By the time December came, the remains of the basilisk, including its shed skin, had been disposed of. Beth and Alex were each given a scale as a keepsake, since they had participated in destroying it. The venom and fangs were divided between Professor Snape and Petrov's Potions, and some of the skin and other useful parts as well. The rest were sold to the Apothecaries in Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and some others located in other countries, which resulted (as basilisk parts were worth quite a bit of money) in at least seven thousand Galleons.
Ginny and Ron were given one thousand Galleons, and their parents put six hundred of that in a trust account for them to split between themselves when they came of age. The remaining four hundred was saved to pay for their school supplies for the rest of their Hogwarts years. Beth and Alex were also given one thousand Galleons, but the latter turned down his share, citing the vault full of money that his biological parents had left him. He instead asked that the five hundred Galleons be given to Fred and George, who were thinking of developing a line of prank items to be sold at Zonko's Joke Shop, or even possibly starting up a joke shop of their own. Nothing of this was said to Mrs. Weasley, who would not have approved of this ambition at all, and to make Fred and George feel better about accepting the money, Alex told them to see at as an investment and that they could pay him back by giving him free joke products in the future.
Neville and Hermione were given five hundred Galleons each. The former's grandmother put the money in the vault that Frank and Alice had left their son, and the latter set up an account at Gringotts to put her money in. With help from Beth and Alex's parents, she explained to her parents where the money had come from, but in a way that wouldn't alarm them so much that they'd think Hogwarts was so unsafe that they'd pull her out from school. David and Luna were also given five hundred Galleons each, which was also put aside for when they came of age. Luna said she planned to use hers to travel the world for a few months after graduation and look for new magical creatures.
Adam and Leah, who were the ones that had been under the diary's thrall, were offered one thousand Galleons each. They turned it down, stating that they only wanted to be given the same amount that their friends had, if they had to take the money. So they were given one thousand Galleons instead of two thousand, and their mother put the money in the vault that their father had left the children, for their future use. The rest of the money from the sale of basilisk parts, which was over two thousand Galleons, went to the Hogwarts scholarship fund.
On the train ride back to London for the winter holidays, Beth gave Hermione a book on Occlumency and another on Legilimency. "Please read these over the holidays. Legilimency is the ability to read someone's mind. It's a bit more complex than that, but in a nutshell that's what it is. Occlumency is the ability to shield your mind from someone who is a Legilimens. Granddad Vladek taught all of the grandkids and our friends Occlumency before we started Hogwarts, and since you're our friend, Hermione, you should learn too."
"Ooh, that sounds interesting," said Hermione. "I had wondered if witches and wizards were able to see someone's thoughts and planned to research it at some point. Is Legilimency a common enough ability?"
"Not really," Alex replied. "It can be rather difficult to learn, and most witches and wizards don't bother learning. Grandad Vladek knows, but he didn't teach any of the grandkids or our friends it, only Occlumency. Professor Dumbledore also has the ability, but he doesn't use it on students without asking permission first or in extreme cases when it's absolutely necessary. Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, is a Legilimens as well, and Granddad Vladek taught Professor Snape Legilimency and Occlumency, for reasons that I'm not free to divulge, other than that it had to do with the war against Voldemort. There's probably a few others that know Legilimency, but we don't know who they are."
"The main reason you should learn Occlumency, which also applied to our learning, is to better keep Alex's secret," said Neville. "Not that we knew that at the time of our learning it. We just assumed it was something that the Romanov-Ivan clan thought was worth learning and the friends were included simply due to how close we were to them and we'd shared other lessons before."
"So read those books and practice clearing your mind," added Ron. "We'll help you when we return to Hogwarts, and the next time you visit Mr. Vladek can test your mind shields. Or maybe Ivan can ask Professor Snape to test you before then."
"Why would I need to get Ivan to ask Professor Snape?" asked Hermione. "Well, he is Ivan's Head of House, but couldn't I ask?"
"Yes, but Professor Snape would be more willing to say yes if Ivan asked," Beth responded. "He's Ivan's godfather. Don't go spreading that around. There are any number of Slytherins, and former Slytherins, who would be upset to find out that their Head of House is godfather to what they would see as 'halfblood Gypsy trash'."
"I promise I won't tell anyone else," Hermione vowed. "How did Professor Snape become Ivan's godfather, anyway?"
