Chapter Eleven
The Trouble with History
The next Broom Practice proved to be a nerve-wracking experience, as Madame Brittle decided to wait until the very end of class, dismissing the Hufflepuff students before turning to the new house and looking at their expectant faces.
"Are we waiting for something?" she asked mischievously.
"You did say that you'd tell us who's on the Quidditch team today," Jeremy pointed out.
"Oh, yes. I knew I was forgetting something," Danny said, but it was obvious from the complaining that none of them were buying it as she got out a scroll. "Quintin, where are you going?"
"To lunch. I'm going to be late, and this has nothing to do with me," Quintin said firmly.
"Really? Then why was your name on the list of students who were interested?" Danny asked curiously.
"What! I'm not interested! I've never been interested. I didn't even go to try-outs, after all..." Quintin paused when he noticed Jeremy's sheepish expression. "Jeremy added my name to the list. And against my wishes, I might add!" Quintin accused him, squinting at him. Jeremy smiled apologetically.
"Well, it's on there, so I considered it," Danny said unconcernedly, then turned to the list. "For purple-gold's Seeker I have here... Curt Darwin," she announced, and a whole lot of congratulations and a pat on the shoulder or two was given as Curt grinned happily. "For Chasers, we have Virginia Clark, Drake Nordby, and Libby Martin," she added, and they paused to congratulate them as well. "For Beaters, Pete Cander, and Team Captain, Jeremy Miller," she went on, and extra claps went up for Jeremy, "and for Keeper, Quintin Snape."
Quintin, who had been busy congratulating his friend, suddenly gasped and turned around.
"Oh, no, not me! I'm not playing. Who's the alternate?" Quintin demanded.
"Yes, about that. There really aren't any," Danny explained with a shrug. "And I am sorry, especially since I know that fact might change before Christmas, and definitely before the year is over. But I have to be especially careful sending you first years out there when the other four teams had very few replacements this year, making them very experienced teams. I had to pick witches and wizards that I knew who could play safely and had the speed and awareness to dodge Bludgers. You really are the only seven I feel who are up to the challenge, to be perfectly honest."
"Are you trying to tell us that if Quintin doesn't play, none of us do?" Jeremy asked.
"Yes, that's about the size of it," Danny said, and the others who hadn't been picked started arguing and volunteering so loudly that she held up her hands in protest. "I'm not saying any of you are bad flyers! I think all of you will be great contenders by the end of the year! But I have to think about your safety, this is a highly unusual Quidditch team!" Danny said firmly.
"And you're positive there will be more ready for the team next year?" Quintin asked her seriously.
"Considering it's my job to make sure that you're all competent flyers by the end of the term, yes, I can guarantee it," Danny promised Quintin.
"Fine. Then I'll play this year just so we aren't left on the bench," Quintin said irritably, then he pointed at Jeremy's nose. "But you join the Tennis Club!" he demanded.
"But it's so boring!" Jeremy whined. Quintin walked towards the library, having no intention of listening to his complaints.
By the time classes were done for the day, Quintin had made it clear to everyone that he had too much on his plate to do football, and that no amount of coaxing was going to change his mind. It was already frustrating enough that his planned weekend of research was going to be interrupted by Quidditch practice, especially when he had already worked out how much time he needed to allot to studies and homework.
"It's not worth the opportunity cost, Jeremy. I have better things to do with my time," Quintin said in the Owl Room at breakfast. "I have exactly one hour and fifty-three minutes available this morning, and I'm going to do some research. It's a matter of priority."
"If you say so," Jeremy sighed, making a note in his journal. "I'm going to go to football practice."
"Be my guest," Quintin said. Jeremy took care of his plate and left the library.
"You're not sore at him for that, are you?" Rus asked searchingly.
"Not really," Quintin replied.
"Even though he thought you were being selfish?" Rus asked.
"He just doesn't understand, that's all," Quintin said. Rus nodded at that.
"True," Rus agreed. "Most kids your age don't understand all of that, you know... how to prioritize and things like that."
"Are you saying that you know how to prioritize?" Sissy teased Rus.
"Sure. I always make time for homework and family," Rus said proudly.
"Fair enough, but how are you at prioritizing your money?" she asked.
