A/N Thank you Maria, MinervaDumbledore1 for betaing this.
More information about all the creatures mentioned in this chapter can be found at The Beastiary on the Harry Potter Lexicon or in the Fantastic Beasts book by Newt Scalamander.
Quintaped is a 5 legged beast that especially likes to eat humans
The lethifold attacks sleeping humans and after smothering them, digests them in their bed.
Puffskeins are little balls of fur with long tongues and (at least for the purposes of this story) no teeth. Puffskeins' favorite food is snot.
Diricaul is as a fat, flightless bird that like a phoenix escapes danger by vanishing in a burst of feathers. It is known by muggles as the dodo bird.
If you are taking the time to read all this please take an extra minute and review too!
I am curious do people prefer a few short chapters a week or one longer chapter every few weeks?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Albus Dumbledore arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast, before he even headed to the Head Table, his eyes scanned the Slytherin table. Neither Tom Riddle nor Minerva Grindelwald were present. As breakfast was served for another full hour, almost half of the students had not yet arrived. Dumbledore had no real reason for alarm.
A glance at the Head Table supplied one. Never before in his hundred plus years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had Robert Binns been late for breakfast, or any meal for that matter. It was a frequent grievance amongst the staff that the History of Magic professor always arrived before the official start of breakfast in order to monopolize the bacon supply.
He didn't think much of it at the time, but also missing were Shackleton, Kettleburn, and Pomfrey. After the state they had found Pomfrey in the night before, he wasn't at all surprised by the man's absence.
Dumbledore briefly caught the gaze of the Headmaster at the center of the table before heading to the dungeons to investigate.
It wasn't at all hard to locate Binns. The real challenge was navigating the dungeons. Dumbledore dodged a relatively small boulder aimed at his head by one cackling Red Cap, only to have another sink its teeth into his knee.
As he was using his wand to try to both pry off the one on his knee and keep the boulder throwing one at bay, Shackleton arrived to help.
"Oh good, you caught two."
Dumbledore shrugged.
"I caught two, two caught me, I suppose it all depends on how you look at the matter."
Shackleton appeared to be in too poor a mood to appreciate his humor.
"Dippet's too laid back. I would have fired Pomfrey straight away last night, but after this, even Dippet will need to take action. Do you know that when Kettleburn and I were first called down here, the bloody Red Caps were all concentrated in his classroom? Of course they all scattered as soon as we opened the door and started stunning them. Pomfrey still had your blood all over the place from yesterday."
Before continuing, Shackleton gave him a piercing look, as if he were partially to blame since it was his blood.
"Apparently, a few scouring spells were too much for him to cast before going off to get loaded. Kettleburn had a devil of a time trying to get the stains off. Finally he 'Incendioed' them off. Of course, Pomfrey is nowhere to be seen and Binns is just as useless as ever. When I become Headmaster, I don't know which one I will get rid of first."
Dumbledore frowned, listening to his superior complain. It wasn't because he didn't think Pomfrey deserved every word of it after last night, but because he had more important concerns. Once the Red Cap was dislodged from his knee, he excused himself and limped away.
Binns was easy to spot outside the girl's room. He was tapping on the door tentatively, as if afraid someone might be in there and decide to come out.
"Miss? Miss, you have to come out now."
That not working, it appeared Binns was moving on to bribery.
"I have a magic wand for you!"
Binns pressed his ear to the door, listening for sounds of movement. When Dumbledore tapped on his shoulder, the older man started terribly.
"Don't do that!"
Dumbledore ignored the reprimand.
"How long have you been tapping?"
"Long enough. You try."
Dumbledore gave a sharp rap on the door.
"Miss McGonagall? Minerva? Kitten?"
After the rather undramatic rescue of Pomfrey from his attempts to drown himself in a sea of fire whisky the night before, a long discussion had ensued on how best to hide the girl's true identity. The story they settled upon was that she was the younger sibling of the not so recently departed Thomas McGonagall and the one actually responsible for the magical activity that mistakenly resulted in him being sent to Hogwarts. Certainly not the full truth, but it did have an element of truth in it.
As it was late when the decision was made, it still remained to bring the young lady and Tom Riddle on board with the deception. Rather than bring more attention to the girl's existence by parading her through Diagon Alley to the wand shop, Dippet was hoping the wand left behind by that same McGonagall would function for the girl.
Another knock failed to cause any stirrings in the chamber beyond. It did however get the attention of Kettleburn who was walking by, holding an immobilized Red Cap by the ankle.
"You two are pathetic."
Kettleburn rapped once before opening the door. He stuck his head into the room.
"Kitten?"
He pushed the door fully open for all to see. The bed was empty. A quick check of the adjoining bathroom, closet, and under the bed revealed no one.
Dumbledore said a single word before marching out of the room.
"Riddle."
Binns and Kettleburn followed after him to the Head Boy's room. Dumbledore gave only a quick knock before using his wand to unseal the wards put on the door by the room's occupant. If Tom Riddle was doing anything he shouldn't be, he had no intentions of giving him time to make it look otherwise.
The knock had awoken Tom and the uninvited entrance startled him. Dumbledore once again found displeasure at the sight of Tom Riddle that greeted him. Tom quickly scrambled off of the bed as the three professors moved into the room. Tom was fully dressed, but Dumbledore wasn't sure if what remained on the bed was better or worse than what he had been concerned about. Truthfully, he still wasn't even sure it didn't include what he feared, because the girl was again no longer a girl.
After having awoken at Tom's sudden movements, the little gray and black kitten gave an inquiring look while stretching.
Binns pointed a finger back and forth between the former girl and the Head Boy.
"You cursed her again! You turned her back into a cat! You are a hooligan!"
"I didn't!"
Dumbledore frowned considering the things that had occurred the past day. The girl, though she didn't appear to have full recall, did at least remember or could be reminded of bits of the past. She behaved unusually, but had not gone entirely feral - an amazing feat given the length of her transformation.
He had administered the mandrake potion to her in the early afternoon. The potion would have lasted approximately twelve hours. In that time, it would have been impossible for her to have been transfigured. Once the potion had run its course, it would have again been possible to transfigure her into a cat.
While he had no doubt Tom was gifted enough in Transfiguration to do it, given the relatively good condition the girl's mind was in, it was far more likely -
"She's an animagus."
Tom looked torn between denying Binns's allegation and conceding Dumbledore's truth. Dumbledore went on to explain more fully his conclusion.
"Some research has been done on long term animagus transformations. They have been used in the past by the Ministry as spies to gather information. Animagi take much longer than simple human to animal transfigurations to begin to have detrimental effects on the mind. Still after extremely long periods of time there begins a loss of memory and even identity."
That would certainly explain the question that had been bothering him since it occurred to him last night after the girl was asleep. Why hadn't the girl asked about her father? Dippet had easily explained it away as the girl being a Seer who already knew the fate of Grindelwald and had insisted no one mention Grindelwald in front of her. But Dumbledore hadn't found that answer completely satisfying.
Kettleburn interrupted his thoughts.
"Is the memory loss permanent?"
Dumbledore didn't have an easy answer for that question.
"Sometimes. The longer she remains as a girl the more likely it is she might begin to recover some of her lost memories. But the longer she stays as a cat the harder it becomes."
Kettleburn approached the kitten.
"Kitten?"
The cat's ears flicked towards the man with the Red Cap.
"Kitten, can you change back into a little girl for me?"
The kitten gave him a bored look before closing her eyes.
"Kitten, this is very important. If you can change back, we need to see you do it. Tom is going to be in a lot of trouble unless you show us you made yourself into a cat."
Dumbledore could never hope to understand how Binns's mind worked. For whatever reason, the History of Magic professor approached the kitten and wagged his finger in front of her whiskers.
"You change back right now or else!"
Binns soon discovered exactly what the kitten thought the 'else' in 'right now or else' stood for. He scowled and sucked on his freshly bitten finger.
"There's a hooligan right there! Dumbledore, don't you have some spell for this?"
This certainly explained why Alastor Moody's repeated castings of 'Finite Incantatem' had proven useless. There was indeed a spell just for such occasions, but he had hoped to not have to force the girl again. The spell wasn't painful, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either.
"Tom, would you care to try to convince her or do I need to make her change?"
Tom did not look at all happy with the extra people in his rooms. He seemed to want nothing more than just to be left alone with his kitten.
"Kitten wants to be a cat. It was her choice. I didn't do it or make her do it. She came to my room because she wanted to sleep here with me. She isn't used to having to sleep alone. You shouldn't make her change. She likes being a cat, she doesn't want to be a little girl."
The idea of just leaving the girl as a cat wasn't something that could actually even be considered.
"That's not possible, Tom. I don't want to have to force her. Will you try to convince her to change?"
After a minute of inaction on Tom's part, Dumbledore reluctantly moved forward. His motion appeared to have finally spurred Tom to a decision. He returned to the bed and gently caressed the little kitten before speaking to her.
"Kitten, you have to be a little girl for a while."
It took a few minutes, but Tom got the kitten to return to girl form. Watching the girl transform was amazing. Such an accomplishment for someone so young.
The girl snapped her teeth menacingly in Binns's direction.
"I want to be a kitten."
Dumbledore had a second opportunity to marvel as the girl reversed the transformation to return to her animagus form.
Kettleburn sounded rather impressed.
"Well, I would say that takes care of that problem. She is clearly in control of her own changing."
Perhaps, but it also introduced a new one.
Dumbledore reached into an enchanted pocket in his robes. Though he was not wearing the same clothing as yesterday, he still was able to pull out the vial of mandrake potion from yesterday's pocket. He summoned a small dish of milk and added only three drops, careful to conserve the rest .
"Tom, she needs to drink this."
"Why? She isn't bothering anyone by doing it. You're just jealous because she is an animagus and you're not."
Armando Dippet had been correct yesterday in his assessment that Dumbledore was acting before fully appreciating the consequences of his actions. Not so much today. He ignored the implication that a child of eight was more talented at transfiguration than he was.
"Tom, do you know what the punishment is for being an unregistered animagus?"
The shifting of the young man's feet seemed to indicate there was something he wasn't an authority on.
"It's five years in Azkaban. Ministry aurors will be coming to check on the girl's progress. We cannot chance for her to transfigure in front of the Ministry people or anyone else."
Kettleburn had not been in the room during the meeting with Minister Augustus yesterday.
