unforth | Hogwarts, and Something That Makes Me Smile

There are a few TV shows I watch often, because they are on often. One is Heidi, an anime from 1979 of...Heidi. Anyway, I'd been thinking that I'd be sad if I never saw the ending theme of it again, cause it's ADORABLE, and so I was very pleased to discover it on YouTube. It's called "Matte-te Goran"

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I ended up writing a whole lot while waiting for a business call last night, and added my count to today as well. Indeed, with how tonight is shaping up, the same thing will probably happen tonight. At the rate I'm going, I might be done with the "written" parts of this story by the time I leave. Wow. Today's entry includes both of my favorite quotes from the Hogwarts game. :)

In mid-January, Marcus told me that the WAP boys had found out what the mirror did. Apparently, it had the ability to alter the reflection of the moon in fundamental ways. It could, for example, turn back the tides. WAP had also discovered, rather by accident, that it could turn back werewolves just as effectively. Indeed, it had saved the boy’s lives not two days before he told me, for Guillermo had been carrying the mirror at Professor Patronius’ instruction when they were attacked, and the wolves were driven back by it. The professor seemed more relieved than surprised, according to Marcus, so he must have at least thought it was possible. No wonder Palucid Nox had wanted it! Something that could stop the werewolf army he was apparently taking part in the construction of would be an unbelievable boon.
Meanwhile, around this time, Nox finally announced his intention of leaving, and named the day – the following Saturday. We were all pretty relieved, and some people commented that the air seemed less ominous, though I didn’t notice anything of the kind, personally. It was all nonsense, anyway, I told myself, just the cold in the castle and the bleakness of winter and the bad news from the war making us all jumpy and uneasy. Even so, I knew I’d feel better when Saturday passed.
The day was to be given over to a grand celebration in the Great Hall. There were to be games and talking, and then around about when dark was falling we’d escort our guests to their ship, which was moored in the lake and was how they had arrived, and see them off with all cheer and speed. Especially, I though, all speed. The Hall was made up festively, if not so grandly as for Christmas still with lots of cheer and light and decoration, and a wonderful breakfast was served. Marcus and I had been instructed to keep an eye on things, but for once we had no other specific duties, and so early on we joined together, and set to talking with a will. We’d hardly had any time together since Christmas, and now everything came spilling out.
We talked about Auror Weasley, and the werewolf situation, about GAB training and WAP missions, and about the war. When we got tired of talking about bad news, we turned to more cheerful things, the semester to come, Quidditch, how nice Christmas was. I told him about the gracious letters that his parents had sent in reply to my thanks, and the surprisingly warm letter I had gotten from my parents about Marcus and his family. He, meanwhile, told me about the letters his sister’s had sent in which they begged him to marry me. This caused me to blush rather a lot.
As always seems to be the way of gatherings at Hogwarts, within a few hours most of the students, including the guests’ of honor, our departing Durmstrangs, had disappeared. Marcus and I had a talk then about whether we should do something about it. I thought, rather resignedly, that we should, but Marcus would hear nothing of it.
“I’ve finally got you all to myself for the first time in ages; no one has come to ask our help. I’m sure they will be fine on their own. I had to leave at the Ball, and nothing but wild horses will drag me away now,” he said obstinately, and I flushed with pleasure and readily acceded. I wished there was dancing here, but sadly it was a day time affair. And so we talked.
I should correct the apparent trend that we looked at no one else the whole time. Indeed, I noticed at one point that Fred was still present, and checking on her I found her very much concerned.
“How do you know if you’re in love?” she asked me in a depressed tone of voice.
I blinked. Considering that I was quite certain I was in love, I felt I should have an answer to this question, yet I found myself at a complete loss. “Well,” I said slowly, buying myself a moment to think of an answer, “you think about the person a great deal. And just hearing their name can make you happy, and seeing them makes any day seem better. And if they smile at you, or laugh, their happiness is contagious, and you start to find you want to do anything you can to make them happy. You find that you compare others to them by thinking that this other person may be fine, but not nearly so fine as the one that you love. And when you try to think of what you wouldn’t do for them, there is nothing, nothing at all, you’d go through any hardship, endure any pain; you’d die for them.” I stopped, blushing furiously, before I said more. All I had to do is to think about Marcus, and I could have kept going I’m sure.
“You’re in love with Marcus, aren’t you.” She said morosely. I’d never seen Fred so out of sorts.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, pretending I hadn’t heard what she’d just said even though it had been perfectly audible – indeed, several people nearby seemed to have heard as well.
