J/C Not sure if you've noticed, but thanks to Mid-Journey and some basic touch up skills, the series now has cover thumbnails. Yay! Also: Three chapters this week, four next week, rest during the week after that. Home stretch, folks... enjoy.
Chapter Forty-One
The Dog Days of Winter
Quintin ran into Ambrose's office and slammed the door, putting his back to it as he tried to catch his breath. Ambrose couldn't help but chuckle, causing Quintin to grimace in embarrassment.
"You know, I always wanted to know what it'd be like to be the popular kid in school. But after seeing that, I'm glad I wasn't," Ambrose decided with a grin.
"All I said was thanks for the candy. That's it. Just, 'thanks'. How come some of them are taking it as if it were a marriage proposal?" Quintin asked in frustration.
"I don't know, I'm not the best person to ask. My track record with women is not the best," Ambrose reminded him with a grin.
"Oh, yeah, you were married once. I forgot about that," Quintin admitted.
"Sometimes I would like to forget it," Ambrose said fervently.
"Whatever happened to her, anyway?" Quintin asked.
"I have no idea. I haven't seen her since the day she signed those papers. It's almost as if she dropped off the face of the planet, so she's probably back in America somewhere," Ambrose said, waving it off. "Take my advice and don't rush into a relationship, no matter how many of your friends you witness doing the same thing. It's not worth it. Do you want some biscuits or something?"
"Oh, no. No more sweets," Quintin immediately protested.
"Can I get a vegetable tray, cream crackers and pumpkin butter?" Ambrose asked, and it soon appeared on his desk.
"Better, thanks," Quintin said, and Ambrose smiled.
"Pull up a chair. Do you have your latest section done?" Ambrose asked.
"I have the rough draft," Quintin replied, handing it for him to look at. "Leon Thames is interesting. He really seemed to know all sorts of details about Magical Beasts and the experimentation going on back then, even though he often wrote that he was personally against it. And Wuscfrea created all sorts of spells in Charms and Transfiguration. Some of them we still use today, especially in Transfiguration. And he did that despite not being able to read all that well."
"Yes, he sure did," Ambrose agreed with a smile, writing some corrections on the rough draft.
"It was nice to learn about who Wuscfrea was as a person. I mean, I've only ever known him as 'the guy that Slytherin killed' and that was from family lore. That's not really fair, is it? Judging someone by how they died?" Quintin commented.
"Does that include Professor Ravenclaw as well?" Ambrose asked.
"I'll admit that's trickier," Quintin said thoughtfully. "But I knew him as a ghost long before I found out what he did and how he died. It's quite tragic and sad, and I'm sure he wasn't completely in his right mind at the time."
"I doubt it as well," Ambrose agreed. "Although hearing about it and experiencing it is two different things."
"I know, I've gotten that lecture several times by my mother already," Quintin said with obvious exasperation. "Are you going to help us with the missing memories, or not?"
"Of course I am," Ambrose confirmed. "Aunt Jennifer had a meeting with all of the staff involved and we all signed on to help... but I think your Mum wants to run you through some safety procedures with items first."
"Yes, I knew that," Quintin said.
"I'll be in on Sunday morning if you need me," Ambrose said. "And I hear you have another appointment in between."
"With Professor Weasley," Quintin confirmed. Ambrose finished marking up the rough draft, handing it back to him.
"Good luck, Quintin. We're all rooting for you to make the best decision that you can," Ambrose said encouragingly. "Feel free to go ahead and start on the research for Janus and Slytherin once you have those changes made."
"Alright, thanks," Quintin said, taking his paper back and went back to his room.
When he got back upstairs, the Sorting Hat was on his desk.
"What are you doing here?" Quintin asked curiously.
"It was your mother's idea," the Sorting Hat said. "I don't know what all was said because they discussed it in their private rooms, but somehow she convinced your father to let me decorate your shelf until you've finished your paper. I think it has something to do with the fact that she's out of the castle for rest of the week to help judge that Industry Fair at Whitebridge, and she wanted to make sure you were supervised no matter what you were up to," the Sorting Hat conjectured. "Regardless of the reason, I am to accompany you any time you're working on research from now on."
