16. Eisenhower Was Right: It's Dominoes, All The Way Down
"Very well, now you, Traci: Tell me everything that happened before Giovanni and Circe got back to the pod."
The Furies had a big office where they worked together, sharing a large table in the middle. There were very tall cabinets and shelves lining the walls, stuffed and piled up with papers and folders and books. Many pictures of former and present students covered whatever available wall space remained…
While Adelaide spoke to Traci and Circe in one end of the room, Agatha and Tabitha tended to the pummeled trio on the opposite side, but without fixing them up magically. They had only been given some analgesics and had their scratches and bruises dressed up with belladonna ointment and gauzes. Agatha had explained that, although it was absolutely wrong of Giovanni to have beat them up, they were not guilt-free. They protested, saying that they didn't make the mess, they just found Giovanni's stuff all over the floor. Well, Agatha countered, perhaps they should have reported the mess and that alone probably would have avoided this awful situation. They must be made to bear the consequences of their failure to act righteously. Besides, they did try to use Magick in the pod against Circe, and they knew it was forbidden. This, the pain and the shame, was their punishment. The trio protested some more, and Garret went as far as to threaten to ask his father to expell Giovanni and Circe, and have Wozniak fired. Agatha and Tabitha turned very serious and their faces changed into dour gargoyle masks. The trio fell silent immediately.
***
"Wozniak, c'mere, gotta show you sumpin'"
"Johannsen, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be watching after my kids… or is Adelaide back there already?"
"Nevermind all that crap: This is important! Lemme show ya… Here, let's use this room. I got my notebook PC in my pocket, hold on… Here, this is the surveillance footage from Pod Cerulean… Let's see… C'mon… There!"
"What? Oh! This is Giovanni's bed and all his stuff, right? So?"
"Just watch!"
"Whoa! What happened? It looks as if all his stuff exploded all of the sudden… Wait! The time code… This happened during dinner! That means the Thompsons and Garret didn't do it!"
"Yah, look, here's the footage of half an hour later, see that? That's them three kiddos walking into frame… And, of course, now they are laughing and messing with the underwear… But them, didn't do it!"
"Well, I dunno… I wouldn't put it past them to have placed some hex or even a bomb in Giovanni's foot locker and dresser…"
"Nah, I checked, Wozniak, an' goin' back a coupla hours there's no monkey bidnez goin' on… I could check all the way back to when Giovanni first came to the school, but instead, look…"
"What's this?"
"Yesterday Adelaide asked me to keep a closer look on Giovanni, so I installed a Phantom camera in their room…"
"Ah, that was your super-high speed, high definition, night-vision camera you so proudly showed me the other day, right?"
"Right, wait… There! Look!!"
"This is the same footage when Giovanni's stuff exploded all over the room, but from a different angle, right? It says it's at half-speed… Wait!! What is that blur?"
"Exactly: that's what I needed to show you… Prepare yourself! Am-a show it to ya again, but at one million, four-hundred thousand frames per second… Ready?"
Wozniak and Johannsen squeezed their faces together to look at the tiny computer screen. In it, a loop of video replayed itself, showing first a well-made bed, a foot locker, and a dresser. Then, there was a blur of colors swirling around the bed, and a few moments later, Giovanni's stuff appeared strewn over his bed and on the floor, with foot locker and dresser overturned and piled on top of his belongings. The super-high speed camera was able to show for two or three frames that the blur was actually a person, moving around at incredible speeds. When Wozniak recognized the face, he turned pale and breathed out a whisper:
"Holy Fuck on wheels!!"
"Toldja! Let's go tell them Furies!!"
But Wozniak had already taken off running towards the Furies' office. He had never been so scared his whole life.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere in England, at the Hogwarts Castle, the school's Headmistress called the Head of the Aurors into an impromptu meeting. She had made the decision to break with tradition and reveal to him the most well-kept secret in the world of Wizardry.
