"Can you belive them!?" Hermione hissed angrily to Arthur.
Just as they promised before dinner Arthur and Hermione like usual met up in the library after they had eaten, but the good mood from before dinner seemed to compleatly have disappeared. Although Hermione for once wasn't even able to focus on her homework she instead only talked about her two classmates.
"The nerve! Can't they see Malfoy only wants to trick them to end up in trouble!? They're so selfish! It's a miracle Harry didn't get expelled after his earlier stunt today, and now those two want to meet Malfoy in the middle of the night for a wizard duel. Idiots! Do they want to get expelled!?"
Arthur flinched as Hermione ripped off another piece of parchment with such force he almost got the feeling Hermione imagined it was someone's head, but at the same time Arthur had to admit Hermione had a point. Not only Gryffindor would lose points either - if Malfoy was caught Slytherin would lose points as well.
"Do you want to tell a teacher?" Arthur questioned her, not sure what else to say.
"No," she sighed, resigned, in reply. "We don't have any evidence, and I don't want to been known as a tattler. Besides, if the teacher actually believes us Gryffindor will just lose points anyway."
"True," Arthur acknowledged in a mutter. The same would of course be true with Slytherin as well.
"To be honest I don't think we can do much about it then. Maybe we should just let them get caught by themselves so they're taught a lesson. Either that or you tell your Prefect – isn't he Ron's brother or something?"
"It's tempting, but I'm not going to give up yet," Hermione stated with a glint of determination in her eyes.
With those words she immediately stood up, gathered all of her things and began to walk towards the exit of the library, which was why Arthur suddenly was suddenly forced to hurry after her to not be left behind.
"How do you plan to stop them?" Arthur asked Hermione when he finally caught up with her again just outside the library.
"We are going to take a serious talk with those three. I'll find a way to convince Harry and Ron – they're probably in the common room now - while your job will be to talk some sense into Malfoy."
"Wait- what!?" Arthur exclaimed in disbelief and came to a halt in the middle of a step.
Hermione turned around to face him with a serious expression. "Well, yes, you don't Slytherin to lose any points either, do you?"
"Of course I don't want that, but do you honestly expect Malfoy to listen to me of all people?" Arthur asked her with a frustrated sigh.
At best they – Arthur and Malfoy - had a truce with each other, but that was only because Malfoy seemed to be wary of Arthur. Well, perhaps it would be more accurate to say Malfoy was wary of his family, but it still didn't change the fact Arthur seriously doubted Malfoy would listen to anything he said. To Arthur it was obvious Malfoy didn't like him, and Arthur could honestly say the feelings were returned. Hermione probably didn't know about all of this though, which was why she so easily could point out something which, to her, was obvious.
"We don't know until we try, do we?"
Which Arthur acknowledged was a good point, but that didn't mean he had to like it even if Hermione spent the next 15 minutes trying to convince him. Which she eventually also did.
"Fine, I'll try! Just don't expect me to succeed."
They reached more stairs and stopped just as he said this, and Hermione beamed happily.
"Thank you Arthur, I knew I could trust you!"
"Uh, yeah… You're welcome," Arthur muttered back without meeting her eyes and felt his own face redden.
The warm feeling of happiness which began to spread through his body were not because of her words though!
R-really, he was just happy she was going to stop talking about it. It wasn't like he agreed to talk to Malfoy just because Hermione asked him to!
Since he didn't have anything else to do once they parted ways Arthur began to walk down the many stairs to Slytherin's common room - well, at least once Hermione disappeared in the direction of Gryffindor's own coomon room - at the same time as he tried to not to think about what he soon would have to do.
When he arrived to the hidden door which led to Slytherins common room he muttered the password and walked inside as soon as the door opened, but to Arthur's surprise he didn't see many students inside. To be fair it was still early evening though, and Arthur supposed many of his fellow Slytherins still walked around in the castle or did their homework in the library. With no idea what else to do, since Malfoy and his gang weren't here either, Arthur walked down the stairs to their dorm and went to spend some quality time with Cassie. Being a cat clearly had it's benefits, because when Arthur entered the dorm one of the first thing he saw was Cassie sleeping peacefully on top of his bed. Arthur sighed with fond annoyance, sat down on the edge of the bed and gently lifted the cat to lay her in his lap. Cassie woke up when Arthur lifted her, but she didn't seem to mind and soon fell back asleep while Arthur petted her. Eventually he then decided to close the curtains around his bed and read in peace for a while, so he picked up his books about fairies, laid down on his bed and began to read, with Cassie continuing to sleep peacefully on top of his stomach.
