Disclaimer:
I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...
Mischief Managed Damn It!
Title: The Emerald Alchemist (Working Title) / Chapter 2
Posted Date: May 24 2021
Tags: Parenting Flamel, Good Mentor / Grandfatherly Dumbledore, Dead Lily Evans, Bad James Potter, WBWL, Possible Harry x Small Multi, Slight FMA elements, Alchemist Harry
'Most wizards truly are absolute bullying busybodies with too much time on their hands and in need of common sense.'
Those were the words going through one Hermione Granger as she left her classroom and made her way to the Great Hall for lunch. Most of the students just moved past her in groups, not really paying attention to her in any way, which was fine for her since this was how she had been for the past four years, not to mention a rune bracelet designed to hide her presence unless she was in danger or in need of medical aid. Less chances of being noticed equals less opportunities for them to target her for whatever silliness they could think of. The same could not be the same for one Damien Potter, given the badges she could see pinned on quite a number of the students. She could hear the snide remarks about him as she walked along the corridors and to a side path to wait for her companions to meet her, while taking the moment to assess her situation.
Life in Hogwarts was a mixture of old and new experiences. It was new because there was actual magic involved, all the things she had read in fantasy became true, and the feeling of being able to do anything with this power was honestly a little intoxicating for Hermione. The old part came in the form of the bullying once she entered the doors of Hogwarts; bullies would always be around, only with the added complication of said magic and the blood prejudice that plagued the Wizarding World. Like being judged on your skin colour or race was bad enough, the blood bigotry screamed of Nazis prosecuting the Jews from World War 2. There were also the dangers that appeared a few times in her years that smacked of those fantasy adventures, like the attacks in her second year that saw her petrified for a few weeks or the dementors attacking the students in her third year.
Hermione had thought that with magic she could finally fit in with the others, but the first few weeks in her first year saw that as a pipe dream. She was the 'bossy know-it-all', the misplaced Ravenclaw who was too intelligent for the jocks of Gryffindor, the unpopular buck-teeth girl of her batch compared to the likes of the salacious Lavender Brown or 'Beauty Queen' Cho Chang. She had been picked on enough in her first year that she had considered leaving behind the world she had just entered, only the threat of having her memories removed and magic bound at the mercy of those who looked down on her, stopped her from doing so. And at the least, the headmaster had found out what happened when a troll came into Hogwarts and went to the same toilet which she had gone to escape the latest bullying attempt. To quote a novel she had read, Albus Dumbledore 'spared no expense' enforcing and adding to the laws of bullying and harassment, suspending Ronald Weasley a full week for the bullying attempt and assigning him detention until Christmas, and ensuring that she was well and truly cared for while checking on other students, thus giving her an outlet if she was picked on again. It was touch and go over the next few years, not to mention extremely disruptive, but Professor Dumbledore made sure that life for her and a few others would be bearable and safer, and he did prove that he would not bow down to most people even if he was pressured, such as when he handed out punishments to Damien Potter for disruption to classes or his own attitude towards people like her, despite his celebrity status.
Although she suspected that a certain third party was involved given the timing of Dumbledore's intervention and how he knew what to do; after all there had been only one person she had ever discussed her ideas with...
"Yoo-hoo~ Earth to Hermione!" The bushy-haired girl blinked to find a hand waving in front of her, the owner looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Finally got your attention. Everything okay?"
"Sorry Padma, just thinking about my projects coming up and other matters." Hermione shook her head and smiled at the Indian Ravenclaw. "Professor Babbling is insistent on us learning about the new language for our test, not to mention Professor Vector's Arithmancy assignment. 5 feet worth of formulas to describe spells of different variants."
"I know, this year is going to be hard, I can only imagine next year being absolute murder because of our exams." Padma Patil groaned and shook her head, her braided dark hair swaying in motion as she considered her own assignments. "I like my work and all, but this is ridiculous, even if we have this tournament going on, they are not letting up on us."
"What do you expect, this is Hogwarts with the craziness." Hermione shrugged in good nature. "I would expect that us not being selected would be a good reason for the professors to dump the work on us as a reminder that we are not to lose sight of our education."
"True." Padma let out a hum as she checked the time with the Tempus Charm. "Hope the others get here soon. Lunch is coming up."
"We will need to meet the others at our usual spot." The two turned to find another Ravenclaw followed by a Hufflepuff coming up to them. "With the current situation, we have to split to maintain cover."
"Hey there Su, Sally." Hermione waved at them. "Any problems getting here?"
"Aside from the usual harassment and silliness?" The Asian girl with the long dark hair and two clips rolled her eyes. "There is something but I would rather we get together with the others before I speak of it to make sure we are on the same page."
"Same here." The short-hair Hufflepuff red-head spoke in a very soft voice, something that in the past would have been inaudible to Hermione but was now used to. "I think there is a discrepancy somewhere we need to be ready."
"Okay then, let's not waste time in this spot." Hermione promptly moved with the others following quickly, their group barely granted a glance by the passing students thanks to the bracelets that were worn by them. They made it to an abandoned classroom one level down where after a quick check around, they entered the classroom and put up the usual privacy charms.
"Good, you are here." The four turned to find two other girls in the room, both sporting green and silver colors on their robes. The pony-tailed brunette who spoke out stretched her arms above her, the popping of joints making the few of them wince at the noise. "I was beginning to think we need to reschedule."
"Sorry, we had to get past a few of the others." The Hufflepuff answered rather timidly. "Ernie and Zacharias are not in charitable moods."
"It is fine, Sally. Least you are not hurt." Hermione comforted her before turning to the Slytherins. "Hope your end is safe."
"Debatable, not to mention annoying." The beautiful blonde rolled her eyes at her remark. "Malfoy is being his usual charming self." The manner in which she delivered that statement in a very bland tone spoke loudly of her irritation towards the boy who has been at the front of tormenting them in different manners, which normally would be quite bad to begin with, but given this was the Ice Queen of Hogwarts speaking in a very flat voice, it sounded like she was extremely angry at Malfoy.
"Okay~" Hermione turned to the others partially to not gain the attention of the angry girl. "Who would like to start first?" Sally raised her hand at that.
