She whispered

by Lucas Chesterton

  ‘Too long’, Eileen replied, pressing the man’s gnarled hand in both of hers, ‘it seems like a lifetime.’

  ‘Sure does. ��� However, I need not ask you what brought you here.’ The watery eyes swept towards Jack. ‘Your boy got himself into some trouble. ��� Lived to tell the tale, have you?’

  ‘I don’t tell tales’, Daysen said dryly.

  Eileen snorted. ‘Don’t mind him’, she said to Callistus, ‘he’s grumpy. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between him and Tobias.’

  Jack opened his mouth, closed it again. Only years ago, he would have lectured her on how the difference lay in the fact that her only reaction to his father’s ‘grumpiness’ had been deference or downright fear ��� privileges that she would never have granted her son to whose temper she was so impervious. But it was futile. With a resigned expression on his face, he turned towards the shelves that lined the shop and held some interesting artefacts.

  ‘Ah, but you have a brave one there, Eileen. You must be very proud.’

  ‘Well, he’s a Prince. Cowardice doesn’t run in our family. ��� But yes, I guess I am.’

  Staring at a hippogriff embryo in a glass jar, Jack quirked an ironic eyebrow.

  ‘Will you have a drink with me? For old times? I have a lovely elven-made wine.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know, at this time of day ���’

  ‘I’ll have one’, Jack said with a quick look over his shoulder, hoping that alcohol would dispose him more peacefully. He fully expected a caution from his mother and another comparison to the gracious donor of his hooked nose.

  Instead, Eileen murmured, ‘Well, why not ���’

  ‘That’s what I wanted to hear!’ With a happy chuckle, Callistus shuffled off to the back of the shop again.

  As soon as he was gone, Eileen turned to her son. ‘He doesn’t look good’, she hissed.

  ‘He’s old.’

  ‘The shop doesn’t make much of an impression, either.’

  ‘Last time I was here he said that he was having trouble. I’m not surprised. Selling dark artefacts in these days ���’

  ‘What a shame! He used to be such a fine man! And now? All those do-gooders sweeping up, swamping everything with their pink and white magic, it’s like the wizarding world has become a kid’s playground ���’

  ‘No use ranting about it, mother. That’s the way things are now.’

  ‘You should put your foot down!’

  ‘Me? Why? Or more importantly: how?’

  ‘Use your influence with the Ministry!’

  ‘What influence?’

  ‘Jack, please, you’re a prominent figure now, and many people ���’

  ‘A prominent figure who just came out of a courtroom because half the wizarding world distrusts him.’

  ‘Oh, come on, that’s just self-pity and you know it! There has never been a truly great wizard that didn’t meet with at least some ���’

  But Daysen shushed her sharply, hearing Callistus’ footsteps making their painful way back to the sales room. In front of the old wizard hovered a tray with a full decanter and three earthenware cups which he sat down on a high table usually for customers with practiced, albeit jerky, wand movements. Looking meek again, Eileen took over the dispensing of the wine, only to be told by Callistus what a ‘sweet lovely girl’ she was. Daysen sighed inwardly, but went to the table, his eyes firmly on a cup.

  Callistus started on the conversation right away. ‘So tell us, quiet boy! They didn’t keep you there in the dungeons, so I guess that’s good news?’

  ‘Like I said, I didn’t come to tell any tales’, Jack declared. ‘Plus, I’m quite sure that my mother will gladly do the job.’

  Now it was Eileen who rolled her eyes. ‘One might have thought getting bitten by that snake would have changed him a little’, she intimated to Callistus as if Jack wasn’t present, ‘but no hopes there. He’s always been sullen.’

  Callistus’ eyes widened politely, and Daysen guessed that he was trying not to say ‘As have you’.

  ‘Anyway, they wouldn’t have kept him as a result of what was officially only a hearing’, Eileen prattled on, ‘even the Wizengamot are not that brazen.’

  ‘Wouldn’t put anything past them these days’, Callistus said reasonably. ‘They’re paranoid about anything that reeks of dark magic and I’m afraid your boy does.’

  Eileen sharply turned her head and appraised her son. ‘He’s always had a knack for it. Most Princes do. Except for my poor sister, of course. ��� Besides, the dark arts are as valid a branch of magic as any. I’ve never had any time for restrictions in that area.’

