Winter Term, 1968.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Gryffindor Dormitory (Male)
"Listen, you bastard, I'm going to spend the rest of my life as a frog, and nobody can stop me."
"Don't be a fool, Weasley. I know Violet turned you down for the Yule Ball, but you can't turn yourself into a frog, that's fourth year magic anyway," replied Billy Finnigan helpfully. "You could ask her to Transfigure you though, you know she's taking her Transfiguring O.W.L. a year early."
The strains of the Tumbling Menhirs drifted up from the Common Room through the bolted dormitory door. Simon "Call me Si" Weatherfair sat by the window, attempting to roll a joint from the leaves he'd "borrowed" from Herbology. Billy sat back on his bed, converting obscene poetry into arcane numbers at the back of his Arithmancy notes. Dave Weasley simply sat and stared at the empty picture that had previously contained Violet's plump visage. He sighed a long sigh of wistful sighingness. His entire life was encapsulated in that sigh. It was a sigh to end sighs. Billy stood up, walked over to Weasley, and kicked him.
"Ow. What the sod did you do that for?"
"You're beginning to piss me off. Look, so you have trouble with love. I know your moustache won't grow and Vi despises your speckly, red face. Get over it. There are other fish in the sea. You're a lovely bloke, well, I say lovely bloke, I mean you resemble a scarlet beanpole, but that's not your fault, and you're hardly top of your class, and I see I'm not helping so I'll shut up now." Indeed, he did, as Weasley glared at him.
"Incendio," said Si, and the joint lit up, crackling silver from the elf- dream leaves sprinkled liberally throughout the grass. He took in a breath, then exhaled out of the window.
"Coward."
Si looked up to see Weasley striding across the room.
"Si, you're a disgrace to the bravery of Gryffindor, exhaling like that." He had a faint grin on his face, and plucked the joint from his friend's hand. He pulled in a drag, and gazed out of the window. "Ahhhh. I guess you're right, Billy, there are other fish in the sea."
"But don't bother fishing for whales when you've only got a tiny fish-hook, sure?"
There was a knock on the door, and Weasley looked down at the joint, quickly dropping it out of the window.
"Git. That took me ages to get out of the Herbology stores. Bravery yourself."
The knocks got louder, and they heard a muttered "Alohomora" as the door flung open. In the doorway stood Christina, Si's better half. She sniffed the air, smelt the faint whisps of elf-pot, looked disappointed, and beckoned Si across the room. He walked across with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Yes, love of my life?"
"We've got Divination now, my dear, so if your brain is perfectly. clear. then do come along."
"But there's half an hour before. oh." He finished the sentence off by flashing Christina a wicked grin. Wrapping an arm round her waist, they descended into the Common Room, leaving Weasley and Billy alone.
"Sod this. Care for some Quidditch practise?" asked Billy. Both Billy and Weasley were Chasers for the Gryffindor team, though Billy was more interested in his studies. Quickly pulling their broomsticks from beneath their beds, Billy checked that nobody was watching and climbed out of the window onto his broom. Weasley followed, and the two darted down to the grounds. Officially, launching from a top floor window was against the school rules, but it was common enough practise to be hardly worth picking up on.
When they reached the ground, they sauntered round to the Sports Store, took out a practise Quaffle, then launched again towards the practise pitches on the edge of the forest. They tossed the Quaffle around for a bit, joining up with a few Slytherins to get some more competitive practise in. The Slytherins weren't all that bad really, perhaps a little vicious on the field, and a little too competitive, but all the old Dark Wizards. well, that was well into the past.
Back to the game, then, and that was when Weasley saw it. There, galloping at full speed from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, was a centaur. A centaur who seemed determined on reaching the safety of Hogwarts, and this hardly surprised Weasley when he saw who was chasing. Goblins. And they did not look happy. At all.