"That's different," Rus replied defensively. "If it's my spending money, it should be my right to spend it, after all. It just doesn't ever seem to last is the problem."
"Budgeting money isn't all that different from budgeting your time," Quintin replied. "Speaking of which, I had best get to work," he decided, getting up and going to the main library.
Eben Maxen was the student aid on Saturday mornings, and it wasn't long before he got curious as to what a first year was doing standing in the Restricted Section.
"Are you supposed to be in there?" Eben asked Quintin. "I don't want you to get into any trouble."
"Mr. Tinker wrote me a note, and Boulderdash approved it. I'm looking up the backgrounds to several Hogwarts professors and that includes looking into their written research... it isn't all in here, though," Quintin mused, pulling one out. "Oh, look... I think this one is in old Danish or something... the translation is out of alignment."
"I'll take that back to the desk so Boulderdash can fix it," Eben offered.
"This one's in Cymraeg, but I can deal with that," Quintin said, looking it over. "Some of it will be a chore to work out, though... do you suppose I can look in the runes and ancient texts section in case I run into something I don't recognize?"
"I don't see why not. It would count as reference," Eben said. "But if you don't mind my saying so, I've never met an eleven-year old that could comprehend any of this stuff, let alone be interested in it."
"I'm researching the founding years of Hogwarts. If I want any information other than legends, I don't have much of a choice," Quintin explained as the two of them walked back to the Runes section. It was all the way in the back, and Quintin found himself looking at the open door of the Research Library. "I bet there's something interesting back there that can help fill in some blanks. I wonder if my permissions are still on the door?"
"You have permission? But that's faculty only," Eben pointed out.
"Actually, the permissions are for staff, auxiliary, and full-time denizens," Quintin explained, working his way out of the Restricted Section.
"Sure, so that ghosts can get in," Eben said, following him over. "They count as full-time denizens." Then he watched as Quintin walked past the security fields and stepped inside.
"And so do I," Quintin replied, nodding in confirmation. Eben, helpless to do anything to stop him, decided to head back to the desk and mention it to the first professor that came in.
Quintin went back to the history section, pleased when he was able to find a couple of the books he had been looking for and brought them to the center table. On a whim, he also checked the staff's private shelves to see what the professors were working on. That was when he found something particularly interesting on his mother's shelf and pulled it out as well. He laid his books and journal out in an efficient manner, carefully putting his inkwell far away from the books. He then got out a pair of clean gloves out of his cloak, putting them on as a precaution before going through the tome in front of him.
It was nearly a half an hour later when Jennifer stepped in to do some research of her own, walking around the draped crystal and then pausing with a smile to see him hard at work at the table.
She had often heard others comment how much Quintin took after her, but as she watched him meticulously study the tome in front of him, he reminded her a lot more of Severus. He was focused, methodical, and steadfast in a way that Jennifer never was. And while some of that had to do with Quintin's sense of time, Jennifer could see quite plainly how much of it that he had inherited, along with his love of books, fostered as it had been by years of his father reading to him as a child.
Still smiling softly, Jennifer walked over, waiting for him to notice her before stepping closer to investigate what he was working on. He was looking over one of Janus Craw's journals, she mused, the one she had set aside to look at herself.
"I see you're working hard," Jennifer said out loud. Quintin could plainly see from her expression that she was curbing her desire to remind him that students weren't normally allowed in that section.
"Sorry, Mum. The main library didn't have what I needed. Most of the books out there don't even go back far enough," Quintin explained. "A lot of the history about the founders in modern text books are either generalized or based on legends..."
"Oh, yes, I know the problem well. I'm running into the same sorts of barriers doing the background research on the Sorting Hat," Jennifer said, sitting down across from him. "It reminds me of the problems Aurelius ran into looking for Arthur's scabbard. There were legends galore everywhere he looked, but attempting to separate them from the facts wasn't easy."
"Ambrose said the same thing about writing his addendum. He ended up relying heavily on interviews for a lot of it," Quintin said.
"Yes, Aurelius did as well... it was Arthur Weasley and Eric Dalance who helped him the most," Jennifer recalled. "I'll concur that we'll probably have to resort to ghost interviews ourselves, but I would like some sort of unbiased foundation to work off of first."
