25

The Diary

Time: Several weeks after

Place: Headmaster's office

"Do you have a minute?" asked Myrtle, floating up to Susan. She was back making things for the school, even though Albus had said the christmas presents she had made more then passed her "potions" class.

For the next five years.

He had explained that what Susan had casually done with Harry's glasses, Hermione's robes and Felton's Blade (as he was calling it) was Goblin quality Masterwork Forging. Goblins trained for decades before they were allowed to begin crafting items to actually sell, and any one of those pieces would have sold for thousands of Galleons. He showed her the similar Sword of Gryffindor, which shared many properties with Felton's Blade.

"Guess I know what field to get into after I graduate," Susan joked.

Rubeus in particular loved his new "pet" the baby dragon, who was making himself indispensable around the grounds. Apparently it had even fought off some creature going after chickens that Rubeus kept around. The noise of the scuffle had woken him, but by the time he got out to the coop, whatever it had been was gone. Whatever it had been had put up quite a struggle, there was wreckage everywhere, but no more chickens were killed after that. If possible, the Magical Ally looked a big smug after the attack, and even swaggered a bit when it walked. That was probably a person's own projecting though.

"I can give you more then that if you can wait ten," Susan replied. "I have that much time left until this hour of Imbuing is over and I can take a break."

"Okay…" Myrtle started to leave.

"Hey, go see the baby phoenix. He's so cute! Only a couple of weeks old, he just reincarnated recently."

"Oh, I've never seen a baby phoenix before. The Headmaster won't mind?"

"Go ask him, he's right over there." Myrtle spun around.

"Sorry Headmaster, I didn't see you there!"

"Only have eyes for Susan, eh?"

"Headmaster, please!"

"In any case, I'm sure Fawkes will be pleased to have a visitor. He's growing fast, but he's still a baby at heart."

When Susan was finished she walked in to see Myrtle and Fawkes playing a sort of mimic game, where one would do a little shuffle step dance or make a noise and the other would have to try and do the same.

She's actually smiling! There's hope for this ghost yet.

Albus watched with interest. "You've done something I didn't think was possible," he said to Susan.

"My magic is all about the impossible."

He shook his head. "It is not to your magical abilities I now refer. But rather your ability to make things better just by being you. You've actually taken an interest in the castle's ghosts, something no one, not even myself, has ever done. But more then that. You've actually changed two of them- for the better. I might be out of place, but I think you've given two ghosts a reason to live. That is no small feat."

Susan colored. "I just did what I thought was right."

"And how many others can say the same?"

"Ah," Susan countered. "It's easy to be generous when you have an abundance."

"I suppose that's true." However as he said it, Albus looked a bit troubled.

"So what did you want to see me about?" Susan asked, leaving the office to get ready for her next class.

"I was feeling bad because someone threw a book through me," she answered, "But Fawkes cheered me up."

"You can still have a hug if you… wait, why would someone throw a book at you?"

"I don't know."

"Take me through it step by step. What happened?"

"Well, I was sitting in my toilet, just thinking about things, and suddenly it just falls through my head."

"I doubt it was anything personal," said Susan. "Probably a prank on someone. Stealing their book and throwing it into the "haunted bathroom" sort of thing. You just happened to be there when it happened. Is it still there?"

"I didn't move it."

"Ah yes, I forget sometimes, talking to you. I wonder if my magic could fix that somehow, make you physical again? Anyway, let's go see what it is. I'm not sure Repair can dry something out, but if it's smudged I bet it could return the book to the way it was before it got wet."

"You're welcome to it."

So they went down to Myrtle's bathroom and she fished the book out. For a wonder, it came out dry.

"Okay, magical item, anyone?" she asked.

"Is it?" asked Myrtle, peering around her.

Susan flipped through it. "Blank. That's weird. And look at this date, fifty years ago."

"I was killed fifty years ago," Myrtle said in wonder.

"Really?" Susan asked, interested. "You didn't see who had this, did you?"

Myrtle shook her head. "No. There was someone, I heard them run out."

