Chapter 17
Geoffrey Stroulger might be said to be distinguished by being the only Gryffindor in the fifth NOT in the MSHG which he considered a childish waste of time; and since he was considered a bit of a bully – he had started off by unkindness to poor Fish soon leaped upon by Abraxus and friends – he was reckoned by most to only not belong to Porteous and Derwent's gang because he would not work with Slytherin. With Dione Parnassus defecting to the MSHG, they were the only three people collectively that did not belong in the whole year, Abraxus declared since one could not count Ravenclaws as people.
The other Gryffindors at least concurred with this opinion.
Stroulger's favourite tactic was to make a snide remark right before exams and tests to put others off their stride to make his own showing better; and since Dione had been working harder at potions he no longer shared the lowest place in the class with her. He showed his colours by asking her how much she had needed to make up to Professor Snape in order for her marks to start rising.
Dione was planning on trying to behave; but some things went beyond what she could take.
It took Madam Pomfrey the rest of the day to ease Stroulger's cauldron off his rather prominent ears. The new marauders remarked that facially it was an improvement.
Stroulger complained loudly – and in a muffled and hollow sort of way – about that Slytherin bitch. Pomfrey took up cudgels on 'the poor boy's' behalf.
"Poor boy my foot" said Severus testily "The boy is a bully; Miss Parnassus had finally shaped up and come good – she has had some significant trauma in her home life to make her act badly – and he was getting at her. I shall set her punishment, Poppy, of course, but don't waste your sympathy on a creature like Stroulger. No it's NOT because he's a Gryffindor; and ask any of his Gryff class mates their opinion. Abraxus Malfoy was laughing louder than anyone; he has to share a dormitory with the little creep."
Poppy Pomfrey did not LIKE taking Snape's word; but he sounded merely bored not dripping with malice as he so often had done over Harry Potter.
And she had not liked Stroulger's choice of language.
Dione accepted scrubbing cauldrons – to teach her respect for the poor things – with philosophy.
The wording Professor Snape had chosen showed that respect for Stroulger was not something he was bothered about.
Besides, Dione was happy, despite her fears about her pregnancy.
She was made to feel like a person by Professor Snape and Madam Malfoy, not a toy to be pulled about; and her father had written a long and loving letter apologising for his neglect of her and sending her a parcel of goodies as a token of his love for her. He promised to visit her soon as well, and say sorry in person, but that Professor Snape had suggested waiting a little while. He sent sweeties, and coloured scarves and some pretty but suitable bits of jewellery and enclosed a baby hat knitted laboriously by Grindley. Dione might have wished to have more of her father's time earlier than presents now; but at least he was trying.
And she had new friends who treated her well, and were not just out for what they might get from someone who looked enough like a Malfoy to be likely to be related closely. Actually she was less closely related to the main Malfoy line than Lionel Dell; but wizards differ in no way to muggles in making value judgements on appearances. It was why she had clung to Elisa Mourne; who had admired her for her looks but not her wealth or connections. Now she had friends better socially connected than herself and it made no difference. It was nice to be treated as though she was liked for her own sake.
Dione, starting to like people, was therefore starting to be likeable; at least in the relatively small social group to which she had been invited. Other members of the MSHG, seeing the inner members behaving warmly to her were at least polite; and with social concourse came the overcoming of much bias against her. She was still rather shy, and tended to stick beside Krait, Elisa or Sephara and Myrtle; but she was getting there.
oOoOo
David and his year were learning Apparation.
That is to say, David was bored, knowing exactly what he was doing and hoping the exam would fall just after his birthday not just before; and his classmates were undertaking the attempt with more or less success.
Fortunately, Wido Mordaunt's effort of producing a concrete cow in the great hall and a clear view of Milton Keynes was more easily cleared up than the gate to Basingstoke Railway Station; and Appollonia Baldry managed to regrow the fingernails she splinched from herself. Erich was as bored as David of course; and Percy Weasley, the ministry man of the year was delighted with such promising pupils. Especially as they were Gryffindors.
