Chapter 6
Hermione was sailing through the pregnancy that had resulted from the deep joining with Ron; once again the evidence mounted that babies conceived through the deep joining's physical aftermath tended to be the healthiest and perhaps even special in other ways; but certainly were totally in tune with their mother's physiology. Hermione considered it illogical, though there was something in Krait's highly technical and Arithmantic suggestion that the level of ritual involved in the deep joining made a ritually improved place for the reception of a foetus – or in Hermione's case foetuses as she was carrying twins – through medical transfiguration on a subconscious level. It sounded plausible when Krait explained it though Hermione's strictly scientific upbringing by her dentist parents wanted to reject it.
Sometimes it irked Hermione that Krait could take muggle science and apply it in magical ways whereas she found the two mutually exclusive; but that was why Krait was so good. Because she never permitted the word 'impossible' to intrude; because she managed to see science and magic merely as two different ways of manipulating the forces of the universe that interacted in the same way as the force of gravity and the strong nuclear force, for example, interacted though generated in different ways. Hermione could recognise the theory; but Krait actually believed it. And belief was nine tenths of magic.
oOoOo
There were exciting family developments for another member of the school; Cerellia Yaxley confided to her best friend Liriope Hallow that her mum had been getting very close to Cousin Orme Malfoy, who was divorced because his wife had been involved in goblin coursing and who had a son three years older than herself, who was in the top year in Hogwarts and who was really nice. And when Pippa Yaxley wrote to her daughter that Orme had proposed and she had accepted subject to Cerellia's approval Cerellia was delighted. Her mother felt very deeply that she was her half brother Lucius' pensioner; but if she was married nobody could get at her even Cerellia's father, whom she despised for treating so meanly his mistress and illegitimate daughter. Cerellia was rather fond of Orme and was not displeased to have him for a father; and she liked Jocelyn a lot too.
The fourth celebrated the engagement with a midnight feast planned and ruthlessly executed by the Bee Marauders of that year, who organised muffling spells on the box room they had chosen for the venue so they could have a sing-song without anyone of authority interrupting to see what the row was about; and they duly informed Flo in a sort of roundabout way that there was to be mischief but not trouble if the Head Girl might not mind turning a deaf ear and a blind eye.
Flo had learned from Jade to appreciate the difference and told them that she and Mungo would make a round of the dorms at half past midnight and they had better be back in bed by then.
The fourth voted her a brick.
Kizzy was amazed; in some ways she felt as though she had always been a schoolgirl, giggling with the other girls, creeping surreptitiously to such mischief as a midnight feast; and yet underlying that was the realisation that breaking rules was something she had never been able to do before, and would never have dared to do; not for fear of the relatively mild punishments the children here risked but for having to self-punish in a variety of terrible and barbaric ways that she, as three quarters human took longer to recover from than the tough full bred elves; or being beaten half to death by her previous owner. She had asked Jo what was likely to happen if they got caught out having a midnight feast, and Jo had laughed and said more than likely the loss of Saturday afternoon treats and leisure by spending the time in bed, without books to read, to make up for the time spent out of bed in the middle of the night; or else some excruciatingly appropriate poem to write out thirty times like Macbeth's thing about sleep knitting up the ravelled sleeve of care and remembering that it was spelled 'Sleave' not 'Sleeve' because Shakespeare was a hack and couldn't spell.
Such mild punishments for serious rule breaking was a revelation; and too that the staff did not really consider what was called 'mischief' as real naughtiness. Kizzy had not known it was possible to be so happy! She spent most of the time singing happily to herself in her rich golden voice; and she was allowed to sing as much as she liked, whenever she liked, except of course during lessons or preparation. And the other children taught her new songs; and Professor Snape and Professor Goodchild worked with her to train her voice and warned her that the only prohibition was on singing songs that were challenging to the voice without adequate loosening exercises and singing when her fellows told her to put a sock in it.