"I see. So it wasn't magically brought here, it was placed here. Why?" Susan started pacing. "Because someone knows you and I hang out together? Because they knew by leaving it with you, it would get to me?"

"It's possible."

"Fifty years old. It still doesn't add up though- if this is a clue of some kind it's not a very good one. There's nothing written here, just the name. T.M Riddle. Does the name mean anything to you?"

"My memories are kind of fuzzy. It's possible there was a kid with the last name of Riddle when I was alive, but I can't say for sure."

"This wasn't put here by accident, I'm sure of it. Thanks for coming to get me so fast, Myrtle. I'll continue looking into this and let you know what I find out. Fifty years, huh? You should have a Death Day party too."

"Oh, that would be a lot of trouble. I wouldn't want to put anyone out."

"Ah, Myrtle." Susan Phased herself and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry you died, but glad you did too. Otherwise we never would have met, and I would have one less friend."

"Thanks for being here. It's nice… having a friend."

She didn't run away that time. She is making progress!

That evening Susan got the book out and showed everyone.

"This was left in Myrtle's bathroom. And by 'left' I mean 'thrown'. Predictably, she came to get me right away, and here it is."

"It's a beat up old dairy," said Ron. "Who cares?"

"On the surface, yes, it's a beat up old diary. What's interesting about it is firstly, it came out of the water dry. So it's obviously magical. Secondly: the date. It's been hanging around for the last 50 years but there's not a pencil mark inside apart from the name. T.R. Riddle. But what's most interesting is that Myrtle says she was killed exactly fifty years ago too. Coincidence? I think not. This relates to her in some way, and now that she has a friend who cares about her, it's come to light. And that's the kind of coincidence that screams 'plot point' to me."

"Screams what?" asked Ron. Harry was nodding, this was "Susan Speak" but he knew that one. Hermione figured it out, she didn't need to ask. Sparkle just raised her head. "Say that name again?"

"T.R Riddle?"

"I thought so. I've seen that name someplace," her Photographic Memory finally coming into play.

"Seriously? Can you show us?"

Sparkle got up and stretched. "Follow me."

Sparkle led them to the trophy room, where she bumped the glass with her paw. "There you go."

"Special service to the school, eh?" said Harry. "That might be something I would want to brag about- in my diary!"

"But either he didn't, or did and magically hid it," said Hermione. "Hand it over."

Susan did, and Hermione got out her wand and tried various spells. It lay in her hand like a ratty old book would be expected to.

"Well, I'm bored," said Ron. "Let me know if you guys figure something out about it."

"He doesn't have Curiosity, does he?" Sparkle remarked. "I thought I was the one with Short Attention Span."

"Can your magic tell us anything?" she asked, handing it back.

"Let me see." Susan spent a few minutes paging through her book. "I don't think so. There's Appraise Magic but according to this "you must have some idea of what you are looking for" which is of course useless because if we knew that, we wouldn't need to cast the spell. Sorry."

"Maybe it was just made water resistant and someone forgot that would make it repel ink, too?" said Harry.

"Then why keep it around for fifty years?" asked Susan.

"It keeps circulating as a joke?"

"That's a long time for a joke to stay in circulation," said Hermione.

"I suppose the clue could just be the name, which we'll have to look into some more. It may just relate to Myrtle though, and not the chamber or the attacks. The timing could just be a coincidence, after all. If you think of anything though, let me know, okay?" Susan started casting to put it into her Pocket Dimension.

"Wait a second," said Harry. "Would you mind if I held onto it?"

"You really want to physically carry it around?"

"I just get the sense that's what I'm supposed to do."

Susan considered it. "Okay. It's yours, just don't lose it." She handed it over.

"You can just find it again with Descry Object right?"

"Yeah, but if you don't lose it, I won't have to bother, right?"

He laughed. "Don't worry, it's safe with me."

A month and a half passed, and it was now Valentine's Day. Hermione came down to breakfast to find Susan scowling at her character sheet. She also noticed the whole place had been decked out with lurid Valentine's Day decorations. Hermione sat down, her eyes not knowing where to look, but then noticed Susan.

"What's up?" she asked, glancing at the paper. "Wait, is that… you?"

