Chimaera of Judgement



CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: Mothers And Fathers

"-EXIT?!"

Sheets wrinkled beneath Albus's fingers when he awoke, not dirt or cold stone or anything sticky. His head pounded as he blinked around, and he squeezed his eyes shut to block out the painful light.

"Don't push," Madam Pomfrey commanded. "You may have a concussion, it's unwise to exert yourself just now."

"Mmh," he groaned, laying back. "Did anyone get the number of that wildebeest?"

"Wildebeest?" Was that Rose? "Still dreaming about those, are you? The more things change..."

"Oh, thank Merlin you're alive!" That had to be Jezabel. "I- I was so scared, I didn't know what I was going to do if- if- and-"

"'Sokay," he grunted. An instant later, he was sitting bolt upright. "No - Dorika! It's Dorika Dunsmore, she was trying to murder me, I-"

"Relax," sighed Rose, and a hand was suddenly atop his own. As the room came into better focus, he could see the outline of her flaming locks again, though her features remained indistinct; only the monocle stood out. "They've got Dorika. Being held in Professor Abbott's office right now, and Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley are in there with them. They've sent for the law, you know!"

"And... and she killed somebody else!" His heart sank through his stomach as he gripped Rose's hand, never wishing more strongly that his memory would fail him. "There's... there's a dead-"

"Ow! Stop it, Al!" Rose jerked her hand away. "Grinding my phalanges to dust won't fix anything!"

"But... but who was it? Who's dead?"

"Um..."

He spun to face Jezabel, and his vision cleared enough to see twin streaks running down her cheeks. "I- I went to get Longbottom, as I thought our Head of House made more sense at the time, and- but I must have left the front doors ajar, and P-Professor Peele saw them, and- and she went to investigate, and then- then-"

It was too much for any of them. Albus glanced desperately between their ashen faces, hoping there was some mistake, but found no comfort. "That's... I don't believe it. Dead? Th-that can't be true!"

"I'm glad you feel that way, son," said a toneless voice from far away. "Because it isn't."

He suddenly felt as if he had not woken yet. "C-come again?"

"Not yet, anyway." Now Matthias Peele was striding across the room, and Albus could see him properly. There were great bags under his eyes, and his clothes were mismatched and rumpled. "It appears that the Killing Curse used on m-my wife was not as powerful as it might have been, and as such, has only brought her very near the brink. However, she's not far. It's touch and go right now."

"Wh-where is she?" Albus babbled madly, throwing the covers from his bed and causing both Rose and Jezabel to gasp at his sudden movement. "Can we see her, I owe her so-"

"Calm yourself, my boy," he soothed, pushing him back into the pillow with his own shaking hands. "She is at St Mungo's, of course - a patient that close to death from a substandard Killing Curse should have as many trained Healers on hand as we can assemble. In fact, I really should be there to hear if there's any change, but I wanted to stop in and see if you and Miss Skirrow had recovered."

"We're all right, sir" said Jezabel at once. "Go and be with your wife."

He spared her a warm smile that did not take away from the dread radiating from him. "Make sure you all get some rest." He patted Albus's arm before sweeping from the hospital wing.

"Blast," he spat once the three of them were alone again. "What is wrong with this stupid place?!"

"Take it easy, Al," soothed Rose, frowning concernedly at him. He could now see odd patterns in her cheeks from where she had slept against a spare pillow while sitting up by his bedside. "Pomfrey says you took a rough whack to the back of the head, we don't-"

"Take it easy?" Logically, his cousin's words should have made him feel better, but now they somehow infuriated him. "Rosie, whoever's been causing all this is still out there, and they just tried to kill me! How am I supposed to just sit back and relax?"

"But you caught them! You and- and Peele, together, you showed Dunsmore who's-"

"It's NOT Dorika!"

Now both Rose and Jezabel were all ears. "W-what?" squeaked the latter.

"Okay. Right before Dorika fell on top of me and I hit my head, she acted like she was really struggling - like she was fighting off a boa constrictor coiling around her or something. Then this big white thing flew out of her and up toward the castle!"

