Chapter Eleven

Party Time

For some time now, Jane had been receiving more and more assignments related to the Order of the Phoenix. Even before visiting her aunt, she managed to complete two and mess up her third task, which then had to be completed not by anyone else but Professor Snape himself.

'There's no point in hiding Professor Snape's abilities from you,' the headmaster had told her shortly after the incident. 'You are already aware of them, as far as I understand. I'm not happy with you, nor with the fact that I have to send him to do your work. I hope that at least it won't happen again and remember that your successes are successes for the Order, and your failures – even greater failures for it.'

Jane sighed and fell silent. She knew that her tasks weren't so complicated and dangerous for now, but they would become so. Professor Dumbledore had promised to hand over most of Snape's tasks to her in the future, because he was already very busy, poor soul.

The teacher was thinking about this one early afternoon as she watched rags of snow fall in front of her window. Besides her, the room had accommodated the entire "Magic Wind" band, which was rehearsing the same songs once again. However, things did not go quite smoothly.

'Damn, we're playing rubbish!' Lily shouted at her classmates in a panic. 'Gerald, did you catch a cold? What about you, Seth, are you drumming on kitchen pots now? We'll play in front of the whole school! Do you want the others to throw tomatoes at us and tell us that we blow?!'

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing exactly what to do.

'Don't worry, Lily. Breathe.' Euphem seemed to be the only one brave (or stupid) enough to try and calm her down. 'Come here.'

The others started leaving their instruments to follow them.

'You keep playing,' Jane advised, glancing at the blondes walking away across the room.

The two secluded themselves in the corner, and Euphem waved his hands passionately, apparently explaining what he was doing when he panicked during a Quidditch match.

'Thank you for letting us use your room, Associate Professor Undead,' August whispered as he tuned his bass guitar. 'We were going quite mad over there.' And he glanced furtively at Lily.

'She's talented, poor thing, but gets a hell of nerves sometimes,' Jerry added, much quieter than he should.

'I suppose I'll have to find you some soothing decoction,' Jane said thoughtfully. 'It helps me, sometimes. I think Madam Pomfrey has it in stock, the fifth and seventh graders need it regularly.'

'Can't you do it?' Jerry asked, adding, "We can't since we're not allowed to brew potions out of class.'

'Not that anyone has tried,' Seth said.

'And in class hardly anyone will dare. We all know what Snape is like.'

'Professor Snape, Jerry. In fact, call him an "old goat" if you want. But make sure no one hears you. I know him quite well. Conceited, arrogant, omniscient… But I said more than I should have.'

The three students laughed at this sincere opinion, then looked at the two in the corner as if on command. They needed them for the rehearsal. However, they didn't seem to have finished yet, as Lily was just explaining something to Euphem.

'You were just playing "This Is The Night"', Jane reminded the three boys.

'Yes, indeed.'

The music started again. She leaned back in her chair and stared out the window at Professor Hagrid, who was carrying a huge Christmas tree across the schoolyard. At that moment, a loud crash was heard in the corridor, and everyone was startled.

'What is this, kappi take it?' Lily shouted more calmly now. 'It sounds like someone's unloading tin.'

Only August laughed and gave a thumb up, while the others tried to remember how tin was loaded.

'I'm going to check,' Jane said. 'You continue the rehearsal.'

'I want to come with you,' Jerry announced, setting his microphone aside.

'And how exactly are we going to rehearse without you?' August was irritated.

'You'll do just fine for ten minutes.'

Jane checked her wands and other gadgets, then opened the door with magic and they went out into the corridor. They walked in the middle, looking back and forth for the source of the noise. It was probably just Peeves, but Jane still thought it was her teacher's duty to see for herself. Jerry looked around, too, apparently hoping to catch the poltergeist in action.

Very soon, however, it turned out that they were wrong in their assumptions. On the floor, next to an armour with a helmet tilted to one side and arms protruding in different directions, a student with an orange mess in place of his head, was rolling holding on to his leg. Jerry pulled a lock of his black hair, which obviously made him feel cool, and whispered to his teacher, 'This is Ron Weasley from our year. But I have no idea what happened to him.'

'We'll find out now.' Jane shouted louder, 'Ronald, are you okay?'

The boy raised his head and looked quite astonished at the teacher and the student in front of him.

