Disclaimer:
I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...
Mischief Managed Damn It!
Title: Book 1, Chapter 13
Posted Date: July 27 2022
Updated: March 20 2023
(March 1988)
'I barely hit my early 40s, yet I feel like 70. I need a bloody vacation on the beach with Odgen's Finest by the bottle!'
Those were the thoughts going through the mind of one Amelia Bones as she leaned in her chair with 2 stacks of folders by the edge of her table and an Auto-Quill written confession in front of her. Much of the past month had been used to track down relevant documents and available witness statements, and now she was finally having proof of something that she really did not want to believe was true.
Sirius Orion Black, the reputed right-hand of You-Know-Who.
Sirius Orion Black, the man who betrayed the Potters to the dark wizard.
Sirius Orion Black, the man who killed Peter Pettigrew and twelve muggles before being sent to Azkaban.
Sirius Orion Black, a man who, based on the new evidence and interviews done, was actually innocent, and had spent the last seven years being in Azkaban without a trial. And the evidence she had at hand was going to make heads roll when it got out.
Amelia really did not want to believe the incompetence and abuse of power she was seeing in front of her. She knew very well that the Ministry was corrupt; even before the whole Blood War came about, the departments were steeped in blood bigotry and hands kept exchanging gold and favours under the table like candy. Amelia could count a small handful as being honest and faithful, and even they would have to expose themselves to some of the stupidity to get things moving.
But this? This was beyond her paycheck.
The man had been sent to Azkaban without any investigations done upon his arrest, not even a simple statement by the investigators back then, simply on the word of Albus Dumbledore stating that Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper who betrayed the Potters's location, and on the orders of Bartemius Crouch. And from what little she had found, the previous minister Millicient Bagnold merely granted them the permission verbally with the idea that she could end her term on a better note with the premise of sending a high profile Death Eater to appease people. And when combined that with her earlier findings of the previous Auror teams being reassigned to different places or missions before they dropped like flies, she was looking at a coverup that stunk of a conspiracy so deep, a part of her wanted to ask Unspeakable Croaker to check her for spells even if it meant he could prank her with one of those silly spells he made up for boredom.
This was such a mess!
A knock on the door broke her thoughts and drew her attention to Cynthia. "Madam Bones, your guests for the eleven o'clock meeting are here."
"Send them in." Cynthia nodded and closed the door. A few seconds later, the door opened again to usher in Jeremiah Gothwald along with an old man in what appeared to be his late eighties, but still standing strong and tall with a medium build, with a healthy growth of black hair greying at the temples that was tied back with a black ribbon into a ponytail, and a classic Van Dyke beard for facial hair with the chin part almost completely grey. He was also wearing flat black acromantula robes with gloss black highlights and hints of gold and silver around the sleeves and collar. Despite his advanced age, his skin was still healthy and lightly tanned from the sun, and his grey eyes held a fire that refused to be extinguished until his death bed, and possibly will still fight the reaper on his own terms.
The man in question was Arcturus Black, Current Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of the Black Family, and he was not looking happy from the news that she had approached him a few months back and the recent week.
The door got closed behind them and the two men barely sat down in their chairs when Lord Black looked her in the eye and barked, "Amelia! Is it confirmed?" Amelia raised a finger to pause as she activated her ward defences to remove any listening charms, compulsions or mind control charms and everything she could think of, and then some. Given the number of people who keep trying to get their hands on information in her office, she needed to be extra certain that no one attempted to have any surveillance in her area, even from her own people as she knew that some were likely listening to the likes of Cornelius, Lucius, Umbridge or even Dumbledore.
Constant vigilance as Alastor would say.
"I believe I do." Amelia calmly answered after the defences detected no spells, despite the impatient glare directed at her.
"Well then, why is my grandson still in that… place? Get him out right now!" he snarled. Jeremiah for his part maintained a cool expression although Amelia could see him itching to reach for his wand in case the situation got ugly.
"I already have." That reply got both men stopped short of their actions and focused on her again.
"Allow me to explain." she waited before continuing. "The reason I did not call for you earlier was because there were certain people who had been poking their noses into my work as of late, and I needed the secrecy to ensure this plan of ours can work without a hitch." Amelia pointed that out to the two males. "Due to how high-profile he was, I had to take certain measures to get him safely removed and extracted to one of my safe-houses last week, with the Fidelius installed to ensure total safety. After that, I've interviewed him under Veritaserum―"
When Black slightly jolted in shock and developed a thunderous expression, she held her hand up in a stop gesture and quickly said, "We had offered him the choice, and he specifically requested it a second time so that no one could dispute his words after a thorough questioning, especially since the first one was conducted in Azkaban and some would argue that he lied to get out of the prison or was not of sound mind to invalidate his answers. Conducting a second interview allows us to push for an actual trial for him to clear the air to the public."
The old man relaxed and grumbled "Idiot brat" in a tone that was strangely fond of the other relation.
"So is it safe to say that the evidence points to him being innocent?" Jeremiah asked the woman.
"Much of the evidence would say so, but we need more proof." Amelia raised her hand again to stop the incoming tirade from Lord Black. "The Veritaserum testimony by Sirius and the documents provided by Mister Gottwald are of course a good start, and I am so thankful that the scribes during the war were so paranoid of their memories getting removed that they have quill description backups written elsewhere to ensure their records were safe. But I will be a fool to say those would be enough since as I have been checking, the bulk of our evidence is circumstantial, especially the case regarding Pettigrew and the muggles. At least with Lord Black aiding us, we can ensure the request for a trial cannot be thrown off since Sirius Black never had a trial to begin with. Not to mention, one of the people involved is someone with enough clout to get away if not use the trial as a stepping stone for another issue." Lord Black growled at that answer, knowing who she was referring to.
Jeremiah though had a thoughtful expression as he considered options. "What if we get someone of similar strength on our end?" The other two blinked at that query.
"Who do you have in mind?" Before Jeremiah could answer, a frantic knocking came from Amelia's door. The woman frowned at that before she pointed her wand at it, releasing the locks to allow a slightly flustered Cynthia to barge in.
"Cynthia." The tone in Amelia's voice managed to stop the younger woman from crashing into the table. "While I appreciate your work, I hope you remember that I am only to be interrupted if it is an important matter during a meeting."
"It is, madam." Cynthia for her part took a quick breath before composing herself, unknowingly giving a slightly better impression to Lord Arturus Black. "This just came from the channel dealing with magicals in muggle hospitals, I believe you want this before anyone else does." She handed over said folder that was clutched tightly in her hand to her boss, who took it from her and opened it, tensing from the contents briefly before slamming it down on the table and getting up from her seat.
"Mr Gothwald, you need to come with me!" Amelia paused before looking at the other guest. "I am not sure of the timing, but this is an odd coincidence. You may wish to follow us if you want."
"Why?" The old man grumbled at that, clearly unhappy that the case of his grandson was being sidetracked. In response, Amelia handed him the same folder, prompting him to look at the documents with a huff. That did not last long as a surprised expression appeared on his face and he started speed reading it. At the end of that, he too was standing with a stern look.
"Yes, I will be following you." The adults left the room in a hurry with Amelia barely managing to lock the room up before making their way out of the Ministry, leaving the folder on her desk with a photo sticking out of the side from the action, revealing a young boy with messy black, green eyes, and a scar on his forehead.
~ooOOoo~
(Present day)
"RRRIIIIINNNNNGGG!"
"BLABLABLABLABLABLA!"
"Smack! CACHUNK!"
"Do you always wake up with that infernal racket in the early hours of the morning?" The voice of Alistar took over after the aforementioned racket woke Harry up. The boy lightly shook his head to get rid of the dregs and the ringing in his ears before opening his eyes to find the Sorting Hat by the table with what looked to be a bemused expression on it.
"Only if there is someone attempting to commit breaking and entering before I wake up." Harry answered while turning his head towards his cabinet where a petrified elf laid on the ground. "Seriously? This is the fifth elf this week."
"Albus is really getting curious." Alistar commented. "Your stunt with the trolls did not do you any service other than gaining more attention from him and others. I understand the Unspeakables have some questions for you." Harry snorted at that last part. It was honestly a little scary having a hooded figure with shadows covering the face appear before him while he was heading for class. Harry panicked briefly and launched a Mana Bullet at that person who blocked it with a shield. Rather than be offended, the Unspeakable was intrigued and tried to find out more only to get interrupted by a pissed Professor McGonagall and a resigned Filius Flitwick. The Unspeakable left after the woman ranting at him for a good few minutes, but not before requesting another meeting with Harry.
Oh boy.
