Myst at Hogwarts Part 8 (Patreon)

Snape glared at Harry as he walked into the headmaster’s office with McGonagall following him.

“Thank you for coming,” Dumbledore said. “I’d like to get this misunderstanding taken care of.”

“Of course, do you perhaps have a pensieve available so that I can show you what happened?” Myst asked, trying to sound hopeful.

Dumbledore looked over the top of his glasses at Harry. “I do in fact have a pensieve. Have you ever used one before?”

“No but I’ve read about them and I’m always happy to learn new things,” Myst replied cheerfully.

“This is ridiculous, you can fake memories,” Snape spoke up with a thinly veiled sneer.

“I wouldn’t even know where to start; I’m eleven, but thanks for the vote of confidence,” Myst replied politely.

“You’re claiming that your family secrets are worth a ridiculous amount,” Snape snapped.

“Secrets no one else has recorded and research into magic,” Myst replied with a shrug. “The value is actually incalculable, but I’ve looked up what teachers make, I’m trying to be realistic here about the amount I could expect to receive.”

“Severus,” Dumbledore said sternly.

“You can’t prove that,” Snape said his nails digging into his palms. 

“I’m prepared to swear a wizarding oath that the contents of that journal were worth millions of galleons or perhaps more, which you destroyed,” Myst said, looking Snape dead in the eyes.

“Wizarding oaths are nothing to joke about Mr. Potter,” McGonagall cautioned.

“I’m not joking. Either way, the money is a secondary concern. I was hopeful that he could contain his hatred toward my father and behave like a proper professor, but alas such seems not to be the case.”

“Where did you hear that?” Snape demanded, paling.

“Petunia might have a bit of a drinking problem,” Myst offered and shrugged. “Either way, his behavior is completely unacceptable in a school setting which means that I’d like him fired but I’ll settle for an alternate teacher for my year.”

Dumbledore shook his head. “I’m afraid the board would have to approve that and they wouldn’t for various reasons. However I could arrange alternate instruction for yourself.”

“Myself and my Gryffindor yearmates, I have no doubt Snape would take his anger out on them given half a chance,” Myst said honestly. “I would also like assurances that he won’t be allowed to use the point system or detentions to do the same.”

“Professor Snape,” McGonagall corrected him.

“What about Snape?” Myst asked, pretending not to understand that she wanted him to admit that he was a professor.

“It is Professor Snape, Mr. Potter, not simply Snape. You must observe the respect of the position,” she explained.

“You may change your mind and his occupation once you’ve seen my memory,” Myst said honestly. “May I provide it now?”

“That would be most helpful,” Dumbledore said as he walked over to his cabinet and retrieved a large rune encrusted, granite bowl. “Focus on the memory, touch your wand to your temple and slowly pull it out.”

“I’ll do my best,” Myst replied as he focused on Snape’s class and tried not to let his mind wander, though his attention did waver for a second as he recalled that Snape was one of the people directly responsible for Harry’s parents dying. He carefully drew his wand away, the tip gleaming silver as if dipped in mercury. He lightly tapped it on the edge of the bowl and the memory slid off his wand. “There.”

“This shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes,” Dumbledore said, “feel free to borrow a book from my book case while you wait.”

“Thank you Sir,” Myst replied as he walked over to see if there was anything interesting looking that wouldn’t get him in trouble. He ignored the quidditch book and the book on magical creatures and picked up a book on spirits and the unnatural as the adults looked at the memory. He glanced over the table of contents to make sure it wasn’t anything too horrible then started reading, happy to have something to kill time with rather than worrying he’d given them the wrong memory.

Several minutes later McGonagall scowled at Snape, almost agreeing with why Mr. Potter refused to call Snape by his title. “That was uncalled for Severus.”

Snape looked taken aback and was more than a little disturbed by the way he’d been tricked and he had no doubt he’d been tricked. The boy had maneuvered him into an indefensible position as smoothly as he would have done himself, it was almost… laudable, as much as he hated to admit it. Apparently he’d inherited some of Lily’s intelligence, though only time would tell how much. 

Dumbledore sighed, more than a little put out with Severus’s behavior. He’d expected some favoritism and for Severus to make a mockery of the point system to enhance his own position with the darker families as his cover required, but vanishing a student’s journal and potion on the first day of class was a good way to ruin the student’s desire to excel at the subject. To say nothing of the legal problems he had to sort out now, thanks to Snape’s issues with James. The fact that he was duplicating potions guides for the Slytherins was another potential landmine that he was hoping Harry hadn’t thought of, because what he had on him would already be enough to cause Severus some serious legal issues without bringing in possible copyright claims against him.

