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The Yankees Nephew and the Philosophers Stone	By : Wilde_Guess Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 5806 -:- Recommendations : 5 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter Universe I am making no money from this fanfiction

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
Chapter 15, Dueling Priorities.
Judah, Rowan, Ben, and Thorin sat down at the Gryffindor table for breakfast on Tuesday the eleventh of September. Aaron noticed them enter the Great Hall, and quickly joined them with another cup of coffee to wake himself up further. Or, at least to stay mostly awake for the hour and forty minutes or so of classes he’d have to attend. He could almost teach the Charms lesson Professor Flitwick would be teaching, even with the Slytherins attending, though not quite to Flitwick’s standards. After that, he would be in History with the Ravenclaws, and the world’s most boring and incompetent ghosts. He might just blow that one off and suffer any extra potential bitching from David, otherwise he might as well attend History in pyjamas. Binns could put him to sleep even when he wasn’t sleep-deprived. He wouldn’t put it past his classmates to leave him sleeping for a joke.
Chiara was lucky there, since she would only need to be excused from DADA this morning. She also was excused from DADA this morning, as she would be from her morning, if not all of her classes on the “morning after” for the next seven years. But now, since he had all of “his” first-year Gryffindors on hand, he wanted to find out just how much “damage” David saw fit to inflict on Chiara and him.
“Good morning” he greeted the four.
“Put up a spell” was the return greeting from Judah Kowalski.
After Aaron cast a Muffliato, Judah continued quietly with a hand unobtrusively obscuring his mouth from sight, “Sally and Tonks took that Penny Haywood girl you invited to the Morning Lesson somewhere else, since they already knew, and Penny wasn’t ready to know, according to David. He told the rest of us who didn’t know this morning before we worked spell drills. We’re all casting Lumos, Nox, Protego, Stupefy, Enervate, Expelliarmus, Rictusempra, Flipendo, Finite Incantatum, and Episkey silently now with good strength, and he’s almost satisfied with our stances, aim, and spell selection. We also did a ‘first run’ of the Homorphus Charm; David said that I had it down okay for a start, but that the rest of us who hadn’t learned it needed more work.
“David left at about twenty ‘til, and Bill had us working spell drills more until we wrapped up at around seven. David got in last night after we’d all gone to sleep, and he was even madder after he came back for his DADA and Arithmancy books. What’s up with that? And are you mad at Rowan and me for last night?”
Aaron quietly and evenly answered in the same way Judah did between bites, “I am in an incandescent rage at Rowan and you right now, but I’m wrong in feeling that way, so I’m ignoring it. You had every right to be where you were, and when you were presented with an impossible set of choices, you actually took the least damaging for Chiara and me that was still responsible, so well done.
“As for this morning, David and I are fighting not only about how I accompanied Chiara last night, which he knew I would do whether he admits it to himself or not. We are fighting over other things, which aren’t yet any of your business, and I won’t discuss unless or until they are.
“Chiara hadn’t decided, or at least hadn’t told me that she’d decided to have me strip with her in sympathy. We stripped just outside of the ward line to the Forbidden Forest so her clothing would be bothered overnight, and so she could get dressed outside of the ward line if she changed back before it was safe for her to do. Since I carry my wand in a holster and not a pocket, it was perfectly safe even if potentially embarrassing. And, by the time she gave me the ‘choice,’ my only choices were to strip with her, or to argue with her, with both of us fully dressed until she transformed, and have her angry when she transformed, along with her destroying her clothes when she transformed and me owing her another set. Since we are dating, it wasn’t any kind of a bother looking back on it now, and was even less of a bother at the time. Staying together, she probably would have seen ‘that much’ of me eventually anyhow, and it actually helped her relax before a very traumatic, and routinely traumatic event.
“Did David or Bill say that you guys were ready to deal with Merula Snyde yet?” Aaron asked in conclusion.
Ben Copper’s reply was, “Good Morning, Professor Snape” to the Potions Master, who was quickly approaching their table. Aaron quietly dispelled the Muffliato.
Professor Snape told the group, “The rest of you will be going to class. I haven’t decided on Mr. Aaron Dvorak yet. The Headmaster had Mr. Dvorak helping out very late working on a project for the school, one he is not allowed to talk about, along with his older brother. While Mr. David Dvorak is determined to attend all of his classes, he also got some rest the previous evening, where Mr. Aaron Dvorak did not.
“Mr. Dvorak, draw your wand and perform the Hover Charm on that mostly empty platter of eggs to your left” the Professor quietly commanded.
Aaron drew his wand, hovered the eggs up six feet in the air, and lowered them gently back down to the table without making even the slightest noise. Only Professor Snape saw Aaron actually draw and re-holster his wand. Thorin, the one closest to the eggs, served himself the last of the eggs, and tapped the now empty platter with the serving spoon. The house elves summoned it down to the kitchens.
Professor Snape told the group, “Mr. Dvorak, full marks for the Hover Charm. Since you can cast to NEWT standard, and since Professor Flitwick wasn’t going to have you teach his class for him, I am excusing you from both Charms with my Slytherins and History class with the Ravenclaws and Professor Binns. Your fellow students can provide any notes you might actually need. You’d have ignored Binns even if you were awake, and you’re dead on your feet.
“However, don’t mistake my care for my colleagues for being excessive care or softness towards you. You will plan ahead if Headmaster Dumbledore asks you for assistance in future. Am I understood?”
“Clear as crystal, Professor” Aaron answered respectfully.
The professor quickly wrote a note and gave it to Aaron. He instructed, “Post this note on your bed curtains so your brother will see it. You are going to your room to sleep, not to goof off or to just skive off of a couple of classes. I need to talk to Professors Flitwick and McGonagall about your not attending classes. As the Deputy Headmistress, your head of house oversees Professor Binns’ attendance reports. Binns hasn’t turned in a correct attendance report in your lifetimes… or mine. Good day, gentlemen; the time to attend classes rapidly approaches, but your class rooms and books will not.”
Once the Slytherin Head of House had walked up to the head table, Aaron recast his Muffliato. He asked the group, “My last question?”
Thorin replied, “Bill said we were all good, and David said that we were ‘about as good as we were getting.’ Why?”
Aaron informed them, “Because Snyde will probably try something after Charms this morning once the group of you are far enough away from the Charms classroom. This is especially true with my not being there. With the Wiggenweld she brewed during class yesterday and snuck out with her, she’s confident that even if you best her, she doesn’t have to worry about anything other than getting caught.
“And most important, do not react to any taunting with spells! If she can’t trick you into attacking her, she will attack your backs when you walk away. That’s what the silent Protego is for; no one will expect it from you, and even imperfectly casting it will keep you from getting messed up before you fight back. Do not cast the first spell in that fight! Got it?”
“Crystal, Aaron” Judah replied for all of them.
Since all the other boys had their books on them, they only needed to head to class. Since Aaron no longer needed to go to class, he left the Great Hall in their company and split off towards the Gryffindor Tower.
§§§
The quartet of first year Gryffindors quickly left the History Classroom after forty-five minutes of sleep therapy thinly disguised as a history lesson of the Goblin Rebellions, which never seemed to ever end in that classroom. Judah was walking with a purpose, said purpose eluding the other three. Surprisingly it was Ben who asked what was going on rather than Rowan or Thorin who asked.
“Where are we going in such a hurry?” the shy musical classmate asked.
“Rowan and I are meeting Angelica in the training grounds. Since she’s also been helping us, she wanted to see how well we’re doing with the Tickling Charm, so we’re showing her now. Since she helped Thorin and you too, you should try to keep up.”
“Why didn’t you tell her that David ‘gave in’ and started helping us?” Thorin reasonably asked.
“’Cause it was us misunderstanding what David meant in the first place, and by now she already knows anyway, since she’s friendly with both David and Aaron. She’s still helping us, and she’s earned the right to see that we weren’t wasting her time.”
Their purposeful walking quickly saw them reach the training grounds, where Angelica Cole was waiting for them.
She greeted the group, “Thanks for showing up as quickly as you did, and all four of you at that. First, I want each of you, one at a time, to cast the Tickling Charm on me. I should be able to cancel single spells myself, since you guys are only first years.”
Rowan and Judah looked at each other, before they, along with Thorin and Ben drew their wands.
Judah had to silently cancel the silent Tickling Charm he cast on Angelica, since she was laughing too hard to do so. Once she stood back up, she asked, “Was that the Tickling Hex?”
“No, Angelica. David told us there was one when he started teaching us spellwork, but that we weren’t ready for it ‘judgment-wise,’ since he made it sound a lot worse than the Tickling Charm.”
Thinking quickly, Angelica instructed, “Okay. Ben, I want you to demonstrate the Tickling Charm on me. Not being mean, but your confidence is the lowest of the four of you.
Ben silently cast the Tickling Charm on Angelica. She was almost able to cancel the charm herself, before Ben beat her with a vocalized but still quite good “Finite Incantatum.”
Standing up yet again, Angelica asked, “Thorin, Rowan, how good are your Tickling Charms?”
Thorin replied, “I’m better than Ben, but not by much. Rowan’s just as good as Judah.”
Angelica told the four boys, “Right. Now, I’ll have each of you, one at a time, try to disarm me, after I cast a cushioning charm behind me. I’ll have you go Ben, Thorin, Rowan, and Judah.”
After she cast her cushioning charm, each boy took his turn in order. All four of them managed to knock Angelica flat silently, catching her wand when it flew at them.
Standing up once more somewhat shakily, Angelica marveled, “Well, colour me impressed. David’s certainly taught you guys how to cast spells. And we aren’t graded on casting silently ‘til sixth year since you usually don’t have the kind of control you need to do it ‘til then. But, you’re well ahead in the game on that, and that’s brill! What about your fighting?”
