Chapter 6
Lilith beamed at Madam McGonagall first thing on Wednesday morning.
"Miss Snape; I hae got a wee task for ye" said Minerva "In this box I've a few hedgehogs that havenae been quite corrrectly returned tae themselves; I'd be awfu' obliged if ye'd sorrt them oot. They a' hae different problems, ye'll hae tae dae them one at a time, no' collectively."
Lilith beamed.
"Delighted, Madam McGonagall" she said "It's sheer carelessness not to return things perfectly to their proper state; it should be utterly easy because you should be concentrating on the word 'hedgehog' which invokes naming magic too, in a far more profound and basic way than assimilative correlation by nomenclature."
"I hear your mother in that wee diatribe" said McGonagall "Aye, weel, maybe I should include a bit of naming theory in retuning these puir creatures tae their natural state. And when the rest of ye, this morning, turn your beetles intae buttons, when ye turrn them back ye may recall that their name 'beetle' will help ye tae do so!"
Lilith turned her attention to the box of hedgehogs, tutting gently to herself about the laxity of fourth years. Several hedgehogs sported pins not spines, one had a patchwork back under its spines and another one was a velvet pin cushion which blinked unhappily from its little face that was the only thing hedgehog about it.
Lilith soothed the little creatures and restored them to a proper state making sure to check out too those ones that appeared to be normal and restoring them to full health.
One of the hedgehogs had been Wendy Manning's; and she had performed a fairly creditable transformation save that the returned hedgehog still had spines coloured like the Stars and Stripes. It would not have affected the creature in any way, but Lilith put the colour right in any case.
The class were busy working on turning beetles into buttons; and bearing in mind an accident Lilith had heard about that had happened to Gobrin's girlfriend she stealthily released a spell that turned all of McLaggan's buttons into beetles because it would be funny. She did NOT use her wand; and with luck McLaggan would put it down to overzealousness and sheer accident.
He yelled in consternation and Lilith worked on not giggling.
Madam McGonagall restored the buttons ad sewed them back with a flick of her wand.
"Never mind, Mr McLaggan, these things happen when ye're concentrating harrd" she said.
"I don't know how that happened, Madam McGonagall!" said McLaggan, much vexed.
"Weel, weel, ye may learn from it" said Minerva kindly. She turned to Lilith.
Lilith, feeling that to divert suspicion she should be doing something else unsanctioned, was thoughtfully cycling one of the hedgehogs through echidna, porcupine and armadillo – being a fan of the 'Just So Stories' – with the desk growing appropriate vegetation for the geographical region of each creature.
She beamed at Madam McGonagall who raised an eyebrow.
"I do not recall telling ye to be creative" said that worthy, marvelling at the sophistication of the turning of the top of the desk into terrain.
"I'm sorry if it was wrong, Madam McGonagall" said Lilith innocently "Only I'd finished and it seemed a waste of time not to practise."
"Oh quite so!" said Minerva hastily. "Lilith, the faculty thinks that ye might like tae concentrate on the theory of transfiguration tae take the OWL this year, as it's such a parrt of your life as an animagus; but ye'll have tae dae the reading and the essays I set withoot class support. D'ye think ye'd be up for it?"
Lilith beamed.
"Oh YES Madam McGonagall!" she said "Then I can do the NEWT next year and try something new in the electives!"
"Ah….quite" said Minerva. "Verra weel; ye may use ma text book; and write me eight inches on switching spells."
Lilith beamed.
"Oh, that's what I really NEED" she said "Because I've never written essays before; it's all very well to know stuff, but if you don't know how to tell people you know it and with felicity of style, there's no point. I AM glad I've come to school!"
"Weel, I'm verra glad" said Minerva, reflecting that either she was getting old or else Krait's daughter was more exhausting even than her mother.
Still if the child wanted to write essays, that could be arranged.
After break was the other lesson Lilith was really looking forward to; as was Sextus.
