Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize from the books in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling belong to the aforementioned J. K. Rowling. I am simply playing with them for my amusement, and to see what kind of reaction I can get.
WARNING: I am going to butcher some more Arthurian legend.
54 - Thinning the Herd
While the Professors attempted to sort out the mess in the middle of the hallway, Blaise picked up Daphne and raced her to the Hospital Wing. In a classroom down the hall, Hermione placed a silencing charm on Draco when she tired of his whining. Harry arrived in the hallway in time to assist the Professors by taking the mess that was Draco II, over to the Hospital Wing so Madam Pomfrey could officially pronounce it dead or whatever she did in these cases. Once there, Harry took Poppy aside and quietly explained to her exactly what the corpse that looked like Draco was … well, she had to know. Some diagnostic charms she might attempt on it could revert it back to a clump of hair. Harry was quite impressed with Hermione's human transfiguration since they hadn't gone past hands, feet and arms in class. Then again, she always did read ahead. Harry would have explained to Daphne, but Poppy had already given her a dreamless sleep potion and Blaise was still sitting beside her.
Minerva of course had seen exactly what happened, she had been watching over Harry's shoulder in amazement as the events unfolded. She had seen walls move and corridors change direction, things that she knew were possible, but had never actually witnessed before. Once the action was over, she excused herself and made her way directly to her office from the Library, all the while muttering under her breath in absolute amazement. Dumbledore had, over the years, tutored his deputy in the Castle Wards and most of the other magic pertaining to Hogwarts Castle, the Grounds, the Black Lake and the Forbidden Forest. He could not however teach her things that he himself did not know or could not do. And then there was Harry Potter … he was moving walls by dragging his finger over a map of the Castle and clearing them back to normal with a wave of his hand. She suspected the map was just a prop he used for a visual reference, she had seen it before, or one very much like it in the hands of Sirius and James when they were at school. She had even taken it away from them several times, and when trying to activate it got nothing but insults back. She knew that Argus Filch had finally confiscated it one night when he caught Sirius and a Gryffindor sixth year Prefect on the top of the Astronomy Tower, both less than half clothed and well after midnight. The pair had been too busy paying attention to each other to watch the map, and thus, were caught bare handed … and then some.
The Headmistress quickly made it back to her office and sat, she knew it would still be several minutes before she was to be interrupted. Minerva's muttering and thoughts were predictably interrupted by a knock on her office door. As she beckoned them to enter her mind was trying to work out how to deal with them. The evidence of Draco II's body would never last long enough to get the case to court, but maybe she could find out something she could use to expel these Slytherins and get them out of the Castle for good.
Minerva floo'd the DMLE and requested that Aurors attend Hogwarts immediately since there had been an apparent student death. Filius handed Minerva the students' wands and sat the three miscreants down to await the arrival of the Aurors. Professor Slughorn had opted out, based on what he thought had happened, he didn't feel he could defend these student's actions against an unarmed student. Five minutes later Shacklebolt, Tonks and Robards stepped through the floo directly into Minerva's office. The three Aurors recognized the students by their names as being part of Death Eater families. Each Auror was given a students wand to check and they didn't have to revert back more than a dozen spells before unforgivables were found on each wand. The reductos and cutting curses used to attack the two Professors and the students in the corridor were the most recent ones found in the wands. Potentially deadly spells all of them and based on the description of Draco II's corpse, it had been a very powerful reducto or more than one, that killed him.
The three students were taken away to holding cells at the Ministry both for killing Draco and for using unforgivable spells. The Aurors had wizard photos of Draco II's body and the corridor where it was found as well as memories from the two Professors and Blaise for evidence. For some reason that surprised her, Poppy was never asked for a Death Certificate though she was asked about the cause of death.
