She whispered

by Lucas Chesterton

  ‘What are you wondering about?’

  Again, a few seconds passed before Magrathea issued one of her smiles, one that was intended to signal uncertainty ��� an uncertainty that, Elena was sure about it, the woman didn’t feel at all. ‘Don’t get me wrong, but I’m sure you heard about the stories surrounding Professor Daysen’s person. His past.’

  ‘Everybody knows about that’, Cassie interjected.

  Magrathea’s head jerked in her direction, and it looked a little as if the witch lady was shaking off an irksome fly. ‘Yes, everybody knows about it. And it is a commonly known fact that Professor Daysen is a very brave man whose actions in the recent war were nothing short of admirable. ��� However, not everyone thinks he’s as much of a hero as Harry Potter claimed.’

  ‘He saved my life’, Elena said.

  Now the lady’s smile became dazzling once more. ‘He did, and this explains why you would be loyal to him. However, am I being overbearing when I tell you that I’m worried about you, Miss Horwath?’

  ‘Yes, you are’, Elena thought and felt a nervous tick below her left eye, the one that always came when she was getting nervous. Of course, she could guess where all this was going, but cautioned herself not to let out too much. She forced a smile to her lips. ‘I have a mother and an aunt who are constantly worrying about me, and I can assure you that it’s quite enough for my taste.’

  Madam Crowley gave off a measured ladylike laugh. ‘You can’t imagine how well I understand you. I, too, had a very protected upbringing ��� too protected, perhaps ��� and I understand that the worries of a relative can be like a prison. ��� However, I’m not a relative. I’m just someone who is concerned for her fellow witches and wizards, and who observes. ��� You have only been a witch for a very short time, Miss Horwath. You don’t know anything about our past ��� or maybe you do, but you haven’t experienced it. If you had, your opinion on Professor Daysen might be a different one.’

  ‘H��tte, h��tte, Fahrradkette[1]’, murmured Elena. ‘I prefer to use my own judgment when making up my mind about people.’

  ‘And right you are. Also, I can see why Professor Daysen would make an effort to endear himself to you.’ The words were rendered very amiably, but Elena felt them like a whiplash and was sure that this was well intended. She also saw how Magrathea Crowley considered her closely, scanning her face for an involuntary reaction. She was fishing, tried to ascertain the exact nature of Elena’s and Daysen’s connection.

  Elena forced herself to giggle mirthfully. ‘Honestly, Madam Crowley, you don’t seem to know a first thing about Professor Daysen. He endears himself to no one and certainly not to a mere student.’

  Magrathea Crowley let it sink in, but her eyes did not stop to monitor Elena carefully. ‘That being so, you still have no wish to change your arrangement?’

  ‘Not really’, Elena said nonchalantly. ‘You see, I got used to him. And in my experience, the strictest teachers are often the best.’ She pointed to the parchment rolls on the coffee table. ‘But thank you very much for these, anyway. I’ll be sure to have a look at them.’

  The radiant smile resurfaced. ‘That’s all I wanted to achieve’, Madam Crowley said warmly. ‘You see, wizarding education is very close to my heart. Especially after the last war and its casualties, our world desperately needs well-educated witches and wizards. It’s an important stepping stone for building a better and brighter future. The thought that a talented young woman such as you might not know about the possibilities that are open to her pained me quite a bit.’

  Elena raised her eyebrows. ‘So this is why you took the trouble of brining us here? To tell me about your academy?’

  ‘Exactly’, Magrathea replied with a cheerfulness that Elena was sure was entirely faked. ‘Also I like to know my wizarding peers. And I’ve heard such a lot about you that I just had to meet you in person.’

  ‘That’s very ��� kind of you’, Elena said and the little pause was deliberate. She caught a meaningful glance of Cassie’s and felt that her new friend, too, thought that there was something fishy about this invitation.

