Chapter 13

Empty Hogwarts corridor

Harry and Daphne watched in silence as the small dot on the Marauders map moved quickly into their direction. They have been cuddled together in their narrow alcove of an empty corridor for nearly an hour now.

Apparently, it had taken Nott quite a while before he had seen the note that Dobby had left on his bed. Now however the boy seemed to be quite desperate to get to the location they had given him.

Daphne next to him shivered slightly in anticipation and he lightly squeezed her hand.

"You ready for this?" he asked gently.

She took a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them, she gave him a determined look "He'll pay for what he did!"

Harry nodded.

He was very much aware of what would happen to them if they were discovered. No doubt that they would be thrown out of Hogwarts. But then images of Astoria's broken body flashed before his inner eye and his face set into a stony mask.

Then he stood up and offered her a hand.

"He'll pay!" Harry repeated.

Theodore Nott gritted his teeth and angrily squeezed the note in his fist as he quickly walked through the dark and deserted hallways of Hogwarts.

Whoever had placed that damn parchment on his pillow would pay for keeping him up at this ungodly hour. A couple of minutes ago he had just wanted to get into his bed after finishing his homework for Transfiguration, when he had noticed the blasted thing.

Upon reading it he had become deathly pale.

Apparently, someone had learned about his involvement in the whole Greengrass fiasco and had threatened to reveal the secret to the entirety of Hogwarts, unless they personally met up and came to a deal.

Obviously, he wasn't all too eager to have that particular information spread around the whole school. The Greengrass sisters themselves might not be that much of a treat, as he was, like many in his family, a rather accomplished duellist. However, Lord Greengrass was an entirely different thing altogether. Even his own father seemed to be afraid to upset the man.

He shuddered. No, it would be much better to just settle the matter quietly and strike a deal with whoever was waiting for him. And should negotiation fail… well there were other ways to keep someone silent.

As he entered yet another empty corridor he stopped as all of a sudden, the torches on the wall went out and the entire hallway was filled with darkness.

"What in Merlin's name…"

Theodore quickly drew his wand and carefully took a couple steps backwards, trying to get out of the corridor. Whatever was at work here, it was starting to give him the creeps.

Suddenly the door behind him fell shut, the sound echoing dangerously through the hallway. At the same time a single torch lit itself again to reveal a figure in a long cloak standing at the other end of the corridor and it slowly made its way towards him. He was chillingly reminded of the Dementors last year and panic started to rise within him.

With shaky fingers he grasped the door opener behind him but when he pulled it, it wouldn't budge and was ice cold.

Theodores chest heaved in rapid, shallow breaths and a chill went down his spine.

In a desperate move he pointed his wand at the figure, but it had already crossed the distance between then smacked the wood out of his fingers, before grabbing him by the collar of his uniform and lifting him into the air.

Then it revealed its face.

"POTTER?!" he gasped.

The boy looked at him with cold green eyes that almost seemed to glow in the darkness. His entire expression completely void of emotion.

"Me."

Before he could even comprehend what was happening, he felt a searing pain in his back before he lost consciousness.

Twenty minutes later, Forbidden Forest

When he woke up, he found himself breathing in a wooden and mouldy scent that reminded him of the forest near his parents' mansion. Then he remembered what had happened before he had become unconscious and sat up with a squeak.

"Wait squeak?"

"Hello Theodore." Potter said from behind him.

Yet again he squeaked and quickly turned around to see the other boy towering above him.

"Since when is he so tall?" he thought, before he realized that it was not Potter that had suddenly turned into a giant but rather, he himself had gotten smaller.

Way smaller.

"I must admit - the ferret look kind of suits you."

With a frown Theodore looked down at himself and screamed.

Well at least he tried to, however his body would not comply as he was no longer a human but a white ferret instead.

With panicked eyes he looked around himself, desperately thinking of some kind of solution for his dilemma.

"If I was you, I would really stop with the squeaking. After all, the Forbidden Forest is full of rather unsavoury creatures… Well on the other hand you might just feel at home here…" Potter trailed off and gave him a cruel smirk as he could hear some twigs nearby snapping and Theo started to get a really bad feeling.

"Speaking about the devil… I fear I must make this short, your welcoming committee is about to arrive. Daphne? Any words to our misfortune ferret here?"

