Harry Potter and the Founders Vault
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All Work and No Play
The September month had passed all too quickly, and October was nearly done. They had a week left until Halloween and Remus had his first transformation as a Hogwarts professor. While he had been unavailable to teach those few days, the Flamels had taken his classes.
Remus himself was heading for the teacher's lounge when he saw the elderly couple appear rounding the corner ahead to the same direction.
"Nicholas, Perenelle," Remus called, catching up to the two. "I wanted to thank you two for taking my classes while I was unavailable…"
"Oh, we had a wonderful time," Perenelle assured the man with a smile as the three walked together.
"Don't even second think it. The entire year we'll be happy to cover," Nicholas said.
"Thank you. I'm surprised given the prejudices against my kind," Remus said nervously.
"Think nothing of it," Perenelle dismissed. "Those are modern prejudices bought about by full-blooded wizards scared to lose their heritage. Nicolas and I have been around since long before wizard kind feared the Lycan."
"Ah, that's good to know," Remus smiled at that. "How are your eight apprentices doing?" Remus asked, honestly curious.
"All hard working," Nicholas said happily. "Progressing fine in their chosen fields. Good bunch of kids." The three reached the teacher lounge at this point.
"Which reminds me. Harry doesn't do well when Dementors are around, so I was hoping to teach him the Patronus... Could you let me know the days you're meeting with him so I can schedule it with him?" Remus asked.
"I'll send you an owl with the information," Perenelle added as their eyes went to a table in the lounge. Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape, and Fillius Flitwick were sitting around the table.
"I'll put 5 gallons on the Weasleys being stuck to the benches of Gryffindor table," Minerva said.
"Easy," Severus said. "Ms. Evans is cleverer than that."
"Might want to stop giving Harper compliments. People might think you have grown fond of her," Minerva said with a smile that Severus didn't answer. Filius chuckled at that.
"My question though is it the entire… what do the students call Harry, Harper, Hermione, and Neville again?" Filius asked.
"The Fab Four," Minerva answered.
"Ah. Well, is it the entire Fab Four against the Weasley Twins or just Harper Evans?" Filius finished his question.
"The Granger girl has way too much work on her plate to be taking part in a Prank War," Severus added.
"I agree, and I believe I heard Mr. Longbottom trying to get both sides to stop. I would not put it pass Harry to be helping his sister, though, but I do believe Harper Evans has recruited a first year Slytherin. Edward Diggory," Minerva looked to Severus at that, but he remained silent at the question.
"Talented first year to be helping with these pranks," Filius said.
"Ms. Evans is a good teacher," Severus said meekly now.
"What are you doing?" Remus asked, having listened to the conversation with the Flamels.
"Ah Remus, we're taking bets on what type of pranks will be done in the war," Minerva explained. It was no secret since the first week in September the Weasley twins and Harper Evans had been pranking each other and it had since been dubbed by the student body as a 'prank war'. There were several pranks a week now. "Would you like to join?"
"Aren't we meant to be stopping them?" Remus asked, honestly confused.
"If we went mad and put students in detention for every little prank, they pulled you and your friends would have been in detention a lot more than you were," Minerva reminded Remus of his past, the man grinning slyly at this.
"Which is saying something considering how often you were in detention," Severus added himself, a little too airily.
"We have to weigh the good and the bad of the situation. The two sides are tricking each other so there is really no victim. These antics are harmless for the most part, and with the threat of Sirius Black lurking, it's bringing joy to the school in a dark time. Let them have a bit of fun and we'll step in should the need arise," Minerva added.
"Besides, we're getting to have some of our own fun trying to guess what they will do and see who knows our students better," Filius said. "Now you're a former trickster yourself. You must have an interesting idea…?"
"I really can't see the benefit of all this," Remus sighed now.
"Well, I am a betting man," Nicholas said, taking a seat. "And I guarantee Harper will at some point use the blood magic we are showing her."
"You're not training her in anything?" Perenelle asked her husband.
"Absolutely not," Nicholas said. "So, anyone in?"
-Harry Potter-
Neville was in the Hufflepuff Common Room drinking a glass of water. He had done an early morning run and his exercises Perenelle had put him on and was now resting before doing some schoolwork.
"You know, all the exercise is really starting to show," Susan said; she was at a table in the Common Room and Neville took a seat next to her, grabbing his bag. "Any girl would be lucky to have you."
