Chapter 33
The Dream
KIARA
"It comes down to this," said Sian, rubbing her forehead. "Either Mrs Clutch attacked Kovu, ot somebody else attacked both of them when Kovu wasn't looking."
"It must've been Clutch," said Chris at once. "That's why she was gone when Kiara and Ma got there. She'd done a runner."
"I don't think so," I said, shaking my head. "She seemed really weak - I don't reckon she was up to Disapparating or anything."
"You can't Disapparate in the Dragon Mort grounds, haven't I told you enough times?" said Sian.
"OK ... how's this for a theory," said Chrissie excitedly, "Outsider attacked Clutch - no, wait for it - and then Stunned herself!"
"And Mrs Clutch evaporated, did she?" said Sian coldly.
"Oh, yeah ..."
It was daybreak. Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I had crept out of our dormitories very early, and hurried up to the Owlery together to send two notes - one to my parents, and the other to my grandmothers. Now we were standing looking out at the misty grounds. The four of us were puffy-eyed and pale, because we had been talking late into the night about Mrs Clutch.
"Just go through it again, Kiara," said Sian. "What did Mrs Clutch actually say?"
"I've told you, she wasn't making much sense," I said. "She said she wanted to warn Crighton about something. She definitely mentioned Bernard Jenkins, and she seemed to think he was dead - which we know is true. She keeps saying stuff was her fault ... she mentioned her daughter."
"Well, that was her fault," said Sian testily.
"She was out of her mind," I said. "Half the times she seemed to think her husband and daughter were still alive, and she kept talking to Perdy about work and giving her instructions."
"And ... remind me what she said about She-You-Know?" said Chris tentatively.
"I've told you," I repeated dully. "She said she's getting stronger."
There was a pause.
Then Chrissie said in a falsely confident voice, "But she was out of her mind, just like you said, so half of it was probably just raving ..."
"She was sanest when she was trying to talk about Zira," I said, ignoring Chris and Chrissie's winces. "She was having real trouble stringing two words together, but that was when she seemed to know where she was, and know what she wanted to do. She just kept saying she had to see Crighton."
I turned away from the window and stared up into the rafters. Half the many perches were empty; every now and then, another owl would swoop in through one of the windows, returning from its night's hunting with a mouse in its beak.
"If Triphorm hadn't held me up," I said bitterly, "we might've got there in time. "The Headmistress is busy, Pride-Lander ... what's this rubbish, Pride-Lander?" Why couldn't she have just got out of the way?"
"Maybe she didn't want you to get there!" said Chrissie quickly. "Maybe - hang on - how fast d'you reckon she could've got down to the Forest? D'you reckon she could've beaten you and Crighton there?"
"Not unless she can turn herself into a bat or something," I said.
"Wouldn't put it past her," Chrissie muttered.
"We need to see Professor Grumpy," said Sian. "We need to find out whether she found Mrs Clutch."
"If she had the Scallywag Map on her, it would've been easy," I said.
"Unless Clutch was already outside the grounds," said Chrissie, "because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't - "
"Shh!" said Chris suddenly.
Somebody was climbing the steps up to the Owlery. I heard two voices arguing, coming closer and closer.
" - that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that - "
" - we've tried being polite, it's time to play dirty, like her. She wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what she did - "
"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"
"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?"
The Owlery door banged open. Tanya and Geri came over the threshold, and froze at the sight of Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I.
"What're you doing here?" Chrissie and Tanya said at the same time.
"Sending a letter," Geri and I said in unison.
"What, at this time?" said Sian and Tanya.
"Yeah, got a problem with that, do you?" said Chris and Geri.
Tanya grinned. "Fine - we won't ask what you're doing, if you don't ask us," she said.
She was holding a sealed envelope in her hands. I glanced at it, but Tanya, whether accidentally or on purpose, shifted her hand so that the name on it was covered.
"Well, don't let us hold you up," she said, making a mock curtsey, and pointing at the door.
Chrissie didn't move. "Who're you blackmailing?" she said.
The grin vanished from Tanya's face. I saw Geri glance at Tanya, before smiling at Chrissie.
"Don't be stupid, I was only joking," she said easily.
"Didn't sound like it," said Chris.
