Chapter Fifteen: Deceivers Deceived
Jeanette Weasley tossed her white-blonde hair as she pranced down the hallway, eager to return to the Ravenclaw common room where she could share her news. As the third daughter of Bill and Fleur Weasley, Jeanette sometimes felt like just another Weasley in a castle full of them. Granted, she was the most attractive one in the school since her older sisters had finished already, but her seventh year should be the most exciting and memorable, and not for having a psychotic murderer lose in the school. Finally, things were going her way; after months of vying for his attention, Frank Longbottom had finally noticed her; she had been studying late in the library, hoping he would look up and notice her brushing her beautiful hair away from her face as she held an attractively contemplative expression over her book. She hadn’t actually expected him to get up and join her, much less spend an hour talking to her and finally asking her to go to the next Hogsmeade weekend with him. Of course, as the most popular boy in the school, she certainly deserved him. Now it was late, certainly past curfew, but she was practically floating as she imagined the unbelieving shrieks of her dorm-mates as she revealed her news. Her distracting thoughts kept her from noticing one of the shadows in the hallway detach from the wall and loom in front of her. She didn’t even know something was wrong before she fell to the floor, unconscious.
***
“Sirius, we’ve got trouble!” Lee shouted as he grabbed his wand. He had been watching the Marauder’s Map for the last hour, and had just seen a second student join Jeanette in the corridor.
Sirius was at his side in a flash, examining the map in excitement and apprehension, the other three Weasleys following close behind. Sirius’ mouth dropped open in shock when he read the label next to his cousin’s.
“I guess that shouldn’t be as much of a surprise as it is, but I wouldn’t have thought it of him,” Jack said disbelievingly.
They all grabbed onto Sirius as quick as they could, and were in the hallway in the next instant.
Sirius immediately threw a stunning spell, though it was deflected as Thomas Nott threw up a shield and began hurling curses of his own. Brian went immediately to see to Jeanette while the rest of his brothers joined Sirius in fighting Nott. He did uncharacteristically well, better than the others had ever seen him, but to Sirius and Chris, who had battled the shadowed student in the hallway, it was merely confusing. In a manner of seconds, Nott lay in an unconscious heap on the floor, stunned simultaneously by both Chris and Jack.
“She’s just stunned,” Brian informed them then, to everyone’s relief. “Maybe he was just trying to pull some kind of prank.”
“I don’t believe that,” Sirius said viciously, though he doubted that Nott was the same student he had encountered before, and he told his cousins so.
“Yeah, he was pretty pathetic compared to the other guy,” Chris agreed. “What do we do now?”
They all jumped in surprise when another voice joined them. “What are you lot doing here? What’s going on?”
Tonks walked into the hallway with her usual confidence, though her scowl was definitely intimidating.
“We just caught Nott attacking Jeanette,” Brian said quickly. “We showed up and he fought us, so we had to stun him.”
“He attacked…” Tonks began, but the implications quickly became apparent and she wasted no further time.
“Incarcerous!” she shouted, sending ropes shooting from her wand that wrapped firmly around Nott’s body. “Ennervate!”
Nott, standing between two of the Weasleys, immediately looked around in disgust. “Get away from me immediately, you filthy blood traitors.”
“What were you doing here tonight, Mr. Nott,” Tonks interrupted harshly. “You were caught attacking another student, and the way things are right now, that certainly doesn’t look good for you. What were you planning on doing?”
No one was expecting the answer they got. “I was planning on leaving her mangled corpse for her traitorous family to find,” Nott said with a self-satisfied sneer. “It seems that people aren’t going to believe that Sirius is the murderer anymore, so I might as well enjoy killing the mudbloods and blood traitors instead of wasting my time with the likes of Timothy McFarren. You have no idea how satisfying it was to beat the stuffing out of that idiot of a Head Boy…”
“Silencio!” Tonks said, understanding that Nott was going to get himself killed if he kept talking, judging by the murderous looks her was getting from the other students present.
“We need to take this to the Headmaster,” Tonks said decisively, and the others were quick to agree. “Brian, take Jeanette to the hospital wing and then join us at the Headmaster’s Office. The rest of you, follow me.”
It turned out that the Headmaster wasn’t in his office, so Tonks left Sirius and the others watching Nott while she went to find him. Brian joined them well before Tonks got back, and they sat discussing the situation while Nott glared at them furiously, still unable to speak.
“Why would he just admit it?” Lee asked, receiving only looks as confused as his own in response. “He could have just said he was pulling a prank and since Jeanette was only stunned we couldn’t have proved anything.”
“There’s definitely something wrong with all of this,” Sirius agreed. “But I really don’t think we should say anything else in front of Nott.”
Sirius had been studying the shifty-eyed Slytherin intently and there was something odd about him, though Sirius couldn’t put his finger on it.
Finally, Tonks returned with Headmaster Shacklebolt and Ron and Hermione Weasley as well. Ron immediately took hold of Nott and all of them were ushered into the Headmaster’s Office, where Nott was placed on a chair in the middle of the room and questioned in detail. Once again, he was all too willing to explain that he had been behind everything, and even launched into detailed descriptions of how he had carried out the attacks.