As Kizzy's classmates were tremendously proud of her abilities this had never happened; they took an interest in her exercises and teased her gently about some of them; and Mr Namudzu, who was one of the post graduate students laughed when he joined them in the MSHG and said it sounded as though she was singing one of the three Japanese alphabets.
Kizzy was of course one of those who asked him to teach them Japanese; the whole of the Bee Marauders decided that you never knew when such things came in handy so Takeo Namudzu found himself with a group of informal students on Saturdays and Severus just laughed and told him that it was his own fault for not knowing when to keep his mouth shut.
Professor Ming Chang joined them too.
"It's the Kanji script I'm interested in" he admitted "Because it's so similar to Chinese, which I read sort of; I'm interested in the subtle differences for the use of appropriate script and pronunciation in chanting and how the wretched things change according to how they are stuck together."
Various other professors interested in chanting drifted in, like Professor Snape-Krumm and Professor Beckard and Professor Malfoy and even Professor Snape himself. Professor Tuthill was already working with Takeo on eastern philosophy and tradition to expand her sphere of Comparative Magic and she too came along for Japanese language lessons. Paul Ingate of the second was another of the students to take an interest; but this was because he was interested in oriental art, since he was one of the school artists. To him, Takeo taught the art of calligraphy as an art form; because the language, its written form, and the way it was written had potential significance in conveying meaning and thus too in using in an enchanted fashion. As a demonstration he used an ink sketch of a mountain, and its kanji ideogram produced with a flowing script that sprawled across the page and encompassed a barrier charm to prevent the opening of a door on which the scroll was hung. Paul was much impressed and applied himself assiduously.
"You are a better artist than I shall ever be" said Takeo "I know the theory and having read the book that Randolph and Erica wrote I can see how to demonstrate this; but if you continue to study the eastern tradition as your chosen style I would hope that when you have completed your schooling you may teach art in magic in MY academy; by the time you have taken your NEWTs I may be ready for such esoteric studies."
"I'd like to think about that, Takeo" said Paul "You see I was considering a career in Quiddpolo when I left school; assuming it really does take off. Though I see no reason I should not apparate in once or twice a week as Professor Prince used to do; I hope you don't mind."
"I love quidditch; though I never was good enough to be a star" said Takeo "I hear you ARE good enough to be a star on horseback; I don't grudge that. There won't be many fixtures because of having to rest the horses, so I should think you'd have time to hold down a second job – since those who are truly talented and worthy of your time would be few. I'd like it given as a grounding to all first years however; the ideal of the samurai-shugenja is that he should be fully rounded, adept at the arts of war, art, music, poetry and history. Hence the little knowledge that I have."
"What we in the West call the Renaissance man" nodded Paul "Like Severus."
Paul was fascinated too by the whole Japanese aesthetic concept, that of subtle grace, transience and the beauty inherent in the natural patina of ageing; and studied too the art of Enso, the circle drawn with the single stroke of a brush used in zen to demonstrate the moment at which the mind is free of the body for creation. A circle might be negation or encompass a whole; the state of mind in which one painted it could determine whether it be tied to spells of denial of entry or engulfing – Arithmancy that was beyond Paul as yet – or fascination to hold a viewer immobile.
oOoOo
In the music classes, which like the art classes took place for those who pursued it seriously all together as well as individual tutorials, Silvina and Julian and Sara were working together to produce music to showcase Kizzy's voice. Julian was more a performer than a composer; but Silvina valued his opinion and he had the ability to suggest a slight change to improve a passage either in arrangement of one of the parts, or in the speed, say. Sara too was more a performer than a composer; but she had too an attractive soprano that worked well with Kizzy's voice and the others wrote harmony including her and Svetlana, Fred and Vya, who were not studying music formally but who had good voices, especially when trained for chanting. Vya soared up into the higher registers and Fred had finally finished his voice breaking and had a fine baritone to add depth to the singing. The Lower Sixth were on the whole remarkably musical and were happy to have the addition of so fine a voice as that belonging to the younger girl. And Lydia Snape Krumm joined them with her rich soprano to cut a record of a song of soothing on one side and a song of pain easing on the other, the one to use for those having trouble sleeping, the other for any kind of pain easing, from midwifery applications to a broken leg. The record was to be distributed to communities from the free hospital Fred and Flo's father had set up in Germany to aid the poorest in society, together with simple clockwork gramophones, and local people trained to use them as well as learning simple potions and easy transfigurations and healing spells. Kizzy thought it marvellous that there were these wonderful people who cared and who gave time and other help for those in need. It had not yet occurred to her that she, as a marauder and involved in making the record with its magical words and tune combined, was one of those giving the aid!
