Chapter 349: A Brief Calm
Since the attack on the professor, the atmosphere in the castle had grown tense.
The staff divided the work among themselves. When they were not teaching, they were patrolling and keeping watch over the students.
The students, meanwhile, were under strict orders: apart from lessons, they were only allowed in their dormitories and the Great Hall, and they were never to go anywhere alone.
All the portraits had been mobilised. Every frame now had at least one inhabitant leaning out, watching the corridor outside, and ready to report anything suspicious to a nearby professor or to another painting.
Even the suits of armour, which usually stood silent and still, had been roused. They clanked along every floor of the castle, making regular patrols.
"Are the students in all houses all right?" Deputy Headmaster Edward asked as he walked the corridors alongside Professor Luke. "No signs of panic or other… unfortunate moods?"
Though Luke had only just recovered from his own encounter a few days earlier, he had insisted on returning to duty as soon as he was able, joining the patrols and the efforts to keep the students safe.
At Edward's question, he smiled. "They are managing well enough. Apart from grumbling about Quidditch being cancelled, there has not been much in the way of dark moods. They all have great faith in the Headmaster. The children from our own lands, especially, are certain that he will catch the rat in the shadows soon."
Edward nodded, his face full of the same respect and trust. "So the children think just as we do. They believe the Headmaster will see us through."
"I have never doubted him," Luke said warmly. "He is the one who raised us from ordinary folk to what we are now, with magic at our hands. And he has been in seclusion these days, making his preparations. Once he steps out again, I am sure he will snatch that rat up at once and return peace to the school."
"I feel the same," Edward agreed.
"Very well," he added after a moment. "Let us part ways here. Professor Luke, take everything from the fourth floor up. I will cover this below. Be careful. The enemy has gone quiet again these last days. He may just be brewing some new piece of mischief. If anything happens, send a signal immediately."
Luke nodded. "I know. Do not worry. I have already been caught out once. I will be twice as cautious now."
The two parted, one heading up the stairs, the other down.
Edward began his rounds from the fourth floor, working his way level by level towards the ground, pausing to question every portrait he passed about anything unusual.
When he was done, he did not rest. Instead, he made his way to Kael's private tower and knocked lightly on the door.
"Come in," Kael's voice called from within.
Edward opened the door and stepped into the Headmaster's private sitting room.
No one was physically present. Edward walked to the fireplace and stopped before a framed portrait of Kael, bowing his head with respect.
"My lord," he said, "we are short on staff. Beyond teaching, the professors must also manage and protect the students, as well as handle patrols. We are stretched very thin.
"Would it be possible to wake the sleeping dragon Smaug and the basilisk Herpo, and ask them to help guard the castle as well?"
In the portrait, Kael's painted self paused to think.
There were, after all, only eleven adults in the castle at the moment: the eight professors for the core subjects, Kael himself, Madam Amanda in the hospital wing, and Elrond, newly arrived.
Kael and Elrond were buried in their work on the Marauder's Map. The other eight had to teach all day and guard the students besides.
At night, each house dormitory needed a professor in residence, and the remaining staff had to patrol the entire sprawling castle. They had been running without pause for days, relying heavily on the stimulant draughts brewed by the Potions master.
At length, the portrait of Kael nodded.
"There is a frame of mine in Herpo's chamber," he said. "He only listens to me. I will wake him and set him to prowling the pipes.
"As for Smaug, you know him well enough by now. Go and rouse him. It is time he earned his keep."
"At once, my lord," Edward said, bowing.
The portrait turned and strode out of its frame, vanishing from view.
Edward took the key he had been granted, left the tower, and descended into the dungeons.
He stopped before a great mithril door, on which the words Sleeping dragon, do not disturb were carved. He slid the key into the lock and spoke the password aloud.
The locks clicked, and the heavy door swung inward.
As Kael's steward, Edward was the third person permitted to enter the dragon's hoard, after Kael and Arwen.
Thanks to their past dealings over Shelob's webbing, he and Smaug knew each other well by now. As a dragon, Smaug loved gold beyond all things, and Edward was the one who regularly sent new coin into the vault instead of simply taking it out, as his master occasionally did.
For that, Smaug held him in relatively high regard. Especially when he came bearing money, the dragon always greeted him pleasantly.
Today, however, Edward entered empty‑handed.
Smaug, dozing atop his mountain of treasure, caught his scent at once and opened his eyes.
After devouring the frost dragon's heart‑stone, Smaug's body had grown to a full five hundred metres in length.
He had not manifested any icy breath or become some new hybrid of ice and fire, but his own flame had grown fiercer still, hot enough to rival the fire of the great wyrms of old.
He watched Edward come in with nothing, and a flicker of disappointment passed through his gaze before suspicion kindled. Lifting his enormous head from the gold, he peered down at the steward.
"Steward Edward," he rumbled, "what brings you this time? You are not here to take money, are you?"
The sheer size of him still stole Edward's breath for a heartbeat. Then he hurriedly shook his head. "No, not this time. The lord has sent me to wake you. There is an enemy in the castle, hiding among the students, and they have already caused serious trouble. The professors are short‑handed. We would ask you to help guard Hogwarts."
"An enemy?" Smaug murmured. "With a mind as sly as our lord's, he should have no trouble catching one foe. Why wake me as well?"
"This enemy is wily," Edward explained. "He is like a ghost and can possess other people. Even the lord, and Gandalf, and Lady Galadriel together have been unable to see through him."
"Oh?" Smaug's eyes widened with interest. He knew that Gandalf and Galadriel were, in truth, far mightier than Kael himself, and yet even they had failed to unmask the infiltrator.
That was impressive.
He narrowed his eyes and thrust his head forward, bringing his gaze level with Edward's. "And since this enemy can possess others without being seen, how do I know he has not taken you, and sent you here to lure me away so you can steal my hoard?"
Edward nearly jumped out of his skin. For a moment, all he could do was stare, then he gave a strained laugh. "Lord Smaug, that is a jest, surely. That madman would have to be suicidal to possess someone and walk straight into your den."
"That is true," Smaug said, drawing himself up proudly. "I, Smaug, am the greatest dragon in all Middle-earth. Anyone foolish enough to try and steal from me, even a single coin, will taste my wrath."
His chest swelled with the thought, as if he could already feel the heat of his own flame pouring forth.
"Well then, Lord Smaug, I have delivered the Headmaster's message. I must return to my patrol," Edward said. "There is no time to talk longer."
As he turned, his eye fell on a stack of Vanishing Cabinets dumped like rubbish in one corner. He sighed. "Lord Smaug, these Cabinets are rare works of alchemy. You really should not leave them tossed aside. If they are damaged, it will be a great loss."
Smaug gave the heap a single, disdainful glance. "A pile of wood," he snorted. "They are not as fair as my gold. If I roll over, I will crush them, and a sneeze might set them alight. Where else would I put such fragile things but in a corner?"
Seeing the dragon's attitude, Edward could only shake his head helplessly and drop the matter.
He bade Smaug farewell and left the vault, locking the door once more before returning to the tower to replace the key.