my apologies if I didn't update yesterday, I don't remember if I did or not, I was somewhat feverish and suffering from Labyrinthitis which is a bit like being on the Atlantic in a gale on the Titanic
Chapter 20
"There are changed dynamics in Slytherin House," Narcissa told the other Marauders. "Lucius has decided that Death Eaters are losers, and I've cautiously allied with him. He's actively helping Greengrasse and he actually apologised to Avery. I've never known him to apologise before."
"Crumbs!" Sirius was taken aback.
"Granddad says we ought to get Xenophilus Lovegood on our side," said Severus.
"He's insane," said Narcissa.
"Granddad says it comes of being part fae because he's a Malfoy cousin, and he can see people's auras and makes up weird names for things he sees," said Severus.
"Well, I suppose it can't hurt, so long as he doesn't betray us," said James. "And then we'd have one in each house. If people think he's insane he must be pretty isolated, like Dumbles tried to do to Remus, and like Cherry here."
Charity blushed.
"People think I'm insane for caring about muggles," she said.
"Which proves they're the nutters," said Sirius, putting an arm around her. Charity blushed.
Xenophilus Lovegood regarded the group of juniors. Narcissa was busy, and was also concerned about intimidating a younger boy, so had not joined them. He had pale hair like the Malfoys and wore it long, and tied back. Somehow it almost gave him the impression of being elderly.
"A gang without a single infestation of nargles or wrackspurts? That has to be unusual," he said.
"I wish you'd tell us what nargles and wrackspurts actually mean," said Severus. "We know you can see auras, and we'd like to invite you to be our friend because we all look out for each other. And we should like someone in Ravenclaw as well. And if we have you, we have ten, which is both arithmantically 'rebirth' and also reduces to one, the unity, which as we all stand together is significant."
"Ah! Someone who believes in the power of arithmancy," said Xenophilus.
"Totally," said Severus. "I'm trying to study on my own, but perhaps you could help me?"
Xenophilus brightened.
"Certainly!" he said. "You have a nice clean aura. But I'd only tell you that because you already know. My father says it's supposed to be a secret."
"We all have secrets and if you'll swear loyalty to us you'll learn ours," said Severus. "And we have no blood snobbery so if you have a down on the muggleborn, you had better walk away."
"My dear boy! I am most impressed with not just muggleborn but muggles, whose adventures in what they call mathematics, our arithmancy, go way beyond what wizards have discovered, even if Madam Wenlock made some arithmantic discoveries before they really got going. Back in the times of Ancient Greece, wizards and muggles worked on such things together of course, and Pythagoras, a well-known wizard, is equally revered by muggles."
"I never knew he was a wizard," said Lily.
"Muggleborn, too," said Xenophilus. "Became a disciple of the Scythian wizard Abaris, who is said to have taken him to hell. It'll be an allegory for an attempt to infest himself with wrackspurts of course."
"Yes, Phil, but what are wrackspurts?" demanded James.
"Phil?"
"Well, Xenophilus is a bit of a mouthful," said James.
"Pa calls me Xeno, but … I like Phil," said Xenophilus. "Wrackspurts are the things that make people depressed, or oppressed. They make your brain go fuzzy. It … it's a manifestation of negativity. Like Dementors."
"I can dig that, man. And we'll give you the skinny on us," said James.
"What?" said Phil.
"Ignore James, he's been learning about muggles and he thinks he's real sharp," giggled Petunia.
"Jeepers creepers, sister, you were the one who said I should learn to talk the talk so I wouldn't stand out," said James.
"And you do it very well," said Petunia, "But it's not appropriate in school."
"It was Phil's codewords that set me off," said James. "No fair for only one person in a conversation to be confusing."
Xenophilus smiled.
"You kids are funny," he said. "Nargles are … people with unpleasant intentions. The sort who steal your kit, you know? To keep it from you because they want to pay you back for … for being weird."
"Huh, you let us know who the nargles are, and we'll see to a bit of payback," said Sirius.
