Chapter 11 – The Strange Plot of the Four Gryffindors and Two Slytherins
Part 41 – The Joys of THE BOOK
"I can't believe none of them have figured it out yet."
For the last several days, the whole of the Ravenclaw house had been followed around by little twittering hearts with fluttering wings. The most patient of them were beginning to be very annoyed by the hearts, but even after the most complex cures had been attempted the hearts remained.
"I just find it hard to believe that no one has pinned you as the culprit."
Meega grinned at her boyfriend. "This, Drace, is a Marauder classic, though they generally wouldn't have done it on the whole house. I'm in Slytherin. Why would I have any idea how to do this?"
"I don't know . . . maybe that little red book that lives in your bag?"
"What book would that be?" Meega asked innocently.
"Scales and Shards," Draco said seriously.
Laughing, Meega shook her head. "I'm never going to get to use that, am I?"
"You never know what will come in handy when you associate with Potter."
Just then a spacy blond Ravenclaw fourth year walked by—void of hearts. Cho Chang had also noticed this, and hurried over with a gaggle of her friends. "How in Merlin's name did you get rid of the pesky little things, Lovegood?"
The younger Ravenclaw looked vaguely confused. "You just have to be polite to them." Then she floated off, and Meega looked at Draco in confusion.
"Who is she and how did she figure it out?"
"Luna Lovegood, commonly called Loony Lovegood. Her father runs a piece of filth magazine called the Quibbler. She just does things like that—and then wears radish earrings. I think she got hers to go away the first day, and the rest of the House still has theirs because she's never less cryptic than she was with what she just told Chang. About anything."
Part 42 – Sharing with Gryffindors"You're sure you want to show them, Mia?"
"I promised your dear cousin, Drace. I've had the thing since the end of November. It's mid-January. I think it's time. Just maybe, you know."
With that, Meega led her boyfriend by his hand the last few yards to the room they'd chosen as a hide-out—more because Draco was still highly uncomfortable in the Gryffindor common room than anything—smoothing her knee-length black skirt as she did so. Her shoes were hung from the top loop on her back pack—which Draco was carrying—and she headed to the comfortable sitting room in her black and green striped socks. The room itself was behind an out-of-the way portrait of four friends, two boys and two girls, sitting in a replica of the room hidden behind their portrait.
"It's good to see you two again," one boy told them. He had long black hair pulled back into a neat pony tail that was tied with a black silk bow, gray-green eyes, and fair skin. Dressed in all black robes—a good deal of the cloth silk, and the rest similarly expensive—he moved in a way that reminded her of Draco.
"Hello," Meega said cheerfully. "You know, you still haven't told us your name."
"I doubt you would believe me if I told you. Much has changed since this was painted, and not all of it for the better." He smiled charmingly. "I assure you, Lady Meega, I will tell you my name if it becomes pertinent."
The Slytherin girl pouted. "It's kind of weird, with how often we come here, and I still have no idea what to call you."
The young man smiled. "Call me Therin, milady. It is not my true name, but it is a part of it."
"Come now, Therin, you're making the young lady's swain jealous," the other boy interrupted. He was every bit as good-looking as the first boy, though in a very different way. His hair reminded her of Harry's, except it was deep golden blond, and his eyes were the clear blue of a summer sky. His clothing showed much more color and less wealth than Therin's, but they way he carried himself made it obvious that he was every bit as affluent as the other boy. "Are you going to let them in or not?"
Therin laughed, then bowed to Draco. "My apologies, young master Malfoy. I have been sharing this portrait with no one other than Ric, Wena, and El for a very long time, and your lady is a rare beauty." The portrait swung open while Draco's mouth hung open as he tried to think up and appropriate reply and Meega attempted to prevent herself from blushing.
"You two are late. What have you been up to?"
"Therin was flirting with me."
"Therin?"
"The guy with the black hair in the portrait outside."
"If he wasn't a portrait I'd do something about him," Draco growled. "As it is, I would anyway, but I can't think of any way to duel a portrait."
"You could sic that crazy knight on him," Meega suggested innocently.
"I thought about that, but I think those four are stuck in their portrait, and everyone else out. He said he'd been stuck there with the other three for a long time."
Meega grinned. "Good. I like Therin. He's very nice."
Draco glowered. "He reminds me of my father."
Meega giggled, then kissed her boyfriend on the tip of his nose. "You're sweet, you know. I am in absolutely no danger from a portrait. Besides, flattery is very nice, and you are a biased source."
Mione groaned. "Will you two cut it out? You're almost sickening."
Meega raised an eyebrow sardonically. "Only almost sickening?" She turned to Draco. "Drace, I do believe we've been slacking."
Draco gave his girlfriend a level look, his eyes completely serious. "I refuse to make a spectacle out of you."
"I take that back. You are sickening. I'm drowning in sweetness. Hurry up and get to the point so that I can escape!"
Meega took a seat on one of the couches, Draco handing her bag to her before sitting down himself. She rummaged around for a moment, then pulled out a red book with gold letters.
"Is that the book on raising and breeding dragons that you got this summer?" Hermione asked.
"Scales and Shards? No. This is Hogwarts' Unwritten History: The Marauder Years."
Exclamations of surprise came from all four of the Gryffindors. "How did you get it?" Harry asked.
