Chapter 21

It had been another busy holiday; but at least Von Frettchen was ready to sort out the ministry and Jade trusted him to do so honourably.

And because she had grown up in the paranoia of the Voldemort years she had quietly legilimensed him too to check.

Wulf saw Irmi back to school, taking her directly to Austria; and at least he and Ralph were to stay in the staff wing of the castle. Having been a part of the battle with Orlando Carcano and Ihor Rebet had at least broken much ice so that he had two men he might warily start to call friends. Rebet had no real friends nor family so did not bother to leave the castle in the short holidays at least; and Carcano had been keeping an eye on the unicorns.

One positive thing to have come out of the battle was that Clovis Gierek had become more friendly. He was something of a loner; maybe it was something to do with potioneers, mused Jade. Also he was more interested in learning than in anything else. Perhaps he felt he had to drift into the support of whoever was most powerful; he had certainly been bitter on the subject of the unfairness to Poles and half Poles so perhaps he felt he needed the protection of powerful people. Probably he could not have voiced why he had joined Nachtigall's gang nor why now he hung about the edges of Jade's; but he did present himself for the early morning run.

Oh well, thought Jade, an egregious racist like Darryl Zabini has come round and loves my little elf sister; best to keep an eye on Gierek and see how he goes.

Jade blood-pulsed the blood group to stay behind afterwards; and as they clustered around her she grinned.

"I hereby announce that as a Marauder of both Hogwarts and Prince Peak it is my great pleasure to invest the first Durmstrang Marauders" she said. "Xanthe and Xanthippe, I thought long and hard about whether to make your cronies bloodgroup so that you would all be marauders; but I felt they were not strong enough to be marauder material; nor really to be blooded. Neither Adolph nor Alexand would get into mischief on their own I think; they followed because you firmly led, yes?"

"Yes" said Xanthe "And they haven't been much help searching for secret passages because it involves a lot of being out of bed and taking risks."

Jade nodded.

"I'm glad I made the right decision then" she said "if you had said 'they could be marauders with a bit of encouragement' I should have suggested then blooding them. So instead, I designate Zlatko and Zlatka as Marauders to join you; as they sorted themselves out as fags to a decent one from the word go and would not take protest for an answer. I'll show you how to make that nice turret room into a more secret room; we'll drop the Fidelius Charm on it and I claim right to be secret-keeper as the first ever Marauder at Durmstrang. You will keep in there Marauding treasures; a copy of the Marauder's map that I have made, and the invisibility cloak that I herby invest you with; I've cleaned the room nicely and set up a cauldron and a preserving cupboard for milk and hot chocolate. There are some do nots; do not summon an elf there, because that elf can then teleport in anyone who is entitled to give him orders and then they'll be able to see through the Fidelius Charm. Do not take anyone there you don't want to be able to find it again. Do not keep the location anywhere but in the room. I shall write it down for you to show the next layer of Marauders when you choose them."

"Who will they be? How often are they chosen?" asked Zlatko.

"Who they are and when they are chosen are up to you" said Jade "There can be more than one group of Marauders at once; there's an unprecedented four groups in Hogwarts at the moment; my sister and her group in the sixth, both sixths, so having a group across two years is not unknown; cousin Bella's group in the fourth; and the groups in both the second and the first pulled off such spectacular joint mischief – demonstrating as well that they could work together – that they were inducted earlier than usual. We like to wait until people are in the third before blooding; you little ones are privileged both to get brought in early and to be at what is effectively a marauder meeting. Not all Blooded are Marauders; all Blooded support but Marauders seek trouble to deal with; and hone their skills with mischief in the meantime. Somehow I don't see Grishilde Marauding" she smiled at the little girl, who shook her flaxen head "Wencelada I'm less sure off; after all, she has a lifetime of mischief to catch up on for having been ill before, haven't you?"

Wencelada beamed.

"If Axel can manage not to blab about stuff, he and Zyrillis and me could Maraud!" she said "I want to do the things the English schoolgirl Cassie does!"