“Well…” she looked around, and then said quietly and very sadly, “I’m in love with someone, at least I think I am, and I thought he was in love with me, but now…” she looked, of all places, at the staff table, very quickly, and then looked back – not at me, but rather at the floor. “How can I make a man love me? Could you…” she swallowed. “Could you sell me a potion?” she blurted.
“No,” I said without hesitation.
“But…”
“No,” I repeated. “I’d only do that to someone I didn’t care for as much as I do for you. It’s not real love that you get that way, and if the man ever found out than he’d never consider you – no one likes to be forced to love another. That’s not what you want, right?”
“Of course you’re right,” she went back to being morose, “I don’t think I really meant it anyway. I just hadn’t thought of it before, and I thought maybe…” Her eyes flickered to the staff table again. I peered, sideways, over there myself. There were a few students in that area, and Professor Tremens, and Professor Singh. None of the other professors were in the room. And suddenly, I had a faint flickering of memory, of Fred and Professor Singh dancing at the ball in the fall. Surely, he was very dashing in his way, and rather young, but still – surely it was one of the students? But no, none of them was even an option, they were all hulking brutes in that direction, or were girls; I couldn’t see her falling for a man like that.
I tried to figure out what on earth to say. “I’m sure things will come out alright in the end,” I managed lamely. She nodded, and went back to sitting quietly, and I escaped so that I wouldn’t have to come up with anything else to say. Suddenly, the whole thing had just been too awkward for words. I hoped Fred would be alright; I couldn’t imagine how falling in love with a teacher – and her only 15! – could work out well, and I didn’t want to make her even sadder than she already was.
Marcus came over and joined me as soon as he saw I was alone. “How’s Fred?” he asked.
“She’s very sad,” I said, “she’s in love with someone who doesn’t love her.”
“That’s terrible! Where is this fool?” Marcus looked around. “We should talk some sense in to him; imagine not loving Fred, she’s such a wonderful girl.”
“Indeed, she didn’t say who it was.”
Marcus continued looking around, but then shook his head. “No, I suppose she wouldn’t. And it would be wrong of me to interfere besides. Still, I hope that she’ll cheer up. It’s not right for her to be so sad.” I nodded absently. I had something else on my mind. I’d never clearly thought about love and all that before. Oh, I knew I was in love, but I hadn’t really thought about what it meant. The things I’d said to Fred were all true, all of that and more, and now I found myself thinking just what would I do, just how far would I go for Marcus? My rambling thoughts had yet to find a limit. I was rather shocked by all the things that leapt to mind that I would in fact stoop to in order to protect him. Silly stuff.
“Are you alright?” he asked in concern.
“Oh,” I started. “What were you saying?”
“Just that the caramel apples are really very good, and you should have one if you’d like. And how damnable it is that the Durmstrangs couldn’t have bothered to stay. Surely whatever mischief they wanted to do before they left could have been completed yesterday?”
“Yes, well, that wouldn’t have been nearly as much as deserting their own party, now would it?”
“Indeed, indeed, it’s so much wiser to stage plots when everyone will notice that there is a plot going on.” He managed to say this without a trace of irony.
My mind was still racing. I would die for Marcus. I had said that, and I had meant it. I was struck by the depth of this realization. After the holiday, I had been in love – I told myself that firmly, and I believed it, but now, now I realize that wasn’t true. I would endure any shame for Marcus. I would stoop to anything to spare him having to stoop at all. A wonderful Christmas holiday, enjoying his company, wanting to be with him, none of that, I suddenly realized, was love. Oh, it was love, but it wasn’t everything, and it had only been that I hadn’t come to this next step that had made me think that that was all there was to it. I had never imagined dying for anyone before. And now I realized that not only would I do it, I’d do it happily. I had just come to understand what love truly was. An easy mistake to make, for one who had not been in love before. And now I understood, and now I knew I was truly in love. I swayed slightly.
Marcus put a hand on my back. This didn’t help.
“Delia?” he was alarmed.
“I should, perhaps, sit down,” he helped me to a chair, and I took a few steadying breaths. “I think…” I had to say something to get him to stop looking at me with that intent, worried expression. “I think perhaps the house elf who helped me this morning tied my corsette too tight.”
“Do you wear all of that, then?” he asked, diverted for the moment, sounding intrigued.
I frowned. “Well, a woman must be fashionable, and there are rather a lot of things that we wear, yes, especially when there is a party to attend.”
