McGonagall's Office
Harry and Neville had decided to take up the issue of Snape taking points off them without any justifiable cause with McGonagall. They did not want to go to Dumbledore so much because the Headmaster had so many other things to do. Besides he generally was the pacifist while McGonagall had a fiery nature. She would not take kindly to injustice or wrongful deduction of points from any student.
Minerva was grading assignments in her office when Neville and Harry knocked on her office door, "Professor, may we come in?"
She ushered them in, "What brings you both here? I hope you have not been sent to me for detention for pulling a prank in class".
Harry shook his head, "No Professor. We have a complaint about the unjust behavior of Professor Snape towards us".
"What do you mean Potter-Black?" she asked.
"Professor, in our most recent potions class while we were brewing Herbicide potion, Neville forgot to add Flobberworm mucus and skipped a step. He took 5 points off Neville while demeaning me saying that if Neville did not sit with me, he could concentrate better on his task. When I redirected his attention to the sub-par performance of other students whose potions were not even salvageable, he took 5 points off me too for talking back to a teacher. Professor we have been nothing but respectful to him in class. He has been rude, disrespectful and unfair to us in return. If this continues, I will have no other option than to address my concern to Lord Black. He would not be happy with this turn of events".
Minerva pondered this for a moment. This would be quite a reversal of the order of things, a student writing letters home, complaining about a teacher misbehaving. Arcturus Orion Black was a nightmare when he was active before the war. She was a few years behind him at Hogwarts and knew of his reputation in those days. He was a person who would go to any lengths for those he called family and he was terrific with a wand. She would have to do something before Harry decided to involve him in the fray. She turned to the duo, "Take back the points he deducted from you two. I will take this up with the Headmaster. If he is being nasty to you let me know and I will deal with him".
YOUR HONOUR OR YOUR FRIEND?
Lucius was getting ready to go meet Lord Black to discuss what reparations he would have to make to have his family honour returned. He had talked with Narcissa about what he might want where they had a big fight over Draco. When he had tried to assert his authority as head of family over her she had waved it off.
That day, Lucius had called her into the Lord's Study and when she arrived, he told her under what conditions he had acquired the Regency over the House of Black. Just after the war, after he had bribed his way clear of the death eater charges, using the Imperious curse defense, then he bribed his way into the regency using Draco's claim to heirship. At the time, he told Narcissa that Lord Black was dead. Now that the old fool had returned, he had no choice but to tell her the entire truth.
She heard everything he said and then asked him, "Did you know that Grand Father was not dead when you took the regency?"
He nodded, "My account manager had told me that Lord Black was not yet dead but I thought with no other heirs alive and Lord Black in hiding, Draco would become the heir so I took the regency".
She sighed, "Grandfather is a proud man Lucius and he does not take kindly to any subversion of his authority as the Head of family. What you did was a violation of his perceives it as an attack on the family honour. I cannot help you in this".
He nodded and then he showed her the letter, "There is more to it. He sent me a letter yesterday. What do you think he wants, dear?"
She read the letter twice and then said, "I see that he has staked Malfoy honour on this meeting. What has Draco done?"
He sneered, "That idiot boy challenged the Black heir to a wizarding duel and did not turn up for it, thereby putting our honour at stake. I had warned you not to coddle him with kid gloves and teach him what it means to be a Malfoy".
She seethed, "If I had brought him up like a Black, he would have been loads better than he is now. You took a major part in bringing him up like yourself, Lucius. Now I ask you again, what are you going to do about this meeting?"
He had calmed down a little by then knowing how her temper could erupt if he did not cool down. If that happened, he did not want to be within miles of her. "I have no idea what he will ask of me. I have already asked my account manager how much gold I can lay my hands on in case he wants reparations in gold from us. Meanwhile I want you to go to him and ask clemency. While he despises me, he is likely to agree to your request".
She shook her head, "No Lucius, for your own good, I will not do that".
"Why not?" he growled, "Do you not love your family and it's honour? Why won't you go and ask him to drop it?"
She shook her head again. Her foolish husband really had no understanding of how Lord Black's mind worked or how dishonourable his actions were. She tried to explain it to him, "Of course I love my family but please try to understand. If I did as you asked, it would only make things worse. You have read the letter. He has ordered you to meet with him to discuss terms. He has also made it very clear as to what will happen if you fail to show". She looked at her husband, directly in the eye, "You should not have even considered asking me to intervene. He was not in favour of our union since the start but kept his peace because he figured that it would cause discontent because he did not object to Andromeda's marriage either. He has not seen me once since I married you and I fear that if I press the matter more, he would kick me out of the family like he did to dear Bella. I am proud of being a Black and would do nothing to endanger my position in the family".
Lucius flinched. He remembered how they had been informed by the Lestranges that Bellatrix's marriage had been dissolved. She was now a nameless witch without the protection of any house over her, not that it would have mattered with her being incarcerated in Azkaban.
A few days later, Lucius Malfoy arrived at the Olive King restaurant in Diagon Alley to keep his appointment with Arcturus Orion Black. The serving waiter directed him to a parlor at the back and asked him to take a seat.
