Unexpected Animagus, Part 9

Hunting Grounds of the British Changeling

Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it).

Hogwarts
Headmaster's Office

Alastor Moody, pretending to be Barthemius Crouch Jr. pretending to be Alastor Moody, shifted his weight on the chair, listening to the unending prattle of the rest of the teaching staff.

Especially irksome we're the nasally voiced complaints from Death Eater Severus Snape ("'former' my left foot!", he thought), droning on and on about Harry Potter's lack of talent, breeding, sense, respect, and any qualities that any cursory glance would reveal in abundance. Except probably sense, the kids was seriously lacking in self-preserving instinct, but that could be corrected. Hopefully.

Finally, Moody felt his chance, and he added a simple, pointed and well practiced question. "What about Black?" He growled, taking a sip from the flask he always carried with him. He didn't need to drink any Polyjuice Potion, of course, but he wanted to foster the illusion, to deceive anybody who had reason to suspect or directly know, about Junior's impersonation. "Can we be sure we will be able keep that traitorous bastard away?"

He looked around, enjoying the reaction of everybody. He avoided looking directly at Snape or Dumbledore's eyes. Though his Occlumancy was very good, he didn't want to risk any slip. He scratched the stubble under his chin, focusing on the slight noise it made.

Flitwick shuddered, "We need to tighten security. Black has already entered the grounds, and he managed to escape from Hogwarts."

Snape sneered, "I am sure Potter helped him."

Pomona Sprout looked at Snape quizzically, "Why would he do that?"

Snape snorted, "What else? He wants the glory of capturing Black later!"

Moody knew what had really happened at the end of Potter's Third Year, of course. "Such a powerful and deranged Death Eater? Potter would have to be crazy to even think he could beat Black in a fight."

"He is overconfident and mediocre at best." Snape insisted.

"Enough. Let's wrap up this meeting." Dumbledore said, dismissing the staff, he signaled for Moody and Flitwick to stay. "We need to keep Black away. Filius, Alastor, would you be so kind to look for some spells to reinforce security?"

"Of course, Albus. I'll begin a search immediately." The half-Goblin stood up, and left the office.

Moody grunted. Dumbledore waited for Flitwick to exit before speaking. "Alastor, are you ready for the arrival of the Goblet of Fire?"

"I am. The Ministry will release that overwrought cup later today, and I will take over once the assigned Aurors set it in its place. I'll have the thing sealed tighter than a Niffler's pouch until the other schools arrive.

I'll keep it closed until every possible candidate has arrived." A useless precaution, as Harry's name had already been put in the goblet by Junior.

"Excelent!" Dumbledore clapped once, "I will check everything is ready for the arrival of our visiting schools. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."

Moody nodded, and stomped away. Grumbling to himself. It gnawed at him to not employ his usual security checks, but it was necessary to keep up the charade. At least the rest of his team did take security seriously.

For the moment, he was not sure if Dumbledore had even an inkling of the substitution. Or the second substitution. He seemed distracted. Even worse than usual. Those three posts ate all his time. Any one of them was a full-time job, by Morgana's Emerald Ring!

As he walked back to his rooms, Alastor Moody kept a tight control over his facial expression.

Things had turned up to be quite satisfactory. Now, all he had to make sure of was to ensure Flitwick found the right spell. Meaning the one he and the kids wanted.

Hogwarts
Library

Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley argued in whispers about their homework.

For two of the three, it was an exercise in frustration.

The other was sure he would, with enough time and quality whinging, erode their resistance.

He was wrong.

Finally, Hermione stood up, "No! You do your own work! I won't let you copy mine or do it for you!" She hissed, her jaw clenched.

Once she was a few steps away, Ron hunched over the table, whispering to Harry, "Mental, that one. Let me see your essay, Harry."

Harry stood up too, gathering his stuff. "No, she is right, you know. You do your own work from now on." He left too, leaving behind a very confused Ron Weasley.

As Hermione walked away, she took with her the books she had been consulting, and took the lot back to Madame Pince table. Carefully hidden in the lot, an artificially aged book, "Pre-Roman Wards. Design, Preparation, and Anchoring. A Study on Their Use and Maintenance." By Richard Bruce Grayson.

Harry had smirked when he found that name in the catalog. It was almost as if fate itself had put that name in their way. "Dick Grayson! Robin himself!"

Hermione had rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure he is not Robin."

"No, from the printing date, he must be at a very least, 90 years old, but for a coincidence, it is interesting." Harry had said. Moody had added the particular version of the wards spell they had chosen. And a careful, and for Hermione, stressful, manipulation of the book (1), they ensured it had a tendency to open itself in the pertinent page.

Thanks to careful positioning of the book on the Return stack, and attentive observation of Madame Pince and Professor Flitwick habits, that little book would be included in Flitwick's research.

DADA Teacher's Office
Next day

"Alastor," the diminutive Charms professor knocked at the DADA teacher's door. "I think I have found the spell we need." He showed a book to his colleague. Very carefully, Moody schooled his face to a neutral expression, completely lacking any hint of recognition of the small volume.

Moody cleared a space on his desk, and conjured a chair for the half-Goblin.

