Chapter 12

Meantime the riding lessons had proved very popular and Arkott was delighted that his authority would be backed by the headmaster to make sure none of the posh kids behaved badly with his beloved horses. He found the Malfoy children in particular to be very respectful and to know exactly what they were doing. Quite a lot of the children had ponies at home and David and Arkott were in discussion over whether to permit them to be stabled – for a fee – at the school or whether it would be something that would make the children who relied on borrowing the school mounts feel in any way belittled. The Malfoy children, the horsiest family in the school bar the Chevalliers, made no complaint about having their own horses; since most of them tended to hold the family mounts much in common save the very horsy, like Penelope, who sighed faintly but accepted the strictures, especially since David had decreed that Hogwarts would NOT enter teams or individuals in term time gymkhanas. Penny spent a lot of her free times in the stables getting to know all the mounts, usually followed by her satellites Darius, Drax and Ramsey. Ramsey and Darius were expecting to be quite good at the study of magical beasts and liked to help muck out; Drax went along mostly because his friends did, though Professor Hagrid had taken a shine to another young half-giant despite the boy's name, and the associations it had. Drax's grandfather had been the one who had been supposed to execute Buckbeak; but as the boy had been obviously in with the set of small limbs Hagrid knew were nice children he had been open minded as well as sympathetic towards a fellow half giant. Drax therefore did not mind working with magical beasts because he liked the teacher, and liked too to be with his friends even in such dirty jobs as mucking out. He also enjoyed Herbology however, and unless he really took a shine to the subject of Beastcare after half term intended sticking with that. Ramsey and Penelope also enjoyed Herbology and had every intention of trying to negotiate taking both subjects; it was one of the pairings that was up for negotiation. And if Ramsey was chary about negotiating, Penny was not; Malfoys were rarely backward about coming forward, even adopted Malfoys, and Penny had blossomed from the shy monosyllabic child Lucius had first adopted to being a self confident little girl and a definite daughter of the house.

The first years were looking forward to Halloween; there would be a turnaround of lessons then to see what else they might enjoy as well as there being a long weekend and a Halloween party. Halloween, a Friday, was itself a holiday and the prefects organised all sorts of indoor games as the weather was inclement and beach parties in New Zealand were somehow inappropriate for a winter festival. The first and second years had a treasure hunt for chocolate frogs while the third and fourth years had a competition to unravel the anagrams of the various famous wizards that had been pinned up about the school, with a prize for the most correct answers. Most people got 'Lemnir', Merlin; and 'The Sly Snazalarri' because only Salazar Slytherin had an 'z' in his name – which had Lilith quoting Shakespeare in King Lear, "oh whoreson z, thou unnecessary letter' – and a bit of puzzling had 'Sosump' reorganised into 'Mopsus'. Harder were such gems as 'Us the kurl the ladl' which was Thaddeus Thurkell famous for producing seven squib sons and turning them into hedgehogs, and 'Fool her the pu' which was Herpo the Foul.

Unsurprisingly the champion of the middle school was Lilith though with Chrys Lockhart as a near runner up.

"Snapes and words" said Sextus who had come third.

Lilith counted the number of sweeties in her box and discovered there were enough for one each in the third and fourth and a few over for her and so promptly shared them out; which as Priscilla Fawcett of the older Fawcett twins said ruefully was why you couldn't actually dislike Snape as much as sometimes you would like to.

It may be noted that Sonia Goshawk in Lilith's own year refused a sweet, having been the victim of a compulsion from Lilith not to tell lies or suffer headaches; and the number of headaches Sonia had suffered had not improved her feelings towards Lilith. Lilith shrugged and ate it herself. She had no time for the unpleasant and those not prepared to try to improve their bad behaviour.

The answers were read out for those who wanted to know and there were many groans over the ingenuity of the prefects!

oOoOo

The Stripy Marauders decided to leave it a few days after the Halloween party to let the excitement die down before pulling their jape on the senior common room; because it was as well not to have too many treats all on top of each other because they fell flat in that case.

