She whispered

by Lucas Chesterton

  ‘Are you all set for tonight?’ he asked silkily.

  ‘Of course’, she said and the radiant smile was back on her face. ‘Any plans?’

  ‘You’ll see.’

  ‘Seven-ish?’

  He considered for a few moments. ‘Make it half past’, he replied eventually, ‘I have a lot to do until then.’

  ‘Will you come here?’ she asked, looking hopeful.

  But he shook his head. ‘No. My place.’ And as if to emphasize the finality of the decision, he started and went out of the kitchen, once more having Elena hurrying after him.

  Once more, she rolled her eyes behind his back, but then watched on in surprise as he crossed the hallway and went into the sitting room without delay. A second later, she heard his voice sounding haughty and self-assured and dealing out a string of silky words.

  ‘Miss Cleary. My apologies for ignoring you. I had urgent business to discuss with Miss Horwath and may have forgotten my manners.’ He bowed formally and a little mockingly. Elena realized that he had put on the pureblood routine. Socially inept he might be, but during his lifetime and in the company he’d been keeping for many years he had also learnt a few lines and certain modes of behaviour that helped him mask his awkwardness in order to keep up the image of the ever-superior wizard.

  Cassie had shot up from the sofa and stood there like a fool with an open mouth. ‘That’s alright, no worries’, she said hastily. ‘It’s good to see you, sir.’

  Daysen acknowledged this with a curt nod, then turned sharply to walk to the front door. Again, Elena had to hurtle after him. She saw him off and then watched him as he walked at a swift pace towards his own house, black cloak fluttering and not glancing back.

  Slowly, she strolled back into the sitting room, her face glum, forehead in lines.

  Cassie greeted her with a grin. ‘Smooooth!’ she purred.

  In spite of herself, Elena chuckled. ”I may have forgotten my manners’, my ass!’

  ‘What was he so pissed off about?’

  Elena waved that away, signalling to her friend that it didn’t matter and sat down at the coffee table again.

  ‘You held your own, though’, Cassie commented, ‘I heard you from the kitchen, you were both loud enough. Didn’t like our trip to Dorset, did he?’

  ‘He doesn’t like it when I’m acting independently.’

  ‘He wants to protect you’, Cassie said simply and watched Elena’s face with an amused expression. Elena felt the heat rise to her cheeks, but she didn’t comment and Cassie was too wise to probe further. By her knowing smile, Elena could guess that Cassie had picked up on some tension. However, her new friend was kind and sweet, and determined to give Elena the time she needed to talk about it.

  ‘Is there still something of your ‘imperial nonsense’ left?’ Cassie asked lightly.

  ‘No, we ate it all’, Elena replied. She had made Kaiserschmarrn for breakfast, a sweet alpine dish consisting of a fluffy dough spiked with raisins and powdered sugar on top, served with apple sauce and ��� for reasons unknown ��� translating to ‘imperial nonsense’. ‘I can make more in a jiffy if you want it?’

  ‘No, don’t bother, I’m actually quite full up. ��� And! I’ve made up my mind! ��� It’s definitely the Stones for me.’ Cassie held up the ‘Between the Buttons’ album and beamed. She had taken up Elena on her promise to provide her own brand of Muggle studies and to solve the ‘Beatles or Stones’ conundrum for her.

  Elena smiled. ‘I agree. I used to like the Beatles better when I was a teen. But that’s the point, isn’t it, the Stones are more grown-up. ��� You know, it’s funny’, she made a thoughtful face, ‘the Muggle world and the wizarding world overlap in so many areas, but when it comes to music, they are ��� to say it with Pink Floyd ��� ‘poles apart’. ��� Speaking of which, you cannot leave this house today without having listened to Pink Floyd. Or Bob Dylan. Or David Bowie. I won’t allow it.’

  ‘I need more coffee then.’

  Elena grinned. ‘Coming up’, she said and went to the kitchen.

  As she left the sitting room, the smile fell from her face. While she busied herself with changing the filter, grinding fresh coffee powder and filling water into the reservoir, she felt nervous and distracted, but only after a while was she prepared to admit to herself that this was nothing but bad conscience.

