Foreshadowing the Past

Chapter 9

Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. --Marcus Aurelius

"You look better," Ivy observed as Connor sat across from her in the library. His eyes were no longer black, the lump on his head was greatly diminished, and there was only a bluish-yellow bruise fading from the spot where his head had hit the desk.

"I feel better," he said looking around warily for any sign of Madam Pince. "What did I miss in Transfiguration?"

"Teacups into flower vases," Ivy said. "Mine kept breaking at the neck."

"No one in the class managed it perfectly," Zack pointed out, pulling out some parchment and a quill. "He set us all a two foot essay on the theory of it, due on Wednesday."

"Quentin's already searching the stacks for stuff on the Ministry," Ivy said. "I didn't know if you would wand me to ask Madam Pince about the Department of Mysteries."

Connor shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said. "She's not likely to talk to my parents, is she?"

"No, but she might say something to McGonagall or Lupin," Ivy pointed out.

"I hadn't thought of that," Connor admitted. "Better not risk it. I ran into Lupin in the hospital wing. He said that my parents told him about my dreams, and when I asked if they meant anything to him, he clammed up and changed the subject. If he found out we were looking into it, he'd tell my parents for sure."

"So we're on our own," Zack said, "I'm going to go see what I can find."

"We should all go and find a couple of books that look promising, and then keep a list of where we've looked so that we don't end up wasting time by reading things twice," Connor said.

"Sounds like a plan," Ivy agreed, and they all chose a different section to peruse.

Connor found a section on Wizarding Government and browsed through the titles until he came to a tome titled, "Building the Ministry of Magic" and pulled it off of the shelf. It was an especially thick volume, and so he thumbed through it before deciding whether it would be worth lugging back to the table. Inside there were illustrations and some photographs, and there appeared to be a section devoted to the different offices housed within the Ministry building. Held onto that book and quickly scanned for other likely candidates. By the time he headed back to the table, he was also carrying, "Wizarding Government in Great Britain" and "The Secrets of the Ministry of Magic" which he chose based on the titles.

When he deposited his choices on the table, he found that Ivy was already seated beside Quentin, both of whom were busily leafing through thick books. Quentin was checking the index of a book called "Mysteries of the Wizarding World," and Ivy was reading over a page in a slim book. He couldn't see the title of the book, but the large print at the top of the page read, "What the Ministry doesn't want you to know." Connor smiled to himself as he took out a piece of parchment and recorded the names of the books he had brought back, then shoved it into the center of the table so that the others could do the same. Zack appeared a moment later with a small stack of books, and winked at Connor as he opened the first one and began to read. Connor did the same and soon they were all silently flipping through pages and occasionally marking a page or scribbling down a note on a separate parchment.

Connor was disappointed in the first book he looked through. Though the Department of Mysteries was mentioned as being part of the Ministry, there was little information about it, other than the fact that the department was located on level nine of the Ministry of Magic Headquarters in London. The second book provided similar information about it, and added that it was intensely secretive and that wizards or witches that worked there were called 'Unspeakables' and answered only to the Minister for Magic. The third book, which Connor had hoped would provide more information, turned out to be a dated account of some of the more illicit dealings from within the Ministry from long ago, before the current structure was developed to prevent corruption. There was nothing about round rooms, or tiny stages, or torches that gave off blue light. With a sigh, Connor closed the last book and looked to see if the others had found anything interesting.

"Sorry Connor," Zack said quietly, closing the last book in his stack as well. He pointed to the notes that Connor had already written. "It looks like you found the same exact information that I did."

Ivy looked up from her last book and read (upside down) what Connor had written. "Well that's actually more than I found in any of these," she said, placing a hand on the stack in front of her. "What about you, Quentin?"

"Not much here, though I did find a little side note that said that the Department of Mysteries was one of the first areas built when the Ministry of Magic Headquarters was constructed in London. There was speculation as to why they built it first, but this book doesn't answer their own question."

"Well that's more than any of us found out," Connor said, adding the new information to his own pitifully short notes.

"Hey guys!" Rachel greeted the group as she approached. She had just finished with her last class of the day, and had hurried to the Library to help with the search for information. She seemed to have developed a talent for research that was undoubtedly inherited from her mother, and didn't want to miss out on anything.

"Young lady!" came the sharp voice of Madam Pince from behind. "Kindly remember that you are in the Library and that others are trying to study!"

Connor shuddered slightly at the wheezy voice and Zack stifled a chuckle, not wanting to bring the ancient woman's wrath down upon him.

"I apologize Madam Pince," Rachel said sweetly. "I was just so excited to be here is all."

The old woman's expression softened slightly as she huffed, "Just don't let it happen again!"

"So what have you all found out?" Rachel whispered as she pulled up a chair.

"Not much," Connor admitted with a sigh. "Everyone needs to use this parchment to write down which books they've looked through, and then I guess we try again."

