An Unbelievable Scapegoat
“He’s getting worse.”
Harry looked up from closing his door one morning to see Theo pacing around their lounge.
“Who?”
“Ne-...Longbottom. I ran into him last night, and I swear to Merlin he was paler than Draco, and that was before he noticed me and jumped half a mile.”
“Did he say anything to you?”
“Of course not. Does he ever? And we don’t even know each other that well, so it’s not like he’d tell me to begin with.”
“Honestly, I was hoping he’d talk to you because you didn’t talk too often.”
“Well, that didn’t work. So what are we going to do?”
Harry sighed, running his hand across his forehead. “Molly didn’t know anything that could have happened this past summer, so if it’s something in the family, they’re keeping it quiet.”
Theo, even as worried as he was, shot Harry an amused glance. “Don’t you mean your mum?”
At Harry’s glare, Theo started to laugh.
It only got worse when Harry hit him with a mild tickling charm and left the room.
Magical school was still school.
Having spells at their disposal didn’t mean that they didn’t still pass notes during class, jokes, help with work, even just drawings.
(They were planning to learn spells similar to the bird animating spell they used in the Ministry of Magic to magically pass the notes, but that hadn’t happened quite yet.)
So it wasn’t unusual for paper to fall on Harry’s desk as a friend walked by. But when Millie passed by and a heavy thunk sounded on the wood, Harry looked up with a start to see a roll of parchment, bearing both her and Hermione’s handwriting scribbled across it.
Dates, locations, local reports of people going missing, of people losing their minds.
None of them made British wixen news.
Millie had to use her aunt’s connections around the world to dig up local newspaper reports.
All across the world, travesty would happen, and in its wake, a horde of people that couldn’t remember what had happened.
Harry scanned it, nodded with a smirk, and tucked it away in his bag.
Penelope Clearwater was found late one night, next to a shattered hand mirror.
She was somewhere between the two House towers, but it wasn’t her night for prefect rounds.
The professors were all asking who she would be meeting.
No one was going to answer.
Nor would anyone comment on how Percy Weasley’s anxiety skyrocketed, how he walked around looking rather lost.
However, her petrification was the spark for yet another round of worried letters to parents, specifically from the scions of Houses.
(The fact that most of those letters went unanswered didn’t help. The heads of houses were nearly overcome with terrified students.)
Even Draco Malfoy insisted on Crabbe and Goyle once more following him everywhere.
Terror rose again in all corners of Hogwarts.
House Clearwater, while not a Sacred 28, had been pure for generations.
It didn’t take long for things to turn awkward for Harry again.
By breakfast the morning after Clearwater was found, a majority of the school had already heard about it.
When Harry walked in with the rest of the Slytherin Heralds, the Great Hall fell silent, and once again he felt the eyes of hundreds of suspicious classmates on him.
His own eyes flickered around to his friends already seated.
Hannah and Susan, waiting for them by the Slytherin table.
Percy, shaky and pale.
Even Jocelyn Wiseacre, who had an inexplicable soft spot for Colin Creevey, and still hadn’t quite come to terms with his absence.
Between one breath and the next, it suddenly became too much.
He gave some excuse to the friends hovering around him, and turned, quickly walking out of the Great Hall.
He ignored any calls, even from prefects worried about his safety, and his feet led him to a bench in a window on the second floor, overlooking the Heralds’ courtyard.
He knew that at least one of his friends was sure to follow him, but was slightly surprised to see Theo amble up to him.
He wasn’t too far from catching up to Ron in height and lankiness.
Theo didn’t even look at Harry as he sat next to him on the bench, leaning forward to open it a crack.
They sat there in silence for longer than Harry could tell, until it was almost suffocating.
Harry couldn’t help the tears that began to run down his face.
“I don’t know what anyone wants from me,” he whispered, closing his eyes as a chilly breeze from the window crept across him. “I’m just… I feel like this is all my fault.”
Theo was looking out at the lake, not even turning towards him.
Harry pulled his knees up towards his chest. “I don’t get why people want to follow me. Like, sure, I’m the Boy-Who-Lived, but I didn’t even do anything, and Albus put away Grindelwald, who was like, international bad. So why me?”
Another minute of silence. Harry rolled his eyes, scrubbed his face, and nudged Theo with a shoe. “You can talk now. I’m not going to shatter.”
