by Noel Pogson
Steven started to read out some small bits of his letter from Sartrina, but there was no way he was going to let Zak and Tallion read it for themselves, no matter how close their friendship was! He forgot, as always, that they could hear his thoughts until it was too late, and Zak reached out and folded the letter closed in his hands with a smile on his face.
“Read it tonight mate, okay? Otherwise Tallion’s going to get all grumpy again listening to how much she misses you and… well, let’s not mention the other things she wrote about, okay?”
“Sorry! I forgot… I always forget!” said their farmer friend going red.
“We don’t normally notice your thoughts mate. At school it’s like a hundred people all talking at once, and everything just blurs into background noise because there are so many thoughts flooding into our minds. It’s why we often don’t notice when someone really talks to us, we sort of switch off, if you see what I mean!”
“But when there’s only three of us, your thoughts are loud and clear,” added Tallion with a grin. “Anyway, I’ve got over it and I’m pleased that you and Sartrina are such good friends. It sounds like it’s working out even though you never see each other!”
Steven was relieved that they weren’t going to make fun of him, and also that Tallion seemed to have forgiven him for stealing his girl.
“She fabulous yer know, but I can’t understand what she sees in me! I’m only a farmer and she’s like this super clever witch! She put a few more details in my letter about that Shaul Malchus lad, he sounds like a right git ter me! I ‘eard yer father talking about a Malchus t’ other weekend after t’ football match. He mentioned the name ter that nurse who came ter fix you up. Are they a bad family then?”
Homework plans were forgotten as Tallion, with occasional comments from Zak, explained who the Malchus family were and what they seemed to be doing in the wizarding world. He finished by explaining that it was Antares Malchus who was trying to kill them, using his spies and henchmen. Understanding dawned, and Steven’s expression change to deep concern!
“Father told us that they’re called the Black Coven,” continued Tallion, “similar to something that used to exist once before in Ireland. They’ve taken witchcraft much further than most wizards ever do, even going as far as talking with demons and ancient gods! It’s desperately evil stuff that they get up to, and the Wizard Council’s dead worried about it, because there’s no-one around these days who can stand against it! Lots of the knowledge about the ancient demons and gods has been lost over the centuries, and hardly any light witches or wizards dare study it. Dark magic is very addictive. Once you start dabbling with it, you can’t stop, and you just end up getting sucked further and further in to it.”
Steven was looking very unhappy, and his two friends were trying to make sense of his jumbled thoughts. Zak soon realised that his best friend was having the same problem that he’d had over the good and evil thing to do with magic. He didn’t interrupt though, Steven had to sort out his own head first, and then Zak could help him.
“Erm, I always thought that all magic were dark an’ evil sort of… It’s one of t’ reasons why I don’t really want ter get involved too much. I want ter steer clear of it really, and I certainly don’t want ter get sucked inter any kind o’ dark magic…”
Zak and Tallion exchange glances, and Tallion nodded for Zak to talk. Their thought conversation about it had been lightning quick, and Tallion accepted that he didn’t really understand how non-magical folk felt about magic, whereas Zak knew only too well.
“From a non-magical point of view yer right mate. Most non-magical people think that magic and witchcraft all fall on the other side of the line, especially when you compare them to religion and Christianity. I had the same problem when I suddenly found myself on the other side of that line, and we ended up getting in a right fix because we didn’t understand it to start with.”
Don’t tell him Zak, we really mustn’t, cautioned Tallion.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to! I’ll never tell anyone about that, I promise!
“However, from a magical point of view, within magic there is both light and dark. Just because you’re a wizard doesn’t automatically mean you’re dark, or evil.”
Tallion seamlessly picked up the explanation.
“Most witches and wizards would never dream of doing anything bad Steven, they just use their magical abilities to help them through life, often doing as much good around them as they can.”
“Columbetha Proudfoot’s a good example,” continued Zak. “She’s a brilliant person, always helping others and never thinking of herself.”
“Don’t let it worry you mate,” smiled Tallion putting his hand on Steven’s arm. “There are good and evil people in both worlds, and we just need to make sure we stay on the right side.”
“Just think how many criminals and murderers there are in the country who aren’t magical!” said Zak. “Evil isn’t restricted to the magical world, both worlds have to put up with it…”
“…and both worlds have to deal with it,” finished Tallion, his mind totally at one with his soul mate.
Steven still looked faintly worried, but it was tempered by the smile playing round his mouth.
“I love it when you two do that. It’s amazing listenin’ ter yer talking as though yer one person, and thanks fer explainin’ it too. I feel a bit easier about it, although I still want ter keep me distance from anything other than t’ kind o’ magic Eridan were usin’ on t’ farm!”
Zak grinned.
“That makes three of us mate! We’d best get on wi’ this homework though, or we’ll never get it done!”
* * *
Monday was only the start of their avalanche of academy homework. Despite their best efforts, they didn’t finish anything on Monday evening, and Tuesday lunchtime wasn’t very successful either. For some reason the door to their form room was locked, so they went to the library instead. However, they couldn’t get a table together, and nearly got kicked out by an irate Mrs Rigg who always got a bit tetchy when her library was crowded with students.
