Chapter 11
Lydia sent a rather tentative blood pulse to Viktor as soon as she was on the train, in the hopes that he might find time to come to England some time over the holiday.
She did NOT expect him to actually meet the train!
The sight of him so unexpectedly completely overwhelmed her equilibrium and she almost fell out of the carriage into his arms and was kissing him with fierce intensity.
Viktor was not about to pass that up!
Leo sighed, laughed, shook his head and removed Lydia's totally forgotten luggage from the train for her. He could see now how right it was.
"Oh Viktor, I'm sorry I was silly over the summer" said Lydia.
"But no, Lydia, it was not silly; it was entirely sensible to wish not to be mistaken in your heart" said Viktor earnestly "I hoped – of course I hoped – but I am not such a churl to not give you room!"
"You are wonderful, Viktor" said Lydia "I think I knew when I saw you so hurt; but I let my silly mind get confused with assumptions and other things."
"I feel Leo and he is not upset about it" said Viktor "I am glad; he is my blood brother and he too helped save my life. But I will still my distance keep; I will not upset your studies."
Lydia sighed.
"I so am tempted to marry you as soon as I have finished my OWLs" she said.
"But no; that is an idea that is too impulsive and not like you at all" said Viktor "You are capable of a large number of good NEWTs; it is foolish to throw that away. It would disappoint your parents and also in future years our children. The risks to me are smaller with so large a group of belonging. And we will have a large, social wedding after your NEWTs, not because either of us want it, but to thumb our noses at Odessa; and maybe bring about reforms on the continent, yes?"
Lydia hugged him.
"Yes Viktor" she said "We will be crusaders. And" she sighed "We had better board our children with mum and dad if things look hairy."
"Excuse, 'hairy?'"
"Dangerous" translated Lydia
"Ah! Yes I see. Perhaps we will work out of Prince Peak. It is to be a specialist school; perhaps as well as music and art, with Ron and David there we may also make it a school of quidditch excellence for those intending to make it their career."
"It's a thought" said Lydia. "Practise matches against a blood group team wouldn't half hone skills. Though I'm not sure I'd be entirely happy to have a school full of Me-first Murrays; and of course there will be also the likes of the Caterwauling Crow, AKA Amos Leroy."
"But my darling, if there is a whole school of dedicated geniuses, then the fact of being a genius becomes ordinary and that in itself should, how you say, knock off the corners."
"There is that!" Lydia brightened. "Then you shall teach higher quidditch and I shall teach Junior chanting so poor old Alcithoë Bat can get retired off and just be trotted out to play the piano so she doesn't feel unwanted."
"Excellent; and a good cover" said Viktor "So, my darling, you need your NEWT in chanting to teach."
Lydia grinned.
"I was going to enter it alongside my OWLs" she said "As I have an OWL in chanting; Lucius thought that saving you constituted an OWL for all of us involved."
"It was rather a harsh impromptu exam" said Viktor. "And how glad I am that you knew what to do, and shall we to your parents' home now retire since several small people mime being sick?"
"Brats of weevils" said Lydia without rancour. She slid her hand into Viktor's, grinned at Leo who was guarding her trunk, and prepared to depart, giving an absent two fingered cuff to Nathan and Isambard and Jingjie for their display.
Viktor and Lydia went out to Austria for part of the Christmas holidays to be with Jade when she married her Wulf and prepared for the deep joining; and Jade hugged Lydia.
"I'm glad you got it sorted out in your own mind" she said "I knew you would but it was no point telling you who I thought you'd pick. BEST of sisters, be happy!"
"I shall" said Lydia with composure. "What's this Anett like that Mortimer says might be turnable?"
"A bit Gryffindorish" said Jade "But I think I like her an awful lot; she'll do I reckon."
"I AM a Gryffindor" said Lydia mildly. It was a long standing joke; but a 'she'll do' from Jade was worth eulogies from almost anyone else.
It was a good family Yuletide; though Viktor also wanted to spend some of it with his siblings in the Hogwarts orphanage and take them for treats. Zvetelina was delighted that Lydia was to be her sister after all, and hugged and kissed her affectionately. Stoyan was less demonstrative; but he was not displeased.
Lydia was a good sort of relative to have; she was a Marauder and that brought its own cachet to a brother-in-law elect of such!
Later in the holidays, as the Mad Marauders entertained Viktor in Obscura Alley, they were all aware of a joining to the blood; and Lydia nodded.
"So Anett turned out even more than a 'she'd do'" she said. "And another child…. Well Viktor, I think we'll be working with her then."