Jayashree ventured to suggest that dancing on the ceiling might not be considered universally to be a treat but was over-ruled by the others who thought it would be high fun for the combined sixth. They gave them a couple of weeks to recover from the Halloween weekend and picked a day that was dismal and needed cheering up in the middle of November.

They duly performed their magical evolutions in the lunch hour when nobody was likely to go to the senior common room – being too busy – and made sure to lurk after school when most of the sixth threw themselves into the common room for a cup of tea or coffee before prep began.

It was hilarious.

As each sixth former went through the door there was a startled squawk, followed by sounds of the tiger rag. Xanthia Fawcett set up an awful screech, which caused Bella and co to charge in the door without actually taking the sort of precautions sounds of mild distress and the Tiger Rag might normally have caused them to take. Bella squealed in surprise too, along with her friends and then the sounds of dancing and giggling were to be heard.

"You did it!" screeched Xanthia "You horrid marauders YOU set this up!"

"Not I" said Bella "Nor indeed we as you might say – well you might if you had the advantage of enough intellect to use grammar which you haven't. It's nicely done and a lovely tribute to use that music. And for the benefit of those of you who don't know what it is, it's called 'Tiger Rag'. I'll see if I can't figure out how to get us down and gently; somehow I suspect it's beyond finite incantatem and I also don't want to reverse gravity with too much of a bump."

"It PROVES you did it if you know how to reverse it!" screeched Fawcett.

"Fawcett you prune" said Sampta before Bella could answer "By THAT token, all the Healers in St Mungo's who remove curses are the ones who put them there in the same place; TRY not to show up Ravenclaw with such an unholy display of ignorance and stupidity."

"Besides" called Lilith from outside the room "We don't want anyone else to take the credit for our jape to cheer Bella and you others up by giving you a bit of excitement on a wet Wednesday. Do you REALLY want it reversed? Dancing on the ceiling is just so cool!"

"Note you aren't joining your victims though" said Sampta.

"Of COURSE not" said Lilith "It's out of bounds to us; we had an awful job standing on the threshold to chant in the whole room, we resorted to brooms outside the window to cover it all and had to get wet."

"You take the biscuit, kid!" said Sampta "You jinx our common room something rotten but you won't break the rules to come inside!"

"Oh if we're invited we can" said Lilith "If the Belle Marauders need help undoing our enchantments."

"You're invited" said Bella who had been investigating with her wand "You ruddy Stripy Marauders forget how damnably sophisticated you can get; I can do it but I won't deny a bit of help will be welcome."

The Stripy Marauders duly came in and twisted as they fell upwards to land lightly and indulged in a bit of dancing on the ceiling first.

"It IS cool" said Sextus in satisfaction. "But after a time it sort of stops being odd and becomes samey; I can see why they want their common room back, Halfpint."

"How did you keep the furniture down?" asked Bella.

"Easy peasy" said Lilith "We only wanted to aim it at people so we used the power of twenty three to target you only; for objects gravity is the same way up as usual."

"I noticed" said Mafalda Prewett dryly, who had dropped her wand.

The Stripy Marauders joined with the Belle Marauders to neatly slide gravity round to its more usual orientation and cancelled the honky-tonk twinkle-toes curse. Most of the sixth were disposed to be more amused than annoyed; after all a wet November Wednesday DID need something to cheer it up.

Xanthia Fawcett was NOT amused; and she hit Lilith so hard the little girl flew across the room. Being as good a gymnast as she was, Lilith twisted to land on her feet, the bruise already coming out and her eyes glowing faintly red.

"THAT was uncalled for Fawcett" she said, moving forward.

Sampta and others moved to be ready to grab Fawcett; Bella and friends moved to intercept Lilith.

None of them were prepared for what Fawcett did next; she pointed her wand at Lilith – who expected the cruciatus curse and put up her shield without a flicker of the eyes – and shouted

"You rotten kid! You should be got rid of utterly! EVANESCO!"

Lilith vanished with a cry.

The room suddenly started filling with people – adult people, small children, all with blazing eyes and plenty of them with blazing scars. Xanthia Fawcett recognised Lilith's father amongst them, stern Professor Snape, distraught and furious.

"Severus! DO something!" cried Sextus.

