Ch 26 HP 3

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"Neville, I don't think your wand is well matched for you."Carl told his friend as they were headed to the library after the day of classes to study as a group. "When I went to Ollivanders to pick up my wand, he said something about the wand choosing the wizard. I think that's why you have such a hard time manifesting your magic."

"Yeah, Ollivander said the same thing to me." Harry agreed.

Neville pulled out his wand to look at it with a complicated gaze. "It was my dad's wand. Grandmother wants me to be like him, so she gave it to me to use."

"Let's stop a moment in this classroom and test something." Carl said.

Once inside, he pulled out the first wand that he bought from Ollivander, the 12" Pine and Unicorn Hair wand. He handed it to Neville. "Here, give that a wave and see what it feels like."

Neville waved it, and a cascade of sparks shot out of the wand. A big, cheesy grin appeared on his face. "I can feel it. It's so much more responsive than my dad's wand."

Carl pulled out a matchstick and placed it on a nearby desk. "Give it a go, Neville."

Neville got a look of concentration on his face. He waved the wand in the manner taught them by Professor McGonagall while saying the incantation. The match turned a silvery color and sharpened up a bit.

"Oh, well done Neville!" Hermione cheered.

Neville's face was alight with excitement. "I did it! It's not perfect, but I actually did it!" His earlier attempts in class he hadn't been able to change the match at all.

Carl clapped Neville on the shoulder in congratulations. "Nicely done. I think I'll leave my spare wand in your hands until you can get to Ollivanders and get a properly fitted wand."

"What? No, I can't…"

"You can and you will. Like I said, that's a spare wand." Carl reassured Neville. "It was the best fit of those in Ollivander's shop. But when my Phoenix familiar grew up and donated a feather, I had Ollivander make me a perfectly fitting wand." Carl showed them his pine and Phoenix Feather wand. "In fact, I haven't introduced Rover to you yet have I?"

At Hermione and Neville's no, Carl called for Rover over their bond. When his familiar flashed in, the two were entranced to be meeting a Phoenix. Harry had already met Rover during the summer, so he was acting blasé about the phoenix.

"And, please keep it a secret that I've got a Phoenix familiar. I don't want all the extra attention that I would get from it being generally known." Carl asked his friends. They agreed to keep it secret.

After Rover had flamed out, the group moved on to the library to work on their homework. It was only the first day and they had already been assigned essays.

In the middle of the night, a shadow was making its way to the seventh floor corridor, sticking to the shadows and running silently.

Carl, in an outfit similar to Grutter costume that he used in the SAO world, and morphed to have a different face, came to a stop and stood in front of a tapestry of a man teaching trolls how to dance, looking at a blank wall. He fixed his request in his mind, and paced in front of the blank wall three times. A door appeared on the wall, that Carl spent no time opening and entering.

Once inside, all that appeared was a single pillar, waist high, with a tiara that reeked of dark magic sitting on the pillar. Carl opened up the silk lined lead chest that he made with materials from his farm and levitated the tiara inside the box, and slammed it shut.

Even through his Occlumency shields, he had felt the compulsions to put the tiara on his head. It wasn't strong enough to tempt him, but they were there and they were strong. Once he closed the lead chest, he no longer felt the compulsions, and the nasty stench from the dark magic of Tom's soul jar disappeared from the air.

Carl opened up the portal to his Warehouse and placed the box containing the horcrux in a secure storage. Shrinking the portal again and placing it on his forearm protectors, Carl prepared for the next part of his plan.

He requested the room to give him a passage to just outside the Slytherin common room. Keeping the door open so he could swiftly return to the Room of Requirement, Carl stared at the blank space of wall that hid the entrance. Carl focused on imagining a snake and hissed the word §Open§ in parseltongue.

Nothing happened.

'So, one fan fiction idea down.' Carl thought with a rueful smile. He then whispered the word "pureblood" in English. That was the password in what would have been Harry's second year in the books.

A line in the wall appeared. The wall on either side of the line slid apart to create a doorway leading into the dorms.

Carl scoffed silently. 'Sure, keep the same password into perpetuity. That's secure. But then again, this is the same institute that makes the Ravenclaws answer a riddle to get into their dorms. Not exactly secure.'

