Blood Ties Chapter 15

..... Hedwig hadn’t returned by morning. Harry hoped it meant that she had found Sirius and was spending the night with him to wait out the bad weather. It was still cold, but the wind had died down. He and Ron made their way down to the common room to meet Hermione. They found her bleary-eyed once again and tried not to flinch at the sight of Raye standing with her. Raye seemed too forlorn to give them any lectures though. She made a few vague noises when they spoke to her and went on to breakfast.

..... “She’s upset because her owl has gone missing,” Hermione whispered to the boys over their plates. “She’s been expecting an important message, but the owl has been gone for days.”

..... ‘That’s too bad,” said Harry. He looked hopefully around the dining hall ceiling for his own owl. “I hope Hedwig is all right out there.”

..... “Worry about yourself,” sighed Ron. “We have Potions first today, remember?” They all made faces and went shuffling to class. They brushed shoulders with the Slytherin and Bantling students. Some sort of truce must have been called, or maybe the two houses had just gotten used to each other, because both seemed less active.

..... To their surprise, it wasn’t Snape who sat at the front of the dungeon class, but Ficus. Harry gulped, hoping the Elmskill Headmaster didn’t know about their visit to Weiss. Ficus didn’t seem to pay any specific attention to him though, just exhaled a stream of blue smoke and ground his cigarette out in an empty bowl on Snape’s desk. A brief vision of what the Potionmaster would think of that had the whole class quiet. A few Bantlings were grinning.

..... “I have been informed that your usual professor has suffered some sort of accident,” Ficus said suddenly. “It’s been 30 years since I taught a Potions class, but I’ve been asked to fill in.” One of the Bantlings raised their hand and waved it until Ficus nodded.

..... “What kind of accident are we talking here?” she asked.

..... “Like the centaur?” another chimed in.

..... “Or the Morthahg?” asked another.

..... “No!” snapped Ficus. “Yeesh! Morbid! Now here. Do this assignment and I’ll let you go early.” He gave them an easy task. It was a potion that only required mixing, no magic at all. They were given a list of ingredients and very precise amounts to mix them in. Ron caused a small explosion, but was able to put it right quickly with some advice from Ficus. When everyone in class had a beaker of pink fizz, he told them all to take a swig. There was a loong pause in which Ficus lit a new cigarette and waited. Finally, Vahn took a brave sip.

..... “It tastes like pomegranate.” he said in surprise. Everyone had a taste of their own potion. Only a few people made a face. With that, Ficus excused them. As soon as Harry had gathered his things, though, the strange Headmaster called him up to the front desk. Ron and Hermione went wide-eyed, but left slowly. He knew they’d wait for him outside the door. Bracing himself for a questioning, Harry walked up to where Ficus was putting the second cigarette out.

..... “Yes?” he asked hopefully. Ficus peered at him closely, eyes going to Harry’s scar. Harry was so used to that by now, that it took him a moment to realize that Ficus wasn’t speaking right away. The Elmskill Headmaster nodded to himself a little and then smiled at Harry.

..... “I’ve heard of you, of course,” he said. “I would like to ask you is there are any Sliders in your family. Do you know of any?”

..... “Sliders?” Harry echoed and Ficus nodded again.

..... “Some people attract magic,” he said. “Some people repel it. Some people repel it to such a point that they are immune to it. Spells slide off them like water off a duck’s back. That’s where the expression came from. I was wondering how you managed to turn back such a powerful curse. A Slider would find it easy, but the curse wouldn’t return to the caster.”

..... “I don’t know very much about a lot of my family,” admitted Harry. “But anti-magic people? Do they have anything to do with the Morthahg?” Ficus looked at him sharply, but he went on. “Would it turn wizards into Sliders if it touched them?”

..... “The Morthahg,” Ficus began slowly. “Hates magic. It hates the unnatural. It was born from people who were afraid of magic and so magic is unnatural to it.”

..... “To my family, too,” Harry muttered. “My muggle relatives.” He added as Ficus wrinkled his brow at him. The Headmaster chuckled, but grimly. He brought his carved staff upright suddenly and something clicked inside it. Harry found himself blinking at a strange figure carved into the wood. A gargoyle-like face appeared to move in the carving but then stopped when the staff was held still again.

..... “I’ve always thought that the magical and Muggle world shouldn’t be kept apart,” he said, fumbling for a new cigarette. “So much has been wasted.” His face fell into a dark scowl and he sat brooding for a long moment until Harry fidgeted and Ficus remembered him.

..... “Sorry to keep you, Mr. Potter,” he said finally. “Be on your way.”

..... Harry went, wondering what Ficus could hate so much that it called the Morthahg to him. To his partial surprise, Ron and Hermione weren’t in the hall waiting for him. Perhaps they’d gone back to the common room. A blur of movement ahead of him made him stop. Lorelei Zephyr had just turned into the hallway. She looked weak, sickly, and highly annoyed. Behind her came a wizard, draped and hooded. It wasn’t until Harry saw the gleam of eyes in the hood’s shadows that he recognized him as Sirius. They seemed to be arguing at a whisper as they hurried along. Sirius waved a piece of paper that Harry recognized as the letter he had sent with Hedwig. Relief tingled though him and he called softly, making both of the adults freeze and turn to him.