"Looks like I will need to let professor Flitwick know about this intrusion. Again." Harry sighed as he levitated the elf to a spot that he had cleared to have a make-shift containment field that was normally used in his safehouse/workshop back in Little Whinging to hold rats and other creatures before he released them, now repurposed specifically for elves that kept trying to break into his decoy trunk or move anything in his room.
The fact that he had to set one up in the first place really annoyed him.
After securing said elf and silencing it just in case, Harry turned back to Alistar. "I don't suppose you could order the elves to stop trying to get my stuff?"
"I did order them not to go through student belongings without any cause, and for the most part, they listened to my orders. But when Albus decides to give them an order, they would need to follow it due to his authority as headmaster, even if it countermends my orders." Alistar answered. "And quite likely, he would word his orders such that it would make the elves think that they are assisting to avoid having a student harmed. If I recall from your last meeting, the man tried to insist on obtaining your creations on grounds of it being dangerous?"
"Anything I have on hand is considered dangerous to him, despite every kid having a wand that can hex or curse people with spells." Harry rolled his eyes. "Well too bad, my experiments were already transported to various locations thanks to that troll attack setting off my security measures, and I did promise to move my initial prototypes away."
"He could still get the upgraded prototypes you are making now." The hat pointed that out.
"Provided the head of house believes it to be so dangerous and beyond the scope of protection stated in the rules." Harry replied back.
"He will attempt to push further on this." Alistar raised what could count as an eyebrow. "Perhaps even retract your use of your own lab-room."
"If he does take away my room, I will just continue smaller scale versions here or somewhere else. And pushing further for my artefacts will risk other students raising a racket and telling their parents that he could potentially order them to hand over their family artefacts and magic. And I know for a fact that they had already done so after the DMLE came in." Harry recalled a few of the Howlers damning Albus Dumbledore for trying to lay claim on the family magic when the heir was still a child. He knew it was not so much for him as more the fear that Dumbledore could target other heirs, and the families would want to make sure Dumbleodre did not get more secrets than needed. If there were the option to take valuable family magic from others though, especially from an orphan, that would be a different story.
Hypocrites.
"Still, you should be careful lad." The Sorting Hat spoke again. "At least he is distracted now with the commission, but he is getting his momentum back."
"I understand, Alistar." Harry looked at the clock and sighed. "Well, I am not going to sleep anytime soon. Might as well prepare for the day."
"You only have morning classes today, correct?" Alistar commented.
"Along with the first half of the afternoon. After that is a free period but tonight is for Astronomy. Least I can get some of my experiments up and running today." Harry paused for a moment. "That reminds me, Professor Sinistra wanted to ask me something regarding the telescope catalogue and the proposed features for the telescopes in her office before the lesson. I will need to write up a quick note on that before delivering it."
"Oh ho~ Lucky you." Harry blinked at that remark and tone from the Sorting Hat.
"What do you mean?"
"Lad, you are quite likely the one boy in Hogwarts at this moment that every other fourth year and above would be wishing to be in your spot." The hat continued talking in a very amused manner.
"Why would they want to be in my position? For the extra credit?" Harry asked, confused.
"Ah, to be young and innocent." The hat chuckled before doing its own version of a belly flop and dropping on to his bed. "Before I leave, there is one thing I think you should be aware of."
"What is it?"
"As I had spoken before, Hogwarts is sentient to some extent, so at times she would interact with certain people of interest to her. With your stunt with the trolls and whatever you did to stop her wards getting interfered at that time, she is now interested in you."
"Does that explain why I have been feeling fingers poking my cheek for the past week?" an eye from Harry twitched as he felt said poking happening at the moment. He had at first thought it was one of the ghosts in Hogwarts, then he thought someone was using a spell to prank him, but when he was in his private room or lab with no one around, having his cheeks poked meant he was getting very paranoid that his defences was getting bypassed. Not helped when having Alistar around for the past couple of nights, Harry could have sworn seeing a little girl hiding among his mindscape but he was not sure.
"Yes, she is a very curious child. Please accommodate her." Alistar answered with the tone of a parent who had to deal with very inquisitive children. "Anyway, I will see you next time." The hat tipped its top and popped away with a notable chuckle.
"Great, just great. I now have an inquisitive castle looking over me. And I really wish I can get a proper explanation for why every guy keeps saying weird things when it comes to Professor Sinistra." Harry muttered as he grabbed his brush and went about cleaning up. Nothing made sense to the young boy. For the time being, he had to consider the next step of action regarding his security against nosy elves.
Luckily, he had an idea working in his new lab room. He should however tell his head of house of the latest incident.
After getting everything settled and done, along with securing the stunned elf, Harry went ahead with his usual morning workout outside of the castle and around the general perimeter, making good time as the sun slowly rose behind the mountain and the sky started brightening up. He was finishing up his second round when he noted the sounds of someone's breathing coming up from behind, slowing down while twisting his head to see who was his fellow runner for the morning.
"Morning, Harry." Su came along in a red running shirt and pants that reached her shins, wearing dark running shoes that had seen some time, slowing to a standing jog as she came by his side. "Phew, you run fast."
"Morning Su, nice to see you outside on this fine morning." Harry greeted her.
"Well, I needed to keep in shape, the food being provided here was not suiting my palate. Your little garden is helping out a lot, but my instructor would be very cross if I don't keep my stamina up." Harry nodded at her answer; before the troll tripped his security, Harry had made a few salads to go with his meals both as a manner of controlling the source of what he ate and to stay healthy from the heavy dishes. The girls were very happy to have some vegetables in their diet, and even the boys were getting tired of all the meats and heavy flavoured dishes, and all remarked that they were getting more energy and alert with the salads he put together the few times they visited. It might have helped that his garden included vegetables he was experimenting by cross-breeding with other plants used in potions for detoxifying or purging the body of poisons and unwanted potions.
Between each other and checking with the professors, they were able to have a smaller room specifically for Herbology slash gardening purposes, with one part of the room solely for their food purposes, since they had checked with the professors for the availability. Professor Sprout and Filius were more than happy to grant them some of the extra space, the former wanting to see what the setup was like and the type of vegetables being grown to ensure they did not grow anything past their current level, while Professor McGonagall gave them a probation period to test if they could maintain the diligence needed to hold the room. Blaize, Theo and Tracey did not say what Professor Snape told them, but the general gist was the professor was fine with them being part of their group.
Neville was in his happy place when the room meant for their shared gardening purposes was presented to them with some of the tables and Harry's personal gardening installations in place. Harry would swear that a light was shining from above his head despite being indoors with a choir singing Hallelujah in the background. Justin, Theodore, Blaize and Terry claimed the same while looking for the source with confused expressions.
Hermione however was not a happy camper, as her request for a personal library room was denied. Filius had told her that they already had their own library back in the dorms, and they have their own personal room which she could set up a temporary library if she wanted, and then there was the actual Hogwarts library if she needed more books, so there should be no need for extras. Harry offered a silent prayer to the half-goblin when Hermione gained a light in her eyes that spoke of her pushing for it until he granted it to her, and judging from the other girls of Ravenclaw, they too would join in for the action.
Harry would wish his professor the best of luck.
"What is your target for the morning?" Su's question broke his thoughts. He really needed to keep focus.
"Usually I go for three rounds around the castle grounds as my warm up." Harry pointed to a post by the grounds that was one of the remnants of his fight with the troll. "I then do dashes from here to that pole to force myself to move faster for 20 minutes. Finally, I will do some light arm exercises before going back in." Su blinked at that.
"That is quite extensive for a light exercise." She pointed to the braces he had on him. "What are those for?"
"Training weights with etched runes pertaining to body resistance, gravity increase and magical suppression." Harry held one of his arms out. "Forces me to circulate my magic through my limbs while training my physical body. Helps to increase my durability and sprinting abilities." Su hummed while looking at the brace with interest.
"I should be surprised, but then with all you have done so far, that explains a lot of your fights with the trolls." Su paused before punching his arm lightly.
"What was that for?" Harry blinked at that.
"For that comment you made about Hermione and I laying off the pudding." Su placed both hands on her hips.
"You are still hung up on that? That was a week ago." Su's firm nod got him sighing. He would never understand girls. "Let's just run."
And so, they spent the next half hour doing the rounds that he described as the sky continued to brighten and turn from a dull red to a bright yellow by the mountains. Su was quite active but she definitely needed help with the sprinting, and she was pouting at how fast Harry could do sprints even with weights on him. To prove that he was using them with the gravity and resistance runes activated, Harry took off one to let her try it.
He should not have laughed at her struggling to lift the weight set to double his weight, but he could not help it at the sight of her face.
Once done, they proceeded to make their way back to the castle that now had a few denizens walking about waiting for breakfast. By now, seeing some of the officers and inspection members was a common deal, but seeing the ward specialists working their magic to check the wards was a new one and for the Ravenclaws, a source of curiosity.
