Several days after the students had departed, but well before the ordinary end of term, Dumbledore stood with Snape atop a low rise, gazing down at the broken castle. The morning mists still lingered on the grounds, shrouding the broken heaps of stone and shattered masonry that littered the grounds. They had stabilized the castle, but rebuilding would take some time.
"How are we going to finish this before term starts?" Dumbledore groaned, taking off his glasses to massage the bridge of his nose.
"We'll have to pay for contractors," Snape said grimly. "Miss Potter did generously inform us she would pay for expenses."
"I told her I would accept a donation of no more than 1000 galleons. The Ministry refuses to believe she really did defeat Tom a second time," Dumbledore sighed. "They did, at least, not attempt to snap her wand."
"It's going to cost far more than that. If we finish this work for less than 10,000 galleons I'll be shocked, and that's with all of us on staff working night and day. This castle is no simple stonework," Snape grumbled.
Putting his glasses back on, Dumbledore blinked owlishly. "Yes, and I fear that the few who can be of some real assistance in rebuilding will not come cheaply. The Board of Governors is not happy. And I still have yet to find another Defense Professor for the upcoming year. Our budget is going to be stretched thin."
"Just let me take over as Defense Professor. At least I can control the fool girl," Snape argued.
"No, her favorite subject is Potions, and you are invaluable in that regard. I half fear she would poison the entire castle considering what brews she has managed already. Did you see what her herbicide did?" Dumbledore asked, taking out his wand and bending the tip with his finger. He frowned at it. It felt...stiffer. Less springy. Over the past decade, the Death Stick seemed to have been waning in power. That shouldn't have been possible.
Before Snape could argue further, a bright voice called up the two men. "Hey hey hey! Good morning!"
Both blinked, then turned to fight a silver haired young woman with a guitar case on her back striding up to them, an odd looking companion bearing an instrument neither man recognized on her back.
"Good morning, Miss Fortuna. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Dumbledore asked, smiling fondly at his former student. Snape just glared, tugging at his goatee in irritation.
"Well, we heard about the disaster, so I figured, what the heck, I've gotta help out my old alma mater!" Chris said brightly.
"We would appreciate any donations in the reconstruction, though we have not yet begun a drive," Dumbledore said, studying the other woman. Like Chris, she was incredibly striking, with long blue hair tied back in a bandana. Despite wearing a baggy blouse and somewhat stained khaki trousers, she gave off an air of grace and elegance. Dumbledore thought he recognized her from somewhere, and after a moment he realized where.
"You wouldn't happen to be Miss Aqua Mizu, would you?" Dumbledore inquired when Chris failed to introduce her companion.
"Yep! That's me! Oh wow, did Megumin do all that?" the lady in question said, pointing to the destroyed section of the castle. She had an American accent, though if Dumbledore remembered correctly she was actually from Japan.
"I am afraid so," Dumbledore agreed. "For a good cause. She was accosted by the man known as Lord Voldemort, who was masquerading as our defense professor."
"Did he like, possess Quirrell or something? That's why he was Quirrellmort," Aqua asked, scratching her head.
"Yes, that is what we believed happened," Dumbledore agreed. "He-"
"Well that's dumb. Megumin should have just let the power of love kill him," Aqua huffed. "He should have burned up when she touched him. Like a vampire in sunlight!"
"He...what?" Dumbledore blinked. "I...I am afraid I don't know what you're talking about. Neither Miss Potter nor Miss Longbottom mentioned any such-"
"Anyway," Chris suddenly interrupted. "We're not here to make a donation. We just figured that, since Megumin blew up the wall and Voldequirrel-"
"Quirrelmort is cooler," Aqua grumbled.
"Voldequirrel," Chris insisted, "that you would also need a new Defense Professor."
"Are you applying for the position?" Snape demanded, frowning at Chris.
"What, me? Nah, not this year. I figure I need to at least give MJ a run for his money when it comes to dominating a sport, otherwise what's the point? Aqua's the one you want."
"You, Miss Mizu?" Dumbledore said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "I did hear of your recent exploits in Japan."
"Yep! I beat up that dumb demoness, no problem!" Aqua declared, flexing her arm and rubbing the bicep. "I totally have been destroying all the undead and demons I come across, because as the leader of the Axis Cult, I know how to get things done!"
She rummaged around in her bosom of all places, making both the men blush and glance aside. A moment later though, she pulled out a book. "I just had this published! 'Slay the Demons, Defeat the Devil King!' by me! It talks about all the ways to drive out evil spirits and the undead, they're all totally effective!"
