Have you ever had a thought that you'd forgotten something? Something important and needed to be accomplished immediately? But the moment you stop doing whatever you were doing to focus on that thought it slipped away, like a slippery snake.
Lupin was currently having those thoughts as he quietly filled Tonks on what had happened, his stomach churning as he foolishly glanced at over Arthur and Molly, who was sitting by her husband's side, his charred hand tightly held in hers as she mumbled words of strength through a watery and almost broken voice. Prompting him to look away and focus on the feeling of being watched.
But by who? The healer and Miss Jones had left to give them a moment of privacy while the kids had hurried off somewhere. Probably to question Ness. Something he wanted to do as well, but with a level head since all he could think about was just how fatal Ness's attack had been to Mr. Weasley.
An attack that had been cast in a panic to protect Arthur that quickly spiraled out of control somehow. If an accidental attack could render a wizard like…this then what could an attack made with purpose be like? Would the target die? Would it be worse than the three unforgivable curses combined?
A small shudder ran down his spine as he forced himself to breath, to be strong as the small handful of Order members tried to figure out what to do with the clearly dangerous enigma and the creature that Ness had been controlling, the doll.
"Expel him! That's what!" Molly snapped, her fire returning with mournful vigor as Tonks chewed on her lip, "Molly, I know this is bad but…would it really be safe to let him freely wander around America? England?"
"He was doing just fine before he discovered Hogwarts!" Molly retorted, "I just want him away from my family!"
"Yes, but that was before he found out about wizards." Lupin pointed out, a knot forming in his stomach as he forced himself to go on, "He can't simply become blissfully ignorant about our situation, not when Voldemort could make him a target like Harry. It's to much of a risk."
"Ness's aside, er, sort of. How did he even find that room?" Tonks asked, stepping forward to put the focus on her and not the glaring elephant resting in bed. "Harry said he came through the door, right? So that means he was either snooping around the Department of Mysteries or somehow summoned there."
The thought left a bad taste in their mouths. What if Ness found the very thing they were seeking to protect? What if he foolishly damaged it before they could properly find it? Ness had proven to figure out their plans with scary ease and that he wasn't afraid to throw a wrench in it if he could help his friends.
He had unraveled so many secrets to the public, thrown so much mud and dirt onto Hogwarts name with his American connections and shaken everyone's faith in the Ministry. If he found out about this then…
The wizarding world would be truly upside down. But would it be in a good way? Or a bad way? No one was really handling the news of Voldemort's return well. Desperately believing it was a new dark lord like Peter Petigrew or Barty Crouch Jr. even though the proof of old followers flocking back to the man was a clear sign that someone powerful and well known was in control.
And those that did believe were painted as loons and dangers to society as they prepared charms and set up key words to protect themselves. Many non-believers were eager to jump on the boat of 'Harry and Ness were insane' just to have hope somewhere.
But if wind got out that Voldemort had attempted to attack the Department of Mysteries and ended up allowing Arthur to be severally injured despite not supposed to be there…what would happen? Who would be blamed? Who would be lit aflame to satisfy the roaring mob?
"He's close to Harry…who's close to Voldemort." Lupin slowly started, "Perhaps…perhaps their battle in the graveyard was more dire than we thought…perhaps Ness has formed a link with Harry, one that allowed him to follow Harry and possibly take over Nagini's place but pushed him to what he wanted to know."
"Which is?" Tonks asked, paling when Lupin harshly breathed out his answer, "Maybe what happened to other PSI users like him."
The room seemed to become charged with tension almost emitting from the teddy bear Jones had left behind…That bear that seemed to be watching them with an intense glassy eyed gaze.
"What...they're were others like him?" Molly asked, seeming horrified as Tonks numbly nodded, forcing out a nervous laugh, "Yes, surprised you know about it, Lupin."
"I've had a…difficult childhood Tonks, my senses have evolved a bit, allowing me to sense those who weren't wizards." His heart grew heavy at the memory of Belinda Thimble who suddenly had a chaotic magical meltdown before his fifth year started. A meltdown that killed 15 wizards. A meltdown that forced Belinda to suddenly 'disappear' from society.
A meltdown many feared were related to those strange attacks at the very start of the attacks on Muggles and Wizards that drove items, animals and even muggles themselves to become crazy and develop horrific power. And that what he only knew from the heavily edited news to ease the wizards worried minds.
The mere memory left him light headed as Tonks explained a bit more, her face grim. "After the first meltdown Auroras and Unspeakables were assigned to hunt down any other dangerous children and…well, exterminate them for everyone's safety. Some were taken into custody but…Only the Unspeakables know what truly happened."
