Prep Missions

"What a mess…" muttered Nev as we stepped into the room of lost things.

"No no, this is a treasure trove," Luna squealed with excitement and started walking towards a pile of broken things. Knowing Luna, her definition of treasure was vastly different than mine. I had cleaned this place of any money and rare weapons last term. The only reason I left jewelry alone at that time was because I did not want to tamper with the diadem in any way.

"I will look after her," Hermione said in a resigned tone as she walked towards her. After getting to know Luna properly over the summer, Hermione became very protective of the girl. Luna often got lost in her own head and forgot to take care of herself. Hermione had to force her to sit down for meals and often had to fight tooth and nail to get her to sleep daily. Ironic, considering Hermione herself had these bad habits when she got engrossed in a book. Luna took it to another level though. This caused Hermione to adopt the role of a big sister. Not that it was anything new to Hermione. Without her, we would have been dead and buried long back during our misadventures.

I pitied any snobs who would try to bully Luna this year. Sure, we had her back. But before any of us got a shot, Hermione would have already demolished them. Luna was capable enough of getting back at them, but the girl was very soft hearted and didn't want to retaliate. Made it all the more heartwarming that she followed me into a life or death situation without hesitation last year.

We had all gotten together one time after she went to sleep and made it pretty clear that we would be looking after her. This year she wouldn't be spending much of her time in her common room anyway. Winky was willing to look after her whenever she was free from her duties. Let someone start some shit, we would finish it.

"Alright, Hannah and I will be going that way," said Susan as she dragged Hannah towards one alley formed between the heaps of lost and broken treasures.

"Send over a patronus if you need anything," I said with a raised voice. Susan nodded and took off. I saw Hermione's retreating back stop for a moment before giving me a thumbs up without turning back.

I was not worried about any of them stumbling across the diadem. That was because I had snuck into this place after classes yesterday and removed the horcrux. To be precise, I had removed it from existence.

The movies had thrown me off, but before I came here, the docket provided by Cellarius clarified a few things for me. In the books, Riddle did not feel anything if any of his horcruxes were destroyed. He went on a rampage only after he heard that the Lestrange vault had been robbed and the trio took the cup. Then he went to each and every hiding spot one by one to confirm the state of his horcruxes. The movies were inconsistent about it. Sometimes he felt it, sometimes he didn't. From what I understood this place followed the books in this specific case. He was disjointed from the rest of his trinkets.

It was incredibly risky keeping horcruxes on hand, lest they corrupt or attack someone. That is why I had destroyed each and every one of them once I came across the things. The diary was gone long back. The shard inside me was already gone. Kreacher and I took out the locket once I became his proper master. Rabastan, under my control had taken the cup and placed a decoy in place, bribing the goblins to obfuscate the records of him even visiting the vault. Once I had sent his corpse back, I blasted the cup after a brief analysis. Years of corruption by the soul piece had eaten away at the original enchantments on the object itself. The diadem was in a similar state when I found it a day ago. What a waste of priceless magical artefacts. The only two remaining now were the ring and Nagini. Dumbledore said that he would guide me into destroying the ring when we start our training. Nagini would be the only target remaining pretty soon. The real question was though, would I be able to match him without any of the gimmicks, once he was mortal? Time would tell.

Also, I was curious about finding out how the stone retained its enchantments where the cup and the diadem failed. Logically speaking, the stone summoned and interacted with souls, so a soul shard shouldn't have any hold over it. Still, I was keen on examining the kind of magic that it possessed.

"Stop spacing out, we need to scope out this place," said Neville as he also began his exploration of the room.

"Yeah yeah. Let's properly case this joint." I said as I followed him.

"Says the daydreaming git," he said as he levitated some rubbish out of the way and kept walking, "Harry, with the heaps of trash over here, we can hide traps inside them and the bastards wouldn't even know."

"That's the plan. We will have ample cover and vantage points. Just in case though. If things go according to plan, then we wouldn't have to move a finger. Our traps should take them out."

"You are right. Although, as Hermione likes to remind us, no plan survives contact with the enemy."

"True enough," I said as we walked on.

##################

"So, what have we found?" Susan asked as we sat on conjured chairs in front of the vanishing cabinet.