Severus and Krait took him wordlessly by the hand, one each side; others linked hands too, the ones in Auror uniform no more grim and frightening than the Headmaster and sundry of the teachers, or Mr Malfoy; and they were chanting. Sextus said

"YES" to an unspoken question and went into the middle of the circle where the chant caused glowing lines to forge around him. A shell of colour covered his body; and Xanthia's wand flew to Severus' hand where he had cast the summoning charm for the culprit wand. He pointed it at Sextus and pronounced the spell.

"EVANESCO!"

The lines from the circle of wizards and witches still existed; disappeared into…nowhere. And Severus laid his wand across them. His expression became bleaker as long minutes passed; three, four minutes ticked by. And then he snapped to life and started chanting again.

Professor Hawke Malfoy and his twin and their wives were adding a counterpoint; it was a harsh language almost nobody knew; but Mimi recognised it and joined in; it had symmetry.

"Ash Nazg durbatuluk; Ash Nazg gimatul; Ash Nazg thrakatuluk, agh burzum ishi krimpatul!" chanted Mimi with her cousins in the made up language of Black speech; 'one ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them' for they had made a ring and were tying Sextus to Lilith to bring her back.

It seemed interminable; and then Sextus was lying on the floor, still shimmering, cradling a figure to him; a figure hardly recognisable as Lilith with the outgrowths of fungus and mould and unnameable substances growing out of and into her tiny body. Krait, for the first time in her life, screamed in sheer terror; Sirri and Dione put horrified arms around her.

"LUCIUS!" Severus' cry for help was raw.

"A cleansing chant" said Lucius looking sick. "I – Ancient Egyptian."

"A voice offering to Truth and Purity" said Jade "Peret kherw en-ka-en Lilith em did Khet nebet nefer-t wab-t maat-kheper-t djet er neh-eh" a voice offering for the spirit of Lilith giving things everything perfect, pure, truthful her form enduringly for eternity.

Those who could cope took up the chant; those who could not hummed or clapped accompaniment.

And gradually the awful excrescences that were taking over Lilith started to crumble and fall away and leave a screaming sobbing little girl, writhing in awful agony. And Severus and Krait must hold the chant to clear the growths before they could go to their little girl; but Sextus held her firmly, stroked her hair and ignored the grasping tentacles and spores that tried to invade him. The chant included his name too with the adjuration that everything be perfect and pure without the female –t suffix now he was under attack; and the invading vegetation blackened into dust and died.

Severus scooped a now quietly sobbing Lilith into his arms.

"WHO HAS DONE THIS?" he asked terribly.

The combined sixth turned and looked at Xanthia who quailed. They were waiting for her to own up.

"I – it was an accident" said Xanthia hurriedly as she felt Snape's cold black eyes on her "I – I meant to banish her across the room not vanish her; wrong spell. She's out of bounds being in here anyway."

"Liar" said Severus.

"AND she wasn't out of bounds because she was invited in" said Sampta "NOT that that would be any excuse; you've gone too far this time and none of us are going to even try to save your rotten skin."

Severus passed his eldest actual daughter to Krait and advanced on Fawcett, who shrieked. There was murder in his eyes.

"Severus"

Harry Potter was never an impressive figure with his untidy black hair, escaping from the ponytail he wore in imitation of Severus; even in Auror robes. But Severus turned to his voice.

"Harry?"

"Not you. This is for Draco and Alastor and me. We all heard the confession – such as it was – and read the lie. We'll take her in. Not your bag. You go to Lilith."

"Yes Harry" said Severus, bowing his head to his ward. "I will not take myself down to her level. Take her away and lock her up; keep other children safe."

"I will Severus" said Harry. "Professor Fraser, you are in Loco Parentis; I must ask your permission to arrest this female."

"Take her away Harry" said David "She's an adult; well over seventeen. You have your job to do."

Harry and Draco both advanced on Fawcett.

"You can't do this!" she cried "I only wanted to punish the snotty little brat! She's a danger to the public, she's Voldemort's granddaughter, she's going to grow up a dark witch and cause untold misery!"

"Funny" drawled Draco "The only dark intent I can find around here is an adult trying to kill a minor in the most horrible way imaginable; even VOLDEMORT never came up with inflicting THAT on any of his victims!"

