The Tangled Webs We Weave

The Tangled Webs We Weave: by PaMuggles.

Try as he might, Gideon Fortescue could find no solution to his terrible predicament. His headmaster's office lay in shambles, papers thrown everywhere. He hadn't been able to work in weeks. After all these years it had come back to haunt him. How now, so long after, had his one terrible mistake been learned? Even as his whole world went flying apart, he had no idea how it had happened. In reality the situation was quite simple: he was being bribed.

The man had come late in the night. Fortescue was well known to the proprietors at the Hogsmede tavern and was well into his third tankard of ale when he was approached. At first he thought the man was a simple soul searching for someone to offer him a free drink, which he would have gladly given him, but he was all together different. The man, whom to this day Gideon couldn't be certain of the identity, sat down at his table.

"Are you all right man, good man? Can I get you something?" asked Fortescue.

The man smiled a cold, unkind smile that did little to soften his harsh features. "Indeed you can, kind sir," he responded, passing Gideon a note.

On it read a simple, yet terrifying message: I know, and I can prove it. Petrified, Fortescue asked him upstairs to speak privately. There the man had demanded money, an erroneous amount that Gideon could never provide in order for his silence. Not even if he could get his hands on the Hogwarts vaults could he pay the man, but what choice did he have? He had to find a way. Gideon agreed, not knowing how he would get the money, and the man gave him a time and a place for him to deliver it.

The date was looming nearer, and Fortescue had no idea of what to do. His nerves had left him in a progressively ill state of health. Poor professor Dippet spent night and day brewing potion after potion trying to help his headmaster and friend, but nothing could help him now. Fifteen years later and now the world was going to learn of his terrible deed. He would die in Azkaban, alone and ashamed. No doubt he deserved it. Why he had ever agreed to do such a stupid and terrible thing he never knew.

It had been so foolish. If he had only waited he would have gotten what he wanted without any need of acting rashly. He never knew that power completely didn't suit him in the slightest. Sure there was prestige and comfort, if not wealth, but there was also a great deal of something Fortescue always preferred to avoid: work.

He was by nature, a rather lazy man; always more interested in the pleasures and creature comforts of life than hours spent in toil. It was what made him such an accomplished in the art of Transfiguration. Why work so hard to make something or earn the money to buy it, if you can just learn how to create it out of thin air? True it was hard, but in the end well worth the effort of never having to work to acquire what he needed. More than that, he didn't particularly care about anything. Not that he was cruel or ignorant; he simply felt that nothing was really worth getting himself all worked up about. Everything in life found a way of working itself out without his having to lift a finger, so why worry? There was never anything wrong with the world while he had his feet up, a freshly rolled cigar in hand and a box of chocolates happily digesting in his belly.

Though he did eventually become bored as a young man lazing about his mother's house, conjuring whatever he needed. So when the chance to move on was made, he did the only logical thing -- he took it. The offer of the Transfiguration post at Hogwarts was made not for his hard-working nature, or for his talents which were in reality considerable, but simply because Headmaster Phineas Black wanted to fill the halls of Hogwarts with as many Syltherin faculty members as possible.

Gideon was not a bad teacher, just not the most attentive of ones. He barely read the essays over which his students slaved, and never once was any of his paperwork in order. He relied terribly upon the prefects to help grade student's work, otherwise nothing would ever get done. Though most of the time he graded solely on performance, terrifying poor students constantly with his frequent pop quizzes. Lazy and fear-provoking a teacher he was, he was still fair. If a student asked, he would usually let them attempt again when they failed a test. More because he detested hearing them whine than out of charity. There would usually be enacted a favor or two for each of these events and as a result, Fortescue always had a larger pile of gifts than the other professors at Christmas and the cleanest office, never having to lift a finger for himself.

Black of course knew of his Transfigurations professor's ill habits, but he really did not care. Gideon got the job done and in his tenth year at Hogwarts, the Herbology professor retired, and Fortescue was made head of Syltherin House. Fortescue had known all along that Black would eventually offer him the post of headmaster, not wanting anyone but a Syltherin to occupy the spot, but had always planned to turn it down. He was happy enough where he was and didn't want the extra work required that the head of the school would have to do. He didn't need anything more. That is, until he met her.

Geraldina Gaunt was not a particularly attractive woman, yet there were many compelling qualities to her. Her wide set brown eyes were deep and seductive and her body was round and lush, just as he preferred. True, she had been a cousin by marriage, but to most purebloods this didn't even count in the slightest. Half of them married their related first cousins anyway. Geraldina's uncle had been his mother's second husband. Gideon had never liked the man; he was rude and controlling but never mistreated his mother. They were both in their sixties when married and while he found it odd, Gideon wouldn't begrudge his mother the opportunity for companionship. That, however, meant that his family would by aligning itself with the notoriously unstable Gaunts.

