Chapter 16
Orlando Carcano had a treat for his three pupils; he had tracked down some unicorns in the forest and was hopeful that they might get close enough for a good look.
"I will stand back; they like women and girls better than men" he said "And Mr Buser had better too stay behind the girls."
The determinedly neutral Swiss boy nodded; he was willing to comply. Naughty Jade whispered to Cacilia that he was so willing to comply and to seem to give offence to no man he might as well be made of chewing gum to be mauled into shape by whoever had him in their jaws.
"Shall I see if I can get good shots for you on the omnioculars, Professor?" said Jade "I've had quite a bit to do with unicorns – Professor Snape knows a tame one whom he aided once who comes close – and I think I should be able to get pretty close."
"If you can, it would be wonderful" said Carcano.
Jade pulled about her the scent of unicorn as they approached the place the beasts had last been seen. Their steps made little noise in the still snowy forest, all sounds muffled too by the great quiet pine trees, snowclad and looking like Christmas cake decorations until you contemplated the vast number of them stretching on for who knew how far. The pine smell was but thin at this time of year; the smell of fresh snow and a thin, almost imperceptible drift of woodsmoke were all that caught in the nostrils, smoke perhaps from some forest cottage or maybe from the school itself, sinking down in the still cool air.
Jade saw the spoor of hooves first in the snow; and signalled with a hand. Carcano came and checked, and nodded.
They followed towards where the hoof marks led; then they were looking out into a clearing where several unicorns were gathered, pawing at the ground for meagre grass and moss. There was a foal among them, under two years old for the coat was still golden, unlike the aching purity of the whiteness of the coats of the adults, so white it made the snow seem almost grubby by comparison; and another foal a couple of years older, just a knob on its head to show it was almost four years old, ready to grow a horn.
Carcano handed Jade a bag of oats; and she set her omnioculars to record, charmed them to stay on her head, and walked forward, singing softly.
The unicorns looked on nervously. Jade held out a hand with oats in it.
The senior stallion came a little forward, protectively. One of the mares was pregnant, Jade noticed. Presumably like horses they birthed in late spring; that would be worth filming!
She scattered the oats; and the stallion sniffed them. Jade was singing still and reaching out with soothing thoughts, trying to do enough of a transfiguration to smell right.
The two foals, hungry and more trusting than the adults pressed forward eagerly; and Jade held handfuls of oats for them to lip gently and eagerly into their mouths, nickering softly.
And then she was amongst them; and the hungry unicorns were eagerly reaching for a supplement to their meagre winter diet with their soft velvet lips. They were so beautiful! Tentatively, Jade started to pet the pregnant mare, feeling out with her mind for the foetus to check that everything was all right.
The mare was carrying twins; and that might prove a slight problem.
Jade absently moved partly into feyspace to put a fey marker on the mare; she would check up on her periodically and see that she birthed safely.
Unicorns after all were rare enough to warrant intervention to make sure they survived.
She withdrew quietly and left the unicorns to it.
"Beautiful!" breathed Cacilia
"The mare is pregnant" Carcano whispered.
"Twins; I got close enough to run Scarpin's revellaspell" said Jade "She should be kept an eye on; I took the liberty, sir, of dropping a marker on her so I can use geomancy to find her any time; just in case."
"Very clever; and if she IS in trouble, she might allow YOU to get close enough to help her as she has smelled you up close and identified you as a helpful person; I am amazed, my dear Nefrita, for I have rarely seen anyone able to get so close; and petting them too! You are a natural with animals!"
"I do like unicorns; and winged horses too" said Jade. "I'm looking forward to the field trip to Belsornia if it comes off."
Frida Rundqvist the quidditch coach was complaining to anyone who would listen that the expulsion of Nachtigall and De Witt had ruined her first team because De Witt was an excellent beater and now she was short by one.
Professor Rebet looked up from the German edition of 'Transactions of the Learned Society of Potioneers' with a gleam of malicious amusement in his eyes.
