Title: Trailbreaking
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: Angered at his unwilling selection as a TriWizard Champion, Harry and Hermione begin their own research in an attempt to take control of their own lives, with some… interesting consequences AU fic with some, from a certain perspective, extreme OOCness to come.
A/N: As the Wizarding world is still a few centuries behind the rest of the world and are ruled by a male aristocracy with delusions of competence there is no age of consent in the Wizarding world.
Dinner was as much of a spectacle as Breakfast had been. The shock of Ravenclaw House's counter being at zero, and Gryffindors being at negative twenty, was only offset by the House Aggrieved counter only showing about twenty points. Some of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws got a feral grin at that but most of the Ravenclaws were angry or confused as they filed in and began to eat. The Slytherins were grinning from ear to ear. They were now far ahead of Hufflepuff who were the only other House that were in contention for the House Cup. The next shock came when the doors to the Great Hall bust open.
"Snape, I will fucking kill you!" a voice bellowed.
All eyes turned to the entrance then most shrank back in fear. Harry, Hermione and Luna were all standing there in their House Aggrieved colours, but it was not any of the students of House Aggrieved that spoke, it was their new Head of House. The look of absolute rage on the face of the normally calm and impassive Aurora Sinistra shocked everyone. Almost no one noticed Fleur, sitting with the other Beauxbaton students, start to rise and be waved back down by a subtle gesture by Harry.
"Aurora…." Dumbledore began but was immediately interrupted.
"Don't start, Headmaster, or you'll be next." Aurora growled. "I reviewed every point gain and loss for House Aggrieved. What fucking right do you have, Snape, to accost my students in the middle of the hallway and take large chunks of points for frankly ridiculous reasons?"
"I don't answer to the Astronomy Professor." Snape said with scorn. "I am Head of Slytherin."
"I am Head of Aggrieved, or is your memory so faulty you don't remember a meeting two hours ago. After which you stopped Mister Potter and Miss Granger in a hallway and proceeded to take nine hundred and eighty points for things like 'looking at a professor', 'not looking at a professor', 'sullying the castle with your filthy presence', 'Breathing in a disrespectful manner' and, my personal favourite, five hundred points deducted for 'being to stupid to know the correct colour of your uniform'." Aurora delivered in a low and threatening voice.
"Snape has been doing that since we started first year." Harry said. "Along with giving Slytherins points for things like 'remembering to breath', 'having brushed hair' and 'sitting properly on your seat'."
"Respect the position, even if you don't respect the person." Aurora told Harry.
"Yes, Professor." Harry replied, while Hermione restrained herself from rolling her eyes at Harry.
Aurora turned back to the Staff Table. "I call a vote on removing Snape as Head of Slytherin and censuring him."
"I don't think…." Dumbledore tried to say.
"Shut up Albus." McGonagall snapped. "Or we will be censuring you next. I vote yes."
"Yes." Flitwick said instantly.
Sprout looked between the enraged Aurora, the arrogant Snape and the pained looking Headmaster before sighing.
"Not that it matters, as I think Sinistra will vote yes and it only needs three, but I agree." Sprout said.
"Snape, you are hereby removed as Head of Slytherin House. All of your point adjustments for the year are currently voided pending review and should they prove valid they will be reinstated." McGonagall declared.
At the back of the hall a Seventh Year Hufflepuff jumped to her feet and rushed out of the door to check the counters and came back in a moment later.
"Slytherin is at a third of what it was before. Hufflepuff and Aggrieved are within ten points of each other at almost two and a half thousand points." She reported.
All eyes turned to Snape in shock. No House had been at more than fifteen hundred before Aggrieved had been established. Not counting the nine hundred and eighty points Snape took today, the current level of House Aggrieved indicated Snape had taken almost fifteen-hundred points from three students, and most knew that was probably mostly from Harry, since the start of the year.
Snape glared at everyone, getting harsh glares in response from all the other Heads of House, and stormed out of the Great Hall.
Luna hugged first Harry and then Hermione before she skipped off down the corridor towards the House Aggrieved Dorms. It was two weeks after the chaos in the formation of House Aggrieved and things had kind of settled down.
