbledore sitting calmly behind his desk and quite obviously expecting what was about to happen, and Jennifer's face reddened in annoyance when she realized he had closed the doors just so she could have the satisfaction of banging on it.

"Have you absolutely lost your mind?" Jennifer barked at him as she descended on the desk.

"It's possible," Dumbledore mused calmly. "I have been accused of it before, you know. Close the door again would you please, Severus?" Severus sighed and did as he was asked, but decided to stand near the door in case of an emergency.

"What were you thinking, hiring something like that to teach? Have you thought about all the consequences?"

"I assure you, Jennifer, I have, and I think you also know better than nearly anyone that I pride myself in being an Equal Opportunity Employer, regardless of what species or family they may have in their background," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, but this could be dangerous. You know what kind of effect she has on people!"

"There are only three days of the month she can't control it, Jennifer, she is only part Veela after all…"

"Yes, the three days when she's in heat! That's three days where our staff and students are in jeopardy!" Jennifer snapped. But suddenly Dumbledore got a completely amused look on his face.

"Do you know, I remember having this exact same conversation with another member of my staff once before, only in that case it was a werewolf. Do you happen to remember that conversation, Severus?" Dumbledore said. Grimacing, Severus nodded. "Now, Jennifer, if my most trusted head of security wasn't capable of persuading me out of a 'dangerous and life threatening' man to join my staff, do you really think that I would consider going back on hiring someone who would merely risk an embarrassing situation now and again, raise tempers, and perhaps promote a bit of character growth in some of students? Of course I do respect your opinion, as I respect all of those in staff who are in favor of the idea…"

"None of them are in the same position I am in!" Jennifer said, gritting her teeth softly.

"Yes, I suppose that is true with one exception," Dumbledore said gently, glancing up. "Severus, what's your opinion on our new staff member? Any objections?"

"None professionally, sir, although I haven't actually seen her recent work to judge. From what little I recall she was one of Beauxbatons best students, as I'm sure Jennifer could attest to," he said, Jennifer glowering at him. "As for the other problem, there is a fairly simple anti-charm potion that helps minimize the effect, and I'm quite sure that our school Potion Master would be delighted to keep in stock to prevent any… personal complications."

"Well, then it sounds as if the problem is solved!" Dumbledore said, smiling broadly. "And I for one am looking forward to this school year."

"Well, that's lovely, isn't that lovely? I think I'm going to go to the lab," Jennifer muttered, still grumbling to herself as Severus quickly moved to hold the door for her. Dumbledore smiled and winked at him as she left, but Severus merely sighed and followed behind her.

For the next two weeks, Jennifer spent nearly every waking moment in the lab, only stopping to eat when Severus insisted, then usually having a quick meal of sandwiches before getting back to her simmering cauldrons. Even up to the last day when Severus had long finished the last of his syllabi and turned in all of his paperwork, he wandered in to find quite a number of cauldrons still on racks around the room.

"What are you doing? This isn't like you. You're usually done within the first week," Severus said, stirring the nearest cauldron.

"I was, this is just some other stuff I'm working on," Jennifer said distractedly.

"This is the Inconvincible Draught," Severus said decidedly as he tasted it with his finger, glancing at the row of purpling anti-charm potions. "But why did you make four whole cauldrons of it?"

"I thought some of the other staff might like some too… Professor Vector comes to mind, you know how he feels about women in general."

"Or even females in his class for that matter," Severus sneered. "'They're mostly addle brained cotton heads with no sense of numeric value,' as I recall him saying on numerous occasions."

"Exactly, and some of the others expressed interest as well. Besides that, I thought it would be wise to keep on hand for student emergencies…"

"Jennifer, really, I do understand your concern, but don't you think you may be exaggerating the problem just a bit?"

"No, I do not. I have no intention of having an entire classroom of love sick puppies blowing up the lab every time I end up with students just out of Transfiguration class," Jennifer said.

"A little extra discipline wouldn't hurt," Severus said expressionlessly. As Jennifer looked up to give him a dirty look for that, the cauldron in front of her suddenly bubbled up and she jumped back as one of the bubbles burst and sprayed her hand with the liquid. "Well, don't just stand there, stir it and turn it down so it doesn't over-boil!" he scolded her. But Jennifer merely stared at her hand a moment then ran in her office, shutting the door behind her.

Blinking at her in bewilderment, Severus hurried over and stirred the cauldron, taking a moment afterwards to tap his wand against the cauldrons on that side to lower them a bit. He raised his eyebrows and frowned as he glanced into each one in turn, his bewilderment growing with every one. At last, Jennifer stepped out again, peering at him with an embarrassed expression.

"Didn't have any healing potion on me," she explained.

"Well you could have at least gotten the cauldrons under control. I had some on me," Severus said with exasperation. "At any rate, what are these, exactly? At first I thought they were healing potions, but they have such bizarre smells, and this one actually smells sweet instead of bitter."

"Oh, those are just experiments of mine, actually, and you're right, they're based on a basic healing potion," Jennifer agreed.

"An experiment? Couldn't it have waited for the weekend? It's only an hour away from the feast now," Severus said.

"Oh, please don't take that tone with me, it's all very simple really," Jennifer said, pausing to look them over. "You see, I knew I was going to be waiting on the Inconvincible Draughts anyway, so I thought I would save some time and do both!"

"You know even after all of these years, I can say without a doubt there are definitely some times I can't understand you. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing," he added. Jennifer smiled softly at him. "All right, these are about done, aren't they? Why don't I set these draughts to cool while you collect your samples and we can head out of here?"

"Good idea," Jennifer said, but then paused, glancing around. As Severus went to extinguish the fires under the draughts, she got into her desk, pulling out a pair of heavy gloves and putting them on before grabbing her test phials. Severus turned and raised an eyebrow at her again, and Jennifer caught the look after putting one of the phials on the rack. "Didn't want to get burned again. I suppose I should have been wearing them in the first place," she explained, ladling another sample.

"Jennifer, I don't think you've worn those things since you were pregnant. At least I know that's not the problem. At least, it had better not be," Severus squinted at her.

"Honestly, Severus," Jennifer said, shaking her head at him. "When would I have had the time? As if you ever let me leave your sight unless you know exactly where I am."

"If I had my way you would never leave me sight," he said softly, coming up behind her as she put the last of phials away, allowing her to turn into him, jumping from surprise. "Jennifer, I would have to be blind not to see how on edge you are about this whole Delacour thing, but I want to assure you, there's no reason to be. There are binds that tie us together that no charm could ever discount completely… not even the strongest memory charm could do that," he said softly, gazing at her steadily as a smile finally crept across her face. "Besides, her skin is much to pale, and I don't really care for the way her nose sits on her face, nor do I have much interest in such bland hair color…"

"Severus," Jennifer chuckled, cutting him off and putting her arms around him. "Thank you." Severus leaned down and kissed her gently, gazing into her eyes again.

"So," Severus said. "Do you suppose anyone would notice if we skipped the Sorting Ceremony?"

"Severus! You know very well they would!" Jennifer laughed, tossing the gloves aside as she turned to leave.

"Well perhaps we can just sneak out early then," Severus suggested wickedly, following closely behind.