Jade Snape managed to pay back several slights to her friend and protégé Godfrey Goodchild by distracting the attention of his older siblings with the sound of harp strings as they apparated; and both had to be rescued from a painful conjoining with the school harp which had momentarily been a feature of their thoughts just as they were in the process of apparation.
Jade and Godfrey thought it very funny and told jokes that the Goodchild twins could be relied on to go directly to the harp of the matter.
The Goodchild twins were NOT amused.
"Oh sorry, I guess I did harp on about it rather" said Jade "But no strings attached…" her hovering charm was quick enough that the joint attack on her led to the twins hexing each other.
Jade thought that was funny too; but decided that being elsewhere was prudent.
"Leaving now!" she said "Try not to string each other along too much…."
The language was not fit for a first year's ears in any case.
She was fortunate that nobody actually realised that the musical distraction had been deliberate and reported her for it to her elders; it WAS a potentially dangerous prank and Jade would probably have found herself scrubbing cauldrons and worse for a very long time. However the only people who guessed reckoned that the Goodchilds deserved it and she recieved nothing worse than a cuff from each of the Marauders for not thinking.
oOoOo
The apparation exams fell on David's birthday; and he wondered if Dumbledore had pulled strings.
It was a great birthday present to have an apparating licence together with Erich and Fenella Fenwick who had proven that she had the concentration to do really quite well. They were also free of the age tag of course!
Severus and Krait threw a big birthday party for David and Erich jointly – Erich was a week or so older – that was also a congratulations party on their apparation licences.
The only thing left for the end of term was the visit of St Jodoc's to play cricket.
David was relieved to think that Lionel Dell had come to terms with muggles and was therefore not about to turn what could be a very fertile imagination on the visitors. The cricket eleven were very impressed with the four poster beds in Gryffindor Tower – the fat lady had been moved temporarily and had needed to be pacified with several stillish lifes of tasty food – while the boys of the fifth moved good naturedly on the whole to Slytherin House for the weekend.
Stroulger set up a fuss of course; and the Malfoy twins were moved to offer to show him how small a cauldron they could get on his head and stand him up in a corner in the potions dungeon in it overnight. He shut up almost immediately; he believed them.
Both Strellands played on the cricket team, Katie and Kelvin both enjoying the game; Willow of course, and both Malfoy twins, Romulus, David, Martin Umbridge, Elisa Mourne, Ian Kell also played, and the new boy Ross Tuthill who was a natural.
His skill had Lionel Dell volunteer to learn having watched the match and cheered him hoarse with a half century and a six before he was caught behind by Lee Nuffield.
The visitors won by what Hogwarts considered a respectable score of two hundred and thirty seven runs to one hundred and ninety eight.
They had acquitted themselves respectably against the Cornish boys.
Lee and David made a pact to meet outside the Leaky Cauldron when Willow fixed the St Jodoc's boy with a thoughtful eye and said,
"Oak, runespoor spinal cord, fourteen inches."
"What?" said Lee.
"She has a knack of knowing what kind of wand people should have" said David "Never known her to be wrong actually save by a fraction of an inch length here or there. If she can see what wand you need, you need a wand."
"Well, you're the expert!" said Lee cheerfully.
David had something else to look forward to in the Easter Holidays; his first referee's exams, and he invited Lee along to watch that too.
"Get some idea of Quidditch" he said.
Lee was delighted!
It would not be hard to get permission from his parents to stay with a friend he had made from another school to watch a sports match! And Severus also agreed to write to Lee's parents, as David's guardian, for a formal invitation.
"Some holiday soon I may actually take a rest!" joked David!
Lee was fascinated to enter Diagon Alley through the yard wall behind it; and to walk into a whole different world.
"Gosh Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more" he said.
David laughed.
"That's actually funnier than you realise; because I'm an animagus, a wizard who has an animal form that is as natural to wear, almost, as the human one; and mine's a dog. They call me Fido Fraser; though I'm a big black dog rather than a small article like Toto."
Lee grinned.
"I'm guessing from the way you say it that it's not that common."
