[A/N: Okay, let's see if I can keep what I typed this time around. The computer's autosave is set at once every two minutes, I have all the important scenes hand written in my notes and I'm taking my time to flesh things out and not dismiss every warning message that pops up on my computer… fingers crossed!]
Chapter 23: Consequences and Viruses
Monday 1 November 1993, Great Hall
Harry and his friends were sitting down at the Hufflepuff table having breakfast and wondering about what today had in store for them after the problems of last night. One of their own, second year Hufflepuff Luna Lovegood, had admitted to being bullied by three older Ravenclaws for her beliefs in fantastical creatures that supposedly only she could see.
"I just don't get it," Harry mused, "We all know that not all of the creatures that Luna's mentioned are imaginary. Look at that Crumple-horned Snorkack thing; she and her father actually found it for real. She's got pictures of it."
Pansy looked slightly abashed at his opening, "I must admit that I was skeptical at first too."
Harry wasn't really surprised by this but had to ask, "Really? Of all the weird and wonderful creatures in the magical world, you had doubts that something like that existed?"
Pansy made a face and held her hands up as if to say 'Well…' "It's not as if it were a dragon or something, you know?"
"Why would that matter?" he pressed.
Pansy got a thoughtful look on her face, "Dragons are a known quantity of the many magical creatures out there in the world. We know where each and every species there is lives. Same thing is true for the rest, I guess? Ever since Newt Scamander published his book on Fantastical Beasts, we've been taught that those are the only ones out there and if He hasn't found any others then that's all there is. I don't think I explained it all that well…" she frowned pensively.
"Crypto-magizoology…"Dean muttered softly. He looked up when he noticed the others staring at him, "Oh, crypto-zoology is the study of hidden animals that were believed to be extinct, yet some people caught a glimpse of their existence in real-life. It's just in our case, we add in the magical part."
"Oh, you mean like the giant squid?" Hermione asked him.
"Huh?" The magically raised kids' eyes immediately turned towards the general direction of the Black Lake (Harry snorted in laughter at their synchronization.)
Hermione rolled her eyes, "The giant squid was once thought to be a creature known as a 'cryptid.' This aquatic monster, along with its even bigger cousin the 'colossal squid,' can grow to well over forty feet long and yet more than two thousand years elapsed between its first sighting and its confirmation as an actual species. Reports of the giant squid go all the way back to Aristotle, and the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder offers a reasonably accurate description of a giant squid in Natural History. In what has to be a first for ancient writers, Pliny actually manages to underestimate the size of the beast, saying it's only about thirty feet long. The giant squid also might be the inspiration for any number of mythological monsters, including the Kraken of Norse mythology, the Scylla of Greek mythology, and the Lusca of Caribbean folklore."
"How can you say all that in one breath?" Millie remarked in amazement.
The other Puffs laughed, "This is nothing. You should see her when she starts lecturing during test time." The girl in question just huffed in annoyance but she blushed bright pink when Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulder, kissed her gently on her temple and whispered in her ear, "Remember, you're my super-brainiac, genius, mis-sorted Ravenpuff."
"So the giant squid of the Black Lake is a…what again?"
"A cryptid, I guess." Dean suggested, "I mean think about it. Giant squid only live in the ocean yet this one lives in a freshwater lake. There's got to be an explanation for that somewhere."
There was a moment of silence as they all pondered that question.
Hermione's face suddenly went pale as if she'd seen something utterly horrific, "Oh, my…"
"What?" Everyone turned to her.
"I just had a horrifying thought. What if the bullying had continued beyond last night or worse, if she'd been sorted into Ravenclaw like she'd originally planned on?"
Vince was confused, "So?"
Hermione widened her eyes in a pointed manner, "Don't you see? What if because of all that bullying, Luna had gone Dark?"
Harry tried to imagine a Dark Luna and it made him shiver in fear, "That creepy way she stares at people sometimes, like she was examining their soul; those creatures she speaks of, she's only mentioned the good ones but you know she also sees the evil ones…and knows where they live." He gulped loudly, "Those bullies in Ravenclaw were lucky to have been discovered by me. I mean, I like her as a friend but if Luna had snapped, well…They say that H.R. Giger and H.P. Lovecraft created some really twisted stories. What if instead of dreaming them up themselves, those nightmares came from her and her family and she knows how to summon them?"
"Who are those two names you mentioned?" Greg wondered aloud, a bit nervously.
"Horror story writers; I'll show you later. I got the 'The Call of Chulthu' in my trunk," Hermione said.
Justin shivered and whispered, "Luna Selene Lovegood, Eternal Queen and Empress of the Night."
