Harry Potter and the Memories of a Sociopath, Ch 12: One Level Higher

Note: some of the dialog in this chapter was inspired by/stolen from The 7th Horcrux (s/10677106)

Here's how it is:

During his second year at Hogwarts, Harry is still concerned about the fate of the world, but has made significant progress: Hermione has obtained a phoenix and destroyed Azkaban's dementors. Progress toward a functional Philosopher's Stone based hospital at Hogwarts has stalled due to ward incompatibilities but a temporary solution is operational in the now-abandoned Azkaban tower.

Sprout received a cursed Hufflepuff Cup, and displayed uncharacteristically aggressive behavior afterwards. Moody detected evidence of dark magic on her but it was inconclusive. Since then, Moody has researched more specific spells for detecting horcrux effects and, as one might expect, Hermione tested positive. Draco found the Riddle Diary, and began plotting to amass power and followers for himself. Then Tracey 'borrowed' the diary.

Luna demonstrates uncanny knowledge even though she's obviously not a real seer. Moody has hypothesized that Defense professor Gilderoy Lockhart is incompetent and relying on liquid luck for his accomplishments. Bellatrix is still at large and able to appear in public despite topping Magical Britain's most wanted list.

Harry has a relatively long list of things he intends to investigate, including big picture items like Merlin's Interdict, prophecy, time-turner paradoxes, magic-technology interactions, and rescuing Dumbledore, as well as smaller scale things like looking into Ravenclaw's Diadem or whether the potion liquid luck is a real thing or a cover story. Magical interferences with technology are proving more difficult to pin down than he had hoped, so he has focused more strongly on learning arithmancy, which involves putting spells together to achieve novel functions.

"Now come with me, help me to obtain the Stone, and I will resurrect Hermione Granger on your behalf. Her death has had unfortunate effects on you, and I would not mind undoing them."

Is he really going to do this? Really? There had to be a catch and Harry just couldn't see it. Voldemort had said that neither he nor any of his would harm Hermione, that her body and mind would be her own – why?

"There iss more work I intend to do, to give her besst chance of continued life. There iss old, losst ritual to ssacrifice magical creature, transsfer magical nature to ssubject. Limitationss are great. Transsfer iss temporary, only few hourss. Ssubject ssometimess diess when transsfer wearss off. But Sstone will make permanent. Girl-child sshall gain troll'ss power of regeneration. Transsfiguration ssicknesss iss nothing before that, if perchance it wass not fixed by previouss ritual. And no knife sshall sslay girl-child, nor cutting cursse, nor ssicknesss take her. Have not the tiniesst intention of letting girl-child die again, after going to ssuch lengthss to ressurrect her."

Harry swallowed. "I'm very confused." Was Voldemort practicing being nice? This hypothesis did not seem like a sufficient explanation. I'm seeing the Dark Lord Voldemort going to enormous lengths to resurrect Hermione Granger and keep her alive. It's like he thinks that his own life depends on Hermione Granger being alive, somehow.

"I would never want you to be deprived of Hermione Granger's counsel and restraint, not ever while the stars yet live. Thiss iss, indeed, horcrux of girl-child, my ssuperior verssion." In his other hand appeared a parchment. "Thiss iss ritual for ressurrecting her, if it musst be done again. Insstructionss are honesst, no trapss. Remember that girl-child'ss sspirit cannot float free like ghosst, Ressurrection Sstone iss my horcrux, not herss. Do not losse her horcrux, or her sspirit may be trapped within it."

The Dark Lord was now regarding Harry with a grim look. "When girl-child died, wass in company of sschool'ss Sseer, heard prophecy sspoken that you would become force of vasst desstruction. You would become threat beyond imagination, beyond apocalypsse. That iss why I went to ssuch lengthss to undo my killing of girl-child, keep it undone."

Harry's voice went up an octave, "I really really wouldn't do that, seriously!"

"Ssilence, fool. Remain ssilent unlesss given leave by me to sspeak. Keep your wand pointed down and do not raisse it unlesss told. Elsse you die upon the sspot, and mark that I ssaid that in Parsseltongue."