"They don't look happy." Su commented as she watched one warder wave his wand with a frown.
"From what I have overheard a little, it sounded like the wards in the castle are long overdue for a revamp." Harry prompted Su to continue moving on. "Understandable when you think of it. The castle is roughly 1000 years old, with the different headmasters in charge likely adding on or fiddled with the wards over the years. Given the trolls from Halloween, I am surprised it only happened now."
"It is quite a coincidence that the wards failed this year for the trolls to come into the castle." Su hummed. "I mean, you happened to come to Hogwarts this year, and behold, runaway brooms, wards failing and trolls arriving."
"If you are the type for conspiracies, you could say someone timed all of this to happen, since previous years had no such incidents." Su laughed at that and moved on, not seeing the slightly closed expression on Harry's face as he followed her into Hogwarts. He did not want to upset her morning with what he did know of all that had happened.
After washing up and grabbing their books for the morning, the two went with the others for breakfast, where the others asked about their whereabouts and were surprised about their exercise routines. They were a little undecided on whether to join them when the morning bell rang for their lessons, signalling to them to get to the Transfiguration lesson.
Lessons were fine, but Harry noted how Professor McGonagall was stricter than normal, presumably because of the inspector that was in the room watching them do their spells as she walked about giving them instructions. The ICW monitoring crew had been around for a while now, and while Harry would not know what they were looking for, he got the impression that the crew would focus heavily on the core subjects to see what were the improvements. He did not have much of an opinion for Potions since Professor Snape certainly knew his potion making and was knowledgeable if not blunt and direct. He also knew that with his reputation and his position as Head of Slytherin, the other students would likely be very rowdy with their complaints towards him, especially the Gryffindors.
History was definitely going to be a major contention, given how Professor Binns constantly droned on about goblin wars that had happened many years ago, and always on the same chapter. (He should know, the Auto-Dictated parchment he had for his lessons showed the results which he sent a copy to the ICW monitoring group. And the officer monitoring that class the first time almost dozed off himself.) It was a good thing that he had the option to study true history from different sources and Pensieve memories despite Dumbledore's attempts to stop that option when he applied for the fast track program. He went to share some of that with the others to help them with their work, and their grades went up, which prompted them to try out the same program as him.
The only question was whether the ICW could force Dumbledore to accept the changes, let alone the British Ministry of Magic. From his adult contacts, it would appear the education had been "tweaked" to suit the pure-bloods more in many ways, hence contributing to the decline of Hogwarts's status. He found it very stupid that the people would sabotage an entire country's worth of young talent just to get a small handful to pass the necessary marks for them to work or inherit their place in the ministry.
After Transfiguration, Charms was next and Harry could tell this would not have any issues with the ICW since the half-goblin was always on the ball and eager to bestow his knowledge to them. Even the ICW officer monitoring the lesson had a light smile on his face and nodding at certain points as he wrote notes. After that lesson, Harry went to ask his head for a quick discussion later in the afternoon, and then he and the others went for their lunch before he had to go for his mundane subjects period.
"It is really weird having the monitors around." Terry commented as the group settled together at the Hufflepuff table, with one of said ICW monitors in the hall watching the proceedings.
"It does happen in regular schools and universities, even if it is not that often and likely more discreet." Justin assembled his plate while speaking. "In those cases, people would be going out in style."
"Well, let's hope we don't get too affected by them." Micheal answered as he grabbed his food items, pausing to look at his plate of food consisting of lots of meat, the usual potatoes and whatever vegetables around before casting a detection spell, now able to cast it without issue and out of habit. Seeing some of the meat options and the utensils glow a dull red with spots of purple had him sighing lightly before looking at Harry sheepishly. "Erm, Harry? I don't suppose?"
In response, Harry reached into his bag and pulled out several tupperware boxes along with a bottle of liquid, each box labelled with their names on it. He then removed the cover of his box to reveal an assortment of vegetables and sliced fruits inside.
"Way ahead of you, Michael." Harry smiled as he twisted the bottle cap to lightly drizzle the vegetables with the dressing.
"Thank you!" The others in his group also helped themselves to the vegetables provided from his personal garden, lightly sighing in content from the change. The ones closest to them blinked at the additional food items by their end.
"No offence to the chefs working here, but we really need more vegetables in our diet." Susan noted the looks directed at them and answered. "And Harry has permission to house his own vegetables and fruits since he requires a certain diet not provided here."
"And it helps when we do not have to eat the food or use the utensils tainted by the Weasley Twins or other people." Parvati took a forkful of the vegetables and sighed happily with her eyes closed. "And yes, Harry Potter can make very nice salads. Nice and light compared to the heavy items made here."
"Don't suppose you have drinks as well?" Hermione asked with a hopeful tone, her wand pointing at a goblet of pumpkin juice glowing a deep red that made a few of the seniors look leery at their own goblets. Harry merely reached into his bag and pulled out a very big flask that made a few wonder if he was carrying Mary Poppins bag given how the flask was bigger than his head.
"I should start charging you guys for the food and drink." Harry joked as he placed the flask on the table. "Drink for the day. Hibiscus tea with citrus extracts, fresh from the garden." Harry reached into the bag once more to pull out a big bottle of water roughly the same size as the flask. "And some purified water, just in case."
"Thank you!" Hermione hugged him tightly before helping to pour out the drinks for the group.
"I don't think the elves are going to like the fact you are not touching their food." One of the older Hufflepuffs remarked. "Even if the food is tainted at times."
"Elves?" Hermione blinked with a fork in her mouth.
"House elves. The workers who help to maintain the castle. Perhaps later during our free period in the lab room, I will tell you about them to avoid getting the wrong idea." Harry really did not want Hermione to go off with wrong information. From what little he had known of her, she was really passionate about things that go against her code of conduct, and while she has been getting better with handling her actions and words in the magical society, she was raised in the modern side of Britain and would likely say that the elves were brainwashed to be enslaved or something. He had his own reactions when he first met the elves and it was only with some explanations that he got the correct understanding. Harry wanted to make sure that Hermione did not go off on some crusade to release them.
That would be bad.
"I had talked a little with the elves on this." Harry turned back to the older Hufflepuff. "Granted, they were a little saddened by the fact I did not eat much of their food, but they were understanding for my choice since people had tainted their food. I believe their head chef elf was really peeved at that."
To be honest, Harry was understating the two bits; the first elf that visited him previously was downright distraught and was trying to punish himself for failing to perform his duty, only to stop by the reassurance from Harry. The head elf was quite expressive in showing displeasure when he found out about the food and utensils being tampered with and told Harry that with his permission, they could assign an elf specifically for him and his group for their food requirements. Harry would need to confirm with the others before giving his reply to the elf, but he was leaning to agreement on that as his lessons have been taking up a fair amount of time and he could not catch all the potion attempts forever.
"Ah, Mister Potter." The boy turned to find the Astronomy professor coming to him. "I was wondering if you have obtained the information I had asked for."
"I have the catalogue and the list of proposed features that you wanted. There are also catalogues for other astronomy equipment suitable for different ages and levels, and a small telescope as a sample if need be." Harry answered her.
"Oh, thank you. I am looking forward to it. I understand you have a class from 1 to 2pm?" A nod prompted her to continue, "In that case, you could visit me in my office later, say 3 o'clock? Thank you for your help." Professor Sinistra beamed before walking away with happy steps noted. Harry returned to his lunch before noting the faces looking at him.
"What?" In response, some of the older male students clapped lightly with a couple patting his back with proud expressions.
"That is our boy, he is going to go far." a fifth year solemnly spoke with an expression one would normally associate with a father praising his son, with a couple of his buddies nodding in tandem.
"Huh?" What did they mean?
"Don't mind them, Harry." Penny came in at this point with a few of her female classmates around her giving light glares at the other male students. "They are just being silly when it comes to Professor Sinistra."
"Why is that the case?" That got her and the others nearest to them to turn to him.
"What do you know of her?" Harry scrunched up his face at that query but answered truthfully.
"She is the Astronomy Professor with a mastery for the subject along with being one of the youngest professors to be in Hogwarts, alongside Professors Vector and Babbling. She is also known for her rather daring thesis regarding the understanding of the star system to help with magic. She was scouted briefly by a Doctor Oobleck from the ICW Astronomy Division due to her open ideas, the only reason she has yet to take them on is because she was too new and needed some experience before going there. Hence her current job as the Astronomy Professor." Not too few students blinked at that last bit, surprised that the young woman was scouted by an international organisation for her talents.
"Anything else? How about her looks?" Harry tilted his head at that odd question while shrugging.
