Chapter Twelve

Art Appreciation

When Jennifer carried Seren into the Study for breakfast the next morning, Severus was standing by the Teledim with a note in his hand.

"Is that from Albus?" Jennifer asked brightly.

"Yes, I asked him about that section of rules concerning adding new houses when it first came up. I suppose he must have been at home considering how quick the reply," Severus said, turning and walking over to the table. "He wrote that he'd rather chat with me about it in person, and that he will come back over to spend the holidays here with his sister."

"Oh, is anyone coming with him?" Jennifer asked with interest.

"I believe he would have mentioned if anyone else was coming back, so it is likely just him," Severus replied, sitting down.

"That's a shame, considering Remus and his family haven't seen the girls yet, and I wonder how Lunette is doing considering we haven't heard anything from her at all since she left," Jennifer said.

"True, but since she wasn't due back for another year and a half, so you'll simply have to content yourself with Albus. He'll get to see Serendipity and Samantha for the first time, too..."

"Won't that be exciting," Jennifer said brightly.

"So what are your plans today? More research on the Sorting Hat?" Severus asked.

"A bit, Severus, but today I have to give Rus and Quintin their Truth Seeker lesson at lunch, and supervise football practice this afternoon. Oh, but I'm free for dinner, and perhaps a game?" Jennifer suggested with the hint of a smile.

"Armando, could you inquire at the Black Mansion to see if Serendipity is welcome to stay this evening?" Severus immediately suggested.

"I never said what sort of a game, Severus," Jennifer teased.

"It's my turn to pick," Severus replied, but had to make a quick grab for Seren as she attempted to find the right scone by taking a bite out of each one. "Here... stop that. Here's the raisin, must you be so picky? You're so like your mother," he chided her, levitating her back into her chair.

"Anna says that they will take her, but you owe her from last time. You may pay her back by letting her get out of chaperoning Hogsmeade next week," Armando reported.

"Yes, fine, if that's what it'll take," Severus said.

"Maybe we can make a family day of it, Severus," Jennifer suggested.

"Is that your way of suggesting we let Quintin go early?" Severus squinted.

"As a family outing, Severus. Quintin and Seren won't leave our side. It isn't as if other parents don't do the exact same thing. You know perfectly well we have at least a half a dozen requests every Hogsmeade outing," Jennifer pointed out.

"Fair enough, Jennifer, but I wonder if we aren't making too many exceptions for Quintin already, considering his room and now his library privileges..."

"Oh, honestly, Severus. It's nothing compared to the leeway my father gave my brother... and as I recall, my brother found a way to go on every single Hogsmeade trip from his very first year," Jennifer pointed out. "Besides, I doubt Jay and Rus will want to spend the entire day with us, and Quintin can help by keeping an extra set of eyes on Seren."

"Since it's not within by best interests to get into any sort of argument with you before our dinner date, I believe I shall refrain and simply agree to your demands," Severus decided.

"A very good idea," Jennifer agreed with a chuckle, giving him a quick kiss as she finished her coffee and went downstairs.


Quintin finished lunch and was on his way to the library when Jeremy came out of the Great Hall, calling out to him.

"Are you coming to Quidditch practice? It's the last Sunday we're going to have the Pitch available. After this, we'll only have our scheduled time slot to work with," Jeremy said.

"Isn't that good enough?" Quintin asked.

"Of course it isn't! We're playing catch-up to the other houses this year, you know..."

"I don't think we can play catch-up, Jeremy. I think we need to accept the fact that our house is going to be disadvantaged for several years and simply deal with it," Quintin said.

"Is that your way of admitting defeat before we've even played?" Jeremy asked, reluctantly following him back into the library.

"No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that we need to have realistic expectations," Quintin told him. "And I think finding a suitable name for our house is a lot more important than the fact we're going to get owned at Quidditch no matter what we do this term. So how about helping me and the rest of the house look into that instead?"

"Fine, but I'd rather go practice," Jeremy protested. He followed him to the Restricted Section to find a handful of books in his arms, helping Quintin carry them back to the front.

"You are not to share books from the Restricted Section, Mr. Snape," Boulderdash reminded him when he noticed that Quintin had a reluctant helper.

