"And that is when you walked in." Harry finished telling Snape a quick version of what had happened in the common room.
"That was excellent use of a few basic spells." Snape replied "Of course without the parseltongue spells it wouldn't have been enough to make Mister Malfoy back down. A rare and useful skill to have Mister Potter. Do you think it is wise to let others know that you have it? There is a lot of negative connotations surrounding that particular skill. A lot of people will not want to have anything to do with you when word gets out."
"People were going to find out eventually, especially when I start experimenting with parselmagic." Harry replied "And honestly I don't care what most people think. If it stops Malfoy from taking over control of the house it will be well worth it"
They rounded a corner and came across a scene very reminiscent of when Pansy was attacked, just without a body on the floor.
"Good evening Harry. So nice of you to join us this evening" Dumbledore said in his best grandfatherly voice.
"Albus, so good of you to invite me" Harry replied, his voice dripping with so much sarcasm that Dumbledore did a double take to make sure it was Harry that spoke and not Severus.
"Yes, well. The reason I have asked you here tonight is that there has been another attack and Professor Lockhart here believes you may be involved. He would like to have a word with you."
"Yes Harry, unfortunate business. Don't like to have to talk to a student like this, but needs must. Now as unbelievable as it may seem, I too have had my heart broken" Lockhart said dramatically "but it does not mean you can just go around ..."
He was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.
"So, you have another child in the infirmary, Headmaster" A voice drawled out of the semi darkness of the corridor
"Lucius, what a pleasant surprise" Dumbledore said. The wards had warned him Lucius had flooed in, so it was no surprise to see him here. What was a surprise was that he got here so quickly after the attack. Almost as if he was expecting it.
"So, is it true? Is there another child in the infirmary?"
"Of course not Lord Malfoy" Dumbledore replied.
This surprised everyone, some hid their surprise better than others. Lockhart looked like a stunned fish, his mouth was opening and closing as he tried to find words to disagree.
Dumbledore didn't let him get the chance, he stepped forward to greet the person accompanying Malfoy. "Good evening Dolores, what brings you to Hogwarts this fine evening?" he greeted the small woman who had appeared out of the darkness.
Harry sized the woman up, there wasn't much to her, horrible pink cardigan, looked like a toad. She had a sickly looking smile that didn't reach her eyes. The gleam in her eyes showed the danger beneath the smiling exterior.
Dumbledore made the introductions "Severus, Harry, this is Dolores Umbridge, she works in the Improper Use of Magic department"
"Actually Headmaster, I am the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister himself" Umbridge said raising herself up to her full height, she was still a head shorter than Harry. "I am here on behalf of the Minister who is most concerned to hear of another attack on a student." She said in an impossibly high, sweet voice.
"Yes Headmaster, I was dining with the Minister when news of the attack came through." Lucius drawled on "He was most concerned that the latest attack on a student was due to you still not being fully recovered from your own attack. He wondered if it was best if you took a leave of absence to recover. After all, you are not as young as you once were. So being one of his most trusted confidants, and on the Board of Governors, he sent me evaluate the situation."
"ahem" came a squeaky voice "If no one was injured what are you doing here at this time of the evening Headmaster?" Umbridge asked getting straight to the point of the visit.
"Professor Lockhart here was just showing me around the scene of the previous attacks, he says he has had a bit of an epiphany into what caused them" Dumbledore answered her, ignoring the look of confusion on Lockhart's face that he instantly covered up by nodding sagely.
"Well let's hear it, then" Umbridge ordered "amaze us"
By now Lockhart was mentally panicking, but being the true professional he was, he was standing there still nodding and mumbling to himself as if he was mulling over the mysteries of the universe. He frantically searched his memory for anything he had overheard the other professors saying about the attacks.
They all looked expectantly at him, the seconds dragged on until he finally said the words of wisdom that came to him.
"If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em right! That's all I'm sayin'."
Dumbledore stood there hanging on his every word, he was a much better actor than Lockhart.
