Chapter 25 Sly Tricks
Hermione sighed staring at the sheaves of parchment that showed how to cast the unbroken curse and how to break the curse scribbled by Bill Weasley who consulted with another Egyptian curse breaker. She thought Bill's suggestions were interesting but she felt the way to break the curse Cadwagan had cast upon Gringotts had little to do with those of Egyptian. She looked at the back of her two way mirror which had beautiful decorations with paintings of animals and plants, and she stared at tiny Aboriginal animal glyphs on the mirror. She stood up and she went out of the Head Girl's room. Then Ron talked to her,
"Good morning, Hermione, where are you going?" and he kissed her.
Hermione kissed him back and said, "Oh, Ron, I thought you were guarding Malfoy with Harry."
"Yes, I was, but Harry told me you also need a bodyguard, so I came here to escort you to the Great Hall. You're going there, aren't you?"
"No, I'm going to the library."
"To the library? You can go there after breakfast. I'm starving. Let's go to the Great Hall first. Harry will be there, too. I mean, with Malfoy."
"OK. I'll go to there first."
Then they descended down the stairs.
When they entered the Great Hall, they were dazzled by the catoptric lights from the kinds of badges, which were emitted from the Slytherin tables. They could see the words on the badge, which the nearest Slytherin girl student put on, it said, 'Granger Is Our Queen', it blinkered and the words on the badge changed to another words, 'Save the Slytherins'.
"What are they up to?" Ron groaned. He saw Hermione to the long Gryffindor table, and he came back to Harry who was standing behind Malfoy.
"Why are they putting the bloody badges? I remember the same kind of badges, 'Weasley Is Our King' in our fifth year," said Ron.
"Yeah, I feel the same way as you, they reminded me of my fourth year, they put them on to insult me," said Harry and he frowned at Pansy who giggled pointing at him. She whispered something to Malfoy, who glanced back to Harry and sneered.
"Ron, I'll go upstairs to the Headmistress' office to talk with Kingsley through Floo Network. So watch Malfoy for a while," said Harry.
"What are you going to talk about?"
"I've heard the ex-Death Eaters and their allies took advantage of the curse Cadwagan cast, and they drew plenty of money and they were approaching Ministry officials with bribery."
"Are they committing bribery?"
"Yes, they are. But we have got no evidence to prove it," Harry left for the office.
McGonagall still had transfiguration classes even after she became Headmistress, and Harry could use the Floo Net Work freely.
Harry asked Kingsley in the hearth, "So do they insist they drew money to donate to the project to save the Muggle-born children whose parents were missing or killed?"
"Yes, they do, and we have confirmed not a little money of Malfoy's, Parkinson's and others was donated to the Project Organizer's vault. But I think they're hiding a secret vault through which they must be committing bribery."
"Can't you question goblins about the secret vault?"
"No, we can't. They haven't trusted us since Harry Potter and his friends broke into Gringotts. Besides, the sword of Gryffindor, which they insist that they lent to Godric Gryffindor, disappeared in front of them. Yes, I know, you needed the sword to kill the cursed great snake."
Harry was at a loss. To destroy Hocruxes was essential to defeat Voldemort. They couldn't defeat him without breaking into the Lestrange's vault. He needed to talk with goblins. He opened his mouth, "Kingsley, I want to talk with goblins. I think I should better apologize to goblins for breaking into Gringotts."
Kingsley stared at Harry and said, "How will you apologize to them?"
"I'll explain about why we broke into Gringotts last year."
"So will you mention the Hocruxes?"
"Yes."
Kingsley knitted his brows and remained silent.
"Kingsley, it is confidential but I think there is no way to make them understand our situation without referring to the Hocruxes," said Harry.
"What if they were to divulge the information to other dark wizards? There will be another Dark Lord if we let the others know about the Hocruxes."
Harry kept silent thinking deeply and opened his mouth, "It's our job to stop another Dark Lord, isn't it?"