During the meeting in Minerva's office, Harry met Remus and Narcissa outside the Hogwarts gates and called for Fawkes. Fawkes flashed the three of them directly to the hallway outside the second floor classroom. Hermione sensed Harry's arrival and wandlessly opened the door, she was sitting on the teacher's desk watching a silenced Draco who's feet were stuck to the floor, rant and probably swear at her, she turned to look at the group as they entered. Remus was the last one in and closed the door behind him. Harry turned back and sealed the door again then verified the silencing charm that kept their conversations from escaping to the wrong ears. Narcissa Malfoy rushed up to her son and hugged him then turned to Hermione seething in anger. Part of the deal that was worked out ahead of this meeting included that Remus had Narcissa's wand and Harry had Draco's. Hermione then removed the silencing charm from Draco and covered her ears expecting a noisy backwash. She was not disappointed, even Narcissa looked at her son with concern.
Once Draco calmed down under his Mother's icy glare, Hermione went over the next step of the plan which was to get them to safety. Narcissa asked again about the tutoring for Draco, fully believing it would be second rate. The two Malfoy's still had not been told they would be in the care of all four founders or exactly how and where they would be hidden. Remus grinned, but the teens still would not divulge the details except to say that Daphne Greengrass and her family would be joining them soon.
"If we don't like your arrangements we can return … right?" asked Narcissa.
"Absolutely!" responded Hermione, "But … if you leave … and you are most certainly free to do so, the deal is broken, you will be obliviated, and you'll be, as you are now, on your own."
"If … however … you stick it out … until Voldemort is dead," both Malfoy's flinched at the name, "You will retain your memories and be able to return to your lives in relative safety." Stated Harry.
"Let's get on with it!" stated Draco. He was starting to get annoyed with all the chit chat.
"Fawkes." called Harry. A small flash of red flame preceded the large red and gold bird that was now winging around the classroom. Harry held out his arm for Fawkes to land on and once the bird was perched, he and Harry had a brief, silent, conversation.
"Draco … Missus Malfoy … Hermione, Remus, take my hands and we will travel to the entry point of the sanctuary." Fawkes hopped up to Harry's shoulder and waited patiently. Draco and Narcissa looked incredulously at Harry, then Hermione and back to Harry as if to say, 'we have to touch you?'
Harry sighed and shook his head slightly sideways in exasperation before nodding it up and down. This was quickly becoming annoying and, truth be told, he would just as soon leave the Malfoy's to whatever fate awaited them. On the other hand, Dumbledore did say they could be useful later on … and that was the only reason he was putting up with this at all. A little bit of Wizard's Debt could go a long way so long as it was Malfoy owing him and not the other way around.
After a minute they were all holding hands … if the grimace on Draco's face was any indication, he must have been in immense pain to hold Hermione's hand, Narcissa was holding Harry's hand. They flashed directly into the back corner of Hogwarts Library's Restricted Section and directly in front of the portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw. Rowena was, as usual, standing there in her portrait, waiting for them just as she had always been every time they came.
Harry blinked at the portrait sending a small pulse of magic towards it, Rowena awakened and stepped forward greeting Harry and Hermione. "Lord and Lady Gryffindor, a pleasure to see you both again so soon … are these the two who seek the safety of the Keep?" Rowena said as she looked over the Mother and son. Harry nodded his head and Rowena spoke again. "A final word of warning Missus Malfoy, Mister Malfoy, if you harbour any ill intentions towards this school, its teachers or its students … you will not reappear on the other side of this entrance … you will be lost forever. The effect I believe will be similar to going through the Veil in the Death Chamber of the Department of Mysteries. The process is not painful … you simply cease to exist … do you wish to proceed?"
Mother and son backed away and conversed in whispers for a minute or more, then stepped forward. Narcissa stated, "We have no intention of betraying the school … some of the staff and students we do not personally care for, however we have no intentions of hurting anyone. We simply wish to see the Dark Lord defeated and survive this mess. Does that qualify for safe passage?"
"So long as you both truly believe that statement, you'll be fine." Responded Rowena. "What is in your mind is more important than what you say. The magic you will pass through is similar to that of the Sorting Hat, it looks into your mind for the truth."
