Even though Ness said he wasn't going to give it his all for the end of term exams, it was clear that Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape weren't going to let him weasel out of trying to get a good grade. It was annoying since the two had made a point to inform all of the exam overseers to keep an eye on him so he couldn't 'accidentally' forget to finish writing his answers down and ensuring that Ginny kept him on a tight lease for the promise of extra points for Gryffindor.
Encouraging everyone in their year to try and help Ginny out before they started to feel the toll of back to back exams and the constant last-minute cram sessions. The whole ordeal would have been a minor inconvenience if he hadn't started to feel homesick halfway through June. Leaving him depressed, spacey and for some odd reason, unable to sleep.
Which was how he found himself staring up at his canopy roof at four in the morning, with a bored frown on his face and the ache of homesickness making it hard to focus let alone think of anything other than home.
"I wonder if I can just teleport home for a quick visit…." No, he couldn't do that. He would lose track of time thanks to the six-hour time difference and end up missing a few classes.
Which would put Dumbledore's guard dogs on his case and reveal that he could freely teleport to any location he had visited before. "Maybe I'll just take a walk." Ness decided, getting up and carefully slipped out of bed to avoid waking up Cloak and his dorm-mates.
It was quiet, to quiet. But Ness didn't pay the looming shadows and walking, creaking suits of armor any attention as he snuck outside armed with his metal baseball bat and trusty cap.
"I really need to get a new cap…" Ness lamented as he found a spot near the lake and began stretching before he gave his bat a few test swings. A smile slowly forming with every swing and mental image of a ball being sent high into the air with a resounding crack.
"I missed this."
Being a wizard didn't leave much time for practicing baseball or any other sport, and since he was a wizard who was trying to solve at least three mysteries at once, it had left him with even less time to fool around and go for a run.
"A run…yea, I should do that too…maybe I'll be tired enough to go to sleep." With one final swing Ness set his bat down, adjusted his shoelaces and stood up to do a light jog around the lake.
He had almost made a complete lap—and was greatly regretting not deciding to do a half jog around the lake—when Nagini landed on his shoulders, shocking him into yelping and blindly lashing out with Flash Alpha before he realized it was just Nagini.
"Don't do that." Ness snapped, placing a hand over his heart and gasping for air as Nagini hissed, "Sssorry! I wassssn't expecting to be greeted with an attack!"
"And I wasn't expecting a random jungle snake to almost knock me onto the ground. So, we're even." Ness huffed, sitting down and watching as Nagini slithered down his arm and sat in front of him.
Her gaze never wavering as she flicked her tongue out in light annoyance. "Finally got tired of terrorizing King?" Ness asked, rolling his eyes as Nagini huffed, "Terrorizing King shall NEVER be boring." And lightly shook her head no, "No, merely wanted to see how wizard hell was."
"It's still awful." Ness deadpanned, leaning back to study the night sky as the night summer air bite through his thin summer pajamas. "Everyone's scrambling to complete the exams and I can't even slack off. Plus, I'm homesick so I can't really focus on anything that isn't related to home."
"Why not take a quick trip home then?"
"Because I would end up forgetting about the exam and spend my entire day there."
"So, just stay for an hour." Nagini said, gesturing to the night sky, "You have time."
Ness tried to protest but the alluring thought of just a quick visit was to hard to ignore, and it didn't help that Nagini was playing devil's advocate by hissing, "I would keep track of time for you, it's not like I have anything else to do."
"One hour." Ness reluctantly agreed, already moving to grab his bat and head up to his dormitory to change into a pair of shorts and a tee-shirt.
"One hour." Ness mentally repeated, now equipped with summer appropriate clothes to weather the Onett heat, his backpack loaded with random goodies he had picked up in Hogsmeade but never found the time to send home and his wallet. Just in case he had enough time to buy another hat or pick up the newest issue of Bug-Man, defender of Earth.
"Just one hour, and then I'll head back to wizard hell."
Teleport Beta
He took a running start, making a tight circle as the dark and moody colors of Hogwarts' early morning scenery and dull castle walls began to blur. A wild grin forming as they sharpened into a bright blue sky and a cheery forest green backgrop as he came to a sharp stop and looked around. Basking in the dry summer air as the sun mercilessly shined down on the hilltops and the familiar smells of the forest hit him full force in the face.
