Chapter 37: An Albatross Arrives
Rita Skeeter got quite a few stares as she passed through the Leaky Cauldron. She was still dressed in her muggle policewoman disguise and looked suspiciously like a muggle to the patrons. At least she no longer had to go through the hassle of finding a taxi and confunding the driver. Now that she knew where Privet Drive was, she could apparate back and forth in an instant.
She was miffed. Her interview with Petunia had been going very well. The muggle woman had been complaining about James Potter. Petunia had made the mistake of inviting Lily and James to the wedding when she had married Vernon.
"Potter kept babbling about his broom," Petunia had said. "His broom! What kind of a man talks about a broom? Does he really expect people to believe he rides one? It was ghastly. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die, and our parents … it must have been agonizing for them. Fortunately Vernon's father is a bit deaf and he thought Potter was talking about curling. As for the other guests, I'd warned them before the wedding that Potter was quite daft and possibly dangerous, so they stayed well away from him. The two of them didn't stay long, thank goodness. I don't know why I invited them, or why they decided to come. I certainly didn't go to their wedding! It would have been terrifying, being surrounded by all those freaks."
But then the boy had come home from school and Petunia had shooed her out. "You have to leave now," she'd said frantically. "I don't want poor Dudley to ask why you're here. It would remind him of his cousin and that would be too traumatic for him."
Well, there was no point in worrying about it. Rita had learned quite a lot from the muggle, and she could always go back for more if she wanted to. Meanwhile, there were other leads to chase down. She clutched her notebook and smiled to herself.
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Life was reasonably normal on Knight Boat Number 6, or as close to normal as life gets on a magical boat. They had just dropped off passengers in Sydney and visited Lydia and Jack in Melbourne. With Jack's help, they had obtained a large bottle of top-quality Australian austromantula powder in trade for a pouch of genuine Welsh wyvern scales.
"Austromantulas are smaller than your acromantulas," Jack had explained. "They're about the size of a Cocker Spaniel, and they live in burrows. They rush out and grab you by the leg, and if you don't curse 'em off quick, they paralyze you with their venom, drag you down their burrow, and suck out all of your juices."
Fortunately, the nasty things shed their exoskeletons as they grow, which can then be collected without getting dangerously close to a live one. The exoskeletons are ground into a powder that is exceptionally valuable for use in Skelegro, and Severus and Seabiscuit were very pleased with the acquisition. It had been a very pleasant and profitable visit.
Kat and Seabiscuit were on deck getting ready to practice Levicorpus as the boat started for New Zealand. They hadn't quite gotten the hang of the spell yet, and had taken to wearing muggle sports helmets and protective padding to avoid injuries.
Severus stood near the railing looking out over the sea as the boat left the harbor. He had dreamed about Hogwarts the previous night, and it had been a pleasant dream instead of a nightmare. He had been patrolling the halls on a quiet night. There had been no Marauders or Death Eaters lurking in dark corners. No Gilderoy Lockhart, no Peeves, and no Albus; just peaceful solitude. And of course the pleasure of catching the occasional hapless student who had ventured out after hours. Such simple pleasures; he almost missed them.
He'd been feeling relatively good recently and he wondered why. Perhaps it was just the passage of time and being far away from wizarding Britain. Or perhaps it was because he'd poured out so much of his anger when he cast Fiendfyre through the gateway to the evil beings. Maybe it was the mushroom tea that the old witch had given him afterward. Or maybe it was just the salt air and sunshine. Whatever the reason was, he hoped it would last, but feared that it wouldn't.
The captain sounded the horn. "Get below decks, you guys!" he called out. "We've gotta dive and make up some time now! Passengers are waiting!"
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Clayton Urquhart, former Slytherin, sat down next to Bentley Ballard, former Gryffindor, in the Great Hall. They were both in East House now, after all.
"What do you want, Slytherin?" Bentley hissed.
"We're supposed to pretend that we're all getting along with each other to appease McGonagall, like we decided at our meeting, remember?" Clayton reminded him. "You do want to get your House restored, don't you?"
