Suspicion

Chapter 6

The school week brought a feeling of normalcy to the group. Classes were held, homework was assigned, and assignments were graded. The professors began to relax again. When Gregorov had a temper tantrum about someone moving his chair, it almost seemed like the horrible events of the weekend had never happened.

The group made an effort to maintain the illusion. Everyone huddled in the staff room, trying to keep up a brittle façade of not being worried. Kessler and Gregorov shared the table, each spreading his work out to cover as much space as possible, ensuring that no one else would be able to work there. Their normal bawdy banter was gone as they graded.

Haken had his usual spot next to the fire. He worked his way through his last essay assignment of the year and spent the entire evening complaining about the work. His normal assignments consisted of "fill in the blank" and multiple choice questions that were more suited to using magic to grade. No one listened to him. His grumbling provided an almost soothing background noise.

Rabe was nowhere to be seen. Taking a break from his muttering, Haken provided the information that Rabe was probably visiting his Herbology professor girlfriend. Rabe had only been seen a few times after Saturday’s ordeal and then only in the corridors of the castle. Kessler and Gregorov held the opinion that Rabe was hoping to distance himself from them or perhaps hiding behind the more respectable Herbology teacher.

The Americans were buttressed in their corner. Folders of homework surrounded Jones. She had fallen behind after the weekend and seemed to feel that chain-smoking and humming would make the work go faster. At times, she could barely be seen in her magically controlled column of smoke.

Wronski was enjoying his vicious attack on his poor students’ homework. His approach to their work was to pick everything apart as thoroughly as possible and knock as many points off of each question as he could. It was almost a game for him. He liked seeing their faces when they got their papers back. When he wasn’t spreading red ink over their papers or parchments, he was sorting through a stack of journals as well as a few magazines.

The scene was one of industry. For a change, neither Kessler nor Gregorov drank. They had been quite sober for the last few days. Only Jones was firm in her vices.

By 2200, Lowenstein was snoring softly at the end of couch, his stack of papers forgotten on the floor. His wife, Magda, was curled up next to him, some how managing to fit in the small space.

By 2300, Wronski was tearing off small pieces of parchment and paper, rolling them up and throwing them at Jones. "Stop the damn humming. At least pick a tune."

She hummed louder and added a backbeat with her pen. Gregorov threw a scroll at her and Kessler threatened to sing. The place was positively glowing with harmony. All for naught.

The slam of the main outside door jerked them into watchfulness. Lowenstein woke with a start and got to his feet in what seemed to be a single motion. Magda disappeared into the shadows. Papers fell to the floor as the rest stood, waiting to see what new troubles had arrived. In answer, the echo of many pairs of feet filled the hall.

Werner and his men filed into the room, taking up positions on either side of the door and along the walls, their dark uniforms sucking the light. The crackle of the fire and the incessant drip of the faucet seemed loud as each group watched the other.

"Such a charming sight. All of you working so sweetly together. Who would have thought such a thing possible?" Werner’s soft voice purred, "Professor Kessler, what no drink tonight? Professor Gregorov, both clean and sober. Obviously, we should visit more often. We seem to have such a positive influence."

"What do you want this time?" Kessler strode into the role of spokesman. The rest drew closer together. No one wanted to go through another repetition of questioning.

Werner looked at the faces before him, mentally checking against his list of players. "Of you here, nothing. We know that those of you who are here, have been here all night." Werner smiled thinly as he saw expressions flicker in the group. "Of course. There are locator spells on all of you. Perhaps you missed that part on Saturday. But then, many of you were no longer conscious when those were applied as part of the procedure. We were spared having to place one on Professor Jones." His smile grew broader as Jones twitched. "Your American police have finally sent us your files. Most impressive. Be assured that we will be watching your actions more closely. Nothing was ever proven, true, but such a list of accusations. They were kind enough to document how to use their version of the Reperi spell. Interesting variation. I understand that it can only be broken with your death." Werner’s eyes narrowed. "Where is your department head? Not here with his staff. Well, from our findings, perhaps now is not the best time to disturb him. Professor Krakow would not appreciate having her evening disrupted. And the Frenchman, where is he?"