While everyone else in the room soon scowled angrily at the young Slytherin, Sirius was still not convinced. He reached out tentatively with his Legilimency, taking care to make sure Nott wasn’t aware of his intrusion. It was subtle at first, but the deeper Sirius got, the more he could sense another presence in Nott’s mind. Suddenly Sirius was completely inside Nott’s mind, and he could hear the other voice.
“Tell them how you did it,” a sly voice intoned over and over again, and Sirius realized then that Nott’s mind was not currently his own.
He looked around at the adults in the room, suddenly suspicious and wary of any possible deception, Polyjuice Potion foremost among them. The quadruplets were easy to trust; he’d been with them all evening and he knew their minds well enough that he would have known instantly if one of them were a fraud. Tonks was his first suspicion, since she had shown up before the others. Distracted as she was, however, she was an easy target for his Legilimency and he knew at once that she wasn’t the source of the voice. Sirius quickly confirmed that no one in the room was anything other than they appeared to be, and came to the only available conclusion.
He’s under the Imperius Curse, he said to himself, though his elation at figuring this out was short lived; they were no closer to finding the real murderer. Still, Sirius kept his mouth shut, determined not to say anything while Nott could hear him.
Finally, Nott’s incredibly incriminating confession wound to a close, and everyone paused for a while, looking at him in shock while he looked around the room smugly, obviously not ashamed of his actions in the slightest.
“Well, it is certainly satisfying to know who is responsible,” Shacklebolt said sternly after a moment. “Now, how did the five of you know he was attacking again?”
Sirius wasn’t about to let his cousins say anything while Nott could here.
“Stupify!” he shouted quickly, before any of the others could answer, taking some satisfaction in watching Nott slump forward in the chair, completely unconscious.
“Sirius?!” several of the adults shouted in unison, shocked at what he had done.
“Come on, Sirius,” Lee said angrily, “We all wanted to curse him, but any of us could have done a lot better than just stunning him.”
“He’s under the Imperius Curse,” Sirius said, ignoring their surprise. “He’s being ordered to take the blame, but it wasn’t him. Nott wasn’t the one Chris and I battled before, and quite frankly I don’t think he’s brave enough to try anything like this, and he’s certainly not smart enough to keep from getting caught.”
“How could you possibly know that, Sirius?” Ron asked quickly.
“He used Legilimency, Ron. He’s just like Harry was at the beginning of our seventh year; he knows entirely too much for his own good,” Hermione said wryly. “I imagine it was you who was in and out of my mind before I could stop you?”
Sirius’ guilty look was answer enough, and the adults all looked at Sirius with new respect; Hermione was renowned as one of the most powerful Legilimens and her Occlumency was just as strong. If Sirius was getting in, even if Hermione was distracted, he was better than any had given him credit for, despite the fact that they had been very generous with their credit.
“So we don’t truly know anything,” Shacklebolt said quickly, and everyone’s heart dropped again. They had all wanted to believe Nott.
“But whoever the murderer is, they’re convinced we think it’s Nott now. We can make a show out of declaring we know who it is, and keeping Nott out of school for the next several weeks. Then we can make a show out of letting our guard down and possibly flush out the real killer,” Sirius said quickly, outlining the plan he had come up with once he knew that Nott was actually innocent.
The Weasley quadruplets nodded enthusiastically, though Ron, Tonks, and Shacklebolt looked on in awe.
“We’ll be keeping an opening for you in the Auror department, Sirius. Until then, I like this plan,” Tonks said wholeheartedly, causing Sirius to blush in embarrassment.
“He’d do as well as his dad, I think,” Ron agreed.
“Well, you’ll have to take Nott, then,” Hermione told Tonks quickly. “Since he’s innocent, he’ll need to be kept up on his studies, and in the interest of his safety, we need to get him free from the Curse.”
“We have a room in the Department of Mysteries that will cut him off from any external influence,” Ron said quickly. “I think we’ll be able to pull it all off without letting our unsuspecting deceiver know we’re on to his game.”
“I still want to know how you knew that Nott was attacking your cousin,” Shacklebolt said quickly, interrupting more plans. “It seems very surprising that you always seem to know where the trouble is going to be.”
Sirius looked at his four companions, and took comfort in the fact that none of them would talk either.
Ron was watching carefully, though, and surmised the truth.
“They’ve got the Marauder’s Map,” he said shrewdly, and Sirius barely kept from wincing.
“Harry wouldn’t give them the Map,” Hermione said dismissively.
“Just like he was going to turn it in instead of keeping it himself?” Ron asked with a laugh.
“I just don’t think Harry would give them the Map, Ron. They’re only fourth years. It would be irresponsible to give it to them. You’ll be saying he gave them his invisibility cloak next,” Hermione retorted.
“Maybe he did,” Ron responded, getting upset that she was dismissing his ideas. “He was a first year when he got the cloak, and a third year when he got the Map. Besides, Sirius could have just taken it without asking. Harry hasn’t used either in years.”
