Chapter 5
"Is it dead?" asked Kinat.
"Of course it's dead! Otherwise it wouldn't be a body!" said Willow with some asperity.
"Well, how was I to know? It might have been someone sleeping."
"Not unless it's a sleeping inferius….he's a skeleton."
"You didn't say that though!" protested Kinat.
"I was a little too shocked" said Willow.
"Well" said Hawke "If he's a skeleton he's been there a while….though I'm rather making an assumption he's a he….."
"The clothes are rather rat eaten but I'd say they were male fashions of about two hundred years ago" said Willow.
"Wizarding or muggle?" asked Abrax.
"Wizarding….it was the fashion to wear calf length gowns over shiny boots a bit like the boots the muggles of the time wore."
They took turns to peer in, a little too awed by the presence of the skeleton to jump straight down.
They saw a room kitted out as a rudimentary observatory, with a telescope that ran on a small rail all along the rather long trapdoor, explaining its proportions; and the skeleton slumped in a position of despair against a small table and a box on top of it that did not give the rather short dead wizard quite enough reach to get to the trapdoor if he stood on it.
"D'you think it was stuck and he was trying to free it and fell?" asked Romulus.
"I don't know….why not use a spell?" said Abrax.
"I'd shin up the telescope" said Hawke.
"Yeah, but we're all fitter than most wizards even of our own time, let alone wizards back them" said Romulus. "Besides, perhaps he was afraid of breaking it."
"But if he fell, why didn't someone hear him holler and come to get him?" wondered Willow "I'm going down; I'll jump for you to pull me up when I've had a look and seen where the door goes."
Willow dropped carefully beside the skeleton, her heart hammering a little.
She froze.
"Kinat" she said "He's not human….not fully…I think he's part goblin. It's not obvious in the face bones but his skull is kinda Goblin shaped and he has ridges at the top of his ear holes suggesting they might have been at least a little bit pointy…."
"But they didn't let even half goblins in back then" said Kinat "I didn't even know there were half goblins; I mean Ellie's unusual because she's half muggle. I can't see any witches or wizards now even, let alone back them, choosing a goblin mate…"
"I don't know" said Romulus.
"Well there's loonies like you of course who are daft enough to let m'sister have a crush on you" said Kinat rudely.
"When she grows up a bit I reckon she'll be cute" said Romulus defensively.
"I say up there!"
Willow's voice put a stop to the friendly bickering.
"Listening!" called Hawke.
"The door's jammed – not just locked but jammed and good, I think it's actually been nailed shut too. There's a bit of what looks like broken wand by it. There's a gap at the bottom of the door but I can't feel a draught."
"I'll go get a ladder and we'll come down" called Romulus, and went for a rope ladder from their storeroom.
Willow looked at the skeleton.
"He's got a piece of paper in his hand" she said "I'll see if I can get it without it crumbling."
"It's parchment; you shouldn't have any trouble" said Abrax.
The scrap had writing on both sides.
One was a rather coarse hand and read,
"Here's what's left of your wand – for the good it'll do you!"
On the other was written, thinly and almost illegibly in blood,
"As it ..pears I shall die here, for I believe he is bricking up the pas….ge, let it be known that I,….. Ma..foy, was murdered by Tom ….ry on this day the 20th May 1810 on my tw…ty fifth birthday." Was all they could puzzle out.
There was a long silence.
"That has to be Malfoy, his own name; but a part goblin Malfoy? Wow, that seems unlikely!" said Kinat.
"Do you realise he's exactly two hundred and ninety five years older than Draco?" said Abrax "To the day…there's something in that."
"I thought I'd go through his robes" said Willow uncertainly.
The Malfoy twins nodded.
"He's our relative; we have to do what's right" said Hawke.
"I guess we should tell Uncle Lucius" said Abrax.
Willow found nothing in the robe pockets but a handkerchief with the Malfoy crest embroidered on it and a silver snuff box.
It was engraved.
