Sorry about the delay, the Beta took some time due to real life stuff, send her your support. Also, the forum is still available for people to talk... really, I'm lonely. More butchered Chinese in this one. Enjoy!
If Saturday had been informative, peaceful, and relaxing, then Harry assumed Sunday was to be the penance for it. Once again he'd woken long before the Sun had crested the Eastern horizon, and found himself reviewing yesterdays' lessons while watching the sky slowly lighten as dawn approached. Just as the day-star crested over the hills, he heard the footsteps of someone approaching from the dorms.
Turning around, he fully expecting Fred, a fellow early riser to be there, and so when he found Su coming into the common room from the giirl's dorm's he was surprised.
"Hello Harry..." She greeted.
"Nǐ hǎo Su, sleep well?" Harry asked with a warm smile as he waved her over to his side. "Come join me, it looks like it'll be a nice morning again... I was thinking of going for a walk before breakfast."
The foreign student walked up next to Harry, keeping a respectful distance from him as she watched the morning break over the surrounding landscape. Letting the silence embrace them, Harry watched Su's reflection in the window's panes silently, knowing something she'd been keeping from the others.
"Su, would you like to go for a walk? We can enjoy ourselves... talk... just the two of us..." Harry offered, pointing towards the exit. It was a still a long time before breakfast, and he should really leave the others a note, but he had a comm-wand and they had the map to look in on him and Su. Besides, sometimes it was nice to get away from the crowd.
"Yes..." Su answered, already heading for the doorway. Harry slipped the comm-wand into place over his ear before joining her, keeping it switched off for now. After all, they had a signal for when the devices should be activated, and Su didn't need the others listening in.
A few halls and a set of stairs away from the common room, Su finally broke the silence. "I... I know we Rebels have rules against pranking Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs... b...but w...what if we knew they were doing something that the other houses would be targeted for?"
"I suppose we could ask the Rebel's founder for a special lifting of the rule..." Harry explained as they rounded a corner, catching sight of a few professors out on patrol. "If you play your cards properly, the traps are most effective, and sometimes the rules have to be bent to make sense, right?"
Su blinked at Harry, before following the flick of his head with her eyes to see the teachers watching them carefully. "But I... I don't want to win by cheating the system Harry... and the points I would lose would be huge, would they not?"
"I don't think so Su, since they're cheating by breaking their house's charters, they're probably free targets. You'd just have to ask..." Harry countered, taking Su down the first hall they came to, and leaving the two professors behind them. He didn't know where the card game idea had come from, but it was certainly something worth using for a cover story for all their little meetings, group huddles, and such.
He made a mental note to talk to the others about continuing and expanding the little lie to the others, maybe they could even work in a code system to make it all work, the teacher's never being able to break their codes to discover the crimes…
But he had more pressing matters at hand; Su was nervously worrying her lower lip with a pensive frown on her face. Harry knew that look all too well - he'd worn it plenty of times when Dudley had been bullying him. "Have they really been that bad Su?"
"N...no... I..." Su started, only to be cut off by the arrival of a few Ravenclaw girls of various years, including one Cho Chang. Harry couldn't see them due to a pillar in his way, but he could certainly hear them. And what he heard made his green eyes harden until they were specks of emeralds, hard – and sharp.
"You know that first year Su and how she's been hanging out with Harry and his friends?" one of the girls spoke up, eliciting giggles from the others. "I hear she begged them to let her join them, and that they're only doing it out of pity."
The pained look on Su's face told Harry enough to know that more than one of the girls were looking straight at Su as the speaker said it. When Cho's whiny voice rang in, Harry so badly wanted to step out and punch her in the face. But the tiny hand on his chest, pushing him back denied him that chance. "That little baby probably doesn't even understand that they pity her, she probably thinks she's really their friend."
Now Harry was a reasonably sane, friendly, intelligent fellow, and as such he knew exactly what to do. Reaching up he carefully slide the transmitter into activation, and smiled as he heard Fred's greeting, just before the girls continued to tear into Su.