Rose's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?!"

"And before that, even; the whole time we were squaring off, her eyes were glowing pink! Don't you see? It's just another trick - another cowardly attack by a cowardly git who's so chickenhearted he can't even face his enemies in person!"

"Just so we're all on the same page, then," began Jezabel in quiet, trepidatious tones. "You're saying Miss Dunsmore only did all this because she was... er-"

"Possessed," breathed Rose.

Albus felt nearly intoxicated, both from his brush with death and his excitement at eliminating another suspect on the list. "It all fits, doesn't it? Peele should have been killed instantly by the Unforgivable Curse, but it didn't quite work - because Dorika was fighting back against the spirit! It was all some kind of ghastly puppet show!"

Rose was thunderstruck. "Whoa... I'll be a clabbert's uncle, that's brilliant!"

He turned on her, expression livid. "Brilliant? I almost died!"

"Er, well, in a psychotic, in-need-of-serious-incarceration way, obviously," she amended hastily, shrinking from his glare.

"Oh, I knew I shouldn't have gone for help," Jezabel wailed. "I left you all alone to d-die, how could-"

"Stop that right now," he told her firmly. "You did what I asked because the plan made sense to you, too, didn't you? There's no way either of us could know what was going to happen next." Jezabel appeared very close to a fit of blubbering. What they needed now was a change of subject. "And on that, how's your ankle?"

"My- oh. Oh, that's good as new, don't worry; Madam Pomfrey restored it in seconds."

"And... how's your nose?"

Both girls looked at him questioningly, but as Jezabel cocked her head to one side as if determining whether or not he was feeling well, Rose also noticed what he had the night previous. "Oh, wow! That's so odd, why didn't I catch that?"

"What, what?!" she gasped frantically, feeling along her nose. "D-did I scrape it? Oh, I've got a horrible bruise, or else a long gash, and- but I don't feel- what's wrong with it?"

"Take a gander," laughed Rose, holding up a small mirror from within the depths of her schoolbag. Jezabel regarded it warily for a moment before holding it up to her face.

"Good Lord." Her long, slender fingers began to trace the spot where the bump had once resided on the bridge, but it had faded without trace, leaving her with a finely-shaped beak instead. She turned slightly to make sure it wasn't some sort of optical illusion. "But where has it gone?"

"Dunno," said Albus. "But last night I noticed it, I just couldn't quite place what was different until today."

"Oh!" exclaimed Rose. "That's where the Mentacles were before Bellatrix activated them!"

"What? Don't be stupid, you can't store-"

"No, listen! Remember what her mum said about not expecting the bump to really be there? Then she touched it when she said the funny word before she died! And now it's gone, right?"

"Hmm," he said slowly. "It's really bizarre, but you do have a point, there."

Rose beamed, causing him to smile, as well. "Of course I do!"

"My mum."

Only now that Jezabel drew attention to it did Albus realise Rose may have spoken out of turn when she called Bellatrix that. He felt he ought to try and comfort her. "Jez... she's not really your mother, you know. Not just because she gave birth to you - and we don't even have real proof of that, just the word of a murderer and an Auror who's never been straight with us from the off!"

"It's okay." Her eyes were fixed on her fingers, which intertwined with each other in random patterns. "No sense in coddling me about it; that woman, that- that Death Eater is my birthmother. I mean, I've always known my parents were more aloof with me for some reason other than that I could do magic - and then there's that. Why was I the only magic child in my family? You'd think if I came along, at least one of my other siblings would have been magical."

"It doesn't always work that way with Muggle-borns," said Rose softly. "Look at Uncle Heath."

"Oh yeah," gusted Albus. "Forgot about him, we never really see him."

"Who?"

"My mum's brother," Rose informed Jezabel. "Born when she was already grown and out of the house. He's as Muggle as they come, even though his sister is such a powerful witch. Muggle-borns are real oddities, they are - though not as uncommon as Squibs, of course."

