Book 3: Ron Weasley and The Awful Sanctuary
Chapter 4: Desperation
"If all you have is nothing you'll settle for anything."
In one of the grand bedrooms of Malfoy Manor, three wizards were standing over a baby's crib. One of them was Lucius Malfoy, the current owner of the mansion. He kept sending furtive glances to the two wizards standing on either side of him as well as trying not to look into the crib.
The one on his right had carefully trimmed hair and beard and a small set of spectacles balanced precisely on the bridge of his nose. This was Maximilian Blanchard, leader of the French Pureblood Supremacy Movement. The one on his left had no hair on his head and features that looked like they were chiseled from stone. This was Helmut Rohr, head of the German Pureblood Supremacy Movement. He was the one who had brought the contents of the crib.
"Gentleman," rasped a voice coming from the crib, "it is a pleasure to be among friends again."
"It is we who are honored to see you." said Blanchard. "We have long awaited the Wizard who would lead us out of hiding."
"Do not fret." rasped the voice. "The promised time is close at hand. Lucius, what progress are we making on my recovery?"
"The potion is ready." said Lucius, nervously. "We have secured the skeleton you requested. We are progressing on a plan to have the flesh you wanted. We are still unable to find Hogwarts."
"Ah, yes." rasped the voice. "It does move around a lot these days. Still, I have faith in your abilities and influence. Especially since your son's life is on the line."
Lucius flinched. Since his son, Draco, had stabbed the Dark Lord in the face. Lucius was cooperating to secure his son's exoneration.
"I will not fail you my lord." said Lucius. "We have contracted the students in Slytherin to assist us in their apprehension. The five thousand Galleon reward secures a great deal of loyalty to the cause."
"It's a great justice that all Dumbledore's ranting about the power of love will be torn asunder by simple economics." the voice rasped gleefully.
"In the meantime," said Helmut, "we are going to be sending a sign to the wizards of Britain. Something to rally the purebloods and put fear in our enemies."
~o!o~
By late November, the Fifth House had improved their falling down skills. Ron could now fall ten feet head down and bounce right back.
The most exciting thing they learned was the Redirection Technique. It was dueling style endemic to Thailand and virtually unknown in Europe. The magic in a wizards body moved along channels like blood flowing in the veins. The Thai people had learned to move the magic in the channels so effectively that they could absorb a curse into their body, move the malignant spell along the channel and eject it from their body without sustaining any damage to themselves. So far, Ron was able to absorb most hexes and eject them through the bottom of his feat. Draco was a natural at it and could absorb a jinx through one arm and fire it back through the other. The effect was particularly flashy when using a Firework charm.
Once they had shown proficiency in that technique, Diego had moved them on to types of shield spells. Their new field of study had distracted them from the fact that they were perpetually imprisoned in a concrete crypt.
The rest of Hogwarts was also adjusting to the new environment. To combat the boredom the students had turned to the Hogwarts clubs. The Gobstones club had an up-tick in popularity. An Exploding Snap league had formed; the Arithmancy students had heartily enjoyed this. Some of the more creative students had designed their own games. A group of Ravenclaw students had designed a table tennis game where the ball would randomly change size and speed.
None of these new options had appealed to the twins or Hermione, who were still loosing their grip. Hermione had gotten into the habit of chewing her finger nails. This hadn't worried them until her hands started bleeding. The twins were a different animal.
Ron and Marcus were coming back from a meeting of the chess club and found the floor outside the Transfiguration room was covered in small, transparent marbles. Ron bent down and picked one up. It was almost perfectly transparent. They were nearly invisible on the floor. Nearly.
Emma walked down the hall behind them. Emma was one of the three caretakers. The other two were Emma and Emma. Emma didn't even pause her stride when she came up on the marbles. She waved her wand and they all vanished.
As she walked on, Ron heard quiet sobbing coming from inside the door of the Transfiguration classroom. He pushed the door open. Fred and George were slumped against the wall, weeping openly. They must have thought simple transfiguration was the perfect loophole to the hallway magic moratorium. Making those little marbles so flawlessly see-through must have taken hours.
They lead the two distraught pranksters to the Great Hall. They'd feel better after they'd eaten something.
When they arrived, the Great Hall was buzzing with nervous activity. Students were clustered together, whispering loudly. Professors Snape and McGonagall were talking animatedly with increasingly frantic hand gestures. Head Master Dumbledore was sitting very rigidly in his seat, like he was braced for impact.
Ron and Marcus steered Fred and George to where Draco was sitting at the closer of the two Gryffindor tables.
As they approached, Draco looked up from his copy of the Daily Prophet and leaped up when he saw the crying twins.
"What happened to them?" he asked, guiding George into a seat.
"Their prank failed." said Ron sitting Fred down.
"What's going on in here?" asked Marcus, as they put food in front of the twins.