"HOI!" he shouted, and swooped down, Billy in close pursuit. Folbius Crabbe and Dedalus Diggle, the Slytherins, followed. As they sped down to the ground, the shouts of the Goblins became apparent -- calls of rebellion, calls of "Death to Wizards" and "End to Oppression!" Reacting to the threat, Billy and Dedalus whipped out their wands and with a shout of EXPELLIARMUS!, whipped the swords and staffs from the hands of the lead goblins. Crabbe sent a red flare high up into the air, whilst Weasley span his broom in the direction of the dormitory window.
Back on the field, fast use of Stumbling Charms and Binding Spells was thinning out the small horde of goblins hurtling towards them. The centaur was panting raggedly, and his eyes were rolling white with the strain. The gates of Hogwarts were getting no closer, as far as Si could tell. Up in the dormitory, Weasley dismounted and ran down into the Common Room, shouting alarmingly as he charged out through the portrait, trying to find a teacher.
"Ten points from Gryf'nduh, Weasley. Nae runnin' in."
"Mr Pringle, sir, there are. phew. goblins. hhh... on the lawn. You got to believe. sss. chasing a centaur.."
"Weel, Ah fahnd that hard teh believe."
"S'true, sir, look, out of the window, see them now?"
"Well, it seems ye're reet, Weasley, Ah'll enform t' staff at once. One moment," he coughed, drew his wand, and whispered a charm. "Headmaster, Professors, we hev a situation on t'sooth lawn. Ah reecommeend yeh all get doon there at t' double. Lek's lahk a herd o' wee goblins are tekkin' a trip across the grounds. Ah'll keep yeh informed." He muttered the charm again, then shouted to Weasley, who had began to run back to the Gryffindor tower, "Stop, yeh fool, leave it t' the teachers!" Weasley barely listened, darting back through the portrait hole once more, heading for his broom.
By this time, the centaur was limping, and the goblins near the back had recovered and were swiftly catching up. The students continued with the rear-guard, but their energy was flagging. Dedalus looked forward, and was heartened by the sight of much of the teaching staff sallying out through the gate, wands in hand and letting off Stupefying spells. Professor Plank, the Magical Creatures teacher, had darted forwards to help the centaur in.
"FINNIGAN! DIGGLE! CRABBE! WEASLEY! RETURN IMMEDIATELY!" shouted Professor Plank, as the goblins, realising their prey had escaped them, fled to the Forbidden Forest once more. The three flyers rocketed upwards to the skies, then slowly descended to the assembled group of teachers. A large crowd of students had gathered now, whilst Plank and Madam Pomfrey led the centaur, who the Divinations teacher had recognised as being called Bane, off to the stables to recover.
"Back to your classes, please, people," called Dippet, "And you four boys. to my office, please, we shall need to discuss what has happened. I must find out from Bane what exactly provoked the goblins first, so please wait in the corridor, next to the gargoyle.."
"Yes, headmaster," they answered, and set off.
"So, you reckon there was a reason for that?"
"I dunno, goblins are pretty intelligent, I mean they wouldn't normally hunt centaurs, and centaurs are too busy watching the moon to go around annoying goblins."
"Maybe he just stumbled on one of their settlements, they're pretty territorial when they're living in the wild," suggested Diggle, "Perhaps he stargazed right into their backyard."
"What, like Si stargazes at Christina during Astronomy? Besides, the goblin settlements in the Forest are too far away to have them chase this far. They'd chase the centaur until they were sure he had gone, then turn round and head back to their pad."
"You know an awful lot about goblins, Weasley, you know that?"
"Ah, but Crabbe, one must know the enemy before raiding Gringotts."
At that point, Dippet strode up the stairs. They stepped out of the way as he muttered a password into the ear of the gargoyle, which swung open to reveal a flight of stairs. Dippet creaked up the stairs on his walking stick, his bald head shining brightly in the flicker of the torches. The four students followed him. Entering the circular study, the headmaster whisked four chairs out of mid-air, and gestured for them to sit down.
