It was early October, and Archer was doing a mental review of his Master's class. Harry Potter himself was quite good at the dueling practice. In the free-for-alls he rallied his friends and lead admirably. In particular the boy seemed to have an iron will. It was allowing him to stay conscious long enough after being hit by a stunner to wash away some of the enchantment by circulating his od. Honestly it was more of a novelty than anything else since Archer didn't think that in a real fight he'd be attacked with non-lethal magic or that a Death Eater's spell would have the same amount of energy behind it as a teenager's. Still, it was good practice and would be helping his ability to multi-task. Harry's dreams continued to be about the goblin bank, so Archer was convinced that was their next move.
At Harry's suggestion, they'd told Hermione. The girl had delivered him an essay on Goblins and their society. Goblin morals seemed to be very possessive in nature. They despised thieves, and elevated craftsmen. It was odd that they considered whomever created an object to be its owner, and that anyone else could only 'rent' it. Archer had read the history of the Sword of Gryffindor, and now some of its abilities made more sense. Goblin steel was a interesting substance. Archer thought that calling it a Conceptual Weapon wouldn't be too far off the mark. It was 'Greedy'. If the steel could absorb something that made it stronger, it did so. If not, it repelled it. His traced copies had proven quite valuable. It was possible to 'add' a weapon to the sword in the same way he'd placed Dhu al-Fiqar into Harry. The sword would absorb 'Concepts' easily, but in the end it was a shadow of a copy. its 'Greedy' nature wouldn't allow for a concept with more power than the sword itself.
Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were the two best students in his class. Harry's friend was insatiable for knowledge. Her N.E.W.T. required reports on dark creatures were some of the most comprehensive documents he'd read. She'd make a fine textbook author, with the one flaw in that she'd probably run out of pages in the first chapter. Archer could tell she was a hard-worker. Her natural talents didn't lend themselves to Reinforcement, but her constant practice had paid off. She and Draco were the only two students who could add enough prana to damage an object, and they were also the only ones to be able to sense that limit. It was tempting to teach them Human Reinforcement. That technique was the pinnacle of the craft. Reinforcing your body was dangerous, but powerful. Most mages disdained it for its high-risk and relatively low reward. Of course most mages didn't get into combat very often. Increasing your speed, power, and durability was what allowed a 3rd rate magic user to stand up to some of the true monsters in the world.
Of all the students, Draco had the most control. Archer surmised the Malfoy heir must have excellent quality magic circuits. The boy was quite attentive about the Heroic Servant's techniques. After almost every class, Draco would hang back to ask about details for how to use Reinforcement or what was possible to do with it. It was clear that Harry and Draco didn't get along. The Malfoys were well known supporters of Voldemort, and Draco's father had been sent to Azkaban. In the end, he was just a child and Archer wanted to save him. Heck, Archer had wanted to save Shinji, and his old classmate was a much worst person from a much darker family. Whatever the Malfoys had done, it didn't compare to the worm pit of the Matous.
Nights in London had become quiet. At the start of the term, there had been a sudden influx of dark creatures. Archer got the sense the Voldemort was testing his presence and trying to determine his whereabouts in the city. To counter this, Archer had been moving around. He always kept Diagon Alley within his sight, since that basically was the wizarding presence in London. Dumbledore had told him that Voldemort had been making attacks on wizards in the countryside. There didn't seem to be any reason for it aside from boosting the morale of his troops and weakening that of the magic-using public. Apparently Archer's actions had become infamous, and were being played up by the Ministry of Magic. The witch he'd saved at the start of summer was now Minister and she'd sent him several letters of thanks and formal request for a meeting in the hopes that the two of them could work together. Archer had replied that her thanks were unnecessary, and that he planned on keeping Voldemort out of Diagon Alley at night. The Heroic Spirit was limited to stopping obvious threats, but that seemed sufficient to bolster the morale of the public. It was ironic that a vigilante was being treated as a hero. Archer knew it would change after the war. He'd be vilified, but that didn't matter. He'd do whatever it took to save as many people as possible. If they condemned him for it - well, that was a price he'd paid in life. He was willing to pay it in death too.
