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"FINE!" Roared Fudge who had casted a Sonorus on himself and looked like he was going to have an attack of apoplexy if nobody called a healer in the newt minutes. "THE SESSION IS OVER! WE WILL CONTINUE THE DEBATE TOMORROW!"
As the crowd departed in angry mutterings, Morag's father watched the Chief Warlock with attention. Albus Dumbledore was looking at Cornelius Fudge with the gaze someone gave to their subordinates before firing them as they caused too much trouble. The Minister had been very friendly with Lucius Malfoy in the last months...the blonde-haired wizard in question was sallying out of the room with several senior figures of the Conservatives, Traditionalists and Anti-Regulations alliances. It was a noticeable change as the men notably suspected to have been part of the Death Eaters in the last conflict were rare in his surroundings. Too bad reading on the lips at this distance without Supersensory Charms was impossible. There were rumours about certain manoeuvres on Hogwarts' board of Governors which were...puzzling.
"What was the next thing we were supposed to speak about, by the way?" Lord MacDougal asked to Lord Catterick. The grey-haired wizard on his right was ruffling thorough an impressive column of parchments.
"Something about a new attempt to restart the Triwizard Tournament, I believe." Was the answer growled in a ruffled voice. "There's going to be a meeting in July or August between eight or nine European Schools."
"We haven't the budget for something like that. Not since Fudge pushed at the ICW that we wanted to organise the next Quidditch World Cup."
"Like it has stopped the Minister and our dear Chief Warlock before..." Chuckled Lord Slughorn on his way to the exit.
Hogwarts students in certain ways were very much like their Muggle counterparts. There were perfect students, who shuddered at the very idea of breaking a rule or bypassing by an inch the entrance of a forbidden area. These witches and wizards teenagers were in general their teacher's favourites pupils, never received detentions, earned so many good points their personal school files were overwhelmed by them, showed perfect grades to their parents and in general left the establishment with letters of recommendation from every teacher. Names like Percival Weasley, Penelope Clearwater or Cedric Diggory, to include some of the fifth and sixth-year Prefects, belonged in this category.
After them, came the broad range of students who could have been considered 'normal' if such a thing existed in the Wizarding World. Girls and boys who tried to respect the rules and the teaching staff, but sometimes chose to violate the frontiers when Quidditch or something in their hearts pushed them to do so. Most of the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws fell into this category. On average, the Heads of Houses were rarely concerned with these young witches and wizards: one or two reprimands and these students returned to a correct attitude and earned the required number of OWLS and NEWTS.
Then there were the witches and wizards who gave no attention to the rules, but ensured they were never caught in the act by skill, talented manipulation of the existing rules, leaving no witnesses or sheer dumb luck. Infinitely more dangerous than the two first categories, these wand-wielders hid in the shadows and never gave hints of their real capabilities. A sizeable minority of Ravenclaw and Slytherin Houses were filling this description, generally getting away with their misdemeanours because the teachers had not enough free time to do proper investigations.
Finally, there were the students who considered a duty to create as much mischief as they could in the thousand-year old castle, teenagers and children who did not care if they were caught in the act. Laws, rules, authority and discipline were considered cumbersome and despised with deep fervour. These troublemakers used the influence and the wealth of their families to pursue their mischievous activities on other students who lacked such advantages. In peace time, it resulted in wave of pranks. In time of foreign conflict or civil war, it could reach the level of lethal curses and crimes of the highest order. They were the architects of chaos and the bane of tranquillity everywhere they walked. By a strangest coincidence, the vast and crushing numbers undoubtedly belonging to this infamous category were members of Slytherin or Gryffindor Houses.
And if an impartial observer had conducted a 1992-1993 poll to know who were the biggest nuisances with the only voters being the professors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the odds of Neville Longbottom, Ronald Weasley and Leo Black being mentioned would have been incredibly high. In one year and a half of scholarship, the Golden Trio had acquired a mystical aura of breaking the rules and audacious pranks that only the infamous Weasley Twins were able to challenge. The huge number of detentions received after each of their 'exploits' had failed to deter them.
As a result, an impartial observer would have felt a certain amount of dread if they had watched the Golden Trio on that cloudy day of winter. The Hogwarts Express was about to leave in about five minutes, and the three notorious Gryffindors were chatting excitedly as they slalomed between the trunks, parents, fellow students, cats and owl cages. The Boy-Who-Lived and his two friends being excited generally resulted in life at Hogwarts turning to be...interesting at best. A war zone at worst, because even the calm and collected Slytherin were known to break a nerve or two when they were drenched in paint, saw the homework they had passed five hours on go up in flames or took hours to console one of their year-mates which had been aggressed in a deserted wing of Hogwarts. The discussion between the three pranksters once they had all been in a locked and sound proof compartment would not have been in the nature of reassurance.
"I have the Polyjuice!" Exclaimed Leo Black.
"Good, good." Said the Longbottom Heir, rubbing his hands together.
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