บท 13: 13. Chapter 13
Lucifer and Crowley were sitting down in the Chamber of Secrets waiting for the Dark Lord, Severus, and Harry. Meg and Ruby were exploring the different chambers, getting a guided tour by Helda. Death was watching the tunnel that Dumbledore was, yet again, trying to remove from the third-floor door.
"We remove the tunnel tonight?" Crowley asked Lucifer.
"Yes, we want to have him believe he has the real stone. Nagini and the Dark Lord removed and replaced the real one already. I had Death return the real one to the Flamels. He did give them a warning about delaying their deaths. He hates when people try to elude him." Lucifer grinned. "The stone is going to be placed into a vault in Gringotts. The Flamels are going to arrive this summer to speak to Dumbledore about his protection of their stone."
"It will be an interesting conversation." Crowley lay the list of demons that would be assisting them in creating the Harry Potter sightings. "Think if we stick to the London area it would be a bit more believable." He pulled a map of London out of his pocket.
"Severus and Lucius went to London last weekend. Death took them so that Dumbledore wouldn't realize that Severus was missing. They can show us where we want sightings. Which area we should start with and how the members of the Order would start their search." Lucifer and Harry had kept Dumbledore busy with the tunnel but they were letting the man think he was making progress.
"Weasley?" Crowley knew that Nagini and Lucifer, in his snake form, had been teasing the boy. Nagini had even chased a few rats around the fish tank. Weasley could start hissing up a storm about killing the rats. Weasley believed they were his pet Scabbers each time.
"Poppy and Severus will find the cure before the students are due to leave on the train. We thought it would be better if Severus and Poppy discovered the solution together after Severus' potion removed the tunnel. Now, since Weasley missed most of the year, he will be joining Harry Potter as a first-year. I'm sure Dumbledore has a ton of plans for the upcoming year and I know he will love discovering Harry Potter. Death already arranged for Harry's real vaults to be protected. We have a few fake ones set up with items and funds that will come from the Men of Letter's bank accounts." Lucifer picked up the list. "I thought the Winchesters killed Harold and Maxim."
"They killed the host but Julius was able to collect them before they were deceased. So no one will be looking for them." Crowley started the system after Abaddon was killed.
They heard Harry, Severus, and the Dark Lord greet Helda, Meg, and Ruby. Severus arrived before the rest of the group. "Tell me we can remove the tunnel and fix Weasley. Dumbledore is driving me crazy." Severus had spent the morning listening to Dumbledore's latest ideas on how to clear the tunnel. Dumbledore had headed to the third floor after breakfast and Severus knew that Death was watching Dumbledore. It wasn't to prevent Dumbledore from removing the tunnel but to keep Dumbledore from causing any damage to himself or Hogwarts.
"Yes, Harry can release it tonight while you pour the solution over a runic line. You and Poppy can cure Weasley after that." Lucifer handed over the fake potion and cure along with the runic line that Severus would need to write. "Dumbledore won't recognize this potion but he will recognize the runic line. It is disgusting light."
"I had a few fake ones that I created but we can use them as a backup for other things." Severus picked up the potion. He smelled it. "You added lemon. He is going to think lemon drops are the miracle cure-all." Severus added the potion to his potion pouch. "I also found a spell and mild potion for Ruby and Meg to use to keep the Harry Potter form that Dumbledore has pushed. It will hold longer and they can disable it if needed. It won't show up as glamour, so Dumbledore and Mad-Eye won't see through the form."
"Do you have any idea of who we need to model this Harry Potter after?" Meg fed Helda some of the treats they give the Hell Hounds.
"Severus, you knew James and Lily better, anything that we should avoid or stress?" Lucifer asked.
"Dumbledore is going to expect the perfect Gryffindor. He will want Potter to be viewed as being brave, good, acting without thinking, pranks, and someone that he can control. I believe Dumbledore will use Granger, also. She will tutor Potter and Weasley to pass classes. Dumbledore will expect the youngest Weasleys to lead Potter around on adventures. He will want Potter to be friends with a pureblood light family like the Weasley while being friends with a smart muggle-born. It will enable him to say see everyone can be friends. I also bought the Harry Potter books, fiction, and biographies, so that we can read them. Most of the information comes from Dumbledore, which will enable us to select a better profile to use."