"Good morning, everyone." They all jumped at the sound of an ethereal and dreamy voice behind them. Luna was standing before them with a small enigmatic smile on her face.
Back during the Halloween Feast…
Immediately after Harry had approached Professor Flitwick and informed him of the bullying that had occurred between the three older girls and Luna; the tiny, usually happy professor immediately jumped up on his chair and barked out, "Misses Chang, Edgecombe and Brocklehurst! Outside, NOW!"
No one inside the Great Hall was able to hear anything afterwards but when the professor returned, his face was stormy. The girls in question did not return to the Hall afterwards but everyone found out what had happened later. All three had been punished for their rude and bully behavior towards another member of the school just for the absurd reason that the younger girl liked to believe in imaginary creatures. They had been given a month worth of detentions with Mr. Filch, lost their House 50 points apiece and lost the privilege of visiting Hogsmeade for the remainder of the school year. It was a harsh reminder that bullying had consequences.
Professor Flitwick considered the matter closed. The rest of the school however…
Present…
Luna had quickly become the darling of the school from the moment she stepped within the hallowed halls because she brought light, music and dance to an otherwise drab and dreary castle in the Scottish Highlands. Nearly every night at dinner, everyone gathered; eagerly awaiting what songs she would recommend for their meal time enjoyments. The student population quickly realized that if Luna had been bullied to the point of retreating within a shell so deep, they'd lose not only a bright and shining star, but their only source of incredible music.
To that end, they made sure the perpetrators learned their lesson and drove home their point. Both Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe lost whatever friends they may have had including their boyfriends. Mandy Brocklehurst was banished from the Crafting Parties as well as the Chess club. When photos of the Crumple-horned Snorkcack started making its rounds through the school, one seventh year was heard remarking that 'maybe now they'll understand there's a difference between perceived wit and true wisdom.'
Tuesday 2 November 1993, Ministry for Magic
Amelia was in her office and for once, happily filling out a form. This one in particular was the order to rescind the presence of the Dementors guarding Hogwarts. All that was needed was for a team to collect them and herd the demons back to Azkaban Prison. With a final flourish, she signed her name and tapped the form with her wand. It folded itself up into a paper airplane and zoomed out of the room. A knock on the door interrupted the silence.
"Come in!" she barked.
The door opened to admit Director Croaker. "Amelia, we may have a problem," he said with a frown on his face without preamble.
Amelia sighed, "Well, so much for today being a good day."
In Dolores Umbridge's office, two months ago… (Flashback)
Dolores stared intently at the strange device sitting on her desk. She'd only seen this infernal contraption once before when that half-blood brat Harry Potter had brought it in to demonstrate its capabilities to the Minister. She'd easily gotten the man to deny any sort of procedural change by refusing to let this 'com-poo-ter' into the ministry, saying that the old ways had worked just fine and that they didn't need something new to tell them how to do their jobs. The airplane notes, the elf-delivered packages or just taking a short walk to speak with someone was plenty for their needs to run this great country, thank you very much!
That was until she saw Director Bones start carrying around one of these things to great effect. Meetings were scheduled instantly, communications between departments flowed smoother and information collected at speeds that could only be dreamt of. Once Dolores began seeing how Amelia was amassing more prestige and power because of the computer, she had to have one too.
She opened the owner's manual and began to skim the instructions for a first-time user to safely operate the device. She'd followed the pictures on how to remove the small backcover plate and the slightly sticky plastic tab from between the power rune and the machine itself. There was a quick beep and the screen lit up with what the manual described as a 'bat-tree' in charging mode. The instructions were quite clear that the computer 'bat-tree' needed at least twenty-four hours to completely charge before being able to use it. Well, the twenty-four hours had already passed by the time she arrived for work so with a 'press and hold' for a moment of the power button as indicated in the manual, another beep was heard and the screen flickered to life.
Lines of words and symbols raced past too fast for her to properly read but the manual said this was a standard power-on procedure and nothing she needed to worry about. Finally, it displayed something that resembled an office desktop. Dolores blinked and waited for something to happen but it just sat there.
"What the hell is wrong with this bloody thing?" She poked at the screen, picked it up and turned it over and around then grabbed the manual and continued reading only to discover that once she reached the desktop image, it would wait until given its next command. "Ah! Okay, I want to see the schedule of today's meetings," she imperiously commanded the computer.
Nothing happened.
Getting annoyed, Dolores tried again but louder.
Again, nothing happened.
She grabbed the manual once more and growled as she hunted through it trying to find the key information that she must have missed. A knock on her door interrupted her information hunt, "What is it?"