"Potter, you should not be privy to these matters, but you have been actually putting your life and the life of your fellow Aurors on the line with this assignment so far, and I couldn't possibly let you do that anymore in good conscience, without at least letting you know what this is all about… We have come through so many things together, you and I… We have lost so many loved ones in the process… Well, listen…"
Professor McGonogall proceeded to tell Harry Potter the thousand-year old story of the Vampire Benjamin, and the confrontation that drove the school founders to plead for a truce. Potter listened closely, and his face kept turning paler and harder as the story progressed. It was difficult for him to accept the fact that, for one thousand years, the witches and wizards had been keeping vigil over the worst monster on the face of the planet, a monster thousands of times more evil and more dangerous than Voldemort could have ever been.
"Headmistress, pardon the interruption… That's all well and fine, but, what can we possibly do if he were to come to Hogwarts? And why would he want to come at all?"
"What you and I can do, is to stand, and buy some time to evacuate the children. It's all we can hope for, to delay him for a while. But you are right: he cannot be deflected. If he comes, he will come because he hates all magic folk. There have been conversations with him recorded and kept in record during the last thousand years, whenever he awakens and goes forth into the world to wreak havoc and suffering… By all reports, he cannot abide our existence, but he benefits greatly from the Truce, so he doesn't try to destroy us. However, there's always the possibility that he may renege on his part of the deal and come to claim Hogwarts back for himself… After all, whenever the madness descends on him, he is taken completely by it, you know? Anyway, the founders of this school were way more powerful than any living wizard in this day and age, and they were barely able to bring the Vampire to a stalemate. I don't have many illusions about my abilities, but I think it is safe to say that you and I will not fare better than Gryffindor, Slitherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. And, by all accounts, the Vampire only gets more and more powerful with the passage of time… No, I have no illusions whatever about our combined abilities, I'm sorry to say… Well, there's no helping it. Here, this is a painting done in the Nineteenth Century of the Vampire Benjamin. At least know the face of your foe…"
Professor McGonogall handed Head Auror Potter a photograph of a painting that showed a young, slight man, with vaguely mediterranean features, a high forehead, and eyes that blazed with dark merriment.
Wozniak and Johannsen had recognized that same face on a computer screen not ten seconds before, an ocean away.
From the picture, Khaldi Benoni smirked at Potter across the oceans of time…
"Very well, now you, Traci: Tell me everything that happened before Giovanni and Circe got back to the pod."
The Furies had a big office where they worked together, sharing a large table in the middle. There were very tall cabinets and shelves lining the walls, stuffed and piled up with papers and folders and books. Many pictures of former and present students covered whatever available wall space remained…
While Adelaide spoke to Traci and Circe in one end of the room, Agatha and Tabitha tended to the pummeled trio on the opposite side, but without fixing them up magically. They had only been given some analgesics and had their scratches and bruises dressed up with belladonna ointment and gauzes. Agatha had explained that, although it was absolutely wrong of Giovanni to have beat them up, they were not guilt-free. They protested, saying that they didn't make the mess, they just found Giovanni's stuff all over the floor. Well, Agatha countered, perhaps they should have reported the mess and that alone probably would have avoided this awful situation. They must be made to bear the consequences of their failure to act righteously. Besides, they did try to use Magick in the pod against Circe, and they knew it was forbidden. This, the pain and the shame, was their punishment. The trio protested some more, and Garret went as far as to threaten to ask his father to expell Giovanni and Circe, and have Wozniak fired. Agatha and Tabitha turned very serious and their faces changed into dour gargoyle masks. The trio fell silent immediately.
***
"Wozniak, c'mere, gotta show you sumpin'"
"Johannsen, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be watching after my kids… or is Adelaide back there already?"
"Nevermind all that crap: This is important! Lemme show ya… Here, let's use this room. I got my notebook PC in my pocket, hold on… Here, this is the surveillance footage from Pod Cerulean… Let's see… C'mon… There!"
"What? Oh! This is Giovanni's bed and all his stuff, right? So?"
"Just watch!"
"Whoa! What happened? It looks as if all his stuff exploded all of the sudden… Wait! The time code… This happened during dinner! That means the Thompsons and Garret didn't do it!"
"Yah, look, here's the footage of half an hour later, see that? That's them three kiddos walking into frame… And, of course, now they are laughing and messing with the underwear… But them, didn't do it!"
