Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Let's Try That Again, Shall We?
The Harry Potter universe is the creation of J.K. Rowling. This is fanfiction. The standard disclaimers apply.
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Chapter 28: Notes and Conversations
Friday, November 9, 1990. Early Morning.
Fred and George were on the far end of the lake, practicing the exercises Dumbledore had set out for them. Or, rather, they were practicing their own modifications of them, which was why they were trying not to be seen. At the moment they were both maintaining a 'lumos' while casting freezing charms on the surface of the lake. They weren't powerful enough to do anything dramatic in one go, but repeated application of the spell had sent a sheet of ice creeping out at least twenty feet from them, and some unknown distance down.
A voice came from behind them. "Can't wait to go skating?"
They jumped, turning around to see Professor Eeles smiling at them.
"Not at all! Good morning, Professor."
"George, how is we let people sneak up on us like that all the time. Did you hear him coming?"
"Hi there. What are you boys up to?"
"Trying to use more than one spell at a time. It's an exercise . . ."
". . . that Dumbledore gave us when we asked how he did everything at once during that food fight."
"So he told you to freeze the lake, did he?"
"Oh no, we did that on our own . . ."
". . . because we got bored."
"So what brings you down here then?"
The twins looked at each other, frustrated. "You see, . . ."
". . . we find that pretty much no matter what we do . . ."
". . . sooner or later we get in trouble for it."
"So we come down here sometimes to stay out of sight."
"Do the lake monsters ever give you any trouble?"
"What, the squid?"
"Isn't it too shallow?"
"I understand there are quite a lot of different things living down there besides your squid, but if they haven't objected yet, I suppose you're safe for now. You know, I've been sneaking exercises like this into my upper level classes—get them to maintain a shield and shoot curses at the same time. It's a damn useful skill, and not just for fighting. Come on, let's see what you can do."
The twins shrugged. It was better than getting in trouble! "See, we can maintain a 'lumos' like so . . ."
". . . and cast single spells like the freezing charm."
"Or we can handle the lumos, annnnd, there, a hover charm, and nothing else."
"Humor me, would you? Try the basic shield charm, each of you." Eeles hovered a few pebbles at them to check. "Good. Can you do the lumos with those, too?" They could. "Excellent. I see you flew over here on your brooms—I suppose you couldn't have gotten here yet by walking without breaking curfew?" They odded. "Good thinking. Go fetch your brooms and walk with me the rest of the way back to the castle, and I'll see if I can help you with this."
After verifying that the twins could both walk and fly while maintaining two spells, he had them switch back to the hover charm and hold a rock out in front of them. "Good. Now, the lumos?" Eeles took out his own wand and started nudging their rocks around, eventually finding the point at which their light spells went out. "Great! That looks like it's just a concentration problem. Now try the shield charm with the hover . . . a little trickier, but you got it. Good, good." They proceeded the rest of the way with Eeles trying to create magical distractions for them, although that might not have been necessary given the distractions of trying to carry on a conversation.
"So, Professor, if you don't mind us asking, we were wondering how Dumbledore found you."
"Are you really from New Zealand?"
"Oh, originally, although I've lived a bunch of different places. If you can't place my accent that's why. As to the job, your headmaster actually advertised it in every wizarding publication he could find. I'd been at the same dragon reserve in the Congo for four years, got bored, and applied here on a lark. Turns out I was the only one who applied. It was only when I found out the position was cursed that I insisted on a one-year contract."
"Huh. I thought everyone knew about that curse."
"Well, I suppose everyone in Britain who has some Hogwarts affiliation might know, but why would anyone else?"
"Oh, right, the world doesn't revolve around Hogwarts!"
"We'd surely forget if you didn't keep reminding us!"
"Ha! If it makes you feel any better, a lot of wizarding communities live pretty isolated lives. Americans are far worse about remembering the rest of the world exists!"
"So were you a gamekeeper?"
"How did you go from that to a defense professor?"
"Well, sometimes that was my title, technically, yes. I never did anything with actual animals besides avoiding them, though—it was all just hunting down poachers."
"Ohhhhh."
"So it's like hiring an auror as a teacher, then?"
"More or less, if your aurors worked only in mountains and jungles and such, protected dragons instead of people, and didn't care about capturing anybody or bringing them to trial. I guess it's more akin to a military than law enforcement role. Hm. It's also not the kind of job where you need to worry about that kind of distinction much. There's just you, the poachers, and the dragons, and so long as the dragons are safe at the end of the day, you've done your job, and your employer doesn't care how you did it."
"Does Dumbledore seem to care much how you do this one?"