"The books are mostly about what they think happened to Potter. They include fake adventures but I believe Meg and Ruby can make them real." Lucifer saw Harry smirk. They had read the books and had a lot of laughs about what was written about Harry Potter, about what happened that night, and the stories about his parents.
"We can add our versions to them." Meg glanced at her fellow demon. "I'm sure we can create a very interesting Harry Potter."
"How long does he believe Potter has been missing?" The Dark Lord asked. "The more doubt we can create about what has happened to Potter the more we can create our version of events."
"He isn't exactly sure how long Potter has been missing. We weren't able to determine how old the golem was. I would suggest that Meg and Ruby pretend that Harry ran away before school officially started. It would enable them to pretend not to be able to read but at the same time have an attitude." Severus sat down and nodded his thanks at Lucifer as tea was placed in front of him. "When the glamours fell on the golem, the DoM had already done a lot of spellcasting on the golem, not realizing it was a golem. Since no one knows about demon magic they thought it was the real Harry Potter. The spell casting dissolved the golem after the glamours fell. It turned into a liquid within a day."
"Since we don't technically have magic according to your Ministry they wouldn't have recognized it." Lucifer explained. "It's why I thought the golem would work. I believed they would bury the golem in a timely fashion." He hadn't expected Dumbledore to delay the burial. He had believed the man would want to cover up what happened to Harry Potter.
"We won't be able to find a wand that would match us." Meg grinned. "I checked out the wand shop. It's light-based wands."
"We will need to create one. One that we can use to at least pass at least a squib in magic." Ruby glanced at Helda. "Perhaps we can add a bit of something snake-like to it." Helda started to nod her agreement as she hissed it.
"We won't register as having magic if they test us. Will he keep us from attending if we register as a squib?" Ruby was looking forward to doing this assignment. It would be more fun than the Winchesters.
"I believe we are going to have you show up as slightly above a squib." Lucifer knew Death would make sure they passed. "However, go with the dumb route. I'm sure Dumbledore will influence the Sorting Hat for Gryffindor."
"He will. He will also try and get Molly Weasley involved. If Dumbledore finds him before September I expect that Dumbledore will want guardianship but have Potter live with the Weasley family." Severus knew Dumbledore wanted to control everything Potter. "Dumbledore will want to have complete control over Harry Potter but allow him to be viewed as a kind mentor."
"What about Black? If we got Black released Potter could live with him allowing Meg and Ruby more freedom." Crowley suggested. "I checked into Black. He is innocent but also a bit insane. He stays in grim form when the Dementors visit. Pettigrew is alive and living as a rat at the Weasley residence, living rather well, I might add."
Harry and Lucifer exchanged a look. "I believe it would be best to save that for next summer if we need to. If we do too much now, Dumbledore might wonder." Severus saw the look. "You two can torment the rat when he returns with Weasley." Severus also didn't want to deal with Black. He knew that if Black was released Dumbledore would also bring Lupin to Hogwarts as a way for them to bond with the fake Potter. He had never forgiven Dumbledore for allowing Black to escape without punishment for almost killing him.
"It's true. While Dumbledore has made numerous deals, he isn't stupid. He has to know that rat is Pettigrew." Crowley felt Helda nudge him. "We will visit." Helda nodded her head, curling up around the group of people.
Death popped into the Chamber. "He is headed back to his office. Flitwick stopped by the door and informed Dumbledore was wanted at the Ministry. Flitwick did mention that McGonagall wasn't happy so he warned Dumbledore to avoid her."
"He is late in submitting the annual reports. I bet Fudge wanted them for tomorrow's session." Severus had heard Minerva complaining to Dumbledore about delaying the closing of the budget because Dumbledore hadn't done his job. "The fiscal reports and budgets need to be submitted before the end of the month. Dumbledore hasn't even started on them. I heard Minerva warning him last week. She was upset that he hadn't even started on them while she warned that she couldn't start them without the accounting books." Dumbledore never had anything done on time when it came to the running of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always expected the staff to wait to get paid over the summer.
"Let's get the details finalized. Dumbledore will expect us for dinner." Harry looked at Lucifer. "Weasley needs to be prevented from speaking about seeing you and Nagini."