"Oh you've read Cassie, have you?" said Jade "My mum writes that; apparently she's loosely based on me, though I don't recall I ever locked a professor in a cupboard in mistake for a dark wizard; still, it's the sort of thing I might easily have done under the same circumstances" she added laughing. "Cassie's a fairly good example as a Marauder, yes all right I'll get a copy or two of them for the rest of you" as there was a clamour for the Cassie books "And I expect you haven't read the latest one, 'Cassie – seeker' either, Wencelada" she added. "Then there's my horrors in the first who are just jumping up and down to be considered; and you may consider yourselves to be apprentice Marauders by attaching yourselves to Zhanargul Nurtazin when she goes into the sixth because she has enemies; and you may approach her this term and say that I have suggested this to you for your protection and hers. She's all right; we might invite her in to the group at some time; she's doing well in the ECHC."

This was greeted with solemn enthusiasm by Sofie, Elfleda, Leva and Kjell.

Jade had received a reply from the letter she wrote to Zhanargul's parents, having sent her own letter home with the girl; they thanked her for her concern and for taking the time to explain that studying the Dark Arts also enabled one to study defences to them, something they had not considered. Prince Isultan Nurtazin wrote that he had questioned his daughter closely and felt that much was to be learned by the behaviour of one to her underlings; and that Jade's gentle protection of her fags told him more than any words could do; and that he felt that he would therefore grant permission to his daughter to study further of the Dark Arts since there were enemies within his realm and he was glad for his daughter to have the opportunity to strengthen herself against them. He had not been specific; and Jade was not sure if this referred to the eastern branch of ODESSA or to a more personal threat; or even to both. She hoped Zhanargul would talk to her about her father's veiled fears; but quite appreciated that he preferred not to commit them to writing. And having a bunch of officious brats around should foil any kidnapping from the school premises anyway.

Jade smiled on the younger ones.

"And now I'm going to dismiss everyone but the four designated Marauders to show them Marauding secrets; and you youngsters must strive to show how you deserve it to be picked to be those to learn!"

The little ones ran off philosophically enough; and Cacilia, realising that Jade meant the older group too, led them away. Jade heard her explaining to Traudl that if they had been Marauder material they would have banded together to fight bullies together before Jade had come; which was why both sets of twins had been chosen as they had already been rebels.

It was well done and Jade made a mental note to thank Cacilia. Cacilia herself was Marauder material but Jade would not choose her alone of the group of friends she had made. She could feel Traudl accepting the explanation, glad to be part of the bloodgroup and Jade's friend; and determined that her sister should learn to Maraud!

Jade got out the Marauders' Map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good'" she said, tapping it with her wand.

Xanthippe giggled.

"No teacher would come up with that as a way of getting into it" she said.

"That's the general idea" grinned Jade "You two have the option of taking Geomancy as an elective next year; if I was you I'd consider it because you need it to make these maps. The chap who invented this as a magic item went on to be the first teacher of Geomancy in Hogwarts; it had before been taught only in the Ministry of Travel. I only have it to OWL – ZP level – but I've picked up a few extra bits. And mapping is a ZP level skill. Using it with a bit more finesse and adding such things as who is where, that's a little more exotic but not hard. See, the footprints as the others recede?"

"Clever" said Zlatko "I shall petition the Geomancy Professor to be allowed to learn all I may in the year before our ZP's; even if I don't learn enough I might be able to take it in the lower Sixth."

"Nannerl Schwefel is self taught; she'll appreciate someone willing to put in work on their own time" said Jade "And I'll see her and explain that you're keen. She's willing to run a ZP class for those taking ZH's who are interested so I should think she's be flexible."

"You're missing a passage" crowed Xanthippe who had been studying the map "There's one that starts on the third floor in the thickness of the wall opening up in an actual doorway embrasure."

"Neat!" said Jade "Look, I thought we'd meet at midnight to put up the Fidelius Charm; we can map it onto here at the same time and I'll show you how. Where does it go?"

"Into a store cupboard in the first dungeon level where there are brushes and things" said Xanthe. "We told the elves we'd help them and set up hooks to hang things on so we can move in and out more easily."

"Well done; and the sort of lateral thinking that well defines a Marauder!" said Jade. "Right; you take charge of the map, Zlatka, take charge of the invisibility cloak; we'll be late for breakfast if we don't hustle!"

