Harry Potter and the Memories of a Sociopath, Ch 13: Shell Game

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. Harry has begun to suspect something darker: that Voldemort's plan had been to pretend to fail while preparing a powerful and immortal host for himself who Harry would trust implicitly (and explicitly, given the unbreakable vow).

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.

Harry entered the Great Hall, trying to ignore the group of snakes gathering behind him. He sat at the Ravenclaw table and began filling a plate with food. All nearby conversations had stopped as people stared at him, but Harry chose to ignore that too.

Anthony looked around at the others, and seeing no reaction, spoke first, "All right, I'll be that guy. Harry, what's with the army of snakes? How worried should we be?"

Harry sighed, "I don't know. I don't know where they came from. I don't know why they're following me. I don't know what they'd be doing if they weren't following me. But I do know that if I tell them to leave me alone, everyone will blame me for whatever they do afterwards. I didn't ask them to follow me around, but it's almost certainly safer for everyone if they stay near me than if they go anywhere else."

After a few minutes, Harry asked the students nearby, "Does anyone know about anyone who's been bothering Luna?"

Terry scowled, "What do you care? You set snakes on her."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Do you actually believe that? For what possible reason would I have done that?"

Terry shrugged, "Who knows what you're planning? Maybe it was a misdirection so next week you can send snakes after, I don't know, Justin and no one will suspect you."

Harry shook his head, "That's insane. How would making people suspicious of me make people less suspicious? And why would I attack Justin?"

"I don't know! Why'd you attack Luna?"

Harry shook his head again, "Your argument is circular."

"Well, your argument is too thin."

"What does that even mean?"

"This conversation still means something? I thought we were just saying words now."

Around this time, they had both noticed that everyone else was silently staring across the room. Harry turned to see Draco and Blaise fighting. As McGonagall and Flitwick carried them out, Harry quickly got up and moved after them. The snakes followed.

Tracey saw Harry and moved to intercept, "Hey, Harry! I'm formally offering you a position in my Darke (with an 'E'!) Army. Once we've taken over, you can be the leader of... um, Hogsmeade."

Harry looked at her and forced a serious expression, "I think I'll hold out for a better offer."

"That was just my opening. There's room for negotiation. What would you be expecting?"

"I'll start getting interested when you stop talking about cities and start talking about continents. And important positions in the world government."

"There is no world government."

"I thought you wanted to be a Dark Lady."

Tracey nodded, "You're right of course. And I assume you're looking for something more than Antarctica. There are probably about as many people living in Hogsmeade as there are living there. How does South America sound? And, um, Minister of Global Muggle Affairs?"

Harry frowned, "I was thinking more of Minister of Health, Science, and/or Magical Research... There are wizards in Antarctica?"

"I used to have a pen pal there. It sounds great, actually: there's only one little spot where you have to worry about the Statute of Secrecy at all. And there's no age limit for wands or any underage magic rules. Anyway, I'm willing to promise you all of those positions, and not just because you're the only one who would both want them and be competent to do them."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, "That makes sense. Of course, before I commit to anything, I'll have to see your ten-year plan."

"Ten... years...?"

Harry nodded again, "Honestly, I have some doubts about your commitment. You can't take over the world without a well thought-out plan."

"Do you have a ten-year plan?"

Harry shrugged, "I've got the high-level outline. Many of the details are still hazy. It's my hundred-year plan that needs work. It's even less detailed than my thousand-year plan."

"Thousand-year? So you've found a way to become immortal?"

"I know there are some methods out there. I'm confident something will be available to me when I need it."

"Part of our plan should be to find all the spells and artifacts related to all of those methods as soon as possible. After all, one can never be too immortal."

"That's very true", Harry agreed. "Anyway, I'm going to go find out what's going on with Draco. You didn't happen to notice anything before he went postal, did you?"

"Hm, I was pondering if he were a clone of Lucius and the corollary of whether Lucius might have figured out a way to transfer his mind or memories into a clone. And I suppose he was less verbal than usual."

"Oh... Okay, I'll look into it."

Tracey looked around, and muttered quietly, "Neville... he could definitely be useful." She thought for a moment, then walked over, "Merlin bless the simple interactions of Hufflepuffs."

"Neville", she said sweetly, "Do you want to be friends?"

"Uh, sure. Assuming we weren't already..."

"One condition. You have to swear a magical oath that you will never, ever harm me no matter what I do."

Neville looked mildly surprised, "What?"

Tracey burst into laughter. "Just kidding! Anyway, do you know any of the details of Harry's plan to take over the world?"

He frowned, trying and failing to determine the nature of the conversation that had been inflicted on him.

Before he could form an answer, Tracey announced, "Kidding again!" and walked away quickly.

Neville shook his head, "I'll never understand girls."

When Harry reached the medical wing Moody was already scanning Draco. Draco awoke and Moody paused and stared down at him.

