"Hagrid, my old friend," he said warmly, hoping the meeting would go well.
"Headmaster! What brings you down here in the middle of the night?"
"We need to talk, my friend," he answered seriously. "May I come inside? The doorstep is hardly suitable for this chat."
"Of course! Make yourself at home," moving out of the doorway and allowing him to enter.
He took one of the oversized seats. "I'll get straight down to business since it is late. The Minister is pressuring the Aurors to arrest you due to the commonly held belief that you were the individual responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets the last time." Putting his hand up, stopping Hagrid's protest of his innocence.
"I know you are innocent," he said, kindly reassuring Hagrid, picking his words carefully before explaining. "But I'm being spread too thin after the events of last year. The school governors are starting to call for my resignation if I can't get a handle on this situation. How much of it is real concern, or Lord Malfoy's bribes and threats, I do not know," shocking his friend.
"However, I have a solution that benefits us both; it proves that you are innocent and it helps buy me time to act. Next year, I'm planning for Hogwarts' students to take part in an exchange project with Beauxbatons Academy of Magic in France, and possibly Durmstrang," he explained, not wishing to mention the possibility of the Triwizard Tournament just yet. "However, I need to send a staff member in advance to ensure the grounds are safe for our students. I would like you to go." He knew that Hagrid would take the job of protecting the students most seriously.
"If you are out of the country when the next attack happens, the Ministry will be forced to acknowledge that you are not the party responsible, my friend, and it will be an important first step in clearing your name. I will prove that I was correct about you to the Minister and, more importantly, to the school's governors. I doubt you wish to go to Azkaban whilst I try to find the true party responsible for these attacks," not mentioning he already knew Lord Malfoy was the one responsible for it.
"Headmaster, you asking me to run?" the groundskeeper asked.
"More like a tactical withdrawal, or repositioning," he answered, seeing his friend's brave Gryffindor nature shining through.
Resorting to his secret weapon, "It's just a temporary measure to buy time." After all, the 'heir' would either have to stop the attacks, and Hagrid would be out of the country and protected by his allies in France, or the attacks would continue, and his friend would be proven innocent. "And Olympe Maxime, the Headmistress, is a rather unique woman," remembering her towering frame.
"She's a half-giant like you, Hagrid," watching his friend's eyes light up like candles very big candles.
"Seriously?"
"Indeed, I think you would make a very good ambassador for Hogwarts in this case."
"What about the grounds?" Hagrid questioned.
He smiled at his friend's sense of duty and responsibility to the school. "The elves can handle it; besides, it's only till the end of the school year. Would you at least consider it for me, my old friend?" he asked, wanting to protect his most loyal friend.
...
Excitement filled the Great Hall as it was nearly time for the first Duelling Club meeting. Frankly, she didn't care much for it except to scout out her year-mates' strengths. Already she could hear students bragging of their prowess with their wands, most clearly lying. It reminded her greatly of their first-year flying lessons and how Draco had bragged of his skills with a broom, only to be immediately corrected by their flying instructor on something as fundamental as how to grip the broom.
That was Draco's biggest weakness, his ego and the seemingly unshakeable belief that he was better than everyone around him. That belief was ridiculous, of course, but Daphne wasn't going to point that out to him. She was sure that Harry would come to this meeting, to scout out his year-mates like her; it surprised her that he wasn't.
She examined the long duelling platform running down the middle of the Great Hall; this was clearly going to be used for demonstrations on duelling forms. It was odd; she expected the duelling platform to be more... grand.
Though she did like the colour scheme of it, midnight blue, with a moon phases cycle running down the middle of it. Very tasteful. Just then, their DADA professor marched in, dressed in his duelling outfit, his lavish cape flowing behind him, looking more like a hindrance than an advantage in a duel. She would have to ask Harry about it, since he duelled and trained with his cousin more hours a week than they had DADA lessons, even more so with Pettigrew after him.
"Gather round, people, gather round!" Lockhart pompously announced to the hall, clearly loving the limelight. She allowed herself to be taken with the crowd, intentionally positioning herself towards the back, but with a clear line of sight. "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me?" Lockhart preened, clearly enjoying himself.
Smiling, he started to pace the platform like the showman he really was. "Due to the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little Duelling Club, to train you up, just in case you ever need to defend yourself!" He ended his speech by throwing his cape into a group of fangirls, who started to fight over the garment.
'That explains the cape,' finally understanding why he brought it at all. 'I wonder if Lockhart will get back that cape, or will it disappear to one of the fangirl altars?'
"Now let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," gesturing to the other end of the platform where her ever-gloomy Head of House appeared, wand drawn and at the ready, taking everyone by surprise. "But don't worry; you'll have your Potions Master back after I'm done with him."
"Money on Snape," she said to the people around her, already knowing the Potions Master's history as a Death Eater and a skilled duellist.
Watching the professors go through the ritualistic motions of the duel, the pair paced back to their starting points. "One, two, three," the overconfident DADA teacher counted, clearly having no idea of Snape's past, otherwise, he wouldn't be so relaxed about the whole affair. "Expelliarmus!" Snape shouted, going instantly on the offensive by sending a powerful disarming charm at the other professor, the spell sent so quickly that their DADA teacher had no time to dodge or shield and got sent rocketing off the stage at the far end, where he was rapidly swarmed by his fans.
She quickly checked the audience for Harry, wondering just where he was to be missing this excellent bit of entertainment.
...
( Elsewhere in the Castle )
While the rest of the school was busy taking part in the Duelling Club, Harry was busy smuggling his guest into his dorm room. "Rita, don't you dare," he threatened, as Rita, in her ladybug form, crawled further down his top. "Don't make me swat you," getting annoyed at Rita's usual antics.
Climbing the steps to Ravenclaw Tower, he was soon standing outside the door. He checked the corridor to make sure that he was truly alone. "Now, Rita, I'm going to open the door, and I want you to fly inside." Seeing the bug take flight from his robes before hovering, waiting, "Pie..." opening the door and stepping in, whilst activating the ward by pressing a connecting control crystal in his pocket and gesturing for the bug to follow.
As Rita flew through the doorway, the door pulsed with a golden glow, and a web appeared out of nowhere, looking just like a spiderweb. The magical web started forming rapidly around the bug, anchoring it in the doorway by trapping the animagus in a tight web, before the magical web started wrapping itself around the bug, the holes between the web so small the web looked like it would crush Rita. The web pulsed several times around the bug before it stopped glowing, leaving just the humming web.
Checking the ward crystal that displayed the remaining power to the ward, he found that it was still going strong and had around 90% of its energy left after the capture. It was rapidly recharging, though, drawing on the magical energy in the air and reached its maximum power in less than a minute. Reaching into his pocket, he saw the connecting crystal control stone glowing, meaning the ward had been triggered by an animagus.
He smiled at his success. "Rita, try to transform back," he instructed, before seeing the web's glow flicker a couple of times before it stopped. Examining the magical web, he saw the ladybug was unmoving.
Tapping the control stone to deactivate the ward, Rita managed to morph back to her human form before collapsing unconscious in the doorway.
"Damn," he said, very impressed with the effectiveness of the ward. Looking over the unconscious animagus, 'I got you now, Peter,' he thought vindictively, already brainstorming where to rig future traps.
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