Carl backed away and let the doorway to the Slytherin common rooms close, and re-entered the Room of Requirement. He then requested the room to provide him a door to the Slytherin 1st year dorm. Carl peaked out on a hallway that had a number of doors on both sides. Looking closely, he saw name plates on each door.

Once more closing the door, Carl requested a door into Crabbe's room. No door appeared. Apparently the founders had put some limitations on where the room could open a door to, which actually reassured Carl a bit. Now he was pretty sure some random person couldn't use the room to sneak into his own dorm room.

Carl tried a few other rooms in the different houses, and was unable to have a door appear directly into student rooms. He then requested a door into his own room, and it appeared. Apparently since it was his own room, the Room of Requirement would provide passage, but any others it couldn't. Good to know.

Carl then reopened the door into the corridor outside the first year Slytherin dorms. Making sure that the door to the Room of Requirement stayed open, Carl moved over to the door marked for Crabbe. The door itself wasn't locked, but it was barred from the inside. Carl used a spot of telekinesis to move the bar and opened the door.

Carl loomed over Crabbe as he slept. He pulled his wand and cast Legilimency. He had purchased some books on the magical art and read up on how to do the spell. Using his telepathy as a guide, Carl felt out how the spell worked while trawling through the 11 year old's memories.

Carl discovered from the boy's memories that he and Goyle had perfectly normal intelligence. The Crabbe and Goyle families were close with each other, and both their father's had sat them down years ago and advised them to fake being dumber than they were. It played into everyone else's prejudice of how they must be dumb because of their looks.

Carl watched Crabbe's memories of Crabbe and Goyle senior explaining to them how their families had been trapped years ago into perpetual oaths of servitude by the Malfoys. They would have to listen to and obey young Draco Malfoy's orders, just as their fathers had to obey Lucius Malfoy.

That was not information that Carl expected to run into. He didn't have any plan or idea what to do with that for now. Guess he'll just ignore it for now.

Switching the spells he was using, Carl started using his Memory Spell Specialist perk given knowledge to practice altering small, insignificant memories in Crabbe's mind.

He didn't change anything significant in Crabbe's memories, merely some of the colors of some people's clothes and the faces of random people in the crowds at Quidditch matches. Carl was doing it just to practice a bit to make sure he has a handle on his abilities before he tries it on any important memories.

After being satisfied that he had his abilities under control, Carl reverted all the changes he'd made in Crabbe's memories back to their original.

He still hadn't spent any time studying what the techniques of the magical police were for investigating crimes. The less evidence he left behind, the smaller the likelihood was of anyone looking for a mysterious mind mage running around loose in Hogwarts.

Carl retreated out of Crabbe's dorm and back into the Room of Requirement. He then had the room provide him a passage to the third year Gryffindor dorms. After checking for traps and disarming a few that would have woken up the three third years that slept in the room, Carl entered.

After making sure he had on his own gas mask, Carl set off a small air released potion to ensure the three boys would stay asleep while he did his work. He'd found the potion during his exploration of Diagon Alley and thought it had some very good applications, like his current project.

He soon had the location of the Marauder's map from the mind of George. It was in his the drawer next to his bed. Carl pocketed the valuable map. He then worked on George, Fred, and Lee's minds, erasing memories of the actual map, while leaving behind the memories of the secret passages they had discovered. He hadn't been willing to spend cp on getting the map, but he was for sure going to be snagging it while he could.

Carl then retreated back to the Room of Requirement once more. Time for his last mission of the night. Carl opened up the map and held his wand to it.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Carl looked at the map that detailed the whole castle. After some playing around, he figured out how to zoom the map to a particular area. Looking at the first year Gryffindor boys dorm, he looked for the name of Peter Pettigrew.

It wasn't there.

Scowling, Carl then started looking through the rest of the Gryffindor Tower for the rat. He wasn't anywhere in the boys dorms. Looking over at the girls dorms, Carl spotted the rat in the 6th year girls dorm. Apparently he could bypass the stairs in his animagus form?

