Chapter Seventy-Five: A Wizard Not to be Crossed

Chapter Seventy-Five: A Wizard Not to be Crossed

Saturday, 27 March 1999

"You never said what else happened this morning," Severus said as they started down the stairs.

"Oh, just . . . family, you know." Gareth shrugged. He wanted to avoid Severus guessing that Gertrude was not an enthusiastic supporter of his decision to rent Spinner's End, let alone what it appeared she presumed their relationship to be. "Mum is having a difficult time, and that is making her tense, so she's a bit hard to deal with at the moment."

"I see."

"Probably not," Gareth said. "Remember when you met Alroy, Quin, and me on Monday evening? We'd all just come from the Gamp place. The estate. We had to get out of there. Even Quin was having trouble dealing with the witches."

"How so?" Severus asked, leading the way into the kitchen.

"You know that Rosemary is expecting, right? The baby is due in a couple of weeks. Mum's been spending most of her time there, helping out, but she also is just enjoying being at the estate again. She loves the old place."

"So her presence has become unwelcome? Or she has decided she wants the house back?"

"No, no." Gareth pulled out a chair and sat down. "Even if she did want to move back there permanently, the house is more than big enough to accommodate them all with room to spare."

"Tea? I only have tea bags, and no milk. There might be sugar somewhere."

"Tea is fine. Just plain, thanks."

"So what is it?"

"Melina hadn't been able to spend a lot of time with Rosemary, since Brennan had pneumonia several weeks ago and has been recovering from that."

"How is he?"

"He's doing a lot better now. Anyway, Melina's begun spending more time at the estate the last week or so..."

"And she and your mother disagree in all matters of housekeeping and child-rearing?" Severus guessed, putting two mugs of water on the table and dropping a tea bag in each. He waved his wand to heat the water.

"No, they haven't had any opportunity to argue about that. Melina wants Mum to eliminate one of the wards on the Gamp estate."

"Eliminate a ward?" Severus asked.

"The Gamp wards are quite old, most of them. My dad added to them, mostly creature wards to keep out pests, Cornish pixies and so on, but the old ones are of the sort you don't see often any longer, and many of them can't be replicated these days. Even if you could find someone with the know-how, they're illegal now."

"Illegal?"

Gareth nodded, glad that he'd piqued Severus's interest. "There is at least one blood ward, for example, and they have wards that extend all the way around the property, and a couple that even extend beyond the property's legal boundaries. When the Ministry began regulating these kinds of things, the old wards were allowed to remain, 'grandfathered in,' Mum says."

"So what does Melina want changed, and why?"

"They have extremely powerful Muggle-repelling wards. Even the ones at Hogwarts aren't this strong, primarily because they never had to be. Of course, Melina argues that the ones around the Gamp estate don't need to be so strong, either. But in any case, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are much more remote, and for the very few Muggle hill-walkers who might venture anywhere near them, the ones that frighten them off or bewilder them have proved more than sufficient. The ones at the Gamp estate don't merely frighten or confuse the Muggles, or conceal the estate, they actually repel them. To the point where it is impossible to bring a Muggle onto the grounds, even by Portkey or Floo. Once several years ago, Melina tried driving her car there, thinking that nonmagical means would be fine, and Brennan became so physically ill, she was frightened it might kill him. Could scarcely breathe, his heart went into an arrhythmia; basically, crossing over the perimeter ward almost gave him a heart attack. And Brennan can usually go anywhere in the wizarding world without a problem. They're extraordinarily strong wards."

"I see, and now his daughter's about to give birth to his first grandchild on this well-guarded estate."

"Correct. But once any of these wards is removed, they can't be replaced. Not legally, and probably not practically, either. I don't think it's the legality that bothers Mum so much...the new wards on our house in Hogsmeade cross the line of legality, certainly...but the fact that the wards are all so well-integrated that if that one is removed, the others might weaken, too. The entire place would have to be re-warded, and with wards that are of modern wizarding design."

"But surely they could be replicated sufficiently in purpose if not in form...and without causing Muggles injury."

