AN: I do not own Harry Potter, that honor goes to J. K. Rowling.
Chapter 12: Mad-Eye Moody
"Can I borrow this?" Harry asked after finding Gilderoy Lockhart's dot on the map wandering around the first-floor corridors.
"We've decided you need it more than us. With Filch out of commission, we need it less than you do and we've memorized all the important bits. Just remember to clear the map once you've finished with a tap of your wand and say 'Mischief Managed!'," George answered with a grin.
"Brilliant, this will let me keep a closer eye on Lockhart. I'll look for the Chamber of Secrets while I'm at it."
"Don't bother, mate. We've searched the map when the Chamber was first opened. Either it's not on the map or it doesn't exist," Fred answered with a shrug. "Keep the map. A word of warning, however. There are seven hidden exits to Hogsmeade from the castle and Filch knows four of them, so the other professors may know about it too," he explained while pointing out the locations. "A few of these we're sure no one knows about. The one on the fourth-floor behind the mirror is blocked due to a cave in and the other is under the Whomping Willow out on the grounds. The one you might want to use to get someone in is through the one-eyed crone's hump off the third floor… just there. It will take you to Honeydukes cellar. We've used it loads of times to get Butter Beer."
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs," George muttered with a reverent sigh. "We owe them so much."
"Noble wizards, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers," Fred intoned in a quiet voice. He bowed his head and wiped a fake tear from his eye.
"Now, you were saying something about Basilisks. I think it's time we had a long, frank conversation about what you've been up to this year, young man!" George challenged with a twinkle in his eye as he tried to mimic his mother's voice.
Harry grimaced and fought back a laugh. "It isn't pretty but you need to know. Ginny is your sister. Here is what I know, what I suspect, and what I plan to do," he said with a sigh.
Forty minutes later, he left the girl's bathroom with a subdued Fred and George. They spoke in low, urgent whispers behind Harry as he led them toward the Great Hall and dinner. Hermione and Neville greeted them with smiles as they sat down at the long table. "How did it go?" Hermione asked in a low voice. Neville leaned in to listen with a worried expression on his face.
"Kingsley took it about as well as we thought he would. He'll do what he can from his end but we still need to keep working on the spells or finding a way to get roosters into the castle. Fred and George might be able to help me on that front," Harry answered with a strained smile.
"Ron said he'd miss dinner, as he wanted to work more on his flying. He claims he's going to forget how to fly if he doesn't use his broom often enough," Neville said with a snort as he pushed a piece of pie around on his plate.
The next morning, Harry got up early and sent Hedwig to Moody with a letter to choose a date for their meeting. He suggested the time be sometime after class and before curfew, but said any time would work. After two drafts of the letter, he was happy with the wording in the letter in case any of the Aurors happened to intercept Hedwig.
Harry focused his attention on learning the secrets of Hogwarts in his free time. Hermione became annoyed with him when he disappeared between classes. He made it up to her by working harder on the checklist she made while spending some time on trying to create or modify a charm to simulate another sound. They utilized every resource book they could think of in the library to modify the Caterwauling Charm first. He hated himself for not being able to modify the charm quicker and felt more anxious as the days passed.
Moody wrote back and said he would meet Harry on Saturday at noon outside the Three Broomsticks Inn. Elated, Harry went to work on learning the route he would lead Moody through and walking the secret passage to Honeydukes. After questioning Fred and George, he learned the inn where Moody would be was a short walk to the sweets shop. On Friday, after the last class with a surly Professor Snape, he prepared numerous traps and distractions he would use the next day. He borrowed a few of the twin's experimental fireworks from their lab and grabbed a few of the Smoke Dungbombs the twins enchanted from his chest.
"Neville hasn't been around much," Harry mused as he looked at the two empty chairs in the storeroom. He wondered what plant in the greenhouse captivated his friend's attention. Ron wouldn't join them unless someone stole his broom or Hermione forced him to do his homework. He missed his boisterous friend sometimes.
"He hasn't been to the greenhouses. Last I heard, he has stayed in the common room a lot and doesn't leave unless it's for class or to head to the library," Hermione said after a moment as she looked up at Harry.
"You know something then?" Harry questioned, leaning forward in his chair.
"You promise not to go flying off the handle?" she shot back with a frown.
"Something is wrong then," Harry mused as he rubbed his chin. He stopped after a moment when he realized he couldn't feel anything from his hand or face. It brought back an image of his burned face to his mind's eye. "Someone is bullying him," he declared after a minute.
"I didn't say that," Hermione answered in an even tone.
"Little else would keep him away from his plants unless he was scared to go. Unless he's found himself someone or something to distract him. I've seen him talking to Ginny a lot," Harry muttered as his mind went over every interaction he could remember with Neville over the last week.
Hermione grimaced and played with her bushy hair. "What… uh… what do you think about having Ginny join us? She isn't having the best experience so far at Hogwarts and… well, she's ahead of her class by a lot. I've talked to her while you've been off doing your secretive project." She wrung her hands as she looked Harry over. "I'll talk to her about leaving you and Ron alone if it helps."
