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Chapter Text

September 1st, 2001

"Devereaux, Sophie," the deputy headmistress, Professor Sinistra, called, and obligingly, the young girl who went with the name approached the stool at the front of the hall. As she turned and sat on the stool, she shook out her hair, letting it fall in perfect waves around her shoulders. Professor Sinistra placed the hat on her head, and-
Oh, my. An unfamiliar voice sounded inside the girl's head. This is most peculiar. Devereaux, they called you. But you're no Devereaux at all, are you?

The girl couldn't help but grin. No Sophie, either, but tell them that? That's the name on the letters, and the letters came to me, so that's the name I'm using, thank you very much. She could hear murmurs starting, out in the Great Hall. Perhaps we should get on with it?

Though there was no sound, the girl got a sense from the hat that was something very much like a snort of laughter. Yes, perhaps we should. You'd do well in Ravencl-

Boring, the girl retorted. Ooh, what about Hufflepuff? I rather think I'd like Hufflepuff.

If it had a head, the hat would be tilting it in confusion. Are you... certain? I believe you would be happy there, yes, but I'm not sure it's the best fit for you...

Oh, yes. Absolutely. Everyone always underestimates a Hufflepuff, I'd get away with loads if I were there. She paused. I suppose perhaps I oughtn't have said that.

The hat was definitely laughing at her now. Well, it did make this easier, in the end... It had better be-

"Slytherin!"

September 1st, 2003

"Spencer, Eliot." There was a quiet shuffle as a short, slight boy made his was from the huddle of new students, down the aisle, to stand in front of the man who'd called his name. Eliot was pretty sure he'd said his name was Professor Longbottom.

"So I just sit on the stool, sir?" he asked, politely, and the professor nodded, offering Eliot a kind smile.

As soon as the hat was down over his head, Eliot froze. He wasn't used to being in sudden darkness like that. Hello? he tried to say, but he didn't seem to have a voice -- instead, the words echoed inside his head and around him, in the void in which he found himself.

Ah, another young muggleborn. The voice echoing back made Eliot jump, but he got himself under control.

I guess so? That's what they told me. You've got a lot of weird words.

The echoing voice chuckled at that. Weird is, perhaps, a relative concept. I expect you'll get used to them in time, or at least when something weirder comes along. Now... Hmm. Eliot could feel something strange in his head, like when he flipped the pages of his book really quickly. Gryffindor might do, but I think instead it had better be-

"Hufflepuff!"

September 1st, 2004

"Psst. Alec."

"Not now, I think I know why it's not working." Alec fiddled with his brand new wand, poking it at his iPod, which was glimmering with soft blue lights.

"Alec!" Parker elbowed him, prompting him to look up.

"What? I almost-" Parker jerked her head at the front of the Great Hall, where the deputy headmaster was waiting, a faint smirk on his face, with the Sorting Hat in hand.

Alec gulped, and shoved his wand and iPod deep into the pockets of his robe. "In your own time, Mr. Hardison," the deputy headmaster said, his voice carrying effortlessly down the Great Hall. Flushing, Alec trotted down the aisle and flung himself onto the stool.

"Sorry, Professor Longbottom," he murmured, as the hat went down over his head; he was pretty sure he heard the deputy headmaster say, "That's quite all right," just before the outside world became muffled by darkness.

Mr. Alec Hardison, a disembodied voice said. Hmm. And what do we make of you?

My grandma would say a lot of trouble, Alec replied, without thinking. Usually because I took the TV remote apart again when she wanted to use it.

The voice was smiling, Alec could tell, from the tone when it spoke next. But you just had to know how it worked, yes?

Alec nodded. Would that... I mean, I was reading about Hogwarts in the books we got. Would that make me a Ravenclaw? They like knowing things.

Oh, you could do great things in Ravenclaw. Learn a great many things. The voice paused for a moment before continuing. I think, perhaps, that you might learn what you need to learn among your peers in-

"Gryffindor!"

As the hat came off his head, Alec stared down at his now red-and-gold-striped house tie. "Huh," he said, before hopping absentmindedly down from the stool and walking in the direction of the cheering table. "Didn't expect that." He was waved over to an empty seat between two young women, one brunette who he was pretty sure had been sorted before him, and another, a few years older, with a Prefect's badge pinned to her robes.

"No?" the prefect asked, smiling down at him. She elbowed him gently. "Personally, I expected Ravenclaw, when I got sorted. But I've had loads of fun here in Gryffindor, and I'm sure you will, too."

"I bet Parker gets sorted here, too," Alec said, absently, watching as she got called up to the front of the hall. The deupty headmaster seemed somewhat confused that her name was listed only as 'Parker', with no indication of it being her first or last. "She was totally talking about, like, climbing up buildings and stuff like that."
But as he and the rest of the Great Hall watched, the hat seemed to be taking much longer than usual to sort this particular girl...

Hmm... the hat murmured in Parker's mind. You are quite the conundrum, aren't you?

Parker sighed. I'm not supposed to be here, am I? she asked. No one ever wants me. Even Archie--

The hat scoffed. Oh, no, you're exactly where you belong, it insisted. Hogwarts is and always shall be home to you. No, indeed, the question becomes: where do you belong more? I see Gryffindor recklessness in you, and a Slytherin's cunning. You could do great things in either house, of that I'm certain, and either would be most welcoming to you.

Can you tell me more about them? Alec was telling me what they're like, but he didn't know much yet, just what he'd been reading in his books. And Archie didn't really say much before sending me on the train.

If Parker could see the hat's face from inside of it, she'd have seen it was grinning. Ah, yes, and you want to know, don't you? To understand. This Archie... he teaches you the things he thinks you ought to know, to do the things he thinks you ought to do. Isn't that right?

Parker nodded, and the hat wobbled on her head. I mean. I guess? He's been teaching me all the different unlocking spells he knows. He said if I hadn't had to come to Hogwarts he'd have been starting me on how to disengage alarm spells next.

I think perhaps a more... generalised... education is in order for you, the hat pronounced. In which case, it had better be-

"Ravenclaw!"