"I helped Sirius look over the sheet of promises about Marauder stuff he signed. The Marauder's Map was mentioned specifically as something he wasn't allowed to give to you, but you got that from Fred and George. The invisibility cloak was passed on by Dumbledore when you were eleven, and Sirius was technically supposed to give it to you when you left Hogwarts, but that's done with, too. But this . . . " she tapped the book lightly with her first finger. "Under no conditions is he allowed to let this come into your possession by gift or lending. He's not even allowed to put it in a position where you're likely to find it on your own and 'borrow' it. In fact, he's to make sure that you never get your hands on this book. But the list said nothing about you laying eyes on it—a definite oversight on the part of your mother. So, as long as it technically belongs to me—seeing as I'll keep you from breaking Sirius's promise for him, but still allow you access to the information—and you never actually touch the thing, then you can use the information. Aren't you glad I'm persistent?"
Draco laughed. "Mia, I think 'blackmail' was an inaccurate description."
"I did tell you that I didn't actually blackmail him, Drace. The black paper is becoming a flock of paper cranes. I have almost seven hundred."
"Why on earth are you making so many?"
"At one thousand, I get a wish. I think. This is a trial run, really."
"Huh."
"Anyway, I think we should become Animagi! They've detailed the process, and if we start today we should be done by mid-April!"
"Mid-April—but that's only three months!"
"That's the point. They worked it out, so the hard part is done! They say three months is the longest it should take some one with these instructions—they said it was longer than it would have taken Wormtail with them, whoever he was. They said two was probably more accurate." She knew perfectly well who Peter Pettigrew was, and it got her point across. Eager to become Animagi, the group of students began.
Part 43 – The First Transformation
As the Easter holiday approached, the fifth years' already heavy homework load increased fivefold. They had essays in every class—long, detailed essays. Strangely, under this load of work four Gryffindors and two Slytherins keep meeting regularly behind the canvas bearing Therin, Ric, Wena, and El. By the last week of March, most of what they did was meditation, sitting silently and listening.
Then, two days before the end of March, a series of popping noises interrupted the silence, followed by a large pop and a surprised squeak. Five pairs of eyes flashed open, and after a moment, they settled on the shocked white ferret on the couch next to Meega.
Silence reigned again for an instant, and then the room erupted in giggles. Meega was the first to regain control of herself, and scooped up the little rodent. "Poor little Drace, your Animagus form is a ferret! But you're so very cute as a ferret."
Draco-the-ferret gave his girlfriend a very obviously long-suffering look, slithering out of her hands and back down to the couch. The little beast closed his eyes in concentration, and after a few minutes Draco was himself again and glaring at the still-giggling Gryffindors. "Remember while you're laughing that I was the first to transform."
Hermione smothered her giggles, straightening her hair self-consciously. "Yes. Yes, you were. I was expecting it to be Harry, since he's the most powerful of us. But there are other factors—such as your human body's acceptance of the change and your willingness to surrender to it. Moody transformed you randomly, and so you reverted to your inner creature, making your body more accepting of the change. And . . . I suppose you were the most willing of us to surrender to change, after the episode with Pansy shortly before the Halloween ball and the events following. Add that to your magical strength—which is not something to disregard—and it makes sense for you to transform first."
Ron snorted. "Whatever, Hermione. He transformed first, so one of us needs to be sure and transform next."
"Besides the fact that this is not about Gryffindor and Slytherin, Ron, there is a four in five chance that the next one to transform will be Gryffindor. There are, after all, four of you."
There was silence for a few minutes as they all settled in to meditate more. Then—
"Do you think anyone else will transform today?"
"Not if you don't shut up, Ron."
They were silent for a bit longer.
"How much longer can it take?"
"Ron! Shut up!"
Part 44 – Uncle Alfred
"Mia, did you have anywhere you were going for Easter?"
"Hmm?" Meega looked up from her Potions essay to grin at her boyfriend, who was sitting across from her reading a letter. "Well, seeing as it's sort of impossible for me to go home to see my parents and the Golden Gryffies are staying here, no, not really."
"How'd you like to come home with me?"
"Won't your father be a little upset about me, seeing as I'm Muggleborn and all?"
"Well . . . he sort of doesn't know that. Or even that I'm going out with you."
"Really."
"I spread some rumors that you were a cover and that I was really going out with Hermione. Father will be so relieved that you're in Slytherin that he won't mind that you're American. He has no idea that you consider yourself Muggleborn—though, frankly, that's disputable. You're really the first of your line, with how you came here, so you're more a Pureblood—and very much a Pureblood—than you are a Muggleborn."
"I see. So, you think your father won't object too much?"
"He'll be relieved enough that I wouldn't be particularly surprised if he decided to try to arrange our marriage."
Meega laughed. "If that's the case, I'll go. However, there is no way I'm going to be set up for an arranged marriage. Besides, he'll have a hard time contacting my parents. I suppose we could always tell him that they're dead, and that I've inherited everything."
"There's generally a steward until the child reaches majority."
"Hmm . . . an old, blind great uncle who doesn't answer his post. Since I'm in school most of the year, he doesn't have to have a child underfoot. It was Uncle Alfred's idea for me to transfer to Hogwarts, you know."