"Good morning children" said Madam Hardbroom " We brewed a potion at my direction last lesson so I could see which of you might need more help with basic techniques; today we start actually studying what Potioneering is about. Potioneering is perhaps the subtlest of the lessons you will ever study; the effects of a skilfully brewed potion may be more profound than any mere spell; and potentially more dangerous. I will start with a warning; NO-ONE is to be in the potions dungeon without supervision; and the stores should NEVER be touched without specific instructions. Some of the ingredients are potentially deadly from contact with air; and that includes careless behaviour leading to broken jars, yes, Mr McLaggan?"
"Madam Hardbroom, should not such things be kept in jars that have been made unbreakable?"
"If handled properly, Mr McLaggan, it should not matter; and such things are not in here to be handled by any but the most advanced students. If other pupils are not rifling through stores for their own devious purposes they won't be touching the more dangerous jars next to the things that naughty and unscrupulous pupils tend to steal – and it is stealing – for their own nefarious purposes. And if I keep things in unbreakable jars it is but an incentive for laxity. Care and caution are infinitely preferable to an excess of safety charms. Miss Snape if you release the spell you are formulating in your mind you WILL be in detention."
Lilith grinned unrepentantly and did not release the fluorescent fart jinx on McLaggan, who glared at her.
Madam Hardbroom went on,
"Open your text books at page ten; the boil-curing potion. We shall be brewing that today, and you will also learn the correct way to document a potion as you brew it; this is a discipline that will be of use to you should you invent your own potions; and also to record everything you do in examinations, since it is possible to gain a few marks from well documented intent even if you manage to blow up your cauldron. Miss Snape, have you covered potion documentation helping your father?"
"Yes, Madam Hardbroom" said Lilith.
"Good; as it seems likely that you have covered most basic potions your task in producing every potion the rest of the class will be brewing will be to make experimental efforts as well as making the basic potion, to compare and contrast efficacy. Document everything carefully; your father made some excellent additions to a number of potions in his time at Hogwarts by careful application of Arithmancy and extra ingredients; let us see if you are as inventive."
Lilith grinned happily.
Potions was going to be even more fun than she realised.
Sextus mouthed,
'Lucky you!' to her.
She would of course share her notes with him!
It was fun examining the ingredients anew and considering if anything could be added. The only thing she could think of was a complex little addition of stirs that would make the potion efficacious against cursed boils too, by including what was effectively a curse breaker in it; but as she wrote in her notes this was only effective if the stirrer knew they were breaking a curse and concentrated on the same.
"Why does Snape get special treatment, Madam Hardbroom?" asked Gareth Rookwood.
"Because we of the faculty don't feel it reasonable that a little girl of not yet nine years old should have to cope with the mental pressures of being in a NEWT class environment where her abilities belong" said Connie calmly. "Miss Snape has exceptional abilities but she deserves the chance of a childhood as well, and so she joins a class of first years to get the whole school experience. You should not feel, any of you, bad that Lilith happens to be a genius. She is the exceptional child of exceptional parents and that is no reflection on anyone else. She is also a little girl and as much likely to end up gutting horned toads as anyone else if she doesn't stop gurning."
"Gosh Madam Hardbroom, you have eyes in the back of your head!" said Lilith, impressed.
Connie suppressed a smile that her guess had been correct.
"I was only wondering; it wasn't jealousy" said Rookwood "I wondered if anyone was trying to impress her parents or something for some reason."
"The only person trying to impress Miss Snape's parents – and not in a good way – is Prince Gerhardt of Odessa and somehow I don't think he's succeeding" said Connie. "WATCH that potion boy."
"Oh THAT Snape!" said Rookwood, dutifully adding the correct stir to his potion. "Is it true, Madam Hardbroom, that Odessa want to take over Hogwarts as well as the other school?"
"Yes it is I'm afraid" said Connie "And Odessa are quite as bad as the Deatheaters; worse in a way in that some who support them truly believe the sad line that whatever is done is done 'for the greater good'. Now get on with the potion children and stop chattering."