Harry thought over Hermione's proposal. He wasn't opposed to having Ginny join them, but she'd proven to be a nuance to Ron and himself on a few occasions. "It'll be up to Ron," he hedged with a shrug. "She was… okay, at the Burrow when we studied over the summer. I know this hasn't been the best year for her and she is as much my sister in spirit as she is Ron's by blood. If you think it'll do her good, fine." He didn't mention his initial reservations as to not upset his friend.
"Oh, thank you, Harry!" Hermione gushed and hugged him with a beaming smile. "It gets boring with just boys around," she said and stuck her tongue out at him.
Harry shrugged and went back to his list of potential combinations of Latin words to produce a specific sound. Hermione, excited at the prospect of having her new friend join them, took off for the Gryffindor Tower. Once his bushy-haired friend left, he took some of the traps out of his bag and transfigured more strips of parchment into fishing line. With a grin, he went to work making more improvised devices.
Hermione appeared with Neville and Ginny thirty minutes later and just before dinner would start in the Great Hall. He heard the door open and the low buzz of excited chatter. The Muffliato Charm hid their conversation from inside the hidden room, but the occupants could still hear talking in the small cluttered space by the door.
"It's so dusty," Ginny's muffled voice complained.
"Harry's idea to make it look unused and uninteresting. He piled all the dust from the entire room into this small area which makes it less than pleasant to walk through. His idea of a passive deterrence for curious students," Hermione explained.
Harry heard them shuffling around while they stepped on broken glass as they walked to the closed wardrobe in the corner of the boxed off area. He heard a Hermione explain how the charm worked and the password needed to enter their hidden study area. A moment later, a battered door opened from the far side of the L-shaped fake wall to reveal Hermione's beaming smile. Ginny looked around with wide eyes as she took in the comfortable sitting and learning space the four friends made for themselves.
"You guys did all this?" Ginny questioned as she ran her fingers over the fake wall. "It feels like parchment."
"It is parchment, expanded and color charmed to look like a stone wall. Moody helped with some of it," Harry explained as he dumped the rest of his traps in his bag. "Welcome, Ginny. I assume Ron approved?"
"Ron was a git but saw reason eventually," Hermione said with her nose in the air as she levitated another chair from the corner over to the fire for Ginny.
Harry enjoyed himself, despite his reluctance at first about having Ginny join them. She proved to be serious about learning and didn't try to bother Harry or Neville when they were discussing different plants. Ron showed up in the Great Hall near the end of dinner, drenched in sweat. Water off his soaked robes puddled water on the floor under the bench.
"Blimey the weather turned bad," Ron mumbled before shoveling more food into his mouth.
"How is your flying coming along?" Harry asked as he watched his friend stuff his face.
"Frits Ghoof," Ron answered with a mouth full of food. Harry cursed under his breath at himself as he felt his eyebrow twitch. Ron swallowed and grinned at him. "Pretty soon, I'll be better than you!"
"You've been working hard enough at it so I'm sure you will," Harry answered with a grin. "I'm getting Moody tomorrow so maybe I'll have some time on Sunday to go out and fly with you."
"Wicked!" Ron breathed out with a grin. "It'll be like old times."
Harry couldn't sleep that night, his brain going over his plans for the next day. When morning came, he waited out the hours by practicing his defensive skills against the red training dummy. Hermione and Ginny watched on with complex expressions when Harry failed to block a spell that drew blood. He stood and wiped off the blood with a blood-soaked rag before rubbing a Murtlap Essence based balm over the wound. Three minutes after being defeated, he was standing in front of the red dummy again, waiting for the spells to start firing at him.
"What's that?" Ginny asked as Harry stood over a cauldron a little later. Her bright brown eyes looked over the potion bubbling away in the cauldron and the ingredients arrayed out in a circle beside it.
"Blood-Replenishing Potion from one of the books in the library," Harry answered with a shrug. "The ingredients used in this one are a little cheaper than the one in the Advanced Potion Making book."
"How hard is it to make?" she asked as she bent over the open book beside the cauldron, using her finger to read down the brewing instructions.
"It isn't the worst potion I've ever tried to brew," Harry hedged with a shrug. "How are your Charms studies coming with Hermione?" he asked and glanced at a checklist charmed to the wall beside his and Hermione's much longer list.
"A lot better and I'm learning it as fast as you did! That's what Hermione said anyway," she said with a wry grin.
"You probably are," Harry answered back with a shrug. He knew he wasn't a genius and Ginny had shown a strong affinity to Charms.
"You should teach people, Harry," Ginny said into the silence. "Whenever you explain things I seem to understand it better than when Hermione tries. She's brilliant, don't get me wrong," she said and shot a look at Hermione who was talking to Ron and Neville. "She just…"
"Expects you to already know the material," Harry finished with a small smile.
"Yeah…" Ginny said in a low voice and leaned closer to look into the cauldron.
A whiff of a strong-smelling flower assaulted Harry's nose, making him sneeze. "Sorry," he muttered as he wiped his nose with his sleeve.
