Chapter 39 - Ferreting Out the Truth
The train ride to Hogwarts started with the rounds of farewells, promises to write extracted, reminders to be on good behaviour and study hard that everyone expected. What was unexpected was the horde of incoming First Years, at least you could tell it was a surprise to most of the wizard-raised. It looked like there were just over a hundred from what Harry could tell who would be starting their education at Hogwarts.
While the others were saying their goodbyes, Harry was taking care of getting their train carriage and starting the customization of it. First he expanded two compartments to hold everyone for the usual movie screenings and then transfigured rubbish into furniture to support them all. Nym was in next, adding conjured bowls into which snacks were poured and starting on the spellwork to keep their privacy. They kept one door open the entire time until the last of their friends had joined them, then closed the door, effectively becoming completely separate from the rest of the school.
Harry had to chuckle when Astoria got out a set of Monopoly to play. It was both a very Slytherin game and yet too Muggle for most who went through that House. Quickly, the game was full, Harry taking one slot, and a sound barrier set up around them so they could enjoy their game without disturbing, or being disturbed by, the movie that came on.
In the other room, Harry heard from Justin and Roger who they wanted to see again, and how great it was to be able to talk to pretty girls without getting slapped like they saw other guys get. They were also getting close to achieving their second shadow clone, after which they would be able to set one on learning the chakra gathering technique full time, an important step to increasing the number of active clones they could maintain. The two guys weren't alone in pursuing mastery of that technique, either. It had long been considered the Holy Grail in his parents' world for the simple reason that it made whoever wielded it able to use far more chakra in battle. While it was hoped Harry's friends wouldn't need it for the same reason, it still allowed them to make more use of everything.
The discussion in the guys' room turned to other topics, everything from nerdy things like who was the better captain of the Enterprise to which girls at Hogwarts were the hottest. Harry had laughed and stayed neutral on that one, prompting teasing calls of being a chicken.
"Oh hell yes, better that than to annoy my ladies, you know.
'When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
he shouts to scare the monster who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.'"
Harry's rendition of Kipling's poem created some laughter and calls of "Too true!" from his audience, and he gave an ironic bow at the end. He was happy and relaxed, sitting back and chatting with his mates, knowing that others of him were keeping his ladies company or standing guard over them all.
Upon their arrival, Snape was busily chewing out two of his Prefects for their failure to patrol the whole train, keeping them outside the castle and in full view of the incoming students. Harry hid a smile at that. The other Prefects had been allowed to make inspections of their carriage but none of Harry's friends saw any reason to allow the bigoted children of Death Eaters to enter and spew their invective. So the Notice-Me-Not spells had stayed up, supplemented by the full power of a score of wizards and witches, and the Prefects in question had just turned back around and found something else to do. From the way Snape was laying into them, that 'something else' was each other.
Preferring not to think about the wizards any further, Harry left a clone behind to monitor their conversation for future information and walked toward the Great Hall, giving his ladies a quick kiss and his friends a wave before heading to the Hufflepuff table for the Welcoming Feast.
The green-eyed young man spotted Peeves in the Entrance Hall with a host of water bombs and glared, a spot of quick work and the bombs were trapped in a newly made enclosure. Harry couldn't deal with the poltergeist so easily, certainly not with so many witnesses, but his supplies were another matter.
Peeves yelled out his anger, but there was nothing he could do about it now. When the evil little spirit had gone off, sulking, Harry retrieved the balloons left behind and stored them away.
They got settled in and waited for Professor McGonagall to lead in the new students to be Sorted, talking in low tones and welcoming the new Hufflepuffs from the crowd. Again, the students were suspiciously evenly distributed with exactly fourteen boys and fourteen girls in each House, supporting their theory that the Sorting Hat was not doing the job it sang about doing.
At last, with the rumbling of Ron Weasley's stomach (and his complaints) audible across the Great Hall, the food was delivered to their plates. The staff too were glad to see the end of the Sorting and Professor Burbage teased her friend Snape about even more students to teach. This did nothing to improve his disposition, of course.
Once the students and staff were finished eating, Dumbledore stood up and gave all of his usual notices. There was the admonition about the forest on the ground being out of bounds, the caretaker Filch had been complaining again about more objects and getting them forbidden, and Hogsmeade was still off-limits for First and Second Years. That list of objects Filch disliked was getting ridiculous, some four hundred and thirty-seven items according to the old wizard, and Harry had taken the time to check it in each year. As sad as it was, Harry could see why almost all of them were banned, as the three new additions were representative of the list: Screaming Yo-Yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs.
