Hogwarts Year 5
Chapter 11
Luna Lovegood had been keeping a low profile since the year had started. The Ravenclaw quarters is where she still stayed so her clothes wouldn't go missing even though Harry had shown her how to prevent that. She even still took advanced classes with the fifth years instead of with her fourth year classmates. She had been surprised when she had been asked to take the more advanced healing classes, and she enjoyed them, but her academic goal was Magical Creatures. Not necessarily the made-up ones she talked about but the unusual ones that hadn't been seen in many years, many thought to be extinct. Luna laid there in bed thinking about the past summer, the attack on Ginny in the States, and the attack on the students this past Christmas.
The previous summer had been very interesting, she had been able to take more classes in the mind arts and had been told she seemed gifted in those techniques or disciplines. Her instructor had said she was better than Harry Potter in some things, her mental shields seemed to be natural and not constructed. She had finally gotten to the point where she was allowed to use the small computer to do Arithmancy calculations which made it so much easier. Her spell crafting classes had been very rewarding and she had learned a lot, but Hermione still did better at taking a spell apart. Now Harry had fixed it so she could again use the computer here at Hogwarts, even if it was only down in the chamber, and her homework in Arithmancy was easier to complete. She hadn't had to ask Hermione for near as much help this year, and to think she had graduated from Peaks. She had talked with the career counselors at Peaks and found her "calling" so to speak, she was going to become a med-witch specializing in the mind and also continue to look for the "lost" creatures of the world.
Luna's thoughts drifted back to the attack, if you could call it that, while they were at Disney World Ginny had been attacked by some muggle boys. Why had they chosen Ginny and not her? Sure Ginny was better looking and better developed, but Luna thought she had a good personality. Luna's mother hadn't been very heavy on top but she did have a nice figure, at least to Luna. Luna wondered if she could have handled those boys without getting hurt. She knew as much magic as Ginny, maybe even more as she had extra training. But everyone seemed to forget about her.
Luna thought about the last two big events at Hogwarts, the werewolf attack and the attack just before Christmas. She had been involved in both events, she had covered Harry and Neville's backs both times. Sure she had been hurt the last time but it was just a few minor cuts and bumps. She had even saved one student from being seriously injured thanks to her shield that deflected a Reducto curse.
Luna also thought about mates, she wasn't really interested in a mate right now. Sure Harry had Hermione, Neville had Susan, and Ron now had Daphne. Luna had at one time thought about getting together with Ron but he proved to be so shallow, and all of that couldn't have been caused by the spells found on him this past summer as he had been that way for much longer. No, a boyfriend wasn't needed right now, she enjoyed the company of the others to much to tie herself down with a boyfriend. Much less think about a mate for life, though Harry was really nice looking and kind to her.
~X~X~X~
In a cave somewhere in south Scotland or possibly northern England Lucius Malfoy felt something strange, the wards at Malfoy Manor had changed, Lucius could no longer feel the wards like he should. Then he realized what had happened, Draco had taken over the wards! It had to be, as Draco was the only one who could take over the wards since he was the only other male Malfoy besides Lucius. Suddenly Lucius was knocked to the ground as the wards completely left him. Lucius felt himself panic for a moment the wards hadn't just transferred to Draco they had been destroyed. Was Draco helping the ministry, had he turned against his own father? The Master had to be informed of this event, there were plans to occupy Malfoy Manor and use it as a base. But if Draco had gone over to the ministry then this could mean much trouble.
Lucius had just spoken to Draco a few weeks ago and everything seemed fine. Draco had told him about his mother being arrested and that the manor was empty and unattended. Draco had been upset since he had to spend the Christmas holidays at school. They had worked out a way for them to communicate, Lucius had told Draco what to look for in his mail so he would know when to meet again. But the change in the wards seemed to indicate that something had happened, either to Draco or because of Draco.
