Chapter 13 - Failed Potions & Important Discussions

Harry and Hermione both woke up early and decided to call an available family and friend meeting.

"Hermione, love, could you call Grandma Min and Uncle Severus here while I go get Neville and Luna."

"Of course, dear. Should I call for breakfast?"

"If you would," Harry called out exiting their quarters and heading for the boys' dorm. As he started to head up the stairs, he ran straight into Neville, who was reading a book.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going. I was just so engrossed in this book on plants that I didn't notice anything."

"It's alright, Neville. Come on, we need to go get Luna, and then to our quarters for breakfast," Harry said already walking to the portrait hole.

Both Harry and Neville headed out and swiftly made their way to Ravenclaw tower, encountering no one on their way. Just as they were about to step up to the portrait to answer its riddle, Luna came rushing out, crying. Seeing Luna was crying, Harry sprung into action, and simply held her until she stopped.

"Thank you, Harry," she managed to say as she calmed down, "they were picking on me again. Ever since Professor Flitwick talked with the entire house, they have searched for new ways to torment me."

"What were they doing this time?" Neville asked.

"Well, you know my bottle cap necklace? They decided that while I was in the shower they would take it and tear it apart. When I got back, the necklace was strewn across my bed and I don't know what I'm going to do. My necklace was the last thing mummy and I worked on together and it is very precious. It will take some time to fix it."

"Don't worry, Luna. I'm sure that with our help you will have it fixed in no time. As for the members in your house, well, don't worry about them. With Grandma Min in charge now, I'm sure we can pass some rule to get the bullying to stop."

"Thank you, Harry. Now, shouldn't we be getting back to your lovely wife before she accuses me of stealing you?" Luna asked teasingly.

"Yes, we should. Come on," he said already leading the way back to Gryffindor Tower. Upon entering though, he came face to face with none other than Ginny Weasley, who threw a potion at him which landed near his feet.

"Ha. Now that you're all mine, Harry, come here and give me a kiss."

"And why should I do that, Ginevra?"

"What? You shouldn't question me. You should be under the allure of my potion. Mum said it would work. Why aren't you under?"

"Well, just recently, in a book, I learned that Hermione and I were immune to love potions. Our soul bond negates any and all potions in our system, so nice try."

"That's not fair," Ginny shrieked like a banshee.

"You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is," Harry retorted giving a Snape worthy sneer.

Ginny scampered off quickly going to the portrait hole, most likely to owl her mother to see what else she could do to get 'her Harry.' Harry wasn't worried and entered his quarters to find Hermione, Severus, and Minerva all waiting.

"Sorry we took so long. Ginny decided to try to use a love potion in aerosol form, which due to our soul bond, negates all love potions."

"Well, that's a relief, knowing our information was correct," Hermione said.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about them, because until I have solid, physical proof that they have done something wrong, I can't reprimand them beyond detention," Minerva sighed.

"Don't worry about them. They aren't a threat to us. Now, how about we enjoy this lovely breakfast before we have to discuss serious matters."

All of them agreed and dug in to a breakfast which consisted of sausages, biscuits, fruits, granola, and bacon. Minerva and Severus both had Earl Grey tea, while the four teens had pumpkin juice. Harry and Hermione thoroughly enjoyed their breakfast with their family and friends, but they knew that they would have to speak of what they discovered last night.

"Ah, well, now that we are all fed, umm, how about we make ourselves comfortable in the living room," Harry mumbled making the others know something was really wrong.

"How do you want to take this, Harry?" Hermione asked coming to sit beside him on the loveseat in the room.

"Orders of business."

"First order of business, Severus, how are Remus and Sirius this morning?" Hermione asked.

"Well, they still believe that Dumbledore is right and that he's the only one who can help Harry. I'm not sure if your plan to do to them what you did to Neville's parents will work."

"All we can do is try, Uncle."

"Second order of business, Minerva, how is the school doing?"

"Fine, there have been some minor problems, but they were easily dealt with."

"Okay, anything really noteworthy?"

"Nothing I can think of. Of course, that surprises me since Draco Malfoy hasn't tried anything or said anything to any of you all."

"Yes, that is odd. Uncle, can you find out if anything is up with him?"

"Certainly. Although, I do have a question. I can't obviously go every night to watch Remus and Sirius, so what are we going to do about them?"