Over four hundred items that some witch or wizard had taken the trouble to invent and perfect and so many whose entire intent was to cause injury or chaos.
No, as much as Filch himself ought to be on the banned list for his abusive and sadistic attitude to the students, Harry agreed with much of the list he had made.
It was Dumbledore's next announcement that caused widespread consternation. "It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year." While the shock kept the students quiet, he continued, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts —"
At that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open. Making a showy entrance for himself was, presumably, the new DADA Professor. Harry was curious who the old bastard had found to replace Remus Lupin after Dumbledore had illegally sacked him.
The man was leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black travelling cloak, pausing while he lowered his hood and revealing the man's face for all to see. It was a patchwork of scars, the man's mouth was a diagonal gash and a large chunk of his nose was missing. All that the average person would notice later, however, after they got over the look of the man's eyes. One was small, dark and beady, the other was large, round as a coin and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye moved ceaselessly and impossibly, even tracking around behind the wizard as he made his slow way up to the staff table, his peg leg making clunk sounds on the floor of the Great Hall.
When the stranger had greeted Dumbledore and then taken his seat, the old wizard introduced him as Professor Moody, their new teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"I've heard of him!" Susan gasped. "Aunt Amelia was talking with her bodyguards about him, they were all really impressed by how many Death Eaters the wizard caught. He was supposed to have gone into hiding though since the families of the criminals wanted to get revenge on him. A rumour went around that it drove him nuts, always seeing threats where there were none."
"Suze," Hermione grinned, "I wouldn't call it nuts when he really was in danger. Besides, magic allows all sorts of ways to attack someone."
"True, I guess. And we are sitting with a guy who is always on guard, right Harry?" She snuggled up against his side.
"Naturally." Harry chuckled.
To Dumbledore's chagrin, apart from Hagrid none of the staff or students had clapped after his introduction, too busy staring at his face or talking among themselves, and the pair quickly stopped.
"Where was I? Ah yes, as I was saying, in place of Quidditch, we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
Murmurs broke out among the students. "What was this Triwizard Tournament thing, anyway, and how could it be more important than Quidditch?" One of the Weasley twins demanded out loud.
"Well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.
"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities — until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."
While most of the students were whispering excitedly about the prospect of new entertainment, or the revival of old traditional entertainment, depending on their outlook, Harry was already groaning.
"Stupid, bloody old fool. He's supposed to protect the students here, not make it even more dangerous!"
While a couple of the guys near him looked annoyed at Harry for interrupting their fun, mostly there was muted agreement. Harry had proved himself a good Hufflepuff, working hard to help others and even putting himself on the line, as well as top marks, so his opinion was valued and respected.
Though he didn't know it, some of the staff had similar thoughts. Professors McGonagall and Sprout in particular were far more concerned with the threat to their charges than the novelty value of some outdated and deadly 'sport'.
"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of Interna tional Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.
"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."
Harry was even more displeased. "Just great! Typical. And I'm supposed to trust that Dumbledore will keep us safe? Fat chance after the Acromantulas, the Basilisk and a hundred Dementors! And he didn't cast a single spell to keep us safe any of those times!"
His anger lent power to his complaint which was heard across the school. Angry mutterings followed Harry's reminder to them of all the dangers they were already exposed to at the castle.
Dumbledore was getting ready to stand up and reprimand young Harry when there was a distraction from the Gryffindor table.
"I'm going for it!" Fred Weasley shouted, his face alight with enthusiasm and greed. Others also seemed to pick up on his mood, and Dumbledore sat back, relieved as the swell of comments turned from complaints about his endangering them again to fantasies about winning that money for themselves.
He gave them a minute to indulge themselves before continuing.
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years and older - will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take. It is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no under age student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hog warts champion." His light blue eyes twinkled as they flickered over Fred's and George's mutinous faces. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.
"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be ar riving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted sup port to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"
While the Weasley twins were looking mutinous about the age restriction, Dumbledore's speech had done its work. It got the majority of students thinking about the Tournament as a good thing, something exciting, and supposedly safe.
Harry could wait and work on them later, if he wanted. Really, he didn't have much interest in doing that as long as his friends knew what he meant. That would probably bring in around a third of the school.
In the Hufflepuff Common Room, Cedric Diggory was waiting for him. "Did you really mean that, Harry? That you don't believe it will be safe?"