"Here it is." Flitwick said, enthusiastically, "It practically closes the boundaries of the warded area to those lacking permission to come or go. Any unauthorized passage alerts the caster immediately, relaying the precise point of breaching."

Moody made a show of studying the spell, silently preparing to cast a very measured contact compulsion on Flitwick. Just enough to convince him that this was the ideal spell. "We need to consult Albus. This matrix of rune stones anchors the caster inside the area. Whomever casts it won't be able to exit the place."

"Well, yes," Flitwick admitted, "it's an inconvenience, for sure, but the security would be so much better." Moody cancelled the half-formed spell.

The retired Auror scoffed, "Who would be willing to be a prisoner for the duration? Whomever cast it wouldn't even be able to go to Hogsmeade."

"Ah, Um… well…"

Moody's artificial eye glared at Flitwick.

"Me?"

"I do not want to offend you, but you would be the best choice. You are powerful, dedicated, and know security procedures. Better than anybody else here at Hogwarts."

Moody set his quill down in the ink pot. "Hrumph. Let me see if I can find a better option. If I can't find one by tomorrow afternoon, we check with Albus." He signaled to the small mountain of books on his desk. "Are you done with this one, Filius?"

"I am, the rest of the book has some Wards that would be good for small areas, or carried objects. The one I showed you is little known today, simply because it effectively traps the caster inside the Wards."

"Very well, I'll revise the others and check with you if any of us finds a better spell. Now, if you excuse me, I have a lot of parchments to grade." He grumbled, "I very much prefer the practical stuff. But Dumbledore insisted."

"I know what you mean, Alastor."

Both shrugged.

Omake

I received an interesting petition from Tigris DivingHawk, about two possible Titans for Neville and Luna, so, here we go with Neville! Hope you'll like the twist!

"What do you think, Vic?" Garfield Logan asked.

"Well…" Victor Stone, AKA Cyborg (2), rubbed his chrome-played chin, while his bionic left eye analyzed the area. "There is a strange wave of energy there. It is shaped like a humanoid sitting Indian style. And the size would be like a male teenager of say… thirteen to fifteen years old."

"Extra-dimensional?"

"It looks a bit like the residue left after witchy-poo (3) ports away. But without the smoke."

"Should we ask her?"

"I think it will be best. She's our resident expert."

"Are you sure of this?" Neville Longbottom asked, a wrinkle right between his eyebrows.

"Well… not exactly." Harry accepted. "For some reason, both Hermione and I got humanoid forms instead of animals."

"Very specific forms. I think the Animagus ritual performed here, somehow connects with another universe." Hermione noted.

"And one where very powerful individuals exist. And somehow, those powers are included with the Animagii forms. If all of us can get those forms, we will be able to defend ourselves much better!"

Hermione nodded her agreement.

"Who knows? Maybe you'll get one too. Or just a regular animal." Harry shrugged.

"Oh, Can I try?" Luna Lovegood chirped. "Maybe I'll be a Crumple-Horned Snorkack!"

The other three exchanged a look.

"Why not?"

"Let me try first, Luna. I'm not sure if this is dangerous."

Later

"I feel very… strong… and smart." Neville whispered.

He stood up. Looking at his hands, he saw dark skin, not as dark as Blaise Zabini's, but certainly dark.

He passed a hand over his hair, noticing it was short and wiry. "Hermione? I felt something cold and smooth on my back. It felt like a hand."

"Um… Neville? What's the frequency of an ultrasonic attack?"

"Over one megahertz. With half a million decibels I could destroy a brick… …wall…" he gasped. "Why do I know that? I know how to build a white noise cannon!"

Hermione looked at Harry. He studied Neville's new face. It was a powerfully built young man of African descent, with a short Afro and striking green eyes. (4)

"Cyborg?" Harry asked.

"No. Just Victor Stone." Hermione answered, nodding to herself.

Luna clapped, beaming a happy smile.

Author Notes:

(1) Basically, open up the book all the way over itself, cracking the spine slightly. I must say that witnessing this also stresses me, especially if it is done to a softcover book, the binding glue tends to crack and flake away, loosening the pages.

(2) Cyborg debuted in DC Comics Presents issue 26 (Oct 1980). He is a former athlete, who lost over half his body in a lab accident. His father reconstructed Victor's body with experimental prosthesis. His full origin was shown in Tales of the New Teen Titans issue 1 (Jun 1982)

(3) In comics, the Teen Titans tend to call each other by a nickname. Sometimes, the whole group uses it, like short pants for Robin, or Twinkletoes for Kid Flash. Witchy-poo is Cyborg's nickname for Raven.

(4) Cyborg's powers are derived from his prosthetic limbs. So, technically he shouldn't connect with Neville as Changeling and Starfire did with Harry and Hermione. Their powers are inherent to their bodies. Hence, Neville's form does not include the cybernetic replacements for his lost body parts. Instead, he got a completely human form, very athletic, and genius level intellect for technology. In short, Neville can now build devastating weapons! And win decathlons too!

Extra note, as I'm using the Comic book version of the characters, from 1994, Cyborg doesn't have a war cry yet. The "Booyah!" was added for the Teen Titans animated show (2003-2006).