"Oh, yeah," Bentley said, looking rather unhappy. It was easy enough to talk about it at a meeting, but he wasn't too keen on actually doing it. Especially while he was trying to eat lunch.
"How about if I help you with your runes assignment," Clayton proposed. Everyone knew that Bentley was pants at runes. "Bring it down to the common room this evening, and I'll give you some pointers."
Bentley thought for a few moments. I guess I've got nothing to lose, and I could use some help, I suppose.
"Okay," he finally said.
"Good, see you tonight," Clayton said as he left the table.
What a dunderhead! he thought. I should be given the Order of Merlin for this, or maybe one of those Oscar things that they give for acting.
Then he spotted Melody Nowak, the former Hufflepuff, now in South House. He waved and wandered over to her.
"Hi, Melody. Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?" he asked, trying to sound much less nervous than he felt.
She looked surprised, and then smiled. "Why yes, that would be nice," she said.
"Good, I'll see you then," he said and thought, Maybe this inter-House fraternizing isn't going to be all bad after all."
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An albatross with a mail pouch was waiting for them when the Knight Boat surfaced near Christchurch. There was a letter from Angie for Kat, and copies of The New World Wizard Times, The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler. For Severus there was a plain brown envelope with no return address.
Seabiscuit grabbed the newspapers and hurried off to start on the word puzzles, while Severus cast a few spells on the brown envelope to make sure that it didn't contain anything dangerous, or lethal.
Fawkes had settled on a railing. The albatross gave him a funny look. "What kind of bird are you?" he squawked. "I've never seen one like you before."
Fawkes flew over to him. "And you probably won't again," he twittered. "I'm a phoenix. We're extremely rare."
The albatross snorted. "You' think I'm stupid? Phoenix is some kind of city, not a bird." Then he took a look at Mavis the parrot. "That your girlfriend?" he asked.
"Of course not!" Fawkes said. "She's way too young for me, and besides, she's a parrot. It would be totally inappropriate."
The sea bird obviously didn't believe him. "Is that so?" he said, making a sneering sort of noise.
Fawkes was about to put the bird in his place when Mavis broke in.
"Yeah?" she hissed. "Well, may the Bluebird of Happiness fly up your beak, ya dumb bustard! I should give you such a peck!" She was dwarfed by the albatross, who was even bigger than Fawkes and had a 12 foot wing span, but she didn't care.
Fawkes was shocked. "Mavis! Such language!"
So was the seabird. "Bustard? I'm an albatross, not a bustard!"
"You're a big bloated bag of feathers!" the little parrot screeched.
"Settle down, birds!" Severus said, scowling. "Some of us are trying to read our mail." Then he headed below decks with the envelope to escape from the racket.
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Ignoring the continued squawking on deck, Severus opened the envelope and found the second issue of the Slytherin Sentinel. The front page featured a nostalgic picture of Slytherins hanging around the common room in happier days, and inside it told him how the remaining students planned to try to get the House restored. They hoped to win McGonagall's favor by trying to get along with everyone. No revenge, no pranks, and no showing off (too much) at Quidditch. Everyone was to be on their best behavior.
He read it through quickly, and his heart swelled with pride in his former students. It was a good plan, and they'd thought of it themselves. There was a flaw in it, but they could deal with that when the time came. Right now, the thing to do was encourage them.
"Hold that albatross, if it's still there," he shouted, and he sat down to compose a letter.
Dear Slytherin students, he wrote,
I want to commend you for your excellent plan. We must restore our reputation if we are to regain our House, our self respect, and our place in the wizarding world.
Yes, it will be difficult to be friendly toward those who despise us. Just remember what's in it for you, and hold the course.
Follow the example of your former Head of House, the late Professor Snape. He had to make both sides believe that he was their loyal pawn, even though he no doubt loathed them all. He did it for years, day after day, even though they all despised him. And he succeeded. If he could do that, you can do this.
P.S. Don't forget to watch your backs at all times!
He signed it with the code name they had given him, Onyx.
It's up to them now, he thought, I've done all that I can. I'm out of it at last, thank Merlin.
"Where's that albatross?" he shouted.