The next two weeks passed by mostly without event; the children were busy concerning themselves with their schoolwork, and obviously could not discuss the sensitive subject near anyone that was not part of the Inter-House Alliance. Then, as the Gryffindors and Slytherins were filing out of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Kincaid Court laid a hand on Nora's shoulder and said, "We'll talk after Charms Club tonight. I've got some ideas. Nick says he's got some news, too."
Nora nodded almost imperceptibly, but Kincaid gave her shoulder a squeeze to signify that he had seen her assent. As he walked off, she noticed that he was taller than some fourth-years passing him. Then she thought, 'Wow, I knew that those kids were fourth-years! I must be getting really comfortable around here.'
"Oi, Weasley! Come here for a sec," said the voice of Jeffrey Kingsley. She turned to see him standing with Morag Alcott, Finny Roark and Nathan Darby.
"Sure, what is it?" she asked as she joined their ring.
"This weekend's a Hogsmeade weekend," he said. "And since first years aren't allowed into Hogsmeade and all, we thought we'd have a wizard chess tournament tomorrow. You know, a sort of alternative event."
"To make us feel better about missing out on Hogsmeade and all," said Nathan, grinning.
"Oh, I'm in!" she said, trying to keep the squeal out of her voice.
"Great. We'll start it after lunch. And if you see Vin, Sandrine or Alexandria, ask if they want to join too," said Jeffrey, nodding.
Morag pulled a face. "I doubt the girls will want to. It takes time away from their plotting and scheming to 'get' whatever boy they have a crush on this week."
"Is that really all they talk about?" asked Finny.
Nora and Morag exchanged glances, then laughed together. "Oh, you should hear our dormitory at night. 'Sandy, do you think that Kincaid will like these earrings?' 'I'm sure he will, Sandy, but what will Braden think of this headband?'"
"Wait," Nathan said slowly, "They both call each other Sandy?"
"Yes," Morag said grimly.
"You know, you'd think they'd be bright enough to realize that I'm actually friends with Kincaid Court, and might have some advice for them," said Nora.
Morag shook her head. "You know girls like that. They look down on the kind of girls who make friends with boys. They think girls should just be friends with each other."
"For god's sake, we're all barely twelve," said Finny. "They should just calm down. Plenty of time for heartbreak later. Now's the time for wizard chess tournaments, eh?"
"Sounds about right to me," said Jeffrey easily.
"Alright, well. I want to get a head start on that Astronomy project before Charms Club, I'll catch you all later," said Nora, and, waving merrily, walked away in the direction of the library.
---------------------
"Harry, there's something I need to tell you."
From the way Ginny's voice was quivering, Harry immediately tightened, then turned away from his desk to regard her in the doorway. "What is it?" he said sharply.
Ginny attempted to calm her breathing. "A patient at St. Mungo's...he's an expert at ancient runes. So I..."
Harry closed his eyes. "Ginny, please don't tell me that you showed him the pictures of the tablets."
"I did," Ginny said defiantly. "And I'm glad I did, because you know what happened? He recognized the language, but found that it was in an odd order, with random parts of letters cut off. Which is why no one saw it as anything recognizable before."
"Come in, and go on." Now he was interested.
Ginny entered the room and drew in a deep breath. "Well, he slaved over it for a long time, and was able to decode the first tablet. And it doesn't say it in so many words, but apparently they're instructions on how to breed a certain, extremely rare kind of Lethifold."
"A Lethifold?" Harry said, the breath knocked out of him.
"Yes. But not the kind that sucks out souls, apparently. They bred it with some sort of extinct creature - a Mundring - whose whiskers used to be used in wands. And the Black Slumber charm can only be cast with a wand that has Mundring whiskers at its core."
"I didn't know that," said Harry in amazement.
"It was on the tablet," said Ginny. "Basically...the Lethifold/Mundring hybrid is able to sneak around just like a Lethifold, but with a wizard's instruction, can inflict Black Slumber on its own."
