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// Chapter 53:  Punishments 
// Story: The Accidental Invasion 
// by computerneek 
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“Keep your mouth shut then,” Hailey told Theodore Nott, who was doing his level best to offend Ron in the Entrance Hall before dinner, with the Daily Prophet.  There was an article about Mr. Weasley and Mad-Eye Moody, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, which painted them both in a bad light.  Then Hailey turned her back on him.
Ron resolutely mirrored her, turning his back on Theodore to march dutifully away.  For some reason that even Silversong couldn’t figure out, Theodore had taken up the position as the Chief Troublemaker and Gryffindor Antagonizer, a position previously held by Draco Malfoy.
Bang!  Several people screamed.  Ron felt something white-hot pass close by, missing Hailey by inches.  Not that hitting her would’ve done any good, for that matter.  Hailey’s hand moved like greased lightning, and flicked the spell almost casually up at the ceiling.
Ron, his hand in his pocket with his wand, paused as he watched her.
Hailey put one hand on her hip, and sighed, eyes closed.
Bang!  “Oh no you don’t, laddie,” a strange voice roared.
Hailey sighed even deeper and turned around almost dramatically.  Ron whirled around as well.
Professor Moody was marching down the marble staircase, his wand pointed straight at a…  pure white ferret shivering on the floor.  He marched past the ferret, looking at Hailey- with his normal eye.  His larger, electric blue eye was pointing into the back of his head.  “Did he get you?” he asked.  His voice was low and gravelly.
“No,” she answered coldly.  “Missed.”
Moody then turned around, and started walking towards the ferret- which gave a terrified squeak and took off for the dungeons.
“I don’t think so!” Moody called, pointing his wand.  The ferret shot into the air, fell back to the ground, and bounced off of it, squealing in pain.  “I don’t like people who attack when their opponent’s back’s turned,” he growled, bouncing the ferret higher and higher with each bounce.
Hailey sighed again, drew her wand, and pointed it at his back.
BaBang!
Hailey cast her spells so quickly that all three of them were in the air before the first one ever struck Moody.  Ron wasn’t sure exactly how he was able to see the three spell bolts and watch them go to their targets almost like time had slowed down, but he was.
The first one hit Moody square in the back- and Ron noticed his wand instantly go flying from his hand.  A disarming charm.
Then the second one slammed into his back- and with the first bang, Moody was very suddenly flat on his back, on the floor.
The third one flew past him, curved in midair, and hit the ferret- which, with the second bang, became Theodore again, standing- flustered- on the floor, almost six feet directly below where the ferret had been when the spell hit it.
People all around the room gasped.
Hailey didn’t.  She stepped forward, lowering her wand, and casually caught Moody’s wand out of the air as she bent over his stunned face.  “Detention, Professor,” she announced.  “Wednesday, seven thirty PM, my office.  We do not use transfiguration as a punishment in this school.  Instead, deduct points, issue detention, or speak to the Student Instructor Program Management Team or the offender’s Head of House.”  She sighed.  “And don’t be a hypocrite, please.”
Everyone, Ron included, was simply staring at her.
“That’s our Goddess of Duels,” somebody muttered.
Hailey waited patiently for Moody to scramble back to his feet before she handed his wand back, turned her back on him, and walked away without another word.
Ron followed her silently.  Moody’s wooden leg didn’t clunk against the flagstones again until they were both in the Great Hall.
Hermione stepped up next to Hailey.  “Wh-What was that?” she asked, looking and sounding flabbergasted.
Hailey nodded.  “Dumbledore gave me that authority this year,” she told them.  “As the Student Instructor Program Management Team Lead, I’m actually above the Professors as well.”
“But- But coming to us for punishments…?”
She nodded.  “Yes.  That’s new this year as well- and now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think it made it into that packet.  The whole team now has point and detention authority- the latter of which was tacked on about twenty-four hours ago, as a matter of fact.  I was planning on discussing it in the first meeting, but after that, I should probably call an unscheduled meeting this evening, before he catches someone by surprise.”  She sighed, and looked down at her wristwatch.
Hermione twitched.  “Ah!  Oh.  That psychic network thing you did is so unnerving.”
Hailey chuckled.  “Yeah, definitely, the first few times at least.  Morning came up with it last year, not me.”





The world around Hermione went completely white and foggy.  She shivered and, even though she could feel that her wings were holding her up, she folded them.  It was…  It was what she was supposed to do.
She didn’t fall.
Instead, the fog faded…  and she found herself floating gently to the floor in a grand entryway.  It was…
The only word she could think of to describe it was huge.  It was by far the largest room she’d ever seen, even including the Great Hall during the Welcoming Feast.  There were several other adjectives that applied- among them ‘fancy’- but that was the only one that seemed to properly describe it.
“Wha-?  Oh, hello Hermione!”
