Chapter 12

With the success of the slug-art Gorbrin and Erica put their heads together with Kevin to collect slime trails and turn it into storable paints.

"If we can brew a medium to preserve it, well there's no end of uses" said Gorbrin "colour change paint for posters; our mums wear makeup sometimes, they'd LOVE to have something no-one else has as it's non venomous, and if we can make it a wash-proof dye, how cool is that for really different robes?"

"Crumbs even if it's not wash-proof how cool is that for the Yule Ball when I have to go?" said Kevin.

"Extremely" said Erica "So if you're game we thought we'd put our heads together; because I know about making magic paints and Gorbrin's a brilliant experimental potioneer and see what we can do."

"And if we could get it into glass too" said Gorbrin "Well I don't know anything about glass blowing but we've looked a little bit at enamelling in the metalworking classes – Erica and me are specialising in jewellery – and that would be so neat!"

"I hope they breed soon" said Kevin anxiously "It's a great strain for only three slugs to have the basis of several industries on their er….backs."

"I don't think they worry too much about it Kev" said Gorbrin tactfully "They seem quite placid if you ask me. Have you registered them as new creatures? 'cos you ought to; should we ask dad how to go about it because y'know, somehow I doubt Hagrid knows."

"Would you? Thanks everso!" said Kevin.

Kevin was also experimenting with enlarging one slug massively to leave a broad swathe of slime, fixing that with Erica's secret recipe, and then letting the small slugs crawl on top for a truly eye-catching – or eye-wrenching depending on your point of view – feast of interactive changing colour. He called the first one of these – with input from his friends – 'muse of emotion'.

It has to be said that the first experimental paint was used to write a poster saying 'GO LIONEL GO!' for the Hogwarts Triwizard champion to wave at him as the party left for Durmstrang; which eye-catching effort chuffed Lionel no end.

As he was also using Gorbrin's broom with its extra aerodynamic features he felt very warm that the kids were so supportive.

And wondered how they had made their paint quite so subtle; for the usual charm to make paint flash was basically an on-off flash in one or two colours – dependant on the cleverness of the caster – and was a tricky charm for a fourth year. This constant colour change was really rather good; and Lionel determined to ask them how they had done it when he got back. For now he grinned cheerily at the group and waved.

Durmstrang looked even bleaker than ever, thought Lionel, with a thin powdering of snow on the ground and hard frost giving a stark, black and white appearance to the castle and surrounds, the trees dark against the snow, though most were evergreens. The Catalina's wake on the dark lake broke up the reflections of the darker trees around it in fantastic eddies and patterns, like Japanese marbling. Lionel caught his breath. Even in the starkness there was beauty.

It helped that he felt fairly confident of course; he was looking forward to this task.

They disembarked and Lionel bowed beautifully to Madam Bacsó and exchanged a few words, noting that she appeared to be quite as frosty as the scenery and wondering what had happened.

Jade was there looking suspiciously demure and smiling blandly at a group of muttering Durmstrangers.

Lionel twitched his wand in a surreptitious revellaspell towards the group; there was no way Jade would look that bland if she had not jinxed them in some subtle manner into the middle of next week; possibly with the indigestion curse or a braying curse.

He blinked at the intense subtlety of the spell; some kind of containment and transfiguration of gaseous effluvium leading to…lifting the victim? He caught Jade's eye; the bland look with which she returned his gaze clearly said 'wait and see'.

There was little delay before starting the task; it would take a full three hours to complete, for each contestant was permitted two hours – with points for every full five minutes under that time – but they would leave at fifteen minute intervals, the last leaving an hour after the first.

First they drew for position; and Lionel was delighted to go first. Jade was last and looked a little peeved about it; but shrugged. Between them, Miles, Timothée and Anett would go in that order. Timothée had divining rods of all things and an ordinary map; Miles and Anett also had brooms with them; and they were staring at his, and the muggle racing cycle helmet he had bought in the holidays. Lionel smiled blandly; let them look in horror on his racing broom additions; he would have an advantage for not scorning to use muggle science. And if it worked well, he planned to develop an aerodynamic charm to increase the speed of brooms, patent it firmly, and market it. If his speed was obviously faster than the brooms were intended to fly, the Firebolt Company would almost certainly contact him – it was a good advertisement for them – and ask him what the devil those metal bits were. And Lionel would be able to tell them that he was working on a charm to duplicate the effect of muggle science and would they be interested in purchasing it when he was done. With Ross, who was a rather competent physicist and chemist as well as a fine Wizard, he had crunched the numbers and set up a magical wind tunnel with the conjured air jet coloured to show drag and turbulence; and they were now using it for the Tuthill-Dell aerodyne charm as they called it.