The Olive King was a new restaurant which catered to the elite of the Wizarding World and the prices there were high which meant only those of old wizarding families or those with lot of gold could afford it. Arcturus had arranged for a private parlour for them beforehand by advance reservation. Lucius knew that the reservations needed to be at least two weeks in advance and there was no way Arcturus would have had it reserved two weeks ago. It was likely that Arcturus had paid a ridiculous bribe to get a reservation or maybe he just had so much influence that he could get what he really wanted. In any case, meeting here on just a few days notice was a deliberate display of power and wealth. He also had been thinking about what Lord Black could ask from him by way of reparations. He had even asked his account manager to arrange for some extra in the way of gold in addition to 10 Million Galleons which was already available, just in case.
Arcturus left Malfoy to sweat for ten minutes before he came. When he did show up, he had Sirius Black in tow. They sat without even acknowledging Lucius's presence. When Lucius did not stand in respect or bow to him, Lord Black growled, "Learn to respect your betters, fool. I am still the head of your wife's house and your family's honour is in my hands. Do you wish to lose everything which Abraxas Malfoy earned through the past decades?"
Abraxas Malfoy was Lucius's father who was a consummate Slytherin. While he supported pure-blood ideals, he was more tolerant of half-bloods and muggle-born compared to his son and the death-eaters but that still did not mean that he would have ever warmed up to them. He saw them as a means to an end rather than outright despising them. Working earnestly he had made a reputation for the family in Wizarding Britain but had retired from social life about the time when the first Wizarding War was at its peak. He had allowed his son to ascend to the position of the lord of the family and had removed himself from the social circles because his family was at loggerheads with most of his former allies during the war. Abraxas and Arcturus were on speaking terms with each other courtesy of the Wizengamot where they had stood together at times in support of a motion or opposing it.
Lucius gave a jerky bow to him, "I apologize Lord Black".
Arcturus would have enjoyed bashing him some more but had other business to attend to today. He had no more time to waste on this slimy git. He had brought Sirius along because he wanted to appoint him as the Regent Lord Black. Sirius could look after the affairs of the House since Arcturus was old anyway and could not work as actively as he used to. Sirius was spending time with him learning the duties he would have as the house regent and of the family's position in respect to various subjects.
"I suppose you know why I have called you here when I cannot stand to see your face?" Arcturus asked him.
Lucius drawled, "I am acquainted with the conditions, yes. I believe that it was a child's jest. We do not need to involve ourselves with it".
Arcturus barked, "Are you really such a fool or do you go to extra effort to look the part? Have you not taught your son the first thing about being a pure-blood lord? Do you teach your heir to jest around with wizarding duels when you know that these sacrosanct practices cannot be taken lightly and the rules governing them are inviolable? May be I should just proceed to forfeit your family honour and tout you as Blood Traitors as your grand-father did to the Weasleys".
Lucius sweated. If they were branded as Blood traitors, that would end everything for his family. He hastily said, "I apologize again, Lord Black and I am ready to pay reparations in any form you choose".
Sirius who had been sitting quietly asked him, "And what do you have to offer which can be as valuable as your family honour?"
He looked at Arcturus who gave him a look so as to tell him to answer the question. He said, "The Malfoy family Vaults have 10 Million Galleons at present. I can procure more for your reparations".
Arcturus laughed evilly, "Gold? You think I want your filthy gold? I already have more gold than I will ever need, you fool. Besides, you can earn it all back if your family honour is intact. So, tell me, how can any amount of gold be worth as much as your family honour?"
Lucius averted his eyes, "What else can I do to make reparations then, Lord Black?"
Arcturus said to him, "You have built quite a rapport with the Minister of Magic, the bumbling fool Cornelius Fudge these past few years. I want his head on a platter. I am bringing a non-confidence motion against him. You, along with all of your cohortswill support this motion. You will arrange it. At the last count, you had ten members in your block. I want every one of them to vote in favour of this motion. If you balk at the last moment, you will forfeit the last shreds of your honour. When you have done your part, when Cornelius Fudge is no longer the Minister for Magic then and only then will I deem your debt of honour to be paid".
Lucius started to say, "Lord Black, what you are as…"
But his words were cut short by Arcturus, "I am not giving you a choice, you fool. Do as I say and you will retain whatever honour you have left. Try to reason with me and you will leave Wizarding Britain in shame".
Malfoy knew that his only option was to agree to Arcturus's demand. All of the alternatives were repulsive to him. The old man was right; the gold would have meant nothing to him in the long run. But betraying Fudge and ordering him to hand over the Minister's head; that meant destroying a useful ally. A foolish one true, but still a useful one. What's more, taking this action would require calling in favours, answering questions, betraying trusts. It would severely weaken his hold on both the Wizengamot and the ministry. However for Lucius, the cost did not matter. Lucius Malfoy would betray anyone; do anything to save his own worthless hide or dubious honour. He would persuade, bribe, and threaten the members of his faction to support him in this motion. Maybe he would have to sit down with Nott to make sure that the motion is carried. The only dark spot on the horizon was that this would make him infamous among the members of the Wizengamot as a thieving back stabber who would knife the one who befriended him.
Lucius nodded to Arcturus, "This definitely goes against my interests. It will also severely curtail my ability to do anything in the future. But, if this is your price, I will do it, Lord Black. Will you be giving the decree to me now?"
