Harry walked out into the common room early that morning, a nondescript journal in his arms. He caught sight of Carla and immediately walked to her side, putting a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder to get her attention.
She stopped talking to her friends and looked at him fearfully for a moment before relaxing. "Oh, Ari." She sighed in relief. Turning to the Carrow twins, who he'd neglected to notice until now, she introduced, "This is Ari Durst. He helped me yesterday when that gang of students got me."
The Carrow twins wore identical faces of indifference as a pair of high cheekbones and light brown eyes peered at Harry curiously.
Carla gulped nervously at the awkward silence and finally continued, "Um, Ari, this is Flora and that's Hestia. They've been showing me the ropes," She explained, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the Carrow twins at the alien muggle expression.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Harry said amicably, holding out a hand to shake. After a moment, Hestia stepped forward and shook it, and her twin soon followed, though they remained as silent as ever. "thank you for watching over Carla." he tacked on. He barely held in a sag of relief at the dual inclinations of their heads.
"You protected Carla," Hestia said suddenly, startling Harry from his musings. "Thank you."
"We can't openly protect them," Flora explained. "The muggleborns and halfbloods." Why was obvious, but went unsaid.
"Not a problem," Harry responded, smiling reservedly. "I was happy to."
"This is good," Hestia said tentatively. "Now we can tell the others that you're safe to talk around."
Flora nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Mostly we keep out of the way of purebloods, but you seem okay. Especially since you associate with Draco."
"Draco?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Is there something I should know here?"
"He has a reputation," Carla said, surprising him just a bit. "he's not openly said it, but he's looking for a defense against the dark mark and other things." She shuddered. "He may not openly advocate the rights of muggleborns, even insulted a few outside our house, but he doesn't agree with him." The pointed way she said this told Harry exactly who she was talking about.
"He's the only one who has permission to enter the restricted section freely," Hestia commented.
Flora elaborated, "Professor Snape favours him. He'll give Draco permission to do lots of things most of us can't get away with."
"I realized," Harry remarked dryly. Inwardly, he was quickly making plans to try and get Draco to let him... 'help'. He really wanted to get his hands on some of those Parseltongue books.
He nodded to the three girls and returned to walking to his next class, quickly running through his plans in his head as a new idea formed. It was clear to him that Slytherin house really needed someone to protect the students from the Death Eaters… well, actually, most houses did, it was simply that Slytherin was the favoured house of Death Eaters. Gryffindor was shunned by them, being the favoured house of the 'Light'. After all, Dumbledore's favouritism towards the house of Lions was quite clear to everyone. Heck, even his familiar was the exalted red and gold. What he needed was a group, a group that people could join that would be hidden from Death Eaters and their sympathizers, that would offer protection…
As he entered his DADA class, he considered his options. He'd need some wards, strong spells, something to mark his group and defend them against damaging magic…
"Are you alright there?" he jolted, eying the professor nervously as he sat down, never letting his gaze leave the professor. His well-trained eye began to catch up and his goblin training kicked in as he quickly placed up some mental shields and turned his eyes to stare directly back.
"I'm fine, Professor, I've simply had a lot to think about lately," he replied to the man - Remus Lupin. "I didn't mean any disrespect."
"I understand," Lupin said amicably. "Just pay attention." The group stood up and Lupin led them away to a closet which rattled and shook ominously.
"What's in there, Professor?" A Gryffindor asked, shuddering. The room felt oddly cold, and Harry shuddered, feeling a marching band of icy beetles crawling down his back. He found it hard to be optimistic about this class.
"A Boggart," Lupin replied, stepping up the front of the class. "It attempts to scare people with their greatest fear… the only way to defeat one is with laughter." He smiled. "The spell used to defeat one is 'Riddikulus'. Repeat after me; Riddikulus."
"Riddikulus," Parroted the class.
"Good. Right, who wants to go first?" A few confident Gryffindors, and some Slytherins hoping to impress, stepped forward, wands at the ready. "Try to imagine it as something humourous," Lupin advised, and he opened the closet.
