Michael Brown

"Oh crap! It's you!" I heard a voice as I was approaching Ravenclaw common room. It belonged to one of Ravenclaw first years, Casper Dinkley. He was 'guarding' a door to it, an initiative started by the first years after one of my pranks.

During the fifth day of my retaliation, everyone sleeping in the first year's men dormitory woke up with suits of armour standing next to their beds, giant axes raised high. Armor's hands were connected to the student's hand with a thick thread, so the weapon would fall in case the student moved. All weapons were of course dull and had a softening charm casted on them meaning there was no actual risk involved, but as first years didn't know it, the dormitory was filled with terrified screams in the morning.

After that they decided to always keep someone in front of the common room to warn others I was coming. It was actually quite prudent of them, as you can't be too cautious, but this time it would be completely unnecessary, as I wouldn't prank them anymore.

"Calm down, I am not here to cause any trouble" I started, trying to calm Casper down, as he was already pointing a wand at me with a shaky hand. I spread my arms in a peaceful manner, hoping it would make him less nervous to see I wasn't carrying anything "I am here to actually negotiate the terms of peaceful end to the ongoing conflict"

"W-what? Negotiations? You are not here to pour a bottle of mooncalf pheromone on me again?" He asked nervously. I shook my head, but he still seemed a little wary. I guess it would be too easy for him to trust me like that, wouldn't it? Suddenly Casper turned around, almost like he was expecting something to attack him from behind (which wasn't unsurprising given his recent experiences with very excited mooncalves). Seeing there was nothing behind him, he looked at me again "S-so you are saying you intend to stop pranking us?"

"Yes, there is really no point in doing it any further" I responded, my voice full of quiet determination. Talking with Luna made me realize that my actions against other claws were meaningless. I was only venting my anger on literal children, who didn't even know that their actions were part of the Ministry's machinations. They were just children following their parents' footsteps, unknowingly serving a broken, corrupted system of oppression. It wasn't their fault. Luna helped me understand that they needed guidance, not punishment. Only then they would be able to break free and see the Ministry's lies "Can you inform others? As a gesture of good faith I will even allow you all to choose the place to talk. I will just come here again at nine and you will take me to the chosen place. Can you pass on this message to the group?"

"I-I will ask others. Just…wait here for a minute" Casper responded after a few seconds, entering the common room with a wand still pointed at me. It was actually quite nice to see that thanks to my actions Ravenclaws became a little more cautious and rational. But despite my efforts' effectiveness, I knew my methods weren't right. They needed a gentler hand. After a few minutes of waiting, full of shouts and arguments hearable from behind the wall, Casper came back "We accept your proposition. Come here at nine and we will take you to the chosen place. A-and don't even think about doing something, or you will r-regret it!"

"Then it's decided" I replied, turning around and leaving without saying another word. I only had several hours before the meeting, so I needed to meet with Luna and begin our preparations.

Marcus Fawley

"I don't like this, Marcus. I don't like this at all" said Kevin nervously, walking and forth across the classroom they were currently waiting in " He probably just wants to gather us all in one place and hit us with something big"

"Maybe, but it's still better for us to be together. Brown won't be able to take us all at the same time" responded Marcus confidently, though inside he was as worried as Kevin. They still didn't know if Brown was even serious about his peace offer.

His entire group, consisting of almost entire Ravenclaw's first year, was currently waiting for Brown in one of the unused classrooms scattered across Hogwarts dungeons. They were intending to meet with Brown there, to avoid any traps potentially set up by the vengeful lunatic. At first they planned to hold a meeting in their common room, but they quickly realized it wouldn't be a good idea. Not only Brown had access to it, something he has used before (Damn suits of armour!), but a potential ambush would leave the common room devastated. He didn't want to risk that, especially as older students were already starting to complain about their prank war giving a negative reputation to their house. As if it was their fault! It was all that madman Brown!

For that reason the first years decided it would be safer to gather in one of the abandoned classrooms. Choice of the classroom was of course made only ten minutes before the meeting, to prevent the information from leaking to Brown. That was why they were currently spending the evening in the dungeons, nervous and ready for anything.