"Already handled. He saw different snakes. We made sure that if Dumbledore viewed the memories he would see different types of harmless snakes." Lucifer didn't think Dumbledore would review the memories but he didn't want to take a chance. "Death is going to handle the memories of when we go to change him back." Death magic wasn't something that Dumbledore was familiar with and certainly wouldn't look for.
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Severus had been summoned to Dumbledore's office early this morning. Dumbledore was getting frantic about the stone. Severus could see a stack of books on Dumbledore's desk. He knew from the titles they were for the tunnel and Weasley's transformation. Once Severus had explained he found a solution to the tunnel Dumbledore wasted no time in heading to the third floor. Dumbledore ran some more scans on the door. Severus wasn't sure why but he let the man do it. "Severus, we are running out of options. I do hope this works. Do you think the potion will work?"
"Yes, Albus, it should work. The runic line needs to be laid down across the threshold. Once the line is set, I will use the potion." Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I also have a solution that Poppy and I have been working that for Weasley. It just needs to cool off."
"Excellent news as his mother has been very concerned about the situation." Dumbledore opened the door that led to the tunnel and cast more scans on the tunnel. "I will review the scans later. I want to make sure this can't happen again. Now, I need to get down below to secure the item the maze is protecting."
Severus carved the runes into the threshold. He stood up, opened his potion pouch, and removed the fake potion. The bottle was a plain glass bottle. It looked a bit like an old fashion glass coke bottle.
"Is that safe?"
After the spells Dumbledore had cast, he was asking if it was safe. Severus wondered about the man. "Yes, Albus, it is." Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had lost a great deal of respect for Dumbledore over the past year. Severus opened the potion and held it out for Dumbledore to smell.
Dumbledore smelled the potion. "Lemon?" Dumbledore loved the smell, taste, and even the color of lemons.
"Yes." Severus knew Dumbledore passed potions when he was in school but the man wasn't a potion master. The lemon smell was very powerful. He added a lot of lemon extract to the potion for that very reason. He held out his hand to get the potion back. Harry was hiding in an alcove down the hall, waiting for Severus to speak the keywords. Dumbledore threw the potion into the tunnel. "Albus, it needed to go on the runes." He wondered if Dumbledore was going senile. You don't throw potion unless you wanted them to explode.
"Oh. I'm sorry, I thought it was an old potion that I remembered from when I attended Hogwarts. It smelled like lemons."
Severus almost growled. "The potion you remember was for polishing wood. The muggles call it Pledge, Scott Johnson marketed for muggles." Severus knew Harry was laughing about this. "You are lucky I created another one." He always kept an original potion in his case. Severus got out the potion. He bent down and slowly poured the potion over the runes as he used the made-up spell that Ruby, Meg, and Crowley created. As he quietly spoke, "geike, meotan, reba" Harry released the spell as Severus ran his fingers over the last rune.
Dumbledore was almost bouncing in place as the tunnel disappeared. "Very good, my boy, a truly wonderful job, simply amazing. Your skills never cease to surprise me. What language was that?"
"It was Ancient Russian." Severus stood up. "Now, I have to go finish the potion I'm working on for Weasley. I need to add a few things, let it cool, and bottle it. I will meet with Poppy later. We are close to fixing Weasley if you don't ruin the potion."
"I do apologize, I believed I was helping." Dumbledore looked into the room. "Do you believe Ronald will be able to go home with the rest of the students?"
"Yes, I believe so." Severus saw Lucifer was already in the room waiting to follow Dumbledore through the maze. He wondered how Lucifer got into the room when he saw Death wave at him from behind a pillar in the far left corner. Severus thought Death was enjoying the plotting and planning as much as Lucifer, Harry, and the Dark Lord.
"Excellent work, I will check with Poppy later." Dumbledore entered the room and without checking anything Dumbledore opened the trap door and jumped down into the Devil's Snare.
Severus resisted the urge to have Lucifer make the Devil's Snare eat Dumbledore. Severus was still glaring at the hole that Dumbledore jumped down into when Harry walked up next to him. Lucifer was already following Dumbledore down through the trap door. "How does he remain in charge?" Harry thought the old man needed a visit to the Janus Thackery Unit. He would speak to his father later about leaving a few more surprises for Dumbledore to discover over the summer.
