Harry Potter and the Old Believers

Chapter 18

The first incident happened in late March. The Second year Hufflepuffs were coming down a set of stairs, approaching the dungeons, when there was an explosion. One boy died, bleeding to death as the force of the explosion had destroyed his foot and lower leg. Three others were seriously injured, although all recovered.

Three days later, it was the Fifth year Ravenclaws. A week later, the Fourth year Gryffindors, and five days after that, the Third year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were caught as they came in from Care of Magical Creatures. In each case, the person who tripped the explosion lost his foot and part of his lower leg. The Fifth year Ravenclaws knew enough first aid to save the young man when their group was hit, the others did not.

There was no obvious pattern -- the incidents took place in different parts of the castle (although always those frequented by students), and all four were boys.

"Where can we even start to begin?" Snape had complained after the second attack. "We haven't a clue what sort of spell or device is causing this."

By the third explosion, they knew it was some sort of device, triggered by magical interaction of some sort. By the fourth, it was known that the trigger was a boy's stepping on the device, which must be disguised in some manner. They were unlikely to be invisible -- that took a fair amount of magic (unless demiguise hair was being used) which the various Aurors and other wizards checking the castle should have spotted.

The trigger of being stepped on by a boy (the various experts had determined that the boy had to have started puberty, and that once a certain testosterone was reached it would be safe) meant that if the person dropping the 'chameleon mines' (as they were dubbed) was a girl or a male old enough, it was no wonder that they might lay about for a few days before they were tripped. (The younger boys were mostly discounted, as there could be no certain way to predict when their hormones might reach the unsafe level.) This meant anyone fitting the criteria could be planting the devices.

'Anyone' could also be under the Imperius curse. There is no way to tell for certain by simple observation, unless the person is struggling to throw the curse off.

The girls quickly took the lead by sweeping in front of their classmates. Over a week's time, three devices were discovered that way, as their chameleon charms took a few seconds to conform to their new locations.

While all that was going on at Hogwarts, Voldemort was continuing the randomly-spaced attacks. The Llofrudds and Cigfrans were splitting their time between Hogwarts, trying to track down Voldemort, and trying to track down any vampires that were anywhere in Britain. The Ministry Aurors were working on the first and third investigations as well.

Harry had consulted with Remus, Sirius, and Ron, and then turned the Marauder's Map over to Dumbledore. Dumbledore had found 16 witches and wizards to watch the map, two at a time, at all times. They were all fully qualified, but had met with various mishaps over the years (they were crippled by various injuries to some greater or lesser degree). All wanted to help in the fight, and they would stand vigil. And, with Mad-Eye Moody in charge of them, 'Constant Vigilance' was assured.

Only three vampires had been found in Britain. All three had been living primarily off of animal blood for years; two (Muggle acolytes of the third) had never killed. The Master Vampire, a former wizard, was centuries old, and hadn't killed since the 1640s (although he did occasionally feed a little and then obliviate his victims). He had kept other vampires out of London and the South-east since Tudor times. The Master was working with the Ministry to check various locations -- he didn't want vampires to become an issue, which might endanger his own existence.

In short, the advantage still lay with Voldemort.

Pwy and Lupin talked the heads of Houses into running alarm drills. Sirius Black was put in charge, and by mid-April, all the Houses except Slytherin had fast response times.

Snape was puzzled that Black hadn't brought the Slytherin's slow response time to the attention of the students. When questioned, Black gave him an answer he didn't like, but Snape agreed to say nothing to his students, either.

Tuesday, April 22, 1997

It was a few minutes before 1:00 am, when the witch watching the Marauder's Map suddenly realized what was happening. A group of names were moving around the second floor, near the stairs leading down towards the entrance hall. Nine names were moving up the stairs already, although they seemed to be going up the stair wells in a somewhat vertical manner.

Dian de Momery blinked, but then she remembered it wasn't her job to interpret what was going on. Her partner would be back from the rest room in a few moments, but she left the map for a few seconds as well. She sounded the alarm -- it notified Dumbledore, the faculty, and the prefects.