"Why not consult your spells?" Kessler’s voice was a growl.

"We have. Most odd. We cannot find Professor de Rais." Werner turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. "Search the missing men's offices and quarters." Two of the Aurors spun away to follow the orders. "Be thorough. Do not worry about a mess."

They heard the sound of one door opening. It sounded far away. Jones assumed that they must have started at Rabe’s office since it was the furthest from the staff room. She was surprised that it wasn’t locked, but she had opened Rabe’s office before with a simple Alohomora spell. Sounds of drawers being opened and dumped were followed by the thump of things being thrown to the ground. It seemed to take hours before one of the men returned to report that there was nothing to be found in the first one. Jones noticed that the Auror was playing with something shiny, probably taken from Rabe’s collection.

The second man came back, his face dark with annoyance. De Rais’ office was warded. He had been unable to get in.

"Mueller!" Werner barked, "Open it." In response, an enormous man straightened from where he had been leaning against a wall and left.

"Can we watch? I’ve never seen a breaker work before." Jones tried to look as harmless as possible, but knew that wouldn’t work this time. What the hell? She wanted to watch.

Werner barked a laugh. "Why not? From what I have read in your report, you could perhaps teach Auror Mueller a thing or two."

Ignoring Kessler’s sour expression, Jones sidled past the Aurors standing at the door and into the hall. In front of De Rais’ office, two doors away, Mueller was drawing something on the floor. He looked surprised and suspicious when she came closer. "Professional Interest. Werner said it was OK." Mueller turned towards the staff room door and must have gotten some kind of approval because he went back to work on his diagram.

"What does that do? You’re not going to just work on disabling the spells?" Jones couldn't stand quietly. She had to know what he was doing "Does the diagram enhance your work? Does it need to be in that color? What does that mean?" She pointed at a symbol.

Mueller stared up at her for a long moment, saying nothing before giving his full attention to his work. It became clear that he was not going to answer any of her questions. His diagram finished, the Auror stood and stretched briefly. Armed with what looked to be the biggest wand Jones had ever seen, he cast a greenish, glowing grid over the door. Jones perked up. She had seen similar spells before for diagnostic procedures. The grid revealed a dark black glow over the entire office area. Different shapes blinked or shimmered at points on the grid. "Wow." Without thinking Jones lit a cigarette and squatted down next to Mueller's diagram to get a better look. Mueller took it from her and began to smoke it himself. "You’re welcome. Sheesh. So, what does the center one mean? Is that some kind of defensive spell? Looks like one."

Mueller nodded and continued his examination. He knelt again in the center of his diagram and began at the bottom corner of the grid. With little flicks of his wand, spells were cast at the one sparkling object. Colors changed, the spell flickered and held. He tried something else. The color didn’t change, but the sparkle altered. Jones was fascinated. Thousands of questions came to her. She lit another cigarette and handed it to Mueller who stuffed it into his mouth and continued his work. Better than TV, she thought as Mueller took notes on each reaction. Moving on to the next part of the grid, he repeated the procedure. Everything was done slowly and precisely. Any changes were noted.

She had no idea how long she squatted there. Her feet got cold, but it was the lack of cigarettes that broke her concentration. They had finished the pack an hour earlier and the lack of something to do with her hands kept nagging at her. Stiffly, she stood up and found that she was in the middle of a circle of others also watching. Even the grumpy Kessler was interested.

Werner gave her an odd look. "You have seen this procedure before?"

"Maybe. Yeah. I’ve seen it used for other applications. Never to this depth. Of course, I’ve never seen this many spells on one thing before, either. Gilles has put an amazing amount of work into this." Jones stretched. She felt like a midget in the forest of tall Aurors and the rest of her group. "Aurors must have a height requirement."

That got what might have been a smile from Werner. "Professor de Rais has been here for a very long time. We had anticipated this."

"If we’re not suspects, can we leave?" Wronski stood as straight as he could and tried to look unconcerned, but the twitch under his eye belied any image of bravery.

