22,23&24
Chapter 22 - strike three; Christmas cheer and Quirell’s fear
It was now December, Christmas spirit on the rise and the school was buried in snow. But all I could focus on was Quirrell and how to stop him. The baseline of the plan was obvious, since Quirrell still believed that Hogwarts was housing the philosopher's stone, he would no doubt go through the precautions that were yet to be put away. They were meant to protect the stone and to prevent it from being stolen, but now they were a perfect trap. I just needed to make sure I didn't get hurt as Uncle and Shoji would be very worried, not that Sev and Evangeline wouldn't be worried, it's just that they already know the jist of the plan.
I really needed to focus on my job more though, as I had already managed to worry my already distraught students. Not to mention how Harry had retreated into his shell after the fire incident, it had put Draco on edge too, though I suppose anyone would react like that after being set on fire and getting second degree burns as a result. Even if there was no trace of those burns now.
“Fred, George, I am not in the mood, 2 points from Gryffindor each, and if I catch you again it will be 5 points each.” I heard them retreat from their hiding spot which was seemingly in between the bookshelves.
“But it's Christmas Eve, professor” George whined, “everyone needs a good prank on Christmas Eve” Fred finished.
“Then go prank another member of staff, say, Quirrell, he pissed me off this morning.”
“Have you even been to the main hall yet?” “No, why?” “Just wondering.” “What did you two do now?” “Guess you'll just have to find out for yourself.” Before I could inquire any further, they were gone. Closing my book on enchanted chess sets, I made my way after them.
I couldn't deny that the school looked magnificent, the main hall especially. I sighed and made my way over to the Gryffindor table, where I could see Fred and George grinning so wide it looked like it hurt. Taking the vacant seat in between them, I noticed an oddly shaped package. Raising an eyebrow, I leaned back before poking the mysterious object.
“It's not a bomb professor, it's an early Christmas gift from the whole Weasley family, as thanks for not killing me and George.” The fact that they said it in unison just made me more suspicious. Slowly I opened the package. What laid inside was a double flute, a well crafted one too. It was rather surprising that Molly had remembered how much I liked to play the instrument. But how did they pay for it? As much as I dislike them, I wouldn't want them to go into debt.
“Where did you get this?” I know it probably sounded rude but I was genuinely curious.
“You remember Charlie right? Well he’s currently working with dragons and I ain’t got all the info but something happened, and he got given this as a thank you, but no one in our family knows how to play it, and Mum said that you knew, so here we are." That made a lot of sense actually.
I made sure to inspect it carefully because the twins might have tampered with it. It didn't seem like they had though. Double flute in hand, I gave the two a pat on the head after standing up, which they high fived each other at.
Harry and Draco entered the main hall just as I was about to leave. I planned on just a simple greeting, but was stopped when Draco held on to the rim of my sleeve. He quickly let go after getting my attention but the notion still stood.
“Yes?”
“Um, me and Harry just wanted to give you these.” There were two boxes in each of their arms, four all together. Two blue and silver, two green and silver. “They are Christmas gifts for you and Uncle. The blue ones are for you and the green ones are for Uncle. I also have this one for Shoji.” He pulled out an even smaller box from his robes. “We would have given you them on Christmas but I'm celebrating at home, and I invited Harry over to stay during the break." After patting them both on the head, I took the gifts into my arms and made my way back to my room.
The walk was rather uneventful only having to stop once to let Hagrid, who was holding a sizable tree, pass. I didn't have any classes today as it was Christmas Eve so I had the entire day to plan on the best way to get Quirrell sent to Azkaban, where he rightly belongs. Only remembering to eat when either Sev or Tulip dragged me to the main hall.
The next morning I woke up to Tulip batting me on the forehead, only stopping when I rose from the bed. She leapt off, landing gracefully on the closed suitcase staring avidly at the presents she and Sev had most likely placed on top of my study table. I ponder whether I should open them now or wait until later to open them with the rest of the family. I decided on opening them now as Uncle most likely had a mountain of presents waiting for us over in Australia. I went about my morning routine as usual: shower, brush teeth, brush hair, get dressed for the day and have my morning coffee. By the time I had done all that, there was a knock on my door. Opening it to see Sev standing on the other side, I wordlessly moved back to let him through closing the door behind him.
“Morning Sev, take it you’re here to make sure we leave on time?”
