Chapter 43 Second year Halloween
Halloween came around and Harry and Hermione were still unsure where the diary had gone. Nothing unusual occurred; Ginny was still being followed by her brothers while Cho, Marietta and Malfoy were still embarrassed by the diary incident. They decided to delay their plans for a day since Halloween was always an eventful time for Harry.
At 11pm on Halloween night, Tippy popped in Harry's dorm room.
"Master Harry, Sir. You have to wa
ke up," Tippy pleaded as she tried to wake up Harry. It took a while to wake Harry from his slumber.
"Yes," a groggy Harry replied.
"Someone has tried to access the Chamber of Secrets from Myrtle's home," Tippy explained. This woke Harry up immediately.
"Has Myrtle left the toilet?" Harry asked.
"Yes. She has gone to spy on Dumbledore's reaction," Tippy replied.
"Have you told Hermione yet?"
"No, Master,"
"Could you please tell her now?" Harry said as he got up. Tippy popped away. Harry went to his trunk to get dressed and created a dummy of himself so that his dorm mates would not notice his absence. Tippy popped back after Harry had finished getting dressed.
"Mistress Hermy is awake, and she wants you to meet her at the Room of Requirement,"
"Thank you, Tippy. I need you to stay away from the toilet. Why don't you go find Dobby and stay at the house-elf quarters under my home for now?" Harry suggested.
"Are you sure you don't need my help, Master Harry?" Tippy asked.
"We will be fine. Get some sleep and we will talk to you tomorrow," Harry said. An unhappy Tippy popped away.
Harry then put on his cloak of invisibility and went to Hagrid's chicken shed. He killed all of the roosters and drained their blood into a bucket. He took the bucket with him to the meeting with Hermione. When Hermione arrived at the Room of Requirement a few minutes after Harry did, the first thing she did was ask, "What is in the bucket?"
"The blood of the roosters I just killed," Harry replied.
"Good idea. Let's see who fell into our trap," Hermione said. They made their way to the passageway that led to The Chamber of Secrets where they found an unconscious Ginny with a Mohawk and a dominatrix outfit. Hermione took a few photos to give Sirius later to prove to him how successful their traps were. Harry then undid the transfigurations, and Hermione searched Ginny for the diary. When she found it, Hermione swapped it with a fake she created. The pair splashed Ginny with quite a bit of chicken blood to give the impression she killed the roosters. Once they were satisfied with Ginny's appearance, Hermione levitated Ginny and Harry to the entrance of Myrtle's toilet. Harry hissed to open the door and levitated the unconscious form of Ginny into Myrtle's toilet. He changed his voice and made sure his invisibility cloak covered him before waking up Ginny.
"Who's there?" Ginny asked as soon as she woke up.
"Someone you will obey if you don't want to get into trouble..," Harry said in an ominous voice. He sent a powerful stinging hex to reinforce the threat.
"Okay. What do you want me to do?" Ginny said fearfully.
"Write 'Enemies and Traitors of the Heir Beware. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.' on that wall there. Use the blood in the bucket to write it and make it big," Harry instructed.
"Is that all?" Ginny asked.
"Do it!" Harry commanded. Ginny followed Harry's instructions to the letter. Once she had finished, Harry fired the Obliviate spell on Ginny. Ginny looked around and saw no one. She then saw the blood and words and fled back to her dorm. Hermione appeared from under an invisibility cloak with a stunned Mrs. Norris. Harry then went back into the chamber and got the Basilisk to petrify the blood on the wall and Mrs. Norris. They reset the traps and went back to bed.
The next morning, the school was all abuzz when Harry and Hermione arrived down for breakfast.
"What's happening?" Hermione asked.
"Someone wrote a mysterious message on a wall and petrified Mrs Norris," Mandy replied.
"What was the message?" Harry inquired.
"Something about the Chamber of Secrets being opened. Talk about being melodramatic," Mandy said flippantly.
"You might think it is funny, but did you know that the Dark Lord that Harry here helped remove was said to be the Heir of Slytherin? This could signal his return," Lisa said in an ominous tone that made Mandy gulp with fear.
"Do not worry as we have both Harry and Professor Dumbledore here. He would not dare do anything while the person he fears and the person who defeated him are both here," Michael Corner said in a light-hearted manner to try to break the tension.
"You and Mandy don't have to worry as you are both purebloods, but your families were able to avoid the war due to their lack of power and influence. The rest of us would be considered either his enemies or traitors who supported his cause but deserted him when he died," Lisa said passionately.
"It could be just a prank," Harry said as he saw his plan backfire.
"If it was only the cat that was petrified then Cho and Marietta would be the prime candidates since they despise that cat. But the reference to the Chamber of Secrets is not their style," Mandy said.
"Maybe they saw the message first and then decided to petrify Mrs Norris. That way, people would think the people who wrote the message also petrified the cat," Harry suggested.
"That does sound like them," Mandy admitted. "They are opportunists,"
"So who do you think wrote the message?" Lisa asked.
"It is not the right style for the Weasley twins. They were next in line as they are the school's most prolific pranksters. Maybe Peeves?" Harry suggested.
"Peeves would do such a tasteless joke, and it is definitely a possibility," Lisa admitted. The conversation then moved on to other matters. At the end of the meal, Harry turned to Hermione and said.
"I think we should poison Draco in case Lucius pulls him from school before we can execute the second part of the plan,"
"I am way ahead of you. Part of my plan B was to poison Draco, and I have already done so," Hermione replied smugly.
"You could have told me. By the way, why doesn't he show any symptoms if you already poisoned him?" Harry asked curiously.
"It is a slow acting poison that Ashley found that mimics the effects of lung cancer. It is undetectable by magic but an X-ray would reveal it," Hermione replied.
"Where on Earth did she find such a poison?"
"She found it in the Black family library. It was created ages ago when they did not know what lung cancer was, and they thought it was just someone's time when it happened," Hermione replied.
"Narcissa might know the potion in that case,"
"I doubt it. Narcissa would probably tell Snape, and there is nothing in his notes about the potion. Bella would be more likely to know but she is gone now,"
"If Malfoy gets eaten by the Basilisk, what does the poison do to the snake?" Harry said. Concerned about the cash flow they were making from the Basilisk.
"The venom from the snake would destroy the poison before it could do any damage to any snake," Hermione replied with certainty.
"I say we go to stage two of our plan," Harry suggested.
"Agreed, we did not expect people to connect the Dark Lord to the heir so quickly," Hermione said.
"I think telling them about the Mind Arts was a mistake. It allows them to recall things better," Harry said.
"It is too late to change it now; we can only go with the flow," Hermione said.
They were on the lookout for any opportunity to do the second stage of their plan. But Ginny was not seen at all the next day. At the end of the day, Hermione asked Padma.
"Do you know why Ginny has not come to meals today?"
"Someone hid all her belongings last night. She woke up with nothing but her sleepwear. No one from her year was willing to lend her any clothes, and she refused to wear anything from her brothers. She was stuck in her dorm room all day while her brothers looked for her things," Padma replied.
"Why did she not transfigure her nightwear into a school uniform so she could help search for her own belongings?" Harry suggested.
