21. It's so Draining
The wand tip flickered.
Filch gasped.
"I've never had that work!" he said shakily.
Hermione was casting several medical spells at Argus, one after the other.
She stopped and looked at Harry. "Everything seems fine."
"Put the wand back on the Dark Mark," Harry said.
Filch hastily complied.
Harry again put his hand on Filch's wrist. "Remember, you want this from Lucius Malfoy."
The man nodded and glared at the Mark.
Harry again issued the commands to activate the Mark leeching magic from the other wizard, then took his hand off the moment he felt a response so the magic wouldn't flow to him.
Filch held it for much longer this time, but he did stop. "It's really starting to get uncomfortable," he said.
"Then we stop," Hermione said authoritatively. "We don't know if doing more might hurt you."
Harry grinned at him. "And nothing says we can't do this again, later, does it?"
Filch grinned back, a rather disturbing sight considering his default expression was scowling.
"In the meantime," Hermione said, "I suggest you see Madam Pomfrey and complain about feeling a bit out of sorts. She's a professional and might find something I miss."
"Before you go, though," Harry said. "We need to protect this so that no one suspects what we're doing."
They ended up casting the Fidelius Charm, with Harry as the Secret Keeper. The secret was, Argus Filch got his magic from Death Eaters, using their Dark Mark, which Harry and Hermione arranged. "Remember, you can't tell the Headmaster, he would be very unhappy at hearing you're taking magic from a Death Eater. He likes to think he can reform them, but Lucius was responsible for the students being petrified two years ago, and he meant for them, and you, to be killed! So, I doubt he's changed at all from fifteen years ago.
"If this works, and people ask how it's possible, just say you don't know, maybe it's from living at Hogwarts for so long," Hermione said.
Filch readily agreed.
They went back up the stairs. Once they reached Myrtle's toilets, they saw that Filch had a happy bounce to his gait as he left the toilets that he had never had before. They restored the alerts they had found.
Now that the exams, and Tournament were completely done, they planned to use the Room only for a "day" at the beach each night. Dobby would return them to their proper dorm beds after they fell asleep in their room.
However, before that happened, later that evening Hermione dragged him into the Room for twelve minutes — a whole "day". She wanted him to "help" Elspeth MacGillony. She had medium-length red hair, green eyes, light skin and freckles. She wore green robes, — he didn't think she was a Slytherin — adorned with black feathers, and wore earrings and several necklaces.
The girl had just completed her Sixth-year and was lonely and timid, having made it through Hogwarts, so far, without anything more significant than acquaintances. Apparently, the appeal of a brief encounter without any expectations or obligations regarding a future relationship on either party, which all too often accompanied any relationship with a Pure-blood or Half-blood, was too good to pass up. Especially when she knew he wouldn't be bragging to anyone about what they had done and ruining her reputation after school.
She was squeaky-clean when they left the Room. A bit wobbly, with a relaxed and ridiculously happy expression, but also experienced in matters she had always wondered about — she hadn't known there were that many positions possible, she said.
And she was a Slytherin.
That night after curfew it was Harry and the six girls — apparently Dobby thought Lurra and Elspeth were to be included from now on — enjoying the "day" at the beach, with liberal time-outs in the bedroom. Harry did get to see the beach — sporadically, at least.
They spent the next morning just wandering, and playing games with Ron and the others.
As they were leaving the Great Hall after lunch, they saw Filch in the Entry Hall. He gave them a long distrustful stare as they walked past him. At the last moment, he winked at Harry, and mouthed — again? — raising his eyebrows.
Harry slowed, nodded back, and mouthed Myrtle's.
Filch gave a tiny nod, but then scowled heavily and glared at Harry. "What're you looking at?" he said belligerently.
"Sorry," Harry said, and caught up to his friends in a couple of steps.
He met them in Myrtle's toilets, a few minutes later, as planned.
This time, however, to avoid the alerts set by Dumbledore, they used the Dobby-express. Once there, the man said, "Poppy gave me a clean bill of health. Couldn't find anything wrong, but she said she was get'n some unusual results." He grinned excitedly.