Molly managed a small, "Oh…." As she glanced at Tonks then at Arthur. Her fire returning as she closed her eyes and looked away, "If that's the case why is he here? Why is harming our loved ones?!"
"I wish I knew…" was all Lupin could think as Tonks went to comfort her, murmuring soft words at how it was just fate dealing them a bad hand, that they would just need to ride it out while Lupin turned away.
He understood Molly's hate, but…he couldn't bring himself to wish that fate on Ness, the boy who despite being an American and transfer student went out of his way to help people. Even showing off his powers to prove Peter's guilt and save Sirius's life. Perhaps fate did deal them all a bad hand.
One that was pushing them to the very edge of their morals and sanity. With a sigh he turned, about to say he was going to get some tea and perhaps check in with the children when he felt a chill of anger and hate aimed at him, them.
Coming from…the bear? And—his heart stopped when he spotted a battered and faded wooden doll peeking behind the bear. A doll far to old to be with Jones. "Molly. Did…did Harry mention where the doll went?" Lupin asked, pulling out his wand and slowly moving toward it.
"No, he passed out before he could see what he did." Molly spat out, looking up as Tonks tensed, sensing that something was amiss. "Lupin, what is it-,"
A child's giggle filled the air, sending chills down their spines as the doll laughed. And laughed, its body slowly moving from behind the bear as it stared at them, it's painted face displaying a faded smile as laughter echoed from within.
"What…what is that?!" Molly demanded as Tonks pointed her wand at the doll and yelled, "Colloshoo!" sticking the doll's wooden feet to the table.
"That…That is a dangerous item corrupted by PSI." Tonks explained, hurriedly pushing them out of the room, "I'll need back up immediately-," a small giggle floated into the air as they spun around to find the doll missing. "How did it…" Lupin breathed when the hallway suddenly burst into flames.
Not actual flames that licked the walls and floors thankfully but it was probably worse since every bench, potted plant and random bag was set aflame and flung into the air. Tonks let loose a curse and yelled, "Get out of here and inform Dumbledore what's going on! I'm calling for backup!" and rushed to help put out the flames.
"The children?! Where are they-," Molly started when Lupin pulled her to the ground yelling, "Apparate and try and contact them! I'm going to help Tonks!" as a flying bench flew over their head, flying over the backs of a fleeing mother and her child.
"R-right!" Molly hastily did as told as Lupin murmured, "Aguamenti." And blasted a flaming purse. "Merry Christmas…? How wrong we were." Lupin grimly thought as a wreath flew overheard, blackened and charred.
Merry Christmas! Most would say, happy and buzzing with joy. All but one sour faced toad who studied a magazine with tightly pressed lips, one of many that had been haunting her for a while now as well as the Ministry breathing down her back.
The Mystic Informer, an American magazine she couldn't ban and couldn't stop. One that had popped up in England a year before to blast Hogwarts for 'endangering children' and 'Being unsuitable for future students' as well as asking, 'Is Dumbledore truly fit for this school?'
But her most hated article from that blasted magazine was the story about a 'cultist' who had slipped into the school to act as a 'Self Defense class' teacher but had been there to corrupt and endanger students entering a year long school tournament. A long black mark painted against Ministry as the article moved onto the schools' other teachers.
Professor Lupin, the only sane teacher who had a disability (More like disease.) that forced him to take special medicine in order to be presentable had managed to become the school's favorite teacher until his mental instability had come to light. Despite this the author joked about Lupin had managed to arm the students with useful knowledge and bond with them despite being ill and supposedly dangerous to be around. He also believed that the danger was dramatized to unbelievable levels since the only reports of injuries came from students being disobedient and ignoring an animal's boundaries and then the legal argument of putting the animal down which had the school reasonably split.
Then, Professor Lockheart, who had been a fraud of a man who had gotten his karma in permanent brain damage from an injury that had been caused in his attempt to silence two students who had called for his help to rescue a sibling loss in the castle and supposedly being held captive by a terrorist. The author flat out stated that while it was horrible to hear that he might never recover he was a horrendous teacher who road the coattails of others and should have never tried to use such a delicate situation to bolster his own fame and fortune.
Then they talked about Professor Quirrell who had been working with a well-known British terrorist to rise back to national power over the country while posing as a teacher. They had stated multiple time of how the man endangered and almost killed some kids in his drunken drive to become a national villain or perhaps, a hero in his mind before the students stopped him by reporting him to reasonable teachers.
