7. Flying Lions, Crawling Snakes and Dirty Rats
The life of the school settled down to its usual rhythm. Harry, Ron and Hermione found their work load was bearable, just. Although they were learning masses of useful stuff in their regular classes, it was in the study periods with Professor Aegis that the greatest leaps forward were happening.
Harry noticed that even in the seventh year Defence classes, it was only defence that was being taught, but in the classes with the rest of the Tyr offence was also on the menu. They recapped all that Harry had taught the DA the year before, and improved on the power that they could put behind each spell.
Another improvement they made was learning the discharging of multiple spells from their wands. To both Harry and Hermione, brought up in the muggle world, it was like the difference between a single shot pistol and a machine gun, and like the latter instrument great control was required if one's friends weren't to be hit as well. Neville seemed to have particular difficulty with this aspect and on several occasions the rest of the team were seen diving for cover as multiple stunning curses ricocheted around the classroom.
After one such episode as everyone was calming down Hermione finally broached the subject of her necklace.
"Let me have a look at it Hermione?" said Aegis, "No don't bother to take it off", he added as she reached behind her head to undo the clasp. She leaned forward and held out the stone to him on the end of its chain. He reached out his hand to touch it and as he did so a brilliant flash of blue light made him jump backwards.
"Goodness!" he exclaimed "That was rather reminiscent of the staticus curse, gave me quite a jolt".
"Looked like an electric shock", said Harry.
"My Dad collects those" said Rom knowingly.
"No Ron that's plugs, electric plugs."
"Oh… Not the same then Harry?"
"No"
Hermione was looking confused "But Professor, Harry has held the stone and it didn't do anything to him, show him Harry".
Harry gave Aegis a weak smile and shutting his eyes, just in case, took the stone in his hand. No shock. Harry slowly opened one eye and then relaxed when he realised he was safe.
"Interesting, perhaps it's an age related protection, you try Ron".
In response to his Professor's request Ron confidently reached out for the stone. As he picked himself up off the floor and attempted to flatten his hair which was literally standing on end, Professor Aegis said "Nope, not age related, can't be a boy, girl thing either". He glanced down deep in thought and saw Harry and Hermione's hands clasped together resting on Harry's knee.
"Now I understand, quite clear, quite clear. It's your special connection".
"And what special connection might that be?" queried Ron suspiciously, "You never mentioned a special connection".
……………………….
There was a sudden commotion. Compass who normally curled up under the teacher's desk partly to sleep and partly for protection suddenly shot across the room, there was a terrified squeak from a darkened corner and a scrabbling of claws. The dog however could not control his legs on the hard stone floor and skidded unceremoniously into the wall. He picked himself up and looked back at Aegis who raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Rats!" came the thought.
……………………………
Ron however was not to be put off "Well?" he said. "What connection?"
"It was my birthday present Ron" said Harry "Hermione gave me err…" He began to go red "Err.."
"Oh for goodness sake! .Ron I gave Harry the "Credo pectus oris" charm."
It obviously meant nothing to Ron who just stared at her. Ginny on the other hand put her hands up to her mouth to stifle the exclamation that was dying to escape, but a quiet "Oh that's beautiful" did creep out.
Hermione looked at Ron as if he had just been awarded the dumb wizard of the month cup.
"I made a commitment to Harry, I gave him my heart and soul, it's sort of permanent." explained Hermione.
Both Harry and Hermione held out their hands to show the faint but indelible marks on them.
"Oh! So you're serious about your relationship then?" Ron had a vapid look but Harry could see a tiny smile at the corners of his mouth.
"Ronald Weasley you are impossible!" Hermione was totally exasperated by the great ginger twit who now burst out laughing.
"Children settle" chipped in Professor Aegis. He continued, "This means that only you Hermione, or you Harry, can touch the stone. Can you take the necklace off Hermione?" She tried but the clasp remained locked. "What about you Harry?" Hermione turned and Harry reached for the clasp which came apart in his hands. "Who did it up the first time you put it on Hermione?".
"Harry did, necklaces aren't easy to do yourself".
