Extra 5: The Memory Box

A Hogwarts Mystery

"So, you three disobeyed school rules," Filch chuckled in delight. He loved punishing students, especially since the little miscreants seem to up their game every year.

The three in front of him were caught trespassing in a restricted corridor. Normally, Filch wouldn't mind since kids were just being kids, but this corridor was blocked off due to magical ice. It seemed the two Gryffindors and Hufflepuff were up to know good. But of course, they were just trying to solve one of the many mysteries that this school held. He even knew what this particular mystery was since Dumbledore had him lay out the clues for them. He just hadn't expected them to enter this corridor.

"You will meet me after class for one week and clean up after some of our magical creatures."

One of the students, the Gryffindor who was at the center of this mystery, spoke up. "What about Quidditch practice?"

That was a good point. Filch loved Quidditch and this student was a rising star even though they were only in their second year. But, sadly, he could not fold on his punishment. He wasn't allowed to show favoritism and he was playing a character after all.

"Stop your whining! You will do as you are told!" Filch was such an ugly person but it was so much fun to be him. Most of the time anyways. The students did have a tendency to prank him and Mrs Norris.

A Brief Break

Hermione stretched her arms over her head. They were in Dumbledore's office during their brief respite. Once every six months, the potion that changed them into Filch and Mrs. Norris, would wear off and they would have to take it again.

"This form feels best," sighed Tom.

"Yes," agreed Hermione. "Not being able to talk or to do this," she gave Tom a brief kiss that promised to lead to more in the future. "Is quite vexing and tiresome," she said when she pulled away.

Tom moved closer to her, no doubt wanting to continue kissing her. The door opened and in walked Dumbledore before Tom could do anything. "Time to finish our project, Tom my boy."

Tom and Dumbledore had been working on making the Illuminator. It turned out that the spell that had brought Ron to Hermione and Harry during their hunt for the Horcruxes was a more elaborate version of Tom's locating spell.

Blue

Mrs. Norris glanced at the bowl of milk in front of her. She knew not to trust it. The students, especially the Weasley twins, had increased their pranks on her.

She did what no ordinary cat would do, she sniffed the bowl then walked away. What a mistake that turned out to be. Her paw hit a tile and blue fog came pouring out.

The sounds of the twins snickering echoed down the hallway. What did they do to her this time? She backed away and looked at her reflection in the bowl of milk. Her fur had turned completely blue.

With an agitated meow, she walked past the twins. She batted at their feet with a hiss before sulking back to where Filch was.

He took one look at her and burst out laughing. "How did the twins get you this time?" She was going to hex that man and the twins the next chance she got.

Hairless

Mrs. Norris was curled up asleep, hidden from prying eyes. She had gotten used to all of the sleep that cats needed. The only problem was that she couldn't sleep as much as she wanted to because of the twins.

The snickering giggles had her alarm bells ringing. She grumpily opened her eyes. The twins had unfortunately found her hiding spot. Oh, that was right. They possessed the Marauder's map. That was careless of her to forget.

The chilly air in the corridor caused her to shiver. Mrs. Norris looked down at her, confused as to why she would be cold.

Her eyes widened in horror. Her beautiful hair was gone. The twins had used some kind of hair loss spell on her! How dare they rob a lady of her glorious hair! Now she was completely naked!

Payback

The effects of the potion on Hermione and Tom faded away. The students were currently at dinner and Tom was curled up on the couch in their room asleep. She pitied him for sleeping through their brief release.

She held back the small giggle that demanded to burst free when she shot the spell at the sleeping man. His flawless skin was now marred with green dots.

Hermione snuck down the secret passageway that led to the Great Hall. With careful aim, she aimed it at her two targets.

The twins dropped their utensils and pointed at each other as they burst into laughter. After their laughter faded away, they demanded to know which had done it to them.

Hermione was getting ready to leave when she felt eyes on her. She looked over and found Snape and Dumbledore looking at her with knowing looks. They were the only other people who knew about the secret corridor.

She shot them an innocent smile and left. She wasn't worried that Snape had seen her since he knew who she really was. Dumbledore trusted him and it turned out that he wasn't that bad of a guy. He even helped her get revenge on the twins once.

Delores Umbridge

Filch choked down the bile that threatened to come up as he smiled sweetly at the annoying woman in front of him. Her plump figure was hideously marred by the unfortunate pink outfit.

"You look lovely today," he lied through gritted teeth.

The seriously messed up woman smiled at him. It was obvious that not too many people held interest in the woman before him. It was also obvious that she was completely mental.

"Keep up the good work," she told him with a fake smile.

He didn't drop the lovesick look off of his face until she was out of sight. "I will have nightmares because of this," he grumbled.

The beautiful cat at his feet snickered, obviously enjoying his torment. "Enjoy it while it lasts." He told his partner. "Maybe I should sneak some ideas to the twin's," he mumbled as an afterthought.