Rookwood fell in with Lilith as they went to lunch. Scarpin scowled at him.
"Look here, Snape, does your dad fight these Odessa types?" he asked
"Yes he does" said Lilith "You're from a deatheater family; why do you care? Your dad's a git too he barged me in Diagon Alley."
"Well he was feeling flustered; you got revenge and some if that was you that made his bottom float" said Rookwood. "Our cousin was a deatheater; and I think the deatheaters were pretty stupid, 'cos they kinda worshipped Voldemort, didn't they?"
"They kissed the hem of his robe" said Lilith "And let him legilimens them every way to Sunday; 'cept that the ones that were Dumbledore's men were better at Occlumensy than he realised."
"What? I don't understand" said Rookwood.
Lilith refrained from rolling her eyes because Scarpin was looking puzzled too.
"Legilimensy is the art of searching thoughts; it's not really mind reading because that's a sloppy sort of term suggesting like reading a biography. It's more pictures" she explained "Occlumensy is the art of blocking and sidetracking the searching. Dad was undercover for years. He considered your cousin the most subtle of the deatheaters – apart from Lucius of course, who was also working against Voldemort. Voldemort was a nasty little git who used people; his grand villainy was nothing more than raw power and that's why I want more out of life than just being able to use the raw power I inherited from him. Oh didn't you know? My mum, who worked against him beside dad when SHE was at school, is the daughter of a Malfoy girl he used and abandoned. So I'm the git's granddaughter; and descended from Salazar Slytherin because of that and that's just the way it is. It's no secret."
"Are Odessa really like the deatheaters?"
"Nearly; but Gerhardt's a bit cleverer about people than Voldemort. Voldemort was so snaky he couldn't really understand emotion at all, except lust for power. Which is bizarre, 'cos he never was a snake animagus and I am. Gerhardt knows how to do hearts and minds, but it all falls apart when things go wrong and he shows his real colours by going into a rage and slinging the cruciatus curse; dad's spied on him you see. And he plays on the fears Germanic people have of goblins, 'cos there are lots of goblins in middle Europe. Are you racist?"
Rookwood shrugged.
"I don't think so. I don't like most people much because they cast up my cousin at me like you did, only at least you came out and said it out loud instead of making implied comments and – and looking in that way. It's why dad acts arrogant you know; to let people know he's not intimidated."
"Gosh! I hadn't thought of that; not that I knew who he was anyway when he barged me, only that he was a rude grown up" said Lilith. "I s'pose he took me as a Weasley because of the hair; and Arthur can be a teensy bit sanctimonious at times. Well, if you'e not racist and you just want people to shut up about your cousin, you ought to join the MSHG and learn to fight creeps like Odessa and then you'll be in a position to show those that sneer that you're no deatheater. We have a lot of fun too" she added "and if some people think it's childish, they're just stupid. Makepeace has a chip on her shoulder the size of the castle because of what happened to her mum, and she's determined to be silly about it instead of being sensible like her siblings."
"What did happen to her mum?"
"Oh this git who owned a male elf figured he could make money if he kidnapped muggles and had them got pregnant and could sell half elves" said Lilith "And Cousin Draco picked him up when he was selling the first, who's Roger Blake of the third and he had to pay a whole load of compensation to the three muggle women as well as going to Azhkaban. But Makepiece is too convinced that she doesn't need friends to be likeable. She'll either come round or end up an acidulated old dear."
"So it isn't that she's half elf that you don't like her?" asked Rookwood.
"I've got adopted siblings and half siblings that are elves and half elves" said Lilith "My second mum has a human animagus form so she can conveniently be dad's mistress. Doesn't trouble me, 'cept with my aunt Rose who was fathered by my git of a grandfather on an elf just because he wanted it and she was loaned to him; and it didn't trouble him if she conceived or not, or that it would have killed her if people hadn't taken her to St Mungo's. He was a real slut, you know!"
Rookwood roared with laughter.