Chapter Text

October 31st, 2007

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Muggleborn wizard, in possession of illicit Muggle technology at Hogwarts, will attempt to find some way to make that technology work. Most of these students fail; while Muggle technology is not (and, truly, cannot be) directly spelled agained, the sheer number of active spells built into Hogwarts means that there is such a great degree of ambient magical interference that the delicate workings of Muggle electronic devices are unable to cope. In practice, this means that devices might simply fail to turn on, or it may result in somewhat more... catastrophic... failures.

Poor Seamus did eventually grow his eyebrows back, and he maintains to this day that the scar across his cheek caused by flaming debris gives him a certain rakish charm.

Most of these students fail. Alec Hardison, fourth-year Gryffindor, is not most students.

On the morning of October 31st, the owl post arrived promptly at seven-thirty. At the Gryffindor table, a tawny owl, one rather large for its breed, carefully placed a cardboard box beside the breakfast plate in front of Alec. "Lucille!" he exclaimed, gleefully, grabbing some bacon from his plate and holding it out for her to snap from his fingers. "Aww, I hope you had a good flight. I didn't expect this until next week." Lucille hooted softly and preened, bobbing her head before snapping another rasher of bacon directly from Alec's plate. "Hey now, hey, that's my bacon, you just got bacon, why don't you go up to the Owlery, I bet they've got some nice mice up there for you, how does that sound?" Lucille hooted again before devouring the second piece of bacon, and then launched herself into the air with a great flap of wings, heading out through the open windows and up, Alec assumed, to the Owlery and the promise of fresh mice.

Absentmindedly shoving a piece of toast in his mouth, Alec turned his attentions to the box. There was a letter, on parchment, stuck rather neatly to the top of the box underneath the string Lucille had used to carry it. Alec grabbed it, slit open the seal with a spare butterknife, and began to read.

Alec Hardison
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland
Vault Number: 512

Thank you for your continued patronage of Gringotts Wizarding Bank and the Muggle Mail Order Forwarding Service. Your vault has been deducted the monthly fee of two galleons, fifteen knuts. Please remember that while the forwarding of letters, bills, and one package are included in your monthly fee, additional packages being forwarded will be charged at a rate of fourteen sickles, three knuts. When the wizard's own owl is available to forward the package, a discounted rate applies. Please contact Gringotts for further details on discounts applicable to the Muggle Mail Order Forwarding Service.

For large-volume ordering, the Muggle Mail Executive Forwarding Service is available a monthly cost of twelve galleons, one sickle, seventeen knuts, and includes unlimited forwarding of all packages. Please contact Gringotts for further details on discounts applicable to the Muggle Mail Executive Forwarding Service, including annual, decennial, and centennial rates.

Your Muggle credit application has been processed successfully. While Gringotts will happily continue to liaise on your behalf with Muggle merchants, you may now use the "VISA" card (see enclosed) to purchase directly. Be advised that while Gringotts will, for a nominal fee, manage the card on your behalf, we do not provide credit. Please ensure that your vault holds, at all times, sufficient funds to cover any payments made using this credit account.

When ordering, please have packages sent to:
109 Charing Cross Rd
PO Box 512
Soho, London WC2H, UK

As you are not yet of age by either Muggle or wizarding standards, your Gringotts representative is acting as trustee and co-signer for this credit account. Please remember that you are of age by Goblin standards, and correspondingly are being granted both the rights and responsibilities of an adult. Manage your finances responsibly. If you have questions or require advice, please make an appointment to see your Gringotts representative at your convenience.

Thank you for choosing Gringotts for all your banking needs.
Torlok
Account Services Representative
Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley, London

The VISA card was adhered to the page below the letter; folding the parchment around it, Alec shoved them into his pocket before turning his attention to the box. He grabbed the butterknife again, using it to snap the string and then slice open the tape holding the box closed. Inside was a treasure trove: eighteen brand new, in-box, third-generation Apple iPod Nanos, all ready to be charmed to operate under Hogwarts' restrictive magical atmosphere, loaded with music, and sold to his classmates at a steep markup.

"Oooh, is that the new iPods?"

Alec jumped, startled from his contemplation of the box and just how rich this was all going to make him. "Parker, don't do that!" he exclaimed, whirling. "I swear, I'm going to get you a collar with a bell or something. See if I don't."

Parker shrugged. "It won't help. Archie tried that, like, when I was nine."

As usual, Alec still had no idea how to react when Parker mentioned her... mentor, other than being thankful that since coming to Hogwarts, she'd started spending summers with some of her housemates in Ravenclaw rather than going back to him. Late one night, just before the end of their third year, Parker had snuck him out of the castle. They'd laid out under the stars in the middle of the castle grounds, just talking. He'd finally gotten up the nerve to ask her about Archie, but all she'd said was, "He thought I was only good for one thing, but I'm not. I can learn everything, and I'm going to."

"Well, anyway," Alec said, shrugging, "you're right, these are absolutely the new iPods." He plucked one from the top layer and held it out to Parker, grinning. "And here's yours. I mean, I still need to charm it and load it up, but I totally got one for you, too."

"Oooh, do you have any Tibetan throat singing?" Parker's eyes lit up. "That'd be really cool to have."

"I... do not have any Tibetan throat singing." As Parker's face fell, Alec quickly continued, "But I can get some! I bet I can order in some CDs, then I can get it onto the iPod for you!"

Parker's face lit up. "You're the best, Alec!" She leaned up to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "Okay, I need to go finish eating now," she said, before scampering back down the aisle to her seat closer to the other end of the Ravenclaw table. Alec stared after her, one hand idly coming up to rub his cheek where she'd kissed it while he placed the iPod back in the box.

He layered a fried egg on one last piece of toast, folded the toast over, and shoved it in his mouth before picking up the box of iPods. I am never going to understand her, he thought, fondly, as he carried the box back up to Gryffindor Tower. Classes started soon, and he wanted to get them squared away in his trunk before heading down to Potions.

Just after lunch, Eliot knocked on the open door to the deputy headmaster's office before sticking his head in. "You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked, before Professor Longbottom waved him in.

"Mr. Spencer! Hi, yes, sorry, I'm just--" Professor Longbottom shuffled some folders around on his desk, holding one up in triumph when he found it. "Here we go. Sorry, there's always lots to do around the end of October. Uh, yes, come in, sit down. Don't worry, it's nothing bad, I just wanted to talk to you about your OWLs. I know they're not until the end of the year, but they really do sneak up on you."

