Chapter 13
Jade felt her father's blood pulse and headed for the head's office in obedience with the thought he sent with it.
Agata Bacsó dropped the cup of tea she was holding as Severus appeared in her office. He caught it flawlessly with a flip of a finger and restored it gently to the table bowing.
"My apologies for rather an abrupt arrival, Agata" he said.
"How did you get in? This is an anti apparating zone!" said Agata, rather rattled.
"I'm sorry to be so rude as to overcome your wards; but this might be serious; ah, Jade arrives; I sent for her so I did not have to repeat myself" said Severus.
There was a knock at the door; and Agata called
"Herein!" and Jade entered.
"Urgent news?" she said.
"Yes; I looked up the er, big man" said Severus. "He is the minister for foreign affairs and relations; and he probably started in seeking blackmail material for the use of the ministry and branched out. The accommodation address has a built in apparation charm on the place the owls deposit the messages. We worked it back with geomancy and Arithmancy."
Jade exchanged a look with Agata.
"He'll have to be a casualty to the ODESSA attack – when it comes" shrugged Jade.
Agata nodded.
"Thank you for this, er, Severus; such a man is likely to have a file on me."
"Indubitably; I was planning on stealing it and removing any sensitive information" said Severus. "Don't worry; I don't use blackmail on my allies. And I'll tell you what, if anything, I find. I've a yen to poke about in that man's files."
"And that was almost at the edge of a crude comment there" grinned Jade. "Thanks dad; appreciated."
Severus nodded; and vanished silently into fey space.
"How does he do it? It's an anti apparating zone! And he's silent!" cried the head.
Jade shrugged.
"Some things have to remain secret between us, Agata; besides, I don't think you could do it. It has to do with having performed some extremely heavy rituals" she said. "AND being prepared to take on the strange and exotic ideas of other peoples and cultures; comparative magic is an interesting subject."
"And Geomancy more important than I realised" said Agata. "Time for me to consider introducing it as a subject in the school. And maybe chanting also" she added meditatively.
Jade had involved herself with the decorations for the Yule Ball; really in the hopes of providing something a bit less heavily Germanic and a bit more tasteful than she had seen last year. Jade worked on producing the illusion that all the participants had shrunk to the size of fairies and stuck to a theme of Christmas tide plants and snowflakes; graceful staircases of huge snowflakes ascended and descended in the great hall, and one staircase of trailing shiny green ivy leaves, each leaf several feet across and delicately veined above and below. Such huge ivy leaves also adorned the walls, and holly too; and holly and mistletoe festooned the ceiling, each berry a red lantern if holly or pearly white for mistletoe, giving a warm pink glow to the whole that Jade offset at floor level, which was made up of a tessellation of snow flakes, glowing with their own blued-white light, each one of them a different pattern in their six-fold symmetry. The whole effect was light and airy, mysterious and strange. Jade was pleased with her efforts especially with folding feyspace to make the staircases solid enough for anyone to walk upon.
It made a nice change from the Bactrian texts she was working on; for Jade had asked Madam Schreiber if there were any other Bactrian fragments besides the one used in the text book as an exemplar. Madam Schreiber had loaned Jade her own book which reproduced the logograms of the original and such translation as had already been done.
Jade had grinned and said that this would give her something to do over the Yule holidays.
She had picked out those texts supposed to be by the writer of the one in the text book; if he was a potioneer, she had a good chance of finding more that she was familiar with. And with a wider vocabulary available because of that, she should then have a better chance of cracking the rest. Jade fully anticipated it taking more than the Yule Holidays, but the comment made with a grin had made Madam Schreiber laugh!
"You will publish, Fraulein Von Strang?" she asked.
Jade considered; and came to a sudden decision.
"If I do, I'd do so under my own name" she said "Madam Bacsó did not think that I would be able to study peacefully if I used my real name; so I have been using a pseudonym. But I was right in thinking that a year at Durmstrang would give me more knowledge to add to what I had gleaned already; you use entirely different texts to those in English schools, which is fascinating. And have a different set of books too in the library."
"Er… I have not been informed by Madam Bacsó what your real name is, my dear" said Madam Schreiber.
