Jennifer Craw and the Phoenix Wand

 

Chapter One

The New Professor

 

            Jennifer Craw checked over her bags one last time.  Her personal books and magic equipment were all packed safely in her trunk with her bag of tricks, and all of her robes, personal effects and weekend wardrobe were neatly and snuggly folded in her Unremarkable brand suitcase.

  It had scarcely been a month since she had received a post about her new position as a Hogwarts professor.  It came as a pleasant surprise to someone who had in her first job at Beauxbatons endured countless, grueling interviews just to acquire a junior instructor position.  Rumors of the empty seat after last year’s escapades at the end of the Triwizard tournament had prompted her to write a letter of inquiry about the job asking for more specifics.  It was not long after, very speedily in fact, that she received a letter in return:

 

~Miss Jennifer Corsiva Craw,

    Thank you for your inquiry.  You have been accepted as our new Professor in the instruction of the Defense of the Dark Arts for this upcoming year’s term.  All staff should attempt to report two weeks ahead of the semester to prepare their syllabus and requisition class materials.

  If you can, please arrive a day or two early so that I might acquaint you with some members of our staff, as well as inform you about some special circumstances surrounding your new position.

                                                                                 ~Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts.

 

 

 

  She reviewed it again as she stood in the full moonlight, waiting upon the rooftop of her summer cottage just outside of Paris.

  The coach was late but that was fairly usual even for a private coach.   In fact, it was almost bad luck for one to arrive on time, and although normally Jennifer ignored such trivial superstitions, a little extra luck on a new venture never hurt.

  She took a moment to unfold a pocket mirror and glance over her appearance.   Normally it wasn’t her looks she was interested in when she gazed in a mirror, only her thoughts; but this was a special occasion.  The stark black robes really did nothing for her, making her face seem unusually pale and her auburn hair, conservatively pulled back, even more reddish.  She shook her head; lips pursed, staring at her green eyes in the reflection and wondered if she should age herself a bit so that she looked less like an older student and more like the Professor type.  But after considering it seriously, she decided against it.  Such a spell wasn’t easily reversible; and anyhow, if there had been any question of her experience and teaching ability, she was sure she would have been grilled in interviews like she had before.  Folding her mirror and putting it in her pocket, she glanced up once again at the sky.

  At last a curious cloud appeared, moving at a strangely rapid pace across the moonlit horizon.  Driven by two black winged horses, a stagecoach alighted on the rooftop in front of her barely making a sound as it suddenly skidded to a stop.  A very large man huffed and puffed as he squeezed through the door of the coach, brushing himself off and nodding to her.

  “’Alo there! You must be Professor Craw!  I’ll just be gett’in yer bags.”

  “You must be Hagrid, the school groundskeeper and Magical Creatures Instructor?” Jennifer smiled.

  “Oh, so ya’ve heard of me then?” he said brightly, opening the coach door for her.

  “Yes, I believe I’ve seen you with Madame Maxime when you came to visit the school just after term ended.”

  “Oh, ya noticed me,” nodded Hagrid quickly, a bit flustered as he held the door for her. “Well, I guess we shoul’ be goin’.  Dumbledore was hopin’ ta get you in early enuf  so’s he could talk ta ya.”

   Like most things of magic, the coach was a lot bigger inside than out with room for Hagrid and herself and even plenty to spare.  The moment they were in and the door was shut, the goblin driver on top snapped his whip and the carriage took off with a jolt, tossing Jennifer back against her seat.

  “Sorra about tha’, guess I shoulda’ mentioned…” Hagrid said, “Pegasi ain’t much up on stoppin’ on command an’ all.  Too bad it’s evenin’, bet we coul’ get a lovely view of the countryside from ‘ere.”

  Jennifer chuckled softly to herself, thinking of all the “U.F.O.” reports hatched from a daytime jaunt. 

  “Lovely beasts, though!  Did you raise them yourself?” she asked politely.  Hagrid beamed with pride.

“Aye, I sure did! Wull, me an’ my sixth years, anyways.  Dumbledore wouldn’ let me teach the students how to ride ‘em, tho,” he added with a blank, almost disappointed look.  “Dunno why.”

   Jennifer nodded, privately agreeing with the Headmaster.  The last thing she’d want to see on such an unpredictable creature would be an even more unpredictable student. 

  Hagrid chatted away during the journey, mostly about his pets but some about the layout of the school, making Jennifer feel almost impatient to get there.

  At last the coach began to wind its way down, and Jennifer gazed down to see the castle complex that housed the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  It was without question much bigger than the Beauxbatons, and she found herself looking out of the coach windows awestruck.

  “Breftakin’ ain’ it?  We’ll be landin’ soon.  Not much goin’ on at the moment, of course.  Not even much of the staff is back yet except our full year residents.  But wait ‘til you see it when everyone is ‘ere and it’s crawlin’ with students, it’s even more amazin’” Hagrid said, pointing out to her the different wings and the Quidditch Pitch.

   It was there on the field that the couch finally landed, and Hagrid and she both stepped out and stretched a bit.  The breeze was very chilling, and she pulled her cloak around her as she watched the goblin fuss with the ties on the top of the coach.

  “’Ere now, I’ll take those,” Hagrid told the goblin, throwing the large trunk over the shoulder and grabbing her suitcase in the other hand.  “Let’s get you out of this night air, Professor.  I expect you’re not quite used to the cold so early in the year.”   Jennifer quickly fell into step behind him as they entered, pausing when Hagrid stopped to fish around his pockets.  “I got the room an’ floor written down here somm’eres,” he assured her.

  “Hagrid?  Professor Craw?”

  Jennifer glanced up to the sound of a woman’s voice to behold on older witch, dressed in fine green professor’s robes.  Her hair was a tad redder than Jennifer’s but graying, and she wore spectacles on her nose.  In a way she reminded Jennifer of every witch teacher she ever had when she went to school.

   “Ah, ‘alo there, Professor McGonagall.  Professor Craw, this is Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration.”

   “Minerva McGonagall,” she smiled, offering her hand.

   “Jennifer Craw,” Jennifer smiled back and shook her hand, immediately deciding she liked her from the thoughts she read in the other woman’s face.

    “I thought I might come and help you get settled.  As Hagrid probably mentioned, the staircases here tend to have a mind of their own.” Minerva told her, turning to lead the way.

    “Guess I should’a mentioned that,” Hagrid nodded, following behind the two witches.

    “Your office is located by your main classroom at the far end of the second floor, but your personal rooms will be on the fifth.  We’ll head there first.”

  Jennifer was actually more anxious to see her office but dutifully followed Minerva up to her rooms, pausing now and again to gaze at the pictures in the stairwell.

   “Quite an impressive collection,” she remarked as they waited for a staircase to settle into place.

   “Yes it is, although I admit they were a bit nerve wracking to me when I first came here as a student all those many years ago,” Minerva admitted with a chuckle.

   “It must have been something.  I would have loved to have been able to accept my invitation to be a student here, but Mother wanted to keep me closer to home.”  Jennifer said.   They climbed up the last stair to the fifth floor and Minerva led her down the hall, taking a moment to look back and nod. 

  “Yes, your mother was Alice Corsiva, wasn’t she?”  Minerva asked.  “Quite an honor student here.  These are your rooms,” she added, stopping at a painting of a large black bird.  “This is Dewhurst, and the password at the moment is ‘orange marmalade.’”  The raven in the picture flapped, and the door began to creep open.  “You may change it at your convenience, of course.”

   The room consisted of a sleeping room, bathroom, and sitting room laden with ornate rugs and tapestries.   One wall was left bare, more than likely so that Jennifer could fill it with her own pictures or trinkets.  She quickly spotted the window and strode over to open it, putting her hand out expectantly.

   “Hmm, perhaps he hasn’t arrived yet,” Jennifer frowned after a moment.  “I sent him this way a couple days ago.  I’d thought he’d have made it here.”

   “You have an owl?  Perhaps he’s roosting up in the Owlery.”

   “Well, no, he’s no a…” Just then a flutter came from the window and something landed on her head, squeaking in annoyance.

  “Settle down, Ratfly, you silly bat.”  The large fruit bat perched itself upside down on the owl stand by the window, surveying the room with bored interest.  “He’s rather uppity sometimes, and he’s quite a character.  I like characters.” Jennifer chuckled, taking the suitcase from Hagrid and setting it on the table.

  “Then you should feel right at home here, because if there’s one thing Hogwarts is definitely full of, it’s characters,” Minerva said with a lopsided smile.  Jennifer laughed at that. 

  “May we go see my office now?” Jennifer asked impatiently.

  “I had a feeling you would want to.  Let’s run on down, then.”

  “Could you bring the trunk please, Hagrid?  If it’s not too much trouble.” Jennifer asked.

  “None for me Professor,” Hagrid said cheerfully, acting as if he were rather enjoying himself.

  As they descended the stairs, Jennifer suddenly got the feeling that the castle itself was watching them.  Hagrid had said something about ghosts, she remembered, and wondered if that was the eerie feeling she was getting.

   “Here we are,” Minerva announced, opening the door. 

  Jennifer walked straight in.  It was mostly empty except for the rudimentary shelves, tables, walls and a desk with only an ornate carpet for décor.  “Well!  Looks like I have my work cut out for me in here,” she declared, looking pleased.  “Can you put the trunk down on the floor, Hagrid?  You’ve been so wonderful!”

  “No trouble, Professor,” Hagrid assured her. “You’ll have to come down an’ visit, an see some of them pets I was tellin’ you abou’.”

   “You’ve been a wonderful companion, and I’m sure I’ll be speaking with you about them.  I have a couple of things in mind in my class that might need a creature or two.”

  “O course!  Wull!  Best be gett’in the Pegasi fed.  Excuse me, Professors.”

  Minerva waved and watched him leave before turning back to Jennifer.

  “So!  Do you suppose you’re up to a meeting with the Headmaster tonight?  You still have a while before term starts, so you needn’t worry about the office quite yet.”

  “It’s more than a one night job in any case,” Jennifer grinned, thinking of all the delicate equipment she brought that had to be set up by hand.  Besides, her curiosity had been growing ever since she got her acceptance letter.  Who was this legendary wizard who would hire her to his staff without batting an eye?  “I am quite ready for a meeting now, thank you.”   Minerva quickly led her up to Dumbledore’s private study, taking a moment to introduce them before slipping off to retire. 

  “Welcome,” smiled the Headmaster, offering Jennifer a seat.  “As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I’m Albus Dumbledore.  I am happy to have you on my staff, Jennifer.”

  “Thank you, sir,” she stammered slightly.  Perhaps he was not so awesome in appearance… an elderly wizard with long silver hair and beard, golden robes and twinkling, sincere blue eyes… but at that moment she was struck with the fact that she was facing one of the most powerful wizards in the world.  She forced herself to recover her thoughts, leaning back in the chair in an attempt to look calm.  “I am very honored to be here.  A bit surprised, perhaps, but honored.”

  “Ah, you wonder why you were chosen, do you?” Dumbledore smiled slightly, almost mischievously.  “I suppose it would also surprise you to know that I have been watching your performance for quite some time.  I had a feeling once you started expressing interest in academia that you would go far.  Your mother was quite a student when she was here at Hogwarts, you know.  She graduated at the top of her class.  We half expected that she would have become a teacher.”

  Jennifer nodded slightly.  So that was it?  She had long known that her mother and father had attended Hogwarts and lived some time in England before fleeing to America fifteen years ago.  Apparently, it had not been far enough.  Four years earlier, her father had been found dead, and her mother vanished from her home in France a year ago and hadn’t been heard from since.

  “Your mother had an innate ability, one rather rare, that I had always admired,” he continued, interrupting her thoughts.  “She could see through people… see them for who they really are.  No magic charm, enchantment or non-magic pretense was enough to keep her from seeing the truth.  I understand that you also share the same talent, and even averted a few mishaps and scandals at Beauxbatons with it,” he smiled.

  Jennifer shifted slightly.  Considering most of those incidents involved sealed records, she suddenly realized that he must have had a long talk with Maxime before asking her to be on staff.  Perhaps he wasn’t quite so impulsive as she had thought.

  “Then you would also know that I mainly instructed item enchantments and potion creation theory and not in the higher arts,” Jennifer said cautiously.

  Dumbledore looked amused.

  “Oh yes, I heard all about Maxime’s skepticism about your magic.  But as I’m sure you have guessed by now, it’s a skepticism I do not share.  I am also hoping that as well as teaching the typical magical defenses, you might be able to help our students start to see the finer points of using their other perceptions; to teach them how to see through all the camouflaged darkness in the world and find the truth,” he sighed softly, nodding as if to himself.

   “Yes the truth,” he continued, looking straight into her eyes.  “This may not be the easiest of times for our school, our community, or our world,” he said softly.  “Let me start by telling you about one of our fifth year students that will be attending this year.  His name is Harry Potter.”

  “Oh, yes.  I heard about what happened last year,” Jennifer nodded soberly.  She had been rather preoccupied when much of the school went to Hogwarts for the Tri-wizard Tournaments, a game that showcased some of the best students in the three largest academies.  But her mother had disappeared just before that, and Jennifer had opted to stay close to home, hoping beyond hope that somehow her mother would return.

  The reports that came back with Madam Maxime had chilled her to the bone…Voldemort had returned.  It was at that point that she began to wonder if he somehow had to do with her mother’s disappearance or someone that was loyal to him; her mother and father were no friends of Voldemort.  She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Harry to have to witness such things first hand.

    “I would like you to keep a special eye on him, as well as his two friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.  Part of your duties on staff will include special security measures that I have put in place since last year that will include accompanying guests of the school while they are here, and also to watch over special events.  I can’t say I’ve totally made up my mind on whether or not we will continue with some of our activities, such as Quidditch, but if we do, it’ll be especially important for you to be on your guard.  We’ve had several unfortunate occurrences involving Harry, and I’d rather they not continue.”  Jennifer nodded.

  “We also have as a compliment to the normal staff some, shall we say, “friends” of the school, for lack of better term.  They help protect the school, its position, and its inhabitants…I’m sure there will be occasion for you to meet them, and I’ll make them known to you as needed.  I trust that these added responsibilities won’t interfere with your teaching.  From what I’ve heard, you also have a special knack at keeping your wits about you, and we definitely need that in a Defense teacher.  I should warn you, some of the students are beginning to think the position is cursed,” Dumbledore winked at her.  “We haven’t had a professor stay longer than a year in a while.  I would very much like to see us break the cycle on that.  Welcome to Hogwarts, Jennifer, I look forward to having someone of your caliber on board.”

Chapter Two

The Students Arrive

 

  Jennifer Craw quickly realized that having only two weeks before the students arrived was nowhere near enough time to get everything she had planned in order.  Just putting her room and office together and setting up equipment took the better part of the first week, and the rest of the time had to be dedicated to getting her agendas for each class reviewed and approved as well as getting acquisitions filled out.   But after a full week of late nights she managed to get them all done, receiving the last approved syllabus on the day before term.  Finally able to exhale, she decided to spend that last quiet afternoon sorting handouts for the next day by stacking them in neat piles on her classroom desk.  She wanted to leave nothing to chance on her first day.

   But when she returned to her office, she ended up frozen mid-step just inside the doorway, staring agape into the room.  In the little time it had taken her to organize the classroom, her entire office had been sloppily repacked into the trunk she had left in the middle of the floor.  Minerva heard the scream emanate from where she sat in her classroom at the other end of the hall and immediately rushed over to investigate.

  “Jennifer! Are you all…oh…oh dear!”

   Jennifer looked in the trunk, trying to keep her temper in check.

  “It’s all there, but half of my equipment looks like it’s broken and a number of my books are ruined!” Jennifer said, brushing her hair back in frustration.

  “Peeves did this, I’m sure.  Our poltergeist.  I’ll go set Mr. Filch on him at once.  Do you think you can get all the damaged items categorized so we can get you set up before the students arrive tomorrow evening?” Minerva asked sympathetically.  Jennifer nodded with a frown.  “I suppose we will have to excuse you from the staff pre-term meeting tonight. I’ll send you a record of it though, don’t worry.”

  “Lovely,” Jennifer sighed, sitting down beside the trunk.  Until Minerva had mentioned it, she had completely forgotten there even was a meeting.  At least the poltergeist saved her from the embarrassment of not showing up by forgetting.

  “I expect Peeves saw that there was a new professor and seized the opportunity to break you in, so to speak.  I’m sure it won’t happen again now that you know he’s there.”  Minerva did her best to curb a smile that had begun to appear on her face.  “By the way, in case I forgot to mention it before, welcome to Hogwarts.”

  As Minerva left to attend the meeting, Jennifer chuckled in resignation.  Casting a dictation spell on her notepad, she began to sort through what was left of her belongings.

 

  “So.  Our young new addition is already missing a staff meeting and we haven’t even started the term yet.”

  “Now Severus,” Minerva glared disapprovingly at him for the mocking tone in his voice.  “It wasn’t in any way her fault.  You know how Peeves can be.”

  Severus Snape, Potions Master and advisor to Slytherin House, was about to reply on how a Defense teacher should have known better to walk into a castle that size without watching for ghosts, but quickly curbed his reply when Dumbledore stood.  The sallow man pressed his thin lips together and focused his dark eyes on the Headmaster.

  “Now, let’s all try to be understanding, and all take the time to welcome our new Professor Craw when we can.  Jennifer is a fine addition to our staff, and I believe she will be invaluable to us in the trying times ahead.  With any good fortune, I am hoping that she will stay on as permanent staff.”  Dumbledore glanced over at Severus, the rest of the staff’s eyes following his.  Aware of their total scrutiny, Severus nodded.  “Now, did everyone get their security assignments?  I expect the first of these rounds to be completed and double-checked before the students arrive tomorrow.”

   “Professor?  You were going to get back with me about Quidditch security?” asked Rolanda Hooch.

  “Ah yes, let’s take a walk down there after the meeting.  If there is any doubt that our new measures won’t be able to hold up, we may have to postpone or cancel the season.” Everyone’s eyes turned to look at Dumbledore.

   “With all due respect, Professor, I don’t think canceling the season would be a good idea,” Rolanda said.  “In fact, it might be construed as cowardice.”

  “Sir, you did want us to conduct business as usual,” Minerva pointed out.

  “Perhaps since the main concern seems to be relating to Harry Potter, we should just ban him from playing.  He does seem to be the main target.” Severus suggested.  Minerva sent him a freezing look.

  “Now now, I did say ‘if’ and ‘may.’” Dumbledore said calmly.  “If there is any question of safety towards any student, we must, of course, do whatever possible to prevent a mishap.  I will take all of your comments into consideration.  For now we will go with the security measures we have already devised.  However, Severus, if there does come a point there is valid concern that our security measures are not enough, Harry, and perhaps all the students, will have to wait until those issues are addressed.”

 

  Fog held on throughout the next day, but Jennifer was too busy to notice or even go past her office door.  The replacement potion equipment arrived first, thankfully giving her time to set up her complex cauldron lab and magic testers.  Hagrid was determined to find as many of the items as he could, and by early evening he returned with the last box of books, setting them on her desk. 

  “’Ere they are safe n’ sound, at leas’ wha’ we could find.  But I need ta get ta th’ train soon.”

  “You’re a lifesaver, Hagrid!” Jennifer exclaimed, “If I hurry, I can have the rest of this put away before the ceremony!” She gave the big man a hug.  He blinked in surprise before uncomfortably patted her gently on the arm.

   “Sorra I couldn’ find them all.  Gonna have to order ‘em, I reckon.”

  “It’s okay, Hagrid.  Most of the ones still missing were my older print potion books.  I’ll just ask… Professor Snape, is it? And see if I can borrow one of his if I need it.”  Jennifer glanced over the volumes and dusted one off, missing the expression that Hagrid had made when she said that.

  “Uh, Professor Craw, there’s sommat you oughtta know about…”

  “Hagrid!” Minerva’s voice called out from down the hall.  Jennifer looked up just in time to see Minerva’s head appear in the doorway behind Hagrid’s large form.  “You had better get going.  The students will be here any minute!  Here, Jennifer, let me give you a quick hand.”

  “Yes, Professor McGonagall.  Excuse me, Professor Craw.”  Hagrid waved and walked away, muttering to himself about remembering to tell her something later.

  It was just as they finished going through the last of the books that the older students began to step into the corridors.  They passed by her open door, many of them still chatting merrily about their summers abroad.

  “You need to be getting to the Great Hall, Jennifer.  I’ll be in the front while they’re assembling, for I need to bring the first years in…” Minerva explained. Suddenly she paused and looked out the door as a pair of the older boys with bright red hair ran by, looking as if they were in a bit of a hurry and whispering quickly to each other.  “Not already!” Minerva said, shaking her head with exasperation as she stood up.

   “Halt, Weasleys!” A powerful voice called from down the hall.  As Jennifer stepped up to the doorway, a tall black-haired professor stormed down the hall, swooping behind the twins like a hawk grabbing onto its prey.  “Into my office.  Now!” he snarled, pushing them slightly forward.  Jennifer couldn’t help but think she’d never seen anyone quite like him.

  “Who…which Professor…was that?” Jennifer asked.  So dark he looked… she’d seen that look before, somewhere…it wasn’t something she’d expect to have seen from a professor though, at least not one under Albus Dumbledore.

   “That is Professor Severus Snape…Potions.  I’d introduce you to him, but it appears he’s a tad indisposed at the moment.  I wonder what Fred and George Weasley have done to get on his bad side already?” Minerva frowned.  “In any case, you’d better get going. I will see you in a bit.  Good luck,” she added before disappearing down the corridor.

   It only took Jennifer a few moments to get to the Hall where many of the staff, most of which she did not yet recognize, were already gathered.  Dumbledore smiled warmly at her as she approached, gesturing her towards an unoccupied seat to the right side of him, next to a light haired, golden-eyed woman that reminded her somewhat of a hawk.  She greeted her kindly, welcoming her.

  “I’m Rolanda Hooch,” she whispered, “in charge of sports and recreation classes.  You got here just in time.  We’re just waiting for the Potion Master to show up.”

  “He had to deal with a couple of students,” Jennifer murmured, glancing over at a stool in front of the tables.  Sitting on top of it was a strange old hat that looked as if it had seen better days.

  “That’s the Sorting Hat,” Rolanda explained following Jennifer’s gaze.  “It picks what house they will be in.”

  “Oh, that’s right. My mother told me about that.  Her house was Ravenclaw,” Jennifer nodded, getting interested. “We were all pre-assigned at Whitebridge in America.” 

  Before Rolanda had time to respond, the hall began to quiet down as the last of the house assigned students, two boys led by Severus Snape rushed to take their seats at the Gryffindor table.  Severus quickly strode the length of the hall to take his own seat, and then Dumbledore nodded to Minerva to let in the first years.  Jennifer got the feeling there were eyes on her back, and in surprise she turned to meet the searching, suspicious gaze of Professor Snape.  Before she could stop to wonder about the scrutiny, the students began to enter, so she quickly nodded to him as a way of greeting and turned back to the procession.

  Seated below, members of the different houses shifted in their seats waiting to see who was going to be sorted their way.  Over at the Gryffindor table, Harry Potter leaned forward to whisper to the boy sitting across from him.  “Which one is your cousin again, Neville?”

  “That one, the ruddy chap with the blonde hair.  Hope we don’t get him.”  Neville’s dislike for his cousin was plastered over his face. “He made my life miserable at my great aunt’s wedding, the little beast.”

  Harry, who was no stranger to wretched relatives and spoiled cousins, attempted to comfort him.

  “I’m sure it’ll be all right.  I doubt the Sorting Hat would put him in this house,” Harry said.

  “Well, the Sorting Hat does sometimes keep families together, just not necessarily, ” Hermione, sitting to one side of Harry, was quick to point out.   “Take the Weasleys, for example.  They all went into Gryffindor, isn’t that right, Ron?  Ron?”  Ron didn’t answer.  In fact, he wasn’t paying attention to anything other than the new professor.  Hermione painfully jabbed him with her elbow, bringing him back down to earth.  “Pay attention!  What are you thinking of?”

  “Another Dark Arts professor!  And take a look at her!” Ron exclaimed.  Fred, sitting on the other side of Ron, leaned closer to the group.

   “Maybe she’s the sort that kills with her good looks,” Fred suggested.

   “She must be fresh out of school,” George added with a chuckle.  “She can’t be all that much older than us.  They must be getting low on professors the way this school keeps going through them.”

  “Oh go on, you guys.  Why were you late, anyhow?” Ron asked.

  “Snape found our exploding bubble gum,” Fred explained.  “The hard way.”

  “He stepped in it,” George agreed.  They both grinned at each other.

  “Hufflepuff!” the Hat cried out over the sounds in the hall.  Cheers went up from the Hufflepuff table as the first student was sorted, and they turned their attention back to the new students.

  “Amadeus Longbottom,” they then heard McGonagall call out.

  “There he goes,” Neville said quietly, holding his breath.

  “Ah, clever this one, yes quite, likes to put a lot of use to it to, it seems hmm, perhaps you’d be best for…. Slytherin!”

   Neville’s face showed a mix of relief and nervousness, for although he didn’t particularly want his younger cousin in his house, he wasn’t so thrilled about knowing he was in Slytherin either.

   One by one the names were called and sorted, each meeting a smattering of applause at the tables.  At last they were all seated, and Dumbledore stood to give the announcements, warning students what to stay away from, and not to go wandering after dark.

  “Also, I would like to welcome a new member to our staff, Professor Craw, who will be teaching our Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.”  Dumbledore smiled encouragingly.  Jennifer stood and waved quickly as the students applauded, smiling at them warmly, especially at the Gryffindor table, curiously trying to figure out which one was Harry. “And now, without further delay, let’s eat,” Dumbledore added and the feast appeared.

  Ron shook his head in apparent shock.  “She is way too cute to be a Dark Arts professor,” he said, earning a very cold look from Hermione.

  “Well, she can’t be any worse than the last one,” Harry commented.  In fact, the last one, an imposter of the one who was really supposed to teach, nearly had him killed.  He was also not stupid enough to make a comment like Ron did with Hermione present either, pretty or no.  He suddenly wondered if Ron wasn’t just doing that on purpose.

  At the head table, Jennifer picked at her food, trying to ignore the curious glances from the students as she nibbled on a roll.  The house ghosts appeared to welcome the new students, and Jennifer couldn’t help but to squint at them, slightly suspicious that one of them might be Peeves.  She had already made up her mind to get even with that one.

  “Not hungry?” Rolanda asked after watching her a moment.

  “Oh, uh, just a long day, I suppose,” Jennifer admitted.

  “Looking at some of these students turns my stomach as well,” Severus agreed with a sneer.  Jennifer couldn’t help but sense a tinge of amusement in his voice.  “I suppose you haven’t been teaching long enough to build up much resistance to it.  But I’m sure a little time at Hogwarts will thicken your skin.”

  Jennifer met his cold look evenly, attempting to hold her temper in check.  Okay, he’s taunting me, but why?  She didn’t even know him and had no reason to believe he had anything against her.  Still, there was no way she was about to give him the pleasure of showing weakness by looking away from his baleful gaze and he showed no signs of ending it.  In fact, the exchange between them went on for so long that many of the students had stopped eating and were curiously watching them along with most of the staff, sitting on the edge of their seats as if waiting for something to happen.   Just then, Dumbledore cleared his throat, causing half the staff to jump.  A round of nervous chuckles came from the student tables, followed by loud whispering.

  “Well then,” Dumbledore said with a smile, “if we’re all finished we should probably go about our business.  Shall we?  It’s been a long day,” he added.

  Severus waited for Dumbledore rise before standing himself, while Jennifer basked in a second of triumph for not breaking the stare.  Minerva quickly moved to intercept any conversation between Jennifer and Severus, offering to walk her up to her room.  Not far down the corridor Minerva turned and exhaled.

   “Don’t let Severus bother you, Jennifer…”

  “He wasn’t bothering me,” Jennifer stated sincerely as they began to walk up the stairs. “I just want to know why it seems that he’s against me being here.”

  “Severus is a distrustful man is all, and a bit wary of new folk.  He has a complicated past,” Minerva explained in a low voice.  Jennifer paused a moment on the stairs in front of her, looking back with a grin.

  “Name me one professor here that doesn’t have a complicated past,” Jennifer challenged.

  “Okay, so you have a point.  Be that as it may,” Minerva sighed, coaxing Jennifer further up the stairs.

   “He’s almost too distrustful, really.   Usually people who are distrustful have had occasion where they themselves weren’t so trustworthy at some point, like those who had to betray someone?” Jennifer fished; encouraged by Minerva’s tongue-tied expression and urgent attempts to hurry them faster up the stairs.  “And now, he’s here at Hogwarts, but why?  If he’s here, whatever happened must have gotten turned around.  Or has it?”

  “We shouldn’t be discussing such things in public,” Minerva decided resolutely, “and not with just anyone either. Yes.  Any concerns you have about staff should probably be taken to them first, else Albus Dumbledore.”  With relief Minerva stopped in front of the painting of Dewhurst.

  “Well, don’t blame me, you started the conversation,” Jennifer reminded her mischievously.  She quickly whispered her password (escargot) and entered, closing the door before Minerva could get in another word.

 

Chapter 3

Class in Session

 

  Her first class was fifth year Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, so Jennifer finally got her first look at the famous Harry Potter.  She nodded to each student as roll was called, not even blinking when she said his name.  His eyes had been filled with just as intense of a searching gaze as Severus’ gaze had, she noticed, as she moved on to the next name.  But she supposed it was quite understandable considering the things Dumbledore had told her happened to him in the last few years.  Even now she saw from his face that he was wondering how much she’d been told.

  “Now, as you all should know by now, I’m Professor Craw, and if you don’t have Defense Against the Dark Arts on Tuesdays, you probably shouldn’t be here.”  A fourth year Hufflepuff in the back of the class that she had not called in attendance edged towards the door, earning a few chuckles from the rest of the class.

  “This year we’re going to be looking at defensive concepts, some on the bit unorthodox side, as you will see later on.  The first few weeks we are going to be discussing perception of the Dark Arts.  Now, that may not be as exciting as it might sound at first,” she smiled apologetically.  “It basically means you’re going to learn how to use your senses and suspicions to perceive when something’s not on the level…how to see past magic, and sort out the truth.”

  “This does NOT mean you have to be suspicious of everybody.  I’ve already seen quite a bit of that from folks around here and I’ve only been here a few days…” soft laughter rolled through the class.  They all knew she was talking about Snape.  “And it does not mean you should think everyone and your pet familiar is out to get you.”  Ron, Hermione, and Harry looked uncomfortable.  “What it does mean is that by keeping your wits sharp, noticing the little things, and staying alert are your first and best defenses against the dark arts.”

  Hermione nodded and smiled at Harry, her doubts about the new professor abated.  This wasn’t going to be a bad class after all.

  “First, we’re going to talk about and name the seven senses you got to figure out something’s not quite right.  I’m sure if you think about it long enough you can get these…Ron?”

  “Smell?” he asked, making a face.

  “That’s a good one,” Jennifer nodded, and it appeared the chalkboard, “and believe me, if you can smell evil, you are WAY too close.” A few students chuckled at that.  Jennifer pointed at a few hands, and quickly Sight, Sound, Touch and Taste (“which I personally wouldn’t recommend,” she added,) appeared on the board.  “Now the sixth one, as I’m sure you all learned in first year, is Magic sense. Can anyone guess what the last one is?”

  At last after a few moments, Hermione raised her hand, and Jennifer nodded.

  “Common sense?” Hermione guessed.

  “You got it,” grinned Jennifer, “Five points to Gryffindor for that one.  Yes, and that’s the most important out of all of them.  You might as well throw the rest out to the window if you don’t have any common sense.  I’ll be getting more into that next week when we get around to that sense again.  We’ll be going over one a day, until we go through them all, and have a quiz.  Before that, what I want you to do today for turn-in tomorrow is write down each one of the senses we named and write down what you think might be an example of what dark arts you might be able to uncover with that sense.”

   Most of the class met her smiling face with blank looks on theirs.  Ron pulled out his lower lip and blew the hair out of his eyes, shaking his head slightly. “Homework on the first day, how do you like that?”

  “This is going to be child’s play,” said Hermione, delighted as she started her examples.

 

  Three classes later, Jennifer was more than ready for a break.  Rather than eating with the class, she decided to stow a sandwich and apple and take up an invitation to visit Hagrid out on the grounds.  Greeting her warmly, he was quick to take her over to the animal pens, showing off his beasts.

  “This here’s Ruby, an’ tha’s Babe,” he said, pointing out the pegasi.  They were both sleeping near their tether on the other side of the pen.  “Don’ get much sleep at night now, with the patrollin’ an all.  But they’re nightbred anyhows, so it don’t matter too much.”

  “Who all goes on the nightly grounds patrols with them?” she asked curiously.  Her own security assignments kept her from having to do scheduled rounds.

  “Ever’un who can ride one, really. Even got Professor Snape on one the o’er day, but that didn’t go too good.  Ruby about kicked him off cross the Quidditch pitch while he was ridin’ an’ he finally had to grab hol’ of a ring and jumped on it, then floated t’the ground.”

  Jennifer held back a fit of giggles as she tried to imagine that.  After a moment, she thought of something.  “Hey, Hagrid, what was it you were going to tell me about Professor Snape the other day?”

  “Oh, that.  Only that ya prolly won’t be wantin’ ta borrow any books from ‘im, because ‘e don’t care much for new Dark Arts instructors, takes ‘im a while to get used to ‘em.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Well, on account a ever’one knows e’s been wantin’ the position fer years, and especially after the last few ‘ave ended in disasters, I think he thought for sure he was getting it this year.  An’ to find out Dumbledore assigned someone like you, well, I’d expect he was a bit upset.”

  “Someone like me?” Jennifer prompted but Hagrid looked uncomfortable.  “Ah, I know, an upstart witch who just started teaching and knows next to nothing about the school.”  Jennifer attempted to mimick Severus’ voice.  She must have gotten close enough because Hagrid grinned.

  “Wull, from what I hear, you’re doin’ a smashin’ job, so pay no attention to him.”

  “How would you know how I’m doing?  It’s the first day of school and it isn’t even over yet,” she asked, hands on her hips.

  “Well, see, Harry Potter is a personal friend of mine, him and Ron and Hermione, they think ye’re smashin.’ Well, maybe not so much Ron, but ‘e just don’t like homework.”

  Jennifer laughed.  So, Harry and company confide in Hagrid, eh?  “Hagrid, you’re the best. I’ll have to come talk to you more often.”

  “Great!  I love company.  So do they,” he nodded to the pen, stopping to pet a fire-breathing turtle.

  On her way back to class, Jennifer Craw found herself thinking about what Hagrid said about Severus.  So, the scrutiny wasn’t personal, perhaps, but it was because he was passed up for the position.  In a way, she couldn’t blame him.  He’d been on staff for years, she was sure.  Just why didn’t Dumbledore want to put him in Defense?  She couldn’t see him being bad at it.  There was so much about him that reeked of first-hand experience…and yet, here he was, who he was, at Hogwarts.   She sighed uncomfortably, not happy with having to admit to herself that someone available and more qualified was passed on the job.  Somehow, she thought, she was going to have to smooth that over if she intended to stay on long term.

   The next class was first year Slytherin and Gryffindor, and Jennifer soon wished to get back to the smooth sailing of her morning classes.  Amadeus just couldn’t remain quiet.  It seemed that speaking out in class, usually with smart aleck comments, was his specialty.  And then, at what appeared to be a particularly quiet moment when she had her back turned, a fistfight broke out between two from differing houses, and she quickly found herself assigning her first detention.  To make matters worse, Severus appeared in the doorway just as she was pulling the students apart, asking with a slight smile if she needed him to come handle it for her.  Ignoring him after a quick, “no thank you,” she made sure they went up to their houserooms, quickly tying her disheveled hair up and getting back to her class.

  Fortunately for both the class and Jennifer, they seemed to be adamantly working on their paper when she got back.  Almost fearfully, she noticed thoughtfully, wondering if Severus had said something after she had left.

   Soon the bell rang and it was time for her last class of the day; seventh year Slytherin and Ravenclaw.  Unfortunately for her, they seemed a lot more interested in her than in the class.  The crowning moment came when Norid, a Slytherin student, raised a hand and asked, “Is it true that your father was Thomas Craw, accused Death Eater?”  Jennifer’s face turned white as a sheet, gazing coldly at Norid.

  “This is not a class on popular rumors, this is Defense against the Dark Arts, and as you will learn from what I cover, you do not always trust what you hear.”

   “Well, we know from the paper that he was murdered, and his wife went missing last year.  So something fishy must have been going on.” Remvark, another Slytherin suggested. “Even considering she was half Mudblood.”

  “That’s fifteen points from you for speaking out of turn, and another twenty for using such terminology in my class.” Jennifer told him with fire in her eyes.  Remvark smiled back at her, then pretended to pay attention to the assignment.

  “Any more accusations outside of truthful and accurate presentations of evidence will not be allowed in this class.  If you want to speculate on something other than fact, I suggest you take Divination instead.” 

  She sat down, well aware that they would speculate about what happened out in the corridors, and just as aware that there was little she could actively do to cut it down.  The last thing she wanted was rumors about why her parents left going around Hogwarts.

