Author's Note:
So, it turns out that my sister mistook the date of the tumblr event to be on March when it was actually on May. I am definitely distracted half the time for anything that isn't problem sets that of course I vaguely thought it all checks out, nod and say yes when she passed me the link. I'll just upload another bonus chapter on May when she participates again. It's not as if anyone's complaining about having double bonus chapters instead of one, right?
Thanks for everyone who dropped a review. In particular, if you're an anonymous guest, there's no way for me to reply directly, so let me just say my thanks here.
'-
22 Councils in Times of War
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood. Gathering support, preparations for a campaign. Post-meeting. Abraxas and Melchior walks back to the Slytherin dorms.
'-
Oswin had arranged the meeting in an unused classroom. Hermione and Tom still have some half an hour or so to go before the scheduled time and that was why they were chatting.
Tom had informed her that Oswin and Emma, the two seventh-year Slytherin prefects, were the lynchpin of the ministry-oriented Hogwarts seniors. The Orpingtons were known career bureaucrats while Emma had an older brother and parents in the ministry. Oswin and Emma's study group was, among others in the know, known informally as the Policy Swots. Only excessively pedantic people and stickler for details like her knew them as the Wizarding Society for Better Governance.
A flash of insight hit Hermione then.
"The aspiring bureaucrats wouldn't have felt it wise or safe to throw their lot with you before now, would they?" She asked.
She was sitting in the grey wing-back chair next to his once more. At the far side of the wrecked room, Abraxas and Melchior were sleeping. The two Slytherins were soundly ignored.
"Why wouldn't they throw their lot with me?" Tom said.
"If you had gone on with your original plan with the Knights of Walpurgis, taking power with force of dark arts and violence—oh, don't look at me like that, Tom. You know that I know. It's in that bleak future that I have knowledge of, among others."
She shook her head. "These junior ministry types of Hogwarts students wouldn't have joined you."
He was glancing at her sideways, under his long lashes that made it harder to read his expression. Not that he even needed to do that in the first place, she thought morosely, because he's already hard enough to read most of the time. Tom hadn't returned the teacup and saucer he was holding back to the table, and as she watched him with an annoyed sense of wariness.
His slight smile was sudden and it surprised her. "No, they wouldn't have."
"Another difference to mark down," Hermione said with a nod. "I wonder what the chart would look like now."
"The chart?"
"The flow of history? Charting time with highly advanced arithmancy? That particular interest of mine that I, perhaps ironically, gained from what will be my future profession. Your group of…extremists had left a significant weight in that history that you can see the ripples extending everywhere, affecting much even once they were destroyed. It's quite an inconvenience in the future." She said.
Hermione spoke with the casual confidence of the woman who had seen them destroyed and didn't consider them to be something to fear. What she did consider them to be was a pain in the backside and a constant source of her annoyance. She (and everyone else) had to keep cleaning up their messes when a new Death Eater site was found or another cell was detected by Harry and Ron.
Then she remembered who she was talking to and belatedly remember that maybe she needed to be more deferential about the threat they presented? A little less dismissive? The Death Eaters was the vessel of Tom's grand ambition. She bit her lip and raised her head.
Instead of bristling, his gaze seemed almost fond. Honestly, it was rather unsettling.
"Um, Tom?"
"Yes, Hermione?"
"You're not…" mad? No, too loaded. Find another word, "…upset? I mean, it is your…"
What, future? That might not even be the right word for it now, is it? So far, it would seem that Everett's interpretation of quantum mechanics was the one that holds.
"Not at all." It was the ease with which he said this that convinced her. "It's just nice to see that you would never quite change your destructive capabilities. I merely wish I could be present for all the times you demonstrated your devastation."
…what.
Hermione's eyebrows were twitching. That was weird and she still couldn't wrap her head around it. He was smiling at the thought of his own destruction? No, that couldn't be it, right? No. He was very much the survivor, she understood that the moment she read that he'd grown up in an orphanage and created for himself a markedly different persona in Hogwarts. But then, what is he thinking about?
