Seven Years Chapter 22.
Even though it seemed like a long shot, Merula still approached Professor Binns after her History of Magic class. So great was her desire to learn more of the mysterious Magnus Snyde that she was even willing to go to a ghost for help.
"Professor Binns?" Merula asked, putting on her best, most innocent smile, giving a little wave to catch the ghost's attention. "Could I ask you a question?"
For a second, Merula wasn't sure if the ghost had heard her or not, but then Professor Binns looked down at her, confusion clearly written on his face. "Yes?"
"Hi professor," Merula said, making sure she was alone in the classroom before asking her question. "I was doing… family research, and-"
"The House of Snyde," Professor Binns repeated, his droning voice cutting Merula off before she could finish. "Founded by a Dark Wizard of some notoriety, destroyed in civil war a century ago."
Merula swallowed at the words as Professor Binns looked at her. "And what is it that you want to know?"
"I-" Merula started, pausing for a moment. "Do you know anything about Magnus Snyde?"
"Second Head Auror of Norway during the war against Grindelwald." Professor Binns said, his head turning an angle to look at Merula again. "Attained the position after his predecessor was murdered. He was murdered in his home during the winter of nineteen forty one along with the rest of his family."
Merula paused for a minute, then she looked at Professor Binns again. Somehow, the ghost seemed almost pleased at the fact that Magnus Snyde had been killed, a horrible smile crossing his face in the process, something awful that made Merula afraid, and she backed away from the ghost, breaking into a run out of the classroom.
She didn't stop, not until she had reached the safety of her bed. Then she stopped, panting heavily as she tried to catch her breath.
"Something wrong?" Merula heard Deborah ask, and she jerked up, surprised she didn't even notice the seventh year in the room. Sure, Deborah was boring and was barely taller than Merula herself, but Merula was surprised she could almost disappear into the background without even trying. "You look like you've seen You Know Who."
Merula shook her head quickly, if to assure her roommate, if nothing more. "I- it's just that Binns did something weird."
"What?" Deborah scoffed. "Did he do something interesting for once?"
Merula shook her head. "I was trying to find some information on an ancestor of mine… but he seemed, well…"
"What?" Deborah asked. "I can't read minds. You have to tell me if you want me to know."
"He seemed genuinely happy that my ancestor had been murdered."
"Uhh," Tiffany's voice came in from behind Merula. "You want to run that by me again?"
"Call a ghost doctor," Deborah said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Binns actually managed to spook Merula."
"What did he do?" Tiffany asked, her voice cheerful. "Come through the door rather than the blackboard?"
Merula didn't laugh at the joke, but she appreciated Tiffany trying to light the mood. "I tried to ask Binns about one of my… ancestors, but he seemed…"
"Merula said Binns seemed really enthusiastic about the fact that her ancestor was murdered."
Tiffany's jaw dropped, and she sat down heavily on her bed, rubbing her eyes slowly. "That's disturbing for sure. Who were you looking for? Maybe I could find him in one of our books."
"Magnus Snyde," Merula said. "Joseph Trent said he was Norway's Head Auror for the war against Grindelwald."
Tiffany bit her lip before she turned to Deborah, a hopeful look on her face. "Hey Debs, ring any bells?"
"Nope," Deborah replied, flipping through one of her books. "There's no mention of a Magnus Snyde in any of my books that I can remember… but there is a mention of the Snyde family that I remember."
"What does it say?" Merula perked up, sitting up straight as she looked over to Deborah.
"Nothing good," she replied after a moment of silence, flipping to another page in her book before she continued. "In fact, Merula, do you really want me to read this out loud? There's a lot of nasty things it says the House of Snyde is responsible for."
Merula swallowed as she looked over to Tiffany, who merely shrugged. "Your call, Merula."
"Tell me," Merula forced out through clenched teeth.
"It says here the founder of the House of Snyde was killed while trying to raise an army of Inferni." Deborah said, flipping past another page. "It wasn't technically illegal at the time, given that it was Ten-Sixty-Six, but still..."
"Still not great," Tiffany finished, a wince on her face. "What else is there?"
"Well," Deborah said, pausing mid sentence as she squinted at something on her page. "Pretty standard Dark things but…"
"What is it?" Merula asked.
"There are unproven rumors that the House of Snyde began abducting Muggle born children to supplement their numbers sometime in the 1600s." Deborah read slowly, pausing to give Merula a pitying glance before she continued. "However, given a lack of documentation of the secretive House, as well as the belief that all the supposedly taken children had their memories Obliviated, we do not know the truth of these events."
"What book is that anyways?" Tiffany asked, shivering as she inched away from Merula, as if she was going to attack when Tiffany was asleep. "I mean, that idea is going to give me nightmares. I couldn't imagine being Obviated overnight."
"Issues in Advanced Muggle Studies," Deborah said, holding the leather-bound book up so both Merula and Tiffany could see. "Eighth edition. The Snydes seem to have interfered with the Muggle world quite a bit, but they never left any evidence to prove it."
"Who wrote that?" Merula asked, an idea coming to her mind even as she wondered why any Slytherin would be interested in Muggle Studies. "If they're still alive then…"
"It says…" Deborah paused, flipping through more pages before she stopped once more at the very end of the book, her voice disappointed when she spoke again. "The section on the Snyde family was written by a witch named Alice White, Eighteen-Eighty-Two to Nineteen-Forty-One. Dead as dust I'm afraid. Probably a holdover from an earlier edition anyhow."