The wispy magic immediately locked on to the nearest Gryffindor, becoming a miniature Dragon which continued to grow. After a few nervous moments, a young voice breathed, "Riddikulus!" The dragon turned a vibrant pink, snorted, and turned into a toad, before turning to another person and beginning to transform again.
It passed from student to student, and while some took more tries than others, the Boggart was quickly running out of people to scare. Ron, as expected, had a ginormous spider; strangely, Neville's greatest fear was Professor Snape, and Harry caught Draco taking a picture of the transformation as Neville changed Severus Snape's attire into that of his grandmother's old-fashioned dress; soon enough it was Draco's turn.
The boggart transformed into a blonde, blue-eyed man much like Draco, and in the rush to turn it into something else it got confused and turned on Harry. With a deep breath Harry raised his wand, the 'r' of 'riddikulus' on the tip of his tongue as the recognizable form of a Dementor's rags began to ebb out from the fading form of Lucius Malfoy.
The Dementor was one of the biggest, and Harry could taste the cold, limp feeling in the tips of his toes and fingers, even on the tip of his tongue, as if fear were palatable. "Riddikulus," Harry said evenly, breathing deeply and reminding himself of what he needed to do.
The hood of the Dementor lifted, and underneath was a pixie wearing a suit. It began to babble endlessly and allowed a scroll to begin flowing downwards, twirling in the air as if tousled in the wind.
It moved on, and Harry inwardly let out the breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. The class quickly continued into a lecture section on boggarts, and Harry was lost in the Defense class for once, only remembering his mission during the break.
Harry raced up to the library to stake it out and make his plans. He needed the wide array of knowledge that the restricted section possessed to complete his mission; creating a third option.
No longer did Harry blindly trust Dumbledore; it was obvious that Dumbledore was not averse to taking advantage of individuals and did not have people's best interests at heart. While he could never join Lord name-whose-impact-value-is-measured-by-hyphens, he doubted he'd get away from the war alive if he didn't create his own option, starting in Hogwarts. He needed to build a base for a new sector that could defend themselves and focus on ending the war by taking out the main players, namely Lord Anagram and Dumb-old-dork. It would have to prevent its members from taking the dark mark, and furthermore give them protection… it was merely a question of how.
Slowing as he reached the door to give the impression of a quiet, timely person, he opened the door and walked up to Madame Pince, the sharp-tongued librarian, reminding himself that he, as a student, had not actually met her before.
"Excuse me, Madame Pince, if you've got a moment?" Harry inquired, stepping up to speak directly to the sharp-featured woman. She turned to face Harry, adjusting her witch's hat, which was adorned with midnight-black feathers, giving her appearance an ominous look.
"I do indeed," She replied tightly. "If you need to take out a book-"
"-from the restricted section, how should I go about receiving permission?" Harry inquired, cutting her off smartly. She paused, peered at him for a moment, then decided to release her floodgate of knowledge.
"You will need someone to vouch for you," Madame Pince began, still a little wary. "Give you permission. You'll need a good reason for going into there, Mister… Durst, was it? I can't imagine that there would be anything you need that wouldn't be readily available. Have you checked our library's selection?"
"I believe that I have quite a unique situation, and am almost certain I will not find the sorts of things I'm looking for among the books available to everyone," Harry said firmly. He glanced around to buy time as he thought about his next words. "It's a matter of personal safety that I don't offer the subject of my research readily."
Madame Pince's eyebrows went up in an impressive questioning look, but quickly reverted. "Can you tell me of your situation at all?"
"Are you aware that some of the books in the restricted section are warded by familial or blood wards?" He quickly amended, "Of course you are. I've recently discovered that I am… the final heir to a large number of extinct pureblood lines, through various marriages, deaths and unfortunate circumstances. I was hoping to read up on my heritage, and furthermore glean what knowledge I could from some of the unused books."