Her secretary poked her head in, "Senior Undersecretary? The Minister has requested that you attend this morning's hearing in Courtroom 9."
With an aggrieved huff, Dolores dropped the manual back on her desk and pointed at it to her secretary as she stormed out, "Find someone who knows something about those muggle com-poo-ters and make sure they get that damn thing to work properly!"
Dolores' secretary, in reality an Unspeakable known within the Department of Mysteries only as 'Heron' sighed in relief as her assignment left the office. 'If there was ever an example of unholy cross-breeding, it would be her.' Heron poked around Dolores' office to make sure that the various tracking and listening devices she had installed were still in place and working properly before picking up the computer the Toad had either bought, stolen or… 'No, those are probably the only two options, knowing her.'
Heron brought up the operating system then reached into her robes to remove a small tab-like item and inserted it into one of the ports on the side of the PA. She loaded a keystroke logger program into the PA and waited until it was done settling in then slipped the stick back into her robes. Next, she uploaded Dolores' schedule of meetings for the coming month, created an icon for it and left it up on the desktop for quick access.
She quickly wrote out instructions on how to navigate the new 'Secretary' onto a scrap of parchment and secured the office and returned to her desk to send a secretly coded message to her real boss.
Present…
"Remember when Mr. Potter demonstrated that device of his, the Potioneer's Assistant computer?" Croaker asked Amelia, who nodded, "Well, despite her initial attitude towards the thing, she went ahead and got one for herself."
Amelia was clearly confused, "After all she said about how it was 'just some stupid muggle toy,' she still got one? Wonderful, so what's the problem?"
"I installed one of my operatives in her office and she managed to upload a keystroke logger to Dolores' computer under the guise of loading the monthly meetings into her calendar. "
Again, Amelia's eyebrowed furrowed, "Remind me what a 'keystroke logger' is?"
Croaker breathed out a sigh as he transitioned into lecture mode, "Keyloggers or keystroke loggers are software programs or hardware devices that track the activities (keys pressed) of a keyboard. Keyloggers are a form of spyware where users are unaware that their actions are being tracked. Keyloggers can be used for a variety of purposes; hackers may use them to maliciously gain access to your private information, while employers might use them to monitor employee activities. Some keyloggers can also capture your screen at random intervals; these are known as screen recorders. Keylogger software typically stores your keystrokes in a small file, which is either accessed later or automatically emailed to the person monitoring your actions."
Amelia's eyes grew large as they swung over to where hers lay on the desk, "Does mine have that?"
Croaker shook his head, "No, you're not being tracked unless you've accessed websites that you shouldn't have?" He said the last with a small smirk. Amelia narrowed her eyes in promised retribution but he just chuckled. "At any rate, since she's been using her computer for meeting schedules and delving briefly into online information sources like that new one…wiki-something, the keyloggers haven't detected anything illegal. I doubt she even knows about the concept of spyware, yet at least."
"Let's hope that day never comes around. So what sort of things has she been researching?"
Croaker scratched his cheek, "Strangely enough, she's been researching muggle history; specifically the period during Grindelwald's reign of the 1930s to 1945."
Amelia paled, "That was during the Nazi regime."
"Now you're beginning to understand why I said we have a problem. She's been reading about the torture devices and practices the Nazis used on their prisoners, I shudder to think of what she'd do with a magical variant. Then there's the odd topic as well; one that doesn't seem to match up to the historical research."
"What is it?"
"Viruses. She's looking into the history of computer viruses."
Thursday 4 November 1993 Hogwarts Infirmary
"Joyce! What a pleasure to see you," Poppy exclaimed to the image of her colleague from Saint Mungo's floating in her fireplace.
"Hey, Pops. Listen, I was wondering if I could bring some of our Healers to come see that new device Abby was raving about?"
"Sure, come on through!" Poppy stood up and got out of the way for the incoming travelers. Within a matter of moments, the infirmary population grew to twenty people. "Welcome everyone. The ABM is right over here." She bustled over to where the machine stood.
"ABM?" someone asked.
Poppy pinked, "Sorry, it's an abbreviation for Automatic Brewing Machine. It's just easier to say ABM instead of that mouthful."
"So, Abigail says that this…machine is capable of brewing anything?"
Poppy waggled her hand, "Not quite. It's capable of brewing the most commonly used potions, creams, salves and whatnot. Anything exotic would still have to be made by hand."
"Commonly used? Such as?"
"Pain relievers, calming draughts, anti-inflammatories and more. I've even used it to make Skele-gro."