Carl considered if he should attempt to capture the rat man now? Pettigrew was awake and might put up enough of a fight that he alerted people to his presence. But if Pettigrew was assaulting the girls, he needed to be stopped post haste. But at the same time, Carl had no desire to deal with the fall out if things went south and he was spotted.

After thinking the situation over, in the end, Carl decided to act now rather than later. He was already years late from stopping Pettigrew completely, but he'd be damned if he let the traitor continue what he was doing. He called for Rover. His familiar showed up in a burst of flames.

"Hey, boy. I'm going to be trying to capture a bad guy in a situation where I might need a quick exit. If I call for you, can you flame us back to this room quickly?"

Rover chirped affirmatively while nodding his head up and down. Carl petted his head in appreciation. "Thanks."

Carl had the room give him a door to just outside the sixth year girls dorm. He gingerly stepped out onto the floor, and sighed in relief when no alarm went off. Thankfully the alarm seemed to only be on the stairs immediately next to the common room.

He quietly cracked the door open. Looking in, he saw four beds with their canopies closed. He saw a faint light from one of the beds, and a short dumpy man poking his head and torso through one of the curtains.

Seeing that he wasn't detected, Carl fully entered the room. Calling forth his magic, he used bands of air to tie up Pettigrew, prevent him from speaking, and then shoved one of his sleep bombs in the rat's face all in one smooth action.

The rat passed out, dropping the wand he was holding to the floor. Carl froze, looking at the beds to see if anyone woke up to the faint sounds. Thankfully it was soft enough to not wake anyone, and the sleep potion vapors insured that all the girls remained asleep.

After seeing no movement from the inhabitants of the room, Carl relaxed some. He bent and picked up the wand that Pettigrew dropped, stuffing it in a pocket. He then peeked into the curtains and saw that the sixth year girl was heavily sleeping. He assumed that Pettigrew had cast a spell on her to keep her asleep. Her panties were still in place, but her nightdress was hiked up to expose her assets.

Carl quickly covered her, and closed the curtain around her bed, then looked at the floating traitor and all around nasty man in front of him. Shaking his head, in disgust, Carl floated him back to the Room of Requirement.

Once he was back in a more secure location, he started his Legilimency practice on the cowardly traitor. He was a quick study with the Legilimency spell thanks to his telepathy magic learned from the BtVS world.

After trawling through the filth that was Pettigrew's mind and reviewing some of the relevant memories, he found the biggest reason why Pettigrew betrayed the Potters, his supposed friends, wasn't because of fear of Voldemort. It was jealousy and greed.

Pettigrew was jealous of Potter and Black, who were always the more popular and talented, wizards. He was promised women, riches, and recognition by the Death Eater recruiters and Voldemort for his betrayal.

"Such a petty reason to betray those that trusted in you." Carl said to the unconscious wizard.

Shaking his head at the pitiful excuse for a man, Carl tied him up securely. He made sure to administer another dose of knock out gas to keep him under for several more hours, then floated the tied up man and a chair from the lost and found from the room into his Warehouse.

Securing Pettigrew to the chair, Carl then printed a big sign that he attached to the bound man.

"This is Peter Pettigrew, the real betrayer of the Potter's location to the Dark Wizard Voldemort. He framed Sirius Black for his own criminal acts, including the death of the 12 muggles in the explosion on the street on the morning of November 1st, 1981. Sirius Black never received a trial for the crimes he was framed for. Give both Pettigrew and Black trials with veritaserum and you will find the truth. One more item, Pettigrew is an unregistered rat animagus. Make sure he doesn't escape justice again. Help Sirius Black, an innocent man unjustly imprisoned in Azkaban, go free, imprison his betrayer, and show the people of the wizarding world that the current administration is Just and looking out for them."

Carl looked over at Rover. "Think it will work?" Rover chirped excitedly, nodding. "Can you flame him to Madame Bones' office at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement just before she goes into work in the morning?"

Rover nodded in agreement.

"Cool, I'll leave it to you then." Carl petted his familiar for a few minutes. "Well, time for me to get to bed."

Two days later at lunch Carl saw an official looking owl land at the head table in front of Dumbledore. The old wizard read through the letter twice, his face twitching at the news.