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"What a prat!"
Harry wanted to disagree with Ron, but couldn't. Cormac McLaggen was a prat. "If it was just that he always talked, or if he was just smug, or if he just gave unsolicited advice to other players, or if he just had a bad temper...if it was only one of those I could stand him." Harry added his complaints to Ron's.
"Right? You lot had it easy though! I'm the git's backup keeper. He spent more than an hour going into detail about how much better than me he was."
"Maybe he'll mellow out?" Harry didn't have much hope for that though. McLaggen was arrogant, aggressive and self-righteous.
"Fat chance. He's even worse than Malfoy. If I'd just blocked that final shot..."
"I wish you were the keeper and McLaggen was off the team."
"You could do that y'know..." Ron nudged him then shook his head. "I'm just messing with ya man. Can you imagine having him as your backup? He'd drive me barney in a week!"
"I could just kick him out, but that's not being fair. I wanted people to be on the team by merit alone, but you're every bit as good as him. How about we have position try outs after every game? No one could complain about it then."
"People do get better over the season. Look at Galvin Gudgeon. Last season he fell off his broom in every game at the start, but by the end of it - it was just every other game." Harry didn't think that the Seeker from Ron's favorite quidditch team really made the best example, but his friend had a point.
"I bet you'd be able to block a hundred shots in a row in the next tryouts!"
"A-A hundred? Uhm, yeah! Just leave it to me!" The slight shade of green that Ron had turned belied his words.
The two boys hiked back towards the castle. quidditch practice had only taken 3 hours, but it felt like it had been days. Harry wondered what Wood would've done with a player like Cormac. "Probably not let him on the team in the first place." He mumbled. On the bright side, McLaggen's abrasive personality had brought him and Ron together again. Ron's mood had improved dramatically after their talk with Hagrid and Archer's revelations. The two of them continued to bond over their mutual dislike of their current Keeper. Ron and Hermione were being civil with each other, but Ron's distaste for their newest Defense Professor was still plain to see. Harry though that Ron might be jealous - thinking about how Hermione had acted around Lockhart.
The sun was setting, so Harry was surprised to see two of his teammates still outside. Ron had helped him put away the equipment, but it looked like they'd managed to catch up to Ginny and Dean. The pair were holding hands and walking slowly. The fiery haired girl's laugh rang out across the lawn.
"What's so funny, eh?" Ron scowled at the pair.
Ginny turned around at the noise. "Oh, Dean was just doing an impression of Cormac. It was hilarious! Do it for them Dean."
Dean's smile was bright against the surrounding darkness. In a deep-pitched voice he said: "Did I ever tell you about the time I caught the Quaffle and used it to score? Well, the opposing team had its beaters out of position. So I threw the Quaffle at one of the Bludger's that was heading the other way. I got the angle just right and the Bludger shot the Quaffle through the other team's goal! I'm so awesome that I can defend and score at the same time!"
"Why would you want to talk about that git? Wasn't spending practice with him enough?" Ron was eyeing Dean and Ginny's hands. It was if he wanted to use sheer force of will to make them separate.
"Oh, like you weren't talking about him. I can't believe he made the team. If SOMEONE had blocked my shot, then we might not have to put up with him!" Ginny had moved to be in Ron's face - dragging a helpless Dean behind her.
"Well, if YOU had scored on him, then we wouldn't have him either!"
"Like it's hard to block just one person! Actually, for some people it probably is. I got past you well enough didn't I?"
"Hey, let's just take it easy." Harry tried to get between the two siblings.
"I would say you should just drop him Harry, but then we'd be left with my bone-head brother for Keeper." In an impressive display of a lack of maturity, Ginny stuck her tongue out at Ron.
"Who you calling bone-head, you, you... trollop?"
"WHAT did you call me?" Ginny shrieked.
"Hey..." "Let's..." Harry and Dean's attempts to calm the duo down were drowned out.
"You heard me!"
"C'mon Dean. Let's go!" Ginny pulled Dean's arm as she turned and marched back to the Great Hall. The dark-skinned boy looked apologetically over his shoulder, and gave a small wave with his free hand.
