Ch. 8: Piling secrets

'I have been wondering about that as well,' Hermione admitted. Harry has just finished talking about his meeting with Dumbledore. They were sitting in the corner of the common room, in their own sound bubble created by Hermione, profiting from the fact that the exchange students didn't come to meet with them tonight.

'Although I didn't expect Dumbledore to not know and, even more so, I didn't expect him to actually call you to his office just to tell you that,' she continued with a frown. Was she insinuating that Dumbledore only wanted to tell that particular thing to Harry?

'Didn't he call Harry to ask about Lunettes?' Ron asked, looking as confused as Harry felt. 'It's still weird but maybe he doesn't trust the guy and thus asked a trusted student to tell you a bit about the lessons,' he added. It felt nice to be called Dumbledore's trusted student, even if it was by Ron.

'Even if,' Hermione argued. 'The fact that he doesn't trust a man he employs is just as weird.'

'I have to agree with Hermione here,' Harry said. 'He really was making notes, as though he would like to study some things later on.'

'There's something fishy about those guys,' Ron concluded. Hermione rolled her eyes, as she always did when Ron stated the obvious. 'But how could Dumbledore let them into Hogwarts if he isn't sure of them?'

'To gather information about them,' Hermione replied as though it was obvious. Pieces were slowly fitting in Harry's head: the reason why the exchange students were put in Gryffindor and why the headmaster wanted to talk with him about them. It all started to become clear.

'Could it be that he basically asked me to spy on them?' he asked with some surprise in his voice.

'I think that's exactly what he did,' Hermione agreed, her expression as serious as Ron's was eager. 'The thing is, I don't like that he felt like he had to ask you. What is there that we don't know? It cannot be that it's dangerous because he would never willingly send you into danger. Would the delicate diplomatic situation stop Dumbledore? I mean if we get caught sneaking around then he can always say we're too curious.'

'Whoa, Hermione, aren't you overthinking this a bit?' Ron asked, stopping the girl, whose words were picking up speed with every sentence. 'There only are things that we don't know about those four. They almost never talk about their homes or their families. They barely ever mention any magical education. More so, they don't seem to have ever had one!'

'Ron is right,' Harry agreed. 'Although we never asked about it and neither have they ever asked about our families,' he added.

'They know all about my family,' Ron pointed out, ignoring Hermione's "that's because you talk about them so much". 'And they know that Hermione is Muggle-born,' he added in his own defence. It was true that one day Oz had asked if they were all pure bloods in Hogwarts, a question that had very nearly sparkled an argument, because Hermione was in a bad mood.

Oz had immediately apologised and said that he only meant it out of curiosity, because some of the Slytherin students had told Elliot that there was a difference between pure blood wizards and others. What had followed was a long discussion about blood and old wizarding families and Voldemort. Funny that none of them had ever thought to ask the exchange students what they thought about the question.

'All their families were mentioned in the Pure Blood Peerage,' Hermione muttered, probably thinking about the same evening as Harry. 'However, they seemed to be almost foreign to the concept of "pure blood" when we talked about it. It cannot be that they only acknowledge pure blood wizards, or they wouldn't have reacted so agreeably to the news that I'm not.'

'They are very diplomatic,' Harry pointed out. 'Maybe we can ask them about their families next time?'

'Just like that, out of nowhere?' Hermione asked doubtfully. 'If it's a secret, it will be like with the wands, they will evade the question.'

'If they evade the question, then we start investigating,' Harry assured her. 'I don't know if that was Dumbledore's aim, but I'm now very curious. I've been thinking about it all the way back from his office, about the things we don't know.'

'They never really shared any funny stories either,' Ron reminded them. Trust Ron to remember something like that. It seemed like an unimportant detail, but wouldn't every teenaged person have some silly adventures to share? Or were they really so serious and never done any mischief?

Harry could easily imagine Oz getting into the worse trouble ever, together with Alice and maybe even with Leo. Come to think of it, did they know each other well? They seemed to be best friends, almost reading each other's minds, but they never said anything like "I've known those three since I can remember". Were their families friends?

'Now that I think about it, they seem to be foreign to most of the wizarding concepts,' Hermione commented. 'They didn't know anything about Quidditch and you just should have seen Alice's expression when we met a House Elf once.'

'But Professor Lunettes seems to be rather competent,' Harry countered. 'Isn't it weird that they would have competent teachers but be ignorant themselves? And it's not like they are eleven and just discovered that magic exists.'

'Maybe they start school later?' Hermione ventured doubtfully.

'Nice case of Muffliato charm,' said Fred's voice, making them all jump up in shock. The red-haired twin took another step closer to them and sighed in pleasure. 'Really, Hermione, you're such a competent witch.'

'Why do you assume it was Hermione who cast the spell?' Ron asked immediately, flaring up in anger. Fred laughed. George joined them and asked what the big secret was.

'Obviously it was not you,' Fred replied with a mocking smirk. 'So what is the secret?' he repeated his twin's question.

'No secret,' Harry said, perhaps too fast, because the twins laughed. Then again, using a Muffliato charm did scream "I'm sharing secrets here" to everybody who would realise that there was a charm cast.

'See, we're testing an anti-muffliato device here and we heard something about Alice and Lunettes playing Quidditch,' George commented calmly. 'Now of course our device is not perfect because the only thing Lunettes probably does with brooms is stick them up his ass,' he added, laughing at his joke. Harry snorted, because the professor really was quite stiff.

