Chapter 2
The Meeting Place for students was an old hunting lodge deep in a forest in northern Germany; and if the term 'hunting lodge' should conjure up for new students the view of a rustic log-built house with one or two rooms they were doomed to have their breath taken away. What a medieval Junker referred to as a 'little hunting lodge' was to the eyes of most palatial in size if determinedly rustic in structure. It was almost big enough to serve as a school of itself; for it could, if need be, house the two hundred odd students of the school albeit in cramped conditions should weather cause a delay. As pupils came from so far afield three days was allowed for them to foregather at this meeting place to allow for unforeseen circumstances in their journeys; and this served much the same purpose as the train journey to Hogwarts, permitting pupils to meet and make alliances and plot the downfall of enemies. It also permitted, far more than the train journey, bullies to work upon the vulnerable and make them their slaves in all but name. Here too many fags were chosen by the older ones; and Traudl told Jade that the lower sixth tried to get there early to have first pick as juniors arrived. Jade had already decided to get there early for the same purpose; and to check out the older ones checking out the younger ones would be a bonus.
There was usually one member of staff there; Traudl ventured the opinion that the staff played cards for it at the end of the previous term and the loser got the duty.
There may of course have been a rota; but she might even have been right.
When Jade arrived it was to find she was the first – as she had intended – bar the staff member, a thin, unhealthy looking individual whom Jade knew for Ihor Rebet, the potions master, who had been unable to cure Nachtigall of her charm and who now disliked the boy intensely for his rudeness.
She held out a hand.
"How do you do, sir? Am I early? My name is Nefrita Von Strang; I expect you're anticipating me."
He nodded sharply.
"You are from Snape's school" he wheezed "Is he really as brilliant as they say?"
"Sir, as a schoolgirl I am unqualified to answer accurately" said Jade "He IS brilliant; if rather eccentric. He teaches potions and it is said he can brew a potion for any affliction one might encounter; which may be an exaggeration but I know he has had many new potions published."
"I will be your potions master here" he said harshly.
Jade beamed.
"Well I think you will not find me ill prepared" she said. "Even before he came we had a more than adequate teacher; though as she had to teach botany – theory only – alongside – Cackle's girls HAVE had to work a lot harder to catch up on Herbology to help with potioneering."
"You take your potioneering seriously then?"
"Yes sir; it has a subtlety that sets it apart from the brute force of a charm. Potions may take longer in preparation than a spell hurled but the effect may often be more profound, subtle and longer lasting. What charm could possibly duplicate Felix Felicis? What jinx could upset a rival so thoroughly as introducing amortentia with the object of affection being someone wholly inappropriate? How could the killing curse compare with a poison subtle enough to appear to cause death by natural causes? The potioneer is an infinitely more dangerous character than any who uses raw spell power. For all his flaws and megalomaniac insanity, even Voldemort did not neglect the power of the cauldron and its softly simmering secrets."
"You talk a good talk; we shall see how you perform with a cauldron" said Rebet, secretly rather impressed.
Jade itched to heal his lungs.
It was only a simple medical transfiguration after all – simple to her mind, anyway – and it seemed wrong to leave them. But she must; one did not charge in willy-nilly in such a situation as this.
She should have offered to do it as Jade Snape perhaps at the Triwizard when he was forcing Nachtigall to ask nicely for potions; but perhaps it would bring advantage to Nefrita Von Strang to have him grateful.
And if he was indifferent at least to ODESSA it might induce him to forgive her if she proceeded to tell him the truth at any time.
The first to arrive after Jade was a lower sixth girl with a new boy in tow. They looked expensive and the boy seemed used to being hectored by his older sister and took little notice of it. The girl stared.
"And who are YOU?" she demanded of Jade.
Jade elevated an eyebrow.
"Apparently someone brought up with a higher standard of manners than the gutter that spawned YOU" she drawled.
The girl flushed angrily and went for a wand. Jade sneered gently as she cast hexes fruitlessly at Jade's wordlessly held shield; then the English girl made a slight gesture and disarmed the other and threw her back against the wall.
"Mannerless one, stay out of my way or I will have a trough made for you to grub at for meal times so you do not offend me by even being in my sight at meals" said Jade.