"What's with everyone this year and dating?" Neville asked, going red at the comment. "First Harry has a girlfriend and Harper's been…"
"Harry Potter has a girlfriend?" Susan asked; Neville had to stop what he was about to say. The want for gossip was in her eyes. "Who?"
"Some girl in America. Harper calls her a camp girlfriend. I don't really get it," Neville said with a shrug. "But I'm not interested in dating anyone… yet." Neville bit his lip at this, as if there was more that he wanted to add but decided to change the topic. "How's your studies with the Flamels going?"
"Amazing! I didn't know there was so much to warding," Susan said. "I love every moment of it. I think when I am older I might want to get in the business of warding people's houses."
"You two are the only two not in 5th and 7th year working as hard as us," this was Cedric, taking the last seat with them. "Mind if I do some studying here? OWLs are kicking my ass and this is the last seat available."
"Not a problem. Harper and Harry said last year when they took two it was hard work. Not looking forward to taking them all in my 5th year," Neville said.
"Harry and Harper have taken two already? How does every other little thing about them go around this school and not that?" Cedric asked.
Before Neville could answer, a loud annoying sound entered the common room.
"What is that?!" Susan asked, going to cover her ears.
"I don't know but going to ask Harper if she can hear it in Slytherin," Neville said; both common rooms were in the dungeons after all; Hufflepuff being closer to the kitchen and nearer to being under the Great Hall, while Slytherin's was by the Lake.
Neville took out his communication notebook and wrote to Harper: can you hear that?
…
Harper was in the Slytherin Common Room, sitting with Daphne and Tracey. All were doing their homework. Harper had a book on blood magic the Flamels had given both her and Harry.
"What's the problem?" Daphne asked, seeing Harper took at the book.
"Well, it's a rather simple combination, but the trick is delivering it to the Weasleys in blood without it messing up or activating," Harper said.
"You're going to use blood magic in your prank war?" Tracey asked.
"They'd never see it coming," Harper said with a smirk. "It makes them see a vision that frightens them for a split second; sort of like a Boggart and Dementor combined but not as serious. Blood magic is fascinating. So far, we are still on the simpler things. Nicholas and Perenelle are slowly working us up to the more complicated blood magic and we did some research. There are several states that banned it, but not Arizona, so we can use it at home, thankfully."
"How does that work?" Daphne asked. "Banning it in some states but not others?"
Before Harper could try to explain the difference between state governments and federal governments of America and how one thing can be legal in one state but not another a loud noise entered the common room, forcing many to put their hands on their ears.
"What is that?!" Tracey asked as Harper's communication notebook vibrated next to her, indicating a message.
"Well, whatever it is, Hufflepuff is hearing it too," Harper said seeing the message from Neville. Harper wrote back: yeah, going to go investigate.
Meet you there, Neville wrote back.
"Come on, let's find out," Harper said, putting the communication notebook down and the three of them went to leave. Several other Slytherins went to follow.
It was easy to follow the noise and they quickly found where it was coming from: Fred and George were there, and the hallway was lined with instruments – the noise coming from the instruments that were playing and not playing well so it was combining to a high pitch squeak.
"And our time to flee," Fred called, seeing the students gathering, and the two went to run in the opposite direction but were stopped by Hufflepuffs led by Neville, Susan, and Cedric. Fred and George looked at them, seeing the angry face and then turned around to see the angry faces on the Slytherins.
"You know, we forgot Hufflepuff was down here too," George groaned.
"Hey Slytherin, how about a team up between houses?" Cedric called.
"Sounds good to us!" Several Slytherins, including Harper and her friends, said and then spells started flying out of wands, hitting into the instruments and Fred and George started running as some were aimed as them.
-Harry Potter-
Harry was in the Gryffindor Common Room playing chess with Ron, deciding to take a break from schoolwork.
"You know the Flamels say things like Phoenix tears can also be used as cores. It's trickier using a liquid core though," Ron was saying as they played.
"Ron can we just concentrate on the game?" Harry asked.
"Well, you probably should, too," Ron said as he got his bishop to take Harry's knight. Ron chess pieces laughed at this.
It was at that moment Fred and George came running into the Common Room. They paused once the portrait closed and took deep breaths.
"What did you do…?" Harry asked.
"We found all these old instruments in storage and lined them in the dungeon and enchanted them to play very horribly and very loud," Fred said.
"Unfortunately, we forgot Hufflepuff was down there too," George said.
