A Little Knowledge

Weekend Quidditch practice was resumed that weekend for all of the school teams in hopes that it would keep the students from practicing illicitly during the dusky hours of the evening or early morning hours during the week. Many Quidditch players who were less aware of the danger the school was in were more than a bit miffed by the lack of quality practice time. Corinna was rather relieved, although the time the Ravenclaw team had drawn, which was from one to three o’clock in the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday, was very unusual for the team. But she knew that the spring matches had very nearly been canceled altogether, though she decided not to share this information with her teammates.

Of course Corinna had more than just Quidditch to think about that weekend. Following the harrowing events of the previous week, she wanted nothing more than to have a quiet spot of tea with Professor Mallaghan.

Not so long after breakfast, she left the company of her friends, including a rather morose Martin, who had still not got over what had happen to his uncle, especially his rather abrupt departure from the school for St. Mungo’s Hospital. Corinna slipped from the corner of the library that they had claimed and made her way to the Divinations’ Tower.

The secret door to the classroom was open when she arrived, which made Corinna smile because she knew that it meant that Professor Mallaghan was awaiting her arrival. That was quite encouraging, but not nearly as encouraging as the smell of tea and fresh baked ginger newts.

“I was wondering when you would arrive, my dear,” said Mallaghan as she stepped through the door.

“I came from the library, professor. It’s a long ways, you know,” she said, taking her accustomed seat by the window.

“I’ve heard many things about you and your friends these past few days,” commented Joseph with a smile as finished preparing their tea and levitated the tray to a nearby table.

Corinna winced and nodded, “I suppose you have, and none of it very good.”

“On the contrary, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall seem quite impressed with all of you, and as a student, McGonagall was never very keen on Divinations nor its practitioners, so that really is saying something. And the headmaster has spoken to me twice about your talents, not including that first night in the autumn. Don’t sell yourself short, my dear,” he chuckled.

Corinna blushed a little bit, but shook her head. “I should have tried to warn Mister Moody,” she explained.

“Ah ... that,” he said, taking a cautious sip from his teacup. “Well, sometimes things happen for a reason. The tides and currents of fate take people many places. What happen to young Alastor was unfortunate, but you are not to blame for it, not in the very least. The vampire is. It was his curse that inflicted the damage, after all,” said Mallaghan.

“But ...” said Corinna.

“My dear, do you remember what I told you of my son?” he questioned.

“That he could foresee things to come like I can,” she said, furrowing her brow. The question seemed to have come out of the blue.

“Thomas died trying to warn a Muggle town of a terrible attack that he had foreseen. His warning never reached them,” Joseph informed her solemnly.

“I don’t understand.”

“It was the fate of Sedan to fall before the Germans and their Muggle weaponry. Thomas could not stop that. If what has happen to Alastor was his fate, then you could not have changed it, and perhaps it was for the best that you did not try. I can only speculate, but I do not believe any happy ending would have come from it if you had warned him,” he told Corinna.

“We’ll never know,” she said, “and I am very sorry about that.”

“Only very rarely do we know what might have been,” he nodded, patting her knee and looking at her very sadly. “I don’t often wish to know such things myself, but you are young, and for the most part, you are unafraid. I can hardly blame you for wanting that,” said Mallaghan.

“Thank you,” she said softly, thinking about what he had said.

“You are more than welcome,” he chuckled quietly, though the sadness did not leave his eyes.

“But I can change some things,” said Corinna with a serious look, remembering the night when Olivia should have been harmed by the vampire and she had inadvertently put Martin in harm’s way. They had all escaped nearly unscathed. In retrospect, that night no longer seemed so terrible as it had before.

“Yes, you can, my dear,” he told her with a nod.

“But ... how can I tell what events ...”

He held up his hand and interrupted, “You cannot, or if you can, the method is beyond my paltry skills. Intuition may guide you, as it did this time. Was it not that which made you reluctant to impart to Mister Moody the knowledge you possessed?”

