Chapter 8
Triphorm Victorious
KIARA
I could not move a muscle. I lay there beneath the Invisibility Cloak feeling the blood from my nose flow, hot and wet, over my face, listening to the voices and footsteps in the Sub Cave beyond. My immediate thought was that someone, surely, would check the compartments in the subs before they departed again? But at once came the dispiriting realisation that even if somebody looked into the compartment, I would be neither seen nor heard. My best hope was that somebody else would just walk in and step on me.
I had never hated Malty more than as I lay there at that moment, like an absurd turtle on my back, blood dripping sickeningly into my open mouth. What a stupid situation to have landed myself in ... and now the last footsteps were dying away; everyone was shuffling up the stone steps in the Sub Cave outside; I could hear the scraping of trunks and the loud babble of talk.
Chris, Sian and Chrissie would think that I had left the subs without them once they arrived at Dragon Mort and took their places in the Great Hall, looked up and down the Lion-Heart table a few times and finally realised I was not there, I, no doubt, would be halfway back to Dover.
I tried to make a sound, even a grunt, but it was impossible. Then I remembered that some wizards, like Crighton, could perform spells without speaking, so I tried to summon my wand, which had fallen out of my hand, by saying the words Accio wand! over and over again in my head, but nothing happened.
I thought I could hear the soft dripping of water from a stalagmite, and the sounds of more footsteps coming, which meant that people were coming to search the subs to see if anyone had been left behind. I was glad that a search was being made, because (and I despised myself for thinking it) I imagined panicked voices wondering where I, Kiara Pride-Lander, had gone. The feeling of hopelessness that had begun to settle disappeared slightly, even as I imagined the convoy of Thestral-drawn carriages trundling up to the school and the muffled yells of laughter issuing from whichever carriage Malty was riding in, where she would be recounting her attack on me to her fellow Snake-Eyes.
Beams of wandlight shone through the gaps in the blinds, and I could do nothing to protect myself from the blinding lights. Then they were gone, and I was left seeing nothing but bright spots in my eyes, and due to my paralysed state, I couldn't do anything to get rid of them ...
Then I felt my Invisibility Cloak fly off me and a voice overhead said, "Wotcher, Kiara."
There was a flash of red light and my body unfroze; I was able to push myself up into a more dignified position, hastily wiping the blood off my bruised face with the back of my hand, and after blinking away some of the bright dots, I looked up to find Todd, who was holding my Invisibility Cloak she had just pulled away.
"We'd best get you up to the school quickly," she said, as she pulled me to my feet. "Come on."
I followed Todd out of the compartment and out the door, shutting it behind me. Looking around, I saw many Aurors in the Sub Cave. Todd went over to a couple of them and asked if they'd checked the other subs; after that, she gave them their orders and beckoned me to follow her. Together, Todd and I climbed the steep stone steps out of the Sub Cave and out into the fresh air.
The cold night air was soothing on my throbbing nose. Todd was looking at me; I felt angry and embarrassed that I had been discovered in such a ridiculous position. Silently, she handed me the Invisibility Cloak.
"Who did it?"
"Dani Malty," I said bitterly. "Thanks for ... well ..."
"No problem," said Todd, without smiling. From what I could see in the darkness, she was as mousy-haired and miserable-looking as she had been when I had met her at Dawson Manor. "I can fix your nose if you stand still."
I did not think much of this idea; I had been intending to visit Matron, in whom I had a little more confidence when it came to Healing Spells, but it seemed rude to say this, so I stayed stock-still and closed my eyes.
"Episkey," said Todd.
My nose felt very hot, then very cold. I raised a hand and felt it gingerly. It seemed to be mended.
"Thanks a lot!"
"You'd better put that Cloak back on, and we can walk up to the school," said Todd, still unsmiling. As I swung the Cloak back over myself she raised her wand; and immense silvery four-legged creature erupted from it and streaked off into the darkness.
"Was that a Patronus?" I asked, having seen Crighton send messages like this.
"Yes, I'm sending word to the castle that I've got you, or they'll worry. Come on, we'd better not dawdle."
We set off towards the lane that led to the school.
"How did you find me?"
