Snape was being very helpful, well, in his own way. Heri was suspicious. And Wednesday noticed and in turn stared at the man with such a hard gaze that Snape felt the ice in her eyes freezing his very soul.
He'd dragged all the children into the privacy of his office before attempting to rip into them, but he could see the reprimand wasn't effective when it came to the Addams children. He'd only been in the company of the siblings for ten minutes or so, but he could already understand why Herido was so unconcerned about being challenged by any of the Hogwarts students: his brother and sister were just as dark and fearsome as him. He wondered how the Malfoys had survived having them stay over.
The other students looked sufficiently chastened when he spoke of how reckless and destructive their actions had been, Neville was even shaking a little, but Herido was just watching politely, Snape was avoiding Wednesday's gaze, and the oldest Addams boy didn't seem to be paying him any attention at all, instead Snape had to pay him attention in order to prevent the boy from feeding the contents of several preservation jars to his baby brother.
Still, in the end he'd merely assigned detention to his own little snakes, informed that McGonagall would be seeing the Gryffindors about their punishment and said he would have to speak with the headmaster about sending the others back home.
Snape thought they were lucky not to have been seen, and that he had managed to get to them before Dumbledore, who he knew was itching to find a reason to expel Herido. Keeping Harry at Hogwarts was in his own best interest though, not to mention that he was determined to discover why Quirrell had attacked him.
He was walking an incredibly dangerous line, one that was made all the more precarious while he his allegiances were undecided. He didn't see his story having a happy ending no matter what he chose, but was naturally inclined to side with the Dark Lord now that he knew Harry was dark. He couldn't keep flip-flopping and he was so drawn to the dark that his Lord simply couldn't be denied. However, he could never completely forgive Voldemort for murdering Lily and if for reasons he couldn't imagine (such as the reason Quirrell attacked), he set himself against the boy he'd sworn to protect, Snape would be compromised once again. It was always best to know what challenges lay ahead.
By the time Snape had finished with them, the train had arrived and Heri and his friends and family joined the rest of the school in the Great Hall at the insistence of the Weasleys, who wanted to be there for their sister's sorting. Pugsley was looking forward to comparing the Hogwarts welcoming feast to his own school's anyway.
"And what's your judgement?" Heri asked his brother when dessert appeared.
"A good enough variety, well, for a school anyway. The chicken could have used a bucket or two of belladonna sauce though." Heri agreed, Wednesday commented that she now understood why Herido had taken all of their Henbane with him to school this year, and the others just looked on with concern.
"And do they serve… belladonna sauce at Ilvermorny?" Blaise asked doubtfully.
"Of course." Pugsley replied. "They just don't know it."
Even with the buzz created by the presence of Heri's family, the evening had proceeded much more peacefully than last year. Ginny Weasley had indeed been sorted into Gryffindor. Heri couldn't read her with the hall full of students around, but hoped he could make use her hopefully powerful curse-breaking blood at some point. Daphne's baby sister had joined her in Slytherin. The only other student to capture Heri's attention was a blonde name Lovegood, and if her name wasn't bad enough, the girl was blindingly 'light'. He could see her magic even through the throng of students, like a torch shining in the dark. Maybe he could use her in a sacrifice one day – he'd have to get a closer look. There was always the possibility Dumbledore had brought her in to balance against his own influence. Heri shuddered.
As soon as Heri had sat down in the great hall he'd been handed a note instructing him and his family to go to the headmaster's office as soon as they were finished with dinner, so naturally they'd taken their time.
Finally though they made their way to the old coot.
"Ah. Mr Addams," Dumbledore greeted, indicating for the children to sit down whilst taking his own seat. Wednesday set Pubert down and he immediately made his way further into the office to explore. "It's a pleasure to meet you both." He added to Wednesday and Pugsley. A small smirk flitted across Heri's face, he imagined the old man was feeling anything but pleasure at the current situation. "I'm sure you know why I asked you to meet with me tonight."
"I can't imagine." Pugsley snickered at Heri's response and the old man took a moment to observe these dangerous children. The eldest boy must have been around 15 or so, but looked mature for his age; he was tall and solidly built and gave off an air of being completely relaxed and at ease, and if the look in his eye was anything to go by he found the powerful old wizard rather amusing. The young girl was petit, with a soulful gaze that he found difficult to turn away from. Her eyes were as dark as the long plats of her hair and he wondered from where in the family Herido had acquired his emerald greens.
"Pubert, we do not eat people's pets!" Dumbledore was torn from his musings to swing around in his seat, fearing for Fawkes' safety. His eyes fell on the baby, sitting in a pile of ashes with a newly reborn Fawkes in his little hands. He blanched – it was nowhere near Fawkes' burning day.
