Chapter 7: A missing snake

Riddle continued to frequent the Chamber of Secrets and found himself perplexed as an entire Basilisk had gone missing. He had even climbed into the compartment behind Salazar's mouth, and found nothing. This was concerning to Riddle, as he paced up and down the chamber in Draco's body for many nights.

"Somebody knows. Who could it be? No, only I am Salazar's heir? Is there another? What if he is a full pureblood? But I was the last! I am the last of the Gaunts!"

Invictus took notes of Riddle's mutterings as they were dumped into the priority folder. Riddle was not a known Wizarding title but Lorna's politics classes had been handy. Gaunt was a name that was associated with the Sacred Twenty Eight – as soon as Invictus asked Harry if the name was of any significance, it was easy for Harry to connect the name to the infamous Pure-Blood Directory. Percy had scanned a fair number of genealogy records at Hogwarts, and Invictus started to look through all the pages. It did not take long for his trail to end at Corvinus Gaunt, who was alive during the 17th century. Lorna was assigned to consult the Ministry of Magic records from Corvinus Gaunt, for his preceding ancestors.

While Lorna worked to obtain this information, it seemed that Riddle had chosen a rather predictable choice of actions. He was aware through Draco's memories that a future Horcrux had been forced to flee the castle. For most, they had believed that it was a howling banshee that had been on the loose – but Riddle understood himself enough from the recollection in the boy's mind.

"Yes. The end of the school term! A grand statement. Perhaps a young basilisk may not be able to petrify, but its venom can kill. Maybe two hundred younglings might serve my needs. Yes, they could hide in the shadows and strike! Yes, many mudbloods will be killed!"

When Riddle had explained the plan to Draco, he concluded that this was far more important. He was aware that he was always tired and weak, but Riddle's mission to honour Salazar Slytherin's work was an acceptable price. The boy took the commands from the diary, as he began to lose himself.

When the first Quidditch Match arrived, even the rest of the Slytherins who were Draco's supporters began to wonder why he did not seem himself. The young boy had been busy sourcing dozens of roosters, chicken eggs and toads from around the castle in the middle of the night. Draco had not prepared for the Quidditch game - Riddle had never liked sports and found the whole affair ridiculous. Tensions began to grow in house Slytherin. Suddenly Draco who generally liked when Pansy was affectionate with him, shrugged her off. Without Draco to bray behind the rest of the group, Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be clueless as to who to target. Nott continued to stay by himself, and Blaise figured that Draco was very sick, but decided against suggesting that he see Matroness Pomfrey.

The people in Harry's corner were aware that Draco was possessed by the Horcrux, and every day small video updates were given on his actions and whereabouts. Suddenly, Draco became an unknown reality television superstar, who was observed when the group needed a laugh. Watching Draco was like watching some type of macabre puppet show, and now his shenanigans deserved popcorn and bets. Surprisingly, the rituals for creating a Basilisk were still freely available on the Hogwarts shelf. Harry took note of the book and decided he would inform Dumbledore about it eventually. Just when Draco had already set aside the eggs, and the development of the Basilisks was underway, Harry decided on another prank.

Harry designed some small emitters that emulated the magical signature of the young basilisk and then changed out all of the eggs. Now they were full of water, glitter dust, random fortune cookie messages, and a small piece of wand core that was charged by an ink battery. Riddle came the next day for his usual check-up and did not suspect anything. He was convinced that he had an entire army of basilisks that would soon be under his control. What he had was a large embarrassment on his hands.

Riddle was planning to consume Draco to provide himself with a new form.

"I will sacrifice the stupid boy, and regain my essence. His body will provide the material for me to summon a new form. With the right incantations? I will rule supreme!" Riddle whispered through Draco's annoying little voice.

"You can barely finish your breakfast and lunch, and Draco is a weedy weak boy who cannot tolerate pain. Keep telling yourself stupid shit, you empty-headed jackass," Harry murmured to himself as he began his final exams which would usually be given at the end of the final semester in year one.

Harry had changed his mind. No, he wanted by the time the war arrived, to be called nothing less than Doctor Potter, with a PhD tag attached to his name. He continued his occulumency and daily meditation, as these practices helped him to recall textbook pages quite often. Hermione on the other hand appreciated the competition – she was not letting Harry have all the fun. Both of them could scroll through hundreds of pages and they could process information quite faster than an average person. They were not geniuses but were certainly high-functioning gifted intellectuals.

Harry had gotten access to a small semiconductor lab and he began a long overdue project. This was another small secondary project that would help him with his goal of getting the MEF Lilly Potter flying.

Katie Bell had gotten into a potions accident, and this was not the result of any malaise. Rather it was just unexpected serendipity. Astoria had been asked to take her place, and Minerva was happy that both of her star year one students were playing for Gryffindor, after she had insisted that the first year 'no broom' rule for Quidditch could be bent for those people who had talent. On the 15th of November, the cameras were up, and the Quidditch broadcast numbers were at eighty thousand at the beginning of the match. Most of the new customers were from Asia. Harry had deliberately made efforts to reach out to magical businesses in India (through Lord Patel's network) and data slates were selling. While European sales had not increased by much, India was a ripe market to exploit. Another chunk of dataslate sales had come from Africa. The production lines had been working overtime and brooms, uniforms, beater bats and protective quidditch armour were on sale, as advertisements during the match. For the Beauxbaton fans, the news that Charlie had left was saddening. However, with the Chudley Cannon's recent win, he was a hit with many of the French witches. For the French viewers, Ginny Weasley was already expected to be talented like her brother.

The new name that was shocking for the Slytherin students in the stands was when Lee Jordan announced…"Greengrass!".

Lucius Malfoy had a lot of distaste on his face – it seemed as if the youngest Greengrass girl had changed her mind about being a true pureblood. It infuriated him to also see the Weasleys with cutting-edge Typhoon brooms. The rumour was that they ran a kitchen. He had tried to put pressure on the kitchen but the operation was done completely in the muggle world, with muggle methods. It was rumoured that they were caterers for Gringotts and Lucius backed off, as Silverdagger warned him to tread lightly.

"And today we also have Astoria Greengrass subbing for Katie Bell who suffered a potions accident. For Slytherin, we have a newly revamped team with….."

