Uric the Oddball and the Great Goblin Uprising

Chapter 8: Thine Own Self

The meeting at the hearth went about as Louis expected it to. They discussed the details of the exorcism again: Varys would be saying the spells, with Mena and Louis as support, but it was up to Louis to lure Uric to the downstairs room. Varys and Mena would disappear a little after midnight, and Louis and Uric were to go and find them.

Watching the two of them walk back to the main room, hand in hand, Louis knew that he would have ample, if irrational, reason to follow them when they disappeared. He only hoped that Uric could be convinced to go with him. The old Uric would have gone in a second, but anything they did could tip the demon off. Then their task would be impossible.

Until that time arrived, though, Louis was determined to do some socializing and renew his acquaintance with his allies and enemies from previous years at Hogwarts. Others, especially his fellow Slytherins, had the same idea.

He headed first to the other side of the room, where a small group of students of both genders were gathered. In their centre was silver-blonde Alexis Lupin. If pressed, Louis would have admitted that she was pretty enough - she was too tall, but had eye-catching curves and a well-proportioned face. Of course, if pressed, Louis would also have admitted that she was a manipulative bitch who would use anyone and anything to achieve her ends. It was no wonder that she was the unofficial head of the Slytherin students, and would soon be the Head Girl.

Pushing his way past a tag-along sixth year, Vespian Malfoy, Louis only had to wait a few moments for Alexis to break off her conversation with Athar Starling.

"Hello, Louis," she said, ignoring the fact that Athar had been talking. "Enjoying the party?"

"It's absolutely grand," he said, overemphasizing the sarcasm for the benefit of his listeners.

Alexis laughed. "I haven't danced enough tonight, I think."

"And I haven't had enough to drink," responded Louis smoothly. "But I would be honoured if I might have your next dance."

She nodded and took his outstretched hand, allowing him to lead her out on the dance floor. They settled into position, facing each other but not touching, and waited for the quartet to begin playing again.

"Young Malfoy looks jealous," said Louis.

"He's lucky to even be here, and he'll be ruling Slytherin next year. I see little for him to complain about." Alexis sounded bored, but six years of being in her company had taught him a few things. One of them was that when Alexis sounded bored with a conversation it meant she had been practicing and planning it for a very long time. She must consider their talk very important.

The dance began, and both of them moved by rote through the first steps. Louis' mind raced as he tried to decide how to deal with this. Alexis was a good Slytherin, but she was only mildly clever, and not at all sharp when it came to most things. She obviously wanted something from him, and if he didn't head her off before she asked her favour, then he would most likely have to oblige or face the consequences. He didn't really fancy fending off Alexis' wrath this year. He might have an idea what she wanted, though.

Their right hands came together as they stepped to the beat, circling around each other. Alexis' blue-grey eyes were focused on a point beyond his shoulder, as if she were revolving around a centre other than their two joined hands. It was the perfect time to speak, and the perfect time for him to play his hunch.

"Our host and hostess seem to be getting along well," he said.

Their spinning revealed that she had been looking at Varys and Mena, who were also dancing. She transferred her gaze to him. "At the moment. She won't last out the year, or even a month if I have any say in the matter." She smiled. "And I do."

Louis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Years of rivalry should have taught Alexis that goading Mena only made her more stubborn.

The tempo of the music changed. Still holding her right hand, Louis slipped his other arm around her waist and guided them both forward to join the other couples. The dance led them in a slow circle, and Louis absently noted that they were behind Alexis' twin brother, Alexander, and his long-time sweetheart, Fiona MacLean. Alexis had not acknowledged Alexander as her brother since he had been sorted into Gryffindor, but Louis could engineer an 'accidental' collision with the couple if he needed to distract her.

"You won't interfere, will you, Louis?" Alexis' voice broke into his thoughts, her voice suddenly sugar-sweet. She wanted him to keep his distance, no matter what she did to ruin Varys' and Mena's relationship.