"She is pretty, I guess. But she is one of the youngest professors around. Is that why the other students act weird around her?"
Penny looked at him briefly before ruffling his hair gently. "Don't change, Harry. Stay this way for as long as possible." Harry blinked at that statement and the nods of the other older female students before turning to his year cohort, many of them also giving him confused expressions.
He would never understand girls.
After lunch and the one hour lesson of specialised mundane studies, Harry went back to his room to grab the requested items for Professor Sinistra. He had to sigh again at the sight of a second elf stunned by his cabinet before moving it out of his room and then grabbing what he needed. After a quick trip to the Astronomy tower where the woman gushed at the information he provided along with the small telescope for reference (and some of the older male students either giving him a thumbs up or getting their heads smacked by the female students for some reason), Harry made his way to Professor Flitwick's office.
"Come in!" The half-goblin called him in and Harry went inside the office, musing as ever at the sight of his professor behind a desk that was purpose-built for him with a regular chair in front for regular sized folk. The size difference was almost comical and Harry had to wonder if this was done deliberately.
"Ah, Mister Potter. Please, have a seat." The half-goblin waved his hand to the chair while busily handling some paperwork. "I will be with you in a bit."
"Do you wish for me to come later?" Harry asked by the chair.
"No need for that, just finishing up on some paperwork. Being a professor, we need to deal with a lot of documents that need to be handled." Filius answered him. "I am just a little back-logged because of this latest issue. And done!" Filius signed off the last one before turning to Harry. "So what is the matter you wish to discuss?"
"Sir, I need to tell you that I had two house elves trying to get into my dorm room to access my cabinet. Again." Harry told the professor after he sat down in the chair.
"Oh dear, not again." The professor took off his spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "This is what, the fifth attempt this week?"
"Yes." That got him to groan.
"Professor, I am starting to wonder if I need to involve the DMLE. While the restraining order is working on Dumbledore, he is still attempting to work around them." Harry spoke as he folded his hands. "The problem I am facing though is his influence. I know he would likely explain this as a way to ensure I do not have anything illegal or 'Dark' in my possessions." Harry really wanted to roll his eyes at the labelling but settled for using his tone to display his thoughts on that. The message was received by his professor with a snort.
"True, but at this point, many would suspect him of trying to take family magic since that time in the Hospital Wing." Filius removed his hand to look at him. "As you no doubt recall the Howlers the last time, people are very strict about it. And while a number of families are against yours in principle, they too do not like the idea of family magic to be lost from line theft."
"Perhaps, but this is getting tedious." Harry sighed.
"Try to hang on for now." Filius then switched the subject. "So how are your preparations regarding the advancement exams?"
"Going well for now. I just hope I can do it." Harry sighed again at that.
"I have no doubt you can succeed in your subjects." Filius tried to reassure him.
"I believe I can do well with most of the subjects. What really worries me is if I still get held back by Dumbledore." Harry gave him one of the worries he had regarding the situation. "He does have some power to hold me back."
"Actually, not as much as you would think." Filius raised a finger to let him explain. "Based on what I know since I am your contact here, you are studying other subjects from other academies outside of Hogwarts curriculum as part of your requests coming here. And since you wish to do your advancement exams by ICW standards, their educational department is sending over a couple of officers to bring you to their facility to conduct their exams, along with Griselda Marchbanks to stand as witness since the accelerated program is under her preview. With this recent upset, the ICW is not taking any chances. Your friends are also being considered even if they started later and will be taking the standard subjects with one additional outside of the regular curriculum a few months later. And perhaps the most important point?" Filius smiled. "The decision for you to advance is strictly in the hands of both the examiners and your true guardian, not Albus in his capacity of headmaster or other alleged positions. He cannot stop you from advancing even if he had his previous position as Supreme Mugwump as that position does not grant him the right to interfere with education. Right now, the only position that grants him some power is his role as Hogwarts headmaster, and even then all he can do is to suggest which level to advance."
Harry loosened up at that while leaning back in his chair. That was perhaps the good news he needed for a while; he had been a little hesitant to go ahead with the advancement exams despite having read up on the information given by the contacts his guardians have with the education department of the ICW. And yes, he knew logically that Dumbledore could not interfere using his old position at the ICW as they were two totally separate areas. And if Griselda Marchbanks was getting involved, then Harry should be safer. He had met her briefly in person when handling the paperwork for the accelerated program, and he liked the fact that the witch who was significantly older than Dumbledore was strict, fair, and above all else, not worshipping the altar of Dumbledore in the government.
Harry just did not like the amount of control and observation that man had over him.
"Now then, why don't we move onto more pleasant topics?" Filius hummed before continuing. "Have you set up your new laboratory yet? I believe you could do so after you helped to set up the shared room for your friends." That got Harry to perk up a little.
"I have done so. Thank you very much for the new room." The professor chuckled lightly at Harry's obvious enthusiasm.
"Well, given that we have a lot of old rooms that have not been used for so long." Filius sighed sadly at that. "Birth rates had dropped over the years, and the last war practically crippled the births." Harry looked down at that reminder, thinking a little of his deceased parents.
"Still, at least the room is done." Filius bounced back up. "And in fact, it is time for the monthly inspection. I do need to see what new protections you had raised after my talk with Madam Bones the other day. She was practically raving about how you had better protections in that one room than the school or her entire department." Harry let out a weak chuckle at that as he recalled Susan having a laughing fit retelling her aunt's reaction from her last visit. According to Susan, Amelia Bones looked like she wanted to bang her head against the wall while her escort was torn between praising his ideas and to do the same as Madam Bones.
"We have time right now if you wish to check." Harry consulted his watch.
"Shall we? I do need to carry out an inspection for your joint room as well." Filius dropped down to the ground and left the office along with Harry to his new lab-room to inspect it while they discussed about any future experiments Harry had planned and the progress of his lessons.
And already, Harry could see his latest ward system doing its work very well, given a couple of elves on the ground near their assigned rooms and his Ravenclaw friends were there looking down at them in confusion.
"What happened to these fellows?" Terry lightly nudged one of the elves with a finger.
"Should we find a professor to help them?" Hermione looked very torn at this, hopping on one foot and the other.
"No need." Filius called out to them to draw their attention. "I see Mister Potter's protections are now active."
"His protection system?" Terry looked between the two of them and the elves. "If this is what we are to expect from Hogwarts after this ICW inspection, I don't mind. Otherwise I might just move into the room. Seems a lot safer to me than anywhere else in this castle."
"But aren't they hurt?" Hermione was fretting about their status.
"They are merely stunned." Harry assured her as he got closer to the elves. "My personal protection system is graded on different levels. In their case, they do not have ill intentions but are likely ordered to search our rooms for something that is not theirs to take."
"You are sure?"
"Positive, Hermione." Harry hummed as he looked at them before turning to Filius. "I can release them, but you need to clarify with them their intentions." Filius nodded while preparing his wand. Harry raised his hand that had a bangle on it and turned it in a manner similar to opening a door. That action made the elves glow briefly before they jumped up from the ground and attempted to move away but unable to thanks to his system holding them in place.
"Excuse me." The stern tone from the professor got everyone's attention. "I would like to ask why you and your fellow elves have been constantly attempting to invade certain rooms without permission. Do not lie to me, a few of you have been trying to get inside Mister Potter's quarters for the past few weeks now and his security would not have tripped if you were merely moving furniture around." The two elves were looking very uncomfortable at that. Harry decided to just help them out a little as he knelt down beside them. He just needed to ask the right questions in a roundabout manner.
"You need not say a word, but I am hoping for some answers." Harry waited for them to nod before asking. "Firstly, were you ordered to come to these rooms and my personal quarters during periods when I or a few others are not around or asleep?" One of the elves started to twist her ears while the other nodded slowly.
"Were you ordered to search the rooms, likely with wording stating that whatever objects are in here are supposedly dangerous and needed to be taken away without expressed permissions or clarification from us?" The two elves cringing were an answer on its own.
"Is the person who gave you those orders one of the professors?" The two elves tilted their heads to the side at Filius's question and looked to each other, before one gave a so-so gesture with their hand. "Is the person who gave you those orders an active professor teaching students?" The clarification from the professor got them to shake their heads quickly.
A strained gasp drew warning looks from Harry and Filius at Hermione who covered her mouth, likely knowing who they were asking about. The other Ravenclaws had suspicions of their own as they listened in on the interrogation.
"Do the orders include taking any specific item to this person?" Harry asked this time, and got his answer from both elves trying to hit themselves only to be restrained by his protection system. "Nevermind. You do not need to answer that." That stopped their actions for the moment. Harry looked at the one on the right, remembering him as the one working at the kitchens.