Lionel was moderately wealthy; but the sale of such a universally useful charm could set up Ross for life. And Lionel liked to do nice things for his friends.

Better than that in his opinion it would bring a measure of fame and recognition that would endure long past memory of his part in the Triwizard had faded, even if he did manage to beat Jade and win it.

Be that as it may; he was confident of doing well and he felt supremely confident as he stepped forward, waving at the crowd as he prepared to leave.

Lionel has studied no Geomancy so far as exam levels were concerned; but both Mary-Anne and Melody had studied it as well as The Cynner; and Mary-Anne had studied it to NEWT level, so it had been difficult NOT to pick up a bit of what two of his girlfriends were doing as homework. Besides, he had had the two initial years of introductory Geomancy; and the map was scarcely above such junior work anyway, simplicity itself to unravel even if he had no skill in using the ley lines to speed travel as students who studied to exam level might. Presumably the other two with brooms might be able to do such, or even use a node shift for an almost instantaneous result – if a node shift was what he thought it was. Mary-Anne had been known to talk about such things but Lionel was a little hazy!

The speed the souped up Milly attained was heady however; and Lionel whooped in pleasure! Why he must be going as fast as a light aircraft! And it was no time at all before he saw the house for which he was making – not even twenty minutes!

Lionel had some idea of what awaited him; his blood had told of Melody giggling and then drifting into unconsciousness; and of some noxious substance also in her body. He had to brew an antidote presumably. NOT his strong point; hold fast to Golapott.

He landed and went quickly in, through the atrium to the door marked 'Lionel Dell' to where Melody lay unconscious on a bed or slab. It was a trifle macabre and not unlike a laid out body at an undertaker's. The map had indicated quite clearly that everything required would be found there; and the doorway marked 'stores' would lead to such. Lionel was running his wand over Melody and assessing the poison, which allied with the draught of living death was what he had to counter. Interesting choice, a poison that would dissipate over time if no action was taken at all; one of Willow Prince's, Lionel thought, who had invented a poison that also caused unbearable itching and only took effect if you scratched when challenged to come up with something amusing. How like Willow! He was through to the stores where a marshal waited; and a small room off apparently held a marshal each, to check that they did not interact with any others.

Not that anyone else had arrived, so the boy Miles was not using zone shifting.

Lionel hardly expected to be lucky enough to see bezoars in the stores; but he was wrong and a whole box of them lay in plain sight!

Lionel whooped with delight, picked one up and returned to open Melody's unconscious lips and elevate her throat to poke one down, stroking her throat to make her swallow as with animals being given pills.

She duly swallowed, her breathing deepened and she sat up.

The Marshal ran his wand over her.

"Completed" he said addressing a communications globe that Lionel had not even noticed. Lionel kissed Melody's nose on the very tip.

"You can do better than THAT – later" said Melody.

"Well Mr Dell, if you will accompany me, the Prince Peak contingent will see to Miss Bloom" said the Marshal.

Lionel grinned.

"See you later funny face" he said to Melody; who could now be given such an endearment since the awful scarring caused by her parents' fighting had been cured by Severus. She kissed her fingers to him and he followed the marshal to apparate back to the edge of the exclusion zone and walk up to the castle.

He was greeted with a massive cheer from the mixed Hogwarts and Prince Peak supporters when he got back and he grinned and waved.

And then he was being marked.

Murphy gave him a full ten points.

"And wasn't that the enterprisin' thing t'do!" he said "And sure, what ye've done t'yon broom I'm half scared t'think!"

"I used lateral thinking and made use of muggle studies" said Lionel. "And I'm working on a charm to duplicate the effect."