Murmurs of surprise were heard, "What else?"
Poppy sighed as she continued, "Well, since we are a boarding school filled with teenagers, I've had to have 'other' things added to the list. Things like contraceptives and for those who are too far gone for those to be effective, Mr. Potter has included a special 'Neo-natal care menu.'"
Joyce and a couple of the others looked mildly surprised if not a bit horrified, "Neo-natal care? Here?"
Poppy shook her head sadly and gestured with a 'what can you do' of her hands, "I know but it does happen. This school is currently host to three mothers and two more who should be giving birth any day now. Fortunately, all five are seventh years."
One healer looked over the menu and noticed there was a handwritten note for A5 affixed to the side of the keypad, "Poppy?"
"Hmm? Oh, A5 is for the previously made headache relievers that are needed immediately. The fastest brew time is five minutes but really? Who wants to wait five minutes to get relief for a migraine?" Sounds of agreement were heard.
The door to the infirmary opened and two fifth years walked in; well, one was practically carrying the other. "What happened?"
"Broom flying accident. He hit a tree and got banged up pretty bad," replied the uninjured one.
"On the bed," Poppy instructed as she waved her wand, getting a diagnostic read, "Hmmm…broken wrist, dislocated shoulder, two teeth knocked loose, mild lacerations no doubt from falling." Straightening up, she moved over to the ABM and pressed a series of buttons then shifted direction to where her bandages lay. Her colleagues watched in awe as the machine whirred and beeped before releasing some of the lower timed potions into waiting vials. Poppy picked those up as she returned from grabbing some towels and the bandages.
As she attended to her patient, the next completed potion was the vial of Skele-gro specially formulated for teeth. "Harold? Could you hand me that vial, please?" Harold picked it up and handed it over to her. She deftly poured it into her patient's mouth before he could complain, "There now, I want you to rest and try not to move around too much."
The boy, Stuart Miklen, rubbed his teeth with his tongue and commented his surprise that the Skele-gro didn't taste as bad as normal.
"You can thank Mr. Potter for that. He changed the recipe slightly to accommodate for a bit of flavoring." Poppy replied as she collected up her used or leftover supplies and dropped them into the wastebin.
The Healers from Saint Mungo's were absolutely amazed by what they'd witnessed. No longer was it necessary to have individually created remedies that needed to be brewed beforehand and stored; all a mediwitch would have to do is simply press a couple of buttons from a menu and within five to thirty minutes (or less for the aspirin), a perfectly crafted remedy could be administered. The hospital's potioneers were agog as well since those simple requests took a bulk of their time away from crafting the more elaborate medicines.
"How much does the ABM cost?"
Poppy shrugged and made a 'Dunno' face, "I never thought to ask. Hang on, lemme see if Mr. Potter is free to stop by." She picked up her personal PA and sent off an email to Harry. A couple of minutes later and Harry had replied that he was unfortunately occupied and couldn't stop by but that if the healers had any financial questions, to speak with Daggerclaw at Gringotts.
Saturday 6 November 1993
Today was the day that Harry was simultaneously anticipating and dreading. Today was his first date with Hermione while at school. Subconsciously he knew that he didn't have anything to worry about. 'After all, I already went on a date with her when we went to the park then the museum,' He mused as he finished another failed attempt to get his hair to lay flat.
Up in the Main Hallway…
"So Scarhead, where're you taking the know-it-all?" Draco drawled and laughed while glancing sideways at Vince and Greg, hoping they'd come to their senses and join in. The boys in question merely shook their heads in annoyance and walked away.
Hermione appeared a moment later and Harry's breathing nearly stopped. She tilted her head in confusion at the look on his face then glanced down at herself. "Harry?" She poked him on his chest. When he didn't respond, she pinched his nose until he finally responded.
He laughed.
"Goofball. Why did you stare at me?"
Harry put on his best blissful look as he took her hands in his, "I turned and saw before me, an Angel come down from Heaven to Grace us with her Supreme Beauty."
Hermione snorted lightly, "Haarry… You keep talking like that and my head is going to inflate and float away."
The pair made their way outside where Filch was collecting the permission forms from those with the intent on visiting the town.
"Thank you, Mr. Filch," Hermione said after the caretaker had complimented her on her outfit. She had decided on a pair of high-waisted suspender trousers in khaki paired with a red and white horizontal striped mock turtleneck shirt with half sleeves. A decorative gold link and onyx stone chain belt rested on her hips. She was wearing a comfortable pair of black Keds and carrying her favorite Hufflepuff yellow knit jumper. On her head, she had on a crocheted cap made to resemble a red and white spotted toadstool.
