Notes: In which we have a new complication, and Mitchell shows some trust of his own, and Loki gets some more food for thought.
Warnings: None needed.
Chapter Eighteen
There was no welcome-back feast when the students returned to Hogwarts after Christmas. Instead, they were all ushered back to their common rooms and given a light supper before bedtime. Professor Sprout met her house in the Hufflepuff basement, told them she was very glad to see everyone again, and wished them pleasant dreams. Loki had left his lavender sachet under his pillow when he left for Christmas, so between the scent and being so tired he fell asleep at once. If his dreams weren't pleasant at least he didn't remember anything about them.
Monday was the long day for first year. Hufflepuff started with double Defense Against the Dark Arts with Ravenclaw, then Herbology with Gryffindor before lunch, and then Transfiguration and Charms with Slytherin all afternoon. Clint stayed away from Loki and his friends in Herbology, but Loki didn't give up hope because Natasha wouldn't have had time to really talk to him yet.
All the first years had a double free period just before lunch, which they now used for homework. Most of the students went to the library or back to their common rooms to study in that time. Loki and his friends went to the library, although they made a point of working at a table where you couldn't even see the Restricted section.
Hufflepuff met Slytherin in the Transfiguration classroom after lunch. Loki and his friends took desks right in front of the ones occupied by Natasha, Darcy, and Ian. Loki glanced at Natasha as he sat down. She shook her head slightly. Professor Coulson came in just at that moment, and Loki hastily faced front.
"Welcome back, everyone," Professor Coulson said, in his calm, oddly flat voice. Loki remembered what Annie had said about which head of house you would go to if you were worried about something. Loki liked Professor Coulson as a teacher, but he couldn't imagine approaching him with a problem, not the way you would Professor Sprout or even Mr. Longbottom. Maybe it would be different if you actually were in Gryffindor, but Loki found himself wondering whether he should ask Professor Sprout- or maybe Mr. Longbottom, since he had been a Gryffindor himself- to please speak to Clint about how he felt about things.
He didn't have time to think very much about that idea, since Professor Coulson immediately set them to reviewing the last theory lesson they had before the holidays, and then to work on the theory behind switching spells, the most complicated spells they had encountered so far. The idea was to take two objects and turn each into the other simultaneously. Loki found the theory extremely confusing, and was grateful to Darcy because she kept putting up her hand to ask questions about things Loki hadn't even realized he had mixed up in his mind.
Professor Coulson set the class to diagramming the spell, which they were going to practice the next morning in their double Transfiguration class. This class was nearly over when there was a knock at the classroom door. The professor stepped out to speak to the person- Loki thought he recognized Rhodes's voice- leaving the students to carry on work on their own.
Natasha promptly leaned forward to poke Loki in the back. He turned around to see what she wanted.
"I spoke to Clint before lunch, after his Herbology class," she said. Loki had been hoping her head shake meant she hadn't been able to catch him to speak to.
"And he won't make it up with me?" he asked.
"I am afraid not. Not yet," Natasha said.
"He probably won't unless Thor does first," Loki said, without thinking, and then blushed. He hadn't meant to admit to Natasha that his own brother couldn't stand him. Although, really, he supposed the whole school, or at least the whole first-year class, knew that by now.
"Perhaps not," Natasha agreed, and just at that the classroom door opened and Professor Coulson came back. The professor pulled out his pocket watch and consulted it.
"All right, everyone- according to the timetable, you have Charms together next, is that correct?" A few heads from each house nodded. "Good. Pack up your things, Mr. Rhodes will be escorting you to your class."
Loki and his friends exchanged surprised glances. Nobody asked for an explanation, because Professor Coulson wasn't the sort of teacher whose statements you questioned. Instead, they gathered their belongings and followed Rhodes to the Charms classroom. Darcy tried to ask the prefect what was going on, and was shushed in an abrupt way that wasn't at all like even-tempered Rhodes.
Professor Flitwick seemed distracted in class, which was also very unusual for him. And then Rogers and a sixth-year Slytherin prefect appeared at the end of the period, to accompany the Hufflepuffs to their common room and the Slytherins to Astronomy with Ravenclaw.