"Would you walk around in the halls with transfigured clothes that could be reverted back to nightwear by a simple Finite?" Padma asked.
"Definitely not," Harry replied as he imagined walking around in his boxer shorts.
"Have they found her belongings yet?" Hermione asked.
"No. They are still looking for them," Padma replied.
"What are the odds that Ginny's belongings are currently residing in Myrtle's toilet?" Harry whispered to Hermione.
"A gamble I won't be willing to take," Hermione whispered back. "We should check there and talk to Myrtle and Tippy as well,"
"You should go alone. It will look strange if a guy goes into the girl's toilet," Harry suggested.
"Okay. See you guys later," Hermione said as she left. Hermione headed to Myrtle's toilet and found a slight repulsion ward around the door.
"That explains why no one has found Ginny's belongings," Hermione said to no one in particular. She then entered the toilets ignoring the ward, and Ginny's belongings were in Myrtle's cubicle like they suspected.
"Tippy!" Hermione called and Tippy appeared.
"Yes, Mistress Hermy?" Tippy said.
"Can you get Myrtle for me, please?" Hermione requested.
"Yes, Mistress Hermy," Tippy said as she popped away. A little later, Tippy returned with Myrtle.
"Thank you both for helping us ensure there were no fatalities from that creature last night," Hermione said straight away. Both of them blushed before saying, "you are welcome" in unison.
"We were not ready to kill it last night. Do you mind moving to another location until we can kill the beast?" Hermione asked.
"What about the children? If we move then the children will have no warning of any attack," Myrtle pointed out.
"We plan to jam the secret door so that nothing can get in or out. We will also keep a lookout for the person who is letting the beast out into the school," Hermione said reassuringly.
"I can stay here and keep watch if you want," Myrtle offered. "The beast is unlikely to be able to affect me,"
"We need you to keep an eye on Dumbledore for us. By the way, what was the Headmaster's reaction to the message and the petrification?" Hermione asked.
"He does not think it is very important. Instead he is focused on training Neville and trying to work out a way to make him the new champion of light. There is some sort of prophecy in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry that he wants to change to say that it refers to Neville rather than Harry," Myrtle reported.
"So he has done nothing in regard to this potential threat?" Hermione said in outrage.
"The headmaster has decided to put up monitoring charms throughout the school including your trunks in response to incident," Myrtle replied.
"Doesn't he use the portraits and house-elves to monitor people?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"The portraits have refused to help him due to the articles about what he has done. The sorting hat has asked the house-elves not to report what they see you two do. Since the sorting hat is aligned closer to Hogwarts than the Headmaster, the house-elves listen to the sorting hat first before the Headmaster," Myrtle stated.
"I did not know that. So the house-elves are tied to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, they are bonded to the wards since they need to bond with something or someone to survive. That is the extent of my knowledge in that area," Myrtle explained.
"Thank you for your help. Where do you want to stay while we take care of the beast?" Hermione asked.
"I don't know. Somewhere at Hogwarts because we want to be close to each other," Tippy requested.
"How about the room which held the philosopher's stone last year?" Hermione suggested.
"That sounds great," Tippy replied.
"Do you need help moving?" Hermione asked.
"I should be fine but if I need help I will ask Dobby," Tippy said.
"Do you want to start moving now before it gets dark and dangerous?" Hermione asked.
"I will start moving now," Tippy said as she started packing her things. Hermione began collecting all of Ginny's belongings before leaving Tippy to move in peace. She found the twins trying to sneak into Professor Snape's private quarters to look for their sister's possessions. When they saw Hermione with Ginny's belongings, they felt relieved that they did not have to break into Snape's private quarters.
"What are you doing with our sister's things?" Fred asked.
"I heard that you were looking for her things. That is when I realised you might have overlooked an obvious place because you are guys," Hermione said with mischief in her eyes.
""So tell us poor, intellectually challenged blokes where you found our sister's things," George said while pretending to be a buffoon.
"Where she was locked in last time, the second level girl's toilet…" Hermione said.
"How could we be so dumb?" Fred said.
"You are guys," Hermione said.
"Thank you, Hermione," George said as Hermione left to find Harry so she could tell him what happened.
The next morning, Ginny arrived at breakfast early with her brothers. This caused quite a bit of snickering throughout the hall. Draco approached Ginny with Goyle and Crabbe.
"I heard you lost your things yesterday. It looks like they are still missing judging by the disgusting state of your clothes," Draco said. Ginny fled.
"Go away, Malfoy," Ron said which Draco ignored. When Fred got up, Draco and his two underlings fled back to the Slytherin table. Fred then went after Ginny to try to comfort her.
Not much time had passed before the owls came in carrying the Daily Prophet. The headline was Slytherin's heir has returned. There was an article about the death of a student the last time it happened. It also highlighted the fact that Hagrid was suspected of causing the death of the student by opening the Chamber of Secrets the previous time.
"We need to go to the next stage right now! Hagrid might not be on our side but he is innocent," Hermione said with frustration.
"I agree but there has not been an opportunity to put it into effect. Maybe we should use the time turners to go early to the next meal and wait for them outside the Great Hall?" Harry suggested.
"Okay," Hermione said.
Just before lunch, they used their time turners to wait for Ginny and Ron to enter the Great Hall. When they arrived, Hermione started conjuring snakes while Harry did the spells that would temporarily allow Ginny and Ron to speak only in hisses. As Ron and Ginny entered the Great Hall, they did not realise they were hissing at each other or that they were followed by quite a few snakes. People started screaming when they saw the snakes. Their Gryffindor housemates were yelling, "Heir of Slytherin" while trying to get away from them. The Slytherins and the Ravenclaw students were enjoying the show as they had not seen the snakes yet. When they did see the snakes, the rush for the exits became a stampede.
It was to this scene that Minister Fudge entered with Lucius Malfoy and two aurors. They had come to arrest Hagrid to show that the Ministry was doing something. Instead of performing a simple arrest, they were able to witness the chaos caused by the conjured snakes. At the Professors' table, the Professors were trying to get rid of the snakes but the fleeing students were getting in the way. The aurors were dispatched to help deal with the snakes while Minister Fudge and Lucius Malfoy approached Dumbledore. When Professor Dumbledore saw Minister Fudge coming towards him, he started banging his head on the table in frustration.
"How can I help you, Minister Fudge?" Dumbledore said in a fake friendly voice.
"Do you mind telling us what is going on?" Minister Fudge asked.
"Someone played a practical joke that got out of hand," Dumbledore replied.
"Does this type of thing happen here often?" Lucius Malfoy asked with fake sweetness.
"No. It was a one off incident which I plan to personally investigate," Dumbledore said as he knew that Malfoy would try to use this event to push for a ministry investigation of the school.
"I will be interested to hear the results of your investigations," Minister Fudge replied as he seemed to be satisfied with Dumbledore's response. The two aurors then dragged the hissing duo of Ron and Ginny towards the Professors' table.
"These two were controlling the snakes," Auror Dawlish announced.
"Slytherin was a well-known parselmouth like these two. Maybe we should interrogate them as well," Lucius Malfoy suggested. The two students looked horrified by the suggestion.
"That won't be necessary. This is just a simple prank that got out of control. These two were just the innocent victims of the prank," Dumbledore assured them.
