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"It seems like over half the school is doing the same damn thing we are" Blaise complained "almost all the books we were using are gone now."

"It doesn't matter" Harry said as they left the library "we found out nothing from those books. We learned more from Trevor and Severus than from those books, and they didn't know much either. I don't think we'll come to any conclusions unless we catch the person in the act."

"But then that means waiting for another attack" Blaise pointed out.

Harry stopped suddenly "I don't think we're going to have to wait."

There lying on the floor in front of them in the darkened corridor was a Hufflepuff in their year, Justin Finch-Fletchley. Next to him was another figure, a sight that gave Harry pause. It was Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor Ghost, no longer pearly-white and transparent, but black and smokey. He was floating horizontally in the air with his head frozen halfway in the process of falling off, his face wearing an expression of shock identical to the one upon Justin's face. Shaking off the uneasy feeling that had settled over him, Harry quickly knelt down next to Justin to seek his pulse. Justin was rigid and cold, his eyes staring blankly upward as if he was dead, but Harry managed to detect the faintest of pulses with some difficulty.

"He's still alive" Harry told Blaise who had knelt next to him "he's been petrified like the others it seems."

His training kicking in, Harry got to his feet and pulled Blaise up with him against the nearest wall. Besides the two petrified bodies and themselves the corridor was nearly empty except for a line of spiders scurrying away from the bodies towards a crack in one window. Normally Harry wouldn't have thought much of the spiders except for the fact that there were a lot of them and all were heading in the same direction as if fleeing for safety.

"We need to get a teacher" Harry finally said "but we don't know if whoever did this is still around. Stay close to the wall and watch for any sign of movement."

The moment Harry finished talking, Peeves came shooting out of a door to their right, startling both Harry and Blaise as the two whirled to cover the poltergeist with their wands.

"Oh" Peeves cackled, looking around as he flipped through the air "Potter and wee Zabini. Up to trouble I hope-"

"We need to find a teacher Peeves" Blaise cut him off "there's been another attack."

Peeves stopped halfway through a midair somersault as he spied Justin and Nearly Headless Nick before he began to scream "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"

"That was not what we meant" Harry groaned as door after door flew open along the corridor and people flooded out.

For several long minutes there was a scene of such confusion that Justin was in danger of being squashed and people kept standing in Nearly Headless Nick. Harry and Blaise kept themselves up against the wall as the teachers futilely shouted for quiet. Finally Harry had enough and whistled sharply as Manuel would to regain some semblance of order. Unfortunately it didn't work as well coming from a teenager and directed towards other teenagers as it did from a mafia leader to his men.

"Caught in the act" Ernie Macmillan, a Hufflepuff, yelled "it had to have been him. Look at him sulking in the shadows, he was there at the first attack too! And what about the snake at the dueling club? He picked it up as if it was a kitten! It's unnatural for any decent wizard to be able to control snakes like that! I almost expected him to start talking to it next. Both his parents were Gryffindors and yet the boy-who-lived ended up in Slytherin. No one knows how he survived the killing curse; it must have been dark magic. He must be Slytherin's heir!

"That will do, Macmillan" said Professor McGonagall sharply as she arrived "everyone back to what you were doing."

Surprisingly Peeves had remained quiet through all the chaos, but after Ernie's vehement speech the poltergeist began to act up and started chucking gum wads and chalk at the Hufflepuff. It was all Harry could do not to grin, it had truly been a good idea to befriend the poltergeist; not only were they immune to his attacks, but Peeves was willing to go after anyone who insulted them.

"This way Potter, Zabini" Professor McGonagall drew their attention away from the poltergeist tormenting Ernie; Flitwick and a few students were taking Justin and Nick to the hospital wing.

Harry inclined his head slightly and followed silently; she was probably taking them to Dumbledore. Yet after all that had just occurred, the one thing that disturbed Harry the most happened just as he was leaving that cursed hallway; he could have sworn he heard a voice calling for blood and this time the twins were nowhere nearby.

~~ ~~ ~*~

"Ah, Minerva" Dumbledore's eyes, while twinkling, were unusually serious "I see you've brought Mr. Potter and Miss. Zabini. If you could go check upon Mr. Finch-Fletchley and Sir Nicholas, I will speak with them."

Professor McGonagall nodded that she understood and left as Headmaster Dumbledore turned to the two children, who were unabashedly surveying his office. It was full of odd devices that whirled and clicked, pictures snored on the walls or conversed with their fellow portraits, and the Sorting Hat was mumbling to itself.

"I must ask that you tell me everything that happened when you found Mr. Finch-Fletchley" Dumbledore settled back in behind his desk, ready to listen as he gained the children's attention.

Harry and Blaise exchanged glances, before Harry began to speak "we had just left the library and were walking down the hall when we saw them. Justin was stiff as a board and Nearly Headless Nick was floating horizontally in the air, all discolored. We checked to see that Justin was still alive when Peeves came shooting into the hallway and started yelling. Within moments the hall was filled with people and Professor McGonagall arrived to restore order. She then brought us here to speak with you."

"Do you have anything to add Miss Zabini" Dumbledore turned to Blaise.