"No; it would have been counterproductive for all the staff to know; especially Hedda Schrempf" said Jade. "I am Jade Snape; Madam Bacsó and Professor Rebet are aware, and I should like you to know too; as I think YOU might enjoy chatting to my father about HIS collection of ancient texts. Knowledge is the most important commodity in the world – in my opinion, anyway."
"I agree! And I must say, er, Fraulein Snape, I am agreeably surprised that a Triwizard champion should also be such a dedicated scholar!"
"If scholarship were taken more seriously it would be the scholars who romp it and the blast-it-to pieces wizards who come unstuck" said Jade "It is supposed to be a test of ultimate competence; only the academic subjects are a TRUE test of competence. Any idiot can cast some charm or other; Arithmancy and ancient runes take a little more work and make a whole lot more efficiency. A chanter who has not studied either is going to come unstuck; it is the study of ancient runes that makes chanting so powerful, and Arithmancy allied with that too makes a chanter virtually invincible. I have been able to use my knowledge of chanting to heal little Wencelada of a heart defect that ordinary medical transfiguration would be unable to do. Even the best transfigurationist in the world might have trouble, perhaps; even Professor Dumbledore might find it challenging. With a chant it was – well, I shan't say simple, but certainly relatively straightforward. I said at the Triwizard that without Arithmancy no higher magic was possible, but I am becoming more and more convinced that I should too have included Runes in that. The use of runic magic is slower; but surer. And THAT is why few people today will ever manage the greatness of the likes of Merlin or Egil Skallagrimson; because they want the quick, immediate fix, the instant gratification."
"You are right of course!" said Madam Schreiber much struck; Jade's unfeigned enthusiasm was infectious! "Should I continue to call you Nefrita Von Strang?"
"Please; until the end of the year, anyway. I've a mind to come back and teach here so perhaps we may be colleagues one day and able to wrestle texts into submission together; that would be fun. I – I would prefer you did not discuss my identity with Hedda Schrempf; I am going to have to duel the creature one day, but I want to concentrate on my studies first. I know more about the Dark Arts than she could ever teach me already" she added contemptuously "Enough to know that she has no more idea of the depths of depravity and evil in the human psyche than has a toddler throwing a tantrum and kicking his elf."
"She? She is no scholar nor even capable of more than the most basic of magic!" said Schreiber in contempt "She has some raw power, yes, but her intellect is deficient and she is virtually as subhuman as any muggle!"
"Actually, I know some very intelligent and able muggles" said Jade "Who are capable of understanding the theory enough to hold a counterpoint to a chant that is enough to actually aid a chanter; even though they have no magic themselves. There is one I know whose sister was a muggleborn witch who actually holds an 'E' grade NEWT in Ancient Runes, as she did it over one year only. Just say that Schrempf is subhuman and leave it at that."
"Truly? That is remarkable; and able to aid chanting? I had no idea!" said Madam Schreiber "Well, I am prepared to be open minded on the subject if such is true, for that means surely that a muggle thus trained could also write competent chants for someone with raw power and little theoretical knowledge if the muggle has chanting theory also?"
"Absolutely" said Jade "She also has a similar grade in Arithmancy; and as not all wizards and witches are actually capable of high level academic subjects, she has been useful to my father in preparing some of the simple chants any idiot can use for his basic text book. Naturally for complex chants, the rhythm, language and metre may need to change in an extempore fashion that only an academic can really understand. And picking a language for a specific incantation, even basing the chant on a basic one, may have more fortuitous results."
"Fascinating!" cried Agallisse Schreiber, who was a true academic.
The Yule Ball at Durmstrang was the day after that of Prince Peak and Jade was woken in the small hours by a contact from her father telling her that there was a ministry spy at the school in the person of Frau Magdalene Meyer, the Arithmancy teacher.
Jade went before breakfast to tell Agata this; and also that Severus had taken away several letters that might be read the wrong way and had sabotaged her file pretty well.
Agata was relieved about the second and concerned about the first.
