Chapter Two
Some Light Conversation
"RAVENCLAW!"
Many students, including Courtney, clapped as Rae Anne Poitier joined the Ravenclaw table.
"Potter, Lily!" Professor Lochram, the Deputy Headmaster, called out.
Lily stepped up to the front and allowed Lochram to place the Hat on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" was the almost immediate reply.
More students clapped as the youngest Potter sibling joined her brothers and Rose at the Gryffindor table.
"Pratton, Will!"
"SLYTHERIN!"
As Courtney waited for Hugo's name to come up, Elijah tapped her shoulder. "Hey, Court, there's something I was supposed to tell you about."
"Does it have to do with the Light?" she whispered. Perhaps James was passing a message through him. Then she remembered Elijah's larger commitment. "Or the LMM?"
"What? You know about… never mind, no. Look, just letting you know, Henry lost his toad somewhere in the castle. If you find it - or better yet, get help from Al and Lynne and the others - you know where it goes."
"Alright." Courtney was not going to let that first part go. "So what do you know about this Light?"
"It doesn't exist," Elijah said simply. "It's just this stupid rumor that a bunch of rich purebloods invented. It's about these Muggles, in the present, who want to kill wizards just for 'Muggle reasons'." He put air-quotes around the last words to emphasize how ridiculous that sounded. "It's basically their way of saying the LMM should fail, since Muggles will just try to destroy us anyway."
"Scamander, Lysander!"
Still, though, if James said the Light was coming, and that it had nothing to do with the LMM, what did that mean?
"Um, just in case it is real, though, it wouldn't be that much of an issue, right?" Courtney asked hopefully. "I mean, plenty of places, including Hogwarts, are Unplottable so they wouldn't even be able to find us. And that's even if they could get to places like Diagon Alley without a wizard's help." Her own da needed to use Floo powder to get there.
"Well, if we're talking about fictional worst-case scenarios, then maybe they have wizards working for them," Elijah said with a half-smile. "'That old dodger Arthur Weasley's betraying us all!', they say."
"Weasley, Hugo!" Lochram exclaimed, jolting Courtney's attention from Elijah and to the Hat.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
So both Lily and Hugo made Gryffindor just like their siblings. What a surprise, Courtney thought.
Arthur Weasley… he was Albus's, James's, Lily's, Rose's, and Hugo's grandfather. He was somewhat well-known for being remarkably progressive when it came to Muggles. Where many pureblood wizards thought of Muggles the way Muggles think of worms, Arthur thought of them as though he found worms fascinating.
If the Light was real - if Arthur, of all people, really was betraying wizardkind - then Courtney needed to remember that information so she could let Albus and the others know.
Headmistress Vector stood up. At this point, Courtney noticed that the Sorting Hat had been put away. "Another Sorting has gone smoothly," the middle-aged witch said. "Welcome, all, to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For our new first-years, my name is Professor Vector, and I am the Headmistress here. Here are the announcements for this year.
"Recently, our Divination instructor, Professor Digrattus, has been in poor health. He will still be teaching this year, but wanted to make it clear that, at various times, he will be unable to do so. We have already arranged measures for a temporary substitute instructor whenever it is necessary. That said, we are all hoping for a rapid recovery."
As if in response, Professor Digrattus coughed twice after that, then slinked back.
"Also, after too many incidents in last year's O.W.L. exams..." Vector cast a pointed glare at the Gryffindor table. "We have agreed that, starting this year, Skiving Snackboxes and the standard contents thereof are banned from the castle grounds. Any student caught with them will receive a penalty of upwards of five points, and the Snackboxes will be confiscated. Repeat offenses will receive even harsher punishment. That is all."
Courtney entered the Hufflepuff common room, which was far noisier than she was used to. Genale was standing off to one side, wearing the Head Girl badge.
The Head Boy and Head Girl had authority above the Prefects, but below the teachers. There was only one of each per year, from the seventh-year class.
Courtney gave a brief congratulation to the girl who had helped her learn the basics two years ago, then went upstairs to the third-year dorm.
"So you go down this corridor to get to Herbology, this corridor to get to Transfiguration, you go out that door to get to the Quidditch field, or to see Hagrid, this corridor if you want to become a bloody stain on the floor, and this one here to get to Charms. Any questions?"
Lily and Hugo did not respond. Watching them, Courtney could guess exactly which part of James's guide they were focusing on.
"Alright then," James said. "You guys go get with the rest of your class. I have to get to History of Magic."
He separated from them and walked in Courtney's direction.
"Hey," she said to him. "Can we talk?"
"Well, my tour took less time than I thought, so sure. What do you need?"
"You told me, through Albus, that 'the Light' was coming. I checked it out, and apparently it's just a rumor. Not real. And if it were real, your granddad would probably be a traitor. So what exactly do you know about this 'Light'?"
James took out his wand. "Muffliato. Can't be too careful. Alright, to be honest, I don't know much. What I do know is that the Aurors have been finding a bunch of messages and signs, all saying the same thing. The Light is coming. I didn't know what the Light was but I had a gut feeling it was important, so I told my friends and had Albus do the same."
"So Lynne knows too?"
"And so does Natalya, and probably Malfoy too. So what do you mean about my grandfather being a traitor?"
"Apparently, the Light is a group of Muggles - an imaginary group made up by rich purebloods - who want to kill wizards just because they can. If it is real, though, they'd have to have help from wizards and apparently Arthur Weasley is the most likely suspect." Courtney paused in thought. "Although… if it's just messages and signs saying the Light is coming, then there's a good chance that those were written by the same rich purebloods to make it seem like they were coming."
"It's a possibility," James admitted. "But you know, worst-case scenario-"
"The worst-case scenario is the one we need to prepare for," she agreed.