  As if to prove that the academy had been all that she wanted to tell Elena about, Magrathea Crowley went smoothly on to small talk. She commented on the weather, the reconstruction of the elven ballet ��� another one of her projects ��� and other things currently happening in the wizarding world. The two girls replied politely, but while Elena was secretly and impatiently waiting for the end of the visit, Cassie increasingly joined in the conversation. She asked Madam Crowley a range of questions about her charitable pursuits and, eventually, about her family. ‘Aren’t you Barnabas Cuffe’s daughter?’ was one of them.

  There was a brief moment of hesitation before Magrathea Crowley replied, ‘Yes, you are quite right.’

  ‘I never knew he had children’, Cassie commented.

  ‘Oh, I’m an only child’, the witch lady explained. ‘And like I said, I grew up very protected; in the country with my grandmother, actually. She didn’t consider it suitable for a young girl to be raised in London which she considered a den of sin.’ Madam Crowley laughed.

  ‘I see. ��� Are those heirlooms?’ Cassie pointed across the room.

  ‘They are. You’re welcome to look at them.’

  Elena watched in surprise as Cassie got up and walked over to a glass cabinet which held all kinds of glittering items. There were gilded wands presented on small pedestals, vermillion-coloured jars and figurines. The centrepiece, however, was a circular glass case filled with what to Elena looked like marbles. On top of the glass case sat four stones that were a little larger than the other marbles. There was one in blue, one in yellow, a purple one and a black one, each of them resting in its own recess. And there was a fifth recess, but it was empty.

  ‘Those are Gobstones, right?’ Cassie looked slyly at Magrathea Crowley who left her armchair and came over to the cabinet.

  ‘Quite right. It’s a very ancient set and its been in my family forever. My grandfather gave this one to me when I was a young girl, shortly before he died.’

  Elena became curious and got up, as well, to join the two other witches. She surveyed the set. ‘Schusser[2]’, she said. ‘I had a set of these, too, when I was a child.’

  ‘I’m sure you had nothing like these’, Cassie replied with a grin. ‘We call them Gobstones, and basically its marbles with a twist.’

  ‘What’s the twist?’

  ‘Ah, I can’t tell you that, it would spoil the fun’, giggled Cassie, ‘but I’ll show you some day.’ Her eyes fixed on the set again. ‘It’s beautiful’, she said to Magrathea Crowley, ‘but there’s a stone missing.’

  ‘Yes.’ Magrathea Crowley smiled a little sadly. ‘The red stone. It’s always been like this, ever since it came into my possession. I don’t know what happened to the missing gobstone, my grandfather didn’t know, but it’s a pity. This set would be far more valuable if it was complete. However, it has a high personal value to me, and like you said it is beautiful even without the missing stone, which is why I put it in there.’

  ‘Nice’, Elena said flatly. She wasn’t exactly fond of people who presented their possessions for others to admire. Also, in the last few minutes she had started to feel decidedly uncomfortable and restless. Since a large clock in the corner of the conservatory struck the hour at this exact moment, she saw an opportunity to escape. ‘Gosh, is it this late already? I’m afraid I can’t stay much longer, I have scores to study.’ It was a lie, but Magrathea Crowley jumped at it.

  ‘You’re quite right’, she agreed, ‘I have kept you long enough. It was very gracious of the two of you to follow my invitation on such short notice.’

  ‘It was a pleasure, Madam Crowley’, Cassie said.

  ‘Yeah, a pleasure’, Elena echoed.

  Magrathea Crowley smiled sweetly and then led the two girls out of the conservatory. Again, they shuffled through the long corridors. Inadvertentl
y, Elena found herself looking for the narrow passage with the low door painted in blood-red at its end. However, Madam Crowley must have taken them on a different route this time ��� though how it was different Elena could not tell ��� in any case, she couldn’t find the corridor, which was actually just as well since the sight had strangely irked her, stirred something in her guts even. For some reason, she suddenly felt that the door was a disturbing sight, more disturbing in fact than encountering a ghost would have been. However, she could not have explained why it had had that effect on her. All the same, she breathed with relief when they reached the grand entrance hall. Something inside her had obviously been worried that they wouldn’t make it out of the manor again. Probably the events of the recent weeks and months had made her paranoid.