Tuesday afternoon only got worse, and eventually became the first time they used magic to get themselves out of trouble! Well, to get Steven out of trouble to be precise. Mrs Diggle, the French teacher, had set them an exercise to copy out a group of verbs the first letters of which made up a mnemonic. She then had them repeating the mnemonic by rote to get it in their heads, which worked very well. She then went round the room asking each one of them to read out a couple of the sentences they’d written for their homework using the verbs she’d asked them to learn the previous week.
Steven had forgotten to do it!
Zak rescued him during the reading out phase by letting him read out a couple of his sentences, giving the impression that it was his own work. Mrs Diggle had been a teacher for a long time however, and her suspicions had been aroused about a number of students whom she suspected were sharing. She said nothing though, knowing that the truth would come out at the end of the lesson. After reviewing some new words to add to their vocabulary lists, she asked them to open their text books again.
“Please read chapter three as your homework, and copy out the first table covering possessive adjectives and memorise it. Please also bring your last homework forward at the end of this lesson, and hand it in to me at the door as you leave, so that I can check your sentences.”
Caught!
Steven’s stomach churned wildly! He wasn’t the only one though, there were a number of wide-eyed students around the classroom who were clearly about to cop it! With perfect timing, the bell rang at that moment, and there was a general scrabbling about by the students who had done their homework to have it ready in their hands as they left the room.
Tallion, can’t we help him somehow?!
The boys were sitting at the back of the class, so had a few seconds before they needed to get up.
All I can do is try and replicate mine or yours, but
it’ll be a bit obvious that it’s a copy!
It’s better than nothing. Do mine, our handwriting is very similar because we copied from each other at primary school and we deliberately practised writing the same way to fool Mrs Entwistle.
Dirty secrets coming out? smirked Tallion.
Yes, but get on with it!
Tallion surreptitiously pulled out his wand and waved it over Zak’s sheet of sentences at the same time as he muttered the basic replication charm that Barty had taught them the previous weekend. By some miracle a second sheet of paper appeared with the same sentences on it!
Can you make the ink black instead of blue? Then it’ll look even more different.
What?! I’ve no idea how to do that!
Use a transfiguration spell or something, and just will it to happen! Come on!
Tallion’s mind was racing, and he soon recalled a colour changing spell that he’d read about in their transfiguration text book. With no time to stop and think, he cast it over the second piece of paper willing the blue ink to change to black. His shock when it actually happened was visible!
Blimey! It worked!
Zak grabbed the piece of paper, folded it in half and crumpled it a bit like Steven’s homework always ended up, and passed it to his friend at the next table who was just getting out of his seat looking rather white.
The line of students exiting the classroom had slowed as the first no-shows had reached Mrs Diggle, and found themselves on the wrong end of her acerbic tongue.
“What’s this?” whispered Steven distractedly as he unfolded the paper, still fearing the worst as he prepared to leave the classroom.
“It’s your homework. You must have left it at The Copse last night!” muttered Zak with a wink.
“What? Blimey! Thanks mate!”
Five detentions had already been handed out by the time the group of former Lower Nettleton Primary students got to the classroom door, and Mrs Diggle was confidently expecting it to become six.
Steven was first in line, and there was a little flicker of surprise in their French teacher’s eyes as he smiled and handed in the rather crumpled bit of paper. She flicked it open and saw that it was indeed the previous week’s homework and simply said thank you and reached out for Sam’s paper. Tallion was third and Zak last, leaving as much gap as possible between the original and the replica.
If she noticed, their French teacher decided not to say anything. After all, she’d been given two pieces of hand written paper with the homework on them. The thought of replication, magical or otherwise, never entered her head!
* * *
“If we get away with that it’ll be a miracle! She’s bound to notice they’re identical when she marks them,” moaned Steven as they waited outside the next classroom for their English teacher.
“Well, mine was in blue ink and yours was in black, and they were both handwritten, so it’s going to be a tricky call for her to accuse us of anything more than doing our homework together! We’ll not get into too much trouble for that I wouldn’t think.”
“Right, maybe. Blimey, I thought I was gonna get it then! All for the sake of forgetting’ a bit of homework!”
“Is there anything else you’ve missed? We won’t be able to pull that stunt again in French, but we might get away with it in another class if we need to.”
“No, we don’t need to hand in English until next week, or more like after half term! Wahay!”
“We’re gonna have to do something about this though lads,” came Tallion's serious voice behind them. “It’s only a matter of time before one of us misses something else, or we simply run out of time to do it!”
“We need to use magic to ‘elp us then Tal, there must be a way to give us some extra time in t’ day?”
“We could use the wakefulness potions that Barty taught us how to make?” suggested Zak. “That way we can stay up each evening until we’ve finished everything.”