"It's all there, in orange and yellow. Susan Felton, this is your life."

"I've caught glimpses of it when you go to check something on it, but I've never seen you stare at it so intently before."

"I don't like flashing it around, it reminds me that I'm different then all of you. Right now I'm just deciding something. With this past month I've knocked Telesummon off my 'spells to learn' list after the Ron incident, but it bothers me a little. In almost two years I haven't actually put any points into skills, just spells. My mother told me stories about what my father went through, and it seemed he got XP a lot faster then I do. Also I seem to get cards more sporadically, like whatever gives them to me doesn't think I'm really in any danger and so doesn't bother."

"What are cards, and how do they work?" She grabbed some toast and started buttering it.

"Cards allow me to rewrite the laws of physics or do impossible things without spells. I can also sacrifice them for more XP, or for something like Love Interest I can play them on myself and get XP for doing so."

"They aren't magic, are they?"

"I don't know what they are. They just show up on my character sheet from time to time, and by willing them to be used, reality gets warped in my favor."

"And you say this 'ability' of yours came from your father?"

"Yup. Apparently everyone on the world he came from had a character sheet, and those that went on adventures got cards, XP, the whole works. Everyone else just sort of leveled off at being average at everything." She sighed. "I would love to visit there sometime, I think the people there would really help me understand myself."

"So what has you all concerned now?"

"A couple of things. First is learning more skills, or getting better at the skills I already have. I can fake having better magic with energy, but I just wonder if I should be improving myself in that way, or finding more spells to learn. I guess it'll just depend on the situations I find myself in. Trouble is I only know I need a spell after the fact. Like wanting to get Ron back, I may never need to do that again."

"Can't you use your magic to get better at stuff?"

"That's how I'm getting by in Astronomy still, yes. Augment Skill. I just have to wonder if I'm doing the right thing. And I can't use that and get better at spellcasting- stupid closed loopholes. There's no one here to advise me, because it's unique to my situation. You guys can learn spells and skills and potions and knot tying and whatever else all in a single day and not have to worry about how many 'points' it uses up. I don't have that luxury."

"I would have to say, you are a wizard. Isn't your worth really in how many spells you know? You were saying how Headmaster Dumbledore praised you for your Imbuing. Everyone loves Rubeus' 'pet' dragon, and he's had many offers to sell it, from what I understand. You could go into business for yourself after you graduate just making those for people. Sure, they would have to stick around while you did it, but I would liken it to getting a portrait painted. People have to stick around for that, so there's precedence. You said you can only give it abilities as spells you know, right? So being able to offer a creature that each person can customize and choose the abilities of would be even better. Or just charge to make magical items of all kinds. Sure, it'll seem weird to people at first, but Goblins do it, and charge ridiculous fees. They work in secret, and you can too. Just separate your lab and your nice, posh waiting room, and they'll be none the wiser. You can just say you figured out the secret, and are undercutting them.

Or learn Alleviation and go to work for a hospital. Charge 10 Galleons a casting, times what, eighty castings a day? That's 19,000 Galleons a month you would be making. Do that for a year and you can retire! Or hire people to keep track of your money, or perform research or whatever for you. What would you need more skills for then just more magic?"

"Good point," Susan admitted. "And honestly, there's no spell that isn't useful in one situation or another."

"Exactly. So what's card 12?"

"That's what started this whole inner monologue, actually. It's one of the only cards that works against you while it's working for you."

"Huh?"

"This card is special. Most cards have an exchange value. I got Unlimited Ammo one time, and as I don't go around shooting people I turned it in for XP. Easy enough to understand, right? Say I don't use this card for awhile- It vanishes like it never was when my cards are refreshed. I can't turn it in, I have to play it to get the benefit. But when I do, something terrible happens to 'the entire party' and we all get 3 XP for it. That would be Sparkle and me, in this case, as you guys don't have XP. But as you, and Harry, and Ron… maybe even Myrtle by this point, are considered part of my 'party' for the purposes are cards- that bad thing would happen to all of you."

"But you would get better for it?"

"Yup."

"How much is 3 XP anyway?"