"OK do it up again now Harry. It is obvious that he is the only one who can remove it normally. Anyone else would have to do it without unclasping it, and I doubt if that chain could ever be cut".
"But it won't fit over my head" Said Hermione.
"Yes, exactly" and the Professor didn't need to elaborate any more, Hermione looked a little sick at the thought. Harry looked horrified. "We have already seen that it produces a shield to ward off unfriendly curses and return them to whence they came but I doubt that it is all it will do".
…………………………
He breathed a sigh of relief. Now that he was outside the boundaries of Hogwarts he could relax, not that rats really relax that much. As he scurried through the hedgerows away from the school his small rat mind held a tinge of triumph. Once he was able to resume his human form that triumph became ecstasy, he would live, he had the information, and his master wouldn't kill him… this time.
He had seen them all, the one's his master blamed for the incarceration of his Death Eaters. They had been talking with that country bumpkin, and now he, Wormtail, knew that the mudblood had the stone. He also knew that Potter and the girl were the only ones who could touch it, well if he couldn't remove it the normal way there was always the easy alternative.
Peter Pettigrew sat down on a convenient rock to contemplate what he should do next, and winced in pain. That damn great clumsy mutt had almost got him, as it was he had caught his leg squeezing out of the classroom. He didn't think he had missed much, it sounded like they were going to discuss Potter's love life. Love what was the point of love. He had never been loved, the rat he became had always been in him, and he knew it kept others at arms length. He had loved once, but then in their own way all the Marauders had been in love with Lily Evans. Then from the shadows he had watched as the Dark Lord killed her. James had died fighting, he had his chance, but she had died protecting Harry, and his master had killed her without a seconds thought.
As the memories returned to Peter he began to sob. Not for James, not for Lily, and now not for Sirius, but for himself.
…………………………..
September turned to October, as it usually does, and late on in that autumn month was scheduled the first Quidditch match of the season, Slytherin against Gryffindor.
The Slytherin team was a shambles, no Malfoy, Goyle or Crabbe. Malfoy and Goyle had been removed from the team by Professor Snape, Harry reckoned it was because they had been caught rather than what they had tried to do to him and Hermione, and Crabbe was still at St.Mungos.
Gryffindor were fielding a strong team. Katie Bell led the chasers Ginny Weasley and a new girl Evadney Sprocket, a third year.
"Nice girl, shame about her name" Ron had commented when she made the team.
Everyone called her Eve.
Richard Thompson and Harold Winter, both fourth years, were the new beaters, Ron was in goal, and Harry was back as seeker. They had trained as hard as their lessons would allow and had worked on set moves that gave the opportunity for individual variations to be added if the circumstances required it.
They felt confident in their abilities but as Katie gave the prematch talk she cautioned them because she had just seen the revised Slytherin team, they were all huge. Wallace the new captain looked as if he had been hit with an engorgement charm in infancy and the rest of the team were similarly built. Although they would not be very agile it occurred to the Gryffindors that if they were caught in a tackle by any of the opposition then they would definitely come off worse.
"Just be very careful and watch each others backs" Katie advised, "This will be a game of attrition. Harry, we really need an early snitch or else we'll all end up in the hospital wing".
It was clear that Katie's fears were real. From the first whistle Slytherin made no attempts at goal, and their seeker would have had a hard job catching the Hogwarts Express. Their sole aim was to incapacitate the Gryffindor team behind the back of Madam Hooch, who was the referee for the match.
There were many close calls as the Slytherins dived into the attack, but the Gryffindors with their greater agility managed to keep out of the way. The real danger came from sneak attacks. Thompson who was so busy protecting Ginny from a side attack by one of the Slytherin chasers fell to a double crush attack by the two Slytherin beaters who had bounced him from either side. This put him out of the match and on his way to Madam Pomfrey although it looked as if he was still able to move, he waved weakly as he was stretchered away.
Although there were no more serious injuries the Gryffindors were having difficulty in concentrating on the job at hand, having to swerve, this way and that, in order to avoid the Slytherin team. They had scored sixty points and with their faith in Harry had no doubt that they would win but they needed to survive as well.
