Kyugan: Yo, Medic, might wanna get your stomach pump ready.
Medic: Why? *Reads ahead* Oh Dear...I'll prepare sickbay.
Kyugan: Please do.
Chapter 14: Toilet Trail.
"Already here, Fudge." Lucius noted with approval, Herwald's brow quirking at the level of familiarity the suspected Death Eater had with the Minister, though considering some of the tales Draco told him, he supposed it was only natural. After all, what better way to keep an eye on one's 'investments' "Good, good…"
"What're you doin' here?" Hagrid demanded, the Half-Giant's growing terror of being sent to Azkaban instantly replaced with a look of unrestrained fury Herwald had never though possible from the man, seeming to swell to double his already impressive size at the sight of the elder Malfoy "Get outta my house!"
"My dear man, please believe me, I have no pleasure at all in being inside your…House you called it?" Lucius sneered, looking around the small cabin with palpable disdain, as if it's very existence was an affront to him personally "I simply called at the school and was told that the headmaster was here."
"And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?" Dumbledore asked, his tone polite, but only an idiot would have met the Headmaster's eyes at that moment, as they were still blazing with blue fire. Needless to say, the elder Malfoy had to take a moment to regain his composure, and spent the rest of the conversation subtly averting his eyes from the man.
"Dreadful thing, Dumbledore but the governors feel it's time for you to step aside." he noted lazily, the smile on his face belying his words as he pulled a long roll of parchment from under his cloak and presented it to the headmaster, his eyes locked onto some point behind the man's ear "This is an Order of Suspension, you'll find all twelve signatures on it." He pointed out with a cold smile "I'm afraid we feel you're losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? At this rate, there'll be no Muggleborns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school."
"Oh, now, see here, Lucius!" Fudge exclaimed, looking honestly alarmed at this turn of events, as the elder Malfoy clearly hadn't seen fit to inform him pet politician of this course of action "Dumbledore suspended? No, no, that's the LAST thing we want just now."
"The appointment, or suspension, of the headmaster is a matter for the Board of Governors, Fudge," Lucius replied smoothly, his smile like syrup "And as Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks…"
"Now see here Malfoy." Fudge interposed, surprising even Lucius with his words, the Minister's tone laced with tentative authority, though his upper lip was lined with sweat "If Dumbledore can't stop them…" he seemed to lose his momentum "I mean to say, who can?"
"That remains to be seen." Lucius opined, his lip curling into a nasty little smile as he turned his attention from the Minister, no doubt plotting to cut back on some of his 'donations' this term in favour of watching Dumbledore read the roll of parchment "But as all twelve of us have voted…"
"An' how many did yeh have ter threaten an' blackmail before they agreed, Malfoy?" Hagrid roared, the Half Giant's shaggy black head grazing the ceiling of his hut, which trembled in the face of his ire.
"Dear, dear, you know, that temper of yours will lead you into trouble one of these days, Hagrid." Lucius noted, calm as could be "I would advise you not to shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won't like it at all."
"Yeh can' take Dumbledore!" Hagrid bellowed, earning a whimper from Fang and Fudge, the two of them cowering in their basket and bowler hat respectively in the face of the Half-Giant's rage "Take him away, an' the Muggleborns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin's next!"
"Calm yourself, Hagrid!" Dumbledore ordered sharply, glancing at Lucius Malfoy all the while, his eyes calm, but still devoid of their usual twinkle "If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course step aside." He ignored the exclamations of Fudge and Hagrid in favour of staring into the elder Malfoy's cold gray eyes "However," he countered, speaking slowly and clearly so that none of them could miss a word, "you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me… Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."
For a second, Herwald could have sworn that Dumbledore's blue eyes flickered toward the corner he was crouching in, only his training keeping him from twitching or inhaling sharply and giving the game away. 'The old Twinkler's good alright…' he muttered, shivering as the moment passed, leaving Dumbledore standing before Hagrid, Fudge and Lucius calmly 'I can see why Grandfather Jubstacheit cautioned us about him...'
"Admirable sentiments." Lucius Malfoy opined, bowing to the Headmaster, though the cold, mocking sneer on his face belied the sincerity of his words "We shall all miss your…highly individual way of running things, Albus, and only hope your successor will manage to prevent any…" he glanced at the fuming Hagrid "killins."
That said, he turned on his heel, crossing the short distance to the door of the hut and opening it, bowing the straight-backed form of Dumbledore out with the same mocking, victorious smile he'd worn earlier, leaving Fudge fiddling with his bowler, the Minister waiting for Hagrid to go ahead of him, only for the Half Giant to pause, as if considering something.