The Broomstick Boys blew in from time to time to add their ideas, and sometimes to perform with the other musicians; and to see Kizzy. This second reason Severus might have disapproved of as a general thing, but the reassurance to the little girl was he felt rather more important than the possible disruption to her schoolwork. Besides, Crys and Nils had taken to treating Prince Peak as a second home in any case; and had even started calling Severus 'Domine' as his wards, children and star chanting class did.
"It's a haven you know" said Nils "I know our fans are our bread and butter; but you can have too much of a good thing! Up here we can refresh ourselves and feel at peace."
Severus laughed.
"You should talk to Takeo and Paul about Zen and so on" he said.
The pair proceeded to do so; and there was a lot of Comparative Magic that arose from such discussion, with Freya being involved too, in comparing the enso circle with the circular ways and paths of Celtic tradition, Japanese maze and key patterns with those of the Celts and Fey; and with the input of the music group too, Crys and Nils started work on a new album called 'Circles of the Mind' and released a press statement that they were busy working on a new album and should not be considered available until they had satisfied the creative urge.
This went down a lot better with fans than that they were taking a retreat; even though, as Nils said waspishly, a retreat into the creative void often produced the state of mind capable of making better music in the long run.
"I keep telling you" said Severus "Nine people out of ten are moronic and most of the rest are prepared to act as if they are."
oOoOo
Meanwhile the quidditch team had to prepare to square up to the Berne Bears; not a match that they were looking forward to very much; though George as captain of games adjured his team to play up and not to permit the likely rough play of their opponents to anger them into committing fouls themselves.
The visitors were fairly large on the whole; and it was apparent from the first that the only concessions they were about to make to a team half their size for not being fully grown was to see how readily they might knock them off their brooms. Liriope was the new member of the team, replacing Emily Grant as chaser; and the youngest as a fourth year. Arbrek however was the smallest, as a goblin, and it was plain that the Berne Beaters not only followed the maxim 'take out the seeker' but also went with the more extreme version of that as 'maim the seeker'.
Fred and Peter Lowther as beaters did their best to keep the big Germanic beaters from hitting bludgers at Arbrek with the Doppelganger defence, where both beaters hit the bludger for greater force; a defence usually used to prevent scoring on the part of chasers and not generally considered necessary against seekers. They had already tried bumphing, hitting the bludger towards the crowd to cause time-outs at crucial times to prevent scoring; which foul tactic had failed since Ron did not even take any notice of the tactic as the Prince Peak quidditch pitch was protected by a barrier against missiles to prevent this; and consequently the Berne Bears found themselves a few goals down that in their opinion they should not be.
As their chasers were also aggressive and not averse to elbow use they quickly managed to pull some goals back; but the tactic to take out Arbrek as violently as possible was the one adopted. And try as they might, Fred and Peter were unable to prevent the bludger taking the slight boy clear off his broom by hitting him with a sickening crunch on the back of his neck.
Time out was called anyway and Severus was not alone in streaking across the field to the tiny inert figure; Arbrek was popular with his fellows.
Severus was already chanting as he ran; but the injury was terrible. The boy's neck was broken and the base of his skull a bloody pulp. And with the ill intent behind the attack the wound counted almost as a cursed wound.