Susan got her book of magic out. "In magical terms, enough to learn the spell Communication, allowing me to understand and be understood by any person in their native language."

"That's only 3?"

"Yup. Double that to 6 in the same planet and you get Write Memory, a spell to actually go into someone's head and alter their memory. Double that- which is impossible, the most powerful spells are only 10 to learn, and you get Senescent Cessation, which makes you stop aging."

"And you just sort of decide to trade this XP in, and you are suddenly better at something, or know a spell?"

"Getting better at a skill, yes. To learn a spell I have to study the formula and commit it to memory. For me being a Natural Magician it takes as many minutes as the spell's cost."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Hey, you and your photographic reflexes can learn a spell by seeing it cast once. So don't you go thinking my way is better, or anything."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Hey, here's Harry and Ron!"

"Good morning," said Harry, sitting down.

"What happened to this place? Did someone's love potion explode?"

"It wasn't like this last year, so three guesses who set this all up," said Susan.

Everyone looked at Gilderoy, at the head table, smiling even wider then usual.

"What were you talking about?" asked Harry.

"I have something to run by you guys," answered Susan. "I totally understand if you don't want to do it. But I would get XP for it, allowing me to improve myself or learn a new spell."

"Is this some kind of dark ritual?" asked Ron, leaning away from her.

"No… yes. Sort of. I can make something bad happen to all of us. But Sparkle and I will get 3 XP for it."

"Actually," said Sparkle, raising her head, "I would get 5."

"You cheater! Explain yourself!" Susan pointed down at her.

"I have Personal Stake. If I play it to have the 'driving need' to protect you from the Disaster Strikes I get another 2 XP."

"Clever cat! I like it."

"What sort of terrible thing are we talking about here?" asked Harry.

"Could be anything. Reality will warp and change, so it could be the ceiling falling on us to someone deciding to attack us that normally wouldn't have."

"And it'll only happen to us," said Hermione. "So you don't have to worry about others getting caught in the cross fire."

"What have all these dueling lessons been for," asked Harry, "If not to prepare us for bad things happening?"

Ron looked skeptical. "I guess we do have the most powerful magic user around here with us," he said. "Of course that could mean the 'something bad' is that much worse."

"But we would know it was coming," argued Harry. "We would be prepared. I want to see some action. Oh, but not if it means whatever has been attacking students shows up."

"Better to face it here, with the Headmaster and everyone around, then later in some dark hallway," said Hermione.

"And it would only go after us. They could take it out from the sides and the back while we distract it."

"Interesting, using Susan's reality bending abilities to force a confrontation with the thing. Would that even work?" asked Hermione.

"I think it's more of a side plot thing then anything. I don't think we have to worry about that particular thing showing up."

"I say do it. Wands at the ready, everyone!" said Harry.

The others nodded, getting their wands out.

"Thanks everyone. Just remember, you can't complain later, you agreed to it." She shook out her bracelet, but didn't activate it, preferring to save the 'charge' on each charm as she needed it.

"Just a second," said Sparkle, and took the time casting Acceleration on everyone. Because she was casting on five people (really four and herself, a cat) she took a rating penalty of 5, but used 6 energy so her net skill gain was a 1. Then she did the same with Armor of Magic, having everyone touch her, and got a 8 total on that. Then she realized she should have done them the other way around, because the penalty for maintaining the Acceleration was higher then for Armor of Magic.

Live and learn.

She nodded that she was ready.

Susan concentrated, and the 12 disappeared from her character sheet. The four looked around worriedly.

"Did it work?" asked Ron. "I don't think it worked."

Gilderoy stood up.

"Oh no, please don't let him be the Disaster," Susan moaned.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" he shouted, getting everyone's attention. "As you might have guessed, I had this all set up for you, to celebrate and take your minds off recent events." He spread his hands out to encompass the decorations around the room. "But the fun doesn't stop there, no." He clapped, and a dozen disgruntled looking dwarfs, all looking about, burst into the room.

"My cupids-" he started to say, but then looked at them more closely. "Hey, you guys aren't in costume!"

