Chapter 14: Plots and Plotting
While Sharpblade and Harry were chattering away and catching up, Firedagger, Swordclaw, Stormaxe, and Sirius were discussing plans on how to keep Harry safe. Safe from Dumbledore. Safe from Voldemort. Safe in general, really.
"He needs to go back to Hogwarts soon," Sirius said, stating a fact, "He can't stay here forever."
"Yes," Firedagger confirmed.
"But Dumbledore is still at Hogwarts," Sirius replied.
"So he is. But not for long," the goblins shared an evil grin. Dumbledore would definitely regret messing with them.
Sirius smiled devilishly back. Who knew that his Marauder adolescence would be so useful in plotting now?
-o-o-
Albus Dumbledore sat in his office. His once overflowing bookshelves were now bare. At least his various gadgets were still there. His office would seem unbearably empty and quiet if it weren't for their constant whirring and humming.
As the tangy sweetness of his favorite lemon drops dissolved on his tongue, he pondered the issue at hand. It was, once again, the one and only Harry Potter. the Boy-Who-Lived. A better moniker might have been the Boy-Who-Lived-to-Cause-him-Trouble, but he couldn't see the wizarding public being too happy with that.
Dumbledore let himself crack a smile at that. As if they would ever stand for that. But their savior and hero was a real pest.
He was so close, so close to finally fulfilling his ultimate dream. It had taken him so many years to even come so close to this victory. He could see the tip of the mountain. He could literally taste the tangy sweetness of victory. He was so close.
And now Harry Potter had to stand in the way.
He would have to go, just like all the others. It was for the Greater Good.
The world would be so much better with him as the supreme head. Everything he did was for the Greater Good.
-o-o-
Anthony Goldstein sighed as he flopped onto his bed. His roommate had gone who knows where and hadn't been seen since breakfast. And Harry was supposed to trust him! Enough to tell him where he was going to disappear off to for the whole day!
And when he had gone to ask Professor Flitwick, he had just been waved off and told that Harry had left school to deal with private family matters, the nature of which he could not disclose. This was so unfair! Harry Potter was supposed to be his friend! He was supposed to tell him everything!
His parents were going to be so disappointed. His one job when he went to Hogwarts was supposed to be to gain Harry Potter's trust and loyalty. His parents had even provided him with Trust Potions to help smooth the way.
He had thought it would be difficult. Harry Potter would no doubt be sorted into Gryffindor and constantly surrounded by a horde of surrounding admirers.
But instead, Harry Potter was completely the opposite of what he had expected. He was sorted into Ravenclaw, and not only that, they were roommates. Anthony had originally expected Harry Potter to be a tad big-headed from the fame. But he had actually grown up with goblins! Oh, had his parents had been shocked to hear that!
But now, ugh. If Harry Potter had gone off on a private family trip without informing him, his parents would be furious. He was going to be in for a painful winter break if things kept continuing on this way.
-o-o-
Ron Weasley was depressed. The food at Hogwarts just couldn't compare to his mum's cooking. Not only that, Harry Potter wasn't talking to him! The classwork was also really hard. He didn't understand any of it and he was always hungry!
His mum had threatened to ground him over winter break if he didn't manage to befriend Harry Potter by then. But who would want to befriend a bookworm Ravenclaw anyways?
The fact that he was Harry Potter did make up sightly for the fact that he was a bookworm. He was Harry Potter! The Boy-Who-Lived! But he was still a bookworm. Who wanted to hang out with a nerd, even if he was Harry Potter?
But his mother had told him he had to. So he would, otherwise he wouldn't get dessert all break. But first he had to find him. And before he was going to trek through the school searching for him, he was going to get a snack first.
-o-o-
Draco Malfoy was annoyed. No one listened to him. No one cared who his father was. It was as if the noble house of Malfoy had no influence at all!
His father had told him for years, lecturing him about the noble deeds of the house of Malfoy. That everything a Malfoy said was how things were. That everybody looked up to them. That invoking the Malfoy name would grant him instant respect. That was how things were supposed to be.
Oh, his fellow first year Slytherins looked up to him, of course. He had been made their de facto leader, but even his grasp on that had been tenuous at best ever since Potter had come around preaching house unity, of all things.
Honestly, what even gave him that right? If he had anything to say about it, Potter would be dead. But he had to sit there and pretend not to despise Potter's guts while acting civil!
One day, he was definitely going to get back at him. Especially for that awful, preposterous rumor that had started spreading during History of Magic. It was false! It was! But everyone kept believing Potter of all people. Although if he was honest with himself, maybe it was just a little true. Just a little nugget of truth buried in that blatant falsehood. Malfoys were more dignified than that!
Potter had better watch out. He should have known better than mess with a Malfoy. Revenge was going to be so sweet.
He would have to write to his parents. Perhaps they would have ideas for enacting revenge?
-o-o-
Fred and George Weasley were in the Gryffindor Common Room, whispering furiously. They had a pressing dilemma in front of them - what should they do about Harry Potter?
On one hand, he had possibly pulled off the greatest prank ever by claiming Godric Gryffindor's sword but yet still being sorted into Ravenclaw. On the other hand, he was causing poor little Ronniekins a lot of emotional distress.
Of course, they knew that Ron was just exaggerating. But their mum had written to them, giving them explicit directions to pay attention to Ron. Why Ron insisted on befriending Harry Potter was beyond them. But what they did know was that Harry Potter was not as friendly and affable as the rumors might have painted him.
"Hey, brother of mine," Fred whispered.
"Yes, my lesser brother?" said George.
"We all know that I am the better one," Fred retorted with a haughty sniff, "But what if we were to recruit Harry Potter?"
"You mean, to help us pull off our pranks?" George asked.
"And to give us insider information on the Ravens," Fred confirmed.
"And he's also friendly with the Badgers and the Snakes to boot," George added.
"So we are in agreement then?" asked Fred.
"Yes, my twin, we are." George answered.
The two of them smiled identical grins. Anyone watching them at the moment might have had concerned over what new pranks they were undoubtedly plotting.
-o-o-
Lord Voldemort, aka Tom Marvolo Riddle, was annoyed. How could he, the greatest wizard of all time, be stopped by a puny eleven year old? To add insult to injury, the same person had managed to stop him at the age of one! How was this possible?
There was only one way to solve this problem: Harry Potter would have to die. Not that he wasn't going to kill him before. But this just moved the timeline for his death a lot further up.
But anyways, it would have to wait for a while yet. First he had to get a body. Stupidly naive people like Quirrell were hard to come by, after all. And then, once he had gotten one again, Harry Potter was going to be as dead as a doornail.
-o-o-
A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter! There are a lot of things in real life that I've been dealing with right now, so I've been busy.
This chapter really sets a lot of thing up, and I also had to get a lot of stuff planned out in order to write this chapter in the first place. So while it's short, I hope you still enjoy the foreshadowing and the various POVs.
Thank you for reading!
Chapter posted: January 14th, 2020
Tentative update date: January 20th, 2020