   Finally the class ended, and as the last student left she leaned back in her chair, exhausted and angry at herself as she thought through her own actions that day.  Although she knew she did exactly as she should have done, she somehow came to the conclusion that she had failed her last two classes.  She had just been contemplating going to bed early when Minerva knocked on the open door and entered.

  “Rough day?” she asked, concerned.

  “Very,” Jennifer nodded, not feeling like going into any detail.

  Minerva just nodded in return, not asking for any.

  “Well, then, we should be off to dinner.”

  “Minerva, I really don’t feel like eating,” she admitted.

  “I know,” Minerva said seriously, “but if you don’t go out there and eat a hearty dinner, they’re going to know they’ve beaten you.  So, we should be off to dinner.”  Jennifer looked up at her, knowing she was not only dead right but also talking from years of experience.  Slowly Jennifer stood, and was rewarded with a smile.  “Come on.  And I do mean eat, you know, not this plate picking thing like last night.  The trouble about being at the high table is they notice everything.”

  Grinning weakly, Jennifer followed, feeling a bit better just walking towards the hall, and knowing that just showing up would be a statement.

Chapter Four

Potions and Perceptions

 

  Having stopped in the restroom to put herself back in order, hair re-braided and face cooled with water, Jennifer decided she was ready to face the masses.  Minerva waited so they could walk in together, receiving smiles and welcomes from some of the staff waiting there.  Dumbledore was not there, having been called away on business, but Severus was, and he looked quite surprised to see her.  Jennifer couldn’t help but wonder what he had heard from the Slytherin boys.  She took the same seat between Severus and Rolanda, smiling out warmly again at the students.

   “Good, you’re here! I’m glad to see you,” Rolanda smiled.  “I’m starved.  Teaching first year flying lessons always makes me hungry.  We should be starting soon.”

  As if on cue, Minerva stood, announced she had no announcements, and dinner began.  Looking down, Jennifer found a wonderful bowl of bouillabaisse, and wondered whom she should be thanking at the moment.  As she cracked into a mussel, she couldn’t help but notice that most of the students had opted instead for the peppercorn steak, and she chuckled slightly.

  “How did your day go?” Rolanda asked politely.

  “Oh it was positively horren…fine, fine, it was fine.” Jennifer said, quickly amending what she was going to say when she noticed Severus watching her.  “Actually, I really enjoyed the first three classes, especially the fifth years.  The first and seventh were a bit more…problematic.”

  “Yes, I heard about that row in the first year class, but I also heard you handled it very well!  They’ll think twice about starting trouble again in your class,” Rolanda nodded enthusiastically towards her. 

  “Yes, it does appear that our young new Professor….”

  “Jennifer,” Jennifer interrupted, not even giving Severus a glance as she pierced a piece of cod.

  “Jennifer,” Severus nodded, smirking slightly, “does have some degree of mettle after all.”

  Jennifer paused.  What, was that an admission?   From Severus Snape?  Was that allowed, she wondered jokingly to herself.  She suddenly noticed that Minerva, sitting on the other side of the empty chair next to Rolanda, was watching the conversation with interest.  Jennifer finally turned to look at Severus, who looked back at her with an almost imperceptible look of amusement.

  “Thank you,” she said sincerely, then turned back to her stew with every intention of finishing it.

 

   After dinner, Jennifer walked into her classroom with her arms folded, lost in thought.  She survived…for one day.  One day, and barely.  She sighed softly, wondering how she was going to manage keeping a step ahead of her most problematic students and still be able to function effectively screening visitors.  Yes, it was true the latter was the sort of work that came more natural to her.  If only every class had been like the first one, she thought. Of course, she had known from the beginning there were always troublemakers in every school, but for some strange reason the students here were more probing and malicious.  She couldn’t help but wonder if those daring to question her about her father didn’t have ties to you-know-who and might have been testing her.  If so, she thought, she should watch her back.  It hadn’t ever occurred to her before that anyone would blame her for what happened fifteen years ago.  The rustle of a robe behind her alerted her that she was not alone, and she glanced up to see Severus leaning against the door, watching her.

  “Planning on working late?” he asked, his blank expression giving no clue to what he was thinking.

  “Yes, at least until I start to get tired,” she shrugged, making a play at straightening up the papers on her desk.

  “Hm.  Let me go to my office and make you a sedative.”

  “Uh, that’s okay, I’ll just….”

  “It’s no trouble, I was going to make one for myself anyway,” Severus admitted. “Besides, we tend to take care of our staff here, no matter how wet behind the ears they are.”  Jennifer wasn’t about to fall for that sort of bait.  She followed him out the door, closing it behind them.

  “Can’t you say anything without a taunt in it?” she asked bluntly, glancing about for wandering students.

  “Not quite sure,” he said as solemn as a funeral, “never tried.” Jennifer blinked as he turned to lead her down the back stairs, wondering, and not for the first time, if he was being serious or not.

  Severus unlocked and opened the door, showing her in.  The first thing she noticed was the carefully set up potion lab on the back wall, and then the perfect order of the shelves; half ingredients, half books, each one precisely labeled.  That at least was very like a potion teacher, to be more concerned about ingredient organization than his own appearance.  His shoulder length black hair seemed to be forever in his face, and his black fading robes had seen better days.  Still, there was a subtle grace in his movement, developed from hours in the lab, and a definite mystery about him which Jennifer wasn’t quite sure how to find out about, or even if she should try.

  “Making Subtle Slumber, I assume?” Jennifer asked.  The sleeping potion was effective, but mild enough to wake up at an appointed hour.  Jennifer had remembered from the schedule that he had an early patrol tomorrow.  Severus nodded to her quickly, and as he was lighting the boiler she handed him down the roc feather powder that she had noticed on the shelf. 

  “So you know your way around a potion lab,” he said, measuring out some sleep sand.

  It wasn’t really a question, but Jennifer answered it anyhow.

  “I taught item enchantment and potion creation theory at Beauxbatons,” she nodded.  “Madame Maxime didn’t quite trust me with much.”

  “Not surprising,” he said quietly. “The reputation of your family probably preceded you.  Such things don’t easily fade over time.”  There had been something in his tone that almost sounded like a question, but the event with the students asking about her past had already unsettled her.

  “What happened with my father had nothing to do with me,” Jennifer said, knowing she sounded rather testy.  Severus turned around, studying her a moment, musing over her sudden rise in temper.   

  “Don’t be so sure of that,” he said, turning back to the potion, adding a couple of personal modifications to the formula.  He carefully poured the brew into two waiting cups, handing her one.  “As Potter might be an indication, things tend to hang over to the next generation when it comes to certain matters.  You don’t think the fact that a Craw is back in Britain is enough to get people wondering about you?  You probably would have been better off staying in France.  Why did you take this job again?”

  “Who wouldn’t?” she challenged him.  He squinted at her.

  “Certainly not someone who should be maintaining a low profile right now,” he said.  “I don’t need to tell you that the Craw family has many enemies, and now, I hear, you are the last of your line.  The last of a family line infamously known for its powerful dark wizards and witches.”

   “Ah, so that the real reason you don’t trust me then?” she asked challengingly, swirling the cup in her hand.

  Severus paused for a moment, then smiled thinly. “Don’t bother trying to test me, newly appointed Professor Craw, you’ll find I don’t make a good subject.”

  “Looks like we’ve found something in common then.” Jennifer said evenly, thinking back over their gaze confrontation the day before.

  “It would seem so,” Severus nodded with a serious, or perhaps cautious expression.  “Cheers.”

  Jennifer tipped her cup to him in response and swallowed down the hot, bitter substance, trying not to cough.  Severus smirked, about ready to comment when there came a knock at the door.  Quickly Severus went over, listening for a moment before opening it.

  “Good evening Severus.”

  “Good evening, Professor Dumbledore.  Please come in.”

  Jennifer put her cup down and stood in time to see the Headmaster enter, his appearance rather striking next to the pallid demure of Professor Snape. 

  “Ah, Jennifer! I thought you might be here.  Don’t forget to turn in your reports so we can schedule detention for those two boys.   Also, Thursday I will have some guests from the Ministry of Magic.  Would you greet them for me and show them up around four o’clock?  I’m sure we can have someone fill in for you during that time.”

   “Certainly, Professor,” Jennifer said.

  “Not too bruised after your first day, I trust,” he smiled gently.

 “Well, no, not now, sir.  I have been receiving plenty of good advice from some of the other staff.”

  “I am quite glad to hear it.  I trust Minerva and Severus implicitly, and you should too, Jennifer,” he advised with a smile, “You can be sure that you can tell them about anything, even things you wouldn’t tell me.  Good night.  Good night, Severus, see you first thing tomorrow morning.”

  As he left, Jennifer looked blankly at the door.  “What in cauldrons did he mean by that?” she asked.  Severus shrugged. 

  “I long gave up trying to understand his advice at the time he says it.  Just give it time, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  Severus, however, was more curious why Jennifer was greeting the Ministry, and wondered if that might not have been a dangerous idea.  Jennifer, for her part, shrugged off the comments and tried to ignore what she read in his look, and feeling the sedative taking effect thanked Severus and headed off to bed.

  

Chapter Five

 Distinguished Guests

 

 As Arthur Weasley’s party Apparated in front of the main gate at precisely four o’clock, Jennifer Craw was there to meet them.  To her credit, she didn’t even flinch when the giant also appeared, being much taller than even Hagrid, and she greeted them all warmly.

  “My name is Professor Jennifer Craw, welcome to Hogwarts,” she smiled, standing in front of the gate.

  “Thank you, Professor Craw.  I heard of your acceptance, of course.  I hope you like it here,” Arthur smiled back.  Jennifer found that she instantly liked him, and understood with clarity why Dumbledore also liked him.  “Let me introduce you to the members of my party, these are some of the folks I have gathered that I think Dumbledore would like to meet.  This here is Arnie Peasegood, from Accidental Magic…” Arnie offered his hand to her and she took it, smiling at him.  Gangly in appearance, relaxed, sincere.  “Daniel Cummings, from Improper Research and Disposal…” Daniel nodded politely.  He was somewhat short and unkempt, and a bit concerned, as if he had something else on his mind.  “Ederick Thurspire, from the Animagi security office…” Ederick smiled broadly at her, clicking his heels and taking her hand, kissing it.  “Enchanté, Professeure.” He said with a bow.  Jennifer met his gaze, trying not to frown.  The smile was definitely forced, she could tell, what was up with the deliberate act?  She was going to have to watch that one.  “And last but by no means least, the representative I met just over the summer, Buffirn Gegoblast, from Finland.”  The giant smiled and nodded his head, “Pleashure ta be here at Hogwarts an’ to be meetin you and Professor Dumbledore.”

  She smiled up at him, suddenly glad of the high doors and ceilings in the upper halls. 

  “It is an honor to meet you all.  If you will follow me, we will be going to see Dumbledore directly.  Please stay with me, and just ask if need anything and I’ll be happy to assist you.”  With that she escorted them in, quietly surveying any devices they might have on them as they walked across the grounds.  Gliding up to a second study that Dumbledore had set up that summer on the ninth floor, she opened the first door, paused, and then presented a long silver tray.  “Wands, please?”

  This time, a definite double take registered on all the ministry guests.  Arthur quickly recovered, setting his down on the tray.

  “Isn’t this rather unusual?” Daniel asked nervously, fishing out his wand.

  “Yes, but these are unusual times,” Jennifer admitted.  Arnie, who always kept his wand loosely in his belt, slid it out delicately putting it on the tray.  She turned to Ederick, who smiled at her like a doting elder, despite the fact that he appeared not much older than she was. 

  “It’s quite all right, Professor, I left mine at the office,” he said.

  Jennifer smiled back, meeting his gaze.  “It’s in your right boot.”

  “Ah!  So it is. I had quite forgotten,” he put the wand on the tray, expressing apology in his facial expression but his eyes was expressing something else.  Without comment, Jennifer handed the tray to a waitress in the alcove painting and then opened the inner door and showed them in, helping Buffirn who had to kneel a bit to get past.

  “Terribly sorry about the doors, I’ll have those widened.  I wasn’t expecting such a distinguished guest today,” Albus Dumbledore stood to greet them with a smile.  “Welcome, to you all.  Good afternoon, Arthur.”

  “I brought along some our supporters as you asked, Dumbledore.  I thought it would do well that they meet you in person.”

  “Ah, yes, Arnie Peasegood, Daniel Cummings, Ederick Thurspire, very glad to see all of you.”

  “And this is Buffirn Gegoblast from Finland,” Arthur introduced.

  “I am glad, at last, to see that some communication can get started between us good sir, if only it were for happier reasons,” Dumbledore nodded politely. 

  “ ’Agrid was pretty clear on the point o’ the matter.  We dun’ like getting’ stirred up unneccesar’ly if y’ understand, bu’ this was a serious matter.”

  “Yes, serious indeed, thank you for making the trip,” nodded Dumbledore.

  “Oh, pardon, Professor Craw, are we keeping you from your duties?” Ederick asked, again acting apologetic. 

   “Not at all,” smiled Jennifer warmly.

  “Please, although I hope that anything spoken stays in this room, rest assured that any of my staff that attend are quite trustworthy, and you may say anything in front of one of them as you would to me.” Dumbledore said.

   Jennifer did her best to try and hide her surprise.  True, she knew that her jobs here meant being included in some private discussions, but having Dumbledore express trust someone he had only known two weeks was a bit alarming.  She decided to review her ruling on whether he was a bit too impulsive once more before making a final judgment.

  “Well, I wanted to ask, if you don’t mind sir, if you have heard any word from Remus Lupin since he left your employ,” Ederick asked insistently.  Arthur looked slightly uncomfortable.  “We’ve been receiving strange reports of an animal pack around the area that no one recognizes, including us, and we have reason to be concerned that there might be some connection…”

  “Let me assure you there is no reason to be concerned.  The beasts in question are merely a part of the school’s security, and not a part of those who mean to do us harm,” Dumbledore said.

  So, Jennifer thought, there were Animagi working for Dumbledore?  She was quite positive he was leaving out more than he was telling, and she noted he never did say whether he had word from this Lupin fellow.  From what she read from Dumbledore, the Headmaster did know where he was.

  “Daniel Cummings has some important news for you as well, Dumbledore, which is why I asked him to come.” Arthur put in, quick to change the subject.

  “Yes, sir, thank you,” Daniel said nodding.  “It’s about, well, it’s about some of the things that have been sent down to me by Mr. Fudge.  You see, I’m in Improper Research and Disposal…”

  “He’s the trash man.” Arnie nodded, earning a sharp glance from Arthur.  Daniel also gave Arnie an annoyed look.

  “Yes, well, it’s my job to destroy sensitive material and items that it might not be reconstructed by magic means, and that’s no easy task.”

  “Yes, I have had very delicate matters that I myself have had to use that alternative,” nodded Dumbledore, “and you are saying some of the material brought to you was unusual?”

  “More than unusual.  Downright improper,” he nodded fiercely.  “Lots of court records, ministry bios, things of that nature.  Wasn’t quite sure what to do about it, and then Arnie here comes down to dump his items, and suggests I take it to Minister Weasley.  I’m afraid I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into, but I’d been noticing things going down hill for quite some time, from the things I was getting, and this just took the cake, so to speak.”

  “I’ve got them all now, Dumbledore,” Arthur nodded, “quite a collection and some you’d be interested in, I’ve got them somewhere safe.”

  Dumbledore looked up at him thoughtfully.  “Well, if it’s somewhere in your home, the bank, or the Ministry, I suggest you rethink your strategy and bring them here.  It might be a bit safer if anyone gets wind that they didn’t get destroyed.  Does anyone else know about them?”

  “Uh, yes sir, Hildegarde Ford, who works with me down in the basement. She was there when I started glancing through them.  I’ve known her for years, and she thought it was a bit odd too.”

  “All the same, it might be dangerous to keep them on hand.  Fudge must have been acting alone.  Anyone else would have had them destroyed privately,” Arthur conjectured.

  “He’s just not the same Fudge as he used to be, you should see the way he’s acting,” Arnie put in.  “Nervous, almost scared, always looking around his shoulder while we’re out and about.”

  “I’ve been trying to talk some sense into him, Dumbledore, but he’s not listening,” Arthur explained.

  “Yes, yes, I know,” Dumbledore sighed.

  “I was able to finally get special permission to start speaking with the giants, though, as you can see,” Arthur added.

  “We were surprised, an’ very angr’ at first,” Buffirn admitted, “aft’ th last time we’d dealin’s with wizards, an’ promises dey can’t keep.  But then we met Hagrid, who didn’t make any promises bu’ friendship, an’ tha’s when everyone started to listen.”

  “Why don’t we go over there to see him and talk about our next step,” Dumbledore suggested, getting up.  “Just inside the Forest, I think.  Jennifer, would you return them their wands and secure things up here?  I will speak with you later this evening.”

  “Of course, Dumbledore.  It was pleasant meeting all of you,” Jennifer smiled, getting ahead of them to ask the waiting girl painting for the tray.  The doors around the alcove grew in height, making way for their larger guest.  One by one, the wizards of ministry took back their wands, Arthur thanking her politely as he past.  Dumbledore gave her a sideways glance and smile as he led them down the hall.

  Sighing with relief, Jennifer glanced at her watch.  Her last class would just be wrapping up, she thought, wondering if Severus followed her lesson plan.  Resisting the temptation to peek, she went instead towards the Quidditch Pitch to watch the last few minutes of practice.  As she walked around the bottom of the stands, a golden flash zoomed above her head.  Instinctively she dove and not a moment too soon.  The Seeker had just started his dive and veered straight above her, turning quickly.  Sharp ringing laughter met her ears, and she looked up towards the middle of the field to see Rolanda bent over with laughter. 

  “Great dive, Professor Craw! I bet you were a good Chaser in your day!”

  “Chaser nothing.  I couldn’t even stay on the bloody broomstick,” Jennifer muttered to herself too low for the others to hear.

  “Professor Craw, up here!” Hermione and Ron were waving from the stands above her.  Picking herself up and cautiously keeping an eye on the team’s whereabouts, she sat down beside them.

  “Working up an appetite watching the practice, I see,” she smiled to them.

  “Yes, Gryffindors have last periods free on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, that’s how they get practice in,” Hermione explained.  “But I thought you had a class now.”

  “Oh, I do, but I had business earlier.  Professor Snape is filling in.”

  “Boy, do I feel sorry for them,” Ron shook his head.  Jennifer couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “You don’t like him, I take it?” she asked.

  “Hardly anybody does, except those in Slytherin,” Ron nodded, getting a jab from Hermione.  “What?”

  “It’s all right, I’m not going to get on you about it when I point blank asked an opinion, even if I’m not so sure it’s an accurate perception,” Jennifer quirked.

  “Which means?” Hermione asked.

  “Well, perhaps you’ll figure that out in my class,” Jennifer decided.  As the whistle blew, she chuckled and stood up.  Harry Potter came to a stop just below them on his broom.  “Good save Harry, thanks for not taking my head off there.”

  Relieved that she wasn’t in the least bit mad, Harry smiled.

  “You’ve got quick reflexes too, Professor,” he said.

  “Duck and cover is my specialty,” Jennifer said jokingly, and the other three exchanged grins.

  “So how do you like Hogwarts so far, Professor?”  Hermione asked politely.

  “It’s definitely big,” Jennifer grinned.  “And I can’t make up my mind who’s more colorful, the other Professors or the students.  I think I’ll like it here.”

  “So how long have you been teaching?”  Ron asked, getting glances from Hermione and Harry.

  “That depends.  First tell me how much money you got on figuring out how old I am?” Jennifer said.  Ron blinked in surprise.

  “She’s got your game, Ron,” Harry grinned, and was promptly told to shut up.

  “Not much.  But I guessed twenty one, am I right?”  Ron asked brightly.  Hermione shook her head.  “Don’t look at me like that, Hermione, she’s the one that mentioned it.”

  “I’m old enough to be a professor, and young enough to keep up with you students, and that’s all you need to be concerned about.  I swear, you Hogwarts students are a nosy bunch.  I never had this much attention at Beauxbatons.  Then again, I was really more like an assistant potions instructor there,” Jennifer admitted thoughtfully.

  “You went from assistant Potion’s instructor to Defense here?”  Ron said amazed, “Man if that isn’t burn for old Snape I don’t what does.  He’s been after that job for years.”

  “So I’ve been informed,” Jennifer said.  “But never mind that, it’s about time for dinner isn’t it?  We might as well head in.”

 

  After dinner, Jennifer made her way up to Dumbledore’s regular study to find that he was already sitting at his desk waiting for her.

  “So, what did you think of our guests, Jennifer?” he asked after offering her a seat.  She leaned back in the high-backed chair as she had done just two weeks before and looked thoughtful.

  “There’s no doubt in my mind that Arnie and Daniel are behind us.  The Giant has his reservations, and rightly so, but I feel his concerns are more for his people rather than disloyalty.”   Albus Dumbledore nodded

. “Those were my feelings as well.  I notice, however, that you didn’t mention Ederick.  Was it he who prompted you to go ahead and test them with the wands?”

  Jennifer nodded, hesitating slightly. 

  “Well, I’m not really sure if he’s against us or not, and I could be overreacting, but I decided to take your advice and error on the side of caution.  You see, from the moment we met, I knew that Ederick hated me with an overwhelming ferocity, and I didn’t understand it.”

  “Hated you?  How very interesting.  And what about me?”

  “He doesn’t particularly like you, sir, but I didn’t see all out hate either,” Jennifer shrugged then sighed.  “I don’t know what to make of it.  Is it hatred towards me personally?  Is it more towards my father for fleeing the wrath of Voldemort?  Or my father for being what he was?” she asked, but then shook her head.  “In any case, I didn’t think it was worth risking not mentioning it.  I’m sorry if it was just a personal thing.”

  “No, no…I trust your instincts and you should trust them as well, Jennifer.  Hatred is not something you normally see in someone whom you’ve just met.  Dislike, distrust, but hatred?”  Dumbledore mused.

  “But why would anyone hold a grudge on me because of what my parents did?  That doesn’t make any sense to me either.” Jennifer hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but it had been bugging her the last couple of days as small comments about her father had slipped out among the corridors.

   “Your parents never talked to you about why they left, did they?” Dumbledore asked gently.

   “Not ever directly.  Not specifics.  I asked when I was younger, and they said not to worry.  And then father died and I asked mother, but she would not answer except to tell me it was all over now and not to worry about it.”  Jennifer looked down. “She’s dead… I know she is.  I saw it in her face before it happened; she had known something was coming.  I had always thought that her Truth Seeking would protect her.”

  “Ah, Jennifer, Truth Seeking is a marvelous thing to have, but it is by no means full proof as I’m sure you realize now.  Even if you can see one’s face clearly, it can not tell you why someone is doing what they are, or what caused it, or what the final result is, any more than you could tell from your observations of your father what horrors he might have witnessed before choosing to try and get you and Alice from harm’s way.”  Jennifer looked into his eyes searchingly, but saw only gentle concern.   “There were many reasons for me wanting you on my staff; your ability as a teacher, your talent, your stubbornness, but also because just as you make us safer by being here, you in return are safer to be here.

  “You may at some point have to face your own truths, and some of them may be quite painful.  But I have every faith you’ll rise to the occasion, and march through with flying colors.”

  “Of course, I will,” Jennifer said cheerfully, looking for some levity.  “Truth is my specialty.  Of course, a little old fashioned digging never hurts either,” she added with a smile.

 

Chapter Six

Strange Tidings

 

  Jennifer knocked at the open office door, glancing in at Severus.  “Any problems with the class?”

  “No, I didn’t expect there would be.  Come in,” he remarked, straightening up a few papers on his desk.  “Shut the door.”

  Oh, great, now what, Jennifer thought, doing as she was asked.

  “What’s up?”

  “Tell me about how the meeting went.  The school is abuzz that there was a real giant in Hogwarts.”

  Jennifer sat down, ignoring the fact she wasn’t invited to.  “Yes, he was here to represent the giants, but I wasn’t privy to much of that part of the conversation.  They went to see Hagrid at that point.  I was mainly there to attend the Ministry; the giant was a bit of a surprise, Arthur’s idea, I think.”

  “Yes, that would make sense,” he mused as if to himself before glancing up at her again.  “Were there any problems with any of Arthur’s other friends?” Jennifer paused a moment, wondering how much she should say.  Then again, Dumbledore did say she should feel like she could confide in either Severus or Minerva about anything . . . still, his questions did seem alarmingly urgent and pressing.  Raising a brow at her hesitation, Severus leaned back and began tapping his quill on the table as if impatiently waiting for her to make up her mind to go ahead and tell him.

  “Only some question over Ederick Thurspire… he acted well enough but for some reason he hates me, intensely, not quite sure why.” Jennifer grew thoughtful; unaware she was being intensely scrutinized.

  “How are you so sure of that?” he finally asked.  “What do you mean he acted well enough but he hates you?”

  Jennifer, somewhat tired of the question rounds and not wanting to pass up an opportunity to surprise Severus sat forward and leaned on the desk, looking smug.  “I have what some call a natural acute perception, or inborn legilimens.   I see through magic, disguises, Animagi, and most lies.”

  “So, you’re a Truth Seeker,” Severus said.  He stood up abruptly, looking slightly annoyed and very alarmed.

  “Worried?” Jennifer challenged with a flirtatious smile.  Severus gave her a wide-eyed expression before quickly turning to avoid her gaze, putting on his cloak.

  “Well, now at least I see where hiring you made sense.  I thought all of your kind ended up growing up to be Aurors,” he said evenly, grabbing a few potions off his shelf and slipping him inside his cloak.

  “My mother didn’t, she worked at the Ministry.  I think that’s how she met my father.” Jennifer shrugged.  Severus froze then looked over at her.

  “Nobody told me she was one either, although I suppose I should have guessed,” he said, his face revealing succinctly that he thought he should have been told.  “Does anyone here know that she was a Truth Seeker besides you?”

  “Dumbledore.  I don’t know if anyone else does, is it important?”  Jennifer asked.

  “It might be,” he said thoughtfully.  “It might be another reason that someone would want her dead besides just being a Craw, that is.  Who knows that you are one?”

  “Just Dumbledore…”

  “Good, keep it that way.  When I get back we’ll talk about this further, but right now I have more pressing business.”  He put some gloves on and pulled out her chair, expecting her to get up.  “I have some duties that need to be attended to early this weekend.  I only have two classes tomorrow, both in the morning.  You have conference time normally on Friday mornings, correct?  You can fill in for me.”

  “Fill in?” Jennifer blinked in surprise, “but –“

 “Oh come now, you have your duties and I have mine.  The least you can do is fill in for me as well.  It is only the fourth day of class; you can manage. They’re working on pus balm in second year and Ghen’s Toad Mixture in fifth year. I’m sure you’ll find everything in order in the lab.”

  “Of that I have no doubt.” Jennifer nodded.

  Severus stopped at the door, glancing at her before he opened it.  “I’ll try to find out what I can about the Thurspire thing,” he said in a low voice.  “Take care.  I’m not quite sure what’s going on yet, but I feel something brewing.”

  Rushing her out, Severus quickly strode down the hall, leaving her standing there staring after him.  Suddenly Jennifer turned and hurried down the long hall to her office, closed the door behind her, and then, after taking a deep breath, started hitting herself on the head.

  “You idiot!  Why did you say it like that!” she asked at herself, pacing the room.  She’d only known him three days, what had possessed her to flirt with him?  She knew absolutely nothing about him except that there was a lot more to him than it appeared, and her mind seemed to linger on finding out what that was.  Perhaps it was just because she was not used to people she couldn’t figure out right off the bat, especially someone so methodical it should have been easy.  “Worried?” she mimicked herself.  “Gah,” she muttered, knowing the taunt didn’t seem even remotely sarcastic, at least that would have been acceptable.  She poured a beaker of water over her head then looked at herself in the mirror, shaking a finger.  “Don’t do that again.”

 

  Friday morning was bright and cheerful, and Jennifer woke up early and struggled to get ready.  Buttoning her freshly pressed robes, Jennifer was actually looking forward to taking on Severus’ potion classes.  She almost missed her days in the lab at Beauxbatons and fingers smelling of odd ingredients that never seemed to wash away.  She stopped into the staff room that was right behind the Great Hall on her way downstairs, grabbing some coffee and a roll.  She waved to the Professor she recognized as Pomona Sprout. 

  “Has the paper come yet?” Jennifer asked her.

  “Nope, still too early, even for our mail.  You have an early class today?” she asked.

  “Yes, I…”

  “Jennifer!”

  Jennifer waved down the hall to Minerva who was coming towards her, a very serious expression on her face.  “I need to speak with you in private, it’s very important.  You have conference first period, correct?”

  “Actually, I told Severus I’d watch his class for him today, he had to leave early.”

  “Oh, yes.  I suppose he would have gone off,” Minerva said thoughtfully to herself.  “Very well, lunch then.  In my office please,” she sat at last, striding off.

  Jennifer looked after her, wondering if somehow she hadn’t done something wrong.  Something was definitely bothering her, some bit of news that was troublesome.  Well, it was no good to think about it now.  Jennifer shrugged to herself, drinking down her coffee and shoving the roll in her mouth.  She only had five minutes to get to potions class.

   The first period, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw’s second year, were delightfully surprised to see Professor Craw walk in.  In fact, when she announced that she was taking over for the day, a great audible sigh of relief swept over the classroom. 

  “Don’t think that means you’re getting off scot-free, you’re still going to have to learn this lesson,” she frowned, trying to look menacing.  The class just smiled at back at her and she chuckled softly.  The potion itself was simple enough, but the measurements had to be precise; just too much slug bile would make it turn from balm to viscous sludge.  Harmless in itself, it still had a slight stink bomb effect would make for a couple excitable moments if it was done wrong.  One student, Harold Gimler, she thought would never get it right, then realized his hands were shaking every time he tried to measure it, causing extra to fall into the mix.

  “Harold, calm down, relax.  It’s not like I’m going to make you drink it.”  Harold blinked with surprise, and the rest of the class glanced at her chuckling.  Apparently Harold had the misfortune to have had already been threatened to have to test some of his formulas.  “No, I won’t.  Besides, it’s a balm; it’s meant to be rubbed on.  But I’m not going to make you do that either, okay, so just take your time,” Jennifer reassured him with a lopsided smile.  At last he relaxed, and with classroom eyes shifting back and forth to him and their substitute, he finally finished making a halfway decent balm.  The room clapped with support, and Jennifer chuckled. 

  “Five points to Hufflepuff, Harold, for sticking it out…isn’t great, not all that potent really, but it’s passable,” Jennifer nodded, testing it between her fingers just as the bell rang.  “Monday you’ll have Professor Snape back, so make sure you’ve got all your supplies out beforehand?  I don’t like people being unprepared and I’m quite sure he doesn’t either,” she said, eyeing the responsible parties as they scooted out the door.  She couldn’t help but smile to herself.  It was classes like this, which had made her want to go into teaching in the first place.

  As she turned to the notes for the next class, trying to decipher Severus’ spidery writing, the fifth years started to arrive, and as she glanced over the roll call, she saw it was Gryffindor and Slytherin.  Oh, swell, she thought, thinking of her first year class.  She was pretty sure from what she had seen in the halls that the rivalry between the two houses didn’t end with the younger students. 

  “Well!  Look who it is!” said a student’s voice she didn’t recognize.  She glanced up to see a thin, blonde boy with slicked blonde hair and a smirking face.  She didn’t need to be a Truth Seeker to figure out that this student and his two companions did not care for her at all.  He walked up to the desk extending his hand.  “Draco Malfoy,” he said, as she shook his hand and gave him a warm smile.

  “Very pleased to meet you,” Jennifer said.

  “I’m sure you are,” he smiled back without warmth.  “Do we have the honor of having you substitute for us today?  I was thinking I would not have the pleasure until one thirty.   I must say, I’m looking forward to what someone such as yourself has to teach about the Dark Arts.”  Someone behind Malfoy snickered.  As Draco went to take his seat, she felt her heart sink.  She gazed at several of the faces sitting with them, and they were all looking at her the same way.  Something was dreadfully wrong, something that would directly affect her, and they were getting pleasure from knowing it.

   As she tried to think of something to ask that might reveal what it was, three familiar faces entered the classroom.  They smiled at her, wonderfully pleased to see her.  Harry, Hermione and Ron sat down, along with Neville and all the other Gryffindors from her Tuesday-Wednesday class.  Most of them seemed to be their cheerful normal selves, so whatever it was hadn’t reached them yet.   Minerva had been pretty insistent about talking to her, she remembered.  But that was only a class period away; even with the longer period she knew she could survive waiting that long.

  They were all seated and looking at her expectantly, except Hermione, Ron and Harry, were passing looks between themselves.  Okay, so she looked unnerved, but she wasn’t about to let it mess up her class. 

  “As you probably have realized by now, I am filling in for Professor Snape today.  We’ll be following his lesson plan strictly and any mishaps will get reported straight to him, is that clear?  Very good, has everyone got their ingredients out?”

   The class went fairly smooth, (with the exception of Neville adding the toadstools in early and getting warts off the fumes) and none of the Slytherin spoke out of turn or did anything else she could catch them on.   In fact, there ended up being plenty of time to start them studying the chapter they were supposed to read over the weekend, and the quiet was nerve-wracking.  At last the bell sounded and the class filed out, and Jennifer quickly cleaned up and put everything back in order so that she might follow them.

  “Oh, by the way, Professor Craw?” Draco added as he, Crabbe, and Goyle stood in the door of the room, “Our condolences on your loss.  I’m sure she would have been proud of you, returning to Britain, and all.  See you at one thirty, unless you plan to cancel?”

  “Class is at one thirty,” Jennifer nodded politely to him. Counting to ten to give time for the students to get down the hall, Jennifer grabbed her cloak and locked up, briskly climbing the stairs to Minerva’s office, trying to calm herself down, ready for anything.  Just as she got there, the door opened and Minerva looked out, beckoning her in and closing the door behind her.

  “Oh, Jennifer, I’m so sorry,” she started.

  “Whatever is going on?” Jennifer demanded.  Minerva blinked.

  “Oh.  By the way you came sounding like a pack of elephants climbing the stairs I thought you might have heard…please, sit down, try to make yourself comfortable.”

    Jennifer sighed.

   “Well, I will sit down, but there’s no way I’m going to be comfortable until I find out what Malfoy was talking about.”

  Minerva looked up suspiciously.  “What exactly did he say?”

  “Nothing too concrete,” Jennifer said acidly, “Only expressed condolences on my loss and he made it out as if somehow I should feel threatened by that.”

  “Hm.  I shouldn’t have waited ‘til now to tell you, I see.  I hadn’t thought word of this would have spread so quickly, especially since we held owl post back a bit but…there you are. Anyhow, I suppose there’s no good way to tell you this.  They found your mother’s body.” Minerva said, closely watching her.

  Jennifer nodded slowly.  She had long believed that her mother had died, but it was still a blow to hear it.  “There’s more, isn’t there Minerva.  She didn’t die quickly, did she?”

  Minerva sighed, folding her hands.

   “No, she didn’t, not at all.  I shan’t tell you all of the coroner’s report.  It was…rather disheartening,” she replied frankly.  “Her body had been preserved over time, they’re not quite sure how long yet, and from what they can tell she had been branded . . . heavily branded, all over her body.  It seems to have mysteriously shown up on the lawn to Beauxbatons.”

  Jennifer didn’t need to be told what she had been branded with; she knew the mark only too well, for her father once wore it on his arm.  Jennifer sat back quietly for a moment, trying to sort through her feelings until she could focus once more.

“Would you like something to drink or something?  Or perhaps you need some time alone?  I can clear your afternoon classes…”

  “No –“ Jennifer put up her hand in protest, remembering the look on Draco’s face.  “No… I’m going to teach.  I knew she was dead.  I didn’t know how she was killed but I knew she was dead.  This doesn’t change anything.”  Jennifer paused, thinking of the timing and the fact it had been displayed to the school.  She knew it was a statement, a warning.  It was then she began to wonder something else.  “Minerva, when was the body found?”

  “Last evening I believe.  The groundskeeper found it after dinner.” Minerva said, watching her carefully.  So, Jennifer thought, Severus might have known last night.  It at least would have explained some of the questions he had asked.

  “Are you alright?” Minerva asked, still waiting for some solid reaction.  “Don’t play that tough teacher with me, girl.  I’ve been doing it a lot longer than you have, you know.”

  Jennifer smiled weakly at her.

  “It’s shocking, very shocking, but it sure explains a few things about the way things have been going lately,” Jennifer admitted.

  “For example?” Minerva demanded.

  “Some of the Slytherin pupils seemed to be, rather…” Jennifer paused to think of a good word, but apparently it had been enough, for Minerva nodded.

  “Some of their fathers, we believe, are Death Eaters.”

  “And they’re still attending school here?” Jennifer stared at her incredulously.

  “Better to have an enemy close at hand and know where they are.” Minerva said.

  “Dumbledore didn’t warn me about that part,” Jennifer grunted, but immediately knew why.  What better way to get an outside opinion of what was going on in Slytherin than sending in a Truth Seeker who hadn’t previous knowledge of the situation?