  ‘I believe, mother, Callistus was referring to my past associations’, Daysen said silkily.

  Eileen said nothing, merely put on the meek face again, but it had a twist in it.

  ‘What’s with that man, anyway’, Callistus asked quickly, ‘who tried to kill you. What was his name?’

  ‘Leshnikov. Pavel Volodimir Leshnikov.’

  ‘I read about it in the papers, what he tried to do, I mean, but there weren’t all that many follow-ups. Has anything ever been found out about this man?’

  ‘He was a brother-in-law of one of my former associates. I am sure I never met him before. Shedding some light on who he was, however, was supposed to be the point of that hearing.’

  ‘Sure, but have they found anything out themselves? They must have investigated after you reported the incident.’

  ‘I’m none too sure about that.’ Daysen stared at the low ceiling, avoiding Callistus’ gaze.

  ‘I’ll tell you what they are thinking’, Eileen broke in, ‘they think that Jack brought this on himself. No matter that he saved this Potter brat they all love so much, and with not much more than a ‘Thank you’ from Dumbledore, oh yes, and being branded as a murderer on top of that! But that’s not good enough for them, the fall-out he’s got to deal with all by himself, even when ���’

  ‘Stop it, mother’, Jack said rather lazily, but as always when he wanted it, his voice carried. ‘Callistus has no interest in those stories.’

  ‘In fact’, old Applethorne hastened to say, ‘there’s something I’m really curious about. That girl Leshnikov kidnapped, your ��� student?’

  Eileen Daysen gave a harsh laugh. ‘That’s his favourite past time, picking up stray Muggle witches and telling them, inaugurating them, he’s always done it!’

  ‘Twice is always?’ Daysen breathed, controlling himself with an iron will.

  ‘So you admit she’s another stray?’ Eileen stared at him with a twisted smile.

  ‘Her name is Elena.’

  Callistus laughed out loud. Mother and son turned on him, their faces charged with the exact same confused scowl.

  ‘What’s so funny?’

  ‘The names.’ Callistus chuckled happily. ‘They’re the same names! Eileen and Elena. Both forms of Helen.’

  Sour faces answered.

  ‘Just a name’, Daysen muttered eventually.

  ‘There’s a rumour about that she’s quite a pretty one’, Callistus said and buried his face in his cup with a grin.

  ‘Of course, they always are’, Eileen stated, ‘a little bit too pretty for him, if you ask me. I mean, we were poor when he grew up, but we did have mirrors in the house ���’

  The reply was ready in his mind. ‘You mean the ones your charming husband smashed when beating us up just hadn’t quite taken the edge off?’ Later, he would congratulate himself on keeping it inside. Maybe he had moved on a bit. Maybe it would get easier over time.

  ‘You’re being harsh, Eileen’, Callistus said as lightly as he could, ‘your son’s a hero now. And quite a wizard. The ladies might like that.’

  ‘Are you done?!’ bellowed Daysen. ��� But how much time until it got easier?

  ‘He was always brave, and bright’, Eileen said matter-of-factly, ‘it didn’t impress that red-haired little minx, though, d
id it? ��� Oh yes, I remember her very well, don’t look at me like that! All day long it was ‘Lily this’ and ‘Lily that’ and he was constantly nagging me to show him new jinxes to impress her ���’

  ‘There’s nothing like a discerning eye when it comes to women!’ Callistus remarked, raised his cup at Daysen and winked.

  A lot of time. No doubt about it.

  When enough wine had been consumed, Eileen Daysen declared her intention of buying a number of obscure herbs and potions ingredients. Daysen watched uneasily while she gave Callistus instructions, wrote down a list for him in her small and cramped handwriting and had the old man shuffle to his storerooms.

  ‘What do you need all that stuff for?’ Jack hissed as soon as he and his mother were alone in the sales room.

  ‘I told you. We have to take care of that wound.’

  ‘I am taking care of it.’

  From her face, he saw that she had a snappy comment on her tongue, but she swallowed it and showed him a false smile. ‘I’m sure you’re doing what you can, my raven. Why don’t you let me try my hand a little bit?’

  ‘Surrender myself to your care?’ He looked at her pointedly. ‘What might come off that?’