"If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders." The Half-giant opined, as if speaking to Fudge, who blinked at him in amazement "That'd lead 'em right. That's all I'm sayin'."
With that said, and pointedly ignoring the look of amazement Fudge was sending him, Hagrid pulled on his moleskin overcoat, pausing only to mention that 'someone' would have to feed Fang while he was away, before following the Minister out the door and into the night, Fang howling mournfully and scratching at the closed door until Herwald, having deactivated the ring, reached down to soothe the distressed boarhound, his emerald eyes burning with a cold intensity that matched Dumbledore's own.
Following Hagrid & Dumbledore's departure...
As Fudge and Hagrid predicted, Dumbledore's removal had a profound effect on the student and staff population of Hogwarts. Fear and paranoia was rampant in the lower years, and the elder Students were eyeing one another warily, jumping at shadows, wands never too far away from their hands. Several of the Seventh Years had to be admitted to the Hospital Wing suffering from nervous breakdowns, brought on by a combination of the recent turmoil and the already crippling stress from preparing for their N.E.W.T exams.
Naturally, Herwald kept the fact he'd been present for Lucius' little power play to himself, and had feigned intrigue when Draco revealed his father's latest missive, though to his friend's credit, the boy seemed just as concerned with Dumbledore's removal as the other students. After all, as 'mad' as the old man was, he was the sole reason Voldemort had never attacked Hogwarts, and had taken down the Dark Lord Grindlewald in his prime. With Dumbledore gone, it was only a matter of time before someone got killed, and judging by the strange pattern of victims, it wasn't likely to be a Muggleborn either.
"I always thought Father might be the one who got rid of Dumbledore." Draco opined, whispering to Herwald as they walked out of Potions class that day "I told you he thinks Dumbledore's the worst headmaster the school's ever had." He flinched at the look Herwald shot him "Don't look at me like that, I'll admit the man's mad as a hatter, but at the very least we didn't have to worry about people DYING while he was around."
Herwald said nothing, but alleviated his stare, as that was as close as Draco was likely to get to admitting Hogwarts NEEDED Dumbledore. As it was, Professor McGonagall, who was filling in, was being run ragged trying to balance her schedule with the Headmasters, as evidenced by her shortened temper and recent penchant for handing out stricter punishments.
Surprisingly, Professor Snape was confident in the Headmaster's eventual return, assuring the students that his 'leave' would be temporary and swift, and that they had much more important things to be worrying about, such as preparing for their exams.
This suited Herwald rather well, as it gave him an excuse to do a little research of his own, namely into whatever serpentine beastie that Salazar Slytherin had snuck into the castle. Whatever it was, it had to be magical, that was the only way to explain how it had survived all these years, and it had to be a serpent, which would explain the voice he'd been hearing all over the damned school up until recently.
That was another thing that unsettled him, the voices, for whatever reason, hadn't been showing up as often anymore. Back in the day he'd have at least caught a passing hiss on the wind, but for some reason the damned Serpent was keeping it's thoughts to itself.
On the one hand this could be taken as a good sign, as it meant the beast wasn't prowling the corridors anymore. On the other hand, and this was the more worrisome, it meant the culprit was either biding his time now that he'd gotten Dumbledore and his supporters either out of the picture or too flustered to think straight.
If it was the latter, then they had most certainly succeeded, as it was it was taking everything the Year heads had to keep some semblance of order in the classes. The Slytherin's, in particular, had come under heavy scrutiny by their peers, several of them had to be escorted to the Hospital wing to have assorted curses and jinxes undone, to say nothing for their attackers, who often had to stay in the Hospital wing for days.
Of course, as was always the case, there were some who REVELED in the chaos, or simply lacked the common sense to understand just how bad things were at the moment. One fine example was Lockhart, who unlike the rest of the Faculty, who couldn't have looked grimmer if it had been announced the school was to be closed, somehow managed to appear even more buoyant and foppish than usual.
Hogwarts Library...
"Can you believe that pillock?" Ron muttered, scowling venomously as he tried to work on his DADA assignment, another of Lockhart's 'little quizzes' "He actually believes that we're safe because Hagrid's been hauled off to Azkaban!"
Needless to say, Lockhart had lost whatever credibility he'd been hoping to retain with that declaration. Hagrid was considered part of the 'pride' among the Lions and was relatively well liked by most of the other houses, even if they considered him a bit of an oddball. There wasn't a student or faculty member that believed the Half-giant was involved with the attacks, though admittedly, the Slytherin's believed it was because he lacked the brains to pull it off.