"No sir" Blaise's voice was steady, even after finding a petrified classmate.

"Are you both sure you have nothing else you would like to speak with me about" Dumbledore was asking them both, but Harry was sure the question was directed more towards him.

"No sir" they both replied as Dumbledore scrutinized them both.

"Very well then" Dumbledore almost seemed to want to sigh as he dismissed them "thank you for telling me what happened."

Harry and Blaise readily got up to leave, but at the door Harry paused "Headmaster, what could do that to a ghost?"

Suddenly Dumbledore looked his age "I do not know. Perhaps very dark magic, but I know that none within the school that would be capable of such, nor have I sensed such spells."

Harry and Blaise left then, walking down the eerily silent halls until they were a few corridors away from Dumbledore's office.

"Dumbledore's worried" Blaise's voice was slightly uneven now that it was just her and Harry; they may not have been too fond of the manipulations of the headmaster, but they acknowledged the power he held and it made them uneasy to know he was worried.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you" Harry reassured Blaise "and your dad is here as well. We'll get to the bottom of this. It's what a Darkov and a Zabini does. We don't go down without a fight, and even then they can't keep us down."

Blaise nodded determinedly "then we need a new plan of attack. We should focus on how instead of who as that isn't getting us anywhere. Dumbledore said he hasn't sensed any dark spells, so we can rule that out."

Harry looked thoughtful "that leaves us with potions and creatures then. Let's go talk to Severus and see what he knows, he might be able to help us narrow some things down."



"Wake up" Harry shouted gleefully, bouncing on his knees on the bed "wake up dad! It's Christmas!"

~~ ~~ ~*~

The past few days they had been home had been some of the best in the eyes of Harry, Blaise, Manuel, and Trevor. Nothing had happened since the attack where Ernie had accused Harry of being the heir of Slytherin, but things had been slightly tense and everyone was glad to be home. Also, it appeared that Manuel had been practically going batty without Trevor around to keep him company. Sure, both had plenty of people to converse with while they had been apart, but it hadn't been the same for either Manuel or Trevor not to have the other's company. It hadn't taken long for Harry to notice the strange and wary looks most of the guards had been giving Manuel when they got home, nor their relief at seeing Trevor. The first chance he had gotten, Harry had taken one of the Daggers aside and asked what the hell had been going on. It turned out that without Trevor's company to keep him in line, Manuel had taken to following in the Demoni's footsteps and pulling random pranks on the unsuspecting guards who didn't dare retaliate. Harry had grinned maniacally at this and whispered to the Dagger to put together a small team of four from those who had been pranked to meet that night while Manuel and Trevor were asleep.

They had met in one of the far rooms of the guest wing after Manuel and Trevor retired: one Dagger, a Wolf, one guard, and a maid had shown. Quickly and quietly they had settled down together to scheme of a prank to hit Manuel with. It would be a quick hit and they planned on covering their tracks well so that the suspicion would land elsewhere. Manuel would never suspect such a varied group getting together to prank him seeing as the Daggers and Wolves usually never dealt with the Guards, and the household staff stayed off to themselves.

~~ ~~ ~*~

"I'm up, I'm up" Manuel groaned half-heartedly "go on down and rip into your stocking. I'll be down in a bit."

Manuel didn't see the smirk cross Harry's face "alright. But you better be down soon."

Manuel grumbled an inaudible reply as Harry skipped out of the room and hauled himself from the bed to stumble to his shower. Twenty minutes later he was smoothly making his entrance into the living room where presents were heaped in huge piles around the traditional tree.

"Finally" Harry and Blaise grumbled together; they had already ripped through the packages in their stockings and were ready for the real gifts.

Manuel merely grinned and took his usual seat near a pile of presents with his name on them. It was all the urging anyone needed and before you could shout 'begin', wrapping paper was flying everywhere as gifts were unveiled to the sight of their new owners. Happy shouts filled the room as everyone exclaimed over the other's gifts and fell into discussion of the practicality of weapons.

"Battleship!" one of the guards called out excitedly as they ripped through the wrapping paper "thanks boss!"

"No destroying this set" Manuel called out with a grin, causing many sheepish looks to flit across the faces of the guards.

"But he sunk my battleship" someone called out with a mock pout "it was only right that I sunk his!"

Trevor raised an eyebrow. "By literally blowing it up? And the rest of the game as well?"

"Okay," the guard had the decency to look a bit sheepish "maybe I did use a bit too much C4, but you have to admit, the resulting effects were spectacular."

Trevor shook his head in defeat as he turned back to his own presents, muttering something about how the C4 had gotten planted in the game before they had even started to play. Harry and Blaise exchanged amused grins, the C4 had been there because the guards had decided it was high time they had been introduced to the wonders of explosives. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw his father pick up a present wrapped in dark blue and secured with a black ribbon. Next to him Blaise's eyes began to shine in anticipation as four others in the room perked up considerably. Things seemed to be happening in slow motion as Manuel talked to Trevor while pulling on the ribbon, his gaze turning from the present towards the card that had been tied onto the ribbon.

