Scheming

A.N. Surprise! Three years later...

Harry and Ginny circled around the Quidditch field. Below them, their two teams battled it out, while they searched for victory.

The atmosphere of the game was electric. The stands where full and loud. Not only was it the heated rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor, it also was the first game in over a year, since the Triwizard Tournament had disrupted the regular Quidditch schedule.

The game had been fast pace and exhilarating so far. Both sets of Chasers where outstanding. Harry would not be surprised if some of them would go professional. The score constantly went back and forth, depending which trio scored more recently.

Harry's idea of playing as a chasing seeker had been shelved for the first game. During practice it had proven to be too difficult to both be an effective seeker and actually contribute to the chaser's play. Harry was not ready for it yet, but they would practice it some more. All agreed that it could show some promise.

Thus his whole attention was on spying the little golden ball. Ginny and Harry circled each other, attempting to distract the other while also keeping track where their attention was.

At the Hogwarts level, usually the less experienced seeker would shadow the more experienced player, hoping to interfere if the more experienced player spied the snitch first. But this was an exceptional year for seekers, and Harry doubted that a single opponent would follow this strategy too closely. Ginny was definitely at a level where she did not need to use this tactic.

After a few seconds on musing about the game on the meta level, Harry shook his head he had to stay focused. Any momentary laps of attention could give Ginny, the enemy (in this instance at least) an edge. He accelerated and refocused on scanning the field for the snitch.

Something across the field twinkled.

Harry used an essential Seeker trick: his head was pointing one way, his eyes almost fifty degrees elsewhere.

Yes, he found the snitch.

There was only one problem. Ginny was almost exactly between it and Harry. He had to be very careful, otherwise Ginny would notice it too. Since she was half as far away from it than him, that would be catastrophic.

Another trick was needed.

It was clear to Harry that he needed to distract Ginny.

"But how?

A Wronski Feint maybe?

No, only a partial one.

But he would really have to sell it. He knew Ginny knew that he could pull the Wronski maneuver.

It would distract her even if she did not follow him. It would point her in the wrong direction too. But if he pulled out of it early, he could use the momentum to maybe get the snitch.

With this half baked plan in mind Harry dove.

It had to look real. Harry focused his entire being at an invisible point below them. He poured all the speed into the broom he could. He heard the crowd roar in excitement, but it faded as his mind got tunnel vision.

"Morgana's saggy..." He heard Ginny in the background. It appeared that she had bought it.

He had sold it. But how much longer did he have to?

Harry dove for a few more seconds then abruptly leveled off, while also looking up. Ginny was coming right for him.

Good.

He pulled up and now they were coming at each other. He was going up and somewhat decelerating because of it. She was still going down and accelerating.

Ginny was almost comical as to how confused she was for a moment.

Then she let out a string of words her mother would not be pleased to hear. She spun her brushes downward and desperately tried to reverse course.

But it was too late. Harry had just passed her and he was again accelerating.

He looked where he had spied the snitch and was pleased to see it still there.

Harry stretched out his right hand in anticipation, and a few moments later he held the struggling snitch above his head.

He was able to get out of the tunnel vision that he often had at the end of Quidditch games and heard the Gryffindor announcer begrudgingly declare: "… no matter the colors you wear, if you love Quidditch you have to admit that this was professional seeker play."

HPU

If Harry was honest with himself, he was a bit uncomfortable with the current situation.

He had snuck out to Hogsmeade, through the tunnel he had discovered. The first part of the trip had gone of without a hitch. He had bought all of the legal supplies he needed for Bristlecone. Some at the small apothecary and some at the regular grocer. The grocer in particular had looked at him a bit funnily. He knew of course that students should not be out and about right now. Nevertheless, business was business, and Harry had gotten everything without a problem.

Now he was in a different type of store. The building looked like a regular dwelling from the outside. The inside was a bit more complicated. When Harry had first stepped in, it looked like a regular home. The hag led Harry into what looked like a spare bed room.

She left and Harry wondered what to do. Then he let his inner Moody out, and he knew. CONSTANT VIGILANCE. And so he scouted out his position for any threats. He didn't really think he was in danger, they wanted business after all, but he was tense, and following his former instructors mantra was never a bad idea.

The room he was in had only one door and one window. The door was closed, but Harry did not know if it was locked or not. So, he went and checked. It was unlocked. That felt like a relief, but thinking like Moody made him see that it didn't mean anything. There could be monitoring charms and invisible guards everywhere. Or someone could hid below the bed or in the closet in the corner. CONSTANT VIGILANCE.

Next he went to the window to check if there was an alternate escape route. He acted as if he was taking in the view, in case someone entered the room. The room was on ground level. Definitely good. While he could probably jump down one or even two stories, the less risk there was, the better. Looking at the window itself, he noted that they were barred from the inside, but easily opened.

Despite his training by Moody, he was filled with relief. There was no signs of them wanting to entrap him. He shook his head, 'CONSTANT VIGILANCE!'

The hag returned with an elderly wizard.

"Verlasen," he gestured at the hag, "said you are here for Bristlecone's order. Do you have the money?"

