Chapter Fourteen
Haunting Charm
Andrew and Halbert ran down the stairs and then slid through the main corridor, knowing full well that with all the company that Filch would have waxed them. He barked their names as they scrambled for the corner, feeling the crackle of his wand on their backsides before they made it all the way around.
"That was close!" Halbert said as the two of them entered the Great Hall. Suddenly they felt a strange sensation on their faces and reached up to touch them, feeling something leathery there. "Masks!" Halbert declared, and the two of them stopped to look in an oval stand-up mirror that had been placed nearby. They were plain and black, and it was still very obvious whom they were, but Andrew didn't mind, looking around excitedly and noticing that everyone else was wearing them too.
"Well, that's fun! I wonder who set that up?" Andrew said.
"Professor Dumbledore did," someone said behind them, and Andrew and Halbert looked around to see Ginger Davidson wearing a gold trimmed white dress and a gold mask. "I heard Professor Sprout tell my grandmother that it was the most unassuming way he could think of to allow Professor Delacour to come to the ball."
"Your grandmother's already here?" Andrew asked.
"Yes, they arrived a few minutes ago," Ginger said, "and they hired the band for us! Tainted Brew!"
"One hit wonder. Doubt I've heard them on Wizard Wireless more than once all summer," Andrew commented, Ginger glowering at him.
"Better than none at all like the Four Winds," Ginger retorted. "So, are you here to dance, or just eat?"
"Food?" Andrew said brightly. "Where's the table?"
As Andrew headed to find the refreshments, Halbert stood looking slightly torn, finally deciding that his stomach was the safer option. But as he walked over to the table he heard his name called. Recognizing it at once, Halbert barreled through the crowd like a locomotive and into his father's waiting arms, hugging him excitedly while his mother attempted to fuss and straighten his hair to no avail.
Andrew didn't realize his friend wasn't behind him until he got to the table, getting his punch and smiling widely as he saw the family reunion above the heads of everyone else, pausing to get another cup for his friend. But as he started back, someone bumped into him, causing both the drinks to spill all over his robes.
"Vatch vere you going, Snape! Stop tripping over dose big feets of yours," Eigil sneered.
"Don't worry, we'll help you clean up," Garret offered, standing on the other side of him threateningly.
"Thanks, I can manage myself," Andrew said, but they grabbed his arms.
"No, no ve insist. Ve vouldn't vant you to disgrace your brother or anything," Eigil said, dragging him off towards the bathroom.
Alicia felt her mask thoughtfully and looked around, smiling when she recognized Janus Craw over to one corner of the room telling ghosts stories to some of the students. A round of screams and giggles had indicated the end of another of the stories, and Alicia hurried to his side before he started another one.
"Ah, there's my date! Looking radiant as always, Alicia!" Janus said, bowing stiffly while she curtsied with a grin.
"Already having fun, I see, and the party hasn't technically even started yet!"
"It has now that you are here," he said graciously, nodding to her as she laughed.
"Are all my ancestors as charming as you are?" Alicia teased.
"Oh, not all, perhaps, but the charisma has always been there," he smiled cordially. "We are without a doubt a family many people love to hate. I hear the Snapes have always had a similar problem."
"Good thing I don't plan to marry in the family then," Alicia teased, putting her arm up and feeling only cold tingling air as his see-through hand touched hers. But Alicia had had practice from last year on how to dance with ghosts, and she learned very quickly there was one distinct difference that had helped her dancing dramatically; she didn't have to worry about stepping on anyone's feet. "Where do you suppose Zack, Zoë and Peeves are?" she asked, Janus glancing around in response.
"With any luck, they'll be late," he said dryly, not really caring for the overzealous poltergeist. But Alicia couldn't help but wonder if they were up to something.
Coming in the back of the Great Hall, Severus Snape was wondering the same thing as he scanned the crowd while Jennifer was busy greeting Hermione and Danny and commenting on each other's dresses. It was then that Dumbledore, Alvin, Rolanda and Hans came up to them. Dumbledore was wearing an almost comical owl mask, his classes still sitting sandwiched between it and the tip of his nose. Rolanda elbowed her husband, and Alvin looked slightly sheepish, greeting Jennifer with a quick handshake as Severus walked over to them.