Arcturus looked at him as if he was something nasty, "Is something the matter with your hearing? Are your brains addled? Do you think I have gone senile in my old-age? I told you that when Fudge is no longer Minister, then and only then will your debt be paid. I will be hanging on to this decree until then. Now be gone before my patience runs out with you".
Lucius hastily made his exit while Arcturus turned to Sirius, "How many of them are going to come today?"
Sirius, who had been handling his communication for the last few days, said, "As I remember, there are at least 10 lords who have agreed to come and meet with you today".
The first one to come was Lord Parkinson who was lord of the Ancient House of Parkinson and not very high on the social ladder. House Black had loaned a large amount of gold to House Parkinson about a century ago and now Arcturus was asking for all of it back with interest. Suffice to say, the coffers of House Parkinson were not deep enough to pay him back without going bankrupt. He quickly agreed to do Lord Black's bidding whenever he asked of him in return for House Black not enforcing a decree for immediate repayment on House Parkinson. To show his sincerity to the promise he even signed a parchment which contained the stipulation that House Parkinson would always help House Black whenever they required it. It was a substantial sum that House Parkinson owed to House Black but it did not inconvenience Arcturus in the slightest if he did not get the gold back. In return for the gold, he was getting Parkinson to support him whenever he wanted.
Similarly there were many of them who owed something to House of Black and he asked each of them to support him or repay the favours that House Black had done for them. Needless to say, it was easier to promise to help him than to go against him and incur the wrath of House Black. Unlike Cornelius Fudge who was an idiot, these people knew about the mean streak of vengeance that Arcturus Black possessed and they wanted to avoid being on the wrong end of it. When finally the business for the day ended, Arcturus had signed parchments from the 10 of them who had turned up today. Grinning to himself at his success, he returned to his manor. Things were indeed good and he just had one more meeting to attend. Something that he should do while he just may keep Harry Potter safe for all eternity.
Hogwarts
Away from the king-maker moves of Lord Black, his heir Harry was meeting his friends for a day out of school. He had invited many of them to join him and nearly all of them had expressed their reluctance at first but when he assured them that he had a way to get out of the school without being detected, many of them agreed. When he told them that he would be paying the bills, many more agreed more quickly.
He had asked Corner and Turpin and they had agreed instantly to the idea. They had vehemently protested when he told them that he would be paying for them. Harry told them that if they wanted to pay for themselves, that was alright with him. He had asked Terry Boot too but he had refused telling him that he had some work to do. There were a few Ravenclaws he had asked but none of them had time off their schedules.
Ernie, Susan and Hannah had readily agreed to come to Hogsmeade with them saying they had heard good things about the village. They would like to visit the village for themselves. Waiting for third year was far too long. Justin had taken some persuasion but had agreed.
In Slytherin, Daphne and Tracy agreed to it. Daphne even dared him to refuse to let her do this. Harry had bowed before her wishes while Neville was elated for some reason. When Harry questioned him, he said that he was tired of not being able to speak openly with Daphne since they had come to Hogwarts. The visit would give them a few moments of respite.
Including Daphne in their group meant that he could take nobody in Gryffindor. Ron had some sort of problem with Slytherins so he may have caused a fuss over this while Hermione would have told on them to a teacher. Dean and Seamus were on speaking terms with him but they were not close enough friends to merit him inviting them to this, not yet anyway. He was yet to make friends with other girls in Gryffindor in his year.
They had chosen a Sunday so that they could make the most out of their visit and see as much of the village as they could. Having seen the map, he knew they would be better off taking the route under the statue of the humped witch on the third floor which opened in the cellar of Honeydukes.
On the said Sunday, they met at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast sans Daphne and Tracy. Deciding to meet on the third floor after breakfast, Harry went to find the twins who had borrowed the map.
While recovering the map, Harry called Moony on the mirror asking the marauder to recommend the best places to visit in Hogsmeade. Remus told him in detail about the village and every attraction there. When they all gathered for the visit in the room across from the Hump Backed witch, Neville was given the duty to open the hump and help them get in. Harry kept an eye on the map while hiding behind a pillar so none could know about the map.
After Neville had finished sending the last one in, he hooted like an owl for Harry to come through and he jumped in closing the hump behind him. When they were all in, Harry took the lead while they all made chit chat about what they would do once they were in the village. As it generally happens, when you are in company, time passes very quickly. Pretty soon, they were below the trap door in the cellar of Honeydukes.
Harry turned to them, "Wait for me here while I see if the coast is clear. I will call for you when it is so".
They all nodded. He pulled out his wand and cautiously peeked out sliding the trap door just a little. The trap door was suddenly opened wide and a set of hands reached down to pull him up. He panicked and cursed himself internally for getting all of his friends into a trap. He tried to bite the hands holding him but was unsuccessful. His wand and wand-hand were caught in such a position that he could not use them to free himself. Below in the space, Daphne had shrieked when Harry was taken out all of a sudden.
"Calm down Harry", Sirius Black said, "We are just here to welcome you".
Harry did calm down when he noticed that Remus was trying not to laugh while another old wizard who he presumed was the owner of Honeydukes was looking amused. After Sirius had set him down, the man asked him, "Is it him, Sirius?"
Sirius raised a finger towards him as if telling him to wait, "I will talk to you in a moment Ambrosius. First let me get the others out". He peered in the hole and said jovially, "Come out, come out my children, Uncle Sirius want to play".