"In other words, she made you my babysitter again," Quintin said flatly. "What about my sister?"
"Oh yes... your mother and father say they reserve the right to borrow me in the case of an emergency," the Sorting Hat relayed.
"As much as I like the fact that I'm going to have you around, I'm a bit offended that my own parents don't trust me. How exactly am I supposed to explain to other students why I'm carrying the Sorting Hat around?" Quintin asked.
"You are using my memory charm to aid you in finishing your research," the Sorting Hat replied. "That was what your mother suggested to say. And your father said, 'if they start asking a lot of nosy questions, bore them with some of the least interesting bits you've been learning about until they walk away,'" he relayed.
"Alright, I'll try it, since it doesn't sound like saying 'no' to this was even an option," Quintin said.
"Don't you want me around?" the Sorting Hat asked, sounding a bit hurt.
"Sure, but not as a babysitter," Quintin replied.
"Your parents are just being cautious. Actually, I have no doubt this was your mother's idea; your Father has simply been humoring her lately."
"Probably because he trusts her more than he does me," Quintin said.
"Yes, well, you'll understand when you're older," the Sorting Hat said.
Rolling his eyes at the standard reply, Quintin put the Sorting Hat on his head and pulled out both his research and his homework before walking into the Common Room and over to the research corner.
He frowned when it was a bit hazy, and also quite cold; most of the students had their jackets on.
"Has anyone told Mr. Carnegie that our stove isn't working properly?" Quintin asked.
"I'm sure someone has by now," Virginia said.
But when Quintin glanced at everyone's expressions, it seemed as if everyone had assumed someone else had done it.
"I don't think Mr. Carnegie's here today," Oscar said from where he sat under a blanket on the sofa, doing his reading assignment. "I saw Grandfather after lunch. He said he was filling in."
"That's right," Quintin said, walking up to the Sirius Black portrait. "Could you please let Uncle Sirius know that there's something wrong with the stove in the Guard Wing Common Room and that it's hazy and frigid in here?"
"I'm on it," the portrait said, and walked out of the frame.
"Really, was that so hard?" Quintin asked, going back to the table. "Where's Jeremy?"
"He went to the kitchen to see about getting us a cart of hot drinks and things," Pippa offered.
"Well, that's something, anyway..." he said, then paused when he noticed that the table close to the sofas suddenly had a fresh linen on it, followed by a cauldron of hot spiced pumpkin juice and steaming bags of chestnuts and warmed buns. "There it is," he pointed out.
Everyone went over to the table, grateful for both the warm treat and the excuse to take a break from their work.
"So how's the research going? I assume that's why you have the Sorting Hat on today," Libby asked after getting herself a mug of juice.
"I just got all of the editing fixes back for the next section, and Ambrose gave me the all clear to start on the Janus Craw and Slytherin books," Quintin replied.
"Without doing any interviews for Thames and Wuscfrea first?" Pippa asked.
"I guess he thinks we have enough information to go on," Quintin said with a shrug. "Although personally, I'd like to know a lot more about Wuscfrea than what little I've learned so far."
The door opened, and Sirius strode in.
"Good afternoon, icicles," Sirius said cheerfully, walking straight over to the stove. "A bit nippy in here."
"We've been managing, Grandfather," Oscar replied, and Sirius stole one of the chestnuts out of his bag.
"Good, but you should have called me the moment it started. It could have caused fumes in here if it had gotten clogged up too bad," Sirius said, pulling a couple of canvas sheets to cover the surrounding floor. "Hi, Quintin! Nice frumpy hat you have there."
"Frumpy?" the Hat repeated indignantly.
"He's just teasing, Hat," Quintin said. "The Hat is helping me with my research, Uncle Sirius."
"Really? I would have thought that a Hat would be more useful helping with a cover-up," Sirius said.
"Don't strain yourself too hard on those puns," the Hat said dryly.