"Probably. I think it's the whole family tradition idea," Gareth said. "In most ways, my mother really doesn't care about bloodlines or whatever, and she doesn't have any problem with the Muggle world, Muggle-borns, and so on. But she does care about family and history. There are some ancient ruins on the Gamp estate that have been well-protected for centuries by these wards, for example, and generations of our family have walked those grounds . . ." He shrugged.

"So she believes that a part of that heritage would be destroyed if the wards were dismantled."

Gareth nodded. "I think that if there were some stronger reason for the wards to come down, Mum would do it, but Brennan would be unlikely to visit often even if there were no wards, and let's face it, he's not getting any younger. He's eighty-two. In quite good shape for a Muggle of his age, but unlikely to be visiting the estate for more than a few more years. So centuries-old wards would be destroyed for the sake of one man being able to visit occasionally for only a few years. So she and Melina were going at it hammer and tongs on Monday evening, and even though Quin was able to calm them both, separately, and Rosemary told them that all the arguing in her presence wasn't good for the baby, we still just wanted to get out of there. So we left the witches to do whatever witches do when they need to make up, and we went for a drink."

"And this morning?" Severus asked.

"This morning, she was just touchy about things, in a mood, that's all," Gareth said evasively. He drained his mug. "How are things with you and Poppy, then? It sounds as though things might be progressing."

Severus shook his head. "I don't know. I've seen her a few times this week, and she did me a great favour earlier in the week, but it seems that every time we see each other, there's something that occupies our attention and I don't have an opportunity to interact with her as I would wish. To court her, for lack of a better term."

"What about this weekend?"

"I have a meeting, then there's the duel, and tomorrow she's visiting her sister for part of the day."

"There's tonight. Or tomorrow when she gets back to the school," Gareth said.

"I thought about inviting her out for dinner on Sunday, but she is nervous about me being away from the castle. I am trying to be considerate of that. I don't know whether she would make an exception for a date. And I don't know when she'll be getting back from her sister's, either."

"You mentioned something about that before...she's aware of the danger to you?"

"I don't think there's any definitive danger yet, but yes, she's aware. And distressed by it. I must admit to finding it encouraging that she is concerned for my welfare, but I believe she would be concerned about any of her friends who might be in danger. It doesn't necessarily signify anything. At least she hasn't had another date with MacAirt. I got back with the Florentines on Sunday to learn I'd missed my chance and she'd already made a date with him for that evening."

"I'm sorry about that, but I still think you should try to invite her for a date this weekend. Tomorrow evening...you wouldn't even have to go out. You could stay in, invite her to your suite, have some mood lighting, flowers, maybe some music. It could be quite romantic if you put some thought into it."

"Yes, and then have a Slytherin prefect interrupt the evening to tell us that Suzie Sefton has eaten herself sick on some new wizarding sweet. That would be very romantic," Severus grumbled.

"I know you're on edge, Severus, but try not to come up with worst-case-scenarios for every occasion!"

"Hmph."

Gareth picked up their mugs and brought them over to the sink, rinsed them, then cast a cleaning charm on them.

"By the way, McGonagall, you didn't warn me about MacAirt," Severus said.

"What do you mean?" Gareth said, sitting back down across from him.

"I mean that ability of his. Poppy told me, but only after the man had run into me and put his hand on me. I was not feeling well-disposed toward him, and despite my attempt at civility, he sensed it."

"Oh, that. I'd almost forgotten about that. You must have been screaming at him, metaphorically speaking, for him to have picked it up from a casual touch."

"Nonetheless, as a friend, you should have warned me. I could have taken precautions."

"Sorry about that. Aine's the one who's really sensitive, though. And more specific in what she senses. But I think she's also better at controlling it, and she can tune everyone out most of the time. She said that if she couldn't, she'd either go mad or become a hermit," Gareth said with a laugh.

"I will bear that in mind if I should meet her," Severus said.

"She's also more of a Seer in the traditional sense than Quin is, though he's no slouch there, if given the proper tools, I understand. Better than most of us, anyway."

"And Alroy? Was I teaching beside an empathic teacher for a year and no one told me? Poppy said he wasn't very talented that way."

"He isn't. Managed an Outstanding on his Divination NEWT, but hasn't got much of the Gift compared to the rest of his family. Now if you want to talk to a creature, on the other hand, he's your man for that."