The Ravenclaws were still angry but also chastised as Flitwick had really ripped into them, not only the ones who had bullied Luna but also everyone else for sitting back and letting a housemate be bullied. In class the Ravenclaws were a bit more subdued but studied just as hard as they wanted good grades.
The Gryffindors were split. There was a faction that thought all their problems were Harry and Hermione's fault and tried to make as much trouble for House Aggrieved as possible. That faction also mucked around in class and did as little homework as possible. The other faction had reflected on the actions of their house and had decided that, from Harry and Hermione's perspective, the move to House Aggrieved was the right and brave choice. This faction settled down in class and tried to get a decent education.
The Slytherins were walking small. Without Snape constantly propping up their points total, the Potions Professor still having every detention and point adjustment reviewed before they were official, the Slytherin points counter had been constantly haemorrhaging points and was down into double figures before they stopped doing stupid and blatantly disruptive things in the other Professors Classes.
The Hufflepuffs were fine with the two horse race between themselves and House Aggrieved. Sure, they were an entire house competing against three students, but they were Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood. Hermione was considered the smartest student in the school; Luna was in the top three students in her year and Harry was… Harry Freaking Potter!
The Beauxbaton students kept their opinion of what was happening to themselves after one look at Fleur. They all knew both Fleur's reputation and that of her family and she had declared the issue off limits. The Durmstrang Students genuinely didn't care about the internal politics of Hogwarts.
Harry and Hermione had a slight grin as they watched Luna skip away, happy at how the girl had come out of her shell around the pair of them in the last two weeks. A clearing throat behind them caused them to turn to see a Gryffindor student and a Ravenclaw student standing a few feet away. If it had been anyone else, they may have been on guard for potential attack, but it was Parvati and Padma Patil.
"May we speak you both in private." Padma said, glancing around to ensure no one was close by before lowing her voice. "My Lord and Lady."
Harry and Hermione led the Patil twins into a nearby abandoned classroom and closed the door.
"Firstly, we both apologies for your treatment, both this year and in Second Year." Parvati said. "I asked to be the one to make this apology and request that any punishment that you deem necessary fall to me rather than my sister."
"You are really like your parents." Harry sighed. "I have no intention of punishing you, Parvati. Your actions had nothing to do with us divorcing Gryffindor, even though you did little to stop the others."
Parvati dropped to her knees and bowed her head.
"I, Parvati Patil, do hereby swear fealty, loyalty and life to Lord Harry Potter and Lady Hermione Potter. My mind and Wand are yours to use until my Lord releases me, sweet death take me, or the ending of the World." Parvati swore.
Harry and Hermione both accepted Parvati's oath and then accepted when Padma swore the same oath. Each of the twins glowed softly as their oath was accepted.
"If I may ask a question, My Lord." Padma said after her oath was accepted.
"Stand, both of you, and ask." Harry said. "You don't need to ask permission to ask a question. You can always ask, but we may not always answer. And call me Harry."
"Thank you… Harry." Padma said as they both rose. "How is this possible? We are very grateful for you saving our parents, aunt and uncle, but this should not be an available option."
"It is available because of me." Hermione replied. "One title I have, but have not formally claimed, is Lady Pendragon."
"She means Queen Pendragon." Harry said. "She's the direct descendant of King Arthur, so she can claim tithe from families that owe her family a debt in lieu of normal recompense. As her husband, I can also do so for House Potter."
"What are your orders, My Lady?" Parvati asked.
"For now, continue your education and, over the break, spend time with your family." Hermione said as Harry nodded.
With deep curtsies, the Patil twins left and Harry leaned against a desk.
"They should make good tools." Harry said. "Maybe even Lieutenants if they prove to be as loyal as they seem. When do you think we should drop the next bombshell?"
"Gwen is still working on the listing of who owes House Potter debts. I don't think we should move on Ginny until she has finished the audit. As for here at Hogwarts, much later in the year, I think. Definitely after the Yule Ball and the Second Task. Keep Dumbledore off balance and Professor Sinistra may permanently deal with Snape by then." Hermione mused.
TBC….