3SM141
Disclaimer – not mine and definitely not making any money off it.
Chapter 141
Corey Warrington slowly cozied up to Hagrid. He was quite glad he'd always been distantly polite to the Gamekeeper. He'd never done anything to create any hostility between he and the half-giant. Corey started asking a few questions during the classes the Hagrid assisted with – the ones that had 'dangerous and deadly' animals in them. He then lingered afterwards to ask a few more questions of Hagrid and thanked him with as much sincerity as he could. He was careful to not overdo it. Even an oblivious Gryffindor like Hagrid would notice if a formerly aloof Slytherin got overly chummy.
At last the expected assignment arrived. It was traditional for the graduating classes to do a long essay assignment for History of Magic about 'The History of Hogwarts'. Since it was the final assignment for the class and given at the first of February, it gave the NEWTs class a small reprieve from excessive work from at least one class.
In the past – the pre- Binns the ghost teacher past – many students copied an old essay from an older sibling or bought one from an enterprising Ravenclaw. After Professor Binns had become a ghost, any truly excellent essays tended to be handed down through several generations of a family.
Of course others took advantage of Professor Binns' oblivious nature in other ways. All the students in one Gryffindor class in the 70's turned in very same essay and Professor Binns did not notice it. Luckily for them it was not discovered for several years by any of the other professors.
Professor Pucey, once he was free from being 'overseen' by Lucius, had emphasized that essays would be graded much higher if they were very different themes from ones in the past and extra points given if no one else did any similar essay that year and very high grades if they found a subject that had never been 'gone over' before. A lengthy list of prior topics and the number of times they had been used as a subject was posted.
Corey had reviewed the list of prior themes carefully noting that a very popular essay topic over the last two or three centuries had been the magical ceiling in the Great Hall. 'How the founders decided on that particular ceiling', 'Charms used on the ceiling', 'History of how the charms on the ceiling had been developed', 'How the Founders had applied the charms'. The list of essays on the subject was lengthy and impressive.
Corey was finally reassured that the subject he wanted was relatively unexplored and approached Hagrid after the next class.
Hagrid eyed the Slytherin with only mild suspicion. Yes, for decades he'd disliked most Slytherins on principle but between Severus and now Harry and Draco he had softened toward them a great deal. Theo's death had struck him as hard as it had hit any of the students and he was willing to give almost any of the Slytherin students a bit more leeway than he would have even a year ago.
"Professor Hagrid?" Corey began; starting off with what he hoped was good manners even if he couldn't summon a great deal of respect. "You probably know that we seventh year students need to pick out our topics for the history essay. Professor Pucey has made it clear that handing in the same ones year after year is no longer acceptable …" Corey conjured a grin in answer to Hagrid's guffaw of amusement.
"Anyway, when I was reviewing the old topics, I realized that although there had been an essay on the magical keys still in use at Hogwarts and the old groundskeeper position from a couple centuries ago here at the school, there really hasn't been a theme about how the two positions were combined and exactly what the positon entails these days."
Hagrid beamed at Corey and nodded. "I'd be 'appy to 'elp ya out." Hagrid was pleased that someone had chosen his duties as a topic.
Hagrid waxed lyrical about the duties of a groundskeeper, ensuring that the grounds around the castle were always well – groomed and the flowerbeds all neat and tidy. The statuary and the other stonework like the bridges and courtyards also needed seeing to and Corey dutifully took lengthy notes.
At last they got to the keys. "The keys usta open a lot a' the important areas. The doors an' the gates were all warded to only be opened by the keys. But those ward were too easy to break, ya' see? So mos' of the gates are warded an' tied to the castle or the Headmaster, now."
"So the keys still open some things, then?" Corey asked casually.
"Oh, some things, yeah." Hagrid continued. "Not so many, and most 'ave to do with keepin' the grounds or the beasties. The shed with the feed and the cold room in it is warded with a ward key, and the shed with the equipment that mows the lawn is locked up … a lot of students liked to try pranks wi' those." Hagrid looked a bit grumpy at that. "Since fewer things of import had wards with keys tuned to them, most of those keys were passed on to the groundskeeper."
"So there are other keys?" Cory asked.
"Some, I think." Hagrid wrinkled up his eyebrows in thought. "Mostly to do with some doors inside the castle that guard things that are too fragile for direct warding."
Corey deflated a bit, but they had reached the huge front gates. "So these used to be opened by keys, then?" Corey eyed the keyholes as big as his hand.
"Ach, yes!" Hagrid warmed to his subject again. "The founders created the gates with a few goblin workers that they trusted a bit. They enchanted the entire stone wall that partially surrounds Hogwarts. Keeps any muggles from seein' the place. They also held the wards to keep anyone or anythin' from entering unless allowed by the keeper of the keys."
