My mother was in hospital so I could not upload it despite having done it about two weeks ago. Sorry for the delay.
Wales
Quirrell believed that he managed to leave the castle without raising too much suspicion. Dumbledore appeared to believe his story about having to travel a bit to obtain a Grindylow to teach his third year class about them. This story got him excused from his patrol duties for the weekend anyway. Any wizard with his wits about him could scoop a Grindylow from the lake in about half an hour, which is what he intended to do, but Quirrell appeared to be such a bumbling idiot that perhaps the old fool would believe that he had to go and purchase one.
The real purpose for his travelling abroad was to get a dragon egg then use it to get the grounds keeper to tell him about the Cerberus. The nearest place where he could get a Dragon egg was the Dragon Reserve in Wales where they bred the Welsh Green Dragon. The dragon reserve was huge and surrounded by anti-apparition and portkey wards. Finding an egg and getting out of there would be risky and time-consuming but, try he would because he didn't knew any other way.
He apparated to the outskirts of the reserve in the early hours of Friday evening. By the time the sun was setting on the Saturday, he found the place where the dragon eggs and their brood mothers were guarded. Yes, guarded, as if a brooding dragon mother wasn't enough trouble, there were dozens of the toughest looking wizards and witches Voldemort had ever seen guarding them too. Clearly, it would be suicide to try taking an egg from here. Perhaps with enough planning and the imperious curse on the right person, but he didn't have that kind of time. What's more, if anything went wrong or the egg was missed, word might get back to the old fool that someone has been stealing dragon eggs. While he was working on coming up with a plan, two wizards approached his hiding place and they appeared to be arguing. The one wizard was trying to persuade the other to help him cover up the loss of an egg so that they could sell it on the black market and split the profits.
This was the way. He would have to empty Quirrell's vault and buy an egg on the black market.
He walked clear of the wards and disapparated to Diagon Alley. After a brief visit to the bank, he turned and walked toward Knockturn Alley.
Knockturn Alley
Voldemort hadn't been in Knockturn Alley since the time when the wizarding world feared him. He was surrounded by dodgy shops and vendors, selling their wares. There were obvious signs of decay and squalor everywhere he looked. It would appear that crime hadn't paid in some time. The place was originally an extension from Diagon Alley when the place had become too crowded. Nobody could say exactly how it happened, but as time went on, the less legal portion of commerce had gravitated there. Now, unless one was looking for a specific type of goods or services, even the Aurors did not go there unless they went in force.
Tom knew of a certain wizard who dealt with dark artefacts. The man had benefitted from his patronage during the previous campaign. He lived in a quaint shop without any wards whatsoever. Voldemort nonchalantly walked into the shop, "I need a service of you."
The man drawled, "Service requires payment. Do you have the appropriate payment for this service that you want from me?"
Voldemort continued in the same casual tone, "If the service is adequate then the payment will be sufficient."
The man nodded, "Name the service and I'll name the price."
"Very well. I require one live dragon egg."
The man sneered, "Look around mate. I don't have stacks of live dragon eggs just laying around here, do I? Besides, how do I know you're not some Auror or an enforcer from the Department for Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures? I don't deal with Dragon eggs or anything like that."
Quirrell drew a pouch of galleons from his inside pocket and placed it on the counter, "There are 100 Galleons in this pouch. I am no Auror." He said the last word with disgust. "Tell me where I may obtain an egg and the gold is yours."
The man quickly pocketed the galleons, "I will take these as payment for the information which I am about to give you. There is a person in the Knockturn who deals in dragon eggs. Up at the far end of the alley where there are those little one stall shops. Ask for one eyed William and you will find him. Drives a hard bargain but his services are worth it."
Voldemort nodded, "Anything else that you can tell me about him?"
The wizard nodded, "he will most likely empty your pockets with the services you seek but there is no one else in all of Britain who can get it for you."
Voldemort whipped his wand up before the other wizard could even blink and muttered, "Obliviate."
The wizard's eyes rolled up in his head and Voldemort left the place. He was not eager to kill the man over 100 Galleons. The unwanted attention it could draw alone was worth more than a few paltry bits of metal to him. If, however, the man had lied to him, that was another matter.
As Voldemort strode toward the darker part of the alley, it was late in the evening and most of the shopkeepers were shuttering their doors and windows for the day. He passed by Borgins and Burkes on his way. As he glanced at the store front, he recalled the first job he had there after graduating from Hogwarts. It was where he had taken his first steps on the path toward world domination.