"That's what I was thinking too, and here I am reading Janus Craw's journals," Quintin realized, setting them aside. But then he frowned, picking up the book that Helga Hufflepuff had written. "It's just like Professor Scribe says, isn't it? Even books are opinions of everything. Are these truly facts, past the dates and names? They're all opinions too... opinions that were written down. I wonder if we're just wasting our time?" he pondered with a sigh, opening up the book. "How can I find the truth when the truth seems to be different for everyone?" Jennifer, who had been pondering exactly the same thing, felt another presence in the room and looked up to see that Severus had stepped in and was watching them work.
"Have you joined my staff without telling me?" Snape inquired, gazing at Quintin questioningly.
"You're not going to take me off the door, are you?" Quintin asked.
"Don't worry, Quintin. If he does, I'll make sure you get the books you need somehow," Jennifer assured him, pretending she didn't notice when Snape's eyes fixed on her. "After all, we may have different goals to accomplish, but we are researching the same time period. It's an extremely difficult time period to research even for adults, considering the amount of legends we have to sit through to get to the facts. Perhaps our research teams should try to help each other."
"If that's your way of asking me to permit any other students back here, you are wasting your time, Professor Craw," Snape said firmly.
"I wasn't asking for that in the slightest. We both know just how much of a headache that would be," Craw said. "Even so, I believe we ought to leave Quintin in the system, since most of what he needs is more likely to be back here than out there. Besides, Severus, it isn't as if it's the only time we've given extra permissions to students involved in formal research. Like Viorica, for example, when she was in my office at all hours helping with the Lycanthropy Research, as well as Ambrose, allowing him to make endless appointments and interviews when he was working on his paper," Craw pointed out.
"The difference being that in both of those cases, there was a formal paper produced," Snape replied, glancing between them. "If you want to keep this privilege, Quintin, I expect the same from you... a formal, publishable research paper that focuses on separating the facts and fiction about the founding of Hogwarts. And since Professor Craw has her own paper to write on the Sorting Hat as an artifact, she'll be too busy to help you with it, although I'm certain there will be plenty of cross research, considering your subjects are interlinked."
"A formal research paper? That sounds hard," Quintin said flatly. He remembered how much Scribe had marked up his first essay, despite having the best mark in class.
"So it is, but I've been told by Professor Boulderdash that your research permissions were given to you by Mr. Tinker. Therefore, I'm putting him in charge of teaching you. In fact, since I happen to know that your house has a large open block on Tuesdays, I'll see about adding you to one of his Technical Writing courses. I trust you'll be motivated to catch up," Snape added for good measure.
"Yes, sir," Quintin said. Snape nodded, then stepped back out of room. Quintin glanced at his mother. She was smiling in amusement because Severus had decided to go along with it. "I guess I'm going to have to change my entire time schedule again," Quintin complained with a sigh.
"That's just the way life works, Quintin. There will always be unexpected things that will waylay your best laid plans," Jennifer informed him. "Why do you think your father makes so many contingency plans?"
"Does he ever run out of them?" Quintin asked curiously.
"Now and again, yes," Jennifer said with a chuckle. "So which of these books did you want to work on now and which do you want to store on your shelf?" she asked. Curiously, Quintin looked behind him, and then smiled when he saw that the Headmaster had indeed set up a shelf for him while they were talking.
It was after Quidditch practice as they were walking back to the Common Rooms that Quintin had a chance to tell Jeremy and his teammates about having an extra class on Tuesdays.
"Technical Writing? For a formal research paper?" Pete repeated. "Is that on top of the one Professor Scribe wants us to do at the end of the year?"
"This one will be a bit more complicated than that," Quintin admitted.
"He means the sort of papers that teachers write for educational magazines and textbooks and stuff like that," Jeremy explained.
"But you're just a kid! A really, really smart kid, but still a kid," Pete protested.
"Mr. Tinker did something similar when he was in school, and he was eight," Quintin informed him.
"Yeah, kid authors happen in the States sometimes too," Jeremy replied. "Besides, we were going to have to research all of this stuff anyway, so it only makes sense to get credit for it."