"Well, we are forewarned to watch her" said Jade "And at least we KNOW…. Better to have a spy we know about than arrange to get rid of her and not know if a spy comes in another guise."
"I suppose so" said Agata "It is a sour business though; she of course is German and many of us are not."
"Then have compassion for the poor creature for her nationality" said Jade.
"You ARE a bad girl" Said Agata, trying not to laugh.
Jade's efforts of decoration created mixed feelings; some thought the idea enchanting and beautiful; a few found the concept of being made to seem so small actually rather frightening and intimidating.
A surprise guest at the Ball was Herzog Von Frettchen.
"An interesting concept of decoration, Fraulein Von Strang" he said as he kissed her hand and asked for a dance "Intended to put us all in our places I suppose?"
Jade looked as surprised as she felt.
"What do you mean, Herr Herzog? It is but a fantasy world of being fairy sized; an optical illusion to enable us to appreciate the beauty of things we take for granted from a different scale; that no two snowflakes are ever alike; that the veins of leaves are a delicate tracery; I was particularly pleased with the skeleton leaves you may see on the floor by the edges of the ballroom, touched with silver as of frost and more delicate than any jewellery at their normal scale. Why would that er, put anyone in their places?"
"It is not, then, intended to intimidate for its sheer scale?"
Jade laughed.
"Oh what a silly idea!" she said "Anyone who felt intimidated by such would surely be a truly petty and small minded person to take it as such; or mentally ill that could see nothing but the negative aspects that no normal person would see. We have all wondered, surely, as children, what it would be like to be a mouse or a fairy and see the great big world; it is an expression of our own growing size and changing perceptions. Christmas is a time for children; so I create a childish fantasy, mostly for those of us who leave our childhood behind forever when we have completed our exam studies this year."
"I see" said Von Frettchen who would have died before admitting that his first feeling had been one of intimidation.
He was a reasonable dancer; and Jade enjoyed dancing with him well enough. He had something on his mind, however.
"What is the matter?" she asked bluntly "You are not concentrating, My Lord."
"I am sorry; a beautiful woman deserves that her partner gives her all his attention" said Von Frettchen. Jade managed NOT to elevate one cynical eyebrow at such a polished phrase and he went on, "The Prince has asked to meet you; I understand you stay at the school for the holidays; so I will be pleased to take you tomorrow to make his acquaintance."
"Oh dear" said Jade "I suppose I'd better go along with you; what a nuisance grown ups can be wanting to meet people!"
"It is a great honour to meet Prince Gerhardt" chided Von Frettchen.
"Well very probably; but I have a rather juicy Bactrian text I was hoping to get my teeth into" sighed Jade "It's an inventory; and inventories are just DANDY for helping with translation. Ah well, I don't suppose he'll want me for long" she brightened.
"You would rather wrestle with academic work than meet a true prince? What an extraordinary girl you are!" said Von Frettchen.
"You know I feel little for him but contempt; what is a fool in comparison to knowledge that may be of use unravelling other texts and ancient knowledge perhaps long lost?" said Jade "Bribe me with spending a couple of days in your own library and I shall agree with better grace."
"Well you are honest enough to ask for a bribe I suppose!" he laughed "Very well; you shall spend time in my library to make up for the tedium of meeting a less than academic figurehead. He IS a good figurehead."
"And he'd be a better figurehead if he only waved bye-bye, said Papa and tied his shoelaces to command" said Jade "Instead of being allowed to have ideas. You have danced two dances with me; it is not de rigueur to dance any more."
He bowed obediently and left her, under the scowls of Hedda Schrempf. Jade held the woman's eye until she dropped her gaze and turned away.
Dominating like this was no fun at all, thought Jade; and quite took away the chance to just jinx her quietly, because it would scarcely be ethical to do so to someone in your thrall. However she was piecing together the way Hedda Schrempf thought, what made her the way she was; and it was at least partly in the upbringing. Self-willed and spoilt, shown muggle baiting from an early age and other things assimilated as normal like the ill treatment of elves; and yet there was that in her character that had taken to such things eagerly, and Jade could not see a way to change that.
No, Schrempf could not be taken back to childhood; she would have to die. A shame, but there you were.