When he came to the place that his old source described, he found a make-shift tent, set up in a dead-end corner, next to a dealer in nasty potions, just as his source had described. This dealer in controlled magical creatures had a nasty reputation for using dark magic. Most people didn't dare to cross him. Before he entered, he circled the tent, placing silencing wards on every side and the top for good measure. When he entered, there was an ill-favoured man, sporting an eye patch inside.
The two men sized each other up for a few moments before Quirrell spoke, "I suppose that you are one-eyed William?"
The man glared at him suspiciously, "I ain't saying that I am or that I ain't. What are ya looking fer him fer?"
Voldemort took in the shabby 10 foot square tent. It was neither fine nor permanent. Such a thing was intended to deflect rather than attract attention and could be easily moved if needed. He said, "If you were One-Eyed William, I would offer you a substantial amount of galleons for one live dragon egg from your fine establishment. And if you weren't One-Eyed William, I would have to kill you and let him know that someone else was sitting in his shop. In either case, I don't have the time to quibble."
The stranger responded immediately, "Keep yer voice down. Do you want everyone in the alley to know what yer lookin' fer?"
Voldemort casually replied, "We will not be over-heard. I've seen to that."
The stranger thought for a moment, then responded, "If I was One-Eyed William, it'd be getting' on to dinner hour and I'd be closing up for the day. I'd be suspicious of Min'stry snoops and I wouldn't keep anythin' like that in me shop. And if I ain't One-Eyed William, I'd have no idea where to get such a thing."
Voldemort responded, "Let's just suppose that you are One-Eyed William. If I were from the Ministry, I wouldn't be here alone and expect to leave here alive. So, let's suppose that I'm not one of them. I have the gold. Can you deliver the goods?"
The wizard snorted, "I don' think you got that kind o' gold, squire."
Voldemort looked significantly around the shabby tent then retorted, "You should be the last one to judge by appearances. I just might surprise you. Why would you turn away a potential customer?"
The wizard softened a bit, "Which breed you want?"
"Any of them would do. A dragon is a dragon."
The other wizard nodded, "Right, a dragon is a dragon. I charge ten-thousand Galleons for a live dragon egg, if ya don' care what breed it is."
Now it was Voldemort's turn to chuckle, "We both know that you seldom get more than two-thousand on a good day. For ten, I could get a full-grown Hungarian horn-tail delivered, complete with pedigree papers. Try again."
William sized him up again. This time, he made a reasonable offer, "If you had a breeder's license, that is, and ya don' because I know every breeder in Britain and yer not one of 'em. Three-thousand, cash up front and I'll arrange a dead drop fer ya ta pick up the goods tomorrow."
Voldemort countered, "two-thousand, half up front and half on delivery when I've had a chance to examine the goods. Same arrangement you have with your regulars."
Now William was in a state. How did this man know the deal his regular customers had? What he didn't know was that the other wizard had been gently probing his mind the whole time they were talking. Voldemort also knew that the man already had one egg on-hand, at his house, for another customer.
William's eye widened for a moment, then narrowed again, "Yer no regular customer. It'll be three, up front, or no deal."
"Very well", Voldemort snapped. He reached into his robes, pulled out three sacks and dropped them on the counter contemptuously, "Here is your gold. Now, how will you deliver the egg to me?" What William did not know was that the galleons represented Quirrell's entire life savings. Voldemort had ruthlessly ransacked the man's vault. It didn't matter since Quirrell would not live long enough to need retirement money anyway.
William quickly inspected the contents and weighed the sacks, "Right then. We have a deal." He handed Voldemort a slip of parchment, "Read this tomorrow at noon, not before. It will reveal where the egg is hidden so that you can pick it up."
Voldemort nodded, "I will see you tomorrow then."
William's eye narrowed again, "No. Ya won't. This is a dead drop. You will not see me again unless yer wantin' ter pay out again."
Voldemort left the other wizard but didn't leave at once. He disillusioned himself and watched as one-eyed William closed his shop. Just as William was about to disapparate, Voldemort lunged at him and grabbed his cloak. They both disapparated to appear outside his home.
The man went to fire a dark curse off at Voldemort, but he had already been disarmed. Voldemort stood back a pace, aiming both wands at William's chest. The last thing he saw was the flash of dual stunners. With the man unconscious, Voldemort quickly retrieved the sacks of gold. He wiped the man's wand clean and returned it to his holster. He took his time, learning where the egg was hidden and modifying the man's memory. When he awoke, he would remember closing up his shop as usual, then coming home to find that the egg was dead and having to dispose of it. Getting creative, he implanted the memory of the man being despondent over the loss of the egg and getting drunk. His work done, he carefully levitated the man into the lone chair at his table and placed an empty bottle of fire-whiskey near his hand.