~X~X~X~
Elsewhere in England at a private school a young boy about 15 years of age was in trouble. He was facing three bigger boys and they wanted his money. Dudley wasn't the fat slob he used to be, he was in much better shape physically. But mentally he was a mess ever since that attack by those Dementors and finding out he wasn't as "normal" as he and his dad thought. Dudley had magic! Just like Harry and mom, he just didn't know how to use it and it sure would be nice to have that use right now.
Wait, he used to be a bully so he knew how they thought, if he put up a big enough resistance then they would leave him alone. If he was able to take out the leader then nobody would bother him again. One of the boys reached out to grab Dudley and got a surprise, instead of backing away as usual this kid attacked. The fist to the jaw of the larger boy was a surprise, the fact that the boy fell to the ground was even a bigger surprise to his partners. The second boy was a little more cautious in his attempt to gain control of this kid, then his world exploded in a world of pain and his leg gave out. The third boy, the leader, decided that maybe this kid was worth recruiting into his gang; the offer was refused. Before the third boy could get his head on straight one of the instructors came up and pinned him to the wall while telling the younger kid to go get some help. This wasn't good, this time he might be expelled or worse sent to the police.
The Headmaster and two more teachers came up as well as the school nurse. Anthony, the gang leader, watched as the nurse examined the two boys on the ground. The first boy had a cracked jaw, the second boy might require surgery to his knee, and the boy they had tried to rob needed a plaster on a skinned knuckle. That was when Anthony found out that cameras had been installed and school security had seen the whole thing. The first two boys were taken away in an ambulance, Anthony got to ride in a small car with the little blue light flashing on top. Dudley, he was taken to the infirmary to be given something for his nerves and to have his parents called.
~X~X~X~
In a small house in a suburb of London Petunia Dursley answered the phone. She was told that her son Dudley had been in a fight and that the nurse thought it best that he spend a few days at home to get his nerves calmed down. Dudley wasn't injured, except for a skinned knuckle, but his nerves were very frayed. Petunia didn't have any way to get the boy home since Vernon was out of town at some conference; so she called Lucy, but Lucy wasn't home and would be given the message when she returned.
Petunia went over to see Mrs. Figg, she had been there when Dudley was attacked by those Dementors and had seen them. Maybe she could contact someone to help, but not Dumbledore. Mrs. Figg was able to contact the Headmistress who sent Lucy over to see what was wrong. Lucy and Petunia went to get Dudley and Lucy promised to check him over right well as soon as they got home.
Once back at #4 Privet Dr. Lucy checked Dudley out and could find nothing to worry about until Dudley said something about nightmares. Dudley said he had been dreaming about the Dementor attack and it scared him more each time. Dudley was given a Dreamless Sleep potion and put to bed, Lucy told Petunia that she would see if maybe Dudley could be seen by a healer from St. Mungo's since Dudley was classified as magical now.
~X~X~X~
Alana was due at any time, since it was the last week of March, to start the setup of the time compression wards. Harry had gone to fetch Alana and several people were surprised when instead of just one person Harry returned with two people, Alana and Grimstead, along with a small amount of luggage. The arrival point was the chamber, from there they would go to the site and Alana would return to the chamber each night to rest. Alana and Grimstead were introduced to those who didn't know them, like McGonagall and Flitwick, and they placed their luggage in their rooms before being given a brief tour of the chamber.
Once everyone was ready, everyone going to the site were given portkeys and away they went. The people going were McGonagall, Alana, Grimstead, Harry, and Hermione; Harry and Hermione were going so they could learn how to do the wards, and to compare those to the ones they had done in the chamber, so they could re-enforce them if needed or repair them. When they arrived they were met by Kingsley and Amelia, the group took a quick tour of the boundaries so Alana and Grimstead would know what was where. The control for the time compression was to be installed in the main office.