"Well, isn't it just loikely that half the broom companies in the woide world'll be afther getting' t' know ye then!" said Murphy genially, shaking his hand.

The German judge was a contrast. He gave only five points.

"I am not sure that using that bezoar thing might not be cheating" he said.

Lionel shrugged.

"If it had been, I doubt they would have been included" he said "And you would have heard about it from Professor Snape who set the contest. And there was me thinking myself safe because you marked down David Fraser for using a potions option in the last triwizard!" he added gaily. Might as well point out the inconsistencies in the excuses.

The French judge gave him nine; and that, Lionel suspected, was to leave room to give higher style marks to his own champion if it were possible to do so. He had twenty points for his time – just nineteen minutes and most of that the travelling – and twenty four from the judges, a nice solid forty-four.

He went to watch the others. Which was a bit tedious as no-one else had yet arrived at the house; in fact only Miles had left and the external globes showed him wandering aimlessly in more or less the right direction but obviously not exactly sure where he was going.

Then Timothée was called. Lionel watched him use his divining rods on the map; make a mark; and apparate. Still not to the house; he was divining again, the globe that homed in on him determined. He was triangulating; and sensible to use a few minutes to do so than risk being splinched or losing more time for a lack of accuracy.

And then he was in the house, directly to the room where his mother lay on her slab. The revellaspell completed the boy went to the store room. He ignored the bezoars; did not even seem to recognise what they were and went looking for ingredients. It was, Lionel thought, about a forty to forty-five minute potion if one did it the conventional way; at least for someone like himself for whom potioneering had to be performed with methodical mechanical exactitude. Someone like Callum would probably shave at least five minutes off that. He turned to Mortimer and Mei.

"Ten galleons says that if Jade brews and doesn't use a bezoar she's closer to thirty minutes than forty."

"I'm not betting on a certainty like THAT" said Mei scornfully "I've seen Jade brew in OWL classes, remember? She's a walking wonder with a cauldron."

Timothée did NOT seem happy; he got out paper and started scrawling notes; and went back for more ingredients, half of which at least Lionel thought useless.

"WHAT is he doing?" he said .

"Faffing" said Mortimer bluntly "When I think that I could have performed better than either him or the Hellibore boy so far it kinda hurts."

"Heh, when it's been running for a while, the free school will send kids on a sale or return basis to Hogwarts as you might say for the more esoteric lessons and send their own champion" said Mei. "Too late for you, Morty my friend, I'm afraid but maybe YOU'LL be sponsoring a protégé next time."

Mortimer grinned.

"Maybe I will at that" he said.

"'Course THEY'll be competing against Bella Black I bet; at least Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak'll be too old" said Mei "Actually so will Bella be, unless she holds down a year. SHE'll be riled! Heh, who's in the second right now who's a contender?"

"Zajala Malfoy-Tobak" said Lionel without hesitation. "The more impots they get set in the first term, the more likely they are to be contenders."

"What an interesting viewpoint!" said Mei "So if they'd been the right age, Hawke and Abrax would have been in for sure?"

Lionel laughed.

"To my recollection they spent the entire contest telling David he was the next best choice after them, little scrotes!" he pointed at the screen "Anett's left. Where is Miles? Hasn't he even FOUND the house yet?"

"Don't look like it" said Mei, soberly. "Criminy, it's taking them so LONG! Don't these foreign schools actually do any lessons in serious academic subjects?"

Fortunately Mei was adept with a shield charm since her voice was carrying and several jinxes were hurled her way.

Mei looked virtuous.

"And as I have nice manners as the English all do, I shall not retaliate to these foreign ruderies" she said in her best sanctimonious prefect tone.

Lionel surreptitiously poked her on one side; Fabian did the honours on the other.

Miles finally reached the house as Jade left the seclusion room. Jade waved to everyone and gave her map to the judges.

"Arithmantic notes" said Fabian.

"Well that we sort of assumed" said Mei. "There she goes."

Jade apparated smoothly and appeared on the globe at the house, walking in the door and into the room where Wulf lay.

"Gee dad, helluva way to announce disappointment in my boyfriend" she said, her voice a little tinny over the globe. Her friends laughed. Jade did her revellaspell; "Well that's an interesting concoction" she said "I suppose using a bezoar is cheating – at least I'll cop it from dad if I do – so we need to apply Golapott."

