Chapter Four: Savory Stew and Pudding
Time: Supper, July 13, 1995
The dank smell of the kitchen was masked by aromas of good food as Molly showed Sapphire an assortment of iron pots. Sapphire was explaining the difference between what Americans call biscuits and what Molly would, and wondering if biscuits made in a dutch oven beside open flames would brown at all, or if a flat griddle would work better, when there was a loud chime from up the stairs, followed by the sound of a woman shrieking as though she were being murdered.
"Molly! What's that?" Sapphire's eyes widened with alarm.
"Nothing really, just Mrs. Black... Sirius' mother, I mean."
Sirius voice was now heard amidst the shrieks, yelling at someone to 'shut up'." Yet another voice, this one female, added itself to the din.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I always forget about the stupid picture..."
"His mother is here?" Sapphire's eyes were darting about the room now like a trapped animal.
"No, of course not! Oh, let Sirius explain." Molly was hastily directing pots back onto hooks.
There was a small crash and the shrieking woman increased in volume, as did Sirius' demands that she be quiet.
"Wait here," Molly called over her shoulder.
In a moment the noises stopped and Molly reappeared in the kitchen leading a young witch with unnaturally bright pink hair. "Nymphadora, this is Miss Sapphire... er... sorry dear, what is the rest of your name?" Molly grimaced apologetically.
"The family name is McNiven, but just call me Sapphire. And your name is Nympha...?"
"Tonks! Call me Tonks, please!" The young witch shot out a hand and caught Sapphire's. The result was that they both yelped and jumped.
"That does it!" Sapphire said, and proceeded to unbuckle the rapier from her waist. "This kitchen is too small to go armed. Now what could possibly happen if I hang this here?" She looped the belt over a peg just inside the door, and turned back to offer a hand to the newcomer with reassurances that there would be no surprises this time.
"Nym..., I mean Tonks is Sirius' cousin." Molly explained.
"'Tonks" is an unusual name. Is it short for something?" asked Sapphire.
"It's her family name." Sirius had just entered the kitchen. "She doesn't like her first name, Nymphad..."
"Oh, stop!" Tonks interrupted Sirius. "We don't even need to bring that name up!"
Sapphire smiled. "Fine, if you'll ignore my first, second and fourth names, I will ignore that one. Deal?"
"You have four names?" Tonks' asked with obvious interest.
"Family name makes five," Sapphire shrugged.
"Like Dumbledore," Sirius added.
"Five names like Dumbledore?" asked two male voices from the stairs.
"Good, you're here in time to give me a hand with dinner," Molly said as she herded identical red haired teen boys into the kitchen. "Fred, George, this is Miss McNiven. She's an old friend of Sirius'"
Sapphire looked from one to the other and back again.
"I'm usually George," said one boy.
"Even mom can't always tell us apart," Fred said as he took Sapphire's hand.
"Hey!" Sirius shouted, causing them all to stare at him. He looked puzzled, then spoke sternly to Sapphire. "You aren't wearing it, are you?"
"It's right there," she said, pointing at the peg. "I can't always be zapping everyone in the house."
"You shouldn't take it off. What if something dangerous pops up."
"I promise I won't take it off if I'm alone, OK?"
"Wow, " said one of the twins, stepping up to the hanging rapier to get a better look. "Ron said you tied up Snape in his own spell with this thing!"
The other twin followed. "May we see how it works?"
"No, you may not," Molly said, firmly steering the boys toward the sideboard, where the plates were stacked. "That sword is not a toy for you to invent mischief with. Now, set the table. And no levitating the dishes!"
Just then there were subdued voices from the upper hall, and the tread of heavy feet on the kitchen stairs. Two men entered the kitchen, and Molly exchanged a kiss with one.
"Arthur, here's the muggle I owled about. Meet Miss McNiven."
"Call me Sapphire, please."
"Miss Sapphire! What an unexpected pleasure." Arthur took her hand so gently he might have been holding a Ming vase, and his face flushed wonderfully.
Molly laughed. "You can see that my husband has a great interest in muggles. When he meets a new one, he's just a kid in a candy store."
Sapphire laughed also. "I don't know that I'm anything special, but it's nice to meet you. Until now, I haven't really met any wizards other then Sirius- not unless you count the ones that tried to obliviate me last summer."
"And I want to hear all about that," said the second new arrival, putting out his hand for a good deal firmer shake than Arthur's.