"Now, boys, I want to commend you for your actions, which, I must warn you, were nevertheless rather irresponsible, hmm? Now, let me see, rewards first, eh? Twenty-five points each, shall we say, so that is," and he waved his wand, "Fifty points to Slytherin, and fifty to Gryffindor. Particularly good use of Stupefying spells, Crabbe, I was most impressed. To business, then. Bane tells me that there have been omens in the face of Mars and of Pluto, which is all well and good, and he further explained, to the mere, ahem, layman that I am in that field, that there have been calls of oppression by the wizarding community against goblins, and I'm sure Professor Binns has informed you all of the last time that happened, hmm, rebellions, riots and whatnot. Most unfortunate, very much so. There have been mutterings in Gringotts as well, and Bane, eh, well, Bane told me that the werewolves were driven out of their hunting grounds a few weeks ago by goblins, they were searching for something. Now, you were closest to the goblins, hmm, so obviously you were, heh, preoccupied, but was there anything, hmm, unusual, shall we say?"
"Well, Professor," piped up Dedalus, "They were shouting stuff like 'Goblin Pride', sir."
"Yeah, and they were, like, real piss. annoyed, sir, and one of them had a little banner, with words in it, and this little symbol like a circle round a pair of y-fronts." Dippet looked baffled.
"They're undergarments, sir, Muggle things." elucidated Weasley. "But that goblin looked like he didn't really belong, sir."
"Ah, that is. interesting, boys, interesting, hmm. I shall advise the Goblin Liaison immediately. In the meantime, I advise you not to chatter too much, please, hmm, wouldn't want people to, heh, panic. Now, lessons should be continuing, although I anticipate a little uproar, mm, so you shouldn't have missed much. Hmm. Well then, if you're quite ready, back to lessons. My great appreciation once again, hmm? Off you go, scram, mmhmmheheh."
Dippet chuckled, a hint of nervousness touching his thin laugh like an insect crawling across gold. Only Weasley looked back, and Dippet looked at him with the sad eye of a true seer. Dippet, for all his age, knew what Weasley was becoming. Events had begun that had not occurred since the 17th century, dark happenings, but darkness through which a glimpse of light could be seen like sunlight through storm clouds. Dippet smiled. These were interesting times.
"Listen, you bastard, I'm going to spend the rest of my life as a frog, and nobody can stop me."
"Don't be a fool, Weasley. I know Violet turned you down for the Yule Ball, but you can't turn yourself into a frog, that's fourth year magic anyway," replied Billy Finnigan helpfully. "You could ask her to Transfigure you though, you know she's taking her Transfiguring O.W.L. a year early."
The strains of the Tumbling Menhirs drifted up from the Common Room through the bolted dormitory door. Simon "Call me Si" Weatherfair sat by the window, attempting to roll a joint from the leaves he'd "borrowed" from Herbology. Billy sat back on his bed, converting obscene poetry into arcane numbers at the back of his Arithmancy notes. Dave Weasley simply sat and stared at the empty picture that had previously contained Violet's plump visage. He sighed a long sigh of wistful sighingness. His entire life was encapsulated in that sigh. It was a sigh to end sighs. Billy stood up, walked over to Weasley, and kicked him.
"Ow. What the sod did you do that for?"
"You're beginning to piss me off. Look, so you have trouble with love. I know your moustache won't grow and Vi despises your speckly, red face. Get over it. There are other fish in the sea. You're a lovely bloke, well, I say lovely bloke, I mean you resemble a scarlet beanpole, but that's not your fault, and you're hardly top of your class, and I see I'm not helping so I'll shut up now." Indeed, he did, as Weasley glared at him.
"Incendio," said Si, and the joint lit up, crackling silver from the elf- dream leaves sprinkled liberally throughout the grass. He took in a breath, then exhaled out of the window.
"Coward."
Si looked up to see Weasley striding across the room.
"Si, you're a disgrace to the bravery of Gryffindor, exhaling like that." He had a faint grin on his face, and plucked the joint from his friend's hand. He pulled in a drag, and gazed out of the window. "Ahhhh. I guess you're right, Billy, there are other fish in the sea."
"But don't bother fishing for whales when you've only got a tiny fish-hook, sure?"