Voldemort made his way to the cellar of the house where the egg was kept warm by a glowing magical fire. Wrapping the egg in enchanted cloth to keep it warm, he stuffed it into his robes.
He could have killed the man, but the murder would have attracted the attention of the ministry. He deemed it prudent to leave no traces that he had ever been here.
Hogwarts
The twins cornered Harry soon after the Slytherins had been caught. He asked them warily, "Is there something I can do for you two?"
Fred (or George) said, "Well, we are the only ones"
George (or Fred) added, "Who are yet to try"
They spoke in unison, "so what's the plan?"
Harry smirked, "I have a plan and it's beautiful."
The twins eyed him suspiciously, "Would you mind sharing it?"
The first phase of the plan is the same as the others. We draw Filch away from his office and keep him away as long as possible. But before that you have to get caught in pranks by Filch so that he will put you into detention. I know for a fact that the drawer we need was recently found by the Slytherins and that their attempt was fouled. It is possible that Filch still has that drawer somewhere in plain sight i.e. if he hasn't had the time yet to restore his office. Maybe, if you are lucky, he will ask you both to restore his office to order. We keep him away; we will keep him busy while you two and Lee Jordan find those detention records and copy them. We don't want to steal them. We just copy them and leave the originals there."
The twins grinned, "it is perfect, Harrikins. But why would Filch give us detention?"
Harry smirked, "Well… One of the rules they always announce at the beginning of term is, 'No magic in the halls between classes.' Who's to say that the two of you didn't notice that Filch was around and started levitating snow-balls at each other and got caught? It would be even more effective if one went astray and hit Filch in the side of the head."
Gred said, "That's brilliant…"
Feorge continued, "But you forgot one important thing…"
Together they said, "We never get caught!"
Harry gave them his best lop-sided grin, "Not entirely true", he said holding up the marauder's map, "Besides, it's all for a good cause."
Fred and George looked at each other and said, "He's got us." Then turning to look at Harry, they said, "We'll do it!"
"Excellent!", said Harry. "Just leave the rest to me."
When it was time to do the deed, Harry and Neville were on the second floor with Peeves. Harry grinned at the colourful poltergeist, "Peeves, how would you like to create some trouble?"
Peevsie cackled with delight bobbing his head up and down furiously,
"Where there is strife,
Where there is trouble,
Call on Peevsie,
He'll make it double."
Harry nodded, "Brilliant! If you would be so kind as to harass Filch when he is taking the Weasley twins to task? Cause some mayhem and make him come after you. Take him on a wild goose chase around the castle. Does that sound like fun?"
Peeves bobbed his head quickly, "Peevsie be doing that, Potty."
Harry wanted to correct him about using his name but decided it was not worth the effort. When Peeves left, Neville grinned, "You are using the Claw's plan with the exception that you're getting Peeves to do the distracting instead of sacrificing ourselves?"
Harry nodded, "Yes. And why not? Their plan was good. It would have worked if not for the mysterious and unfortunate events that thwarted it. Somehow, I don't think we'll have the same problem. Besides, Peeves can keep Filch busy all day and he's not going to get a detention or lose any points from our house and he will have us to help him a little."
Stealing the records
The twins had decided to carry out Harry's cunning plan. All that was left was to decide who their hapless victim or victims would be. They thought that perhaps bombarding a teacher with levitating snow-balls would be a bad plan because they would be serving their detention in a place that was not Filch's office. Provoking another student also may not be a good idea because they might decide to seek revenge upon their hides and that would be a distraction from their true purpose. Maybe the best way to get a detention with Filch was to use the snowballs on him. In the end, they just decided to prank the first person that came along, but the Headmaster, their head of house and Snape were off limits.
They set up in a first floor corridor behind some suits of armour. They didn't have long to wait before who should come along but hapless, twitchy eyed, stuttering Quirrell. The perfect victim! And just to show that luck was with them, Argus Filch was approaching from the opposite direction.
The snowballs seemed to come whistling out of nowhere. They smacked Quirrell repeatedly on the back of that ridiculous, huge turban. He threw his arms over his head and tried running for cover, but the snowballs pursued him relentlessly no matter what he did.
It didn't take Filch ten seconds to reason out what was going on and who the culprits were. With a shout of, "Weasleys!", the chase was on. The twins sprung from their hiding places and ran for the nearest secret passage behind a nearby tapestry. They weren't trying to lose Filch, but with his knowledge of the passageways, the old squib did a surprisingly good job of keeping up.