"What's going on?" Darcy asked again, as soon as they were outside the classroom. Ordinarily, Rogers was the sort of prefect who would answer your questions, but this time he just shook his head.
"I really don't know yet," he replied. "I was just told to look after you lot for now. Make sure you stay at your house tables at dinner, the prefects will be taking you back to your common rooms together afterward. The teachers will explain everything as soon as they can." He glanced around. "I'm not kidding, everyone. I don't know exactly what's going on right now, but whatever it is must be serious."
The bewildered first-years all nodded their agreement to obey, and Rogers walked alongside them, reassuringly tall and strong, as they made their way to the Hufflepuff basement. Rogers set them all to working on more homework, and Loki and his three friends gathered in the corner, on the carpet, to study their Transfiguration notes and whisper together.
"What do you suppose it is?" Mitchell wondered.
"You don't suppose some creature has gotten into the castle from the Forbidden Forest, do you?" George suggested nervously. The students were forbidden to go anywhere near the Forest unless they were accompanied by Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures teacher and groundskeeper. The fact he was the only teacher considered capable of keeping the students safe in the Forest served to impress the first-years with a sense of just how dangerous the place must be.
"I hope not," Loki said. "My brother told me there are all kinds of terrible creatures that live in there."
"Really? Your brother told you?" Mitchell replied, with polite disbelief. "If anything was likelier to make me believe the place is full of pussycats and little chirping birdies- "
"Becky told me the same thing," Annie cut in. "About the terrible creatures. There's some kind of agreement between most of these creatures and the school, they don't come out after us if we don't go in after them. It's as much to make them feel safe as us- they all pretty much trust Hagrid, but not other witches and wizards."
"So what would make one of them break the agreement?" Loki wondered.
"It would have to be something pretty serious," George said.
"Well, maybe the teachers are going to tell us at dinner," Mitchell said.
But when the prefects walked the whole house to the Great Hall for dinner, the head table was empty.
A perfectly understandable buzz of questioning broke out, but the prefects had no answers so it began to die away. Then Mr. Filch, the school caretaker, who had apparently been left in charge, started to hush everyone, threatening them with detention if they so much as chewed too loudly. This, predictably, had the opposite effect to what he wanted: Mr. Filch always made it clear he hated the students (really, Loki thought, if he ever took a job as a school caretaker, he would at least make an effort to not hate all children) and the students returned the compliment. The angrier Mr. Filch got, the louder the conversations became. Before long the Great Hall was engulfed in a racket that made it almost impossible to actually hear what anyone else was saying.
As the Hufflepuff prefects walked everyone back to the common room, Loki had a headache and was eaten up with both worry and curiosity. Both feelings got worse when the prefects left them again, apparently going to attend a meeting about the mysterious situation. Before they left, one of a seventh-year prefects, a boy called Macmillan, apologetically laid a charm on the exit- the students would be able to escape in case of emergency, but would not be able to leave for any other reason. Loki tried very hard not to think of the charm as "imprisonment," but it wasn't easy.
The prefects returned at some point after Loki and the other first years, at least, had gone to bed, and they refused to speak about their meeting the next morning. By breakfast time- the younger students shepherded to the Great Hall with all their books for the day in hand- rumours were running wild through the school, most of them centred around the Forbidden Forest:
Werewolves had left the forest and were skulking around the Quidditch pitch. ("Right," said Annie. "Because a big flat open field is such a great place to hide." "They could be under the stands," George pointed out. "Think of the draperies around the uprights. Anything could be under there." Loki tried very hard not to picture it.)
Acromantulas, the giant spiders who lived deep within the Forbidden Forest, were building their enormous webs between the Gryffindor and astronomy towers. ("That's mental," Mitchell said. "I mean, yeah, they're not Ravenclaw, but not even I think Gryffindors are thick enough to not notice dirty great spiders climbing around outside their windows!")