"To my son Cosmo, on the occasion of his 21st Birthday from your loving mother Lucastina, best of luck teaching at Hogwarts School."
"Well assuming it is his" said Hawke "And I think we can because Lucasta's a Malfoy name, and Lucastina's a diminutive of that so then his name is Cosmo so we've got someone to look for on the family tree."
"And in the box rooms" said Romulus "They might have forgotten to send his kit home if he just disappeared – or assumed he left and took it."
"But which boxroom?" asked Abrax.
"Huh, Slytherin of course" said Romulus "There's never been a Malfoy anywhere but Slytherin until you got into Gryff; and Uncle Lucius would have soon trotted it out if there had been, especially if he was a dodgy Malfoy. And if you ask me, he's not that obviously a part goblin unless you see him with his hair off; he may not even be known to be a dodgy Malfoy, not as dodgy as you two anyway; so there'd be a family scandal Lucius would know about if he wasn't Slytherin."
"Well speculated and very logical" said Willow. "I say, can we leave him for a bit? He's not going anywhere and it makes me feel sad."
"Sure" said Hawke. "Why didn't he use wandless magic to float up to the trapdoor though? It's not like it's far and then he could at least have yelled for help even if he couldn't find a stair down."
"Because we're some of the very few wizards in the world capable of wandless magic you poor prune" said Kinat with perhaps unnecessary heat. "Because we practised. How many people outside the MSHG do you know who can do it, barring Fishface himself of course? They don't even see it as necessary."
They were silent for a moment, cogitating; because Kinat was right. And every marauder was shocked to the core that this wizard had died for the want of a little extra training.
They went quietly back inside; and sat down in an empty classroom to write to Lucius.
Severus glanced in the door and saw them and came in.
"You lot planning trouble I suppose?" he said.
"No sir" said Hawke solemnly "Trying to redress an ancient wrong…. Or at least to get it in the open."
"That sounds weighty" Severus was immediately serious; they were plainly not planning a rag!
They told him about it.
Severus nodded.
"Yes, search the boxrooms by all means… and ask Lucius if he has portraits of Lucastina or Cosmo; either one might tell him more about themselves. And ask Hannibal – I mean, Professor Lector – what he knows of the school at the time. There's 'Hogwarts – a history' in the library, if Hermione Granger ever returned it; and lists of staff too. You might ask Albus if you can talk to the portrait of old Fortescue – uh, Professor Fortescue that is; he's the fat one, I think he covers the right period. Lucius will want to take the poor fellow to his family crypt of course. There's a bricked up doorway in the astronomy room, is it impossible that that is where your doorway goes?"
"Yes" said Hawke "There'll be a passage but the dome for the big telescope was on the other side of the ridge."
"Good; if you like, I'll authorise having it broken down so it's easier to get in. Filch will grumble I daresay but that's tough."
Abrax grinned.
"Get cousin Krait to ask him; he likes her. She got him a wand that works."
Severus nodded.
Krait had managed to teach the squib enough to at least use the Floo network and do some small cleaning spells; and she was supportive of his attempts to get better rights for squibs.
The marauders ran up to the owl loft to send their slightly garbled and joint letter to Lucius; then departed to spend the rest of a wet Saturday in the box room.
They were joined by Lynx and her cronies – Senagra taking as much notice of being in someone else's house as Kinat and Abrax did, which is to say none at all – and she asked,
"Anything we can help with?"
The marauders froze.
Hawke said kindly,
"Look, kiddie, it's really family stuff; I think Abrax and me don't mind telling you so long as you keep it a bit quiet and leave us to it; we're not pushing you off but it's kind of personal and moving and private" and he outlined how they had found a body of a murdered ancestor and wanted to find out more about him.
"Oh!" said Lynx "That's so sad! Of course we understand you don't want us pushing in, but if there's any errands we can run or jobs you want us to do, we'll be ready!"
"Thanks kid" said Hawke gruffly. "Keep up the good work and you'll make little marauders yet!"