"What's that widdle Su? Don't like being called a baby? Maybe you should read a book on how to grow up..." another girl stated, getting a round of laughter from the others again. Harry knew Fred had heard, as he could hear the grumbling on the other end of the line.
Harry could feel Su's hand stiffening with contained rage as she continued being insulted by the other girls. Fred had apparently pulled George into a discussion about breaking the rule regarding pulling pranks on fellow members of Ravenclaw. Personally he was half ready to step out in front of the girls and cause them to be unable to stand with the floor suddenly completely slick. Points be damned, he refused to let someone be abused if he could help it.
Su was a sweet girl that was trying her best to adapt to a new culture, a written language that had a completely different alphabet and grammatical rules, and being so far from her home and family. What's wrong with that?
Hearing Fred address him, he blinked as the twin laid out what they'd been talking about as a lesson to why one shouldn't pick on those different. He had to say that the potion was an interesting one, but the fact that they would need to know the other language severely limited it.
Unless...
Unless he used Parseltongue as the base language for the girls to read and hear the entire time they were under the influence - which if what he heard of Hermione piping in with was correct would be about a full week.
A week of seeing only snake-like squiggles and hearing nothing but hissing did sound like a fitting punishment to him. Maybe he should use that on the entire of Slytherin house one day, after a test run on these girls… the possibilities…
Hearing the girls walking off while laughing at Su, he waited a full ten count before pulling her into a hug. It was odd, before coming to Hogwarts he would have shrunk away from any type of physical contact, but now he had just initiated it.
This place was doing magical things for him; maybe it really was all that Hermione kept telling him about from Hogwarts: A History.
Loosening the hug, he found Su's tear-filled eyes staring up at him with a silent, unspoken question hiding deep in their depths. With a small nod, Harry began leading her back to the common room, via the scenic route, avoiding all other early-risers.
"Su... you shouldn't have to put up with that," Harry stated once they came to the open courtyard, letting the sunshine dry away the smaller girl's tears.
Su waited until they walked under the branches of one of the larger trees to pause and acknowledge that she'd heard him. But she didn't answer immediately.
Taking the time to actually look at the area, Harry thought would be nice to relax under the tree; to waste away the afternoon before dinner. He could almost see the Rebels sitting there plotting, doing homework, or napping. It was a nice scene, but for some reason he didn't think that it would simply remain the five of them for long.
Su broke through his thoughts as she answered with, "You should not either."
Hary froze as he watched her, only faintly hearing Fred's agreement with her as she turned to look at him with a sad little smile on her face. "Harry, we're your friends, and we're here to support you just as you support us... please..."
Swallowing the lump that had suddenly lodged itself firmly in his throat, he turned away from the oriental girl that had set off an avalanche of thoughts, memories, and emotions loose in his mind. Every last thing the Dursley's had ever done to him; the beatings, the names, the starvation, everything was washing over him like a tidal wave of earth, threatening to pull him under.
It was when a pair of small hands captured his that he felt himself being pulled free of the nightmarish deluge of his past. Looking down at where their hands were connected, he smiled nervously before sighing heavily. "I... I have been keeping a secret from all of you... and I think it might be past time to give you the warning I should have provided."
"It'll wait until we can meet up in the common room, but I just want to say I'm sorry..." Harry continued, his eyes never leaving the ground as he wondered what had stopped him from telling them earlier. "Sorry for not trusting my friends sooner."
Up in a cloistered office, a wizened old figure watched the two down in the courtyard silently while stroking his long, flowing white beard. "Hmm... it would seem that Mister Potter is developing true friendships..."
Turning away from the window, he strode over to his desk and settled in. Pulling a parchment over, he began to peruse it quietly, while his mind mulled over the information in his head. It was true that Harry would require friends, especially with that prophecy looming over his head like that.
Perhaps he should give them a little warning earlier than Molly had suggested about that, it wouldn't be good for Harry to lose friends should the prophecy come about again.