"I guess," Eliot said, frowning, as he sat in the surprisingly comfortable chair in front of Professor Longbottom's desk. "I mean, I... I don't really get the whole thing. They're just like, I don't know, placement tests, right? Like the A-Levels?"

Professor Longbottom nodded. "Something like that, yeah. I remember Muggleborn friends of mine talking about those back when I was a student. So you get the basics, then. One thing to remember is that the wizarding world doesn't really have anything in the way of education after Hogwarts, not like the Muggles do, so how you do on your OWLs, and which upper year courses you decide to stake, have a real impact on what you can do afterwards. Have you thought about what you'd like to do once you graduate?"

Eliot shrugged, looking away. "Not... Not really? I mean, it still kinda feels so far away, y'know? Like I've still got lots of time to think about it."

"And you do, really," Professor Longbottom agreed. "And that's totally okay. So what we should do, then, is make sure you don't lock yourself out of things you might be interested in, instead of focusing on something you definitely want to do. You don't have much to worry about with Herbology," he pointed out, with a grin, "even if you're not quite top of the class, and Professor Slughorn has nothing but praise for your Potions work. 'The most precise student' he's had in years, apparently." Eliot flushed a little and mumbled. "Sorry, I didn't catch that?"

"It's just like cooking," Eliot repeated, a little louder and more clearly. "Or, well, baking, really, baking's all chemistry. Has anyone ever looked into that? How much of Potions is chemistry instead of magic?"

Professor Longbottom blinked at him. "Not... that I'm aware of," he explained, "but maybe something in the history of alchemy? That's similar isn't it? You might ask Madam Pince what the library has on the topic." He scrawled a quick note on a scrap piece of parchment and handed it to Eliot. "There, that's permission to access books from the Restricted Section -- not the section itself, mind you, but if there any books there that would help you, she can get them for you." Eliot glanced down at the note, which simply said, books from RS. potions, chemistry? h.of alchemy. N. Longbottom. He hoped it was enough.

"Thank you, sir. Yeah, it'd be cool to see what they've got."

"As for your other courses... Top of the Hufflepuff fifth-years in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and close to top of your year, from what I understand, although you struggle rather more with Transfiguration and Charms. Not to worry, I was much the same way when I was your age. Seemed all I could do right was Herbology, honestly." Professor Longbottom grabbed a quill and used it to track his way down one of the pages from the folder. "Hmm. Astronomy is decent, Care of Magical Creatures is exceptional. Muggle Studies? But you're Muggleborn."

"I thought it would be a good way to see how wizards see us. Them. Muggles." Eliot made a face. "How wizards see Muggles. And, uh, that it would be an easy course."

Professor Longbottom grinned. "Good enough either way," he said. "And... excellent in class, written work could be stronger, apparently. Still, nothing I'm sure you can't work towards, if you want to bring those marks up more." He stared at the page a little longer. "Really, I don't think you have much to worry about for most of your OWLs, as long as you keep up the work you're doing. The only ones that concern me are Transfiguration and Charms, and you're not doing poorly in either of them, really. Have you thought about talking to your professors for some extra help?"

"I could, uh, do that," Eliot said. "So basically, this is, 'You're doing okay, take some time and figure out what you want to do with your life'?"

"That about sums it up, yes," Professor Longbottom confirmed. "Come see me if you want some support asking about that extra help."

"I will, thank you, sir." Knowing a dismissal when he heard one, Eliot stood up and headed for the door.

"Oh, and Mr. Spencer?" Professor Longbottom called, just as he reached the door, and Eliot turned back around.

"Sir?"

"I wanted to thank you for all your work with the first-years," he said. "While you've always been a good student, you've been... quiet. I wasn't entirely convinced when your name got put forward for prefect. But you're doing a fantastic job. When you think about what you'd like to do after graduation, do think about coming back and joining the staff here at Hogwarts."

Eliot's eyes widened. "Uh. Thank- Thank you, sir. I will. Uh, have a good day?" Before Professor Longbottom could say anything else, Eliot dashed out the door and down the hall.

"Hey, Alec." Parker leaned back on her bench, looking upside-down at Alec, who was sitting on the Gryffindor bench just behind her. "Alec! Psst, Alec."

"Mmph?" Alec replied, leaning back in turn and looking over his shoulder, turkey drumstick in hand and mouth full of meat. He chewed and swallowed, put the drumstick back on his plate, and said, "What's up?"

"Ravenclaw seventh-years are running a corn maze out on the Quidditch pitch after feast, I guess they're doing it as an extra-credit project for Transfiguration. It's mostly just for Ravenclaws, but we're allowed to bring a guest -- wanna come?"

Alec grinned. "I mean, I was going to work on the iPods tonight, but that can wait for tomorrow. This sounds like lots more fun. What time-"

The doors to the Great Hall swung open and slammed against the walls to either side, admitting Professor Longbottom, who stumbled and almost fell. "Uh, I'm fine, I'm fine, nothing to worry about," he called out, before trotting up to the head table and leaning down to speak to Headmistress McGonagall. A murmur of concern went through the collected students; Professor Longbottom was universally popular, and it was rare to see him concerned like he was. After a long moment, the headmistress stood.

"If I may have your attention," she said, her voice carrying and cutting through the din. Almost instantly, the students were silent. "Thank you. I regret to inform you that Professor Longbottom has found evidence of a troll in dungeons." She raised her wand and the doors closed firmly. "Until such a time as the threat has been ascertained and... dealt with, all students are to remain here in the Great Hall. Prefects, you'll have the charge of it. Please take care of your houses. Professors, with me. In the meantime, please, enjoy the rest of the feast."

In moments, the entire staff had exited through a side door that closed and locked behind them. Alec turned back to his plate, his appetite gone, when he felt a tap at his shoulder. Looking up, he saw the houses all starting to mingle, while the prefects gathered up the youngest students all together. "This is our chance," Parker said, grinning. She looked around; no one was watching them. "Want to go hunt a troll?"

