Chapter 11:
As the weather turned from cool to cold to downright frigid and the days moved ever nearer to their shortest the Clay and Wolfe families couldn't be bothered in the slightest. That isn't to say that the cold didn't bother them, but rather, due to their growing closeness it didn't feel nearly as bleak as Ohio truly is during the winter months. As the Christmas holiday approached and it became appropriate to engage in more festivities (because only shopping centers and psychopaths play Christmas before Thanksgiving) the Wolfes had done well to adapt to life as pseudo-muggles.
Relationships outside of just school companions were beginning to form as Danny had introduced Ted and Jane to a few of his friends from before he'd started at Zauberei and the older Wolfes had been approved to socialize more on their own. Paul and the twins still weren't entirely used to living in a world without knowledge of magic, but the novelty and technology of no-majs had led to their decision to frequent more traditional teenage haunts. But beyond budding friendships and relationships and the horror that was teaching Paul how to drive, life was still very much the way it always had been, and Danny was glad for that.
"I'm really hoping last year was a fluke…" He whispered to Alicia as the two of them worked alongside Chase and Ted to pry the mandrakes free from their pots.
"In what way?" Alicia responded, grasping tightly onto the base of the roots as the plant seemed to dig itself in deeper.
"You know, with, well…" Danny half-shrugged, not wanting to so bluntly state how they'd be flung into a battle against death eaters in front of their peers who for the most part had forgotten the events.
"Oh… that." She nodded, her braids clicking as the small beads at the ends of them brushed against each other. "Well, so far all's been quiet, right? No news is good news as my mom always says."
"Yeah, I guess…" Danny replied as he finally got his loose and winced, as even with the ear protection the cry was quite loud. He was quite glad that the greenhouse glass was enchanted, like all the glass in the school, because with the number of piercing shrieks the various mandrakes the Muller students were repotting were emitting, he was sure that the glass would've broken if not enchanted.
Herbology classes were always held in the greenhouse or the attached classroom. The greenhouse was a separate structure from the rest of the school, tucked to the east edge of the campus behind the main school building sitting directly next to the quittich pitch. Like the main building, it too was in a style evident of the period the school was built in. The walls of the structure were easily twelve feet high, with the first four or so feet built of the same stone that lined the school interior. After that it arched upward in a series of connected domes made of glimmering brass and glass. Because the school was only a short distance under the surface of the lake it was still able to receive sunlight as the surface did, albeit without the corresponding temperature variations. It was always relatively warm under the protection of the water and magical barrier surrounding the school which held the tides at bay.
The greenhouse consisted of the classroom and the greenhouse proper shortly behind. The classroom was similar to most of the non-potions rooms in the school, rows of solid wooden desks faced a chalkboard at the front with some shelves of books and small plants present on either side. From this a door in the back of the room led past the restrooms and into the greenhouse proper where the many different species of flora were taken care of by Professor Milligan. Don Milligan was a short and plump man with a heavy push-broom of a mustache in the same dark hair that seemed to stand straight up from his head. He was a student favorite, and Danny and his friends all knew why-he was incredibly easy to get off topic and there were few written tests in his class, leading to most of the time being spent socializing between the peers.
As the bell dismissed the students for the end of day the quintet of friends walked together toward the bus. "Oh, shoot, I forgot my book in potions!" Ted bit as he realized it wasn't in his bag.
"You better run, the bus is leaving in ten minutes." Chase noted as Ted hastily nodded and ran toward the school building as the other three joined the throng of students heading toward the school buses in front of the building.
Ted's sneakers skidded across the polished floors as he darted between the students who lived on campus and clambered up the rear stairwell. Taking the steps two-at-a-time he quickly reached the top and bolted toward the potions lab on the second floor. The door was shut-there were no potions last period-and he yanked on the handle, hoping that the door was unlocked. It was, mercifully. He spied his book sitting on the table near his group's cauldron.
"I thought you might be back." Ms. Whiting joked as she looked up from a stack of papers she was grading.
"I… forgot… my… book…" Ted panted as he held up the book, nodding quickly in appreciation before running out the door and narrowly avoiding being left behind.
