Project RAD
Harry seemed to be coming back to himself over the weekend. When he received his usual care package from Aunt Wally on Sunday, he almost seemed completely back to normal.
His candy haul was much smaller than usual. Aunt Wally said she didn’t want him rotting his teeth after all the candy he surely had on the Samhain celebration. She made a point of not calling the holiday by its muggle name. She gave him a book on simple spells for use around the home, and another on tips for making spells work to their maximum effects. He was more interested in the second, but knew the first would come in handy as well. He also received a pair of “casual” robes that were far nicer than anything he would ever deem casual.
Her letter was particularly interesting this time. In addition to the usual doting and pride over his hard work, she added a note to Hermione expressing her pride in the way she handled the events on Samhain. Anything to undermine Dumbledore was O for outstanding in her book.
The most interesting thing, however, was when she mentioned that Sirius Black was living with her ever since the trial. She complained a bit about how a decade in Azkaban did nothing for his mood, but he spent most of his time hiding among the many rooms in her home to cause much of a fuss.
Apparently, she had managed to get him to agree to be endowed with a Trinket and, to no surprise, he was also a Trueblood. It was more cause to be haughty about the superior Black genes.
She only really mentioned him in passing, then continued talking about how she and Narcissa had endowed over 100 people at the Ministry of Magic with Trinkets as well. The letter ended with a question of how he planned to spend the rest of his week, as well as a barely concealed order to visit her over the Christmas holidays, hidden under the guise of a reminder of his invitation.
Harry passed Hermione her note, then sat his letter aside to respond later.
“Sirius Black is staying with Aunt Wally,” he announced to the other 2.
“He is her son,” Draco reasoned, flipping through his copy of the Daily Prophet.
“But, they hate each other,” Harry argued.
“Likely,” Hermione added, “he has nowhere else to go. He’s just spent the past ten years in prison, and all of his friends are…”
She didn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t need to. All of his friends were dead.
“Look at this,” Draco set his newspaper down on the table and pointed to a small box in the middle of a page filled with continuations of larger articles. Hermione read it aloud.
“A wrongly convicted man was released from Azkaban on Thursday after a decade old confession revealed his innocence. An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of his arrest to determine further information. Currently, he is at home with family, recuperating and enjoying his much deserved freedom.”
Harry stared at Hermione as she finished, then glanced over incredulously at Draco.
“That’s it?” he asked.
“That’s it,” Draco replied.
Hermione was outraged. “He’s been locked up for 10 years without even getting a trial, and is finally free and they don’t even have the audacity to print his name?” she practically shouted.
“I can’t believe it,” Harry scoffed. “This should be front page news! And they’ve got it crammed in the back, where no one will see it? That’s ridiculous!”
“The Ministry is trying to brush all of this under the rug,” Draco explained. “They made a huge mistake, and they’re trying not to let anyone notice.”
“That’s bullshit!” Hermione shouted, causing the group of people around them to turn and stare. She was well and truly pissed. Hermione never swore. “The Ministry is so corrupt! How can anyone stand it? They ruined someone’s life and now they’re just going to pretend it didn’t happen? Just like they tried to pretend like he wasn’t thrown in Azkaban without a trial in the first place? This is absolute madness! They need to be stopped!”
Without another word, Hermione grabbed her things and stormed out of the Great Hall, ignoring any attempts to console her.
Harry wanted to chase after her, but Draco knew she just needed some time to cool down. They were both outraged by what was going on as well, but Harry was used to adults being unfair and taking advantage where they could. And Draco grew up with his father in politics, and often being party to the group of people who benefitted from the unfairness. It was infuriating to see it all spread out before them, but it didn’t catch them so completely unaware to know that it existed.
It wasn’t until just before dinner that Harry and Draco decided it was time to go looking for Hermione. She was in the first place they looked, the Library. She was tucked away in a corner, sitting on the floor amidst a stack of books. Harry didn’t catch the titles of them all, but they all seemed to be revolving around the same things: the workings of various ministries of magic around the world, and successful coup de ’tats in history.