Lee Jodan began to call an entirely new set of names that left most of the school confused. The only name that the rest of the school was familiar with was Draco Malfoy. As Madam Hooch threw the quaffle into the air, the match began and Gryffindor found themselves being challenged by Slytherin.

The new Slytherin team did not execute deliberate fouls or try any underhanded tactics. It seemed as if the real talent in House Slytherin was shining, and many of the darker purebloods had walked off from the match. As far as they were concerned, no match that was won by blood traitors was worth anything. Some of the others stayed if only to support Draco. After the first half-hour continued to stay at a draw, as both keepers managed to block every single shot. So far, Astoria had only acted to facilitate Angelina or Alicia. Oliver Wood realised that he had to switch things up. He yelled out…

"Oi Greengrass! let them have it! Don't hold back! Give them some train track treatment!"

Minerva began to wonder what the girl was going to do.

"Lina and Licia set the plays up for smallie!" Oliver shouted.

Astoria understood what this meant. It was time for her to do what she did in her spare time – travel in straight lines with great velocity. She flicked a small rune on her broom and enabled the small ruby power crystal. The fiendfyre emitter was active at fifteen per cent, which was five per cent more than what she had used for the Hogwarts excursion. There was also a charming extension pocket with about ten litres of JP-7 fuel. The injectors were ready and Astoria was ready for crushing amounts of speed.

Very soon Astoria Greengrass was shrieking across the field, and she was even faster than Charlie. The small gust of heated air that was coming from her broom was noticed by her father who had secretly come into the Hogwarts quidditch stand. He immediately figured out what had happened and he messaged Harry.

"Harry, did Astoria and Ginny modify their broom with any of your bits?"

"They were trying out a ducted Fiendfyre and JP-7 afterburner. She and Ginny installed it themselves? They did their runes for it too." Good project for them to learn fuel injection and power control systems…

"She is putting down the points for Gryffindor. She is going so fast that the Slytherin keeper can't hold on to the quaffle. Ginny is making circles around Draco." Cyrus replied.

"Aww, just the other day she was punching my leg! They grow up very quickly!" Harry replied on the comm device and Cyrus smiled.

The Slytherins gained some late game exploits. Wood could not keep off the new Slytherin chasers as they held the lead easily. Atticus the new Slytherin captain was shrewd as he openly even used pieces of Ronald's tactics from last year. Apparently, Atticus had spent the opening session calculating Gryffindor's loopholes, and now they understood how to counter the oversights in Oliver's tactics. Slytherin was leading at 170 - 100.

All Draco had to do was catch the snitch, and he seemed to be in hot pursuit of the object. However, he continually missed when he made a move to grab the object. When Ginny suspected that Malfoy was chasing the snitch, she streaked across the pitch and grabbed the snitch from under Malfoy's nose.

That had ended the match. Gryffindor had won 250- 170. Only Ginny catching the snitch had saved them.

Suddenly Ginny was on the shoulder of her twin brothers, and Astoria who had scored fifty points by herself was being carried by Alicia and Angelina. There was much cheering as the group approached Cyrus Greengrass, who was holding multiple boxes of pizza in his hand, along with two solitary Big Macs bags. This alone made her father popular with the team, as Astoria jumped down from the girls' shoulders and hugged her father.

"Guess I can't ask what you brought for me. Thanks!" she replied as she grabbed the bag, opened the burger in a practised manner and began to chomp down on the thing in an undignified manner. The rest of the team watched on in fascination. Astoria seemed very animated and not one bit reserved.

"Hello. Oliver, Alicia, Angelina? A pleasure!" Cyrus greeted everyone on the Quidditch team and handed off the pizza boxes. Cyrus Greengrass was quite proud of his daughter, and the Gryffindors realised that while the man was a Slytherin himself, he had no problem supporting his daughter. By the time the rumours had passed around the Gryffindor common room, Astoria spent a lot of time explaining to the other boys and girls that their family were neutral during the last war, but they were tired of the pureblood supremacy and if it was necessary in the future, they would fight inequality head-on.

"And your older sister is a Slytherin?" Colin asked.

"She is, and she is quite nice. She and Neville have always been good with each other. That isn't to say that Shirley Temple, Henchman number one and two, along with the pug are nice and are going to give you hugs. " Astoria explained.

"So Slytherin has its subdivisions?" Alicia asked.

"Oh yes. Muggleborns, half-bloods and pureblood neutrals are all against miniature Death Eaters in training. The children of the former Death Eaters are well connected. Lots of political power. Sluggy ain't like Snape, many want to kill him." Astoria replied.

"How does your sister survive in there?" Angelina asked.

"Oh, very politically savvy. Also, she and Tracey make most of the points in the entire lower part of Slytherin's house. Slytherin is a complex case, but now with the ability for people to text chat with each other via the dataslate? Have you noticed how many of them are sizing up we lions during dinner?"

"Hey, a sweet snake was eyeing me up lately!" a boy yelled in the background.

"You need to let that snake slither under your clothes! Lurve is lurve baby! Make love, not war!" Astoria replied as the boy hooted. Even Oliver Wood was laughing.

"Oi Greengrass, you and your family are alright!" Wood replied.

The discussion in the Slytherin changing room had been much different.

"We have typhoons just like her. How were their brooms so fast?" one of the boys asked.

"They redesigned their twig array. They were running something extra. Something they made themselves. It's a grey area, but not illegal. Slytherin has always won by having better brooms, usually. Doesn't feel nice to be on the receiving end of that…" Alford stated as the other team members grinned.

"We need to have broom standardisation!" Hector complained. There was a pause before the entire team laughed. Their predecessors had never complained. Now they were complaining because it felt unfair.

"Ah, crap. Astoria and Ginny can fly. They are small and light. They accelerate faster. They were hard to catch. That being said our chasers did great work after we figured out their exploits." Atticus continued.

Draco walked into the changing room.

"Malfoy you were disappointing. The snitch was right in front of you. You could have gotten it multiple times before the redhead from across the pitch got it. What was the deal with you?" Athena asked.

"Out of my way bloodtraitor. Hope Lord Voldemort kills all of you…" Draco replied.