"Eh bien, how then please is it that you do that?" asked the boy with a bow.
He had no intention of letting her call HIS manners to book.
"Casting non verbally is a useful trick to learn if you are under a silence spell or have no desire to give the enemy a clue to what you cast" said Jade "It is an exertion of will. I take it that it is your misfortune to be related to the mannerless one?"
"Er… that's my sister Claudette. I am Guiscard Reynoult; we are from Belgium."
"So. I trust you will be more mannerly in your growing up than she; I dislike bad manners" said Jade switching smoothly to French as his magic-learned skills with German were still poor. "I also dislike dishonour" she added as she twitched a hand to cast her shield spell since Claudette had retrieved her wand and cast at her back. "Do you want another lesson, Claudette Reynoult? Professor Rebet is not in evidence and I have a number of interesting jinxes at my disposal from my previous school; or I can use the principle of assimilative correlation by association of Reynard the fox and turn you into a fox; one more vulpine addition to the forest would scarcely be noticed. Or you could apologise and avoid further demonstrations of my virtuosity with the art of magic."
Claudette stared in horror. Whether this girl could turn her into a fox or not she was only half certain; but that she had not even troubled to get her wand out – like those frightening English children – was sign enough that she was too hard to tangle with.
"I apologise" she said rather sulkily.
Like all bullies, Claudette was a coward.
The groups of children from different countries tended to meet up and travel by portkey as a group; and the next group to arrive were a group of four from Denmark. One was a boy who had been, so far as Jade recalled, in Nachtigall's class without being one of his group. Another one was a girl who seemed quite young and yet au fait with the whole business and so was probably a second year; one was a new girl who was looking around in the manner of a neophyte and obviously trying not to be impressed by the whole business; the fourth, a couple of years older than the new child resembled her and also deferred enough to the oldest boy that it was probable that he was his fag. This was confirmed by the oldest boy saying,
"Get me coffee, Yorick."
"Alas, poor Yorick; I knew him, Horatio" murmured Jade.
"I say!" said the small girl "You got it right; most people say 'I knew him well'."
"Shakespeare's a hack but if you're going to quote him it's worth doing accurately" said Jade. "You're a cheeky whelp mind."
The child flushed.
"I'm sorry, I sort of thought you were my brother's age so…. Is it not done?"
"I'm in the upper sixth, small Ophelia."
"I say! I didn't mean to be cheeky but I say, my name's Sofie not Ophelia because she was wet."
"In more ways than one" said Jade dryly. "Are you fagging for your brother's man?"
"HE thinks so but I think I can do better" announced Sofie calmly. Jade laughed.
"DO you now! Well you can be a co-fag with the couple I have so far to me if you like."
"I think I would like" said Sofie "You know your Hamlet but you don't think much of Shakespeare. And you're sort of tolerant of an honest mistake."
"Well I suppose it's as good a recommendation as any and better than most" murmured Jade. "Name's Nefrita Von Strang."
Sofie beamed.
"Well I have struck gold!" she said "A big girl I think I like who's a von as well; Bertel Elstrup will suck lemons!"
Next to arrive was the girl from the bookshop. Jade permitted her eyes to show recognition but no nod of such. The girl had been singularly ungracious after all. She went over to the Belgian girl as much, Jade suspected, because she was the only other one of her age group there as any affection between them.
"Take care of the poison dwarf" she heard Claudette say "She casts as do the English without wand."
"She was at the same school as the Snape girl and could not be a champion because of her age…. She is taking six ZH's because Madam Bacsó would not let her take seven and she is in the upper sixth. What did she do?"
"She threw me across the room without any incantation or wand and threatened to turn me into a fox and let me out into the forest" said Claudette.
"Well if she really is that good it should be funny watching the meeting between her and Nachtigall" said the German girl heartlessly.
"YOU weren't the one being thrown around, Calvina" said Claudette.
"She froze me out and called me 'lowborn' in the bookshop" said Calvina resentfully.
"Big deal! I half hope Nachtigall CAN take her; I'd like to see her taken down a peg or two" sulked Claudette.
A Romanian contingent arrived next; two older girls, a boy of the middle school, and a new little girl.