"Well, I dunno… I wouldn't put it past them to have placed some hex or even a bomb in Giovanni's foot locker and dresser…"
"Nah, I checked, Wozniak, an' goin' back a coupla hours there's no monkey bidnez goin' on… I could check all the way back to when Giovanni first came to the school, but instead, look…"
"What's this?"
"Yesterday Adelaide asked me to keep a closer look on Giovanni, so I installed a Phantom camera in their room…"
"Ah, that was your super-high speed, high definition, night-vision camera you so proudly showed me the other day, right?"
"Right, wait… There! Look!!"
"This is the same footage when Giovanni's stuff exploded all over the room, but from a different angle, right? It says it's at half-speed… Wait!! What is that blur?"
"Exactly: that's what I needed to show you… Prepare yourself! Am-a show it to ya again, but at one million, four-hundred thousand frames per second… Ready?"
Wozniak and Johannsen squeezed their faces together to look at the tiny computer screen. In it, a loop of video replayed itself, showing first a well-made bed, a foot locker, and a dresser. Then, there was a blur of colors swirling around the bed, and a few moments later, Giovanni's stuff appeared strewn over his bed and on the floor, with foot locker and dresser overturned and piled on top of his belongings. The super-high speed camera was able to show for two or three frames that the blur was actually a person, moving around at incredible speeds. When Wozniak recognized the face, he turned pale and breathed out a whisper:
"Holy Fuck on wheels!!"
"Toldja! Let's go tell them Furies!!"
But Wozniak had already taken off running towards the Furies' office. He had never been so scared his whole life.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere in England, at the Hogwarts Castle, the school's Headmistress called the Head of the Aurors into an impromptu meeting. She had made the decision to break with tradition and reveal to him the most well-kept secret in the world of Wizardry.
"Potter, you should not be privy to these matters, but you have been actually putting your life and the life of your fellow Aurors on the line with this assignment so far, and I couldn't possibly let you do that anymore in good conscience, without at least letting you know what this is all about… We have come through so many things together, you and I… We have lost so many loved ones in the process… Well, listen…"
Professor McGonogall proceeded to tell Harry Potter the thousand-year old story of the Vampire Benjamin, and the confrontation that drove the school founders to plead for a truce. Potter listened closely, and his face kept turning paler and harder as the story progressed. It was difficult for him to accept the fact that, for one thousand years, the witches and wizards had been keeping vigil over the worst monster on the face of the planet, a monster thousands of times more evil and more dangerous than Voldemort could have ever been.
"Headmistress, pardon the interruption… That's all well and fine, but, what can we possibly do if he were to come to Hogwarts? And why would he want to come at all?"
"What you and I can do, is to stand, and buy some time to evacuate the children. It's all we can hope for, to delay him for a while. But you are right: he cannot be deflected. If he comes, he will come because he hates all magic folk. There have been conversations with him recorded and kept in record during the last thousand years, whenever he awakens and goes forth into the world to wreak havoc and suffering… By all reports, he cannot abide our existence, but he benefits greatly from the Truce, so he doesn't try to destroy us. However, there's always the possibility that he may renege on his part of the deal and come to claim Hogwarts back for himself… After all, whenever the madness descends on him, he is taken completely by it, you know? Anyway, the founders of this school were way more powerful than any living wizard in this day and age, and they were barely able to bring the Vampire to a stalemate. I don't have many illusions about my abilities, but I think it is safe to say that you and I will not fare better than Gryffindor, Slitherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. And, by all accounts, the Vampire only gets more and more powerful with the passage of time… No, I have no illusions whatever about our combined abilities, I'm sorry to say… Well, there's no helping it. Here, this is a painting done in the Nineteenth Century of the Vampire Benjamin. At least know the face of your foe…"
Professor McGonogall handed Head Auror Potter a photograph of a painting that showed a young, slight man, with vaguely mediterranean features, a high forehead, and eyes that blazed with dark merriment.
Wozniak and Johannsen had recognized that same face on a computer screen not ten seconds before, an ocean away.
From the picture, Khaldi Benoni smirked at Potter across the oceans of time…
To Be Continued…
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