'I'm fine, Professor,' he shouted after a moment. 'Everything's alright. As was walking, I bumped into the armour.'

'I don't believe it,' Jane said gravely. 'If you were really alright, why are you still holding on to your leg? Don't stand up, you may have broken it.'

She knelt beside him to examine his leg. It didn't look that bad, but one never knows. She cast a spell that wrapped a tight bandage around his ankle and asked Jerry, 'Help me get him to the hospital wing.'

However, Jerry was strong enough to support him on his own, so Jane just walked next to them to see if she could help with anything.

Fortunately, the matron wasn't particularly busy at the moment. There were only two patients who had been injured while trying to skate on the lake using magic. Muttering about them, Madam Pomfrey examined the boy's ankle, reassured him it wasn't broken and began bandaging it again. Then she announced that it was ready and he could leave at any time, and as long as he was careful for the next few days, everything would be fine.

Jane, who had been wandering aimlessly up and down the room, approached them and, in an attempt to cheer up the injured boy, said, 'Let's hope it gets better for dances.'

However, the boy shrank even more and said nothing. Jane looked at the Ravenclaw and raised her hands in the air. Jerry whispered softly, 'I'll take care of it. Wait for me outside.'

'I'll just go to ask Madam Pomfrey for the potion first,' Jane said. She looked at the student, wondering if she should peek into his mind, then gave up. After the failed task, she wanted to distance herself from Legilimency for a while, besides Weasley didn't look dangerous.'

Luckily, the matron had just brewed the decoction and gladly agreed to give her two vials. However, the teacher's thoughts were occupied with something else. "Apparently age takes its toll," she thought at the door. Until now, she had thought she could always communicate properly with all students, even without her special skills, but that was clearly not the case. Good thing Jerry was with her, maybe he could handle this situation somehow.

Jerry himself came out soon, and after closing the door behind him, the two had a brief conversation.

'Ronnie's fine, he'll be alright,' he assured his teacher, smiling. 'Can you imagine, he kicked the armour because some tart refused to go to the ball with him?'

'I'm sorry that I spoke about the dances.'

'Oh, don't worry. I felt sorry for him and for the fact that the doesn't attract the birds like Euphem, so I told him I'd help him.'

'And how exactly do you intend to do it?'

'Do you remember that green costume we made for me? I think it'll fit him with very few corrections. It'll look good on him, don't you think?'

'You see, Jerry,' Jane began slowly, 'it's commendable that you want to help your classmate, but do you have to make him look like a leprechaun at the ball?'

'I understand what you mean,' he said, barely suppressing his attempt to laugh, 'but it won't be like that. You'll see.'

Jane let them do whatever they wanted and told Jerry she was going to see how far his friends had gone with playing. The students greeted her with questions from the very entrance, 'Associate Professor Undead, isn't Jerry with you? We can't rehearse without him.'

'He's helping a classmate of yours, he said he'll come after a while.'

'I hope he won't be late,' Lily said, motioning for the others to continue.

And he wasn't. Or at least, not much. About ten minutes later, he appeared with Ronald, who was wearing a bright pink costume. The boys stared at him startled, and after a while, everyone in the room except Gerald and Ron burst into laughter.

'Very funny,' Ron muttered, sulking even more.

'Associate Professor Undead, I fixed the measures easily, but when I decided to change the colour, something went wrong,' Jerry said with a guilty look. 'Here's the jacket, it turned magenta.'

Another burst of laughter. After a while, however, Lily took on a more serious expression and scolded the boys, 'Come on now, calm down, don't laugh like a pack of hyenas. Associate Professor Undead, will you help? I'll probably succeed on my own, but like Jerry, I don't guarantee about the colour, so better you do it.'

Jane, who had been trying to laugh less than the others, pulled the wand out of her pocket and walked over to Ronald. She uttered a not very complicated spell, and the clothes quickly changed their colour to dark green.

'Maybe a little darker,' Jerry said thoughtfully, and the others nodded.

Jane waved her wand again, like a fairy godmother, and this time the clothes took a much more pleasing tone.

'And now, you're going to need a hairstyle,' Jane suggested, and before he could answer, she magically tied the boy's lush orange mane to a smooth tail. 'So what do you say?'

