The Roaring Snake - 28

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I am merely playing in the world created by JKR.

End of the Year

Harry smiled coldly at his friends, "Let's think this carefully. If you were Dumbledore, what would you do now?"

That caught the attention of his friends, and he went on, "He will know what we've figured out by now. He knows that Voldemort talked to me, knows that I heard Voldemort being cut off decrying the Stone as a fake, knows that we'll have figured out his own role by now. If you were him, and you went to all this trouble to ensure that we went after Voldemort, it would imply that you'd continue to keep an close eye on us, right?"

They all nodded, and Harry continued, "We now also know about his spying attempts, and once we begin thwarting some of them at least - we don't know how many spying methods he's got at his disposal - he'll realise we know of his games. So - what will he do?"

Tony caught on to Harry's line of thought. "He'll try to find other ways to keep tabs on us."

"Absolutely," acquiesced Harry. "What are his options?"

Rosier leant back and murmured, "That's a rather large question. Hogwarts is his fiefdom. He's probably got more ways of knowing of things here without others knowing anything about it."

Harry shook his head, "You're overlooking something obvious. There are eight of us, already. There'll be more of us if Morag, Theodore, and Padma join. He'll be hard pressed to keep tabs on all of us at all times. More importantly, once he discovers we know of his meddling, he'll look for ever more means to spy. All those magical intelligence gathering systems are fine, but that'll also leave him a problem - he won't have any way of directly influencing our thoughts and our actions, and we've already shown him that we work well as a group. So what's his solution?"

Justin speculated, "More attention towards us? Get more of his people to breathe down our necks?"

Harry remarked, "Possible, but who? He'll need someone who can actually influence us."

"McGonagall? Sprout? Flitwick? Hagrid?" questioned Rosier doubtfully.

"Possible again, but I'm not sure if McGonagall is easy to manipulate. Also, she struck me as one who'll do the right thing," commented Harry. "As for Sprout, Hagrid and Flitwick, they really don't know us much and I doubt they can do much to change what we feel. So they aren't going to be of much use to him that way."

Daphne replied slowly, weighing every word of hers scrupulously, "You think Dumbledore'll try to turn one or more of us? You think he'll bribe, persuade or coerce one of us into turning to his side?"

Harry nodded, "That's what I fear. We don't know what pressures and rewards he has at his disposal. So, I think a bit of our own gameplay's in order."

"We could try to pretend to go along with him ...," began Millicent, but Rosier shot it down, "Dumbledore's a master at this. If he as much as suspects his spy of double-crossing him, we'll be worse off than before."

"I agree," nodded Harry. "We can't lie to Dumbledore and get away with it. We need someone who'll genuinely spy on us."

At this, all his friends gazed at Harry in incomprehension, but the latter smiled, "Let the enemy provide. We were considering getting more people on our side. Let us also get into our group someone who we know to be Dumbledore's side. That way, Dumbledore will be less inclined to try to break us to work for him. He will act through his available agent!"

"Would he still not try to influence one of us?" inquired Daphne.

"It's unlikely," returned Harry. "Remember, if he got caught, it'd only make things harder for him. He'll rely on his minion to work his will on us."

"We can indulge in some disinformation ourselves," murmured Anthony.

Harry smiled back, "There's that too."

"You've got someone in mind, Harry?" asked Susan.

"A few options," remarked Harry. "Weasley, for one. MacMillan, for another. Longbottom's also a possibility."

"D'you think Dumbledore'll tell them that they're his weapons against us?" enquired Justin.

"Don't think so," returned Harry. "Dumbledore never tells anyone anything unless it's necessary, in my experience."

"So, he'll be another pawn, whoever it is?" inquired Hermione.

Harry nodded, and Hermione mused, "Harry, in that case, do we want to do it?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Look from their point of view, Harry. When they learn that they've been played by all sides, they'll be bitter and we'll make an enemy of them." She wrung her hands in unhappiness, "Besides, Harry, it's morally wrong - we'd be no better than Dumbledore if we did that."