Before he could stand to retrieve his bird, Herido spoke once more:
"So what is this about, professor?" Heri didn't want the man anywhere near his baby brother. With a resigned sigh, Dumbledore turned back to deal with the situation. It suddenly felt like it had been a very long day and he just knew this year would be as trying as the last.
"You are here, of course, to discuss the method of transport in which you chose to arrive this evening. I feel I must impress upon you the seriousness of what you have done…" but before he could say any more the girl stood.
"Good luck, brother." And with that she stepped around her chair as though she was leaving, and Pugsley stood to follow.
"Children," Dumbledore called them to attention, "Where are you going?"
"It sounded like you were about to berate us: as you are the headmaster of Herido's school he is obligated to listen to you, but we are not." Wednesday said in an even, emotionless tone – as though she were not a ten year old girl dismissing the authority of arguably the strongest wizard in Britain. "And besides, we have already had to endure this from your potions master. "
Dumbledore was stunned for a moment before he told them to sit down in a rather commanding tone. Apparently the siblings didn't take kindly to that.
Herido stood and was joined by the others, and when the three turned to look at the headmaster the air became heavy and the room itself seemed to darken. He felt a twinge of fear – not because he didn't think he could deal with these children, but because it occurred to him for the first time that he didn't know what they were capable of. There was darkness and perhaps even a gleam of excitement in their eyes that put him on edge. He glanced across to the more familiar gaze of Herido, but regretted it immediately. Dumbledore suddenly found himself surrounded by a dozen faces, screaming not an inch from his head, and the screams were gut-wrenching; the type that tore vocal cords and never stopped until lungs collapsed. They were screams that originated from the very soul and even though it must have only lasted a second or two, he was left shaken.
He barely had a chance to gather himself when the eldest boy spoke.
"Perhaps you didn't understand my dear sister, Mr Dumbledore. You see, she just gave Herido her commiserations," he said while holding the man's eyes steadily, "and she told you to go fuck yourself." The aged wizard was speechless. Never in all his many years of teaching had he been spoken to like this by a child, never mind whatever it was that Herido had done, and his mind raced to consider a response. They were right in that he could not punish them, but surely he could expect respect – Herido had never been impolite. If only he could prove they had broken the law… no, he shook his head, he couldn't think like that either. Pugsley was indeed usually more cordial, but this was the man who left his kid brother with those awful muggles and he had no patience for him.
"Mr Addams," Dumbledore began, his voice still strong, "I have offered your family shelter and sanctuary until we can contact your parents, and I would appreciate at least a basic courtesy in return."
Pugsley shared a brief look with Heri, who gave a miniscule nod, and then gave his own terse nod to the headmaster. He wanted to point out that he could simply apparate them all away, but decided against it, knowing there would be objections about him not having a British licence and being underage and the like and that was boring. They would much rather spend a night in this grand old castle anyway.
"Great." Dumbledore decided to deal with the situation as soon as possible. "Now, if you could tell me where your parents are staying, I will be sure to contact them immediately to come pick you up."
"They were planning to take a meal at Hibiscus, though by now they may well have returned home."
"My dear boy, surely they wouldn't have left the country without you." Albus stayed calm as he tried to reason with the boy. He didn't like where this was going.
"Why not?" Wednesday asked.
The man thought the answer to that should be fairly obvious: "Well, I know them to be concerned, involved parents – good parents – and your absence won't have gone unnoticed."
"Our parents trust us, headmaster." Heri said with a smile. "And they are confident that we will ask for help if we need it." Dumbledore wasn't sure how to respond.
"And, and how do you contact them?" He asked eventually, but got nothing but silence in response. "A pair of mirrors, perhaps?" More silence. "Well, do you know the floo address of the restaurant?" Perhaps he could catch them before they left.
"It's a muggle restaurant."
In the end it was decided that the Addams children would spend the night. Dumbledore had initially offered to put them up in an empty teacher's room, but they insisted on staying in the dorms with their brother, and as luck would have it, Theodore Nott and Millicent Bulstrode had been taken ill and had to spend the night in the hospital wing, leaving a spare bed for both Pugsley and Wednesday. Pubert could sleep in a drawer.
"I'm not trying to spoil your fun!" Hermione protested. "It's just that I already have a plan for her and you are going to ruin it!" At midnight Heri came down to the common room to find Hermione arguing with his sister. His respect for the muggleborn grew. Apparently Wednesday wanted to punish Pansy for her blatant disrespect but Hermione had stopped her – it was never a good idea to come between Wednesday and her prey.
