Chapter 8: All Clear?
Harriet woke on the morning of the return trip to Hogwarts in a good mood. That wouldn't last, as Sirius had news when she came downstairs.
"They found the place that my cousin and Peter were probably hiding out," explained Sirius, "On an island up in Scotland. They, or at least someone, had just left when aurors raided the place."
"How'd they find it?" asked Harriet.
"Someone at the DMLE put a tracker on Barty Crouch Jr.," explained Sirius, "Turns out about 20 years back someone quietly transferred that island out of British magical control and into the hands of the Irish. Probably some Death Eater trying to establish a safe house. When Crouch apparated to the island, the tracker sent an alarm that said he was out of the country. But they could still detect his location, as he was still actually in Britain. Raided the place. No one was there."
"Does the Minister know how they were tracked to there?" asked Harriet.
"No, so don't spread it around," warned Sirius, "If they had found Bellatrix or Peter things would be different. They'd have proof he was working with them. But they don't. So officially the story is that a muggle fisherman saw strange lights."
Harriet grunted. She wasn't happy about the way that no one could really investigate Crouch Jr. A thought occurred to her.
"You know, if you ran for Minister and won, this wouldn't be a problem anymore," suggested Harriet.
Sirius nodded reluctantly. "I know, I know. But I really, really don't want to be Minister. I… I do not think I could win even. Barty and I would split the progressive vote."
"No way," said Harriet, "No progressive will vote for Barty over you. And the electorate is more progressive now than it has been since Voldemort's fall. Barty would tear the law and order guys away from Greengrass and you would split the moderate vote 3 ways. You could win this."
"I probably could," agreed Sirius reluctantly, "But I am not fit to be Minister. Not after the way I failed you. Not after you were taken from me."
" You didn't fail me," insisted Harriet.
"I did," said Sirius, "I let my anger get the best of me, and I unloaded in Vernon Dursley because it felt good. I failed you in that moment. Please, don't push this."
"I'll drop it for now," agreed Harriet, "but when I get back from school, we are having a conversation. You cannot go around thinking that somehow you are responsible for what happened to me back then. I won't allow it, do you hear?"
Sirius just shook his head. Harriet didn't know what to do. One thing was certain, this couldn't be allowed to continue.
XXXXX
Once again Harriet was ensconced in a compartment with Ron and Hermione. This time, Harriet had a far more determined Hermione to deal with.
"Morgan needs to explain herself," said Hermione, her arms crossed, "No more excuses Harriet. She has delayed long enough."
"But if it is traumatic for her…" began Harriet.
"That is no longer a good enough excuse," insisted Hermione, "She has had six months! Six months to explain herself, to tell you why she became a dark witch. I am sympathetic to her, I am. But your life could be at stake."
"I don't…" began Harriet, but she was cut off when Ron reached out and laid his hand on her forearm.
"Hermione is right," said Ron "You have put your life in Morgan's hands. You have shown her a trust she has not shown you. You literally risked your life based on her recommendation. She won't even let herself be made uncomfortable to answer your questions."
"She saved me…" began Harriet.
"...from a situation where her plan had left you weak and vulnerable," finished Hermione, "It's not that it's her fault. It's that her hesitancy reveals that there is a possible danger from her past, even if she thinks she has it under control. There's a reason she doesn't use Dark Magic. There's a reason she can't cast a Patronus."
Harriet closed her eyes. "Dammit, you're right. I'll figure out some way to approach her."
XXXXX
In another compartment, Draco was involved in a more contentious meeting. Astoria had brought him to the compartment where Daphne was sitting, along with Blaise and Tracey. Neither Blaise or Tracey looked very happy to see Draco.
"I'm vouching for Draco," said Astoria, "he's on your side, and if you work with him you may be able to deal with Nott."
"I'm willing to hear you out," said Daphne, "but you'll have to convince Tracey and Blaise that we actually need you."
Draco nodded. That made sense. And he was clever enough to know that Astoria wasn't going to speak up again. If he was going to lead, he needed to show he had the talent to lead.
"There are two reasons that you need me," said Draco confidently, "and they are both related to the same problem. Nott is sitting entrenched on name supremacy. You have him, Crabbe, and Goyle. Pansy and Millicent add to his prestige, but they are only there because of the three big pureblood names in his core group. If you were a pureblood, you would count against this Blaise. As it is, Pansy and Millicent are going to keep gravitating to Nott until we can change the arithmetic."
"So your big name helps us out, that is your argument?" asked a cynical Tracey.