Kingsley stared at Harry, and said, "You are determined to carry it through as an Auror, Harry?"
"Yeah, I'm ready for that," said Harry with his determined look.
"I got it. I'll make arrangements for the negotiation with the goblins."
"Thank you, Kingsley."
"Well, I'll owl you when they're ready." Kingsley made a broad smile.
When Harry was leaving, he glanced back, "Oh, wait, Kingsley. I have one more favor to ask of you."
"If you ask me, I'll do anything for you, my friend."
"Thanks. Hermione was attacked, and I suspect Theodore Nott. But there was no positive proof. I took the picture of his wand. Is there someone to verify the picture in the Ministry?"
"I don't know but I'll ask Gawain, and I'll owl you."
Hermione felt someone was standing in front of her, and looked up. Pansy Parkinson was smirking at her. Hermione raised her eyebrows and shut the book, 'Ancient magical glyphs of Australian aboriginal sorcerers'and said, "What can I do for you?"
"Did they have a writing system? I didn't know that," said Pansy glancing at the cover Hermione closed.
"They aren't letters. They are kind of arts," answered Hermione.
"Whatever," Pansy shrugged and continued to speak, "We want to ask your permission to let us publish a school newspaper."
"Oh, do you?" Hermione asked mechanically, she couldn't guess what Pansy really had in her mind.
"Of course you will permit us, won't you?" she stared at Hermione defiantly.
"Well, I'll set conditions on publishers. Please don't insult others. Don't use taboo words about blood status. Do you understand?"
"Of course, we do," said Pansy exaggeratedly and she left the library.
When Hermione and Ginny sat at the long Gryffindor table at lunch time, Ginny noticed a questionnaire by her goblet. She picked it up and read out,
"We want awesome opinions about the hottest wizard in Hogwarts. What's this?"
"It's a questionnaire for a newspaper Pansy Parkinson is going to publish," said Hermione.
"Did you give her your permission?"
"Yes, I did. Oh, don't worry. I warned her not to insult others."
"Do you believe her?" said Ginny, rolling her eyes, and she stared at the questionnaire, thinking vaguely, of course the hottest wizard is Harry. She took out her quill and wrote down his name.
"You wrote Harry's, didn't you?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, I did."
"Harry is not a student, Ginny."
"No, he isn't. Anyway, I don't want to take it seriously for Pansy. You can write my brother's name, too." Ginny grinned, and she wrote why she thought Harry was the hottest in Hogwarts.
Hermione rolled her eyes, and thought for a while, and filled in the questionnaire.
Pansy flipped through the sheaves of parchment and said furiously before Potions lesson started, "Harry Potter is now a trainee Auror, not a school boy. Why did they write his name?"
"Because he is a savior of the Wizarding World," said Tracey Davis shrugging.
"And he became a man finally. He is strong and tough now," said Millicent Bulstrode, who had a large and square build, stared at Harry who was standing behind Malfoy in the classroom of dungeon.
Harry was watching Theodore Nott with his intense glare.
"I could defeat him when he was first year, but I don't have confidence now. I feel his powerful magical aura. Theo will be killed with Potter's glare," said Millicent.
Pansy rolled her eyes and said, "Do you have a crush on him? Remember who his mother was, Millicent!" And she looked for Malfoy.
Malfoy was now preparing the materials for Potions lesson. Pansy frowned at Hermione, who was standing by him, talking with a Blood Traitor, Ronald Weasley.
"Not a few boys wrote Granger's name on the questionnaire about hottest witches," Pansy grumbled.
"Who is the best three?" asked Tracey.
"It is a tie: Ginerva Weasley and Astoria Greengrass," said Pansy bitterly.
"Weasley is Blood..oops, did they really write her name?" said Tracy.
"Yes, they did. Some Slyrhterin wizards wrote her name, too," said Pansy irritated.
"So who is the hottest wizard?" asked Millicent.
"The first is Potter, and the second is Draco."
"How will you announce the result?"
"We can alter the result," Pansy smirked.