The setup would take almost all week due to the size of the project, plus Grimstead had an idea that he wanted to try, he wanted to try inserting a variable time control so the ward would have more than one setting. The first day was spent deciding where certain runes would have to be placed on the boundary walls of the site as they had to be spaced very exactly. The second day was the start of the insertion of the runes, these runes would be "painted" on the inside wall of the fence for now and once every thing worked then the runes would be carved into the stone in a semi-permeate way.
By the fourth day they were ready to test the setup, the test failed due to an incorrect rune which was replaced but took time to locate. Once the bad rune was replaced, or corrected, the test passed. Now it was time to try Grimstead's idea to add a variable time span to the construction. It took several tries but by the end of the sixth day the setup worked as far as they could tell, the time span was adjustable from 2:1 to 30:1 (compressed time to real time) using switchable runes. Alana and Grimstead had asked if they might be allowed to stay over a few days to see how they could help Hogwarts and see how the school functioned under McGonagall.
On Sunday March 31st all the new trainees were gathered at the training site, the compression would be started at 1201am on April 1st so everyone had to be in place before that time. That night at supper Alana and Grimstead were introduced to the students of Hogwarts as visiting professors from the States. Most of the students though Grimstead was disabled since he had to use a walking stick, but they would soon find out he wasn't and the walking stick was a staff. The two visitors were put up in guest accommodations at the castle for the length of their stay.
Alana wanted to spend time in Transfigurations of course but Grimstead just wanted to walk around and see many of the different classes. The students in Defense were privy to a real treat; Grimstead faced off against Sirius in a mock duel, Sirius lost as he had nowhere near the power of Grimstead and his staff. In seventh year potions Grimstead challenged the students to breakdown a powder and tell him what it contained and what it could be used for. Slughorn thought this was a rather nice challenge, but soon changed his mind when he couldn't answer the question himself and was told that the compound had been done by a fifth year student at Peaks. Slughorn was amazed when Grimstead gave him a 30cc vial of basilisk venom and a 10cc vial of acromantula venom to "play" with.
It had to happen, Draco ran afoul of both visitors to Hogwarts. The first incident was at breakfast when the mail came, Grimstead had been walking past when Draco opened a letter and Grimstead heard the incantation Draco used on the letter. Draco jumped when Grimstead's hand was placed on his shoulder and he was told that it must be a fairly unimportant message since it used such a poor spell to reveal it. Draco made the mistake of pulling his wand only to see it broken by Grimstead. When Grimstead said that the wand was not very powerful Draco got even angrier. Grimstead said he would have the wand replaced, but the young man should know better than to pull a wand against an unknown opponent.
Draco insulted Alana while in Transfiguration class who had taken over the class for McGonagall as the Headmistress had something to do. Alana had been talking about animagus transformation when Draco was heard to say something to the effect that she didn't have a clue about the subject. "Mr. Malfoy, since you seem to think you know this subject so well please come to the front of the class and enlighten us by repeating your statement and showing the class the correct way to transform. I'm sure you can do better than myself since I've only been teaching this subject for 30 years and have more than one form" Alana said. Draco was stuck, if he repeated his statement he was in trouble and if he didn't do as requested he was in trouble.
Draco walked to the front of the class and repeated his statement but not the same way. Alana then did something unexpected, "I know this is Transfiguration but I think this is the perfect time to show you a little charm work. This charm has the same effect as most so called 'truth' serums or potions. The biggest difference is that it doesn't take as long to prepare" Alana said as she waved her wand. Draco suddenly stood up straighter and repeated his original statement, much to his embarrassment.
It was during this visit that Grimstead got to spend time with Harry and Hermione to catch up. Both Grimstead and Alana had been very surprised to see the kids using electricity in the chamber, and they missed it in the rooms upstairs. Grimstead was especially pleased to see the ritual room Harry had access to and even used it himself a time or two. But, now it was Sunday and time for Harry to return the two visitors to the States.
A/N: Okay, the training site is up and running, Hogwarts has had a visit from another Headmistress and the results of that visit will be in the next chapter.
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