"Today we are doing Merlin's work, my Death Eaters. Yes! Before us stands a great danger, who in his blundering folly has been prophesied to wreak destruction such as even I can scarcely imagine. You will swear, Harry Potter, not to destroy the world, to take no risks when it comes to not destroying the world. Unless this very Vow itself is somehow leading into the destruction of the world, in which case, Harry Potter, you must ignore it in that particular regard. You will not trust yourself alone in making such a determination, you must confide honestly and fully in your trusted friend, and see if that one agrees."

Harry awoke from the nightmare, groaning loudly. He now understood that there was a terrible flaw in the vow Voldemort had designed: Hermione was a single point of failure. Astrophysics implied that the world would inevitably end. Dumbledore's final message implied that Harry would have to hasten its end in order to save humanity. That couldn't happen without Hermione's agreement, therefore she was just as necessary as he was to guarantee humanity's long-term survival.

Granted, Voldemort had made Hermione's death as unlikely as possible, but Earth's life expectancy was in the billions of years. Over that timescale, the normal definition of improbability becomes meaningless. And her death wasn't even the only apocalyptic scenario. Harry himself had become very dementor resistant, but didn't know whether Hermione was equally protected. And apparently it was also to suffer permanent psychological damage from the cruciatus curse or due to time-turner misuse. And of course, having a horcrux didn't protect someone from total obliviation.

Or did it? Harry had thought about that method of attack within a few hours of learning of the existence of Voldemort's horcrux network. How credible was the conclusion that Voldemort had never thought of it? Especially when the previous horcrux spell's explicit purpose was the preservation of memories.

Harry had no idea how memories propagated through the horcrux network. He had no reason to believe there weren't safeguards against passing obliviation or memory charms to the horcruxen. If putting his horcrux spell on the resurrection stone gave Voldemort the ability to call up his own ghost, would putting his horcrux spell on top of the original horcrux spell give him the ability to recover the memories in that horcrux? Same question for a vial containing a pensieve compatible memory.

Harry groaned again. Such a system, once in place, wouldn't be merely a safety device: it could be used deliberately. Occlumency involved allowing telepathy to reach a fictional mind, rather than the real one. Occlumency had won the arms race against legilimency and would even fool veritaserum. But was the status quo really that solid? Harry had wondered if wizards ever tried using a confundus, muggle drugs, or even sleep deprivation to prevent someone from retaining the mental discipline to create an occlumency barrier. What would happen if someone were obliviated of their occlumency training? And of course Parseltongue was immune to occlumency, as was the Mirror. Other artifacts, such as Sorting Hat or the Elder Wand, may share that ability. But obliviating or memory charming one's self permanently would have to successfully fool such things, because it would no longer really involve fooling them; the new memories would be the truth as far as the mind in question knew. So, with an advanced horcrux, Voldemort could memory charm his brain as necessary, effectively using his host as a higher level of occlumency barrier with the ability to fool methods intended to penetrate ordinary occlumency, then recover his previous memories from the horcrux.

That made everything Voldemort had said in Parseltongue suspect. Voldemort would likely have applied the minimum number of memory charms necessary to accomplish his goal, to minimize the chances of that physical iteration of himself doing something contrary to his real goals. The natural candidate was the alleged prophecy, because that single memory was allegedly the motive for most of Voldemort's actions that night.

Harry had extensively researched the nature of prophecies and learned that they almost never include proper names, or specific useful details like times or places. That Dumbledore had been using such things successfully... it would have been surprising if he'd done that without becoming a bit nuts. If Voldemort had heard a real prophecy, he should not have been so convinced that it was about Harry, rather than someone else, such as Voldemort himself. At the mirror, Voldemort had been certain that Dumbledore would put more value on Harry's life than on the combined outcome of preserving his own life plus defeating Voldemort. This implied that Voldemort had known about the prophecy Dumbledore had heard about Harry ending the world but not life. Therefore, Voldemort must have replaced his memory of that prophecy with a prophecy of his own invention after defeating Dumbledore.