"I'm so glad you all could come!" Jennifer said enthusiastically, offering her hand to Hans next. "Welcome Hans! How do you like the castle?"
"It is very… big," Hans said with a weak smile. "How do you get around this place without getting lost?"
"It takes awhile," Jennifer admitted with a grin. "Come, let me get you something," she insisted, and Severus watched thoughtfully as she walked the dark wizard over to the refreshments as if they were old friends.
Rolanda had met up and put her head together with Danny and Hermione, discussed something and then all three ran out of the room. Hagrid and Olympe walked up with Halbert in tow and Dumbledore excused herself to greet them.
"Your wife looks amazing tonight, Severus," Alvin commented, shaking his head with a smile. "I don't know how you keep her in check. I swear every eye is on her tonight."
"Yes, perhaps it would be a lot easier on me if I knew it'd stay that way," Severus said dryly. Alvin raised an eyebrow at that, looking at his glass a moment.
"Severus, about those reports in the Oracle…"
"She looks no different in private than in public," Severus said irritably.
"Ah, not those…no, that was obviously meant as something to rile Jennifer personally," Alvin said with a thin smile. "Severus, there's no truth in the idea that her potion might have caused that woman's death, is there?"
"No, Alvin. Jennifer may not have been acting responsibly when she went to confirm Baylor's death that night, but I am certain this wasn't a botched potion. It was murder," Severus said in a low voice.
"So the very Ladle that had once killed an entire royal family was the same that was turned against you that night?" Hans asked with interest as he took a cup from Jennifer.
"Yes, and if it hadn't been for Dumbledore's quick thinking, it would have worked," Jennifer said, taking a sip of the punch and leading him to the far corner of the room away from the students to sit down. "Against both me and my youngest daughter…she's around here somewhere…oh, over there, dancing with one of my ancestors if you can believe it."
"I can. The Craws are as legendary a family here and in Ireland as my own is back in Germany…or should I say was, since my brother and I are the last. So many prestigious lines coming to an end these days…the blood gets thinner every year as more and more marry outside the lines. The end of an era is upon us, Jennifer. And I have little hope for the one following it."
"Perhaps you would, if you had children of your own," Jennifer said, and Hans looked out into the students again, his eyes resting on Alex who was talking very excitedly to several others of the older students.
"Tell me, have any of your children gotten involved with anyone other than a wizardborn?" Hans asked.
"No, of course not," Jennifer said with surprise. "In fact, our eldest was dating a Platt until last year."
"Oh, yes, I heard about that," Hans said. "Well, to each his own, although many think the Platts are hardly any better considering their history."
"Didn't bother me, but then with Mallus Craw in my background, there's little that could."
"What about a Malfoy?"
"A Malfoy would bother me," Jennifer admitted with a chuckle, glancing at her drink. "So, about your study on Consequential Curses…"
"Ah, yes?"
"That includes revenge curses, I would assume?"
"Most especially revenge curses," he nodded. "You and I could both name Dark families with a rivalry going back generations. One would cast a curse on the family…it could not be readily countered and so what happens? They suffer, and then turn that suffering into an either bigger curse and so on until one finally wipes out the other. The longer the curse before it runs its course, the more devastating it is, and the more devastating the next one may become, and the harder they become to be stopped."
"So the power of the curse is directly dependent on the power of the suffering? What about, hypothetically speaking, one that may only last one generation, but is a revenge curse cast on the energy of a strong consequential death curse?"
"How long did someone suffer the consequential death curse?" he asked in a low voice. Jennifer shrugged.
"I don't know, it's just an example. Ten years, perhaps?"
"Type of death spell that finishes the consequential event?"
"Oh, pick one. How about Wasting Death," Jennifer shrugged.
"That can only be cast by a very strong dark wizard indeed," Hans mused, then shrugged. "And to go against such a strong force to begin with and be able to turn it around would take such an immense amount of power that I seriously doubt it can be stopped, well, short of death, of course. Death ends most curses, oddly enough," he said with a dry smile.