"You heard the man, Cedric, he admitted it was still going to be 'difficult and dangerous' to whoever was chosen and you know I'm right about him leaving us in danger from those murderous creatures."
"That's true. Still, a thousand Galleons is a lot of money!"
"And you won't have any money if you die trying to get it." Harry countered quickly. "You won't catch me trying to get my name into this thing. I've had enough excitement already." He smiled to soften his statement.
Cedric just laughed. "Like you'd get caught in the first place."
Harry had a nice night with his ladies, again using his clones so he could keep them company if they wanted him, while also being able to occupy his own bed and chat with the other Puff guys. Justin was still his closest male friend, having a level head on his shoulders that Harry couldn't help but respect.
In the morning, Justin was telling a few of the fence-sitters about his view on the Tournament. When he mentioned that it was sounding a lot like a bloodsport, the term went over the heads of the wizard-raised, so Hermione chipped in to explain.
"A good example is the arenas in Roman times, crowds gathering to watch gladiators fight each other, cheering on not just good moves but also and loudest at the deaths. People risking their lives for a bit of money and for the entertainment of a bloodthirsty crowd."
"And by cancelling Quidditch this year, they have made this stupid Tournament the only sport to watch. It's a slick play to make sure people care about it instead of the game they really love, transferring enthusiasm for one to the other." Harry added. "Quite Slytherin, really, since there isn't that much work for the other teachers in holding the Quidditch matches, so that explanation he gave us just doesn't hold water."
There were more nods, and more thoughtful discussion over the meal, before their first classes started. First up was History of Magic which was still ruined by the drone of the incompetent ghost Binns. After that came the electives with a double Care of Magical Creatures with a beaming Hagrid, introducing them to more 'fun' creatures, then nothing until just before dinner when Septima Vector gave them all a welcome back to Arithmancy, collecting the summer homework before describing the course for the year.
Late evening, Aurora Sinistra guided them all through some remedial Astronomy, and then they were sent back to their dorms, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw respectively, in two groups, hurrying a little since it was after curfew.
Classes on Tuesday were also rather light, Runes in the morning for Harry with Transfiguration and double Potions before dinner.
Wednesday, however, brought Harry's first class with the former Auror, and Harry's first problem of the year. A letter to her aunt had netted Susan some more stories about the wizard, including his forced retirement after he confused a handshake with attempted murder. Before class, however, he had another reminder of why Draco was unqualified for Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw.
He had seen Draco's little club in the corridor when the blond, never the brightest of sparks, decided to change direction and deliberately strolled down the middle of the corridor creating a confrontation when Harry refused to make way for him.
Draco had bounced off Harry, earning glares from Harry's ladies for touching their man. "Don't you know how to move out of the way, Potty?"
"Of course I do, Malfoy." Harry demonstrated by making way for some students who had been following them. "I do not make way for you, however. Not when any fool can see that you chose to force this, and got the fool's reward."
"Are you calling me a fool?" Draco demanded hotly, making Daphne and Sophie roll their eyes.
"If you can't work it out by now, Malfoy, then I'd say you deserved it." Harry returned.
Pansy was hanging back from the confrontation and sighed. Not a full week into the new year and Draco was already causing a scene.
"My father-"
"- Isn't here, laddie." Professor Moody interrupted as he walked up. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Nothing, Professor, I was just walking along and Potty here knocked me down." Draco tried his best hurt innocence look.
"Willing to make an Oath on that, Malfoy?" Moody barked and nodded, satisfied, when Draco shrank away.
Draco seemed to lose his voice, then mouthed "My father".
"Oh yeah? I know your father of old, Malfoy. You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son. You tell him that from me."
Draco scurried away like a ferret. The next time he saw Potter, he was going to get him!
When class started, with everyone excited from the news via the Hogwarts rumour mill that Moody was a great teacher, the scarred wizard turned up with his distinctive clunking footsteps.
"Right, you can put those books away. You won't need them." Those were his first words to their class. He took his seat and called out names, marking off each student.
"Right then, I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class, telling me what he covered. What he didn't cover was curses. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to teach you what illegal Dark curses look like until your sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful."
He looked around. "So... do any of you know which curses are the most heavily punished by Wizarding law?"
Several hands rose into the air, Susan's first of all and beating the Ravenclaws. "Yes, you."