Theo lolled his head towards him with a rueful grin. “Well, first, you’re twelve, Hadrian. Right now, all anyone wants from you is to do well in school and maybe learn about your position.”
Harry scoffed. “Tell that to Dumbledore. He keeps… leaving breadcrumbs. Between Quirrell last year, and the whole Chamber mess, I honestly think he keeps trying to push me to see what I’ll do. But…”
He trailed off, sitting his chin on his arms to look at Theo. “Why me? Like you said, I’m twelve. We’re twelve. Why are you so sure that I’m worth following when we haven’t even grown up yet?”
Theo sighed, and gave him a considerate glance. “You’re kind, Harry Potter, and I don’t see that changing.” He ignored Harry’s groan and leaned forward. “Look, Dumbledore is a power unto himself, sure. But… people trust him the same way they trust Fudge.” He waved his hand. “As a leader, from afar.”
His hand landed on Harry’s knee. “You, though?” He gave him a soft smile. “You’re forgiving, and kind, and you protect what’s yours. And when it’s yours at risk, that’s when you turn sharp, and commanding, and someone we can see leading us to something we’ve been missing.”
Harry sniffed. “Okay. So that explains my friends. But why should I assume that anyone outside of the Heralds will see anything worthwhile in that? Why would they turn away from Dumbledore to support some kid?”
“Dumbledore thinks too much of the big picture. How to save the world. You just deal with one problem at a time, when you have to. That’s how you approach things, how you lead us to approach things. And while some may say that’s exhausting, or time-consuming, it makes you know what’s important, and what you prioritize.”
Theo squeezed his knee. “Honestly, Hadrian, you don’t know what it feels like to be someone you prioritize. Anyone who’s been behind you when you put yourself between them and danger would never turn that away.”
Harry used a sleeve to wipe away more tears. “Tell that to Draco.”
“Draco aside. For as smart as Draco is, he’s still in the mindset that his parents can do no wrong. Not all of us grew up with that luxury.”
“You know I’m worried about you, too, right?” Harry nudged him with a shoe again.
Theo gave another grin. “I’ll tell you when you need to be worried. Worry about yourself first.”
Harry unfolded himself. “I can multitask.”
Valentine’s Day wasn’t something the wixen world celebrated.
The year prior, the First Gen Club had a full day research binge into the origins of the holiday, and how it was just… created.
Debates broke out on its validity, the stupidity, and then they promptly all agreed to ignore the day.
Their wix-raised friends watched this with a mix of apprehension and amusement.
So when they all woke up on the morning of February 14th, wandering into a bright pink Great Hall, many of the students were either confused or irritated.
The fact that the celebration was quite literally centered around Gilderoy Lockhart had many going with the latter.
At the end of breakfast, Lockhart stood and cleared his throat. “Good morning, students! As I’m sure you all know, today is Valentine’s Day! I thought we could all use a bit of cheering up with the nasty business of last semester.”
Harry had to physically pull Susan back from charging the staff table.
“I would like to first of all thank the 46 people who sent me cards! Quite thoughtful of you!”
Hermione’s jaw ticked. “Unfortunate that none of them contained a silencing potion imbued in the ink.”
She hid a snort when Harry immediately sported a far-off expression, clearly thinking through the needed alterations to a potion to make that viable.
“Now, a treat for you all!” He clapped his hands, and the large doors opened, revealing a troop of stone-faced, pink-laden dwarves.
Dwarves carrying golden harps and wearing fluffy white wings.
“These fine fellows are our card-carrying cupids for the day!” Lockhart grinned from the dais. “For a small fee, you can have them read or sing a poem, song, or simply a heartfelt note to those dearest to you.”
The majority of the hall looked back to watch the ‘heartfelt’ dwarves glare at the professor.
As students began to disperse, quite a few actually went up to the dwarves, who had begun to roam between tables.
One began to linger near the seventh year Slytherins, one in particular looking contemplative.
Harry leaned over Marcus’s shoulder. “If you send him a dwarf, he might literally kill you. And I don’t know if he’d be kind enough to wait until the season was over to do it.”
Marcus flushed and rolled his eyes. “He’d know it was a joke.”
“Would that really make it better?”
“...no. Fine, never mind.” Marcus wandered off, leaving the dwarf looking rather bored.
Harry eyed him with a curious glance. “Do I have to pay to ask you questions?”
