Ch. 3: Tea-time
The door between the Gryffindor common area and their private, common area was next to the doors to the girls' and boys' dormitories for the regular Gryffindor students. As soon as Oz closed it behind him the noise died and he sighed in relief. He was definitely not used to be around of the sheer number of kids that resided in the Gryffindor tower. He was also not used to minding so closely what he was saying.
During the two weeks that they had between finding out that they were going to the wizarding school and the actual trip, they had spent all their time preparing. "My name is Leo Bask-, uh, Barma," and "Alice you forgot your family name" were commonplace for a couple of days. They also learned all that the Four Great Dukedoms knew about the wizarding society and what Reim would teach to the Hogwarts' students. Above all, however, they learned to not mention certain topics.
Quiet conversation resumed after a moment of silence, together with clicking of spoons against the porcelain cups and plates and Oz looked at his fellow spies, gathered around the round table and enjoying sweets and tea. He grinned, imagining the faces of their new "friends" if they saw the curfew that Raven apparently imposed.
'If you don't hurry, we're going to eat all the cookies,' Break announced and Oz knew this to not be an idle threat. It was already surprising that there were any cookies left, so he made his way to the table, snatching a cookie almost from under Break's fingers, just to see him scowl. Next time he would have to make sure to not touch Break's extended fingers in the slightest and see if the Hatter would still realise what happened, Oz decided, biting into the cookie, discovering it delicious.
'I'm not made to be a spy,' he announced, sitting down.
'I'm sure you're going to do a good job,' Gilbert replied almost automatically and Oz smiled at him before accepting a cup of tea in the silence that followed Gilbert's statement.
'I'm not sure if Elliot will survive another meeting with the rude red-head,' Leo pointed out with a somewhat mischievous grin that was completely uncharacteristic for somebody who was the new Glen Baskerville. He seemed to be relaxing a bit. Elliot elbowed him in reply and reached out for a cookie before all the sweets could be consumed by Break.
'Did you manage to approach the students?' Reim asked, probably deciding to at least start seriously, before the whole discussion turned into a farce. Oz nodded, too busy eating the delicious cookie to answer properly.
'And none other than Harry The-Boy-Who-Lived Potter,' Elliot muttered. 'I cannot understand how the apparent saviour of the wizarding community can be so unguarded and informal,' he added, sounding thoroughly unimpressed by meeting such an important person. 'I can't believe that Dumbledore put us in the same House as his most precious asset, when there's obviously no protection.'
'This is the most worrying,' Gilbert agreed quietly. 'We went through the common room yesterday during the feast and found no protective spells whatsoever. In fact, it seems that there's nothing within the castle and they entirely rely on what they call "wards" around the grounds,' he added.
Prior to their departure, Duke Barma and Lady Cheryl explained a lot about "magic", among others, how to feel the spells and identify them from the feeling. Apparently, the Abyss and magic originated from the same kind of energy source and thus it was possible to use both if one mastered how to use one. Since any contractor fell into the category of "mastering Abyss", even if it was more the Abyss mastering the contractor, they were all good candidates to master the magic. Consequently, they could pretend to be wizards.
'But at least I didn't smell any Chains,' Alice interjected between two mouthfuls of cookies. Their two "bodyguards" agreed that the school seemed to be clear from this kind of danger and thus rather safe to stay in. At least for the moment because, since they encountered no trouble in getting inside, it should be possible for a Chain to penetrate the wards.
'So from tomorrow on, you guys are starting your escapades around Britain?' Leo asked, looking straight at Gilbert and Break. The latter grinned.
'We'll wait for a moment with that,' he said. 'I heard some interesting rumours today about the Potions' teacher and we need to figure them out before we leave you poor, little, innocent children unprotected.'
'It's not like we are unprotected,' Oz protested, ignoring Break's irony. 'Between Humpty Dumpty, Jabberwock and the B-rabbit,' he trailed off and swallowed, pushing away the thoughts about the last of the Chains. Gilbert and Break looked at him somewhat worriedly, while Elliot looked away. Oz felt a sting of pain at the latter's reaction.
'You are not to use the Chains in the school,' Reim reminded them sharply. 'Don't forget that we are here to stop the knowledge about the Chains, not spread it,' he added in a tone of a teacher.