"Talk to a creature?"

"He's best with magical creatures, particularly magical mammals and birds, but if it's a vertebrate, he can usually establish some kind of rapport with the creature."

"So that's what Poppy meant when she said the pig had given her permission to be charmed...she meant it literally."

"She told you that story? Dad used to tell me that one, too. The sow that flew over the house . . ." He sighed. "So what did Quin do after he touched you and felt your antipathy or whatever it was?"

"Nothing. Just looked a bit befuddled. It was odd, but I didn't think much of it."

"Mm, good. Haven't got on his bad side, then. Better to keep it that way," Gareth said.

Severus snorted with derision. "From what I hear about the wizard, he hasn't got a bad side. Mr Perfection himself."

"Oh, he does. If he gets angry with you about something, hope it will be short and hot. You don't want him carrying a smouldering grudge against you."

"He carries grudges?"

"Not grudges, perhaps. And he doesn't carry them; he acts on them. But you want the short fuse, not the long one. He forgives and forgets quite quickly and easily if you just get him hot under the collar about something, but if he takes a real exception to something you do"...Gareth shook his head and gave a low whistle..."watch your back, man, that's all I can say."

"He doesn't seem the type. Poppy seems to think he's the model of every wizarding virtue. So does Minerva, for that matter."

"And in a sense, they're right. He's a generous, charming, warm and caring wizard, very open-handed and open-minded. And truly empathetic. But if someone does something that in his mind is unforgivable, he won't wait for someone else to act. He might bide his time, but he takes care of his own problems with people...and he includes injury to his kith and kin as being unforgivable...and he does it in his own way. So don't get on his wrong side, Snape."

"You must exaggerate," Severus replied.

"Not by much," Gareth said. "Remember that I said I thought Francis Flint's name sounded familiar when you first mentioned him to me after Halloween?"

Severus nodded.

"Well, I imagine your own House ghost could tell a tale or two about Cormac Quinlivan MacAirt, and it might be different from what you'd hear from Poppy and Aunt Minerva. He's a wizard not to be crossed."

"So tell me. What do you know?"

"Flint worked for the Ministry, and he was making trouble for Quin, or trying to. Didn't like him having a foot in the Muggle world, making a lot of money from his Muggle businesses and injecting it into his wizarding ones. He was sure that Quin was using some kind of magical means to make an illicit profit in the Muggle world, breaking Ministry laws, contravening the various secrecy acts in place at the time...this was back in the early or mid-fifties, I think...and he kept hounding Quin. Quin says that he warned him to back off, gave him several warnings, but Flint had a kind of fixation on Quin. They knew each other vaguely through social circles, you see, and Flint and his crowd looked down on Quin...Irish, no proper schooling, Muggles and Muggle-borns mixed in his ancestry. He was practically a mudblood, as far as they were concerned. So Flint didn't back off. And I do believe that Quin would have given him more than one warning, too. He'd see that as only fair and proper, not to mention easier on himself."

"But Flint didn't back off and something happened to him?"

"Nothing overt, nothing . . . exactly happened to him, you understand. He was the author of his own destruction, one could say. Quin began to set up little traps for him...not literal traps, but he'd have people in his Muggle and wizarding businesses say certain things that made Flint more suspicious. Nothing explicit, either, just suspicious."

"So the Muggles knew he was a wizard? That must have broken a half dozen laws right there," Severus pointed out.

"No. First, Quin always hired a lot of Squibs to work for him. If they weren't good at working in the Muggle world when he first hired them, didn't know a telephone from a gramophone, he'd see they were taught. As Squibs, they could move smoothly between worlds. It was good for them and good for him. Also, he would instruct any Muggle foremen or managers what to say if people came around asking odd questions." Gareth shrugged. "Anyway, Quin is meticulous about keeping the Muggle and wizarding businesses separate, at least to his own standards, and he is careful about staying current with all the wizarding legal changes so that he doesn't step over the line there, either. To make a long story short, Francis Flint spent a year's worth of his office's budget all in the pursuit of Quin MacAirt's nonexistent illicit activities, and he managed it in just a couple months. Flint was hauled out on the carpet, demoted, sent to push papers in the Department of Mysteries, and his star never rose again. He'd thought that catching Quin would be the step-stone to his success, and instead, it was his downfall."