All prefects gathered in Head Boy's room. They began the meeting. Harry unfolded a sheet of parchment Kingsley owled. Ron whispered to him,
"What did he say?"
Harry skimmed through the parchment and said in a small voice, "Well, it is surely Nott's wand, he said, the wand did lots of Dark magic in the past but he couldn't recognize the trace of the incident at that night when Hermione was attacked."
"Who is the professional?"
"He is one of Hit Wizards, a professional in the tracing area."
Then their conversation was cut off by Ernie McMillan's loud voice. Ernie was speaking aloud,
"I can't understand why of all the people, Head Girl allowed Miss Parkinson to publish such a disgraceful newspaper here in Hogwarts!" he held the newspaper up high in the air.
The girls giggled. Ron was faster than Harry. He took a step closer to Hermione and asked her, "What on earth is Ernie talking about?"
"I'm sorry, I couldn't expect that Pansy would place the photograph in a newspaper," said Hermione apologetically.
"What photograph?" Harry asked.
Hermione handed the same newspaper as Ernie was holding in his hand to Harry. Ron peered in.
"Merlin's beard, it's you in the prefects' bathroom," said Ron.
Harry saw his own half-naked picture in the front page. Next to his shirtless picture, there was a picture of Astoria Greengrass clad in Hogwarts swimming suits, who was smiling with Madam Hooch. A headline said, "Hogwarts Hottest Wizard and Witch".
Harry felt embarrassed and wondered who took his shirtless picture and who handed it to Pansy. Then his gaze shifted on to the other headline:
'Shackbolt's Interim Ministry Will Come Its End'
We tallied the survey about predicting how long Shackbolt's Ministry would last. We asked Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin sutudents. The reason why we didn't ask Gryffindors is most of them are frantic Harry Potter fans. Harry Potter, who is a Minister's friend, his own powers are overestimated. Although he was chosen as the hottest wizard in Hogwarts, we doubt his reputation for defeating Dark Lord. According to the questionnaire results, more than 58 percent students think the Minister should resign.
Ernie talked to Harry with an air of importance, "Harry, I'm sorry I understand how you are feeling now. We'll let prefects collect the newspapers as possible as we can."
"Thanks, Ernie," said Harry, he was now thinking deeply about other things. Pansy tried to create an image Kingsley's Ministry was untrustworthy. It was bigger than his shocking shirtless photo in the prefects' bathroom. Harry talked to Hermione, "Hermione, you should better stop Pansy to publish next one. You're the editor next time. She tried to brainwash students into disliking Kingsley in this newspaper," and he showed the page about the result of questionnaire about the Ministry.
Hermione read through the article and said, "You're right, Harry. I'll control her next time. I'll promise."
"Where is Malfoy?" asked Ron.
Harry looked around. Malfoy wasn't there.
"He was here, but he went to the bathroom," said Ernie.
Harry went to the front of the bathroom door and tried to open it, which ended up in letting Walburga Black screech,
"Filthy half-breed, go away!"
Harry felt uneasy. Malfoy might be up to something. Last year Malfoy fixed the twin cabinets so that Death Eaters broke into Hogwarts and Dumbledore died. He took out the Marauder's Map and searched the labeled black dots, Theodore Nott and Draco Malfoy. There they were. They were in the same bathroom in this room.
"How could Nott enter the bathroom in this room? He is not a prefect. Did someone let him enter Head Boy's room this evening?" asked Harry.
"No, we didn't let him enter," said Hermione, whose face turned pale, she asked, "How could he enter the room?"
"We can talk here without being overheard by Snape," Nott smirked.
"Yeah, and this cauldron, where did you get them?" asked Draco.
"At Borgin and Burkes. I heard the same wizard who made Twin Vanishing Cabinets invented this. It's handy," Nott patted a rim of the big old brass cauldron with his hand and he took out his wand and held it up high, squinted at it and said, "Your invention will make a great hit. You'll make a big fortune with this," and he took out a tiny bottle of powder from his pocket.