  Their hostess bade them goodbye in the most cordial manner. She also made sure that Elena took the brochures and impressed on her to get in touch any time she changed her mind. ‘It would be a pleasure to welcome you at the academy’, she said, ‘but of course ��� no pressure there, just some food for thought.’

  ‘You’re very kind’, Elena murmured politely, looking towards the door.

  ‘By the way ���’ Madam Crowley’s voice trailed off.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘It just occurred to me ���’ For a moment, Magrathea appeared uncertain. ‘Have you had a chance to meet Madam Daysen yet?’

  The question took Elena completely by surprise and she stared a little before she finally shook her head.

  ‘No? Well, I just thought ��� since you appear to have such a good connection to Professor Daysen …’

  ‘I’m his student’, Elena said, already feeling like a broken record, ‘there’s no reason for him to introduce me to his family.’

  ‘Of course. ��� You see, I heard that she is in the country, visiting her son. So I thought there was a possibility that you might have met her.’

  Once more, Elena shook her head. ‘I haven’t. ��� Do you know her?’

  ‘Everybody knows everyone in the wizarding world’, Madam Crowley said lightly. ‘The reason I’m asking ���’ Again, her voice trailed off.

  ‘Yes?’ Elena couldn’t resist asking.

  ‘My grandfather knew the Prince family quite well’, Magrathea explained. ‘And although you may consider me brazen, I just have to say this: please be careful with that woman, should you meet her.’

  ‘Why so?’

  Their hostess tilted her head to one side. ‘I don’t know about this personally ��� but my grandfather always used to say that there was an evil streak in that family. A lot of Princes were dark wizards, you see. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I just wanted you to know.’

  ‘And scare me, if I’m not wrong’, Elena thought. And indeed, the Crowley woman’s words had stirred something inside her, because whatever Magrathea had said about the Princes and Eileen Daysen must, by extension, also apply to Jack. In Elena’s eyes, it was nothing but another attempt to dissuade her from keeping up the teaching arrangement with him. She felt the strong urge to say something to put the woman in her place.

  ‘Oh, by the way, there’s one thing I wanted to ask’, she started, ‘since you’re a Crowley. ��� Is there any chance you might be related to Aleister Crowley, the occultist?’

  The smile froze on Magrathea’s face. It took a few moments for her to regain her composure and to speak. ‘As your charming friend has remarked before’, she finally said with a chill in her voice, ‘I’m really a Cuffe and a Crowley only by marriage. I do know, though, that the Crowley family doesn’t like to speak about Aleister. He’s considered a black sheep.’

  ‘Pardon my intrusion, then’, Elena said as glibly as she could, ‘I wasn’t aware.’

  ‘How would you?’ But the smile on Magrathea’s face still appeared laboured.

  She ushered the two young witches out of the hall. The carriage that had brought them here was already waiting outside with the hippogriffs stretching their wings and scraping the ground impatiently. McVey sat on top of the carriage with dangling legs, but jumped down as soon as he saw them and opened the doors.

  Another round of goodbyes followed, and finally Elena and her new friend Cassie sat on the squashy benches again. This time, there was no champagne.

  ‘You shouldn’t have asked her about Aleister Crowley’, Cassie murmured as soon as they were alone.

  Elena shrugged. ‘It just came to my mind that they might be related ���’

  ‘And that is quite certainly an embarrassment to the family.’

  ‘Why? At least one wizard that even Muggles listened to?’

  ‘That’s the point! Aleister Crowley was a squib! He managed to enthral a few Muggles with cheap tricks, but beyond that he had hardly any real powers.’

  Elena chuckled. ‘And of course, the Muggles fell for him. Figures.’

  Cassie smiled mirthfully. ‘The wizarding world hates to be reminded of guys like him. ��� But you took the wind right out of her sails with it, I have to give you that. ��� What was that woman about, anyway?’

  ‘You didn’t like her, either?’

