Chapter Thirty-Nine

Students on the Move

Stephen gathered his research materials to head to the library, opening the desk drawer to grab his quill set. As he reached for it, he glanced at the box with the compass in it thoughtfully. He hadn't gotten it out since Eben had given it to him... but then, he hadn't had a chance, he mused. The last quizzes before the reviews had been on his mind, and on top of that, Jay and his siblings constantly had errands for him to run. Now, however, they were more worried about Quintin's team getting the jump on them since a new book had been found.

"There's no reason to worry about it. Dawn told me that the book has to be evaluated for copy, and you know that Professor Craw is hardly ever here outside of class time these days," Stephen reminded Bonnibel at lunch. "Have you had any luck finding any clues in that Astrology book, Moira?"

"Not yet, but I'm still looking, as you should be too," Moira said sternly.

"I simply haven't had time, but I should after tomorrow's accounting quiz. I'm at the top of most of my classes, and there's only a couple I really feel like I need to review. I can spend most of my time these last two weeks doing as much research as you like," Stephen promised.

"Never mind the research... let Moira handle that. She's trying to find clues as to what's in the box itself so that we know what sort of powerful magic we're dealing with," Bonnibel explained. "But we know from that inventory list of yours that the Box disappeared much later on. I want you to go back over those old inventory records and find out exactly what time period that box stopped showing up on the inventory list."

"Understood," Stephen said with a sigh, finishing his lunch and heading back to class.

In a way, he was looking forward to spending some quiet hours in the back of the library. As tedious as it was to scour inventory lists, the peace and quiet would help make up for the research itself. It was also a chance to be alone without a bunch of siblings asking him nosy questions.

Zelda especially had been breathing down his neck lately, making up for the disadvantage of being cut off from her siblings' minds by constantly following them about and demanding to know what they were up to. Even so, she had a Potion's exam the next day, and since it was her worst subject, it was something Zelda would have to study for if she wanted to keep her place at the head of the class.

Now was the perfect time to run some experiments, he decided, opening up the box and palming the compass. He gazed at how it fit into his hand; turning it over a couple of times to make certain he could hide it by turning his hand over if someone came up on him unexpectedly. Then he got into his Items Creation kit and pulled out a long but simple silver chain to attach the compass to so that he could wear it.

But first thing was first; he wanted to confirm what he already suspected, Stephen thought grimly. Stacking up his research, he slid the chain into one of the books so that the compass dangled in front of him when he picked it up then held the books close as he stepped out of the room and went upstairs to find his siblings studying at a table with the very last sweets out of the bag he had brought spread out between them.

Zelda looked quite bored and irritated, despite the fact that Moira was doing everything she could to help her study for the test. Stephen only took a glance at the compass. He wasn't surprised in the slightest when it was pointing in another direction.

"Finally off to the library, then?" Bonnibel asked when Stephen stepped over to them.

"Yeah," Stephen said.

"Well, don't come back until you find something," Zelda snapped grumpily.

"I can hardly promise that, can I? I have to be back before curfew," Stephen said. "Besides, you're not supposed to be involved in this anyway." Zelda's head snapped up and she stared at him dangerously.

"Are you actually talking back to me?" Zelda asked, squinting at him.

"I'm simply stating the facts, Zelda. I'm supposed to report to Bonnibel since she's the head of the research team," Stephen replied.

"Yes, someone has to filter all of the incoming information to decide what's important before reporting it," Bonnibel said calmly and diplomatically. "It's probably best for everyone if I humor our house leaders and act as a responsible for the research team, at least for the sake of appearances. I can report all of our findings to you directly, Zelda."

"Fine," Zelda snapped, turning her attention back to her book.

Did his cousin actually come to his rescue just then, Stephen wondered, turning towards the exit. He glanced down at the compass, which was still pointing in another direction. No, she was simply looking after her own selfish interests, as they all did. His irritation at that along with an empty feeling in his gut kept him from looking away at the harsh reality of it all. Perhaps the old man was right; perhaps he did take Eben's care for granted.

But as he stepped out of the Slytherin rooms, the arm suddenly swung to the side. Blinking with surprise, he looked to see Madame Brittle walking down the corridor.

"Hullo, Mr. Maxen! Off to study with friends?" she asked cordially.

"Of course not. I'm going to the Research Library to work," Stephen replied evenly.

"You're so lucky! I wish we were allowed to do those sorts of research projects when I was going to school here," Danny admitted sincerely. "Snape always chased us down and told to mind our own business when we tried to do anything like that."

"Snape did? Really?" Stephen said in utter shock.

"Yes, but those were different times... different times indeed," Danny replied, but couldn't completely hide the amusement from his reaction. "Anyway, I need to leave for the day and I won't be back Saturday because I'm committed to go to a St Mungo's charity function. Aurelius will be popping in to check on all of you during the day, of course, but I'd really appreciate it if you didn't cause a lot of trouble until I get back. You're not planning to go snooping around the castle behind the staff's backs again this weekend, are you?"