"It will be your head if something else happens," Minister Fudge said which made Lucius Malfoy smirk.
"Is that all gentlemen?" Dumbledore asked as he wanted them out of his school.
"We want to arrest Hagrid and put him in protective custody," Minister Fudge informed.
"What do you mean protective custody?" Hagrid asked in fear.
"We want to put you somewhere to separate you from the students," the Minister replied.
"Where is the somewhere?" Hagrid asked.
"Azkaban," Minister Fudge replied.
"I thought that place was destroyed." Lucius said.
"It was but we are having the place rebuilt. Hagrid can test out the wards on the place for us. It is suppose to replicate the effects of dementors." Fudge said remembering the glee from his Undersecretary when he approval the request.
"No way, I am not going to that place or be your test subject," Hagrid said with determination.
"You have no choice," Minister Fudge said.
"Go with them, Hagrid," Dumbledore said. "I will try to get you out as soon as I can,"
Hagrid reluctantly went with Minister Fudge and his entourage. When they left, Ron and Ginny gave a great sigh of relief.
Chapter 44
A few days later at breakfast, Hermione received a letter from her parents requesting a meeting to discuss an issue that had arisen. No other details were given about the nature of the meeting. She handed the letter to Harry so he could read it.
"So should we go tonight?" Harry asked.
"No. I don't think it is that urgent. Let's delay it for a few days so that we can organise a distraction big enough to make our absence unnoticed," Hermione suggested.
"When should we hold the meeting then?"
"I don't know. Let me think about it and I will get back to you," Hermione said.
"We could always fake another attack of the heir," Harry suggested.
"Maybe but let me think about it," Hermione replied as she turned to see what was causing the disturbance in the Great Hall. It was Ron and Ginny entering the Great Hall. Almost everyone was looking at them warily. Ever since the snake incident, the pair of them were ostracised by everyone in the school. The Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students considered them Slytherin's heirs while the Slytherin students considered them blood traitors. Their isolation continued even when Professor Dumbledore announced that they were not the heirs of Slytherin. Dumbledore's reputation was not what it used to be.
The twins were the only people that tried to help them with the negative attention they were receiving. They were only able to prevent any direct attacks on their persons. Even Percy tried to distance himself from his youngest brother and sister in order to protect what little respect he had left. Neville was forbidden by his grandmother from associating with Ron. When Ron tried to sit next to Neville, he moved so that Ron and Ginny were now sitting by themselves.
Malfoy then strutted into the Great Hall with his two cronies.
"Do you know why Malfoy is strutting around like he owns the school again?" Hermione asked as she preferred Malfoy when he was embarrassed by Cho and Marietta's diaries.
"His father brought the entire Slytherin Quidditch team Nimbus 2001s to get Draco on the team. Rumour has it that his father got sick of Draco complaining that Ron was on the Quidditch team and he was not," Mandy supplied. Hermione immediately realised she forgot about the Slytherin and Gryffindor match coming up. It was the perfect distraction for their getaway. Harry had the same thought as they both turned to each other.
"You write the letter while I will take care of it?" Hermione suggested. Harry was going to object until he saw the expression on Hermione's face. She was already planning what she was going to do. Throughout the day, Harry bugged Hermione for details of her plans with regard to the Quidditch match but she would not relent. That evening after their usual study group, Hermione disappeared forcing Harry to cover for her. She returned as if nothing happened.
"Where have you been?" Harry asked.
"Toilet," Hermione replied.
"For that long?" Harry said with aggravation.
"I am experiencing my period. Do you want the details?" Hermione asked.
"Not necessary," Harry said quickly as he backed off. Once Harry had refocused on his own work, Hermione thought to herself, men are so easy to distract.
The next day at lunch, as Malfoy and his cronies entered the Great Hall their hair changed colour and style to match the Weasleys. Then their uniforms changed into exact copies of the outfit Ginny had on when Draco had insulted her. The three of them then all fell over attracting everyone's attention. A Gryffindor immediately yelled out.
"Are you guys worshipping the heirs to your house? You did not have to dress like them too."
First the Gryffindors started laughing then the Hufflepuffs followed closely by the Ravenclaws then finally the Slytherins. Draco and his two cronies fled from the Great Hall as more students yelled taunts at them. Things like:
"It is not Halloween."
"Did your mummies ban you from their closets?"
"Did you miss your mummies?"
"Did you lose a bet?"
"Did you have an accident while helping Professor Snape?"
"Did you have an accident while making Polyjuice?"
"Are you fulfilling one of Professor Snape's fantasies?"
"Did you forget to change?"
Professor Snape then ran after the three boys to find out what happened. He had a furious expression on his face.
After things quieted down, Harry turned to Hermione and said,
"Did you do that?"
"No, I think they did," Hermione replied as she pointed to Colin and Lee Jordan who were quietly celebrating.
"Do you know how they did it?" Harry asked.
"Either a time delay transfiguration or a proximity transfiguration trigger. My bet would be the proximity trigger as timing it so perfectly would be close to impossible," Hermione speculated.
Later that day, Hermione discovered the listening charms in their trunks that Myrtle warned them about. The charms were placed by Dumbledore and she suspected that Snape would be the one who would have to monitor the charms. So she decided to get some of her own back by transferring the charms to the most popular girl's toilet in the school. The person who monitored the charms would hear a lot about girls doing their business and talking about their feminine issues.
That Saturday when the Quidditch Match between Slytherin and Gryffindor began, Harry and Hermione snuck off to their meeting.
"Are you going to tell me what you did?" Harry asked as they made their way to the Grangers' home.
"No. When the meeting is over, you can see for yourself," Hermione said.
"Do you think the match will last that long?"
"Definitely, probably longer," Hermione replied which satisfied Harry for now.
"What do you think this meeting is about?" Harry asked.
"I don't know but we will soon find out," Hermione said.
They reached the dining room where the meeting was being held fairly quickly. When they entered, they found the room already occupied by Miles, Sirius, Grant, Dan and Emma. Greetings were exchanged before Grant spoke.
"Thank you for you all coming today. The reason why I called this meeting is that the Goblins have started to oppose us. They are trying to push through a number of different legislations in the US magical ministry that would curtail our operations. We need to work out what our response should be."
"What legislation are they pushing and what are the chances that any of the legislation will be passed?" Harry asked.
"We know of 3 pieces of legislation they are pushing but there could well be more. Miles, have you heard of any more?" Grant replied.
"Sorry but we are trying to stay neutral. Our organisation is all about equality including goblins so we are staying out of this argument," Miles said apologetically.
"Why are you here then?" Hermione demanded angrily. "Are you spying for the goblins?"
"No. Anything I hear today will stay between us. I swear. The only reason I am here is to offer suggestions and help when it does not conflict with our organisation's ideals," Miles stated.
"Maybe we should cut all of our funding off to your organisation if you are not willing to help?" Dan suggested.
Miles looked on with horror. They would be bankrupt within days if the Grangers carried out their threat.
"Do not be so hasty. Maybe we can reach a compromise we can all live with," Miles quickly suggested.