"Put Elstrup in as beater" he said.
"Elstrup? But I have to play him as seeker as he's the only one crazy enough!" said Madam Rundqvist, wringing her hands.
"Oh? I fancy you'd find Nefrita Von Strang an adequate substitute seeker" said Rebet "I understand she's very good; I've seen her on a broom anyway, and I don't think you'd be disappointed."
"A girl from a school that was pretty missish until the English professor came? I doubt it!" snorted Rundqvist.
Rebet shrugged.
"Suit yourself; but I'd try her out before condemning her out of hand if I were you. The school plays the Frankfurt Furies this weekend, doesn't it?"
"Yes; and we shall have to cancel! It is the only honourable thing to do!" cried Rundqvist "They are expecting us to give them a good practise game!"
"Oh cancel then; but if I were you I'd try another option before complaining" said Rebet "Agata, is not Von Strang a good quidditch player?"
"She is" said Agata Bacsó who had just come in "I wasn't planning on interrupting her studies by asking her to play seeker for us; as it seemed a little rude too to Mr Elstrup when he stepped in at short notice after Anett left; though it's not really his position."
"Oh all right; I'll give the girl a try" said Rundqvist "But if she cries for her mummy if a bludger comes to near don't say I didn't warn you."
Agata laughed.
"What an odd idea you have about her to be sure, Frida!" she said.
Jade had brought her broom with her; one never knew when one might need it. She had kept to the Millenium Firebolt rather than upgrading to the newly released Firebolt 200; she could easily enough reverse engineer the charms that made the new broom so fast if she needed to; she had seen Lionel Dell's metal fairings that had been the inspiration after all. So when she received an order to come and demonstrate what she was capable of, she collected her broom and went to find Madam Rundqvist.
"What position did you play at Prince Peak?" demanded that worthy.
"Second team seeker; Jade Snape being the seeker" said Jade promptly "But I've reserved in chaser and keeper; I'm a little short for a good keeper though, you kind of have to be half acromantula I think"
"I'd like you to slot in with the first team in their practise against the second team" said Rundqvist.
"As you wish Ma'am" said Jade "What position?"
"We'll try you as seeker for now" said Madam Rundqvist. The girl was tiny! It was ridiculous to suggest she could play quidditch! She was hardly any bigger than a goblin!
"Are you guys telling me Herr Quabbelig or the Troll were seeker?" said Jade softly to Cacilia.
"No; De Witt was a beater, but Bertel is happier as beater than as seeker; it was between him and me but he pulled the crazier Wronski feint" said Cacilia.
"Heh, if that's all she bases seeker on she's a fool" said Jade "Didn't she play beater for the Gothenburg Giants?"
"Yes; she's retired before she gets too old" said Cacilia "She's all right, though not as good as Viktor Krumm."
"Heh; and he's a brother in blood – and soon to be brother in law" said Jade "He's sweet on my sister Lydia."
"I'm glad; he is a very decent man. We wept buckets when we thought he was dead" said Cacilia. "I think she does look for more than that; but her opinion is that a seeker should hold nothing back."
"I don't usually" said Jade.
They mounted up and began the game. Jade did not think the second team much of a challenge and proceeded to irritate their beaters, Claudette Reynault and Jaromir Frolik, by feinting after a non-existent snitch to tempt both to knock bludgers at her, and by diving away sharply between them and had the joy of catching from the corner of her eye the fact that each had been hit by their own bludgers. It had been a nice piece of timing requiring a sudden acceleration to leave one of the bludgers closer to Claudette than to herself; and Jade chuckled. The second team seeker, a coarse-faced girl called Erzébet Czerny, almost got caught by the bludgers too and swore in her native Hungarian.
Jade laughed; caught sight of the snitch and did a lazy broom-over to drop herself onto a course right above it. Czerny was onto her tail. Jade jinked and noted that the girl followed precisely. She pulled up in a steep climb; hard to keep the snitch in sight as well, but she wanted Czerny off her tail. Once the other girl was committed, Jade pulled her climb into an Immelmann turn and then dove for the ground.