Hermione had been analyzing the thing vigorously since we found it. I had also taken a look at the enchantments and was amazed. Wizards had found magic to manipulate space, yet they did not understand the significance of what they were doing. In the hands of someone who truly knew the scope of it, this branch of magic could be taken to a completely different level.

"It is a brilliant piece of magic. It is currently broken, yes, but the spatial enchantments are still pristine. It is like the magic woven into the thing itself is in a separate place," Hermione said.

"From what I gather, it is more of a shared pocket dimension rather than operating like a wormhole," I chipped in.

"Exactly. The space between two cabinets seem to be the common denominator. It has a two-step mechanism. The first enchantment triggers the transportation of the object to the space shared by the cabinets. The second enchantment opens the gateway from the other end."

"So, what if there is something in both of the cabinets at once?" asked Hannah.

"I believe that there must be something to counter that," mused Luna.

"Yikes. Let's say I place anything inside one cabinet and someone steps into the other cabinet. When they get shunted to the shared space, the object will be superimposed onto the human being. Gruesome way to go," I said.

"You reckon we can trap it that way?" asked Nev.

"No, that would tip them off. Because, by the mechanism, the door needs to close to initiate the transfer. That kind of trap would take the first one out, then the rest would abort their mission. Mainly because it is not a portal, the doors need to be shut to stabilize the shared space and initiate the transfer," said Hermione.

"It is clear that the problem itself right now is that this cabinet is not able to connect to that shared space. A simple reparo doesn't work due to this exact reason as well. Because the dimension is there, it is working. This just needs to be properly connected and stabilized. The cabinet itself bypasses all wards and defensive spells. If someone manages to sneak one inside a warded area, then nothing short of physical intervention can stop the transportation," I said.

"Hmm, I suggest moving around the trash heaps in this place. We can place it in such a way that our traps surround this cabinet and choke them when they get ready to move from here," said Susan.

"We have Neville's portable snares. If placed correctly, we can bog them down and give us a clear shot to take them out," suggested Hannah.

"It won't be enough on its own. For now, we can do what Susan suggested, but we would need to find more solutions for completely shutting them down," said Hermione as she started scribbling in her journal.

"Hermione, hypothetically, if you were given the task to fix it, how long would it take you?" I asked.

She closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows, deep in though. After almost a minute of deliberation, she spoke up.

"One to two months at the maximum. This is considering the fact that I am not yet well versed with spatial magic. If I dropped everything else and focused on this alone, it wouldn't take me more than a month."

"Well, Malfoy isn't even close to your level so it is safe to assume that it would take him way longer. Even then, it is not safe to just let him work on it unsupervised," I said. I was well aware that canon Malfoy took a whole year to do it, even with specific instructions from Borgin. No point in taking risks though. Especially when I was going to steer him away from his stupid attempts that took out Katie and Ron. I wasn't willing to full on make him a sleeper or do complete possessions yet because he would be heading back to Riddle's circle during the Christmas break to do a report on his progress. If Riddle noticed any overt tampering of his pawn, he might abort the mission.

I could push the timeline by fixing it in the background gradually and advancing that raid, but for now, it was better to prepare ourselves and ensure that we do not bite off more than we could chew. This was a confirmed plan and it wouldn't be abandoned no matter what. So, we should be as prepared as we could before we let it play out. It was a big deal to them because even if they don't kill Dumbledore, the act of attacking students inside the castle would spread fear over the parents who were still opposing him. Win-win scenario for Riddle either ways. The only way to convert that into a win for our side is to completely stomp them before they could even step a foot out of this room. Therefore, it was better to plan it down to a T and have several contingencies in place.

Speaking of pushing the timeline, I was hovering on letting it slip to Dumbledore about the inferi cave and getting that fiasco out of the way. I could play it off as Kreacher warming up to me and telling me about it. It was already a known fact that my elves were very loyal to me. That avenue would ensure that I would be present during the Death Eater attack from the beginning, and not gallivanting across the country with a half dead Dumbledore. Of course, he would identify the fake locket and ask us for the real one, but I had something thought out for that as well. It would all depend on Dumbledore's upcoming lesson this weekend. If he doesn't waste my time with a slideshow per month on Riddle's life, I will consider doing it.