She went for the stores. She hesitated at the bezoars, but collected the ingredients she wanted.

Lionel was absurdly pleased that she was picking what he had mentally thought of himself. He may not be an instinctive potioneer but he was a well trained one. She added a couple of things he had not thought of; and THEY he thought were more likely to make the recipient of the antidote more comfortable and negate any mild after effects than be truly necessary. How like Jade!

How like Jade too, to be singing a chant to increase the efficacy of her ingredients. It should decrease the brewing time too. She completed the chant and murmured irritably,

"Idiot I am" she said "I could have cleared the poison entirely with a chant. Still I've started so I'll finish."

She seemed to be almost there; and she was singing to herself just from the enjoyment of doing a job well when the globes showed Anett arrive. She too did the revellaspell on her father and got to work in a business like way; also seeming not to recognise the bezoars. At least everyone had found the place eventually; though Lionel wondered what Timothée was playing at, going back and forth nervously, looking at ingredients. He really seemed to have very little idea what to use though Lionel had heard one of the other French team saying that he was one of their top potioneers, actually taking the NEWT, or the French equivalent the ELF, the Examination Lycée Formidable. Lionel thought that Severus would have threatened feeding him to flobberworms by now if he had been so dilatory and hesitant in one of his classes.

If he had been taught by Severus it would have been highly unlikely that he would have been so dilatory and hesitant by NEWT level of course.

Jade finished and was declared complete and promptly kissed her Wulf passionately.

Her schoolfellows raised a slightly ironic cheer.

Lionel went down to the leader board to meet her.

Her group cheered her!

Lionel grinned.

"Well I didn't get disqualified for using a bezoar" he said "Your suspicions to the contrary; and I'm jolly glad you were suspicious of it because I have three more time points than you."

"How long did you take?"

"Nineteen minutes; and all but one of those was the travelling" he grinned. "NICE broom!"

"Well souped up too" said Jade "nice spoilers and fairing."

"I think it shaved some time" said Lionel.

"About five to ten minutes I'd guess, knowing the capabilities of the Milly" said Jade "A couple of points; well worth having!"

"With you completing in thirty five – and trust you, Jade, to get a round number – and getting seventeen time points!" said Lionel "Those few points really count!"

He saw Jade glance at the leader board and noticed her shock over the discrepancies in marking.

"The Germans also felt a bezoar was akin to cheating" grinned Lionel "or so they claimed."

"One excuse will do as well as another" shrugged Jade. "Ah they've marked me."

Murphy gave her ten points; and the German gave her eight with grudging praise. The Frenchman gave her nine and claimed that she had been callous in singing; about which Jade was a little indignant since most of her singing was a chant to increase efficacy. The Frenchman blinked a little at this, Lionel noticed; it must be a skill not known in France, or at least not to the sports minister. He apologised to Jade but left the mark.

He still hoped to see Timothée do something spectacular enough to give a ten for; but the time the boy was taking there was no way he could do that!

The next one to finish was Miles who regarded his little sister and said

"Oh good, it did work."

Emily Grant squealed indignantly.

"Gosh Miles, what sort of crap do they teach you in that stupid school of yours if you had any doubts? Why Professor Snape poisons random fourth years to make sure we know our antidotes – well he says he does anyhow" she added. "Did you use Golapott?"

"Of course I used ruddy Golapott! And what's a kid like you know about Golapott?"

"Well we do his first two laws you know! And I looked up in a sixth form potion book to find out he had a third one when I knew Professor Snape was setting the second task 'cos I thought he'd be doing potions. It's not exactly curse-breaking ritual now, is it?"

"Brat" said Miles amicably "You behave now! See you at the feast!"

He got back and declared,

"I made it!" in tones of profound relief. He was awarded six, five and five points.

"I say, your head's a bit of a skunk to poison little girls isn't he?" he demanded of Jade.

Jade laughed.

"And he also is the greatest potioneer on earth; not only did he have the antidotes on hand I am certain, but if you'd done your wand work aright, you'd have found that the draught of living death meant that the effects of the poison would peter out after twenty-four hours anyway for there being no exertion!"

