Note: I took a little post-Christmas holiday last week, so sorry for the missed week. Normal service resumes!
Chapter 31 – The Inquisition Entrenched
Despite an overall pleasant Christmas holiday, and a mostly nice train journey back to the school, the mood on the way back to the castle was subdued. And not just from Harry and his friends – it seemed as if everyone was returning to the castle with at least a little trepidation. Although Harry had never come back after Christmas before, the mood among the returning students had always been quite exuberant and enthusiastic.
Not so that year. With Dumbledore gone the mood was as grey as the January weather, the thestral drawn carriages traversed the long Hogsmeade Road in near silence as conversations died the closer the students got to the castle.
Ernie had met everyone at the station, keen to get on the carriages up to the castle. The four boys took a carriage of their own, leaving the four girls to pick out another. Although it was good to see Ernie, Harry didn't think the mood had grown any better overall.
They'd merely added one more miserable soul to the group.
"I bet Christmas at the castle was awful this year," Harry said to Blaise, Ernie, and Justin as their carriage pulled through the gardens. Even the roses looked sad, which was quite unusual as Mairi had been teaching them to sing arias before the holiday and they'd been quite enthusiastic.
"Mum had to go in a few times for meetings," Ernie said. "She came back unhappy every time."
Harry could well believe it. Dumbledore usually arranged for a little bit of winter sun on the return trip just so that the sky wasn't overcast and grey. He even usually ordered in snow for Christmas Day, just so everyone had an especially festive time. Harry didn't think Umbridge had even a fraction of Dumbledore's festive spirit, so wouldn't have put it past her to arrange rain specifically.
"I'm not surprised," Justin said. "School's been awful since Dumbledore was turfed out. I bet it's even worse for the teachers—they've got to work for her now."
"Mum said she's thought about quitting," Ernie said, "but she won't because if she goes there's no one left to teach floramancy and her third years will fail their CATs."
"And the fifth years won't get their TITs," Harry said. "It must be rough having to stay just for that." Of course, Mairi Macmillan was also a member of the Order of the Phoenix and presumably had information to be passed to Dumbledore from within the school. It was entirely possible that she stayed at the school for reasons wholly unrelated to the academic performance of her students – new or old.
Not that he could say any of that with Blaise and Justin there. Didn't seem fair, not when Ernie probably had no idea about his parents' involvement in the Order. Or its existence, even.
Something for later, Harry supposed.
Within minutes the carriage stopped outside of the grand doors to Hogwarts Castle itself. The thestral waited around for the four boys to disembark but, once they'd all got clear of the carriage, turned around and went back along the Hogsmeade Road to collect the next group of students. Given the larger number of students that year Harry assumed the thestrals would be making rather a lot of trips back and forth.
The girls met them at the steps, and together all eight of them entered the castle and descended to the lower levels in search of their Common Rooms. There would be a feast later, but that was after everyone had settled back in, and nobody wanted to wait around in the Entrance Hall any longer than they absolutely had to.
Especially as a handful of Inquisitors stood watch over proceedings.
"See you after the feast," Harry said to his friends in Hufflepuff when they reached the lower levels of the castle.
"If there is a feast," Ernie said. "You never know what Umbridge will decide to change around."
They parted ways at where the cellars met the dungeons and Harry continued on with the rest of the Slytherins in the group. Once inside the Common Room they lounged about for a while, catching up with each other after the Christmas holiday. While everyone else was distracted, Harry took the opportunity to chat with Tracey alone.
"So, er," Harry said, "I just thought you should know… your mum is working with Dumbledore. You know, with the Order."
"No!" Tracey said, clearly surprised. "Mam? Mam's working with Dumbledore? She never said!"
Harry nodded.
"Yeah. I mean, not like, you know, out and about," Harry said quietly. "She's more of a… er… I think she's working from inside the Ministry. Talking to people and stuff like that. I'm not even sure that she's technically part of the… you know, the Order. I wasn't sure if I should say anything since it's all supposed to be a secret. But if it was my parents—or my aunt and uncle—I'd want to know about it."
"Thank you for telling me," Tracey said. "I've got to admit, I am a bit worried now I know Mam's out there working with Dumbledore… but she's doing the right thing. And it's not like I'm not up to things of my own either, so I suppose I can't complain about Mam doing stuff. I won't say anything to her about knowing, though. I think it's better off kept a secret. I do wonder how it happened, though!"
"I suppose someone got in touch with her," Harry said. "Maybe even Dumbledore himself before the treason thing happened."
"Ooh, maybe!" Tracey said. "It's annoying not knowing. Oh, well. I'll find out eventually."
With Tracey told the secret about her mother's involvement in the Order of the Phoenix and its business Harry felt much more able to relax and unwind until the feast. He sat in the Common Room with his friends chatting until it was time to head off to the Great Hall.
Once everyone had arrived in the Great Hall for the feast and the grand doors to the Entrance Hall had closed, Umbridge stood from her throne – Dumbledore's usual high-back chair having been replaced – to give an announcement before the Feast began.
"Good evening, students of Hogwarts!" said Umbridge cheerfully. "I hope you have all had a truly relaxing Christmas holiday, and a very happy New Year! For those of you who left us over the holiday, we welcome you back with open arms and love in our hearts! And to those of you who stayed with us, we thank you for the very pleasant time that we have all had together! On behalf of the High Inquisition I would like you all to enjoy this, the very first feast of the year! Thank you all."
Umbridge finished and sat down.
Once she was sat back in her seat food appeared on the tables. Harry started piling food onto his plate. Gradually people started talking and chatting amongst themselves, but the mood in the Hall was far from jubilant. There was a pall cast over everything almost as if everyone was waiting for something awful to happen.
But nothing bad did happen. The feast went on as it usually did, minus some of the rowdiness that accompanied such events, with Umbridge looking on from her throne. As the night progressed and the feast started to draw to a close, Harry was even able to engage in some light-hearted banter and conversation with his friends.
"…so Mummy was thinking about us all going to visit the Atlantean ruins in the summer," Daphne was saying, "but Astoria doesn't want to go. She said she doesn't like the idea of spending all that time underwater."
"That's a shame," Blaise said. "I went once when I was little. The tour's really good—if you get the right guide they'll let you swim right along the old canals."
"Atlantis is real?" Harry blurted out. For all that he'd adjusted well to the wizarding world and had learned all sorts of new things, he still got tripped up sometimes. Especially over things like learning Atlantis was real. Or had been real, anyway, since it was apparently a ruin.