"You are Hokey, correct?" The elf nodded timidly. "Were you told to go to the room assigned to us as a make-shift Herbology room?" The elf shuffling his feet was a good indicator of that answer. "Were you told, asked or given a suggestion to grab anything from that room or to do something to the room?" The elf reaching to grab the ear was his answer.
"Elves." Filius took over with a stern tone. "I have already cleared this with your head elf and I know that he would have told you about this. You are not supposed to enter the laboratories of the students unless in a state of emergency. If you were told to go through the rooms, you are supposed to come to the professor assigned to them, which happens to be me. And this is not the first time this year that the elves have been attempting to enter rooms without permission." The elves squirmed under his gaze before he sighed. "But in the end, I cannot fault you little ones, you are following orders from one higher ranking than him. I will let you go this time, but we will have words later." A glance at Harry had the young wizard loosen the system setting to let the elves leave.
"Why did they do that?" Hermione asked.
"Not here, Miss Granger." Filius turned to Harry at this point. "May we enter your laboratory or the shared room?" Harry nodded and led the way to the shared room, pausing to look at the others.
"Have you attempted to enter the room yet?" The other students shook their heads. Harry smiled at that point. "Can one of you demonstrate the security I had installed for this room?" He barely finished when Hermione stepped forward with the eagerness of a child with sugar for blood. Harry and the professor chuckled as she moved to the door and inserted her wand into a hole near the handle while placing her other hand with a bracelet on the other end of the door. She fired off a Lumos charm a few times before the part of the door her other hand was placed on glowed along with the bracelet, displaying a bunch of symbols and numbers appearing before receding and the door clicked.
"The security system is still a work in progress." Harry admitted as Hermione led the others in. "Before I forget." Harry cleared his throat and spoke clearly. "I grant permission to Professor Filius Flitwick to enter the Union Room and Potter's Research Room for inspection." A light glow appeared about him and Filius before receding. "Okay, done."
"I think your security is strong enough as it is for one your age." Filius shook his head in mild amusement at the level of protection the boy managed to put up on his own. He just knew that the boy was going to get crazier with his ideas for security, and he knew that he must never meet Alastor Moody. Ever…
Not knowing his thoughts, Harry let the professor into the room, allowing the half-goblin to see the room now furnished with some cupboards, tables and chairs, with some tasteful carpets and non-magical pictures decorating the wall. The designated spot for potions making had been doubled in size and cordoned off with some clear and durable glass with some openings at the top with fan blades to help with the ventilation. Inside, six medium sized cauldrons were placed by the enclosure, with a table attachment for each to allow them to handle their potion ingredients, thus ensuring at least four people can have enough room to move about without hitting one another. Much to Filius's curiosity, each of these areas had been marked with colours that corresponded with at least two of Hogwarts Houses, supposedly designating which students could go into, although he would need to confirm with the students on this.
The general reading area which doubles as an area to do their studies now had a few chairs, a round table and a sofa that Harry found at a yard sale and took out of his multi-junk trunk for use after some repairs and clean-ups. A few pots of plants decorated the area to have some life to it, with a few metallic cabinets marked with the names and colours of each student.
The remaining space was dedicated for general experimentation for spells and possible research in the future, with a partition built to block off the section for the spells. By the wall, a pinboard was installed with notes for reminders for work or usage of the room. This has seen a fair amount of activity given the stack of notes piling up on one side of the table while the clear partitions had shown some marks from spells likely to have veered off course.
"Hmm, very nice." Filius nodded in approval at the set-up before pausing at one blank spot of the room with a kitchen sink installation. "What would that be for?" Much to his amused confusion, Harry sighed like an old man while the other students looked a touch sheepish.
"We were hoping to install a kitchenette here." Hermione answered with a blush. A raised eyebrow prompted her to continue. "Harry has been making salads for the past couple of weeks, and we were wondering if he could cook meals here as well."
"Perchance, does this have anything to do with the multiple attempts to potion Mister Potter?" The series of nods drew a hum from him. "I am not sure if we can accommodate an actual kitchen in your room, partially because we never had anyone do this before. Then again, we never have this many instances of potion attempts."
"Why are there so many potion attempts, and why is no one doing anything about it?" Padma asked with some heat in her words.
"Some of the problems you are facing are more from pranks courtesy of the Weasley Twins. The most we can do is to punish them with detentions and point removals since the headmaster does not do suspensions that much." Filius started to explain to his Ravens, having interacted with them enough to know that he had to give them the facts. "The other potion attempts are definitely more problematic. Mister Potter has actually sent reports on that." Harry's nodding gave his friends the answer.
"I believe he has told you how difficult it can be to detect potions, especially those that could be activated when consumed in different components. That makes it even harder to point out who could be the ones doing it as what could have been meant to be a prank could end up becoming poison without meaning to."
"But why are there no precautions for this?" Michael asked with a frown. "I know that Father has been critical about Hogwarts's security for a while now, but I would think the food source would be safe."
"And you would not be wrong." Filius looked troubled at the admission. "It is not hard for people to find the kitchen if they wish to. Goodness knows the Hufflepuffs go there as many times as they could. The elves are supposed to not allow any harm to any of the students, hence why prank potions would not appear there unless the people prove it is not harmful. Often then not, the people in question would add it right as the food gets delivered to the tables. Or they could use a switching spell on a person's drink to get the potion inside." He paused to look at Harry. "There is also an issue with authority. Depending on the situation, some students could order the elves to put the potions into the food and drink."
"They can order the elves?" Hermione asked. "What are house elves though?"
"House elves are like the brownies of folklore, or perhaps they form the basis of those lores." Harry started to explain as promised. "They are magical beings that are often under the employment of magical families or in areas with lots of magic like Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic. They help with the general upkeep of homes or institutions and help to take care of the wizards and witches, but instead of a bowl of milk and other offerings, house elves take a small portion of magic from the wizards, witches or the places of magic as payment for their work."
"So they are servants for the wizards and witches? Do they get paid?" Harry managed to keep his expression fixed while behind Hermione, the ones magically raised winced as one.
"As I said, they get paid with the magic of their masters. For the most part, they would not accept monetary rewards. To them, rendering out ideal service and being loyal to their masters are the best rewards they could have." Harry answered while bracing himself for the likely explosion coming in three, two, one…
"Wait, they are not paid at all?" Hermione sounded very outraged at that. "And what is to stop the wizards and witches from abusing the elves?"
"If I am honest, Miss Granger, not much. I will not lie, there are families who would treat house elves badly no matter the reason." Filius answered at this point. "That does not mean there are no families that treat house elves nicely. It is different for each household."
"But that is still slavery!" Harry could see from his side, Padma, Michael and Terry winced while Lisa and Su were on the fence but slightly leaning towards Hermione's side. Better have an intervention.
"Hermione, I too had the same thought about this when I first learned about house-elves. One thing you must know is that most if not all the elves abhor the idea of being paid money." Harry softly spoke while ensuring she did not accidentally trip the aggression aspect of the security. "This has been going on for many years, granted much of the history is a little mixed, but there is some form of symbiosis going on between the two sides. In exchange for their magic to supplement the elves, the wizards and witches will have a loyal being capable of great magic and service. Now, as Professor Flitwick had said earlier, there would be families that would treat the elves as slaves or worse, but there are those who are willing to treat them as true friends or allies of their blood." Filius and the magically raised nodded at the answer with Lisa and Su looking a little more agreeable, but Hermione was clearly wanting to go off.
"Hermione, before you go on a crusade, here is what you should do." Harry went to the cabinets and unlocked the one marked his, opened and reached into the drawer, dug about a bit and pulled out several old books with colored stickers stuck to different pages, and then a more modern notebook. "This set of books contains the views of different people who had encountered or owned elves in the past, from pure-bloods to the odd new-blood when they needed assistance. I have already marked them out for my own readings, which I had written in this notebook." Harry waved said item in question while ignoring how the other Ravenclaws were acting like dogs seeing their favourite treats much to their professor's light amusement. "This contains my own views and answers after reading this set and asking the elves working here or the Alley."
"You asked them?" Hermione looked at him and the book with a stare that honestly scared him a little.
"I did not want any misunderstandings to be made from just reading books. I needed to get all the facts from every source. It definitely helps when I do have the actual people to ask proper questions." Harry looked her in the eye. "You have to remember Hermione that while we are in the same country, there are two distinct cultures that we have to be aware of. Would you go to France and tell them to stop eating snails because it offends you, or go to the Middle East without a shawl in areas that are mandatory, or tell them to eat beef?" The girl winced at that point and his pointed tone. "Go through this carefully, then we discuss with the others and if required, with Professor Flitwick and even the house elves as well." Once Hermione nodded and took the books, did Harry turn to Filius. "Shall we move on with the inspection?"