From the start of the marriage, the Gaunt family had tried to use the union to their favor. The Fortescue name was one of the oldest and dearest in the magical world. Tracing their ancestry back to the Norman France conquest of England in 1066 and long before that in France. They still had many relatives in Normandy today, though they had very little contact with their French cousins. All of the Gaunts came in turn, asking for favors of his new "step father," all of whom he turned down, except for Geraldina.

Whatever power she held over people Gideon didn't know, but she had a way of making people do the things she wanted them to do. She had been married once before, a young wizard from the Crouch family, who died shortly after the birth of their son Marvolo, an awful and cruel little boy. The marriage no doubt had to have been a terrible failure because young Crouch left all his inheritance to his brother, completely skipping his wife and son. There were a great number of family jokes about Mr. Crouch's sudden and untimely death, all of which involved his wife and a large bottle of poison.

Amidst all these rumors, Gideon still found himself strangely drawn to this woman. He didn't know that all of her actions were for the sole purpose of placing her son in the favorable position of being the stepson of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Sure there had been promises made to him, secret urgings whispered, heads on pillows in the dark of night, but in the end, it had all been for her son. She had claimed love, and need, all the while telling him what a great and powerful wizard he was. Surely he was above the simple post of Transfiguration professor.

Gideon listened to the flattery, taking in all the puffed up words meant to inspire him to greatness. True, he was better than the others that could be chosen to fill Black's soon to be vacant seat at Hogwarts. He was, after all, the only pureblood from whom to choose. Fortescue didn't have quite the same prejudices as his family. Sure he believed those of pure magical lineage were better than those without, but he didn't deny that a muggle-born or half-blood could have talents or skills. Both things that he truly hated wasting, as that usually meant that he would have to do the work that could otherwise have been done by others.

So, her words in his head, he decided that perhaps he should accept the post when Black retires. The only problem was, Phineas had just announced that he planned to delay his departure of Hogwarts, to the overwhelming disappointment of the students and staff. Well Gideon could wait, what were a couple of more years? But Geraldina could not.

"What do you mean he's changed his mind!" she shrieked at him.

Gideon was not sure why she was reacting so. What's the matter with waiting a few years? "Well, he says he feels fine, so why retire just now? He's pleased that I agreed to succeed him, but wants some more time."

"He can't!" she yelled. "You'll just have to change his mind," she ordered.

"How can I do that? It's his decision. A few years won't matter. It'll give us time to get married anyway. We won't have much time to ourselves once I'm Headmaster," said Gideon.

Geraldina turned her cold brown eyes on him. "That is not going to happen," she announced. "I am going to marry the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and I'm not going to wait for that senile power hungry monster to decide when he's going to step aside. We'll just have to make up his mind for him."

Gideon wasn't sure why, but her words worried him terribly. She sat down in her chair, tapping her finger to her chin in thought.

"It'll have to be done carefully, nothing anyone would notice. A lessening of the health, perhaps an incapacitation to finally make up his mind," she half spoke to herself. "The poison will have to be brewed carefully to avoid rousing any suspicion."

"Poison!" he gasped. "I am not going to poison anyone!"

"Oh yes you are, and you're going to do it exactly as I say."

To this day, Fortescue didn't even know why or how he agreed to do something so stupid. Many times he thought perhaps she had Imperiused him, but the thought that he had been controlled so easily did little to raise his spirits. He knew what he had done was as much his fault as hers. He did just as Geraldina ordered, giving Black larger and larger amounts of an untraceable poison. Sometimes, Gideon even managed to convince himself that he was doing something good for him. After all, everyone should retire eventually. What's the point of waiting till one was too old and feeble to enjoy it? So, he did as he was told, dolling out the poison. Eventually, Phineas became too ill to work anymore and hastened his retirement, leaving Fortescue to accomplish his goals and dreams for the school.

Gideon was just settling into the Headmaster's office when he got word. Phineas Nigellus Black, no doubt still weak from months worth of poisoning, had died this morning, falling down the steps at the Black manor and breaking his neck. Gideon couldn't imagine ever feeling as terrible as he did in that moment. The two were far from friends but now he had killed the man. What was going to happen now? Surely questions were going to be asked, and what would happen if they came to him? Would he be able to keep his silence. Guilt ridden, his conscious screaming, Gideon went to Geraldina.