This time it took longer before he complained of it starting to get painful.
Similarly, this time his lumos was much brighter and steadier.
He was thrilled!
"Remember, Mr. Filch, we don't know if this will stay. It should, but we don't know for sure," Hermione cautioned him.
"You should go to Ollivanders and see what he says, if he thinks you could use a wand."
Filch's eyes almost lit up at the thought.
Harry paused, then pulled out his trunk and opened it. A moment later, he was holding seven galleons out to the man.
Filch gave him an incredulous look.
"In the Muggle world, people helping researchers with experiment's are paid something for their efforts, regardless of if the experiment succeeds or fails, helps the subject or not," he explained. "If Ollivander says you can get one, I would be honoured if you used this to buy your first wand."
Filch slowly accepted the galleons and put them in his pocket.
Dobby dropped Argus off in the toilets, everyone would assume he had been cleaning in there. Harry and Hermione were dropped off in a hidden passage.
In the future, Dobby would pick up Filch from his office and they would just select a hidden passage and call Dobby to get them.
This time, after they returned to the Castle, Hermione said she had something to do and took off. While she was gone, he went around to all the Muggle-borns with a letter listing the books they had for next year for sale at bargain prices, and how to contact Hermione to get them, if they were interested. If they wanted, they could even meet up with her in Diagon Alley and examine the books before buying them.
When he finally met back up with Hermione, she led him to the "secret" passage to meet another one of the Witches who had propositioned him at the party. It was Samantha Davis, a Sixth-year with blonde hair, blue eyes, and full lips. Her chest was nothing to make fun of either.
It made for a nice twelve-minute "day-long" interlude in the middle of the day.
That evening, Hermione told him to meet her, again, in the passage behind Edward Rabnott's painting . . . meaning she had another girl for him to "help."
He was stunned to open the door partway through the passage and discovered Hermione with Katie Bell!
Katie Bell was one of the Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They had been teammates for the past three years! She was almost as tall as Harry, now that he had added a few inches to his height. She had fair skin, an oval face, brown hair, brown eyes, and definitely wasn't a shy person.
She grinned at him. "I've been hearing rumours about your bludger bat, and thought I should check your bludgers."
She was pleased that the rumours were true, and that his bludgers were in fine shape. She was also a bit more athletic than the other girls had been. She, too was astonished to discover that they had spent only twelve minutes in the Room after spending what felt like an entire day in bed with Harry and Hermione.
That night, it was Harry and the eight girls — Dobby had added Samantha, and Katie — enjoying the "day" at the beach, with liberal time-outs in the bedroom. Harry did get to see the beach — sporadically, at least.
Ginny and Katie bonded over the Quidditch field that took up one side of the Room, and the two teams of Quidditch manikins. They didn't give up their turns with Harry, though.
The next morning, when Harry woke up, there was a note pinned to his headboard that said, "New Delhi only point to Hogwarts. Off to the colonies. – Sirius" Clearly, Dobby had placed it there.
Wednesday went marvellously, Harry thought, a happy Filch in the morning, another girl in the afternoon, Grace Hibbitt, a Gryffindor Fifth Years. Harry had the impression that Hermione was not so subtly bragging about what the other Witches had missed over the year.
Not that she was telling them she had only discovered his . . . talents . . . after the First Task. He suspected she thought letting them think it was longer, much longer, was more fun.
At dinner, after an overall good day, a parchment was slipped onto Harry's lap.
Sirius was back.
They went to the Chamber as soon as they could escape their friends.
The Wizard looked exhausted. "The only direction Ratmort points is towards Hogwarts," he said, and tiredly grinned.
"How was it?"
He sighed. "Well, after the press conference, I apparated to the Chunnel and took the train across. Once in Calais, I apparated to Paris and took a reading on Ratmort. Then I bought a series of portkeys to New Delhi. Nothing different there, but by then their Ministry was closed, so I had to wait until Tuesday morning. It also gave me time to recover from the portkeys. I took a portkey-series to Paris, double-checking Ratmort along the way. In Paris I got a portkey-series to the colonies. Ratmort still looked to England, so I spent the night in New York City to recover before coming back here." He shook his head. "Time Zones are weird!"