"So are you planning on asking this one to fag for you, Pompilia?" asked the Romanian girl Jade thought was an upper sixth.
"I have made an arrangement with Serafina Payutinina that her brother Kyril will fag for me" said Pompilia. "It is a favour to her as she has helped me sometimes with my homework."
One might assume Serafina was of a less high born family than her friend Pompilia then if one were an English eavesdropper. Jade had some Romanian because of Adrian Petrescu in Prince Peak, friend of Irmi. With shameless legilimensy she could follow a conversation anyway!
She could not invite ALL the first to be her fags; the reason she had also left the little weaselly Belgian boy who regarded everyone with calculation. This little Romanian girl had something of a look to her that Jade did not like; a look that betokened a child who liked to get her retaliation in first.
Jade sighed.
Like a certain Severus Snape at eleven years old. She smiled tentatively at the child who ran over.
"Should I get coffee Fraulein?" she asked.
"That is MY place to do" said Sofie. "I am Fraulein Von Strang's fag."
The Romanian child's mind was obviously working on the mention of the 'von'.
"You shall get me coffee; and this other little one shall bring me biscuits or cakes if any are set out" said Jade.
On the way back she saw clearly the tripping jinx the Romanian child cast on Sofie.
Jade was immediately over by the fallen Danish child, healing the burns where scalding coffee had covered her, cleaning and drying the robes absently.
"You" she said to the Romanian child "Get out of my sight; if I ever see you again it will be too soon. You have lost any chance you might have had of being a fag of mine. You are disgusting and if I see you much longer I shall be whipping you so hard you will wish I had only cast the cruciatus curse."
The child fled.
Yorick whacked her hard in passing.
"What's you let her get away with it for?" he demanded rather rudely of Jade.
Jade forgave the rudeness in concern for his sister.
"Because you good ass, I was afraid that if I once started on her for so serious an offence I might hurt her seriously. Sofie, are you all right now?"
"Yes thank you Fraulein Von Strang" said Sofie "What happened?"
"That horrid child wished to make you look foolish and cast a tripping hex" said Jade. "I presume she hoped to be in with a chance as senior fag. Now she will not be my fag at all; and if she is wise she will not even cross my path."
Sofie looked aghast.
"She wanted to hurt me just to have a chance to look better? Well! Still it has worked out against her; and for that I am glad" she said.
"Your sister has a sweet naïveté about the wicked ways of the world" said Jade to Yorick "Rather than realising that people will do harm where they can for their own advantage."
"Oh I do not know" said Yorick "I think most people are all right most of the time."
Jade laughed.
"Well if you have survived a couple of years at school and still have that attitude I salute your good nature" she said "And also Elstrup for his protection of you."
"You speak my name? What do you do with my fag?"
Bertel Elsrup had noticed that Yorick was not at his side and came and stood protectively by him.
"He checks on his sister who was jinxed by a brat who wanted to fag for me and do her down" said Jade calmly. "You I think have cared for him well that he looks in kindly fashion on all the world."
"Oh that is Yorick" said Elstrup. "You are new in the sixth?"
"Yes; I come for one year only to the upper sixth. Nefrita Von Strang" said Jade.
He shook the proffered hand.
"Bertel Elstrup; as I think you have been told" he said. "I am not high born nor near pure."
He seemed to be quite pugnacious about it.
"You have, however, the instincts and manners of a gentleman. A gentleman always protects his dependants; this I admire in a man as few seem to manage such a level of manliness" said Jade. "You are also one of but a few of the sixth I have met so far who has couched a question of my arrival in inoffensive terms. As one of my fags is sister to your fag it is possible we may work together. What ZH's do you take?"
"Herbology, Charms, Potions and Ancient Runes" said he.
"I shall be with you for two of those; I had to drop Ancient Runes as Madam Bacsó would not let me take all I had been studying" said Jade "So I study in my spare time; the little sister of Traudl Mondschein is another of my fags so she has agreed to let me see her lesson notes to keep up on my own time."
"I would not wish to have anything to do with Traudl or her friends; she is one of a gang I do not like."