"Yeah, obviously," Blaise said. "But it sank. That's why it's underwater."
"No, I knew that bit," explained Harry, "but it's just that… well, muggles know about Atlantis too. Except they think it's not real."
"Muggles think most things aren't real," Blaise said.
"No, I—er, that's fair actually," Harry said, because it was. Muggles didn't believe in dragons, unicorns, or ghosts generally speaking, but Harry had seen all three. Had even spoken with ghosts before. But to learn that Atlantis had been real and that there were tour groups going to it… "I just wasn't expecting it to be real."
"Honestly Harry, sometimes you do say the silliest things," Daphne said. "Of course Atlantis is real. Haven't you seen the brochures for the tour? Or heard the jingle on the Wireless? Well, anyway, I was really hoping we could go in the summer but if Astoria doesn't want to then we probably won't."
"The tour does sound interesting," Tracey said, "but I don't blame Astoria for not wanting to spend all that time underwater. I think I'd feel a bit trapped, myself!"
"There's some really cool creatures living around the Atlantean ruins," Millie said. "I've been asking Mum to take us for ages but she always says no because she's afraid of the sea. Mental. What's there to be afraid of? It's just water. And the hotel is inside a bubble anyway so it's not like you have to get wet all the time."
"That's what I keep saying to Astoria!" Daphne said. "But she just doesn't agree. It's not fair. We always do what Astoria wants because of the… because she's… well, you know. But sometimes it would be nice to do what I want as well!"
Despite Daphne's whining tone, Harry thought she did have a point. It had always been tiring whenever Dudley threw tantrums to get his way, and as that was a strategy which near enough always worked, Harry had spent a lot of time doing the things that Dudley had wanted to do as a child. Daphne and Astoria's situation was slightly different as Harry knew Daphne's sister had some sort of serious illness, but he could relate to her frustration.
Harry was about to make a comment along those lines when Umbridge stood up from her throne and coughed.
"Hem, hem!" Umbridge waited for the Hall to quieten. Once it had reached an appropriate volume she spoke again. "What a lovely feast that was! Truly delicious, and that scrumptious cake—mm! I do hope we have all enjoyed. Unfortunately, what I must say next is not nearly as pleasant as the wonderful meal we have all just enjoyed. It is with great sadness and reluctance that I must announce a resumption in monitoring of extracurricular events."
Harry fought the urge to groan. Of course that was what Umbridge wanted to do. No doubt one of the teachers had accidentally said the word 'goblin', or someone had been caught saying something less than complimentary about the Ministry, and Umbridge felt the appropriate action to take was to shut everything down again.
Then again, Umbridge was monitoring instead of cancelling, so that was a small victory.
"But I would of course like to reassure all students here that you are not in trouble! The Inquisition's purpose here is to monitor and guide the staff in creating a learning environment conducive to good outcomes and proper scholarship. With the exception of a small group of troublemakers, behaviour has been satisfactory. But there are some concerns about the staff," Umbridge said.
Harry didn't believe a single word of what Umbridge was saying. Well, he was totally prepared to believe that she was concerned about the staff and their allegiances – that was a sensible worry. But all of the Decrees and rule changes aimed at the students specifically went rather a long way to telegraphing the Inquisition's thoughts on that particular matter.
"To that end we must ensure that the teachers and other members of staff here at Hogwarts are carrying out their duties properly and with the correct attitude and comportment. It is the goal of the Inquisition to be as unobtrusive as possible—so please, do not be alarmed when my Inquisitors appear in your clubs and activities. They are not there for you."
Umbridge smiled widely.
"That is all. Thank you and goodnight."
She didn't bother to sit. Instead, Umbridge left the High Table and exited the Great Hall. As soon as she had gone the Hall erupted into chaotic noise, and nobody seemed overly keen to quieten it down. Not even the teachers. And if they weren't trying to keep a lid on the noise, Harry certainly wasn't going to bother in his capacity as a prefect.
He'd much rather complain along with everyone else.
"Again with the extracurriculars," Blaise said as they left the Great Hall. "She nearly ruined Duelling Club last time. What do you reckon she's got planned this time?"
"I hope she leaves Charms Club alone," Daphne said. "She changed the rules to Summoner's Court last time and it hasn't been any fun since." She sighed. "And I hope she doesn't do anything with Art Club either."
"I don't think she's a big fan of Mair—Ernie's mum—er, Mrs Macmillan," Harry said, stumbling over just what to call her. Having his mate's mum working at the school was a nightmare… although probably not as much of a nightmare as Ernie felt like it was, so there was that. "So you might be out of luck there."
"She's going to ruin everything, we all know that," said Tracey matter-of-factly. "So we don't even need to wonder about it. But why? She already did this once, didn't she? Why do it again?"
"Flexing now she's properly in charge?" suggested Millicent.
"Maybe a bit," Harry said, "but there has to be a good reason she's pissing off all the students and the teachers again." In theory, anyway, although Harry wasn't totally convinced Umbridge was capable of holding back her bile for that long. It was entirely possible that it had simply slipped out and she hadn't realised how poorly it would be received.
"Could be just that with Dumbledore gone she's going to take the chance to sack the teachers she hates," mused Blaise. "I mean, I bet he was the only thing stopping her before, right? So now he's gone she can just sack Hagrid and Trelawney and whoever else she wants."
"That's… probably what it is, actually," Harry said. He considered it. Hagrid had been protected by Dumbledore for whatever reason for decades. Not even a stint in Azkaban during Harry's first year had dislodged the half-giant. So with Dumbledore well and truly on the out, his positions taken from him and his good standing evaporated into the aether… well, there was no better time to do a little tidying up of the staff. "But if I were her I'd want to be careful sacking teachers. It's not like there are all that many left to replace them, right?"
"It's a pity all this stuff about improving the school is bollocks, then," said Millicent. "If it wasn't she might care about who she sacked."
And that's the problem, Harry supposed. Umbridge didn't really care about the students' education. She cared about her Ministry agenda.
And whatever else she had going on.
Harry sighed.
"We'll get through it," he said. By then they'd made it to the dungeons and the Common Room, so they found a quietish little alcove and sat there until it was time for bed.
It was right back to the grind with the resumption of lessons after the Christmas holiday. Harry thought the teachers were keen to get on with the work firstly because they loved that sort of thing, but also because nobody wanted to come under any greater scrutiny from the Inquisition.
