"I think you'd better come with me, Weasley, Potter."
"Dumbledore. Yes sir." They both gulped.
"Actually Ms. Granger might want to come too. You mentioned she was in on this. I'll wait for you all here, though. I am not sure how much I trust you right now."
"Professor, it's not…" Some kids started to file in. Great timing, really!
"Not right now!"
Dumbledore obviously didn't want anyone else brought into the conversation. Especially with mini-death eaters around! Harry didn't want to admit that Dumbledore probably was more concerned about the other student's safety right now from Ron and him.
They all waited stoically in silence. Ron and Harry didn't even dare to think, for if Dumbledore could read their minds now… Well it would take a while, and his reaction would not be good for all of the student body to witness. They were getting enough strange looks with Dumbledore standing right over them, the twinkle in his eyes replaced with an odd angry fire.
Malfoy and other Slytherin's smirked as they saw the famous Golden Trio had fallen out of standings with their esteemed Headmaster.
It seemed to take forever for Hermione to get there. The hall was completely full when she came walking calmly though the double doors.
Stay there. We will walk over to you. Dumbledore KNOWS! And he's mad! We got to bring him round!
WHAT! Hermione looked very shocked, even from this distance.
Later!
"I hope for your sakes, you are innocent. However… shall we go?" They had thought correctly. Dumbledore can intercept messages. Hermione was still was at the Great Hall doors, and out of sight. Or maybe he just had really good tracer spells. Either way… Opps, no thinking, no thinking…
They walked in an uneasy silence, attracting more glances from other students. Harry didn't even attempt to make a joke out of it and worry Dumbledore anymore, so he bared them uncomfortably.
They made their way through the massive oak doors, and up to the office with Dumbledore a step behind them. Harry took a risk of worrying Dumbledore by using Parseltongue, which he couldn't understand. ~Let me talk to him. I don't want to tell him everything right away. ~
*Okay *
^Sure ^
Dumbledore jumped at each word they spoke that he didn't understand. The fire in his eyes blazed more strongly with suspicion.
"Sit."
They all took a seat.
"Explain."
Harry had a feeling of de ja vu to his second year, after the incident with the ford Angelica, which reminded him of Ron's Patronus, which sent him into laughter at a completely inappropriate time. Dumbledore looked very worried. His laughter became slightly hysterical with the pressure. He didn't want his old hero to be mad at him.
Ron started to laugh too, picking up on the train of thought.
Hermione jerked out of her shock. She noticed how old Dumbledore looked, age and tiredness etched into the wrinkles on his face.
"SHUT UP!" They stopped giggling, which their laughter had been reduced to a few minutes ago.
"I'm sorry about them Dumbledore. What do you want us to explain?"
"Well, you could start with Salazar Slytherin's plot and what the Bloody Hell were you doing in the Chamber of Secrets! I trusted you!"
"You still should." Ron asserted.
"Why?"
"BECAUSE WE'RE NOT EVIL. And I'm the only one who has really gone dark, but I'm still not evil." Harry said, not really saying anything helpful. ~Hey Ron. Can you shield my mind from Dumbledore? I want to be able to say something intelligent, without worrying about giving anything away. If you can, cover Hermione too. You should be able to with all that adult power.~
(I succeeded.)
(Good. Thank you!)
(I'm also shielding Hermione, if you want to talk to her also, I'll relay.)
(Thanks)
"We don't think Salazar's evil anymore either." Hermione added.
"So you believe the school should get rid of it's muggle born populace? I would have expected better of you! And why are you involved Hermione?" Dumbledore spoke as if he was trying to shock them out of their current position, or at least understand what's going on.
"No! We will never turn evil. I just said that. Salazar is now a ghost who means well. From what I gather, he never wanted to use extreme methods to change the school, so has disavowed the whole thing after he became a ghost. I think he might be trying to fix what he did."
Harry didn't really want to tell Dumbledore any information about going to the hospital wing in two days, or about the necklace, for fear of interference. He really did want to find what Salazar was doing, so he didn't offer the knowledge transfer. He hadn't had enough practice. As that was very close to the top of his mind, it might slip.