He walked over to the girls and was soon joined by Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, Goyle and Pugsley.
"Perhaps I could give you a tour of the local area. There is still much of the Forbidden Forest to explore, or if you like I could show you the local wizard population. It could be fun." The look of interest on Wednesday's face was extremely discomforting.
"You have a slave out here, don't you?" She asked eagerly. Heri nodded and made his way to the exit.
"I do. A witch – I forget her name – she keeps Ron's pray frozen until he's ready to cut a bit off." Daphne just about managed to hold in a gag at the image his words presented. "I did offer her services in preparing his meals and shakes, but he insists on doing his own cooking." He stopped talking as he stepped into the corridor outside the common room, only to be faced with a wall of portraits that were not there earlier in the evening.
His friends all questioned his intentions when he passed out handfuls of senbon, but quickly cottoned on when Pugsley threw a spear (and where on earth had that come from?), at the nearest portrait. Instead of tearing at the fabric however, the weapon phased into the painting and proceeded to impale the aged old man to his high backed chair. As soon as the other portraits started to protest the children flew into action all at once, making short work of disabling, literally, Dumbledore's poorly thought out monitoring system.
Heri looked across, intrigued to see Daphne's look of concentration as she pushed a senbon through the shoulder of a middle aged woman. She was more motivated by curiosity about how the solid metal object disappeared into the painting than by any sadism, but it was interesting to note that the blonde didn't seem at all put off by the poor, weeping woman and the obvious pain she was causing.
Their fun over for the time being, and taking care not to wake any more portraits, it wasn't long until they came across their next obstacle: it seemed the old fool had sealed off all the secret tunnels from the castle. That could become a problem. Could have been a problem, that is, were it not for the fact that Pugsley was here, Heri thought as he looked into the calculating eyes of his older brother.
"I'll need the night." Heri nodded in response to Pugsley and led the others away, leaving Wednesday to explain what was going on.
"Pugsley is very accomplished in the art of tunnelling. We think he might be part gopher."
"You mean he's going to create another passageway? In one night?!" Hermione didn't share Draco's doubts and so changed the subject.
"Well, what shall we do instead then?" That small part of her brain that still believed in fairy tales hoped the answer would be 'hey, let's all just go to bed so we are well rested for class tomorrow', but that part didn't have much sway over her reasoning skills and so it came as no surprise when Wednesday suggested they summon spirits – after all, Hogwarts was ancient and likely full of grizzly deaths.
Heri however dismissed the suggestion, stating that the school had too many ghosts that would interfere with the process.
"Can you summon one spirit specifically?" Hermione asked, intrigued by the prospect, despite the dread it filled her with. After receiving a positive reply she braced herself and continued. "Well, couldn't we summon Voldemort? I mean, he's a spirit isn't he?" The muggleborn had a few questions for the Dark Lord and this seemed like the safest option to ask she'd ever get.
Wednesday's glare quickly dashed her hopes.
"If Lord Voldemort can be contained by a mere summoning circle I will be sorely disappointed." The girl spoke as though the very idea of it had ruined Halloween forever.
"Besides it would be sort of pathetic if he needed help or something." Heri's displeasure was as obvious as his sister's.
In the end they settled on finding out how long mermen could survive out of water and a lively debate about what potions they could create with various merman parts, and whether Ron would notice the difference in meat.
Dumbledore hadn't given any indication of what the visitors were to do whilst they waited to be picked up, and so the next morning Snape waited for them in the Slytherin common room to suggest they might like to experience what a Hogwarts education was like. Heri and his siblings appeared with minutes to go before the start of lessons, but they all agreed it was a good idea and so Pugsley joined his own year and Wednesday joined the first years. Snape took a deep breath as they left, trying not to wonder about how they knew where to go. He hadn't meant for them to split up. All the teachers would have to be extra vigilant today, and for his own well-being he would probably avoid the staff room.
Herido's first period was with his friends from both houses and so passed rather quickly. On the balance the professors liked this arrangement, as it was the first time they could recall that classes shared by Slytherin and Gryffindor had been so calm. All the other students tended to tread carefully when almost all of Heri's gang was present and so the only distraction to their teaching generally came from Heri himself, or the occasional snappy arguments that broke out between his friends.
In addition to the good (but exhausted), company, Heri had also appreciated the subject matter of the lesson and had spent a great deal of time trying to make his mandrake scream loud enough to penetrate the protective earmuffs of his classmates.
"Aren't you worried they might hurt you?" Neville asked seriously.