When the clock struck nine, everyone tensed, preparing themselves for the worst.

After a few minutes of anxious waiting, they heard someone knocking on the door. Kevin opened it, revealing Casper Dinkley and the vengeful lunatic himself, Michael Brown. Seeing the person responsible for most of her recent nightmares, Diana Jenkins started shaking, no doubt reliving her awful experiences from the last week, while Danny Simmons went rigid, starting whispering something about goblins. The mood in the room dropped immediately, everyone looking at Brown with a mixture of hate and fear.

Michael Brown, either unaware or uncaring about the group's reaction to his presence, leisurely entered the room, his steps confident despite being surrounded by enemies. Instead of averting his eyes, he was looking straight at them, his gaze intense and full of mysterious determination. There were some papers in his hands, though Marcus wasn't able to see what they were containing. Seeing that they prepared a chair for him, separated from Marcus and his group by a huge table, he sat there, put the papers on the table and spoke.

"I don't want to waste your time, so I will get straight to the point. I am here to negotiate the peace between us" Brown declared, leaning comfortably on his chair. Was he really not stressed by being here? Was it part of another one of his pranks? Marcus wasn't sure and sadly it didn't even matter at this point. As much as it pained him to admit, Brown was utterly and completely destroying them. In only a week he made four firsties piss their pants and at least three people cry in their sleep, traumatized by whatever pranks he pulled on them. David was still screaming upon seeing a fish during the meal.

"We can still win this, you know?" Marcus responded, doing his best to sound confident. He knew they were completely outclassed, but he couldn't just admit it. He had to appear strong, if only to make whatever terms Brown presented less one-sided and unfair.

Brown looked at him doubtfully.

"I don't think you can. Not when almost half of your group look like they are going to cry just by seeing me enter the room" stated Brown, pointing at the people behind Marcus. He didn't even have to turn around to know he was right. Morale were…non-existent low at the moment "Also, with every passing day the risk of teachers noticing our 'game' is increasing. If the conflict doesn't end soon, Ravenclaw will lose a lot of points and you will automatically lose"

"…so what do you want, Brown?" Marcus grounded out, knowing fully well that he was right. They didn't have a lot of options and were now at mercy of a reckless madman "You want us to completely ignore your actions? To just turn our heads away while you are losing points?"

To his surprise, Brown just shook his head.

"No, I don't. Thanks to a very wise person I realized that our conflict is meaningless. So my terms are very simple. First things first, you will stop bullying Luna Lovegood, period. It doesn't matter if it's pranks or calling her names, she is off-limits. Secondly, you will return mine and Luna's belongings to us and never touch them again" declared Brown, his voice stern "In turn, I will stop my hunt. I will also behave during classes, so that you won't lose more points because of me"

What?

That was it? They were completely at his mercy! He could have asked anything! And the only thing he wanted was for them to stop bullying Looney and bring back their stuff? What was his plan? Why was he so merciful? And did it really matter if they didn't have any other options?

"…and if we don't agree?" Marcus asked weakly, attempting to save face at least a little. Others were glaring at him, but he needed to put up at least a token resistance. He had his honor as a member of house Fawley after all.

"Well, I would obviously escalate even further with my pranks and nuke Ravenclaw's chances of winning to kingdom come" Brown replied, his voice calm and steady, as if he was talking about the weather. Seeing everyone's horrified reactions he sighed and looked Marcus in the eye "Look, I will be honest with you, something I should have done from the start. You see, I don't care about the house system, whether it's about points or that whole 'house pride'. For me it's an inherently evil system, meant to destabilize the population and keep people with potential from each other. It's all about dividing children into four antagonistic houses, to stop all these loyal, brave, smart and ambitious people from ever uniting. Point system is just a means of making all these people fight against each other for some meaningless points. Everything just ends with losers looking at winners with envy and winners looking at losers with contempt. It doesn't help that part of the faculty, like Dumbledore or Snape, are obviously biased towards certain houses, making winning the whole thing quite impossible for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. So I don't like the house system at all"

…What in Merlin's name was he talking about? That system existed for generations. Was he sabotaging them just because he didn't really see the point of following a tradition? Traditions were meant to be followed! And why was Robert nodding along? Marcus acknowledged that Snape and Dumbledore were biased, but it didn't mean that the entire system was bad…seriously guys, stop nodding along!