The last few lines truly caught Madame Pince's attention, quickly forgetting the rest of the sentence. As much as she was a terror when her books were damaged, she purred like an overgrown kitten when her precious library books were put to good use and new knowledge brought in for students. Her interest caught, she decided, "Alright, I'll see what I can do to help you. I don't suppose you know which books are your familial ones?"
"No, as I've never been in there," Harry replied remorsefully, conveniently forgetting to mention that he'd been in there twice over his time at Hogwarts, underneath an invisibility cloak, once stalking the person who Harry didn't really know beyond his unhealthy obsession with taunting him. "Who should I go to for permission?"
"You'll need proof that some of the books are locked by family wards before you even try," Madame Pince mused. "But when you do get that evidence, ask your head of house."
"Thank you," Harry said, biting back his displeasure at the difficulty of the solution. He paced out of the library uncomfortably, wondering how he was going to get his much-needed 'proof' so he could inspect the ever-sanctioned restricted section, returning automatically to the Slytherin common room to think.
As he lay down, he stared out the window, watching the owls fly back and forth. He couldn't spot his snowy owl, Hedwig, anywhere, but he was confident that she was safe and sound in the owlery. He really did need a new owl, even if he loved Hedwig; he simply couldn't count on her not to get noticed, being the bright and unique owl she was. Within Hogwarts, she was practically representative of who he was.
As he considered alternative familiars, there was a tapping on the door. "Come in," He called distractedly, still stuck on whether he should get a recognizable familiar or a completely nondescript bird. It wasn't until a familiar voice cleared his throat that Harry gave Draco his attention.
"Need something?" Harry inquired casually, turning reluctantly away from his thoughts.
Draco took a steadying breath. "Yes," he replied tightly. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to help me search for something?"
"What exactly are you searching for?" Harry questioned, leaving his stand up to interpretation.
""Information," Draco replied, pausing briefly to consider how to present his meaning. "I've been trying to find a way to counteract some dark magic. I was hoping you might have an idea…" He sighed. "I suppose you don't."
Harry stared for a moment. "You do have access to the restricted section, right?" He asked suddenly. "And you're in desperate need of this information, from the sounds of it?"
"Yes?" Draco replied, raising a delicate eyebrow. "Where is this going?"
"Simple. I'm heir to a variety of ancient and noble lines," Harry explained, "which means that some of the books in Hogwarts' possession are keyed to only open for family members. Get me into the restricted section one way or another, and I'll give you access to any family books I find in there." Draco paused to think about the deal, nodded once, and smiled.
"It's a deal," Draco agreed. "I'm not going to ask why you want to get into the restricted section, just as long as I can get at those books."
"I'll tell you, if you want," Harry replied with a smirk. "It's rather interesting. I'll need a wizard's oath of secrecy, but I'm sure you can manage that."
Draco eyed Harry for a nervous moment before caving in. "Alright. I swear on my magic to keep it a secret."
The oath solidified. "Good," Harry sat down firmly. "Then I'll tell you. You know about the laws surrounding some of the more barbaric parts of our culture?"
Draco gave Harry an inquisitive look.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Long story short, Harry Potter has rights to the Slytherin vault and rings due to some of the laws surrounding feuding houses, etcetera. Since I'm a distant relative of Potter's, I have the ability to access the Slytherin family wards, and furthermore the Potter wards and Durst wards, among others." He stretched idly, ignoring Draco's impatient - and surprised - look. "There are almost certainly some books in there that belong to the mentioned families that are not in use due to the fact that the wards protect them from anyone who isn't family. If I can get proof that there are books of that sort in there, then I can enter the restricted section on my own. The problem is getting that proof."
"Ah," Draco nodded mockingly. "So you want to get into the restricted section… to gain access to the restricted section. Not answering my question, Ari."