They joined hands in single file as Harry indicated and Hermione led them through the portrait right behind Rowena. Harry came through last after Remus and was actually surprised to see that both Draco and Narcissa had actually made it through. After all the trouble that Draco and the Malfoy's had caused over the years, Harry had almost hoped that they would not make it through the portrait … damn.
They all followed Rowena to the waiting table and once seated Draco and his Mother noticed there were four extra chairs. Narcissa began with a few pertinent questions to confirm that this was indeed their final destination and Rowena confirmed that it was. Narcissa's next concern was her sons education, the fact that Rowena Ravenclaw was here assuaged her concerns somewhat. Rowena responded by flicking her recently reacquired wand in the direction of the portraits of the other three founders and Merlin. It took from a few seconds to a minute for the Founders and Merlin to step out of their respective portraits. Within minutes everyone was sitting at Rowena's 'Round Table'.
A tea service trolley had appeared and followed Merlin over to the table. While the tea poured itself into cups that eventually climbed onto saucers, the sugar and cream had already walked off the tea cart onto the table where they wandered around on short little legs. The now full tea cups and saucers followed the cream and sugar onto the table and positioned themselves in front of each person.
The Malfoy's had come out of their state of shock as the tea distributed itself and Narcissa and Draco started looking around the room. There was a wall of bookshelves, full to overflowing, opposite that there was a warm fireplace and plenty of comfortable chairs as well as a large plush sofa. The wall they entered from had paintings of each founder and Merlin, all life size and narrow as was Rowena's that they came through. The far wall had a collection of weapons mounted on it and two suits of armour standing between two doorways.
Since this was the first time in many hundreds of years that Helga had been out of her portrait, introductions were made all around and the Founders did a little catching up amongst themselves. Narcissa seemed to take the proceedings in stride, she was actually quite impressed with the level of magic involved in creating this experience as well as being slightly amused by the interactions of the ancient Wizards and Witches. Draco on the other hand was quite impatient and used to being the centre piece of any crowd. His impatience got the better of him and Draco spoke up only to be immediately silenced by a thump of Salazar's Staff.
"Young Man, and I use the term 'Man' loosely," voiced Salazar in strong clear Olde English, "You may think that you are the Prince of Slytherin House," he hissed, " … But … I am the King! You will treat your elders," and he motioned with his hands presumably to indicate all those at the table except Draco, though Draco didn't think he meant to include the Scarhead and his Mudblood, but he wasn't sure, "with the respect that they're due and respond only when spoken to … unless you think you can better me in a fight!" Godric chuckled, Remus and Merlin smiled while Rowena and Helga shook their heads almost imperceptively. Harry and Hermione's happiness increased quite noticeably in each others minds although they tried very hard not to show it to the others around the table by hiding their smiles behind their tea cups. Their happy, sparkling eyes gave it all away to any who were observant enough to notice.
"Your Father and his friends are misguided … they are nothing but sheep following a madman … a brilliant, but misguided fool who unfortunately happens to be distantly related to me. The Father of young Tom Riddle hurt him badly by abandoning him and his Mother, and she did him no favours by passing on the inbred insanity of her family, the Gaunts. Their collective stupidity has all but wiped out the Slytherin blood line. I have made a lot of mistakes in my life and those mistakes have brought us to where we are now," Salazar's voice grew louder as his spiel progressed until he was yelling as he said, " … another Blood War!"
Draco was definitely looking scared, he had always thought he was a proper Slytherin and following in the footsteps of his Father and Salazar. Narcissa was looking at Salazar in surprise. While she wasn't as fanatical about Blood Purity as her husband, Lucius; she was brought up as a member of the Black family to believe that she was better than those with 'impure' blood.