Harry left the storeroom two hours before the time to meet Moody in Hogsmeade. He knew how important leaving early for an operation was for any military exercise. Instructor Elliot drilled into them the importance of Murphy and his law of messing everything up when it was least expected. Hermione rolled her eyes at him as he prepared to leave. Neville, confused by his preparations, asked if he was going to go prank some Slytherins.
Harry moved with a purpose through the halls and used new secret passages he'd learned from the map to get where he wanted to go. It would be a ten-minute walk from the secret passage to the storeroom because he couldn't use popular corridors and stairs. He'd watched the map and got a general sense of which corridors were less likely to have students passing through them near lunchtime. The walk from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts through the secret passage would take an hour meaning most of the students would have left lunch in the Great Hall and gone back to enjoying their weekend. It meant there would be more people in the corridors when they got back to the castle.
Pulling out his wand, he charmed one of the fishing line traps from one wall to another about ankle high. The line would snap if someone crossed it, causing the smoke bombs Fred and George created to go off with a firecracker. The rancid smell would tell Harry if someone passed through the hall when he came back. At strategic points on the route, he expanded a parchment paper he'd already color changed to look like the stone walls. Every student knew the castle shifted and moved so he hoped it would deter all but the most curious students. He attached the fake wall to the sides of the corridor, cast the Hardening Charm on the parchment, and placed more traps behind the wall. If a student destroyed the fake wall then the smell would warn him someone came through one of his key areas.
While there were many corridors and secret passages, he found several key locations that he couldn't bypass without wasting a lot of time. He knew time was the most important resource in any operation and opted for deception and speed over taking more time. After his preparations were complete, he went to the one-eyed witch and spoke the password.
"Dissendium," he whispered and watched the hump on the witch's statue open to reveal a short slide into the tunnel. He knew the slide would give them trouble getting back up later, but he hoped Moody was up to the task or could magic himself out of the secret tunnel in some way Harry hadn't figured out how to.
Harry jogged down the narrow, compacted dirt corridor toward Hogsmeade. He'd visited the little hamlet once to scope out the area under his Invisibility Cloak after class. The layout had been easy to memorize and recreate a map of. He went over the plan in his head the entire time as his feet drummed against the hard earth. After five short breaks, he made it to Hogsmeade with a little time to spare. He hoped his internal clock was correct as he climbed up the small ladder and pushed gently on the trapdoor in the cellar of Honeydukes. The sound of thumps came from the overhead wooden boards. He guessed there were three or four people in the storefront area of the shop and maybe someone in the back room where the cellar stairs led up to.
Throwing on his Invisibility Cloak, he took the dilapidated wooden stairs one step at a time, careful not to make a lot of noise. He kept his back to the wall and stepped on the sides where the steps met the support underneath. It was a trick he'd learned at Providence when he tried to escape one night out of a fire exit. He'd made too much noise because he stepped on the middle part of the rusted metal stairs, making horrendous grating noises as he went down. The second time he tried, he took his time and used the metal framing on one side so the sound would be muffled.
Getting out of Honeydukes was easy because a boy, not much younger than Harry accidentally knocked over a stack of boxes filled with chocolates. The brief distraction allowed Harry to leave the shop unnoticed. The tinkling bell of the door made everyone in the shop look up at the empty doorway and slowly opening door. He left the door open as if the wind blew the catch open. Without looking back, he moved with a purpose toward the corner of the building and stepped into the shadows cast from the small awning near the cauldron shop. Piles of chopped wood were stacked in the small alcove. He knew a student would be spotted and reported to the school if they were found so he'd nicked a spare over-sized robe from outside one of the boy's bathrooms. It had a Slytherin crest on the robe so it might throw off anyone who might see him. His plan was to be visible as little as possible.
He left the Cloak on and pulled everything out he needed to complete the hardest part of the plan. The distraction he planned would be loud and eye-catching to draw everyone's attention away from Honeydukes. He waited, watching everything with wide eyes so he wouldn't miss the smallest detail. Ten minutes passed before Moody stepped out of the Three Broomsticks beside Ceridwen's Cauldrons shop. The grizzled ex-Auror looked around with his normal eye as his magical one spun in its socket.
Harry acted with purpose as he pulled off the Cloak and stuffed it into his robes. He yanked on the bulky robes and hid his face within the large hood. The hood was the main reason he stole the robe. Most students didn't bother with hoods on their robes, opting to use a wizard's hat instead. Moody's electric blue magical eye locked on him as soon as he stepped out of the shadows. Harry stooped and arched his shoulder high, making him look smaller and humpbacked as he ambled over to the adult.
"Wait by Honeydukes door," Harry rasped as he tried to pitch his voice. He continued passed the ex-Auror and walked up the small lane a few more steps. A witch and wizard across the street noticed him but looked away a moment later.
Once he was more or less sure the coast was clear, he dropped the bundled fireworks. He held the line attached to the bundle and walked back the way he came, making sure to grumble in as deep a voice as he could when two wizards walked by, deep in their conversation. An adult bumped into him, muttered a curse. The balding wizard cursed louder and wiped off his cloak as he took one look at the dirty disguised Harry.
"They should ban filth like those Dwarfs from Hogsmeade. I've dirtied my robes by touching it," the haughty voice called.
