Chapter 62: 4-10: Splash

Disclaimer: Being neither British nor Japanese, it should therefore come as no surprise that I own neither Harry Potter nor Naruto, nor anything from their respective franchises.

Classes were just about to resume when Rita Skeeter finally found a way to sting the Headmaster. The headline in that day's Prophet read: "DUMBLEDORE'S GIANT MISTAKE". Somehow, Skeeter had discovered Hagrid's half-giant heritage, and the article that resulted painted the kindly man as a savage brute endangering the children at Hogwarts. Unfortunately, from what Harry had overheard the night of the Yule Ball, it seemed that the story was factual enough to avoid breaching the muckraker's agreement with Albus.

Hagrid himself had retreated to his hut in a combination of mortification and fear of the students' reactions. Given how quickly Remus had been pushed out the previous year, this fear was hardly unfounded. After a day of Care of Magical Creatures classes being taught by a substitute Professor, Harry and Luna ended up leading the rest of S.E.N. in rallying many of their fellow students (mostly a group of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs) in support of their largest friend. The gentle half-giant opened his door at Harry's insistence to find dozens of children and more than a few staff members gathered outside his hut; as soon as the door was open far enough, Luna immediately latched onto the kindly man (or at least his leg) in a comforting hug.

Beginning the next day, Care of Magical Creatures classes at Hogwarts were once again taught by their official Professor. According to Iruka's students, the friendly half-giant was a bit more serious in class than he had been before, a touch more professional, though his open love of his subject was undimmed. If he also seemed somehow slightly lighter than before, well, nobody was commenting on that.

˄

-――――===ͽ ˂ O ˃ ͼ===――――-

˅

Hagrid's immediate issue resolved, life at the castle fell back into its somewhat-modified routine after the holidays. The only noticeable change was that Viktor Krum and several more of his schoolmates joined those Durmstrang students that had already been joining in with the weekend pickup Quidditch games. Harry reported that the Bulgarian Seeker had complimented his flying, saying he'd already be stiff competition for many professional Seekers and encouraging him to keep training to fully bring out his potential. Matches between the two celebrities tended to draw especially large crowds, and on a few occasions even the other players stopped what they were doing just to watch the two trying to outfly each other.

˄

-――――===ͽ ˂ O ˃ ͼ===――――-

˅

Midway through January, a letter from Sirius reported that they'd finally managed to clear the Black family library the week before, and had just found the missing spells required to recreate the important functions of the Marauder's Map. Both remaining Marauders would be working with Albus and Filius to create a number of copies for staff use.

˄

-――――===ͽ ˂ O ˃ ͼ===――――-

˅

It was nearly a month after their previous meeting that the four Horcrux hunters were once again able to gather in the Headmaster's office. Albus prefaced the first memory by describing Tom Riddle's start at Hogwarts: In spite of his apparently-humble origins, or maybe in part because of them, the talented young orphan had managed to charm students and staff alike. By Albus's account, he alone harbored suspicions about the charismatic boy, watching for signs of trouble but never seeing enough to act upon. "He was very guarded with me; he felt, I am sure, that in the thrill of discovering his true identity he had told me a little too much."

While at school, the young Slytherin had begun to gather followers that would one day become the first Death Eaters. The group had been suspected but never conclusively linked to numerous ugly incidents during their years at Hogwarts, a practice they'd kept up on a larger scale after graduating.

At the same time, Riddle himself searched aggressively for traces of a wizarding heritage. After finally concluding that there had been no other magical Riddles, he began trying to track down his mother's family, making use of the knowledge that his middle name came from his maternal grandfather. The summer after his O.W.L.s, he paid a visit to the Gaunt hovel. Albus handed out a set of transcripts, explaining that almost everything said in this memory was spoken in Parseltongue.

Iruka had thought that the shack was filthy and decrepit during Bob Ogden's memory. This one, a generation later, left him considering that version of the home merely 'ill-kept' by comparison. Then again, given how feral Morfin Gaunt was even under his father's control, it wasn't exactly surprising that he was far worse after both Dementor exposure and years of solitude. While the inbred wizard was probably a very adept poacher, a competent housekeeper he most definitely was not.

The boy at the door was essentially the same Tom Riddle that had emerged from the diary. He showed no fear in front of his drunken, bestial uncle, calmly walking through the filthy hovel with his expression a mild mix of disgust and disappointment. Iruka noted that Morfin was now wearing the ring his father had borne in the previous memory-visit. Based on Albus's translation, the brief conversation (well, more of a mad rant in Morfin's case) gave Riddle the information necessary to positively identify his father. The memory ended suddenly, with an abrupt and total darkness falling over everything.