"Just getting warmed up," Sirius said unconcernedly. "Speaking of getting warmed up, why don't you get back to what you were doing? I need to cover the floor around the stove, and it will take a few minutes to clean the block."
"Yes, alright," Quintin said.
There was a shift at the research table as Quintin found his seat, and another quick shift to make room when Jeremy returned, stopping for a hot mug before walking past Sirius and over to the research table.
"I see things are progressing here with the stove. How are things progressing with the research?" Jeremy asked.
"Ambrose said we can go ahead and start on the book research on Janus and Slytherin," Quintin said.
"But what about all of the hidden memories we're supposed to find?" Jeremy asked. Sirius glanced up questioningly but didn't say anything.
"Ambrose said that everyone helping with the project has agreed to help us hunt them down," Quintin assured him. "I still have an appointment with Professor Weasley tomorrow to ask her about the Scroll, and I'm having lunch on Friday with Aunt Anna to talk to her about Aethermages. We can use Saturday after Tennis Club for book research."
"What about Thursday?" Jeremy asked, writing it all down in his journal.
"I'm booked solid that day; Seeker lessons with Aurelius, Rus, and Truman at lunch, and the Sparring tournament that evening. Between that and homework, I don't have any time that day."
"No problem! I'll use that lunch to go to the library and get the new books. I'm sure Jay and Jack can help me again," Jeremy said.
"Jack's been helping with that project of yours?" Sirius asked curiously, causing Jeremy to look around.
"Just every now and then," Jeremy said. "Mostly it's been Jay, with Jack tagging along for fun."
"Well, keep an eye on him if he does help out. He does have a mischievous streak that he inherited from his father," Sirius warned.
"Yeah, you wouldn't want him to try and lead you somewhere dangerous like the Chamber of Secrets or anything," Quintin taunted Jeremy.
"Very funny," Jeremy said, but Sirius squinted.
"Jack really led you down there, didn't he?" Sirius asked flatly.
"Only for a minute," Jeremy said defensively. "We were looking for Janus Craw, and it was a waste of time. All Mr. Craw did was escort us to the Doorlift and told us not to come down there again on our own."
"He was just doing his job as security assistant, after all," Quintin replied.
"Is that heating stove almost fixed? It's positively Baltic!" Pippa protested. Sirius reluctantly got back to work, cleaning the stovepipe and getting the fire going again. He received some cheers and even a random 'thank you' as they pulled off their scarves and cleaned up the cart, asking each other when they were planning to head down for dinner.
Sirius walked down to Anna's office to find her marking papers with the door open.
"Oh hey. Are you going to be able to come home for dinner tonight?" Anna asked.
"Sure, as long as nothing else breaks down from the cold," Sirius complained. "Don't worry, I already told my Elf maintenance assistants to pop over to the mansion if there's an emergency. You know, someone really ought to invent a wizard equivalent for heating tape."
"Essie said it's supposed to be warmer next week... then you'll only have to deal with mud coming off of first and second year students who don't know how to put the footprint spell on their shoes yet," Anna said.
"Maybe I'll come up with some sort of way to trap students who do that and break them out of the habit," Sirius mused.
"I think you'd be better off inventing a wizard version of heating tape," Anna suggested dryly, stacking up her work and slipping it into her briefcase. "Whose turn is it to cook?"
"Zoe's," Sirius said. "And it's just as well, because I want to ask you about something when we get back."
"It's not expensive, is it?" Anna asked suspiciously.
"No, no. It's about that house of yours," Sirius explained. The two of them took the tunnel to the Muggle Farm, stopping long enough to check on the livestock before Apparating home.
Sirius had barely enough time to get the kitchen door open when they heard the clamor of feet above, one set racing, one set more hesitant, hurrying down the stairs. Already downstairs, dark-haired Jillian walked in with a nose in her book until she walked into a kitchen chair.
"Juliet, you are going to get her eyes checked this week, aren't you?" Anna asked, helping her five-year old niece up and giving her a hug.
"Yes, this Thursday. She's going to look ever so much like my sister if she has to get glasses," Juliet said with exasperation.