Harry yanked hard on the fishing line and grumbled something back to the wizard. It wasn't his plan to look like a Dwarf, but rather a disheveled old, stooped wizard. The robes he nicked were smelly and had grass stains and compost stuck to parts of the robes. A loud bang echoed from where he dropped the fireworks. He made sure to stop and look back, to blend in with the crowd for as long as possible. Light danced and exploded from the empty lane as small fireworks set off the larger ones in the middle of the bundle. Flashes of green and red shot around the lane and into the air before exploding into large, bright displays of light. A miniature red dragon flew higher and higher to the gasps and praise of the watchers.
"Let's go," Harry called to Moody as he brushed past the ex-Auror. The older wizard with a purple hat that owned or managed the shop was standing in the street, talking to a very stout woman with a shiny black bun. Harry realized the older wizard was Ambrosius Flume, dressed smartly to impress potential customers.
Harry entered the empty shop and moved past the counter, headed straight for the cellar door. He didn't look back but heard Moody's wooden peg stomping on the floor behind him. His hope was that Ambrosius wouldn't notice their entrance or hear Moody's loud walk. They were in luck as no one followed Moody or shouted after them as they descended the wooden stairs. Harry opened the hatch and looked up to see the grizzled face of Moody glaring at him.
"You are too good at this for a boy of twelve," the ex-Auror accused and peered down the hatch. "This peg leg will make getting down difficult. Why haven't you used magic?"
"The Trace," Harry said with a shrug. "I don't know how far away Hogwarts I can be without getting in trouble. Hogsmeade would be a hard boundary for the Ministry to choose, why else would it be so far away from the Castle? I'd be surprised if the Ministry didn't keep at least one Auror stationed here. The last thing I need is to get in trouble for a simple fire spell or a Muffliatio Charm."
Moody harrumphed and made his way down the ladder. By the time the ex-Auror made it to the bottom, Harry heard feet on the wood planks again. He realized they may have been seen when he heard the person above moving around the shop at a faster pace. A moment later, they headed toward the back of the shop and the basement door.
Harry jumped on the ladder and closed the stone trapdoor above him before clambering down the ladder. Moody waited to one side, both eyes locked on Harry. "It's a bit of a walk so sorry about that. The real trouble will come in a little bit when we have to get back up out of the slide, but I have a possible solution that might work," Harry explained as he started off away from the ladder and trapdoor.
"What was your plan if the fireworks didn't work?" Moody questioned as they walked along the narrow path.
"I'd rather not say as I need to keep a few secrets," Harry shot back with a grin. "No offense or anything, but I don't need a dark wizard hunter figuring out all my secrets."
"You planning on going dark, then?" Moody growled from behind him.
"What exactly is dark versus light?" he questioned with a shrug. "It seems to me, you need to know both to be able to protect yourself from all types of magic. You don't stick your head in the ground if one country has nuclear weapons and hope to survive. You learn everything you can to be able to stop or mitigate the damage it could cause. I don't know for sure, but it seems logical if you make the same comparison to the wizarding world."
Moody grumbled something under his breath. "You could have hurt someone with your stunt back there. Panic, fires, or simple bad luck," he accused with a snarl.
"An acceptable risk versus the lives of the students and people living in the castle," Harry shot back with a shrug. "Would I have felt bad, yes, but not enough to ignore the more serious risk of a Basilisk loose in the castle. If it gets out, then more than one or two people will be hurt."
"Is that how you see things? Acceptable versus unacceptable risks?"
Harry stopped and turned to look at Moody. "Let me be clear. My friends are my first concern. I've never had people I could depend on like Hermione, Ron, and Neville. I'm not losing that because I messed up. I'd like to get them out of there right now but I can't think of a way to make Hermione leave Hogwarts. She knows about the danger and the possibility she could be targeted but wants a magical education above everything else, even her life. Neville has expressed his desire to just leave and learn with his Gran, despite his reluctance to do so. Ron wouldn't want to leave but he might see reason. If that means some unknown number of people are hurt to give them a higher chance of survival, then yeah, I'll take it."
"A rather dark view and a dangerous path to start on so early," Moody said after a moment. "I took in a dark wizard who went to extremes to avenge his fallen friend. Would you do the same?"
"Depends on the situation, but I won't say I wouldn't," Harry answered with a glare.
Moody glared at Harry, his magical eye spinning around as it looked over his body. "How much farther?"
"A while, it is a long walk," Harry answered and turned again. He wondered if he made the right choice by telling Moody the truth.
Twenty minutes later, Moody started questioning Harry again about his plan, how he prepared, and what steps he took to ensure it would succeed. Harry answered some of the questions and ignored others. He felt like he was getting graded on his performance. Harry grumbled and pushed them faster toward the slide below the one-eyed witch statue.
Once they reached the bottom of the slide he turned to Moody. "We climb up, glide up on an experimental idea, or if you know a charm to allow us to walk up the slide then we can use that," Harry said into the silence.
"Your operation, Potter," Moody grumbled with a squint of his eye.