"It's better if we have our elves follow the wanker and once he is out of here, we can gauge his progress and either sabotage or aid him as per our level of preparedness," said Neville.

"I will leave the map with either Kreacher or Winky. That way, any elf of his own will not interfere. Even though Dobby guarantees that Malfoys don't use elves for anything other than domestic chores, no need to risk it. Also, we can retrieve the map anytime we want since Hogwarts wards does fuck all to elf apparition. Once we have his schedule drawn up, we can monitor his progress like you said. We don't want to bog down Dobby, Noddy and Jasky with this yet. They already have a lot of work on their plates."

"Alright, let's get started with rearranging this place then. Let's just hope that the way he summons the room won't change our arrangements," said Susan as she got up.

"We'll find out when he makes his first stop. We have enough time to get this ambush right. The ferret won't know what hit him," said Hermione as she snapped her journal shut and stuffed it into her backpack.

"May I suggest something?" asked Luna.

"Of course Luna," I said. Most often during our discussions, Luna was quiet. She quietly listened to all of our points. At the very end, she usually either points out something we completely missed, or comes up with an out of the box solution. Or, she sometimes just states something completely unrelated.

"The other cabinet is at Borgin and Burkes right?" she asked.

"Yup"

"Then we need to monitor that as well. Just in case we miss it from our end, the exodus of Death Eaters towards that cabinet will not be easy to miss," she said. It was a simple, but efficient contingency. We were all tunnel visioning towards our end because this was the entry point. Keeping an eye on the other cabinet would also ensure that we knew what level of progress Malfoy had achieved. His shields were too weak for my current level and I can move past them without setting off anything. Even though I was going to peek into his mind every now and then, it was a good bit of redundancy to have something monitoring the other cabinet.

"Good job," Hermione patted her head and motioned us all to get to work.

##################

"Hey Potter, is it true that you quit the quidditch team?" asked McLaggen as I walked into the common room with Hermione and Nev.

Following that, the entire common room became silent. I was wondering which asshole would broach this topic first. Seems like McLaggen is bound to get cocky in his seventh year one way or the other.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"What do you mean, what about it? We are about to win our third championship in a row and you are just going to quit like that?" he asked, spittle falling everywhere.

"That's enough Cormac. He has personal reasons and it is none of your business. If you have any issues, take it up with Professor McGonagall," Katie said from her usual sofa, looking at McLaggen with distaste. She was sitting alone, as Angelina and Alicia had graduated now. Katie's other close friend Leanne was in Hufflepuff as well. I had already taken measures to ensure that the necklace incident didn't happen. Canon Katie had to repeat her seventh year because she was in the hospital for six months due to the curse. It wouldn't happen this time. If she was alone in this house, then we would be there for her. I owed her that much at least.

"What is wrong with you Katie? Your first and last stint at captaincy, and you let the seeker walk out just like that?" he rounded up on her instead.

"I was not-" she started speaking.

"McLaggen," I raised my voice, cutting her off. It seemed like Katie was going to admit that she was not supposed to be the captain in the first place. That would just cause her more problems with the team. Jackasses like McLaggen would harass her for just being the second choice and might not even listen to her. Heck, the moron didn't listen to canon Harry despite him being the first choice.

"This is Katie's sixth year in the team now. You don't have any sort of eligibility to question her on anything. Also, it was my decision to leave. Nobody could have changed it. So if you have anything to say, say it to me and piss off."

He walked towards me, trying to intimidate me due to his size. Unfortunately for him, I was no longer a thin runt. I stared him down and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to respond.

"You know what? We don't need you. Go run away and do whatever you want. We'll win without you," he said at last.

"Excuse me," Hermione's voice interjected, "who even are you?"

He looked at her with confusion for a moment and said, "I'm a seventh year. Surely you must know who I am."

"Oh dear, another thickheaded idiot. Makes one wonder if our house is a magnet for those at this point. Anyway, what I meant to say is, Katie and Harry have been with the team for years now, and they have established their capabilities. They have won two back to back championships and performed admirably well in the four years I've seen them play. Of course, we didn't have the tournament in between due to the Triwizard Travesty. Whereas, you are a relative nobody who wasn't involved with any of the major house activities for years. Now that you are a seventh year, you are trying to establish dominance and failing miserably."