"I can't believe her! If Fred and George were here, she'd never be acting so brazenly!"
"If Fred and George were here, McLaggen would be turned into a canary by now."
"Hey, that's a good point. You think Zonko's will have Canary Creams tomorrow?"
"Not unless Fred and George are selling to the competition just to cause havoc...so maybe?"
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Harry, Ron, and Hermione were walking out of the Gryffindor common room on their way to Hogsmeade. Upon exiting the portal, Harry saw a translucent Archer waiting for him.
'What are you doing here?'
'I'm going to follow you to Hogsmeade.'
'What? Why?'
'A Servant is their Master's sword and shield. I would be a poor excuse for a Heroic Spirit if I let you wander around unprotected.'
Harry glared at his Defense Professor. He'd been looking forward to going to Hogsmeade and getting away from everyone for a bit. Archer returned his stare with a dispassionate gaze. 'Fine.'
'It's not like you could've stopped me in any case.' The unseen teacher had fallen into step behind the trio. 'You can still do whatever it is you were planning on. I'm sure I don't care one whit what teenagers do in their off-time.'
Harry believed that Archer meant what he said. That still didn't mean he was going to go on a date with the Servant hovering around him. Of course, Harry didn't have anyone to go on a date with. Ginny was with Dean, and he still wasn't talking to Cho Chang. The though of his love life's situation depressed Harry, and he let out a long-suffering sigh.
"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, nothing. Archer's following us."
"Professor Archer is here?" Hermione glanced around quickly. "He's etherial isn't he?" Harry nodded. "Well why doesn't he just come with us in person?"
Harry glanced up at his Servant. Archer shrugged rolled his eyes. The next moment the Heroic Spirit was in his physical form again. "I was trying to stay out of the way, but I suppose no one can fault a Professor from accompanying the Boy-Who-Lived."
"Right, well, let's go." If Ron was a little snappish, Harry and Hermione had decided not to notice. Harry had never had a family, but he could imagine how disconcerting having a little sister dating might be. Since it was Ginny, Harry was experiencing many of the same emotions as Ron.
The trip to Hogsmeade was rather uneventful. Hermione and Archer had talked about goblins. Ron was off in his own world. Harry was worried about what he was going to do with the quidditch team. "So Harry, had any more dreams lately?" Harry jerked at being suddenly pulled into the conversation.
"Er, no. It's just riding in mine cars, opening a vault, and finding a golden cup. Nothing really stands out." In truth, Harry had stopped using the Blade of Dreams every night. The Gringott's dream wasn't very exciting, and nothing changed with subsequent viewings. Archer made a non-committal sound.
"Harry! Harry!" Outside of Hogsmeade, two small students in Gryffindor robes came running up to the group. Harry recognized Colin Creevey and his brother, Dennis.
"Hi Colin. What's up?"
The excitable boy was flustered. "I came with my brother early since this is his first year to get to visit Hogsmeade. After we walked around for a bit, I noticed that my wand was missing! I went back to Hogwarts, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I think I dropped it somewhere. Do you think you could help?"
Harry looked around at his friends. "Sure Colin. Where did you go?"
"Let's see, we first went to Honeydukes, then we went to Dervish & Banges, then Spintwitches, then they turned us away from The Hog's Head, then we stopped by Zonko's, finally we went to The Three Broomsticks. That was when I noticed my wand was gone!"
"Did you have it this morning?" Hermione asked.
Colin sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Uhm...I don't remember. I was in a big rush!"
"It's my fault." Dennis spoke up. "I was so excited to come to Hogsmeade that I woke Colin up extra early. If I hadn't rushed him in the morning, or if I hadn't run all over the place, none of this would've happened." The young 3rd year student looked to be on the verge of tears.
"Don't worry. We'll help you find it. Right?" Harry looked at his friends.
"You got it mate! We'll find it in no time." Ron puffed out his chest.
"It could be anywhere though." Hermione had her head tilted. "It could be anywhere outside. I wouldn't want to start summoning wands. Can you imagine how rude it would be to try and summon a stranger's?"