Judah asked, “Did you want the four of us to spar with each other? David hasn’t taken us quite that far. Up to now, we’ve usually just used practice dummies or fought David.”
“Not quite, Judah” the prefect replied. “I want Rowan and you to have a quick magic fight. Don’t go full power on the spells you cast on each other, and I should be able to heal any minor scrapes you two might give each other.”
Ben and Thorin got back out of the way. Rowan and Judah faced each other at wand-point. Angelica got out of their way and commanded, “Start in three, two, one.”
The next forty-five seconds was a blur of silent spellcasting and rapid movement and the occasional flash of light for visible spells hitting each other’s shields. Finally, Rowan fell to first a stunning spell followed by a disarming spell.
Judah walked over to Rowan, and silently Enervated him. Judah helped his first school friend up, and handed him his wand back.
After Rowan stood and converted the hand-up to a handshake, he told his first school friend, “Great work kicking that rock under my feet. David’s always telling us to be more creative.”
Ben protested, “But that’s cheating!”
Rowan countered, “Not at all; this was a fight spar, not a practice duel for the circuit.”
Angelica remarked, “I guess you guys don’t need me anymore.”
Judah protested, “On the contrary, Angelica. We need you for a different perspective on all sorts of stuff. Not everybody is a rock-star-Hit-Wizard-professor-pilot-healer-potions-master. For us lowly first years, having a good prefect to mentor and help us grow to the best versions of ourselves we can is just what the healer ordered.”
After she stopped laughing for all she was worth, Angelica told them, “Not bad at kissing up, either. But thanks, really. Even if I wasn’t a prefect, I’m always glad to help wherever I can. Especially with that bint Snyde fooling me into thinking that note was really from Professor Snape! And I bet she got off Scot-free, too.”
Judah told her, “No, she really didn’t. She didn’t lose any points, but Duncan told me that she got quite familiar with magic-free scrubbing of potions cauldrons under Professor Snape’s ‘gentle’ guidance, and that since she was an ‘aspiring author’ that she also got to write a lot of lines. But I really meant what I said, too.”
“They aren’t bragging, are they?” Angelica asked in concern.
“No, Angelica, they’re not like that” Judah explained. “But the whole bunch of them, including the first years they’ve grown up with are crazy-good at magical fighting, as in much better than what Rowan and I just showed you. Besides, even if they were bragging, it isn’t really bragging if you can back it up.”
Angelica said flatly, “You’re just saying that ‘cause David walked up behind me, aren’t you?”
Rowan protested, “No, Judah and the rest of us really do mean what Judah said. ‘Sides, if we tried peddling porkies, David would see right through us in a heartbeat—and he is right behind you now.”
“Morning, guys, Angelica” the Gryffindor (kind of) sixth year greeted. “That was a pretty good spar Judah and you just had, Rowan. And good on you with kicking that rock, Judah.”
“Thank you” both boys shyly yet proudly answered.
David told the prefect, “Thanks for continuing to help them, Angelica. While Judah made me sound much more impressive than I really am, I’m still not exactly the best teacher to coach kids in schoolyard scuffles. And when we spar, Bill Weasley gets more than a few licks in on me, come to that.”
The entire group chuckled quietly. David added, “I’ll meet the rest of you in the Great Hall. It’s just about lunchtime, and if I let Aaron sleep through lunch, he’ll be cranky all afternoon.”
“Why was Aaron skiving off from classes this morning, David” the concerned prefect asked.
David replied, “Just like Professor Snape’s note on his bed curtains said, he was working on an important extracurricular project for the Headmaster that had him awake pretty much all of last night. Beyond that, Aaron can’t say, and neither can I, or anyone else.”
“From what grumbling I’d overheard you saying, I thought you were going to make him go to class anyway” Angelica asked.
David told her, “I was, but Professor Snape realized that Aaron really was that tired, and got him excused from classes at the last minute; since this project came up pretty much at the last minute, and Aaron wasn’t able to nap beforehand. Besides, the lesson in Charms he was excused from was the Levitation Charm, and we both knew that one before I started Hogwarts.
“So, I’m off to wake up ‘Sleeping Beauty’ for lunch. I’ll see all of you in the Great Hall in just a bit? And, I can take your books up to the dorm for you, too, if you’d like.”
Angelica answered him, “I’m good,” where all four boys gave their books to their roommate.
After David left, Judah explained, “David’s book bag is a ‘bottomless and ever-light’ one, so it’s really no problem for him.”
“He’s not going to bully his brother, is he” Angelica asked in concern.
“Of course not, he’s not like that!” Judah exclaimed quietly. He added, “He’ll probably talk to Aaron, but they’re always talking to each other it seems like sometimes.”
Rowan added, “When we’re both at home, my little brother Ashok and I will talk all the time, and sometimes brothers don’t want other people nosing in, not even their friends. They’re cool, Angelica.”
“I guess I’ll go along with that for now then” she resignedly replied. “It’s not my fault that only you” she said looking at Rowan “have any siblings… sorry, Judah.”
“I’m not that bothered, Angelica. It’s not quite the same when your brother isn’t a regular part of your life anymore, and Perry’s been gone for a while, now.”
As the group continued to walk out of the training grounds, Angelica asked, “I thought his name was ‘Jacob?’”
“It’s kinda like with Sally Dvorak, actually. Da was ‘Peregrine,’ my brother was ‘Perry,’ and I was ‘Pip.’ When Jacob went missing, that all changed. Mom would only call me ‘Judah,’ and she stopped smiling. She’s actually really strict about magic, and sometimes overbearing. I don’t like it, but I don’t blame her, either.”
“Then why do you get all bent out of shape when Duncan calls you ‘Pip?’” Rowan asked.
“‘Cause he’s not Perry, and he’s just doing it to tease me, anyway. Only Da, Mum, and Perry could call me ‘Pip.’ To everyone else, I’m Judah.”
Judah and Rowan stood on the edge of the training ground in amicable silence. Angelica, Thorin, and Ben went ahead to the Great Hall.
§§§
David entered his dorm room at eleven thirty. He drew his wand and opened Aaron’s bed curtains. He told his third birthday present, “Wakey wakey, ham and bakey, or whatever they’re doing for lunch today.”
Aaron rolled over away from David and groused, “Professor Snape said…”
David cut him off with, “Nothing at all whatsoever about letting you sleep through lunch. And we both know you’ll be cranky as hell all afternoon if you don’t eat something now. You’ve napped for almost two and a half hours, and you can go back to bed for a while after you’ve had some lunch.”
While he groggily got up, Aaron asked, “Do we need to talk in the shower?”
David replied, “We can, though I took one this morning before going down to breakfast. And I’m not mad anymore, either.”
“Okay” he replied while getting his hygiene things out of his trunk. The two boys went into the dorm room bathroom and talked while Aaron got cleaned up for the day, looking away where needed and talking through toothpaste foam or over the noise of the shower.
“I’m still worried ‘bout you and Chiara being intimate, and I’m blaming you both equally for different reasons. She’s been so starved for friendship that she’d do almost anything to keep a real friend around, especially after that friend did everything short of actually getting infected to prove he was real.
“You, meanwhile, are so desperate to share feelings with a girl you like that you would do almost anything to encourage her to stay with you, including going along with sex acts you didn’t even think you’d have the guts to ask her about next year. And good on ya for going down on her after coaching her on how to blow you. Nonomy, but how’d you do?”
After choking on his own spit and almost inhaling soapy water, he replied, “She was horny enough that she was good for a double without rubbing one out along with my tongue, even with that being the first time I ever did that. She chided me for not wiping my face off before kissing her, but she wasn’t mad ‘bout it.”
“That’s something, at least…
“But anyway, if we see her for lunch, all three of us will talk it out somewhere that isn’t the Great Hall. We all made a lot of assumptions about last night, and most of them bit us all on the ass.
“First, we’ll help Chiara get some cheap cloaks and flip flops she can wear down to the Forest when it’s that time of the month, and ditch at the last second or let get ripped up. Expecting her to strip naked for two twenty-four-year old men she barely even knew as a twelve-year-old girl was dumb as fuck, and I wish that I’d seen that, even if no one else did.
“Second, no more ‘sympathy stripping’ for you. It’s been practically a ‘Scottish Heat Wave’ for the past several days around the castle. The rest of the year is cold as fuck up here. Someone needs to be able to cast a warming charm on Chiara without dying from hypothermia themselves. I was done with ‘cold cranky Aaron’ when I was four and giving you baths, so I’m not signing up for it again without a hell of a fight.”
“I wasn’t that bad!” Aaron protested.
“You were, Aaron, and I wasn’t that good, either” his older brother replied.
“You were good enough, David. I’m still here, and if you’d hurt me, I’d remember it. I can barely remember remembering the baths when I was two, but you were David, and you were better than Daddy and Mommy.”
David choked up for just a moment before continuing, “Third, I don’t expect the two of you to magically re-grow the parts of your virginity you gave to each other this morning. But the two of you really need to share more feelings before sharing more than feelings again. Sex is supposed to be shared, not be a bribe or a payoff. That’s not what the two of you did, or it’s at least not quite what you did. But she was too scared not to share it, and you were too scared to refuse her.
“Notice that I didn’t say anything about not doing what you did again anytime soon. I’m not quite that naïve, and I wouldn’t put it past Chiara to have at least one lovemaking session with you out of spite for me ‘nosing in’ as the bossy older brother, instead of what we actually are to each other. But that’s not how sex is supposed to work!
“Whether she’s a girlfriend, a paramour, or a wife, sex is a gift freely shared between equals, each comforting and cherishing the other, while gratefully accepting their lover’s gifts in return. When sex isn’t that, it’s either the result of or the cause of the rest of the relationship going to fuck in a bucket. I don’t want that for either of you, Aaron.