The giant squid who lived in the Black Lake had come squishing out of the water and was now lurking in the dungeons near the Slytherin common room. ("Didn't the squid rescue Stark when he crashed into the Lake?" Loki demanded. "That means it's friendly, doesn't it?" "Maybe," George replied, "but that doesn't mean the Slytherins want it coming into their common room for a cup of tea and a biscuit." "Oh hey," Mitchell said, "did any of you bring any of those ginger biscuits back with them? I still have a few custard creams to trade you.")
The teachers filed in at last, to take their seats at the head table. Everyone gazed avidly at Hagrid, looking for any sign he had been fighting giant spiders or other strange and dangerous beasts. He was disappointingly unscathed.
Professor McGonagall walked in last, her mouth set in a tense line that made Loki's shoulders clench just looking at her. She traded a glance with Professor Sprout, then walked around the front of the head table and waited. As the students realized she wanted to say something, the normal hubbub of breakfast time ebbed away until everyone was sitting quietly, eyes on the headmistress.
"Good morning," Professor McGonagall said primly. "I realize you are all understandably eager to know why your movements have been so circumscribed since your return to Hogwarts." The students' attention was nearly a living thing, sitting in the middle of the room with its ears cocked tensely forward. Professor McGonagall said calmly, "I have been informed by the Ministry that, three days ago, seven prisoners attempted to break out of Azkaban."
Pandemonium. Loki grabbed the edge of the table and Annie put her hand over one of his. Meanwhile, there was a surge of noise from everywhere in the room, resolving into two questions: "Who?" and "How?"
Professor McGonagall gestured for silence. Without raising her voice, she explained,
"The attempt was made during a routine visit by healers- "
At a table behind Loki, either Gryffindor or Slytherin, he couldn't tell which, voices said loudly, "The Minister never should have removed the Dementors- " and "They don't deserve to have healers look after them- "
Professor Fury might have only had one eye, but there was nothing at all wrong with his hearing. He half-rose from his seat, and the voices died away. All Loki could think was that the attempted escape had happened while his mother was home with the family. If she hadn't asked for some time with him and Thor, she could have been one of the healers who were at the prison that day.
Professor McGonagall carried on talking:
"None of the healers was injured. Four of the prisoners were apprehended immediately, but three were able to effect an escape. Their identities have not been revealed- " she waited out the wave of protests- "but only one of them is considered a risk to head in this direction, since he is from Scotland, while the other two are from southern England."
Professor McGonagall looked around, making eye contact with a number of the students who apparently seemed rebellious. Then she went on, with quiet intensity,
"It is vitally important that all of you remain alert, pay attention to the prefects, and do not take stupid risks until the Ministry captures these criminals." She sounded, Loki suddenly thought, as if she had some experience with students taking "stupid risks." Of course, Professor McGonagall had after all been teaching for a very long time, including through two wars.
"The wards on the castle and grounds have been strengthened. Until further notice, all students in fourth year and below will be escorted to and from their classes by a prefect. Students in fifth year and above will proceed directly to their classes- I am putting you all on your honour to do so. And unless you are accompanied by a teacher, all students will remain in your common rooms when not in class. Library study will be arranged for fifth- and seventh-year students preparing for OWLs and NEWTs." Loki swallowed, already feeling caged in. As much as he loved the Hufflepuff basement, he certainly didn't like the idea of never being able to leave it.
"What about Quidditch?" Pippa whispered, wide-eyed with horror at the thought of anything disrupting the season. In spite of himself, Loki had to suppress a laugh: Muggle-born though she was, Pippa was as big an addict as Thor and his friends.
Thinking of Thor gave Loki the urge to look around and see how his brother was taking all this. He stifled that, too.
Professor McGonagall looked at the distressed faces before her, and softened a little. "Now, although we need to take sensible precautions, I don't want to create the impression the school is under siege. There is no particular reason to believe the escaped prisoner intends to come anywhere near Hogwarts. Therefore, extracurricular activities, including Quidditch, will take place as usual, under the supervision of teachers. A schedule of teachers for the various groups will be posted in each common room, and outdoor activities will be organized for those students who are not members of any club. I fully expect the escapee to be apprehended in short order and nowhere near here, but until such time as that occurs, you will all follow these measures." Her mouth primmed again. "I need hardly tell you that penalties for any disobedience in these matters will be severe."
