Chapter 7 - Accolades
It was only a week before the news broke.
Basilisk At Hogwarts!?
By Andy Smudgley
It was only a few short weeks ago that we here at the Daily Prophet learned that the Chamber of Secrets, an ancient hideaway built by Hogwarts founder Salazar Slytherin, was found and opened. At the time, no one but the man who opened the chamber knew where it was and what lay inside. One week ago, that changed.
A delegation from Gringotts, as reported by students, arrived at the castle during breakfast and was quickly led away by Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Cornelius Pond, who was also the man to open the chamber, along with the headmaster. A larger team of goblins from Gringotts followed no more than an hour later. They gave no hint as to why they were in the castle that day, but we at the Daily Prophet managed to contact an inside source and found that the team from Gringotts was there to render a creature for parts.
'What creature?' you may be asking.
A basilisk.
Yes, as it is revealed, a basilisk had been living in the Chamber of Secrets, possibly explaining the attacks within the castle in 1942(See Page 5). DADA Professor Pond had entered the chamber and slain the beast before it could escape and harm the students, earning the rights to the creature's body and its highly sought after materials. As of now, Professor Pond is unavailable for comment.
Cornelius sighed as he put the paper down, ignoring the hushed whispers and looks of students within the Great Hall. This edition of the paper had naturally arrived during the morning before classes were set to begin, and almost every student had a copy.
He supposed it was only a matter of time before the masses became aware that a basilisk was down there, and he found that he didn't care that people figured it out as much as he thought he would.
Although… he just knew class was going to be an annoying mass of questions.
No, he wasn't too bothered by the paper. His mood was ruined by the other piece of mail that arrived with it. A letter from the Ministry of Magic.
Dear Professor Pond,
We are pleased to inform you that the Ministry of Magic recognizes your efforts in slaying an ancient basilisk within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to protect the lives of students and faculty alike.
We at the ministry hereby award you the Order of Merlin 1st Class for your outstanding act of bravery in the defense of magical lives.
This award will be given at an assembly held at the Ministry of Magic on December 25th, 1992 at 10am.
Sincerely,
Cornelius Fudge
Minister of Magic
An Order of Merlin? Really?
He supposed it was being given to him for a good reason, but he couldn't help but feel as if getting into the politics of it would just give him a headache. It would be unwise to ignore it however, it wasn't everyday the leader of the government called you out after all.
Powerful or not, everything would be made a bit more difficult if he angered the government.
Cornelius sighed as he put the letter down, at least he could speak with the DoM afterwards. Director Croaker seemed pretty insistent they talk in his last letter.
"Something wrong?" Snape questioned the Warlock from beside him. The man had been a bit nicer to him after Cornelius allowed him to have first pickings at the basilisk corpse. The rare ingredients must have been a nice incentive indeed.
"Just the Ministry deciding their gift to me this holiday would be a useless award." The Warlock responded, "I would refuse, but doing so would just be more trouble than it's worth."
Snape hummed in response, seemingly understanding his view. Which made sense, Cornelius noted. A man with his history probably would have a poor view on the government.
Being a former terrorist and all that.
"Any developments with the basilisk parts?" Cornelius asked after a few moments of silence. In this, he was genuinely curious. After all, even Eido would agree that while the Warlock was not a potioneer, he was interested in what the field could do.
Snape gave his own sigh at the topic, "Alas, if only I had the time. I do have a few ideas for the venom once the winter holiday starts, but it's too dangerous to experiment with such valuable and volatile ingredients with so many children around." He regained his signature scowl, "Speaking of, a few of my more hard to obtain materials have gone missing from my stores."
Cornelius raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Anything to be concerned of?"
"Bicorn horn and boomslang skin. It was some of my more expensive stock, and not widely used."
The Warlock ran the ingredients through his head, but Particle beat him to it, 'The Polyjuice potion. It's the only potion those two would be used together for.'
Cornelius's eyes narrowed, "Polyjuice then. You don't think the heir could be responsible, do you?"
"It's a possibility." Snape admitted, "But they would have to be a cut above the rest of these dunderheads to be able to make it without costly mistakes."
"The possibility still stands though." Hummed the Warlock. The trouble the potion could cause were many, he would have to keep his guard up.
If the look on Snape's face was any indication, he would be keeping an eye out as well.
Filing it away for later, Cornelius turned to Snape once again, "We won't know for sure if that's the case for some time, with how long it takes to brew. While I have your attention though, is there any chance you could help me with a class later in the week?"