Viktor nodded.
"This seems likely" he agreed.
Ross Tuthill was a bit taken aback to be accosted by the famous good looks of Gilderoy Lockhart as he waited for the stragglers at the station.
The famous smile beamed.
"Ah, little boy…. I think I am supposed to find a train… teaching eager young minds you know" he said. "Would you like my autograph?"
"I think it's better, sir, if I get your son" said Ross firmly.
"I have a son?" said Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Yes sir; Amadeo Hero Lockhart" said Ross, managing to remember what Mad's official prenomens were.
"Amadeo…. I don't think I recall…."
No, thought Ross, because you're such a selfish git I don't suppose you remembered you had a son even before you got hoist by your own petard with Ron's wand. He smiled and went in search of Mad.
Mad and Chad both came out; Mad had not yet cut the curls his mother liked him to have in the holidays and looked sufficiently artistic for Gilderoy to enjoy the effect of his 'own beautiful son so like his father' and promptly posed for photos with his arm in an affectionate pose around Mad's shoulders.
Ross phoned Morgan Malfoy-Green and asked her to alert someone from St Mungo's who must be going frantic. Morgan had a direct communications device to St Mungo's since the affair of Richmaya Crouch-Jones.
Mad and Chad told Ross that they'd miss the express if need be and see that Lockhart got back, using the Marauding way back as they said mysteriously.
Ross had a vague idea about the Loo network – its existence was not so closely guarded a secret from HIS bloodgroup as it was from the rest of Hogwarts – and he nodded thankfully.
Isis Pince had turned up with a filthy goblin child by the hand, beaming myopically through her thick spectacles.
"This is Azara; she needs a place in the orphanage" said Isis.
The child was about six.
"You're an orphan are you, Azara?" said Ross, pleasantly, looking into the child's eyes.
"Yah" said the child, looking sideways.
Ross had picked up some legilimensy from Lionel.
"Isis, you poor prune, this young person is already an accomplished little liar" said Ross, sending a blood call to Arjelan and Cholaka. "Her mother is probably going frantic right now….Arjelan, Cholaka, please will you restore this small horror to her proper milieu? She's told Isis a tissue of lies in the expectation of a soft life; you'd better disabuse her that she could sit around all day doing nothing as a scholar."
"How do we then get to school?" asked Arjelan
"Catch up with Chad and Mad at Wendy Malfoy's; they'll let you go with them" said Ross, in the expectation that the Marauders were good sorts like that.
"And you, brat, give back that purse" said Arjelan, grabbing the child's wrist and extracting Isis' purse from a pocket.
"Gosh!" said Isis "But she's only a babe!"
"Yeah; a hell-born babe at that" said Cholaka "Maybe if she WAS an orphan, Gran Fraser might have had a chance to turn her into a decent person; but somehow I think it's too late. You, Azara, whatever your name is; if you want to do well in life, you give up stealing from people who aren't rotters and you work hard at the free school when you're old enough and maybe you'll turn out okay. Huh, and I reckon I'm wasting my breath" she added. She and Arjelan heaved the sullen child off in the direction of the tube while Isis stood looking bereft and bewildered.
Ross patted her on the shoulder.
"Hey, kiddy, it was a good and worthy impulse of yours" he said kindly "And I applaud you for it. Only I fear you got taken in."
"People didn't ought to be so dirty and ragged and feel a need to steal" said Isis.
"No" said Ross "They didn't. But one thing you WILL learn if you mean to get radical about the ills of society my dear child is that there are some people who will remain thieves even if they don't need to; and some people who are profligate, and some people who choose to live in squalor even if they don't have to. Talk to Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak; he and his family lived in the poorest conditions after his real dad died before his mum married Lucius Malfoy. He wants to do social reform."
"Thank you; I shall" said Isis.
By this time a nurse from the Janus Thickey ward had arrived and was hustling Gilderoy Lockhart away. Mad and Chad need not miss the train; and Ross 'phoned Wendy Malfoy and asked her to see two girls through the other means or by floo; and explained quickly.
Wendy laughed.
"Never a dull moment for the train whipper-in!" she said.
Ross had to agree!
Fortunately the journey proceeded with no further mishap save that of Lydia testing a new curse on Leonard Baddock when he was stupid enough to snap at Polly Kirrin in a fashion that might be construed as next door to racist.
For the rest of the journey Leonard dared not move his feet for the sounds of honky-tonk piano music that accompanied any such movement.