"Which is why she is glad of an ally who will help her break from this Nachtigall boy" said Jade calmly. "I have learned spell defences the English way; if you too wish to learn and work with her and me it would give more of us against his cohorts."
Elstrup considered.
"There is much in what you say" he said "Perhaps even to take defence into attack. I will think on it seriously – if Traudl really does want to escape and is not trying to pump you for knowledge."
"I know enough legilimensy to tell if someone's genuine or not" scoffed Jade.
"Legilimensy? Then they DO teach to beyond ZH level in English schools?"
"IS it? I don't know; I just picked it up as I went along" said Jade with absolute truth.
She had been a competent legilimens since she had started at Hogwarts if not before.
"We should conceal what we are doing if we are to learn extra things" said Bertel seriously. "Find a way to make it hidden."
Jade laughed.
"Then we should hide it in obviousness; and have what sounds like a club that is so boring the creeps and bullies will not wish to have anything to do with it; something like the 'English customs hobby club' and we can be earnest about the ritual significance of afternoon tea and the importance of how thinly to slice cucumbers for sandwiches and what an umbrella means."
Bertel laughed.
"Perfect!" he said. "Oh here is Traudl and the child."
Jade beckoned Traudl and Elfleda over.
"Elfleda, Sofie, Sofie, Elfleda. We still await Herwald to complete the three fags I have so far; perhaps I had better not steal too many more! Traudl, Bertel would like to learn some techniques and suggests we call our efforts the English Customs Hobbies Club for safety; and our various fags of course shall attend if they wish to learn more.
"Yes; my fag will like that I am sure" said Traudl instantly. "It is clever; Heinrich would despise such a club and though he may wish to disrupt it he will not take any more notice than that."
"In English schools it is also customary for many to run in the mornings to increase stamina" said Jade "Herein may extra ability to sustain spells be found."
Traudl groaned.
"This am I less keen on! But to sustain a protection against the cruciatus curse…. That I could make myself run for."
"And if the kids start as they mean to go on they will soon find they are well ahead of their fellows" said Jade.
"Cacilia Von Freyer is not usually a joiner" said Bertel "Not because she is stuck up I think but because she has never found anything worth joining. But she is worth inviting in; she is our top scholar too as she takes five ZH's."
"Nefrita's studying six – plus Ancient Runes" said Traudl.
Bertel stared.
"Are all English so talented?" he gasped.
"No; I am a Malfoy as well as Von Strang" said Jade. "Most Malfoys take silly amounts of NEWTs. It keeps us from climbing the walls and figuring out ways to overthrow the government or take broomsticks to the moon or other futile things. There is a small but significant proportion of students who do not go past OWLs – what you call ZP's. And most students take only three or four NEWTs who do stay on. A few indeed take only one or two in their best subject to boost their pay and position. Of course, too, with a wider range of subjects there are more chances to find a talent; a boy at Hogwarts, I have heard, is a near squib but he has a talent with dowsing – even as the lad from Beauxbatons used in the Triwizard – AND an interest in Geomancy, and with those skills he can get a highly paid job as a guide for an Auror. Neither skill is offered here I believe?"
"Divination is so hit and miss a skill; we do not teach it because it is open to abuse" said Bertel.
Jade nodded.
"I can't say I've ever viewed it as much beyond an object of derision" she said "Save for the few for whom it comes naturally; the reason it is taught in English schools is to find those few by giving them the opportunity to lark about with different techniques in case they find one that works. I'm a bit equivocal about how I feel about that I guess. The squib kid got a lot out of that; but past the first year I'd say it was a waste of time without real talent. My recollections of divination involve peering futilely into a crystal ball and making up any old nonsense that came into my head. I believe once that I predicted that the school would be overrun by giant beetles wanting to turn humans into buttons."
There was laughter among the older ones and the joke was explained to the new first years.
People were arriving left and right by now including Hasso and Herwald Langbessen, the older boy dumping his brother with relief on Jade as his lady. Jade sent the three of the small ones to find likely talent to fight bullies; it saved her having to listen to childish conversation and that was how it worked in the MSHG after all, which was effectively what they were forming.
"If you find any straight away it is all good, but we still have two days" said Jade "With people arriving all the time."