Hermione decided to stop trying to think like Tom Riddle because her migraine was going to come up with a vengeance.
"I think I can easily see what one of the forks from that future happened to be." Tom said, peacefully unaware of the confusion whirling in her head.
"Really?"
"Were you at Hogwarts at all? Perhaps it's a future where you've never left Norway, or where you only returned to England after your school years were over and thus never necessitated a meeting between us." He said.
Hermione couldn't hide her sharp gasp. Since he'd heard it anyway, she decided to take her time to find the words to her answer. One that wasn't 'of course we didn't meet. I was in the future, fighting against your underlings already."
"No, I'm positive I wasn't in Hogwarts with you, Tom." She said dryly.
The Ravenclaw was sure she would've noticed it if Tom Riddle's inner circle during his Hogwarts years had a witch on it, just because it seemed to be so male-heavy in general—she was a woman, she noticed these things automatically. His dark blue eyes were meticulously observing her yet again, though for what purpose this time, she had no idea. Previously, whenever he was watching, he was just being his unnerving and calculating self. Now that she could feel the trickle of warmth that came from a feminine awareness and power in another way she might have captured his attention; she still couldn't decide whether it improved the experience.
Hermione still ended up unsettled, though for very different reasons (and different enjoyability).
"You'd still be noticeable outside Hogwarts," He commented. She wasn't sure what the context of that comment was supposed to be.
"If you say so," the brunette absently replied.
Wouldn't Dumbledore have remembered another Hermione that was also the best witch in her year? The similarities between them would've been too uncanny that he'd see it instantly. Unless he was lying and hiding the fact, which was entering the area of outlandish conspiracy theory that Hermione decided not to consider it seriously without substantial evidence.
"It's clear that the failure's future isn't mine at all, then." Tom said.
She didn't understand that sentence at all. Hermione pulled herself out of her thoughts and met his gaze.
"Failure? What do you mean by failure?"
"Well, he is a failure if he did not even notice the sheer potential of a witch like you, isn't he?" Tom casually asked. "That was rather short-sighted of him."
Hermione's mouth opened soundlessly for a second before she closed it again. Tom was picking one of the macarons with what she thought was an overly critical eye.
Did he realise that he'd just considered himself and Voldemort as different people right now?
Of course, compared to Hermione's experience in her life before she was thrown here, Voldemort was probably still an abstract idea to Tom. Perhaps to be Voldemort was merely one shape out of many that easily formed and dissolved in the ever-shifting smoke that were his future possibilities and ideas. Yet to her, he'd crossed the Rubicon. She can't help but remember the last lines of Robert Frost's poem:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
'-
Hermione had arrived with Tom at the appointed classroom.
The conversations quieted down as they entered, before picking up again when it was clear that they weren't going to interfere. A tall, serious-looking wizard and a witch with spectacles and hair secured in a bun greeted them. Her severity did not detract from her fine features.
"Tom, Hermione, welcome. Thank you for dropping by. We're very pleased that you could make it," The wizard said. Hermione could see the slight relief in his eyes. Oswin Orpington, wasn't it? Seventh-year Slytherin prefect, she thought, trying to make sure she recalled his name. The prefect badge and his tie made her guess very likely.
"You're in luck, the meeting hasn't truly started yet." The witch added.
That meant the witch was certainly Emma Eccleston, his prefect partner. The exchange of greetings and politesse was something that she'd done often enough when she was working in the Ministry that she didn't even have to think about it. When that was over, her attention drifted to the Hogwarts students that were present.
The easiest way to describe her first impressions was that, they weren't what she expected at all.
Oh, she certainly didn't expect hooded cloaks, meetings at midnight and the entire cloak-and-dagger works that would have come with the Death Eaters or possibly even their predecessor, the Knights of Walpurgis. They'd be more normal. Yet seeing the smattering of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff ties along with at least one Gryffindor, with everyone easily talking to one another and moving between the different people made it all more real to her.