"Very well." Filius agreed with his idea of changing the topic and went about the Joint Room to see what was being done, before being led to the other rooms under their names. The room meant for heavier spell-casting had been modified to resemble the gun range normally seen for law enforcement or those interested in hunting. The target boards and the wall they were attached to had seen a fair amount of use given the spell marks on the wall and the target boards. Thankfully there was no major damage thanks to the magic suppression wards lining the walls to avoid destroying them by accident, although the professor noted that the wards could use some updating.
After that, Harry led the professor to the gardening slash Herbology room that was currently thriving within one week, thanks in part to Harry's gardening methods and the green fingers of Neville Longbottom. The room was a lot bigger than what was initially granted as Harry had combined that with another room that had been destroyed during the invasion. It was a cross of modern and traditional methods of growing plants and it showed with the overall structure of the room, especially with the multiple shelves for different plants with their own lighting to grow them faster along with piping to deliver the water to the soil. In the corner of the room was an unusual apparatus that had a few beakers and vials connected to different tubes before it could be released to the pipe leading to the plants.
And then, there was Harry's new room.
"Holy Mackerel!" Terry could not help the shout as they entered through a side door to look into his new lab room. The room appeared to be almost a carbon copy of his old lab, but with more partitions to cordon off certain portions of the room for whatever purpose required. His reading spot was still as cosy as the previous one with the addition of a plant that provided some life to the corner and a phonograph record player that turned itself on just as they walked in to play out a soft violin tune. A new addition to the room was what appeared to be a make-shift gym with a few homemade hand-held weights laid by the wall with charts to illustrate how to perform certain actions. By the table in the corner, some of Harry's initial experiments have been retrieved from whence they were sent and put back into use.
"Ah good, I have been meaning to review these exact experiments." Filius made his way to the table while giving a cursory glance at the rest of the room. "It seems you have done well with the relocation."
"I did what I could." Harry shrugged with a smile.
"Harry, may we observe?" Padma asked while looking about the room and focusing on the experiment table.
"Are you guys needing just examples for what to do in the joint room, or are you still seeking your own lab rooms?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, we won't say no to the latter if we have the chance." Michael answered with a snigger. "But yeah, we would want to know what to look for when we start doing our own thing in the joint room."
"Very well, this would be a good time for me to demonstrate the type of work that I and your fellow heads are expecting of you." Filius turned to Harry. "With your permission of course, Mister Potter." Harry hummed before nodding. The experiments he had here were just a little above the average so it should be fine for them to see. The ones that were more personal have yet to be relocated from their holding areas due to Dumbledore's focus on him.
"Right, first I need to review your work regarding the charms that you said could be used for medical healing despite their incompatibility issues, and after that…"
As Filius listed out the different tasks he had planned for inspection, Harry went about performing the tests that were needed to be done while the others listened on for their reference. It was pretty straight forward and done a few times before in his old lab room.
There was no way this inspection could go wrong.
~ooOOoo~
(Headmaster's Office, 15 mins later)
Dumbledore was feeling very frustrated with the situation going on in his school, even as the warding team members entered the room to give their reports to him and some of the senior staff, with two ICW officers and one representative from the Board looking on with stern expressions.
Despite his best attempts, the warding team and ICW officers had arrived and gone about checking the school with a fervour that was unnecessary in his opinion. So what if the wards were a mess from years of fiddling and neglect? The wards still held on well enough to keep away the muggles and other creatures from entering the castle, even if he had messed with them to allow Severus entry to teach Potions to avoid the Dark Mark from activating them, not to mention create exceptions for the number of items to be brought into the castle with his permission. And for this year, he needed the wards to be at a level to allow Voldemort inside to ensure that he would be around to test Harry. That blasted boy had to mess up his plans by contacting the DMLE before he had a chance to close down the owlery or lay out charms to stop the students from talking about it outside of Hogwarts.
This was one of the rare times his old authority as the Supreme Mugwump would have been useful, if only to delay the groups further. He just hoped the team did not go too far to notice the other "additions" he made to the wards.
Much to his increased annoyance, the groups monitoring his school had their own set of those blasted recording crystals to record all of their observations. From what he had gathered from his research because of Potter using such an item, these were almost impossible to destroy short of using Fiendfrye and perhaps the Killing Curse, and they were also hard to fool as it could show if someone was using polyjuice, compelled or even under the control of the Imperious Curse. They were also resistant to multiple forms of tempering to ensure all the information was safe in the crystal.
Another issue for him was the number of restrictions placed on the buyers of these products; purchase and transactions were to be done face to face, with a contract signed with a blood quill and imbued with the buyer's aura along with reasons for purchase. The crystals were strictly tied to the user in various manners, so that people could not steal them or abuse their usage. DMLE graded crystals had the annoying ability to save their recordings in a different crystal elsewhere, with distance as far as Hogwarts was to London, and a last resort feature which would transport the crystal to a designated spot in the event the Auror got KIA in the middle of operations, thus ensuring the recording would not be lost.
There were also the stipulations for the usage of the crystal, which included, among others, the crystal not to be used as a tool for crime, the crystal not be modified or disassembled without the presence of a certified officer of the company, and how it required the user to allow temporary access to an officer of the law to view said recording. This list of stipulations were written with very clear points and no obvious loopholes for workarounds, and it made it difficult for Dumbledore to find a proper reason to ban the use of those crystals in Hogwarts. Given its widespread usage and Potter using it specifically for evidence recording, Dumbledore could not stop it unless he wanted to risk questioning by people for his reasons, and he also could not risk the boy leaving Hogwarts at this point.
But he was going off on a tangent. He needed to listen to the "report".
"The Wards, to put it nicely, are a goddamn mess to unravel." the leader of the team spoke while placing a set of documents down on his office table. "There are too many redundant wards involving muggle warding that were added on by the different headmasters over the years. This leads to a leaching of power and the reduction of efficiency for the more important protections. Protections such as the Anti-Aggression Ward and the Dark Magic Detection Ward are in urgent need to be reactivated and calibrated." He paused to look at the muggle paper in his hand, an item that made Dumbledore want to burn it to ashes. "Another issue we detected were the Anti Muggle Technology Ward and the Taboo Control Ward. The former had been placed sometime in the last century, but the settings appeared to have been messed up recently to make the muggleborns a lot more high strung than most, along with giving them migraines and other ailments when using said technology." The staff whispered to each other while Dumbledore maintained a concerned expression.
"For the Taboo Control Ward, it has been deactivated so no one would know if someone attempted to cast the Unforgivables or other deadly hexes and curses at others." That definitely got people in a fuss, and the ICW officials to note it down and Dumbledore seething with his teeth. He really did not need that to be known to the public.
"There are a few other issues, but the next two are something worth noting. Firstly, there is some sort of directional tap that appears to be connected to somewhere in the school to act as a map, which honestly sounds pretty good and I really want to know who did that." The lead warder commented with professional curiosity. Dumbledore had a rough idea who, or rather whom, it was that created that tap. He really should consider getting that map from the Weasley Twins.
"The other one is a doozy. The best that we can describe it is a power tap that is syphoning power from the actual wards itself and depositing it elsewhere." That got the staff getting up to their feet and starting to exclaim and gesturing, with the exception of Dumbledore who was focusing on his Occlumency to not show any outward expression. That was one of the reasons why he did not want people looking too deep into his school, because they would notice things out of place. The power tap was one of his plans to deal with Voldemort if the man regained his body and dared to challenge him in his domain.
"What we really need is access to the main wardstone." The leader looked to the headmaster. "I can tell that the lesser wardstone has been tempered a few times in the past. And from what my team tells me, that particular wardstone has been leeching power from the main wardstone for quite a while. That would definitely contribute to the failing of the wards."
"Unfortunately, that is not possible." Dumbledore gave a rather convincing expression of sorrow and did not need to fake the frustration for this matter. "When the Founders built Hogwarts, they created a failsafe in which the room containing the true wardstone would be sealed off for good unless one of their descendents came forward with the blood to unlock the room. The room was warded in such a manner that only one of their blood and pertaining to their ideals would be able to access it, and so far none have succeeded. They knew it would be a long while for anyone to do so, which was why they had provided the first lesser wardstone for minimal access and for others to add on to the wards with instructions to replace the stone if required but only in intervals. My predecessors have attempted to breach the ward room to no avail, and so over the years, they have replaced the lesser wardstone with their own versions to better manage what they needed. Even continuous bombardment of the ward room has failed to penetrate even the first layer of the spells."