(Dumbledore must be smart enough to get this on his own.)
"I was open to this idea because I want to defeat Lord Voldemort. He cannot be allowed to terrorize the populace. If I can stop him, I will. Any way I can."
This bold, sincere statement looked like it restored some of Dumbledore's faith in his Golden Trio. At least the flames in his eyes died down some.
"But Dark Magic, that's not only illegal but…"
"Sir, if a teacher here at Hogwarts would vouch for us, would you trust them?"
"I trust every teacher here at Hogwarts currently with my life. They are all order members, as you know. Although now I am not sure how wise it was letting you in on that information."
(This was getting bad. Dumbledore was starting to get less trusting of them, regretting what he has done. Or perhaps more trusting if he was saying his thoughts out loud. Or senile, which would be worse than anything. At least he agreed. This is confusing.) Hermione thought.
"So yes. I will. But I will expect them to tell me why they believe you."
"Could you please summon Remus Lupin then."
The Headmaster looked shocked. But it quickly faded, and a look of resignation came over his face. "He is at breakfast now. I will allow Ron to go down and get him."
(Remus?) Ron sent, saving time.
(Yes? Your mind voice seems more focused than it was before.)
(Thank you! Harry found a book that talked about telepathy techniques. Could you PLEASE come to Dumbledore's office? We need you to back up our story! Harry doesn't want to have to do that spell on him, even if he'd agree to it.)
(You TOLD him!?! Why the Bloody HELL Does HE Know?!?)
(It wasn't on purpose! Nobody was there! I was updating Harry in the Great Hall before breakfast on what had happened these last few days, and we well, somehow Dumbledore overheard. He just appeared…)
(Don't worry. I'll be right up. But you should know by now that Dumbledore doesn't need an invisibility cloak to become invisible.)
(Yeah, with all those spells in that book… I should have more Constant Vigilance and all, but…)
(Don't make excuses. Just try to do better next time. Now for Dumbledore we might want to make an excuse or two. How do I 'know' you are telling the truth, if I didn't get zapped by Harry?)
(How about rational reasoning?)
(Okay, sounds simple enough. Whose saying what's told and what's not?)
(Harry. I think he means that we can say anything we want, just not anything that Dumbledore could possibly use to change anything. Let me check… Yep. Hold on, I think Dumbledore, or someone, is talking to me right now.)
(Don't worry about it. I'm almost there now.)
(See you, then.)
Ron opened his eyes.
Everyone was looking at him funny. "What, did I grow a wart on my nose?"
"Oh, my gosh Ron, how did you know? It's just where you can't see it…" Then Hermione burst out laughing. The other two in the room followed suit.
Ron glared at them.
Dumbledore repeated himself for the Ron-doesn't-know-how-manyth time, "I was asking if you were going to go get him or was there a problem with your reliable source telling what you want them to? You just sat there with a glazed look on your face."
"Oh, well I was just calling him."
"With your mind?"
"No, with his cell phone, Harry! Jeeze." Hermione laughed.
"And he will be here any second."
Dumbledore started to say something, but was interrupted by a knocking on the door. "Come in"
"Thank you." The door swung open framing Remus. "Albus, these kids mean well, and they will not be turned evil. That I can assure you of."
"Please take a seat" He sat down on the chair that magically appeared when Dumbledore had his wand halfway out.
"What!"
Ron kicked Harry. "Opps, did you want to do that, Sir?"
"Not exactly, but how did you do that?"
"My library. In the chamber that Salazar gave me."
"Where is that?"
"I'll take you there later if you want. But for now, do you trust me?"
"I want to, but I have to be sure. Lupin, why do you support them?"
"Because they are correct. Because they are my friends, and one is the son of my friend. Because I know they would never turn evil."
"Well…"
"Why don't you use Fawks to verify that the young people are telling the truth, and then let them get to Advanced Transfiguration. I have to go teach a bright young crowd of Slytherin 6th years, but that class isn't as bad as it was 3 years ago."