"I'll check outside. Why don't all of you search inside?" After he spoke, Archer's form faded away. Harry saw his invisible Servant leap up onto the rooftops and start to look around.
"C'mon this'll be fun. You basically went to all the places we were planning on going, so we'll just look for your wand while we're there." Harry had lied a bit, they hadn't planned on covering as much of Hogsmeade that the Creeveys had. Dennis and Colin seemed to cheer up at his announcement though.
Honeydukes was packed as it normally was when Hogsmeade was invaded by underclassmen. Ron and Harry both bought extra-large sugar quills. There was no wand to be found, and the staff said they hadn't seen anything either. Dervish & Banges, Spintwitches, and Zonko's were all equally fruitless endeavors. Nobody had seen any lost wands floating around.
"Wotcher Harry!"
"Tonks!" The female auror was waving at them as she walked down the street. "What are you doing here?"
"I've been stationed here every since Minister Bones took charge." Tonk's hair was mousy brown and lank. Harry supposed she was still depressed over Sirius's death.
"Oh, I didn't know." Harry felt horrible. He hadn't been thinking about Sirius very much lately. Archer and the information about Voldemort's horcruxes had distracted him. It was like he was doing a disservice to his God-Father by not mourning him enough.
"Hey, cheer up! What's got the lot of you down anyways?" The auror looked between Harry's now depressed posture, and the downcast expressions of Colin and Dennis. Her words belied her appearance though. Tonks must have a hard time at poker when her hair was more expressive than anyone else's face.
"We're looking for Colin's wand." Hermione explained. "He lost it, and we're backtracking everywhere he went to try and find it."
"That's a bummer. Tell ya what, I'll keep an eye out for it. I'll also let the other aurors in Hogsmeade know to be on the lookout for it too."
"There's other aurors here?"
"One of the first things the Minister Bones did was to increase our presence around the countryside. Hogsmeade is the second biggest wizarding population outside of London - and the Death Eaters are too scared to go anywhere near Diagon Alley these days."
"I've read about some of that in the Prophet. So it's true that Death Eaters have shown up dead in the morning?" Ron looked excited.
"The aurors patrol during the day, and the London Vigilante handles the night."
"A vigilante?" Hermione frowned. "That doesn't sound any better than You-Know-Who."
"The Ministry's policy is to leave him alone as long as he doesn't do more than take out people that are about to cause trouble. Everyone who's been killed has been in full Deatheater's robes and gathered outside a shop or a home or was revealed to have the Dark Mark."
"But still..."
"We also have no idea how it's being done. What few witnesses we've managed to find have said that glowing bolts fall from the sky and strike all of them dead at the same time. I've never heard of a spell with that much power and range."
"What about innocent people under the Imperious Curse?"
"That's the hard part." Tonks frowned. "It's easy to look at the results and call the Vigilante a hero. People in London aren't scared anymore. It's been months, and not a single reported Death Eater attack. His methods are brutal though. If we weren't at war, such actions would have him sent to Azkaban or have him suffer the Dementor's Kiss. As it is, he's probably saved far more lives than he's taken."
"That's not much consolation to his victims is it?" Hermione countered. "If one of my friends was being controlled, I'd be devastated if they were killed. It's just wrong!"
Tonks shook her head. "It's not like we have any say in the matter. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that rot, right?"
"I guess."
"Anyways, I hope you find your wand. I'll be sure to keep an eye peeled." Tonks gave small smile and a wave, and continued her patrol.
There was only one place left in Colin's list, so they made their way to the inn. At The Three Broomsticks, the group sat down to have some refreshments by mutual consent.
"So what will it be folks?" Madam Rosmerta came up to the group after they'd claimed a table. After a chorus of 'Butterbeer', she left to get the requested drinks.
Upon her return, Harry spoke up. "Excuse me, have you seen a wand lying around here?"
"Oh, did one of you lose their wand? Sorry, but no one's turned anything like that in. I haven't seen any laying around either. I supposed someone might've come across it and run off with it, but most wizards would've turned something like that over to me. Not much point in a wand you just find lying around. Odds are it's not going to work so well for you. Ollivanders makes their own, so you'd have to go to Knockturn Alley to sell something like that. Doesn't seem worth it to me."