Not everyone had gathered yet when they arrived at the designated classroom. Yet from the way Emma consulted a list she was holding, did a quick check, and seemed to signal to Oswin to continue, she surmised that almost everyone invited were already present.
Oswin was the one who gave an unofficial version of an opening speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen. We've come together often enough for various talks that I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that we're gathered here again this evening. The Ministry Massacre by Grindelwald wasn't the first or even the fourth among the series of attacks he'd perpetrated on British soil. We all know it's not going to be his last either, and it's just going to get worse from here onwards, isn't it?"
His spirit faltered at the end; it was hard to avoid the spectre the attacks cast on them all. Emma smoothly picked up after him.
"The Ministry response has been tepid so far and not coherent enough, and we're not the only ones growing impatient. Even ministry employees wish for a change. A few days ago, we've managed to set up a meeting with Tom Riddle's people…"
Hermione could see the gazes flickering her way, attentions and curiosities momentarily diverted in their direction. It was odd to realise that at this point, even with her still-developing reputation as a new transfer student at Hogwarts, the students and staff might have begun to consider her under the umbrella of Tom Riddle's people.
She, a muggleborn student, was now considered part of Tom Riddle's inner circle.
Hermione found it strangely humorous, and she didn't hide the small smile that grew on her face from the thought. She didn't remove it even when Tom gave her a curious glance from the side.
'-
The idea of being able to put on a united front against Grindelwald with the international wizarding community was predictably, a hit with many people.
"He's making a mockery of the Statute of Secrecy and we won't stand for this!"
"Yes!"
"Thinks of himself beyond the law, did he? Well, he's not."
"We'll show him what for!"
Similar opinions were expressed with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Everyone liked the idea of standing fully on the side of right in the eyes of the law and to see that their enemies are clearly in the wrong. Hermione could see sparks lighting up in the eyes of many, of how more of them moved with the surety that only a purpose could give after that. Even the realisation that it could already be handled by the current Ministry instead of them didn't decrease their spirit much.
"That still leaves us with nothing much to do, though."
A tall Ravenclaw calmly stated between Hermione's explanation. He was a guy whose strawberry-blond hair was grown carelessly long (she can't see his ears). It was surprising to see that he had a prefect badge.
"We'll pass the idea up of course, and I'm sure we'll see the results in the Prophet soon enough, Missy. But what can we actually do?"
He leaned back slightly, as if he was too lazy to stand up straight. His tone was very reasonable. From the way Hermione could see Tom staring sideways at him for one whole second when he was conversing with a different group warned her that the Slytherin had noticed the Ravenclaw cutting into her explanation and was not entirely pleased.
She spoke up quickly before Tom decided to come over and probably make a pest of himself.
"You have a good point, Mr…?"
"Bones. Daedalus Bones. Seventh-year." He did not mention his House because he could see that she was clearly not a fool and thus would've figured it out.
Hermione nodded. "Well, I was about to proceed to the next step after that. Once we've gotten international agreement on outlawing Grindelwald, we find his hideout. If we can find his hideout, we can find him."
"We?"
"The Ministry clearly would not be able to spare too many Aurors to find Grindelwald," Hermione was answering him, but she made sure to turn around and meet the eyes of the other people in her audience. "But I'm sure our friends from other countries would be glad to help. There are French wizards and witches who are forced to leave their land as the forces of Grindelwald's muggle allies entered France. There are Norwegian exiles in London. Hogwarts has its own Polish contingent."
The realisation that they don't have to fight Grindelwald alone was visible in the crowd's reduced tension.
"I'm sure if all of us were to cooperate and coordinate to find him, we'll soon find where his headquarters are. He would leave many traces that enough people searching will be able to find—for example, that many soldiers cannot just stop eating. He will thus still have links to civilisations somehow. If he sent for his food by magical means like, say, the floo, it would be even more traceable. Even more so for the size of his food purchases since the wizarding world do not routinely hosts groups of people as sizeable as the force he leads."
Daedalus listened to her carefully before he spoke.
