A/N – hooray! I have two new readers! Spread the word, because this fic is GOING PLACES.
Of course, in a few days HBP will come out and people will have gotten the Harry Potter fix they've been waiting for since they finished OotP.
For the record? Kincaid is a guy, haha.
And now you may enjoy the next chapter of…
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New
Beginnings and Old Wounds
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Chapter 14 – Putting Heads Together
The next available moment – which occurred several days later, what with all the schoolwork Nora kept postponing while trying to map out the bloodlines of the second-years – found the Inter-House Alliance sitting around the same secluded table in the library that they had utilized at their first meeting. Madam Pince had excitedly fallen for their genealogy-gift excuse; it seemed that she herself had given her parents a family tree for one of their anniversaries, though she had merely owled all her relatives for the names of their ancestors.
"It never occurred to me to use some other kind of magical means, but I'm sure they exist, and this is the place to find them," she said, leading them through the towering shelves and finally withdrawing about ten books.
"Here, how about this one," said Nora, with her finger pointing to a line of 51 Ways to Find Out Your Bloodline. "It says here that Glinderweed only affects half-bloods…oh, but it causes them to have nosebleeds, we don't want that, do we?"
"Leave a bookmark," said Vin darkly. "When we've found nothing else and the attacks keep coming, I think a little nosebleed won't seem so bad."
"You guys, I've found something!" said Pallas, looking stricken. "It's about the same Mundrings that are used to cast the Black Slumber…apparently they can sniff out bloodlines perfectly. In the past, they were used when a mother didn't know for sure who her baby's father was. It not only could tell if the baby was pureblooded or half-blooded, it could tell exactly who the man was."
"But they're extinct, aren't they?" asked Nick.
"Oh…that's right, they are," said Pallas, her face falling.
"But still, what if someone's gotten hold of one?" Morag demanded. She had fit in perfectly into their ranks, and was known for coming up with situations that none of the others could have dreamed one. "Just because the Ministry of Magic thinks it's extinct, doesn't mean that some family or other's managed to keep one under wraps. There's got to be a black market somewhere that's gotten tons of money for selling one of these rare beasts to a family like the Malfoys' – sorry, Vin," she added apologetically at the end.
"Don't worry about it," said Vin, unperturbed.
"Well, so what?" said Nick. "So what if there's still a Mundring or two out there somewhere, it's not like we're going to get hold of it any time soon to do our dirty work for us."
"No," said Kincaid out of nowhere – he had not spoken since they had begun their research, deeply involved in whatever he was reading – "But if the Preservatists have got one, that explains how they know who's a half wizard, half Muggle."
They sat in awestruck silence. "But what exactly does a Mundring look like?" asked Morag. "You'd think we'd notice it trolling about the castle…"
Pallas supplied, "It's kind of like a badger" just as Vin said, "I'm not so sure about that. The attacks have only come at night, in the dormitories. During the day it could hide anywhere."
"Especially because…well, Mundrings are capable of invisibility, guys. It was in that book my mum sent me." Pallas looked upset that it was she who had to break this news to her friends.
"Well…" said Nick uneasily. "Any idea where we can get some Glinderweed? Hope you don't mind a bit of a nosebleed, Morag and Nora," he said apologetically.
Just then, a girl their age appeared from behind a bookshelf and, seeing them congregated there, stopped in her tracks. She was about to turn away and leave, but Nora recognized her. "Hey, Amanda!" she called with a wave. "Would you like to join us?"
"Erm…no thanks," said Amanda Eilmann with a scared look on her face, and hurried away.
"What are you thinking?" Pallas hissed. "She'll see what we're doing and get suspicious!"
"We could have told her that same genealogy bit," said Nora, annoyed, "And whatever happened to going out of our way to be nice to her?"
"As you can see, it fell short," said Nick. "She just doesn't want friends, Nora."
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying," said Nora. "We'll keep trying?"
The rest of the Inter-House Alliance murmured its assent.
"Okay then. I don't know about you all, but I'm rather tired, I think I'm going to turn in," said Nora, yawning and pulling on her waist-length red hair.
"Me too," said Morag and Nick at the same time.
"And me," Pallas and Vin said together – then they exchanged glances and blushed. Nora raised one eyebrow but said nothing.
"I'm going to stay and read up on Glinderweed," said Kincaid. "See if there's a way we can obtain it from Sprout somehow, you know…or else I'll ask my parents to send some, say I've run out of it in my potions ingredients." And he stood and strode into one of the bookshelves, his head down, probably in search of 1001 Magical Herbs and Fungi. Nora felt a tug at her heartstrings, to see him so committed to their cause that he was giving up sleep for it.
"Well, goodnight everyone," said Nora, 'everyone' being Nick and Pallas, as Vin and Morag were headed to the same place she was.
"What are you lot doing up so late?" demanded a portrait of a harassed-looking Asian wizard.
"It's not late," Morag protested. "It's just ten thirty."
"Well, in Japan it's much later, I guess that's where I got confused, " said the wizard grumpily. "Going from portrait to portrait between time zones is no cup of tea, let me tell you. If you ever get more than one done of you, make sure they all stay between the same two meridian lines, eh?"
"Duly noted, for future reference," said Vin with a minor salute.