Tanya and Geri looked at each other.
Then Tanya said abruptly, "I've told you before, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but - "
"It's our business to know if you're blackmailing someone," said Chrissie, pointing to herself, Chris and Sian. "Geri's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that."
"Told you, I was joking," said Geri. She walked over to Tanya, pulled the letter out of her hands, and began attaching it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. "You're starting to sound a bit like our older sister, as well as Sian, you are, Chrissie. Carry on like this and you'll be made a Prefect."
"No, I won't!" said Chrissie hotly.
Geri carried the barn owl over to the window and it took off.
She turned round and grinned at Chrissie. "Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."
She and Tanya left the Owlery. Chris, Sian, Chrissie and I stared at each other.
"you don't think they know something about all this, do you?" Sian whispered. "About Clutch and everything?"
"No," I said. "If it was something that serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell Crighton."
Chrissie, however, was looking uncomfortable.
"What's the matter?" Chris asked her.
"Well ..." said Chrissie slowly, "I dunno if they would. They're ... they're obsessed with making money lately. I noticed it when I was hanging around with them - when - you know - "
"We weren't talking," I finished the sentence for her. "Yeah, but blackmail ..."
"Oh, don't tell me it's this joke shop idea they've got going on?" Sian snapped.
"I'm afraid it does, Sian," Chrissie said. Sian threw her hands up in the air in frustration at this, and Chrissie, seeing the questioning look on my face, said, "They, Perdy, Sam and Kat moved in with us after they fell out with their mother. Anyhoo, Tanya and Geri started making order forms when they were at their mum's and continued at the manor. Sian was annoyed by it, and that's why I thought they were doing it - as did the rest of our family, actually - but it looks like they really want to start one. They've only got a year left at Dragon Mort, and they keep going on about how it's time to think about their future. Even though they know we've got money, they won't dare to take it from us - not because they're afraid to ask, but because they didn't want to think that they were a charity .. or something. The point is, they need to get started, and they need to get the funding from somewhere."
"Well, Sian, it looks like you'll never stop them if they're getting serious about it," said Chris snidely.
"Oh, I'll try," said Sian, a determined glint in her eye. "I'm keeping a close eye in them, to see where those forms of theirs are and where Tanya and Geri are hiding them ... but I doubt I'll get anywhere, though." Sian sighed, then said, now sounding uncomfortable, "You don't seriously think they'll do anything illegal to get gold. Would they?"
"Wouldn't they?" said Chrissie, looking sceptical. "I dunno ... they don't exactly mind breaking rules, do they?"
"Yes, but this is the law," said Sian, looking scared. "This isn't some silly school rule ... they'll get a lot more than detention for blackmail! Chrissie ... maybe we'd better tell Perdy ..."
"Are you mad?" said Chrissie. "Tell Perdy? She'd probably do a Clutch and turn them in!" She stared at the window through which Tanya and Geri's owl had departed, then said, "Come on, let's get some breakfast."
"D'you think it's too early to go and see Professor Grumpy?" Sian said, as we went down the spiral staircase.
"Yes," I said. "She'd probably blast us through the door if we wake her at the crack of dawn, she'll think we're trying to attack her while she's asleep. Let's give it 'til break."
History of Magic had rarely gone so slowly. I kept checking Chris' watch, having finally discarded my own, but Chris' was moving so slowly I could have sworn it had stopped working too. The four of us were so tired that we could have happily put our heads down on the desks and slept; even Sian wasn't taking her usual notes, but was sitting with her head on her hand, gazing at Professor Yawn with her eyes out of focus.
When the bell finally rang, we hurried out into the corridors towards the Dark Arts classroom, and found Professor Grumpy leaving it. When we saw her, Sian's Scanner made a loud beeping noise, and Sian, without properly looking at it, pulled it out and quickly switched it off before she replaced it in her pocket. The noise alerted Professor Grumpy, for she jumped and pulled her wand out, looking for the attacker, but she calmed down quickly when she saw it was us. The eyelids of her normal eyes were drooping, giving her face an even more lopsided appearance than ever (considering the fact that her eyelids were drooping one after the other).
"Professor Grumpy?" I called, as we made our way through the crowd.