"Morfin could not remember anything from that point onward," said Dumbledore, "When he awoke the next morning, he was lying on the floor, quite alone. Marvolo's ring had gone." He described the murders of Tom Riddle Senior and his parents, their bodies unmarked as was typical for the Killing Curse. The Muggle authorities were, unsurprisingly, stumped by the case; the Ministry found an open-and-shut case against Morfin Gaunt, who proudly admitted to the murders. Apparently the younger Tom Riddle had Stunned his uncle, stolen the man's wand, used it to kill his father and grandparents, then returned to his mother's former home and implanted in his uncle a false memory of committing the murders. Morfin had never realized that he was innocent of this particular crime, and spent the rest of his life merely bemoaning the loss of his father's ring.

"Bloody hell," Sirius breathed, "casting the Killing Curse on his own family at sixteen? No wonder he used the damn thing so much, if he had that easy a time with it."

Albus nodded somberly. "Between his raw power and a frighteningly deep well of hatred, Tom certainly had something of a talent for the Unforgiveables. I also believe that he had a particular fondness for the Killing Curse, wielding it as his weapon of choice to end most fights."

"That makes some sense," Iruka noted, "given his total lack of empathy or a conscience. Almost every human being has at least some empathy, and it's pretty well demonstrated that our instincts are hard against causing serious harm to another person. Just look at the way untrained people fight when unarmed, usually attacking clumsily and targeting places that won't easily cause major damage. It's more like the play-fighting you see between dogs, for example, than a real attempt to hurt each other. Even most of the more vicious among the Death Eaters probably still have this, even if it's shriveled and muted. Intent is a huge factor in magic, especially the Unforgiveables, and that instinctive barrier would get in the way of most people using such curses unless they built up enough hate to overcome it."

"Riddle, though," he continued, "he doesn't seem to have that at all. People like that, hurting someone is no more difficult than not hurting them. He doesn't have that bit of internal resistance, which means that he probably has no more trouble casting the Killing Curse than he would a high-powered Stunner; to him, it's just another spell. Throw in how effective a weapon the curse is in combat, how hard it is for most people to defend against, and you begin to see part of why he throws it around so trivially."

"That's... disturbing," Remus commented.

"Based upon my observations of Tom's character, abilities, and methods, it is also quite plausible," Albus added. "There was one other element of that bit of history that I thought relevant, though I suspect that a subsequent memory and its associated tale will make the point more clearly. Regardless, unless one of you has a further comment to make, we should probably move on to the next memory..."

The contents of the next phial moved more sluggishly, more like honey than like the strange hybrid of mercury and smoke that best described other stored memories. Upon entering the Pensieve, the quartet found themselves in what appeared to be an office at Hogwarts. The room's other adult occupant was a rotund blonde wizard, luxuriating in a comfortable armchair with a glass of wine and a box of some sort of candied fruit. Surrounding the mustachioed man were a half-dozen teenaged boys, including the now-familiar Tom Riddle wearing the Peverell family ring. All of the boys' seats were, Iruka noted, lower and/or less comfortable than the man he presumed was a Professor - a thinly-veiled sign of dominance on his part. 'Subtlety' and 'wizards' apparently just did not generally mix.

The Professor was just complimenting Riddle when the room was abruptly filled with thick white fog, obscuring everything but the four observers, and the man's voice boomed out, "You'll go wrong, boy, mark my words." As quickly as it had come, the fog vanished again and the scene resumed. A chime of a clock prompted the Professor to dismiss the little group, reminding two of them about an essay due soon. Iruka noted that the two were addressed as "Lestrange" and "Avery" - both names of families tied to the Death Eaters.

While the rest filed out, Riddle hung back, leaving him alone with the Professor. This may have been relatively blatant, but the question he asked next - with no real lead-in or build up, mind - made it seem like an ANBU operation by comparison: "Sir, I wondered what you know about... about Horcruxes?"

Again the fog covered the memory and the voice of the Professor boomed from all directions. "I don't know anything about Horcruxes and I wouldn't tell you if I did! Now get out of here at once and don't let me catch you mentioning them again!"

Moments later, they were back in the Headmaster's office.

"I'm guessing I'm not the only one that thinks something was a bit off with that memory?" Sirius asked. "It didn't even pour right - did it go bad or something, or is old Slughorn getting forgetful? Can you forget a memory that's not in your head?"

Albus shook his head. "When a memory has been removed or copied, the stored version is not subject to the vagaries of human recollection. What we all witnessed was precisely what Horace gave me when I asked him about Tom and Horcruxes."