"Plus that dratted messenger came through here while I was dozing last night, and I'm a light sleeper, right? So he wakes me up, and before I can even yell at him he's gone off into the next portrait."
"What messenger?" asked Morag.
"I'm sure you've seen him before," said the Asian wizard, playing idly with the collar of his robe. "He runs messages for all the portraits. He's the reason that Blair Rostrom and Alain Keeling got married, you know. Ferried all the love notes from secret admirers, and then the two correspondents decided to meet one day, right over in that meadow off of the west wing. They asked Dumbledore – this was back when he was still Head – to have a home painted for them. Now they live together on the fourth floor."
A young witch in a portrait nearby was gazing at the Asian wizard raptly, her eyes misty. "Well, if that isn't the sweetest thing you've ever heard," she said, wiping her eyes.
"I'm sure it'll happen for you too, Wanda," said the Asian wizard kindly.
"Thank you, Hattori," she said, blowing her nose into an enormous embroidered handkerchief.
The three of them walked away, stifling laughter.
"Remember, Vin," said Morag in an odd, low voice, "Never let a portrait of yourself leave the time zone!" She and Vin burst out laughing as they rounded a corner.
"He was only trying to give us some advice," Nora objected. "It's obvious it was taking a toll on him. And who knows, maybe we will need to use it someday."
"That's the right idea, girl," said the portrait of an obese woman from right behind them, making them all jump. "As for you two," the woman said sternly to Vin and Morag, "You ought listen to Hattori Katsumata a bit more closely. He's a brilliant, brilliant man."
"How'd you know what we were talking about?" Morag asked, affronted.
"We're portraits, we hear nearly everything from each other. We're the eyes and ears of this school, don't you realize?" The woman changed her position on her couch with dignity. "Many a time, a student's life has been saved because of a portrait."
"So…you know to keep a look out for danger?" asked Nora, fit to burst. They had the perfect lookouts!
"Yes, of course," said the obese witch. "Well, there are a few places we can't see – wherever there's no portrait. But everywhere else is covered, I mean really, we're not about to let atrocities take place right underneath our frames," she said with poise.
"That's wonderful," said Nora earnestly, "I feel really safe knowing I've always got you all on my side."
The witch beamed at her. "Well, it's nice to finally see some gratitude, I can tell you that," she said. "Now off to bed with you."
"What was that about?" Vin whispered as they left the overweight woman's portrait.
"It means we've got sentries deployed all over the school, ready to report at the slightest sign of danger," said Nora. "We've got to get an idea of how our enemy moves, don't we? And if the portraits have never detected anything, then that means that either it's invisible, or it only uses passages without portraits in them, or it moves at night, when the portraits are asleep."
"Not all portraits sleep," Morag pointed out. "I mean, look at that Hattori guy, he's probably traveled so much that he's awake whenever the others are asleep and vice versa."
"And what about Ivan the Insomniac, up on the sixth floor?" asked Vin. "Bloke hasn't slept in centuries."
"All right, all right," said Nora impatiently, "But the enemy could also know that, and stay away from hallways that have portraits who don't sleep at night. Still, you get my point, don't you?"
"And what do we do with this information?" asked Morag.
"How about we get some portraits into the places that aren't covered?" said Nora. "We could probably convince them ourselves that the view's better somewhere else. Just take some out of a hallway that's got a whole row of them and put them where they're needed."
"Don't you think that might be a bit suspicious?" Vin frowned.
"Ooh, you know what we can do!" said Morag, positively writhing with pleasure at her forthcoming idea. "We can get together a ton of those girls like the Sandys and their likes, the ones who are always complaining about how musty and gloomy is, and – I don't know – found some sort of club, call it Beautify Hogwarts, and get them to take on the project of adding some pretty pictures to the boring ugly hallways! They'd totally go for it!"
"You know, I really wouldn't be surprised if it would work," said Nora, impressed. "Morag, take twenty points to Gryffindor."
Morag flushed. "Well, it's all to stop attacks on half-bloods, right? That's the important thing."
"Yes. Little by little, I think we're getting there, we're definitely thinking the right way," said Nora, satisfied. "But now we really should get back to Gryffindor Tower, before Filch or Norris find us."
"Yeah, after that Beautify Hogwarts plan, I'm sure even Morag's imagination's fresh out of excuses," Vin sniggered as they quietly made their way to the Fat Lady.
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A/N – Okay, that chapter definitely got away from me. I wasn't even planning the portrait thing, it just sort of happened, and as a result, Hermione/Harry/Ron's meeting will have to wait for the next chapter. But still, isn't it getting better? I promise it will be AMAZING later.
And now for your listening pleasure, to the tune of "I'd Give My All" by Mariah Carey –
I'm thinking of youuuuuu
In my sleepless solitude tonight
Waiting for a revieeeew
So I know I'm doing something right
Because without you sending me reviews I might just not wriiiiiiiiite
I'd give my alllllll to haaaaave just one review from you
I'd risk my liiiiife to feeeeel the happiness I do
When I check my maaaaaaaail and I see
That someone liked my fic eeeeenough to revieeeew
So pleeeeease revieeeeeew!
(RIDICULOUSLY HIGH SUPERSONIC NOTE) lol
Till next time.
Love,
Nay