"I'd say he deserved it," Severus said with a smirk. "And clever to have the man hang himself, too. MacAirt could be a Slytherin, himself."

"True . . . then there were the Flatirons. Did you ever know the Flatirons?" Gareth asked.

"I taught a Jenny Flatiron the first couple years I was at Hogwarts."

"That's the family. She was Sorted into Ravenclaw with me, actually. Her great-grandfather was Kyle Flatiron, owned the Three Broomsticks. It had been in the family for a few generations and the Flatirons were a long-established presence in Hogsmeade. Kyle retired from the business and let his grandson, Harold, take over the day-to-day running of the pub. Kyle had taken out a large loan from Quin, essentially making Quin a partner in the business. The conditions were very favourable toward the Flatirons, much better than any terms they could get from Gringotts, but Quin saw it as part of his responsibility toward the wizarding world to help maintain some of the traditional institutions. He does like a well-pulled pint, too," Gareth added with a grin.

"So what happened, the grandson stopped paying on the loan and Quin had his legs broken?"

Gareth laughed. "No, nothing so mild, mundane, or easily mended. And it wasn't that he defaulted on the loan, but he was . . . circumventing some of the conditions of it. You see, there was a nominal base payment every month, and then Quin was to receive a percentage of the profits up to a certain capped amount. He was like a part-owner, a silent partner. Well, business either was doing much worse under Harold than it had under his grandfather, or Harold was cheating him. Quin thought that perhaps it was just a matter of poor management, some kind of inadvertent wastage, whatever. Or maybe bad bookkeeping, but nothing intentional. Gave him the benefit of the doubt. He offered to help Harold, to get one of his managers from another business in to take a look and see if he could help him to maximise his profits, but as you may have already guessed, Harold refused."

"So he was cooking the books deliberately," Severus said.

"It was even worse than that, Snape. You know my dad was in business for himself, did magical pest control, curse-breaking, that sort of thing. He also did a little detective business when it came his way. Usually it was just finding some person who didn't really want to be found, but he'd manage to find him. He sometimes did other kinds of work, too, and Quin asked him to do some investigating. Dad used to love to tell this story," Gareth said with a sigh. "He could do it with a lot more drama and panache than I can manage."

"I can do without the panache. Just tell me what he found out."

"Not only was Flatiron keeping two sets of books, but he was buying goods that had 'fallen off the back of the lorry,' if you know what I mean. Buying stolen food, beer, whatever, at rock bottom prices. Sometimes, he'd claim that the goods he'd received from reputable suppliers were bad...spoiled fruit or whatever...and he'd not pay the bill. He'd send them back bad fruit that one of his cronies had got for him, say it was the bad merchandise. So he was cheating everyone, and encouraging employees of businesses he dealt with to lie and steal for him. He was a bad apple."

"So what happened to him? Quin turned him in to the MLE and he got sent to Azkaban over a bad debt and some rotten fruit?" Severus asked.

Gareth shook his head. "Quin's his own law when it comes to things like this. One night, he comes into the pub. Dad's with him, and he has old Kyle Flatiron there, too."

"I can see where this is going," Severus said.

Gareth shrugged one shoulder and continued. "It's not a busy night, and Quin takes a corner table with my dad and Mr Flatiron. Harold comes over to personally take their order, quite friendly and even obsequious. But Quin pulls out his golden cup, says he brought his own with him that night. He sets his old cup in the centre of the table, looks straight at Harold, and asks him if he's been cheating him. Harold, of course, says, 'Oh, no, Mr MacAirt, business has been bad, as I told you.' Quin asks if he's been cheating his suppliers. Harold's eyes grow bigger, and he denies this effusively, acting as though he's quite offended. Finally, Quin asks if he's an honest dealer, and Harold claims loudly that he is. With that third pronouncement, Quin's cup, which had been slowly developing cracks as Harold continued with his lies, lets out an explosive crack and splits into three pieces."

Severus raised an eyebrow.

