Chapter 15 Basilisk Manure
Ron and Neville resumed their Harry Potter stalking campaign the day the investigation of the troll incident began. Using the Room of Requirement, Hermione found a useful little spell that parents used to keep their children from accidentally (or purposely) wandering away. It was designed to induce a sense of dread or fear if the child would wander to far from the boundaries their parents had chosen. The spell had fallen out of favor over a century ago when it was discovered that long-term use made the children never want to leave the home they had been raised in for the rest of their lives.
Hermione adapted the spell so that she could cast it on two people to encourage them to remain close together at all times. She experimented with rats to make sure it worked before she casted it on Neville, Ron and Draco without their knowledge. It was extremely funny for the rest of the school as the unintended trio would argue and fight, then storm off their separate ways, only to come back together somewhere else and fight some more. Harry had gotten much entertainment from observing their wanderings on the Marauder's Map at night. They would stay in their dorms at the beginning, but slowly they would find themselves spending increasing amounts of time in each others' company in a spare classroom after hours.
During the troll investigation, when Harry and Hermione were not able to go to the Granger house, Harry had spent the time researching how to expand the Chamber of Secrets to accommodate the rapidly-growing Basilisk. The duo were in the library once again when Harry turned to Hermione with a pleased smile on his face.
"I discovered a few interesting things. Did you know that we have been sitting on loads of money without even knowing it?"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Hermione responded, frowning faintly.
"Did you know that Basilisk manure is extremely valuable as a fertiliser? Way more expensive than dragon manure, in fact, as Basilisks are much was rarer and are even more magically powerful. And the bigger the Basilisk, the more magical their manure is, because it has to pass through their body even longer before its expelled.
"It sounds like you're going to spend plenty of time shoveling shite, yeah?" Hermione said before bursting in laughter. Getting an annoyed stare from Madam Pince for being too noisy, Hermione quickly apologised before turning back to Harry with a wicked grin.
"And you will be helping me," Harry whispered, eyes glinting with mischief.
"No, I'm not, there is entirely too much research for me to do. Anyway, we can't both go as it would look too suspicious. And I can't go alone, as I don't know parselmouth."
"You could always you use the Portkey targeting charm to get in and out of the Chamber," Harry suggested.
"We shouldn't use that charm too often, we really don't need anyone finding out about it."
"Alright," Harry agreed, reluctantly.
"You should go in the mornings so that it looks like you're just going out to get some exercise. You're really going to need a good shower after all that shoveling," Hermione said with a smile..
Harry realised he had no chance of winning this round, so he moved on to his next discovery.
"Guess what else I found?"
"No idea, Harry."
"The ground around the chamber is likely full of magical gems, minerals and metals as its been surrounding a 60-foot magical beast for over a thousand years, its also near the convegence of magical ley lines and it was also near a magical school filled with magical beings performing magic constantly. Since I'll be spending my time shoveling shite, you should spend your time researching the finer points of magical mining. We already have all the books from when we researched how to better stabilise the chamber."
"Alright, I'll look into it a little later."
"I'm thinking you research ways to combine magical and Muggle mining methods."
"Okay, anything else?" Hermione raised a sarcastic eyebrow.
"You could modify that detection charm to detect and locate different deposits."
"Okay, enough already."
So Harry spent some time each morning shoveling Basilisk shite before having a shower in the Room of Requirement. The shite he shoveled was put in odor-proof sacks and packed into trunks that he found in the Room of Lost Things and left in the Chamber of Secrets.
Friday morning, the newspaper article containing findings of the troll investigation team appeared as expected. It praised Harry and Hermione while it heavily criticised Dumbledore and Professor Quirrell, both of whom made sure to dine long before the newspaper arrived, all-too-aware of what was to come. That afternoon, after their classes for the day had concluded, Harry started searching through Voldemort's mind in an attempt to learn the destinations of the portkeys they had recovered from Riddle Manor. He also tore down all of the defences Voldemort had erected since his last mental invasion and continued his random removal of memories to confuse the living hell out of him.
On Saturday morning, when no article appeared detailing the discovery of Wormtail, Harry grew concerned by this unsettling development. As soon as breakfast was over, Harry and Hermione immediately went to visit the Grangers. Hermione was hugged by both her parents and Harry got a warm greeting from them as well.
Once everyone was gathered, Harry asked, "Does anyone know why Rita didn't write the article about us finding Wormtail?"
"Rita told me that Amelia is hoping to hold the trial for Wormtail, then Sirius' directly after, so that no one has time to plan an assassination attempt," Doug replied.
"When is the trial? And do you know if Amelia has spoken to Sirius yet?" Harry asked.
"The trial is on Monday and Amelia spoke to Sirius as soon as her interrogation of Peter Pettigrew confirmed your accusations. She moved him to a DMLE holding cell. She really wants to send him to St. Mungo's but she doesn't dare. So instead she hired a private nurse to look after him at the DMLE."
"How did Rita find out about all this?"
"Rita and Amelia bumped into each other while they both were conducting their respective investigations into Sirius' case. They have agreed to a temporary partnership. It will save them both time. After all, they have the same goal."
"Okay, what else is going on?"
"I found a house nearby for fifty thousand galleons or two hundred and fifty thousand pounds in Muggle pounds. It is about a 10 to 15 minute drive from here. The paperwork is already complete, all I need to do is connect the Floo which should be happening sometime this week. I get to move in this Monday," Doug said excitedly.
"Congratulations," Harry told him.
"Will you be less concerned about money now?" Hermione said.
"I will once I manage to pay off the massive loan I owe you guys," Doug said.
"Speaking of money, Harry found another new source of income for us," Hermione said with a smile on her face.
"Alright, I found out that Basilisk manure is extremely valuable to farmers and gardeners. I have quite a few trunks of the stuff ready andwaiting to be sold. I will bring them here later tonight so you can sell them tomorrow, Doug. And I'll need you to find me a tent that I can set up in the Chamber, so I can shower there, and three full sets of clothing and gear so I can change when I need to."
"Okay," Doug readily agreed.
"Mum, could you ask Alice to gather all of the books we have relating to mining for me?" Hermione asked.
"Okay, darling. It should not be a problem, Alice is currently moving the books from the sorting tent to Emily's tent."
"So how are Alice and Ashley doing?"