"You're kidding. I have to tell Ron - "
"Wait! There's more."
"MORE?" Harry shouted. "As if this isn't bad enough?"
Ginny's words were tinged with terror. "The creatures are invisible."
"They're - Merlin's beard, this is - I - is there any way to track them?"
"Not that I know of," Ginny said pleadingly, "But I'm sure we can devise a way - "
"You're right," Harry broke in. "I'll fire-call Ron and Hermione...I'm sure Hermione can put together a team of researchers into these things, find a way to detect them." He stopped himself, and looked at his wife, who looked torn. "Ginny...I'm glad you took matters into your own hands. Is your patient still working on the rest of the tablets?"
Ginny smiled weakly. "He is."
"Is there any way I can visit him?"
"Just owl him. You know him."
"I KNOW him?" But there was only one Ancient Runes expert that Harry was acquainted with. "Do you mean to tell me that we're talking about Seamus Finnigan?"
She closed her eyes. "Yes."
Harry stared at her. "...Seamus? Why is he in St. Mungo's?"
"He was opening some tomb or other in Mongolia, and a firecrab burned him," Ginny said indifferently. "Nothing major, except the firecrab had additional powers to make the burns Everlasting. So it'll be a few weeks before we can get them out."
"You can get out Everlasting burns?" Harry said dazedly.
"Yes, it's very easy - oh, listen to us! This is so trivial. I didn't tell Seamus any more than he needed to know, Harry, but I did tell him that the targets this time are half-bloods, and, well. He's a half-blood, so...he obviously has a personal interest in this. You know, sometimes I think that it's silly to keep things to yourself when it can be done so much better with help from outside parties."
"Fair enough, Gin," Harry said wearily, as he rose and strode over to the fire. "But now I'm afraid I'll have to break the new development to your brother and sister."
Ginny was silent for a moment as she watched him bend down to the fireplace - then, as he stuck his head in, she stood and padded out of the room.
------------------------
"Alright, children!" Professor Flitwick squeaked excitedly. "Tonight we're going to go on a field trip!"
"Really?" said one of the older members of the Charms Club with interest. Nora recognized her as her cousin Marie, a seventh year, whose parents were Bill and Fleur. "Where to?"
"The library," said Flitwick, to which the Charms Club collectively rolled its eyes. "We're going to do a fun little exercise. Everyone has to look up one fun fact about the different wand cores and their effect on Charms. You may think it sounds boring, but I think you may be surprised at some of the things you will find!"
"Fair enough," said Ian Warner, the Gryffindor prefect, and immediately started to head for the door.
Pallas Austin caught up with Nora. "This is great," she said in a low voice. "We can all sit at one table in the back and talk."
"Mmhmm," Nora nodded fervently.
"And I bet that if we just find one fact," came Kincaid's soft voice in her ear, "and then claim we all found the same one by accident...we can just spend the whole meeting discussing things."
"I like the way you think, Court," smirked Vin Malfoy, whom Nora had not noticed behind her.
"Hey, you lot! Wait up!" Nick jogged up behind them. "You were about to make me walk alone," he accused.
"What of it?" Pallas said airily, but at Nick's crestfallen expression, she giggled. "I'm kidding, Nick!"
"Right, I knew that," said Nick, but he quickly said, "So, how about those Domgobbets in Herbology, eh?"
They chattered about their classes all the way to the library, which struck Nora as funny - clearly they were just talking about the mundane everyday things until they could get in private and start in on the important stuff.
When they got to the library, Professor Flitwick merely told them that they would reconvene in a half hour to share what they had found. Nora, Pallas, Vin, Nick and Kincaid immediately set off to find a remote table away from the rest of the students, and finally found one in a dark corner.
"I'll go get a relevant book," Pallas volunteered.
"Relevant to what," Vin said slowly. "Are we going to do the assignment...or look up things about Black Slumber?"
"Ooh, good idea, I'll get one for each topic," said Pallas, and ran off to find Madam Pince.
