Harry Potter and the Fifth Year from Hell

Chapter 11 - The Revealall

Harry frankly marvelled at the fact that Hermione could research magical methods of eavesdropping as well as everything else they had to do.

               Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Ch. 28

*  *  *

Harry sat in Transfiguration class with his head down.  His Invisibility Cloak was stuffed into his book bag - he hadn´t had time to go up the dormitory stairs and put it back into his trunk - but his Transfiguration textbook was not, and he hadn´t read one word of the chapter they were supposed to read.  If Professor McGonagall called on him, he was in big trouble.  Excellent start on my plan for getting better marks, Harry thought ruefully.  He looked out of the corner of his eye at Ron on his right and Hermione on his left.  They both looked as subdued as he felt.  Harry´s lip twitched in a smile.  After all, they hadn´t exactly read the Transfiguration chapter, either.  Nor had Malfoy.

Fortunately, Professor McGonagall launched into a speech about the importance of the course.

"As you know, this is the last year that Transfiguration will be a required subject.  After you take your Ordinary Wizarding Levels, those of you who wish to may continue with Advanced Transfiguration.  I am assuming all of you will be taking Basic Conjuration next year with Professor Smythe-Saxon.  The material we will learn this year is essential to mastering Conjuration.  Indeed, I can assure you that if you do not apply yourself this year, you will find yourself unable to Conjure so much as a teaspoon.  Now, who can tell me the three fundamental limitations of Transfigurative charms?  Miss Brown?  No?  Anyone?"

Professor McGonagall regarded the roomful of students in exasperation.  The fifth-year Gryffindors were taking Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs, so the classroom was full, but not one student raised his or her hand.  Beside him, Harry heard Hermione sigh as she put her hand in the air.  Of course, Hermione didn´t need to read that chapter today.  She probably read the whole book over the summer.

"Yes, Miss Granger, go ahead."  As Hermione composedly listed the factors, Harry felt Ron stir beside him.  Harry obligingly leaned back in his seat so Ron could stare at Hermione while her attention was diverted.

And to think that I was worried that I´d be left out if Ron and Hermione were interested in each other.  When Harry had rejoined his friends in Gryffindor Tower, they´d both latched onto him, and they seemed determined to keep him between them.  As best Harry could tell, Ron´s and Hermione´s worst fear now was that he might leave them alone together again.

"Very good, Miss Granger.  Five points to Gryffindor.  Now..."  Ron´s gaze snapped back to his desk as Hermione finished speaking and Professor McGonagall began her lecture.  After a moment, Harry felt his elbow jogged and Ron shoved his notebook closer to Harry.

`Where did you go?´ was written at the top of it in small letters.  Harry took a long look at Professor McGonagall and wrote back on the top of his own parchment.

`I´ll tell you after class.´  He saw Hermione look at what he had written and nod slightly.  Harry blanched.  How was he going to tell them?  What was he going to tell them?  He´d have to tell them about the spying ball, but maybe he could keep quiet about exactly what he´d seen in it.  But no - they deserved some warning that Malfoy had watched the whole scene.

Harry considered his friends´ strange version of courtship.  He certainly wouldn´t want to tell a girl that he liked her because she´d interrogated it out of him.  It wasn´t very romantic, to say the least.  But Ron had seemed almost grateful to Hermione for questioning him.  At least, he´d sat there and answered her questions.  Harry shook his head.  The two of them were barking mad when it came to arguing.  They actually seemed to enjoy it at times.

"You don´t agree, Mr. Potter?"  Professor McGonagall´s question broke into Harry´s thoughts.  He looked desperately down at his notes, trying to see what he´d disagreed with.  His hand, working automatically, had just written, `time limitations, danger of Finite Incantatem and other truth-revealing spells.´

"Well, uh," he said, desperately trying to make some sense, "Can´t you protect the Transfigured items from those spells somehow?  Make them stay Transfigured anyway?"

"If you can do that, Mr. Potter," said McGonagall, looking over her spectacles at Harry, "you may actually receive an OWL in Transfiguration.  Because that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what I am attempting to teach you this year."

