Disclaimer: See Chapter One
-CHAPTER SIX-
Professor Raven's Dilemma
The library was still in disarray; Madam Pince's counter was still surrounded by precariously stacked piles of books while the back wall was being spelled with new shelves. They grabbed a free table close to the window, Hermione took a large book on Arithmancy out of her bag while Harry and Ron headed for the section on Divination to reluctantly complete the homework set by Professor Trelawney.
"Ah Morwenna, Moste Potente Potions …trying to recapture those happy memories? You've quite a penchant for books if I remember correctly. I haven't the inclination myself, not picked up a book since I left Hogwarts."
Harry and Ron had walked around the shelves only to find Lucius Malfoy and Professor Raven standing in the aisle just before the section on Divination.
"Reading broadens the mind Lucius, maybe you should try it some time," Professor Raven replied coldly and shutting her book carefully returned it back to the shelf. "Madam Pince has just told me that you are intending to make a donation of rare books to the library, so I guess there will be a few among those that I haven't read,"
"Oh, you'll certainly find my books very interesting my dear, most of them are on potions and charms but I doubt that you would have come across any of them before, these books are all extremely rare and certainly very valuable. I had considered putting them up for auction but they will be put to much better use here at Hogwarts I think."
"That is very generous of you Lucius," Professor Raven replied politely.
"I know, what would this school do without the concerned generosity parents like myself?" Professor Raven didn't answer.
"But I sought you out my dear for a word regarding that item you so desperately would like to make your own…I think that you'll find the price quite reasonable, considering," Lucius said, handing her a scrape of parchment.
"Nine hundred Galleons! How on earth I am going to raise that amount of money by the end of the month?" cried Professor Raven in alarm.
"I'm sorry," Ron said weakly as Lucius Malfoy turned around and glared at him. "But I really need to find a book on Aleuromacy."
"Do I look like a librarian, boy," Lucius hissed with annoyance as he snatched the parchment back from Professor Raven and stuffed it back into a pocket under his cloak.
"It's homework for Professor Trelawney," Harry added glancing at Professor Raven for help.
"I believe the section on Divination is just down the end of this aisle," replied Professor Raven kindly, moving aside so that Ron and Harry could squeeze pass. Harry grabbed a large book at random from the shelf and opening it started to read.
"The Oracle at Delphi- Fact and Fiction," Ron read glancing sideways at the spine of the huge book that was bound in red leather. "I don't think that's going to be a whole lot of use to us Harry."
"Wait a minute," Harry hissed. "I want to find out what Malfoy's is up to."
"Well…I understand that teachers are always claming that their wages are a mere pittance" Lucius Malfoy continued lowering his voice slightly.
"But how can you expect me…" Professor Raven started to protest.
"My dear Morwenna, your family may not be rich but I sure you've got…how I shall put it my dear, somewhat questionable heirlooms you could sell…" Lucius gave Professor Raven a friendly pat on the arm. "I am sure that we can come to an arrangement…" Lucius looked up to catch Harry watching him and the cruel line of his lips curled into a sneer. Harry quickly returned his gaze back to the book that was beginning to feel pretty heavy in his arms.
"I mean Defence Against the Dark Arts is such a highly fascinating and useful subject, I do believe that even Professor Dumbledore at times underestimates it's importance." Lucius leant forward so that Harry had to strain to hear what he was saying. "It would be a shame if you missed the opportunity of procuring that particular item, I would remind you there is a little more than just your interest at sake here Morwenna, do think carefully about my offer, I'll give you until the Hallowe'en Ball to decide. He looked at Professor Raven as if expecting a reply in humble admiration at his generosity but she remained tight lipped and silent. "Oh, my niece, Catharine sends you her love," Lucius added in a mocking tone. Harry guessed that the two women obviously didn't harbour any such feelings of affection for one another, as Professor Raven seemed to stiffen at the name.
"Oh yes, Catharine is about to marry Lord Thornton's son, Edward, you must remember him he was in the year above you and Catharine, a Slytherin and from a pure blooded Wizarding family, she's certainly done well for herself there," he mused. "And here you are Morwenna, so beautiful, talented and your family name still does has some standing in Wizarding Society surely you could have had your pick from the most eligible bachelors. And yet you're still a spinster, now why is that I wonder."