Indeed, they weren't. Susan didn't know what Gilderoy had planned, but these dwarves meant business. They were decked out in armor and had wicked looking axes in their hands. They spotted her.

"Death to Susan!" said one, raising his ax high. The others followed suit, bellowing a hearty war cry, and charged.

Oh crap why didn't I learn Invulnerability this is going to suck what spells do I know I've forgotten them all calm down Susan you can't forget them they're on your character sheet we're all going to die oh help! Susan thought. She felt the dice rolling in her head, and knew she was rolling Initiative.

Susan got to act first, and knew she needed to 1) make the sides a little more even and 2) slow them down, so she started casting Magical Ally, taking a slight penalty because she figured it would take the dwarves at least an action or two to get to her. A magical circle appeared between the dwarves and the party.

Then two more appeared, as Sparkle started casting the same spell. Given the penalties she was already at for maintaining Acceleration and Armor of Magic she actually added 2 segments to her casting time.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry got up from the bench and raised their wands, ready to cast.

The dwarves started moving forward, but their numbers now worked against them as several in the back looked like they could have started moving, but were blocked by the ones in front of them. However, most of them started charging.

Susan finished casting and got exactly the difficultly, a 13. A dragon appeared where she put the circle, and it waited for orders. "Defend us, but try not to kill them," she shouted at it.

It roared in response.

All the dwarves now spaced themselves out enough and were running towards the party, axes held high, poised to strike.

Harry shouted "Confundo" and points his wand, but the spell goes over the heads of the dwarves. "Aim low!" he shouted, realizing his mistake.

Hermione pointed at the lead dwarf's ax and shouted "Evanesco" and it disappeared, leaving him running towards the group with no weapon. He looked down at his hands, confused.

Ron, on the other hand, pointed his wand at the dragon and shouted "Engorgio," which made the dragon grow another size modifier bigger.

"Nice one!" said Susan. "Lubricate!" Casting instantly, and targeting the area of the floor where the dwarves were, she got the spell off and they started using their COOrdination to try and remain standing.

Less then half of them fell over.

Do they have some racial bonus against knockdown checks? Susan asked herself. Of course, they would have a lower center of gravity.

Sparkle finished casting, but only got a 9, and so spent her Retry card, rolling a 10. Exasperated, she spent 2 XP for a +4 bonus and got it, making two +1 size lions appear. She shouted a similar command to them, ducking under the table.

"I'm no more help, I'm at too much of a penalty," she said to Susan. "I'm out of this fight."

Susan, now at a −3 herself for the dragon, noded.

The knocked over dwarves started getting up.

The dragon leapt forward and made a called shot to the lead's leg, and got a 21 to hit. The dwarf tried to dodge, but he only got a 10, not nearly enough. His leg is swept out from under him with 13 damage. He fell over in a spray of blood, clutching his leg and yelling in agony. Some of those students nearby with weak CONstitutions fainted. Others looked on interested, wondering if this was actually part of the show.

At this point, a bunch of stuff happened simultaneously. The dragon spun, again making a called shot to another leg, and targeting another dwarf that hadn't yet made the check to stand up. He hit with a 27 and did 7 damage. The dwarf cried out in pain.

The first lion did a called shot, getting a 23, while the second one did the same, getting a 24. The first dwarf's leg was torn off with 21 damage, and the second took only 9.

Susan cast an Elemental Burst (Knockout) behind the group, making it four meters wide and hitting the back four so she didn't hit her allies. She got a 19, and hit two locations on all of them.

One took too much damage to the body and went limp.

One took twenty damage to the left arm and then another twenty to the body, and went down.

The third went down.

The fourth, oddly, only took damage to his arms and made his STRength check to hold onto his ax.

Three out of four isn't bad.

Harry pointed at a dwarf who is down and trying to get up and shouted "Expelliarmus," which hit and the ax went flying out of the Dwarf's hands.

Hermione tried "Immobulus," on one still running, which worked. However he was still in the Lubricate zone and running, so he skidded towards the lion right in front of him, who raised a paw and seemed to grin.

Ron shouted "Petrificus Totalus,"but missed, because he hasn't been practicing like he should.