Lynx beamed and her dimples popped in and out.
It was hard work but at last they ran down a trunk marked 'Cosmo Malfoy'; and used the unlocking spell on it.
There were clothes for the winter stored in there – including a good supply of cloaks designed to billow, proving him, as Hawke said, to be a true Malfoy; some letters from someone who signed himself 'Your loving father Durrand' and a diary. The last few entries were very telling; and Abrax read them out.
"May 17
Avery is a pig.
He always was a pig, even when we were at school, the kind of prefect who always abused his position. I swear he knows about my father; he gave me a funny look when I was debating with young Binns, our new history Professor, about the justice of the Goblin wars. Poor little Binns is terribly conventional, I dare swear he was born middle aged. He's already thin on top though he's a year or two younger than I, and peers myopically on the world through his spectacles.
May 18
Avery asked me today if I knew who my father was. I said yes, I knew; but no, I was not going to tell him. He taunted me – how like an overgrown schoolboy he is, all white blonde cropped hair dressed au Brute, or more likely not properly combed, fat spotty face and I-saw-you-behind-the broom-shed manner. I told him that I was only a bastard by birth and asked what his excuse was – if indeed 'twas his father had sired him at all [as his father is dark and there is moreover some scandal of his mother very nearly succeeding in eloping with my uncle Ophidianus I think I hit a raw nerve.] he muttered something about 'my sort' ought not to be allowed to live to grow up; so I fear he guesses at least as much as he knows.
May 19
Avery has asked me up to the old observation room to discuss our respective parentage privately and come to an arrangement. I certainly hope we can. This air of oppressive despite is not pleasant."
Abrax had tears on his face.
"He hoped to come to terms of mutual blackmail – or maybe to duel like gentlemen – and he was tricked, his wand broken and he was nailed in there to die….. I wonder what happened to this Avery? I hope it was something unpleasant. He must be the one named, Tom something -ery"
"Hannibal might know" said Kinat. "We'll ask him later…. Go see Myrtle, brother: we'll leave this for a while because I want to cry too and I'd rather get back to Gryffindor Tower before I do."
Lana Porteous and her gang were delighted to meet a lone marauder and moreover one who had tear tracks on his face.
"Ow, poor ickle Abwax, has dat nasty old Myrtle chucked him den?" said Miss Porteous.
Abrax affected to not notice her; but the older girl grinned nastily.
"We should cheer poor Abrax up, shouldn't we, with some amusing hexes?" she suggested.
Abrax turned round.
"Bring it on Porteous" he said "Yes, you're descended from the Avery line, and I'd love an excuse to turn you inside out."
His scar blazed white and the girl hesitated; then she signalled her friends and they all cast at once.
Abrax did not even bother with his wand, let alone words for his protective barrier, which blazed with light against four unpleasant jinxes; nor did he bother with words or wand as one by one he cast the full body bind, the tickling curse and the bat bogey hex on each, and left them there helplessly squirming against simultaneous tickling and bat attack.
Myrtle was glad to see him, and horrified he should be so upset; and it soothed Abrax to tell her all about it.
He was on his way back – when he planned to release his victims – when he heard Professor McGonagall's voice saying,
"And you four sixth form girls are saying that a wee boy only in the fourth overcame ye and incapacitated ye so comprehensively all on his own?" her voice held disbelief.
"But it's TRUE!" wailed Miss Porteous.
Abrax strolled into view.
"Mr Malfoy, these girrrls have accused you of incapacitating them with a variety of most unpleasant jinxes" said McGonagall.
Abrax smiled beatifically.
"Madam McGonagall, am I not correct in believing that it is against the rules to use wand in the corridor?"
"Aye, that it is."
"Well I am prepared to say that I never raised my wand to these girls and I'll take legilimensy on that if you should wish" he said.
McGonagall gave him a look; then returned to stare at the girls.
"I found you girrrls bound with wands in yer hands; so somebody had wands out. Are ye still telling me Mr Malfoy turned his wand on the fourrrr of ye?"