"Not quite," said Draco, "more that the combination of the Malfoy and Greengrass names mean we don't have to prove anything to keep our faction whole. With Daphne alone, you'd constantly have the worry that Pansy or Millicent would go back to supporting Nott. With both me and Daphne, that won't be the case, provided that we can take Nott down a peg or two first."
"That is true," admitted Blaise, "But can you bring enough to guarantee we do take Nott down a peg or two?"
"Oh yes," assured Draco with a wicked smile, "For one thing, I know just how stupid and useless Crabbe and Goyle are. They are basically only useful as muscle. And even there they aren't very useful, as their magical abilities are subpar. But they are far less competent than they let on. Any surprise will completely derail them."
"They seem pretty incompetent," argued Tracey.
"They are worse than the worst reports indicate," explained Draco, "I know how to deal with them. And I know how to deal with Nott as well. I have a plan."
Both Tracey and Blaise nodded at that. Obviously a plan would be very important to dealing with this situation. They were at least willing to hear him out.
"I want to ambush Nott and force him to concede to me," said Draco, "I suspect this will require a small amount of violence."
"That seems a little unsubtle," complained Tracey.
"The time for subtlety is over," said Daphne, "Draco already subtly stopped Nott's attempt to sabotage Hagrid. And if we join him he'll have survived Nott's counterattack."
"Now is the time for a show of superiority," said Draco, "it will take everyone by surprise."
"Well, if you're ready to put your money where your mouth is…" ceded Tracey.
"Okay, we'll try it your way," agreed Blaise.
Draco grinned. Suddenly his position looked a lot stronger.
XXXXX
At the end of the very first day back, Harriet made her way to Morgan's office. She wasn't sure exactly how Morgan was going to react to Harriet's demand, but she hoped she wasn't too upset.
Morgan was not upset at all as it turned out in fact, Harriet didn't have a chance to speak her demands before Morgan invited her in.
"I'm pretty sure I know why you are here," explained Morgan, "You've been patient with me, and I appreciate it. But I owe you an explanation and it is more important than ever that you get one."
"You have to understand, what Uther did to Morgana's… to my mother was monstrous," explained Morgan, "He twisted her, and turned her into a monster, and he controlled her with her love. She truly loved him. And he used that to command her loyalty even after making him an undead thing. But I could not command her in that manner. Though as I soon learned she still had twisted desires for me."
"So, when I left off I had been captured by the dementors," began Morgan, "And it was then that I discovered that the creature my father had created out of my... mother still controlled them. She was very interested in me, wanted to teach me about dark magic, magic that would make me powerful. I refused."
"So, Igraine decided to give me some motivation," said Morgan, her eyes now flinty hard, "She attacked the nearby villages, herded all the people to me. And then, one by one, she had the dementors kiss them. Every single one of them. Men, women, children, even infants. I watched every single one of them have their souls removed. Probably six or seven hundred people all told."
"How horrible," said Harriet quietly, "I can't even imagine."
"Well, with that many souls consumed, suddenly a whole new host of dementors was born. And I still refused to take the dark power Igraine offered me, so she sent out her dementors for more people. A thousand at least. This time she forced me to watch the people get their souls sucked out while a dementor had me on the precipice of the same fate. It held me there, on the verge of having my soul sucked out, as I watched countless others meet the same fate. And finally, I could take it no more."
Morgan sat silent for a long time. "I kissed the dementor," she said finally, "and it did not kill me, or suck out my soul. Instead, I absorbed the dark magic that sustained it in this world. The power of The Darkness. The very power I had been resisting."
"What happened next was a chain reaction really," admitted Morgan, "Each dementor I consumed increased my power, allowing me to consume the power of more dementors. I freed the remaining villagers, and they fled. Which made sense, as I must have been terrifying. The dementors eventually fled, not stopping until they came to Azkaban, which remains their home to this day. Later wizards would forge pacts with them, align with them, but no one summoned them there. It was simply where they had chosen to go. I had thought I destroyed Igraine, but recent events have shown that to not be true. In any case, I had dealt with the dementor threat to Wales."
"And I was never whole again," stated Morgan sadly.
"What do you mean?" asked Harriet.
"You see, using that much dark magic, Igraine knew what it would do to me," explained Morgan, "It, for lack of a better word, addicted me to dark magic. I needed to constantly feel that connection to The Darkness. Initially I tried to channel a small portion of that magic to feed my addiction. It wasn't enough. So I underwent a ritual that permanently connected me to The Darkness. It was like when Dolores Umbridge was using the Atlantean keystone to power herself. Except I had essentially infinite dark magic."
"A ritual?" asked Harriet, her tone terrified of what she might learn.
