Chapter Eleven: Outreach
The next morning, the Four woke up together for the first time. Technically Hermione woke up first, but they were all awake very soon after that anyway - even Ron couldn't sleep through this level of exuberance from Hermione. The boys pretended to be angry at being woken, but they couldn't hide their own excitement for long. Soon enough they were all showered and dressed, and they gathered in their dorm room.
"Do you reckon we could get food sent up here?" said Harry hopefully. "I really don't fancy breakfast in the Great Hall right now, after last night."
Hermione nodded. "I agree. Plus, it'd be much quicker - we've got so much to do setting this place up!"
Ron shook his head slowly. "We probably could get food sent up, but we really shouldn't. Everyone's wondering what to think of us after last night, and if we hide away then they'll just make stuff up about us. This is... I mean, this time, these few days are critical. A week from now we could be heroes or we could be villains, or pretty much anything in between - what we do right now will make a huge difference to what the next few years are like for us. I don't want to go down either, but we really have to."
The others grumbled, but they knew he had a point. And so the Four entered the Great Hall at breakfast time that morning, nervous and unsure of their welcome. From Gryffindor and Hufflepuff they received a rousing cheer. From Slytherin they received a volley of hexes. The spells they deflected towards the ceiling, relying entirely on their trained reflexes, while looking for the perpetrators at the Slytherin table. There were no wands in sight there, and no Slytherin seemed willing to give away any information. As the three boys turned towards the Head Table, Hermione abruptly strode off ahead of them. They scurried to catch up, reaching her just before she stopped in front of Professor Snape.
"Professor Snape," she said loudly, "a dozen members of your House just attacked us."
Snape raised his eyebrows slightly. "Did you happen to notice which of my students these were, Miss Granger? There are rather a few, you see, and it would be terribly unfair to punish all of them."
Ron laid a warning hand on Hermione's shoulder, and Harry took up the case. "Priori Incantatem their wands, Professor."
Snape sneered. "Do you really expect me to violate my students' privacy for your sake, Potter? Surely even you can't be that dense."
Neville was already standing in front of Dumbledore and Flitwick, speaking quietly but urgently. A moment later, Albus Dumbledore raised his wand and cast a loud firecracker spell. Striding towards the Slytherin table, he bellowed furiously into the silence.
"All students, remain where you are. Slytherins, wands on the table in front of you. Now! All of you!"
A rain of wands fell upon the Slytherin table - not for nothing was the Headmaster the one wizard Voldemort feared, and to schoolchildren a furious Albus Dumbledore was genuinely terrifying. A handful, however, had tried their luck - casting his eye along the table, the ancient mage noted a number of students with bare table and guilty or defiant looks. His wand flickered in his hand and a hail of wands flew towards him, and those guilty and defiant looks were suddenly replaced with shock and simple fear.
The Headmaster smiled grimly. "Let us begin with those who have most to hide."
Everyone knew the old man's titles and what he had achieved in his life, and yet somehow it was all too easy to forget all that and think of him as nothing more than an eccentric old headmaster. It was all too easy, in short, to forget just how powerful and knowledgeable he truly was. He generally encouraged this, of course, but on this occasion he didn't bother to hide his power - he was the most powerful wizard in Britain, possibly the most powerful in the entire world, and there were limits to what he would tolerate in his school and in his presence. He stood tall and awful in a hall full of overawed children, as a dozen wands hovered in the air before him. He didn't cast Priori Incantatem as Harry had demanded of Snape - Dumbledore knew far subtler magicks than that, twitching his wand and muttering rapidly under his breath as everyone else in the Hall wondered what he could see. Barely ten seconds later, half of those wands flew back to their respective owners. The rest Dumbledore pocketed, before rattling off a list of names and striding out of the Hall.
Reaching a consensus with barely a shared glance, the Four hurried after their irate Headmaster; the named Slytherins followed far more reluctantly.
Hurrying up the spiral stairs behind Dumbledore, the Four entered his office as he sat down behind his desk.
"Thank you," said Neville quietly.
Dumbledore gestured abruptly, and the door slammed behind the Four.