"And I feel sick that we used it against ODESSA people" Krait muttered to Severus "We're not blameless in that."

"We never did it to any who had not attacked with deadly intent" said Severus harshly. "And in strongholds that might have been expected to have wards they might use against such things. NOT on children. Yes, I feel sickened at it too; but we were at war. This female has NOT that excuse; for none of the other sixth seem to think she had any justification."

"Sir? Is she all right?" Sextus laid a hand on Severus' arm.

Severus put an arm around him.

"Thanks to your heroism, lad" he said. "I would have gone myself but I knew I could anchor the chant better than anyone."

"It's rather horrid in the otherwhere" said Sextus "I see you've sent her to sleep; but I wouldn't be surprised if she had nightmares. It….. everything is out of phase; skewed."

"Cockeyed as Trenco's ether" muttered Lilith who had discovered the Lensmen series in the local library.

"Yeah" said Sextus who had some idea what she was talking about. "It's why it took me a while to find her; sight isn't reliable. And also the place you put me down had shifted from where she was sent; there's different physical rules I think."

"When we're grown up we can use the clever attachment chant to go and do some investigation of it" said Kazrael soothingly.

"That would be interesting but not until I feel better about it first" said Lilith "Mummy I want to go home with you!"

"You shall, pumpkin" said Krait. "David Fraser isn't going to insist on you staying in school after that; Sextus, I'll ask if you can come too."

"I'd like that Krait" said Sextus "She's my GIRL."

oOoOo

David readily gave permission for Sextus to go with Lilith; and when they had left and were harder to return sent an owl to both Miss Scarpin and Ashley Pencastle informing them that their son was to be out of school for a few days at the request of his best friend who had suffered a distressing injury and whose recovery was thought to be likely to be speeded by the presence of a close friend. He added that as Sextus was well ahead in his studies and was known to help the fifth years with their essays he somehow doubted that the boy's absence would in any respect hold him back.

The only thing that inhibited Sextus from working for a remove was that he did not want to leave his friends; but he had petitioned to take a few OWLs this year and David had felt it quite reasonable – since Sextus had elicited the aid of Hawke and Lynx Malfoy as ex Marauders to give him extra lessons – to permit him to take the five subjects he had submitted. He was, after all, well ahead of his age group. And one had to suspect that neither of the junior teachers were the ones coaching him in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes but Lilith; Potions and Defence against the Dark Arts were Hawke's fields; Transfigurations was Lynx's of those he was taking. And as Lilith was so far ahead it seemed only fair to let the lad salvage some teenage pride by taking those he was capable of passing well, early too. Lilith was taking all NEWTs this year; Charms, DADA, Enchanting, Herbology and Muggle Studies; and she was the only NEWT level Muggle Study student and she and Araminta did a lot of chatting over tea or popping out to muggle entertainments like the funfair or to museums and such.

David wondered suddenly how the muggleborn boy Sebastian Rice was getting on; the thought of museums had reminded him since the lad had been taken to improving venues and questioned on them by his natural father. Well the boy and his goblin friend were Gryffindors; less of an intrusion to pop in to chat generally in the common room; having them to tea meant he would have to have all the second to tea and that meant the terminally turgid Ravenclaws too.

He sighed.

In batches of half a dozen it might be easier to swallow; and at least there was the leaven of the blooded supporters of Marauding.

Meantime there was an unhappy interview with Xanthia Fawcett's parents.

They were upset and bewildered; horrified at what their daughter had done and guiltily aware that they were not entirely surprised.

"She has always been difficult about her younger siblings" said Mr Fawcett "And we tried so hard not to leave her out or let her feel jealous. She was much older than we would have liked when Priscilla and Persis were born; but we tried to prepare her."

"Was I wrong to punish her for kicking me in the belly when I was pregnant because she said she wanted them out?" asked Madam Fawcett.

"No; you could hardly let THAT pass" said David "Especially as she could also have hurt you badly."

"She said she wanted to hurt me to punish me for wanting other children" said Madam Fawcett "We hoped for a son as well as a daughter; which has not been fulfilled, but our daughters are all dear to us. What did we do wrong?"