Hermione smiled approvingly at Harry as their Professor brought her lecture to a conclusion.  Her expression changed to alarm, though, as the bell rang, and Professor McGonagall spoke to Harry.

"Mr. Potter, would you kindly stay behind for a moment."

Harry approached the desk with some nervousness, but Professor McGonagall smiled at him.  "Will you be free to attend a Quidditch team meeting tomorrow immediately after lunch?"  Harry nodded.  "Very well, come to this classroom.  I´ll see you then."  Harry quickly rejoined Hermione and Ron, who were lingering rather awkwardly in the back of the room.  They both looked relieved to have Harry between them again.

As they left the classroom, the fifth year Slytherins and Ravenclaws began to pour in.  Harry´s gaze was drawn immediately to the face of Draco Malfoy.  However, Malfoy didn´t meet Harry´s eye; he was too busy looking from Ron to Hermione and smirking.  Harry saw with fury that Crabbe and Goyle were smirking, too - clearly Malfoy had wasted no time in telling them what he´d overheard.  On the plus side, it was obvious that Malfoy had not yet noticed that his crystal ball was missing.  He won´t look so smug when he sees that!  Harry hoped that Malfoy had put the box back in the trunk, not noticing it was empty - that would give him a real puzzle.

"We´d better go out onto the lawn," said Harry.  "No one can overhear this."  He set off at a brisk pace, and his friends hurried to catch up.

"I need to be in Ancient Runes in ten minutes," Hermione said.

"Too bad," said Harry curtly.  "You need to hear this more."  He led them out the front steps and to a patch of lawn away from any bushes or buildings.  Feeling somewhat foolish, he looked around for beetles and other insect life.  He knew now that Malfoy had an Invisibility Cloak, but Malfoy was in Transfiguration class, and anyway, Harry would see the telltale bent grass if anyone invisible approached them closely.

Quickly, Harry related his reason for following Malfoy.  Hermione started to say something when she learned that Ron wanted to try out for the Quidditch team, and Ron blushed, but Harry waved them to silence and continued.  He wasn´t interrupted again until he mentioned that Malfoy was talking about being on a boat and seeing mermaids.

"Oh," said Hermione, "did he say where?  There are a lot of mermaids around the Azores Islands..."

"Later!" said Harry sternly.  "Do you want to be late for your class?"  Hermione subsided.

Ron showed a disposition to discuss the other contents of "Malfoy´s toy box," as he called it, but Harry hushed him just as ruthlessly.

"Will you shut up and let me tell it?  Malfoy pulled out a glass ball, and tapped it with his wand, and it showed the Gryffindor common room.  It showed the two of you reading your Transfiguration books." 

Finally, Hermione and Ron were silenced.  They looked at each other, and then at Harry, and then down at the grass.

"Err, how long did he watch?" asked Ron, after a few moments of uneasy silence.

"The whole time," said Harry.  "Until it was time for the next class."

"And could he hear, too?" asked Ron.

"Yes," Harry answered.  Ron´s face was white and horror-struck.  He looked like he´d just seen an Acromantula.  Hermione went red.

"He can´t - Harry, he can´t do that.  We have to stop him."

"Don´t worry," said Harry.  "I stole the ball thing."  Hermione stared at him.

"You stole it?"  Harry nodded.  "Where is it?"  Harry started to answer, but Hermione suddenly shrieked.  "Aagh!  I have just one minute to get to class.  Don´t do anything until I get back."  She took off for the front doors at a dead run, robes and hair flying behind her. 

Ron sank onto the grass as if his legs wouldn´t hold him anymore.  Harry joined him on the ground and sat cross-legged.

"So, umm, that´s how Malfoy knew I was trying out for the Quidditch team."  Ron looked at the castle rather than at Harry.  Harry nodded.

"And about you offering to give me a broom."

"Yeah."  Harry pulled a blade of grass and started tearing it into pieces.

"I wonder how long he´s been doing that?"

"I don´t know.  I hope not too long.  The view from the ball was right over our usual table."  Ron nodded.

"So... Malfoy was watching while Hermione and I were talking?"

"Uh-huh."

"And he could hear what we said?"