In less than five minutes, the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff Common rooms were set to repel any attacks, with the head of House and the Prefects already making certain students were all accounted for. It would take Slytherin at least five more minutes to be ready.

The alarm, a high pitch whine, suddenly changed pitch -- the students knew that meant this was NOT a drill.

"Potter!" McGonagall called. "Here." She handed Harry a marble.

"What!" Ginny and Hermione screamed, while Ron and many of the students simply looked on in shock as Harry disappeared.

"He's gone to join the Headmaster," McGonagall told them. "Now, don't worry about Potter; we need to be ready."

Harry appeared in the "Map Room," and heard Sirius talking to the others. "It looks like a group of twenty-one came in via the tunnel to the Chamber of Secrets. It looked like it was still collapsed when Harry and I checked it out the other day."

"Look at the way they're moving," Remus said, just looking at the movements. "They're vampires in bat form."

"I agree," Dumbledore said simply.

"They're congregating around the entrances of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff -- six each. Only three near Slytherin, and they aren't really that close," one of the watchers commented.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked.

Pwy smiled. "I have a Llofrudd and eight Cigfrans ready to go . . . now. I sent them a signal telling them what to expect."

Three new dots appeared near each of the besieged Common Room entrances.

The dots showing the vampires disappeared one at a time over the next five minutes.

"Damn!" Pwy said.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"They should have won, but not that quickly. We know that at least two of Voldemort's vampires were wizards; not very powerful wizards, but wizards. Unless they're the ones near Slytherin, that means he has more somewhere in reserve." He frowned. "Even regular vampires should have fared a little better than that."

"I thought only wizard vampires could transform?" Harry said, puzzled.

"It's easy to turn Muggle vampires into bats. They can transform back into human, but not back into bats without assistance," Dumbledore said.

"Then that might mean that there are dark wizards of some type down at the cave-in, ready to transform them through," Remus pointed out, "maybe even Voldemort."

"Let's go," Harry said.

"Wait a minute!" Sirius objected.

"Titus, stay here and direct your people to pick up the ones near Slytherin," Dumbledore commanded. "Harry, Remus, Sirius, come with me."

"But. . . ."

"Only a Parseltongue can get us in, Sirius," Dumbledore reminded him.

"True, but wait a moment." Sirius touched the map and said an incantation. The map faded, and suddenly the area from the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets to the cave-in appeared.

"It takes about a week for a new area this large to blend into the map," Remus explained.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone or anything there," a watcher commented. "At least on our side of the cave-in."

"Then Sirius and Remus will go and question Myrtle. Keep your pagers ready."

"Pagers?" Harry asked. "I didn't think they could work here."

Sirius held out what looked like a pocket watch. "Muggle idea, but worked with magic."

"Oh!"

As the pair left, a watcher told Dumbledore and Pwy that two of the vampires near Slytherin had been destroyed, and the one remaining was being brought in for questioning. Harry pressed to the far back of the room, so that he wouldn't be noticed and sent away but also wouldn't miss anything.

The petrified vampire had once been a woman of at most twenty; she was slightly built with bushy hair. "She's under the Imperius curse," the Llofrudd known to Harry just as Cadfael said. "I doubt if she's been a vampire a month, maybe only a week."

"How about the others?" Pwy asked.

"Similar. I doubt if any of them had been vampires longer than three or four months; in fact I'd bet on them all having been made less than a month ago. They're still identifiable; we might be able to figure out who they were and see if there's a pattern of any kind."

"Ask Hermione to come here," Harry said.

"What?" Pwy asked, not expecting Harry to draw attention to himself.

"I've seen photos of Hermione's family. Not only does she look a little like Hermione -- nose, hair, and those front teeth are just like Hermione's were before they were magically shrunk -- but she looks even more like her cousins. Hermione's mother has two sisters, and each has two daughters, all a little older than Hermione. This looks like the second youngest one. Ronnie . . . or rather Veronica Grace, I think the name is."

"That's what the map says," de Momerie said. No one other than the crippled witch had thought to look at the vampires' names.