Carl was observing him carefully. The old man was shocked and upset at the news. Then he got frustrated. Carl watched the old man glance significantly at Harry where he, Carl, Neville, and Hermione were eating at the Gryffindor table.

'The old man is thinking of how he can get ahead of the crisis to make sure his plan is in place.' Carl thought as he watched the old man hurry out of the hall. The possessed Professor Quirrell caught Carl's eye because he was looking quite gleeful at the departure of Dumbledore.

Carl didn't think that Quirrell would be able to get anywhere near the Philosopher's Stone, since in the canon story he took all year to get through the defenses. But there was no sense letting him have the chance when Carl was determined to steal it first.

"Hey, I'm gonna go to the bathroom. I'll catch back up with you in the library." Carl made his excuses since he was done eating after he'd given Dumbledore enough time to leave the castle.

Once he was in the bathroom away from everyone, he called up Rover. Using his mental link with his familiar, he had Rover flash him to just outside the 3rd floor corridor. Then, in a series of flashes, Carl and Rover jumped into each room before quickly flashing to the next. Carl only caught brief glimpses of the obstacles before they were in the next room.

Fluffy had only just raised his three heads in consternation at the fire flashes before Rover took him to the next room.

The devil's snare twitched away from the bright fire, giving Carl a good look at how the plant was situated around the room.

Carl barely heard the rustle of the key's wings as they grew agitated at someone being there, but before he could even look up Rover already had them into the next room.

The kings of the chessboard turned their whole bodies towards him when he appeared, but Rover didn't pause in his efforts.

Carl's nose was struck by the most offensive odor he'd ever smelt. Before he could even halfway gag at the body odor of a 12 foot troll, he was away from the violent odor in a flash of fire.

Carl then saw a series of potions set on a table before he was in the final room and looking at an ornate mirror. He reached up and petted Rover for his quick flash technique, but kept his praise nonverbal, just in case there were listening devices.

He looked over at the Mirror of Erised. A device that would show the viewer the strongest desire of their heart. The downside was that it didn't show them how to attain that desire, only what their desire was.

Carl took a moment to brace himself. He was pretty sure he knew what he wanted, but there was that wriggling worm of doubt in his gut. He thought he knew himself well enough, but what if he was some kind of delusional person acting under false pretenses?

Carl snorted. Yeah, he read too much fiction back in the day to still be worried about silly stuff like that. After so much time in the jump chain, he was confident he knew what he wanted. It's what he was working towards every jump.

He stepped in front of the mirror and looked into it boldly. A smile grew on his face. He saw pretty much what he expected. Carl's reflection good naturedly flipped him off before slipping the Philosopher's Stone into his pocket. Carl felt the weight of the stone settle into his own pocket. Mission accomplished.

Carl spent a few moments looking at what the mirror was showing him. He waved to the multitudes of people present in the image.

His reflection then turned and kissed the girl that was closest to him, smirked once more at Carl, before turning and jumping into a portal that led to his next adventure while his family, friends, and harem continued to do their thing on the world that he was the king and master of.

Carl turned away from the mirror while petting Rover who was perched on his shoulder. 'That is a future to look forward to.' Carl thought. He gave the signal to Rover for them to flame out. In a flash of flame, the room was once more empty.

After making sure there was still no one in the bathroom, Carl dropped the Philosopher's stone off in his Warehouse. He would take care of it later. For now, he would store it where no one else could get to it.

Carl arrived at the library, and saw his three friends studying at the table already. "So, what are we studying first?" Carl whispered as he sat next to them.

"Charms first, then potions." Hermione whispered back.

"Gotcha." Carl settled down and started writing his assigned essays.

Carl was already sitting and eating with his friends a day later when the Daily Prophet arrived, and kick started a huge commotion. Every student that read the front page was shocked.

"So, what's the news that's got everyone jumping like cats on a hot tin roof?" Carl asked Hermione, since he didn't bother getting a subscription. He did get a subscription of the Quibbler, but that didn't come out as often as the Daily Prophet.