"Oh" said Miles "I apologise for calling him a skunk then."

"That's all right" said Jade "Better men than you have called him worse with as much justification."

Miles looked confused by that; Lionel knew – mostly from his friendship with David – that Severus had suffered a lot of mistrust at the hands of the Order of the Phoenix while he was spying on Voldemort and had felt the comments of those whose heroism was public and acclaimed hard to bear sometimes. What Jade was saying was that others too had judged hastily without knowing all the facts. From Jade it was a moderately tolerant comment; the girl was very partisan for her father. And quite right too.

Timothée was quickly in behind Miles; and was given seven, six and eight for his unique solution round knowing little geomancy by using a unique skill. Lionel resolved to have a word with young Albert MacMillan to develop his own dowsing skills in that direction. Albert was taking Geomancy as a relative soft option; he succeeded by sheer perseverance; and if he could dowse his way home might have a better chance in the practical, dowsing for ley lines. Albert was also taking Arithmancy since it did not require magical ability and he had trouble getting much out of a wand; and with Arithmancy, Geomancy and Divination, especially his dowsing skill, he hoped to get a job in the Aurors' office as a finder, whether of kidnapped people, dead bodies or stolen goods. It had been a career option suggested to him by Gorbrin when Albert had been wondering how to use so specialised a skill as dowsing which was not quite what was needed for an insurance seer, and Albert had jumped at it. Gorbrin had also helped the lad with his potioneering; and it was one of the compulsory exams he actually hoped to pass. And frankly Lionel thought that a near squib like Albert might have made less of a mess of the potion than the French boy who had admitted to having difficulty in working out what to include. Lionel was glad Jade managed manfully not to say what she was plainly thinking, that such was the easy bit.

As for Jade it was.

And he was well enough trained to have got it right too; for he checked with Jade her reasons for including ginger root and fennel.

"Oh to make sure the stomach does not feel queasy after the effects of the poison are cleared and to ease through any excess wind caused by the sopophorous beans of the Draught of Living Death" Jade had answered.

"Idiot that you are, you should have spoken up about it as you added them" said Lionel "You might have got the tenth mark from the Frenchy and maybe another from the Sour Kraut. It's only potioneers like your dad – and of his calibre – that could know why you put those in; I guessed it was for bodily comfort but I know you – and I know Severus and the way he trained you."

"I never thought of it" said Jade simply.

Anett was last in; but her brewing time had been forty minutes, slightly less than Miles' forty three, which cheered him up. She had taken half an hour to fly there, and accrued overall ten time points, meagre next to Jade's seventeen and Lionel's twenty but more than the seven and six of Timothée and Miles. And she was a mean operator on a broom; and Lionel really felt that the souped up Milly had been justified!

Jade now stood first with eighty nine points, and at only eight points behind, Lionel felt he was in with a real chance at the final task, the maze, at which he would start just eight seconds behind Jade.

Anett had lost real ground and had only seventy three points; but it could still be made up, depending on what was in the maze and how she handled it. The other two boys on forty nine and forty eight points were, unless something happened to all three leaders, essentially out of it; their competition was with each other.

The feast was enjoyable with Melody to share it; and the German boy Jade had hexed so neatly finding himself walking on tiptoes and plainly wondering why.

The staff had a slight – if mostly good humoured – altercation over Severus' use of geomancy. Madam Maxime admitted to teaching her apparation class as did Severus – officially, though the OWLand NEWT was open to anyone who pestered David Fraser hard enough, Lionel suspected. Severus was planning on having it as a taster class as at Hogwarts. Double time for David then, unless Severus had someone in accomplished enough just to take juniors. Ellie was certainly capable of that! Madam Bacsó was not pleased; but Anett Breuer had found her way quite adequately. Only Miles had really had difficulty getting there. And the rest was something any capable student should be familiar with. Hellibore was keeping very quiet.

Lionel suspected he was finally realising how much less his boys learned than those in one of the other two English schools, or even Durmstrang. After all, even if one had a limited number of professors, there was no excuse for those one had to teach to such a poor level. Lionel sympathised; after all, he had himself had the greatest of difficulty keeping his nose to the grindstone without Severus to set fire to his tail; Connie was good, and fairly strict, but she just wasn't Sev. And if Hellibore was basically a kindly man, and not especially good himself, then keeping the staff to keep the boys' noses to the grindstone must come harder for him.

