The Secret Society Chapter 33

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“Hello!”

“Yes. Hello, Harry.”

Harry stared between Lovegood and Thompson with some unease. After the latter had surprised him in the owlery, it was apparent they were closer than it seemed at first glance.

“Do you mind if I talk to Thompson alone for a little bit?” Harry asked Lovegood, shifting slightly as she smiled at him like he had done something she approved of. He still didn’t know what made Lovegood tick but didn’t doubt she had some sort of an idea.

“Okay,” Luna smiled, “Good luck, Emma. I’ll send you copies of the Quibbler when you settle down.”

Harry watched her leave around the corner before shaking his head. One of these days, he would try to figure out what was different about her, that today was not that day.

He turned his attention to Thompson and said, “It’s ready. We should leave as soon as possible.”

“Alright,” Emma nodded, “Let’s go.”

“You’re already packed?” Harry raised his eyebrow when she patted her pocket as if that was supposed to mean something to him. He assumed that she had some sort of sprinted trunk or something similar. Since he wasn’t Thompson’s keeper, her word was enough.

“Very well,” Harry glanced around, ensuring the hallway was still empty, “Follow me. We’ll be going to Hogsmeade and flooing from there.”

As he led to the destination, he discreetly glanced at her multiple times, marveling at how changed she was with only one night with the Sorrow Stone. While it wasn’t at the level of looking happy, Thompson no longer seemed to be thinking of ending her life as an escape.

Harry took a mental step back, discarding his habit of looking at Thompson as a target, and looked over her actions with as unbiased of a view as possible.

It was… eye-opening.

Emma Thompson might be the most mentally strong person he knew personally. Being able to trudge through life with such pain on a day-to-day basis was almost miraculous, to say the least. Of course, this new appreciation of the witch immediately brought up more possibilities.

Perhaps it was better to plan for something more long-term with her. It would restrict him from some actions that he wished to take outside of Hogwarts since Thompson might not be able to return from such a task, but there are other ways to get it done.

Harry shook his head when they walked into the Three Broomsticks. That would be something to worry about when Thompson didn’t look like a strong gust would break her down.

He stood in front of the fireplace, amused that something that could be easily used to leave Hogwarts was so unprotected. Then again, if Harry didn’t know that Dumbledore was out of the castle until tonight, he would have never been so relaxed.

“Read this,” Harry handed Thompson a piece of paper, enjoying the look of confusion that appeared on her face as she did. He imagined Dumbledore saw this when he revealed the secret of Grimmauld Place to Harry.

“That will be the destination. Take the floo first, and then I’ll follow.”

Harry waited for Thompson to say the destination clearly, nodding after she disappeared in a burst of green fire. At least that confirmed to him that nobody was snooping in. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to reveal the secret. Immediately after, Harry followed, but not before casting Muffliato, just to be sure.

“Etherwynd Place!” Harry winced as he was pulled into the floo network and stumbled out at the exit. He was thankful that Thompson was too busy looking around the house to notice his clumsiness. He quickly vanished the soot before she noticed, thanking the fidelius for stopping the ability of the Ministry to track magic.

“Is it to your liking?” After a few seconds without a reply, Harry continued, "You can use magic inside the property without discovery.”

“I like it.”

Harry waited for her to say anything else, but he should have known that was the end of it. Thompson wandered off to explore on her own, and that was perfectly fine with him. Harry went over the things that she would need, the things that he would need to deliver, and it suddenly gave him a massive headache.

He would need to figure out how to do this without having to visit too often. The most obvious solution would be finding a traceless wand that Thompson could use. There were a surprising number of those in the Room, but it would be tricky to find one that would be a match.

“Thank you.”

Harry blinked, seeing Thompson standing in front of him again. Just as well, he should be leaving as soon as possible to avoid getting caught, or more importantly, ‘fall’ into the ambush planned by Warrington.

Bringing Sinclair along to meet Archibald Thistledown had paid off handsomely. The resource-starved witch had gladly turned on Warrington’s group, not that Harry thought he would have fallen into their rather pathetic trap even if he didn’t know about it beforehand.

“Why are you staring at me?”

Harry blinked again, realizing he had been looking at Thompson’s face for too long. “Just thinking of what I need to bring you so your studies won’t be disturbed.”

“Studies?” Emma repeated with a strange look, “You’re going to actually help me more than this?”

Harry gave her a look that silently told he found that question even stranger. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t? Not only would it be cruel for me to stop you from bettering yourself, but I also like my friends to be competent.”

“… Oh.”

Harry nodded briskly, ignoring the vulnerable look that flashed on Thompson’s face. After the disaster with Hermione, he had no intention of blundering through another self-created mess with a witch that he thought was emotional. He no longer trusted himself to read it correctly.

Something he would need to fix, of course.

Still, Harry trusted himself enough to get in the good graces of whatever student he targeted. He might see Thompson differently, but if she thought he was a poor sap that was kind to her purely for kindness's sake, it would be just fine with him.

“Before I leave, you should know that the Greengrass Family might be on the lookout for you. You can leave the house if you wish, but it would be safer to wait until I can get you a new wand.”

Harry waited for Thompson to nod before continuing, “I left a notebook in the study that connects directly to one I own in Hogwarts. If you need anything urgently, that is the best way to contact me.”

“I will.”

Harry soon said his farewells and returned to the Three Broomsticks, happy that the contract with Greengrass was over and done with. He quickly covered himself with his cloak and made his way into Hogwarts.