Severus was casting diffindo on his hand as he reached the boy; it was the only way. And the blood group synchronised heartbeats as the healing, restoring joining of blood, making Arbrek one of them, giving him their strength, repairing the brain tissue otherwise impossible to heal, save perhaps with unicorn blood; and Krait was there too, dripping silvery blood from a partial transfiguration to add that component too.
The Berne team had landed.
"Hell of a fuss about a goblin brat" said one of the beaters.
The entire of the fifth – Arbrek's year – turned a flat unfriendly gaze on him. Six of them were blooded; and were lending power. But even Antti Laakkonen, the Finnish Flobberworm, stood with his fellows.
"It makes one ashamed to be Swiss" said Roseli coldly.
Crow Langstaff began a chant; and it was in Finnish. With a startled look, even Antti joined in as the others took it up.
With a wild cry the beater began to shrink; and by the time the chant had been repeated twenty three times he was a goblin, the rest of the school holding wands on the rest of the team.
"The IAQ shall hear of this blatant and flagrant rules breach of jinxing our players!" cried the Berne Captain.
"But not in the context of the match old boy so it doesn't count" said Ron coldly "It was for the unnecessary and cruel racist comment about it not mattering that your player injured close to death a little boy not sixteen years old. And it was a deliberate attempt to maim; AS I shall testify when he stands trial for actual bodily harm to a minor. And he WILL stand trial because I shall see to it. Naturally the children will reverse the curse for his trial so that the judges may see what a hulking great fellow he is in comparison to a little boy. These matches are supposed to be friendly; and on that basis a SCHOOL agrees to play professionals. This would be a suing offence were you playing a team of adults; I believe Swiss law is as stringent on the harming of minors by adults as is English law."
The Captain paled.
"It was not intentional; just playing hard!" he said.
"If you think I didn't hear him say to his friend 'maim their seeker' you must think I'm deaf, daft and gormless" said Ron.
"They said more than that" piped up Sandalla "I'm a lip reader and I'll testify to the racist comments they made as well about cleansing the world of goblin filth; and Switzerland is tough on that too and by the way, there are Swiss Vehmgerichten on the way to arrest him."
The chanters of the fifth set up a secondary chant.
It restored the horrified beater to human form; and he started screeching at them that he would see them punished. They laughed at him.
This was partly because he sported the legend 'racist bastard' on his forehead in French, German and English.
And then sober law enforcement officers turned up; and Severus came to meet them. He had carried Arbrek inside to his office, where the boy might recover from a more exhausting blooding ritual than usual since the joining had been needed to save his life.
The Vehmgerichten listened to the headmaster's deposition first, dropping langlock on the Berne team captain when he tried to protest that the boy was not hurt; and Severus explained that without the use of blood magic to save the boy's life he would probably have died or at best been crippled from the neck down and with his mental functions severely impaired. Professor Snape was a well known authority on both blood magic and ritual magic; and on chanting to heal injury so the officers of the law took his words very seriously.
They took further deposition from the rest of the Prince Peak team, taking particular interest in Sandalla's declared ability to lip read, which skill they tested out to write an appended proof so that a minor need not be called as a witness if it might be avoided; and then and then only spoke to the visiting team.
They raised an eyebrow or two over the zits and listened politely but with very little interest to the beater's tale of being turned into a goblin by the brat's friends. If the English Professor could teach such amazing transfigurational skills to children who had not taken their ZP's yet, he was indeed a powerful man; and that they had restored the man's form and left him with but so amusing a commentary of their opinion showed that he taught moral fibre with the powers. In Durmstrang they had little doubt that far more lethal revenges would have been activated for a boy who seemed popular.
It was also notable that the entire of the Berne players appeared to have some kind of fluorescence attached to their anal eructations; a rebuke level jinx. The group who acted immoderately was quite plain to see; and the majority of the Berne team found themselves escorted off the premises not quite under arrest but with the threat of it hanging over them; and their beaters actually in custody.
