‘Exactly.’
‘Why don’t you just go and talk to Professor Daysen and explain to him? I don’t think he’d care very much for that stupid stone ���’
‘You’re right, he probably wouldn’t. And even more probably, he wouldn’t listen to me. ��� But there is another complication: like I said, it’s highly unlikely that Madam Daysen would admit to possessing the missing gobstone. Actually, I have a feeling that she would rather bite her tongue off than tell him, for a very specific reason.’
‘Which is?’
‘I’d rather you’d find that out yourself, as well.’
But Elena had shaken her head. ‘That’s not how it works. You have to tell me everything you know if you want me to help you. Plus, I’d better tell you right now that I would do nothing behind the Professor’s back.’
‘That’s touching’, McVey had said sarcastically, ‘but you wouldn’t be able to help him in that way. ��� Look, I cannot explain everything to you. The most I can say is that it is necessary that you learn certain things for yourself, because otherwise you would not appreciate their significance.’
‘Bullshit! This is just manipulation!’
‘No, it is not’, McVey had said firmly. ‘But that, too, you’ll find out only if you look into the matter. By yourself.’
Once more, she had shaken her head, but in frustration this time. ‘You have no idea how dodgy all this sounds!’
‘Listen to me.’ McVey’s dark eyes had held hers, and the look in them had been intense. ‘The only thing I’m asking is that you try to find out more about Madam Daysen and whether she has the gobstone. Won’t hurt you to keep open eyes and ears, will it? Maybe you will learn something. ��� I strongly recommend, however, that you don’t tell Professor Daysen. I’m aware that you don’t like it, but if you told him, you would considerably mar your chances of helping him. Plus, he would certainly resent where all this comes from ��� he has never trusted me.’
‘Like I said, he might have a good reason for it.’
‘Maybe. Most of all, he would never believe that I might actually help him. Believe me, Ms Horwath, if he knew he’d react in a way that would make the whole thing blow up before anyone of us even had a chance of getting their hands on the gobstone. Also, it’s a given that he’d very much resent you snooping into his family’s business, but I don’t need to tell you that, you know Professor Daysen and can imagine. Again, I would like to remind you that Eileen Daysen would never give the stone away willingly, not even to her son, and there is a very specific reason for that, too, one that I’d rather ���’
‘��� I found out for myself’, Elena had finished his sentence, trying to sound bored. ‘You said so already.’
‘Well, then.’
‘I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all.’
‘I sympathize. However, Ms Horwath, all I’m asking of you for the moment is to bear all this in mind and be attentive. You need not betray anyone in order to do so, am I wrong?’
Elena hadn’t replied; the feeling of being manipulated had been too strong. What did she know about Finn McVey, anyway, apart from what Jack had told her? And yet, she’d had to admit it, what he’d told her was, at the very least, interesting, if not fascinating. Plus, the thought that she might help Jack in her very own way, that she might contribute to having the pressure on him relieved was more than appealing. ‘How can it hurt anyone’, she caught herself wondering, ‘if I keep my eyes and ears open and try to find out as much as I can about Jack’ mother? If it works ��� fine; if not ��� who’d know the difference? Jack needn’t know.’ Finn McVey had been smart enough not to ask her for any assurances. He had, however, asked her to think about it.
‘That’s all that I want’, he’d ensured her, ‘for you to give it some thought. I know that my proposal puts you in an awkward position. However, we might both benefit here.’
He had left soon afterwards, leaving her in a state of indecision. Several hours later, however, she’d caught herself making plans ��� on how she could find out more about Daysen’s mother and her secrets. Might she ask Gilly, the house-elf, for help? Or was there any way to find out more about the woman’s past and how her path had crossed with that of Magrathea Crowley? Because certainly that was a starting point ��� to find out exactly how that damned stone had come to Eileen Daysen, provided that McVey was right and she really had it. First of all, she’d have to meet the woman! However, Elena already had a feeling that this would happen very soon, probably the next day already when she would go over to Daysen’s place for lessons. And as always, the thought of meeting him very soon had not only increased the pace of her heartbeat, but also the eagerness to help him, to improve on his situation, even if in a clandestine manner.