The dwarf stared back. “Yes.”
He shrugged. “Fair.” He pulled out his money pouch from his bag. “How much?”
A bit later, just as lunch started, Harry slipped into the infirmary, immediately heading towards Justin’s bed.
“Hey, mate, you won’t believe who Lockhart hired as Cupid’s messengers today.” He sat on the end of the bed, pulling out his notebook. “It’s Valentine’s Day, which I know you didn’t like even before Hogwarts. But for some reason, Mockhart wanted to celebrate it, and decked out the Hall. And to send love telegrams to people, he hired a troop of dwarves.”
He trailed off, sighing as he watched his friend. “I’m so sorry you weren’t here to meet one. And I couldn’t find your notebook, and Susan and Hannah weren’t around in time for me to ask them to go grab it from your rooms, but I did the best I could.”
He pulled his legs up, sitting cross legged with his notes in his lap.
“Okay, so just like the goblins, there are multiple clans of dwarves. The primary clan of the UK is actually close allies with the Gott Clan of goblins, so much so that they share an entrance to the other’s domain at the bottom of Gringotts. The dwarves mine the gems that the goblins use to craft their weapons…
“Hey, Luna, Susan. Myrtle have any gossip for you today?” Harry flipped a page as the two girls settled next to him in the Slytherin common room.
“Not anything interesting. She was in a foul mood, not that I blame her,” Susan leaned against his shoulder, reading over it. “Are you seriously doing extra reading for Potions? You’re already top of the class.”
Harry flushed. “Am not. Why was she upset?”
“Someone threw something at her.” Luna dug into her bag, pulling out something wrapped in a large scarf. “We took it, she seemed rather upset with it still in the bathroom.”
His scar twinged, and he leaned forward with a frown. “What is it?”
Susan sighed as Luna began to unwrap it. “It’s just a diary. There’s a year on the cover. Looks old, though.”
Luna handed it to Harry, and he was careful to use the scarf to hold it as he flipped to the back. “1942. Vauxhall Road? That’s muggle London.” He opened it to the front page. “T.M. Riddle.”
Susan frowned. “Riddle isn’t a wix last name.”
Harry flipped another page. “It’s… it’s empty? Why would someone go to the trouble of throwing away an empty diary?” He looked up, and his eyes widened at the skeptical looks the girls were giving him. “What?”
“I don’t trust it.” Susan shook her head. “Books can be extremely dangerous, there’s a reason there are so many books in the restricted section, and it’s not because they’re all advanced. There are some seriously cursed books that take a professional to read.”
Ginny plopped down in a nearby chair. “Then why are they here? It’s not like many students ever get that far in classes.”
“It’s not really advertised, but Hogwarts has a lot of researchers come and visit. Something about ‘continuing education into adulthood’ or something,” Susan replied, still glaring at the diary.
Luna nodded. “My father has come by quite a few times to study the older texts on creatures. He said it was interesting to research how information evolves over time.”
Harry twisted his head to look at her. “What kind of texts?”
Ginny groaned, leaning forward to flick his ear. “Not right now, Potter.”
“Should we write in it?” He asked, looking back down. “I mean, what could be the harm, right?”
Susan clenched her jaw. “I don’t like it.”
He hesitated, looking between her and the diary.
It didn’t look dangerous.
It was a simple book.
Worn.
How could it be dangerous?
He reached for a pen.
“It’s not like I’ll write a novel. I’ll… How about just the date? And then we’ll see if anything happens.”
Susan crossed her arms, but didn’t stop him.
He ignored the way his hand shook as he hovered over the first page.
He took a breath and wrote the date in the top corner of the page.
Luna and Susan loomed over it expectantly. Ginny was ready to pull it away from him.
They watched as the ink seemed to… sink into the page.
And then more ink seemed to emerge.
Hello. Who has found my journal?
Harry looked up at the girls. “What should I do?” he whispered.
Ginny shot him a disbelieving look. “You don’t have to whisper, I don’t think it can hear you.”
“Well, I don’t know! You guys were the ones going on about how dangerous this is!”
“Just… make up a name. See what it’s supposed to even do.”
Harry groaned but fiddled with the pen. When Susan gave him a nod, and rolled his eyes and moved to the page again.
My name is James Dursley. Are you T.M. Riddle?
The ink disappeared until more scribbled across the page.