"Anyway," said Albus, "I... it's kind of an unpleasant thing to learn, but at least you know. You are glad you found out, aren't you?"

"I'm not sure," she sighed, fidgeting with the edge of his quilt. "That is, she told me so much, but... but what did I really learn? Oh, if only there were a way to talk with her longer, find out more - what was she like? Well, I know what she was like, she was a hardened criminal, but other things... what personality traits did I inherit from her? Was her wand made with unicorn hair, like mine? Did she have brown eyes like I do? I- I can't remember her eyes!"

"Jezab-"

"And why was she so evil?" she continued, her breathing slightly troubled from the sheer magnitude of information she would never be able to acquire. "What happened to make her that way, did- did the Dark Lord force her into it, or did she actually support the slaughtering of countless innocent Muggles? What kind of wizard was my father? Will I ever know who my f-father was?!"

"Jezabel, it's okay!" said Albus, alarmed at her sudden breakdown. "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Albus, I don't know wh-what I'm doing here," she sobbed. "If my mother is Bellatrix Lestrange, my father could be anybody else just as awful - it could be Lord Voldemort himself! Hellspawn like that should never be allowed in the presence of other wizard folk - it should be exterminated straight away!"

"SHUT UP!"

Perhaps if Albus had not been tucked in so very tightly, he could have prevented Rose from racing around the end of his bed and slapping Jezabel across the face. As it was, all he could do was shout, "Rose, what in the bloody hell are you-"

"Don't you dare talk that way about yourself!" she screamed, a fire blazing in her that had been so dormant the past few months. "We'd care a lot more if you went and leapt off a precipice than who your sodding father was, so if you're thinking about doing that, you'd just better come up with another plan because both Al and I have exceptionally good racing brooms and we're fully prepared to dive in after you, got it?! So shut your trap!"

The hospital wing was deadly silent for one long, excruciating moment. Albus would rather the silence had been broken by an apology from Rose, but someone else beat her to it.

"What on earth is the matter with you two?!" snapped an incensed Madam Pomfrey. "Bellowing like banshees loud enough for all of Europe to listen in, and among sick people! Have you lost what passes for your minds?!"

"You don't understand," growled Jezabel, as if there had been no interruption; only the redness of her cheek and the fresh tears marked Rose's rash actions. "All along I've suspected there was this great darkness within me, that everyone has accurately perceived and shunned me for, and now I find out they're absolutely right? I feel... dirty, dirtier than I ever have."

"Maybe if you'd take a bath now and again, you wouldn't feel that way," Rose shot back through gritted teeth.

"Rose, that's enough. You should apologise to her right now."

"Al, she's just sitting around feeling sorry for herself! How can you tell me to apologise when she's the one who practically threatened to suicide right in front of you? There's been enough tragedy this school year to last us for ages, and she wants to snuff herself! Doesn't she even care that we'll be devastated if she goes and does a stupid thing like that?!"

All at once, Albus knew Rose was right in her own brash way. The tears now rolling down his cousin's face also lent her more credibility, and he had to strain to catch the following words. "I know I would be."

"Don't say things like that," Jezabel sobbed, drawing her knees up under her chin. "I... I didn't mean it like that, I would never do anything to hurt either of you! But what if s-suddenly the mannerisms my mother passed down kick in, and I hurt someone? What then?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," said Albus with some difficulty; his throat was rather constricted. "I'd rather you go to the same school with us up until you start hexing everything with a pulse than pack you off to a padded cell. We are mates, remember? You told me we were in your room."

Jezabel hesitated for a moment, still staring down at the floor with her face resting between her knees. "Slip of the tongue."

"Jezabel!"

"All right, already," she gusted, looking up at him through bleary eyes. "I'm under a lot of stress here!"

When Rose began laughing, she snorted at the humour in her own statement before leaping up to pull both he and Rose into a crushing hug. It was the first time he could remember Jezabel initiating any kind of physical contact with them, and he welcomed it warmly.

"I apologise," she sniffled into his chest. "F-for threatening to harm myself, I d-didn't mean it to sound that way. I'm just very, very confused by everything that's been happening to me this year!"