She beamed with happiness at the looks of praise (and even a bit of envy) her ensemble inspired. Harry took her hand again and the two skipped their way over to the carriages.
In Hogsmeade…
"So where to first?" Harry wanted to know.
"Um, I think I want to hit up the shops first before ending up at the Three Broomsticks. It'll probably be less crowded that way," she replied.
As they walked up and down the main street, the two window-shopped and kept up a running commentary of whom and what they saw. Harry nearly lost Hermione in the stacks at Tomes and Scrolls, the town's bookshop. He eventually found her checking out the selection of crafting and hobby books and magazines.
Conversely, Hermione nearly lost Harry when they entered into Pippen's Potions, a smaller mom and pop shop separate from Slug and Jigger's Apothecary in Diagon Alley. Harry was examining some jars of a substance called 'Chicken Lips' which were supposedly used for curing excessive facial desiccation caused by smoking cigarettes and pipes.
"Seventeen Sickles per 8 ounce jar, that's crazy."
Hermione peered over his shoulder, resting her chin on his shoulder, "Too expensive?"
Harry turned and lowered his voice, "No, it's cheap, very cheap. It makes me wonder what else is included to get the price down that much."
"Could it be on clearance?"
Harry blinked and pursed his lips in thought, "Maybe…"
"Is it something you need?"
"Hmm? No, just something fun to have. It'd be fun to point out that I have chicken lips. (Hermione giggled) Realistically, you normally don't need to have something like this unless you're a healer treating patients suffering from dry skin issue, smokers or live out in the desert."
"Is there any way to test it here and now for quality?"
Harry shook his head, "Not without opening it up. I think the shopkeepers would notice too. Chicken Lips have a distinctive stench; it's like a cross between Limberger cheese and open sewer."
Hermione made a disgusted face, "Ewww!"
They stopped into Helga's Home Furnishings to take a look at some of the smaller items that Hermione thought would make a good recycling project. The shop was filled to the rafters with second-hand furniture and whatnot, all at bargain basement prices. Harry was interested in some of the paintings that lined the back wall.
"Are any of you active?" He asked politely.
"We all are, young man. What brings you by to Helga's shop?"
Harry turned and spotted Hermione bent over digging through a basket of odds and ends and smiled happily back at the portraits, "Here on a first date with my girlfriend."
"Odd sort of place to take a date. I would've thought you two would be at the Three Broomsticks?" One portrait of a Renaissance era young man commented idly.
"Hermione loves to hold crafting parties up at Hogwarts so she's been searching for various bits and bobs to use in her art projects. So, if I may ask; who are you all?"
The eldest portrait, that of a wizard wearing 12th century robes pointed them out, "From your left, you have William Warner, 17th century poet; next to him is Anne Howard, Countess of Arundel; in the middle is Richard Flecknoe, dramatist, poet and musician and then you have myself, Serlo of Winton."
Harry blinked in amazement, "Wow, why are you here in a bargain shop?"
Serlo shrugged, "Times and desires change. I don't hold it against the living, to be honest." The others agreed with him.
Harry thanked each one for their time and met up with Hermione after she called his name. As they headed for Honeydukes, he related the story he'd learned about the portraits and wondered if Hogwarts had any copies of them.
"Maybe you could email Professor Sprout? Were their portraits expensive?"
"I think the most expensive one was fifty Galleons." He made a mental note to send that email after they were seated at the pub.
Despite being typical teens, neither Harry nor Hermione were all that interested in squeezing into the chaos that was Honeydukes. Hermione was raised by dentists so she'd never developed a craving for the sweet stuff while Harry preferred savory snacks over the sugary ones. They did see Neville and waved at him through the window where he was waiting in line. Nelly, his snapdragon chimera was lazily draped over his shoulders.
Finally, they decided that it was time to find a space in the pub and have some lunch. They were fortunate that most of the lunchtime crowd had already dissipated so finding a table wasn't too much of a hassle as they'd feared.
Hermione was browsing through the menu while Harry was busy composing the email to Professor Sprout regarding the portraits he'd seen. Once that was sent off, he picked up his own menu and tried to figure out what he was in the mood for. The bar maid, Madam Rosemerta stopped by briefly to drop off a small basket of pork scratchings and a couple of glasses of water before heading off.
"What do you recommend, Hermione? You've looked longer than I have."
"Ummm…the Butternut squash soup looks good to start with."
"Where?"
"First page, left hand side." Harry found it and read through the description.
"I'm going with the chicken and mushroom pie and mash. That's on the second page under 'Main meals.'"