"But now the wards are held by the castle and the Headmaster?" Corey asked with a sense of failure.
"Well, yes, mostly they are." Hagrid answered slowly, with a grimace. Corey looked at him hopefully. "The castle an' grounds are surrounded by sea, stone wall and forest. The wards toward the sea are set inta' the castle wall on tha' side an' they're quite strong. The forest is difficult ta' ward 'acause there are so many magical creatures and it's na' like 'ogwarts owns all a' it. Luckily the centaurs 'ave an agreement ta' 'elp protect us an' the other dangers of the forest keep us pretty well protected on tha' side an' the forest goes on fer a long ways."
"And the walls?" Corey prompted when Hagrid seemed to have wound down.
"Ah, for a time the walls and gates were controlled by warded keys, but now the walls are locked to keystones and linked to the castle, as some of the wall connects with it. The gates are trickier. Most gates are locked and have to be opened by the headmaster directly, so they aren't in much use anymore. The main gate is warded by the key that the founders set to it, but it's been modified over the years by the headmasters. They've never been able to reset any of the gates to not be controlled by the keys at all, and the main gate is only partially modified."
Corey held his breath waiting for Hagrid to continue and finally broke and asked, "How is it modified?" He tried very hard to not act eager, but Hagrid wasn't looking at him anyway.
"Don't really know, but I've 'eard that it's a real mess every year trying to tell the gates who can come in and who has to wait for permission." Hagrid beamed at the crestfallen face of Corey, who managed to thank Hagrid and shuffled back to his dorm.
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Neville reported the headway the students were making in clearing the tunnel. Pettigrew knew of other tunnels, of course, and Sirius and Remus had carefully set rather fatal traps in them that discouraged the Death Eaters from using them. Entrances on the castle side were carefully locked against exploring students. Just collapsing the tunnels would possibly alert the Death Eaters that they were expecting attack from that front. The traps were just obviously prudent.
Neville reported that Pettigrew was 'sniffing around' the Marauder's old tunnels with no success. Albus and Hugo listened to his report and nodded. They would pass on the information to Severus and Lucius as well as Sirius, Remus and the rest of the Order.
After Neville left Hugo grunted unhappily. "With Pettigrew in the mix I am concerned that they have not even mentioned the 'shrieking shack'."
Albus nodded, "I don't know if it is because sneaking through the tunnel would be difficult as they could only go one by one. The shack is just outside of Hogsmeade, so it would be difficult to gather there in any large numbers to mount an assault from there, so they may have already dismissed it as useless."
Hugo frowned, that seemed a bit too hopeful. Yes, they could only get in one by one but if they were some of Voldemort's best fighters, that could still be bad.
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Voldemort listened to Umbridge's report with a faint smile.
"Well, the tunnel is mostly a diversion. The students that your little spies overheard likely were given that information for the purpose of being overheard by Zabini and the others." Voldemort chuckled a bit meanly at Dolores' look of astonishment at the idea that she might have been outwitted by students. "We can send a small force down the tunnel, of the newer recruits, and perhaps Fenrir and what is left of his pack." Voldemort sneered a little at the thought of the remnants of what had once been a fearsome group.
Pius and the LeStranges nodded, none of them were geniuses at strategy. The Dark Lord eyed them sourly. The only one left with any plotting skills was Yaxley. Losing Lucius to the other side had been a blow. Severus, he realized had always plotted against him. The raids Snape had planned had always appeared to be brilliantly plotted and yet almost always seemed to fail … through no fault of Snape's, of course.
"The news regarding the gates and keys is more interesting. See if you can gather more information on the Founders keys and the warding still on them." Voldemort rubbed at his chin and thought hard. "Pius, see if the Department of Mysteries will give you any material on the keys. The wards on Hogwarts have always been a bit mysterious. Some are rather obvious. The ones you can sense the moment you go near the castle you can detect even without drawing your wand. Obviously there are many more and the keys the Founders made have been kept quite secret."
Pius nodded anxiously and hoped his few acquaintances in the DOM were willing to talk.
"Even if we learn nothing, it can be another point of distraction. Bella and some of the others can attack the main gates. If we learn what area might be a weak point in the wards sheer power might bring it down or at least worry Dumbledore enough to draw him away from the castle itself." Voldemort tapped his wand against the arm of his 'throne'.
"With this two – pronged attack, we will be able to get a fair number of fighters and myself through the tunnel from the shrieking shack. The giants and dementors can attack from the forest as well as any other creatures you can recruit. I hear the acromantulas are easily persuaded to go after 'fresh meat'. "
The LeStranges bowed and made off the see what could be done about recruiting spiders without becoming food themselves. This left Peter alone with the brooding Dark Lord.
"You are sure the Shrieking Shack is not warded?" Voldemort asked.