"Yeah, but the market is limited. If Aurors found out my new potion, I'll be questioned," said Malfoy.
Nott laughed mockingly and said, "I don't think they are clever enough to find out your new potion which hides the recent trace of stunning spell and Dark Magic,"
"Well, my potion just makes Auror's wand blind to cast detecting charm upon Dark Magic and stunning spells. This potion powder block magic from a wand of wood and a magical camera but if one of them could do wandless detective charm, you know, what I mean?"
"How many wizards can do wandless detective charm in our Wizarding World? Even Dark Lord couldn't do that."
"How about Dumbledore?" Malfoy asked.
"He died," Nott shrugged.
Malfoy kept silent.
"C'mon, Draco. Are you scared? A Druidic chieftain is on our side, and soon Shackbolt will resign. He'll be the target of the attack at the press conference next week."
"Well, what if there is a wizard who can do wandless detective charm?
"Before he finds out, Granger will not be here. A house-elf of my Manor House told me Granger was trying to emancipate house-elves at Hogwarts against their will. All Pure-Bloods hate this. Parents of Slytherins won't keep silent for that."
"But I think you didn't have to attack Granger the other night. If I were you, I had chosen another way to warn her," said Malfoy.
Then they heard the sound of a loud knocking at the bathroom door, which made Walburga Black screech, Harry called,
"Oi, Malfoy, come out of there. I know Nott is in the bathroom, too."
"How did he find out you are here?" Malfoy whispered.
Nott jumped into the Vanishing Cauldron and he had gone. Malfoy made sure Nott left there and opened the bathroom door and said,
"Hullo, Potter, are you desperate for the loo?"
Harry entered the bathroom. He investigated the bathroom carefully. Something had changed. What was it? Then he noticed the big old brass cauldron at the corner.
"When did you get this?"
"About a week ago. One of my cauldrons has broken, so I bought it. If you don't mind I want to keep making potions," said Malfoy.
"You are Head Boy. Why don't you join the meeting?" questioned Ron.
"I don't object to any ideas a Head Girl suggested. Even if that were the case, she will brazen it out, won't she?" Malfoy said coolly, and he began to cut materials.
"What were you sneaking around?" Harry questioned Malfoy.
Malfoy ignored him and kept cutting the herbs.
"Nott was here! Malfoy! If you intend to hide something, you'll be sent to Azkaban," said Harry in his angry voice, a blue flare of his magical energy leaked out of his body.
Malfoy looked stunned by Harry's threatening inquiring.
"How did you know he was here?" said Malfoy in his small trembling voice.
"I have a …we have a most up-to-date tool to detect dubious wizards," Harry said.
His words seemed to change Malfoy's state of mind. Malfoy stopped cutting herbs and turned toward Harry and sighed, "OK. You can penetrate my mind," and he stared at Harry's green eyes.
Harry stared at Malfoy's grey eyes and did Legilimens. He caught a glimpse of Malfoy's partial memory: Nott jumped in the big old brass cauldron in the corner of the bathroom.
"Does he have the same cauldron?" asked Harry.
"Yes, he does.
"What are you talking about?" asked Ron.
"Nott could enter Head Boy's bathroom through that Vanishing Cauldron," said Harry nodding towards the big old brass cauldron in the corner.
"Where is another Vaishing Cauldron?" asked Ron.
"Perhaps in his room of the boy's dorm," said Malfoy.
"Harry, let's seize the bloody Vanishing Cauldron now," said Ron, who was now trying to leave for Slytherin boy's dorm.
"Wait," said Harry and he thought deeply for a while and opened his mouth, "We should better keep it there just as it is."
"Potter, are you going to entrap him?" asked Malfoy sarcastically.
"If you don't want to show me other memories, what other ways are left?" asked Harry.
"You mean Malfoy didn't show you all information to you?" asked Ron.
"No, he didn't," said Harry and stared at Malfoy and said, "Am I wrong?"