I am. You may call me Tom. I’m not familiar with the name Dursley, are you muggleborn?
Yes. I can only guess you are as well?
The journal didn’t respond back right away.
No. I simply spent a bit of time in the muggle world.
Well, nice to meet you, Tom. What exactly is your purpose in this?
This is a way for me to preserve my memories.
“What does that even mean? Preserving his memories?” Ginny peered as she read upside down.
Harry rubbed at his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “I don’t know.” He leaned forward again.
So why the interface? Do you need someone to communicate with to sustain yourself?
Let me guess, Ravenclaw? A little too eager to pull apart a new toy, no? We Slytherins always admired that about you eagles.
Harry rolled his eyes. “Speaks a lot to what he thinks of house culture.”
Yes. Fourth year. I found you in an abandoned classroom.
“You’re rather good at lying, Hadrian.”
“It’s a piece of paper, Ginevra, it’s not like it’s hard.”
I am glad you did, James. How are you faring at Hogwarts?
Harry looked up. “You don’t think… I mean, the year is about fifty years ago. Do you think it knows something?”
Susan stared at it. “I don’t like this, and I don’t trust it. What if it… I don’t know, what if it can do something to you if you keep writing in it?”
“Well, it’s not like we can switch, Sue, at the very least it’ll probably be able to tell handwriting apart.”
She set her jaw. “We should have used one of the dictating charms you taught Crabbe and Goyle. Merlin, I’m such an idiot.” She turned away, shaking her head.
Luna put a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. A few more minutes, and then we’ll stop, and we’ll keep an eye on Hadrian for the next few days just in case.”
Susan gave a brisk nod and then stood. “I’m going to find Pansy. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
They watched her go, Ginny and Harry with matching frowns, Luna with a near-vacant expression.
“She’ll be fine. She is putting a lot of blame on herself for Justin, and is worried about her aunt not writing her back.” Luna shook her head, looking back at Harry with a slight smile. “Did you want to ask him something?”
Harry looked back down. “Should I?”
“I mean, make a reference to weird things happening, and maybe he’ll let something slip.” Ginny scooted closer. “We should have said you were a Slytherin, he may have been more open.”
“Well, here goes nothing.”
Hogwarts is… a home away from home, let’s say. Though, unfortunately, this year has been marred with a few accidents, and no one seems to know the cause. Someone’s claimed it’s the Chamber of Secrets, but we all know that must be a prank.
A prank? Maybe not. It’s more real than you think.
The girls both gasped as they read the words. Harry just had to keep himself from breaking the pen.
Really? As a Slytherin, I’m sure you’d know more about that than I would. Did you know about it during your tenure?
I did.
Would you tell me?
No. But I’ll show you.
Before Harry could even think to look up, the diary was pulled away from him, and flung towards an empty couch in the corner of their area.
Ginny dusted her hands off. “Nope. Too weird. We’ll wrap it up, have someone put a ward on it, and hand it off to Snape in the morning.”
Harry and Luna shared a wide-eyed glance, but then they both burst into laughter.
The library table groaned as Millie slammed a heavy book on it, startling not only the few Heralds sitting there, but many students around, and Madam Pince shushed them from her desk a few yards away.
Millie raised a hand in apology and sat down. “You lot are lucky that Irma is a cousin and doesn’t mind me looking through the history books in the restricted section.”
Anthony shook his head. “Everyone really is related, aren’t they.”
The purebloods all shrugged.
“Honestly, it gets to be less about how closely you’re related and more about how long you’ve kept in touch,” Ron replied, frowning when Millie slapped away the hand reaching for her book.
“Irma and my aunt were practically raised as sisters, and since my aunt has taken over as the maternal influence in my life, she keeps an eye out for me.” Millie flipped open the tome, finger running down the page.
“What exactly is that?” Hermione asked, shifting her chair closer to peer over the pages with Millie.
She pushed the book closer to Hermione. “Well, I did like you suggested and checked the Slytherin House records for around that time, but it was missing. Definitely suspicious, but it wouldn’t be difficult for someone to get rid of evidence. This, however, would be extremely difficult to alter, because it’s imbued with the castle’s innate magick, the same magicks that make the acceptance list when a magical child worthy of Hogwarts is born. This…” She trailed off, patting the tome with a smile. “This is the official school roster for the years 1925 to 1950. All students, all houses, every year. I figured we’d start with the year on the diary and work a few years either way until we find Riddle.”