  Her sallow cheeks coloured a little. She knew exactly what he’d been playing at. ‘Listen, Jack, there is this solution I’m making. It does wonders. I’ve used it on Mairie’s kids many times, when they grazed their knees or something like that ���’

  ‘You’re comparing a snake bite to a grazed knee?’

  ‘No! I’m just saying that you can use it for almost anything, it improves the natural healing powers of the skin. You’ll see, if we wash your wound with it regularly for five days, it’s going to provide ���’

  ‘Five days?’ He sounded alarmed.

  ‘Why, yes, ‘cause that’s how long the potion’s going to take to brew that I’m going to make for you. Have you ever thought of using snake venom?’

  ‘That would be the last thing I’d use!’

  ‘Similia similibus curantur’, Eileen said with a wise-crack face. ‘You don’t happen to know what kind of snake it was that bit you? A viper? A colubrid?’

  ‘It was green.’ Daysen suppressed a violent shudder. ‘And a Horcrux.’

  Eileen considered this. ‘Well, doesn’t matter, I’m sure we’ll manage to get something together ���’

  ‘So it’s decided. You’re going to stay.’

  She looked at him innocently. ‘Just until your wound gets better.’

  ‘I’m almost forty years old!’ He hated how plaintive his voice sounded. ‘Surely I cannot be expected to live with my mother at that age?!’

  ‘Surely it won’t hurt you to live with your mother for a little while.’

  ‘But we had an agreement! You said yourself that you didn’t want to live in that house anymore, and you gave it to me. That was the condition, remember, for me to keep mum about ���’

  She made a sharp gesture with her hand as Callistus Applethorne came back, arms full of jars and vials.

  ‘Do you have some extract of snake venom, as well?’ Eileen asked quickly and with feigned cheerfulness.

  Callistus raised is wiry white brows. ‘Extravagant’, he commented, put down the paraphernalia he was carrying on the counter and obligingly scuffled off again.

  ‘Maybe get some Devil’s Salvia, as well?’ Jack suggested with a malicious hiss.

  Eileen rolled her eyes. ‘Not again!’

  ‘Oh, but I forgot, you know all the spots, don’t you, and it’s full moon soon, that’s perfect for harvesting, isn’t it, almost as if ���’

  ‘Jack!’

  He grinned at her crookedly while she squirmed under his glance.

  ‘You don’t have to make this difficult from the start’, Eileen said and it sounded a little bit like pleading.

  ‘How difficult it will be depends very much on how you are going to behave yourself.’

  ‘How I behave myself? Are you getting airs, young man?’

  ‘Stop bickering, both of you!’ Applethorne had come back and put a small glass jar with a greenish powder on the counter. Then he addressed Daysen. ‘Let your mother try, boy. She has a rare talent, as you know. Worst thing that can happen is that your wound won’t improve, but it won’t get worse, either.’

  ‘He always wants to do everything by himself, won’t accept any help ���’

  ‘I know a little bit about making potions, mother!’

  ‘Yes, but you young people don’t know the old ways anymore! You remember my grandfather, Callistus, the things he had up his sleeve when it came to potions?’

  ‘Of course I remember him, my dear, he was quite the wizard and very smart with his mingles ���’

  ‘Well, I recently found an old book of his hidden away among Mairie’s stuff ��� I don’t know what she was doing with it, seeing as she can’t even properly skin a shrivel fig, but anyway ��� and I found the most interesting recipes ���’

  ‘Alright!’ Daysen thundered furiously. ‘I’ll let you try. What choice do I have?’

  As always, his anger didn’t even touch Eileen. She smiled at him in a manner that was supposed to be sweet. ‘You’ll see, sweetheart, it will make a difference. And it’s only a week! After that, I’ll be out of your hair ���’

  Jack Daysen doubted this. However, he saw that it was no use arguing any longer, and he didn’t want to do anything of the kind in front of Callistus. ‘One week’, he pondered, ‘why now, of all times?’ The magical lesson he’d intended to have with Elena tonight occurred to him. What would become of it now? Some improvisation would be required. But then, wasn’t that his life? Improvising, adapting to any given situation as good as he could, when really he would have preferred neat and orderly with everything in its place. But such was his life. For some reason, he just wasn’t able to get that break ���

