Susan Bones sat on the wooden chair in one of the abandoned classrooms not far from Professor Dumbledore's office. Her aunt, Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had been in the castle today to deliver a statement declaring the results of Umbridge's trial. The horrible witch's guilt was a foregone conclusion. Not even her allies liked her. Her sentence was ten years in Azkaban, set that way due to mandatory sentencing laws for all cases involving Noble and Ancient Houses that, in a supremely ironic twist, the pink toad had pushed into legislation herself. After delivering such good news, Amelia was in such a good mood, she was more than happy to have a private lunch and chat with her niece.
As the older witch took her seat near her niece, Susan quickly rehearsed what she'd planned to say. None of it felt right, so she discarded the prepared speech wholesale, and simply began to talk. She was therefore the first student to receive the news of Umbridge's incarceration. The conversation turned to her life at school much more quickly than she'd hoped.
"So what have you been up to, dear?" her aunt queried. "Friends, classes, any problems? Or boys, that used to be a popular topic, I recall." As Susan blushed, Amelia chuckled.
"Auntie! Really! Nothing like that," the red-faced teenager said. "There is something I've done, well, me and a few friends have done. Have you heard of the Marauders?"
"Are those jackanapes still causing trouble? The membership must change over time then, they were causing quite the ruckus while I was at Hogwarts, and no-one really found out who they were." Amelia tapped her chin thoughtfully. "They were sort of heroes to some of us, mostly pranking bullies and bigots..." The look on her face as she let her voice trail off told Susan her aunt was reminiscing about something. She cleared her throat, bringing the older witch back to the present. "Sorry, yes, I've heard of them."
"How about the Order of the Phoenix," Susan asked.
"Dumbledore had a citizen's action group by that name in the last war, before Voldemort was killed. After that it was deemed unnecessary and disbanded," Amelia was getting quite curious now, it showed on her face. Susan knew her aunt, had she possessed the potential to be an animagus, would have been a panther, a combination of fierce hunter and playful cat. Alas, she didn't, although Amelia Bones had her own talents.
"Well, I know you won't have heard of this last one," the young red-head said quietly. "Recently, according to some, a group of students here have set up a group, not really organised or anything, just sharing a few beliefs and talents, and are calling themselves the Chaos of the Tigers." Taking a deep breath she took a risk. "They're all animagi."
You didn't get the job of being the head of the DMLE when you were a woman in a traditionally male profession without being at least twice as good a choice as the nearest male competition, and Madam Bones was particularly sharp. "You seem incredibly well-informed, Susan. Obviously they trust you, so why come to me with this?"
"Because Toggletrust says we can trust you, Auntie," Susan replied. As her aunt's eyebrow, the one without the monocle, rose towards her hairline, the young witch brought out a piece of parchment. "This is the names, both real and animagus, of the members of the Chaos. It's intended to be a sort of hidden register, so we, yes, I'm on there, too, have a sort of secret weapon until we need it, but someone in the political side of things can help us with avoiding the fines and prison time for being unregistered." Susan closed her eyes and waited. Luna had assured her this would be fine, that this course of action would help them. After she'd turned into one her 'imaginary' creatures, and after she'd announced Ginny to be another, she really wanted to believe her.
"Can you show me?" There was a soft clunk and Susan opened her eyes to see her aunt place a portable pensieve on the desk. There was only one memory that she knew had any chance of convincing her aunt. No-one else would have even gotten this far. Placing her wand to her temple, the red-head copied the memory of the impromptu induction ceremony. It was all or nothing. Fortunately, Sirius had not been in her field of vision for it, nor had he ever spoken during the spontaneously solemn scene.
Madam Bones watched the ceremony as Harry gave each new member their name, a general duty that seemed to be made for them, or that they seemed made for, it was hard to tell, and welcomed them. It was the section of ceremony pertaining to her beloved niece that had her full and undivided attention.
Harry had spoken with great dignity that would have seemed out of place were it not for his feline features. Nothing ruffled a cat's dignity, ever. "Susan Amelia Bones," he had said. "You are now Rumblerend. May you show us the way to strive our hardest, to never give up, to win regardless of the odds. Welcome to the Chaos." After that, the rest of the ceremony played out, but some of Amelia's mind was firmly committing Susan's face when her friend, whom the world had called the Boy-who-lived, had spoken of her task, to her own memory. As the induction ended, and she swirled back out of the memory, she raised her face to her niece, tears of pride brimming in her eyes. " I'll help you. Please, show me Rumblerend."
As Ron and Luna sat in one corner of the library, playing Wizard's Chess to a draw over and over again, each delighted to find someone who could challenge them, Neville paced, absently reading his Herbology text. Hermione sat in 'her' corner of the room, surrounded by several books on Arithmancy and Runes, all of which she was reading, referencing them to each other. Harry was scribing a rune onto one of the many tiles in his kit. The other 'Chaotics', as they'd dubbed themselves, were engaged in varying projects. Hermione closed her book, a simple action that immediately claimed Harry's attention.
Harry, I've got an idea, she mewled. I think I can create a functional runic system based in Felinarum. What do you think, is it worth it?
Harry thought for a moment. Better make that we can create it, Mai. Isn't that a Mastery-level project? We haven't even got our NEWTs in Ancient Runes yet. And then there's what we call it. I mean, it's definitely worth it, we'd have a written language no-one outside those we taught would have, but do you really think we can?