There was a knock on the door, and Weasley looked down at the joint, quickly dropping it out of the window.
"Git. That took me ages to get out of the Herbology stores. Bravery yourself."
The knocks got louder, and they heard a muttered "Alohomora" as the door flung open. In the doorway stood Christina, Si's better half. She sniffed the air, smelt the faint whisps of elf-pot, looked disappointed, and beckoned Si across the room. He walked across with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Yes, love of my life?"
"We've got Divination now, my dear, so if your brain is perfectly. clear. then do come along."
"But there's half an hour before. oh." He finished the sentence off by flashing Christina a wicked grin. Wrapping an arm round her waist, they descended into the Common Room, leaving Weasley and Billy alone.
"Sod this. Care for some Quidditch practise?" asked Billy. Both Billy and Weasley were Chasers for the Gryffindor team, though Billy was more interested in his studies. Quickly pulling their broomsticks from beneath their beds, Billy checked that nobody was watching and climbed out of the window onto his broom. Weasley followed, and the two darted down to the grounds. Officially, launching from a top floor window was against the school rules, but it was common enough practise to be hardly worth picking up on.
When they reached the ground, they sauntered round to the Sports Store, took out a practise Quaffle, then launched again towards the practise pitches on the edge of the forest. They tossed the Quaffle around for a bit, joining up with a few Slytherins to get some more competitive practise in. The Slytherins weren't all that bad really, perhaps a little vicious on the field, and a little too competitive, but all the old Dark Wizards. well, that was well into the past.
Back to the game, then, and that was when Weasley saw it. There, galloping at full speed from the edge of the Forbidden Forest, was a centaur. A centaur who seemed determined on reaching the safety of Hogwarts, and this hardly surprised Weasley when he saw who was chasing. Goblins. And they did not look happy. At all.
"HOI!" he shouted, and swooped down, Billy in close pursuit. Folbius Crabbe and Dedalus Diggle, the Slytherins, followed. As they sped down to the ground, the shouts of the Goblins became apparent -- calls of rebellion, calls of "Death to Wizards" and "End to Oppression!" Reacting to the threat, Billy and Dedalus whipped out their wands and with a shout of EXPELLIARMUS!, whipped the swords and staffs from the hands of the lead goblins. Crabbe sent a red flare high up into the air, whilst Weasley span his broom in the direction of the dormitory window.
Back on the field, fast use of Stumbling Charms and Binding Spells was thinning out the small horde of goblins hurtling towards them. The centaur was panting raggedly, and his eyes were rolling white with the strain. The gates of Hogwarts were getting no closer, as far as Si could tell. Up in the dormitory, Weasley dismounted and ran down into the Common Room, shouting alarmingly as he charged out through the portrait, trying to find a teacher.
"Ten points from Gryf'nduh, Weasley. Nae runnin' in."
"Mr Pringle, sir, there are. phew. goblins. hhh... on the lawn. You got to believe. sss. chasing a centaur.."
"Weel, Ah fahnd that hard teh believe."
"S'true, sir, look, out of the window, see them now?"
"Well, it seems ye're reet, Weasley, Ah'll enform t' staff at once. One moment," he coughed, drew his wand, and whispered a charm. "Headmaster, Professors, we hev a situation on t'sooth lawn. Ah reecommeend yeh all get doon there at t' double. Lek's lahk a herd o' wee goblins are tekkin' a trip across the grounds. Ah'll keep yeh informed." He muttered the charm again, then shouted to Weasley, who had began to run back to the Gryffindor tower, "Stop, yeh fool, leave it t' the teachers!" Weasley barely listened, darting back through the portrait hole once more, heading for his broom.
By this time, the centaur was limping, and the goblins near the back had recovered and were swiftly catching up. The students continued with the rear-guard, but their energy was flagging. Dedalus looked forward, and was heartened by the sight of much of the teaching staff sallying out through the gate, wands in hand and letting off Stupefying spells. Professor Plank, the Magical Creatures teacher, had darted forwards to help the centaur in.