"Yes, master, I have checked it several times." Peter nodded frantically.
Voldemort nodded in satisfaction. Just before spring break might work for an attack. The wards on the gates would be loosened to let the students leave and the Professors would be busy organizing the children's departure.
He'd hoped to take down the Ministry first, but the Minister was being unusually canny, or rather he was listening to Aurors and Advisors that were canny. Voldemort still had eyes and ears in the Ministry, but none where they could just go in and take over.
Grabbing Hogwarts was sure to cause a panic, and they could force compliance from a great many high – level people in the ministry with their children in his hands. The Ministry would be only staffed with about half the usual people during Spring break, as well. A coup might be accomplished with frightened parents helping them take the Ministry.
Hogwarts would make an excellent fortress / power base while bringing them all to heel and give him quite a few mudblood upstart students to make examples of. Most of all he would finally have in his power the one place he'd ever felt an affection for. He'd have stormed Hogwarts even if it had held no advantage at all just to claim the only 'home' he'd known.
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Tom watched Dora and Rosmerta working together on arranging the table for a 'special dinner' for Dora's parents. They got along very well and spent quite a bit of time looking over the available empty houses on the Reserve, looking for one for Dora and Tom to move into. Tom wasn't anxious to move, he liked staying at Dragonsrest with his family, and since the likelihood of him having to die in the war was high he dragged his feet on decisions quite a bit.
Dora was not giving up hope and continued to make plans for the future although she agreed that they would put off buying the house until after the coming battle ended or if they had a child. Another point of contention. Dora wanted to get pregnant immediately so she would have a piece of Tom, even if he did die.
Tom was horrified at the idea of leaving Dora widowed and pregnant, and worse yet, leaving a child fatherless. That struck too close to home. Dora insisted she understood his reluctance, but continued to chip away at his arguments. Tom wearily admitted that a Hufflepuff badger would likely win a long-term argument every time unless one was willing to either hex them silent or obliviate what they were arguing about from their mind.
Severus came up from his lab / workshop carrying another crystal castle to be sent to some collector with far too many galleons to spend. This one had a mix of white and pink crystal, likely for some little girl's birthday.
The crystal castles were becoming a hot seller now that Severus had invented a spell to prevent the crystals from getting hazy from the little dragon's smoke and fire. Tom had to admit that Severus was making an impressive amount of money on them.
Beth oohed and squealed at the sight of the castle like she always did and asked about the spells and how many dragons the castle would hold. Severus smiled, always a sucker for admiration from Beth or Harry, having been unused to children or teenagers approving of anything he might do. Of course Rosmerta's smiling approval of any of his endeavors always made his heart warm with happiness.
March was progressing and Neville's reports to Albus and Hugo all indicated that the attack on Hogwarts would happen around the week off for Easter break. The nerve shredding part of it all was trying to be ready for when it all went down. The dragons wanted to be there for it, but hiding a phalanx of dragons near Hogwarts for weeks was impossible. Even doing so for days would be difficult.
Yuan and Severus had conferred with Tom and the dragons. They had scouted areas near Hogwarts, using Hazelette's memories of the surrounding area, looking for good places for dragons to lurk, hopefully inconspicuously. The dragonriders could disillusion the dragons for a time, perhaps a day or two, but the dragon's inherent magic would fight it and hiding such a huge animal would be quite draining.
Severus finally shrugged and announced. "Winning at a game of 'chicken' is knowing when to flinch." Then he had to explain to them what 'playing chicken' meant.
"Essentially, we need the dragons and our other allies in place at the right time. Too early and we lose our chance of surprise, or they will wait until we are forced to leave. Too late and we're sure to lose." Severus grimaced at the thought of Hogwarts falling to Death Eaters. "We have to pick the right time to 'flinch' and put the dragons in place."
"I don't really like the idea of the students being there if an attack is going to occur." Yuan muttered. "It's rather irresponsible if you ask me."
Severus nodded with a rueful frown. "Yes, but we can't just evacuate the school until the Dark Lord is gone … the students might be kept at home for years. If the school is empty he'll just attack wherever the children are likely to be and drag them to the school and take it over anyway to hold them hostage there just as he had already likely planned."
Tom shifted unhappily. "Yes, I'm pretty sure he covets Hogwarts. Empty or full, he wants it and he obviously intends to take it. If the students aren't there he'll go get them, just like Severus says."
Yuan sighed. Few were likely to predict Voldemort as well as these two, except perhaps Lucius. They were most probably correct.
Lucius was taking his turn at staring down Umbridge and correcting her as often as possible with a condescending sneer. He and Remus shadowed Umbridge and Corey as much as they could without alerting them to it.