"Yes, I suppose there is always that," Jennifer murmured, and then looked out in the room as she suddenly noticed the room had gotten very quiet.
That was when her eyes followed everyone else's and she growled deep in her throat as a lithe figure in a silver mask and a white satin gown appeared on the dais; the dress covered with a thin platinum silk that sparkled like starlight as it clung to the contours of her figure.
As Fleur stepped over to hug Olympe and Hagrid, Alvin eagerly went over as well, only to be stopped by the strong grip of Rolanda, chiding him to wait his turn.
"Excuse me, Jennifer, although I have been enjoying our conversation, it is time for me to be cordial and greet some of your other guests," Hans decided and got up.
Standing in a fury, Jennifer watched as he oozed over in that direction and kissed Fleur's hand. She folded her arms as the music started, wondering if the woman would dare to dance considering her condition. Mask or no mask, there could be no doubt now that nothing was going to stop her from commanding the entire room. Just then a hand appeared in front of her face and Jennifer looked over to see Severus standing there, his gaze fixed upon her.
"Care for a dance, Mrs. Snape?" Severus asked.
Slowly she took his hand and he led her out, his eyes not leaving hers for an instant. Suddenly, as it always did, the room seemed to melt away, the pain that was beginning to throb in her shoulder and ankle as the potion began to wear off left again on its own, and nothing seemed to exist; even the music sounded far and distant as Severus' stiff and yet graceful style carried her across the floor. Had she looked up, she might have been very surprised to find the attention of the room had drifted again and even Fleur herself, dancing with Professor Dumbledore just a few steps away, sighed wistfully.
"What I would give, Professor, for once in my life to have a man look at me like that instead of… of like that!" Fleur said, gesturing at the rest of the room with frustration.
"I think you will one day, Fleur," Dumbledore smiled. "Do you know, I think you're one of the wisest people I have ever met? You are definitely one of the best judges of people I know."
"Not out of choice, Professor. I have had to be," Fleur said with resignation.
"No, everyone has a choice, and I've always believed it's our choices that determine our destinies. You've chosen a very hard path for yourself, but it will be well worth it, I think, in the end," Dumbledore smiled at her.
"I tried the easy way, Professor, and I did not care for it very much," Fleur said sighed.
"Which gets back to why I think you're one of the wisest people I've met," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling merrily.
"Well, it's too bad there are not more people like you who are immune to the likes of me to choose from," Fleur chuckled.
"I never claimed to be immune, Fleur," Dumbledore protested. "In point of fact, I can't remember the last time I had so much curl in my beard." Fleur laughed at him and shook her head as he gracefully handed her over to her next admirer.
"Andrew?" Halbert had looked all over the Great Hall for his friend, glancing at Jocelyn and Aurelius on the dance floor before seeing Eigil, Meyers and Heph standing in the corner, sneering at him with such a look of pure wickedness that Halbert knew his friend was in trouble. "Where is Andrew?"
"How would we know, Owlbear?" Meyers sneered. "Probably somewhere trying to elongate his finger long enough to pick that enormous nose of his." Growling at them, Halbert hurried out of the Great Hall, looking around for a moment before heading to the nearest bathroom.
"Andrew?"
"Up here," Andrew said, his voice sounding strange. Halbert looked up to see his best friend hanging upside down with his feet glued to the ceiling and his body wrapped in tons of toilet paper, with some wadded in his nose as well, his face very red from hanging there. "Would you mind getting me down, please? I'm really not feeling so well."
"Eigil did this, didn't he? He and that gang of his!" Halbert said hotly as he took out his wand and released him. Despite his attempt to try to catch him, they both ended up on the ground. "He could have truly hurt you doing that! Why didn't you fight him? Where is your wand?"
"In there," Andrew nodded glumly to one of the stalls as he tried to work the toilet paper off of himself. Halbert took a moment to look in, and then he closed the door again, looking at Andrew. "Yeah. I don't want to get it out either."
