Part 1
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Classes on Monday were fairly uneventful, so was the rest of the week. Harry kept checking the Marauders Map, but he didn't find anyone suspicious. Even when he thought he'd found someone, that person was always who they said they were.
At the Dumbledore's army meeting, Cedric and Hermione showed members how to use bombarda. The amount of new members had skyrocketed since Harry's encounter at the ministry. The next week's focus on reducto had even more new members, the following week of general dueling had more than that. Percy had insisted they move the meeting outside to avoid destroying any Hogwarts class rooms.
Not that the classroom could even fit everyone who came. There must've been over 200 students wanting to learn from Harry and Cedric. The most surprising new member was Draco Malfoy, who for some reason avoided anyone with a squid on their shirt.
That was the other thing that kept messing with Harry. A weirdly large number of students were wearing shirts with squids. It was like they were in some sort of cult. Then again, if they didn't get along with Malfoy, they couldn't be all bad. As another bonus, someone kept pranking Umbridge by replacing the cat portraits in her office and classroom with squid portraits. Harry couldn't be sure, but he had a feeling those people were responsible.
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Part 2
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A group of students walked through the gloomy stone hallway of the dungeon. The candle light from the hallway was so dim that no one was casting a shadow. The students stopped next to a crack in the wall. One of the students knocked on the crack, which grew into a small rectangular hole. A mouth popped out and asked. "What's the password?"
"Squidbillies."
The hole in the wall grew and the students went through. Inside was a brightly lit room, but the light seemed to stop at the hole as though blocked by an invisible wall. Fred and George Weasley were standing in the center of the room on a raised wooden platform.
Fred stood next to a Ravenclaw girl with brown hair, raising her hand up. "All right. Everybody give it up for Becky here, who just led our last prank run!"
Everyone in the room cheered and Becky took a bow. George slapped her on the back laughing. "That new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher didn't know what hit her!"
Students kept cheering as Fred, George, and Becky left the platform. Different students came up to the stand to tell about the pranks they'd pulled over the last week.
A Gryffindor came up and talked about making a mirror that showed the face of a different person. A Slytherin talked about giving someone a horse tail. There was even a house elf who'd made several pieces of silverware in the great hall super slippery.
The prank stories kept going for the rest of the club meeting. Then everyone went back to their dorms for the night. Fred and George had been holding these meetings every Friday. A surprisingly large number of members were pretty good students and didn't like staying up late on school nights. But the prank stories were getting better and better. George had suggested using them for a prank guidebook.
As an added bonus, they were selling tons of stuff for pranks. Fart bombs, diarrhea cupcakes, and cricket attracting pens seemed to be the most popular.
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Part 3
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Percy Weasley walked into a room without walls. There were objects hanging on its sides, but it looked like they were held up by a spell.The minister of magic sat at a large wooden desk, a massive plain of grass and shrubs stretching out into the horizon behind him. Behind Percy there was a cliff, stretching out toward the sea below. Percy heard crashing waves and the sound of wind passed his ears, but Percy felt nothing on his face.
On closer inspection there were walls around him. Nearly invisible glass made up the room. Percy closed a sleek wooden door behind him, the ministry hallway disappearing as the door also turned to glass.
Percy sat down in front of the minister. "You wanted to see me sir?"
Cornelius Fudge nodded. "Yes. Hope you don't mind me taking some of your weekend."
"Happy to be of service. Your letter implied that something was wrong."
The minister nodded again. "Yes. Or rather, something that should not be in a letter." A bead of sweat ran down Fudge's forehead. "Your report mentioned that Dumbledore seemed to know of Harry Potter's danger, when by all accounts he should not have been able to predict what would happen."
Percy nodded. "Yes."
"I also wanted to confirm that you did not see You Know Who."
Percy nodded. "He was gone by the time I arrived. Why do you ask?"
"Doesn't it strike you as a bit odd that You Know Who would simply retreat? I would think he would want to fight Dumbledore. How do you know for certain that he was there?"
"Well he did get the prophecy. No one else but Harry could get it. And who else would want it?"
"Ah, but Potter did retrieve it."
"Ok, sure. But who else would want it?"
"Crouch might think his master is still out there. But what about his rescue of Mcgonnagall. He had no way of knowing her location."
"Reading minds perhaps? He is a known master of legilimency."
"I considered that too, but it appears Crouch is a master of Occlumency. I want you to figure out how Dumbledore is getting his information."
"Understood sir. Anything else?"
Fudge shook his head and Percy stood up. As he was about to exit Fudge said. "I know you think Dumbledore's innocent. And I sincerely hope you're right. Because if someone like him is against us, I don't know if we could stop him. That's why we can't take any chances."
A/N: I will be on hiatus for this story until December.