Harry got up from the couch they had been sitting on, and started dismantling the protections on the crystal cage. As soon as the impervious was removed, he looked back at the other two. "So, we definitely no longer need Voldermouse, right?"
They both nodded.
He shot a piercing curse threw the rat's head and took several steps back. A jet of black smoke shot out of the crystal box, a face formed, and screamed in either terror or pain, it was difficult to tell, as it dissipated and evaporated into the nothing.
Harry vanished the box and rat.
He looked over at Hermione, then at Sirius.
"Well?" Sirius said, "Aren't you going to do Riddle, next?" He looked around the Chamber. "Where is he, by the way?"
"We hid him under disillusionment and don't-notice-this charms, both in parseltongue."
Sirius looked at them curiously, "And?"
"My hunch about the Dark Mark appears to be right, I can take magic from the Death Eaters with it and give it to someone else."
Sirius stared at them goggle-eyed. "That's some seriously dark magic!" he finally said.
Harry and Hermione nodded. "Riddle apparently wanted a way to ensure he never ran out of magic by being able to take what he needed from his followers as needed," Hermione said. "We don't know if it's permanent or temporary."
"We think it might be permanent because of how much he hates Pure-bloods," Harry added. Then explained what they had learned from The Professor about Tom's experiences at Hogwarts, and how he had sworn to get revenge on all the Pure-bloods.
The older Wizard narrowed his eyes at them. "So, what did you do?"
"Well, we wanted to test it out, of course," Hermione said officiously, trying to hide her nervousness at revealing what they had done.
"We weren't sure what the effects of doing that might be both for him and his target . . .." Harry explained the different hypotheses they had had, and possible side-effects.
And their chosen test subject.
"Filch!?" Sirius shouted. He sat back a moment, and then started to laugh. "Filch?" he repeated before going off into more gales of laughter.
Wiping tears from his eyes, he finally said, "I honestly can't think of anyone else that would be a better pick." He sighed. "Maybe it will mellow him out a little."
"We chose him because if we added to our own, it would be difficult for us to tell, really, without serious questions being asked about why we wanted to know those details," Hermione explained.
"And if Filch actually does get any magic abilities, you know for sure the Dark Mark can really do that," Sirius said, nodding.
"Plus, if the magic can't be kept and just leaks out, Filch will be no worse for the experience," Hermione said. "And having magic, being able to do spells, even for a short time, would be an experience he would always cherish."
"Or else drive him mad!" Sirius muttered.
Hermione sighed sadly. "There is that possibility."
"Regardless, we don't want to get rid of Riddle just yet, because the Dark Mark will disappear, and we might not be able to turn the Death Eaters into Squibs," Harry concluded.
Later that evening, Hermione brought another Gryffindor Fifth-year, Lydia Woodless, for him to "entertain."
Harry spent that "day" with ten girls. The old dog joined everyone at the beach that night, and spent most of it dashing in and out of the waves, both as a person and as a dog.
Lurra, Katie, Elspeth, Samantha, Lydia, and Grace were hesitant and a bit fearful on seeing Sirius, but as long as Sirius kept his distance and didn't try to take advantage of the situation, they didn't mind him being there.
Harry pulled Suzie aside and told her he wanted to back her experiments on the "instant portrait" camera, as well as fund the business. She would need to talk with Sirius about how to get an honest solicitor and navigate the Ministry's labyrinth-like rules.
Thursday, Filch surprised them. He hadn't gone right out and tried to buy a wand! Plus, Madam Pomfrey had discovered he was showing signs of magic! To say she was astonished would be an understatement.
He wanted, it turned out, to make it a bit more "official" that he was becoming a Wizard before he bought a wand. Which made sense. Buying a wand before anyone knew of the change would cause people to ask uncomfortable and difficult to answer questions.