The five students disappeared into the stacks once more, and two hours later they were no further advanced in their research than before. Rachel had managed to unearth an old Ministry Floo directory from several years ago that listed the names of several Unspeakables, but there was apparently no Floo connection to that particular department. Connor groaned as they headed back to Gryffindor Tower to wash up for dinner; he had thought it would be a simple matter to find out about the Department of Mysteries, and not he was learning that it had been aptly named.

"I think I'll look into security at the Ministry tomorrow," Rachel said thoughtfully as Zack gave the password to the Fat Lady. "If the Department of Mysteries is so secret, they're bound to have loads of security, don't you think?"

"It sounds as good a place to start as any," Quentin said. "We have Quidditch practice tomorrow evening, so I don't know how much time Connor, Ivy and I are going to have to look tomorrow."

"Yeah," Ivy said as they prepared to mount their separate staircases. "And we can't neglect our homework to search, either. Thompson set us that essay, and we have Potions homework due on Wednesday as well; if we're going to have practice tomorrow night, that means that we need to get those done tonight before Astronomy."

With a sigh, the boys went up to their Dormitory and locked their school bags in their trunks with a clever little charm that Ivy had found for them. If anyone tried to open their trunks without the counter charm, they'd get a face full of smelly liquid, similar to that of Gobstones. There really wasn't much of a need for it since they had come back from their classes once to find the stench filling the room, and Andrew in the boy's showers scrubbing furiously at his skin; they believed that he'd learned his lesson. Still, it didn't hurt to be cautious, and so they continued to take security measures, just in case. Thinking about it as he lock and charmed his trunk, Connor sat on the edge of his bed and said, "You know, I think maybe we should lighten up on Andrew."

"I think maybe you hit your head harder than we thought today," Zack said incredulously, as he charmed his own trunk closed.

"What's up, Connor?" Quentin asked. "Why the change of heart after he made you bash your head on your own desk?"

"It's just that when Thompson sent me to the hospital wing today, I looked back at Tillman - you know - just to scare him a bit," Connor explained.

"That was the idea," Zack said, sinking to the edge of his own bed to hear his friend out.

"I know," Connor said. "But he didn't just look a bit scared, he looked terrified. I think that it really wasan accident in Charms. He might have been a bit of prat with the chair, but I think that he was really shaken when I actually got hurt."

"That might be true," Quentin conceded. "But that doesn't excuse all of the other mean stuff he's tried to pull."

"Yeah, but today was different," Connor insisted. "I don't want the poor guy to wet himself worrying over what we might do to him over this if it was an accident, and things have been getting a bit out of control lately with all of the charms and whatnot that we've been having to do just to feel safe in our own dorm."

"Okay," Quentin said, using the phrase his father often used with him when Quentin was trying to convince him of something. "So what do you propose?"

"A truce?" Connor said questioningly. "I'll let him know that there's no hard feelings about today, and see if he'll agree to a cease fire."

"Live and let live?" Zack asked skeptically.

"Exactly," Connor said. "Professor McGonagall said something to me a while back about Andrew having had a hard time over the summer holidays, and I think whatever happened to him changed something about him. He wasn't like this last year, even if he we didn't really get along with him. We don't have to go out of our way to be friendly; we just agree not to play pranks on him and vice versa."

"That sounds good to me," Quentin agreed. "I'll promise to lay off if he will."

"Count me in, too," Zack said after some thought. "But if he goes back on his word, we'll make him regret it."

"Deal," Connor said. "Now lets get down to dinner. I'm starving!"

They headed for the door to the dormitory, and Zack swung it open, only to have a huge bucket of icy water dumped on his head, making him shriek in surprise. Connor and Quentin laughed, and Zack growled at them as he quickly stripped off his sodden robes and jumper.

"Remember what we just decided!" Quentin teased as he tossed Zack a towel from the stack that was always by the washbasin by the window.

"Besides," Connor reasoned. "It was a bit too obvious, even for Andrew. It was probably one of my cousins."

They waited for Zack to change and then went down to the Great Hall to find that the enchanted ceiling was bringing them the news of the first snowfall of the year. Quentin groaned at the thought of Quidditch practice in the snow; his fingers had already felt like they were going to snap off at the last practice, when the temperatures had been at the freezing level. He had nearly wept for joy with Mariah had cast a heating charm on his gloves for him, and had vowed to learn to do that charm himself before the week was out. Connor, on the other hand, had seemed to revel in the colder weather, and had reminisced about family Quidditch games during the Christmas holidays where his uncles would enchant giant snowballs to be Bludgers. Even Ivy had admitted that she was looking forward to the snow, since there was little snowfall where she lived.

They spotted Ivy and Rachel at the far end of the Gryffindor table, and as luck would have it, Andrew was sitting not far from them, all by himself. They decided that they might as well approach the other boy sooner rather than later, where there were plenty of witnesses.