"Those are the Unforgivables Curses, Professor." Susan's voice was strong despite her fear of the man. "There is the Imperius, the Cruciatus and the Killing Curse."
"Quite right," the grizzled man replied and got out a spider, muttering "Imperio!" The spider performed some tricks for the class, even a tap dance, making some of the class laugh to the annoyance of their peers.
"Quiet, the lot of you! Think it's funny, do you? You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"
The laughter died instantly, as Moody returned the somersaulting spider to the jar. "Total control. That curse created a lot of headaches for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act and who was acting under their own free will.
"The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and everyone jumped, Harry last as he had to decide to do it consciously and keep from throwing a brace of shuriken through the man.
"Next, Miss Bones mentioned the Cruciatus Curse." Moody growled out as he produced another spider. "It needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea. Engorgio!" The spider grew to the size of a tarantula, making most of the students a little nervous.
"Crucio!" Moody muttered, and the spider's legs bent in upon its body, twitching horribly. While it could emit no sound, it was clear to all of them that the spider was in pain. After half a minute, he finally stopped the spell and cancelled the growth charm before returning the still-twitching spider to the jar.
"Finally, there is the Killing Curse." As before, he got out a spider and the class recoiled, afraid of what was to come. Moody raised his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.
There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound, as though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air — instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but unmistakably dead. Several of the students stifled cries.
Moody swept the dead spider off the desk onto the floor.
"Not nice." He said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one known person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me. It requires a powerful bit of magic behind it - you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it.
"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again.
"These three curses, as Miss Bones told us, are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arm ing. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills … copy this down. …"
The rest of the lesson they took notes on the three, and were let out when the bell rang.
Draco's chance at revenge came on the weekend, he had been sneaky, following Potter through the castle and waiting until he was alone at last. Raising his wand and triumphant sneer firmly in place, he opened his mouth to shout out the foulest curse he knew when his world turned upside down, literally.
Harry had already turned around and watched as Professor Moody Transfigured the incautious Slytherin into a ferret, bouncing him on the floor of the corridor with every word. "Never - do - that - again -" Moody took note of that with a horrible attempt at a smile on his face while he continued to try to force some sense into the blond.
His fun with the Incredible Bouncing Ferret was interrupted, however, when Professor McGonagall came up and immediately cancelled the transformation, leaving a scratched and bleeding ponce on the floor in place of the ferret. Draco was obviously in shock from the double Transfigurations and the broken bones.
"Cease that at once! You ought to know better, Alastor. Surely not even Dumbledore forgot to tell you what the acceptable punishments are."
"Aye, he might have mentioned it."
"Then consider yourself warned, Alastor. Now, just what was going on here?"
"I found tha' little ferret trying to stalk Potter and raising his wand to curse him in the back. Rather than waste time, I stopped him from doing such a stinking, cowardly, scummy thing." Moody ground out.
"Vera well." McGonagall's brogue rose along with her anger. "Still, ye cannae use Transfiguration as a punishment. You give detentions or speak to the offender's Head of House or remove privileges. Like so"
Turning to the groaning boy still on the ground, Minerva got a leash on her temper as she saw he was injured. Still, her duties were clear and she needed to know how bad it was. She would also offer him a chance to retain a shred of his dignity at the cost of more pain. "Mr Malfoy, that will be fifty points from Slytherin and your next Hogsmeade trip has just been cancelled. Now get up if you can, and I will make sure you go straight to Madam Pomfrey! And if you have any sense whatsoever, you will give up this senseless attacking of Mr Potter. You haven't bested him in your time here in anything, yet you think you can take on someone who survived a Basilisk, a Troll and a Dark Lord?"
Malfoy had opened his mouth and weakly mouthed "My father..."
"You can be quite certain your father will be contacted over this matter. And since he is no longer on the Board of Governors, you can give up any dreams of him saving you from the punishments you have earned." Minerva flicked her wand as she spoke, not bothering to wait longer for the student to get to his feet on his own, and levitated him behind her as she took him to the Hospital Wing herself. Unseen by Moody, she gave Harry a wink, acknowledging that she knew he had never been in any real danger from the ponce.
Once at the mercy of Poppy Pomfrey, Draco was bound in one of the beds and magically silenced as he screamed. While Poppy conducted her examination, Minerva explained just what Draco had been doing. Making a snap decision, Poppy dismissed the quicker and less painful methods of treating the boy, instead using the slightly more effective treatment at her disposal.