Sirius watched and just shook his head, laughing that Lucius Malfoy was losing his magic to a Squib!
This time, they were startled when Argus suddenly stopped with a puzzled expression and lifted the wand from the Dark Mark. "It stopped!" he said wonderingly, glancing up at them.
Harry and Hermione exchanged looks. "Maybe we should see if the Prophet has anything tomorrow?" Hermione said. Harry nodded. Then he grinned maliciously. "And ask Malfoy how his father is."
She grinned back, but shook her head. "That would tip him off that we might have had something to do with it."
Harry sighed despondently. "Yeah," he admitted, "It might."
He turned back to Filch. "Do you know any other Death Eaters?
"Aye," he said with a sour expression. "Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Nasty brats they were, worse adults. If they could've gotten into Hogwarts as Death Eaters, they'd've gleefully killed me," he said dryly. "Shoulda hung them up by their thumbs when I had the chance!"
Sirius, in the background was going through a litany of names under his breath.
"Well," Harry said with a glance at Hermione, "Pick one to focus on."
A minute later, and the magic was again flowing through the wand. Just as it had yesterday, today his pulling magic lasted longer than it had the day before.
Then they spent an hour coaching him into using some of the simpler spells they had learned as Firsties before he returned to his office.
Filch headed off for the Hospital Wing from there, and Harry and Hermione went in the opposite from a rarely used hidden passage. Sirius went . . . well, Sirius went out. To where, he didn't say.
They had to do this slowly because Filch didn't know enough magic spells to use up whatever magic he had gained. Which made it impossible to say how much magic he was getting from his victims. Was it leaking out and he was merely trying to fill a sieve? Or was the magic staying and the new magic each day was building up the base from the previous day?
Or was it that he was acclimating his magical pathways to magic, and increasing his ability to handle a larger flow, as some researches claimed Wizards and Witches did as they grew up?
Hermione provided two more embarrassed but curious Sixth-year Witches that afternoon and evening, this time from Hufflepuff — Ellen Holly and Charlotte Nutting.
That night, Harry had twelve girls to keep happy.
Friday morning, after breakfast, Argus caught Harry's eye and motioned into one of the now-empty classrooms. Harry and Hermione ducked into an alcove behind one of the suits of armour and disillusioned themselves before following Argus.
"Madam Pomfrey tells me that I seem to have developed the ability to cast magic," he said smugly. "She thinks that being in the castle for so long somehow sparked my system into finally producing magic like a proper Wizard. She said I seem to be at the level of a First-year, but with more experience and understanding, she doesn't see why I shouldn't be as good at casting magic as anyone."
Then it was on to taking magic from Amicus Carrow. Afterwards, before going back to his office, Argus scowled darkly. "I hope it lasts."
"So do I, Mr. Filch, so do I," Harry said fervently, Hermione nodding agreement. "We can do this one more time early tomorrow morning before the train leaves." He looked out the window. "Then we're out of here until next September First."
"Tomorrow, then," Argus said.
Later, at lunch, Snape went over to Malfoy and said something. They watched, interested, as the boy took on a worried expression, hastened to his feet, and then was led out of the Great Hall.
Harry and Hermione exchanged smirks, while Ron watched the Slytherins.
The afternoon was a repeat of the previous days, for Harry and Hermione, and a new experience for a Hufflepuff Seventh-year, Sophia Scruton. Filch was practically dancing as he went around the castle, later, and it was alarming many of the students. Seeing him smile, actually smile, scared many of the Firsties and worried the older students.
At dinner they learned from the rumour-mill that Draco's father had suddenly taken ill. The rumours claimed the Wizard was at death's door. Harry could hardly contain his glee. At last, the man was getting retribution for some of his evil deeds over the years.
Maybe their taking his magic was actually plundering what Malfoy Senior had available, reducing him to the status of a Squib! Or, maybe, forcefully pulling magic from him had damaged his ability to control magic to the point where he couldn't do that anymore?