"Kingsley Shackelbolt is in charge of the search for me," Sirius offered. "He has access to information that should confirm if those wizards were looking for me and who sent them - and the Dementors."
Now it was Sapphire's turn to look fascinated. "You can tell me what happened last July? Maybe if I know the details, the nightmares will let up."
"Nightmares?" Kingsley looked puzzled.
"When she's been obliviated the suppressed memories surface as nightmares," Sirius said. "I wouldn't noise that about. It could be dangerous for her."
"Understood." Kingsley pursed his lips and studied Sapphire until she started to fidget.
"Sapphire, tell him what happened," Sirius prompted.
She briefly related the tale of waking from a bad dream to find wizards talking in the yard and her mule unresponsive.
"I'll be looking at any shared files," Kingsley offered when she finished, "but I probably won't request any from AWIB- that's the American Wizards Investigation Bureau- for risk of calling attention to you. From here forward, I'll be keeping a close eye on any further activity in your area.
"I do recall a Ministry request to AWIB to follow leads that Black had been sighted rafting in the Southern Appalachians, and a complaint from AWIB about some Ministry employed Dementors that made my supervisors pretty upset at about the date you mentioned. At the time, I tried to plant some doubts about the AWIB report that there was no evidence of Sirius there, just to keep them hunting in the wrong place. AWIB was so bothered about the Dementors, though, that they pretty much refused to cooperate on that project any further. Turns out I was more right than I knew." Kingsley looked grave as he added, "I'm glad you weren't hurt. We really had no idea Sirius had an American connection."
Sapphire looked from Kingsley to Sirius and back before responding. "No, you couldn't have known. I'm sure what happened is no fault of yours, and if looking for me kept them away from Sirius, perhaps it was worth it, but I'm still very sad about my mule."
Sirius, his eyes fixed on the floor, added, "when I brought that animal, I thought it might warn of wizards - maybe even keep away some of the superstitious ones with it's thestral-like appearance, or even help you outrun an animal or muggle assailant. I'm sure I never thought of it standing between you and a dementor." With that, he suddenly left the kitchen.
As Sapphire watched him go, Arthur patted her arm and said, "He's not keen on the subject of dementors since he left Azkaban, but he'll be all right. Don't you worry about Sirius."
Sirius didn't return until after Molly had begun serving the stew.
_____________
The rest of supper was a jolly affair, with Sapphire managing seconds of stew even as she was forced to talk almost non-stop about herself. The tales of her grandmother's Cherokee heritage and the herb lore that had been passed down for generations seemed particularly to fascinate her magical audience.
"My great, great grandmother was orphaned during the Cherokee removal and adopted by Presbyterian Missionaries from Scotland. She was only about fourteen then, but her birth family had already passed on to her large amounts of their traditional knowledge. Perhaps they felt some great urgency about preserving their culture. In any case, they say she was a good mid-wife, able to ease labor, stop bleeding and speed recovery using just the plants she could gather herself. That probably saved her later on.
"The story goes that she spent most days wandering the hills to gather plants. When she was about seventeen, it became evident she didn't spend her days all alone. She never would tell the name of the baby's father, and those who tried to follow her afterward were led on long circles. The child was believed to be a full blooded Cherokee, perhaps the daughter of some young warrior who had hidden in the hills rather than be sent west.
"In any event, I suppose she and the girl were pretty much outcasts until someone was sick, or in labor. Then they were as welcome as any 'proper' folks, and worth a fair price for their services. When she was around fourty years old, that daughter -- my great grandmother -- married Angus Buchan, who was well past fifty and had sense enough to know the value of a younger wife who could nurse the sick. Angus had other children already, but granny was their only offspring, and her mother taught her the healing arts too. So it was only natural that when I came along, she wanted me to learn. "
"Wouldn't she have taught her daughter?" Molly asked.
"She married late, and had no daughters. She did teach my father some of the traditional ways, and he learned to love the outdoors and woodcraft from her. Matter of fact," Sapphire made a wry face, "his tendency to love the woods has been a sore point in my parents marriage from the get-go."
"How is that?" Arthur asked as Molly deposited another helping on his plate.
"Well, mom was first attracted to my father, so she says, because of his lovely singing voice. They were both in college at the time..."
"Both your parents attended a college?" Arthur asked.
"Arthur, let her finish this story before you start on another topic." Molly whispered.
"Sorry, dear. Please, do go on."