Which was fair even if it was annoying from Harry's perspective. It wasn't as if he wanted to spend any more time sitting across from Umbridge either, and he didn't have a livelihood resting on it. So that the teachers were attempting to avoid the Inquisition's ire by piling work upon their students was expected although unwelcome.
And on top of it being OWL year for Harry, there was a lot of work indeed. But it wasn't all unwelcome as Professor Dee and Mr Flamel had the alchemists working on their Draught of Aural Acuity, or the preliminary stages anyway, and that was something Harry was interested in.
Even the Inquisitors sitting in on the lessons couldn't dampen his enthusiasm for that.
Over the first week back after Christmas Harry struggled for an opportunity to pull Ernie aside and tell him about his parents' involvement with the Order. Perhaps he already knew, but Harry didn't want him walking around ignorant of it all, so needed to find a time to tell him.
That was, of course, easier said than done… but Harry managed it on Friday after their second session of Potions in the afternoon with Mr Shafiq.
"Er, wait a sec," Harry said, tapping Ernie on the shoulder as he was leaving. "Just wanted a quick word." Harry paused. "Nothing bad," he added, just in case Ernie thought the worst. Given the situation in the castle Harry didn't want him worrying overly much.
Ernie nodded and hung back, letting the other Hufflepuffs go on ahead. Once everyone else was out of earshot Harry started walking again.
"So, er… you know how at Christmas I spent some time with—well, you know?" Harry said, waving a hand.
Ernie nodded.
"Justin and Sue said, yes."
"Right," said Harry. "Good. So, er, on New Year's Eve I actually saw your mum and dad. There were at the… place… with the… you know. Just thought you should know about it, that's all. That they're involved, I mean."
Ernie let out a breath.
"Oh, that," he said. "Thanks for telling me, but I already knew—Dad let slip just before I got off to Hogwarts. Mum was furious with him, actually, but you know what Dad's like…" He shrugged. "I thought you had bad news!"
"I did say it wasn't bad," Harry said. "I just thought you'd want to know if you didn't already."
"To tell you the truth I'm not too worried about Mum," Ernie said. "She's a bit dippy but she knows what she's doing. It's Dad I'm concerned with… gets too caught up in the moment. But, well, I suppose it can't be helped. I just hope he's not up to anything too dangerous."
"If it helps, I don't think he is," Harry said. From what Dumbledore had said Algie Macmillan's tasks seemed to mostly involve attending society parties and events and having conversations with specific guests. Not exactly crossed wands at dawn. "From, er, what I've been told, anyway."
"Well, that's a relief," Ernie said. "I can stop worrying about that anyway."
And really, Algie's tasks seemed especially well suited to what Algie was able and willing to actually do, so Harry didn't think it would bring any real problems to his door. It might cost him a friendship or two if he said the wrong things to the wrong people, but that was probably the worst of it.
Mairi, on the other hand, was within the castle and dealing with Umbridge and whatever agents of Voldemort were at play there. But even she was only really involved in the school side of things.
"Great," Harry said. "Just thought I should mention it. Er, you'll be at Flight Club tomorrow, right?" Harry asked.
Ernie nodded.
"Yes, of course. I'm not going to let the Inquisition ruin that, not now that Hooch has got us doing some proper flying." He paused. "Well, I might skip the hazard course—that Extrasensory Field Hooch said about looks a bit iffy to me."
"It's really not that bad," Harry said. "I mean, it's a bit weird feeling like a twig, or an earthworm, or… well… you know, but once you wrap your head around it it's easy. Really."
"I'll take your word for it, old chap," Ernie said, his expression dubious. "I'll stick to agility, me."
Harry shrugged.
"Suit yourself. You're missing out, though."
If Ernie wanted to avoid fun that was his business – Harry intended to get stuck right in, Inquisition or no Inquisition. At least with Flight Club once the hazard race was underway the Inquisitors couldn't really interfere, not without getting into the K-Stack themselves or cancelling the whole thing. Duelling Club, on the other hand, Harry was worried about. Umbridge and her goons could interfere as much as they wanted with Duelling Club, even down to who got to duel and which spells they were allowed to use.
But he could worry about that after Flight Club.
Harry and Ernie parted ways as Ernie tramped up the steps to the higher floors of the castle whilst Harry was done for the day and could retire to the Common Room.
Until dinnertime, anyway.
As Harry had expected, Flight Club on Saturday morning was watched over by an Inquisitor. But it wasn't so bad, as the none of the Inquisitors were especially good on brooms and even the better ones were hesitant to enter the Karamazov's Tunnel. So Harry was able to, more or less, ignore the presence of the Inquisitors.
Not so for Duelling Club.
Umbridge herself was in attendance at the weekend session of Duelling Club along with Inquisitors Arlecchino and Vipera. Arlecchino was no surprise at all, as the Inquisitor had become something of a shadow to Umbridge, following along after her wherever she went and carrying out all sorts of tasks on her behalf, looking all the while like an oddly solid ghost.
But that Umbridge had chosen to bring a third Inquisitor with her was something Harry didn't like at all. Vipera was reasonably fair, at least whenever Harry had come across her, but that Umbridge had chosen her to accompany her and Arlecchino to Duelling Club was a worry. It certainly didn't bode well for Duelling Club, which had been starting to get very interesting indeed.
Although that was no doubt why Umbridge had chosen to interfere. Couldn't have dozens of students having anything approaching fun, and certainly not fun involving competent spellcasting.
At least there was Lockhart stood in one corner to soak up some of Umbridge's attention. She, like many witches and some wizards, got giddy in Lockhart's presence.
One useful thing about the bloke, Harry thought. And there was also Snape, who was always more than happy to snap at Umbridge or her Inquisitors when pushed too far. Not that it ever actually did anything, but it was nice to see at least.
Flitwick stood atop the duelling stage in the centre of the arena and waved his arms about to quieten everyone down. It worked.
"Thank you all!" Flitwick said. "I would like to announce to you all that at the end of the this year—after very intense discussions with the Ministry and with the European Duelling Circuit—we here at Hogwarts shall be hosting a duelling tournament. This tournament—the Hogwarts All-Isles Duelling Tournament—will be a qualifying tournament as per EDC regulations which will allow entry to its Summer Tournament and its regular league. This is, of course, the first time outside of the Triwizard Tournament that Hogwarts has allowed this and so we anticipate a high level of demand. Those interested in participating may see me after this session to register their preliminary interest! Thank you very much!"