Harry and Draco squeezed their way into her stacks of books, and sat down on either side of her. They didn’t say anything for a while, as she stared thoughtfully into empty space, absently licking her teeth behind her closed lips.
“I’m going to fix this,” Hermione said suddenly. “I swear I am.”
“Fix what?” Draco asked. “All these books?” he gestured playfully to the at least 50 books surrounding them.
Hermione threw a quick glare at him, before directing her eyes back to their original place. “The Ministry. It’s completely messed up, and I’m going to fix it.”
“How?” Harry asked. “Are you going to become the Minister for Magic?”
“If I have to,” Hermione insisted. “But that can’t happen for a while, I don’t want to take that long.”
“What could you possibly do, now?” Draco asked. “You’re twelve.”
“We helped Sirius Black get free,” she insisted. “We just needed help from the right people. We can keep doing the same. We just need to get the right people on our side.”
“So,” Harry mused sarcastically, “you’re just going to gather a group of followers and take over the Wizarding World? Gee, that sounds familiar.”
“It’s not like that at all, and you know it,” she snapped. “I don’t want to hurt people. I want to help them, and I’m not taking over anything! I just want things to be fair! I want people to be treated like people, and I want all the corruption and blackmailing and sweeping things under the rug to go away.”
“How are you going to do that?” Draco asked.
“I’m not entirely sure,” she admitted. “But I’m going to start by getting rid of as many corrupt people in power as I can.”
“I don’t know if you’d stand a chance against any of those people in a battle,” Harry warned. “I mean, you’re a genius Hermione, but you’re still only twelve.”
She rolled her eyes. “Not like that! I’m going to get them removed from their positions. It’ll take a lot of work, and a lot of help from the adults around us. But I’m certain I can do it.”
“Who are you going to start with?” Draco asked, warming up to the idea.
“Who’s the one that’s been sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong, and causing problems for people that didn’t have to exist? The one that everyone thinks is a genius, but is really just a loony old fool? The one that most of the adults in our lives pretty much hate already, anyways?”
At this, Harry smirked darkly. “Dumbledore.”
Draco burst into laughter. His chortles were so loud that Madame Pince shushed them noisily from whatever opposite corner of the library she was in.
“What’s so funny?” Hermione asked.
“Is this all just payback for Dumbledore giving you detention?” Draco asked between chuckles.
Hermione snorted in disbelief, while Harry joined the laughter. “Maybe,” she teased, making the boys giggle even harder.
The first step of Hermione’s Revenge Against Dumbledore was to write an angry letter to Hogwarts’ Board of Governors.
“Would you stop calling it that!” she snapped at Draco and Harry as she skimmed through the chapter on protections in ‘Hogwarts: A History,’ later that week.
“But I’ve grown quite fond of that name,” Draco complained.
“It’s completely misleading. That’s not what this is about.”
“Well,” Harry interjected, “it kind of is.”
“I know!” Draco exclaimed quietly, trying not to draw attention in the Common Room. “Let’s call it Project RAD!”
“Oh, I like that one,” Harry agreed. “It’s shorter, so it rolls off the tongue better.”
“Oh, whatever,” Hermione huffed, knowing that was likely the best she’d get out of the 2 of them.
She had planned to write to the Board of Governors about Dumbledore’s failure to protect the castle, by allowing a troll to not only get onto the campus, but make it into the building. She intended on including having Hagrid get Harry and the mistakes he made as well.
There was something else she wanted to add, but she would need to look into it first.
“We’ve got to figure out what Dumbledore is hiding on the third floor,” Hermione told the boys.
“What are you talking about?” Harry asked. “What makes you think he’s hiding anything?”
“Don’t you remember his speech at the beginning of the year?” Draco asked.
“No…” Harry thought back to the opening feast. “I ate myself sick, I wasn’t really paying attention to what else was going on.” Draco laughed, remembering Harry’s complaints of never eating again, the morning after.