Justin concurred, "Think also, Harry, what might happen to Dumbledore's pawn once Dumbledore realises he's been duped. They'll suffer for no fault of theirs."

Daphne returned, "The fate of Dumbledore's unfortunate minions is of no consequence to us."

"Peachy!" sneered Justin. "As long as you don't have to be the unfortunate one!"

Hermione pleaded once more with Harry, "We were unhappy about being manipulated by Dumbledore. Now we can't be thinking of manipulating others!"

"This is war, Hermione," replied Sakarbal gently. "Either we go down or our enemy goes down. And our foes are really powerful. We need every advantage we can get."

"We don't need to make more enemies than we possibly need to," answered Justin.

Harry frowned - he had thought his plan excellent, but Hermione and Justin had found a genuine flaw in it. He agreed with their view that it was unnecessary to make more enemies than necessary. But the idea was still worth pursuing if they had a proper pawn. Consequently, he did what all politicians do - he deferred the decision. He sighed, "There is much in what both of you say. We'll leave it for the moment, and keep the idea as a reserve - in case we need it desperately. But if we don't give him an opening, he'll try to turn one of us. How do we stop it?"

"Truth potions," replied Daphne promptly.

"Eh? How so?" queried Justin.

"Every week, we take truth potions and ask each other questions about our loyalties, whether we've spoken to Dumbledore and if so, when and about what. That should stop him from being overly manipulative."

Harry acquiesced, "That's a very good idea, Daphne. We'll do it. But is there anyone else we can approach to get on our side?"

"Maybe we should just keep our eyes open and grab anyone promising?" ventured Millicent.

"That seems like a good idea. Now, I'll go have a talk with McGonagall and see how we can approach Narcissa," muttered Harry. With that, the group returned to Hogwarts.

---(Scene Break)---

Harry's talk with Minerva was extremely illuminating. Harry had told her the entire truth about Voldemort, and his suspicions that the Stone there was a fake. The elderly transfiguration mistress was aghast. She stared in horror at the raven haired boy, incapable of coherent speech. Finally, she spluttered, "It – it is impossible. You-Know-Who here? Inside Hogwarts?!"

Harry said nothing, looking stolidly at the professor. "But how could he have deceived everyone?" breathed McGonagall.

"Perhaps he didn't," murmured Harry.

"What was that?"

"Perhaps Voldemort did not deceive everyone, ma'am. Think on it. There may be something in it."

McGonagall looked worriedly at Harry. "Do you know something, Harry?"

"I know nothing, professor. I have a few ideas, that is all. But I need a favour from you."

"What is it, Harry?"

Harry handed her a letter. "Can you hand this over to Lady Narcissa yourself, ma'am? I would rather not send it by owl."

Minerva saw that Harry knew a lot more than he was saying. However, she agreed to do his bidding. Harry thanked her and left.

---(Scene Break)---

Rosier proved to be a true prophet when it came to the voting among the Governors. The Governors meeting proved to be futile – Lucius and Avery stood neutral, while the Dumbledore loyalists stood solidly behind him. McGonagall told him later that they had discussed the matter, and had voted on an investigation – Regulus Black, Hamalcar Rosier, Amelia Bones and Andromache Wilkes had voted for the investigation by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but had been outvoted. Dumbledore loyalists had won the vote and the only investigation would be conducted by the headmaster himself. Harry was sure it would turn up nothing.

The next bit of assistance came from Narcissa a week later. She came to the school on some pretext and handed over a letter to Harry. She thanked him for the information about the Dark Lord, and the Stone. Further, she informed him that she would speak to him at the end of the term before he went back to his relatives.

---(Scene Break)---

Severus burst out angrily, "Headmaster, the situation is becoming impossible! The obnoxious brat already has half the first year eating out of his hands. Give him another year or two, and he will have the entire school following him!"