"Alice is going one day a week for a class with our accountants to learn how things should be done. Most of the time she is helping us fill in the masses of paperwork we are generating. Whenever she has a spare moment, she's moving books from the sorting tent to Emily's tent. There hasn't been any unecessary drama, at least, so far. Ashley is usually either working on setting up the potions lab or reading one of the many potion books that Emily has copied for her. But it's still too early to tell, for either of them."
"Emily, how are things going on the replicating vanishing cabinets front?" Hermione asked.
"I had Doug track down all of the necessary materials for me. Some of the materials are rarer than others and we won't receive the shipment until early next week. After that, the cabinetmaker will arrive and we should start trying to build by the following week. I am writing up everything I know and gathering all the books together ready for the Cabinetmaker to come. Having existing Vanishing cabinets to look at should help immensely, according to the books."
"That's pretty good progress. Mum, did you guys have your meeting with the Outcast leadership this week?" Hermione said.
"Yes, dear, we had a great lunch together." Emma said.
"How did it go?"
"The part about the wizarding-Muggle money conversion is fine and is now sitting in our bank account earning us considerable interest as we speak. They were very keen on us purchasing some shares in a US magical newspaper and they are putting out feelers on our behalf. In regards to the Outcast Schools, after we handed them the necessary funds, they are actually willing to name the school after us. The Granger Magical Institute, it has a nice ring to it don't you think? The leader will be approaching the teaching staff with our offer and he is almost certain most of them would come aboard."
"How is the house-hunting going?"
"This was just the first round, seeing what's currently available. Now we need to work out exactly where we want to move. The whole process will likely take a few weeks."
"How about the necklaces and the magical armour?"
"Done, your necklaces and personal armour are right here, we had them done first as you seem to be in a rush to get them. You even have room to grow, they designed your armour to be expandable to a point." Emily replied.
"Great! By the way, we also need prank supplies for Peeves and for something else I've been working on. I think three full trunks should do."
"By the way, did Rita have any information about the apothecary we wanted to buy?"
"She is putting that job aside for the moment. Rita wants to focus her full attention on Sirius' case, since the situation is particularly sensitive."
"That's probably for the best anyway, it really should wait until Sirius is about to be released. It would be better if Sirius buys it on our behalf as the purebloods are less likely to make a stink if a fellow pureblood makes the purchase than if we do it on our own."
"What did I tell you two about counting your chickens before they're hatched?" Dan said.
"Don't."
"Right. You're starting with the assumption that your godfather would be willing to work with us right off. But, really, that's a very big maybe. Don't forget that Sirius Black is a pureblood himself.
"Moving on, how about the acromantula hunting party?"
"We were forced to reschedule that little expedition. But the hunting party has already moved into the Shrieking Shack. So anytime after Monday you can head on up there and show them where the acromantula colony is located, how big the colony is, how many, any weaknesses and so forth. I thought it would be a better idea if you didn't get started on the weekend while they are so many students out and about. You're much better off taking care of it during the week while both the students and staff are busy. There will be much less risk of anyone seeing anything you don't want them to."
"So how are they going to stun the spiders?" Hermione asked, concerned.
"I think they are planning to use the standard stunning spell."
"They need another plan. Acromantulas are highly resistant to magic. I will brew a tranquiliser and Harry, I will need you and Doug to work together to make enough dart guns for the hunting party."
"That'll be fine. If the Basilisk shite starts selling well and is half as valuable as I think it is, Doug, you might want to add a few additional animals so I can feed it especially well."
So they left on their separate ways. Hermione showed Harry the gun that she wanted him to make. Then she headed off to teach Ashley more of Snape's potions while Dan and Emma went house-hunting again and Emily continued researching the cabinets. Harry worked on making copies of the mining books for Hermione as he waited for Doug to return with the materials they needed for the guns.
Just before Hermione left to work with Ashley, Harry turned to her with something he had been thinking about.
"Hermione, I think we should show Doug the Basilisk and the Chamber of Secrets."
"Just because you don't want to shovel shite by yourself is not a good enough reason to tell Doug one of our most important secrets."
"Think about it, Hermione. This would be the perfect opportunity to test Doug's loyalty and teach him a lesson in humility at the same time."
"Shoveling shite would make anyone learn humility. Couldn't you just imagine that ponce Draco Malfoy shoveling shite?" Harry snickered. "I can just picture him dragging his feet and whining the entire time. Anyway, are we agreed about Doug?"
"I think we need to motivate him by offering him 5% of any profit we make from selling the Basilisk shite."
"That sounds great." Harry said extremely happy that he would no longer be the one shoveling shite for hours on end.
"Is there enough shite down there to keep him shoveling all day and night?" Hermione asked, giving Harry her most innocent look.
"More than enough to keep him busy, at any rate. We're talking four weeks worth of shite, Hermione."
"Why don't you take him down to the Chamber of Secrets tonight then? You could leave him there to work overnight and go collect him in the morning. Give him one of the targeted Portkeys so he can get to my parents in case of an emergency. Don't show him the targeting charm yet, but make sure to stock the place with a couple week's worth of food and drink. What do you think?"
"That sounds great. I will ask Emily to get the food, drinks and other supplies for a month's stay. Then I can go spring the news on spring the news on Doug." Harry grinned, happy to have someone else take over the smelly, dirty work.
"Do you want me to accompany you?"
"I thought you were busy." Harry said with a wink, quickly leaving before Hermione could throw something at him for his cheek.
As soon as Doug got back, Harry and Emily had rounded up everything Doug would need for his stay in the Chamber, tents, trunks, food and drink and a few other necessities. Doug and Harry immediately got busy working on the guns and the darts they would be using. The guns were fully magical and used runes to shoot the darts and assist in the aiming of the weapon. By the end of the day, Harry and Doug had only made one gun and a few darts, but their design was proving to work quite well. However, the pair had wasted quite a bit of time enjoying several rounds of "target practice" in the Room of Requirement.
That night, very late, Harry sneaked off to meet up with Doug and pick up everything he would need for his stay in the Chamber. The two of them packed all the shoveling gear into the tent, which Emily had already stocked with a month's worth of food and supplies, plus special expanded trunks filled with livestock to feed the Basilisk and to remove the shite from the chamber. They lined the trunk with heavy plastic to transport the livestock and had another sheet to cover the lining of the trunk to transport the shite. Harry had also brought along a targeted portkey to give to Doug a bit later. Once they had finished with their preparations, Harry lead Doug through Hogwarts to the second floor girl's lavatory.
"What are we doing at a girls' toilet?" Doug asked.