“He said,” Hermione explained, “the third floor corridor is off limits to anyone who doesn’t wish to die a horrible death.”
Harry scoffed. “He can’t be serious.” He looked at Hermione who held a stoic expression, then glanced to Draco who looked doubtful himself. “Okay, then what the heck could it be?”
“That’s what we have to find out.”
“Why don’t we ask one of the ghosts?” Draco said. “They’re sure to know something.”
“But they’re all loyal to Dumbledore,” Hermione disagreed. “If he says its off limits, they won’t say a thing to us.”
Harry smiled as he came up with an idea. “The best way to get someone to do something, is to tell them not to do it,” he stated.
“So?” Draco didn’t follow what he meant.
“Dumbledore told the whole school, not to go on the third floor. What are the chances that a bunch of people have tried it already?”
“I don’t know.” Draco shrugged. “It depends on how many people would totally just ignore the rules. Some idiot Gryffindors, I bet.”
Harry smirked and nodded. “Do you know of any idiot Gryffindors who have a complete and utter disregard for the rules?”
Hermione smiled as she figured it out. “The Weasley Twins.”
The Weasley twins were a few years older than the trio, but they were notorious around the whole school. They were the biggest troublemakers and pranksters in Hogwarts. Closely followed by Peeves the Poltergeist. If there was any snooping, or tomfoolery to be done, they were the culprits. They were the most likely to know all about what was on the 3rd floor.
“But how do we get them to tell us?” Hermione asked. “They aren’t just going to reveal a secret like that to some first year Slytherins just because we ask nicely.”
“We could threaten them,” Draco suggested.
“What do we have to threaten them with?” Harry stated.
They thought for a moment, but came up with nothing. “I think bribery is going to be our best bet,” Hermione concluded.
“What could we possibly have that they would want?” Harry asked again.
“Money?” Draco offered. “The Weasleys haven’t got much of that.”
“But would Fred and George specifically, want it?” Hermione questioned.
“Everybody wants money, Hermione,” Draco smiled condescendingly to the girl. “It’s merely a matter of what price.”
“I think I have a better idea!” Harry jumped in. “The twins are the ones holding all the bets about the Trinkets, but neither of them have one. I bet it’s because they can’t afford one.”
“So you think they’d give up the information if we offered them some for free?” Draco caught on.
“Probably!”
“How are we going to get them Trinkets?” Hermione queried. “It’s not like we can endow them ourselves.”
“I’ll ask Aunt Wally.”
“How are you going to explain that one to her?” Hermione was skeptical. Harry laughed.
“I’ll just tell her that we’re trying to bribe someone.”
And so it was, the following Saturday, while Hermione was writing lines for Professor Quirrell, that Harry and Draco set about the task of cornering the Weasley Twins after their Quidditch practice.
“What do you little snakes want with us?” one of the twins—presumably Fred—started.
“Trying to spy for your Quidditch team?” the other continued.
“Doesn’t matter how much you berks cheat.”
“You still can’t beat us.”
“We’re not here for that,” Harry interrupted.
“Although you’re idiots, if you think your pathetic Seeker is gonna beat ours,” Draco couldn’t help but taunt.
Harry ignored him. “We want information, about something else.”
The redheads looked at each other, smirked, then looked back at the younger boys.
“Nope. Not gonna happen,” they said in unison.
“We don’t have anything to say…”
“To a couple of slimy gits like you.” They both walked past the first years as they started to leave.
“Not even for a price?” Draco asked. That stopped them in their tracks. They looked at each other again, then turned around to face the Slytherins.
“We’re listening,” they said in unison again.
“What we want to know,” Harry explained, “isn’t even information that you should have trouble parting with. We’re just curious…”
“About?” The twins asked simultaneously.
Draco answered. “We want to know what’s hiding on the third floor corridor.”
Presumably Fred laughed, while presumably George asked “Why?”