"The details are… well not unimportant, but we don't need to go into them," said Morgana sadly. Harriet guessed it involved a human sacrifice of some sort.
"So what did you do next?" asked Harriet almost breathlessly.
"I returned to Camelot," said Morgan, "And Avalon. The Guardians, such as they were, noticed something was off about me immediately, but didn't know what. I began to study the Atlantean runestone, which was not seen as suspicious as our goal was still to reassemble it."
"The problem is we always knew that reassembling the runestone would kill the person who did it," expanded Morgan, "But there was an old magical ability, one that was generally inherited, that had passed down in my family. Arthur and I could have reassembled it safely. But there was no guarantee any child of only one of us would inherit that power, and in any case, Arthur was increasingly looking like he would not have children. So in order to give us more time to find the various keystones, I took drastic action. I placed Arthur under a geas, and then had him impregnate me. And then I released him from the geas."
"I did not tell anyone of my condition," said Morgan, "I returned to Wales, gave birth to Mordred, and waited, ruling Wales, in Arthur's name, of course. As it's Dark Lady I ruled them."
Morgan was staring off into the distance. Suddenly she shook her head and laughed lightly, as if she was shaking off a bad dream.
"And I believe that has fulfilled my obligation to you," said Morgan, "I have no real interest in regaling you with all the misdeeds I committed in those years. Suffice it to say that they were many. But I promised to tell you how I turned evil, and I guessed you would want to know the circumstances under which Mordred was conceived. I will tell you more, as you get older, but for right now, I think you know enough."
"It's a tragic story," admitted Harriet, "I'm not sure that it absolves you of anything though."
"It doesn't. I'm not looking for absolution. Just understanding," insisted Morgan, "All I will say is that I am no longer that person. Morgana, the Dark Lady of Avalon died when she was stabbed in the back by Merlin. That same Merlin created wards that permanently seal our world away from The Darkness. Even if I wanted to be that woman, I couldn't, not anymore."
Harriet shook her head sadly. "I think I believe you, but this is a lot to process. I need some time."
"Makes sense to me," agreed Morgan, "it took me years to accept what I was after my memories began filtering back as a child."
Harriet stood up and headed for the door. She almost turned back to say something, but she decided against it. So she left the room without another word.
After all, it was a very personal question to ask someone why they couldn't summon a Patronus.
XXXXX
If there was one thing that never changed at Hogwarts, it was the resiliency of Quidditch. Despite the catastrophic interference at the first Quidditch match of the season by dementors, the second match had proceeded as planned. And despite the fact that security since then had been shown to be inadequate, the third match would also proceed as planned, albeit with amped up security. Harriet wasn't sure what sort of security would be able to stop a dementor pitch invasion, but she also knew that the dementors were far more organized than the Ministry assumed. The dementors would only show up today if they wanted to show up. And Harriet suspected that they did not.
Which wasn't to say she thought that there was no risk today, but she was fairly sure the dementors were waiting for something. What exactly they might be waiting for eluded her, but she had to admit that their silence for this long indicated that they had some sort of plan. Or maybe they were just opportunists.
Still, there was enough security here today that Harriet suspected things would go against the dementors if they attacked. She wasn't overly worried. What she was worried about was the Hufflepuff Seeker, Cedric Diggory. He was skilled, and he'd clearly trained to face Harriet. And Harriet wasn't sure there were any good tricks to pull against him. He was unlikely to sit passively and just let Harriet work, so Harriet would have to find a way to neutralize his size advantage.
Harriet had one new advantage: her new broom. A Firebolt was the ultimate advantage in a contest like this. But an advantage she'd have to leverage into victory by use of her skill. Speed and maneuverability weren't enough to win a seeker contest. You had to have a keen eye as well.
In a way that summed up Harriet's current problem in general. She needed to focus on what was important. There was so much distracting her all the time, and so much of it got in the way of what she actually needed to do. The fact was that Harriet had allowed herself to become blissfully unaware of things. How else had she missed that Ron had a crush on her for so long? The focus Harriet needed wasn't just important for Harriet's magic, but every other aspect of her life as well.
Harriet closed her eyes and brought her focus to a razor sharp peak. Opening her eyes, it was like she saw the pitch anew. Every movement, every sound seemed to call put to her. It could have been overwhelming, but Harriet's training over the last few months had improved her capacity to process this.
And she still couldn't find the snitch. Whoever made the enchantments for snitches did an amazing job, Harriet had to admit.