"Some in Hufflepuff are pretty much getting very rowdy with the inclusion of Potter's participation." Sally started talking in her usual soft voice. "Ernie and Zacharias have been complaining about the selection and they have brought in more people to wear those badges to support Cedric. I know that the majority of the girls my year are wearing them, Susan I am not sure but she is angry at the situation."
"Makes sense with all that is going on, I can only hope she does not jump to conclusions like second year." Hermione remarked remembering that year when Damien was accused of being the heir of Slytherin, Hufflepuff was tightly wounded from the experience when he was revealed to be a Parselmouth, not helped with his argument with Justin prior to the revelation, the petrification that came afterwards, and his general behavior on the attacks on Justin and other Hufflepuffs.
Although, to play Devil's Advocate, his attitude and actions over the years did not help matters so people were more than willing to accuse him of such a role, not to mention this year when the tournament was meant for three champions.
"How about Ravenclaw?" Hermione turned to the two members of the house.
"Speaking as one of the house members, I am a little frustrated with the selection. It is clear though that he did not enter his name into the cup, someone else did." Padma spoke at this point. "Su agrees along with a few others, but the rest seem to have lost their intelligence on this and go along with Malfoy to create those badges. Queen Witch Chang" - The manner Padma emphasized those words while rolling her eyes, along with Su looking like she stepped on dragon dung, made it very clear that the two wanted to use a word that started with a capital 'B' instead of a small 'w' - "is rallying all the others to support her boyfriend. She is not happy that Su, I and a few others do not take up the badges or appreciate our excuse of maintaining neutrality."
"It is Chang, what do you expect?" Su gave a very good impression of Snape when he was to deliver the mother of scorns and sneers at his target, usually Damien Potter. Hermione nodded in agreement, having met the older girl a few times. In her opinion, she was more of a ditzy teen than an intelligent woman who was pretty enough to be popular, and she enjoyed tormenting anyone that did not follow the conventional views or were more intelligent than her. Hermione was one of her favorite targets along with one Luna Lovegood, a student one year below who often got bullied by others just because she looked at things differently. (Hermione still felt pangs of guilt for dismissing the younger girl in the beginning even if she had caught on to the bullying and directed Flitwick's attention to it.)
"Our turn then." Tracy chimed as she crossed her arms. "Slytherin is pretty much the usual, hating anyone outside of our house. The seniors are not really too picky on who to attack, but Malfoy has now made it his mission to target Potter in any way possible, and with the current environment as it is, he won't be getting that much resistance. Unfortunately, the both of us have to be careful not to be near him since we are declaring ourselves neutral in the matter and he is not happy about it."
"At least the rules are helping to keep him in check." Sally tried to offer some positivity.
"Depends, the new rules on bullying have made it difficult for others to pick on, forcing Malfoy to get creative with the Ravenclaws helping him with the badges." Daphne commented. "But he is getting support from the other houses, and since Potter is quite the braggart, he has no shortage of people lining up to buy the badges. As for us, he knows not to mess with us but we are keeping an eye out since Pansy has some access in our dorms."
"Well, someone is making money, but I think his luck will run out soon." The others turned to the last girl. "Your turn Hermione."
"Well, as it stands, pretty much everyone in my house believes that Damien has entered the tournament, the difference being the opinions that have divided the house." Hermione placed a hand to her forehead and massaged to alleviate the headache that came about every time Damien Potter was mentioned. "It is currently split into two major groups, excluding the few of us who do not think he entered himself or don't care about this. The first group consists of those who are upset that he was chosen instead of Angelina Johnson, with a few accusing him of cheating and being a glory-hog that caused her to miss her turn."
"Oh gee, where have I heard that before?" Su mockingly asked before exclaiming in a faux surprised manner. "Oh yes, Mister Ronald Bilious Weasley, who would not shut up about the attention-grabbing traitor!" The others snorted at her impression and facts of the boy pretty much shouting to all that Damien was as described, and the intentional replacement of his middle name.
"Indeed, he is the one leading the pack with his brothers aiding him and getting the same badges from Malfoy." Hermione nodded after gaining control of her laughter "In the second group, we have Potter's supporters. They are smaller in numbers but still quite fanatical with the following, with Ginny leading them. They insisted that we should support him to bring glory to Gryffindor." The girl made a face at that. "And if that is not enough, I am having Potter on my tail, trying to help him with his work and preparations, all while stating, and I am quoting him at this, that 'I should be grateful that a champion of his stature deigned to ask for my skills to help him with the tournament to earn eternal glory'."
Her audience blinked at that statement, before collectively smacking their hands to their faces and groaning at the action he did.
"Wow, I know that Potter had an ego the size of Hogwarts, but that is ridiculous." Su removed her hand to look at her. "I hope you gave him a good hex."
"That and some." Hermione gave a loud sniff at that remark "Madam Pince was willing to look away from what I did the last time he cornered me in the library, while Professor McGonagall took away points but did not give me detention considering I had the memories to prove it." She did give a shrug "Though to be frank, I think she wanted him to get hexed more but had to appear impartial."
"Good going girl." Tracy complimented Hermione. "Shame we can't do that to Malfoy."
"Indeed, Snape is practically granting him Carte Blanche to make Damien Potter's life hell for the year, and he is making sure that his godson has an alibi for whatever he wants. I had to check on Tori regularly to make sure he does not try anything with her." Daphne gave an uncharacteristic growl at that. "He seems very confident that his father would succeed in gaining a marriage contract with us, despite the fact that Father will never let him near us. I had been meaning to try my Ice Breaker curse on him for some time."
"And don't forget Nott." Tracy rolled her eyes with a scowl. "Damn boy keeps trying to corner me alone to grab my skirts, I had to hex him a few times just to have a few minutes to myself!"
"You are not the only one dealing with unwanted attention." Hermione groaned as she banged her head against the desk. "Weasley seems to be trying to get his hands on me ever since I got my growth spurt and gained a pair of breasts, and McLaggen is also being very obtuse when I keep telling him that I am not interested. I am already hexing him to get his hands off me!"