His call was answered with a colour changing spell and a lumos somebody had cast inside the hidden passageway to his face, giving him a nasty green shade of skin and temporarily blinding him while others roared with laughter however Harry was able to persuade his friends to come out telling them it was safe. After they were all out, Sirius turned to Ambrosius, "Ambrosius meet my godson, Hadrian Potter-Black the son of James Potter the marauder extraordinaire. Harry, this is Ambrosius Flume, owner of Honeydukes. He is one of our friends who allowed us to use his cellar for our nefarious activities when we were students. At times, he even shielded us from possible detentions so, if you want to commit mischief then you had best be on good terms with him. He will help you get away with almost anything".
Ambrosius extended his hand towards him, "it is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Potter-Black. Your father and his friends were some of my favourite people. They helped me a lot of times. I hope you will continue giving your patronage to Honeydukes".
Harry shook his hand warmly, "The pleasure is mine, Mr. Flume, to have met the man who is behind the taste of Honeydukes Chocolates".
After shaking hands with the man, Harry started introducing his friends to them, "This is Neville Longbottom (Sirius looked at him curiously) in Gryffindor with me, Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis in Slytherin, Susan Bones (Sirius was amused), Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch Fletchley in Hufflepuff, Michael Corner, and Lisa Turpin in Ravenclaw. Everyone this is my god-father Sirius Black, my uncle Remus Lupin and Mr. Ambrosius Flume".
The children were led up to the shop and to say that they were amazed would be an understatement. There were shelves upon shelves of the most succulent-looking sweets imaginable. Creamy chunks of nougat, shimmering pink squares of coconut ice, fat, honey-colored toffees; hundreds of different kinds of chocolates in different rows; there was a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans, and another barrel of Fizzing Whizbees, levitating sherbet balls with another wall of 'Special effect sweets and rows upon rows of sugar quills.
There was much more to see and Harry was sure that if they kept gawking at every display in the shop, they would be there for hours without ever leaving Honeydukes. Sirius in the meanwhile, was asking them to fill their pockets with everything that they could think of or as much as they could carry. Whatever anyone picked up, even to as much as they could see, Sirius told them to keep it and paid for it. By the time Harry was able to tell him that he did not need to do so much to get his approval, Sirius had spent almost 100 G on their purchases.
Reluctantly, they left Honeydukes to go see other attractions of the village and the adults became their guides for the tour. While they were passing through an inn called "the Hogs Head", Sirius turned to them and said very mysteriously, "If you are out of school without it being a Hogsmeade weekend, you would do well to stay clear of the Hogs Head".
"Why is that?", Daphne asked curiously.
"Because Miss Greengrass, the bar keeper of Hogs Head is one Aberforth Dumbledore who just happens to be the brother of our illustrious Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He would not tell on you, but the Headmaster may be inside during any such visit and you would walk into it".
Everyone nodded as if he was giving them a lecture. The next shop that caught their attention was Zonko's joke shop. It was a fantastic shop which could help them to fulfil all their pranking dreams and had all sorts of joke products which they could use to pull their pranks in the future. Everyone quickly filled their pockets with dungbombs and stink pellets which they were planning to use soon.
There was Scrivenshafts which was a shop for quill and stationery. There were reams of parchment, big pots of ink in the shop and even books which they would need in their studies.
There was an obscure tea-shop called Madam Puddifoot's. Sirius had them steer clear of the place saying that they would never need to visit it if they had some good taste in partners.
He showed them the post-office and the owls which were there. There were big barn owls, eagle owls, small scoop owls and many others that they did not even know about. Each was available for sending post depending on what they need to send and the duration of the trip.
After the marauders had given them a thorough tour of the Village, they ushered them into the Three Broomsticks and took a parlor upstairs. The barmaid Madame Rosmerta shrieked when she saw Sirius and then hugged him crying into his shoulder for 5 minutes. When she was done, she happily sent them up telling she would be bringing butterbeers and lunch for them in a moment.
When they were finally sitting in the parlor, Harry dared to ask what he wanted to, "How did the two of you know that we were going to be there?"
Sirius smirked, "You should not have come today. When you called Moony, we were suspicious that you would be coming to the village we decided to come and check. Since the cellar of Honeydukes is the only secret passageway which opens in the Village, we guessed you would be here. You should have avoided coming today and come another day or may be asked him a few days in advance. However I am glad you came when you did. I wanted to see you for myself and meet your friends".
He turned to Neville, "So you are little Neville, huh? Blimey you have become so big and you look so much like Alice. She has the same round face, had baby fat at this age like you do and at times forgot things but she was a real sweetheart to those she loved. Your father is a great man. He was terrific with a wand and a true friend to us. Did you know that you did your first bout of accidental magic when you were just born? Your swaddling blanket was a little loose. When Frank laid you in your crib; you shrank it to fit yourself and snuggled up comfortably. I noticed that and tried to tell him but he just wouldn't listen. That was a happy day and it doubled when Harry was born a few hours after you".
After Sirius was done rumbling, he swept his hand through Neville's hair fondly, "If you ever need the services of a prankster, Padfoot at your service".