"Once we get the law on our side, we could track down all the unplottable cartographers in Europe. Ask for orders to cover an area that is larger than a certain size. If the Aurors can get an estimate of Grindelwald's forces, then we'd also know the minimum size it could be and eliminate anything smaller from the list. It's not a bad place to start searching even if there might be some places omitted because they're trying to cover for their customers." He added.
"We need to get the law on our side? On what matter?" She asked, curious.
"Formal statements of how he's now an outlaw and all that. Wanted for several crimes in several countries. It would be easier to get people to cooperate."
The Ravenclaw wizard offered more of his own ideas as Hermione added her own. Between their back-and-forth, locating Grindelwald now seemed completely manageable. She could see people nodding along in understanding as they followed the arguments. She could see others speaking up and adding their own suggestion and she saw the verbatim-quills diligently writing every word spoken. Hermione could even drift into the background a little and watch everyone else come up with suggestions and ideas as she'd managed to get the discussion going.
Locating Grindelwald's hideout was not something that scared most people out of their wits like fighting Grindelwald. If even the core of Tom's supporters whom she assumed were more hardened than most still found him intimidating, she didn't want to know what most wizards and witches thought of Grindelwald.
Probably like some sort of Titan, hurling lightning towards mortals from atop Olympus.
Of course, sooner or later, someone would remember the fact that Grindelwald had muggle soldiers. That was when she had to carefully draw back the conversation to how Grindelwald only had it in the first place because he broke the Statute of Secrecy. She needed them to keep it in mind.
This is why, she explained, that they have to prepare for when of the teams finally managed to find Grindelwald's location and shared the information with everyone else. Then, they'll forward it to the Ministry, and then the Ministry would have to prepare an Auror team that can strip the location of defensive wards, notice-me-not charm and anything even remotely useful from it.
"But the muggles…"
"Then, we'll inform the muggles of the location." She answered.
There was an uproar. Several people tried to talk at once, though not, she noticed, Daedalus Bones. He was watching the byplay. He cut in at a natural point among the overlapping conversations.
"Look, Grindelwald would have muggles, yes? We're just letting the muggles on our side to hit the ones on his. That's what the Statute of Secrecy was about in the first place, innit? For us to leave the muggles to fight their own war? So, of course we'll have to inform them of the location." Daedalus was staring down a belligerent Slytherin.
"We'll just have to isolate Grindelwald's wizards beforehand so they can't interfere with the muggles." Hermione added.
"Why do we need to even involve muggles in the first place? Can't we just handle it on our own? That's what obliviators are for." The Slytherin wizard even sounded annoyingly petulant.
"Do you want to face muggles like those that attacked the Ministry?" Daedalus fired back. "Oh, wait, are you volunteering to be among the first to face them? Is that it? To set things right once and for all in the name of the wizarding world?"
The Ravenclaw's grin was a tad too wide. As the other wizard was not looking forward to getting anything close to a field assignment, he backed down with a pale face.
Daedalus was quick on the uptake, she had to give him that, and he had a lot less qualms of shooting people's inane ideas down than Hermione did. The conversation moved faster thanks to his interferences, even if some people were grumbling about him. This was also the point where she'd realised how useful the Daily Prophet article about her was. When someone doubted that they needed to bring in muggles just to face other muggles, she turned to him.
"Have you seen the wounds caused by muggle weapons?"
The answer was no, obviously. Then, she started going on about what happens if you get shot in the gut (doesn't that just sound so awful?) until he paled enough to shut up. She asked him whether he wanted to hear about what internal burn injuries look like when one is too close to an explosive in an enclosed space. The sixth-year wizard declined. At no point during the whole process did ask her how she knew, no one accused her of making things up. They accepted her knowledge, took it into account and moved on.
Apparently, she was now a trusted expert on the effects of muggle weapons. That particular Prophet article that Tom engineered was actually useful.