"Old Kyle Flatiron is devastated by this evidence of his grandson's perfidy and buries his face in his hands, unable to look at either Quin or his grandson. Quin stands up slowly...and you know that Quin is a tall man, and he can make himself appear even larger. He stands up, a towering shadow over the miserable Harold Flatiron...that's the way my dad used to describe it...he stands up, a towering shadow over the miserable Harold Flatiron, and he says, very softly, 'I don't like it when someone breaks me cup. You're going to make it whole now. Tell me, Harold, are you a greedy son of a crup?' Harold has gone pale. He isn't sure what's happening, but he knows that somehow he's been caught. 'Are you a greedy son of a crup, Harold?' Quin repeats when Harold just shakes his head. Kyle Flatiron looks up at his grandson, and tells him to tell the truth. Harold says he just wants to make a good profit for himself. Quin raises an eyebrow and tells him that's not a whole-making truth. Is he a greedy son of a crup? Harold nods. By now, the few patrons in the pub are all paying attention to this little show of Quin's, and Quin says, 'Say it out loud, Harold. Say it.' And so Harold whispers that he's a greedy son of a crup. 'Are you a liar, a thief, and a cheat?' Quin asks. Again, Kyle tells his grandson to tell the truth. Harold just says, yes, he is, he is a liar, thief, and cheat. The pieces of the cup begin to slide toward each other. 'And tell me, Harold, do you bring disgrace upon your grandfather and your family name?' Harold can't look at his grandfather or anyone else, and he nods. Quin says he has to make his cup whole, since he broke it, and he has to say it out loud. 'I am a disgrace,' Harold finally says, and the pieces of Quin's cup fly together, and the cup is now a seamless whole again."

"So that's it?" Severus asked.

"Oh, no, that's not the end of it. At that point, Quin invoked a clause in the magical contract that had been signed by Kyle Flatiron and assigned to Harold when he took over the pub. Flatiron lost full possession of the Broomsticks, and Quin told him he had twenty-four hours to vacate the premises, and he'd be watching what was taken away, so he'd better end his thievin' days that very minute."

"So he lost his home and his family business in one fell swoop?" Severus said.

"That's about the size of it, not that it ended with that, of course. Quin does not do things by halves."

"There's more?"

"Flatiron moves out with his pregnant wife...I think to her family, but I don't know where, exactly...and he starts looking for work. Well, whether it's the dishonest look in his eye, a jinx that Quin placed on him, or simply word-of-mouth about what happened in the pub that night, Harold can't find a job, not even in the smallest wizarding community in the meanest little pub. He searches for weeks. Every restaurant, pub, and shop slams its door in his face."

"So Quin fixed it so that he couldn't get work? Ever? That is extreme," Severus said.

"Ah, but he did get work in the end. He finally heard from someone that the Bugbear's Bannock was hiring, so he put on his best robes and his most confident smile, and he Flooed to Portree. I don't know if you're familiar with the Bugbear's Bannock, but it makes the Leaky Cauldron look like Delancie's, and I hear that back in those days, it was even worse. So Flatiron goes there, the wizard at the bar asks him a few questions, then he says he's hired. They need someone to sweep up, clean the tables, wash dishes, that sort of thing. Well, at this point, Flatiron's desperate, and he swallows his pride and accepts the job. The barman hands him an apron and a broom and tells him he can start immediately. There's Flatiron, in his best robes, sweeping up the previous night's dirt, and in walks Quin and my dad. 'So, this is me latest employee, eh, Bert,' Quin says to the barman...his name was Bert..."

"I gathered that," Severus said impatiently.

"'So this is me latest employee,' he says, looking Flatiron up and down. 'Watch him, Bert, I hear he has a tendency to break cups.' Quin winks at Flatiron and leaves the pub, and Flatiron ends up toiling away in that godforsaken dump for years."

"Quin owned the Bugbear's Bannock?" Severus asked.

"Bought it a few days before that. Just for Flatiron."

Severus raised an eyebrow. "That is extreme."

"I told you, Quin doesn't do things by halves."

"That must have been hard on old Flatiron, though, the grandfather. The family business taken over like that."