The students continued to clear away the debris in the tunnel while Lucius and Remus monitored them. Sirius and Hugo tried to encourage the centaurs to patrol a little harder around the school. Bane and his herd remained hostile, but they'd been seeing problems among the acromantulas and signs of giants approaching the area.
Oliver and Heather, along with Heather's mother Ruth approached the Unicorn herds. Getting them to mobilize against the Dark creatures allying with Voldemort was trickier. Yes, they were willing to protect innocent students from darkness, but they only really became fierce and determined when the dementors were mentioned. The idea of dementors hunting innocents in their forest had the unicorns stamping and snorting fiercely.
Ruth had to be satisfied with the unicorn's assurances that dementors would not get by the unicorns without a fight.
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Rosmerta, Andromeda and Petunia met several times while plans were being made by the other Dragonsrest occupants and the Order. Andromeda knew the males tended to 'protect' them from what they viewed as 'much too harsh realities of war'. They even did this occasionally with Dora even if she was an Auror.
They kept telling themselves it was 'endearing' instead of infuriating but as the time grew nearer to springtime and the Easter break they started to make their own plans.
Andromeda knew that her sister Bellatrix would be in the thick of things and no one knew better than she just how vicious Bella could be. Andy hoped that she could predict Bella's moves during the battle. The Order was unsure of exactly where the Death Eaters would strike first. There would likely be more than one area that would be struck, but Andy was sure that Bella would be at the main attack.
Rosmerta was pretty sure that she was tired of being on the periphery of the battles. She intended to be in the thick of this one. Severus and Harry would need every wand available and Hufflepuff or not, she would be there for them. The battle was unlikely to be a lot worse than some of the more rowdy Saturday night brawls she'd broken up at her pub.
Petunia had already been slated to take Beth to Malfoy Manor with Tori to wait out the battle with the herd of Malfoy house-elves. She'd felt a bit slighted, but she was unlikely to be any help even if Lucius did buy her a high-powered assault rifle like Dudley had jokingly mentioned. Lucius had also said that if the worst happened and the upcoming battle went badly that Malfoy Manor was going to be the fall – back position for the Order and even, perhaps most of the Hogwarts students.
They would disperse escaping wizards and witches to the safehouses from the Manor. She was also to send wizards and witches that intended to assist the Order in the battle from the safehouses through the floo at the Manor to one at Hogwarts.
Petunia knew that all that was important, but she felt a little left out all the same. Rosmerta, in a fit of inspiration had given Petunia the Amazon dagger "in case of an emergency". Severus had left the dagger with Rosmerta for safekeeping after its last use.
Rosmerta had said that the daggers magic had lit the magic inside her from her core. Petunia had not felt her "core light up", rather she could feel the magic leeching into her from the outside. None the less, she could feel the magic and that in itself was wonderful.
She'd always longed to know what it was about magic that had drawn Lily away from the muggle world with barely a backward glance. Now that she had tasted it, she knew what had lured Lily. The flush of power that moved up her arm and into her body could easily be addicting and she knew that what she felt was little compared to what her sister had wielded.
Rosmerta told her what little she knew of how to use the blade and handed her the books that they had available on the weapon. The next few days Petunia spent in the Malfoy library and with Dobby and Tori's help, found a few more references on spells that could be used when wielding a dagger or sword instead of the usual wand.
Dobby did more hand-wringing than anything, unsure of why his squib mistress was researching spells. When Petunia brought out the dagger to have a better look at the jewel in the hilt the few hairs on the top of Dobby's head stood on end. A powerful weapon, keyed to females. One that his mistress could use, he believed.
Dobby listened with half an ear to Tori's demands for her mother's favorite tea and the orange scones that both of them liked so much. He snapped his fingers and brought them to the library table. The Malfoy elves had quickly learned what their new mistress liked as well as the rather imperious Tori. The elves adored Tori as well as quite liking Petunia. Most of them were trying to adjust to the idea of a mistress who was also a squib.
Petunia absently ate at a scone and sipped tea while Tori harried a few more elves into 'finding the very best books for her mum to find the right spells for her new dagger.' An elderly elf, Sorrel by name, who had been serving the family from Abraxas' early childhood, tottered over to a beautifully inlaid storage trunk and dug to the bottom and pulled out two very old looking books.
Sorrel managed to lay the books on the table next to Petunia. "Here mistress, these books were collected by Master Abraxas' grandfather while he was in Greece. They are translated copies of ancient scrolls found in Athens."
Tori beamed at Sorrel while Petunia grabbed the first book up. "Thank you Sorrel." Sorrel nodded and bowed, his ears brushing the floor. Tori's approval creating a warm glow in his heart.
Petunia smiled a bit, even as she read. Tori was well on her way to being an excellent future chatelaine of Malfoy Manor.
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A/N – apologies for the shortness of the chapter but I wanted to go ahead and post it. The 'final battle' will be next, of course.