"I am about to show you another one of our secrets." Harry said in voice to make sound like it was very mysterious.
"I am not a pervert even if I might seem like one at times. So I'm not enjoying spending a bit of quality time in the girl's lav. So just show me why I'm here, okay mate?"
"Welcome to the Chamber of Secrets!" Harry declared in a grand voice after he whispered in Parseltongue and opened the passageway to the Chamber. Doug's eyes went wide and he burst out laughing. Harry immediately used Silencio to quiet him until they were in the Chamber and the door had closed. Then he quickly performed the counter that would allow Doug to be heard again.
"What were you doing, trying to get us caught in the act?" Harry stared at his companion, astonished.
"It's just that it's so bloody funny! I mean, who would've thought that the entrance to Salazar Slytherin's secret lair could be found in a girl's toilet? Tell me, Harry, now who's-or rather was-the pervert here. I just wish I could tell, this is too good to not rub in a few Slytherin faces, mate."
"You know you can't tell anyone, Doug. I mean it"
"I know, I know, but just think of all the mileage you could get out of it. Slytherin House: Home of the Perverts. Now who has serious gender issues? Slytherin. Mothers, here comes a Slytherin, quick, hide the children! Slytherin has really gone down the drain. Do you smell shite? Must've been a Slytherin walking by. I have a million of these!" Doug chortled.
"Enough already, we will have for levity later, we've got work to do," Harry informed him, rolling his eyes at Doug's antics.
"Is this all there is to it? I have to admit, I was expecting something a bit more impressive than this."
"This is just the passageway to the chamber. Now come on, follow me," Harry ordered, leading the way to the Chamber itself, using Parseltongue to warn the occupant inside.
"I am coming in with someone. So please close your eyes, but perhaps you should rise up and open your mouth? My cocky friend here could really use having the daylights scared out of him."
Just as the chamber door opens, the Basilisk rose up to maximise its massive length and displayed an impressive set of fangs as well.
Doug sucked in a huge breath and stared in absolute horror before screaming like a firstie and fainting dead away.
"That was so funny!" Harry laughed in Parseltongue with the Basilisk emitting the odd hissing noises that passed for reptilian laughter, the both of them quite amused with the sight of a passed-out Doug sprawled gracelessly at their feet. The sight of a laughing Basilisk was pretty funny as well, but Harry didn't quite feel prepared to risk offending the huge creature by saying so.
"That was good," the Basilisk said when it finally finished its bout of laughter.
"I think I should probably wake him up before I feed you. I'm afraid of the sight of you feeding might make him faint on us again."
"I can wait. Can he speak our tongue as well?"
"No, Doug is far too stupid to do so," Harry said in jest.
"I am not surprised, since he faints so easily."
"He will be staying here to clean out this cave and make it nicer for you."
"I won't hurt him. But do you mind much if I scare him a few times?"
"Go right ahead. We are trying to teach him a little humility."
"So I can shit directly on him?"
"I would dearly love to see that."
"If you can wait long enough tonight, you might."
"I can't stay too long."
"Why don't you wake him up? So I can start to feed."
"Where am I?" Doug said, rubbing his eyes after Harry woke him up.
"You are in the Chamber of Secrets with a giant Basilisk."
"So that was real?"
"Yes."
"You can see for yourself." Harry said as he showed the Basilisk with its eyes closed and lying a little way from him in a non=threatening manner. Harry went to pat the Basilisk on the head like a good little dog.
"Okay what do you need me to do?"
"I need you to shovel Basilisk shite for me."
"No way. I did not sign up for this!" Doug exclaimed.
"Even if you get 5 % of the profit from the proceeds?"
"Ten percent," Doug countered. "This is one dirty and very smelly job."
"Seven, or we hire someone else to do it for us for a lot cheaper than you."
"Alright," Doug agreed, albeit reluctantly.
They both set up the tent and changed into their shite shoveling gear. Harry then fed the Basilisk and started harvesting the various Basilisk parts while Doug began shoveling shite. Harry started moving out the filled trunks to the tent the Grangers had set up. Someone from the Outcast organisation was going to pick up the shite for sale in the morning, which Doug set up so he wouldn't have to move it himself.
Just before Harry left for the night, he turned to Doug with a slightly evil grin. "Did I happen to mention that you will be staying here for the rest of the day and night? Happy shoveling, mate."
"You can't just leave me here!"
"You can stay and make good money or we can always get someone else."
"Alright, alright. I'll stay."
"Here is a Portkey out, just in case you need to leave. The password is quitter."
Harry left with a smile.
A/N Thank you for all my reviewers.
A reminder that I have a poll on my profile page on how to get rid of Draco Malfoy.
Chapter 16
Early Sunday morning, Hermione examined and tried out the gun that Harry and Doug had constructed.
"You might want to substitue Basilisk fang for the metal syringe. Most magical creatures have an exceedingly tough hide that is very difficult puncture. Metal just is not strong enough to get the job done," Hermione commented.
"But how in the world do I carve a fang into a needle?" Harry demanded.
"You need to crush up some of the smaller fang shards into a fine powder using one of the bigger fangs as the grinder and another as the base. Once you've turned the shards into Basilisk fang grit, you can use it to create a type of sandpaper. Use the sandpaper to make a carving tool using one of the smaller fangs. I just showed Ashley a potion we can use to harden and toughen the carving tool even more by soaking the tool in the potion."
"It is going to take forever to make a single dart!"
"Yeah, so you had better get started. Is it my fault you wasted so much time yesterday playing target practice with Doug?"
"Can I ask Emily to help me?"
"You can ask, but she can always say no."
"Do you have any other suggestions that might help me with this task?"
"Work hard and get Emily to teach you some basic runes to make the job easier. Okay, now I've got to go and start working with Ashley. I'll bring you the hardening potion at lunch time."
Harry quickly left to find Emily and soon found her in her tent, reading.
"Emily, do you have time to help me?"
"What do you need help with, Harry?"
"Hermione wants me to make Basilisk fang darts and it's going to take quite a while. So I need your help to get them finished before I take the hunting party on a tour of the Forbidden Forest."
"Why is it such a difficult job?" Emily asked
"Basilisk fang is extremely hard which is why it is valuable. Shaping it will be very different as most tools are not strong enough to work with Basilisk fang."
"Why don't you use the Room of Requirement as a workshop to make the darts and the carving tools you're going to need?"
"But you can't take anything out of the Room of Requirement," Harry complained.