"Hey Andrew," Connor greeted the other boy casually.

Andrew automatically looked toward the head table to make sure that there were teachers nearby in case he needed to summon help. "What do you want?" he asked defensively.

"I just wanted to say that there are no hard feelings about today on my part," Connor said. "I mean I know you moved my chair on purpose, but I think that you meant for me to fall on my butt, not hit my head. No hard feelings." He held out his hand in a gesture of peace, but Andrew looked too wary to take it.

"I really wasn't trying to hurt you," he muttered reluctantly.

"I didn't think so," Connor said. "At least, not once I had a chance to think it over. Zack, Quint and I were talking it over, and we decided it would be in all of our best interest if we all call a truce."

"What kind of truce?" Andrew asked suspiciously.

"We promise not to play any pranks or be deliberately mean to you, and you promise the same. We don't touch each other's stuff, and we don't set booby traps or hex each other," Connor said bluntly.

"I'm not looking to be friends with you," Andrew said stiffly.

"That's fine," Quentin added. "We're not looking to be friends with you, either."

"We're not looking to be enemies either," Zack said. "But we should be able to share a room without having to check to see if our trunks are going to blow up or our beds are going to toss us out in the middle of the night."

"We just respect each other and all of our belongings, and can completely ignore each other besides?" Andrew clarified.

"Yes," Connor agreed as the others nodded.

"I can agree to that," Andrew nodded after a thoughtful pause.

Connor thrust his hand forward once again, and was relieved when Andrew shook it with only a moment's hesitation. As he was turning to join Ivy and Rachel, Andrew called to Connor and said quietly, "Sorry about your head."

Connor nodded and went to join his friends.

"Zack," Ivy said, and began to giggle as Connor sat down and began filling his plate. "What have you done to your hair?"

Connor glanced down the table and saw that most of his cousins, and many of the other Gryffindors were staring hard at their dinner plates, struggling to hold in their laughter. Looking up at Zack's head, he saw what the source of the amusement was. By now Rachel had burst out laughing, and Quentin was trying unsuccessfully to look concerned at Zack's normally dark brown and shaggy hair twisted itself into corkscrew curls all over his head.

"I'm guessing that it wasn't just water in that bucket," Connor said, trying to keep a straight face.

Quentin lost his composure at this statement, and buried his face in his arms on the table as he laughed. This only made the others laugh harder; while Zack raised a tentative hand to his head and felt what was going on. His face began to turn red with embarrassment, and Rachel handed him a small mirror from her pocket. As he surveyed what was happening to his head, the curls got longer and began to tumble down his back.

"Will somebody please do something about this?" Zack said in exasperation. By now the students at the other tables were laughing as well; Zack himself knew he would have been joining in if he weren't the butt of the joke, and cracked a smile even as everyone shrugged.

"I could braid it for you if you'd like," Rachel offered cheekily, causing fresh howls of mirth to erupt up and down the table.

"Very funny," Zack said, grinning in spite of himself. "Now how do I at least get it to quit growing?"

"Oh it'll stop on its own when it reaches waist length," came an amused voice from behind him, "Then it'll start to change color."

"Professor Lupin!" Ivy said with surprise. "You're the one who did this?"

"No," he smiled. "But I recognize the product. I would look for your culprit in whomever has access to the newest Weasley's Wizard Wheezed products if I were you."

"Can you fix it?" Zack asked him as he glared in the general direction of the Weasley family. He suspected Rachel was the guilty party as he watched her laugh as hair reached his waist. Everyone watching was waiting expectantly for the color changes to begin, and sure enough, there was a definite tinge of blue to Zack's hair that began to get more intense under their gaze.

"I probably could," Lupin said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "But you might end up with no hair at all." Zack blanched that these words, making even Professor Lupin laugh out loud. "Of course, Professor Snape could probably clear it up in no time at all...."

"I think I'd rather be bald," Zack said miserably. It was clear that whomever had set up this joke was determined to make him endure it for a while, and so he sighed and turned back toward his plate. "Maybe I'll take you up on your offer to put it in a plait," he said to Rachel as the locks began to turn purple. "Unless of course you have the antidote handy?"

"Well," she said sweetly. "Since I was aiming for Connor anyway, I suppose I could help you out." She pulled a small vial from her pocket and handed it over to Zack.

"Hey!" Connor objected. "What do you mean you were aiming for me?"

Before Rachel could comment, Zack dipped his finger into the viscous liquid and dabbed some on his tongue, then made a slight choking sound and said, "This stuff is disgusting! It tastes like soap!"

"That because it is soap!" Rachel laughed. "You're supposed to wash your hair with it, not drink it! Uncle George says it will get rid of the color and the curl, but you'll have to have it cut afterward."

"Great," Zack muttered, and left the Great Hall to go and shower, with the laughter of the other students following him out. He was going to have to think of something good to repay Rachel for this one.