The one sour note of the evening was the flautist who was busy murdering the music Jade had provided as suitable for the décor. Sighing she went over to the musician's platform, took the flute from the hands of the struggling flautist and finished the rest of the 'Birdcatcher's Song' for him.
"Wherein lay the trouble?" asked Jade.
"Fraulein, I have never seen this piece of music before" said the flautist.
"But you had half an hour beforehand to overlook all the pieces; that is sufficient for any musician, surely?"
"Fraulein, I hear you play and you are far beyond my class; for me I should expect to practise new music for several days before I would wish to play it in public" said the flautist. The other musicians nodded assent.
"But then who has taught you so inefficiently?" said Jade "An accompanist, which is the same for accompanying dancing as for any soloist, surely expects to pick up music at short notice and play?"
"Fraulein, music is not an important subject" said the harpist "We must learn it as best we might."
"But what then should you wish to use your music to lay in enchantment? If you need to rehearse beforehand, that destroys the spontaneity of enchanting, surely?"
They stared.
"You can do magic with music?" asked the flautist.
"Oh dear" said Jade. "watch; and learn."
She picked up the flute again and started playing a wild, whirling tune, a wailing waltz rhythm that resonated through the whole body; for Jade played the voice of a blizzard, and silvery snowflakes fell from the ceiling, fell and vanished as they reached the ground, whirling and dancing to her playing.
"Fraulein, I never knew such was possible; where would one learn that?" asked the flautist.
"Oh in a good English school certainly" said Jade "there are too many subjects not addressed here. If you would learn, look for a book called 'Ars Musicalis Magica' by Cepion Cephallon; it's still one of the best, though the Latin's a bit antiquated in style; it's sixteenth century and he spends several pages rambling about the decadence of madrigals but the theory is sound enough. I guess for the rest of the evening you'd better stick to Strauss and such well known stuff."
"Music too?" said Agata.
"Oh, up until now, one had music lessons paid for separately and picked up magical theory as one went along; Prince Peak plans to specialise, however, in those kids who have artistic talents, music or art; a specialist teacher starts next year for music" said Jade. "If I'm teaching here, I'll do extra curricular work with the talented; and advise those with real talent to transfer to where their talents can be best brought on. I don't have any claim to be able to teach it as well as I perform. One doesn't always lead to the other. I refuse to teach tone deaf dunderheads who only play an instrument because their parents think it nice. I'm more likely to throttle the parents with fiddle strings. No-one ever said I was tolerant."
Von Frettchen side-along apported Jade in the morning.
Jade hated being side-alonged.
"I have my apparating licence you know" she said mildly.
"Yes; but I wish to take you to a place you will not have seen; and because it is a secret location a place that you should not know" said Von Frettchen, taking her arm to Apparate her.
Jade sighed as they emerged in a forest.
"If you wish to keep it unknown, don't you think that you should have it in a less distinct place than the Teutenburgerwald?" she said. "The very trees whisper of the slaughter of the legions and pale Roman ghosts lurk amongst the trees crying for vengeance upon the name of Varus for his miscalculation. You look confused; surely you must study muggle history to give extra background to our own history? My own family is descended from a deserter from one of the lost legions who was a rather dodgy soothsayer. He was hiding out in the Roman army because of the anticipated vengeance of one of his unsatisfied clients; he prophesied a really good day for a wedding and there was a freak hail storm and the bride was struck on the temple by a hailstone and was killed. It's one reason I don't think much of prophesies."
"I have never heard that of the Von Strang family" said Von Frettchen.
Jade gave him a fishy stare.
"Oh, I meant the Malfoy family" she said "A line of ineffable antiquity; not the minor line whose name I choose to use; that is merely because Germans are so impressed by 'von'. A Malfoy does not NEED to remind people of their nobility; it is immediately obvious. We ARE the master race. Are we moving on to this wretched prince of yours are am I to stand here and catch cold in this gloomy forest?"
"You are very self satisfied" said Von Frettchen.
"Well yes. I rather have reason to be, don't I?" said Jade.
Von Frettchen decided not to answer that; and merely seethed gently.
