Walking back from his last lesson of November, Dudley realised that, as far as Hogwarts months go, November was fairly quiet. Having just left Astronomy with Harry, the two boys fell quiet when hearing the sounds of an argument.
"I'm sick of hearing you drone on about 'That Filthy Mudblood'. It's all you concern yourself with. You, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. I can't listen to it anymore," the first Voice shouted, at who Dudley assumed was Blaise Zabini, and continued. "Besides the potions incident, which you can't prove was intentionally done, he hasn't done anything to you besides exist. He knows his place and doesn't try to act like he's better than us like that bitch Granger. Why can't you just leave him alone and put the rest of them in their place?" He finished no longer shouting and there was quiet for a solid minute.
"You. Don't. Understand." Blaise seethed back, putting individual emphasis on each word, before continuing, still angry, but no longer hissing. "He is in Slytherin. Him. A no good filthy Mudblood piece of trash. How did he get into Hogwarts and my Pureblood older sister is a lowly Squib? How does that happen? These Mudblood scum steal magic from noble Pureblood families." He stormed off after that, his friends following after him, trying to calm him down.
Suddenly, Dudley understood Blaise for possibly the first time ever.
Entering into December, Dudley and his friends were in the Library. Having gotten the best grade in their year for their Charms project, due to Hermione's genius idea to use the erasers on the pencils and transfiguring them into muscles and tendons to give the skeleton more detailed and accurate movements.
But now they were looking through books for different reasons. Hermione and Harry were both studying advanced magic from third year, though in different areas, Charms and Defense respectively, while Dudley was looking more into the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw. Having written a list of possible locations for it to be, he was looking for something more concrete. If only he had a solid foundation to go on. But alas, here he was looking for something impossible in a school where the impossible happens often.
"Guys, can I get your help on something?" Dudley asked, sounding uncertain of himself. At their nods he continued. "So… I've been reading up on lost artifacts a lot." He paused, now even more uncertain, before continuing on. "More specifically the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw." Hermione's eyes widened in surprise, while Harry's face remained blank.
"It's supposedly not been seen in centuries, Dudley, what makes you think you can find it? I'm not trying to be mean, just realistic. People have searched for it countless times over the years. In fact the last search was in 1969 but, naturally, it wasn't located." Hermione finished with a sceptical look plastered on her face.
"I read in a book, that I was starting to worry would be unhelpful at best and misleading at worst, that the Grey Lady is the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw. Her name is Helena and from what I've read, they had a big falling out, which lead to Helena's death at the hands of, get this, the Bloody Baron. I think either of them would be helpful to ask. The Grey Lady will be easy, but the Baron…. He's not the friendliest, so that may be a challenge.
The trio left the Library to speak to the ghosts, Harry going to the Grey Lady, having his own issues with parental figures. Beginning on the first floor he wandered around Hogwarts, making his way upwards. When he got to the third floor, he saw an odd sight. Three red-headed boys were sneaking around. Intrigued, Harry decided to follow them, using a notice-me-not and disillusionment charm.
"When Snape vanished during the Halloween feast, he must have come up here. He returned with blood on his leg." The smallest of the trio, Ron, whispered entirely too loud to be considered a true whisper.
"So you… Think that the evil… Potions Professor… is sneaking around… up here?" The older two, twins from the looks of it, responded, alternating who speaks and finishing each other's sentences.
Deciding it wasn't really dangerous to reveal himself, Harry decided to scare them.
"Oh no, the evil Professor Snape is lurking around in forbidden corridors." Harry fake gasped, seeming to materialise out of nowhere. "Whatever shall we do?" He finished with a grin.
"An ickle first year… discovering our elaborate conspiracy… whatever shall we do?" the twins responded, with their already annoying twin speak.
"Maybe we can obliviate him, Freddie?" One of the twins asked, seemingly deadly serious.
"Yeah George, and at the same time we can obliviate ourselves while we're at it."
"How would we know who is who?" George then replied, looking puzzled.
"I'm the good looking one, so we just have to remember that one detail and we will be fine." Fred finished, with a thoughtful look.
"Why aren't you guys more worried? A snake has discovered we're onto their leader, shouldn't we be more concerned?" Ron chose that moment to take a look at Harry before recognising him from his interaction with Malfoy before their sorting. The red-headed boy remembered thinking it was a shame Harry ended up in Slytherin, but knowing he was an enemy of Malfoy made him appreciate Harry just a bit.