"They forget, you know," said the old man quietly. "They forget the power I hold. Because I don't often use my magic to any great extent, they forget that I even have that option. Usually I prefer that state of affairs, but I promise you this: I will not stand idly by and let anyone attack you four with impunity. In you I see the future of Magical Britain, perhaps even of the entire magical world; I will not see you brought low by the jealousy of fools."
As the Four stared at him in shock, he settled back in his chair and resumed his accustomed avuncular persona. He flicked his wand and the door opened, and half a dozen terrified schoolchildren entered. Some hid their fear quite well under the circumstances - not for nothing were they Slytherin - but none of them had the courage to meet his eyes. They all gazed absently at their shoes as he spoke, and some even visibly winced at the pain in his voice.
"Mr Snow, I had hoped better of you. Have you learned nothing? Mr Malfoy, you had done so well at keeping yourself and your friends out of trouble. Mr Crabbe, Mr Goyle, must you really follow Mr Malfoy into every foolishness that takes his fancy? Mr Flint, I am forced to question your ability to act responsibly - be aware that your Quidditch captaincy hangs by a thread, young man, and think a great deal more carefully before you attempt any further mischiefs. And as for you, Mr Warrington, I must confess I do not understand your motive - are you truly willing to so degrade yourself for nothing more than some twisted notion of House loyalty? I had thought better of you."
He sighed, but his voice hardened as he continued.
"Understand, all of you, that these four children are the hope of Magical Britain. Our world is indeed crumbling around us - Voldemort was correct at least in that one particular - and even the purest blood is no defence whatever. I also cannot save our world, but these four children can. You seek to destroy them because they threaten your idea of how the world should work. Perhaps I cannot change your minds about that, but hear me well: they are under my protection. Unless you wish to challenge me directly, I must advise that you leave these four in peace.
"Each of you will give an apology at dinner tonight, in sight and sound of the entire student body. I shall be writing to all of your parents today. Mr Snow, you remain here at Hogwarts by the barest of margins - should you commit any further act against these children, whether directly or indirectly, you will leave and not return. Mr Flint, the same applies to your captaincy, and a further offence of this magnitude would also see you expelled. Mr Warrington, the same goes for your position as Chaser and indeed for your position as a student here at Hogwarts. Mr Malfoy, your standing here is threatened only by your foolish vendetta against these four students. Leave them alone, and I wish you all the best in the rest of your school career. Attack them again, and even your father will not be able to protect you. I do sincerely hope that you are wise enough to turn away from this self-destructive path. Mr Crabbe, Mr Goyle, you must stand accountable for your own actions. Should Mr Malfoy prove unable to resist his jealous impulses, and should you be unable to hold him back, you must at least turn aside and save yourselves. I know, dear boys, that you do no more wrong than what your Mr Malfoy demands of you; still I will not hesitate to expel you from Hogwarts, should you ever attack these students again. Be warned!"
The massive oaken door opened again at a gesture from the Headmaster, and six thoroughly cowed children slunk out and down the spiral staircase - their wands appeared suddenly in their hands, but not one of them was foolish enough to even consider casting anything now. No scheming now, no plotting to avenge their humiliation - all were reduced to scrambling for simple survival, and well they knew it. They had gambled heavily on the anonymity and loyalty of the Slytherin table, and they had lost spectacularly. They truly had forgotten the powers of their Headmaster, or at the very least they had assumed that he would not bring those powers to bear.
In the sudden quiet of the Headmaster's office, the Four exchanged thoughtful glances. After a long pause, it was Dumbledore who broke the silence.
"Well done, you four. You defended yourselves admirably in the moment, and then did very well in dealing with the situation. I am particularly impressed by your ability to recognise that you needed assistance, and the very effective way in which you went about obtaining that help. Mr Potter and Miss Granger, although Professor Snape proved unwilling to help you, you were right to ask him first - in so doing, you completely avoided the outrage which he would have presented had you bypassed him entirely. Mr Weasley, by restraining Miss Granger you likewise denied Professor Snape any pretext for criticising you. Mr Longbottom, I was indeed the correct person to ask once Professor Snape was excluded - the situation called for swift and decisive action, and Professor McGonagall is rather too cautious a soul for such. So again, well done all of you.
"Now, before I release you to your breakfasts, I feel I must reiterate one thing; it is vitally important that you know this. I was entirely serious in saying that you are under my protection. I beg of you that you come to me immediately with any concerns about your safety, as well as any requests in connection with your studies. I shall aid you as far as I am able. And, once you have all passed your OWLs, I have some highly restricted information that I shall share with you."