“Third floor’s off limits, you know,” Fred continued.
“What makes you think we’ve been there?”
“Please,” Harry scoffed. “Like an off limits sign ever stopped the two of you.”
“You have a point,” Fred smirked.
“But that’s valuable-”
“Dangerous-”
“Information you want, there.”
“What’s in it for us?” they asked together.
“How about a pair of Trinkets?” Harry asked. The twins’ eyes went wide in shock at the offer, and Harry knew they had them.
“How do you plan on getting those Trinkets on?” George asked.
“Cause, you know, they’re useless without the spell to seal them…”
“And don’t act like the two of you would know.”
“We don’t,” Harry agreed. “But my Aunt Wally is the one who created the Trinkets, and the spells on them.”
“And,” Draco continued, “she happens to be sitting in Professor Snape’s office with two brand new Trinkets, right this instant.”
The twins glanced at each other again—holding a silent conversation, Harry realized. Fred lifted his eyebrows, then George mirrored him. They both tilted their heads in the same direction by just a fraction, then they looked back at the Slytherins.
“Show us the Trinkets, first.” They ordered together.
In under an hour, Aunt Wally had gone back home and Gryffindor house had its second and third Truebloods.
Hermione, Harry, and Draco were sitting on Harry’s bed with the curtains drawn, and under a silencing charm that he’d perfected thanks to the books he’d gotten from Aunt Wally.
“A three headed dog?” Hermione shouted. “Why on earth would Dumbledore have a giant three headed dog inside the school?”
“The twins say its guarding something,” Harry explained. “They said there was a trapdoor beneath its feet.”
Hermione scoffed so loudly, it was nearly a screech.
“That’s not even the best of it,” Draco continued. “They’ve gotten past the dog. Evidently, it will fall asleep at even the slightest bit of music. They’ve been sneaking in to try and see what it’s guarding and managed to get it to fall asleep by spelling the room to play chamber music.”
“That’s insane!” Hermione was flabbergasted by the whole thing. “Not only is the thing unprotected enough for third years to get to it, but they were even able to subdue it? What was it guarding?”
“The twins still don’t know,” Harry continued. “Underneath it was a devil’s snare, but they got through that easily.”
“Just hit it with light,” Hermione offered absently, waving the thought away with a hand.
“Exactly. Then they had to ride on a broom to catch a specific flying key from a bunch to unlock a door. It took them a while to catch it cause the other keys attacked them, but they’re brilliant on brooms, so it was easy enough. That door led to a room with a life size chess set. There was a door on the other side, but they had to play across, and neither of them are very good at chess. So, that’s where they gave up and turned around the last time they went in there.”
“So, one would only need to be good at chess to be able to make it across that one, as well?” Hermione asked herself, but Harry and Draco nodded anyways. “That’s absolute poppycock!” she shouted again. “All of this is going into my letter! Dumbledore’s mad as a hatter to allow all of that in the castle. And it’s not even well protected! A couple of third years got past all of those supposed protections!” She scoffed loudly again, but this time not so shrill.
“And here I thought he had to be an idiot for hiring Professor Quirrell, and allowing Professor Binns to keep teaching. But, this really takes the cake.”
“I want to know what he’s hiding behind all that stuff,” Draco wondered.
“I don’t even care,” Hermione snapped, crossing her arms.
“Not even a little bit?” Draco smirked at her and she sighed, rolling her eyes.
“Fine, maybe a little.”
“I think I might know,” Harry contemplated.
“You do?” The other 2 asked in unison.
“Well,” Harry qualified, “not completely. The day I met you guys in Diagon Alley, Hagrid had gotten something from a vault at Gringotts, saying it was special Hogwarts business. He was getting it for Dumbledore. I bet, that’s what he’s hiding.”
“Do you know what it was?” Draco asked.
“No. It was a small package, but it was completely covered up. So I don’t know what it could be.”