"Fine, experimental option then because of your peg," Harry grumbled and pulled out a parchment. He took a deep breath and waved his wand. Muttering spells under his breath, he cut the parchment into three sections. He expanded one piece out to fit from one side of the slide to the other before turning it to stone. Moody grunted and watched on with his arms crossed. Harry expanded the second piece to be a little taller than Moody and charmed it to stick to the stone platform he'd made. He repeated the process for a small ledge over the top to protect them from hitting the ceiling.
"Right, so this is where it gets a little hairy," Harry muttered and levitated his contraption onto the slide. "We stand on this bit and I levitate us up the slide."
Moody made a sound under his breath that sounded like a snort. Harry shrugged and stepped on the stone platform and waited for the surly ex-Auror. Moody grumbled more and stood beside Harry with a grimace. "This is your idea?" he questioned with a deeper frown.
"Experimental idea, yeah," Harry said with a sigh. Now that he looked at the ramp, he wondered if everything would go according to plan. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he intoned and pointed his wand at the stone platform under his feet. The entire contraption rose into the air before bumping into the ceiling. The stone parchment above him thudded against the compacted dirt, telling Harry they'd gone as far up as they could. "Now, for the fun part," he muttered. He placed a Sticking Charm on his trainers and felt himself adhere to the platform.
"Please tell me you aren't," Moody said in a low voice.
"Carpe Retractum!" Harry cried and pointed his wand up the dark slide. He yanked his wand backward. The stone platform shot forward toward the point where Harry's spell hit. The thin stone top of the platform crunched against the ceiling as Harry felt himself pull the entire platform up the slide with him. He repeated the process four times before the entire platform slammed into the wall of the castle. Harry waved his wand and muttered 'Finite' at his feet. The Levitation Charm and Sticking Charms came undone at the same time.
Moody was able to save himself by jumping off the platform and muttering a spell to stick his feet to the slide. "Not your best work, Potter," Moody growled.
"It worked, didn't it?" Harry said with a grin, a giddy sensation settled over him. He knew it was from the adrenaline coursing through his system. "Let me go first," he said and opened the hump on the statue with the spell.
The coast was clear so he stuck an arm through the hump and helped Moody clamber out of the hole. The ex-Auror was not amused by the short drop to the stone floor and had to repair his peg when it splintered against the floor. "Now what," he questioned as his magical eye rolled around in its socket.
"Follow, but stop when I say," Harry said in a quiet voice as he gave the hand-signal to move forward. A flash of surprise crossed Moody's face as they moved away from the one-eyed witch.
"You've put up barriers in the corridors," the ex-Auror announced a moment later. "You studied how I did it in your little hideout."
"Yes, and more," Harry answered and pushed aside the tapestry hiding the first of many secret passages they would use.
Only four of his traps had sprung at some point while he was gone. The more pungent the smell, the more recent the Dungbomb had gone off. He wouldn't remove the traps until Moody was safely locked away in their storeroom without someone seeing him. Moody questioned why some of the corridors smelled after leaving the fifth secret passage.
"Traps to deter students from hanging around for too long," Harry answered as he shoved a shield and sword display aside to reveal another secret passage.
"I'll want to inspect those traps," Moody growled.
"In a bit, when you're secure," Harry answered with a shrug.
Moody barked a laugh at his answer. He followed along with a wry grin on his face. Harry noticed the grin and felt like he was missing something the older wizard knew that he didn't. A few minutes later, Harry dumped the stolen robes in the corridors for someone to find and return to the Slytherin and peered around the corner of the last major intersection before they were home free. The Grand Staircase was one corridor away, the library was two away to the opposite side, and the Gryffindor Tower's corridor intersected them making it a popular corridor for students to travel through.
"You probably already know, but this is when it gets bloody difficult. I'm going to smokescreen us and set distractions off down the corridor. I'll be back in a moment to lead you to the next secret passage," Harry ordered and moved off without waiting for a response. His annoyance with the ex-Auror was coloring his voice and he knew it.
Three Dungbombs and a strong Smokescreen Spell later, he returned to Moody and beckoned him forward without a word. His imperfect Bubble-Head Charm blocked out much of the smell created from the Dungbombs as he cast another Smokescreen Spell to cover the last bit of their journey up the corridor.
"Fred and George! I know you're behind this!" a feminine voice echoed around the corridor.
Harry tensed and pointed his wand back up the corridor, ready to jinx anyone who appeared out of the smoke. He pushed the ex-Auror with a hand and wondered if he was trying to push a granite rock. Moody either had his cloak enchanted or was built like Instructor Elliot. He guessed it was the former rather than the latter from the look of ex-Aurors sallow skin.
A figure passed through the smoke, a dark silhouette against the gray smoke but didn't notice Harry. The female continued to call the twin's name in increasingly angry tones. Harry didn't recognize the voice. After she left, he led Moody to the last secret passage.
"I'm back," Harry called as he opened the wardrobe with the password. Hermione, Neville, and Ginny looked up at him when he popped his head in. He suppressed a grin as he stepped aside to let Moody in. A wave of relief and euphoria that his plan went off without too many issues flooded through his body, making him feel a little drained and happy. "This is Alastor Moody, an ex-Auror and hopefully someone who can help us with the problem we…," he said and trailed off as his eyes fell on Ginny. He realized he hadn't told her everything yet.