After he had addressed Neville, he turned to Susan, "You are Edgar's daughter? I could not be there for your birthday on the day when you were born because James and I were fighting in Sheffield to save a family of Muggles from Voldemort's death eaters. When we returned to the Ministry, Edgar gave us the good news. He was a great friend who at times had our backs and supported us through thick and thin at every step in life, whether as a student or as an Auror. What I am surprised about is that you are raised by Amelia and yet you engaged in a prank? What did she say?"
Susan was grinning, "Auntie said that she would set me straight the next time she sees me. But then she has been saying that for ages now".
Sirius then turned to Harry, "I know pup you might be feeling that I am not giving enough attention to you but it is not so. I came over today only to show you around the village and I am still waiting for the surprise which you promised me".
Harry hugged the older man, "Thanks Padfoot, for showing us around and introducing us to Ambrosius Flume. He will be useful loads of times to us. As for the surprise, it is only September last now. You will have to wait for a few more days, I am afraid".
After they had lunch, Sirius led them back to the cellar of Honeydukes where Sirius told Harry that Mr. Flume would help him and his friends whenever he needed unless it was something criminal. They all returned to the statue of the humped witch, bone tired but pleased with the day and everything that they had seen and experienced. What they failed to notice was that two sets of eyes had seen them going out and coming back into the school.
The duel lesson
For the second duel lesson, Flitwick decided to test their nimbleness and how quick they were on their feet. If he was teaching them to duel, he was not going to just give instructions and let it be.
When they both had reported for the lessons, he asked, "What spell did you both practice this week?"
Neville replied, "Professor, this week we perfected Petrificus Totalus".
Flitwick nodded, "Good. Now you will both cast it on me while I will dodge. I will keep dodging for 10 minutes or until one of you manages to hit me whichever comes first".
Harry and Neville started casting at him relentlessly while the tiny professor kept dodging everything, moving with grace. Nothing even grazed the folds of his robes. He was that quick on his feet. He weaved in and out of the way of their spells so quickly and gracefully that it was hard to believe. After 10 minutes, they were not able to hit him even once.
When they stopped casting after 10 minutes, he raised his wand and said, "my turn".
Without warning, he started casting and they were almost hit by his spells. They kept dodging him for a minute or two but Flitwick was doing more than they had done in their turn. He was moving on his feet, keeping up with the movement of their feet while casting. Often he cast where they would have been after dodging the last volley. After 2 minutes, he sent a hex at Neville while he feinted to cast at Harry's right. When Harry lunged left, he was met with a petrification hex. Immediately he fell on his face, his hands and legs snapped close to his body which had gone rigid and he could only move his eyes. Neville had abandoned all caution when he saw Harry falling and ran towards him. Harry wanted to warn him but he could not move any part of his mouth. Flitwick casually petrified Neville too.
Flitwick released the two and motioned for them to sit in their chairs. He started speaking, "The two of you may have worked on it this week but you have miles to go before you can be ready to participate in the tournament. Mr. Potter-Black fell for my trick and went in the direction I wanted him to go. Mr. Longbottom showed great concern for his friend but he forgot that he is also being targeted and that he cannot help his friend without putting himself in peril. He also forgot that the moment Mr. Potter-Black was petrified, he was out of the duel. Therefore, Mr. Longbottom only had to pay attention to himself from that moment".
He then motioned for them to stand, "Now I will start casting will both dodge. Remember you are only to take care that you are not hit by a hex".
They practiced 3 more times. Flitwick got both of them every time. Once they were both able to keep him at bay for a whole 4 minutes which was an improvement. Flitwick told them to keep working on dodging. He also showed them Vermillious (two more variations- vermillious duo and vermillious tria) also known as Red Sparks, an excellent spell for emergencies. They knew it already but it did not hurt to hear it from the tiny charms master. It was also useful as a minor dueling could be used to distract one's opponents.
They both knew that it would be months before Flitwick would even begin to teach them dueling properly. First they would need to prove to him that they had what it took to become accomplished duel masters.
Poltergeist Pranked
Harry had not forgotten how Peeves the poltergeist had told on him to Dumbledore. Like Lord Black he was not one to carry a debt but settled it when he got the chance. To that effect, he went out at times during the night under his cloak to find Peeves and prank him. One night, looking at the map he found the Poltergeist hovering near the trophy room on the map. Donning his invisibility cloak, he proceeded downstairs while keeping an eye on the map.
Peeves the poltergeist was trying to open one of the trophy cases which perhaps had been locked with some spells. Harry watched him doing this for sometime before he shot a stunner at the Poltergeist. Remus had told him that little spells like that could affect him and it was easy to hit him with one when he did not see you. Peeves was considered a menace by most of the students and no one even attempted to challenge him so it was easy because he had caught Peeves unaware because he was careless towards other students. As the spell struck and the Poltergeist fell down, Harry picked him up. It was amazing to see that he felt pretty solid in that moment considering he had no body. He dragged him up with him through the stairs to the third floor where the forbidden door was. Dropping him in front of the door, he let out some cannon like blasts from his wand till he could hear Filch come running, shuffling and quietly made his escape from there. There was nothing more that he could do to the Poltergeist but it was the best that he could do for now. For a finishing touched, he lobbed the dungbombs around the corridor so Filch would think that the poltergeist had been lobbing them around. May be Dumbledore would be able to punish him in some way.