“You know, I’ve never seen a corsette before, though of course I’ve heard about them. They sound simply awful! Is it terribly uncomfortable?”
I blushed. “Well…” How does one answer that question? Yes, of course, but it wasn’t really something that was said.
“Does it really have all those laces? The girl’s get house elves just to help them with such things?” How could the man be so intrigued? I blushed redder, and didn’t answer. “How does one take one OFF, then?”
That was it! “Marcus,” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet, “am I to understand that you are making intimate inquiries in regards to my undergarments?”
Marcus also jumped up, and his face went bright red. “No…I mean, well, yes, I suppose I was, but…”
“Oh!” I huffed. “That is the limit!” And I stormed off. And realized that I had spoken loudly enough that everyone who had been near us had heard. A buzz of conversation followed me as I left the Great Hall, looking for a place to cool my head.
The halls were surprisingly filled with people, and I had no desire to be social – somehow, I couldn’t escape the feeling that everyone would know about the incredibly embarrassing slip I had just made. If only he hadn’t kept pressing me! If only I hadn’t just realized how fundamentally I loved him! If only if it didn’t, in the secret recesses of my mind – or was it my heart? – not bother me in the least that Marcus would know about my undergarments! Alas, all of these things were true, and his timing had been terrible. With a sigh, I went to my dormitory and put on my winter cloak, muff, and scarf. If I could find no peace in the castle, what better place to cool my head then in the frigid January weather?
The cold was crystalline, and the air was so calm that it seemed as if noise would shatter it. The snow was undisturbed, the lake still, and more than ever the sense of waiting filled the air. I ignored it; my head was still racing. I tried to put things in order. I loved Marcus. This wasn’t a surprise. I knew it already, even if I didn’t understand it. Fine. Now I understood it. Did Marcus love me? This thought caused concern. I knew he liked me very well; he wanted me at Christmas, he had called himself my suitor, he had forgiven me the crimes I had admitted to in December. He had never said he loved me, though – of course, I’d never said it either. What did he feel for me? The easiest way to find out would be to ask – but what a thing to ask! No, I could never do that.
I began to feel bad for leaving as I had done. I had been able to escape from the whispers of our classmates; what was he doing? I hoped it wasn’t too terrible. Right after realizing I’d do anything to spare him, the first thing I’d done was bring him embarrassment and then abandon him! I was off to a great start. And why was I still thinking about undergarments? I realized I had stopped walking, and my breath was steaming in the air. I was surprised it wasn’t my cheeks steaming, I’m sure I was red hot as any fire. I didn’t know if he cared for me as I did for him, but I realized suddenly how brazenly I had been acting all day. We’d been holding hands, and talking with our heads bowed close, all day. I’d been able to feel his breath on my cheek. Indeed, though I don’t believe I’d ever done so before, I realized I had been flirting quite shamelessly the entire time. Thank god for the cold, it kept the heat in my cheeks from causing me to swoon with its intensity.
I’d been out for perhaps 15 minutes, and was just beginning to calm down, when I noticed that there were other people about. They were far away, near the Greenhouses, but something didn’t seem right. Indeed, as I watched, it rapidly developed in to something of a commotion. Frowning, I reached in to my robe for a potion to arm myself and hurried in that direction. And arrived just in time to see them set the Greenhouse on fire!
Shocked, I rushed forward. Three Durmstrangs were there, the girl, the little beater and the seeker, and an equal number of Hogwarts students, and they were facing off. The plants in the greenhouse seemed to be catching blaze quickly. “Stop!” I shouted. Everyone turned towards me. And the Durmstrangs hurled spells.
I ducked the first volley as the Hogwarts students fired back. Spells came from behind me, too, though I didn’t see from where. I reached in to my cloak again and pulled out a freezing potion – it would, I thought, work to put the fire out. I threw it, but my aim was off, and instead it splashed on to the wall of the Greenhouse, shattering the glass it was so cold. The fire blazed more brightly at the rush of air this caused, and I muttered something unladylike.
I was reaching for another potion, this one to try and stop one of the Durmstrangs, who were now fleeing vaguely in my direction, when a flash of red hit me full in the face, and the world spun into a wash of whiteness and nothing.

I was very cold. The air on my face felt as if it had frozen there; my cheeks felt like blocks of ice on my face. I couldn’t feel my hands or my feet, either. Someone was saying my name. “I…” my mouth barely seemed to work, fighting against the cold that had stiffened my lips, “I’m alright,” I managed to say. My eyes slipped open.
