At long last, Hufflepuff & Ravenclaw returns!

[subplotkudzu]

My bad on letting the last session write up languish.

And the Root of All Evil VIII

Chapter 8: Christmas Holiday

Daisy spends the Holiday distracting herself with her work; otherwise she would spend the whole time staring out the window thinking of Firenze’s eyes, and then her parents would ask questions, and then her sister would blab about things, and then bad things would happen. Her self-appointed tasks are, first, writing music that will evoke the sense of place for various locations – a Middle Eastern Bazaar, the rocky coast of Ireland – so that she might show Firenze the world, and second, researching Mummeshanz and Scotog for clues. Connections between them, where Manny studied, how long Scotog has been with Gringott’s, how he might be tied to the finances of the school, anything that might shed some light on things.

In this she is aided by a Christmas letter from Owen Mardling and Alyssa Aerie. To no one’s surprise the couple are engaged and their letter is filled with purple prose of their wedding plans, post graduation work and other things that appear in Christmas letters that really only interest the writers but are expounded upon regardless. Owen is indeed working at Gringott’s where he, by happy coincidence, works in the department handling loans to Wizarding society. Alyssa also works in the finance industry, but her specialty is contract law between humans and Goblins. One wonders what their dinner table conversation is like.

Daisy quickly writes back, opening a correspondence with the pair that she hopes will provide fresh data. In this she is successful, learning that Scotog has been in the banks Special Contracts department “forever” (Alyssia is a little more precise, marking it at 50+ years, very long for short lived Goblins). Special Contracts handles long-term, generational debts & properties. No, it doesn’t have anything to do with new investment strategies generally, but Scotog shepherded the Serial Pictures idea because of its ownership structure. Alyssa has been an intern on some of the contracts for this, and can dig into this more if Daisy is interested? By the way, and totally unconnected, could Daisy swing some comp tickets for her parent’s show for Owen, Alyssa and some of their co-workers this summer?  “Owen’s Slytherin is showing,” Daisy thinks, but pays the bribe. Owen doesn’t mention his brother’s potential role in the movie, but that might just be generational rivalry.

One thing the girls are sure of is that the beast that attacked Jasmyn was not a Nosferatu. There are some marks on Jasmyn’s neck, but its lips were on her ear. How can it bite her neck with lips on her ear? So what is it? Letters fly back and forth between the Fontaines, the Dees and Juliet. The general consensus? A Goblin pretending to be a vamp, or some Goblin monster.