The match was going vaguely in Gryffindor's favour. Angelina Johnson had scored three goals in the last ten minutes. Harriet had to admit, she liked Angelina, kind of looked up to her even. She was both athletic and confident, and pretty clever on top of that.
Harriet looked out at the stands and noticed that Draco was staring off at nothing. Wait, no it wasn't nothing. Following his eyeline, Harriet finally saw the snitch. Harriet grinned. She accelerated to full.
Cedric never stood a chance. Harriet snatched the snitch before he even could get up to full speed. He seemed a little bitter about it but the truth was that even without her Firebolt she probably would have won that one. Thinking of the Firebolt, Harriet really did have to thank Draco for break8ng her old broom. It would ruin his day.
There was a decent amount of celebrating in the Gryffindor locker room. Fred and George were ecstatic, and Wood seemed to think they had the cup in the bag. Harriet couldn't bring herself to be excited though.
After several minutes Harriet retired to the girls showers. As she let the hot water trickle down her body Harriet had to admit that she didn't know what was up with her. She'd been mopey ever since her discussion with Morgan. Something in that discussion hadn't sat well with her.
"Are you all right?" asked Angelina, who had entered the showers and took the spot next to Harriet, "You look upset."
"I am, and I can't figure out why," admitted Harriet, "I keep trying to figure it out and my mind just keeps sliding over it."
"Seems to me like your mind keeps trying to avoid some things," said Angelina, "Maybe some hard truths you don't want to admit."
"Maybe," said Harriet, turning to look at Angelina. Angelina had her back to Harriet and was showing off a very toned back and backside. Harriet pursed her lips slightly as she looked away. She didn't want to stare, even though it was a fairly impressive sight.
"I think I still have some doubts…" whispered Harriet.
"About?" asked Angelina.
"Trust," said Harriet simply.
"Harriet, look at me," said Angelina.
Harriet again turned to Angelina only to discover that she was also facing Harriet this time. Harriet could feel her face turning red.
"You are one of the best judges of character I know," said Angelina, "Your instincts are fantastic. Trust them. Be careful."
Harriet nodded in reply. She then turned away before her face turned completely crimson. Angelina's body was very well developed, and looking at it made her feel strange.
"Ah," said Angelina, "I get it."
"Get what?" asked Harriet.
There was a pause. "But you don't, do you?" asked Angelina, "Well nothing wrong with that I guess. You're still young. Well, don't feel bad about it. That's the main thing."
"What?" asked Harriet, only to see Alicia and Katie enter the shower. Angelina greeted them and the conversation was over.
XXXXX
Draco walked side by side with Astoria as they headed back to the Slytherin common room.
"It's there I tell you," said Draco, "Slytherin's locket is somewhere in the dungeon. And if I get it, I will definitely unseat Nott as the most powerful person in my year."
"Really, you think so?" said Astoria, clearly not believing a word of it.
"I will find it," said Draco as he rounded the corner.
"Quiet," said Astoria, nodding at the newly revealed Nott, who had narrowed his eyes.
Draco hurried by him, his face chagrined.
"You have to learn to keep your mouth shut," said Astoria quietly.
As soon as they had left Nott behind, however, they both broke out in grins. The bait had been primed. Now they only needed an opportunity to put it in the trap.
XXXXX
Despite Harriet's funk, the first 3 months of 1994 had been enormously productive for her. Her self defense group was making a lot of progress. Indeed, Harriet was impressed by just how much progress a group of primarily third years was making. Lavender had started coming to the group sessions after a fair amount of prodding by Parvati, and Harriet had to admit that the group was really learning a lot.
They had worked on a lot of different spells, and learned how to do counters and which needed to be dodged. Everyone except Hermione was happy with the progress they had made. Hermione, ever the perfectionist, kept wanting to do more, faster, but Harriet saw through that. Part of her was still scared that something was going to happen. Still Harriet was confident that none of them would be defenseless if someone came for them. Hermione's worries were not misplaced, but might be overblown.
They'd begun dueling each other, and that had been a revelation. Harriet was the best duelist among them of course, and Hermione was close behind, but she was surprised how well both Ron and Parvati had done. Ron shouldn't have surprised her, his instincts in more physical forms of magic like Quidditch were always pretty good as long as he didn't overthink things. Parvati did surprise her though. She had taken this even more seriously since the dementor attack, and was now competing with Ginny, Seamus and Sue Li. Padma she could defeat most of the time, which had recently begun motivating her Ravenclaw sister to practice more.
Neville had also been a surprise. Harriet had expected him to come last in the class, and while initially he had been, he had improved dramatically. As he got used to dueling he gained confidence, and it didn't hurt that Lavender joining the group immediately took him off the floor as the weakest fighter in the group. He beat both Lavender and Dean regularly now, and he faced Padma and Luna on equal terms.