The meeting went well; and Jade installed the Fidelius Charm whilst instructing the others how to do it.

"We'll use the cloak to have a look at this passage of yours too" said Jade "Then come back here to map it."

"Excuse me, Fraulein" said Zlatko "I have been examining the cloak; I hope you will not laugh at me, but it is so superior in quality to most of such cloaks of which I have heard I wondered….. well I wondered if it might be the fabled cloak from the tale of the Three Brothers and Death."

"Oh I don't laugh" said Jade "Because Marauders brought together all three artefacts; to keep them from Voldemort who coveted them. This is not the original cloak; which is in the possession of its rightful owner, Harry Potter, who is descended from the Peverell brother who made it. My mother holds in trust the Peverell Ring for her younger brother who is the rightful owner to that; and the Elder wand is no longer the only wand made of elder as my little sister Lilith has one too. Voldemort coveted the wand above all else; and Gellert Grindelwald died at his hands refusing to tell him where it was, for which I give Grindelwald honour. He was subverted by the Dark Arts; I think he set out meaning well. A dark lesson to ALL of us; Marauders especially as we are the ones who interfere. Sorry, history lesson over; I made that cloak using the same principles the Peverell brothers did, with fey magic."

"Fraulein! I bow to your mastery!" said Zlatko, doing so.

Jade grinned.

"The Arithmancy was long, complex, and tied everyone else except mum, dad and Hermione Granger-Weasley into knots" she said "And my brother Seagh who's half fey said he er, didna have tae ken the theory whiles he might dae whit his sisther told him as though that was ony different tae usual."

Zlatko laughed.

"I think all brothers feel like that" he said. "Natural and twinned as well as adopted."

Zlatka poked him.

They set off to see the passage; and Jade felt as thrilled as she always did with a new secret passage.

The door embrasure was deep and had archways of decorative stonework to left and right as well as over the door set within it; and on the left, the twisting of a carving in the capstone from which the decorative arch sprang caused the stone to swing back, showing that it was not mere decorative feature.

"Did you try the one on the other side?" asked Jade.

Xanthippe stared.

"There wouldn't be two, would there?" she asked.

Jade shrugged.

"You never know until you try; if there is, I vote we explore that first."

The same carving yielded no results; nor the opposite capstone.

"Oh well, it was worth trying" said Xanthe.

"We haven't finished trying yet" said Jade "I've explored more secret passages than you, my poppets. Is not the carving of that heraldic device on the capstone a bit more positive than on the other side? Let's try…. Zlatko, you're taller than the rest of us, give it a poke."

Zlatko grinned and poked; and the other side swung obediently back.

"Donner und Blitzen!" said Xanthippe "I would not have thought it!"

"German mentality; matching pairs" said Jade. "We shall dust it as we go; important my children, both to hide your own misdeeds through avoiding getting grubby; and to avoid anyone else finding YOUR footprints on a dusty floor."

Xanthe and Xanthippe looked guiltily at each other.

"We, er, were too excited to clear the other" said Xanthe "Besides, the dust is still there if you sweep it up."

"That's why you use evanesco" said Jade "And banish the dust entirely."

"It's not a spell we know" said Xanthippe.

"Well none of you will learn any younger" said Jade cheerfully.

The passage was narrow; and led about thirty yards before turning sharp left and up a narrow and treacherous flight of stairs next to a hot wall.

"This'll be a chimney" said Jade.

The mechanism was much corroded at the other end of the stairs; and Jade summoned machine oil from the end of her wand to ease it.

With a little working – very gentle working in case there was anyone beyond the secret door – Jade eased it open and discovered that they were looking out onto the staff common room, which she recognised so well from the view from the magic mirror as well now as doing corrections in there. Fortunately it was unoccupied, those of the staff who were still up preferring on the whole to work in their own studies.

She shut the door before anyone came out.

"Where is it?" asked Zlatka.

"Staffroom" said Jade "Ah. And another Marauding secret; you now know Parseltongue; and so you can operate the magic mirror over the mantelpiece in the staffroom that has a twin in the marauding room in Hogwarts; say ssss activate surveillance ssss to see through the other way; and incidentally get to talk to one of the portraits who can contact other people."