"I am aware of that, Severus," murmured Dumbledore gently.

"Neither Draco, nor your proteges can do anything while Potter is around! They have no influence."

Dumbledore pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "What is the situation among the first year students, Severus?"

Snape leant back and answered, "The Gryffindors are mostly neutral, with the exception of the Granger girl. She is in his group, and he has a great deal of influence over her. The other Gryffindors dislike him because he fraternises with the Slytherins, but otherwise, they don't mind him. Ravenclaws are getting on really good terms with him – Patil, Rosier, Goldstein and MacDougal are all very close friends with him. The others are also swaying slowly to his side. The Hufflepuffs are also steadily warming to him. They seem to have forgiven him his refusal to play Quidditch for them. Bones and Finch-Fletchley are very close, but the others are not inimical to him in the least. And opinion among the Slytherins is split. Malfoy and his friends dislike him, but they don't really dare oppose him. The others are all at least decent to him. Greengrass, Nott and Bulstrode are already on his side, and Zabini and Davis are considering him carefully."

He continued almost as an afterthought. "In all this, headmaster, what surprises me is how Potter himself is being polite with everyone. He is not really forcing the pace. I wonder what he is up to."

"He is getting Amelia investigate Quirrell's movements last spring and summer," murmured Dumbledore. "He's also getting her to investigate our movements last spring and summer!"

Snape almost jumped at that, and only his supreme self-command suppressed this impulse. "What does he know?" whispered Snape. "And what is he planning?"

"I am not sure what he knows, Severus, nor what he is planning, apart from getting lessons in magic over summer. But he is very thorough. We must prepare for the worst." There was no need to ask how Dumbledore knew about this. The wily old warlock had his minions in every nook and cranny of the Ministry. Little of significance occurred without his knowledge.

Dumbledore was furiously considering the data provided by Severus. Of the ten people in Harry's group, the only real losses for him were the Granger girl, Patil and Finch-Fletchley. He could not allow Harry to obtain influence over Patil in particular. Two of them were muggleborn students and the third was from a Light family. He would have been able to mould them as he wished if it had not been for Harry. Goldstein and Bulstrode were borderline cases. Their families were independent of Dumbledore, and not exactly under his influence, but neither were they opponents of his. As for the others, they were really lost causes. Rosier, Greengrass and MacDougal were all children of families who had been thorns in Dumbledore's side for dozens of years. Nott was the son of a man who had been a Death Eater. Dumbledore would rather that Nott was at Malfoy's side. And finally, Amelia Bones knew Dumbledore too well to let Susan fall under the old man's influence. No – there were no real losses yet, but it was only a question of time before Harry started making real dents in Dumbledore's base. He needed to act fast and act resolutely ….

There was a long silence between the two men, and then Dumbledore murmured, "There is a Persian proverb, Severus. Roughly translated, it means, 'Use your enemy's hand to catch a snake.' I think that is prudent advice."

"You are going to act against the boy?"

"In a way," remarked Dumbledore cryptically.

---(Scene Break)---

The next day, Dumbledore called McGonagall into his office the next morning. He waved his deputy into a seat and began "Minerva, there is an important matter I wish to discuss. Surely, Harry has told you about Voldemort being inside the school?"

If McGonagall was surprised, she did not show it. She merely stared at the headmaster, her face expressionless. Dumbledore continued, "Voldemort was possessing Quirrell, Minerva. How Quirrell was ensnared by him we don't know yet. It seems impossible, however, for Voldemort to have achieved it alone."

"What do you mean, Albus?"

"Think of it. Voldemort is a shade, incapable of any magic. He must have had assistance in possessing Quirrell. Who it is we don't know yet. Therefore, I think we need to take some precautions."

"What kind of precautions?"

"For one thing, he was obsessed with Harry. Surely you have observed how Quirrell was giving Harry extra lessons? He wants to get his claws on young Harry, I fear. We need to protect him. It is that I wished to discuss."