They celebrated with Rachel Goodenough, a Ravenclaw Seventh-year, not that she realised they were celebrating anything except her first experience with a Wizard.
Harry only caught glimpses of the Beach that night.
Early the next morning, in the Chamber, Argus surprised them with a wand. He had made the trip to Diagon Alley the previous afternoon. Ollivander, he said, was very surprised to see him. The old Wizard had never heard of a Squib becoming a Wizard. He theorized that Argus might have had a blockage to his magic that the massive quantities in Hogwarts had slowly eroded away until it could freely flow into him.
He believed Wizards and Witches were mere conduits for magic, and what differentiated them was their body's ability to channel the magic. Just like muscles, where the more you exercised, the stronger you became. The more you practiced and used magic, the better your ability.
And, just like over-working your muscles, using too much magic for your current abilities would stress those conduit channels and make the Wizard feel "tired" and unable to cast as much magic. They could even permanently damage those channels, if they weren't careful, and burn themselves out.
Filch's wand, as he proudly told Harry, was Elm with a Unicorn hair core. He explained that according to Ollivander, Unicorn hair generally produced the most consistent magic, and was the least subject to fluctuations and blockages in casting. "They are the most faithful of all wands," he gleefully told Harry, "and usually remain strongly attached to their first owner, irrespective of whether they are an accomplished witch or wizard." He sighed, "Unfortunately," he looked at his wand wistfully, "they do have a minor disadvantage in that they do not make for the most powerful wands." He grinned, "But I don't care about power, I'm happy it works at all!"
"Ollivander also told me that there was an unfounded belief that only pure-bloods could cast magic from elm wands that was undoubtedly started by some elm wand-owner seeking to prove his own blood credentials. He said 'I have known perfect matches of elm wands to Muggle-borns . . . and now a former Squib!' " He laughed darkly.
"That I'm using an elm wand should set back the Pure-blood brats some, shan't it?" and laughed again.
Using the new wand, Harry had Argus try to connect to Lucius Malfoy, only to be unable to find him. His second choice, Amycus Carrow, suddenly stopped just before he said he was ready to stop for the day.
Perhaps it was faster with Amycus Carrow because his wand was a better match than the one he had been using? That it made the transfer more efficient and faster?
The Caretaker focused on Alecto Carrow as Harry started the Dark Mark Charm to take magic.
Just as last time, he lasted longer this time than previously. Not a lot longer, but noticeably so. It appeared his capacity, or ability to handle magic, was increasing!
He would send Harry an owl if it appeared he was having any adverse effects, or if his magic seemed to decrease with time.
Harry had Dobby take Argus back to his office, and then asked Dobby to take care of Peter and Riddle. He was to make sure neither one woke from the Draught of Living Death, and ensure their bodies didn't starve to death over the summer.
Dobby was more than happy to help.
Kreacher had mellowed slightly, but he still popped in every day to "punish" Peter, even if Peter wasn't awake to know it. It seemed to make him happier. As long as he didn't kill the man, they let him do what he wanted.
Sirius, meanwhile, had already left for few days rest and recreation in the Muggle world. "If you need any help, Harry, just call me on the mirror," he had said last night.
Sirius had given him a communications-mirror several months ago, in case of an emergency, he had said. "Just say my name, and I'll pick up the twin to that mirror and we can talk." It also let him see Sirius, and Sirius see him, as they talked
Harry had thought it interesting, but with Sirius staying in the Chamber of Secrets during the day and spending the nights in the Room with them, there really hadn't been any need to "call" him. Nothing qualifying as a "emergency" had happened while Sirius was travelling to find other pieces of Riddle.
Then it was time for breakfast and getting ready for the Hogwarts Express and going home.
As was normal, Harry dreaded this day each year. The closer they got to London, the more he was likely to fall into a depression. He did his best to hide it from Ron and Hermione, but he suspected they knew better.