"Well I guess that just about disposes of the mystique of Voldemort – that he was a slut!" he said.
Lilith, being Lilith, wrote straight after dinner to Mr Rookwood. Her letter read,
"Dear Mr Rookwood, I apologise for dropping the dirigible fart curse on you because Gareth said you're just flustered because people like Arthur Weasley can get pi about you being unfortunate enough to have had a cousin who was a deatheater and I expect you thought I was a Weasley because of the red hair, like I just assumed you were one more rude parent that's only concerned for their little treasure and thinks it's okay to be rude to other kids. As I'm Voldemort's granddaughter I know all about having rather unsatisfactory relatives to have to live down as though those of us who didn't ask to be their relatives ought to. You really need to be tolerant of Arthur because he's had to work with some very unsatisfactory slime in the ministry that kind of left him a bit suspicious of people especially the ones that take petty to new depths. Yours sincerely, Lilith Snape."
Mr Rookwood did not have much of a sense of humour but at least he had enough of one to find the description of Voldemort as a 'rather unsatisfactory relative' enough to chuckle over rather than feeling angry. And Snape was reckoned a big man by those in power; it would do Gareth no harm to have made friends with his daughter, an entrée too to the Malfoys. He had warned Gareth that he was likely to have a lonely time at school and told him not to show if he minded; that had led, of course initially to Lilith putting the boy down as 'stuck up'. Gareth might open out a bit now perhaps!
Gareth intended to. He decided he did not much like snide tongued Sextus Scarpin and wondered that Snape should make a friend of the boy; but he was in a house with Snape and some of her other friends as Scarpin was not. and he could join this MSHG and see how it went.
Gareth had quite as much snide and sarcastic armour as Sextus, if not quite as many brains to employ with it.
Lilith was rather tardy as a result of writing a letter and running up to the owl loft with it; and when the staircases moved about she knew she was going to be late for Charms class if she went all the way down and all the way up.
"Oh bother" said Lilith, and leaped over the banisters, flying lightly down to the staircase she needed. Sextus had been waiting for her.
"Isn't that supposed to be impossible, half-pint?" he drawled sardonically.
"No-one's watching, so who cares?" said Lilith "C'mon, we'll be late!"
She was wrong; Professor Dumbledore had seen the incident and he raised an eyebrow. That the blood group had learned to fly from Voldemort he knew; but not that Lilith could do so at her age.
It did however, especially in light of her comments to her friend, reveal much about the child; that she was NOT a show off for the sake of it. Lilith had so much talent; and her mother HAD spent time as a basilisk with the child in her womb; and she WAS Voldemort's granddaughter. The headmaster had been pleased to accept her early to school in order to keep an eye on her mental and moral development as much as anything else and check that Lilith was just a normal, if very talented, little girl; and had no urges to dabble in dark magic or use her abilities to become a tyrant of her school fellows.
It was only a single period of charms, and the class demonstrated how well – or otherwise – they had understood the levitation charm. Alcippe here was pleased to make up for how much of a dunce she felt in transfigurations and potions; and even Lycidice managed a faltering hover of the egg cup they had to use. As her boil curing potion had been rather an evil mess of brown sludge she was glad of the filip to her ego.
The class pointed their wands dutifully said the words, wingardium leviosa apart from Lilith who did not bother with an incantation or wand; and egg cups rose variously.
"Where is your wand, Miss Snape?" squeaked Flitwick.
"Oh, sorry sir, I forgot it" said Lilith, absently heaving it out of her belt. Her egg cup shot up in the air and she sighed and brought it down "It gets a little over excited sometimes" she explained "So I prefer not to bother with it."
"Nevertheless I think it would be a very good exercise to learn to limit its results" said Flitwick.
"Yes sir, if you like!" said Lilith equably.
She quite enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, charms being followed by History and then Enchanting; second classes were much better than the first class of the year because you knew what you were doing and could get on with it.
And she actually had to concentrate on her homework that evening with several quite long essays; and thought those people who declared the intention of writing their essays at the last minute quite silly.