"Aren't we all," said Rose. "But we'll sort it eventually. And even if we don't, we won't give up until we know we're really beat, and then we can say we did our best, yeah?"

Albus grinned, ending with a mouthful of Rose's hair for his trouble. "Exactly."

"If you three are through sharing and caring, d'you mind a few extra visitors?"

"Shut up, James," laughed Albus automatically as the three of them leaned back, drying their eyes (Jezabel had to wipe quite a bit of her face to get rid of all her accumulated tears). "Way to spoil a mom- mom- Mum, Dad!"

It took several minutes for everyone to stop bubbling over with excitement at the arrival of the Potter parents at Hogwarts, but eventually they settled into chairs and began talking in earnest. Apparently, the Headmistress had sent an owl along to notify them that Albus had nearly been murdered by a fellow student, and they came via the Floo Network to see how well he was recovering. When Albus asked hopefully whether or not he could get out of O.W.L.s because of it, they deflated his hopes immediately.

"I was right in the midst of a war on Voldemort when I took mine," his father chuckled. "Did I get time off? No, sir! In fact, as we were taking our Astronomy practical I had to watch a unit of Aurors try and capture Hagrid in the dead of night!"

"No!" gasped Rose, settling in for a good story. He could also see the excitement shining in Lily's cheeks.

"You bet I did," he said, a gleam showing behind his spectacles. "Dozens of them, firing Stunners all over the lawns! And they didn't even allow us to retake the exam, we just had to fill in as many moons as we could before-"

"Will you stop filling their heads with all that rubbish?" sighed his mother. "Talking like they'll have to worry about boggarts gobbling them up while scratching out their History of Magic essays."

The grin did not fade. "Maybe not boggarts, but I seem to recall having a particularly important vision while sitting mine."

"Yes, you did!" she exclaimed, smacking him affectionately on the arm. "And it nearly got the lot of us served up on a platter to You-Know-Who by Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange and a dozen of their cohorts! Nevermind that Ron ended up with a brain wrapped around his-"

"Oh?"

Albus had also flinched, and hearing that from Jezabel he knew it was almost certain to be for the same reason. "Something the matter, dear?" asked Ginny, brow furrowed.

"N-nothing," she murmured, alarmed to have the attention shifted in her direction. Albus's mother nodded, but her concerned expression remained in place.

"I say," their father began suddenly. "Would that happen to be this cursed monocle I've been hearing so much about?"

"Yeah," grumbled Rose. "It's a pain in the arse if ever there were one, but nothing can be done."

"Maybe not, but I have an idea. Granted, there's no guarantee this will make a bit of difference, but, well..."

Albus looked on in bemused silence as Harry reached across to where Rose was sitting, jabbed the sharp end of a ripe carrot between the monocle and her squinting left eye, and pulled outward. He nearly fell out of his bed when the lens popped free, landing lightly atop the sheets.

"Wh-what?!" she gasped, feeling her face. "That was- how in- holy hippogriffs, I'm free!"

"Ha ha, I knew it!" he crowed as Rose broke down in exhilarated laughter. "Somehow I knew he'd be right even before I tried it, he always is!"

"Who, Dad?" asked Lily, reaching for the monocle. Their mother slapped her fingers away.

"Dumbledore," he sighed, slipping the carrot back into his pocket. "Uncle Ron and I were walking through the house discussing it, hoping we might come up with something nobody had tried yet, and his portrait overheard us and decided to make a suggestion."

"Leave it to a mad old coot like him to suggest using common vegetables to break a curse," muttered James, shaking his head.

"I wouldn't care if you sprayed me with cat vomit, as long as it got the damn thing off!" Rose grabbed the mirror Jezabel had used to examine the missing bump. "Oi! Looks like I've been using one of Uncle George's telescopes!"

o o o

"So Dumbledore's portrait didn't have any ideas about how to get Ryan out of the lens itself?"