That was certainly a sore spot for him; Dumbledore had attempted to use the blood of different heirs belonging to certain families that were rumoured to have descended from the Founders to bypass the room, including James Potter and the current Lord Smith, but none of them worked on the room, and the wards could detect his intent for the wardstone and repel him hard. Regarding the lesser wardstone, Amando applied his ideals towards teaching to the wards: strict and unyielding. When it was time to replace and renew the wardstone, the man had gone about it in a manner that Alastor would approve and reinforced the protections to ensure no one with ill intent could temper with it. And since he could not replace the stone for another five years, Dumbledore had to do a roundabout method of creating a "lesser" lesser wardstone to connect to that and manipulate the settings. It was the only way to add his own additions until the next period of replacement even with the Elder Wand to help him do so.
"I see." The pursed lips of the leader made him look like a dead ringer of Minevra's relations. "We will need to figure out a good way of accessing the wards sometime soon. But at least we can remove the power tap and tweak the settings for some of the wards." He turned to the younger man standing a little further back. "I am done with my report. Anything to add, Ben?" The man nodded in reply.
"As requested by Madam Bones, a couple of the professors and a few of the students, my team went to check on the supposed DADA curse. And honestly speaking, I am having trouble understanding why you have not removed it yourself or at least contracted a curse breaker to do it." The curse breaker named Ben came up to the desk to address them better.
"If I may ask, what is the curse?" Minerva asked with a glance at Dumbledore.
"A mixture of spells and runes make up this curse. Specifically: a paranoia jinx, an old Norwegian hex to induce bad luck, some runes to power and enforce the curse on the person, an Egyptian hex to temporarily call forth the power of Anubis to bring about misfortune. There are a few extras but these form the main components of the curse." Ben consulted the sheet in his hand. "On its own, not much will come of it, but the main reason it is hard to determine the source and contain it properly is because of the locations to invoke and empower the curse. Whoever created the curse in the first place had placed anchors all over the school to ensure the curse would be invoked even if one of the minor anchors got discovered and removed. Even the towers have a couple of anchor runes to help activate it if left alone. The primary anchor is actually on the lesser wardstone, I got that after checking with your team, Tanner."
"So the less wardstone is also the source of this curse?" The ward leader gave Dumbledore a stink eye.
"Yes. Thankfully, this one anchor is one we can remove easily and have done so." Ben gave a nod before pausing. "But what worries me is the strength of this curse. This curse has been drawing magic from the wardstone for the past 40 odd years, maybe more. If it were found within the first five years, it would be fine, but now?" He turned to the staff members. "Am I right in guessing that in the past decade or so, whoever handled that class would quit or leave the academy in rather extreme manners?"
"That is an apt, if not understated question?" Minerva and the staff winced as one while considering the different manners each person taking up the subject had left Hogwarts. The first few were benign, usually the person would leave due to obligations or family emergencies, small issues that were just fortunate enough to end by the end of the school year, and unfortunate that they needed to find another person to teach the subject. But in recent years, the manner in which they left escalated quickly and sometimes violently. Six years prior, a scholar suffered a nervous breakdown halfway into the year and almost attacked the students with deadly intent. The DMLE had to subdue him and send him to Saint Mungos to cure his illness. Then a retiring Auror who took over for the next year ended up in a potions accident that burnt the entire left side of his body and made him literally two-faced, with him always flipping a Galleon with one side scratched out, and wanting to go after all the law-breakers, no matter how small the crime.
That was a very scary period.
"From what I have gathered, this curse has gained a lot of power all these years." Ben continued his report. "There is a rune that actually reinforces the curse to get more violent with each successful year of making the occupant quit or leave Hogwarts. And given that no one had bothered to at least remove some of the anchors until now, it has been getting stronger."
"Can it be removed?" Pomona asked anxiously, likely worried for her students.
"We were able to remove the majority of the anchors in the school and isolated the effects to the general corridor where you conduct that DADA subject." Ben scratched his chin lightly. "And once we have removed the anchor from the lesser wardstone, the power source is gone. We just need to be very careful in removing the remaining anchors because whatever power the old ones had got transferred to them even with the source removed. And if we were to leave them as a primary number and something goes absolutely wrong?" As one, everyone who had taken Arithmancy and Ancient Runes winced collectively at the big possibility of an explosion big enough to level one of the towers.
"Well, this is definitely a high priority right now. For all we know, this curse could be contributing to the failures of the wards that let the trolls in. We need to get rid of it now." The ward leader grumbled.
"Actually, I just had an idea about something." Ben mused on a thought.
"What is it?"
"Isn't there a boy who could change the layout of the castle?" The man turned to the staff. "I believe that boy was all over the news recently. That Potter boy right?"
"What about him?" Pomona's question drew attention away from the fraying control that Dumbledore was having issues maintaining, having guessed what the man wanted.
"While checking the area, we noted the areas that were frequented by the trolls and later repaired. Some of them showed signs of minor alchemy construction and deconstruction." Ben started to explain his ideas. "And from what little I got from Madam Bones, the boy has shown skills in manipulating the material at least to do what he needed. Given the level of reconstruction, he has to have some level of magical inference to put them together. We could ask for his help to deal with some of the anchors, and since we can't get to the main wardstone by the front door, why not have another door created with his abilities?"
"I am sorry but I would need to deny that request." Dumbledore smoothly interjected before the idea gained momentum. "This should not need to be done by a student, I am sure we do not require his assistance." While his staff more or less followed his words as they should, the "outsiders" frowned at that.
"The young lad has an ability that could bypass the room." The older ICW officer spoke for the first time. "From what you described, earlier attempts to access the room were more akin to attacking it. This boy however just reworks the surrounding material to shape it. And it is not like it is that troublesome to do."
"But this is dangerous work, and I would rather we do not trouble the young boy on this." Dumbledore was really cursing the restraining order placed on him at this point; even if that Albert Thornwood had the actual guardianship through some sly method, Dumbledore would have continued to claim magical guardianship because of who he was and people would believe him without a doubt, and even help him to get the actual guardianship if he cast aspirations on the man's character. But because of how open that bit of news got published and the restraining order, he could no longer claim that without having his tongue tied and experiencing a headache. At least in the school, he could claim to protect the boy as the headmaster even if his rights regarding "in loco parentis" were stripped.
He would however consider the option of using the boy to access the room himself when this group would leave his sanctuary, and obliviate the brains of the boy while he was at that.
"We could ask Lord Thornwood for his help. He is the one who is taking care of the lad." Damn that ward breaker!
"Good point. Tanner, see if you can ask for an appointment with Lord Thornwood to discuss the option with Mister Potter." Ben got one of his own people to do so before turning back to face the others. "We will just test this method, and if it does not work, we will move on to the next method."
"I said that we did not need to bother Mister Potter." A tone was now present in his words.
"We are just going to ask him what his specialty is to ensure it is what we need, and then we make sure that we have permission from Lord Thornwood." The board representative spoke up at this point with a no-nonsense tone. "And before you try anything regarding school rights for students, let me remind you that your rights for in loco parentis were removed by the Board and Ministry just three months ago, which is why we are approaching Lord Thornwood on this."
Oh, that was it. A fair number of his plans had been going belly up for the past year or so, and Harry Potter was not turning out the way he had planned. He had enough of these rabbles trying to impose their way on him and dared to question his methods for the Greater Good. Him, Albus Dumbledore!
He leaked out a bit of magical energy as he slammed both hands on the desk and glared at the officials. "I am the headmaster of Hogwarts, and the students are under my purview even if my rights are removed. Right now, Mister Potter does not need to be bothered by this matter."
"And again, we are just going to ask if he can do it with his guardian's permission." Carl narrowed his eyes at Dumbledore, along with these outsiders that dared to invade his castle. "We may not even need Mister Potter to actually do the deed for us. We could look at his method to try it ourselves first."
"This is my academy!" Dumbledore's voice stopped short of a roar as he got up from the seat. "The Ministry has never bothered to check in on us despite our requests, and I have been protecting the institution for the past century even in the darkest of times. Only now when we had actual invaders in the castle did you decide to waltz right in and tell me what to do here. I am the headmaster and I say that Harry Potter is not to be in this investigation!"
And at that point, as though Hogwarts had taken offence to that, the office started to shake violently with some of the items falling off the shelves and tables, with the occupants shouting and trying to regain balance. "Stop this at once, Dumbledore!" One of the ICW officials shouted at him.
"I am not the one doing this!" Dumbledore was genuinely freaked out by the suddenness. Shortly after that, the shaking slowed to a mere rumble for everyone to regain their footing. Dumbledore was just getting to his feet when he felt his connection to Hogwarts removed totally from himself. Before he could even react to that, Dumbledore was forced to the ground on his hands and knees with pressure building on him. In his peripheral vision, he could see the other people in the office in similar states, but he did not give them much thought as he was focusing on not getting pushed all the way to the ground, something that was easier said than done given how the pressure appeared to double as soon as he had that thought.