After a few seconds Draco yelled, "The Wizengamot will have you in Azkaban when they find you've used legilimency on a me!"

"Yeah, I very much doubt that."

"They would never tolerate someone violating the mental privacy of a member of a noble house!"

Moody turned to McGonagall, "No evidence of dark magic, but he's had a huge number of memory modifications. Multiple charms per day over at least the past month."

Draco began, "I demand-"

"Mr. Malfoy", McGonagall interrupted, "You have been memory charmed by an unknown individual for an unknown purpose. I would think you would want to know what is going on and to have Auror Moody hunt down whoever is responsible."

"For all I know, Moody is the one applying memory charms. I'll-"

"I assure you that he did not. This was the act of a criminal who has ill intentions toward you and likely toward the school as well. The Hogwarts board of governors will not tolerate an agent of a dark wizard with an unknown agenda to stay at Hogwarts. If you don't allow Auror Moody to determine the nature of those memory charms, you will not be allowed to remain here."

"If you think I'm going to allow Dumbledore's followers access to my mind-"

Harry interjected, "Does it have to be Moody? If that's the issue, we could find someone neutral, like Mr. Bester."

"And why would you suggest him, Potter? A secret alliance-"

"Petrificus totalus", Moody suddenly cast. "Stupid wanker just tried to draw on me." Moody gestured at Draco's hand, which was frozen in the act of pulling a wand from his robes. "No one searched him for a second wand? Well, luckily now he's awake, has his eyes open, and can't refuse legilimency." Moody began staring into Draco's eyes before Harry or McGonagall could react.

A moment later Moody reported, "The last memory charm takes place in Hogwarts... and depicts the killing of Abigail Myrtle... He cast a spell first and then some kind of magic transfered to whatever he was holding... He never looked at it, but it feels fairly light and has a flat bottom... Stupify."

Draco's eyes became unfocused but he didn't move otherwise.

They followed Moody into another room, where he cast a set of privacy charms. Then a charm which made the snakes following Harry immolate. "I don't trust those things; I don't trust magical constructs in general, and there's no reason for those to be here. Also, you look ridiculous leading a flock of snakes like some demented Slytherin shepherd. Anyway... Someone was memory charming Draco to think he was Voldemort. And they knew what they were doing; that memory was consistent with what I know of the horcrux ritual."

McGonagall frowned, "So you think Voldemort wanted us to believe Draco was possessed?"

Harry answered, "This actually sounds consistent with the basic horcrux spell (which is almost certainly what Moody is familiar with). It involves a device that stores memories and writes them into the victim's mind. The result is less of a possession and more of a hybrid personality, which gradually becomes more similar to the dark wizard as their memories are merged. The advanced horcrux ritual involves something more like possession but is more secret, so it's unlikely Moody has read any description of it."

Moody sighed, "So we might have a horcruxed wizard (who would seem to be under the imperius) using memory charms on Draco, a horcruxed wizard (who appears to be memory charmed) using the imperius on Sprout, or two Voldemorts with totally different abilities and possibly different plans and goals?"

"I believe that's an accurate summary of our current level of ignorance. But Occam's Razor suggests we assume one agent is responsible until we have evidence otherwise, and all of the advanced horcruxen should have been obliviated along with Voldemort", Harry gestured at the ring, "so I'd bet on option 2. But our response is pretty much the same regardless: find and destroy a horcrux. I suggest we proceed as if it were an outbreak: quarantine everyone who shows symptoms (in this case, violent behavior, evidence of dark magic, or evidence of memory charms), and check everyone they had close contact with for symptoms."

Daphne sighed, "Tell me again: why are we sneaking into the library at night?"

Tracey smiled brightly and gestured with the diary she was carrying for emphasis, "I told you; there's information there that's critical to the fulfillment of my master plan for world domination."

"No, really... This is the forbidden section! You're seriously breaking into the forbidden section? That's kinda over the line, even for you."

"Let me tell you a story: this morning I was talking to General Chaos. It started as just a typical dark lady-dark lord discussion about taking over the world and stuff. But then, suddenly he almost had me convinced that I'm in over my head here. Of course, that tricky reverse-psychology stuff only works on the weak-minded, and it was sloppy of him to try a plot like that on me. But regardless, decisive action is required."

"If you stop and think for a second-"

Tracey waved dismissively and pulled a pair of books off the shelf, "Stop thinking like a Hufflepuff. When I rule this world, I will give you first pick of countries to control."

Daphne sighed again.

Tracey smirked and muttered, "No one wants to be a Hufflepuff." She pulled another book off the shelf and flipped through it quickly, almost dropping the others in the process. She then stacked the four books on the floor and walked down the aisle, pulling another few texts off the shelf.

Daphne sighed and watched the doorway.

Tracey added another armful of books to the pile and continued browsing. As Tracey disappeared down another aisle, Daphne heard footsteps echoing down the hallway and held her breath.