"Professor Aurelius already gave us a lecture on that, he said to ask first," Stephen said with annoyance.

"Good man," Danny acknowledged.

"Well, I hope you know that my family isn't convinced. They're still fairly certain that they're a lot more willing to help Quintin than us, despite the fact that his mum has helped me from time to time," Stephen replied.

"It doesn't matter that they're not convinced," Danny replied solemnly. "What matters is asking for your own self preservation."

"That's something that we excel at," Stephen said dryly.

"It's not necessarily a bad thing," Danny assured him. "I had to rely on that skill a lot during my time at Hogwarts. Survival instincts have their place, you know. After all, how can you grow past them until you've gotten to the point where you feel safe?"

"Safety is an illusion," Stephen said with a sigh.

"I wouldn't call it an illusion. A desire to stay safe in all circumstances is more like one of those unobtainable goals in life," Danny decided. "There are a lot of goals we strive for that can't be obtained in its purest sense... like being perfect, or brave all of the time, the perfect student, or in my case, the perfect teacher or parent. But that doesn't mean it's worthwhile working towards goals like that even if you know you won't get there... most especially when you acknowledge the fact that you never will."

"In other words, don't fool yourself. Is that it?" Stephen concluded.

"That's not what I meant," Danny said with a shake of the head. "I meant in reference to you not having any friends." Stephen stared at her blankly.

"You've completely lost me," Stephen admitted.

"Well, just like safety is one of those unobtainable goals, attempting to keep others safe is an unobtainable goal as well," Danny explained. "No matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you strive for it, it can't really be done. Trust me, I know. My friends and I have had many occasions where we wanted to keep people safe and couldn't. It's only natural to want to protect those you care about from harm no matter how impossible that might be."

"Then why care at all?" Stephen said bluntly.

"Good question... and one you can probably only answer for yourself," Danny decided, putting a thoughtful hand on her chin. "In my case, not having a loving father made me seek affection from others to compensate. At first I attempted to impress them just like my father pushed me to do. But after a while, I realized that the people I felt the strongest about were people who cared about me even after seeing my flaws and knowing I was far from perfect. For someone who had to act like I was perfect all of the time, it meant a lot to me. Caring is a really personal thing, and the why isn't always obvious. Sometimes there's no answer to the question, 'Why do I care?' But in the end, I'm not sure it matters. You can choose not to be friends, but you can't really choose not to care. You either do or you don't. And if you do care, cutting yourself off from others that care about you isn't helping anybody. You just got done telling me that it's impossible to safe, and it's just impossible to keep everyone else safe. Well, since you know that's the case, then why do you keep punishing yourself trying to obtain the impossible goal? It just doesn't make any sense. Personally, I think you're doing more harm to yourself than good not having friends, but I guess that's ultimately for you to decide.

"Anyway, I'd better head into the house rooms. I need to let everyone else know I'll be gone too. Try to stay out of trouble, Mr. Maxen, whether your other siblings decide to get into trouble or not," Danny advised.

"I hadn't planned on it," Stephen said, and Danny nodded to him with a smile before stepping through the door. Stephen frowned over his shoulder, then at the compass as it followed her through to the other side.

Of course she cared. It was her job to care, he thought to himself as he stepped into the secret passage. But what about the point she had made? Was he trying too hard to keep people safe by not making friends? After all, Broc was able to successfully make a friend, and nothing bad happened to Ian. Then again, it was quite advantageous for the Villins to be friends with the Meyers, considering how influential their family was in traditional circles. But Villins weren't Maxens. His Aunt Blair was of the opinion that all social interactions were advantageous no matter who it was. His father, however, did not share that opinion. He would likely have something to say no matter who Stephen chose to interact with.

As he came out of the secret passage near the library, Stephen decided that he should probably stash the compass away. It had gotten rather active as he approached... did that many people really care about him? Then again, it was probably coming from other professors just like Madame Brittle, whose job it was to care about the students.

As he stepped in, the compass pointed momentarily at Boulderdash at the desk before sliding towards the back of the library. Once it settled, it seemed quite strong... perhaps Professor Craw was in the Research Library again, Stephen conjectured. Well, that was alright. He wouldn't mind it if she was back there, especially since she gave him all sorts of ideas on what to look for.

But as he stepped towards the back the needle moved again, and he turned to see Dawn Pyther gazing at him curiously as she came around the corner with a book in her hand. In the back corner sat Nicky and Justice with plenty of books between them.

"Off to the Research Library again?" Dawn conjectured.

"Wait, it's not you, is it? Do you fancy me or something?" Stephen explained out of sheer surprise.

"You? Have you ever looked in a mirror?" Dawn challenged him flatly.