Flitwick stepped down from the stage. The mood in the room improved greatly at that announcement, even with Umbridge and her Inquisitors present. A proper duelling tournament, one which carried with it the promise of an EDC Summer Tournament invitation?
Exciting indeed. Even Harry felt a bit excited, and he'd won the EDC Summer Tournament.
As everyone dispersed into their regular groupings, Flitwick called Hermione Granger, Harry, and Tracey over.
"I won't keep you long," Flitwick said, "but I would like to discuss something with the three of you! Given the recent announcement I would like to offer you the opportunity to join the Juniors instead of the Novices." He paused. "Or perhaps offer is the wrong word—you will join the Juniors or you will not be able to participate in the tournament, I am afraid. Having discussed the matter with Professors Snape and Lockhart we think that you all—and the other participants—would gain the most benefit from this new approach."
If nothing else, joining the Juniors would get Harry firmly out of Lockhart's clutches during the Duelling Club sessions, so there was that to consider. Even if Harry and Tracey crashed out of the Junior Doubles not having to deal with Lockhart at Duelling Club for the rest of the year was almost prize enough.
"Yes, of course, Professor," said Hermione immediately. "I think that would be a wonderful challenge."
"Well… if you think we're ready, Professor," Tracey said. She glanced at Harry. "Right?"
"Right," Harry said. "Er, just a question though—what about the singles? Since I didn't, er, technically… well, you know."
Harry hadn't secured qualification to the Novice Singles Summer Tournament because he'd been duelling with Draco-Voldemort in the Room of Requirement instead and the prize had gone elsewhere.
"I believe it would be reasonable to try you at the Junior level in the singles as well," Flitwick said. "You should understand—this decision is not entirely based on your skill or readiness. To some small degree it is about evening the playing field for the other Novices as, after all, none of them have won a Circuit tournament or even participated in sport duels of that level. However, I do also believe that all three of you will thrive when placed in the higher bracket and that it is the logical next step in your duelling careers. Does this make sense?"
Harry nodded.
"Yes, Professor," said Tracey. "Honestly, when you said about the All-Isles Tournament I was really excited, but I did think that it might be a bit unfair for us two to be put against the other Novices." She paused. "Oh, not to sound immodest or anything like that, but…"
"It is quite alright, Miss Davis!" Flitwick said. "I understand you perfectly."
Harry had thought about that himself, although he'd been prepared to do it anyway. It wasn't his fault that he'd competed at the Circuit level, after all. Or rather, it was his fault, but not his problem. What might end up being Harry's problem, though, was Umbridge and whether she felt it 'appropriate' for him to skip ahead to the Juniors.
Harry could deal with that if it happened, he supposed. With some luck she'd ignore it entirely in favour of some other petty intervention.
"Professor," said Hermione, "I had a question about the spellbook. There are spells at the Junior level which we haven't yet encountered in lessons—and won't until the NEWT. Won't we be at a disadvantage not knowing them?"
"Ah. Well, yes," Flitwick said. "Professor Snape and I will of course help you with some of the more, shall we say, essential NEWT-level spells, but for the rest you will be on your own. Self-directed study is part of the point of Duelling Club, after all! Now, we've spent quite a long time on all of this so if the three of you are happy with how we're going to proceed, we can get down to some duels!" Flitwick looked between the three students expectantly.
"Oh, er, yes, Professor," Harry said. "Let's get started, then."
"Wonderful!" said Flitwick. "Now, we'll have you doing some Singles sparring with some of our Juniors who are roughly at your skill level, correcting of course for the academic disparities…"
Flitwick led all three of them away from where they'd been stood and towards where Flitwick's Juniors were sparring. Flitwick deposited each of them at their new sparring partners and then returned to his position overseeing the activities of the Junior duellists.
Happy to be free of Lockhart – and Umbridge, who spent most of her Duelling Club sessions alternating between leering at Lockhart and making unwanted comments – Harry got stuck in to the sparring. He didn't even mind overly much that his sparring partner wasn't very good, as her lack of skill was somewhat balanced out by her greatly expanded repertoire of spells compared with Harry's own.
So that was still a decent enough challenge. Harry spent the rest of the session trying to get to grips with the new strategies he'd have to employ for the Junior level, and when Duelling Club was finally over for the evening, resolved to get a head start on the more advanced spells.
"…it's going to be rough having to learn all those new spells," Blaise was saying as the three Slytherins walked back to the dungeons ahead of dinner, "but I can't say I'm disappointed you're gone from the Novices. No offence, I just think it's going to be easier for me to win the Tournament now."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll manage to lose somehow," said Tracey with a grin.
"Oi!" said Blaise. "With you two and Granger gone I reckon my only real competition in the Novice Singles is Draco. And, alright, so he's good at duelling… but so am I. So it's fine." He paused. "Right? You do think I can beat him?"
Harry shrugged.
"On a good day, yeah," Harry said, perhaps a little too truthfully. But Draco had been above Blaise's skill level the previous year, and although the two boys hadn't duelled since then, Harry thought Draco probably was still better. Not that Blaise was bad, but… well…
With less on his mind Harry may have managed to say that with a little more tact, but he was more concerned with figuring out some good strategies using the Shield Charm. Everything changed at Junior level, and with the bigger spellbook…
"Your confidence in me is amazing, Harry," said Blaise. "You're my rock. I couldn't manage without your support—it's just what I need."
"I didn't mean it like that!" Harry protested.
"I'm sure he just meant that, well, Draco is a really good duellist and you'd need to be on top of your game to beat him, that's all," Tracey said.
"Yeah, yeah," Blaise said. "I mean, that's fair. But sometimes it's the way you say things, isn't it…"
They kept up an amiable enough conversation as they trudged back to the dungeons, but Harry's heart wasn't entirely in it. The mention of Draco sent Harry back to the vision he'd had of Voldemort and Lucius. Draco was up to something at the castle and although Harry didn't think it was anything nearly as serious as the year before, he still thought it might be worth a look over.
So Harry started to consider what he could do on that front, too.
There had to be something, and with some luck it would be something easy as well.
The return from Christmas was welcome in some ways, but with the Inquisition firmly established in Dumbledore's absence the castle wasn't the most fun place to be. Not that Harry had all that much time for fun between his alchemical studies, his prefect duties, OWLs generally, and his two clubs… but the option for fun would have been nice.