"Oh," Merula muttered, disappointed with the answer as she tried to come up with an alternative of any sort. "I… I suppose none of you know any historians, do you?"
"Well…" Tiffany said, her eyes darting over to Deborah as she spoke. "You've met Jenny already, haven't you? You remember her from the trip?"
"The Myers," Deborah muttered, nodding to herself and rubbing her chin. "Probably worth a try, in any case, even if their speciality is legal history."
"Should we go and ask now?" Merula asked.
"No need," Tiffany said with a shrug. "The Myers hold Christmas parties every year. We'll bring you along then. Besides, if half of what Deborah's book says is true, then it's more than anyone can fit into a letter regardless."
Merula sighed. "Is there a picture from somewhere in that book? Maybe this Alice person is a ghost somewhere."
"There is a Muggle photograph," Deborah admitted, flipping the book over to a page toward the front of the book. "But apart from the wand you can't tell her from a Muggle."
Merula grabbed the book and squinted down at the black and white photo, and she agreed with Deborah's statement. The woman that had been Alice White was regal and pretty, in the same vein as Narcissa with pale skin and straight dark hair, but she had worn it in a plain ponytail, along with a loose shirt, dark trousers and long boots, none of which Merula had ever seen Narcissa wear. And as Deborah had pointed out, it was only the woman's long, pale wand on her belt that indicated she was a Witch.
"She's pretty," Tiffany said, having climbed next to Merula to look down at the book. "But there's not much I can tell from the photo. You'll have to ask A.J. for help there. She's really good at finding things."
"Ask me about what?" A.J., as if on cue, stepped into the room, the fact that half her hair was now a bright pink dropping Merula's jaw to the floor.
"The hell did you do to your hair?" Deborah asked from her side of the room.
"Not all of us can be as boring as you, Debs." A.J. shot back. "And for your information, Clarice just confirmed my placement, so if all goes well I'll never have to meet my personal hellhound again."
"Ooh," Tiffany said, glancing over to A.J. as she spoke. "It suits you. You were too dull hanging around you know who."
"I was just trying to blend in," A.J. scoffed, dumping a tall stack of books onto her bedside table. "Now I have no reason to do that anymore. And just what exactly are you reading? Issues in- why are you looking over Deborah's stuff? Tiff, you didn't even take NEWT level Muggle Studies and Merula is too young for this stuff."
"They were trying to find something about Merula's family," Deborah explained from her side of the room. "Lots of Dark Arts things. Kidnapping, cruel curses, blood feuds, the regular."
"Huh," A.J said, her face turning confused as she looked down at the photo of Alice White. "Whoever that is, she doesn't look like a Dark Witch. Almost mistook her for a Muggle until I saw the wand."
"Some lady named Alice White," Deborah said. "They were trying to find out what she looked like."
"Could you take a closer look at this photo?" Tiffany asked. "I dunno, you always were better at reading people from a distance."
"Comes with the territory I suppose," A.J. scoffed, taking the book away from Merula and looking down at it for some time, her fingers tracing down the bottom of the page. "What is it you want to know?"
"Is there anything you can tell about this White lady?" Tiffany asked. "We're looking for information about Merula's family, and she's the one writing about them."
"Alice White," A.J. repeated the name slowly before she frowned. "Yeah, I know about her. She invented Veritaserum during the First World War."
"That's…" Deborah started, exchanging a glance with Tiffany and then Merula.
"Impressive?" Tiffany finished.
"Useless for the topic at hand though," A.J. said with a shake of her head. "I heard the Ministry tried to get her to sell the formula, but it wasn't until the patent ran out that anyone got to brew Veritaserum for themselves."
Merula sighed, slumping down into her bed, annoyed that all she had gotten out of A.J. was useless trivia. "Now what?"
As if one cue, there was a loud, sharp ringing sound from a small alarm clock on A.J. 's nightstand, and Merula jumped up in surprise.
"Relax," A.J. called, slamming the alarm with the back of her hand. "It's just a jinx I have… huh, that's odd."
"What is?" Tiffany asked, climbing off Merula's bed to take a look. "Hermione Granger took out that book? Isn't she just a second year?"
Merula frowned at the mention of Granger, and she climbed off her bed to take a look at the clock. Indeed, the lone hand of the clock had stopped on a book named Most Potente Potions, and the name Hermione Granger was inscribed against the white of the clock's face in deep blue.
"Weird," A.J. said, shaking her head before she looked at Merula. "Merula, keep an eye out for this Granger. If she ends up in the Hospital Wing or in St. Mungos, let us know, yeah?"
"Why would she be in any of those?" Merula asked, realizing too late how hostile she sounded. "I mean, sure… I'll do that."
"Well," A.J. said with a smile. "If in three weeks this Granger hasn't maimed herself, then perhaps I will explain further, but not until then."
And then, much to Merula's frustration, she said nothing more.
AN: There isn't really a definitive date for the invention of Veritaserum, but given that relatively important potions such as Wolfsbane would be invented late 1970s, I felt that the First World War would be a key catalyst for its development, given Wizard participation during the war on both sides.