They led him on a merry chase through many of their favourite short-cuts. They let it go on for about ten minutes before they led him back toward his office. They "hid" in a small, unused room right next to his office and waited for him to catch them.
Seconds later, with a huffing and wheezing to rival the engine of the Hogwarts Express, the door creaked open to reveal the flushed, sneering face of the caretaker glaring at them, "That's the last straw! You two brats will pay for this. Attacking a teacher. You'll be expelled. Come along now."
The twins pretended to be appropriately horrified at being caught and even showed fake remorse for what they had done but Filch was having none of it. He dragged them to his office and gave them a thorough tongue lashing. He even cursed the names of other students who had recently given him so much grief. After satiating his hunger for verbal abuse, he pulled out a parchment and a quill to write. While he was doing all that, the twins had been carefully surveying the office. Evidently, Filch hadn't yet the opportunity to set his office right since the Slytherins had raided it. They could see the drawer that had the desired detention records in it. Unfortunately, part of the mayhem left behind by the Slytherins was that those records were out of order. That meant they would have to sort through them before they would get the relevant ones.
Filch was about to give them their punishment when there was a mighty boom. Filch cursed loudly, "PEEVES! I AM COMING FOR YOU. THIS TIME I WILL HAVE YOU banished from the castle!"
He turned to the duo and sneered, "Don't touch anything and don't leave. I'll be back soon enough to award you two brats appropriate punishment."
Filch was on his way up to the second floor where Peeves had smashed a bust of a medieval aged wizard. The bust was in pieces. When he reached there, he found Peeves and some students running away from the scene. Filch followed them throughout the castle for about 10 minutes. He was almost bowled over when Peeves brought Mrs. Norris from somewhere and threw her at him. The cat landed on his chest claws first and he toppled over backwards. It barely took a minute for Filch to untangle himself from Mrs. Norris and regain his feet, but that was sufficient for the students to be able to get away and Peeves? Well Peeves was already gone.
Meanwhile, back at his office, as soon as Filch left, Lee Jordon entered the caretaker's office with a sack charmed with a bottomless charm, an idiotic grin on his face and asked the duo, "So what's the deal?"
They both said in unison, "Stop wasting time, Lee. Filch'll be back any minute now. Copy these and make yourself scarce."
They knew the duplicating spell. This was a good opportunity to practice it. One curious thing about the spell was that anything that they duplicated through it wouldn't last forever. It depended on the size of the thing and its complexity. If it was something like a book, it could last from a few hours to a day. For bigger and more complex things, it wouldn't last for more than a few hours. The detention slips, taken as a whole were no more complex than a book. So, if they put all their intent and power behind it, they could make the duplicates last as much as three days before they vanished.
They levelled their wands at the stacks and intoned firmly, "Geminio". In an instant there was a flurry of activity as every piece of parchment slip lit up once before it faded again.
As soon as they finished the duplicating spell, Lee left the caretaker's office lugging the sack on his back.
Filch came back about 10 minutes later and the twins had to suppress their laughter. He was covered in dust, his clothes were wet, his stringy hairs sticking to his scalp and bits of food in his hair. He was so deep into fury and ranting about Peeves that he let them go without awarding any punishment whatsoever.
The twins happily left but they failed to see the two blue eyes twinkling with amusement on the wizard who was standing in a corner. Headmaster Dumbledore had unravelled the mystery which he had been mulling over.
Dumbledore was not called wise without reason. When he learned that Filch's office was being attacked again and again, he got curious as to what was in his office that attracted the students. He was amused when he realised that the Gryffindors too were after the detention records which the Slytherins had stolen a day ago. He had an inkling of the fact that the students were after the detention records of a particular year since the Slytherins had been sorting through them. To know the end of the game, he had asked Filch not to rearrange his office yet. He could have stopped Lee then and there but did not interfere because he wanted to see what the end game was. The Slytherins had been given a week's worth of detentions and 50 points had been taken off Slytherin as a punishment which was a miracle since the punishment was awarded by Severus Snape. Unknown to Albus, the Slytherins had not said anything to Severus about the pranking competition nor did they reveal anything about their last team member, Fawley heiress. As a rule of the Slytherins, they never revealed their secrets to anyone.
It was a pity that Neville had not been looking at the map when the twins performed their heist or they would have discovered the Headmaster observing their team. He and Harry were busy leading Filch around the castle on a wild goose chase.
When Dumbledore returned to his office, he summoned the ghosts. When they were all in his office, he started addressing them, "Take my word to all the portraits in the castle. Tell them that I want them to stay awake at night and keep an eye on every student who is breaking curfew, especially students belonging to Slytherin and Gryffindor. There is something happening and I have got to know what it is."
