Remus and David had decided to teach their classes together for the first week so as to help David who had not taught before. David was certainly glad he was not alone as the day progressed and he found that teaching was extremely tiring. Their third lesson of the day was with the overexcited Gryffindor first years who were extremely boisterous. They were teaching the older students how to detect whether a person was under the influence of a spell, but for the first years all they could do was to impress upon them the need to get their friends checked out if they started acting out of character. Hopefully they could catch Parkinson, or whoever was behind the earlier attack, red handed and put an end to the danger, but as Alastor Moody kept saying 'constant vigilance' was very important.
After supper Remus went looking for David. He had not had a chance to talk to him about the botched initiation and he wanted to find out what the 'grandfather' reference was all about. Unfortunately David was not to be found. If he was in his quarters he made no effort to answer the door. In the end Remus cast a spell on the door to alert him when it was opened. The alert sounded at shortly after ten o'clock. Remus stepped out into the corridor to go to call on David but changed his mind when he saw what had triggered the spell; Severus was walking down the hall from David's quarters towards his own.
"Off to see you 'friend?'" Severus insinuated. "He won't answer. I tired him out so he was fast asleep when I left." He stalked off leaving a stunned Remus wondering whether he had been seeing things or if Severus Snape had actually winked at him.
Neither David nor Severus gave any indication that they were anything other than colleagues over the next few days. Both publicly avoided each other as they had over the summer. Remus did not know what to make of this since he observed Severus leaving David's rooms on several occasions. Thinking back over the time since David had arrived he realised he could have been in Severus's company very often.
The general consensus of the student body was that their new DADA professors were a great improvement on their previous ones. Those that remembered Professor Lupin welcomed him back; even the Slytherins who distrusted him as a werewolf grudgingly admitted that he was a good and fair teacher. It helped that Draco Malfoy made his support for Lupin well known. Most of the students were ambivalent about Professor David until the third years had a lesson on vampires and discovered that he used what the muggle aware students referred to as a 'film' to show them images and sounds of vampires interacting. The students who had attended muggle primary schools were accustomed to educational films but it came as a shock to most of the purebloods. Professor David became very popular for his innovation. Watching films was so much nicer than reading books.
On the Wednesday Professor David went to France to visit the accident scene and conduct his own mini-investigation. The students who had DADA that day and had been looking forward to meeting their new teacher were very disappointed with his unexplained absence. David's investigation did not lead him to any conclusions. He conducted it with Lord Hapstaff as one of the duties of a zia house was to protect the monarchy and avenge their deaths when necessary. It was a custom grew from their roles in Roman times but it had become a formality in recent years. As it was neither of them knew enough about how muggle cars worked to be able to find anything useful, but the task had to be seen to be done. It did not turn out to be completely pointless since it gave the last two remaining ruling zias in Britain a change to meet and get to know each other. Hapstaff was highly impressed by Crimson's intelligence and magical prowess and Crimson noted that Hapstaff was well meaning but essentially lazy.
The state funeral for Diana, Princess of Wales, was scheduled for the 6th of September, the first Saturday of term. This made things much easier for Albus and David who had been invited to attend. Severus had declined after much thought since he did not want to be associated with the Crimson House at this stage. Albus had also managed to get an invitation for Minerva whom he was grooming to take over from him so that he could retire. As blasphemous as using a funeral to promote oneself was, that was the way things had been and probably always would be done among the rich, famous and powerful.
The Ministry arranged a car for Albus and Minerva but David declined their offer of transport. He left immediately after classes on Friday, not even staying for supper, to take part in the all night vigil over the princess's body along with Lord Hapstaff, the Bishop of London and the Sub-dean of the Chapels Royal. The next morning both zias were grateful for the potions which enabled them to stay awake for the funeral itself.