"Just because you can't take anything out of the room doesn't mean you can't remove anything you might make from stuff you brought into the room yourself. How much sleep did you get last night, Harry?" Emily asked.
"Not much. I spent most of the night harvesting the various Basilisk parts."
"Hm. I had better go with you so you don't end up hurting yourself."
So they both proceeded to the Room of Requirement. The room was like a modern day carpenter's workshop with magical equivalents for Muggle electrical appliances like sanders and drills. It took them a while to understand how the magical equipment worked, as they were operated with runes and enchantments instead of electricity. Even figuring out how to turn them on proved to be quite a challenge. By lunch time, they were able to make a few more guns and darts but not enough for the entire hunting party.
That afternoon, everyone had gathered for lunch at the Granger home. Preparing the meal had become a round robin affair, with everyone taking a turn. When it came to Dan, Emma or Doug they would get takeaway for everyone. This time it was Alice's turn and she had prepared a really nice lunch of salads, cold meats and cheeses and freshly baked bread.
"Where is Doug?" Alice asked, as she started preparing another plate.
"He's busy and won't be having lunch with us today," Harry responded.
"Do you mind telling us what he's doing?" Doug asked.
"I'll tell you later."
"Okay, but right after lunch."
"Ashley, how is everything going?"
"It's going great. The equipment and supplies are really amazing. I am learning so much from Hermione. And your potions library is just fantastic. This is all like a dream come true. I'm also working on a paper about some of the things Hermione has been teaching me," Ashley burbled with enthusiasm.
"That sounds really exciting," Harry said in reply, with absolute zero conviction. Potions had never been a subject he enjoyed. Hermione's study group was encouraging brewers in the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses, but it was entirely too late for Harry. Potions would forever remind him of the unpleasant experience he had with Snape the first time round. Hermione said he had real talent in it as it was very similar to cooking, which Harry was great at, but the enthusiasm was just not there.
Harry quickly abandoned the conservation between Hermione and Ashley about Potions. He did not really enjoy talking about books much either after spending so much time copying them out. So conversing with Alice was out as well.
"How is your house-hunting going?" Harry asked Dan and Emma.
"It's going great. We've been looking at so many beautiful houses. Since we want Hermione to stay with us during the holidays and still do magic, we need to look for a much bigger house than we would if it was just ourselves," Dan replied.
Curious, Harry asked, "Exactly what are you currently looking for?"
"We've told the agent that we're looking for a property with at least six bedrooms, a double garage, outbuildings and quite a bit of acreage, someplace that is close to Crawley. Our agent has said that, based on the size of the property we're looking for, we should focus on rural properties because suburban properties aren't going to be large enough to fit our needs."
"We saw one property that we loved, it had absolutely everything we wanted, but it was a grade 2 listed property. The amount of work involved in maintaining such a property would be absolutely atrocious," Emma added.
"Why should that matter, you have contacts with the magical community that can take care of it very quickly? In fact, you actually should be looking for houses with a lot potential, but that need a lot of work. You can hire wizards and witches that could take care of all that for you in no time and the goblins can make all of the planning paperwork magically appear with all of the necessary approvals."
"We didn't think of that. Dan, I think we need to contact the real estate agent this afternoon to change our preferences," Emma said, excitedly.
Harry leaned over and whispered, "We are also trying to teach Doug humility and to cure him of being so greedy. Some honest hard work like building repair or shite shoveling can only do him a world of good"
At that, Emma and Dan both burst out laughing. Everyone looked at them strangely but went back to their conversations when Dan told them that all was fine.
"Is that what you got him to do?" Emma said, finally catching her breath.
"He is busy shoveling shite in the Chamber as we speak."
"Good heavens, you didn't trap him down there, did you?"
"I did give him an emergency portkey to here, so he can leave anytime he wants."
"How did you get him to agree to shovel shite for you? He tried to avoid even moving the stuff."
"I agreed to give him seven percent of any profit we make from selling it."
"You got him good with that one, since we can include the cost of the food for the Basilisk which means the actual profit might be zero."
"I might be cruel, but not that cruel. We will give him seven percent of anything we make from selling the Basilisk shite. By the way, how much that we make from the lot we just sold?"
"About two thousand galleons."
"For three hours of work? That is amazing. How much did we fork out to pay for the livestock?"
"Around that much, you need to ask Alice about the final cost. She would know."
"I'm really not that interested."
"Getting back to Doug. Does Hermione know about it?"
"She's the one who suggested it."
"Did you two make a bet on whether Doug would use the Portkey or not?"
"Hermione isn't stupid. She knows I can get the Basilisk to scare Doug so badly that he uses the Portkey."
"What activation word did you decide on for the Portkey?"
"Quitter. And it will take him directly to the bottom of the pool in your backyard."
"I also want Doug to use the Portkey so I can see him turn up dripping wet."
"He might do so since the Basilisk seems to seriously enjoy scaring him. The taste of his fear in the air must be getting our reptilian friend off."
"I don't want to hear about a snake getting off on anything, that's completely disgusting to me." Emma said in revulsion.
"Then maybe I shouldn't mention about how the Basilisk's planning to shite all over Doug?"
"Get away from me, you repulsive young man." Emma shuddered while Dan looked as though he was desperately trying not to laugh and get himself in trouble with his wife.
Lunchtime concluded shortly after Harry told the Grangers what they wanted to know. So Harry and Emily went back to the ROR to make another batch of guns and darts. Hermione went to resume teaching Ashley after giving Harry and Emily a large flask filled with the hardening potion plus another of the tranquiliser potion for the darts. Meanwhile, Dan and Emma contacted their real estate agent with their updated requests.
By the end of the day, Harry and Emily had made all the guns and darts the hunting party would need. Emily had then decided to create a set of Basilisk fang knives and swords for each hunter and to test the balance of all of the weapons before treating them with the hardening potion. She also ordered scabbards for the knives and swords to be made from another batch of Basilisk skin.
Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, Harry and Hermione went to the Chamber of Secrets to get Doug out. As it happened, Doug was sleeping when they arrived and jumped up in terror when he heard them enter the tent.
"Is everything alright?" Harry asked, bemused.
"Everything is just fine. Let me get packed up and let's get out of here." Doug gathered his things together along with the trunkload of the shite he had shoveled and hurriedly left, never stopping to even glance in the Basilisk's direction.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Hermione asked, sweetly.
"No," Doug said firmly, taking the Portkey to the Granger home without another word. Harry and Hermione burst out laughing as soon as he was gone.