"Pureblood Supremacists published a manifesto in the Daily Prophet." said Draco, handing the paper to Marcus.
Marcus read over it.
"This is weird." he said finally.
"What? Why?" said Draco.
"It's talking about how wizards should take control of muggle governance." said Marcus, reading the manifesto again.
"That's not strange." said Ron. "That's what they've always wanted."
"This manifesto is talking about improving ecological stability and universal health care." said Marcus. "They're laying out plans to take control of muggle Britain and universally improve their quality of life. It's actually very well thought out."
"So they're presenting their ideas as 'For The Greater Good'." said Draco. "That was Grindelwald's rallying cry."
"Yes, but Voldemort was never that sweet." said Marcus. "His rallying cry was 'Kill Everybody'. He wasn't much of a politician."
"So, You-Know-Who got a PR agent?" said Ron.
"More like improving his strategy." said Draco. "When Gellert Grindelwald came to power he controlled a puppet muggle government. They were called the Nasties. He used them to control most of Europe until Dumbledore brought him down."
"The Nazis, Draco." said Marcus. "They were called the Nazis. And in addition to subjugating Europe, they killed eleven million people and plunged the entire planet into the second world war. Ironically, the conflict led to the invention of the atom bomb: the only muggle invention wizarding kind fears."
"You're telling me You-Know-Who's new plan could lead to world war three?" asked Ron, suddenly very glad they were deep underground.
"In a few years," said Marcus, holding up the article, "we'll look back and say 'We were there the day he put in the thin end of the wedge.'
~o!o~
Dumbledore looked up from his desk as he heard a knock at his door. The door slid open when he waved his hand, revealing Ron Weasley.
"Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore said, managing a smile. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, sir," said Ron, wringing his hands behind his back, "Hermione isn't doing so well, what with being underground for so long and that manifesto just being published."
"I heard you and her other friends have been taking care of her as best you can." said Dumbledore. "You are a very good friend."
"Thank you, sir." said Ron. "But we can't do much for her, having different class schedules."
"I see." said Dumbledore. "I imagine you've contrived a solution to this?"
"I figure," said Ron, "since we all have the same classes, you could let Hermione take classes with the Slytherins so Marcus and I could keep a closer eye on her."
Dumbledore smiled warmly at him. He spent most of his time combating the spread of irrational hatred in wizard society. Right now, he was being handed proof that there were still good people in the world. Perhaps the cause wasn't lost after all.
"That is very kind of you to volunteer." said Dumbledore. "Mr. Montefiore is compliant with this plan."
"I did talk with him about it." said Ron suddenly turning red.
"And what did he say?" Dumbledore pressed.
"He said 'So, you finally noticed Hermione is a girl?'." said Ron grudgingly.
Dumbledore actually fell off his chair he laughed so hard.
There was another knock at the door and Harry walked in.
"Ah, Mr. Potter." said Dumbledore, picking himself up and wiping the tears off his cheeks. "Mr. Weasley was just pitching me the idea of letting Hermione join the Slytherin class so they can keep better tabs on her."
"Really?" said Harry, eyes narrowing.
"He did not inform you of his plan?" asked Dumbledore.
"No," said Harry, fixing a smile on his face, "but it is a very good plan. Hermione hasn't been doing so well. She needs to be protected."
"Well, I can see no reason why-" started Dumbledore.
"However," Harry interjected, "Putting a muggle born in with the Slytherins might be counterproductive. She could join me with the Hufflepuffs. I would be more than happy to make sure she's safe."
"That's a fair point" said Dumbledore. "In that case-"
"It would be too much trouble for Harry to take on alone." Ron interrupted. "Marcus and I working together would be able to handle her better."
"That is very true." said Dumbledore, now leaning back in his chair. This was getting good.
"It would be no trouble at all." said Harry. "And Marcus and Ron already spend half their time fighting off their housemates. Protecting a distressed woman would be asking too much."
Ron suspected that Harry had been taking Sneaky lessons from Cynthia.
"The other Slytherins never bother us during class time." said Ron. "With Diego, Marcus's older brother, teaching us to duel, we're more than capable of taking care of our friend."
"Diego is my brother, too." said Harry. "I am one of his best students."
"So do you two want to duel for Ms. Granger?" asked a grinning Dumbledore, who was wondering if he'd have time to get popcorn.
"Yes!" they both said. They turned to face each other, anger on their faces.
Then they realized how silly this was. They were friends.
"No." they both amended.
"What should we do Professor?" asked Ron.
"You're all friends and can work together." said Dumbledore. "In the interests of fairness, Hermione will accompany Draco with the Gryffindors and the rest of you will help the two of them with their classwork."
"Yes, Professor." they both said. "Thank you, sir."
"Very good." said Dumbledore. "I'll inform Professors Flitwick and McGonagall of the new arrangement."
Harry and Ron both left to find Draco. They had some explaining to do.
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