"I missed this." Ness thought, swallowing back a yell of joy as he turned around and knocked on his front door. His stomach grumbling at the smell of pancakes and bacon—Mom and Tracey must have slept in today—and grinning as King began barking and scratching at the door.
He must have been really homesick since he almost burst into happy tears at Tracey's tired statement of, "I'll be there in a second King!" and wasted no time tackling his little sister in a hug when she opened the door. Laughing as she gave a shrill scream and then began yelling at him for giving her a heart attack.
"You have a mail snake for a reason!" she yelled but it was punctuated by a laugh as Ness finally let Tracey go and pouted at her.
"Logic is completely ineffective against homesickness." He stated laughing as Tracey giggled and shook her head, "You needed to hide from the big bad wizards?"
"Yes. It's exam time and Professor McGonagall and Snape will not leave me alone."
"Ah yes, the hero of Eagle land, defeated by teachers." Tracey joked as their mother peered around the divider wall to see what the fuss was about.
"First." Ness started, pointing at Tracey who merely rolled her eyes in mock offense, "Shush. And second, Hi mom!"
"Paying us a surprise visit?" she asked, laughing as Ness tackled her in a hug and chirped, "Yea," before he remembered that he was only here for an hour.
"School's awful as usual, nightmares are coming back and everyone's running around like a headless chicken thanks to exams." He explained.
"Exams? They're just now starting?" his mother questioned, sounding shocked as Ness pulled back and nodded, "Well, no. They started around second week of June but with the interviews and school being put on hold to get some answers everything got backed up."
"Wizards are cultists." Tracey solemnly stated.
"You have no idea." Ness agreed, drifting to the kitchen table as they fell into a the usual routine of normality as they ate breakfast, trading stories about what he had missed while at Hogwarts and giving Tracey a look of horror when she revealed that Paula was teaching her how to fight and that her favorite weapon thus far was a golf club.
"But you hate golf!" Ness spluttered, almost choking on his orange juice as Tracey glanced away with embarrassment, "Yes, well. Paula's frying pan—as effective as it is—was a bit hard to swing around and all of your bats we're on their last leg so we went to Twoson's sports store and they had golf clubs for sale."
"So, you're main line of defense is to scream 'Four!'-,"
"Shut up Ness,"
"And then hit them with a golf ball."
"Golf club! And I have a pretty good one! It's a wood driver and it handles really well!"
Ness leveled Tracey with a look before whispering, "Four," and cracking up as Tracey tried to kick him under the table.
"I never did understand why people screamed the number four while playing golf…" King murmured.
"She actually has a pretty good swing," his mother interrupted, giving Tracey a teasing smile as the blonde shot her a glare, "Your father wants to take her onto the green one of these days."
"It shall never happen." Tracey insisted before turning the tables on Ness, "So, are you going to pay your girlfriend a visit before you head back to Hogswash?"
Ness giggled at Tracey's newest name for the school of magic and then realized what she was implying. "W-well, if I have time of course." Ness stated glancing at the clock and flushing with embarrassment as his mother mused, "You two were so adorable as children, it's a no brainier why you two are such a good couple now."
"Mooom!"
"What? I'm right."
Ness dropped his head on the table and groaned, "You guys are the worst some days."
"So, you lie," Tracey teased as Ness glanced at the clock, biting his lip at how close it was to Eleven AM.
He technically could spend some time with Paula and have a late breakfast at Hogwarts, but did he really want to risk someone spotting him teleport back into the dormitory?
He had completely forgotten about Cloak in his haste to head back to Onett and he didn't think Nagini would enjoy dragging her 'mortal enemy' over to him just to keep his teleportation powers on the down low. But…
"I guess if I hurry, I can say hi to Paula before anyone notices that I'm gone." Ness hesitantly said.
Earning a frown from his mother, "They're really keeping a close eye on you? Just because your slacking off from exams?"
"Useless exams." Tracey corrected as Ness nodded his head, "They're Dumbledore's lap dogs and I've already made it clear that I don't want to be a wizard. So, they probably want me to at least try and be a good student."
Her frown deepened but she didn't say anything concerning his flaky teachers. Instead she said, "Let's hurry up and clean the breakfast dishes so you can see Paula."