So Voldemort had changed his own memory of the prophecies at play such that he would try to kill Harry. He'd probably also set himself up to make irrational mistakes, most notably allowing Harry to hold onto his wand. Perhaps the plan had been the same one Voldemort had articulated earlier: for Harry to publicly defeat Voldemort, securing good publicity and future political favor. But would Voldemort have been that certain that Harry could defeat a dumber but still dangerous Voldemort? That wasn't something he could've left to chance. So obviously, he didn't. He could've given one or more of the Death Eaters special orders, but that wouldn't have been enough. He could've had another host hiding nearby or even under one of the death-eater robes, just as he'd worn a white robe while fighting for SPHEW. Harry had watched him cast a powerful spell on Snape, the effects of which had never actually been explained.

It all made sense. Well, almost. It still left the original issue: why had Voldemort made some of Harry's future actions depend on Hermione's judgment? Actually, why revive Hermione at all? Was it just because Voldemort doing something out of character would help sell the prophecy story? And on the subject of 'in character', if Voldemort had feared Harry would end the world, wouldn't he have made Harry vow to obtain Voldemort's own assent before doing something risky? It's not like Voldemort would've cared if he was the single point of failure; if he were gone, he wouldn't have cared what else happened because his plan would've already failed.

Harry broke out in a cold sweat. Hermione had been surprisingly absent this school-year, spending an excessive amount of time alone either 'too busy' or 'too tired' to participate in various activities. To Voldemort, the only option better than forcing Harry to consult with him would be forcing Harry to consult with someone he trusted, but who was secretly controlled by Voldemort.

Before he could suppress it, a mental image came to Harry, showing Hermione find an empty room, cast a series of privacy charms, then sit quietly, drooling on herself. The troll strength and unicorn reflexes suddenly made sense: Voldemort wouldn't want to be trapped in a physically and magically weak body, so he provided some upgrades. And it explained the horcrux he made for her: it had made it impossible to check whether she was under the influence of Voldemort's horcruxen. She was the perfect host.

But Hermione was still alive. Azkaban proved that... assuming Harry could trust those memories; that Harry hadn't destroyed the dementors himself and then been obliviated. No, that was too paranoid. Her phoenix was proof. She was alive; he'd just need to find a way to exorcise an immortal dark wizard and she'd be fine.

A part of Harry interrupted this train of though and told himself not to panic; that he didn't have any real evidence for any of this. The rest of his mind acknowledged, then disregarded this thought; that was exactly what the wishful thinking part of his mind would say. And it just made so much sense. Either way, it was a scenario he needed to figure out a way to solve. Harry picked up his watch, checked the time, and thought for five minutes.

Harry sighed slowly. He wouldn't be able to tell anyone about any of this. Moody or Bones would want to permanently kill Hermione if they thought it would stop Voldemort's plan. Ignoring the obvious moral arguments, that was unacceptable because Hermione was necessary to humanity's future, and he didn't think they'd be able to appropriately weigh consequences that may not materialize for thousands or even millions of years. Not that they'd succeed anyway; if Harry told them and they reacted at all, the most likely outcome was that he would wake up obliviated of the last few days and Moody, Bones, and McGonagall would be dead.

Harry's best idea was to somehow find and destroy all of Voldemort's horcruxen without Voldemort realizing it and without Voldemort making new ones faster than Harry destroyed them. To call this impractical was an astronomical understatement; Harry's best... well, only... idea to accomplish this was to destroy the world and start over. Which would require Hermione's okay.

Harry didn't see any possibility of falling back asleep in the near future.

He sighed and decided to go out and watch the stars. He climbed the stairs from his office to the roof, cast a warming charm on himself, and laid on his back.

Some time later, he noticed an unexpected light in his peripheral vision and turned to identify it. He determined that it was coming from the astronomy tower a few seconds before the light went out.

Mildly curious, Harry got a broom and slowly approached the astronomy tower, navigating mostly by the outline of the castle against the sky in the moonless darkness.

"Hello, Harry."

"Oh. Hello, Luna. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that person out here at night turned out to be the one person I knew came out here at night."

"No, you shouldn't. It's more surprising that you're out on a broom at night. I don't think that's entirely safe."

"I flew slowly so it wouldn't have been too serious if I bumped into part of the castle. What else would be dangerous out here?"

"Dragons, for one. Or any especially annoyed hippogriffs. Or thestrals."

"I'll be sure to watch out for those. Although I don't think thestrals can actually fly."

"Unless that's what they want you to think."

"Huh. I'll have to look into it. Who's 'they'?"

