{Rigel's Room, Slytherin Dorm, Hogwarts}
{15th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
Rigel watched as Pansy walked out of the room. The little session had been fun, and he had gained several affinities from both Pansy and Rita.
'Who would have guessed that Pansy would have an affinity for Runes? That's quite unlike her,' Rigel thought, but then again, he didn't really know much about her. Making her obey him was a whim, and he didn't really have any problem with their deal. He was pretty sure she would break before she harbored any ideas about backstabbing him.
He turned to look at Rita, who had woken up moments ago, finally giving Pansy room to run away.
"You enjoyed fingering her didn't you," Rigel asked, he could see Rita's eyes glint at his statement.
She didn't reply to him. Instead, she stood up and walked over to the wardrobe again. Several drops of cum dribbled down her thigh, causing Rigel to frown.
'I might need to bribe one of the house elves to make sure no rumors spread. My room is becoming something akin to a sex dungeon.'
"Here, I was able to gather two things that you asked for," Rita spoke as she walked back to him with her handbag. It must have been enchanted with some charms as she pulled a rather large box from it, something that would not have fit in the bag otherwise.
The box had intricate patterns, and to Rigel's advanced mana senses, it was inscribed with numerous runes. Their effects are unknown, but considering what he had asked Rita to procure, he had a decent idea of what it could do.
"This is called a pandora's box." Rita started, "Named after the mythical object. It works a little differently than fiction, as it is essentially a prison. Quite a lot of Magizoologists use it to capture creatures that are smaller in size and have a hazardous rating of greater than XXXX."
"While the box is not especially enchanted to stop the animagus transformation, it won't allow anyone else in there to transform because it stops all kinds of escape magic." Rita finished.
Rigel nodded. The box looked like it was made of gold, and personally, Rigel thought that this was too good a prison for Pettigrew. If it can hold the rat, then it would have to do. She then pulled out a ring as well. This one looked a little more sinister. It was pure black, and the runes in it pulsed several times every second.
"This is an anti-magic ring, one of the original ways to confine prisoners before Azkaban. The ring would latch onto the magic of its wearer and send painful pulses through their mana network, disrupting any attempts at spell casting." Rita finished. She was a lot more silent, her voice barely a whisper as she extended the ring toward Rigel.
'Okay, what the hell... where did she get something like that, not to mention this should be pretty valuable.'
Rigel stared into Rita's green eyes for a moment before he took the ring from her. Logically he shouldn't expect something like this because the ring was clearly more expensive, and taking things like this would require some favors in return.
"Where did you get the ring?" Rigel finally gave in to curiosity and asked.
"...Ummm, I blackmailed someone for it," She gave Rigel a weak smile, but she didn't tell who.
"Alright, keep your secrets," Rigel shrugged; he looked at the ring again. It looked like it was made from black marble. It was a band with no stones or anything fancy attached to it except for the runes.
"So if I put this on someone, they won't be able to do magic and remove the ring?" Rigel asked.
"Yeah, the wearer can't remove the ring, but anyone else can. So it was mainly used in conjugation to confined rooms, dungeons and prisons." Rita replied. Rigel nodded and thought about putting the ring in his inventory. Rita's eyes widened as she leaned closer, trying to spot if the magic was a trick of the light or something genuine.
Not finding anything, she leaned back and looked into Rigel's eyes, her expression stoic as she probably tried to make sense of what she saw. Rigel ignored her for now. She could come to her own conclusions. If she believed he was able to do powerful wandless magic, then it would just reinforce her belief that she had chosen the right side.
While the ring was good, the box was what he needed. All he needed to do was stun the rat and throw it into the box. Still, a bulk of the problem remained: how to grab the rat. Rigel had tried to look for the name Peter Pettigrew, but the rat never left the Gryffindor tower except with Ron.
'Should I ambush Ron and grab the rat? 2 stunners would do the job, no?' The thought was pushed aside as Rigel kept thinking. He already had a couple of much simpler plans, something that could be executed because of Ron's greed.
'I could buy the rat from Ron for money, but there is no telling how that would go. But there is no other option. Could I sneak into Gryffindor's common room? Rita could sneak around the entrance and overhear a student speaking the password,' Rigel concluded.
"So are you going to tell me now who it is, the animagus who is hiding in Hogwarts?" Rita asked.
'Should I tell her?' Rigel debated. He could easily tell her, he was sure that she would keep the secret, but given her past tendencies to brag about secrets on the front page of the newspaper, Rigel wouldn't bet on it.
"I told you you could have the exclusive with him, didn't I." Rigel deflected, "Hmmm, what would be a good date? It would prove to be a good story for Halloween, don't you think? 'Ex-Death Eater, hiding in Hogwarts, the safest place in Britain.'"
The headline seemed to appeal to Rita as she nodded and dropped the subject. Seeing that she was in for the plan Rigel went on for the kill, it was always a good idea to have a backup plan just in case.
"Say, how would you feel about sneaking into the Gryffindor Common Room?"
...
----------------------------
AN - The Plan to catch Pettigrew is a go.
P.S- 42+ Chapters on P.atreon!
{3rd Floor Corridor, Hogwarts}
{18th Sep 1991}
{3rd Person POV}
Neville Longbottom, supposedly the other candidate for the prophecy, was quite possibly built from the same mold as Harry. Both of them are withdrawn and used to being alone, and Harry has to adapt since he is thrown into his new life as a muted celebrity. Neville didn't have those distractions.