But given that Harry was very busy, he thought that perhaps he ought not have added minor surveillance of Draco and his goings on to the pot, but Harry felt like Draco needed to be watched. Just a bit, anyway. As an occlumens and – Harry assumed – a Death Eater in training, Draco was clearly up to something at the castle. Probably nothing as big as the previous year, unless Voldemort happened to have two horcruxes hidden at the castle, but Harry didn't doubt he'd been given something to be getting on with.
So, in the few stray bits of time Harry had here and there, he made a point of watching Draco. He didn't go out of his way to do it – nothing at all like the previous year when he, Ernie, and Tracey would spend ages outside the Room trying to figure out what Draco was up to – but given that they were both prefects and both Slytherins it wasn't difficult either.
One evening while sat in the Common Room with his Slytherin friends – a rarity in and of itself – Harry let the conversation go on without him as he instead sat there to watch Draco.
Draco was sat, as he often was, with Vince and Greg, along with Pansy and Victoria Runcorn. That wasn't unusual at all, as that had been their little group since the start of second year. But what was strange was that there were several new additions to it. Some were people from Adder Group, but others were less familiar to Harry. People from Wandwright's or the other schools, maybe even some homeschoolers.
That wouldn't have been too odd as the same story had been playing out throughout many of the school's friendship groups as new students were becoming better integrated, but Draco and Pansy hadn't shown much interest in any of the new students. Harry had overheard Pansy referring to them specifically as 'rubbish people not good enough for Hogwarts'.
So Harry somewhat doubted the enlargement of her and Draco's group of friends would have been down to Pansy. Victoria's only opinions were the ones Pansy allowed her to have, so Harry didn't think it would be her doing either. He supposed it could have happened through Vince and Greg, but neither boy was especially gregarious.
So it had to be through Draco. And Draco wasn't the friendliest of wizards either. He knew how to be charming when he wanted to be, but he spent most of his time making haughty statements and looking down on people he considered inferior.
Which, somewhat like Pansy, was more or less everyone.
Harry knew that Vince and Greg's fathers were Death Eaters. Marked followers of Voldemort. Pansy's father had never been formally linked with Voldemort or his Death Eaters, but Harry knew that didn't mean much considering how many Marked Death Eaters had escaped justice. Few people had nice things to say about Albert Runcorn.
Draco's group consisting of those particular students made sense to Harry. There were very good reasons for it. But to suddenly branch out and include others… that was suspicious.
Harry wondered if—
A wad of parchment hit him in the face.
"Oi!" Harry said, turning to face his assailant.
It was Blaise, who simply shrugged.
"You weren't listening," Blaise said. "I called you four times and you just ignored me. What are you doing, anyway?"
Blaise looked over at where Harry had been looking.
"Oh. Right. This again."
"I was right last time," Harry said quietly. And this time, Harry had even received a vision telling him that Draco was up to something, a vision that even Dumbledore had thought was real. Although Harry hadn't actually told his friends about the vision, or about what it meant in terms of a connection to Voldemort. That seemed… well, it seemed like it would complicate things in a way that nobody – least of all Harry – needed just then.
"You were," agreed Blaise. "Honestly, you're probably right this time, too. Just don't go, you know, losing track of your priorities and all that. If he is up to something—and he probably is, I'm agreeing with you, so don't go off on one—then we can all keep an eye out. Sound fair?"
"I—er—actually, yeah," Harry said, completely disarmed. He'd been expecting to have to give evidence and reasoning. Instead, Blaise had just accepted him at his word.
"Great," Blaise said. "Now, would you answer my question?"
"Er… I wasn't paying attention," Harry admitted. "What was it?"
Blaise rolled his eyes.
"Of course. I wanted to know what you'd written for that homework question Professor Flamel set. You know, the one about how the cavewizards discovered the magical properties of blood? I asked Daph and she wouldn't tell me, said I'd obviously not even tried to answer it myself. So then none of the girls would tell me."
Harry shrugged.
"She's right, to be fair. You obviously haven't tried to answer it or you'd remember Flamel spent, like, two whole hours explaining why they weren't cavewizards at all. They lived in houses and they—"
"Alright, alright," Blaise said. "I wasn't listening in her lectures, obviously. But about the blood thing…?"
Harry sighed. He wasn't quite as concerned with Blaise's academic integrity as the girls seemed to be, so Harry wrenched himself away from Dracowatch and explained, in as much detail as he could remember, what the actual answer was for Flamel's homework question.
Harry didn't get much chance to do anything even halfway approaching fun for a few nights after that, as Diggory had put him and Daphne out on patrol three nights in a row. Harry had been planning on getting started with some of the more advanced spells necessary at the Junior level of Circuit Duelling but had to put it off.
Instead, Harry had to traipse around the castle for hours on end with Daphne, and they couldn't even get up to any exciting subversive activities as despite it being well after curfew, the castle was positively crawling with people.
Inquisitors roamed the halls, always stationed exactly where the teachers had been directed to patrol; ghosts meandered about as they always did, but something seemed to have spooked the spirits as there were more of them about than Harry usually saw; and on top of all that were the roving bands of Inquisitorial Squad members who'd been – wholly coincidentally, Harry was sure – assigned to the exact same patrol routes as the prefects had been.
"I can't believe Diggory's had us out all week," Daphne was saying as she and Harry walked away from Central Hall. Their patrol route for that Friday night took them in a wide loop starting from Central Hall and moving through many of the lesser used corridors in that part of the castle. Not the most arduous of jobs, but it was a decent range and Harry was glad for the change in scenery. "It's not fair. Did you know Draco and Pansy have only been sent out once this week?"
"I didn't," Harry said, "but that doesn't surprise me. Draco still not keen on doing the work?"
Draco had been avoiding doing any prefect work since the start of the year, but for whatever reason Snape hadn't removed him from the post. No doubt something to with the Voldemort situation, some political thing. But it was frustrating all the same.
Still, at least Harry knew that whatever he was up to had nothing to do with his prefect duties or he'd actually be doing them.
"Probably not," Daphne said, "but this time it's Pansy who's the problem. Gemma told me—and I wasn't supposed to say anything to anyone but it's just you and I know you won't tell—Pansy keeps assigning detentions even when she's not supposed to, and Diggory is sick of it. Especially because she does it more to any muggleborns. Ugh, she's a nightmare."
"So they just get all the privileges and none of the responsibilities?" Harry said. "Nice for some." Although honestly, that was what Harry had come to expect for people like Draco and Pansy. They were the sort of people who went through life doing everything wrong but coming away from it with all the rewards.
Daphne stopped in her tracks.