Ron, who had nothing to do, was intently watching the poor excuse for a match that was happening at the other end of the pitch. It suddenly occurred to him that the Slytherin beaters were not in his field of vision. Some second sense or possibly the roar from the Gryffindor stands alerted him to their presence. Due to the fact that they knew no other moves, and had not the imagination to devise another, the pair were trying the double crush attack again.
As they came in from either side Ron suddenly shot upwards. To them it was as if he had simply vanished, with horrified looks on their faces they pulled on their broom handles in an attempt to avoid the crash. Had Ron waited a few seconds more before moving out of the way the collision would have been a spectacular disaster, as it was it was merely bone crushing and as Ron remarked later it he was glad it was their bones not his. The two beaters bounced off one another shooting off to either side to the pitch, one of them only just missing a stand full of Hufflepuffs.
Harry realised it was becoming necessary to end this match. The Gryffindor team were tiring, the physical demands and nervous concentration needed to avoid serious injury were beginning to tell and they were one team member down.
It was at this stage that Harry managed to even the odds. He was flying high above the stands when he went into a nearly vertical dive, Hermione who had been watching the game with mounting trepidation cried out and covered her eyes, but only for a second as she needed to see what Harry was doing. He was plummeting out of the sky at a reckless rate, he passed through the other players all milling around trying to avoid each other, flying so close to Wallace and at such a speed that his wake had caused the chaser's broom to spin end on end and Wallace lost his grip.
He could have fallen some fifty feet but fortunately half way down he met one of his team mates on the way up, and the sight of the two of them astride the same broom but facing each other produced gales of laughter from the stands and a mass exodus of the Slytherin supporters who could not bear to watch any more. The combined weight of the two Slytherins caused the flying charm on the broom to collapse and sent it pancaking into the ground.
The reason for Harry's dive was that he had seen the snitch and he wasn't about to let the opportunity pass. As he spun out of the dive it was with his arm in the air, and the snitch firmly clasped in his hand.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and shouted. "GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
The Gryffindor common room held its usual after-match celebration. The margin of two hundred and ten points over Slytherin was not the largest that they had ever had but it gave the team a good cushion in contemplating the harder matches to come and anyway a win was a win and needed celebrating.
Ron was giving a graphic interpretation of his escape from the two Slytherin beaters and if you believed him he had known all along what had been happening behind him and his avoidance had been timed to perfection. Harry smiled, he knew that Ron hadn't seen anything at all; Ron glanced at him and faltered in his tale, as Ron knew what Harry knew, he smiled back, then continued with gusto.
Harry and Hermione were sitting away from the main celebrations on the sofa, and Harry was having his ear bent. Hermione was not happy with him, she was pleased they had won, but not with the dive that Harry had finished the match with.
"Really Harry, do you have to fly like that, it scares me half to death." Hermione said with feeling. "If you kill yourself on that broom I don't think I'll ever speak to you again".
Harry looked sideways at her, then she realised what she had said and added "Well you know what I mean, please be careful, for me, if nothing else".
He slipped his arm round her shoulder in one of their rare obvious displays of affection and they settled to an evening of togetherness.
Much later that evening Professor Aegis sat in his office staring at the object on his desk. He didn't like this part of his job that much, Dumbledore could do this without any help, but Aegis needed the talisman that was in front of him.
Dumbledore had been doing this for years, but now with the changes at the Ministry, he was hard pressed to have enough time, so doing that which any great leader does, he delegated. Aegis was the unwilling delegatee.
"It's snooping Headmaster, I know that at home we use mind driven short distance communication all the time, but we all know it's happening. Just to trawl through the school picking up random thoughts…. It doesn't seem right somehow".
"Calm yourself Solomon, it is not snooping, it is pastoral care, and it is essential for the smooth running of the school." explained Dumbledore. "I have been able to avert several potential disasters, and provide assistance at the right time to those it is almost impossible to keep out of trouble".
"You mean Harry and his friends".