This was NOT going to be a pretty tale for the good will between England and Switzerland; for though the boy was Swiss the school was still English; and this boy Arbrek Gan Borek was the son of a prominent citizen and on his success or failure rested the decision of the Swiss ministry to pay for scholarships for other goblin and part goblin pupils.
oOoOo
Arbrek was awed by the sense of belonging he now felt; he had decided not to maraud, though he had been part of the gang of what Severus had referred to as 'young hellions' that had comprised all the class bar Antti, Blaise and the now expelled Eve.
"I say, sir, it was worth being almost killed for this" he said in wonder.
"You had chosen not to maraud" said Severus "And we don't draw people in who are not volunteers to our rather dangerous life usually; to save your life was a different matter."
"If I'd known what it was like I'd have volunteered" said Arbrek "It's about the people who hold together to defend the castle, isn't it? And Yrdl and me, we're sort of symbols of goblinkind; it's more or less RIGHT that I should be a part of defending and I say, can Henik be a part of it? He's become like a brother to me."
"That's something to discuss and consider in the future" said Severus. "Contrary to popular belief I do NOT run willy-nilly into including people. It is a serious step to take!"
"And I reckon he'd take it like a shot" said Arbrek.
Henik was a brave and loyal lad; Severus had no doubt that he WOULD accept it like a shot. Was it right however to have a school in which fully half were blooded?
Of course the whole premise of the school was to take the unusually talented, the brightest and the best; and in fairness, the only blooded one in the third was his adopted son Siegfried. And perhaps in many ways he was training for the marauder instinct as well as for other talents albeit subconsciously.
Well it was to be considered; and if the boy Henik DID want to come in, perhaps it could be when the next layer of marauders was brought in. It was no emergency.
oOoOo
Swiss Justice was quick; and Severus travelled next weekend to the Ministry Justiciary in Zurich with Fred and Peter and Ron to represent Arbrek's interests, having asked the boy's father to attend the youth before gaining perhaps garbled news by other means.
Borek had listened to Severus' explanation to the use of blood magic; and how Arbrek was now part of something large that had initially been set up for the protection of Harry Potter.
"Any man would be proud for his son to be associated with Herr Potter" said Borek "And indeed with so staunch a fighter against evil as yourself, Herr Professor Snape. I am pleased that my son will be a part of the ongoing fight against evil and racism; and I shall do all I may to support him and you. When he is playing quidditch professionally – as he wishes to do – he will be in a position to travel and learn much in other countries for you. Unless this has put him off quidditch?"
Severus laughed.
"Nothing could do that" he said. "He has learned a valuable lesson about the perfidy of some players; and it gives him a greater determination to show such up. Though the blood group will scrupulously avoid getting involved in his excitement playing, they WILL be available to keep him alive if anything of this sort ever happens again; because we shall be able to dissipate damage. An ordinary blow to the head, which is the potential lot of any seeker, that is one thing. A deliberate attempt to harm, that is another. And I have since examined the bludger and discovered that it had been charmed to go faster too, which I shall be presenting in evidence."
He duly DID present this in evidence; and the defence was that the headmaster had enchanted the bludger himself to make his stupid brat look hard done by.
Veritaserum was brought in and the beater was quickly shown to be a liar and a cheat; and believed that it did not count in a match against school kids and certainly not against goblin brats.
The IAQ would be taking its own disciplinary measures against him; once he got out of Forte Dur, the French Sphere's prison. In the meantime his robes would be ceremonially ripped and his broom broken to expunge him from the league. This was also to be enacted on the other beater though he did not receive a prison sentence, merely a stiff warning.
It was a nine day wonder of scandal; but it showed the Swiss authorities in an excellent light, thought Severus, in their interests in justice without a cover-up of a sports hero over the rights of an unknown schoolboy.