"Dumbledore, she is a child. No one is going to put a child in Azkaban."
Binns hadn't been there either, but he was older and not so naïve.
"A child no, a Themis yes."
Tom had been at the meeting and began to realize the reasoning behind Dumbledore's words. He took the dish over to the kitten and coaxed her into drinking it.
Dumbledore motioned Kettleburn away from the others. He wasn't quite sure how to phrase what he wanted to request of the other professor. Kettleburn's openly questioning expression suggested he should at least begin trying.
"I think that Tom knew the girl wasn't really a cat."
The Care of Magical Creatures professor again immobilized the Red Cap in his hand as his earlier spell began to wear off.
"I picked up on that yesterday."
"You noticed Tom's behavior too?"
"No, I meant I picked up on your distrust, dislike even, of Tom yesterday."
The conversation wasn't going in the direction he intended. Dumbledore chose not to respond to the insinuation and continued to try to get his point across.
"She is an animagus. She can change back and forth between a cat and a girl at will."
Kettleburn didn't seem at all impressed by his words.
"You are the Transfiguration Professor, but I do believe that is what an animagus does."
"What I mean is…she may have changed before…while alone in Tom's presence."
Kettleburn's frown suggested he realized the direction Dumbledore was trying to take the conversation in. His words showed he wasn't going there willingly.
"She might have. So what?"
Dumbledore was so focused on trying to get Kettleburn on board with his train of thought that he failed to notice Riddle creeping closer to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"I want you to check the girl to find out if…to be sure he hasn't…tampered…with her."
Tom's outrage was too great. He clearly forgot that he shouldn't respond to what he wasn't supposed to be hearing.
"I wouldn't do that to her! How can you even think that!"
Dumbledore observed the young man before him. The outrage seemed sincere, but he had long suspected Tom Riddle of being quite skillful at deceit.
"I would never hurt her! Kitten belongs to me! I would never let anyone do something like that to her!"
Dumbledore's eyes couldn't help but widen in shock as rather than be the accused, Tom tried to be the accuser.
"What kind of a filthy old man would think of that? Just because you would think of doing something like that to her-"
Kettleburn put a hand on Tom Riddle's shoulder to silence him.
"Tom, go get ready. You need to take Kitten upstairs for breakfast before your first class. Potions, right?"
Tom was still glaring angrily at Dumbledore, but he gave a slight nod so Kettleburn continued.
"Dippet decided last night, you can take Kitten to your classes. Your professors will give her different work, more appropriate to her level of learning. Only the people in the potions room yesterday know who she really is. The other staff and students are to be told she is Thomas McGonagall's younger sister, Kitten McGonagall. She responds to the name Kitten, not Minerva anyways."
Tom's eyes still hadn't left Dumbledore, so Kettleburn repeated his first words.
"Tom, go finish getting ready."
With the glare Riddle was directing at him, Dumbledore wouldn't have been at all surprised if the boy had hissed while walking by. As soon as Tom went into the other room to change, Kettleburn returned his attentions to Dumbledore.
"Do you really suspect the boy of being capable of something like that? He's barely more than a child himself."
Dumbledore truthfully answered the younger professor.
"I honestly don't know. I certainly hope not, but I honestly don't know."
"And you aren't willing to give him the benefit of the doubt?"
Dumbledore sighed.
"I simply am not comfortable taking that chance. Are you?"
Kettleburn appeared to be debating the matter.
"Do you really think that's necessary, Dumbledore? That kind of an examination could be traumatic in itself for a child. Why don't we just watch the girl for a bit? Often there are indicators, unusual behavior patterns that…"
Kettleburn gave up his attempts to convince Dumbledore as the two observed the once again girl also getting ready for the day. She was sitting on the bed licking her hand, grooming herself.
Kettleburn again immobilized the Red Cap as it began to regain its ability for motion.
"Okay, let me finish helping Shackleton with the last of the Red Caps. I'll collect Kitten after her potion lesson."
*********************************************
###########################################
Pomfrey rested his pounding head on top of his folded arms. He really needed a potion right now, but yesterday the catgirl had broken all of the vials he had stored of the particular potion he needed. He needed to make another one, but really, right now he couldn't.
Last night he had told the others he had no idea what had happened. Technically, it was the truth. He couldn't remember what it was he might have said or done in the course of the evening.
What he hadn't told them was what he had left the castle planning to do. Honestly, it wasn't his fault - no one had bothered to tell him the catgirl was supposed to be a secret. Still, he didn't actually remember saying anything about her. But then, he couldn't remember why everyone had been so eager to buy him drinks last night either.
He winced at the shuffling noises his NEWT level class made as they entered the room. He lifted his head only enough for his voice to not be completely muffled.
"Make the potion on page 130 of Magical Draughts and Potions. The first person to bring me one will get fifty points added to their House."
He heard the students sniggering, but he really couldn't spare the effort to take points off. His eyes were closed, but even with his hands covering his ears, he couldn't drown out the voices.
"Kitten, just stir. I'll do the chopping and slicing."
"Kitten don't touch the fire. Leave it alone!"
Pomfrey flinched, but thankfully Riddle's voice wasn't really loud or angry.
"Take your nose out of the cauldron."
It seemed catgirl was as curious about potion making as a girl as she had been as a cat.
Given Riddle's recent rash of cauldron explosions, he was a bit hesitant when the boy was the first to approach with a finished potion. But surely Riddle must have some potion making skill, to manage to test into the NEWT level class. This headache dissolving potion was a simple potion, one usually assigned to first years. Besides, nothing could be as bad as the pain in his head.
Pomfrey drank the potion. It was wonderful, almost like he could feel the headache dissolving immediately. When the first scream came, he didn't notice it at all. He didn't notice Shackleton and Kettleburn running in to investigate the chorus of screams and shouting either. In fact, he didn't really notice anything at all for several days. Not until he woke up in St. Mungo's after they had finished undissolving his head.
He probably would have tried to make more of a fuss about it after if he hadn't been so relieved to have not been at the castle later in the week, when the issue of the Quibbler arrived. If he had been accessible that day, he was fairly certain suspending him would have been the least of the things Dippet would have done.
Not to mention, it did get rid of the headache.
************************************************
##############################################
Kevric Kettleburn had seen a lot of unpleasant things in his lifetime - thestral attacks, rioting giants, a Quintaped assault, and even more than once his own limb torn off of his body. But not even the time during an internship in the tropics, when he had walked in on a lethifold three fourths of the way through digesting his roommate, had he seen a sight to prepare him for what greeted him upon entering the potion classroom.
He left Shackleton to work on getting Pomfrey to the infirmary while he ushered the children out, even though it was well before the bell was due to ring.
As Tom was going out the door, he held him back.
"Tom, I need Kitten to come with me to my office for a few minutes."
He noticed Tom's frown and the tightening of the young man's grasp on the girl's hand.
"Can I go with her?"
Kevric hesitated. Personally, he couldn't even conceive of a mere child like Tom being capable of the things Dumbledore suggested. Still, he wasn't so unworldly as to not be aware that those things did go on. It was Kitten who decided it for him. She held her other hand up.
"You can carry me there, Tom."
Tom didn't hesitate before gathering the girl into his arms. Kevric smiled at the sweet way she curled up against the older boy. The girl was slight, but not nearly as easy to carry as a kitten had been. Even so, Tom never offered a word of complaint on the journey to his office.
The girl became a little apprehensive in the office. When he told Tom to set her on the exam table, the girl coiled her arms around the boy's neck and refused to let go. Not that Tom tried very hard, or well at all, to make her.
Having been told about Madame Griselda's experiences examining the girl, Kevric preceded slowly.
"You need to have a check up to make sure you have been growing the way you should. Now Madame Griselda is a people healer. She is very nice and could take a look at you."
He was almost certain the hair on the back of the girl's neck was raised even though she wasn't in cat form.
"Personally, I like animals a lot better than I like most people. I am the Care of Magical Creatures professor at the school. I take care of all the animals here. Do you think it would be alright if I took a look at you?"
The girl and her handler were both eyeing him suspiciously.
"What kind of animals do you take care of?"
Kevric shrugged casually.
"Oh, all kinds of animals. Owls, flobberworms, hippogriffs, puffskeins, nifflers, and diricauls. Oh, and cats. I take care of cats and little kittens, too."
The girl seemed to be relaxing a bit. She glanced around the room before again regarding him suspiciously.
"Where are all your animals?"
Kevric smiled.
"Well, some of them are too big to stay in my office. This week my classes are learning about hippogriffs. I keep them in a pen outside because they wouldn't be happy in here. Tomorrow, I am getting in a whole shipment of puffskeins. They are small enough to be kept in my office. Puffskeins are fun to play with and very friendly. They are little balls of fur with really long tongues. I bet you would like them."
He could tell the girl was very interested, but was trying to not show it. Her firm grasp on Tom was a thing of the past.
"I would like to make a deal with you. If you let me take a look at you today, I will let you come see my puffskeins tomorrow. Does that sound fair?"
After a moment's consideration, Kitten came up with a counter offer.
"If you let me see the puffskeins tomorrow, than I will let you take a look at me tomorrow."
Kevric smiled. The girl was quite clever and a harsh bargainer, but he needed to do this as soon as possible. He had already decided from watching Tom's behavior with the girl that he was not going to do any invasive examinations. He would make excuses to Dumbledore, but barring any real reason to suspect the need, he couldn't justify performing one. Still, he did need to give the girl a standard checkup to find out if her months of living as a cat had had any effects on her development.
"I need to look at you today."
The girl gave him an appraising look.
"Well, what can you show me today?"
Kevric chuckled while considering the matter. He had a constant stock of flobberworms, but he knew if he tried to pass them off on the girl as interesting creatures, he was just asking for trouble. There was, of course, a ready supply of Red Caps in Shackleton's office, but those were definitely not appropriate. He did have the hippogriffs, but hippogriffs could be a bit temperamental. Yet, if he were careful, it could work.
"Let me examine you now and you and Tom can come to my next class to see the hippogriffs."
With the girl grudgingly accepting, Kevric was left with the task of convincing her handler.
"What are you going to do to her?"
The anxiety in Tom's tone and face reassured Kevric that his opinion of Dumbledore's request being unnecessary was correct. As he retrieved a few instruments from the shelves, he motioned Tom over to him.