  ‘Oh, actually I was quite keen on meeting her’, Cassie admitted, ‘after all the things I read in the Prophet. ��� But there is something very weird about her, I think. Though I couldn’t begin to tell you what it is.’

  Elena nodded. ‘I felt the same way. ��� But let’s not talk about it now ���’ She pointed to the carriage wall behind which lay the coach box where McVey sat. Cassie understood and kept mum for the rest of the ride.

  The way back was quite a bit shorter than to Abrasax Manor which made Elena think that the first journey along with the champagne had been intended to soften them up and make them arrive in a good mood. But maybe that, too, was paranoid. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that she and Cassie had been subjected to a subtle form of manipulation.

  The carriage brought them right back to Diagon Alley where McVey once more opened the door for them with a gallant bow. However, he bade them goodbye by shaking their hands. When he took Elena’s, she felt something in her palm. A piece of parchment, and she saw McVey’s eyes boring into her. With a poker face, Elena slipped the piece of parchment into her coat pocket.

  After McVey had gone, she accompanied Cassie until they arrived at a small shop that had jars, vials and dried herbs in its windows and a sign over the door that spelt ‘Cleary’s Clearest Potions’. Along the way, they discussed the visit to Abrasax Manor in hushed voices, but they couldn’t come up with an answer to the question what the invitation had actually been about.

  ‘Maybe we’re reading too much into it’, mused Cassie, ‘this may really have been about wetting your appetite for the academy.’ However, she looked doubtful.

  The two witches then hugged, kissed each other on either cheek and promised to get in touch soon. As Elena walked away, getting ready to Disapparate, she found that her mood had improved. She was now very certain that she had indeed found a new friend. The affection that connected Cassie and her was undeniable, even after only two encounters. So much for the good news of the day. Everything else, she would have to discuss with someone else, and her heart started to race at the thought that she had something very interesting to tell Jack. In her mind, she pictured his reaction and found that she already missed him, although their last meeting was less than twenty-four hours ago.

  When she came home, Anna greeted her. Suitcases were standing in the hallway and Elena’s aunt was brimming with stories about the visit she had paid to an old friend. So Elena sat down with her in the living room where they had a thorough chat and brought each other up to date. However, the visit to Abrasax Manor stayed on the forefront of Elena’s mind. What purpose had it served? What had Magrathea Crowley really wanted from her? Introducing the academy appeared like a flimsy pretext, but for what?

  Only when she was alone again in her box room upstairs did Elena take the piece of par
chment out of her coat.

  Miss Horwath,

  I gather you have a few questions by now. Although I’m not sure I can provide answers to all of them, I would like to meet you tomorrow for a little conversation that I’m certain you’ll find interesting. Please wait for me to get in touch.

  Respectfully,

  Finn McVey

  She groaned. What was this? Secrets, manipulations ��� they never seemed to cease ever since she had set foot in the magical world. And although Elena Horwath would have been the first to admit that her life had become infinitely more interesting in the past months, it also meant that she was constantly getting involved in something. Also, her curiosity was constantly challenged and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to resist it long. After all ��� and for many reasons ��� this world was simply too enchanting to ignore it ���

  At about the same time Elena Horwath arrived at home, Jack Daysen breezed into Hogwarts’ entrance hall. It was doused in dim light and since it was already past dinner time, there were hardly any students about and Jack hoped to reach his dungeon quarters without any further delays. He felt completely knackered due to lack of sleep and a very busy day. However, he quickly saw that he’d have no such luck, because out of the shadows stepped the large clumsy shape of Hagrid, obviously eager to talk to him.

  ‘Professor Daysen, sir!’

  ‘What is it now?’ Jack grumbled, hoping to discourage the big blundering oaf by well-dosed aloofness.

  However, Hagrid was adamant. ‘We been waitin’ fer hours fer yeh ter come back!’

  A snappy comment was on the tip of Jack’ tongue, but he could not help noticing that the Hogwarts gamekeeper was upset. ‘I’m here now’, he said tersely, gesturing for Hagrid to spit out what he had in mind.