Harry and the Pirates

Chapter 40

Thieves Fall Out

by Technomad

Sure enough, the Malfoys and Parkinsons were in Professor Dumbledore's round office. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were present as well, and Madame Pomfrey was just bustling in, looking harried.

When the little procession filed in, Madame Pomfrey fell on Pansy, grabbing her and sitting her down in a chair to be examined. The Parkinsons, unmistakably kin to their daughter, hovered behind her, both of them looking dreadfully worried. Snape came over, wordlessly offering aid, and Madame Pomfrey budged over, clearly grateful for the assistance. After a few minutes, Snape looked up. "Madame Parkinson? Mr. Parkinson? She's in a bad way. With your permission, we need to get her to St. Mungo's."

Madame. Parkinson was sobbing too hard to speak, but Pansy's father nodded through his tears. "Yes! Please! Just save her! Save our little girl!"

Unnoticed in the byplay, Ginny muttered in Harry's ear: "All of a sudden, I'm not so proud of that crack I made before the Christmas hols. The one about 'her parents having realized the mistake they made having her.'" Harry shushed her wordlessly, not wanting to miss anything. Down deep, he agreed with Ginny. Seeing how much the Parkinsons clearly cared about their daughter made him feel guilty about what she'd been through, even though he wasn't really at fault.

Once Snape, Madame Pomfrey and Pansy were gone, Professor Dumbledore looked at the people who were still there. "And now, I trust I shall receive an explanation for the extraordinary events we have recently become aware of?"

Harry stepped forward, laying the ruined diary on the desk. "This was apparently the source of the problem, sir. Its former owner, Tom Riddle, came out of it and possessed Pansy. She's the one who's been doing a lot of the things around the school."

"My word!" Dumbledore muttered, peering at the diary without touching it. "A Horcrux! How on Earth did Miss Parkinson come into possession of it?" Absently, he explained: "A Horcrux contains part of its maker's soul. Making them requires a murder to be committed; it is some of the darkest magic there is. I never dreamed that such an object was within my school." He lifted an eyebrow. "Does anybody have any coherent explanation about how Miss Parkinson was in possession of this object?"

Harry noticed that both Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Parkinson looked very shifty. So did Dumbledore. He stared at the two wizards, and everybody else began to stare at them as well. They began to sweat, then they both cracked.

"You! You utter jackass! You were the one that stole that from my collection!" screamed Malfoy. "I should never have trusted you!"

"You didn't tell me what it would do! All you said was that it contained great power!" yelled Parkinson. "You always kept me back! The Dark Lord always liked you best!"

"He liked me best because, unlike some wizards I could name, I wasn't an incompetent, pug-nosed fool!" By this time, both of them had their wands out, and Harry and his friends shrank back. Harry and Dudley both watched avidly, though. They would not have missed this for the salvation of mankind. Draco was clearly horrified. Hermione, Luna, and Ginny were obviously making mental notes for later. And Ron just wanted to see a good fight.

However, Dumbledore clearly had no interest in seeing his lovely office turned into a war zone. He raised his wand, and both battling wizards were suddenly petrified. "I shall release you both when I am assured that your behavior comports with the dignity I expect from Old Boys of this establishment, instead of brawling Muggle hooligans!" he said, and the tension level in the room ratcheted down noticeably.

In the sudden quiet, Dudley whispered to Harry, in Russian: "And what's wrong with brawling Muggle hooligans?" Then he looked up, into Dumbledore's eyes, and his own eyes went very wide. Dumbledore was smiling.

Very gently, Dumbledore said: "You should remember, Mr. Dursley, that while your linguistic accomplishments are most commendable, there are others in this country who understand Russian." Dudley's ears went red with embarrassment. Dumbledore went on: "And Thai. And Chinese. Just so you understand."

"Noted, sir!" Harry and Dudley exchanged glances. While very gently phrased, and very tactfully put, that had been a clear warning. They could not automatically count on privacy merely by switching languages.

By that time, Mesdames Malfoy and Parkinson had come out of their paralysis, and both of them were furious with their husbands. "You! You utter jackass! What did you mean, keeping something that dangerous about the house? Draco could have got his hands on it!" screamed Madame Malfoy.

"And our daughter did! She could have died! All so you could strut and preen about 'the great Dark Lord!' Well, fool, how do you feel about that madman now?" Pansy's mother had her wand out, and was covering both her husband and Mr. Malfoy. From the expression on her face, she was in a mood to make two widows with one spell. Harry all but hugged himself with glee, until he remembered that Draco was there. Draco was staring at the drama going on before them with horrified eyes.

Luckily, Dumbledore noticed this, as well. A quick gesture with his wand disarmed both angry witches. "What did I say about brawling Muggle hooligans?" he asked. While his tone was gentle, there was a definite edge to it; both ladies blenched, and Draco trembled with fear for both his parents. Unwillingly, Harry pitied him. He knew all too well what it would be like for Draco if he lost his father and mother, and Draco did not have a kindly Aunt Petunia to take him in.

Quiet descended. In the sudden silence, Dumbledore fixed his eyes on his Defence professor. "Well, Gilderoy? It isn't like you to be so quiet! And how did you come to be tied up?"

Released from the spells that had restrained them, the Parkinsons and Malfoys also gave Lockhart long, considering stares. Harry was reminded of a tiger he had seen in the Bangkok zoo, at feeding time, looking at the meat it had just been given.

Luna piped up: "Please, sir, he found us when we found the entry to the Chamber of Secrets. He was threatening to Obliviate us and throw us to whatever was down there. He said that was for exposing him as a fraud in my Daddy's newspaper. We had a hand in that."