Growling angrily, Halbert went back to the Great Hall, despite Andrew calling after him. He stormed over to Eigil's corner, but immediately some of the other boys got between them.
"You are going to pay for this, Eigil!" Halbert snarled.
"Pay for vut?" Eigil said.
"For what you did to Andrew! These practical jokes of yours are going too far! If you don't stop ganging up on him I swear I'm going to…"
"Vut? Send some of your stupid pets after me? Go ahead. Ve'll have a barbeque!" Eigil taunted him. Furiously, Halbert reached for his wand, but just at that moment, Aurelius and Jocelyn noticed that something was up and came over.
"Don't do it, Halbert," Aurelius warned him as he came up behind him. "What is going on, Hauk?"
"Not'ing. Ve vere here just minding our own business vhen dis fat kid shows up and starts making accusations."
"Rel, he hung your brother up in the bathroom. And I do not want to talk about what they did to his wand," Halbert said.
"Where is he?" Aurelius asked sharply, glancing around. Just then, Andrew appeared at the doorway looking much worse for wear, not really looking as if he wanted to go in but was worried about his friend. Immediately, Aurelius went over, Halbert making a face at Eigil before following behind him. "What happened?"
"Oh, just Eigil again," Andrew said noncommittally.
"They had paper in his nose," Halbert went on angrily. "And he was turning colors!"
"Halbert, I get the picture. Andrew, you're a Snape. Why didn't you just blast the daylights out of him?" Aurelius murmured. "He may be a brute, but I know you've got at least twice his punch with the wand. I know, I'm in his Defense class, remember? And he's no Arithmantic Time and Space Coordinator, believe me."
"I don't want to cause any trouble," Andrew said.
"Andrew, I hope you're merely not doing this because you're afraid it'll cause trouble for me, because honestly, it's more trouble for me knowing about it going on at all. I know you don't like to fight, but this isn't going to stop until you do. I can threaten Eigil until I'm blue in the face, but if he finds an opportunity, he'll take it. You stood up to him once," Aurelius said.
"That was different. I was merely trying to teach him a lesson, then," Andrew said.
"Well, what's the difference now?" Aurelius asked impatiently. Andrew shrugged.
"I don't think beating him again is going to teach him anything, that's all," Andrew said.
"Halbert, see if you can talk to him before this gets any farther than it already has!" Aurelius sighed with exasperation before returning to the corner, Jocelyn raising an eyebrow at him questioningly. "Hauk, I'm only telling you this one more time. You bother any of my family again, and I swear I'm taking it straight to Snape, house member or not, and I promise you he will not be happy to hear what's been going on. Come on Jocelyn," Aurelius said. Jocelyn gave Eigil and his friends her famous freezing look before joining him.
Zack had turned up about the same time the pies and cakes were due out, smiling ear to ear despite the fact he was already covered with them.
"We were checking how things were coming in the kitchen," he grinned at Zoë. Behind him floated Peeves, who was mocking Zack behind his back and making faces.
"And you are warning me about getting Gryffindor into trouble again?" Zoë glared at him.
"Well you…" he paused as he noticed Dumbledore and Madam Archibald danced by.
"Oh, there you are, Zack! I see Peeves has been testing the pies! What would you recommend?"
"Well, the butterscotch gets extra points for distance thrown without falling apart, but honestly, as a matter of taste, I'd go with the lemon."
"Oh, wonderful, I do love a good lemon pie, thank you Zack!" Dumbledore said brightly as they danced back towards the center. Zack shrugged when she glared at him.
"Are you going to help me or not?" Zoë said.
"I think you'd better leave it alone, Zoë. He hasn't caused any trouble while he's been here," Zack said. "And it's not like you ever have to go back there."
"But my friends are there, Zack," Zoë said. "If you're not going to help me for my sake, then at least help me for theirs."
"I don't even know them!" Zack protested, but Zoë frowned. Sighing, Zack looked over to where Severus and Jennifer were still dancing then back again. "They're staying for the game, aren't they? Maybe we can come up with something for that."
"I knew you'd give in eventually!" Zoë beamed, hugging him, but already Zack wondered how much trouble they were going to get into this time.