“Finally, we’re getting Chiara the cloaks like I mentioned ‘cause I’m going out with the two of you from now on. If the two of you decide to ‘get frisky’ once the rest of your relationship is strong enough for that to work, you’ll do that somewhere else. I didn’t stick around for much. But Professor Snape saw at least as much of the two of you as I did, and I’d rather not have the two of you providing that kind of ‘detention fodder’ to anyone here. That bint Tyler is already insufferable enough of a gossip, and the Snyde chit in Slytherin first year is starting to become a named storm in her own right.”
The two boys by now had moved back into the dorm room proper, and Aaron was just finishing getting dressed. David sat the textbooks that didn’t belong to him on the beds of their owners. A.D. was at the window, finishing up a smoke.
He opined, “Did you two get things straightened out?”
“Yeah, what about it?” David asked flatly.
“Just wanting to make sure it’s safe to chill out in the dorm room again, David; so no need to get upset. My girlfriend and I haven’t gone that far yet, and it’s none of mine how far yours take you. And Aaron, I’m not sure I have any advice to give you that David hasn’t already told you at least twice. Just remember that Penny hasn’t been told anything by any of us. If Chiara wants her to know, then she can tell Penny herself.”
“Fair enough” both red heads replied as they briskly left their dorm room.
While walking down the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room, Aaron announced, “It’s just 11:50, so we’ll still have plenty of time to get something. Unless you have classes right after lunch, Chiara and I are both free for the day.
David answered, “Same here. The only sixth year class meeting this afternoon is Muggle Studies. I’ll audit the class from time to time, but that’s mostly so I don’t miss any of the ‘obsolete’ junk they still ask about on the OWLs and NEWTs. They aren’t nearly as bad as some new-Maj kids say, but it’s still almost like reading Dad’s old Encyclopedia Britannica from 1959 to learn about the Space Shuttle. The books do admit that we landed on the moon, though.”
The two brothers laughed together as they continued to walk to the Great Hall.
§§§
David and Aaron entered the Great Hall immediately behind Judah Kowalski. David asked, “What’s got you running late.”
Seeing who asked, Judah sat next to Aaron and David and served himself some sandwich points. While the two Dvorak brothers served themselves and started eating, Judah answered David’s question.
“It was almost exactly like you thought it would happen, David. Rowan and I stayed back in the training area for a minute or two after Ben and Thorin went ahead. By the time Rowan and I got to the Clock Tower Courtyard, Merula Snyde was bullying both Ben and Thorin, and neither one could cover the other long enough for them to draw their wands. There were five other Slytherins, eight Ravenclaws, and even the Tyler bitch and her cunt crew—and they were all egging Merula on and helping bully and insult Ben and Thorin. I got their attention while Rowan got Thorin out of harm’s way. While I motioned for Ben to take off too, he insisted on sticking around, though fortunately he wasn’t needed.
“Merula talked some shit, I refused to duel her, and I turned my back to walk away. And, just like you predicted, she cast a Rictusempra at my back. Good thing I had the ‘over the back’ Protego going. She doesn’t have a lot of control, but the power she put into that spell half-bowled me over.
“So, I tumbled away from the hit like you taught us, recast my shield, and mopped the floor with her for the next ten seconds or so without making a sound. After I disarmed her, she started throwing a temper tantrum, without realizing that Professors Snape, Flitwick, and McGonagall were there, and that if they hadn’t seen the whole thing that they saw most of it.
“McGonagall took ten points from everyone except for Rowan, Ben, Thorin, Merula, and me. She sent Rowan, Ben, and Thorin off to the Great Hall to wait for lunch free-and-clear, before leaving the rest of the mess to Snape and Flitwick. Professor Flitwick took another ten points each from the ‘Claws before running the mob off. He also tried to stick up for me, but Snape insisted on taking twenty points from me for ‘savaging an incompetent bully,’ his words.
Before David could comment, Judah added, “But that’s not all. After he dismissed Snyde and me, Snape had to talk to Mr. Filch. The caretaker told Snape that ‘there was trouble upstairs in the West Towers Corridor.’
“Snyde followed them, and I followed all three of them. There’s ice leaking into the corridor, and Snape told Filch that he would tell Dumbledore about it, and said that it was probably something to do with the ‘Kowalski situation.’ Something’s messing with the Cursed Vaults, and my brother could…”
“No!” David quietly yet forcefully told Jacob. “At least not how you are today. You’ve just learned the most basic of basic spells, and you’re coming down off of the high from winning your fight with Snyde. You need to learn more magic before you even think about entering that corridor to snoop around, and a lot of that is curse-breaking, too.”
“But you were the one who said that my vision from the spell book in the Artifact Room really was a vision instead of me going bonkers…”
“I did say that, Jacob. But that doesn’t mean that it was a true vision, or that you had to follow that vision right now. Right now, if you enter the room that is leaking ice, you will probably die. Life can be fun, but it isn’t a game. Whatever you believe exists or doesn’t exist in the Afterworld, dead means dead here. Why do you think Duncan gets so pissy anytime you mention the Cursed Vaults, Jacob? It’s because you don’t get ‘do-overs’ in real life. Duncan found out, and he desperately wants you to avoid learning the same lesson like he did.
“I’ll get Bill Weasley to study with you more if you work with him. He’s studying heavily what you need to learn to become a curse breaker, and make no mistake, that’s the exact skill set ‘whomever’ will need dealing with the Cursed Vaults. It’s a skill-set you don’t have today, and you won’t have tomorrow. But if you work your hardest and do your best, and stay the fuck away from the Cursed Vaults in the meantime, you will have the skill-set the day after tomorrow, and on that day you’ll win.
“In the mean time, you need to thank Rowan, Ben, and Thorin for their help, congratulate each other on a victory well-earned, and get ready for gang-on-two drills tomorrow morning, so all of you can get at least one wand drawn the next time you get ganged up on. And, if she’s feeling up to it, Aaron and I need to talk with Chiara, who’s just walked up behind me.”
True enough, Chiara had just finished her lunch further down at the Hufflepuff table, and walked up behind David. She greeted, “Hey, Judah! Tonks told me all ‘bout you winnin’ ‘the fight of the century’ when she woke me up for lunch.”
“How’d she avoid getting caught by Professor McGonagall?”
“She got Professor McGonagall, Judah. She says ‘you’re welcome,’ by the way.”
“And so do I” Tonks added. “And if David’s saying ‘sweet nothings’ to Chiara, then she needs a chaperone just like Aaron does.”
“Fair enough, if Chiara’s down with it” David conceded.
A moment later, David asked, “Have the two of you eaten, and Aaron, have you eaten enough?”
Aaron sheepishly replied, “I’m good, David, my metabolism hasn’t quite kicked in like yours did, yet.”
David supplied, “When I was his age, I went from ‘barely finishing my plate’ to ‘barely avoiding eating my plate’ overnight. I was so bad that for a ‘late night snack’ once, I not only killed the last of a gallon of milk along with a couple of sandwiches, I also drank a can of Dudley’s baby formula to fill the black hole in my abdomen ‘til the next morning!”
“You didn’t!” Tonks laughed in astonishment.
“He did” Aaron supplied. “Thank God Mr. Creevey’s always prompt delivering the milk! And you’d better believe that Dad upped the milk order again that very morning!”
Aaron and David both laughed heartily, and Chiara and Tonks laughed along, too. While Judah excused himself to join Rowan further down the table, David suggested, “The anteroom off of the Great Hall is close by, has no portraits hanging in it, and I can easily charm it so we don’t get eavesdroppers. There’s even a table and some chairs, or will be by the time we get there.”
§§§
The two wizards and two witches entered the anteroom off of the Great Hall. Just as David had described it, the room now had a table and several upholstered dining room type chairs with arms in it. There were also pitchers of water, Pumpkin Juice, and Orange Juice to drink, along with a plate of biscuits. The house elves had really gone out of their way to make the room hospitable. One canceled spell from Tonks later, and the room also contained a somewhat bemused Saria Cook, in full Gryffindor Hogwarts Uniform.
Before David could even think of speaking, Saria supplied, “Mom and Dad both know I’m out here, they just don’t know exactly why. Tonks called Sirius on her communications mirror, Sirius called Dad, and instead of going into the American School Dad side-alonged me to the gate, and Professor Hagrid let me in. I audited Tonks’s classes this morning, and she filled me in on the shit-show that passed for ‘last night’ and ‘this morning.’ If one of you could check the room, please?”
After David checked for “extra” guests, closed and locked the door, and warded the room itself, Saria spoke again. “If the time allows for it David, we’ll ‘audit’ the sixth year Muggle Studies class together this afternoon.
“But Tonks also explained what she knew about how Chiara’s transformation went, along with what Chiara and Aaron got up to this morning. What did you have to say about that, David?”
The elder Dvorak brother replied, “The same things I have to say about it now. First, Chiara, whoever came up with the idea of a twelve-year-old girl stripping naked in front of two twenty-four-year old men she didn’t really know wasn’t using their brains, and I should have caught that even if nobody else did. I’m sorry, Chiara.
“So, we’re going to get you some old cloaks you can wear out to the Forbidden Forest with flip-flops and a warming charm. That way, you can take the stuff off at the last second or just ‘let ‘er rip,’ still have decent clothes to put back on in the morning, and replace the destroyed cloak before the next month.
“Second, I wasn’t ready for Aaron to escort you. He proved that he was ready. So, from now on, so long as you’ll have him with you, Aaron will accompany you.
“Third, I will accompany you, along with Aaron. I love you like a sister, but only like a sister, and I’ll be too busy looking for other ‘problems’ to spend any time looking at you if you change back early like you did this morning. And while Aaron is good, he’s only one person.”