  “So they’re testing me too, I see…just what I need.  They’re probably wondering how much I know about the Death Eaters as well,” Jennifer sighed.  “But I don’t know anything.  My father never talked about it.”

  “You should try to eat something.  Especially if you plan to stick this out, although I’m really do think this is taking the tough new professor thing a bit too far.”  Jennifer finally noticed the tray that Minerva had brought up for her and grabbed a roll. 

  “This’ll do, thank you,” Jennifer said, and received a frown in return.  “I’ll eat better after all my classes are over with, believe me.”  Minerva shook her head at Jennifer’s stubbornness, finished her tea, and stood up.

  “Very well then, I’ll walk you to class, but I’ll have your word on dinner.”

  “My word,” Jennifer nodded to her as she opened the door.

  “Any special requests?” Minerva asked, quirking a smile.

  “Fried snails.  Lots of them.  And make sure the Slytherin tables have double helpings.” Jennifer nodded.  Minerva chuckled at that as they walked down the stairs, Jennifer jumping between moving staircases before they settled to a stop.  “Oh, come on, Minerva, you could have jumped that.”

  “You’re as bad as the students,” Minerva tsked, shaking her head at Jennifer’s attempt at levity.

  It was Jennifer’s ways of dealing with stressful situations, and one that worked quite well for her on occasion.  She didn’t like herself when she was constantly brooding over things, and at least, this way, she could at least pretend to be brave.  But the levity stopped, very abruptly, at the classroom door, and both of them paused in shock, very much like many of the students coming in were.  Looking at the blackboard, its entire surface was rubbed with chalk, and a painstakingly accurate and large depiction of the Dark Mark was etched out for all to see.

   “Who is responsible for this outrage?” Minerva boomed, far from calm.  In fact, Jennifer had never seen her quite like this before.  Jennifer quickly turned and put her hand out in front of Minerva as the students’ looks went between the blackboard and the professors.

  “Minerva, thank you, I can handle it.” Jennifer said, disquietingly calm.  Minerva checked herself, watching her fellow professor carefully a moment before relaxing her fists.

  “Very well.  But if you find out without a doubt who did this,” she said loud enough for all the class to hear, “please send them up to me so that I can take them up to Headmaster Dumbledore.”  A short gasp came from the room.  That would mean severe punishment if not expulsion, and they all knew it.

  Just then, they heard feet running in the hall as Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle appeared, apparently out of breath. 

  “Sorry we’re late, Professor,” Draco smiled,  “but we had to speak a few words with Professor Trelawney after lunch.  Here’s our pass.”

  Minerva and Jennifer couldn’t help but exchange looks.  An alibi.  How convenient.

  “Very well then, class,” said Jennifer, striding to the front of the room.  “Since we see that someone saw it fit to leave us a fine example of dark symbolism on the board, let’s start the class by speaking of recognizing Dark Arts symbols and signals, shall we?”

  Minerva, still angry but knowing that Jennifer was stubborn enough to stick it out, whisked down the hall and up the stairs to the Owlery.

 

 

Chapter Seven

Lessons Learned

 

  After eating two plates of escargot, a bowl of fiddleheads, and several butter slathered rolls, Jennifer excused herself with every intention of going straight to her room. 

  Annoyingly the staircases changed, and after waiting impatiently for a while, she realized they weren’t going back.  Reluctantly she climbed all the way up to the next landing that had an available stair in the right direction, and found herself facing the spiral stair that led into Dumbledore’s study.  Warily she went up, well aware that Dumbledore was supposed to have been out of the country, and found it empty with everything neatly in its place.  A brightly plumed phoenix was nesting on its perch, which seemed unconcerned about the fact she was there.  Shaking her head in bewilderment, she turned to walk back out, when she noticed the Sorting Hat. 

  Jennifer’s curiosity got the better of her, and since she doubted she’d ever have the opportunity again, she shut the door, took one last look around, and put on the Hat.

  “What’s this?” The Hat spoke, trying to look down at the person wearing it.  “Oh I see, a curious professor.  You know what they say about curiosity, but still…perhaps we could take a look.

  “You’ve quite the spunk, and braveness too,

   But your strength stems from your perceptions true,

   To your stubborn mental reasoning your emotions bow,

   So I’d put you in Ravenclaw, if you were a student now.”

 

Jennifer smiled to herself.

  “The same as my mother had been,” she said out loud, “Thank you, Hat,” she said, putting it on the pedestal, thoughtfully.

  “You must have loved your mother very much,” a soft voice said from behind her.

  “Yes, of course,” she nodded slowly, not turning around.  “But her death was well over a year ago.  Just because it’s coming to light now doesn’t mean anything.  I have long gotten over it.”

  “So, Jennifer, if I asked you to turn and face a mirror right now and tell me what you see about that girl, what would you say?”  Jennifer turned to Dumbledore, who was sitting on his desk, looking at her through his glasses.

  “I would probably tell you not to trust her because she’s lying through her teeth and she’s fooling no one, not even herself,” she chuckled bitterly.  Dumbledore reached an arm out and Jennifer accepted the hug gratefully, wiping her watering eyes before setting down in the high-backed chair.  “I feel more like a student than a professor.”

  “If I had a galleon for every professor who’s come in here and said that to me I’d have more money than Gringotts bank.  They haven’t been bothering you about your age, have they?”

  “No.  Well, Severus did a bit at first, but now I’m beginning to think he was just teasing.”

  “Oh really?” Dumbledore chuckled, looking at her over the rim of his spectacles, “Are you sure?”  Jennifer grinned; so comical was the way he had asked that.

  “I’m sure,” she nodded, more to convince herself than anything.

  “Well good.  I’m glad to see you’re getting along.  That is definitely an astounding accomplishment,” he winked.  “And Minerva, she raves about you too.  You’re doing a splendid job, Jennifer, under quite a bit of pressure, and I just thought you should know so.  For someone with your ability, you don’t seem to give yourself enough credit.  You need to work on that.”  Jennifer nodded slowly.

  “I suppose she told you what happened today with the blackboard.  Is that why you came back early?” Jennifer asked.

  “In part,” Dumbledore nodded.  “Perhaps a large part.  A threat to a student is a serious and alarming occurrence, and one that we, sometimes blindly, race to defend against.  A threat to a professor is a threat to the school and everyone in it.”

  “But Dumbledore, I don’t understand why some of those children have been allowed to stay until now.  Their parents’ loyalties and their own are quite plain.”

  “Children do not always make the same mistakes their fathers, did, Jennifer, nor should they be blamed for them.  You of all people should understand that.” Jennifer shifted in her chair, and she nodded abashedly.  “As long as there’s any hope that one can be saved, they will be welcome.  And speaking from experience from saving one quite deep in the throng, there is always hope,” he smiled at her, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he wasn’t talking about Severus.

  “Now, as for how to proceed, I would like you to stay close to the school this weekend until I can find out some things, and I want you to try and relax and have some fun.  Once Severus gets back I’m sure he can get to the bottom of the Mark business, so I don’t want you to be too concerned by that.   Remember to pay close attention to Harry’s goings on.  I’d be quite surprised if he and his companions weren’t traipsing the whole campus right now looking for clues of one sort or another.  Which reminds me,” he said thoughtfully getting up.  “I left some papers in my new guest study this morning.  If you would be so kind to see that they get up here and on my desk, I would be most appreciative.”

   Jennifer got up, finding herself alert and curious once more.

  “Of course, Dumbledore, and… thanks.  For being here.” Jennifer said with a weak smile.

  “Thank you for being here,” he bowed, “good night, and try not to stay up too late.”

  Moments after Jennifer left, Minerva slipped into the Headmaster’s Study, glancing over at Dumbledore’s thoughtful face.

  “I’m sorry that I had to cut short your visit, Albus, but I thought these events were enough to warrant it.”

  “I agree, and yours wasn’t the only letter I received last night, Minerva.  Severus has also been in communication with me about our new professor.  Apparently Voldemort wasn’t too happy to hear that a Craw was still alive.  The Death Eater who had been ordered to have the family killed fifteen years ago had, apparently, told him they were all dead.  Needless to say, they’re in a bit of a hurry now to get rid of her.”

  “Well, add her to the list then, along with you and Harry that Voldemort wants dead,” Minerva said.  “It’s not as if he can touch her while she’s here, and besides, she can take care of herself.  You told me yourself her tests in dark arts as well as self-defense were nearly off the charts.”

  “That’s true, and I guarantee she didn’t learn that all from that all light arts school she went to, Minerva.  Her father definitely had a hand in that.  Still, a lot of that skill is on a book and knowledge level, not from being practiced.  Oh, I have great faith in her ability as a teacher, Minerva, don’t even bother to protest.  I only wonder what she might stumble into if she’s not careful.”

 

 

   The staircases were being annoyingly helpful to Jennifer as she went down to the lower study to get the papers Dumbledore had asked for.

  “Wretched things.  Why weren’t you cooperating when I was tired,” she scowled.  She quickly let herself in, finding a large stack of papers wrapped in a folder on the desk.  As she got ready to tuck it under her arm, she stopped short, having glanced at the first page of the files:

 

  Alice Corsiva, Department of Mysteries, Personnel file 100098.

 

  Sitting down on the floor to make some room, she began to scan the papers, page by page, and without a second thought, making copies of any files that had any mention of her mother in them.  By the twentieth page, she paused, noticing for the first time her father’s name, in some old court documents, and an affidavit.  Chewing on her lip, wondering what she was getting herself into, she sorted the copies into one pile, keeping the originals in order as she went.  At last she reached the end, looking at her copies, thoughtfully…it was alarmingly a third of the stack.  Granted, most of them involved tribunal proceedings where she pulled out the entire case, but still.  Folding over her copies and sticking him in her robe, she quickly picked up the originals and put them in the other study, just as the stairwell clock struck a quarter past two.

 

  Jennifer was awakened with a note dropping on her head and Ratfly’s squeaking.  He was irritated; it seemed, of having to bring not only the letter, but yesterday and today’s copy of the paper.  Jennifer looked over at them, sighing, guessing why the one was late.  She was certain it had mention of her mother’s death in it.  She opened the letter, trying to get her eyes to adjust.  Sunlight was blazing in the room, and she was sure she had overslept.

 

   If you hav time this aftrenoon an woul like ta learn ta ride pegusi just come on down ta see me.  –Hagrid.

 

  Well, that sounds like as good of a weekend plan as any, she thought, and she would have little time to think of her troubles while trying to control a mount.  She crawled out of bed at half past eleven, searching through her drawers for her riding clothes.  Brushing her hair into a quick ponytail instead of the regular tight braid, she grabbed her Hogwarts cloak and headed out, stopping in the kitchen for a quick sandwich.

  It was a brisk day and a little breezy, probably a perfect day for riding, she thought as she headed to the cottage.  Hagrid was outside, stopping what he was doing to wave to her excitedly.

  “Ah, good, I was hopin’ you woul’ come!” he beamed.  “I’ll just start wakin’ up the team then.  It’s a bit early for them, but that’ll mean they’re not quite as active either, if ya know what I’m sayin’.”

  Jennifer smiled, climbing up the pen and sitting astride it as Hagrid let out Ruby and Babe.  “I invited Harry, Ron and Hermione t’ come out later, hope you don’t mind,” he added, “You all seemed to get on so I didn’ think it’d be trouble.”

  “Not at all,” Jennifer smiled.

  “O, an’ uh…” he came up to the fence. “I heard, abou’ yer mother.  I’m sorry an’, if there’s anythin’ I can do, yer just holler, ok?” he said, looking at her with concern.

  “You’ve already got what I need right here,” she smiled, “beautiful beasts to ride and a new challenge.  Let’s get at it already,” she said, trying to sound more enthusiastic than she felt.  He grinned.

  “Alrigh’ then.  I’m afraid they don’t take ta saddles yet, but they’ll wear a harness, that’s sommat, right?  How about you take Ruby, she’s not quite as strong as Babe.  Let’s take ‘em out near the Quidditch pitch -- no practices today, they havin’ tryouts tomorrer for new players.  Now, if ya keep pettin ‘em gentle on the nose like, you can walk ‘em over without ‘em takin’ off on ya, so just keep pettin’ her.  It’ll help her get used to you too,” he advised leading them out.

  “Hello Ruby, I’m Jennifer,” she greeted the winged horse and petted her nose, following Hagrid out.  “I see how you got your name, such pretty fire eyes of yours.  Thank you for helping Babe bring me to Hogwarts a few weeks ago.”  Ruby snorted, watching her thoughtfully.  Hearing the snort, Hagrid looked back.

  “Well, how abou’ that, I think she likes ya.  Not bein’ scared of ‘er helps tho.  I be thinkin’ tha migh’ have been Snape’s problem.”

  Jennifer blinked.  She couldn’t imagine Severus being afraid of anything.  At last they reached the field, and Hagrid fastened a tether to the ground, hooking Babe to it.    Reaching over, he wrapped the end of Ruby’s line around his hand. 

  “I’m gonna hold onta her for now as a precaution.  The line shouldn’ get in th’ way, but I likes not to tether em while flying, tangle proof or no.  Now, I’ll hol’ her and you c’n get up.  An’ don’t worry, it’s almost like flyin’ on a broom.”

  Jennifer tensed up and gave him a blank look.  “I wish you hadn’t said that.”

  “Now, go on, we won’t be getting anywhere this way.  The field is nice an’ padded for falls, an’ we’re far enuff out that you can always try Apparating if you get into trouble.”

   Jennifer gave him another blank look.  “I can’t do that either.  Never got a license.”

  “Oh. Wull. Guess that makes two of us, don’t it.  No more arguments now, get up there.  Make sure you put your legs behind the wing, not forward, and try not to pull too much on the harness.” 

  Jennifer shrugged off her robe to make it easier to maneuver and put her boot in Hagrid’s waiting hand, powerfully launched her up onto the back.  Ruby’s hoofs pawed nervously at the ground, but Hagrid held her tight, patting her head.  Jennifer had never been on a steed twenty hands tall before, and the ground already seemed far away to her.  Determined not to panic, she smiled at her trainer.

  “Lean a little more forward there, else yer gonna fall right off the moment she takes off,” He warned, “Try ta’ grip the side a bit. If yer bring yer legs further unner the wings I think ya’ll have less trouble.”  Jennifer did as she was told, only to have Ruby’s head turn as if trying to look at her, whinnying.

  “Well, she wants to go, so I guess that’ll do,” Hagrid said cheerfully.  “I’m gonna let her move now.  There we go!”  With a jolt, Ruby took to the air, diving madly in little circles with Jennifer concentrating solely on staying on the blasted thing, leaning all the way forward and getting outrageously dizzy.  Hagrid kept letting out more line, widening the circles more and more making them more tolerable.  At last the height seemed to even out, and Jennifer cautiously sat up, evening out her grip on the reins, trying to relax.

  “Great job! Yer a nat’ral!”  Hagrid called from below.  It was then that she realized exactly how far up they were.  Not only did Hagrid look small but also she could even make out the house crests from the top of the Quidditch boxes.  “I’m gonna take the lead off now!”  He declared cheerfully.

  “No, Hagrid wait! NO!” she cried, but it was too late…the thin rope fell off the harness, and Ruby reared and headed straight up in the air. 

  “Loosen the reins! Loosen the reins!” she barely heard him, wondering how she was going to do that and still keep her seat.  Panicking, she let go in favor of the beast’s neck… and Ruby responded, turning around and diving into a fast, nauseating, tailspin.  Just as Jennifer thought they were going to crash, Ruby veered away and rolled over, dumping her into the dust before flying up to a decent height, snorting with irritation.

  “Professor? Are ya alright?  When I said loosen ‘em I didn’ mean tha’ much!”  Hagrid lumbered quickly over, bending over to look down at her.

  Groaning, Jennifer turned over, spitting out some of the sand.  “You were right about one thing, Hagrid,” she panted.  “It was exactly like riding a broom.”

  “Guess yer weren’t quite ready to solo yet, sorra bou’ that.  Anything broken?”

  Jennifer shook her head, and took his offered hand, helping her stand up.  “Alri’ then, let’s give it another go, shall we?”

  Nodding with much less enthusiasm than she had the first time around, Jennifer brushed herself off and waited for Hagrid to coax Ruby down.

 

 

Chapter Eight

Ongoing Investigations

 

  With bruised bones and ego but a solid sense of humor, Jennifer walked with Hagrid and Ron back to the cottage with Harry and Hermione in the lead, petting and walking the mounts.

  “You sure they’re going to be alright handling the Pegasi?” Jennifer asked softly.

  “Sure I’m sure!” Hagrid bellowed out.  “They’re in my Care of Magical Creatures class.  Kinda wish I cou’ teach them how ta ride, but, had a bit of a mishap a couple years ago, an’ I guess Dumbledore don’t want no repeat of it.”

  “Maybe if Professor Craw got good at it, you and she can take us up with you sometime,” Ron suggested. 

  Jennifer quickly backed off of that one.  “Guys, I’ve only been here a week.  I couldn’t possibly try pulling those sorts of strings,” she laughed as they got to the pen.  Hagrid took over the tethers and got the beasts retied.

  “How about acting as our escort tonight so we can stay out longer here?” Hermione suggested.  Hagrid’s face brightened.

  “Sure, they can stay for dinner, how ‘bout it?” he asked.

  Jennifer smiled and nodded.  “I’m sure that much I can do.  Does anyone have anything planned tonight that should be told, or anyone specific who may worry I should write a note to?” she asked them all but looked at Harry.

  “I’m sure it’s quite alright,” he said, “we’re supposed to have the evening free.”

  “Wunnerful! Then it’s settled! I’ll put the kettl’ on.” Hagrid said going inside.  Jennifer put her arm up, waiting for something as Hermione walked up closer, leaning over to her.

  “Don’t eat the rock cakes. Trust us,” she advised.  Jennifer grinned.

  “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind,” she grinned.  Ratfly finally flew to her arm, complaining loudly.  “What’s the matter, you old grouch, did I wake you?”

  “It’s a vampire bat!” Ron declared.

  “No it isn’t,” Hermione rolled her eyes, “It’s a fruit bat.  Can’t you tell the difference?  He’s too large to be a vampire bat.”

  Quickly Jennifer scribbled a simple note:  The Three are with me at Hagrid’s.  She gave it to the bat, petting its back affectionately.

  “To Professor McGonagall please.”  He immediately took off, flying up towards one of the windows by the Quidditch pitch.  “In her office on a Saturday?  Some people just don’t know when to take the day off,” Jennifer chuckled when she noticed Harry looking off for a moment.  Following his gaze, she was startled to see a large black dog, sitting at the edge of the pen.

  “Excuse me,” said Harry and went over to him.

  “Isn’ anyone comin’ in?” Hagrid asked, popping out the door with a confused look on his face.

  “Who’s that man over there talking to Harry?” Jennifer asked point blank, shifting to one side just in case she needed to get to her wand.

  “Oh, that’s uh…ow! I wish you’d stop doing that!” Ron said, glaring at Hermione who just gave him a jab.

  “What man?” asked Hermione.  Jennifer was just about ready to lay into her when Hagrid came over to take a look.

  “Don’ worry, Professor.  Tha’s a friend of Dumbledore’s.   Maybe I should’a made more cakes then,” the said, almost to himself.  Jennifer relaxed perceptibly, realizing at last who it must be.  Just then Ratfly came screeching back, dropping a note on her head before swooping off.

  “Oh go on to bed then, Ratfly,” she scowled, opening the note.  “All right, looks like everything’s squared away so let’s go in, shall we?”  She turned to where Harry and the dog stood and nodded politely to the dog before going in.

  “Professor,” Hermione asked when they got inside, “How was it that you knew that it wasn’t just a normal dog?”

  “Just a little quirk of mine.  I can always tell…and I’d rather you not mention it to anyone else if you don’t mind, it might cause me a lot more headaches.”

  “Sugar an’ lemon, Professor?” Hagrid asked.

  “Just sugar.”

  “Boy, we could have used you here a few years ago,” Ron made a face.  “We found out the hard way my familiar was really an animagus.”

  Jennifer blinked, “Your familiar? He must have been in the form for awhile.”

  “Years,” Ron nodded.  Jennifer couldn’t help but think how positively ghastly that would be.

  “Well there will be none of that while I’m around,” Jennifer assured them. 

  Harry walked in, shutting the door behind him.  “I take it Mr. Black couldn’t stay?” she asked, hearing a gasp through the room.  Harry just looked at her.

  “No, he was just checking in,” he finally said, sitting down.

  “I thought you said you didn’t know who it was!” Ron challenged her.

  “I didn’t, until Hagrid said it was a friend of Dumbledore’s.  You don’t think you’re the only ones who can rub two sticks together and get a flame, do you?” Jennifer asked, accepting her tea.  Hagrid shifted uncomfortably, setting some plates out.

  “Mind if we ask you something, Professor?” Hermione asked.

  “I have a feeling you’d ask whether I wanted you to or not,” Jennifer chuckled.

  “Well, we all know why You-know-who is after Harry.  But why is it that he, or at least the Death Eaters, seem to be after you?”

  Jennifer set down her cup.

  “Well, I’m not completely sure they are after me, at least not at the moment, but if they are, then I can safely say we both share the same question.  What have you been hearing?”

  “Hearing, Professor?”

  “What have the other students been saying?  Even rumors can be informative if you know how to screen them, and I’m afraid I haven’t been hearing the student’s point of view much.  I don’t think many have come to trust me yet.”  Jennifer admitted.

  “The Slytherin students are saying that your father was a Death Eater,” Harry told her, “and that he ‘chickened out’ after Voldemort made him help kill a family that he knew and fled.   And that it was because…”

  “Your mother,” Hermione continued, looking at Harry, “was a Muggle born, like me.”  Jennifer looked thoughtful.  All those in itself were probably valid rumors, she thought, although she hadn’t known her father helped kill anyone, but she could have imagined it.  Fear had a very curious effect on people sometimes.

  “She was half Muggle actually,” Jennifer said thoughtfully, “although I understand why they would believe that.  You three wouldn’t have any ideas on who wrote the Dark Mark in my classroom, would you?”

  All three of them answered at once, “Malfoy.”

  “You forget though,” Jennifer picked up her cup again, “he had an alibi.  He was speaking to Professor Trelawney.”

  “Yes, to tell her that you’ve been telling all your students that Divination was a bunch of lies and hogwash,” Ron nodded.   “And if you did, I personally agree with you.”

  Jennifer blinked.  Twice.

  “I hadn’t heard about that.”  The last thing she wanted right now was to be at odds with a staff member over what a student said.

  “And then they said that Trelawney said that ‘you’d get what was coming to you soon,’ and that ‘you were going to suffer from eternal sleep.’  But honestly, nobody ever pays attention to Professor Trelawney.  She’s had Harry dying every year since he started!” Hermione rolled her eyes, “sometimes twice in the same week.”

  Jennifer stifled a chuckle.  “Now, now, let’s not go overboard.  She’s still a professor, and there are some rare talents out there in that field…”

  “Well, she’s definitely not one of them,” Ron snickered.  Jennifer looked sternly at them. 

  “Here we go! Forestfern Fungus Pie!  With potatoes, o’ course!” Hagrid said proudly.  “Wull, don’ just look at it, dig in!”

  Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked dubiously at their plates, while Jennifer took a heaping forkful, looking thoughtful.

  “You know, Hagrid, this is very good.  But if you don’t mind a little advice, a nice bit of melted sharp cheese on top would be just the thing, the very thing.”

  After some taste testing himself, Hagrid also agreed that perhaps that would be better, and he’d try that the next time they came around.  Harry and Ron gave Jennifer an accusing look, while Hermione picked at her plate.

  “You know, I just had an idea,” Jennifer said.  “How would you students like to be considered on my team, so to speak?  Perhaps you would be willing to get back with me once a week, sooner if necessary, and tell me any rumors that might effect your, my, or school safety, hmm?  Not tattlin’ stuff, mind you.  But more like what you just told me.”

  “What do we get out of it?” Ron wanted to know.

  Jennifer leaned forward.  “Well what you get is another professor as a friend, one that can you can actually tell the absolute most unbelievable facts that you might acquire and believe them without a doubt,” she smiled.

  “What about information you find out about us from teachers that you think we should know about?” Harry asked.   Jennifer pondered it a moment.

  “I can’t make any promises, but if there’s anything I think you need or deserve to know, I’ll definitely tell you,” she said.  Harry nodded. 

  “Deal,” he said.

 

   That Sunday morning Jennifer spent in her rooms, going over the papers that she had copied the other evening, researching the old paperwork and piecing together bits of information about the courts that her mother worked in.  It wasn’t very long when she found something odd.  On the bottom of her mother’s personal employment page had been scribbled a written note: transferred from Animagi Security Department due to concerns of loyalty.

  Her mother was a security risk?  She shook her head at that.  That seemed extremely unbelievable to her.  And yet, looking at the date, she realized this had taken place about a month after her marriage to her father, Thomas Craw.  Perhaps it was the marriage that made them nervous, coming from such a notorious family.  Turning to the back to read over the permanent record, Jennifer fell out of her chair in surprise.

12/23 Sited for contempt

1/11   Sited for contempt

                                                                   3/6    Sited for contempt

                                                                   4/2    Fired for impersonating a Truth Seeker.

 

  Jennifer bit down her anger.  Apparently, whatever corruption had been going on in the ministry, it had been going on for some time.  All of the dates, she realized, were after she moved departments as well.  Fired for impersonating a Truth Seeker?  That was the most ridiculous charge she had heard of.  Jennifer cursed a moment, noticing that there was no sign of who it was that had fired her.  Like all good magic documents, the signatures hadn’t copied to the duplicates so she wasn’t sure who approved it.   Folding them up again, she headed down to her office, closing the door behind her.  Quickly finding a few ingredients, she mixed up a powder, blowing it over the paper.  She waited for it to settle, then picked it up, tapping off the edges to clear the access dust.  Looking at the back of the paper, she pondered the name because she’d never seen it before.  Who was A. Rookwood? 

   Carefully attempting to sweep up the dust with a brush, the papers fell to the floor.  Muttering at her carelessness, she stooped to pick them up, and then noticed something appearing on the back of one of the court pages.  Jennifer squinted at it.  Nothing had been on the back of the copies upstairs, she was sure of it, so whatever had been there had been erased before it had even got to the trash room.  Picking up the sheet, she sat back at her desk, carefully dusting it, blowing off the excess.

 

    Make sure these papers disappear immediately, Fudge, or else there will be people who disappear in their place.

 

A Dark Mark had been signed below it.

 

  Breathing heavily, she turned it over with a surprise that soon turned into anger.  She found herself looking at a series of acquittals that her father had testified at, for the defense, it would seem.  But how could have they?  Her father and mother had fled to America a year before Voldemort had faced Harry Potter.  That just didn’t make any sense.  She turned the paper over, and on the sheet was the cover page with the name of one of those being accused.  It was a man named Lucius Malfoy.  Suddenly, Jennifer had a feeling that there was a lot more to this than it looked, and she was quite sure these weren’t even legitimate copies of the real trial.  Still, there must be some underlying reason that someone in Voldemort’s circle would want these copies to be destroyed, and this along with the other recent events made Jennifer feel sure that Malfoy was one of the Death Eaters.  And what about her mother’s file?  Could it be that someone had impersonated her so Malfoy could get off on his charges?

  Quickly forgetting her promise to stay close to the school, Jennifer got dressed in her weekend clothes and took out a pouch of Floo Powder, grabbing a notebook where she had written down local addresses.  Finding the Ministry lobby, she stepped into the fireplace.

  The Ministry of Archives was on the lower level, a stuffy office with the pungent smell of old parchment lingering in the air.  An old human wizard by the name of Hodges was the clerk there, and had the personality and face of a goblin, dubiously letting her fill out a registration card to gain access to her family’s legal records, even making her perform a blood test to prove hers matched family samples.

  “A Craw, eh?  Thought you were all gone now,” he said with a shrug as the test came up positive and he sealed her registration card.  “Mallus Craw’s descendant, he was a power dark wizard, him.”

  “So I’ve heard,” Jennifer said curtly, annoyed at the tone in the wizard’s voice.  “Can you show me where the documents are now?”

  “All right, fine, but just to let you know public records is only open until two on weekends, so you only have a couple hours,” he said.

  Grimacing, she nodded to him, following him into the A through D section as he combed through, looking for the right one, not letting her even touch any of the unopened folders and books.  Finally he found her the ones she was looking for and she sat down with them quickly, flipping through pages.

  Tons of them seemed to be legal business notes, which really wasn’t surprising to Jennifer.  Before they had left, the Craws had in fact been one of the most prominent old money families among their sort.  Years of dark wizardry had definitely paid off, and the spoils had been vast at one point.  Over time and lazy generations the money had dwindled, however, but even still her father had left a small fortune when they fled, then having to start off from scratch with nothing.  But her interest in the records had not been in the money at all; until she suddenly crossed a business transaction that had been the family connection she had been looking for.  It was the records of a merger of one of her father’s smaller businesses with a very large one, Malfoy Enterprises and Magical Industries. 

  So, they had been in business together, of one kind or another, the documents signed by each plus several lawyers.   Jennifer flipped through various others, amazed at how many joint ventures there were.  Perhaps this was how the Death Eaters were funneling their money, she thought, glancing over it.  And if so, that meant Malfoy Enterprises in its youth was not a clean business as the public accepted it to be.  That in itself might be a viable motive to want her mother and father in dead, for if they had exposed the activity it might be enough to cast a lot of questions on the multimillion galleon industry.  Of course, it was all speculation at this point.  Quickly Jennifer copied down some information on a notepad, finishing up just as Hodges had come to get her.

  “Can you tell me where Gespot and Gringott Accounting is?”  Jennifer asked, handing him the folder.  He raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was up to.

  “It’s in Gringotts bank in Diagon Alley.  You haven’t been around here long, have you?” he asked.  “You had better be careful, especially being a Craw and all.  People around here have been a mite jumpy since there was rumor that You-know-who is back.  A strange coincidence, isn’t it, a Craw coming back just after word gets out he’s still alive and well?”

  Jennifer bit back her reply.  Let him think she was a dark witch if he likes.  Anything she would say would only go to confirm it in his mind.  Nodding stiffly, Jennifer told him good afternoon and headed back out to the lobby.  Diagon Alley was just a hop away by Floo Powder, but trying to make the right chimney had given her a little trouble, and she had jumped in at the last minute, causing her to land forward, bumping into someone standing near the fireplace when she came out.  Apologizing in embarrassment, she found herself looking at a very familiar looking middle-aged wizard, and a pretty woman wearing strange clothes, who was staring with her in utter confusion and astonishment.

  “Are you quite all right?” the wizard asked, helping her up.  It was as he took his hand that she noticed the symbols on his robes and felt doubly surprised.

  “Minister Fudge!  I really am sorry,” Jennifer said flustered.

  “Quite all right, I shouldn’t have been standing so close.  Forgive me, I’d pause for introductions, but I need to see this young woman out.  Perhaps we’ll meet again,” he nodded at her before the two of them headed to the door.

  The girl glanced back at her again as they left, but didn’t say a word.   It was then that she noticed that several of the pub’s regulars had gathered in a group near the bar, shaking their heads towards the door.

  “Somethin’ not right about Muggles wanderin’ in so often.  I coulda’ sworn she’d been in here afore too.  Ye really need t’ work on security around here,” one of them said to bartender.

  “Isn’t my fault one gets in every now an’ then.  We get strangers all the time in here, you know.  Blimey, who’s that?” he asked, and all of them gazed over at Jennifer.

  “Professor Jennifer Craw, from Hogwarts,” she said, stepping up.  “Sorry if I startled anyone.  Which way to the Alley?”  Several wizards jumped up at once offering to show her, until the bartender finally called them to order, wiping his hands off on his apron before taking her to the back.

  “Ye’ll have to forgive them, Professor, not many witches as lovely as you stop long enough to chat,” he grinned at her, tapping on the brick wall in the alley behind the Cauldron, watching the pink appear in her cheeks.  “If you need anything, just feel free to drop by, we don’t bite.  First drink is on the house, my name’s Tom.”

  “Thanks Tom,” Jennifer smiled, “I’ll make sure to drop by then,” she assured him before stepping into the alley.  The bartender went back inside as the crowd at the bar followed him back with their eyes.

  “Tom, what are you thinking?  Didn’t year hear what the woman said, she’s a Craw!” Doris whispered to him.  “You know what a bad sort they are!”

  “Nonsense, Doris.  She didn’t do anything but ask where the Alley is, and Hagrid says she’s the all right sort,” Tom said, “Besides, I wouldn’t have cared if she was the devil’s daughter, with those looks she can have me escort her to the Alley any time.”  A loud chuckle erupted in the group, turning their attentions back to their drinks.

  Jennifer drummed her fingers at in the accountant’s room as she finally got one of the goblins’ attention.  But the moment she had seen they were goblins, she knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere trying to dig up her father’s old business records, and she was right.

  “Records are closed even to family members without a written will until off efficient age after the owner’s death to render them inconsequential,” the goblin told her firmly, trying to wave her away.

  “And how long is that?” she asked, looking annoyed.

  “Seven hundred years.”

  “Seven hundred years?  That long?”  Jennifer said, getting hushed by the goblins when her voice rose.  “I don’t have any options at all?  Surely there’s an exception.”

  “Oh, yes, if the deceased comes forward and gives you his or her consent, you can have access to the records,” the goblin admitted.

  “Oh, gee, thanks.  That’s really helpful,” Jennifer said dully, walking away from the counter and out into the lobby.

  It was then she spotted Severus Snape, standing beside a well-dressed platinum blonde gentleman.  They were standing near the carts at vault entry, and Jennifer suddenly had little wish to have to explain what she was doing outside of the school when Dumbledore had asked her to stay close.  Quickly she slipped out of the door, hoping that she had not been seen.  Had she turned around, she would have found that she hadn’t succeeded, and the man she had not known, Lucius Malfoy had noticed her.  He and Severus suddenly stepped away from the window, apparently having a heated argument before returning their attention to the business at hand.

  

Chapter Nine

The Art of Being Tested

 

   Whatever the exchange had been, Severus never approached Jennifer about what she had been doing that day.  Jennifer had little time to worry about it for the work of making up lesson plans, marking homework and building tests had caught up with her, while still having to keep up communication with the French Magic Consulate.  Her mother had been quietly brought back to England to be buried beside her father’s grave after the autopsy reports were completely finished and sent to her a couple weeks later.   

  Disheartening, was what Minerva had called the coroner’s report, and when Jennifer finally got a hold of it, she saw it was even worse than she had expected.  The death itself, apparently, had not been magical in any way, but brutal.  Only its preservation was odd.  Why would have anyone bothered?   Whatever the reason, she knew it had been for a greater purpose than what it had been used for, as a threat to Jennifer.  But what the reason was Jennifer wasn’t quite certain.  She put those matters stiffly aside, for she had a job to do, and no amount of threats or scare tactics were going to take her away from that.

 

  Jennifer glided down the hall on the way to the Quidditch Pitch to make the rounds before the first game.  She’d spent the morning going over lesson plans for Monday and was ready for a little more excitement, but ended up getting more than she had bargained.  A whisper from Rolanda was enough to make her glance up at the boxes, nodding sharply.  If Rolanda had any idea what she suspected, Jennifer thought to herself, it would have been the last place on the planet that she might have sent her.

  As it was, Jennifer Craw found herself climbing the steps to meet the man and see if she could discern anything from his face.  At the very least, she might be able to turn the tables a bit.  She stepped into the box with a warm smile, glancing around as if for no one in particular.  As she expected, he was the first to move.

  “Ah, you must be the new professor, Professor Craw!  My son has told me quite a deal about you.” Lucius Malfoy said, dressed in the finest of clothes as if it were a most prestigious event.  He nodded graciously to her, which she returned with a dazzlingly warm smile.

  “I am happy to meet you.  Your son is a very brilliant student.  You must be very proud of him,” she said, taking a seat beside him.  “And I hear a great asset to the Slytherin team.”

  “Ah, so you’re a fan of Slytherin’s team then?” his smile was pleased, but several emotions crossed his face underneath that Jennifer caught easily.

  “Yes, my father was in Slytherin house,” she said in a low voice, nodding to him.  “I understand he was a Beater himself at one time.”

  “Yes….” Lucius said thoughtfully. “Not much of one though, I’m afraid.  No offense.”

  “I’m afraid you’re right there, good sir,” Jennifer nodded slowly.  “A team can’t win with a Beater that runs from the ball instead of protecting the Keeper.  Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “I heard in the paper about your mother,” he said, searchingly. “Quite a horrible way to go, such a pity.”  Jennifer tried to control her anger at what she saw in his face. She looked forward, glancing around as if making sure no one was watching.

   “Mother was a very persuasive woman who valued the truth.  Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that only brings you to the two most inevitable truths, pain and death.” She looked down for a moment and then back at Lucius, who was gazing at her as if trying to drill into her soul.

  “I’m not much like either parent, Mr. Malfoy.    I just know you should play to win…if you’re going to play at all.”

  A hard painful grasp on her elbow alerted her to another presence, and she was jerked briskly around to look into his eyes.  The fire was evident, and he was indeed angry, but Severus Snape also had “play along” written in his face that was clear only to her.

