"You're an animagus." Pomona Sprout stated as she emerged from a small alcove between plants and Neville flinched slightly, then nodded. "What are you, out of interest? I've never seen an animal with four hands before."
"I'm an Orang-utan." Neville said with a slight shrug. "It's a type of ape, very strong."
"And with four hands, it would certainly make it easier to deal with certain plants." Professor Sprout nodded. "I take it you hadn't realised that I was in here when you began trimming the vines?"
Neville nodded in agreement. "I thought you were in greenhouse seven when we arrived and since you always ask me to help trim things, I thought I'd get a head start."
"You did a good job." Pomona nodded as she looked at the freshly-tamed plant, then she frowned. "We?"
Neville winced, then tried to move to block one of the archways into the side wing, only for Pomona to nip past him and come to a sudden stop.
"A tiger lounging in the sunlight while reading a book." She stated in a flat voice. "Miss Granger, I presume?"
Nevelle leaned to look past Professor Sprout and caught Hermione transforming back into her human form.
"How did you know?" She asked and Pomona smirked.
"Lord Potter is a white dog, Neville here is an… orange-tan?"
"Orang-utan." Neville corrected.
"…and Miss Lovegood is a large bird." Pomona continued, giving Neville a nod of gratitude. "Therefore, the tiger was going to be either you or Miss Weasley and Miss Weasley isn't as eager to read as you are."
Hermione and Neville looked at each other and Pomona chuckled.
"Oh, feel free to use your animal shapes here whenever you want. In fact, I think I'll talk to that young rapscallion Black about becoming an Animagus myself."
"You may need to speak to Headmistress McGonogall as well." Hermione offered. "For the ritual, at least."
Pomona nodded. "A good point, dear. Five points to Ravenclaw… and I have to ask. Who did you do the ritual with? I know it wasn't Minnie and I can't think of any other female animagi in the area…"
"Harry helped us via his family magic." Neville supplied before Hermione could say anything. "The Potters have a ritual which allows them to attain animagi skills without the need for anyone else to participate, although it does require a great deal of preparation and stored magic.
Pomona frowned in thought, then shrugged. "Well, you three are close as siblings, it's no surprise he'd share it with you. I hope you thanked him."
"We did." Hermione replied, then she gave the professor a pleading look. "Please don't tell anyone…"
"Tell anyone what, my dear?" Pomona laughed. "Neville, you finish up while I go talk to Black. I wonder what my form will be?"
As Pomona bustled off, Hermione leaned close to Neville.
"I think we were lucky." She whispered.
"Very." Neville replied, just as quietly. "I wonder what Harry will say when we tell him?"
"I think he'll laugh." Hermione mused. "But at least I don't need to find a new place to sunbathe."
Neville rolled his eyes, then rippled back into his animal form. Pausing only to grab the shears with one foot, he swung back up into the rafters.
.
.
"My Lord?"
Voldemort looked up from the desk where he was writing something in a folder. "Ah, Draco. Welcome. Please, come in."
"Thank you, my Lord." Draco bowed as he stepped into Voldemort's office/bedroom. "My Lord… if I may ask…?"
"This?" Voldemort motioned to the collected sheets of parchment on his desk. "In order to rule successfully, one must prepare carefully. Gellert and I spent much of the voyage over debating the laws that we will put into place, laws that will create a society that raises the pure to where they deserve to be as well as providing enough protection to the others that they do not simply depart for foreign shores. Consider what would happen if all the Muggleborn and Halfbloods left."
Draco frowned in concentration. "There would be no more attempts to usurp the Purebloods…"
"Think economically." Voldemort prompted.
"The Purebloods would take over running all the shops?"
"Why would they?" Voldemort countered. "They are, after all, Purebloods. Of superior breeding and thus not to be expected to sully their hands in such things as mere retail. Assuming that they actually had the correct skillset for the jobs in question, that is…"
Draco's eyes widened in horrified realization. "Our society would collapse!"
"It would. And quite dramatically, too." Voldemort confirmed. "The lower classes are like sickles and knuts. They are beneath notice… right up to the point where you do not have enough of them, whereupon it becomes vital that you encourage them to thrive if you wish to avoid a very painful future in poverty."
"I… hadn't considered that." Draco sounded shaken.
"Neither did I… in the days before." Voldemort admitted ruefully. "It is rather ironic, though. Much of my planned re-organisation of Wizarding Society was originally proposed by none other than Albus Dumbledore himself."
Draco's eyes widened.
"Oh, it's true." Voldemort chuckled. "Back when Albus was barely out of school, he befriended a visitor, a charismatic young man. The two of them became close friends and lovers… until they had an argument which escalated into spellfire. When the spells stopped flying, Albus' sister was dead and Albus swore that he would oppose his former lover. They faced off against each other several times, but when they last fought, Dumbledore won and imprisoned his former lover in the very prison that he had made and from which I rescued him."
"Gellert Grindlewald… was… Dumbledore's…?" Draco sounded shocked.
"It is said that great men instinctively seek each other out, Draco. Gellert sought Dumbledore… I sought Gellert and you sought me. Once we have rebuilt Wizarding Britain to be how it should be, I would be honored if you will accept an apprenticeship. I look forwards to seeing you become all that which you can be."
"I… I thank you, my Lord…" Draco finally managed.
"Now, though, we must move to more mundane matters. Have you the most recent plans of Hogwarts as I requested?"
Draco reached into his robes and pulled out several sheets of tightly-rolled parchment. "I have them here, my Lord."