"My house and I are meeting in the common room to work on researching possible house names. It's going to be quite awkward if I'm the only one with access to the majority of these books," Quintin complained. "I know that my housemates aren't going to be allowed in the Research Library, but isn't there someway to get them so they also can read and check out the history books from the Restricted Section?"

"They will have to take that up with their advisors and teachers, Mr. Snape," Boulderdash said.

"Aren't you technically my advisor too?" Jeremy pointed out.

"Professor Black was looking for you earlier, Jeremy. Perhaps you should take it up with her," Boulderdash suggested, sliding Quintin's books over.

"Come on, Jeremy. I think I know where she probably is," Quintin said, and Jeremy followed him out.

"I didn't think Black came in on the weekends," Jeremy said.

"Normally she doesn't," Quintin agreed. "But the Veritable Wizard is working on their first copy, which means training a lot of new people. She's likely in the Journalism room helping Hermione and the newspaper staff with the layouts."

"There's a school newspaper?" Jeremy asked with interest.

"It usually takes the first few weeks to get going," Quintin explained, walking down the hall and passing a broom sweeping itself. "Good afternoon, Bethia," he said. The broom paused its sweeping so that they could get by.

"Did you actually just talk to that broom?" Jeremy asked once they were past.

"It's a ghost. Bethia and I are good friends. She's actually really nice as long as you don't get in the way of her cleaning," Quintin explained. "She's also one of the oldest ghosts in the entire castle, because she died before the castle was finished."

"Oh. Well, maybe she knows a lot of stuff about what you're researching," Jeremy suggested.

"Maybe some, but she was locked up under the castle before it was finished, so I doubt she knows much. On top of that, she doesn't really talk to the living, not a word. I haven't even heard her voice, as often as we've played together," Quintin explained. "But Janus and Charlotte have both told me she can talk, she just doesn't think it's proper to talk to us. Charlotte says it's because she's a servant, and she was taught not to talk to her superiors. We tried teaching her sign language, but although she knows it, she only uses it when she absolutely has to. Zack Black says it's tied to her ghost angst, so it's not a habit she can easily break."

"Huh. Well, if she knows sign language, I guess that means she isn't always invisible, then? All I've ever seen is the broom," Jeremy said.

"She'll come out if she feels like playing... oh, and she'll always come out for music," Quintin said. "Here's the room we need," he added, turning the corner and going into the first open doorway to see a number of students in the room with lots of different photos and articles spread out on the table. Hermione was over near the press near her son Rich and his friend Markus, setting up the first page.

"Oh, look. There he is," Hermione said, and Anna looked up from where she was helping with the second page.

"So it is. Where have you been all day, Jeremy?" Anna asked.

"It's Sunday. I've been out doing football and stuff," Jeremy replied.

"I hear you keep a constant journal," Anna said. "Hermione was telling me you seem to bring it to every classroom."

"Sure! It's a chronicle of Quintin's first year of Hogwarts," Jeremy explained. "I plan to keep it up all term and get it published some day when he's made his fame in the world." Hermione rolled her eyes. "I even made it one of my Owl Goals to keep the journal going until the end of the year."

"Okay then, well, I guess as long as it's alright with Quintin, that's what matters," Anna said, managing to keep her expression even. "But since you're into recording facts as they happen, I was wondering if you would like to join the newspaper team. We try to have members of every house on the team, and it occurred to me this morning that we didn't have anyone from the new house yet, which is ironic, considering the main headline is about the fact that there is a new house."

"What do you want me to report on?" Jeremy asked.

"How about giving updates on how the new houses is coming and what you're working on?" Anna suggested.

"Oh! I can do that easily, since I'm already writing a lot of it down," Jeremy decided. "Sure, I'll do it."

"Great," Anna said.

"By the way, can Jeremy have permission to use the Restricted Section in History to help with founders research?" Quintin asked.

"No need for that now," Jeremy said, Quintin frowning at that. "I'm going to be too busy recording your research to actually participate. You can just give me updates to write down," he suggested. Quintin stared blankly at his friend, who was thinking of how grateful he was to have a legitimate excuse to get out of the extra work.

"I'll write you a permission slip anyway, just in case," Anna decided.

"We were just going to go upstairs to talk to the rest of the house about research too. I had a lot of volunteers to help in the main library as well," Quintin said.