Neither Albus nor Minerva connected the curly haired young man they saw in the wizards' section with their colleague. The young man was expertly dressed as a muggle unlike many of the other wizards in the reception area who were being checked over by exasperated Ministry officials who were trying to make them presentable. Albus sighed slightly. Many people seemed to take it as a mark of pureblood pride that they could not pass as a muggle without assistance. Albus noted that the young man sat with Lord Hapstaff and wondered to Minerva whether he was one of Hapstaff's grandchildren, although he would have thought Hapstaff would have insisted he be educated at Hogwarts if he was.
After the ceremony in Westminster Abbey the princess's body was taken north by road, meanwhile her close family departed to catch the royal train for the same destination. The funeral guests were ushered into different reception rooms by a very efficient crew of stewards. Those who were purely muggle were in one and the magical guests were in another with the ruling statesmen who were aware of the two worlds able to move between the two. Now that the funeral was over the business of the day could begin, that after all was the real motivation that most of the guests had for being there.
David found himself a partially concealed seat and watched in disgust. The conversations which drifted towards him were about policies on goblin welfare and the need for greater ties between France's and Bolivia's wizarding communities, nothing was said of the tragedy that had brought caused the meeting. The only concession to the occasion was that everyone was still wearing muggle clothing. David knew that he should be joining in and looking out for the interests of Britain's wizarding population but he could not bring himself to do so. Hapstaff had been doing that for years and David was quite happy to let him continue a bit longer. For the present he could hide behind a façade of inexperience. It would mean people would write him off as a non-entity but having them underestimate him could be useful in the future in any case.
Albus was busy ensuring that Minerva was introduced to the right people, but being a noticing sort of person he saw the young man sitting by himself and realised he was close to tears. Albus discretely had a word with one of his ex-students who was serving drinks and suggested she might discretely check if the wizard was alright, under the guise of providing him with a drink.
"He was a bit upset," Ellen Cook confided quietly to her former headmaster about ten minutes later. "This was the first funeral he had been to, although he only has one relative left alive. His adoptive parents were killed in a car crash and since he never got to say good bye to them this affected him badly. I also think he's a bit shy and is terrified of having to talk to important people."
"Who is he?" asked Albus.
"He said his name was Scarlet, no wait a moment that wasn't it, Crimson, that was it," she replied. She looked at Albus in horror, "Oh Sir, you don't think he's Lord Crimson do you? And I just went up to him and talked like he was my little brother?"
"Yes I think so," said Albus. "Thank you for your help Ellen." Seeing that Minerva was deep in conversation with the delegate from China, Albus quietly excused himself and walked across the room.
David saw Albus coming towards him and pulled himself together. Ellen had found him a mild calming draft which had helped; apparently all the wizarding stewards were carrying them although he imagined not many people would have required one. At one time he believed it had been in vogue to need a potion to get over the emotions of the event since that showed that you really cared. David found the idea of such deception even worse than the uncaring attitudes he had observed. He stood up as it became obvious that Albus was coming to speak to him and not just walking in his general direction.
"Good afternoon, Professor," David said.
Albus noted the golden cat insignia embroidered on the teenager's jacket and the crimson trim to his tie. "Good afternoon my lord," he said in reply. "I have been wanting to thank you for your efforts to ensure Sirius Black had a trial."
"No thanks are required," David assured him. "The zia houses champion the cause of justice. I am embarrassed that he did not receive on before, I simply corrected that oversight. Unfortunately I do not believe it was an isolated incident. I am also particularly concerned by the practice of keeping prisoners in Azkaban while awaiting trial. Close proximity to dementors can have long reaching consequences even over as short a time as a week and at least some of those remanded will be proved innocent."
"I am in accord with your views," said Albus. "I will take them further and say that the Ministry's alliance with the dementors troubles me greatly."
"I agree that their alliance is worrisome. The dementors would have rebelled and joined Voldemort had he not asked them to wait."