Dumbledore nodded and waved his hand at Fawks. Fawks landed on each of their shoulders without hesitation. Well, I think they don't want me to interfere. And I do have a lot to do with Order business and Headmaster. If I didn't love this job, I'd quite and work on that full time. I know they have always been good kids and withstood more than their fair share, more than some, no, most adults, so I will give them a chance on their own. They haven't hurt anyone yet. I think I will let the weird disturbance in the shields protecting the school slide too. But it was really odd that it affected just the anti-apparating shield. "Okay, Harry, as you missed your Occulmacy lessons, you will have another one on Sunday to catch up, and then you will start every Tuesday again so that we have a convenient pattern. I'll let you get back to your studies then, if there is nothing more you are willing to reveal at this time."
"Thank you."
(I forgot about that, Occulmacy lessons. Well, I won't be able to make the next two either. I hope Dumbledore doesn't mind too much! Because I think at this rate, I'll never have any lessons from him on Occulmacy!)
Ron and Hermione exchanged glances slightly nervously, but didn't think anything significant, new, or loud.
They all filed out, breathing a sigh of relief. Their stomach's growled. "Food! I'll go, I promise I'll get it right this time Ron!"
Harry transformed with a pop, and then with another pop he was gone. Ron paled, remembering the last time that happened, and how long it took for him to wake up after. "HARRY" He screamed futilely.
They waited there in bated breath for Harry's return.
~*~
Oh, darn! I forgot to query them about that. Poppy said that Harry had mentioned being ill next week. Probably nothing. Could be a promotion. Hope it's nothing. Dumbledore thought silently to his Phoenix.
You must bend or you will break. You are doing a reasonable job so far. Fawks replied.
That's Fawks. Always some mysterious words of advice and then a comment. Well, this time was actually less vague…
On to Order business. Voldemort hasn't attacked anything for about a month and a half. I don't think He is going to stay low for much longer…
~*~
And Harry came back a few minutes later, loaded down with food from the kitchens.
"Don't yell at me! I knew that I could do it, and I might need it for something. I just panicked last time, that's all! Now say thank you and I'll give you food."
Hermione looked like she was still about to yell, but then her stomach gave another loud growl and she changed it to, "Thank you."
"Yeah!"
"Give Food and All Will Be Forgiven!"
"Just curious, how did you get it to go through with you?"
"I transfigured the bag they cave me into a sort of back pack that went around my wings."
They wolfed their lunch down, and then ran towards their classes.
"Wait a minute, since there aren't any side effects to that quick learn spell, do you want it for transfiguration?"
"Nah, McGonagall told me what we were going to do today, on Wednesday, so I learned all of the theory then. Ron didn't though. Something about, nothing wrong with learning as the teacher teaches it. But he had quidditch practice too…"
"Yes, Please. This way I won't have to study!"
"Okay." Harry took out his wand and scale. He pointed them at Ron. ~Cognosco Celeriter~ He then turned his wand on himself. ~Cognosco Celeriter~ "Wait a minute," They resumed their mad dash to the transfiguration room. "Do you mean that, even though I am quidditch Captain, you have all started practice, Without Me?!"
"Well, not really. Ginny and me just went down to the field to practice some. We weren't feeling brave enough to tackle the whole team into practicing."
"You know, I really hope there are some good second year chasers. We really need fresh players."
Hermione simply nodded her agreement, while Ron nodded emphatically. "You sure have that right."
They made it in just moments before McGonagall arrived and took their seats. They were not reviewing in this class. There was probably too much to cover or something.
"Today class, we will be transforming rocks into food. Probably the trickiest part of this spell is you have to be sure to get out all trace elements, like lead, which can kill you. There is a charm to make sure that your food is not poisoned by transfiguration errors. Flitwick said he taught you it. So you can transfigure your rocks, and perform the charm. After you're allowed to eat them. Points given for how tasty. Points taken if poisonous." Then she continued with a long lecture with lots of theory on the whole spell and most every aspect of it. Then she finally passed out rocks and said, "You may begin."
