Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"This is ridiculous," said Cissy. "What are you going to do, hum the Mendelssohn violin concerto?"

"It might work, Cissy. It does respond to vibrations," said Andy.

"It'll respond," said Cissy. "It'll eat the violin."

Cissy turned to Alain. "But you don't use a violin, do you?"

"I use crystals which are more valuable than violins, and I would hate to see them eaten," he said, "but we can approach your entity cautiously."

"This is why I invited Professor Roeder to England," said Adolf. "Conducting a few seminars at school is a cover story."

"The honorarium for the seminars is not worth my time," said Alain.

"I take it you're not interested in molding young minds," said Andy.

Alain Roeder had been warned about the Black sisters.

The talk turned to his fee. A week of using crystals to calm the entity would cost one thousand Galleons. Thermal imagery had revealed the entity had a center which appeared to expand and contract rhythmically. This center had moved from under the house and down the slope toward the bog under the inducement of a supply of mice. They rejected using the crystals to give the entity the vegetative version of a heart attack on the grounds that its convulsions might wreck the house. Once the center was lured far enough away, Alain would sever the main body from the vestigial part remaining in the house. That would cost another thousand Galleons.

"Damn that Biff," muttered the editor to herself. "He hasn't left any openings, hasn't created any place where a sensitive writer could inject some human emotions into the story line. Well, if he's going to be that inconsiderate, then let the next scene be on his own head."

"It hadn't occurred to me that one could make a living in Arithmancy," said Draco.

"Applied Arithmancy," Theo reminded him.

The two had talked to Professor Galland about taking up the profession of Crystals the day before the first demonstration by Professor Roeder. He had assured them that one could make a good living at it if one became skilled and that Professor Roeder would accept apprentices if they showed talent. Draco and Theo had asked if Professor Galland had considered a life in Crystals. They were still puzzling over his reply. Professor Galland had said that he had studied crystals under Professor Roeder, but it was a question of spending one's life skillfully applying an understood topic or spending one's life clumsily discovering new things.

"You just want to make Padma hum," Draco accused Theo.

"I want to make her vibrate," said Theo. "Isn't there someone you want to resonate with you?"

Draco shook his head no.

Halfway through the demonstration, Professor Roeder asked for volunteers. Both Draco and Theo managed to tune two semi-precious stones until they oscillated on the same frequency. Once the jewels were vibrating, Professor Galland stopped the experiment before the resonance built enough to crack them. Professor Galland asked for more volunteers, but there were none. Both Draco and Theo accepted his invitation to not only make the stones vibrate in sync but to dampen the oscillation before it destroyed the crystals. It took several attempts before they were successful, and the two boys ended the session exhausted.

Padma took Theo to the study hall for tea and biscuits.

Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw Luna hurriedly exiting the room. He walked to the study hall and sat in a corner with a cup of strong coffee. He did notice the whispering going around the hall followed by glances at Theo and him, and he did notice people looking at him as if he were something besides an ogre.

The mood that Friday evening was relaxed as Filius, Horace, Adolf, Alain, and the elves gathered. The first seminar on crystals had gone well, and the school had shown it had students who could master them. Filius asked if Alain minded listening to Tchaikovsky.

"Not at all," he said. The wizards and elves listened raptly, and when the piece had ended, Alain offered his opinion. "Someone once said that Mravinsky is proof that Tchaikovsky should be left to fire-breathing, vodka-swilling Cossacks."

Later that evening, when everyone was mellow, Alain cautiously mentioned the rumor that his friend was getting involved with a student. Adolf admitted that, despite his best efforts, there was some danger of that happening whereupon Alain advised him to extricate himself if at all possible.

Filius and Horace agreed with that sentiment, but they had misgivings about the advice that followed.

"Married women, my man," said Alain. "Lonely, experienced, and discreet."

Biff looked around for the editor. He had finished a pot of coffee, and it wasn't yet noon. He could barely read his own writing, and it was time for the editor to slow the pace of the story with one of her meandering paragraphs, but if she wasn't available, he would splatter the page with some of the phrases buzzing through his head. They could arrange them into something coherent later.