This time the Four entered the Great Hall to a sudden hush. The Slytherin table was in any case markedly subdued, with so many of its more radical souls now trembling on the brink of destruction - a few slow learners were talking sedition, but even they only dared it in the quietest of murmurs. The other three Houses were wildly curious, so of course all conversation cut off abruptly as the Four entered. The Four, for their part, continued to talk quietly amongst themselves as they walked to the Gryffindor table and sat down. They knew they had a role to perform, and they had decided to do just that.
The Weasley Twins were the first to approach, looking almost shy as they sat down on either side of the Four. Correctly judging the Four, the Twins wasted no time - their delivery might be grandiose, but they still made their point very quickly.
"Hi, I'm Fred, and this is my brother George - we'll pretend for now that Ron is not in fact our little brother, since quite frankly he bears very little resemblance to the brother we remember growing up with. Anyway, we've recently noticed that you lot are exceptionally interesting for firsties - heck, you're a fascinating phenomenon no matter what your age. We have some extracurricular interests that we believe might pique your interest, and we believe that cooperation might be mutually beneficial. Might you perhaps be amenable to such an offer?"
The Four exchanged glances, and Hermione was elected spokesperson. She smiled innocently as she let her inner whimsy out to play.
"Pigs in pokes, gentlemen, pigs in pokes - I'm afraid I must ask for a great deal more information, beginning for that matter with any information at all, before I can even consider entering my merry little band into any sort of unholy alliance."
The other Twin, George, threw up his hands in mock despair. "Dear lady, you do most grievously wrong us! This is no blood-soaked horror that we claim, but merely knowledge. Is that not a lure to your wits, Miss Granger?"
Hermione grinned. "Speak more, good sir - say on."
George murmured something and twitched his wand, and the Four suddenly had a very faint buzzing in their ears. Fred took up the tale, all trace of humour dropping from his face like a mask.
"Right, no one else can hear us now - very useful spell, that one. Anyway, let's get serious. We're masters of pranking, everyone knows that, but what no one seems to realise is how much research goes into the things we make and do. We may not look like it, but we really do work hard at the stuff we care about. We love Potions, which is pretty funny when it's taught by that greasy git Snape. And by funny, I mean not at all funny in any way - honestly, you have no idea how frustrated we are. We know that rules and restrictions have a way of bending around you four, and we're hoping that you could help us. We can teach you a lot about Potions, and whatever else we know that you haven't already learned. Is there any way you could get us out of Snape's classes, do you think? We also love Charms and Transfiguration, but that's fine - we like Flitwick and McGonagall, and they actually let us learn decently."
The Four paused for thought, and nearly a full minute passed in silence before Neville spoke.
"Well, I'm the Potions person in the group, and I'd be happy to have your help. Come with us after breakfast, and we'll talk to Flitwick and Dumbledore - I think we can work something out."
The Twins beamed and disappeared, leaving the Four to finish their breakfast in peace.
When the Four had finished eating, they walked over to where Dumbledore and Flitwick were chatting at the Head Table. The tiny Professor beamed to see them, and the Headmaster smiled beatifically. Neville spoke first.
"Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, could we speak to you in private after breakfast?"
Flitwick shook his head. "I'm afraid I have class. One moment."
He murmured something, and they suddenly had a faint ringing in their ears - almost exactly like being underwater, at least in that regard.
"No one can now overhear us - this particular charm is based on people rather than location, so the only people who can hear us right now are those whom I specifically allowed: myself, the Headmaster, you four, and of course the Weasley Twins. Was I correct in including them? Oh, and I will teach you that spell sometime - it's also very useful for communicating across modest distances."
The Four all nodded, and the Twins joined them.
"Now," said Flitwick, "what can I do for you all?"
"Well, Professor," said Neville, "after our first Charms lesson you mentioned these two to us as Potions prodigies. Apparently they see themselves in much the same way, and they feel that Professor Snape is sabotaging their education. They've offered to tutor us and work with us, and they really want to get out of Snape's classes. Could we give them access to our Potions lab instead, and take advantage of their offer?"
Fred and George interjected in unison, "You have your own Potions lab?"