  “Why Professor Craw, what are you doing up here?  I thought you were going to watch after the little beasts across the way today.” Severus said in a low voice.

  “You were late, sir.  I figured I’d save you a seat,” Jennifer said meekly, looking around subtly.

  “The next time you want to think for me…” he said, twisting her arm even more.  Jennifer winced slightly.  “Or talk to someone without my permission may have very, very, dangerous results.  Is that clear?”  She glanced up at him.  Okay, so that part he had definitely meant.  Jennifer nodded slowly.  “Good, now get down there and tend to those two in the stand.  After the game, meet me in the library.  I have something important for you to do.”

  With a last painful twist, he let go of her elbow and she quickly scrambled to her feet, the appearance of someone trying to act like nothing happened.  Nodding slightly to Lucius, she moved towards the back and scrambling down the stairs.

  “Sorry, Lucius,” Severus said in a low tone, shaking his head.  “She’s a bit on the naïve side, but I think she’ll serve our purpose.”

  “Perhaps,” Lucius said, brushing off his coat.  “You’re quite sure she’s not…like her mother?”

  “Oh, quite sure,” Severus smirked.  “I have her eating out of the palm of my hand.”

 

   Jennifer quickly went down the stairs, rubbing her elbow.   Dang that really hurt, she scowled, the look of apology after that last twist of the arm did not, in her opinion, make up for it.  Well, she’s knee-deep in something smelly now, she thought to herself, working toward the students where Ron and Hermione sat.  And she knew without a doubt there was going to be no easy way out of this one.  One thing she was sure of; Lucius Malfoy had definitely been involved in her mother’s death.

  “Professor Craw!” Hermione waved as she approached, “Come sit down, you’re missing it!”

  “Missing what?” she asked sitting down beside them.

  “Us beating down Slytherin, of course!” Ron said, looking up towards the rings.

  “What already? The game just started!” Jennifer looked up at the players, trying to figure out which were which.  Just then the Quaffle zoomed past, quickly being chased by the Slytherin team, but the Gryffindor Chasers were a step faster, diving up to the ring and making a goal past the Slytherin Keeper, who had just dived to escape a Bludger.

  “30-zip already! Boy, this is going to be a short game.  Ever since Malfoy joined the team they just haven’t been the same,” Ron sneered.

  “Well, the game’s still young, guys, it could take time to catch the Snitch,” Jennifer said.

  “Uh-uh, not when we got Harry.  Look!  There he goes, he’s seen it already!”

   Jennifer watched as Harry made a dive then sped around the outer boxes.  Draco Malfoy quickly responded crossing over his path and then above him trying to get closer.  Jennifer squinted, wondering what he was up to.  It was not strange to see students head to head over a Snitch, but not cross flying like that!  Unfortunately for the Gryffindor team, one of their Beaters turned around to watch and got clunked by a Bludger, losing his balance but trying to steady himself.  The Slytherin Chasers then sideswiped him from both sides, spinning him around, just as they threw in the Quaffle for a goal.  Jennifer, who was hard pressed trying to keep up with a Quidditch game on a good day, found herself growing more and more nervous over the battle going on between Harry and Draco.  Suddenly Harry took a straight dive down, while Draco kept going forward.

  “Something’s wrong!” Ron said.

  “Oooh, that dirty little!  Ron, turn your omnioculars on slow repeat!  Draco just knocked his glasses off!”

  “Why that ruddy little beast!”  Ron said.

Suddenly there was a loud, DING and Lee Jordan saying,  “And Draco Malfoy has the Snitch and Slytherin WINS, by as unethically unacceptable means OW available OW stop that—“ The crowd went wild, and Jennifer sighed, watching as Harry came to a stop along the ground, picking something up.

  “Come on, we’d better go cheer up Harry.  I bet he’s spitting mad.”

  “Oh, oh dear.  You both go; I need to take care of something.  Give him my best will you?  And let him know I do think he’s the better player.”

  “Sure thing, Professor.  Come on, Hermione.”

  As Jennifer got up, Minerva waved to her.

  “Are you available for dinner?” Minerva asked.

  “Uh, no, I doubt it, kind of hard to say,” she said apologetically.

  “Lunch tomorrow then.  I’d like to hear how things are going.”  Jennifer smiled at her, knowing the truth behind her eyes.  In other words, Dumbledore asked you to keep an eye on me while he was gone and you wanted to touch base.

  “Sure, Minerva, that’d be great.”

  “My office then,” Minerva smiled and waved again, working her way towards the pitch.

  Jennifer dove into the closest side door, quickly but quietly working her way down the halls towards the library.

  It was empty... of course it would be, everyone was still at the game.   Walking to the back near the restricted section, Jennifer sat down, leaning on the table, shaking her head.  Well, it was too late to back out now, that’d just insure failure.  And not only hers, she realized.  By testing Malfoy, she had not only learned what she had been after, but also learned part of what was going on with Severus.  There was no doubt that he was working as a Death Eater, but just as surely, she knew that Dumbledore trusted him completely.  So did she, she realized suddenly, wondering why.  Taking out her pocket mirror she looked into her own face.  Never had that face ever looked quite so sober, quite so serious.  A shadow in the mirror made her look up, to see the same calm seriousness playing on Severus’ face.

  “Follow,” he said, turning towards the restricted section.  Jennifer flipped closed her mirror and got up, putting it away as they walked to the back of the library to a locked door.  Opening it, he let her in, closing it behind him.  It was a bare room, with only a few cases of literary material near the door, and a mirror, apparently recently placed there, without a speck of dust on it.  Severus glanced around then looked at something in his pocket.

  “It’s safe to speak here.  Anything you want to tell me about why you were seeking out Lucius Malfoy?”

  Jennifer opened her mouth, not particularly knowing exactly where to start, or what exactly to say.  She sighed softly.

   “Well, I guess the true reason I went up there is to look in the face of the man I suspected had reason to murder my mother.  Stupid reason, but there you are,” she admitted.

  “Yes, definitely stupid, but fortunately for all of us you do still seem to have some wits about you even when you are doing something totally irrational,” Severus snapped.

  Jennifer forced herself not to smile.

  “Well, nobody’s perfect,” she said.

  “So we’re seeing,” Severus’ eyes flashed.  “Your office got ransacked while you were out.  I found this on your desk.”  He pulled out the documents, and Jennifer’s face fell.  “If it had been anyone be me…well.  I assume you’re now aware of what I had to tell them… that you’re of little threat and that I have you working from me.  Thanks to your interference, it looks as if we’re going to have to make that somewhat of a reality.  First rule will be that from now on you’re not to put any sensitive information of any kind in your office, classroom, or personal rooms, and anything interesting you find nosing about needs to go to me, is that clear?  Where did you get this, anyhow?”

  “Arthur left it for Dumbledore… the originals, I mean.  Dumbledore asked me to transfer them to a different office…he knew I was going to look at them…I was in a hurry so copied them.  Guess that wasn’t too smart either.”  Severus rolled his eyes, and shook his head at her disapprovingly.  “But…if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found the message on the back.  I happened on that by chance.”

  “Have you reported this to Dumbledore yet?”

  “No, I haven’t seen him since then.”

  “Good. I’ll take care of that,” he said, putting away the list.  Jennifer had little doubt that she wasn’t going to get them back.

  “So what exactly did you tell them about me, anyhow?  And why did you go ahead and tell them without consulting me first?” she demanded.  Severus looked at her with half his mouth curled in a frown.  “They had me marked for death?” she murmured after reading his expression.  Severus’ eyes flashed angrily.

  “Don’t do that again,” he warned.  Okay, so he still wasn’t big on the Truth Seeker thing.  Jennifer flushed slightly.

  “Sorry.”

  “Your… family history…has unfortunately proceeded you, and in a big way, I might add.  A survivor from a flown Death Eater is an automatic hit against you, but if there were to prove you were a Truth Seeker, your life would be forfeit the moment you stepped out of the school’s range.  In fact, you’re quite lucky I happened to be Diagon Alley that first weekend, else you might already be dead,” he grunted at her as she just looked back at him guiltily.  Severus walked a couple steps away from the door, checking his pocket again.

  “I debated what to do about the situation until I heard of the fiasco with the Dark Mark in the classroom, and that you neither showed fear nor destroyed it but taught the class as if nothing happened.   When questions arose from them about your reaction, I easily explained that I was in the process of earning your confidence.  I had become suspect at the school, making it difficult to run errands for them, and a new, naïve-seeming teacher would be very valuable.  I am commanded to kill you, of course, if there’s any sign of disloyalty.  That whim of yours earlier might have jeopardized us both.”

  “How were you able…to get back into loyalty when he came back?”  Jennifer asked.  Severus turned quickly away.

  “Don’t ask me that.  Don’t ever ask me that again,” he said softly.

  Jennifer sighed. 

  “Very well.  I won’t.  I only asked because, well, I don’t have any inclination to put you in danger, let alone the school and everyone else because of who I am,” Jennifer said, staring at him until he looked at her.  “If it comes down to that, then do what you have to and get me out of the way.”  Severus stared back at her.  He was surprised, and something else was there that she couldn’t quite read.

  “Very well, so long as you make the same pact with me if I become an endangerment,” he nodded solemnly.  Jennifer blinked at him in surprise; not only at his words but at the strange realization that there was no way she could possibly bring herself to carry that out.  She then wondered if he hadn’t just been thinking the same thing, glancing at the large mirror to see the current thoughts in her own face. 

  It was then she realized there was something really strange about the mirror and moved to take a closer look.

  “This mirror is all wrong,” she said finally, shaking her head at it.  “I can’t see what I’m thinking in it.”  A curious expression crossed Severus’ face.

  “Perhaps you are not quite close enough.  Go closer, until you can see your full self in it,” he instructed, “and tell me what you see.”

  Jennifer went up to the mirror then shrugged.  “I don’t see anything in my face.  Nothing in yours, either.”

  “Everything looks the same otherwise?” Severus frowned, apparently confused.

  “Yes, shouldn’t it?”  Severus then took her shoulders and physically straightened her to the mirror.

  “What about now?”

  “Same thing.  What am I supposed to be seeing?” Jennifer asked, looking behind at him, puzzled.  Suddenly his face took on a surprised, dark, horrified look that made Jennifer very nervous.

  “Face forward and close your eyes.  Don’t open them until I tell you to.”

  Jennifer impatiently and did as she was told, too curious to keep still for too long.

  “Open them and tell me what you see.”

  “Same thing.”

  “Same thing? You see me behind you?”

  “Yes, you’re standing right there,” she shrugged, looking at him from the mirror.  At least this way she couldn’t read the confusing mixed emotions he seemed to project.  In fact, his expression seemed rather calm.  Funny that his lips didn’t move though.  The silence grew, so she looked back at Severus.  Then she blinked; he wasn’t there behind her.  Turning around frantically, she then noticed him, leaning against the wall outside of the mirror’s view, looking unusually thoughtful.  She looked back at the mirror, seeing the same image as before.  She looked back over at him.  “Pretty screwy mirror.  Somebody needs to have this thing realigned or something.”

  “Stand back here for a moment.  Actually, stand by the door, and let me take a look.” 

  As Jennifer watched him carefully, it seemed to her that he was going out of his way to not look at her. And at her angle, she could only see him through the mirror, which was even more frustrating.  He stood there for a long moment, completely silent and still.  Suddenly, he took out a cloth and covered it.

  “So, are you going to tell me what you saw?”

  “No,” Severus said, still not turning around, “It doesn’t tell the truth, obviously, so it’s of no concern to you what I saw.”

  “If it’s not important, then why won’t you look at me,” Jennifer frowned, coming closer.  “Besides, I told you what I saw when you asked me.”

  “Well, then I guess I’ve finally got you to answer to a test question, so I’m one up on you I think,” he said briskly, and she could tell he was frowning.  “It doesn’t matter now, anyhow.  Dumbledore put the mirror here tonight for the distinct purpose of me stealing it.”

  “What?”

  “Yes, only it is ‘we’ now, as I had to tell Lucius I’d keep testing your loyalties so here’s your first mission.   I’m shrinking this mirror down to fist-sized, you’re to Apparate to a location I give you – you can actually leave from my office, just not come back in that way -- drop it off, and come straight back….”

  “I can’t Apparate.”

  “Yes, I know it’s not supposed to be possible, but the Headmaster has ways to get around it in case of evacuation emergencies, and I needed a way to come and go discreetly.  So in that room you can Apparate…”

  “No no, really.  I can’t Apparate under any circumstances,” Jennifer explained.  At last he turned around and stared at her incredulously.

  “How did you manage to become an instructor without having your Apparation test yet?  Oh, never mind!  Broom, then I guess, just be quick, leave right after sunset, and make sure no one sees you leave or come back.  Meet me in my office afterwards so I know you’ve returned.  Don’t go to your office tonight; it’s ransacked and you’re not supposed to find out until tomorrow.  Oh, and no mentioning anything we discuss along these lines except to me and me alone, no matter who asks.  If I think anyone needs to know, and that includes Dumbledore or Minerva or whoever else you confide in, I’ll tell them about it myself.  And try to keep that ‘extra knowledge’ you acquire from looking at people strictly to yourself and staff unless it’s an emergency.  Make yourself a worry stone with a Snoop Charm on it.  One of our most famous students has an Invisibility Cloak.”  Taking out his wand, he said a quick phrase, shrinking both the mirror and the cloth.  Picking it up, he handed it carefully over to her. 

  “Change before you go, non-Hogwarts clothes.”  Jennifer nodded, deciding not to mention her broom skills.  Magic mirrors are virtually indestructible so she shouldn’t have to worry too badly if she crashes once or twice.  He gave her the directions (they were fairly easy to follow, and disturbingly close to Hogwarts), and then listened at the door, checking the stone in his pocket.  “Alright, Jennifer, be very careful.  Don’t talk to whoever comes to take the item, you’re seen as a lowly servant.  Bow, and don’t turn your back until you’re safely in the air.”

  “Worried?” Jennifer asked quietly, attempting a weak smile.

  “Yes.”  Severus frowned at her.  “Now we’re even.  Enough tests for one day.”  Nodding emphatically in agreement, Jennifer slipped out the door.

Chapter Ten

The First Mission

 

  Dumbledore watched out the window of Minerva McGonagall’s office, a sad expression on his face.  It was then a noticed a soft shadow against the starlight and the waning moon.  Had he not been looking for it, he probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

  “There…there she is.  She must have a Night Shroud on,” he said softly.

  “But how, Albus?  How could she have possibly been mixed up in this?  And so quickly!” Minerva asked as she stepped up to the window, visibly worried.  “You must stop this before it’s too late, Albus.  Surely you see it’s not going to go well.”

  “I cannot stop it.  It is already too late.  As for the reasons, well, that is between her and Severus.”  Dumbledore sighed.  “Perhaps I should not have had her come.  Perhaps she would have been safer at Beauxbatons…but how could I have seen this?  How could I have suspected that she would have fallen into the same trap that her mother had?”

  “You mean risking showing her ability to the Death Eaters?” Minerva asked.

  “Yes, that… and much more,” Dumbledore said, looking at her from the corner of his eye, then back towards the window. “But I have an idea…if we are lucky, we still have time to implement it.  Perhaps there is a way I can give them a tiny ray of hope in this ghastly darkness they have chosen for themselves.”

 

  Jennifer pulled the Shroud around her, and around her tri-handle broom.  Quickly, she locked the long wooden side handles into place horizontally, giving her a little more directional stability.  “Ratfly, trail me, but not too close.  If anything happens to me go straight to Severus, okay, pet?” She stopped to give the bat a quick pat and it flew ahead out the window.  “Alright then, let’s do it.”

  Her mother had given her the Night Shroud as a graduation present, made to camouflage a flying broom and passenger in the night sky from curious Muggles or unwanted onlookers.   It was by no means perfect, but good enough to at least protect her identity and pass for a cloud to any that might look up.  Gritting her teeth she pushed off, leaning close to the broom so it took off straight, gripping the side handle bars with whitened knuckles.  Skimming over the lake, she soon saw the train station and veered up slightly, knowing that the location was past that.  She leaned a little to the right (nearly flipping herself over), until she saw a dark silhouette of trees in the distance.  As she got closer she slowly began to descend, and then realized she wasn’t descending quite low enough and nearly crashed into a net of tree branches.  Flipping quickly over, she put her legs down, landing just shy of the trunk of an oak tree.

  “Well, that went better than I expected,” she muttered to herself.  She took off her Shroud, wrapped it around her broom and shrank them.  Putting them in her pants pocket, she looked around for bearings.  She saw a light off to the right.  Severus had said that they would meet her just inside the woods near there, so she wasn’t far.  Quickly and quietly she went towards the light, glancing around her as she walked.  Then she spotted movement…a tall, hooded figure.  The arms of the cloak had been rolled up, and as she approached, the man held it out so she could clearly see the Mark. 

  Jennifer quickly kneeled, keeping her head down, fishing in her jacket pocket.  Taking out the small cloth-wrapped mirror, she presented it with both hands and held it out in front of her.  After a few quiet moments, she heard a rustling sound as the figure neared and plucked it out of her hands with a gloved one.  Then, grasping the prize in one hand, the other came under her chin, pushing it up.  Jennifer was careful to keep her eyes lowered, counting her breaths to keep her emotions in check.

  “Pretty thing,” whispered the Death Eater thoughtfully.  “Tell your master it has been received, and to proceed as planned.”  Jennifer nodded slightly.

.  Slowly he turned and backed away, and she waited a moment before getting up herself, bowing as she backed up.  Once he was out of view, Jennifer took out her broom, careful not to turn around, throwing the Shroud around her shoulders again.  She kicked up hard off the ground, perhaps harder than she was intending, shooting up above the canopy of trees.  It was then she saw that there had been perhaps a dozen more figures, standing to the edge of the wood near the cabin, watching.

  Taking a deep breath, Jennifer turned back to the school, wondering if it was safe to pick up the speed or not.  She knew eyes were still on her, she could feel them; but she certainly didn’t want it to seem like it rattled her.  Squinting in the darkness, she could see the train tracks forward and below her, and a twinkle of lights from the windows of the school.   Safety.  Just a half a mile away, she thought, leaning forward on the broom to cause it to shoot forward.  But for how long would it stay safe, she wondered, how long? 

   She sped across the lake, suddenly realizing she was going too fast and too low.  Throwing her feet back in a panic to slow down, she found her feet in the water.  She yanked back on the broom but just a little too late, veering past the tunnel into the school and getting her foot caught along the bank, sending a shockwave of pain through her leg as she went tumbling over with her broom across the length of a small service dock before finally skidding to a stop.   Well, that noise must have got the attention of anything awake down here, she thought to herself, quickly grabbed her Shroud and gathering up the pieces of her broom.

  “’Alo? Is someone down there?”

  Oh swell, Jennifer thought.  Suddenly, something fell on her head and she nearly yelped in surprise.  It was her Hogwarts’ cloak!  Having little time to figure out where it came from, Jennifer threw it on, tucking her broom in her Shroud and zapping it into size, pushing it into the robe.

  Stepping onto the path into the light, Jennifer gritted her teeth, keeping herself from limping.

  “Professor Craw?” Hagrid called from down along the shore.

  “Oh, hello, Hagrid!  I thought I’d heard something, and came down to check.  Seems to have just been the kraken in another mood,”

  “Eh, figgered as much.  Dun’ wurrae, Professor, I’ll make ‘im keep it down,” he waved.  Waving back, Jennifer quickly turned up the stairs, looking momentarily to the sky. 

  “Great stars help us all,” she muttered.  Resisting the temptation to run, she tried to ignore the pain as she climbed the stairs to the main doors before quickly turning down the left corridor toward the dungeon stairs.

  Severus was waiting in the doorway of his office, arms crossed, frowning.  Not even saying a word or even looking at him, Jennifer entered the room.  She heard the door close and she collapsed into a chair.  Severus stood at the door for a moment longer, as if listening, before heading towards the chair by the desk.

  “What happened to you?  Is it done?”

  “Yes, it’s done.  I think it went well.  I just…had a little accident on the way back in is all,” she said, rubbing her ankle.  Severus stared at her for a moment.

  “Did anyone see you?”

  “Hagrid went to the lake to see what the fuss was about, but I’d got on my robe by then, and acted like I was coming down to check out what the noise was too.”  Severus frowned.

  “I thought I told you not to bring Hogwarts clothes on this.”

  “I didn’t!  Something threw it down on me.  An owl, I think.”  Severus sighed and shook his head in annoyance at that, suspecting at once who might have been keeping an eye on her.

  “The meeting itself went as planned.  I think…” Jennifer said, looking back up at him.

  “What did he say to you, exactly, when you gave it to him, and what did you see?”  Severus asked.  Jennifer told him, and watched as Severus’ eyes played back and forth, squinting his eyes when she told him of how he had looked her over, wondering why he had done that.  Deciding to shrug it off for now, he folded his arms thoughtfully.  “Well.  It could have been less sloppy, but they must have bought it, considering you’re still alive.”

  “That’s very reassuring.” Jennifer muttered sarcastically.   

  “You had better go tend that ankle and get to bed.  It should be a semi-quiet week, I think, for us anyhow.  If you have any plans for this coming weekend, however, cancel them.  We need to get you passed on your Apparation test.”

  “Yes sir!” she saluted mockingly.  He blinked at her irritated face with surprise.

  “Jennifer…” he gently grabbed her arm a moment, making sure she was looking at him.  “I know you have little reason to trust me, but what I am doing will hopefully insure that you’re not bothered again, at least for a while.” he said in a low voice.  His face was not quite apologetic, but she could tell from his expression that he understood her irritation with suddenly being ordered around.

  She relaxed then, mad at herself for losing her temper.  “I know.  I’m sorry.  Long night,” she murmured.  Severus nodded sharply in return, heading over to his desk.

  “Get to bed.  Don’t forget there will be an investigation tomorrow about your ransacked office.  You’ll pretend, of course, that you don’t know anything about it.  They will know I did it so that you would look like less of a suspect in the ‘theft’ of the mirror.  Word spreads quickly to them about anything that happens in this school so they’ll be sure to hear about it.”

  “Right,” she said standing up, “Good night, Severus.”

  “Good night, Jennifer,” he said, turning quickly towards his personal lab, writing in a notebook on the same table.  When he heard her at the door he glanced back at her, his eyes following her out.  He sighed softly and sat down, leaning over his desk broodingly.

  Jennifer slipped out and went to her rooms, took a bath to soak her ankle, and lay in her bed wide awake, wishing Severus had offered her a sedative.  Had she not known about her office, she would have gone to make one for her own, but she knew that wasn’t possible.  She fished out her pocket mirror and looked at herself in it.

  “So tell me Jennifer, what do you think of all this?” she asked herself.  “Way over your head, eh?  Just what I thought.   And what about Severus Snape?  Do you trust him? Yes?  Why?”  She stared blankly at what she saw in her face.  “You need to be repaired too,” she scowled in annoyance, setting it down and pulling her covers over her head.

  Well, Dumbledore warned her about truths she didn’t want to accept, Jennifer thought, but he never warned her about truths she just wasn’t ready for.   She had only been there a month and somehow she had gotten swept up in something quite alarming.  Somehow, she was going to have to force herself to slow down before she ended up getting killed.

Chapter Eleven

Where Loyalties Lie

 

  Morning dawned bright and sunny.  Ratfly was quietly sleeping on his perch, Jennifer’s ankle was less swollen, and for a moment everything that had happened the day before had seemed quite far off and unimportant.  She had little idea that the entire day was going to turn into a nightmare.

   Jennifer headed down to her office to see just how badly her equipment was broken this time and to get her class notes, hopefully not too out of order.  Jennifer had a feeling that when Severus ransacked a room he really ransacked it.  Unlocking and opening the door, she knew at once something was very seriously wrong.

  Everything was almost exactly as she had left it.

  She frowned, looking in her room, afraid to step in.  She knew, without a doubt, that Severus had done what he said.  Did the House Elves fix it?  No, they would have reported this to someone before doing this.  Surely she would have been told….

  “Is something wrong with your office?”

  “Uh, no, Minerva…I was just thinking.” Jennifer turned, looking at her.  She knew then that she was in trouble, for there the older professor was quite easy to read in that moment.  Minerva knew that the office had been ransacked, knew that she was trying to hide it.  She was upset, and perhaps a little hurt at the apparent deception.

  “You will come with me immediately, please.  Dumbledore wants to speak with you concerning an item belonging to the school coming up missing.  He seems to think you may know something about it.”  At this point Jennifer’s jaw dropped.  A group of students passed, glancing at them curiously.  One of them, Draco Malfoy, she thought, had slowed down a bit.  “Well don’t just stand there, Professor, close the door, we’re keeping him waiting.”

  Why in the world was Minerva treating her like a misbehaving student?  Closing the door, she followed behind her.  This was really confusing.  And where were they going, Jennifer thought, Dumbledore’s office isn’t this way…Severus Snape was walking down the corridor, and as they passed Jennifer glanced back at him, hoping that he’d see something was wrong.

  “Keep up, Professor Craw.  I can’t tell you how extremely disappointed we are with you.”

  Disappointed?  Jennifer tried to get another glimpse at Minerva, but she was a step ahead of her and not looking at her.  Jennifer picked up the pace, trying to get even with her, but every time she did, Minerva matched it, always staying one step ahead.  Blast, how was she going to figure out what’s going on if she couldn’t see her face, Jennifer mused.  After passing the hall, Jennifer suddenly realized they were heading towards the library.  As they entered Hermione looked up from the desk, watching curiously as they went into the past her.  They went to the back door, Minerva having her enter before her.  There stood Albus Dumbledore in the same place the mirror stood, looking more somber than she ever seen him.

  “Jennifer Craw,” Dumbledore said sternly as she approached.  Jennifer frowned.  She couldn’t read his face.  What was going on?  Sure, there were times when everyone was hard to read even with her ability, but she’d never gotten a complete blank before.  “Were you in this room yesterday afternoon?”

  “Yes,” Jennifer admitted.

  “What were you doing here in this room?” he asked.  She still couldn’t read his face.

  “I cannot say,” Jennifer said slowly.  She was suddenly wondering if this hadn’t been what Dumbledore meant a few days ago.  Trust them with what you won’t tell me.

  Minerva looked at her with a shocked expression, but didn’t say a word.

  “Why can you not say?” he asked.  Jennifer said nothing.  “Jennifer, what happened to the mirror in this room?”

  Jennifer didn’t answer.  She was confused as to why this was coming up; for she was sure Dumbledore had given Severus permission to take the mirror, that truth had been quite clear.  But Severus had told her not to say a word about anything they did except to him, and she wasn’t about to.

  “Jennifer, aren’t you listening? Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of this School your employer, just asked you a question.  Aren’t you going to answer?”

  “No,” Jennifer said.  “I cannot.”

  “I would also like to know about the copies you made of the confidential documents you took from my study.  I would like to know where they are now.”  Dumbledore added.  Minerva turned to look at Dumbledore aghast.  Apparently she was not privy to that information before the meeting.

  “I’m not sure,” she admitted.

  “Were they taken when your office was searched this weekend?”  Dumbledore asked, “Or was the office ransacked to hide the fact that they were given to someone else before it happened?”

  Jennifer looked up at him.  Nothing.  She could read nothing in his face at all.  She looked back down.

  “She did know about the office, Dumbledore.  You were right about that,” Minerva said.  “As we had guessed, she was quite surprised opening her office and finding that we had straightened it.”  Dumbledore nodded to Minerva, then looked back at Jennifer.

  “Jennifer…dear Jennifer, where did we go wrong?  I am utterly saddened by your actions this first month, even though I have great faith in your teaching abilities, you are walking a very, very thin line as far as your personal endeavors are concerned.”

  Jennifer kept looking down.  He could say that again, she thought bitterly.  Why couldn’t she see what he was thinking?  She didn’t know how to react to him.  Jennifer shook her head slightly.  It didn’t matter.  Now that she had agreed to go along with this, backing out would be risking a lot more than just her own life.   It was the safety of the school she was protecting, because there was little doubt that if word got out what Severus was doing…she looked back up at Dumbledore again with a determined look on her face.

  “I will do what I must do,” she answered at last.  Dumbledore nodded slowly at her, frowning.

  “Yes, and we must do what we must do.  To think, I had thought that you were a Truth Seeker. But you are not a Truth Seeker.”  Jennifer blinked.  “Truth Seekers do not use their ability to manipulate their situation for their own benefit, nor do they use it to determine what to say based on what the person they’re looking at wants to hear.  Truth Seekers do not use their ability for personal vindication.  They do not steal knowledge, and they do not make up lies and pass them off as the truth.  But you are not a Truth Seeker.   Your mother was, bless her spirit.  But she is gone, leaving nothing behind but a child who tries to play people like a game.”

   Silence set in.  Jennifer stood numbly looking at him, angry, hurt, and in a way, betrayed.  Somehow from the moment she had met Dumbledore she had always thought that he was going to stick by her no matter what…now it was apparent that wasn’t true at all.  She was just another employee to him, she thought, and one very new here, an outsider, and she had pushed her luck in faith.

  “You are now officially on probation until further notice.  If you wish to keep your position here, you will concentrate on your students and your teaching and nothing else.  You are further instructed not to leave the premises without a staff escort.  If I hear one rumor of complaint from anyone, student or staff, then I will have no choice but to let you go.  Furthermore, if you discuss this conversation with any member of the staff, I will immediately ask you to pack your bags and get out of my school.”

  Jennifer’s fear was apparent, she knew.  She, who feared nothing but perhaps a high-speed broom, suddenly feared to lose everything she had gained in the short weeks she had been here.  Even if another school had the nerve to except her, she would never be happy teaching anywhere else.

  “Do you understand the rules I have set forth, Jennifer Craw?”  Jennifer nodded.

  “Yes, sir.  I will follow them.”

  “Good,” Dumbledore said, his eyes growing just a tad gentler.  “So long as you do as I have asked and manage to make it to the end of the school year, we will then review your progress and decide whether or not we want you here after that.  You’re dismissed.”

  Trembling slightly, Jennifer walked out of the room, gritting her teeth to keep from eyes from watering.  She whisked up the back steps to the second floor and straight towards her office, not looking in either direction.  She was aware of quickly paced footsteps behind her, and wasn’t surprised when Severus stopped her from opening the office door. 

  “What’s wrong, what happened?” he asked in a low voice.  Jennifer looked up at him, but really couldn’t tell anything about what he was thinking.

  “Please don’t ask, Severus, please.  Even if I could say…I really don’t want to talk about it.” Jennifer went into her office then, shutting the door in his face, sliding against the door as she wept softly.  On the other side, Severus listened quietly for a moment, thinking, before striding back down the hall towards the stairs.

 

  Jennifer was quick to get to work, glad to get back to her students.  She had gotten them through all of the perceptions, finishing off with having them write another essay.  No more problems of any note happened in her class because of Slytherin; in fact, they were more than obedient when it came to her classes.  Weekends were spent riding with Hagrid, or studying Apparation with Severus, who was, she quickly learned, a very demanding teacher.

  “This isn’t a skill to be messing with if you’re not one for perfection, Jennifer.  One mess up and you might show up somewhere you weren’t planning to go… or worse, half of you might show up where you weren’t planning to go,” he warned her.

  It took several weekends before she was successfully Apparating to Severus’ assigned positions without messing up and with complete ease before finally making arrangements for a Ministry agent to come down on a weekend to test her.

  At her weekly dinner at Hagrid’s, she announced to he, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, about the test the next day.  Hagrid was delighted.

  “I’m go’in ta bake ya a speshul  Forestfern fungus pie jus’ th’ way ya’ likes it, for after ya’ve passed!” he promised, beaming.  “I wish I coul’ take my exam, wunner if I could, bein’ as I’d not officially graduated an’ al that.”

  “Hey, you told me you couldn’t Apparate!” Jennifer said, frowning at him.

  “Wull I can’t.  Officially,” Hagrid winked.  Hermione, Ron, and Harry chuckled at that.

  “Oh Hagrid, your pies are simply fantastic now,” Jennifer told him.  The students agreed.  Ever since Jennifer had started coming to Hagrid’s for dinner and suggesting he add an ingredient one week and subtract one the next, it had been getting a bit more palatable eating there.  “I only have one more suggestion left to make it just ‘perfect.’”

  Hagrid looked at her suspiciously.  “Oh, no, y’ ain’t gonna tell me t’ take it out, are ye.  Y’ can’t do that.  Uh mean, how can we call it Forestfern fungus pie when there’s no forestfern fungus in it!”

  “Why don’t you put the fungus on top for decoration and garnish.  It’s nice and bitter; it’d be perfect to garnish it.  And just rename it Hagrid Quiche.  It’ll be smashing.  Then I can write it down and pass it along, and everyone will ask, ‘what’s the secret?’ and you can tell them it’s the Forestfern fungus.  It just ain’t the same without it.”  Jennifer smiled at him.

  “’Ey, tha’s not a bad idea!” Hagrid said brightly.

  “That’s not just not a bad idea, it’s positively brilliant,” Hermione said, who had been admiring Jennifer’s tactics for a while.

   The test the next day was simple enough…a series of preset locations that she had to apparate to after an instructor, and then a couple she had to do on her own, collecting flags and bringing them back.  After Severus’ stringent, exhausting drills the test was nothing, and Jennifer annoyingly realized that she probably could have tested for it after the first weekend of practice and passed.  Of course, she definitely wouldn’t have been as quick, she thought.  She barely had to think about doing it anymore, she just did it, which was probably what Severus had aiming for.  It was as if he had this constant need to teach or be one step ahead, if not several steps ahead, than necessary.

    By Halloween, Jennifer had covered all the basics she had wanted in her agenda, and the fifth and up classes were already getting excited over what was to be the next half of Jennifer’s plan for the older students. 

  “Next week, I’m going to get into teaching you some spells that are, by definition, dark spells,” she told them, “I think you are going to be very surprised about how many spells created for and were once used for evil intent that have come to be very effective defenses against the dark arts that created them.  We’re going to go through a lot of them, so be prepared for a workout,” she warned them.  “I also want to caution you ahead of time that many of these spells are extremely dangerous if used improperly.   Some of them, unless used as the way I teach them, are also illegal.  Misuse of them will most definitely get you expelled.  I ask only that you bring with you the same serious work ethic you all have shown me in the last few weeks.  Dismissed, and enjoy the feast.”

   The class filed out, excited over what was to come.  Jennifer too was looking forward to the material, although she was slightly concerned about the pleased looks the Slytherin house had been giving her for her choice of topics.  She wasn’t sure whether she was hoping more that they’d just behave or that they’d mess up and get expelled so she didn’t have to worry about them.

  As she stacked up her books to take to her office, a note she had not seen before appeared on her desk.  Odd, she hadn’t seen an owl post, she thought.  And it wasn’t there when she started the class.  Unfolding the letter, she quickly read it.

 

   I have something that I need you to do for me that must be done now.  Apparate to the Dark Forest and someone will be there to guide you to a new location.  Come immediately without fail.  –S Snape

 

 

  Jennifer frowned.  Strange note…it seemed wrong somehow, she thought, but it was definitely his normal illegible handwriting.  Well, she knew better than to ignore it.  Quickly slipping the note in the stack of books on the classroom, Jennifer slipped out one of the side gates of the school, Apparating.

 

Chapter Twelve

Truth and Consequence

 

 

  Harry stopped in sudden pain just before the end of Madame Trelawney’s class, making her turn and scream.  Ron, who had been making up an elaborate story about death and destruction by dragons that would hit the world after an earthquake twenty years from now, hadn’t noticed Harry’s hand rubbing his scar until that point.  Trelawney pointed an accusing finger at Harry.

 “Something very bad is going to happen to someone you know in less than a minute!  You have my permission to leave early!  And you too, Mr. Weasely!”

  So, it just so happened that Harry and Ron, who had taken that back stair to cut to their Transfiguration class, was passing the door of Jennifer’s classroom just after she left.  Harry doubled over, much to Ron’s alarm.

  “What is it, what is it?” Ron flailed.

  “It’s in there, whatever it is,” Harry winced, trying to get up. “Open it!”

  “But what if –“

  “Open it!”

  Ron got out his wand, fear written on his face as he popped open the door…and saw nothing.  He relaxed, sighing.

  “Harry, come look there’s nothing in here.”  Harry slowly walked in, pain still shooting through his scar.

  “I’m telling you, there’s something wrong.  Check for anything suspicious!”  As Ron started looking around the classroom itself, Harry walked slowly up to the desk.  “Professor Craw’s books.  It’s not like her to go and leave her books lying around.”

  “Better not touch them, Harry.   She’s a smashing good teacher, but a professor’s books?  Probably turn you into a newt or something if try and get at them.”  It was then that Harry saw the edge of a note sticking out from the book and reached to get it, wincing as he tried.

  “It seems to be this note,” Harry said.  Ron came over and took it out, so both of them could see it.

  “It’s from Snape! Look!  She just went to meet him.”

  “This isn’t from Snape, Ron.  It’s from –“

  “What are you two doing in here?  And why do I keep hearing my name?”  Ron and Harry jumped and turned to see Professor Snape standing at the door frowning at them. “Are you trying to get test…”

  “Shut up a moment!” Harry snapped, making Snape grow wide-eyed with surprise.  “Professor Craw’s in trouble! Voldemort has something to do with it!  Ron, give him the letter.”  Snape snatched the letter out of their hands, unmistakable fear in his eyes.