Su, Sally and Padma looked at each other, before turning to the rest and placed a hand on their shoulders and said as one: "We are sorry for your pain." All done with different expressions: Padma having a pitying face with a glitter in her eyes, Sally genuinely looking apologetic for their frustrations, and Su having a 'cat caught the canary' expression.
Hermione glared at them in return, "You girls suck!"
"Er… Pretty sure none of us have the equipment for them to demonstrate." Four of them turned red at the phrasing with poor Sally looking ready to faint and Padma having a glazed look, while Daphne merely rolled her eyes and smacked the back of Tracy's head. "Ow!"
"Mind out of the gutter, Tracy." Daphne spoke in a manner that told of long suffering from her friend's attitude. Tracy laughed and rubbed the back of her head while the other four sighed in sympathy for Daphne.
"Speaking of Potter," Tracy turned to the others "Does anyone know about the other one?" That got them to pause and look at one another.
"I only know a little based on what the newspaper said, that he was the missing twin of Damien Potter and there was some sort of scandal in part." Hermione provided the answer while Sally, Padma and Su nodded their agreement. "I tried reading up on the family after the sorting in first year, but aside from them having a hand in much of the politics in Britain over the years and the more recent members having entered Gryffindor, I can't find more information. It is as if the boy does not exist."
"Not surprising, despite the whole fame of Damien Potter and James Potter, the family has been fairly secretive over the years, even more during the time of Charles Potter, the great-grandfather of Damien." Daphne started to talk while Tracy got herself comfortable. "If anything, the whole scandal was perhaps the most amount of information anyone would get on the family."
"Can you explain about that?" Hermione leaned forward to look Daphne in the eye with curiosity evident on her face. "It feels that people keep clamming up or give ridiculous theories, and the only common factor for those I could get is regarding something on lost heirship and magic rejection?" The Ice Queen looked to her friend in green and exchanged a silent conversation that was mostly done with raised eyebrows and shifting of shoulders, before turning back to Hermione.
"Best to get comfortable." Daphne waited until the rest got into chairs before talking. "This is not something that is normally told outside of certain groups of people, so it can be weird from outsider views on the complexity of pure-blood families. I would need to talk about some history before getting to the main point" She paused to look at Hermione "You have read up on the different houses and rankings, and perhaps contributions to Britain?"
"As much as I can, although it feels..." Hermione struggled to find a word to express her thoughts without offending the British pure-blood of their group.
"Confusing?" Sally offered.
"Divisive?" Padma shrugged.
"Stupidly biased and crappy?" Su gave her blunt thoughts on the matter.
"Erm..."
"Actually, it can be considered all of the three and more." Daphne waved her hand dismissively while Tracy nodded with a smirk. "I grew up learning the house system and even I think that much of it is really silly to implement or uphold at times." Daphne rolled her eyes in exasperation. "But enough of me complaining."
"The reason Britain holds to this system is because of the contributions of particular people in the past, people who laid the foundations of what we have today, for better or worse." Daphne crossed her arms to consider her words. "You have families that belong to different circles, perhaps the most known would be the Sacred Twenty-Eight, referring to families that supposedly brought prestige to the country, which is debatable even now considering the heavy bias towards Pure-bloods thanks to a known bigot. And then there is another that only the oldest would know: The Original Seven."
"Sounds important." Su quipped at that.
"These are seven families that are the oldest families in Britain, the ones with the title 'Most Ancient and Noble' attached. These families are the first known settlers of the land that would become Britain, and are the ones that have aided in the creation of our government, and to some extent handling the Stature of Secrecy for our country. Out of the seven, only four remain: Bones, Longbottoms, Blacks and Potters." The rest nodded their understanding to let her continue.
"Of the families, the Potters have been extremely secretive. It has been speculated that at one point in their history, the family were once selected to serve as Court Wizards for the British Muggle Monarchy, even if there is no stated evidence. There are famous people from the family that the public would know of, even then it is like drawing blood from stones. Charlus Potter was perhaps the first Potter to be known worldwide due to his status as a Battle-Mage during a number of invasions of Britain and the early battles against Gellert Grindelwald's forces. One of the members of the infamous 'Storm Breakers', he was given the moniker 'Hound of Wales' due to his ability to take down entire armies without breaking a sweat in a single night. The enemy forces even had a flee-on-sight order granted on him to warn their soldiers to stay clear of him. Then on the political front, he was someone who could reduce his opponents to tears with words alone, making him a person no one wanted to mess with. Coupled with Dorea Potter nee Black, those two were pretty much indomitable in whatever they did. One can only imagine the relief his opponents felt when he passed away." Daphne gave a rather cold smile at this point. "Even after his passing, there are still a good number to this day who refer to Charlus as the You-Know-Who of the battlegrounds, physical, political or otherwise."
"That sounds impressive." Su mused with a glint in her eyes, something the rest knew was her thirst for a good duel, being the battle nut that she was.
"Then we have Fleamont Potter, brother of Charlus and the grandfather of Damien. This man was more known locally for his contributions to potions and charms, but he was still impressive nonetheless. You might be familiar with the Sleek-Eazy potion for unruly hair." Daphne raised an eyebrow at Hermione and her bushy hair, making the girl hummed in mock outrage while the others giggled in good nature. "Then we have others like the aforementioned Dorea Potter, who was a Black marrying into the family and scarier than Charlus, or Euphemia Potter, wife of Fleamont known for her Charms Mastery. With so few people known, it is not that big of a stretch that others want to know more about the Potters."
"The past members perhaps, the current ones?" Tracy gave a 'so-so' hand gesture.
"Yes, which leads us to the parts you would want to know." Daphne shifted in her chair before taking a breath. "From what my father had told me, many have forgotten that roughly a couple of years after the current lord James Potter got married with Lily Potter nee Evans, she gave birth to twins. One being Damien Potter, the other that we now know as Harry Potter. Being the first one to come into the world, Harry Potter was apparently made the primary heir of the family. Then after the attack, he disappeared out of records, not helped by how everyone focused on Damien. Eleven years on, the sorting came and his name was called, but no one stepped forward. That would mark the start of the Potter Scandal."