“I believe… this will take a bit more discussion,” Dumbledore decided. “Mr. Potter we should come to a satisfactory conclusion to this matter before your next Potions class, which will not be with Professor Snape. So, if you’ll excuse us?” 

“I’m glad to hear that,” Myst said politely while mentally doing a fist pump. “Headmaster, Professor...s, good day,” he offered with a nod before leaving.

Once the door had closed behind the first year Snape turned to Dumbledore. “Did you catch the flash of memory just before the scene in the classroom?”

“Yes,” Dumbledore said with a solemn nod. “I… recognize the place where it took place. It is not a full memory, but I believe I can bring it to the surface for viewing.”

“I’m not sure it’s right to pry into his private affairs that way,” McGonagall said pursing her lips in disapproval.

“The memory appears to be from that night,” Dumbledore said, causing her to pale.

“He was only a babe, surely he wouldn’t remember…” she trailed off concerned.

“Maybe not consciously,” Dumbledore said, “but…” he waved his wand over the pensieve three times counter widdershins and tapped the edge of the bowl thrice causing it glow faintly and the silver memory strand to turn gold, “memory is a curious thing. Shall we?”

Snape worried his lower lip in a way that would have disturbed Myst had he seen it, being so similar to Hermione. “I… think I should,” he said reluctantly, bracing himself for the sight of the death of the only woman he’d ever loved.

0o0o0

“I win again,” Ron bragged as his bishop bludgeoned Dean’s king.

“Great, I’m done,” Dean replied as he stood up and stalked toward the stairs to get some sleep.

“What’s his problem?” Ron asked not really understanding why Dean was upset.

“We haven’t seen you lose yet,” Seamus replied with a touch of annoyance. “What’s the point of playing if we’re just going to lose?”

“To get better so you can beat me next time,” Ron replied as he looked around the room for his next opponent. He focused on Harry who was just looking over some notes. “Harry, care for a game?”

“No thanks, I’m good,” Myst replied with amusement from his spot next to Hermione on the nice comfortable chair.

“Hermione?” Ron asked, a bit desperate for an opponent. “Lavender?”

Lavender shook her head. “No thanks, I saw how badly you crushed Dean.”

“No thanks,” Fay Dunbar said as Ron looked in her direction.

Ron scowled as several second and third years shook their heads. He turned his attention back to Harry and Hermione who were sitting together on a fluffy chair. “Come on Harry, you can study stuff tomorrow, your duel isn’t until Saturday.”

Myst looked up from his book and focused on Ron. “Draco has had years to soak up knowledge of dark curses and basic combat magic.”

Ron shook his head. “You can’t use a wand before Hogwarts.”

“No, it’s just illegal. His father is a Death Eater and his mother was a Black, from what I’ve read they’re a decently dark family with enough gold to flaunt the rules or at least they used to be. I can’t honestly see him not practicing before Hogwarts with an old wand.”

“The ministry would catch them,” Ron complained.

“Really? Did they catch Fred and George? They’re pranksters, I can’t see them not stealing a wand and playing with it.”

“Never happened,” Fred lied with a smirk.

George snorted. “And if you believe that, I have a castle to sell you.” 

“One game is not going to kill him,” Ron complained.

Myst snorted. “Maybe next week or the week after or at some point when I can’t think of anything better to do than blashing my head against a wall.”

“What?” Ron sputtered.

Hermione shook her head.

“I don’t particularly care for chess and even watching the pieces argue gets old after about five minutes,” Harry explained then went back to reading his book.

“It’s about strategy and determination,” Ron argued.

“Meh, it’s a game.”

“It’s not just a game,” Ron complained.

Myst looked up from his book and focused on Ron. “If you want to make a living off chess, you’d pretty much have to do it in the muggle world and there are a lot of chess masters that have been doing it longer than you have been alive. Besides, you’re a wizard with the ability to do actual magic, right?”

“It’s just magic,” Ron argued lamely, knowing chess was something he was better at than his brothers.

Myst shook his head. “This is what I don’t understand, you’ll waste hours playing a pointless game but learning magic is a chore, yeah, I don’t understand.”

“Everyone can do magic,” Ron argued. “well wizards.”

“Yeah? And any muggle with half a brain and some time can learn to play chess, it’s not hard, I just don’t find it particularly fun.” Myst went back to reading his book as Ron scowled and went looking for another victim.

“It wouldn’t have killed you to play a game,” Hermione whispered.

“I didn’t see you volunteering,” Myst teased.