He could hear Filch's jubilant triumph when he found Peeves passed out on the floor and in front of the door to the forbidden corridor no less. Harry knew the caretaker was weaving dreams of grandeur around getting the Poltergeist expelled but he felt it was unlikely that Dumbledore would expel him from the school.
He had also thought about what the beast could be doing in a place like this. He gave a thought to what it could be guarding. He had no other clue to go on. He did not even know if he wanted to find out what it was that the beast was supposed to be guarding. The Greek myths said that the Cerberus of Hades guarded the doors of the underworld. One of its duties was to prevent any of the souls from escaping back into the mortal world. He did not know much about this kind of beast. Maybe he could ask Professor Kettleburn, who was said to be obsessed with dangerous magical creatures and had even shown chimera to the students in the past years. He did not know if he needed to meet such crazy wizards. Harry had seen the man who had lost one leg, one hand and one eye to these beasts but was still obsessed with them. He was also responsible for the Great Hall being set on fire by Ashwinder eggs during a dramatization of 'The fountain of fair fortune'.
He had not written to Arcturus about the whisper in the night yet because he himself was scared a bit and even had started to doubt himself if he had heard correctly. Surely if he was back into a body, Dumbledore would have known about it. He was one of the most powerful wizards and he had infinite ways to gather information which nobody else did. He had conferred with Neville and they both had agreed that if something like this happened again, they would go to Arcturus. There was no need to play the hero if they don't have to.
The next morning, he heard that Peeves was threatened with exorcism out of the castle if he continued to cause trouble like then, Peeves had been looking for the one who had got him in trouble with Dumbledore.
The Great Hall
His group of friends was sitting in the Great Hall at the Hufflepuff table for breakfast. Surprisingly Ronald had joined them this morning. He had been doing this since he had managed to submit his homework on time in the past week for every subject. He still was not doing any better in his practical lessons. Harry had noticed that at times his wand movements were correct and his incantation was clear and yet the problem persisted. What he did not notice but Neville did was that his wand looked battered with the unicorn tail hair showing. He had pointed it out to Harry and they made an educated guess that perhaps his wand was not his own but a hand-me-down but there was nothing he could do about it. Ronald Weasley was sensitive about his financial condition and would not have taken kindly to them poking their noses into his financial condition, no matter that they had the best intentions at heart. All they could do was let him know about it at a suitable time.
Lisa who was sitting to his right, said to him, "Harry, it's been days since we pulled the last one. How about we do another one now?"
Corner who was sitting with Hannah asked her, "Already bored Lisa? I thought you said you never wanted to do it?"
Lisa made a sour face, "What I meant Corner was that I did not want to do a detention clearing a cupboard for Flitwick. I did not know that he kept such massive tomes in his cupboard".
Everyone had a good laugh over it.
Then Harry said, "You all remember that we went off to the village the other day. That we bought a sack of dungbombs and stink pellets each?"
Everyone nodded and he continued, "Let's use it on the Slytherins".
"How?" asked Susan. "We do not even know where their common room is".
He grinned evilly, "Leave that to me. Suffice to say that a Poltergeist with a grudge is more dangerous than a rampaging hippogriff".
The deal
Harry and Neville found the Poltergeist on the fifth floor in an abandoned room. After making sure that there was no portrait around and there were no ghosts or students, Harry cautiously called him, "Peeves".
The poltergeist looked at him and sing-songed, "Potty, Potty, Potter" and started to float away when out of sheer desperation, Harry said loudly, "Peeves, we know who stunned you and dropped you on the third floor".
Peeves did a barrel roll, descended to their height and said, "Potty will tell Peevsie, yes?"
Harry smirked, "What will I get if I tell you?"
Peeves cackled, "Peevsie will make trouble for one who troubles Potty".
Harry gave an evil grin, "Remember your promise, Peevsie. Now about those who stunned you, we over-heard the Slytherins talking that some of their numbers had stunned you and then dragged you to the third floor. We did not get the names so it means that you would have to take your revenge on all of them at the same time".
Peeves shook his head, "Peevsie not doing".
Harry was stumped. He had been counting on the Poltergeist to do it for him. He asked cautiously, "Why?"
"Peevsie scared of the Bloody Baron", Peeves said, nervously and fidgeting.
Now that was a problem. He had seen the Bloody Baron who looked surly. The chains he wore and the blood on his robes terrified Harry, to be honest. How could he ask a House Ghost to do him a favour? Peeves maybe could do it at a time when the Bloody Baron was not out and about.
Harry suggested to him, "You can do it when he is nowhere near them and you do not need to do it in their common room either. Do it when they are sitting at breakfast or dinner".
Peeves seemed to be contemplating what they were saying and Harry produced a bulging sack of dungbombs that he gave to the Poltergeist, "here is something to help you. Give them hell, Peevsie".
Peevsie took the sack gleefully, soared into the air and floated out of the room singing at the top of his voice, "Where there is strife, where there is trouble, call upon Peevsie, he will make it double".
Neville said to him hesitantly, "you do know you could have named Malfoy, right?"
Harry shrugged, "Neville, Malfoy is a ponce and nothing more. I will not go poking him unless he is causing trouble for me. If I started tangling with him without cause, there will be no difference between him and me. Remember we do everything for a bit of a laugh and nothing more".
Neville nodded, "I see what you mean. But we will keep an eye on him, right?"