"Well, Mr Malfoy, you have multiple broken bones, including a couple of your floating ribs. I am concerned that if I simply cast the bone-knitting spell that you would lose some flexibility and strength, so" she waved her wand, vanishing the broken bones and making Malfoy collapse against the bed, "you will be drinking this Skele-Grow in order to make sure you are 100% again." She forced the vile concoction down his throat, ignoring his protests and struggles.
"Now, lay back, Mr Malfoy. The more you fight this, the more it will hurt." With that, and a couple of Sticking Charms, she made sure the student would be out of her hair until the morning.
Minerva had already got up, hearing the prescription gave her a sense of satisfaction. Maybe the boy would even learn from the lesson, this time. 'Then again, maybe I should have waited a few more bounces so his stay would have been longer. No! No matter how tempting, I did the right thing by stopping the attack. Even if none of the staff would have complained about the peace and quiet, it was still my job to protect the students. Even the ones who do their best not to deserve it.'
With Draco in the Hospital Wing all afternoon and overnight, Pansy was at something of a loose end so she decided to see what the other Slytherin girls were doing. She found three of them sitting in their dorm and chatting like the friends they were. On seeing her, their conversation dried up as they all watched her closely.
"I, I was wondering if we could talk?" Pansy hated this, hated sounding weak, hated being in the weaker position, but unquestionably she was no matter which way she went. Reaching into her robes, she slowly removed her wand, putting it down in front of her and then keeping her hands clear. "I promise I won't attack you."
Tracey and Sophie both looked to Daphne who had the superior social position. Daphne on the other hand wasn't the type of girl who wanted to impose on her friends and took note of their body language. "Please, take a seat, Miss Parkinson."
Pansy was relieved and did so, opening up by asking about their Potions homework. Gradually their barriers came down fractionally as they talked for half an hour about various classes, surprising each other by agreeing that they wouldn't want to take Muggle Studies. While for Pansy that was more of the purist rhetoric's effects, for the others they were now intimately aware that the course was harmful to their understanding of regular British people.
Still, even that common ground gave Pansy hope that she could finally make inroads on the barrier between her and the three girls who dominated their year in Slytherin, whatever Malfoy thought. The fact that all three of them were friends and girlfriends of Harry Potter was the reason a lot of the House was aligning behind them. While her family still wanted her to stay close to Malfoy and his money, Pansy was getting ever closer to rejecting their demands even at the risk of banishment.
For now, she was constraining herself to undermining the basis for their demands. If she could convince her father, and especially her mother, that Draco was useless to them, they would allow her to make her own choices more. Unfortunately, Draco's marks and class standing, though poor, were also impossible for her to discover. His father had asked his good friend Severus to hide the results from the rabble, in order to prevent the other Purebloods from knowing just how poor a student his son really was.
The fact that his marks were hidden was good enough, however, to start casting doubt on Draco's talents, and if Pansy had been on better terms with the other students, she could have proven how poor the blond really was at magic by showing all the people above him. That's what she was hoping to work on today, getting closer to the point where she could ask for such information.
That afternoon in Cranleigh, Sandra Middleton was devastated. Sure, it had been a steamy summer romance, and she knew going in that it wasn't going to be forever, but that bastard had been so cold when he finally returned her calls.
"It's over, you stupid bint. Just leave me alone. You don't even look that hot." The click of him hanging up seemed to echo in her head.
He was lucky to be a hundred miles away from her then, for if she had been able to get her hands on him, she was sure she would have clawed his eyes out. Denied that option, she broke down in tears despite the best her parents could do to help her.
She wore herself out and took a nap, missing dinnertime entirely and not in the mood to be sociable, figuring that skipping a meal would be the first step on her new diet. Obviously, she needed one.
Sandra hadn't counted on Harry, however. She had said she would call him to talk about the latest issue of the engineering magazine, intending to pick it up and then discuss the articles, and when she missed the expected time, he decided to bring it around for her anyway.
Ringing the bell, Harry saw the worried face of her parents who invited him in.
"I'm sorry, Harry, I don't know if she will see you. She hasn't wanted to talk to us about it." Mrs Middleton answered to his confusion.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"She got some bad news from her boyfriend," Mrs Middleton replied gently. "Normally I wouldn't tell you this, but we're worried about her. I only hope you can help her. It would be a good use of your training," she added, "if you can cheer her up."