But of course, Lockhart refused to see the writing on the wall, going on with disgusting cheeriness on how he'd always suspected the Groundskeeper had been up to no good, clearly a petty act at revenge for the man's dismissal of the fop's work, offering 'assurances' that the whole 'messy business' was resolved, and generally making everyone wish that the next person to be attacked was HIM.
Even Hermione, who up till now had been Lockhart's staunchest supporter, was hard put to find anything good to say about the man in the face of this recent travesty. True, she, like all those who knew Hagrid, knew of the man's unfortunate taste in pets, but even SHE couldn't believe the fop's slanderous comments, even if the Minister of Magic himself had supposedly been on the scene.
"I really wish you'd told us Herwald." She pouted, looking at her friend disapprovingly, the Einzbern having finally decided to fill the group in on what he'd witnessed that night fifty years prior "I mean, we could've said something! Hagrid was clearly unjustly expelled!"
"It wouldn't have done any good Granger." Draco muttered, shaking his head "Even if he DIDN'T open the chamber, Hagrid WAS in possession of a dangerous, ILLEGAL Magical creature and was raising it on school grounds."
"I'm afraid I gotta agree with him on this one Hermione…" Ron muttered, shivering in discomfort at the memory of Herwald's description of that night "Just possessing an Acromantulas' considered a felony, hatching one and raising it in the school could've landed him in Azkaban for reckless endangerment."
Hermione flinched, looking downcast, even as Herwald sent her a comforting look from across the table. Like it or not, while Hagrid's expulsion hadn't been for the right reason, he was still in the wrong, and would've been expelled regardless, even if Riddle HADN'T framed him for opening The Chamber. It was clear, however, that the follow-up investigation had revealed he WAS truly innocent of the crime, otherwise there was no doubt the Groundskeeper would've been buried so deeply inside Azkaban he'd be lucky they didn't forget about him.
"Still, it's too bad about that girl." Neville muttered, the Longbottom heir looking up from his work with a frown as he glanced at Herwald "What did Hagrid say her name was again?"
"Myrtle…" Herwald replied, only half-listening as he focused on his work, only to freeze, his emerald eyes widening in shock as what felt like a firecracker went off in his mind, the Einzbern getting to his feet in a rush as the others looked up in alarm "I'm an idiot…" He swore, marching away from the desk, his face lined with self-disgust as he crossed the library, not bothering to pick up his books, the others following hot on his heels "All this time it's been staring me in the face…"
"What're you on about mate?" Ron wondered, looking on in bewilderment as Herwald continued to mutter Germanic curses under his breath, some rather impressive ones considering the intensity of Draco's blush and the scandalized looks he was getting from some of the portraits "What's he saying?"
"You don't want to know!" Draco choked, the Slytherin looking more flustered than he ever had before without Rider being present, the Gryffindors blinking at him in surprise as he hurried past them, intent on keeping up with Herwald, who was already moving towards the stairs.
"Hey I recognize this hallway…" Neville exclaimed, the round-faced boy looking understandably nervous as he took in their surroundings "This is the where Mrs. Norris was attacked!"
Sure enough, the 'heir's' ominous message shone down at the students from where it had been etched, having apparently continued to defy Filch's attempts to purge it from the wall. Fortunately, it seemed the cantankerous squib had buggered off somewhere, most likely to harass some first years, leaving the corridor abandoned save for a pool of water which was flooding, as usual, out of the girl's toilet.
"Honestly…" Ron muttered, lifting his robes up so they weren't trailing in the water so much, after all he KNEW where it had come from, and just what had been in it "Can't that girl go one day without trying to drown us?"
"Herwald…!" Hermione breathed, the bushy haired Gryffindor clapping a hand over her mouth as she turned to look at the Einzbern, her eyes shining with realization "You don't think…"
"Don't think what?" Ron wondered, looking at the girl in confusion, only to blink as Herwald ignored him and marched towards the door of the bathroom "Mate? If you needed to use the loo there was one near the library…"
"Weasley, were you BORN retarded?" Draco demanded, the Malfoy heir glaring at the youngest Weasley brother pointedly, ignoring the flush of anger the redhead sported "Think, what did he just say the name of the girl that was killed last time was?"
Ron opened his mouth to reply only to freeze, his angry flush replaced with a look of stunned wonderment as he turned to glance at the door to the bathroom. "It would make sense…" Hermione reasoned, looking stunned but troubled as they followed Herwald in "I mean, she's wearing the school uniform, and some ghosts tend to linger around the places they died, especially if it were a violent death."
