Hairball and Nymphikins

Reckoning

The morning of November 2nd saw quite a few people staring at Harry through the course of breakfast, something he was slowly becoming accustomed to. Even so, he didn’t hesitate to slouch between Draco and Theo, and across from Greg and Vincent, hoping to block as many lines of sight as possible.

Then the Hall’s doors were slammed open, and the boy shot straight up.

Andromeda Tonks nee Black stormed down the central aisle of the room, her furious gaze locked onto the Headmaster. Curious whispers quieted as the knowledge of the woman’s identity got passed around, every student interested if not outright eager to hear what she was about to say.

“Dumbledore,” Andy growled when she reached the head table. “My husband and I had planned on making an appointment to see you this Saturday, regarding a matter neither of us wished to see progress out of hand or be swept under the rug. But that was before I received a letter this morning, informing me of the mountain troll that got into the dungeons night before last and attempted to make a meal of my nephew. Would you care to tell me why, exactly, Harry had to tell me about this event himself, rather than a school missive which could have been sent at any point yesterday?”

One could’ve heard a feather drop in the dead silence of the Great Hall after that.

“Ah,” the Headmaster said weakly. “Well, you see Mrs. Tonks, I was rather busy with various matters yesterday-”

“You couldn’t have taken ten minutes for a Floo call?” She leaned back slightly and arched an eyebrow.

“...Apparently it slipped my mind.”

“I see. In that case, perhaps you and Professors Snape and McGonagall would care to come discuss both these matters with me in your office? Now.”

“Of course, my dear. Severus, Minerva, if you’d be so kind...” As the three professors rose from the Head Table, Andy also turned to scan the Slytherin table, her gaze soon landing on the boy who’d been in her care for exactly ten years and a day.

“You too, Harry.” He gladly hopped up from his seat and hurried to her side. On the way out of the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall also called Percy Weasley and the three fourth year boys who’d been involved with the previous evening’s incident. Everyone trooped out and up to the Headmaster’s office in silence, avoided by anybody who crossed paths with them in the hallways. Andy kept a hand resting on Harry’s shoulder the whole way, and by the faint trembles, he clued in to just how upset she was.

Dumbledore led the way past his gargoyle guard and up the spiral staircase to his office; once inside, he took a seat behind his desk, with Snape to one side and McGonagall on the other. Andy sat in one of the offered armchairs, Harry standing beside her, while the three Gryffindor bullies lined up on the opposite side of the room with Percy standing intimidatingly behind them.

“Now,” Andy began before the Headmaster could speak. “I would like to hear from my nephew, start to finish, the events of both the last two evenings, as I doubt his letter covered everything. Then I’d like to hear from Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, and Prefect Weasley their points of view. I also want to know whatever dunderheaded excuses you three have since come up with,” Andy punctuated this statement with a dark glare at the fourth years, who all found themselves instinctively leaning backwards, “Followed by the actions you have since taken, Albus, concerning both these troublesome events.”

At his aunt’s nod, Harry went ahead and launched into the same retelling of the troll incident he’d given to his fellow students in the Great Hall that night. Then he moved forward to an account of his taking letters addressed to both her and Uncle Ted and Nymph, the hallway scuffle that Percy had interrupted, and the reactions afterward that both the professors went through. Andy offered all three of them grateful smiles, before turning another dire look at the Gryffindor would-be bullies. The two on either end gave their friend in the middle a nudge, and after a quick gulp, he got started on a heavily stuttered story about wanting to ask Harry to not make anymore public insults towards their house, only for things to get out of hand. Professor Snape snorted at that, and Andy shocked everyone by reaching over and giving his arm an admonishing whack.

“What punishment has been assigned to them?”

“A full month of detentions overseen by myself,” Snape told her, scowling as he took a subtle step out of arm’s reach. “Followed by an additional two months of no Hogsmeade visits. Is that acceptable for you, Madam Tonks?”

“It is,” Andy said, nodding decisively before her gaze zeroed in on the Headmaster again. “And the troll matter, Albus?”

“I have done a full review of the Hogwarts ward system and repaired the damaged section where the troll was able to enter. There will also be scans of the countryside to make sure there are no others living too close to the school.”

