Chapter 13 – Are Doomed to Repeat Them
"Well, I think that's everyone in the year," said Nora, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand as she moved away from the list of first years.
"No," said Nick, "I still haven't found out Amanda Eilmann."
"She's Muggle-born," said Nora, remembering the nervous girl from the boat ride to Hogwarts, and put an X next to Amanda's name, which, indeed, had been unmarked. "She told me on the first day of school."
"Really?" asked Nick, genuinely surprised. "She talked to you?"
"Why's that so surprising?"
"Because, well, the reason she was still an unknown's because she…doesn't really have any friends," said Nick uncomfortably. "And any time someone tries to be nice to her, she just ignores them…prefers to be alone, doing her homework." Nick shrugged.
"Maybe, because she's Muggle-born, she really does need the extra time to learn things," Vin suggested.
"It'd be easier if she just made friends with people that have been around magic, who could tell her what she needs to know," said Kincaid. "Maybe she's just scared, or doesn't like meeting new people."
"Well, in the spirit of the Inter-House Alliance, we should go out of our way to make her feel included," said Pallas, her jaw set.
They nodded. "Well, next we have to do the second years," said Nora, getting them back on subject. "How many targets do we have in the first year?"
"Morag, Jeff, Shelby, Jake, Braden and Matthew," said Pallas, counting on her fingers.
"Two from each House," Kincaid frowned. "That's a little too convenient."
"The world's an imperfect place," Nora waved him off. "Besides, we're not counting kids that have one wizard parent and one Muggle-born wizard parent."
"Fair enough." Kincaid glanced at his watch. "We should probably be getting back soon, but today's the day we have to pick someone new for our group. "Anyone have a candidate?"
"I do," Nora said immediately. "Morag Alcott."
"Does that have anything to do with the fact that she's your best friend in Gryffindor?" asked Vin teasingly.
"No, not at all. Besides the fact that she's got the same attitude as we do, the whole blood-doesn't-necessarily-mean-anything mindset, she's a target. I think that if we told her that she's in danger, she could look out for herself and it'd save us the trouble of having an unsuspecting target on our hands."
They all looked thoughtful. "That makes sense, actually," Pallas conceded.
"How'd you know she's got the same attitude as we do?" asked Nick, out of curiosity.
Nora looked at Vin. "My dad had the bright idea of trying to make me stop talking to Vin. Because he's somehow distantly related to a family of Voldemort's supporters. And, well, Morag came upstairs and basically gave me a speech about how the person can be born into a family but doesn't necessarily have to follow in his family's footsteps. And she has a lot of passion, apparently, because some kids used to make fun of her brother for having a Muggle dad, and she's determined to prove them wrong."
"Well, that's good enough for me," said Vin. "Especially because I just plain like the girl."
"Yeah, she's really nice," Pallas agreed.
"I vote for Morag too," said Nick promptly.
They all looked at Kincaid expectantly, who merely smiled wryly. "Well, I know I'm being a terrible Slytherin by letting a third Gryffindor in, but it sounds great to me," he said with a laugh.
Nora clapped gleefully. "Ooh, this is great!" she exclaimed. "Vin, we can tell her as soon as we leave."
"Okay, fine," Vin nodded.
"That about wraps it up for today," said Pallas, rising. "We'll start finding out the second years for next time…hey, now that we'll have Morag, maybe it'll go faster?"
"Exactly," said Kincaid approvingly.
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"So…are you in?" asked Nora tentatively.
Morag looked from Nora to Vin and back again. "Are you crazy? Of course I'm in! We have to help make sure that no more half-bloods like me get the Black Slumber!"
Nora and Vin both sighed with visible relief. "Okay, wonderful. What we need your help with now is just to help find out the bloodlines of the second years…but if you find out someone else's, that's fine too, we just want to get an idea of who's a target and maybe keep a closer watch on them, you know?"
"Definitely," said Morag. "So you're saying that you've already mapped out our year? How many targets besides me?"
"Five," said Vin at once.
"Five out of…what, thirty-one? Thirty-one, right? So figure it's about one-sixth of every year, therefore one-sixth of Hogwarts as a whole. One in every six people is a target." Morag's face fell. "We're going to need a lot more than six people if we want to keep an eye on all of them."
Nora's mouth had opened slightly. "Why…yes, I suppose you're right. One in six." She looked at Vin, who was just as impressed. It had never occurred to any of them to view their problem as a mathematical one.
"But what I want to know is, how can the Preservatists tell?" said Morag, frowning.
"Tell what?"
"The difference between a half-blood like me and a half-blood like Nora," said Morag. "Wizards can't just sense what someone's parentage is. There's got to be some kind of charm, or potion that tells them."
"Or a device?" said Nora. "I mean, my mum always wonders how Lucius Malfoy knew from the very start that she was Muggle-born."
"Or maybe a magical creature," said Vin pensively. "You know how kneazels can sniff out who's an Animagus? Maybe there's an animal than can sniff out bloodlines."