At one point Arthur must have dozed off, because the next moment he was rudely awoken when loud, laughing voices entered the dorm – and one of them was Malfoy.
It was very tempting to just roll over and go back to sleep, but Arthur had promised Hermione to talk to Malfoy about the wizarding duel, so he would.
However just as Arthur sat up in his bed to open the curtains around his bed to talk with Malfoy the sickly sweet voice of Pansy Parkinson beat him to it.
"Are you really going to go through with the duel, Draco? Potter isn't worth your time, and what if you get caught?"
In his surprise Arthur halted any further movement when he heard Malfoy laugh in reply.
"Hah, of course not! While Potter and Weasley run around I will sleep peacefully in my bed. Who knows, someone might have tipped off Mr. Filch there is going to be a Wizard's Duel in the trophy room tonight, and it would be a shame if I was caught together with Potter and Weasley."
Arthur could practically hear the glee in Malfoy's voice, and so it was with mixed feelings Arthur laid down on his bed again while he was forced to listen to the little gang's eruption of laughter. 'Malfoy must think I'm asleep since the curtains are closed around my bed, or else he wouldn't talk about this so freely,' Arthur then thought for himself.
At one hand Arthur was happy he wouldn't need to talk to Malfoy after all – it was clear Malfoy had no intention of showing up at the Wizard Duel anyway. However it was also clear Harry and Ron were going to walk straight into a trap if nothing was done. They might even get expelled for it… A part of Arthur wanted to think it served them right for breaking the rules despite Hermione's earlier warnings – because he doubted they would listen to Hermione and go anyway - but the other part of him knew it wasn't fair those two would end up in trouble when Malfoy had goaded them into it. Yes, Potter and Weasley were idiots since they fell for the goading in the first place, but it wasn't fair Malfoy would get away with getting other students in trouble like this either. Since Malfoy wasn't going Arthur supposed he could just sneak away and warn Potter before Filch had the chance to catch them, but that would also put himself at risk at getting caught…
'Coward', Arthur's mind told himself, 'Don't make excuses, even Patrick admits you're good at sneaking – you will not get caught as long as you're careful.'
Yet he didn't move even a long time after the last torches slowly had died out and snoring could be heard in the dorm.
'They're walking into a trap, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will get caught,' Arthur tried to tell himself and rolled over to sleep.
There was no point to risk getting himself into trouble for those two. They could take care of themselves, and really, if they weren't able to avoid getting caught they only had themselves to blame.
Yet the sleep still didn't come, and instead Arthur laid wide awake while he watched his wristwatch slowly creep past 11 PM to half past eleven. With a groan Arthur swore under his breath and sat up in his bed. At this rate he wasn't going to be able to fall asleep anyway, so after he gently lifted off Cassie from his lap and laid her on his bed (which she woke up at and glared at him - as if asking him what he did that for - before she went back to sleep) Arthur quietly opened the curtains around his bed just a little to look around. Everyone, with the exception of himself, seemed to be fast asleep. No one would notice if he seaked away for awhile – at most he would be gone for 30 minutes. He just needed to sneak to the trophy room, warn Harry and Ron, then sneak back again without getting discovered. No problem, right?
A part of his brain loudly yelled at Arthur about how stupid idea this was and how many things which could go wrong, but it was quickly wrestled down by the part of him which already made the decision to go. Besides, if Harry and Ron were caught because of this Malfoy's gloating would become unbearable to stand, so with that in mind Arthur made sure he had his wand (just in case) before he silently crept past his classmates' beds and up the stairs to the common room. The common room was almost compleatly dark and silent with the exception for the few embers still in the fireplace, which weakly lit up the common room in a creepy green colour. Ignoring this Arthur quietly walked over to the door and exited the room and then took a deep breath as he looked out over the dark dungeon-corridor. There was no turning back now.