"Keep your robes on," Harry smirked. "You do realize that there are a multitude of books written in runes or Parseltongue in there? Books with unbelievably ancient, forgotten magic? Books that I can access, as heir of Slytherin after Potter?" With each passing hint, Draco's eyes grew eagerly, a gentle grin hidden behind a patented pureblood mask of indifference that Harry was able to easily see past.
"Here's the idea," Harry said quietly, prompting Draco to lean in and listen. "You, who has access to the restricted section, go in there, with me sneaking in after you. I find books from families that have named me heir. I head to Gringotts, cross-reference, and get the data needed to give myself permission to enter the restricted section. I get free reign of the restricted section… you get access to all the family books. It's a win-win situation… and all you have to do is sneak me in."
"Have you got a plan for how we're going to pull this off?" Draco inquired after a quiet moment of awe.
Harry nodded, a familiar grin plastered on his face, the thrill of breaking rules combining with the satisfaction of getting Draco on board the plan. "Here's what we're going to do…"
Draco steeled his nerves and walked up to Madame Pince with the book he'd borrowed last from the restricted section carefully caressed in his arms. Ari, his new friend from France, quickly dashed in, the only hint he was there a swift brush of wind behind him as he walked up to Madame Pince and gathered himself, pulling all attention to him as Ari crouched behind a plant pot, waiting for Draco to enter.
"I'm here to return this and get another look at the books," he announced quietly, handing her the old volume. It had come up empty, unfortunately; none of the possible solutions worked. They were all too time-consuming, or otherwise unethical for large numbers of people, which was the number of people that probably didn't want to serve the Dark Lord but were going to have to anyway. Like himself.
He dearly hoped that Ari's claims were true ones, because he was staking his final hopes on this.
"You've got your permission slip?" Pince inquired, taking the offered book as if it were the crown jewels. Draco nodded, sliding over the small piece of parchment he'd received earlier that day from Professor Snape.
He really did love his godfather.
"Go on. Good luck," Pince added, giving Draco one of her rare smiles. Step one to having power in a student body; win the favour of the faculty. He returned her gesture and walked slowly to the door of the restricted section, quickly glancing around everywhere so as not to let people notice him leaving the door open long enough for an invisible entity to race past him into the section before he himself entered.
He began walking back and forth along the aisles, not looking at the books but instead at the surroundings, making note of everything there. Luckily, there were no students at this time of night save for him and his invisible shadow, so he gave a nod to the air, and with a swish his companion revealed himself.
"All clear?" he mouthed silently, and at Draco's nod, he began to trace the titles, leaving Draco to his own devices. He was idle for only a moment before he, too, began looking over the different titles, tracing the words and hoping to find something.
"Here's one, Potions of Gellerson," Ari recited. "You have a notepad, right?"
"Er, yeah," Draco dug into his pocket. "Here, keep it." Generosity was a good thing to practice. Durst's smile brought one unwillingly to his own lips, though only for a fraction of a second, before they were back to searching.
"You know your way around," Ari noted after about fifteen minutes of mindless browsing, resulting in various book titles being written down on the notepad. "How is this all organized? Any particular shelves I should be looking at?"
Draco looked up from the shelf he was inspecting. "This one is potions," he began, pointing. "That one's Transfigurations, It goes all along this wall, and the other core subjects are lined up along the east wall. In the center are general books, the next aisle is wards," Ari perked up at the mention of wards, "after that is a shelf which is completely disorganized, then there's one on self-transfiguration - you know, animagi, stuff like that. Further on is a historical shelf with some of the Hogwarts heirlooms. Diaries, Journals, countless copies of Hogwarts, A History…" He turned. "Then there's the south wal."
"South wall?" Ari inquired, peering at it.
"It's the shelf basically marked 'unreadable or useless'," Draco explained, pacing back and forth. "A lot of it is in other languages, lost ones or goblin ones, mostly. A few are even in parseltongue." He shook his head. "I never thought I'd be saying this - but it would be terribly convenient if we had Potter."