Chapter Text

Eliot frowned as he glanced around the room, doing a headcount of the people he generally considered 'his'. Most of them were Hufflepuffs, but he had a few people in the other houses he liked to keep an eye on, for one reason or another. Susan, Dean, Jonathan... Dammit, Sophie, where are you? "Hey, can you keep an on the kids for a bit?" he asked over his shoulder. His fellow fifth-year prefect, Aimee, rolled her eyes but nodded.

"Another stray cat to check up on?" she asked. "You know, one of these days, you're going to find a stray who bites."

"Wouldn't be fun if they didn't," Eliot retorted. He shook his head. "No, I just want to make sure someone's seen her, that's all." Which was completely different.
Really.

Aimee waved him off, scoffing at him, although she couldn't hide her smile. As she gathered up the youngest kids, he wandered over to the Slytherin table and tapped on the shoulder of one of their seventh-year prefects. "Hey, you seen Sophie at all? Deveraux?"

The prefect, a tall, broad brute of a boy named Mortimer, looked down at Eliot. "What's it to ya? Go back to your own table, squirt."

Eliot raised an eyebrow at Mortimer and shrugged. "She's a friend, more or less. Just figured I'd check that she wasn't out getting smashed by the troll."

"Yeah, whatever, she was here for the feast," Mortimer replied, waving vaguely at the rest of the table. "I'm sure she's still..." He looked around. "... Somewhere."

Eliot's eyes narrowed as he followed Mortimer's gaze, raking over the face of every Slytherin around the table. "When did you last see her? You're sure she was here at the feast?"

"I-" Mortimer blanched. "Uh, yeah, she was definitely here when we came in, but I don't remember seeing her after that." He looked around again, waving at another of the prefects. "Hey, Charlotte, have you seen Sophie?" The other prefect shook her head.

"Dammit, Sophie," Eliot swore. "Stay with your kids, I'm going to see if I can find a professor to let them know."

"But the doors are locke-"

Eliot didn't bother waiting for Mortimer to finish before he stalked away. As he approached the main doors, one of the Ravenclaw prefects flagged him down, but he just shook his head and tapped his own prefect's badge. "One of the Slytherins is missing. I'm just going to find one of the professors so they know to look for her, too."

The Ravenclaw prefect nodded. "Be quick about it," he admonished Eliot. "It's Callahan's-"

"Callahan's Obstruction on the door, I know." The prefect blinked at him. "It's a very distinctive wand movement," Eliot explained, hiding a grin. "I know how to get out, but can you double-check that I close it properly behind me? I've never actually resealed it before."

"Yeah, sure," the prefect agreed, and Eliot approached the door. Drawing his wand, he concentrated a moment before making three short, quick movements, barely moving more than his wrist. In front of him, the doors shimmered very slightly before popping open a few inches. He eased the door open a little more, having to fight against the Obstruction; the unlocking key only lessened it, rather than taking it apart, but that was exactly what Eliot wanted, after all. Squeezing through the narrow opening, he let the spell draw the doors closed again before reversing the wand motions, a little less naturally, but the doors clicked and shimmered exactly like it was supposed to; when Eliot tried the handle, the doors didn't budge.

Turning back to the main entrance, Eliot looked around, but none of the professors had remained anywhere in sight. "Of course," he groaned. "Because that would be too easy." Shaking his head, he kept his wand drawn and started making his way towards the dungeons.

Alec watched carefully as Parker made her way through the crowd. No matter how often he saw it, he was amazed at how she could just be invisible without using any magic whatsoever -- he had a hard time keeping his eyes on her, and he knew exactly where she was and what she was doing. No one else, Alec mused, had a chance in hell.

Although, he mused, following behind her as quickly as he could, he had his own kind of invisibility. Everyone saw him, sure, but there was an art to being seen without being noticed that he was confident he'd mastered. If he had everyone who saw him just go, "Oh, that's Alec!" without any thought to what he might be doing, it was just as good as not being seen -- and, as he caught up with Parker against the wall at the back of the hall, not far down from the main doors, no one did anything other than glance at him and smile. He leaned back against the wall with Parker, crossing his arms, and said, quietly, "So how do we get out? The doors are another ten feet that way, and there are prefects all around them."

He didn't have to be looking at her face for Alec to know Parker was rolling her eyes. "Like I'd use the door," she said, scathingly, casually reaching behind her back to twist something. The section of wall they were leaning against shuddered, suddenly feeling loose, like it was no longer moored quite so securely to the rest of the wall on either side of it. "On three," Parker explained quietly, "step back. One, two, three!"

Alec did what she said, trusting her to know what she was talking about -- she'd shown him enough secret passages through the castle to assume that this was just one more -- and as they stepped back, the wall swung open soundlessly behind them. As they cleared it, it swung shut again, leaving them in near-darkness, just a hint of light at the cracks where the door to the passage met the wall on either side. "How do you find these things?" Alec mused aloud, not really expecting an answer. Pulling out his wand and shedding a little light with a murmured, "Lumos minimus," he felt Parker shrug beside him.

"I don't know. It's just... obvious, sometimes. Like something doesn't quite line up, or a wall is obviously thicker than it needs to be, or... something. And some of them are listed in the library, anyway. Not that this one was, I found this one in, like, first year." She pulled out her own wand and gave it a quick flick, soft, mint green illumination spreading down its length without a word, making Alec marvel. As if she could feel his stare, Parker held her wand up. "What, this? Thief's Light. Archie taught me this years ago." She started walking down the passageway, clearly expecting Alec to follow along, so he did.

"You don't talk about him much, anymore. Archie, I mean." Alec picked his way carefully through the passageway, although between his directional Lumos and Parker's more ambient illumination, there wasn't much chancing of missing an obstacle.