"Yes. That's always the question... I suppose it's not surprising after all; flying out here isn't any more dangerous than your usual hobbies."

"You're going to have to explain that. Dangerous hobbies?"

"It's not a secret that you've been working with charmed objects. You should be more careful with them."

"Charming objects isn't normally considered dangerous."

"It depends on who charms them. That's how my mother died."

"Oh, I didn't know. I'm sorry about your mother."

"The aurors said she died researching spells because they didn't find any charmed objects nearby, but they're wrong. Her notes were vague and the aurors found a trace of unknown dark magic, so they assumed she cast something bad. But that was really from the artifact she found."

After a few minutes of platitudes and silence, Harry asked, "So, are there any astronomical objects you specifically wanted to see tonight? Recently, I've spent more time looking for satellites. It's nice, while I'm here in magical Britain, to get a visual reminder that there's a technologically advanced civilization nearby."

"It's nice to look at the stars and imagine being far away from here. Though I think I like watching the stars better here at Hogwarts. They're more alive here than I'm used to seeing."

"'Alive'? Last year, a centaur told me that they make predictions or prophecies or something based on how they see starlight flicker. Do you get information from the stars like centaurs do?"

"I don't know; I've never been a centaur."

"No, of course not; I meant... 'Being far away'? You think about getting away from here? Is something bothering you?"

Luna shrugged, "Many of the people here are less pleasant and enlightened than one would hope of intelligent magical beings."

Harry frowned, "Can you be more specific?"

"You don't need to worry about it. I suppose it's not that important in the big picture."

"If people are bothering you, at least that's a problem I know how to work with."

Luna nodded, "True."

It was still pre-dawn, but light was visible over the horizon when McGonagall's patronus came to Harry and announced an emergency meeting. He arrived at her office a few minutes later. McGonagall, Bones, Moody, and Hermione were already seated.

McGonagall explained quickly, "A unicorn has been killed. Mr. Hagrid is on his way to give us the details."

The seat at the end of the table facing everyone was clearly intended for Hagrid. The only other seat open was next to Hermione. Harry sat, carefully controlling his breathing as sensing her magical aura triggered his fight-or-flight response rather than the usual sense of comfort. He tried to neither look to his left, nor make it obvious that he was deliberately not looking.

Seconds later, the door opened again, admitting Hagrid and Lockhart. McGonagall waved Hagrid to the remaining chair.

Lockhart spoke first, "So the first thing we-"

Bones interrupted, "Why exactly are you here?"

Lockhart looked surprised but quickly recovered, "Uh... I'm the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and you won't find anyone who has more extensive practical knowledge of or broader experience with dangerous magical creatures. I happened to overhear some things about the current situation, so when I happened to run into Hagrid on his way here, I thought my expertise would be appreciated."

Bones shook her head, "Mr. Hagrid, please have a seat, and tell us what happened."

"So I got up to walk Fang and feed the thestrals this morning-"

Moody asked, "About what time was that?"

"Maybe 5:00? Thestrals like to eat while it's still dark, so I always bring them-"

Bones interrupted, "Okay, let's skip ahead. When did you first notice something wrong?"

"Well, Fang started barking and ran off, but he does that sometimes. Aren't many things in the forest that scare old Fang. Anyway, I was following him, and I that's when I saw some silvery reflections on the ground. I could tell right away what it was, and knew Fang had found a unicorn, either hurt or dead. When I caught up with him, it was terrible. Another unicorn mostly eaten, just like last year."

Moody stared at Hagrid, "What are the chances your pet killed the unicorn?"

Hagrid's head snapped around to look at Moody, startled, "Huh?... Oh, Fang would never do such a thing. For one thing, he's well fed and doesn't need to hunt. For another, he'd never catch a unicorn. They're too fast for him."

McGonagall asked, "Hagrid, what do you suspect was responsible?"

"Er... nobody ever caught what was eating them last year. It's probably back, right? I never saw the sense of bringing in so many unicorns this year, with whatever it was still out there, but I figure Dumbledore must've had a plan."

McGonagall tried again, "How many things are even capable of taking down a unicorn?"