"He didn't even use his wand!" wailed Karlinna Coulter.
McGonagall shook her head.
"It's my belief ye're a' suffering from hysterrria" she said "I think I'll just tak' ye tae Madam Pomfrey for some glumbumble juice and a quiet night in the sanatorrrium."
They protested in vain. Glumbumble juice tasted vile; and a Saturday night spent in the san under madam Pomfrey's eye was not the most convivial thing to happen!
Abrax had the distinct feeling that his House Head knew full well – or rather fu' weel – what had happened and wished to add to his own humiliating punishment of the four girls with her own lesson.
Somehow the thought caused him no disquiet at all!
By mutual consent the Marauders decided not to ask to speak to the ghostly Professor Binns who was taking a sabbatical researching Goblin battle sites.
Professor Lector was another matter; and they told him the whole.
'Hannibal' was shocked.
"Well, come into my office and I'll dig out my books of history of the school" he said; and proceeded to sort out butterbeer and biscuits to go with research, quite as convivial an accompaniment as cocoa with marshmallows and crumpets for MSHG rituals.
"Here we go" said 'Hannibal' "Tom Avery taught enchantment from 1808 to 1828 when he died prematurely choking on a fishbone while laughing over a racist goblin joke."
"And serve him right – poetic justice" said Hawke. "What book is that, sir?"
"Teachers of Hogwarts past and present their life and crimes" said 'Hannibal' blandly. "Not a published book I'm afraid, my uncle wrote it because he did not have happy schooldays and it amused him to dig up the dirt on as many of them as he could. If Voldemort had but known it he has the entry about our Dumbledore's youthful friendship with Grindelwald; only even my uncle couldn't find anything much more uncharitable to say than that Albus Dumbledore has a habit of believing the best of people too often which makes him gullible. And I think that's a nicer trait than many."
"He wasn't gullible over Tom Riddle; and that was the one that counted" said Abrax. "Is there anything about Cosmo Malfoy?"
"Let me see….Cosmo Malfoy taught astronomy between 1806 and 1810 when he vanished suddenly after bricking up the older observation room for no apparent reason. Said to be illegitimate and some whiff of mystery or scandal, incest being hypothesised. Well, I shall make an additional note to that about his parentage being irregular" he said "I plan to donate this book to the school eventually but for now it stays with me."
"His father was called Durrand" said Romulus "I don't know if that was a first or second name; but I guess first."
"Unlikely that it'd be anywhere in the school lists but….. hold on, I'll check staff lists and pupil lists; it'll take a while though" Hannibal said "You lot can help, take a page each."
After about an hour Kinat said
"I think I've found him."
"A pupil? A half goblin?" Hannibal was surprised.
"No…. A groundsman, Durrand Jones, he was groundsman at the time Lucastina would have been a pupil I reckon; any notes on her in the pupil list?"
"Lucastina Malfoy, Slytherin; started 1779…..OWLs….no NEWTs, apparently she left before taking them." Hawke found it.
"One does rather wonder if she was forced to leave because she was with child then" said Hannibal. "What does it actually say about Durrand Jones?"
"Just lists him as a groundsman and a bracketed note that he's part goblin. Part, note, not half" said Kinat.
"Interesting…. I wonder if we can get hold of any other census notes about his birth" said Hannibal
"That's what uncle Lucius is for" said Hawke.
Lucius flew up in his carriage with a portrait of Lucastina, a beautiful but somehow sad woman.
"She won't talk to me" said Lucius "Said the secret of her son's birth is locked in her heart and will remain there; I thought you pests might get further with her. What have you found to date?"
The Marauders and Hannibal told him, reading extracts from the diary and from Hannibal's uncle's book, and the entry on the groundsman.
"You make is sound smutty" the picture accused.
"That was never our intent, Great Aunt Lucastina" said Abraxus hurriedly "Only if you won't speak we can't celebrate Cosmo's father's side. Things have changed; here's Kinat, one of my best friends. We don't want to vilify Cosmo but to embrace him and you as heroes of the Malfoy family in not giving a damn about convention."