Suddenly Greengrass materialized out of the thin air, her stony expression filled him with dread.

"Did you really think I wouldn't find out what you did to Astoria?" she whispered in a dangerously low voice "Now you'll learn what happens, when someone fucks with the Greengrass family. Have a nice stay here ferret!"

With that she turned around and was gone leaving him alone with Potter, got up from his crouching position to also disappear.

The growls nearby made his heart beat a million times a minute and pleadingly looked at the boy in front of him.

"In case you make it out of here alive and consider blabbering… just remember I can get in your sleeping room just as easily as anywhere else. There's nowhere you can hide from me." Potter told him after a few steps and Theo once more felt a shiver running down his spine.

Obviously, the Gryffindor had somehow managed to get into his dormitory and put the note on his bed. He had no idea how, but the very idea made his skin crawl.

Suddenly he very much regretted ever putting Hill and Bulstrode on the younger Greengrass sister.

"Oh, by the way." Potter said as he turned away from him and pointed with his finger behind himself "Hogwarts is that way. Goodbye!"

With that the boy was gone, leaving Theo alone with whatever was hidden in the Forbidden Forest.

"FUCK!"

Hogwarts, next day

Harry watched with mild amusement and utter satisfaction as the white ferret frantically clawed at their potions professor Snape in a desperate attempt to get his attention. Next to him Daphne tried in vain to stifle her laughter.

Then she leaned closer towards him and whispered "I wonder if Snape might just step on him, if Nott keeps this up."

The boy nodded and just in case kept his wand ready.

After all he hadn't saved the tosser from the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest only for him to get squashed by the irritated potions professor. They wanted this to be a well-deserved and admittedly harsh lecture, not actual murder.

Unbeknownst to Nott, Harry had hidden under his cloak and silently followed the boy on his little adventure trip to make sure the various creatures weren't actually going to kill him. Sure, he had let several Acromantulas get uncomfortably close and the narrow call with the snake was better left untold, but in the end, Nott had managed to survive with a little help.

However, now the boy faced an entirely different challenge: Finding someone who would turn him back into a human.

His attempts with Malfoy had been rather unsuccessful. His housemate had actually screamed like a little girl when he had popped up next to his plate during breakfast and had frantically yelled at Crabbe to get rid of the "monster". Said boy had then flung the ferret away - right onto Pansy Parkinson's toast.

What had followed was a fiesta of yells, curses and panicked screaming of such epic proportions that even the Weasley twins couldn't have orchestrated any better. Followed by Nott - still in his ferret form - getting chased out of the Great Hall by a flock of hungry owls.

After yet another near-death experience, Nott had apparently decided to seek out a teacher to help him.

Unfortunately for him, Snape didn't seem to care much for the animal and shoved him out of the way with a small kick.

It had taken the Slytherin boy the majority of the day to gain back his human form. Ironically it had been Moody who had identified the ferret for what he actually was and undid the transformation after a shake of his head.

When Nott had then been questioned on how that had happened, he had made some quick excuses and ran away.

Apparently, he had taken Harry's warning rather seriously and had wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately, Harry and Daphne hadn't really been able to enjoy Nott's situation all that much as their minds were occupied by something they had seen shortly after exiting the Forbidden Forest.

Several witches and wizards on brooms carrying gigantic crates had made their way towards the forest. As they had been flying rather low, Harry had been able to spot the familiar face of Charlie Weasley within the group.

Initially that had very much confused him, as he knew that Ron's older brother was supposed to be on a dragon reserve in Romania. So, he had followed them, while his girlfriend had temporarily taken over babysitting Nott.

It hadn't taken very long until the group had landed in a rather large clearing, close to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. When they had opened the crates, to reveal four fully grown dragons, it had dawned on Harry what was happening here.

Needless to say, after he had informed Daphne about the fire spewing monsters, neither of them had all that much interest in Nott anymore.

Docks of Portsmouth

Other than the soft sound of waves crashing onto the shore, the magical part on the docks of Portsmouth was completely silent. No wonder, as it was in the middle of the night and everyone who usually worked here had long gone home.

The magical part of the port was one of the British ministries most important and most frequently used sites. Because contrary to popular belief one couldn't just apparate onto the British Isles at will - well you could but then you would have a platoon of Aurors on your back and a cosy little cell waiting for you.