"Fame." Harry looked at Severus, giving him a slight smile. Severus allowed a small smile to appear on his face. They were going to enjoy using Dumbledore's love of fame against him. They were also going to enjoy the upcoming developments they planned.
The next night:
Severus had delayed using the potion one more day. He told Poppy and Dumbledore it needed some time to settle. Severus and Poppy were currently staring at the fish tank. Weasley was hissing up a storm, slithering back and forth in front of them. Weasley did it every time he saw Severus. Lucifer and the Dark Lord informed him what Weasley was saying. It was usually the Weasley rant about Slytherins and snakes. Weasley would hiss about promising to bite Severus if Severus stuck his hand into the tank.
"You would think by now he would realize we don't understand him." Poppy raised the lip of the tank by removing the huge rock they had placed on the lid to keep Weasley from opening the tank. "Mr. Weasley, you need to soak in this potion. Curl up into the basin." The snake kept hissing.
"Weasley, you can either get into the basin or remain a snake. It's up to you. I'm not going to continue wasting my time fixing your error if you are not going to cooperate." Severus didn't want to have to keep dealing with Weasley over his summer holiday. He was finding himself looking forward to what they had planned. "I'm sure Poppy would love to remain behind this summer to feed you. Perhaps your brothers would like to take care of you." The Weasley Twins had already visited numerous times asking if they could have things for potions. Molly had been an almost daily visit, fussing over her son. Poppy had put a stop to Molly visiting every day all day.
Weasley slithered into the basin. Poppy opened the lid and poured the potion over Weasley. "You need to remain in the solution until tomorrow morning. It would be better if you slept. You should wake up back to yourself."
Severus wanted to laugh. The potion Weasley was going to be sleeping in was going to make the boy's body as red as his hair. It wouldn't wear off for at least a month. "I'll be back in the morning. I need to make sure my snakes have started to pack their belongings. The train leaves in two days."
"Thank you, Severus. I will set up a monitoring charm for Mr. Weasley."
Later that night:
Lucifer, the Dark Lord, and Nagini slithered into the Infirmary. Nagini went to guard the door the Poppy would enter if anything set off an alarm. Lucifer and the Dark Lord changed back to their normal forms. Weasley started having a fit in the tank. Death appeared and started casting the memory charm on Weasley as the Dark Lord cast a sleep charm. "Annoying little…"
"Yes, he is." The Dark Lord looked at the sleeping snake. "As much as I would love to eliminate the little rat I know Dumbledore would find a way to blame either Severus or Harry."
"He would. He doesn't believe his Gryffindors can do anything wrong. I wish we could leave him like this." Lucifer wasn't a fan of anyone who supported Dumbledore. He also had listened to Weasley's rants about Harry Potter, Slytherins, and snakes. The boy was a miniature version of his mother.
"I'm sure Harry, Ruby, and Meg will enjoy playing with him." Death knew Harry was going to make the most of any opportunity given to him. Meg, Ruby, Harry, and Lucifer at Hogwarts were going to take a lot of work on his part to keep the death toll down as well as keep Hogwarts intact. He was going to have to speak to Crowley about making sure that Meg and Ruby didn't make any deals with anyone underage. He did feel a bit bad for Severus and the Dark Lord as they were the ones who were going to have to have to handle the day-to-day aspects. "Same rules regarding deaths and students will apply."
"We are aware." Lucifer lifted Weasley out of the tank. "Let's get this done." Lucifer and the Dark Lord planned on leaving some presents for Dumbledore and needed to get them set up tonight.
Once Weasley was returned to his human form they put him back into the fish tank. Lucifer and the Dark Lord exchanged a smirk. "I think he deserves a reward for being such a snake."
"I do agree." The Dark Lord knew Weasley would be red for at least a month. "Dumbledore would have a fit if someone in a light family could hiss like a snake."
"He would. He won't get the gift of speaking or understanding it but we could have the boy hiss for any language besides Latin and English."