But Neville was really good in groups. Like really good. He knew how to cooperate and coordinate with others almost instinctively. That was a really useful trait and one Harriet had noted in case it came in handy.
One team that Harriet had noticed did well was Ron and Sue. Harriet had to admit they were both decent strategists. Together their plans were usually fiendishly effective. Even Harriet and Hermione together had a hard time taking those two down when they did paired battles. Provided you gave them time to plan, that was. Without time, they were no more effective than any other pair.
Harriet had been poking fun at Hermione over this; after all, planning ahead was supposed to be Hermione's big thing. But while Hermione undoubtedly had good plans, she wasn't good at adapting when things went wrong with those plans. So Harriet had been encouraging Hermione not to overplan her battles. And Hermione was getting better at 'winging it.'
Harriet's focus training had begun making progress as well. McGonagall had moved them away from the Patronus charm. Harriet was pretty sure she had found a happy enough memory to cast a corporeal Patronus, but she lacked the focus to seal the deal. And she wanted to be able to cast it. Despite the usefulness of Morgan's Anti-magic charm, it could only destroy a single dementor at once, and the spell itself could be dangerous. Harriet took using it as a last resort seriously.
But despite her struggles, Harriet was making progress. Harriet was noticing that the more pressure she was under, the quicker she could focus. Some people just had a head for pressure, and Harriet apparently was one of them. McGonagall had taken to providing minor rewards and punishments for improvements, and it had allowed Harriet to make a lot of progress.
In classes Harriet was also doing well. The only real sticking points in her old classes were History and Potions, and those points were very minor. In History, Remus wanted Harriet to do another project like she had done last year. But neither Harriet or Hermione was interested. The project the previous year had taken over all of their free time, and they no longer had free time. In Potions Harriet was now at an uneasy truce with Snape, guided mostly by the revelation that she trusted Snape. But that was made more complicated by Draco Malfoy's inclusion in that classroom.
Her new classes were a mixed bag. She did okay in Arithmancy, but Harriet could already see she wasn't really cut out for the methodical systems taught in that class. Ancient Runes was challenging, but Hermione's familiarity with Norse Runes meant that Harriet was up for the challenge so long as she studied with her best friend. And Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class was fun without being particularly difficult.
Draco was in two of those classes as well. Harriet didn't quite have the reaction to Draco that Hermione did (which was quite understandable) but she didn't trust him and was always suspicious of him. And his behavior since coming back from break was troubling.
Eventually even Hermione had noticed it, and she did her level best to ignore that Draco existed. It had been during lunch one day in late March.
"Draco is pretty chummy with Daphne and her friends these days, isn't he?" asked Hermione suddenly, interrupting Parvati and Lavender talking about their Divination assignment.
"I have noticed that," admitted Parvati, "He seems to be making an alliance."
"And who is the girl sitting next to to Draco?" asked Hermione, "She is a first year I remember, but…"
"It's Astoria Greengrass," replied Harriet, "And she is the reason Draco has new friends. She asked Draco to court her, if you believe it. Which is really strange, because aside from her terrible taste in men, she's a pretty decent person. I talked to her a bit at the New Year's Gala."
"She's the one you loaned one of your old swimsuits to, isn't she?" asked Parvati.
"Yeah," admitted Harriet.
"What does she see in him?" wondered Hermione, "and isn't she a bit young for that?"
"Draco is rich and he can be charming when he wants to be," said Lavender, "And much as I hate to say it, Snape did a good job teaching Draco. He is the very model of an 'honorable' pureblood these days."
"I think that Astoria was the one who convinced Draco to submit his testimony on behalf of Buckbeak," mused Harriet, "I think that maybe Astoria has a bit of a crush on Draco, but at the same time she's worried that he might be a pureblood bigot."
"He is a pureblood bigot," insisted Hermione.
"True," said Parvati, "But he has made some effort to become less bigoted."
"Astoria probably wants to make sure that she can keep an eye on Draco to see if he keeps moving away from the sort of hate he used to express," concluded Harriet, "So it makes sense to start now. That way she can make sure he is moving in the right direction before she starts dating him."
"And she can unceremoniously reject him if it turns out he isn't," said Lavender.
"Why does she have to be interested in him in the first place?" asked Fay.
Harriet's eyes lit up. "Oh, no doubt it is because Draco is wealthy and one day will be powerful. She is still a Slytherin. And mark my words, they'll be putting Nott in his place soon enough."