Lockhart jumped in, "I suspect a nundu. Coincidentally, I've been looking forward to hunting one for quite some time, and am familiar with all the latest literature on the most effective tactics. I'd be happy to lead a group of..."

He trailed off as he became aware of Moody staring at him intensely. After a few seconds of silence, Moody spoke, "There's never been a nundu attack in Britain. As far as anyone knows, there's never been a nundu in Britain." Lockhart nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but Moody demanded, "Did you bring one here?"

Lockhart shut his mouth quickly, paused, then answered, "Of course not. Someone would have to be totally irresponsible, or a complete idiot, to bring such a dangerous animal near a school." He smiled at Moody, "And of course, if I could work with those animals so easily, I'd have written about it. My skill as a nundu-whisperer would be common knowledge across the magical world."

"Are you directly or indirectly responsible for the death of any unicorns?"

"No! Of course not."

Moody grunted, but continued to watch Lockhart.

McGonagall repeated, "Hagrid, what would be fast enough to catch a unicorn?"

"Well, the fastest things out there are the phoenix and the dementor, b-"

"Things that would take a bite out of a large animal", Bones snapped.

"Well, a nundu would, of course. Or a quintaped. And I suppose a hydra or dragon or occamy."

McGonagall sighed, "Anything that would live around Hogwarts?"

"Well, I a centaur could probably hunt one, not that they ever would. I don't know, maybe if a hippogriff got hungry enough... Those things are quick in a powered dive. Maybe a troll or a werewolf. I don't know that they could outrun one, but they might be able to trap one somehow. Though it's the wrong moon phase for werewolves."

Lockhart interjected, "If a unicorn were injured somehow, or trapped, for example in a devil's snare or acromantula web, any number of things could finish it off."

Hagrid nodded, "Or I suppose a large snake could ambush one, though not many reptiles would be out hunting before spring."

Harry queried, "Not many or not any?"

Hermione turned to Bones and Moody and asked, "How sure are we that an animal was involved? I've read that dying dark wizards will often try to kill unicorns for their blood."

Hagrid frowned, "I don't think they'd take large bites. Something was eating it."

Harry processed the simultaneous series of objections that arose, which resolved into a decision to remain silent. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Moody stated, "Unless a dark wizard were covering up their activities."

Bones added, "Or if it were scavenged after it died. Mr. Hagrid, have you seen anything else unusual in the forests? Specifically anything that would indicate the presence of someone who doesn't belong there?"

"Well, the Forbidden Forest is never quite the same as the last time you saw it, but I haven't seen anything I'd call unexpected. I certainly haven't seen any dark wizards out there."

Bones concluded, "Okay, thank you Mr. Hagrid, you may go."

As Hagrid stood and moved to the door, Lockhart walked forward, clearly intending to take the vacated seat at the table. The chair twisted in on itself and disappeared before he reached it.

Bones stared him down, "You may go, Mr. Lockhart." He reluctantly walked through the doorway and the door shut itself behind him.

Bones sighed, "So I assume we all agree that this is Voldemort's doing, correct?"

Harry replied, "Well, it could be something else..." He trailed off and sighed upon seeing everyone else nodding in agreement with Bones.

Moody asked Harry directly, "Is there anything else we should know, Potter?"

"Well, if Voldemort is killing unicorns, it means he needs unicorn blood, which implies his body, I mean his host's body, is dying. If we assume he was possessing Professor Sprout earlier this year, then he has the ability to move from person to person somehow. He claimed he could use the Resurrection Stone to move around as a ghost and possess anyone he wanted, but at the time he was trying to convince me that he'd immediately return if I killed him. Otherwise he would need someone to find a horcrux in order to possess them. Anyway, if he's already moving between hosts, unicorn blood would be redundant and killing unicorns would unnecessarily reveal his presence." As he said it, the thought completed in his head: unless Voldemort suspects we already know he's here, and killed the unicorn just to give the impression that he needed its blood. Everyone would falsely conclude he had a weakness and was not, in fact, using a host whose blood already incorporated unicorn healing factors.

Moody asked, "So what's our next move? Voldemort could be possessing anyone."

"Surely he'd be more likely to possess some people that others", Bones argued. "A dark wizard would be most likely to possess a teacher, due to their higher magical strength and their privileges with Hogwarts' wards."