  “I want you both go straight to Dumbledore and tell them what you found, and tell him I went to go look for her.  Don’t tell him anything until he’s alone, understand?”  Without saying another word, Severus turned around and disappeared down the corridor.

 

  It didn’t take her long to realize how much danger she was in.  The moment she and the Death Eater that had been waiting for her arrived at the next location, she wondered if she was ever going to see the light of day again.  Jennifer fell to her knees and bowed, closing her eyes to calm herself.  It was then the first spell hit her, a restraining spell, and right after another spell, a truth-speaking spell.  Death Eaters surrounded her in a circle.

  “Crucio!”

  Like a fire starting from the inside and working out Jennifer was engulfed in pain.  Only the restraining spell kept her from doubling over, and she gritted her teeth hard to keep herself from crying out.

  “Hmm.  Again.”

  “Crucio!”

  She tried to hold back, but it was too much.  Her body was wracking with pain and she couldn’t move, and let out a soft sobbing sound, as much out of anger as the pain itself.

   “Bravery is not an acceptable trait in a servant.  Or didn’t your master tell you that,” said the voice.  “Question her.  Make sure to remind her where she is after every answer.”

   “What is your name?” Asked a voice.  She recognized it immediately; it was Lucius Malfoy’s voice.

  “Jennifer Corsiva Craw.”

  “Crucio!”  Jennifer stopped fighting crying out, realizing she’d need the strength to get her through.  How long was she going to have to survive this?

  “Who do you take orders from?”

  “Severus Snape.”

  “Crucio!”  Pain washed over her again, filling her senses with agony.  She was only vaguely aware she was screaming.

  “To whom do you give your loyalty?”

  “Severus Snape.”

  “Crucio!” Her strength began to web and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to take much more.  Her body was crumbling to the point that numbness was at last setting in.

  “Are you a Truth Seeker?”

   “No.” she gritted her teeth.

  “Wait,” said the voice, and there was a pause.  “Ask her what makes her so sure?”

   “What makes you so sure of that?” Malfoy asked.

   “Dumbledore said so,” she sobbed.  “I am not like my mother.”

    “When did he say this?” Malfoy asked at the voice’s prompting.

    “A few weeks ago, when he put me on probation.”

    “Probation?”

    “Yes. He thought I might have stolen the mirror. Asked questions.  I didn’t say.  And he was angry because I stole some documents.  They threatened to fire me.”

    “You didn’t tell them anything?” The voice asked.

    “No.  Severus ordered me not to tell anyone anything and go through him.  So I did not tell.”

  She was giving out a lot more information than perhaps was warranted, she realized, but they hadn’t hit her with the curse since she had.  Malfoy was still keeping a firm handle on the truth spell, however.

   “What documents did you take?” Malfoy asked.

   “The documents that were taken from the Ministry of Magic’s trash room.  Court documents of the Death Seeker acquittals, I copied the ones in Dumbledore’s study.”

  “Where are they now?” Malfoy demanded.  His voice was angry, but not at her.

  “Snape found out I had them and took them from me.  Dumbledore still has the originals.”

  “Anything else, Master?” Malfoy asked.

  “Hm.  Put her in front of the mirror.  If there are any disloyalties we’ve not yet found, her desires will betray her.”

  She stood, no will over her body, which was weakened from the pain.  The mirror was brought before her and she gazed into it, at last understanding something about the mirror that she hadn’t before.  She saw herself, and Snape was there, and they were somewhere safe.

  “What do you see?”  Malfoy asked.

  “I see myself standing with Severus Snape in the back of the Hogwarts library, where this mirror was taken,” she stammered, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

  “Interesting, very interesting,” said the cold voice.  “I am going to have to ask your master exactly how he managed to get such complete control over his puppet.  I underestimated him.

  “Spare her,” the voice continued after a moment.  “She’s not a threat.  Perhaps she can be useful in finding the real documents, hm?”

  “Send her back in one piece sir?” Malfoy asked again.

  “I did not say that,” the cold voice said.  “It might give Severus reason to pause if he sees how we treat those we even suspect of betraying us.  If he’s so clever, he can find his own explanation to Dumbledore for how she got hurt.”

 

  How she managed to safely Apparate back to the Forest she wasn’t quite sure, but once she got there, she couldn’t manage another step.  She fell, groaning in pain.  She knew she was bleeding.  She knew she had to get up, but she couldn’t.  Her leg was broken, and both her wrists, and she just didn’t have any will left.  Suddenly she heard a neigh and felt warm breath on her, a breath that gave her enough energy to open her eyes.    A Unicorn stood above her, whinnying.

  “I can’t do it.  I can’t.  I need help please.  Can’t you get help?”

  The beast stepped away a bit, neighing loudly.  Hazily she was aware of other hoof beats growing louder by the second.

  “Professor!  I’ve found her!” called a loud gruff voice.  She winced with pain from the loud noises.  She felt someone over her and heard him cursing angrily, vaguely aware that it was Severus.

  “It’s ok,” she said weakly, cringing in pain.  “I did well. You’re safe.”

  “That’s the last thing in the world I’m worried about right now,” Severus said briskly.  She felt a cloak drop over her.  “You must live Jennifer,” he added angrily. “Hang in there, I’m taking you back to Hogwarts.”  Quickly he made a stretcher, gently levitating her onto it, cringing when she cringed as she was laid upon it.

  Hogwarts, she thought, sounded very lovely.  Where had she heard that name before?  “Good luck Professor,” she heard the gruff voice say.  “I only hope the unicorn’s breath was enough.”

 

   Opening her eyes, she winced in pain from something she did not expect… light.  There’s light?  She kept envisioning herself in intense pain as she slept, pain and her stubbornness, and the only light was a white beast that carried her out of the darkness.  As her eyes began to focus she saw a hint of gold, and then a sleeve, and silver hair, and finally she realized someone was sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “Dumbledore,” she murmured softly.  He smiled at her.  He was thinking of how glad he was to see her awake.  “Oh Dumbledore, I’m sorry.  I was thinking, that day…what you said…it saved my life.”

  “Not now, not now, Jennifer, it is much too early for you to relive those memories.  You are very lucky to be here right now.  I suggest you just rest and try to relax.”

  “Severus?”

  “He’s alright, Jennifer.  He’s a bit frantic, but all right.  I made him take one of his own nasty sedatives and go to bed for awhile,” Dumbledore said.

  Jennifer chuckled, but then stopped because it hurt too much.  “I feel so…raw.”

  “You were hit with quite a wave of curses…Poppy Pomfrey mended the bones but the nerves will take time.  The nightmares haven’t been helping either.  You have been screaming out in your sleep these last few hours.”  Jennifer blinked, then frowned.  “Don’t be angry with yourself, Jennifer.  I’ve seen very strong men do the same after what you just went through.”

  “Ha.  But I’m better than them. I know no fear,” she murmured indignantly.

  “Shall I get you a mirror?” Dumbledore said, looking at her over the rim of his glasses.

  “No thank you,” she pouted weakly, seeing quite well that he was teasing her.

  “Drink this, it’ll stop your nightmares, and then sleep for a while longer.  When you awaken, you, Severus and I are going to have to have a long talk about exactly what happened.”  He held a cup out to her, and she felt her pillow lift her head up.

  “I don’t ever want to talk about it,” Jennifer drank down the golden liquid, handing him back the cup. “I just can’t.” She frowned at the thought, still too fresh in her mind even as the potion started to take hold.

  “Don’t worry, Jennifer, we’ll all work this one through together.  I won’t leave you alone like that again, or so blind either.”  The pillow went back down, and she yawned, annoyed at how quickly it was taking effect.

  “Thank you, Dumbledore, I wish I had your foresight sometimes.” 

  “Foresight is just another word for experience, Jennifer,” Dumbledore smiled in amusement, watching as Jennifer drifted off to sleep.

 

Chapter Thirteen

Shadows

 

  When Jennifer awoke again, she was much more alert.  Beside her sat Severus Snape, reading a large tome.  As she turned to look at him, he noticed her awake and snapped the book shut.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked solemnly.  He had too much on his mind to read his face clearly.

  “Better,” she said.  She was stiff from head to toe, and she knew moving would hurt, but at the moment there was only numbness.

  “Good,” he said.  “Dumbledore thought you might be waking soon,” he reached over to an empty mug and something hot appeared.  Jennifer sat up with a painful wince, and he carefully handed to her.  “It’s just broth,” he added.  “I doubt your stomach can handle anything more at this point.”  Jennifer nodded, slowly sipping the broth, watching as Severus got up.  “I’m going to let Dumbledore know you’re awake, I’ll be back shortly.” 

  Once he left, Jennifer immediately got out of bed, feeling like she’d been there for days.  Every bit of movement hurt.  She felt unwholesome so decided to freshen up and change.  Her face in the mirror was abnormally pallid, and she looked almost haunted.  Craw determination and stubbornness, she grunted.  That was keeping her going.  Tired and weak from all the pain-creaking activity, she shuffled into her sitting room and sat down bringing the broth with her, now cold and easier to get down.  Ratfly flopped down on her head, whining pitifully.

  “I’m all right, ol’ boy.  How are you? They taking care of you?  You want a rose apple?”

  Ratfly didn’t act hungry; instead, he went back and settled himself on his perch.  Just as Jennifer finally got down the rest of the broth, Severus (who was mildly surprised to see her out of bed) and Dumbledore (who wasn’t a bit surprised) came in.  Dumbledore was carrying a wrapped package with him, oddly shaped, rather like a bowl.

  “Ah, good to see you’re feeling better, Jennifer,” he said, putting the package down on the table.  “Are you ready to have our talk?” Jennifer’s stomach lurched and her face fell, trying not to panic.

   “Of course, I’m ready whenever you are,” she said.  Dumbledore looked at her skeptically over the rim of his glasses.  He leaned over and pulled the pocket mirror from where it stuck out of her robe pocket and handed it to her open.  Under her weak smile, Jennifer saw she was actually, positively, horrified.  She took the mirror from him.

  “Ok, so I’m not ready.  In fact I never want to think about or talk about it.  Ever,” she sighed, not wanting to look at Severus.  “I’m not even sure I can remember it all.”

  “Well, it just so happens that I have an idea that would make this a bit easier for you.  This was supposed to be your Christmas present from me, but due to the circumstances, I think that you should have it early.” Dumbledore looked down to the table and the packaged began to unwrap itself.   She knew what it was immediately, and understood what was expected of her.

  “A Pensieve,” she said.  It was empty at the moment of course.

  “Yes, many of my staff have them actually, although sometimes you have to be careful of keeping them from overcurious students,” Dumbledore chuckled to himself.   “All you need to do is think of the moment just before you want to stop remembering, think the words, ‘memoria scriptum,’ tap your forehead to get the strand, and pull it out until you get to the last thing you want to forget.  Or, of course, you keep going and it’ll store everything up to that point, but I wouldn’t recommend it.” He then leaned over and whispered, said softly, “The faster you pull, the faster you will get through the chain of events.  So if you’re uncomfortable just pull faster, all right?”

  Jennifer nodded slowly, thinking of the moment the Death Eater arrived in the Dark Forest just before they Apparated.  Taking a deep breath and forcing herself to relax she cast the spell, feeling the hauntingly hazy memory become unusually clear in her mind.  Much too clear she thought in a panic, as she saw the Death Eaters around her and heard them cast the first spell.  Ok, she thought. I just got to get to Dumbledore again.  Beginning to pull slowly she stumbled into the memory of the first Cruciatus curse and winced, pulling faster and faster, quickest just before she apparated back, pausing slightly at the Unicorn…did she really want to forget that?  But she was in so much pain.  She gave it at last one good yank until she saw herself waking up, and then sighed with relief, ending the spell and putting it in the Pensieve triumphantly.

   “Well done,” Dumbledore said gently, looking at her.  “Now, Jennifer, may we go in and see your memory?”  His face told her what she already guessed.   Although Dumbledore respected her privacy, he and Severus needed to go in to find out exactly what happened.  Her responses and actions, as well as everyone else that were present had an affect on more people than just her, and they could probably glean more information out of it than she could.

  “Yes, of course,” she nodded.

  “Severus, are you ready?” Dumbledore asked. 

  “Yes,” Severus said quickly as if he had been ready for days.

   “Don’t be so sure,” Dumbledore warned, standing up himself.  “This may take awhile Jennifer.  Just relax and try to reorder your thoughts around the missing memory.”

   Together they waved their wands, touched the surface of the pool and then became unusually still as their minds were filled with the memory.  Jennifer shivered slightly.  She still knew that she went through a horrible ordeal, she just couldn’t make out any details, she thought.  She remembered going to the Forest and why, and that she was brought back nearly dead.  Suddenly, she regretted letting them in.  She knew she must have seemed weak, and she didn’t want anyone to see her like that.  No, it’d have been foolish to have not let them just to save her embarrassment.  She got out her pocket mirror again and looked in her face, thoughtfully.  Anxious, huh, she frowned at herself.  Yes, she nodded to the mirror.  At least, she didn’t say anything questionable, and knew everyone was safe.  That’s what mattered the most.

   At last they opened their eyes, exchanging glances.  Severus quickly put his wand away, and without even looking at Jennifer walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.  Dumbledore watched him go, taking Jennifer’s hand. 

  “Don’t worry, Jennifer, he just needs to calm down.  I will go talk to him in a moment.”

  “I’ve never seen him that angry before…” Jennifer frowned.  Was it a mistake to let him see that?

  “It’s not your fault, Jennifer.  Sometimes it’s much harder to watch someone go through a terrible ordeal when you’ve been through similar situations yourself.  His anger is directed at himself, not at you.”

  “It’s not his fault that Voldemort is such a twit,” Jennifer snorted.  Dumbledore suddenly chuckled.

  “Now I know you’re feeling better.  Jennifer’s famous potion of levity strikes again.”

  “Well, at least they bought my answers, not that I had control over what I said at the time.”  Jennifer said with a weak smile.

  “Oh, you had some control…there were times you answered much more than the question asked for.”  Jennifer looked worried for a moment but Dumbledore put up his hand.  “You did very, very well.  The extra information that you were willing to give was probably instrumental in his decision to let you go.  I think, even believing you were just a servant, he may have killed you just as an example if you had not shown your ‘usefulness.’”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it.  I don’t remember exactly what I said.”

  “Well, Jennifer, you have a Pensieve now, so when you’re ready, when you’re ready, you can go try and make some sense of it,” Dumbledore smiled.  “I had better go talk to Severus.  Feel free to go out, if you think you’re up to it.  You have many friends who are worried and would be happy to see you.”

  “What have they been told about what happened to me?” she asked.

  “Well, Harry actually let us on to the fact that something was wrong.  He found the note in your room and knew whom it was from.  So, there can’t really be any pretense on that.  Voldemort and his minions captured you because they thought you were a threat and you barely escaped alive.  I don’t think any more needs to be said about that.  No one will press.”

  “Ha, I will have it safely locked away anyhow so it can’t betray me,” Jennifer said triumphantly.

  “If you’d like, I can keep it somewhere safe until you need it again, that way you need not worry about its security.”

  “Please take it, I very much hope I don’t need it for awhile.” Jennifer said, knocking on the table in front of her.

 

  Severus Snape was standing along the parapet looking out on the lake, arms folded, when Dumbledore found him. 

   “It’s nice up here, isn’t it?” Dumbledore asked, looking out.  “Good place to think and get away from the students.   A bit windy, though,” he added, looking over at Severus.  “I don’t suppose you want to talk about it.”

  “No,” Severus said, not even turning around.

  “No, well I thought not, but I have some things to say to you regardless, so I ask you hear me out.  I can very easily guess the kinds of things going through your head right now, Severus, and before you say it, no…I haven’t been through everything you’ve been through, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand it.

  “There’s a very resilient young woman down there, recovering from a hideous crime, a crime which you wrongly blame yourself for.  And now, after she has done everything you have asked of her; trusted you more than all of the rest of us staff put together in the very short time she’s known you, acted very bravely to save us all, and against unbelievable odds survived that first night after this ordeal, you are wanting to go and tell her that you don’t need her assistance anymore, that including her was an unfortunate circumstance, and that the risk is too great to try and safeguard her.

  “But I can tell you right now, that that would be a grave mistake.  She would not be safeguarded.  She would be left alone and would not trust anyone, and the moment the Death Eaters suspect she has left your ‘service,’ which would be most definitely evident in her behavior the moment that you try, she would be considered again a threat to be extinguished.  Most likely, they would ask you to kill her.  And then, you haven’t only sacrificed her, but yourself.

  “I have often thought there were times when you were a bit reckless with your own life, taking chances above and beyond what I expected of you.  And then Jennifer came, and I noticed a subtle change in you and how you see yourself, taking extra time to think about the risks before making a move, planning ahead for all the consequences of your actions, trying to cover all the bases.  And in just over a month’s time, Jennifer has gone from an unsure young instructor to a brilliant professor that everyone is fond of.  A person who obediently trusts you to the point of facing the wrath of me on this end, and Voldemort on the other; who sees everyone for who they really are, including you, and who greets every challenge she’s faced with laughter.”

   Severus did not say a word.  He leaned against the parapet, gazing now behind him at Hogwarts as one by one the halls got lit for the coming of evening, still frowning.  But Dumbledore had already figured out what Severus had been trying to deny to himself, that he was getting much more attached to the new professor than he had intended.

   “Severus, you know that I usually stay out of my staff’s personal affairs, and whatever happens between you and Jennifer is none of my business.  But I do want to pose one question that I think might affect what you’re battling yourself over.  When the time comes -- and it will come -- when Voldemort and his followers are gone for good, and if by some miracle we all survive, are you going to be standing there with Jennifer or are you going to be standing alone, lost in your own past?”  It was obvious to Dumbledore that Severus wasn’t going to answer, nor had he expected one at that moment.

  “No matter what you decide, I’ll support you.  But I’m sure you already knew that,” he said, patting Severus’ shoulder gently.  “I am going to dinner.  I suspect that Jennifer will probably be there, and I want to be there to welcome her.  Good evening, Severus.”  Dumbledore disappeared from view.

 

Chapter 14

Curses and Counterspells

 

   Jennifer waved off the questions from her students the next day as she walked into class, her books in hand, and none were so happy to see her as Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

  “No, no, no, don’t bother to ask.  I honestly don’t want to talk about it, and if you all don’t stop badgering me I’m going to start deducting points for class disruption.  And I’m sorry your test marks were late, but I have them now,” she said, handing them out.

  “We’re going to talk about dark curses that can be used to counter other curses today.  Some of them you’re going to learn, and some of them we’re just going to discuss, because of the gravity of their consequences.  Some of the spells we’ll be discussing are legendary, like Cosmic Sleep and Living Stone and Golden Touch, but most of the ones we’ll be working with one-on-one will be a bit more basic than that.

  “One thing you’ll find is that all of the spells we work with have in common is that each one has a countercurse of its own.  The basic idea of using these spells is to counter a very, very bad curse or situation with a not-so-bad bad curse, and then negating it with the counter curse.  Hermione?”

  “Well, I was just wondering why would anyone want to go down in steps like that?  Why not just negate the spell in the first place?” she asked.

  Jennifer sat on her desk.  “A few reasons.  You could have a situation where you just don’t know how to counter the very bad one directly.  Or, it might be much faster to cast, and it’s a question of desperate timing, or, you could be facing one of the several curses out there that has no countercurse.  Harry?”

  “Does that include the Killing Curse?”

  Jennifer frowned at Harry.  He would ask her that.

  “Theoretically, yes.  Has it ever been countercursed even in this way to anyone’s knowledge?  I’m afraid not, because the Killing Curse is nearly instantaneous.  The odds of knowing what spell is being cast by the caster, then casting your own spell, and having it hit at the very same time or just before such a fast spell has taken effect...the odds just aren’t good, Harry,” she admitted quietly before continuing.

  “Of course, spells just don’t materialize from nowhere.  They have to be developed, researched, invented, so to speak.  For example, historically many types of death curses could be countered with another curse, Cosmic Sleep, which goes even way further back in history than death curses themselves.  You’ve already covered ancient spells in History, right?  Hermione?”

  “No, we haven’t, but I read all about it over the summer.  Before death curses, a witch came up with a way to make a simple sleep spell last forever.  Only it didn’t last forever, really, the victim usually ends up starving to death unless they are magically sustained, and then they died of old age, never waking up at all.”

  Jennifer nodded.

  “Actually, it wasn’t just a simple sleep spell it was made from, but a dark arts sleep spell…even though a powerful witch or wizard could still cast it without a wand like a simple sleep spell, it had the added quirk of leaving the sleeping victim aware of what was going on around them; a rather twisted sort of torture.  Of course, the main problem with sleep spells in general are they’re very unreliable as far as how long they last, so if you need to get up at a particular time in the morning, or want to decide if the person you cast it on is two minutes or two years, eh…stick with a potion.    But Cosmic Sleep didn’t have this flaw.  You just didn’t wake up.  Well, not unless you got lucky enough to find your soul mate; your cosmic match; the one person on the entire planet that can wake you.  Neville?”

  “You mean it’s like that Muggle story, Sleeping Beauty?”

  “Yes, quite, but that’s not a good example.  Was it used to counter a death curse?  Yes.  But unfortunately unlike the story you may have heard, the truth is in that particular case it really didn’t have a happy ending.  In reality she never did wake up, died of starvation, and the kingdom got launched into a twenty-year war with its neighbor.   Think about this one mathematically.  Ten billion people on the planet, we’re looking for a cosmic match… over nine billion of those, by the way, are Muggles.  If anyone wants to do the math on figuring out what the odds are of you being in the same area, let alone the same country, and being someone who can actually comprehend that you’re under a spell, well, even if you throw in some fate, your odds aren’t that great.  So those of you who’ve decided to wait for your one true love to show up take a good look at those how bad those odds are, and take my advice and say yes to the first girl or guy who asks you to dance and doesn’t look at you funny when you step on their feet.”  The entire class burst out laughing.  Even Jennifer chuckled at herself until she looked up at the doorway and nearly fainted from embarrassment.

  “First day back and already corrupting the students with your helpful advice?” Severus asked with a straight face.  He had been there for a while, she realized.

  “Of course!  What good is being a professor if you can’t corrupt your students a bit?” Jennifer grinned at him challengingly.  “Anything I can help you with, Professor?”

  “No, just passing through on the way to the office.  Welcome back,” his lip curled to one side in a smile before heading down the hall.

  “Remind me to shut the door any time I want to give you any more advice,” Jennifer winked, and the class chuckled.  “Okay, let’s take a look at the Living Stone curse.  Can anyone tell me about that one?”

 

   Morning classes quickly flew by.  Minerva asked her to have lunch in her study to get her caught up on the goings on.

  “It’s amazing how a week can throw one off,” Minerva said, “Dumbledore wanted me to let you in on some current events.  Have you been reading the papers at all?”

  “Haven’t really had time since I’ve been up.  I spent last evening touching base with folks…”

  “And stayed up much too long by the look of you.  You are still on the pale side even now, as much as you put a brave face to things.”

  “I’m sure a few days of teaching will fix that.  Of course, I say that after I just taught my best behaved two classes,” she chuckled.

  “Have you heard that Cornelius Fudge has turned up missing?” Minerva asked.  What little color Jennifer had drained out of her face.  “Hm, I’ll take that as a no,” she continued.  “Not all of the Ministry is much surprised.  Rumor has it he’d been taking bribes, and that sort of business never turns out well in the end.  In any case, the Ministry has been in chaos for awhile now, and they’re thinking of going ahead and electing a new minister, Arthur Weasley is up for the job for one.”

  “I met him when he came up to the school the first week,” Jennifer nodded, “very trustworthy fellow.”

  “Yes, the school supports his candidacy, although I’m not quite sure what his chances are.  Ludo Bagman is planning to host a formal Ministry Ball this Christmas to introduce all the candidates.  The school staff is expected to attend to support him.”  Jennifer made a face.  “Something wrong, Jennifer?”

  “Do we have to go?  I’m not good at social functions,” Jennifer began.

  “Yes, you have to go, in fact Dumbledore specifically asked that you be there, considering you are supposed to be on events escort.  What’s wrong, no formal attire?”

  “Well, that and I dance about as well as I ride a broom,” she muttered.  Minerva tapped her fingers on her desk.

  “If I have to go, you have to go.” She said firmly, “and I do have to go.  I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you think.  Oh yes, the other thing he asked me to mention is that all the cases reopened after fourteen years because of that mess we had with Crouch last year are going to begin this month.  One of the first is Sirius Black’s case, so Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley will be out of class for a few days, as will a few of the professors.  As soon as I find out more we’ll go over the schedules.”

  “It sounds like things are starting to smooth out a bit,” Jennifer commented.

  “Oh, I don’t know as I’d go so far as that, but at least there’s a glimmer of hope.  We’ll have to wait and see,” Minerva said, sipping her tea.

 

  After classes finished for the day, Jennifer headed over to Severus’ office, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for him to open the door.

  “Good, you’re here, come in,” he said when he finally opened it, closing the door behind him.  “I need to take care of something important tonight,” he told her, putting on some gloves, “if I don’t get back before midnight, assume the worst, and inform Dumbledore that something has gone wrong.”  Jennifer blinked at him.  How can he just go and say things like that?

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.  He fished out a small box from a drawer, looking at her thoughtfully.

 “I need to go break the mirror before it betrays what we’ve been doing,” he said, taking out a something that looked like a mint.  “With any luck, it’ll be out of the way and no one will suspect a thing.”

  “You don’t look too optimistic,” Jennifer frowned suspiciously. 

  “I never am,” Severus admitted.  “It still has to be done.  After dinner if you don’t have anything planned, wait for me here in my office and I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said, putting the mint in his mouth.

 

  Out of the fog came the shapes of darkness, Apparating in the circle like wisps of black mist coiling towards the sky.  One by one they joined the throng, and Severus was aware of the increasing number in the ranks as more wizards and witches with a thirst for power or fear for it pledged their lives to Voldemort.  And then came something that he had not expected.  Another darkness, falling in behind the members, gave cause for one or two members to shift uneasily.  Low laughter followed, accompanied by the hissing of Nagini as Voldemort entered the ring.

  “What is wrong, do our new friends not appeal to you?” Voldemort asked.  “Does their cold touch cause you to quiver?  But these will be one of our greatest allies.  They have already served me once just by showing who would betray me so not to face them.  But those who have been placed in Azkaban for serving me will soon be rewarded for their loyalty…very soon.”

  “I hear you are going to be Minister of Magic, Macnair?”

  “Yes, Master, with any good fortune…”

  “No fortune, just do it.  There will be no more mistakes, Macnair.  All the files have been destroyed?”

  “All that were in the Ministry, yes, master,” Macnair bowed.

  “Snape, you will get back the rest from Dumbledore.  Once that is done, we may try once more to write our own version of history.  They plan to release our enemies next week… or so they think. We shall have a surprise for them tonight.  But first, let’s have a little fun, shall we?” he said with a chilling smile.  He gently lifted a hand and the mirror appeared.  He looked in it a moment, smiling.

  “This mirror once protected something that I needed to survive.  But alas, the servant I had was too weak to help me get it…from a mere boy,” he frowned distastefully.  “Such servants deserve what they get.  I stand for no disloyalty.  You who would be disloyal will face a painful, tormented death.  But for those who stand with me, and who please me, shall get their longing’s desires, all who stand with me against the pathetic Mudbloods and Mudlovers, I will grant you your greatest rewards.”

  “Lucius Malfoy, come step up to the mirror.  You have pleased me greatly, destroying the Truth Seekers who once betrayed me, getting rid of that annoyingly defiant Cornelius Fudge, sending up spies for me throughout the country, and convincing the majority of the ministry to support us through Macnair.  Come, tell me what you see in the mirror.”

  Lucius stepped up with a bow, looking into the mirror.  “I see myself, standing behind a desk, surrounded by our most loyal servants, master.  I see myself as the Minister of Magic.”

  Macnair’s eyes grew wide.  Voldemort laughed.  “So money is not enough, is it Malfoy?   I could have told you that.  Your willingness to lead is as great as your wish to serve.”

  “I only serve you, Master,” he bowed.  “You asked what I saw and I have done as you have asked.”

  “Yes, yes.  If you believe that you could work your way to that position from the outside with your influence, I will help you to get that position.  Macnair.  From now on, you will work for Malfoy, and we will gain control over those who would foolishly attempt to disband us.”

  Malfoy bowed low, as did Macnair, but not so enthusiastically.  “Thank you, gracious master,” Malfoy bowed, stepping back.

  “One more will I grant tonight, and that is to my willing traitor, who brought me this fine memento right out from Dumbledore’s nose, who has enslaved the daughter of one of my most hated enemies, and has been my greatest informer.  Severus Snape, come and step up to the mirror and tell me what you see.”  Severus bowed low, and stepped towards it, not quite into its view yet.

  “I see – “ Just then there was a loud sound like a giant thunderclap, causing most of them to duck for cover.  The mirror had cracked, its surface shattered in thousands of pieces, each piece showing a myriad of images filled with a surprised Severus Snape and an enraged Voldemort.  “-- a broken mirror….” Snape finished softly, looking around suspiciously.

   “Traitor!  There is a traitor here!” Voldemort screamed, riling up the Dementors.  “If you do not confess immediately you all will face punishment!”

  No one came forward.

Chapter 15

Unexpected Allies

 

  Jennifer stood up in surprise when she saw Severus’ deathly white face as he entered his office, and she called out his name in alarm.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.   Severus took something out of his mouth and tossed it in the drawer.

  “They’re going to be missing me before too long.  I need to go back, we’re on our way to Azkaban.  Voldemort has gone to help the Dementors revolt before the retrials…he’s going to release the rest of his supporters and kill the others.  Go tell Dumbledore.  Now!”  Jennifer nodded and left the room.  Fumbling to his potions, he quickly drank one down, pocketed two others, and Apparated.

 

  In the dead of the night, the Owlery suddenly seemed to have burst as dozens and dozens of messages took flight on owl wing.  Jennifer Craw stayed behind with Minerva and Rolanda, their wrists sore from tying the notes to every one and sending them off to every friend of the school and anyone else honorable they could think of. 

  “All right, everyone to your posts,” Minerva said, heading down to account for all the students and secure the halls.   Rolanda turned into a falcon, taking the perimeter, while Jennifer clamored down the stairs, heading towards Hagrid’s.  Hagrid was already out at the pens, and he did something that Jennifer had never seen him do:  he opened them all.

  Beasts of every kind and shape rushed out and covered the school grounds, making Jennifer dive to get out of the way.  At Hagrid’s call, she looked over to see him on Babe, leading Ruby over to her.  “Thar ya go, Professor, good luck.”

  “You too.  Hopefully they won’t come this way, but Dumbledore said to be prepared,” she said, hopping on Ruby with ease.

  “Hello down there!” a man on a hippogriff waved down at them from just above.  “Is Harry all right?”

   “He is in some discomfort from his scar, but he is safe,” Jennifer answered.  “You going to Dumbledore, Mr. Black?”

  “I’m going to see what I can do, but if they come this way, I’ll be here before they can,” he said.   “Nice to meet you, Professor Craw, is it?  We’ll have to meet on better terms sometime!” he said, and nudged the hippogriff up.

    “Alright Ruby, over the grounds and Forest now,” she told her mount, making her first round.

 

   The screams coming from inside were horrifying, and every so often one would just sharply cut off mid-wail as a Dementor’s Kiss hit a victim.  Along the shores of the island outside of the prison walls, a large group of wizards and witches spread along an invisible line before the gates.

  “I think we should go in after them,” Remus Lupin said to Dumbledore, who was standing beside him.

  “We would be outnumbered to say the least, and in unfamiliar territory,” Dumbledore pointed out.  He frowned slightly, listening.

  “The screaming stopped,” Arthur Weasley said, taking out his wand.

  Suddenly, the great iron doors began to corrode like worms, oozing over the metal and eating rapidly through it.  One by one wands began to appear in hands as the door disappeared and waves of Dementors rushed out of the prison.

   “Expecto Patronus!”

   Waves of light began to shoot through the night like stars, gallant steeds of light attempting to keep the Dementors at bay.  Dementors fled from Dumbledore’s range, quickly coming around the sides.

  “Work together!  Don’t let them get around us!” Arthur Weasley shouted, firing off another shot.  “Try to catch any witches or warlocks that come out.  They can’t Apparate inside the main structure!”

   Remus Lupin nodded to Arnie, Ederick, and a couple of his own friends, trying to work a path closer to the door.   Shots of light came from above as Sirius surveyed the area.  He watched as a second wave of Dementors came out, swiftly moving like a surge of blackness floating over the water and off the island.   Suddenly he noticed the first of the hooded wizards to fly over the wall of fear the Dementors created.  Sirius dove down and pointed his wand with a loud,  “Stupefy!”

  Just as the bolt hit, the hippogriff squawked with such fear Sirius had to pull up, turning to see he had just hit Macnair, who was looking back at the gate and shouting through the glass. 

  “Remus! Pick him up, quick! I can’t get close!” Sirius yelled.  As he pulled up to the new height he knew without a doubt where the other wave was heading, and ran up as close as he could to the others.  “Arthur! The Eaters are starting to come out but the Dementors seem to be heading for shore!  I need to go warn the school!”

   Arthur nodded as he pulled off another spell, trying to move towards Dumbledore as Sirius flew back to Hogwarts at top speed.  Had he but looked back he would have seen a wave of figures on brooms beginning to shoot through the doors of the prison.

 

    Jennifer felt it coming before she saw it.  Her mind had begun to wander over the missing parts of her memory and she frowned, trying to concentrate on her patrol over the outer grounds.  Ruby, it seemed, was also sensing something.  She was getting very nervous and it became increasingly hard to keep her paced.   Finally Jennifer made the decision to veer the Pegasus towards the feeling, and Ruby fought, nearly tossing her off. 

  “Professor! Professor Craw, they’re coming!”  Sirius Black dropped out of the sky, “There’s a lot more of them than we anticipated.  They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

  “Where’s Dumbledore?”

  “He’s at the prison still, the Dementors must be holding him up.  We’ll have to try and keep them off ourselves.”  His face told her more than she wanted to know.  There were too many for a handful to handle.   “We’re going to have to land, there’s no way we can do an aerial assault.  The mounts can smell the fear on the Dementor’s breaths.”

  Suddenly Jennifer remembered something, growing wide-eyed.

  “Mr. Black, you’re a genius!”

  “Well, if I’m a genius, you can call me Sirius!  What did I do?” he demanded, watching the darkness increase.

   “Find the falcon and tell Madame Hooch what we’ve got incoming.  She’ll call the rest of who’s here.  Stall if you have to!”  Jennifer suddenly dove towards the ground, leaving Sirius to wonder how to stall an army of Dementors.

  Landing in grounds at the Forest’s edge, Jennifer hopped down, dashing into the Forest at a reckless pace.  She headed towards the center, thinking she should have run into a centaur by now, but they weren’t there.  Where were they?  Suddenly, she saw a flash of white in the distance and headed towards it.

  “Wait! Wait, wait, please wait, please, we need your help.”  She knew it was there, knew it was close, listening, somehow.  It had understood her.  “Please, I need your help.  Voldemort let loose the Dementors and they’re heading this way now.” Jennifer explained, growing impatient.  “Look, I know that you are afraid, but so am I, and I know you can do it, because your breath saved my life.  It can save all of us if you would be willing to help me.  You can’t just let Voldemort get the better of Hogwarts.  Who would be left to protect the Forest then?”

  She suddenly heard a neigh right by her ear and jumped in surprise.  The Unicorn stood there watching her, expecting something, snorting impatiently.

  “What?  You are going to help?” She looked in the Unicorn’s face.  Somehow, Voldemort had hurt them, but she couldn’t tell how.  All she knew was that she was insistently being directed to get on.  Jennifer’s eyes grew wide for a moment, and then hopped on, trying to figure out where to hold onto.  Immediately she was washed with a new energy, calming her panic.  “Ok, fine, I’m on a Unicorn. Um, now what do I do,” she meant to say it to herself and not out loud, but the Unicorn shook its white mane and she grabbed hold.  The Unicorn began to neigh; a loud, signal-like neigh.  In the blink of an eye, she found herself with a herd all around her, and the one she was on begun to speed through the trees as if they had no substance at all.

 

  “Stupefy!” rang out in several directions as a line of brooms came out the door, some of them sending curses down to the crowd below as they passed.  

  “Avada Kedavra!” rang out, and a green wave hit Macnair, killing him instantly.

  “That’s him, hit his broom!” Dumbledore said from the crowd, trying to get a view.

  “Which, where?”

   “Get him!” Arthur yelled as he dove a green ray.

   “They’re leaving, where are they going?”  Ederick asked, trying to set fire to one of the brooms as it sped away.

  “Hogwarts would be my guess,” said Lupin, “and it looks like their Dementor friends are following.”

  “Dumbledore? Where did he go?” someone asked.  Arthur, realizing none of the teachers were any longer with them, began to direct those remaining to the prisoners at hand.

 

   Minerva stood on the parapet, looking over the mob angrily through Omniculars, wondering at their numbers.  Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.  “Dumbledore, are you all right?”