It was a very subdued group of students who left the Great Hall for their first classes. The Hufflepuff and Slytherin first-years found themselves rounded up by Professor Coulson in his border collie form- which was, if anything, even more vigilant than Professor Coulson in his human form- and escorted to the Transfiguration classroom.
As he took his seat, Loki wrestled with two nearly equally strong impulses: to be good and not risk losing points for Hufflepuff, and to have an answer to his suddenly desperately pressing question.
The need to know won. Loki raised his hand as their teacher resumed his human form and turned toward the blackboard.
"Yes, Mr. Odinson?" Professor Coulson said, nodding to him in acknowledgement.
"Please, Professor Coulson- why wouldn't the Ministry say who has escaped?" Loki asked. Professor Coulson raised an eyebrow. Loki flinched, but stood his ground. "They must know," he insisted. "Since they know where the prisoners came from."
"That's true," Professor Coulson agreed. "They must."
"So why wouldn't they- " one of the Slytherin boys spoke up. "I mean, if there are Death Eaters running around loose- " In spite of their usual respect for Professor Coulson's rules of order, a babble of anxious voices broke out, all asking the same kinds of questions.
Professor Coulson raised a hand, and everyone fell still as quickly as if he had cast a silencing charm on them.
"I assume the Ministry is keeping that information to itself to avoid panic," he said calmly, with a reproving look around the class. Loki hadn't joined in the outburst, but he felt himself shrink in embarrassment anyway. Professor Coulson went on, "I can't say I personally agree with that decision, since a lack of information can be more alarming than knowledge. However, none of the prisoners has been described as a Death Eater, and- now that sentences no longer routinely end in insanity or death- a fairly high proportion of the inmates of Azkaban are in there for perfectly ordinary civil crimes." Beside Loki, Mitchell shifted uneasily. The professor went on, "I'm not saying the escapees were serving short sentences for minor or non-violent crimes, because I don't know. And, of course, any escaped prisoner has the potential to react violently if he or she is about to be captured.
"Still, there is no benefit to speculating about exactly what kind of offense any of these individuals may have committed. The precautions being taken here at the school are aimed at minimizing the chances of any student or staff member having an encounter of any kind with these prisoners. So: let's all try to remain calm, shall we?" The expression on Professor Coulson's face made it clear his suggestion was more of a command. It was a subdued class who turned their attention to switching spells.
Professor Coulson stayed in his human form to escort the Hufflepuffs to Potions, but he was quite obviously not planning to answer questions. Professor Slughorn met the students at the classroom door and asked them to take their places and wait quietly for the Ravenclaws, who had been having double Charms with Gryffindor, to arrive.
When Professor Slughorn said "quietly," he didn't mean "in perfect silence," but conversations were expected to be conducted in whispers. Unlike Mr. Filch, Professor Slughorn didn't resort to threats or demands, he simply made a reasonable request that everyone knew was really a command he could back up at any time if he needed to. Nobody wanted to make Professor Slughorn give them detention or a disappointed look, so, while Professor Slughorn was having a word with Professor Coulson in the doorway, the Hufflepuffs collected their cauldrons and talked among themselves in hushed voices.
"Do you suppose they really aren't Death Eaters?" Annie wondered. "Or was Professor Coulson just trying to keep us from worrying too much?" She glanced at Loki. "I think I know what you were thinking."
"That they might be… them? Yeah," Loki muttered.
"But they might just as easily be old mates of my dad," Mitchell said suddenly. Annie, George, and Loki looked at him in surprise, and Mitchell flushed. "Since Loki was honest with us, I might as well- a lot of the people my dad ran with, when he was really young, have ended up in Azkaban. Nothing violent or anything," he added hastily. "But they did things like… petty theft and swindling, receiving stolen property and selling false magical artifacts and that."
"But your dad was a hero," Loki protested in a whisper. "Is, I mean."
"Yeah, he is. But he was also- he was sort of a tearaway after he left school, and I think he thought it would be boring, to just go to an ordinary job every day." Mitchell shrugged. "After he met Mum he started to straighten up, because she didn't like him breaking the law. She always says there are enough people who say stupid things about the Irish, without someone like Dad actually doing stupid things.
