Chapter Thirty-Six

Janus and Icarus

Quintin and Jeremy were sitting in the Owl Room going over possible interview questions for Janus Craw when Eben walked in. Quintin gazed at him searchingly, but as always, he was quite difficult to read past his slightly preoccupied expression.

"I'm sorry to hear about your stepmother, Eben," Quintin said sincerely.

"Thank you, she was a good mother, and we'll all miss her very much," Eben said.

"Weird, that's exactly what Douglas said earlier," Jeremy observed, and Quintin flashed him a look of warning.

"Are you alright?" Quintin asked seriously.

"Not really, no, but carrying on," Eben replied.

He pulled out his goal list out so he that could adjust it, glancing at his impressive accumulation of feathers before setting his list down by his homework to think about it.

"Any word on your sister?" Quintin persisted.

"The Ministry believes that it is unlikely any foul play was involved. They believe she left on her own to get away from her family," Eben said. "Father, of course, doesn't believe it for an instant."

"And what do you believe?" Quintin asked.

"I believe that the Ministry has a point, and I hope she has a safe and happy life," Eben said, looking over his homework. Quintin smiled at that.

"Me too," Quintin replied.

"So how are you coming on your research?" Eben asked to change the subject.

"We're in the middle of the Ravenclaw section. Rowena turned out to be relatively easy because we had a lot of written material, but there's so little about Professor Ravenclaw that we're going to have to do interviews. We're interviewing Janus Craw after dinner," Quintin explained.

"I think we should wait and do more research on Slytherin first," Jeremy said, looking at the list of questions they had come up with.

"I promised Ambrose I'd research them in a certain order," Quintin explained. "I still have to do research on Professor Wuscfrea and Master Thames before I start on Slytherin... Spell Creation and Master of Beasts," he said for Eben's benefit.

"I still think we should just stick with the main apprentices... O'Laren, Dusthorn, or Craw," Jeremy said.

"I think choosing Craw as a house name might not go over well, don't you?" Eben commented. "There'd be some backlash from both students and wizards outside of these halls that'd accuse the school of intentionally starting a new house in the hopes of justifying naming it after a politically powerful family."

"That's just stupid!" Jeremy declared. "If Janus had a last name of Johnson or Hacker or something, that wouldn't make him named after a Prime Minister or anything..."

"Who?" Eben asked blankly.

"Hacker wasn't a real Minister," Quintin whispered to him.

"Oh. Well, Malfoy then!" Jeremy improvised.

"For some reason, I don't think that name would go over too well either," Eben said.

"Maybe Eben has a point, Jeremy," Quintin said.

"I disagree! It should be based on the merits of the individual, not the last name. If you don't like it, you can abstain from the vote," Jeremy argued. "Candidates shouldn't be eliminated just because they're distantly related to somebody in the house. If we did that... there wouldn't even be any candidates! Everybody seems to be related to everybody else in this country."

"It's impossible to argue with him when he gets like this," Quintin explained to Eben.

"I've noticed," Eben replied.

"Don't worry, Quintin, I will write down about your protest and your reluctance in my journal," Jeremy said, opening his journal and taking out his quill. "On account of you not wanting to take advantage of your family connections. 'However, since the name will be voted on by all members of the current house, I have pointed out to him that the decision isn't his to make anyway,'" Jeremy said, writing it down.

"All right, you win," Quintin replied, shaking his head with a smile.

"Of course I do," Jeremy said, not looking up from his journal. "As your best friend, I need to be the one person who can win against you. That way, there's always someone there to put you in your place when your ego gets away from you," Jeremy reasoned, adding that in his journal as well.

"Then who is going to put you in your place?" Eben inquired.

"Quintin can put me in my place too," Jeremy defended.

"Along with every girl in the school," Quintin added drolly.

"Hey!" Jeremy glared at him.

"You're right. Apparently Quintin can take care of himself," Eben decided with amusement, then looked up as TJ and Elliot hurried in.

"Oh, good, you're back..." Elliot began.

"Elliot," TJ hissed warningly. Elliot immediately looked apologetic.

"I'm so sorry," Elliot blurted out.

"No, it's alright. If it's all the same, I'd rather you not concern yourselves over my welfare anyway," Eben protested.

"Of course we shall, we're your friends," TJ pointed out.

"Well, I'm already speaking to the assistant housemaster about family concerns. If it's all the same, I'd rather not talk about it to anyone else, and if you really want to make my life easier, you'll let me have the Owl Room as a space where I don't have to talk about it," Eben requested.

"Very well! We'll make it so! Elliot, stand outside the door and make certain that everyone coming in knows not to talk about Eben's hardships in the Owl Room. He needs a break from it," TJ commanded.

"Consider it done," Elliot agreed, and stepped back out the door.

"Thanks," Eben said sincerely.