I was lying on the ground, surrounded by people and snow. I was still outside the green houses, I realized. I tried to sit up, and would have failed if I hadn’t been helped. It was Marcus. He looked utterly terrified. “Are you sure you’re alright? Can you stand? What can I do? What did they do to you? We all saw you fall!”
I refrained from asking why everyone – and it did appear to be everyone - had suddenly decided to come to the greenhouses, and instead I tried to stand. “Your hands are like ice!” exclaimed Marcus, concern still writ large on his face, as he took my hand – my muff lay fallen by my side.
“Here,” Professor Tremens came in to my field of view. “Calefate!” She waved her wand, and warmth flooded my limbs. “Come on, then,” and she took my other arm, and between them she and Marcus pulled me up. She smiled at me. “You alright?” I nodded in a dazed fashion, and she went to help some of the others. There were other students lying in the snow.
“What happened?” I asked. Marcus hadn’t let me go, and I was glad for it; I wasn’t sure I could stand under my own power.
“The Durmstrangs came to the greenhouses to steal something; we don’t know what,” he gestured that way; smoke was still rising from the buildings, though the worst of it seemed to be out; all of green house 3 had burned down, and a lot of green houses 1 and 2 as well. Only 4 was intact. “Reginald came to the Great Hall gasping looking for help in stopping it, and so we all came, but we didn’t get here in time – you fell just as we were getting here.” He sounded faintly ill when he said that, but I was too dazed to think what that might mean.
“It was just a stunning spell,” I assured him, though I knew I sounded too weak to be very reassuring.
“Yes, but…”
“Everybody let’s get back inside,” roared Professor Tremens, taking the lead, and she began to bustle us all back to the castle. Marcus didn’t pick up where he’d been interrupted; he just helped me along – he seemed to realize how badly I needed the support, and was polite enough to simply give the help without commenting on it – and together, along with all of the other students, we made our way back to the hall.
While we were going, we managed to cross paths with Reginald. “What happened?” I asked him. He jumped.
“The Durmstrangs have been all over the place today; me and the Lunari’s have been following them, and James, too. Keeping an eye on them. We heard them talking about burning down the Greenhouses, and so the others went to stop them, and I went to get help.” He stammered out this explanation, and I wondered at its gaping holes – what else had they over heard? Why had they followed the Durmstrangs in the first place? – but didn’t point them out.
“Did they say why?” asked Marcus. His concern, still present, was thinning; now he sounded angry.
“Something about bane. I didn’t really hear. Maybe…” he looked around, and snagged James’ arm, “did you hear why they did it?” he asked James.
James, who I knew only barely, as a typical Gryffindor and a member of WAP, shrugged. “Something about making sure we couldn’t get any. I didn’t have a clue what it meant.” He turned back in to the crowd, and Reginald, smiling apologetically, followed suit. Marcus mutter something darkly.
“Did we stop them?” I asked.
“Well, we can’t know that without knowing what they wanted, but I don’t think we did. They all got away, too.” He frowned, and paused, and in the pause I nearly stumbled, since he stopped walking too and I wasn’t expecting him to. He apologized. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’ll be fine soon enough,” I smiled as warmly as I could. “I appreciate your concern.” He looked skeptical, smiled hesitantly anyway, and stayed with me.
Professor Tremens took the lead and led us all back to the Great Hall. There were no Durmstrangs in our number, and no departure to celebrate any more anyway. We all took seats, and murmurs among the students made it clear that everyone was uneasy about this. What did it mean? Where had they gone? Why the green houses? What else had they done? And, indeed, there were still some absences from amongst the students. Had they been in pursuit of other Durmstrangs? Nobody knew.
Over the next few minutes, more students continued to stream in, until there weren’t any more missing faces. No, I realized with a very forboding feeling, there was still one – Galatea was nowhere to be seen. What did it mean? Confusion grew. Tales began to circulate. Marcus and I both sat silently, straining our ears, trying to catch as much of the talk as we could, but it was all too muddled and confused for us to make heads or tails of it. And then Headmaster Nigellus came in.
The Headmaster did not look well. His face was white as a sheet, and his clothes were rumpled. He moved slowly and a little unsteadily, too, and his eyes didn’t seem to focus quite right. Still, his glare when he took in the whispering students was as firm as ever, and silence fell at once. “Professor Tremens,” he said, “would you and Professor Lestrange please act to keep the Durmstrang ship from leaving? Apparte. Immediately.” There was no questioning that tone, and with only a quickly exchanged startled glance, the two teachers simultaneously reached for wands and disappeared. The Headmaster proceeded to the front of the room. “We will wait for them to return.” He took his seat, steepled his fingers beneath his chin, and waited.