Dwarves were trying to get up, and one finally got an attack in on the dragon. Sadly, the dragon is DTR 5 while his ax is only OTR 4 so it bounced off.

"That's no fair!" said the dwarf, beginning to wonder about his choices in life. The dragon raised a claw, then swung down at him. As you can guess by this point, another leg was ripped off, and he went down in spurt of blood and regrets.

A lion took a swing for the dwarf now sliding towards him and as the dwarf couldn't dodge, hit him for 11 points of damage in the leg. Being paralyzed makes it hard to make COOrdination checks, and he went down.

The other lion swung at the dwarf now in front of him, but missed because the dwarf spent max energy. "HA!" he shouted.

Albus Dumbledore began to stand up, and took in a mighty breath so he could yell "Stop this at once!" very dramatically.

A second dwarf tried his luck in bashing the dragon, but again it bounced harmlessly off. They didn't know you could spend two energy to raise the TR of a weapon for a single action. Too bad for them.

With two juicy targets the dragon decided to use an off hand action, and swing for one, then the other. Two more legs went flying, and those not spattered by this point are spattered, while those that were previously spattered are now drenched. More people faint. Those not fainting or wiping blood from their eyes begin to think that maybe this isn't part of Gilderoy's surprise.

The anguished cries of dying dwarves that have not passed out from blood loss fill the chamber.

A lion made a mighty leap towards a far away dwarf, who began praying to his deity. The other took another swing at the dwarf he just missed, and connects this time, ripping off a limb. Susan, seeing basically that this fight is over but will need to do some healing very soon, got out of her seat.

Ron tried another "Petrificus Totalus" which goes off this time, and another dwarf falls over, rigid as he is tall. Well, sort of, he is a dwarf, after all.

Hermione shouts "Reductio" while pointing to one of the active axes and it begins shrinking away to nothing.

Harry tried his signature "Expelliarmus" but this dwarf made his STRength check and held onto his weapon.

Both lions pounce on the remaining dwarves and hold them down. With gleaming teeth and no chance to get out from other the magical constructs, they surrender.

What was I worried for?

"Stop this at- oh, never mind," said Albus, "It looks like it's over."

A Ravenclaw student at the table clicks a stopwatch. "Huh," he remarks. "Five seconds."

Older students and teachers rushed over to get axes away from the dwarves' reach, and some started medical procedures on those with missing limbs. With wanded magic keeping them stable, Susan was able to cast Regeneration on them one after another, and healed them all up.

They were all very polite about the whole thing, and some even apologized for mercilessly trying to kill her. Susan, however, thought this was more out of hindsight about how powerful she was then any actual regret on their part. With them healed and in magically created chains, they were led to the dungeon for questioning.

"Some Veritaserum, if you please, Severus," said Albus, once they were safely secured.

"What will happen to them?" asked Susan, worried that her playing of the Disaster Strikes card had condemned these dwarves to death.

"I will exercise my rights to question them, and the release them to the dwarven government. Depending on what charges you wish to level against them, their fate could be almost anything."

"Ah."

"You do not want them killed, I take it?"

"No. I could have had my dragon do that easily enough."

"Indeed. I was quite surprised at the quickness and ferocity of the beasts, both dragon and lion."

"It's the spells they have on them, and the amount of magic I put into them when they're created. Sparkle has Acceleration going on hers, mine is just naturally super quick."

"I see. Ah, here is the truth serum. He held it up to show the dwarves. "I will personally argue for lenience, whoever agrees to drink this willingly and answer my questions."

All of them were willing.

"That's weird. I guess they are either really scared of what I'll ask to be done with them or they have no problems telling us what they know," remarked Susan.

"I agree. I shall choose on at random them. You."

The dwarf stepped forward and was handed a glass of water with three drops of the potion in it. He drank it down.

"I don't like this… just a second before you question them."

Susan stepped out of the room and activated her Detect Lies spell from her bracelet, then went back in.

"Okay."

"First, why did you try to kill Susan?"

"We were paid to," said the dwarf.

"By who?"