Harry answered by pulling out a bag of coins.

"Excellent." The wizard took the bag and pulled out his wand. Harry got worried again, but it was for nothing. The wizard whispered an incantation and a number floated above it. It reflected the content of the bag, close to ten gallons.* Next the wizard went over to the closet in the corner. He opened it and pulled out a package. "That concludes today's business. I hope you get good pay from Bristlecone. It's risky leaving the castle outside the weekends."

HPU

Harry and Hermione sat in an unused class room. The two would have preferred 'their spot' by the lake, but it was early November now, and the weather would not cooperate with them. Outside it was drizzling ice cold rain. Harry had mixed feelings about their January Quidditch match with Ravenclaw. Thanks to the practices Montague forced upon them, he felt they were reasonably ready. Montague had been pushing them hard, with practices every morning, no mater what the weather. As ready as they were, he did not look forward to the next rainy Quidditch session.

For now though, he sat with Hermione. She had countless pieces of paper scattered about her. Right now she was staring into 'The Foundations of Ritual Magic' by Melissa Black, one of the two books they found in Knockturn Alley this past summer. It was very apparent that Hermione got more and more frustrated. She frowned and even groaned angrily on occasion.

Harry smiled at her. He still couldn't believe that they were dating. Hermione was his girlfriend. It was amazing!

But he needed to focus. At the moment he was studying book keeping, in order to keep on top of his new business. Bristlecone had paid him yesterday for his little excursion to Hogsmeade. Harry was fairly happy with the two galleons and three sickles that he received. It had only been a few hours work and he had over a hundred pounds out of it. But was it worth the risk? He didn't know how to quantify the risk and the intangible benefit that Bristlecone could bring to his Network.

The core of his Network was beginning to take shape. In Slytherin he had the Greengrass sisters and Mafalda Weasley. In Ravenclaw were Hermione and possibly Luna Lovegood. Several more where interested in the Defense study group. He did not consider them part of the core since they primarily knew Hermione and not him. In Gryffindor there were mainly the Weasleys. Probably all four of them.

For some reason, in Hufflepuff, he had Bristlecone as a contact, but not really as anything more. And that was it. Harry had reached out to several candidates, but non of them seemed interested in Harry's offerings. Harry was more and more worried that Hufflepuff was out of his reach. It was odd.

But that was besides the point. Harry was quite pleased with the core of associates he had for now. He would only worry about potential future expansion after the study group had grown.

Speaking of study group. "Hermione, do you know where we could study for Defense?"

"I was just thinking a room like this. It would have to be bigger than this, maybe the old theater classroom on the third floor?"

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea. We should probably keep this out of the attention of Umbridge. We need to find a place that is more hidden. I thought of the Slytherin dungeons, but that would be hard to manage for all the non-Slytherins."

"You're right, Umbridge would not like this. She seems to want to sabotage our learning."

"I could probably ask the Weasley twins. They seem to know the most about the castle outside the Slytherin dorms."

"You're right…" Hermione suddenly lit up. "Winky!"

The house-elf popped in front of Hermione, "Mistress called." She said evenly.

"Winky, Harry and I are looking for a room were we and a large group of students could study and practice Defense Against the Dark Arts. Do you know of a room where we could do that without getting disturbed?"

The elf got a quizzical frown. "Mistress is trying to hide studying? Maybe the come and go room be's of help?"

"What is this come and go room?"

"The come and go room be's a room that be what you want it. You go to the seventh floor hallway, to the painting of Barnabas the Balmy. There you go back and forth three times while thinking of a room you needs and a door will come. When you leave it will go again." The elf answered dutifully.

"That is amazing. It's exactly what we need." Harry said excitedly. It's out of the way and we can make it big enough."

"It's perfect. Thank you Winky." Hermione said.

"You's be welcome." Winky suddenly was not as certain. "Dobby," the elf popped up next to them, "and Winky's having a question again."

"Dobby and Winky be's very happy with us." Dobby jumped in. "We be looking for baby-elf. Would Great Master Harry Potter and his Grangy be okay with us doing that?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other with big eyes. "Um, yes, that would be all right." Hermione stammered out. Harry nodded along.

"Whos be's the little baby-elf?"

"Can we share it?" Hermione ask.
Now the elves looked at each other. "House-elf be's only of one house at a time. Yous not one… yet." Dobby answered.

Harry and Hermione gave each other a long look now. Hermione shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess if it is a girl, Hermione can have it, and if it's a boy I'll have it?" Harry asked. This way it's a luck of the draw, he thought to himself. Hermione nodded along.

When the elves popped away both students were relieved, and decided wordlessly to not talk about this.

HPU

Harry was about to enter the Great Hall to eat breakfast, when he saw a commotion around the bulletin board. Countless students from all the houses were deciphering a new announcement.

He was hungry, and he figured he would hear any important information at the Slytherin table. Thus he passed quickly and found a spot between Theo and Mafalda, who was the left most of the crowd surrounding the Greengrass sisters.

"What do you think of Umbridge's new squad?" Theo asked him without waiting for Harry to really sit down.