"Oh, well thanks anyways."
"No problem sweetie." The owner of the pub gave the group a large smile and then went over to a table containing Draco and Crabbe to clear away some extra bottles. From the look of things Malfoy and his lackey had been in the pub for a while.
"Sorry Colin." Harry comforted the young boy. "I'm sure we'll find it in your room or something."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Colin managed a weak smile, but Harry could tell he was nervous about what he was going to do without his wand.
"How about we head back early? It's still more than an hour before dinner, we could probably find it before then!"
"Really?" Colin perked up. "Sorry about all of this Dennis. I wanted your first Hogsmeade weekend to be special!"
"Don't worry about it!" Dennis looked up at his older brother. "I had a lot of fun! Even if we didn't find your wand, tromping all over the place to look for it felt like a quest!"
"That's the spirit." Hermione exclaimed.
After they'd finished their drinks and headed back to Hogwarts, Archer landed beside them. "There was no sign of a wand in or around the village. We should keep our eyes open on the way back, but I'm betting it'll show up in the castle."
"Thank you for looking for it Professor!"
"You're welcome Creevey" The rest of the trip was made in silence, as everyone was on the lookout for the missing wand.
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Archer followed his young charges. He was feeling quite energetic. Something had changed in the past few weeks. His bond with Hogwarts had grown weaker. The ancient castle didn't seem to be providing him prana as quickly as it once had, and at the same time his Independent Action duration was reduced. Also the 'taste' of power he received was different. It was darker and more sinister than it had been at first. He had expected this little field-trip to tire him out, especially since he had just come back from a long night of keeping vigil in London. Strangely, the time he spent in Hogsmeade seemed to empower him. It was likely the presence of his Master. Hogwarts may be the anchor that held him to this world, but Harry was still the reason he was able to persist at all. Archer's paranoid mind discounted the possibility that his connection to Hogwarts was just weakening. The most likely cause was the jinx on the Defense posting. There was nothing he could do about that. He'd known the risks of binding himself to something that was cursed. They would just have to defeat Voldemort before it became an issue.
There hadn't been anyone else coming back from Hogsmeade. Dinner was still more than an hour away, and it would make sense for the vacation day to be stretched as long as possible. As they approached the large doors to the Great Hall, there was a deafening explosion and a burst of prana. Archer traced Kanshou and Bakuya just in time to deflect the doors that had been blown towards the group. The Servant was buffeted with a wind filled with the shrapnel of destroyed tables. Archer's eyes were able to make out the individual pieces flying from the dining area. Most were small. They wouldn't fly very far once the bubble of air's momentum died out. Unfortunately, given the size of the Great Hall, that wouldn't be for a while. Even though he knew he was able to dodge by turning etherial, the thought of doing so and leaving someone else to be buffeted in his place never crossed Archer's mind. With no other recourse, the Heroic spirit shouted "Duck!" and imposed his body between the doorway and the group of students.
"What was that?" Ron shouted after the wind had died down.
"A bomb?" Harry guessed.
"A muggle bomb wouldn't work here. Remember, Hogwarts: A History says that electricity doesn't work on the school's grounds. I suppose a chemical reaction might work. Something unstable... like nitroglycerin perhaps?" Hermione's hair had been blown back from the explosion. She was trying to pat it down as she talked, but with little success.