"After we were contracted to play cupids for Gilderoy a bag appeared in our dressing room. Inside were five hundred Galleons, a picture of a girl, and a note. The note said if we killed the girl while we were in the school, that much again would be given to us."

"And you had no problem accepting this task?"

"Do you know how bad the economy is right now? Especially if you're a dwarf? We agreed to dress up as cupids and deliver singing telegrams. That should show you how desperate we are."

"Yes, that does seem out of character for dwarves. Do you have the note still, by any chance?"

"No chance. We burned it."

"Of course you did."

Albus thought for a moment. "How about the bag, or the picture?"

The dwarf shook his head. "Not even the original gold is left, we already traded it for untainted coinage. Who knows what kind of spells were put on it, after all!"

"Seems you're quite thorough."

"Course! We're dwarves!"

There was a general murmur of assent.

"Then I guess there's nothing left we can do. I'll be contacting your government shortly."

The dwarf nodded and went back with the group.

Later, the group stood in his office, Harry, Ron and Hermione looking around at all the junk Albus had accumulated.

"Most of it came with the office," he said, looking around himself. "It seemed to fit, so I just left it. Who knows what half of it does? Anyway, to business. You all handled yourselves very well down there, and I just wanted to congratulate you. It's not many second year students who would not only keep their cool, but manage to fight off a platoon of dwarves. It seems the foundation Quirinus gave you, plus your own practice has paid off."

"It was Susan's creatures that did most of the work," said Harry.

"Perhaps. But you did your share. I did notice, however, that Ron could use a little more practice with his aim."

"Yes sir," said Ron, looking down.

Albus laughed. "Now, now, none of that. Be proud! You didn't run, you didn't panic, you calmly dealt with the situation you found yourselves in. I'm awarding you each twenty points."

"Thank you!" they all said.

"It worries me that Susan's unknown assailant is still at large. It seems they are searching for your weakness quite methodically. First it was directly against you, with magic. When that didn't work they tried older students and more magic. When that didn't work they tried physical attacks, with dwarves of all things. I shudder to think what they'll try next."

"It worries me too, my friends could get caught in the crossfire. If someone has a problem with me they should just come out and say it. Stop hiding behind others to do their work for them."

"I agree. But this is our reality. How confident are you in your skills, if you were being honest?"

"Setting aside my Overconfidence weakness? You saw how confident I was. My latest spell, the Magical Ally works out great, and Sparkle learned the spell along with me. So we can now summon up some pretty darn strong fighters in an instant if we have to. I can make myself immune to magic with a word, plus my fireball attack I have yet to show, if I really want to kill someone. My Elemental Burst will take out a group, and with Acceleration going I'm like three people myself because I'm so fast. Plus Sparkle watches my back, and has a completely different spell list then I do, further adding to my survival chances. I've got my bases covered, I think."

"I might sit down and think about what my weaknesses were though, just in case. You can bet your unknown assailant is doing so right now."

"I will."

"Very well. That will be all, go to your classes."

"Can I introduce them to Fawkes before I go? I bet even Ron has never seen a real phoenix before."

"Of course. I'll let you know when the representative from the dwarven nation arrives."

"Thanks."

Which he did, later that day. They all went down to the dungeon, where the dwarves were eating.

"Caught them in the act, did you?" asked the dwarf.

"Yes. They attacked Susan here, and would have killed her, had she not fought them off rather expertly."

"Her?" He seemed surprised, looking her up… and up. . "You're stronger then you look, girl."

"Thank you. I think."

He looked at them, and they looked down, ashamed.

"Well, what do you want done with them?"

Susan did a double take. "Wow, dwarven justice moves fast!"

"Course! We're dwarves!"

"Right. Seems I've heard that once before. What are the limits on what I can ask for?"

"You can ask for their lives, but not the lives of their children or wives. A fine could be levied, up to a percentage of their income per year for the next ten years. You can have them rot in jail. You could ask-"

Susan held up a hand. "What if I had a job for them, and we called it even?"

"What sort of job?" asked one of the prisoners.