So far, she was satisfied how she'd managed to herd everyone into accepting the necessity of informing the muggles and cooperating with them to take down Grindelwald's muggle forces. She was also glad with how Emma and Oswin saw what she and Tom was going for and brought similar arguments to bear on the rest of the seventh-years within a moment.
Wow, I could get used to this. She almost forgot how it felt to have a highly skilled team backing you up.
As for personally fighting Grindelwald down, that scared the wits out of practically everyone there. As a consequence, neither Tom nor Hermione was going to breathe a word of that plan. Not that they've even coordinated on this, it was just one of those bloody obvious things you don't do—a good chunk of the wizarding world is too used to peace, even more so than the muggle world, and thus it is to no one's benefit to panic the sheep. The general theme of the meeting ended up being about enforcing the Statute of Secrecy against Grindelwald and how the British wizarding community and related exiles from Europe can do that.
Yet for her, there was no doubt that the plan to crush Grindelwald would exist. The skeleton of one was already being laid in Hermione's mind, and she was sure Tom was doing much the same thing in his idle moments.
Finding ways to weaken, to strike, to kill Grindelwald.
She was beginning to have a better understanding of Tom Riddle's character. Considering Tom's ambition for power and glory (one way or another), she had no doubt that if Dumbledore didn't move quickly enough, he'd lead the efforts to take Grindelwald down himself if he had to. She'd began to suspect that he moved even faster than in her future's history with her presence on his side increasing the firepower he could bring to bear. It was a flattering thought to know that she had noticeably began to alter the course of events.
Hermione herself had a conscience when it came to letting an active dark lord spread destruction around him. Add her experience (memories) in fighting them that she remembered (and more skills that came without any memories), she can never justify to standing aside and letting him be to herself. Sooner or later, she was going to start making plans to take him down too.
They'd marked the same faction as enemy.
It was certainly a lot more expedient for the two of them to pool their plans and effort into one. Their respective positions on the Dark Arts notwithstanding, they were surprisingly convenient allies.
'-
Everyone else had gone out to their respective Houses or up to whatever mischief they wanted to go to next. Though considering that most of the students that Oswin and Emma gathered are the more dependable, law-abiding types, probably not. Daedalus Bones, on the other hand, struck her as one who wouldn't be sneaking out because it was too bothersome to do.
"Alright. We can still manage one last patrol for the night, people, even if we can't make it two like the usual. These are the remaining routes that aren't covered by the Abbotts and the other prefects not present here."
Oswin unrolled a scroll that Emma had handed to him and laid it on the table so everyone could see. He had even enlarged it so it was easily readable to people not immediately next to him. "Emma has taken note of the routes taken by the other prefects. So, these are the remaining uncovered routes."
"Abbott didn't mind we ditched patrol today?" A Ravenclaw witch asked in amazement.
Since Eugenie was the fifth-year prefect, Hermione guessed she was sixth or seventh. She vaguely remembered being introduced earlier to one Julia Goldstein.
"We did not 'ditch' patrol. We merely deferred it." Emma's reply was cool.
Oswin clarified with a sigh. "We certainly coordinated the timing of today's meeting and how it would affect our patrol with the heads. We're not going to get a dispensation otherwise."
"Each of us shall pick a partner and pick a route, and we'll have discharged our responsibilities as prefects for the night." Emma said.
Tom had picked the higher and farther routes. Technically, he should be doing his rounds with another prefect instead of accompanying her part ways, but none of the prefects in the room even bothered to register their objection. The Slytherin prefects had always lined up behind Tom, with even Oswin all too glad to relinquish control and responsibility to him.
The Ravenclaw prefects present were the laidback Daedalus Bones and the bookworm sixth-year Julia Goldstein, who would really rather be reading or discussing about interesting things than make a fuss over something she considers such trivial details. The friendly and easy-going Ethel Macmillan of Hufflepuff thought that it wouldn't hurt anyone.
"It's also very good of you, Tom, to escort Hermione back. And Hermione, I'm sure you'll arrive safely at the Ravenclaw Tower with Tom's assistance." Ethel said.