"I believe" said David carefully "That it was very little to do with you; sometimes people are born with a warp to their personality. Like one Tom Marvolo Riddle, otherwise known as Voldemort. He had an inability to feel for others; a total lack of compassion or humanity. And I fear that it has been much the same for Xanthia. If only more parents with children who act up would take them to expert healers who understand the way people think we might have less trouble. Though I fear St Mungo's is a little behind the times so even if you had thought to do so you might not have got very far" he sighed.

"Are you saying Xanthia could have become a second Voldemort?" gasped Mr Fawcett.

"Please don't take this the wrong way" said David dryly "But she has neither learned to project an apparently charming manner nor excelled sufficiently at her studies to manage such er, notoriety. Whether knowing her parents still love her will help her through the trial that is inevitable for her actions will help her realise the enormity of her actions and help her heal her soul I do not know; but I shall argue at the trial that she is incapable of understanding fully the consequences of her own actions and try to have her confined in a secure ward under the auspices of the Janus Thickey ward rather than being incarcerated in Azkaban. I don't think she DOES have much understanding of consequences. And frankly, studying Xanthia may help Healers learn enough to cure others like her in the future. Which is no comfort to you of course."

"It is in a way" said Mr Fawcett "Because then other parents may not have to go through what we are; and if you can have her confined as a violent mental case we would be most grateful. She might have" he paled "Might have come up with that idea in the holidays to get rid of any or all of our younger daughters; and without the expert knowledge on hand to bring them back."

"And I have to say" said David gravely "It was only possible to bring Lilith back because she was born blood-joined by blood magic to those who had made a blood-pact to aid Harry Potter. They had some idea where to send her boyfriend to go looking, and he also a part of it. And because of it, her father, Severus Snape, apported right in because he IS the greatest wizard on earth, and he knew what to do; or rather had a good idea how to make it up on the spur of the moment. The rest of us followed his lead. I don't know what we should have been able to do if she had picked on one of her little sisters not Lilith; so it was as well she lost her temper when she did and with whom she did. Severus does NOT hold you responsible; I told him much of what Danae had already confided to me" he added, having managed to convince Severus that this was one of the rare cases of a problem child without problem parents in the offing.

"That was good of Severus" said Mr Fawcett "He was a somewhat snide creature at school and not given to forgiveness."

David shrugged.

"People grow up; even the Marauders of the time managed it."

"Some people don't" said Madam Fawcett "I ran into Hugin Edgecombe feeling impressed with his standing as a healer; I recall the Marauders had him so convinced Severus was a Vampire that he squirted him with garlic and the way he was talking he still jumps to hasty conclusions. If he's the calibre of healer in St Mungo's I certainly don't think they could have helped Xanthia."

"I believe there are many good healers there" said David diplomatically "The ones in charge of mental cases seem very competent" he added, without mentioning that if they liaised better with other departments and were all prepared to take on new ideas little Walter Crabbe might not have been out of school so long and far from being 'little' would have been taking his OWLs this year.

The unfortunate couple were pathetically grateful for his wishes not to see Xanthia turned into a hardened criminal in Azkaban; and they left still bewildered that their own daughter could have behaved so badly and thankful that Severus Snape was not likely to be seeking any kind of revenge; and reassured by a tearful meeting with the two sets of twins that Lilith was actually rather a sport and not hardly likely to hold THEM responsible.

And David must stand aside from this single problem and consider the needs of others in his school; young Seb Rice for example.

oOoOo

In the event Sebastian needed no pumping, bursting out spontaneously that his father had been most put out that a school had been chosen that had not been one he had suggested.

"And Mum stood up to him and said I was keen and that was what was important" said Sebastian "And he got snippy and asked if she intended to flout his wishes because if so he might not feel it behoved him to support me any more; so mum said that as I had passed well enough to be eligible for a scholarship anyway it would not disturb my schooling while she sued him over paternity; and as that would so have created enough scandal to jeopardize his position in the hospital as well as his wife finding out he shouted a lot then gave in" said Sebastian "So mum didn't have to write to you to cast me onto charity. And I say, translating the lessons into muggle equivalents for reports and having some of the teachers write them in Latin or Greek was awfully brilliant; he struggles through Latin but he doesn't have ANY Ancient Greek and I was able to say that we had a full classical education as well as a good grounding in technical subjects. So I was able to get boring on classics when he tried to quiz me on biology."