His face contorted into a shape rivaling that of Umbridge's.

"Look here you-"

"No. You listen here, and you listen well. You are not a member of the team, so stop talking like you have any control over it. If you are so concerned over the team, then go to the tryouts and become a seeker yourself. We are not interested in hearing your tripe."

"I will do exactly that. Just sit still and watch," he barked and walked towards the dorms.

"McLaggen," I called out once again. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, "this goes for all of you as well. I have important things to worry about. If you want to squabble over inconsequential shit and think that it matters to me, then you are barking up the wrong tree. Don't mistake me for someone who gives a shit anymore," I said and moved over to join Katie.

I looked around and surprisingly, there were less disgruntled faces than I expected. The war was affecting everyone some way or the other and it seemed like many of them were worried about things happening on the outside as well. Good, these people often needed to get their priorities straight.

"Do we really have to put up with that oaf?" asked Ginny as she approached us with Dean in tow.

"Well we used to put up with your brother," bit out Hermione. She then winced and looked at Ginny, "sorry. Not your fault."

"Oh shush Hermione. The git has it coming. He has been harassing Dean because of me as well. I mean, we have been together for months now. It's ridiculous."

"Hey, don't bring me into this. Anyway, I was thinking of trying out for the team. When will you hold the tryouts?" he asked Katie.

"I will post a notice soon. Which position are you aiming for anyway?"

"Chaser. I've been practicing, and I think I can do well."

"Good, our chaser lineup is drained. We need more people for that position. Practice hard and make sure that you put up a good showing during the tryouts," she said.

"What about you Ginny?" asked Neville, finally inserting himself to the conversation. When McLaggen was going off, I noticed Nev tensing up, preparing himself for a fight, but nothing happened so he didn't say anything. Nev was the type that did not waste his words. He does not waffle, he does not boast. More than that, he doesn't speak when he feels like he doesn't have anything proper to contribute. Some people would mistake him to be still shy, but that was no longer the case. He was just allergic to bullshit.

"Chaser of course. It's what I'm best at," she said. Rightfully so. But Ginny was a good seeker as well. At this point, the team would need her to step into that role.

"It's better if you try out for seeker Ginny. If a chaser underperforms, the other two can pick up the slack. If a seeker does not deliver, the game is lost. We don't want wankers like McLaggen trying to be a seeker and botching it up," I stated my opinion.

"He has a point. You should try out for both the positions. We will decide accordingly," said Katie.

Ginny nodded solemnly in response to that.

"A part of me still hopes that you'd turn up miraculously for the tryouts. A girl can only dream, I suppose," Katie said as she slapped my arm playfully.

"Sorry to disappoint Katie," I said with a smirk. I lost the smirk at once and continued, "You might want to be careful with McLaggen. He does not seem like a team player. No matter how skilled he is, attitude like that will be bad for the locker room. All these years we did well because we saw each other as a unit, as a family."

"Ugh. I can't show open bias like that Harry. Plus, I know the dumbass. He has been in my class all these years after all. I would have wagered that he would try out for the keeper role, but after what happened here, I am sure he will throw his hat in the ring for the seeker position as well."

"All the more reason for you to kick his ass Ginny," piped in Hermione.

##################

A couple of uneventful days later, Hedwig swooped into my room late into the night and dropped a package on my bed.

So far, the classes had been boring because I was already proficient in what was being taught. We had begun preparations to start up the DA once more. Of course, it would not be called Dumbledore's Army anymore. But preparations were underway and we were screening the members list and the curriculum for the meetings.

I fed Hedwig a handful of owl treats. She could feel my gratitude from the bond and blasted a wave of affection towards me as she ate the treats with gusto. I tore open the package and inside was a letter and a copy of my new newspaper. It was supposed to go out within a day, and this was the final print for my perusal.

Prioritizing the letter first, I opened it up and read through the contents. It was from my editor-in-chief. We had gone over the type of content to cover and what my plans with the newspaper were. In his letter, he just let me know the current state of operations and how prepared they were for the release.