The Prince received Jade in a throne room that was tacky enough, in Jade's opinion, to go down well in Hollywood.
She dropped him a neat curtsey that was slightly short of the one she used to Agata Bacsó and a long way short of the one she used to her father. It was, however, a masterpiece of elegance and sophistication; and she extended her hand to him to kiss.
The Prince was too bemused to do anything but comply. Jade noted with revulsion that he actually kissed the back of her hand instead of dropping the salute on the air just short of it as was proper; and he held her hand longer than was necessary.
"I have heard much about your talent from Herzog Von Frettchen, Fraulein Baronin; but Eduard! You did not tell me she was beautiful!" said the prince.
"I apologise, my prince" said Von Frettchen.
"Tell me, Fraulein – ah, I will call you Nefrita – why do you think that the Herzog failed to tell me of your beauty?" said the prince with what he evidently believed to be arch sly humour.
"He did not say that I am of the family Malfoy? For to be Malfoy is to be beautiful as well as powerful" said Jade. "Perhaps it slipped his mind."
"Or perhaps he thought to keep your beauty to himself, hmmm?"
"Illogical" said Jade coldly "He is not, after all, in the running to court me; I would look for a handsome young man as my mate."
"Ah, my dear! You shall marry me!" said the prince.
Jade stared.
"Excuse me" she said "But I believe I specified my preference; I fear you do not qualify on any count, Prince Gerhardt. I decline your offer."
"I am the young Siegfried! I am handsome and dashing and I am your prince! You WILL marry me!" he went to grab her to pull her to him.
"In your dreams!" said Jade eluding him "You're quite elderly – you won't see thirty again – and your arse is fat and your face is coarse and ugly and when I said you don't qualify on any count, I DID specify that I wanted a man – not a cowardly poltroon and an imbecile that sends his troops to die and has not the bollocks to go with them! You RAN AWAY from a bunch of schoolkids when you were at Prince Peak!"
Von Frettchen was wincing.
The prince went to slap Jade.
The blow contacted solidified air; and without moving a muscle Jade hoisted him by one ankle turning him into a squealing pig as she did so, absently casting the full body bind on his soldiery who started forward.
Jade reflected absently that her Wulf was a sight older than the Prince; but werewolves were very long lived and he had taken good care of himself. Wulf was ageless. Besides he was beautiful; he was hers.
"Nefrita! Turn him back!" said Von Frettchen scandalised.
Jade turned her gaze on him.
"I do not believe I made YOU free with my name any more than I did HIM" she said "He's so much better looking like this, wouldn't you say? And more useful; you can have bacon sandwiches for tea now."
The pig squealed in even more outrage.
"Fraulein Baronin, I ORDER you to restore him!"
"Or what? You will not admit that you took me to see the head of an illegal – even fictitious – organisation; I have the right to defend myself when he is effectively saying that he has the force to marry me against my will, effective rape; why were not YOU protecting me from such a boor? He tried to lay lewd hands on me; I am within my rights to protect myself. I knew he was a buffoon, but I did not know how much; I will have nothing to do with him nor with your lowborn organisation and its stuck up middle class ideals and ideas that drift half-formed from the loose conglomerations of ill-formed thought that are the minds of such as this pig and his turgidly minded followers for whom Hedda Schrempf is the paradigm of princely paladins in the mind of whichever drooling imbecile sent HER to teach at Durmstrang. You may get him out of it yourself; or you may turn him into a nice ham. Though he'd have tasted better had he been gelded in fact not merely by inclination. Good morning, Herzog Von Frettchen. Unhappy Christmas."
Jade apparated away, causing more upsets as the throne room was a non apparating zone.
She crept back in feyspace to see Von Frettchen cast finite incantatem which released the soldiers and dropped the pig on its snout. The transfiguration she had tied to his name. If Von Frettchen thought to use homomorphous that should work; but he had not tried it on Dunkelwald so he was unlikely to think of it for the prince.
Von Frettchen was trying to sooth the angry pig; and finding it impossible, stared into the royal porker's eyes instead and cast the imperious curse.
The pig obediently climbed back onto the throne.