  “Yes, for now.  Looks like we’re going to have a battle on our hands. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are on the way behind the Dementors.”  Just then, something caught Dumbledore’s attention, and gazed off in the distance.  “Minerva, may I borrow those for a moment?”  Taking the Omniculars, he glanced through them towards the streak of movement he saw coming from the Forest.

  “What is it, what do you see?” Minerva asked expecting the worst.

  “Allies unlooked for are coming to our aid like the ray of hope they are…Voldemort has many enemies,” he smiled, unnerving Minerva with the sudden change of optimism.

  “Are you going down there?”

  “No, no, not yet.  Somebody down there deserves a moment of glory.”  Dumbledore decided, glancing through the Omniculars again.

  “At least let me have back my Omniculars so I can see what’s going on!”  Minerva pleaded.

 

  Sirius Black’s voice was nearly cracking from overuse as he attempted to halt the progress.  Hagrid had finally returned to with a small group of centaurs, attacking the Dementors at the edge of the Forest with wild magic no longer used by man.

   “Don’t worry, we’ll beat them!  I’ve seen that we will!  Keep shooting!”  Trelawney insisted as she cast out another white horse at them.  Rolanda took a split second to give her a dirty look, continuing to work on increasing the water level of the lake, flooding the land in front of the main school.  Living stone was darting out from the tip of Flitwick’s wand, recently having joined them from the prison fight.

   Suddenly the ground started to shake and a sound began to roar from behind them.  Hearing Hagrid shout in surprise, Sirius turned, expecting the worst, and saw something completely unexpected.

  “DUCK!” he shouted, and everyone did as the herd jumped over them, neatly missing the group and creating a line between the lake and the Forest.  On the lead Unicorn before the pack, hair down and eyes full of anger like an angel of justice, Sirius Black saw an entirely different Jennifer than the one he had met earlier.  A strange silence fell on both sides as the line of brooms came to a halt.

  “Professor Craw? What in blazes are you doin’ ridin’ a Unicorn?  Th’ don’ normally like tha’” Hagrid asked softly, more out of surprise than expecting her to hear him.

 

  The Unicorn snorted with anger.  It went straight through the mane and into Jennifer, mixed with a new surge of bravery.  There was no reason for her not to be brave.  Every fiber of her being knew for certain that not one of the dark wizards could touch her at that moment.  Forward as a group the Unicorns pranced, and quickly the Dementors recoiled in fear, backing away. 

  “So, this is your army?” Jennifer found herself saying, her voice strange even in her own ears.  “Impressive, I guess, but not impressive enough.  I suppose you had figured with Dumbledore gone that Hogwarts would be easy game,” some of the Unicorns neighed, their heads slightly down.  Without a doubt she looked up knowing exactly which one was Voldemort, staring at him with not one ounce of fear in her.  “But you have a lot more to worry about than just Dumbledore, or Harry Potter, or me, for that matter.  You can’t control people who are dead, and pain does nothing but make people defy you more.  There is more to truth than death and pain, and the truth is that no matter where you are, no matter where you go, your little group of friends will never be enough to protect you from the races of enemies you’ve made over the years.  I don’t fear you, and I don’t fear your name, Voldemort.  You’ll never win, no matter how many people you kill or maim, there will be more to come after you.  And that’s the only truth I see.”

  The Unicorns reared before she even heard the words to the killing curse, and the curse dissipated against them as they acted as one to block it the green light from hitting her.  With one neigh from the Unicorn, the herd drove into the Dementors in a stampede of light, with Jennifer clinging on the leader’s back, watching as the Dementors ran in desperate attempt to flee.  Jennifer was partially aware that behind her the teachers had taken to their brooms and mounts, and myriads of spells blasted above.  Every time a Unicorn’s hoof touched a Dementor it shrieked in horrible pain and dissipated, and every time it happened, Jennifer felt more and more elated as the fears on the ground ebbed away.  She quickly lost track of time with feelings of abated anger, satisfaction and triumph pouring through her, the enemy having even left or vanquished.  The head Unicorn then reared and turned, taking them back, deep into the Forest, and Jennifer felt again what it was like to run through the trees as if they weren’t even there.

   And it was then, as the Unicorns began to fade and the one she was on began to slow, that she knew for certain that she was never, ever going to experience that fully again.  It was a very curious feeling, she was so sure of herself, and she knew the ride had changed her.  But at the same time as she felt her strength lessen, she knew she had to be who she was, and to become who she was meant to be.  She slipped off the beast with a growing feeling of sadness.  It was somehow bearable to leave, more bearable than she may have thought it would have been.  She hugged the Unicorn’s neck warmly, and then the Unicorn nudged her gently with her muzzle.

  “Yes, I know, I know.  But, I just want you to understand, even if I never see you again, I will always be your friend.” Jennifer said, touching her nose one last time.  She knew when she turned around that the Unicorn was already gone.  For a few moments she wandered aimlessly in the darkness, wishing to be alone, trying to hold onto the feelings, trying to sort out which were hers, and which had been the Unicorn’s.  And then, at last, she came to a very strange realization…that her thoughts weren’t the ones that had changed during the battle; it had been the beast’s thoughts.  The Unicorn had been influenced by the emotions running through her, heightening it for both of them.  That, she thought to herself, explained a great deal to her about why Unicorns hardly ever let anyone ride them and why were so picky, afraid to be tainted and thus lose that which made them Unicorns.   Lightheaded, Jennifer at last turned towards the school, exhausted but still feeling unafraid.

 

 

Chapter 16

Time Well Bought

 

  It was Hagrid who found her wandering through the Forest as if she were taking a leisurely stroll in a garden.  Shaking his head, he threw a cloak over her and led her out to a cheering crowd.  Sirius Black kneeled before her almost reverently, kissing her hand, and the Professors took turns shaking it.

  “We’re going to have to write another chapter about Hogwarts history about that one…”

  “Professor Craw you were magnificent!”

   “Just the thing for a Defense instructor to pull, eh?  Who’d have thought to have remembered the Unicorns power over the Dementors?”

  “Who’d have thought we’d ever have Defense instructor who could actually ride one,” Rolanda chuckled to herself.

  “C’mon now, can’ ya see th’ poor girl’s wiped out? Tha’s not nuthin a person does ev’ry day, let ‘er be for now.” Hagrid said, guiding her past the excited people.

  “Take her to her room, Hagrid, give her some chocolate, and please, no one disturb her,” Dumbledore said.  He looked very tired, and he was worried about something.  But before Jennifer could try to figure out what, Hagrid had her out of view.  She was keenly aware she was forgetting something, but what it was she couldn’t fathom.  She couldn’t seem to concentrate at all, still lost in the emotion of the moment.

  At last Hagrid got her to her room, then quickly headed upstairs to be met in the hall by Minerva and Dumbledore who had just left a different room, closing the door behind him.

  “She’s safe’n her room sir, a bit dazed.  I didn’ say a thin’ to her, like ya asked.  How is he?”  Minerva and Dumbledore glanced at each other, and then Dumbledore sighed.

  “I think he’ll be live, all things considering.  Poppy is doing what she can,” Dumbledore said as they went down the stairs.

 

  Jennifer woke up to sunlight, stretching happily at her dream.  Well, at the very least, last night banished her nightmares.  Quickly she got dressed, spelled her hair into a neat French braid, and looked into the mirror.  And it was as she was staring at herself to get a glimpse at her own thoughts that she remembered what she had forgotten last night, looking instantly horrified.

  “Oh no, Severus! He was still with them when it happened!”

  Angrier at herself than she had ever been before, she glanced at her clock on her way out the door.  If all was well, he’d been in his office by now, she thought, or in the classroom sorting potions.

  “He isn’t going to be down there,” she heard a voice say behind her, making her stop in her tracks.

  “Dumbledore! Is he all right?  What could I have been thinking?” Jennifer exclaimed in such a panic that he put an arm around her to quiet her as they walked down the hall.

  “Morning classes have been cancelled, and most the professors are still in bed.  Not many of them slept much last night,” he explained, guiding her to his study.  “We had quite a cleanup to do, and we were able to capture a few of the Death Eaters… although we did lose some of our friends, they lost some of theirs as well.  No, no, don’t worry.  We didn’t lose any staff,” he assured her as he asked her to have a seat.  “But some good men of the ministry we have lost.  Daniel Cummings was one, I believe you’ve met him, the man who found the contracts.”  Jennifer nodded soberly.  “And a good close friend, Tricie Dunn, she was quite a witch in her day,” Dumbledore said, lost in thought.

   “What about Severus?  He’s okay then? Did they –“ Dumbledore held up his hand, looking at her thoughtfully.

   “Jennifer, when you were questioned by the Death Eaters, did you ever stop and think that Severus was to blame for your predicament?”  Dumbledore asked.  She looked at him in surprise.

  “No, of course not, he had nothing to do with that.  He’d never do anything that’d intentionally put me in danger.”

  “Then let me assure you, that the same can be said of the events leading up to last night.  It had been their actions that led to your decision, and as we all must in trying times, you did what you had to do.  Voldemort had already been angered by the actions and failures of his servants.  In fact, one of the Death Eaters that we had captured early on Voldemort slew with his own wand rather than leave them in our hands.  Then Severus had the misfortune to have a ‘servant’ who not only defied him, but also beat Voldemort to a humiliating stalemate.  Your show of courage had the added backlash of making some of his most loyal servants think twice their own loyalties, and that has enraged him.

  “But as angry as he was at Severus, he was also aware that Severus was just as surprised at this turn of events as the rest of us…and I do mean all of us.  And, he knows, that the best way he can get to Harry, you and I is having someone inside to keep track of our movements.  So, Severus’ life was spared, but only just.  He was not quite as weak as you had been after your encounter, however, and I think he’ll bounce back rather quickly…he has before,” Dumbledore said, saddened.  “This is far from over, Jennifer, but I think, with continued effort, we’ll be able to see through our goals and end this nightmare.

  “Anyhow, I can’t spare too much longer, I need to go meet with the ministry about their prisoners.  One of them you may be interested to know, is Goyle’s father,” he nodded at her wincing face.

  “He’s not exactly one of the brightest students in the class, but I have nothing against Gregory Goyle,” she said, “I hate the thought of how many students are mixed up in this.”

  “I, for one, am thinking that if there’s any possibility of more assaults like this happening, that perhaps we need prepare the students for being included in our plans,” he said pensively.  Startled, Jennifer looked back towards him, reading his face, leaning back in her chair as she considered it.

 

  Jennifer walked down the hall after the meeting, aware that everyone was staring at her and whispering.  She frowned thoughtfully, wondering exactly what the students had heard.  Even the staff beamed at her in the halls.  Sighing with resignation, she turned up another stair to be met by Minerva going down.  She too, was giving her an odd, proud, smile.

  “Good morning!” she said cheerfully.  “If you’re going up to look for Professor Snape, don’t look in his room.  Madame Pomfrey wanted him to rest today but, well, you know how he is.”

  “Oh, did he go down to his office?” Jennifer paused.

  “I’d look up on the parapet.  You know where it is, towards the Owlery, the door on the staircase?  Anyhow, there will be a special dinner tonight, make sure you attend.” Minerva said.

  Climbing up the long spiral staircase, she at last saw the door leading outside and stepped out, finding herself immediately admiring the view of the grounds.  She glanced around to the side, spotting Severus leaning against the parapet looking out on the grounds.  She walked over to him.  She bit her lip, trying not to cringe as she neared, his hands and face covered with marks.  He noticed her then, unusually thoughtful, seeing the look on her face.

  “I’m all right.  Nothing that won’t heal,” he said.  He glanced back out over the parapet.  The lawn seemed a bit worse for the wear after all the animals Hagrid had tended had got done, and the lake was still much higher than usual.  Still, Jennifer was fairly surprised that so little remained of last night’s terror.  “Are you all right?” he added after a moment.

  “Yes…I was a bit disoriented after last night…” she paused, not knowing quiet how to begin.

  “Well,” he finally said, looking at her.  “This is going to complicate things.”

  “I am so sorry, I wasn’t thinking I just…” Jennifer felt terrible, and it must have showed on her face, because he nodded and looked down a moment.

  “You have nothing to be sorry about.  We’re fighting on the same side,” he said quietly.  “You did what you had to.  Not that I believe they could ever have gotten into Hogwarts had you not succeeded, but there definitely would have been an unpleasant siege, and we might have lost some of those who were fighting outside the walls.  In any event, Voldemort will now think twice before trying to do something that direct in the near future.  He also lost a few of his most loyal servants, so even with the Dementors now under his control it’ll be a bit before he tries anything.  You have bought us some precious time.  Of course, I’m also instructed to kill you at any given opportunity and bring him the remains,” Severus looked slightly amused.  “So, we’ve come back to where we started, except for the fact that now they want you dead even more than they did when they only thought of you as a ‘potential’ threat.  Now they know you are a real threat.”

  “Oh great, so all of that was for nothing,” she leaned on the parapet.  “Then again, if it hadn’t been for the fact I was questioned, I would never have thought of begging the Unicorns for help.  Still, you probably would have had a lot less headaches without me, too.”

  “No,” Severus said, looking out over the side, “If you had been trouble I would have disposed of you, our pact remember?”

  “Well, I’ve decided that silly pact was all for naught, because there was no way I could have ever killed you, and I don’t think you would have killed me,” she challenged. Severus squinted at her suspiciously at her tone, then shrugged, frowning at her.   

  “Perhaps not,” he admitted.

  “So, what’s the plan now, Severus? Are we supposed to be enemies now?” she sighed, leaning against the wall.

  “No, not necessarily.  Voldemort wants me to try to get on your good side again… try to manipulate you, enchant you if I can, that way it’ll be easier to coax you from Dumbledore’s protection range so that he can get you out of the way.  Oh, and by the way, from now on, don’t go anywhere alone outside of Hogwarts.  If anyone ever asks you to go anywhere alone regardless of who they are, see me first.  In fact, I want you to check with me whenever you need to go anywhere.  Just as a precaution.  Being that this whole event seems to have propelled your fame to almost Harry Potter proportions, they know you’re not going to be an easy target.”

   “I will, Severus.”  She thought a moment.  “Did they think I was enchanted?  Before?”

  “Yes, Voldemort thought that made the most sense, considering how you answered the mirror question.”

  “I told him what I saw in the mirror?” she thought, and then blanched.  Now that she knew what the mirror did, the last thing in the world she wanted was for everyone to know what she saw in it.  “Bleah.  Did you have to tell him what you saw?”

  “No, I broke the mirror the moment I spoke in front of it.  Fortunately, it never occurred to him at that point it was me, having broken it with the Resonius Tuner I put under my tongue.”

  Jennifer stared at him.  “Was that what that little round thing was?  A magic dog whistle?”

  “So to speak, but Dumbledore modified it to our purpose.  He was sorry to let the mirror go, but it was more trouble than it was worth anyhow, and we couldn’t risk it betraying me when we saw what he was using it for.”

  “What exactly do you see looking into it, anyhow?” she asked, glancing in his face.  Severus took a few steps too the door, turning his back quickly to her as he did.

  “It’s getting cold, and it’s almost lunch time.  Let’s walk down past my office so I can rummage up something for these scars, then we can get something to eat,” he said, opening the door for her expectantly.

  “All right, I won’t press,” Jennifer said, slowly walking to the door.  “Although you do hold me at a bit of a disadvantage.”

  “Not as much of one as you might believe,” Severus scowled, nudging her out the door.

Chapter 17

Jennifer’s Hogwarts Holiday

 

 

  Thick powdery snow covered the ground leading to Hagrid’s cottage, and rather than mess up the delicate scene, Jennifer cast a swift spell so she could walk over the surface.  She heard voices calling her name behind her, and turned to see Harry, Ron and Hermione, running up to join her.

  “Wow that’s a neat trick, how you do that?” Ron wanted to know.

  “You know this one, Ron, it’s the footprint spell, just like you use to keep from tracking mud or something.  It has a nice side effect in snow,” Jennifer grinned.

  “Well if it keeps shoes dry, I’m all for it,” Hermione said, casting the spell.  Soon they were all walking on the snow, crossing the big, heavy snow prints of Hagrid’s between  the house and the woodbin.

  Inside they were all welcomed cheerfully by Hagrid, who went ahead and gave them their presents, fawn-wool mittens, since the students were going to leave for the holidays tomorrow.  Hermione off to her parents, and Ron and Harry were spending their holiday at Ron’s house. 

  “But we’re all going to the Ministry Ball.  Mr. Weasley invited us,” Harry said,  “Do you think it’s safe for them to be holding it, considering everything?”

  “Believe me, I’ve asked myself that often enough, Harry,” Jennifer frowned, “but part of that could be just because I didn’t want to go to the silly thing anyhow.”

  “But you have to go, you’re the guest of honor!” Hermione pointed out.

  “That was Ludo Bagman’s idea.  Personally, I’m really getting tired of being a spectacle for something I did because I had to,” Jennifer said with a sigh.

  “I know the feeling,” Harry said, nodding to her. 

  “You probably know it even more than me,” Jennifer chuckled.

  “Now c’mon, Professor Craw, wha’ ya did don’ jus’ happen every day.” Hagrid said, sitting down with them.

  “I didn’t do anything but tick Voldemort off and hold on for dear life, Hagrid, the Unicorns did all the work.  They should be getting the recognition, not me.”

  “Eh, well, them beasts usually just wanna be left alone.”

  “Well, I don’t blame them.”

  “Who are you going to the ball with, Professor?” Ron asked.

  “Oh, nobody, I’m just going for the school and all that.  I’ll probably sit with Minerva.”

  “Well, I think you should go with Sirius,” Hermione said, Harry nodded along with her.

  Jennifer blinked at them.  “He did ask you, didn’t he?”

  “I wasn’t aware it was public knowledge that he asked me.” Jennifer frowned.

  “Not really public, just Harry and of course, us.” Ron grinned.

  “Besides, whatever happened to the Professor who told us not to wait?” Hermione said.

  “Oh no, not that again.  You didn’t tell him about that line too, did you?”  Jennifer looked between them.

  “No, I just thought of it.  It was really funny,” Hermione grinned, “especially when Professor Snape came in.  Corrupting the students, like he’s one to talk.”

  “Are you going, Hagrid?”  Jennifer asked quickly changing the subject.

  “O’course.  An’ before ya ask I already got a date,” he said winking.  They all knew whom he was talking about.

 

  Christmas morning was cold and crisp, and Jennifer couldn’t help but jump up like a young kid, wondering if her presents had been delivered on time.  It had been so hard picking out gifts, especially when half the people she was shopping for showed up at Diagon Alley while she was there.  The hardest three had been Dumbledore, Minerva and Severus.  At last she picked out a gold Veritaquill for Dumbledore, which only writes the truth (Recommended only for special documents,) a new tea set for Minerva complete with cups that never spilled (something they found would have been handy the last time they tried to mark papers at lunch) and, for Severus, a customized pocket-watch.

  The watch had taken her and the clock-maker hours to set up, perfect, and then haggle over.  Jennifer soon learned haggling with goblins was a science she could not even hope to master, and somehow, she wasn’t quite sure how, she ended up agreeing to a price higher than the goblin’s first asking price.  The watch, encased in black and trimmed in gold, had an inner clock face that told the time, as well as an outer ring, listing the places Jennifer could normally be found as well as an “elsewhere” and “mortal peril” listing that came with the price of the watch.  A long, thin black hand reached out to the outer ring, crossing under the gold minute and hour and second hands of the watch in the center, encased in fine glass.  She even had the inscription; I’ll always be here if you need me etched in the case.  She was definitely not going to let him know how much it cost, but thought it might give him some peace of mind knowing where she was as paranoid as he had gotten about it the last few weeks.

   She opened the door, and saw in fact her gifts had indeed been delivered, and she had some of her own.  The gift she noticed, leaning against the tree, she eyed very suspiciously.  It was a broom, she knew.  She had almost been relieved to have had wrecked her first one, and now, here was another one.  Cautiously she opened it, finding a slip of paper, recognizing the handwriting anywhere:

 

  A replacement - and hopefully an improvement.  – Severus.  P.S. Just tap the handle on the ground twice.

 

  Tap it on the ground twice? Jennifer thought with curiosity, finishing unwrapping the broom.  The label on the broom read, The Eaglewing A.U. with tiny script right underneath that read, Automatic-Uncrashable.    Jennifer then smiled relief.  She’d always wanted an automatic!  Tapping the broom experimentally it raised up to mounting level on its own, waiting expectantly.  No-no, she told herself, not until she opened the rest.  She picked it up and set it back down on its bristles.  Looking across the room, she noticed a very large package draped over one of her chairs, and opened that next.  Her jaw dropped as she took out the dark green drop-sleeve velvet ball gown, looking at it stunned.   The dress had a fashionably small waist (which she dubiously wondered if she could fit into) with long flowing skirt underneath tied with dozens of bows.  In the bottom of the package, she found some satin slippers and a note tucked inside them.

 

  For tonight, I picked it out to match your eyes, and included some ultra-lites for your feet, I hope you like it. – Minerva

 

  Jennifer grinned.  Ultra-lites, eh?  She knew them well.  What better way to get through a dance than levitating ball slippers?   She also received a large box of chocolate apples from Harry, Hermione and Ron, and a Hagrid quiche was on the table.  There was another small box, that had no note on the outside, and opening it revealed a tiny unicorn pendant on a delicate chain.  Cautiously she checked it for curses and spells, but apparently it had none on it at all.  Well, she wasn’t sure who sent it, but she decided to wear it tonight, she thought, it should work just perfect.

  Suddenly there was a tap at the door, and she suddenly glanced at the dress, quickly putting it under the wrapping paper before opening the door.  She then smiled seeing it was Minerva and asked her in.

  “Happy Christmas!” Minerva smiled, as Jennifer quickly closed the door behind them.  “I’d thought I’d come and make sure the dress fit, if not I can touch it up.”  Jennifer looked at her in surprise.

  “You made this?”

  “Well of course, you don’t think I just sit around and change into a cat and chase mice when I’m not working, do you?  Now, go try it on.”

  “Ok.  Don’t let anyone else in, alright?”

  “Alright,” Minerva said, looking around,  “My what an…er…dependable new broom you have there.”

  “Oh don’t say it like that!” Jennifer yelled from her bedroom.  “Not everyone can be a Quidditch player, you know.  In fact, during school they used to call me the Bludger because one time during flying practice I knocked all the other students off their brooms.”

   Minerva winced, picturing that.  “So you fly like Neville Longbottom, eh?”

  “No, I fly worse than Neville Longbottom.” Jennifer grinned, coming back into the room.  Minerva looked pleased at the dress, having her turn around.

  “Not bad, if I do say so myself.  You wearing this pendant with it?”

  “Yes.  Not sure where that came from either, there wasn’t a note.”

   “You’re not going to wear your hair quite that tightly bound up are you?”

  “Minerva!” Jennifer said, hugging her.  “Actually, I think I might enjoy this whole dance thing after all,” she said, looking in the mirror.  Just then there was a knock at the door, and she dove for the bedroom, Minerva laughing at her as she slammed the door.

  “Oh, hello Minerva.  Happy Christmas,” she heard Severus say dully.  “Where’s Jennifer?”

  “She’s not available at the moment.  You’ll have to come back later,” Minerva said.

  “I mainly wanted to see how she liked her present, it’ll only take a moment.”

  “I love the broom, it’s positively perfect!  Happy Christmas, Severus!  Now go away!”  Jennifer yelled from behind the door, quickly trying to change into some regular clothes.

  “Hmm.  Tell her Happy Christmas and I’ll try back later on when you two aren’t up to something.”  Severus said in annoyance, leaving.

  “All right, he’s gone,” Minerva said.  “Did you get Severus anything?  He didn’t mention it.”

  “Yes, a pocket watch, from Gribitz’ Emporium.”

  “Jennifer, are you mad?  Goblin watches cost a fortune!”

  Jennifer came out, the dress under her arm.  “They were the only ones that had what I wanted.  And besides, Christmas is only once a year.  Just remind me next time I decide to go in there I just agree to the goblin price to begin with and not try to haggle.”

 

  Jennifer spent the rest of the morning at the Quidditch Pitch trying to get used to her automatic.  Other students who had stayed for the holidays were out as well, trying their new brooms, chasing around in circles and passing around Quaffles.  The broom was more than smooth; it wouldn’t let her do anything stupid.  Any time she veered sharply off, it would correct, keeping her on the broom.  Some of the students chuckled at the antics, watching curiously as she tested it, some of them asking what it was.

  “My grandmother has one of those,” one of them teased.  “Good solid broom.”  Jennifer threw the Quaffle at him, chuckling.

  “Hey, nothing wrong with not being perfect.  The sooner you learn that the better off you’ll be.”  Just then she got smacked in the back with something hard and the broom flipped, righting itself with a twist.  “Alright, who let the Bludger out?”

 

Chapter 18

The Ministry Ball

 

  Having arrived early with the Weasleys, Ron, Hermione and Harry stood near the punch bowl, having a good view of both the guests entering and the floor, watching as people came in.

  “Look there’s Dumbledore, going over to talk to Dad.  I guess that means the other professors will be arriving soon,” Ron said, moving a bit to see the door closer.  Then he made a face.   “And here comes Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Crabbe.”

  “However did they get invited?” Hermione asked.

  “Didn’t you know?  Malfoy is nominated for Ministry of Magic, against Mr. Weasley!”

  “You’re joking!” Hermione said. “Don’t they know…” Ron asked her to quiet down.  “Don’t they know he’s a you-know-what?”

  “They don’t have the proof yet.  Sirius says Goyle isn’t talking,” Harry said, frowning. 

  “Speaking of which, there he is now, Harry!”

  “Where?”

   The three of them back over to the Weasley table where Dumbledore and Sirius were chatting with Ron’s father.

  “Well, if it actually stays civil in here tonight it’ll be more than I’d expect,” Sirius was saying as they walked up.

  “They wouldn’t dare try anything with so many of their worst enemies around them,” Dumbledore said.  “Just so long as everyone stays alert.  Good evening Harry, Ron, Hermione!”

  “Harry!” Sirius smiled, hugging him.  “Happy Christmas you three!”

  “Congratulations on winning your appeal,” Hermione said to Sirius, shaking his hand.

  “Thank you, Hermione, feels good to be legally free for a change.”

  “It took some doing, but once we had all those witnesses seeing Pettigrew at the prison break, there wasn’t much question left,” Arthur nodded.

  “So even old Severus decided to show up, eh?  Even wearing his funeral best,” Sirius commented as the Professor came in.

  “Sirius, I thought you said you were going to try to be civil,” Dumbledore tsked.

  “I won’t start it if he doesn’t,” Sirius promised.

  “Ron, Hermione and I found a good place to watch the door from,” Harry suggested.

  “Waiting for someone in particular I can keep an eye out for, Sirius?” asked Arthur.

  “Not at all, just plotting with the kids,” Sirius winked.  “Lead on, Harry!”

   Dumbledore chuckled, shaking his head at them as they headed off to the other side of the room.  Severus Snape walked over, sending icy looks over towards the refreshment table. 

  “Good evening, Professor Dumbledore, Arthur,” he greeted dubiously.  “Happy Christmas.”

  “Hello Severus. Where is Jennifer?” Dumbledore asked innocently.

  “I believe Professor McGonagall was planning to escort her here.  I’m sure they’ll be here soon,” Severus said, checking his new watch.

   “I hope she doesn’t mind all the fuss everyone’s making.  Well, actually, Ludo’s a whole cheering section on his own…” Arthur said, nodding across the room to where Ludo was talking to another ex-Quidditch player.

  “Oh, I’m quite sure she minds,” chuckled Dumbledore.  Severus nodded to them and then walked over towards Malfoy.

  “Is it just me or is he in an even worse mood than normal?” Arthur asked.

  Across the room, Ron was doing a play-by-play of everyone entering.

  “Over there is Thurspire, he’s a deputy minister for Animagi, but from what Dad said they’re moving him.  He and his boss don’t get on,” Ron explained.  “Oh, look, there’s my brother Percy and his girlfriend Penelope.  She just got hired at the Ministry too.”

  “Looks like Snape’s found some old friends,” Harry commented, watching as Snape made his way across the room to where Malfoy and Crabbe were standing.

  “Yes, and did you notice, he even washed his hair for the occasion,” Sirius smirked.  “Guess the shampoo I sent him paid off.  That’s what he gets for buying me a flea collar.”

  “Actually, Snape’s not been letting himself go much at all this year,” Ron said.  “Dunno what’s come over him.  Maybe someone switched Snapes on us and we didn’t know it.”

  “I think Professor Craw would have caught something like that,” Hermione said, “From what I’ve heard, I think she must be a Truth Seeker.”

  “I think you’d better keep that information to yourself, young lady,” Sirius warned.  “This isn’t the time or the place for snooping.  Let’s just have fun, okay?”

  “Oh look, there’s Hagrid and Madame Maxime!  Good thing the ceilings are nice and high.” Ron pointed out.

  “Of course they are, there’s a dance ceiling in here.  Didn’t you notice?” Hermione said.

  Ron looked up to see the polished wooden panels.  Harry looked up too.

  “Dancing on the ceiling?” Harry asked.

  “Sure, it’s fun,” Sirius winked.  “I’ll teach you guys how, promise.” He was still looking towards the door, and then suddenly he stood up.

  “Woah….”Ron said simply.  “Who is that with Professor McGonagall?”

  “I think it’s Professor Craw,” Harry said, cleaning his glasses and putting them back on.

    “Boys,” Hermione rolled her eyes.

   “Are we still on for the bet?” Sirius asked them, his eyes not leaving the two women.

    “I’m in,” said Harry.

    “Me too,” said Ron, “You’re covered.”

    “What bet?” Hermione asked in annoyance, having a feeling she wouldn’t approve.

    “Ok then, I’m on,” Sirius said walking across the room.  Hermione, wanting to know what was going on, followed him.

   “I don’t see how you don’t think he’ll not get the first dance,” Harry said, “You’re losing this one.”

   “Because she’s already told him no she wouldn’t go with him three times, and only one of those times was he still a fugitive,” Ron pointed out.

    “That’s just because she doesn’t know him.  That’s why she’s got to dance with him.”

    “First off, I still think she was joking about that dance comment.  And even if I do lose the first dance thing, there is no way he’s going to be able to keep her the majority of the evening.  She’s the guest of honor.  She’ll probably have to dance with just about everyone.”

    “Yes, well if you lose your Christmas money because he does escort her back, don’t blame me,” Harry said.

    “You still never answered me about the big bet.” Ron added, “You were going to think about it.”

  “Ron, I’m not going to take the rest of your money like that,” Harry sighed.

  “It’d be ages before we knew for sure anyhow.  Aw, looks like they’re going to be showing her around the room first.  We’re going to have to wait,” Ron sighed.

  “In that case, let’s head on back to the table.  Bring some drinks with you…” Harry suggested.   As Ron turned around, he backed into Snape, who had come up to the table along with Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Malfoy.  Snape gave both the students an icy look as if he knew they were up to no good (a look they had last seen when he had caught someone in class putting something in another student’s potion.)  Harry grabbed Ron’s arm, backing up with him.  “Excuse us,” Harry said, “come on, Ron.”  They turned around and started heading back to the Weasley table. 

   “Whatever we do we don’t drink the punch,” Ron suggested, watching as the three men standing there reached over to get a drink.

 

    “Don’t worry about it.  Just relax and try to have a good time,” Minerva advised as they Apparated in the entryway.

  “My nerves are already shot, Minerva, and we haven’t even gone in yet,” Jennifer whispered to her, pulling her mirror out from her sash and looking in it.  She was nervous, definitely, and beyond that she was hoping that her slippers held up.  As much as she wanted to dance with a few people, she also didn’t want to make a fool of herself.  She grimaced at her mirror.

  “My dear girl, you’ve faced an army of Dementors, what have you got to fear from politicians?  I’m sure they’ll all be on their best behavior.”

  As they went in, attention swiftly turned to them, and Jennifer tried her best to ignore it.  She glanced around for familiar faces.  To her right, she noticed Harry cleaning his glasses beside Ron, who was gawking at her and Hermione who was simply waving.  Behind them, Sirius nodded and smiled at her.

  “Ah there’s Dumbledore over there,” Minerva said, heading over to the table with Jennifer quickly following.  He was sitting at the Weasley table, an obvious indication who Hogwarts supported for the ministry.  As they approached he stood, holding his arms out to them.

  “Minerva, breathtaking as always, and such an exquisite dress.  Jennifer, you are a vision of loveliness, and such a beautiful gown.  I do believe it makes you look taller.”  Dumbledore winked at Jennifer.

  “It was a present from Minerva,” Jennifer smiled.

  “Ah, I should have guessed.  Very well done, Minerva.  It brings out the color in your eyes, my dear,” he smiled.

  Arthur and Molly came over, and Jennifer was quickly introduced to her.  Arthur’s wife smiled at her happily.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you.  I’ve been hearing good things about you from my husband and my children,” Molly said.  She reminded Jennifer of her mother, somehow, but not as sad all the time.

  “Some of my best students, when they’re not livening up the class,” Jennifer grinned, waving to Ginny, who was sitting at the table.

  “No George and Fred this evening?” Minerva asked.

  “No, off visiting their brother Bill for the holidays,” Arthur said.  Jennifer knew from his face that that had been planned just to excuse them from the ball.  Last thing they needed were any comical accidents.  The circle widened to make room for Sirius Black, who bowed and kissed Minerva’s hand, and then Jennifer’s.

  “How are you this evening, Sirius?  Well, I trust?”

  “I have never been so surrounded by beauty,” he smiled at Jennifer, Minerva and Molly.  Hermione walked up behind him, waving again.

  “Hello, Hermione, you look radiant this evening,” Minerva smiled.

  “Thank you Professor, you and Professor Craw look lovely as well.”

  Just then, Ludo Bagman came up into the center of the gathering, beaming with happiness, standing directly before Jennifer.

  “Ah, at last, you are here!  Welcome, oh defender from the Dementors!”

 “Uh….”

  “Ludo, can’t it wait?  She’s only just arrived,” Arthur protested.

  “Well the sooner it’s done, the sooner she can relax,” he insisted, patting her hand.

  “Perhaps after the first dance?” Sirius suggested, smiling at her.

  “No, no, everyone will be too busy having fun then.  Come, my dear!”

  Jennifer found herself towed around on his arm, not feeling to enthusiastic about the display.  Ludo himself was a very likable man, but didn’t seem too picky about who he called a friend.  It did, however, give her a chance to look at the guests, and quickly be able to make distinctions on who was supporting whom.  Politics seemed to be on the front of just about everyone’s mind.

  “And this at last is Lucius Malfoy, our other candidate, as it were,” he said cheerfully.

  “Yes, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him at the school,” Jennifer smiled warmly, curtsying.  Malfoy’s smile was anything but warm, yet he bowed graciously, dressed in the finest available robes as always and sporting several expensive rings for the occasion.

  “An honor to see you again, Professor Craw,” he said, kissing her hand.  “When we first met I could hardly have imagined that so dedicated a teacher would have been quite so delicate in nature.”  Jennifer barely kept her temper in check after looking at the intended insult in his face.  Had Severus not stepped up behind Malfoy, she might not have kept it.

  “Yes, and I could hardly have imagined you being quite so political,” Jennifer smiled at him tolerantly, “but then of course, you’re a man of great wealth, and I suppose one can buy just about anything these days.”

  Ludo’s eyes went wide with surprise, and Severus was giving her a “you shouldn’t have said that” look, but before Malfoy had a chance to respond, Sirius came up behind them.

  “That is everyone, isn’t it, Mr. Bagman?  Because you see, Jennifer’s promised me the first dance, and everyone seems to be getting quite restless…for things to start, that is,” he said quickly taking Jennifer’s hand who stared at him in surprise.

  “Oh, uh, right then,” Ludo answered with the same rapid response, nodding to the musicians.

  “Ah, you’re wearing my necklace.  I hoped you would,” he said, bowing to Bagman and Malfoy and nodding with a grin at Severus then leading her out to the floor, “it looks quite lovely with the dress.”

  “So that was you? Why didn’t you leave a note?” she asked.

  “Afraid you might not accept it,” Sirius admitted, “But I saw it and immediately remembered how you looked that night as you came out of the Forest with a steed of Unicorns around you, and thought to give you a memento.”

  “Like anyone will let me forget what happened,” she laughed, “but thank you…I couldn’t have done it without you, that night, running back to warn us as you did.” 

  “Anything to protect Harry, and Hogwarts,” he smiled.  Jennifer decided she really liked the man, so full of life and charm when he could have been so bitter after what he’d been through, hiding the darkness deep within.  In a way, he reminded her of herself.

  He put his arm around her, and then chuckled as they entered into the waltz.  “You’re so light on your feet, m’dear,” he winked.  She laughed, the slippers quickly finding a comfortable height three inches off the floor.  “I say, it doesn’t really give a man a sporting chance though,” he teased, spinning her around a bit.

  “Oh, no, don’t tell me they told you about that!” Jennifer sighed.  One wrong comment in class, she quickly learned, had a way of coming back to haunt her.