"I dunno about that…" Ron muttered, the youngest Weasley Brother shivering as he eyed the door to the girls lavatory as if it were the gates of hell itself "I mean, if I died in the loo I wouldn't want to stick around."
"On that issue I believe we can agree, Weasley..." Draco opined, Neville stepping between the two before Ron could say anything, even as Herwald knocked on the cubicle door which Myrtle usually lurked behind, opening the door to find Moaning Myrtle sitting on the tank of the end toilet.
"Oh, it's you." The female ghost noted, regarding the group with her usual morose glare, though she seemed to brighten slightly at the sight of Herwald "What do you want this time?"
"Forgive the intrusion, Frau-Myrtle." Herwald apologized offering a polite bow, knowing it was better to approach such a topic cautiously, as ghosts tended to be particularly unpredictable when it came to the manner of their death "But my friends and I were wondering if you might enlighten us as to how you died."
Myrtle blinked, as if thrown by his language, and for a moment Herwald braced himself to dodge a sink or whatever lurked in the bowls of the toitlet bowl, only to relax as the spectre's features brightened, becoming a more notable silver as she beamed at him, looking for all the world like a teenage girl that had just been complimented by an elder man.
"Oooh, it was dreadful…!" she revealed with relish, practically hugging herself, as if the memory of what did her in was some pleasurable experience. It was quite an unnerving sight really, considering how morose she usually was "It happened right in here." She explained, gesturing to the stall around her "I died in this very stall. I remember it so well, I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses." She scowled at the memory of her one time tormentor, but recovered quickly "The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in."
By now the rest of the group were paying full attention, Hermione actually taking notes, as this could be the clue they needed to prove Hagrid and Dumbledore's innocence.
"They said something funny." Myrtle muttered, her brow furrowing as she tried to recall what had been said "I couldn't understand a word of it, so it must have been in a different language." She shrugged dismissively "In any case, what REALLY got my attention was that it was a BOY speaking, so I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then…" she swelled importantly, clearly enjoying the attention she was receiving as she released a low, satisfied sigh "I died."
"How?" Herwald asked, trying not to think about how satisfying the Ghost's sigh had been. It was rather like the sighs Rin, Sakura and occasionally Rider would emit when they tried sneaking out of Shirou's room without being noticed. Ilya could be VERY protective when she wanted to be, as Herwald knew all too well, and with their inclusion into Shirou's life, his step-brother's 'trysts' between the Tohsaka siblings and the Servant had to be carried out with greater care, lest they bring the wrath of Ilyasviel AND Taiga down on their heads.
"I have no idea." Myrtle admitted in hushed, almost embarrassed tones, Ron and Draco stumbling at the anti-climactic admission "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes." She gripped her arms tightly "My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away…"
The group shivered as she looked dreamily at them, unnerved by the look of absolute bliss on her features. The sole exception was Herwald, whose mind was working a mile a minute to process what he'd just learned.
There were only so many things that possessed natural mystic eyes. It ran in certain Magus family's, but this was usually a type of genetic Magecraft that resulted from tampering or cross-breeding with a magical species to obtain a desired effect. It wasn't so common in Western Magi, but there were apparently a number of families in Japan that had crossed their lines with demons, spirits and other such apparitions in order to produce more powerful offspring. Such families tended to keep to themselves, though it wasn't uncommon for some to seek out magical training abroad.
'A large snake that can kill with a single glance…' he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the imagery that arose in his mind 'Can't be very many of those…wish Rider was here, she could probably narrow it down…'
"And then I came back." Myrtle continued, apparently so wrapped up in her story that she didn't notice Herwald wasn't paying attention "I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."
"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Hermione asked, her tone polite and inquisitive, Herwald snapping out of his thoughts to pay sharper attention to what was being said.
"Somewhere over there…" Myrtle revealed, pointing vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet, the group turning, as one, to look at it, Herwald marching towards it while Neville took several deliberate steps AWAY from it, as if half expecting whatever had killed the girl to leap out and attack them.
His fears, however, seemed unfounded, as despite its worn, unused appearance, Herwald's examination revealed that it was simply an ordinary sink. Ordinary, that is, save for the fact it was BRIMMING with the same Prana that flowed through the walls of Hogwarts, giving life to the stairs and suits of armour, allowing the secret passages to work, and generally powering the wards.