"Not at all," TJ said, then glanced around. "I see that hardly anyone is in here tonight. I was very much hoping everyone was here, since I have the forms and leaflets for the candy drive. I know I was going to give them out Saturday, but I thought I might bring some in case someone wanted to get started early."

"Sure, I'll take one," Quintin said. TJ brightened, handing him one. Jeremy and Eben put out their hands as well, taking one.

"So, when do these have to be filled out by?" Eben asked.

"Well, we'll need to get these orders to Honeydukes by Friday, February 10th at noon, so I was thinking of setting the deadline to 6 p.m. on Thursday... and if anyone has a last minute panic, we'll take order until 11 a.m. on Friday if they pay a fee," TJ added.

"Clever! I approve," Jeremy decided.

"On Saturday, someone will have to pick up the order at Honeydukes and get it onto some carts that the Willowbys will provide and take it down to the alchemy tunnel so that we can get it to the school," TJ explained. "Eben, I don't suppose you'd be willing to help with that, would you?"

"That's the first Hogsmeade trip since we've been back, isn't it? I have a date, but it should be okay. I'll write and ask," Eben said.

"A date? With someone you have to write to? So someone out of the school... St. James Wizards Academy, perhaps?" TJ asked with a smile.

"No, she's already graduated and it's a blind date, so spare me the interrogation," Eben immediately protested. "If you don't let it go, I won't pick up the order for you."

"Okay, sorry. I was just curious," TJ said. "I suppose this was another one of your father's ideas."

"No, not this time, but I can understand why you might think so," Eben said vaguely, then noticed everyone gazing at him. "Thanks for worrying about me. I'll be okay," he added sincerely.

"Yes, alright, if you're certain," TJ said. "Do you mind handing me that ledger of our fund raising? I'd like to see our progress."

Several of the other students came in, followed by Elliot, sitting down long enough to get something to eat while everyone debated whether the Valentine's Day candy drive was going to be enough to meet their goal or not.

Eventually Jeremy felt a nudge from Quintin and the two of them cleaned up and went upstairs and into the Common Room. Pete, Libby, and Oscar were already waiting at the research table, while Pipaluk was busy getting herself an overly-elaborate mug of hot cocoa, complete with marshmallows, cream, and a candy stick.

"Can I get one of those?" Oscar immediately asked when she came over.

"No, you'll be up all night," Pippa said knowingly.

"Maybe, but it looks like it'll be worth it," Oscar decided.

"Alright, everyone, settle down. Our guest should be arriving soon," Quintin said as he and Jeremy found their seats.

"In how many seconds exactly?" Oscar asked.

"How would he know? It's not like anyone else times their entry precisely like Quintin does," Pete pointed out.

"It's just as well," said the voice of Janus Craw. It was so close to the table that everyone jumped in surprise. "Arriving precisely when someone expects you can be hazardous to your health. Do you really want to make it easy for someone plotting to kill you to set up a bomb or even a convenient accident to cause your demise? Think it through," he added sternly, causing most of the students to look uncomfortable. Quintin simply smiled with exasperation.

"Thank you for coming, Mr. Craw," Quintin said.

"I understand that formalities are generally thrown out the door in this room, so feel free to call me Janus, especially since there is more than one Craw here," Janus replied, a chair sliding out of place even before he materialized behind it. "May I assume you that were going to ask me to sit down?"

"Sure," Quintin said.

"I guess you know why you're here," Jeremy said, getting out both a Dictation Quill as well as his notebook to highlight the important bits.

"Yes, you want to ask me about my best friend, Icarus Ravenclaw," Janus replied.

"So, when did you meet?" Jeremy inquired.

"When I first came to Hogwarts, of course, during this castle's construction," Janus replied. "I came to apprentice under Slytherin, helping him manage his workload by taking on some teaching duties as well as helping instruct his younger apprentices. He also encouraged me to develop my skills with items animation, tasking me with designing the security gargoyles for this castle, most of which are still in use today," he added proudly. "Icarus was just a boy then, and at first I barely saw him, so busy with my work and training. Slytherin never acknowledged him either, nor did he even want him brought up in conversation, often walking away in disgust any time he was mentioned. He was so closed lipped about it that I found out that Ick was his son from my wife."

"Lasair, right?" Quintin said with interest.

"Yes," Janus said with a thin smile. "She was as fiery as her name, her temper matched her hair, and she was much brighter than she ever let on to those who knew her, except for me. Like most good witches of the time, she was always up on the goings on in the castle and served as my eyes and ears to everything going on and every whispered rumor," he explained. "From her, I learned he was Slytherin's son, born from a mistress who died at his birth. I assume he was angered by her death and blamed the boy, and already having a son of his own, saw no reason to acknowledge him... until later on, when his extraordinary gift of sight became known to him... through me, as it so happened," he admitted.