Neville grinned. "As of last night, yes. We haven't set it up yet, though - want to help us do that today?"
As the Twins nodded enthusiastically, Dumbledore brought them back to the issue at hand. "I see no particular reason not to allow these two access to your laboratory, if that is your wish, and I give permission for them to withdraw from Professor Snape's classes. I would merely caution them that they will still be required to pass Professor Snape's examinations at the end of each school year."
The Twins grabbed each other and danced a jig, singing "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! Also, thank you!"
The two professors smiled tolerantly, and the Four just laughed, before Flitwick canceled the privacy charm and the six students headed for the Gryffindor tower. As they reached the bottom of the boys' stairs, Fred asked the obvious question.
"Um, where are we going? Where exactly is your Potions lab?"
Ron grinned. "Top level, brother mine, top level - it's all ours now, and we're turning one of the rooms into a Potions lab."
That stopped both Twins dead in their tracks.
"You have a floor to yourselves?" said Fred incredulously. "Your own study area? Really? Um... Do you sleep there too?"
Hermione chimed in, sounding quite smug. "Yes, yes, yes, and yes."
That silenced the Twins until they all reached the top level, where it was clear that one room was a dorm and the rest was empty.
"You share a dorm with the boys, Hermione?" said George dubiously.
Hermione shrugged. "It doesn't really matter - we're a team, you know, and we're far too young to worry about that sort of nonsense anyway."
George dropped the subject, though he was still amazed that the professors had allowed it. Conversation turned to other things, and between them (albeit with significant house elf assistance) they fitted out one of the rooms as a proper Potions lab.
The room had originally been intended to hold beds and belongings for five boys - it might not be as big as a normal classroom, but it was still quite large. There was now an unbreakable-charmed bench running all around the walls (broken only by the door and the ingredients cupboard), with ten Potions workstations around it. Each had two flame sources (actually rune-tiles) and plenty of working space, and there were unbreakable glass shields separating each station from its neighbours. Above each station was the magical equivalent of a muggle exhaust fan - specifically, a rune-tile maintaining something similar to an Air Freshening Charm. Each station also had movable light sources - somewhat like muggle lamps, except that the globes could be moved around and simply hung in mid-air. The six students had chosen to leave the centre of the room clear so that they could quickly move from one station to any other. By lunchtime they were all satisfied with their new Potions lab, as they trooped down to the Great Hall in fine spirits.
At lunch the Four were besieged by their former classmates, the Twins having vanished for whatever reasons of their own. While eating their respective meals, the Four did their best to answer the endless cascade of questions from the other students. It was rather tiring, but they had decided that they would prefer the other students to at least tolerate them - not that they needed extra friends or had any real concerns now for their safety, but they did realise that reputation still mattered. Hence they patiently answered questions all through their lunch break, even when students from Ravenclaw and even Hufflepuff started gathering and adding their own queries. By the time they finally stood up and left the table, they had firmly established their status as admirable exceptions to most of the rules and expectations of Hogwarts - they considered that a job well done. They walked by the Head Table on their way out of the Hall and asked Professor Flitwick to come up to their level of Gryffindor tower after his afternoon class, to which he readily agreed.
At Neville's suggestion, the Four went from the Great Hall to the infirmary. There they met Madam Pomfrey, who was rather surprised to see four healthy students visiting an empty infirmary.
"Well, no need to ask who you are, and I dare say you know exactly who I am. What can I do for you?"
Neville took a half-step forward. "We've just set up a private Potions lab, and we've got an hour or two to kill. What potion would you most like another ten cauldrons of? Anything at all, except that we'll need to have enough ingredients for that quantity and it has to be something we can brew before the next class is over."
Madam Pomfrey thought for a very brief moment - she knew her stores. "I'm not entirely sure it's not beyond your skills right now, but I'm nearly out of Blood-Replenishing Potion. I'll have to send you to Diagon Alley for ingredients, but you can Floo directly to the Apothecary from here in that case. Here, let me write a list for you."
She hastily scribbled ingredient names on a scrap of parchment and gave it to Neville, before sending them all to the Apothecary through her fireplace.