"Thank you for sharing that remarkable insight with us. Spiders you say." Malfoy with a look of incredulity. "Well don't let us hold you up then, off you go chasing your spiders"
Lockhart got out of there as fast as his dignity allowed, that whole scene was not one of his finest performances. He considered a self-administered memory charm.
Malfoy finally acknowledged Harry's presence "Master Potter. Another one out and about this evening. Not in the common room I see. No trouble I hope." Lucius said with a knowing smirk.
Harry took a step towards Malfoy and leaned into him speaking softly "Oh you know how it is in the sssnake pit after the holidays, there is always someone with a new magic trick trying to show off."
Harry hardened his face and stared directly into Lucius' eyes.
"Until someone puts them in their place with some real magic. I assure you, things are the same as they were before the Christmas break."
Did Potter just hiss at him? Lucius was worried. Had Draco failed?
Malfoy looked to Snape and received confirmation. "Everything is fine in the house of snakes Lucius. Nothing has changed. One could say that the…"
"What are you lot up to?" a stern voice asked as a figure confidently approached, wand in hand. "Oh, it is you Headmaster, you shouldn't be lurking in corridors sir, someone may think you are up to no good."
"Good evening Cedric, the same could be said for yourself" Dumbledore replied with a twinkling smile.
"Just helping Percy Weasley with his after dinner patrol sir, making sure that nobody is trying to sneak into a broom closet. Good practice for when I make prefect myself next year." Cedric replied as he looked at Malfoy and Umbridge. "Oh, good evening Lord Malfoy, what brings you to the castle this evening?"
Malfoy stared intently at Cedric. "Why don't you turn around and go back to your common room, Cedric" it was said almost like an order, one that he expected to be obeyed.
"Got my patrol to finish first, then maybe a bit of broom closet action myself" Cedric replied with a wink. He turned to Harry and Snape "Quite the gathering. Wotcha Harry, evening professor."
Malfoy was still staring intently at Cedric, why was the boy not obeying him?
Then that sickly sweet voice again "Would you be Cedric Diggory?"
Cedric nodded "Yes ma'am I am, sorry I didn't introduce myself, I didn't see you there"
Harry tried hard not to laugh, as short as she was, in her pink cardigan she was hard to miss.
Umbridge was furious, how dare the boy give him cheek like that. He would pay for that when she took over Hogwarts. "It's just that we heard you were attacked and were in the infirmary, and yet conveniently you turn up here."
"Conveniently? What are you trying to say Dolores?" Dumbledore asked an edge appearing on his voice.
"He could be an imposter. Another student polyjuiced to look like Diggory." Umbridge replied.
Cedric laughed "I assure you I am not some student polyjuiced to look like me. Although I am sure some of the girls here at Hogwarts wouldn't mind if their boyfriends did look like me for an hour or two." Cedric winked at Umbridge.
"Madame Umbridge, that is ridiculous, and frankly insulting that you think I would do such a thing" Dumbledore tried to sound indignant.
"Well, there is an easy way to check." Umbridge said "I have a reversal potion here if he is willing to take it."
"Certainly" Cedric said with no hesitation. He took the vial that she offered.
Harry was just about to step forward and knock it out of Cedric's hand, when Cedric turned and gave it to Professor Snape. "Here sir, could you check this please. No offence ma'am, but I am not one to take potions from strange woman in darkened corridors"
Professor Snape held it up to the nearest torch to examine the contents. Everyone was watching him intently except for Harry who was observing Umbridge.
It was too dark for Snape to properly examine the potion by torch light. He drew his wand cast a spell on the vial. The contents lit up shining a rainbow of colours against the nearest wall, with the dominant colour being white with a splash of green and blue in various hues. While the effect was pleasing to the eye, Snape drew his breath in sharply.
A brief moment of guilty panic flashed across Umbridge's face which she quickly masked with a look of innocent puzzlement, not spotted by anyone except Harry who was watching her closely.
"This potion contains veritaserum and a compulsion draft." Snape said, his voice taking on an accusing tone. "It is illegal to have this in your possession let alone try and give it to a child. I should report this immediately."