"Oh, I hadn't thought of it like that," she said. She frowned. "When you say it like that it makes me cross! But I don't think it's quite that bad because they are having to do stuff—Pansy's had to give up her breaktimes to help Madame Helix with something."
That was something, Harry supposed. It could have been worse and Pansy could have got off totally free of anything resembling work. And honestly, having to do some work was the least of the punishments should could have had, as many of those muggleborns she'd assigned detentions would have faced the rack or Stinging Jinxes at the least.
"Why don't they just pair them with someone else?" Harry asked. "If they're not working together properly."
Daphne shrugged.
"I don't know. Although between you and me, I'm happy they haven't decided to pair them with someone else because they'd have to be paired with you and me. And I don't especially fancy spending my nights wandering around with Draco, thank you very much! You're much nicer company."
Harry grimaced. He supposed that if Diggory did pair Draco and Pansy differently it really would have to be with Harry and Daphne, and that would mean Harry had to spend his patrols with Pansy instead. At least with Daphne he could have a conversation and behave normally. They were friends, and Daphne knew about Voldemort, was part of the Basilisk's Fang even… much better than spending any time at all with Pansy, a girl so sour she could curdle lemons.
Pansy and Draco getting to be prefects without some of the requisite duties was price enough for not having to spend any more time than Harry absolutely had to with Pansy.
"That's a really good point," Harry said. "I'd prefer you to Pansy any day."
"Exactly," said Daphne, "and you know, if we were with Draco and Pansy we couldn't have written any of those messages, or drawn those pictures, and do you know, I think it's actually been really helpful that we've done that. Especially since we're not the only ones doing it now. We actually started something."
That was true. Although they had perhaps become victims of their own success, as since the copycat vandalism had started, Umbridge had kicked up her Inquisitorial patrols and the corridors were now heaving even at night.
Not to mention the resumption of physical and spell-based punishments.
Harry was about to say as much, but he stopped himself mid-sentence as he could hear a commotion up ahead. He set off towards it, and Daphne followed.
They slipped into the adjoining corridor and saw. Stood in a great big cluster at the far end of the corridor were five students. Two Harry recognised as Inquisitorial Squad, but the other three looked about right to be first years. Two girls and a boy.
They were all dressed in pyjamas rather than robes, so Harry couldn't see which Houses they were from. But one of the girls was crying as the Inquisitorial Squad shouted at them. Harry glanced at Daphne.
"Let's see what's up," Harry suggested. With some luck they could intervene and stop the girl from crying, or failing that, at least calm the situation down a bit. A large, tall portrait featuring a heavily made up wizard with a jaunty cap overlooked proceedings, muttering to himself. Harry recognised him as a particularly gossipy portrait who tended to flit from frame to frame in search of stories to tell.
He sighed.
"What's going on?" Harry said as they approached. He looked at the crying girl. "Are you alright? What's happened?"
"I just—we didn't mean to—but it's my birthday—and then when we were trying to—we didn't mean any harm…" said the girl through her sobs. "And—and—and—then they said that—" Through her wails the girl didn't manage to finish her sentence. Instead, she broke into choked sobs.
"Right," Harry said. "Er."
"Oh, you poor thing!" Daphne said. "It's going to be alright. I promise. What did the Inquisitorial Squad say to you?"
"None of your business, Greengrass," said the wizard. Harry racked his brain for the boy's identity and realised it was Jack Harlowe, a Gryffindor third year, and one Harry had never actually interacted with. And the witch…
Hortensia Garlick, that's right, Harry thought to himself. The girl's aunt – or sister, or something like that – was that famous witch Tracey liked. Not that Harry had any idea what Eloise Garlick did. If she even did anything.
Both had started Hogwarts at the same time as Harry, although thanks to the quirks of timetabling, Harry had had very little reason to get to know them. He had absolutely no idea what either of them was really like, but their brief interaction thus far hadn't done much to warm him to them.
"I'm a prefect and you've made this poor girl cry," Daphne said. "Of course it's my business! What did you say to her?"
Harlowe looked over at Garlick, who shrugged.
"Just that this sort of thing is something that gets people expelled and wands snapped." He paused. "Which is true. So…"
"Bit harsh," Harry said. "This is, like, points off or detention or something like that." He turned towards the three first years. "Look, don't worry about being expelled—unless you were up to something really dangerous or bad that's not going to happen, alright?"
"W-we weren't doing anything like that!" said the boy. "It's like Nessa was trying to say—it's her birthday. Since we're all in different Houses we wanted to meet up to… well…" He shrugged.
"I—It's just that…" said the crying girl – Nessa – through yet more sobs, "every year on my birthday I have a fairy cake at midnight with my mum and dad. But—but this year my birthday is at school and I—well—it's just that this is the first time I've ever had my birthday without my parents and—and—I just didn't want to not do our special birthday tradition. So—so—I just—I thought…"
"You thought you could do it here instead," Daphne concluded. "Oh, but you know it's against the rules to leave your Common Rooms at night, don't you? So you have broken a rule and we will have to give a punishment…"
"Like hell you will," said Garlick. "This is ours. We get to set the punishment."
"If the punishment you want to set is expulsion then there's no point you even trying!" countered Daphne. "Not even Umbridge would let you get away with that."
"They're just first years," Harry said. "It's not like they were doing anything that bad, was it? They just wanted to eat a bloody fairy cake and say 'Happy birthday' to their friend. Come on."
If Harry and Daphne had come across the three rulebreakers alone, Harry thought he'd have pushed for letting them go with a warning. It was such a minor thing, and given that it was the girl's first birthday away from home…
But that didn't seem to be an option, not with Garlick and Harlowe threatening the three firsties with expulsion.
Garlick shook her head.
"No. They can't be allowed to get away with this. What if it's been them putting up all the graffiti and writing those awful messages? The very least they deserve is detention—and we're going to inform Inquisitor Arlecchino about this."
"Just take points and assign a detention for the Inquisitors to decide on," Harry said. "It's not hard." He turned to the three first years. "Have any of you ever been in trouble before at school? Like, detention trouble, not, you know, House points or getting told off in lessons?"
"No," said the boy and the girl who hadn't been crying.
Nessa shook her head.
"No! Never! I wouldn't. This is the first time, I swear!"
Harry believed her. From the entire performance being put on, either Nessa was a world-class actor or she was really, genuinely afraid her Hogwarts career was over before it had properly begun. And as they had breached the curfew over a few birthday fairy cakes Harry reckoned they were very far from being hardened rule breakers.