Alex shrugged. "We don't know the details, other than Uncle Niko being in the same house as him and being on friendly terms with him. And Professor Snape was Granny Ilsa's apprentice prior to getting his Potions Mastery, so the family would have gotten to know him better. I guess at some point Uncle Niko and Aunt Sarah decided that he would be a suitable choice for godfather. Ivan loves having Snape as his godfather, and says he wants to become Potions Master like him, and possibly take over as Potions teacher when Snape retires, if he doesn't help Fred and George develop potions for their prank line or joke shop."
"It would be odd if Ivan didn't like Professor Snape as his godfather," Beth pointed out. "Before Hogwarts, Ivan spent every Saturday afternoon, after attending synagogue, with Professor Snape, unless they had prior engagements. And after Ivan started Hogwarts, they still meet once a week to talk or brew potions. That's plenty of time for them to have bonded."
At this juncture, Draco Malfoy and his two cronies barged in the compartment. The former was quite upset, most of it directed at Alex and Beth. His father had written to him about how the two had lost the Malfoy family the services of Dobby. On top that, rumors had spread throughout the school (most likely from the portraits in Dumbledore's office, as the students and professors in the know hadn't said anything) about Mr. Malfoy being the cause of the Chamber of Secrets being opened and the two petrifications. The rumors had then spread to the parents and the rest of the wizarding world, which resulted in Mr. Malfoy being sacked as school governor and the Auror Department (mainly those Aurors that had been friends or thought well of Leah and Adam's father) investigating him. A very thorough raid on Malfoy Manor earlier in the week had uncovered a secret chamber under the drawing room floor, where items of an unsavory nature were discovered. Not only did Lucius Malfoy have to pay a huge fine, but he was currently in Ministry custody for questioning, and could possibly end up in Azkaban if other dark deeds were uncovered and he couldn't wriggle his way out of it.
Draco glared around the compartment, then looked directly at Alex and Beth and snarled, "It's your fault that Father's in this mess. If you hadn't meddled with the family none of this would have happened. Halfblood Gypsy trash like you shouldn't be allowed to-"
"That's enough out o' tha, Malfoy," Leah interrupted coldly behind him, the Ravenclaw quintet having seen the Slytherin trio go by and following them to see what they were up to. She was speaking in broad Yorkshire, something her and her twin tended to do when they were upset."'Tis nobody's fault but thy father's. 'Twas he that put th' diary among my books. An' none o' us started those 'rumors'. Th' portraits in Professor Dumbledore's office probably did that. An' we didna ask th' Auror Department t'investigate thy father, or t'be born t'a father that was an Auror an' had coworkers that liked him an' were willin' t'do somethin' t'help his children."
"An' tha'rt behavin' like a spoilt brat, blamin' others for thy faults, or th' faults of thy father," Adam added.
Draco, who had whirled around to face the two, glared at them and opened his mouth to retort, but Ginny pointed her wand at him and snapped, "If you and your friends don't get out here right now, I'll do my Bat-Bogey Hex on you."
"And I'll be happy to make your skin red and gold for the rest of the train ride," David said, adding his wand to Ginny's. "Also, Dobby is now working for the Petrov-Romanov clan, and I'm sure that if I summoned him, he would love to do something to you like he did to your father."
"You mudblood, halfblood, and blood traitor trash will regret ever crossing the Malfoy family!" Draco spat at the group at large before beckoning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him out. The Ravenclaw quintet parted to let the trio pass, with Luna 'innocently' calling after them that if they kept up this sort of behavior, she'd ask the Wrackspurts to fuzz their brain so that they'd learn to be nicer.
The others chuckled at Luna's comment and then the Ravenclaw quintet returned to their compartment. Hermione spent the rest of the train ride reading the book on Legilimency. Ron and Alex played a series of chess games, with the former winning them all, the last one with Alex somehow losing within eleven moves. He gave up playing at that point and the two moved on to Exploding Snap, with Beth and Neville abandoning their activities of re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring and writing in his Herbology commonplace book respectively to join them.
Author's note: I apologize if the Yorkshire accent isn't completely accurate. As I'm not from Yorkshire, England, or able to speak it myself, I had to use those books I own that have characters speaking in broad Yorkshire for reference. Perhaps I should have written the Rosenbergs as living in a different part of Britain, or not given them the habit of speaking in broad Yorkshire when they're upset, and therefore avoided this. A thank-you goes to reviewer erica. phoenix16, who reminded me that something had to be done with Lucius Malfoy, besides being sacked as school governor (which happened in the books and I had planned to keep that part the same).