"Uh, well… he's here to help," he finished with a sigh.
Ginny looked from Harry to Moody with narrowing eyes. "Nice to meet you, Harry talked a lot about your last visit," Hermione said into the awkward silence.
"He's certainly been interesting to watch work," Moody growled and stomped into the room, his magic eye spinning.
Neville looked a little green as he scooted his chair away from the grizzled older wizard. "Hi," he stammered.
"Longbottom? You have the look of your father. A strong wizard but then your mother was probably stronger. Two powerful and skilled Aurors if I've ever seen one," Moody praised as both eyes landed on the round-faced boy.
"Th… thanks," Neville managed to get out. "Mad-Eye Moody," he breathed out after a moment. "Gran talked about how powerful and skilled you were during the last war."
"It's your grandmother that was the powerful one. She's a right terror on the field," Moody grumbled with a half-smile. "I watched her eviscerate that Romanian wizard who caused the deaths of five Muggles with a vicious three spell combo. They were picking bits of him off the other dead Death Eaters for hours," he said with a wistful grin.
The casual way the ex-Auror spoke of death cemented what Harry suspected. Moody was a blooded veteran like every other Muggle veteran he'd ever met, they just used different methods of dealing death. "Thank you for making the journey. I need to clean up the mess I left getting you here," Harry said in a gruff voice. He wanted to get away from Moody for a while.
"I'll make myself at home, well done getting me here without anyone seeing either of us," Moody praised with a rare grin. "Your father would be proud but your mother would have tanned your hide."
"Probably, but they are dead," Harry shot back as he closed the door behind him. While he felt a surge of pleasure to hear about his performance, his mood toward the ex-Auror wouldn't allow him to show it.
It took some time to remove all his traps and false walls. He made a few traps go off to let off a little steam and perform a few tests. The Shield Charm blocked a stray firework but couldn't be used to contain the explosion. He set the Dungbombs on fire, incinerating the small brown ball before it could go off. Seamus and Dean asked him if he was the one that pranked the halls. He denied it and blamed it on Fred and George testing some new ideas. After getting his emotions under control, he returned to the storeroom to find all his friends talking to a sour-faced Moody.
"I think you need to bring me up to speed, Potter," Moody growled as he glared around the small room.
Neville shrunk back but Ginny squared her shoulders and glared right back at the grizzled ex-Auror. Hermione and Ron looked amused as they turned back to Harry. "We told him what we knew, but you always seem to have a little more information than what you share in the beginning," Hermione scolded with a small smirk.
"Right, Ginny you'll probably want to stay but I'm warning you now, the story I'm going to tell involves you in many ways. Ignorance can be bliss as Instructor Pearson always said," Harry announced and took the remaining seat by the fire.
"I want to know," Ginny said after staring at her hands for a minute. "I want to know everything."
"Just know, you weren't yourself and were controlled by what I believe to be a dark object. The Diary has to be cursed or possessed," he explained and looked in her brown, troubled eyes. "Try to save any questions for the end," he continued and stood up. He asked Hermione to stand up for a moment. After she did, he lifted the cushion and muttered under his breath. The wood paneling under the cushion faded away to reveal a small, dark compartment. He pulled out a number of pieces of parchment before reversing his work.
"Right, so this is what I know before I met Dobby, after, and my speculations," he said and started to read off the parchments. Moody knew most of the story but sat in silence as he stared at Harry. Ginny's eyes filmed over with tears shortly into his presentation. Hermione put an arm around her and Ron looked uncomfortable. Neville scooted his chair closer with a strained, comforting smile for Ginny. Harry kept his eyes on Ginny while he read through the first two pages.
"This is the new information," Harry announced as he looked at Moody.
"This doesn't sound like any dark object I've run into before," the ex-Auror growled as he narrowed his real eye. "Something about this tickles at the back of my memory. You said the writer's name is Tom Riddle?"
"Yes, that is what he said to me too," Ginny said in a small voice. "Harry, did you read anything I wrote?" she asked in a small voice.
"No, I don't know what you wrote because I think the book steals or somehow absorbs the ink to get stronger and or create the ink used to write back. I told you the truth when I said Tom wouldn't share your secrets. I don't want or need to know what you wrote in your diary. I know the one I kept for a short time helped some but it was dangerous to have all my personal thoughts written on paper for anyone in my dormitory to read," Harry answered with a shrug.
"Say that again?" Moody ordered in a deep voice. "That bit about the diary and ink."
"What!? That I think the book takes the ink we wrote with and steals it or reuses it to gain strength? After those three portraits were forever erased in the first attack with Filch, I did a little reading on how portraits are made. Did you know Hogwarts is the second largest gathering of collected portraits that still stands today? Anyway, the magic behind the portraits will go dormant if there is no magical contact between a witch or wizard with the portrait's magic. A fairly famous craftsman in the Roman period wrote down it could be the connection that comes from the eyes of a witch or wizard. Another wizard claimed it was ambient magic we naturally release when using magic or the strength of our natural magic we release that helped fuel the ambient magic in the portraits."