Now, however, sitting in her aunt’s living room with Cassie and half-heartedly instructing her new friend on all things Bob Dylan, she couldn’t help having second thoughts. Her little run-in with Jack had demonstrated once more that he was all about trust. He couldn’t abide the idea of her going behind his back, and Elena feared that the more he tried to open up to her, the more sensitive he would become in that area. ��� What would he say, were he to find out that she had secretly checked out his mother, of all people? There was hardly any doubt in Elena’s mind that his reaction would be very strong, indeed.
She reminded herself of the fact that she hadn’t made any promises to McVey. It calmed her a little bit. But at the same time, she had already kept something from Jack by omitting the gobstone story from her account, and in doing so she had in a way declared consent with McVey’s proposal. No matter how often she told herself that she hadn’t really lied, that she hadn’t done anything yet and need never act, she already felt like to most consummate cad.
The problem was: she knew herself. Specifically, she knew her own curiosity and her deep-rooted wish to help Jack, especially in those areas where he wasn’t able to help himself. After what she had learned from McVey, it would be hard not to stick her nose into things that were none of her business. There was also the fact that Jack’ strictures as to what she was allowed to do and what she was to stay away from always incited a natural spirit of contradiction within her. The more protective ��� or possessive ��� he became, the more she leaned towards independent decisions that were a little reckless. This was her way of retaining a degree of self-reliance, something she sorely needed when faced with Jack’ sometimes overbearing attitude.
‘Are you okay?’ Cassie asked with an encouraging smile.
‘It’s alright’, Elena replied lightly.
‘Don’t be angry about the way he talked to you. That’s how he is!’
Elena looked up. Cassie’s face was kind and sweet. Elena realized in that moment that her new friend had already seen through her, knew about her feelings, but tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. ‘I’m not angry with him’, she murmured, ‘it’s just ��� sometimes I don’t know which decisions are right and which ones are wrong. Especially decisions in the wizarding world. I don’t know enough about it yet.’
Cassie tilted her head. ‘Actually I think that at the bottom of it, there is not a whole lot of difference. Yeah, there’s magic. It makes many things easier, but complicates others. ��� In the end, you always have to rely on your gut feeling. And most importantly, you have to learn to live with your mistakes. And to forgive yourself for them.’
Elena digested that and slowly, a careful smile came to her lips. Cassie was right, of course. She could not make decisions solely to please Jack, how ever strong an incentive that might be. She had to trust herself, regardless of what he might think. And so ��� also because it was much easier than dwelling on it for hours on end ��� the decided not to cross any bridges before she got there, hoping that gut feeling would save her ass ���
‘Cassie?’
‘Yes?’
‘Don’t forget to show me how to play gobstones. You p
romised, didn’t you?’
Cassie made a face. ‘Are you sure you want that? Gobstones can be a little disgusting, you know ���’
‘I’m sure. I need to know about games played in the wizarding world, don’t I?’
‘Then I’d recommend wizarding chess! ��� But I know where that comes from, mind you. Magrathea Crowley’s set. I can’t get it out of my mind, either.’
Elena looked at her friend with interest. ‘Why do you think that is?’
Cassie shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Something about it just stuck. I guess it was that house, too, you know, the whole setting. Weird, somehow. Eerie.’
Elena smiled softly. ‘As a born witch, you should be used to weird.’
‘True.’ Cassie looked thoughtful. ‘However, that was a whole new level of weird.’
Elena couldn’t have agreed more.
Elena Horwath always made a point of not showing up too early for any given venture because she found it signified undue overzealousness. Being punctual to the dot was, however, not quite her thing, either, especially since she’d been living in the UK and everyone was always confusing her with a German. Hence, she usually took care to be about five to fifteen minutes late, which in her view was well within academic tolerance, laid-back enough on the one hand, but on the other hand not too late to convey disrespect. True, Jack Daysen had a different take on that, but today Elena was in no mood to please him too much as his earlier outburst still rankled. So when she knocked on his front door at precisely 7.38 p.m., her face was set, fully expecting another scolding.