Albus looked at David appraisingly. The young man, who looked nearer thirteen than seventeen, appeared well informed and yet still used Voldemort's name where most refused to utter it. He had thought it was only spoken among his own circle at his own suggestion. Lord Crimson also appeared to have his own sources of information. The request from Voldemort that the dementors wait had not been publicised. Fudge had disbelieved it and the only others who knew of it were the Death Eaters and Albus, through his spy. Albus wondered whether Voldemort had succeeded in his quest to have a zia lord under his control, although surely such a servant would refer to him as the Dark Lord.
David saw the trend in Albus's thoughts. "I am a zia lord," he assured him. "I am sworn to work in the best interests of the wizarding community, and I don't believe that lies in them being terrorized, tortured or killed, by either a dark lord or their own government. What happened to Sirius was not justice and I have dealt with that. What Voldemort has done and still plans to do is also unjust and I have plans in motion to destroy him." He spoke with quiet confidence not arrogance and Albus was impressed despite his earlier misgivings. "Discrimination based on disability or race is against the laws of muggle Britain and it should not be tolerated in wizarding Britain either."
There was no time for Albus to pursue the conversation since the stewards had been herding people away to take their seats for lunch and had reached their corner of the room. Being currently out of favour with the Ministry, Albus was not seated anywhere near Lord Crimson. He saw that the teenager scowled for a moment before masking his emotions when he was directed to a seat next to the Minister for Magic. It would appear that Fudge wanted to cultivate the new zia lord and that the zia himself already had his own opinion of Fudge.
Albus hoped to get a chance to talk to the young man again since he wanted to ask him where he was studying. His maternal family had all attended Hogwarts since the Middle Ages and he was surprised that the newest member had not. As it was the zia was caught up by various dignitaries and he did not get the chance. Albus was surprised that he did not see his DADA professor anywhere. When he questioned her, Minerva said she had not spotted him either, but she pointed out that he wore muggle clothing all summer and never actually specified whether he was a wizarding or muggle guest. He had been a recluse from the Wizarding World so it was possible that he had lived as a muggle for a while. Given his interest in defence it was plausible that he had been connected with the princess in a security capacity, particularly since he had been involved in the investigation into the crash. David's request for Severus's help also suggested he could be part of the staff rather than a guest.
As they were driven through London in a Ministry car towards a convenient floo point for their return to Hogwarts, Albus and Minerva compared notes on the day. They touched briefly on the actual funeral before discussing the business of the day. Minerva related that a Ministry official had hinted at her becoming headmistress sooner rather than later, showing that the efforts to remove Albus from all his public positions were still continuing. Albus took the news philosophically and commented that he would have been left off the guest list had they managed to take away his Order of Merlin (First Class) which entitled him to attend.
The professors in the know, Albus, Minerva, Severus, Remus and David, had kept a discrete eye on Hermione Granger and Pansy Parkinson since the beginning of term, but they had noticed nothing suspicious until the second Saturday of term. Gryffindor House held their quidditch team trials during the morning so Ron did not spend that time with his girlfriend. When he did not see her during lunch he assumed she had been working in the library and lost track of the time and so went to find her after he had eaten. A black cat followed him. Ron was unable to find Hermione in the library, the common room or any of her other favourite study corners. He had just finished checking the disused classroom they tended to practice spells in when he noticed that he was not alone.
"You can't find Hermione can you?" David asked him.
"No, I've tried everywhere I can think of."
"Don't you have a map which would help?"
"No, Harry had it la… wait, how do you know about the map?"
"I have my sources," said David mysteriously, "but they are obviously mistaken since I thought you should have inherited it. We'll have to find Hermione another way." He raised his wand and sent a stream of silver out as a message to the headmaster. "I have alerted the headmaster; now let's try to find her." He considered for a few moments. "Ron, do you love Hermione?"
Ron went pink. "What's that to do with anything?" he blustered.
"Just a possible solution; I take it you do then?" Ron nodded. "Good, now I want you to close your eyes and concentrate on Hermione, picture her in your mind imagine you are trying to contact her telepathically. Hold that feeling, open your eyes and start walking in a random direction."