"Yes, they are what concerns me now, but before them it was Harry's father and his friends, and there have been a few other interesting individuals spread about the years. My regret is that I was not keeping an eye on things when Tom Riddle was here. Had I been then none of this Voldemort episode would have occurred."
Aegis looked quizzically at the Headmaster. "You would have killed him as a child? I find that hard to believe."
Dumbledore sighed. "No I suppose not, but I would have found some way to reach him and turn him from his path to destruction, for that is were it will surely lead, whether he wins this war or not."
So with his misgivings somewhat assuaged Solomon Aegis was playing the fisherman. He let his mind, augmented by the talisman, wander the halls of Hogwarts. It was quiet in the main; most students were now in bed, and sleeping soundly. There were one or two still in study and any panic over lessons could easily be calmed by a gentle thought.
He managed to pass quickly over the emotions generated by clandestine meetings in dark corners of deserted rooms, he didn't feel ready to cope with that just yet.
His mind stopped in the Gryffindor common room, only two students were there and he knew their minds instantly, both at peace with each other slowly, slipping into sleep. There was a tinge of regret to Harry's thoughts which he now voiced to his companion.
"You know Hermione". His voice was quiet, clouded with sleep. "The thing I regret is that I can't show you off to my parents. I know they would love you as much as I do, but it's just impossible, I'd like to think that they would be happy for me."
Hermione snuggled closer. "Oh Harry" and a small tear was her only reply.
Aegis moved on, and amongst the sleeping minds there was one who was not yet asleep. The sadness in that mind was palpable, there was also a resignation that the sadness would never go away. For a muggle child the thoughts would have been a bedtime prayer. 'Mum and Dad I know that you are there somewhere…… even if I can't find you……. I will go on looking for you for as long as you both live. There has to be some hope, I will not believe there is none. …………..Oh by the way Gryffindor won at Quidditch today…Harry caught the snitch you should have seen him……….' Professor Aegis sent out a calming thought and Neville Longbottom drifted off to sleep.
Why was it always the Gryffindors? They had more emotional problems than all the other houses put together, but if you analysed the reasons it was obvious. The Hufflepuffs, the caring sharing house, bounced all their problems off each other resolving most of them in the process. The Ravenclaws were so organised that either their emotions were shallow or work related, only rarely did emotions get the better of them but when they did, Wow! The Slytherins were very introverted, existing only for the self and what they could get out of it, so when things went badly they just made the best of it.
The Gryffindors flying in the face of adversity were only able to share their woes when they had a relationship like Harry and Hermione's. Aegis had to admit that he was impressed with the resolve which the members of that house possessed, he knew that they would be the backbone of any real resistance to the plans of Voldemort.
He leaned back in his chair raised the small glass of Ogden's Firewhiskey and drank a silent toast… 'The Flying Lions'.
Autumn was in her full glory, the leaves of the oaks and elms in the Forbidden Forest had turned a lovely russet brown colour, the odd evergreen fir stood out, the lasting dark green of their needles looking almost black in the reduced sunlight. It was still reasonably warm but when the wind took it into its mind to blow it came from the north and then the temperature would plummet.
It was on such a windy day that the trio found themselves on a rare combined visit to Hagrid's hut. All three were wrapped in cloaks and scarves as they picked their way down the well worn path to his door.
"Ron, 'arry, 'ermione!" Hagrid greeted his friends with glee "Don't know 'ow you knew it was today timin's perfect"
"What do you mean Hagrid?" Said Ron "We didn't know anything."
"Oh didn't yer, well never mind yer here now that's all that matters. 'e only arrived 'alf an 'our ago, I got 'im out back in the paddo'k"
Harry and Hermione exchanged nervous glances, they knew only too well the sorts of animals that Hagrid found this exciting. It was a testament to Ron's new status as the only one of the three continuing with Care of Magical Creatures that he looked almost excited as Hagrid.
"Great, a new animal" he enthused "Lead on Hagrid, let's see the beast".