This time, however, shortly after the train started moving, Hermione pulled him to his feet. She smirked at Ron. "There are somethings we need to talk about, so excuse us for a while." Once in the passageway, she led him to a nearby compartment. To his surprise, inside it were Ginny, Luna, Suzanne, and Hermione's open apartment trunk.
"Cast a don't-notice-this in parseltongue on the compartment door and wall," she said. She smirked. "I've already silenced the walls."
When he finished, she pointed at the trunk. "Climb in."
Inside, he found the apartment was already full of people: Elspeth, Lurra, Katie, and the other girls he had been "introduced to" over the past week.
He gave Hermione a wide-eyed look.
"You're going home and some of us are leaving Hogwarts." Suzanne said from behind him, coming down the ladder. "You think we're gonna pass up a last chance?"
"Plus, the nargles'll be hiding you until September First," Luna said from above him.
The other girls nodded.
He glanced up, expecting to see her staring down at him. Instead, he saw that she was already most of the way down the ladder, her bum only inches from his face. She was not wearing pants. She suddenly squatted lower and bumped his face with her bum.
Startled, he almost fell trying to get out of the way.
The girls all laughed.
Hermione's bedroom hadn't changed, it still had an oversized bed in it, he saw, then he realized the bed was even bigger than he remembered them making it.
It was the most enjoyable trip home he had ever had; he didn't worry about the Dursleys even once. The girls had apparently worked out a schedule of who and when, which was quickly discarded in favour of simply tag-teaming him.
He thought several of the girls tried out the Sexy Sweets, but he was too involved with what he was doing at the moment to pay attention to what the uninvolved others were doing with each other at the same time.
The don't-notice-this spells meant they were undisturbed by anyone. They didn't even miss not having the food cart stop by! Dobby had stocked Hermione's kitchen quite well.
The last two hour of the long trip he spent in the cabin with Ron, playing Exploding Snap and a couple of chess games.
.o\O/o.
Vernon was not happy to see him. "Boy, get over here," he ordered grumpily as soon as Harry came through the barrier. "Where's your trunk?"
"In my pocket," Harry said. "Easier to carry that way."
Vernon glared at him. "None of that freaky stuff!"
Harry nodded. "Not where you can see it."
"None in the house!" he growled.
"You'll never see or hear anything out of the ordinary."
Vernon narrowed his already small beady eyes. Then turned and started walking to the carpark. "Come on," he huffed, annoyed.
"Had to come into London on my day off!" he grumbled as they walked, complaining ever few steps.
"Complete waste of time!
"Don't know why Petunia insists we can't toss you out.
"Waste of money.
"Waste of time.
"Waste of time and money.
"Useless burden on our family.
"You'll be a bum, never an honest day's work out of you.
"Can't wait until you're gone!"
It continued the entire way to the car.
Harry climbed into the back seat — he wasn't good enough for the front seat.
"Stop," Harry said as Vernon was about to start the car.
Vernon turned and glared at him, only to lean away at the sight of the envelope Harry was holding out.
"It's a thousand pounds," Harry said, "Just leave me alone this summer."
He stared at Harry suspiciously. "Where did you get a thousand pounds!?"
Harry shrugged. "Hogwarts is a thousand-year-old castle. I found some gems in a room that no one had been in for decades, if not centuries. I traded some of them in at Gringotts for this."
Vernon distrustfully took the envelope and opened it. His eyes popped wide as he saw the thick stack of ten-pound notes. He looked back up at Harry.
"I'll clean up any messes I make, but no chores."
Vernon slowly nodded.
The rest of the drive home was quiet, except for the radio.
The first thing Harry did was put a mild Muggle Avoidance Charm on his door. Unless someone really wanted to talk to him, they wouldn't be able to find the door to his room.
Once inside, he took a good look around his bedroom. Dudley had returned to using it as the room for discarded/broken toys. He cast a shrinking spell on the pile and shoved it into the bottom of the room's wardrobe.