"Not so far as I can tell, no. Not really."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amycus Carrow arranged the five sacrificed pheasants in a ring and drew the markings for the pointing spell in their blood. Dumbledore had done a good job hiding the Potter brat's muggle relatives—good enough that finding their house directly was impossible with magic. But they had to leave the house sometimes, and that was good enough that he had narrowed things down to a few towns in Surrey. He had their photos from the Prophet. It was just a matter of repeating the spell and triangulating inwards.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sybill had received a letter from Mr. Malfoy. It was not what she had been expecting.
--------------
Dear Professor Trelawney,
I apologize if my attempt to reach you on Tuesday gave the wrong impression. Severus wisely pointed out to me that your recent experience in teaching extispicy had been somewhat controversial, and that you might have misinterpreted my visit. Your colleague Erasmus had sent me to see you, after mysteriously complimenting your teaching methods while refusing to give details, and I fear that, out of habit, I adopted a demeanor appropriate only for dealing with the Ministry.
I am impressed by the innovative way in which you made a traditional subject accessible to modern students, and I congratulate you on your success. I myself took only a year of Divination while I was at Hogwarts, and wisely dropped it after realizing I had no gift for it, but the Malfoy library has a respectable collection on the topic. After perusing those, it became immediately obvious that the current Hogwarts curriculum bears little resemblance to Divination as our ancestors practiced it.
I hope you will continue to experiment with bringing back traditional magical practices. If there is any way that I might be of assistance to you in this respect, please do let me know. In fact, I encourage you to contact me, as the Board of Governors may directly allocate funding to worthy projects, and I would personally enjoy hearing your ideas for further innovations.
Sincerely,
Lucius Malfoy
-------------------------------------
She wondered whether to ask Dumbledore for advice. Was there some subtext to this letter that she was missing? She very much wanted to stay out of any sort of trouble, and that included politics. Nevertheless, the idea of having Lucius Malfoy throw money at her was intriguing. Managing him while maintaining her persona would be extremely tricky, but not actually impossible. For now, she'd think about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So how are you coming on the Gryffindor benches?"
"Oh, yeah, Oren—how's that going?"
Oren, Erwin, and Bernard were sitting in the common room, in the chairs Oren had been assured were safe.
"I finished that a while ago, but I can't tell if it's working, since their table is on the far side of the room. It's kind of frustrating. I can't exactly go ask them for feedback!"
"Heh. What did you wind up doing?"
"Something insanely complicated. That's one of the reasons it's hard to tell if it's working." He grinned. "I put in lots of things that only happened on certain days or on certain benches, to make it harder for anyone to notice."
"But that makes it harder for us to notice, too?"
"Yeah. So what happened with the chairs in the common room?"
Erwin shrugged. "I don't really know. People sit in them less often, as far as we can tell."
Oren expected something like that, but hadn't been sure Bernard and Erwin would accept it on their own. "That doesn't sound like it's a very good prank, then. This is why I made the spells on the benches do a lot of different things. Could we just call this a loss and take the papers off the chairs?"
Bernard had a moment of looking glum, then asked "So what should we do instead?"
"For starters, find a way to target Fred and George? Or the Gryffindors?"
"Yeah, yeah. But how?"
"You figure it out! Unlike you, I don't have some inner drive to pull pranks. I just don't care the way you do. So you ought to be better at coming up with them than me."
"So what do you care about, then."
Oren asked himself that question all the time. It was a pretty good one. "Uhh, lots of things. Like, with pranks, once you came up with something, I'd care about whether you pulled it off competently. I don't like watching people do stuff wrong."
"You're weird."
Fine, thought Oren, as he pointedly turned his attention back to homework. The three boys were pretty used to conversations ending that way, often with those same two words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tonks read the letter from Sirius back in her room, not wanting to open it at the table.
----------------------
Dear Dora,
You drive a hard bargain! As of Thursday, I am registered with the Ministry, so you can relax. The clerk said no one ever really looks at the archives, so unless it becomes publicly known some other way, it's unlikely that my secret is much less secret. So that's a relief.
I found an occlumency tutor who seems trustworthy enough—I'll be meeting with him several times a week. He has no idea how long it might take me, given that my mind is still pretty messed up. Well, differently than it was before I went to Azkaban, at least.
I'm still holding off on seeing anyone else, and I haven't bought a wand yet, but I've certainly spent some time out shopping. The owl who delivered this is new—I'm still trying to decide on a name for her. I went with the great grey in case I need her to carry packages, although the clerk at Eeylops says I should go higher than ten pounds.
The house is still a mess. I have no idea what Kreacher has been doing all these years. I think maybe house elves go insane if they are left alone for too long; humans certainly would.
