Chapter 11
„I’m sorry we didn’t have the chance to repeat that Boggart lesson,” Lupin said with a somewhat sad smile as he walked next to Hermione towards the Quidditch pitch, where there would be a match of Slytherin against Hufflepuff. The last one before the final match. Right now, she didn’t really care about the match, though.
“That’s not your fault, Professor. I just don’t understand why Dumbledore fired you. I mean, he doesn’t know about that night, does he?” Dumbledore had no way of knowing what had happened in the Shrieking Shack two weeks ago, at least in her opinion.
“Not as far as I know. He said a student made the same connection you and Draco made, but, unfortunately, he didn’t stay quiet about it and told his parents and other students, who also complained to their parents. Dumbledore said he didn’t have a choice but to let me go.”
Hermione snorted and Lupin gave her a wry smile. “I know. You children should be careful. I will get in contact with Draco’s parents. I can’t believe I’ve been so misled for all these years.”
She knew the reason why he would want to talk to Lucius and Narcissa, it was because of everything he had learned about Dumbledore and her father, but Hermione also knew that the Malfoys were involved in many businesses. Maybe they could get him a job. She would talk to them during the game. He didn’t deserve poverty for something he couldn’t control.
“You weren’t the only one,” she said quietly, but then they stopped talking about that topic, however vague, as it became more crowded the closer they came to the Quidditch Pitch. “I’ll tell Lucius and Narcissa you will be in touch.” She smiled at him sadly. “I’m sorry you’re leaving, Professor. Your lessons were excellent.”
“Thank you. I also had some excellent students.”
Hermione went to the stands where she met her friends and some of their parents who had had time to come for the game.
“How are you?” Cassius’ eyes were worried, but she gave him a reassuring smile. She was quite alright considering she had recently witnessed such a gruesome death. The only thing she had briefly wondered about was whether something was wrong with her. It had not been pleasant to see that and she still felt guilty for having given Pettigrew the chance to overpower her in the first place, but she didn’t feel terrible about him having died that way or having died at all. She was sorry about the missed chance of proving Sirius’ and maybe even her father’s innocence, but not about Pettigrew as a person. While Daphne, even though she hadn’t seen it, had been shocked about anyone dying that way, Hermione hadn’t found it in her to truly care after the first shock. She had talked to her father about that and he had told her that he feared she had that rather pragmatic world view from him.
“I’m fine, Cassius.”
During the game, she told Lucius and Narcissa that Dumbledore had fired Lupin and that the former teacher, who was currently watching the match from the teachers’ stands for the last time, would contact them soon.
She hesitated. “Do you think there’s anywhere you could help him find a job? He was a very good teacher, much better than Quirrel or Lockhart.”
Lucius gave her a small smile. “Don’t worry too much, I’m sure something can be done.”
She was glad to hear that and just wanted to tell him so, when suddenly Slytherin house started cheering loudly. Hermione looked back to the field and grinned when saw that Draco had caught the Snitch.
“Looks like he may finally forgive me for not buying him a new broom,” Lucius drawled.
As predicted, Snape had to take over the Defence lessons after Lupin’s departure and while Hermione knew he liked teaching that subject, the double work load certainly wasn’t easy.
Fortunately, there were only two more months of school left and before they knew it, the year was over and Slytherin celebrated their tenth time of winning the House Cup in a row.
Winning the House Cup yet again was great, but seeing Dumbledore’s face when he made the announcement was priceless.
When they came to the carriages which would bring them to Hogsmeade, both her and Draco froze as soon as they came into view.
“What is it?” Theo asked.
Neither of them answered. Hermione had never given much thought as to how the carriages moved, she had just assumed that they were charmed to move on their own. But they weren’t. Now she could see that there were creatures harnessed to each one. They were black and winged and had the rough shape of horses, but skeletal, as if there was no meat between the bones and the black hide. There were reptilian-like features, especially in their faces.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” A dreamy voice from behind them whispered happily.
Hermione turned around, so did Draco. Before them stood a blond girl with big blue eyes, colourful clothes and Niffler-shaped earrings. She seemed to be a little younger than them, maybe she had just finished her second year.
Apparently, she could see the creatures, too, while none of their friends seemed to notice any difference.
“What are they?” Draco asked and the girl smiled more brightly.
“Thestrals.”
Hermione had read about Thestrals and knew they could only be seen by those who had witnessed the death of another person. That explained everything. Supposedly, they also brought bad luck, what Hermione thought was superstitious nonsense.
On the train, they were just explaining to their friends what they had seen, when someone knocked on their compartment door. Harry and Ron came in.
“Hi, do you mind, if we sit? We have to tell you something.”
“Sure.” They closed the door and although it was rather crowded now, they all did manage to sit in the end.
Their first question was about the Thestrals as well and Hermione explained once more what they were and why they could see them now.
Harry nodded in understanding, but then changed the subject, speaking in a quiet voice despite the closed door. “Dumbledore called me to his office three days ago. He did try to use Legilimency, but I managed to keep everything you told me from him.”
“Well done, Potter,” Draco chimed in, grinning.
Harry returned the grin before becoming serious once more. “He told me that Voldemort cursed the position of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher after he was declined the job and now no teacher can stay for longer than a year.”
Hermione couldn’t help but laugh and the other Slytherins joined in. “I really wonder what else he’ll find to accuse him of. By now he must be responsible for pretty much everything that is going wrong in the Wizarding World.” She couldn’t wait to tell her father about this!