Czerny pulled out of her climb in a hurry and followed; and Jade knew she had her, keeping the dive going, pulling out at the last minute into what was almost a reverse Immelmann, flying briefly upside-down with her head inches from the ground before pulling up with the snitch right in front of her.
Czerny crashed ignominiously and Jade reached out and just plucked the snitch from the air.
She stunted the broom and came in to land.
"Seeker for the SECOND team? Egil Skalagrimsson's bollocks! What is their seeker like?" demanded Rundqvist.
"Jade Snape was apparently reckoned rather good" said Jade. "It's a Malfoy thing. Draco was Seeker for Slytherin House at Hogwarts though I believe he played chaser in the all-house team against Durmstrang some years ago; ceding seeker to Harry Potter. And Krait Malfoy, now Madam Snape, was also a chaser on that team. I take it Madam Rundqvist that I played well enough to take the position."
"You did; why have I not seen you play before in practice?"
Jade shrugged.
"As an incomer it seemed discourteous to put myself forward" she said. "And too I have been adapting to a different curriculum structure. Am I to infer that we have a match lined up?"
"Yes; it is the custom to play one or more German teams during the year" said Madam Rundqvist "It gives them extra practice and the chance to scout."
"Ah; a sensible idea" said Jade making a note to suggest it to Severus and Albus. "Who do we play?"
"The Frankfurt Furies" said Madam Rundqvist.
"Hmm, a rather pedestrian style as I recall; as one might, I suppose, expect from a bunch of sausages" said Jade. "I don't want to do Traudl down, but isn't that girl Nurtazin in the fifth a better chaser than her?"
"Well – yes; but we always play the upper sixth as the first team."
"Ah? But you are a new broom Frau Rundqvist; it is up to you to institute your own customs. Traudl, how horridly disappointed would you be if you didn't play first team?"
"Not very; I'd rather keep my work up to scratch" said Traudl "I mean I enjoy a game of quidditch but I hate having to feel as though I should put it first; it's only a game for goodness sake."
This was sacrilege to Madam Rundqvist; who beckoned Zhanargul Nurtazin, a girl from Kazakhstan and told her abruptly,
"You're playing chaser in the first team."
Zhanargul was delighted and almost wept tears of joy.
She was by way of being almost royalty in the Kazakhstani wizarding world; and had come with her lady in waiting, Saula Kim, who had proceeded to outperform Zhanargul in all lessons bar quidditch; and the higher ranking girl was too honest – as well as being fond of her lady – to want Saula to perform less well, but to shine at something and to be able to write home to say that her performance might be caught on an obscure channel of the wizarding wireless was something that filled her with delight.
"Thank you Fraulein Von Strang" she said, having heard Jade's suggestion.
"Traudl is my friend; but we play for the honour of the school" said Jade. "Besides I doubt she's playing for any reason but that she was the best of the sixth and got volunteered."
"That's more or less the truth" said Traudl "Least worst of the rest; and struggling to make practise AND stop Professor Rebet from strangling me."
"You were dreaming just a little in class yesterday" said Jade "telling him that Amortentia was a potion to make you die horribly."
"I'd forgotten what the damn potion was, picked up on 'mort' in the middle and guessed" said Traudl "I can't say I think much of love potions; they're so silly."
"Spot on; but you need to recognise the name and effects so you can brew the ruddy antidote" said Jade. "You remember that of course?"
"Liberamore Major….liberAMORE, of course. Well I was worrying about this wretched practice and how it would eat into prep time…I've Herbology as well – as have you, Nefrita. AND Runes."
"Oh I did the Herbology essay today in the dining room over lunch" said Jade "so I could do the Ancient Runes this evening…. I managed the essay on Gollapot yesterday evening, if you want to read it through feel free. And we'll collaborate on the Runes now if you like over coffee and something sticky I wheedled out of the kitchen elves to have sent up to be waiting for us; if Rodica hasn't scoffed the lot while waiting for us to be shut of practice."