"The two houses teamed up against us," Fred said, but the two were laughing anyway and heading up to their dorms, likely already plotting their next move.
"If this prank war goes on any longer, we'll be getting another Howler soon from your mom," Seamus joked to Ron. "If you step another toe out of…" he began quoting.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ron said, waving his hand at Seamus to shut him up.
"You flew a car to the school," Harry said, pausing as he remembered Ron ill-gotten adventure last year.
"Yeah, you were there," Ron said. "Refused to come with me."
"What happened to the car?" Harry asked. It was something that had never crossed his mind before – he had just assumed it had been returned to Ron's parents or confiscated by the Ministry.
"Tossed me and my luggage out and drove into the Forbidden Forest," Ron said. "Are you going to play?"
"Was the car a Ford?" Harry asked, suddenly getting excited, ignoring the question.
"Um… yeah dad called it that once," Ron said confused.
"That's the answer!" Harry said getting up. "I got to get Harper, Hermione, and Neville." Harry ran out of the common leaving his friends there confused.
"And I was going to ask him if he wanted to kick around a foot-soccer ball," Dean said, making eyes turn to him.
"Foot-soccer?" Seamus asked.
"It's easier to use both names of the sport around Harry," Dean shrugged.
-Harry Potter-
Harper, Neville, Edward, and Cedric walked away from the Gryffindor Common Room laughing. They had chased the twins all the way back here.
"Hey Edward, meeting after dinner to figure out how to get back at the Weasleys?" Harper half asked, half instructed.
"Yes, boss!" Edward said giving Harper a fake salute and running ahead.
"Can't this be the end of it?" Neville asked. "We chased them back to Gryffindor."
"No way! If we don't respond, they will claim victory," Harper said. "And I can't have that."
"Cedric, help me out here," Neville said, looking to Cedric.
"Sorry, Nev, but I think this prank war is awesome. The Weasleys have been pranking everyone since they got here. It's nice someone is finally returning the favor," Cedric said and Neville had to groan. "Although it's odd that Peeves hasn't gotten involved yet. Come to think of it, he's never around when either you or Harry are about," Cedric frowned at Harper now, having just put the two facts together.
"He stays out of our way, what else can I say?" Harper shrugged at this, wondering if her and Harry's very deep connection to Hogwarts itself was why the poltergeist kept out of their way, even when they were doing the very thing Peeves loved: pranks.
"Interesting. But hey, Edward loves this prank war you guys have going. It's all he'll talk about. I have been meaning to thank you Harper for watching out for him," Cedric continued.
"Ah, he's a good kid," Harper dismissed. "Kind of reminds me of my little brother in way."
"Hey, Harp," Cedric said, ignoring the comment to Harper's younger sibling, before Harper and Neville could walk further away. "You know Halloween is the first Hogsmead visit?"
"I'm aware," Harper said with a nod.
"And well… you have permission to go, right?" Cedric asked.
"I do," Harper said.
"Well, I could show you around… bring you to a couple of places," Cedric said.
"Are you asking me on a date?" Harper asked the boy and Neville took a step away, seeming to want to be out hearing range of this conversation.
"Yes," Cedric answered back.
"I'd love to," Harper said with a smile.
"Good, I'll meet you in the Great Hall after you give your permission slip over. We can walk to the village together," Cedric said.
"Harp, Nev!" Now this was Harry, running out and grabbing the two. "Hi Cedric, I need to steal these two." Cedric gave a smile as Harry grab them both. "I got the answer! Where's Hermione?"
"Well, it's a weekend and she's taking all the classes this school has to offer, plus the Flamels, so I would bet the library," Harper said with a little humor. "Why?"
"Come on!" Harry said jogging passed them as the two friends looked at each other and then ran after Harry.
-Harry Potter-
Hermione really was in the library with books piled high on the table. She barely looked up as Harry, Harper, and Neville sat down with her. It wasn't until Harry grabbed the work; she was doing that she looked up to complain.
"I know where we're going," Harry said before Hermione could even open her mouth. "The clue! I know the answer. It's the Forbidden Forest!"
"I know we said that for the other two, but what about the Ford?" Harper asked.
"The car Ron drove here last year was a Ford and it drove itself into the Forest after Ron crashed it," Harry said.
Hermione's eyes went wide as she quickly took out the Vault book and answered the question with the word 'Forbidden Forest'.
"Congratulation, you know where you must go. When you are ready, I will guide you," Hermione read off the page in a low whisper.