Werner stood regarding him, letting the seconds tick by in silence before he answered. "Of course. You are not a suspect, Professor Wronski." He put a slight emphasis on "you" that changed the meaning of the sentence to a slur. Wronski’s jaw clenched, but he left for his chambers as quickly as he could.

Lowenstein took his wife’s arm and left. Haken offered the Aurors tea, which was politely turned down. Haken bade them all a good night and left, too. Kessler Accio’ed a chair for himself and sat down to watch. Gregorov leaned against the wall for awhile, but decided that was too cold and copied Kessler. Jones couldn't stand still. She wandered around the circle, watching Mueller do his work. Mueller did not seem to be getting anywhere, but he had pages of notes.

Time passed. Mueller stopped several times to confer with Werner. They pointed at different spells on the grid. Mueller kept shaking his head and pointing the central spell. It was going nowhere. Kessler dozed off and began to snore. Having been kept awake by Kessler's wall-rattling snores before, Jones hit him with a Sileo spell. She wanted to watch the procedure and Kessler was distracting her. She ignored the Aurors’ chuckles.

They were all surprised when the bell began to toll. 0600. Time to get up. Gregorov groaned. His classes started at 0800. He stood up and began shaking Kessler’s shoulder. "Up. Is time."

Kessler woke slowly. He blinked at Gregorov, but did not seem to be focusing yet. The sleepy expression vanished when he saw the Aurors. No, not a dream. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Jones laughed and nullified her spell only to regret that she had as a barrage of profanity came spewing out.

Werner gave Kessler a disdainful look and turned back to Mueller. The other Aurors stood straighter and a few drew their wands. Kessler shut up.

"Make some coffee." Jones’ attention was riveted to the next part of the procedure. She paused and tried smiling up at Kessler, "Please. Double please." Kessler gave her a look that did not bode well for the next time the two of them spoke. He and Gregorov stumbled off to the staff room where the sound of water could soon be heard. The smell of coffee brewing filled the air.

"Now what?" Jones asked the black wall of Aurors. Werner turned his back to her and conferred with his men. Without answering her, they began gathering up their coats and tools. Jones felt a stab of annoyance. They hadn't accomplished anything and they had been working at it all night. She turned back to the problem of De Rais’ door to the sound of their boot heels clicking on the stone floor. Mueller had left his spells intact. The grid glowed green, the targeted spells sparkled and shone. She stared at it, wondering what all of the symbols and colors meant. She wished she had had a better look at Mueller’s notes. What spells did he use to test de Rais’ work? So intently was she staring at a particularly interesting part of the diagram, that she didn't hear the sound of the door starting to open. The sight of de Rais standing in front of her caused her to jump backwards.

"Is my door particularly interesting this morning?" De Rais stood in the doorway and looked at the diagram chalked in before him. "A new procedure. Interesting. Did it aid them in their search?" Not waiting for Jones’ reply, he closed the door behind him before walking towards the staff room.

Jones stood there blinking. He was in there all along? She sniffed in annoyance and caught a whiff of that smell. It was hardly there, but she could smell it. Checking the hallway for any early risers and finding none, she transformed into her badger self. Sniffing around the door, she was overwhelmed with the variety of scents. What was that? And that? Someone had dropped some food there. Some times the badger’s world was just too interesting and distracting. Where was that awful smell? She sniffed around the door again, trying to ignore all of those other tantalizing scents. Plopping herself onto her now badger butt, she sat up and sniffed the air. There it was. The badger’s nose found the scent luscious. Smelled like food. Food? Gilles? Her brain wouldn't accept that association. Bah! She transformed back. Her brain was not fitting the pieces together when she heard the clunk of a mug. Coffee!

Kessler and Gregorov were seated at the wobbly table talking to De Rais. De Rais seemed to be amused when he heard about the Reperi spells. With a lazy wave of his hand, a grid, similar to what Mueller had produced, shone in the air in front of Kessler. De Rais arched an eyebrow. "I see that their repertoire has improved. It is a good spell. It has weak points. Here and here." He pointed a gloved hand at points in the grid. Gregorov mumbled something, but stopped talking when Jones wandered up to the table, coffee mug in hand. "Professor Jones." De Rais nodded in her direction. "I understand that you are working with Herr Werner’s Aurors. An interesting alliance. Tell me, what do you hope to gain by aiding them? Do you hope that they will speak in your favor to your authorities?"