Gareth shook his head. "Quin has a very strict sense of fairness. And it was never about the money, you know. He continued to pay old Flatiron the bit of pension he'd allotted for himself when he gave his grandson the pub, so Flatiron wasn't financially hurt by it, and then Quin brought in a new young manager, Madam Rosmerta, and gave her the opportunity to earn back all of the debt that he was owed, and when that was paid off, she could buy the pub from him for one Galleon, one Sickle, and one Knut."

Severus shook his head, confused.

"Rosmerta only uses the one name, but she's a Flatiron. Her father was old Kyle Flatiron's cousin or nephew or something. Quin made sure that the pub stayed in the family. The MacAirts also made sure that Jenny Flatiron's school fees were paid without them having either to request Indigent Scholars' funds or go into debt. Alroy paid them himself; it was what Quin had planned to do before he was cursed. He didn't want the daughter's education to suffer because of her father's mistakes. Quin really is a decent chap. As long as you don't get him angry."

"What happened to Flatiron? Harold, I mean," Severus asked.

"He's still at the Bannock. He's the manager now. Took him about twenty-five years to work his way up to that position, though. It's one of the wizarding businesses that Alroy held onto when he took over after his father was cursed. Carrying on a family tradition," Gareth said with a smirk.

Severus shook his head. "I would not want to get on the man's bad side, you're right about that." He pulled out his pocket watch and snapped it open. "What are you doing for the rest of the day, McGonagall?"

"I thought that after I saw you back to Hogwarts, I'd return here and get a start on deciding which colours for which rooms, what furniture we might want to replace, that sort of thing. Maybe begin getting the bedroom ready to be boxed up. Probably grab a bite to eat somewhere."

"There's that duel at the castle this afternoon. You could stay for lunch and then watch the duel after, if you want. Our own duel will be in just a few weeks. You might want to see one before that."

"That's a great idea, Snape. I can come back here afterwards, then."

Severus nodded. "I still need to set your password, however." He drew a key from his pocket and handed it to Gareth. "This is for the front door. If you want a key to the backdoor, you'll need to see to that yourself. You can just copy the one that's here."

Gareth nodded, accepting the key.

"Do you have any preference for a password?" Severus asked.

"How about . . . Pythagoras?"

Severus nodded. "Pythagoras. Eventually, we can set the wards so that you can Apparate in and out freely, but that's more of a job than setting a password for you." He smirked. "My wards are not precisely Ministry-approved, either. For now, remember that you can Disapparate from inside the house, but not Apparate in, and you can't Disapparate with anyone in Side-Along, or you'll Splinch. And you can't Apparate into or Disapparate from my bedroom, but as I do not expect you to be spending any time in there, it should not pose a problem."

"That sounds fine, Snape. Thanks. Do you want me to show you what I've decided to do before I do it?"

"No. Just get on with it. Nothing extreme. And no pink."

Gareth laughed.

Author's Note: If you want to refresh your memory, or see some Quin and Francis Flint interaction for the first time, you might have fun reading Part Eight of Resolving a Misunderstanding. That's chapters 39 – 54, from "A Startling Revelation" through "Breakfast al Fresco." Minerva is on her own, visiting the Gamp estate for a house party celebrating Orion and Walburga Black's pending marriage (they're Sirius's parents in canon), and she meets Quin at the end of chapter 39. It's a fun section, with a lot of Gertrude and Quin, and has a lot of Gertrude's rather horrid pureblood relatives in it, too. You also get to see Alroy as a boy in a few of the chapters. The primary chapter with Quin and Francis in it is chapter 44, "Horrid Relatives."

There's a lot more Quin in other chapters of RaM, as well. If you're interested in Resolving a Misunderstanding universe fics and their characters, there's a lot of information available on my website at http://mmadfan.wordpress.com, including a detailed table of contents that includes the OCs in the character listings for each chapter. Just click on the "Compendium: Who, When, Where" tab at the top of the page for general information, and the "Tables of Contents" tab for the RaM ToC.

NEXT

Chapter Seventy-Six: Present Danger

Saturday, 27 March 1999

Severus tries to find time to spend with Poppy, but other issues intervene. He learns more about the attacks and the possible danger to himself.

Rated T.

Characters: Severus Snape, Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomfrey, Alastor Moody, Gareth McGonagall, others