"Yes."

"And you were watching, too, right?"

Harry blushed.  This was the part he hated to admit.  "Yes."

"And listening?"  Harry gave a slight nod.

"Well, sod you, Harry."  Ron´s voice was flat.  Harry winced.

"Sorry," he said, in a small voice.

Ron gave an exaggerated sigh.  Soon, though, one corner of his mouth twitched in a smile.

"She fancies me a little, don´t you think?"  He looked sideways at Harry.

"I´ve thought that for a while," said Harry honestly.

"You don´t mind?"

"No.  I think it´s - nice."

Ron glared at Harry.  "`Nice´?  If you say we´re cute together, I´ll break both your legs."

"Okay, I won´t say that."  Harry was grinning now.

"Anyway," said Ron, rising to his feet with evident satisfaction, "I´ve put a stop to that Krum/Boot crap.  Come on, let´s go see if we can get anything to eat yet - I´m starving."

*

After dinner, with the help of the Invisibility Cloak, the three of them were able to slip into the blocked-up tunnel without anyone seeing them.

"Lumos," they all said simultaneously, and their wands made a yellow light. 

"Here it is," said Harry.

"It looks sort of like Neville´s Remembrall," said Ron.

"That´s what I thought," said Harry.

"I think I know what this is," said Hermione.  Harry and Ron looked at each other and grinned.  Of course Hermione would know. 

"I read about them when I was researching eavesdropping methods to find out about Rita Skeeter.  These were made by the same people who make Remembralls, but they were withdrawn from the market because people used them - you know - in bad ways."  Hermione looked disapproving.  "I can´t remember what they were called.  I think only a few were sold and they were very expensive."

"Figures Malfoy would have one then," muttered Harry.

"How does it work?" asked Ron.  "I don´t see anything."  Harry reached out his wand and tapped the ball gently.

"Oculo Revelo," he said, wondering if it would work for him.  It did.

"Hey," said Ron indignantly, "what are those first-years doing at our table? They need to go somewhere else."

Hermione and Harry leaned closer to the globe.  Its small, bright images were strangely compelling - the Gryffindor common room had never looked more attractive.  A young boy - Harry recognized him as Seamus Finnigan´s little brother Patrick - walked up to the table in the globe.

"You lot shouldn´t be sitting there."  Patrick seemed to have the same opinion as Ron.  "That´s the table Harry Potter and his friends use.  They´ll prob´ly be back from dinner any minute." 

"So what?"  One of the three girls flipped a braid behind her shoulder.  "I don´t see a sign on it or anything."

One of the other girls looked worried.  "Aren´t you afraid of Hermione Granger?  She´s awfully strict."

"We better move," said the third girl.  "There´s no sense getting a prefect mad at us."

Harry snickered.  Beside him, Ron was howling with laughter.

"Smart girl," said Ron.

"You should take a lesson from her," snapped Hermione, but then she gave a reluctant smile.  "Turn it off, Harry.  We shouldn´t be watching our housemates like this."

Harry tapped the ball again.  "Oculo Obscuro."  The cloudy smoke returned.  Ron picked up the ball and moved the tip of his lighted wand close to the ornate gold base.

"I can tell you what it´s called," he said.  "It´s a Revealall, and it was made in 1986 by Magdalena´s Magical Devices."

Harry and Hermione craned their necks to look at the small print Ron pointed out.

"What I want to know," said Hermione grimly, "is how to turn it so we can watch Malfoy, or, preferably, his father."

Harry stared at her.  He had expected Hermione to say he shouldn´t have taken the Revealall in the first place, and that they should turn it over to Dumbledore immediately.  Something of what he was thinking obviously showed on his face, because Hermione explained.

"Don´t look so surprised, Harry.  Have you forgotten what they did to my house?  My whole family could have been killed.  We need to know what they´re going to do next."

"But these things are illegal, aren´t they?" said Harry, alarmed.  "I mean, just because Malfoy watched us doesn´t mean it´s all right for us to watch him - and I did sort of steal it, and you said it´s expensive and valuable.  What if we got caught?  We´d all be expelled."  This wasn´t right - Hermione was supposed to be saying these things, not Harry.  Maybe if I give her some time, she´ll calm down and be her usual self.