"Relax, I won't say anything… for a price." Harry's grin turned devious and he carried on. "It's not a large price, I just ask for a favour from each of you. To be redeemed when I ask. If you agree to that I will leave now and you can go back to your investigation." When he finished, the twins looked at him with newfound respect.
"You won't ask us to kill someone… or even worse, eat our green vegetables… why did you put that idea in his head, Georgie? Now we will have to eat sprouts all year… please almighty snake, anything but sprouts." They finished looking very amused with themselves, before Fred finished with:
"You have a deal."
Walking through the dungeons, Dudley and Hermione weren't having much luck finding the Bloody Baron, they were stopped by the last two people they could have wanted to see. Blaise and Malfoy.
"Well well well, a couple of lovebirds out for a stroll on the weekend. You know I was thinking about what I would do to get revenge for burning me in potions, and you know what occurred to me?" Blaise stopped there, waiting for a reply.
"Urm… no. I don't often find myself thinking about what you're thinking or doing." It was all Dudley could do to not start laughing at the absurdity of the situation.
"That's funny Mudblood, I often find myself thinking about your kind. How dare you walk these halls as if you belong. The only member of Slytherin House who doesn't want you dead is Potter. Rest assured that when we finish school, if you haven't already died by then, I will kill you for what you've done." He finished seething with rage. Dudley, knowing about Blaise's sister, but not caring right now, knew why he was angry. 'So what?' he thought. It wasn't his fault that she had no magic. He looked over at Hermione and nodded. At that they both drew their wands and exclaimed
"Furnunculus!" At this a golden light erupted from their wands and the two boys were covered in very painful boils.
"Looks like you better go to the Hospital wing." At Blaise's death stare Dudley continued joking "hey, if I'm going to die I might as well earn it.
Having kept his promise and having left the Weasleys to their sleuthing, Harry was chuckling to himself thinking about the twins' antics. He was on the fourth floor, near the hospital wing, when he heard two angry voices approaching. He decided he would 'vanish' so he could observe and listen to the approaching boys.
"I swear I will get that fat Mudblood (oww) and his bitch Granger. I will do everything in my power to make them pay." Malfoy ranted, flinching with pain.
"You can have Granger. I promise you that one day he will feel the Cruciatus from my wand. But for now I guess we need to think smaller. I have just the idea."
At that point they had entered the Hospital Wing and it was pointless to follow them. But Harry could wait. Oh, he could wait a long time. These scum think they're going to hurt the only two close friends he had. 'Not likely' he thought, before settling in to wait.
Twenty minutes later Draco and Blaise emerged from the Hospital Wing and Harry began to follow. He was going to make them come back through here again later after he was done. They made their way, surprisingly, up. Up through the fifth floor and onto the sixth, before entering a hidden passage leading down to the first floor. 'Perfect' he thought, removing his 'invisibility'.
He followed them into the passageway before casting the locking charm at the far end, sealing the exit, and smiled.
"Hello there, I couldn't help but notice your threatening of my friends and I couldn't let it slide. I know a lot more magic now than I did last time we dueled, and I'm feeling particularly charitable, so let's duel two on one." Harry's smile never faltered, but his eyes were dark with rage. "Begin." Was all he said before shooting out a purple beam that struck Draco and Blaise at the same time. For a long moment the two of them were very confused. That was until their eyes started to itch. Not just a little, but as if they were full of bugs. Thoroughly distracted, they tried to rub their eyes, which made it worse. They then tried 'Finite Incantatem' which also made it worse.
"This spell is a very mild spell but it's beauty is in its design. For you see, it's effect is linked to emotions. In this case those emotions are rage and hatred." He paused, relishing the moment. "Now unfortunately it isn't permanent, however I honestly can't say how long it will last. Have fun."
He then turned away and shuddered.
"Why did I enjoy that so much?"
Finding the Baron took the whole day, not that the two minded the time spent together, and didn't look to be ending soon. Having searched the first floor and gone into the dungeons, they imagined the dungeons alone would take days to search. Seeing as how their target would move about at his leisure, the likelihood of them walking down a corridor, only to have the Baron float through it, was quite high, but unavoidable.
This was the deepest the duo had ever gone into the dungeons, and their breath was very visible in front of them, but they pressed on. Hoping to discover a secret passageway or two, they went from room to room not making much noise, as most sounds tended to echo down here. It was when they entered what looked to be an abandoned classroom, that things changed down there. This room felt warm, not just in comparison to the dungeons but warmer than any part of Hogwarts not directly in front of a fireplace.