"There's only really a handful of animagi in Britain and most of them are at Hogwarts either as students or staff. There are so many stories of who does what why, what terrible things have happened in the Wizarding world and how most people are so happy that such a time is over…. I will tell you it all properly. But let's get you a wand first."
Lee could not keep from staring about him at the strange and wonderful sights in Diagon Alley, from a notice advertising collapsible cauldrons to the professional quidditch player testing a new broom.
"How can you be sure they won't collapse when in mid use?" asked Lee as they walked past the cauldron shop.
"You can't" said David, shortly. "All these gimmick cauldrons, like self-stirring ones, would never be used by a true potioneer, they're for bored housewitches who want more gadgets. You know, like the sillier gadgets in Kleeneze catalogues."
Lee grinned.
"My first intimation that people don't really change much" he said "And do the bookshops have a high shelf for pornography?"
"No, you buy that from the dodgy publication house in Obscura Alley which also produces 'Divination – Tomorrow!' which is a rag that casts horoscopes and stuff and is hardly more accurate than the horoscopes you get in Muggle daily papers. Two of our juniors make a bomb writing articles for it that began as a hoot and currently keeps them in sweeties. If the editor knew they're only twelve years old he'd probably have conniptions, but as they're the most accurate of his contributors, so far as I can gather, I'm not about to blow the whistle on them. They're from poverty stricken homes both of them and if they can make money out of the idiots that buy that crap….oh yeah, sorry a hobby horse of mine, they also publish 'Playwizard' which is mostly pictures. Of course wizarding pictures and photos move…. I see you gazing at the moving, smiling Gilderoy Lockhart in the window there on the dust jacket."
"Wriggling photos of nudes? Now that I gotta see!" said Lee.
"I'll take you down Obscura Alley another time… or sometimes there's a street hawker sells them just by Knockturn Alley. Yes, you're in luck. Playwizard? Cheers" David paid over the few sickles and handed the magazine to Lee who gawped at it in amazement.
"I'd better not let mum see that" he grinned, rolling it up to stuff in a back jeans pocket "Will they still move out of this magic place?"
"Oh yes!" said David, amazed at Lee's ignorance, then ashamed of his own amazement "The pictures are inherently magical. A lot of muggles don't notice them move because they don't want to I think; but once they know the wizarding world exists, like it or not, they can see I think…. Only most muggles, knowing about it or not, can't see house elves; and see goblins just as short faintly foreign looking humans. I'm studying disillusion and confundment magic this year and next as part of my Transfiguration NEWT – that's our equivalent to 'A' levels, most people who stay on for NEWTs, which isn't everyone, takes three or four so it's about the same level I guess."
"How many are you taking?"
David gave a rueful grin.
"Six" he said "The top flight people make it to seven; five or more is reckoned well good though. Only I couldn't choose between what I wanted to study further, and I had the marks to go on, and some of the subjects I find easy anyway so…."
"In other words you're a high flyer who actually manages to have a life too?"
"I suppose so" said David. "I love magic; it – this sounds corny, but it really changed my life."
"Well I want to learn more; it's too late for me to transfer schools I guess and take any whaddya call 'em newts?"
"It's an acronym; it stands for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests, which kind of tells it like it is; as OWLs are Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Top grade is 'O' – outstanding; then 'E', exceeds expectations; then 'A' acceptable. Those are pass levels. Fails come as 'P' poor, 'D' dreadful and 'T' troll; because trolls are NOT renowned for being bright. I took ten OWLs and got five 'O' grades; transfiguration is my poorest subject that I'm taking to NEWT because I only got an 'E'; I have trouble with the theory."
"Transfiguration – changing – isn't that kinda what being an animagus is about?"
"Well yeah, and I can do the practicals without working up a sweat it's just….hell, you don't have to do the exam, you just enjoy doing what you can with your wand. We muggle born just don't always get the theory first time around because the way we have of looking at things is different. We run on science not instinct. Here's Ollivander's; let's get your wand."
"Been around a long time" said Lee, looking at the sign declaring proudly that Ollivander's had been suppliers of wands since 382 BC.