"Please, Fraulein Baronin, it is required for first years to arrive on the first day unless they can find very good excuse" said Herwald "Or come from somewhere very strange!"
"The better for us then, hmmm?" said Jade
"I am not sure exactly what sort you are looking for, Fraulein Von Strang" said Elfleda.
Jade smiled at her.
"Why, Vöglein, the kind of open, friendly kiddies that the three of you would wish to be friends with; not those you would pick because it is advantageous to your social development. I am advantageous to your social development so you can afford to choose convivial children who would like to learn to fight bullies. Some may seem self seeking at first, and may like the child who tripped Sofie indeed be so; or it may be armour because they fear. This you will have to find out; and that is your first major duty as my fags."
They ran off happily, Elfleda delighted to be given an endearment of being named 'birdling' in the explanation.
Sofie leaned briefly on Jade before joining the others.
"Will I be your Vöglein?" she asked.
"Oh you are my Blümchen" said Jade cheerfully; and Sofie ran off happily to be called a 'flowerling'.
Big boys of eleven might disdain such fondlings but little girls still liked them it seemed when away from home.
They came back before long with a boy and a girl.
"Fraulein Baronin, this is Lady Leva Levadeva from the Ukraine daughter of Graf Levadev" said Elfleda, carefully giving the little girl her title "As it is not a German title and is morover the title from her father it will equate to yours in status so as a younger she is still your inferior in Durmstrang; but better for her that she be fag to a SOCIAL equal."
The new little boy snorted.
Jade regarded him with amusement. He was a faintly Slavic looking child with red hair standing in all directions and clever, hungry eyes.
"Not a communist, my boy?" she asked.
"No Fraulein; but I do not see that those of elevated social rank should be pampered when we are at school to gain education."
"Oh none of my fags will be pampered; but you will be the gainers from the extra you will learn for your hard work" said Jade. "Leva has perhaps been pampered; or perhaps not. I have never been so. I think it is no preparation to pamper a child, but it will be a very different situation for all of you to go from being the jewel of your house and your family's affections to a school where you are at the beck and call of all. It is kind of Elfleda to think of Leva's feelings. I thing though that someone called 'Lioness' will do very well though, hmmm?"
"I want to work with people to stand up to bullies please Fraulein Von Strang" said Leva putting up a firm little chin.
Jade nodded.
"You'll do just fine, Kätzchen" she said, feeling that 'kitten' was a good name for one named Lioness. "And what of you, Comrade Cynic?" she said to the boy, speaking Russian.
"My name is Arkadi Rasputin and I am in descent of the Mudblood Monk wizard healer" he said "I want to learn all I can. I am low born and of much mixed blood but I am clever."
"That seems quite sufficient to me; so long as you are also a comrade in the true sense to your fellows. My fags do NOT fight for the honour of a particular service; they work together. They help each other. If one struggles with schoolwork the others help out and take more fagging duties to give the struggling one more time; and they let me know so I may coach. My fags are as brothers and sisters. If you cannot live with this you need not consider yourselves any longer my fags. Is this clear?"
Five little heads nodded solemnly.
"Very well; check there are no more then report back to me" said Jade.
Traudl's fag had arrived by this time and was introduced; Zyrillis Genauschüren listened to the idea of a club to improve skills and stand against bullies and nodded shrewdly.
"Thank you for inviting me" he said gravely, clicking his heels punctilliously.
Nachtigall arrived late on the first day; and picked out immediately a new face.
That the new face was one of serene elfin beauty did tend to draw glances. Her figure was also trim and shapely and she was obviously not a first year; for her inches however it never occurred to Nachtigall that she might be his own age.
"You – come here" he commanded, pointing at her.
Jade looked around then remarked to Traudl,
"Who do you suppose that boor is addressing so churlishly?"
"Traudl, punish her!" said Nachtigall.
"He appears to be addressing us" said Traudl.
"What a shame that there should be such ruffian trash in this school" said Jade calmly. "The dignified thing is to ignore such; the croaking of toads can never please but it is not, after all, of any import."
Nachtigall had his wand out by now.
"You lower school brat you have one chance to apologise!" he screeched.