"My mistake was that I didn't even try to tell all of you my reason and the truth behind the system. So it's all my fault. That's why I decided to make peace with you. I don't think my terms are unreasonable, especially in your current position" Brown continued, bringing Marcus back to the present, extending his hand "So, what will it be?"

Marcus looked around the room, trying to gauge his group's reactions. Unsurprisingly almost all of them were nodding enthusiastically, practically begging him with their eyes to agree to Brown's proposition. He sighed deeply, tired and defeated. He didn't really have much choice, did he?

He shook Brown's hand. The deal was struck.

"Great!" exclaimed Brown suddenly, looking much happier than before. Without waiting for anyone's reaction he stood up and picked up the papers he brought with him, giving one to every person in the room "I decided to be more proactive in sharing my knowledge, but I didn't really know how to do that. Fortunately Luna came up with a great idea! We will start voluntary lectures, where we will share our knowledge with anyone interested. Here are some pamphlets I prepared with Luna. They contain the planned content of the first lecture. I still don't know when it will take place, so wait for further information!"

After giving everyone a pamphlet Brown left the room, leaving the group confused, though still overjoyed about the horror being over.

Marcus looked at the paper currently in his hand. It was a lecture program, though it was fairly simplistic, containing only a name of the lecture and the list of topics:

Michael's and Luna's guide through Ministry's many lies:

-Introductions

-Ministry spies can be everywhere: how well do you know your neighbour?

-Great Hall feast or the start of bloody upheaval?

-House points as a means of oppressing the masses

-History of lies: How Ministry fabricated the history through centuries

-Q/A

Enjoy appetizers untainted by harmful substances added to the food at the Great Hall

Marcus blinked. What in Merlin's name was that?!

Michael Brown

Finally finished with peace talks, I was walking happily through the hallway, happy that everything ended all right. Of course, I knew that from now on things would start to get more complicated, and the Ministry would increase its attempts to get rid of me, fearing I would be able to influence the next generation to rebel against them, but I decided it was a risk I was willing to take. After all, I couldn't call myself a rebel without actually doing anything rebellious against the Ministry.

For that reason, despite the danger waiting for me in the future, I was happy. I finally did some good by making peace with Ravenclaw firsties and inviting them to learn the truth, even if it would take a while before anyone would be able to comprehend it.

Happy with my achievement and wanting to share the good news with Luna, I turned around the corner. To my surprise I noticed that there was some commotion happening in front of me, as I could see a crowd of people standing in the middle of the corridor, furiously whispering about something.

What happened? Was Sprout arrested? Did McGonagall kill someone? Were they all talking about that huge writing on the wall, written in blood?

Wait a fucking minute!

I immediately started pushing through the crowd, desperate to see what was written there. I remembered that scene! It was about Chamber of Secrets being open! Was it Tom's message?! Was it Dumbledore trying to frame him and terrorize Hogwarts into submission? I had to know!

After a minute of intense struggle I was able to reach the front of the crowd, tired but desperate for answers. I ignored the complaints of people around me, looking at the scene happening before my eyes.

A petrified cat hanging lifelessly from a torch slot. Harry Potter standing confused next to it. Hogwarts' caretaker, Argus Filch, screaming at Potter for killing his cat. Dumbledore trying to calm him down. It was all very familiar, but it wasn't the most important part of the scene. I raised my eyes. On the wall there was a huge writing, made out of someone's blood. It was slowly dripping, still fresh. I focused on it and read it.

The chamber of secrets has been opened.

The end of the Old Blood's reign is nigh.

Enemies of the heir…beware

I read the writing several times, finally understanding its meaning.

"Thank god" I whispered, voice full of relief, ignoring the shocked gazes of everyone around me. Judging by the writing, Tom was safe! I still didn't know where he was, which was a problem, but at least now I knew he was with someone sympathetic to our cause. What a relief!