"Tom, I have no intentions of doing anything but a normal exam to check her development. Do you know of any reason why I should be checking for anything else?"
The look of suppressed rage on Tom's face was answer enough for him, even without the boy's harshly whispered response.
"I would never do that to her. Never. Whatever Dumbledore told you, he lied. He hates me. He always has, ever since I turned in his precious Hagrid for killing Myrtle. Kitten belongs to me. Why would I hurt someone that belongs to me?"
Kevric nodded. Tom Riddle had never elected to take one of his classes, so he had no real experience with the boy. He only knew him as the Slytherin Head Boy and school hero who had solved the mystery of the attacks on the students a few years back. He knew Hagrid well and it had not at all surprised him that Hagrid had been keeping some kind of harmful creature in the castle. While Hagrid was a dear, sweet boy, he had a different perspective than most people on the hazards of some creatures.
He had always known Dumbledore to be a fair man, but he had seemed to react excessively to Tom in the past day. Personally, given the unusual circumstances of the past day, Kevric hadn't seen anything sufficient to prompt Dumbledore's responses.
As for Tom's comments about Kitten belonging to him, well she had been his cat for several months. It didn't surprise him that it would take more than a single day for the boy to get over thinking that way, particularly given the boy's personal history.
"Open your mouth and say 'ahh.'"
The girl opened her mouth willingly enough, but as soon as he put the stick in her mouth she shifted it to the side of her mouth and began gnawing on it. After getting her to spit out the pieces he moved his attentions away from her face to give her time to become familiar with him.
The girl was a bit disbelieving at his request. She tilted her head inquiringly.
"You want me to kick you?"
Kevric smiled. "Just push against my hand as hard as you can with your foot."
His next comment went to Tom.
"Tom, her muscles aren't as well developed as they should be. I would have expected a mischievous little kitten like her to have gotten plenty of exercise running around the castle."
For the first time Kevric got an idea of what made Dumbledore so untrusting of Tom. Surely the light in the room was playing tricks, causing the glint in Tom's eyes as he answered.
"I carried her everywhere she wanted to go and kept her locked in my rooms when I went somewhere she couldn't go. Slytherins know not to let their pets run around the castle unsupervised. Horrible things can happen to creatures left unattended."
When he tried to check her reflexes with a slight tap from his little hammer, the girl showed him how good all her reflexes were. He narrowly avoided the snapping teeth.
"Now, you promised to let me examine you. If you want to see the hippogriffs, you have to let me finish."
The girl gave up trying to get a hold of him with her teeth. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but well it was that he didn't trust her. Animals had instincts that could overrule the best of intentions. He really was hoping to get through a day, just one day, without being bitten or scratched. To examine her ears, he was going to have to get within easy range of the teeth that he could already tell were quite healthy.
"How about a special treat? I bet you like candy."
Kevric went over to one the drawers and came back with a tin. Opening it, he offered one of the contents to the girl. She just stared at it.
"Go on, try one. I made it myself. Its called treacle fudge."
A knock at the door was followed by the appearance of young Hagrid.
"'ello, Professor Kettleburn."
"Hello, Hagrid. What can I do for you?"
The young man noticed the two other people in the room. His greeting for Kitten was enthusiastic, but he didn't seem at all comfortable with Tom. Tom soon made the reason why clear. Yes, Kevric supposed, Dumbledore might have a good reason for disliking Tom Riddle. Still, his behavior towards the girl was nothing but devoted.
"'ello, Kitten. Nice to see you again." After shuffling his feet, Hagrid gave Tom a one word greeting. "Tom."
Tom didn't bother to respond. Kitten smiled at the young groundskeeper.
"Hello, Ruby-us."
Hagrid smiled at the butchery of his first name. "Why dinna you call me Hagrid. Its what everyone calls me."
Kitten held out the tin to Hagrid.
"This is called treacle fudge. Go on, try one."
Hagrid smiled at the girl and took one.
"Why thank yeh."
Not wanting the girl to know he had been trying to trick her, Kevric didn't warn off Hagrid. Not surprisingly, the homemade 'treat' that he often fed to animals to temporarily cement their jaws together was not strong enough to effect the boy that clearly could not be anything less than half-giant. He would have to explain to him later that it wasn't really something meant for eating.
"Tats right nice fudge there. Goin' to have to get the recipe from you later, Professor."
Or maybe not.
Kitten was trying to unload his whole supply on the boy.
"Have some more."
"Kitten, you don't have to be nice to him. He's the groundskeeper."
Kevric was too shocked at Tom's rude words to say anything for a moment. Hagrid just looked down at his feet and shuffled them. Kitten didn't seem to be of a mind to listen to Tom.
"Why do you keep it?"
"Eh?"
Again Tom was quick with a response.
"Hagrid was expelled. His wand was broken in half."
That didn't appear to be an answer to the question the girl intended.
"Why do you have to keep it? Does it try to get away?"
Hagrid didn't seem to mind the odd question.
"Eh, well I suppose it does sometimes. Gettin' overgrown and such."
For the first time, Kevric noticed the something moving in the hand at Hagrid's side.
"What have you got there, Hagrid?"
Hagrid's arm extended to more clearly show the thrashing Red Cap he held. Given that the pieces of Hagrid's wand were in Dippet's office, the boy had no way to stun the creature.
"I found this lil tyke runnin' about. Thought yeh might be interested in em."
Kevric smiled. Only Hagrid would think to call a Red Cap a 'lil tyke.' Yes, clearly Hagrid had a different idea of what constituted a dangerous creature.
"Shackleton is keeping the lot in his office."
"Oh, right. Then, I'll just be bringin' him along."
Now that someone else had tasted the fudge, the girl was willing to take a piece. Kevric was able to finish the exam before she was able to open her jaws.
"Just in time. Let's head outside and find those hippogriffs."
When Tom tried to again pick the girl up, Kevric shook his head.
"Tom, she needs to walk by herself. The exercise is good for her."
He could see Tom wasn't happy with the idea, but didn't openly argue. When they reached the fresh sunshine, it became clear that exercise wasn't the only thing the girl had been lacking. Her hiss at the bright sunlight, before darting back into the shadows, reminded Kevric of a few vampires he had had occasion to meet.
"Hippogriffs like the sunshine. If you want to meet them, you are going to have to come outside.
The girl scowled at him a moment, but followed along. As they were crossing the lawns, the girl stopped and took notice of the trees in the opposite direction. He explained the situation to her easily enough.
"That's the Forbidden Forest."
"That's a pretty name."
When she turned to walk that way instead, Tom seemed pleased to have an excuse to scoop her up.
"We can't be letting her wander off into there."
Tom quickened his pace to avoid a response. As he followed after them, Kevric easily overheard Tom Riddle's words to the girl. There was a reason Tom never took the Care of Magical Creatures elective.
"Why anyone would want to learn about these beasts is beyond me. Half bird, half horse, all nasty, foul smelling. Those things should be destroyed as a service to wizard kind."
Now that they were at the edge of the fence with the rest of the class, Tom put the girl down. Despite the boy's words, Kitten seemed quite excited and eager to meet the hippogriffs.
Loud enough for the whole class to hear, he began speaking.
"Hippogriffs are beautiful and majestic creatures. They can be gentle and loyal companions. However, they are extremely sensitive. They enjoy praise and compliments. They do not respond well to insulting remarks or rudeness. In dealing with hippogriffs the first step is to get eye contact."
He held up a finger for each step as he listed them.
"Once you have eye contact, step two is to slowly bow. You want to bow deeply enough to expose the back of your neck to the hippogriff. You are presenting your weakest, most vulnerable part, and averting your eyes, to show yourself to be truly defenseless. It is done as a show of trust."
His eyes wandered over the group. Failure to pay careful attention to the details in his class was a dangerous behavior. One that could often lead to loss of life or limb. Usually one of his limbs. By now all his regular students were well aware of that danger. He just wasn't so sure if little Kitten was listening to his words. Her eyes certainly weren't taking any notice of him. Her gaze was fixated on one of the hippogriffs behind him. The hippogriff was staring back at her raptly. He raised a third finger as he continued speaking.
"If the hippogriff doesn't bow back, you should quickly move away because he or she is likely planning to take advantage of the opportunity and decapitate you. If the hippogriff does bow back, than it is probably, but not definitely, safe to approach it."
Running out of fingers, he changed hands for point number four.
"You want to continue making slow, deliberate motions. Speak to the hippogriff in a calm, soothing voice and stroke the feathers in a gentle, downward motion. If a hippogriff really takes to you, he may allow you to mount him. Its highly unlikely anyone will advance that far on the first day.
Now who would like to go first?"
Kevric couldn't help but agree with the protective way Tom held Kitten back. Best to let her see a few others try first. Once the rest of the class was happily paired off, he approached Kitten and Tom.
He had deliberately left unmatched the hippogriff the girl was interested in. Tranquility was one of the hippogriffs in the herd that was most comfortable with humans. She had actually been born in the now forbidden forest. Kevric, with the help of the young assistant groundskeeper, had rescued her from a vicious attack by a thestral in which her mother had been killed. At the time only a trusting young foal, months of repeated healing charms and hand feedings had not only gotten the hippogriff back to health, but had helped develop a close bond between Tranquility and her two caretakers.
As for the thestral, well Hagrid, Merlin love and protect the boy, had refused to kill it. Of course it couldn't be allowed to roam free near the school feasting on student's pets and forest creatures, so instead Hagrid had captured it. Several years had passed, but the boy still hadn't given up on his attempts to tame the beast.
Kitten already had the first part down. Her gray eyes were still locked with the hippogriffs black ones.
"This one's name is Tranquility. Would you like to get closer and pet her?"
The little girl seemed mesmerized. Her nod was almost imperceptible.
"We need to see if she would like it too. Can you bow to her?"
The little girl gave a curtsy which he supposed technically might be a bow, but didn't at all show the back of her neck. Kevric started to correct her, but oddly enough the hippogriff didn't mind. Tranquility bowed back.
Kevric was a bit disconcerted at the hippogriff's unusual behavior, but decided to let the girl continue. Given her recent experiences, he tried to speak to her on that level.
"You like to be petted, right?"
The girl looked at him like he was the silliest thing in the world.
"It's nice when people pet you the direction your fur grows. But, I bet it feels kind of funny when people pet against your fur."
The girl agreed to this enthusiastically.