  She hadn’t told Jack the whole truth.

  She hadn’t really lied to him, either, or at least that was what Elena firmly told herself. However, if such a thing as ‘lying by omission’ existed, she had probably lied by leaving out one significant detail about the conversation she’d had the day before with Finn McVey.

  He had called on her around noon of the day before. Once more, his manner had been extremely polite. Elena had led him into the sitting room where he had sat down on the edge of the sofa, refusing any offers for beverages, and proceeded to watch her with a slight smile that was hard to interpret.

  ‘Well, then?’ Elena had started the conversation.

  ‘Well, then?’ McVey had repeated with a quirk around the corners of this mouth.

  ‘You wanted to see me’, Elena reminded him.

  The smile had become more secretive. ‘Not quite. I offered myself to you for any questions that you might have.’

  It had made Elena sneer. ‘Don’t tell me you do this out of the goodness of your heart! I’m dead sure you have an agenda.’

  ‘Why, I can’t simply be helpful?’

  ‘I hear that’s not the kind of man you are, Mr McVey.’

  ‘Oh, so Professor Daysen has told you about me?’ McVey had started to gently knead the tip of his moustache. ‘I’m not going to ask what he told you. He’s always been suspicious of me.’

  Elena had shrugged. ‘He probably had his reasons.’

  ‘Probably’, McVey said, but his voice sounded distinctly sarcastic. ‘In my experience, though, the truth is largely a matter of perspective, and even your Professor cannot see all the sides.’

  Elena had sat down opposite of him and jerked her head irritably. ‘What do you want to tell me?’

  ‘Whatever you want me to tell you.’

  Elena hadn’t been able to help scoffing. ‘Why not drop the pretence? You offered yourself, so I’m guessing you’re actually dying to tell me something! Yet, I am to find out what it is?’

  ‘You’ve got the wrong end of the stick, Ms Horwath. It would be more correct to say that depending on what you want to know from me, I am going to decide whether to tell you what I might be dying to tell you.’

  ‘A complicated one, are you?’ Elena had scrutinized him with a frown. ‘I’m already getting the feeling I’m being manipulated ���’

  ‘I will leave this instant if you ask me to.’

  Elena had rolled her eyes and issued a complicated swearword in her mother tongue. ‘Well, then’, she’d finally sighed, ‘since you’re here ��� why don’t we start off by you telling me why Madam Crowley sends you around as her errand boy? I thought you were employed with the Ministry?’

  ‘I am not employed with the Ministry.’

  ‘But Periwinkle said you were his assistant!’

  ‘You didn’t question it.’

  ‘So he lied?’

  ‘It wasn’t exactly a lie. I did assist him on that day.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Why did I come along? To get a clearer picture of you.’

  Elena had stared at him. ‘Of me? Why? And on whose behalf?’

  ‘Na��ve questions, Ms Horwath. Of you, of course! A witch no one knows, but who’s associated to one of the most powerful wizards known at the moment and who’s saved his life at that! Immediately after the Leshnikov incident, there were a lot of people who wanted to know who that mysterious student of Professor Daysen’s was, and I must admit I was quite curious myself. Not half as curious as Madam Crowley was, though.’

  ‘So she sent you to check me out. ��� W
hich brings me back to the question you’ve so cunningly evaded: why are you playing servant to her?’

  It had been a pointed provocation, as Elena had guessed that he wouldn’t like being referred to as a ‘servant’ or ‘errand boy’.

  Sure enough, McVey had wrinkled his nose. ‘Let’s just say, I owe the Crowleys.’

  ‘What do you owe them?’

  ‘A temporary kind of loyalty. ��� But certainly not affection.’

  Elena’s eyes had narrowed while she’d felt a funny twinge in her guts. ‘And you’re hoping to use me to shake them off?’

  A mysterious smile had answered her. ‘Like I said, I haven’t yet made up my mind on that.’

  She had considered this for a few moments, but suddenly a jolt had gone through her and she had shaken her head ferociously. ‘No way. I got myself into so much shit lately, I’ll be damned if I stumble right into the next mess! ��� Sorry, Mr McVey, but I don’t want to know.’