"And nearly stopped dead when he got kidnapped" said David grimly. "Ah, morning Mr Ollivander"
"Mr Fraser! Oak, quite firm, nine inches, Gryphon's heartstring core. I never forget a wand. Never got much chance to talk to you when you were in with that young boy and Mr Dell."
"Willow Prince said mine should be oak, with a runespoor spinal cord fourteen inches" said Lee.
Ollivander blinked.
"Willow Prince? Is that Miss Wilhelmina Prince?"
"The same" said David. "Always knows what wand anyone has."
"Dear me! Dear me! Yes I remember Miss Prince, came in bold as brass, demanded Willow, flexible, eight inches with a kneazle whisker core. She was right too. Suited her perfectly. Often wondered why Kneazle whisker; she seemed such a typical Slytherin."
"Oh she is; but she's a cat animagus" said David. "She's a good kid."
"Well well! Tell her, won't you, that there's a job waiting for her here if she wants one… I suppose she isn't studying enchantment at all?"
"Oh yes, Willow's serious about enchantment; reckons wands aren't just a science but an art" said David.
Mr Ollivander's eyes gleamed and he let out a loud sigh of satisfaction that sounded almost orgasmic.
"Ohhhh how wonderful… I could use an apprentice wand maker…. I'm not so young as I was and recent events have been so very trying…."
"Yes, Lucius did what he could, but he didn't dare jeopardise the chance to totally obliteeriate Voldemort and kill him nastily" said David lapsing into a Convolvumort voice.
Ollivander managed a wry smile.
"Who'd have thought Draco Malfoy would have been such a comedian…. I wonder if he has changed wands?"
"He has…. He took Voldemort's, the brother of Harry's; it was somehow appropriate" said David.
Ollivander nodded.
"I see you are appreciative of wands yourself Mr Fraser."
"Appreciative; but not knowledgeable Mr Ollivander" said David "I never studied enchantment past basics. I know enough to appreciate your art and Willow's raw talent and know that such is outside my league. Do you have a wand such as my friend needs?"
"Oh yes!" said Ollivander "There's a touch of divination in wand making, knowing ahead of time what's going to be called for… but I don't recall finding a wand for you before, young man, you've transferred from another school?"
"No, I'm what they call a late developer" said Lee.
"A – a muggle?" Ollivander was disconcerted.
"Let him try the wand and see what sort of muggle can make it perform" said David.
Ollivander reached up and brought down a box, most tenderly.
"I'd expect a descendent of Salazar Slytherin himself to use this" he said, looking dubiously at Lee.
"He's the Parselmouth, isn't he?" Said Lee "Well if it runs in families, I guess maybe I am."
Ollivander looked at him with renewed respect and a great deal of wariness.
"Try it; give it a shake" he said.
Lee did so; and sparks flew quite satisfactorily.
"Right" he said and got two bottles from his pocket, each with different coloured liquid in. He set them down some distance apart; lined up his wand on one and murmured the parseltongue words Abraxus had used to switch the drinks.
The bottles duly switched.
David was impressed.
"Most people have trouble with switching spells" he said "I'd stick to the parseltongue version if I were you and not bother to learn the proper incantations! I reckon you have an eidetic memory – you remembered about the wand too, and it's not the usual sort of thing to have to recall."
"I do have an eidetic memory" shrugged Lee "I don't even know what a runespoor is."
"It's a three headed snake" said David "And I'll fill you in more on that too another time. That's an excellent wand, Mr Ollivander; he'll have it."
Lee was bubbling with joy to have a wand and kept making stones dance all the way down the alley until David told him firmly to stop making an ass of himself like any ten year old and practise at home.
"You are over seventeen after all" he said "So they can't do you for underage wand use out of school. You'll do someone a mischief with that accidentally if you don't put it away; and then there'll be hell to pay because you're an adult in this world and sueable!"
Lee was startled and pulled a rueful face.
"Sorry" he said "It's so exciting!"
"I know; and I'll show you how to use it properly this evening at my guardian's place" David promised.
Lee was enjoying himself in a whole new world. And the chance to find out about quidditch – which sounded fascinating – would come soon too!