Ron did as he was told and found his feet leading him towards the staircases and then down to the first floor and along several corridors. They came to a halt outside a seldom used classroom. As they approached David had been stretching out his senses to find Hermione. He turned to Ron and sent him up to the hospital wing to prepare Madam Pomfrey, before entering the classroom and kneeling beside Hermione who was slumped against one of the walls. He sent a second message to the headmaster who apparated into the room.
"Albus?" called David as he cast a stasis charm over Hermione. "I think she was under the imperious curse. I don't think she'd do this herself." He gestured towards her bloody forearms. "I think she was fighting it."
"Can you make an echo?"
David shook his head. "I don't think the curse is still active, so no." He levitated Hermione onto the stretcher Albus conjured.
"Take her up to Poppy," ordered Albus. "I'll be there shortly."
David neared the hospital wing levitating the stretcher in front of him when he saw Ron Weasley running towards him.
"There's something wrong with Madam Pomfrey," he explained breathlessly. "She seems to be asleep at her desk but I can't wake her up."
"Right," said David. "It seems that I've changed my name to Poppy then. Is there anyone else in the hospital wing?"
"No."
David quickened his pace and soon arrived at his destination with Ron following in his wake. Once he had Hermione lying on one of the beds he sent messages to Albus and Severus who was the backup medic. He then made his way to Poppy's office and having received no reply to his call and knock he opened the door and walked in to find her as Ron described. He shook her shoulder to no reaction. Sighing he levitated her out of the room and onto one of the beds.
David was about to see what was wrong with Poppy when he was startled by a sob from Ron. "Hermione's not dead," he reassured the student. "She's currently in stasis which will give us seven more minutes before we have to heal her. I know what's wrong with her, but I don't know what's wrong with Madam Pomfrey so I need to check her over first."
Albus and Severus walked in as David was dissolving the glow he had formed around Poppy. "She's been drugged," he declared. "I'm not sure by what but I believe she will wake naturally. I could bring her out of it, but that would result in neither of us being of any use to Miss Granger at least for the next few hours. We only have three minutes before the stasis spell ends, so I assume you would like me to attend to Miss Granger? Could you witness her injuries for the investigation before I begin?"
Albus stepped towards the dying girl and performed some diagnostic spells noting that she was beyond the help of conventional healing, while Severus did the same for Poppy. Severus nodded to Albus indicating that David was right in his assessment and then repeated the process with the student so that he could also bear witness to her condition. Both were looking grave as David drew up a chair next to Hermione. He handed Severus a phial of green liquid.
"She is very weak so this healing will drain me. Once I have finished make sure that I drink that, you may have to assist me to do so," requested David. He hovered his hands above Hermione for the second time in three months and a muddy glow enveloped her body as David worked to pull her back from the brink of death.
Albus silently watched the pair while Severus returned to Poppy and attempted to work out exactly what she had been drugged with. He still had not found an answer when Albus called him back to David who was now sitting limply in his chair. Severus realised that David was on the verge of unconsciousness and poured the green potion down his throat. It was over a minute before he spoke.
"Hermione won't wake up for a while," he announced weakly. "It may be a few days."
"What about Poppy?" asked Severus. "I was unable to determine what she had ingested."
"The same I think. I detected no effects on her system other than forced sleep. I don't think we need to worry unless she is not awake by morning."
"Severus, will you rearrange your schedule and look after the hospital wing?" asked Albus, although it was not really a request. "Perhaps you could start by ensuring David gets some rest?"
David raised his head with great effort and looked Severus in the eye, "Severus…"
"David, I hardly think you're going to make it to your quarters without some assistance," said Severus derisively.
"Thank you," murmured David as Severus helped him stand up and then half carried him to the fireplace in Poppy's office and flooed with him to his rooms. "Thank you again for getting me out of there," said David as Severus helped him into bed. "I don't know what I would have done if I had woken up there. At least last time I did so I had lost my memory."