Sighing heavily, he set down the document from the Wizengamot and rubbed his eyes tiredly, maybe he should take that vacation that Poppy constantly bugged him to take every year. All these inflated titles and meetings were starting to divert him from his true passion in life.
Finding, and/or creating the perfect lemon-drop.
Leaning back in his chair, he mused about how terribly he had misjudged young Harry's situation, much like he'd done with a previous young person. Both of them had lost their parents at a very young age, and both grew up in conditions that could only have worsened any resentment they might have had.
Then why was it that Harry managed to be such a good young lad, when Riddle turned out to be rotten to the core? Was it really something as simple as the love that continued to protect Harry to this day? Maybe it was those friends of his influencing him, but that was only possible if he had met them before coming to Hogwarts. Maybe it was simply the boy himself, being braver, smarter, loyal, and more cunning to not allow his past to deter him from hope.
Smiling to himself, he pondered how much the boy was like Hogwarts herself, the ancient school had stood the test of time. Be it wars, famines, plagues, dark lords, and most recently a group of pranksters that had the school in an uproar, Hogwarts still remained like a gleaming beacon of magical hope against the encroaching darkness.
A few minutes after Harry and Su had regained their respective composure in the peaceful serenity of what limited nature Hogwarts allowed on campus, the pair were back in the Ravenclaw common room. Opposite them, beside the fireplace, sat their friends with severely grim faces, and a devious glint in their eyes.
Even though it was aimed at them, it felt very reassuring to them, as they knew it wasn't truly meant for them, but rather in order to support them. Reaching up, Harry pulled the comm-wand off from his head and tucked it into his pocket. "I suppose we know why we're here..."
"Yes Harry," Lady Rowena answered once he'd gotten into range that the silencing spell wouldn't completely isolate him or Su. He could hear Su's gasp of surprise as she heard the portrait talk for the first time.
"Y...you are R...Ravenclaw Lǎoshī... aren't you?" Su asked nervously, as she stared up at the portrait in shock, slipping into Chinese formalities instinctively.
Lady Rowena smiled sweetly at the young girl, bowing her head slightly watching the girl with a warm look on her face. "You may call me Lady Rowena dear... And I have been meaning to welcome you to the Rebels..."
"The Reb... you know about... our activities?" Su asked in a stunned tone as she fidgeted and looked at the others nervously. To her utter surprise, they were all hunched over a scroll, utterly ignoring the fact that one of the founders was talking to her via a portrait that conveyed her essence to the current generation.
If the venerated and highly praised founder of Hogwart's wise and intelligent house felt anything from the surprise, awe, and panic of the little girl before her portrait, she didn't show it... much. A soft giggle and a conspiratorial wink was about it. "No need to worry my dear, I helped to found the Rebels last year. Why those two little darlings with flaming hair were putting some Slytherins in their place after they bullied some of my little chicks."
"B...but we..." Su started, before pausing and realizing that they were working above their grade level on nearly everything. And they were only targeting the jerks and others that would drag the school down. All-in-all, it was an effective way to improve the school and challenge some eager young minds.
Lady Rowena saw the pieces falling into place with the young girl, and smiled warmly. "I can see you're answering your own question right now. Good work."
Indeed she was, all the pieces formed a picture in her mind, a few careful suggestions and placements and you'd have your very own group of students to do your bidding. The only difference with Rowena and most others, was that she admitted it to them directly. For a mastermind to do that, it was a rather refreshing change.
"You want to WHAT?" Hermione screamed at Harry, breaking Su's thought process into millions of pieces. "Harry you can't!"
"You didn't hear them, Hermione," Harry countered sadly while trying to wave her into sitting back down. "I'm just bringing it to the table as a suggestion... If you have a better language in mind, we'll use it."
"We should at least tell them what's going to happen..." Hermione defended quietly, as though somewhat placated. Sitting down on the chair she had leaped out of, she sighed heavily. "Su had a warning about English before coming here..."
"Yes, but I don't think that they deserve it," Fred growled with a deep frown, mirrored on his twin's face, "Do the Death Eaters warn muggles when they're about to kill them?"