Because of how dark it was Arthur was forced to risk a little light from his wand with a whispered "Lumos" until he had left the dungeons, but the moment he was out from them he turned it off and let the moonlight shining through the windows show him the way instead. The school was very different in the middle of the night, and as Arthur crept up the stairs to the upper floors he couldn't help but to feel a bit jumpy over the slightest sound. By some miracle he made it to the same corridor as the trophy room without being caught, and he made a sigh of relief when he could heard hissed whispers inside. He must have arrived in time then, because he doubted Mr. Filch would be quiet about catching students out of bed.
He quietly opened the door and slipped inside, only to face-
"You!? What are you doing here and where is Malfoy?" Harry hissed angrily on the opposite side of the room before Arthur even had the time to open his mouth.
"Arthur? What are you doing here?"
To Arthur's surprise he saw Hermione and Neville stand behind Harry, and together with Ron they all wore expressions with various degrees of confusion visible on their faces in the dim light.
"I could ask you the same," Arthur replied to Hermione in equal confusion before he remembered what he came to do. "Nevermind that though, we need to get out of here."
"Why?" Harry asked warily.
"I came to warn you. Malfoy tricked you – he never intended to duel against you and has ratted you out to Filch, who might be here any second now. It's a trap."
"I told you- " Hermione angrily directed towards Harry while Neville let out a whimper, but they were both interrupted by Ron.
"Why should we believe you? You're snake just like Malfoy."
"Are you serious? Why would I even risk getting caught to warn you if it wasn't the truth?" Arthur angrily hissed back.
"Why would you even come here and risk getting caught in the first place? We haven't talked to each other since the train to Hogwarts," Harry added with narrowed eyes.
Beginning to lose his patience Arthur growled in frustration.
"I'm beginning to wonder the same, because clearly it was too much to expect you to just appreciate the warning and get out of here!"
Ron seemed to be on his way to say something else, but a sudden noise in the next room made them all jump in fright. Arthur saw how Harry raised his wand – maybe expecting Malfoy to jump out despite Arthur's warning – when they to their horror heard Filch speak to who Arthur understood was Mrs Norris.
"Sniff around, my sweet, they might lurk somewhere in a corner."
Struck in horror Arthur wasted no time in folloing after Harry and the others when they as quick as possible scurried away towards the door on the opposite side of where Filch's voice came from. Arthur's and Neville's robes barely had the time to whip around the corner when they all heard Filch enter the trophy room from the same door Arthur entered the room.
"They're probably hiding somewhere inside here," Arthur and the rest heard him mutter.
Harry mouthed for them to follow him, and once again they wasted no time in creeping down a corridor full of suits of armour. There was no doubt they were in trouble now, and as they heard Filch coming closer Neville let out a frightened squek and began to run. Neville, who had to be one of the unluckiest boys in the world, of course tripped, grabbed Ron around the waist in an desperate attempt to not fall and as if in slowmotion Arthur saw how they together fell right on a suit of armour. The resulting clanging and crashing was loud enough to wake the whole castle.
"RUN!" Harry yelled, and with a jerk Arthur tugged Neville and Ron up to their feet and sprinted after Harry without looking back to see if Filch followed them or not. They rounded a doorpost and ran down corridor after corridor without even really knowing where they were before they reached a tapestry and hurtled past it into a hidden passageway. It was as they dashed into the new corridor Arthur finally recognized they were close to the Charms classroom, which he also knew was far away from the trophy room. Harry, who was the one who led them here, seemed to realize the same and finally slowed down before he eventually came to a stop.
"I- I think we lost him," Harry panted heavily and leaned back against the stone wall.
Arthur followed Harry's example and grimaced as a stinging pain began to travel up his left leg. Running around at full speed was hardly to "take it easy", as Madam Pomfry told him to do after he fell off the broom earlier that day, and he was paying for it now. Meanwhile Neville was not much better off - he was bent double, wheezing and gasping for breath.
" I-I told you. Art-Arthur too!" Hermione gasped and clutched her chest while she tried to catch her breath in her seething anger towards Harry.
"We need to get back to the common room as fast as possible," Ron swallowed.
"Malfoy tricked you, just like Arthur told you he would," Hermione snarled towards Harry. "You realise that, don't you? Malfoy tipped Filch off to get you into trouble!"
It didn't seem like Harry had anything to say about that, and instead Arthur only heard a muttered "Let's go". Ignoring the gradually growing pain in his leg Arthur pushed off from the wall and followed Harry and the rest down the corridor again. They didn't come very far though. Not even a dozen steps later a doorknoob rattled and something shot out from a classroom in front of them. It was none other than Peeves the Poltergeist.