"Death by mandrake?" Heri questioned with a shake of the head. "That would never happen to an Addams." He was sorry Wednesday wasn't here. He was sure the chorus of little plants would have been music to her ears.
The only thing wrong with Herbology was the out of character and therefore highly noticeable absence of one Hermione Granger. Heri was actually a little worried – he doubted even the forces of Infernus could keep his book smart friend away from class.
His concern grew when he reached DADA and she was still nowhere to be seen, but put it out of his mind, believing she could handle herself, at least for now, when he had his own tribulations to deal with.
Gilderoy Lockhart was… painful. Heri wondered if this wasn't in fact some clever form of torture implemented by the headmaster. If nothing else he could already tell that his self-control was to be tested like never before this year.
When the ridiculous excuse for a teacher gave out an equally ridiculous pop quiz, Heri decided he would simply have to have some fun with it, otherwise his patience wouldn't last the hour, never mind the year.
Blaise looked across, hoping to share his own displeasure but was disturbed to see Herido eagerly writing away as though he knew all the answers.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favourite colour? The cold white expanse of oblivion that will be all he yearns for.
What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition? To die a quick and painless death – unrealistic.
What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date? Ask again in an hour – I'm sure he'll have topped it.
Heri was actually finding this exercise quite therapeutic.
When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be? Irrelevant. His deathday will be the more significant, though his ideal gift would probably be the aforementioned secret ambition.
Satisfied with his answers, he proudly signed his name and waited for his paper to be collected.
The calming effect of the quiz didn't last long, and as the man, who was offensive to Heri's very being, simpered and winked and simply oozed self-love and self-satisfaction while he went through the quiz, Heri had to remind himself that murdering his professor in front of so many witnesses was foolish – even if it was the morally correct thing to do.
When Lockhart finally came across his paper, Heri was already steeling his emotions. He would have fun, but not the slashy-killy type, not yet.
"Ah, Mr Addams." That smile would terrorize his nights for weeks to come. "I know having such a well-liked and famous professor is overwhelming, but you really needn't go to so much trouble to get my attention." The man was insane. He did at least have the grace to pale slightly as he scanned some of Heri's more colourful answers before trying to find something safer to comment on.
"Ah, I can see from your answer to question three that you are a fan, but I assure you, as inspiring as you will find my class, nothing within this hour will exceed my previous accomplishments."
Heri grinned that grin of his, the one that put the other students on edge. "But you already have, professor." At the man's confusion he continued. "Up until today I would say that your greatest achievement is your ability to manipulate others for you own gain." He stood to add a little drama, "but today you've allowed me to experience something truly harrowing. I came here for an education, but it seems this has been denied. But know this: I shall not submit. I shall conquer. I shall rise." His voice was low and dangerous and reverberated into Lockhart's core. "My name his Herido Addams," His gaze was unyielding. "And I have seen evil. I have seen horror. I have seen the unholy maggots which feast in the dark recesses of the human soul." The room was silent, so silent that Lockhart's gulp was clearly heard by all and Heri continued in a voice barely above a whisper. "I have seen all this, professor. But until today, I had never seen… you!"
The professor stood stone still and wide eyed, trying to formulate words while Heri retook his seat, satisfied for now. He was saved from responding to the boy Dumbledore had warned him of and who was so far living up to his reputation, when an explosion somewhere in the castle shook the entire DADA classroom. The students cried out in shock at the loud noise that jarred so violently with the previous silence.
Daphne turned in her seat to look at Heri, who sniffed the air and then raised his eyebrows. "Too much sulphur." He said, almost to himself. He mused that Pugsley must have been up all night working on his new tunnel to have made such a rookie mistake.
"Pugsley," Was all he said to his friends by way of explanation, but that seemed to be enough.
"He's going to blow himself up!" Draco cried.
"I hope not!" Heri looked concerned. "He still has the shrunken head of our Amazonian uncle." He sighed. "But what can you do? Que sera sera."
The explosion had been a sufficient distraction for Lockhart to gather himself, and once the dust had settled he carried on with his lesson plan, taking care to avoid Herido Addams.
Heri was mildly impressed when the inept man set a cage full of pixies loose on the class and chaos immediately ensued. The first casualties fell to Daphne. The girl had being eying the creatures carefully, but when two grabbed hold of her hair she acted on instinct and swung a book at them, and when they fell onto her desk she followed up with another swing, squashing the unfortunate creatures flat. The dozens of other pixies abandoned their previous shenanigans and turned to her. Ever so cautiously, she rose from her seat and walked backwards to Herido's desk, on which she perched without a word. Heri just looked on.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing at all." Daphne responded, suddenly carefree again as she ran her fingers through her hair to correct any damage from the little pests. It was only then that he noticed how the pixies kept a respectable distance from him. Daphne wasn't stupid.
