Hooray, a new chapter, and not even a month after the last one! Since the new year has started, I'm, going to make an effort to post a new chapter at least every month, though as with most resolutions, we'll have to wait and see how long that lasts.
Two notes on this chapter. Not only does it bump HPaCT over 40,000 words, and thus, making it novel length, but the chapter itself is over five thousand words long, which I'm fairly sure is a new record for me! Now that I've got that little celebration out of the way, I'll let you guys get to the story.
Enjoy!
HPaCT
The next morning, Harry found that a few packages had made their way to the bottom of his bed. It seemed that a number of his housemates had bought him a present, and had saved it until he was back at Hogwarts. Resolving to open them later that night, Harry made his way down to the common room, in hopes of getting to the Great Hall for breakfast.
As he finished descending he stairs, he was stopped by a rather sizable crowd of students all staring in wonder at something in the middle of the room. Harry moved forward, struggling to push others aside as he tried to reach a spot with a decent view of what was captivating their attention.
He wasn't disappointed.
Harry stared in wonder as the scale illusion of Hogwarts Castle. It seemed the expedition idea had caught on in Hufflepuff House, and a number of older students had provided them with tips, tools, or books to aid them. One of the sixth years had apparently spent hours enchanting the large table at the center of their dormitory to project the well crafted charm.
The outer framework was well defined and detailed. If he squinted, eh could almost make out individual bricks in the walls. The entire structure was somewhat transparent, allowing them to see the rooms inside. However, the internal structure of the castle was sparse, consisting of only a bare minimum of empty cubes with vague labels such as 'classroom' or 'girl's bathroom.'
"It's obviously incomplete," The creator admitted immediately, "I never really explored the castle all that much, so it's really only has our dormitories, a number of classrooms, the library, and the Great Hall. Professor Sprout's Office is in there too. It's only a model, so it doesn't react to changes in the castle like the moving staircases. Not yet at least.
"So how is this going to help us?" Ernie asked curiously, "If it only has the places we go anyways, what good is it?"
The older student smirked, "There's a reason I scored highest on my Charms O.W.L.s. All you have to do is press your wand on the base here," she indicated using her own, "and focus on what part of it you want to add on to or modify. And before any of you get any wild ideas, I have final control over this, and can reset it to its base illusion at any time, so no trying to be clever by putting in a Pretentious Expansionary Newt Incubation Section or anything like that."
"How did you make this?" Harry asked in wonder, causing the Sixth Year to flush with pride.
"My dad is an architect. He always loves to build things, take them apart, and see how everything fits together. I've been working on charms like this since my third year, but I've never done anything this ambitious." The sixth year admitted.
There was an immediate rush of eager students to add their own recollections to the device. The empty shell rapidly began to acquire new rooms, as well as numerous descriptions and comments alongside them.
Harry, along with the rest of the first year students, waited until the rush had died down. The end result was a conflicting mishmash of overlapping rooms and conflicting floor plans, and there were still significant gaps and empty spaces scattered throughout it. Two of his roommates, Ernie and Justin stood next to him, studying the model, before striking up a conversation.
"So, do you feel like exploring after breakfast?" Ernie asked him, "Justin and I were thinking about looking at the dueling room on the south side of the castle."
Harry considered for a moment, "Do you think we can explore the area above it? It looks like no one has been there before and I'm curious what could be there."
Ernie grinned, "Sounds like a plan to me!"
"We're going with you." Hannah said, as she and Susan walked over to join them. "We don't have anything to do until after lunch, and it looks like fun."
"You're not going to slow us down, are you?" Justin hesitated, before a glare from he young girl silenced him.
"You don't have to worry about that," Susan assured the other two as Justin quailed under Hannah's unforgiving glare. "Shall we get going? The food will be cold if we take much longer."
The five Hufflepuffs hurried down to the Great Hall, and after a quick meal, they set out to explore Hogwarts in earnest, eager to see how accurate the model in their dormitory was. Ernie and Justin had painstakingly copied it down to the best of their ability, and while the end result was a collection of crude, conflicting layouts, it served as an acceptable guide for their first expedition.