"Your organisation should not be protecting the Goblins. The Goblins do not respect other magical races and yet they expect protection from your organisation. I say they are hypocrites. They don't want equality they want superiority just like the pureblood elitists," Hermione said with passion.
"What do you want from us?" Miles pleaded since he did not want the organisation he loved to suddenly become bankrupt.
"We want your organisation to support us until the Goblins are willing to agree to equality among all races. If they are not willing to sign a new treaty with this principle as its core, then we will crush them with or without your organisation's assistance," Hermione said.
"I will need to talk to the leadership council about this," Miles said.
"You have one week before we remove all our support from your organisation," Dan threatened.
"I will need to go and start organising the meeting," Miles said nervously. He quickly made his exit after saying his farewells.
Harry then turned to Grant and said.
"Is this the reason why you wanted Miles in this meeting?"
"I was having trouble getting the Outcast movement to help us. So I thought that I will take a gamble that you guys would back me up. Not only did you back me up, you actually ripped into the leader before I asked," Grant said excitedly.
"So what was the legislation that the Goblins trying to push?" Harry asked.
"The first bit of legislation will ban anyone but Goblins from converting Galleons into pure gold by extracting the impurities. It is unlikely to be passed as the US magical ministry would reject any attempts by the goblins to control its economy unlike the Brits. This is the same reason why their next legislation will fail; the purpose of the legislation will make Gringotts the official bank for the US ministry of magic. The third piece of legislation would make Galleons the only accepted currency in the US Magical economy. We are having trouble fighting this legislation as the old guard at the US Magic Ministry support this legislation but we believe that we can defeat this bill by threatening to relocate our operations out of the US," Grant explained.
"What role has the Outcast movement played in this whole affair?" Hermione asked.
"Their political party stated that they were abstaining from these issues. This meant the minor parties would decide the outcome. If they said no like I wanted them to from the beginning, then we would not have wasted our time dealing with the Goblins. Since they would have already backed off," Grant said in frustration.
"Have the Goblins made any other moves?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, they are trying to find out what we are doing as well as charging us additional fees for our activities."
"So how are we counteracting it?" Dan asked.
"The contracts with our employees are holding for now and we are trying to do as much business as possible in muggle currencies."
"At least they are not threatening to start another rebellion," Harry joked.
"They would not dare. We are building quite a large security force for our various operations. If they rebel, we could cause them a world of pain since we understand and have access to non-magical weaponry that could annihilate them."
"We need to force the goblins to the bargaining table. If the Outcast Organisation comes back on board, then use them to get as many countries as they can to change their trading currency from galleons to non-magical currencies. If the local non-magical currency is unstable may I suggest using the Australian currency instead? The Australian dollar is pretty stable and the currency is a lot more difficult to counterfeit since it combines, plastic, metallic ink and trace amounts of magical substances," Hermione suggested.
"I will see what I can do," Grant replied as he took some notes down.
"I suggest that you lobby the US Magical Ministry to allow their muggle counterparts to seize the accounts of wizards or witches who commit major offences in the non-magical world. We would then offer to convert the galleons into non-magical currencies for them in exchange for a fee plus it would piss off the goblins as they hate losing gold," Sirius suggested.
"We should also get a percentage of their accounts for passing on any information we discovered that links them to major crimes," Dan suggested.
"I will start working on it right away," Grant replied happily. He thought that these were great ways to really hurt the goblins if they were successful. The goblins loved gold and most of the money goblins received came from the fees they charge for managing wizards' and witches' accounts. If they lost too many large accounts, they would not be able to support their community which could lead to wars between clans.
"How are you going to link purebloods to non-magical crime?" Hermione asked.
"We are developing really good contacts within the US non-magical law enforcement agencies. The fact that we have provided them with tonnes of the drugs we have seized has convinced them that we are trying to help. As a result, they are giving us a lot of intelligence about illegal activities they suspect is occurring but cannot prove. The intelligence has allowed us to intercept a lot of drugs, guns and money. Linking it back to wizards and witches is proving difficult especially when they are in Europe. We can connect about twenty high powered people but that is just the tip of the iceberg," Sirius explained.
"Have there been any arrests?" Harry asked.
"The non-magical law enforcement agencies have made quite a few arrests of low level and middle level players in the drug trade. No wizard or witch has been arrested so far. What really endeared us to these agencies is that due to our involvement the amount of drugs on the streets in the US from Central and South America has fallen significantly," Grant said proudly.
"Why hasn't a witch or wizard been arrested?" Harry asked.
"We are not ready to involve the US magical law enforcement department yet. Our plan is to drain them of cash flow before we attack them politically," Grant explained.
"Keep trying to connect as many American witches and wizards to illegal non-magical activity as possible. It should be one of your top priorities," Harry said. Grant took this as his cue to leave so he said his farewells and left. As Sirius prepared to follow suit, Hermione asked.
"Sirius, did you ever find out when the class action suit against Vernon was going to court?"
"It won't be for a while; they keep finding new people who wish to join the class action against Vernon,"
"How about Dudley?"
"His lawyers have pushed back their appeal as they desperately look for an angle to get Dudley off. I suspect nothing will happen until the New Year. I have got to go," Sirius said while looking around nervously.
"Okay, see you next time," Hermione said in farewell to Sirius. He said his farewell to everyone else before quickly making his exit. Harry and Hermione had a casual chat with Dan and Emma before they made their way back to Hogwarts.
Harry and Hermione went to the Quidditch pitch where the game was still in progress. Both sides looked tired from playing such a long game. Speculators were yelling abuse at the players especially the seekers.
"What is happening?" Harry asked Padma.
"Gryffindor is winning by 100 points as Oliver is a way better keeper. Slytherin would be way behind if it was not for the fact they have better brooms than the Gryffindors. But the main feature of the game is the bad performance of both seekers. Where have you two been?" Padma replied.
"We were studying near our common room. When none of you came back to our common room we came here to investigate why," Hermione lied. This response seemed to satisfy Padma.
"What makes you say that the seekers are bad? The snitch could be hiding itself very well during this match," Harry asked.
"I have seen the snitch on a number of occasions during the match so the snitch could not be hiding well. Besides the seekers have a better vantage point than I do and should have spotted the snitch on every occasion I saw it. Lee Jordan, the announcer believed the same thing which is why the spectators are so angry," Padma replied.
"What did you do?" Harry whispered to Hermione.
"Try guessing," Hermione whispered back. Harry knew it was not a notice me not charm on the snitch or else Padma would not have spotted the snitch.
"A selective notice me not spell on the snitch?" Harry guessed.
"No," Hermione replied as Angelina scored another goal.
"I don't know, just tell me," Harry pleaded.
"No, try guessing again," Hermione replied.
"Fidelius charm?" Harry guessed.
"No, try guessing again,"
"Compulsion charm?"
"No, try guessing again,"
"Repulsion charm?"
"No, try guessing again,"
Harry started listing all the spells he knew, starting with the most likely to outrageous suggestions.
"Okay I will tell you. I hypnotised both seekers so they don't see the snitch during the match. They would have no problems during practice sessions but during actual matches they will ignore the snitch. This way, no spells could be detected on either the snitch or players," Hermione informed Harry after Gryffindor pulled ahead of Slytherin by 160 points. Harry leaned back on his seat to enjoy the game once his curiosity was satisfied.