Harry nodded, "Of course. He is our favorite Slytherin for a reason".
Dungbombs! You stink, eww.
Peeves did not even wait one day. That evening when the Bloody Baron was not present at the dinner table, Peeves took his chance.
Harry had asked his friends to join him at the far end of the Gryffindor had been a few raised eyebrows but nobody said anything. As it was, Harry had decided to keep sitting at that end of the table until they were sure that Peeves had made his strike. Sitting at the far end was also useful for them to talk without being overheard. Susan asked him, "Harry why are we sitting at this table?"
Harry mysteriously said, "Don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone, Susan but you will have to wait and see".
Lisa said excitedly, "Ooh! Are we going to prank the Slytherins?"
Corner hushed her, "Quietly Lisa. You don't want others to hear and I don't need another detention so soon. Father would banish me off the family tree if I am caught again".
They kept watching, eating dinner slowly and waiting to see if Peeves would strike that evening. They noticed that the Bloody Baron was not there so there was a chance he just might unless he was afraid of Dumbledore.
When nearly all the Slytherin students were at their table, Peeves flew into the Great Hall and started lobbing dungbombs at the Slytherin table, cackling, "Nasty little blighters! Troubling Peevsie! You all will pay". In the exuberance of the moment, he even lobbed a few at the adjoining Ravenclaw table.
When the dungbombs went off, the putrid smell spread in the Great Hall while students started running around in panic or to escape the foul smell. Harry covered his nose and mouth with the sleeve of his robe. His friends did the same. They all mixed in with the crowd so that Dumbledore would not suspect them.
Snape had his wand out and roared, "Peeves!"
Peeves blew a raspberry at him and cackled, "Snivellus! Snivellus! Slime Ball Snivellus!"
The students looked on in horror as Snape's face colour changed rapidly from white to red to purple as his expression soured. Harry was sure he was trying to rein in his anger and hatred of the name which his tormenters had given him during his time as a student.
McGonagall had her wand out and she was running forward with a curse on her tongue when Peeves decided he had enough for the day and flew out of the Great Hall.
Meanwhile, Dumbledore let out cannon like blast and spoke in a voice so loud that it reverberated above the din they were making, "All Prefects escort the students to your common rooms. The dinner will continue there. All the teachers report to the Staff Room".
Harry and Neville fell into a line behind Percy and walked back to their common room.
That night, the dormitories of the students and their trunks were checked for Dungbombs or any other contraband that would be useful for pranks but nothing was found for obvious reasons. Harry had already told the twins what Peevsie would be doing and they had told him that they would need to hide all the contraband that they had. It had been hidden behind the mirror on the fourth floor. Nobody except them knew about it, so they could not be made complicit in the crimes.
Peevesie was not seen in the castle for a week after the incident. Some said Dumbledore banished him, some said the ghosts chased him away, some said the Bloody Baron was after his hide but the truth was that Peevsie was hiding from the headmaster in one of the unused dungeons in the basement. Harry just hoped that he would do what he had promised in return for telling him the names of the students who had stunned him.
I will rip your head off!
Daphne accosted him the next day in the library. She had come to his table, tugged at his arm and stiffly jerked her head asking him to come out. Neville saw this too and they both shrunk in their seats a little. Daphne was furious and an angry Daphne was not good for their health.
They followed her at a safe distance and entered into a room behind her. She locked the door with a locking charm. Then she started thundering, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? DUNGBOMBS! I COULD NOT GET THE SMELL OUT OF MY NOSE FOR the ENTIRE NIGHT. DUNGBOMB ON MY HEAD! I HAD TO WASH MY HAIR TWICE TO GET IT CLEAN!"
Harry and Neville were amused with her rant but none of them wanted to say anything knowing they would provoke her further. When they did not speak for 5 minutes, she snapped, "What do you two miscreants have to say for yourselves?"
Neville, courageous Gryffindor that he was, opened his mouth, "Daphne, what makes you think it was our doing?"
"Of course it..." she started to say before she stopped short when she understood what they were asking of her. After a moment, she said in a small voice, "You mean to say it was not your doing?"
They both had the audacity to laugh at the expression on her face. After a minute or two, Harry said, "Of course it was our doing. We persuaded Peeves to throw the dung bombs. Now before you get your dander up again, tell me why you are so angry?"
She sighed. She could not get angry with those two anyhow. Apart from Tracy, only these two knew her well enough to know when she was really angry or if she was just faking it. "If you want to know then one of those dungbombs dropped on my head and the debris hit Tracy. My hair has never been so dirty before. I had to wash it twice".
Harry asked her, "What made you think it was our doing?"
She answered, "Snape was overheard telling that some student had given those dungbombs to Peeves who is missing right now, afraid of Dumbledore. I remembered that you were planning to go after Slytherin next and I was there when you bought those sacks of Dungbombs from Zonko's so I would have to be a troll or something to miss the obvious".
Neville worriedly asked her, "do you know if anyone else has figured this out?"
She shook her head, "No. Actually when our dormitories were raided last night, we did not have the contraband with us anymore. We had sold it to some 5th year in my house who wanted to get her revenge on some of her year mates. The contraband was recovered in her dorm and almost every house lost some points except Gryffindor. I presume you warned every lion about it?"