"And in return?" he asked. "I don't care about Varys, but Mena is my friend." He said the last with no little embarrassment, since friends were a weakness for someone in his position. But although this was his first time admitting it to Alexis, anyone with eyes could see he cared for Uric and Mena.

"I know the little Mudblood is your friend!" snapped Alexis, her face flushed red with anger. "But Varys is mine. He's-" She stopped and composed herself.

He spun her around to face the other way as the dance changed direction.

"She won't be harmed - not permanently - and there are plenty of lesser sons for her to take up with if she's of the mind," she said in a low voice.

Louis made his decision. "Very well. I won't help, but I won't hinder you either. I expect full Hogsmeade privileges this year, including some night passes. You'll cover for me as well when I need it."

She looked appalled at his suggestion. "I'm asking you not to interfere. If I wanted her food poisoned I'd ask someone else," she protested. His sudden glare made her wilt. "Not that I am poisoning her," she hastily added.

"And if I encourage her?" he asked. The dance ended, and he bowed as she curtsied.

She sent a glare of her own his way, but didn't have time for anything else. "You'll get your privileges and protection," she confirmed as he escorted her back to her crowd.

Louis gave her a mocking bow, then headed towards the nearest house-elf for a drink before returning to socialize. By Mena's definition, he had just betrayed her. By his, he had saved her from any of the nastier plans Alexis had in that manipulative head of hers. It was a stroke of luck that he had done so without letting Alexis know he would be pleased if Mena and Varys parted ways. He didn't think Varys was right for Mena, but Alexis would have thought Louis was sweet on Mena if she had noticed.

He drained his wine glass, hardly tasting the wine, and scanned the room. He hadn't seen Uric for a while. It took a few moments, but he finally spotted Uric in the corner, building a castle out of discarded wine glasses. Varys and Mena were still dancing. It seemed unreal that in a little over an hour they'd be trying to exorcise a demon.

He handed his empty glass to an attentive house-elf, and headed towards Uric, but detoured when he spotted a delicate, brown-haired girl standing by herself.

"Would you like to dance, Justine?" he asked politely. She blushed and nodded shyly.

Making small talk, he led her out on the dance floor for a slower dance than the previous one. Justine's soft answers - in slightly accented English - were charming, and he reminded himself that her family, the Harklenons, were great players in the wizarding politics of the Habsburg empire. A match with her would be pleasant, if boring - but his family would approve.

He would be expected to marry soon after Hogwarts, and he had better start looking for suitable partners now if he didn't want to end up married to a hag, or someone even more disturbing whom his family deemed acceptable. A picture of Mena laughing happily appeared in his mind for a moment before he pushed it away.

"Did I say something wrong?" Justine looked worried.

Louis shook his head and gave her a genuine smile. "Not at all. I simply remembered that I promised the Beaufolles I would look after Uric tonight, and if I leave him too long he might burn down Varys' house."

She looked alarmed, but then she was in Hufflepuff and knew Uric's reputation firsthand. "You had better go find him then," she said. Breaking off their dance, Louis led her to the side.

"Thank you," he said and kissed her hand before disappearing into the crowd, not so much to find Uric as to find another drink. He was embarrassed that he had invented a pretext to get rid of her, especially since he had no reason to do so. He just wanted to be alone.

"You might want this," said a voice.

Louis looked up in time to take a full wine glass from the hand of Seraph Cahzer. She was looking as radiant as usual, in dark red robes that accented the fiery red colour of her hair. In every way, she fulfilled her title as the best-looking girl in school. He took the wine, congratulated himself on not staring, and gave her a wry smile.

"Thank you. I'll assume it's not poisoned." He turned to survey the dance floor, making sure not to look at her as he spoke. Though they were both in Slytherin, the two of them tended to avoid each other's company. It wasn't that either one disliked the other. In fact, Louis thought that once she learned to tame that fiery tongue of hers, she would be a model Slytherin, and he was sure she held a similar opinion of him. The problem was that they were the only two Slytherins in their year who didn't bow to Alexis' every whim. Alexis left them alone as long as they were cautious, but if she thought they were joining forces against her... Well, saying that there would be a war in Slytherin would be putting it mildly.