Helga put her hand on Salazar's shoulder and he turned to look at her. She usually sat beside him because she could make him see the light of reason and calm him down. Salazar had been in a terrible row with Godric once, about a thousand years ago, when she had been away and Salazar had left Hogwarts. It had taken Helga almost a year to track him down after that and several meetings to convince him to come back. Unfortunately he had almost died before making it back and the only thing Rowena and Helga could do to preserve him was to put his essence into a painting. He was the first of the four Founders to become a living portrait.
The conversation went on for hours between the Founders, the Malfoys, the Potters and Remus … Minerva even stopped by for a few minutes to check up on them all. The two doors on the far wall turned out to be the dormitory entrances, boys on the left and girls on the right. There were no trick staircases however. Since they were Mother and son, the pair were given the option of sharing accommodations if they wished. Draco's trunk was already in the boys' dormitory and Narcissa's trunk was currently on the girl's side, however they did not need to remain so.
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Later, in the Head Student's bedroom
Harry was spooned into Hermione with his arms wrapped around her and his lips nibbling on the back of her neck. Hermione was holding on to his hands to keep him from distracting her train of thought … too much. They were in fact both going over the last few hours in their minds and how things had worked out reasonably well. Minerva had told them about Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle's wands showing the use of unforgivable curses and their being taken away to face charges for that as well as Draco's apparent death. The charge of killing Draco would eventually be dropped for lack of specific evidence, however the use of unforgivables was enough to keep them in Azkaban for the rest of their lives … unless of course Voldemort won the war.
Finally Hermione gave up her struggle and released Harry's hands allowing them to come up and cup her breasts. Hermione purred in contentment as the flames from his touch warmed her to the core. She wiggled her bum into his crotch causing him to groan and nip a little harder on her neck.
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Tuesday morning September 23, 1997
Rumours and speculation were in abundance during breakfast until the Headmistress made her announcement regarding the five missing students. Four students were gone and Daphne had been injured trying to stop an attack on one of them. She would most likely return to classes sometime today.
Hermione talked Harry into going to the Hospital Wing with her to see Daphne and explain what had actually happened the evening before. Daphne would have awakened by now from the dreamless sleep potion and would be very upset to remember seeing the Draco look alike lying dead in the hallway. Fortunately Blaise wasn't there when they arrived and Daphne didn't ask specific questions as to how the ruse was engineered. Daphne realized very quickly that she would have to play along with the cover story or Blaise for one would get very suspicious.
Classes carried on as usual for the next day and a half until the remains of Draco II returned to being a handful of burned and crispy platinum blonde hair that was put in a specimen jar in Poppy's office.
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Wednesday evening September 24, 1997
After supper, with their homework done, Hermione had plunked herself down on the sofa with her favourite book, 'Hogwarts; A History'. She knew Harry would join her as soon as he put his books away and he would be far more interested in her body language than actually reading a book. Although she had no arguments with his ideas of recreation she was planning on attacking his Father's trunk tonight to look for the shield.
No sooner had she flipped to the next page when she felt a warm breath in her hair as warm hands settled onto her shoulders migrating down her arms. She recognized this ploy and dutifully reached up and behind her to grasp his shoulders He allowed himself to be pulled over the back of the sofa and land gently with his head in her lap looking up at her beautiful smile. No sooner had she looked down at him than she lost herself in those expressive pools of emerald green that he used for eyes. She couldn't break their eye contact for what seemed ages until Harry blinked and she was able to look away. Harry himself had been deeply engrossed in a pair of milk chocolate brown eyes that looked ravenous, betraying their owner's insatiable desire to gobble him up.
"Come on lover, let's look for Gryffindor's Shield … we've put it off long enough." Sighed Hermione, "Once we find it, then we can relax and play." A wide grin spread across Harry's face as he rolled over and got up giving Hermione a hand up also. Hermione both grinned and grimaced as she felt all the heat and moisture in her body begin to pool between her legs in anticipation … damn that green eyed boy and her reactions to him! She used to be so calm, organized and under control … now she was antsy, horny and mostly under his control … one look from his eyes and her mind melted into a puddle of goo. 'What was wrong with her', she asked herself rhetorically?