'I'll say I like it better that way,' Jerry replied.

'I think that way, too,' August added.

Seth, whom everyone was already looking at, hurried to confirm that he agrees with them. Lily smiled and patted Ronald on the shoulder in approval.

'You look like a rocker,' she said, and it sounded like praise.

'Make the man a mirror, let him see himself,' Jerry suggested.

'Why didn't you do it?' Lily hurried to counter him. 'Can not you?'

There was a long pause, then Lily conjured a large mirror on the wall herself.

'Here you go,' she said kindly to Ron, moving away so as not to obstruct him.

Ronald went to the mirror and froze.

'This isn't me!' he shouted. 'I look older, almost like my brother Bill.'

'Is that good?' Lily asked.

'Oh yeah. My brother is handsome. Thank you very much.'

They gave Ronald tea, and soon after, Jerry took him to their room to change into his old clothes and sent him away.

The teacher sighed. The children had turned out quite capable.

Three days before the concert, Jane discovered that she didn't have suitable clothes for the ball. If she were 21 again, she would just put on some leather and tie herself with chains, but alas, her crazy rock'n'roll years were long gone, and it would be far more appropriate for her to look like a teacher – in a dress, suitable hairstyle and shoes. Although she had a lot of work to do, she managed to spare two hours to jump to Diagon Alley, where she liked a blue dress in Madam Malkin's window. She was thinking a lot about whether she should buy it now, but since she didn't have time, she decided that after she tried it, it fitted and she liked it, it would be better to take it right away. She also bought sandals with symbolic heels (after all, she didn't want to wear a bandage like Ronald Weasley's after the ball) and decided she did a good job.

The next morning she saw Lily at breakfast and asked her to come to her office for a while to show her the dress.

As soon as they went into the room, Jane drove the cat out of the bedroom so she wouldn't go through her new dress and sprinkle it with hair, and began changing. After a while, Lily came in to help her with the zipper (it was hard to fasten it, even with magic, because it was on the back and even in the mirror she would hardly succeed). The mirror from the other day was still on the wall because it didn't bother anyone, and Jane was too lazy to remove it. She walked over to it and looked at herself. She had made some changes to her outfit, mainly adding small bronze chains and zippers garnished with small guitars, and in combination with it, she would wear an old leather jacket that had been specially repainted in blue and polished for the occasion.

'Well, Lily, we're alone, so you can tell me the truth. Is this rubbish worth anything?'

'Looking like that, I think you've decided to impress someone,' Lily smiled.

'Maybe,' Jane smiled, too, involuntarily remembering Sirius Black. 'Do you think it'll work?'

'Definitely,' Lily replied, giving two thumbs up.

After the redecoration, the Great Hall had become unrecognisable. Heavy plush curtains tied with bronze chains hung down in front of the windows, the parquet was polished until it was shining, the stage – the work of the Muggle Studies teacher and Hagrid – was spacious and high, and the tables were more and smaller, adorned with blue garlands with chains. The little guitars, Jane's inventions, fluttered everywhere and played various melodies as if they were crickets.

The only problem was that the band was late. They must have been caught in a snowstorm, or snowdrifts had buried the rails. No one knew exactly what had happened, they had only received a brief note stating that they would come later and that they had difficulties travelling, but would overcome them. So the fun had to start without them, and Jane, as she felt personally responsible for delivering the band, didn't dare enter the hall, but wandered between its door and Lily and the boys' dressing room, which was on the first floor, a little down the hall from the Great Hall.

'What's going on, are they coming?' Lily asked for the umpteenth time.

'They haven't come yet,' Jane replied. 'I can't tell you anything new. I dare not send them an owl, the bird might get lost in the storm. Besides, they wrote that everything was alright. They have to come.'

'Is the hall full?' August joined in.

'Almost everyone has gathered. We'll start soon. You better stay here, I'll get you something to eat if you're hungry.'

'We don't want to eat anything. Just let this concert begin,' said Jerry, who, despite laughing at Lily, was beginning to suffer from nervousness himself.

'I hope they don't hang me somewhere to dry,' Jane muttered. 'Since I'm responsible for the "Weird Sisters" journey.'

'Don't worry, Associate Professor Undead, no one will hang you anywhere.'

'I'll go see what is happening.'