"James Potter was odd with his answers." Padma frowned as she thought back. "He first said that Harry Potter was a squib, and then said he was undergoing home tuition, and then something about an accident? I did recall some people saying that he was telling people different things at the same time, making it hard to see the truth."
"Yes, those were some of the answers granted. Now for the most part, people would not notice and probably just forget about it." Daphne paused with a deep breath before continuing "It is what he did later that proves the issue."
"Remember what Daphne said about Harry Potter being the primary heir of the house?" Tracy asked the others who nodded. "Normally if the primary heir is unable to take up the role on grounds of him dead or considered unworthy, and there are more children in the family, the heirship can be transferred to the next one. Very rarely would the heirship be denied to either one for whatever reason. In the case of the Potter heirship, James Potter had wanted to give his golden boy the role, so he tried to transfer the heirship, only to be rejected. Multiple times."
"Why is that a problem? It is just a named position for him to change, right?" Sally asked with interest, having the chance to understand some of the inner workings of the magical families.
"You would think that, but what you need to know is with the current aristocracy system and other examples around the world, the heir is formally acknowledged with magic. This helps to determine the level of family magic one can access at any given time or give the lord the means to locate the heir, among other abilities and stuff." Daphne pointed to herself and Tracy "Consider the both of us. We are both primary heiresses to our own families, but depending on the situation, our heirship could be transferred to our siblings and magic would not really interfere aside from acknowledging the change. For Potter's case, magic did not acknowledge the change and actually refused it. No one knew why at the time."
"Wait a minute, that would definitely throw his earlier answer of Harry Potter being a squib way off." Su tilted her head as she considered the description. "Otherwise, magic would not recognize Harry if he were one."
"Indeed, since James Potter had said that first, people would assume that the heirship could be transferred, but it did not. James Potter went to the Ministry to change it but got rejected, the applications did not go through. Father knew of it considering the fuss that was going about at the time with the secretary having gossiped with the others there. The second time he attempted it was at Gringotts, since the goblins were known for handling magic regarding inheritances. Again, it did not work, and the only reason we know this is because James Potter made such a big deal about it and tried to accuse the goblins of doing something wrong that the goblins replied back by getting it out on the grapevine." Daphne continued her words.
"Yeah, I remembered that article. The first of many on that." Hermione nodded as she recalled the newspaper a few years back. The article had stated how James Potter was trying to remove the heirship and failed, leading to comments of why magic would refuse and speculating something sinister. That last bit was from Rita Skeeter though, so she did not think too much.
"Another clue came in the form of our headmaster." Tracy chimed in.
"How so?" Sally asked.
"Well, most of the older generation would mention Dumbledore being close to the Potter Family for the more recent generations, but you may not know that things have been strained between him and James Potter. There has been talk of a fallout ever since the death of the late Lily Potter, and things have gotten worse with the news of the missing heir." Tracy continued her end. "Some had considered that James Potter is getting rebellious with the whole fame going to his head and has argued against Dumbledore for some of the policies. Some are understandable, other policies appeared to be blown out of proportion with his attitude." The others nodded as they considered the few interactions they had seen of the headmaster and that of James Potter early on in their first year. They were few and far in between, but what had been seen could only be described as mercurial; James Potter was a possible future version of what Damien Potter could become if his attitude continued with hints of Lucius Malfoy. On the other end of the scale there was Dumbledore, normally the personification of grandfatherly patience, looking like he was actively straining to avoid hexing the man to oblivion, instead exchanging hidden barbs in their conversation.
"Now that I think about it, I believe Dumbledore may know where Harry Potter is." Padma mused as she leaned back in her seat.
"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked.
"That night when the champions were being chosen. When Damien's name came out, Dumbledore looked ready to hex Damien to kingdom come. But when Harry's name came out, he looked…" Padma paused before continuing in a slightly uncertain tone "he looked terrified about it." The others nodded slowly as they recalled the night in question, how the old wizard looked ready to use his years of Transfiguration on the arrogant boy who dared to cheer at his name coming out of the goblet. And how the last parchment removed all the anger and replaced the expression with fearful shock, like death had warmed over him as he slowly called the name out.
He had to know who and where Harry Potter was.
"We are getting a little off topic. The point is that Dumbledore might have some inkling at the time that Harry Potter was meant to be at Hogwarts along with being the primary heir, and that James Potter was trying to remove the position from him and failed." Daphne took over at that point. "Now for most, one would just leave it, but James Potter did not take it lying down. No, he decided to force it, one way or another."
That statement made Hermione, Sally, Padma and Su collectively gulped, suddenly feeling their throats very dry for some reason. They knew that something had to be really bad given the scandal that appeared in the newspapers during their first year, but considering how Daphne's face was completely blank of expression while Tracy's normally cheerful demeanor was subdued, gave the indication that what was about to be told was really bad.
"Not many know this, but there are rituals to try and force the heirship to be transferred to others, which was what James Potter had wanted the goblins to do at first. Goblins, for all of their greed and distrust, are beings of magic and know full well the ramifications of such a task. Details are sparse, but they supposedly tried a low-risk version that would not have a backlash on them. When that failed, James Potter got his friends to research the matter and decided to use one that should give him the result, with a price." Daphne gripped the table she was on tightly to the point that the wood could be heard straining from the exertion. "He did not care if the primary heir in question would survive the backlash, he just wanted the heirship out of his hands."
"It is a blood ritual used in the past by certain families that would allow someone to forcefully break the magic surrounding the heirship and bestow it to the chosen candidate. It was used heavily by families where the heir in question was a criminal who had taken the role illegally and they needed to break the bonds to get it out." Tracy took over seeing that Daphne was getting agitated at the conversation. "You do not need to know the full details or the inner workings," she aimed a look at Hermione to make sure she understood. "what you need to know is that much of the power used to break and reset the heirship comes from the person being targeted in the first place. The process would effectively destroy the core of the chosen sacrifice and in some cases, blow up spectacularly and in gory depiction."
"It kills them?!" Hermione yelled in shock.
"Depends. In the history texts, nine out of ten would die on the spot or in a time span ranging from minutes to days. As for the one of ten that survives…" Tracy shuddered at that point. "It would have been more merciful to end their lives than to live as the vegetable they were reduced to, or whatever they became by the end of it. The pictures were not moving, but I wanted my mind to be obliviated."