The next morning at breakfast, both Professor Dumbledore and Snape were both absent. Rumors were flying that Snape's recovery was taking much longer than anyone expected, while Dumbledore was trying gather support before the Wizengamot meeting called by Minister was expected to be away all day, as he had planned even more gatherings in an attempt to gather as much support as he could.
Hostility at the head table was as obvious as ever, with the two opposing sides sitting as far apart as humanly possible. The relief on the faces of the Dumbledore supporters was plain to see when the Dailey Prophet arrived with no new scandalous revelations. Professor McGonagall had an especially smug look about her, clearly thinking that the stories about Dumbledore's more questionable activities were over. Hagrid supported Dumbledore, but didn't much like the split in that staff he was seeing. The fact that Hagrid was sitting at the staff table rather than dining at his cottage and keeping an eye on a dragon's eye told them that Professor Quirrel had yet to figure out how to get past the Cerberus guard. Professor Quirrel looked troubled and Harry and Hermione both suspected it was because Voldemort did not know what was happening to him or what was causing the holes in his memories. It was driving him mad, much to Harry's amusement.
After breakfast, Professor Flitwick came looking for Harry and Hermione.
"I think Professor Dumbledore might be in real trouble. The Hogwarts Board of Governors has called to set up a meeting today, but due to the Wizengamot session, they were forced to delay it until tomorrow."
"Do you think they will fire him?"
"I doubt it, but they will be examining his activities very closely."
"What would it take to get Dumbledore fired, I wonder?"
"It would probably take the death of an important student. Someone like Draco Malfoy, I should think. Dumbledore still has a lot of supporters, you know."
"Even with all the negative publicity he is getting?"
"They really aren't all that concerned with public opinion, Harry. If they were, Professors Binns, Snape and Trelawney would have been gone long ago." Professor Flitwick emitting a squeak of dismay when he realized just what he had said and to whom. "You did not hear me say that, alright?"
"Your secret is safe with us," Harry said, with a wicked smirk on his face.
At that, they left to go their next class. Afterwards, Harry gave Peeves another load of prank supplies as per their agreement. Peeves favourite prank was to nail either Ron, Draco or Neville with a well-aimed dungbomb while they were apart, and then watch them get together, only to separate again due to the overwhelming stench. Then Peeves would change targets. It was a game to him to see how long he could keep them apart by hitting each one of them in turn with dung bombs. The Weasley twins would occasionally join in on the game for laughs.
During lunch, Harry slipped into the Headmaster's office and released a batch of fireworks that destroyed all of the instruments Dumbledore was using to monitor him. He also confiscated every book he saw that they didn't have copies of yet. To cover up his thievery, he conjured several fake books to replace the ones he had taken. During another free period, Harry, Hermione and Emily frantically tried to copy all of the books that Harry had stolen. Doug would have helped, but he was too busy moving into his new house. While everyone was at dinner, Harry quickly returned most of the books.
Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, Hermione was providing cover for Harry. The absence of Dumbledore was a surprise to many people, including Professor McGonagall, who obviously expected him to turn up after lunch. Everyone discovered the reason for Dumbledore's continued absence when a special evening edition of the Daily Prophet was delivered.
The headlines read:
Sirius Black Innocent Victim, Was Framed By Peter Pettigrew And Albus Dumbledore!
By Rita Skeeter
In a surprise trial, Peter Pettigrew was questioned under veritaserum before a session of the Wizengamot. It turns out that he framed for the Sirius Black for the betrayal and murders of James and Lily Potter as well the deaths of twelve unfortunate Muggles. Albus Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, was well-aware of the truth, according to the interrogation, and did nothing to help Sirius Black, who he knew to be innocent, from being convicted and sentenced to Azkaban. Peter Pettigrew will be sent through the Veil immediately for his heinous crimes. Dumbledore tried to get Pettigrew's sentence reduced to prison time, but was outvoted by his fellow members of the Wizengamot. Peter's Order of Merlin, Third Class, was taken away as well..
Sirius Black was finally given a trial immediately following the revelations made by Peter Pettigrew. He was given veritaserum and he confirmed everything that Peter said. The Wizengamot found Sirius Black innocent and is considering what compensation he should be given when he finally recovers from his terrible prison ordeal. Dumbledore attempted to have Black involuntarily committed to St. Mungo's, but was voted down again.
Dumbledore's position as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot is in serious jeopardy as the DMLE begins an investigation into his involvement with the wrongful conviction of Sirius Black. Barty Crouch is also being investigated for his role in the debacle. Many other cases will also be reviewed as a result of this terrible miscarriage of justice.
We will be following this ongoing investigation and will publish any further developments as they happen.
Professor McGonagall looked as if she was sucking on a particularly sour lemon. Hagrid was sobbing into a huge handkerchief and everyone else looked shocked.
When Harry arrived in the Great Hall and saw the looks on everyone's faces, he turned to Hermione with wide eyes. "What in the world is going on?"
Hermione handed Harry the newspaper which he quickly read through.
"I wish the newspaper would've reported on Lucy Malfoy's reaction to the discovery of Sirius Black's innocence."
"We can't get everything we want. I'm really not surprised that they didn't mention that Malfoy was the Death Eater that recruited Peter Pettigrew."
A/N Thank you all for your reviews. It motivates me and helps me when I have writers block.
Thank you to my beta for reading and correcting my atrocious grammar and spelling.
This is going to be a long story. Sirius Black will feature prominently in the future.
Chapter 17 - Fallout
Right after dinner, Harry, Hermione, Doug, Dan and Emily met at the Granger home. Alice and Ashley weren't invited as they were too new and their mental shields were just being developed, so their minds weren't strong enough to protect all of their employers' secrets. Emily was invited, but could not attend as she was too busy creating copies of the books they had appropriated from the Headmaster's was a very time-consuming job that would keep Emily busy well into the next day.
It was a job that they required to be done as quickly as possible, so that they could return tomorrow, given that Harry had used Voldemort's wand to keep the fireworks that he had set off in the Headmaster's office active until tomorrow evening. That being the case, anyone who attempted to the office would automatically trigger the fireworks to go off again, which made it far too dangerous for anyone to stay in the office for a prolonged period of time. Anyone who took a cursory look in the office would think everything was alright-other than the continuous fireworks display- and would not take notice of the missing books.