"I scratch them when they do that."
He had to suppress a laugh.
"I bet you do. Feathers are like that too. So pet her downwards."
Tom looked very apprehensive as his Kitten moved forward.
Tranquility closed her eyes with a contented look as the girl began stroking her feathers.
"You should talk to her in a calm, soothing voice. Hippogriffs like praise and compliments."
The girl smiled at the magical creature.
"You have very nice feathers. My fur is nicer, but -"
The hippogriff still had her eyes closed and was leaning into the girl's touch, but Kitten's words were a bit on the offending side. Kevric interrupted her to repeat his earlier instructions.
"Hippogriffs do not respond well to insulting remarks or rudeness."
The girl looked right at him before speaking. She still wore a happy smile and gently stroked the creature.
"You are a nasty, foul smelling -"
Normally hippogriffs respond rapidly, but Tranquility hadn't even opened her eyes by the time Kevric grabbed at the girl to pull her out of harm's way. His sudden action seemed to spur the usually docile hippogriff to action, but confuse her. Instead of striking at the one who made the offending remark, Tranquility's talons slashed at the arm trying to move the girl away.
Kevric soon found himself face down in the grass, pinned by one of the hippogriff's feet. He looked up in time to see the hippogriff's eyes close again as the girl continued gently stroking the feathers in a downward motion.
Young Kitten offered him a bit of his own advice.
"You upset her. You should make slow, deliberate motions."
When Tom managed to persuade the girl to move away from the hippogriff, Tranquility tried to follow the girl. No longer trapped, Kettleburn tethered the hippogriff before dismissing the rest of his class. The other children seemed a bit disconcerted by the girl's behavior.
Kevric was well versed in healing and cleansing charms and easily took care of his wounds on the walk back to the castle with the girl and her escort. He was concerned, but not at all angry when he spoke to the girl. Hippogriffs were designated XXX and were a bad choice by him for the girl's first lesson.
"I think we should hold off on the Care of Magical Creatures lessons until we can work on our listening skills a bit."
The girl seemed upset at the news.
"I want to see the puffskeins tomorrow."
"Well, you will need to show me you have learned how to listen before I can bring you to my class again. I need you to follow my instructions when I give them."
"I listened very well. I did exactly what you said to do."
Kevric frowned at the girl.
"Did I tell you to say mean things to the hippogriff?"
The girl lied without any hesitation.
"Yes."
"You definitely need to practice telling the truth before you can come visit my creatures again."
The girl's eyes flashed indignantly. She seemed to be struggling to find the right words to respond. When she came to a decision on how to resolve the discussion, Kevric yelped in pain.
Tom reprimanded the girl as he pulled her away.
"Kitten, no biting people! Stop that!"
Kevric shook his head while repeating the charms on the spot where the girl had broken his skin. Quite the temper on that one.
##########################################
Auror Alastor Moody had his back to Headmaster Dippet as the aged man spoke in an assuring tone.
"The most unfortunate event earlier this morning had nothing to do with the young girl's presence."
Moody wasn't trying to be rude, he was listening.
"The incident was nothing more than a prank, an initiation rite, by some of the older students on the Potions Master. Master Pomfrey has worked in alchemy for years, however this is his first year of teaching. Apparently, there is some sort of a competition in the NEWT level class as to who can explode the most cauldrons and ruin the most potions."
He heard the words, but his eyes were concentrated on the scene playing out on the other side of the window. Were he called before the Wizengamot, Alastor Moody was confident enough in what he had seen to be able to testify that the girl had set a hippogriff on the Care of Magical Creatures professor.
He reached for his wand, but of course from this distance, this height, he could not be sure of his aim. In his moment of inaction, the boy from yesterday got the girl to move away from the hippogriff. The hippogriff trailed after her, allowing the trapped professor to get up.
"Mr. Moody? Mr. Moody, have you heard a word I have said?"
*********************************************
##########################################
Binns sat down behind his desk. He took a moment to look at the girl seated in front of him before he began to speak.
"Miss Grindelwald, it has been brought to my attention several times now, by several different sources, that you have been biting people. I know it is hard for you here. It isn't easy for any of us. Do you think you are the only one that has these urges?"
Not really concerned about her answer, Binns didn't pause to allow for one. As he continued speaking, his voice became distant and his mind drifted.
"I assure you, you are not the only one. Many a time, I have had the desire, the primordial urge to bite people; unruly students, bothersome parents, colleagues who simply do not understand me, dismissive superiors. I have frequently and at great length thought about biting them all."
Binns's speaking broke off entirely for a moment before with a shake of his head, he refocused his attention.
"However, it is not something we generally do."
Binns had an uncertain look as he glanced to the empty doorway. He had instructed Mr. Riddle to remain outside while he spoke to the girl. Finding no one there, a sly smile settled over his features.
"Which isn't to say you can't bite people. Just that there is a time and a place for it."
He glanced again to the door.
"That time is when you are around Professor Shackleton. And that place is, well it is wherever Professor Shackleton happens to be. Do we have an understanding?"
The girl looked slightly confused, but nodded her head. Binns opened one of the drawers in his desk. He took out a sugar quill from a box he had confiscated during his last class. It had come from one of the students he fantasized so often about biting. He held it out to the girl.
"We should keep the contents of our little chat between the two of us."
He rose from his seat and went to the door. Mr. Riddle was talking to one of his classmates across the hall. As soon he appeared in the doorway, Mr. Riddle immediately broke off the conversation and returned. Binns held up a hand to halt him before he could enter the office.
"Mr. Riddle, when it is necessary for you to be in Miss Grindelwald's rooms or vice versa, the door is to be kept open at all times. We do not wish to give even the appearance of impropriety."
The Riddle boy frowned, but nodded.
"And she is not to be in your rooms after hours or vice versa. Really, there is no reason at all for the two of you to be in either set of rooms. That is what we have a common room for."
The boy began to argue with him.
"But sir, she isn't used to having to sleep -"
Binns frowned and spoke over the boy.
"- Mr. Riddle, this conversation is over. I have already been late to one meal today. I have no intention of being late to another."
********************************************
Late that night, Binns was on his way, under duress, to make certain the girl had not again returned to Mr. Riddle's rooms. He didn't end up having to go that far. As he was crossing the common room, he found them. Mr. Riddle was asleep, sitting up on one of the sofas. The girl was also asleep, curled up across him.
Binns sighed. This was not what he had meant when he had told Mr. Riddle, 'that is what we have a common room for.' Still, they weren't bothering him. And it wasn't as if anything untoward would go on in the house common room. For fear that if he did bother them, they would again bother him, he chose to simply leave the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N Completely slipped my mind when I answered the question posed about whether Amelia Bones in Chapter 27 was the same one who later serves on the Wizengamot, but its of worth to note, she is also related to the Minister of Magic Bones, who was casually mentioned in chapter 17 (FF refers to it as chapter 18) There was a quick line naming two of the Ministers of Magic that were murdered as being Bones and Malfoy.
Thank you for reviewing Star, LinZE, jbfritz, Margo Wulfric, Redwoman06, Minerva Lea, Static-Filled Star, Rainqueen1, Mavidian, and Venusdemilo7537.
People have commented often that my story or at least parts are pretty confusing, so I am trying to make more of an effort to answer questions left in reviews, except where they would completely give away parts of the story. No need to read further unless you reviewed.
Venusdemilo7537 Glad you are enjoying the story so far.
Redwoman 06 Nope, not Binns. Not to worry, I'm trying to make the chapters a little longer than normal so we can get back to the present shortly.
Minerva Lea Probably another chapter or two before that question gets answered, but it will be soon.
Rainqueen1 The secret weakness thing will have a slight something to do with the flashback scene shown, but nothing that you could pick up on yet. There have been other little clues thrown in that could completely give away that scene, but no one has picked up on them yet. Or at least if they did, they haven't mentioned it in a review.
Margo, Rainqueen1, & Mavidian
My Dumbledore will improve with time, but in general, he is a more human and fallible than Harry's. I adore Dumbledore, but my opinion is that Harry's perspective on things is very slanted. Harry misses, glosses over, or misunderstands a lot of things in the books. Don't expect to at all times agree with the decisions made by my characters or even like the characters for that matter.
Margo
I am definitely going for a causes and connections theme. The title of the story really states three main ideas that hold throughout the length of the story. (Though you probably cannot yet appreciate them) Misconceptions are a big part of the tale. You'll see more of that going on between Tom and Dumbledore in the next few chapters. While Tom has already shown us he is evil, as Dumbledore said in Chapter 5, "sometimes what we see of a person, what they choose to show us, is just one side of who they are." While I in no way deny Voldemort is evil, as the story progresses, you may begin to see at least some of Tom's evil actions are just horribly, horribly misdirected attempts at something else. Dumbledore once told Harry something to the effect that what made him different from Voldemort was his capacity for love. But just because Voldemort doesn't love in the same selfless, noble way that Dumbledore does, doesn't mean he doesn't love.
I got the original idea for the story from the prophecy aspect of OOTP. We have seen divination to be such a precarious art. I thought it would be interesting to show another character with a set of prophecies around them and show how people interpret and possibly misinterpret the prophecies.
A lot of the rest of my story ideas stems from little questions or oddities I had from reading the books. Things as easily explained as why does Hagrid feed the children something that locks their jaws together to slightly more complicated things like how did house elf Dobby manage to leave Malfoy Manor to warn Harry or why does Harry have the shortest lifeline Trelawney has ever seen.
Back history of events like Severus's revenge for the shrieking shack incident, how James Potter's invisibility cloak came into Dumbledore's possession, why Voldemort saw Harry as a threat instead of Neville, the truth about what happened to Bilius Weasley, and the origins of Peeves are all weaved into the story in such a way as to also provide more information about the main character of the story, Minerva McGonagall.
I've filled over a dozen notebooks with the storyline I have plotted out so far. It has a very definite plan that goes from the past all the way to the end of Harry's sixth year when the stories of the past catch up to the present. The plan so far doesn't really resolve some of the issues of the book series, such as the fall of Voldemort. Though I may change my mind by the time my writings get to that point, I had thought that best left to JKR.
Though I have been adding little details here and there and some parts are more than a bit underdeveloped yet, the plot is well enough set that I have already written some of the most important chapters even though they won't occur until the first war with Voldemort.