An hour later with the game still on, Lee Jordan decided to help things along for two reasons. The crowd was getting angrier as the match dragged on and he was getting tired from commentating. As soon as he spotted the snitch he announced.
"The snitch is now at the Gryffindor goal posts," Draco raced to the spot but could not see the snitch. He was soon joined by Ron who had the same problem. Lee slapped his forehead in frustration as he could see that the snitch was still there. The spectators could see it as well so in their frustration; they started conjuring vegetables and rotten eggs to chuck at the two seekers. Professor McGonagall took the mic from Lee and announced.
"Stop throwing things at the players at once! The next person to do so will have detention with me for a week!"
The crowd immediately stopped chucking crap at the players. Both seekers were covered in bits of vegetables and rotten eggs that were pelted at them. Whenever they strayed too close to the stands, the stench of the rotten eggs could easily be smelt.
A little later, Lee spotted the snitch again.
"The snitch is now flying in the middle of the pitch near the Hufflepuff stand," Lee announced. Both seekers raced to the spot again Draco arrived first but was still unable to catch the snitch. Ron also failed which resulted in another round of pelting this time they included dung. Oliver then called a time out. Ron was now trying to disturb the Slytherins' plays while Katie Bell looked for the snitch. It took Katie practically no time to catch the snitch to end the game. Ron and Draco then flew directly to Hooch.
"They cheated!" Malfoy declared as he pointed to the Gryffindors. "Someone charmed or jinxed me so that I could not see the snitch," He claimed.
"You are a liar. We did not cheat. Someone from your house must have jinxed me so that you would not look so bad," Ron countered.
"No one from my house would need to do anything to you. You could not catch the snitch if it was right in front of your face. Plus your house was probably scared that our new brooms would result in your thrashing," Malfoy said as he confronted Ron.
"You bought your way onto the Quidditch team unlike me who made it through talent," Ron replied as he stood up to Malfoy's challenge. Hooch saw what was happening so she pushed the boys apart.
"I will investigate both your claims but you have to stay apart until I do," Hooch said as she began scanning them. Once she was done, Hooch announced.
"There has not been any foul play. Both seekers and the snitch appeared to be free from outside influences,"
This resulted in both seekers being glared at by their respective teams. Both seekers looked afraid of their teammates as they entered the team dressing rooms.
A/N I forgot I destroyed the prison earlier in the story so I have adjusted the previous chapter to account for the destruction.
Thank you for your reviews and my betas.
Chapter 45
The next morning, everyone at the Gryffindor table was upset. Padma walked back to the Ravenclaw table after talking with her sister who is a Gryffindor. She was swamped by people that were curious as to what was happening.
"This is what I found out from my twin..," Padma finally said when there was a break in the bombardment of questions she was receiving from her house mates. "Someone or some group of people broke into the Gryffindor dorm rooms and went through all of their stuff. The whole house is currently a mess and they are attempting to sort it out now,"
"When do they think it happened?" Lisa asked.
"It happened yesterday, during the Quidditch match. They don't know who did it yet, but a female student must have been involved since the girls dorms were broken into as well,"
"Did they ask the fat lady's portrait that was guarding the Gryffindor common room if anyone entered during the game?" Harry asked.
"That is just the thing; no one entered or left the common room during the game. They had to have been in the dorm room before the game. Since no one can be positive the culprit had not left the area, the professors made all the students stay in the common room while they searched each and every dorm room in the tower."
"How much damage was done?" Mandy asked.
"There was a great amount of damage done. Stuffed toys were ripped apart, trunks were broken into, and basically anything that could be used to hide a diary was damaged. Some of the stuff cannot be fixed and will have to be replaced. Just exactly who is going to replace it is still up in the air at the moment," Padma replied.
"I think Ginny or Voldemort discovered that the diary is a fake," Hermione whispered her suspicion to Harry.
"Why don't we go to the library so you can check what Ginny wrote in the fake diary?" Harry suggested.
"Okay, let's go," Hermione replied and Harry and Hermione took off to the library.
The fake diary's log showed that Ginny was not aware of any difference between the fake diary and the real one.
"Voldemort must have taken over Ginny's body again. I think next time she goes to the Chamber of Secrets, we should destroy the diary," Harry suggested.
"Agreed, I will move our tutorial class to a classroom near the second level girl's toilets so that we can catch Ginny," Hermione replied. Before Harry could speak, Cho and Marietta entered the library followed by Filch. Ever since Mrs Norris was petrified, Filch had been tailing Cho and Marietta in order to catch them doing something illegal so that he could punish them.
"Since hypnotism seemed to work so well, we should hypnotise Cho and Marietta so they don't remember gossip," Harry said as he forgot what he was going to say before due to the arrival of the pair. "Without their ability to gossip, their power within the school will disappear. It would make it impossible for them to bully other students like Luna."
"I like it but it can't be during the day since Filch is always following them. I will hypnotise them tonight," Hermione replied.
Soon afterwards, Cho and Marietta quickly lost their supposed "friends" as they now were unable to pass on gossip. Ron and Draco were both still on their houses' shit lists when Hermione got another letter from her parents requesting another meeting. So a week and a half after their previous meeting, Hermione and Harry snuck off to the Grangers' place again. They were greeted by the same people that were present at the last meeting.
"So has the Outcast Organisation decided what they are going to do?" Hermione asked Miles.
"After a very heated debate, we have decided to back your actions against the goblins. You need to know that you have made some enemies within our leadership due to your threat to withdraw funding," Miles replied.
"We are disappointed in your organisation as well for not consulting us before making decisions that have a major impact on us," Dan stated. "We will be restructuring our joint operations so that you are getting a dividend at the end of the year rather than allow you to withdraw your cut after each operation. Your cut will also be a lot smaller."
"We did nothing wrong so why are you penalising us?" Miles exclaimed, angry that the Grangers were penalising them for what he perceived as following his organisation's well-known purpose.
"You were trying to protect a group of people that do not believe in equality. Goblins consider witches and wizards as lesser beings. They would annihilate gnomes and dwarfs if they could since they consider them a threat to them. Your organisation was not promoting equality by staying neutral; you were helping them protect their unfair advantage," Hermione accused.
"That is so unfair," Miles said.
"So prove to me that the Goblins are fair and want equality for all," Hermione challenged Miles. Miles knew that goblins were a warrior race who believed in the survival of the fittest which was the exact opposition of equality.
"Why would they be in charge of the British Magical Economy if they were not fair?" Miles asked trying to justify his organisation's position.
"They forced the British Magical Society to hand over control of their economy by revolting. The treaties between the Goblins and the British Magical Society set out the rules that the Goblins have to obey when managing the British Magical economy for the wizards and witches. Anything that is not covered by the treaties is exploited by the Goblins. Did you not learn about Goblins during school?" Hermione asked condescendingly, accidentally insulting Miles in the process.
"Goblins are not as important in US magical society as they are in Britain," Miles explained while trying to control his temper.