Changing subjects, Aaron asked, “I just realized, you two” he said gesturing towards Tonks and Chiara, “are supposed to be in Potions right now. Why aren’t you?”
Tonks answered, “Professor Snape canceled all afternoon classes at the last minute today, right before you guys walked into the Great Hall. He’s helping Professor Dumbledore deal with some kind of problem in the West Towers Corridor, and it must be big to need both Snape and Dumbledore to solve it. Do you know what’s going on?”
“I have my guesses, but we need to ‘fix’ us first before we worry about the castle” David opined.
David continued, “Chiara, Aaron, I want the two of you to remain happily together for as long as you can. And if the two of you break up, I want you to remain friends and respectful of each other, not fighting over recriminations about sex or anything else. When you start having any kind of sex with each other, that changes the dynamics of a relationship a lot. You haven’t known each other two weeks yet. What the two of you shared together this morning, as special as it was for the both of you, looks from the outside like shared mutual desperation, not anything to build a long-term relationship, or even a long term friendship on. All I’m saying is to get to know each other better before continuing with any more of any kind of that. And make absolutely sure that you understand magical contraceptives, too.
“If the two remain happily together to the point of marrying, you’ll want to start a family, and you can do that without adopting. However, having a woman infected with Lycanthropy carry a healthy child to term and to live birth is pure hell, since you have to help her through eight transformations, plus her next transformation will hit two weeks or less after she’s given birth. But the kids are born perfectly healthy, they aren’t werewolves or nearwolves, and they’re no different than the general population statistically speaking.
“My family’s got your back no matter what when Aaron and you start a family, Chiara—whether the two of you meant to or not. Starting one at eighteen or twenty would be really cool. Starting one at thirteen of fourteen is scary as hell. And if your relationship goes to fuck in a bucket on top of that, then it’s even more miserable.
“Oh, and don’t get caught by Professor Snape again. He saw more of you two than I did, and I only took it on faith that he was even there. He probably let the two of you off this morning mostly ‘cause Headmaster Dumbledore told the both of us off last night after seeing us talking with Uncle Sirius. Snape did talk to me this morning to make sure that I’d talked to the both of you. Sex between students is forbidden everywhere on Hogwarts Grounds including all of the Forbidden Forest. While I doubt that they catch students having sex as easily as Professor Snape made it sound to me, they do catch quite a few students doing that. Since the second easiest way to not get in trouble for having sex is ‘not being caught,’ make sure you don’t get caught.”
“But I thought you were being ‘all high and mighty’ and telling us ‘thou shalt not?’” Chiara exclaimed.
“Chiara, Aaron is more my son than my brother. You are already like a beloved sister to me. And, I am my brother’s keeper, and my sister’s keeper, too. But I’m not your jailer. What I’m really telling the two of you is to not fuck up your relationship or friendship with sex, whether you thought you were ready for it at the time or not. How will I know if you’ve done what I’m asking of you? Ten years from now, you’ll still be together, or at least really close friends. I’ll know if you don’t if I have to help the two of you pick up the pieces after it blows up in your faces.”
Chiara asked a different question. “What about if I go ‘in heat’ with ‘Moony’ around?”
David sighed in relief and answered, “That’s something they did think about, and after making sure it would never happen just filed away. The Wolfsbane Potion works slightly differently from patient to patient. In Uncle Remus’ case, Remus is absolutely in control when he’s dosed correctly, and the wolf ‘sulks in a mental corner.’ Remus likes women—adult women around his age or so.
“And with the whole ‘furry little problem,’ he’s afraid to even date. He is repulsed by even the idea of doing it with an underage girl or with any transformed Werewolf, so you’re safe with him, if he’s dosed up correctly. If he even thinks the Wolfsbane won’t do the job, you aren’t getting him out of his vault in Godric’s Hollow, no matter who you are. The one month Professor Slughorn sent him a bad dose without realizing it, Uncle Remus warded the house so tight that I couldn’t even get in, even already being ‘Benchbrush’ too. It hurt like a kick to the balls, but Uncle Remus is ‘unbent, unbroken, unbowed;’ and those would be his house words if he got the money and family to make it so.”
“Benchbrush?” Chiara asked incredulously.
David and Aaron both stood and transformed into their Animagus Fox forms. Only Chiara hadn’t seen both boys transformed. David was slightly larger than his third birthday present, just like in human life. David’s tail was also thicker and fluffier than Aaron’s, but you actually had to look closely to realize this. Their silver eyes belied human level intelligence, otherwise, they were two “ordinary” red foxes, even while being slightly stouter and yet more graceful than average.
Once the two boys returned to human form, David explained, “When Uncle Sirius reminded us about ‘Padfoot’ being his Animagus Irish Wolfhound form instead of just a nickname his friends gave him, I insisted on becoming an Animagus myself so we could be safe around Uncle Remus even on his ‘off’ nights. Aaron insisted on becoming one with me, of course, and I encouraged him. Our two oldest brothers, Danny and Michael, who were always Dad’s oldest two sons, decided to join in too.
“We’re all foxes with silver eyes. Danny is ‘Fourrurenoir,’ because he’s midnight black with silver eyes, with a burn-scared front right paw and foreleg. Michael is ‘Flairer,’ because his sense of smell when he’s a fox is almost as good as a bloodhound’s. I’m ‘Benchbrush’ because my tail is furrier and fluffier than normal, and Aaron is ‘Bottlebrush,’ ‘cause he was sick the first time he transformed, and his tail was just denser than bald. He’s gotten a lot better, but the fur on his tail still isn’t as thick as the fur on a real fox.”
“How did you get your forms so young?” Chiara asked.
“The same way as Uncle Sirius and Uncle James did” Aaron offered. “That’s the ‘shortcut’ form where you hold the leaf of a magical mandrake plant in your mouth for a month, brew a really complex potion with it, and so on. Even with Professor Slughorn helping us, we were more lucky than good getting it done right the first time. The first transformation the ‘quick’ way isn’t even remotely pleasant, and you can actually maim or kill yourself if you do it wrong. But, we were convinced that we needed to, and Uncle Frank saw both the need and our success becoming Animagi when we did. Uncle James and Uncle Sirius did it when they were fifteen, right when they started their fifth year, but they didn’t have any help other than each other.
“The ‘long’ form, where you meditate for years and master Transfiguration first and just change over is what Professor McGonagall did. That’s actually the safer way too. The end result is the same, but it takes decades instead of years.”
Bringing things back to the school itself, Tonks asked, “If the four of you are all good with each other, can someone tell me about the West Towers Corridor?”
David replied, “That’s one of the Cursed Vaults Jacob Kowalski was messing with. Dumbledore put wards on all of them to ‘cap’ them off, and he thought it was ‘job-done.’ Apparently, either R or the castle itself thought otherwise, especially if Dumbledore needed Snape to help him with it. And Judah was not involved at all, at least not yet.
“I’ve mostly convinced him that he doesn’t know anywhere near enough magic yet to go messing with it, and I also pointed him towards Bill, since he and Tom are both studying curse breaking for after Hogwarts. But Judah is a fast and solid learner, and there’s only so much we’ll be able to teach him before he just goes for it with whatever he knows at the time. I’m hoping that we’ll teach him enough to not get killed or maimed. But, only time will tell.”
There was a knock at the door. David checked, and opened the door to reveal Alastor Moody, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin.
Sirius asked, “Did the four of you finish fixing stuff up after Remus’s and my screw-ups yesterday?”
“Pretty much” Chiara told him. “Have Remus and you figured out that while having a Senior Auror and a fully-in-control Wolfsbane dosed Werewolf for added security is a great idea, that having a twelve year old girl strip naked for two twenty-four-year-old men she barely even knows might be a little much?"
To the sputtering of both younger men, David interrupted, “We’re close enough that with at least Remus explaining and listening, we’ll get the rest of the way there. Aaron and I will both be escorting Chiara on her ‘special class nights’ from now on, and we can figure out other improvements to Professor Lupin’s special classes.
“But last time I checked, Senior Auror Moody wasn’t involved in classroom instruction, and it looks like he was looking for me far more than he was looking for us. How may I help you, Auror Moody?”
The grizzled and scarred Senior Auror replied, “It’s a true shame you’re dead-set on becoming a historian of all things, David. We were looking for you at the direction of your dad’s boss. Your brother, girlfriend, and her friends don’t need to be involved, so they can visit with Professor Lupin and figure out whatever they’re figuring out for Dumbledore. We need to go check something out upstairs, and from here it doesn’t look so good.”
David said, “Right. Professor, friends, inform the prefects, Head Boy, and Head Girl to keep all students away from the West Towers Corridor on the second floor. Headmaster Dumbledore hasn’t declared it off-limits yet, but if the Aurors and MaCUSA Adjunct Aurors are getting involved, it’s only a matter of time, and not a lot of that. Have Simon Talmadge and Myrtle Warren pass the word to Ravenclaw, and have Duncan Ashe pass the word to Slytherin, if Professor Snape hasn’t already sent word down to them. If you need to inform students in class for Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, call on Sir Nicholas and Father Tuck. It’s one twenty-seven now, and the next class change is at one-forty, so we don’t have a lot of time. After you’re finished, you can meet back up here if need be. I’ll look here first when I’m finished, depending on what time it is.”
Oddly enough, the Assistant Professor and four students followed David’s instructions. Senior Auror Moody led Senior Auror Black and David up the Great Staircase en route to the West Towers Corridor.
§§§
Senior Auror Alastor Moody led the group of three to the door to the Vault of Ice. When he got close, he loudly rebuked, “Albus, the kid is a compromise—otherwise you’d have got Chief Walking Cloud, John Dvorak, and Frank Floyd. He’s here as a trained observer, so they can take Pensieve memories for later use.