"Unless that constraint made finding him too obvious", Moody retorted.

Bones answered, "In that case, he'd want to possess someone with as much magical power and muscle strength as possible (which implies a 6th or 7th year with experience dueling, etc.). A wealthy family, noble or politically connected would also be useful in case he were caught doing something illegal."

Hermione suggested, "That could mean Cedric Diggory or Robert Jugson. I've heard Jugson has been acting strangely this year, though that could be explained by his... incident... earlier this year."

Moody looked unimpressed, "So that's even easier to narrow down than assuming he's using a professor."

Harry shrugged, "A smart dark wizard might play at the next level and deliberately choose someone as weak as possible, like a first year; just to do the opposite of what we'd expect. And a smarter dark wizard might choose someone as average as possible; someone whose name most of us wouldn't even know. But strength, skill, and money would still be valuable, so they'd choose between a more average or above average individual based on how much they intended to hide or to fight. In that case, we could rule out anyone below average. Though a dark wizard operating at the level above that may deliberately pick someone below average to escape that scrutiny."

"So basically it could be anyone", Moody repeated.

Harry sighed, "Yeah."

Moody continued, "We need to search the school; try to find his horcrux."

McGonagall sighed, "The school is huge and someone could easily lose something here for years."

Bones added, "It would also give away what we know; make it obvious that we're looking for something."

Moody nodded, "Okay, I propose that just before Christmas break, we tell everyone that there's an illness, a dragon-pox outbreak or something. So Pomfrey has to scan them before they go home, to prevent the disease from spreading. I'll polyjuice as Pomfrey and scan them for evidence of possession. Some disillusioned aurors can scan their luggage for dark magic. Then, after the students leave, we have some time for aurors to search the dorms, common rooms, offices, and commonly used classrooms. We can have the elves look everywhere else for anything that doesn't belong and bring it to the aurors."

Bones replied, "I can't imagine Voldemort being caught by something that easy, but it could reveal something."

McGonagall objected, "You're proposing to detect Voldemort in a group of students. There won't be any way to keep students safe when he starts fighting."

Moody nodded, "Of course we wouldn't try to arrest him there; we'll signal aurors to follow anyone who tests positive and then call everyone to help bring him down."

Bones concluded, "That sounds like a good starting point. Moody, work out the details, and pick some aurors to learn the necessary detection spells. I think we're finished here for today."

Bones and Moody flooed away, Harry and Hermione walked toward the door. "Mr. Potter, a moment", McGonagall said.

Harry asked, "Okay. Actually, I've been meaning to ask you: Has Hogwarts ever been struck by lightning, or do you know of any spells that protect it from lightning?"

"What? I've no idea. Why would you want to know that?"

"It's the simplest reason I've thought of for why anyone to ward the castle in a way that affects electricity. Wizards wouldn't understand the physics behind what they were trying to accomplish, so such wards would likely be trial-and-error and do complex and unpredictable things, some of which would be helpful, and some of which would only cause side effects."

"As I said, I don't know what the castle does with lightning. Maybe it's protected somehow or maybe it just heals itself afterward. Anyway, I asked you here because I've heard you've been using Parseltongue in public, which I've warned you against doing. I suppose you may have thought out all of the possible outcomes in advance, and decided it was worth risking; is that the case? And if so, what were you hoping to achieve?"

"I don't believe anyone should have been able to hear me speak it. Well, except I accidentally let Draco hear it last year. But I didn't know Parseltongue was a thing at the time, so that shouldn't count."

"I've been informed that you were seen commanding several snakes to attack a student at Lockhart's dueling practice. Have I been misinformed?"

"Well, partially. There were quite a few snakes closing in on me, and I did tell them to leave me alone, but no one would have heard that. If I looked through the library, I'm sure I could find a dozen spells that would repel snakes just as effectively. And it's not like that would be a surprising thing for me to have done. Concluding that I have a rare snake-related ability wouldn't be rational. And I certainly didn't command snakes to attack anyone."

Harry's eyes widened in sudden comprehension, "Draco sicced those snakes on me. He planned that. He must have had people start a rumor that I'm a parselmouth too. Of course, that's no excuse. It was just a school exercise, and I should have let myself lose."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I don't have a good answer for that. I thought I'd learned that lesson after the first few times, but apparently it's something I still need to work on."