Okay, I've rambled too much now.
More information about all the creatures mentioned in this chapter can be found at The Beastiary on the Harry Potter Lexicon or in the Fantastic Beasts book by Newt Scalamander.
Quintaped is a 5 legged beast that especially likes to eat humans
The lethifold attacks sleeping humans and after smothering them, digests them in their bed.
Puffskeins are little balls of fur with long tongues and (at least for the purposes of this story) no teeth. Puffskeins' favorite food is snot.
Diricaul is as a fat, flightless bird that like a phoenix escapes danger by vanishing in a burst of feathers. It is known by muggles as the dodo bird.
If you are taking the time to read all this please take an extra minute and review too!
I am curious do people prefer a few short chapters a week or one longer chapter every few weeks?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Albus Dumbledore arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast, before he even headed to the Head Table, his eyes scanned the Slytherin table. Neither Tom Riddle nor Minerva Grindelwald were present. As breakfast was served for another full hour, almost half of the students had not yet arrived. Dumbledore had no real reason for alarm.
A glance at the Head Table supplied one. Never before in his hundred plus years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had Robert Binns been late for breakfast, or any meal for that matter. It was a frequent grievance amongst the staff that the History of Magic professor always arrived before the official start of breakfast in order to monopolize the bacon supply.
He didn't think much of it at the time, but also missing were Shackleton, Kettleburn, and Pomfrey. After the state they had found Pomfrey in the night before, he wasn't at all surprised by the man's absence.
Dumbledore briefly caught the gaze of the Headmaster at the center of the table before heading to the dungeons to investigate.
It wasn't at all hard to locate Binns. The real challenge was navigating the dungeons. Dumbledore dodged a relatively small boulder aimed at his head by one cackling Red Cap, only to have another sink its teeth into his knee.
As he was using his wand to try to both pry off the one on his knee and keep the boulder throwing one at bay, Shackleton arrived to help.
"Oh good, you caught two."
Dumbledore shrugged.
"I caught two, two caught me, I suppose it all depends on how you look at the matter."
Shackleton appeared to be in too poor a mood to appreciate his humor.
"Dippet's too laid back. I would have fired Pomfrey straight away last night, but after this, even Dippet will need to take action. Do you know that when Kettleburn and I were first called down here, the bloody Red Caps were all concentrated in his classroom? Of course they all scattered as soon as we opened the door and started stunning them. Pomfrey still had your blood all over the place from yesterday."
Before continuing, Shackleton gave him a piercing look, as if he were partially to blame since it was his blood.
"Apparently, a few scouring spells were too much for him to cast before going off to get loaded. Kettleburn had a devil of a time trying to get the stains off. Finally he 'Incendioed' them off. Of course, Pomfrey is nowhere to be seen and Binns is just as useless as ever. When I become Headmaster, I don't know which one I will get rid of first."
Dumbledore frowned, listening to his superior complain. It wasn't because he didn't think Pomfrey deserved every word of it after last night, but because he had more important concerns. Once the Red Cap was dislodged from his knee, he excused himself and limped away.
Binns was easy to spot outside the girl's room. He was tapping on the door tentatively, as if afraid someone might be in there and decide to come out.
"Miss? Miss, you have to come out now."
That not working, it appeared Binns was moving on to bribery.
"I have a magic wand for you!"
Binns pressed his ear to the door, listening for sounds of movement. When Dumbledore tapped on his shoulder, the older man started terribly.
"Don't do that!"
Dumbledore ignored the reprimand.
"How long have you been tapping?"
"Long enough. You try."
Dumbledore gave a sharp rap on the door.
"Miss McGonagall? Minerva? Kitten?"
After the rather undramatic rescue of Pomfrey from his attempts to drown himself in a sea of fire whisky the night before, a long discussion had ensued on how best to hide the girl's true identity. The story they settled upon was that she was the younger sibling of the not so recently departed Thomas McGonagall and the one actually responsible for the magical activity that mistakenly resulted in him being sent to Hogwarts. Certainly not the full truth, but it did have an element of truth in it.
As it was late when the decision was made, it still remained to bring the young lady and Tom Riddle on board with the deception. Rather than bring more attention to the girl's existence by parading her through Diagon Alley to the wand shop, Dippet was hoping the wand left behind by that same McGonagall would function for the girl.
Another knock failed to cause any stirrings in the chamber beyond. It did however get the attention of Kettleburn who was walking by, holding an immobilized Red Cap by the ankle.
"You two are pathetic."
Kettleburn rapped once before opening the door. He stuck his head into the room.
"Kitten?"
He pushed the door fully open for all to see. The bed was empty. A quick check of the adjoining bathroom, closet, and under the bed revealed no one.
Dumbledore said a single word before marching out of the room.
"Riddle."
Binns and Kettleburn followed after him to the Head Boy's room. Dumbledore gave only a quick knock before using his wand to unseal the wards put on the door by the room's occupant. If Tom Riddle was doing anything he shouldn't be, he had no intentions of giving him time to make it look otherwise.
The knock had awoken Tom and the uninvited entrance startled him. Dumbledore once again found displeasure at the sight of Tom Riddle that greeted him. Tom quickly scrambled off of the bed as the three professors moved into the room. Tom was fully dressed, but Dumbledore wasn't sure if what remained on the bed was better or worse than what he had been concerned about. Truthfully, he still wasn't even sure it didn't include what he feared, because the girl was again no longer a girl.
After having awoken at Tom's sudden movements, the little gray and black kitten gave an inquiring look while stretching.
Binns pointed a finger back and forth between the former girl and the Head Boy.
"You cursed her again! You turned her back into a cat! You are a hooligan!"
"I didn't!"
Dumbledore frowned considering the things that had occurred the past day. The girl, though she didn't appear to have full recall, did at least remember or could be reminded of bits of the past. She behaved unusually, but had not gone entirely feral - an amazing feat given the length of her transformation.
He had administered the mandrake potion to her in the early afternoon. The potion would have lasted approximately twelve hours. In that time, it would have been impossible for her to have been transfigured. Once the potion had run its course, it would have again been possible to transfigure her into a cat.
While he had no doubt Tom was gifted enough in Transfiguration to do it, given the relatively good condition the girl's mind was in, it was far more likely -
"She's an animagus."
Tom looked torn between denying Binns's allegation and conceding Dumbledore's truth. Dumbledore went on to explain more fully his conclusion.
"Some research has been done on long term animagus transformations. They have been used in the past by the Ministry as spies to gather information. Animagi take much longer than simple human to animal transfigurations to begin to have detrimental effects on the mind. Still after extremely long periods of time there begins a loss of memory and even identity."
That would certainly explain the question that had been bothering him since it occurred to him last night after the girl was asleep. Why hadn't the girl asked about her father? Dippet had easily explained it away as the girl being a Seer who already knew the fate of Grindelwald and had insisted no one mention Grindelwald in front of her. But Dumbledore hadn't found that answer completely satisfying.
Kettleburn interrupted his thoughts.
"Is the memory loss permanent?"
Dumbledore didn't have an easy answer for that question.
"Sometimes. The longer she remains as a girl the more likely it is she might begin to recover some of her lost memories. But the longer she stays as a cat the harder it becomes."
Kettleburn approached the kitten.
"Kitten?"
The cat's ears flicked towards the man with the Red Cap.
"Kitten, can you change back into a little girl for me?"
The kitten gave him a bored look before closing her eyes.
"Kitten, this is very important. If you can change back, we need to see you do it. Tom is going to be in a lot of trouble unless you show us you made yourself into a cat."
Dumbledore could never hope to understand how Binns's mind worked. For whatever reason, the History of Magic professor approached the kitten and wagged his finger in front of her whiskers.
"You change back right now or else!"
Binns soon discovered exactly what the kitten thought the 'else' in 'right now or else' stood for. He scowled and sucked on his freshly bitten finger.
"There's a hooligan right there! Dumbledore, don't you have some spell for this?"
This certainly explained why Alastor Moody's repeated castings of 'Finite Incantatem' had proven useless. There was indeed a spell just for such occasions, but he had hoped to not have to force the girl again. The spell wasn't painful, but it wasn't exactly pleasant either.
"Tom, would you care to try to convince her or do I need to make her change?"
Tom did not look at all happy with the extra people in his rooms. He seemed to want nothing more than just to be left alone with his kitten.
"Kitten wants to be a cat. It was her choice. I didn't do it or make her do it. She came to my room because she wanted to sleep here with me. She isn't used to having to sleep alone. You shouldn't make her change. She likes being a cat, she doesn't want to be a little girl."
The idea of just leaving the girl as a cat wasn't something that could actually even be considered.
"That's not possible, Tom. I don't want to have to force her. Will you try to convince her to change?"
After a minute of inaction on Tom's part, Dumbledore reluctantly moved forward. His motion appeared to have finally spurred Tom to a decision. He returned to the bed and gently caressed the little kitten before speaking to her.
"Kitten, you have to be a little girl for a while."
It took a few minutes, but Tom got the kitten to return to girl form. Watching the girl transform was amazing. Such an accomplishment for someone so young.
The girl snapped her teeth menacingly in Binns's direction.
"I want to be a kitten."
Dumbledore had a second opportunity to marvel as the girl reversed the transformation to return to her animagus form.
Kettleburn sounded rather impressed.
"Well, I would say that takes care of that problem. She is clearly in control of her own changing."
Perhaps, but it also introduced a new one.
Dumbledore reached into an enchanted pocket in his robes. Though he was not wearing the same clothing as yesterday, he still was able to pull out the vial of mandrake potion from yesterday's pocket. He summoned a small dish of milk and added only three drops, careful to conserve the rest .
"Tom, she needs to drink this."
"Why? She isn't bothering anyone by doing it. You're just jealous because she is an animagus and you're not."
Armando Dippet had been correct yesterday in his assessment that Dumbledore was acting before fully appreciating the consequences of his actions. Not so much today. He ignored the implication that a child of eight was more talented at transfiguration than he was.
"Tom, do you know what the punishment is for being an unregistered animagus?"
The shifting of the young man's feet seemed to indicate there was something he wasn't an authority on.
"It's five years in Azkaban. Ministry aurors will be coming to check on the girl's progress. We cannot chance for her to transfigure in front of the Ministry people or anyone else."
Kettleburn had not been in the room during the meeting with Minister Augustus yesterday.