"Hello, Pride-Lander," growled Grumpy. One of her magical eyes followed a couple of passing first-years, who sped up, looking nervous; it rolled into the back of Grumpy's head and watched them around the corner before she spoke again. "Come in here."
She stood back to let us into her empty classroom, limped in after us and closed the door.
"Did you find her?" I asked, without preamble. "Mrs Clutch?"
"No," said Grumpy. She moved over to her desk, sat down, stretched out her wooden leg with a slight groan and pulled out her hip-flask.
"Did you use the Map?" I said.
"Of course," said Grumpy, taking a swig from her flask. "Took a leaf out of your book, Pride-Lander. Summoned it from my office into the Forest. She wasn't anywhere on there."
"So she did Disapparate?" said Chrissie.
"You can't Disapparate in the grounds, Chrissie!" said Sian. "There are other ways she could have disappeared, aren't there, Professor?"
One of Grumpy's magical eyes quivered as it rested on Sian.
"You're another one who might think about a career as an Auror," she told her. "Mind works the right way, Dawson."
Sian flushed pink with pleasure.
"Well, she wasn't invisible," I said, "the Map shows invisible people. She must've left the grounds, then."
"But under her own steam?" said Sian eagerly. "Or because someone made her?"
"Yeah, someone could've - could've pulled her onto a broom and flown off with her, couldn't they?" said Chrissie quickly, looking hopefully at Grumpy, as if she, too, wanted to be told she had the makings of an Auror.
"We can't rule out kidnap," said Chris quickly, before Grumpy could say anything. "After all, we don't know what happened to her, or where she could be, or who she could be with. The question is why? Why has she vanished? Where has she disappeared off to? And why did she leave so suddenly, when she clearly wanted to talk to Ma?"
Grumpy chuckled. "Well said, boy," Grumpy growled appreciatively. "You've got the makings of an Auror in you, too, Rickers."
Chris looked thrilled at this.
"So," said Chrissie, "d'you reckon she's somewhere in Dragsmede?"
"Could be anywhere," said Grumpy, shaking her head. "Only thing we know for sure is that she's not there."
She yawned widely, so that her scars stretched, and her lopsided mouth revealed a number of missing teeth.
Then she said, "Now, Crighton tells me you four fancy yourselves as investigators, but there's nothing you can do for Clutch. The Ministry'll be looking for her now, Crighton's notified them. Pride-Lander, you just keep your mind on the third task."
"What?" I said. "Oh, yeah ..."
I hadn't given the maze a single thought since I'd left it with Outsider the previous night.
"Should be right up your street, this one," said Grumpy, looking up at me and scratching her scarred chin. "From what Crighton's said, you've managed to get through stuff like this plenty of times. Broke your way through a series of obstacles guarding the Mirror of Wishes in your first year, didn't you?"
"We helped," Chris said quickly. "Sian, Chrissie and I helped."
Grumpy grinned. "Well, help her practice for this one, and I'll be very surprised if she doesn't win," she said. "In the meantime ... constant vigilance, Pride-Lander. Constant vigilance." She took another long draught from her hip-flask, and one of her magical eyes swivelled onto the window. The topmost part of the periscope was visible through it.
"You three" - her normal eyes were on Chris, Sian and Chrissie - "you three stick close to Pride-Lander, all right? I'm keeping an eye on things, but all the same ... you can never have too many eyes out."
0000
My parents sent our owl back the very next morning. It fluttered down beside me at the same moment that a tawny owl landed in front of Sian, clutching a copy of the Daily Squabbler in its beak. She took the newspaper, scanned the first few pages, said, "Ha! He hasn't got wind of Clutch!", then joined Chris, Chrissie and I in reading what my parents had to say of the mysterious events of the night before last.
Kiara - what do you think you are playing at, walking off into the Forest with Kovu Outsider? I want you to swear to your mother and I, by return owl, that you are not going to go walking off with anyone else at night. There is somebody highly dangerous at Dragon Mort. It is clear to me that they wanted to stop Clutch seeing Crighton and you were probably feet away from them in the dark. You could have been killed.