Dumbledore accepted the book gingerly, wiping it off with his sleeve before glancing through it. To his surprise, it contained several rituals he recognized as being extremely effective at killing or driving off several dark beasts, as well as practical advice on warding off a variety of undead.
"I have heard the methods of the Axis Cult are...novel. They pray to some odd deity known as 'the Joyful One' who is a member of some pagan parthenon," Snape put in. "Despite the strangeness, the results seem to be positive."
"You are better known as a singer than a slayer of monsters though, Miss MIzu. I hear you even perform for the muggles," Dumbledore said, offering the book back to Aqua.
"Nah, keep it! I got lots of 'em!" Aqua laughed. "But, that's not all!'
"She'll fix the castle too," Chris added. "On the condition that you hire her as Defense Professor."
"You'll pay for the whole thing?" Dumbledore asked, suddenly very interested. The budget for next year had been looking very dire before this. He'd considered going so far as to hire someone like that charlatan Gilderoy Lockhart, who had been in talks with the board to offer a substantial donation in exchange for a year as the Defense Professor to teach 'the famous Miss Potter.'
Unlike Lockhart though, the accounts of Aqua's exploits were more than just a series of sensational novels. The vampire in Wales she had dispatched had killed several skilled witches and wizards, not to mention slaying dozens of muggles. But she had killed it nearly effortlessly by all accounts, hunting it down and slaying it with a single spell.
"Huh? No, that's too much trouble. I'll just fix it myself!" Aqua held up her instrument case. "That's why I brought this!"
She opened the case, taking out what appeared to be an odd, flat keyboard of some sort. Chris took out her guitar, only it wasn't the sort of instrument Dumbledore was familiar with, instead being flat, with metallic strings.
"Why did you bring those muggle instruments?" Snape demanded, the younger man clearly recognizing what they were. Dumbledore had to admit he was rather behind the times. He had heard a few of Miss Mizu's songs, but they were a bit too modern for his tastes.
"To fix the castle, duh!" Aqua explained. "Do we have a deal?"
Dumbledore pursed his lips and considered. He didn't know as much about this woman as he would have liked, and he had few references as to her academic credentials. However, he also had a dearth of options. Any halfway competent teacher knew well of the Curse upon the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts Professorship, and try as he might, Dumbledore had never been able to unravel it. Perhaps if he had a month to spare he could suss it out, but he simply lacked the time.
"Agreed. If you can repair the castle in the next few months, the job is yours," Dumbledore said. That would give him time to sound out the Board at any rate.
"What? No, I mean, I'm going to do it right now," Aqua said, pointing.
"My dear girl," Dumbldeore said with a gentle smile. "That will take more than just fitting the stones back into place, which would be no mean feat. You must also repair the layers of spells that make Hogwarts...Hogwarts."
"Yeah, I can see 'em, there's a lot! But that's no problem for a goddess like me!"
"Figuratively speaking," Chris hastily added.
"You can't be serious," Snape sneered. "That's-"
"No, Sirius is next year, I'm Aqua!" Then she stuck out her hand to Dumbledore. "Deal! Let's shake on it!"
Bemusedly, Dumbledore shook the offered hand. Then the two women walked over to the rubble, where they began to tune their instruments.
"Hey, thanks for coming, Chris! Normally I'd get Eris to help me with something like this, or maybe Kazuma, but he's too young and Eris hasn't been around for a while."
"No problem," Chris said, a hint of amusement in her voice. "Happy to help. I'll be sure to let Eris know you miss her next time I see her."
"Good, just tell her to lay off the pads!" Aqua laughed.
Chris dropped her guitar to the ground with a thud. "Hey! You listen here, missy, a girl can-"
"I'm just kidding, relax! I know she's your favorite deity," Aqua said, rolling her eyes. "Come on, let's play!"
Grumbling, Chris picked her instrument back up, but she gave the back of Aqua's head a good glare.
"What are they even doing?" Snape demanded. "This is a complete waste of our time. You should have sent Aqua packing. Fortuna was always trouble as well."
"I want to see what they do," Dumbledore replied. "Eris...isn't that the name of that Cult that Alice and Frank joined?"
"Yes, how they suddenly got religion, I'll never know. They seemed perfectly sensible before that, even if a bit holier than thou," Snape said with a shrug. "Well, I'm not standing out here in the cold and wet to listen to some senseless noise. I'll be-"
Aqua struck a chord on her keytar, and Chris began to play as well. The sound arrested Snape, and Dumbledore sucked a breath as well. It was...perfect. Mizu's music had been pleasant enough on the record player, even if it didn't suit Dumbledore's tastes. But this…
Then, the two women began to sing. And the world went silent to listen.