There was dead silence for about 10 minutes. Then, with a pop, the two Professors returned. They both looked furious. “Yes?” asked the Headmaster, his voice sounding pensive.
“We stopped the ship,” snapped Lestrange, “but they’d all left already.”
“Yes,” echoed Professor Tremens, sounding very unhappy. “We arrived just in time to see them apparate away. We tried to track where, but it was a wild goose chase.”
“Not unexpected,” commented the Headmaster. He then waited, patiently, for them to take their seats. When they had, he stood up slowly, swaying slightly. For the first time, I noticed that there was an unexpected face at the staff table: Professor Lindlethwaite, the ancient divination teacher. I couldn’t recall if I’d ever actually seen her before; she was unmistakeable, though, with her skin so wrinkled and thin that it looked transparent and her startlingly shaded robes. The Headmaster glanced at her a moment before he started to speak. “I regret to inform you that I have died.”
The response that this statement elicited from the students was rather remarkable. Mostly it was violent and vehement denials – after all, people who were dead did not normally stand in front of the Great Hall and announce it, and no matter ill the Headmaster Nigellus currently looked, there was no way he was a ghost. I felt a chill though, and a wash of sorrow. He wouldn’t lie. If he said he was dead, then he was, and I suspected he was about to explain how this could be. Marcus put a supportive hand on my side. “Silence!” roared the Headmaster, and the exclamations stopped. “Approximately 20 minutes ago, on the way to the astronomy tower, I was waylayed by Palucid Nox. Death was virtually instantaneous, thanks to the Avada Kedavra curse,” there were some mutters which cut off immediately, “and it is only due to my own clever invention that I am here to make this announcement.” He looked slightly smug. I realized I was crying. “I have 24 hours amongst you thanks to a potion I had the forethought to imbibe this morning. Much must be done before now and then. Professor Lindlethwaite, if you will?”
The Headmaster didn’t sit down, but the little professor did rise – she was so stooped with age that this didn’t increase her height – and come to the front of the staff table. “Ahem,” she cleared her throat reedily. “I have foreseen doom,” she said matter of factly, without any of the etherealness that so many diviners used and that her age might have suggested. “Doom for Hogwarts unless we act immediately.” She nodded assuredly. The Headmaster rolled his eyes, and I bit back a laugh; it would have been very much at odds with the sadness I felt.
“Yesterday, the WAP boys conducted a mission to the continent,” the Headmaster interrupted her. “And brought back documents suggesting that an attack on the school would take place imminently.” Gasps met this statement.
“Doom,” chimed in Professor Lindlethwaite.
“Yes,” grunted the Headmaster, “and Professor Lindlethwaite’s visions seem to indicate that it will be tonight.”
“There is not, unfortunately, any time to evacuate the school by conventional means.” Outcries – we can’t stay here! We can weather an attack! – but the Professor ignored them. “Yes, yes, it will all be fine, for I’ve foreseen that I will open a gateway and that the majority of the students will be able to escape that way. I’m not quite sure where the gateway goes, but I know it will be safe, and that you all will be able to return. Unfortunately, opening the gateway will cause my death.” Her matter-of-fact tone never wavered.
“It happens to the best of us,” commented the Headmaster. I choked slightly on another laugh. How dare he make jokes about something so upsetting? Though, I supposed, it was his prerogative to do so if it was any ones.
“True, true,” replied the Professor speculatively. Even the other Professors looked utterly stunned at this point.
“The Professor will begin her preparations at once. The majority of the students will be evacuated, and accompanied by Professor’s Lestrange and Singh. The remaining professors and select students will stay behind to defend the school. I will not ask any one to stay, and no student who cannot apparate will be permitted to do so. Furthermore, no student younger than 16 may stay. If you’d like to be part of the defense force, please speak with Professor Tremens and Professor Patronius. Our information indicates that the attack will be two pronged – a sky attack by zeppelins, and a ground attack by a large force of werewolves.” My breath caught. “Professor Tremens will organize the sky defense, and Patronius the ground. I will see to implementing the schools built-in defense systems, and will not be available throughout the attack as a result. Please note that it is likely that there will be casualties among those who stay. Do not do so unless you are prepared for the consequences. That is all.”