\-/
Hermione's opinion of Professor Pond had always been good. Sure, he can be strict in a way that reminded her of Professor McGonagall and a little like Snape, but she liked the professionalism.
Many of her classmates complained about his classes, especially the physical portions that reminded her of PE. She would be lying if she said that she enjoyed the running as well, but she trusted that Professor Pond had good reason to assign it.
After all, it wasn't like Dumbledore would hire a professor who didn't know what they were doing.
Today's DADA class was a bit different, she could already tell. Normally, Gryffindors would have class with Ravenclaws during this period, but today it seemed like the second years for all four houses were here. Not only that, but they had all been directed to a room a few doors down from the normal classroom. Said room was larger and had a long platform near the back where Professor Pond was standing and talking to-
"What's Snape doing here?" Ron questioned, more whined, from next to her and Harry.
"Professor Snape." Hermione corrected, ignoring the eyeroll the boy gave in response. Any continued banter was cut off by the professor speaking.
"Good afternoon students." Professor Pond started. All the students responded with a, 'Good afternoon professor.', an exchange he had them do every class. "As you may all have noticed, you have all been joined together today for this lesson."
The second years took another look around themselves, and Hermione noted that like normal the houses separated themselves with Gryffindor and Slytherin on opposite ends of the room.
The professor continued, "This may happen a few more times over the year if the lesson would benefit from it. I brought all of you here today because I didn't want to take up too much of my fellow professor's time." He waved a hand to Professor Snape at his side and a few of the students, mostly Gryffindor, muttered unhappily. "He is here to assist with today's lesson, that being your introduction to dueling."
The room filled with excited whispers this time. To be honest, Hermione was a little excited too. According to Hogwarts a History, while dueling clubs had been on and off over the years, the school hadn't seen a proper class for it in over twenty years.
Ron didn't seem as enthused.
"I mean yeah, learning how to duel is cool and all, but why does it have to be Snape." He said, "Wasn't Flitwick a dueling champion?"
"I'm sure the professor has his reasons for asking Professor Snape to assist him." Hermione responded.
Harry sighed from beside them, "At least we're learning something that could be useful if we encounter their heir."
A loud snap resonated around the room, quieting the students.
"Now, now. Quiet down." Professor Pond said while lowering his hand, "Today will be no more than a demonstration followed by learning proper stances, there are far too many of you to start flinging new spells around. Specifically, Professor Snape has agreed to demonstrate two duels for you all. The first will be standard tournament rules, the sporting kind. The other will be more like an actual fight a dark wizard may force you into."
The two professors walked to either end of the platform as he continued to explain, "In a standard tournament setting, one side loses the moment they are disarmed or calls for surrender. You can also be disqualified for intentionally maiming, injuring, or killing your opponent. Of course, the use of the Unforgivables will also eliminate you on top of getting you arrested. Once both duelists are ready, it is customary to bow." Professor Pond, and somewhat surprisingly Professor Snape, both bowed to each other at the mention before pulling out wands and raising them forward like swords.
It occurred to Hermione, and many other students, that this was the first time she had seen Professor Pond use his wand. It had a palish colored wood that she couldn't quite identify and was sharply pointed like a knife. The handle had also been wrapped in black cloth.
"We will only be using the spells Expelliarmus and Protego as they will be taught to you later in the year as a part of these lessons." He finished with a short countdown and both professors moved.
They both fired off one round of Expelliarmus while the other shielded, possibly to demonstrate the spells, before moving with real speed. Professor Snape moved with controlled movements, blocking and firing off red streaked spells in quick succession. Every spell was dodged however as Professor Pond moved quickly and seemingly sporadically, never raising a shield past the initial demonstration while firing off his own spells in a purely offensive nature.
With the amount he was pushing, it was inevitable that Professor Pond soon disarmed his opponent, catching the offending wand in his grip. Students clapped, mostly from the Gryffindor side as the Slytherins stayed silent.
"That was a proper duel, much like the ones you would see at tournaments." Professor Pond explained as he handed Professor Snape his wand back, "While a perfectly fine way to fight, it is unlikely that you will be subjected to such terms unless you are fighting for house honor or, more likely, in a tournament bracket." The two professors once again stood at opposite ends of the platform, "A random fight against a dark wizard or creature will be more chaotic, less to even no rules. Something like this."
There was no count down this time. As soon as the words left Professor Pond's mouth, Professor Snape launched an angry red spell followed by a shield that protected him from a disarming charm. The red spell's effect would not be known however as Pond grabbed it with the tip of his wand and threw the spell upwards, making it fizzle out.