As Lydia said,
"You don't go out of your way to be as much a creep as your brother so I go out of my way to drop only mildish jinxes on you."
Lydia had plans on returning to school.
She had discussed Odessa so extensively with Viktor that she decided that it was a good idea to protect Perceval Filius Harry Dumbledore, who had once been Helmut Hesse, from being turned back.
And she spent the journey on writing the notes to allow her to do just that.
She left Polly sorting out her kit to go to the nurseries straight away while Leonard played what might be dubiously described as music by the act of walking on the platform; Lionel Dell could sort him out if he was so incompetent by the fifth form that he could not dejinx himself.
The ritual involved a lot of Finnish naming magic as well. Lydia was studying comparative magic and had pulled together a chant that was, truth to tell, something beyond NEWT level comparative magic, let alone chanting, to change a true name.
When she had finished, even mandragora potion brewed with the application of a chant of Hesse's true name would be insufficient to change him back; because it would no longer BE his true name. Lydia had run up to Dumbledore's office and invaded his bedroom to acquire some hairs from his hairbrush – a beautiful tortoiseshell thing with a patent self brushing charm on it – to transfer the essence of the kinship to the infant. As she chanted the hairs disintegrated and turned into pure light that streamed into the slightly bewildered baby; and as the ritual reached its culmination the light blue baby eyes changed in hue and became the bright piercing blue that was characteristic of the Dumbledore family. Lydia smiled in satisfaction. Now he was blood of Albus' blood, his son in truth. It would have been much harder had she not been able to find hairs with tags on; that had been a bonus for flesh was flesh when all was said and done.
And she picked up the little boy to give him a cuddle, for now he was safe.
Perceval never minded cuddles.
It may be stated that Albus, playing with his son the next day, noted the slight change to the eyes and used his wand to check the baby out; and was startled to discover that the boy was in fact now a Dumbledore.
It did not take long to work out who might be responsible for that; and Albus smiled genially on Lydia when he next saw her. Like her father, her acts of kindness tended to be secret and hidden.
And she had blossomed in ability since no longer in Jade's shadow; and that too was very good.
And Perceval had good friends to see he grew up as a good and well loved man should he, Albus, die of old age before the lad was grown; as was not impossible.
After all, he had not expected to survive to see Harry's children since he had anticipated being a sacrifice in the fight against Voldemort.
He had everything to live for; all the children he had been especially close to in those years, Severus and his children, and this wonderful boy Perceval who had become so very dear to him.
The weather was cold but held dry and the children were able to get out in the daylight hours of their leisure and walk on the cold, crisp ground with frost crunching under their boots and breath rising in clouds around them as the low sun turned bare black trees into fairyland things of wonder with the frosty sparkles flashing all colours on the twigs like diamond-encrusted decorations; and grasses and ferns were things of filigree silver delight finer than any goblin jewellery.
And such Gorbrin photographed assiduously and asked Erica to paint to get the effect so he might use these patterns in his own metalwork to make gifts for his mother and the other mothers as he designed from the pictures and filled a big scrapbook to show Professor Jorbal.
Jorbal was impressed.
"You've an eye for beauty that makes you almost as much an artist as your sister young Gorbrin" he said. It had taken him some adjusting to come to terms with the fact that Erica and Gorbrin were brother and sister and saw each other as such; but in his eyes it was an excellent thing to be fostered.
"Thank you sir" said Gorbrin "I hope I'll have the facility with my fingers to do with metal what she can do with paints."
"You have more facility with your fingers than your sister if you ask me" said Jorbal "She has the ability to make working drawings; you make them live in metal. I think if you worked as a pair you would be very successful jewellers. Your touch is to the delicate; if you ever make weapons or cutlery I suggest you stick to the smaller end; fancy silver knives for the potioneer with discernment and such."
"A self-chopping knife would be a handy enchantment" said Gorbrin "And one made from scratch could be more easily attuned to the desires of the potioneer in terms of fineness of a cut, or even speed. Perhaps a huristic knife that you show what you want; that's the point of a really good goblin enchantment, isn't it, a degree of almost intelligence in what is made?"
Jorbal nodded eagerly.
"Godric Gryffindor's sword knows when it is held by a Gryffindor; and if the wielder is worthy too" he said. "It of course is a great artefact; and producing such has a part of the crafter's soul in it for it is like siring a child, it is a part of you."
"And I suppose one has to be aware of this and not put too much of one's self into more commonplace items to avoid burning out from sheer enthusiasm" said Gorbrin.