  There had been no calculation in her words; nevertheless, they changed the situation, and more importantly, they completely changed McVey’s facial expression. It became worried, disbelieving even. He had clearly counted on her curiosity.

  ‘You don’t want to know?’ Finn McVey repeated. ‘You have no interest in helping your Professor?’

  She had glared back at him. ‘What d’you mean, help him?’

  ‘At the very least, I would have expected that you might wish to learn more about the people who are out to make his life difficult. And why they are doing it.’

  She had swiftly leaned forward. ‘I know why they are doing it. He pissed them off by his spy work, by doing the right thing. It’s not hard to guess, either, who these people are. Ex Death Eaters, out for revenge ���’

  ‘That’s not wrong’, McVey interjected, ‘but it isn’t right, either. ��� Sure enough, your Professor made himself a number of enemies by his actions. Most of them may be ex Death Eaters, and they may harbour elaborate schemes of revenge. However, revenge needs to be orchestrated. It’s not something a handful of down-and-out Death Eaters can easily do. They have more pressing problems ��� stay hidden, establish communication with their families or among each other, get out of the country ��� Unless, of course, someone takes charge; channels all the dark energy and gives it a shape ���’

  Elena remained silent for a few seconds, her eyes on McVey’s peculiar face with the alert dark eyes. Only now did she notice that his ears were slightly pointed, a little bit like Mr Spock’s. ‘The Crowleys’, she murmured after a while, ‘they’re orchestrating it.’

  McVey didn’t confirm it in so many words, but looked at her with glittering eyes.

  ‘But why?’

  The small black-haired man tilted his head. ‘Isn’t that obvious? ��� For power. The wizarding world is weak at the moment, it hasn’t returned to normal yet after the Victory. This is the best time to establish new structures, but of course, if anyone wishes to do so, someone like your Professor could be in the way.’

  ‘Because he’s powerful’, Elena murmured.

  ‘That, too. But mainly because he’s a very independent agent, an incalculable factor so to speak. Plus, if anything could be learnt from that hearing, it is that Jack Daysen will forever act in Albus Dumbledore’s spirit. And that is the last thing people such as the Crowleys want.’

  ‘So they’re trying to get rid of Sev��� the Professor?’

  McVey’s grin was no more than a ghost on his lips. ‘That’s one reason. ��� However, there is another one, perhaps a more important one. It brings us to the question why Madam Crowley so wanted to make your acquaintance ���’

  ‘You mean ���’, Elena broke off, thought hard, ‘��� you mean she has a personal motive?’

  McVey had inclined his head. ‘A very personal one.’

  ‘A personal grudge against ��� the Professor?’ Elena had glared at McVey blankly. ‘Or perhaps ���’, her face changed, ‘��� against his family?’

  Interest had flickered up in McVey’s eyes. ‘So Madam Crowley said something to that effect?’

  Elena had taken a few moments before she answered. ‘She mentioned the Prince family. Specifically, the Professor’s mother.’

  ‘I’m impressed’, McVey had said with a dead-pan face.

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘Magrathea must be pretty desperate’, again, the man had started to twist the tips of his whiskers, ‘I wonder if she found out ���’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Never mind’, McVey had made a dismissive gesture. ‘Has she shown you the gobstones, as well?’

  ‘The gob��� you mean the set of marbles? ��� Yes. What about it?’

  ‘Has she also told you what’s so special about it?’

  ‘Only that it’s very old and valuable. And that she inherited it.’

  McVey had smiled lightly. ‘It’s not that valuable, you know. Not with one stone missing. ��� If that stone wasn’t missing, however, it would be valuable beyond imagination.’

  Elena’s brows had drawn together. ‘Why? It’s only a stupid game.’

  ‘So she hasn’t told you all about it.’ The tone of McVey’s voice had been satisfied. ‘Believe me, Ms Horwath, this game of gobstones is a very special set. And believe me, too, when I say that Madam Crowley would do anything to get the missing stone back.’

  ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute ���’ At that point, Elena’s head had started to spin. ‘Weren’t we just talking about the Professor’s enemies, about plans of revenge? How do the gobstones fit in?’