"As a warrior race, they view your organisation as weak and do not respect it. What we are trying to do is force them to begin negotiating with us. Our ability to make money will make them respect us as it shows our ability to identify their weaknesses and exploit them. The fact that we have a large security force will ensure that they will behave. Finally, we have gold mining operations which are something they can relate to," Hermione explained in a way to show Miles what they were trying to achieve. This argument seemed to work as Miles relaxed a little.
"Let us move on as this is not getting us anywhere," Grant said as he tried to ease the tension in the room.
"Is your organisation going to help us against the goblins?" Hermione asked Miles refusing back down.
"We already said we will help you," Miles said.
"Is your organisation totally committed or will they cut and run at a later stage?" Hermione asked.
"We are committed now and will help you as much as we can but that can change in the future," Miles replied trying to pacify Hermione.
"Has Grant discussed what he needs your organisation to do?" Hermione asked.
"Not as yet, but I will talk to him tomorrow about what you need us to do," Miles said as if he really wanted to leave.
"Okay," Hermione replied which Miles took as an invitation to leave. He bid farewell to everyone before bolting away.
"I have got an update you might be interested in. After our last meeting, I made a visit to Mrs Figg. I did not like how she enabled Harry to be abused by his relatives so I released 15 cats I found into her house. The cats all had fleas and were either strays or runaways so they were in pretty bad shape. Then I called the RSCPA and reported her by saying how she had been collecting cats for years," Sirius said,
"What happened to her?" Emma asked with interest.
"All her cats had fleas and were seized for treatment. She is looking at boat load of animal cruelty charges, possible charges of theft, and she is unlikely to be allowed to own cats ever again," Sirius said proudly.
"Are you sure the charges will stick?" Hermione asked.
"I spoke to all her neighbours and convinced them that Mrs Figg collects cats. They now believe that Mrs Figg initially treats her cats well before she grows tired of them and forgets about them. She would leave them to fend for themselves and they would become feral in the process. Her big garbage days were the days that she disposed of the dead cats she had under her care," Sirius said.
"That is cruel, but I like it," Hermione said.
"Her mental state is going to be questioned," Emma added.
"That would be great," Sirius said with a predatory smile.
Sirius then took Grant to another room to discuss something leaving Harry, Hermione, Dan and Emma in the room alone.
"So how is your property search going?" Harry asked Dan and Emma.
"It is going well and there are several properties we are interested in different parts of the country. We will want input from both of you before any decision is made," Emma replied. "In fact, when you have time and can get away unnoticed, why don't you come here so that I can take you to the various properties,"
"Do you have a preferred location at the moment?" Hermione asks.
"We are leaning towards New York City. It would be easier to entertain powerful people and politic in New York. We are also thinking of opening a free dental surgery for the disadvantage in Harlem since we are making so much money from our other operations. What do you think?" Emma said.
"I think Harlem might not be the right place to set-up a free dental clinic. If my future memories are correct, major riots hit that area in 1995," Hermione said.
"Maybe the Bronx or Brooklyn then..," Emma suggested. "We can work it out later,"
"Other than that, I love the idea," Hermione said. "We will get Dobby to let you know when we have the time,"
"That sounds great," Emma replied.
Seeing that Grant and Sirius still had not returned to the room, Harry turned to Dan and asked "Are you enjoying entertaining?"
"Definitely," Dan said excitedly. "We have been meeting a lot important people and rubbing shoulders with stars like Paul McCartney, Bono, and Bob Geldof,"
"Oh no, do not get him started again," Emma exclaimed.
"What is the matter, mum?" Hermione asked with concern.
"Your dad keeps boasting about Sting visiting our house," Emma replied.
"Well you know how much I love his music. At least I was not acting idiotic around that well-built actor," Dan said in jest.
"I have not acted like that in years," Emma replied with embarrassment.
"We got a bit drunk that night because we were running late and had to go to the function on an empty stomach. We will never ever go to one of those events hungry again as you can get drunk very easily," Dan said.
"At least we were not as bad as that guy at the UNICEF fund raiser who got so smashed that he starting puking before stripping to his underwear," Emma said as she laughed at the memory.
"How about that time, that man got so drunk he wrote a million pound cheque for the charity which thrilled the organisers until his wife informed them that he had only ten thousand pounds to his name,"
"I like that time those two drunken businessmen with trying to outbid each other at the celebrity auction. What was the final bid?"
"A hundred and fifty thousand pounds for a date with that cross dressing D-lister," Dan and Emma then burst out laughing. Harry and Hermione enjoyed the stories that Dan and Emma told about the functions they attended and the important people they have meet.
"Have you made any progress with developing a working relationship with the constabulary?" Harry asked.
"I have been able pass on the names and locations of quite a few drug dealers and some drug couriers. Since the information I have given them has so far been proven to be accurate I have been able to develop a friendship with the officers I able dealing with," Dan replied.
"Have you included Dudley's name in any of the information you provided so far?" Hermione asked.
"No. Not yet. Once I have established my credibility with the officers for a while longer then I will include Dudley," Dan replied.
"Okay," Hermione replied. Sirius and Grant then came back into the room with a secretive look on their face.
"Something came up and we need to go," Sirius announced.
"Okay. See you later," Emma said. Grant and Sirius said their farewells before leaving.
"We should go too," Harry said before he and Hermione made their exit.
As they made their way back to Hogwarts, Harry turned to Hermione and said.
"We still have not gotten Molly back for what she did to us,"
"You are right," Hermione said.
"We should do something to her right now. We are already out of Hogwarts," Harry suggested.
"Alright," Hermione said as they began planning their revenge on Molly. When they were done, they portkeyed to the Burrow under the invisibility cloaks that Dobby got them. Once there, they found Molly in the Kitchen with the rest of the house empty. Hermione hypnotised Molly so that she could not cook. Harry then used the elder wand to oblivate Molly of her cooking knowledge so that it looked like Dumbledore did it. It also made it impossible for them to reverse without Harry's help. After some diddling, he decided to remove Molly's potion making knowledge as well. They then copied all the cookbooks they could find because they used to enjoy Molly's cooking before they found out what she was doing. Both of them hoped that once they completed their revenge they could enjoy the recipes once more.
Once they finished copying all the cookbooks, Harry and Hermione took turns changing the recipes in the original cookbooks into recipes for the most disgusting food they could think of. It soon became a competition between the two of them as to who could create the worst dish. Hermione won by creating a lumpy overcooked anchovy soup topped with a Brussels sprout omelette served with eggplant and durian bread. The soup would be super salty and fishy while the omelette would taste awful with the strong bitter Brussels sprouts flavour. The worse thing would be the bread which would be slimy from the eggplant and stinky from the durian. They made it look like Molly fell down and knocked her head really hard. They then removed all evidence that they were at the Burrow and headed back to Hogwarts. This revenge will hit Molly hard as she prided herself on her ability to cook.
As they were heading back to their dorms, Harry and Hermione checked the Marauders' Map to ensure that their coast was clear. They noticed that once again, Percy was in the restricted section of Hogwarts library.
"Dumbledore might have given the Weasley children greater access to the restricted section of the library due to their family's support of him," Harry speculated.
"It would explain why they do so well even though they are not that bright. They must be Dumbledore's spies in the Gryffindor dorms," Hermione said in agreement.
"It also explained why Percy was made Prefect even though no one, including most Professors, liked him," Harry added.