"Is that what the fuss is about out there? I don't know. I'm hungry; I didn't bother checking." Harry said, as he loaded his plate with a pile of food. Legilimency practice made you surprisingly hungry.

"In her role as High Inquisitor, Umbridge announced a new 'Inquisitorial Squad.'" Astoria, who sat diagonally across from Harry, explained. "It's supposed to help her make the castle safer and enforce her decrees."

"More like help her get more control." Mafalda said. "She wants underlings and power."

"Any idea who is on this 'squad'?" Harry asked.

"There is a list there. I saw the seventh year Abigail Blevins is the leader…" Nott said.

"First Inquisitor." Daphne corrected in mock seriousness.

"I saw Parkinson and Malfoy are Inquisitors." Astoria added.

"Hawkins and Crabbe are too." Mafalda said.

"Are they all in Slytherin?" Harry asked.

"No, I saw Parvati Patil, the Gryffindor one, is one too." Nott answered.

"Well, we will just have to see what comes of it." Harry mused. In his mind he could see them making it harder for his Defense tutoring sessions.

He need to get a better name for it. He could not have Umbridge beat him in this. 'Inquisitors' was at least a proper name, no mater what you think of it.

HPU

"How come squibs are so…" Hermione tried to formulate a question, without sounding insulting.

"… resentful?" Filch supplied.

"Hum, kind of." Hermione said embarrassed. "It's more than that. The few Squibs I have met are all miserable. Why are they staying? Or are they all in character like you are?"

"It was not always so. Well before my time there was a sizable Squib community. And Squibs lived on their own and had good lives. Not until Muggles industrialized did Squibs become despised."

"I thought Squibs are way too rare to make a reasonable community?" Hermione said.

"Squibs born of wizarding parents are very rare. But if two Squibs marry, their children will most likely be Squibs as well. Before the industrial revolution, this was usually what happened, and the Squib community grew to rival the wizarding community in size. This changed when Muggles developed machinery, and all kinds of comforts, the few things Squibs could do with their magic was dwarfed by the possibilities in Muggle England. So, the vast majority of Squibs left and moved in search of these possibilities. This had drastic effects. Squibs who went Muggle are almost indistinguishable from Muggles, apart form maybe older age. But the chance of a Muggle and a Squib or two Squibs who happen to marry having a Wizarding child is vastly more probable than two Muggles having such a child. Thus the exodus of Squibs from Magical Britain drastically increased the number of Muggle-born witches and wizards."

"You mean pureblood supremacists rose in the nineteenth century?" Hermione asked. Connecting the dots.

"Yes, you see, before then, Squib-born witches and wizards were easily assimilated. They already knew Magical society. In fact many more traditional families had the custom of adopting Squib-born of a particular family, and if it happened, sending their own Squibs to them. My family was tied to the Black family in this way. The Filches were their lawyers as well."

"Wizards had Squibs as their lawyers?" Harry could not believe the words he heard.

"I have this theory, there is an inverse relationship between magic and common sense. So in Magical Britain, Squibs, who are in between, where often bankers, lawyers and the like. But as I said, with the industrial revolution, most Squibs left wizards behind, and their descendants mostly forgot their old customs."

"Why did you and the other Squibs who didn't leave, stay?" Harry asked.

"Only a handful of Squibs stayed, usually it was loyalties to certain family members. My father for example was the brother of Lord Arcturus Black. As tradition dictated at the time, he was adopted by the Filches, and he was the family lawyer for the Blacks for many years. It was both lucrative and rewarding to him, so he never felt the need to leave the wizarding world."

"How come you didn't practice law?" Harry asked hesitantly. "I mean … um … caretaker of Hogwarts is respectable … and all …"

"But it's not on the same level as being the family lawyer of the Blacks." Filch finished the sentence. "Well, law was in the family, both my father and my adoptive grandfather practiced it with great diligence and success. I did not have much interest in it though. I am more interested in the past than the present, and so I studied history and archaeology at Cambridge."

"You went to Cambridge?" Hermione said in awe.

"Yes, I got my doctorate there."

"Why do you deal with us here then?"

"My task here is mainly for Dumbledore's sake. He wanted to keep the tradition of the squib caretaker alive. And also it gives me the time and access to write some books and papers on squib culture. In a magical castle with house-elves, the caretaker is really not that busy. So that leaves me with a lot of time to pursue my real passion. And the library is second to none, giving me a lot research material."

"And your… persona as the caretaker" Harry interjected.

"That's more of a joke between Dumbledore and myself."

"Does that mean my parents are Squibs?" Hermione asked.

"Probably at least one is." Filch answered. "As a historian it would be interesting to me if they have any family stories or artifacts left in their families. I usually don't have this kind of access and I think we could possibly publish an article about it."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "I will definitely ask them." Harry was not sure if it was the possibility of getting published or interest in her family history, but Hermione was very exited about this connection to the past.

* 1 gallon ~ 50 pound I just think knuts don't make sense otherwise. Also I wish we actually had money that could buy something. A dollar is worth less than a penny a hundred years ago.