“I’m not sure,” she replied with a frown, “but maybe it was.”

Mallaghan smiled at her very thoughtfully, noting the serious expression in her eyes. There was much strength and determination to be found in them, if someone looked hard enough. He knew that Corinna would need both traits in spades.

“You are a very young Seer, Miss Bellew, and by my reckoning, you have the potential to be very great too, but that greatness will only come through the passage of time. And it will not come easily. I worry that the road ahead will be a difficult one for you, but for as long as I may ... I will be here to help you,” said Joseph, placing his hand on top of one of hers.

Corinna felt grateful and relieved at his words, and knowing that he was a Hufflepuff, she had no doubts about whether he would be true to his oath or not. She knew that he would be, and that comforted her more than anything she could think of. She would always have someone with whom to share her experiences with her ‘gift’, though she could hardly consider it that in light of the horror of what she had known and seen in regards to Alastor Moody.

“Thank you, professor,” she told him. “That really means a lot to me.”

Mallaghan smiled kindly and said, “Well, you know, all of the other professors have prodigies in their disciplines whose progress they follow through school with the utmost care and diligence. I haven’t had someone with your skills to come along in nigh on thirty years. I consider it a privilege to offer you any assistance I may.”

No matter what her friends might think or say concerning her abilities, Corinna knew she would always have an ally in Professor Mallaghan.


Sophia, Olivia, Sissy, and Martin were studying quietly in the library while Corinna had her conversation with Professor Mallaghan. Snow was no longer falling outside, but it was bitterly cold and therefore perfectly satisfactory to all that they remained sequestered indoors with their studies.

Olivia was assisting Martin with his Charms’ assignment, which was quite elementary to her, while Sissy and Sophia did some much needed research on their extra assignments from Krohn. The others had not begun yet, although it was due to be returned on Monday, at which time they imagined that the professor would give them something else to do. Only Sophia could be said to be looking forward to this. Sissy had a very sour look on her face as she flipped through a book on restoratives. Not at all her cup of tea, and she thoroughly resented it.

“You know ... with a bit of additional effort, you could probably join us in Charms’ next year,” said Olivia as she read a portion of Martin’s essay on basic Charm theory. He was really quite advanced for his age, or at least Olivia thought so.

“Thanks, but wouldn’t I miss out on an awfully lot of important spells?” he asked with a slight blush.

That slight change in color was the most life he had shown since Alastor’s departure. Martin had already sent his uncle a letter by owl, but the reply was slow to come. He was growing anxious and even more unhappy.

“I suppose ... but I could tutor you,” said Olivia with a smile and a slight prod. Not enough to garner a reaction from the sad young wizard.

“You’ll be doing that anyway, won’t you?” questioned Sissy in a somewhat surly tone of voice. They were disturbing her concentration.

“I was just saying ...” said Olivia.

“Of course,” sighed Sissy, returning her attention to the rather irksome book on the table in front of her.

“You two should really start on those assignments. They won’t write themselves, you know,” said Sophia rather seriously, shaking her quill at Martin, who had received his orders after the girls, and at Olivia.

Olivia just stuck her tongue out at Sophia. She didn’t need to be told that, and neither did Martin, but beginning a task so irksome on Saturday... That was an awful thought. She felt disgusted even thinking about the potion she was supposed to research. Martin, in her opinion, had got off easily with his cataloguing of snake venoms and their uses, although she could well imagine that some of those uses were unpleasant.

“May I interrupt for a moment?” asked a voice from behind Olivia that made her start.

She turned to see Ignatius Ambrose standing there with his arms behind his back, peering down at her and her friends like they were insects of some sort, but then he was the Quidditch captain and they were only second years, except in Martin’s case.

“Er ... certainly, but Corinna isn’t with us at the moment,” said Olivia.

“I’m not looking for her. She’s due on the pitch in about forty minutes,” said Ambrose. “I wanted to start training a new Beater for next term, Scarrow, if you’re still interested.”

“Of- of course!” she stammered.