Jane went down to the Great Hall, wrapping herself in her jacket along the way. It was cold in the Entrance Hall, she was dressed thinly and already freezing.

Soon all the students and teachers had gathered in the Great Hall, and Professor Dumbledore announced the beginning of the celebration. As befits an honest leader (a very rare phenomenon), he acknowledged that the headliner had not yet arrived, but they were working on it (as if someone could do something) and suggested that they started having fun without them. This idea received strong support and soon there was food and music in the hall. The students, although a bit dissatisfied with the lack of performers, started having fun without them.

After half an hour or a whole hour, she didn't know how much, Jane felt the cold blowing straight from the front door, and without thinking much, as she was angry, shouted, 'Which idiot has OPENED the damned door!'

And she turned round in an instant.

'Sleep, little sister, we won't bother you anymore,' Carl said as he approached her and smiled. 'But you're completely frozen,' he said when he noticed that she was shivering from the cold.

'Guys, Carl, I'm sorry, I decided it wasn't you. You entered very quietly.'

'What do you want – to enter on a Harley-Davidson?' Myron laughed and came closer. All the members of the band looked slightly flushed and quite cheerful, despite the obstacles they had encountered along the way. Apparently, they had managed to have a drink before coming.

'Come on, I'll show you the dressing room,' Jane said more calmly, embarrassed by her initial reaction. As she was leading them to the room right next to the Ravenclaw dressing room, she asked Carl what exactly has happened along the way.

'Well, in general, we screwed up the bus. We left London earlier, just in case, the weather was quiet and there were no problems. But at one-third of the way strong winds were blowing, there was a blizzard, the bus was swaying and trying to fly away. A tragic story. If you let go of an owl, it will fly and never come back. Pierce landed the bus off the rails and we waited for the weather to calm down. Then we sent an owl to London to send us a carriage and waited for two hours on the bus. We had some drinks while we waited, but I assure you that we'll play properly.'

'You don't have to assure me, I've played drunker than you,' Jane joked, already in a better mood. 'As long as you stay on your feet, you can play. And if you accidentally fall, well, you'll have to play lying down.'

Then everything seemed to work out. "Magic Wind" came on stage, and although several students tried to throw some vegetables at the stage, in the end, they always turned into flowers. August had mastered the Orchideus spell perfectly.

Meanwhile, Jane managed to find "Dennis Appleby", whom she had completely forgotten about and apologized for not looking for him earlier. However, "Dennis" was not bored, but curiously looked around the hall, catching guitars with his hands and from time to time looking for his godson, who was nowhere to be seen.

'Well, Jane, you have a nice outfit. Did you make it just now?', he teased.

'I'm sorry, but I must disappoint you, Dennis,' the teacher replied. 'Actually, I've been waiting for the "Weird Sisters" to arrive, I stayed in the Entrance Hall for an hour.'

'Alright, alright,' the man waved his hand. 'Since you're already here, can I offer you a drink? Or something to eat?'

He led her to a table at the far end of the room, cluttered with all sorts of things.

'A glass of champagne for me, thank you,' Jane said as she looked around. 'Do you find it a little crowded here?'

'Maybe. Have you invited the whole of England?'

'Not exactly, but as far as I can see, it came anyway.'

They both laughed.

'I don't know how to thank you, Jane, for inviting me to this concert. I can't remember how much time has passed since I was among so many people and no one cared that I was there.'

'Don't worry, Dennis, you'll get used to it,' she said, tapping her glass lightly on his. 'Now, will you come and dance, and in the meantime, I'll show you something I'm sure you'd like to see.'

They elegantly set their glasses on the table and headed for the dance floor. Jane stared uneasily over her shoulder at the table, drifting away from her. She wanted to somehow protect her glass from those who wanted to poison it, but it would be too obvious for some. Besides, Professor Dumbledore had assured her that he had cast such protective spells on the food and drinks that no one would be able to put anything into them and remain unnoticed. She remembered again how she had taken potions from Professor Snape at the beginning of the school year, and she felt sick. Besides, he sat next to her every day. Snape had had quite good chances to poison her, she thought. If he hadn't until now, then he either had no desire or, more likely, he hadn't received the relevant orders. Or, amazingly, she had taken really good care of the dishes she ate from. She banished these thoughts from her head. They had come to have fun, not to get paranoid again, she reminded herself.