"Oh. Yeah, you're right... I look like my grandfather," Stephen said, quite unoffended.

"And what do you mean it's not me? Did someone send you back here on a prank saying there was a girl back here expecting that we'd get in another fight or something?" Dawn asked suspiciously.

"That's exactly what happened. How did you guess?" Stephen replied expressionlessly.

"Duh, because our classmates are jerks. Which one was it? I'll take care of it..."

"Calm down, would you? You're always so uptight about everything! I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, you know. Besides... why do you even care?" Stephen confronted her.

"Well, someone should do something about those jerks..."

"No, no. I'm being serious here. You and I don't get on and never have. Why would you care if anyone was giving me a hard time or not when we're not even friends?" Stephen asked.

"Point me to some of your friends, then, and we'll let them take care of it," Dawn suggested.

"I don't have any friends and you know it," Stephen said.

"Exactly," Dawn agreed. "All you have are siblings and cousins. You've told me that yourself more than once... but it sounded like you resented it."

"What? You imagined that," Stephen snapped.

"No I didn't," Dawn replied, but then grew thoughtful. "I never could figure out what it was that you resented... the fact that you didn't have friends, or the fact that you had rotten siblings and cousins. Well, I can't do anything about that last bit, of course, but I figured I'd at least try in case you resented not having friends."

"Are you saying you felt sorry for me?" Stephen asked with a frown.

"Yeah," Dawn said unabashedly. "Are you going to tell me who was giving you grief so we can take care of it?"

"Let's just forget it," Stephen said. "But thanks for offering."

"Okay," Dawn replied. "Then I'd better go back to helping Justice and Nicky with their Defense. Our families expect us to ace every Defense exam... especially those with parents who work in the Justice department," she explained.

"I'll bet. See you," Stephen said with a smile and stepped into the Research Library. Finding it empty, he went down the row where the records were kept and began pulling tomes down.

Back in the corner, Dawn had been helping them underline the dark creatures that were the most likely to be on their last test when Mickey strode over to them and leaned over the table.

"Emergency meeting in the Owl Room," Mickey informed her.

"What? Dawn, you promised," Nicky immediately protested.

"I'm sure it won't take all night, Nicky. But Boulderdash is back with news about that book you found, Dawn," Mickey explained.

"Let's go. I'll be right back," Dawn said, following Mickey to the front.

"Just how long is Dawn's version of 'right back', anyway?" Justice asked Nicky.

"Anywhere from five minutes until five minutes before curfew," Nicky informed him. "Best just assume she's not coming back and hope for the best."

Sighing resignedly, Justice turned back to his Defense book.

When Dawn and Mickey arrived, the Owl table was already full.

"What news, then?" Dawn asked before she even got to her seat. She looked up at the worktable where Boulderdash was sitting, organizing loose pages of a book he was repairing.

"Rowena Ravenclaw's copy of O'Lauren's Symbology tome cannot be easily copied. There are ancient charms on the book that are distinct from the ones we use today and not completely known to us, although Professor Craw guesses that they range from charms to help memory retention to some that simply are there to keep the ink from moving about the paper," Boulderdash said.

"I don't know why I didn't question that," Dawn said sheepishly as she slid into her seat. "The miniatures never moved despite being in a magical tome. I just assumed they used non magic ink or something."

"The colors would have been a great deal more faded if they had," Boulderdash pointed out.

"You said they were ancient spells. Did my father have a look at it as well?" Quintin asked.

"As I understand it from Professor Craw, he decided to trust her expertise and sent the book along to Madame Webstring. It was beyond Gemshard's level of expertise," Boulderdash explained. Quintin's shoulder's slumped. "Yes, I know you're disappointed. As I understand it, Professor Weasley was disappointed as well, since she was hoping for more than one copy, but that is simply out of the question now. The good news is that Professor Snape promised that your research team will have first access to the book when it has been completed, but it certainly won't be done until you get back from the holidays."

"Well, that's great for the research, but it isn't great if we want to find that Silver Box before Professor Craw revokes our permissions," Jeremy said, then saw Quintin's glowering expression. "Maybe there's still a clue in that Augury book. We could have easily missed something."

"I'd say you're missing a lot," Jay said dryly, and they looked over at him questioningly. "Dawn, where did you say you found that book again?"

"In Ravenclaw, at the top of a glass case with a lot of Rowena Ravenclaw's own personal copies," Dawn replied.

"Maybe just where it was found is a clue as to where we should be looking next," Jay said. "Maybe it's not the only thing of Bedivere's that got mixed in with some of the old Founder's stuff."

"Gryffindor!" Olivia declared loudly. "After all, he was his apprentice. It would make total sense that it'd be in our rooms."

"But most of Gryffindor's keepsakes were trophies and metals and the like. They're all in the Trophy Room," Mickey pointed out.