"And don't worry, I'll be there to make sure you don't lose track of time." Tracey teased earning a dry glare from Ness before they got to work. A few minutes later they were walking down the dirt path to the heart of Onett.
Enjoying the shade that the forest provided as they chatted about the first baseball game of the season. "It was horrible for the Beginnings! they were almost completely locked out of the season!" Tracey exclaimed, "I was worried that the Threed Giants might actually come back from their slump last year and force the Beginnings into a losing streak!"
"Looks like Grant O'Neil is proving his worth to the Giants." Ness sighed, adjusting his hat and frowning as he remembered how excited the Giants had sounded when they announced the mysterious O'Neil joining their team.
"Yea, he struck Johnson out."
"What?! But Johnson always get a hit in!"
"Not this time. It was horrible."
"Arrgh! Why do wizards focus on boring air sports instead of baseball!?" Ness complained, "It's not fair!"
"Qudditch doesn't sound that boring." Tracey pointed out as they stopped at the bus station, the town bustling with life as people hurried to work and kids rushed to the arcade to their free time from school and homework.
"It really is unless you have someone to cheer for." Ness explained, "And even then, it's hard to figure out what's going on since everyone's high and darting around the place!"
Tracey blinked and then shook her head in annoyance, "Wizards are so weird."
"Yea, but at least I'll get some peace and quiet over the summer." Ness sighed, rocking back and forth on his feet as the bus to Twoson arrived and they climbed onboard.
"Knowing your luck, you'll probably be ambushed by that Vol-de-wort guy." Tracey said, leaning off as the bus chugged to life and drove into the tunnel leading to the main road.
"Yea…" Ness sighed, "He has been pretty quiet. Outside of that second attempt to break into the Department of Mysteries there hasn't been a lot of talk about him."
"Really? I thought he would have been front page news for a while."
"Nope, everyone's focusing on Dumbledore while the Minister—Fudge, is doing his best to get rid of the spies on both sides of this mess."
"The Ministry must be some sort of rats' nest." Tracey noted as trees began to fly past the window, "Although, I am sort of surprised no one's taking advantage of the chaos to try and break into anything important."
Ness frowned, but didn't interrupt Tracey as she continued, "If this Fudge guy is tightening up security and patching the leaks up then that means that Vol-de-wort fellow isn't going to have another attempt to break into the Ministry and try and get whatever is being stored in the Department of Mysteries."
"You're right but…" Ness hesitated as he mulled Tracey's words over in his head. She was right of course, the Daily Prophet had been very hush-hush about the Death Eater spies being found but everyone knew that a lot of Dumbledore's men were missing and that the Ministry would start putting in safe guards to prevent it from happening again.
It had been the hottest gossip before exam had started, students whose parents were Ministry workers had sent them letters complaining about how strict it had gotten at work and warning them to be careful when they left Hogwarts for the last Hogsmeade outing. Fearful that Dumbledore's men may try and prove that they were needed by attacking the students or setting up scenarios that would require their help.
It was some poorly thought out line of logic, but that prompted students to believe that Dumbledore had other Death Eaters on his payroll working for him, ones who weren't as grumpy as Snape and were deadly when it came to revenge. Or, even more deadly than Snape when Longbottom quietly reminded everyone that Snape was willing to kill his pet frog if he didn't brew his potion correctly. In his first year.
"But there's nothing of value in the Department of Mysteries." Ness tried to argue until he remembered that yes, there was something valuable locked away in there-Someone who Potter might have spotted while he was asleep.
"Shoot." Ness cursed, feeling sick as the bus lurched to a stop and they climbed off.
"What? You don't think that Vol-de-wort breaking into the Ministry is going to drag you into more trouble, do you?" Tracey asked, gently squeezing Ness's hand as shook his head no and hurried to Paula's house.
"No, I just remembered that there is something of value for Voldemort to steal from the Department of Mysteries."
"What?" Tracey asked, breaking into a run to keep up with Ness as he turned the corner and said over his shoulder, "The Nova Engima and several PSI based enemies corrupted by magic!"
"What?!"
"I'll tell you at Paula's house!"
