Chapter 45
Breakfast had been awesome. Taylor couldn’t tell what it was, aside from how it looked. It was some sort of fried bun/cake/thingy that was probably a mixture of veggies and meat. She passed on the drink (Gurdyroot infusion again), and once she had eaten, she left the house with Luna to explore the surroundings.
“You left the pixies in the castle?” Luna asked.
Taylor nodded. “I put Bity in a different wing, so he wouldn’t be tempted to eat my bugs and pixies. The pixies I moved out of the nest to a different tower. I don’t think I needed to do that, since last time the pixies and the spiders didn’t attack each other, but this is an experiment for the end-of-the-year break.”
“And the clothing?”
Taylor scrunched her nose. “It’s harder than I thought it would be. I only managed for Dee and Dum.”
Luna giggled. “You dote on them too much.”
Taylor huffed. “They were the first magical creatures I got, alright?”
“What do you want to do today?”
Taylor considered the question.
“You said we could practice here, right?”
“Yes, if Daddy is in the house, we can use magic.”
“I brought my grimoire,” Taylor said, looking back at Luna’s house. “I’ve been collecting every charm, curse and jinx people use inside the castle.”
Luna’s eyes were comically wide.
“There’s a lot of spells in there.”
Luna grabbed Taylor’s hand and dragged her back to her house. “What are we waiting for?”
Taylor laughed.
And so, instead of exploring the surrounding terrain, Taylor and Luna spent the whole day inside the Lovegoods magic lab, experimenting with new spells. Luna’s Book of Spells was a godsend for that. They used the book’s magic to conjure targets and objects to curse and practice on.
At some point, Xeno went to check up on them and decided he wanted to contribute too.
“Now, listen here girls, you do be careful with this jinx.”
Both nodded.
Xeno pulled his wand, did a little twirl that Taylor was sure wasn’t going to work for her and said, “Mutus Meditor.”
A bright flash of yellow light washed over both girls.
“What do you think?” Xeno asked, beaming.
Taylor tried to answer, but no matter how much she tried, no sound came out of her mouth. Luna looked confused too. She tilted her head, pointing at her mouth.
“Yes. I call this one The Silent Sulking Jinx.”
That was a fitting name. She could imagine using that on Malfoy whenever he tried his blood supremacy spiel. He’d probably sulk, and definitely write to his dad to complain.
“Oh, look at the time,” Xeno said, looking at a watch he wasn’t wearing. “I have to work on The Quibbler.” He turned around, marching toward the stairs.
Taylor panicked, waving her hands and trying to get Xeno’s attention. He hadn’t dismissed his jinx yet.
He took three steps, then turned around and started laughing. “You should see your faces!” He waved his wand and the spell effect ended.
“That wasn’t nice, Daddy,” Luna said.
“Sorry, Moonshine, I just couldn’t help it. It reminded me of my school days.”
Taylor decided, then and there, that the next silent spell she would master was Finite Incantatem. That seemed a lot more important than Aguamenti.
Xeno stayed with them for a few more minutes, demonstrating the spell several times. As Taylor had suspected, the wand movement wasn’t doing anything for her, because Xeno was like Luna, or maybe Luna was like Xeno. The way he moved his wand for spells was unlike any instruction Taylor had seen in any spell books.
Still, Luna learned the jinx and that was enough.
Taylor copied the new spell to her grimoire, and soon after they were practicing new jinxes. From Jelly-Legs, to Knockback, to Stinging hex. They tried them all. Of course a few hours of practising wasn’t enough to learn all of them, but she (and more importantly, Luna) had fun. So Taylor counted that as a huge win.
Xeno left Saturday morning and returned half an hour later with Annette.
Taylor hugged her mum, then went about trying to talk about everything at once: the food, the stream, the animated animals on the ceiling of the living room, the nice painting in Luna’s bedroom, the huge bathroom that was larger than the house was wide.
“Slow down, Little Owl,” her mum said, patting Taylor’s head. “I’ll be here the whole weekend, we have time.”
But time was certainly something they didn’t have enough of.
Annette took one good look at the living room, sent a glare in Xeno’s direction, then conscripted everyone, house owner included, for a day of cleaning. Xeno tried to weasel out of work by using magic as an excuse, but Mum put on her angry mum face. She gave him a look that would have sent Taylor hiding under the bed, and Xeno decided he was best served by helping clear the house by hand and with no magic.
That hadn’t been how Taylor had expected to spend her Saturday, but Luna seemed to be having fun, somehow, so it was worth it too.
Cleaning took the whole day. They stopped only for small breaks and it was back to cleaning. Taylor used the breaks to feed Nap and Arabelle and care for Noodle.
By the time they were done, the kitchen looked immaculate, the living room had lost its labyrinthine charm, Luna’s room looked about the same, the magic lab had no dust or cobwebs in the corners and Xeno’s bedroom looked like a whole new room.
When night arrived, Xeno did something to the bathroom. The bathtub was ginormous now. It looked more like a pool, and the water was already hot and steaming.