"Alright. We can fill her in when she gets back," said Nick. "Has anyone heard anything of importance? Anything out of the ordinary?"
"I heard Alexandria Townsend telling Sandrine Trilson that she was having nightmares, but I don't think that really qualifies," Vin offered.
Nora shook her head, smiling slightly. "I later heard what the nightmares were about. And somehow I doubt that being caught naked by Braden Reilly is something that the caster of a Black Slumber would care to make Alexandria dream about."
"How did two girls like that end up in Gryffindor?" Nick wondered aloud.
"Where else would you suggest they end up?" asked Kincaid. "So they're shallow. They'll grow out of it."
"Cheers, Kinny," said Nora.
Kincaid cocked his head to one side, seeming to consider something. "Kinny. I like the sound of that."
"Good," said Nora. "But anything else?"
"Not as of yet," Vin said bracingly, just as Pallas returned with two books.
"What'd I miss?" she asked eagerly.
"Alexandria Townsend dreams about Braden Reilly in the nude, or something equally stupid," said Kincaid unconcernedly.
Pallas doubled over with laughter. "Well, I'm glad I'm all filled in now."
"Have you heard anything important, Pallas?" asked Vin.
"Well, Darius Drake was in my house and all...and no one's been told why he's in the hospital wing. But apparently his roommates woke up one morning, and Darius usually got up earlier than the rest of them, so they knew something was up. Then he couldn't be roused from his bed...and one of them, Lucas Smythe, he tried peeling back one of his eyelids, and Darius' eyes were completely rolled back into his head," she finished in a frightened whisper.
"But no one knows that it's Black Slumber, right?" said Vin, looking for confirmation.
Pallas shook her head. "I haven't heard those words from anyone. But there are tons of other theories."
"Let people talk," said Nora. "As long as it's just talk."
"Wise words," said Kincaid. "If that's all, I had an idea."
"What?" the other four asked.
"Well, as much as I like what we're doing, I still think there aren't enough of us. In order for our plan to work, we need more than five sets of eyes and ears. I think we should start recruiting new members. Just one by one, people we can trust."
"I think that's a good idea, in all honesty," said Nora.
"Good thinking, Kincaid," said Pallas, tugging thoughtfully on her long, dirty blonde hair.
"We should make it a regular thing," said Vin excitedly. "Every two weeks, we let someone new in."
"How do we decide who to let in?"
"They'll have to prove themselves somehow...demonstrate a true commitment to Inter-House bonding," Nora said pensively.
"And they can't show any signs of prejudice and all that," Nick added.
"That's a given," said Pallas, nodding.
"All right. So two weeks from now, we'll meet again and all vote on who to let in. In the meantime, I think we should all kind of...pledge ourselves to our cause," said Vin.
"How do you mean?" asked Nick.
"We have to be able to trust each other," Vin said fervently. "We should all, I guess, pledge to make sure we won't betray each other."
"Unless it's in a case of emergency," Pallas put in.
"I like that idea," said Kincaid.
"I know how to make it work," Nora spoke up. They turned to look at her. "Well, back when my parents and my uncle formed their group against Cornelius Fudge, they sort of made all the members sign a piece of parchment, which meant they'd never tell anyone outside their group about what they were doing...and my mum put an enchantment on it that would make anyone who tattled sprout terrible pustules all over their face that spelled out 'Sneak!'"
"No. Really? The Minister of Magic did that? That's a great story, Nora," Nick whooped.
"Do you know the charm?" Kincaid broke in, looking at Nora intently.
"As a matter of fact, yes I do," she said, pleased with herself for having paid attention to her parents' stories. "Anyone have a spare piece of parchment?"
They looked around. "No...I don't think any of us thought to bring parchment to Charms Club," said Pallas.
"Fair enough," Nora shrugged. "Next time."
"Oi, Barry," Kincaid said suddenly. "Did you say you had news?"