"Ivo, Ofydd, come with me. You'll fetch the two Weasleys and Miss Granger and return them here to see if they can make contact with this . . .vampire," Pwy ordered. "Harry, you and I are going to take a look at the dead vampires. Gryffindor first. Come along!"

Two of the other vampires turned out to be Hermione's cousins. More surprisingly, were the identities of four of the others. 'Wow,' Harry thought, looking at one of the bodies in front of Ravenclaw, 'I wonder how many vampires fed on Dudley?'

Vernon, Petunia, Dudley, and Marge were all dead. Harry wasn't sure how to feel about that. He had never liked any of the four, but he never wanted them dead, either. They were just one more item on the agenda he would have to discuss with Tom Riddle at their eventual confrontation, assuming there was time for conversation. So, Harry didn't cry (as Hermione did, at the sight of her three cousins), scream for revenge (as one of the Sixth year Ravenclaws did when he saw his squib older sister), but he did mourn their loss to a mild degree.

The Master vampire from London agreed to take Veronica in as an apprentice. It wasn't a very happy ending in the tragic deaths (and one un-death) of the twenty-one Muggle and Squib relatives of Hogwarts students.

"I wonder why Voldemort made such a minor psychological attack?" Sirius wondered. Sirius, Remus, Harry, Pwy, and Dumbledore were having a private breakfast. Classes were canceled for the day, since the students had been awake until at least 4:30 am.

"It was a good psychological attack," Dumbledore maintained. "The Ministry will now have to track down every close Muggle and Squib relation of every student and backer of the Light and warn them if possible. That means less investigation elsewhere."

Pwy also had an answer. "For another, that entrance was probably only good for that kind of attack. We don't know if any other exit, where ever any might be, would be large enough to send anything larger than a bat through."

"I bet it is at least one," Harry said, "in fact, I bet it's the mysterious underground cavern Sn . . . Professor Snape mentioned once. You said we can't collapse the slide," Harry continued, turning to Dumbledore, "or really destroy the entrance. Their magic is too interwoven with the very magic that sustains Hogwarts."

"That's right."

"Perhaps there's some other way to gain entrance to the stone slide or the area around the base besides the Chamber. We collapse the tunnel as close to Hogwarts as we can without undermining the foundations because of this attack and think it's safe. That leaves the way open to an attack through some other entrance. In fact, there must at least be a way from the bottom of the slide or the slide itself into the castle, because the basilisk was too big to fit through the water pipes in Myrtle's bathroom. There must be someway to gain access either to the drainage pipes or some other sort of passageways via the way to the Chamber."

"Good thinking, Harry," Dumbledore said. "Take a nap, and then you, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione try and remember any place the basilisk had access to. Off you go."

"Do you really think he's hit on something?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"I believe so," Dumbledore said. "The magic that was used build this castle is not really understood. There is a magical framework that cannot be altered, except by addition. There must be passage ways or at least storm drains that intertwine with that basic structure. If so, Riddle or some of his old followers may have found out about it, or he may know of it from the basilisk. Either way, he may not know the details, and we dare not leave the idea unexplored."

And so that Saturday morning, a small group were gathered in front of an ancient grated access-way to a drainage shaft in the far northeast corner of the dungeon. Sirius and Titus Pwy carefully opened the old grate. "Damn," Sirius said, shining the light from his wand up the shaft. "Padfoot can't maneuver in that!"

"Told you!" Harry said. "That's why I brought Ginny, Dennis and the rest of the volunteers."

Harry had recruited the eight smallest Fourth and Fifth years he could find and trust (plus Third year Dennis Creevy). Ginny was the tallest (or 'least short' as Ron had jeered) at five foot one, Dennis (the only boy) was the stockiest. The other seven were Carolyn Merkle (Fifth year, Ravenclaw), Joyce Stoffers (Fourth year, Ravenclaw), Tabitha Cliff (Fourth year, Hufflepuff), Beeko Komura (Fourth year Slytherin, and the tiniest of the nine), Doreen Smith, Paula Hughes, and Regina Holmes (Fourth year, Gryffindors).

"Are you sure, Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Sure about the need, and all nine of. . . ."