He expressed his guilt and fear to her, and all she did was laugh. "Question? Who's going to question? Trust me, no one cares when a terrible man dies, they hardly care when a good one does. No one will be bothered at all by the old fool finally chucking it! He's had it coming for years!" she laughed.

Gideon was enraged. "He didn't deserve this! He was just supposed to get too weak to work, not die! It's our fault! Don't you care?" he demanded her.

"Of course not. The imbecile had it coming! That and worse, if I could put a knife to his still heart I'd do it!" she said, then went into a tumult of laughter, imitating an old man falling down the steps.

Fortescue couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had no idea she had been so cruel. It was more than the fact that she didn't care about the death, she thought it was funny. Funny? She had had him kill a man and she was laughing, amused by the end of a life. If this was how she truly felt then what would happen to Gideon when she was done with him?

Almost in answer to his unvoiced question, Geraldina began to lay out her plans for him. She had had everything thought out for years. She knew exactly what she wanted done to the School and she was going to have him do it, in as ruthless a way as possible if necessary. First she wanted all Half-Blood professors removed, a great deal of them to be replaced by members of her own family. Then, they would move on to the students. Sure, that would take a while. The board of governors wouldn't permit them to dismiss students based on their family heritage. It would have to be done slowly; An expulsion here, a dismissal there. Before long life would be so miserable for any muddbloods at Hogwarts that hosts of them would just leave. And if that didn't work, well, there were always other options, she laughed.

Fortescue didn't know what to do. He realized all at once that he made a terrible mistake, and he had to fix it. Gideon wasn't sure of the exact moment he acted, all of a sudden he was there, wand in hand, and Geraldina could no longer hurt anyone. Well, that was not entirely true, she would just have a far more difficult time of it. Gideon, being the excellent transfigurationist that he was, turned her into a Yorkshire terrier. He knew how to make a transfiguration permanent and decided that he had no better option. He gave the pup to the school's care of magical creatures professor with specific instructions for the animal to be spayed. Thankfully, her unpopularity with the world in general and her family in particular meant that no one ever came looking for Geraldina. She had been a tyrant to everyone, and no one felt any loss of her presence.

He thought the whole would be over then. Gideon saw to it that her son was placed with his Gaunt relatives, and never gave it a second thought until that man approached him. Somehow, he knew it was Marvolo, though the thought gave him no comfort whatsoever. The son was every bit as cruel and manipulative as the mother. He knew there was no way he could ever come up with the money to pay for his silence. He was ruined, and no matter how hard he thought about it, Gideon Fortescue could find only one solution to the situation. Well, it would simply have to do.

---

The funeral was small but respectable. Most of the students attended, feigning grief or shock. Everyone had known that Headmaster Fortescue had been ill for a while, and his death had not been all together unexpected. What they didn't know, was that he was sitting in the back row of the hall, quietly listening to the tearfully delivered eulogy by his friend Dippet. He had been the right choice to succeed him. As Headmaster, Fortescue never really accomplished anything, that was too much work, but he did have ideas for the school if not the fortitude to see those ideas through. Dippet could do it, of that he was sure.

Gideon was moved by his friend's grief as he sat hidden under an invisibility cloak, watching the procession of students walking to the forbidden forest. Another reason for choosing Dippet was that Fortescue knew he would honor his extremely eccentric request for his final arrangements without question. His will had been explicit and his instructions to have his remains transfigured into his favorite fruit and buried whole and all in the forest were done to the letter. They just didn't know that they were burying a plain and simple apple. Gideon's favorite and most loyal house elf had seen to it that the apple and the will found their way to Dippet. Tockey claimed to have performed the charm, and trusting and kind Dippet took it, weeping, and announced to the school that their headmaster was dead.

Fortescue and Tockey trudged away from the scene. He had known that he would have to take the elf with him. It was no bother. Gideon was rather fond of all house elves in general. Who could think ill of creatures whose sole desire was to work so wizards didn't have to? Gideon took one last fond look at Hogwarts. He was sad to leave it, along with all his possessions. At least the Gaunts couldn't get to them or him now. He sighed and left Hogwarts behind forever, more than a little sad.

Gideon didn't like traveling, too tiresome, but he would have to be stuck with it for a while. A few weeks later, he and Tockey reached their destination. The house was small, and not in terribly good condition., but nothing that a few good spells couldn't fix. It was warm and lovely, sand coated beaches stretched on for miles around him. Gideon knew he was going to like Corsica. There was wine and good food a plenty, not to mention a nation full of like minded souls. Who knew that France would be so wonderful? An entire country of people, who just like him, hated to work. He would be happy there indeed.

The End