Finally it moved onto her.
"And now we have Dolores Umbridge, the new SD teacher who has been sent by the Ministry to observe and hopefully cull the growing dangers of Hogwarts. We cross our fingers and hope for the best of luck for her!... Is what we would say if we haven't been hearing horrible things about her.
Now, I know we shouldn't be bias about her performance but some stories that have floated to our England branch office is…troublesome. One submitter—who goes by the nickname of Whispering Flowers sent her mother a letter which was in turn sent to us after receiving their permission to post it with a bit of editing to protect their privacy.
"Dear Mother, our first week was honestly very unsettling, we got a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, she's Professor Umbridge…I'll get into her later. It seems like everything is against Hogwarts, the train had a blackout and nearly derailed because of an argument between Potter and Earthbound, then the welcoming feast started with dishes blowing up as Umbridge tried to introduce herself prompting everyone to leave early, and for the rest of the week classes just went wrong.
Professors kept getting interrupted by whispers outside the door, candles haunted Earthbound and blew up for next to no reason, Professor Bins keeps fleeing the classroom in the middle of History, Professor Spout has exploding plants—everything that can go wrong seems to absolutely go wrong.
It's horrendous. But not as bad as our first class with Umbridge. I still feel sick about the incident as I write this letter. It started out with us being stuck to read books instead of practicing with our wands. Something that left many of us confused and prompted Scaredy Cat—you know, the boy Petals has a crush on?—to ask why we didn't need our wands. Which lead to a chain reaction of everyone else asking and pointing out that defense is important with the castle becoming so hostile and the growing threats outside of school.
Her answer to our growing worries and evidence that we need protection? The incidents happening in Hogwarts were caused by troublemakers. TROUBLEMAKERS. An unacceptable answer since I doubt so many people would risk breaking into the kitchen daily to mess up meals, hex a painting no one can find, drop things and freeze Professor Snape's cauldron in the middle of class.
She claimed that the 'You-know-who' attack was something Dumbledore's supporters cooked up when someone pointed out the disaster known as the Triwizard tournament. Something I seriously doubt was fake given how shaken Potter was and how…dead Earthbound looked.
It gets worse from there, then she moves onto provoking Earthbound who's been acting very off. He's snappish and almost always struggling to keep his mouth shut and his eyes…they're a dull black instead of that sharp energetic black. It's unsettling.
He wasn't even saying anything at the time, he was just focusing on his desk with a frustrated scowl when she turned the conversation to him. She just kept going and going, pushing his buttons as he's visibly struggling to stay cordial before he calls her a toad and explains that he's suffering from PTSD thanks his near-death incident last year and had a letter explaining it from his Therapist and mother to allow him to leave during class to calm down before he created a disturbance.
Do you know what she did when he got up to do just that? Claim the letter was void since he wasn't evaluated by Hogwarts and that he was LYING. He rightly lost it then.
Pulling her sweet but evil demeanor apart when he realized she was a muggle hater and just trying to stir up trouble. It got worse when he also pointed how the Ministry had tried to do the same, attempting to silence Barty Crouch Jr. and nearly kill his mother and sister in the process just to hide another embarrassing mistake.
Something his friend confirmed since she had been a witness with three other students and some teachers. She sent him to detention with Potter, a horrendous idea when his friend explained that THEY had been the ones to nearly derail the train while in a heated argument.
Umbridge ignored our concern and stayed firm. Which lead to a terrifying wake up call later that night as something attacked the other paintings during Potter and Earthbound detention, creating this horrible screaming that abruptly stopped at the top of the castle. Turns out the chain reaction had started from Umbridge's office and the entire thing left Earthbound dealing with a panic attack and unable to use his right hand now.
I'm scared mother, I thought we could deal with the haunted castle, that it was just Hogwarts being kooky and weird. But now? After watching a teacher accuse a student who is ill and noted to have abruptly changed in mood in demeanor of lying after being a victim of the Triwizard attack set up by a follower of You-Know-Who? Terrified. We'll be learning nothing and be stuck cowering as the Ministry runs around in circles.
I'm going to try and deal with it until Christmas Break with Petals before I give my final verdict on leaving Hogwarts. But…I really want everything to calm down."
And that's only the icing on the cake. After the first month of school ended parents reported their children's letters being more stressed and strained as the chaos through the castle resumes and Umbridge asserts herself as a cruel, cold-hearted general trying to tie up loose ends. One mother reported how her son had sent her a letter talking about how she was grading the teachers on teaching them Ministry approved lessons and was actively harassing one of their teachers into falling apart at the seams and being put on probation for a time being.
