Pup,
It would seem that your relationship with that bug Skeeter has really paid off. She somehow managed to get around all of the roadblocks Dumbledore and his flock set up and has found quite a bit of evidence condemning Lockhart.
I must say, I am very impressed with her. I've sent a copy of her files to both Lucius and Amelia Bones, so hopefully the DMLE will be able to investigate and verify Skeeter's findings. With any luck, you won't have to suffer with the fool for much longer.
Me and Lucius, along with Severus, are having lunch tomorrow, so we will play our attack. Remember, don't do anything to draw the old coot's attention and look after yourself!
Love,
Pads
~
Satisfied that Lockhart would be dealt with soon, Harry turned his mind to his magi. Ever since opening the Chamber, he had visited Aithusia only twice; getting free time was hard for him, so he wasn't stretching and using a lot of magic. Ever since the block had been removed in his last life, Harry had found his magic was easier to react and call upon. However, at times it appeared almost sentient—it would react to simple things, passing thoughts, or ideas. Keeping his power under wraps was definitely becoming harder - his classes required little in the ways of mental stimulation or magical power, so he had a lot of power built up and masked behind his occlumency shields.
"You know my Lord, I'm sure Professor Flitwick would be happy to give you some extra Charms work," Luna said seemingly out of nowhere.
Harry tilted his head in consideration. Even the extra work wouldn't do much for his magic build up. "Thank you Little Moon, but I think I will be okay." "You should consider it my Lord, it could be like your remedial potions."
"I see," he said, surprised she had Seen something so specific about his old life. Usually Luna was vague in the visions she Saw and mostly relied more on feelings and intuition.
Harry was still secretly shocked at how accepting Luna was being. He hadn't mentioned Aithusia to his friends yet as he hadn't yet worked with them enough to introduce his darker ideas and wanted to build closer and stronger relationships before he started revealing more truths, but Luna seemed to be the exception.
He recognised that his friends were children and, although more mature than Ron and Hermione had been at that age, they were still young and naïve. Even his Slytherin friends, who would undoubtedly support his Darker tendencies, were still only children. Therefore, using Charms lessons would be a great excuse to go and visit the great snake and work his magic.
With this in mind, Harry excused himself and went to find the part goblin. After knocking on his office door, Harry was quickly called in.
"Good morning, Harrison," Flitwick greeted happily. He felt like he saw the boy much more clearly ever since the meeting in his office.
"Good morning, sir." "What can I do for you today?"
"I was wondering, sir, if you wouldn't mind being my excuse with my friends? I need time and space to work on using up and stretching my magic. I have somewhere to go where I am safe and can be alone, but I simply don't have the time or reason to leave my friends. I don't what them involved yet - they're still children, still innocent," Harry said.
The words about the innocence of children made Filius both profoundly sad and simultaneously angry. The fact that Harry couldn't count himself among them made him want to hex Dumbledore. "I don't see why not. What were you thinking?" "I was planning on saying I had Advanced Charms; it shouldn't be hard to pull off." He shrugged.
Filius smirked. Harry was once again at the top of his year by a large margin. "If they ask, I will back your story up."
Harry smiled. "Thank you, sir."
"How have you been anyway, Harrison?"
"I'm good, thank you. Sirius wrote to me today saying they had found some evidence of Lockhart being a fraud, so hopefully we won't have to deal with him for much longer. And the headmaster has left me alone since our meeting." "That's great. Dumbledore has been steering clear of me this week, he no longer asks for near daily updates."
Harry nodded and after a few more minutes of idle chat left his Head of House, happy he now had an excuse for disappearing.
~
Malfoy Manor Wiltshire, November 30th, 1992
Sunday
Sirius practically bounded through the floo connection to Malfoy Manor on Sunday. He had owled the files over to Lucius when he had received them and he wanted to know what the blond thought of them.
Barely holding his composure, Remus followed at a more sedate pace, arriving just in time to watch Sirius bound off through the doors in search of Lucius. He was glad at times like this that Harry was already mentally an adult as Sirius really could be a child.
Using his nose, Remus tracked Sirius through the manor into the informal sitting room. Entering he saw Lucius and Severus sitting in large lounge chairs while Sirius was bouncing on the spot in front of them.
"Did you inject him with sugar?" Severus said, eyeing Sirius with caution as if he was contagious or would explode at any moment.
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