She firmly promulgated this concept to her own set too, would be marauders and other cronies.
"If it's done, you KNOW you have free time after" she said "And it only takes one detention to muck up the lives of those who leave it all to the last minute, especially if it's a timed impot in the detention room not just lines in your own time and you can cheat by having a repeater pen."
"Is THAT how you did the impot for Professor Queach so quickly? You little git!" said Sextus.
Lilith grinned cheerfully and unrepentantly.
Filled with virtue and spare time, the majority of the first years went looking for trouble in the hour before bed time; and Lilith came up with the idea of playing shipwrecks around the entrance hall.
The participants had a marvellous time until a stop was put to it by Professor Hardbroom, who demanded an immediate cease to the mayhem – which the weevils obeyed and Peeves, who was generally adding to the noise and trouble, did not – and sent them all early to bed.
Which, as Lilith said, was well worth it and a lot better than wasting as much time doing an impot.
Thursday saw two new lessons for Lilith; Muggle Studies first thing, and, she confided to her group, just as well that it was now a compulsory study not just an elective for as wizards shared the world with muggles it was most awfully sensible that they should be better understood than they were.
There was a new teacher this year; as Lilith knew from school gossip, Charity Burbage having retired; the new teacher was Madam Leticia Jones, the twin muggle sister of muggleborn luminary of Ravenclaw, Araminta Jones, murdered by Odessa. Lilith thought it very sensible that a muggle with knowledge of the wizarding world should teach muggle studies and planned to ask her if they could have a railway club to explain economic infrastructure and so on like at Prince Peak.
Dumbar Finch, as the year's only muggle born, was to the fore in this class, though Lilith understood muggles quite well for her parents insistence that all their children know and understand muggles. Sapphira Bones, who had relatives in Rowan House was also quite knowledgeable; and Sextus had done his research too, though from his point of view it was more in the light of 'know the enemy'; not that muggles were the enemy but that his absent father was the enemy and he was a muggle.
Madam Jones quickly dealt with the myth that muggles used electricity to copy magical effects; as she pointed out, if muggles knew that there were magical effects to be copied that made a fine mockery of the statute of secrecy; and one might as well say that wizards used magic to mimic the effects of electricity. This shocked her pupils who were uncertain that electricity could be much use so Lilith put up her hand.
"With muggle technology, of which electricity is a part" said Lilith in a cold little voice "A man can be watched in the street by a device powered by electricity that is high above the earth's atmosphere and invisible to the eye, so that someone in England can watch someone in America or Australia or Russia or anywhere; and with a computer, an arithmetic device, arithmetic being the muggle equivalent to Arithmancy, can program a weapon powered by electricity to kill that man dead, also from another continent. Fortunately the ability to do this scares enough muggles into promising not to do it. I can't say I'd trust the likes of Gerhardt to pass up the chance to do so if he had similar capabilities at his command. Electricity is not better or worse; it does different things. Thank you Madam Jones."
"Miss Snape speaks of the sort of technology only governments can essentially afford of course" said Madam Jones "Though almost every muggle in the first world – the rich countries - owns a computer; and that means that any muggle can find and speak to almost any other muggle at the pressing of a few buttons. Our own computer experts, the muggle siblings of wizards and witches, are employed by the ministry to search continually for any discussion on this world wide web of communications for people setting up discussions about magic that they have seen or suspect; and artfully sabotaging such discussions, not by suppressing them but by making those who have made the initial observations sound like cranks. It will be a long time, alas, before we can be open because just as I saw anger and fear on the faces of some of you over the capabilities of technology that might make some wish to react violently, so too are muggles JUST as violent and paranoid as any wizard and knowledge of magic would make them react in the same way. Because we have a programme of teaching in place, we can show you that muggles are to be respected; and their capabilities not to be taken lightly; but to demonstrate that there are essentially more similarities than differences in that muggles and wizards are all human and think in the same way."
