Harry Potter and the Puppetmaster of Hogwarts, Chapter 6
Harry stalked back to the castle under in a foul mood, thoughts churning. Sirius had lied to him. Betrayed him, almost. He'd looked up to him, and only now did he hear that he- and his father- had been bullies. It was a rather painful blow. He paced the halls like a ghost, trying to think. He was now safe from potions and compulsions, but that didn't mean that his friends were as well. If they were actually his friends. That thought especially hurt, but Harry would be the first to acknowledge his suspicions, especially now that he was no longer being controlled. It was a bit odd that one of the first wizards he had met- Ron- would become his best friend, and now that his brain was no longer fogged a great many things were suddenly suspicious. Especially the fact that his crush on Cho Chang had melted away like cotton candy and soured in his mouth the minute he put on the heir ring. A love potion? Other things, too, were beginning to rise in his mind, and these worried him more, even, than a possible love potion.
Why had Dumbledore sent everyone out of the Great Hall when Quirrell announced that there was a troll? It would have made a lot more sense to keep everyone in the Great Hall instead of having the prefects try to lead a gaggle of frightened lower-schoolers back to their common rooms...particularly because the Slytherin and Hufflepuff common rooms were in the dungeons where the troll allegedly was. Why had the "all-knowing" Dumbledore not known about Quirrell? Why had the philosopher's stone* not been better guarded- there hadn't even been an age line, and saying not to go somewhere is a sure way to make a certain kind of child absolutely unmanageable with curiosity! Why had Dumbledore gone to the Ministry on a broom the night the stone was threatened- he could have just apparated. Why had the philosopher's stone been hidden in the school in the first place- surely Nicholas Flamel could keep it safe, especially as he had been able to do so for six hundred years before Dumbledore got it destroyed. Why had Dumbledore waited until the last minute to give Gryffindor an absurd amount of points?
And second year- Dumbledore had been in the castle the last time the chamber was opened, and also could have talked to Myrtle- there was no way he couldn't have known about the basilisk, and it was also probable that he knew about the diary- so why hadn't he done anything about it? Why hadn't he taken points for the polyjuice episode? Not only that, but the wards of Hogwarts- yes, contrary to popular opinion Harry had read Hogwarts, a History- should never have let either Sirius Black or any unregistered animagus into school without warning- Dumbledore would have known all of that. But instead of getting Pettigrew to the Ministry, he let everyone almost get kissed by dementors for a year before telling Harry and Hermione to fix his mistakes with a ministry-restricted artifact which could have killed them all? And what was he doing letting a werewolf teach- Harry did love Remus, and his teaching was fabulous, but he was an active threat if he just plain forgot his wolfsbane.
And then there were all the other horrible DADA teachers: one possessed, one stupider than a box of rocks, one a ministry flunkie and one a polyjuiced Death Eater- not a good track record. Speaking of polyjuiced Death Eater, how had Dumbledore not noticed that his alleged "friend" Mad-Eye Moody was an imposter? Harry was starting to shake.
His fourth year had been just plain horrible, and Dumbledore hadn't done anything to help him- not when he was entered in the tournament, not when everyone was wearing "Potter Stinks" badges, not when he came back almost crying with one of his schoolmates' bodies after being forced into a ritual to resurrect his parents' murderer. Harry had always thought that Dumbledore cared about him- even after he had seen what Dumbledore had done to Snape- but now he was beginning to question...and the questions that he was coming up with scared him, never mind the answers.
And then, horribly clear in his newly clarified mind, an answer coalesced. An answer that terrified him. He hoped he was wrong, but he knew he wasn't. Dumbledore was training him. All his life-threatening adventures had been nothing more than training. Dumbledore had sent him to the Dursleys to make him easier to break and control, and he had used potions, compulsions, and grandfatherly advice to warp him and twist him into a good little soldier. He made the Gryffindors win every year as a reward, to keep him in line, or- a still more horrific possibility to mention- as a treat before he was put down, like an unruly pet. The rest of the Gryffs would toe the party line- against him, if necessary- and Dumbledore would train him to fight Voldemort. If he survived, he would no doubt be put in house arrest or die in an "accident".