'What in Merlin's name is going on?!' Dumbledore lost strength to his arms and slammed down to the ground, gasping for air as the pressure held him down. It felt like he was being weighed down by the weight of an entire ocean on top of him while something was coming to judge him. Him, the Leader of the Light! Who would dare do this!
In answer, his surroundings appeared to have darkened to the point he could barely see the basic shapes of the furniture around him and the sounds around him got silenced. In place of that, the sounds of animals prowling about him came about, setting off some primal urge in him to run and hide, or to stay completely still to not attract their attention. From his position, Dumbledore spotted something moving in front of him before pausing before him, followed shortly by the sounds of wings flapping and a serpent hissing nearby. Then four pairs of eyes appeared in front of him, each one a different animal.
A pair of cat-like amber eyes that looked down at him with anger while a lion's growl was heard.
A pair of brown eyes looked at him in disappointment.
A pair of bronze blue bird eyes narrowed on him in disdain with wings flapping somewhere.
A pair of silver green serpent eyes with agitated hissing in the background.
After a while, they disappeared, but Dumbledore still felt the presence of an animal prowling around him with the rumblings of a growl that could be felt on the ground. Then a large black wolf appeared from the shadows with its mouth opened wide and teeth glistening with saliva. He had not seen the wolf before, but Dumbledore would swear the presence felt very familiar to him.
It was similar to the time he tried to find the Potter brat in the old town, only to be hindered by the wards.
It was similar to the times he had the boy in his office to try and assert his authority.
It was similar to Harry Potter when he was getting serious.
His realisation of the association got interrupted when he heard the sounds of a large reptile snarling and smelled the scent of fire. Then above the wolf, a dragon's head appeared with small flames issues from the snout and mouth, giving it a demonic look that complemented the gold reptilian eyes focused on Dumbledore with anger. It then opened its mouth to reveal a firestorm brewing and ready to unleash upon him…
Then everything went black.
~ooOOoo~
(30 minutes later, DMLE HQ)
"Someone does not look happy." Rufus Scrimgeour remarked as he entered the Head Office and found Amelia looking at a letter sealed with the official Wizengamot wax seal, the expression on her face reserved solely for one person when he annoys her in some manner. "Let me guess, Dumbledore?"
"Correct." Amelia placed the letter on the table and leaned back in her chair while cracking her neck. "Bloody fool took his time to answer the reply, it was sent last week, and with too much wording to get to the bloody point that he is not attending. Not to mention the fact that he is blocking me from conducting interrogations on the professors." Rufus snorted at her reaction but understood the reason. Many of the senior Aurors did not have much love for the headmaster, and in his own opinion, the old wizard had too many hats in full-time positions that required a lot of attention. Unfortunately, that made them rather unpopular with some of the younger Aurors in their ranks as they do their usual praying-by-the-altar routine for that man. The few who were not doing that, do understand their seniors very well as they had issues from their time in Hogwarts. And wasn't it telling that the ones with issues were dominantly muggleborn or muggle-raised half-bloods?
"Any luck with the blood?" Rufus asked while taking the chair offered to him.
"Adult male, mid 20s to 30s, with signs of recent possession and increasing levels of Dark Magic." Amelia answered promptly. "The Unspeakable I asked to check was really wanting to… 'speak' with the man in question." Rufus could hear the quotation marks in her words. "Since Dumbledore is being difficult, the Unspeakable is going about Hogwarts in disguise to find the culprit."
"Will he turn the perp over to us?" Amelia raised an eyebrow at his query. "Right, best to get the paperwork ready." Rufus sighed as he imagined the paperwork on his desk multiplying by a lot. When it came to Unspeakables, odds were good that any criminal of interest would disappear without warning, and everything had to be signed in triplicate, damn it!
"At least he will let us know whatever matters related to this as well, unlike Dumbledore who keeps on stonewalling me." Rufus could hear her teeth grinding. "This is DMLE business, yet that man is stopping me from investigating because of whatever bullshit excuse with his position of headmaster."
"At least the other investigators are there and he cannot stop them." Rufus then changed the topic to ease her temper. "Do we have the numbers for the upcoming session you had planned? This is the typical bi-monthly session that is used to deal with the small to medium crime convictions, and those are normally attended by those who draw the short straw."
"We should, and since Dumbledore is not chairing the session, the only two qualified are Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberus Odgen. Those two will do just nicely." Amelia answered.
"What about our special guest?" Rufus asked.
"He will certainly be coming, along with the observer from the law branch. They have been waiting for quite a while." Amelia hummed as she tapped a finger on her seat. "I just hope that trial goes right."
"That makes the two of us. The trial that you hoped for is certainly going to be a doozy."
"The 'doozy' as you put it, is a trial that should have been done in the first place and will depend on a lot of factors." Amelia removed her monocle and massaged the bridge of her nose. "I am not looking forward to the stupidity that will descend on this. Lots of heads will be rolling."
"Do you foresee problems with this trial?" Rufus tried thinking through on the information he recalled about the case.
"Mainly from the people who would want to have this trial removed from the list without even starting, and the man in question to be sent back to Azkaban if not sent to the veil or granted the Kiss, for reasons ranging from greed to embarrassment." Amelia replaced the monocle on her eye while peering at her colleague.
"How about the Veritaserum testimony, and the Pensieve memories?" Amelia gave a so-so gesture at Rufus's question.
"We did make sure to perform the second and third interrogation after moving him out of Azkaban and got the Unspeakable to check the memories for tampering." Amelia had her lips thinned at the thought. "While unlikely, the opposition may attempt to throw the entire lot out on account of him being under our medical care, perhaps suggesting that we grant him the antidote before the interview." Rufus shook his head at that idea.
"What about that lawyer? Did he not provide documents and a vial of memory pertaining to the case?" Amelia gave a nod.
"Those two would be the best evidence we have and likely the best shot of getting this case to our advantage, especially when we coupled that with Black's Veritaserum Testimony and the recent memories, along with the confirmation from the Unspeakable. It helps that the documents provided by the client had been authenticated a few times by Gringotts, the Unspeakables, officials from France, and even one ICW official. That ought to deal with the idiots who would claim otherwise."
"May not mean much for those who act as the mouth of others." Rufus's remark got her sighing in exasperation. Generations of families and corruption in the Wizengamot had split the voting blocks and that meant the groups had their leaders to look to and spy for. Depending on the people who would be attending that session, they may get people like Dumbledore or Malfoy banging on the doors before they could get the verdict out.
And less said about the Senior Undersecretary, the better.
"With all of that said, I wish we had more solid evidence." Amelia continued. "The documents along with the testimonies and memories are good, and Dumbledore would not be around to interfere, but there is still a chance this could go sideways."
"We can't be that lucky, even with Felix Felicis. At least we have the necessary minimum for a trial. Any bigger will be asking for attention and could see the ICW getting personally involved with this mess, maybe even get the trial done in their courts instead. And it's not like the evidence we really need would drop on our laps anytime soon." Rufus barely finished when Amelia's floo turned partially green with a chime, indicating a Floo Call. Raising an eyebrow, Amelia got up and went to the fireplace, muttering about how much of a pain it was to keep kneeling on the ground as she opened up the connection. Her mutters paused when she saw the face of the Charms Professor of Hogwarts.
"Professor Flitwick, is something the matter?"
"Yes." The terse answer along with the lack of a smile was enough of an indicator that something was very wrong. "We have an incident going on at Hogwarts, and among other things, we have a man masquerading as a rat currently in a big cage provided by Mister Potter." Before Amelia could reply to that odd answer, loud beeping sounded in the room, prompting Rufus to pull out his badge which was glowing and emitting the sounds. Tapping his wand on it, Rufus stopped the beeping while playing the message.
"Sir! There is something going on with the wards of Hogwarts! A few of the students have been knocked out, the battle defences are starting up, and we have what looked to be an attempted possession of a person along with an illegal Animagus! We could use some backup now!" Rufus blinked at the message before looking at Amelia and Filius in the fireplace.
"I think we need to get to the castle now." Amelia had only one answer at that.
"No shit."
=====Author's Notes=====
Hi all, so here is a problem I am having right now.
I started feeling sick a week ago and got myself tested for covid just in case. Doctors said I was not infected, so I thought I just had a rather bad flu. Couple of days later, I visited the doctor again while feeling like shit, and lo behold, I am now positive, right as I was going to be in a family gathering. So now the gathering is cancelled, I am stuck in my room and the meds are making me a little messed up. Joy~
For now, I am taking it easy, but this is messing up my work life and relaxation. Hope you all stay safe out there in this crazy world of ours.
And I put my pen down for now.