Chapter 3: Back to Hogwarts and Formation of a Plan

Nothing eventful happened during my first week in Hogwarts, as I was still polishing my plans. As soon as we arrived in Hogwarts, I immediately wrote a letter to Viktor, detailing everything that had happened from the time we went back from Bulgaria up to what happened in the train.

"Is Professor Lupin cool or what?" Nikki asked Ianthé during breakfast, "I can't wait for today's lesson."

Ianthé nodded at her, "Better than Lockheart last year. I heard he was carted off to St. Mungo's. Ronald Weasley's broken wand apparently was the one he used to Obliviate them but the curse backfired to him."

Nikki winced, "Pretty nasty. So, he is in the Permanent Spell Damage ward then?"

"Yeah. When Mum and I visited there, I also saw two people, husband and wife, who were tortured to insanity by Death Eaters," Ianthé whispered something to Nikki.

"No way!" Nikki looked at her disbelievingly.

Ianthé shrugged, "It happens to the best people. They were Aurors, that's what Nanny told me."

As soon as I heard swooshing sounds, I knew that the owls have come for post. I was specifically looking for a magnificent eagle owl. It flew above me and dropped a letter. From the moment I saw the rather hurried scrawl, I knew it was from Viktor.

"Letter from home?" Nikki inquired.

Ianthé smiled secretly and dragged Nikki to the courtyard outside.

"What in the name of Merlin are we doing here outside!"

"I don't want others to see the letter. It's from Viktor."

"Oh… oh! So what's with the hiding? It's as if anybody knows about him."

"Well, here it goes…" Ianthé breathed deeply, "Translato!" She tapped her wand on the letter.

"It's in Bulgarian, you see," she explained.

Dear Ianthé,

I do hope we put the "gravy incident" behind us. I am glad to hear you are well and capable of taking care of yourself. If you have any problems, anything, feel free to tell me. Who knows" I might be able to give you advice. I'm still very poor in English, that's why I still wrote my letter in Bulgarian, but I'm studying very hard for me to write my letters in English. It would be an advantage for me to learn English as I have great news. I have been accepted into the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team. We will be going there to England next year for the Quidditch World Cup. I hope to see you next year. . I will anticipate other wonderful and cheerful letters from you. I already miss the gravy on my clothes!

Love,

Viktor

"He's going to be the youngest in the national team! Or maybe the youngest Quidditch player in the World Cup!" Nikki squealed excitedly.

Ianthé smiled at her, "Yeah, he seems to be."

"Hey, did you hear what happened to Harry Potter in the train?"

Ianthé shrugged, "Draco terrorized them again?"
"No, remember the dementors? Icky cold feeling. Turned out he was more affected than the rest of us."

"Of course, imagine losing both your father and mother to Voldemort. I think that's his worst memory."

"We have to hurry for Lupin's class!" Nikki pulled Ianthé and they ran to class.

We tackled boggarts during the Defense against the Dark Arts class that day. It was a bit shocking when the boggart turned into my father who started lecturing me of purity of blood. I was too shocked to react so Professor Lupin rescued me from my nightmare. He talked to me after class and I told him I didn't realize that my father is my greatest fear. I also told him I didn't believe in the purity of blood and stuff like that. Lupin smiled at me kindly and told me he once had a friend like me but he did not elaborate further.

"It's really weird and frightening when I saw your dad coming out of the closet." Nikki told Ianthé as she sat on her four poster bed.

"I didn't know either. Listen, I thought of a plan for a prank to challenge Fred and George…" Ianthé told Nikki as she pulled out a silvery cloak out of her trunk.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nikki asked her.

Ianthé nodded, "I nicked this from our attic. I can't believe after all these years, it was just lying there!"

"Like your small box of Grubanthian fire, for example… You're so lucky you could get those kind of stuff."

"The Fire was given to me by my Uncle. It was kind of a bribe. Uncle Alfonse told me I was a Slytherin in hiding and I should've been a Slytherin in the first place."

"Come to think of it… Why didn't the Hat place you in Slytherin?"

"Because I asked it not to. I told it I have the brains to be a Ravenclaw. I also told it not to place me in Gryffindor." Ianthé told Nikki as she opened a metal box that had a small burning twig inside.

"You might be disowned when you get placed in Gryffindor?"

"Well, that was what I feared. Let's just say, I wouldn't have the luxuries I have now if I were placed there."

"So, back to the plan."

"Well, since the terrible twins are busy with Quidditch, we can at least occupy their throne in one glorious moment."

"What are you proposing?"

"We ditch watching that match and set up a prank. A prank so horrible that should be blamed on them by Filch."

"Uh-hmm.. And how exactly will the plan work out?"

"What we need is a Polyjuiced set of twins, kidnap the real twins for the time being, send the fake ones to set up a prank, and then let Filch catch the fakies, but then the grand escape, set the real ones free and obliviate their memories, telling them they have just ingested large quantities of Firewhiskey at the post-match party. There."

"Ianthé, I must tell you, that is some devious plan. It might be a bit hard to pull off… Who will volunteer to be the fakies?"

Ianthé looked at Nikki conspirngly.

"You've got to be joking!"

Ianthé shook her head, "I'm dead serious."

"No way!" Nikki looked at her disbelievingly.

"Come on, I thought you were up to a little adventure…" Ianthé coaxed her.

"Al right, alright! The question is, how are we going to trap those two…"

"Hogsmeade."

"Excuse me?"
"We'll follow them to Hogsmeade to get a sample of their hairs."

"What about before the Quidditch match?"

"Stun them and then replace them. You do know how to play Quidditch?"

"Of course! But I've never played Beater before…"

"We can do it. Beating the bludger is pretty easy. Just locate one, then hit any member of the opposing team."

"Their captain might have practiced plays…"

"Do you really think Fred and George would follow any of those?"
"Nope."

"Then, we can do it. It'll be a breeze…"