"I'll be up after we're done to see how it's going," Anna said.

"Great!" Quintin said.

"I think I'll stay here to see what all I'm going to need to do, Quintin," Jeremy said.

Quintin soon found himself loaded up with books, forcing him to use the secret passages to cut down on the time he needed to carry the large stack of books around.

Fortunately, the rest of the house was waiting in the common room, some of them still working on homework while others were eager to help by looking up information on different professors from the early days of the school.

"Hey, Quintin! I want to show you something that'll help you with your research," Oscar said, gesturing at him to come over to the wall. Quintin walked over to a painting of a light blonde wizard with a long beard in a traditional style. It was smaller than some of the other portraits but highly detailed, with a gold-leaf frame and the name Bedivere O'Laren underneath it.

"It's Gryffindor's apprentice," Quintin said. "I knew there was a painting of him in the castle somewhere, but it's the first I've seen it up close. There's a representation of it in the Sentinel's Painting in the Trophy Room."

"I typically hang in the Symbology Room now," Bedivere explained.

"Yes, see... I saw it in the Trophy Room, and Dusthorn told me where this one was, so I asked Dawn about it, and she thought it'd be a good idea to move it, so she went and asked your mother if it was okay if we moved it up here for our research, and after she discussed it with the painting, Aunt Jennifer then decided it was okay, so here he is. She also said if he moves unexpectedly, it's probably because she's borrowing it for some research she's doing because she needs to talk to him too."

"That's because she's researching the Sorting Hat," Quintin explained. "Hello Professor O'Laren! Do you happen to know some books we can look up your real self in?"

"Oh! Well, do you want to know about my work?" Bedievere inquired.

"That would be a start, but also about your life in general... like a biography," Quintin said.

"Typically, I wrote about my work in Symbology and really didn't write about myself," Bedivere admitted. "It's very possible that Janus mentioned me in his journals on a personal level. If you're interested in my work, I do believe there is a copy of my scrolls on Symbology in the school somewhere."

"So it sounds like this painting is probably the best way of finding out personal information about you," Quintin concluded.

"It is one way," the painting said. "Other than first hand accounts from my friends, perhaps. Who knows one better than one's friends? And those who haven't many friends, no one knows them better than themselves," he added. "We four apprentices, Sentinels one and all, were much better at making friends than our masters, I'm not ashamed to say," Bedivere informed them.

"Well in that case, perhaps you should tell me something about your friends," Quintin suggested, Bedivere smiling approvingly. "I had to write a one page paper on Professor Dusthorn, although most of what I found came from Hogwarts, a History, and the Wizard's Encyclopedia," he explained. "I know she was the first appointed headmaster and took over for Gryffindor when he left... just where did he go?"

"Gryffindor and my older self went to fight back the giants, who were aiding the viking's relentless attacks on Scotland at the time," Bedivere explained. "I returned at harvest time a year later, suffering from an unknown ailment, Gryffindor did not return at all."

"Did you go back to teaching?" Quintin asked.

"Yes, my living half served under Dusthorn as her Chancellor until he was not well enough teach any longer, and retired to the country not far from here. I was only aware of his passing when Dusthorn took to consulting me on occasion," Bedivere explained.

"Oh, I see. So like a secretary painting," Quintin suggested.

"Yes, quite similar," Bedivere agreed with an approving nod. "After all, by that point, all of Caprica's most trusted friends were gone, and although Icarus left a ghost behind, he was not of a mental state that could help advise her as she worked to salvage this school and set in motion standards that is often taken for granted in this day in age. Our masters may have laid the foundations of a school, but a foundation is nothing more than groundwork to build upon. It was Caprica who was tasked to build upon that foundation and truly laid the stones that created this school."

"I assume you mean metaphorically, since I know the original hall and keep was built by the time we lost the founders," Quintin decided.

"The main castle was built by then, yes," Bedivere agreed. "But what makes it a school? A Monastery? A court? Or a keep?"

"I understand," Quintin said.

"I don't!" Oscar protested.

"It's the people inside, Oscar," Quintin explained. "He's saying that building a physical castle and building a school are two different things, because a school isn't a place so much as what you do there."