And Harry ran. He ran blindly though the corridors towards nowhere in particular, and ended up in a gallery he had never seen before, where he leaned against a wall and began to cry helplessly as the world truly fell apart around him and shock set in for the first time since seeing Dumbledore cursing Snape. He was like that a long time, but at last the sobs started to die away into sniffles, and he raised his head from his knees and looked around. And that's when he saw the girl. Long, dirty-blonde curls, beautiful, wide silver eyes. Ravenclaw tie.
"L-Luna?" he said cautiously, swiping a sleeve over his tear-stained face in an effort to hide his misery.
"Harry Potter," was her solemn response. "You remember me." It was not a question.
"Yes."
"Thank you." A pause. "Someone remembers me...it's almost like having friends."
A pang shot through Harry's heart at this. "Would you like to be friends with me?"
"Of course, Harry. It would be nice...you know the gadoodlesnorts have deserted you?"
"...gadoodlesnorts?"
"Oh, they are little animals which feed on lies and loyalty potions," she said, quietly.
Harry stared. "You know?!"
"Of course. But he would kill me if he knew I knew. That's what happened to mum," she said, suddenly sober. "She knew things he didn't want her to. It was reported as a potions accident, but he didn't know I saw. I was nine. Nine and I could see thestrals..." She straightened. "I've never told anyone what the animals mean before. But I know I can trust you, Harry Potter."
Harry was strangely touched. A wave of anger washed over him suddenly- Luna had lost her mother because of Dumbledore's manipulations, and yet she still tried to go on, friendless and labeled "Loony" by Dumbledore's loyal cohorts. It was then, just then, that he made a vow that he would see Dumbledore shamed and forgotten in Nurmagard with his enemy Grindelwald. Snape was one thing. He had been angry on his account, but there was still a little part of him that said that the unpleasant and cruel man deserved what he got, however much he tried to rationalize it. But Luna, sweet, strange Luna never deserved the loss of her mother; no one did. Sirius never deserved twelve years in Azkaban. Harry himself never deserved being shaped into a weapon at the cost of his childhood. And Dumbledore would pay. For all of it.
Luna pulled a book, a quill, and a scrap of parchment out of her bag, and began to scribble on said parchment. At last she put up the quill and pulled her wand from over her ear. "Pāʻālua huna," she said, tapping the paper. Then she grinned. "Hawaiian codex magic," she told him. "Anyone who read this will see nothing but history notes." Still smiling, she folded it into a paper crane and slipped it into Harry's hand. "That way you'll know the code. Don't tell anyone you don't know you can trust- try just the dog and the professor. Maybe add to it if you can."
"I- thank you, Luna."
"Good," she smiled, and then her silver eyes were suddenly misty again. "Goodbye, Harry," she said, the sing-song tone returning to her voice, "I've got to go see if I can find my homework- the nargles took it."
Harry simply stared after her, his entire world shaken again. Then, slowly, he unfolded the scrap of paper.
Code Word: real meaning/ alleged meaning
Crumple-horned Snorkack= a fugitive or refugee/ an illusive animal like an antelope, with crumpled horns and a bad temper
The Rot-Fang Conspiracy= ministry corruption and bribery/ a plot by ministry officials to bring down the ministry by a combination of dark magic and gum disease
The Hallows=Dumbledore's forces: The deathstick or elder wand is his firepower, the resurrection stone is his assassins and vigilantes, and the invisibility cloak is his supporters, bribes, and influence/ three fairytale artefacts.
Nargles= bullies and thieves/ little newts that which live in mistletoe
Moon Frogs= Selene Lovegood/ silver frogs which live in the sky but come down to earth for holidays.
Blibbering Humdingers= hurtful language and threats/ one-legged bison
Gulping Plimpies= "fishing for plimpies" means having been taken prisoner/ six-legged fish that live in mud
Heliopaths= irrational anger/ galloping, rampaging fire elementals
Wrackspurts=compulsions/ little creatures that go in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy
Umgubular Slashkilters= an attack is planned on you- be vigilant/ an exotic carnivorous beaver which can camoflage itself against wood and plants
Aquavirius Maggots= poison, or a plot against you/ pale blue blobs which live in water and make you rot from the inside out
Dabberblimps= we need to make a plan/ giant, four-legged featherless birds
Spuddertots= meet at your earliest convenience/ chunky little mammals with two of everything a human has (four ears, eight legs) and fur.
Floofs= I have a plan/ balls of fluff with lizard legs allegedly kept as pets by nagas
Harry, still staring at the list, realized that he had made another ally, and a powerful one. There was a new factor in the equation.