Chapter 33
"Potter / Weasley," we greeted each other simultaneously with the pair of twin brothers, who this time were simply radiating a certain internal tension and displeasure. "This time you called us right on time / we just happen to have some questions for you / is it because of you that Ginny was called to the Headmaster today?"
"Spot on, guys, exactly spot on. And your parents will most likely be called to the school because of me too," I nodded calmly, meeting the gazes of each of the twins in turn... And thereby calming them both down a little. Just like during our past meetings—my calmness and confidence in my own actions quite well tamed the harsh temper of these Gryffindors and simply quite caring older brothers.
This, by the way, was also quite an oddity. At first—and at second, let's be honest—glance, the Weasley twins absolutely do not seem like caring relatives. But look at this, they came running to harness themselves in and stand up for their "offended" sister faster than the news of her being called to the Headmaster spread through the castle. I didn't expect such fervent and obvious care from them; last time they hadn't demonstrated their feelings so clearly.
"Care to explain?" Fred, I think, narrowed his eyes, quickly exchanging a glance with his brother and deciding this time to be the first to take the initiative in the conversation. However, his twin continued the next remark anyway. "What did you complain about to your Head of House, so much so that even the Headmaster himself got interested in her?"
"I accidentally snatched a dark artifact from your sister," I answered calmly and confidently, crossing my arms over my chest. "After which I almost fell under its influence myself, and having tried to destroy it—achieved absolutely no effect. It only started pressing on me harder."
"A dark artifact? / That is capable of influencing wizards?" the twins exchanged glances again, only to stare at me the very next moment with a single—frankly mistrustful and inquisitive look...
"This pair is starting to remind me more and more of some single organism with every time," I winced mentally, despite my ever-progressing magical sensitivity once again getting a little lost in who is who.
"You might not believe me, but... Ginny had a diary. An ordinary one, in a simple black binding. Completely harmless in appearance, but empty inside... When trying to write something in it—the ink disappears, but an answer to your previous entry appears. A sentient artifact... that siphoned magical and, most likely, mental power from me," I snorted gloomily, describing the most obvious properties of this specific artifact. "Moreover, this nasty thing doesn't burn in fire at all. And the impact of any other magic rather only additionally feeds it, rather than threatening it with any damage."
"That... sounds like something really dangerous," George glanced at his brother a little surprised, still expressing a certain skepticism towards my words, but still deciding for now not to discuss the honesty of one specific hero.
"A simple dark artifact definitely cannot possess such effects," Fred nodded to his twin, furrowing his brows a little thoughtfully.
"Where could such a dangerous thing have possibly come from to end up with our younger sister?" these blockheads continued synchronously, no longer hiding their suspicion.
"I think the Headmaster is going to call your parents to the school specifically for the sake of such an important question," I simply smirked, not at all embarrassed by the pressure from the Weasley pair.
"So, it's not you just deciding to shift all the blame onto our sister?" the red-haired Gryffindors loomed over me synchronously again, seemingly trying to provoke me into some kind of aggression. Well, so that they would definitely have an excuse to give me a magical or not-so-magical beating.
"Professor Flitwick was very inquisitive and persistent in his questioning; after all, the artifact turned out to be truly dangerous... Besides, if this diary had never belonged to Ginny, she would have immediately been outraged that she was being dragged to the Headmaster over such nonsense," I shrugged again, staunchly and even with a certain inner amusement withstanding the pressure of the two brothers. Their attempts to pressure me this time looked somewhat even funny. "So alas, guys, but you owe me quite a bit now. And you owe me big time."
"Owe you? / Since when?" the red-haired bullies instantly bristled, somehow imperceptibly even to themselves stepping half a pace back from me.
"Since the fact that if it weren't for me and a fateful accident—your sister could have become a squib forever," I frowned as seriously as possible, somewhat exaggerating Flitwick's recent words, who, before finally taking the artifact from me, did not hesitate to additionally intimidate his student properly. "But instead, I almost became one, having brought myself a couple of times to an exhaustion that, albeit not severe, was still exhaustion."
"That's... already serious / our Ginny was really in such danger?" the twins frowned even harder, seemingly finally starting to understand the full seriousness of the situation that I am trying to convey to them.
"You can ask Flitwick. Right now I am practically quoting his exact words to you... He really scolded me for not coming to him immediately, trying to burn the diary myself first," I turned away from the twins, so as to surely not show them my slightly predatory smile.
The Weasley twins, despite everything—are quite smart guys; they will definitely be able to understand from my words the simple fact that I, even finding myself in a not so pleasant situation, first tried to cover for their sister and deal with the problem myself. And then...
"We will ask / and we won't forget," Fred and George confidently promised me, not stating anything directly, but still justifying my expectations and immediately hurrying to leave me alone. Judging by their faces—they were getting ready to run to their sister right now—to check if Ginny was absolutely alright.