Unfortunately for them Peeves loved to cause trouble for everyone who was unfortunate enough to meet him, with the only exception being The Bloody Baron, Slytherin's ghost, who Peeves was afraid off and the only one who also was able to control Peeves. However the Bloody Baron wasn't here right now, and Arthur and the rest had already been seen. With a squel of delight Peeves' grin grew wider as he saw their little group.
"Please shut up, Peeves, you'll get us thrown out," Harry begged him.
Peeves cackled merrily. "First years wandering around after midnight? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."
"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves. Please?"
"Should tell Filch, I should. It's for your own good, you know," Peeves said in an almost innocent-sounding voice while his eyes glittered cruelly.
"Get out of the way!" Ron snapped and destroyed any chance they had at walking away undetected when he took a swipe at Peeves.
"STUDENTS OUT OF THE BED! STUDENTS OUT THE BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"
Arthur and the rest immediately ducked under the bellowing Peeves and ran for their lives to the end of the corridor, where they slammed into a door-
A locked door they weren't able to open.
"This is it! We are done for! This is the end!" Ron moaned as he and Harry helplessly pushed at the door.
They could hear the footsteps of Filch only coming closer and closer as he ran towards Peeves' shouts.
"Are you a wizard or not!? Use magic and unlock the door!" Arthur growled threateningly from the back.
"Wha-"
"Oh, move over!" Hermione snarled and pushed Ron out of the way to reach the door at the same time as she brought out her wand.
"Alohomora."
The door opened with a click and they immediately ran through, quickly shut it and pressed their ears against it as they listened to the conversation on the other side of the door.
"Quick, which way did they go Peeves?" Arthur heard Filch say.
"Say 'please' first."
"Don't mess with me, Peeves. Now where did they go?"
"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please," Arthur heard Peeves sing-song mockily in answer.
"Urgh, alright, please."
"NOTHING! Haha, I told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Haha!"
Then, to Arthur's relief he heard how Peeves whoshed away while Filch cursed loudly in rage.
"He must think this door is still locked," Harry whispered when they all heard Filch's steps walk away in another direction.
"I think we will be okay now – get off Neville!"
Arthur looked to his right to see a ghostly white-faced Neville tug on Harry's robes while he with a terrified expression looked up at something behind them.
With a bad feeling in their stomach Arthur, Harry, Hermione and Ron then turned to look at the thing which scared Neville so much, but immediately wished they hadn't.
Unlike what Arthur originally thought they weren't in a room, but instead in yet another corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor to be more exact, which Arthur and the others now quickly realised why it was forbidden. Because right in front of them stood a monstrous, gigantic dog with three heads, which stood absolutely still and stared at them with six pairs of rolling, mad eyes. Arthur got the feeling the only reason they weren't already dead was because the monstrous dog was surprised by their sudden appearance, but considering the thunderous growls from the dog the surprise was quickly beginning to wear off.
Arthur saw from the corner of his eyes how Harry, who was the closest to the doorknoob, fumbled blindly after it a moment before he got a hold of it and the door swung open. Everyone jumped outside and Harry slammed the door shut before all of them almost flew through the castle faster than Arthur had ever run before in his entire life. Not that anyone cared at this point – they just wanted to get as far away as possible from that monster – and why is there a monster in a school!? - but it seemed like Filch must have hurried away to look after them somewhere else, because they didn't meet him nor Mrs Norris again.
They didn't come to an stop until they reached an old portait of a very fat lady in a pink silk dress on the seventh floor, who seemed to be surprised to see them.
"Where on earth have you all been?"
"Never mind that – pig snout, pig snout!" Harry panted.
"Are you sure?" she asked with a frown and glanced to Arthur.
"Yes!"
By now Arthur should have understood something was up, but his leg hurt too much for him to think about it at the moment, and so Arthur and the others immediately scrambled inside when the portrait swung forward and revealed a round hole in the wall. The moment they were inside Arthur sank down on the floor while the others collapsed in the armchairs around the room. Arthur panted heavily while he tried to massage the pain away from his legs, not really noticing or caring what else the others did at the moment, although he suspected they just like him tried their best to catch their breath. Eventually the pain also subsided to an bearable level, and Arthur let out a sigh of relief.