"I think we would have found it by now if it were in there, but it wouldn't hurt to take a look," Joey said.

"Pete and I can ask some of the paintings," Sissy offered. "We've made friends with many on the upper floors that no one else really talks to, and some of them are really old."

"She has a point... maybe they saw something. If we're lucky, we can get a better description," Pete said. Just then, Boulderdash cleared his throat in a way that sounded more like a growl.

"Might I suggest before volunteering for any trespassing or transgressions that you have your studies to attend to? While I am certain that some of you have matters well in hand and only need the briefest of reviews in the upcoming week, I am just as certain that some of you would be better off concentrating on your studies before getting involved in this scavenger hunt you seem to be planning," Boulderdash warned.

"He's right. I think I'd better sit this one out," Gloria said sheepishly, and Boulderdash nodded to her in approval.

"I'm fine in most of my subjects. I just need to review Transfiguration and History and I'm good to go," Pete decided.

"I'll help you get caught up," Sissy assured him.

"I think I'll sit this one out," Agatha said.

"Same," Ian agreed. "Honestly, I only need to worry about Potions and Defense, but considering that Broc's my best friend, I'd much rather not get mixed up in this one way or another."

"Quite understandable. I doubt we'll find anything in the Slytherin rooms, but they'd be fools to question us about anything we do in there," Ella replied unconcernedly.

"I'm free to take over the search of the Gryffindor Tower. After all, I'm second only to Milo on my marks, and I'm Top Student in Defense and Items," Olivia said.

"And what about us?" Garnet said from the Hufflepuff corner. "I think it's safe to say that there might be something interesting in Hufflepuff too, and since I'm the oldest, I'd like to take on the search. Elmira, I know you're into Runes and Ancient Magic and the like, are you in? No offense, Mindy, but I don't think this adventure requires any knitting."

"That's alright with me. I really want to get my marks up before we go home for the holidays. My parents already sent me a letter telling me to spend less time knitting and more time studying," Mindy said sheepishly. Kitty raised her hand.

"I'm free! I may not be top student, but I am top girl in my Hufflepuff class," Kitty volunteered.

"That's because most of the other girls are falling over themselves trying to get close to Antonio," Mindy said critically.

"Well, he is really cute," Kitty admitted, and the other three girls stared at her. "But I assure you that it will not distract me from my duties any more than he distracts me from my homework!"

"Fine, you can help too," Garnet decided, and Kitty gave them a wide smile.

"Thanks, that'll mean we're free to work on the research," Quintin said.

"What? You're just going to leave it to all of them?" Jeremy protested.

"It isn't as if he's going to be strutting into Slytherin house like he belongs there to poke about, is it?" Agatha replied critically.

"But if everyone goes off in different directions, how am I going to document it? I've been trying to jot everything down so that the clues are all in one place," Jeremy explained.

"Nobody's stopping you from organizing the thing. I was simply offering my advice," Jay said, raising a hand in protest. "I have no desire to lead it. To be blunt, my only motivation for getting involved is to make sure a misplaced school artifact doesn't get into the wrong hands... namely Zelda's. I will gladly report my findings... even if I don't find anything."

"Same here, of course," Sissy said.

"I'll speak for the Hufflepuff team!" Garnet said, raising her hand pointedly.

"And I'll let you know the moment I find it," Olivia told Jeremy.

"So sure it's in Gryffindor, are you?" Joey asked.

"Well, where else makes sense, really? If Carnegie didn't find it in the Scribe's Quarter, where else can it be?" Olivia replied.

"It's been a while since we asked him about that. Maybe we should check in again," Quintin realized.

"Wait, I can handle that," Jack chimed in. "You've got enough to do trying to look for clues in those Symbols. You know more about that sort of thing than anyone else but Professor Weasley, so you're going to have to do it. I'll make an appointment with Mr. Carnegie. And now that I think about it, maybe you should make an appointment with Professor Weasley to see if she can spot anything about those Symbols that you haven't."

"That's a good idea," Quintin agreed.

"Great! And everything you find out, you'll report to me," Jeremy reminded them, then began jotting down what the different teams were working on.

Severus and Albus walked past the library just in time to see a the scramble as students of different years and different houses walked out in groups... some heading towards the back stairs and others down the corridor. Olivia smiled and waved at Albus on her way past, receiving a gentle wave and a warm smile in return.

"My, don't they look motivated," Albus commented with obvious amusement.

"If only they were that motivated about their studies," Severus replied dryly.

"This is simply another form of studying, Severus. Learning how to apply what they've been taught in the classroom is just as important, you know that perfectly well," Albus replied as he watched them get further down the corridor. 'I imagine it won't be long before now before they find what they're looking for."

"If they don't, I wouldn't put it past Jennifer to get involved," Severus admitted.

"Doesn't she always?" Albus said with a soft chuckle, then followed Severus into the library.