"You didn't get the news buddy. He died already." Athena replied.

"One day I will ask you if you are so sure. You are only one year above me, we will see you neutral disgrace!" Draco replied.

Most of them took the behaviour to mean that he was just trying to rattle them. However, Riddle had not cared about the game. He spent most of the match looking at Astoria. He had taken a little detour and had looked on at the muggle food items in the boxes. And to think that she was flying for Gryffindor. Tom had been speaking to the team, as he collected information.

He was going to curse Astoria, at the end of the term when her guard was down, to punish her father indirectly.

By the time Lucius arrived home, he already had been bombarded by many owls. The neutrals had made up their mind that they would collectively fund the Slytherin Quidditch team. Lord Greengrass would foot the bill, and any threats that were made against Slughorn would involve a retainer getting involved. Draco had lost the match, because of his carelessness. Lucius wondered if perhaps his son was saddened that Astoria was not speaking to him anymore. He messaged his son and suggested that he buy the young woman an expensive gift, and perhaps some flowers. Lucius was surprised when Draco replied that "inconsequential blood traitors did not matter, and that he was merely looking upon the enemy now"

Lucius was proud.

"My son is loyal to the Dark Lord. No Draco, you can always win another Quidditch match. Your service is a far greater asset."

Little did the silver-haired man know, that his son was already in service of the Dark Lord, and Thomas Riddle planned to claim Draco's body and lifeforce as his own. He was only ever a tool to be used.

Hogwarts students and all the other dataslate customers were shocked when the message arrived on their data slates. It was around this time last year that the items had changed magical society. It seemed appropriate that the same thing was happening again.

To our dear customers:

Today marks an approximate first anniversary since the initial release of our products within the United Kingdom. For this past Samhain, we have been working very hard. We have finally brought many revolutionary features for you, as we work towards offering you even more convenience.

Tonight from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Standard AST time, your dataslates will be off, until they receive a new runicware package. After the dataslates receive the update, it will enable you to do voice and video calls.

Voice calls allow you to hear the voice of another person as if they were right next to you. Video calls are even better. They allow you to see and hear another person, while they speak to you! It is almost like looking into a mirror! Group calls are the best. Call up to ten people and simultaneously chat with each other via voice or video. This feature has been rolled out for text chat also – talk to each other as a group! And for those who are familiar with the QWERTY layout, we added a standard Keyboard input, along with a choice of layouts to suit your needs.

The best part is that we have opened up the dataslates to worldwide communication. Have you been writing to a friend abroad for a while, who you have never met in person? Or perhaps you found friendship or love elsewhere? Provide them with your "addy" which is a unique identifier that allows them to find you in the friend search. Or perhaps, talk to your family members, who long to see you while you are away?

Family is everything.

To keep the system safe, the video and voice verification will be done with the aid of Gringotts. You will be required to provide a drop of blood to a Gringotts official at any one of our registered partners. Gringotts will separately identify who you are, and provide you with a single identifier that will be permanent.

The purpose of such measures is to ensure your privacy and security. You should be assured that people are who they claim to be! Parents will have access to student chats (upon request if they wish) for those who are younger than eighteen. If you become a full adult, you can always reverify your identity to make your conversations completely private.

Conversations are private and magi-crypted. We have taken measures that eliminate the use of people's personal information as unscrupulous leverage, along with using our artefacts to humiliate and embarrass others. However, whatever you choose to do as consenting parties is your business. Misbehave and we will ban you from the system for life. Play by the rules.

We will not be able to provide any personal information to any third parties – no information is stored. It is streamed live, as it occurs. The artefact may store records of your activities, but you can set passwords if you so wish, to protect yourself. If you must decommission the device, you can pay a fee to erase everything permanently.

We hope that you will speak to people who come from a different culture. Learn about a new dish perhaps? Learn to speak a new language? Find a new place to travel. Find out about interesting products. Conduct business with international partners. Keep in contact with family as they travel. Listen to some new music?

Oh right about that! We love music.

Are you an independent band? A solo singer? A troupe? Get in touch with our local partners to find out about our label, Sonic Superiority Records. We are aiming to sell and promote your music, as we expose audiences all over the world to what you have to offer. Wizarding Rock (W-rock), pop (W-pop), Heavy Metal (our personal favourite), Classical and everything else is coming to you.

The Weird Sister's new album "Trainwreck and Butterbeer" will be available next week.

We have reached out to many of our local bookstores, who will provide you with attachments that can extend the functionality of your device. Want to identify potion ingredients? Want a special camera for high-resolution photos? Or do you want to run a school newspaper and require extra features in your parchment processor?

And finally – tired of your dataslate looking the same? Themes, emotes, icons, different types of text and all sorts of goodies are being sold at any standard bookstore. Check our internal manual and catalogue for registered partners and for tutorials on how to use our artefacts.

Stay tuned as we continue to deliver the products and services that matter to you!

The Artificing Guild.

Albus held a small meeting the same night in his office.

"This is somewhat concerning. I have tried to trace the magic, and I cannot tap into where the charms go, or how it works. When I tried, I was greeted by muggle mathematics. I just spoke to Ms Greengrass. I understand it is called encryption and it is uncrackable by many muggles." Albus explained.

"You have doubts?" Fillius asked.

"I believe that they will collect massive amounts of information. Information will not be private from them. This will allow them to push whatever agenda that they wish?" Albus explained.

"Why hasn't there been any pushback from the Ministry of Magic?" Minerva asked.

"We barely understand the technology that is one hundred and twenty years old. I understand that these features are considered what Alex calls 'bleeding-edge technology' – it is established, but undergoing rapid development. I have come to conclude the Artificing Guild are Muggle educated purebloods, or perhaps were never purebloods. This gives me hope. Alex explained that they are probably technology experts too. It also explains why they are looking for unconventional talent. Ms Greengrasses insights into computer programming were eye-opening. They have systems that far surpass our runic alphabets." Albus explained.

"The entire school is waiting for the features to arrive. They are having parties! And no, I have no idea where the contraband is coming from! All known troublemakers are accounted for? Fred and George are just changing the colour of people's hair, it isn't them." Minerva replied.