  When they arrived at Spinner’s End, dusk started to cast its shadows over the dismal rows of terraced houses, softening the dilapidation but enhancing the spooky aspects of the place ��� the smashed windows of the deserted houses that looked like screaming mouths, the eerie dark channels of the narrow streets, the dirty orange of the streetlights that slowly flickered into action. Right after Apparating in the little cul-de-sac which Jack habitually used to make a clandestine appearance or disappearance in this Muggle stronghold, mother and son made their way towards the house that bound them together, in much the same way as magic did. Their footsteps reverberated from the cobbled road, thrown back by the grimy fa��ades that enclosed it.

  ‘This place will never change’, Eileen remarked in a low voice. ‘I wonder how you can stand it.’

  ‘I can’t. ��� And I wonder why you are so keen on coming back.’ Quickly, Jack’ eyes swept over the house opposite his own. All the windows were dark, no one appeared to be home. Instantly, he began to wonder where she was. Gallivanting with the Hincks boy, perhaps? He gave the house a bitter scowl as if it was to blame. On the front steps sat a black cat, completely still and upright, nose turned into the air as if smelling the atmosphere. Lux being outside was the surest sign of Elena’s absence, ingratiating little scrounger that he was, making shameless use of her love for anything feline.

  ‘Jack? Are you listening?’

  He turned his head sharply and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his mother.

  ‘I was asking whether you had any boomslang and dragon scales in the house’, his mother repeated in a slightly nagging tone.

  ‘Merlin’s beard, mother, I used to be the Hogwarts Potions Master’, he sighed, ‘so that question is superfluous. Plus, you’re being evasive.’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean’, she hissed, increased her pace and reached the doorstep a few steps ahead of him. It was swiftly torn open.

  ‘Mistress Prince!’ a squeaky voice chirped. ‘Oh, this is a pleasure!’

  ‘It’s good to see you, too, Gilly’, Eileen said haughtily to
the little house-elf as she stepped over the threshold. ‘I trust you have received my owl?’

  ‘Of course, mistress, and everything is prepared.’

  ‘Wait a minute’, Daysen growled irritably and sought his mother’s eyes; however, they were hard to catch since Eileen was suddenly busy with looking up and down the hallway, ‘the house-elf knew and I didn’t?’ He glared at little Gilly who hunched her shoulders and looked confused.

  ‘I told her not to tell’, Eileen declared and her voice sounded cold. ‘I knew that you’d become all hot and bothered about it and I thought that was the last thing you needed before your trial.’

  ‘Indeed, now that I get to think about it, it is the last thing I need even after the trial ���’

  Eileen issued a deep sigh. ‘Why must you always be so difficult?’ She made her voice sound brittle with exasperation, but Jack knew his mother better than that. ‘And what is so interesting out there?’

  He turned away from the small hallway window out of which he’d been staring across the street, and shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

  Eileen smiled slyly, then resolved to let it go and turned to Gilly who was standing in the hallway in ever-prepared servility. ‘So my things have arrived? And you’ve moved them up into the master bedroom?’

  ‘What?’ Daysen broke in sharply. ‘The master bedroom? That’s where I sleep!’

  ‘Really, Jack, you can’t expect me to stay in that small box room of yours, I’m well into my sixties!’

  Daysen rounded on Gilly. ‘You haven’t moved my things out, have you?’

  Gilly’s eyes became very wide and very sad.

  ‘Goddamn it!’ he bellowed, showered both mother and elf with looks of anger and disgust before he stomped off into the sitting room. It looked immaculate. The chaos of the day before had been dutifully removed by Gilly and nothing recalled the mysterious intrusion anymore. It occurred to Jack that this was the only positive side of his mother staying, that the house would be more protected ��� certainly, Eileen Daysen was witch enough to deal with intruders, well into her sixties or not. However, it was not reason enough to tame his irritation. ��� With determined strides, he went over to the windows where Gilly had already drawn the curtains. He tore them open so that the light would be visible from the other side of the street. There, however, the house still lay in darkness. It reminded him of Halloween night when he had looked for her everywhere, and he felt a shadow of the worry that had torn at him then. It took some will to focus and calm down.