"Yes – to an extent that is true" said Jorbal "It depends how much WILL you have how much you can recover from what you put in. For some there is but one masterwork in them. For others there is the ability to craft many. I do not teach you here how to make master works; only the art of metalwork such as any muggle whitesmith could teach; and on top of that the basics of how to lift your craft into the realms of magic such as no muggle could imagine or envisage."
Gorbrin was happy.
This was wonderful!
As he had taken on this extra OWL he had also applied to take a couple of his OWLs a year early.
Jade Snape after all had gone up a year with all her subjects at his age; Jade was exceptional of course and had been learning theory since she had been just a tot. But he had every expectation of being able to pass, and pass well, at Potions and at Transfiguration already; for both came easy.
And he had been told that he might indeed take these two early if he undertook to study the extra work.
Doing extra work AND twelve subjects left little time for anything else; but it would drop his workload next year when it was the most important.
And frankly, for potioneering, he had read through the whole of Arsenius Jigger's book and found nothing new in 'Magical Draughts and Potions'; as indeed he was using Libatious Borage's 'Advanced Potion Making' for much of what he did at home. And he had read through Emeric Switch's second of his three books on Transfigurations over the summer holidays and had been tempted to purchase the third because it was so interesting, and was guiltily aware that he should not be able to cite Gamp's Laws of Conjuration not his five exceptions.
When he trotted out Gamp in an argument with Madam McGonagall over her introduction to conjuration she looked at him in exasperation.
"Weel, laddie, if ye ken fine yer Gamp ye'll no' gae far wrong in Trrransfigurration but whisht! Bide a wee syne ye talk aboot NEWT level things when ye're in the FOURRRTH!"
Gorbrin grinned.
"Sorry professor McGonagall" he said.
"Ye're no' sorry in the least ye wee sumpf!" she said with a twinkle in her eyes that belied the harsh words.
Gorbrin LIKED Professor McGonagall; she was one of life's special people.
Gorbrin was also glad to have transferred to studying care of Domestic Magical Animals; it was to be offered at OWL for his group and Madam Grubbly-Planck had been hired on as an extra teacher, so that the class might split, some to Hagrid for generalised and wild creatures, others to specialise in domesticated beasts. Though it was Hagrid who introduced them to Thestrals, since he had domesticated and reared most of them; the only domesticated herd in England.
Not everyone had wanted to swap to the domestic beasts; Jardak considered tame animals a little, well, TAME; Mischa wanted to learn from his adopted father and Vasilica did as Mischa did. Jazka too wanted to learn about wild beasts; as a town-bred girl who had never seen the countryside until she came to school, like Jardak, it was exciting. Ming was just keen on the idea of seeing big dangerous beasts up close; and Hadrian was negotiating furiously to take both exams and had asked for a time turner just to attend those two classes.
Being the son of a muggle vet and being genuinely interested in animals, Dumbledore had agreed; and Hagrid was to hand him the time turner at the end of HIS lesson and Hadrian turned it in to Madam Grubbly-Planck at the end of HERS.
Gorbrin was interested in domestic beasts for one reason only; horses.
He had learned to ride at Malfoy Manor, the ordinary muggle horses Lucius also kept and the magnificent flying horses that were his pride and joy, six Granians to draw his carriage and a selection of others – not all pure bred – for riding. Lucius had explained that his father, Abraxus, was named for one of the horses of Aurora the Dawn; the reason Krait's mother had been named Aurora. And Abraxus had been named for the familial connection to the Withers family, now all but extinct save in the Withers-Weasley line after each line in turn started producing only girls.
"Alastor Moody has Withers blood" Lucius had explained "A great old family. The only branch that I think still has a full surname is muggle now; maybe there'll be muggleborn Withers some day. I bought out a lot of the stables from old Damian Withers who died childless; his niece married my grandfather. One of the other branches struggled on a few more generations and then nothing but daughters and miscarriages. Fortunately one of them landed a Black-Weasley who was amenable to change his name to Withers-Weasley. Hellibore and Cackle educated I'm afraid the whole boiling of them nowadays; still with Severus at Prince Peak perhaps they'll send their boys to him instead. Hellibores aren't hot on magical creatures – as you saw in the Triwizard first task. Prince Peak has David Fraser; and he's a very sound man."
And Gorbrin loved the horses; he could quite see why the eccentric Lord Stoddard Withers who had lived in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had tried to combine quidditch with polo. He read the old man's book on the subject – Lucius had a copy – 'Quiddpolo as a new and healthful game' published in 1755, not that long before the old man's death. He talked Draco and some of the older ones into giving it a go and whilst it was not so thrilling as quidditch it had the extra thrill of being in partnership with a living mount; for the safety of the horses it must perforce be a less risky game but it was still fast and skilful.