The professor didn't stay still afterwards, rolling forward towards Snape to dodge another spell. After getting on his feet, he launched two spells quickly. The first splashed against Snape's shield harmlessly, but the other hit the shield and made it shatter like glass. Except…
"Arg!" Professor grunted and shielded his eyes with his arm as the Protego he was using turned into actual shattered glass and rained down on him. In the second he did that before uncovering his eyes again the other professor had covered half the distance between them and fired off another spell that Snape chose to dodge this time. The potion professor followed with a few of his own spells, and the DADA professor dodged the first two but the third was placed in his predicted path and hit him in the chest.
The spell launched him feet first to the sky, but in a move that made Hermione realize the professor let himself get hit, he Finited the spell at the apex of its journey. The momentum carried over and Professor Pond flipped behind Professor Snape in an instant, placing his wand to his chin. Both professors stood still for a second before they separated and faced the class once again.
"Now, enough demonstrations." Professor Pond called out, "I will now have you all practice proper dueling stances. I'll be assisting Gryffindor and Hufflepuff while professor Snape will assist Slytherin and Ravenclaw." He turned to said professor, "That is, if you are not injured and willing."
As the two professors showed and corrected the proper stances that Hermione felt might only be used in this lesson, she felt firm in her belief that Professor Pond was a good professor that knew what he was doing.
And, of course, she felt that it would be best not to get caught by him concerning the Polyjuice potion.
\-/
The Ministry was a busy place. Always has been and will continue to be so for some time longer. Normally on Christmas day, that constant stream of people would have lessened.
Not this year though.
Cornelius sighed internally as he walked up to the minister, camera lights flashing. The minister was a portly little man with rumpled grey hair. He wore a lime green bowler hat that went with his bottle-green suit, from which a golden pocket watch hung from.
The minister smiled wide and shook the Warlock's hand, "A pleasure to meet you Professor Pond, simply a pleasure. Thank you for taking time from your no doubt busy schedule to attend today. Don't worry though, we won't take too much of your time, and we wouldn't want to miss the holiday festivities after all." He gave a short little laugh that a few in the crowd echoed.
Cornelius gave a short nod in response, "Much appreciated."
The minister gave another smiling nod before turning to the crowd of reporters, "And I'm sure you all would rather be spending this time at home as well, perhaps with a cup of hot chocolate eating biscuits. I know I would." Another round of polite chuckles rang out and the Warlock could see Lucius Malfoy, who stood just to the side of the stage, roll his eyes, "Yes, yes. We are here today to award Professor Cornelius Pond, and what a nice name that, an Order of Merlin 1st class."
A woman came up beside the minister and handed him a small case, which was quickly opened to reveal a metal, almost star shaped medal with the Ministry 'M' stamped in the middle hung by a green ribbon.
"This award," The minister continued, "Is being awarded in recognition of your achievement in single-handedly slaying a basilisk hiding within Hogwarts. In doing so, you have prevented the possibility of the serpent harming any of the students, including multiple heirs to the ancient and noble houses of the Wizengamot."
'Ah,' Particle stated, 'That makes more sense.'
The Warlock hummed as the minister went on, 'He probably just wanted to be seen as being friendly to the savior of multiple heirs then. Not that it matters, I'm not interested in any life debts that may or may not have come from this.'
'If that would be valid in the first place.' Particle tacked on, 'Proving that the basilisk would have been a threat to them in the first place would be hard.'
The ceremony ended quickly as promised, and Cornelius was handed the medal in its case before the minister posed for a few more pictures and dismissed himself. The Warlock would have joined him in leaving if it wasn't for the reporters.
They crowded around and tried to get his attention with questions and cameras, each one covering each other up in a cacophony of noise. He waved each one off, politely, and cut through the crowd.
He only stopped at hearing a familiar voice.
"Ah, Cornelius!" The voice called, somehow easily heard over the crowd, "Make way everyone, make way!"
The crowd thinned and Director Croaker, in his dark suit like robes, stepped through smiling. Few in the crowd recognized him, but those who did wore interesting, almost gleeful, expressions instead of the annoyed ones the others wore.
The director took one of Cornelius's hands and shook it vigorously, no doubt pandering to the crowd for one reason or another. "It has been a while my friend, hasn't it? Good to see you well."
The Warlock hummed good naturedly, "I already planned to meet with you today. I believe you said we had much to discuss?"