"I have no idea how that would have happened, I must have grabbed the wrong vial as I was rushing from the ministry this evening." Umbridge lied.
"Surely that won't be necessary Severus" Malfoy tried to smooth the waters. Severus just stared at him.
"This is why I always go to the experts" Cedric said "No harm done despite the intent. If you have a polyjuice antidote on you sir, I can take it and finish with this nonsense and be on my way"
Snape just nodded and reached into the potion pouch around his waist, he extracted a vial, double checked the contents and handed it to Cedric who saluted them all with it and downed it in one go.
Everyone stared intently at Cedric who started choking and clutching at his throat.
"Just kidding" he said "Well if that is all, I best be off, those broom closets won't check themselves." he said looking from Malfoy to Umbridge.
"Well there you have it, no injured student" Dumbledore said rubbing his hands together. "Where ever you got your information they were wrong, or deliberately misleading."
Malfoy was weighing up his options, it was obvious that Draco had failed, and it was going to be hard to prove that a student had been hurt especially with the supposed victim Cedric patrolling the corridors being seen by all and sundry. Lucius had invested a lot of time and resources to get to this point. But he could see no way forward tonight, not in Dumbledore's stronghold, he would need to get back into more friendly territory and regroup.
"Come Dolores, we are leaving" Malfoy ignored her protests "I will be watching what happens here closely Headmaster" He spun on his heel and stalked away
"I will see you out" Dumbledore said hurrying after the couple "Can't have you being tempted by the broom closets and ending up getting detention."
"So, it was a coup?" Hermione asked as she sat on her rock, freezing. While the view by the lake was beautiful at this time of the year with the snow covering the ground, the rock she had chosen seemed to be resisting all her attempts of her warming charm to get it above freezing temperature.
Harry had just finished telling them everything that had happened that night.
"It was" Harry stated "And a well thought out one. With Umbridge as Head Mistress and Slytherin house's activities going unchallenged, Hogwarts would be the ideal training ground for future death eaters"
"They must have practiced that snake spell at the faire, it would have been the perfect cover to get all the Death Eater children together inside Malfoy manor without raising suspicion. " Daphne said "It really was quite impressive, summoning the snakes by invoking Salazar Slytherin's name"
"Did you really have to show off all your magic though Harry?" Neville asked "Especially the parseltongue spells. If that gets into the paper…" he left the sentence unfinished.
"Honestly, I hope it does. I hope it scares people so much that they just leave me alone." Harry responded "Right now I need to focus on my magic and my fighting. You saw me against Moody, I am hopeless at the moment"
"But Harry, the things you did, and have done" Hermione was surprised he was so hard on himself. "You have fought both Voldemort and Dumbledore and have beat them both"
"I wish that was as simple as that." Harry said with a shake of his head "Yes the fights were won, but in both of those fights I had Daphne by my side fighting with me" he smiled at Daphne "And both times we were actually fighting Quirrell, possessed by Voldemort or as polyjuiced by Dumbledore. Let's face it, Quirrell was a rubbish wizard, so both those times it was a skilful and powerful wizard trying to channel their magic through someone that didn't know what end of the wand to hold. And both times it was our ability to work together that won the fight more so than our magic ability."
"At best I am at the level of a fifth-year student. The early start to our training we had growing up puts us a couple of years ahead at most. And you guys are only just behind us. I have a larger magic core than some my age, but that doesn't add anything to the equation except a bit more power and the ability to fight a little longer."
"The big difference now is that I know how to tap in to Voldemort's spells he left behind in my head. That period of magical exhaustion left me a lot of time to practice my occlumency and sort out the mess in my head. It is amazing what yout mind can do when you are too weak to move. No more relying on spells to appear in times of need, I can draw on them at will. I can't cast many yet, but I know them."
"But I have a very similar problem as Dumbledore and Voldemort had, channelling that knowledge through a body that is not magically matured or skilled."
"Take Goyle for example, he was not one of the ones Malfoy had with him. It was a simple spell they used but even if he knew the spell, he doesn't have the magical ability to cast it."