David was excited too; he was to sit a written exam and then to referee a match between two 'B' teams; the Chuddleigh Cannons, whose 'B' team, sometimes called the youth team as the players were generally less experienced, coached by Ron Weasley; and the Harwitches, an all female team from Harwich.
Lee hung about watching the warm ups as David toiled over his written work; a red haired young man approached him.
"Hi, I don't remember you from Hogwarts, you a friend of Fraser?"
"Yes, I'm sort of a muggle from the school in Devon there were some mix ups with….only I can use a wand and I'm a Parselmouth."
The young man gave a huge and friendly grin.
"Yeah? I'm Ron Weasley…. I only left school a couple of years back; I hope David passes, he's mad on quidditch but like me not quite professional class…. Want a go on a broom?"
"Please!" said Lee.
Lee was a natural sportsman and was soon throwing quaffles.
"You're not bad" said Ron, critically "Fancy doing some try-outs when you leave school? You might make the 'B' team you know…. Or there's always ref's exams."
"I don't know" said Lee. "David offered me a job in the new school, Rowan House; I think I'd like a broom though."
"Well look" said Ron "If you might think of taking up a trial, I can loan you a team broom; that way if you feel you're getting good, I'll take you down Diagon Alley to buy your own….uh, what's your finances like?" he added "I don't mean to be rude, but with schoolfees, having a decent broom was always a bit….difficult for me, I'm sixth in the family you see."
"I'm an only and my parents are doing pretty well" said Lee "And I've had a holiday job for years; I can spend a fair amount. I was saving for a car."
"Cor, can you drive?" said Ron enviously.
"I've had lessons, yes; I haven't taken my test yet, but that's at the end of the month" said Lee.
"Will you teach me? If I teach you some broom handling tricks?"
"Sounds a fair exchange" said Lee.
David came out at that moment, looking relieved.
"How'd it go, David mate?" said Ron.
"It FELT easy… so either I passed well or I blew it thoroughly" said David. Ron grinned.
"Reckon you passed then mate. Lee an' me, we're going to swap skills, he's going to teach me to drive properly."
"An EXCELLENT idea" said David fervently, having driven with Arthur Weasley on his forged driving licence, and unable to forget that his parents died because of the carelessness of a drunk driver. Crazy wizards were hardly any better than drunkards though at least they tended to avoid crashing by levitating the car out of trouble and worrying about confunding the muggles involved later.
Lee enjoyed watching the match; and David enjoyed refereeing it. One of the Harwitches team did try to make something of him knowing the opposing team coach when he booked her; but David said sternly that it would not matter who he knew on either side, jinxing an opponent's robes to drop off was STILL against the rules.
The Harwitch muttered but made no more overt complaints.
Chuddleigh Cannons finally won by twenty points when their seeker caught the snitch; and almost got beaten up when he asked if it had brought the score high enough. As Ron said, what was the point of ending the game by catching the snitch if he didn't know if it was going to win, draw or lose the game?
"Merlin's unwashed underpants, you dreamy git!" he shouted "Try to concentrate on the score more than on scoring! I know you're more interested in the vital statistics of your opposite number than the statistics of the game but could you keep your mind just faintly on the fall of the game quaffles more than the wobble of HER quaffles?"
The seeker subsided, hurt; and the Harwitches started to have a go at Ron.
"Don't even start!" said Ron "I didn't ask you to use your assets against my seeker; there's no rule against it but it's still unethical and you can't complain about me mentioning it!"
"Ladies – gentlemen" said David "The game is over and technically my job is done but may I say the Harwich Seeker WAS rather displaying her lack of foundation garments to the young idiot on the Chuddleigh team. There's right and wrong on both sides, let's not get involved in the sort of childish mudslinging I have to counter between first year Ravenclaws and Slytherin. Ron, madam, shake hands and put this behind you."
"And do you fancy going out for a drink?" said the Chuddleigh seeker hopefully to the buxom witch from Harwich.
Ron whacked him across the back of the head before the witch could slap him.