  “They tell me everything, except for maybe what I really wanted to know and that’s why you wouldn’t agree to go with me?” Sirius smiled at her.  Jennifer’s mind raced to think of a suitable reply.  He was good looking and charming, and definitely someone she could see herself becoming a close friend to.  But she knew it wouldn’t have been right to accept, her heart would not have been in it.

  “It’s just that I already made plans to go with Minerva…” Jennifer explained hesitantly.

  “She would have understood,” he said.  “Besides, I wanted to get to get to know you, and find out how come…” Sirius paused as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Time’s up, Sirius,” Severus said coldly.  “I’d like to cut in if you don’t mind.”

  Jennifer looked at them in surprise as the two of them stood there in an apparent challenge; an old one, it seemed like to her.  Sirius’ face seemed to indicate something like this had happened once before, and it was bringing back old memories.

  “Up to Jennifer, of course,” Sirius finally said, looking at her thoughtfully.  Severus already had his hand out, and Jennifer put her hand in his, nodding with a nervous smile.  Sirius then smiled, bowing graciously out of the way, watching them closely from a distance.  As Severus put his arm around her waist he paused, looking at her accusingly.

  “You’re cheating.”

  “Huh?”

  “You heard me.  Feet on the ground,” he said, looking quite serious.  Sheepishly her feet sank to the floor, just as the next dance began.

  “Severus, I don’t think this is a good idea.  I’m not really a very good...”

 “No excuses, I wasn’t the one to make the rules,” he said, pushing her chin up to look at him as he began to lead her across the floor.  Gazing into his eyes, she suddenly stopped worrying about what her feet were doing, startled by what she saw his face.  He was thinking of her, and only her at that moment.  Surely she couldn’t be seeing what she thought she was seeing, she told herself in disbelief.  He was just testing her again, she convinced herself.  But there was no use denying what she was feeling when he put an arm around her again.  With stiff but catlike grace, Severus was a surprisingly good dancer, and Jennifer soon found herself sailing across the floor, forgetting that anything else existed but she and Severus.

  Dumbledore had been watching with interest at first, but then the look soon changed to concern.  It was heartbreakingly apparent in their faces what was happening, and this was definitely not the time or place with enemies in their midst.  He glanced around the room, and saw that several others had noticed…surprise registered on Minerva’s face, Sirius’ and Arthur’s…he glanced around again worriedly and saw Malfoy and some of his friends were out on the patio, out of view of the dance floor at the moment.

  “Harry, do me a favor and go dance with Professor Craw.  I believe she needs rescued.”

  “Professor Dumbledore?” Minerva began to ask, wondering if she was imagining it.

  “Minerva, why don’t you go dance with Severus and ask him to meet me in the entryway before anyone else notices,” Dumbledore told her quickly.  Minerva nodded, face suddenly filled with the same concern as she followed Harry onto the dance floor.

   It took Harry a couple deep breaths before he bravely stepped up to them, tapping Snape on the shoulder.

  “May I cut in?” he asked.

  Severus was getting ready to turn and say no, but then noticed Minerva was looking at him from just behind Harry.  Reluctantly he moved, and Jennifer found herself dancing with her famous student.  A few toes were stepped on here and there, and the intermittent “sorry” soon became so comical that they were laughing and having quite a good go at it. 

  “I’m afraid I’m just not a very good dancer, Harry.  Maybe I should put my shoes back up,” she chuckled.  Just then another tap came, and they both looked up to see Lucius Malfoy.

  “You will let me cut in, of course,” he said.  The tone was pleasant, but somehow it sounded more like a threat.

  “It’s all right, Harry,” Jennifer assured him.  She was not afraid of Malfoy.  Harry nodded, walking quickly back to the Weasley table as they began to dance and leaning over the table to get everyone’s attention, looking frantic.

  “Someone better go out there!  I just got cut in by Lucius Malfoy,” he warned the Weasleys.  Arthur immediately got up, glancing over across the floor until he spotted them.

  “I shall rise to the occasion then,” Arthur said, heading into the crowd.

   “Never learned to dance properly dear?  Pity, but then I guess that does come with experience,” Lucius smiled at Jennifer, noting the anger in her eyes.  “Tell me, how is it that such an unblemished flower came to be so loyal to the likes of Severus Snape but still has the willpower to defy his Master?   You know Snape nearly died because of your fleeting moment of triumph and display of purity…perhaps he should have killed you that first night as I had suggested instead of letting you go.”

  “This is not the place to discuss such things, sir, and I’d ask you to remember it,” Jennifer said defiantly.

  “And I’ll ask you to remember, child, that you are a servant of a servant, and as such subject to the group’s will, including mine, should I ask anything of you.  If you have any sense, or any value of your life or your master’s, I suggest you try much, much harder to cooperate,” he suggested, squeezing her hand painfully.

  Arthur tapped on Malfoy’s shoulder, who scowled at him in annoyance.

  “Sorry, Lucius, you can’t expect to keep her all night you know,” he said cheerfully, arresting her hand away from his and whisking her away towards the center of the floor.

  “Thanks, Arthur, what a vile wretch.” Jennifer said with a look of pure relief.  Arthur laughed.

  “What was he going on about, anyhow?”

  “Oh nothing, Arthur.  I think he just hasn’t realized that there’s people he can’t buy yet,” Jennifer shook her head.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll try to steer you away from him the rest of the night.  No reason you have to get put up with that being the guest of honor,” he winked.  Just then, another tap came, and Dumbledore smiled at Arthur, who immediately bowed with a huge grin, and walked away.

  “Well, Jennifer, I see you’ve been around the floor once or twice, but fear not,” Dumbledore smiled, taking her arm.  “Nobody cuts in on Albus Dumbledore,” he winked.

 

  After the dance, Dumbledore led her to the Weasley table to relax as he went over to talk to a few friends of his who had arrived from his order.  Minerva soon joined her, smiling as she sat down.

  “Have you seen Severus?  I need to tell him about something,” Jennifer said, glancing around.  She was sure that he would want to hear about the exchange between her and Malfoy.

  “Dumbledore didn’t tell you?  He had to send him back to the castle to take care of a security issue,” Minerva explained, looking around for her drink.

  “Oh,” Jennifer said, sounding more disappointed than she had intended to.  Minerva watched her a moment, trying to think of something to say when Sirius came over, offering Jennifer one of the cups he had in his hand.  “Thank you,” she smiled at him, and he cheerfully sat across from them, politely asking them how the evening was going.  “All right.   Where are the kids?”  Jennifer asked.

  “Molly and Arthur?  They’re out dancing,” Sirius said, eyes twinkling, “Oh those kids.  They’re out dancing too.  I taught them how to dance on the ceiling.  You want to try, Jennifer?”

  “No way,” she chuckled.  Minerva and Sirius chuckled as well.

  “Minerva?”

  “Oh, no, I don’t want to leave Jennifer alone,” she protested.

  “You go on, Minerva.  Actually, I could use a moment by myself after that dance,” Jennifer admitted.

  “Well, all right then, if you insist,” Minerva said, standing up and looking at Jennifer to make sure she was sure.

  “Now Jennifer, if you get tired and want to leave early, let me know and I’ll escort you back.  As a friend,” Sirius insisted, so emphatically that Jennifer looked up at him in surprise.

  “Thank you, I will probably end up taking you up on that,” Jennifer smiled, and Sirius nodded reassuringly. 

  But as the two of them went to dance and Jennifer began to lose herself in her reflection in her punch glass, Ludo Bagman appeared, cheerfully offering to keep her company, sitting down and attempting to keep her entertained with Quidditch stories.  She listened politely, chuckling more over his antics to keep her attention and less over the stories itself, and was rather glad when Sirius came to rescue her.

 

 

Chapter 19

Threats and Accusations

 

   Jennifer dressed and got ready for the first day back to class.  She walked over to the large mirror in her room, having misplaced her small one, asking herself if she was ready. 

  “This should be a lot of fun,” she told herself in the mirror.  She had warned everyone, especially Severus, what her class was going to be working on.  It wouldn’t do to have professors bolting up the corridor and learning it the hard way, she grinned at herself.

    “We’re going to start looking at fear spells,” She told them, “How to see through them, and how to beat them.  There are many creatures that use fear spells as well, and I know that you have had some experience learning how to defeat those.   You are even going to get to learn a few fear spells, but the reason I’m going to be teaching them is not for you to use them,” she glanced suspiciously around the class, “but because nothing defeats fear like knowledge.  For example, how many of you remember how to defeat a boggart?”

  The entire class raised their hand.  “How many of you are afraid of boggarts now?” most of the hands went down.  “Anyone brave enough to admit they were afraid of them before they knew how to defeat them?”  She grinned, looking around.  A few more hands went up.  “Oh come on now.  I was afraid, I’ll admit it.  I had one in the closet once when I was seven and I thought my parents would never believe me,” she raised her hand, and after a few chuckles, a few more hands went up.

  “Sometimes you can just use a little old fashioned reasoning to discount them.  Other times, you have to first recognize it’s a spell, and then cast a counter to end it.  It can be a little unnerving.  Now, everyone please remember, these spells cannot directly harm you…they harm people mainly by manipulation, so you won’t be in any danger while under one of the spells.  Any volunteers?”

  The class began looking around at each other.  “All right then, we’re going to do this another way,” she grinned, closing and locking the door.  “Stay in your seats please.”

  Taking out her wand, she waved it around the classroom and said, “Timere atar!”

  The room was instantly black, no light came in from windows or lights, nothing.

  “Is that it?” they heard Neville’s voice say.

  “There’s something moving in here,” Ron’s voice said.

  “Did anyone here a noise?” Hermione asked.

  Suddenly they were assaulted by what they perceived as things crawling on them from all directions, and strange sounds behind them.  Some of them started screaming.

  “Come on, class, you can do better than that!” Jennifer yelled over them, “What defeats dark?  Think about this, it’s just a spell! It’s JUST a SPELL.”

  “Lumos!” she heard someone say.   Suddenly light poured through the spell, and in a moment, the light in the classroom returned to normal.  Jennifer grinned at the pointed up wand in the otherwise crouched figure of Harry Potter.

  “Good job Harry! Five points for Gryffindor!  Everyone okay?”  Some of the students were up on their chairs, and Neville crawled out from under his desk.  None of their robes looked pressed anymore.  “Alright I’m going to do it one more time.  You’re going to sit there until I say ‘now’ and then…Neville, you’re going to cast Lumos, ok?”

  The second time went much better, she thought.  No one screamed, even though she heard some instinctually trying to fight the crawling perception off.  “Now.”

  “Lumos!”  The spelled dissipated as before.  Everyone had stayed in their seats that time.

  “Well done!” Jennifer smiled at them.  “Did anyone get hurt?  No?  No.  Why?  Because fear can only hurt you if you allow it to.”  She looked around at the class, meeting their faces.  “Now, for the rest of the term, we’re going to be having what I like to call fear drills.  That means, at any time I deem necessary, I’m going to let off one of the spells we are going to be studying.  Some of them you’ll know, some of them you won’t.  Oh, and if I don’t get volunteers again when I want to introduce a new spell, I will hit everyone with it like I did just now,” she smiled warmly.

    The class didn’t look quite as enthusiastic as she was.  In fact, none of the classes were. Screams went out through the first week as she got the students acquainted with their new topic.  She even started with a different spell in each class, so that talking students wouldn’t prepare them.  It wasn’t surprising, however, when Draco had gotten caught using one of the fears, the drowning fear, on one of the students at lunch at the end of the week.  Fortunately, enough of the students had gotten the class in enough to figure out wind dissipated it, so it came to nothing.  He swiftly got detention and warned that another violation would mean suspension. 

  For the most part the class went very well, and Jennifer was very pleased with their progress.  Then one day, as Jennifer was teaching the vertigo spell, Severus burst in, making the class jump.   His wand was out, looking around the class.   “Professor, you may want to get the students out of here.”

  “Okay everyone, quickly file into the hall,” Jennifer said pulling out her wand.   Just then one of the students fell, and Jennifer started towards her. 

  “Wait, Jennifer, look. Venowraith!” he warned.   Jennifer saw the shadowy snake slither past the fallen form of Ginny.

  “Oh, no, Ginny!” Jennifer’s face paled.  Venowraiths were rare and deadly, their magic venom notoriously quick and hard to stop.  Watching the snake, she got to the girl and dragged her towards the door.  “Malor, Go get Madame Pomfrey quick!  The rest of you report to the great hall till next class.” she called.  Ginny’s limbs were beginning to turn grey.  Laying him just outside the door, she raised her wand and pointed it at the most swollen leg.  “Sanguis morte!”  Just where she pointed the wand, a tiny cut appeared, and a trickle of blood started to appear, and then a heavy stream.

  “There’s more than one in here,” Severus said, “there’s one coming out of your desk drawer.  I don’t think it was meant for the students….” Just then he jumped up.  “Petrificus totalis!”  Severus, having finally petrified the one who got the girl, stepped cautiously closer to the desk. 

  Jennifer bit her lip, watching the girl closely.  Although the greyness wasn’t increasing, she was losing an awful lot of blood and Jennifer hadn’t exactly done this before.  She listened to her heart, beating faintly.  At last Pomfrey arrived and, quickly filling her in, Jennifer dove to her office.

  Sweat beading down her brow, she started up the beakers, muttering each ingredient out loud before she set it on her desk, sticking in thermometer in a couple of the ingredients, trying to get the most sensitive two up to temperature.  Severus came in a moment later, grabbing a phial and some cloth, milking the venom out of the snake he had just caught.   

   She heard Dumbledore’s voice down the hall, hearing him cast the counterspell to the spell she had cast on Ginny a few minutes before.  They were running out of time.  Severus handed her the distilled venom before turning, looking for something, then quickly left.  A moment later he came back with the nausca moss.  Taking off the heat portion she added the temperature sensitive ingredients, counting to herself to keep her from rushing, Severus picking up the count to keep it steady.  At last she added the three drams of moss as the catalyst, then quickly walked out, making sure not to drop any, and knelt in the blood around the girl.  Her lips were blue now, and only parts of her cheeks and forehead were still pink when Jennifer gave Ginny the anti-venom, gritting her teeth as she attempted to get in every drop as quickly as possible.  Jennifer finally sat back, breathing hard, looking at her helplessly.

  “I slowed down her metabolism, it may take a moment to tell if it’s going to work,” Pomfrey said quietly.  It seemed an interminable amount of time.  Jennifer started to find herself going through every ingredient of the Nauscametim antivenom in her mind…it was one of the most complex formulas she ever learned, and any mistake, a degree in temperature, an extra grain of verbex, would have made it useless.  

  At last, in what seemed an eternity, Jennifer noticed Ginny’s face begin to regain some color.   Jennifer felt almost like fainting from relief, she had had so much doubt that it would actually work, and Pomfrey nodded to her in affirmation, using her wand to clean up the blood and wrap the girl tightly in blankets. 

  “She’s lost a lot of blood,” she said in a strained voice, indicating she was still unsure if Ginny was going to make it.  “I need to get her upstairs now.” Dumbledore nodded to her to proceed.

  “Could someone tell me where those snakes came from?”  Dumbledore asked.

  “From my desk, apparently,” Jennifer said, letting Severus help her up.  Now that the worst was over, she felt her anger creeping up that an attempt on her life resulted in a student getting hurt.

  “There were two, apparently whoever it was thought it might improve their odds,” Severus said in a dry voice, “But perhaps that’ll be their undoing.  I was able to keep one alive so we might question it.”

  “Question it?”  Jennifer asked, looking at Severus with a frown.

  Dumbledore nodded grimly.  “Let’s put it in my study and call Harry up there.”

 Minerva walked up just as Severus walked out with the container, the snake still motionless inside.

  “I had heard but I couldn’t believe it!  Venowraiths in the school?  Then Ginny’s….”

  “No Minerva, she’s not dead, she’s alive thanks to the efforts of Poppy, Severus and Jennifer,” Dumbledore said.  Severus handed the box over to Jennifer, who didn’t look too thrilled to have it.

  “I’ll go dismiss my class and get Harry,” Severus said.

  As they got up to the study, Jennifer put the snake on the desk, and Dumbledore motioned for her to sit.  She sank into the high-back chair, leaning back, watching the snake thoughtfully as the other two sat down, each in their own thoughts.  Severus and Harry entered, walking up to the box.

  “Thank you for coming, Harry,” Dumbledore said.  Harry nodded slowly,  “Could you please find out who put the snakes in Professor Craw’s desk?”

  Harry looked surprised.  Is that why Snape had left the class so quickly?   But how did he know?  Harry turned to the venowraith talking to it in a series of hisses, looking startled. 

  “He said he bit someone, he bit a red-haired girl!” he said surprised.

  “We know, it’s alright, go on.”

  “A student, taller than me…stockier, brown hair…” Harry hissed again, then listened to the snake.  “Left them last night in a bag of some sort.    Hasn’t eaten in awhile.  Someone else captured them.”

  Dumbledore stood up, pacing.  “A student.  A student of this school attempted to kill a teacher, and now another student is fighting for her life.”  He stopped.  “Severus, can you go get the bag they were in?  Minerva, I want you to call an assembly.  Jennifer, please go make sure an owl has been sent to Ginny’s parents informing them of the situation.   Please stay here with me, Harry, and we can see what more we can find out.”

  The hospital wing was already filled with Weasleys by the time Jennifer got there, and she quickly found herself surrounded in a group hug.  She felt envious for a moment, of being an only child, and never having been close to her parents.  “We hear if it wasn’t for your quick thinking…”Arthur started to say, his voice faltering.  “Thank you.”

  “No sir, it was definitely a group effort,” Jennifer insisted.  “Severus and Pomfrey did as much.  And, sir, I’m afraid I…had to cross a few lines in this matter, and I’d rather not take credit for it.”

  “Sometimes lines need to be crossed to save lives, and I’d say that even if it were someone else’s little girl in there, thank you.” Molly said gratefully.  Jennifer smiled at them, wishing them luck before heading back to the study.

  Students were heading in lines down the stairs as she passed, heading to the Great Hall, whispering softly to each other trying to figure out what was going on.  Jennifer slipped back in, and Dumbledore stood, along with Harry.  Severus was standing near the back.

  “Shall we get this over with?” Dumbledore asked.  Never had she seen him so disappointed.  Severus picked up the box and they headed down the stairs and straight into the Hall, all the students growing quiet as they entered, all their eyes on the glass box.  The entire staff was also there, standing in front, each one of them more sober than the next.

  “As some of you may know,” Dumbledore said, looking over them all, “a crime was committed here this morning, a very serious, crime.  I cannot even begin to express the amount of anger, horror, and disappointment I feel at this very moment.  That one of our students would attempt such a heinous act as attempting to kill a professor, and thus doing so endangering his own classmates, and nearly taking the life of a fellow student, Miss Ginny Weasley.”  Dumbledore put up a hand as the murmur began to arose.  “I want to first convey how serious her condition is.  It is a miracle that she is alive, and some of that credit must go to Professor Jennifer Craw, who was able to brew from scratch a highly sensitive potion under great stress to administer the cure on time.  This, I’m told by my staff, has never successfully been done before.  So, it is a slight irony, perhaps, that the professor the vipers intended to kill ended up being the only one who could have saved the life of the innocent student who had been victim to it.”  Jennifer shifted uncomfortably.  She could have done without him saying that.

  “Now, as it happens, we have not yet confirmed the student who has done this, and I would like the opportunity to offer this time for that person to come forward on their own, to face the school decision and wizard’s council on his own terms rather than ours.”  Dumbledore waited patiently, watching the students turning from side to side looking at each other.  To his credit, he waited longer than Jennifer would have, or probably any other member of the staff, before sighing and shaking his head.

  “Professor McGonagall, would you accompany Professor Snape and Mr. Potter down the aisles please?”  The students began to whisper, suddenly understanding why Harry had been called to the front.   Had the student known Harry was a Parselmouth Jennifer wondered, watching the three go up and down the isles, the snake watching every move, and every student was under speculation.  Row by row they went, Jennifer growing more and more uncomfortable, so disturbed she was for the necessity of the procedure.  At the very last table, of Slytherin, the snake became increasingly interested, pressing up against the glass, then it hissed, and Harry stopped.

  “The snake says it’s Goyle,” Harry told them.

  “He lies!  Harry’s just lying they can’t prove anything, don’t listen to them,” Malfoy told him.

  “Mr. Goyle?  Is there anything you would like to say on your behalf?”  Minerva asked, trying to remain civil.

  Malfoy jabbed him, but Goyle was looking at the snake, who was indeed watching him, hissing.  Harry hissed back for a moment.

  “He says there’s no mistake.  Gregory Goyle was the last person to touch him.” Harry said.

  “So what if it were!” Goyle stood up angrily.  A ruckus began to break out at the tables as Malfoy yelled at him to get down and not say anything.  “I did do it!  I wanted her dead.  It was all her fault that my father is in jail!  Do you know what it’s like, having to be criticized about being your father’s child day after day, and how he was weak to get caught, when it was all because of some young nobody teacher who’s father was a coward?  Voldemort wants you dead, you know, and one of these days you’ll get what’s coming!”

  “ENOUGH!” Dumbledore was furious, and the rest of the students looked at him wide-eyed.  “Professor McGonagall, please remove this ex-student from my sight at once.  He will be held until the Ministry of Law Enforcement comes to get him.”  Everyone shifted uncomfortably about, Harry returning to his table and Severus returning to stand by Jennifer.  “Also, let me assure you, that if the investigations turn up any more student names, they will also face their punishments.  This is not something that I do gladly, but I will do so in order to preserve the peace of the school.

  “If any of you have any doubts on where I stand on this matter, let them end now.   You are all my family, and I hate the thought of losing any of you to the evils of the world in which we live.  But, as I have said in the past, if we all stick together, we shall be able to get through this together.  It is something I suggest we all work harder to remember.  Dismissed.”

  As the students started to leave, Dumbledore looked at Severus and Jennifer.

  “Would you please take the viper down to Hagrid to look after?  I think I won’t be available anymore today.  And Jennifer, no classes the rest of the afternoon, the Ministry will probably want to take a look in there.”

  Severus and Jennifer left out the back, walking around to get away from the students who were still mulling about the front of the Hall.

  “You think Draco knew about it? I couldn’t see his face from where I was at.”  Jennifer asked.  Severus looked thoughtful.

  “Knew, yes, helped, no.  I doubt that a Malfoy would do anything that would directly get his hands dirty.”

  “Just my rotten luck,” Jennifer grunted. 

 

Chapter 20

Suspicions

 

  Finally things had started getting back to normal.  Jennifer sighed as she let her last class out, looking forward to the weekend.  Stretching, she gathered up her books from her desk, cautiously opening the drawer a little at a time before pulling it out.  Jennifer shook her head at that.  I’m getting too paranoid, she thought to herself.  Nothing else had happened to her in the last two weeks out of the ordinary, and Ginny was sitting up in bed now, nearly strong enough to return to class.  At that thought, she pulled out a couple papers in her book she had laid aside to take up to her.

   Ginny was awake, listening to Hermione read out of a book.  Harry and Ron looked up when Jennifer came in, waving.

  “Hi all, I brought you your homework, Ginny,” she grinned, handing the sheets over to her.

  “That’s no fair, Professor Craw, giving her homework while she’s still recovering,” Ron protested.

  “Nonsense, Ron, she doesn’t want to fall behind on her studies, do you Ginny?”

  “Well, at least I get to miss the fear drills,” she grinned.

  “Those aren’t so bad, at least, not anymore,” Hermione said, leaning over her book, “It’s getting so if something unexpected happens in class we know what’s going on.”

  “Oh, really?  Hmm.  Guess it’s time I changed my tactics then,” Jennifer said thoughtfully.  “Maybe I’ll ask Professor Snape to give me an idea on that one.”

  “Now that is a scary thought,” Ron said.

  “Hagrid asked us over tonight.  I guess he has to go away this weekend,” Harry said.  “Are you coming as well?”

  “Oh, yes, I almost forgot about him leaving,” Jennifer pondered, frowning.  Reports coming in from the giants had been infrequent at best, and lately Dumbledore was expecting that trouble was stirring up there.  “Sure I’ll come.  I’ll go let Snape know where I’m going to be and meet you there.”

  “I wish I could go, I’m getting tired of this bed,” Ginny sighed.

  “Next week you can go, you should be up by then,” Ron said, “then we can show you how big the badgemeras are getting.  I think Hagrid’s going to have to build another pen if they keep up.”

  The five-headed badgers were definitely getting big; Jennifer had to agree when she looked them over a few minutes later.  Still cubs, they were play fighting each other, rolling over like a pack of zealous dogs.  Already they were the same size as Ruby, and in another month she was sure they would pass Babe up.  Hagrid was patting down the Pegasi now, trying to wake them up enough so that they would eat.

  “Don’ worry, professor, they’ll be awake in time fer yer patrol.  Thanks for fillin’ in fer me on such short notice.”

  “No trouble, Hagrid, I like flying…at least on Ruby.”  Jennifer watched as a large dog bounded out from the Forest, slowing down as he got to the cottage.  “Good evening, Sirius.”

  Sirius turned back into human form, smiling at her.  “Good evening, Jennifer.  Going riding tonight?” he asked.

  “Patrol tonight,” she nodded, smiling.

  “C’mon in, I already got th’ tea on,” Hagrid said as Jennifer and Sirius followed close behind. 

  “So how have you been?” Sirius asked politely.  “I heard, of course, about the close call you and Ginny had.”

  “Yes,” Jennifer sighed.  “I kind of feel sorry for the boy, though.  He’s in a delinquent wizard’s home at the moment.  Hopefully it’ll turn out all right.”

  “And how’s Severus?” he asked.  The way that he asked it made Jennifer look at him.

  “He’s fine.  And we’re just friends,” she said, trying not to sound annoyed.  Hagrid looked over his shoulder at them, and then took the kettle off the fire.

  A gentle smile crept over Sirius’ face.

  “Yes, well, you may not believe this, Jennifer, but despite his and my…differences…over the years, I wish you both all the happiness you deserve.   Of course, that’s assuming he’ll stop being an old dragon about it and admit he has feelings for you.”

  “Sirius!  We’re just friends.”  Jennifer glared at him.  “And don’t be giving Harry and them any crazy notions of anything different.”

  “No, of course not.  They’re not likely to believe it anyway,” he said amusedly.

  Hagrid cleared his throat, pouring out the tea just as they began to hear footsteps run up.

  “Hullo, Hagrid!  Hullo, Sirius!”

  “’Alo Harry!  Pull up a seat.”

   “So where are you going over the weekend?” Hermione asked Hagrid.

  “Oh, out an’ about on Hogwarts business,” he said, “nothin’ I can talk abou’.”

  “Are you going to be seeing Madame Maxime again?” Harry asked.  Hagrid got flustered.

  “Coul’ be.” Hagrid said.  “Have some rolls.”

  “Ah, spring,” Sirius said with amusement, “Blossoming love everywhere I look, and nobody but me the wiser.”  Hagrid and Ron glared at Sirius with the same glare Jennifer had herself given him a moment ago.  Hermione was looking into her teacup.

  “Reading tea leaves Hermione?” Harry asked teasingly.

  “Oh honestly, of course not, what a load of rubbish.  I’m so glad I got out of that class.  I don’t know how you two stand it.”

  “Sometimes it can be interesting, when she doesn’t have me dying all the time,” Harry said.

  “How are you dying this week again?” Ron asked.

  “I’m going to be thrown into a fireplace or burnt in a fire or something of the sort,” Harry said.

  Everyone had a chuckle, and then as they ate the students went into a rendition of their classes last week, ending with Jennifer’s.

  “I think I was fine during the drill until Neville’s face hollowed and all his teeth fell out.  And then I was so busy laughing, I guess I came out of it.” Ron laughed.  Hermione looked uncomfortable.  She wasn’t quite so successful with the morbid terror spell.  Jennifer just shook her head with a smile.

  “There’s always one in every class,” she sighed, and Sirius chuckled.  “Of course, I still had to pass him, laughing your way out of fear is just as valid as countering your way out.”

  “Is that what you do? ” Hermione asked, “I’ve noticed you joke about a lot when things aren’t going well.  I’ve never seen you afraid.”  Jennifer looked thoughtful.

  “Well, bravery is slightly different for everyone, I think.  When I’m afraid, I dive into it as quickly as possible so I don’t have to think about it.  And then I joke later so I don’t have to admit to myself I was afraid.  Bravery is just doing what you have to do regardless of how afraid you are.” 

  “I have to admit, it was a good idea for you to teach them about fear spells,” Sirius said approvingly, tipping his cup to her.  “Not that these three needed any more mettle, granted, but I’m sure there were a few that did.”

  There was a firm knock on the door, and everyone looked about thoughtfully before Jennifer glanced at her watch. 

  “Is it that late?” she said quickly getting up as Hagrid answered the door.

  “Is Professor Craw ready?” Severus asked, glancing around the room and frowning at Sirius.

  “I’m coming now.  Thanks for the dinner Hagrid, good luck on your trip.  Sirius, could you escort the students back?”

  “Of course, Jennifer,” he smiled.  “Good evening, Severus.  As cheerful as always I see.”  Severus was about to say something when Jennifer quickly made her way to the door, pulling her cloak around her.

  “Night all.  Don’t forget you have a game tomorrow Harry, got to win this one to tie for the house cup you know.” Jennifer said, pulling the door to behind her.  “Sorry, lost track of the time.”

  “Tell me, what is Sirius doing here?” he asked her thoughtfully.

  “He was here to see Harry of course,” Jennifer said, giving him an odd look as the walked to the pen.

  “Does he come by often?”

  “By, yes, inside no,” Jennifer said releasing the tethers.  “Dumbledore said it was all right.  The more people watching over Harry the better.  Sirius doesn’t talk to me much, though, not since Christmas,” she added, hopping up on Ruby.  “Are you coming or am I still under interrogation?” she teased.  Frowning slightly, he mounted Babe, who immediately started prancing in irritation.

  “You want grounds or school tonight?” he asked.

  “Grounds,” she said, with a nod, “If you take the Pitch.”

  “All right.  We’ll meet on the parapet between rounds.”  Severus nodded, and took to the air.

  Ever since the night of the attack, flying had been a different experience for her.  Every time she looked out, she remembered the Dementors that Voldemort had called.  And now, they were all out there, somewhere, just waiting for an opportunity to strike.    She skirted around the Forest, heading up behind the castle and around, then over the lake.  Below, she could make out a tiny group of lamplights, probably Harry and his friends, she thought, heading back towards the school from Hagrid’s.

  It was about that time that she felt like she was being watched.  Ruby didn’t seem bothered, she thought, but all the same, she decided to dive down closer to the ground to make sure they got there okay.  They waved up to her, and she had the Pegasus circle around until they got all the way in, and then veered up to the parapet.

  “What took you so long?” Severus asked, putting away his watch.

  “I wanted to make sure Harry, Hermione and Ron got back ok.  I had a weird feeling,” Jennifer frowned.  Severus looked over at her quizzically.  “Like I was being watched.  It could have been nothing.”

  “It’s not like you to have a random feeling like that.”

  “Well, I don’t know, ever since the Venowraiths I’ve been a little jumpy,” she admitted.  Severus’ look softened somewhat.

  “Just to be safe we should stay together then.  Let’s go.”

  The rest of the evening stayed relatively quiet, with only the beating of the two beasts’ wings and the sound of the wind.  Finally two lights appeared on the parapet, and they handed the midnight patrol to Sinistra and Flitwick, and then went down to stable the Pegasi and head back in.

  “You’re going to the Quidditch match tomorrow, correct?” he asked as they walked up the stairs.

  “Of course, I’m on Harry duty during games.  What about you, I thought you didn’t go to non-Slytherin games,” Jennifer taunted.

  “Yes well, whoever wins tomorrow will be tying them,” he reminded her.  Jennifer snorted.  How could she forget when Slytherin had played every dirty trick they could think of to get there?  They paused at Dewhurst, who was eyeing them almost curiously.  “I will probably be there early, so I will save you a seat in the teacher’s box.  Good night, Jennifer,” Severus said.  Jennifer gave him a puzzled look as he headed down the hall.  Since when was the teacher’s box ever full?  Shrugging it off, she turned back to her room.

  “Nevermore, Dewhurst,” she said, and the door opened.

 

  After breakfast Jennifer went to her office, deciding to fill the morning before the match by working on her test sheets for finals, taking time to rub Teacher’s White over them after finishing them so none of the students would be able to read them beforehand.   As she was cleaning up the dusty substance, there was a knock at the door.  She quickly opened it, and then blinked in surprise.

  “Oh, Ederick Thurspire isn’t it?  From the Ministry?” she said as he kissed her hand.

  “Formerly of Animagi Department, now working for Law Enforcement’s D.I. unit.  I have an official paper for you,” he nodded.  “I’m afraid it’s not good.  The Department of Investigations has found evidence that you used an illegal dark spell.”

  “Oh, that.  Come in,” she sighed.  “I was wondering when they’d get back around to me about that one.”  He entered, handing out the folded paper with the Ministry seal on it. 

  “We also heard you had been teaching some questionable spells in your class as well,” he added, almost apologetically in his tone.

  “Questionable?  Nonsense, I cleared every one with Dumbledore before teaching them.   You have any problems with my approved lesson plan I suggest you go to him about it.  Although I wonder why this was brought up so late in the year.” Jennifer pointed out.

  “We weren’t concerned about it up until a month ago.  Just how exactly did you happen to learn the Bleeding Death?  Did your father teach you?” he asked.  Jennifer gazed at him.  The hatred was still there from when they first met, and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. 

  “If there’s going to be a formal inquiry, I suggest you save it for the Council.” She said coldly.

  “No,” Ederick said distastefully.  “No inquiry,” he gestured at the paper and she opened it, and read it, eyes growing wide.

  “Three hundred galleons fine?  For one lousy death spell?”  She didn’t have that much in the bank.  She frowned.  “It’s gone up, hasn’t it?”

  “We don’t take death curses lightly,” Ederick stood in front of her, getting almost in her face.  “This is a very serious matter.”

  “Yes, and I used it to save a life, not take one.”

  “Which is why there’s just a fine.”

  “But this is outrageous!”

  “Well, I’m sure that if you have a complaint about it, we can go to the Ministry and settle it,” he offered.  “I’m sure they’d be willing to hear you out and work out payments.”  Jennifer suddenly got suspicious.  There were definitely hidden intentions here.

  “Sure,” she said slowly.  “But first I need to speak with Professor Snape about it.  We’ll stop by his office and see if he’s there.”

  “No reason, I’m sure it won’t take very long,” he said, taking her arm.  She shrugged away.

  “It won’t take long because I’m not going.  Not until I speak with Professor Snape.”  Un-cuffing her wand, she sent a bolt down to her feet.  “I suggest you leave now, and I’ll try to call back to the Ministry at my convenience.  Good day.”

  “Enough of this nonsense.  You will come with me at once!” he demanded, trying to compel her.

  “What is going on here?” Severus asked, standing with his arm on the doorframe, frowning.

  “Ederick here was just trying to convince me to go to the Ministry.  Without telling you.” Jennifer said, glaring at Ederick.

  “Professor Craw,” Severus began, stepping up between them to face Ederick, “is under my strict orders to go nowhere without my direct permission.  If you have a problem with it, I suggest you talk to me.  Now what, exactly, is this all about?”

  “There’s no problem,” Ederick said, his face tense and angered.  For some reason, he seemed to hate Severus even more than he hated her, and feared him as well.  “I’m sure this can wait until a more convenient time then.  Not too long I trust.” He bowed, quickly heading down the hall.  Severus walked to the door and watched him go, making sure he actually headed towards the exit.

  Jennifer took out her wand, aiming at her feet, releasing them from the floor.  “Persistent bugger, he was,” she muttered.  Severus turned around as she put back her wand.

  “What was that all about?  He wanted you to go to the Ministry?”  Jennifer nodded and handed him the fine, which he quickly read.  “Hm.  Gone up a bit, hasn’t it?”

  “I thought they usually sent fines by owl,” Jennifer said.

  “They do, I get them all the time.  All you need to do when you get one of these is give it to Dumbledore, or Minerva if he’s not around.  We have a school fund set up for things like this.”  Jennifer blinked. 

  “Why am I the last to find out about all this stuff?” she muttered.  Severus smirked.

  “Well, Dumbledore usually doesn’t mention it unless there’s a reason to.  Can’t have new teachers running amuck knowing the school will cover it.  I’ll take this up to him.  You had better finish whatever you’re doing, the game’s but an hour away.”  He then left, and Jennifer went over to finish straightening up her desk.   As she started to put her books on the shelf, something fell off, hitting the carpet with a thud.

  “There you are!” Jennifer said, picking up the pocket mirror, unfolding it to make sure it wasn’t broken.  “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.  I must have set you up there when I was refilling my potion supplies.  Did you miss me?” she grinned at the mirror, folding it shut, putting it in her pocket, more relaxed.  At least something good came out of today, she thought.  And, she did get all her finals written.

 

  Harry waved to Ron and Hermione where they sat in the stands, then mounted his broom as they took their quick flight around the Pitch before the game.  They were having one of their best seasons ever, he knew, and he thought they had every chance of getting to the final to trounce Slytherin once and for all.  Jennifer in the stands clapped loudly for both teams, but especially for Harry, who waved at her as the team passed by.