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Harry and Draco were sitting at the Slytherin table. Breakfast was going to start in a few minutes when the doors to the Great Hall opened and a red Weasley entered. Weasley was a deep dark red. His hair was carrot orange. Weasley was dressed in his school uniform which was now a bit bigger on the boy. The boy had lost some weight during his time being a snake.
Dumbledore was behind Weasley as the students started laughing. The Weasley Twins were denying any involvement in pranking their brother. Dumbledore escorted Weasley to the Gryffindor table. Weasley sat down next to Granger who was sitting by herself. Dumbledore held up his hands. "Mr. Weasley is back to his former self except for his coloring which will right itself out by the end of the week. It wasn't a prank and no one is in trouble." Dumbledore walked up to his throne.
That night at the Leaving Feast:
The staff was furious as they were every year. Dumbledore had somehow managed to give Gryffindor a hundred points between last night and today. None of the staff were exactly sure how it happened but no one was happy. Filius and Minerva had pulled Severus and Pomona into a meeting with Dumbledore who claimed the points were valid and earned.
Severus and the rest of the staff knew it wasn't fair but there was nothing they could do. The only points that could claim were fairly earned were the points from the Quidditch games. The House Cup was a joke. It held no meaning any longer. The banners hadn't been changed in decades thanks to Dumbledore and his desire to reward the Marauders. Dumbledore continued rewarding Gryffindor since that time. Harry and the rest of the Slytherins were upset that they didn't win the cup. Severus knew that Dumbledore was going to pay for stealing the House Cup from Slytherin. He wondered how he could help.
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Ruby was walking down one of the back alleys in central London. She had heard the sounds of the apparition and didn't want to get caught by Dumbledore or the Order as of yet. It had only been two weeks since Hogwarts let out for the summer holiday. Meg had her turn yesterday. Meg allowed one of the Order members to see her as Harry before disappearing into the tourist visiting Buckingham Palace. The Daily Prophet was going crazy with the Harry Potter sightings. Crowley had the demons using the floo network to place different kinds of sightings to the Ministry and the Daily Prophet. Dumbledore had tried to keep the news quiet but that didn't fit in with their plans.
Harry, with Lucifer and the Dark Lord, was spending a lot of time down in the Chamber of Secrets. They used a lot of the hidden passageways that Salazar Slytherin had created to spy on Dumbledore while they explored the castle. They wanted to a complete map of the castle by the beginning of September. Harry created a nightmare web to be placed on Dumbledore's bed. Lucifer and the Dark Lord added some students' pasts to the web for Dumbledore to relive including a few fake Harry Potter's memories.
Lucius started to work in Ministry. He kept pushing the facts about Dumbledore placing Potter at the muggles and the golem. Lucius stressed that Dumbledore never checked on Harry. Lucius was trying to get the Aurors to look for Potter and have Potter placed with anyone but Dumbledore and the Weasley family.
End of July:
Meg laughed as she watched Ruby lead three Order members on a wild goose chase. They kept alternating looking like Harry Potter. She had ducked into the doorway that led to a used bookstore. Meg removed the glamour and when the Order members asked her if they saw Harry Potter, she pointed to the roof of the opposite building where Ruby was looking down. Ruby waved and took over jumping from roof to roof. Meg kept asking questions that prevented the Order members from using magic to follow Ruby.
Harry and Lucifer created numerous passageways for snakes to sneak into Dumbledore's office and hiss at him day and night. The man was getting very jumpy. The snakes made sure never to be seen or heard by anyone else. They followed him once most of the staff went home for the summer. The Dark Lord and Death with Crowley, worked on the Harry sightings, reporting them to the newspapers and Ministry. Severus kept them supplied in with potions and reported anything Dumbledore was doing.
Lucius was pushing harder and harder on preventing Dumbledore and the Weasleys from getting custody of Harry Potter when they finally caught him. Dumbledore was pushing the Death Eater issue, while Lucius was demanding evidence of the Dark Lord's return. Most were getting annoyed as it was now over ten years since the Dark Lord's disappearance.
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Lucifer was standing next to one of the statues in Hyde Park with Harry watching Ruby leading the Order members on a wild goose chase. Lucifer smirked as suddenly geese started chasing the Order members. "You are going to have to return the geese." Lucifer watched one of the geese bite one of the Order members.