"Varys has all the glasses charmed to repel poisons," said Seraph lightly, pretending to watch the dancers and sip her wine.

"There go my plans for the evening." He could see her smile out of the corner of his eyes.

"I'm going to need some help in Dark Arts this year, I'm afraid," she said, changing the subject but not her tone. "Would you be available to aid me, say the second week of term?"

"It's possible," he said. "I can't guarantee if the tutoring will help any."

"Father says I must try," she said, sounding put upon. "Thursday at six in the library, then?"

"That's fine," said Louis, his mind already racing as he tried to figure out why she would want a meeting, since tutoring was certainly not the real reason. No explanation presented itself, but he made a note of the date and time, and resolved to find out a bit more before then.

"Good," said Seraph, finally turning towards him again. She looked him up and down. "Those robes look quite good on you, though the black is a bit dreary, don't you think?"

"At least I'm not wearing enemy colours," he pointed out, deliberately eyeing her dark red robes.

"What better way to lull them into a false sense of security?" she asked brightly, then tapped a finger against the end of his collar, where he knew one of his family crests was embroidered in red. He gave her a nod to say he had caught her unspoken point: he was wearing enemy colours as well.

"I must get back to Icarus before he runs out of Quidditch anecdotes and realizes I'm not there. Have a good evening." She disappeared as quickly as she had come, pushing towards where Louis could see Icarus Jabber, the Ravenclaw Seeker, entertaining a large group with a wild story that involved lots of hand motions.

Louis held onto his wine and went to find Uric. It was still an hour until Varys and Mena were due to disappear, but somehow the idea of watching over a demon-possessed Uric seemed easy compared to fielding any more intrigue.

*****

He was tiring of this party, and tiring of playing the fool. Leaning forward a little too far, he dropped the glass he was holding. The substantial wine-glass castle he had been building crashed to the ground with a loud crackling noise. The music stopped, and all the creatures in the room turned to stare at him. He grinned a grin that he had discovered came naturally to the face of his host body.

"I hate it when the invisible newts do that," he said. All the creatures watching him blinked or looked confused, then turned away. It was amazing how well-conditioned his host had them. The music started again, as did the conversations. He turned to go play in the glass, but one of those miserable house-elf creatures was Vanishing the last of it away.

"If I give you this glass, Uric, will you promise not to build a castle with it?"

He turned and found the green-eyed one who was always following him. It was offering him a glass of the strange drink that tasted like vinegar.

"Can I build a cottage instead?" he asked, and took the glass without waiting for the other boy's answer.

"Why bother?" asked Louis, taking a sip of his wine as he looked pensively at the dancers.

Uric, or rather Uric's intruder, cocked his head to the side and stared at his companion. He liked to think he had come to understand a little about these strange creatures, especially the ones that were close to his host, but the green-eyed one seemed even more serious than usual. He searched his memory for the proper thing to say. "Did your last croslax get eaten? I always hate it when that happens."

Louis shook his head, and the demon noticed that the boy's wine glass was trembling in his hand. "Considering I have no idea what a croslax is... No. It didn't get eaten." There was a pause. "But I do feel like I'm slowly being eaten. Consumed bite by bite. Courting should be the least of my worries, and yet I can't stop..." He trailed off.

The demon was confused by this, and let it show on his face. Louis saw the look and smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Never mind, Uric. Let's enjoy ourselves." He led the way off into the crowd, and after a moment, the demon followed.

*****

Getting Uric to go with him was easier than Louis thought it would be. He simply mentioned that Varys and Mena had disappeared and he wanted to follow them. The demon, in true Uric fashion, made a game of it - making them hop on one foot for half the way, then insisting that Varys and Mena had been abducted by giant plum-eating bees.