"And a fine fuck-up I made of that" said Jade to herself "But how DARE he maul me like that?"
She took herself to Wulf to tell him all about it.
"Am I too old my darling?" said Wulf.
"You are like the old saying; that a man is just as old as the woman he feels" said Jade, snuggling at him "He's prematurely aged for self indulgence."
"Ah; he is aged more figuratively than literally then" said Wulf. "Let me kiss it better."
Jade submitted happily to having it kissed better; then opened a link to report to her father.
"Ah; but then, you never hid your distaste for the prince" said Severus when she had told him what had occurred. "Let Von Frettchen talk you round a bit; but be aware that there is a prophecy that you will overcome only if you do not succumb to the Ferret."
"I HATE prophecies" said Jade "Are you sure it's me?"
"Yes; and it's not the first to name the Jade Wolf" said Severus.
Jade snorted.
"Load of rubbish" she said. "I'm not planning on succumbing to any blandishments of that slippery old spy; he's not as good as Lucius anyway."
"Lucius had to survive between Voldemort on the one hand and Dumbledore on the other; it does concentrate the mind wonderfully" said Severus dryly.
"There is that" Jade agreed. "Well don't tell me any prophecies; I don't want to know. It seems to me that the moment people start taking notice of prophesies they actually activate them and THEN they get in shit street trying to stick to them. I'll take fatherly advice not to trust Von Frettchen too far – not that I was planning to anyway – and go my own sweet way regardless. Always in motion is the future. Unless you prefer to give me any instructions?"
"Play it by ear, my dear; you're good at feeling the way" said Severus. "And may the force be with you."
"With the prince, it's more farce than force" said Jade.
Jade apported back through time to be in Durmstrang in time for Von Frettchen to arrive and come looking for her. She had no intention of going to meet him; besides, she had an idea for her Bactrian translation. The inventory was so plainly a potioneer's list of ingredients she had but to write from memory the most used ingredients for any competent potioneer; and then see if any logograms might be interpreted by anything she had on HER list.
It was, moreover, soothing.
And it was quite amusing to reach out to touch Von Frettchen's outermost thoughts and see his frustration that he could not find her anywhere. Less amusing that he had slapped little Fyra.
Jade waited for him to ask someone who knew her habits, like Professor Rebet; who told the duke that anyone who knew Fraulein Von Strang would seek for her in the library before any other place.
When the Duke came in and said,
"Oh HERE you are!" she looked up coldly.
"You hit my servant" she said "Only inadequates hit dependants and those weaker than themselves. Perhaps I was mistaken; perhaps you ARE more like Schrempf than like a gentleman."
He flushed.
"I was agitated" he said.
"So? A gentleman does not take out his agitation on underlings; it is uncultured. Go and apologise to her and heal any harm you have done; or I will not speak to you and I will let the world know also of what I think of such an oaf" and she turned back to her work.
Von Frettchen clenched and unclenched his fists several times; then went in search of the goblin child.
Jade followed in Feyspace.
"I should not have hit you; I apologise" he said tightly "Taking out anger on a servant is not right."
"Fraulein Von Strang said I should never be hit!" said Fyra "And I still say a man should NOT be in my mistress' bedroom; it is wrong and improper!"
"You are correct; and I apologise for that too" said Von Frettchen "You are a loyal child; you serve your mistress well, I will heal the bruising I have caused" he added getting out his wand. Fyra watched fearfully as he levelled it up with her face and saw his face tighten slightly as he realised that he had also cracked her cheekbone. She put her hand to her face as the healing warmth ran through it.
"Thank you noble wizard" said Fyra, dropping a curtsey.
"It was only what was due; and more" said Von Frettchen. "Your mistress has an aggravating habit of being right."
"Oh she is kind and gentle and so wonderful!" declared Fyra "I do love her so much!"
Von Frettchen stared.
"CAN goblins love?" he asked.
"Of course, Noble Wizard; or how would our families work?" said Fyra.
Von Frettchen had been rather of the opinion that goblin families worked after the manner of litters of animals; but wisely enough did not say so. He nodded curtly; and returned to the library.