Jones was horrified. They thought she was a turncoat against De Rais. "Oh. No. I wanted to see what they were doing." Kessler and Gregorov looked at each other and turned away from her to face the wall on the other side of the table. "They used a breaker to take my wards down. I just wanted to see how it was done." De Rais continued to watch her, no emotion showing, just watching… "I would never..."

"Do not make statements that are false. It is foolish for anyone to claim that they would never…" de Rais let his voice trail off, mimicking Jones.

"No! Not to help the cops. The Aurors. Whatever." No one seemed to be listening to her any more. Kessler and Gregorov drew closer to each other in conference about something. De Rais smoothed his coat’s fronts and then carefully buttoned it. She watched him as he pulled his sleeves just so and then brushed a stray bit of fluff from a glove. "I just wanted to see how it was done…" Jones whispered to her coffee. No one was going to believe her.

"You will give my respect to Herr Werner when he returns. I am certain that he and his breaker - such a vulgar term - will be back, perhaps as soon as this afternoon. If you will excuse me, I have other affairs that demand my attention." De Rais collected his case and seemed to glide out of the room leaving Jones looking at her coffee.

The rest of the department shuffled in over the next hour. The coffeepot was emptied several times as sleepy teachers tried to open their eyes. No one spoke to Jones or even returned her morning greetings. She felt like a pariah. So much for the quest for knowledge. Gloomily, she dragged herself to her office for a shower and to get dressed. It was going to be a very long day.

Once dressed, she had the depressing realization that she had to go back to the staff room to collect her papers. Hardly anyone went to the Great Hall for breakfast. Coffee or tea seemed to be it for the men. She wanted something more than that. Rummaging through her box of junk food, she found a selection of small sugar-laden pies and grabbed two of those. Not very nutritious but she needed as much sugar and caffeine as possible to make it to lunch. Lunch. She caught herself in midstride to the door. No one would want her at the table if the reception she had gotten in the staff room was any indication. She sat back down at her desk and pondered the situation.

It seemed to her that she always either talked too much or was too interested in everything and talked too much. It was awkward enough that she was the only woman on the staff. She was also an auslander and didn’t understand the rules of the game. Her brand of aggressiveness was not an approved one. She would never fit in. She let herself be overcome with a wave of depression. Without thinking, she unwrapped one of the sugary pies and ate it. The bell started pealing the eighth hour. She had one more hour until her classes started.

Footsteps marched by her door. Kessler. She heard Haken in his rooms as he got ready to leave. Even Haken hadn’t talked to her this morning. That was bad. Haken talked to everyone. "I didn’t do anything," she sulked. "I just wanted to watch." And give commentary. And help figure out what a few of the spells were. And keep Mueller supplied with cigarettes. Cigarettes! She had given the breaker the last one out of the pack last night. She had better get more. She picked up a carton and patted the end to slide the pack out. Nothing. Peering into it, she saw only the end of the box. That one was dead. Did she have another one? Searching her office, she found nothing. Panicking, she tore through her quarters, opening all the drawers in the sideboard and searching the pockets of every article of clothing she owned. Nothing. Under her bed, she found another carton and it was empty, too.

It wasn’t going to be a bad day, it was going to be a bitch of a day. No cigarettes. She went through at least two packs a day. How was she going to stand it? Feeling incredibly sleazy, she dug out several butts from her ashtray and straightened them. She hadn’t been this desperate in years. Didn’t look good. No choice though. This would have to do until she got through with her classes and went into the village. How about money? She dug through every one of her hidey-holes until she came up with a handful of coins. With all of the spare change counted, she had more than she had anticipated. There was enough for a carton. She heaved a sigh of relief that she wouldn’t have to face the bursar today. In her state, it would result in a screaming match.