Jane led the dance and unobtrusively led her gentleman to the three people who probably interested him most in the room. The two boys and the girl were sitting at a table talking to each other while trying the special dishes.

'These are Harry, Ronald and Hermione, Dennis,' she said in a feigned even tone, winking at him. 'After the dance, I'll go to them, I'll tell them about you and then I'll introduce them to you.'

He just smiled and continued dancing. After the end of the melody, the two bowed to each other and Jane went to the students.

'Hello, Ronald, hello Harry and Hermione,' she said.

Ronald smiled slightly, and the others looked at each other in amazement, wondering what their teacher wanted from them.

'Harry, I want to introduce you to your godfather waiting for you over there. Call him Dennis Appleby, even if you want to use another name.'

Whether out of curiosity or because of some other reason, the three children followed her. Dennis brushed off his blond hair and stared at the bespectacled boy.

'Hello, Harry,' he said. 'Don't you remember me? I'm your favourite godfather who gave you the "Firebolt".'

Jane withdrew and let them work it out, still looking at them from time to time. After a while there was a very loud and surprised shout "Sirius!" and she shook her head. The boy was a clinical case.

Just as she was going to get her glass and an hors d'oeuvre from the table, Jane came across Anthony, one of the few Slytherin students who liked her, despite Professor Snape's opinion of her.

'Hello, Anthony. What brings you here?'

'Hello, Professor Undead. I was wondering if you'd like to dance with me?'

Jane, who was tired of correcting the students calling her "professor", just nodded, as she was busy chewing on a shrimp, which turned out to be a big challenge for her. When she finally went dancing with the boy, she congratulated herself on finding such wonderful student musicians who were quickly appreciated by the whole school. Anthony voiced her opinion, saying he thought they were playing just magical and then stared at the stage for a long time. By the end of the song, he said nothing more, and Jane had to explicitly ask him if she could help him in any way. He replied that he would be happy if some time after they stopped playing Lily wasn't surrounded by so many musicians that he could invite her to dance. Jane promised the necessary assistance and left the boy to admire the blonde guitarist in peace, using the opportunity to catch up with the food. The band played for about half an hour, during which time no one else bothered her. Apparently, there weren't that many men willing to dance with her. Maybe she wasn't as pretty as Professor Hagrid had claimed, she thought bitterly.

At some point, she was joined by Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout, as the other teachers were busy dancing with the guests. The three of them started talking about everything, stopping only to applaud. Rather, the two professors were talking, and Jane was acting as if she were listening, her eyes locked on the stage. After the last song was over and the students were getting ready to go down, Lily approached the microphone and announced loudly, 'And now, with the help of our favourite teachers and especially Associate Professor Jane Undead, we present the band with which we all grew up and with whom my colleagues and I are proud to play on one stage, The Weird Sisters!

Everyone applauded, and some of the people closest to Jane turned to look at her. She didn't particularly enjoy the publicity at the moment, but she still smiled politely. The "Weird Sisters" came on stage.

However, she didn't have time to look at them but turned around anxiously at the sight of the enraged Nymphadora Tonks who was approaching her.

'You're coming with me!' She said restrainedly, pulling Jane out of the hall.

'What did you imagine, allowing these students of yours to shout your name aloud in front of everyone?!', Dora Tonks began without preamble. 'Don't you know what kind of people are invited here? Don't you know that you're targeted?'

'Don't worry, Dora,' Jane smiled at her, especially as she uttered the name the other woman obviously didn't like. 'I'm well aware of this, and I didn't order them to make such noise around me. As for the guests, Professor Dumbledore has checked them out, and I think that if nothing else, at least there isn't a large group of saboteurs among them, and individuals are always sneaking in. Come on, let's finish the holiday, then we can discuss how I can behave more appropriately in the future.'

Nymphadora was breathing hard for some time, then decided she had nothing more to shout about and said, now in a much more normal voice, 'Okay, let's go in then. Will you come with me because I'm on a date with Remus? You see, he wanted to see his students, and I had an invitation so I invited him to come with me.' Already calm, Dora smiled. 'It's good that he didn't take my cousin with us, he wanted to come so much. But we decided it would be too risky for him.'