"There's no need," said Phil.
"Oh, but there is," said Severus. "Whether you are one of us or not, that's bullying. And we are sworn to stand up to bullies, whether that's nasty little toerag in the first, or a Death Eater. Because sometimes showing bullies what they are doing can stop them bullying."
"Sirius and Peter and I would have made fun of squibs if Sev hadn't taught us better," said James, soberly. "Sometimes retribution is the best form of discipline and easier to teach a lesson than going to a teacher. Does Flitters know about the nargles?"
Phil shook his head.
"I didn't tell him. It seemed … juvenile."
"They are juvenile, mate," said Sirius, wondering if he would have ragged a boy who spoke about odd creatures. He was glad Xenophilus Lovegood hadn't been in his house and year, so he didn't have to find out.
There was a voice from the stairs.
"Hey look, it's Loser Lovegood! Stop confusing and corrupting firsties, Loser!"
They looked up to see a group of three Ravenclaws the same age as Xenophilus.
"Don't call him that!" Lily was the first to say it.
"Firstie, he deserves it; he is a loser," sneered one of them. "I know you're only Gryffindors – oh, and a Huffer – but even you can't be stupid enough to want to hang around with him."
"Stupid, eh?" said Severus. "So stupid indeed that we firsties can jinx you so hard you won't be able to get out of it without calling for help."
The Ravenclaw boy looked at his female companions and laughed.
"You wish, little boy," he said.
"Very well, you asked for it," said Severus, clenching his teeth and concentrating on the incantation he had been working on, with a swish and flick of his wand that was like, and yet unlike, that of the levitation charm, working on using the words inside his head so as not to give it away by vocalising it, picturing the runes that would make it smoother.
There were three collective yelps as the Ravenclaw fourth years were grabbed by the ankle by an invisible force and dragged to dangle upside-down.
"I managed all at once? Neat," said Severus.
"Oh nicely done, Severus," said James. "Now let's go out of earshot and you can tell us what that amazing spell is."
Severus quickly withdrew with his friends.
"I call it 'levicorpus'," he said.
"Hey, it's one you invented? That's majorly cool," said James.
"Yeah," agreed Sirius. "I'm impressed."
"It doesn't harm them and it takes them out of commission if they are stupid enough to keep their wands stuck in their belts or pockets not in proper holsters," smirked Severus, who had seen all three wands fall to the floor. "Of course they can summon their wands, if they know the spell, but it buys time. I'm going to teach myself to cast wandless as well as wordless, because then I won't ever be at a loss."
"Outta sight!" breathed James.
"Sev is a real groovy dude," said Petunia.
"They're some of the nargles," said Phil.
"Well that's denargleified them a bit," said Peter. "Hey, Sev, is there a counter?"
"I think it ought to be 'liberacorpus'," said Severus. "Levicorpus, lift the body, liberacorpus, release the body. I kinda jammed together Wingardium Leviosa with mobilocorpus which I heard Madam Pomfrey using on someone who was ill."
"The theory is sound," said Phil.
"And right now we are going up to Ravenclaw tower to put runes all over Phil's stuff so the nargles can't steal them," said Severus. "C'mon you types!"
"What about the password?" asked Lily.
"Oh Ravers don't have password, you have to answer a riddle," said Severus, who had picked that up by eavesdropping.
"Oh, easy peasy lemon squeezy," said Lily. "What are we waiting for?"
Xxx
The eagle knocker regarded the group of youngsters with disapproval.
"Groups of three if you please," it said.
"Sirius, Peter, you go with Phil, Remus, Lily, you and Petunia and I'll take Charity and James," decided Severus, making sure there was at least one competent riddler in each group.
"What can be defined by the absence of something else?" asked the knocker.
"Evil is the absence of love," said Lily.
"And darkness is the absence of light," said Remus.
"Two reasonable answers," said the knocker. "Pass."
"We'll wait and all go in together," said Lily, firmly.