"This will change society. I heard Davies and the rest are excited to talk to French Girls. The Owlery is full. They are waiting to trade information I suppose?" Fillius explained.

"We will continue to monitor the developments. Sadly there is not much we can do. People love convenience. What is this I am hearing about a duelling club?" Albus asked.

"Mr Lockhart insisted that he could teach the students to duel against the unknown aggressors. He is not aware that the issue has been handled. He has already invited students for a practical demonstration on Saturday. Albus, we know that he cannot duel." Minerva insisted.

"Let him have the demonstration and invite our favourite five students. I want to see their capability. I want to see how Neville fights. Augusta explained to me that Remus Lupin trained him. Now his combat ability makes sense. Has he replied Minerva?" Albus asked.

"No, he has not. I was looking forward to hearing from him. Sirius Black has disappeared. Lord Black replied to me and explained to me that he was drinking excessively. He isn't in a good place, Albus. Nor does he want to speak to anyone…" Minerva softly replied.

"Remus and Sirius are perhaps together. I hope I will speak to them soon. The last war all took a toll on us." Albus replied.

"The last war all took a toll on us? It certainly fucking did!" Harry replied as he spied on the conversation in the Headmaster's office. "So Tipsy, it should be here?" Harry asked as Hermione and Percy stood behind him.

"Sure. I think one person has to ask the room what you want." Tipsy replied.

"Harry, I have an idea. I have been thinking about this for a while." Percy explained.

The Grey Lady could not see the gathered group, but she decided to float nearby. They were invisible and silenced, but she had followed them after their initial meetup point. She could feel their presence. Percy's face took on a curious expression as a door materialised, and they all gingerly stepped into the room. The Grey Lady floated through with the group, with her invisibility completely active.

"What did you ask for?" Harry enquired.

"Only for Hogwarts to summon any items that Tom Riddle stored here?" he replied as they found themselves looking at a cabinet, an entire stack of Wizarding geology textbooks and a diadem.

"Oi Helena, this one is your mum's diadem?" Harry asked casually.

The Grey Lady was shocked. How did he know? She materialised and began looking at the diadem.

"How can you see me when I am invisible, Harry Potter?" the Grey Lady asked.

"Mage sight. Saw the Bloody Baron hanging out at the mansion. A pleasure to meet you. Although I do think you know us?" Harry asked.

"I do. Why do you suspect that this is the Diadem of Ravenclaw?" she asked.

"I can see the structure. A neural network has been woven into the steel. Activated by magic. We have something similar to this for our amour. By neural network, I mean a pattern that emulates the organic matter in the brain, if you don't know the scientific lingo. So here we are."

"Perceptive and correct. What do you plan to do with the diadem?" she asked gingerly.

"Not sure. I don't want it for myself. I can see Moldyfuck's essence stored in it. I don't want to destroy a piece of Wizarding Culture, either. Pickles for my fry chicken sandwich, if you consider the choices before me…." Harry mused, and the Grey Lady laughed. She was familiar with the food item, that came from the Weasley Kitchen.

"You don't want it?" the Grey Lady asked, incredulously.

"No. I understand how it works. You weave neural networks into the material. Very handy but then the preferred patterns of that person's brain are stored in there. It could probably overwrite your personality. Not bad eh, but we do far more demanding work…." Harry commented, casually.

"How can you know so much from just a glance?" the Grey Lady asked.

"Times have changed. The muggles understand more about the universe and magicals just like to point sticks and whisper spells. I don't need baboon-grade education at this place. It was my ancestor who made your mother's wand and I still have the notes. And my transfiguration is miles ahead of my ancestor. You have been sequestered here too long, so you are behind the times." Harry insisted.

The Grey Lady was now silent.

"How about a vat of Basilisk venom? We could soak the thing and hope that the microstructures don't get damaged. Maybe if we destroy Voldy, we could plug the crown into the castle as a processing matrix by making a type of middleware. Something that emulates how Rowena would have thought, but it doesn't directly interface into the Sorting Hat and…."

The Grey Lady listened on as Hermione Granger found a way for the diadem to be put to use, in the aid of protecting the Hogwarts students, while removing the presence that defiled her mother's creation. The remaining conversation had her confused – it seemed that they were doing things with magic that the founders could not conceive of, as Hermione explained that she was next in Morgana's line. Only her mother was capable of conjuring the illusions that were present in the Great Hall. This blue haired girl just seemed to casually conjure wandless illusions quickly and with great complexity, as they 'prototyped' some pieces and examined the funny looking cabinet.

The Grey Lady honestly loved Hermione Granger's style. She had on form-fitting muggle pants that highlighted that she was physically strong. The blue streak in her hair, the all-blue wardrobe, the weapons and the various runic devices hung from her waist - She was a modern rune-priestess, and she was a Ravenclaw.

"Think we can make some plug-in modules for the castle?" Harry asked.

"Sure. Wait, let me finish with the rune readout on this cabinet and….well that is fantastic!" Hermione replied.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"This cabinet can do teleportation. Some of the runes need to be recarved, but…wait I am looking into the main algorithm and…holy this thing is beautiful! If these coordinates are right this will…." Hermione exclaimed as she got frantic – She quickly began to repair the runes with a high-powered laser pen, and she began to test the teleportation capability with drones. She then had Grace fetch "Timmy the Flobberworm" to validate that the specimen could survive the trip. Tipsy showed up a half hour later with some snacks, and the Grey Lady genuinely laughed at Harry's sassy brand of humour.

"Why would you not tell Dumbledore? There isn't really nothing I could do to you?" Harry asked.

"Many have been tempted by this diadem. It has become elusive. And yet you look upon it and you are pure. I must also admit, that perhaps your insistence that our quirks and errors make us intelligent, that you insist that you would want to stay untouched…It is something I have never considered.

Albus Dumbledore has done acceptably as the Hogwarts Headmaster, but the largest amount of student and alumni deaths has been incurred during his time. Hogwarts is not pleased, although she lends her support." the Grey Lady replied.