We built this city on rock and roll
Built this city
We built this city on rock and roll
The stones that lay on the ground began to tremble at the heavenly sound of the music, and a wind began to dance among the ruins.
Say you don't know me or recognize my face
Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night
Both women danced as they sang, their bodies swaying in a bewitching rhythm. Dumbledore found he couldn't tear his eyes away, and found himself moving along, despite his normally tired and creaking joints. Even Snape was tapping his foot along to the beat.
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember?
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock and roll
At the first repetition of the chorus, stones began to rise into the air, directed by Aqua's motions and movements as she spun about, leaping and gesturing as she continued to play. They flew back into place, even dust and dirt moving to fill in the gaps, before transforming into a perfect mortar.
The song continued for only a few minutes, but when it was finished, the castle was complete. The only reason you could tell that it had once been damaged was that the repair work was so much more complete and solid than the original.
"Alright!" Aqua said, nodding in satisfaction as she examined the wall. "Now to just check the wards."
"Wards?" Dumbledore asked. For some reason, Chris looked incredibly smug as he did so.
"You know, wards. The defensive spells that strengthen the castle," Aqua said, gesturing vaguely towards the building.
"You mean the inlaid spellwork?" Dumbledore asked. "Is that what you Americans call them? Wards?"
"Ugh, I can't believe Eris was right, that was just fanon," Aqua grumbled. "Yeah, fine. I'll make sure all the magical stuff is in order."
"If you don't know what it's called, how could you even expect to begin to understand such complex and ancient enchantments?" Snape demanded.
"Duh, because I'm a super awesome goddess!" Aqua skipped over and hummed to herself as she poked and prodded at the wall. After a moment, she took out her wand and got to work.
"Don't worry, she mostly knows what she's doing," Chris told the increasingly baffled Dumbledore. "I'll just stick around so that her bad luck doesn't trigger something."
"I...see.." Dumbledore managed, peering over his spectacles. He couldn't quite follow what all Aqua was doing, but she seemed to be literally stitching together the old spells, repairing them with her wand as though she were sewing.
"So, you'll actually hire her?" Chris asked, glancing sideways at the headmaster.
"Any witch who can so effortlessly repair stonework in that fashion, then handle complex wards such as those...I would have to be foolish not to hire such a skilled person," Dumbledore managed, flabbergasted.
"Yeah. Any mortal witch who could do that would be something else, wouldn't they?" Chris chuckled, then went over and got out her own wand, assisting Aqua in the repairs.
"How did she learn such a thing?" Snape demanded, turning to Dumbledore. "She was only ever an average student, who would rather make mischief and play quidditch than attend to her schooling! We did not teach her...that!"
"No...no we did not," Dumbledore said, feeling rather bemused. "But then again, we did not teach Miss Potter how to cast a spell powerful enough to shatter the most resilient magical barriers in all of Britain. There is far more to life than school, Severus."
"Something is off about this. You mark me: Fortuna is trouble, and this Mizu will prove to be the same, Albus." Snape spun on his heel and stalked off.
Dumbledore shook his head, turning back to watch the two women as they chatted and wove their magic. Severus really did need to learn to see the good in people.
The door shut behind him, and Draco flinched slightly. He looked nervously around the house, licking his lips. "Um, well, I'm a bit knackered from all the excitement, so I think I'll just-"
"Draco," Lucius Malfoy said, slowly removing his gloves and tossing them onto the vanity near the door. "My office. Now."
Cringing, Draco followed after his father. He cast a pleading glance behind him at his mother, but Narcissa turned her back on him.
This was not good.
Once they were inside the office, Lucius shut the door behind him with a snap of his fingers. He walked over to his desk, taking out his wand and running his finger along the edge, his back still to Draco. "Now, Draco. You will tell me exactly what transpired at that damnable school. No embellishments. No prevarication."
"Um," Draco licked his lips, wondering where to begin. "Well, first of all, this was all Kazuma's idea."
The sound of Lucius' open palm slamming the desk made Draco jump about six inches up in the air.
"You are a Malfoy," Lucius said, his tone eerily calm despite the sudden and unusual display of anger. "Kazuma Crabbe is the son of a family that has served ours for generations. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to place the blame for your own actions at his doorstep. You should be the leader. The one in control. Not a puppet for another man."
Draco wanted to say something about how his father had been the puppet of Voldemort, but he wasn't that dumb. Most of the time.
"I, well...we were attempting to figure out what secrets that old man had hidden away in the castle. You know, a powerful relic, or a dirty secret. Something I could use," Draco insisted. That was indeed the rationalization he had fed himself, and he almost half believed it.
His father turned slowly, tapping his wand in his open palm.