At the Apothecary, the Four took the opportunity to stock up for their own purposes also - while Hermione was collecting everything on Madam Pomfrey's list and Neville was collecting other ingredients to stock their new Potions lab, Harry and Ron slipped out to Potage's Cauldron Shop down near the entrance to the Alley. There they bought a dozen large cauldrons in each of copper, pewter, and brass. They also bought just a few smaller cauldrons in each of copper, pewter, brass, silver, and gold - they knew they'd need small cauldrons sometimes, and occasionally they'd need cauldrons made of a specific metal, but they doubted they'd ever need such things for any mass-brewing. They had their new purchases shrunk and lightened for them, and slipped quietly back into the Apothecary. Neville and Hermione were both paying for their purchases (Harry had thought to give them plenty of money before slipping out), and soon the Four were back in the infirmary at Hogwarts.
Madam Pomfrey didn't comment on the large bags of shrunken cauldrons that Ron and Harry were carrying, or on the quantity of Potions ingredients (also shrunk) that Neville and Hermione were carrying. Instead she merely welcomed them back, before shooing them all out of her domain.
Professor Flitwick found the Four bottling and labeling their Blood-Replenishing Potion, and stopped to stare at the scale of the operation. He quietly cast a few diagnostic charms on the red liquid in a large glass bottle on a bench near him, and was impressed - Blood-Replenishing Potion could be a bit tricky to brew and was certainly far beyond the first-year curriculum, and yet this batch appeared to be perfect. This was what he would expect of a commercial Potions workshop, not four children brewing ten large batches at once without any adult supervision. It was all the more impressive since he was fairly sure they hadn't had any adult help in setting up the Potions lab in the first place. He cleared his throat, and Harry looked up and walked over to him.
"Hi, Professor. We're nearly finished here, and then we really need your help setting up a few rooms for practice and experiments."
"Experiments?" Impressed as the Charms Professor was by these children, he was genuinely surprised by the mention of experimentation so soon.
Harry nodded. "Experimenting should let us learn even faster, and we think we know enough now to do it safely. We've already been testing minor changes in the Potions classroom with Professor Sprout, but now we're ready to try out most of what we learn."
Flitwick paused for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. Just be very careful, alright?"
Harry nodded again. "Don't worry, Professor. Hermione would never let us do anything too dangerous."
When the Four had finished preparing the potion for later delivery to Madam Pomfrey, they followed Professor Flitwick into one of the empty rooms on their floor.
"So," he said, "tell me more about these experiments you intend to carry out."
"Well," said Neville, "definitely Potions for a start. We'll be doing those in the Potions lab that we just set up, but we would like you to check the safety precautions before we do anything too dangerous there. As for the other rooms... Well, we're probably not going to do any particularly original Transfiguration without adult supervision - we know that's really dangerous. We'll want to do lots of Charms and Runes, though, especially once we start to master the Arithmancy behind all that. I think Harry wants to design and build a broomstick from scratch, and I've got some ideas that might be important in Herbology and Potions, but obviously we'll all help with any project that needs us.
"Anyway, we'll be playing with stuff that could go catastrophically wrong - we definitely need proper protections so that we don't accidentally kill ourselves or destroy Gryffindor tower."
Flitwick nodded thoughtfully, and walked back into the Potions lab.
"Separate air supply for each station - good, no interference there. Unbreakable shields, good. Sensible light sources, too - well done."
He walked slowly around the room, muttering to himself, and then burned runes of unbreakability into the floor before pronouncing himself satisfied with their precautions. They moved on to one of the empty rooms.
Here Flitwick burned a number of runes into the walls and floor with his wand, and also a few into the ceiling.
"For this sort of thing, charms just wouldn't last long enough. The runes on the walls are mostly just to make them unbreakable, though it is now impossible to hit them hard - any object approaching a wall faster than about walking speed will simply stop short and fall to the floor. The floor is also unbreakable, with much the same enchantment - it cares about how fast your whole body is moving, mind you, so you can run and jump without your feet suddenly being stopped every time you take a step. The runes on the ceiling are for light and unbreakability, and these two runes here by the door are the control runes for the light - just slide a finger up or down between them. All these runes are powered by Hogwarts itself, or more precisely by the ley lines under Hogwarts. Oh, and all surfaces are now spell-resistant also - there are limits to that, but in general they'll stand up to anything you can cast up to about NEWT level."