"Oh, please, that's just silly," said Lavender.
Harriet leaned back. "Events will prove me right," she warned.
XXXXX
Harriet had no way to know how right she was, as Draco intended to move against Nott that very night. But he still had one part of the trap to bait. But it wasn't his to bait. Blaise and Tracey would deal with this. And Blaise didn't like it at all.
"Draco found a map last night," said Blaise quietly, but not so quietly that Nott wouldn't be able to hear him. Nott wasn't very far away at all, and he considered himself hidden no doubt, but it took a lot to shield something from Blaise Zabini's sharp eyes.
"Where does it lead?" asked Tracey casually.
"Draco isn't sure," said Blaise, "but the instructions begin on the old ramparts."
"Are you going?" asked Tracey.
"Probably not," said Blaise, "but if Draco pulls this off, he'll have the respect of the whole house again. I've already helped Draco explore the dungeons though. He'll reward me regardless."
"I really should find some way to get on Draco's good side," agreed Tracey.
And with that, they began discussing the prospects of the Quidditch team.
Let Nott chew on that! thought Blaise.
As observant as he was, he didn't notice Harriet Potter listening in on him.
XXXXX
Harriet rolled her eyes. That was obviously a trap. But would Nott fall for it? It wasn't really any of Harriet's business, but she had to admit that she was curious. She began planning her trip that night.
XXXXX
Draco leaned against the edge of the ramparts in the early evening sun. This was the very same place that Nott had ambushed Colin Creevey the previous year, and it seemed appropriate to Draco that he ambush Nott here. He grinned. Very appropriate indeed.
He heard the sound of feet ascending the stairs. It was showtime then. He turned to face the stairs.
Nott came up out of the school, followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Nott looked confident, but Crabbe and Goyle looked confused.
"Have you found what you were looking for?" asked Nott.
"Oh, I'd say so," said Draco with a lopsided grin.
"Well hand me your map, and tell me what you know about finding the locket, and I'll let you go," said Nott with a similar grin.
"I thought we were going to beat him up regardless?" said Goyle, now looking even more confused.
"But I didn't want him to know that," snarled Nott, with a glare directed at Goyle.
"Sorry," said Nott, "But I do owe you for your interference with my complaint against the hippogriff."
If anything, Draco's grin twisted harder. "Oh, by all means, give it your best shot," he said as he dropped his wand out of his robe sleeve into his hand and leveled it at Nott's face.
Suddenly both Crabbe and Goyle dropped to the floor of the rampart as Tracey and Blaise emerged from their hiding spot behind one of the old crenellations that thrust out from the old wall somewhat. Astoria and Daphne emerged from a similar place on the other side of Draco.
"You seem a bit outnumbered my dear chap," said Draco, his smile now genuine.
"It's a trap," said Nott as he threw down his wand.
"Quite," said Daphne.
XXXXX
Nott and his goons weren't the only ones who had climbed the stairs however. Harriet had decided to observe these events, more out of curiosity than any other real reason. But Harriet wasn't taking chances. She had taken her invisibility cloak, and kept quiet as she followed Nott up the stairs. Not that she should have worried, as Crabbe and Goyle made such a racket climbing the stairs she doubted they'd have heard her if she was playing the bagpipes as she ascended.
She reached the exit onto the wall even as Daphne said "Quite." Suddenly, Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle were levitated up, and ropes appeared around their feet, ropes strung from an overhang in one of the nearby towers. Suddenly all three of them found themselves strung upside down above the tower. Their robes fell down around their heads, leaving it clear that they still were all dressed in the pureblood style.
Blaise and Draco both found this funny, while Daphne raised her eyebrow. Tracey let out a single loud laugh, which was probably more to remind the three captives that there were girls present than any other reason. Astoria just looked grimly determined.
Harriet, on the other hand, was a bit flummoxed. From where she was standing she could only see Crabbe and Goyle's bottoms, but being less portly, she could see a bit between Nott's legs. Far from exciting her though, this struck her as wrong. It bothered her especially that Draco had done this intentionally. She let out a slight exhalation at the sight.
Astoria's eyes narrowed. Shit, she heard me! thought Harriet. She tried to back up quietly, but Astoria sent a quick spell in Harriet's direction. A tiny gust of wind was all that emerged from her wand, but it was enough to cause Harriet's cloak to blow off.
"Potter!" snarled a startled Draco, "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see your attempt to take down Nott," admitted Harriet, as she looked back at the three exposed captives, "Now I'm almost sorry I did."
"I'll handle this," said Astoria, "You continue."
"Right," said Draco, "Let's do this."