Harry was surprised how different things seemed during the day. Without the ever present danger of discovery, it was far less exciting, but the company more than made up for it. Ernie was giving an elaborate speech about the rules and regulations of Quidditch, and the history behind it, with interjections from Justin and interspersed with a conversation between Hannah and Susan about their Charms homework and their plans with Hermione later. Harry absently made sure Rex was secured in his book bag, before joining Justin in asking for more details about Quidditch, offering his own insights into the game from watching the team's practices.
HPaCT
Hermione growled as Ron's comments grew louder and more derogatory towards her. She had been putting up with whispered gossip about her ever since Halloween Night, and had even endured near interrogations form her roommates at one point, but Ron never seemed to move on. All she had done was tell him that he was going to fail his courses if he didn't do some work, and he reacted like this!
Hermione struggled to ignore him, trying to return to her own book, but he just talked louder. Finally, the young witch, along with her quill, snapped. The gossip. The looks form the teachers. Rex. The pressure to study for end of the year exams which were only months away. And Ron. All the irritation, stress, and rage reached a boiling point. With a series of violent wand motions, she began casting at the boy unfortunate enough to earn her ire.
"Silencio Permente!"
Ron's mouth disappeared. He tried to let out a series of outraged mumbles, but failed. As he turned a brilliant shade of red, he rushed towards the young witch, intent on forcing her to fix him, but she would have none of it.
"Petrificus Totalus!" She shouted.
Every joint in his body locked up, transforming his furious charge into a fall flat on his face. Hermione approached him slowly, with a cold expression on her face, and flipped the young Weasley over with her foot, and looked him right in the eye.
"Ronald Weasley, I am only going to say this once. I am tired of your constant tirades against me. I am tired of you complaining when I suggest you study, and I'm tired of how childish you are always acting! If you don't want to study, that's you're choice, but you don't have to act like such a prat to me just because I suggest that you read your books!
Quite frankly, I'm tired of you, and if you don't fix that attitude of yours, I'll have to do something about it. Something like this. Do you understand me?" Hermione asked him, his only available response was a harsh glare. Sighing, Hermione turned to a shocked looking Parvati.
"I know you know the spell to remove the body bind hex, but he'll need to see Madam Pomphrey if he wants his mouth back." The girl nodded, and stepped out of her way as Hermione gathered her books and stormed out of the room.
The young witch wasn't sure how she felt about how things had played out in the Gryffindor common room. On one hand, she was upset that she allowed Ron to get to her, and that he could hurt her so much with his words.
But on the other hand... she had paid him back twice over, if not more.
A part of her felt bad, like she was turning into one of the bullies from elementary school, but hadn't he deserved it? Was she supposed to just let him treat her however he wanted until she broke down in tears? No, she wasn't going to let that happen. She wouldn't attack him out of the blue, but if he kept pushing, she was going to push back harder. Newly resolved, Hermione headed toward the library to resume her studies, absently making a note to do some more research into hexes.
HPaCT
Harry laughed at another one of Ernie's joke, as they continued their venture through the halls of Hogwarts. The sun was beginning to set, and aside from a brief break for lunch, they had been walking through the vast corridors almost constantly. Justin had sketched a rather rough map of the places they had visited, and Harry had shown them a few of the interesting locations he had discovered with Rex, especially the kitchen, where they had feasted on sandwiches and pumpkin juice. He had tried to show them several other locations, but with the constant shifting pattern of Hogwart's layout, it was difficult to get anywhere in particular without hours of practice and memorization.
Even without encountering the things he had witnessed in his midnight wanderings, there were still a number of interesting sights and locations. Conversing with the paintings, or getting trapped on an endless staircase, everything was still so amazing, even after a full semester in the school. Even the non-magical aspects, such as the view from the tallest tower of Hogwarts was a wonderful experience, made even more enjoyable with the presence of friends. The entire experience had been filled with constant chatter and laughter.
Still, it seemed the day was beginning to wind down. Susan and Hannah had left a few hours earlier to study with Hermione, so now it was just the trio of boys, and the periodic grumbling of their stomachs were indicating that they needed to take a break again soon. They were just beginning to debate going back to the Great Hall, when they were interrupted.