"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in school?" Ron finally growled out after everyone's breathing had become more normal.
With both her breath and temper back Hermione snapped. "You don't use your eyes, do you? Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor?" Harry suggested, and Arthur resited the urge to facepalm. "I wasn't looking at the feet since I was too busy with it's three heads."
Alright, Arthur supposed that was fair – it's not every day you come face to face with a huge three-headed dog in a school.
"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor, so it's obviously guarding something!" Hermione snapped back and angrily stood up from her armchair to glare at Harry and Ron.
"I hope you two are pleased with yourself. We all could have been killed – or worse, expelled – just because you two refused to liten to me or Arthur."
Arthur mostly agreed – they would never have ended up in this mess if Harry and Ron just listened from the beginning – but unlike Hermione he definitely counted killed as worse than expelled.
"Wait, why are YOU here!?"
Arthur looked up from his leg to glare at the now angry and standing Ron, who glared straight back.
"What are you talking about? I've been with you four since I tried to warn you about Filch – you're welcome by the way."
"No, Ron is right – why are you here? You're not allowed in here!"
It was Harry who said it this time, and Arthur was just about to demand Harry explained what he meant when Arthur finally, truly looked around and saw where he was. The room they sat in was a cosy, round room full of comfy armchairs and a warm fireplace with only a few embers still burning. However what caught most of Arthur's attention wasn't how cosy the room looked, but the fact all the coulours in the room were in red and gold, and why would it be that unless- Oh… Shit.
Comprehendment dawned upon Arthur as he stared with wide eyes and slightly gaping mouth in shock at the banner over the fireplace with a great lion drawn in the middle.
He was in Gryffindors common room. He was in Gryffindor's common room!
"Well, what are you waiting on? Get out!"
Snapped out of his shock by Ron's words Arthur turned back to glare at him.
"Like hell I am! We're on the seventh floor, and everone knows we have our common room is in the dungeons. I'm not going to risk getting caught by Filch again just after I have saved you two from what most likely would get you two expelled!"
"Oh, what are we going to do?" Hermione moaned. "We will end up in so much trouble for this!"
Alright, Hermione had a point there. While there is no official rule about not being allowed to sleep in other houses' common rooms there was still a very clear unofficial one which was very against it – especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Compared to what the other Gryffindors' reactions to finding a Slytherin in their common room would be Arthur suspected Ron's reaction was a mild one.
"We can't let someone from Slytherin stay here, so get out!" Ron hissed.
"Do you think I want to stay here!? If I could go back to my own bed right now I would have done that already!"
"I don't care, get out!" Ron angrily hissed, stomped over and forcedly tugged Arthur up on his feet from the floor.
Arthur didn't even have the time to protest before seering pain shot through his leg like fire and, unable to support his own weight, he crumpled down on the floor again with a yelp of pain the moment Ron let go of his arm. 'This is pathetic, get up,' Arthur thought angrily to himself and closed his eyes tightly in pain, but didn't move. The pain was just too much right now.
"Arthur, are you alright?"
Arthur opened his eyes to see Hermione sitting on her knees next to him with worry clear in her eyes, while a equally worried Neville fidgeted over him, looking like he had no idea what to do. Somewhere in the back of his mind Arthur realised they must have pushed Ron to the side in order to reach him, because Ron had backed away from Arthur with a slightly horrified expression on his face.
"I'm fine," Arthur bit out through the pain to answer Hermione's question, even if it was clear he wasn't.
"You should just have said you were injured from the beginning," Ron muttered, but the expression on his face made it clear he felt guilty.
"Well, sorry if I thought it was obvious I was still a bit sore. It's not like I fell off a broom in the middle of the air or anything earlier today," Arthur couldn't help but to snap back over Hermione's head.
Ron's eyes flashed with anger, but before he could answer Harry elbowed him ligthly in his stomach to stop him.
"I suppose we don't have a choice then. You'll have to stay the night," Harry said carefully.
Hermione bit her lips nervously at this, as if she was torn between following the rules and worrying about Arthur, but eventually she made up her mind.
"Arthur, do you think you can move to the armchairs? That way the rest of this should be easier to fix as well."
"Sure," Arthur grunted back and made a (failed) attempt to stand.