"Stupid and unobservant as well as boorish I see, Traudl" said Jade "How I pity you for having had such in your class for so long! You are most tolerant not to have disciplined him before now."
"CRUCIO!" screeched Nachtigall, his wand on Jade.
She smiled at him.
"And not especially talented either" she said. "You do it like THIS" and pointed a finger at him. It took a deal of concentration to cast the cruciatus curse wandlessly and wordlessly; but she did it for effect.
Nachtigall screamed and fell to the floor writhing. Jade released him almost immediately.
"What is this?" the voice of Herr Rebet cut through the proceedings.
"That new brat attacked me Herr Rebet!" said Nachtigall instantly.
Rebet viewed him with dislike.
"Funny; for you have your wand out and Baronin Von Strang does not. I came to tell you Fraulein Baronin that an owl arrived just now with confirmation of your title. I see what appears to be an impromptu duel; it were better to make it more formal. I shall mark out a piste" his eyes gleamed. He had seen the boy go down screaming and hoped to see him bested. This girl after all understood the importance of potions; she did not accord it the second class status many Germans did.
Jade walked round the designated area and chanted in the usual protection spells.
"I did not think that you studied enchantment Nefrita" said Traudl.
"I have studied to OWL and I studied too the art of chanting" said Jade serenely "It was also something that was made much of at Cackle's before the new regime. It is of great use and can enhance one's skill as a potioneer."
"Is that so?" Rebet was interested. "You must tell me more some time, Fraulein. The spells seem secure and adequate to me" he added using a revelaspell. "Enter the piste both of you."
"I don't want to fight her! She cheats by not using a wand!" whined Nactigall.
Jade glanced at him with amused surprise.
"Why, Herr Quabbelig, you do not have to use a wand either if you do not wish to" she said.
Nachtigall bared his teeth at being called 'Mr Flabby'.
"I cannot cast wandlessly" he said between is teeth.
"So? It is now cheating that I have greater skill then you? Indeed as casting wandlessly and wordlessly is undoubtedly harder than using focus and incantation I shall hand my wand to Traudl to take care of and I shall speak no incantation to take a handicap when dealing with a precious little girl like yourself, Herr Quabbelig. Is that acceptable, Herr Rebet?"
"It would seem an adequate handicap" said Rebet, who was enjoying seeing Nachtigall sweat.
They faced each other; and Jade saw the intent form behind the boy's eyes.
She ostentatiously created a mirror in front of her.
"I wouldn't" she said.
His eyes widened.
"How did you…"
"I know your sort" she said curtly. "If you EVER try the killing curse on me, be assured it will meet with a mirror that will kill you. Now fight you coward."
Nachtigall was so shaken that he could scarcely cast; and each curse he managed was contemptuously knocked aside. Then Jade smiled.
It was not a pleasant smile.
Her friend's family had spent long years incarcerated in fact and incarcerated in lycanthropy because of the machinations of this boy's father, with, she had not doubt, the full support of the boy himself.
She pulled off the transfiguration of her life, turning him with the hideous painful slowness of the way it really happened into a werewolf, letting him feel the intellect slipping away from him so that he howled in terror and despair before she brought him back.
"That's for Katarina whom I know and respect" she said conversationally before cycling him through a series of other creatures more noted for amusement value than dignity; an armadillo; a diricawl that muggles call a dodo; a camel; a tapir and a giant snail. It had a yellow body with a red shell and if nobody else here had seen 'Magic Roundabout' it at least amused Jade. Then she returned him to his quivering outraged and terrified self, dropped a curse of zits on his forehead reading 'Schwein', gave him a pig's nose, disarmed him, dropped a langlock on him and hoisted him in the air by one ankle.
"My win I think" she said.
"Demonstrably" said Rebet. "You may both leave the piste."
Jade did so. Nachtigall made inarticulate noises.
"It would be unfair not to give the boy the dignity of attempting to release himself" said Rebet.
"Indeed" agreed Jade gravely. "If he has not released himself by after the evening meal I shall do so; missing a meal will do him no real harm."
Rebet did not quite grin in wild glee but Jade knew he was delighted.
This boy had ruled too long in the school and made the life of a disabled, low born professor miserable. The new girl could enact some own back for him for she had the social status to get away with it!