"Odd, it's like an entirely different climate in here. This can't be natural." Hermione said after a moment in the heat.
"It's too hot to be comfortable in here, so I don't think it's for students." Dudley added, just as confused. They decided to investigate when suddenly the door shut behind them. Panicked, Hermione tried to unlock it with magic, but failed. Looking over at Dudley, she saw his face completely pale in terror and made a decision on the spot to be curious not scared, hoping it would rub off on Dudley.
"The layout of this room is odd. Think about it, it's nothing like Professor Snape's classroom," she began, looking around the room, continuing while looking at a scrap of parchment, containing symbols she didn't know. "Look over here, I don't recognise these from any ancient runes books, granted I've only taken a cursory look at them." She finished, digging out said books and sitting down with Dudley to try and figure out what they held. The boy himself was still pale, but looked more inquisitive than terrified.
After hours of walking around, Harry was starting to get tired, but he persevered and eventually came upon the Grey Lady. It looked like she hadn't noticed him, so he walked up to her, not knowing what to say.
"Hello. I'm Harry Potter. I didn't expect to see another person here at this time. I came here to be alone, but if you're already here to be alone I can go somewhere else." He muttered, acting the part of a shy child. "Sorry," he added at her bemused look.
That look very quickly turned to pity as she regarded the boy. "A person you said? Funny, most living no longer regard me as a person. I was floating here to be alone, but perhaps we can be alone together?" She responded, sounding rather sad. Harry looked unsure for a moment before smiling and saying
"Okay" before sitting down in the corridor with her.
"I am Helena Ravenclaw." She began, but having noticed no change in Harry continued "many students immediately harass me with questions about my mother, you do not. Most curious."
"I know what that's like, both of my parents died fighting Voldemort, I get questions about them and that night all the time. Mainly about how I killed him, but some ask about my parents and I hate it." Playing up his youth, he pouted for a moment and the scene of this broke the Grey Lady's heart.
"We are kindred spirits you and I," was all she said before they lapsed into a comfortable silence. The Diadem never even being mentioned.
Back in the dungeons and after some time, the two had managed to understand three words. However these three words were not very helpful to them, the words were 'ancient unfamiliar language'.
"That's about as useless as something could be." Dudley complained to Hermione who had a different reaction.
"Don't you see what this means? This parchment is old, really old. What we know comes from Elder Futhark. That's, as far as we know, the oldest runic language. But if we've stumbled on writing that predates that… forget the Diadem, this could be the greatest find in modern magical history. Her confidence had noticeably affected Dudley. He looked ready to slay the Minotaur. Or maybe tell Snape to shut up.
Casting a preservation charm on the parchment they renewed their search for an escape. Finally spotting a door that almost perfectly blended into the wall in the furthest corner from the entrance. Their earlier panic, combined with the sheer size and unnaturalness of the room, and its blending in, prevented them from noticing it earlier.
Having finished talking to the Grey Lady, Harry felt the calmest he had felt in a long time. It was as if coming face to face with a ghost and spending time with it caused his temper to flee for the time being. His mind was the clearest it had ever been. With this clarity and mental freedom he decided to try something he otherwise thought was impossible. He wanted to learn the Patronus charm to have a companion with him always. He had managed a mist form Patronus before, which had tired him out a considerable amount. He had previously worried the amount of magic he was always using to keep his temper back would add onto the already considerable stress on his core casting a Patronus would cause. Nevertheless he thought the memory of discovering his parents were heroes would be enough to meet the requirements of the spell.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM" he bellowed out, a blue light filling the room, coalescing into the form of a doe. He smiled before he suddenly passed out, magical exhaustion keeping him unconscious till late that night.
Waking up in the room on the second floor, Harry felt uneasy. The magic in the air right now was thick with malice. He was immediately on the defensive, which dark wizard could possibly be releasing that much hostile magic. It was then that he heard the voice of Professor Quirrel and decided to follow him. They started walking up the stairs, Harry being 'invisible' and Quirrell muttering to himself about 'it'.
They arrived on the third floor and Harry was certain that the malicious magic had increased. He could just reach out and touch it. Upon 'touching' this magic Quirrel immediately turned around with his wand levelled at what would be Harry's throat, if he wasn't already tiptoeing down the corridor. With one look back at Quirrell he knew Quirrell had felt something.
"Dudley and Hermione have to hear about the last few hours…"