The usual doubts as to whether or not Louis was right about the demon surfaced. And then Uric mentioned that when they found the bees, they would eviscerate them and use their limbs as furniture. Louis hoped Varys and Mena were prepared.

*****

Mena was pacing the tiny room, keeping to the edges so as not to disturb the invisible circle. When a hand fell on her shoulder, she turned, ready to fight.

"Leave me alone!" she snapped.

"Stop pacing, then," said Varys. He sounded cross, but managed to look quite unconcerned for someone who was going to be performing a demon exorcism in a few minutes. She'd seen him look more worried in exams.

"You don't even care," she said, fidgeting with a loose strand of her hair.

Varys sighed and gave her a nervous smile. "I care because you care."

"You do? What about Hogwarts?"

"Bugger Hogwarts," said Varys. Mena gaped at him for a moment, then laughed. She'd never expected to hear that from him.

He took a step closer so they were less then a few inches apart. His eyes were dark. "I hope you don't think me forward, Mena." And then he was leaning in. Mena stood frozen as his lips brushed hers, leaving what felt like a brand in their place. Her first real kiss.

Varys was staring at her expectantly, and she began to panic. She had always punched the boys who tried to kiss her before, but that didn't seem appropriate in this situation. "It was very forward of you," she managed finally, biting her tongue before she asked him to be forward again.

She was relieved when the door to the room swung open. They both turned to see Uric creep in, with Louis not far behind him. Uric was hunched over, sending furtive looks around the room, and for one horrible second Mena thought the demon had figured it out. But then Uric saw them. "I'm a spy," he announced, straightening up. "Beaufolle. Uric Beaufolle."

"Yes, I think we all know who you are, Uric," said Louis from behind him. "Most spies try to keep their names secret, by the way." And then Louis pushed Uric forward, sending him sprawling into the centre of the now-visible circle. "Close it!" He slipped Uric's wand, which he had grabbed from Uric's pocket, into his own.

Varys was already moving. Before Uric had time to react, the holy-water barrier was complete, and Varys ordered them to light the candles. Their light spread to the runes on the floor, each glowing figure igniting its neighbour.

In the circle, Uric sat up calmly. "Are we playing a game?" he asked, but his eyes were focused on the runes.

"No!" said Mena and Louis. They looked at each other, then back at the demon.

"No more games," said Louis softly.

"We know you're a demon, and that you've got Uric somehow. But you're going to let him go!" Mena yelled.

Uric cocked his head to one side. "This is an odd game."

The runes were nearly all lit now, and Varys stood to one side, ready to chant the spell for the final part of the exorcism.

Mena growled at the demon's pretence, and would have yelled at it again if Louis had not spoken first.

"We're not playing a game anymore, Uric, but perhaps we should. Here are the rules. Step outside the circle, and we'll forget this ever happened, or admit you're a demon and leave our friend alone!" Louis looked ready to step into the circle to do battle.

Slowly, the affable solicitude faded away from Uric's face, to be replaced with a twisted sneer - the first he had ever given. A chill settled over the room at the sight of it, but Mena heard Louis give a slight sigh of relief. He had been right.

The sneer still in place, the demon-possessed Uric stepped up to the barrier and reached out a cautious finger to test it. Mena panicked, thinking that perhaps she hadn't gotten holy water earlier, but then the air thickened around the finger. For a moment, there was a black talon superimposed on Uric's finger. Then the demon drew back, grimacing.

"This won't hold me for long," snarled the demon with Uric's voice.

"It will last long enough," said Louis. "The spell, if you please, Varys."

Varys began, his intonation perfect. They waited. The demon looked more uncomfortable by the moment. It began pacing the circle.

"This is creepy," Mena muttered. It was difficult to watch a creature that looked like her friend acting so unnatural and - well - evil.

