Agents of Discord

by KittyrinnAiko

Chapter 16: Conversations during diner.

When Dumbledore and the others had returned to the head table Sybill Trelawney was absolutely beaming.

“The Night Mare. I told you there would be a Night Mare.”

“And here I thought you’d meant the nightmare I’m going to have explaining why there’s no Harry Potter,” Dumbledore groused as he sat down.

“The name in the book must surely have been some kind of fluke?” Professor McGonagall offered as she retook her seat. “Perhaps a completely different individual unrelated to the Potters we knew. Surely they would have been between the ages of seven and eleven or the book simply never would have allowed the name to be entered by the pen. They passed through England long enough to be noticed and then left to some other part of the world. Quietly poached by some other school no doubt, but not the boy of the prophecy I’d think.”

“Yes, yes, that does sound plausible,” Dumbledore agreed.

“An, an, and what we seem to have left is a girl, who, who has nothing to do with the pro-prophesy,” Quirrel stuttered out.

“She was marked though,” Dumbledore offered as he hung on to that last thread of hope.

“Bit of shrapnel hit her in the fracas, I’m afraid,” McGonagall informed him. “She told me she’d pulled it out herself a while back. That doesn’t sound to me like she’d been marked by anyone, and to be completely brutally honest, it could have been the actions of anyone who was there that night.”

Dumbledore slumped down as the last thread was slowly eviscerated by Minerva McGonagall.

“I can’t help but think that had she received medical attention, instead of being paraded about down at the Leaky Calderon,” McGonagall gave Hagrid an accusing look. “..she’d not likely have a scar at all.” And yes, she’d had words with both Dumbledore and Hagrid when she found out. After all, that was how Aerie Potter, misheard as Harry, became famous. Had she realized that Harry was Aerie, there’d have been more than words flying.

An owl flew in just then and landed in front of Professor Dumbledore with a message. Dumbledore took it and offered a morsel of meat to the owl.

“It’s a note from Bartemius,” Dumbledore informed the others. Spotting a pair of extendable wax ears snaking their way to the head table, he pulled out his wand, keeping it where the students couldn’t see, and gave it a flick followed by the ears evaporating. “Can’t fault them for trying,” he muttered as he looked at the note. What he read was both a relief and troubling at the same time.

“News?” McGonagall inquired.

“Apparently the Dursleys are being held by the White Hall Special Operations Division. Bartie’s contacts have learned that there had been multiple compulsions spells cast on them to include the Imperious curse.”

“I thought the Muggles had them?” Snape asked in his usual I don’t really care but it’s probably your fault tone.

“I gather it’s a joint task force leftover from the Victorian era,” Dumbledore offered. “Word is the spells are too muddled to trace the perpetrators.” He placed the letter down. “Well, no wonder the Dursleys were so unreasonable.”

“I can only wonder what life must have been like for that poor girl,” McGonagall said softly.

“Indeed,” Dumbledore admitted. Not only was he faced with the reality that he had created a folk hero who apparently didn’t exist, but far too many people knew who the Dursleys were, quite possibly where they lived, and meddled in his plans. “And Dudley seems to be a pig-boy now. Hagrid, you didn’t, did you?”

“Yes, Possibly. I cast the spell but nothin' happened … maybe it was just delayed n’ I just didn’t notice,” Hagrid admitted sheepishly. “I made a right mess of it too. Sorry. I should av’ just stayed home. I ad’ it in my head that there’d be Harry and he’d be just like his father, and then there was the Dursleys, and I was going to have a bit of sport with em, and I never thought it might not be Harry. Never thought anyone would notice the boat.”

“Be it as it may, see to it that you don’t get into any more trouble. You’ve got one foot in there now as it is. You know where.” McGonagall cautioned with a grave tone to her voice.

“I’d assumed that Harry would have his mother’s protection,” Dumbledore said quietly. “But now I must admit that Aerie likely had no protection.”

“Neither did the Dursleys, it would seem,” Snape stated, his tone just as dry as ever.

“Night Mares, protectors…” Dumbledore said softly. “Professor Snape, you didn’t seem too concerned?”

“About the Night Mare?” Snape returned. “They are only dangerous if you’ve made the mistake of threatening someone they wish to protect. Otherwise, I’m to understand that they can be quite playful. And to the best of my knowledge, they won’t have anything to do with someone who is evil.”

“You don’t say?” Dumbledore wasn’t too sure he wanted to believe it. After all, the idea that a creature of darkness might actually be on the side of the light just didn’t sit well with his worldview. Sure there were the thestrals, but they were dumb beasts that could only be seen by someone who’d experienced death and was able to come to grips with it.

“Sybill?” Dumbledore prompted.

“I am but an observer here,” Trelawney replied.

“But you did decide to join us tonight. Any special reason?”

“If you must know, a reading I did suggest rather strongly that the daughters of the Sun and Moon would join us this year.”

“D,d,d, daughters of, of the sun, and th- the moon?” Quirrel asked.

“I saw fire, white-hot, and I saw death. Old hurts opened, and life restored anew. I’ll say no more.” And at that, she went back to her meal.

Meanwhile back at the Gryffindor table: “Whatever you’ve read about Harry Potter was all a pack of lies.” Aerie cut in. Several students were arguing the point. “I don’t want to hear how as a baby I somehow managed to defeat the Dark Lord. All I did was survive the attack on my home. There is nothing special about me. Right off-hand, I’d say he was consumed by his own dark magic, and nothing more mysterious than that. That’s if we are to believe I somehow managed to defeat him, and it wasn’t that Nova Silverwood woman. She was there, but her contribution seems to have been omitted.”