"So, I need to learn how to cast and control a whole range of spells, not just Voldemort's ones. I need to be able to focus on learning as much as I can."
"So that is why you couldn't let Malfoy take over your house. It would have been too disruptive for classes having Malfoy and his gang causing trouble every lesson. Apart from the need to put the slimy git in his place." Neville surmised.
"I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces Neville, it was priceless." Tracey said.
"It can wait for summer boot camp" Neville said "you can show Hermione and me the memory then." Neville looked at Harry expectantly "There will be a boot camp, wont there Harry?"
"There will" he agreed "Except the practical part of lessons will also have the option of fighting instead of duelling for those that are so inclined"
Tracey and Hermione were shaking their heads no while Neville was nodding yes.
"I think you are wrong about it not being Cedric" Hermione said "I saw him this morning, it is definitely not a glamour, and if it is not polyjuice, I don't really know how someone would be keeping up the pretence."
"Just a feeling Hermione, when Snape came to get me, he was sure Cedric had been attacked. And the way Cedric spoke was all wrong. Not the voice but the vocabulary. 'Whotcha?' Who says that? And the cracks at Malfoy and Umbridge, Cedric is way too polite to talk like that"
"I think Cedric was attacked and Dumbledore has managed to get someone to fill in for him somehow." Daphne stated confidently "Which means that Cho is still in possession of the weapon or whatever it is she is attacking students with."
"We need to focus on that. The real Cedric will be back with us soon. If Dumbledore gave him the restorative quickly, he would only be out of action for week or so."
"So, what say us girls have a chat to Myrtle this afternoon?" Daphne asked looking at Hermione then Tracey.
"Tracey, why are you casting a freezing charm on Hermione's rock?"
Lucius Malfoy arrived back at the manor in a foul mood after another unsuccessful day trying to shore up his influence at the Ministry. All his plans and scheming had been for nothing. All the supporters he had gathered around him were now distancing themselves least their reputations be tarnished by his failure.
The worse part about it is the plan was a good one. He had been over it a thousand times. If one aspect of it had worked, then the other part would have eventually fallen into place.
If Draco had taken over Slytherin house he would have made the old fool's life so miserable it may have been enough to make him pass on to his next great adventure. Or at the very least would be enough to force him into retirement.
If Umbridge was Headmistress she would have raised the Slytherin students above everyone else.
But Dumbledore had managed to find someone to replace Diggory. A pretty good copy without polyjuice.
Then there was Draco's failure thanks to Potter. Potter, a parselmouth! He had watched the memory from a couple of perspectives, Potter was genuine, he wasn't faking it.
That was the tipping point for his supporters, once they saw that memory, they all backed off. Could Potter actually be a descendant of Slytherin? He had the power, that was certain, a parselmouth too, that would get him quite a few fanatical follows who would think he was Slytherin's heir.
For once, Lucius was at a loss what to do. He could see no way forward that would resurrect his plan.
Time to regroup and rebuild. He had invested a lot into this enterprise. The diary, the fight with Weasley in Flourish and Blotts, convincing the others to have their boys participate in the common room take over, the training of Draco and the other Slytherin boys at the faire, the actual running of the faire. It all cost him a lot of galleons, reputation, and influence. They had all taken a rather large hit.
At least the diary was still in play causing Dumbledore headaches. He had no idea what it was and how it worked, apart from being an evil presence that tended to make anyone foolish enough to have it on their person to long do strange things.
The Chang girl was not meant to have the diary, it was meant to be doing the rounds of the muggleborns who are a lot more susceptible to its influence. But she seemed to be doing ok with it. The attack on Pansy had been unfortunate, but it served its purpose rallying the more reluctant death eaters to his cause. And if he was honest, sometimes she annoyed the hell out of him, so he could see the reason behind her attack.
He sighed, tomorrow he would start over.
"Tom? Where am I? I can't see anything" she asked the darkness surrounding her.
"Just go back to sleep, everything will be fine" the soothing voice replied.