"And in return, here are medallions to protect you and those who are still loyal to our cause. They are inactive now, but when the time comes, they shall allow you to cast spells when no others may. You will know the time when it arrives."
"I will, my Lord?"
"You will. Trust me on that."
.
The door closed behind Draco as he headed back to Hogwarts via the Vanishing Cabinet and Voldemort's benevolent smile turned into a sneer.
"Draco, Draco, Draco." He sighed, shaking his head. "So easy to manipulate. You never paid attention to your parents lessons, did you? All that breeding, all that potential, wasted. Still, when it is time for me to abandon this body, you shall by then be a perfect host. I shall ensure that."
Unrolling the parchment, he laid them out on his desk, then he pulled out another folder from the desk drawer and opened it.
"As I thought… the corridor to the Wardstone hasn't moved…"
.
"…time for me to abandon this body, you shall be a perfect host. I shall ensure…"
The short-lived monitoring spell faded and Draco frowned as he climbed into the Vanishing Cabinet to return to Hogwarts.
"So, you would usurp me?" He muttered to himself. "But there are ways to catch a ghost, my Lord. I shall learn all I can from you, but I will be ready for that day and I shall take your name for myself as you are imprisoned forever."
.
Gellert stroked his chin thoughtfully as he pondered what he had just heard via his own monitoring spells.
Perhaps young Malfoy could be more than a mere pawn. He was getting old and an apprentice would be useful.
But how to alert the young Lordling to the threat he faced without tipping Voldemort off?
This would require a great deal of thought.
Gellert turned back to inscribing runes into the helmet on the desk in front of him.
He still had time to consider the actions he had to take and the helmets would not prepare themselves.
.
.
"You have got to be kidding." Harry looked at Sirius pleadingly. "Please tell me you're kidding me!"
Harry's godfather looked back at him with a straight face, then despite all his best efforts, a corner of his mouth twitched.
"You complete and utter…" Harry's cut-off curse was enough to finish the job and Sirius fell off his chair, howling with laughter.
"What did he do this time?" Remus asked as he entered the Sirius' office.
"Told me that thanks to several documents my dad signed, I was going to have a harem." Harry half-growled as Sirius grinned up at him.
"Well, you don't. Lily would have castrated him had he tried." Remus chuckled and Harry made a show of wiping his brow in relief, causing Sirius to crack up again.
"So, what brings you here, Moony?" Sirius finally managed to ask. "Schoolwork or Black stuff?"
"Schoolwork, sort of." Remus made his way over to the filing cabinet and opened one of the drawers. "Most of the teachers are asking about the Animagi course you're running and how to get forms of their own."
Sirius paled. "Oh hell! Erm, Harry, you are dealing with Severus! We may not be enemies, but there's no way I want to be naked in the same room as him!"
"He's not interested." Remus countered and Sirius looked at him in surprise. "His exact words were, and I quote, I am perfectly content with who and what I am. Even if I were not, there is no way that I would wish to be anywhere near a naked Sirius Black, even for the purposes of an enhancement ritual."
"Well, at least that means I still have one skill he doesn't." Sirius grinned. "I'll be happy to help with the ladies, though."
"Yeeah… no." Remus shook his head. "Headmistress McGonogall has already stated that she would deal with empowering the females who wish to be Animagi."
Sirius drooped and Remus shook his head as he duplicated several sheets of parchment before returning the originals to their folders.
"You said most of the teachers." Harry pointed out. "Who else, apart from Professor Snape, wasn't interested?"
"Filius, Hagrid, Binns and Filch." Remus said as he conjured a folder for the papers. "Filius and Hagrid are both halfbreeds, their nature prevents them learning how to be Animagi. Binns… I'm not even sure he understood what I was talking about but since he's a ghost… and Argus Filch doesn't have enough magic to perform the change."
"What exactly does he do?" Harry asked curiously. "I mean, the House Elves deal with most of the stuff around Hogwarts, right?"
Sirius opened his mouth, then paused. "Good point. Moony, what does Filch do?"
Remus tucked the folder under his arm as he organised his thoughts.
"His primary task is to patrol Hogwarts after curfew since House-elves are incapable of confronting students. He does do some cleaning and general maintenance, but he also acts as the purchasing agent for the things that Hogwarts needs from the Muggle world. Wizards and Witches would be less capable since they generally don't understand the Muggle world at all, especially Muggle money, and would end up paying far too much for the few things required."
"Huh." Sirius managed. "So he does have a purpose other than terrorising the kids."
Remus gave him a brief glare as he left and Harry grinned.
"So, did you just call me here to pull that harem prank, or was there a real reason?"
.
.
"Jor-El?" Luna asked as she popped out of the Switching Room, a staff slightly longer than she was tall held in her hands.
"Good evening, Miss Lovegood." Jor-El materialised and bowed in welcome. "How may I be of assistance?"
Luna held out the length of wood, the deep crack running half the length of it visible and exposing several strands of a silvery material inside. "I was hoping you could find a way to fix this and add a blade to the end so I could use it."
"I am detecting a magic-resonance from this object." Jor-El noted and Luna nodded.
"It belonged to my grandmother, but it got damaged when she and Dumbledore faced off against Grindlewald. She was never able to repair it, but since you can do lots of stuff…?"
Luna's voice trailed off hopefully as the staff rose from her hands.
"I shall see what I can do, Miss Lovegood."
"Thank you! Oh, Jor-El, do you know if it's possible to do a partial animagus transformation?"
"May I ask what the purpose of such an action would be?"
Luna grinned.