"Yeah," said Ron, gagging, "and who wants to watch ferret-boy anyway?"

"I know where we can find out how it works," said Hermione, ignoring both their objections.

"The library!" said Harry and Ron together.

"Yes," said Hermione, not noticing (or choosing to ignore) their sarcasm.  "I´ll bet there were ads for it in the Wizarding publications when it was first introduced, and news stories when it was banned.  Come on, let´s go."

*

"See, it says you have to set your viewing area by holding the globe in the preferred viewing position while you activate the charm."  Hermione pointed to a full-page advert in Witch Weekly.  The top half of the page showed a witch holding the Revealall over a sleeping baby and tapping the ball with her wand; the bottom half showed the same witch enjoying an elegant candlelight dinner with a handsome wizard, a Revealall showing an adorably snoozing baby set on the table between them.  The baby put its thumb in its mouth and the wizard lifted a glass in tribute to the beautiful witch.

"So you tap the ball with your wand, but what do you say?" asked Ron.  "Maybe we should ask Malfoy."

"It should be pretty simple," said Hermione, frowning.  "Like Oculo Revelo and Oculo Obscuro."

"Uhh, Oculo Initio?" suggested Harry tentatively.  Hermione looked at him with surprised approval.

"Yes, like that," she agreed.

"Look at this!" Ron flourished an old Daily Prophet.  "Somebody put one of these in the witches´ changing room at a Wimbourne Wasps tryout."  He chortled.  "`Ludo Bagman Denies Involvement.´  I´ll bet!"

"Hush," said Hermione.  "Madam Pince is looking over here.  Let me see that."

Harry stifled his laughter.  Looking over Hermione´s head as she bent over the article, Harry saw someone standing by the door of the library watching them - Terry Boot.  Harry looked at him curiously.  Terry was a fair-haired boy of about Harry´s height and build - `weedy little guy,´ eh? -- thanks a lot, Ron!   He might have one or two spots, but he wasn´t bad looking, except for the ludicrously crestfallen look on his face at seeing Hermione sitting with Ron and Harry.  Harry looked quickly at Ron, but he had bent his head over the article with Hermione and wasn´t noticing.

"Uh, Hermione?"  Hermione looked up.  "Aren´t you supposed to meet someone?"  Harry jerked his chin toward the door.  Hermione gasped.

"Is it nine o´clock already?"  She looked over her shoulder at the door, and Ron´s head spun around as well.  He scowled heavily.

"I told you to tell him `NO´," Ron growled under his breath as Terry Boot began to make his way over to their table.  Harry decided to look for something in his book bag.  Amazing, really, how many things end up on the bottom of book bags.

"And I told you I had already told him `YES´," hissed Hermione irritably.  "Ron, he just asked if I wanted to study for Arithmancy, and I do need to... oh, hi Terry."  Hermione smiled nervously.

"Uh, are you ready to study, Hermione?"  Boot shifted from foot to foot, avoiding Harry´s and Ron´s eyes.

"Hello, Boot," said Harry pleasantly, reaching out to shake his hand.  "Congratulations on being named prefect."

"Oh - thanks," said Boot.  He shifted from foot to foot a few more times, frowning down at the table while Ron glared at him.  Hermione took charge.

"We can use that table over there," she said, standing and pointing to an empty two-person table near the Restricted Section.  "Harry and Ron were just leaving."

Ron stood and handed Hermione her heavy bag.  "I reckon we´ll be here a while," he said firmly.

"Oh, well, whatever..."  Hermione´s voice trailed off.  "Come on, Terry."  She walked away, with Terry Boot trailing after her.  Ron remained standing, watching them.  Hermione, no doubt deliberately, sat down with her back to her two best friends.  Unfortunately, that left Boot facing them, and he seemed all too aware of Ron´s hostile glare and Harry´s amused gaze.  Finally, Harry took pity on him.

"Sit down, Ron," he muttered.  "People are staring at you."  Ron sat, not moving his eyes from the small table where Hermione was.  Harry remembered something he´d been planning to do before his class workload got too heavy.