Paula was the only one home when Ness almost broke down her door in his haste to explain his half-baked theory. So, they didn't have to worry about being pleasant to Paula's parents as Ness hurriedly explain to Tracey who or what the Nova Engima might be—which was very impossible—and explaining his theory to Paula who looked grim.
"That does sound very likely." Paula agreed, fiddling with the hem of her pink summer dress as Tracey stirred the ice cubes in her lemonade around. "But the Ministry hasn't announced going through with their new security plans, right?"
"Not that I know of. I don't really…uh, read the Daily Prophet." Paula frowned at him while Tracey threw him her patented look of 'I don't know you at the moment because you are being an idiot'.
"Ginny usually keeps me in the loop." Ness admitted, fiddling with his cap before he moved on, "Besides! A lot of major changes seem to happen over the summer and June is almost over."
"So, you think Voldemort is going to try and break in sometime this week," Paula started when she paused and looked around.
"Paula?" Ness pressed, moving to get up when Paula's eyes dilated and she looked at Ness in fear after a long pause, "S-someone just spoke to me—with telepathy."
"Nagini?" Tracey asked, looking around for the snake as Ness's stomach dropped at Paula's pained gasp of, "They sounded like Giygas."
"The Nova Engima." Ness guessed as Tracey looked at them in horror, "He can reach that far?"
"No, it was faint-and in pain. But I could make it out." Paula answered, "He sounded…scared, implying that something bad was about to happen to him."
"The Unspeakables." Ness said, "With school ending they'll have an easier time tracking everyone down. And since Dumbledore's gone-,"
"It'll be child's play to kidnap Ginny, Selvis and Luna to force you and Potter to comply to their demands." Paula finished before she asked, "But why would they bother the Nova Enigma?"
"When we last…spoke," Ness said, "He was telling me to be safe until he was safe."
"He's breaking out," Tracey interrupted, "And they caught him in the act."
"What are we going to do?" Paula whispered, "We don't know where the Ministry is and those Unspeakable Cultists…" she trailed off as Ness adjusted his hat one last time and spoke up, "I can teleport us into the room—where the Nova Enigma is being held."
"You can?" Tracey asked as Paula gasped with a realization, "Sister Mary—she gave you the location?"
"Sister—the doll?" Tracey exclaimed as Ness nodded, "It'll be risky since I wasn't physically there but…it's the only shot we have."
"We should get Jeff and-," Paula started, getting up to grab her frying pan and some medical supplies when Tracey interjected, "I'm coming as well!"
Earning a sharp look from Ness and Paula, smoldering a little of Tracey's bravado but not killing the flame as she stood her ground, "Just because I'm eleven doesn't mean I'm a little kid anymore! I know how to fight and I'm not letting you two and Jeff walk into a dangerous situation!"
"Tracey, you don't have any PSI abilities and these guys will not hesitate once they see their comrade dropping like flies." Ness retorted, keeping his voice firm as he placed his hands-on Tracey's shoulders, "These guys are out to kill people like us—people who don't even know about magic are on their hit list!"
"Which already puts me and mom in danger. Again." Tracey argued, "Besides! It's not like you can get Poo to help out! He's busy with his kingdom!"
"True but-,"
"I'm going."
"Absolutely not!"
"You can't stop me!"
"Wanna bet?"
"Tracey," Paula interrupted, pulling the siblings focus on her as she spoke, "Two wizard cultists kidnapped me in the middle of the night and rendered my experience useless. And they were two cultists who weren't intending to harm me."
"Still-," Tracey tried, leaning back as Paula gave her a motherly glare, "You are absolutely not coming with us. Not for something that screams trap or at the very least the cultists being aware of our possible arrival."
Tracey scowled and tried to argue but they all knew she had nothing to really use against their arguments—"Who's going to watch the Engima!" Or so Ness thought.
Tracey, being the surprisingly mature and smart eleven-year-old that she was, found something to turn the tides in her favor.
"What-," Ness started when Tracey spoke over him, "It's obvious that you two are going to be fighting those Unspeakable people but what about ensuring the Enigma's safety? You guys can't fight and keep an eye on him."
"It's still too dangerous-!" Paula tried when Tracey spoke over her as well, turning to Ness to shut out her words, "And you said there were others like that doll—so if it really dangerous you can just order them to keep me safe or vice versa!"