“And we’ll be completely knackered the following morning!” responded Tallion sharply, recalling what happened after their midnight astronomy lessons in the summer. “Too risky, we’ll just mess up in class if we don’t get enough sleep.”
Just then Miss Heron, their English teacher, arrived and they started to shuffle into the last class of the day.
“Well ye’ll ‘ave to think o’ summat Tal, you’re t’ best wizard!” muttered Steven quietly to the future nineteenth baronet Middleham.
22. Half Term Calling
Bjarne Middleham was very happy. In fact, he was so happy that everyone had noticed the ‘perma-smile’ plastered across his face! Only his sister Freya asked him about it though.
“I found a new section of books in the library, and they’re really interesting!” he replied, short and to the point.
Freya also liked reading, it was something that her mother had instilled into all her children, the quest for knowledge, but she wasn't quite as addicted to it as her brother was. She might have been only eight years old, but she shook her head in mock exasperation just like her mother, and set off back to her room.
Of course, it wasn't just the books that Bjarne had unearthed that were making him happy, it was also the room that he’d found them in. After a few experiments, he’d worked out for sure that Tai Tuie’s Tomb was nothing short of a time capsule! The moment you shut the door time outside the room stopped, and no matter how long you stayed inside the room, you always ended up leaving at the same moment that you entered.
He’d even tested his theory by putting a clock outside on the floor, going in and reading for a couple of hours, and then going back outside and picking it up to find that it had only moved on by a few seconds!
The ability to read for hours on end without subsequently getting told off by his mother, or being late for dinner or whatever else he was supposed to be doing, was heaven to the bookworm, and he was spending hours at a time hidden away reading.
It was, of course, playing havoc with his body clock. He was chronically tired when he should have been wide awake, and would end up in his room at bedtime feeling fresh as a daisy. It took him a few days to realise what was happening, but then less than a minute to work out the solution.
He had to use the room to sleep in as well as to read in, and somehow balance his hidden time with reality. It didn’t take his sharp mind long to do the maths to make it all work out reasonably well. He never thought about the ageing effect though, and that living an average thirty six hour day, every day, would make him grow older fifty percent faster than he should. It would maybe dawn on him if he became too tall for his young age, or became an adolescent too soon, but for now, ignorance was bliss.
The nine-year-old bookworm therefore disappeared through the door once again as soon as he got home from school on Wednesday afternoon, pulled out a couple of books from the shelf, and settled down by the window to read. He planned an eight hour reading session, followed by four hours sleep. Then he’d go for dinner and come back again afterwards for another ten hour reading session followed by two hours sleep! He’d then go and do his primary school homework and settle down normally for bed at nine o’clock on Wednesday evening for a proper night’s sleep.
He scribbled down the real day and time before he started so that he could prepare himself when it was time to re-join reality, and opened his book. Life was very good!
* * *
Sir Philip was in London at the Wizard Council on Wednesday attending a meeting of the education committee called by Orion Trell to discuss happenings at Mhonarr Castle. The members of the committee were surprised to find themselves under a magical oath which prevented them sharing any details of the meeting. It was a very rare precaution, but once the headmaster had outlined the events that had taken place in the Mhonarr Castle Crypt, they all realised why it had been necessary.
“I am, therefore, looking for the committee to authorise the school to put magical restrictions in place on Shaul Malchus so that he doesn’t have the opportunity to repeat his ac
tions with any other students. At this stage I am not sure what those restrictions will be, because I am sure that his siblings and parents will be alert for any interference with the boy.
Whatever they are though, they will be covert and will not harm the child in any way. Although if his comments about sacrificing his soul in the crypt were true, his uncle may well already have harmed him in a much more sinister and permanent manner than I could ever manage!”
There was a lot of murmuring and discussion for a few minutes as the committee members deliberated amongst themselves, but there was only ever going to be one outcome, and the headmaster was duly authorised to take whatever steps he felt necessary to protect the other students at Mhonarr Castle from Shaul Malchus, short of excluding him from school.
“Thank you. I will of course report back to this committee on what action is taken. I will also continue to investigate any options for undoing the damage he has caused so far, but that may be beyond our abilities. However, there are still avenues open to us,” he glanced quickly at Sir Philip, “which may prove workable. That is all I have to say at this stage.”
There was more muttering, and murmured conversations, and then the secretary brought the meeting to a close and the members slowly dispersed. Professor Trell and Sir Philip were amongst the first out of the door, and immediately headed for Sir Philip’s private office.
* * *
“I take it that you’re considering unpicking this mess using the power of time?” asked the baronet when they were sitting comfortably in his room, with the doors closed and silencing charms applied by both of them.
“Yes, Philip. You’re the only person I know of who has access to a Time Talisman, and therefore the only person who can sensibly work out if it’s an option. Restoring their soul back to someone who has lost it to a demon is nigh on impossible. I have scoured the library at school, and the classified one here in the council building, and drawn a blank. There is shamefully little written down about these matters that’s available to help us. No doubt the little that has been written is all jealously guarded by the dark wizards who practise it.”