"It would," Ari agreed distractedly. "Let's get a better look at the south wall, I bet some of what we need's back there." Before Draco could protest, Ari was off and running, his invisible cape billowing behind him.
"Here, this shelf," Ari murmured excitedly. "All of these are Slytherin books, the four shelves here are locked to the founders and their relatives." He reached out, then retreated. "Know any good cleaning spells?"
A few quiet castings later, they began surfing through the books - or more accurately, Draco stood guard while Ari searched, because they burned Draco's hands if he touched them. After the first time, Draco let Ari handle them, watching eagerly as page after page of ancient knowledge was surfed through.
"I'll have to adjust the wards on these to let you touch them," Ari remarked, leafing through. "These potions, in particular, I'm no good with complicated stuff like this."
Draco smirked. "Well, at least I've got one thing on you."
Ari nodded in agreement idly, too engrossed to pay attention to what he was agreeing to. "Hey, Draco, can you actually check the shelf at the back over there for me for any goblin books?" He pointed at the very end of the wall. "I've got a few connections that could translate them."
"Right away," Draco said amicably, walking over quickly. Working together, they managed to snag at least three interesting titles, before finally they decided to call it a day.
Ari donned his cloak once more, gave Draco a rather childish thumbs up, and disappeared from view entirely, waiting for Draco to open the door. Draco collected up the books and walked out patiently, giving Ari time to race back behind the pot, and then further out the door.
"Madame Pince?" Draco called, placing the books gently on the counter. "These books."
"More than usual," she remarked, casting her spells. "What changed?"
Draco smiled widely. "A new acquaintance of mine struck a deal with me. He's agreed to translate the goblin texts I find in there. I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," Pince agreed. "Goblins may be fearsome, but they are trustworthy folk." As Draco was handed the books, he decided not to mention that his contact was, in fact, not a goblin at all. He took the books carefully and paced quickly out of the Hogwarts library to see Ari waiting for him.
"Let's get back," Draco commented, but Ari put a finger over his mouth and swiftly pulled the pair of them into an alcove behind one of the banners in the halls. A quick gasp was muffled by a silent spell, and Draco peered up at Ari, eyes blazing with questions.
Ari pulled out an unremarkable rock with a few runes scribbled clumsily over the surface. "A gift, wait until you see what it does before you say anything," Ari murmured, rubbing it between his fingers. Taking Draco's hand, he murmured, "Moon."
The world swirled and Draco suddenly found himself in Ari's room.
"Apparition within Hogwarts?" Draco mouthed incredulously. At Ari's excited nod, Draco took the rock into his hand with much more awe than he originally planned.
"Just say 'moon' and you'll be taken to my room," Ari explained. "It'll take anything that is touching you with it. I suggest you keep it on you in case you run into any unsavoury sorts." He smiled. "Consider it promise payment for how I'm going to owe you until I can get freely into the restricted section." He waved the notepad. "You've been a great help already."
"No problem," Draco said disbelievingly, "but someday you're telling me how you got a portkey this smooth to work in Hogwarts."
A/N: I'm back! So, how did you like this chapter? Next time, expect some cool spells and some familiar redheads to show up...
more seriously, I'm sorry about missing an update. I'll be sure to try and keep up next time - between starting Silas Snape and The Slytherin Hufflepuff, as well as the many projects that go on behind-the-scenes, I'm sure you can understand how I managed to lose the time I needed to complete the chapter.
With explanations complete, I've got a question for all of you. Is anyone interested in viewing and commenting on Ari Durst before release? I've gotten one beta-reader already, but it still, the more the merrier. All you need for this is a fanfiction account and an email you don't mind sparing, privately, of course. At the moment I'm only looking for one, and furthermore this will be a duty that will be somewhat long-term, but altogether there are no actual requirements beyond those already stated. If interested, send in a PM! Finally, please understand that I won't be able to accept everyone who asks - most likely it'll end up being first-come, first-serve. I appreciate all feedback immensely.
'Til next time!