He knew that Argus wouldn't be any wiser about the heist because nothing was missing from the records. He also didn't have the eye for detail so he wouldn't know if something had been moved from its place. He mused about the year so far. The year had been exceptional with more going on than any other he could remember, and his memory went back a long way. It was hard to keep track of everything but it felt good to him. Something in his old bones told him that this year was going to be remembered for years to come and not because of Albus himself but for something else.
He also mused about bringing some changes to the castle. The comment that little Harry had made about Binns only teaching Goblin revolts was very true and maybe it was time to hire someone who could engage the students and not just drone on and on. The only troubling bit was the post of Defence teacher. He was reasonably sure that Voldemort had cursed the position so that no teacher could keep it. In fact none of the teachers that he had hired since that night had lasted more than a year. Every year some kind of misfortune awaited them. Even the more celebrated or hardened individuals he had hired had fallen victim to this. One was the celebrated curse breaker Patricia Rakepick. She had to lose her job because of the fiasco of 'Cursed Vaults' and was forced to flee Hogwarts. Sadly she was also the best instructor in DADA in the recent years with the last one being Professor Merrythought who retired decades ago.
The Marauder's Grimoire
The first year dorm was empty at that moment, save for Ron who was reading a book on Chess Tactics. When they came in running, he cautiously asked them, "Where have you two been?"
Then he noticed the twins and the shifty looks that they were giving each other, "What are you two hiding from me? You can tell me."
"Our business Ronniekins is our business. We are doing no wrong."
Harry however decided to include Ron in what they were doing, "We are actually doing something which must be kept quiet. We can use your help with it."
Ron instantly agreed, "How can I help?"
They poured the records out between the five of them on Harry's bed.
Harry turned to Ron, "These are detention slips for the years 1975-78. We are to find those detention slips which belong to year 1975-76. The sooner we can sort them out, the better."
They started sifting through those slips and in about 25 minutes, they had sorted through all of them. Making sure that they had indeed collected all the slips, Harry turned to the twins, "Since we only needed the one year's records, the rest are superfluous. Let's copy the pranks from them for future reference and compile them. You know, sort of a Marauder's Grimoire which we can use and add any pranks of our own for future generations to use. My father and his best mates created one marvel, we can certainly add on to it."
The twins grinned, "That would be a mighty fine idea, Harry."
Ron heard everything and had many questions of his own to ask. His brothers never actually made him a part of any of their plans yet they had accommodated Harry easily. He had to know the secret to that.
20 minutes later, they were done selecting those records which contained any prank. It was also unanimously decided that they would only list a prank in the grimoire when they had tested it for themselves to ensure that it actually worked and was worth the effort.
The first round is over
After they were done separating the detention slips for that year, the twins went on to invite the other houses to the room where they had met, to make the announcement that Gryffindor had won the contest.
The twins had no problem in conveying the message to Cedric in Hufflepuff who took the message to Lucian Bone in Slytherin and the twins themselves took it to Kelsen whom they found returning to the Ravenclaw tower. Unknown to them, their every move was being watched by all the portraits throughout the castle and they were all dutifully reporting everything to the headmaster.
When they met in the room where they had announced the prank tournament, Albus Dumbledore was present in that meeting. Unknown to everyone, he had cast a snooping charm on the Fawley Heiress and he could hear every word of it clearly. He didn't even need to be in the same room as them to listen to them.
When they all gathered, Harry started to address them, "My friends, this has been a very exciting 5 days. I am sure we learnt a lot from these experiences. Some of us were caught and put in detention but none of us informed on the others. For that I am very grateful to all of you. Now on to this task, every house had their chance to try something to get the desired records but none succeeded except Gryffindor for reasons unknown. We watched everyone and we learnt our lesson about where others failed. Slytherin team was successful in getting the records out of Filch's office but they were caught in the effort. We employed the same strategy but we didn't move them out of his office. We only had them copied and took away the copied ones."
Bole protested, "But it's against the rules."
Harry gave his best lopsided grin, "No Bole. I nowhere said that you had to get the originals. If you didn't work around it then it was your mistake. There was no way that you could remove the originals without Filch knowing about it. So we have won it fair and square."
Bole tried to say something but Murphy interrupted, "He's right, you know. He never said that they had to be original. None of us came up with that simple work-around."
Harry grinned, "So, as you will all agree, Gryffindor has won this round and we get 10 points for it. Now are you all up for the next task?"
The grin that graced Harry's face was making them think twice but Cedric showed Hufflepuff is nothing if not brave, "We are ready, Harry. What is the next task?"