"There's an underground maze I want to clean out and use as a secret base. It's full of traps, many of which I can describe, and some giant insects, which I can also describe. I will provide transportation to and from the location, and food and water for the duration. It won't be fine dining, but it's hearty. Because you're dwarves!"

She waited a beat.

She didn't get a laugh.

"Ahem. Anyway, I want the traps disarmed and the creatures within herded out, not killed, if you can manage it. Again, I will provide for their transportation. You just need to get them into a single room. You may keep any treasure you find down there." She was thinking about that weird statue and the moldy crates, who knew what all was down there, really? And there may have been more secret passages they didn't find that held more treasure…

"There is at least one secret passage, which I will show you. If there are more I would love to know about it. What else do you need to know?"

"How big is it?" one asked.

"If I were to start at a room, walk the maze only making only right turns and not worrying about traps? I would say it would take me two hours to get back to my starting point. It's pretty big."

"We get to keep the Galleons we already got?"

"Sure, but you failed in your task. If I was an evil wizard I would have you killed for it. Disappearing for a while might be your best option."

The dwarves nodded.

"How about this transportation you spoke of?"

"I'll open a magical gateway between here and there you can walk out of any time. It'll go away when I'm asleep, so you'll be stuck there every night. You'll need lanterns and whatnot."

"We can see in the dark."

"Okay. Well, camping stuff, anyway."

"They'll need to be guarded," said the official dwarf. "They are dwarves, but we'll need to make sure they do the job."

"The school will cover the expense, and provide any mining equipment or other supplies the group requests to dig the traps out," said Albus. "I recommend you take her up on it, this seems quite fair."

"Actually it seems a little too good!" one of the prisoners said. "We get to explore an underground maze and look for treasure? The traps can't be that dangerous!"

"I have no idea. I was Phased, that is, like a ghost when I was there last. I noticed some things that seemed to be traps, but I couldn't say what activated them or what they exactly did."

"Doesn't bother us," said one. "We can handle it."

"So you'll do it, then?"

"When you're satisfied it's clear, we get to leave? No other requirements?"

"I'll forget the whole thing ever happened."

"Deal!" shouted all the dwarves.

"And there you have it," said Susan. "Thank you for coming by," she said to the official.

"My pleasure. Naturally you'll want them to start immediately?"

"Naturally. I'll get together with the other people who where there and draw you up a map of what we remember, and I'll list out the bugs I saw. Oh, Headmaster, I already cleared it with Rubeus, but I guess I should actually ask you. It's okay if I release some giant bugs into the forest behind the school, right?"

That reminds me, I promised to let him see them before they went into the forest. I'll have to show him where the portal is, so he can help if he wants.

"They will find they are among their own kind."

"Great. I'll be in touch, fellows."

And that was how Susan turned her Disaster Strikes into her secret base, with no more effort on her part.

Every morning she made the dwarves a sack full of Conjure Foodstuff and a barrel of Elemental Conjure (Water) and set her Teleportal to face the forest so the dwarves could drive the giant insects out into it. They took to the task with gusto, and seemed to be fairly nice guys, now that they were not trying to kill her anymore. Obviously she always had her Magical Ally hanging around (running off a new charm on her bracelet) when she spoke to them, plus the guards the dwarven official had assigned, but they gave no trouble. In fact after she remarked about giving part of it to the Weasley twins they installed a separating door, complete with lock and key. She talked to Ron about what they might like down there, and he said they were always cooking up something at home. He told her about the kind of things they were always buying, and Susan put her Resources: Money to good use stocking the place with furniture, lighting, and things for magical experiments. Hermione actually provided the lighting, she could make some nifty flames that never went out, just like the torches around Hogwarts, and made a few of them per hallway. Susan was quite jealous of that charm, given the massive XP cost she would have had to pay to do the same.

The Disaster Strikes was over, and all it cost the group was a vital clue as to the nature of the diary. With no "cupids" wandering around Harry did not spill his bag, and thus, did not get ink on the diary. Without the clue of the vanishing ink, he didn't write in it, and so it didn't write back. It was now almost two months since he had been given it, but was no closer to figuring it out.

Luckily for them, reality wanted to follow the same course, so there was bound to be a break soon.