"Well, we may have to place other wards on the place so that they can't escape, but that they can take care of themselves. This way we don't have to guard them all day, but we'd have to have some monitoring spells on them as well. Just in case they escape and go to Dumbledore," Hermione replied rapidly.

"Good idea, Hermione."

"Third order of business, Luna, have the Ravenclaws done anything else besides ruin your bottle cap necklace?" Harry asked the question this time.

"No. However, I know that that won't stop them. They'll probably try something even nastier when I go back to the tower later."

"I'll have another talk with Filius and then I will speak with the Ravenclaws myself. In the mean time you can stay in the guest room that these two have here."

"Guest room, we have a guest room?" Hermione asked.

"Remember, dear, we haven't fully explored our quarters because we have been so busy lately."

"Ah, yes. Grandma Min is right, Luna, you're welcome to stay in our quarters; however, if you have to come into our room, please knock."

"Anyway, fourth order of business, I got a letter last night."

"A letter? From who?" Severus inquired.

"Mm. From Riddle," Harry replied hesitantly.

"WHAT? You got a letter from him and you didn't tell us?" Minerva shrieked.

"Well, to be fair, the only one who would have been up at the time we got it, would have been Severus. Seeing as how Hermione and I were extremely tired, we decided we would tell you this morning."

"Still. What if the letter had been hexed?"

"I checked it before I ever opened it."

"Well, what did he say then?"

"He asked for help. He's starting to shift from one personality to the other. My guess is that while Voldemort is in a physically weakened state, Riddle is able to take over. Right now, it seems as if Riddle is the dominant half."

"Yes, but how do we help him? We don't even know what Albus did to him."

"Well, first, I think we need to get him a proper body and not the homunculus form he's using right now. Next, we'll have to see if we can restore his mind to solely Riddle. After that, I have no idea."

"But how do we do any of those things, Harry? If he keeps switching personalities it will be very difficult. He could be helping us one minute and then cursing us the next," Minerva ranted.

"I don't know. I think for now, you, Uncle Sev, and I could go talk with him and see if he has any ideas. In this form, he still has much of his power, but he's still weak. If we could keep him weak, then we might be able to hold a conversation with Riddle and then get out of there."

"Alright, but I still don't like it."

"Well, we'll just have to hope for the best. However, when should we schedule the meeting for?"

"Tonight we are going to try and help Remus and Sirius, Harry, so why don't you schedule it for the upcoming Friday or Saturday?"

"Brilliant idea, Mione. Okay, I'll go write that letter. Luna, Grandma Min, why don't you two go talk to Professor Flitwick about Luna's problem. Severus, do whatever it is you need to do and check on Sirius and Remus. Make sure that they haven't been found or escaped. Neville, do you think that you could keep an eye on Ginny and Ron for us?"

"Sure, Harry. Do I need to look for anything in particular?"

"No, just any suspicious activity. Also, tell the twins we need to talk with them soon. Tell them it is about the Marauders. Got it?"

"Yep."

"What about me, Harry?"

"Hmm…knowing you, you have nothing to do so you can help your dashing husband."

"Aw, but what if I don't want to help my dashing husband?"

"Well, you are the one who loves research. Why don't you go down to the library and see if you can find anything to help us with Sirius and Remus and our Riddle situation?"

"Okay, but what if there is nothing in the main library?"

"Don't worry Hermione, I'm sure that Uncle Sev would be happy to write you a pass to go into the Restricted Section."

"I would?" Severus drawled.

"Yes, you would."

With everyone having a task that needed to be completed quickly, the group ended the meeting and went off.

Elsewhere… Riddle Manor

"I wonder when Potter will write me. It's too much to hope that he would want a meeting. After all, to him, I am just the cold-blooded murderer of his parents. Or am I?" Riddle muttered to himself, making Pettigrew worry that his master had finally completely lost his mind.

Nagini, however, was excited that her real master was coming back, since she was tired of having to play servant to the evil head snake.

(A/N Sorry this took so long to come out. For awhile I had writer's block so bad, that I couldn't even really write essays for school, thus I decided on a sabbatical. Hopefully, I am cured and can work on this a little more now. Thank you to all my loyal followers who read and reviewed and inspired me to go on. As always, please continue to read and review, and leave suggestions. Any at all).

Riddle Potter 23