"Did you expect an exorcism to be flowers and rainbows?" asked Louis. "Perhaps if we hope really hard, Uric will be restored by the love of his friends."

Mena wanted to kick him. So she did.

"Uric is strong," she told him with a determination she didn't feel. "He can fight a stupid demon. We can't give up. Not yet."

Varys finished the chant, leaving an echoing silence in the room. Then there was a buzzing noise, and the runes glowed even brighter. A few began to flow toward the centre of the room, passing through the circle as if it wasn't there. One touched Uric's body, and he let out a scream that turned into a roar. Mena cried out to see the pain on Uric's face.

The second rune touched, and this time the roar sounded strange, like words in the wrong dialect, or in a language she used to know. Beside her, Louis' eyes widened. His own wand was pointed towards the barrier.

"Silencio contego!"

All sound cut off, except for their breathing.

"What?" asked Mena.

"A curse," said Louis grimly. "One that would have hit us across the barrier and burnt us inside out." He let out a shaky breath. "He would have been disembodied as well, but I'm sure he saw it as a small price to pay. Now he can only curse Uric, and we must hope he doesn't find that preferable."

"The demon can still hear us, yes?" asked Varys. Now that the demon was quiet, he had reverted to treating this as a particularly challenging Artithmancy problem.

Louis nodded. "Just in case you have to reinforce the spell." If that happened, the runes inside the circle would need to hear Varys' voice.

"You should encourage Uric, then," said Varys. "The victim can be drawn back by the voices of those he is close to, according to one of my sources."

Mena shot a triumphant look at Louis who rolled his eyes, but nevertheless turned his attention to the circle again. Uric's body was spread-eagled on the floor, his robes in disarray, his mouth open in a silent scream. He writhed every time an errant rune touched him.

Mena and Louis began to chant. "Uric! Fight him, Uric! Uric!"

*****

The badgers were performing their sacred dance for the eighteenth time since Uric had arrived. They all stood in a circle facing outward- all the badgers walked upright in this place - then twirled about to the left until they were facing inwards. The badgers and Uric bowed, and shouted the badger salute: "No! Not the ankles!" Then they lapsed into a complicated dance called the Mock-a-rina. Uric had found it hard to learn the moves, but he enjoyed chanting the words in the secret badger tongue, and the feast afterwards was always fun.

It was around the hundredth repetition of the song that Uric began to wonder if something was wrong. Forty Mock-a-rinas later, he decided to wander around the circle. He stopped in front of their frantically dancing chief, Badger Julio, and waved his hand in front of the badger's eyes the way his friends did to him sometimes. He had to pull his hand back quickly so as not to get his hand ripped open by Julio's sharp claws. Uric frowned.

"Mr. Julio?" Uric waited. "Mr. Julio?" The badger kept on dancing, its black eyes focused on a spot somewhere behind Uric's head. Uric turned to look and saw only the other badgers dancing.

"Do you need me anymore, Mr. Julio?" he asked politely. That was why he had stayed all this time. First the badgers had needed him to help name the trees. Then they had to paint them, and collect their leaves. Then they had wanted to build sand castles - only there was no sand, so they built dirt castles. There had been more requests as well. Uric was always happy to help, but occasionally he wondered what had happened to his friends or his family or Hogwarts and began making preparations to leave. The badgers would do their sacred dance and feast in honour of his departure and then... he would help them make forts out of sticks.

"Thank you for your hospitality," he said, and bowed to the dancing badger, narrowly avoiding being head-butted. Julio gave no sign of hearing or seeing him. Uric shrugged and walked off into the badgers' forest.

He had been warned that the Pudding patrolled the edge of the forest, preying on the hungry and unwary. Sometimes when he closed his eyes he saw it - a dark shape with fire and eyes and blood - and became upset. The badgers always distracted him when that happened, but this time no badger appeared. He walked onward, steeling himself to face the Pudding at the edge of the forest - only it wasn't there.