“Obviously, you opening them here or at home?” he nodded his head in the direction of the presents.
“Opening them here, you?”
“Same.”
Walking over to the study he plopped himself down and turned over the bottomless bag he was holding. There were more presents than I was expecting, and it seemed like some of the students had given him some.
“Looks like you're someone's favourite teacher.”
“Nonsense, they're just from the Quidditch team.”
“Yeah yeah.” Turning around, I picked up one of the boxes from Harry and Draco. Checking the tag, this one was from Draco. Carefully undoing the ribbon that I knew Cissy had taken care to tie, I removed the lid to see what appeared to be a wand handle. It was beautifully crafted, stylized to look like silver vines. There were small gems placed throughout adding a hint of color to its silver base. All encased in a kind of resin to make it comfortable to hold. Taking out my wand, placing it into the handle, before turning it slightly to the right to lock it into place, it fit like a glove.
“Sev, take a look at what Draco got me.” He turned his head in my direction giving me a clear view of the gifts his Quidditch team got him. They were all potions related.
“Well he sure went all out this year. Do you think he got me one too?”
“Probably, you know how he always liked to make our gifts match in some way.”
Digging through the pile of presents, he managed to find one of the green and silver boxes. It was the one from Harry though so he put that to the side for the time being. A few seconds later he found Dracos. It was indeed a wand handle, though his was styled after a tree. We both silently agreed to open Harry's last, so by the time we got to his gift we had a monastery of random trinkets. I couldn't help but wonder what he had gotten us. He would know what we like seeing as Draco had helped him out. It was heavier than the wand handles. Slowly opening the box, it revealed. A brush. But not a normal brush, a brush specifically crafted for unicorns. It even had Neaphal's name carved on it. Harry really is a good listener if he picked up on the fact that I have a unicorn, seeing as Draco probably only glazed over this fact. He never really found unicorns to be all that cool. It got me wondering what on earth Harry had gotten Sev, as he didn’t have a pet of any kind And Harry was clearly too perceptive just to get him generic potions stuff like the other students had.
Oh. Now isn't that sweet. I looked down to see Sev holding a quill set. He liked calligraphy. He found it to be rather therapeutic.
“Aww, who would have thought that Harry was such a good gift giver.” Sev was now bright red.
“Shut up.” He was embarrassed although he shouldn't be. I walked past him to grab my suitcase, opening it in order to shove all my new trinkets into its depths.
“We should get going now, don't want to get turned around.” Sev groaned at that, he never found the whole secret code thing to be ‘practical’. I found the opposite to be true, but to each their own.
Leaving Hogwarts was as easy as breaking in would be. Though both would come with their own nuisances. We had made it to Hogsmeade by the time that our plan was to be set into motion. While you may not be able to apparate in and out of Hogwarts, Portkey’s were in the books. Booking a room in the three broomsticks for the night was no problem, and Sev would be able to keep himself busy. If anybody asked, we were just meeting to discuss teaching modules for the new year.
The feeling of using a portkey was something you could never get used to. After regaining my footing, I made my way towards the door that Fluffy was stationed behind. I swiftly brought my double flute out before they could even growl. I stopped before fully sending them to sleep; they only needed to be social enough to let me pass. Falling gently into Devils' Snare. A quick lumos did the trick. Making my way to the next door, the furious sound of flapping wings could be heard in rapid succession. Opening the door a million keys could be seen flying about. But I only needed one, a big, old and silver one. It stood out from the crowd like a sore thumb. Picking up one of the broomsticks that lined the wall, I took off, catching it almost immediately. Another door down, I made sure to lock it behind me though.
Now my personal favourite, the enchanted chess set. It was the most challenging of them all due to the fact that it didn't have a direct set of steps to take, but nonetheless, it was particularly easy for an experienced witch and chess player like myself. Now Sev’s. picking up the smallest potion’s bottle, just as Sev had instructed I drank it all and made my way through the fire.
It only took two minutes for him to arrive. I was sitting right behind the mirror that I wish I hadn't looked at.
“Petrificus Totalus!” he fell to the ground, caught completely off guard. I walked over to him and he was crying, knowing what was to happen to him now.