"I'm not doing it for the credit, I'm just doing it so he doesn't revoke my Research Library privileges," Quintin admitted. "Trust me, it'll be a lot easier to get this research done if I have access to it, not to mention the fact that by doing a formal paper, I'll also have permission to interview and ask help from all of the teaching staff too. And since my mother is researching the Sorting Hat, we're going to trade information when we find something interesting about what the other is working on. I'm going to meet with her for a second lunch every week to discuss it."
"Can't you talk to her about it during the first lunch?" Pete asked.
"No, that one's for Truth Seeker training, and it's also with Rus," Quintin explained.
"I don't see how you have time for any of this extra stuff," Curt commented from behind them.
"Nobody manages time like Quintin does," Oscar pointed out.
"True, but now maybe you understand why I'm not doing football. It's bad enough I have to do Quidditch," Quintin said.
"Quidditch is the best sport ever! You'd be better off giving up the Tennis Club," Jeremy advised.
"Asking me to give up the Tennis Club would be like asking Oscar to give up the Bridal Club," Quintin protested.
"What! I'd never do that, not in a million years!" Oscar said fervently. "I love horses. I have since I first came to live at the farm and my new father took us through the stables. He taught us how to ride them and take care of them, and any time I get lonely for home, I can go to the Bridal Club stable and it cheers me right up. I'd never give it up. Quintin... I bet you feel like that about tennis too, because it reminds you of summer holidays and spending time with your family at Parra, right?" Oscar added excitedly. "It's a good thing the Owls helped build the tennis courts. I bet it was Jay's idea. I know he likes tennis too, because my Dad's been meeting him for tennis every month for simply years now..."
"Oscar, what did you eat for lunch this time?" Quintin cut off abruptly.
"What? I didn't have anything. It's probably just all the exercise from practice."
"Then maybe you ought to go do your meditation so you can be calm enough to study," Quintin suggested.
"Yeah, I probably better," Oscar agreed, hurrying ahead while the others took a more leisurely pace, putting away their equipment so they could study before dinner.
Laura watched with interest as Jennifer ran some extra tests on the Hat, writing down all of her observations in a book as she tested the Hat's components. Every now and again, the folds would change, making Laura feel as if the Sorting Hat was peeking at them, just like a cat pretending that it wasn't curious about what was happening around him.
"The leather itself is normal except it's high quality, charmed with preservation spells and oiled with a protective coat that keeps it malleable, fire resistant, and resistant to milk and juice stains," Jennifer commented.
"Resistant to milk and juice stains?" Laura repeated.
"Yes, well, I'll admit that one comes from first hand knowledge. My youngest two children are very fond of that Hat, and it seems to reciprocate," Jennifer replied.
"Yes, but why would it? It's hardly designed to play with children," Laura said.
"Isn't it, though? It does sit on their heads and chooses a house to put it in. A child might see that as a game, especially when it tells a rhyme every year... and it knows an extraordinary amount of nursery rhymes too," Jennifer replied. "I'm also quite sure that there's likely to be a memory charm on the Hat itself to gather information from those who wear it, not only to sustain its function but to help it adapt by utilizing the information it gathers as people put it on."
"Sure, but with that much mimicked sentience?" Laura asked curiously.
"Well, what if we think of it more like an art piece... like a painting..." Jennifer mused. "What if it's rather like a sculpture designed to mimic its owner," Jennifer surmised, bending over to stare at it. The Hat kept his eyes shut tight. "If that's the case, its personality is probably derived from Gryffindor himself."
"So you don't think it was charmed with a spell from all four founders like the legend says?" Laura asked.
"No, not really," Jennifer said. "I want to talk to Janus about it to ask for sure, but I think that story is there only to perpetuate the idea that all four of them were still getting along at that point," she explained. "We really don't know much about the politics during that time period other than what we've learned from the apprentices. Perhaps it would have been politically dangerous for things to unravel just then... or it posed an existential threat to the school. Perhaps the only way to preserve Hogwarts was to keep everyone thinking that everything was alright even though the founding teachers knew things were far from perfect." She took a closer look at the thread, turning him upside down so she could get a better look at it. "I wonder if they used the Distaff's charmed thread in the Sorting Hat just because the holding spell would keep it from unraveling, or if there's some other reason?" she asked curiously. "I wonder if there's a safe way I can get a sample of it -"
"Touch my thread and I swear I'll never Sort another student again!" the Sorting Hat suddenly barked, squirming in her hands. "And do you mind putting me right side up? How would you feel if anyone turned you upside down to inspect your inner parts?" he huffed irately.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Jennifer said sheepishly, quickly putting it back on the table. Laura sniggered.