"If I ever marry Mr Malfoy, then it shall be for love, not for money or prestige, you should know that," she answered in a cold, curt voice.
"Noble sentiments, my dear, but then we can't always have what we most desire… can we," Lucius said regarding her shrewdly for a moment with his cold, grey eyes and Harry could tell that Professor Raven found the intensity of Malfoy's gaze uncomfortable. Then he left Professor Raven glanced at Harry and Ron, who were still crouched over the pages of the heavy volume, she smiled weakly at them and then headed towards the small rather pathetic shelve allot to books on the Dark Arts that wasn't locked away in the restricted section.
"So Draco wasn't bluffing then, his father really is going to donate a load of books to the school library," Ron said to Harry, who was more relieved he could finally unburden his aching arms from the weight of the huge volume.
"Blimely though! It must be some book to be worth nine hundred Galleons!" said Ron.
"Lucius Malfoy never actually said it was a book Ron," Harry corrected him.
"Yeah I know, but you heard Malfoy, she's got quite a penchant for books, that means she's fond of them, so if Professor Raven's interested in the item it has to be a book...right?"
"I suppose…you don't think that's why Professor Raven took the amulet because she needed the money?" asked Harry.
"Maybe…anyway it sounded like Malfoy was going to lend her the money," replied Ron.
"Malfoy didn't say he was going to lead her money, just that they would come to an arrangement, that could mean anything…we know Malfoy was a follower of Vol…You-Know-Who and my guess is that he still recruiting."
"You don't think he's trying to get Professor Raven to become a Death Eate? She wouldn't, not after her family were murdered by the...no Harry, that's just ridiculous, however rare or expensive this book is, she couldn't want it so badly that she would join the other side, would she?"
"I don't know Ron, I hope not, I was really starting to like her," Harry sighed darkly.
"Ouch!" there was a cry from the other side of the shelves. "Bloody 'ell" muttered Professor Planchette as a book tumbled off the shelf and hit him upon the head. Harry and Ron made a quick exit from been the shelves and sat back down at their table.
"You don't think Planchette was eavesdropping on the conversation between Malfoy and Professor Raven as well?" asked Ron as he scrabbled through his bag, while Harry repeated what they had heard to Hermione. She seemed more interested in the possibility that Professor Raven was an even more prolific reader of books then herself than the mysterious nine hundred Gallon item.
"I can't be sure," shrugged Harry. "Maybe he'll buy it for her, isn't he meant to be stinking rich and he does seem to really like her."
"Yeah that would be about right, buy her affections," Ron snorted in disgust. "But did you see the way Malfoy was looking at her, I didn't like it one bit. It was exactly like Snape does sometimes when he thinks no one watching, only much worse, like a hungry wolf."
"A hungry wolf?" chuckled Harry at the ridiculous mental picture Ron's obvious jealously had conjured up in his head, suddenly he found his mood lightened.
"But you don't like the way anyone looks at Professor Raven, Ron," Hermione pointed out, rather curtly. "And we are still pretty much in the dark as regarding about the Amulet of Sekhmet. I've looked it up in nearly every book in the library although Planchette seems to have taken out all the good ones…"
"What have you found out?" Harry asked trying to sound encouraging; he knew how much Hermione hated not knowing the facts.
"Well, as I surmised from the name the Amulet of Sekhmet is Ancient Egyptian in origin…hang on..." Hermione flicked open a book on Egyptian mythology. "Ah, here she is…" she pointed to a page with inked illustrations of various deities.
"Sekhmet is portrayed as a woman with the head of a lion, often with a sun disc on her head. She's regarded as the daughter of the sun god Ra and she was thought to be powerful sorcerer and healer. While Ra who is most commonly represented as a falcon with…"
"Okay, quit the mythology lesson Hermione and tell us about the amulet," pleaded Ron. She looked at him for a moment, arching her eyebrows irritated, then sighed.