Ron shuddered. “No wonder it’s huge. Class sizes used to be massive before the Blood War.”
“So it just lists names and houses?”
Millie nodded. “And makes a notations for any special awards, any… transfers…” She frowned, finger landing on a certain spot. “Or expulsions.”
Hermione scanned the page and looked up at her with wide eyes. “There’s absolutely no way.”
“Well…” Millie bit her lip, staring down. “If anyone were to figure it out, it would be him.”
“No.” Hermione shook her head, curls flying. “Just because he’d be interested in the thing doesn’t mean he’d go on a killing spree.”
“You told me enough about last year to know that he doesn’t always make the best decisions when it comes to things like this.”
“But…” She trailed off, eyes flickering towards Harry.
He sighed. “What.”
“Who are you talking about?” Ron leaned forward, trying to read upside down.
Anthony found the name first. “That’s gotta be wrong.”
Harry leaned forward as Millie turned the book around on the table. Rows and rows of names, and to one side, in the margins, read:
Prefect Tom M. Riddle received award for Special Services to the School.
“Okay, so the diary was a prefect’s named Tom. Definitely weird that it was from the same year, but we assumed that it had something to do with all of this.” Harry looked back up, meeting Hermione’s slightly watering eyes.
“The next line.”
Harry turned back to the book.
Rubeus Hagrid expelled in spring semester for endangering fellow students.
Harry’s jaw set. “No fucking way.”
“He’s going to snap.”
“You don’t know that, he was fine with the literal Dark Lord in the school last year-”
“Last year he wasn’t watching his friends be taken one by one-”
“Hagrid hasn’t been taken-”
“You think the Board is just going to let him stay? He’s already been a scapegoat once, it’ll work again.”
“Until someone dies next time-”
“Bite your tongue, Weasley.”
“Especially since you know he’ll blame himself-”
“You know he knows you’re talking about him, yeah?”
Everyone froze to look up at Ron’s lanky form staring down at them.
Hannah gave a weak smile. “Sorry, Ron. We’re just… Well, we’re worried. Between Justin and Hagrid…” She trailed off, eyes growing wet. “It’s not even just about him. I don’t think anyone is handling this well.”
Susan leaned into her side, murmuring lowly in her ear.
“Just… keep it down. Millie and Mione are doing more research, Marcus snuck a letter to his dad, if it made it through, we’ll know more soon.” He flicked Ginny’s ear. “Be cool. He’ll be fine, he just has to process it.”
Theo looked over towards where Harry was having an animated conversation with Cedric Diggory and Angelina Johnson, who had somehow gotten roped into sitting at the Hufflepuff table. “He’s not using his occlumency too much, is he?”
“Nah. Hermione’s got an eye on him.” Ron gave them all a wink and left, heading towards the Gryffindor table, where Percy was picking aimlessly at his plate.
The rest of them leaned together, voices even lower.
“I’m just saying, we know Hagrid didn’t do it. Sure, he loves creatures, but there’s no way whatever he had that year was responsible. He carries guilt like his favorite coat, and we’d know if he had something like that hidden.”
“Why don’t we just go ask him. We could find out his side of the story in the next twenty minutes.”
“Shouldn’t we leave that to Hadrian?”
“We can’t leave everything to him. Besides, if he’s okay with letting Bulstrode and Hermione hit the history books over this, surely he wouldn’t mind a few of us just asking Hagrid for stories from his days at Hogwarts over some tea.”
“Ginny, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. None of us know Hagrid like that.”
“I do.”
A new voice had them look up again, but this time it was to Luna squeezing between Theo and Anthony.
“It may take a while, but it’s not unusual for me to take tea there, with or without Hadrian. I don’t mind seeing if there are some things he would share.” She leaned forward to look at Ginny over the table. “Pansy was looking for you, she was talking to Lavender Brown in an alcove upstairs.”
Ginny rolled her eyes and stood with a flourish. “She thinks that just because Brown has a crush on Ron that she’ll tell her more Gryffindor gossip if I’m there. Later.”
The group watched her go.
Susan frowned. “A crush on Ron?”
Hannah shrugged. “You didn’t see him about to fight McLaggen. It was something else.”
Half the others made a face of disgust.
The other half made a face of consideration.