"I just wanted to beat Megumin and prove I was better than Yunyun!" Draco wailed, tears forming in his eyes. He felt ashamed, and tried to brush them away, but the frustration, fear, and anger made them come hot and heavy down his cheeks. "It's not right! She's a blood traitor, maybe even a halfbreed with those eyes, and Yunyun's a filthy muggleborn! It's not fair that they're better than me at everything!"
"Yunyun. She is Potter's cousin, is she not?" Lucius asked, his wand stilling in his hand as he regarded his son. "A mudblood."
"Yes. She's a m-mudblood," Draco managed, stumbling over the word. Somehow...it didn't feel right. He wasn't Yunyun's friend, he wasn't! He just...he didn't know.
Lucius sighed and set his wand down. He came over and knelt before his son, putting a hand on Draco's shoulder as he studied his son's face. At last, he drew Draco into a hug, where the boy proceeded to bawl his eyes out.
"I'm sorry!" Draco wailed, his voice muffled from pressing his face into his father's chest. "I know I failed! I didn't realize Quirrell was a Death Eater, much less that he was possessed by the Dark Lord! I would've helped him, would've made you proud, but I didn't know! And...and...when he attacked us...I just reacted! I was scared! And...I...I couldn't just watch the girls die! They're my classmates, even if they're a couple of traitors with impure blood!"
"Shhh, shhh, it's alright," Lucius said gently. He took out a handkerchief and wiped Draco's eyes, then gave it to him to blow his nose. "Now. Give me a fuller account. Do not worry. I am here now. And I'll take care of everything."
Eagerly, over the next few hours, Draco told his father all he knew. When he was done, he felt much better.
"Thank you for trusting me," Lucius said at last. "You have erred, Draco. Greatly. But you are young. I am afraid you must be punished, and quite harshly."
Draco whimpered slightly, cringing in the chair he was sitting in. "Not...not the Cruciatus..."
"Draco."
He looked up to see real pain in his father's face. "Do you honestly think I would ever do such a thing to my own son?"
"I...no, father," Draco admitted.
"And I will not. You are too old for simply physical punishment. But there will be no broom for you. Not this year. You will be confined to your room for the summer. You shall not leave this house. I will make my displeasure with you known, privately."
Draco nodded, swallowing. Then, he forced out, "What about...Kazuma and Dust? They…"
"I have spoken with their fathers. They know better than to kill their sons," Lucius said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Beyond that, they will set their own houses in order."
Draco nodded, feeling slightly relieved.
His summer Holiday would be miserable, but it wouldn't be unbearable.
"There there, Master Kazuma. It's alright, Dobby is here now."
Kazuma curled up into a tighter ball on his bed. Everything was pain. He should have known what his parents would do to him.
Well screw them.
"Dobby is having a nice muggle comic for good master Kazuma. Don't worry, Dobby will be taking care of everything," the house elf said. "Here, and a nice muggle pain potion. Cruel Master said not to be giving Good Master any of the proper pain potions, but Dobby is smart, Dobby is clever, and Dobby is kind. Here, master. They are saying to be taking them with food and water."
"Don't want any," Kazuma muttered, turning away from Dobby. "Go away."
Dobby sighed heavily. "Dobby is getting cheetos and coke…"
Kazuma forced himself to sit up, squinting at his friend. "Yeah?"
The house elf nodded, his comically large ears flapping as he did so. "Yes, Good Master Kazuma. You is eating them, yes? And a comic! Dobby is getting the latest collection…"
"Fine." Kazuma accepted the latest Superman trade, as well as the soda and bag of snacks. He paused, then gave Dobby a weak smile. "Thanks. You're a lifesaver."
"Dobby is just doing what a good elf would."
Kazuma took the medicine, which was something called "Tylenol." He didn't feel any different. Rubbish muggle junk. But he did eat the snack and read the comic book. He'd have to hide it from his father or risk even greater outrage than the last one. At least the cruciatus didn't scar. But ten seconds was way more than Kazuma ever wanted to endure.
"Stupid bastard couldn't find his arse with his own two hands," Kazuma muttered.
"Pardon, Good Master?" Dobby asked.
"Not you. Just...go back to work. I don't want you getting in trouble too, and dad's in a hell of a mood. I'll call if I need something."
Dobby bowed and snapped his fingers, vanishing in a puff.
Sighing, Kazuma closed his eyes and lay back on his bed. It was going to be a long summer. For a minute or two, he felt sorry for himself.
Then he sat up and smiled. Well. Who said that he had to just lay here and accept his fate? There was always a way to turn everything to his advantage.
Even this crappy life.