“And he doesn’t even have to be alive for it,” Ron chimed in and again Hermione had to giggle, albeit for a different reason.
“Can a position even be cursed?” Greg asked, looking around for an answer.
“I don’t think so. Sounds pretty ludicrous to me,” Theo said with a shrug. “You can curse a family, with a blood curse, or a single person. And places or objects, of course. But a position is nothing tangible. What exactly is there to place a curse on? No blood, no person, nothing.”
Draco nodded in agreement. “I’ll ask my father, but from all I know about curses, I think Theo is right. Either Dumbledore can’t keep a teacher for longer than a year or he gets rid of them on purpose to have yet another thing to blame on Lord Riddle.”
Back at home, Lucius agreed with Theo and Draco: There was no way to curse a teaching position.
The topic was soon secondary for Draco, however. Lucius had managed to get them all tickets for the upcoming Quidditch World Cup, which would take place in England this summer. Draco was thrilled and Hermione, while not as interested in Quidditch as her friend, except when Slytherin was involved, was looking forward to it, too. It was a big Wizarding event, after all, and it surely would be interesting.
“Where’s Sirius?”, Hermione asked after a while. They had been at home for over an hour now and hadn’t seen him yet.
Narcissa shook her head in annoyance. “He kept being rude every time Severus turned up and I told him that he could only stay, if he either stayed away when he’s here or behave like an adult. He preferred the third option: He moved to a Malfoy property in France. Don’t worry, Mr Potter can still visit him, we’ll organise a Portkey, and there’s a relative living close-by, one that Sirius gets along with quite well, so he won’t be alone there.”
Lucius nodded in agreement. “Honestly, I believe it’s better that way. I know you like him, Narcissa, but he’s too impulsive. If he had stayed here, we would have had to tell him sooner or later that Tom is alive and I don’t trust him with this information.”
Narcissa smirked at her husband. “And there’s the fact that you two constantly got on each other’s nerves.” Hermione and Draco grinned at each other. She could imagine that Lucius and Sirius would not get along for an extended amount of time. They were too different. Lucius was the exact opposite of impulsive, everything he did was controlled and thought-through, he was a level-headed and patient man by nature. Sirius, on the other hand, often acted before he really considered the consequences and his emotional outbursts would have been a test on Lucius’ patience. Narcissa knew that, too, and gently kissed his cheek. “I appreciate that you put up with him for so long.”
“Doesn’t he have any other family in England? What about his parents or yours?” Hermione asked.
Narcissa grew serious. “All four of them are dead. And don’t say you’re sorry; I’m not. In the war, they did see themselves threatened by Dumbledore’s lies and they attended a few Death Eater meetings, together with Sirius’ brother, Regulus. Until then, no one had seriously questioned your father’s authority. He was the most powerful among us, the only one who stood a chance against Dumbledore, and the heir of the Houses Gaunt and Slytherin. And still, both my parents and Sirius’ parents could not accept him as their leader, because he was a half-blood and in their opinion beneath them. When you are in a situation like that, you can’t allow for dispute among your own ranks. Tom gave them the choice to either take an Unbreakable Vow never to reveal anything of what they heard in the meetings and leave or take the Dark Mark and follow his lead. My father thought it wise to challenge him for a duel instead. Which was ridiculous because Lucius, who was second in command, would never have accepted my father’s leadership, so he would have had to fight two duels. Anyway, your father accepted. He had little choice in that matter. If he had not, some people would have thought it was out fear or weakness. So they duelled and naturally Tom won. It didn’t even take long. I suppose had it been anyone else, he would he would have killed him, as it was, he was badly hurt, but alive. It was likely for Bella’s and my sake that he let him live. Your father then did take the Vow from all of them and let them go. They were later killed by Dumbledore’s people. Of course, they were wearing Death Eater masks and made it look like we killed them because they wouldn’t join us. The only sad thing about it is … I believe Regulus, Sirius’ younger brother, would have preferred to join us, but he couldn’t really find it in him to go against his parents. He was barely 17 and probably felt like he had to be loyal, the good son, because Sirius had already been disinherited.”
That was really sad. They had not only condemned themselves, but also their son.
The casual mention that her father would have killed Narcissa’s father had it not been for her and her sister, didn’t faze Hermione. They had been at war and Narcissa was right, if her father had allowed his authority to be questioned, if he wouldn’t have been able to count on the Death Eaters to follow his orders, they would all have been easy prey to their opponents. He had had no choice but to make a clear example of the first one to actually challenge him.
She did feel sorry for Regulus, though. If her father, or Lucius and Narcissa or Cassius and Maeve made a choice she didn’t agree with, she didn’t know, if she had it in her to leave them and actively go against them, so she didn’t really judge him for his choices.
That night, before Hermione went to sleep, she was a little disappointed that she couldn’t reach her father via the mirror. It wasn’t unusual, he was probably out somewhere or even in public. Maybe he was travelling again. After Alaska, he had spent some time in Canada, but he had mentioned to her that he may soon leave again.
She hoped she would be able to reach him before they left for the World Cup because she wouldn’t take the mirror with her, just to be safe.
After placing the mirror on her nightstand, she turned to Noodles, who was curled up on her pillow, seemingly already asleep, although it was hard to tell with snakes having no eyelids and all, so she very gently stroked over his head with her fingertips, smiling as his tongue slipped out, testing the air, but he didn’t move otherwise. She whispered a quiet “Nox” to turn the lights of the chandelier above her off.
~End of Part 3~