Three twelve-year-olds are gathered in a bathroom, copying a diagram from a book onto the floor in chalk.
"Do you know what all this writing means?" asks the green-eyed boy.
"No," says the bushy-haired girl, "and that worries me too, but we need to find out who the Heir of Slytherin is and this ritual is the best we've got."
Eventually, one or another of them draws the last bit of the outer circle.
"Have you noticed any unusual emotions or sensations in the past few hours? Do you have any gaps in your memories? Have you interacted with any objects whose nature or function you did not understand?" She's moving her wand around him as she asks this.
"Um, no? Everything's been fine except for all the stuff earlier, and you were there for that."
"We've all been in here for over an hour, Professor. Whatever happened, Harry didn't do it."
"I can check more precisely if nothing turns up. Or it could've been in motion?"
"That could be beneficial. I don't see anything, or perhaps something so faint as to be almost undetectable."
Nearest location of Tom Riddle - "Nope, still here..." He pokes the diorama through with some diameter lines. "...sitting on his head???"
"Could you check if he was already there . . . say, three years ago?"
McGonagall examines the little model broom cupboard and says, "Yes. For now. It seems this Tom Riddle situation is both more important and less urgent than I had previously suspected. The good news, mister Potter, is that you do not seem likely to attack anyone. The bad news is that I am uncertain what the bad news is."
"Could track down the other locations and see if they shed any light on anything?"
"That could be helpful, yes--" she's cut off by a massive silver bird-spirit coming through the ceiling. It says, "I'll be in my office," and fades out of existence.
"Ah, the Headmaster has returned. We should go talk to him, he's the closest thing to an expert on this sort of thing. Miss Granger, mister Weasley, I suggest you go down to dinner."
Ron looks like he wants to protest, but eventually says, "Good luck, mate."
"I'm sure you'll be alright, Harry. If it's been going on for years it can't be about to get worse. And Dumbledore will figure it out." She looks like she's trying to convince herself as much as him, but she and Ron do make their way out.
"Don't worry, I'll tell you everything tonight, assuming I don't get petrified or eaten by a giant snake or discover Voldemort on the back of my head first."
"Your head would be so crowded!" says Cam, accompanying McGonagall and Harry to the headmaster's office. "Do you want ice cream, this is probably stressful and Ginny got ice cream."
Harry shoots him exactly the same "is this a trick question" look Ginny did and says, "Yes, please."
"Do you have a favorite kind, I guessed for her but perhaps you don't care for chocolate with caramel sauce?"
This is not a question he has needed to have an answer to before! "Um, cookie dough?"
(He has not actually had cookie dough ice cream but cookies are good and ice cream is good and he bets the combination will be good too.)
"Thank you!" Taste . . .? Oh wow this is really good, he was totally right.
And here's a gargoyle statue guarding a blank piece of wall.
"Fizzing Whizbee," says Professor McGonagall, and the gargoyle hops away from what turns out to be a door to a spiral staircase-escalator.
View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