"I feel sorry for all people who missed out because of Dumbledore's favouritism," Hermione said.
"Do you think that might be the reason, Ron got the Prefect position over me?" Harry asked.
"It makes perfect sense as Ron was a pathetic Prefect. I had to cover for him constantly," Hermione replied.
Thank you for your reviews and my betas.
Chapter 46
The next morning, none of the Weasleys were at breakfast. Harry turned to Hermione and whispered, "I hope that the twins witnessed Molly's first attempt at cooking,"
"Don't be cruel to the twins; they are good people unlike the rest of their family. What I really wonder is if Ron, the human waste disposal unit, would like Molly's new cooking skills," Hermione whispered back while grinning and trying not to laugh.
"Well that would be easy to determine. If Ron comes back from the hols slimmer then we will know he was not thrilled by his mother's lack of cooking talents. If he has put on weight then he is fine with his mother's cooking," Harry replied.
"If he puts on weight it does not necessary mean he likes Molly's new recipes. It could mean that he is the only one who can stand her cooking so he finishes everyone's leftovers," Hermione suggested.
"I wonder what he would make of that award winning dish of yours," Harry said with a smile.
A little later the Great hall was bombarded by a flock of owls carrying newspapers. The owls dropped a newspaper in front of every student and teacher in the hall. Out of curiosity everyone opened the newspaper and read the headline.
DUMBLEDORE AND KARKAROFF CORRUPTING OUR CHILDREN
Under the headline there was a story about how biased the two headmasters were and detailed their criminal backgrounds. Beneath that there was a story about the newspaper. It was called the Liberty Action Version Newspapers or the LAV paper for short. The newspaper aimed to be a liberal media outlet providing accurate and verifiable stories to all of magical Europe. The newspaper was charmed so that the newspaper was in whatever language the reader wanted it to be in. They would report both magical and non-magical stories and will focus on corruption.
Harry enjoyed the pissed off looks on the faces of Dumbledore and Snape.
"I am surprised that Dumbledore and Snape are not confiscating the newspapers," Harry said.
"They would not dare to try. They both knew that if they did, then the newspaper will be pushed underground where it would get more traction than ever," Mandy said.
"What are the odds that Dumbledore will change the wards so that the newspaper cannot get into the school?" Harry asked.
"You can be almost guaranteed he would try to do so. Anyway, he cannot ward against the newspaper," Penny supplied. "He would have to ward against the senders of the newspaper otherwise private letters and the Daily Prophet would also be affected. This would cause an uproar that even he could not hope to survive,"
The conversation turned to speculation on who produced the newspaper and how they could afford to do so. Harry turned to Hermione and whispered.
"This has to be what Sirius and Grant was discussing last night. The newspaper is certainly Sirius style,"
"I agree, Sirius must have gotten sick of his inability to buy the existing newspapers so he decided to create his own," Hermione replied.
"He must be using the money we are stealing from the drug trade to finance it," Harry said.
"He must be. The cost of the operation must be extremely high. A printing press alone cost more than a good size house. To print enough copies for the entire magical European community would require multiple printing presses. When you consider the ink, paper, delivery costs, reporters and the charms on the newspaper, ever single issue must be costing a fortune,"
"I hope it is worth it,"
"I wonder if they will have it as a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly newspaper,"
"We should soon find out,"
The next day, another issue of the newspaper arrived to the surprise of Dumbledore and the disappointment of Snape. The Weasleys that were all absent yesterday was back today. Harry and Hermione approached the twins after breakfast.
"We missed you yesterday," Harry said.
"Were you missing our divine presence?" Fred said in jest.
"Is everything alright?" Harry asked.
"Our mother had a little accident. She is fine now but they took her to St Mungo's to run some tests just to be safe," George replied.
"Are you guys staying here during the holidays?" Hermione asked.
"We were going to stay at Hogwarts but our parents changed their mind due to all the issues our brother, Ron and our little sister, Ginny, had this term. Are the two of you going to be staying at Hogwarts during this festive season?" Fred asked.
"We are both going home. Is someone going to be staying around to mind your operations while you are gone?" Harry asked.
"Lee lost the coin toss with Colin. So he is staying here to mind our operations while we are gone. Did you know we have started selling our joke merchandise via owl now?" George said excitedly.
"That is great. How is it going?"
"It going alright because our range is limited. Once we have the time to expand our range then we expect the business to do better," Fred replied.
"Is the joke shop separate from our joint operation?" Hermione asked as she wanted to invest in their joke shop.
"It is part of our joint operation since we lack the start-up capital to go on alone so are using it to get our supplies," George assured Hermione.
"If you are looking for test subjects, I volunteer your brothers, Ron and Percy," Harry said with a cheeky grin.
"We are already using them as our test subjects," Fred replied.
"Have they complained to your parents?" Hermione asked.
"Ron tried after we gave him one of our puking pastels but as long as there are no long term side effects. Our parents are willing to back us up since our family desperately needs the money," George said. Lee then approached the twins to tell them something.
"We got to go. See you later," George said.
"See you two later. Give Ron a few extra puking pastels from us," Harry said in farewell.
"Let us see Myrtle and find out what Dumbledore has been up to," Hermione suggested.
"Okay," Harry replied as they made their way to the third floor. They found Tippy chatting with Myrtle.
"So how do you like your new quarters?" Hermione asked after greetings were exchanged.
"It is great, much quieter and more private than our previous location," Myrtle replied.
"I like it as well. It is a lot better smelling than the toilets," Tippy replied.
"What has our troublesome headmaster been up to?" Harry asked.
"A lot of different things but the majority of his time is spent on investigating the various incidents that have occurred this year like the snakes in the Great Hall, the prank on Filch, and the threatening message on the wall. The ministry has overloaded him with paperwork in order to satisfy them that he is doing everything he can to get Hogwarts in order," Myrtle replied.
"Is he making any progress in identifying the culprits behind the various pranks?" Harry asked.
"No. It is funny to watch as people ask that same question to him. He loses that twinkle in his eyes and it becomes slightly manic. His face becomes red as the frustration of the situation overcomes him," Myrtle replied with a grin.
"What else has he been doing?"
"He has continued Neville's training. Ever since the snake incident in the Great Hall, Ron has been excluded from the training. It seems that Neville's grandmother. Augusta Longbottom has forbidden her grandson from associating with a potential Dark Lord in the making like Ron due to his ability to speak to snakes. Even though Dumbledore made assurances that Ron was not going dark, Augusta still refused to back down. Recently Dumbledore had to deal with the fallout associated with Lockhart accidentally removing the cartilage from Draco and Ron's noses. Lucius was adamant that Lockhart be punished for what he did but Dumbledore refused as he claimed that it was a simple mistake on Lockhart's part,"
"Who put the listening charms in our trunks?"
"Dumbledore asked Snape to do it. Snape was ecstatic at the prospect of listening in on your private conversations and learning about your secrets. But he became extremely angry after you moved the charms to the girls toilet. Listening to girls use the toilet while hoping to catch something useful was not what he imagined he was going to have to do.