Harry gave a maniacal grin, "Our dear dungeon gracing Professor Snape has some very interesting potions in his office in the dungeons. One of them I have heard is a potion which enables the drinker to walk through fire without harm. I want that potion. Whoever can bring it will win the next round. You get two weeks to try and get it."
The others visibly shuddered. Cedric said with a grimace, "It would be easier to battle a dragon than to nick something from Snape's office, Potter-Black. Could you not come up with something easier?"
Harry grinned, "Of course I could come up with something easier, Cedric, but that would defeat the whole purpose. Well this is what I am offering to you all. Take it or leave it. The choice is solely yours."
Others reluctantly agreed. 100 Galleons was not a small amount for a school student to let go. Nicking something from Snape would be difficult but not impossible.
Before Harry dismissed the meeting however, he had one more thing to say, "Before I forget, I had the slips sorted. We vetted those slips which can give you an idea for a prank and I am sharing those slips equally among us."
Bole asked him in amazement, "But why? I mean you have won them."
Harry smirked, "This does not matter, Bole. I am willing to share among us irrespective of our houses or any distinction that you make. Do you agree?"
With them having agreed, Harry distributed the detention slips among themselves and the meeting was dismissed with each having to think about the next task.
As others were leaving, Cedric asked Harry, "Ready for tomorrow, Potter-Black? I'm going to knock you off of your broom tomorrow."
Harry remembered that the next day was the broom race. He and Pucey had been talking about it but they had decided that they won't take any advantage of knowing what they were to do beforehand. Pucey was one who played fair and won't agree to Harry's demands anyhow. However it was going to be interesting.
Harry grinned, "Bring it on, Diggory. We'll see tomorrow."
Dumbledore took it all in. He decided that if he could not punish them then maybe he would be the spectator who watches everything that is put together. And maybe he could ask if Minerva would be gracious enough to join him provided that she would tell nobody else. It was definitely entertaining for him but how would it achieve anything was beyond Dumbledore's comprehension. But then perhaps it was supposed to be so twisted so that no one would be able to see the entire game unless the prize became clear. The prize in this case could be anything considering how young Harry was. If Albus were any judge of people's life expectancy on their magical core, then he would live for long years before starting his next great adventure.
He was also thinking about the task that Harry had set for the others. To get a potion from Severus's office would be difficult for most of them. The potion in question was not an ordinary potion. Only the most talented NEWT students could brew it. It was very tricky to brew but when brewed correctly it would enable the user to walk through any kind of fire whether ordinary or magical. What use he wanted to make of it was beyond his understanding but may be when he watched the entire game, he would know. For now he could not wait for this broom racing.
Great Hall
Next morning, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with all of his friends. When Pucey arrived with the others Harry hollered for him, "Pucey come and join us here."
Adrian was initially reluctant but then he realised that if Harry could gather the courage to sit at the Serpent's table then he definitely could brave the Lion's for one morning. He and two others came over to the Gryffindor table where Harry had saved them spaces across from him.
When Pucey slipped in, he whispered to Harry, "You know there is a reason I was not sorted into Gryffindor, Potter-Black. The hat told me that I don't have the courage that is required to be a lion."
Harry waved him off, "We are not going to maul you, Adrian. In fact it is nice that you have come to sit over here. Having someone present who can present a different view about things is definitely useful in the long run."
Susan asked him cautiously, "Is it just me or is Snape glaring daggers at us?"
Neville snorted, "Wonder boy loves to get his dander up. Now Snape will spend the whole day frothing at the mouth, wondering what misery he shall inflict upon Harry."
Harry gave Susan his best lop-sided grin, "My minion speaks the truth, Susan. I just love to get a rise out of our dear beloved Professor Snape."
Neville objected, "Today is your turn to be the minion."
Adrian interrupted, "You do realise that the dearest Professor you are talking about is my head of house?"
Ron, who was devouring a roasted potato, said between mouthfuls, "it's just a head with no brains."
Adrian asked with a touch of curiosity in his voice, "Do you people always behave like this? I mean when you are at the Slytherin table, you behave like one of us but here you are completely different."
The twins who had joined them by now spoke in unison, "Ease up Pucey. Your father isn't here to watch you. Besides this is how we lions behave. Any problem with that?"
Adrian raised his hands in a pacifying gesture, "None at all. In fact, I find it refreshing. Things are quite different at the Slytherin table."
Hermione asked him curiously, "How different?"
Adrian turned to her, "before I answer your question, may I know your name, Miss?"
Hermione replied, "Hermione Granger, muggle-born."