"I think I read that too," Hermione said into the silence with a scrunched up look on her face.
"My theory is the book may have been dormant or the curse remained dormant without a certain amount of strength. It's shaky at best and there are a lot of gray areas without having the Diary to test, but however you cut it, it is a dangerous and dark artifact," Harry finished and glanced at Ginny. The youngest Weasley had her head in her hands.
"An interesting observation," Moody growled and stomped over to Harry and picked up a parchment off the small table in front of Harry. "Just like you, I have a speculation or two but they are darker than you can ever guess. Leave the Diary to me. I'll get it from Lockhart and maybe put a stop to his evil ways."
"Evil ways?!" Hermione and Ginny questioned with a gasp. Ginny looked up with tears shining in her eyes but they cleared as she glared at Moody.
"The wizard is a fraud, why Dumbledore wanted him as a teacher is beyond me. There are plenty who would take the post despite the rumors of a curse on the post. It's fairly prestigious to teach at Hogwarts and opens a lot of doors otherwise closed to many witches and wizards. The Board of Governors are a force unto their own if they take a shine to you," the ex-Auror growled back and narrowed his good eye at the parchment.
"Potter, Granger, is this checklist what I think it is? You're trying to change the Caterwauling Charm to sound like a rooster?" Moody asked into the silence a minute later and rounded on the two students. "This is advance and hard magic. What do you two think you're doing! If you get the wrong combination it could cause catastrophic damage to yourselves."
Harry stood up with a glare. "So what of it? It isn't like I'm not completely whole, whats losing part of my throat or going mute compared to the chance we can stopping a Basilisk!"
Hermione gasped and looked between Harry and Moody. "He exaggerates, we haven't gotten to testing anything but the safest combinations. We aren't stupid enough to try the combinations near the bottom of that page. They are simply combinations that have a small margin of working, just like everything else on that list. It was all we could think of," she finished in a small voice.
Moody's blue eyes swiveled in its socket as he glared at Harry with his normal eye. "You won't experiment any more with this without me present to reattach anything you might lose," he ordered before going back to his reading.
"Yes, Sir," Harry drawled with a sneer. He had the updated list in his robes and would experiment on his own if necessary. His friends rolled his eyes at him and Ginny shot him a weak smile. "Anyway, to finish the update," he continued after sitting down and trying not to glare at the ex-Auror. "I had a conversation with Kingsley, the head Auror stationed here, and he knows what you do."
The hidden door swung open and thumped against the wall, making everyone glance toward the entrance. Ron stomped in and closed the door behind him with a grunt. He ran his hand through his wet hair and blinked as he surveyed the room. "Blimey, what did I miss?" he questioned as he trudged over to the fire.
"Just getting everyone up to speed," Harry answered and narrowed his eyes. "Ron, what did you do to your wand?" he asked after watching his friend try and drag another chair over to the fire.
Ron froze and hunched his shoulders before turning around. "I may have had a slight accident," he muttered and dug around in his robes. He pulled out his cracked wand, wrapped in multiple layers of Spell-O-Tape.
"Oh, dear," Hermione gasped as she leaned forward to get a better look. "It looks to have split in two places but is still whole… ish," she muttered under her breath.
"Mum is going to kill you," Ginny giggled and sat forward to look at the badly wrapped wand.
"It could be worse," Neville added with a grimace.
"What happened?" Harry asked as he took the wand from Ron's outstretched hand to inspect it.
"I sat on it," Ron answered in a low voice, a red tinge appearing on the tips of his ears. "I was in the locker room and… well… forgot it was in my pocket when I sat down on the bench. The wand singed my flying robes," he continued with a grumble and glared at his wand. "Got some Spell-O-Tape from the twins and here we are. Can it be saved?"
"Not likely, not with that amount of damage to the structure of the wand," Moody growled from near the fireplace. "Broke my wand in my third year trying to get into the Forbidden Forest. Ask your Head of House for a permission slip to Hogsmeade. Ollivanders has a shop in the little hamlet you can get a replacement wand from."
"Wicked… oh, but I don't have any money," Ron said with a groan.
"I'll buy this one off you," Harry said after a moment. "If you don't mind, Ron. I'll buy this one off you so I can see what makes a wand work."
"What are you going to do to my wand?!" Ron asked in a strangled voice.
"Nothing, I just want to mess around with it to see how Ollivander makes wands. If you don't mind that is."
Ron's face scrunched up, looking very similar to Ginny when she was thinking hard and nodded after a moment. "Fine, but no weird experiments with it! It's been a good wand," he said, his voice trailing off as he looked over his broken wand in Harry's hand.
"Brilliant," Harry said with a smile and fished out nine Galleons from his pocket. "Here, mate," he said and offered the Galleons to Ron. "A little extra so you can get a holster like mine. I know you said you liked how it looked."
Ron brightened the mood of the room, excited at the prospect of getting a wand of his own and not a hand-me-down wand. Moody kept to himself in the corner of the room and read over the stack of papers Harry had. At one point, he ordered Harry to produce any and all material related to the creation of portraits.