“You girls go and enjoy,” he said, patting Luna’s head. “I’ll pretend I’m twenty years younger and take a dip at the stream.”
Taylor hadn’t brought a swimsuit, and by the look on her mum’s face, she hadn’t either.
Luna didn’t seem to think they were necessary. She tossed aside her robes, then slid into the water. Taylor shrugged and followed her friend’s example. She luxuriated in the hot water, feeling all the kinks from the day of cleaning the tower washing away. And they were really washing away. The water was somehow enchanted to remove the dirt and grime, and it felt more comfortable than normal water.
That put a huge grin on her face. She loved magic.
But her mum was still looking at the pool. “Mum, aren’t you joining?”
Annette sighed. She took off her clothes, and slipped in.
Taylor moved until she was by her mum’s side, cuddling. Luna had a longing look on her face, until Annette raised an arm, inviting her to join in.
Taylor sighed. This was nice.
Taylor woke up with a start, Xeno’s heavy footsteps echoing on the stairs. She looked around. She was in Luna’s bed, hugging her mum and Luna at the same time. Taylor thought about getting up and tending to Bell and Noodle, but a yawn and the cosy bed robbed her of that thought. She wiggled closer to her friend, closed her eyes and was asleep before she could count ten spiders.
The mood at the breakfast table on Sunday was heavy all of a sudden. Xeno picked up on the mood even though it looked like he didn’t know what was going on.
He drank from his cup (still Gurdyroot infusion), placed it on the table and looked at the three serious faces around him.
“Alright,” he said, scratching his chin. “What have I done?”
Taylor looked at her mum, who nodded back. Under the table, Luna squeezed Taylor’s hand.
“The story you published about the Rot at Hogwarts at the start of the year,” Taylor said, looking the man in the eyes. “I wrote those letters, and someone stole them from my mum and wiped out her memories of them.”
Xeno sucked in a breath. “And that’s why you don’t trust me,” he said, nodding. “You think I stole your letters and messed with your mother’s head.”
Taylor squirmed a bit. She hadn’t expected him to be so blunt about it.
“We don’t think so,” Annette said diplomatically, “but we need to make sure. You might know something that will help.”
“What is it that you Muggles say? Trust but verify? Very wise.” He scratched his chin again. “Wait a spell.” Then he was out and going upstairs. He returned a few minutes later with a heavy envelope, placing it on the table. “This is the story I bought from my correspondent. The original version they wanted printed.”
Taylor took the envelope, opened it and started reading. She read the first two pages, frowning.
Her mum and Luna crowded closer to read over her shoulder.
The original story had nothing to do with a conspiracy and didn’t even focus on her letters that much. The story on the pages was a libel piece against the school, Dumbledore, the faculty, the Ministry and Snape. The writer had even declared Snape a Death Eater trying to recruit followers for You-Know-Who in the school.
But more importantly, Taylor had read something uncannily similar not long ago. It was another hit piece on Lockhart.
“Rita Skeeter?” Taylor asked, looking at Xeno.
He shrugged. “I can’t say for certain, but that’s what I think. She’s a nasty witch and this reeks of her writing.”
Taylor kept reading until the end. The story had examples of several letters from the school saying the issue of bullying and discrimination from the staff would be addressed, but Taylor didn’t remember anything changing at all.
Xeno peeked at the story, then looked at Annette.
“Would you have tried to contact the press after the school ignored your complaints?”
Annette sighed. “I would,” she admitted.
“Is there any way to bring Mum’s memories back?”
Xeno shook his head. “Without knowing what was done to your mother, anything we try might be too dangerous. However, there is one option that might be easier and safer.”
“What is it?” Annette asked.
“Have you ever heard of a Pensieve?”
Luna nodded, but Taylor and her mum shook their heads.
“You extract a memory, then view it on the Pensieve. There is a good chance that doing so can bypass whatever was done to your mother.”
“And do you have one?” Taylor asked, feeling hopeful.
Xeno smiled. “I do not. Those are rare and extravagantly expensive.”
Taylor deflated.
“But I do know of someone who has one. In fact, you all know him as well.”
Taylor scrunched her nose, not liking where this was going. “The Headmaster?”
Xeno’s laugh was answer enough.
After lunch (which Annette cooked instead of Xeno), they went to visit the Weasleys. Unfortunately, Xeno didn’t have a fireplace connected to the Floo Network, and he couldn’t Side-Along Apparate with three people, a spider, and a snake at the same time.
They could have just taken several trips, but Taylor had a better idea: Flying.
Taylor hopped on the broom behind Luna, but her mum didn’t seem keen on joining Xeno.
“Come on, Mum, flying is fun.”
Annette shook her head. “You guys go and have fun. I’ll wait here.”
Xeno smiled and winked. “I’ll take the girls, then I’ll come back and Apparate with you, how about that?”
And so with Noodle hidden inside a pocket, Arabelle tucked under Luna’s robe, Taylor hugging Luna for dear life, and Nap flying overhead, Luna shot up into the air, followed soon after by her father.
Destination: the Burrow.