Then he enlarged his trunk, and put a strong Muggle Aversion charm on it. Next, he unloaded all his hand-me-downs from Dudley into the room's wardrobe. If any of the Dursleys checked, they'd think those were the only things he had to wear. Once that was complete, he went into his trunk for a quick snack while he put a minor Muggle don't-notice-this on his clothes so that when the Dursleys did see him, they wouldn't notice he was wearing new clothes that fit well. Which applied to the neighbours, too, so they wouldn't remark on his new appearance.
Then it was time for bed.
A lonely bed. For the first time in seven months, nearly six "years" in the Room, he was going to bed, alone, and would be for the next two months.
He had a very restless night.
.o\O/o.
The next morning, he woke to something cooking. Still half-asleep, tired from a bad night's sleep, he left the trunk bedroom to find Dobby fixing breakfast in the kitchen. Once he thought about it, it wasn't really a surprise. Of course, Dobby would follow him.
A few minutes later, he was hitting his head on the table. They did not have to wait until September First to see each other! Dobby would be more than happy to act as a taxi service.
He wolfed down the remainder of his delicious breakfast. "Dobby," he said to the excitable house-elf, "can you find Hermione and ask her if she'd like to visit? And if she does, bring her here?"
She was delighted with his realization, and they made up for what they had missed the night before — after he explained what he had done to the room. She was initially worried they would be interrupted.
"So," Harry said later, "Should we check with Filch to see if he has noticed any side-effects, yet?"
"We should wait longer."
"Oh, I know!" Harry exclaimed happily. "Dobby, can you still go to the Malfoy's? Or have they blocked you?"
Dobby looked uncertain for a moment, then nodded. "Dobby can do," he said hesitantly.
"Good! Could you sneak over and see what condition Mr. Malfoy is in? Not Draco, but his father? Is he sick? Is he well?"
He slowly nodded.
"Would you please do that? And be very careful not to be seen or get caught!" He paused, then before Dobby could respond, he said "Oh, even better, do they have any other house-elves? If so, maybe you could ask one of them?"
"Dobby will do," the house-elf said before popping away.
Hermione was nodding. "Yes, this'll be the first confirmation of what happens to the Death Eaters." She pursed her lips. "I still don't like doing this."
"You think they should get away Scot-free despite the horrible things they did torturing people they thought were 'inferior', not to mention killing them? And continue doing those things as long as they can bribe their way out of any problems if they are caught?"
"No! But . . .." She sighed. "I just don't like it, that's all."
"Well, if we can make them squibs, that seems a fair punishment. Turning them into the very persons they despised!"
"We've been over this Harry. I just don't like doing it," she repeated. "But if it prevents them from hurting people in the future, I suppose we have to do it."
They both sighed.
They decided to themselves for alerts and tracking charms on their clothes — Hermione was more than a bit disturbed to find one on her pants. They moved the ones they found to handkerchiefs. Harry placed his in his room's wardrobe. Hermione would do the same with hers in her room's wardrobe.
Then, while waiting for Dobby to return, they spent a few minutes discussing how they could manage their time over the summer. Hermione's parents wanted to go to France, again, for hols.
It really wasn't that long of a wait.
"Old Bad Master," he said gleefully after returning, "be bedridden and can't use his wand." He danced around the room. "A Healer visited and Old Bad Master be depleted of magic and it isn't renewing properly." He twirled in place. "Old Bad Master should have recovered enough from his collapse three days ago to at least sparks his wand and Old Bad Master can't!" He almost seemed to vibrate so fast he looked blurry!
"But he's alive, right?" Hermione said.
Dobby nodded, but not as happily. "Old Bad Master be alive." Then he brightened up considerably. "Healer say Old Bad Master be healthy, just . . . no magic . . . like a Squib."
Dobby grinned viciously. "Old Bad Master threw things and screamed!"
Dobby was bounding around the room with delight. "A Squib!" he cried exuberantly.
Harry looked at Hermione. "Let's do this!"
She nervously worried her lower lip with her teeth. "I don't know. . .." She stared out the window, conflicted. "We don't know what affect it will have on us."
"Hermione," Harry said, looking her in the eyes. "I would gladly give up my magic if it meant all the Death Eaters could never hurt another person." He paused. "You can come with, or wait at home."