Tracey strode into the Great Hall, eyes bright, head held high, and a hint of a smile on her face. She walked just quickly enough for the black cloak she wore over her robes to trail behind her like a cape.

Reaching the Slytherin table, she looked around suspiciously, then announced to the nearby second years, "Dumbledore is a far greater dark lord than I could ever hope to be. He's always fifty steps ahead of everyone else, so far ahead that once his enemies realize what his plan is, it's usually too late. Our best hope is to throw him off balance by planning zero steps ahead."

Gregory frowned, "Uh, Dumbledore's gone."

"Or that's just what he wants you to think. I'm going to be ready for him."

Pansy shook her head, "What is wrong with you?"

Vincent grunted in agreement and added, "You were already annoying. When did you become a morning person too?"

Tracey pointed at Pansy, "I've already taken your soul, but don't think that's the worst I can do to you. I could break you and rebuild you into a loyal minion, but I doubt you're useful enough for it to be worth the effort. Though I suppose I could lock you up and ransom you back to your family if you remain annoying. Be gone from my sight."

Pansy stared at her for a second, then got up and walked away.

After she was out of earshot, Daphne laughed, "Okay, that was pretty good."

Tracey turned to Daphne and declared, "So, you wish to join me. Your foresight is commendable, and I assure you that, if you choose to be my minion, you shall share in my eventual glory."

Daphne scoffed, "I'm a Greengrass. Greengrasses are not minions."

Tracey frowned, "You will come to rue this day, in time."

Theodore grumbled, "You're seriously not going to play Dark Lady Tracey again this year are you? I was hoping you'd outgrown that."

"Quiet, you. I will destroy your soul."

Theodore rolled his eyes, "I was in Chaos Legion, remember? We were the ones who helped you prank Pansy the last time. You can't use the same prank on me."

Daphne changed the subject, "You were in the common room late last night. When did you go to sleep?"

"Oh, I didn't sleep. I had more important things to do, you know."

"Then how are you even awake right now?"

Tracey waved dismissively, "I've grown beyond such mundane concerns."

"Seriously."

"I cast innervate on myself whenever I got tired."

"I don't think that's a good idea. Humans need sleep."

"Yes, and I think we've all established that I'm better than that."

Blaise announced, "Shh, he's here."

They turned to watch Harry enter the hall. A small group of snakes followed him.

Millicent shook her head, "It's like he's not even trying to keep people from thinking he's evil anymore."

Tracey agreed, "I fear that Harry may be the most evil of us all. That is concerning since I am the next Dark Lady."

Blaise chuckled, "Compared to him, you're an amateur. But you could ask if he's looking for someone to be his sidekick slash comic relief."

Tracey snapped, "You'll learn the consequences of such insolence." She then looked thoughtful, "But somehow you managed to include a decent point in your stupid comment, so I'll show you mercy for now. I should propose an alliance with Harry. For that to work out in my favor, I think I'm going to need some liquid luck. Does anyone have any blackmail material on Felthorne?" She looked around expectantly. "No? I guess we'll have to invent some."

Tracey looked around again, while no one volunteered suggestions. She looked briefly at Draco, then turned to Daphne. She opened her mouth to say something, then stopped and stared at Draco for another moment before turning back again. "Oh Merlin, I'm pretty sure Lucius managed to clone himself. I wonder if he knew a spell to transfer his memories into the clone too?"

Daphne replied, "I'm... Wait, what?"

Draco looked over at Tracey and growled.

Blaise stared at Draco, amused, "Did you just growl?"

Draco grunted.

"Grunting from a Malfoy? I'm shocked. You're lucky your father isn't around anymore." Draco scowled at Blaise and began to stand up. "By the 12th ruling of the 31st Wizengamot, if he saw you acting like this he could have disowned-"

Draco vaulted onto the table, then dove across, tackling Blaise onto the ground and throwing punches at his head.

A series of stunners from multiple directions quickly ended the fight. McGonagall and Flitwick hovered them out of the hall.

Tracey announced, "Blinding fury is not conducive to good decision-making. I think I'll hold off on offering Draco a chance to become one of my minions."