And they began to cast spells that welted the three boys' bare backsides. Harriet stopped to get her cloak as she headed towards the stairs.
"Harsh," said Harriet as she descended with Astoria.
"Agreed," said Astoria, "But Slytherin isn't for those who have weak stomachs. Anything less and Nott would rise to challenge us again some day. He still will most probably. But it will take some time. And I can assure you, he would have been no kinder to Draco and us if he had taken the upper hand. Perhaps less, as all we're going to damage is his pride. And maybe the complexion of his bum."
"I don't doubt that Slytherin politics are messy," said Harriet, "Still, doesn't it seem unnecessary to you?"
"You know damn well that we are still at war," said Astoria, "The adults don't want to believe it, but the signs are everywhere. Society is still divided along the same lines as during the war. Maybe if we weren't, Slytherin wouldn't be so cutthroat. As things are…"
"I get it," said Harriet, "but I don't like it."
"Do you really think Draco has changed?" asked Harriet.
"I think he wants to change," said Astoria, "I think he's trying. As for having succeeded? Only time will tell. That's why I'm letting him court me. So I can keep an eye on him."
"That isn't a great idea," warned Harriet, "Trying to change someone…"
"I know," said Astoria, "which is why all he'll ever be is a friend until I can figure out whether he has changed or not."
"Well good luck," said Harriet, "No one hopes Draco turns over a bigotry free leaf more than me."
Astoria stopped all of a sudden. "Do you intend to report what we are doing here?" she asked.
"No," said Harriet firmly, "I came to watch, not interfere."
"What about Hermione?" demanded Astoria.
"I'll tell her over summer break maybe," said Harriet, "Or maybe not. I don't know. I don't want to interfere, but this feels..."
Harriet struggled to express her concerns. How could she explain what she didn't fully understand herself?
Astoria breathed out raggedly. "Good, good. I… well I was worried about it."
"Nott tried to kill Hermione," said Harriet, "He was under the Imperius Curse, yes, but I am pretty sure he volunteered to help Slytherin's heir before that. Draco never went that far. I have no sympathy for Nott. My concern is that you shouldn't do this to anyone. But… as I said..."
"Right," said Astoria, "I need to get back up there. Do try to keep your nose out of other people's business from now on Harriet."
"No promises, Astoria," said Harriet, "If I get asked… but I won't be. Ugh, and to think this is the first time I'm seeing a boy's bare bottom. Not how I pictured it happening."
Astoria nodded glumly, "Me neither," she admitted.
Harriet ran back down the stairs, no longer wanting to be anywhere near this.
XXXXX
Astoria returned at about the same time as Draco was finishing up.
"She going to talk?" demanded Draco.
"Probably not," said Astoria, "She still had a chip on her shoulder about Nott trying to kill Hermione. Also I doubt the thing with Buckbeak helped. She agreed to not even tell Hermione until summer."
"Good," said Draco, and he lifted Nott's robes up so he could see his face.
"Have I beaten you?" demanded Draco, "Or do you need to be sent back down to the common room naked?"
"You win Draco," said Nott, practically spitting the words out, "But I will get you back for this!"
"Tsk tsk tsk," clicked Draco chidingly, "now that isn't any good at all." And with a wave of their wands the clothes of all three captives fell to the ground. And with one sweep of Draco's wand they went over the ramparts.
"The spells holding you up there will give way in a few minutes," said Draco, "Have fun getting to the common room unseen."
And Draco and his friends headed back into the school.
A few minutes later they were all sitting comfortably in the Slytherin common room when Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle all ran into the room as completely starkers as they had left them. Everyone in the room laughed as the three of them ran for the third year dormitories. After that, no one was going to be following Nott's lead, probably not even Crabbe and Goyle.
"Any regrets?" asked Astoria.
"A few," said Draco, "I'm not a monster. But on the whole, Nott deserved it. It's a given that he would have done the same or worse to us. But maybe it shouldn't be a given. Maybe we should have found a better way."
Astoria suddenly smiled. It was a completely guileless smile full of what Draco could only describe as pure joy.
"Good answer," said Astoria as she got up and headed to sit with her friends from her own year.
"That was a test," said Tracey as she wagged her finger at Draco.
"One I passed apparently," said Draco.
"She wants you to give up your bigotry," said Daphne, "To do that you'll have to acknowledge you were wrong."
"My bigotry, huh," said Draco, pursing his lips, "Well, that seems a small price to pay."
He said the last bit so softly no one heard him. Just as well. He really didn't want any of them figuring out that he was starting to get a crush on Astoria. Think what it would do for his image!