Hermione pressed her lips together to stop a disbelieving laughter from escaping. The two Ravenclaw prefects present managed to meet each other's gaze at Ethel's comment.
Daedalus laughed and Julia snorted, but neither took the trouble of clarifying what they saw to Ethel.
There was one Gryffindor prefect present (one of the only two Gryffindors there), the fifth-year Rajesh Setalvad. He struck Hermione as someone who was entirely fired up to save the world, and as such, couldn't really give enough attention to care about something as small as patrol partners. She had the oddest feeling that he was one of the few people there who'd gladly support any plans to take down Grindelwald.
"So," Hermione started after they left Oswin and Emma to close up the room. They had walked together and she found their steps lead back to the Room of Requirement.
"So," Tom replied, just as vague.
"We're both going to take Grindelwald down, right? Regardless of whether anyone else is ready or not?"
"Of course," he confirmed it as casually as he would that the sun rises in the east.
"Good. I was just making sure."
He hummed in agreement. It was on one of the stairs up that didn't have any portraits on the walls when Tom spoke up again.
"This weekend happens to be Hogsmeade weekend."
"Oh, it is?" Hermione asked. She didn't exactly keep track.
"Yes. There's a restaurant there, 'The Hare and the Fowl' that makes the perfect baked gammon—crisp on the outside and perfectly tender and juicy on the inside. The casseroles are also rather good with a nice balance of herbs. They have fruit terrines as dessert during the summer and their Shrewsbury biscuits uses oranges the last time I checked."
She perked up at the idea of good food. "Those dishes sound delicious."
"Indeed. What do you say if we were to dine there this weekend?"
If she was still more awkward, Hermione would have simply come to a sudden stop. Now, she could continue walking even as she turned to Tom in surprise. Is this a date? No, there were no two ways about this. It is a date. Her brain had just overloaded itself at the thought and she blanked out.
Tom Riddle had just asked her out on a date. Does not compute.
"We could also drop in at Honeydukes before that. Do you know that they make seasonal candies and confections as well? They're not displayed at the most obvious spots, but they're there if you know where to look for. Candied fruits are among their summer specialties."
"I think I'd like to check that out." Hermione murmured.
"They also accept requests for boxes of chocolate with custom selection, so you'll never find any piece that you dislike in your purchase. They do have an actual chocolatier in their employ, in case you were wondering, and she was trained in Belgium."
He displayed excellent knowledge for someone she was sure wasn't a candy or chocolate fan. It was surprising.
"They have an actual chocolatier? I find it hard to believe for a store in a wizarding village!"
"Yes. Interesting, isn't it? But then perhaps it's precisely because they're in a wizarding village that their regular patrons do not need to worry about physical distance." He mused.
"True," she agreed. "Whether from London or Newcastle, it would take the same amount of time via floo."
They walked in silence that was not uncomfortable for a few more moments.
"On the other hand, we have to consider that Honeydukes may wish to keep up their tradition of quality. After all, they have a Royal Charter." Tom added.
"Really? Which monarch gave it to them? What year?" She was excited to know this tidbit of Hogsmeade history she'd never heard before. She was always interested in any interlinkages between the muggle and the magical world.
"Elizabeth the First." That answer was oddly brief.
"Ah, Good ole' Queen Bess. I can believe that she knows the value of good chocolate."
She was lost in thought and gasped as the next realisation hit her. "Wait, if they had a Royal Charter, that meant she'd tasted their chocolate! Does it mean that Queen Elizabeth's travelling court ever reached Hogsmeade?"
Queen Elizabeth I occasionally had a travelling court, as she made a habit of going out and meeting her people and nobles. If she could always stay longer than planned in a particular noble's estate, draining his coffers and thus muting whatever rebellious plans he seemed to be up to according to the rumours, well, Hermione was sure the queen considered it a useful feature.
Hermione remembered very well that the Statute of Secrecy only came into being during the time of William and Mary. The Tudor era was still a different time, the wizarding world as optimistic and lost in grand dreams as the non-magical world—Queen Elizabeth had John Dee in her courts, for one, and he was a rather famous wizard.