"I'll give it a go." Harry promised them and headed upstairs to her room, knocking gently on the door. "Hello Sandra? It's Harry. I came over to deliver the magazine you wanted."
Sandra was laying on top of her bed, going over where her life went wrong when she heard his voice. "Harry? Just give me a minute!" She got up and went over to her mirror, wanting to see how much of a wreck she was. Hurriedly grabbing tissues and wiping away the evidence of her crying, she finally remembered the makeup techniques Harry's mothers had taught her for rapid reapplying of her face.
It was nearly five minutes later when she opened the door, minimally satisfied with her looks, and invited Harry inside. She gave him a quick hug and patted the bed beside her rather than letting him take the chair at the desk.
"Thank you for that, Harry. You're very thoughtful, have I told you that before?"
Harry smiled, "Thank you, Sandra, and you have, but I won't object to hearing it again."
"So, let's look at this magazine, already." Sandra took it out of his hands, opening it up for them both to read, determined to cheer herself up.
As they chatted, Sandra found that it was working, she was already feeling a little better and it helped being able to think about things other than her disaster of a love life. Of course, that thought brought it all back to her, and she blurted out, "Harry, am I sexy?"
At another time, she would have been pleased at making him speechless. Here and now, she just wanted the earth to swallow her whole.
Harry didn't keep her waiting long for her answer, however. "Of course, Sandra. How could anyone think otherwise?"
"You mean it?"
"I do, Sandra."
"Oh thank you!" She hugged him tight, then let him go blushing, and started to tell him all about her summer romance, how she had done everything he asked despite feeling underneath that she should have kept her independence and pride. She knew he wasn't the one for her, but he was there and he seemed to understand her. "I had been trying to call him so we could work out where we went from here now that we're both back in England, but he was never there. This afternoon, he finally called back to tell me that it's over and to leave him alone. Then, he..." she trailed off, uncertain, "he said I wasn't even that hot."
As much as Harry wanted to defend her honour by going around and beating up the bastard for his attacks at her self-esteem, he had a much more urgent goal. "You know he's wrong, Sandra," he told her earnestly. "He was a lousy bastard for lashing out at you like that. The coward could have told you himself but instead he refused to talk to you until you forced him to. Nothing could be further from the truth. You are a beautiful and sexy lady."
Sandra interrupted his monologue with two words. "Prove it."
"What?"
"Prove it, Harry, show me that you truly mean it!" She looked him dead in the eyes. "Make me feel sexy again or leave me."
Harry was at the cusp, leaning in slowly and giving her plenty of time to change her mind before he kissed her. When she opened up for him, her right hand grabbing his back, he started kissing her passionately. He was committed, and did his best to meet her challenge.
They made love late into the night with Sandra falling asleep on top of him and pinning him in her bed, smiling. Waking up in the morning to Harry's concerned face, she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Coming down the stairs later, she smiled at both her parents and hugged both of them. "Thank you for sending him up, Mum, Dad, he was just what I needed."
Her father was none too comfortable with having fresh evidence of his innocent little girl as a sexual woman. However it was clear that Harry had stopped her depression in its tracks, and for that, he could forgive quite a lot.
When Harry appeared a minute later, already whipping up a delicious breakfast for the family, Mr Middleton just sighed and resigned himself to accepting it. Sandra's glowing smile at him for that acceptance even got him smiling back, and he read the Sunday paper in a good mood. His wife rubbed his shoulder as she walked past, giving him a loving smile that promised him an even better evening.
Sandra sat in Harry's lap as she sat to breakfast, cuddling against him as she lazily ate up, wearing a smile only surgery could remove.
The next lessons for Defence Against the Dark Arts proved to be explosive. Professor Moody surprised his classes who had expected more of the same focus on taking notes about the Unforgivables. Instead, he cleared away the desks for the Gryffindor and Slytherin class and made a stunning announcement.
"Today, I will be putting the Imperius Curse on each of you in turn. This is to demonstrate its power and to see if any of you have the real strength of character needed to resist it."
The students were shocked and Parvati said uncertainly, "But you said it's illegal, Professor-"
"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like." Moody's magical eye locked onto Parvati, disturbing her with his eerie, unblinking stare. "If you'd rather learn the hard way with someone putting it on you for real, there's the exit. Go on."
"N-no, Professor, I'll stay."
"Good lass," Moody grinned horribly.