"That doesn't matter right now." Archer spoke to the students behind him without taking his sight from the doorway. "If anyone was in the Great Hall, they'd be in critical condition." The Servant poured od into his eyeballs. Human Reinforcement was always a risky endeavor. When a smidgeon of extra od could leave you permanently crippled, normal magi would stay far away from the upper limit. Archer was someone who put the situation and others above his own wellbeing. Such a stance and a lack of other options had allowed him to progress further down the path of enhancing his own body than any other mage. Even without his class ability of Clairvoyance, eyes were simple. Other body parts had blood, tendons, cartilage, bone or other such things. The human eye was essentially a sphere of water. Fluid was a natural prana conduit, so filling one's eyes with od was surprisingly easy. As he strengthened his eyesight, Archer could make out the wreckage in the Great Hall. Whatever had happened, it had utterly destroyed the Head Table. Pieces of it were strewn about. The rest of the tables were intact, aside from a slight coating sawdust and being thrown against the walls. He couldn't make out any movement aside from the settling debris. If this was an ambush, then evacuating the kids would be the best move. If it was an attack on the school, the attackers could still be inside and it would be best to find a safe place to leave his students before pursuing them. In either case, there might be wounded. "Draw your wands. I'm going in. If you hear me give you the all clear, then all of you follow me."
Archer circulated his od. If there was an ambush ready then it'd probably be a magus that attacked him. Holding both Kanshou and Bakuya increased his resistance to magic, but if someone had broken into Hogwarts they were probably a magic-user of great skill and power and thus would be able to overcome his resistance. There was no sign of anyone in the hall. The dust from the explosion would work against anyone who was trying to hide themselves. Unless they became immaterial like he did, Archer was certain he'd notice the change in where the sawdust collided with them. The room will still. Sounds echoed throughout the castle as people flocked to the Great Hall - drawn by the explosion. A flash of fire erupted from where the center of the blast had occurred. Archer took a defensive stance, but the fire faded to show Dumbledore standing where his place at the table had been. His phoenix Fawkes rested on his shoulder, and in his good hand he held his wand. "Archer, what just happened?"
"Headmaster. About half a minute ago, I was returning from Hogsmeade with some students. As we were approaching the Great Hall, there was an explosion. I haven't seen anyone else in the hall or fleeing through the front doors." Archer sniffed the air. There wasn't the smell of ozone or chemicals that usually accompanied a technology-based bomb. The prana hanging in the air from the burst he'd felt also suggested a magical attack of some kind.
"Indeed. I shall have the House Heads gather everyone in their common rooms. The first order of business is to ensure every student is accounted for, then we shall begin a sweep of the castle. The wards did not tell me of an intruder, but considering the circumstances it would be foolish to not confirm that fact with our own eyes. Would you be so kind as to go down to the gates? Tell Mr. Filch that he's to bring the list of students who left for Hogsmeade to my office. Keep those who arrive in the meantime within the gates, but no further. I do not foresee this taking a great deal of time, but keep them safe until the school is secured."
"Of course." Archer dismissed his twin blades and left the ruined hall. Outside Harry, Ron, Hermione, Colin, and Dennis were looking around nervously with their wands drawn.
"Is everything alright Professor?" Hermione asked.
"Thankfully, the Great Hall was empty at the time of the explosion." At least there weren't any bodies in the rubble. Archer supposed the perpetrator could've shielded themselves and caused the explosion in person.
"So what do we do now?" Ron spoke up.
"We're to head back to the main gates and make certain nobody else goes inside until Hogwarts has been secured." The small troop of children followed the Servant back to the gates. Archer wanted to do more, but protecting his Master and his friends, and ensuring no innocent students wandered into a potential battle-zone was a good use of his time. The timing was also too convenient. No bomb would just so happen to blow up as they approached. There must've been a trigger, a link between the explosion and their proximity. Following that logic, it only made sense that the target was one of the students in his group. Harry Potter was the most likely, but he couldn't rule out any of the others. He'd have to make sure to keep an eye out for any more attempts on their lives.
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Draco's hands shook as he tried to pour polyjuice from his cauldron into a vial. The explosion had been too soon! Too soon and too big! Professor Archer had warned him about how dangerous overloading magical objects were, but Draco never imagined a simple wand would produce a blast of that magnitude. It had been the perfect plan. Steal a wand, which was pathetically easy to do with polyjuice. Then rig it to explode - that hadn't been too hard in theory. In the Junk Room, Draco had practiced with charging potions. He was already skilled at Reinforcing mundane objects, Professor Archer said so himself. Potions were a bit trickier, but they were the only expendable magical objects he could get his hands on. Their explosions had been promising, but nowhere near the size of the one in the Great Hall right now. The Boil-Cure Potion's explosion wasn't much stronger than a punch. Wit-Sharpening Potions didn't do much better. Polyjuice was hard to make, but its explosion was several times that of anything else. Draco didn't think it was lethal though. While it possessed more strength than the best confringo he could muster, betting that something like that could kill Dumbledore would have been foolish.