"Given the... issues with that memory," Iruka said, "it's pretty obvious that it's been altered somehow."

The Headmaster nodded. "Yes, it is almost certain that the truth of that conversation was rather different from what we've been shown. Why else would Horace have meddled with his own recollection?"

"So he did talk to Riddle about Horcruxes," Remus reasoned, "and he doesn't want other people finding out what was said. That begs the question of why, and more importantly what the actual conversation entailed?"

"I think we all suspect that Horcruxes were discussed more in-depth," Albus replied. "As for why, I can only speculate, although I believe that Horace is embarrassed or perhaps ashamed about the truth, though it is not impossible that the conversation strayed into such territory that he fears some form of censure."

Iruka was finding himself a bit less enthusiastic about Harry's continued contact with Professor Emeritus Horace Slughorn. He'd have to bring that up later. "There's another question, Remus," he cut in, "and that's 'How do we get the real version?'."

"That is the question indeed," Albus mused, "and I would very much prefer to find an answer before approaching Horace again. I dare say that it will require more than a box of crystallized pineapple to pry this information from him. If my suspicions are correct, an accurate version of this memory might well be vital in ensuring the lasting end of Lord Voldemort."

The rest of that day's meeting was spent in discussion of possible means for getting the truth out of Horace Slughorn. A number of methods were brought up, most of which fell into four major categories:

Simply reasoning with the man was deemed a remote possibility, but only if they could come up with new and compelling arguments that hadn't been part of Albus's previous attempt.

Bribery could be viable if a sufficiently appealing bribe could be found, but Slughorn was very much accustomed to a life of comfort, provided in large part by his various contacts. It would likely take a truly spectacular 'gift' to loosen the old wizard's lips.

Threats were floated as an idea, but quickly rejected, mostly on moral grounds. Iruka also pointed out that frightened people can be dangerously unpredictable, meaning this method could also potentially backfire.

An appeal to Slughorn's morality was then mooted, only for the Headmaster to explain that this had been the tail end of his original approach. If it didn't work the first time, it wasn't likely to work much better the second.

In the end, they had to set the discussion aside, though all four resolved to keep thinking about ways to get the information they needed. Just before the group departed, Iruka brought up the topic of Harry's occasional correspondence with Slughorn. They decided to remind the teen to avoid sharing any potentially sensitive information, and to inform him that the former Professor was under a degree of suspicion.

˄

-――――===ͽ ˂ O ˃ ͼ===――――-

˅

The Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament was a truly spectacular demonstration of gross incompetence. Bagman, for all his love of spectacle, failed to realize that as challenging as his idea for the Task was, the audience would be mostly stuck sitting around watching a lake.

In February.

Hogwarts' impending shortage of Pepper-Up Potion aside, there was very little to see. Iruka once again watched as part of the safety team; rescuing someone from a lake gets much easier when you can just run over and grab them. Both Diggory and Delacour used the Bubble-Head Charm, while Krum somehow transfigured his upper body into the front half of a shark. Iruka wondered how the Durmstrang champion intended to do anything without hands, such as rescuing his hostage or reversing the spell, but it was still an impressive feat to pull off considering just how incompatible human and shark physiology probably were.

After about half an hour of watching ripples on the water, a pair of merpeople pulled a bedraggled and half-conscious Fleur Delacour to the surface near shore. The safety monitors nearby quickly helped her from the water and to the medical tent, but not before everyone saw the numerous fresh bruises and cuts all over her limbs. Even half-drowned as she appeared to be, the French champion was struggling against her rescuers, as if trying to return to the water. Iruka recalled the clue in the golden eggs as it had been described to him, and thought darkly how cruel it was to indicate to the champions that their hostages could be forever lost if they failed to complete their task on time.

Ten minutes later Delacour emerged from the medical tent, dry and wrapped in a heavy blanket, before making a beeline for her Headmistress with a look of near-panic on her face. The two were too far away for Iruka to make out what was being spoken (not that he'd have likely understood - he knew pretty much no French), but Madame Maxime's placating gestures and the agitated body language of her student made the general shape of their conversation clear.

Diggory was the next to resurface, just past the one-hour mark, towing his girlfriend Cho Chang. Krum returned several minutes after that, with Hermione of all people. It was a bit odd to choose someone based on a single date, Iruka thought, but either none of his friends from home were available (possible) or Karkaroff figured he could keep his students out of the lake (more likely, given what Iruka had seen of the man). Regardless, the chuunin stepped over to help the two out of the water, and if his feet didn't actually sink into the shallows, who could tell?