More troublesome was the story of Potter's owl being attacked and his mail seemingly being read. We'll let you guess who the main culprit is behind that one. Hogwarts, the school that was originally coming under fire for Dumbledore questionable approaches to safety and tournament hosting is now on the back burner as we question why the heck the Ministry is attempting to install an iron grip on the student body.
That's right, DUMBLEDORE the lovable old coot who might be a bit to old to be at the helm of Hogwarts is innocent for once. The MINISTRY hired a bias, cold-hearted and questionable woman to teach the future generation not to defend themselves, but to accept that the MINISTRY is right and everyone else is WRONG.
Perhaps the Ministry was blind to her true colors, perhaps they did this on purpose. All I can say that the growing turmoil at the school is merely reflecting a painting that will soon to come light once someone manages to get the full story of what truly happened and if Voldemort—And come on now, I'm pretty sure EVERYONE agrees that something related to him is happening and we need to be wary—is real and if these brutish teaching style is needed after a stressful year of near losses and assassination—
She turned the page with a sharp snap, nearly ripping it out of the book of lies, a coil of anger burning in her chest as she studied the next article. The innocent article talking about neat decorations everyone could make at home for Christmas and News Years as well as some tips on staying warm with the snow storms hitting the coast of England.
Cutesy, innocent and full of lies. It burned her to the very core that she hadn't heard of the Mystic Informer earlier which had been pushing the big issues that they wouldn't. Taking cheerful potshots at the Daily Prophet which had been ignoring the evidence of Voldemort's return as crime slowly blossomed in England, targeting Muggles with simple hexes and jinxes for some reason.
Running two of the wizarding world's greatest achievements through the mud with childish cheer and pointing out how both sides were failing the public and how something needed to change before the rift grew worse.
A paper that was being published by very cunning muggles and muggleborns-wizards who had betrayed not only the Ministry, but the wizarding world with this act of pandering to the Muggles, creating goofy stories to explain why the were talking about Hogwarts, about why they were worried for the 'celebrity' government and about why they were closely following Earthbound and his friends.
"Lies." Umbridge seethed, pulling her wand out when she stopped and collected herself. No, it wouldn't do to get riddled up over a simple problem, one which was driving a sword through her side with tempered venom. She'd solved worse problems, she'd silence more powerful people.
If they were going to make a fool out of her then she'd do the same. With a relaxed flip of papers she stopped at the very book of the 'magazine' which showed off their top writers who were smiling brightly and posing inside their office.
That accursed American Chip Adams and his cousin were at the fore front, posing besides a plain looking woman dressed up as a witch placing bunny ears behind a man with a pocket watch who was intently studying it as a woman with tidy black hair leaning against a broom lazily smiled at the camera.
Let's give a big hand for this month's top writers/photographers!
From right to left,
-Chip Adams—Lily Adams—Mary Sue—William Clockwork—Elizabeth Smith-
Chip and William are from America helping out after a bit of legal trouble we had with the Daily Prophet. Feel free to pen them questions about how truly wacky America is! I was surprised to learn that they do NOT call chips 'chips' and instead call them 'French fries'.
And these were the five people who were writing about the wizard world the most. People who clearly knew to much and were active targets to her and the Ministry. She would deal with them, she had to.
If the students learned that someone was speaking up for their warped idea of safety they would cling onto it and stir up even more trouble without needing Potter and Earthbound's help.
Two more thorns who's presence has gotten worse as time went on. She had been a fool to believe she could undermine Earthbound and reveal him as the lunatic he rightfully was. But then again, how was she supposed to know that he had a strong connection with every house?
How was she supposed to know that everyone treated Ness's word as law thanks to his hodgepodge of friends defending him? No matter how hard she tried to plant seeds of deceit and undermine him he bounced back harder than ever with his pathetic pity story of being traumatized by nothing.
If Harry was the living legend who had people flock to him just because then Ness was the peacekeeper, the one who smoothed out any problems anyone had with a house. She had thought she had won when she planted that idea of slinging dung at the Weasley's name at Qudditch.
She had been waiting as Harry and those troublesome twins moved to pummel Malfoy when Earthbound jumped into the fray, trying to stop them and speak reason as he physically fought back to protect Malfoy, his Slytherin friend pulling him back as a precaution when her plan blew up in her face.