"I only borrowed them from the Royal Gardens. I'm sure the police will be looking for them soon." Harry had been sending different kinds of animals after Order members. Dogs, cats, birds, foxes, and even sheep. The Order members running across a field with sheep chasing them was fun to watch.
Lucifer smiled. "My turn." He waited until the Order members stunned the geese. The police were suddenly in the park. The police saw the geese they had been searching for when the Order members picked up the stunned geese. Lucifer released the stunners as the police surrounded the Order members.
"I wonder how they will explain kidnapping the geese." Death appeared next to them. "Time did a bit of an adjustment and the police have been looking for them for a few hours." Time was enjoying the torment of Dumbledore. Fate wasn't objecting either.
The police guided the Order members to their cars. The Order members were complaining that the geese attacked them. The gamekeepers from the Royal Park were demanding the Order members be arrested for kidnapping the geese. Everyone who knew geese know they were very territorial, and therefore, it confirmed that the Order members must have stolen the geese. "We should learn their names. They seem to fall for every trick." Harry told his father. Lucifer shrugged his shoulders.
"Ruby and Meg thought it might be a good idea to lay low for a bit to make Dumbledore wonder what is going on. The Dark Lord reported that Lucius was able to get the Ministry to think about placing the newly found Harry Potter with another family besides the Weasley family." Lucifer knew the two demons were enjoying tormenting the humans but they also didn't want to give the game away either.
"They do deserve a bit of a vacation. It would also drive Dumbledore crazy wondering where Potter disappeared too and if they would find him in time to start at Hogwarts." Harry gave Death his sad face. "Can we torment Dumbledore and the Order with some rabid animals? Please?"
Death shook his head. "If the animals don't kill them, yes you can."
"Yes!" Harry was excited. He wondered if the moose was still around.
"As to the not finding Potter until the day before Hogwarts starts, it would give Dumbledore less time to arrange any counter to the wand and squib issue. I can arrange to have reapers covering for me." Death would also speak to Crowley to make sure they would have everything covered.
"If we do it the day before, he won't have time to get around Lucius for guardianship if we have a Ministry employee find Potter instead of an Order member. I believe if an Order member were to discover Potter no one would know about it until Dumbledore had guardianship or one of his supporters." Lucifer had reviewed Dumbledore's contracts. The man wasn't stupid but he did have a lot of major flaws including his belief that he knew what was best for everyone.
Death was watching the police put the Order members into their cars as the gamekeepers took control of the geese. "Pictures?"
"Yes, I'm sure Dumbledore will love the publicity." Lucifer had made sure to have demons following Ruby and Meg when they were Harry to make sure that everything would make the paper.
"I better let the Dark Lord know." Death disappeared.
"Father, is it me or does Death seem to be spending a lot of time with the Dark Lord?"
"No, it's not just you. I do believe Death finally found someone he is interested in. It will keep him busy and allow us more time to go around his rules." Lucifer smiled. "Now we just need to get someone for Crowley and we can have as much fun as we want."
"I think that can be arranged." Harry had a list in mind. "It can't be just anyone."
"No, it can't. It can't be a red-head either. I have no idea what it is with red-headed women in our lives." Lucifer wasn't sure if someone was tormenting him or not with the red-heads. Lily Potter, Molly Weasley, Abaddon, and even Crowley's mother Rowena, were red-heads.
"Perhaps a guy?" Harry wasn't sure if Crowley was gay or not but it was hard to tell with demons.
"He is straight." Lucifer smirked. "I believe we know the perfect choice for him."
"It better not be an angel." Harry warned.
"As if, he would sic the Winchesters on us if we tried that."
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Severus almost groaned as he sat in another staff meeting. The Dark Lord wasn't looking happy either. Classes started in two weeks and this was only the second day they had been back and everyone had heard about Harry Potter. The only good thing was that Dumbledore looked like something the cat wouldn't drag in. The man looked older. He had bags under his eyes and was a bit jumpy. Severus wondered what Harry and Lucifer had done to Dumbledore over the summer. He thought the Dark Lord might know. He would have to ask the man later.