"I will inform Albus that you recover best when in familiar surroundings," said Severus. "And since it appears that I am currently in charge of the health of the inhabitants of Hogwarts I am ordering you to stay in bed until I give you permission to get up."
"Right at this moment I can't argue, but I'm sure I will tomorrow," murmured David half asleep. Severus cast a monitoring charm to alert him when David woke up and flooed back to the hospital wing to look after his other two patients.
David slept for nearly twenty-four hours. Shortly after he awoke Severus entered the room. He explained that as David predicted Poppy woke up without intervention later on Saturday evening. Once she found out what had happened she had told Albus that the sleeping draft had most likely been in the cup of tea she had drunk mid morning. She had left the tea on the desk in her office whilst she attended to a first year who had sprouted rabbit ears. Unfortunately the teachers had been unable to trace who had cursed the first year and hence who might have set up the incident. Hermione had yet to wake so they did not know her side of the story.
Severus handed David one of his revitalicorpus potions after which David had enough strength back to be able to get dressed and walk into his sitting room. Severus ordered some food for David and watched him as he ate.
"Albus, Minerva and I have been discussing ways to keep Miss Granger safe once she recovers. The best they can come up with would be a tracking device so that her location is always known, and then if she goes missing we can easily find her. Unfortunately as she is head-girl it would be difficult to restrict her movements to the extent of always having her accompanied by someone."
"I imagine you suggested she be replaced as head-girl!"
"I did not."
"What? The greasy git did not take the opportunity to suggest that a Gryffindor be demoted? You've gone soft!"
"I may not be your teacher any more, but I am your father so you still owe me your respect."
"Respect is earned," commented David quietly. "I don't know what the world's coming to; you are nice to Hermione and Draco Malfoy vocally supports Remus. Everyone's gone mad!
"I'll have you know Miss Granger is one of my best students."
"She is the best you mean!"
"Very well," said Severus with a mock glare, "I admit; she's the best I've had for a long time. And you should give young Draco another chance. As he's got older he's shown that he's his own person not a carbon copy of his father. It's been very hard for him at home because of that. Lucius keeps up a united front in public but his relationship with his son in private has deteriorated. I've had Cissy contact me several times worried over the situation. Draco should have your support."
"I still say a leopard can't change his spots," said David. "At least I doubt he would try if there was nothing in it for him, but if you insist I will try to ease up on him. But anyway I get the impression you have a different idea for helping Hermione?"
"Yes, although I never expected that I would say this, I think you should make her part of the Crimson Fellowship."
"Wow!"
"Don't deny you haven't been planning on inviting her at some stage anyway."
"I won't, but I've got to be careful. I can't just invite all the people who used to be close to Harry Potter, it would look suspicious."
"My thoughts were that we could make it appear that her talents had caught the attention of the Crimson Lord. Make the whole thing some kind of public ceremony."
"No. Hermione is an extremely clever witch. She would work out who I am; I have to keep her at arms length until I know how she will react to the truth. If things get worse I will consider it. Besides I bet Albus would try to use her to get the Crimson Lord to meet him and that could be disastrous."
"The public knowledge that Miss Granger is part of the Crimson Fellowship is likely to protect her, since any would be assassin would not want to make an enemy of the Crimson House, at least until they have the full support of the Dark Lord. She is an unprotected target as a muggle born witch. Whereas being associated with the Boy-Who-Lived put Miss Granger in danger, being associated with you now should keep her out of it, at least until the Dark Lord returns."
"I'm not convinced. No, I'll leave things as they are for now. Have you discussed this idea with Albus?"
"No, I wanted your reaction first. He is organising a tracking device for her to wear, but I worry that it will be easy for someone to locate and remove."
"Thanks. I'll see if I can come up with anything similar. And of course we could always marry her off to Ron; that would solidify their bond and be superior to the fellowship pendants. It wouldn't be the first time Hogwarts had had married students. I believe there is some ancient rule about them being given a goat by the faculty that could be kept on the quidditch pitch to keep the grass short."