"Slander" laughed Cacilia joining them.
Rodica had got the kettle on ready; and the something sticky turned out to involve apricots, apples, thick icing and almonds and went down very well indeed.
The Ancient Runes work was, even Jade admitted, a pure bred beast.
Only the wizarding world had any partially translated texts in Linear A; and Jade was ahead of most people for having brushed up her Linear B to help her search for Circe's potion, to discover that the letter she was working on was tantalising in giving a major ingredient; having been a letter from Circe to a rare girl friend of hers – or possibly and more likely an admiring disciple – explaining joyfully that she had perfected the potion and gloating over some new boyfriend with rather more frank description than was strictly germane and was a little more biological than Jade might have wanted. Jade had tracked down the plant mentioned to Giant Hogweed; that was not perhaps entirely surprising as country names often reflected magical uses. However there were enough similarities between the two Linear scripts to pick out a little more from the text than they might otherwise have managed; and Jade went to alert Bertel, who did Ancient Runes with them, to use Linear B to help out with his translations. Bertel was glad of the tip! Jade paused a moment; then went to pass the same tip to Antonina Kotina.
Antonina was a rather strange tempered girl; she had been interested enough to have worked with Jade on the Bactrian script but gave her a suspicious look.
"I suppose you think that if you can hold me up with some plausible sounding but spurious suggestion you'll look better" she said.
"Actually" said Jade, coldly "It was a tip in good faith because I happened to have been studying Linear B for a potioneering project. But suit yourself" and she walked out of the study simmering. The Russian girl was rather inclined to throw fits of paranoia at times!
She sounded off to her own study mates
"She's sore because you got picked as seeker and look better than any seeker we've ever seen bar Victor Krumm" said Cacilia.
"Oh, do you think so?" said Jade "She's an adequate chaser but she hasn't got the – the chutzpah to be a seeker. If anyone ought to be sore at me, it should be you, Cacilia."
"Oh I bow to the master; besides, I'm happy as chaser" said Cacilia. "The Frankfurters should get a shock!"
Jade laughed.
"Staid lot though as I recall; professional team or no, I wager we can beat them – if we pull together. I DO hope Antonina doesn't try to show of and get us penalties by being tiresome" she said.
"If she does I'LL have something to say to her" said Cacilia grimly. "So will the unpronounceable Princess; this is her chance to shine and she knows it! Being a sports hero will help her image no end on top of her pure blood and noble lineage; and Antonina's tantrums won't impress her."
"Schoolgirl jealousies can be so damnably silly" said Rodica "Even I know Cacilia is a million miles better than Antonina; take no notice, she'll get over it."
"At least she's not spiteful" said Traudl "There are some, even by our advanced years, who'd try to er, pay you back for being you; Antonina will be a bit contrary but she's no side to her. Just a bit inclined to brood on her wrongs and think that everyone has it in for her."
Jade laughed.
"Rather like the Russian classics; sounds like a character out of Dostoyevsky. Or do I mean Tolstoy? Who cares! I prefer a good thriller to heavy psychological Russian depressive crap."
"And Cyrillics are a pain to read; too like yet not like Ancient Greek" complained Traudl.
"Ah well, at least our Volodya's only a musical genius and doesn't throw artistic temperaments" said Jade cheerfully "I think that's done the beastly thing; at least we don't have to write a washing bill in Babylonic Cuneform."
"What?" said Traudl.
"A line from a song; about the things this man can do that are absolutely no use at all because it was a satirical song about the inappropriate training for soldiers of the time" said Jade. "Dad sings it occasionally; we have a pastiche on it too called Modern Hogwarts Potioneer…. Oh all right" as they clamoured to hear it "It only works in English; you'll just have to keep up. I'll just change it a bit though to Modern Durmstrang Potioneer."
The girls laughed as Jade sang; and they returned refreshed to their preparation!