"You're no help, Laura."
"Well, he wasn't exactly hostile until you started talking about dissecting him, was he?" Laura pointed out.
"I wasn't – Hat, all I meant was a getting tiny sample piece from thread you weren't using," Jennifer explained.
"And which of your fingers and toes aren't you using and want cut off?" the Sorting Hat retorted.
"Yes, alright," Jennifer said in annoyance. "Perhaps since you're awake, maybe you can tell me if the thread does anything special."
"It certainly does! It holds me together so that I can Sort students and protect myself from nosy professors!" the Sorting Hat retorted. "And you stop sniggering, Ravenclaw!"
"Sorry," Laura said, having a hard time holding it back.
"Well, tell me the truth about who really charmed you, then, because I really don't believe the story that all four founders charmed you to give you intelligence. Are you some sort of leather homunculi or something?"
"Homunculi?" Laura asked.
"Golem, I mean. I was thinking perhaps Janus charmed him like he did the gargoyles," Jennifer conjectured.
"I have never been so insulted in my life! Take me back upstairs! It's almost Seren's bedtime and I'd rather be with a real child than someone who behaves like one!" the Sorting Hat huffed.
"Oh, honestly!" Jennifer said with exasperation.
"I should go pick up the girls from daycare anyway," Laura admitted with a smile.
"Oh, give them kisses for me!" Jennifer requested. She picked up the Hat by the tip, frowning at it. "You'd be better off cooperating, you know," she scolded the Hat. But after gazing at her warily, the Hat closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep again. Sighing at that, Jennifer carried it back upstairs.
It wasn't long after taking a walk around the grounds to discuss possible security changes that Jennifer finally breached the subject of the Sorting Hat. She and Janus were walking near the base of the Guard Wing's tower, where an arch of limestone blocks betrayed the fact there and once been a door leading in the direction of the front gates.
"A leather golem? Isn't that a bit of a stretch?" Janus asked skeptically.
"I didn't think so, until you put it like that. After all, homunculi don't have to be made of stone to be animated, surely," Jennifer said.
"I suppose it depends on how long you mean for it to last. I designed the gargoyles to last centuries, if not longer. I wouldn't have used such magic on perishable materials, so if you're implying that I had something to do with that Sorting Hat being charmed, I did not," Janus informed her. "As a matter of fact, it was still on Gryffindor's head the day I left, when I went to the study to let him know I was leaving. I didn't even know the Hat had survived until I got back here and saw it during the Sorting Ceremony."
"Oh, I see. So when you left, the Hat was still normal," Jennifer mused.
"Yes, to me, anyway. I'm not sure it was ever normal to Gryffindor, since he was strangely attached to that hat. He wore it all the time, and I had never seen him wear another," Janus said with a shrug.
"And the Sorting Hat itself... do you think that its personality resembles Gryffindor's?" Jennifer asked.
"Resemble it? It's practically identical, I'd say, not that I've really had much reason to converse with the thing. Typically, I have better things to do than talk to grubby old head apparel," Janus said indignantly.
"Then I suppose it must be just like paintings," Jennifer mused. "Maybe the memory charm was on the Sorting Hat from the beginning, and it soaked up enough of his personality that it's been able to imitate it."
"I can see the logic to that explanation," Janus replied.
"I wonder what sort of event memory it has? I wonder if it may have some knowledge of what happened after you left for the isle?" Jennifer asked.
"If it does, it probably has some bleak memories indeed, considering how things went from bad to worse, just as Icarus predicted they would," Janus said somberly.
"Hang on... you left after Slytherin died, since you helped construct the Tomb. So if the Sorting Hat was just a normal hat when you left, it was definitely not charmed by Slytherin in any way," Jennifer concluded.
"I would say that was a given," Janus agreed. "Was there anything else? If not, I should get back to my duties. I still need to finish setting up that security gargoyle you wanted me to add to the new secret passage on the fourth floor."
"Yes, alright," Jennifer agreed, watching as Janus floated out the blocked archway while Jennifer resumed her security checks.