XXXXX
Bellatrix Lestrange didn't like Albania. She didn't really like any country that wasn't England or Scotland. She barely tolerated Wales. And Albania was far more foreign than Wales, and in some ways that she was far less tolerant of. Bellatrix was a follower of Magical Paganism (in theory), though modern muggle pagans would not have recognized her religion. Of course, Magical Paganism was every bit as much a modern construct as the muggle variety. It had been developed in the late 19th century to provide a backstop for Magical Supremacy. It had fallen into disfavour among the bulk of the magical population after Grindelwald's war, but a few of the old purebloods who had adopted it had refused to give it up. Bellatrix had gotten her religion from her mother, but neither Narcissa or Andromeda had been particularly interested in following it. Bellatrix herself wasn't actually observant, yet she considered herself pagan nonetheless.
Being a pagan made her rather hostile to the Abrahamic faiths, which she saw as inherently destructive of the sorts of worship that she liked (not that Bellatrix worshipped, ever). And Islam was, in her opinion, the worst. Islam's hostility to idolatry made it completely incompatible with any form of pagan worship. That Bellatrix had never actually faced any persecution for her faith was immaterial. That every magical community in the world would have protected her right to worship as she pleased also was immaterial. All she cared about what the disagreement. That Muslims disagreed with Bellatrix at all was enough reason for her to hate them.
But Albania was a majority Muslim country, so she had to suppress her distaste. But when her path led her to an old broken down mosque, it did offend her a bit. The mosque had been abandoned at the beginning of the communist era and had not been in any shape to restore afterwards, though Bellatrix wasn't aware of any of this. All she knew is that there was a terror here that the locals feared.
Inside the mosque most of the roof had collapsed, but there was a small chamber in the back that still had an intact roof. As Bellatrix wandered through the ruins, she saw a snake slithering through the ruins. A big snake. And then she felt a presence.
"Bellatrix," said the voice she would never forget, the voice of her lord, "My most loyal servant, Bellatrix. I knew you would come for me. How did you escape Azkaban?"
"My Lord!" shouted Bellatrix, her voice full of ecstasy. She dropped to one knee immediately and bowed her head.
"Barty Crouch Jr. freed me," explained Bellatrix, "As well as Wormtail. He sent me to find you."
"Barty Jr? Why has he not come before?" demanded the Dark Lord.
"He has tried to find you," said Bellatrix, "But he trusted in other Death Eaters to actually follow up on his discoveries. A mistake, but perhaps an understandable one. Many doubt you will return, but Crouch was never one of those."
"Very well," said the Dark Lord, placated for the moment, but Bellatrix knew it was only for the moment, "I need your assistance to regain a physical form."
"What do you require?" asked Bellatrix
"I need to create a homunculus," said the Dark Lord, "And I do not have enough time. So I will cheat and use some Necromancy. I will also need another living person. Bring me a mother and child. Yes, that will work. Alive, both of them. If you can find a pregnant woman who is almost about to deliver that would also work. A newborn would be most effective."
"I obey," said Bellatrix. She didn't know what her Lord was up to, but she supposed she would learn soon enough. Bellatrix grinned. She liked it when the Dark Lord asked her to bring random people to her. It always ended the same way. The fact that she was smiling over the thought of murdering a baby didn't disturb her in the least.
XXXXX
"Wormtail!" shouted Crouch Jr., "Wormtail!"
Wormtail grunted. He did wish Crouch would leave him alone. That Crouch hadn't approached him in weeks was immaterial. He just wanted to find more rats!
"There you are!" said Crouch angrily, "We need to move. Bellatrix has found our Lord!"
"Are we headed there?" asked Wormtail.
"Not yet," said Crouch, "We'll make one more attempt to get our Lord a gift; one more attempt to capture Harriet Potter."
Author's Note: So the one thing that was very important was that Draco not become too sympathetic too fast. The entire sequence with Nott has to do with what Voldemort turned Slytherin into, and Draco's plot involves slowly correcting that. But right now he's just another slave to what Slytherin has become, and his actions reflect that. What is promising is that he realizes what he has become.
The stuff with Bellatrix and her religious zealotry is part of something that pays off a long way down the line. Much as many religious fundamentalists strongly identify with their faith, even though they don't follow it, Bellatrix is in much the same position. Though her religion is secondary to her belief in Voldemort, but she does not see that as conflicting.
As an update, I am still writing part 7, and am almost finished with a rough draft of Chapter 8. I actually just finished off my last Quidditch scene, which is good because they are a chore to write. Part 7 is only about half done though, as it covers years 6 and 7.