Beyond the forest was a desert. The sand was made of hot gold, but Uric took his wand and made himself a pair of cheese-shaped slippers which fried pleasantly as he walked on.

"Uric!"

He looked around. The voice had come from the bright blue sky, but squinting upward revealed nothing. He shrugged and continued walking.

"Uric! You idiot! Fight him!"

"Who?" asked Uric. The landscape changed around him, the gold melting away in molten rivers. He put a strong cooling charm on his feet and continued, leaving footprints in the metal that lasted a moment before melting away again.

A mountain appeared in the distance, and Uric headed towards it. The voice called his name a few more times, but the sky never answered back when he spoke to it.

The golden desert began to cool and form into strange shapes. There was a face, screaming in agony with its golden tongue. A giant foot as tall as a house, and an arm the same size, lay nearby. A smaller hand with twelve fingers tried to grab him, but he jumped out of the way. There were golden animals - birds, cats, grindylows, pigs, even a badger. A golden dog paced him for a long time, but then fell away when he asked it what it ate.

The forms grew more numerous as he got closer to the mountain, and other objects began to appear. Uric watched in bemusement as a clock melted at his feet and began to slide away.

"Uric! You need to fight! You know how!"

Did he? The question occupied him until he found himself at the foot of the mountain. Only it wasn't a mountain of stone, or even of gold. Multiplied a thousand times were decaying copies of his own head, their faces fixed in grimaces, forming a pile that reached to the sky.

A queasy feeling ran through Uric, along with a stab of pain. Then he felt normal again. Solemnly, he reached out to touch the hair of the closest head.

"I'm sorry, Uric," he said, and began to climb.

*****

"He's not listening. Make him listen, Louis!"

Had Louis been alone, he would have already given up. But he knew Mena wouldn't give up until Uric was free or dead, so he turned to Varys and ordered him to chant the exorcism spell again. Turning back, he watched Mena shout for a moment, the desperation and determination evident. Uric was always surprising them. He could still do it.

"Come on, Uric," he yelled. "Don't let the pudding win!"

*****

Uric was very close to the top when the Pudding appeared. It descended from the sky, and landed with a crunch on the nearest heads. A wave of fear swept through Uric, followed by more stabbing pains. He clung to the nearest head's hair, feeling reassured by the familiar braid in his hands.

"Return to the badgers," the Pudding ordered.

"Uric! Fight him!"

"They're busy," said Uric. "And they don't really need me," he added sadly.

"Return, or I will force you to."

"No. Not again." Uric wondered where the "again" had come from. Obviously his mind knew of a first time, even if he didn't.

"You've already fallen," said the Pudding scornfully.

Uric shook his head. "I was weak. My apologies."

"You've always been weak. The only reason I didn't destroy you before was that it was easier not to."

"Uric!"

Uric looked up towards the top of the mountain. He was scared of the pudding, but his friends wanted him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Pudding, but I must be going." He started climbing.

"No!" shouted the Pudding. It grabbed his arm.

Uric turned slowly to look at it, and the Pudding found itself staring into deep golden eyes, the same colour as the desert below. The Pudding recoiled from that gaze, knowing that the thing it had feared the most had happened. His host's mind had finally given it his full attention.

"I think you should leave now," said Uric, and the Pudding fell.

"URIC!"

Uric climbed the last few feet on heads that were slowly turning to gold. He paused for a moment, then reached out to touch the sky.

*****

They all stared anxiously at the circle, but saw nothing except a dense miasma. There had been no sign of Uric since the darkness had started pouring out of his body.

Then a hand appeared, pushing outside the circle. Mena leapt forward and grabbed it, pulling Uric through the circle so hard that he landed on top of her. Louis helped them both up, grinning, then glanced in alarm at the circle before hurrying out of the room.

*****

Mena eventually released the bemused Uric from a breath-stealing hug. She glanced over at Varys and saw that he was scanning the runes on the floor, his lips moving as if he were speaking inaudibly. She regarded the rest of the room.