"Thanks?" Harry replied as Hermione placed a titanium wire glove on her hand and held the Diadem. The Grey Lady was surprised to know that materials that could block magic existed. It made sense though - some materials were magically conductive, so perhaps the opposite had to exist. Hermione opened the Titanium box filled with basilisk venom and hung the crown on the little plastic stud. She closed the box, and a protego field flared around the box before Hermione tilted the entire apparatus. After a scream and some thrashing about, Hermione opened the box and levitated the Diadem. Harry checked the item over with his eyesight.

"Clean. Where did the drone arrive Hermione?"

"In Borgin and Burkes. He probably placed the other end here to get into the castle quickly. I have the runic readout, we can rework this new algorithm into our jumpdrive. It seems that this piece of magic was accidental, and it is by coincidence that it is so efficient."

"All good for us. Percy, got the scans?" Harry asked as the new textbook scanner did not flip any pages. The new scanners reduced the magical essence of the book down to equations, and then the information was recreated and scanned sequentially.

"Yes. I will return these books to the library. It seems that many of the pureblood families have a lot of non-magical ancestries. This would turn the pureblood directory into an irrelevant document. Found some Weasley information too! Dad will love to see those bits. I have to translate the writing but the pictures and the hair are a dead giveaway. A lot of Futhark, but I don't understand why this is the case….." Percy replied.

"Maybe Viking ancestry, probably," Harry suggested.

"Do you think he used other items belonging to the founders?" Hermione asked.

"We will have to check the sword and locate the cup. With the reading we pulled from this Horcrux, his magical signature has been fine-tuned. We will dump it into the radar and see?" Harry replied.

Hermione took out her SMG and destroyed the Vanishing Cabinet. She also had Grace sneak into Borkin and Burkes before the bird apparated in the other cabinet fifty metres above the forbidden forest where it fell and disassembled itself into tiny pieces. The entire group then left the Room of Requirement and entered again, and asked for Hogwarts to provide a master control room that could be used to defend the castle. They also requested runic arrays, complete Hogwarts schematics and reconfigurable options for interfacing cannons, force fields, drone bays and other modern warfare implements. Hogwarts recognised their needs and provided a space with a central pedestal. As they entered, the entire wall of the room glowed with the runic schemes that Helena Ravenclaw had etched. Hermione was able to take pictures of the entire affair. Harry slipped the now purified Diadem into the control pedestal, and suddenly the castle hummed.

Harry and Hermione now had extended control of the castle, as they examined the castle and made plans for the war. The magic of Hogwarts that was flowing in the crown could sense that her champions would ensure the safety of the castle and the students. Hermione then after some careful analysis managed to install a runic hijack that would summon the exact thoughts that produced the control room when they provided a specific magical signature. Then, the room was isolated in a virtualisation layer so that nobody else could access the place. It was their version of a biometric lock – only that it required a magical signature combined with their body vitals, and the lock also denied any other person from accessing the room or any features that currently existed in the room. Even the Grey Lady was impressed by Hermione's runes. Albus Dumbledore felt the change in Hogwarts and concluded that he was making the right decisions, while the pair continued to harden the security and examine the additional places in the castle that had been locked off, along with an entire network of tunnels that had been barred by sliding rock doors.

"They had supermarket doors before us!" Harry laughed, as they interfaced some new controls into the marauder's bracelet to activate those tunnels. It seemed that the Marauders had only discovered the tunnels that had been left open. They were plenty more, and Harry was already examining how he could connect his new plastic tunnels to the existing network.

Draco who was busy checking in on the eggs and roosters, found himself pacing as he suddenly felt the pain of a piece of himself dying, about thirty minutes ago. He began to quake in fear. Somebody knew of his Horcruxes and they had destroyed one. He knew that he was the first Horcrux and he had not decided on what objects to use to create the rest. Riddle began to roar, as he fired off multiple killing curses at the wall. His plans were being foiled. He decided to leave a message for the other parts of himself. He would leave instructions at Malfoy manor in the same box from which the boy's father had stored the diary. This would allow his future self to plan adequately.

Daphne now had a booming business as Slytherin house was busy talking to French Wizards and Witches. She would only show up occasionally, and there were long lines, as she helped the students translate French. The worse part was that some of the messages were sexually filthy, and Daphne wrote them down exactly as she understood them, without smiling, or giggling. Everybody considered this behaviour and her deadpan expression a sign of her professionalism. A small part of Daphne was happy that the guys and gals were having fun. Some of the darker purebloods watched each other hungrily. They could see the goods and have casual fun without getting physical in person. Daphne openly placed a piggy bank on the table when she did her translations and was too happy to fill it regularly.

"Well, you said you would have a booming business?" Blaise joked.

"Sure Blaise. I am sorry I can only help with the French. I would like to help others too. Maybe they will have to learn a language?"

"Please Daphne, never happening. Things are all hot and bothered these days, with the rest of them." Blaise replied.

"I like staying in my room because of that. Everyone wants a piece of everyone else. And with the Guild doing everything to protect people's privacy, maybe the Wizarding population might rise?"

Blaise and Daphne had a good laugh, as he continued to receive letters from his mother the old-fashioned way. All Blaise's mother had managed to find out was that there was no Artificing Guild. There were two companies called P.B.I and G.B.P and they owned everything under Black Holdings. Theodore walked out and his face was happy and even dreamy. Daphne had known that the boy had liked her very much, and he was always shy but calculated about his interactions.

"Hey, Blaise. Daphne. Going to take a walk!" he replied brightly and confidently as if he had not a single care in the world. He even seemed to be sober and smiling.

"Looks like he has a new bird. Oh definitely. I have never seen him ignore you like that!" Blaise joked.

"Blaise you can't fool me. You work towards your goals. As I work towards mine. You don't believe in any of the pureblood supremacy nonsense. But you are willing to hide in the crowd. I guess we have a turncoat then? Who would have thought it would be…Theo?" Daphne smiled.

"This is why I like talking to you. Draco hasn't figured it out yet. If anything gets suspicious, I am going back to Italy. Glad Nott found somebody nice. This was fun. See you around Ice Princess." Blaise replied.