He quickly gave the same treatment to the other empty rooms, on the basis that those protections would be useful no matter what the Four ended up using the rooms for, and then set one of them up as a comfortable sitting room. They thanked him, and then he taught them Charms until it was time for dinner.
The Four ate their dinner in blessed peace besides the perfunctory public apologies of their six attackers from that morning, but found themselves waylaid as soon as they stood up and headed for the door.
"Terribly sorry to bother you, but I simply had to meet you! I'm Robert Hilliard, Ravenclaw 7th-year prefect, and I was very impressed by you at dinner last night and at breakfast this morning. You obviously know a lot more than any normal first-years, and I'm pretty sure you even know much more than you've let on. If you'll let me, I'd like to help you - honestly you're by far the most interesting thing happening in Hogwarts right now, and I know I'd regret it all my life if I passed up the chance to offer you whatever help I can. I took all the hard OWLs and got all O's, and I'm hoping for similar results in my NEWTs this year. I've done a bit of experimenting, but not much - even in Ravenclaw, I just don't have anyone to work with."
He smiled whimsically. "I'm too Ravenclaw for Ravenclaw. Help me, o Gryffindor firsties!"
The Four exchanged glances, but there really wasn't any doubt to begin with. Obviously they wouldn't pass up an opportunity like this. After a moment, Hermione spoke for them.
"We're pleased to meet you, Robert, and we'll definitely take you up on your offer. Would you like to come with us now?"
Robert nodded enthusiastically, so the five of them trooped to the Gryffindor tower and up the boys' stairs. Robert, for a wonder, didn't even ask where they were going. He did exclaim when he saw their Potions lab, though, especially with the large quantity of what he recognised as Blood-Replenishing Potion sitting on one of the benches. The Four shrugged it off, but he was deeply impressed.
They all settled down in the sitting room, and Harry casually cast his current set of privacy charms. Robert's jaw dropped a little - he didn't recognise some of those charms, and most of the ones that he did recognise were closer to his supposed level than to Harry's. After a moment's reflection, though, he chose not to comment. It was Hermione who spoke first.
"So we believe you that you're good at every subject we care about - good for a seventh-year, that is, which is really all we need for now - but what's your true passion? What are your main research interests?"
Yet again Robert was impressed. "I've dabbled a bit with Potions research, but my main interest is Charms - let's just say, Professor Flitwick is much more inspiring than Professor Snape."
The Four all nodded, and he went on.
"I've reverse-engineered a few low-level spells, and I'm starting to really understand the Arithmancy behind them, but I haven't created any spells of my own yet. I... Look, honestly, I think I just didn't have the courage and determination to do what you four have done. I was alone, always alone even in Ravenclaw, and it's just been hard. I learned to set it all aside and go do social things most of the time, so I'm just at the top end of normal student results - I haven't shrugged off the bounds of possibility like you lot have, and you have no idea how much I'm regretting that right now."
Hermione marched solemnly over to him and hugged him tightly. "Robert, I know exactly how lucky I am to have my boys - there is no way that I could have done any of this without them. I don't think anyone could do it alone, I really don't. Oh Robert, I am so sorry that you've been forced to waste so much of your life like this. I promise you that you're always welcome here, and we'll help you as much as we can."
The older boy stood silent for quite some time in the fierce embrace of this tiny force of nature, his own arms absently and loosely returning the hug. Finally he drew a deep and shuddering breath; as he slowly released it, his body relaxed and he gently removed Hermione's arms from himself. He paused for a few more seconds, hands resting softly on her shoulders, then nodded slowly.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "I hope that someday you will understand just how much this truly means to me."
There was an awkward silence, which Harry broke after only a few seconds.
"Hey Robert, I want to design a broomstick. From scratch. Am I crazy?"
Robert stared at this cocky child to marvel at the untempered confidence and optimism, and paused. There was steel there, and a hidden pain that he couldn't even guess at. Finally he just nodded. "Yes. You are completely insane. Can I help?"
The small boy's face lit up, and Robert found himself tackled once more. He shrugged mentally and returned the hug, noting that none of the other kids seemed to think this was at all odd. Apparently they had accepted him, and this was just the way they worked.
Just before he gave himself over to their peculiar internal logic, Robert reflected that he was one ridiculously fortunate geek.