Your name didn't get into the Goblet of Fire by accident. If someone's trying to attack you, they're on their last chance. Stay close to Chris, Sian and Chrissie, do not leave Lion-Heart Tower after hours, and arm yourself for the third task. Practice Stunning and Disarming. A few hexes wouldn't go amiss either. There's nothing you can do about Clutch. Keep your head down and look after yourself. Your mother and I are waiting for your letter giving us your word you won't stay out of bounds again.
Your mother sends her love, as do I.
Daddy
(I should say that, for anyone who wants to know, that I got a letter from Grandmother Sarabi a few days later, reminding me what my parents had said about Kula and Uagadou's reputation, and also to look after myself and to keep myself focused on the task ahead.)
Great, I remember thinking to myself. Just great. I should have know my father would act the overprotective parent. Sure, it made a lot of sense, and it's nice to know he cared, but it was kind of frustrating.
"Who're they to lecture me about being out of bounds - especially my mother?" I said in mild indignation, as I folded up my parents' letter and folded it inside my robes. "After all the stuff she did at school?"
"They're worried about you, as parents should be!" said Sian sharply. "Just like Grumpy and Mina are worried! So listen to them!"
"No one's tried to attack me all year," I said. "No one's done anything to me at all - "
"Except put your name in the Goblet of Fire," said Sian. "And they must've done that for a reason, Kiara. Leo and Leona are right. Maybe they've been biding their time. Maybe this is the task they're going to get you."
"Look," I said impatiently, "let's say Leo and Leona are right, and someone Stunned Outsider to kidnap Clutch. Well, they would've been in the trees near us, wouldn't they? But they waited 'til I was out of the way until they acted, didn't they? So it doesn't look like I'm their target, does it?"
"They couldn't have made it look like an accident if they'd murdered you in the Forest!" said Sian. "But if you die during a task - "
"They didn't care about attacking Outsider, did they?" I said. "Why didn't they just polish me off at the same time? They could've made it look like Outsider and I had a duel or something."
"Kiara, I don't understand it either," said Sian desperately. "I just know there are a lot of odd things going on, and I don't like it ... Grumpy's right - Leo and Leona are right - you've got to get in training for the third task, straight away. And you make sure you write back to Leo and Leona and promise them you're not going to go sneaking off alone again."
0000
The Dragon Mort grounds had never looked more inviting than when I had to stay indoors. For the next few days I spent all of my free time either in the library with Chris, Sian and Chrissie, looking up hexes, or else in empty classrooms, which we sneaked into to practice. I was concentrating on the Stunning Spell, which I had never used before then. The trouble was that practicing it involved certain sacrifices on Chris, Sian and Chrissie's part.
"Can't we kidnap Mrs Robbs?" Chrissie suggested during Monday lunchtime, as she lay flat on her back in the middle of our Charms classroom, having just been Stunned and re-awoken by me for the fifth time in a row. "Let's Stun her for a bit. Or you could use Dokey, Kiara, I bet she'd do anything to help you. I'm not complaining or anything" - she got gingerly to her feet, rubbing her backside - "but I'm aching all over ..."
"Well, you keep missing the cushions, don't you!" said Sian impatiently, rearranging the pile of cushions we had used for the Banishing Spell, which Winds had left in a cabinet. "Just try and fall backwards!"
"Once you're Stunned, you can't aim too well, S.D.!" said Chrissie angrily. "Why don't you or Chris take a turn?"
"Well, I think Kiara's got it now, anyway," said Chris hastily. "And we don't have to worry about Disarming, because she's been able to do that for ages ... I think we ought to start on some of these hexes this evening. What do you think, Sian?"
They looked down at the list we had made in the library.
"I think you're right, Chris," she said, studying the list carefully. "I like the look of this one, the Impediment Jinx. Should slow down anything that's trying to attack you, Kiara. We'll start with that one."
The bell rang. We hastily shoved the cushions back into Winds' cupboard, and slipped out of the classroom.
"See you at dinner!" said Sian, and she set off for Ancient Runes, as Chris headed for Arithmancy, while Chrissie and I headed towards North Tower, and Divination. Broad strips of dazzling gold sunlight fell across the corridor from the high windows. The sky outside was so brightly blue it looked as though it had been enamelled.
"It's going to be boiling in Crystals' room, he never puts out that fire," said Chrissie, as we started up the staircase towards the silver ladder and the trapdoor.