“Excellent. See you on the pitch then, and don’t be late,” said the prefect.

“I just need to grab my bat,” said Olivia hastily, scrambling from her seat.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, “You have your own bat?”

Olivia smiled mischievously and said, “That’s right. I’ve had it for a while now too, so I know how to use it. Do you mind if I bring it to practice?”

“You’ve got to use an official one for games ...”

“It is official,” she assured him quickly.

Ambrose looked rather relieved, not to mention slightly incredulous, as he had not actually expected to find a decent player in Scarrow, despite the fact that he was willing to give her a shot at Bellew’s word. The team was going to be desperate next term, which was leading the captain to recruit a bit more heavily than his predecessor had, but now he didn’t think he would have any worries from Scarrow. He was looking forward to seeing her in action.

“That’s just fine then. Our equipment’s beginning to look a mite shoddy, so it’s probably for the best that you’ve your own,” nodded Ambrose.

“I’ll just go and get it then,” said Olivia, looking absolutely elated at the prospect of practicing with the house Quidditch team. She wasn’t sure whether Corinna knew or not, but she hoped to surprise her.

Corinna hated sitting in the locker room before practice, although it was a little more pleasant that afternoon. The house elves had brought hot chocolate, and Ambrose was conspicuously absent, meaning that Sexton couldn’t pick a fight with him, although the Chaser looked a bit too subdued for that.

She readily attributed this to the vampire attack of the previous week. Many students, especially the older ones and those in the prefecture, who were aware of the events and the danger, were likewise more solemn and serious, though many of the younger ones remained all but oblivious. Given the senior character of the Ravenclaw team, they all seemed more serious than normal.

“Of course, if they weren’t, I would be very concerned,” thought Corinna, watching Sexton fiddled with the Quaffle as he lay on the bench that he always staked out for himself at early practices.

But she didn’t have very long to muse about such things after finishing her chocolate.

“All right. Off your duffs!” called Ambrose as he strode purposefully into the locker room. “We’ve got a new Beater for next year to train starting today, and we don’t have nearly enough time for the usual stuff as it is. We’ve got to practice extra hard this afternoon,” he continued.

Corinna’s head snapped up at the words new Beater. She grinned from ear to ear when she saw Olivia twirling her bat in one hand behind Ambrose and holding a school broom in her other hand, resting it against her shoulder as she stood there. Olivia winked at her secretively and smirked proudly. All of Corinna’s gloomy thoughts were thrust aside as she realized that she would be playing Quidditch, or at least practicing, with her friend for the rest of the term.

“Why not leave off her training until the start of school next year?” asked Sexton with a yawn.

“Because we’ll be in a right bind if we’ve got to train four new players. Three’ll be a bloody nightmare as it is,” Ambrose shot back at him. “On your feet ... all of you,” he ordered, grabbing his broom from where he had deposited it earlier.

Sexton groaned derisively, which was something Corinna had not thought possible until meeting him, and tossed the Quaffle at Ambrose’s head. The captain caught it neatly, but said nothing. He only looked at Sexton in a vaguely superior fashion and exited the locker room.

“Nice lot,” Olivia commented to Corinna in a low voice after watching the exchange.

“You get used to it,” she shrugged, picking up her outdated broomstick and walking out with her friend.

Olivia had changed into warmer clothes when she went for her Beater’s bat, and she was very glad that she had done so. It was very cold for the beginning of February. Although Olivia enjoyed winter and the outdoors in general, she found it to be unpleasantly nippy at best. The wind stung her ears and nose as she mounted her broom to fly with the team. The sensation was exhilarating, but she would have gladly traded it for some decent, warmer weather.

She had only naturally seen the team on the field before, flying high above the stands during matches, but to be flying with them was a different thing entirely. She loved it instantly.

The movements of her soon-to-be teammates were so fluid and coordinated as they practiced passing the Quaffle back and forth. Ambrose was a masterful captain, and Parker and Sexton followed his lead like professionals. No sign of enmity could be found on the pitch, not even between Alec and Ignatius. The three Chasers acted as one cohesive unit.