Doug was the last one to arrive, pointedly dragging his feet about attending. He wasn't happy that Hermione had forced him to temporarily abandon his plans to move into his new home in favor of attending.
As was often the case, Hermione spoke first.
"We are here to deal with the unexpected death of Peter Pettigrew. As you all know, we had planned to use Peter as our access point to Azhaban. His death means we need to devise a new strategy in order to gain entry to the prison. While we are thinking of ideas, Doug, could you please tell us why the newspaper article made no mention of Lucius Malfoy's involvement?"
"Rita informed me that Lucius Malfoy wants to work out a deal with you lot."
"He wants the information that Peter Pettigrew was recruited by himself to remain secret, which is why Peter Pettigrew was killed rather than being imprisoned. In return for keeping his secret,t he is willing to lobby hard to have you and Harry awarded an Order of Merlin for your efforts."
"Why is he so desperate to keep the information a secret?"
"The Black case has incited public outrage, which has sparked a movement to clean up wizarding legal system. That includes a review of any and all old cases. Lucius doesn't want to find his past activities to be subjected to public scrutiny."
Maybe we should ignore the offer and let the Ministry cart him off to Azkaban. Merlin knows, he deserves it."
"I doubt that if that would ever happen. Minister Fudge will do whatever it takes to keep raking in the galleons he earns by protecting Malfoy." Doug pointed out.
"If that is the case, then why did Malfoy make the offer?"
"Even if it doesn't get him sent to prison, if the public became aware of his, shall we say, less unsavory activities, it could seriously hurt Malfoy's political ambitions, were the facts to become widely known. He's taking precautions to prevent that from happening. By the way, if Skeeter wasn't involved, you would all surely be dead."
"Rita certainly earned her keep on this one. What is she getting from Malfoy out of this?"
"I don't know and I don't want to know. She's even holding off writing about your involvement in the case to allow you some extra time to reach an agreement with Malfoy."
"Money really does talk with these people. I say that we give Rita a two hundred galleon bonus for her work. We need to work out what we are willing to offer and what we want in return right now. Hopefully, we can reach an agreement tonight." Harry decided.
"Okay, I say we agree to destroy the memories of the interrogation and make a vow to never reveal or publicise the fact that Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater. In return, Lucius Malfoy vows not to kill or harm us and ours in any way, and also assist us in acquiring the Order of Merlins," Hermione suggested.
"I don't think he would go for all that," was Doug's opinion.
"It's just a place to start our negotiations. Maybe we can offer to sign one a cursed agreement, like the ones we designed for the DA. Instead of the kill or harm conditions, we can settle for his political help in transferring our magical custody from Dumbledore to someone we want. Malfoy doesn't need to know we plan on asking Sirius Black, else he's likely to fight us on that," Harry said.
"We should also include Dobby in the agreement," Hermione added.
"I say we offer two hundred galleons for him. But we should make acquiring Dobby a parallel negotiation instead of part of the agreement itself."
"I say 200 galleons is the minimum we should offer for him. This way, we don't have to resort to arresting him as we had originally planned," Hermione, realizing her slip, bit her lip in dismay.
"Who is this Dobby and why do you want to get him away from Malfoy?" Doug said, clearly confused, while Hermione looked rather guilty.
"He is a house elf owned by the Malfoy family and we happen to know that he's been badly mistreated. We had a plan to free him at some point, which, thankfully, we no longer need."
"I am pretty sure you can get him if you are offering that much for him since Lucius Malfoy is renowned for not liking "lesser beings" as he prefers to call them. I should go and start the negotiations now." Doug said, hopefully.
Hermione shot down the suggestion at once. "No, we still need to discuss the original purpose of this meeting, which was to figure out a way to gain access to Azkaban."
"I was thinking we could find a way to acquire incriminating evidence against that thief, Mundungus Fletcher. Then put the charm on him and turn him over to the authorities. This way, we get access to Azhaban and Dumbledore will lose one of his pet supporters," Harry suggested.
"I like it. Do you think that's a workable plan, Doug?" Hermione asked.
"I think it sounds doable, especially since Dumbledore has spent way too much political capital recently to be able to save Mundungus," Doug said, after taking a moment to reflect.
"Is that why he wasn't able to save Peter Pettigrew from being killed?" Hermione asked.
"Dumbledore was doing everything he could to save Peter, but Malfoy was determined to get him executed to prevent his involvement in recruiting Pettigrew from ever coming to light," Doug said.
"Now you can go and begin your negotiations on our behalf," Hermione said, thoughtfully, much to Doug's relief, and he pratically sprinted out of the door.
A curious Dan asked, "What was your original plan for getting Dobby?"
"We had planned to capture him when he attempts to get Harry in trouble with the authorities this summer. Then force Malfoy to give him to us or face charges. Our new plan is much better for everyone, especially Dobby."
They waited for several hours at the Granger home for the negotiations to be completed. During that time, Harry searched through their collection of confiscated wands, trying to find a wand that could pass for the Elder Wand. The one he chose looked very much like it, as if someone had attempted to make a replica of the Deathstick. Harry pocketed it, after breaking the wand and ambled of to help Hermione, who was already assisting Emily in making copies of the books from the Headmaster's office.
Finally, Doug returned, looking completely exhausted.
"I was able to get you Dobby for two hundred and fifty galleons. Once you give me the money to pay Malfoy, then he will transfer custody of Dobby to me, and then I'll transfer him in return, to you."
"I'll get the money from the safe in a bit," Emma told him.
"If you look over this agreement, you will see that the curse will be inflicted on whichever side breaks the contract. He is willing to help get you get whoever you want as your magical guardians and to do everything in his power to make sure you get awarded the Order of Merlins. And he also agreed not to try to steal the secret behind your cursed contracts. In return, you agree that you won't speak out against him personally, you agree to destroy all memories that implicate Malfoy as a Death Eater recruiter, and you agree to do your best to prevent your agents from speaking against Malfoy in public. Malfoy has a separate agreement with Rita, but that agreement depends on this one going through." Doug told them, summarising the agreement he had negotiated with Malfoy.
Hermione and Harry both read the contract through thoroughly before passing it on to Dan and Emma. When they finished reading, they looked at each other and nodded their agreement.
"Very good work, Doug. What do we have to do to finalise it?"