  ‘They fit in very nicely’, McVey had explained. ‘In fact, you shouldn’t underestimate their significance.’

  ‘Then why are you being so vague? Won’t you tell me what’s so special about them?’

  Again, McVey had tilted his head thoughtfully. ‘You might want to find that one out by yourself ���’

  ‘Why should I?’

  ‘��� I can tell you, however, that your Professor’s mother used to be a very accomplished player of gobstones.’

  ‘Madam Daysen?’

  ‘Have you met her?’ asked McVey.

  ‘No. But Madam Crowley asked me the same thing.’

  ‘That doesn’t surprise me. That was, after all, probably her main reason for wanting to meet you.’

  ‘To find out whether I knew Madam Daysen?’

  McVey had cast a pointed look at Elena, one that said ‘Think’. So hesitantly she had started to put two and two together. ‘So there’s this game of gobstones, with one stone missing that Magrathea wants back ��� she asks after Madam Daysen ��� who used to be a brilliant gobstones player ��� Are you saying that the Professor’s mother has the missing stone?’

  ‘I don’t know. But I am pretty sure that this is what Magrathea thinks.’

  ‘Madam Crowley told me that the stone has always been missing.’

  ‘I’m sure it’s been missing for a very long time’, McVey had replied with one of his wan smiles, ‘and another thing I’m sure of is that Madam Crowley told you a complicated mix between truth and contorted truth on the day you met her.’

  ‘So what’s the truth?’

  ‘To be honest, Ms Horwath, I don’t know the entire story. What I do know, however, is that Madam Crowley is convinced ��� no doubt for her own good reasons ��� that Eileen Daysen has the missing gobstone, that, in fact, she’s had it for a long time. She might have won it, or stolen it, I don’t know. I don’t know the story behind it, either. ��� But there is no doubt that the gobstone and the will to get it back is what drives Madam Crowley. And it is her main motif behind her efforts of orchestrating a plan of revenge against your Professor.’

  It had taken Elena almost one minute to digest this. ‘You mean ��� if Magrathea had that bloody gobstone, she would call her dogs off Sev��� the Professor?’ Elena had twitched irritably, frustrated by her fre
quent slips of tongue, but McVey had acted as if he hadn’t noticed.

  ‘He’d still have enemies’, McVey had replied evenly, ‘he’d still have to watch his back. However, Magrathea is the driving force behind what’s happening right now. Periwinkle, Aeneas Crowley ��� they just act on her behalf, are fuelled by her, because that is the kind of power she has. ��� It’s true, Ms Horwath, Professor Daysen may have angered a lot of people by his past actions. But I’m pretty sure he has no idea at all that his real enemy is Magrathea Crowley.’

  ‘For all I know, he’s never met her’, Elena had said. ‘But hey, if things are really as you say, why don’t I talk to the Professor and tell him? He could speak to his mother, ask her if she has that bloody gobstone, and if so, she’ll sure give it back to get her son out of trouble?’

  To her surprise, McVey had started to laugh hard. ‘I’m afraid you’re wrong there’, he had said after he had calmed down. ‘First of all, I am pretty sure that your Professor has no idea about the gobstone. Second, I’m positive that Eileen Daysen would never willingly give it back or even admit that she has it ���’

  ‘Why? A stupid game stone?!’

  ‘I told you. It is a very special set.’

  ‘Special how? Magically?’

  ‘Of course it’s magical.’

  ‘What does it do?’

  ‘Like I said before, you should find that out yourself.’

  ‘Why am I to find out for myself if that is what you came to tell me?’

  McVey hadn’t replied at once. Instead, he had smiled at Elena mysteriously and very suddenly, she had understood.

  ‘You want the gobstone for yourself, don’t you?’

  The smile had deepened in response.

  ‘And you want me to help you to get it’, Elena had continued, her eyes narrowing while she spoke. ‘What makes you think that I would do it?’

  ‘That’s easy’, McVey had replied coolly, ‘to help your Professor. Thus, there would be something in it for both of us: you help him; I get the stone and ��� my freedom.’

  ‘Your freedom ��� from the Crowleys?’

  A curt nod had confirmed her question.

  ‘So you want a deal.’