"Well not a lot most books just mention it in passing, that the amulet is Egyptian and my guess it is a protection charm of some sort…there's a photograph of it here," said Hermione grabbing yet another book and flicking through the pages.
Harry looked down at the page; there was a line of text as Hermione had said and below that a small coloured photograph. The amulet was displayed upon rich black velvet and looked quite impressive. It looked as if it was crafted from gold, the main body of the amulet was in the shape of a disk, like the sun set with what Harry guessed was a ruby the size of his fist. From the disk there were feathered golden wings that arched upwards meeting at the tips in a small hoop through which was threaded a thong of leather.
"Do you think..." Harry looked up from the photograph, his voice was hushed and serious, "...that Professor Raven might have taken the amulet hoping it would protect her from those that practice dark magic?"
"You mean Death Eaters," gulped Ron.
"Yes…maybe she took it to protect herself from the Death Eaters who killed her family" added Hermione.
"But she wasn't there, how could she know who they were?" protested Ron, who was beginning to sound quite worried.
"I know, but maybe she wanted it for protection when she discovered the identity of the ones that killed her family. I know that if those evil bastards killed my family then no matter how long it took I would want their deaths avenged."
"Yes," Harry said quietly.
As Harry, Hermione and Ron left the library and started to make their way towards the greenhouses they spotted Neville and Seamus talking to Lucy Featherstone, who had what appeared to be a large thick sketch pad tucked under her arm. Neville saw them and waved cheerily , beckoning Harry, Ron and Hermione over.
"Wel,l if you don't like it," Seamus suddenly, raised his voice as his fellow Gryffindors approached, "you can go back to Malfoy's group."
"Hello," said Neville, the look of bewilderment he had just given Seamus was still evident on his face while Lucy looked equally perplexed and upset.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry as he dumped his heavy school bag down for a moment, Seamus folded his arms sulky refusing to explain or look Lucy in the eye.
"I was just saying that it is stupid to call our Fire Devil Godric…" Lucy said haughtily.
"I suggested Godric and it's not a stupid name," Seamus retorted with a snort. "I suppose you want us to change it to Salazar."
"No, Draco's called his Thorny Devil that and I never said Godric was a stupid name only that it is stupid to call our Thorny Devil that considering that it's a girl, Hagrid told me when I went to feed them this morning."
"Lucy's got a valid point Seamus," said Hermione giving Lucy a friendly smile.
"Well, I might have known you would stick up for her," snapped Seamus snatching up his bag and storming off across the lawn in the direction of the greenhouses, Neville shrugged his shoulders apologetically at Lucy and then quickly followed Seamus.
"I don't need anyone to stick up for me Finnigan!" Lucy shouted back angrily. Seamus didn't bother to answer but seemed to stumble and Harry could have sworn he saw Lucy's hand fumbling under her robe.
"I don't know what's got into him," Harry sighed but Lucy said nothing, still watching Seamus and Neville, quietly seething.
"We've got Herbology," said Hermione. "But next lesson with Hagrid we'll try and come up with a more appropriate name for our Thorny Devil, okay?"
"Whatever," replied Lucy suddenly sounding pretty indifferent on the matter, she watched Seamus and Neville disappear behind the first greenhouse before picking up her bag and hurrying to join a group of Slytherins heading towards the castle.
It was several days before they were all trouping down the lawns towards Hagrid's hut. He greeted them standing at the foot of the steps with an excited grin and a large pile of wooden planks under his arm.
"Come on yer lot, we've only got an hour and there's so much to do," said Hagrid as his ushered the class around the side of the hut towards the pumpkin patch where the reason for his eagerness be came apparent. There, at the far edge of a roughly tilled patch of soil that was now covered in stringy, twisting vines and enormous orange pumpkins stood the beginnings of what Harry guess must have been a hutch. The ramshackle structure, a hazarded construction of wood and chicken wire was huge and would have accommodated several horses quiet easily. Harry gave a worrying glance at Hagrid who just beamed back proudly at his handy work as he let the planks of wood fall to the ground with a thud next to the crate of Thorny Devils which chirped impatiently to be let out.
"Er, Hagrid..." Harry asked when Hagrid handed his group their log book. "Exactly how big do these Thorny Devils grow?"