"I´m going to go find that Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts book," he said, though not with any hope that Ron was listening. 

Ron gave a grunt vaguely signifying assent, so Harry walked off.  He went toward the Modern History shelves, reflecting that thanks to Nicholas Flamel and the second Triwizard task, he probably knew the library better than anyone except Hermione.  As he walked past the first aisle of books, his arm was suddenly grabbed and he was pulled sideways into the painfully strong grasp of George Weasley.

George and his brother Fred appeared to have difficulty standing, they were laughing so hard (though silently).  They were taking turns peering around the end of the bookcase and collapsing against it in giggles.  Fred shook his head at Harry.

"How can you keep a straight face, Potter?  I swear, Ron is even funnier than Percy used to be."

"He hasn´t blinked once," said George, whose turn it was to look.  "And do you see that guy with Hermione?  He´s about to pee in his pants."

Harry took a quick look.  Terry Boot kept shifting to put Hermione´s head between him and Ron´s glare, but every time Boot moved, Ron moved to keep him in his sight.  Harry had to admit it was pretty funny.

"I´ll bet he doesn´t last fifteen minutes," said Fred gleefully.  "He obviously isn´t hearing a word she´s saying."  Indeed, Hermione was looking at Boot in puzzled annoyance.  Harry grinned, but then forced a serious expression.

"Can´t you two leave Ron alone?" he asked.  "He doesn´t need you giving him a hard time."

"We´re not giving him a hard time," said George, the picture of injured innocence.  "We´re proud of him.  I´ve never seen anyone do the Weasley Terror Glare better - except Mum, of course."  Fred nodded.

"Yeah, Ron could still take a few lessons from her."

Apparently, Terry Boot didn´t think so.  When Harry looked again, he had risen and was gathering up his books, seemingly making some kind of excuse to Hermione.  He scurried to the door, followed all the way by Hermione´s indignant stare and Ron´s narrowed eyes.  Harry had to duck back around the corner to laugh with Fred and George.  When he looked again, Hermione was making her way back to Ron, looking puzzled, and Ron was deeply engaged in a Daily Prophet article.  Harry grinned, and went to find his book.

*

"Finally!" said Harry, later that night.  He, Ron, and Hermione had remained in the common room, bent over their books, until the last Gryffindor had gone to bed.  Hermione had sent the last two, Cassie Jordan and another third-year girl, off with a stern admonition about getting enough sleep.  Ron was grinning at Hermione.

"You total hypocrite," he said admiringly, as she returned from watching the two girls up the stairs.  "When you were a third-year, you were taking a gazillion classes, and you never got any sleep."

Hermione smiled.  "So I know it´s a bad idea," she said.  "Okay, let´s get started."

"What are we going to do?" asked Harry.

"Well, first," said Hermione, getting out her wand, "we´re going to..."  She waved her wand at the air over their favourite table and said, "Occulte Patefacio."  Slowly, a round ghostly image appeared about four feet over the table - a purplish smoky ball.  Hermione regarded it balefully.   "Well, there it is."  Harry and Ron stared up at it.

"What was that spell?" asked Harry.

"Occulte Patefacio," said Hermione.  "It exposes charms and enchantments.  I found it when I was trying to find out how Rita Skeeter was eavesdropping - you remember, don´t you?"

Harry nodded.  Hermione had gone around muttering and waving her wand by the lake where Viktor had invited her to visit him, and in the garden where Hagrid had talked to Madame Maxime.  But she hadn´t found anything like this... 

A thought occurred to Harry.

"Hermione," he said urgently, "did you do that spell in here last spring?"

"Of course," said Hermione.  "I did it all over the common room, especially at our table.  And in my room, and..."

"And this wasn´t here then?"  Harry gestured to the telltale ball.

"No," said Hermione, "Definitely not."

"That was right before the third task," said Ron.  "So Malfoy didn´t start this until after then."

"That´s good to know," said Harry.  "Uh, Hermione, how do you make that thing go away?"

"Oh," said Hermione, "um, Deletrius?"  It worked.  The purple image disappeared.