Croaker chuckled at his words, "Yes we do, much to discuss indeed." With that they swept through the now silent and watching crowd and to the elevator.
And as the door closed he could already see the faces of several reporters that told him there would be many theories as to why he personally knew the head of the Department of Mysteries.
Joy.
"Shall I make count of how many articles get released with both of our names in it in the coming days?" The Warlock said with a tone of slightly annoyed sarcasm as the elevator made twists and turns.
Croaker merely waved him off, "Let them think what they will, it doesn't really matter." He turned a sharp gaze to the Warlock, "Why didn't you tell me you were applying to be Hogwarts defence teacher?"
Cornelius raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't aware I had too."
The director sighed and rubbed his eyes, not jolting as the elevator zoomed forward, "Look, I worry. You leave our care and immediately get a job in a position that has killed more than half of the people who have gotten it in the last forty years."
Cornelius rolled his eyes as the elevator came to a stop and opened on the ninth level, allowing them to step out into the atrium of black tiles. "And I thought you would be above this curse nonsense."
Croaker stopped and gave him an incredulous look, "Nonsense? What nonsense? I'll have you know that that 'nonsense' curse is very much real."
The Warlock gave him a once over, seeing the serious look in his eyes, "Seriously?"
The director nodded seriously, "Yes, very." He continued to walk, brushing past a security check that flashed green as they passed through, "It started as a rumor of course, but after three years we had to take it as fact. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but-"
"Three times is enemy action, yes I know the saying." But it gave Cornelius pause anyway. He hadn't really thought the curse was more than a rumor given that the position was just inherently dangerous. Just coincidences year after year.
But now he realized that was just a foolish thought.
…No matter.
"I assume you have more than just theory then." Cornelius stated as they arrived in the DoM's record room.
Croaker nodded, gesturing to a table prepped with files and scrolls, "Over the years we managed to get five Unspeakables into the position to investigate. Without fail, each one would be forced out for one reason or another." He placed a hand on one file, "Forced out when a student misfired a spell and hit them directly." He touched the next file, "Died, breaking their neck after falling down the central staircase when a step disappeared." The next, "Was accused of having relations with a student." The next, "Died when a prank went wrong and he was poisoned." And the last file, "Heavily injured protecting a student from an offended Hippogriff."
"A random bunch of events, but never lasting more than a year." Cornelius summarized, seeing the point.
Croaker nodded, "We stopped sending Unspeakables at that point, too many deaths, or close to it, and not enough progress. The second was able to confirm the curse was real and in the ward scheme, but the ones after made no progress in finding a way to get rid of it safely." He sighed, "One of the few unsolved mysteries here I'm afraid."
Cornelius eyed the other two files left untouched, "Anything else I should know, other than the castle wants to kill me part?"
"You don't sound too worried." Croaker noted.
The Warlock shrugged, "I've faced worse than a curse that simply wants me out."
'Things far deadlier than a building.' Particle quipped in his head.
Croaker gave him another critical look, "You're saying you can just brush it off?"
"Not that, but I'd be ashamed if I let some curse force me out without a fight." Cornelius summarized.
The director held his gaze onto the Warlock's eyes, searching them, before breaking out in a grin, "Figured you would say something like that, and for some reason, I believe you." He grabbed both remaining files and handed them to Cornelius, who in turn opened them. "That first one holds a copy of everything we know about the curse. The other, well…"
"A ritual." The Warlock finished, looking over the detailed notes and instructions of a multi-tiered ritual, seemingly designed to tear the curse out of the wards without damaging them. Problem was… "A three year ritual."
'Three years of checking, double checking, and feeding magic.' Particle stated as they scanned the file. 'This- this is overly complicated, ludicrous even. No ritual should have to take that long.'
"Has this even been tested?" Cornelius asked, already suspecting the answer.
Croaker shook his head, "Tested on what? This is the only instance of this type curse ever seen. No, it's the labor of multiple department heads over the course of thirty years. A masterpiece of a ritual that is unfortunately hindered by the specifics of the curse itself. After all, how can we expect to get a three year ritual done when the practitioner of it can't even last a year. But you," He pointed at the Warlock, "Are sure you can last more than just this year right?"
Cornlieus nodded, already seeing where this was going. "I see your point. You want me to spend the next few years stripping the curse from the wards"
"Exactly." He confirmed with a smile.
Cornelius closed his eyes in thought, 'I suppose it would be a waste to only teach one year. It would hardly be fair to the students if I let them off with an unfinished education.'