The Frankfurt Furies were all big beefy Germans who all found it funny to ask if Jade was the half time snack. Jade smiled brightly and said that unlike some people there wasn't enough flesh on her to make homophagy worth while.
That took a while to sink in; by which time they were ready to play.
Jade took great delight in leading off the Frankfurt seeker – who had patted her on the head and told her he'd show her what a snitch looked like after the match – on a quick chase having suckered him by acting furtively as though she was edging towards something. Once she had him on her tail she pulled a similar stunt to the one she had pulled against the second team's beaters, causing him to be hit by a bludger sent by his own team against her; and that, for Jade, almost evened the score against him. There was a time out for injury.
Their chasers were more successful than the school chasers; being more used to playing together, even if their tactics were a little pedestrian. Jade managed to dive in front of a Frankfurt chaser causing him to flinch away, such that the quaffle caught his shoulder and bounced where Cacilia could catch it; but it was not really her job. Ritter at least was making a good showing as keeper; and Jade jinked back and realised that the Frankfurt Seeker, having received first aid, had now seen the snitch. Jade got well above him. Height was speed – and distance. He was following the snitch tenaciously; and now Jade saw it too. Her counterpart was gaining on it yard by yard.
Jade dove.
It was going to be risky; she would have very little time to pull out but she could get just ahead of the Frankfurt Seeker and grab the snitch.
Jade's fingers closed on the snitch and her broom somersaulted.
The idiot had collided with the tail of her broom! Jade clamped her legs tight and willed the broom towards the blue, away from the white snow; and somehow she was rising, hanging upside-down on the broom by her knees; but more or less under control. She brought the broom in to land.
Madam Rundqvist was running to her, with the Frankfurt referee who had signalled a stop.
"That was a damned risky trick to put him off….are you hurt?"
"Not in the least" said Jade.
"Then why have you landed?"
Jade stared.
"Game over" she said "I caught the snitch just before he hit me; idiot ought not to be allowed out on a broom if he's so clumsy as all that!" and she displayed the snitch.
"Just BEFORE he hit you?" said the Frankfurt referee "Then the last goal from Frankfurt must be disallowed….. I saw you reaching, I assumed you'd missed because of being hit from behind. That's proof though; and therefore a win to Durmstrang – by ten points."
Rundqvist was staring; then she grinned.
"Well done, Von Stang!" she said "Well done indeed!"
The small radio station that was covering the event wanted an interview.
Jade laughed.
"Oh, I got peeved at being told I was a dear little girl and would be shown what a snitch looked like!" she said "For the benefit of listeners I'm around five feet tall and fairly skinny; and as tough as old boots. I saw he was on the snitch; and used a height advantage to see where it was rather than follow on like a stallion flying after a mare in spring. Viktor Krumm has said often enough, height is speed, speed is distance."
"What did you think when Braun clipped your tail?" asked the reporter.
"Oh I couldn't possibly say that – there are people listening" laughed Jade "It wasn't complimentary!"
"And what was your name again? And where are you from?"
"I am Nefrita Von Strang; I have German blood but I was raised English. Not that it really matters; quidditch is a game that knows no boundaries and has no side" she added "Because the beautiful game is all that matters. And I would rather be barged by a clumsy idiot who was not even aware I was above him than purposely as a foul; for the accident here was unintentional and an honest mistake as anyone might make. I have no time for those who feel that cheating to win constitutes a real win; they are the losers over all for having no true satisfaction in a game played to the best of your ability. It was a good clean game; and I enjoyed it."
"And how many ZH's are you fitting in around playing the beautiful game?" asked the reporter.
"Seven" said Jade "Though one is more or less in my spare time. I only got plugged in to play at the last minute anyway; because of a mishap to one of the team. So I haven't had time to get cold feet. I hope you'll excuse me; I NEED a cup of coffee!" and she made her escape before they could start being boring about her number of ZH's.