The tension level in the room went up, and up, and up. Harry was reminded of how it felt, watching Revy Two-Hands, or Balalaika and Hotel Moscow, or Chang and the Triads, just after they'd received an affront of some sort, but before the inevitable explosion. Their differences forgotten, Dumbledore, the Parkinsons and the Malfoys all gave Lockhart glares that should have had him lying dead on the floor.

"How did you get the better of him, Miss Lovegood?" That was Lucius Malfoy. He seemed to be honestly curious. "I mean, he's got this reputation…I know he's probably not all he claims to be, but he's an adult! How did you children get the better of him?" From the tone of his voice, he was professionally interested. The other adults were also quiet, wanting to hear this.

"Oh, he couldn't cover all of us. Ginny, here, paralyzed him and we disarmed him. Then we forced him down into the Chamber ahead of us. We figured, that way, any traps or things like that would be neutralized, or at worst, we'd get advance warning," Harry spoke up. "Hey, he's stupid, unskilled, and eminently expendable." The other Slytherins nodded agreement. "In Roanapur, we call people like him 'bullet absorbers.' They soak up bullets that might hit someone worthwhile."

There was a silence in the room. Dumbledore finally spoke. "In most towns, they raise young people and send them, helpless and unsuspecting, into a cruel, merciless world. Apparently in Roanapur, they raise young people and send them, cruel and merciless, into a helpless, unsuspecting world." The Malfoys and Parkinsons nodded, giving Harry very nervous looks. Harry grinned to himself. Dudley nudged him in a way that he knew meant "Way to go, cousin!"

The Malfoys and Parkinsons were looking at Harry with what he recognized as reluctant respect. "You are Slytherin to the bone…all of you are!" Mr. Malfoy finally whispered.

"Then why did you go?" That was Madame Parkinson. "From what my Pansy has written, she doesn't get along with most of you well at all. Why would you care about her?"

"We don't," Hermione admitted, with a slightly shamefaced grin. "But Draco does. And we're Housemates. Slytherin stands alone, and united, and surmounts all challenges." Her recital of the Slytherin creed had the adults, save only Dumbledore, nodding agreement. Dumbledore, on the other hand, looked rather sad, and Harry wondered why. Change the wording slightly, and it would have described Hotel Moscow perfectly. Or the Triads. Or any of the successful Roanapur mobs. It was obvious wisdom, to his ears.

"When we figured out that she was missing," Dudley took up the story, "Draco, here, said he was going in after her, and we all joined on in. Draco's a pain, but he's our pain." The Malfoys clearly didn't know what to make of that. "We figured out where the entrance to the Chamber had to be, and thanks to Harry, here, we were able to open it. I'd rather not go into too much detail about how."

"We got ropes from the storage cupboards. That was where Professor Lockhart came across us. Then we rappelled down into the tunnels under the school, and found our way to the Chamber. In there, we found Pansy, nearly drained dry, and the spirit of Tom Riddle, who'd possessed her and taken her wand. He summoned Slytherin's monster, the Basilisk, and set it on us."

"How did you defeat a Basilisk?" Several of the adults all but shouted the question. Hermione pointed to Harry.

"That was Harry's idea. He had us cast all the Freezing Charms we could, because reptiles and cold don't mix. We were able to chill the room down enough that the snake went into torpor and hibernation. With the Basilisk not taking an interest, Tom Riddle by himself was not as much of a problem. He started gloating about how he had used Pansy, and that infuriated Draco…who, by the way, is more of a gentleman than I had realized…and Draco managed to Disarm him with one of the charms we learned in the Duelling Club." Draco looked slightly astonished to hear praise from Hermione. His parents stared, before his mother started beaming and his father swelled up slightly with pride.

"Unfortunately, Lockhart got ahold of Pansy's wand, and was about to kill Luna, when Dudley interfered. We all started throwing spells at him, and managed to get the better of him again. For a famous fighter of dark creatures, he's really not all that good," Ginny said, smiling artlessly.

"By that time, I had figured out that the diary was the secret to Tom Riddle's power, so I got it away from Pansy. We managed to destroy it by getting the Basilisk to ram its fang through the diary," Harry said. He didn't think the adults needed to know all the details. Had he been dealing with Balalaika, he would have gone into detail about just what had happened, but he didn't think that these sheltered wizards could handle some things. "Riddle disappeared, and Pansy woke up. That just left us with the Basilisk. I managed to convince it to go back to sleep, but it's hungry, poor thing. Do you think you could get Hagrid to send it in some food, sir?"

"I'm sure that Hagrid would be delighted to help out. You know that he loves all living creatures, and the more dangerous they are, the better he likes them. You may be sure that he will keep the Basilisk fed. And now that we know that we have a Basilisk, the school as a whole will benefit. Basilisk venom has many uses, and is extremely expensive. Any money we make from it will be split evenly; half to the school for operating expenses, and the other half to be split among you brave young people."

Ron's eyes went wide. "Blimey!" Ginny looked very calculating. Harry knew that they came from a poor family, and he was glad to hear that they were going to be getting a share of whatever money came the school's way from the Basilisk.

Professor Dumbledore pointed to the door. "And now, I think it is time that you fine young people were back in your dormitories. I shall write you out passes so that Mr. Filch or the prefects on patrol will not misunderstand your presence in the halls after lights-out." With a wave of his wand, a sheaf of passes with Dumbledore's signature on them appeared in his hand, and he passed them out. "Now, be on your way!"

As they left, Harry smiled to himself. He could hear what sounded like the beginnings of an almighty brawl between the Parkinsons and the Malfoys, and he privately hoped both sides would lose badly.

END Chapter 40