Neville Longbottom was withdrawn and alone. That much Rigel could see easily. He was looking at the map, tracking the boy's movement. In the three days he had spent preparing for this heist, he had easily seen Neville's dilemma. In canon, he was a lot more withdrawn, and easily bullied by Draco, and his self-confidence was quite low.
Freed from Draco's torment, at least the boy wasn't worse off now; he still was more used to being alone, but Neville here wasn't an 11-year-old boy but an 18-year-old. He's a lot more mature, not enough to escape the shadow of his own loneliness but enough that it wasn't crippling.
He still had the wrong wand, so he was the perfect target to emulate. But Rigel had to be sure that, among his long list of precautions for this operation, not being seen by Neville Longbottom was one of them. For this purpose, he was hiding in a broom cupboard in an isolated hallway, watching the footsteps of Neville Longbottom come closer and closer.
For a brief moment, Rigel considered not tormenting the boy to this ordeal, but from all his research into stunners, a mild one was shown not to have any adverse effects. Overuse of the stunning spell, on the other hand, could lead to diminished control over magic and a fairly troublesome concussion.
'Just need to hit him once from the back; there are no paintings nearby and no ghosts in sight...' Rigel thought as he once again checked the playing field; he watched as Neville walked over to the footsteps named 'Rigel Black' and continued on.
"Nox~" Rigel whispered. He still hadn't figured out reliable silent casting yet, and he didn't want to waste time right now. He pushed open the door, and as light flooded the enclosed space once again, he carefully walked out and simultaneously whipped his wand toward Neville's retreating back.
"Stupefy~" Rigel chanted, this time in a slightly louder voice. He was afraid something bad would happen, but Neville's form crumpled without any hint of resistance. Rigel winched as Neville's head collided against the floor with a crunch. He resisted the urge to run away and quickly approached the fallen boy.
At least there was no blood. Rigel quickly grabbed Neville's shoulders and dragged him toward the broom closet. It wasn't as easy as he had expected. Neville was one of the larger boys, and stuffing him in the closet took a few moments. Rigel heaved a deep breath from the exertion as he looked around.
'Thankfully, it is one of the rarely visited corridors.' Rigel quickly opened the map again and checked once again, and sure enough, no one was on the collision path with the closet for a while. He looked back, and at worst, Neville would have to deal with some neck pain.
'Should I come back for him?' Rigel thought. He didn't plan to, but he did feel a little bad now. The question of morality was pushed aside for now as he reached for one of Neville's hair and, with a sharp tug, plucked a couple of them.
After looking at Neville's crumpled form one more time, Rigel closed the door and walked away. He had already mapped his escape route, and there was a hidden entrance through which he had arrived in this corridor. Making sure that he wasn't seen, Rigel slipped into the small tunnel, a narrow escape way flanked by walls on both sides.
He reached into his inventory and pulled out a vial. The thick, dark sludge that looked like mud was a little revolting to look at as bubbles rose through it. Rigel gulped, the process far more difficult as his appetite didn't agree with his actions. He opened the cork and put one of Neville's hair into it. As he looked at the potion, a small window appeared over it, describing its effects.
...
[Polyjuice Potion{Rare}: Lv - 7]
[The Polyjuice Potion is a complex concoction that enables the consumer to assume the physical appearance of another person, and their magical signature as long as they have first procured part of that individual's body to add to the brew.]
[Keyed to - {Neville Longbottom}]
[Maximum Effect Duration - 7 Hrs]
...
The change was immediate as the bubbling mess of dark brown sludge changed color, it was still as viscous as before but the potion stopped bubbling as it changed color from brown to red. Rigel stopped himself from smelling the potion as he closed his nose with one hand and gulped the potion down.
The potion wasn't as horrible as he assumed. It tasted a little sweet and salty at the same time, which puzzled him. At the same time, it wasn't as murky as it looked, as the whole vial simply slipped down his throat without any problems. The change wasn't as immediate as he assumed. There was a moment of waiting as Rigel thought about the plan when it happened.
The situation went from zero to a horrible, melting reality in an instant. The change wasn't progressive, as described in his potion book; everything happened in an instant as he was assaulted by different horrible sensations, one after the other. His stomach rumbled as he felt his insides shift. The rumbling, though, was overwhelmed by the feeling of his skin melting, and a sense of vertigo made it difficult for him to stand.
As he used his hands to stabilize himself against the wall, his eyes were frozen as he stared at his hands. His fingers felt hot, the tips unbearably so as he watched them lengthen. His skin was bubbling and shifting, as shown in the movie, as he slowly watched his hand enlarge slightly.
The weird feelings stopped suddenly as Rigel panted, and as the normal sensations returned, he realized that everything was a little tight. His T-shirt felt a little restrictive, but it was his trousers that felt off. The belt was too tight, and his hands immediately latched onto the buckle, giving him much-needed relief.
'Okay, that wasn't so bad. Other than being stretched a little bit, it wasn't as bad as it was described in the notes.' Rigel thought as he opened his inventory and pulled out another set of robes and pants. This one had a reddish trim compared to his green one, and he immediately began changing into his new clothes.
'What would the twins think if they find Neville Longbottom changing from Slytherin robes into Gryffindor colors?'
...
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AN—Sorry about the late chap! Let's sneak into Gryffindor Tower! Does anyone have any ideas why Rigel chose to use Polyjuice instead of his own Metamorphmagus powers?
P.S- 42+ chapters on P.atreon!
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