One by one, they were put under by their own Professor, made to do silly or humiliating acts in front of their classmates and then released. At the end of Monday's DADA class, the Gryffindors and Slytherins had to hurry straight to Transfiguration then to Charms. The next class was Arithmancy, however, and it was there that Harry had to struggle visibly with his emotions.
When Daphne had finished telling how he put first Lavender then the others under the Imperius, Harry was quite willing to tear the castle down so that no two stones were atop one another. The CRACK! of the top of his desk breaking under the strain of his hands gripping it caused all conversation to stop.
Taking a quick breath then two deep ones, he got himself under enough control and finally looked up at Professor Vector. "I'm sorry, Professor, may I be excused?"
"Mr Potter, I will allow it if you can explain to me just what has caused such a loss of control."
"Please, Professor, I just heard some urgent family news and I need to find out if it is true." Harry didn't enjoy putting that note of begging in his voice, but it was better to make people think he needed sympathy than to make them afraid of him. The need to lash out at Professor Moody was a living thing and he needed to get some space to deal with it. On second thought, the idea of contacting someone really was a good idea.
"Alright, Mr Potter. I assume Ms Greengrass will be prepared to share her notes from class, but do not take too long, Mr Potter." Septima was firm with him, even if she did have a soft spot for him as she did for all her brightest students.
"Yes, Professor Vector, thank you very much!" Harry was out the door in a flash, closing it quietly behind him out of respect for the class, before taking a jog up towards the Owlery. As soon as he was out of sight of any of the portraits or other potential spies, Harry created an extra clone before dispelling it to make all the others aware of what had transpired. He knew it would anger them to an extent, but not as much as if he had done it immediately while he was in the grip of his initial rage. The message sent, he took a minute to get rid of his anger then returned to class looking, and feeling, much better.
Back at Cranleigh, the clones working on ninja skills darted inside en masse, startling his parents.
"What's wrong?" Remus asked who was walking by the kitchen where Harry's clones were headed.
"That bastard Moody! He put my ladies under the Imperius!" Harry ground out with his teeth clenched.
"Harry, take a second and calm down!" Naruto ordered sharply.
The young man nodded, getting it under control rather than letting it control him.
Naruto watched, satisfied when he saw his son was thinking again. "Better. Now, what was your plan?"
"Beyond letting all of you know, I was going to contact the Director of the DMLE. I refuse to let that happen to my other ladies."
"Of course, Harry. That's a given."
The ready agreement helped calm him further still. "After talking to Amelia, I don't know. I guess I could try to go to the papers again if she is unable to help me. I don't want to do that, though, if I can avoid it. Not only does it tell people that, whatever I may say, I am perfectly willing to use the fame I claim to hate, but it puts me squarely in the spotlight in opposition to Dumbledore. While he is certainly aware that I don't trust him, I have yet to be the one leading a fight against him. He would be forced to get involved in the political mess in one way or another. I don't yet know enough about how he fights to predict how he will jump and plan for it."
"Well put, Harry." Tsunade nodded approvingly.
He smiled at the praise, reaching for the phone and dialling the number for the Ossuary where the Bones family technically lived. With Susan at Hogwarts nine months of the year, Amelia at the Ministry for her work and both of them spending much of their free time at the Kitsune Compound, Harry felt this was more in name only than in fact. Being a Monday afternoon, he didn't expect to get hold of Amelia herself but did hope to talk to one of her bodyguards. All of them had long been in on the secret of Harry's clones.
After several rings, one of them answered and Harry quickly set out to explain the reason for his call. "Hello. - Yes, this is Harry Potter. - Yes, that's right, I do need to get in contact with her. - I don't know that I would call it an emergency but the matter is important and time-sensitive. - Well, no, I don't mind telling you what it's about. I have a report about twenty uses of an Unforgivable at Hogwarts on the students and if nothing is done, there will be an attempt at more. - Yes, an attempt not a success. - Yes, I will stop it by whatever means necessary. - Yes, that does mean I am willing to use lethal force if needed, though I hope I don't have to. - No, I am not going to take the law into my own hands except as a last resort, that is why I am calling you to report the matter.- I just want to protect the people I love. - Alright, thank you. - Thank you."
Fifteen minutes later, Amelia Bones Apparated to the back of the house and raced inside.
"Alright, Harry, I am here. I had to drop everything to get here, so this had better be real." Amelia was a little off-balance from having to switch gears like this, but she trusted Harry enough to investigate it rather than write it off as the delusions of a child.