Several hundred years ago the ministry had established a very close-knit net of wards along the shoreline, which would notify them immediately if someone would try to enter through the non-official ways. The reason had been several wizards apparating into the country with various highly illegal goods and most importantly without paying a single knut in taxes.

Therefore, the wards were created and now the only ways to legally get into Britain was through an international Portkey, a closely monitored floo network or, in case you wanted to import or export some goods, through here - the port of Portsmouth.

It was the only place on the British Isles where international apparition was possible without triggering the alarms of the Auror department. And here all products would undergo a close inspection by the magical customs department before being allowed further transportation. Except for certain people like Lucius Malfoy, who had several people of that department in his pocket.

Suddenly, a loud POP could be heard on the docks and several rather unsavoury looking wizards in long cloaks levitating a large wooden crate appeared out of nowhere. Then, just seconds later another set of similar looking people apparated in and approached the other group.

From a good dozen feet in the air the Raven carefully watched the proceedings below him from his broom, hidden behind an invisibility cloak.

He had been waiting here for them over an hour, just for the right opportunity to strike.

Finally, the time came. The first group had just exchanged the wooden crate for an enchanted bag that was no doubt filled with thousands of galleons. Then all hell broke loose as a gigantic wall of fire separated the two groups.

Some tried to disapparate to safety, however the quickly raised anti-apparition wards prevent that from happening. So, the smugglers had to hurriedly back away from the scorching flames that were threatening to consume them all.

While the thugs were busy with running, the Raven saw his opportunity, flung away the invisibility cloak and quickly kicked his broom into a steep dive and steered it towards the group with the crate. They never even saw him coming before several quick stunners connected with their backs, dropping them to the ground.

Meanwhile the other group somewhat regained their composure and managed to tame the fire. Then they promptly started to fire a plethora of spells at him.

However, he was hardly bothered by that. In their rush to get away from the wall of flames they had brought up a sizable distance between him and them - too far to catch him with any meaningful spells.

"The DMLE is already trying to breach the wards." the voice of Albus Dumbledore told him from his left side "They will be through in a couple seconds. Better get ready."

The Raven nodded and grabbed the wooden crate with a hand and waved mockingly at the smuggler that was running towards them.

And then in an instant the disillusioned Dumbledore, the crate and himself were gone. Leaving the two groups of smugglers alone as a loud voice barked "DMLE! Drop your wands and hands in the air!"

Headmaster office, Hogwarts

Smuggler ring busted! The Raven strikes once more! Ministry employees under investigation!

With satisfied grins the three men that had assembled in Dumbledore's office, read through today's main article in the Daily Prophet. The entire operation had gone over as smoothly as they had imagined. The smugglers had been ill prepared for their surprise attack and had paid the price.

Not a single one of them had managed to escape the DMLE and they were currently awaiting their trial in a holding cell.

As Moody and Dumbledore had taken the crate with them none of the thugs could actually be convicted on smuggling of illegal goods. That of course didn't exactly please the old Auror, but he had to take what he could.

In this case it was several dozen litres of Manticore poison and a very large bag full of Nundu heartstrings, worth thousands of galleons. Enough to buy several very, very large houses. And all of that right under Lucius Malfoy's nose.

No doubt the man was fuming right now.

In a single night the man had lost more money than most people would see in their entire life and had nothing to show for it.

The bag of galleons found at the docks had of course been confiscated by the DMLE and as per law would later be distributed by the Wizengamot amongst various ministry projects.

"To be honest, I didn't think it would go over that well." Cyrus commented when he placed the article back on the desk "Malfoy will be nearly bankrupt now and thanks to the law he helped us pass along, won't make that money back any time soon."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and thoughtfully stroked his beard and added "Additionally we have now very successfully established the Raven as a vigilante figure, which is bound to create some unease amongst Voldemort's old supporters."

The others nodded and Moody growled "Aye, they'll now think twice about their dealings in Knockturn Alley."

"Then gentlemen…" Cyrus said with a smirk "I believe it's time for phase two."

AN:

Rather short chapter, I know. I hope it was nonetheless enjoyable.

Big thanks to CaskettFan5 for the idea with Nott as a ferret.

Unfortunately I don't have that much time for writing right now, so this will have to do.

See you in the next one!

-InvertedLogic