"Well," Sapphire continued, deferring speculation on why her parents' education would be of any interest to a wizard, "I was just going to say that I think she got the wrong impression of dad. He had a good education, and could act as sophisticated as anyone, but his heart was back on the farm. They married pretty quick after he got back from the war, and he had packed home a tent so as to surprise her with a camping trip for their honeymoon."
Hermione, Ginny and Molly all sucked in their breath with a soft whistle.
Sapphire nodded at them. "Poor Mom is a city girl through and through. It wasn't exactly the sort of thing she enjoyed, and I think from there on it was apparent they weren't the most compatible couple. Still, somehow they stuck it out and produced my brother and me."
"How is your brother?" Sirius asked.
The table fell silent. It was the only thing he'd said other than "please pass the butter" and "thank you" since the meal started.
Sapphire looked thoughtful for a moment. "He's not too bad. He joined a support group and made some friends that seem to help him a lot. He likes his current job. He's held it for well over a year now. Even got a raise last month."
"That's good." Sirius disappeared behind his butterbeer mug.
"Thanks for asking."
After another awkward silence of half a minute, Tonks spoke up. "How did you get so many names?"
Sapphire laughed. "It was my father's attempt to settle a fight between my mother and grandmother- with me as the point of contention!"
"Your mother and grandmother were dueling?" Arthur was leaning forward so much that Molly had to pull his robes away from his plate.
"I don't mean a physical fight, though sometimes I think those two were on the verge. When I was born, granny wanted to name me with Cherokee names. She was staking her claim on me as heir for her knowledge. Mom had other ideas, and was going to name me after herself. She never liked granny, as she probably blamed her for her son's rural tendencies. I think granny must have been miffed at not being invited to the birth. After all, she was descended from a long line of traditional mid-wives.
"So, the day after I was born, she showed up at the hospital and just slipped into the nursery and took me outside to see the sun. It was one of those beautifully clear days that we often have back home in late September. In between the tall hospital buildings, that blue sky was probably about all you could see, so when she showed up in my mother's room, she announced to my mom and dad that I had now seen the sun and should be named for my first sights of the natural world. I'm really not sad that my mom didn't agree to call me "Bright Blue Sky". (A chuckle ran around the table here, and Tonks laughed out loud.)
"Anyway, my dad, in a master stroke of diplomacy suggested that my mom could give me my first two names in the tradition of her family - that is, to name the first girl with the mother's given and family names- and granny could add her names, slightly modified, after that. So, you have Mary Douglas Sapphire Skye McNiven. Mom calls me nothing but Mary Douglas and everyone else calls me Sapphire. "
"And you chose to use your grandmother's name?" Tonks asked.
"I also chose to imitate my grandmother's life." Sapphire answered. "It's made a rift between me and mom, but she had Earl to make in her image, and it's given me unique advantages as an ethnobotanist. Hardly any of my colleagues were raised to practice the old cures as I've been. I'm my own primary source. That's why, even though I only have a Master's degree..."
"That's six years of muggle college, isn't it?" Arthur asked.
"Don't interrupt, dear," said Molly gently.
"That's right," Sapphire continued. "Well, anyway, when they add doctoral students to the program at the University, I won't get to sit on the dissertation committees unless I get a doctorate myself. I haven't ruled it out of course-- who knows, I might acctually like being a student again, once I got used to the idea -- but really I don't see the point. I'm not worried about my job though. I'm sure they'll continue to let me teach all the graduates in my summer classes where we go to my cabin and do hands on for two weeks at a time. There's hardly anyone, no matter how many degrees they have, that can teach them what I know about Appalachian Cherokee ethnobotany."
"Professor McNiven, you sound like a very accomplished woman," said Kingsley.
"Thanks. I guess I have my little talents," Sapphire laughed. "But please, just Sapphire."
"Wouldn't you miss your work if you moved to England?" Hermione asked. Immediately, she flushed and most of the company began to study their plates.
"Oh, well..., I could get a job here I think." Sapphire felt her face warming too. Sirius had gone behind his mug again, even though she knew it was empty. "I think I mentioned that I'm supposed to be presenting my papers on comparisons of Appalachian and Scottish highland flora and ethnobotany over at the college here this summer. They seem to be thinking of making me an offer."
"Pudding anyone?" Molly called from the sideboard.
@2614 words, Written12/06
Posted by Madmaxime at July 16, 2007 02:32 AM