Later at the apartment, Daphne rechecked some of the collected analytics, and she was able to determine that students were getting naked for each other all over the school, and internationally. Of course, Daphne had not peeked into the conversations. Rather there was an A.I. algorithm that could identify if users were naked or not, and she merely looked at the percentage on the dashboard. Worse, unlike the muggle counterpart, it was fairly safe. Many paedophiles and catfishers had tried but none of them got by, as the system locked out any age-inappropriate activities or interactions where the magical signatures could not be verified.

"When Hermione insisted that we needed to devote an entire three weeks to get the 'naked module' done, I scoffed. I stand corrected Trace." Daphne sighed.

"Look people are gonna get laid, nice and easy. Love is going to happen. I saw Nott smiling this morning. Come on, let us hear the conversation!" Tracey suggested.

"I am not listening in. Yes, I saw him this morning. Help yourself?" Daphne suggested.

As Tracey tuned into the conversation from the panel on her laptop, she saw that Nott had entered a random language exchange room, and was now laughing with a girl, who seemed to be….Brazillian? The girl spoke very broken English, and Nott seemed to enjoy..correcting her? Apparently, they had been talking via owl because of a pen pal listing in the personal classifieds. Now there was no delay and they could see each other. An evil idea began to form in Tracey's head.

Oh, she had material for the second book in her series. It looked like Theodore Nott had met a Latin American girl, and something had changed. She and Parvati would have a ruckus, writing about his love life!

"So he has a thing for Latina girls. Who would have thought Theodore likes them outgoing, eh?" Tracey snickered, as she rubbed her palms.

It was now the first week of December. Another successful sale had occurred for Arthur, Cyrus, and Reginald. Harry's preferred magical contractors had just finished building a modern flat for Xeno. Harry had checked in on the project as a small reactor, solar cell system, titanium damping panels, and other small cannons were placed in the house. The Goblins were making large amounts of money, selling the tunnel segments and had become practised at putting them down. There were now two tunnels in the burrow. One led from the Lovegood basement into the Weasley basement, and another led from the Weasly garage into an illusioned cave that joined a highway. Arthur was now driving regularly, and Xeno was quite comfortable in his studio room. Luna had even gotten the rest of the people in both apartments to apparate to her house and help her move her possessions.

The obstacle course continued as Penny joined her boyfriend. Now their squad seemed to consist of two couples. It had not gone unnoticed that Bill and Fleur liked each other. Penny did not see any noticeable improvement in her casting as her body was still adjusting to the exercise. However, she did learn how to use cover creatively. Tracey and Ronald became well known as marksmen. Neville was openly using a sword to deflect fire from the stun cannon, and Luna began to experiment with a bow after seeing the weapon Harry had created for Magorian. The Centaurs would often run the course for entertainment. Harry often worked with Firenze, and Hermione worked with Magorian when time permitted them. Lorna and the Goblins had provided the Centaurs with enough materials, and now they had access to agricultural supplies, and modern powered residences underground.

"You fight like a Roman berserker, Harry Potter," Firenze explained as he panted.

"I want them to run in terror Firenze. Time to fix what is broken. And sadly I might have to break Pureblood England in half to accomplish my goals. If my capability will scare them off, good….." Harry wondered to himself.

Charlie began to chat with Esme, Fleur's friend regularly. Her friends were jealous to know that she was talking to a rising quidditch star. Fleur became the person who was not only the English-French translator for Hogwarts but also the person who knew the Weasleys, who were talented flyers. Suddenly everybody was excited to meet "her friends". Ronald continued to get offers from witches all over the world, and he continued to ignore the friend requests as he studied and trained hard.

The war continued to dominate his mind, as he ate regular meals, weighed his caloric intake and even started yoga to improve his flexibility. He even experimented with kickboxing. Ronald was beginning to catch up with Harry, who was the biggest person in the year group and the seventh-year girls from all over Hogwarts began to eye him up as he walked to class. According to them, he could pass for a big 3rd year and he was an acceptable conquest – they were hoping his 'broom handle was as big as the rest of him….'

Albus began to have regular conversations with Madam Maxine, and even Minerva was often consulted by the French for Transfiguration issues. Slughorn often managed to get advice from Otto and Gris about the more unusual potioneering ingredients. Many of Albus's academic meetings were now happening over the dataslate and suddenly he had less travelling to do, and he only left Hogwarts for either personal business or Wizengamot sessions. As he made his way down to the Duelling Club demonstration he considered that his supposed adversaries had given him more time to plot.

As Albus walked into the Great Hall, he saw that a traditional duelling stage had been set up in the middle of the area. The stage was covered with a blue cloth that sported the astronomical phases of the moon. The majority of the people who had shown up were younger students. Albus was not surprised, as he considered that only the upper school had gotten the message on the dataslate – a message that had described the situation accurately.

He, the headmaster was not at fault for placing the fraud at the school. That was a surprisingly objective statement, as there had been nobody else who was brave enough to apply for the position.

As he entered the hall, he saw his favourite five students present. When the other Slytherin students had asked why Daphne and Tracey why were keeping the company of Neville and his friends, she merely replied that they were equally competent and she didn't have to slow down for the rest of the morons. What else was she to do, as a Slytherin? Pass on a free resource to be utilised? That had made the rest of the Slytherins quiet.

Also present were the random fifth, sixth and seventh years that Neville and his group taught during the evenings. They wanted to see who would be brave enough to cross Neville and "his group of certified badasses." It seemed like the other students from his initial year group who had not seen them for a while, were hungry for a challenge. Gilderoy Lockhart was now patrolling in his finely pressed clothes, with his cloak hanging jauntily from his left shoulder.

He then yelled loudly, "Gather around. Gather round. Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent….."

Suddenly Severus Snape appeared, and there was some whispering as the students realised that the brooding hooked-nose man was still a part of Hogwarts. He scanned the hall and approached Albus Dumbledore. Now everyone was paying attention to Gilderoy Lockhart, once again. The flamboyant man had walked to the other end of the duelling stage, and he seemed awfully sure about himself until he saw his least favourite group of students looking on at him, curiously. Gilderoy was so grossly incompetent, that he had not managed to figure out that his least favourite students were genuinely skilled. He looked upon them and saw them as upstarts who were looking to out-con him. A plan formed in his mind, as he looked at Severus Snape. Severus had been on an assignment to look for Artifcing Guilds throughout the world. Severus shared his findings with Dumbledore via three simple words.