“Ah…” Hermione said not sure what to say. Everything she’d read was about a boy believed to have some mysterious property that repelled the killing curse. Ideas might not be too far off the mark given that Aerie, who seemed to be the person the books were talking about did indeed have some mysterious power.

“By any chance have you read Harry Potter in Toy Land and how he saves Christmas? I’ve got a copy if you’re interested.” Aerie asked figuring she’d just sink that knife in just a bit deeper.

“Toy Land?” Hermione asked dumbfounded. “Isn’t that an old musical?”

“No way are you going to tell me that’s not true,” Ron said butting in.

“Don’t listen to her, Ronnie-kins.

“It’s all true.” Fred and George said as each placed an arm around Ron. When they’d repositioned themselves was anyone’s guess.

“Does he know about Rudolf?” Aerie asked. “You know, the reindeer Santa bred so its nose would blink a bright red to fool muggles into thinking they were seeing an airplane?”

“What?” Ron asked.

“That’s right, Ronnie-kins

“It’s all true.” Fred and George offered. Poor Ron, he so wanted to believe, but experience had told him that any time the twins adopted that tone it was probably all a pack of lies.

At this point, Hermione and a number of other students with muggle backgrounds were having a hard time maintaining a straight face.

“But enough about Santa,

“Who pulled off the chocolate frog prank?” Fred and George wanted to know.

“Something tells me that was a group effort and we may never know who actually started it.” Aerie offered with a big grin. “If it helps I can tell everyone you did it?”

The two boys smiled but decided that it wouldn't be right to take credit for someone else’s prank.

Aerie couldn't help but keep a weather eye on the head table. Picking out Sulky Raven was easy, and Troll Fart…

The man with the black robes and slicked back hair is Professor Snape,” One of the older girls offered. “I couldn't help but notice he keeps looking at you. That is I’m pretty sure it’s you he’s looking at.”

“Quirrel is doing it too,” Aerie offered. “I’ve decided to call them sulky Raven, and Troll Fart.”

“Smell ‘em from here can you?” One of the boys asked.

“He wasn’t like that last year, and what’s with the turban?” Asked another boy.

“I think he’s got it stuffed full of garlic.”

“Doesn’t smell like garlic to me, it smells like something crawled up inside of him and died.”

“I have got a hunch we are all going to need to keep our distance from him,” Aerie suggested. “No doubt you’ve all heard about my aura flaring? He’s the one who triggered it.”

“I did, what was that?” Hermione asked. “I wanted to ask you earlier, but you didn’t seem too keen on talking about it.”

“Heaven's light, Saint Elmo’s fire, it’s got lots of different names,” Aerie offered just as Dumbledore was standing up. “It’s allegedly what protected me from the Killing curse. Just keep in mind that the only ones who knew what spell You Know Who actually used, were You Know who, and possibly that Silverwood woman, and if You Know Who used unspoken magic, only he would know. And don’t look at me, I don’t know either.”

“Ahem,” Dumbledore began as the tables cleared themselves. “Just a few more things now that we are all well fed. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils who do not have express permission to be there. That includes anyone with ties to the Silverwood Village. Some of our older students would do well to remember. That and they charge us a fee every time they have to rescue someone.”

Aerie was fairly certain he had been looking at the Weasley Twins.

“Also, that village is quite a ways into the forest.

“I have been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you that magic use is not allowed in the corridors.

“Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Those interested will need to contact Madam Hooch our Quidditch Master.

*“And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.”

“Is he serious?” Ron asked.

“Must be,” Percy replied while frowning up at Dumbledore. “It’s odd because he usually gives us a reason why we’re not allowed to go somewhere. … The forest’s full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. Would be nice if he could have told us, short of it’s some kind of challenge?”

“Cerberus,” Aerie offered. “Hagrid let it slip the other day.” He hadn’t, but he’d not likely remember. “Big three-headed dog. He named it Fluffy.”

Those who heard just stared at her with incredulous eyes.

*“And now, before we go to bed let us sing the school song!” Dumbledore called out. The looks on the faces of the other teachers were a classic why do we even have to do this and pretend we don’t hate it.

“Everyone pick your favorite tune,” Dumbledore said as he gave his wand a flick. What followed was a long golden ribbon emanating from the end of the wand which rose high into the air. When he said off we go the ribbon began to form words.

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts, the ribbon spelled out, and Aerie for whatever reason just started singing it to the tune of Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads.

Aurora joined in on the tune and either by some twist of Equestrian magic or the song just seemed to want to be sung to that melody, everyone around her had joined in.

Most of the people in the hall finished at separate times as though they’d been doing rounds, save for Aerie’s section at the Gryffindor table who all finished at the same time.

The song was followed by loud clapping as though it was some great and moving concert. Dumbledore wiped a teardrop from his eye. Or at least went through the motion as it was impossible even for Nova’s keen eyesight to tell if he’d truly been thus moved.

Author's Note:

The Fish Heads song.

Warning, it's kind of gross and contains some disturbing imagery.

Comments

[badninja]

I see Nova intends to be a true rival for the twins in the pranking game. I think she is being a bit quick to judge Snape here but it would be appropriate if he quickly flipped to her and they gained a certain amount of respect for each other.

[harts fire]

aw yes and the two names i love. sulky Raven, and Troll Fart.
yep this is getting better as it goes..
funny about the fish head song i was thinking about that a few weeks back.

[harts fire]

11375539
is there a chance that you have read KittyrinnAiko other story's?
if so you will know the answer to this question not ask.

[KittyrinnAiko]

11375539
Be careful what you wish for.

[Evil laughter.]

[uis]

11376964
Overquoted indeed