"Oh no," Neville said, remembering the last time he was in the Forbidden Forest. Harper put a hand on his back.
"Hey, it's with us this time," Harper said, knowing where Neville's mind went to. "They'll be no Voldemort around this time."
"And we won't let anything happen," Harry said. "We should sneak in on Halloween, though."
"Not during the Hogsmead trip," Harper said quickly, making everyone look at her.
"She has a date with Cedric," Neville said, and Harper could see Harry was about to tease her.
"And people will see us. We should go in during the feast. No one will be on the grounds and it's like tradition we skip the feast now," Harper added.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Hermione said with a small smile as the other two agreed.
"And now Harper you…" Harry started, ready to tease his sister when Ginny came up.
"I want in," Ginny said, making the four frown at her.
"In?" Harry asked.
"Not whatever your Fab Four secret is that Fred and George want to know," Ginny said. "And sorry about telling them about the key thing. I was a little… out of it after the Chamber." The four now gave her a nod. "I want in on the prank war." Ginny's eyes went to Harper.
"Is this a Weasley trap?" Harper asked. "Why would you want to join me in pranking your brothers?"
"Fred and George have been pranking me my whole life. I want to get back," Ginny said. "And because of last year, not many people want to be around me…" Ginny looked down at this; some people didn't understand the whole possession thing and had been awkward around her since – especially as the whole story hadn't been revealed about Voldemort, mainly for the safety of others.
"I get that," Harper said. There were still people who were cautious around her for being a Parselmouth. "Come on, let's find Edward and tell him the planning meeting tonight will be somewhere we can all be," Harper stood up and put an arm around Ginny to walk out of the library with her.
"Hey!" Harry called; upset he didn't get to tease Harper about her date. "Ah, I'll get her later…" Hermione had since returned to working on her homework.
"I'm going to go. I was doing some work in the common room before Fred and George messed things up," Neville said, and Hermione barely said bye as the boy stood up and left; Harry and him sharing a look.
"Mione…" Harry started as Neville left. "You don't think you're a bit… overworked?" Hermione barely responded. "I mean when you're not in classes you're studying or doing homework. You stopped doing everything we used to do together. You need a break."
"I can't. I need to do several assignments," Hermione said, not looking up.
"Mione, you know what they say about all work and no play," Harry said, closing the book Hermione was reading.
"Makes Jack a dull boy," Hermione finished.
"What?" Harry asked.
"The saying, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," Hermione said trying to get the book back. "It's from the Stephen King novel, The Shining."
"Wow. You see, you're already the smartest person in this school. Come down to the lake with me and we'll skip stones for a bit. We can bring this all with us and afterward I'll even help you," Harry said, and Hermione tilted her head, seeming unsure at the request. "Come on Mione, I want some time with my best friend." Harry held out his hand
"Okay," Hermione said with a small smile, taking his hand and packing her stuff up.
-Harry Potter-
Later that evening dinner the Fab Four were sitting at the Ravenclaw table chatting with each other and Padma Patil.
"You!" It was Fred and George coming up and they were covered in something Harper couldn't name. "You think this is funny?"
"Yeah," Harper said, laughing a bit. "But I can't take the credit."
"We know you did it," George said.
"Who else would have left that exploding… thing where we normally hang out?" Fred accused.
"We'll get you," George added as Harper continued to laugh, the twins storming off now.
"Did you do it?" Harry asked.
"I take credit when I pull a prank," Harper said. "That one wasn't me." Harper stopped laughing and thought for a moment. "Does that mean there is an unknown third in this war?"
"That was me," this was Luna Lovegood, sitting not far from them, looking at where the twins had been. "I misplace my Wiggentree sapling. You know it protects itself from being touched? I assume the Weasley twins got curious."
"Well congrats," Harper said to Luna. "You got a place in the war. Planning meeting – now." Harper practically pulled Luna out of her seat and then put a hand on Luna's shoulder for her to follow, but Luna obeyed as dreamily as ever.
"When will this be over?" Neville complained.
"It has gone on for a while," Hermione agreed.
"Ah, they're having fun – and what did we learn today?" Harry said giving Hermione a knowing smile.
"All work and no play," Hermione said, smiling back and Neville raised an eyebrow, not sure what was going on.
Post Chapter Note: Well, there you have it. Another chapter and the last one of this year! The next chapter should come out Jan 3rd or 10th, so keep an eye out!
Karry Master OUT!