Parker glanced back over her shoulder at him. "Well, it bothers you," she explained casually. "When I talk about him. And... I guess it kinda bothers me some, too? Now, at least. It's why I don't go back and see him during the summers." She stopped for moment as they hit a cross-passage before confidently taking the turn to the left. "If Archie had his way, I'd have grown up to be a brilliant thief, but that's all I'd ever have been, y'know? And it would have been okay, because it's all I would have known, so I don't think I'd have missed all the rest of it. I wouldn't really understand it to miss it." In the light shed from their wands, Alec saw a doorway placed in wall just as Parker stopped in front of it. "Shine your wand here?" she asked, pointing at an intricate carving beside the door. "I need to stop the Thief's Light to do the next spell." Alec did as she asked, wordlessly. Parker shook the light off her wand before leaning in, slowing tracing the carving with the tip of her wand. "So I got to Hogwarts, and I started to figure out all the things I didn't know I was missing, like... Pumpkin juice. Who knew pumpkins even had juice? And all the books, and... And all Archie ever wanted was for me to be a brilliant thief. That's all he saw. But I can be so much more than that." She jabbed her wand into a hole so tiny that Alec couldn't see it, and the door clicked open. Stepping back, Parker grabbed the edge of the door and pulled, swinging it out wide enough for the two of them to creep out, one after the other. "So... I don't talk about him much anymore, not really. But no matter what I'm going to be, I'm still what he taught me to be, too. It seems foolish to just ignore that, too, y'know?"

"I... Yeah. I guess I get that." Alec glanced around the room, trying to figure out where the passageway had let them out. He murmured a quick, "Nox," and tucked his wand away where he could grab it quickly. "Where are- Is this the Slytherin common room?"

The room in which they'd found themselves was done up tastefully in dark-stained wood, deep crimson leather, and a plush, emerald-green carpet, far more comfortable than he'd ever assumed the Slytherins' dungeons would be. One entire wall was glass, shimmering ever-so-slightly with protection charms against the weight of the water behind it that had to be the lake. "Well, yeah," Parker said. "I mean, we wanted to check out the dungeons, didn't we? This is in the dungeons. I mean, the troll's probably not in the dormitories or anything like that, but all we have to do is walk out of the common room and we're right where want to be." She walked over to the exit and pushed it open. "C'mon, we don't want the professors to find it first, do we?"

"No, of course not, that would be ridiculous," Alec drawled. "Why would we want that?" Reminded of the troll, he was beginning to wonder why he'd ever let Parker talk him into this. Where "talk him into this," he refused to admit, was "suggest it and have him agree right away," because he could not say no to the girl.

"Exactly! Chop chop, time's wasting and we have a troll to catch." Grinning, she waved him through, and they stepped out of the common room and into the corridor outside of it.

Eliot had never seen the Hogwarts corridors so echoingly empty; even late at night, coming back from Astronomy or on patrol as a prefect, there was noise somewhere, from the ghosts or the portraits, or travelling down the stairs from three floors away. But the portraits were silent, and the ghosts nowhere to be seen. Eliot could only assume, passing by another empty frame, that the professors had conscripted them to help in their search of the school.

"This is ridiculous," he muttered, glancing around and picking a down staircase at random. They'd all take him to the dungeons eventually, and as long as he found a professor somewhere, it didn't matter where in depths of the school they actually were. "Now if only I didn't have to end up in the dungeons in the first place. Would it have killed them to leave someone up here to, I don't know, organise... things..."

As Eliot stepped off the latest staircase, he noticed that the corridor was considerably dimmer than most of the school. He raised his wand, aiming at the lamps along the walls, only to realise that they were all lit -- it was just that their light didn't seem to penetrate the shadows that were creeping along the floor and up the walls. "That can't be good," he said, frowning. "Lumos." He aimed the beam of light from his wand along the shadows, but it did nothing to illuminate the corridor.

"Merlin's balls," Eliot swore, turning to go back up a floor, but the staircase had already shifted away, leaving him stranded in the corridor. "Lumos maximus!" he shouted, and the light streaming from his wand turned blinding, shooting down the corridor. The shadows recoiled, although they didn't disappear; still, it was enough that he had a clear path down the centre of the corridor, and he took it, running, until he came across a clear doorway. Diving through, he slammed it shut behind him, waving his wand at the door in the fastest, most secure locking spell he knew. The door shivered, once, like something had hit it, and then was still.

Eliot took a slow breath, calming himself down, before lowering his wand and turning around. He stared: in the middle of the hallway, just outside the entrance to the Slytherin common room, were two students, neither one wearing Slytherin colours. "Who the hell are you?"

The two stared at him, wide-eyed; one, a blonde in Ravenclaw blue, flicked her eyes down to the prefect's badge on his breast. "Uh, we're-- Just heading to the hall for the feast," she said, side-stepping the question. "I know, we're running late, but--"

Eliot's eyes narrowed. "No, you're not," he said, frowning at them; as he calmed down, his brain was re-engaging and he realised he recognised the pair. "You're Parker, right? And you're Hardison, that Gryffindor fourth-year with the iPods." Hardison opened his mouth to say something, but Eliot shook his head. "You were both in the hall already. I remember, one of our third years was pointing you out, talking about the iPod he was buying off of you. What are you two doing down here?"

Parker sighed, but shrugged; she placed a hand on Hardison's arm, cutting him off again, and said, "We're hunting the troll. Obviously. Why else would we be down here? I mean," she continued, waving at him, "isn't that why you're?"

"You're hunting the- No, I am not hunting the troll! Who decides, 'Oh, let's just hunt a troll!'?" Eliot closed his eyes, letting his head fall back as he moaned. "I'm trying to find the professors because of a missing student, and now I've got two more missing students in the same dungeon as the fucking troll and some insane moving shadows that want to eat me! How is this my life? How?" Hardison opened his mouth again, managing this time to get a sound out before Eliot cut him off. "Dammit, Hardison! Not now!"

"I, uh--" Hardison began, flinching at Eliot glared at him. "I was just going to say that, uh... Shadows that want to eat you, man? That's-- That's messed up."
"Could be an anti-thief spell," Parker suggested, tilting her head at the door Eliot had slammed through. "I mean, I'd have to see it to be sure, but it sounds like one of the traps Archie used to talk about. I don't know why it would be on the dungeons, though, people walk through there every day."

Hardison nodded. "Maybe whoever let the troll into the castle set it? You'd think a troll would be enough of a trap, but maybe they like overkill, I don't know. Can you disarm it?"