Harry found the 'The Ploughman's Lunch' to be interesting enough to try it. Madam Rosemerta came back and took their orders then hurried off again. An elf appeared and refilled their drinks then popped out. Hermione stared at the spot the elf disappeared from, "Was that one of yours?"
Harry shook his head and laughed a bit, "I honestly have no idea. It didn't look familiar."
"I could've sworn that elf was Goofy," she cocked her head in thought then dismissed it as unimportant.
At the end of their visit, Harry and Hermione took the time to just walk back to the castle. They talked and discussed their experiences in the different shops. Hermione was overjoyed about finding a second-hand shop where she was able to buy some really interesting items. She pulled them out and described what sorts of projects she had in mind while Harry attentively listened and made the occasional suggestion.
When they got back to the castle, Pomona and Argus intercepted them and asked which shop the portraits were on sale in. "Hogwarts has a Master List of all sorts of portraits and other artistry that we try to keep up on. Three of those you found were on the list."
"Huh, I thought I included the shop name. What about the fourth?"
"Oh, I'll get all four. It'd be rather cruel to break up the set. I imagine they're all used to each other's company."
Harry glanced in Argus' direction. Something he caught, "As caretaker of the castle, I need to know what condition they're in before they're bought. Since I'm the only one around here with any sort of training in caring for the artwork, I need to go too."
Thursday 11 November 1993 Goblin language class
"qeylIS DaghojmoHtaHvIS, ghotpu'lIjDaq yIjatlh."
Harry had just entered his class and spotted his professor leaning up against his desk. Professor Kingborn quirked up an eyebrow in curiosity, "mu'wIj che'"
Switching back to English, Harry said, "That was tough. I can't begin to tell you how many times my tongue tripped over itself trying to learn how to say that properly."
The professor smiled understandingly, "I can well imagine. At least you didn't have a tutor like I did. He was an old battle-scarred Goblin who brooked no slack in my efforts. The slightest mistake and he'd challenge me to a fight."
"That must've made class a bit rough afterwards." Kingborn shrugged indifferently.
The rest of the students filtered in and the professor got things underway.
Around the same time in the Headmaster's office
Albus was sitting in his chair looking proudly at his success in copying the enchantments of the security map and its ability to track everyone, everywhere. Right now, he had it set to continuously track Harry Potter (or as he was only able to be referred as: 'The Boy-Who-Lived,' without triggering the effects of the restraining order.) He wanted to learn where the boy went in between meal times and classes.
Unfortunately, that pride fell hard. He soon learned that the subject of his obsession was in fact…boring.
Harry Potter was not at all like his father or his godfather. The boy seemingly had no aspirations to get into places that he wasn't supposed to be nor did he seem to have any inclination to start mischief against the students of the other Houses. Albus frowned and wondered again where he'd gone wrong in his plans.
'The brat just goes to all his classes or spends his free time split between the Library with his friends and the laboratory with Severus. I wish there was still a need for the Third floor gauntlet; I'd have a reason for testing him. I guess I could kidnap his 'girlfriend' and make him search for her? I need to figure out how to extend the range to include Hogsmeade. I'm sure that is where he's getting into mischief.'
Sunday 14 November 1993, Potions Club Laboratory
To some people, teaching the younger years would've been considered a chore suitable only for punishment. To Harry, it was a time of fun when he got to pass along his love and knowledge on how to make potions and other cauldron-related ideas. Today, he'd witnessed several first years trying (and failing) to understand their potions homework. Deciding that if he was ever going to be a world-class potioneer, he'd need some teaching time as well so he rounded everyone from all the Houses who was having difficulty (nearly all of them) and herded them into the laboratory.
"Okay everyone. You're all here because of your inability to understand what the heck Professor Snape assigned, right? Now don't worry, I'm not upset and I doubt he would be either. There are some things that just take practical experience to be able to fully understand how potion making happens."
He gestured to the cauldrons sitting on the table, "I want each of you to pick a station, there's no assigned seating here."
Once everyone was settled, he began, "One of the best ways I can think of to appreciate how potion brewing can be accomplished is by creating a prank against others. In my three years here, I've come up with some really great pranks to use against those who annoy me, amuse me or just because I can. I rarely hold anyone in ill will but I can and will defend myself. Now! Prank potions are a really good way to learn techniques because if the potion doesn't turn out how you want it to, who cares! It wasn't supposed to exist, right?" A couple of giggles were heard.
"So, the first step regardless of what you're making is ingredient preparation. Laying on the tables before you are the same kind of vegetables you'd find in the kitchen. I like to practice my preparation techniques on these because if you mess up here, all you're left with is soup."