“Why are you crying? You should be happy that I have the heart to hand you over to Azkaban. I could do so much worse and no one would blame me. And you Voldemort, you wretched snake, a mere piece of cloth won’t hide your presence, the stench you give off was even noticed by the students. So pitiful that you chose to try and rule over the humans, knowing that you were nothing but a failure to your own kind. A feat that even after 1,000 years you have not come close to achieving. Having to steal the name of a dead child to gain even a moderate amount of recognition." Without another word I dragged him up by the collar, and with the use of another portkey we were transported to the holding cells at the ministry of magic, having managed to convince them to at least investigate him. The waiting guards quickly shoved a dishevelled Quirrell into the cell, his turban coming loose revealing the face of a monster. There was no doubt about my words now. He would be punished.
Chapter 23 - home sweet home
As per the agreement, my involvement in the capture of Quirrell would not be known by the public. So after a quick talk with the Minister of Magic, I was on my way to The Three Broomsticks where Sev and Evangaline were waiting for me.
“Sorry for the wait, hope you weren't bored.” They both jumped slightly at the sound of my voice having not seen me arrive via apparition.
“Bored? We’ve been worried sick!” she paused then smiled “But by the looks of you that thing is suffering the consequences of his actions.”
“Yep, and soon he shall meet his maker,’’ we both sounded too happy to be talking about someone's demise.
“Let’s get going then. It will be dark by the time we get home, who knows who and what may be hovering around with The Dark Lord’s capture." It was a reasonable worry.
Seeing as we were going cross country we would have to take the Midgard train. Much like the train to Hogwarts, the Midgard train (primarily known as Midgard) would take wizards and witches alike to the main cities of the wizarding world. Our destination was The Antipodes (the wizarding name for Australia). Or more specifically, Tocktown, the country’s capital. It had been quite some time since I had taken Evangeline with us to The Antipodes. It was just the same as I’d remembered.
“Merlin, it's nice to be back, well almost back but you get what I mean.”
“Indeed, Shoji has grown so much since the last time I visited! I wonder if he will even recognise me,” Evangeline worried, but I believed that Shoji would remember her.
“Sileas has enough pictures of you in the house that even a random person who had been inside for business would recognise you.” We both blushed at that. I elbowed Sev in retaliation. The train ride was relatively calm, the silence filled with idle chatter and reminiscent story-telling. I was already feeling less murderous. How lucky Quirell was that I had family matters to attend to.
Hours had passed and the sky was now spotted with stars, Severus sleeping against the window, Evangeline lovingly against my shoulder. It was nice, the sound of the chugging train was the perfect white noise as I immersed myself in a novel. It was one of my favourites, 'A Tale Without Time.’ A story of which the name barely told you anything, a story based on a truth so unrealistic you would never believe it. A voice came over the intercom announcing that we had arrived at our stop, lightly shaking the two awake we grabbed our belongings and made our way onto the platform, a short walk later we had arrived. Unlocking the door, then closing it behind us as gently as possible, since Shoji would be in bed at this time. Footsteps could be heard coming down the entrance hall. Uncle turned the corner with a bright smile, welcoming us with open arms.
~ Time skip ~
After managing to placate Uncle enough that we could go to our rooms to put everything away and sleep after the long journey, I sat in my room, Evangeline by my side, intensely contemplating how I was going to tell Uncle that I was engaged.
“Maybe just do it quick, like ripping off a plaster?’’
“That’s probably the only way to tell him. Should we wait until Shoji is awake so that we won’t have to explain it twice?”
“That does seem like the best idea. What if we get Severus to do it for us? it’ll give them enough time to calm down before we have to talk to them.”
“Yeah, seems like the best course of action. Let’s just go to bed for now, I'm tired.” Changing into night wear, I was a little nervous as this would be the first time we had slept in the same bed since officially becoming a couple. Evangeline didn't seem worried in the slightest. It made me feel a bit silly. Though being able to hug her as I fell asleep without worrying about if I came off as weird was quite nice. She reached for my hand, and instantly in her touch, any worry I had felt simply melted away.
Morning rolled around, I woke up to empty arms and the fresh smell of breakfast. Seeing as I was in the comfort of my home, I couldn't be bothered to get changed or do any more than brush my hair just yet, so I put my glasses on and made my way to the kitchen. Judging by the loud voices, Evangaline had already managed to convince Sev to do most of the work. A cup of coffee that was placed on the kitchen counter was quickly nabbed and subsequently downed. Putting the now empty cup down, I wrapped my arms around her waist and asked.