"Peter Pettigrew was caught and convicted of the crimes that Sirius Black was thought to have committed." Hermione summarized. "Apparently he was thought to have been killed by Black, but he had framed Black for the crimes he committed. Black went to prison without a trial, utter barbarity that, and Pettigrew has been hiding as a pet rat of a student at Hogwarts since 1981. Seriously? The family he hid with didn't think to check to see if such a long lived rat was odd?"

"So Sirius Black was set free after his trial, and is currently recovering from his 'unfortunate hardship'." Hermione scoffed. "Calling being thrown in prison without a trial for 10 years only a hardship? More like a travesty of justice or an appalling corruption of the system. Calling it only a little hardship…" Hermione trailed off in disgust at the situation.

"But that's not all." Hermione continued after reading more of the article. "Apparently, just before they put Pettigrew in his cell in Azkaban, some guard made a mistake and the Lestrange escaped."

"Which one?" Neville hoarsely asked Hermione.

"Pardon?" Hermione asked back, finally looking up from her paper to eye Neville curiously at his odd tone of voice.

"Which Lestrange escaped?" Neville repeated his question with some intensity.

Hermione quickly scanned the article. "It looks like three of them. Rabastan, Rodolphus, and Bellatrix Lestrange."

Neville clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in anger on hearing the hated names.

"What is it Neville?" Hermione asked in concern at his strong reaction.

"They are the ones that took his parents from him." Carl softly explained to Hermione when Neville didn't answer and it looked like she would badger him for answers.

"Oh." She softly said. "I'm sorry Neville. If I'd known, I'd have broken the news easier."

Neville nodded, and swallowed thickly. "It's okay, it's not your fault. It's just not something I like to talk about."

Harry clapped Neville on the shoulder. "We're here for you, if you need us, Neville."

Carl and Hermione echoed his sentiment.

"So, did they manage to keep Pettigrew locked up, or did he escape too?" Carl asked after a few moments.

Hermione smiled weakly at him for the change of subject. The atmosphere had been getting pretty heavy. "It says that they kept him from escaping."

Carl nodded at the news. It looks like his Prisoner of Azkaban had escaped pretty early because of the changes he made. At least, he was going to assume that one of the Lestranges were the wizard or witch that would come after him.

If another prisoner escaped in the next three years, he was going to have to lodge a complaint. It was already three times the number of wizards he was supposed to have to deal with, he should get three times the cp too. If that turned into four escapees it was just unfair!

And it was only the end of the first week of school. It must be a record.

"So how's everyone's Occlumency practice going?" Carl asked, blatantly changing the subject. He had gifted Neville and Hermione an occlumency book on the train. He had purchased several copies of the book before his one large purchase during the week before he and Harry met.

"It's amazing! I feel able to remember everything so much better after each meditation session!" Hermione gushed.

"And your memory was already tops before occlumency. After you master Occlumency you're going to blow everyone out of the water." Carl complimented her.

"Shush, you."

Harry and Neville joined Carl in chuckling at her embarrassed face.

"It's going good. Ever since I borrowed your wand, I've actually been feeling my magic." Neville said with an excited face. His successes were doing a great job of giving the young Longbottom more confidence. "I feel like I'm making good progress."

"Nice."

"Congratulations."

"Nice job, Nev."

Carl then turned to Harry, who had a look of frustration on his face. "I can't seem to get it. It feels like my head is a mess, and I can't properly concentrate whenever I try. Then I randomly feel angry, or distracted, and lose my concentration." Harry complained. He had had his book for quite some time, longer than anyone else, and he hadn't made any progress. Harry had at first thought that was just how difficult Occlumency was, but seeing Hermione and Neville making progress so easily upset him that he was so slow to get it.

Carl hummed in thought, looking at Harry's scar where a piece of Voldemort's soul was residing. Carl could almost taste the nastiness from it, and it was amazing to him that no one else seemed to notice.

"It might be because of your scar. There's a lot of dark magic residue left over." Carl commented. "It might be interfering with your ability to focus."

Harry angrily rubbed his scar while scowling. "Is there any way to get rid of it?" He almost growled, angry at the thing that brought him unwanted fame, and seemed to be ruining any chance he had to master Occlumency.