While this opened him to some retribution for his accusation against Davis, Harry suspected something overt wouldn’t be heading his way.

Greengrass doesn’t do peace offerings, which is what she did by speaking to him about Davis. Of course, that wasn’t to say he would be let entirely off the hook. It wasn’t out of the question that Greengrass knew exactly what Warrington had planned but kept all mention of it from him as a form of payback by inaction.

It was too bad that the little ambush would fail. That wasn’t to say it was a bad plan, but the ring on his finger would make the attempt laughable.

Warrington had hired Sinclair to cast a strong befuddlement ward in an area Harry would have to pass to reach the Slytherin common room. They knew he had a way to travel discreetly, so the whole thing hinged on Harry audibly collapsing so they knew he was there.

Again, not the worst idea, but it was a little too late. The plan following Harry's capture was a little scandalous. Still, he supposed that repressed purebloods projected their insecurities to avoid accepting that they are what they hate.

Harry planned to be kinder to them. While they would number five foolish wizards, being invisible would be enough to thin that number down to one or two. Then he would make it look like what he had done to Malfoy as kind.

Harry reached the end of the secret passageway leading into Hogwarts and casually opened the door, not expecting anyone to be waiting on the other side since this area of the castle rarely got any use.

With a speed that surprised even Harry, he quickly moved aside to dodge a crackling red spell shoot past him.

“You get the little shite?”

Harry’s eyes widened at hearing Warrington’s voice, wondering how in the fresh hell the boy knew how someone was using the passageway. And if Sinclair had lied to him somehow.

Of course, the latter couldn’t be possible since his contract with her would only be active if she believed it was true. It was far more likely that Harry underestimated Warrington, and he had already planned for the ambush location to be known.

The befuddlement ward might have been a red herring to throw Harry off. It made him want to tip his hat to his fellow Slytherin.

“I think so. He hasn’t moved.”

“Well, go check! Why are you talking to me about it?”

Harry’s eyebrows had been climbing higher and higher with every word, his alarm growing at them somehow knowing his exact spot. Since they thought he had successfully been stunned, so be it. He would stand still and wait for them to come at him.

It would be interesting to see how long it would take the staff to find this group after he dumped them in the secret passageway without their wands.

Harry’s fingers squeezed his wand as he held it free from the cloak, reading to act at a moment's notice. That was a good thing since whoever Warrington told to check on him decided the best way to enter the passageway was to swing the entrance open as wide as it could possibly go.

He immediately flicked his wand, ignoring the screech from the boy as he was summoned at a dangerous speed toward Harry, who made another slight movement to redirect the boy up, so he flew at full speed into the stone wall.

Harry ignored the sickening crunch of bones trying to have a fight with stone and losing horribly. He had already forgotten about that boy and was entirely focused on dodging the two spells shot at him.

Harry noticed that there were only two more people for him to take down, including Warrington. He had no intention of letting a weaker opponent throw potshots at him while trying to duel someone much stronger.

He first tried the summoning charm, which the boy was smart enough to counter. Unfortunately, that brief mistake was enough for Warrington to take the advantage.

Harry was already struggling to keep the cloak on his body as he was pushed deeper into the secret passageway. He would love to say that this was planned, but he was actually in dire straits, especially when Warrington’s spellfire was joined by another.

Harry grunted after a spell barely missed his face, letting him feel the heat under the cloak as it passed him by. It might not have landed a direct hit, but the debris that exploded off the wall after the spell landed found the back of Harry’s head.

He recognized that this couldn’t go on for much longer and put all his hopes on a basic spell that could save him from his inevitable fate if this continued.

“Lumos Maxima!” Harry cried out while squeezing his eyes closed just in time.

When he heard both his attackers curse loudly, he snapped his eyes open and roared, “Bombarda!”

Even though Warrington was momentarily blinded, he still had the awareness to throw up a shield to protect himself. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t get targeted. Harry assumed that was precisely what he was going to do.

The other boy wasn’t as lucky. Harry had never thrown such an uncontrolled exploding spell, especially while filled with murderous rage. There was a reason that Professors were harsh when dealing out punishments related to students using the exploding charm on one another.

Harry flinched when the boy let out an ear-splitting scream when the exploding charm did as its name suggested. It exploded his arm into a shower of red mist.

“What the fuck, Potter?!” Warrington roared in rage when he was able to see what had happened, “Are you mad?!”

Harry might have been feeling squeamish about what he had done, but his expression showed none of it. “And where do you think you’re going?”

Warrington had moved closer to the still-wailing Slytherin. “I’m going to get him to the hospital wing, you mad bastard!”

“Right,” Harry shot a stunner at the boy, making Warrington throw another shield to instinctively protect himself. “That’s better. Quiet again.”

“You really are a nutter,” Warrington muttered, not daring to blink as he stared at Harry.

“Should have thought of that before trying to ambush me,” Harry let a slow smile grow on his face, “We both know how this will end. The only reason you had a chance of winning against me was another wand I had to watch out for.”

“We’ll see,” Warrington tried to be brave, but Harry could tell otherwise.

The rest of the ‘duel,’ if it could be called that, was anticlimactic. A few spells to disrupt Warrington’s vision, some well-placed exploding charms to take out his hearing and cause distraction from flying debris, and Harry had won after a stunning charm.

He took deep breaths and considered what to do with the three Slytherins. A memory charm was mandatory, but something more had to be done. Still, it couldn’t go far enough that Dumbledore might find objection to it after seeing it in Harry’s mind.

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