It would be nigh impossible to advertise our newspaper on the platform that had the most reach amongst the wizarding population in Britain- the Daily Prophet. They would rather admit that they print dog shit, than advertise a competitor challenging their monopoly. Nobody stopped me from dropping pamphlets advertising the new paper to potential readers though. The Owl Post office belonged to me after all. Who cares that I was basically resorting to spamming? The majority of the population of wizarding Britain were bored out of their minds and had nothing better to do. Also, reading a proper newspaper might do some good for their empty brains.

We bought out time slots in the Wizarding Wireless Network for advertising. We also paid shopkeepers in Diagon, Carkitt, Horizont, Knockturn and Hogsmeade to stick our posters on their walls. Amelia helped me a lot with registering the paper with the ministry as a legitimate business. Scrimgeour was apparently glad to help her and wanted to talk to me at some point. I did not shy away from using my connections. Every advantage counted. We registered the paper in my name because I already had a massive target on my head, no need to paint a bullseye on someone else as well.

We did not hide the fact that I owned the paper. Although, it was made clear that an experienced team was working on the paper itself. Despite that, the fact that I owned it would drive a lot of traffic towards the paper. That was the plan after all. Journalistic integrity was down in the gutter and we promised to sell actual news and not some pile of rubbish. Given that the prophet had spent an entire year slandering me, and then switched to sucking me off during the summer, the public knew that something was wrong with that paper. They just did not have other viable options. Our aim was to give them that option.

We already had a lot of subscriptions. Moreover, stacks of the first issue were slated to be dropped free of charge to key locations and prominent businesses like St. Mungo's, Hogwarts, the Leaky Cauldron, the Three Broomsticks and the Hog's Head. There were also subscription forms attached to the issue, to capture new readers. It was pricey to do all this, but you need to spend money wisely to make more money. Also, it did not make any noticeable dent in my funds.

Due to the amount of chatter we had generated, and due to my association with the paper, several brands had already approached us. Multiple deals were hammered through and we were making cash via brand advertisements before we even sold the first copy.

Of course, I did not skimp on protection as well. All my staff were operating under pseudonyms to protect their identities. Funnily enough, they picked names of fictional journalists as their bylines. The staff were all either half-bloods or muggleborns, so they were familiar with muggle entertainment. My biggest advantage over the garbage that was sold in wizarding Britain was that most of my writers and editors were all educated in muggle institutions after facing disappointment in the wizarding world. Those that were not, took summer courses to improve their writing skills.

The office was under a fidelius and several other protective measures. The materials sourced were entirely from the muggle world, which removed any possible leakage of the location. We even owned several trucks and had employees who sourced the materials. The employees themselves had emergency portkeys and enchanted items to protect them in case of any emergencies.

The first issue itself was specifically designed to capture attention and make a massive splash. The content was controversial, but true. Mainly because there were many beyond the scenes things that the general public were not aware of. I was going to thoroughly piss several people off, Riddle especially. But it would be all worth it.

I knew that some of these people would want to track our office through letters. Therefore, we had a deal with the goblins to screen our mail. Money was the language they spoke, after all. Although, we had to fight tooth and nail to ensure that they won't sell us out to the opposition. I had to return to them some goblin made items that the Blacks had filched from other families. That, sealed the deal for them. Not a single wizard from Riddle's side would ever return to goblins their creations. For me, it was no loss as I was only handing out stolen stuff to them.

All incoming letters would be screened for any sorts of spells and would then be forwarded to the main office as necessary.

My main plan for the newspaper was hidden inside the leisure section. Daily crossword puzzles and connect the dots were my main targets. For now, they would be normal. Soon enough, once I gained enough confidence with my skills, I would begin the actual game. There was also a comic strip that was focused on political satire. That would be normal though. With the moving art of the wizarding print, the comic strip was highly entertaining. I was looking forward to seeing the reactions of some people when certain strips were published.

I quickly penned a letter to my editor-in-chief and gave it to Hedwig.

"Have a safe flight girl," I said as she nipped my ear affectionately and launched herself out of the window.

I took out the research notes of Cassiopeia Black and began poring over her custom runic language. My right eye displayed the kanji for number two as I immersed myself in the literature.

##################

A.N: Happy New Year, dear readers. Hope you have a good year ahead!

Thank you all for your continued support. Please consider leaving a review if you like what I've written so far.

If you want to talk to me on discord, please find the invite in the auxiliary chapter.