"Well they do mate, they tend to like gloating, but that's besides the point..." George answered as an aside. "We have never told people that a prank was coming, and I don't see why to start now."
Harry sighed slowly as he shook his head. "Hermione's right guys, Parseltongue is nothing but hissing and squiggles on pages. But you both have a point too. If we give them too much warning, they'll be able to avoid our delivery."
"So what? You want us to give them a big box of chocolates and leave a little note at the bottom that says 'By the way, we poisoned the candy so now you'll only hear parseltongue for a week. Enjoy!'?" Fred snapped again, glaring at the younger Rebels sternly.
The others paused for a moment looking at Fred as though he'd grown an extra head. The silence was broken by a simple question, "Why not?" George asked with a devious smirk, "It is a warning."
"And it would make us better than those girls..." Hermione added after a half-moment more of thought. "If we attack them without a warning at all, then they won't learn the lesson we want them to."
"What do you say, Su? Lady Rowena?" Harry asked, while looking over at the pair watching the quad of Rebels doing most of the planning.
Su blinked and looked at the portrait of the Hogwarts founder, as though asking a silent question that no one had voiced yet. Was she really ready to make this decision?
"I believe this is Su's vengeance, so it should be her choice as to how it's done..." the portrait deferred neatly while indicating young Su. "I can see the wisdom of both paths, and I know you Rebels will do me proud with the choice you make today."
And like that, Su was put under the scrutiny of her friends. It hadn't' even been a full week since she'd joined them, and they were trusting her opinion on this matter. Deep inside her mind she felt herself weighing the options and trying to pick the best course of action. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her nerves. Shutting her eyes she focused on the matter on hand, instead of just letting her mind bounce around wildly.
When she opened her eyes again, they were set with a resolve that bore through to her very core of steel "Here is what we will do..."
Pulling himself out of the foul stench of the swamp he'd been dumped into, Vernon cursed under his breath at the little demon that had tormented his existence since he'd been dropped off on his doorstep all those years ago. That boy and his unnatural ways were to blame for him being here, separated from the wife he loved, and his pride and joy Dudley. If he ever found that retched Potter boy again, he was going to tear him apart with his bare hands!
That was just the beginning though, after he was done with that boy, he would move on to those filthy goblins that had dumped him here, and all the other unnatural creatures that were torturing him.
First was that freak they called a king, oh he would show the world exactly what that blond poofter was. Disgusting it was that a creature like that could portray itself as a human so well, that even Vernon had been fooled, and then to take such a young and innocent girl as it's unholy bride. Why he would have to make sure that beast knew just how lowly it really was.
And after a bath, he would settle back into his normal routine life with his wife, proud and secure in the knowledge that he was a hero to the world.
At least that was the plan until a portal opened itself at the crest of the hillock he was climbing free of the swamp on. With it came a blast of wind that sent him tumbling back down into the ghastly stench that he had hoped to be free of. As he fought to free himself he couldn't help but notice a large, official looking envelope settling down on a patch of grass and roots right by his head.
Floundering over, he smiled as he saw it was his family's solicitor. That was a bit of good news, after all he had paid to retain his services he was finally proving his worth by contacting him when he needed him most. Even if it meant dealing with those unnatural creatures that controlled this space. Wiping his hands off on his relatively cleaner undershirt, he tore open the envelope, reading the contents.
What he saw caused his swollen face to grow to the immense and furious shade of puce that Harry would forever see in his nightmares. That traitorous bitch of a slut went and betrayed him!
Not only did she abandon him, but she was refusing to spend another shilling on the lawyer due to Vernon's use of the money that he had gained through illicit means. The papers that were sitting in his hands awaiting his signature, complete with a pen in the envelope, were his last action as his solicitor. LIKE HELL HE WOULD SIGN THEM!
Tearing the papers into as many pieces as he could, Vernon scattered them to the non-existent wind, littering over the god-forsaken swamp of stench. Once again he began his climb to the top of the hillock to look for a way out of the swamp, or at least the nearest area he could rest in.