Malfoy turned away his eyes. "Well, take away the bloody portrait from the bathroom door," said Harry.
Malfoy kept silent and went out of the bathroom door, took out his wand from his pocket of Slytherin green robes and pointed at the portrait of the bathroom door and chanted a long incantation they didn't know. Then there appeared a small cloud of dust, and the portrait of Walburga Black was removed from the surface of the bathroom door. Malfoy kept pointing at the portrait which was hovering in the air, and he put it on the floor slowly not to disturb Walburga Black.
And he turned around and said, "Do you use the Invisibility Cloak?"
"Yes, I do. Act as though nothing has happened," said Harry.
Malfoy sighed and said, "I got it."
Then he went back to the meeting. Harry and Ron stood in the front of the bathroom door which Harry left open. They could hear Hermione speak from there,
"So please be nice to house-elves at Hogwarts. They work hard for us. We must appreciate them for every labor. They cook three times a day, wash and clean for us."
"Blimey, I didn't expect she would start undertaking the emancipation of house-elves so early," said Ron.
"Yeah, if Dobby was here, he would feel happy. She's a brilliant witch, you know? I'm very proud of being her best friend," grinned Harry.
"Yeah, I agree. I appreciate Merlin we've known her for seven years," smiled Ron.
"And you appreciate Merlin for being her boyfriend?" Harry teased Ron.
"Yeah, of course," Ron toned down his voice and said, "I eh..I'll do anything to protect her. I'll catch Nott out. Do you think he will be back to the bathroom through the bloody Vanishing Cauldron at midnight?"
"I don't think he'll be back tonight. Let's continue to watch him carefully from tomorrow."
Though they kept watching Nott for three days from then, he didn't show his cloven hoof at all. Besides he didn't appear in the bathroom of Head Boy's room though they watched the Vanishing Cauldron in turn.
Next day they were eating breakfast at the bottom of the Slytherin table watching Nott, when Harry finished his toast, Sirius, Harry's owl glided down to the spot where he was eating. He sprinkled Malfoy's detective powder on to the letter attached to the leg of his owl to make sure it was safe, and he removed it from his leg. Harry unfolded the letter and read:
Potter, come back to the Ministry tomorrow. Dean Thomas will be in charge of watching Nott in place of you. Kingsley will hold a press conference tomorrow afternoon. I reckon you want to make a speech for him.
Gawain Robards
"What did he say?" asked Ron.
"Dean will come here in place of me. I must assist Kingsley. Tomorrow there'll be a press conference."
"I reckon Rita Skeeter will be there. Be careful, Harry. She will write merciless criticism for Daily Prophet. She'll insult you, too."
"Yeah, I know."
"I'll watch Dean for you."
"You watch Dean? What do you mean?" Harry turned his gaze on Ron from the letter.
"I feel he has still some feeling for Ginny," Ron said straight.
Suddenly some uneasiness lurked in his mind and he opened his mouth, "Ron, I want to say good-bye to Ginny, so eh.. would you mind?"
"Go on, mate. Ginny also desperately wanted to see you," Ron nodded.
Harry left the Slytherin table and walked to the spot where Ginny was sitting, and he put his right hand on her shoulder and talked to her,
"Morning, Ginny. Have you finished your breakfast?" and he felt her red silky hair with his hand slightly.
Ginny glanced back and stood up. She was beaming a smile at him and said, "Good morning, Harry, you've been busy with watching Malfoy and Nott. Did you find something?"
"Not yet. Ginny, I'm going to the Ministry tomorrow. Do you get a time to walk with me before your class?"
"Yeah, I have Herbology in the morning, so let's walk together to the greenhouse."
Harry noticed Hermione look at him inquiringly and he explained, "I'm leaving tomorrow, so…"
"I see. I'll tell you something about the glyphs later. Have a nice walk, then," Hermione grinned at him.