"Ok, Director Bones. Please take a seat." With that, he started showing his memory of the report from Daphne Greengrass. When it concluded, he looked hopefully at the woman.
"Unfortunately, the memory is inadmissible as evidence, especially when it's only of someone else claiming that a crime took place. But," she looked grimly at Harry, "it does mean I can start an investigation as soon as I get a complaint in writing."
"Would such a complaint get through to you? I still remember that 'some powerful wizard' had placed a curse on me to block my mail. What are the chances that he hasn't done something to prevent complaints making it to your office?" Harry wondered.
"Firstly, that is a very suspicious mind you have there, Harry."
"Thank you, Director Bones." Harry smiled.
Shaking her head, she smiled back. "Secondly, we will have to find out by trial and error if there are any such spells in place. The more complaints I receive, the better."
"So I should get as many of my classmates to write complaints as possible." Harry thought aloud.
"Right. If I get them, we can move forward from there with an official investigation with all the bad publicity for Dumbledore that carries. It also means he will be on the lookout for whoever put him in that position."
"I know, Director Bones, I would be painting a big target on my back. He seems to have been willing to let me go for the last few years, but he would have to start looking at me again in self-defence."
"Yes, he would, and he still is Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the ICW and Headmaster of Hogwarts. In addition, he is still the person who defeated Grindelwald and who has spent half a century as the most respected wizard in Britain. That is a formidable enemy to make."
Harry sighed. "I know, but is there another way I can solve this without having to get into combat with Alastor Moody? While I am confident in my own abilities, I have no idea just how good he is and I would be risking the confrontation starting with a room full of innocent bystanders that I have to protect. That's a nightmare scenario."
Naruto spoke up. "Harry, you were trained to think as a ninja. What's the first rule about fighting in an unfavourable environment?"
"Don't. Instead, shift the venue or change the environment to one that favours you." Harry quoted Anko-mum's lesson verbatim.
"Good to see you haven't forgotten." Anko's voice came in from the next room.
"So, how about if I go for his wand before class starts? In his office would take care of the bystanders, but it would be fighting on his home territory with unknown defences."
"Go on." Amelia prompted him, intrigued.
"Well, if he is as paranoid as people say, then I could present a false positive for a threat, lure him out of position into ground I prepared. Once there, I could overwhelm him."
"Or," Anko started.
"Or I could just try and take the wand without him noticing while he's on the move." Harry sighed.
"Do you really think you could get away with that?" Amelia asked, curiously.
Harry shrugged and showed Amelia the wand he had just snuck out of her holster. "I think there's a decent chance." He gave it back handle first immediately, but he had made his point. The prankster in him had called for him to do the same to her clothing too. Or was that the pervert in him?
"What about indirect ways, Harry?"
Blinking, Harry smiled. "Yes, I could always get someone else to lead the effort to stop the use of the Imperius. Someone with all the reason in the world to do it, too, as well as someone whose political capital should be cut back at any and every opportunity."
"Malfoy," Amelia gave a shark-like grin.
"Exactly. Draco's all too willing to go running to his father, and his father did claim to be under the Imperius so would be expected to hate its use on his family 'again'. I'm sure it would be easy enough to wind Draco up and point him where we want him to go. The only question is if it would do any good in time before I have to use the other means. Well, that and would Lucius even object to his son learning about casting the Unforgivables?"
Amelia sighed. "It's not polite to douse a lady's dreams, Harry."
"We could try asking the students who have been cursed to write anonymous complaints. That way they will authenticate as real witches and wizards with real complaints, assuming there are no problems with their mail, and arrive on your desk tonight or tomorrow morning. If they don't arrive, you can let me know and we can go to Plan B."
"What's Plan B?"
"Asking him nicely to stop." Harry's innocent expression was perfect. "And when that fails, making him stop if I have to." He sighed tiredly. "Why is there always something majorly wrong at Hogwarts every year? I had better let them know to get started if we are to get everything ready in time. Thank you, Amelia, for coming on such short notice."
"It's my job, Harry. I can't do everything, unfortunately, but what I can do, I must." Amelia got up and gave her goodbyes, returning to her duty. The clone she had been talking to dispelled itself, sending the message to Hogwarts. With Arithmancy ending soon and dinner about to begin, Harry readied himself. It was time to give notice to this Wizarding World that laws should apply to everyone, not just to the weak.
Thank you for reading and for your comments and feedback. Thanks also go to my hard-working betas, especially Cloud Zen and Daisy Duck.