"It suits her, she has such a serious personality," Sirius teased, crouching down. "Is that a new book?"
"I borrowed it from my classroom. It's about bugs!" Jillian explained, showing him the crawling pictures.
"Just don't let them loose in the house, okay?" he teased, but the conversation got cut short when Aubrey Lynn tackled him from the side, followed behind by Samantha, who had done everything she could to catch up. "Hey! There's my pumpkin!" Sirius said, giving Samantha a kiss on the forehead.
Her hair was golden brown and her two tails didn't do much to tame its frizzy nature, no matter how much Anna had tried. On his other arm, Aubrey Lynn's blonde hair was brushed into a long, beautiful light golden plait. She big blue eyes, pointed chin and nose, with ears that looked very much like her father's.
"I got in trouble at school today," Aubrey Lynn announced unabashedly. "Asio Pendleton was teasing me about my ears, so I turned him into a toad."
"What, again? Aubrey Lynn, you really mustn't keep turning your classmates into toads. You don't want to get to be kicked out of another school, do you?" Sirius asked.
"Too late," Aubrey Lynn said. Anna and Sirius sighed with exasperation, looking over at where Zoe was standing by the oven.
"We're going to try Hogsmeade Primary next," Zoe said. "As long as we can reassurances that she can get in Pyther's class next year. If that don't work, we may have to try the private tutor route."
"Show the Head Teacher her class history, that should be enough to make an exception," Anna suggested. "If not, I'll get my brother to step in."
"Then I'll threaten them with that as well," Zoe decided with a grin. "Personally, I think Asio looks better as a toad."
"Like mother, like daughter," Sirius observed.
"I want to play ball! Pleeeeeeeease," Sam begged, pulling on her father's arm.
"After dinner, after dinner. Do you want to go play with Seren at the school tomorrow? It sounds like Zoe's going to have her hands full sorting out Aubrey Lynn."
"Yes! I want to go to school!" Samantha agreed.
"She's going to have to go to bed early if she's going with us tomorrow," Anna said.
"Don't worry, I'll wear her out quick," Sirius promised. "Come on, you three! Get washed up for dinner. How long, Zoe?"
"Ten minutes or so," Zoe reported.
"Good, just enough time for a quick chat, Anna," Sirius decided, and Anna followed him out to the living room, watching as he went over to the hearth to adjust the embers so he could put another log on.
"So... about the new Hogwarts house?" Anna prompted.
"Yeah... I was in there fixing a partial block in their warming stove today and I overheard them talking about the research they've been doing... something about starting book research on Slytherin and also about searching the castle for hidden memories?" Sirius asked.
"Oh, that. Yes, I know about it," Anna replied. "But they're not looking for Slytherin's memories, if that's what you're worried about. They're looking for memories that the four apprentices hid in the castle."
"That's supposed to be better?" Sirius asked dubiously. "Okay, it may not be as bad as Slytherin, but need I remind you just how insane Icarus was, or what happened to his family?"
"I am quite sure he didn't record that memory. I'm certain any memories that he stored was while he was in his right mind," Anna pointed out.
"That doesn't mean that one of the others couldn't have stored memories of the aftermath," Sirius pointed out.
"Good, then maybe they'll learn something to help them with their report," Anna replied. "Like the truth about what happened."
"They can find out the truth in other ways, Anna..."
"No, they can't," Anna replied. "They can't because everyone associated with the school has been doing everything in their power to edit that part of history out. In fact, it's so edited out that even I don't know the whole truth behind what happened. The only things I know for sure is what I've learned from talking to Ick, Janus, the paintings, and the Sorting Hat, along with that short encounter I had with Wuscfrea when I rescued Aurelius out of those shackles," Anna said. "The history here has been colored for so long that it's hard to know what to believe without seeing it, even as adults. I don't blame them for going to these lengths to find out the facts. They don't want people to regret their house name centuries from now... or worse, have a house name that the students don't regret... even though they should."
Sirius glanced behind Anna to make sure that Juliet wasn't listening, but she was too busy helping Zoe get the children settled at the table to be paying attention.