"Well, good luck then," I said to their backs, mentally continuing to smile and already knowing perfectly well what could be extracted from this pair of blockheads... Not that I really needed their Marauder's Map that badly, but... without it, it will be difficult to deal with Pettigrew. And I was planning to finish off this traitor at the very first good opportunity. Preferably—before the end of this school year. Well, so as not to face the damn dementors next year...
"I wonder, if I ask Milo to hunt for one particularly disgusting rat, will this lazy cat fulfill my little request?" I smirked thoughtfully, knowing perfectly well that this idea was initially doomed to failure. My cat is, of course, a very smart beast, and in general—quite the handsome fellow, but he will most likely not be able to cope with an Animagus.
Wizards turned into animals almost always surpass the beast they can transform into in everything. So, even in the form of a rat, Pettigrew should be many times faster and more agile than my fluffy slacker, who for most of the year serves me exclusively in the role of a purring heating pad at night. What this oaf does the other half of the day—I personally have no idea, suspecting only that this impudent fellow has long since found himself a couple of admirers from the female part of our dorm. Which, naturally, also doesn't imply any particular movement.
"This fluffy bandit hardly even fights with other cats anymore. There are simply too few of them in our house, and the ones that are there—are almost always female cats..." I shook my head slightly displeased, however, very quickly returning to the previous problem and preparing a plan on what pretext it would be possible to confiscate the Marauder's Map from the twins.
...Then I didn't know yet that the guys themselves would happily be ready to give me their treasure, having recently not seen much value in it. They themselves had already studied all the secret passages of the castle long ago, even having found several places that were not marked on the map at all. And as for detecting other people nearby, one can use not only the artifact but also quite simple charms...
So yes, the twins almost foisted the creation of my biological father and his friends onto me themselves, wishing to thank me for helping Ginny and in addition to this get rid of some debt to me. Which suited absolutely everyone, and I was already ready to move on to the next part of my plans for this year, but...
A disaster paid a visit to Hogwarts! A true terror, flying on the wings of love and answering to the name of Molly Weasley. The mother of Ginny and the rest of the company of red-haired mages from Gryffindor, who almost smothered me with her effervescent care and gratitude. Moreover, she could have smothered me purely physically, it seems, having gotten too overwrought after visiting the Headmaster and therefore not exactly restraining herself much.
As for me, it felt somehow awkward to fight off the embraces of this large and plump woman. Still, her gratitude seemed quite sincere to me, and as I saw, she worried for her daughter more than sincerely... Which didn't allow me to answer her in any way rudely or sharply, even if Molly's excessive tactility began to irritate me almost immediately.
Fortunately, this... monumental woman in every sense, could not stay in the castle for long, giving me the long-awaited liberation fairly quickly. However, the twins and even, which is especially scary, Ron, apologized for a long time afterwards for their mother's behavior. Daphne—chuckled at me, giggling something about how not all intrigues end for us exactly the way we would want them to. And Draco—simply mocked, frowning somewhat only because due to another Quidditch practice he didn't manage to catch such a vivid performance live.
Only Luna and Astoria—are good girls. From them, that time, I didn't get even a drop of mockery or inappropriate sympathy-apologies. The first-years simply agreed that the Weasley matriarch is a very formidable and even dangerous woman for a certain type of people, but they didn't develop the topic, sparing me and my peace of mind.
For which I was grateful, mentally promising to somehow thank this pair of little blondes on occasion for their leniency towards my deplorable state... And with Molly Weasley, I promised myself not to cross paths again in the foreseeable future. And to fight off her invitations to visit even under the threat of death.
"Although alright, everything wasn't that critical. It's just that I've gotten too unaccustomed to such an attitude, and in general I've never been a particularly touchy-feely person," I immediately pulled myself up, perfectly realizing that anything happens in life, and the Weasley family has recently been taking up more and more space among my friends and buddies. Even freaking Ron, after everything that happened, seems to have stopped harboring a grudge against me... It must be the twins who tried their best, setting their good-for-nothing brother's brains straight.
"This, by the way, can even be used," I immediately whispered, unhurriedly activating the Marauder's Map and deciding to check—is the Pettigrew notoriously famous in my past world definitely still impersonating a Hogwarts second-year's pet rat? And if yes, then... Well, it will hardly take me much time to learn and hone to perfection the spell that cancels any Animagus transformation. Especially since I had already seen it somewhere before...
"After which it will only remain to wait for or arrange a suitable moment..." I squinted maliciously, noticing the familiar name on the enchanted map and immediately calculating how it would be possible to force Ron to bring his rat to dinner in the Great Hall. Well, so that after his transformation, Pettigrew would definitely not run away anywhere... Not under the sights of the whole school and the most complete staff of teachers...