Parker wrinkled up her nose. "No, Archie never taught me that one, and we do not want to mess with it while it's active." She turned back to Eliot. "Do you know another way out of the dungeons?" she asked. "I'd take us out the way we came, but that passage only opens into the common rooms, not out of them. And if people are setting traps like that, there's something a lot bigger than a troll going on here."

Shaking his head, Eliot stared down the corridor in the other direction. "No, as far as I know that corridor's the only access to the rest of the dungeons. Everything else feeds into it to get down here." He pointed his wand down the corridor. "We're going that way. If the professors are already down here, that's where they'll be."

"So we're doing deeper into the dark, scary dungeons," Hardison said, "with a troll, and weird shadow traps, and who knows what else?" He rolled his eyes, and Eliot barely resisted rolling his right back. "Well, okay, then. Deeper it is."

Sitting on a half-shattered pillar, Sophie watched across the room as flickers of green light danced around the mouth of an ancient statue. "Well," she said, idly waving her wand through the air as she thought, "aren't you the conundrum." Slipping off the pillar, she walked through the murky, ankle-deep water to the raised platform in front of the statue, humming to herself as she started to pick apart the first of the spells before her.

Chapter Text

Alec gripped his wand tighter, unable to shake his nerves. "Do either of you know where we actually are right now?" he asked. "Because I've never seen this part of the castle before. I didn't even know the dungeons went down this far."

He was watching Parker, really, for a reaction -- she'd explored the castle more than anyone else Alec knew about -- but she was shaking her head. It was Eliot who nodded. "I've never actually been down here," he admitted, "but I've seen it on some maps of the school in the prefects' office. We're alongside the lake." He pointed at the wall to their right. "Right through there. If we keep following this corridor, we'll eventually come to stairs that take us up to an old exit in the forest."

"What about if we branch off?" Parker asked. "Or... is there anything further down?"

Eliot shrugged. "Just more castle, and not much of it, on this level. Down is... Well, you know those stories about the Chamber of Secrets?"

Rolling his eyes, Alec nodded. "The whole thing with Slytherin's monster? That's just a story, man."

"No, it actually happened," Eliot explained. "Fifteen years ago, someone opened it up again. The main access is through Myrtle's bathroom, there's a secret passage there, but Professor Longbottom has a theory that there's a back way out of the chamber somewhere else down here in the dungeons. And if you can get out that way..."

"You can get in that way, too," Parker agreed. "Or, at least, I probably can. Do you think that's where the troll came from? I mean, Slytherin's monster wouldn't be a troll, would it?"

Eliot shook his head. "No, it was a basilisk, apparently. It was killed when the chamber was opened the last time, though, so there shouldn't be any other monsters down there. No one's been down since, though. From what Professor Longbottom said, the tunnel down from the bathroom caved in and no one's bothered to clear it."

"Just think!" Parker said, her eyes lighting up as she turned back to Alec. "Who knows what else is down there? We need to check it out?"

Caught between "let's find a troll" and "let's find Slytherin's secret hideout that used to have a monster but probably doesn't anymore," the choice was easy. "Sounds good to me," Alec agreed. "Spencer? You in?"

Indecision warred on Eliot's face. "I... really should try to find the professors," he said, "and let them know that Sophie's missing." He frowned. "Although, knowing Sophie... maybe she's the one who let the troll in."

"Why would she do that?" Alec asked. "And... how?"

"How, I don't know, but if you wanted to distract the professors for a while, and get the rest of the students out of the way... I mean, I'm only here because I'm worried about her, and you two are only here because you're completely insane." Eliot waved his wand at the corridor, concentrating on the prefects' charms linked to his badge. The connection was sluggish, this far from the main paths of the school, but he could still feel them respond, and a moment later a wrinkled piece of parchment was falling in front of his face. He grabbed it with his free hand and placed it against the wall, where it stuck of its own accord: it was a map of the school, shifting after a moment to center on the dungeons. "Okay, we're here," Eliot said, poking the map with his wand, leaving a green dot behind. "The old forest exit is... here, down this way, and the Slytherin common room is back over here where we came from."

"What's that?" Parker asked. She touched the map briefly, tracing down from the green dot and into a side corridor. "That's -- right over there," she continued, looking down the hallway. "There's no door here. But there should be. Illusion?"

Eliot shook his head, wondering. "Maybe?" he asked, folding up the map and shoving it into an inner pocket of his robes. "Sounds like you'd know more than me."

Parker walked over to the wall where the map said a corridor should be and began tracing it with her wand, muttering to herself as she worked through it. Behind her, Alec watched fondly for a moment before reaching into his pocket. "Here, Eliot," he said, handing over a boxed iPod. "In case we get separated."

"... Because then I can listen to music?"

"Ugh, no, it's-- Okay, just take it out and put the earbud in, okay? They're wireless, I rigged up a magical connection on them instead. Either one, doesn't matter, you don't need both."

Eliot complied, pulling one of the distinctive white earbuds out of the box before closing it up and tucking it away. "Okay...?" he asked, tucking it into his ear. Alec did the same and grinned.

"So, okay," Alec said, and Eliot jumped. He heard Alec just fine, standing in front of him, but there was an echo coming from the earbud.

"What did-- How did you do that?" Eliot exclaimed, and Alec winced, fiddling with his own earbud to reseat it.

"It's a side-effect of the spell I use to connect the earbuds to the iPods," Alec explained. "It's easy enough to fix before I sell them, but I haven't finished with these ones yet, so... Might as well put them to use, right?"

Eliot nodded, and Alec turned to hold another earbud over Parker's sholder. She took it without even seeming to look at it and shoved it in her ear. "Almost got this," she said, and Alec grinned to hear it coming through the earbud, too. "Aha! There we go. It's just a variant on the Glenn-Rieder charm. That's easy!" She stepped back, pointed her wand very presicely at the wall, and intoned, "Alohomora!"

There was a click, and a portion of the wall swung open.

"It's easy, see?" Parker waved them through. "The door's never actually gone, or even locked. You just can't see it, or touch the handle, or anything like that. Piece of cake. Ooh, I wonder if there'll be any cake left?" As Eliot passed through the door, she followed behind, and it closed after them. "Alec, let's get cake after!"

Eliot couldn't help but snort, and Alec glanced back over his shoulder to look at him. "Hey, cake sounds good," he agreed, grinning. "Let's definitely get cake. You up for some cake, Eliot?"