"Through you?" Quintin repeated questioningly.

"It was a very tight lipped secret for a while, but there's only so much you can do to silence a boy making very astounding observations and predictions, so I passed on the knowledge I had learned from my wife to Slytherin, knowing he would want to know about it," Janus said. "He sent for him directly, spending many hours alone with the boy while the rest of his apprentices picked up the slack. Afterwards, Ick was allowed to go back and forth as he pleased, and to be perfectly honest, Slytherin's other apprentices and I rather resented it at first, as did Slytherin's legitimate son. But those comments were made in private; no one dared to go against Slytherin in his presence, because it led to some particularly nasty duels that always ended up in Slytherin's favor. The only person in the castle quicker with the wand was Gryffindor; and that alone kept Slytherin's actions in check."

"Quintin, didn't you say that we weren't supposed to be researching Slytherin until the very end?" Jeremy pointed out.

"Jeremy likes to stay on topic," Quintin explained to Janus apologetically.

"I see, and your research advisor, Ambrose in this case, probably was the one who warned you to wait," Janus mused, and Quintin nodded. "But you can't research a son without mentioning the father, especially when Icarus' tragic ending is so tied up in what his father did to him over the years."

"What he did to him? What do you mean by that?" Jeremy asked with a frown. "Do you mean he abused him?" Janus mulled over it.

"It's rather difficult to answer such a question when standards have changed so greatly since then. If you're asking specifically if he caused him any physical harm, I will say no. Icarus wasn't foolish enough to give him a reason, although Slytherin cast on his apprentices often enough if he thought we deserved a thrashing for poor work or attitude," Janus replied. "Obviously Slytherin was not above violence, but I never witnessed him do so to Icarus, perhaps knowing how swiftly that Ravenclaw would have cut off his access to him had he done so. By the time Icarus was old enough not to need his mother's protection, his father used his skills of persuasion and manipulation to keep Icarus coming to him. Icarus was determined to show his worth, terrified of being rejected again. He honored Slytherin's requests to tell him of events further and further into the future, pushing Icarus further with every attempt. But as much as Icarus had once yearned for his father's approval, Slytherin didn't treat him any better than a servant. And while Slytherin admired and depended on Icarus' power to foresee the future, from my vantage point, it was only his power he was interested in. Even when he gave Icarus that cloak, his interest was to find ways of keeping him here, convincing him to stay and teach and raise his family in the castle. Icarus was just another tool in Slytherin's box, just like I was," Janus admitted.

"Eventually, of course, it all came crashing down when Icarus' mind pushed passed its limit. As his friend, I was concerned when I began seeing erratic behavior as he grew older. Not knowing what else to do, I went to our friends Dusthorn and O'Laren for advice on the matter. What a long night that was," Janus recalled with a distant expression. "That was the night I broke my silence and my vows of loyalty and told them the truth about what Slytherin had been doing to Icarus since childhood, using his ability to see all times to plot ways of extending his influence on Hogwarts far into the future, preparing for the day that Voldemort would arrive and carry out his wish to cast out the blood traitors, exterminate the undesirables, and to at last turn Hogwarts into the school that he had envisioned."

"That sounds quite unpleasant. I don't think I'd want to go to school here if it had gone that route," Pippa said.

"Oh, don't worry. You wouldn't have," Janus said. Pippa frowned. "Your father's a Muggle, after all."

"Havener," Pippa said proudly. Janus sighed at that.

"To Voldemort, a Muggle is a Muggle, whether they have a paper saying they can live in Hogsmeade or not... I guess that also leaves Libby Martin out, and Pete sure as hell wouldn't have made it. And considering Slytherin's followers weren't keen on foreigners either, you'd be better off staying Whitebridge," Janus told Jeremy. "In fact, after sensing all of the bloodlines in this room, the only one of you who could possibly be considered pure enough blood to pass the test is Quintin. Of course, considering the fact that Severus Snape and Thomas Craw betrayed Voldemort... had things gone Slytherin's way, you probably wouldn't even have been born," Janus conjectured, Quintin tightening his jaw at that. "I guess that means this house wouldn't have happened either, since none of you would even be here to start it."

"Well, none of that did happen, so I guess that means that Icarus' talent for seeing the future wasn't so powerful after all," Jeremy said.

"Oh, it was. In fact, it was so powerful that when I went to my friends about this behavior, O'Laren and Dusthorn believed me straight away," Janus continued. "We were able to corner him in his office, and we had what these days you'd call an intervention. We confronted him about what we knew and told him that we weren't going to stand for him being used in such a way anymore. He broke down almost immediately... and as I said before, it was indeed a long night, not only attempting to pull our friend out of his dark depression, but to show our support in turning things around. Caprica especially was in rare form, her obnoxious optimism reminding him time and again that the future could be changed, not that Ick was in the least bit persuaded," he admitted. "So, it was Caprica who pointed out that she would rather do something than let such a dark fate happen without a response. She suggested that it was time to use Ick's knowledge of the future to our advantage by preventing it from happening ourselves. After that, we began meeting in secret, listening to the visions that trouble Icarus the most, and then brainstorming solutions to either keep them from happening outright or to give our ancestors the tools to fight it themselves."