“What are you making?”
“Morning, and eggs, smoked bacon, grilled tomatoes, and mushrooms. The classics.”
“Smells good.”
“What, me? or the food?”
“Why not both?” I said playfully.
“Please don't flirt in the kitchen, keep that to your own room.” The voice was unfamiliar. I turned around to see a strange kid, similar in age to Shoji.
“Are you Dominic?”
“Yep. You’re Sileas?”
“Yep. And this is Evangeline.”
“Nice to meet you, Dominic.”
“You too.”
He then proceeded to walk to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of orange juice, before leaving the room.
“Well that was different to what I was expecting.” Evangaline merely laughed at that remark, before turning back to what she was cooking. A mad dash could be heard a few minutes later, and Uncle appeared at the doorway. The Dominic kid had probably told them that I was awake.
“You two are finally together!! Oh, I’m so happy. You're all grown up.” If it wasn't for the fact that one of us was cooking and the other was draped over the one cooking he would have crushed us in a bear hug. He was practically vibrating with glee. Shoji was standing just behind him to the right.
“Heya bud, happy late Christmas.” I pulled myself off of Evangeline and made my way over to him, leaning down and engulfing him in a hug. We held the embrace for a few seconds before letting go. I was worried that he would be embarrassed since his friend was here but he didn't seem to mind.
I knew I wouldn't be able to walk away without giving my uncle a hug so I resigned myself to my fate. “Ok, can't breathe.” he let go with an apologetic expression. “Happy to see you too.”
“Bout time you got up. Throw me to the wolves, why don't you.”
“Ah, don't be so sour, admit that you were happy to be home and talk with your little brother,” before we could fully divulge into a back and forth, Evangeline called out.
“Food’s done.” It was basically an order to sit down and shut up. But none of us could really argue.
Chapter 24 - end of book one
“See that's what I've been saying! The whole pure blooded thing is absolute bullsh*it because they are humans and therefore had to have had muggle ancestors at one point, so no one is truly pure blooded! You agree with me right, Sileas?”
“Yeah, Dominic's got a point. The only places that have pure blooded wizards and witches are the ones that primarily don’t have humans in their population. We only got magic after some dumbass decided to make a wish, while they always had it.”
“Where is this conversation even going and who brought this topic up?” I had been debating with the kid for so long that I honestly forgot that Sev and Shoji were still in the room.
“Honestly, I don’t know. But at least I'm interacting with the kid in a civil manner. Now back to the previous topic. Since Shoji lets you stay in the house, I'm going to assume that you know that he is a Filolial. So are you something of a cross-species or are you of human lineage?” Dominic looked a bit nervous at the question. He looked over at Shoji and seemed to get a positive response, because he quickly responded. “I'm a Dracotaur. I have a human Mom, and my Dad is a dragon who polymorphed into a humanoid form. So yeah, you don't have to worry about me burning the house down, I'm not a fire type.”
“Wow, in all my years I never imagined that I would meet another Dracotaur. I've got to introduce you to the Thames family. Deon needs some other dragon friends that aren't related to him.”
“Wha you know the Thames but how? They're literally royalty? Dragon! Royalty! And hold up, did you say deon. Like, the Deon Thames, the second prince, are you saying that you not only know the Thames family, but the main family, the heirs to the throne of magical Japan!"
“Yep, you could say that we are technically blood related, well Shoji is on his Dads side. But the Dougalass family did help them in that big war from a few thousand years ago.”..“you ok?”
~ time skip ~
It was nice to be home again spending time with the family, and Shoji's new friend wasn't too bad. Evangeline was having fun too thankfully. I was worried, seeing as this would be her first Christmas since the passing of her parents. They had both died of natural causes and had lived long lives, but it still hurt to see them go. It's a pity that they didn't live to see us get engaged. They would have been over the moon. Severous was relaxing, well now that the chaos of yesterday was over. Vega was enjoying his time on break, having made the decision that he was now comfortable to live on his own, though he still visited every now and then. You wouldn't think that I had just sentenced a man to eternal damnation. But the break wouldn't last for much longer as we still needed to go back to work. Making the most of the time I had, not a single second went by that I didn't appreciate.