..... “Are you all right? “ Sirius asked. Harry nodded and then followed as they went down the next corridor towards the infirmary.

..... “I suppose it’s too much to ask that you suddenly be cautious and stay out of trouble,” Sirius said with some humor. He nodded to the note he still carried. “At least you had the other two with you. Thank Hermione for me when you see her.”

..... “What are you going to do?” Harry asked, jogging to keep up with their pace.

..... “We still need to find Esme,” Sirius sighed. “But first things first.” He nodded to Zephyr. Harry nodded as if he understood, but decided to stick with them until they could explain better. He wanted to tell them more about Ficus anyway. They hurried into the infirmary. Sirius slid to a sudden halt and Harry ran into him from behind. He peeked around his godfather to see Snape bundled into a bed and looking very much like he’d rather be biting the heads off small, cute animals.

..... “Severus!” said Zephyr, taken aback. “Are you not well? What happened?”

..... “I’ve been cursed,” Snape said, shuddering. “Madame Pomfrey can find no physical reason for me to be crushed every ten minutes, so that is the only other answer.” The Potionmaster spoke neutrally enough to Lorelei but his eyes shot flames at Sirius and Harry. Lorelei seemed concerned, but Sirius almost sniggered. He handed the box of vials to her and then sat down across the room.

..... “Vanessa’s turn,” he said, and she winced.

..... “I never knew Vanessa,” she said, pulling the vial up to squint at it. “But Gaston told me about her...He said she could control animals. That she had a pair of black tigers enthralled to be her pets and bodyguards.

..... Snape and Sirius both looked at her, but she was only thinking out loud and paid no attention to them. Sirius found himself thinking of the claw scars on Esme’s back. Had it been the tiger’s claws that had ripped them into her? After a moment of hesitation, Lorelei broke the enchanted seal and gulped down the vial’s contents. She immediately gagged. Harry felt his own stomach lurch a little as she ran to an adjoining part of the infirmary and yanked a curtain between them. They heard her cough and vomit.

..... “So,” Sirius began in a light, conversational tone. “Who in the world would have reason or inclination to curse you?” Snape just glared. “You’re such a well-liked fellow, after all,” Sirius continued mercilessly. “I find it hard it to believe.”

..... Harry felt awkward. As much as he enjoyed seeing the Potionmaster get a little of his own medicine, he didn’t want to laugh in front of Snape. Before Snape could retort back, the retching voice of Lorelei told them to all shut up. She sounded so bad that both men fell silent. After another tense moment, Sirius began to tell Harry about the wizard they had seen in the cave. Harry told him more details of meeting Weiss in the tree. He was uncomfortably aware of Snape listening carefully, but it was less unnerving than the sounds coming from Lorelei on the other side of the curtain.

..... “So ichlings are made from blood?” Sirius asked when he had finished. “All of this ties into blood. Vampires, family members, and now ichlings. Is that why the one keeps coming back to Esme? If it was made from her blood, would it keep needing more?”

..... “I shouldn’t,” said Snape, sounding sullen. “Unless it was just a vessel and the blood was intended for other uses. The creature could just be delivering the blood.”

..... “Lorelei,” called Sirius. Harry saw Snape shot him a cutting glare, perhaps annoyed by the familiarity. Sirius didn’t notice. “Would a vampire use an ichling to deliver blood from an agent?”

..... There was a pause in the gagging. “I...don’t think so...” she gulped. “Not unless...it was starving and, grk!, desperate...” She threw up again and the three of them tried not to listen. Sirius sat back in the chair, trying to piece the new bits in with the old puzzle. He was thinking of Esme’s ‘master’ and remembering the shadow under her skin. He was about to ask Lorelei about that when the door flew open and Ficus himself burst in. His cane hit the floor with a thump and then the click came again from some hollow inside it. Harry slid behind the curtain with Lorelei rather than face him.

..... “Where is Professor Zephyr??” Ficus demanded. He sounded furious. Lorelei clapped her hands over her mouth. Harry watched her body jerk as she held in her retches to keep silent. Neither Sirius or Snape made any answer. Harry pictured them staring blankly at Ficus as the Elmskill master raved on.

..... “And what is wrong with you?” Ficus asked suddenly, glaring at Snape who had just gone into one of his spells of bone-breaking pain. Snape couldn’t do more than gasp so Sirius chimed in.

..... “It happens every few minutes,” he said. “Madame Pomfrey believes it’s a curse as there is no other obvious explanation.” Understanding seemed to dawn on Ficus’ lined face. Tightly contained fury followed it.

..... “Well, I may be able to offer some help for that,” he said, gritting the words between clenched teeth. He spun on heel and was gone with another thump, leaving the spicy smell of smoke behind him. Harry peeked out again when he was gone. Sirius was on his feet.

..... “Enough of this,” Sirius said. “Stay put. I’m going to find Dumbledore.”