"Marauding secrets are fun" said Xanthippe "It's sort of nice to feel we're part of something that's been going a long time and that our children might one day sneak around these passages too!"

"It is good" said Jade. "Right; let's dust and look at your other passage; then back to the marauding turret to map them both!"

And mapping secret passages with explanations on how it was done, and drinking cocoa, Jade reflected that it was good to be part of something so profound as Marauding; and hoping that one day Ralph would be a Marauder!

Señor Carcano had arranged the trip to Belsornia for the upper and lower sixth; and was glad that it was still some time before the Unicorn mare was due to give birth. Prince Franz had been dubious until he had spoken to Jade by floo in the holidays but had been glad to learn that Carcano was a real scholar. And the small fee to be given a guided tour of the dragon reservation and a view of the winged horses would all help their small country.

The three upper sixth and as many lower sixth were to go; and Prince Franz had set up a portkey so that the Durmstrnag youths would be travelling to where he wanted them to go and nowhere else.

They were met by Victor, who bowed and clicked his heels to Señor Carcano and greeted Jade as 'Cousin Nefrita' with a kiss on each cheek.

"Pris breeding again yet?" asked Jade.

"No, we thought we'd wait" said Victor. "There's no big hurry; we have one child and we have made arrangements that Sandalla's twin Svetlana is to be the spare as you might say."

Sandalla's twin was born a muggle that ODESSA had planned to use as the little girl's double to torture in front of her father, Irun of Zorn, the hidden magical part of Belsornia; and Sandalla had blooded with Svetlana to give her magical powers. Both little girls were Marauders at Prince Peak.

Jade had seen the dragons up close a few times more often than she really cared to recall; but she had to admit that Señor Carcarno's commentary on them and on the mating dances high up in the sky, utterly ignoring the insignificant figures so far below, were quite fascinating, especially with the omnioculars to bring them closer. This would go down well on Wizarding Wireless Vision as well, thought Jade!

The Principality of Belsornia had also provided a most excellent wizarding marquee for them to eat a magnificent picnic lunch in and write up their notes before going on to see the flying horses; and its toilets were more than adequate, fully equipped with built in evaneso spells, the faucets being water summoning charms. Jade appreciated the subtlety and detail of the enchantment more than she had before, since wizarding tents were just something she accepted as normal. It was a nice illustration of the difference between a charm and an enchantment; that the effect was reproducible and useable by anyone; even a muggle invited in could use the effects. And the whole business could not be banished by a finite incantatum. Enchanting was a specialist field in itself and whilst many of its effects might be duplicated by chanting to some extent, the full subtlety of enchantment was easier to appreciate in such a nicely enchanted thing as this tent; because whilst one might pull up an enlargement of internal space with a chant the other features required a dedicated set of spells. Well, reflected Jade, she might study enchantment while she was teaching; and study Geomancy further, and maybe ask Assim Khan to recommend some Comparative Magic texts too.

There was always more to learn!

After lunch they rode on brooms to the cave where the flying horses lived; and Prince Franz had given Señor Carcano himself permission to film them; on the principle that if they were included in a programme about flying horses they would excite less interest than if they were left out.

Orlando Carcano also got a little sidetracked by what he declared was a sub-species of the common graphorn and must needs get that recorded too; the graphorn females had birthed and he had some excellent shots of kids, showing the more greyish colouration of the juveniles so they could be left to hide motionless among the rocks. He had filmed the juveniles from the valley where the class had watched the graphorns mating; and was delighted to find these juveniles here were paler and mottled, more like the rocks of the mountains that edged Belsornia. The adults too were a slightly different colour and this illustrated selective breeding in action, as Carcano said excitedly.

Jade, having firmly studied Darwin as a reaction to the fundamentalist approach of the orphanage, was interested; the rest seemed less so.

Well, Señor Carcano would doubtless discuss it with David Fraser!

The horses were as beautiful as ever and permitted the visitors to approach right up to them and pet them; but they soon got a little restive and drew back. Carcano however was overjoyed and thanked them gravely as the lead stallion withdrew. The herd leader inclined his head solemnly and Carcano beamed!