"I noticed you hadn't left one of the subs and I knew you had that Cloak. I thought you might be hiding for some reason. We were told to search the subs anyway, to see if anyone had been left behind, and when we saw the blinds drawn on that compartment in the sub, I told the others I'd check."
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I'm stationed in Dragsmede now, to give the school extra protection," said Todd.
"So those other guys who were in the Sub Cave, they're - ?"
"Yes, Proudfeet, Samara and Dalca are here with me, too."
"Dalca, that Auror Crighton attacked last year?"
"That's right."
We trudged up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly made carriage tracks. I looked sideways at Todd under my Cloak. Last year she had been inquisitive (to the point of being a little annoying at times), she had laughed easily, she had made jokes. Now she seemed older and much more serious and purposeful. Was this all the effect of what had happened at the Ministry? I reflected uncomfortably that Sian would have suggested I say something consoling about Pumbaa to her, that it hadn't been her fault at all, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was far from blaming her for Pumbaa's death; it was no more her fault than anyone else's (and much less than mine), but I did not like talking about Pumbaa if I could avoid it. And so we tramped off through the cold night in silence, Todd's long cloak whispering on the ground behind us.
Having always travelled there by carriages, I had never before appreciated just how far Dragon Mort was from the Sub Cave. With great relief I finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar. I was cold, I was hungry, and I was quite keen to leave this new, gloomy Todd behind. But when I put out a hand to push open the gates, I found them chained shut.
"Alohomora!" I said confidently, pointing my wand at the padlock, but nothing happened.
"That won't work on these," said Todd. "Crighton bewitched them herself."
I looked around.
"I could climb a wall," I suggested.
"No, you couldn't," said Todd flatly. "Anti-intruder jinxes on all of them. Security's been tightened a hundredfold this summer."
"Well then," I said, starting to feel annoyed at her lack of helpfulness, "I suppose I'll just have to sleep out here and wait for morning."
"Someone's coming down for you," said Todd. "Look."
A lantern was bobbing at the distant foot of the castle. I was so pleased to see it I felt I could endure even Match's wheezy criticisms of my tardiness and rants about how my timekeeping would improve with the regular application of thumbscrews. It was not until the glowing yellow light was ten feet away from us, and I had pulled off my Invisibility Cloak so that I could be seen, that I recognised, with a rush of pure loathing, the uplit hooked nose and long strawberry-blonde, greasy hair of Tiana Triphorm.
"Well, well, well," sneered Triphorm, taking out her wand and tapping the padlock once, so that the chains snaked backwards and the gates creaked open. "Nice of you to turn up, Pride-Lander, although you have evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would detract from your appearance."
"I couldn't change, I didn't have my - " I began, but Triphorm cut across me.
"There is no need to wait, Nanna. Pride-Lander is quite - ah - safe in my hands."
"I meant for Mina to get the message," said Todd, frowning.
"Mina was quite late for the start-of-term feast, just like Pride-Lander here, so I took it instead. And incidentally," said Triphorm, standing back to allow me to pass her, "I was interested to see your new Patronus."
She shut the gates in her face with a loud clang and tapped the chains with her wand again, so that they slithered, clinking, back into place.
"I think you were better off with the old one," said Triphorm, the malice in her voice unmistakeable. "The new one looks weak."
As Triphorm swung the lantern about I saw, fleetingly, a look of shock and anger on Todd's face. Then she was covered in darkness once more.
"Goodnight," I called out to her over my shoulder, as I began to walk up to the school with Triphorm. "Thanks for ... everything."
"See you, Kiara."
Triphorm did not speak for a minute or so. I felt as though my body was generating waves of hatred so powerful that it seemed incredible to me that Triphorm could not feel them burning her. I, as you all should know by now, my dear readers, had loathed Triphorm from our first encounter, but Triphorm had placed herself for ever and irrevocably beyond the possibility of my forgiveness by her attitude towards Pumbaa and my parents. Whatever Crighton said, I had had time to think over that summer, and had concluded that Triphorm's snide remaining safely hidden while the rest of the Order of the Centaur were fighting Zira had probably been a powerful factor in my mother rushing to the Ministry, and Pumbaa following after her and my father the night he died. I clung to this notion, because it enabled me to blame Triphorm, which felt satisfying, and also because I knew that if anyone was not sorry that Pumbaa was dead, it was the woman now striding next to me in the darkness.