"Not anything I can handle with a carrot," Albus's father told him grudgingly, shoving his hands into his pockets as they paced across the mid-afternoon Hogwarts lawns. Albus pretended not to notice the other kids watching them with great interest, amazed that the world-famous champion of the people had returned to his alma mater for no reason other than to check on his son's poor bumped head. "Headmistress Sprout will be handing the monocle over to the Ministry tonight; it was a touchy thing to disrupt Rose's normal routine and lock her away in the Department Of Mysteries for a battery of tests, but with her taken out of the equation they can experiment more directly with it. I'm sure they'll come up with a solution much faster, now."

"That's good, then."

A moment passed with them walking down the gently sloping lawns toward the lake. "Al, I've been wanting to ask you about that ghost epidemic. The developments of late, like the attack from Dorika. Did you suspect her before?"

"To be honest, I did," said Albus, kicking a stone. "But... Dad, I don't think she did it."

"What? How can you-"

"Before I was knocked out, I saw something that looked like a ghost leaving her body. What if the real ghost manipulator just told one of their ghosts to possess her to throw me off the scent, to... to set up a decoy?"

"You mean a patsy," he muttered, nodding. "A sound plan, if that's indeed what's happened here. Now no one will be watching out for the perpetrator because they think they've cracked the case already. My second year all over again."

"I think it's Professor Dryden," he said quietly, as if worrying the Potions Master would spring up from the grass beneath their feet. "He's the only other person who's been acting suspiciously, but then again... he helped me wake Jezabel up. I just can't ever be sure about him."

Harry shrugged. "Could be him. It could be the ghost itself is manipulating other ghosts, son. That's the problem with mysteries - they're rarely solved before the attacker reveals themselves voluntarily, which is almost always too late. It's probably the most annoying thing on the planet."

"What do I do, Dad? Should we tell the teachers, let them know the killer might still be running loose? I mean, especially if Dorika's innocent!"

"Hmm... I don't know. As often as your Aunt and Uncle and I told the teachers what we thought, they ignored us entirely."

"Coming from you now, though-"

"No, no," he laughed. "Based solely on your speculation? I believe you've got facts worth considering, but they'd only think I'd gone mad... or was feeling nostalgic about my own schoolday heroics. Best just to keep an eye out yourself - though I believe I could tell old Neville, he remembers what it was really like..."

And they had reached it. Instinct told him his father was leading them toward this spot, but he was no more pleased to be standing in front of the cold white tomb than if he'd been blissfully ignorant.

"Dumbledore would remember, too," his father said quietly, smiling a sad smile. "He'd have listened - one of the few staff that would. Oh, the rest try, they earnestly do, but... they just never had the patience to see things from other people's perspectives. Not like he did."

"Dad-"

"Sorry to get all drippy on you like this," he chuckled quietly. "I know you never liked coming down here. The name thing and all."

"Yeah." Albus smiled awkwardly. "It's... kind of creepy. Does that make me insensitive or something?"

"Nah. Ron and Hermione tell me Rose gets the same way when they visit Tonks's grave."

He looked up. "She does? Blimey, she never told me that..."

"Can't say I'm surprised. It's hard to tell somebody you feel anything but sadness and regret when you're talking about the dearly departed. Doesn't mean it's wrong, though."

Albus squirmed for a moment. Did he dare? In the end, he decided he might not have opportunity to discuss this with someone outside the school for well over a month, and it wasn't really the kind of post he could send out with Dobby. "Dad... I wonder if I could talk to you about something, and you would promise - promise not to mention it to anybody else, not even Mum."

An eyebrow raised. "You're not thinking of eloping with Rose again, are you? It was bad enough when you were four, but these days I think-"

"Dad!" Albus waited for his father to stop guffawing before he continued. "Come off it, this is serious, and I need some real advice!"

"Okay, okay," Harry chortled, taking off his glasses to wipe his eyes. "What's on your mind?"

"Right. Er... you obviously know Rose and I went with Jezabel to visit Azkaban prison, right? Well, Jezabel found out something pretty unsettling when she got there..."

END Chapter Forty-One