They walked down the hill to the greenhouse, hand in hand. Autumn breeze rustled away the grass of the slope of the heather-clad hills. Since most of the students were still in the Great Hall, the lane to the greenhouse was deserted. Harry nodded towards the bench under the cypress tree.
"Cypress tree..," whispered Ginny. "The tree which protected us from the heavy storm in the small island was cypress tree, wasn't it?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah. That one was extremely big," and his right hand touched the bark of the tree, felt the roughness, then he felt Ginny's arms flung around his upper body from behind.
They remembered the night when they slept together feeling the bare skin each other. His right hand shifted from the bark, held her left hand gently, he turned around, and he pulled her closer. His lips caressed hers, her soft lips answered, the electric pleasant sensation ran through his body, his small voice in his head ordered him, "Say the words," but he just held her tight and kissed her again instead of saying "I love you."
Hermione spread a sheaf of parchment on the table in Head Girl's room, and took out the two-way mirror. She tapped the back of the mirror and called Harry. Soon his face appeared on the mirror.
"Hermione? Did you call me?"
"Yes, I did. Where are you now?"
"In the Prefects' bathroom. Ron is watching Malfoy while I take a bath."
"Oh, I'll call you later," Hermione said awkwardly.
"Oh, it's okay, tell me, what's going on?"
"Is anyone there?"
"No. Only me here."
"Well, I think I could find the clue to the curse Cadwagan cast."
"Really? What did you find?"
"His druidic curse has little to do with Egyptian ones. It is closely related to the Australian aboriginal ones."
"Is it? So can you break the curse of Gringotts underground?" Harry hoped that he would announce the curse would be broken soon at the press conference.
"I think so, but give me more time. His runic combination is so complicated, so it will take some more time."
"OK," Harry felt disappointed.
Hermione seemed to understand his feelings and said, "Sorry, Harry, but please don't tell them we will find a solution. I think it would be wise to keep it secret. If they knew we had a clue, they might divulge the information to Cadwagan."
"I got it." Harry shoved his two-way mirror in his pocket of Auror robes and made sure the door was bolted. He turned on two taps at once with his wand, one tap gushed big pink and blue bubbles with hot water, and the other poured ice-white foam. When the deep pool was full of bubbles, hot water and foam, he turned off the taps. He took off his clothes and he slid into the water. Then a familiar voice echoed through the Prefects' bathroom.
"Long time no see, Harry Potter."
Harry saw the familiar ghost. A very glum-looking Moaning Myrtle was hovering in the air.
"Myrtle!" he said and he gathered and drew the thick foam towards him.
"You haven't been to see me for ages,"
"Oh, I've thought the girls' bathroom was broken during the Battle of Hogwarts."
"And you haven't cared about me at all, have you?" Myrtle questioned him, and swooped down to him, he gathered ice-white foam towards him again.
"I'm sorry, but I've been busy with training to become an Auror."
"Yeah, I know you're trying to be one. I remember the dark red robes. They came here to investigate why I was killed."
"Oh, did they?" Imagining she watched Aurors examine her dead body, Harry felt pity for her.
"Yes, they did. I thought you were so kind to care about me even after I became a ghost, but you seemed to forget me!" Myrtle pestered him with his kind words.
"I'm…sorry, Myrtle. I should've cared about you. I swear I'll do my best to protect Hogwarts from any evil acts." He didn't notice ice-white foam was vanishing on the surface.
Myrtle giggled at his fluster and said, "Someone was peeping into the bathroom when you entered here."
"Who was spying on me?" Summoning the towel to wrap himself, he asked.
"The girl who came here recently, one of her friend is big like a half-giant."
"Pansy Parkinson?"
"Yes, she is."
"How could she spy on me?"
"There is a tiny crack on the wall caused by the battle," then she pointed at the spot where Harry had been talking with Hermione through his two-way mirror.
Staring at the crack, he suspected it was Pansy who took a picture of shirtless Harry for her school newspaper. Pansy might have eavesdropped their conversation about breaking the curse Cadwagan cast.