"But… that is…" Sally clamped a hand to her mouth as she tried to hold back the urge to empty her stomach, with Padma patting her on the back despite having the same feeling.
"This ritual was outlawed 300 odd years ago since it had been abused a few times by other families to get the heirship transferred or to control others." Daphne took over, her face showing no expression which gave a hint that she was really upset about the matter. "The administration which served the Ministry back then went to great lengths to destroy or seal off records of the ritual to ensure no one tried to use it, with a big statement stating the dangers."
"But James Potter…" Su paused, uncertain of what to say.
"Yes, he evidently did not care and went ahead with the ritual to force the heirship to be transferred." Daphne let out a rather cold smile at this point. "And this was when something extraordinary happened. The ritual failed rather spectacularly."
"The news article did state something, though it was not clear what. It is Rita Skeeter's work after all." Padma spoke after making sure Sally was not about to puke chunks. "I have heard that there was an Unspeakable involved."
"That is correct. When I say the ritual failed spectacularly, I am talking a 'mile deep crater with magic sensors destroyed at the ministry' spectacular failure. The Unspeakable was there to check on the damage along with the Aurors." Daphne folded her hands and paused while looking at them before looking up "Details were not told, but my father got some answers. Evidently the Potter Family Magic rebelled against the ritual and the intent behind it, and decided to punish James Potter instead. This is one of the reasons he is not often seen outside, because such magic would leave its mark even with glamours."
"At least this was one thing Rita Skeeter got right; the Unspeakable had shown proof that magic itself had decreed that James Potter's attempt to remove the heirship from Harry Potter was illegal and reacted very angrily. When they checked the records, the Unspeakable had stated that his Lordship had also been revoked, rendering him more as a Steward while the Lordship is currently in limbo, though speculated to be with Harry Potter as it is tradition that in the event of something happened to the current Lord, the lordship would be transferred to the immediate heir, and it was very clear that Damien did not have the heir ring. This is a big hit to their reputation." Tracy remarked.
"Is that why Malfoy and a few others keep targeting Damien?" Sally asked.
"It does play a part, not that it is much. But for the darker-aligned families, this is as close to getting away with bullying as they can, although the Potters still have power to retaliate if required." Tracy took this bit. "Another reason is due to their attitudes; their own allies are not very happy with them and are barely maintaining their connections with them."
"Makes you wonder about the mystery Potter." Su quipped as the rest digested the Slytherins' answers. "He has to be better than Damien."
"Anyone can be better than that boy." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Heck, Parkinson is better than him, and she hates me for my blood status."
"He cannot be worse, otherwise the Potter Family Magic would not have fought so violently." Padma pointed that out.
"Now you know." Daphne flicked her wand to check the time. "We have been at this for some time, we need to make an appearance before someone asks questions."
"Thanks for the update." Hermione spoke as they got up from their seats and rearranged the furniture.
"No problem, Granger. But we will need to be on the lookout for Malfoy and Damien as they are trying to gain some foothold in this mess." Daphne and Tracy made their way to the door first, pausing to look at them. "See you later." With that, their demeanor changed rather drastically for anyone who knew them; For Daphne, her already cold expression turned frosty and her eyes appeared to become ice-blue as she straightened her posture to befit the expectations of pure-blood, whatever traces of warmth she had disappeared as she finished becoming the Ice-Queen of Slytherin. For Tracy, her usual cat-like mischievousness took on a more feral and predatory aspect, and her eyes appeared to become slits with her smile seemingly becoming more guarded and lethal despite not changing at all. With a final nod, the two left the room without turning around.
"I have been around them for roughly three years now, and I am still not used to them changing in that manner." Su remarked.
"It is scary." Sally nodded while Padma patted her back with a commiserating smile.
"Politics in Slytherin is really weird." Hermione shook her head as she went to the door with the others following. "Come on, I think we gave them enough of a head start to disassociate us from others." The other three followed her out of the room and towards the hall for lunch. With the number of students in the corridors, they decided to take the scenic route through the courtyard to get there without bumping into them. It was as they went through the exit that the silence between them was broken.
"You know, I wonder if Evans knows about the situation going on here." Padma commented on the way.
"Good point, none of us have written to him for a while now. He may know about the mess though considering how the newspapers have been blasting the news the whole week." Su turned to Hermione "Think we have time to write a quick one to him after lunch?"
"We should." Hermione smiled as she thought of their mutual pen-pal who had been a constant in their lives for the past four years. For her, Evans was a good sounding board who was able to comfort her even if they were miles apart when she first started with the pen-pal program. He had actively encouraged her to seek help and branch out to avoid issues, thus leading to her current set of friends who also had him as their pen-pal. There was a small part of her that was a little jealous that she could not keep Evans to herself, and she also knew that each of them had in some manner taken to Evans themselves, but she held back since they were good friends and he has been very helpful. They even exchanged gifts for birthdays and other occasions, her previous birthday having seen the arrival of a very ornate necklace that had a book accessory with a small diamond encrusted in it and charms to help protect her.
Her father was torn between wanting to thank the boy for the protections and to introduce his shotgun with a shooting dummy. Her mother was taking the chance to tease her about a potential boyfriend.
She did hope to meet him in person soon…
"Hey! Herms!" A familiar and unwelcome voice broke her thoughts and brought her mood down. Resisting the urge to use some colorful language from her father, Hermione turned to find one Ronald Weasley coming up to her with what he probably thought was a suave smile but came off as smarmy. "What are you doing with those three?"
"Not that is your business, but they are my friends. I can talk to them." Hermione narrowed her eyes at him "And my name is not Herms, Ronald Weasley."
"Don't call me that, and you should not be fraternizing with the enemy." The red-head scowled while jabbing a finger at Sally who was currently behind Padma. "She would be telling Diggory everything to beat us in the tournament!"
"Are you daft?" Hermione blinked in disbelief at the boy's thought patterns. "We don't even care about the silly tournament, and last I checked, you were badmouthing Potter being in it."
"That cheat does not deserve being in Gryffindor or being in this tournament, everyone knows he is an attention-seeking brat!" Ronald grew red in the face as he spoke, unknowingly insulting himself with the description. "And that Diggory is not representative of Hogwarts, everyone knows that Gryffindor is the best, not some duffer!"
"Oh my, someone is confident." Su quipped with a raised eyebrow. "Not like you got chosen for that matter."
"Shut it, Asian Chit!" That slur made the others bristle and Su's eyes narrowed in fury. "You birds can't do much without consulting a damn book, and you are wasting your time with studying Arithmancy or Runes when you will be stuck at home cooking and caring for the children."
"You are really something, Weasley." Padma remarked in a dry tone. "Something of an idiot that is." That prompted the boy to whip out his wand and pointed it at them with a furious expression.
"Shut up you foreign bird! No one needs to hear your stupid words! Get out of here, but leave Herms behind so that I can talk to her!" Hermione and the others brought out their wands while the few passer-byes from all three schools took to the side paths to watch the confrontation with a couple heading to find a prefect or a professor. With the excitement before them, no one noticed the lone figure that was coming up from behind and observing the group.
"You are really messed up in the head if you think you can order us like that." Padma readied her wand to fire off a protection spell.
"I can, I am a pure-blood and everyone knows that the only thing all girls are good for are being broodmares!" That drew a number of gasps from the audience and a good number of glares from the female population that would have burned a hole in him, with a frown from the recent observer. "And no matter how intelligent she is, Granger will never be able to get far. She should just drop out and be my girlfriend! That will be best for her!"
"Like hell I will date you, Weasley!" Hermione growled as her wand gave out sparks from her agitation. "Especially since you had just proven yourself to be a carbon copy of Malfoy!"
"Take that back, bitch!" Ron fired off a spell that got reflected off Padma's shield, signaling the start of screams from the audience that were currently doing their best to move away with the exception of the lone figure. The girls split with Padma covering Hermione with her transfiguring the ground into walls while Su moved to protect Sally. "I am nothing like him!"
"Could have fooled us!" Hermione fired off several stunning spells to end it quickly, only for Ron to dive for cover behind the fountain and take potshots at them. Hermione was worried about the bystanders when the earth shook lightly and stone walls started appearing from the ground around them, cutting them off from the rest of the people. "Erm, Padma? Did you do that?"
"That wasn't me." The Indian girl looked about in shock. "Su?"
"Not us either." The Chinese answered back behind one of the walls.
"Then who?" Hermione ducked to the ground as Ron burst out from his cover and fired off blasting curses that sent rubble flying in the air. "Nevermind, let's deal with him first."
"Get wrecked bitches!" Ron fired off a set of stunning spells which they dodged with some difficulty due to the rubble about them. Using that opportunity, Ron fired off a Blasting Hex that Hermione barely had time to bring up a shield charm to deflect, causing the nearby wall to blow up. A scream briefly stopped the fighting.
"Sally!" That distraction nearly cost Hermione her arm when Ron took the chance to fire a spell at her only for Padma to deflect it at the last second. Cursing loudly, the boy turned to find the Hufflepuff on the ground clutching a bloody leg.
"You should have left when you had the chance, you puffer!" Ron raised his wand with the tip glowing with a sick purple light, with Hermione and Padma rushing to fire off their own set of spells, and Su running to cover Sally with her body, and then…
"I think I have seen enough."
'Clap!'
The sounds of electricity filled the air along with a bright glow for a moment, then everyone standing found themselves unable to move due to manacles appearing on their limbs and chained to the ground, with Ronald Weasley being restrained in a makeshift crucifix and gagged with a rope. The only thing they could move were their eyes which they laid upon the figure that crouched before them with one hand on the ground and the other holding on to a red-faced Sally. From what Hermione could see, the person was a young man roughly their age with neatly trimmed black hair and a pair of dark shades covering his eyes. His clothes were decidedly muggle in nature, consisting of a dark jacket and jeans with white stripes along the length of the sleeves, a light green shirt that somehow worked with the dark clothes, and boots for footwear. There were however markings around the sleeves that she recognized from her Ancient Runes class as protection runes, and there was an insignia on the left side of the jacket depicting a snake draping itself on a cross with a crown and detached wings above it.
The young man in question moved his head towards Sally in his arms. "Are your injuries serious, my lady?" The poor shy girl could only shake her head silently as her answer. The young man turned his attention to her leg where the wound was with a frown, before raising the hand off the ground and had it hover over it. The hand started glowing a light green with the wound following suit, and before their eyes, started to heal in a manner similar to time being reversed with the blood flowing backwards and the wound getting smaller, until the leg was good as new.
"That should do the trick." The young man started to stand while holding Sally up, revealing his height to be roughly a couple of feet taller than Ron Weasley, which was quite a feat considering the only ones taller than him were the sixth and seventh years, and the physique that appeared to be straining his shirt to much a silent approval from the females. Unknown to their thoughts, the young man flicked a hand to call forth a Patronus in the form of an eagle that flew in the direction of the Great Hall, then did something to make the walls crumble and fall back into the soil.
"My apologies to the rest of you. But I have to hold you in place until your professors make their way here to understand the situation." The young man flicked his wand out of a wrist holster and placed the tip to his forehead before pulling it back with a silver strand attached to it. He placed that in a vial from his pocket just as a few of the professors came to the area.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Minerva McGonagall demanded with thin lips and her famous glare set on her face. "Why did I hear a report of students attacking in the middle of the courtyard in front of other guests?"
"Obviously, it would seem that Weasley is once again doing his best to be a nuisance, and ends up getting everyone entangled in some stupid lover's spat." Arguably the most hated professor of all in Hogwarts, Severus Snape sneered cruelly at the red-head affixed to the crucifix and the girls stuck with the restrictions before directing his eyes to the young man. "And who are you?"
"A guest of Professor Dumbledore." The young man answered to him with a smile that somehow felt odd to the audience about them. "I was granted permission to come to Hogwarts due to an incident with the selection of Champions."
"Truly? Are you some kind of detective working with the Aurors?" Snape ignored the looks from his fellow professors and the palling faces of the students as he asked sarcastically in a manner that was begging for the recipient to retaliate. Professor McGonagall looked resigned to prepare for the onslaught of complaints.
The young man merely widened his smile instead of getting agitated.
"Perhaps, although that is strictly with the professor." He turned his head slightly to look past the dour man. "I must admit, the welcoming committee is a bit unusual."
"My apologies, the students and the staff are usually on the ball." The surrounding students that had arrived to watch the fight parted to allow Albus Dumbledore to make his way to them, dressed in deep purple robes with gold threads and a sparkle in his eyes to match the smile. "I assure you that your welcome is something else entirely."
"It is nice to see you again, Professor Dumbledore." The young man placed a hand over his heart and bowed slightly to show his respect.
"Likewise, my young Padawan." In her fixed state, Hermione could only wonder inwardly why Dumbledore just pulled a Star Wars quote. "I am grateful for your message and your assistance to control the situation, if you could please release the other students first? Miss Granger and her companions can come later, whereas for Mister Weasley…'' The old man briefly looked at Ron with narrowed eyes that made the subject gulped in nervousness. "I will deal with him personally." The young man nodded before raising a hand and snapping his fingers, causing the manacles on the earlier passerby to glow before crumbling away, allowing them to move from their positions and make their getaway while leaving the professors and two prefects nearby. Once they were gone, the young man raised both hands and to much a raised eyebrow, clapped them together before slamming his palms to the ground, causing the ground to have arcs of electricity appearing before rumbling and shifting, moving Hermione and the other two girls to where the professors were in a neat row, letting McGonagall take their wands away swiftly. With another snap of the fingers, their manacles were removed, allowing them to stand before Dumbledore with bowed heads, while the young man stood a little behind to watch along with Sally.
"Now then, who would like to start first?" Dumbledore asked in that famous 'Disappointed Grandfather' tone that made the girls slump even further. When they did not answer, Dumbledore let out a sigh before turning to the young man.
"Evans?" The young man turned to him with a straight back while the girls momentarily perked at the familiar name. "I do not know if you were around long enough to listen, but I don't suppose you have that recording crystal on you perchance?" He was about to answer when Snape decided to be his usual self.
"Headmaster, may I ask who is this boy who claims to be your guest?" From her angle, Hermione could see Professor Flitwick palming his face at the attitude while Professor McGonagall had the look of one wanting to use her claws on him. Dumbledore on the other hand merely twinkled while looking at the one in question.
"This young man is my guest, but I would rather we explain during the feast tonight." There was a notable air of mischief as he answered and Hermione was getting curious about the boy next to her. "Evans, if you have it?"
The young man nodded while reaching into his pocket with one hand and the other to remove the dark shades to reveal a pair of emerald green eyes that made the girls blush briefly at the sight of it completing his handsome face. Hermione did note however the professors were startled at his appearance with Snape looking like he had seen a ghost, an expression being a cross between shock and barely restrained rage evident on his face.
"I had arrived in the middle of the argument when the redhead in question began firing off spells. But I was able to see enough that the boy was the one who instigated the attack, here is the recording crystal, along with a pensieve memory just in case." The aforementioned Evans pulled out a cube made up of what appeared to be clear crystal with a shimmering light in the middle, the action causing his sleeve to move momentarily to reveal a chain with certain items attached to it that caught the girls' eyes and made theirs widen.
'Those charms… Evans?' Hermione looked up to find the young man looking at her with a raised eyebrow while handing over the cube and the tube to the headmaster.
"Excellent. I will be meeting with you later once I have dealt with the situation. For now." Dumbledore turned to the prefects next to him "May I trouble you ladies to escort him for a while?" The two nodded before turning to the young man who gave a small smile at them, making them blush lightly. Dumbledore waited for the trio to leave before turning back to Hermione and the others, the expression making them and Weasley gulp nervously.
"Now then, let's have a chat."
~ooOOoo~
"Who is that?"
"Never seen him around before. Must be from one of the other schools."
"He is dressed differently, almost like a muggle."
"He's cute! Wonder if he is single?"
Those were the words that Daphne heard as she entered the Great Hall for dinner, having caught up with Hermione earlier to ask about the incident with Weasley that cost them a few house points and detention courtesy of her head of house. Daphne rolled her eyes at the man who had a bias the size of Hogwarts tower against anyone named Potter or any student not Slytherin, especially a Gryffindor which would guarantee at least fifty points taken away and a week's worth of detention of cauldron scrubbing and what not. Add to the fact that Draco Malfoy was his godson, and you have a recipe for disaster with the man enabling the boy in whatever actions he would do unless he got caught, even then it would be a minor punishment.
And people wondered why others hated Slytherin so much other than the whole 'Snakes are future dark wizards / witches' policy.
At the very least, there were a small handful in her house that were at best neutral to the whole 'Dark Family' business. Millicent Bulstrode, a rather intimidating girl in size and strength, was actually similar to Hagrid in terms of being a gentle person with intelligence in Ancient Runes and a liking for dangerous things, in her case being explosions. (Daphne swore that the girl was panting red when she did something in their second year that saw a good chunk of the boulder by the lake reduced to rubble) Blaize Zabini, the smooth talking Italian who could charm the skirt of girls, was a nice guy with a wit for sarcasm, and actually quite innocent when confronted with actual affection. (Daphne and Tracy had great fun teasing him over his newfound relationship with Lisa Turpin when they found out.) There were also the Carrow Twins and her sister whom Daphne took under her wing to ensure they did not get influenced by Malfoy and his clique. It was tiring to say the least.
Daphne made her way to her table at the far end where Tracy and Blaize were sitting, well away from Pansy Parkinson who was currently flirting with Draco doing Merlin knows what. The girl had been downright obsessed with Draco and ever since puberty had hit the girl Draco had finally started paying her some attention, and unfortunately for Pansy it wasn't the good kind. That didn't mean the girl wasn't over the moon about it no matter what, but there was a small part in Daphne's mind that hoped the girl wouldn't do something she regretted with a boy that was honestly only slightly better than Ronald Weasley of Gryffindor. Daphne cringed as her thoughts passed over the pig-headed Gryffindor and hoped that the year would continue its good fortune and keep him out of her path.
Sorry Hermione, you would have to be the sacrifice for this.
After taking her place, Daphne went to look for her friends. Padma was the easiest since Ravenclaw was next to the Slytherin table, she was most noticeable with her hair tied in a long braid, next to Su with her similarly long hair and signature clips. It took a while to find Sally given how common her hair color was and how easily she would blend with the others, but she did the next best thing of finding Susan Bones and then her actual target. Sally preferred sticking near to Susan as she was considered the unofficial princess of Hufflepuff and tended to look out for many of the girls in her year.
Daphne then tried to find Hermione, which sadly was not too difficult given how isolated the bushy-haired girl was, but at least she had a couple of friends in the house. Neville Longbottom was a timid Pure-Blood who everyone claimed to have been wrongly sorted and that he was barely above a Squib in magical power, which was unfair given how his grandmother kept comparing him to his comatose father and kept pushing him such that his magic gets trodden down. Then there was Fay Dunbar, a sporty half-blood girl who thankfully managed to help temper Hermione's enthusiasm for books a little. Being more sporty and tomboyish meant Fay did not fit well with the likes of Lavender Brown or Parvati Patil, not that the girl cared much. She actually fitted with Hermione and the rest of them well enough.
Unwillingly, Daphne's eyes moved to the mess of dark hair that belonged to the one boy that she had a hard time deciding if he was worse than Draco. Damien Potter was an arrogant boy who clearly let fame get to his head and sincerely believed that the others should listen to his every word and praise his footsteps. At least Dumbledore abused him of that notion (and she suspected the old wizard enjoyed taking him down a peg), and the boy's attitude had pretty much alienated a fair number of people along with allies. Word from the grapevine suggested a number were switching alliances to others, but no one knew to whom except that the family was one that the people respected and they had met the heir at the time.
After ensuring her friends were accounted for, Daphne then spied on the young man that was the current focus of many a hormonal girl or woman in the hall. From what she could tell from the back, he appeared to be closer to her age but with a bigger and taller build that could handle some of the sixth years. He was also someone that Hermione had a suspicion that he was their mysterious pen-pal they had been writing to (and privately a possible crush) for the past four years. Daphne would admit that she enjoyed her letters with Evans over the years, it was so hard to find a boy who was able to exchange ideas and willing to snark back without actual venom. This was along with small gifts that were both tasteful and laden with protective charms that were extremely potent in nature. She especially loved the bangle that was currently around her right ankle, the image of two snakes intertwining with one another with their heads around a small ruby, as it helped her greatly over the years from Malfoy's attempts to 'sample the goods', something that almost went wrong the previous year.
The sight of the ferret embedded into the stone wall from the aftershock was a great memory, followed shortly by the memory of her father getting on his knees and begging her to send his thanks to Evans for such a kingly gift.
Still, the fact that Evans had arrived at this point was a little suspicious as he did not state any reason to come outside of what Hermione told her and Tracy of him being Dumbledore's guest. The only person who would have to come to Hogwarts at this point would have to be…
Wait a damn minute.
"Daphne." The girl turned to find Tracy having an expression that she was likely sporting herself. "You don't think that Evans is…" Before she could answer, the sound level dropped to attract her attention back to the head table where the remainder of the staff had arrived and Dumbledore finally stood from his chair with a smile. "Good evening students and guests. We have another special guest who has come a long way to join us here tonight and for the remainder of the school year." The young man turned around at that point, and Daphne found herself on a losing battle to stop the blush on her face at the physique the young man had which appeared to be straining his shirt, and the sight of the youthful yet mature face that held a pair of emerald green eyes that appeared to gaze through her body and into her soul…
Oh no, she was not acting like this! She was supposed to be the Ice Queen of Slytherin, not some drooling fan-girl! Even if the young man was very handsome with arms that look perfect to carry her and a body that looked so deli… NO!
"Hubba Hubba Hubba~ Mama likes him a lot." Tracy had no problem stating what was on her mind and likely a good many females'. Indeed, quite a number of females around their age upwards to seventh year were practically stripping the young man with their eyes alone while some of the males were looking on with jealousy. Even Parkinson had ceased her usual activity and was drooling at the young man which annoyed Draco a great deal. Daphne did note the different behaviors with the foreign guests; the students from Beauxabatons had looks of recognition on their faces with the females looking eager to meet him, with Fleur Delacour notably having an expression that she was pleasantly surprised to see him there. Durmstrang on the other hand looked like they had met an opponent worthy of a fight, with Victor Krum having the game face normally reserved for the serious Quidditch games.
It was then that Daphne noted the staff's expressions. While the younger staff were treating this as a regular occurrence, the senior staff looked at the young man as though they had seen a ghost returned from the dead and were unsure of how to handle it. And Professor Snape in particular appeared to be having an internal crisis as to whether to be angry, scared or something as he looked at the young man.
"Allow me to clarify his identity." Dumbledore waited for their attention before continuing "For some of you, you may recognize him from the last International Dueling Championship. For our French guests, you may know him as one who had relations to some people you know and a regular assistant for your Potions Subject. For most of his life, he has been my apprentice." Sounds of murmuring filled the hall as students attempted to work through that information. No one had heard of Dumbledore taking on an apprentice, so this was big news.
"His name is Evans Charles Flamel." That definitely set the Kneezle in the hen house with the students now recognizing the name of one of the most well-known youths in the world, Daphne also recalling where she had seen the insignia adorned on the boy's coat. But Daphne focused on two things: one was the set of trinkets around the arm he raised to acknowledge the group, which she could recognize to be the same set of items that her group had sent to their pen-pal. The second was the odd wording that Dumbledore used to describe Evans.
'Most of his life?'
"However." Dumbledore cut through the chatter and looked at the young man who nodded before moving on. "Due to circumstances that were out of our control, he is here to participate in the Triwizard Tournament under his birth name." That got more people with others now starting to connect the dots. For Daphne, this was a confirmation for her thoughts, and it sent mixed signals to her in the form of her heart fluttering in minor delight and her stomach clenching in fear.
"So without further ado, please extend a warm welcome for Harry James Potter and his return to Britain!"