"Hermione, you have to place a major curse on the contract, and then Dan or Emma must sign on Hermione's behalf. Then Narcissa Malfoy will sign it tonight, meaning the agreement is in place even if it is not yet finalised. It is then passed to Hermione and Harry, who will then sign it. The Lucius Malfoy must sign the contract in the presence of Rita Skeeter, who will be keeping it. By the way, we will need to draw up a separate contract between Harry and Rita, to ensure that Rita doesn't betray Harry to Malfoy. We can take care of that once we get the details of this one sorted."
Hermione thought for a moment, then cursed the contract before heading back to Hogwarts with Harry, satisfied that the matter had been taken care of.
The next morning, Dumbledore was sitting at the head table when Harry and Hermione arrived for breakfast. He looked extremely unhappy and was staring resentfully at Harry. When that day's Daily Prophet arrived, Dumbledore's face grew even darker.
Boy-Who-Lived Rights A Terrible Unjustice.
By Rita Skeeter
Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and his best friend, Hermione Granger, discovered that a Death Eater had been in hiding at Hogwarts and that the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, knew nothing about it.
After the troll incident, Mr. Potter and Miss Granger were not satisfied with the lack of communication from the teaching staff with and so conducted their own investigation. This investigation lead to the discovery and capture of Peter Pettigrew, who was disguised as a rat and had been living in the Gryffindor boys' dorms for some time.
When the Ministry sent representatives to conduct their own investigation into the troll incident, the two students advised the investigators of their discovery. At that time, they transferred custody of Pettigrew to Amelia Bones, the Director of Magical Law Enforcement, for further investigation, which lead to the discovery of this stunning miscarriage of justice.
Prominent political figure, Lucius Malfoy, was gracious enough to share his thoughts with us. Mr. Malfoy said, "These two students should be awarded Order of Merlin, Third Class, for their stubborn pursuit of the truth and the protection of their fellow students." Minister Fudge expressed his support of Mr. Malfoy's suggestion, but was unwilling to be quoted directly.
All of this begs the following questions: Should such an obviously ineffectual individual as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the ICW, and HeadMaster of Hogwarts, our premier magical school be responsible for the wellbeing of our children? He has been holding three separate full-time and highly prestigious positions simultaneously for several years. But can anyone continuously manage three critically important positions and perform them all, to the best of his ability, with any level of efficiency? And dare we even imagine what else might be going on, right under Albus Dumbledore's nose?
Dumbledore, McGonagall and his cadre of supporters were staring at Harry and Hermione with blatant anger. Several students were staring at them as well, not knowing what to think as many of the professors were angry at them, and yet they were likely to soon be awarded an Order of Merlin. Percy and Ron were both highly pissed off. Not only had they missed out on an opportunity for fame, but they now realized where Scabbers had gone. The looks they were getting from their fellow Gryffindors made it clear that they had also made the connection between the article and Ron's missing rat.
After breakfast, Ron, Neville and Draco walked up to Harry and Hermione.
"You stole my pet!" Ron accused Harry and Hermione.
"How could we have possibly stolen your rat? You've been telling everyone who would listen for weeks that Scabbers was dead," Harry pointed out, subtly shielding Hermione with his body, just in case the confrontation should escalate to physical violence.
"You must have stolen my rat, he was the only rat in the Gryffindor dorms!"
"I beg to differ. When we found the traitorous rat, it was in the company of several of its kin. Must have something to do with all those raucous parties in the Gryffindor dorms, eh?"
Draco Malfoy smirked and finally could not hold it any longer.
"Gryffindor seems to have a serious pest problem. It makes sense, they've always had a weasel problem, now the rats have joined in."
"Shut up, Ferret. I was talking to Potter and Granger."
"Hey, at least I wasn't hiding a traitor in my house dorms. Not to mention sleeping with him. You were sleeping with him, weren't you?"
"At least I take less time than your average girl getting ready in the morning. Exactly how long does it take to get your hair ready? One hours or two? More maybe?"
"I thought we agree that was off limits!" Malfoy angrily stalked back to the Slytherin table.
"You two owe me a new pet for using my old one to grab so much attention for yourselves."
"We will catch you a new rat from the Gryffindor dorms to replace the one you lost."
Before Ron could retort, the Weasley twins arrived.
"Is our dear little brother causing trouble again?"
Do we need to call Peeves to give you another lesson?"
Ron and Neville glared at the twins before they stomped off in a huff.
"Thanks Fred, George." Harry said in gratitude.
"No problem, thank you for not mentioning our family and implicating us in the scandal."
"No problem, but I think the cat is officially out of the bag."
"Yeah, our little Ronniekins."
"Doesn't know how to keep his trap shut."
A little later, Professor Flitwick came over to Harry and Hermione.
"The Headmaster wants to see you both at once. His office is currently occupied, so he is using the classroom closest to it as a temporary office. I am sorry I cannot accompany you, as I have a class to teach right now. If you need someone to go with you, I believe Professor Sprout is free."
"That's fine, we'll deal with it ourselves."
They start packing their things and left to go to the meeting. Harry and Hermione checked to make sure they had their Basilisk armour on properly and the protective necklaces to ward off any attempted mental invasions. Harry then checked to make sure he had the fake Elder wand on his person before knocking on the classroom door.
"Come in, Harry and Hermione. Thank you for coming. Please take a seat."
Harry and Hermione sat down.
"Do you mind telling me why you thought it was necessary to hand over Peter Pettigrew to the Magical Law Enforcement before reporting the situation to one of your professors?"
"Frankly, we don't trust you."
"I think you two are getting entirely too close to each other. As your magical guardian and Headmaster, I am having the two of you separated and so you are forbidden from seeing each other. Outside of your classes, of course."
Harry and Hermione both stood up.
"You can't do that."
"Yes I can. Not only that, but you will be serving three months detention, each. Harry, you will be serving your detentions with Professor McGonagall and, Hermione, you will be serving yours with Mr. Filch."
"I don't think so. We will be reporting this to the Hogwarts Board of Governors and to Minister Fudge. I don't think you will be keep either of those positions or many of your others much longer." Harry said, turning to leave with Hermione following suit. While their backs were turned, Professor Dumbledore struck, firing stunning spells at them both, followed with Obliviates and loyalty charms in quick succession. Thanks to the body armour and protective necklaces, the spells had absolutely no effect and Harry immediately whirled around to stun and disable the startled headmaster.