"Dumbledore, she is a child. No one is going to put a child in Azkaban."
Binns hadn't been there either, but he was older and not so naïve.
"A child no, a Themis yes."
Tom had been at the meeting and began to realize the reasoning behind Dumbledore's words. He took the dish over to the kitten and coaxed her into drinking it.
Dumbledore motioned Kettleburn away from the others. He wasn't quite sure how to phrase what he wanted to request of the other professor. Kettleburn's openly questioning expression suggested he should at least begin trying.
"I think that Tom knew the girl wasn't really a cat."
The Care of Magical Creatures professor again immobilized the Red Cap in his hand as his earlier spell began to wear off.
"I picked up on that yesterday."
"You noticed Tom's behavior too?"
"No, I meant I picked up on your distrust, dislike even, of Tom yesterday."
The conversation wasn't going in the direction he intended. Dumbledore chose not to respond to the insinuation and continued to try to get his point across.
"She is an animagus. She can change back and forth between a cat and a girl at will."
Kettleburn didn't seem at all impressed by his words.
"You are the Transfiguration Professor, but I do believe that is what an animagus does."
"What I mean is…she may have changed before…while alone in Tom's presence."
Kettleburn's frown suggested he realized the direction Dumbledore was trying to take the conversation in. His words showed he wasn't going there willingly.
"She might have. So what?"
Dumbledore was so focused on trying to get Kettleburn on board with his train of thought that he failed to notice Riddle creeping closer to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"I want you to check the girl to find out if…to be sure he hasn't…tampered…with her."
Tom's outrage was too great. He clearly forgot that he shouldn't respond to what he wasn't supposed to be hearing.
"I wouldn't do that to her! How can you even think that!"
Dumbledore observed the young man before him. The outrage seemed sincere, but he had long suspected Tom Riddle of being quite skillful at deceit.
"I would never hurt her! Kitten belongs to me! I would never let anyone do something like that to her!"
Dumbledore's eyes couldn't help but widen in shock as rather than be the accused, Tom tried to be the accuser.
"What kind of a filthy old man would think of that? Just because you would think of doing something like that to her-"
Kettleburn put a hand on Tom Riddle's shoulder to silence him.
"Tom, go get ready. You need to take Kitten upstairs for breakfast before your first class. Potions, right?"
Tom was still glaring angrily at Dumbledore, but he gave a slight nod so Kettleburn continued.
"Dippet decided last night, you can take Kitten to your classes. Your professors will give her different work, more appropriate to her level of learning. Only the people in the potions room yesterday know who she really is. The other staff and students are to be told she is Thomas McGonagall's younger sister, Kitten McGonagall. She responds to the name Kitten, not Minerva anyways."
Tom's eyes still hadn't left Dumbledore, so Kettleburn repeated his first words.
"Tom, go finish getting ready."
With the glare Riddle was directing at him, Dumbledore wouldn't have been at all surprised if the boy had hissed while walking by. As soon as Tom went into the other room to change, Kettleburn returned his attentions to Dumbledore.
"Do you really suspect the boy of being capable of something like that? He's barely more than a child himself."
Dumbledore truthfully answered the younger professor.
"I honestly don't know. I certainly hope not, but I honestly don't know."
"And you aren't willing to give him the benefit of the doubt?"
Dumbledore sighed.
"I simply am not comfortable taking that chance. Are you?"
Kettleburn appeared to be debating the matter.
"Do you really think that's necessary, Dumbledore? That kind of an examination could be traumatic in itself for a child. Why don't we just watch the girl for a bit? Often there are indicators, unusual behavior patterns that…"
Kettleburn gave up his attempts to convince Dumbledore as the two observed the once again girl also getting ready for the day. She was sitting on the bed licking her hand, grooming herself.
Kettleburn again immobilized the Red Cap as it began to regain its ability for motion.
"Okay, let me finish helping Shackleton with the last of the Red Caps. I'll collect Kitten after her potion lesson."
*********************************************
###########################################
Pomfrey rested his pounding head on top of his folded arms. He really needed a potion right now, but yesterday the catgirl had broken all of the vials he had stored of the particular potion he needed. He needed to make another one, but really, right now he couldn't.
Last night he had told the others he had no idea what had happened. Technically, it was the truth. He couldn't remember what it was he might have said or done in the course of the evening.
What he hadn't told them was what he had left the castle planning to do. Honestly, it wasn't his fault - no one had bothered to tell him the catgirl was supposed to be a secret. Still, he didn't actually remember saying anything about her. But then, he couldn't remember why everyone had been so eager to buy him drinks last night either.
He winced at the shuffling noises his NEWT level class made as they entered the room. He lifted his head only enough for his voice to not be completely muffled.
"Make the potion on page 130 of Magical Draughts and Potions. The first person to bring me one will get fifty points added to their House."
He heard the students sniggering, but he really couldn't spare the effort to take points off. His eyes were closed, but even with his hands covering his ears, he couldn't drown out the voices.
"Kitten, just stir. I'll do the chopping and slicing."
"Kitten don't touch the fire. Leave it alone!"
Pomfrey flinched, but thankfully Riddle's voice wasn't really loud or angry.
"Take your nose out of the cauldron."
It seemed catgirl was as curious about potion making as a girl as she had been as a cat.
Given Riddle's recent rash of cauldron explosions, he was a bit hesitant when the boy was the first to approach with a finished potion. But surely Riddle must have some potion making skill, to manage to test into the NEWT level class. This headache dissolving potion was a simple potion, one usually assigned to first years. Besides, nothing could be as bad as the pain in his head.
Pomfrey drank the potion. It was wonderful, almost like he could feel the headache dissolving immediately. When the first scream came, he didn't notice it at all. He didn't notice Shackleton and Kettleburn running in to investigate the chorus of screams and shouting either. In fact, he didn't really notice anything at all for several days. Not until he woke up in St. Mungo's after they had finished undissolving his head.
He probably would have tried to make more of a fuss about it after if he hadn't been so relieved to have not been at the castle later in the week, when the issue of the Quibbler arrived. If he had been accessible that day, he was fairly certain suspending him would have been the least of the things Dippet would have done.
Not to mention, it did get rid of the headache.
************************************************
##############################################
Kevric Kettleburn had seen a lot of unpleasant things in his lifetime - thestral attacks, rioting giants, a Quintaped assault, and even more than once his own limb torn off of his body. But not even the time during an internship in the tropics, when he had walked in on a lethifold three fourths of the way through digesting his roommate, had he seen a sight to prepare him for what greeted him upon entering the potion classroom.
He left Shackleton to work on getting Pomfrey to the infirmary while he ushered the children out, even though it was well before the bell was due to ring.
As Tom was going out the door, he held him back.
"Tom, I need Kitten to come with me to my office for a few minutes."
He noticed Tom's frown and the tightening of the young man's grasp on the girl's hand.
"Can I go with her?"
Kevric hesitated. Personally, he couldn't even conceive of a mere child like Tom being capable of the things Dumbledore suggested. Still, he wasn't so unworldly as to not be aware that those things did go on. It was Kitten who decided it for him. She held her other hand up.
"You can carry me there, Tom."
Tom didn't hesitate before gathering the girl into his arms. Kevric smiled at the sweet way she curled up against the older boy. The girl was slight, but not nearly as easy to carry as a kitten had been. Even so, Tom never offered a word of complaint on the journey to his office.
The girl became a little apprehensive in the office. When he told Tom to set her on the exam table, the girl coiled her arms around the boy's neck and refused to let go. Not that Tom tried very hard, or well at all, to make her.
Having been told about Madame Griselda's experiences examining the girl, Kevric preceded slowly.
"You need to have a check up to make sure you have been growing the way you should. Now Madame Griselda is a people healer. She is very nice and could take a look at you."
He was almost certain the hair on the back of the girl's neck was raised even though she wasn't in cat form.
"Personally, I like animals a lot better than I like most people. I am the Care of Magical Creatures professor at the school. I take care of all the animals here. Do you think it would be alright if I took a look at you?"
The girl and her handler were both eyeing him suspiciously.
"What kind of animals do you take care of?"
Kevric shrugged casually.
"Oh, all kinds of animals. Owls, flobberworms, hippogriffs, puffskeins, nifflers, and diricauls. Oh, and cats. I take care of cats and little kittens, too."
The girl seemed to be relaxing a bit. She glanced around the room before again regarding him suspiciously.
"Where are all your animals?"
Kevric smiled.
"Well, some of them are too big to stay in my office. This week my classes are learning about hippogriffs. I keep them in a pen outside because they wouldn't be happy in here. Tomorrow, I am getting in a whole shipment of puffskeins. They are small enough to be kept in my office. Puffskeins are fun to play with and very friendly. They are little balls of fur with really long tongues. I bet you would like them."
He could tell the girl was very interested, but was trying to not show it. Her firm grasp on Tom was a thing of the past.
"I would like to make a deal with you. If you let me take a look at you today, I will let you come see my puffskeins tomorrow. Does that sound fair?"
After a moment's consideration, Kitten came up with a counter offer.
"If you let me see the puffskeins tomorrow, than I will let you take a look at me tomorrow."
Kevric smiled. The girl was quite clever and a harsh bargainer, but he needed to do this as soon as possible. He had already decided from watching Tom's behavior with the girl that he was not going to do any invasive examinations. He would make excuses to Dumbledore, but barring any real reason to suspect the need, he couldn't justify performing one. Still, he did need to give the girl a standard checkup to find out if her months of living as a cat had had any effects on her development.
"I need to look at you today."
The girl gave him an appraising look.
"Well, what can you show me today?"
Kevric chuckled while considering the matter. He had a constant stock of flobberworms, but he knew if he tried to pass them off on the girl as interesting creatures, he was just asking for trouble. There was, of course, a ready supply of Red Caps in Shackleton's office, but those were definitely not appropriate. He did have the hippogriffs, but hippogriffs could be a bit temperamental. Yet, if he were careful, it could work.
"Let me examine you now and you and Tom can come to my next class to see the hippogriffs."
With the girl grudgingly accepting, Kevric was left with the task of convincing her handler.
"What are you going to do to her?"
The anxiety in Tom's tone and face reassured Kevric that his opinion of Dumbledore's request being unnecessary was correct. As he retrieved a few instruments from the shelves, he motioned Tom over to him.