'And it would save people's lives.' Particle added, 'These professors die more often than not.' He paused for a moment, 'If the ritual works that is.'
"Fine." Cornelius stated, opening his eyes once more, "I'll see it done."
\-/
Cornelius had been called to the Hospital Wing by Madam Pomfrey the moment he made it back to the castle. She didn't clarify why, but there wasn't much he could think of for why she would want him specifically.
Most of the students had all left earlier in the week for the winter break and he kept a list of who stayed. If an attack happened over break, he would at least have suspects for who the heir could have been.
He just hoped that wasn't what this was.
He sighed, there was much to do. There always was.
Now on top of finding the heir, who very well could have decided that trying anything else was too big a risk after the death of the basilisk, he had to find a place to set up a multi-year ritual that wouldn't be disturbed for all those years. Along with that, based on when Snape's ingredients had been stolen, the Polyjuice potion could come up any day now.
Yes, much to do and much to look out for.
He cleared his head as he entered the infirmary and found Madam Pomfrey beside a bed, curtains closed around it.
"Cornelius, thank you for getting her so quickly." She said upon seeing him enter.
He merely nodded, "Of course, what's wrong?"
"Nothing too bad, and I wouldn't normally bother you with something like this seeing as I could heal it myself. However, that could take weeks and it would probably be better to get this reversed before the other students get back." He raised an eyebrow and she sighed before grabbing the edge of the curtain, "Here, it would be better to see for yourself."
She drew aside the curtain and he immediately saw the problem. It was Ms. Granger, head in her hands in either embarrassment or mortification.
Probably a mixture of both.
Her face and hands were covered in fur, and two cat ears sat on her head. If he could see her eyes, he would bet that they had gone yellow.
"She won't tell me what exactly caused this transformation," Pomfrey explained, "But I suspect a failed transfiguration experiment or a Polyjuice accident."
"It's Polyjuice." Cornelius answered, "Me and Professor Snape had been expecting something involving it for a few weeks now, after a few of the key ingredients went missing from his stores." Hermione flinched at the explanation.
Pomfrey shook her head in exasperation, "Wonderful. Are you able to help me reverse it?"
"Certainly," Cornelius answered immediately, turning to the girl who had taken her head out of her hands, "However, I want to know why you felt the need to do this in the first place. I know you're smarter than that Ms. Granger."
And yet, she refused to give any straight answer other than stating she had gotten rid of the rest of the potion.
'Oh well,' He thought as he cleared the lingering magic that kept her partial transformation going with a purple wave, 'At least that problem is crossed off the list.'
"You'll be serving detention for the whole first week after winter break ends." Cornelius told her after, "Maybe going over Polyjuice accident reports will have you thinking twice about doing this again."
He ignored the way she whimpered at the thought.
[-]
(Canon) Omake - Cookies
[-]
There was a Dawning tradition, he was loth to admit. One to bake and give cookies of all sorts. He was not the type of person one would expect to follow such tradition, but Eva Levante was a tough grandma when it came to the holidays.
And so when the professors of Hogwarts awoke that Christmas morning, they found a tin on their desks. Ones with a label to their name.
It was McGonagall, with her Reshaped Rounds, who asked what the others received. Flitwick answered first, having finished his Bewitched Biscotti. Though he was closely followed by the other heads of houses as Sprout praised her Bountiful Biscuits and Snape begrudgingly answered with his own Bubbling Butterscotch.
Vector chose to divide her Multiplicative Madeleines to enjoy another day. Trelawney enjoyed her Divined Drops, but stopped before reaching an unlucky number. Babbling had to study her Sigil-Infused Stroopwafels before she ate them, as one could never be sure, but Hooch's Soaring Shortbread didn't make it a foot off the ground much less to the sky with Sinestra's Starlight Sugars.
It was a shame that Kettleburn had to put down his Gnawing Gingerbread, much more to Hagrid, with his Maintained Macarons. Though, don't get them confused with Burbage's Mundane Macaroons. Prince was careful, her Lectern Laces not spilling a crum, only for Binns to not touch his Chronicled Chocolates at all.
And when Pomfrey, with her Bandaged Brownies finally brushed off, asked the headmaster what he had received, he merely raised his plate and said, "Why, just a plate of Snickerdoodles of course."
That night, after returning from his day at the Ministry, Cornelius found a plate of mismatched cookies on his desk with a note that simply read: Merry Christmas.