"Finally!"
"RON! She has to say all that or someone might make a mistake. And also with all of the theory information we have accumulated, we could very well make our own spells."
His eyes widen, and then returned to normal size. "Oh, yeah, I remember Fred and George saying something like that before the booms in their room started…"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all transfigured their rocks on the first try. Harry got a Mars Bar. Ron came up with a mug of Butterbeer. Hermione came up with treacle tart, the kind the house elves make, not like Hagrid's. Thank goodness. Hermione didn't want her teeth to be glued together.
"So, how do you do the check for poison and trace elements spell?"
"Fateor Substantia." Ron said the enchantment. It turned a bright green.
^You idiot! Get your wand in your hand right now!^ Hermione growled. Ron quickly picked up his wand. Hermione added quickly, "Hello Professor McGonagall.
"Now you see Harry the charm turns bright green when it is clear to go or eat, as the case may be, and red means you'll die if you eat it. Yellow when it is marginal, as in you won't die, but you'll get sick, depending on how close to Green or Red the light is indicated how badly you'll get sick. For example; Orange is a deathly sick, but you still won't die if you are not exposed to any other ailments, and your food and water are kept up." Hermione explained.
"Excellent explanation Miss. Granger. 5 points to Gryffindor. Also 5 points to each Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter for quick and accurate performance." She continued walking down the rows of students, helping with malfunctioning spells.
The rest of the class they just ate their food and talked. It was really nice that they were able to eat them, because Harry couldn't bring quite enough to fill 4 stomachs, close though as it was.
Class was dismissed after the homework was given. "One scroll on transfiguring food. I would like you to include the dangers, the positives, and how to do so. Everyone must turn it in next week, except for Mr. Tomas, Miss. Brown, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss. Granger, who have mastered it already."
They headed quickly down to the chamber. "It's really Friday. My gosh. I have two days."
"Do you know what's going to happen yet?"
"No, but I'm sure I will need to be as prepared as I can be."
"Oh, that's just great. Be as vague as possible."
"You know that I don't know anything more than you do!"
Ron smirked. "Yeah, but the look on your face when you said that was so funny…" Ron picked up book he wanted to read next, Sword Fighting Isn't Useless In the Wizarding World, and stared reading.
Harry picked out his next book, Magic, Its Roots and Properties I. He was really excited about this series because book IV told you how to mess with another person's supply of magic. This could really help. Maybe if it works that way I could just drain Voldemort…
Hermione had watched their antics, and become bored. She got this funny mischievous feeling, and didn't really want to do work for some reason. "You know, I don't think we should study right now, I think we should go out and play. It is a beautiful day…" She trailed off, realizing that no one was paying any attention to her.
They were just staring at their books. Hermione was annoyed. Harry hadn't even redone the spell on themselves, let alone on her.
She decided to take their books away. Actually that was an excellent idea. And I've been meaning to try to shrink something without a wand. Having the books go into my pockets would be simple. "Accio. Minuo Minui Minutum." Then she turned into her anamigas form, so that they would have to make her turn back into a human with robes and, gasp, pockets, to get their books back.
Harry turned into his anamigas form again. ~Give that BACK~
*Yeah! * Ron had turned into his form. As his natural height was a bit bigger than an atom, they really had to strain to hear him.
Hermione gave a cat's laugh.
^Oh Yeah? What are you going to do about it? ^
~We're going to get the books back of course. ~
*Very smart mini-drag, that's really going to convince her to give them back. *
~Accio~
~Accio~ Harry hissed, a little more impatiently.