"Tom, I have no intentions of doing anything but a normal exam to check her development. Do you know of any reason why I should be checking for anything else?"
The look of suppressed rage on Tom's face was answer enough for him, even without the boy's harshly whispered response.
"I would never do that to her. Never. Whatever Dumbledore told you, he lied. He hates me. He always has, ever since I turned in his precious Hagrid for killing Myrtle. Kitten belongs to me. Why would I hurt someone that belongs to me?"
Kevric nodded. Tom Riddle had never elected to take one of his classes, so he had no real experience with the boy. He only knew him as the Slytherin Head Boy and school hero who had solved the mystery of the attacks on the students a few years back. He knew Hagrid well and it had not at all surprised him that Hagrid had been keeping some kind of harmful creature in the castle. While Hagrid was a dear, sweet boy, he had a different perspective than most people on the hazards of some creatures.
He had always known Dumbledore to be a fair man, but he had seemed to react excessively to Tom in the past day. Personally, given the unusual circumstances of the past day, Kevric hadn't seen anything sufficient to prompt Dumbledore's responses.
As for Tom's comments about Kitten belonging to him, well she had been his cat for several months. It didn't surprise him that it would take more than a single day for the boy to get over thinking that way, particularly given the boy's personal history.
"Open your mouth and say 'ahh.'"
The girl opened her mouth willingly enough, but as soon as he put the stick in her mouth she shifted it to the side of her mouth and began gnawing on it. After getting her to spit out the pieces he moved his attentions away from her face to give her time to become familiar with him.
The girl was a bit disbelieving at his request. She tilted her head inquiringly.
"You want me to kick you?"
Kevric smiled. "Just push against my hand as hard as you can with your foot."
His next comment went to Tom.
"Tom, her muscles aren't as well developed as they should be. I would have expected a mischievous little kitten like her to have gotten plenty of exercise running around the castle."
For the first time Kevric got an idea of what made Dumbledore so untrusting of Tom. Surely the light in the room was playing tricks, causing the glint in Tom's eyes as he answered.
"I carried her everywhere she wanted to go and kept her locked in my rooms when I went somewhere she couldn't go. Slytherins know not to let their pets run around the castle unsupervised. Horrible things can happen to creatures left unattended."
When he tried to check her reflexes with a slight tap from his little hammer, the girl showed him how good all her reflexes were. He narrowly avoided the snapping teeth.
"Now, you promised to let me examine you. If you want to see the hippogriffs, you have to let me finish."
The girl gave up trying to get a hold of him with her teeth. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, but well it was that he didn't trust her. Animals had instincts that could overrule the best of intentions. He really was hoping to get through a day, just one day, without being bitten or scratched. To examine her ears, he was going to have to get within easy range of the teeth that he could already tell were quite healthy.
"How about a special treat? I bet you like candy."
Kevric went over to one the drawers and came back with a tin. Opening it, he offered one of the contents to the girl. She just stared at it.
"Go on, try one. I made it myself. Its called treacle fudge."
A knock at the door was followed by the appearance of young Hagrid.
"'ello, Professor Kettleburn."
"Hello, Hagrid. What can I do for you?"
The young man noticed the two other people in the room. His greeting for Kitten was enthusiastic, but he didn't seem at all comfortable with Tom. Tom soon made the reason why clear. Yes, Kevric supposed, Dumbledore might have a good reason for disliking Tom Riddle. Still, his behavior towards the girl was nothing but devoted.
"'ello, Kitten. Nice to see you again." After shuffling his feet, Hagrid gave Tom a one word greeting. "Tom."
Tom didn't bother to respond. Kitten smiled at the young groundskeeper.
"Hello, Ruby-us."
Hagrid smiled at the butchery of his first name. "Why dinna you call me Hagrid. Its what everyone calls me."
Kitten held out the tin to Hagrid.
"This is called treacle fudge. Go on, try one."
Hagrid smiled at the girl and took one.
"Why thank yeh."
Not wanting the girl to know he had been trying to trick her, Kevric didn't warn off Hagrid. Not surprisingly, the homemade 'treat' that he often fed to animals to temporarily cement their jaws together was not strong enough to effect the boy that clearly could not be anything less than half-giant. He would have to explain to him later that it wasn't really something meant for eating.
"Tats right nice fudge there. Goin' to have to get the recipe from you later, Professor."
Or maybe not.
Kitten was trying to unload his whole supply on the boy.
"Have some more."
"Kitten, you don't have to be nice to him. He's the groundskeeper."
Kevric was too shocked at Tom's rude words to say anything for a moment. Hagrid just looked down at his feet and shuffled them. Kitten didn't seem to be of a mind to listen to Tom.
"Why do you keep it?"
"Eh?"
Again Tom was quick with a response.
"Hagrid was expelled. His wand was broken in half."
That didn't appear to be an answer to the question the girl intended.
"Why do you have to keep it? Does it try to get away?"
Hagrid didn't seem to mind the odd question.
"Eh, well I suppose it does sometimes. Gettin' overgrown and such."
For the first time, Kevric noticed the something moving in the hand at Hagrid's side.
"What have you got there, Hagrid?"
Hagrid's arm extended to more clearly show the thrashing Red Cap he held. Given that the pieces of Hagrid's wand were in Dippet's office, the boy had no way to stun the creature.
"I found this lil tyke runnin' about. Thought yeh might be interested in em."
Kevric smiled. Only Hagrid would think to call a Red Cap a 'lil tyke.' Yes, clearly Hagrid had a different idea of what constituted a dangerous creature.
"Shackleton is keeping the lot in his office."
"Oh, right. Then, I'll just be bringin' him along."
Now that someone else had tasted the fudge, the girl was willing to take a piece. Kevric was able to finish the exam before she was able to open her jaws.
"Just in time. Let's head outside and find those hippogriffs."
When Tom tried to again pick the girl up, Kevric shook his head.
"Tom, she needs to walk by herself. The exercise is good for her."
He could see Tom wasn't happy with the idea, but didn't openly argue. When they reached the fresh sunshine, it became clear that exercise wasn't the only thing the girl had been lacking. Her hiss at the bright sunlight, before darting back into the shadows, reminded Kevric of a few vampires he had had occasion to meet.
"Hippogriffs like the sunshine. If you want to meet them, you are going to have to come outside.
The girl scowled at him a moment, but followed along. As they were crossing the lawns, the girl stopped and took notice of the trees in the opposite direction. He explained the situation to her easily enough.
"That's the Forbidden Forest."
"That's a pretty name."
When she turned to walk that way instead, Tom seemed pleased to have an excuse to scoop her up.
"We can't be letting her wander off into there."
Tom quickened his pace to avoid a response. As he followed after them, Kevric easily overheard Tom Riddle's words to the girl. There was a reason Tom never took the Care of Magical Creatures elective.
"Why anyone would want to learn about these beasts is beyond me. Half bird, half horse, all nasty, foul smelling. Those things should be destroyed as a service to wizard kind."
Now that they were at the edge of the fence with the rest of the class, Tom put the girl down. Despite the boy's words, Kitten seemed quite excited and eager to meet the hippogriffs.
Loud enough for the whole class to hear, he began speaking.
"Hippogriffs are beautiful and majestic creatures. They can be gentle and loyal companions. However, they are extremely sensitive. They enjoy praise and compliments. They do not respond well to insulting remarks or rudeness. In dealing with hippogriffs the first step is to get eye contact."
He held up a finger for each step as he listed them.
"Once you have eye contact, step two is to slowly bow. You want to bow deeply enough to expose the back of your neck to the hippogriff. You are presenting your weakest, most vulnerable part, and averting your eyes, to show yourself to be truly defenseless. It is done as a show of trust."
His eyes wandered over the group. Failure to pay careful attention to the details in his class was a dangerous behavior. One that could often lead to loss of life or limb. Usually one of his limbs. By now all his regular students were well aware of that danger. He just wasn't so sure if little Kitten was listening to his words. Her eyes certainly weren't taking any notice of him. Her gaze was fixated on one of the hippogriffs behind him. The hippogriff was staring back at her raptly. He raised a third finger as he continued speaking.
"If the hippogriff doesn't bow back, you should quickly move away because he or she is likely planning to take advantage of the opportunity and decapitate you. If the hippogriff does bow back, than it is probably, but not definitely, safe to approach it."
Running out of fingers, he changed hands for point number four.
"You want to continue making slow, deliberate motions. Speak to the hippogriff in a calm, soothing voice and stroke the feathers in a gentle, downward motion. If a hippogriff really takes to you, he may allow you to mount him. Its highly unlikely anyone will advance that far on the first day.
Now who would like to go first?"
Kevric couldn't help but agree with the protective way Tom held Kitten back. Best to let her see a few others try first. Once the rest of the class was happily paired off, he approached Kitten and Tom.
He had deliberately left unmatched the hippogriff the girl was interested in. Tranquility was one of the hippogriffs in the herd that was most comfortable with humans. She had actually been born in the now forbidden forest. Kevric, with the help of the young assistant groundskeeper, had rescued her from a vicious attack by a thestral in which her mother had been killed. At the time only a trusting young foal, months of repeated healing charms and hand feedings had not only gotten the hippogriff back to health, but had helped develop a close bond between Tranquility and her two caretakers.
As for the thestral, well Hagrid, Merlin love and protect the boy, had refused to kill it. Of course it couldn't be allowed to roam free near the school feasting on student's pets and forest creatures, so instead Hagrid had captured it. Several years had passed, but the boy still hadn't given up on his attempts to tame the beast.
Kitten already had the first part down. Her gray eyes were still locked with the hippogriffs black ones.
"This one's name is Tranquility. Would you like to get closer and pet her?"
The little girl seemed mesmerized. Her nod was almost imperceptible.
"We need to see if she would like it too. Can you bow to her?"
The little girl gave a curtsy which he supposed technically might be a bow, but didn't at all show the back of her neck. Kevric started to correct her, but oddly enough the hippogriff didn't mind. Tranquility bowed back.
Kevric was a bit disconcerted at the hippogriff's unusual behavior, but decided to let the girl continue. Given her recent experiences, he tried to speak to her on that level.
"You like to be petted, right?"
The girl looked at him like he was the silliest thing in the world.
"It's nice when people pet you the direction your fur grows. But, I bet it feels kind of funny when people pet against your fur."
The girl agreed to this enthusiastically.