Adrian raised an eye-brow, "I hadn't asked your blood status, Miss Granger. These things matter very little to me or to my family. We belong to the neutral spectrum of the Wizengamot. By your leave, may I address you as 'Hermione'?"
Hermione was dumb-founded. She had no idea why she told him that she was a muggle-born. Perhaps she thought that Adrian was cut from the same cloth as other purebloods in Slytherin but he had surprised her. In fact she was so surprised that she had not even heard the last part of his question.
Adrian waited for her to answer for 5 minutes before Harry spoke, "Congrats Adrian. You have done what nobody could. We all have tried everything save placing a silencing charm on her but we couldn't get her to keep quiet. You managed it without any trouble."
Hermione hit him on the arm while others laughed. She then turned to Adrian, "You may call me Hermione provided you give me leave to address you by your name."
Harry eyed her curiously, "Already learning our ways, Hermione? We will have to watch our mouth next time we speak."
Adrian chose to ignore his quip and nodded to Hermione, "You may call me Adrian, Hermione. Now as to the answer to your question…" Adrian smirked mysteriously, "A true Slytherin never gives up his secrets."
His answer elicited a chuckle from those around him while Hermione huffed, "That was hardly any answer."
Harry pacified her, "Hermione, one of the first principles of being a Slytherin is to keep your secrets to yourself. A true Slytherin would never give up his secrets."
Oliver Wood who was sitting near to them asked, "So when are you lot starting your Quidditch training again, Adrian?"
Adrian grinned, "I would repeat what I said to Miss Granger just now, Oliver. A true Slytherin never gives up his secrets."
At the teacher's table, Minerva McGonagall was watching everything that was happening. It was unimaginable that Slytherin students were mingling with her lions and getting on amicably with them. In fact, they looked so much at home there that if they weren't wearing their house colours, she wouldn't have realised that they didn't belong to her house. Whatever Albus may say about Harry playing at politics, she liked this change. If the students stopped bickering among themselves then things would get so much better for the school.
Albus tilted his head towards her and said, "A lemon drop for your thoughts, Minerva."
McGonagall scowled, "My thoughts are worth more than the ridiculous muggle candy that you are so fond of, Albus."
Albus chuckled, "Indeed. So what are you thinking about?"
"I am wondering why none of the teachers ever tried doing something like this in the past? It would have saved us a lot of trouble and may be, just maybe, things would have been better."
Severus Snape was sitting on the other side of Dumbledore, hearing every word of their conversation while frothing at the mouth. His attention was turned on the Gryffindor table like every other teacher. He listened to the wistful comment she made and sneered, "Nothing would have changed with bullies like Potter and Black roaming around the school and taking on other students only when they knew they were in sufficient numbers."
Minerva turned her glare at him, "Does your prejudice know no limits, Severus? James died protecting his wife and son. He is respected as a hero among us. True he was a school yard bully but he was adequately punished for each of his transgressions. In fact I recall he stopped hexing you every time he saw you after becoming the Head Boy. But you carry a grudge even now. Sirius fought against the death eaters during his brief stint as an Auror and won renown for himself. He saved countless lives in his short career which in my opinion expiates him from any of his so-perceived crimes during childhood for which he was adequately punished in the school. Sirius was also accused of betraying his brother like friend and spent 10 years in Azkaban for doing nothing yet no-one can accuse him of harbouring any grudge or hatred against anyone in his heart. On the other hand, you are carrying childhood grudges in your heart. You have spent all your life hating two people- one of whom is dead and the other was unjustly punished. Has no one ever told you that carrying a grudge like that in your heart for years is like having a wound which can never heal and would consequently fester?"
Albus listened to the volleys of torrents back and forth helplessly. These two were always hard to get along with and Minerva never let a moment go to make Snape realise what wrong he had done. When he finally had enough, he said a bit loudly, "You are both bickering like school children while the real children are behaving like mature adults not caring about what is in the past. From my personal experience I can tell that clinging to the past is never beneficial."
Duelling classroom
Their duelling practice had been coming along nicely now. For the last week, they had been practicing dodging as Flitwick had asked them to. While they didn't make it a competition between them, neither of them used a wide area stunner on the other. When they practiced, it was with an intention to get better and not to best the other. So far, Harry was better at drawing his wand faster while Neville was best when it came to using any spell he could call to his mind. He displayed no inhibitions to use whatever was on the tip of his tongue. For Harry everything was instinctual. When he would cast, he would know by instincts what he should be doing next. This was a blessing and bane at the same time. While it allowed fluidity in his movements, if he was pitted against someone who could watch him move, they would know what he was going to do next. Harry was not one to break an impasse with creative thinking but he used brute force to ram his way in while Neville would take time to dismantle the opposition.