"I found nothing."

Albus nodded as the imposter continued with his explanation:

"In light of the dark events of many weeks ago, Professor has granted me permission to start this duelling club….to train you all up in case if you ever need to defend yourselves….as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works….."

He then threw his cloak at Angelina and while the other girls were smiling, Angelina, Alicia and Katie were not impressed. They had seen Percy take on three Slytherin seventh years without breaking a sweat. Gilderoy's hands were on the waist of his high-cut pants, and there was a duelling glove in his right hand. He looked more like a model now, and he continued:

"Let me introduce my assistant….Professor Snape!"

Severus Snape immediately figured out that Lockhart considered him to be an unimportant staff member at Hogwarts. He stopped his conversation with Albus, and the Headmaster walked away. Albus ad instructed Severus to report on the combat capabilities of his new star students, which was a total shock to him – the Headmaster had reasoned that Severus would be a good judge of duelling capability and decided to have some Onion soup at his favourite kitchen. He even wondered if the Storm-Lord had been serious about his discount. When he arrived at his office, he took the floo to the kitchen.

The usual fiasco continued in the Great Hall. Gilderoy moved silently to the other side of the stage, with his bellowing cloak rippling as he took his position and took out his wand.

"Mr Snape had sportingly agreed to help with a short demonstration. I don't want any of you youngsters, to worry. You will still have Mr Snape when I am through with him. Never fear!" Gilderoy replied, overly confident. Both men walked slowly and made a small bow when they were facing each other, before walking five large footsteps apart. Gilderoy turned around and had his wand in his hand.

"One – Two - Three" Gilderoy announced before a heavily accented "Exxxx-pelli-armus!" was heard from Professor Snape. The spell travelled, and Gilderoy found himself flat on the stage with his wand out of his hand, next to him. Some of the more astute students began to wonder if Snape had tried to be obvious. Gilderoy got up from the floor, fixed himself and continued:

"An excellent idea to show them that Mr Snape but if you don't mind me saying….it was pretty obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy." Gilderoy replied. There was now disdain on Professor Snape's face and he replied neutrally, "Perhaps it would be prudent….to teach the students to block….unfriendly spells Professor."

"An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape. Let's have a volunteer pair. Longbottom how about you?" Lockhard replied, hoping to embarrass the boy.

"Might I suggest someone from my own house? Warrington perhaps?" Snape replied as he looked at the boy in the crowd. The look on Snape's face was obvious – he was telling the sixth year that if he wanted payback, he could get it now. Snape made a sudden twisting motion, as he silently directed the boy to the stage. The neutrals Slytherins who had been thought by Neville understood the dynamics of the situation, and they were already passing the galleons as bets were made. Neville on the other hand decided to annoy Warrington, as he began to walk toward the boy.

"My my, some righteous revenge today. Some revenge for your father's death perhaps? You are aware he was wearing Death Eater paraphernalia?"

Now there was muttering, and Snape began to look at Nevile with a calculating look. Warrington had already bowed and was walking back slowly. Neville on the other hand had not turned around as he silently backstepped to this original position.

"Seems like the purebloods are dying out these days. The purebloods who loved to lick Voldy's crotch are now…...no-bloods. Death Eaters to Dead Droppers!" Neville taunted, as he restated the joke that had come from Tracey's father. The crowd was sniggering, and the darker purebloods were hoping that Neville would be put in his place. Warrington had spun around and cast a bone breaking curse.

"Confractus ossa!"

Neville had dropped to the floor and dodged the spell. He was already on the rebound before he cast a "Wingardium Leviosa" non-verbally. He levitated the rug and pulled it off the table. Warrington had lost his footing and fell. Then Neville lifted the hot coals from the nearby fire on the wall and sent all of them towards Warrington's face and body. Now the boy was screaming in pain, and Snape could not punish Neville as the oath from last year forced him to be fair. Warrington had become off-balanced with the insults, and he had broken protocol by attacking before reaching their starting positions. He had even cast a bone breaking curse, and Neville had only responded after the boy had cast his spell. Severus was surprised that such a simple spell had caused so much damage. He had used the environment to his advantage. He began to wonder if the boy had gotten access to Dawlish's memory, through Lord Black. His spells were non-verbal and his swishes and flicks were not to execute the spell but to guide the intent to utilise the objects of his choice. His range was impressive, and he was fluid.

Neville Longbottom had his type of year seven talent as a year two student.

Severus disliked the boy but appreciated that he was competent and not a pushover. If the Dark Lord was going to return, Neville could possibly put up a fairly good fight. He also seemed to be calculating and shrewd. Almost like a Slytherin?

"Ethro, take him to the hospital wing. Ten points from Slytherin for not respecting duelling protocol!" Snape replied as Neville made a shrugging motion and he walked away from the stage. Now the younger year two students were watching on with awe, and many people were connecting the rumours with his competence. Lockhart immediately understood that perhaps the group was competent, and he decided to play along and see what would occur.

"I was hoping that we would not have any injuries this afternoon. No matter. Matroness Pomfrey will fix him up, good as new. Mr Ronald Weasley, would you like to volunteer?"

Ronald then silently took a single leap and landed stealthily on the duelling floor. And he did not look like a second-year student. He looked like he was almost approaching year three and his muscles showed faintly through his robe. The power in his jump alone had been intimidating. Many of the students began to back away, and Professor Snape saw Draco looking smug.

"Malfoy!" Snape replied, and suddenly the school wondered if today was a rematch between the pair.

"Well, if it isn't the blood traitor Ronald Weasley himself!" Draco commented as he walked towards the centre of the crowd.

"I aim to please, Draco. Heard you have to beg your father for a hug. What a shame…." Ronald replied. Suddenly the entire crowd, particularly the darker purebloods became uncomfortable.

"And you have to work for Muggles to earn money? So unbecoming! Still so poor?" Draco replied as the darker purebloods sniggered.

"Ha! My robes are better than your father's. And the purebloods in Slytherin are buying Muggle lingerie, Muggle rum and Muggle sex toys. What a frustrated group of people. Did you bunch of morons think those things were magical?" Ronald asked as he held his wand in his hand.