"You know she never managed to get that far north, regardless of her plans." Tom said. "Honeydukes was smart enough to open a London branch during that time. It was nothing but a storefront."
"No kitchen?"
"In the 16th century? They wouldn't need to do that. The floo powder was already widely available and cheap."
"Oh." Hermione had only remembered fragments from Hogwarts: A History right then.
There had been invitations from Hogwarts well-preserved to the present day in a hidden, magical part of the Tower of London. In one of the corridors nearest to the Ravenclaw Tower, the queen's delighted reply was framed and mounted for posterity on the wall. She remembered staring at it in wonder during her original third-year in Hogwarts.
Weren't there even some extensive renovations done in Hogwarts in consideration of the visit? Too bad the queen didn't manage to arrive.
"Of course. You're right."
They fell quiet once more. His gaze flickered sideways to her twice and that was when it hit her that she hadn't said anything to his question. This was probably the closest she'd ever seen to him being nervous.
"A dinner at Hogsmeade sounds like a great idea, Tom." She finally said.
"Then that's settled."
He did not sigh and neither did he start grinning from ear to ear—he simply continued walking. Tom was not someone whose emotions overflow or were easy to read. Yet in that moment, Hermione thought she could feel his contentment.
'-
"So," Melchior started, "were you about to impress her with your duelling skills?"
"You're not helping." Abraxas muttered.
They were more or less fine, other than the bruises. The dark-haired wizard surmised that even when taking into account whatever purpling area was created when Abraxas fell down, his ego was probably hurt even worse than any physical harm that he'd suffered. They had woken up rather late in the Room of Requirements, still in the mess it was in from the fight. Melchior had been rather impressed with the degree of destruction they'd managed.
"It's clear that neither of us are at an advantage in fighting Miss Curie," Melchior spoke up again.
"Maybe in a formal duel—"
"No." He cut in. "She will defeat you within five minutes. There is no 'maybe' about it. I'll even bet for your entire allowance this month."
Abraxas was quiet for some time and he gave his friend time to think. It wasn't that the blond wizard was unintelligent, it's just that he could be too stubborn for his own good. Once he'd formed his thought or opinion, he preferred to hold on to them. It usually took a major blow to shake him out of that rut, and fortunately for them, they'd just been delivered one.
"She's very skilled, isn't she?" Abraxas finally asked.
"Did it ever occurred to you to wonder why Tom had to tackle her to get an impasse? You did notice that, right? Tom didn't win against her. Why the bloody hell would we have won?"
He clammed up again after accidentally venting. Melchior couldn't be impatient—he had to do this slowly and give his friend room to think. Otherwise, Abraxas might even wall himself off from anything that anyone could say.
"Well, it was a fight, right? Not a duel," Abraxas asked.
"Yes?"
"It's still a valid move. It's like what Professor Merrythought said, anything that can help you survive and win is a good move. If I was Tom, I'd have done the same thing." The blond said. His eyebrows rose. Did Abraxas actually notice something critical that he'd missed?
"Do you know why he chose that tactic?" Nott asked, his curiosity was now piqued.
"It's a nice way to get a girl under you," his friend replied.
Melchior groaned and buried his face in his hands, cursing Fate, Norns, gods, whoever. Caspar Zabini has always been such an opportunist that he was an annoying noncommittal fence-sitter on almost any issue you can pick (and that takes skill and the forked tongue of a politician to pull off without looking like a brainless idiot), but Melchior thought that maybe he wouldn't be such a pain to talk to compared to Abraxas. He was seriously reconsidering his choice of company right now.
"I take it back. I take it all back."
"Don't say you won't do it." The blond perceptively commented.
He shook any inconvenient images away right now. He needed to get his friend to focus. "That's—that's absolutely not the point. Look, we've established that she fights to a tie with Tom, and she can take both of us down when we were fighting her together."
"Well, we won't be taken off guard next time."