"And then Voldemort came back and, and Mum and Dad couldn't be having with that, not with the things he was trying to do." Mitchell smiled. "He was a petty crook and a twister- not, you know, a deranged power-mad murderer. So when your mum got hold of him, to try to help some Muggle-borns get out of the country- "
"My mum?" Loki repeated, which was silly of him, since he knew they had worked together. He had just never thought to ask how that had happened.
"Yeah," Mitchell said. "Dad was messing about with some kind of illegal charms one time, and nearly blew himself up, and your mother treated him. She really should have turned him in, but that was before the war, when the Dementors were still in charge of Azkaban, and Dad thinks she thought he didn't deserve that. So she just warned him off, and then when things got bad for the Muggle-borns she decided he was a good person to go to for help rescuing them. There's really only so much a law-abiding witch could do without help from someone who knew how to get around the law. And anyway, by then Mum and Dad could see the way things were going, in the Ministry, and they knew something had to be done, so they were willing enough to work with her." Mitchell smirked. "Mum says that turned out to be enough danger and excitement to last both of them a lifetime, so after the war Dad got a straight job after all, with George's dad, and went all respectable."
Mitchell's friends were quiet, picturing Mitchell's dad and his mischievous smile. "Respectable" was probably a lot less boring the way Mr. Mitchell did it than when most people did.
"Anyway," Mitchell said firmly, raising his voice a little, "the escapees probably took at least one wand off the healers, to get away like they did. If they were Death Eaters, they would have just used it to kill the healers. So that probably means they weren't. They're probably just regular thieves and swindlers, and all they want to do is hide out somewhere until the heat dies down, and then go back to making a dishonest living. There's nothing for us to worry about."
Before any of the other Hufflepuffs could reply, the Ravenclaws came hurrying in to take their places, and Professor Slughorn asked them to take out parchment and a quill for a short quiz to remind them of certain principles of potion-making they might have forgotten over the holiday.
The quiz was probably intended to make the students focus on something other than the escapees. Loki had no idea whether it worked for anyone else, because he was personally much too occupied with thinking about what Mitchell had told them.
Mitchell had said his whole family- which presumably included his father- had always been in Hufflepuff, the nicest house. And Mr. Mitchell was undeniably nice- Loki remembered the night they arrived home for Christmas, when Mitchell's dad hadn't let Loki wait on his own for his mother, even though there were prefects around to keep an eye on him.
He wasn't just nice. He was a hero, who had risked his own life to rescue Muggle-borns from Voldemort's forces. And he'd done it again and again, until he was found out and had no choice except to escape with his family.
Mr. Mitchell was good, there was no other way to describe him. And the Hat had put him in Hufflepuff.
And yet he had broken the law, and thought it was boring to be respectable. He had been a tearaway who had done all sorts of stupid, illegal things. He had done things that were bad by almost any standard you wanted to use.
And yet, when Voldemort was committing really terrible crimes, Mr. Mitchell was one of the people who stood up against him.
And Loki's mother hadn't reported him to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, which was her duty as a healer who had good reason to believe the injuries she was treating were the result of illegal activities. She had decided he deserved a chance, and had given him one. And then, when she needed to really trust someone to help her do what she could against Voldemort, she had thought of him.
Mum told Dad things. She might not have told him when she let Mr. Mitchell go in the first place, but Loki was sure that when she was working with Mr. Mitchell, to sneak all those Muggle-borns out of the country, she would have told Dad what she was up to, and with who. She had probably even admitted, then, that he was a crook, a twister, but she had liked him and thought he deserved another chance.
Loki stared at his parchment, at the quill writing nonsense he would later receive back with Oh dear written at the top in scarlet ink. He didn't see any of it.
All he could see was his mother holding out her arms to him. Dad making a second copy of the picture of Loki with his friends and his owl, for himself to keep.
Loki had assumed his parents had taken in the Death Eater baby because someone needed to keep an eye on him, so they could stop him if he started to go Dark.
Now he thought… Maybe they really had just decided that he deserved a chance.