"If we need to protect him, shouldn't we have Pomona here with us?"

"Ahh – there lies the problem," sighed the headmaster. "You see – Voldemort knew enough about Harry Potter that he allowed the child to follow him to the room where we held the Stone. It was sheer luck that I happened to be in time. Another minute, and Harry would have fallen to Tom, I fear. The boy needs careful supervision and most importantly, he trusts you. I have a proposition for you, if you will consider it."

"What is it?"

"Harry is friends with a number of people in different houses. We both know how Tom strikes at people through their beloved ones, Minerva. Too many times have we seen it. Therefore, I am considering putting Harry and his friends in a separate group apart from the others. This way, we can protect him and his friends better."

"I don't understand ..."

"At present, Minerva, Harry and his friends are spread all over the school. We both know that there are several children whose parents' sympathies lie with Voldemort. We cannot easily protect Harry and his friends now - particularly if they are going to be around people whose loyalties lie with Tom. I was hoping that we could put them in a separate group outside the four Houses and you could oversee that group."

"Albus, I already have my responsibilities as the deputy and Head of Gryffindor," objected Minerva.

"Consider, Minerva. Harry Potter is wary to the last degree. He scarcely trusts anyone. But you he trusts. Therefore, it would make him feel more comfortable as well if you were his supervisor. As for your responsibilities as head of Gryffindor, Septima Vector could take them over. We need Harry Potter safe, and you are the only one I trust to do it."

Minerva thought over the proposal carefully. Dumbledore was hiding something – of that she was certain. He had not addressed the issue of the Stone at all, and she clearly knew that he had been less than frank about it. Dumbledore was playing his own game and she needed to watch out for Harry. But she agreed with him about one thing – Harry's safety was paramount, and if he felt more comfortable under her supervision, she would do everything she could to help him. She nodded slowly, "Alright. How should we go about it?"

Dumbledore answered, "I have thought about it, Minerva. We remove the students from the Houses, and put them in a separate group. Essentially, it will be their House." He handed her a parchment, "This will be their timetable. They will have their own Common Room, sleeping quarters, and a place to eat. They will be housed in the West Wing, where we have several rooms free."

Minerva looked curiously at that, "You plan on isolating them from the school so thoroughly?"

"No other students have been attacked half as many times in twice as many years. It is for their safety. We would rather have Harry and his friends kept away from potential hazards, than have them dead or wounded."

Minerva sighed in resignation, "How long is the arrangement to last?"

"That is hard to say. It will last for the next three weeks, which will bring us to the end of this academic year. Next year – we shall see."

"Whom are we removing apart from Harry Potter?"

"Ms. Granger from Gryffindor, Mr. Goldstein, Ms. MacDougal and Mr. Rosier from Ravenclaw, Mr. Finch-Fletchley and Ms. Bones from Hufflepuff, Ms. Bulstrode, and Ms. Greengrass from Slytherin."

Minerva rose to her feet. "Very well, Albus. I shall meet those students and inform them of the new arrangement."

---(Scene Break)---

The next few weeks passed quickly. Harry and his friends, cut off from the rest of the school except for classes where everyone was becoming increasingly edgy, were busy preparing for their exams. Now with no distractions, they all pushed themselves and each other to the limit and beyond. Their collective efforts paid off and they were all certain that they had done well in the exams.

It was late afternoon on the last day in school, and the students were all lying lazily about in the sun near the lake. Harry and his friends strode outside nonchalantly, in pairs. Glancing around edgily to make sure no one was paying them any attention, the group silently and surreptitiously made their way to their meeting spot in the Forest.

Once they were arrived there, they all dropped down comfortably on the grass. Harry smiled down at all of them, and spoke, "Okay, people, now that we're finally done with the schoolwork fot the year, maybe we can get to the what we should be doing in summer. But first, we should discuss our research and news. Sak, Tony?"