It also didn't help that potions had vastly erratic detonation times. With solid objects, Draco could feel the push back of Prana when they were about to burst. Potions always had too much give. He'd nearly lost a hand when he'd first started experimenting. The obvious solution was a wand. They were plentiful, magical, and easy to feel the prana inside because they were solid. Draco had been SURE the wand was on the brink, but that would take around 2 hours to explode. It would've taken out Dumbledore right at the feast. Wands were easy to hide too. A vial of a potion might be spotted by a House Elf, but a wand could be safely tucked away under the rug.
So why had it blown up? Creevey's wand had felt more...resistant to his od than other things. Had he pushed too much in? If the idea wasn't ridiculous, Draco would've sworn the wand was actively resisting him. It even felt like a small amount of prana alternately flowed into and out of the wand without any action on his part. Could it be the link between a wand and a wizard that daft fool Ollivander kept going on about? Draco certainly wasn't about to experiment with his own Hawthorn wand. The very thought of what would've happened if he'd been holding the make-shift bomb when it went off made his knees weak. He swore as he dropped the vial. If only Goyle's hands weren't so big and clumsy! Glancing around the room, he spied someone's used bathroom cup. Not the most sanitary of containers, but time was of the essence. He had planned for the polyjuice to wear off soon after he planted the wand. Now with the alarm raised, and Snape announcing that all students were to gather in the common room... Well, having two Dracos show up would be very suspicious. The potion splashed into the cup, and Draco added a hair he kept in a special bag. A quick Reinforcement increased its potency and prolonged its effect. Polyjuice was too valuable to waste. Holding his nose, Draco threw back the cup and choked down its contents. Goyle-juice tasted horrible! Even worse than regular polyjuice. Thankfully, he was already transformed, and wouldn't have to go through that again.
Goyle's form trudged down the stairs to the Slytherin common room. There were a sparse amount of students there. Slytherins didn't fear the Dark Lord, so most of them felt perfectly safe going to Hogsmeade. Thankfully, that included both Blaise and Theodore, so Draco had his dorm room to himself. There were only about two dozen other students milling around the common room when he arrived - most of them 1st and 2nd years.
"Everyone line up." Snape glared at him. Draco kept his face calm, and lumbered over to his fellow Slytherins. "Undoubtedly you've heard the explosion. You're to stay here while the professors sweep the castle." Snape stalked down the line of students, looking each of them in the eye. "Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir." Draco answered with the rest of the housemates, as he raised his Occulmancy shields. Just like his Aunt Bellatrix had taught him, Draco focused on how much better he was than everyone else. No one was as smart. No one was as influential. As a Malfoy he naturally towered above them all. They weren't human. Others were just pawns to used to further his own ambition. Snape's eyes bored into his, but Draco dismissed him completely. A pawn's legilimency couldn't touch a king's mind.
"You may think that you may go out and do what you like. That is not the case." Snape drawled. "If I find anyone of you used a potion as a prank to cause the destruction in the common room, being Slytherin won't save you from MY wrath." Draco suppressed a sigh of relief that he hadn't tried using a potion. Not that a boiling cauldron exploding would be a valid assassination method, but Snape might think it was a prank gone bad. It was too bad those Weasley twins weren't around anymore. They'd have been the perfect scapegoats for this fiasco.
Snape's cloak swirled around him as he turned to depart. The only Slytherins remaining in the room regarded each other with a cool detachment. Great, now he was going to sit around and act like Goyle. What excuse could he use to go back to his room and get more potion if he was kept here until the duration ran out? By Merlin's beard, how could this day have gone any worse? Draco supposed he should be thankful he hadn't been blown up. Overloading magical objects wasn't something he was going to try again, that was for sure. Maybe he should've gone with the cursed item idea.