Lockhart looked on in confusion at the strange behaviour of his mischievous teaching aides. He jumped when one of the windows shattered.
"There." Heri said with a dramatic wave of his arm. "Freedom or death – your choice." However he didn't hear their response, as his eyes fell on what was sure to be the start of a great forest fire at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "Excuse me." He said to no one in particular as he rose and proceeded to leap straight through the now open window, unconcerned with the escalating chaos he was leaving behind.
He only just managed to contain his sneer when he reached the forest to find Dumbledore had beaten him to it and was already holding his baby brother. The fire was doused.
"Out for a stroll, headmaster?" He asked as though there was nothing wrong with the situation and he wasn't surrounded by the charred skeletons of trees.
Dumbledore tried to ignore the child pulling at his beard, less than a day into the Addams children's stay and already at his wits end. He took a deep breath.
"Mr Addams, you really should have said if you needed someone to watch your brother." He tried for a stern tone but Heri easily batted away the man's criticism.
"He was being watched." He stepped aside to reveal Kounna, curled up and sleeping contentedly on a rock that seemed to still be scorching hot from the fire.
Sometimes, when in the company of this boy, Dumbledore questioned his own sanity. If nothing else, he didn't think Herido was half as bad as he thought him to be yesterday. As bad as last year had been, he realised now it could have been so much worse.
"Could you perhaps reign in your siblings?" He attempted a lighter tone this time, but couldn't disguise how strained the words were. He wasn't really expecting a positive response and so wasn't disappointed when he got none at all. He had only just finished making sure no one was seriously injured following Pugsley's actions in Arithmancy class when he noticed the fire. "Where's your sister?" He asked, suddenly concerned at what she could possibly be up to.
The way Herido's eyes lit with excitement filled him with further dread.
"It is awfully quiet, now you mention it." Heri commented with a tilt of his head.
Dumbledore looked incredulous. Quiet?
"You should probably find her." Heri nodded to himself. "Quickly." The old man opened his mouth to question what he meant, so he continued once more. "Unless of course the school is low on funds or something, in which case let her be, and I'm sure by the end of the day your resources won't have to stretch as far."
The Headmaster believed him and hastily turned to find the girl, momentarily forgetting about the babe in his arms. He only made it a few paces before he stopped at the smell of burning hair. Heat followed immediately and he looked down to find his beard on fire, the small unusual boy giggling madly. After snuffing out the second fire of the day he went back to hand the child to Herido, who was watching with a small smirk.
Turning to leave once more, he consciously ignored the words that softly reached him.
"Would you like a ride on a centaur, Pubert? Perhaps mother will let you keep one…"
He tracked down the first year Slytherins quickly enough, but was momentarily taken aback when he opened the door to the charms classroom.
Professor Flitwick was sound asleep at his desk, and Wednesday Addams and Astoria Greengrass were at the front of the room, the latter laughing about something while the younger girl held a black cat to her chest, petting it kindly.
They were the only people there – the rest of the room was full of chickens. Chickens, and piles of clothes.
Maybe it was time he retired.
"Miss Addams, please tell me those are not students." What the hell was wrong with these dark children?
"Those are not students." The girl obediently replied in monotone. He sighed, reminding himself that they would be leaving this evening, when he'd been assured someone would come to pick up the extra children.
During dinner that evening, the hall was abuzz with talk of the day's events. Stories of the Addams children's exploits were already being exaggerated and glorified. Heri, his friends and siblings were in good spirits. Astoria's cat didn't have chance to eat any of her year mates, and his friends had had a great time dealing with the pixies. Hermione had brushed off questions about her absence that day, but Heri didn't fail to notice the ash on her eyebrow or how she smelled of smoke. He gave a sly glance across to Pugsley, who was in hushed, but heated discussion with the Weasley twins.
Altogether Pugsley and Wednesday had enjoyed their stay. It wasn't until after dinner, when they were in a secluded corner of the Slytherin common room that they were finally summoned to the headmaster's office.
Dumbledore was exhausted by the time his guest arrived, so much so that he didn't even have the energy to wonder what on earth this 'cousin Itt' was. All that mattered to him was that he was obviously acquainted with the children and took them away. Far, far away… to a different country… a different continent. He felt years older than he had this morning, but he smiled as he thought about the ocean between him and that cursed family.
xx