'Besides, we will wait a while to make sure that we all fit into the descriptions we want those wizards to have of us,' Gilbert added before Elliot could complain about being lectured like he was a kid. 'As soon as the teachers, and those weird people that come to patrol the school at night, pay me and Break no attention work will start for real.'
'Weird people that come to patrol the school at night?' Elliot repeated with a frown.
'The Order of the Phoenix,' Reim replied smoothly. 'I heard about them from the discussions in the teacher's room. They seem to be some secret organisation founded to fight with that Voldemort guy that we read about in the journal,' he explained, before adding that he was probably not supposed to hear any of those and that he would keep his ears on more interesting details that the Headmaster of Hogwarts failed to mention in his letters.
'It would have been good to know that they're at war, prior to our arrival,' Gilbert grumbled under his breath. Oz agreed with him wholeheartedly, even if they still couldn't be sure whether the wizards were in fact at war. The journal insisted that it was just the old man's imagination and Potter's cry for attention.
'Better tell us about Harry Potter,' Break suggested with his trademark, creepy smile. 'Is he anything like the Daily Prophet makes him out to be?' he asked. Ever since their arrival in the castle, some five days prior to the beginning of the school yeah, he has been making either Gilbert or Reim read the whole journal to him, commenting on the news so much that the whole procedure took more than an hour each morning. Needless to say that it annoyed both Gilbert and Reim.
'He is nothing like a hero,' Leo said before anybody else managed to open their mouths. Oz took a sip of the tea, wondering what he thought about the other boy. He supposed that Harry could be a really nice friend. 'He relies on his friends way too much and he doesn't think he deserves the fame that is bestowed upon him,' Leo continued in a somewhat cold tone.
'You could tell all that just from this pointless conversation that we had?' Alice demanded with irritation. 'We didn't ask any important question, only about some stupid professor or age!'
'We cannot outright ask important questions,' Oz reminded her calmly. 'That is the point of espionage. He is not supposed to realise that we are getting information out of him.'
'I would gladly not get any information out of him, I don't think he has any,' Elliot commented in a tone similar to Alice's. 'I don't understand how it is useful to talk with kids about this place because kids cannot know anything useful.'
'Really, Elliot,' Break laughed. 'Don't you think that kids know things that they don't realise are important? Don't you think that they will answer without thinking simply because nobody told them that information can be used against them?' he asked. Oz noted the bitter expression on Gilbert's face and realised that he still hadn't asked his childhood friend about what happened during the ten years that he was in the Abyss. Somehow there was always something more important to do, like saving Break and Sharon from the Baskervilles or hunting down Alice's memories.
'In any case, we have been invited to join Harry and his friends tomorrow and I think they are as good a starting point as anybody else,' Oz pointed out. He didn't want to admit that he quite liked the company of other students, if only because he couldn't see any ulterior motives that they could have in getting close to him. After all, he wasn't anybody important to them.
'Try also to find out what others think about Gryffindors, maybe it will shed some light as to why we have been placed in this House and not another,' Reim suggested. 'From the conversations with the teachers, I would have thought that Ravenclaw is more appropriate since the students there are the smartest.'
'Maybe he wants to show us that this place is fun?' Elliot suggested. 'After all, aren't we innocent children?' he added, irony wrapped around the words tightly. They have all lost their innocence already, whether it was because of their family being murdered or fate forcing them to assume positions that were above their strength.
'Innocent children should be in bed by now,' Break laughed, while Gilbert glanced at the clock and reminded them that they had to join the Potions' teacher in the dungeons right after breakfast. It was their bodyguards' not-so-subtle way of telling them that they should go to sleep, Oz assumed. He supposed that Reim, Gilbert and Break would spend at least another hour planning and plotting.
'At least Potions is something apparently done without a wand,' Leo commented, finishing his tea. They all winced at the memory of the complete fiasco that was their visit at the wandmaker's shop, just two days after their arrival at Hogwarts. 'This thing with wands will be very problematic in the future,' he added.
'I quite liked the shock on Flitwick's face when we told him that we wanted to try going straight to wandless magic though,' Oz laughed, remembering the shock of their professor when they had actually managed to perform a simple levitation spell. Elliot smirked with satisfaction.
'Be careful around the Potions' professor though,' Break warned them as all four exchange students got up from the table. 'He seems to have some affiliation to the dark side of this conflict,' he added, ignoring Leo's mutter about how they were the dark side for the wizards in the school anyway.