"Mr. Potter!" A red haired older student shouted from several flights down, as he chased after the younger students. Harry and his friends turned curiously to see what he wanted. The older student stopped to catch his breath after sprinting up the stairs to catch them, rapidly gasping in air after the sudden exertion.
"What do you want?" Ernie asked flippantly, causing the new arrival to turn and even brighter red.
"I am a prefect, and you will treat me with respect!" he declared pompously, though it was somewhat ruined but his flushed face and occasional gasps for breath. "Professor McGonagall has requested you meet her in her office for your remedial lessons."
"Remedial lessons? I still have to do that?" Harry asked irritably.
"Would you prefer a detention?" the prefect asked, fixing Harry with a look.
"Well, it can't be helped." Justin sighed, "We need to get something to eat soon anyways."
"He's right." Ernie agreed, "We'll have to do homework tomorrow, so I guess we'll have to wait until the next weekend to do this?"
"I suppose..." Harry replied with a hint of melancholy, before brightening slightly, "Don't forget to update the map after dinner. There's still a lot more to explore, and we don't want to waste time exploring what we've already seen!"
"No problem Harry! I'll make sure he does it!" Justin called over his shoulder, with a last wave to Harry as they entered a corridor.
"Map?" the prefect asked with mild interest. Harry just shook his head, before following after him towards McGonagall's office.
HPaCT
"Here he is professor." the prefect stated as they entered the office. McGonagall looked up from a short stack of papers, before giving him a curt nod.
"Thank you Mr. Weasley. That will be all." McGonagall said, putting away her current work and rising from her desk. The red head nodded briefly before exiting, leaving Harry alone with his Transfiguration Professor.
Harry sighed as he visited Professor McGonagall's office for the first time since the winter holidays. While he didn't hate having to take the extra lessons, it was somewhat irritation.
"Mr. Potter, I trust your holidays were well?" McGonagall asked.
"Yes Professor." Harry replied. He was about to share some of the details of his escapades, but a curt nod from McGonagall cut him off. Apparently the question had been a mere pleasantry, and she was more concerned with their lesson than knowing about his holidays.
"Now, let's make sure that everything you learned over the first semester didn't fall out of your head over the break, shall we Mr. Potter?" McGonagall said, before producing a box of matches.
Harry sighed, before drawing his wand and pointing at the first match. With an uttered incantation and intense focus, he transfigured it into a needle. For a brief moment, the needle glowed red with heat, before rapidly cooling and regaining it normal silvery color.
"Excellent Mr. Potter. I'm happy to see your continued mastery of that skill. Now let's see if it holds up with some of your other classes."
Harry dutifully demonstrated a number of different spells, levitating a book form her desk, changing the color of it as it floated in front of him, and making it glow briefly before setting it down. Harry practiced number of charms and curses, before the Deputy Headmistress was satisfied and indicated that he should stop.
"Well, you managed to keep from setting my office ablaze, so I suppose we're done for now. For the most part, your spell work was acceptable Your Defense Against the Dark Arts could use some work, though that's not surprising. Honestly, I don't know what Quirrius is teaching you all in that class. If you ask me, he should go back to teaching Muggle Studies. He's far too high strung to be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Professor?" Harry asked curiously. McGonagall shook her head.
"Never mind Mr. Potter. I shouldn't speak ill of my colleagues when they are adjusting to a new position." McGonagall said, "I think we can refrain from having any more of these lessons for a few weeks, but don't think I haven't noticed the heat on some of your transfigurations and other spells. You'll need to keep practicing if you expect to transfigure wood of anything else flammable. As for your Charms work, you seem to have kept those spells under control at the very least. I think I'll invite Poppy to observe our next lesson, She's always interested in seeing the development of young witches and wizards."
"Really?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Madame Pomphrey is fairly well known in the medical circles. She specialized in developing witches and wizards, and produces a paper every few years about her findings. A case as unusual as yours would probably be enough for a dozen pages at least."