Hermione had gone off in her own mind again while staring at him, a silly grin formed on her face. He tugged gently on her arm and broke her trance. She followed him into her bedroom, the one she never used, even her clothes, at least the ones she used daily, were mixed into his dresser and closet. Once a week they ventured in here and Harry pulled a vial of potion out of a locked chest and drank it … otherwise they seldom entered this room. As it was, she only just realized it happened to be Wednesday night. The first thing Harry did was make for the locked chest on top of her dresser and he pulled out a vial. Harry liked the box because it looked like a miniature version of a Pirate's chest he had seen on the tele many years ago at the Dursleys. He had purchased it at a second hand shop in Belize, an appropriate location to find such an item. He smiled at the silly idea. Then again … the Wizarding world being several hundred years behind the Muggle world in many ways, it could be the same design a Pirate would have used.
"I keep telling you that I trust you … you don't have to drink your potion in front of me every week," said Hermione in a jesting tone.
"And I keep saying that this way there is never a doubt in either of our minds," said Harry as she now sat beside him on the bed.
"Yes dear," she said as she motioned with her hand for the trunk to settle in front of them.
Harry opened the lid and Hermione plucked his parents' boxed wands out almost before he could see them. She tucked them under the pillow and out of sight, hoping one day that they could actually try them out. They pulled out all the memories and Harry put them in an unused dresser drawer and now they were down to more personal items. Harry mostly looked as Hermione cautiously pulled things out and set them aside. There were several dress robes for both James and Lilly with the Potter family crest embroidered on them, some work and casual robes as well as some Muggle clothes that were now quite out of fashion. Two boxes were next to come out, the first contained a Muggle tuxedo, it looked like what his Father wore at their wedding, at least in the still photos. The next box was about twice the size and Hermione was nervous about opening it. Harry flipped the top off and gasped, it was a brilliant titanium white, his Mother's wedding dress. Hermione's eyes bugged out as Harry stood and lifted it out of the box, he nodded for her to follow him. From behind he positioned her in front of the full length mirror and draped the dress over her. Hermione pulled it in at the waist and flared it out from her hips, it didn't take much for her to imagine herself walking down the aisle towards his smile and those sparkling green eyes that were looking back through the mirror at her. Whenever she had allowed herself the luxury of optimism, she had always pictured herself in her own Mother's wedding dress. Both dresses were so beautiful she may have to decide whom to disappoint.
With a sigh she folded it up and put it back in the box and the box went into her dresser for safe keeping. Some hardware came out next, two ancient looking, but beautiful swords. Hermione pulled the smaller of the two out and began unsheathing it until she saw the name engraved on it. "Niniane" the engraving on the blade was filled with gold, a flowing script in ancient English characters. The name rang a bell in her mind, and … as she slid the blade home in its scabbard she thought she could hear it singing to her. The sword's grip seemed as if it was moulding itself to her hand as she held it.
Hermione looked over to Harry, immediately picking up on the stunned look on his face. She looked down and saw he had picked up the other sword, it was about a third out of its scabbard on his lap … the name "Excalibur" sparkling back at them and then she remembered. Niniane Ambrosius, was the real name of 'The Lady of the Lake', the first wife of Merlin Ambrosius. We are going to have to have a talk with Merlin she mused.
A/N:
My apologies for the posting interval being so long. I got very little written between the summer and now. This is my last completed chapter! I had promised myself that I would stay 5 chapters ahead of what I posted … alas that promise has been broken and the next chapter is less than half written.
Some more authors with complete and in-progress stories that I am reading or have read and liked:
Edmond O'Donald ffn 3623347
muggledad pky 28264
Golasgil Sindar ffn 492394
udderpd ffn 507123
va32h ffn 1494355
lorddwar ffn 708471
Minstrel Knight ffn 1452167
Angry Hermione ffn 1025347
greenevans pky 7440
Paracelsus pky 8272
simons_flower pky 1558
Hopefully these will tide you over 'till I write some more.
Barmy