I'm looking forward to seeing you next Hogsmeade weekend. That's the 24th, right?
yours truly,
Sirius
-----------------------------------
❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖ ❖
Chapter 28: Notes and Conversations
Friday, November 9, 1990. Early Morning.
Fred and George were on the far end of the lake, practicing the exercises Dumbledore had set out for them. Or, rather, they were practicing their own modifications of them, which was why they were trying not to be seen. At the moment they were both maintaining a 'lumos' while casting freezing charms on the surface of the lake. They weren't powerful enough to do anything dramatic in one go, but repeated application of the spell had sent a sheet of ice creeping out at least twenty feet from them, and some unknown distance down.
A voice came from behind them. "Can't wait to go skating?"
They jumped, turning around to see Professor Eeles smiling at them.
"Not at all! Good morning, Professor."
"George, how is we let people sneak up on us like that all the time. Did you hear him coming?"
"Hi there. What are you boys up to?"
"Trying to use more than one spell at a time. It's an exercise . . ."
". . . that Dumbledore gave us when we asked how he did everything at once during that food fight."
"So he told you to freeze the lake, did he?"
"Oh no, we did that on our own . . ."
". . . because we got bored."
"So what brings you down here then?"
The twins looked at each other, frustrated. "You see, . . ."
". . . we find that pretty much no matter what we do . . ."
". . . sooner or later we get in trouble for it."
"So we come down here sometimes to stay out of sight."
"Do the lake monsters ever give you any trouble?"
"What, the squid?"
"Isn't it too shallow?"
"I understand there are quite a lot of different things living down there besides your squid, but if they haven't objected yet, I suppose you're safe for now. You know, I've been sneaking exercises like this into my upper level classes—get them to maintain a shield and shoot curses at the same time. It's a damn useful skill, and not just for fighting. Come on, let's see what you can do."
The twins shrugged. It was better than getting in trouble! "See, we can maintain a 'lumos' like so . . ."
". . . and cast single spells like the freezing charm."
"Or we can handle the lumos, annnnd, there, a hover charm, and nothing else."
"Humor me, would you? Try the basic shield charm, each of you." Eeles hovered a few pebbles at them to check. "Good. Can you do the lumos with those, too?" They could. "Excellent. I see you flew over here on your brooms—I suppose you couldn't have gotten here yet by walking without breaking curfew?" They odded. "Good thinking. Go fetch your brooms and walk with me the rest of the way back to the castle, and I'll see if I can help you with this."
After verifying that the twins could both walk and fly while maintaining two spells, he had them switch back to the hover charm and hold a rock out in front of them. "Good. Now, the lumos?" Eeles took out his own wand and started nudging their rocks around, eventually finding the point at which their light spells went out. "Great! That looks like it's just a concentration problem. Now try the shield charm with the hover . . . a little trickier, but you got it. Good, good." They proceeded the rest of the way with Eeles trying to create magical distractions for them, although that might not have been necessary given the distractions of trying to carry on a conversation.
"So, Professor, if you don't mind us asking, we were wondering how Dumbledore found you."
"Are you really from New Zealand?"
"Oh, originally, although I've lived a bunch of different places. If you can't place my accent that's why. As to the job, your headmaster actually advertised it in every wizarding publication he could find. I'd been at the same dragon reserve in the Congo for four years, got bored, and applied here on a lark. Turns out I was the only one who applied. It was only when I found out the position was cursed that I insisted on a one-year contract."
"Huh. I thought everyone knew about that curse."
"Well, I suppose everyone in Britain who has some Hogwarts affiliation might know, but why would anyone else?"
"Oh, right, the world doesn't revolve around Hogwarts!"
"We'd surely forget if you didn't keep reminding us!"
"Ha! If it makes you feel any better, a lot of wizarding communities live pretty isolated lives. Americans are far worse about remembering the rest of the world exists!"
"So were you a gamekeeper?"
"How did you go from that to a defense professor?"
"Well, sometimes that was my title, technically, yes. I never did anything with actual animals besides avoiding them, though—it was all just hunting down poachers."
"Ohhhhh."
"So it's like hiring an auror as a teacher, then?"
"More or less, if your aurors worked only in mountains and jungles and such, protected dragons instead of people, and didn't care about capturing anybody or bringing them to trial. I guess it's more akin to a military than law enforcement role. Hm. It's also not the kind of job where you need to worry about that kind of distinction much. There's just you, the poachers, and the dragons, and so long as the dragons are safe at the end of the day, you've done your job, and your employer doesn't care how you did it."
"Does Dumbledore seem to care much how you do this one?"