Gorbrin had suggested to Lucius that he show on the Wizarding Wireless Vision a couple of teams playing as part of an educational series on selected famous wizards, in the hopes that if televised it might excite more interest.
Lucius had laughed and said 'why not?' for his father had tried to revive it and got nowhere; and it would be a fitting memorial.
In consequence of which Gorbrin was probably more knowledgeable about flying horses at least than any of the others in the class save perhaps Hadrian who was keen on all animals. He was less interested in such beasts as crups and kneazles – especially crups which in his opinion were only slightly less frightful than the blast-ended Pekes. Kneazles were fine; the resident Gryffindor kneazle was friendly enough to those who weren't bullies, and though Gorbrin had not had her give birth in his lap as she had done to Hadrian at the end of the last term she would butt against him on passing happily enough. More of interest to him were hounds with more or less magical capability; Lucius kept a pair of part fey hounds and an albino bloodhound against nogtail infestation in his farmlands; and these albino hounds were touched upon in the lessons, for the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures [Pest subdivision] also kept a dozen of such creatures for the purpose of sending to deal with nogtail problems. Lucius' albino hound was a registered stud to help keep from inbreeding with these.
Naturally Owls were a major part of the lessons too, and the domestic familiars that were not QUITE ordinary creatures; the major problem with their care was the prevention and cure of outbreaks of chizpurfles. Nifflers were uncommon pets but as many goblins kept them they had been added to the list; as were firecrabs, which like Kneazles and Crups required a licence to own. Madam Grubbly-Planck assured her students that a pass in care of domestic magical animals would in most cases fast-track a licence application in the future as there WAS more specialisation; and as they would study disillusionment as part of the course, which was what was required to be permitted a licence to own such.
And at the larger end of the scale they would look at Hippogriffs and even griffons and sphynxes, the two latter as guard beasts, not requiring a close acquaintance except at NEWT level but covered in theory. And they would use a book by a later Withers, Amnias Withers, 'The Training and Breeding of Flying Horses'; which also touched on thestrals, the only written work that did so for Amnias had been convinced that if they could be domesticated they would prove excellent carriage horses. The school edition had an afterword written jointly by Professors Hagrid and Fraser on the realities of Thestral domestication and training; which meant Hagrid had talked a lot and David Fraser had turned it into intelligible prose.
They were also given a recommended reading list which included 'the handbook of hippogriff psychology' and Aristides Black-Weasley's 'Dangerous Rodents of Britain'. Judging by the number of things that had bitten him and left him in need of medical attention this was, for Mr Black-Weasley anything bigger than a harvest mouse.
Or maybe anything at all; for Gorbrin found he had also been bitten by a shrew.
The interruption to the lecture on Buckbeak as a typical hippogriff was, however, rather startling and quite frightening.
There was a loud explosion at the edge of the Forbidden Forest; and most of the MSHG hit the ground, going for wands in case it was some new incursion of Odessa.
When nothing else violent happened they made their way, with Madam Grubbly-Planck leading, to see what had occurred.
It turned out to be the last Blast-ended skrewt – Krait had not managed to transfigure all of them and Hagrid had smuggled the ones she missed surreptitiously into the Forest – dying of advanced years and exploding from the gasses of morbidity.
The stench was indescribably foul and the whole mixed class – Hagrid's contingent having come too – fleeing in abject horror with arms over their faces and breathing through sweaters as gas masks. Gorbrin put up a bubble-head charm which was rapidly copied by most of his friends.
"Pore old thing" said Hagrid sadly, viewing the scattered remains of his erstwhile pet.
Only Hagrid could get sentimental over something quite that loathsome.
The blast ended Pekes could at least be loosely described as domesticated creatures and Hadrian had spent a weekend helping Hagrid treat one that had suffered from blowback and roped Gorbrin in to brew a soothing potion to be squirted into the appropriate orifice.
Kevin Slugworthy's wretched Streelugs, his cross between Streelers and slugs, were probably in the same category; and as he had bred them without resort to magic not even illegal.
They were actually moderately benign; unlike the Streeler their slime was not venomous and was laid down in a kalaidoscope of colour that matched the colour the creature was when it laid down that particular slime trail. The colour changes were less bright than the Streeler, a subtle permanent shifting of what might be described as antique shades, nothing vivid or glaring. Kevin was delighted with his pets, which were fairly outsize as slugs went, about eight inches long. They had no use whatsoever save to be decorative – if you liked that sort of thing – and to produce abstract art wherever they went.