Rolling his eyes, Eliot nodded. "If we survive this," he muttered, "I'm going to deserve cake."

As the trio made their way through the corridor, Parker frowned as she noticed the corridor getting narrower -- and the floor slanting down. "Guys, we're going deeper," she said, stopping and placing her hand on the wall. It was damp, and a little slimy.

"I know," Eliot confirmed. "You don't think this goes right to the chamber, do you? It couldn't be that- Hardison, don't move."

Alec froze, one hand flashing out to the wall to help keep his balance. "What-- What just happened?" he asked. "There was a click, and--" He looked down, and Parker saw him stiffen when he realised. "It's a switch, isn't it?" he asked, carefully looking over his shoulder. Parker and Eliot both nodded.

Parker started stripping off her robe. "Here, Eliot, hold this," she said, thrusting it at him. As he held it, she went through her pockets, pulling everything out and shoving it into the pockets of her slacks. Eliot's eyes widened as he saw how much she was taking out, but he didn't say anything. "How's your Aggravare?"

"I mean, I know it," Eliot replied, making a face, "but I haven't really practiced it. We're not covering it in detail until next term."

"I've never actually cast it, so that'll have to do." Parker straightened up and brushed down the front of her slacks before taking back the robe and balling it up. She looped the sleeves around and then tied them together; holding the knot, she gave the robe a shake. It held together. "Okay, so here's what we're going to do," she said, crouching down right beside Alec. "I am going to carefully place this robe right beside the switch, then I am going to press down on it so that Alec can step away. As he does, Eliot, you're going to cast Aggravare on the robe so it's heavy enough to hold the switch down, at which point he is going to roll it between my fingers so that I can move my hands. We are going to do this very slowly and carefully, because we don't know where that switch connects or what it's going to do if it goes off, and I, for one, am really looking forward to that cake, so none of us is allowed to die." She looked up, giving Alec and Eliot each a long, considering look. "Are we clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Alec drawled, although his attempt at a casual tone couldn't cover his nerves. Eliot just nodded, then knelt down beside the robe and touched it with his wand.

Parker held her breath, then pushed down on the floor. "Okay, Alec, step back," she said, and he did. Parker let out a gusty sigh when the tile held. "Eliot?"

"... Aggravare," Eliot said, as precisely as he could, and the robe shimmered nigh-imperceptibly for a moment. He poked it, carefully, and it held its position. "Rolling it now," he said, and he carefully pushed it forward, doing his best to control the robe, now much heavier than it had been. It settled between Parker's fingers, rolling forward slightly to catch against the lip of the next tile. Parker let out another breath, and she and Eliot both stood.

Alec watched the balled-up robe. "I kinda can't believe that worked," he said, after a moment. "Parker, nicely done."

"Thanks. I spent a lot of time learning how to get around these," she admitted. "It's a lot easier with more than one person. C'mon, let's-" The balled-up robe rolled forward, over the next tile, its weight carrying it down the slightly-slanted floor. "Shit!" Parker exclaimed, rushing to put her own weight on the tile, but it was too late: the switch had released, and the floor underneath them opened up, sending them tumbling down into darkness.

The fall itself was fairly short, just a few feet, onto a much-more-steeply slanted surface. There was a trickle of water that kept it slippery, so that none of them could get purchase. Parker managed to roll herself around into a sitting position, grinning and whooping as she picked up speed on the slide, but Eliot and Alec both just kept tumbling down the slide.

The slide ended and they hit the floor, one after the other; Eliot and Alec both sprawled on the ground, but Parker rolled to her feet, coming to a standing position with ease. "Parker, there is something wrong with you," Alec moaned, rolling out his shoulders as he sat up. His robe was torn and scuffed, as was Eliot's, but Parker realised, looking down, that she'd come through mostly unscathed.

"What? You don't charm your clothes for protection?" she asked, confused. "If they get torn, it's just more work for the house elves."

"The house elves like work," Eliot pointed out, rolling his eyes. "Most of 'em, anyway. Where are we?"

Alec shrugged and lit his wand up, aiming around the room in which they'd found themselves. "I was kinda hoping you'd know that," he said. "You got that map handy?"
Eliot pulled it out and unfolded it, although this time he held it rather than placing it on any of the damp surfaces around them. "No good," he said, sighing. "We're off the map. It doesn't show this far down." He tucked it away in his pocket again. "We're on our own."

"No, we're not," Parker said, concentrating. There were a few corridors opening off of the room they'd landed in, and she was pretty sure she could hear someone casting spells down one of them. "Do you recognise that voice?" she asked. "I feel like I should recognise that voice."

Alec shook his head, but Eliot groaned. "Sophie. What the hell is she doing down here?"

"Probably looking for the Chamber of Secrets, same as we are," Alec suggested. "Maybe she found it."

Eliot started heading down the corridor, his shoulders tense. Parker shrugged at Alec and they followed after him. The corridor was short, and surprisingly clean, if just as damp as everything else around them. It opened up onto a large, cavernous room, with pillars reaching from floor to ceiling, some of them broken and fallen. There was a step down into a shallow moat, the current flowing and the water surprisingly clear rather than stagnant, so Parker assumed that there was a connection to a freshwater source somewhere.

Large slabs of stone made a path across the moat to an elevated platform, tiled in checkerboard; to their right, at the edge of the platform, was a giant stone face, in front of which stood a young woman in black robes marked in Slytherin green. "Dammit, Sophie," Eliot called out. "What are you getting yourself into now?"

Sophie didn't even look away from the statue, which she was pointing her wand at and casting spell after spell, all of which fizzled. "A Steranko charm," she called back, and Parker's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" Parker yelled, jumping forward and bounding across the stone slabs. "No one's cast a Steranko charm in decades!"

"Centuries, even," Sophie responded, finally looking up as Parker came up alongside her. "Oh, hello. Sophie Deveraux."

"Parker," she introduced herself, distracted. "I mean, I've heard of these, but I never thought I'd actually get to see one."

Alec and Eliot game up onto the platform, a little more sedately. "What's a Steranko?" Alec asked, looking at Eliot, who shrugged. "Is it... the statue?"