'Quite ingenious…' the Einzbern muttered, letting his hands wash over the deceptively plain, filthy sink with intrigue, as if searching for any cracks in the porcelain 'If I weren't looking for it I'd have never noticed it…whoever designed this must have been a genius.'
The magic seemed to centre in on one of the copper taps, and upon careful inspection, Herwald soon discovered a small, almost invisible snake scratched into the side of the fixture. "That tap's never worked." Myrtle opined brightly, looking on in bemused interest as the Einzbern tried, unsuccessfully, to turn the blasted thing.
"Of course it wouldn't…" Herwald muttered, the alchemist in training kicking himself for thinking it'd be that easy "If it was as simple as turning the head ANYONE could've let the beast out..."
"Let me try…" Hermione asked, Herwald looking up to see the bushy haired girl looking positively eager, stepping back with a nod to give her room as she aimed her wand at the tap "Alohomora!"
For a moment, nothing happened, the group, which had tensed, as if expecting something to leap out and attack them, slowly relaxing their guard as Hermione frowned at the tap. Then all hell broke loose as a torrent of murky water blasted out of the sink, knocking the girl off her feet.
"BLOODY HELL!" Ron swore, the redhead scrambling backwards along with an alarmed Draco and Neville, the three boys lifting their robes out of the murky water in alarm, and more than a little disgust.
"Oh Merlin, don't tell me that's what I think it is-!" Draco moaned, the Malfoy heir looking positively sickened by the sight of the filthy water as he stood on tip-toes to avoid standing in it.
"Hermione!" Neville exclaimed, sloshing through the water along with Herwald towards where their friend had fallen, his robes held up in one hand "Are you alright?"
"I think I swallowed some of it…" Hermione whimpered, looking like a waterlogged kitten as she allowed the boys to hoist her to her feet, her features pale, tinged with green as they helped her towards the exit "Oh god…I feel sick…"
"We'll get you to Madam Pomfrey…" Herwald assured her, ignoring the cackles of Moaning Myrtle as the Ghost rolled about in the muck, clearly having the best day of her death as the students hurried out of the flooded, stinking bathroom.
MEDIC!
"That was the most unpleasant experience in my entire life…" Draco muttered, the Malfoy heir looking decidedly disgusted as they returned to the Library to pick up their things before their next class.
"I don't see what YOU'RE Complaining about." Hermione muttered, scowling at the boy as she chugged down a potion to ensure she didn't catch anything from whatever she'd swallowed "YOU didn't get drenched in the stuff."
"Like I said, Myrtle's barmy for haunting that place." Ron muttered, shaking his head in exasperation as they moved into the library "I mean the thing can hurt ghosts, right? Why the hell would she stay there even after Nick got attacked?"
"Because, as you so delicately put it two seconds ago Weasley, she's BARMY." Draco muttered, clearly wanting to wash his hands, and other parts, of the matter as they returned to their table, ignoring the suspicious looks of Madam Pince "Let's just forget about her for now and get on with our work, the exams won't pass themselves after all."
Ron muttered under his breath but said nothing, the Gryffindors and Slytherins settling down at the table, only for Herwald to pull up short as he stared at his spot. "Herwald?" Neville asked, looking up at the boy in confusion as he continued to stare at his corner as if it were rigged to explode "Something wrong?
"Someone moved my books." The Einzbern muttered, his emerald eyes narrowing as he glared at the space before him, earning looks of surprise from the others "It's faint, but the books aren't the way I left them."
"You're being paranoid man." Ron countered, though the redhead sounded a little nervous even as he said it,eyeing the stacks of books around them warily for any lurking shadows "I mean, how can you even tell?"
"Well for starters, I'm pretty sure I wasn't looking at the mating rituals of Veela when we sat down." Herwald replied dryly, gesturing to the book before him, earning a choke from Ron, a blush from Neville, a snort from Draco, a pair of sniggers from Crabbe and Goyle and a disapproving frown from Hermione that didn't QUITE conceal her own blush "Secondly, the books are NOT in the order I stacked them."
"Trust me, Weasley, Herwald's eye for detail is better than a Goblin's." Draco cut in, raising a hand to silence Ron's protests ""Alchemy requires that one be constantly aware of what's going on around them. If he says something's wrong, there's something wrong."
Herwald nodded, the Einzbern running his eyes over his tampered belongings, as if searching for any concealed traps, only for his eyes to narrow as he realized something was missing, a certain black notebook that had been purchased in Vauxhall Road, London, and had survived being flushed down a haunted toilet.
"Riddle's Diary is gone."
And so things are heating up.
Herwald's going to be on the blood warpath now.