Not Again

Mrs. Norris stood in the middle of the corridor watching as water pooled onto the floor. It was currently hers', Harry's, and Ron's second year. The year that the Chamber of Secrets was opened and Hermione was petrified.

She glanced at the pool of water again and sneezed. Her whisker twitched while her tail flicked back-and-forth. She really did not like this year.

"You have too, my little witch." Filch's voice was soft and tender, almost sounding like he did when he was Tom.

Mrs. Norris growled in anger. She didn't need to be told. She needed to be petrified as Mrs. Norris so that twelve-year old Hermione could figure it out.

She flicked her eyes toward Filch and nodded. His rough voice came out smooth and powerful as he spoke in the language of the snakes.

When Filch was done, he crouched down and put a hand to her head, gingerly rubbing her ears in between his fingers. "I'll see you soon."

Mrs. Norris let out a grumble and swished her tail. She really hated this year.

The Replacement

"What about a Golem? Is something like that possible?" Hermione asked. It was two years before Sirius Black was set to die. She, Tom, Severus, and Dumbledore were all brainstorming on how to save the unfortunate Black.

"It would need to act like the man, so, no, that would never work," Severus drawled darkly. The man may be a good person but he had a terrible way of showing it.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he thought over Hermione's suggestion. "If we had some of his magic, then perhaps. It may very well be possible but it would need all of us."

"You can't be serious?"

Dumbledore cast a look at Severus. "Very."

Tom held a hand up to his mouth, trying to stop the chuckle he was holding in from bursting forth. Hermione had to admit that it was very amusing watching the Headmaster and Potion's instructor bicker and debate.

. . . . .

"But-"

"No buts," Filch growled. Now that he and Hermione were back as Filch and Mrs. Norris, it was his job to keep the wily Black from ruining their carefully thought out plan. "You must stay here. Your doppelganger will help Harry. And die in your place. Remember that you agreed to this."

Black shot daggers at the man. Filch sighed and shook his head. He had a feeling that the worst part would be keeping this man hidden away from the world.

Mad-eye

They watched as the seven Harry's departed, keeping their eye on the one they wanted. Hidden underneath the Invisibility Cloak and armed with a bunch of spells to help them go unnoticed, Hermione and Tom followed the fake Harry with Mad-eye Moody.

It was a lucky break for the two. Normally they would have been under the potion to keep them as Mrs. Norris and Filch, a cat and a squib, but not tonight.

"We have to time this just right," Hermione said underneath her breath.

"I know. Don't worry, we'll pull it off," came Tom's curt reply as his way of reassuring her.

The moment they were waiting for arrived. The Death Eater in pursuit of the Fake Harry and Mad-eye lifted their wand. Hermione sent a nearly undetectable protection charm in Mad-eye's direction.

Tom sent a stun spell at the exact same time that the Death Eater shot off their spell. Mad-eye fell, plummeting to the ground. Tom decelerated his fall without it looking suspicious.

As soon as everyone was gone, the two approached Mad-eye. Now all they had to do was to get the man to the safe house and convince him to stay. They needed everyone to believe that he was dead for the timeline to stay the same.

. . . . .

They entered the safehouse with the still passed out Mad-eye. Sirius came down from the stairs with his wand raised.

"Stand down," Hermione huffed.

Sirius lowered his wand. "Oh, just you. No one ever comes and visits me," the man sighed dramatically. "Only you and your boyfriend. Snevillus just once."

"You know why you can't have visitors," Said Tom. "But good news, you now have a roommate." He pointed to Mad-eye who was now on the couch.

Sirius looked toward the sleeping man with a horrified look. "Not Mad-eye. He's crazy."

"Good. Then you should get along," Tom replied, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

You-Know-Who

"What are we doing here?" Asked Hermione.

Tom rolled up his sleeve so that the Dark Mark on his arm was visible. "Implementing the Weasley twins." With that, he walked into the bar where he had tracked down Fred and George. It was a good thing that the effects on the potion had run out for the twins didn't know what he looked like in his Tom form.

He strolled right past where the twins were sitting with their heads pulled up. Plastering on a dopey grin, he plopped himself down in the bar. A Death Eater that he did not recognize was there.

"Can you believe it!" He raised his voice to that of a loud drunk. "Our Master is a genius! Using his name as a tracker!" He saw the twins lean just a bit closer, trying to be as subtle as possible. "I would never have thought of that!" It was something he actually would have done. It was scary to see how similar the Horcrux copy of himself thought and acted to the original.

The man beside him gave him a hard glare. "Sush your mouth you bloody drunk! You'll ruin our Lord's plan with that drunken mouth of yours!"

Tom saluted the man, pretending to almost slide off of his seat. "Yes, sir!"

The Death Eater just shook his head with a bemused smirk. "Newbies," he muttered.