"Fifty points from Lion-Heart for lateness, I think," said Triphorm. "And, let me see, another twenty for your Muggle attire. I don't believe any house has ever been in negative figures this early in the term - we haven't even started pudding. You might have set a record, Pride-Lander."
The fury and hatred bubbling inside me seemed to blaze white-hot, but I would rather have been immobilised all the way back to Dover than tell Triphorm why I was late.
"I suppose you wanted to make an entrance, did you?" Triphorm continued. "And with no flying car available you decided that bursting into the Great Hall halfway through the feast ought to create a dramatic effect."
I still remained silent, though I thought my chest might explode. I knew that Triphorm had come to fetch me for this, for the few minutes when she could needle and torment me without anyone listening.
We reached the castle steps at last and as the great oaken front doors swung open on to the vast flagged Entrance Hall, a burst of talk and laughter and of tinkling plates and glasses greeted us through the doors standing open into the Great Hall. I wondered whether I could slip my Invisibility Cloak back on, thereby gaining my seat at the long Lion-Heart table (which, inconveniently, was the furthest from the doors to the Great Hall) without being noticed.
As though she had read my mind, however, Triphorm said, "No Cloak. You can walk in so that everyone sees you, which is what you wanted, I'm sure."
I turned on the spot and marched straight through the open doors: anything to get away fro Triphorm. The Great Hall, with its four long house tables and its staff table set at the top of the room, was decorated as usual with floating candles that made the plates below glitter and glow. It was all a shimmering glow to me, however, for I walked so fast that I was passing the Badger-Stripes table before people really started to stare, and by the time they were standing up to get a good look at me, I had spotted Sian and Chrissie (Chris was sitting with Dena next to Zara), sped along the benches towards them and forced my way in between the two of them.
"At last, you're here! We've been worried about you. Where've you - my God, what happened to your face?" said Chrissie, goggling at me along with everyone else in the vicinity.
"Why, what's wrong with it?" I said, grabbing a spoon and squinting at my disturbed reflection.
"You're covered in blood!" said Sian. "Come here - "
She raised her wand, said, "Tergeo!" and siphoned off the dried blood.
"Thanks," I said, feeling my now clean face. "How's my nose looking?"
"Normal," said Sian anxiously. "Why shouldn't it? Kiara, what happened, we've been terrified!"
"I'll tell you later," I said curtly. I was very conscious that Sarah Rimmer, Nikita, Chris, Dena and Zara were listening in, Chris looking the most concerned of all of them; even Madam Nicola, the Lion-Heart ghost, had come floating along the bench to eavesdrop.
"But - " said Sian.
"Not now, Sian," I said, in a darkly significant voice. I hoped very much that they would all assume I had been involved in something heroic, preferably involving a couple of Love Destroyers and a Stinger. Of course, Malty had spread the story as far and wide as she could, but there was always a chance it wouldn't reach too many Lion-Heart ears.
I reached across Chrissie for a couple of chicken legs and a handful of chips, but before I could take them they vanished, to be replaced with puddings.
"You missed the Sorting, anyway," said Sian, as Chrissie dived for a large chocolate gateau.
"Have the Heads said anything interesting this year?" I asked, helping myself to apple crumble.
"Yeah, but it was just about advising us all to unite in the face of our enemies, you know."
"Crighton mentioned Zira at all?"
"Not yet," said Chrissie, "but she always saves her proper speech for after the feast, doesn't she? It can't be long now."
"Triphorm said Mina was late for the feast - "
"You've seen Triphorm? How come?" said Chrissie between frenzied mouthfuls of gateau. Sian kept shooting her disgusted looks.
"Bumped into her," I said evasively.
"Mina was only a few minutes late," said Sian. "Look, she's waving at you, Kiara."