Hermione went over the rest of the room with her wand, muttering the spell over and over, but she found no more enchantments.  After a while she joined Harry and Ron, who were stretched out in easy chairs in front of the fireplace.

"Can we go to bed now?" she asked, yawning.  "I´m really tired."

Harry frowned into the fire.  "We´ve been talking.  At the cemetery, I saw Lucius Malfoy among the Death Eaters.  I recognized his voice, and Voldemort called him `Lucius.´  And then I, uh, didn´t get killed like they expected."

"So Malfoy Senior would´ve been pretty wound up," added Ron, "thinking of Harry coming back and telling Dumbledore and Fudge and basically anyone that would listen his dirty little secret.  I mean, we suspected before that Malfoy was a Death Eater, but now we know.  And Harry could tell it under Veritaserum or whatever."

"And we were wondering what he did the next day," said Harry.  "He has money, and power, and connections, and he would use them to protect himself.  He obviously isn´t ready to come out in the open yet, at least not until Voldemort does."

"Well, no point in having you killed to silence you," said Hermione practically, "since you told everything immediately."

"Right," said Harry, suppressing a smile at Hermione´s ability to be coldly logical about his - Harry´s - death.  "There is such a thing as malice and revenge, though."  He was immediately sorry he´d said it, because Hermione´s eyes widened and she looked worried.  He continued quickly.

"Actually, we were thinking he might have sent off an owl to his dear son Draco, telling him to keep an eye on me."

"And to try to figure out how much Harry had told, and who," said Ron.

"And maybe he sent him the Revealall," added Harry.  "And the Invisibility Cloak, if he didn´t have it already, so he could get in here and install the thing."

"Speaking of which," said Ron casually, "for all we know, he´s in here wearing that Cloak right now, listening to all we´re saying."

Harry froze.  Malfoy would have discovered the Revealall was missing by now if he´d tried to spy on them after dinner.  He could be skulking around trying to find out what had happened to it.

"I don´t think so," said Hermione calmly.  She reached out with her foot to nudge Crookshanks, who was asleep in front of the fire.  Crookshanks looked up at her and blinked.

Harry scowled.  "Well, he must have got in here at least one time and Crookshanks didn´t notice."  Crookshanks turned malevolent eyes on Harry.

"Maybe Crookshanks was upstairs, then," said Hermione with a shrug.  "I´ve been thinking, though.  If Malfoy put that thing in here last spring, he´d hardly have heard anything.  I mean, you weren´t talking, were you?"  Harry thought back to those dark days.  No, he hadn´t been talking.

"I remember one thing we said," put in Ron, unexpectedly.  "I told both of you that Dumbledore said Harry had to go to the Dursleys, but we would try to get him to our house - so he knew that much."

"Ye-es," said Harry thoughtfully, "though that doesn´t explain how they knew I was at Mrs. Figg´s house on my birthday.  And in the kitchen."

"Remember when I was telling you about Rita Skeeter on the train, and Malfoy overheard us?" said Hermione with a little bounce.  "I´ll bet he was deliberately eavesdropping, since he couldn´t use the Revealall on the train."

Harry gave a little shiver.  Draco Malfoy had always watched him and his friends - whether from jealousy or malice, Harry had never known.  But to be watched this closely, to be spied on with all the magical means the immense Malfoy fortune could muster - that was another level of chilling.  Somehow, despite all his adventures, Harry had always felt safe at Hogwarts.  Now, he´d have to be alert all the time.  And it wasn´t just Malfoy.  Crabbe, and Goyle, and Tamara Nott - their last names had been mentioned by Voldemort too.  Not to mention the dozens of Death Eaters that Harry had seen whose names he didn´t even know...

*

Back in their room that night, Ron had crept all over, doing the Occulte Patefacio spell in a whisper, so as not to wake up Dean, Seamus, and Neville.  Harry had dug his old Sneakoscope out of his trunk and put it on the table by his bed, thinking it couldn´t hurt.  Ron´s spell didn´t reveal anything, and the Sneakoscope was silent.  But that night Harry dreamed about Voldemort and Wormtail and Cedric for the first time in weeks.