"Like the gem my mother has that cuts through darkness, even when it's caused by Dark Magic," Quintin said excitedly, having heard that part of the story before.

"Yes, it was originally a gift from O'Laren to me for my birthday, actually, to help me keep my mind clear. I had a tendency to brood now and again," Janus admitted.

"That trait sure hasn't gone away," Jeremy said.

"To be perfectly honest, I wasn't certain if the current Keeper of Dark Magic would understand the need for such a strong token of Light Magic," Janus admitted. "But as a Keeper and Sentinel, we are already surrounded by such a cloud of darkness, that I was very much afraid that my descendant would have been taken in by the silver-tongued promises that an Heir of Slytherin would certainly have inherited. As it so happened, I needn't have bothered," he grunted. "My descendant, Thomas, soon realized that his family was more important to him, while his daughter took after the Ravenclaw line, despite being the Sentinel of Dark Magic and my rescuer. Still, I learned that the Gem of Light did end up saving her life at a crucial moment, so I am very glad I made the choice that I had. Just as Icarus Ravenclaw's gift has saved Severus' life on numerous occasions."

"Really? What did Ravenclaw leave for the future?" Jeremy asked.

"A special potion that made him immune to poison and disease," Quintin explained. "And before you ask, no, it can't be duplicated," he replied in advance, and Jeremy closed his mouth. "But it did end up helping Mum with her research for a Lycanthropy preventative dose."

"Yes, and the other two items that O'Laren and Dusthorn left, the School Mirror, and a Scroll filled with spells to protect the school, are in the hands of the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster," Janus said.

"Well, I guess since we're all here, your attempts to change the future were successful," Pete concluded.

"If it were entirely successful, I wouldn't be here as a ghost," Janus pointed out gruffly. "Yes, it's true that Fate went in another direction, and I do feel like we made a difference, some of our plans went so utterly wrong that I certainly wouldn't call them a success. Things only went from bad to worse when Slytherin kidnapped Wuscfrea, and we did some horrid things in response... Icarus had always told us that he and his family were doomed to meet a bad end. We offered to protect them, but he told us that any attempt to stop his demise would increase the chance that Voldemort wouldn't be stopped. No matter how often we tried to talk him out of it, he didn't want Slytherins' heir to come from his own line."

"That wasn't the real reason I did it. At least, it was not the only reason."

The students jumped and looked around as Icarus Ravenclaw suddenly materialized, his expression serious.

"Ick, you're not supposed to be in here," Janus said.

"Fair enough, but not without saying something in my defense," Icarus said firmly. "I loved my family with all my heart, and if I had thought for a moment that they could have survived past my own death, I never would have done it, Janus, Voldemort or not. But they would never have survived. I played the memories over and over again in my mind so often that the horrors didn't leave me, not even in sleep. Constant nightmares of the horrible things that Slytherin's colleagues and apprentices told me they would do to anyone's family who dared stand against him. I did what I had to do to spare their suffering, and I am glad to spend my eternity paying for it, knowing they were able to move on free of pain and torture."

"Well, I'm certainly not going to stand here and get into that argument again in front of students, especially when the argument won't change anything," Janus said, then glanced at the serious expressions of the students at the table. "Perhaps we ought to call it a night for now. Come, Professor Ravenclaw, I don't want to report you to the Headmaster for coming in here without her permission," he threatened.

"Oh, what can he really do about it?" Icarus scoffed in agitation, but turned and floated towards the door, fading away as Janus followed behind to make certain he left the area.

"Gee, that was fun," Pete said sarcastically.

"It was a bit rough," Quintin admitted. "Despite the fact I knew most of it already, honestly."

"I guess all of this is why your parents don't want you around Icarus, then?" Libby asked.

"I don't think that's it. I mean, it's fairly common knowledge how he died and that he killed his family. But he's managed to earn back his respect over the centuries, or he wouldn't be teaching here," Quintin argued.

"True, but I still wonder exactly what happened between him and his father that made him believe that Slytherin's apprentices were going to come after him," Libby replied. Quintin frowned at that.

"I don't think we're going to get the answers to that until we research Slytherin himself," Quintin decided. "In the meantime, I hope O'Laren and Dusthorn have something more positive to say. I'd like to think there's more to Ick than simply going mad and killing people."

"Well, it definitely doesn't inspire me to take his Divination class. Do you suppose we can request a different teacher?" Pippa asked hopefully. Quintin sighed at her, adding to his notebook without answering her.