Her face worked.
"Durrand was so gentle" she said "Slytherin House can be hard at times; but he was unfailingly courteous. And he used to pick flowers for me, lucky white heather and harebells and such. I – I became close to him. I knew I'd be married off to some suitable pureblood when I left school and I suppose my affair with Durrand was almost a rebellion as much as attraction. But I was fond of him; and I wasn't about to get him sacked by telling my father who had fathered my baby. And Cosmo fortunately didn't look very much like a goblin. His little ears were a bit pointed, but that's not uncommon in the Malfoy family, we always believed an ancestor had dallied with a house elf because his wife was barren."
"Well that's a new family skeleton to me" said Lucius dryly
"It might not even be true; it was just whispered when I was a little girl" said Lucastina. "Frankly I think it's more likely that one of the ancestors married a Veela or half Veela or other fey; we all have fine bones and that would account for it. But children love scandal."
"Not just children" said Lucius dryly. "Do you know anything of Durrand's kin?"
"Oh yes!" said Lucastina "He told me all about it."
"Will you tell us, please ma'am?" asked Hawke.
She regarded him thoughtfully.
"Very well" she said. "Durrand was only three years older than I, he was born in 1765. His mother, Sylvia, was a quarter blood goblin, who was a slave in a goblin brothel like her mother and grandmother."
They all gasped.
"There were enslaved prostitutes?" Abrax was shocked.
"Oh yes; apparently the crime lord of the day, in the early seventeen hundreds, introduced the idea of kidnapping muggle girls who wanted to seek their fame and fortune in a big city and made them slaves. Nobody really cares what happens to muggles after all."
"That's changed too" said the marauders as a group.
She shrugged.
"Well nobody cared then. Durrand's Great Grandmother was called Esther Jones and she had a daughter called Alethea who was probably fathered by Kraddock himself in the Winchester brothel."
"Who is Kraddock?" asked Abrax.
"The first true Goblin crime lord" said Lucius dryly "The first to persuade goblins that fleecing wizards was safer and more profitable than fighting them; who started to move in on gambling, prostitution and smuggling such few things as were controlled substances at the time. Kordach, the current crime lord, is supposed to be descended from him and I see no reason to doubt that. I've dealt with Kordach in my time; he's very urbane, very smooth and as dangerous as a sack full of hungry ferrets."
"Sounds like most of them then from what Durrand said" said Lucastina "Alethea birthed Sylvia, who was the child of a wizard, and Sylvia birthed Durrand, also the child of a wizard. If his past hadn't been so irregular he might have been good enough to go through Hogwarts, but the rule was, any goblin blood is all goblin blood, so of course he was not allowed a wand. And as he was of no profit to the brothel he was thrown out when he was about twelve to make his own way. Before that he was an errand boy and so on. He thought himself very lucky to be taken on as groundsman at Hogwarts; and I think he was robbed" she finished defiantly.
"You're right; he was" said Abrax "And I'm glad Cosmo got to go, and Durrand got to see his son grow up and get the learning he was denied. He wrote letters to him that we found."
Her face softened.
"Yes, I taught him to read and write. He loved Cosmo. It broke his heart when he disappeared; he always maintained some racist had killed him."
"We found his body, ma'am; and uncle Lucius is going to take it home where it belongs."
"I brought a coffin" said Lucius.
Filch had broken down the wall; and a solemn group traversed the short passageway and pulled the nails out of the door. The rest of the broken wand was on this side, and broken plaster suggested a struggle.
"Malfoys are slight at the best of times" sighed Hawke "And with goblin blood too….against a beefy bully of the same stamp as Crabbe and Goyle…"
"Didn't stand a chance without the sort of training we have" said Abrax. "Uncle Lucius, will you go in?"
Lucius looked silently on the bones of his relative.