She jumped at the strange voice, and whirled to look, breathing hard.  “What-!?  Who-!?”  She took a deep breath.  “S-Sorry, but who are you?”
The girl that smiled back at her couldn’t have been a day older than sixteen, and was wearing a white velvet dress.  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said.  “I’m Harmonia.”  She held out a hand that was positively gleaming with cleanness.  “And it’s nice to meet you.”
She reached out to take it…  but was quickly distracted by the same cleanliness gleam on her own hand.  “What the-?” she muttered, looking down at herself.
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Harmonia told her.  “Hailey’s efforts this last week have given me the power I needed to make uncleanliness physically impossible in my domain.  Makes cleaning up after myself easy, I can tell you.”  She laughed.
Hermione scowled, looking up at her, and finally accepted the offered hand.  “Nice to meet you too,” she muttered slowly.  “So…”  She sighed.  “So who are you, I guess.  Hailey’s mentioned you a few times, but…”
Harmonia laughed.  It was bright, and cheerful.  “Yes, she does like dropping cryptic clues, doesn’t she?  Especially after she joined the Agency and even got Princess Lessons from Princess Celestia.”  She chuckled to herself.  “That was fun to watch.  But anyways, back to your question.  How about I start with what I am?”
“With…  what you are,” Hermione muttered disbelievingly.
She nodded.  “I might look human, but I’m nothing of the sort.”
“So you’re like Sadarina?” she asked, her head tilting.
“Oh, no, Dementors are actually technically a higher breed of humans.  Destroy their body?  No biggie, they can regrow even their brains.  Incinerate them?  No biggie, they can regrow that too!”  She laughed.  “I wasn’t looking when old Devunted Black invented Dementors- and except for how much he was pushing to make more instead of to make them stronger, they’re better than humans in basically every way.  Incredibly powerful innate magic, still capable of using a wand…  As a matter of fact, it might even be a good idea for Sadarina to kiss you and your friends.”
“K-k-kiss?” Hermione gasped, aghast.  “You mean the Dementor’s Kiss?”
She chuckled.  “Well yes, I mean a very specific one of the seven different techniques that fall under that heading.  Specifically, the one that makes you a dementor without hurting you at all.”  She smiled.  “The Original one, that’s completely harmless.  Sadarina was right, dementors are completely immortal, except for starvation- and when they’re strong enough, such as a mere fraction of Sadarina’s strength, they can feed directly off the thaumion field- and so grow stronger and otherwise be completely and truly immortal entirely on their own.  No, it wouldn’t affect your other kinds of magic, wouldn’t affect any future ascensions, wouldn’t even affect your Papa Tango- that works on a different part of the soul, and so will still work flawlessly on a dementor- though thanks to their nature, they’re immune to the symptoms.”
“Really?” Hermione muttered, tilting her head.
She nodded.  “Oh yes, and they have a hivemind, they call it the Hive.”  She smiled.  “Hailey is right, they’re all one big happy family.”
She scowled.  “What about…  What about my parents?  Or children?”
“Dementor-hood would make your parents susceptible to the Papa Tango,” she smiled.  “Turn them into wizards, essentially.  And I wouldn’t worry about your children- so long as their body remains intact, dementors can still carry and bear live, non-dementor young.”





“Enter,” Dumbledore called.
Professor Moody stepped in, and closed Dumbledore’s office door behind him.  “You called?” he grunted.
“Yes, I did,” Dumbledore said, and studied him over the rims of his glasses.  He let the silence draw on for several seconds, watching Moody’s eyes trace their way over his desk, and the three foot report that had been delivered to it hardly half an hour before.  “Do you know why I called you?”
“No.”
He sighed.  “On Monday, September Second, Hailey caught you using transfiguration as a teaching tool- and as she said, we do not use that here.  She saw fit to issue you a detention, which took place Wednesday evening just after dinner- and while she was in her office for over two hours after that time, you never showed up.”  He looked up at Moody.  “How many times do I have to tell you to respect the Student Instructor Program Management Team’s authority, not run afoul of it?”
For some reason, Moody seemed slightly surprised…  and exactly as Dumbledore had noticed throughout the week, he also seemed a little different than usual.  Perhaps his age was catching up to him?
“I’m a Professor,” Moody began, confused.
He sighed.  “Hailey, as the Student Instructor Program Management Team Lead, Has. That. Authority.  This is your verbal warning.”  He really didn’t want to make the official first step towards firing Alastor already, but that was the policy he and his Heads of House had agreed upon before they ever gave Hailey that authority- with this very scenario in mind.
Moody twitched as if he’d been slapped across the face.  “What?”
He sighed even deeper.  “I told you last week, Alastor.  Even Professor McGonagall is not allowed to just ignore Hailey’s punishments.  You accept them, and show up on time.  If you think they’re unjust, you do not skive off- you come talk to me, before they occur.”