"Oh, I completely forgot. Thanks, Kin," said Nick. "I thought I'd heard of the Preservatists somewhere before, so I went and looked at this book I read a while ago, where they're mentioned. It was just this stupid wizarding novel, but they were in there. And it said that they weren't against half-bloods whose parents were both wizards."
"What does that mean?" asked Vin, confused.
"Well, think about Nora here," said Nick, gesturing to the red-haired girl. "Her dad's a wizard, and her mum's a wizard, but she's a half-blood. Why?"
"Because my mum's Muggle-born," Nora said defiantly.
"Calm down," said Nick. "I wasn't attacking you. I'm saying that you're half-blood, but your parents are still both wizards. Now think of the girl in your House, Morag Alcott. She's a half blood too, but one of her parents is an out-and-out Muggle, no magic in her mum at all. The Preservatists are targeting half-bloods like her."
"So basically, Nora's safe, but Morag's in danger?" Pallas knit her eyebrows together.
"That's what it sounds like," said Vin.
"What we should do is start putting together a list of people who are potential targets, like Darius and Morag," said Kincaid.
"That's a great plan," said Nora appreciatively.
"Come on, you don't think we'll look suspicious, ferreting around into people's family trees?" said Nick.
"I'm not saying we should randomly start asking people who their parents are," said Kincaid, annoyed. "We can just keep our ears out whenever someone starts talking about their parents. Most kids aren't secretive about their family situations. You knew Morag was a half-blood, why? Because she
says so."
"Okay, fair enough," said Nick.
"Plus, we know who a lot of kids' parents are, just through the wizarding community," said Pallas. "Like, I may not know who Terrence Bryant's mum is, but I know his father's a pure-blood who works in the Department of Magical Transportation."
"Are you saying we have to figure out the bloodline of every single student at Hogwarts?" Nora said painedly.
"No. But we can just put together a list of unknowns. I mean, we can rule out pretty much all the Slytherins, they're all pureblood, right?"
Kincaid nodded. "The only half-blood to ever get into Slytherin was You-Know-Who. But I think there's some magical way to figure out what your bloodline's like, I heard some sixth years talking about it before…well, in any case, none of them will be half-blooded anyway."
"See? That just leaves three houses," Pallas said cheerily.
"And close to half of Gryffindor are pureblood Weasley cousins of Nora's," said a grinning Vin.
Nora swatted at him. "Come off it, there aren't THAT many of us."
"Oh, there are a fair few," said Vin, raising his eyebrows.
"Enough," Pallas interruped. "We have to find facts about the wand cores. I don't think we even have enough time to read the book that talks about Black Slumber, we can do that another time."
"Cheers, Pallas," said Nick, and pulled the book to himself, flipping through it until he found a section entitled "Wand Cores in Charms." "Alright, Nora, you write this down - 'Wands with veela hair at their cores have been known to produce faulty charms that often take on a mind of their own.'...Pallas, take this one - 'Wands with cores placed too close to either point of the wand have been known to result in weaker charms'...Court, here's one for you - 'Wands that have Mundring whiskers at their core make for completely ineffectual charms in all areas except Dark magic.' Oi, what's a Mundring?" Nick looked up.
"No clue," Nora shrugged.
"They're an extinct magical creature," Pallas supplied. "But that's all I know about them, I saw them on a list of extinct animals at the Department for Control of Magical Creatures a while back, my mum works there."
"I think we're supposed to meet with the rest of the club about now," said Vin. "I'll just take the one about the Mundrings, Barry can use the one about veela."
"Sure thing," said Nick, shutting the book with a clap and standing up to stretch. "Well, you lot, I like this. Til next time, then."
"Til next time," said Nora softly, earning herself an intent look from Kincaid, who immediately looked away and followed Nick away from the secluded corner.
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A/N
Okay, but still. IT WILL GET EVEN BETTER, I PROMISE. YOU'VE NO IDEA WHAT I HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU.
It's 1:45, I don't feel like writing a review song. Besides I think I earned a rest, picking up a story after two years of no activity! And all thanks to a wonderful reviewer named Sciens Mulier. Hope you like it :-D