After a half a day he stormed into the Headmaster's office and refused to listen any more. They got into an argument since Dumbledore was pissed off at Snape for not hiding the listening charms better. In the end, Snape was forced to back down but he only agreed to check the listening charms occasionally," Myrtle reported. Hermione already started imagining different bits of false information they could pass to Snape using this method.
"Is there anything we should watch out for?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore is trying to convince Lockhart to organise a duelling club. He is planning something with Snape in regards to the club but I was unable to find out what," Myrtle reported with her sense of disappointment clearly evident.
"That is a great help, thank you Myrtle," Harry said.
Once Harry and Hermione were alone once more, Harry said.
"I think Dumbledore wants to publically reveal the fact that I am a parselmouth as well. This way he can take the attention away from the youngest Weasleys,"
"I agree. Should we avoid the club or use it against him?" Hermione asked.
"I think we should use it against him. Using the pain numbing spell and brittle bone spell worked really well. Maybe we can use it again?" Harry suggested.
"During my reading, I came across a spell that might be useful. It is a berserker spell that makes people extremely aggressive for a short period of time," Hermione said.
"I remember that spell. It is used during battles to make timid giants like Hagrid into ferocious fighters. The only problem would be that innocent students might get hurt," Harry said.
"You can offer to set up duelling ward. That way no one can get hurt but the professors," Hermione suggested.
"Then how are you going to hit them with the spells if you are outside the duelling wards?" Harry asked.
"I guess I will have to be within the wards but under an invisible coat," Hermione replied. Before Harry say something else, she continued by saying. "Don't worry. It would be easy for me to avoid them,"
They then started planning what they were going to do in detail. The next day at dinner, Dumbledore announced the establishment of the Duelling Club.
"Who do you think is going to be in charge of the club?" Mandy asked.
"I hope it is Professor Flitwick. I heard he was a duelling champion before he came to Hogwarts," Harry said.
"I hope it is not Professor Lockhart because he is hopeless," Kevin said.
"He is not hopeless Professor Lockhart just cannot teach. He is more of an action man rather than a teacher," Lisa said in defence of Lockhart.
"If you believe that, then you would believe anything," Padma said.
"Imagine if it was Professor Snape who was in charge. He would torture all the students that were not from Slytherin," Michael Corner added.
"Is anyone going?" Mandy asked. Most of their Ravenclaw house mates said they were attending out of curiosity.
"I think I better go or else Dumb as a Dork will make the club compulsory," Harry replied when Mandy looked to him for his answer.
"Why do you think Dumbledore will make it compulsory if you don't go?" Anthony asked.
"I think Dumbledore would want to see what I can do in a duel. The duelling club is the best way to do it," Harry replied.
"Are you going, Hermione?" Mandy asked.
"No, I don't think so. Being used as a pincushion is not my idea of a good time," Hermione replied.
On Thursday evening, just before the Duelling club started, Hermione got under her invisible coat and snuck into the room where the Duelling club was being held. As people started coming in, Hermione stayed at the back of the room near the raised platform. When Harry walked in, Hermione saw that he was wearing his dress robes indicating he was ready and she brushed against him to tell him she was ready.
When Lockhart entered the room, there were quite a few disappointed faces. A few people sneaked away as soon as they saw Snape enter. Hermione followed Lockhart as he walked up onto the duelling platform to the sound of snickering which did not fray him one bit. When Snape walked up onto the stage, the snickering from the audience was toned down significantly until a Gryffindor announced. "Introducing Mr and Mrs Snape," to the amusement of the entire audience. Snape then intensified his scowl which shut the audience up.
While Lockhart started talking, Hermione hit both professors with the pain numbing spell and then the brittle bone curse. Just before they began their duel, Harry spoke up.
"Do you mind if I try putting up your duelling wards so that the audience does not get hurt?" Harry asked.
"I doubt we will need it but you can go ahead and try if you wish," Lockhart said smugly.
Harry then started constructing the duelling ward with the Elder Wand which he disguised as his normal wand. While he was doing that, Hermione hit both professors with the Berserker spell. Once Harry was done constructing the duelling wards, he hid the Elder Wand in a secret pocket in his robes.
The fight began with both Professors yelling out Expelliarmus. Snape spell hit Lockhart throwing him backwards disarming him in the process. Lockhart's spell missed by a great margin but Hermione silently sent her own disarming spell that threw Snape back and disarmed him. Both professors shook their heads after colliding with Harry's duelling wards. They then charged each other and started throwing punches left, right and centre. Blood was splattered all over the floor. The sound of punches connecting was driving the crowd into a frenzy of cheering. A few students tried to stop the fight but the ward prevented them. Harry was asked to take down the wards which he tried to do with his normal phoenix wand without success. Several older students tried as well with the same result.
Lee Jordan decided that the fight needed commentary so he cast a Sonorus spell on himself.
"Welcome to Snape's Family Feud Round One. Our contestants today are Professor Severus Snape, also known as Mr Snape, versus Professor Gilford Lockhart, otherwise known as Mrs Snape.
Lockhart then hit Snape with a round house. Snape then taunted Lockhart by saying he hit like a girl. This enraged Lockhart who charged right into a Snape right hook. Lockhart was still able to bring Snape down. They were now both on the floor together. Both of them were trying to get on top. Lockhart ended up on top and had started to punch Snape face with both hands. Snape then kneed Lockhart in the groin. He must have let Lockhart get on top so that he could use his knee. That was a good move on Snape's part and Lockhart rolled off him and he fell to the side holding his family jewels.
Snape was now banging Lockhart's head against the floor. Lockhart responded by pulling Snape's hair and saying "If you say I hit like a girl then I am going to start fighting like one and see how you like it," They now pulled each other's hair. It looked like they were both having trouble maintaining a grip due to the amount of hair products in use. Snape was first one to get free as he was not known as the Greasy Git for nothing. Lockhart now started scratching at Snape's eyes and Snape has let go of Lockhart's hair to protect his face. This was the opportunity Lockhart was looking for as he has punched Snape in the family jewels. Snape went down and Lockhart kneed Snape again more forcefully.
The cavalry arrived in the form of Professor Flitwick and Lee Jordan signed off on this lovers tiff.
The professor scanned the wards and was surprised by their strength. Flitwick then organised Harry and some of the older students to simultaneously perform the spell to bring down the duelling wards. It worked allowing Flitwick to stun the two professors to end the fight.
He then announced "The fun is over. Everyone back to your dorms," The students reluctantly left to go back to their rooms. Hermione left before Dumbledore arrived as his glasses could see through her invisible coat. As Harry was leaving, Healer Chapman had arrived.
A/N Lav in Australia is a slang term for toilet. Down under newspapers are also known as shit rags (another name for toilet paper). It is a bit convoluted but I can imagine Sirius liking the joke. I was going to call it the Bogroll but decided that the British would not take the newspaper seriously.
Thank you for your reviews.
Sorry for the delay. Just a warning, the release of my next chapter is also likely to be delayed.
Thank you for reading my little story. If people want to write their own fanfiction stories with ideas from here they are more than welcome.
Fury074 asked me about the Healer Poppy. In my draft version of chapter 33, I wrote about how she was forced to leave Hogwarts which I realise I did not include in the final version. At some later stage I will update Chapter 33 to include Healer Poppy.