"I think it'd be better to avoid a family argument about that again, but I'm going to play the devil's advocate for a minute so you can air things out," Sirius said, gesturing for Anna to come closer to the fireplace. Anna sighed and sat down as he put some wood on the fire.
"Look, nobody's denying that Slytherin house has some baggage, especially not me, considering I know first hand how bad things got in that house. The Death Eaters used the worst of Slytherin's beliefs to justify their hatred and their actions, and even if there were, admittedly, one or two in every house that ended up helping him in some capacity, none were as effected as much as Slytherin house was. But what about the students who weren't involved in any of it, who identify with the house's good traits. What if they are there because their family has always been in that house and are proud to be in the same house as their mothers and grandfathers and so on, like Juliet and Jocelyn? Or what about the students who brought out the best in that house, like Rel, Danny, and Maurice..."
"Or what about students like Don Coventry, Amadeus Longbottom, Roger Baylor..."
"Okay, okay, but it stands to reason, that can happen in any house," said Sirius Black.
"Do any of the other houses have a common room whose name is dedicated to chasing out Muggles from local farms?" Anna challenged him. "To a student coming in, I'm sure all of that dark history must seem cool and exciting, but does the school really need to be encouraging those sorts of traditions? We shouldn't be glorifying events and people who don't deserve it."
"We shouldn't be glorifying events and people regardless of whether we believe they deserve it or not," Sirius replied. Anna paused.
"Fair point," Anna admitted. "But we also shouldn't honor historic figures that don't deserve the credit in any way."
"In principle, yes, but when you're talking about a house that's been established for centuries, it's not so cut and dry. Maybe it's easy back where you grew up to change the name of a school or house or whatever they're called there, since, as I've heard you say, renaming a building doesn't change the building. But it's not that easy here."
"Actually, it's not that easy to do in the States either," Anna admitted. "But it does happen, especially when there are a lot of public complaints."
"Well, I don't hear that many people over here complaining about it," Sirius pointed out.
"True, but they should be," Anna said stubbornly. Sirius sighed and put the fireplace grill back, sitting down. "Was there anything else? Because I should go help out with Sam."
"Yes there is. I want to say that I'm worried. I'm worried about what those kids might stumble into and witness if they do happen to find any of those memories," Sirius said. "They're just little kids..."
"It's tame compared to what Harry got into when he was their age," Anna reminded him. "I heard that he even drank a potion that could have killed him if Hermione had chosen the wrong one. And what about Alex, not only going down into the Chamber but confronting Ciardoth, no less? At least these kids are supervised and not an inch away from death."
"Okay, okay," Sirius replied, getting up again. "But I'm not sure I'd rule the danger part out completely, if I were you."
"What could happen?" Anna asked expressionlessly.
"I don't know, but I wish you hadn't said that," Sirius replied. "I think I'll keep my nose to the ground on this, if you don't mind."
"Be my guest," Anna shrugged. "As long as you don't interfere with what they're doing, and... although it really doesn't apply to you that much ... know that our jobs are on the line if things go wrong."
"Really?" Sirius said, his face brightening. "You mean that I have a chance to force Severus to sack me? That sounds like fun! Challenge accepted."
"Wait... that's not what I... it wasn't meant as a challenge!" Anna protested.
"Maybe not, but it's more entertaining looking it that way," Sirius said cheerfully. "Oh, don't give me that broody suspicious Snapey look! You knew what you were getting into when you married me."
"You're not the same person I married," Anna said dryly.
"Do you think I'm the Dashing Doppler in disguise?" Sirius teased her.
"That would require you to be 'dashing'," Anna pointed out. Sirius feigned taking an arrow to the heart.
"Would you two cut it out and get in here for dinner? We didn't pay for a show," Juliet scolded from the doorway.
"They're just trying to get in an appetizer before dinner," Zoe ventured.
"Too late, it's ready now," Zack replied, and Sirius pointedly snapped his fingers.
Glancing at the ceiling and letting out an exasperated sigh, Anna made her way to the dining room with Sirius not far behind.