'Alice, however, could be a different question. We heard that she's brutal, so maybe we could get her as a Beater for the Quidditch team?' Fred suggested.

'A gust of wind would probably swipe her off the broom though, she's so thin,' Ron argued, taking his brother's suggestion seriously. The twins snickered, saying that this thin girl had obviously more guts than Ron because she attacked the spidery monster head on, while Ron whimpered and almost ran. They laughed harder at Ron's outraged expression.

'Come on guys,' Harry interjected before the bristling Ron had the chance to start his tirade about brotherly loyalty. 'I don't think Alice is allowed to play Quidditch, her bodyguards would probably veto the idea.'

'Ha! Did you ever see those bodyguards?' Fred laughed. 'They both look like the two of us could beat them in a simple duel.'

'I'm sure you couldn't,' Hermione replied with annoyance. 'I swear, you two are so full of yourselves.'

'We know our worth, Hermione, and we know that girls like guys who know what they're worth,' George countered with what he probably hoped was a charming smile. Harry, however, had problems in seeing the twins as charming.

'That's why Ron cannot get a girlfriend,' Fred added, very matter-of-factly. 'But tell us what about the charming, litter Alice from Wonderland?'

'Nothing, we were wondering about how "Wonderland" is, in fact,' Harry told them, resigned that they would not leave until they get their answer.

'You don't know?' George asked in disbelief.

'But you spend so much time talking with them,' Fred added. Has it been so obvious? Were all the Gryffindors thinking that Harry, Ron and Hermione would become experts in the topic of the Four Great Dukedoms?

'We were hoping to get some news from you,' said George.

'That's really why we came here now,' Fred pointed out.

'No, we don't really know anything about Wonderland,' Harry admitted. 'I just talked with Dumbledore and he seems to not know much either, which is possibly the most surprising of it all.'

The twins seemed instantly interested and Harry was forced to retell the whole conversation with Dumbledore again. They offered some insight and immediately declared their readiness to help Harry spy on the foreigners. It appeared that they have been devising plenty of contraptions that could be useful in espionage. They had, of course, the extendable ears, but were also working on the spells to neutralise Muffliato and disillusionment charms. Even Hermione was impressed with their ideas.

That night, Harry went to sleep satisfied. They have come up with a plan on how to inconspicuously follow the exchange students and try to overhear them when they were alone to see if they can get any answers that way.

He dreamt again about those weird places, where transparent bowls were piled from floor to ceiling, some reflecting lights, some shining ever so slightly. They were beautiful in their own, peculiar way and, even dreaming, Harry knew that they carried knowledge. What knowledge? Was this something from the Four Great Dukedoms? Could he even be dreaming about a place he didn't know?

He woke up with a cold shiver. What if he was looking through Voldemort's eyes again? What if Voldemort somehow got to the Four Great Dukedoms? It took all his willpower to not spring out his bed and rush to the private dormitory hidden in the Gryffindor tower. Only the thought that he would have to explain more things than he knew how to stopped him and he promised himself that he would talk with Oz about "Wonderland" as soon as he meets the kid.

Afterwards, he couldn't sleep anymore, tossing and turning until it was alright to get dressed and go to the Great Hall for breakfast. He took care to not wake the other guys up as he got dressed and left, quietly walking down the stairs and out of the common room.

It was still very early and the corridors were deserted, so when he heard a conversation, he automatically flattened himself against the wall and listened.

'They were two, with very bad disillusionment charms,' said Tonks' voice, sounding tired. It seemed that Harry wasn't the only one who has had a bad night. 'One had a Muggle gun and one had a sword and they just charged at the thing.'

'And they disappeared before you managed to talk with them?' a crisp voice of McGonagall asked.

'They didn't Apparate either,' Remus' voice commented, sounding as tired as Tonks'. Were they out hunting Deatheaters last night? Harry wondered. 'They were sort of swallowed by a black whirlwind, but it must have been intentional, because they showed no sign of distress. They left that behind,' he added.

'A black feather?' McGonagall asked. 'What does that mean?'

'I have no idea. I'm not sure that looking into mythology of crows and ravens will reveal anything either,' Remus answered. Harry froze. A raven feather? He immediately remembered the man with golden eyes. Could it be?

'Are you trying to tell me that we have another unknown danger?' McGonagall asked, bringing Harry back to reality. She didn't sound happy. Remus pointed out that they did kill the Deatheater and "the thing" that was with him. 'Yes, but you have no idea why and, furthermore, they did it in Muggle methods,' she added. 'Yet, their transportation method was clearly not Muggle.'

'Can you tell that all to Dumbledore?' Tonks asked. 'We're completely dead after trying to catch them for the whole night. The worst thing is that the Deatheater disappeared without a trace so we cannot even check if they have been anywhere else,' she added.

'I'll let the headmaster know,' McGonagall assured. 'You two go and get some rest.'

Hearing footsteps, Harry flattened himself against the wall. Thankfully, nobody passed next to him and eventually the footsteps faded away in the distance. He slid down the wall, thinking. Two men, leaving behind raven feathers. Why was his mind stubbornly coming back to the image of the golden-eyed man and a red eye gleaming in the darkness?

Exceptionally, there will be a week-long break in my updates, sorry!