Yes, she got one over Potter and that boy's older brothers. But her plan to have the seed Malfoy created to exclaim 'See! He is mad!' and undermine Potter and Earthbound blew up as the Slytherins merely kept to themselves.
Their arguments were still the same as they bickered with Ravenclaw daily and taunted Gryffindor over the smallest thing but…wait…had something shifted?
Her mind stilled at the idea of Slytherin changing its scales as she thought back to the start of the year. When Slytherin was still at Gryffindor's throats, supporting her with knowing smirks as she prepared to clean up Fudge's mess.
Then the 'panic attack' happened, and that meeting in the Boar's head where a small group of Slytherins had shown up for Potter's meeting if her little spy was being truthful—
Meeting. Her stomach violently churned as she realized with horror she was losing ground faster than she thought. The Slytherins there her spy reported had been scoping out Harry's idea of forming a defense club, they had gotten into an argument with every other house there but Earthbound and Karma quickly smoothed it out. Pointing out the true problem and weakening the walls that protect Slytherin from filthy Mudbloods.
Slytherin weren't simply 'arguing' with Ravenclaw…No, they were having debates. They had been smirking but in a gentle way as the Ravenclaw defended their point in the argument.
The room seemed to spin as she realized just how bad her situation was. She was being attacked by both sides, Slytherin had abandoned her and sooner or later more and more people would flock to Mystic Informer to keep an eye on their kids.
She couldn't defeat Slytherin.
She couldn't ban Mystic Informer from England, they had been in business since the start of the Wizarding War. It would have been easy for them to set up another branch close to England and cry foul.
What could she do…
What could she do?!
"What you've always done Dolores." Umbridge muttered, taking a sip of tea and getting up to look out the window, to study the handful of students playing out in the winter snow. The castle had gone eerily quiet, as if someone had taken the attacks with them for some reason.
If so then maybe she could pin it on Earthbound. Prove that he was the behind all of this to stir up trouble for his plight. That he was guilty and working with the Death Eaters!
A wicked smile grew as she turned back to begin writing a letter to Fudge and the Daily Prophet. The cogs spinning in her mind as she finished writing and glanced at another idea that had been brewing.
A way to keep proper tags on the students and find out their true plans. Her own Prefects who would be lured in by the promise of power in the school in turmoil.
One way or another, she wasn't going to be forgotten. No, she would stand tall and point out the real problems in the Wizarding World, the real enemy they should look at.
The parasite known as Ness Earthbound and Cornelius Fudge.
Earthbound's fall would be immediate but Cornelius? Well, she'd deal with him after she burned Mystic Informer to the ground. Her eyes sliding over to a card a foolish guard had given her after agreeing to help with a certain 'attack' on Potter. Yes, perhaps this would be a Christmas to enjoy after all.
Don't worry Lupin, I also hate that feeling you forgot something but can't recall what. It happens way to often...- Also, Umbridge plotting? With her own section of text that give insight to her thoughts and plans?! Dun dun dun!
Reviews! :D
M1nhTre37- Maybe the prophecy has changed, maybe it hasn't, keep in mind that Harry isn't the only one with a prophecy looming overhead :3 (To actually answer your question, yea, Harry's prophecy is completely messed up somehow, I'm trying to be sneaky and mysterious for once. :3) Also, a magical jack hammer is a great idea! I'm going to use that description when I try and have someone explain why Magic+ PSI is bad. Also, it has a sort of official name, called Psy-Magic... That now seems like a pretty lame name now. Dang it!
HelenTheMoon- Yea, Ron grated on my nerves SO much when I was reading the series, but not as much as Harry in book 6 and 7. Really dreading writing about how Ness changes it since I'll have to deal with a somewhat hot headed Harry with confident issues. -_- Although my take on Harry is probably a bit more bearable since he doesn't have the 'I am the chosen one' ego he got in Book 5. (Which got the best doggo wizard killed. Thx Harry.) Ironically Molly didn't seem very positive about muggle healthcare in the story since Arthur talks about getting stitches for the snake bite since it was such a huge injury.
As for the doll's moveset, it's basically Earthbound lore since every PSI influenced enemy/normal enemy Ness and co faces had their own move sets which stated what they could or couldn't do with ease and little thought of how to perform. Ness's moveset/PSI attacks just got somehow got overwritten by the doll's when he was forced into its body. I'll try explaining that a bit better since Harry is still in the dark of movesets. ^-^
Thanks for the reviews! And Happy Late Thanksgiving! I completely the forgot the day Thanksgiving was and thought it was the week after Thanksgiving... Whoops.