"I don't know about that..." Harry said, envisioning her strapping him down, poking him full of needles and cackling madly as she experimented on him. He shuddered lightly, as the idea reminded him a bit too much of his old science teacher.
McGonagall saw the look on his face and tried to reassure him, "No need to worry Mr. Potter. A few more diagnostic spell and perhaps a few potions and an over night stay is the extent her machinations. She's not going to vivisect you."
Harry sighed in relief, though the image in his head remained. "So why does she stay here? If she's so skilled, why doesn't she run a hospital or something?"
McGonagall allowed herself a smile, "As Professor Dumbledore is so fond of saying, we are all students of Hogwarts in one way or another. Poppy gets to encounter some of the most unusual cases in Britain here because of all the student's... antics." she tried to phrase it in an appropriate manner, causing Harry to grin. "The Weasley Twins in particular tend to give her pages upon pages of research. All that aside, she's learned form my example that being in such a position of authority means having to deal with nearly endless paperwork, and she's much happier providing care than signing forms.
"What do you learn Professor?" Harry inquired.
"Me?" McGonagall said in mild surprise, "I suppose I learn the minute details of Transfiguration by studying and grading your attempts in class. You would be surprised at how much one can learn from the attempts of students, both failed and successful. Perhaps I should publish a paper myself sometime..." McGonagall considered for a moment, before her mind returned to their present engagement. "Well, I think that is enough for tonight. Now I suggest you head back to your common room, Mr. Potter. Curfew should be starting shortly, and I would hate for you to lose points for your house."
"Yes Professor." Harry replied, before leaving her office. A sudden grumble form his stomach, already pushed past its limitations, told him that he needed to get something to eat first.
HPaCT
As Harry exited the kitchens, his belly now filled with culinary delights, his trip back to the Hufflepuff dormitories was cut short by an unexpected encounter.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed in mild surprise at seeing him. "Susan and Hannah said you were out exploring!"
"Well, we were, but then I had to go to my remedial lessons with McGonagall." Harry said, "How did your study session go?"
Hermione smiled, "Pretty well actually. We finished most of our homework and compared notes, so we should be able to finish the rest of it on own own without any problems. Did you manage to get dinner?"
"I missed it, so I came here to grab a snack." Harry answered. "I was just about to head back to the dorms, actually."
"hey harry, wait a minute." Rex called out from Harry's bag. Harry pulled Rex out, who promptly hopped to the ground and resumed his true from. Impressively, Hermione only flinched slightly before regaining her composure.
"CAN WE GO VISIT MR. HUGGLES?" Rex asked excitedly. Harry considered for a momentarily
"Alright, sure, but just for a little bit. I have to get up early tomorrow to finish my homework." Harry qualified his statement, but he doubted Rex heard anything after the second word.
"ARE YOU COMING TOO SQUEAKLES?" Rex turned towards the bushy haired girl, who shuddered as his malevolent red gaze fell upon her.
"S- sure." she managed to say, before taking refuge behind Harry. No matter what, she would always find Harry's friend to be terrifying. She followed after the duo, always making sure to keep Harry between her and Rex as much as possible. Harry gave Rex a look, who sighed, before shrinking down and climbing back into his bag.
HPaCT
"Harry, you know that this is the room the Headmaster told us to stay out of, right?" Hermione asked him after they arrived. "I know we've been in here before, but do you really think breaking the rules like this is a good idea?"
"The only thing in there is the dog, and Rex has been pretty good about keeping him under control." Harry answered easily, earning a sigh form his companion.
"that's right squeakles. he knows not to mess with me." Rex chipped in from his resting place in Harry's bag.
"We've been in there before, and nothing bad has happened." Harry said, fishing Rex out as he did, "I'm sure the warning was only because of the dog, and with Rex around, he's harmless, right?"
"RIGHT!" Rex shouted as he returned to his true, horrifying form, and squeezed through the door. There was a trio of whines as the Cerberus saw its tormentor return, and Harry and Hermione entered the room after it was properly cowed by Rex.