"There are three definite ways he has of spying on us, Harry. More perhaps, but we are sure of these three," answered Goldstein, ruffling through his notes. "First, the house elves. They are everywhere, never seen and they pick up every bit of news more than the others. Since Dumbledore is the headmaster, they are bound to obey him and they are his eyes and ears everywhere."

Sakarbal took up the story, "The second bit is the portraits. You'll notice that most portraits here are not of famous wizards or witches. With the exception of former headmasters and headmistresses, they are random wizards - often fictional - and completely unrelated to the wizarding world. Most of these portraits were commissioned by Dumbledore and installed by him on his becoming headmaster to ensure that those portraits snoop for him. Portraits of famous wizards and witches, particularly those of other families would retain loyalties to their own flesh and blood. Dumbledore had them all removed. Now these portraits are a vital component of his intelligence system."

Sakarbal added, "Finally, we have the prefects. In Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, all the prefects are Dumbledore loyalists. There are likely other means he has, but these are the ones we could find."

Harry nodded, as if he had expected that. He turned to Daphne and Morag, "Did you check up on possession?"

Daphne spoke, "We checked all references we could, and asked our parents as well. Your suspicions were correct, Harry. No one can be possessed against their will. Quirrell had to be willing to let the Dark Lord's soul share his body."

Harry nodded, and gestured to Susan Bones.

The red-haired girl returned, "Auntie looked into your questions. Quirrell has no criminal record, nor had he any sympathies for You-Know-Who's supporters. He was in Hogwarts during the last war, and he has no family that we know of. He was quite outspoken against the Dark side, which was why his appointment as Defence teacher was approved."

Susan continued, "As for what he was doing, Quirrell had been teaching Muggle Studies for five years before that, and he got an year off. He spent much of the time in Africa with a princeling there. This has been verified - the prince is an old friend of Quirrell and Quirrell helped his friend with some magical problems with his castle. He seemed completely normal then and the friend is certain that there was nothing wrong with him. The curious bit is this. Apparently, Quirrell was scheduled to stay with the prince for all of the summer as well. However, on the 29th of June last year, he got a visitor - name unknown - and Quirrell left the prince telling him that he needed to return to Britain for personal reasons. But this is the curious bit. He didn't return to Britain for nearly four weeks after that. Instead, he went to Austria. There, he disappeared for a couple of weeks in Austria. Then he travelled for another couple of weeks in the Balkans and then returned to Britain on the 30th of July. In fact, he had been back in Britain just the day before we met him in Diagon Alley. He had corresponded with Dumbledore, who shifted him to Defence after Prof. Barnes resigned."

Harry and his friends digested all this quietly. Harry questioned, "Who was the person who met him?"

"We don't know, Harry. Nor do we know why he really left. No one there knows anything about his visitor. Auntie also checked the International portkey terminal - no British wizard had visited the country in several weeks before that."

"Where were the Hogwarts faculty at this time?"

"With the exception of Snape, all were in Hogwarts. Snape was in a conference in Zurich."

"Was he really there?"

"Yes, the conference organisers have been interviewed and they can vouch that he was certainly there."

"You see the thrust of my questions. Quirrell was not a supporter of Voldemort. It is most unlikely that he would meet Voldemort and simply let him share his body. It is even less likely that Voldemort would dare approach Quirrell directly - after all, Voldemort has been spending his time hiding from all wizards. Consequently, Voldemort had to have positive information that Quirrell would be an ally, or he would never have dared approach. I think someone made sure that Quirrell would host Voldemort."

This was a horrifying possibility to swallow. But Harry's logic held together, as the raven haired boy explained, "Let us take this question piecemeal. Let us for the moment leave out the question of how they made sure that Quirrell would host Voldemort. Let's take the other question - how much did Dumbledore know about this?"