To her surprise, she heard the bells sounding. Damn! She had to get to class! She didn’t even have her paperwork. She grabbed her coat, ran down the hall and into the staff room. To her relief, no one was in there. Her paperwork was still in its pile by her chair. She stuffed the papers and parchments into their respective folders, all the while counting the bell’s sounds. She wasn’t going to make it in time. Not even if she ran. Well, better to be late than have to come back here and run into someone. She shoved the last folder into her satchel and tapped the heavy satchel hard on the floor to settle the contents. Leaping up, she turned to speed to the castle and ran into Werner who stood watching her.

"Sorry! I’m late!" She tried to brush past him and bumped into the Aurors who followed behind him. "I need to get to my class. Please move!" A cold stab of fear shot through her when they didn’t move. She spun around to face Werner. He stood at rest, watching her, smiling.

"Frau Jones, Professor Jones," he corrected himself, "where is Professor de Rais? Have you seen him today?"

She could hear every drop of the faucet echo in the room. She knew from his tone that he knew she had seen De Rais. Telling him she had seen De Rais felt like betrayal. Denying it would lead to an interrogation. She counted the Aurors in the room. Six. The last thing she had done before fleeing her country had been casting a wandless energy blast. It had crippled her for months, but it had given her enough time to pack her tools and run for it. She had taken out four men. She counted again, just to confirm the numbers. Her nagging inner voice shut up. Her confidence eroded. Six. She might be able to take five of them, if she walked closer to the door. She would have to be close, but that would leave Werner free and she would be unable to do anything to protect herself. If she could free her wand, she had a better chance.

Werner cocked his head and regarded her. "I do not think it would be advisable. We know that Professor de Rais has already been here and has gone. If you do not wish to confirm it, so be it." He looked around the shabby room. "I have seen nicer rooms in prisons." As if on inspection, he walked around, picking up things and looking at them. A mug. A shot glass. A book. With a smile, he reached down and picked up something from the floor. She recognized it as a hair. "I have read your file, Professor Jones. I have some idea of your former career. What would you do with this?" He walked over and handed her a medium length brown hair.

She swallowed and looked at the single hair, her mind spinning with the possibilities. What was he playing at? What did he really want?

"No ideas? Some how I doubt it. Perhaps you need some help remembering." His voice took on the soft tones that she had heard just a few days ago.

She cleared her throat and shifted her brain into lecture mode. "Hair isn’t the best medium for my work. The best, of course, is blood." She smiled, but no one smiled back. Her joke, not theirs. "Hair is already dead, rejected by the body. It can be used for a variety of things. One hair... I could use it for an exclusionary ward; a small binding spell, not very exhaustive… It would work as part of a locator spell, a Reperi or its opposite the Cela spell. If I could pair it with saliva from a drinking glass or even an envelope, I could use it to bind or do something that is similar to an Imperius Curse." She felt better now. She was always ready to talk about the possibilities of her work. "Just one hair could be used as part of a greater spell. With a few additional things, it could be part of any number of emotional charms – love, hate, lust… You could work it into…" She looked up and was surprised to see someone taking notes. "There will be a test covering this lecture, you know." Werner smiled again and she felt a bit of relief. Maybe it was the black uniforms, but she felt a lot less safe with these Aurors than the police, both magical and the Seattle PD, back home. "I have a classroom full of students waiting for me. I really need to get to class. There are only four weeks left and I have a lot of material to cover. Can I go?" She felt like she was getting back some of her courage.

Werner said nothing. He stood and watched her. The quiet was unnerving.

She forced herself to appear calm. Don’t panic or you’ve lost. He isn’t playing good cop/bad cop, he’s playing you against yourself.

The faucet dripped. It was the only sound in the room. No one moved. No one spoke. After what seemed like a very long time, Werner waved her away. As she reached the door, he spoke, "Until later, Professor Jones. I am certain we shall have more to say to each other quite soon."

She broke her stride momentarily, but kept going. Out! Must get out. She passed through the hall and out the door. The path had turned into more mud than snow and her strides flung brown slashes against the dirty whiteness. She felt safer with each step towards the castle.