Ness bit back a frown because Tracey was right. They responded to him and their second master—the Nova Enigma who had taken a liking to him, going so far as to claim him as a member of his family.
If it got really dangerous for Tracey, she could just guard the vault or create a base of some sort to hunker down in. The PSI beings would be able to protect her with their lives until they got back.
"Ness." Paula warned, seeing the gears turning in his head as Ness pointedly looked away from Tracey's puppy eyes and hesitantly said, "You…have a small point. But-,"
"But?" Tracey pressed, knowing full well that she had won one small battle as Ness groaned and shot Paula a pleading look to try and undermine Tracey's argument.
Paula returned it with a 'You're her older brother' look before fiddling with her hem and bow and groaning "Fine. You can come. But the moment we get into a fight you're standing behind us. Understood?"
"Yes!" Tracey cheered, blushing as Ness and Paula shot her a look that screamed that this wasn't over and reluctantly let her join the team.
Tracey forcefully joined Ness's party!
"What was that?" Tracey asked her eyes glazing over for a moment as Paula resumed her preparations and Ness moved to inform their mother about the change in plans.
"PSI ability. It's sort of weird but your headspace is basically a RPG." Ness explained as he dialed the house phone number, "Since you're in our 'party' we'll be able to see each other's 'stats' and 'abilities'."
"It's…weird." Tracey admitted, moving to sit down as she mentally checked the party menu.
"Get used to it, it's very handy for figuring out who's affected with what and who's low on stamina and health." Ness said, taking a deep breath before he reluctantly told his mother what was going on.
She wasn't thrilled but she made him promise to keep an eye on Tracey and then informed Tracey that she should come back in one piece or be grounded for life. When they hung up the phone Paula was packed and ready, holding her frying pan and Tracey's golf club.
"At least once, you have to scream four." Ness instructed Tracey, trying to ease his nerves as Tracey shot him a glare and said, "Five."
"Spoilsport." Ness jokingly grumbled before they walked outside and told Tracey to hold onto him and start spinning, Tracey shot him a baffled look but didn't argue as Ness teleported to Jeff's house.
Cringing as he forgot one particularly important thing about where Jeff lived—it was almost always winter, and they were wearing summer clothes.
"Sorry!" Ness yelled, as they scrambled out of the snowbank he had teleported them into and banged on Jeff's door.
"Why is it winter in summer?!" Tracey demanded as Jeff opened the door and had to jump aside to avoid getting run over by his friends.
"Because Foggy lands has a place literally called, Winters." Ness replied, rubbing his legs as Paula muttered, "I should have packed a coat."
"I have many questions." Jeff stated, polishing his glasses and taking an assessment of their supplies before sighing, "But they can wait until after you inform me why we are heading out on another jaunt to save the world." And leading them into the kitchen to warm up with some hot coco.
"It isn't a save the world thing but a 'save a person from crazy wizards' thing." Ness offered, blowing on his hot coco as Paula filled Jeff in on what was going on and why Tracey was here.
"This feels like a trap." Jeff muttered, "But given what evidence I've pulled from those books and human nature, there's a 100% chance that they'll be using the Nova Enigma's escape as an excuse to…painfully study it and try and gauge your kinds' weakness as a punishment."
"You aren't a PSI user?" Tracey asked, looking surprised as Jeff shook his head no, "I'm highly intelligent and can sense and vaguely see PSI attacks but no, I cannot use PSI myself."
"So, I could have come anyway-," Tracey started when she spotted the look Ness was giving her and wisely shut her mouth. Jeff gave her a look but didn't press on the issue of Tracey coming with them.
"The Department of Mysteries is probably a heavily charmed section of the Ministry, designed to keep intruders out or lock them in if they bypass the first levels of security." Jeff explained, "They would also have several sections of research that most likely have different ways of storing information and records."
"If they even have paper records." Ness interjected, remembering how the author of 'Mysteries of America' had no concrete evidence of what the Unspeakables of America had found about the sudden loss of magic. "If they stored it with magic then we won't be able to break in."
"Not even if we disable it?" Jeff asked, adjusting his glasses and getting a 'I have discovered something awesome' smirk as they looked at him in confusion.