"It's a vault," Sophie said, stopping her casting and dropping her wand. "A magical one. Absolutely impossible to get through if you don't have the proper key. I was hoping..." She shook her head. "Parseltongue didn't work. I was hoping that would be the way in. The rest of my spells are useless. You find a way to break through one layer, and before you can crack the next one, it reforms and remembers how you got through the first time."

"You're a Parselmouth?" Alec asked, curious. Sophie smiled and hissed at him, making Parker laugh. "I mean, I have no idea what you just said there, but that's cool."

"So what's this... Steranko... guarding?" Eliot asked. "What's so important that you'd let a troll into the school to distract everyone?"

Sophie turned back to the statue, considering it carefully as she replied, "Just Slytherin's lost trea-- A troll? What are you talking about?" She whirled back to start at Eliot. "I did no such thing. You know I'd never--" Eliot just gave her a look and she sighed. "Okay, well, I would, but I didn't. I just thought no one would miss me at the feast. Someone let a troll into the school?"

"And some kind of... shadow trap thing," Eliot confirmed. "It's why I came looking for you. Well, I was looking for the professors to tell them you were missing, but we found you first." He glanced back over his shoulder at the passage they'd entered from. "I hope they're okay."

Alec snorted. "Oh, please. McGonagall's with them. They'll be fine." He looked up at the statue. "So what's not working?" he asked, considering it.

"Everything!" Sophie exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration. "I've tried every spell I can think of to break through it, and nothing I can do breaks through the second layer before the first one closes again."

Parker just pointed her wand at the statue and said, "Finite incantatem," before walking forward. She reached into the statue's mouth and pulled out a small coffer, which she tossed at Sophie, who caught it before it could fall. "Sterankos predate Finite Incantatem by almost three hundred years," she explained, grinning at Sophie's stunned expression. "No one ever managed to find a way to protect them from it. It's why people stopped using them." Sophie sputtered, but Parker just shrugged and added, "You're welcome."

"So what's in the box?" Eliot asked. "I mean, you've been down here all night. What's it for? Slytherin's 'lost treasure'?"

Sophie tucked her wand away and then fiddled with the catch on the coffer. Despite its age, it popped open easily, although, as she lifted the lid, the hinges were a little stiff. "See for yourself," she said, turning it to the others.

Parker gasped, and Alec, looking over her shoulder, did the same. "Are those--" Parker started, unable to even finish her sentence. In the coffer were four crystal vials set into velvet-lined wood. Each one was sealed with black wax and topped with a gemstone: a ruby, a topaz, a sapphire, and an emerald. Everything in the coffer shimmered with a haze of protective spells. "It can't possibly be."

"What, what is it?" Eliot asked, peering into the coffer. "Are those... potions?"

Sophie carefully pulled of the vials from its setting and held it up to the light. The liquid inside moved sluggishly, a deep crimson that had Alec gulping. "No," she said, reverently. "It's blood. One vial from each of the Founders, locked under powerful stasis spells, still just as fresh as it was the day it was drawn. I wasn't sure it would even be here, but once I found the entrance to the chamber, I had to see."

"What are you going to do with it?" Parker asked, matter-of-factly. "I mean, what can you do with it?"

Sophie grinned as she set the vial back into the box, closing and latching it. "Absolutely nothing," she explained, "other than turn it into the ministry. There is, however, the matter of the reward. Oh, it was paltry by today's standards when it was first set, but it's been sitting in a Gringott's vault now for four hundred years, collecting interest. Why, by now it ought to be worth millions." She turned to Parker. "I'll share, of course. I'd never have thought to try a Finite on it."

"Thank you!" Parker said, bouncing. "Ooh, I do love galleons. They're so shiny and gold. Alec, you can have some, too!" Alec just laughed and nodded.

"Eliot?" Sophie said suddenly, and he turned to look at her. "Thank you for coming after me. I'd... I appreciate it. Truly. The reward is... It's substantial, if you'd also like a share." She looked away, staring across the chamber to one of the exits. "I haven't had a lot of people who would come after me like that. I... I appreciate it," she repeated.

"Any time," Eliot replied. He laughed and stared down at the coffer. "Who'd have thought, blood worth millions." He looked around the chamber. "So how do we get out of here, anyway?"

Chapter Text

By the time the quartet made their way up out of the chamber, the school was buzzing with nervous chatter. The professors had tracked down the troll (and, though it wasn't common knowledge, disabled the shadow trap in the dungeon corridor), but hadn't managed to figure out how the troll had gotten into the castle in the first place. All of the protections were intact, and no one, they were certain, would have been foolish enough to let it in on purpose.

In all the commotion, no one seemed to notice when Eliot, Parker, Alec, and Sophie came back into the Great Hall, sharing one last look amongst themselves before heading to their separate tables. "Where have you been?" one of the Gryffindor prefects asked, idly.

Alec just shrugged and said, "Washroom," nodding at Parker. "Didn't want her to go alone with the troll out there."

It was a flimsy excuse at best, but the prefect just shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, how are those iPods coming?"

Alec just tapped the earbud in his ear, through which he could hear the other three, Sophie having been given her own earbud on the way up from the chamber, as they chatted with their friends at their own tables. "Pretty well," he said. "I'll have the first batch ready tomorrow."

At the head table, one person did notice their entrance, although he did nothing more than frown. "You don't think they...?" At Minerva's question, Neville turned slightly to face her. "They wouldn't have let it in, would they?"

"Spencer was in the hall when we left," Neville said, shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure Parker and Hardison were, too, although I can't speak for Deveraux. Maybe they were..." He trailed off, shrugging. "I don't know. But I don't think they would have done that, and no student cast that shadow trap."

"A mystery, then," Minerva said, sighing. "One that we must attempt to unravel... In the morning. Do speak to Mr. Hardison, would you? And with Mr. Spencer, as well. I'll handle Miss Deveraux and Miss Parker."

Neville nodded, and went back to his plate. After all the troll hunting, he was starving.

Just outside the castle, in the shadows of the main gate, someone stared up at Hogwarts, his face blank and expressionless. After a long moment, the man stepped backwards, through the open gates, and apparated away.