When they arrived this evening for the lesson, Flitwick was waiting for them with his wand in hand. As they both entered, he started casting without giving them a moment to think. They scrambled around to save themselves from the onslaught and ran in different directions to escape the tiny charms master who for his size and age was moving very fast and hard to keep pace with. He would shoot a spell at Harry then in a moment, he would be sending another at Neville. They both ran around like headless chickens for 10 minutes before an idea occurred to Harry. He ran in Neville's direction wildly making some gestures with his hand. The gestures were gibberish to Flitwick but Neville understood what they meant.
A moment later, Neville had raised a shield which covered both Harry and him while Harry fired from behind the shield at the charms master. Flitwick grinned in appreciation for the ingenuity and started sending shield breakers at them. When the wave of shield breakers started coming their way, Neville and Harry scarpered in different directions lowering the shield.
This time they had agreed on their plan Alpha which they had devised to best Flitwick. Flitwick was quicker, faster and more knowledgeable than them so they could only take him on with some creativity.
As they had agreed, they started sending incendio at the tiny professor who for a moment was surprised but then started flicking their spells aside. They kept at it at a constant pace for about 5 minutes until Flitwick became complacent that he could take everything from them when Harry made his strike.
As it was his turn to cast, he deliberately delayed casting his spell and then he sent an over-powered stunner at the Charms professor. Their intention was to catch him off-guard with the stunner and even if he was able to raise a shield, they were sure that their over-powered stunner would break through it and stun him.
As Flitwick had gotten into the rhythm of swatting their spells aside, he didn't realise that he had swung too quickly before the stunner reached him. His eyes spread in surprise and he was knocked back with the power behind the spell.
When they woke him up, he said in his squeaky voice, "Very ingenious, Harry and Neville. But next time please remember my size and how much damage you can do to me with an over-powered stunner."
They both gave a grin which made him shudder and he looked heavenwards and sighed, "I have raised monsters! They will eat everyone on the duelling circuit alive."
Since he had hurt his head and was too sore to instruct them about anything more for now, he let them off telling that they should expect such surprises more frequently.
The Broom Race
The broom racing competition was to take place from the top of the Astronomy tower which posed a problem for them. The Astronomy tower was the highest point of the castle and to get there while ditching security was not an easy task. On any given day, there were at least two Professors and 6 prefects on duty and many of them had to come up from the dungeons which was the fiefdom of the Dungeon Bat who was infamous for prowling the corridors and was reputed to spring out of a dark corner when he was least expected. If he caught four of his Snakes going to the Astronomy tower with their brooms in hand then things would get ugly for them. He would put them in detention without wasting a moment or worse, he may follow them and find out the entire thing. That would cause problems for all of them and in particular Hadrian Potter-Black who was famous for getting Snape riled up even for doing nothing. Everyone had heard about how Snape hated the boy and the boy always showed him why he was superior to the Dungeon Bat by refusing to rise to the bait. Snape had used everything to get him angry but Harry kept his calm and mocked his attempts with that lopsided grin which he gave to everyone.
The badgers were also in the basements and they faced the same problem as the Slytherins. They just couldn't stride up to the Astronomy tower bold as brass, carrying their brooms on their shoulders. Their problem was that they were closer to the Great Hall than others and Filch could find them if they got reckless. Some students had even reported that he spent most of the nights lurking about their common room in the hopes of catching someone out of bounds.
The claws had relatively little trouble in getting up to the tower considering they were on the second floor but still it was a long way to go. Besides the Grey Lady liked to keep an eye on the students and dutifully reported to the head of the House or of the Headmaster, if asked. Some of them knew that the portraits were Headmaster's spy network, so they were to be watched too. However they were sure that they could get up there safely with some precautions. They only had to use the secret passageway which only the Claws knew about and led from the library to near their common room. The passage would take them up to the fourth floor. Near the library was an ancient tapestry which concealed a passageway behind it. The passage led up to the sixth floor and they would find themselves somewhere in the vicinity of the Boy's bathroom on the sixth floor from where they could walk up to the top of the Astronomy tower.
The Lions would face no trouble in getting up to the tower since they lived on the seventh floor but still the way was fraught with dangers. The Astronomy tower was situated on the other side of the castle and Harry was sure that Snape would lurk about their common room just to get even with him and that was risky. However the game had to go on. Snape was just one obstacle they would have to overcome. After all, they were sorted into Gryffindor for their courage and resourcefulness.