"I scratch them when they do that."
He had to suppress a laugh.
"I bet you do. Feathers are like that too. So pet her downwards."
Tom looked very apprehensive as his Kitten moved forward.
Tranquility closed her eyes with a contented look as the girl began stroking her feathers.
"You should talk to her in a calm, soothing voice. Hippogriffs like praise and compliments."
The girl smiled at the magical creature.
"You have very nice feathers. My fur is nicer, but -"
The hippogriff still had her eyes closed and was leaning into the girl's touch, but Kitten's words were a bit on the offending side. Kevric interrupted her to repeat his earlier instructions.
"Hippogriffs do not respond well to insulting remarks or rudeness."
The girl looked right at him before speaking. She still wore a happy smile and gently stroked the creature.
"You are a nasty, foul smelling -"
Normally hippogriffs respond rapidly, but Tranquility hadn't even opened her eyes by the time Kevric grabbed at the girl to pull her out of harm's way. His sudden action seemed to spur the usually docile hippogriff to action, but confuse her. Instead of striking at the one who made the offending remark, Tranquility's talons slashed at the arm trying to move the girl away.
Kevric soon found himself face down in the grass, pinned by one of the hippogriff's feet. He looked up in time to see the hippogriff's eyes close again as the girl continued gently stroking the feathers in a downward motion.
Young Kitten offered him a bit of his own advice.
"You upset her. You should make slow, deliberate motions."
When Tom managed to persuade the girl to move away from the hippogriff, Tranquility tried to follow the girl. No longer trapped, Kettleburn tethered the hippogriff before dismissing the rest of his class. The other children seemed a bit disconcerted by the girl's behavior.
Kevric was well versed in healing and cleansing charms and easily took care of his wounds on the walk back to the castle with the girl and her escort. He was concerned, but not at all angry when he spoke to the girl. Hippogriffs were designated XXX and were a bad choice by him for the girl's first lesson.
"I think we should hold off on the Care of Magical Creatures lessons until we can work on our listening skills a bit."
The girl seemed upset at the news.
"I want to see the puffskeins tomorrow."
"Well, you will need to show me you have learned how to listen before I can bring you to my class again. I need you to follow my instructions when I give them."
"I listened very well. I did exactly what you said to do."
Kevric frowned at the girl.
"Did I tell you to say mean things to the hippogriff?"
The girl lied without any hesitation.
"Yes."
"You definitely need to practice telling the truth before you can come visit my creatures again."
The girl's eyes flashed indignantly. She seemed to be struggling to find the right words to respond. When she came to a decision on how to resolve the discussion, Kevric yelped in pain.
Tom reprimanded the girl as he pulled her away.
"Kitten, no biting people! Stop that!"
Kevric shook his head while repeating the charms on the spot where the girl had broken his skin. Quite the temper on that one.
##########################################
Auror Alastor Moody had his back to Headmaster Dippet as the aged man spoke in an assuring tone.
"The most unfortunate event earlier this morning had nothing to do with the young girl's presence."
Moody wasn't trying to be rude, he was listening.
"The incident was nothing more than a prank, an initiation rite, by some of the older students on the Potions Master. Master Pomfrey has worked in alchemy for years, however this is his first year of teaching. Apparently, there is some sort of a competition in the NEWT level class as to who can explode the most cauldrons and ruin the most potions."
He heard the words, but his eyes were concentrated on the scene playing out on the other side of the window. Were he called before the Wizengamot, Alastor Moody was confident enough in what he had seen to be able to testify that the girl had set a hippogriff on the Care of Magical Creatures professor.
He reached for his wand, but of course from this distance, this height, he could not be sure of his aim. In his moment of inaction, the boy from yesterday got the girl to move away from the hippogriff. The hippogriff trailed after her, allowing the trapped professor to get up.
"Mr. Moody? Mr. Moody, have you heard a word I have said?"
*********************************************
##########################################
Binns sat down behind his desk. He took a moment to look at the girl seated in front of him before he began to speak.
"Miss Grindelwald, it has been brought to my attention several times now, by several different sources, that you have been biting people. I know it is hard for you here. It isn't easy for any of us. Do you think you are the only one that has these urges?"
Not really concerned about her answer, Binns didn't pause to allow for one. As he continued speaking, his voice became distant and his mind drifted.
"I assure you, you are not the only one. Many a time, I have had the desire, the primordial urge to bite people; unruly students, bothersome parents, colleagues who simply do not understand me, dismissive superiors. I have frequently and at great length thought about biting them all."
Binns's speaking broke off entirely for a moment before with a shake of his head, he refocused his attention.
"However, it is not something we generally do."
Binns had an uncertain look as he glanced to the empty doorway. He had instructed Mr. Riddle to remain outside while he spoke to the girl. Finding no one there, a sly smile settled over his features.
"Which isn't to say you can't bite people. Just that there is a time and a place for it."
He glanced again to the door.
"That time is when you are around Professor Shackleton. And that place is, well it is wherever Professor Shackleton happens to be. Do we have an understanding?"
The girl looked slightly confused, but nodded her head. Binns opened one of the drawers in his desk. He took out a sugar quill from a box he had confiscated during his last class. It had come from one of the students he fantasized so often about biting. He held it out to the girl.
"We should keep the contents of our little chat between the two of us."
He rose from his seat and went to the door. Mr. Riddle was talking to one of his classmates across the hall. As soon he appeared in the doorway, Mr. Riddle immediately broke off the conversation and returned. Binns held up a hand to halt him before he could enter the office.
"Mr. Riddle, when it is necessary for you to be in Miss Grindelwald's rooms or vice versa, the door is to be kept open at all times. We do not wish to give even the appearance of impropriety."
The Riddle boy frowned, but nodded.
"And she is not to be in your rooms after hours or vice versa. Really, there is no reason at all for the two of you to be in either set of rooms. That is what we have a common room for."
The boy began to argue with him.
"But sir, she isn't used to having to sleep -"
Binns frowned and spoke over the boy.
"- Mr. Riddle, this conversation is over. I have already been late to one meal today. I have no intention of being late to another."
********************************************
Late that night, Binns was on his way, under duress, to make certain the girl had not again returned to Mr. Riddle's rooms. He didn't end up having to go that far. As he was crossing the common room, he found them. Mr. Riddle was asleep, sitting up on one of the sofas. The girl was also asleep, curled up across him.
Binns sighed. This was not what he had meant when he had told Mr. Riddle, 'that is what we have a common room for.' Still, they weren't bothering him. And it wasn't as if anything untoward would go on in the house common room. For fear that if he did bother them, they would again bother him, he chose to simply leave the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N Completely slipped my mind when I answered the question posed about whether Amelia Bones in Chapter 27 was the same one who later serves on the Wizengamot, but its of worth to note, she is also related to the Minister of Magic Bones, who was casually mentioned in chapter 17 (FF refers to it as chapter 18) There was a quick line naming two of the Ministers of Magic that were murdered as being Bones and Malfoy.
Thank you for reviewing Star, LinZE, jbfritz, Margo Wulfric, Redwoman06, Minerva Lea, Static-Filled Star, Rainqueen1, Mavidian, and Venusdemilo7537.
People have commented often that my story or at least parts are pretty confusing, so I am trying to make more of an effort to answer questions left in reviews, except where they would completely give away parts of the story. No need to read further unless you reviewed.
Venusdemilo7537 Glad you are enjoying the story so far.
Redwoman 06 Nope, not Binns. Not to worry, I'm trying to make the chapters a little longer than normal so we can get back to the present shortly.
Minerva Lea Probably another chapter or two before that question gets answered, but it will be soon.
Rainqueen1 The secret weakness thing will have a slight something to do with the flashback scene shown, but nothing that you could pick up on yet. There have been other little clues thrown in that could completely give away that scene, but no one has picked up on them yet. Or at least if they did, they haven't mentioned it in a review.
Margo, Rainqueen1, & Mavidian
My Dumbledore will improve with time, but in general, he is a more human and fallible than Harry's. I adore Dumbledore, but my opinion is that Harry's perspective on things is very slanted. Harry misses, glosses over, or misunderstands a lot of things in the books. Don't expect to at all times agree with the decisions made by my characters or even like the characters for that matter.
Margo
I am definitely going for a causes and connections theme. The title of the story really states three main ideas that hold throughout the length of the story. (Though you probably cannot yet appreciate them) Misconceptions are a big part of the tale. You'll see more of that going on between Tom and Dumbledore in the next few chapters. While Tom has already shown us he is evil, as Dumbledore said in Chapter 5, "sometimes what we see of a person, what they choose to show us, is just one side of who they are." While I in no way deny Voldemort is evil, as the story progresses, you may begin to see at least some of Tom's evil actions are just horribly, horribly misdirected attempts at something else. Dumbledore once told Harry something to the effect that what made him different from Voldemort was his capacity for love. But just because Voldemort doesn't love in the same selfless, noble way that Dumbledore does, doesn't mean he doesn't love.
I got the original idea for the story from the prophecy aspect of OOTP. We have seen divination to be such a precarious art. I thought it would be interesting to show another character with a set of prophecies around them and show how people interpret and possibly misinterpret the prophecies.
A lot of the rest of my story ideas stems from little questions or oddities I had from reading the books. Things as easily explained as why does Hagrid feed the children something that locks their jaws together to slightly more complicated things like how did house elf Dobby manage to leave Malfoy Manor to warn Harry or why does Harry have the shortest lifeline Trelawney has ever seen.
Back history of events like Severus's revenge for the shrieking shack incident, how James Potter's invisibility cloak came into Dumbledore's possession, why Voldemort saw Harry as a threat instead of Neville, the truth about what happened to Bilius Weasley, and the origins of Peeves are all weaved into the story in such a way as to also provide more information about the main character of the story, Minerva McGonagall.
I've filled over a dozen notebooks with the storyline I have plotted out so far. It has a very definite plan that goes from the past all the way to the end of Harry's sixth year when the stories of the past catch up to the present. The plan so far doesn't really resolve some of the issues of the book series, such as the fall of Voldemort. Though I may change my mind by the time my writings get to that point, I had thought that best left to JKR.
Though I have been adding little details here and there and some parts are more than a bit underdeveloped yet, the plot is well enough set that I have already written some of the most important chapters even though they won't occur until the first war with Voldemort.
Okay, I've rambled too much now.