While the Hogwarts and Durmstrang champions and their respective hostages were being looked over and warmed up in the medical tent, another pair of merpeople brought a young girl to the surface. She looked to be about eight or nine, with long silvery-blonde hair and facial features that marked her as a close relative of Fleur Delacour, possibly a younger sister. Based upon the French witch's frantic shouts, the girl's name was apparently Gabrielle, and Fleur carried her straight to the medical tent with her blanket wrapped around both of them.

Once everyone had been dried out, warmed up, and given a clean bill of health, the three champions lined up to receive their scores. Delacour came in last - she'd failed the task after all; apparently she'd run into a pack of Grindylows in one of the kelp beds in the lake, hence her injuries. Still, judges gave her twenty-five out of the possible fifty points for her attempt. Diggory outscored Krum forty-seven to forty because he'd returned with his hostage sooner. Added to their scores from the First Task, this put Diggory in the lead with seventy-seven points, followed by Krum at seventy-four, and Delacour trailing far behind at fifty-six. From the packets Albus had handed out back in August, Iruka knew this meant that Diggory would be the first into the maze that would constitute the Third Task, and both he and Krum would have a substantial head start over Delacour. Of course, given the kinds of obstacles inside the maze, none of the three could be counted out.

˄

-――――===ͽ ˂ O ˃ ͼ===――――-

˅

Mid-March brought two developments from the Marauders: The first was that they had completed the first prototype of a newer-model Marauder's Map. This new version could be set to not display the markers for the castle's inhabitants in certain areas, with the possibility of showing excluded areas if an additional password was given. Remus explained that they wanted the staff to be able to monitor the halls, grounds, and other public areas while still affording the students some privacy in their Houses. Filius had managed to add the option to 'track' a particular individual, highlighting their marking on the map to make it easier to follow their movements, in order to better keep an eye on visitors or intruders. Currently, the group was working on incorporating a search function in order to allow the user to quickly locate a specific person.

The second bit of news was of more direct benefit to Iruka. After watching the abject boredom that was the Second Task, Sirius and Remus had gotten to talking about ways the audience could have been shown what was happening to the champions while they were underwater. Remus's description of Muggle television cameras led to Sirius remembering a pair of enchanted hand mirrors that he and James had used to communicate back when they were students. The two Marauders had then tracked down another similar pair of mirrors which they gave to Iruka, suggesting that he send one back with his next letter home in hopes of opening up a faster line of communications. As for the original mirrors, those they were keeping for sentimental value, though they did hint that Harry would be receiving one of the pair for his next birthday.

˄

-――――===ͽ ˂ O ˃ ͼ===――――-

˅

Hermione Granger was on a crusade. After a long chat with Dobby (this time dressed in an odd piecemeal tuxedo with plaid pants and a ribbon-style necktie), she'd realized just how awfully some House-Elves were treated by their masters. She understood, of course, that elves loved to work and to serve, and Iruka-sensei and her parents had reminded her to be respectful of other people's cultures and beliefs as long as they weren't hurting anybody. While she'd be much happier to see all House-Elves free and being paid a fair wage for their labor, she had to acknowledge that it would take years, maybe generations, to get to the point where they would be happier that way too.

On the other hand, the way some witches and wizards treated their elves was just plain wrong! Forcing a poor, defenseless, faithful servant to hurt themselves for even the littlest thing, or even just for entertainment, was horrible and evil and ought to be against the law. That, Hermione decided, would be her first Cause. She was going to get a law passed banning cruelty to House-Elves, and make sure that every elf in Britain was treated with decency. Respect would be pushing it, she thought, given the fact that most of the more egregious offenders didn't even respect other witches and wizards, let alone other humans in general, so getting them to respect a non-human species was just not going to happen.

Actually, that brought up an important question: Should she tie in the issue of better treatment for House-Elf with that of better treatment of other magical beings, or even more broadly of anyone not a Pureblood? She'd have to think about that, but that was no reason not to start on the one issue she was certain of. Perhaps she should start by writing up informative leaflets to distribute? The Lovegoods ran a magazine, so perhaps she should ask Luna or Mr. Lovegood about how to design the leaflets for best effect, and how to get them printed up? No, before that, she needed to start with a list...

A/N: I didn't write out Dumbledore's exact words at the meeting because they'd be pretty much a verbatim copy of a scene from A Sluggish Memory, Chapter 17 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I didn't want to copy a full page worth of content straight from the book.

Fic Recommendation: "Sasuke's No Good Very Bad Teammates" by GwendolynStacy - Yes, it's a time-travel fic, but with a couple of unique twists that make it new and interesting. Also, it's hilarious.

Posted 14 July 2019

Current WIP Chapter: 78