Hermione’s eyes went wide as a sudden realization crossed her mind. “Do you remember what vault it was?” she asked carefully.
Harry put a finger on his lip as he thought really hard on it. “Seven thirteen, I think. I can’t be sure.”
“I knew it!” Hermione gasped.
“Knew what?” Draco didn’t get it.
“The day Harry was at Gringotts with Hagrid was the same day as the break-in.”
Draco’s mouth fell into a surprised O as he realized what Hermione did. “When someone broke into a vault that had been emptied out earlier that day!”
Harry was confused, mainly because he didn’t recall hearing about that. “I don’t understand.”
“That’s got to be why its hidden here, now.” Draco stated. “He moved it because he knew someone was after it. If they missed their chance, they’re probably going to come after it again!”
“This time, they’re going to get it,” Harry admitted quietly.
“What makes you so sure?” Draco asked, but Hermione already knew.
“Gringotts is supposed to be one of the safest places in the world,” she explained. “Whoever’s after the thing Dumbledore is hiding was able to break in, regardless. An idiot troll was able to cross the castle’s wards. A pair of third years were able to make it most of the way through all of the protections where he’s hiding it now. There’s no way someone that strong would be deterred by those measly protections.”
“Dumbledore’s just asking for trouble.” Draco shook his head in disbelief. “This is the man who was supposed to be the leader of the Light side in the war?”
“It’s a good thing for Harry, then,” Hermione sighed. “Or we would have been buggered.”
“No,” Harry disagreed. “It’s a good thing for you. You told Mr. Malfoy about the magical genetics. He wouldn’t have created the Trinkets without you, and it’s the Trinkets that are going to keep people from going back to previous prejudices.”
“What are we going to do about the thing Dumbledore’s hiding?” Draco asked. “Someone should say something, right? Before it gets stolen?”
Hermione shook her head. “If it gets stolen, that’s Dumbledore’s fault. He shouldn’t have brought it here in the first place. I couldn’t care less what valuable item he’s trying to hide. All I know, is all of this is going into my letter to the Board of Governors. At this rate, he ought to be out of here by Christmas.”
Being so focused on Dumbledore all the time, left the trio in a rather sour mood for more of the day than not. Luckily, the quidditch season was starting. Once Hermione had passed her letter to Mr. Malfoy to read at the next Board of Governors meeting, they were offered a fun distraction.
The first match was Slytherin versus Gryffindor. Harry was excited to see his first quidditch match, and allowed Blaise to paint his and Draco’s faces in green and silver respectively. Pansy got all the first year girls to agree to putting green and silver flowers in their hair, and Hermione charmed them all so that they would flash brightly while the game was on.
They all got bundled up and headed to the stands together, huddling close to preserve warmth in the chilled air. The game itself was rather exciting, although Harry noticed that more than once, the Slytherins appeared to be cheating. That didn’t stop him from clapping wildly and cheering every time they made a goal.
The announcer was friends with the twins. His name was Lee Jordan, and he was often found as their third musketeer when making trouble. He had a clear bias against Slytherin, which Harry found annoying, but it was almost made up for by how much he could hear McGonagall scolding him for it in the background.
Ultimately, Slytherin won. Draco had been right when he warned the Weasley twins that their seeker wouldn’t stand a chance against Slytherin’s. The 2 players had been neck and neck on the tail of the snitch toward the end. They were both plummeting toward the ground at surprising speed as they chased after it. The Slytherin seeker pulled up before the Gryffindor girl did, and she looked like she’d had it in the bag. But finally, she got too close to the ground and had to pull up as well. By then, Slytherin’s seeker was already coming from the other direction and grabbed the snitch from behind, zooming past her and nearly knocking her off her broom in the process.
The green stands erupted in cheers. The trio had leapt out of their seats and were screaming, jumping up and down with everyone else. Harry could hear an echo of boos coming from the rest of the stands, but he paid it no heed. His team had won! He allowed himself this moment of happiness and pride for his fellow snakes.