I looked up at the staff table and grinned at Mina, who was indeed waving at me. Mina had never quite managed to comport herself with the dignity of Professor Darbus, Head of Lion-Heart House, the top of whose head came up to somewhere between Mina's elbow and shoulder as they were sitting side by side, and who was looking disapprovingly at this greeting. I was surprised to see the Divination teacher, Professor Crystals, sitting on Mina's other side; he rarely left his tower room and I had never seen him at the start-of-term feast before this point. He looked as odd as ever, glittering with scarves and trailing shawls, his eyes magnified to enormous size by his spectacles. Having always considered him to be a bit of a fraud, I had been shocked to discover at the end of the previous term that it had been he who had made the prediction that caused Lady Zira to attack me. The knowledge had made me even less eager to find myself in his company, but thankfully, that year I had no need to carry on with Divination. His great beacon-like eyes swivelled in my direction; I hastily looked away towards the Snake-Eyes table. Dani Malty was miming the shattering of a nose to raucous laughter and applause. I dropped my gaze to my apple crumble, my insides burning again. What I wouldn't give to fight Malty one on one ...
"So what did Professor Beadu want?" Sian asked.
"To know what really happened at the Ministry," I said.
"Her and everyone else here," sniffed Sian. "People were interrogating us about it on the subs, weren't they, Chrissie?"
"Yeah," said Chrissie. "All wanting to know if you really are the Chosen One - "
"There has been much talk on that very subject even amongst the ghosts," interrupted Madam Nicola, inclining her barely connected head towards me so that it wobbled dangerously on its ruff. "I am considered something of a Pride-Lander authority; it is widely known that we are friendly. I have assured the spirit community that I will not pester you for information, however. 'Kiara Pride-Lander knows that she can confide in me with complete confidence,' I told them. 'I would rather die than betray her trust.' "
"That's not saying much, seeing as you're already dead," Chrissie observed.
"Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe," said Madam Nicola in affronted tones, and she rose into the air and glided back towards the far end of the Lion-Heart table just as Crighton got to her feet at the staff table. The talk and laughter echoing around the Hall died away almost instantly.
"The very best of evenings to you!" she said, smiling broadly, her arms opened wide as though to embrace the whole room.
"What happened to her hand?" gasped Chrissie.
She was not the only one who had noticed. Crighton's right hand was as blackened and dead-looking as it had been on the night she had come to fetch me from my grandmothers'. Whispers swept the room; Crighton, interpreting them correctly, merely smiled and shook her ceremonial silver sleeve over her injury.
"Nothing to worry about," she said airily. "Now ... to our new students, welcome; to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you ..."
"Her hand was like that when I saw her over the summer," I whispered to Chrissie. "I thought she'd have cured it by now, though ... or Matron would've done."
"It looks as if it's died," said Chrissie, with a nauseated expression. "But there are some injuries you can't cure ... old curses ... and I've heard of poisons without antidotes ..."
" ... and Mr Match, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Fangs' Friendly Funnies.
"Those wishing to play for their house Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.
"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Beadu," Beadu stood up, her tall, bony frame seemed to keep rising and rising, and from where I was sat, she looked almost as tall as Mina, "is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume her old post as Potions mistress."
"Potions?"
"Potions?"
The word echoed all over the Hall as people wondered whether they heard right.
"Potions?" said Sian and Chrissie together, turning to stare at me. "But you said - "
"Professor Triphorm, meanwhile," said Crighton, raising her voice so that it carried over all the muttering, "will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"No!" I said, so loudly that many heads turned in my direction. I did not care; I was staring up at the staff table, incensed. How could Triphorm have been given the Defence Against the Dark Arts job after all this time? Hadn't it been widely known for years that Crighton did not trust her to do it?
"But, Kiara, you said that Beadu was going to be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts!" said Sian.
"I thought she was!" I said, racking my brains to remember when Crighton told me this, but now that I came to think of it, I was unable to recall Crighton ever telling me what Beadu would be teaching.
Triphorm, who was sitting on Crighton's right, did not stand up at the mention of her name, merely raised a hand in lazy acknowledgement of the applause from the Snake-Eyes table, yet I was sure I could detect a look of triumph on the features I loathed so much.
"Well, there's one good thing," I said savagely. "Triphorm'll be gone by the end of the year."