"The 'Little Rascals'?" Dennis said with a smirk. The Muggle-born/raised and other Gryffindors laughed. Beeko and Carolyn didn't seem as amused, but accepted it.

"I think this a very good group," Pwy told Sirius. "All are good to excellent at Defense, and those that are good at Defense are excellent at either Charms or Transfiguration." He turned to Harry. "What's your plan?"

Harry took out what looked like mobile phones. "These are charmed." He handed each person there, including Sirius and Pwy, a phone and a card with phone numbers running from 01 to 18, and gave the group five minutes of instructions and practice.

01 Dr. Pwy
02 Sirius Black
03 Professor Lupin
04 Professor B. Weasley
05 Professor C. Weasley
06 Harry Potter
07 Hermione Granger
08 Ron Weasley
09 Carolyn Merkle
10 Joyce Stoffers
11 Tabitha Cliff
12 Beeko Komura
13 Ginny Weasley
14 Regina Holmes
15 Paula Hughes
16 Doreen Smith
17 Dennis Creevy
18 Mapping Center

Harry next handed each a charmed electric flashlight, an automatically refilling water canteen, some chocolate and nutrition bars, and a small spare flashlight. He also gave each a small ward detector. He showed them all how the equipment worked (Dumbledore had shown Harry earlier). "The purpose is to map these drains and internal passageways. The phones will relay your positions. If you come to some access not easily to fit into, or that goes off in a difficult angle, or just looks too dangerous, take your phone and outline the perimeter as much as you easily can. That way, we'll at least know it's there, no matter how small it is." Everyone nodded.

"Try and keep together, at least stay in the sight of one other person. This drain goes in three accessible directions -- down goes into a funneling chamber, taking rain water towards the lake, and it's too small to explore after the bottom of the funnel. That leaves west, south, and up. Weasley, Creevy, Cliff, go up. Merkle, Stoffers, and Komura go west. Holmes, Hughes, and Smith, that leaves south for you. Sirius will wait here, in case you need to retreat here. It's Nine thirty. At Eleven thirty to Eleven forty-five, call in and we'll try and get you close enough to an exit so you can take an hour break. If you need to come out for a bathroom break, let us know. Every so often, at least one of your phones will beep. Answer it, that's your check-in."

Harry grinned. "Try and enjoy."

"Yeah, right," Ginny muttered. She was trying to give an air of sardonic detachment, but in reality she was thrilled that Harry thought enough of her to include her; she would have hated for him to be over-protective. Ginny crawled into the passage, and started climbing the old damp rungs stapled into the side. Tabitha Cliff, nearly as tall as Ginny and the heftiest of the thin girls, went in next. Dennis saluted and followed. The other two groups clambered in as well.

None of the three groups found anything of interest. There were plenty of drainage passages, all too small for anything much larger than a skinny rat (or a small snake) to get through. The number of large drains were few. It looked like there would be twelve vertical drains and nine levels of horizontal, and so far only three of the horizontal ones (each running around near the circumference of the main keep and the mail towers) were really large enough for people to pass through (although the basilisk could have gotten through most of the others).

By 5:00, that was confirmed. Three of the nine levels of horizontal drain passages had been explored and mapped, although only two of the vertical ones had been. No additional vertical passages larger than six inches in diameter had been identified from the roofs. Three Cigfrans had been on duty in the landing area around the end of the stone slide since the attack. The passage leading to the area had been collapsed back as far as possible.

It was the next day when the trio of Merkle, Stoffers, and Komura came across a disguised exit. By the end of the day, all the exits to the drains had been identified, fifteen in all. The known exits were now warded. There were also six disguised doors that were marked to be investigated later, although it turned out each led into small rooms which in turn led into the main castle -- all were now well-warded.

If Voldemort was planning on gain entrance in this manner, he'd have a surprise coming. And if all he wanted to do was waste the time of the castle's defenders, they'd lost very little of it, since the students had done most of the work.

Tuesday, April 29, 1997

"Potter, can I talk with you? Alone?"

Harry was more than surprised. In over six and a half years, this was the first time Millicent Bulstrode had ever directly spoken to him.

"Sure." He followed her around the corner from the library.