It was embarrassing, but without a word about it Hermione - and surprisingly Ron too – grabbed Arthur's arms and helped him to stand so Arthur shakily could jump over to the armchairs on one leg by himself. His left leg still hurt, but at least it wasn't too bad as long as Arthur didn't actually use it to keep his body standing. Besides, he knew it would be alright again with a night's rest. Before Arthur sat down Harry had also moved one of the armchairs so it stood next to a wall, so even if though there was no sofa in the common room Arthur could still use the tiny space between the armchair and the wall like a natural place to rest his head. Considering the circumstances it wasn't too bad and as Arthur sat down in the armchair he gave a short, but grateful, nod to Harry.
"You still need to be gone before the others wake up, so go early in the morning before anyone comes down to the common room," Harry stated.
"Of course."
Wasn't that obvious? Besides, Arthur needed to at least make it back to the common room before Malfoy and the others woke up and realised he wasn't in bed.
"Good," was Harry's only reply before he went up the stairs, Ron closely following, to where Arthur assumed the dorms were.
"Well, I… I should probably go to bed as well," Neville nervously told them. "Will you be alright here Arthur? The common room can be very scary when it's dark."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Arthur reassured Neville with a small smile. It was hard to even pretend to be grumpy at the nervous boy.
"A-alright! I'll see you both tomorrow!"
With that Neville waved him and Hermione goodnight before he scrambled after Harry and Ron up to the boys' dorms. Then… Silence. Hermione still looked towards where Neville went up the stairs with a frown on her face and she seemed to be... Well, Arthur wasn't sure what Hermione was. She wasn't necessarily tense, but neither was she relaxed.
"Are you angry?" Arthur eventually decided to ask her.
"Not at you," Hermione sighed softly and turned around to face him. "Although I still believe this was an incredible stupid idea. Really, why did you come to warn them? You could have got caught, and Madam Pomfrey told you to take it easy with your leg, didn't she?"
"Well, yes, but…" and then Arthur explained to Hermione everything he overheard from Malfoy, and she nodded in understanding.
"I still don't agree with your decision, but it's nothing we can do about it now – and I suppose it's only fair to tell you how I and Neville ended up going with Harry and Ron as well," Hermione said and then told him everything about her confrontation with Harry and Ron in the common room, to how the Fat Lady had left her portrait for a walk and left Hermione locked out and then how they happened upon Neville.
"I wonder what that dog is guarding," Arthur mused aloud for himself after a short time of silence when she was finished.
Hermione frowned.
"No idea, but it has to be something valuable. They say Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain to hide something, and I don't see why else they would have a three-headed dog in a school in the first place."
There was another short silence while they thought about it.
"It's late, so I should go to bed," Hermione then eventualy sighed as she looked out through a window and then back at Arthur. "Will you be alright?"
"Yes, I'll be fine. I've slept in worse places," Arthur commented with a shrug.
Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow at him, but didn't ask about it.
"Well, goodnight then."
"Goodnight."
While Hermione climbed the stairs up to the girls' dormitory Arthur made himself comfortable in the armchair and prepared himself to sleep, and it didn't take long before his eyes began to feel heavy. Soon enough he fell into a light sleep, unaware of the two pairs of grinning eyes who moved away from the shadows at the staircase and sneaked back for the stairs.
"Well, George, I think we both know what we should do tomorrow," Fred whispered with a grin to his twin.
o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o
o.o.o.( End of Chapter 09 ).o.o.o
Thank you so such much for all the support - the reviews, faves and everything! It means a lot to me, and if I could make heart-icons on ff I would use them to show you all just how much I appreciate you guys! - Now, time to answer some of the reviews!
Guest: No idea, but I'm happy you seem to like my fanfiction!
Sweet little cookie: Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! And yes, Neville does, doesn't he? Neville is probably a bit clumsier than North Italy though. ;)
Cookizilla: 'Merlin' was England's alias/"human name" during the war against Voldy. I've always imagined nations change their names from time to time to not make it too obvious they don't age or change. :) I'm also happy you caught the Naruto-reference! x)
As for if the other nations know about what has happened... Yes, they do.
I don't want to spoil things which will happen in the future, but if you remember what I wrote in Ch01 and Ch05 you'll see hints to it. :) ;)
I'm not spoiling the rest which will happen~! Thank you for the many reviews though, they make me happy! :D
Thenameyouforgot: Thank you!
o.o.o.o.o