**HP**
As Jennifer Whiting finished grading the last of her papers she looked up at the clock above the door. It was nearly five o'clock. She got up and stretched her arms above her head a moment before she disapparated from the classroom and appeared a few blocks from her home. Like many of the other professors at Zauberei she lived off-campus. Only a handful lived on campus to monitor the students, with most of the others living somewhere in the surrounding area. Jennifer lived in a non-magical community not too unlike the one that Danny and his family lived in. She'd been born to no-maj parents and had discovered her magical abilities when the letter arrived requesting her enrollment at Zauberei-after that she'd worked diligently at potions and had graduated with distinction. Shortly afterward she'd gone to work at an alchemy lab, but had gotten bored of the tedious nature of the paperwork heavy position she'd gotten. So when she heard Zauberei was looking for a new potions teacher she'd applied and to her surprise, she got the job.
As she walked from the park restroom where she'd apparated into she shivered slightly in the cold December air. There were strings of lights hanging from the lamp-posts and it was a pleasant enough diversion to look up and admire them twinkling against the dark sky. As she glanced at a string of white sparkling lights in the distance she suddenly felt a rush of pain in her back, then tumbled to the ground.
**HP**
Waking up in an unfamiliar place is unsettling at best. Waking up in what might charitably be called the cross of a torture chamber and medieval prison is far worse. The basement-as it was below ground, evidenced through the cool concrete walls and floor-was dank and appeared to be beneath some former industrial building. There were thick metal bars forming a cell around Jennifer, and across the room there was a number of exceedingly unpleasant devices that reminded her of the time she'd read about the Spanish Inquisition while working on a paper about magical defenses against no-maj attacks.
As she rubbed her eyes and tried to focus her vision she heard a voice from the shadows as a female form emerged. "Looks like you're finally awake, not that it matters."
A tall woman with wild black hair and nearly translucent skin stepped near the bars, though well out of reach. She smirked as her blood-red lips curled upward revealing a hideous grin more of malice than of pleasure. She was wearing a black dress that was fitted to her figure and trailed slightly on the ground, and brandished a long walnut wand aimed squarely at the professor's head.
Whiting took a half-scoot backward, her eyes never leaving the form near her. A form she'd seen before in newspapers… "Bellatrix Lestrange…"
The woman's grin warmed slightly at the mention of her own name, a fair bit of pride associated with the purity it held, "The one and only."
"This is impossible… You're supposed to be in prison…" Whiting stammered, realizing how much more dire her situation was.
"Well, I was. But as it turns out being a loyal follower is rewarded-even if it did take some doing to get past the dementors."
"Wait, no…" Whiting paled.
"Oh yes." Lestrange said as she turned slightly to reveal her dark mark. "He has returned."
As Whiting's mind reeled at the fact that not only was she prisoner of one of the most notorious death eaters, but that their leader-he-who-must-not-be-named-was back from the dead she could only utter one thing. "What does this all have to do with me?"
"Well, as it turns out we suspect that Harry Potter is a student at your school and our previous attempt to capture him proved unsuccessful…" Lestrange strolled over to a bubbling cauldron, saying this as if the mass kidnapping of schoolchildren was nothing to be concerned over, "…so in his brilliance he came up with a new plan, a better plan." She paused as she revealed a lock of Whiting's hair held in her palm, dropping it into the black vessel below.
It was at this moment that Jennifer realized that her head had been shaved clean and nearly froze in the sudden and total violation of her person.
Lestrange smiled at the look on her face before taking a ladle and pulling a small bit of the potion, now a light blue color and smelling of cotton candy, before taking a sip. The wretched woman's appearance seemed to bubble as it morphed and changed into the younger and considerably kinder visage of the professor.
Whiting was horrified, choking back bile as she watched herself walk toward her cell.
"Don't worry. I've been told to keep you alive-I need a constant source of polyjuice after all." She smirked, "At least for now. Once I discover the student who is Harry Potter there will be little need for this charade. Then, well…" She sent off a blast from Whiting's wand, striking the wall with a bright bolt of green light. "…you can imagine."
Her double turned and walked toward the heavy door which seemed to lead up to some stairs, "Ta-ta. I'll be back soon. Until then you'll have some friends for company." She cackled as she released the switch and a small door opened up, releasing something that caused Jennifer Whiting to scream as she ascended to the surface.