“What is this map we’re talking about?” Shacklebolt asked before Ron and Hermione could start one of their famous arguments.
“It’s a map of Hogwarts that shows every single passageway and every single person on the grounds all of the time,” Hermione explained. “Harry’s dad made it with Professor Lupin and Sirius Black when they were in school, and Fred and George found it and gave it to Harry when he was in school.”
“Why haven’t you gotten it from Harry before now,” Shacklebolt asked in shock. “We could have had Aurors watching it for anything out of the ordinary, and possibly have taken care of this whole business by now.”
Sirius and his cousins were all desperate to be out of the office by that time.
“We probably should have gone to Harry for the Map, but he hasn’t used it in so long that I’d forgotten about it. Besides, I’m still betting they’ve got it,” Ron said honestly. “Otherwise, how would they have known about the attack?”
Sirius could see that it was useless to deny it, since they’d find out anyway if they asked his dad; Harry would tell Ron and Hermione the truth.
“We do have it, and we have been watching it practically all of the time,” Sirius said defensively.
“We need that map,” Tonks said, turning to Sirius and the Weasleys. “We can keep better watch on it than you can, if for no other reason than the fact that there are more than five Aurors.”
Sirius knew that he was a better choice for keeping the Map because of his ability to be anywhere in the castle in an instant, but certainly didn’t want to say so.
“We’ve done fine so far,” Lee argued in Sirius’ place. “Nott was probably going to kill Jeanette to prove he was guilty, but we got there before anything could happen. I think we proved that we can handle the responsibility.”
Sirius winced as the argument got dangerously close to details he didn’t want the adults asking about, but thankfully no one thought about how they would have gotten there so fast.
“Will you give us the Map willingly?” Shacklebolt asked Sirius after a moment of thought.
“No,” Sirius admitted apologetically. Hermione looked like she wanted to start scolding him, and Ron was covering his grin with his hand. Tonks was already starting to argue, but the Headmaster cut her off.
“I can’t exactly force them to give it to us, since Harry would probably take exception to it, and they have done well, so far. I propose we make a compromise; if you will keep an eye on the Map when you are able, you can give the Map to your Uncle during the times you can’t, such as at a Quidditch match. And in the future, if anything happens, I want you to find an Auror instead of rushing off to deal with it yourself.”
Sirius was surprised and more than a little suspicious that the Headmaster would give in so fast, but was quick to take the deal. It would be nice to have someone watching for anything during the Quidditch matches. In short order, Sirius and his cousins were sent back to their rooms, leaving the adults to finish planning.
Ginny and Harry were summoned as well, to discuss Sirius’ growing powers and the use of the Map, as well as to make sure they approved of Sirius’ involvement.
“Sirius certainly is confidant, isn’t he,” Ginny said after being told of what had taken place.
“I wonder where he gets that from,” Ron said under his breath, while Hermione spoke over him.
“I can’t believe you let him have the Map,” she scolded her friends. “I’m sure they’ve used it for their pranks, and there’s no telling how much trouble they could get into with it.”
“It seems like they’ve been using it for a lot more than just pranks,” Harry pointed out quickly. “And there’s more to Sirius than meets the eye; his powers have been growing for years, and they aren’t showing any signs of stopping. A little responsibility will be good for him.”
“And he’s clever,” Tonks put in. “His plan is a very good one; it’s better than anything else we’ve had up until now.”
“He’s got good genes,” Ginny said smugly, while squeezing Harry’s arm. “Still, I think we should be watching him as closely as possible. Maybe that should be my job, since I’ll be here at the school and Madame Pince doesn’t keep me that busy. And I can watch them from a distance using my Animagus transformation.”
They all agreed on that plan readily, since none of them were completely comfortable with the amount of responsibility that Sirius and the Weasleys were taking upon themselves. Worse, none of them could think of a way to keep them away from the danger.
***
“They believe they have the culprit, my lord,” the man said, groveling for his master’s praise.
“Very good,” the voice said quietly. “Your minion will remain quiet until the final Quidditch match of the year, and then strike once more to show the Wizarding World how inept their Ministry really is. In the ensuing panic we can finally carry out my plan.”
“You’re ready, my lord?” the man asked excitedly.
“Yes, I’m ready. Everything is in place; once the Quidditch match is over we will see the end of the Potters and everyone else who has sided with them. Without their champion, the world will bow before me.”
***
The minion the men in the forest spoke of was pacing in his common room, anxiously trying to think of what was going on in his life. At times he felt like he was waking up from a dream and didn’t know where he was, and at other times he found himself contemplating the most horrible things. Above all, the memory of a commanding voice and unspeakable pain occasionally caused him to tremble in terror. He had followed their orders, he knew, and he had enjoyed it because they had told him to enjoy it. He had no choice, as he reminded himself over and over again; he had to do what he was told, or the pain would come back.
Even with the threat of more of the horrible pain, he sometimes found himself wondering what he was doing betraying everything he had been taught to believe.