"Only the traitors are purchasing such things. Your type of people….perhaps?" Draco smirked,

"We only became traitors because of a shrewd deception of your family. We will be back…

You Slytherins need to learn to be more subtle. Your ambitions and treachery have become almost Gryffindorish because you think you own the system. Bold and obvious, and therefore…predictable…." Ronald smirked.

Severus Snape was bewildered. What was Ronald Weasley talking about? Yet, the students seemed uncomfortable, and this suggested that the comment was true. What had occurred for a couple of months that he was away? Now both of the students were bowing to each other. Ronald whispered very softly…

"Nice to meet you, Tom Riddle….."

Draco's expression changed instantly, and Severus Snape recognised the murderous glint in his eye as Draco walked with his back turned to his opponent. Snape also observed that Ronald did not turn his back, and preferred to step backwards, with his wand already drawn. Snape was conflicted about this practice, as it was not in line with tradition – but then he understood the reason for it. Slytherins for the afternoon had already demonstrated that they could not be trusted. Snape also considered that Ronald's remark was quite correct. Slytherins were not capable of subtle manipulation. They had become too obvious, and even unimaginative in their machinations. Snape's face then took on a frown, as he realised that Ronald was saying that he was capable of treachery if necessary.

Was he a Slytherin, wearing a badger's uniform?

Riddle wanted to win, and make a show so he decided that he would force his presence through Draco's body if necessary. Now both of the students were staring at each other and their wands were drawn.

"Three. Two. One…" Snape signalled….

Draco had already started with non-verbal bone-breaking spells, along with Bombardas, and freezing charms. He even went straight for the coals like Neville and hoped that he would make Ronald suffer. Severus was surprised that Draco was casting with such finesse. Perhaps he was practising? However he realised that Draco was not managing his energy consumption, and he would soon become tired.

Ronald who had been practising to fend off the stun cannon merely held Harry's custom-modified protego. Neville had thought him to shape the spell, and it did not go unnoticed that he only conjured where necessary. Riddle was working with the average knowledge of a year six Hogwarts student, and Ronald was utilising Harry's heavily modified spells, which he had continued to revise constantly. Riddle wondered if he could cast at least the Imperius or the Crucio with whispers because he was not getting through the shield. Riddle whispered 'Imperio' and was surprised when he started to struggle to maintain the magic. Riddle found the boy's choice of mental protection, unusual as Draco's body could not push anymore.

His opponent was holding a picture of a girl in his mind, as her hair gleamed in the sun and she shared a laugh with him over a joke. She was holding his hand, and she that she considered him a "good, trusted friend." Riddle was surprised that the boy's unconventional defence had locked his mind down like an iron gate. Riddle found himself confused and even recoiled from the magic. The love was so pure that it physically hurt Riddle as he tried to enforce his will.

Snape who knew the wand movements, was surprised as Draco had committed a crime in broad daylight. The movement of the tip had been obvious to those who knew darker magic. Snape was about to stop the duel, but Ronald seemed to stop walking and he observed Draco's tip of his wand – for a moment there was a grimace, but then he shook it off. Snape immediately realised that Ronald Weasley knew exactly what game was being played. And he knew enough of the mind arts, to fight the Imperio with occulumentic barriers. That implied that within the last year, from having no mental barriers he had improved immensely. Snape observed as Ronald suddenly charged at Malfoy with a surprising amount of speed while he held the shield charm constant.

Riddle began to panic as he realised that he had assumed that he was in his old body. He did not have enough magic left in him to summon the Crucio. He switched to the Serpensortia spell and conjured the snake mid-air as Riddle gasped for breath in Draco's body.

The next set of events was so impossible by Wizarding standards, that it left everyone shocked.

Ronald struck Draco with a pistol disarming drip, and his wand went flying across the room. Then, the conjured snake was grabbed unceremoniously from the air. Suddenly all the dodging and the flips the redhead had been practising came to the forefront. A solid punch was delivered to Draco's stomach and Ronald slipped behind Draco in a smooth motion with a surprising amount of dexterity.

Ronald had wrapped the snake around the boy's neck, and Draco was suffocating.

Now the sleeves which Ronald had rolled up before the fight, became visible as his arms flexed. Snape could not do anything, as the other members of House Slytherin looked on at the fiasco with their hands on their mouths. As the Potion master attempted to intervene, his oath began to cause his body physical distress.

Then the hidden brilliance of Augusta's enforced oath came forward.

Snape knew what was fair treatment for such an absurd breach in duelling protocol. His inherent knowledge of the inner workings of the system would have to factor into making decisions. A fair response to the situation would have been for Draco to be punished and thrown in jail for using unforgiveables, or for a duel to the death if necessary. Therefore, if Ronald Weasley wanted to respond in kind by whatever means were necessary, he would have to allow it. Neville and Luna had suddenly taken up their wands and jumped to the side of the stage and began surveying the crowd. The message was clear.

"We are his allies. Interfere, and you will have to deal with us."

Ronald began to roar as he tugged on the snake. Suddenly the conjured snake disappeared under the force of his grip and Ronald expertly settled himself after the sudden loss of his footing. Draco was now unconscious on the duelling stage, and now there was whispering. Ronald's eyes were glowing and his chest heaved, as he looked at his own wand on the floor. He then made a stretching motion and the wand came into his hand. He stowed the wand away, while the rest of the school whispered at the open display of wandless magic. The trio walked off as the neutrals passed around and collected their winning bets.

Daphne and Tracey were now next to a Pansy.

"Hey Pans how is it going? Not that you like me, but it was unwise for Draco to conjure the Imperius or attempt the Crucio even with whispering. He doesn't have enough strength in his body nor intent to really capitalise on the spell."

The other year two students looked at Daphne.

"Not a supporter of the trio. They are our competition. But you have to understand who are your opponents. A good match for Draco would have been anybody from year two. He could have won quite easily. But Professor Snape had to match our snakes with the two of the toughest guys on the compound. Well…they had fun with that?"

Tracey and Daphne left the Great Hall, before finding a safe corner and apparating. As the crowd dispersed, Severus made his way to Albus to tell him everything as Gregory and Vincent decided that they were never going to bully Ronald Weasley.