It was the second Saturday after the first seminar at school. There hadn't been any demonstrations during the last week because all the more harmonious crystals that were safe for students had been used to soothe the entity at the Black estate. The team had returned to luring it toward the bog. Despite the evidence that things were safer, Alain thought Andy was getting dangerously close, and he was shouting out a warning when Andy screamed and fell.

The first to reach her was Draco, and he was pulling her away when he stumbled, recovered to drag Andy a few more yards, but fell again. Alain and Adolf ran to place themselves between the fallen pair and a swarm of deadly strands. Each had two wands out, and they were using them like rotary scythes. Theo, Padma, and Cissy were helping Andy and Draco to safety while Filius picked off any tendril that appeared behind Alain and Adolf.

As Alain and Adolf were backing away, a panicked rabbit leaped through their swirl of spells. Its sliced sections fell with a plop, and Andy and Padma were violently ill.

The editor was sitting in her office with her feelings dented. After Biff had read her last two contributions, he said, "Okay," but with no enthusiasm, and he had looked troubled. She had wanted to rail at him: the prose fit the scenes, but she left the senseless clod to his own prattling.

Write what you know, she thought. She knew selfish, cold-hearted bastards.

The next Monday, Draco was back at school, trying to ignore his throbbing leg where two strands had pierced it, and trying to review the morning's class notes. He looked up to see Luna.

"May I sit here?" she asked.

He indicated he didn't care.

"Can we talk?" she asked.

He closed his notebook and nodded yes. He couldn't concentrate anyway, and what did a little more pain mean to him?

Luna looked close to tears. What she had once meant to him almost caused him to reach out and comfort her.

She took a breath. "I'm sorry for what I said to you."

"Okay," he said.

His neutrality was daunting. She had been wildly hoping that he would welcome her back, she could have coped with his railing at her, but his I-don't-care attitude nearly crushed her. She summoned everything and said, "I didn't know how dangerous that thing was. I wasn't thinking."

She paused.

"I'm the one who wasn't there when everyone was in danger," she said. "I'm the one who's a coward."

Deep inside Luna, her contrition was turning to anger. So, she had made a mistake. She was sorry. She had said things she regretted, but she had not actively harmed anyone. Who was Mr. High-and-Mighty not to forgive someone who had a moment of poor judgment? She would say one last thing and leave.

"You're the brave one. You saved your aunt."

"Not quite," said Draco in the split second before Luna left for good. "I bungled it, and the others had to rescue both of us. If you had been there, you would have done much better."

Did he really just say that? she wondered. She sat back down.

"I'm really, really sorry, Draco."

"I've said and done many things I wish I hadn't," he replied.

She looked around the room. "This is a quiet corner. Do you mind if I study here?"

"Not at all," he said.

Draco was thinking that her previous rejection of him was rational. He was harming innocent creatures to achieve his objective. Draco was thinking that her reversal was irrational. It was based on happenstance, and he had to be rescued from his impulsive actions.

Secretly, Draco believed that Luna remained disappointed that he and the others had not charged in like commandos to destroy the antagonist. Where was the heroism her feminine soul craved? He had to agree. He had hidden behind young and innocent animals. Having reached that conclusion, he felt no compunction about keeping any true feelings he might have to himself. After all, deep down, she considered him less than a man.

There was more. He admitted to himself that he was enjoying her soft look and her sitting close enough to him that he could take in her aroma. He admitted to himself that he would not jeopardize this by mentioning the real moral dilemmas. Would the entity die if lured to the bog? Would it thrive to the extent of harming the other wildlife? Would it be a danger to the surrounding population? Shouldn't the authorities be alerted? If the authorities were alerted, wouldn't they confiscate the estate and leave Andromeda with nothing? He admitted to himself that by not discussing these questions with her, he was treating her as an inferior, someone not able to face the realities.

Deep under the surface of the world's waters, be they now calm or now stormy, flows an immense current – cold, unstoppable, impervious – an icy and inhuman entity.

"Did you make that necklace?" he asked.

"Yes, she had, and she explained the details of its construction.

"I think that garland is a nice touch," he said.

"It's probably a bit wilted by now," she said, touching it and stroking her hair. "Would you like to help me get another? There's a place by the greenhouses where these plants grow."

He liked the idea. She took him by the hand and led him to one of her favorite places.

For the first time, Draco thought about getting in her pants.