More laughter was heard as the firsties relaxed and got into the 'class.'
Putting action to words, Harry demonstrated how to create what he called 'No-Slip Grip.' "This is an adhesive potion that alters the amount of grip you have. When ingested, the…er, victim will find themselves unable to touch things without the fear of never being able to let go of it again. Everything will stick to them as if they were now a body made of glue. A simple 'finite' will not end the effects because it's a potion as the 'finite' only works on spells and charms. The potion effects lasts for up to 8 hours depending on the strength you brewed it to. For you mundane-born and raised, the nearest non-magical version of this would be superglue." Sounds of understanding were heard from the kids.
The potion itself only took a half hour to make but demonstrated at least four different techniques the firsties were having difficulty remembering. Harry made sure that everyone was able to see him perform each step. When he was done, he poured it into a vial and stoppered it before passing it around, "As you can see, properly brewed the 'No-Slip Grip' potion should have a very slight pale blue tinge to it and have a consistency similar to day-old porridge. Serving dosage for this quality is a roughly a milliliter per average weight male teen."
His class twittered in delight as pranks were thought of, "Any questions?"
Later that day, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil had to be escorted to the Infirmary after giving each other a hug and unable to stop. It wasn't until Harry was called by Poppy to come help that he discovered that the two girls weren't the only ones who came down with this same strange malady. Draco was clinging to body-length pillow with the picture of Pansy attached at the 'head,' (Pansy was disgusted when she heard about it.) Allison Barnes of Ravenclaw was found stuck with a mirror attached to her lips and even Albus Dumbledore had to be brought in, his hand literally caught in the biscuit jar.
At the next staff meeting, Minerva and the others had been joined by one of the Unspeakables sent up from the Department of Mysteries after she had sent word to Amelia who in turn contacted the DoM that Albus had allegedly figured out how to bypass the enchantments on his Restraining Order.
"I have finished my examination and have come to the conclusion that Albus is still under the correct thrall of the enchantments and is only using the term of 'the boy-who-lived' to describe Mr. Potter even though the headmaster still doesn't remember who Harry Potter is. He still cannot be in the boy's presence without getting ill. Furthermore, the headmaster thinks he's discovered how to copy that security map of yours and believes he is able to track the boy now. In reality, he is not; Albus incorrectly targeted the wrong boy.
"Do you know which boy Albus mistargeted?" Severus asked.
The Unspeakable consulted their notes, "Draco Malfoy."
Severus dropped his chin into his chest and groaned to the amusement of the others.
Monday 29 November 1993 Cursebreaking class
Professor Jones had just completed a lecture on how casting an Inverse Magic charm could be used to 'cancel' the active one if the standard 'finite' or the more powerful 'finite incantatum' failed to work. She then began handing out small blocks of what looked like ordinary wood to each of her students. "Each of these blocks has a simple charm on them. Using the detection method I described earlier this month; cast the Inverse Magic charm and try to clear the block of the enchantments. You may work in quiet groups, if you wish."
Harry paired up with a couple of Ravenclaws as they carefully examined the block itself before casting the detection charm. "What do you think?" he asked them.
"I'm detecting a…Spongify charm? I think?" Terry Boot said uncertainly.
"I've got Softening but I'm not sure," Anthony Goldstein added.
"I've got the same as Anthony," Harry said, "So the wand movement for the normal charm is an S-shape. Does that mean the inverse is a backwards S or the movement laying on its side or does it mean that the S is face down or face up?"
All three looked confused; Harry raised his hand and the professor walked over, "Yes, Mr. Potter?"
"Are we allowed to look up information online to help solve this?"
Professor Jones cocked her head in confusion, "Online? I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."
Both Anthony and Terry grinned at the professor's face as they both knew what was going to happen.
"Are you not aware of the computers the school uses?" Harry asked her. She shook her head no. "Really? I would've thought Professor McGonagall might've said something." He pulled out his PA and briefly demonstrated what 'going online' meant. To her credit, Professor Jones merely blinked a couple of times before agreeing that researching information could be done in this manner as long as they didn't use it to find the solution without trying it on their own first.
Tuesday 7 December 1993 Great Hall, dinner time
"Good evening everyone and welcome to another fun-filled Magical Music Medley!" Cheers erupted from the tables. "Tonight's musical entertainment is a 'blast from the past' compilation of 80s pop songs. So let's see, first up is 'Bad' by Michael Jackson (whoops of delight were heard strangely enough from the Slytherin table), 'Heaven is a place on Earth' by Belinda Carlisle, 'You Gotta Fight For Your Right (to Party)' by the Beastie Boys (the second year Gryffindors were next to cheer), 'I Wanna Dance With Someone (Who Loves Me)' by Whitney Houston and finally 'The Loco-motion' by Kylie Minogue!"