"Varys?" she asked, wondering why her voice was so high.

"Yes?" He sounded strained.

"Isn't the demon supposed to be gone now?"

"Yes!" There was panic in Varys' voice.

The circle that contained the demon was beginning to look woefully inadequate. The black gloom that had streamed out of Uric had coalesced into the slavering monster she remembered from their time in Paris. Its black skin rippled as it used its bulging muscles to strain against the barrier. There were already deep gouges in the floor from its claws. It bellowed something at them, but the barrier blocked the sound. Sensing this, the demon settled for glaring at them with eyes of flame.

"What do we do?" asked Mena.

"Something simple," said Louis from behind her.

She turned to see him in the doorway, holding a bucket of water as far away from himself as possible. She wondered when he had left to get it.

"You're going to throw water on it?" asked Varys a bit scornfully.

Louis glared at the other boy. "Yes. I took the last of your holy water and mixed it with regular water. It's diluted, but still potent. The demon's only option will be to leave or die. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get on with this before it breaks out of the barrier?" He gestured for everyone to get out of the way.

They moved, with Mena dragging Uric, who was mumbling something about them getting wet, behind her.

Louis had just swung the bucket back and was ready to throw when someone crashed into him from behind. The water went wild - some of it splattering his arm, the rest going off to the side, where it drenched Uric and Mena. He hit the floor with a thud.

"Master!" a voice screamed. Louis looked up to see a once-beautiful and highly familiar woman running full-tilt toward the demon.

"Stupefy!" Varys yelled, but it was too late. The spell passed just behind the woman, who launched herself through the barrier, breaking it. She struck the demon inside, and at her touch, it dissolved into a dense cloud of smoke that obscured their view. The dark cloud expanded, reaching towards the ceiling and the door, then contracted in on itself with a great rushing noise. Louis thought he heard a faint cry of "master," but he couldn't be sure. The cloud grew smaller, then disappeared, leaving the room empty of both demon and woman.

"What the hell was that?" asked Mena irritably. She was wringing out the edge of her dress.

Louis rubbed at the place on his arm where the water had hit him, reluctant to speak of what he thought had happened. Uric had no such reticence.

"The Pudding left, and he took his friend with him," said Uric, sounding serious for once.

"His 'friend' being a certain dark witch you will recall encountering under Paris," said Louis grimly. "It seems to have..." He paused to search for the proper word. "Broken her."

Mena groaned. "Just great."

"Are you all right, Mena?" asked Varys.

Louis rolled his eyes at the question. Of course she was all right. Holy water wouldn't hurt her.

Mena smiled at Varys. "I'm fine. You almost hit her with your spell."

Varys looked embarrassed, but pleased at her compliment. "I was still too late."

"I think we all were," said Mena regretfully. Still, she was impressed by Varys' actions, and his wonderful spell casting during the exorcism. If only she knew what to do about the kiss.

Varys nodded in agreement, then turned to Uric, who was wringing out his robes. He held out his hand. "It's good to see you back, Uric."

Uric regarded the hand curiously for a moment, then reached out and shook it with the slow deliberation of someone who had never done such a strange thing before. "Did you know," asked Uric as he inspected the floor, "that if you rotate all the outer runes a half-turn to the left, you can spell out the first chapter of our Potions textbook?"

Taken aback, Varys looked around the room. "Why would you want to?" he finally asked.

Mena giggled. "He has a point, Uric."

"Watch out for the pudding!" called Louis suddenly. Uric jumped and began to look around wildly. Water sprayed from his brown hair, splattering the wall. Louis gave a satisfied nod and handed Uric's wand back to him.

Mena glared at Louis. "You didn't have to do that."

Louis gave her a tight smile. "I had to be sure."

"Suspicious bastard," she accused, but her voice had taken on a teasing tone.

This time the smile Louis gave her was genuine. "Yes."