She was still a large girl -- a little taller than Harry and broader in the shoulders, despite his work-outs.

"Why were you nice to young Crabbe, Avery, and Flint over Christmas? You knew who their fathers were, and who Flint's brother was."

"Yes, I knew who their fathers were. I saw them around Voldemort when he was brought back. And I knew what Marcus Flint had done. They hadn't done anything that I knew of, though. And I also know what it's like to be left alone, especially at Christmas."

Bulstrode nodded her massive head. She looked thoughtful, and went on. "You never tried to get back at us, I mean me or Greg or Vincent or even Pansy after Draco . . . left."

"Why would I? Crabbe and Goyle had broken with him; you never did anything to me or my friends that I know of since you wrestled Hermione at the dueling club our second year. And Pansy had to suffer just from his going."

She nodded again. "That's what I thought, too. You know, my parents were never Death Eaters and still aren't. Three of my uncles were, though. Another one might be now. But my parents weren't. Nobody much liked me, except Greg and Vincent. Pansy and I have always just had to get along. Right before, well, Greg and I were getting along more than okay. Well, I'm not so sure about Pansy. Here. Look at this."

She shoved a ledger at Harry. He opened it and read it. His eyebrows went up in surprise.

"You understand this?"

"Yes," Harry said softly.

"It might mean they'll kill me, but I need to do this, for Greg."

"I understand."

"Good." She turned and walked away.

And hour later, Harry was meeting with Dumbledore, Snape, Pwy, Remus, and Sirius. He was dismissed, however (to his annoyance), after he presented his evidence.

"So, Pansy Parkinson was the agent," Pwy mused. "So obvious, I guess we never saw it."

"What do you mean by that?" Snape snapped.

"Come on! She's the student with the most ties to the Death Eaters," Sirius nearly shouted.

"True," Remus mused, "but while she was always trying to be close to Draco, I never saw her as being any sort of active supporter, beyond a more zealous prejudice than most Slytherins."

Snape sneered at that last comment.

"In any event, is there any reason not to turn her over to either the Aurors or the Cigfrans?" Sirius asked.

"I supposed we must," Dumbledore said sadly.

"She is our only possible link to the new Death Eaters," Pwy pointed out.

"Planning on sacrificing her, like you did those idiots with your little packages?" Snape snarled.

"She's responsible for four deaths, Severus; what would you have us do? Give her a pat on the head?" Pwy snarled back.

"No, but I don't want her simply used and disposed of, either."

"Good point," Dumbledore agreed.

"I rather doubt she has any direct links," Snape went on. "At most, we'll find an intermediary, and possibly not even that."

Sirius jumped in. "Could young Malfoy have been in contact with her?"

"No, not since he was put in Justice. It is possible someone used his name to get to her, however," Pwy told them.

"I agree," Snape added. "It doesn't excuse her, of course. Could she be sent into early exile with Draco?"

"Only if she has information to trade," Pwy said firmly.

"Surely she is too young to be executed!" Snape protested.

"She's old enough to kill," Pwy said coldly. "She's not stupid; she's certainly old enough to know the consequences, especially after the executions last autumn."

"Her crimes were only against Hogwarts students; it's not a matter for your people," Snape argued.

"Then don't ask us to punish her for you," Pwy replied. He stood. "Make your own decisions." He disappeared in smoke and flames.

"Are you going to turn her over to the Aurors, then?" Remus asked Dumbledore.

"I do not like the idea of turning her over, but I really don't see much choice," Snape admitted. "I'd like to talk with them before they arrest her, if that's your decision."

"I see little alternative to her immediate arrest, and no advantage to waiting. Sirius, if you could contact the Ministry for me?" He handed Sirius Bulstrode's ledger. "Remind them that Miss Bulstrode should not be punished for failing to come forth before this. Her suspicions were aroused, and she felt she had no real proof until this past weekend."

"Yes, sir."

"Have them speak to me when they arrive. I shall also brief them and then bring them to see you, Severus."

"Agreed."

"Remus, I want you to talk with Harry. You may need to talk with Titus and his superior first. . . ."