"Excuse me, Madam Jones, but how can they be? Aren't muggles mentally retarded?" asked Simi Patil, a Ravenclaw Patil.
"If you think I am retarded, why are you asking me a question?" said Madam Jones.
Patil stared.
"YOU are a MUGGLE?"
"I am; my twin was a respected luminary of House Ravenclaw who gained six NEWTs, four of them at 'O' grade" said Leticia "She was murdered by Odessa; I alerted Professor Dumbledore and was a part of the team who undertook a retributive strike. She shared her homework with me in the holidays; and I have gained OWLs and NEWTs in such subjects as do not require magic; I am qualified to compare Arithmancy and Arithmetic. I have an 'E' grade NEWT in Arithmancy. Am I then retarded?"
"N- no Madam Jones!" stuttered Patil "Please excuse me; I did not understand."
"It is, I'm afraid, a commonly held fallacy" said Madam Jones "In the same way that some people with musical talent believe that anyone who can't sight read a piece of music is as dense as a brick." There was brief laughter, especially from those Ravenclaws who had encountered Amos Leroy. Leticia went on, " I can't read music either; but I can hold a basic chant in a selection of languages well enough and with enough determination to AID a true chanter. Magical ability is buried in the population of muggles because wizarding blood is in the community; teenage wizards WILL be teenage wizards and sometimes muggle girls have babies. And when two muggles who both carry wizarding blood get together, the result is someone like Mr Finch. Or Hermione Granger. Or David Fraser. And sometimes it doesn't follow through; my twin and I for example who were not identical though we looked very much alike and she had the power; and I do not."
Drusilla MacMillan raised a hand.
"Were you jealous?" she asked.
"That she could do it and I could not? I was jealous of circumstances; but never of Araminta. She spend a lot of her free time trying to find a ritual that would awaken it in me; but she was my sister and I was glad she had every opportunity to develop her extraordinary talents" said Leticia softly "But I know the siblings of muggleborn can be jealous. That was the reason for opening Rowan House to give them more opportunities to be closer to the wizarding world. I have taught at Rowan House for several years; but when the opportunity came up to teach muggle studies here I was delighted. Only someone who has lived in both worlds can truly impart the knowledge of the differences and similarities of both worlds and try to bridge the gap of understanding. And hopefully one of you will one day be running the web site – the computer place that any muggle can access – about Hogwarts set up by David Fraser; hiding the castle by obviousness as a posh school. This is why we play muggle games; to look nice and normal. And, I understand, are reintroducing a game once played by both wizards and muggles that muggles almost forgot; hurley. A game of the fey. All people enjoy sport, whether participating or enjoying seeing the consummate skill of others." She grinned "I've also been asked to coach the cricket team in the summer."
The bell went while there were still questions seething; and Madam Jones dismissed them.
There was little enough time to discuss the class before Ancient Runes with Madam Babbling, but Lilith ruthlessly legilimensed a selection of her classmates to see how it had gone down; and was pleased to find that most of them were pleasantly surprised by their – in many cases – first encounter with a muggle.
Sappira Bones managed to shine again in ancient runes, seeming to take to other ways of writing sounds like a duck to water. Lilith enjoyed herself too; she read several languages used in the subject fluently; notably the ones Severus used most, like Gaelic, and the elder Futhark alphabet of Nordic runes as also utilised in Finnish. Lilith was as fluent in Finnish as in Gaelic and was currently studying from Severus' notes the ancient Aryan language; Latin and Greek were old friends, and Cyrillic something else she was studying. She looked forward to learning Hieroglyphs and cuneiform which she had only found out a little bit about by reading other people's books; and Oghams that she had managed to wheedle a book about out of Lucius. She was hoping to learn Hebrew too because of the uses with Arithmancy of the Hebraic Gematria methods.
Ancient runes after all were essential to anyone who took chanting at all seriously; as well as to research long lost and forgotten spells and rituals. Lilith planned on using her time in this class well, because there was nothing to stop her researching other languages in the library after doing the easy homework of those languages she was familiar with!