Rex led the dog around the room, constantly prompting it to perform various tricks, which met with varied results. While it responded fairly well to 'Stay,' most likely due to simply being too terrified to move, any other commands were met with more whining, much to Rex's frustration.
Hermione frowned as she looked, really looked at the room for the first time. For having such a vicious beast inside of it, it was surprisingly well kept. The tapestries were all intact, as were the few pieces of furniture. None of the... leavings... that one would expect for an animal cooped up for months on end. Sure, someone could come in and it up, but who would do that? Her gaze traveled the room, before falling to the ground, and fixating on a wooden square with an iron ring.
It was a door.
"Harry, did you know there's a trap door on the floor over there?" Hermione asked, pointing at the object of her attention. Harry followed her finger, his eyebrows raising in surprise.
"Well, I've only been in here a few times. Normally Rex comes here on his own, and to be honest, the dinosaur and three headed dog seemed a bit more important than a trap door." Harry said, "Plus, that's normally where the dog ends up cowering, so it was kind of hard to see."
Hermione sighed in exasperation, before admitting to herself that Rex caught one's attention a bit more than a trap door on the floor.
Harry's eyes gleamed with interest, "I wonder what's down there..."
"Harry, no. There is a reason why Professor Dumbledore told people to stay out of here, and now I don't think it was just because of the dog. I bet the dog is protecting whatever is underneath there!"
"COME ON SQUEAKLES, WHERE'S YOUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE?"
"I think I left if back at St. Mungo's." Hermione said.
"SHOULD WE GO BACK AND GET IT?"
"No!" Hermione shouted, exasperated, "Harry, there is a reason the dog is here, and I don't want to find out by getting strangled or chopped up, or eaten by something worse. Can you understand that?"
Harry sighed in defeat, "Alright, we won't explore it right now. I still have plenty of homework to do tomorrow, and it is pretty late already, so we'll save it for some other time."
Hermione sighed. It wasn't an ideal solution, but it meant that it would be left alone for now, and she would just have to be happy with that. "Thank you Harry, now I have to get back to Gryffindor Tower. It's already really late and I want to review my History of Magic essay one last time before I go to sleep."
Harry waved as Hermione departed, looking furtively down the corridor for Mrs. Norris or Filch as she scurried away.
"ARE WE REALLY GOING TO LEAVE IT ALONE?" Rex asked.
"For now at least. I wasn't joking about my homework, and I don't want to make her mad. Did you hear what the elves said she did to her housemate earlier today?"
Rex sighed loud enough to shake the solid wooden door, "I GUESS."
"Besides, maybe Hannah and the rest would want to explore it with us too."
"YOU'RE GOING TO INTRODUCE ME?" Rex asked, nearly bouncing with excitement.
Harry considered for a moment, "I don't know if that would be the best idea. Remember what happened with Hermione?"
"...I GOT A PET?"
"She was sent to the loony bin. I don't want all of my friends to go crazy too."
"BUT WHAT ABOUT ME?" Rex whined.
"You can come, but you'll just have to stay in my book bag, alright?" Harry tried to comfort the deadly monstrosity.
"YOU PROMISE?" Rex asked petulantly
"Of course, Rex." Harry smiled, "Now do you want to spend some more time with your dog, or do you want to"
"I THINK I'LL STAY WITH MR. HUGGLES SOME MORE. I'VE ALMOST TAUGHT HIM HOW TO DO FLIPS." Rex answered, completely oblivious to how little progress he had actually made with his pet. Harry nodded in acknowledgment, before heading back to his own dormitory.
HPaCT
Ron glared at Hermione as she re-entered the Gryffindor Common Room, but still smarting from his earlier defeat, remained in the corner, content to glower at her from afar. He felt his ears turn red as the embarrassment of how easily she dealt with him washed over him. He needed to do something about her, but charging headlong after her obviously wasn't going to work. What other options did he have? Ron mindlessly paged through the book in front of him, stewing over the dilemma he was faced with, occasionally imagining what it would be like to have her grovel in defeat at his hand. He kept turning those thoughts over and over in his head, long after the other students had retired for the night. It wasn't until hours later that he was finally distracted from his malevolent thoughts, by the sound of a certain pair of red heads descending from the staircase. Ron watched as his brothers exchanged some whispered words and a few sniggers, before heading toward the portrait hole.