The moment the bow slipped free from the knot holding it a trigger was released inside the package and the top exploded outward. The resounding noise grabbed the attention of everyone in the room and they could only stare, frozen, at the confetti and cooking oil drenched form of Manuel. Manuel spit out a mouthful of the concoction and slowly raised his head from the card he had been reading right as the package exploded in his face. Those nearest to him could see the single word scrawled upon the tiny card: /Paybacks/. Harry and Blaise choked back their laughter, expecting to see the promise of retribution in Manuel's eyes only to find amusement there. Slowly Manuel began to chuckle and it soon became a full-blown laugh as others around the room realized it was safe to give into their own mirth; needless to say they all quickly stopped when Manuel finally worked up the ability to glare at them.

After a while Harry got to his feet and walked over to where his dad was sitting, expertly dancing around the slick spots of oil upon the floor as he reached for the next present on his father's pile. Grimacing at the slick oil now coating the paper, Harry handed the present to his father.

"Here dad" Harry tried his hardest to keep a straight face "want to try another?"

Manuel gave Harry one of his patented searching looks "if I find out you had anything to do with this-"

"Never saw that package before in my life" Harry easily proclaimed his innocence as he and Blaise had only helped with the planning, not the execution; Harry dropped his voice to a whisper so only Manuel could hear "and why would I do such a thing when I have other means of pranking available?"

"Why don't you wave your hand and clean up this mess than" Manuel growled back just as softly, using his hand to slick some of the oil and confetti from his hair.

"Can't" Harry grinned pleasantly "too many witnesses."

Manuel scowled and stood, announcing that he was going to take a shower while the rest of them planned this year's crazy Christmas game. Gleefully everyone began to eagerly scheme, pausing only long enough to wince as they heard the thump of a body upon the wooden floor of the hall. Moments later they were cracking up as Manuel's vivid curses reached their ears.

For the first time that morning Sensei spoke up, calling out "very good Manuel, it pleases me that you show such dedication with your training. Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off-"

The last thing they heard from the hallway before Manuel disappeared upstairs was a long string of curses in Japanese involving a tonfa, a snapping turtle, wet rawhide, Sensei, and his internal organs.

"Well that was a pretty idea" Harry quipped lightly as he turned back to the jumble of games spread out before everyone, ignoring the questioning looks of those that didn't understand Japanese as Sensei sat back to serenely watch on.

~~ ~~ ~*~

It was nearly an hour later before Manuel joined them, moaning about the hardship of getting the greasy feel of cooking oil from his skin and hair. Indeed, though Manuel was now clean, his skin and hair still appeared to have a greasy sheen and was oily to the touch.

Harry turned to Blaise and whispered softly "wonder if we could get a hold of whatever Severus uses to de-grease himself after standing over a cauldron and potion fumes all day. It might rid dad of his attitude, at the very least it would calm him down until he finds out who was behind the rigged present-then all hell will break loose again."

Blaise nodded "hopefully we'll be back at Hogwarts before he finds out, we'll be safe from prank retribution then and he might forget about our part in the whole thing by the time we come home for summer."

Harry nodded as he and Blaise skipped out to the kitchen to snag some food before they began playing this years Christmas game.

~~ ~~ ~*~

"Quick Darth Vader" Harry and Blaise could hear one of the guards say as they came downstairs from sword training with Sensei "take out G.I. Joe before he can wrest the crown from the red mouse and steal the cheese."

"Watch out, battleship to F4" someone else cried.

Harry smirked as he watched the newest Christmas game still being carried out "pity Trevor confiscated the C4 before it could be used to turn Miss Scarlet into a bargaining chip."

Blaise laughed, catching the attention of both Manuel and Trevor. Both men gave up their positions of watching the game that had turned into a demented version of Risk involving a chess set, various action figures, and parts of mousetrap amongst other game pieces.

"It's a good thing he took the C4" Manuel said amidst a call of 'down the chute, escape the hippo' "or there wouldn't be a single complete game left in this household. I think you all out did yourself this year and managed to use every single game anyone in this house ever owned. There's even a poker deck and set of old maid cards being used."

"Don't forget the duck" Blaise said, referring to the rubber duck that was taking the place of the Trojan horse.

Trevor rolled his eyes in mock exasperation "have you two packed? We leave for the train in a few minutes."

Harry and Blaise nodded their affirmation "we packed last night. You?"

"I packed last night as well" Trevor was obviously loathe to go back to teaching, a sentiment Manuel felt just as keenly; Manuel and Trevor were two peas in a pod and used to always having the other there to watch their backs.

Manuel sighed "I guess we should call for the car then. I'll see to it while you bring your trunks down to be loaded up."

By the time eleven o'clock rolled around Manuel was waving a sad goodbye from platform 9 ¾ while Harry and Blaise waved back from inside the train, Trevor standing silently behind them with a protective hand placed upon a shoulder of each youngster. They were heading back to Hogwarts and whatever dangers might await them in the magical world, a world where they didn't have the security of knowing that a whole force of people trained to kill were waiting to protect them. Trevor's hands tightened momentarily upon both the kids shoulders before they settled down to talk or read quietly for the duration of the train ride, he would do all he could to ensure that Harry and Blaise remained safe in both worlds.