It was a long Saturday; but well worth it!

"I shouldn't be surprised if there were other magical beasts not even catalogued in that valley" said Carcano to Jade "I plan to ask Prince Franz if I may visit alone, obviously clearing anything I discover with him before publishing anything; but it's unspoilt and untrampled by muggles!"

"I should think if you find any new species he'd be glad" said Jade "Because having a Wizarding World protection order bunged on something means he has even more ties to the Wizarding World and even more protection. Being Prince Consort of a muggle state that knows about us is a slightly nervous existence in many ways until the International Wizarding Council is entirely satisfied that it works. The fact that there are two at least magical species protected by the muggles there has helped; and the willingness of the muggles to permit international Quidditch matches has helped too. You need Kathleen Delaney; she's a muggle, but she's s first class wildlife photographer. Her son is a cousin of my dad; he's teaching part time at Prince Peak. Dad had a cousin who specialised in seducing vulnerable people like muggles and squibs; his many children are talented but he was a git. Kathleen is cool; she lives with a squib who has had health problems, and whose daughter just married Callum – Kathleen's son. She kept up her muggle job until Lucius talked her into helping with Wizarding Wireless Vision; it's a bit incestuous really, because Cal's oldest half brother is running the whole show under Lucius. Lucius would be delighted to fund any exploratory missions you want to go on, you know; he's really enthusiastic."

"He is a wonderful man; full of vision and, more to the point, full of the loot to fund his vision!" enthused Carcano "Yes; I shall see if I might borrow this good lady's services!"

Jade smiled quietly to herself.

Carcano was a man who would like to protect a little woman, and Kathleen was clever enough to be protected. And he was expansive enough to take on Kathleen and her friend Anastasia Strong both! It would be nice for Kathleen to have a wizarding husband now Callum had his own life to lead with his wife; she had devoted herself to his interests and protected him all her life, she deserved a bit of happiness; and Orlando Carcano was a good man, and a very pleasant one.

Matchmaking was a very uncertain business, but there was no harm pushing two people you liked into proximity with each other and seeing if they managed to get any further for themselves; if anything came of it, that was nice; if not, well, it mattered little.

Not like mum threatening to shut Hermione and Ron in a cold bedroom together without any clothes!

Jade spent several evenings checking on the unicorn with Señor Carcano; and took such of the little girl fags as were interested as chaperones, on the principle that if anyone saw her alone with a male staff member there would be gossip at best and ill natured comments and accusations at worst. Wencelada was her most common volunteer, though technically Rodica's fag; probably as much for the chance to chatter in Spanish to Señor Carcano as any deep interest in unicorns. Cacilia came out once or twice, declaring it part of her studies; Seppi Buser would not come. Seppi liked to be the one in charge and having to give way to Jade, who as a girl could better approach the unicorns, gave him a fit of the sulks. Seppi complained that Carcano was too bossy and got the unsympathetic return that it took one to know one. Jade rather admired the way Carcano handled the boy, and did not let him monopolise his attention or conversation. Carcano was adept at using a pause for breath to boom some comment of his own and turn to one of the girls with a question.

Wulf did not come either; as well as being male he had been a werewolf for so long he thought he smelt inherently of wolf; and whether he did or not, if he believed he did, his nervousness over not upsetting the unicorns would upset the unicorns. He enjoyed seeing the omniocular footage; but stayed at the castle with Ralph.

Then one evening the mare was whinnying at Jade's approach, moving painfully towards her; and Jade went right up to the creature, feeling in with her healer's senses to find out what was wrong, using the revelaspell too as backup.

The mare was in labour but the foals within her were tangled in each other. Jade stroked her sweating nose and began a chant; a chant such as Lydia had used when she and her group had healed Viktor Krumm. Above the mare appeared the view of her showing her womb transparent to the gaze with the tangled foals within. Jade stroked the mare's flanks and continued chanting, moving her arms and hands, using the chant to carry her motions inside the poor beast; moving the first foal into the birth canal, turning the second one; and then easing the slippery foals out one at a time, making sure they were breathing, using the blood group to give them strength to stand; and making sure that the mare was not so exhausted that she would have milk for them. They did not glow as gold as the other foals Jade had seen; they were almost greenish-bronze when first born, as though verdigrised; and the greenishness rapidly went off and the coat lightened from deep coppery bronze to bright gold as they dried.