I wonder how Harry and Draco were doing. I told Shoji about them when I gave him Draco's gift, which turned out to be a bag of shoji's favourite candies that weren't produced over here in Australia. Wonder how Draco will react to Dominic. After all, he has spent years trying to get close to Shoji just to find out that some random kid became his friend so quickly. He was definitely going to blow a casket.
Sadly enough, Christmas break came to an end and we had to return to Hogwarts. We split ways with Evangeline almost immediately after setting foot back in Scotland as she couldn't leave her cafe in the hands of her employees much longer. We still had around half a year left before my second year teaching at Hogwarts would start. And I couldn't be more impatient if I tried. Teaching a bunch of hormonal teenagers wasn’t exactly my first career choice. Especially since absolutely nothing interesting happened, at first.
It was just peeves being his usual annoying self. Not leaving me alone, determined to get some sort of a reaction out of me. I’d kill him if he wasn’t already dead. But alas, he remains unsuccessful in that endeavour. Though he has made a permanent enemy of the school's librarian. It was just like every other day, Peeves was following me through the restricted section and growing very annoyed with my indifference, he sped off down the corridor sending books off of the shelves only to stop with a resounding clang so loud it reverberated off the wall.
We both were both shocked beyond belief. So taken aback by what had just happened, he didn't even acknowledge my stupor.
“What the f*ck just happened?” Peeves sounded rather pissed off.
“Well this certainly wasn't something I expected. This is the first time it’s happened, with how much time you spend down here I would have thought you knew about it.” My bafflement, evident in my tone.
“Of course this is the first time it has happened. I wouldn't have shut up about it if not.” walking over to what seemed to be a wall length mirror, I placed my palm on its surface. It was warm, nothing like a mirror should feel like.
“Your old Peeves, have you seen this mirror before?” he gave me a side eye before striking his nose up in rejection. This was strange, very strange. Out of all of the ghosts Peeves was one of the most vocal out of the older lot and had ventured almost all of Hogwarts likely knowing practically all the secrets it held. He even knew about the chamber.
For him not to know what this mirror was, it either had just been moved here which was very unlikely, or had been hidden by very powerful, and very old magic that had simply worn off and become obsolete due to magical depletion over time, meaning that whatever this was, it was important.
“Peeves, if you keep this a secret I'll let you say that you finally caught me off guard.” His eyes lit up at that. Even if it was a lie Peeves wouldn't turn the deal away, he was too determined to keep his reputation as an imminent pest at the top.
Time had passed, and it was almost time for me to start my class. As reluctant as I was , I turned my back and made my way out of the library, not without drowning the mirror in secrecy and protection charms.
My classes had been going rather smoothly, even my first years could make a star chart relatively well. First year Slytherins and Hufflepuff’s were the ones in my class today.
“So, who wants to be the one to try and explain what happens to stars when they die?” The majority of the students seemed confused at that question.
“Stars can die?” Ugh. I was half tempted to take points from Hufflepuff just for that question alone.
“Yes, stars can die, the sun, the planets around us and the one we are currently living on will die, as must everything at some point or another. It’s not going to happen within our lifetime, and the human population will probably be extinct by the time it happens, but it will happen. Now who wants to answer my question?” a Slytherin kid at the back raised their hand, and after nodding my head encouragingly in their direction, they gave the stupidest answer I think I have ever heard. 1 point from Slytherin.
“No.(this is mostly magical and not the actual scientific thing that happens when a star dies.) When a star dies, for all intents and purposes they explode. Every star and every constellation has meaning. And it has long been believed that a star is a compact and fiscal representation of a soul. Some stars stay for a long time because they are still in limbo, repenting for their sins or watching over living loved ones. So when the star finally dies, it shows whomever the star is connected to has finally moved on to whatever comes after death, whether it be reincarnation or nothing at all. And the light that emanates from the newly deceased star explodes full of colour, which represents the emotions and memories of the deceased. But we will never know for sure until we die ourselves."
“But if that's the case why do we have ghosts?”
“Because they either have unfinished business or they are too stubborn, perhaps even fearful, to accept their death. And then there's poltergeist which are sentient beings that are created by the emotion of the living, they’re called different things in different places but are basically the same thing. They can be made by emotions such as, happiness, despair, rage, obsession and so on and so forth. The name poltergeist translates from German origin to ‘noisy ghost’ which is a very accurate name."
“So what is Peeves made out of?”
“Psychopathy.”
End of book one...…To be continued.