“Chess is boring,” Hermione admitted, thinking back to the various family events where she’d played chess with her cousins.

Myst snickered as he went back to working his way through the book while Hermione looked over his notes.

Twenty minutes later Hermione yawned.

Myst blinked as he looked around and noticed that most of the other students had already wandered off to bed. “On that note, see you in the morning?”

“Can I take the notes?” Hermione asked, wanting to check a couple more things before she went to sleep.

“Go for it,” Myst agreed as he put the rest of his books in his bag. “I’ll see you in the morning, I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.”

Hermione yawned. “Sleep well.”

“You too,” Myst offered then headed to the stairs, knowing the next couple days would be filled with classes, studying and trying to create an anti possession charm that would stand up to Voldemort trying to possess him.

0o0o0

Myst scowled as he glared at the ceiling, trying and failing to ignore the snoring idiots despite his ear plugs. ‘It wouldn’t have killed them to soundproof the beds or something.’ He scowled as he realized that he needed to do something a bit drastic before he did something exceptionally drastic like stuff a dirty sock in Ron’s mouth or cover Seamus’s face with a pillow until he stopped snoring. ‘Not sure how the hell Harry put up with this shit.’

“Yeah, might as well get some work done,” Myst muttered as he reached over to grab his history book, hoping that it would put him to sleep despite the dueling band saws that were his roommates.

Petal appeared on the bed with a soft pop. “Work?”

Myst blinked as he looked at the house elf giving him a hopeful look. He briefly considered having her pop him to the forest so he could harvest some plants and get loot but it was nearly pitch black out and didn’t want to deal with a forest filled with dangerous monsters without a method to see that wouldn’t put a target on him, at least not until he had better combat spells than a simple stunner that still wasn’t one hundred percent reliable. “How long would it take you to move the mattress and set up the tent in its place?”

“Ten seconds?” Petal asked after considering the question for a second. “Maybe fifteen?”

“In that case, go for it,” Myst replied in a whisper then blinked as Petal snapped her fingers and the mattress they were on floated up and off the bed at the same time as his trunk popped open and his duster floated out. ‘One, two, three, four,’ he counted mentally as the duster slipped between the curtains and changed into a simple looking canvas tent once it was in place. He grinned as the mattress twisted and slightly tilted then floated into the tent and stopped in the middle of the blessedly quiet living room. “Five.”

Petal giggled as she set the mattress down. “Anything else?”

Myst shook his head then winced as Petal’s shoulders slumped slightly. “On second thought, could you borrow a rooster and teleport me to the second floor bathroom where Moaning Myrtle hangs out?”

“How long do you need the rooster?” Petal asked, curious what Myst needed the chicken for.

“Maybe twenty minutes. I just need to walk into a secret chamber and wave the rooster around then you can put it back, safe and sound.”

“Okay!” Petal vanished with a pop to pick up the rooster. 

‘Technically, hopefully the damned thing isn’t awake and crawling around,’ Myst thought as he left the tent then walked over to his truck so he could grab his dragonhide gloves and a mirror. He knew it was silly but he wasn’t going to touch the damned rooster without gloves if he could help it. He slipped the mirror into his pocket then pulled his gloves on while he waited for Petal to return with the rooster.

Petal reappeared with a silenced hung upside down rooster floating in front of her a minute later. “Got it.”

“Let’s go before someone wakes up,” Myst whispered as he reached out and grabbed the rooster’s feet.

Petal grinned as she teleported them to the second floor girl’s bathroom, fairly sure that no one would be using it in the middle of the night. “Now what?”

“Now I try to open the secret passage,” Myst muttered as he walked over and checked the sinks for a snake. He grinned as he found the right sink. He reached out and twisted the handle then turned the handle back after it became apparent that it didn’t actually work. “Over a hundred years and no one bothered fixing the sink, that’s insane.” He focused on the snake and imagined it coming to life. “Open…” he trailed off his hissing command as the sink sunk into the floor revealing a secret passage in the wall in the form of a dark pipe that quickly dropped into a dark abyss. “Great, now I just have to figure out a safe way down there.”

“I can float us,” Petal offered.

“That would be perfect,” Myst replied, glad that he didn’t have to jump down the hole blindly like an idiot.

Petal used her magic to float Myst and herself then moved them over to the pipe. She shivered as she saw the filthy nature of the pipe and had to resist blasting the grime until the pipe was sparkling and clean, knowing that none of the elves that lived at Hogwarts would appreciate her stealing their work.

Myst blinked as the torches on the walls ignited with green flames showing off the snake themed door, a bunch of dead skeletons of various critters and some shed snake skin. “Yeah, I don’t think anyone has cleaned down here in a long time.”