"Then no one is going to expel you and snap your wand," Harry said, "not for something like this. Harlowe was just trying to frighten you. Do you have your cakes still?"
No response at first, and then Nessa nodded.
"Brilliant," Harry said. "Go on and eat them—do your birthday tradition thing. Daphne and I are going to have a chat with the Inquisitorial Squad and we'll get this all sorted out, alright?"
"Th-thank you!" said Nessa. "Oh, thank you so much!"
"It's, er, fine," Harry said.
Harlowe and Garlick didn't seem at all pleased by Harry's announcement, but they didn't say anything as Nessa handed her friends a little fairy cake each. Harry left them to it. He drew Harlowe and Garlick a little further away to give the first years some privacy, and Daphne followed.
"Look," Harry said quietly, occluding just so he could think more diplomatically, "I'm not saying you should just let them go without a punishment. Obviously, they've been caught out after curfew and you've got every right to suggest a punishment to the Inquisitors. Fair enough. But there's no need to scare them like that, is it?"
"Not over a bit of cake," Daphne added.
Harry wouldn't have bothered punishing them at all, but then Umbridge had evidently picked Inquisitorial Squad members based on how aggressive and vicious they would be – which was entirely fitting given Umbridge's own proclivities – so Harry didn't think that suggestion would fly. But he could at least try to avoid corporal punishments, since even though he didn't think Umbridge would go for expulsion, literal medieval torture was apparently fair game.
He glanced at Daphne.
"We'll recommend points off and a detention to Diggory," Harry said. "I think you should do the same to Arlecchino. Since I assume you weren't really going to push for expulsion. Not for something like this."
"Why should we just do what you want us to do?" Harlowe asked. "We got here first—it's our job to recommend a punishment, and the Inquisition outranks Diggory."
Harry shrugged.
"Honestly, do what you want," he said, "but I don't think Arlecchino would want to expel a bunch of first years over some cake."
"It's not about some cake," Harlowe continued, "it's about the principle—"
"Oh, Jack, give over," said Garlick. She looked at Harry. "We weren't really going to recommend expulsion. We just thought they should be properly respectful of the Inquisition and the school rules, that's all."
Harry had been about to respond to Harlowe with some choice words but stopped when he'd finished processing what Garlick had said. He hadn't expected either of them to be reasonable, but Garlick had obviously reconsidered their hardline stance.
Perhaps Harlowe had simply been trying to look important. Power did the strangest things to people, after all, even if it was only a little bit of power.
Perhaps especially if it was only a little bit of power.
"Right. Yeah. That's good," Harry said. "I mean, there's no need to make first years cry, is there? So we'll just tell them that they'll have to get back to their Common Rooms and take them back there. Agreed?"
Harlowe didn't seem overly enthused about that plan, but he didn't contradict Harry either, so Harry took that as a win.
By then, the three first years had finished off their fairy cakes and Nessa had stopped crying, which was nice.
"We've decided what's going to happen," Daphne said to the waiting first years. "We're all going to recommend points off and a detention each, and we're going to escort you back to your Common Rooms. Which Houses are you in?"
"He's a Gryffindor," Harlowe said. "I recognised him from the Common Room."
"I'm in Ravenclaw," said the second girl.
"We'll take those two back since they're up in the towers," Garlick said.
"I'm in Hufflepuff," said Nessa, her tone a bit happier.
"Right, so we'll take you back, then," Harry said. "Since we know the general area."
"Th-thank you," Nessa said. She turned to her two friends. "I'm sorry I asked you to come out—I shouldn't have. Now we're all in trouble…"
"It's okay," said the boy. "We're lucky we got caught by Harry Potter, I suppose." He paused, then glanced over at Harry. "Oh, but I didn't mean…"
Harry felt himself go red.
"Er, it's fine," Harry said after a few moments. "Just don't… er… do anything like this again."
They said their goodbyes and parted ways, although Harry waited to leave until he'd watched Garlick and Harlowe take their first years away first. Then he and Daphne set off back to the dungeons with Nessa.
"You really ought to be more careful," Daphne said gently as they escorted Nessa back to the cellars. "Especially with the Inquisition about—some of them really aren't very nice at all."
"I know," Nessa said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it—I just… well, it's my birthday and it's the first time I've not been…"
"I understand," Daphne said. "Really, I do. But with everything as it is…"
"Honestly," Harry said, "if I'd caught you I probably wouldn't have given a punishment. Just a warning and off you go. But the—"
"Harry!" chided Daphne. "You shouldn't say that even if it is true."
"Well, alright, that's fair," Harry said, "but what I meant was that not everyone will be as nice. Especially not some of the Inquisitorial Squad."
"I'm sorry," Nessa said. "I won't do it again. I promise. But… you're sure I won't be expelled? Only, I've only just learned about magic and being a witch and everything like that so… well I was just really worried they'd snap my wand. They don't really do that, do they?"
"Er," Harry said, unsure how to respond. The Ministry did snap wands and would often do so if a student was expelled under certain circumstances. But a first year? Over a bit of fairy cakes? And even if she had gotten her wand snapped over such a small thing there would be schools on the Continent or elsewhere which would allow her to enrol. "Technically the Ministry does do that, but I really don't think they'd have done that to you. You know, that's for like, people who do really dangerous things. Get someone hurt badly, or… stuff like that." Harry glanced at Daphne. "Right?"
Daphne nodded.
"Exactly!" she said. "So you had nothing to worry about. Now, I think we've gone about as close to the Hufflepuff Common Room as we can get, so please just head back in and don't get caught doing something like this again. Okay?"
"I promise," Nessa said. She turned and walked away, but then stopped and looked back. "I can't believe you're both so nice—everyone says the Slytherins aren't very nice to people like me, but you've both been so kind! Thank you so much! I promise I won't get in trouble again."
Before Harry could say anything Nessa had disappeared down the corridor to wherever it was that the Hufflepuff Common Room was.
"Oh, well that was nice, wasn't it?" Daphne said. "It's not often someone says something like that after we catch them breaking rules, is it?"
Harry shook his head.
"No. It's definitely nicer than getting sworn at and threatened with hexes, anyway." He shrugged. "I know we've got to go report to Diggory, but d'you mind if we stop by the Common Room first? I want to grab my stuff so I can go for a swim in the Prefects' Bathroom. Since I've not got to get up early tomorrow…"
Although it was technically for getting clean, Harry didn't think any of the prefects actually used the special prefects' bathrooms as a bathroom. The showers attached to the dormitories were all much more convenient and far easier to use in the evenings or the mornings before lessons.