After break it was the double lesson of DADA; which meant that there was time for practical applications of simple defensive spells. Lilith, used to defending against the serious applications of ill will was rather sceptical about the use of some of the defensive jinxes when one might use protego and put her hand up.
"Miss Snape?" said Remus.
"Sir, wouldn't protego block everything that you've mentioned? I mean, it is a nursery spell you learn before you have a wand after all."
"Yeah" said Gennar "It isn't half a good one and I understood it blocked everything up to and including some of the unforgivable curses."
Remus smiled kindly.
"Lilith my poppet, I'm afraid the families you associate with are NOT usual in the degree of protection they give their children. It's a nursery spell – for the Potters, the Malfoys, the Ronald Weasleys, the Snapes, the Lupins, the Blacks and so on. For the rest of the wizarding world I should point out that in the Voldemort years, Fred and George Weasley did a roaring trade in cloaks enchanted with the shield charm – its proper name – because most adults could not cast it competently or hold it against determined assault. Gennar, you've been taught by Lucius and by your brother Draco; DO remember that Draco is an Auror and floats around on a higher plane than the rest of us and expects to stop stronger hexes than most. I hope to have this whole class competent with the shield charm by the end of the fourth year; but for most children of ten or eleven, the effort of holding it is too great. Those of you lucky enough to learn it as a nursery spell without wands find it comes easier when you have a wand to focus through. And those of it who learn it as a nursery spell come from families that took a deal of the brunt of the Voldemort years and came through it bruised and paranoid enough to equip their children with protection. Those who do NOT know the shield charm may count their families lucky to have escaped the worst."
"O' course, it was Rookwood's family handing out the grief" said McLaggan "OWWW!"
His nose had grown six inches.
"Try not to make yourself even more ridiculous than usual McLaggan" said Lilith "There's more than one branch to any family you know; if they're old enough and respectable enough, anyway. If an oik like you can understand that."
"Lilith THAT was uncalled for" said Remus. "Put his nose back NOW and apologise for blood snobbery; and then I will deal with Mr McLaggan."
"Yes sir" said Lilith and the boy's nose shrank to normal. "I apologise for blood snobbery; I apologise to all those people who are not from old families who manage to be decent reasonable people and aren't egregious gits."
"I suppose that will have to do" sighed Remus. "Mr McLaggan, your comment was inflammatory, presumptuous and based on pure conjecture. And moreover, whoever Mr Rookwood may be related to, he was a small child when all the deatheaters were killed. Unless he has performed acts to your knowledge that are unsavoury you are out of line; do I make myself clear?"
"Yes sir; but he will."
"Well if he does you will be able to cite them as evidence to back up your words. Otherwise you are slandering him. Why, I might as well say that you are a boneheaded, unimaginative bully because I once knew a boy called McLaggan who was. And such an unprovoked comment as yours STARTS to be evidence towards my beliefs! Mr Rookwood, you are to be commiserated in your relative."
"Yes sir; he was a creep" said Rookwood "And my dad says he was always on at HIM to be a deatheater and my dad never was; so there. Thanks for standing by me, Snape."
"And THAT is fairly good proof of Mr Rookwood's essentially non deatheatery character" said Remus "That he is prepared to thank someone and accept friendship not cronyism. My respects to you and your father Mr Rookwood. Very well; I want you to research grindylows and write me six inches on them. Dismissed!"
The afternoon was devoted to a single charms lessons wherein they studied colour changes; followed by a double period of Care of Magical Beasts devoted to the handling of bowtruckles.
And as McLaggan was still sore at being ticked off by Professor Lupin he was the only one that got bitten for his inattention.
And they had been there a whole week; and Lilith felt as though she had been a schoolgirl forever.
It was immensely satisfying!
And over the weekend perhaps they could explore further all the secret places Lilith KNEW opened off the roof since there had been all the brou-ha-ha over the discovery of the body of the first Cosmo Malfoy.