“And that’s what ya get when you send an Adfero to me about the Cursed Vaults when I’m in a meeting with those three about R, including the Cursed Vaults… and you got a bloody student trapped in there! She’ll still be alive if we move quick enough!”
Dumbledore rapidly threw the door wide open. Merula Snyde was just inside the door, but at an angle where you wouldn’t see her if you didn’t already know to look. She still had her head clear of the ice, and she was still breathing. But it was clear that she would not last much longer unless she was removed from the ice, and from the room itself.
Professor Snape cast Incendio vocally at the ice near to Merula. After about fifteen seconds, the ice melted enough that Headmaster Dumbledore could cast a Flipendo and get the Slytherin first year out of the ice. David cast a Moblicorpus, while Sirius cast a light summoning charm to get the girl maneuvered out of the room.
Professor Dumbledore had already summoned Healer Pomfrey the moment Alastor told him there was a live student in the room. She, and Andy Floyd arrived at the doorway area just as Sirius and David got the Slytherin first year out into the corridor.
Andy quickly checked the girl’s vital signs. He reported, “33ºC, radial 20, weak and thready, 5 breaths shallow.”
The healer asked, “Any estimate how long she was in there?”
David replied, “Could be as long as an hour and forty-five minutes, but probably a little less. That would be roughly how long she was in the room. Legs, arms, and most of her torso were encased in Cursed Ice, with the ice just starting to cover her shoulders when we extracted her.”
Poppy opined, “I won’t need to have her sent to St. Mungos, but she’s in for a rough afternoon. Severus?”
“Snyde, Merula, first year. Mr. David Dvorak’s times are reasonable.”
“I should have enough of the right potions for her, Severus. But I’ll be very low after I’ve treated her. I’ll send you a list to your office later today.”
She further instructed Andy, “Spell in one phial Chocoblast, wait half a minute, and follow it with one phial Wiggenweld unless the patient is in further distress.”
After successfully administering the first two of several potions, the healer and healer trainee left, taking their patient with them.
Sirius asked, “What was the first potion Pomfrey gave her again?”
David answered, “Chocoblast. It’s a gentler and longer acting substitute for an Invigoration Draught, and doesn’t react badly with other potions. It’s used for moderate to severe hypothermia among other uses. It was just patented last year.
Changing gears David asked, “Professor Snape, Miss Snyde and at least one other student overheard Mr. Filch the caretaker and yourself discussing the door and room at roughly eleven forty-five this morning. Has the ice gotten noticeably worse between then and now?”
Remembering why David was there in the first place, the Potions Master answered, “The Cursed Ice had passed under the door and well into the hallway when Headmaster Dumbledore and I returned at one ten. He sent an Adfero to Auror Moody, and it took the two of us from then until your party arrived to get the ice back down to where you saw it.”
“Headmaster Dumbledore, was their any kind of stasis charm or seal placed on this room after the last time it was opened? And when was the last time it was opened?”
“I believe that the last time this room was deliberately opened was by me in 1980. At that time, I placed an anchored stasis ward on the room and sealed the door. When I got to the room today, the seal appeared to have been deliberately breached roughly two months or more ago. A student was not likely to be the culprit, and a typical student wouldn’t have the ability or the magical power to have breached the seal, or damaged the ward.”
“Is it likely that the ambient magic in Hogwarts or some other non-sapient-caused effect might have damaged the ward, the seal, or both?”
Dumbledore conceded, “It’s possible, but not likely. Beyond Hogwarts itself having a degree of sentience, we don’t know what exactly the Cursed Vaults were supposed to contain, or when they came into being. And the one person who was actually in the Cursed Vaults left behind no notes I am aware of.”
David asked, “Finally, Headmaster, this is a ‘standard question,’ one that I wish I didn’t have to ask. Is there any chance that a current or former employee may have breached the seals on this room?”
“No, none. Lord Voldemort was connected with this school at one time as a student. However, the Cursed Vaults were unknown when he was a student. Likewise, beyond the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship, we have had almost no turnover since I became Headmaster. Those currently employed here have no motivation to tamper with this vault or harm the school in any other way, and those who’ve left our employ have neither the access or magical talent to have done so.”
“How fast does this stuff ‘grow’ back, Professor? And, may I burn some of it away?”
After thinking for a moment, Dumbledore guessed, “Whomever is watching this will be more than familiar with your casting power and skill?”
“Quite so, Professor.”
“Go ahead, David” the Headmaster granted.
David centered himself. Using perfect diction and wand movements, he verbally cast; “Incendio Maxima!” After holding the spell for thirty seconds, he released it and cast “Aericalda Maxima!” Once again, he used perfect diction while vocalizing the spell with perfect wand movements. He cleared and dried the left half of the room to a depth of about twenty feet. All the adults were suitably impressed.
Chief Walking Cloud, Frank Floyd, and John Dvorak, being led in by Professor McGonagall, joined the group.
She started the conversation by pronouncing, “Thirty points to Gryffindor and twenty points to Hufflepuff for showing concern for your fellow students and taking the initiative. I ran into your group, David, right as they were starting to pass the word of a likely placing of this corridor as ‘off limits,’ and to avoid it in the mean time. I changed that to an actual placing of this corridor as ‘off limits’ until further notice due to emergency maintenance. Professor Snape had already sent word down to his Slytherins, which was all he had the time to do while assisting the Headmaster.”
Changing whom she spoke to, she added, “Professor Dumbledore, these gentlemen decided that they needed to see this corridor for themselves after all, though they will still interview Mr. David Dvorak for his observations.”
Chief Walking Cloud asked, “Any injuries, David?”
The boy replied, “One UK Ministry national, a first year student. Moderate to severe hypothermia, full recovery expected within twenty-four hours, no need to transfer to St. Mungo’s.”
John asked, “David, did you clear the left side of the room?”
“Yes, Dad, except for a small space close to the door, where the student was encased in ice. The ice varied between half and two thirds of the way to the ceiling.”
“What did you use?”
“Half a minute of Incendio Maxima vocalized with precise wand movements, followed by half a minute of Aericalda Maxima vocalized with precise wand movements. The stuff feels like it’s least a little bit self-healing, so if you had to clear the room out you would want some kind of spell to break the ice without causing further trouble, and then melt the chunks elsewhere.”
Frank asked, “Was the door popped open by the ice and repaired, or was it forced?”
Dumbledore told them, “I sealed the room in 1980 after placing an anchored stasis charm on the room. The seals appeared to be broken by someone over the last summer break. However, the room hadn’t generated enough ice to be noticeable until late this morning.”
Chief Walking Cloud asked, “Is Judah Casmir Kowalski any kind of threat to your school?”
David interrupted, “If I may answer, Chief; absolutely not. I know Judah personally. He never has, never will, and never would work with R in any form or fashion. He’s just an eleven-year-old boy who wants to get his older brother back and do well in life honestly.”
Chief Walking Cloud replied, “David, your endorsement of the boy is meaningful and speaks well for him. I do need the opinions of the current staff present, though.”
Headmaster Dumbledore offered, “I have only spoken to Mr. Kowalski in the halls in passing. However, it’s only the eleventh of September of the boy’s first year, and I am the Headmaster. Absent other circumstances the boy just doesn’t have, I shouldn’t know him. Though we are expecting a further drop in enrolment due to the war, we still have just over one hundred thirty students per year.
Professor McGonagall told the diplomat, “I am the boy’s head of house as well as the Deputy Headmistress. I’ve had only ‘typical’ contact with the boy, despite the reputation his elder brother earned while a student here. Mr. Kowalski is getting good marks, gets along well with most of his housemates, and participates fully in his classes. He has turned his homework in on time and complete to date, and appears to be adjusting well to boarding school life. Remember too that this is the eleventh of September of Mr. Kowalski’s first year, so we shouldn’t really know the boy yet.”
Professor Snape finished with, “Mr. Kowalski is a talented student when he applies himself. As far as conduct, he is making friends in most of the houses, avoids avoidable confrontations, and if cornered into a ‘schoolyard fight’ uses only the minimum amount of force to win the confrontation, rather than inflicting serious injuries. In short, while not necessarily a model student, he is also not worthy of intense scrutiny, either.
“Miss Snyde, the student who was injured, would be a more likely ‘person of interest’ than Mr. Kowalski, as displeased as I am to admit it. Her parents were both convicted at trial by the Wizengamot of being marked supporters of the Terrorist, along with several actual attacks performed at the Terrorist’s bidding. Her current custodial guardian, from what I’ve been led to believe, is also a reputed member of R. While Judah’s father also has a similar reputation, the boy hasn’t seen his father in years.
“And yet, even her involvement in R or in the breaching of the Cursed Vaults approaches laughability. Frankly, the girl is not nearly as talented as she believes herself to be, and even the most brilliant first year student would have had trouble breaching that door.
“She might be a serious threat in a year or two, if the rest of the staff and I can’t guide her towards more socially acceptable and productive paths. So, watch her if you must, since you should also be seriously watching her guardian.”
Chief Walking Cloud announced, “After getting David’s Pensieve memory, we should be finished here for now, unless you want any further help from us?”
Dumbledore replied, “If you have the time, I could treat the group of you to a drink, or at least a cup of tea or coffee? I have a Pensieve in my office. You would be welcome to use it, and reclaim David’s memory when you are done.”
Chief Walking Cloud informed the Headmaster, “It’s close enough to the end of the day that an Armagnac would be wonderful. I’m sure your Aurors will stick to tea, but they know their obligations far more than I care to enforce them. But I will have to view a Gemino of the memory here. The original needs to remain sealed in the vial, since it will be going to the Empire State Building. R may be your problem, but they’re causing us a lot of problems, so we need to keep the ‘chain of evidence’ intact.