Just before he got to the top of the mound of earth and vegetation, another of those blasted portals opened, sending him back into the exact pit he had created with his last tumble. The splash of water was a bit larger this time, as it had began to pool in the bottom of the crevice.
Floundering around again, he found another envelope waiting for him. This one had a piece of paper sitting primly on top. Pulling the paper off the envelope, he read it over and let out a bark of a laugh at the message, 'Please do not litter, it will only make it worse. - Warden Slipnoose'
Like those vile goblins could make it any worse here. To prove his defiance of their supposed order, he picked up the envelope and began shredding it and the papers inside once more scattering them in a flurry of white that ended more often than not on himself. He also tossed the location of the portal a two-finger salute for good measure.
Now Vernon was a man of many qualities and traits... intelligence was not one of them. For no sooner had he finished doing that than another piece of paper landed on his face which read. 'I did warn you. - Warden Slipnoose'
Lowering the paper, he wondered what the stupid goblin creature could do to him, when he refused to appear in person. Looking up he smiled as he saw rainclouds rolling in, at least he could get cleaned somewhat while he worked to get himself free.
The rain he hoped for broke, only instead of being fresh water he'd been expecting, it was more the sludge that one might find at the bottom of a chest freezer in a butcher shop which had been closed down for ten years, and not cleaned properly beforehand. The only way to describe it was to mix rancid pork, three flats of rotten eggs, beef that had gone bad years ago, and spoiled milk just after it started turning chunky. Liquefy it with an entire jar of mayonnaise that had a few decades out of date. Scrub it against the armpits of a massive blighter whose last bath was sometime around Queen Elizabeth's fifth birthday. Finally strain the resulting mixture through a pair of socks for each member of a rugby team that weren't washed in four seasons, into a cup formed directly out of cow dung before being left to sit out in the elements of three years.
And yet he couldn't even use that to do this stench justice.
If he ever got his hands on that unnatural boy, he would make sure he suffered for this. He would stick him into this swamp for a few years, so he could experience it.
Seeing no other way about it, he climbed to the top of the hillock again, it was his goal, and he would continue working towards it. Portals and unnatural creatures be damned!
Once again that blasted portal opened up and sent him back down the hill into the deepening crevice that he expanded every time he fell. This time the envelope that settled onto the patch of Earth were a good deal thicker and the note on top was another warning.
'This is your third and final warning. Stop littering on my swamp, sign the papers, or I will continue to make your life worse. Your family at least learned after the first attempt, if not before hand, save one. - Warden Slipnoose'
Opening the envelope, he fumed darkly, seeing the same papers that he still refused to sign, but underneath there were also notices of asset seizures. Everything he owned outright was being taken to repay the money he took to raise the boy. Petunia and Dudley were also being reviewed for criminal punishment. And to make it worse, he had been removed from his position at Grunnings.
Letting out a shout of rage, he tore the papers apart and flung them away before assaulting the hill with anger fueled vigor. He would get out of this place, and then he would turn those unnatural beasts into throw rugs before his fireplace!
He hadn't even made it up half the hill when the portal opened, though it lacked the force of the others, it was by far larger than them. What came out, instead of the usual paperwork he'd been expecting, was a large woman.
A large woman that hit him square in the face, sending the both of them down into the muck. As he floundered in the mire, getting a few hits to his already battered body from the woman, until he finally recognized the screeching and complaining voice. "Marge? What on Earth are you doing here?"
The woman stopped struggling against the sludge and took notice of her brother. Getting a hand from him, she finally managed to get her feet underneath her and stand up. "Vernon? What have those vile relatives of Petunia's caused now? Where is my little darling?"
Pausing for a moment Marge finally took a look around and began choking at the smell. "And where the hell are we? Oh god, the smell! It smells worse than that BOY'S bedroom!"
Vernon smiled viciously at where the portal had always appeared, it had given him something he could appreciate, something he could use, that idiot Slipnoose had just given him the last thing it had wanted.
A beneficial person to aid him in getting free.