"It's Friday, and we don't have classes in the afternoon tomorrow. I'll check on something tonight, and get back to you tomorrow. I think we can take care of it tomorrow evening. Then it should stop interfering with your meditations." Carl offered.

Harry weakly smiled. "Thanks."

Carl smiled back at him. "No worries. It's what friends do."

Hermione gathered up her school supplies. "Well, it's time to get to class."

Just as they were getting ready to leave the Hall, Malfoy popped up near them. "Are you nervous there, squib? I'm thinking the Azkaban escapees are looking to find you and finish what they started with your parents."

Carl grabbed Neville before he could react. "Snape is already making his way over to protect his darling little dragon." He whispered to the group. "Let's keep moving so we don't get in trouble. Draco will get his later." Carl promised.

Carl and Hermione kept Harry and Neville moving along while Draco smirked gloatingly at them. With his godfather Snape to back him up, and with how much leeway Dumbledore gave Snape, Draco didn't think he had anything to fear at school, so he could be as nasty as he wanted.

Carl determined that he would find a way to get back at the arrogant wizard Nazi in training.

Fred and George were just leaving the Great Hall after dinner and were about to head to the Gryffindor tower. They had their heads together, thinking about the next prank they would play, and who their target should be. They had just arrived at the main stairs leading up to the tower when they were suddenly deluged by a mass of sticky sugary liquid.

The sticky mess was followed by a cloud of feathers landing on them, sticking all over them. They heard a high pitched laugh sounding above them. Looking up, they saw the blonde haired face of Draco Malfoy laughing down at them from a couple of landings up.

Seeing that he had their attention, Draco sneered at them. "That's what blood traitors like you get!" He announced before disappearing from the landing he was standing at.

Fred gritted his teeth, before looking at his twin at the same time George looked at Fred. "I think we've just had a volunteer for our pranks for at least the next month, Fred."

"Why, I do think you're right, George." George responded.

"Right, let's get cleaned up first though."

A group of 6th and 7th year Hufflepuff students were making their way back to their dorms after a long day of studying for their NEWTs. They were tired after a long day of study, and just wanted to relax at the end of the day.

Unusually, they found a little blonde haired first year Slytherin standing outside the Hufflepuff common room entrance.

"Ah, good. I was looking for someone to hand out these flyers for employment opportunities for the girls of Hufflepuff." Draco Malfoy self importantly proclaimed while handing the adverts to the girl with the largest endowments. "Be sure to hand those out to all the girls of Hufflepuff." Draco ordered as he made his way to the nearest intersection leading away from the Hufflepuff entrance. He paused at the corner. "I'm fully aware that most of you will do nothing more than become broodmares for the next generation of wizards, but the Malfoy family would like nothing better than to employ the better looking and well endowed girls in our gentlemen's entertainment club. You get paid, and we get employees, it's a win-win." Malfoy said just before he turned the corner, disappearing before the girls could explode in anger.

"What the hell was that?" One of the male Hufflepuffs angrily asked.

Looking down at the advert in her hand, the 7th year Hufflepuff girl read the advert aloud. "Are you a useless duffer, but you have a good work ethic? Come and join the Malfoy family's strip club and whorehouse. We offer competitive wages for those with good assets. Those that are flat-chested will naturally have to work harder, but if you put out on your back, we guarantee a competitive monthly salary."

"Why that little shit! Get him!" The females in the group raged and chased around the corner, but Malfoy was long gone. "He'll pay for this." More than one of the Hufflepuffs, both male and female, vowed.

Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater were on their weekly assigned patrol of the halls to ensure the students were following the rules. Percy was chattering on, trying to impress the beautiful girl he was patrolling with.

"And then that's when I told him…"

"Percy, there's a Slytherin student wandering around over there." Penelope interrupted Percy's bragging, and pointed out a blonde haired first year that was wandering the corridors after curfew.

"Hey! You there! You're out after curfew. That will be 10 points from Slytherin and a detention. Now come on, we'll escort you to your common room."

Draco Malfoy scowled at the red headed Prefect. "Whatever blood traitor, we Malfoys do what we want." He then proceeded to kick Percy in the shins, causing the 5th year Gryffindor prefect to fall to the ground while clutching his leg in pain.

