Chapter 181: To catch a rat
Nick was taken back to the wand shop after the details were settled on the plan and Moody left to prepare for his part as well as to inform Dumbledore. Nick had a week to finish his own preparations as Moody made it clear that they needed to get this done as soon as possible to prevent any unknown variables. This meant that Nick needed to be done and ready to go by next saturday which was fine in his opinion as he merely needed to do a couple extra things that he could finish early tomorrow.-
Meanwhile while Nick was back at the wand shop finishing up his day Moody had already contacted Dumbledore for a meeting and was in the mans office at this moment. Dumbledore had a serious expression after listening to Moody explaining the situation. "So despite my high opinion of the boy I have still fallen short it seems." he said with a tired sigh as he slouched in his chair. "To think such a young man would piece together such scattered fragments to this decade old puzzle and break it wide open is astounding." he added ashamed of not having pieced the puzzle together himself out of willful ignorance of the subject.-
Dumbledore knew well that he could have easily figured out the same things as Nick had he not totally decided in his mind that the matter was at it's end already and thus hadn't cared enough to see the problems. It was a downside of his advanced age as he could sometimes see far ahead and other times not even the next days events. He was not demented as such a thing was nearly impossible in wizards but his mind simply wasn't capable of the same constant focus as when he was younger.-
"I think it would be best if we got Remus involved in this as they were both his friends and he will want to be included." Dumbledore spoke softly but with authority and Moody nodded. "Best contact Arthur privately so that he can keep an eye on Pettigrew this next week as well so the rat doesn't sniff out the trap." Moody said gruffly and Dumbledore agreed. "Tread carefully around the boy Albus he seems to have quite the negative opinion of you at the moment as he looked ready to turn violent when I pressed him about not coming to you himself." Moody said seriously.-
Dumbledore sighed "I am aware of his vision of me and have tried to stay hands off despite the many concerning moves he's made both in secret and openly." he said tiredly. Moody looked stern "What's the boy done to worry you?" he asked seriously. "He has done something to anger Voldemort on the night Harry banished his spirit from the castle. He placed himself in a perfectly neutral position within the schools houses with his actions and somehow convinced a ghost to leave Hogwarts with him over the summer, one with a great deal of lost or forgotten knowledge." Dumbledore explained.
"The concerning part however is that no one seems to know exactly why he's done all of this and his mind is hidden from us as well thanks to his own protective measures." the old man said with a deep expression. The meeting ended shortly after that as they both had preparation to make for the trap and subsequent steps. The next day Nick woke up nice and early with a loud yawn and stretched. After getting changed he left the shop again and this time headed down the street to the owlery to send a message to Ron and Harry in forming them of his plan to visit next saturday.-
The birds were all eager to send to message for him but a small pigmy owl got the privilege due to being bolder than the rest and snatching the letter out of Nick's hand and flying off. He got a good laugh out of the situation as the other birds looked shocked at how bold the small bird was. Honestly Nick hated sending messages by owl as he always had to disappoint a bunch of them when he chose one to deliver it so him not needing to choose worked just fine for him.-
The rest of the day he spent practicing drawing the runes with an engraving pen he bought from the system for a hundred points. He also used a transfigured bar of iron in the shape of a plate as his canvas and reverted it back to normal and then back again into a plate when he needed more space to write. He found that drawing runes was a time consuming process for him as they were quite complex in design and if he got the depth wrong it ruined them entirely.
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