"Not so far as I can tell, no. Not really."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amycus Carrow arranged the five sacrificed pheasants in a ring and drew the markings for the pointing spell in their blood. Dumbledore had done a good job hiding the Potter brat's muggle relatives—good enough that finding their house directly was impossible with magic. But they had to leave the house sometimes, and that was good enough that he had narrowed things down to a few towns in Surrey. He had their photos from the Prophet. It was just a matter of repeating the spell and triangulating inwards.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sybill had received a letter from Mr. Malfoy. It was not what she had been expecting.
--------------
Dear Professor Trelawney,
I apologize if my attempt to reach you on Tuesday gave the wrong impression. Severus wisely pointed out to me that your recent experience in teaching extispicy had been somewhat controversial, and that you might have misinterpreted my visit. Your colleague Erasmus had sent me to see you, after mysteriously complimenting your teaching methods while refusing to give details, and I fear that, out of habit, I adopted a demeanor appropriate only for dealing with the Ministry.
I am impressed by the innovative way in which you made a traditional subject accessible to modern students, and I congratulate you on your success. I myself took only a year of Divination while I was at Hogwarts, and wisely dropped it after realizing I had no gift for it, but the Malfoy library has a respectable collection on the topic. After perusing those, it became immediately obvious that the current Hogwarts curriculum bears little resemblance to Divination as our ancestors practiced it.
I hope you will continue to experiment with bringing back traditional magical practices. If there is any way that I might be of assistance to you in this respect, please do let me know. In fact, I encourage you to contact me, as the Board of Governors may directly allocate funding to worthy projects, and I would personally enjoy hearing your ideas for further innovations.
Sincerely,
Lucius Malfoy
-------------------------------------
She wondered whether to ask Dumbledore for advice. Was there some subtext to this letter that she was missing? She very much wanted to stay out of any sort of trouble, and that included politics. Nevertheless, the idea of having Lucius Malfoy throw money at her was intriguing. Managing him while maintaining her persona would be extremely tricky, but not actually impossible. For now, she'd think about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So how are you coming on the Gryffindor benches?"
"Oh, yeah, Oren—how's that going?"
Oren, Erwin, and Bernard were sitting in the common room, in the chairs Oren had been assured were safe.
"I finished that a while ago, but I can't tell if it's working, since their table is on the far side of the room. It's kind of frustrating. I can't exactly go ask them for feedback!"
"Heh. What did you wind up doing?"
"Something insanely complicated. That's one of the reasons it's hard to tell if it's working." He grinned. "I put in lots of things that only happened on certain days or on certain benches, to make it harder for anyone to notice."
"But that makes it harder for us to notice, too?"
"Yeah. So what happened with the chairs in the common room?"
Erwin shrugged. "I don't really know. People sit in them less often, as far as we can tell."
Oren expected something like that, but hadn't been sure Bernard and Erwin would accept it on their own. "That doesn't sound like it's a very good prank, then. This is why I made the spells on the benches do a lot of different things. Could we just call this a loss and take the papers off the chairs?"
Bernard had a moment of looking glum, then asked "So what should we do instead?"
"For starters, find a way to target Fred and George? Or the Gryffindors?"
"Yeah, yeah. But how?"
"You figure it out! Unlike you, I don't have some inner drive to pull pranks. I just don't care the way you do. So you ought to be better at coming up with them than me."
"So what do you care about, then."
Oren asked himself that question all the time. It was a pretty good one. "Uhh, lots of things. Like, with pranks, once you came up with something, I'd care about whether you pulled it off competently. I don't like watching people do stuff wrong."
"You're weird."
Fine, thought Oren, as he pointedly turned his attention back to homework. The three boys were pretty used to conversations ending that way, often with those same two words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tonks read the letter from Sirius back in her room, not wanting to open it at the table.
----------------------
Dear Dora,
You drive a hard bargain! As of Thursday, I am registered with the Ministry, so you can relax. The clerk said no one ever really looks at the archives, so unless it becomes publicly known some other way, it's unlikely that my secret is much less secret. So that's a relief.
I found an occlumency tutor who seems trustworthy enough—I'll be meeting with him several times a week. He has no idea how long it might take me, given that my mind is still pretty messed up. Well, differently than it was before I went to Azkaban, at least.
I'm still holding off on seeing anyone else, and I haven't bought a wand yet, but I've certainly spent some time out shopping. The owl who delivered this is new—I'm still trying to decide on a name for her. I went with the great grey in case I need her to carry packages, although the clerk at Eeylops says I should go higher than ten pounds.
The house is still a mess. I have no idea what Kreacher has been doing all these years. I think maybe house elves go insane if they are left alone for too long; humans certainly would.
I'm looking forward to seeing you next Hogsmeade weekend. That's the 24th, right?
yours truly,
Sirius
-----------------------------------
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