"Yes!" said Nora, a look of comprehension on her face. "Like in my parents' second year, when there was a basilisk attacking all the Muggle-borns! It knew who was a Muggle-born, it attacked my mum and a bunch of others!"
"We should go down to the library and ask Madam Pince to give us books on different ways to find out someone's bloodline," said Morag. "We can say it's for a genealogy…that we're giving out parents for Christmas. Or something."
"Good enough," said Nora approvingly. "Wow, Morag, you're in the I.H.A. for all of five minutes and already we've got a whole new focus."
"Well, sometimes you need a fresh pair of eyes, a neutral outside observer, you know? I expect that when you let the next person in, it'll be more of the same. Everyone's different, they're bound to see the problem from different angles. For example, my angle is someone that's directly threatened by it, so I've got a more – what's it called? Personal stake? Yeah, personal stake." Morag beamed.
"Well then. I'm glad we decided to let more people in," said Vin with raised eyebrows.
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"Hermione!" Harry bellowed from the fireplace. "Ron! Are you home?"
"Hi Uncle Harry!"
Little Troy Weasley had been walking past the door to the study, and stopped when he heard Harry's shouts.
"Hi there, Troy," said Harry weakly. "Mind fetching your mum and dad for me?"
"Sure!" Troy bolted away. Moments later a haggard-looking Hermione appeared, with a pale Ron at her heels.
"Harry! Where have you been, we've been looking for you everywhere – "
"I went to try and research something, Hermione, we need to completely rethink Operation Deluxe, it's something Seamus said that gave me the idea – "
"Harry, please, there's been another attack," said Hermione, her eyes glistening.
"WHAT?" Harry said in anguish, thinking of his son, regardless of the fact that Dane was a pureblood.
Hermione and Ron nodded. "We've just received word from McGonagall," said Ron. "That's why we were looking for you."
"Who was it this time?" asked Harry, dreading the answer.
"A Hufflepuff sixth-year," said Hermione.
"How did it happen?"
"In her sleep," said Ron in a low voice. "Just like the Drake boy…we have to stop these attacks soon, because the wizards that we need to lift the Black Slumber aren't going to stick around waiting for the next victim in need of a cure."
"Yes," said Harry firmly. "And I think I know a way to do it. For Operation Deluxe, we were just going to deploy a bunch of those modified Secrecy Sensors that would comb the castle, but I'm not sure that's even worth it. We're forgetting how vast Hogwarts is; even if they're continually moving, the caster can always move one step ahead. No, what we're missing is that Hogwarts is impregnable – but it's always been harmed by things that were granted access."
"What do you mean?" asked Hermione.
"Think about it. In first year, it was Quirrel, right? Appointed by Dumbledore himself. And second year, the basilisk and Tom Riddle's diary, well, one of them was put there by one of Hogwarts' founders and the other came into the school via my wife." Harry's eyes flashed for a moment before he continued. "Wormtail came in your pocket, Ron. And Moody was welcomed in with open arms by Dumbledore, too."
"So what are you suggesting we do, get Crookshanks to examine everyone's pets to make sure they're not really a wizard that's thought to have been dead for thirteen years?" asked Ron with a snort.
"No, but…there has to be some way. To screen the teachers, students, belongings, pets. Come on, I know it's ridiculous, but twenty years ago if someone told you that your pet rat is actually a long-dead wizard, you'd have laughed in their face! And it ended up being true, didn't it?"
"All right, fine," Ron said grudgingly.
"How do you plan to 'screen' everything, Harry?" asked Hermione.
"Well, that's where we'll need the minds of some other great wizards," said Harry. "I wanted to know if you can summon an emergency meeting on the state of Hogwarts security. I know we're not to meddle at Hogwarts, but there's a clear and present danger, and this warrants brainstorming."
Hermione nodded. "Yes, I'll do it, of course," she said. "I'll have to ask Percy and Lucretia to modify my schedule a bit, I've got a meeting with the Portuguese Minister of Magic and one with the Department of Magical Transportation…but," she said, realizing she was babbling, "It'll get done."
"I hope so," said Harry.
"Harry, it can't be comfortable like that, are you sure you don't want to just come in?" asked Ron belatedly.
Harry shook his head. "No, I'm off – oh wait, one more thing, Hermione," he said, glad he had remembered, "Seamus asked if there's anyway we can get some more rune specialists to work on decoding the rest of the tablets."
"I think so…I may be able to get clearance. I'll have Percy draw up a list of rune specialists and Lucretia can do their background checks…but you know, I really don't like the idea of revealing such potentially sensitive information to people that very well may be Preservatists."
"Well, if they're Preservatists, then they already know it all, don't they?" asked Ron, sounding tired. "And there's no other way for us to get the information than can stop more attacks."
Hermione sighed. "All right, then. Harry, tell Ginny I say hello."
"Will do, Hermione," said Harry, and his head vanished, leaving Hermione and Ron to watch the ominously crackling fire in contemplative silence.
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A/N – hey all. Don't feel like writing a review song right now, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't review! Especially since it'll get even better from here on in! So, in the words of Nike, JUST DO IT.