“David, think of the time from when you arrived up here this afternoon until when Professor Snape finished his answer about Miss Snyde.”
Chief Walking Cloud carefully claimed the Pensieve memory from David’s mind and deposited it into a special vial. He capped the vial, and duplicated it with the Gemino charm.
Headmaster Dumbledore announced, “Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Mr. David Dvorak, we are finished with you for now. You may go back to whatever you were doing.
Moody added, “And David, your class where I found you should still be going on. Auror Black will be looking for you there when he’s finished in the Headmaster’s Office.”
Everyone dispersed to where they needed to go. It was a quarter to four in the afternoon.
§§§
When David knocked at the door to the anteroom, Saria let him in. After Professor Lupin re-warded the room, he asked, “What can you tell us about the hallway, or rather, what are you allowed to tell us?”
David replied, “I don’t know what the ‘official’ line is yet. What’s really going on is one of the Cursed Vaults that got sealed in 1980 had its seals break unexpectedly, which is where the Cursed Ice came from. Dumbledore wanted to have Moody come out quickly and quietly to give it a look, and to bring Sirius to look at it, too. Unfortunately for Dumbledore, he sent an Adfero while Moody and Black were meeting with Chief Walking Cloud, Dad, and Uncle Frank.
“So, like Moody hinted at, I was called up as a ‘trained observer,’ meaning that I was to see as much as I could so Chief Walking Cloud could view the Pensieve memory, and even have it admitted to at least some court proceedings. Well, Chief Walking Cloud and the rest decided that they wanted to see things in person after all, so after Professor McGonagall got the ‘off limits’ stuff straightened out with you guys, she had to go to the gate and let them in. We all got ten points each for that, by the way.
“Merula Snyde had somehow snuck into the room without anybody noticing while Professor Snape went to get Professor Dumbledore. And worse yet for her, she managed to get mostly sucked into the Cursed Ice. She was very lucky that Moody saw her. If she’d stayed in there much longer, she’d have actually frozen to death. As things were, after we got her busted out of the ice and out of the room, Madam Pomfrey had to have Andy spell two potions into her before they took her to the Hospital Wing. They didn’t have to send her on to St. Mungo’s, but since Madam Pomfrey herself mentioned it, it was seriously being thought about. She’ll be out of the Hospital Wing either tonight or tomorrow.
“I melted a section of ice in the room using a Incendio Maxima followed by an Aericalda Maxima. I cast each spell vocalized, using careful wand movements, and as hard as I could cast them. There was a lot of ice in the room, as in four feet at its shallowest, and some spots going most of the way to the twelve-foot ceilings. If it were regular ice, it wouldn’t have stood up to that. Since it was Cursed Ice, I melted maybe a fourth of the ice in the room tops.”
Chiara asked, “How much magic was that, though?”
“Have you seen Professor Hagrid’s hut, Chiara?” David asked in return.
“Yeah, why?”
“‘Cause I could burn it, and everything in it, off of the face of the earth in ten seconds casting like I did upstairs. I did that for the Pensieve memory, since Chief Walking Cloud knows exactly what I can do. The ice Dumbledore and Snape removed was mostly a thinner layer in the hall. While Dumbledore can easily out power me, Snape would have to beat me in a fight with skill, cunning, and experience. Since he’s got all that, I won’t be challenging him to any duels any time soon.”
After the expected laughter died down, David finished with, “I asked ‘likely’ questions before Chief Walking Cloud showed up, they asked even more questions, and Chief Walking Cloud took the Pensieve memory from me. The Chief, Dad, Uncle Frank, Moody, and Uncle Sirius went up to Dumbledore’s office, Professors McGonagall and Snape went to wherever they needed to go, and I came back down here.”
Remus asked, “What did you mean earlier by ‘nearwolf?’”
“It’s a layman’s term I’d seen in a medical text for Pseudolycanthropy, which is where you get mauled by someone with Lycanthropy when they aren’t transformed and contagious. While a person with this won’t transform and can’t spread anything themselves, the scars are just as bad as ones from a transformed Werewolf if not worse, and the person tends to have strong cravings for raw or nearly raw meat. You do get a boost in your senses of hearing and smell, but nowhere near that of someone who actually has Lycanthropy.
“Speaking of that, what have all of you figured out?”
Chiara told David, “First off, both Professor Lupin and I will wear the ‘disposable’ cloaks like you suggested. Neither one of us wants to ‘show off’ for the other. We also don’t want to be accused of looking at the other, either.
“Second, while our ‘changing areas’ for in the morning will be close to each other in case something goes wrong, they will have enough privacy fencing so that we effectively have separate changing areas while still having Professor Lupin able to see any problems and help me if I need it. We also won’t be ‘putting on a show’ for the other Hogwarts Students.
“Third, we’re also going to ask Professor Hagrid if he would be interested in becoming an Animagus once he’s better caught up on his Transfiguration and general wanded magic. While Professor Lupin says that most Werewolves are actually afraid of half-giants, the ones we’re worried about would tend to be the ones who aren’t or at least the ones someone like Fenrir Greyback has trained to overcome that fear.
Remus added, “Finally, we’re going to ask Professor Dumbledore to change my ‘informal’ job here to a formal situation as the ‘Special Needs Professor.’ That way, when I’m not working for your family, I’ll actually have a job and a reason to be here. On the Muggle Side, I managed to earn my CTS for Scotland and QTS for the rest of the UK, with a primary specialty of Special Needs/Special Education, so I’m actually a licensed teacher like your cousin Andy’s needed all-along, and I can use those skills just as easily for Transfiguration and Charms as I can for maths and English.”
“That’s great news, Uncle Remus! But, how did you get in to college in the first place.”
Remus told his honorary nephew, “Simple, I did what you guys are doing along with your Aunt Lily back in the day. And since we didn’t tell anyone while we were doing it, including your step-grandparents the Evans, well… that was one of the many reasons your mum was actually able to accept and reconcile with Lily. Lily’s O and A Level scores blew your mum’s clean out of the water, but Lily never said anything to her parents while they were alive, so they weren’t able to insult her about their ‘precious Lily’ getting better scores than your mum without even going to school for it. It also helped that Lily was doing it partly to find some way to connect to your mum.”
Some raised voices were heard outside of the room right before there was a knock at the door. Aaron checked the door, and admitted Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Snape, Auror Black, and John Dvorak. Aaron let them in, and Professor Snape re-warded the room after Aaron closed and locked the door.
Allowing his Potions Master to save some face, the Headmaster allowed Severus to make the announcement.
“Good evening, students. I’m sure that all of you know of my ‘displeasure’ with Senior Auror Black and Professor Lupin. I can assure you that my displeasure is entirely personal, even if it is in my mind entirely justified. However, even with those reservations, I fully support the most recent endowment gifted to the school by Lord Floyd, and Professor Lupin is fully qualified for the task.
“Subject to Professor Lupin and Headmaster Dumbledore agreeing on terms of employment, Professor Lupin will be joining the staff as an Adjunct Professor for Special Needs Students. If they agree to terms, this appointment will be announced as early as the evening meal tonight. While the hours will be flexible, Professor Lupin will be available and on school grounds at least some nights outside of the particular one some of you are concerned with.
“Our Special Needs Student assistance program has been informal and barely adequate at best up to now. The one well-known student with these needs we’ve been teaching recently has actually had far more help from family than he has from Hogwarts itself, due mostly to the high work load all of the professors have, along with the Wizarding UK itself not training pre-mastery education as a discipline in its own right.
“For those of you who follow ‘Wizarding School Trivia,’ Professor Lupin will be a department head even as an Adjunct Professor, with his department being newly created alongside Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History, Magical Arts, Agriculture, and Medical.”
Saria asked, “Professor Snape, how do those ‘departments’ align with the classes today?”
“Quite well Miss Cook. But they are much less obvious due to the relative lack of students and staff in recent years. The Transfiguration department had four professors, and they also taught the Alchemy classes when those were offered. Potions had four professors, but the workload has remained the same. Charms had seven professors, and they also taught Magical Theory and Defence. History had eleven professors plus two additional paid staff, and was also responsible for Muggle Studies, Wizarding Culture, Civics, and Library and Archive Arts. They also managed the Library with two paid librarians. Magical Arts had fourteen professors and one staff member. The Runes professor typically ran it. They taught Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Astrology and Divination, Latin, Magical Sport, Spell Crafting and Analysis, Magical Sculpting, and Magical Portraiture. Mr. Talmadge can explain that, since he was actually one of that department’s better students when he was alive. Agriculture had nine professors and two staff members. They were responsible for Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Magical Farming and Herding, Magical Building and Crafting, and Magical Cooking and Baking. They also oversaw the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, the Caretaker, the house elves, and everything else having anything to do with the buildings and grounds, minus the wards themselves. Once we quit providing healing and hospital care to Hogsmeade and the surrounding Wizarding area in the 1300s or so, we went down to one healer and two mediwizards.
“The Heads of House, like today, would be professors who were students in that house, but usually not a department head. You were promoted in to Head of House and then out of Head of House to become a department head. Likewise, the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster no longer taught or had any other responsibilities, since they ran the school together full time. While they could come from the same department, they typically didn’t. Professor Dumbledore was tenured as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, under the Charms Master of the day. He didn’t take over Transfiguration until 1910. He was promoted directly to Head of the Transfiguration Department, since he was also a Transfiguration Master and one of only two professors on staff who could even teach Alchemy.