"Hold on a minute!" he called out, stopping the Twins momentarily, as they turned to see who had spoken up.
"What do you need Ronnie-kins?" One of them asked, as they began to circle around him, moving in opposite directions from each other.
"Yes, how can your older brothers help out their ickle sibling?" the other asked from behind Ron.
"Homework help?" The first said as soon as Ron turned away.
"Need a map?"
"Something to eat perhaps?"
"Girl troubles?"
"Quidditch training?"
"A good hexing?"
"Saxophone lessons?"
"Stop it!" Ron shouted, finally fed up with their disorienting interrogation. "It's none of those things!"
"Then what is it?' the Twins asked in unison, stopping in front of Ron.
"I need help."
"We gathered that much. Help with what exactly?"
"It's Hermione. She's always bothering me and the blokes about homework and following the rules. Normally she shuts up after a bit or we complain about it enough, but now she's started hexing me!"
"Ah, so it is girl troubles. I thought so Fred." George, apparently, said.
"No, it's not!" Ron shouted angrily, before launching into a tirade about his encounter with the first year bookworm.
"She's always so irritating! In class she's always correcting the rest of us or showing off to the teacher. When we're in the halls she's shouting for us to follow the rules or hurry to class. Even here in the dorm she's always glaring at us and telling us to study! It's bloody maddening! Every moment of the day is just work, work, work with her, and whenever a bloke tried to have a bit of fun, she goes ballistic! I keep telling her to leave us alone and mind her own business, and that's normally enough, but now she's hexing me for that!"
George sighed before putting a comforting hand, as well as a spider, on Ron's shoulder. "Never pick on someone smarter than you brother dearest. They tend to know the most horrible hexes."
Ron sighed, "I'm not picking on her, I just want her to mind her own business. I can't just let her show me up like that! You must know something I can do!"
Fred and George exchanged a nefarious look, before Fred spoke up in a considering tone, "Well, it sounds to me that dear Ronald wants to follow us in the sacred art of pranking."
"Probably wants to be a bit more subtle about it, given his target is likely to hex him into bits if he gets caught." George said, sharing his twin's thoughtful tone.
"So we'll throw in a course of subterfuge free of charge." Fred declared grandly, "but first, he'll need to pass his initiation!"
Ron audibly gulped, as his mind filled with all of the potential horrors he was likely to suffer if he accepted their offer. For several long moments, he did nothing, before noticing the spider his brother had planting, shouting in mindless terror, and flailing his limbs in an effort to get it off. After finally escaping from it Ron was bent over, panting.
"Alright, I'm in." Ron said, looking up at his brothers with a determined gaze. "Do your worst, I'm not giving up."
Fred grinned proudly at Ron, before seizing his brother's hand in a firm shake. Almost immediately, he lit up like a Christmas tree as sparks flew out of his ears.
"First rule about pranking: never take things at face value. It makes it too easy. Now come on, we've got a lot of mischief to get up to tonight, and we're not going to slow down for you."
Ron waited until his body stopped twitching, before hurrying out of the portrait hole after them.
HPaCT
By the time Harry made it back to his room, everyone else was already asleep. Harry was about to join them, when he tripped over the small pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Remembering them from earlier, Harry moved them into his bed, where he tried to open them as quietly as possible.
They were about what he expected, a few knickknacks from trips or toys from Diagon Alley. Harry felt bad for not buying anything for them, and resolved to share some of the sweets Annabel's mother had practically forced upon him.
The last package was different from the others, it was significantly larger, for one, and the note didn't match the handwriting of any of his housemates that he knew of. He curiously opened it, and found a silvery substance within.
Harry draped the material over himself and was shocked when his body vanished underneath it. He yanked his hand out from beneath it and was relieved to see that it was still there. Several more minutes of experimenting with it showed there wasn't any apparent danger with it. Harry grinned as he realized what it was he had.
There was only one thing he could say.
"Wicked."