Instalment Seven: The plan

The Plan

After Rose had finished laughing at the boys, they asked Dedrius (who had been engrossed in a copy of the Quibbler in front of the roaring fire) to kindly let them borrow some clothes, as the smell of vinegar was beginning to become rather pungent at this point. Dedrius was all too happy to help and he led the boys up into the second year Hufflepuff dormitory. Upon examining his clothes, the boys came to the conclusion that he was definitely part wood elf. His impressive long royal blue, oak and green robes were all traditional wood elf wear, long jackets that came down to his knees, and large black or brass buttons. These would be paired with black trousers and his pointed shoes. He also had an excessive number of head rings/circles/bands that ranged from intricately carved wooden almost crowns, to silver and ruby encrusted majestic circlets.His pointed ears and the golden headband that he had worn in the carriage on the way to the castle had given some vague air of elvishness, but his garments confirmed this. Albus deduced that it must be his father who was a wood elf as his father knew Luna Lovegood, his mother. Although a little peculiar, Luna was definitely a witch. Dedrius' father did not appear to be in the picture, but his mother was very good at allowing him to explore his heritage.

Dedrius was delighted to see the boys taking an interest as he was a bit of a loner in the castle. People were perfectly pleasant to him, however he had no good friends to speak of, and the boys promised they would spend some time with him now the houses were aloud access to each other's common room. Now de-stunk, they headed down the dormitory stairs in the borrowed clothes to meet the rest of the gang. Rose, Nalia and Tilda were all on one of the sofas in front of the fire, so Albus and Scorpius grabbed one of the extremely comfy bean bags each and sat in front of the sofa, facing the girls. They discussed at length the slug club, or rather, how best to avoid It. As daughter of the Minister for magic, Rose was also desirable. She did not want to be targeted as she felt it would interfere way too much with her studies, and it would be an extracurricular activity that provided no plausible benefit. Nalia and Tilda had no real understanding of the slug club or what it was, but to be honest, it didn't sound like a fun part of the Hogwarts experience.

As they were talking, Ozzy came flapping furiously down the stairs leading to the dormitory, landing clumsily on Nalia's shoulder. This gave Albus the excuse he had been looking for to broach the topic of Mr Gibbous and the rather ingenious plan he had come up with. 'So erm, Ozzy seems much better. Glad to see his encounter with Mr Gibbous seems to be behind him now. Speaking of which' Albus started, feeling rather pleased with the seamless way he had brought it up. 'I still think something strange is going on with that cat , and I don't know if Filch knows or is in on it, but as Hogwarts students it is our duty to find out. We must protect the school from any potential danger' he continued solemnly. Rose raised one eyebrow and interjected; 'Boys, this sounds like this going in a direction that will end in rule breaking, and we simply can't afford to draw any attention to ourselves, especially as we all want a place on the Draíocht trips. Besides, protecting the school is the Professor's' job'. Rose may have had her doubts but Albus could tell he had the full attention of Nalia and Tilda, who were both very keen to prove themselves in the wizarding world.

'That's why we need your help Rose, because you're the most talented witch of us all. You will be able to give us the best chance of not getting caught. We just want to find out what's going on... please help' Albus said,almost pleading. Feeling quite flattered that her cousin seemed to have such a high opinion of her and agreeing the boys were less liable to get caught if she was involved as she was much more rational, Rose agreed to hear the plan. 'Right so, this is gonna need all of us. Me and Albus are gonna break into Filch's office' Rose winced at the brazen way Scorpius seemed to say that, as if it wouldn't involve breaking at least thirty school rules. 'We need someone distracting Filch, someone guarding the outside of the office and someone distracting Mr Gibbous!' The latter was the least desirable job of the whole operation as no one could think of anything that would distract that best of a cat for long.

Just then, Rose's kitten, Whiskers, trotted proudly into the common room and started curling round her feet, giving the boys an idea. Surely, nothing could distract Mr Gibbous more than another cat... Whiskers would be the perfect distraction, if they could convince Rose to let her anywhere near him. Albus and Scorpius would of course be the ones searching Filch's room, as Whiskers was Rose's kitten, she was tasked with keeping an eye on her and Mr Gibbous. This made Rose feel more at ease with the whole plan, there was only so much trouble she could get in watching the cats and she could easily rescue Whiskers if needed. This left the girls with one of them guarding the door, and one of them distracting Filch. Nalia had a genius idea of distracting Filch using Peeves, as Peeves seemed quite frankly, the thing Filch hated most. Although, Albus and Scorpius seemed like close second. This left Tilda on door duty, which quite actually came as a relief, as if everything went to plan, she should not have any trouble and if she was caught, she could always claim she was waiting for Flich.

With the plan in place, they set about discussing how to recruit Peeves.There was no chance Peeves would do it just because he hated Filch, although that would be a strong motive, but there would have to be more in order for Peeves to cause chaos on their behalf. Albus was certain that Peeves could be convinced with a few Zonko's or Weasley's Wizards Wheezes products as 'the old git can't leave the castle, which is quite frankly a good thing for Witches and Wizards everywhere'. So the next time the third years went to Hogsmeade, the gang would sneak to Zonko's as it was likely the post was being searched and Mr Gibbous had a nose like a bloodhound for joke products. Feeling as though they had prepared and thought about every eventuality, the gang turned their attention to other important matters, such as the upcoming Slytherin quidditch team tryouts.

Both Scorpius and Albus were determined to get a place on the team, both of their fathers had been in their houses quidditch team, and Albus' mother had even played for the Hollyhead Harpies before working for the Auror's office in the Ministry of Magic. Even though they were best friends, both felt a little apprehensive about what would happen if one of them secured a place but the other didn't, at least they weren't both competing for the same position. Albus wanted to gain the position of seeker, where all the action was. He could think of nothing better than winning Slytherin a match by catching the snitch. Scorpius, however, liked the idea of being a beater. He was quite strong so could easily beat away bludgers, which could be quite impressive. Nalia and Tilda were both just excited to get to watch the tryouts and get their first glimpse of quidditch.

The fire was slowly starting to die down, which meant any moment now the portraits in the common room would start saying things such as 'Pip pip, time to get back to your common room, do stop by again' and 'Cheerio, it's so nice to see the houses mingling', signaling the fact that it was time for Rose to get back to Gryffindor tower and for the boys to get back to Slytherin's Dungeons.