And Olivia smiled as she realized that the team’s Keeper had come into her own, defending the goals with a more than practiced ease that proved how much Corinna deserved the position. She had truly improved, despite the much interrupted practice schedule. She seemed more confident on her broom and far less anxious than she had been during the matches Olivia had watched. Of course, she had never seen Corinna practice, so perhaps she only had nerves during the actual games.

Another surprise for Olivia was the team’s reserve Beater, who was up for a bit of practice that afternoon while Cole and Savage watched from the ground and discussed strategy. Edgar Bonham was a fourth year, like Sexton and the reserve Chaser, and he was rather brawny for such a young Ravenclaw, but he certainly looked the part of a Beater, unlike Olivia who was of an average size for her age. Bonham winked at Olivia as he hit the Bludger in her direction, intending for them to pass it back and forth between the Chasers to simulate a real match.

Of course, no one had mentioned to Olivia that she wasn’t really supposed to try and take the other players off their broomsticks in practice.

She grinned wolfishly at Bonham and whacked the ball toward Sexton, wondering if a good Bludger to the midsection would change his surly locker room attitude. With wide-eyes and a rather surprised expression, Bonham zipped to intercept it.

Olivia kept pace with him as he flew, watching her Bludger rocket toward its intended target, who had the Quaffle tucked neatly underneath one arm and was soaring with a half-carefree, half-determined look on his face toward Corinna and the goals.

“Oy! Bellew! Hold on to your broom. You’re drifting again!” yelled Sexton, raising his arm to toss the Quaffle for a goal. Corinna was waving frantically at him.

“You’ve got to get a better ... Oof!”

The Bludger caught him directly in the stomach, which was no surprise to Olivia as her aim was very good, and Sexton never finished his statement. He flipped over in the air on his broom, losing the Quaffle in the process, and just managed to maintain his grip with his knees as he spiraled downward, winded and disoriented.

“Merlin’s Beard, Scarrow!” bellowed Ambrose. “What do you mean by doing that?” asked the Quidditch captain in midair.

“I thought ...” she began, coming to a halt and watching Sexton, who had not even attempted to dodge the Bludger.

“She thought we were playing for keeps,” said Bonham, who had admired the shot, especially since it had shut Sexton up, though there was a rueful look on his face. He had not been able to stop the Bludger.

Parker had flown down to check on Alec, and Savage and Cole had rushed onto the pitch to see about him as well. The two Beaters were smirking ever-so-slightly.

“Weren’t we?” asked Olivia, glancing down at Sexton, who was lying on his back on the grass and coughing.

“This is supposed to be a practice, not a free for all! It takes more than brute force to be an effective Beater. You can’t just hit the ball at the nearest player and hope it addles them or something. This requires strat-eh-gy,” the captain said, stretching the word out.

“You’ve got to learn to protect your teammates while giving the opposition a rough time of it. Learning to do that takes practice. You could learn a lesson or two from Savage and Cole. I’d recommend you staying to watch them when their turn comes up,” continued Ambrose.

“I’ll ... I’ll remember that,” Olivia told him.

“See that you do,” he said before flying down to chat with Sexton, who was sitting up and looking very surly indeed.

Olivia glanced at Corinna to find her smiling. She looked at the Keeper quizzically and zoomed over to ask what was so amusing.

“Sexton was right in the middle of teasing me about my broom,” she said, managing to hold it steady as they spoke.

“Then I guess he had it coming,” said Olivia with a shrug.

“Maybe, but now you should keep an eye on him. He’s probably going to try to get you back for that,” said Corinna, although not very seriously. Alec wasn’t exactly the vengeful type, not like a certain Slytherin they both knew, but he had a very sharp tongue.

“I’m the one with the bat, you know,” answered Olivia, twirling it almost idly in her hands as they waited for Sexton to mount his broom again.

Corinna could hardly wait to have her on the team.

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