And Arbrek was visited too by the whole of the Lucerne Longbrooms who had offered him a contract; and they declared him as game as anyone to still wish to join their number when he left school! And the Lucerne captain made a statement to the Swiss Press that the Berne Bears were not the most penalty-ridden team outside of Germany for nothing and that they, the Longbrooms, had definitely signed Arbrek gan Borek for two and a half years time.
Arbrek was heard to sigh happily and say that it was an ill wind that blew no good as the English said and that he was the happiest boy in the world.
And Antti glowed to be praised by Professor Snape, who actually hugged him and said,
"Well done."
"It – I know one should not jinx people but he was foul" said Antti "All that I wanted to avoid in Durmstrang."
"Precisely" said Severus "And you put loyalty and friendship above everything else, including mild legal scruples. And if anyone HAD tried to make a fuss about you lot chanting so nicely I should have defended the lot of you to the hilt. It needed to be done; and sometimes doing RIGHT supersedes doing what is LEGAL. You are a kind hearted boy, Antti; and sometimes you permit strange ideas of what is right and wrong get in the way of your personal development. I think now you have had a feel of acting without considering too deeply what people might say, to do what is RIGHT you may be able to understand a little better why I don't get er waxy about low level mischief; because it's nothing compared to the nastiness of that racist tick of a beater. The nasty letters Miss Cherrytree wrote anger me; rudeness to the castle staff, including the elves, angers me. Gentle ragging, so long as nobody gets hurt is of relatively little account. Do you now begin to see that? For such gives the strength by practising in a non serious situation to pull off a punishment such as was enacted on that man."
Antti considered deeply.
"Oh!" he said "And so marauders are SUPPOSED to be a little bit naughty to learn to be fighters against the likes of the racist Russians too that the duellists faced; to be able to make them look silly so they will not dare attack the way Odessa attacked?"
"Precisely!" said Severus. It had taken the wretched boy five years but he was finally getting there. "And you're good at both potions and Arithmancy – WHEN you bother to concentrate on getting your notes in order – and even if you don't want to be a forefront fighter, you've the chance to be a really good curse breaker and antidote brewer if such takes your fancy; and if you want to pick up the chanting again since you saw how useful it can be, I'm happy to give you extra lessons."
Antti flushed. He had copied the others out of sheer anger on behalf of Arbrek; having given up chanting and not taken it as an elective.
"I don't have time to catch up do I?" he said.
"Not to OWL for this year" said Severus "But when the exam first came in, several people took it in their lower sixth year and the NEWT was taken over a year – if you wished even to pursue it so far. Even if you don't take an exam, having knowledge of it would be useful to you with your knowledge of Finnish naming magic."
"Please sir, if you'd give up your time I think I should like to learn more" said Antti "I was foolish to give up on it."
"It's a real man who can admit to a mistake" said Severus. "You're going to turn out just fine, Antti."
Antti glowed.
He was used to rather lukewarm praise that he meant well; but though he had broken every rule of etiquette if not actually the rules as such, he had pleased the Head!
Antti pleased the Broomstick Boys as well by a chance comment that the Finnish legends were animistic like the Japanese tradition and were probably thousands of years old, predating the Germanic peoples of the rest of Scandinavia. With a seven month winter, the poems of the inevitable cycle of the seasons were an inspiration to the Boys using the poem 'The sowing of the Kalevala':"All the wilderness was quickened,
Everywhere the woods were greening,
Trees were leafing, grass was growing,
Birds were singing, thrushes warbling -
Over all a cuckoo calling." This was then to form the inspiration of one of the songs on the album, with the concept and spirit used though with rhymes that would please the conventional audience more. The new version of the song ran:
"Everywhere the woods were greening
soft green leaves the thrushes screening
as they sang in springtime fervour
in the newly greening arbour
joined the song of laughing rills
chuckling down from off the hills
icy water melting, falling
over all a cuckoo calling."