As soon as Dumbledore was out for the count, Harry seized the Elder Wand replaced it with the broken fake. Hermione used Windgardium Leviosa to place Dumbledore back in his chair, but leaning back to the point of fallng. Harry then Oblivated Dumbledore, erasing their entire encounter, then he and Hermione quickly stepped out of the room. Harry knocked loudly on the door to wake Dumbledore, and they heard him come crashing down. They race into the room to find Dumbledore on the floor, rubbing his head. Hermione let out a gasp, then pointed right in front of him.
"What happened to your wand, sir?" Dumbledore looked down at his broken wand with dismay, then went into shock.
"Are you alright, sir?" Hermione asked, soliticiously.
"I am fine. The fall must have rattled me."
"You wanted to see us, sir?" Harry asked.
"No, it is nothing. Could you please not mention my broken wand to anyone? It is quite embarrassing to lose one's wand in such a clumsy manner."
"We will happily keep your secret, as long as you agree not to interfere with us," Hermione suggested.
"Okay, deal." Professor Dumbledore said, reluctantly.
"Deal." Harry and Hermione say in unison.
With that agreement, they quickly left and Harry turned to Hermione with relief.
"I thought we were going to argue with him again. I would've been forced to carry out my threat."
"I think the fall combined with the loss of his wand has him in shock."
"So you thought you would take advantage of his temporary lapse?"
"Yes. We want him off our backs without killing him or using a spell that could be tracked back to either of us."
"Tell me again why we just don't kill him?"
"We don't want him to become a martyr. It's a much better idea to destroy his reputation. This way the light side will be forced to find themselves a new leader with no connection to Dumbledore. If it doesn't work out the way want, then we will go to plan B. That's when we leave Britain entirely and let the Light and Dark sides battle it out between themselves. Then we can return to destroy the remnants of both sides, then establish a brand new order."
"That's why you told me to leave Voldemort's mind relatively intact instead of destroy it."
"Yes."
"Do you have a plan C and D?"
"Maybe." Hermione said, in a sneaky kind of way.
"You do so have plans C and D," Harry laughed, as Hermione started to run down the corridor to their class.
At lunch, Harry and Hermione slipped off to visit the Grangers again. They were going to have lunch there so one of them could be on hand to take possession of Dobby from Doug. Both Harry and Hermione had missed Dobby terribly and thought it was well worth taking the risk of going during lunch to go get him. Harry was also taking the opportunity to pick up the books they had stolen from Dumbledore's office. It was perfect timing, really, because they could return them that afternoon during the Board of Governors meeting. They found Emily fast sleep in her tent, understandably exhausted after making copies of all those books. They decided to look for Alice instead, but couldn't find her, so they settled for Ashley.
"Where is everyone?" Harry said to Ashley
"Alice is busy training, Emily's getting some much-needed rest, Dan and Emma are having a busy day at the dental surgery and Doug has not come in today," Ashley replied, while carefully preparing ingredients to be added to the potion she was working on.
"I think that maybe you should read or work on your paper rather than make potions today. Since there's no one around, it isn't safe for you to be brewing without someone withing yelling distance," Hermione said.
"I actually prefer working alone. The quiet allows me to concentrate on what I'm doing and there are far fewer interruptions."
"Don't blame us if you get injured. I did try to warn you. Maybe when Doug turns up, you can get him to add safety ward around the potion lab to alert us if you should get injured and need help."
"Okay if there is nothing else. I really need to get back to that potion."
Harry and Hermione head back to Hogwarts after picking up the box of stolen books and storing it in the kitchens before attending afternoon classes. After dinner, Harry took advantage of the lack of teachers created by the Board of Governors meeting to return the books while Hermione held her usual daily study session. Harry turned up partway through and joined them. A little after the study session had ended, Professor Flitwick tracked them down at the library.
"I knew that you two would be anxious to learn what happened at the Board of Governors meeting. As soon as it was over, I came straight here," Professor Flitwick said, collapsing exhaustedly on a nearby chair.
"Tough meeting?"
"You wouldn't believe how tough, Mr. Potter."
"Did they ask you a lot of questions?"
"We were all grilled by the board, Professor Quirrell in particular, but Professor Dumbledore's experience wasn't much better. In the end, Professor Quirrell was severely reprimanded and was informed that his contract will not be renewed next year, while Professor Dumbledore was reprimanded and also put on probation. The only positive to come out of the meeting was that you two are going to be receiving an award for special services to the school."
"We did what we had to to protect ourselves and our fellow students, sir. By the way, what is happening with the third floor?"
"I cannot tell you, but I did bring it up during the meeting. Unfortunately, Dumbledore immediately shot down my suggestion of removing the traps. He claimed that it is not safe to remove the traps while students are still on the premises, saying that he did not wish to risk another troll gaining access to the school," Professor Flitwick said, sheer frustration written on his face.
"You did all you could, sir."
"I wish I could do more. I'm certain that there are board members currently under the influence of Dumbledore's loyalty charm, but I can't prove it. The detection charm we would need to use prove it isn't a standard charm accepted by the Ministry, so they will not trust the results. And I am not on friendly enough terms with them to remove it without obtaining prior approval. Dumbledore is truly getting desperate, it will not surprise me if he manages to charm the entire board to bend them to his will."
"Do any of the other professors have a strong enough relationship with the board to help you?"
"Only Professor McGonagall, and you know she will not help us."
"Why don't you get some rest and think on it for a while?" Hermione suggested.
"You might be right. Good night Harry, Hermione," Professor Flitwick said before taking his leave..
Later that night ,Harry took the acromantula hunting party out to survey the Forbidden Forest, taking care to straying too close to centaur territory. They were nowhere near prepared to confront the centaurs at the moment, but they had high hopes of thinning out the forest's acromantula population, going a long way towards winning the centaurs' approval.
After capturing a few spiders for processing, Harry and the hunting party called it a night.
A/N Thank you for all your reviews.
Responses to your Reviews
Cassandra30 Neville is just too weak. He is following Ron like a lost puppy which makes it impossible for Harry and Hermione to help him. So he gets punished with Ron.
Hermione and Harry does have some friends from the study group that Hermione leads during the weeknights but but they keep to each other. Since they have plans to leave Hogwarts in the future if they can.
Snape has been responsible for the decline in the potion making skills in Britain for a decade due to his inability to teach and his bias activity. He should taught for a few years to satisfy Dumbledore then left the country to escape Dumbledore's control.
Saberwulf
I have not decided whether to break up the story into the time when they are at Hogwarts and the sequel when they are at Salem Institute. Since it spans the entire 7 years of their magical education.
Harry and Hermione are friends at the moment but they will be come a couple later on.