~Accio. Bloody Hell! Merlin! Why in the Wizarding World is this not Working? ~
*Maybe you're doing it wrong*
~I'd like to see you try~
*Scratch that, um, Hermione. How do you propose we get our books back? *
^As fun as it is to torment you with this… Wait a minute! I'm tormenting RON, the ultimate non-studious student of Hogwarts, by withholding his book. ^ She cracked up in cat laughs again. And then said, ^Okay. Well, I'll make you a deal. If you can catch me, I'll give you back your books free of charge. If you can't, then you'll have to agree to go to dinner dressed in middle age women's royalty clothing. And I'll give you your books back.^
*That doesn't sound to bad. *
~Well, Okay then. Do you have any other rules? ~
^Yeah. No using any of your powers. How about using that one spell to bind your powers for an hour, locking you into that form. I did read what the cover advertises, so I do know that you know how to do that. You cheat, then I win. That's just because you have such an advanced anamigas form. Ron's fine. He can stay as he is. ^
*What, are you saying I am less of a threat? *
^Why, yes. I am. ^ Hermione had another bout of that cat laughs.
~This should be pretty easy. Our forms are much better for going through these pipes than hers. Even if I can't use the teleportation on my form. ~ Ron looked about to object to Harry's statement, and then decided that it wasn't going to be easy, but he also doubted that Hermione was going to just give up. Harry didn't notice.
~We Accept. Constringo Constrixi Constrictum. ~
^Ready, set, GO!^ #Bye!!!!!#
She leapt strait up into the air, and then transformed into her hummingbird form. She had perfected it in the hospital wing when no one was looking. She was a pure white, just like her cat form. The hummingbird was small and delicate. She looked very fast though. It also appeared as if she blended in to the walls and other stuff. From a distance she appeared invisible.
#It would be so fun if I won like this She zoomed strait up, and away into the pipes. I'm much faster in this form, but I blend better into the walls with the other form, as it is just a bit gray. Harry and Ron don't seem to notice that though.
~WHAT? ~ Harry started flapping after her. Obviously his form was not known for their great speed. ~And why should they be? They're power's weren't bound naturally. Oh great, get ready for Harry and Ron in a dress. The Girly Duo. Oh well. I hope they didn't like lots of bows back then.
(*Hey stop thinking so pessimistically! I'm still fast! I can catch up to her!)
(~Come on, you can't even see her. And the only reason I can is from this trail of magic that she left. It isn't big or thick, so I don't think you can see it.)
(*That gives me an idea. Mind if I use your eyes a bit? It was in the last book I read. You might know too.)
~Oh yeah, sure. Just try to win! Dresses…
#Did I forget to tell you that I can turn into a humming bird form? Apparently I am a multi-anamigas.
~Wow. That's impressive. I wish I had that power…
*Me too…
#What are you guys talking about. I wish I had your powers! You don't know how lucky you…
Harry and Ron laughed down the mind link.
Hermione laughed.
They had just been teasing her. The sent her You deserve it.
Thank you, but I'm still not letting you catch me.
They had flashed through pipes, barely missing corners and just making turns. It was really hectic. It was amazing they had enough concentration left over to maintain their conversation. They had enough inborn skill to manage not to crash, but they were also making sure not to scream, and repeat what happened to Ron almost five days ago.
About a half hour had past since Hermione first took their books. Ron and Harry were starting to breathe heavily. Hermione made Ron go through different passages by himself by changing to human form occasionally and caving in a small section. She got variable boosts from this, as she then had to transfigure some of the rocks into columns, and sometimes the alternate routs were closer than others.
Hermione changed forms again, and took out her wand.
*Wait! We Concede! Ron had finally run breath and strength. Harry was less out of breath, but that was because he wasn't trying to catch up, He was just staying within range on his sight to help out Ron.
~We'll do it~ Harry had caught up to them and sat down.
^This is going to be so fun!^ They looked around. Noticing for the first time how wet, dank, dark the pipe was. And how none of them had any knowledge on where the Chamber was.
~Merlin!!! We're LOST!!!~
^It could be worse^
*And just how is that?*
^The roof could cave in^
~Such happy thoughts Humsnow~
^Hmph, the name is Hermione^
All of the sudden the roof started creaking and a crack ran down the center of it.
(A/N: Go to this website for another really good fanfic, if your over 13 years old: