Chapter 16: A Pair of Peacocks - April 1993

During their first timeline, Ron felt like Easter break was the beginning of exam stress season. Well, that was true for everyone except Hermione, who was first in everything.

That break, Ron led their summer plotting. "I suggest we go ahead with our plan to search Lestrange manor for Hufflepuff's cup this summer."

Harry asked, "Do we know if it's safe for me to come with?"

Ron grimaced. "I don't think you can, mate. Sorry. You're probably under surveillance until you get home, if not all summer."

Harry pouted a little while the pair tried to persuade him of that truth.

In oblique ways, Hermione reminded Harry that, in the other timeline, Umbridge sent dementors to Little Whinging and that the Ministry found him right away after the Aunt Marge incident.

The redhead conceded, "You could maybe sneak away from mine if an emergency came up. Otherwise, you're on not-attracting-suspicion duty for the summer."

Ron and Hermione would poke through the abandoned Lestrange manor together at a date to be determined, but it would depend on when they could both get away unnoticed. Ron had already scouted out the location, layout, and protections prior to their time-traveling.

The next summer task was to decide what to do about Barty Crouch Junior, and Senior by extension.

Hermione asked, "Is there an anonymous tip system at the Ministry? I'd like them both arrested if we can manage it."

Ron shook his head. "I worked it into a conversation with dad after the Scabbers debacle. No dice."

"Can we set their house on fire and report that?" Harry tried halfheartedly.

Hermione frowned. "Think of poor Winky."

Ron also rejected the idea. "We wouldn't have good control over the situation."

"Can we keep Senior away from his home, then capture Junior and turn him in?"

Hermione said, "Let's brainstorm some versions of that."

After that discussion wrapped up, Ron brought up Voldemort himself.

In the previous timeline, Harry had nightmares from Voldemort's perspective, but those were far less likely now that Harry had finally learned Occlumency. Ron and Hermione both tested him as well as each other, and they didn't hold back given how big of secrets the trio were all keeping.

The redhead said, "We need to know if Voldemort is making moves to come back. We hope we shifted the timeline back, but we can't be sure. Snape's dark mark can serve as one part of our plan. Harry, you're in charge of that."

"I'll try my best."

"We probably could do with another warning system, so consider that for next time. We might just need to check on Riddle Manor and other key locations."

Hermione nodded. "I can do that."

Over the school year so far, Neville had steadily gained confidence in the Potions lab. He was still quite afraid of Professor Snape, from what Hermione could see. However his work was averaging Exceeds Expectations. Hermione surprised him with a bundle of sweets when he got his first Outstanding.

Snape had been vicious to both Hermione and Neville at first, but had eased up. Hermione privately thought that he lost face during their early confrontations and so it wasn't fun for him anymore.

As the year came to a close, however, the bat was back.

He hovered, he sneered, and he docked a point or two every time he passed for a nonexistent problem: "vague stirring", "misaligned knives", or "improper flask grip".

After three classes of this, Hermione pushed back. "Excuse me, sir. I have a question about your pedagogical approach."

"I have not asked for your opinion."

"I can bring my question to the headmaster instead."

He acted put-upon. "State your question, if you cannot keep it to yourself."

"Is bullying a part of your teaching approach to facilitate learning? Or is that just a fun benefit for you and your students?"

"Detention."

"Worth it." She maintained eye contact with the professor.

"Another detention. Now get to work."

Hermione watched Harry at the next worktable. He mixed and chopped as directed with strained expression.

Snape may be Harry's mother in disguise, but I'm not going to let him bully Neville just to keep the peace. Hermione was comforted by the knowledge that Harry would never ask her to.

Harry was happy when Ron asked if he wanted to sit together at the Ravenclaw-Slytherin quidditch match. But, he was a little confused when Ron also invited Luna, who was distracting in her inattention to the actual game.

Ron shouted that the Slytherin keeper was bringing down the whole team. Harry thought Malfoy and Chang both played well. Luna speculated that the team formations could summon ill weather. They each had a lovely time.

Harry, Luna, and Ron were walking in with the stream of the crowd when they encountered an unwelcome sight: Lucius Malfoy, who was presumably there to watch his son play.

Mr. Malfoy brushed past him with a sneer. Just to mess with him, Harry said casually, "Your son played well today."

He evidently disagreed by his skeptical look but was not interested in bad-mouthing his son to his enemies. He said a cold, "Thank you, Mr. Potter."

Harry said cooly, "Now that the match is done, shouldn't you be leaving?"

"In my esteemed role as school governor, I have certain privileges. Today, I have an appointment with Professor Snape." He made to walk away, when a mildly intoxicated Gilderoy Lockhart stumbled past.

"School governor, you say? Well I have a complaint." Mr. Malfoy looked about to stop Lockhart's tumbling words until he added, "About Dumbledore."

Mr. Malfoy quickly steered Lockhart away from the crowd. Harry noted that he was no longer heading the right way for Snape's office.

It took about a week for Ron and Harry to have a pretty good guess about the nature of Lockhart's conversation with Lucius Malfoy.

The morning's Daily Prophet contained an article alleging that Dumbledore had engaged in some shady tactics to secure the Supreme Mugwump position with the International Confederation of Wizards. There was no obvious connection to Lockhart, but there was a quote from Lucius Malfoy about how Dumbledore's gleaming reputation was unearned.

The article referenced wizards and witches on several continents. Ron supposed that even if Lockhart's feats of magical prowess and bravery were lies, he probably was still well-traveled. He had also met a lot of actually powerful people who might relish the opportunity to tell someone from the UK that their national hero isn't all that.

Ron contemplated Mr. Malfoy's actions in their previous timeline. He planted the diary on Ginny to make his dad look bad. He also used the attacks to get Dumbledore removed as headmaster of the school, for a time. The attacks themselves targeted children likely to be politically opposed to Mr. Malfoy, but their individual identities didn't seem relevant.

Ron did not know what Mr. Malfoy had hoped for, but didn't occur: was he trying to kill Harry? Did he want Riddle to take over Ginny entirely and become a new Dark Lord? Or was his primary goal in the bigger picture: to become Minister for Magic? To take the U.K. seat in the ICW?

This Prophet article suggested a broader political game, not related to Voldemort or his goals. That fit with the impression Ron had: the Malfoys had been reluctant followers of Voldemort from the resurrection to the Battle of Hogwarts.

Ron saw Mr. Malfoy as evil: he introduced a dark magical object into a school that his own son attended. However, he didn't think the man was implicated in every single bad thing that happened at Hogwarts. Was he just an opportunist, using Lockhart for a single moment? How deep does his involvement in the current goings-on go? Ron certainly had suspicions.

Harry was so nervous about the Colin-Lockhart-Malfoy situation that he asked Ron and Hermione about it at their next secret meeting. "Why does Lockhart have a problem with Dumbledore?"

Hermione said, "It could be an ordinary sort of school issue: student marks, angry parents, hall patrols, detentions, pay, accommodations."

Harry conceded those were all possibilities.

Ron speculated, "We know that Dumbledore was looking into the rogue bludger situation. Lockhart was embarrassed by that. Maybe there's something there?"

Harry pointed at Ron. "We know Lockhart was knocked unconscious then. Was that ever explained?"

"I heard some of the younger years saying it was a retribution curse. They turn the caster's magic against themself. They're illegal to cast, to the tune of Azkaban time."

"Are they attached to the wand or the person? Does intent of the victim's magic matter?" Hermione asked.

Ron was in his element. "The person. The intent only matters if the intent fuels the magic itself, like in the cruciatus. A retribution curse can really complicate your life. Charlie said he met a guy who was cursed with one, and he couldn't do any offensive magic like you'd expect. But he also couldn't do certain healing spells without hurting himself. Lumos and that kind of thing work, though. It's actually kind of an interesting piece of magic, in theory."

Harry spoke slowly. "You're saying that this type of curse could be dangerous for a Defense professor, but not incapacitating."

"Right. And they're hard to remove. You need a proper cursebreaker."

Hermione asked, "Or a very powerful wizard?"

"I suppose."

Harry shifted in his squashy armchair. "We're only seeing half of a puzzle's worth of pieces."

Ron continued the metaphor, "But they do suggest a picture. Lockhart could be mad about lots of things, but it could fit what we've seen if he suspects he has a curse that Dumbledore won't help him with. Don't forget we saw him storm out of his office weeks ago. He was still mad when he talked to Malfoy at least a week later."

Harry was skeptical. "Maybe."