“We’ll have to tell the elves, they’ll take care of it,” Petal said firmly. “Where did the giant snake skin come from?”

“From a rather large snake. Don’t worry the rooster should kill it if it isn’t already dead of old age,” Myst replied as cheerfully as he could, hoping to hell that things didn’t go drastically wrong with his insane plan.

“Are you sure?” Petal asked nervously.

“Fairly,” Myst admitted as he walked toward the door with snakes on it. “If you’d be so kind as to dispel the silence spell on the rooster I’ll open the door then toss it in. If something goes horribly wrong, teleport out.”

“I’m not leaving you Master,” Petal said firmly.

Myst shook his head. “Of course not, you can teleport with two people.”

“Good. What are we going to do once you toss the rooster in?” Petal asked, wanting a better idea of what was going on.

“Listen for any screaming or shrieking that proves the monster is dead. If we don’t hear anything, I’m going to very carefully look at the ground with my mirror then make my way to the statue of Slytherin in the chamber and open it so the snake can come out and the rooster can kill it.”

“You realize the only type of giant snake that a rooster can kill is a basilisk, right?” Petal asked suspiciously.

Myst nodded. “Thus why we’re being really careful.”

“I’m going to get in so much trouble for this,” Petal complained, knowing that Nana would glare at her and give her lectures for years for risking Myst’s life.

“Don’t worry, I’ll explain to certain people if we get caught.”

“And if we get turned to stone?” Petal asked nervously.

“As long as I’m using the mirror, I should only get petrified if I happen to see its eyes. Just close your eyes, pop in, grab me and pop out. As long as I don’t look at the basilisk directly, it should be fixable.” He was really hoping he wasn’t making a huge mistake but he really wanted to see what type of treasure a thousand year old basilisk dropped.

“I really don’t like this plan,” Petal complained.

“I’m not really a fan either but leaving the monster to run around isn’t a good idea either especially when I know someone is going to open the chamber next year.”

Petal frowned as she looked at Myst. “How do you know that?”

“Magic,” Myst replied. “Let’s just get this done so we can get back to sleep before someone notices that we’re not where we’re supposed to be.”

“Fine.” Petal sighed as she dispelled the silence effect on the rooster.

“Just close your eyes.” Myst focused on the snakes as he said, “Open.”

Petal shut her eyes and listened for anything suspicious, planning on grabbing her master and popping out the second she heard something suspicious.

Myst kept his gaze on the ground near the door as it swung open. He tossed the rooster into the Chamber then twitched as the stupid bird crowed and there was a god awful tortured shriek of a dying beast from further into the room. “What the fuck?” he blurted, having fully expected there to be a silence effect on the snake’s hiding spot. He blinked as a scroll appeared in his right hand and a pair of green leather gloves appeared in his left hand.

“Language,” Petal said nervously as she listened for any sign that the snake was heading in their direction while she kept her eyes tightly closed.

“I think it’s dead,” Myst said as he glanced between the well crafted leather gloves and the scroll of parchment tied with a simple black ribbon. “This would be easier if I had an identify spell,” he muttered as he put the scroll and gloves in his pockets. While he doubted the gloves were cursed, he wanted to run a couple tests before he put them on.

“Are you sure?” Petal asked warily.

“I don’t hear it moving and I can’t see it.” Myst used his mirror to carefully look around the Chamber at the various statues. “We should be fine, the statue of Salazar Slytherin’s mouth is closed.”

“Does that mean we can get out of here?” Petal asked hopefully.

“Not quite, I want to open the statue’s mouth so I can make sure the basilisk is dead.”

Petal frowned slightly as she looked around the slightly flooded chamber. “Then we tell the house elves so they can clean the place up, right?”

Myst shook his head. “Nope. First we’re going to hire some goblins to process the corpse then we’ll drop the house elves a note. I want a couple teeth from the basilisk but the goblins should be able to sell the skin and probably some of the snake’s internal organs for a decent amount of gold which should help pay for my book addiction.”

“How are you going to sneak the goblins past the staff?” Petal asked, knowing the school would want a cut.

“Can you pop them in and out?” Myst asked hopefully.

Petal popped to the left three feet. “Yep!”

“Excellent, let’s make sure the snake is dead then you can return the rooster and pop us back to the entrance so I can close everything up and get some sleep. We can figure out how to approach the goblins tomorrow.”

“Sounds good,” Petal agreed, wanting to get back to sleep before Nana noticed she was gone and gave her lecture for letting Myst go on a dangerous adventure.