The footsteps were getting closer. Daphne looked around, trying not to panic, wishing for some solution to manifest itself. If this were a battle, her next step would be... to hide the evidence and escape. She stepped forward, tucked Tracey's pile of books under her left arm and quickly moved in the direction Tracey had disappeared.

Once she, and the evidence, were out of view of the doorway, Daphne started to feel more confident. She frowned as Tracey walked toward her carrying another pair of books, then scowled as Tracey loudly announced, "Guess what I fou-"

"Somnium", Tracey fell. Daphne smirked, knowing that whoever was coming would probably stop searching after finding an unconscious student.

"Obliviate", Daphne frowned. She didn't remember learning to cast that spell. She shrugged to herself; this was no time to be solving mysteries.

She put down the stack of books and cast 'quietus' charms on her hands, shoes, and mouth. She put a hand on the shelf but paused and returned to the stack of books. She pulled out the bottom book; it was the diary Tracey had been carrying everywhere since she'd stolen it from Draco. She shook her head, then paused in the motion of putting it back. She was strangely hesitant to leave it behind. She carried it with her as she climbed the bookshelf and lied flat on the top. A moment later, McGonagall entered the library and moved toward the restricted section.

As McGonagall walked around the bookshelf, Daphne climbed down the opposite side and silently sprinted down the hallway.

McGonagall quickly approached Tracey, noted the pile of books, and cast 'innervate'.

Tracey rubbed her eyes and sat up, "Oh, hello, headmistress. What's..." She looked around, "What happened?"

"That was my question. Why are you here?"

"I don't remember."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Leaving Charms class."

"Friday afternoon? You don't remember any of Friday evening or Saturday?"

"Oh... that sounds like something I wouldn't have expected until I was older... Although drinking butter-beer and sneaking around at night does sound fun. I'll be annoyed if that happened and I forgot about it."

"We're going to see Madame Pomfrey. She'll figure out what happened."

McGonagall concluded, "...so now Tracey has been obliviated. I suspect it's the same as what happened to Draco, but whoever is responsible has started trying to cover their tracks."

Moody grunted, "So we can conclude it's a professor. Call Lockhart in here and I'll get some answers."

"Actually, the wards recorded an unauthorized obliviation, so it's most likely not..."

She was interrupted as one of the objects in the office emitted a high pitched siren. McGonagall tapped it with her wand and it became silent. "There have been two more unauthorized obliviations near the Great Hall."

They simultaneously moved toward the door.

Daphne casually walked toward the Gryffindor table, tapped Lavender's shoulder, and whispered, "I need to talk to you. Wait about 30 seconds and then follow me. I'll be just outside the doors."

A moment later, Lavender bounded excitedly through the doorway and whispered, "Is it a secret mission? We haven't even a quest yet this year, not even a boring or easy one. Will it be dangerous? Or will-"

"Confundus", Daphne pushed the diary into Lavender's hands. Lavender turned and walked back into the hall. A moment later, she returned, empty-handed.

The girls raised their wands at each other and simultaneously cast, "Obliviate."

After a moment, they blinked and looked around, then turned back to each other.

"What in Merlin's hat just happened?"

"Where did you come from?"

"I think my stomach just magically filled itself with food. Is that a real thing?"

"How did I get here? Actually, what day is it?"

McGonagall and Moody, who had arrived in time to catch part of this quasi-conversation, exchanged glances and escorted the girls to the hospital wing.

Harry paced back and forth in his office. Despite nearly a dozen disillusioned or polyjuiced aurors present, and nearly all of the aurors in Britain prepared to time-turn to provide backup, it was still too dangerous for him to personally observe the hostile wizard detection and containment exercise (as Mad-Eye had termed the effort to scan the students for legilimency, memory charms and possession as they left for the train). He had to hide out here and wait for the results. And he'd been unable to convince anyone that Hermione should remain at Hogwarts over the break (the argument that she hadn't seen her parents in nearly a year had proven superior to anything he could make himself say out loud), so he strongly suspected he knew what the results would be.

Harry was convinced that Voldemort, while possessing Hermione, was pretending that one of his old type1 horcruxen was loose in the school, in order to cover up his actual presence and distract from his real plan. At some point, he could produce a fake (or real) type 1 horcrux and allow it to be discovered and destroyed, thereby apparently ending the current emergency. So far, this faux-crux had allegedly affected Draco, then Tracy, then Daphne (who's memory had been wiped back to before Tracey had been obliviated), then Lavender. Therefore it was likely that someone who knew Lavender (and probably also Daphne) would show traces of memory charms or obliviation. Maybe this person would even have a suspicious artifact (which would likely be destroyed before it could be carefully scrutinized). After that, there would be no more suspicions (except from Mad-Eye, who was suspicious of everything on principle), and Voldemort would be able to continue operating freely with his super-powered host.