However, it was Gilly the house-elf who opened the door and the greeting Elena received was quite different from what she had expected.
‘Madam Elena!’ the little creature squealed when she beheld her. ‘What a pleasure to see the Muggle witch again!’
She was quite speechless for a few moments. ‘Madam Elena’, indeed! ‘Hello Gilly’, she said guardedly, ‘are you quite alright?’ Maybe the blow the elf had received on the head when Jack’ house had been ransacked had upset something.
‘Gilly is very fine, Madam, please come in’, Gilly made way for Elena to step into the hallway, ‘it is a pleasure to have the saviour of my master in this house.’
So that was it. Her Halloween trip with the now confiscated Time Turner had made it through the house-elf grapevine, or maybe Daysen had told her. Anyway, it was enough to turn Gilly’s habitual suspicion of Elena into glowing admiration. At the periphery of her mind, Elena noted that this might be useful.
‘The gentlemen are already in the sitting room’, Gilly prattled on, ‘let me show you in ���’
‘Gentlemen?’ Elena repeated while her brows shot up.
‘Yes, yes, young Mr Malfoy arrived about half an hour ago.’
‘Young Mr ���’, Elena frowned. The name sounded familiar, she was sure she had heard it before, and quite recently.
‘��� Malfoy’, Gilly finished eagerly. ‘An accomplished wizard, very good family, it is a great honour to have him here to be taught by my master ���’
Elena’s heart sank. She had hoped to have Jack to herself, in spite of their earlier argument.
‘The father of Mr Malfoy is a very good friend of my master’, Gilly continued, obviously in a talkative mood, ‘everyone in the wizarding community know him, although lately there are rumours, namely that Mr Lucius Malfoy ���’
‘Gilly!’ The hiss was quiet, but hard to overhear.
Elena looked over her shoulder. The kitchen door was slightly open and in the gap, Elena saw a face. Thin, sallow, framed by a curtain of jet-black hair. Cold black eyes stared back at her, Jack’ eyes, but the face was clearly a woman’s. Madam Daysen, no doubt. Elena looked back at the face and quite inadvertently her knees bent for a wobbly curtsey. ‘Good evening, Madam’, she said quietly.
There was a moody flicker in the black eyes, a tiny jerk of the chin, but the woman didn’t reply. ‘Stop babbling, Gilly’, she commanded instead, her voice as silky as her son’s, ‘don’t you have work to do?’
Gilly’s ears dropped a bit. ‘Of course, mistress, let me just ���’
‘Now, Gilly!’ It was a bellow, dry as a smoker’s cough.
‘Don’t worry’, Elena said hastily, ‘I’ll let myself in.’
Relief showed in Gilly’s eyes as she took off to be swallowed up by the gap of the kitchen door which was swiftly closed behind her.
‘Speak of the devil’, Elena thought gloomily as she turned towards the sitting room door, knocked and walked in.
They were sitting by the fireplace, leaning forward towards each other in their armchairs, deep into what looked like a conspiratorial conversation. When Elena came in, Daysen looked up irritably and for a second he appeared unable to place her (which stung a bit). Then he said, ‘Ah. Yes’, and got up distractedly.
His companion by the fireplace turned around and eyed Elena with distant politeness. His pointed face was pale and the hair that fell dashingly into it a rare white-blond. He would have looked very handsome, had it not been for a marked arrogant sneer around his mouth. Elena noticed immediately that he smelt of money as his clothes were well cut and obviously expensive. Something inside of her rebelled. She didn’t really want to meet this guy.
However, Daysen had gone into pureblood mode again. He stood there, looking haughtily down his substantial nose at her and it didn’t take long for the smooth words to follow. ‘I took the liberty of inviting someone who, I think, will be a valuable contribution to our lessons and particularly to your studying. This is Draco Malfoy who used to be a student of mine. He is already quite an accomplished Occlumens and I believe that you will benefit greatly from his presence.’
‘Do you’, she couldn’t help replying and the sarcasm in her voice made the young Malfoy quirk an amused brow.