"Dumbledore arranged for the Stone to be brought to Hogwarts and set up those ridiculous protections around it. I think we are agreed that those protections were meant to be breached, and that we were meant to go after Quirrell."

Hermione objected, "Harry, he might have meant for the protections to be breached, but nothing proves that he knew about Quirrell."

"The probability is strongly against your suggestion, Hermione. We know that Dumbledore had brought the Stone out of Gringotts. Now, how did he know that anyone was after it? It is too much of a coincidence to suppose that he would plan all the protections, if he had no idea that anyone was after it. Secondly, if no one was after the Stone, how would he encourage us to go after it? After all, none of us have a taste for theft. He set up the entire business knowing that Quirrell would go after the Stone, and we would be forced to stop him."

"Also, remember Quirrell had come back to Britain only one day before the attempt on the Stone. Dumbledore had not met Quirrell after he returned to Britain. Is it a coincidence that Dumbledore got the Stone retrieved on the very next day of Quirrell's arrival? It is too much to imagine that he had the Stone saved in the nick of the time and set up those protections to defend against a threat he did not existed."

Harry continued, "But if he knew about Quirrell, it stands to reason that he foresaw what would happen. Dumbledore had begun his preparations for the Stone much before Quirrell returned to Hogwarts. So I am inclined to believe that he knew of Quirrell's meeting Voldemort and becoming possessed."

"But why would he hire a man who was possessed by the Dark Lord?" queried Daphne.

"To make sure that we came face to face with Voldemort," replied Harry softly. "In fact, I think Quirrell was chosen to host Voldemort precisely because he had no family. Quirrell stood the least chance of being detected by others that he was being possessed by Voldemort."

"But how did anyone ensure that Quirrell would go looking for Voldemort?" burst out Justin.

"Those two weeks he disappeared in Austria did something to him, I fear. We know of no 'personal reasons' why he might have gone to Austria. In fact, we know of no family of his, in Austria or anywhere else. He was, I fear, lured to Austria and made to go looking for Voldemort. What was done to him, we shall probably never know. But something was done to him that he went looking for Voldemort in the precise place where Voldemort was hiding. How did Quirrell know where to go looking for Voldemort? He was no supporter of Voldemort, nor was he of any particular interest to him." there was absolute silence as Harry continued, "The answer is - because he was given that information and sent looking for Voldemort. He was just another victim of the games being played."

There was silence at Harry's conclusion. Hermione broke out, "This is just speculation, Harry. There are other possible theories that would cover the facts."

"Indeed, there are, Hermione. But it would involve one too many coincidences. I am almost certain that I am right."

The eerie pause stretched for a long moment. Rosier broke out, "Be that as it may, Harry, tomorrow my parents, Daphne's parents and Narcissa will meet with us in King's Cross. We need to arrange for you to come to the classes over summer. We begin in two weeks. All preparations have been made."

Harry nodded, "Thank your parents and Lady Narcissa, will you?"

"What do you make of this putting us in a separate House?" queried Millie.

"It is clear to me that Dumbledore wanted it. Why, we don't know yet, but McGonagall confirmed to me that it was Dumbledore's idea. So we'll need to be doubly careful."

They all rose, and Harry faced them, "Attention, ladies and gentlemen, for if my reconstruction is correct, from this moment, we are at war with Dumbledore."

---(Author's Notes)---

And so we come to the end of the first year. I am writing the sequels and am not sure whether to put them in the same story or begin a different one. On balance, I incline to the latter. It would be better to finish one story and put it away before beginning another, even if the second is a continuation of the first.

By the way, I hope I have cleared out the major threads in the story. Some are going to continue to the next one, so they will remain unresolved. If anyone wants to ask about any particular point, please feel free to do so. I don't wish to leave loose ends lying about.

As usual, my thanks to Abstract Error and Voice of the Nephelim for their cooperation in beta-reading the story. Thanks, both of you. Your help is precious and without it, I doubt the story would have been completed.