“Fair enough. And as for whoever was responsible for bringing the creature into the dungeons in the first place?”

Dumbledore coughed. “Perhaps, my dear, since this does not concern last night’s incident, we can allow the students to depart?”

“The Gryffindors, yes, but Harry stays.” Andy gave her nephew’s shoulder a pat. “We can hardly claim this doesn’t concern him, after all.”

“...Of course not.”

Harry didn’t rejoin his classmates until lunch time, by which point, Draco was visibly ready to throttle him if the dark-haired boy didn’t share an account of what had happened.

“Aunt Andy wants to pull me out of school.”

Draco’s jaw dropped, as did most of the cutlery being held by the other Slytherins and the glass of pumpkin juice Greg had been about to drink from. The large boy hardly noticed the large stain added to his lap, instead focusing on Harry along with everyone else. “What did you do?!”

“It’s not about what I did! She’s furious about Dumbledore’s scheming, his decision to use me as bait in this plot involving the third floor corridor, and his attempt to get her to give me up to my mother’s relatives.” Scowling, Harry stabbed at his food. “I talked to her and Professor Snape in private, and we convinced her not to make any decisions before Uncle Ted and my godfather get a chance to debate it with the three of us as well.”

“Your godfather?” Daphne asked, frowning. “Who’s that?”

“Sirius Black-” Harry threw up his hands in the air at the renewed round of falling forks and knives. “What is with you people today?”

“Alright, hold on just a moment here,” Draco tried to intervene and cut off the surprised inquiries about Sirius. “We need more details about the Headmaster’s scheming if we’re going to make sure you stay put here in Hogwarts.”

“I can’t say more - I practically had to swear an Oath not to talk about the details just so I wouldn’t be sent out of the room.”

“Talk about?” All heads swivelled to look at Millicent. “What about, write?”

Slowly, a grin stretched across Harry’s face. “No, they never made me promise not to write about it.” Instantly, Blaise snatched a self-inking quill and length of blank parchment from his bag, dropping them in front of Harry though not, at least, directly on his plate. The boy didn’t have much chance to eat anymore during the meal, as he was too busy scribbling out an account of all he’d heard that morning in Dumbledore’s office.

He’s hiding the Philosopher’s Stone made by Nicholas Flamel up there.

The teachers all made traps to protect it, but weren’t told about each other’s defenses.

Both Snape and McGonagall were pretty upset to learn it was all Dumbledore’s idea, not Flamel’s.

He thinks some shade of Voldemort is still around, potentially able to return, and wanted bait to lure it here. Oh, and waited until this year to do so, since I’d finally be at Hogwarts too, and could double the temptation.

Dumbledore thinks the Dark Tosser has a spy among the teaching staff, and that they’re the one who let the troll in as a distraction. Having it come after me was apparently coincidence.

I honestly thought Aunt Andy was going to hex the old man then and there in his office.

“Bloody hell, Potter,” Theo groused, handing back the parchment as he’d been the last to read it. “What made you barmy enough to share all this with us? Half our parents worked for the Dark Lord in the war, remember?”

“So I should automatically assume you all want to follow in their footsteps? Please,” Harry snorted. “That nutter was killing almost as many of his own people by the end as he was of the rest of the population. It wasn’t until he was gone that your families started rebuilding and expanding their wealth, anyway - war’s bad for business, peace isn’t.”

“Depends on what business you’re in,” Daphne pointed out.

“And all of your parents are now invested in markets that need customers - more than half of the current generation here in Hogwarts are Muggleborn and Halfblood, do you realize that? Who would the Purebloods sell their goods to if those populations were to all be killed off or driven out?” Harry shook his head as all the children around him who’d grown up in privileged lifestyles considered that avenue of thought. “I asked my Aunt and Uncle questions like these years ago, mates. The conclusion I came to then was that the Dark Lord was blinking mad and only wanted to cause chaos he could rule over. There was no end-goal for his agenda. How a bunch of Slytherins, who are supposed to be the cunning people who plan ahead wound up following him, I’ll never understand.”