The party was going at full speed, the students were singing and dancing. Lily and the boys were also having fun, still wearing the clothes they wore while playing, and their teacher went to congratulate them on their success. The boys invited her to dance with them, and at one point Jane managed to distract all four so that Anthony could invite Lily.

The "Weird Sisters" entertained them for about an hour or so, after which they left the stage with loud applause. After spending some time in their dressing room, they joined in the celebration at a special table set aside for them. Jane and Professor McGonagall were watching for the students not to bother them too much – there were crowds at the table wanting autographs or photos with the band, some even asked for an autograph from the warm-up band sitting at the same table, much to the delight of the underage musicians.

As she looked around the room, Jane noticed Remus and Dennis gesturing at the far end, apparently unable to express their differences entirely through sound. Dora stood beside them with her arms crossed, looking as if she wanted to curse her cousin with her glare. "Well, here it goes", Jane thought and walked over. Along the way, he asked Aurora Sinistra to take on her role of "bodyguard", i.e. to supervise the bands and the students. Aurora accepted enthusiastically, and that made Jane feel a bit better. However, this feeling evaporated the moment he met her friend Dora for the second time this evening.

'What's your problem?' Jane asked, standing next to Dennis and looking at Dora and Remus from head to toe.

'The problem? My dear first cousin has decided that the danger that threatens him has magically disappeared tonight, and for this reason, he can come here and have fun. However, I can't imagine where he got the potion from since he doesn't leave home. Do you know anything about it?'

'Of course, I know,' Jane replied. 'I gave him the potion and the invitation, too. The man needed to get out. I also think you have to let him out from time to time, he has to relax.'

'What if they find him? Do you know how many people from the Ministry are here? It is not safe at all, as elsewhere outside the secure protection of his house.'

As Dora frothed, Remus Lupin was discreetly silent, and Dennis Appleby stared guiltily at the floor.

'Look, Tonks,' he finally said, 'I haven't done anything wrong. I wanted some company and to see Harry. I haven't even drunk much. Just a glass of champagne. And to reassure you, I'll tell you that in the three hundred and sixty-five days of next year I'll dream of tonight, sleeping in my own bed. When I'm not busy dreaming of Azkaban, of course.'

Dora frowned but didn't answer.

The three argued for some time. Tonks threatened to inform the principal because her cousin didn't take her seriously, but the two men said he would find out anyway, just not tonight. In the end, Dora Tonks seemed tired because she stopped blaming them. Remus Lupin said he was particularly unhappy with both Jane and his friend and that he hoped it wouldn't happen again. Dora managed to persuade her cousin to leave, saying she'd walk him to his house and that she wouldn't accept any objections. Shortly afterwards, the four said goodbye, and with Tonks at the helm, the guests headed for the exit.'

At about eleven o'clock, the party slowly began disintegrating. The students, tired and satisfied, left the Great Hall alone, in pairs and in groups.

In the end, it was mainly the two bands that remained, and quite a few students hanging around aimlessly after the party. Lily was talking to Carl about guitar techniques (already wasted, Carl even shouted at Jane that the student was his "long-lost twin sister"), and the others were discussing other things. The "Weird Sisters" weren't arrogant at all and were happy to talk with their younger colleagues from "Magic Wind". At one point, when Lily went to talk with Anthony, Carl quietly approached Jane and said with a smile, "You know, it appears that I'm getting divorced."

'What?' was her sincere reaction. 'But you and Myra love each other so much! I like her, too.'

'Well, I don't like her anymore because she's trying to get my money. She won't get lucky, thou. However, this makes the holidays pretty rubbish for me.'

'And you've been waiting until now to tell me?'

'Hey, I found out myself two days ago. So I was wondering if you could ask this nice headmaster of yours if he'd mind me wandering around the castle for, say, the next three days?'

'I honestly don't know, Carl. Why don't you go to your family?'

'Family, my arse!' Carl shouted in disgust, and almost everyone present turned to see what was happening, then continued quietly, 'Everyone's on her side, imagine that. And they refuse to believe that she only wants my money. I pray to you, Janie, like a friend. Don't let me go mad right on Christmas. Please, let me hang with you, I won't bother you at all.'

'All right, all right,' Jane said, though she didn't feel like it. 'I'll ask the principal tomorrow.'