"What do you mean?" asked Chrissie.
"That job's jinxed. No one's lasted more than a year ... Quarrell actually died doing it. Personally, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for another death ..."
"Kiara!" said Sian, shocked and reproachful.
"She might just go back to teaching Potions at the end of the year," said Chrissie reasonably. "That Beadu woman might not want to stay long-term. Grumpy didn't."
Crighton cleared her throat. Sian, Chrissie and I were not the only ones who had been talking; the whole Hall had erupted in a buzz of conversation at the news that Triphorm had finally achieved her heart's desire. Seemingly oblivious to the sensational nature of the news she had just imparted, Crighton said nothing more about staff appointments, but waited a few seconds to ensure that the silence was absolute before continuing.
"Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lady Zira and her followers are once more at large and gaining in strength."
The silence seemed to tauten and strain as Crighton spoke. I glanced at Malty. Malty was not looking at Crighton, but making her fork hover in mid-air with her wand, as though she found the Headmistress' words unworthy of her attention.
"I cannot emphasise enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Dragon Mort must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer; we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them - in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and each other's safety."
Crighton's green eyes swept over we students before she smiled once more.
"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say goodnight. Pip pip!"
With the usual deafening scraping noise, the benches were moved back and the hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall towards their dormitories. I was in no hurry to leave at all with the gawping crowd, nor to get near enough to Malty to allow her to retell the story of the nose-stamping, so I lagged behind, pretending to retie the lace on my boot, allowing most Lion-Hearts to draw ahead of me, and Chrissie lagged behind too, as Sian jumped to her feet to go after the first years; down the table, I saw Chris kiss Dena, before going after her, somehow wishing that it was me he was kissing.
"What really happened to your nose?" Chrissie asked, once we were at the very back of the throng pressing out of the Hall, and out of earshot of everyone else.
I told her. It was a mark of the strength of our friendship that Chrissie did not laugh.
"I saw Malty miming something to do with a nose," she said darkly.
"Yeah, well, never mind that," I said bitterly. "Listen to what she was saying before she found out I was there ..."
I had expected Chrissie to be stunned by Malty's boasts. With what I considered pure pig-headedness, however, Chrissie was unimpressed.
"Come on, Kiara, she was just showing off for Parker ... what kind of mission would She-You-Know have given her?"
"How d'you know Zira doesn't need someone at Dragon Mort? It wouldn't be the first - "
"I wish yeh'd stop sayin' tha' name, Kiara," said a reproachful voice behind us. I looked over my shoulder to see Mina shaking her head.
"Crighton uses that name," I said stubbornly.
"Yeah, well, that's Crighton, innit?" said Mina mysteriously. "So how come yeh were late, Kiara? I was worried."
"Got held up in one of the subs," I said. "Why were you late?"
"I was with Harlow," said Mina happily. "Los' track o' the time. She's got a new home up in the mountains now, Crighton fixed it - nice big cave. She's much happier than she was in the Forest. We were havin' a good chat."
"Really?" I said, taking care not to catch Chrissie's eye; the last time I had met Mina's half-sister, a vicious giantess with a talent for ripping up trees by the roots, her vocabulary had comprised of five words, two of which she was unable to pronounce properly.
"Oh yeah, she's really come on," said Mina proudly. "Yeh'll be amazed. I'm thinkin' o' trainin' her up as me assistant."
Chrissie snorted loudly, but managed to pass it off as a violent sneeze. We were now standing beside the oak front doors.
"Anyway, I'll see yeh tomorrow, firs' lesson's straight after lunch. Come early an' yeh can say hello ter Noe - I mean, Aureole!"
Raising an arm in cheery farewell, she headed out of the front doors, into the darkness. Chrissie and I looked at each other. I could tell that Chrissie was experiencing the same sinking feeling as myself.
"You're not taking Care of Magical Creatures, are you?"
Chrissie shook her head.
"And you're not either, are you?"
I shook my head, too.
"And Chris and Sian," said Chrissie, "they're not, are they?"
I shook my head again. Exactly what Mina would say when she realised her four favourite students had given up her subject, I did not like to think.