And the mare nickered at her and blew breathily in Jade's ear.

"You're welcome, old girl" said Jade "I can't say it's a process I'm that keen on myself." She petted the unicorn; did a final check on the foals; and left them to it.

They would be fine now.

"That was amazing – amazing!" said Carcano. Cacilia nodded soberly; she was with them this evening.

"Did you get your shots of her birthing?" asked Jade "I was too busy making sure she did to do much watching at the business end – not physically anyhow. I was watching through the chant."

"I did; and I have some shots of your magnificent chanting too, because it may help to teach those who want to learn animal healing" said Carcano.

Jade hesitated; then nodded.

"I can't say that the same chant would be universally successful; I included a lot of quite specific references to the nature of unicorns" she said "And also went for a picture of the womb; which would be no use for the healing of an arrow in the spleen of even another unicorn."

"Who would shoot a unicorn?" Carcano was shocked. Jade shrugged.

"Voldemort killed unicorns to keep himself alive; and accidents DO happen" she added "Especially as Centaurs tend to be a little hasty, and some of them shoot first and check that there isn't someone or something else in the firing line first. And though a unicorn's own blood heals, a foreign object would need to be removed with care. It was an example; really a healer would have to learn enough chanting to draw up a picture of anything he needed. When you're healing people who can talk about their ills or think about them at least you can get a self image of the pain from them; the chanting is valuable for creatures who cannot tell you where it hurts or for people who are unconscious. It was what was used for Viktor Krumm when ODESSA tried to kill him. Without the ability to see all the internal injuries he would have died as they had planned. It was why I hesitated; it was an ace in the hole that his friends could heal him and others might not be so skilled. But it takes a deal of dedication to be a really good chanter; a dedication few enough of the bad guys have, because they want quick and instant gratification in more cases than not. If you want to join the Chanting classes, Señor Carcano, I think it best to wait until I run a new batch next year; the others are all well on. I thought I should continue to teach as a voluntary class on Friday evenings if Madam Bacsó is willing; and if any are ready for examination level, perhaps we might negotiate to use an English exam paper and borrow an English examiner."

"I had not realised just what it could do!" Carcano was very impressed "It is a skill that any sensible person should learn; though I can't say I shall enjoy learning in a group of eleven year olds!"

"Oh I should think that you, like Professor Rebet, have the self confidence and personal dignity not to suffer from that" said Jade firmly. Stroking the egos of professors unsure how to cope when learning beside children was second nature to her now, having learned by watching Krait.

And by suggesting that Professor Rebet had coped would put Carcano on his mettle to cope as well; nothing like a bit of mild masculine rivalry!

"Will you girls help me edit the shots we have, some for medical teaching and some just to show the miracle of birth as part of the unicorn's life?" he asked. Both Jade and Cacilia agreed readily enough; it was important to get the various programmes just right to show in Wizarding Wireless Vision.

And it would be a joy to do as well.

And Jade enjoyed watching the recordings and seeing the pictures of the healthy foals being born as though without trouble, standing their first and taking those first wobbly steps, helping with the editing to leave out the shadowy figure of herself to one side of the shot where she was busy chanting strength into them. Nobody had ever even described let alone filmed such a birth before. The colour changes too had never been described; indeed, Señor Carcano was of the opinion that if anyone had ever seen a unicorn born before they had not spoken of it.

"Almost I don't want to speak of it either" said Jade with a sigh "It was so magical and special; and we were allowed to intrude only because that poor mare needed help."

"Perhaps then I should mention that I and my colleagues were privileged beyond normal because the unicorn mare required help and was willing to let us approach" said Carcano "So nobody gets the fool idea that they can sneak up to watch willy-nilly."

"And if they did I suspect the stallions would run them off" said Jade. "Unicorns are gentle creatures; but I'd be willing to wager that if anyone approached a birthing mare in the normal way they'd find that the horns aren't all for show!"

"I'd not say you're not right at that" said Carcano.