Harry shook his head, "No. We only warned the twins. I suppose that they let everyone else know. I seem to remember that they had brought a large haul to hide at our hiding place".
She arched an eye-brow, "Hiding place? What is this place and why do I not know about it?"
"Well, a secret hiding place wouldn't be secret if everyone knew about it. There is much that you do not know about us, Daphne", Neville said earnestly, "like one time a couple of Vampires bit us and they died".
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah! You both are the vampire slayers. Honestly, that's an old one. Tell me about this hiding place".
"There is a mirror on the fourth floor which is an opening for a hidden passageway out of school. Sadly, the way seems to have caved in so it is not useable except maybe as a concealed storage space".
She nodded, "Have you thought about what is beneath the trap door which the dog is guarding?"
Harry shook his head, "I have no and I mean no intention to go finding what is in there. I have faced that Cerberus once. I am not doing it again. No one can force me to go down there even if they pay me all the gold that I have in my vault at Gringotts".
The truth was that Harry and Neville had been back to that door once or twice. Heavy breathing, snuffling and growling was sufficient to tell them that the Cerberus was still there. They had decided that there was no need to show courage in the face of the uncertain just because they were sorted into Gryffindor. For some reason that Harry himself could not understand, he had not told Lord Black about the Cerberus. There was nothing to tell about it except that he had wandered into the area where it was contained and lose more points and possible detention.
Let's join forces
One night, the duo decided that it was time they did some exploring under the cover of night when they heard two people arguing. They carefully walked in the direction where they heard the argument coming from. As they turned the corner, they found that Quirrell was backed up against a wall and Severus Snape had a wand at his throat asking him in a low menacing tone, "What are you doing here, Quirrell? It is not wise to go ambling about the castle in the dead of night, especially in the forbidden corridor".
He stuttered, "Se... Sev... Severus, what... what do you mean?"
Severus drawled, 'you might be able to fool others but not me. I know what you are trying to do but I warn you Quirrell, don't try to cross me again".
Harry was trying to understand what was happening while Neville had pulled his wand out. Harry lowered it with his hand, gesturing him to stay put. He wanted to see what was going on.
Snape had released Quirrell by now, "Get lost now, Quirrell and pray that I do not find you out and about here again or you will pay for it".
Severus walked away to one side, while Quirrell slumped to his knees, crying. Harry felt pity for the defense teacher and for a moment thought to go and console him but realized that they were out after curfew hours and would end up in detention despite their noble intentions.
They cautiously walked in the other direction with an intention to raid the kitchens. They had only done it once since they started school. They thought that they ought to do it and may be host a party in the kitchens after curfew hours. That would be a right prank.
After filling their bellies, they decided that a walk through the castle might do them some good before they crashed for the night. They walked in the direction of the north tower to find the twins hexing a Slytherin prefect with a stunner. The prefect fell down like a sack of potatoes.
Harry walked out from under the cloak gesturing Neville to stay put. "Fred, George what are you both doing?"
They turned to find Harry, "Oh hello, Harry. We were just teaching him some manners".
"And what has he done to you?"
One of the twins said, "He made obscene gestures to Angelina during the day".
The other added, "When she complained, the greasy bat waved her off".
Harry was angry with the Slytherin Prefect but decided to deal with these two first, "And you openly attacked him? What were you hoping to accomplish? You will be found, given detention and may be a letter to home. How does this count as revenge?"
Fred asked him, "What do you mean?"
"Simple. He will tell the teachers tomorrow that you have both stunned him and you will be put into detention. You should have taken your revenge covertly like I did with Peeves".
Their mouths were open in surprise, "You persuaded Peeves to do that? But... but he does not take orders from anyone".
Harry smirked, "he does not take orders. I was the one who stunned him the other day and then I told him that the Slytherins were responsible for it and supplied him with the dungbombs. The rest as they say, is history".
The twins immediately started bowing to him, "You are the true heir of the Marauders!"
"How about we plan another one where he pays and we don't?" Neville asked, coming out from under the cloak.
They planned a prank to be perpetrated a few days later because anything done now would have people pointing at the twins.
How about you fly?
Remus had taught Harry the levitation charm and told him that there were a few hovering charms other than the levitation charm but the levitation charm was the most preferred one.
The hovering charm which was most popular before the Levitation charm came into existence could keep a person hovering at a fixed height. That is what they decided to use on the said Slytherin Prefect.
A few days after the incident when the twins were done with their detention, they stalked the prefect late at night after having learned from Percy about the Patrol Schedules.
On the second floor, where they cornered him, Harry who had been hiding in the shadows shot him with the blindfold spell, one of the twins disarmed him, Neville shot the hovering charm at his clothes making him hover in the air and the other twin shot a sticky charm at him. When Neville ended the hovering charm, the twins decided to use the Glacius on him. They needed the twins because they had not yet learned the Glacius and the twins had just studied it in their third year. They used the charm only to freeze his bits off and not to cover him in ice from head to toe. With their part in it done, Harry and Neville made a hasty and silent retreat. After they were done with that and they were at a sufficient distance, Fred and George let out cannon like blasts from their wands till they could hear Filch coming and ran off. Nobody asked the four of them about the Slytherin Prefect because there was nothing to connect them with the happenings.
A/N- So here it is, guys, Chapter 8 of this part. I await your decision now.