But the Prefects' Bathrooms were vast, with a giant bath more like a swimming pool, and dozens of options for bubble bath and other fun things besides. Just the right thing to relax after a long day.
"Oh, alright," Daphne said. "As long as we're quick."
"Nice one, Daph," Harry said. They made the short trip to the dungeons quickly, and Harry nipped in and out of the dormitory to grab his stuff. Blaise wasn't even back yet, nor was John Fitzroy, but Harry was quiet anyway since he knew Plumm and Charlie were sleeping.
"All set!" Harry said once he met Daphne at the Common Room entrance. Together they traipsed back up through the castle to where they were supposed to meet Diggory in the Central Hall to inform him of that night's activities. Usually there was nothing to say, but given their altercation with the Inquisitorial Squad…
Well, Harry expected to be held up longer than normal.
By the time Harry and Daphne reached Central Hall Harry was almost regretting his decision to go for a swim as it was so late, but he thought it would be worth it. It usually was, anyway.
But there was a queue to see Diggory and Suki Thakkar when Harry and Daphne arrived, one which looked as if it would take ages to disperse.
When Harry and Daphne finally reached Diggory, he appeared every bit as tired as Harry felt.
"Let me guess," Diggory said as they approached, "you've got something to report? Inquisition?"
"Er, yeah," Harry said. "Sorry."
Diggory sighed.
"Don't be. It's not your fault. But go on then—let me have it. What's happened now?" Diggory said.
Harry let Daphne explain. She was better at that sort of thing anyway. When she'd finished Diggory groaned.
"This is a mess. Honestly, do you know how many times basically this exact thing has happened already tonight? Because I'll tell you—you're the fifth pair to tell me or Suki something like this. It's a nightmare. I'm not sure what the Squad is playing at, but I'll be up all night reporting to Professor McGonagall. And I bet she's going to up all night complaining to Umbridge." He sighed again. "Well, that's not your problem, I suppose. Thanks for letting me know about it. Nothing else?"
Harry shook his head.
"No. Just that. Otherwise it was a quiet night, to be honest," Harry said.
"Well, that's good, then," Diggory said. "Thanks again. But if that's it…?"
"Right. See you," Harry said, and he and Daphne walked away.
"It sounds as if it's been a nightmare of a night for everyone," Daphne said as they walked away. "But at least it wasn't just us. Or is that actually worse, if it's everyone? Hmm. Oh, well—nothing we can do about it. Enjoy your swim, Harry. I'll walk back to the dungeons myself, don't worry about it."
"Nice one, Daph. And I think Gemma's not far behind us so you could walk with her if you wanted," Harry said. He left Daphne at the spot where their paths needed to diverge and made his way to the boys' Prefects' Bathroom.
The password changed regularly, but Diggory always handed it out to the boys at the fortnightly prefects' meetings, so Harry wasn't worried about that. He just hoped it wasn't too busy, as although the bath was fit for a giant, too many in at once clogged it up.
It was only a short way to the fifth floor, and once there Harry only had to look for the statue of Boris the Bewildered. The girls had a supposedly identical bathroom not far away, although Daphne had refused to tell Harry where, exactly. Not that he had been planning on having a look inside anyway, but it would have been nice to know where the door was.
Harry located the right door and spoke the password.
"Soaped up," Harry said and the door allowed entry. As soon as Harry stepped inside he heard voices, which wasn't ideal but which wasn't all that bad either. Over his months as a prefect he'd come to know all the other boys, and they were a good bunch of lads in the main, with the exception of Draco.
And Draco rarely used the Prefects' Bathroom anyway, so Harry didn't have to worry about that. His first few times in the bathroom Harry had worried about the scar on his chest but no one had said a thing, and after that it wasn't a worry anyway.
So as long as none of the rowdier prefects were inside, Harry thought it would be alright.
Harry stepped inside the exquisite bathroom, careful not to slip in case anyone had got the expansive white marble floors wet, and had a little look at who was in.
Oh, for fuck's sake, Harry thought when he realised who was there. They weren't any of the prefects, nor was it Diggory. It wasn't even any of the Quidditch Captains, who were also allowed to use the facilities. No, instead, it was a group of boys from the Inquisitorial Squad.
Even though Harry had been prepared for someone to be in the bathroom he hadn't been prepared for that. There hadn't even been an announcement the Squad was allowed to use the bathrooms. Harry would have thought Diggory would have said something, but perhaps Diggory didn't even know.
Umbridge must have given them access after the Christmas holiday ended. Not content with ruining prefect patrols and the general atmosphere within the school, the Inquisition had evidently gone one step further.
Harry sighed and turned around, left the bathroom. There was no point staying, not even to try and make some sort of point. Instead he left the bathroom and returned to the dungeons. As Harry crossed the Common Room to return to his dormitory, all his plans for having a nice relaxing swim thwarted, a voice called out to him.
"Harry? I thought you'd gone for a swim…" Daphne said. Harry turned. She was sat in an armchair with Millicent.
"So did I," Harry said, "but when I got to the bathroom, there was a bunch of Squad in there. Couldn't be bothered with the fuss, so I just… left."
Daphne grimaced.
"Oh, that is bad news," Daphne said. "Some of the Squad girls are awful, and now they're allowed in…" She sighed.
"Maybe I should join the Squad," Millicent said. "Then we could go in together…"
"Oh, but then you'd have to be on the Squad, and I don't think you'd enjoy that," Daphne said.
Millicent shrugged.
"Could always sneak me in."
"Well, you know I wouldn't do that," Daphne said. She looked back to Harry. "That's a real shame, Harry. I'm sorry it didn't work out how you wanted."
Harry shrugged. It wasn't a big deal. He could have a quick shower back at the dorms and then hop into bed a later earlier than planned. And that was nice enough.
"Yeah, it's fine," Harry said. "Is Blaise back from his patrol yet?"
Daphne shook her head.
"No, not yet. I expect that means he had something to report!"
Harry nodded. That made sense.
"Alright. Well. I'll see you both tomorrow," Harry said. "I'm going to go for my shower. Goodnight."
"Night!" said Millicent.
"Goodnight, Harry!" said Daphne.
Harry returned to his dorm after that, set his things down, and went for a nice hot shower before slipping into bed earlier than he'd intended but probably at about the right time.