Melchior threw both of his hands in the air. "It goes both ways! She'd be more prepared to fight against our styles next time too. Look, can we at least agree that she's not a shallow social-climbing witch? She has skills of her own. It makes complete sense if Tom wanted to pull her in."
He was thankful that Abraxas has enough sense to nod at that. "You're right. Tom must have seen something in her."
I've been trying to tell you that a few hours ago! Nott thought but did not say.
"Alright. We can certainly be civil to Curie, Right?"
"I think Tom would've wanted us to get to know her," Abraxas concluded. "What with that article we had to push in the Daily Prophet, she's going to be in an important position in the future, isn't she? Tom wouldn't do that for just about anyone."
He was speechless. Sometimes Abraxas would be unbelievably dense and then something like this happens. He's an idiot savant. I have no other word for it.
"I…yes, I think so too." He stumbled.
"Good. So, we'd be asking for her help in classes to get to know her, then. See? I told you it's a classic strategy."
I'm going to sit next to Zabini at breakfast. Let's see whether I'd end up wishing I can kill him less than I would have if I sat next to Abraxas tomorrow.
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End Notes:
List of Stuff One Might Try to Look Up:
Elizabeth the First's Travelling Court: (History, Tudor History) Known in the era as the Queen's Progress. Queen Elizabeth I (b. Sep 1533 – d. Mar 1603) has a habit of closing up the palace in summer (because London stinks without air conditioning) and then travelling to various parts of the country. Ordinary people are happy to be given the chance to meet their ruler while ambitious nobles vie to host her with the hopes of increasing their visibility to the queen and network with the nobles of the queen's court. As I've mentioned in-story, it is also a feature of the travelling court to be able to drain the coffers of the nobles hosting them if the queen so chooses.
People (well, nobles) renovating their grand homes in the hopes the queen would visit, or people renovating in advance of a visit, is common. So, it's nothing weird if Hogwarts was once renovated in expectation of her visit.
John Dee: (History) Advisor to Queen Elizabeth I and actual historical figure (1527 – 1608/1609). Mathematician, astronomer and a scholar of the occult and magic. Wikipedia points out that he's also an astrologer, and that devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy (I kid you not). This was a time when scholars see both physics and metaphysics as true, only governing different spheres of reality. There really is a good reason why he usually ended up as a wizard in many fictional works.
William III (co-reigned with his wife, Mary II as William and Mary, b. Nov 1650 – d. Mar 1702): (History, Stuart History) Between the rule of him & his wife and the rule of Elizabeth I are four monarchs from the Stuart dynasty (Elizabeth was the last of the Tudors) as well as the Lord Protectors Cromwell between Charles I and Charles II. I'm just putting this here for those curious about the timing and not that aware of British history.
If you think that him voluntarily co-ruling with his wife is weird when most queens are just queen consorts instead of queen regnant, it has to be kept in mind that he was the nephew of the previous reigning king, while his wife was the daughter of that same king. Not to mention that he was born in the Dutch Republic and grew up there as well instead of anywhere around the British Isles, thus giving him even more distance from England (and handicap in the ensuing catfight for the throne). That he married a direct issue of the previous king (James II of England) and reigned with her strengthened his claim.
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Additional Notes:
Daedalus Bones (OC):
Seventh-year Ravenclaw prefect. Some form of his existence is foretold in canon, because someone has to end up being the father of Susan Bones. The name Amelia is a variant of Amalia, which is a Latinised version of the Germanic name Amala, a short form for names beginning with Amal, meaning "work". So, for Amelia Bones' older brother, I thought I'd take Daedalus from the Greek Daidallos (Δαιδαλος), which was derived from daidallo (δαιδαλλω) which meant "to work cunningly". That's why he's in Ravenclaw here when Amelia is in Hufflepuff.
Amelia Bones has always said that he was 'the lazy one in the family', even when he is highly intelligent. He never did deny the accusations. "Well, Ravenclaw only asked me to like pursuing knowledge. It didn't ask me to work like a dog for it, so you know, what? I'm in."
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