The Frankfurt seeker had not controlled his spin quite so well as Jade and was having a bone mended from where he came off his broom and landed on his arm.
"It looks like this" said Jade, holding up the snitch.
"You are the devil incarnate to appear out of nowhere!" said Braun "Did you apparate broom and all?"
"Of course not!" said Jade "That would have been a foul I'm sure! I was sitting right above you – I would have thought you'd have noticed me begin my dive; evidently not. 'A good seeker keeps an eye on the snitch; and at least half an eye and both ears on what's going on around him'. Viktor Krumm. Still, he's a man who flies like he has four eyes and eight arms. I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself too badly" she added.
"I don't know how you came out of it unharmed" he added sulkily.
Jade smiled and walked away, determined not to loose her greater intellect on him and point out that it might just be because she was a slightly better broomster than him.
Her team were delighted with her; and all came to shake hands.
"And I'm sorry I was sore about you being picked and about not believing you about Linear B" said Antonina "I'm too used to people trying to sabotage work by giving false advice; and to people getting the position on teams for their birth. You ARE good."
"Oh, that's all right" said Jade "I was a little hurt, but Cacilia said you'd probably wondered why I'd come out of nowhere to the team; I didn't even know Madam Rundqvist knew I could play – I WAS keeping a low profile to concentrate on work, but I guess as I was the deciding factor in De Witt going it was up to me to make up the team."
"And we made a better showing than if he had been on it" said Antonina dryly. "I'll listen to your advice in future – if you don't feel put off giving it."
"Oh I'm always happy to barge in and spread anything I've found out; it bores people no end!" said Jade "I'm banned from discussing my Bactrian inventory in the dorm on pain of being pelted with missiles from pillows to inkpots! I even started dreaming in Bactrian and had to be restrained from talking in my sleep; and that IS an unhealthy level of concentration!"
Antonina laughed.
"Just a little!" she agreed.
Jade was glad that Antonina was not going to hate her for being a good seeker; she had planned to put in a solid but not exciting performance until she had been patted on the head like a good crup.
It was not as though there was likely to be anyone watching who had seen her play for Prince Peak or for Slytherin House. Only Professor Carcano – whom she had heard cheering himself hoarse in Spanish – would have been watching her that closely for concern for his graphorn; and he knew her secret anyhow. The few who had had access to Wizarding Wireless Vision had not really seen her perform for long enough, close enough, to make any guesses. Perhaps Madam Rundqvist might guess; but there again, perhaps she might not. She had been a hurried replacement for Viktor; and not perhaps looking out at the skills of the visiting foreigners but more likely sulking that the Triwizard eroded the year's quidditch. She DID really rather seem to take the view that Quidditch wasn't a matter of life of death but was more important than that.
Jade grinned to herself.
Like Traudl said; it was only a game.
It was a game she enjoyed and was rather good at; but it was a game she had cheerfully put aside to study new things and to work against ODESSA . And she had not missed it that much.
And this was why, Jade reflected, she would never be a great seeker; because she would never put all her soul into it and prioritise Quidditch above anything else.
It was just a game.
And she liked to win.
But then, if the other players had not been so damned patronising she would not have cared if the school won, drew or lost so long as it was a good game and she played up. It was not perhaps a desirable feature that intense irritation made her drag out her best; but inspiration never came from everyday experience and humdrum existence. And it was not only irritation, she reflected; she played her best music when she had just left the arms of Wulf and was full of satiated happiness.
And from what she was hearing, her own crazy flying had lifted the games of all her fellows; and that might lead to contracts with teams for them if any wanted such, for the talent scouts came in force to such matches as these. Omniocular replays of various movements would be sent around various teams; and at the end of the year the lucky ones might get a whole sheaf of offers. Jade grinned to herself; she'd probably get a sheaf of such herself and would get writers' cramp replying that she had already accepted a teaching post at Durmstrang.
And she really ought to prepare her lesson for the ZP class on Monday.
Though almost anything had to be an improvement on what Schrempf had been teaching!