Jade disliked the man; but then he had failed to heal a condition in her friend that Jade thought easy to fix, and Jade despised those who had unrealistic views of their abilities especially those she described as having delusions of adequacy. Jade was a trifle narrow at times and uncompromising.

The visitors stayed overnight; and Lionel wondered what would have happened to the unfortunate boy who had so raised Jade's ire by the morrow.

His answer came at breakfast when the lad was pulled in on the end of a string by some junior who Lionel presumed to be a young relative to be concerned about the vicissitudes of a senior.

Lionel had never come across the fagging system.

"Oh please Frau Bacsó something has happened overnight to Herr Nachtigall!" piped the infant in scarcely hidden unholy glee.

"I'm FLOATING!" howled Nachtigall, rather unnecessarily.

Madam Bacsó regarded him with a certain amount of disfavour. His condition was NOT conducive to calm dignity to say auf weidersehn to the visitors until the next term.

"And how did you come to be in this condition?" she asked.

"I don't know!" yammered Nachtigall "DO something!"

"Your manners lack" said Madam Bacsó coldly.

"PLEASE!" added Nachtigall belatedly.

"You appear to have been rendered weightless" said Madam Bacsó "I expect there is a potion to neutralise the effect; Herr Professor Rebet shall brew such."

"If he asks nicely" wheezed a thin unhealthy looking professor.

"P-please Professor Rebet" said Nachtigall.

The man inclined his head.

Lionel blinked.

That would have no effect at all. He glanced at Jade who was all but convulsed with silent mirth.

Lionel wondered what was going to happen. Doubtless Jade knew if it would wear off; and would not, surely, leave him floating indefinitely? Still sooner or later the school authorities would use a revellaspell and find out what was wrong; and if Lionel was right it needed a cursebreaker to undo it!

Nachtigall howled,

"I bet that Jade Snape girl did it! She didn't get her wand out after I tried to jinx her but the English are sneaky and don't always use wands!"

How like the more prejudiced Germans to call an act of supreme skill 'sneaky' thought Lionel scornfully.

Agata Bacsó stiffened.

"Are you telling me you drew wand on a guest and admit in public to jinxing her?" she said.

"Well she's a smug bitch!" said Nachtigall "AND she got me into trouble!"

Jade spoke up.

"Mr Nachtigall refers to my having him and his friends removed from attempting to intimidate the small children of Prince Peak" she said "And I believe the Swiss Ministry filed a report of the incident. Personally I would have said that he got HIMSELF into trouble."

"You, English bitch, you are nothing but trouble!" hissed Hedda Schrempf "I should like a moment or two alone with you!"

"Hedda!" Bacsó snapped. "You are out of line!"

"Madam Schrempf is sufficiently out of line that I call duel on her" said Jade.

"I do not permit it" said Madam Bacsó "As her employer I am permitted to veto this."

Jade swept her a curtsey.

"As you wish, ma'am" she said.

Lionel sighed regretfully.

That might have been rather amusing.

What Jade would have turned the Schrempf woman into was likely to be startling and original. He would have liked to have seen that.

Ah well, back to school and revision and last minute things to learn; for they would do their exams before the final task of the competition. Lionel was glad; it got the serious things in life out of the way so he might relax and enjoy the last leg of the Triwizard. As a contestant he would make a formal submission that this should be instituted as an ongoing custom. He liked the idea.

Admittedly his exams were pretty sparse, two NEWTs and an OWL; but were he doing a full complement he would be very relieved.

It would have been nice to have done his Auror's tests before it too, but one could not have everything. And the tests for that were after the school year ended.

And so far he seemed to be satisfying the stringent demands of Alastor Moody; and his observations on the reactions of the Germans were valuable to the Auror office too so the whole competition might be seen as no more than part of his training.

It was however absolutely irresistible to drop the fluorescent fart jinx on Hedda Schrempf before he left.

And judging by Jade's smug look she had done something else to plague the woman!