"Can you disable magic?" Tracey asked as Jeff held a finger up, hurried out of the kitchen and returned with an armful of nerf guns that looked like a bulky version of a laser blaster from a video game.
"I'm not a 100% sure, but from what Ness has told me magic has an EMP like electric field that shuts off electric currents permanently and damages the system using electricity when brought into an environment filled with magic." Jeff started, growing excited as he spoke. "So, I've been developing EMP guns that do the opposite of what magic can do, but modified it so it focuses the negative charge of electricity to be fired at the wizard to briefly disable their mind and possibly, there wands which I theorized is the 'lightning rod' for their powers."
"So…Disrupted Concentration for wizards." Paula deadpanned after a moment of processing Jeff's words.
"If it works, yes." Jeff replied, "If it doesn't then I'll suppose I'll have to look into herbal remedies and use a spray bottle—and oh! Tony could help with that. He got that scientist level chemistry kit last week for his good grades…"
Ness glanced at Tracey who seemed amazed by Jeff's shift from explanation to conducting another experiment and said, "He's always like this." as Jeff grabbed a notebook from the counter and began scribbling notes down before remembering that he had guests.
"Did you say anything?" Jeff asked, looking embarrassed as Ness and Paula shook their heads no.
"You are really smart." Tracey stated, "I thought Ness was exaggerating but-,"
"I told you." Ness interjected as Jeff's cheeks darkened and he mumbled to himself before getting back to the matter at hand, "I've also developed some stun guns—limited charges but Tracey could use those in case of a worse scenario situation."
"Yes." Tracey stated, her eyes lighting up as Paula sighed, "You're never getting that stun gun back."
"At least it's for a good cause." Ness offered before Jeff spoke up, "Should I prepare some weapons for Ginny, Luna and Selvis? Or are they not coming?"
Ness was about to answer no since he really didn't want to drag them around during exams and possibly get them in serious legal trouble when he remembered that they had no idea where he was.
"Shoot." Ness cursed, dropping his head on the table as Tracey exclaimed, "You didn't leave a note?!"
"I was only supposed to be gone an hour! I didn't expect to go on a rescue mission Tracey!" Ness groaned, flushing with embarrassment as Paula shook her head, "Well, at least they won't be blamed for anything if we get caught."
"Can't you send a message back?" Jeff asked, "I mean, you have Nagini right?"
Ness didn't answer that, prompting Tracey to say, "Well, hopefully they're too distracted by exams to realize your missing."
"Ginny's going to kill me…" Ness groaned, "Paula heeeeelllp."
"You dug yourself into this hole. You get out of it." Paula replied, giggling as Ness shot her a mock glare before sitting up, "So, aside from me getting murdered by my wizard friends, outside of some more healing supplies we should be good to go."
"I think I have a few Defense up sprays…" Jeff started, moving to go grab them when Paula said, "Don't bother, wizards don't physically fight people, they just yell words and wave their pointy sticks at you."
Jeff shot her an incredulous look and then facepalmed as Ness nodded in agreement.
"No wonder those red heads were so upset over a normal hospital." Jeff grumbled before saying, "I'll just get some more weapons and parts and we'll be good."
"Parts?" Tracey questioned, "He's going to build more things while we're exploring the Department of Mysteries?"
"It helps." Ness answered, smiling as Tracey frowned and then jumped as Jeff returned with a satchel carefully filled with various tools and parts as the internal message of.
Jeff has joined the party!
Played in their heads. "You'll get used to it." Ness assured Tracey before they walked outside—now borrowing a few of Jeff and Dr. Andonuts's jackets to stave off the cold and teleported into the safe room for PSI beings.
Harry and co.- We need to save Black, Ness and Dumbledore from Voldemort!
Ness: Happily chilling with his friends before gearing up for a rescue mission to save a possible antigenic evil from even eviler cultists,
So, this chapter is set before everyone scrambles to rescue 'Ness' and Black. It's probably pretty obvious but in case it isn't because obvious and subtle aren't my strong suits-Ness wasn't kidnapped, he just left before anyone was awake and Nagini just never told anyone. For some reason.
I should probably go back and edit Harry's P. to reflect the time differences between the two P. but making note of what time it is evvvilllll and I have no idea how to structure it without it feeling off since I time skip through most of the day.
If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know!