"Oh. Then I do get it," Oscar decided. "So the founders built the castle, but when it comes to making it a school, Dusthorn, as the first appointed headmaster, had as much to do with making it a school as the founders did, is that it?"

"It sure sounds that way," Quintin said. "At the very least, we know now that she's the person who started the whole painting secretary thing... which makes total sense if you think of it, because she's the oldest Headmaster Portrait."

"Yes, but aren't there paintings of Gryffindor around? I'd think that'd count, wouldn't it, as the oldest?" Oscar said.

"You're right, there are some, but they were probably painted for different reasons," Quintin asked.

"Does that matter?" Oscar wondered.

"You know... I'm not sure. I'll see if I can find out," Quintin decided, then went over to another painting to inquire what his parents were doing for dinner.

It wasn't long after getting settled by his sister that Quintin had explained what he had found out from the painting that afternoon, causing Severus to glance at the Headmaster Portraits thoughtfully. Jennifer was busy looking over at the Sorting Hat, which seemed extremely interested in what they were talking about, leaning and tilting every now and again to get a better view.

"I'll be the first to admit that I have never pondered the circumstances behind the Headmaster Portraits and why they were set up in the way they were," Severus admitted after Quintin told them what he'd learned. "I do vividly recall my first day of training for the position, and being told by Albus Dumbledore what roles they played and the fact that Dusthorn was both the control and the head trainer for those coming into the position. I simply accepted it at face value, although I was a tad annoyed when I realized that it meant that the troublesome painting would be awake until I had completed my break-in period." Jennifer laughed silently at that, thinking back on it. "But now that you mention it, you're right in that it was obvious from the start, and her motive for it being because she had to muddle through without her greatest advisors and nothing but a painting to help her also makes perfect sense," Severus decided. "It was a way to provide a headmaster someone to turn to, even in times where there was nowhere else for them to turn. Those must have been dark times for her."

"Yes," Jennifer agreed, remembering back to the time when the Rogue Painting was her only outlet the first time she had taken over that position. "And it was very wise of her to realize that it was likely to happen again. I'm very grateful that she did," Jennifer said, Quintin glancing at her curiously. "It's come in handy on occasion," she explained. "The Rogue Painting has turned into a very good advisor in his own right."

"Yes, so has J.P. on occasion," Severus agreed.

"But J.P was painted before you were married, right? So how come she acts like a Headmaster Painting anyway? And how come the Gryffindor paintings don't?" Quintin asked curiously, looking at his mother.

"My guess is that whatever magic Dusthorn used to set up the paintings as part of security probably wasn't retroactive in any way," Jennifer replied. "It was something that could only be applied to paintings after that fact."

"It's just as well," Severus added for good measure, glancing at Jennifer. "Can you imagine the nightmare of attempting to run this school if all of the founders' paintings and statues in this castle were capable of expressing their opinions and decided to start advising a headmaster in this day and age? Two words about how I run things from Slytherin, and I'd be petitioning to have that statue removed."

"Just as long as we can get rid of the Rowena Ravenclaw statue as well, Severus, we don't get along as it is!" Jennifer added fervently.

"That would be the least of your problems if that large portrait of her in the common room began talking, or the one of Gryffindor as well," Severus agreed. "Hufflepuff's smaller ones seem amiable enough, but I am quite certain that very few of their medieval standards would work today, you know."

"Now, that's not entirely fair, Severus," Jennifer replied. "Caprica has adapted with the times, so I'm sure we could give them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they would have learned to change with the times as well."

"Not all of them would have. Not all of them would have been willing to," Severus said seriously. Quintin glanced between this parents; they were both thinking of Slytherin behind their somber expressions.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Jennifer replied at last, but then turned to Quintin. "It's another thing to be grateful about, Quintin... sometimes things happen when they're meant to happen, and it turns out for the best."

"You mean there's a proper time for everything," Quintin concluded.

"Yes, exactly," Jennifer agreed with a smile.

"I understand," Quintin decided, taking an offered biscuit from his mother while looking up at the Headmaster paintings on the wall. "I wonder what other traditions she built into this school that we don't know she started?" he asked.

Jennifer, who had been wondering the exact same thing herself, glanced over at Severus thoughtfully. But it was quite apparent from his own eyes wandering around the room that he had no more idea than they had.