“Until 1981, we had one full time administrator, eleven professors, one of whom was also a part time administrator, and five non-teaching staff members, one of whom should actually be classed as a professor since they teach. We were doing most of the same work as had been done with forty-nine professors, seven staff who were all only staff members, and two administrators who were only responsible for running the school and mentoring the professors. Today, we are up to fourteen professors, if we include Professors Lupin and Hagrid. But that will drop to thirteen once Professor Hagrid has increased his general magical talent and education, and Professor Kettleburn finally retires, should Professor Kettleburn live that long.
“Needless to say that a lot of subjects aren’t taught at all here now, and those we still teach are taught in lesser detail with larger class sizes. You used to have twelve mandatory subjects up to the OWL Level, and many of those required two professors, plus a different professor teaching at NEWT level. Classes ran half-days on Saturdays plus all through the week. Students were obliged to work longer hours studying, and both the Yule and Spring breaks were shorter. Today, we only have seven core subjects, with Latin just having been brought back. If you needed to learn Latin between the ‘20s and today, you learned it on your own. And no class has any more than one Professor teaching it.”
David asked, “How was History run?”
“The Head of Department typically taught NEWT level Wizarding History. They had two History Professors up to the OWL level, one Muggle Studies Professor who also taught Muggle History to the NEWT level, one Wizarding Studies Professor, one Civics Professor, and one Library Arts Professor, who taught book conservation as part of their classes. None of those professors was ever lacking for work.”
“Why did all of that change?” Tonks asked.
“Mostly money, though lower enrolments didn’t help” Professor Dumbledore answered. “While the Ministry has given us some annual payments since they were established, they haven’t been our main source of income, or particularly reliable. In fact, from the 1920s until the late 1940s, Hogwarts not only didn’t receive any money from the Ministry, but we also had to pay taxes on our income. The wealthier parents typically pay tuition and fees to the school though those payments have oftentimes been debated. We also receive donations and gifts from businesses and former students. Some of these gifts are in the form of endowments where we spend only the interest earned from Gringotts. The Forbidden Forest yields valuable magical resources, which we sell. We also sell many plants from our greenhouses, and we even supply potions to St. Mungo’s, though we haven’t done nearly as much business since Potions was cut down to just one Potions Master back during the Grindelwald War. Reinstating Art was a major battle. To the degree we have a music program, it’s because Professor Flitwick is teaching it on his own time. We’re ‘paying’ for Professor Hagrid as part of a settlement of a lawsuit, and by not hiring a new Groundskeeper until after Professor Kettleburn finally retires. Professors Athelstan and Lupin were paid for by dedicated gifts.
“The Wizarding population gain of the UK hasn’t kept up with the Muggle population gain in over two hundred years. While we avoided the Muggle First World War, we lost far more people in the Grindelwald War than many realize. The Voldemort War was even worse, since beyond the deaths and maimings, more than a few people emigrated out of the UK to get away from the troubles.
“While the hedge academies do draw students away from us, they are not the threat to us some have claimed. But beyond some parents not wanting to send their children to a boarding school and other students not having quite enough magical capacity to keep up to our standards, the hedge academies exist because we have shrunk too far to do our jobs well.
“And in some years, particularly under former Headmaster Dippet, the Hogwarts Board of Governors, who normally serve pro-bono, have voted themselves bonus payments for ‘conserving school funds’ and reducing costs, even while depleting our reserves for either the Ministry’s gain or their own.
“When they made me Chief Warlock in 1946, I ended the taxation on Hogwarts as one of my first orders of business. I wasn’t able to get the tuition payments for Muggleborns reinstated until 1953, and it ended up taking me until 1961 to get Ministry funding of all tuitions paid. Before then, we still couldn’t turn the students away if their parents couldn’t afford to pay their tuition, and we had no choice but to provide them the best education possible. It was just costing us a lot of money to do it, and some years we actually had to spend the principal of some of our endowments to do it.
“When Armando Dippet finally retired in 1965, I took over as Headmaster, and only then was I able to actually read the accounting ledgers. What I read shocked me. Somehow, the press got a hold of enough of it that the public was also shocked. Numerous then-members of the Board of Governors were obliged to resign in shame when the Daily Prophet learned of their financial misdealings. There were also suspicious deaths both among the Goblins in Gringotts and in the Wizarding community. We’ve improved our financial footing since then, but we are still obliged to run a tight ship.
“Abraxas Malfoy was suspended from the Board for life then, but his was a hereditary seat. I was able to keep the ‘temporary’ appointee on the board after Abraxas died, but only because of his son Lucius Malfoy’s reputed involvement on Voldemort’s side in the war. Once the war was over, we were forced to seat his son Lucius once the Wizengamot acquitted him of his crimes in the war by reason of the Imperious Curse.”
While the Headmaster and Potions Master were telling the students about how the school had been run, Remus Lupin had quickly read his contract, noting that it was set up to allow him to continue teaching the Dvoraks and Weasleys not enrolled at Hogwarts at need. Borrowing a contract quill from John Dvorak, he signed it. Since the Headmaster had already signed it, the contract flashed, indicating that Lupin was now holding a copy, with the other copies now in the Headmaster’s files and the Hogwarts School Vault at Gringotts.
The Potions Master observed, “I suppose that the announcement will be made this evening. Congratulations, Professor. I will see those of you who remain at the evening meal.”
Once Professor Snape left, the Headmaster added, “The evening meal will start within the next hour. Professor Lupin will be expected. The rest of you who are not students are welcome to join us at the head table, or return to your homes at your discretion.” The Headmaster also left the room.
David remarked, “I’m sure that Lyall and Hope would be very proud of you. Congratulations, Professor Lupin.” The almost fourteen-year-old sixth year hugged his honorary uncle and favorite Marauder.
Sirius told Chiara, “I’m sorry everything that went wrong last night happened like it did. In Professor Lupin’s and my defence, we’d completely failed to realize that you’d never transformed outside of your own basement before, so we thought you already had a robe set aside for that. We’ll make sure you do have one, on top of whatever else you guys came up with. And since Moody is my supervisor, he’ll make sure that I’m not held over to be late again.”
Chiara replied, “I accept your apology, Sirius?”
“That works, Chiara. I was never really into the ‘Mr. This,’ ‘Miss That’ stuff in an informal setting. Moony and I are here to help you live life without being afraid or being a risk to others, not ‘lord it over’ with schoolkids.”
Curious, Chiara asked, “Who were Lyall and Hope?”
David replied, “They were Professor Lupin’s dad ‘n’ mom. My Dad and Mom, and Uncle James and Aunt Lily got married on the same day. Both were ‘courthouse’ weddings on the Muggle side, with Dad and Mom getting married in Guildford, and Uncle James and Aunt Lilly in Gloucester. They had a joint reception in Godric’s Hollow. Mom and Aunt Lily’s parents were already both dead and had been since right after Aunt Lily left school. Uncle James’s parents, and Uncle Remus’ parents were all still alive and I met them there. Aaron and I were six and nine, and we were probably both pests to Uncle Remus, especially me…”
After he stopped laughing, Remus replied, “You were rather persistent, but my parents and I enjoyed your company. You were a better conversationalist than some of my friends from school, Mum enjoyed your sense of humour, and when you sang and played “There’ll Always Be an England,” you brought Mum and Dad both to tears. That song just happened to play on the wireless right after Dad proposed to Mum, and it was always ‘their’ song.
“Aaron was a shy little thing back then. He was practically clinging to David at first. Once David got us all introduced around, Aaron relaxed and was just as good of company as his older brother. He wasn’t as confident a singer as his older brother, though.”
Aaron offered, “I didn’t really hit my stride ‘til right after David started Hogwarts, though I was pretty good before then.”
“You were plenty good from the first recording on, Aaron.” David defended.
John observed, “Sirius, Remus, Tonks, I need to speak to my sons, ward, and their friend Chiara for a minute or two. We will see you in the Great Hall.”
All three could tell by the sound of John’s voice that he was not making a request, so they quietly left.
Once John locked and re-warded the door, he told the group, “I had the most interesting discussion with Professor Snape this morning. None of the four of you are in trouble with me, but only because you appear to have resolved all, or at least most of the… misunderstandings you had last night and this morning.
“I’ve also spoken with Tony and Vera Lobosca. They had approved forms that would allow Chiara to travel with the band on school weekends similarly to the way the Stock Brothers, the Weasleys, and Tom Dailey do, subject to common sense, your grades, and seeing to your health concerns. After our conversation, which managed to happen mostly before Professor Snape called them, the forms are still valid. However, I assured them that I would have a conversation with the two of you.
“If she joins the rest of you, she wouldn’t have been sharing a room with Aaron anyway. She absolutely won’t be sharing one with him now. Your mother and I will set things up in such a way that ‘erotic encounters’ of any type, time, or duration will not be possible. You will be able to talk without being eavesdropped on. You will not be able to do anything approaching what the two of you did this morning. You will also not complain or comment about anything any of Aaron’s siblings may or may not be doing with each other. Their circumstances are not the same as yours, and I don’t mean because of your illness, or because who does or does not have usable magic in their relationships.
“That being said, Chiara, you are still absolutely welcome to travel with Aaron on many of his off-campus trips for musical performances, providing you maintain your grades and general good conduct to your parents’ satisfaction. You are not obliged to join us however, even while Aaron is obliged to travel. Like his older siblings, Aaron is a paid professional musician and singer. This is one of his jobs. He has no choice but to travel and do his best at every performance and learn as best as he is able at every rehearsal. But during these trips, the two of you will have a better chance to learn, know, and understand each other, along with our family.
“While neither your parents or my wife and I will approve of Aaron and you sharing marital intimacy prior to actually marrying, our level of intrusively blocking any opportunity for you to do so will greatly decrease depending on your maturity, how solid the rest of your relationship is growing, and how old you are. And even at our ‘worst,’ we are not trying to break the two of you up or force the two of you together. We just want to encourage behavior between the two of you that you will not regret should you decide to not remain together as a couple, or worse yet behavior between the two of you that would break the rest of your relationship to each other.