  “Well, it’s obvious which team you want to win this match,” Severus commented at her enthusiasm as he clapped politely.

  “Actually if it wasn’t for Harry, I’d probably be supporting Ravenclaw,” she confided in Severus, “you have to admit, there really is something special about him.”  Severus Snape gave her a look that indicated he’d admit nothing of the sort.  Jennifer chuckled.  “Honestly, Severus, sometimes you’re so see-through, I don’t have to be a you-know-what to tell what you’re thinking,” she teased him.

  “This coming from the woman who wouldn’t know what she herself was thinking without looking in a mirror,” he smirked.  Jennifer put her hand in her pocket, waving it out in front of him.

  “Yes, and I found it again, so beware, I am totally armed.” Jennifer chuckled back.  Minerva looked back at the two from the row in front of them, with a strange smile on her face. 

  “We’re here to watch the game?” Minerva reminded them.  Jennifer looked at her accusing face wide-eyed, just as the Quaffle went up.  She mouthed the words “I was not!” to Minerva just before she turned around.  Minerva just smiled.  Jennifer got flustered, trying to concentrate on the game.  She had not been flirting, she thought to herself.  At least, not on purpose.

  Harry watched as Gryffindor quickly headed towards the goal.  He was also watching Cho across the pitch.  Suddenly he had to dive as a Bludger came through, George coming up just a moment too late to smack it away.  They just had to win this one, he thought, to tie Slytherin’s score.  He watched the scoreboard as it flicked ten points to Gryffindor.

  It was then that his scar started to burn and he looked around, nervously.  Not now, he thought to himself, watching as the Chasers from Ravenclaw passed him in close range, then caught the ball, passing it between them before pushing it through the hoop.

  Harry shook his head, he missed Wood as a Keeper, he thought, looking around as a bludger whizzed past him.  Where was that Snitch?  He thought as the board moved again.  It was just as he spotted the Snitch and moved to dive for it that he was hit with another wave of pain, and spun about on his broom as his hand went up, disoriented.  Shaking himself out of it he went for the dive again, trying to remain alert.

  “Jennifer, did you see that?  Jennifer?” Severus quickly stood up in surprise, turning around, not having noticed that she was gone. 

  “Severus, get down, I can’t see,” complained Flitwick as Severus fumbled in his pocket.  

  “There he is, right there, arrest him at once!” called a voice coming up the stairs.  Three figures ran into view, two of them grabbing hold of Severus with their wands out as all the teachers stood up in surprise.

  “Drop it, Snape,” Ederick growled at him as he neared, “You’re under arrest under the suspicion of committing intolerable acts as a Death Eater.”

  “Mr. Thurspire!  What are you doing?” Minerva demanded.  “Let go of him at once!”

  “You’re an idiot, Ederick, and I don’t have time for this.  Professor Craw has disappeared.” Severus snapped.

  “I said drop it! And I know where Jennifer Craw is; I had her mirror tracked.  She’s with her master, Lord Voldemort himself!”  Severus began to struggle as they knocked the watch out of his hand, Minerva pulling out her wand and ordering them to stop at once.  “Don’t act as if I don’t know what I’m talking about!  She’s a Dark Witch no question, even her school records show it.   Her father had taught her everything she knew before she was even sent to school, and after Malfoy tipped me off to the mirror, I knew for sure I had the connection I needed to put you both away.”

  “Quietus mute!”

  Ederick’s hand went to his neck and his two guards looked up in surprise as their wands flew out of their hands.  Albus Dumbledore stood behind him, wand pointed at Ederick.  Severus quickly grabbed his watch, glanced at it, and then looked up to Dumbledore who nodded.

  “Go, Severus, I’ll take care of this.”  His voice was calm, but his eyes magnified that he was anything but happy.  “I only hope we aren’t too late.  Make haste, Severus.   Time must be on our side.”  Nodding quickly, Severus reached in his cloak, drank down a potion, then left, the guards crying out in alarm and shouting to Ederick.

  “Professor Dumbledore!  Look!”  Minerva said in horror.

  On the Pitch, Harry Potter dropped the Snitch out of his hand, and then shot off out of the field towards the Dark Forest. 

  “Professor Flitwick, tell Mr. Filch to put these three somewhere safe until I can see them, the rest of you teachers follow me, we may have a battle on our hands.”

  Ron and Hermione rushed after Harry, not knowing if they could keep up.  “He’s going in the Forest, what does he think he’s doing?” Ron asked.

  “Something has got to be really wrong,” Hermione shouted back.  Ron looked at her like she just made the understatement of the year.

 

Chapter 21

Ancient Magic

 

 

  Jennifer had glanced in her mirror; it had meant to be a quick peek to look at her thoughts.  But the face she saw when looking into it was not her own, and before she had time to cry out, a force dragged her into the image until she stood in front of the one who’s face she had seen, Voldemort.  She dropped the mirror, looking around, trying not to panic.  They were standing in what she thought was the center of the Dark Forest, surrounded by a ring of Death Eaters.   Quickly she attempted to decide what to do.   Perhaps she could get out of this yet, she thought, playing the servant.  Did she really want to?  She knew she was here to die.  There could be little pretense.  Would Severus get hurt from her strength?  Not, she pondered…not if…

  “So, this is the girl, the pure of spirit but not of blood, servant of a servant, who dared to betray us.  Do not stand there as if you were in front of an equal, bow to me.”  Jennifer just looked at him at him with a smile.  His face turned quickly to anger, “Do as I say! Bow. Now.  Imperio!” 

  The spell hit her with a force she’d never felt it before.  But she knew, that she, herself, would never ever do this thing.  To do so would be a lie, a lie that she would notice instantly, in someone else.  She really didn’t feel like lying at the moment.

  “You first,” she said calmly.  Behind her, she noticed a couple of the Death Eaters glanced at one another.

  “Crucio!”

  Pain racked through her body, hitting every fiber, every nerve, burning, screaming pain stronger than any of the other times put together.  But she did not scream.  Determined to break her, the pain kept going for a time she couldn’t measure, and then abruptly stopped.

  “What took you so long,” she heard Voldemort snap.

  “I was held up at the school.  I beg your forgiveness, master,” said a voice.  She knew at once it was Severus.

  “As you can see, I was able to get your wayward servant without your help.  I am fortunate that Lucius is a bit more cunning than you are, and more selective about who he trusts.”

  Jennifer took a deep breath and stood back up, brushing the leaves off almost casually, refusing to look over in the direction of the voice.

 “I did not say that you could get up,” Voldemort hissed, and cast the Cruciatus curse again.  Down she went, but again she refused to cry out, gritting her teeth to the point that even they began to hurt.  Suddenly, everything went black, and the pain stopped.  No eye contact, she thought, not a bad thing.  Suddenly she felt something crawling over her and heard noises from around her, immediately recognizing the spell.  She felt a hand in hers, asking her to come on. Fear struck her and she quickly got up, trying to get Harry out of there.

  “Lumos!”

 “Stupefy!”

  Light breeched into the dark patch, ending the spell, and Jennifer felt herself thrown away from Harry Potter, who himself had been knocked by a spell.  Voldemort laughed loudly, as Jennifer winced, quickly trying to figure out what to do next.

  “How deliciously perfect!  My young enemy has decided to come rescue his beloved teacher.  What a fitting ending.  Now I can be rid of both of you, once and for all.  But first, it is time that Jennifer finds out what we’re doing here.  I wouldn’t want to kill her without her seeing what her defiance has caused.”

  Jennifer found that she could stand, and did, glancing at Harry’s still form, trying to remain calm.  She still had her wand, she thought.  She was going to have to try something.  Voldemort made a simple gesture, and the Death Eaters turned, except for the one that stood in the ring (Severus, she thought,) and gestured at the trees, calling out in one voice, “Inferno!”  And quickly, the woods began to burn, dancing around the ring heading outwards.

  “This had been my home once, did Harry not tell you?” Voldemort smiled thinly, “and many Unicorns died to keep me alive.  Now they will die for trying to defeat me!  Die, just as you will, my dear, a long and painful death.”

  “No!  Don’t harm her!” Harry had come to, trying to stand up.

  “Hmm, or should I kill you first?  Decisions, decisions.  But then, perhaps Harry should see my true power before he dies, hm?  Crucio!”

  Jennifer fell, groaning softly, as Harry yelled above her, “Snape, please help us! You can’t do this! You can’t let Craw die!”

  Voldemort laughed at him, breaking the connection.

  “Appealing to Severus?  Why, because he’s been helping Dumbledore?  He’s been doing that on my command, of course.  Severus, what do you say?  Your master wants to kill your servant.”

  “Then you must, of course, kill her, my master,” he said evenly.

  “NO!” Harry got up angrily, managing to break free, heading for Voldemort.  Just then, Jennifer whipped out her own wand.  Perhaps, if she could disable the wand somehow…

  “Aureus Digitalis!”

  Voldemort turned back to face her, watching his wand as it turned to solid gold, laughing.

  “I don’t know what you had in mind, Craw, but a wand retains the same magical property regardless of what material someone tries to transmute it into.  Shall I demonstrate?  Crucio!”

  Jennifer doubled over in pain, rolling on her back, barely holding onto her wand as she attempted to cast another spell.  Suddenly frowning, his face grew fierce.

  “Enough. Your insolence has finally worn thin.  Avada Kedavra!”

  “NO!”  Harry charged at him, trying to move Voldemort’s hand from directly hitting her, but it was too late, Jennifer stopped moving.

  “You fools, don’t just stand there.  Get him off of me so I can kill him proper!” Voldemort demanded, just as Harry grabbed hold of the top of the wand with both hands.  They struggled for a moment, and Harry started to feel the soft metal bend.

  “STUPEFY!” several voices rang out.

  There was a blinding flash that hit the center of the ring, moving outward like a giant wave of lightning, throwing everyone to the ground, and into the flames.  Voldemort had been hit straight back with the force, his hand curled and bleeding as he got up with rage.  Only half of his wand was in his hand, and as he looked turned for the nearest of his minions to demand theirs he took a step back, for what was coming through the flames was terrifying indeed.  As the Unicorns jumped into the ring, the flames licking their hoofs snuffed out, and the largest of them all headed straight for Voldemort, horn aimed at his heart. 

  But just as the Unicorn leaped towards him, Voldemort disapparated with a loud *pop* leaving the Unicorn to charge ahead, jumping over the fallen form of Jennifer before coming up short.  It looked at the only Death Eater who had remained, but backed away from him, fading into the smoking forest.

  Harry felt a hand on his arm from where he lay on one side of the circle, and suddenly found himself surrounded by professors, as well as Ron and Hermione, whose faces were blackened by the smoke.  They looked across in amazement at the Death Eater, who had thrown off his mask and unhooded himself, touching Jennifer’s cheek.

  “Snape!  Then he is a Death Eater!” Hermione said in shock.

  “Craw!  She isn’t is she…”

  Harry’s face fell, tears in his eyes.  He was suddenly aware of Dumbledore passing them, going over and kneeling by her side, talking to Severus.  Severus took out a small phial and drank it, then nodded to Dumbledore.

  Minerva glanced at the three students as she hurried by them, shaking her head before going over to Dumbledore and Severus, looking crestfallen.

  “Oh not Jennifer, not Jennifer!” Minerva started, but Dumbledore put his hand up, as the staff gathered around.  Severus continued to look at Dumbledore with the solemnest of faces.

  “No, Minerva, not Jennifer, not today.  Not today,” he smiled, brushing the hair out of the very pallid face of Jennifer Craw.  “She’s not dead.  Just very deeply asleep.”

  “But that’s impossible!” Rolanda said, picking up the girl’s wrist.  “No pulse.  Oh wait… no, I probably imagined that.”

  “You did not imagine it.  She is quite assuredly asleep.  We need to get her back to the school as quickly as possible.  Meet us back there as soon as you can, Severus.”  Not speaking a word, Severus nodded and Apparated.  

    Harry, Hermione, and Ron cried softly as Harry filled them in on what had happened.  They watched as the teachers mulled about her, some of them kneeling to touch her.  Dumbledore then stood, watching as they put her on a stretcher, leaned over and said something to McGonagall, then walked over to them.  But he did something they really weren’t expecting for him to do at that moment.  He smiled at them. 

  “It’s all right, everything’s all right now,” he said, leaning down a bit to look at them.   “Come, we need to be getting back to the school.  The Forest needs time to recover without our eyes upon it.”

  “How can you say everything’s all right?” Harry demanded, “When Professor Craw…”

  “Is asleep, Harry.  She is just asleep,” Dumbledore smiled.  “A very deep, powerful sleep, but asleep nonetheless.”

  “But I saw him, I saw him cast the Killing Curse on her!” Harry said with amazement.

  “OH!” Hermione said as she stood up.  “OH!  It’s that sleep!  Harry, don’t you remember our defense class?  Cosmic Sleep is strong enough to counter a death spell!”

  “But how?  Who cast it?  And don’t you remember, Hermione, she also said an instantaneous death spell hadn’t ever been countered, next to Harry, I mean.” Ron said.

  “Well, I’m sure she’ll be glad to hear how much her students paid attention in her class,” Dumbledore said, as he gently pushed them ahead.

  “If she wakes up,” Hermione said.  “You know what those odds are like.  She may be like that for the rest of her life.”

  “No, I think Hogwarts needs her too much to leave her like that for too long.  Don’t worry.  I’ll make sure she wakes up, one way or the other,” Dumbledore reassured them.

  “I still want to know how it happened. Who cast the spell and was able to get it at the right time?”  Harry asked.

  “For once, Harry, I can’t tell you all the details in this.  I’m afraid you’ll just have to be satisfied with the remarkable thing you just did by breaking the wand whose power matched your own.”

 

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cosmic Sleep

 

  At last everyone was back at the school, and Jennifer was laid comfortably in a private room in a hospital wing to be looked after.  Harry’s wounds from the blast were tended, and his hand was wrapped so tightly he didn’t think he could move it if he had wanted.  Dumbledore, however, still had much left to do.   Walking into his second study, he waited patiently for the three investigators to be brought up.  Mr. Filch looked kind of disappointed when he dropped them off, but the three looked quite shaken.

  “Sorry it took so long to get back with you, but we had an incident.”

  “He put us in the dungeon!”  Ederick scowled.

  “Had to go fix Moaning Myrtle’s favorite stall,” Filch grinned. “I had to put them somewhere.”

  “That’ll be all Filch,” Dumbledore said, sitting down in his chair.  “So. Now that things are a bit less chaotic, please tell me why, exactly, do you want to arrest two of my professors, and how, exactly, you got that mirror?”

  “I got the mirror from someone I know around the Ministry.  He heard I was working on investigating her death spell use, and thought she might have a link to the Death Eaters.  He’s the one that suggested that I use the mirror to locate where she’s been going.”

  “And this person was?”

  “Lucius Malfoy.  He didn’t say how he got it,” Thurspire admitted.

  “Quite alright, I can guess how and when he got it,” Dumbledore’s eyes flashed.  “And so, of course, you assumed that when she was transported through the mirror to Voldemort that she was one of them.”

  “Well there was a lot more evidence than that, sir, that was just the finishing blow, so to speak.  She knew the Bleeding Death spell for one…”

  “I know it, does that make me a dark wizard?” Dumbledore asked calmly.

  “Er, no sir, but see her father also was a Death Eater, and all her school records said she had a natural talent to dark magic over regular studies…”

  “We can’t exactly control where our natural talents lie, can we?  Only on how to use them, or in some cases how not to use them.” Dumbledore said patiently.

  “And also sir, begging your pardon, but, she’s been taking orders from Severus Snape, and everyone knows he’s a Death Eater.”

  Severus, who had been quietly standing behind them, walked over and stood by Dumbledore, watching the surprise grow on Thurspire’s face.

  “You were saying, Ederick?”  Dumbledore asked.

  “Sir, I don’t think these men actually meant any real…harm, it sounds to me as if they were just being manipulated to make it appear that the blame would lie on me if Jennifer had turned up dead.” Severus said expressionlessly.

  There was a knock at the door and Minerva entered with Arthur Weasley behind her.  Arthur had a paper in his hand.

  “Ederick?  Why was this fine sent to the school?  I thought we had all decided to waive it,” Arthur demanded.

  “Uh, I was actually trying to use it to get more information about her use of dark magic, there was an inquiry about her being a dark witch…”

  “Ederick!  Dark witches don’t ride Unicorns.  Who’s been feeding you all this rubbish?”

  Thurspire looked uncomfortable.

  “The same person who stole Jennifer’s mirror at the Ministry Ball, I believe,” Dumbledore offered.  Arthur thought a moment, and then rolled his eyes.

  “Lucius Malfoy.  Of course,” Arthur shook his head.  “I wonder if we got enough on him yet to put him away,” he grumbled.  Thurspire looked at Arthur wide-eyed.  “Ederick you fool, don’t trust anyone who won’t roll up their sleeves no matter how hot it gets in the Ministry building.  Come on, let’s go so you can file your report.”

  “One other thing before you go Arthur,” Dumbledore said as Minerva led the other three out.  “He’s not going to lead the case on Malfoy, is he?” he asked looking out over the rim of his glasses.

  “Oh no, sir, Bagman is,” Arthur winked, leaving.

  “That was a joke, wasn’t it?” Severus asked after he left.

 

  Downstairs, the hospital wing had begun to accumulate a gathering, as students trickled in to try and find out what happened in the Dark Forest.  Many of them had seen Professor Craw brought up, pale and still, and all of them wanted an explanation of all the details.  Madame Pomfrey stuck out her head every now and then to shoo them all off, and was doing so when Arthur Weasley came down.

  “Hello Arthur, please come in… no not you, or you, or you.” She frowned at the students.  “Go away and let the poor professor sleep.”

  “She won’t wake up anyhow, not unless someone kisses her,” Seamus reminded her, “That is, if it is Cosmic Sleep.  It is, isn’t it?”

  “You’d think at least they’d let us in to have a go at waking her up,” Fred said.  Arthur gave Fred a stern look, who smiled in return.  Arthur shook his head and went in.

  “I hope you don’t mind me keeping those two out, but they were doing less visiting and more trying to get into trouble.” Pomfrey admitted.

  “I quite understand,” Arthur said.  “I can’t believe we’ll finally have them graduated soon,” he chuckled.

  Ginny was sitting up talking to Ron and Hermione, who waved.

  “Have you heard if anyone’s kissed her yet?” Ginny wanted to know.  He laughed.

  “I just got here, although Professor McGonagall filled me in.  What are you two in for?” he asked, looking directly at Ron, concerned.

  “Observation and smoke inhalation.  We got caught up in a fire when we tried to follow Harry into the Forest,” Ron said.

  “We were only trying to help,” Hermione protested.

  “You probably should have just left it to the professors.” Arthur said sternly, but it was apparent he was glad they were both all right.

  “Yeah, that’s pretty much what they said when they found us.  This huge herd of Unicorns came through, and there was a wave that came through with them.”

  “It was a drowning spell,” Hermione said matter-of-factly.  “Not a fear one like the one we learned in class, but a real one, it takes oxygen out of the air.  Suffocated the fire.  I think Dumbledore cast it.”

  “That must have been a sight to see.” Arthur smiled.

  “Madame Pomfrey says I’ll be able to go back to my room any day now,” Ginny smiled

  “Just in time for the big crunch before finals.” Ron nodded.

  “Professor Craw was…” Ginny looked sad a moment.  “Professor Craw was helping me keep up on some of my classes.  I think I’ll do okay.”

  “I’m sure you will, Ginny, that’s my girl.  And I’m sure Professor Craw will be okay too, so don’t you worry about it.”  He got up when he heard Dumbledore’s voice outside.

  “I’ll see you when you get home this summer,” Arthur waved to them, slipping back out the door.

   “…And it has been an exhausting day for many of us and I think it’d be best if you all went to your dorms for the evening.” Dumbledore was telling them sternly.  “Professor Craw’s medical condition is stable, and I’ll hear no more speculation about her ‘being dead’, and no more talk of student kissing line-ups either, as noble as some of your intentions may be.”  Arthur had to quickly cover his mouth to keep from laughing.  “To make sure my orders are carried out, I will ask the professors to take turns keeping watch at her door until I have found a way to break the spell that is upon her.  You’re all dismissed to your rooms now.”

  Reluctantly, the students started to walk off, whispering among themselves.  After they had all gotten some ways down the corridor, Dumbledore took out a key and handed it straight to Severus, who stared at him.

  “You take the first watch, Severus.  I’ll relieve you in a little while.  If anyone can keep everyone else out of her room, you can.”  Dumbledore said, walking off with Minerva.

  Arthur then decided it was best if he called it a night as well and headed home, wondering what the morning would bring.

 

   Severus quickly entered the room and locked the door, glancing over at her.   He then turned, listened to the door, and checked his pocket for his snoop stone to make sure no one else was around.  Then he paced the room for a bit, thinking.  He looked up at the ceiling for another ten minutes and then sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at her.

    She was so still, he thought, too still.  Her hair was slightly singed, as was her robes.  She looked so peaceful… it seemed a shame to wake her, he reasoned.  He sighed.  He wasn’t even sure he could wake her.  In fact, he was quite sure he couldn’t.  And yet, here he was, with the opportunity to prove himself wrong, but he didn’t want to prove himself right.  Then again, what would was he going to do if she did wake up?  His first impulse when considering it was to just try it and leave, then if she did wake up she’d be none the wiser for who actually did it.  Oh, she’d remember eventually perhaps, or eventually he would have the nerve to tell her.  Then again, perhaps she would be better off not knowing.  She seemed to have had nothing but trouble from the moment he laid eyes on her.  It seemed unfair to subject her to any more.

  Severus began to pace again.  Regardless of what happened, he knew he was going to be suspect the moment Voldemort found out she was alive.  It would be all the worse if he found out who woke her.  Assuming that he could, he brooded.  The odds of it working were…he tried not to think of that.  This wasn’t about him.  It was about Jennifer, and he had to at least try.  And as tempted as he was to try and leave, he knew he had to stick it out.  She trusted him with her life, and it was truly in his hands now.  The last thing he was going to do was break that trust.

   He got up and checked the door one last time, and then sat back beside her on the bed, gazing at her for a long time, lost in thought.  Finally, he leaned over and gave her a slow, gentle kiss.  Cautiously he leaned back up, watching her carefully for a moment, putting his hand on her forehead, and wondering if she should be awake by now.

Chapter 23

The Girl Who Lived

 

   Jennifer felt a warm tingle spread across her face, breaking through a dense white haze.  She really didn’t want to wake up, she wanted to get back to the dream she was having.  Voldemort had been in it, his wand pointed at her.  His face had been terrible, she remembered, and she’d been in pain, but then a green and white light hit her from two different directions, and the pain stopped.  There’d been a loud noise, but it hadn’t woken her, and then a silence.  Severus was there, and Dumbledore and Minerva, who had been upset.  And then she’d been moved, and they had left her alone, until at last she was aware that Severus was there, pacing the room, and then suddenly he had kissed her.  She wanted to see where this dream was going, she thought with frustration.

  She felt a coarse hand across her forehead, and smelled a faint aroma of dragon wing powder and chamomile.  It was a real hand, she knew, someone wanting her to wake up, she decided.  After a moment, the hand was gone.

  “Damn.  Perhaps not,” she heard a sad, familiar voice say.  “You’re an old fool, Severus.  I’m sorry, Jennifer.  At least I was able to keep you alive.”

  Jennifer opened her eyes in surprise, looking around.  Sitting on the edge of her bed, Severus Snape sat with his hands over his eyes, as if deep in thought and grief.  Kept me alive?  Voldemort spoke the Killing Curse at her, but she was alive?  But then maybe that meant…but it couldn’t be.

  “This is real? I’m not dreaming?” she said out loud, listening to the sound of her own voice.  Severus spun around in complete surprise.  His face was clear as to what he was thinking.  He couldn’t believe he had woken her.  The surprise melted into fear before giving in to relief and incredulity.  Finally he forced it into a lopsided smile.

  “Well,” he said slowly, “this is going to complicate things.”   Jennifer stared at him in utter astonishment.  He wakes her from what must have had to been Cosmic Sleep and that was the first thing he could think of to say?

  “Well, if it was going to complicate things that much, how come you just didn’t go and let him kill me, like we agreed on in the beginning?” she challenged in annoyance.

  “Oh come now,” Severus smirked leaning over her trying to regain his composure, “that is obviously a baited question, and one we both know the answer to already.  You can do better than that.”

  “Does that mean you’re not going to answer it?” she asked.  He gazed at her thoughtfully, hesitantly brushing her cheek with his hand, encouraged by the flush in her cheeks.  She closed her eyes.  “Now I know I’m dreaming,” she smiled.

  “No,” Severus said suddenly, with a frown.  “If this were a dream, Voldemort would be dead, the Death Eaters disbanded and imprisoned, and there would be nothing standing in our way.”  He leaned down and kissed her lovingly, her lips trembling slightly as she returned it.   He slowly pulled away to look in her dazed green eyes, his face deadly serious.  “No one can know about this, Jennifer.  No one.  Voldemort will soon learn that you are not dead, and if he suspects who countercursed him…” he hesitated, knowing she already knew the answer to that.

  “Don’t go back, Severus, it’s too dangerous,” she pleaded softly, but Severus shook his head.

  “Not going back now would be the same as admitting saving you.  In a way I’m actually safer going.  I just don’t know how I’m going to be able to cover it yet.  The Death Eaters were all masked, so he can’t be completely sure who did it.   Potter maybe?  I’d hate the blame to fall on him.  Well, not that Voldemort could hate him any more than he already does.”

  “How did you manage it, anyhow?” she whispered.

  “Just a little time manipulation with the help of a speed potion and slow potion.  You were the one who gave me the idea, when I listened to your speech on Cosmic Sleep.  I decided then, that I would be ready for the next time he tried anything.  I began carrying one of each in my cloak all the time, so before I left I took the speed, and began softly chanting the countercurse before he even cast the death spell, so that the moment I cast it I was in sync.  I almost used a little time device instead to go back and put you to sleep, but I didn’t want to chance getting seen in two places, and wasn’t quite sure I’d get the timing right even then.”

  “What made you so sure you could wake me up?”  Jennifer asked.  But the look on his face betrayed the fact he hadn’t been sure at all, and he sighed softly.

  “I suspected it after what you saw in the Mirror of Erised, although I spent quite a long time trying to convince myself it was just a harmless infatuation.  Or rather not so harmless considering all the things that happened once we were mixed up together.  And for my part, I attempted to convince myself I was only attracted to you because you were attracted to me,” he smirked and shook his head at himself.  “I don’t think my logic quite panned out on that line of thinking.”

  “Only you would try to apply logic to something like this,” Jennifer teased, pulling the hair out of this face.

  “Well, if it’s any consolation, if it hadn’t worked, I was fully prepared to do everything in my power to see that you woke up one way or the other, even if I had to find the person who could.  I would never have abandoned you,” he assured her sincerely.  But Jennifer had never doubted that, even before he said it.

  “What about, I mean, I understand why you want to keep this a secret but…how can we just explain away being woken from a Cosmic Sleep?”  Severus sighed.

   “Perhaps we don’t have to explain it,” he suggested, pushing her own hair back out of her face.  “We could always just say you are still asleep, and then just tuck you away somewhere quiet until it’s safe.”

  “I’m not going to hide any more than you are, and I’m definitely not playing Sleeping Beauty anymore than I have to,” she said stubbornly.

  “Well I could always put you back to sleep,” he said, slightly annoyed.  She hadn’t ever really argued with him before.

  “Until when, Severus, until it’s safe?”  Jennifer asked.  “When would that be, when Voldemort is dead?  What if there’s loose Death Eaters, not until they’re all caught?  And what if some other threat comes up in the meantime?  Are you going to be able to protect someone who’s asleep?  At least if I’m awake I can defend myself.  Besides, I still have to give out finals.”

  “Ok so you have some points,” Severus sighed, “of course, it still leaves us with the problem of how to explain who woke you up.”

  There was a soft knock at the door.  Severus quickly stood up in alarm, glancing at Jennifer.  Quickly Jennifer closed her eyes, trying to relax, her head slightly turned to the back wall in hopes she wouldn’t give herself away.   She heard Severus walk up to the door, raise the lock and open it.

  “Greetings Dumbledore.  How are Ron and Hermione?”  Severus asked, in a voice that was slightly louder than his normal tone of voice.

  “Restless and wishing they didn’t have to stay in bed.  And how is our other patient doing?”

  “Same as when you left her.” Severus said quickly.

  “Oh really?”  Someone sat on the bed beside her.  “Let me see if I, with my great magic powers and wisdom, can find a cure for this problem.”

  Suddenly Jennifer felt someone poke her in the side.  Oh no.  After a few more playful pokes her side was assault with a round of them, launching her into a fit of giggles.  It was no use; she opened her eyes, gazing apologetically at Severus.

  “Oh look,” smiled Dumbledore.  “It seems that I have just discovered an alternative cure to Cosmic Sleep.  So glad to see you back among the living, Jennifer.  How are you feeling?”

  “Happy,” she answered after a moment, looking over at Severus, who met the gaze steadily.  “Worried, anxious, solemn, unsure, perhaps even a little afraid, but mostly happy.”

  “My word, and you figured all of that out without looking into your pocket mirror,” he winked at her, displaying it in his hand.  “Don’t worry, it’s back to normal now.  And I put a little something extra on it to keep it from getting in the wrong hands again.”  He patted her arm then got up, glancing over at Severus.  “I won’t keep you both long, I’m sure you still have many things you need to discuss,” he held up his hand, seeing that Severus was going to interrupt, “and no, I’m not going to tell anyone, you need not worry about that.  I just want to let you know that however the two of you decide to handle this, it is your decision alone, but you have my support,” he smiled to Jennifer.  But don’t let him bully you, he was thinking.  Jennifer suppressed a smile.  “I only ask that when you have all the details worked out, Severus, would you come to my study and fill me in so we know how to proceed.”

  Severus nodded to him.  “Of course, sir.”

  “Good, then I’ll go and see to it you aren’t disturbed further,” he held his hand out, and Severus gave him the key.  “I’ll allow you to Apparate yourself up when you’re ready.”  Dumbledore then left, locking the door behind himself.

  “Do you think anyone will suspect that we should particularly watch out for?” Severus asked her, sitting back down.

  “Minerva I think.  Especially after the game,” Jennifer blushed.

  “Hm.  Yes, I was doing it too,” he admitted.  “Oh, well, I don’t suppose her knowing will be too much of a problem”

   “Sirius suspects,” Jennifer added.  Severus squinted at her.  “I kept turning him down!  And the dance…”

   “Hm.  Yes, Dumbledore made me promise I wouldn’t dance with you the rest of the night, thought I was being careless,” Severus scowled.  “So I left.”

  “I figured it was something like that,” Jennifer sighed.  “I suppose we could pretend to dislike one another or something…but how would we be able to see each other without word leaking out? I mean, how would be able to communicate when we do want see each other?  If we’re going to see each other, that is,” she added unsurely.

  “We’ll accomplish it with your talent for truth and my genius for discretion,” he said at last.  “Don’t worry, Jennifer.  After all we’ve been through together to get to this point, we’re not going to turn our backs on each other now,” he vowed gravely.

 

Chapter 24

Return of Summer

 

  Dumbledore smiled at Jennifer from across his desk as she leaned back in her chair.   Nearby sat Minerva McGonagall, also looking thoughtful.  They had just gone over her record for the year, and were waiting for an answer.

  “I want to come back next year,” Jennifer said firmly.  She didn’t think there could have been any doubt of that.  “I know I’ve only been here for a year but… I just couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.”  Dumbledore smiled.

  “Well, one thing is certain; you’ve turned a lot of people on their heads this year.  And there’s no argument that you have definitely made an impact on this school.  Mostly, in a good way,” he teased.  “I would be delighted to have you on as permanent staff.  Of course, if you have any reservations at all, now is the time to say them.”

  “Oh.  Well, since you put it that way, you know, I don’t really think Defense is my best subject.  Not sure I have the right disposition for it,” she confided in him.  Severus, who had been standing behind her chair, stopped drumming his fingers.

  “Don’t listen to her, Dumbledore, she’s the best Defense professor we’ve had in five years.” Severus scowled at her suspiciously.

  “No offense, but frankly, that’s not saying much.” Jennifer shrugged.  “I just think it’s a waste, when you have someone on staff who can avert a death spell.”  Minerva smiled slightly, her theory confirmed.

  “You found a way to defeat a Dementor army,” Severus pointed out.

  “With a little luck, and your warning before what was going on, if you’ll remember.”

  “And you saved Ginny Weasley because of your knowledge of dark spells…”

  “And by making a potion that you admitted you couldn’t have done, potions are my subject,” Jennifer said.

   Dumbledore finally put up a hand, looking between them.  “That’s enough, don’t make me have to ask one of you to leave,” he said with amusement, then sat back in his chair thoughtfully.

  “Sir, if she wasn’t interested in Defense, I doubt that she’d have agreed to spending the summer with Auror Belle to hone her Truth Seeking skills.  As much as I hate admitting it, I think she’d be throwing a great deal away not to stay on as Defense.”  Severus insisted.

   “Just the fact that you’re standing there advocating another person to keep this position is enough to give me pause,” Dumbledore smiled softly.  “Jennifer, as much as your heart, and indeed your logic are in the right place, I think so sudden a move would, for one thing, arouse a bit of suspicion.  And, I was looking forward to hearing what you had planned for your agenda next year after studying with Madame Belle.  Severus, I know I’ve held you back a bit in this, and I had my reasons, and yet, even as I admit that you are probably ready to move into the position, I don’t think that’s what’s best for the school right now.”  He leaned forward, looking between them.  “Let’s talk about this again, in another year or two, and we’ll see how you both feel about it with a little more time, and a little more experience.” Jennifer grimaced.  She knew that was aimed at her.   “Besides, I want to end this silly “one-year” curse we’ve been having lately.”

  “Very well, I had to try,” she shrugged with a smile.

  “You had better get packed, I suppose.  I expect you’ll be here and ready to go well before classes start next year?” Dumbledore asked as she got up.

  “It’s home to me now.  I don’t think I could stand being away too long,” Jennifer admitted.  Exchanging glances with Severus, Jennifer left, and after having a couple more words with Dumbledore about what he was going to be doing, Severus followed.

   Minerva shook her head, looking at the door as it closed.

  “You know, I really don’t think they’re going to be able to hide it, Albus,” she said with a sigh, “At least, not for very long.”

  “Yes, I do believe you’re right, Minerva.  But they’re going to have to figure that out on their own, I think.  Quite an interesting couple, aren’t they?”

  “Quite.  Next year should prove another exciting year at Hogwarts,” Minerva smiled mischievously.

  “I’d not have it any other way,” Dumbledore smiled.

 

  Jennifer gazed in her mirror thoughtfully as she stood upon the parapet, waiting impatiently.  She missed them already, her students.  Worried about them as if they were her children.  Harry getting stuck at the Dursleys for a couple weeks didn’t thrill her any more than it did him, but Sirius was doing something for Dumbledore.  Ron’s house, from what she heard, had been chaotic ever since Arthur got his ministry post.  At least Hermione had a nice normal family to go home to.

  “Oh, no, not that old mirror again,” scowled Severus, coming out the door.  “I thought you gave up on that thing.”

  “Well, I always like to double check before a long trip.”

  “That reminds me why I came up.  I made you up a sedative for the way,” he said, handing her a vial.  She put it in her pocket.

  “You sure you two are going to be able to manage?” she asked.

  “You mean, am I going to be able to work with Sirius without wanting to kill him?” Severus asked.

  “Your words, not mine,” Jennifer chuckled.

  “Well, you’ll know the answer in a couple of weeks.  You know what to do if you get into trouble, correct?”

  “You, Dumbledore and I have gone over it a thousand times, enough already.  Besides, with an Auror living in the same building how much trouble can I get into?” she asked.

  “Knowing you?  A lot.” Severus grunted.

  “Are you still here?” Dumbledore came up the stairs, closing the door behind him.  “How long does it take Hagrid to rent a coach?”

  “Busy time of year, everyone’s going on break,” Jennifer shrugged.

  “Try not to work too hard, Jennifer.  Wouldn’t want to have you so tired when you come back that I catch you sleeping on the job again.” Dumbledore teased.

  Severus and Jennifer glared at him.

  At last, the coach appeared, hovering just to the other side of the parapet, rolling out steps that went down over the side.  Hagrid popped out, carefully walking down onto the parapet.

  “Sorra took so long.  Ready, professor?” Hagrid asked, putting her trunk and suitcase on the coach.

  “See you in a few months, Professor Dumbledore,”

  “Take care, Jennifer.  Send Madame Belle my best.” Dumbledore smiled.

  “Good luck, Severus.  And try not to kill Sirius.  Harry would never forgive you.” She grinned, hopping into the coach.  Ruby and Babe neighed restlessly, and the goblin driver took off, heading east towards the ocean.  Severus glanced at his watch, as the hand stayed steadily on “elsewhere.”  He was suddenly aware that a part of himself was elsewhere too.  Frowning at the realization, Severus grunted that he had some work to do, and left.

   Dumbledore stood quietly there for a moment looking out at the stars, smiling to himself.