"Well done" said David "I dislike deceiving parents but sometimes there's very little choice. Your welfare comes first. I suspect if he has little control of you he may stop such frequent visits."

"Well I hope so" said Sebastian frankly "Is it true that there's a new teaching hospital that is going to investigate muggle methods? Lilith Snape was sort of loudish about it but you know Lilith, she might be talking about something projected for the future as much as something ongoing. Only if it IS true, my mum would be the sort of trained person who could impart something of ordinary – I mean, muggle – methods. Her being a lab tech and therefore with different skills to a nurse."

"Sebastian, you really have got an idea there; but will she mind living in Germany? She and you would have to share moderately cramped quarters in the holiday, probably a two bedroom flat with a few kitchen facilities in a sitting room because there are staff canteens for most meals" said David.

"By gum, sir, that'd be gradely" said Sebastian "We don't need much room; but I get the impression it's sort of in the country or at least big grounds; that's more room to LIVE than in a two-up-two-down that we're in, in the middle of York. I'd miss Balduk; but y'know two boys don't need much more space to sleep than one if I was allowed visitors."

"Healer Visick is pretty flexible for his staff I believe" said David "I've taught his two older children; nice kids, and he's ready to be flexible in other ways so I don't see a problem. I'll talk to Lawrence Visick first and if he can use your mum's skills I shall see if SHE is willing to relocate. I suspect if you are keen she may be ready to do so; and we always like to be able to find a niche in the wizarding world into which muggle relatives may fit."

oOoOo

It was nice, reflected David, to have a relatively easy parent matter to sort out; not like that of the unfortunate Fawcetts.

He also checked up particularly on Stuart Hodge, known to his intimates as Pliny, the New Zealand orphan. Stuart was a cheerful lad, still missing his dead parents of course but getting on with life and happily friendly with Timothy Malfoy. He had stayed a couple of weeks in Malfoy Manor riding flying horses with Timothy – who was not as horsy as his sister Penny but enjoyed riding well enough – and had then spent a couple of weeks with Timothy on his Ranch in New Zealand under the watchful eye of Hoani B'stard, the part goblin manager. Hoani had impressed the single ranch hand Jed; which was as well, and the sheep ranch was well run and the boys had ridden conventional horses to help out.

The entire of the second were permeated by the gang known as 'The Lifemunchers' which was a reaction against deatheaters since their chosen aim was to seize life with both hands and enjoy it; and Stuart and Tim were just two of the members. There was an inner core of blooded members too; but they were not marauders.

David had them all to tea together though; it made other tea parties less exciting. This was Charlie Rawlins, Clymene Baddock – not a surname one would have associated once with the blood group – Zeljeela gan Jorg, Candace Dumbledore, Tarquin Prince, Sevvy Snape, Naomi Cooper, Bryony Nuffield and Salazar Gaunt Moody.

"So the blooded drawn entirely from Gryffindor and Slytherin again" said David.

"There weren't any suitable from other houses" said Tarquin.

"There were quite a lot of nearly suitables" said Salazar "But we're a big group, nine; I say sir, does it mean that there's going to be something big to maraud against if there's a growing number of marauders and supporters?"

"I don't know Salazar" said David "We know – as you all heard – that a French would-be supremacist is rising and may try to tap the power of Ancient Egypt; and as Egypt has a long tradition of magic dark and light I suspect that there are things hidden away in tombs and dusty storage shelves in museums that are better left well alone or forgotten. The Belle, Pepperingye and Stripy Marauders have a plan in hand – with the aid of sundry grown ups – to divert the attention of Achille; they may need to draw on your blood from time to time so being ready isn't a half bad idea. The chant to free elves from the self punishment compulsion did NOT cover all of Egypt so we may find ourselves having to do more parts of North Africa. Maud Langstaffe – whose idea it was – is hoping that with careful preparation they may hang him up for years so it may well be you children who are adult enough to help fight him. The blood group has enough that we don't HAVE to involve youngsters the way WE were involved fighting Voldemort – I was in the third year and plenty of our er confederates were in the second – but I doubt the fact that you only need be backup is going to stop you getting involved if opportunity presents itself. I can only ask you to be careful."