Once the music started playing, Harry returned to his seat and grabbed the nearest platter of barbecued chicken legs. He turned towards Luna who was making a mountain out of her mashed potatoes, "Luna? I got a question about the song you were dancing and singing to earlier, well actually Blaise had the question but he didn't want to make a scene by coming over to ask."
Luna peered at him before clueing into what he was talking about, "Remember what I said about my ability to See and Hear songs up and down the time stream? That song hasn't been released yet."
Harry blinked in surprise, "Really? Okay, I'll let him know. By the way, what was it called and who sang it?"
Luna finished sculpting her potato mountain and was now populating it with a sprinkling of dill seasoning 'trees,' "It's a song called 'Happy' and sung by a man named Pharrell Williams."
"Huh, it's too bad there's nothing we could play so I could hear it as you hear it."
Luna shrugged as she moved onto her mini-carrot 'mountain goats,' "Maybe next year when I choose my electives, I'll take a musical instrument class."
The next day in his Law class, Blaise raised his hand, "Professor? I have a question about what Miss Lovegood is able to do."
"Oh, and what would that be?"
"Well sir, she has the ability to See and Hear music from any point in time. My question is, could Luna's ability be construed as copyright infringement? She sometimes shares songs that haven't been written yet with her friends."
His professor thought about that for a moment before shaking his head, "If she's sharing songs that haven't been written yet then, no… as she'd be sharing songs that haven't been officially recorded or registered for copyright protection. So, technically it's legal even if it might be a bit immoral."
Blaise indicated his thanks then settled into his chair for some thinking he clearly had to do. This bore future study…
By the time that the school went home for the Christmas holiday season, nearly two thirds of the student population third year and above had their own PA's. This prompted a change in the M/Wifi network Harry and Minerva had set up previously.
"I think we should go with a two tiered system, Mr. Potter," Minerva observed.
"How so?"
"We have the current layer where the signal is only available in the classrooms, correct?" Harry nodded, "Well, how about if we set up a second connection for those with their own PA get to use the internet?"
Harry slowly nodded his understanding, "Password protected so if someone accidentally downloads something they shouldn't, we can backtrack to the source of the idiocy?"
Minerva cocked a finger in his direction, "Just like you did with the school's security during what was it, last year?" Harry laughed at the memory of Professor Sprout's class accidentally clicking on the fertility videos. "Just so, I'm also wondering if there should be a time limit included as well for those in fourth year and under?"
Harry raised an eyebrow in thought before shrugging, "That's a two minute job so no problem."
"Really?"
"Yeah, any of the teachers can set it up since they have administrator access."
"Oh, I didn't realize. What else do you think we should do?"
"I can set it up so that the Net Guard prevents access to certain sites, or loads to a particular screen first. If you're really interested, I can create a home screen for the school."
"What would that gain us?"
"Think of it as a sort of Platform 9 ¾ where everyone has to go to before spreading out to other sites."
"I like that. How elaborate would it have to be?"
Harry shrugged again, "I can be as simple or elaborate as you want. I can get you a rough layout sketch by the end of the week."
By the time they were ready to leave for home, Minerva had approved the construction of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's first ever webpage. The cover page would welcome visitors to the site, the school's crest superimposed in the background with a drop down menu directing them to other aspects of the historic school like the history of the school, the four Houses and their respective attributes and more.
Ministry for Magic, Dolores Umbridge's office, late at night
It had taken a lot of work and studying but Dolores' pet project to return order from chaos that she believed Hogwarts had descended into was now complete. She stared at the lines of code that that miserable little worm of a 'hacker' she'd hired to construct and grinned wickedly, 'This will teach those brats not to disrupt the old ways. Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. We should preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prune practices that ought to be prohibited.'
She glanced up at the clock and realized how late it was and murmured to the empty room, "I'll leave this here and release it in the morning." She rose from her chair, shut down the computer and left her office. A moment of silence reigned before there was a slight shifting of space between her wall and the file cabinets. Heron appeared and shook her head, "Foolish Toad. You think this will return things to the way they were?"
What Dolores didn't realize was that the 'miserable little worm' was in fact Heron herself under a glamour nor did she understand that the 'virus' would actually do nothing but report false data back to the Toad. "Let her think she's in charge so she can be safely contained later down the line."