"And another thing, you don't deserve such a scrumptious girl like this. If you ever want a real man, feel free to come my way. I'll show you how superior a real Pure Blood is, girl." Malfoy then grabbed his crotch suggestively, before turning the corner.

Percy growled in furious rage from the ground, staggered to his feet with his wand in hand. "Come back here you little shit!" He furiously yelled.

"That'll be a week of detention, at least." Penelope called out as she followed Percy in trying to catch the extremely rude first year.

But when they turned the corner, they couldn't find the first year Slytherin anywhere.

Draco Malfoy ducked into a hidden passage to avoid the furious prefects. Chuckling at managing to get the straight laced Percy Weasley to curse, Malfoy continued climbing up to the 7th floor, unimpeded and unseen.

He made his way to the space in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. After pacing back and forth three times, a door appeared on the blank wall in front of the tapestry. With one final look at the parchment map in his hands, Draco opened the door and entered. The moment the door was firmly shut behind him, his form shifted. His blonde hair darkened to brown, his narrow face filled in, and the form of Carl was soon apparent.

Carl chuckled in amusement. "Well, Malfoy. Let's see how you handle the harassment that you seem all too willing to give to others." Carl stretched. He was a bit taller than Malfoy, so it felt good to uncramp and get back to normal. "Chances are they will eventually figure out someone set you up, but by then you'll have felt a bit of pain. Maybe even learned a lesson or two."

Carl didn't really feel bad about setting up the annoying prat. Expressing glee at someone's parent's death or mental incapacity, and wishing that their kid shared their fate was some asocial psychopathic bullshit.

Just because Draco was only 11 was no reason not to call him out on his bad habits. Punishing him and forcefully letting him know that his behavior was wrong was really the only thing that could change the course of his life. But since Carl wasn't the authority figure, only a 12 year old boy, he couldn't do much within the bounds of the rules.

And with Dumbledore continually covering for Snape's behavior, while Snape continued to cover for Malfoy's behavior, chances were Malfoy would one day end up emulating his Death Eater dad and become a murderer, instead of just a schoolyard bully.

"Whatever. If Draco Malfoy ends up becoming a murderer like the rest of Voldemort's Death Eaters, then he'll just have to go, along with the other trash. But until then, he gets the benefit of the doubt. Doesn't mean I can't arrange a bit of suffering that might teach him proper behavior, though. Who asked him to be an annoying little shit?"

Carl looked over the configuration of the room he'd asked the Room of Requirement to make. Opening his Warehouse portal, he pulled out the notes he'd made about the modified ritual he was about to perform.

He carefully studied the ritual circle and runes the Room of Requirement had produced for him. After dozens of minutes, Carl concluded that the ritual was set up perfectly. He started laying out the needed objects for the ritual, making sure that their placement was perfect.

Inside the larger ritual circle were two smaller circles. Each of the smaller circles were about 2 feet in radius. In one of the empty circles, Carl placed a large quartz stone. He then pulled out the lead chest the Ravenclaw diadem horcrux was locked in. He placed the chest down on the ground outside the circle.

After wearing his dragonhide gloves and fortifying his Occlumency shields, Carl opened up the chest. He quickly put the horcrux in the other empty circle inside the ritual circle before moving back out of the circle. Once outside and prepared, he began the chanting to start the ritual while channeling his magic into the circle.

Several minutes later, Carl smiled at the successful completion of the ritual. After scanning the two objects in the circles, he'd determined that the ritual had done what he wanted and transferred the horcrux from the diadem to the quartz. He levitated the newly housed horcrux into the lead chest and closed it, finally relaxing now that he didn't feel the foulness of the horcrux in the air.

With this success, Carl felt that he could proceed with the plan to rid Harry of the horcrux in his scar the next evening. Carl packed away all the ritual components, and stowed away the horcrux storing chest.

Looking over the artifact that Ravenclaw made so long ago, Carl decided that he would spend some time examining the item over the next several years to try to determine what it did. Just jamming it on his head to see what it did seemed the height of folly, even though his scans said the thing was clear of Voldemort's taint.

He packed away the diadem, and then had the room make him a passage to his room, where he got ready for bed.