But it was Harry and Hermione who received the most pleasant surprise, for standing in the paddock, grey hair sleek and gleaming, ruffling his grey feathers, and staring at them with a steely eye was none other than Buckbeak the Hippogriff.
Hagrid told them that it was due to the changes at the ministry that Buckbeak had been allowed to return. The time he had spent on the run with Sirius and then in Grimmauld Place hadn't harmed him much, although he had put on a little weight, due to lack of exercise. Hagrid wasn't allowed to use him any classes but at least he had the Forest to roam in.
Harry and Hermione remade their acquaintance with the Hippogriff who returned their bows and seemed pleased to see them. Ron introduced himself in a far more confident manner than Harry had in his third year and was instantly accepted by the animal. Harry thought Ron's abilities with animals was really starting to show and wondered where this might lead him in the future.
They spent a wonderful afternoon in Hagrid's company; he produced large steaming cups of tea and some cakes. Harry normally avoided anything that Hagrid cooked, but Hermione who was usually the same looked at the offering and tried one.
"Hagrid these are delicious!" she squealed, Harry looked at her as if she had gone mad, "Where did you learn to make them?"
Hagrid blushed, at least his cheeks, the only bit of his face you could see, reddened. "Well yer see Olymp didn't think much of my cookin' so she taught me, an' I suppose 'cause she's French an' the French are good cooks, she must had taught me well".
Harry and Ron didn't need any second prompting as they grabbed a cake each and stuffed them into their mouths. Muffled cries of 'ummm!' and 'great' could be heard as they wolfed them down.
Hagrid looked at them, and with a little wink which he directed at Hermione said "Do yer know that's the firs' time I seen you two eat anything of mine, you usually take it back to the school with you".
Hermione giggled and the two boys looked at each other for support, then looked to Hagrid and gave him two identical cakey grins. Hermione shouldn't have taken a sip of tea at that moment as it took several minutes for her to stop coughing when she choked on it seeing the vapid expressions on Harry and Ron's faces.
Later on as they returned to the castle they continued to enthuse about Hagrid's new cooking skills. Harry was glad that Hagrid hadn't continued baiting them about his old rock cakes, as he wouldn't have had the heart to tell him that he once used one to support an old, wobbly, wardrobe in the dormitory in his second year, and it was still there.
……………………..
The small bald man cringed in front of his master.
"Well Wormtail, I hope for your sake you have made progress in your task".
"Yes master if have ascertained the whereabouts of the item you seek. I was able to gain access to the castle, I heard them discussing it with the one from the Isle. It is in the possession of Potter's mudblood companion. I will take it from her at the opportune moment."
The man who called himself Lord Voldemort looked with distain at the quivering form of Peter Pettigrew.
"The opportune moment is now Wormtail; the crystal must not be accessible to Potter when he comes of age. It seems to me that if you get both the crystal and eliminate the mudblood then a double blow will be dealt. It will put the Potter whelp at a great disadvantage, I may be able to strike earlier than I had planned. Do it Wormtail, and do it soon."
"It will be as you command, but the girl is well guarded, I will need to pick my time."
"That is no concern of mine you fool, take Walker with you, I want you back here by the end of the year. There are other plans in progress that Bellatrix and I need to involve ourselves in. If you do not succeed hope you never see me again"
Wormtail scuttled out of his masters presence. Voldemort sat in his high backed chair
"Bellatrix" he summoned her. From the shadows, as if she had been there all the time,
Bellatrix Lestrange approached him and bowed low. "I need you to advance the release of my followers from Azkaban, offer the Dementors anything, it is not as if we will ever have to pay it. With the crystal in my possession and the rest of the Death Eaters free nothing will be able to stand in our way. Dumbledore and Potter will be finished". He began to laugh, the cackle was harsh and high pitched. The woman joined in the sound and was bloodcurdling.
Peter Pettigrew stood on the other side of the door and listened to the sounds within. Not for the first time in his life he regretted the actions that had lead him to serve the Dark Lord. He sighed, he knew he was dammed, and there was nothing he could do about that. He had to go and find Walker; there was a mudblood to kill.