"This is detailed," the ex-Auror praised with a raised eyebrow. "Are you planning on taking up a career in creating portraits?"
"No, this is how all my notes are when I have time to thoroughly study a subject. Our flashcards don't have random questions from a book or two, but are created from a compilation of many viewpoints and books on the subjects," Harry shot back with narrowed eyes.
"Still, well done, I'm guessing Granger showed you this?" Moody shot back with a glare.
"Actually, it was Harry that showed me this… formula, if you will… to writing good notes. Each of those annotations at the end of the paragraph is a quick reference guide to the book and page we found the information in. In case we realize later that we misunderstood the authors meaning. It helped a lot with our Transfiguration work," Hermione scolded with a bright grin.
"Interesting," Moody growled as he ran his finger over the page. "Useful," he praised after a moment.
Fred and George caught up with Harry on Monday at breakfast. "Oi, you had fun and didn't invite us!" one twin accused as he took a seat beside Harry.
"You could have at least told us you were going to test our fireworks," the other twin complained as he blocked Harry in.
Both twins pushed their shoulders into Harry's showing their displeasure with physical force. Harry laughed and tensed his shoulders. "The operation was complete and your fireworks were key in its success. The baby dragon was amazing to watch," he said with a grin.
"We worked ages on that," the twins chorused. Harry could hear the excitement and pleasure in their voices.
"There was a rather irate witch screaming your names in the corridor though. She seemed to think you were responsible for all the Dungbombs and fireworks in the corridors."
"High-pitched? Bossy type? What do you think, George, could it have been your dearest Haley Jones?" Fred teased and nudged Harry with his shoulder.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," George answered, lifting his nose in the air and snorting.
"Little Georgie has a crush?" Harry questioned with a snort.
"Oi! I do not have a crush!" George howled and hunched his shoulders when he realized he'd yelled too loud.
"Oi! Brother! Who caught your attention?" Percy called from farther up the table.
"George and Haley sitting on a broom," a nearby Gryffindor started to sing.
"I will curse every one of you with a thousand years of itching powder!" George bellowed, drawing the attention of the Hufflepuff table.
The girl in question, a mousy blonde older witch with bright blonde hair turned red as her friends nudged her and started laughing. Harry fought back a grin as a few Hufflepuff boys stood up in defense of Haley's honor, exclaiming a Weasley could never have Haley's hand. A few Gryffindors stood to George's defense and shouted their support for the union. George groaned but couldn't keep a smile off his face while Fred kept egging the friendly confrontation on.
George and Haley became the talk of the tower that afternoon after being forced in an abandoned classroom together by students of their respective Houses. It was the first time Harry saw George speechless as Fred retold the humorous tale.
Harry refocused back on Hermione's checklist after Moody settled in. The ex-Auror knocked a hole in the back of the room and took up residence in the adjacent storeroom. Harry took note of every spell and method Moody used to conceal his temporary home. Once the ex-Auror was done, he wrote everything down and circled a few of the steps to look over in more detail in the future.
"Harry I disagree with using Salvio Hexia for a defense against a Stickfast Hex. It would be better to use Effringo Hexia, the hex-breaker spell," Hermione argued one evening as they continued to study the Defense Against the Dark Arts checklist.
"I'm talking about blocking the hex, not breaking the hold of the hex. There are so many different combinations of words to deflect, destroy, or negate hexes that there may be no perfect counter to everything. Salvio Hexia will deflect the Stickfast Hex before it hits you," he argued back.
"You're thinking about it wrong," Hermione said in a huff. "What does the hex do? What is the outcome of the hex? That is what Wilbert Slinkhard is trying to teach."
"Yes, but he talks about classifications of hexes to defend against, but not what would counter it best. Galatea Merrythought talks about blocking the essence of the spell you are protecting yourself from. The Stickfast Hex roots you to the floor. Deflection away would be better than breaking the spell apart before it got to you."
"Yes and no, I think nullifying the spell with a hex-breaker would be better. You could be in a duel or on a battlefield like the one they talked about in the first wizarding war. If you deflected it then it might hit an ally," Hermione challenged.
"Humm," Harry mused as he tried to play out all the scenarios out in his mind. "Nullifying the spell, in that case, would be better but knowing exactly what spell was being used might be difficult. The Stickfast Hex and the Toenail-Growing Hex have similar wand-movements. Blocking the toenail hex would be a hex-zapping application because of the negative energy summoned in the spell."
"I agree," Hermione answered after a moment. "Why is magic so hard?" she bemoaned.
"No kidding, the variations in the simplest spells still make my head hurt," Harry agreed with a laugh.
"Every witch and wizard are different when confronting the same problem. Try out what works best for you," Moody called from across the room. "You two have been arguing for hours about what is right and wrong about magic and it's giving me a headache."
Harry caught Hermione's eye, fighting back a grin. Ginny snorted and nudged Neville who had a dazed look in his eyes. "How do they think of all those things?" the round-faced boy complained and rubbed at his forehead. "I would have never thought about Vanishing spells like that."
"You're still on that? They are like four or five arguments ahead of that one," Ginny complained with a sly smile. "Come on, Neville. Can you show me the Finite charm again?"