"We dare to be different" he said "Malfoys do not bleat with the crowd. I'm taking you home, Cosmo, where you belong."
He lifted the delicate bones into the coffin and levitated it to take down to the carriage. He stopped at the door.
"Well done you Marauders" he said "And my thanks to the friends of my nephews. I shall not forget that you did this with reverence and care. My home will always be yours any time you need it."
"Thank you sir" said Romulus, Willow and Kinat.
Lucius nodded, rather abruptly, and moved off.
Hawke sighed.
"Well, that was something we didn't expect out of our marauding" he said.
"No; but it's one of the things we're supposed to do" said Kinat "We're here to fight evil and injustice; and I guess it doesn't matter that it's evil and injustice in the past."
"Next stop re-write the history of the goblin wars?" laughed Willow.
"That, one day" said Kinat, seriously "Just because wizard children don't take history all that seriously and don't care about goblin wars of the past doesn't mean it isn't hurtful to have my people always blamed. I expect they were at fault in some of the cases, or at least the instigators of wars; but they had no choice but to rebel when some oppressive edicts were enacted, and they weren't always the ones who started the violence. And all I can find about that I shall."
"And the Marauders will help" said Romulus staunchly "Like you say, it's what we're for. Like helping to bring Myrtle back. Is she looking forward to it?"
"I haven't told her yet" said Abrax "I was planning to tell her a couple of months in advance – and check she was up for it, I'll not make assumptions about what she wants! But I don't want her getting over excited or having too long to worry in, because you know the circumstances of her death have left her on an emotional roller-coaster. So don't put your big feet in it please!"
"We shan't" said Hawke "And we absolutely appreciate why you're waiting. And may I suggest not one of us knows any more about it than her until you tell us all because she'll be hurt else."
"You are so decent" said Abrax "Best thing that ever happened to me was having you become my twin."
Hawke snorted, and thumped him on the arm.
Sometimes words were not enough – and too much!
Peeves meanwhile returned from Ireland as smug as smug and those who had been enjoying his absence gave a resigned sigh of acceptance that they had not lost him for good.
"I borrowed some of the fey" said Peeves to Teague "And don't you worry, they wasn't unseelie fey, they was proper fey like what your own blood kin is, they owes you fealty for family they said."
"Sure, and wasn't me own dharlin mither born of faerie blood!" said Teague "And her tellin' me tales o' the wee folk since I could sit on her lap!"
"Yeah, that's what they said" said Peeves "So we ran a wild hunt through the whole house, pullin' and pinchin' at him, draggin' him the length of the field by his pyjama jacket and me castin' good corridor curses at him. And every night we wailed and moaned and broke things to make him move out; and he was getting that jumpy he was sleepin' in the day to sit up at night, but I don't care what time it was and every time he fell asleep, CRASH I'd push something over! Cor, it was fun!" he added "And nobody to stop me; and I shouted rude rhymes at him and he couldn't stop me. It was jolly nice of you to let me play with your muggles" he added "I don't normally get to be allowed to!"
"We've done each other good then t'be sure" said Teague "And I'll always be your friend for that. Peeves."
"Well now!" said Peeves "That's dead nice!" he grinned "Mind we got interrupted afore he fled; he was acksherly packed and ready to go when muggle law types come and took him away; and told him he was under arrest for fraud. Trust Lucius to stop me having a total victory" he pulled a face.
"But the folks what look ter me will be glad he's shut away" said Teague "And if ye forced him ter start fleein' that'll look bad when they foind he was packed, fer they'll think it wis them he was flittin' fram; and then it'll go worse for him, especially ef he tries ter tell them he was haunted, so ye've mad his loife the more uncomfortable dhrivin' him intu the arms o' the fuzz, so ye have."
Peeves brightened over that.
And even if he had not caused total misery it was jolly nice of his friend Teague to say so!
And the Marauders were actually much impressed by the lateral thinking of using Peeves as a tool of justice; even if he could be at times a bit of a two-edged weapon!