“All that being said, Aaron and you were far from the only ones who made mistakes, however much the two of you feel right now that we don’t see that with all the constant criticism you’ve received for this morning. Aaron, you actually did the right thing right up to that point; after that you at least managed to do the least wrong thing, which is better than some would have done. Chiara, you shouldn’t have been placed in a position where you even thought about sharing as much as you did with Aaron this morning. David, while you should have been out there with your brother from the start instead of telling him to leave Chiara out there alone, something you yourself would have obviously ignored in his place, you at least did check on the immediately after finding out Aaron was out there. You reacted appropriately to Professor Snape, and until you were ordered otherwise were intending to join Aaron and Chiara.
“It’s close enough to the start of the evening meal that we need to get going. I’ll be leaving directly after, so this is good-bye until Friday afternoon. Saria will join along with me as I leave. Aaron, let us know for sure whether Chiara’s coming along no later than Thursday. Chiara, make sure you have your weekend assignments with you when you pack Muggle clothes for the weekend, we’re playing Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham.”
David suggested, “If we may, Dad, can we plan for the possibility of Thrusday afternoon, or mid-day Friday? Chiara and Tonks only have Charms and Latin. Professor Flitwick is still covering the Hover Charm, and Aaron and I can both help her with that, along with everything else. Gryffindor First Years have Potions in the morning. Professor Snape was actually impressed with Aaron when the Slytherins weren’t looking, and Ben and Thorin did manage an ‘Exceeds Expectations’?”
John replied, “I will check with Professor Snape. Be ready to leave Thursday afternoon with all of your assignments properly done and ready to turn in Monday morning. Expect to leave at half-noon Friday unless I tell you otherwise.
“Both Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape complimented your teaching skills with Judah Kowalski, so well done there. His mother, along with the Khanna’s, Coppers, and Odinsons, have given them permission to visit and travel with us, the same as Tom Daley and Charlie Weasley. Bill Weasley and the Stock brothers are actually playing in the band, so these trips are work for them. You will be studying and practicing magic at times, particularly if you aren’t actively participating in a rehearsal or other such.”
David opined, “I’m surprised Judah’s mom allowed him to travel with us, Dad.”
“I believe she wants him out of the school as much as possible without being in trouble or danger, or getting bad grades. Keep in mind that she didn’t want him attending Hogwarts at all. She admitted as much to me. My guess is that she put an anti-Owl hex on him, but she just got somewhat neglectful renewing it. You should also remind Judah to not volunteer in detail how much or what kind of extra magical practice he’s getting from us.”
John hugged both of his sons, and they all left the anteroom to see Tony and Vera Lobosca. They weren’t nearly as upset as Chiara or Aaron expected. Chiara ran to her mother and embraced her while crying softly. Vera held and comforted her daughter. Tony stood six feet tall and weighed about one hundred sixty pounds. He was clean-shaven, his eyes were the same pale blue his daughter’s and wife’s were, and his brown hair was medium length and full. No other students or staff were in the area.
Tony extended his hand to Aaron and introduced, “Tony Lobosca. You Aaron?” His voice was cultured yet gravelly.
“Yes sir” the boy replied.
“How bad did her transformation hurt ‘er last night?” Chiara’s father asked quietly.
“You’d have to ask her sir, but with me out there she wasn’t tensed up really bad or anything. In her wolf form, she actually wasn’t aggressive, she didn’t bite herself at all, and the only scratching she did was if she was itchy rather than trying to hurt herself. She was still the ‘wolf,’ but she was a slightly playful wolf who wasn’t interested in attacking humans, or anyone else. So, while her Wolfsbane dosage might need to be increased, she at least knows to eat a good but not heavy meal before transforming.
“In the morning, beyond what everyone is upset about, she was only tired, since she was up running the Forbidden Forest all night. If we set up a decent shelter protected from the weather, she might alternate between running free and napping, so she wouldn’t even be tired the next morning. We haven’t had time to talk about any of that yet. She did drop out of her transformation early, and I wasn’t comfortable at that exact moment with trying to dress her and Hover her inside, so I wrapped around her in my fox form to keep her warm and protect her, and took a quick nap. I held my form until after Sirius and Remus left, because I heard them in my sleep remarking that I was still in my fox form, but Chiara awoke to me holding her in human form, and that woke me back up.”
Tony replied, “Kid, you did the best you could, and you did pretty damn good, too. Even Snape admitted that you weren’t pushy, and that you didn’t reject her like an a-hole.
“Just the same, don’t get caught with Chiara by that bastard Snape again. My younger brother Reg and I grew up with him and your mom and aunt in Cokeworth. I was outta school right before Snape started, Vera was a seventh year, and Reg was four years ahead of him, all of us in Hufflepuff. Snape was a creepy bastard then, he’s a creepy bastard now, and he’d be a creepy bastard even if he was sweating Elixir of Life. I actually had a crush on your mother, until I heard her freaking out about magic. Your dad tells me she’s a lot better now. Lilly was too young for me then.
“Anyway, treat my daughter right and we’re golden. Use her, and I’ll bust you up and Vera will make you forget you even have a dick. Capiche?”
“Crystal, sir” Aaron assured him.”
The Loboscas were also welcome and seated at the Head Table that evening.
§§§
After the evening meal was over, David had Judah and Rowan follow him.
“Where are we going?” Rowan asked.
“Just around the corner here” David replied.
He guided his two friends into the anteroom, which was still devoid of students or portraits. After checking the room, he closed the door and warded the room.
David asked them, “Were you able to see everything from where you were?”
Both Judah and Rowan sputtered, but David cut them off.
“Senior Auror Alastor Moody has a special prosthetic eye that can see through walls, and also through most forms of invisibility and concealment. He not only saw Merula Snyde and got her rescued, he also saw the both of you. He didn’t say anything to me until right before they went to the Headmaster’s office, because he believed that you needed to see what you saw. The professors were too busy with first the ice then with Chiara to bother looking for ‘hidden’ students. I noticed you, and I also said nothing.
“And what I said up there was the exact same thing I would have told them had you actually been where you should have been. I understand far more than you realize how worried you are about your brother, and how desperately you want to find him, preferably still alive.
“But you need to understand that even if R isn’t messing with stuff to make it worse, that magic itself can be a very dangerous and merciless force. Did you see how much of the ice I cleared away?”
Judah admitted, “Yeah, it was impressive. But how much magic was that?”
“Are you familiar with Professor Hagrid’s hut?” To the nods of both boys, David continued, “I could have burned his entire cabin and everything in it to vapor leaving only his chimney and flagstone floor, in ten seconds or less with the power and control I was using. That’s what you’re going up against in just that one Cursed Vault.
“Both of your families sent permissions for the two of you to leave the school with the band, along with the Coppers and Odinsons. I’m going to start teach the four of you the Fire Making Charm and the Bombardment Charm tomorrow and Thursday morning. You will practice the spells where and when it’s safe to do so. Even regular ice is easier to melt away if it’s broken into smaller pieces less able to dissipate heat. Between the Bombardment Charm and the Knockback Jinx you already know, you should be able to break the ice into smaller pieces and remove it from the walls and floors; when it’s in smaller pieces, the regular Fire Making Charm should be enough to melt and evaporate it. I’ll also teach you the Summoning and Banishing Charms to move pieces of Cursed Ice, and the Locomotion Charm in case one of you gets injured.
“And, I still want you to study cursebreaking with Bill Weasley and Tom Daley. They’ve been reading about it and learning some of the techniques alongside their regular coursework as they’ve grown into their magic. I know some of what they’ve learned, but they know all of it, and they’re learning more every day.”
Judah asked, “Do you even think a student could break the curses?”
“Maybe. Oftentimes, a curse needs finesse and the proper counter-curse to be lifted, rather than insanely high levels of power. I’m not sure, but I think that with the war on that Dumbledore didn’t want to devote the needed time to try breaking them himself. Remember, he was a key player in keeping Voldemort from winning the war.”
To their gasps, David added, “The Taboo on that name is broken, at least for now. Even now though, other things are afoot that are taking up the Headmaster’s time. He also has this school to run beyond his two important outside government jobs, and hiring a qualified and competent curse breaker to actually break the curses would cost money the school might not have the money to spend. He ‘capped’ the Vaults four years ago. Someone played with this one, and fortunately for you it’s obvious that you had nothing to do with it.
“It’s also obvious to me that you think your brother is trapped in one of them, either held in stasis or dead, and you believe that it’s on you to get him back. I understand this. But, it’s not something you can half-ass unless you want a bunch of innocent bystanders hurt or killed. In the end, Duncan Ashe accidentally killed himself brewing an Explosive Potion, and he was very lucky that no one else was physically injured. Just the same, he accidentally hurt your brother and both of his parents. That is not what you want to do. And, until you convince both Duncan and me that you can do the job without getting hurt or killed, he won’t help you, and I’m helping you only because I see that you will not be stopped short of death. I don’t want you to die.”
All three boys were silent for over a minute. Judah finally asked, “Will you let me know when you think I’m ready?”
After thinking, David told him, “I will. However, I will still expect you to get beyond ‘barely ready’ before you actually try to breach the vault and break the curse.”
Judah replied, “That’s all I can ask. Thank you.”
David told them cheerfully, “Let’s get up to the Common Room, now that we’ve got that straightened out. You guys have Potions and Herbology tomorrow morning, with flying tomorrow afternoon.”
The three boys left the anteroom for Gryffindor Tower.
- 14
- 15
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The Yankees Nephew and the Philosophers Stone