"FINNIGAN! DIGGLE! CRABBE! WEASLEY! RETURN IMMEDIATELY!" shouted Professor Plank, as the goblins, realising their prey had escaped them, fled to the Forbidden Forest once more. The three flyers rocketed upwards to the skies, then slowly descended to the assembled group of teachers. A large crowd of students had gathered now, whilst Plank and Madam Pomfrey led the centaur, who the Divinations teacher had recognised as being called Bane, off to the stables to recover.
"Back to your classes, please, people," called Dippet, "And you four boys. to my office, please, we shall need to discuss what has happened. I must find out from Bane what exactly provoked the goblins first, so please wait in the corridor, next to the gargoyle.."
"Yes, headmaster," they answered, and set off.
"So, you reckon there was a reason for that?"
"I dunno, goblins are pretty intelligent, I mean they wouldn't normally hunt centaurs, and centaurs are too busy watching the moon to go around annoying goblins."
"Maybe he just stumbled on one of their settlements, they're pretty territorial when they're living in the wild," suggested Diggle, "Perhaps he stargazed right into their backyard."
"What, like Si stargazes at Christina during Astronomy? Besides, the goblin settlements in the Forest are too far away to have them chase this far. They'd chase the centaur until they were sure he had gone, then turn round and head back to their pad."
"You know an awful lot about goblins, Weasley, you know that?"
"Ah, but Crabbe, one must know the enemy before raiding Gringotts."
At that point, Dippet strode up the stairs. They stepped out of the way as he muttered a password into the ear of the gargoyle, which swung open to reveal a flight of stairs. Dippet creaked up the stairs on his walking stick, his bald head shining brightly in the flicker of the torches. The four students followed him. Entering the circular study, the headmaster whisked four chairs out of mid-air, and gestured for them to sit down.
"Now, boys, I want to commend you for your actions, which, I must warn you, were nevertheless rather irresponsible, hmm? Now, let me see, rewards first, eh? Twenty-five points each, shall we say, so that is," and he waved his wand, "Fifty points to Slytherin, and fifty to Gryffindor. Particularly good use of Stupefying spells, Crabbe, I was most impressed. To business, then. Bane tells me that there have been omens in the face of Mars and of Pluto, which is all well and good, and he further explained, to the mere, ahem, layman that I am in that field, that there have been calls of oppression by the wizarding community against goblins, and I'm sure Professor Binns has informed you all of the last time that happened, hmm, rebellions, riots and whatnot. Most unfortunate, very much so. There have been mutterings in Gringotts as well, and Bane, eh, well, Bane told me that the werewolves were driven out of their hunting grounds a few weeks ago by goblins, they were searching for something. Now, you were closest to the goblins, hmm, so obviously you were, heh, preoccupied, but was there anything, hmm, unusual, shall we say?"
"Well, Professor," piped up Dedalus, "They were shouting stuff like 'Goblin Pride', sir."
"Yeah, and they were, like, real piss. annoyed, sir, and one of them had a little banner, with words in it, and this little symbol like a circle round a pair of y-fronts." Dippet looked baffled.
"They're undergarments, sir, Muggle things." elucidated Weasley. "But that goblin looked like he didn't really belong, sir."
"Ah, that is. interesting, boys, interesting, hmm. I shall advise the Goblin Liaison immediately. In the meantime, I advise you not to chatter too much, please, hmm, wouldn't want people to, heh, panic. Now, lessons should be continuing, although I anticipate a little uproar, mm, so you shouldn't have missed much. Hmm. Well then, if you're quite ready, back to lessons. My great appreciation once again, hmm? Off you go, scram, mmhmmheheh."
Dippet chuckled, a hint of nervousness touching his thin laugh like an insect crawling across gold. Only Weasley looked back, and Dippet looked at him with the sad eye of a true seer. Dippet, for all his age, knew what Weasley was becoming. Events had begun that had not occurred since the 17th century, dark happenings, but darkness through which a glimpse of light could be seen like sunlight through storm clouds. Dippet smiled. These were interesting times.