"Oh, as big as a Winged Newt I reckon, which are about the size of a beagle but there no harm in giving them plenty of space to run around in, eh?"
"Er, no, of course not," Harry nodded with relieve, the visions of seven fully grown Thorny Devils the size of a small car having to be fed lorry loads of double cream a day to keep them happy thankful vanish from his mind.
"Right after you've made a note of yer devils development and done a sketch, I want yer to take it for a brisk walk, they've been cooped up today and need a bit of exercise." Hagrid draggled seven red velvet leads each attached with a collar sporting tiny silver bells.
"Ohhh, they're so cute," approved Lavender.
"Pathetic," Draco muttered, to Pansy as he gave his Salazar a kick with his shoe. The Thorny Devil hissed angrily up at him baring its long pointed teeth, Draco took a step back, Hagrid may have told them that Thorny Devils were in nature as placid as kittens but even a kitten could give you a nasty bite if provoked.
Seamus was still sulking that the group had renamed their Thorny Devil Millie, Lucy's suggestion, when Harry and Ron gently fastened the collar with its shiny, tinkling bell around her neck. Hermione was quick to point out to Seamus that he had no grounds upon which to grumble as he hadn't come up with a suitable name, Seamus just shrugged a grabbed the lead out of Harry's hand and stormed off towards the paddock, Millie trotting along happily at his heels. Hermione gestured for them to hurry, and Ron to follow after him while she settled down on the sun warmed grass beside Lucy who was now busy with the large sketch pad that she always carried with her. Hermione glanced over; Lucy's drawing of Millie was amazing, so life-like it was obvious that she had talent. The breeze blew the pages of the book to reveal several more exquisitely pencilled pictures, one of Hagrid standing with Fang snoozing at his feet and another of a smiling boy that Hermione instantly reckoned as Seamus. Lucy must have caught Hermione looking at the drawing out of the corner of her eyes as she suddenly blushed and covered up the sketches with her arm.
"They're really good," said Hermione with a friendly smile. "I love that one of Hagrid and Fang."
"Er…thank you," replied Lucy nervously, she must have been wondering if Hermione had seen the picture of Seamus as well and was just not mentioning it to save her even more embarrassment. "I was considering having it framed, there must be somewhere in Hogmeade that will do that sort of thing, it would make a nice present for Hagrid at Christmas."
"Oh yes, Hagrid would love it, that is such a kind thought," Lucy went red then looked at Hermione with a quiet unexpectedly serious expression.
"I am sorry...I was so awful to you all in the first year," Lucy said quietly. "But I've come to realise that the likes of Pansy and Millicent aren't special or clever, they're just plain nasty, I prefer the new friends I've made in Ravenclaw…"
"Wel,l you've now got at least one in Gryffindor," Hermione returned. "And I think that you should sketch Millie for the cover of our project book."
"Maybe," Lucy replied with a shrug as the boys came back from the walk around the paddock with the tiny Millie surprisingly still bounding along merrily. The Thorny Devil pounced upon Hermione's lap its long blue tongue licking at her fingers.
"Lively little thing, isn't she?" Ron grinned flopping down beside Lucy and unfastened the lead. Hermione couldn't help but observed that although Lucy greeted Ron with a smile she looked past him to give Seamus a quick, furtive glance. Hermione frowned, she was sure that Seamus had seen Lucy looking at him but he acted as if he hadn't noticed or was pretending he wasn't bothered. Lucy sighed and gave Millie a pat on the head just before she leap from Hermione's arms and hurried, her tiny bell jingling, towards the dustbin lid sized dish of double cream that Hagrid had just placed upon the grass. Hermione looked at Lucy, she was quite pretty with her long golden hair and bright blue eyes, she had been gracious enough to apologise for her behaviour in the first year and Hermione had to admit she was warming to her. Hermione smiled and glanced over to where Seamus was now playfully whipping Harry on the legs with the red velvet lead, she had made her mind up, a little matchmaking so called for and she was the one who was going to do it.
TBC...
R&R!AN: Thankyou again for your kind reviews!