She was quite right. The dimly lit room was swelteringly hot. The fumes from the perfumed fire were heavier than ever. My head swam as I made my way over to one of the curtained windows. While Professor Crystals was looking the other way, disentangling his scarf from a lamp, I opened it an inch or so and settled back in my chintz armchair, so that a soft breeze played across my face. It was extremely comfortable.
"My dears," said Professor Crystals, sitting down in his winged armchair in front of the class and peering around at us all with his strangely enlarge eyes, "we have almost finished our work on planetary divination. Today, however, will be an excellent opportunity to examine the effects of Mars, for he is placed most interestingly at the present time. If you will all look this way, I will dim the lights ..."
He waved his wand and the lamps went out. The fire was the only source of light now. Professor Crystals bent down, and lifted, from under his chair, a miniature model of the solar system, contained within a glass dome. It was a beautiful thing; each of the moons glimmered in place around the nine planets and the fiery sun, all of them hanging in thin air beneath the glass. I watched lazily as Professor Crystals began to point out the fascinating angle Mars was making with Neptune. The heavily perfumed fumes washed over me, and the breeze from the window played across my face. I could hear an insect humming gently somewhere behind the curtain. My eyelids began to droop ...
I remember that I was riding on the back of an eagle owl, soaring through the clear blue sky towards an old, ivy-covered house set high on a hillside. Lower and lower we flew, the wind blowing pleasantly in my face, until we reached a dark and broken window in the upper storey of the house, and entered. We were then flying along a gloomy passageway, to a room at the very end ... through the door we went, into a dark room whose windows were boarded up ...
I had left the owl's back ... I was watching, as it fluttered across the room, into a chair with its back to me ... there were three dark shapes on the floor beside the chair ... they were all stirring ...
One was a huge snake ... the others were both humans ... a man and a woman ... they were both short ... the man was balding, with watery eyes and a pointed nose ... he was wheezing and sobbing on the hearth-rug in the woman's arms ... she had short hair, and sharp eyes that were framed by glasses ... she was holding the man's body rather reluctantly, as though she were wishing she was somewhere else ... and her eyes held a look that was and uncaring as she patted his back ...
"You are in luck, Worm," said a cold, high-pitched voice from the depths of the chair in which the owl had landed. "You are very fortunate indeed. Your blunder has not ruined everything. She is dead."
"My Lady!" gasped the man on the floor, from the woman's arms. "My Lady, I am ... I am so pleased ... and so sorry ..."
"As you should be!" came the woman's harsh, sharp voice. "Your foolish mistake almost cost us everything!"
"Indeed it did," the cold voice hissed softly. "Namzo, you are out of luck. I will not be feeding Wormy to you, after all ... but never mind, never mind ... there is still Kiara Pride-Lander ..."
The snake hissed. I could see its tongue fluttering.
"You could still kill him, my Lady," the woman's voice said quite carelessly. "You know that one of us here is not an incompetent fool."
The cold voice laughed at this. "Indeed I do, Alice, and how noble of you to sacrifice your husband for my cause ... but I'm afraid I am in need of you both for some time still. Now, Wormy," said the cold voice, turning its attention back on the man, "perhaps another reminder why I will not tolerate another blunder from you ... Alice, please stand aside ..."
"My Lady ... no ... I beg you ..."
The woman stepped away from the man, staring at him with a rather cruel expression, as the tip of a wand emerged from the depths of the chair. It was pointing at Wormy. "Crucio," said the cold voice.
Wormy screamed, screamed as though every nerve in his body was on fire, the screaming filled my ears as the scar on my forehead seared with pain; I was yelling, too ... Zira would hear me, would know I was there ...
"Kiara! Kiara!"
I opened my eyes. I was lying on the floor of Professor Crystals' room with my eyes over my face. My scar was still burning so badly that my eyes were watering. The pain had been real. My classmates were all standing around me, and Chrissie was kneeling next to me, looking terrified.
"You all right?" she said.
"Of course she isn't!" said Professor Crystals, looking thoroughly excited. His great eyes loomed over me, gazing at me. "What was it, Pride-Lander? A premonition? An apparition? What did you see?"