Kevin christened his slugs Jackson, Pollock and Kandinsky known as Kandy for short.
Erica said they were a lot more decorative in her view than either Jackson Pollock OR Kandinsky.
Kevin asked for some help with permanency charms to seal the slime and let his pets loose on paper then proceeded to sell the resultant artwork appropriately mounted with such pretentious titles as 'A muse of magic', 'Quintessence' and 'Mind-trails of reflection' and had the cheek to ask if Lucius would accept one as a gift to lure others to buy.
Gorbrin and Erica had laughed and agreed to bully their father; after all the proceeds WERE for a good cause; to promote the cause of the Society Against Slavery and to buy out slaves if necessary. Lucius would willingly help THAT out!
Kevin took a pseudonym of Vinny Streele as a suitably pretentious sounding name; and promptly sold out.
He was delighted and wrote to Lucius thanking him kindly for his patronage.
The pictures were suitable indeed for the wizarding world as with a bit of practise Erica had managed to get the slime to change colour constantly under her magical coating; and as Lucius said, it was no worse than some of the crap some people tried to sell who were sad enough to believe in their own sales pitch of high falutin' claptrap.
Snails featured highly in the life of the Belle Marauders too.
Bella had read that snails make an unholy row climbing up windows overnight and she wanted to test this on someone who deserved to be ragged.
Ravenclaw Tower and Achille Crouch-Villeneuve sprang immediately to mind; it had been plain that there was a coolness between him and Lionel Dell on returning from the first task of the Triwizard and as the Belle Marauders were all passionate Lionel Dell fans – between being passionate Jade Snape fans – they decided that Achille needed punishment.
As the only other upper sixth Ravenclaw boy was Colin Malik, who was a rather pleasant youth and kind to little ones, they made a roundabout warning that nocturnal alarums should not cause him any er, alarm.
Colin raised an eyebrow; but as he loathed Achille and assumed that he was the intended victim decided not to pursue the subject.
The snails had to be levitated up to the window as it got dark; they had used the Marauder's Map on a previous night to see where Achille was to find out which was his room. And finally some toothsome lettuce was levitated to the top of the window and attached with a permanent sticking charm, a ticklish piece of casting at such a distance.
Next day, Colin sought them out.
"I'm going to HAVE to set you an impot you know" said the Anglo-Indian boy. "Then I can be easy and say to Professor Flitwick – if he asks – that I found and punished the culprits."
"Oh Colin, won't you please tell us what happened?" pleaded Bella, all big eyes. Colin grinned.
"Well your pets started their business just after we'd dropped off to sleep, wailing like lovelorn banshees" he said. "And Achille went flying out of bed – he sleeps closest to the window – and leaped into bed with me. So I shoved him out" he added with some satisfaction "And he went haring off for Professor Flitwick claiming that there were dementors at the window. I went to see what was going on and I shifted your little allies up to the food you arranged them so the evidence was, as you might say, hidden; I put them back in the garden this morning. It's too cold for snails to be outside for long, they should be barely out of hibernation!"
"We thought they wouldn't take harm on a window of a heated room" said Isabel.
"No, probably not; anyway, they're back under a flowerpot" said Colin who extended kindness to animals as well as younger children.
"Gosh Colin, you are a sport!" said Bella "What impot do you want us to do?"
"Tennyson, 'The Shell'; only one rep each but you can reflect on how intricate even a snail shell is and how much lovelier they are than Achille Crouch-Villeneuve and how unfair it is to expose innocent animals to such as he."
They giggled. Colin really WAS a sport!
"What did Professor Flitwick say?" asked Drusillina.
"Well I gather he asked what I had done, and got a bit waxy that Achille had left me to sleep if there really was danger; and when he came in and asked me what had happened I claimed that there had been some noise outside that I thought had affected Achille more than was reasonable. I intimated he had been having bad dreams as a result of overeating" added Colin. "And Flitters – er, Professor Flitwick – gave him a wigging about not being a weevil to run screaming from bad dreams like a baby and to try to have a little more decorum then to run yelling down passageways and frightening the younger ones; and he said it was hardly surprising that so feeble a character had not been chosen as triwizard champion and that given a choice between Achille and little Jingjie Chang he'd back Jingjie every time."
The conspirators beamed. It had been a MOST successful jape!