She glared at him. "I would never . . . wait at home!"
He grinned at her.
"Okay, Dobby," he said.
Dobby was instantly in front of him, vibrating like a guitar string.
Harry could almost hear the note.
He shook his head. "Please take Hermione's handkerchief to her bedroom. Then come back here and take us to the Chamber, if you don't mind."
.o\O/o.
Rather than try to single-out any one Death Eater — they really didn't know any others by name, truthfully — they decided to concentrate on all Death Eaters except Snape.
Snape was a disgusting vile piece of excrement, with no redeeming qualities they could think of, but if something started happening to his magic, he would alert Dumbledore. The Headmaster would then search for the reason. He shouldn't be able to discover what they were doing, but he just might. Neither Harry nor Hermione wanted to gamble that he wouldn't.
If Harry was going to do it, then Hermione was, too, she reiterated. She wouldn't let him do this alone. However, before starting, he and Hermione tried to expend as much magic as possible using the Patronus Charm. They hoped that they would be able to drain more from the Death Eaters if they were already low, themselves, when they started. They weren't interested in expanding their own cores or abilities, they wanted to drain the Death Eaters.
But, rather than waste time, Dobby was sent off to find Argus and see if he was interested in joining them. He was. So, while they were exhausting their magic, he started pulling magic through Peter.
Thanks to Hermione and other girls, Harry had many, many, happy memories to choose from. He assumed Hermione had similar memories, which made him even happier. The best, in his opinion was the night after the Christmas ball — no, it was the entire two "weeks"!
Hermione's patronus, a cute little river otter, wasn't nearly as impressive, being more transparent, but casting the spell did the job of using up her magic. She finished first.
Harry continued casting his until he started to feel a bit fatigued. He did it once more before stopping.
That was about when Argus stopped and said he was feeling too full, again.
They decided to recast the fidelius, Argus Filch got his magic draining it from Death Eaters, using their Dark Mark as Harry James Potter taught him, while Harry James Potter and Hermione Jane Granger added to their own doing the same thing.
Since Argus' spell repertoire was so small, he couldn't burn through what he had accumulated, so he reluctantly returned to his duties in the castle above.
Then Hermione started. When Hermione stopped, it was Harry's turn to draw magic. While he was occupied, Hermione repeatedly cast her patronus spell to expend what she had accumulated and so her magic didn't have an opportunity to "refill" while she waited her turn.
The sensation of the flow of magic from his wand into him was unique. It wasn't unpleasant, just different. And it seemed to rejuvenate him, as his fatigue seemed to disappear the longer he used the spell.
He kept it up until, like Argus and Hermione had said, it started to feel uncomfortable.
When he stopped, she started, again.
While she was occupied with Peter's Dark Mark, Harry was again casting as his Patronus as many times as he could.
Interestingly, predictably, he cast one more than he had earlier, indicating he really had expanded his pool of magic, even if only temporarily.
It didn't take her as long as Harry had to reach a stopping point of feeling "too full."
"You know," Hermione said speculatively before he could start again, "If there are a hundred Marked followers, and we can manage to pull the equivalent of one person's magic in a day, that's only one-percent. I wonder if they would even notice?" She looked at him, frowning in thought. "Maybe we should concentrate on the ones we know, first? Ignoring the ones in Azkaban, who else do we know is a Death Eater?"
Harry stared back at her. "Uh, Alecto Carrow? . . . Karkaroff? . . . Crabbe's father, maybe? . . . Goyle's father?"
She shrugged. "Focus on one of them, if you get a result then we know he was Marked."
Harry nodded, cast his Patronus one more time, then went over to pull more magic through Peter's Dark Mark.
He frowned, then decided to try for Karkaroff, first. He knew he was a Death Eater. Argus had said Alecto Carrow was a Death Eater, but Harry would rather go with someone he personally knew was evil.
It definitely wasn't because the man had given him crappy scores in the Tournament.
.o\O/o.