"You are a sport sir" said Charlie.

David gave a rueful laugh.

"Believe me, it takes all my will power not to forbid you outright; you may not believe me yet but I assure you that it looks very different on the side of the fence that stands in the place of parents for you, with ultimate responsibility for your lives than it does from your point of view wondering why the grown ups are being fuddy-duddy" he said. "You can't actually help with the plans afoot – unless any of you claim to be experts at Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs. No I didn't think so" he added as their faces fell. "I'd make sure you brush up if I were you; I am. I'm not good enough to be permitted to help if that makes you feel any better; my job is to be a geomancer to hide certain clues for the biggest con in history. It's a marauder jape writ large and it is NOT to be discussed out of this room save in a place protected by Parseltongue or Fidelius Charm. Charlie, you'll be pleased to know that the muggle film about your grandfather's adventures has been an inspiration; the use of a two-part document with such a clue as 'these words are' on one part and 'written on such and such a thing' on an other. Your sister Charis suggested that I believe to back up a vague idea already promulgated."

"Nice" said Charlie grinning. "I'm proud that she's a marauder and we'll do all we can to back the marauders. And I say, thanks for telling us stuff."

"There's going to be a big meeting early in the morning after the Yule Ball" said David "All the Blooded to go; Myrtle's Loo. You may get given the odd holiday task; you may get asked to be ready to hold yourselves in reserve. This is the scale of con that will take months to set up and – hopefully – years to its fruition. And it is possible that we shall need a field trip of those interested in hieroglyphs to go to various museums and even to Egypt; and to mill around and distract curators and archaeologists with intelligent questions may yet be your lot in life. It's a necessary and responsible job."

"We'll manage that easily" said Salazar "And we ought to remind the Belle Marauders that some of us live in London and could take careful notes over Yule of exactly what's in the Brit Mus; because we could go and look and then roll it all out into the Pensieve for study."

"Brilliant" said David "Then I'll set that as a holiday task to those of you who ARE in London; it saves a trip for anyone doing anything that's more proactive. And I'll suggest it to Jade Luytens to pass on to her blooded who live in Berlin which also has a massive Egyptology section. And if any of you have local museums with even a few Egyptian artefacts in, the same goes for you. I'll ask Albus to take Seth and Candace into Glasgow or Edinburgh and see what they have. But we don't actually want too much in England or he might suspect; the Brit Mus is fair enough because English archaeologists like Howard Carter nicked an awful lot of stuff; as did the Germans. Ah, and that reminds me, SS mysticism; another source of misinformation to dear Achille. THAT side I CAN handle."

"No reason Dad can't take us to France and look at French museums" said Candace.

"None at all" said David "I'll suggest Darryl put it to HIS blooded in France too; a lovely little wild goose chase all about the houses. I'm glad we had this chat; you've been tremendously helpful."

"And you hide the helpful tea parties in amongst the ones that look like duty, don't you sir?" said Salazar.

"I think that had better be a question I don't answer" said David.

And the boy had the truth of it; though it was a little ironic that this round of tea parties was more to check out how Seb was dealing with his irritating father!

And much came out of tea parties that would not otherwise arise; like Emma MacMillan's suspicions that her father had other children because of a row she had overheard him have with her mother.

David had sighed and explained that he had kept a sister of Lucius Malfoy who was unsure how the Malfoys would greet an illegitimate sister; who had a daughter by Lester MacMillan who was at Prince Peak school where she was now maintained by Lucius Malfoy and that the girl's mother was no longer Emma's father's mistress. He managed to persuade Emma to feel sorry for Pippa Yaxley and Emma agreed to write to her half sister Cerellia. David planned to contact Severus first and ask him to ask Cerellia to be gentle with her rather wet half sister!

The life of a headmaster was certainly always varied!