"Nothing," I lied. I sat up, feeling myself shaking. I couldn't stop myself looking around, into the shadows behind me; Zira's voice had sounded so close ...
"You were clutching your scar!" said Professor Crystals. "You were rolling on the floor, clutching your scar! Come now, Pride-Lander, I have experience in these matters!"
I looked up at him.
"I need to go to the hospital wing, I think," I said. "Bad headache."
"My dear, you were undoubtedly stimulated by the extraordinary clairvoyant vibrations of my room!" said Professor Crystals. "If you leave now, you may lose the opportunity to see further than you have ever - "
"I don't want anything except a headache cure," I said.
I stood up. My classmates backed away. They all looked unnerved.
"See you later," I muttered to Chrissie, and I picked up my bag and headed for the trapdoor, ignoring Professor Crystals, who was wearing an expression of great frustration, as though he had just been denied a real treat.
When I reached the bottom of his stepladder, however, I did not set off for the hospital wing. I had no intention whatsoever of going there. My parents told me what to do if my scar hurt me again, as did Grandmother Sarabi (and the woman who I went to see, too), and I was going to take their advice: I was going straight to Crighton's office. I marched down the corridors, thinking about what I had seen in the dream ... it had been as vivid as the one which had awoken me in my grandmothers' cottage ... I ran over the details in my mind, trying to make sure I could remember them ... I had heard Zira accusing Wormy of making a blunder, and that his wife did not care for the punishment her husband got, or for him for that matter ... but the owl had brought good news, the blunder had been repaired, somebody was dead ... so Wormy was not going to be fed to the snake ... I, Kiara, was going to be fed to it instead ...
I walked right past the glass elevator that would take me up to Crighton's office without noticing. I blinked, looked around, realised what I had done and retraced my steps, stopping in front of it. I then took out a token Sian had given me (I asked her to give me a few when I returned to the common room the night when Mrs Clutch had disappeared). Once the doors had opened and I stepped inside, I said, "One for the Headmistress' office, please." The doors closed and hooks dropped from the ceiling. I had forgotten why they were there - until the elevator went zooming off around the school, and I grabbed on to one of those hooks and held onto it for dear life, and I didn't let go until I hit the ground again. I didn't even admire the view around me when the elevator went straight through one of the castle's walls, because of the shock of the elevator's speed, mixed in with the horror of the dream, left my mind in a sort of daze, and left no room for much else.
Once I stepped out of the elevator (which zoomed off as soon as I had stepped out of it), I was in front of a polished oak door with a brass door-knocker.
As I got closer to the door, I heard voices from inside the office. I hesitated, listening hard.
"Crighton, I'm afraid I don't see the connection, don't see it at all!" It was the voice of the Minister for Magic, Cornelia Sweets. "Lynn says Bernard's perfectly capable of getting himself lost. I agree we would have expected to have found him by now, but all the same, we've no evidence of foul play, Crighton, none at all. As for his disappearance being linked with Bea Clutch's!"
"And what do you think's happened to Bea Clutch, Minister?" said Grumpy's growling voice.
"I see two possibilities, Aoife," said Sweets. "Either Clutch has finally cracked - more than likely, I'm sure you'll agree, given her personal history - lost her mind, and gone wandering off somewhere - "
"She wandered extremely quickly, if that is the case, Cornelia," said Crighton calmly.
"Or else - well ..." Sweets sounded embarrassed. "Well, I'll reserve judgement until after I've seen the place where she was found, but you say it was just past the Beauxbatons carriage? Crighton, you know what the man is?"
"I consider him to be a very able Headmaster - and an excellent dancer," said Crighton quietly.
"Crighton, come!" said Sweets angrily. "Don't you think you might be prejudiced in his favour because of Mina? They don't all turn out harmless - if, indeed, you can call Mina harmless, with that monster fixation she's got - "
"I no more suspect Monsieur Legrand than Mina," said Crighton, just as calmly. "I think it possible that it is you who are prejudiced, Cornelia."
"Can we wrap up this discussion?" growled Grumpy.
"Yes, yes, let's go down into the grounds, then," said Cornelia impatiently.
"No, it's not that," said Grumpy, "it's just that Pride-Lander wants a word with you, Crighton. She's just outside the door."