Daysen shot her an irritated glance, then became formal again. ‘Draco, this is Elena Horwath.’
Draco got up swiftly from his armchair and bowed elegantly. ‘Pleasure to meet you, Ms Horwath.’
No hand-shake. It always confused her. They were all about bowing and nodding and standing to attention, and God forbid there be any physical contact.
‘Pleasure’s mine’, she pressed forth through gritted teeth, again trying at a curtsey, but this time she made it intentionally shaky. At the same time, she wondered what made her so recalcitrant. The answer, of course, was easy to find. These magical lessons ��� in her mind they were for her and Jack, it was the time when they connected and sometimes even achieved a semblance of closeness. Elena could not in the least imagine how this snotty spoilt brat might fit into that. Plus, she had suddenly remembered where she had heard the name Malfoy before; the hearing, of course. Draco Malfoy had been the Death Eater commanded to kill Albus Dumbledore, and when he had failed, Daysen had done the dirty work. Elena wasn’t surprised; in her eyes, Draco Malfoy looked exactly like the kind that habitually took his mouth too full and then let others clean up his messes. She already felt her distrust; at the same time she felt deprived, and it made her a little angry. Her eyes flashed at Jack, but if there was one thing he did really well it was acting as if he hadn’t noticed, impassive face in place. In fact, he didn’t even twitch, but with a fluent gesture asked her to pick a seat.
Lessons proceeded quickly after that. To Elena, they had never been so boring. Daysen insisted that she watch him and Draco having a go at each other with Legilimency, and she did watch for a while, trying to observe the obscure mental processes going on, but it was hard to follow. The two wizards obviously had a ball, however. They kept staring at each other, beads of concentration formed on their forehead while tension increased and was suddenly released scoffs and grins. ‘Arrgh, I almost had you there!’ Draco shouted at one point, and to her vast surprise Elena witnessed her surly teacher chuckling gleefully. He clearly enjoyed practising with someone from a different weight category.
Elena issued a silent sigh and was soon distracted. S
he thought about the woman in the gap of the kitchen door, Eileen Daysen. She remembered the cold stare, the jerky twitch of the chin, and already it was obvious to her that the woman would not approve of her, in fact might not even give her a chance of getting close, let alone chat about gobstones. By now, Elena knew the looks some wizarding folks reserved for her ��� the Muggle witch, the ing��nue ��� and it had been that exact same kind of look. With this starting situation, how was she ever to find out more about the woman?
A whooping sound make her look up. Obviously, Draco had just managed to break down Daysen’s defences and he grinned from ear to ear. Jack, on the other hand, had a faintly generous face on and said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all’, which really sounded like ‘Well, but I made it ridiculously easy for you, didn’t I?’ He looked relaxed, though, and Elena realized that he liked the younger wizard, liked him a great deal, and in fact enjoyed his presence and the connection it gave him to something that was, probably, past and gone by now. Elena frowned at the marked sting of jealousy she felt somewhere in her guts. It offended her pride, and a second later she deliberately ��� and a little defiantly ��� slipped back into her reverie.
Good thing Gilly appeared to approve of her now, it occurred to her. To be precise, the little creature appeared to adore her, even. Elena resolved that she must further this affection by being extra kind, for Gilly might provide her with valuable information on Madam Daysen. Of course, the little house-elf would not do that openly or willingly, its main objective being to serve her family and protect its secrets, but after recent events, Elena had a good idea on how Gilly might be persuaded to talk. Perhaps, it would not be a bad idea to ask the elf about gobstones, feign the ignorant witch and demand to be elucidated ��� it would certainly flatter Gilly’s sense of self-importance and more significantly, Elena might be able to steer the conversation into more interesting directions.
‘Are you still with us?’ Jack’ cutting tone tore her out of her thoughts.
She turned a moody face on him. The self-assured arrogance in his irked her to no end. Then, quite spontaneously, she tried something; directed a stream of consciousness at him, counting on his mental channels to be open and ready for receipt. ‘How long are you going to carry on with this mental pissing contest? Need I have come for this?’
She whispered Page 31