The summer had been busy for them. While Severus didn't spend every day with Harry, Lucifer, Lucius, or the Dark Lord, he did see them at least once a week for updates. Dumbledore had tried to recruit many former Order members into looking for Harry Potter but only succeeded in obtaining some retired Aurors including Mad-Eye, Arthur and Molly Weasley, Hester Jones, and some former students. Severus knew most of them did it out of obligation to Dumbledore.
"I need some volunteers to assist in locating Harry Potter."
Severus returned his focus to Dumbledore. The Dark Lord's face remained neutral while Severus raised an eyebrow. "Albus, we have a lot of work to do before the dunderheads return." Severus wasn't going to search for Meg or Ruby. He didn't want to get caught in any of the weird pranks that Lucifer and Harry were doing to the searchers.
"He is right, Albus. We had a late start due to the delaying of the budget for the year." Minerva was the reason they even had a budget for the year. She was the one who did the work. Dumbledore had spent most of the summer at the Ministry or recruiting people to look for Harry Potter. Minerva had been the one who had spent a month listening to Molly Weasley complain about her son being red. She had been the one who had listened to the Board demanding the budget. She had been the one that had to get the lesson plans approved, as well as the book lists for the new school year. She didn't let Dumbledore know but she had added some of the books the man had wanted to be banned. She also approved the new book list that Irma Pince wanted to have included in the library.
"Severus, I need you…"
"No, I have potions I still need to craft for Poppy. I still have to set up the wards in the potion labs, and refresh the protection wards for the classroom."
"All of us have work that needs to be finished by the time the students are due to return. The house-elves can't do everything." Minerva knew she wasn't the only member of the staff that was getting annoyed with Dumbledore and his ignoring what was happening at Hogwarts to find Harry Potter. "While I'm sure each of us understand the desire to find Harry, we can't do so at the expense of Hogwarts and her students."
"I agree, Albus. I believe Weasley is behind due to his problems. He just returned to his normal color two weeks ago." Filius had been one of the professors who had looked at the color aspect of Weasley's problem. "We can't be sure that the dark magic residue is even removed from Weasley. I'm sure Poppy can inform you that there is a lingering residue on the boy."
"There is, Albus. We still don't know exactly what the boy did. While being a snake for six months wasn't pleasant I'm sure if he wasn't a Weasley he would have been reported to the Ministry and up on charges." Poppy didn't like Dumbledore's policy on accident dark magic. She had seen him turn over students who weren't part of his Order to the Ministry. Thankfully, most of the students were released with a mild warning.
"He still has to explain what he did." Minerva reminded Dumbledore. "He was playing with dark magic."
"I did speak to Ronald but he has no memory of what happened. He informed me that he went to sleep as normal but woke up in the snake form." Dumbledore had looked at the boy's memories. He had seen Weasley playing with magic but he wasn't going to admit that to anyone. He couldn't have anything dark linked to the Weasley family, not if he wanted to get Harry Potter to live with them. So he removed the memory from Weasley. He told Molly it was a case of accidental magic. The Dark Lord and Severus exchanged a look. They knew that Death had planted memories in Weasley's mind and it was now being covered up by Dumbledore. The Dark Lord and Lucius had been researching various aspects of Dumbledore's life. They knew they couldn't do anything until they could able to use the information and get rid of Dumbledore.
They had two weeks before Harry and Lucifer returned to Hogwarts. Meg and Ruby would also be joining them like Harry Potter. If Dumbledore thought he had problems now he was going to learn his problems were going to be a lot worse. Severus and the Dark Lord had created a wand for Meg and Ruby to use. It would allow them to cover their demon magic while creating magic that was acceptable to Dumbledore and the wizarding world. Meg and Ruby had been practicing it before Severus and the Dark Lord left to return to Hogwarts.
They had spent the last two weeks at the Morningstar Castle. Lucifer and Harry had shared their insight into the developing relationship between Death and the Dark Lord. Severus thought it was a bit ironic but he wasn't going to object as long as the Dark Lord remained sane. Severus found himself looking forward to the chaos that Hendrick Morningstar and his father were creating. He felt the Dark Lord nudge his arm.
"You're starting to smile." The Dark Lord whispered.
"I'm sure you know why." Severus quietly answered with a slight smirk.
The Dark Lord returned the smirk. "Yes, and it's going to be a very interesting year."
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