Hermione's nod sealed it for him. He grinned. "Let's do it then." Turning to the rest of the group, he made the announcement. "Hey, guys and girls, listen to this. Hermione and I have decided on our Ancient Runes project. We're going to invent a new rune system, specifically for the feline language." Casting his mind through some of the books he'd read, he came up with a name for it. "The Ailurin system," he finished.
Hermione smiled warmly. "Night with Moon?" she said. "Thank you for reading it, Harry." It had been the first fiction book she'd given him. He'd put aside the books her dad had given him to read, because she'd told him she enjoyed it.
Daphne spoke into the quiet that the announcement had caused. "You two don't think small, do you? Wait, was that what you were mewling about?" As the felines nodded, she put her fingers to her temple, massaging as if she had a headache. "That'll teach me not to jump to conclusions. Even with the time she's missed due to their 'adventures', Hermione's still the top student of our year," She thought, "and Harry can't be that far behind, or I doubt she'd be his friend."
Hermione settled in next to Harry, calculating the Arithmantic formulae for her new runes, with Harry figuring out how the formulae applied to each rune's shape and effect. It was then that Susan arrived, and Luna looked up from her game with Ron.
"All good," the red-headed Hufflepuff declared. "Aunt Amelia said she'd hold our registry until it was needed, and the registration fees have gone through. We're allfree and clear on that front." She smiled. "She really likes Rumblerend for some reason..."
Harry nodded, as Hermione continued working. "Then it's time for the next stage. Daphne, can you do the honours? We really need to deal with that carcass, and I think a number of sets of Basilisk-hide clothes would be a wonderful thing for the Chaos. Almost a uniform if you will."
Daphne grinned. "I think we'll keep most of the 'fresh' hide for ourselves," she said. "We can still get plenty for the sheddings. That and the venom are probably going to be the best money-makers, and we'll hold back most of that. And the organs can be sold, lots of uses for those. Maybe sell the meat to the goblins?"
Harry thought for a moment, as Padfoot entered the room, much to Mrs Pince's dismay, although the black dog apparently had the utmost respect for the books (which he'd attributed to the caring guidance, and very heavy bookbag, of one Lily Potter, nee Evans). "No," the emerald-eyed catboy stated. "We'll give them some of the meat, as a gift between potential allies. That should give us some good reputation amongst them, tell them how much we value them. But we ask for nothing. Then when they ask where it came from, we can reveal the source and offer to let them buy it."
Sirius shifted back to his human form in a concealed nook, where no-one walking by could spot him casually. "That's pretty good strategy, Harry. Where'd you learn that trick?"
"Gripsack and Twist," the feline replied. Harry, and Hermione too, just couldn't get over the way the legal team's names made most people flinch in sympathy. "Gripsack taught us some of the more common points of goblin negotiation etiquette as part of our consultations. Seems to have come in handy."
Hermione had been paying attention with some of her mind as she finished the calculations for the first Ailurin rune: Akhet, three diagonal lines, crossed by three more. The resulting lattice made a good framework to attach other runes to, and the meaning she'd assigned to it, harmony, resulted in a rune to allow those runes to work together. "Harry," she interrupted the ongoing dialogue behind her, "can you inscribe this on a stone? I'm not sure what to use as an activating agent."
As Daphne left for the owlery, in order to make arrangements for the rendering of the basilisk, Harry turned to his mate. "How about like this?" Using his own claws, charged with the acidic venom that they possessed, he swiped twice at the stone,, lightly, but empowering the strikes with his own magic. As he retracted his claws, everyone could feel the rune's power, almost singing to them, asking them to work together, like a pride of lions on the hunt.
Amelia Bones looked down at the small calling card in her hand, then to the caged, and rather frantic, rat on her desk. The card read simply "To Madam Bones, head of the DMLE, Greetings. We of the Chaos of the Tigers support your work in the quest for justice in a system that seems determined to stamp it out. To that end we present you with a gift: the rat in this cage is an unregistered animagus. The cage is unbreakable, and the lock is keyed to the blood in the vial with this card." Said vial was at the opposite end of her desk from the cage. "We believe you will need veritaserum to get any believable answers from this person, as he has fooled a great many people for a long time. His answers, once they can be assured to be true, should help you in a case you have recently opened. It is our pleasure to be of service, Amber and Emerald." the signatures of every member of the Chaos, including Moony and Padfoot followed. There was even a pawprint for Toggletrust, beneath which her name was neatly written. Shaking her head as she grinned like a Cheshire Cat, Amelia Bones threw open her door.
"Shacklebolt!" she roared. "Get me Tonks and Moody! One of our cases may have just broken!"
Draco Malfoy stepped out of the floo into the Durmstrang entrance hall. He strode with the air of a new lordling, certain of his dominance over all he surveyed. The first girl he ordered to fetch the headmaster punctured that belief, and finding out that he was responsible for his own gear shredded it. Learning that there were no house-elves in the austere, almost classically Spartan castle that served as the school was another blow to Draco's ego, discovering he couldn't bribe others to do his chores for him was worse. Determined that his father would hear of this, he then found that he had not earned the privilege of using a school owl. It would be a long year for Draco Abraxus Malfoy...