Ron went for a drink with Lee and David while David waited for the examiners' deliberations; another game was in progress with another hopeful referee.
"Nice turn of phrase to your seeker by the way" said David "Sounded almost worthy of Severus."
"Who d'you think I learned from, mate?" said Ron "Every time they piss me off, I think of the sort of things he used to say to me when I did things to cauldrons. Works a treat!"
David was duly summoned back in before the board of examiners, leaders of the Quidditch Association of Britain.
"Congratulations, Mr Fraser" said the head of the board "You may consider yourself a referee national class, and hold yourself in readiness to be called up to referee any game in Britain. You have your Apparating licence I believe to reach any game?"
"Yes sir I do" said David "May I refuse if a match falls on the same day as either my exams or the Triwizard?"
"Oh certainly, certainly; you'll be let know what matches you've been drawn for ahead of time, several months in advance, and be given a list of other referees to arrange to exchange with, so long as you let the Quidditch authorities know that there's to be an exchange. You shouldn't have to referee more than about three games a season; and you will be paid per game."
"I get paid?" said David "I thought it was an amateur occupation."
"Oh dear no begorra, we pay our referees for their skills" It was Murphy the Sports Minister who spoke up "It won't keep ye, but there's the opportunity for private deals wit' clubs who want a ref to cover 'A' and 'B' team matches with impartiality, and informal matches between scratch village teams. Most referees have a day job too o' course but ye can scratch a living from it if ye make enough contacts."
"Well, that's very nice" said David "And I won't deny having more than out of pocket expenses paid will come in handy; though I was expecting to do it for love and the hope of having my robes replaced when I had them damaged by some of the more exciting things that can happen to referees."
Murphy laughed.
"Sure, and you don't have any illusions about yer own safety anyway!" he said "And begorra, someone like YOU ought to be treated with respect by the dimmest, toughest beater; just show'em the scar and scowl. Now! Ye must serve for t'ree years refereeing national teams before it is ye can go for yer International Refereein' exams; and also have a recommendation from yer national board. I can't really be seein', wit' yer excellent performance today, considering how inexperienced ye are, that we will be likely to make any difficulty recommending ye. The diffusion o' the situation afther the match was well handled and shows the sort of referee who goes above and beyond the call o' duty. An international referee IS expected to thry t' keep the peace afher the match and that goes forward as a point in yer favour."
David flushed.
"It seemed like a good idea, sir" he said "Trouble is easier to prevent than to stop; and I've had plenty of practice as a peacemaker in my time as a prefect."
"Sounds like a better prefect than some I knew then" growled another member of the board.
"Well, that's as maybe, Mr Fraser will be wanting to get along" said the head of the board. "Once more, congratulations and good luck too in the Triwizard, if we may be permitted to wish you so."
"Thank you sir; I appreciate it very much" said David "I have better than a thirty second start off so I hope to take advantage of that. I expect it'll be a maze designed by Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape so I expect it to be tortuous, fiendish and remarkably challenging. On the other hand I've written homework for Professor Snape before now and done exams set by him; so forewarned is forearmed."
"Yes, Severus always was a devious little git" said another of the board "Good seeker too; might have been great if he hadn't so often given in to frustration when Potter outflew him. That's James Potter of course. I was chaser for Hufflepuff at the time; we never stood a chance against the Gryff-Slyther rivalries. Getting out in one piece was a priority when either of those teams were playing. Glad Harry Potter plays a more gentlemanly game than his father. Didn't you fly on the scratch team against Bulgaria?"
"Yes sir; and it was the most wonderful experience of my life!" said David softly "Win or lose, it was always going to be unforgettable; that's a great team and the most tremendous good sports too. Gentlemen in the game. It makes all the difference."
"It does; and at least you've the realism to know that's not always the case. But we keep you; best of luck again, and try not to neglect your schoolwork either!"
"I shan't sir!" David was grinning in joy as he shook hands with all the examiners and walked out of the room clutching his certificate of National Level Refereeing.
Life was great!
I couldn't resist introducing the Harwitches; Harwich is a town in the east of England