“...When you think about it, he’s right,” Draco admitted to the others. “And if Dumbledore’s suspicions are right, in that the Dark Lord might come back, we’d be better off getting as far away from him as possible.”

The rest of the day passed quietly after that. Quite a few people tried to corner Harry to ask him how his aunt’s visit had gone, but after everything else he’d gone through that school year the boy was quickly learning how to avoid them. Fred and George Weasley proved to be a great help - when they talked to him on the way to dinner that evening, both promised to show the first year some secret passages he could use to escape more easily. Harry genuinely thanked them, but also reminded himself to also check said passages before going through them to make sure no surprises had been left for him by the twins...

Dear Hairball,

When I decided to surprise Mum and Dad by coming home for dinner last night, I admit I was not expecting to get pulled into the debate between them and Padfoot of whether or not to let you stay at Hogwarts. I was more than a little shocked, and wondered what in Merlin’s name you’d pulled before they had a chance to explain everything.

You doing alright, kiddo?

I won’t object at all if you’d like me to set my mentor on the Headmaster - Mad-eye may be bonkers and a hard-core Dumbledore follower, but even he draws the line at pulling kids into the firing line before they’ve had a chance to learn about Constant Vigilance.

Expect a mirror call from the old dog sometime in the next couple days, and don’t hesitate to summon reinforcements if you need them!

Love, your big sis,

Nymph

“Honestly, pup, I may have encouraged your inner Gryffindor tendencies when you were younger, but taking on a troll at age eleven is a bit more than even I’d recommend!”

“Padfoot, I did not-”

“I know, I know, you’d been minding your own business when the creature came and found you.” Sirius peered at him through the mirror. “You really are alright, though? I heard about the bullies, too...”

Shaking his head, Harry smiled, tucking the device a little closer to his chest where he sat beneath his Invisibility Cloak. “Has anyone ever said you’re a mother hen, Padfoot? I’m okay; there’s no lasting damage, from either event.”

“If you say so. And I’m not mother-henning you, I’m just concerned!”

“Uh-huh, a likely story. So,” Harry changed to subject, suddenly nervous. “What’s the verdict about my schooling arrangements?”

Sirius sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. “We couldn’t come up with one. I offered to bring in Moony and some others I know to homeschool you, but also pointed out that there’s every chance trouble could just follow you from Hogwarts. Ted was on the fence for most of it, I think he’s still mulling over the pros and cons. As for Andy, she hardly stopped talking about what needs to be done to the house to increase security.”

“And Nymph? She sent me a letter saying she’d come to dinner and got involved in all this...”

“Ah, now there’s a girl who should’ve been a Gryff if ever there was one. She argued hardest against your aunt to keep you at school, first citing adolescent developmental stuff I didn’t catch a lot of, then bringing up the argument that if you’re still there, then we’ll know the Dark Tosser is too, whereas if you move then we won’t know which way to look.”

“She also wrote something about bringing her Auror mentor into it?” At that, Sirius startled him by breaking out into cackles.

“Oh, I’d love to set good old Mad-eye loose on this mess, but if he comes anywhere near the house he’d be liable to pick up some trace of me from my visits, and then we’d really be in trouble. If I had ten minutes to talk to the lunatic, I could probably convince him of my innocence. Only trouble is-”

“He’s not the sort to let you get ten seconds, let alone minutes, right?”

“Mm-hm.”

“...Padfoot? I told my friends about this.”

“Mm? Oh, good, wouldn’t hurt to get those Gryffindor boys on board with you and Draco-”

“Not just them - I didn’t tell Ron and Neville until we met up in class today. I meant my housemates, the other Slytherin first years.”

Sirius blinked. “You did- are you- Harry, are you sure that was wise?”

The boy shrugged. “I got them all thinking, which was one of my goals for the year. I dunno if I’d have any luck with the older students, by my yearmates at least are aware of the real potentials of signing on with any up-and-coming Dark Lords.”

“Well... Good for you. If you’re willing to trust a bunch of snakelings and get them away from potential Darkness, I won’t stand in your way.”

“Thanks, Padfoot.”

“Anytime, kiddo.”