Krait murmured something about 'Longfellow' and 'Hiawatha' and proceeded to introduce the Broomstick Boys to that epic poem with tales of naughty Jade's misuse and abuse of it with parodies about knarl skin loincloths; and though the Boys laughed they told her firmly that mixing and matching three cultures was enough to be going on with, and the American Indians could stay well out of it, even if Longfellow was quoting the legends of the corn god wrestled and killed by Hiawatha to ensure his regrowth in spring.
"That's a whole new bag of tricks" said Nils "And we can bring that in with an album called 'The Green Man' and use the legends of Jack-in-the-Green, Herne the Hunter and so on."
"Well don't forget to keep notes" said Krait.
"No ma'am" they chorused dutifully. Krait could make one feel like that even if she did stand no taller than five feet in Newrocks.
oOoOo
The album 'Circles of the Mind' was going well; and the Broomstick Boys were to make a departure by having one piece that was purely instrumental that had been written in collaboration with Silvina. Called simply 'Enso' it began with shamisen with a distinctly eastern flavour with the addition of Celtic harp adding counterpoint and was a canon, harp and samisen each picking up the themes of the other as they chased each other around. It was a strange and haunting piece and was almost entirely Silvina's once the first idea had been mooted; for it had been Crys' idea to combine the instruments of two different cultures to illustrate the similarities in the philosophies as well as the differences. Silvina however could no more stop a tune coming when she had an idea that stimulated her than she could stop breathing; and she was well away.
Crys and Nils too were stimulated to be more creative just in chatting with their young friends; and idle punning led to the number 'Rune and Round the Ogham Stone'; and discussions about old customs over the approach of Halloween led to thoughts about maypoles and the clever and jaunty 'Ribbon Wrap' song which intertwined the words of a round as neatly as maypole dancers intertwined their ribbons about the Green Pole. And to honour Arbrek – and to keep in touch with the fact that they HAD started out singing quidditch anthems – they also wrote 'Seeking Spirals' singing about the Rosier Spiral that Arbrek favoured as a way to search for the snitch; for Kate Rosier of Hogwarts had done some original arithmantic research on her own time into how the snitch flew and had devised this tactic for seekers though she herself flew Beater, and was in fact now a professional player with the Holyhead Harpies. They wrote to Kate for some of her arithmantic notes before embarking on more than the basis for the song; and Kate was much flattered to have her Arithmancy featured by the Broomstick Boys!
It may be said that Krait and Hermione also pounced on the copies of her notes and wrote several pages of commentary each for Kate to expand on her work; which Kate, being Kate, absorbed and digested with enthusiasm. One of Krait's laconic suggestions – that she should consider bringing the muggle profession of sports scientist into the wizarding world – fired her with enthusiasm; for her playing career would not last forever. And she might be in a position to add to the new OWL in Quidditch and maybe bring enough knowledge to bear to have a NEWT too, as a basis for coaches; and thus started a long-running correspondence with Krait, Hermione, Lydia and Viktor who all had their two knuts to put in and who took to writing a communal reply to Kate as anyone thought of more to add to the research. Hermione it has to be said lost interest relatively rapidly as the knowledge was too applied and Hermione had little interest in Quidditch unless Ron was involved; but the beginnings of a text book was starting to be wrestled out. And Krait suggested putting the Arithmancy in for those who were interested but also breaking down the conclusions for those who could not handle it as then it would be of use to less-arithmantically inclined coaches.
Prince Peak was at the centre of so many new things; it was VERY exciting!
oOoOo
The local gymkhana also came and went, the horsy amongst the school attending for fun; and acquitting themselves well. The Austrian wizarding families were impressed by the schoolchildren and it was always a good advertisement for the school to show well in various ways, especially good manners, graciousness in winning, and philosophy over losing. And as the school also accepted goblins, some of the better off grooms to the horsy families might be seen considering thoughtfully the chance of education for their own offspring where their own love of horses might too be nurtured. The fees would be steep, but not out of the way for a goblin head groom; though if he had a number of offspring it might too be harder. However, it was an ambition to nurture to increase then number of educated goblins in Europe!