"As you wish. What do all men desire, and few achieve, because they do not have enough to know how to seek it?"
"Wisdom," said Phil.
"A good answer," said the knocker. "And finally, there is a bungalow, in which all the furniture is purple, the carpets are purple, the walls are purple, and the doors are purple, in fact everything in it is purple. What colour are the stairs?"
"If it's a bungalow, there aren't any," said Severus.
"Well you can listen at least," said the knocker. "You may all pass."
"Crumbs, Phil, where did Ravenclaw get the reputation for cleverness?" asked Severus as they went through.
"Oh, the riddles are simple enough if you only think about them," said Phil. "They get harder for older ones, generally, though; it seems to sense the average age."
"Oh, very well then," said Severus.
"Hey! What are those Gryffindors doing in here? Did you let them in, Loser?" demanded a Ravenclaw prefect.
"We passed the riddles fair and square and aren't you ashamed as a prefect to be bullying a younger member of your house by calling him a really nasty name?" demanded Lily. "If any of our prefects behaved like that we'd be ashamed to own them as prefects. So much for your wit and wisdom!"
The prefect flushed.
"Sorry, Lovegood," he said. "Everyone uses it."
"Then perhaps it's time to stop everyone using it, before you all become nice little Death Eater types," snapped Severus.
"Hey, that's harsh!"
"Death Eaters like bullying those they perceive as weaker than themselves. Is there a difference?"
The prefect flushed darker.
"I … take your point. What are you kids doing here?"
"We're here to set up wards against nargles including traps to catch them at it." Severus said.
"Nargles? You don't believe in that tripe?"
Severus gave him a fishy look.
"I believe something will get caught in the traps which I am choosing to define at the moment as nargles," he said.
The prefect shrugged.
Soon all of Phil's work, bed, chest of drawers, trunk and bag were protected with runic wards, with the twist of marking anyone who interfered with them.
And then it was tea time, and the Marauders went to get it with consciences that were, to their own minds, squeaky clean. Because if the three fourth year Ravenclaws were ready to confess to being bested by a Gryffindor firstie, Severus swore he would eat his hat.
As it happened the Ravenclaws were most unwilling to tell Filius Flitwick how they came to be dangled from one ankle and had not been able to regain their wands in order to release themselves. Flitwick used finite incantatem, a spell not usually used below the sixth form, and discovered his rescued Eagle fledgelings most unwilling to talk about who had done this and why.
"Then I have to assume that if you will not tell me why you were jinxed so ingeniously, that you had been bullying someone again! And if Mr. Lovegood, or someone else, is clever enough to put the three of you up in the air at once, when he's no older than you, I have to give him credit for fighting back against your nasty habits! Try not to come to my attention again this year!" scolded Flitwick.
The released bullies did not deny his words, which told its own story, and Flitwick sought out Xenophilus.
"Xenophilus, my boy, an excellent spell to hoist those little menaces," he squeaked. "Well done!"
Phil went red.
"It wasn't my spell and I didn't do it, though I know how, now," he said.
"It wasn't you? They didn't deny it was someone no older than them."
"No, sir; it was a firstie, said Phil, and started laughing. "A Gryffindor firstie."
"Dear me! I must issue fifteen points to Gryffindor then!" said Filius. "I prefer my fledgelings to sort out their own problems, but I am aware of what goes on if you ever need to make a formal complaint."
"I don't like to do so, sir. And … and now I have friends who have shown me how to use runes of warding. So I shouldn't have any more trouble."
"Good. I am sure I will find out soon who has been causing you to lose house points by not having your homework available or having it covered in ink, or not being properly attired," said Flitwick. "I had been considering assigning a house elf to watch your things, but runes of warding! Who are these talented friends?"
"A bunch of firsties in Gryff and one Huffer," said Phil. "And they learn spells from a senior Slytherin too and … and I'm their first Raver."
"Well well! Enterprising and utilising the spirit of co-operation. Most satisfactory!"