Ron Potter and the Next Generation by PEMDAS
Chapter Notes: I have decided to post Ch. 9, even though no further chapters have been written, but this should at least keep you entertained for a bit while I write more...enjoy!
Ron was sure his plan would work, but he would have to wait a while to try it out. He needed to spend some time fine-tuning it, as it would be very risky. However, in the meantime, he decided to do some investigation on the matter. After their second DADA lesson the following week, Ron walked up to his father’s desk. “Dad,” he said, “can I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure,” Professor Potter said, straightening a stack of papers with his wand. “What’s the problem, Ron?”
“Well,” he said tentatively, “I was wondering...about the Death Eater scare last week...”
Professor Potter held up a hand. “If you’re going to ask me who the student was, I can’t tell you. It’s confidential, and only to be spoken of among staff members.”
Ron was expecting this, and he didn’t give up. “But was it a Slytherin?” he asked. “It had to have been; all Death Eaters were in Slytherin...”
“Ron,” Professor Potter, “that’s...”
“It was Marilyn Malfoy, wasn’t it?” Ron said, leaning forward expectantly. Professor Potter’s face gave no visible expression of interest at the name.
“Ron, for the last time, I can’t tell you,” the professor said firmly. “Whether it is or isn’t a Slytherin...or Ms. Malfoy...is none of your concern. Why do you want to know so badly?”
“Curiosity?” Ron offered.
Professor Potter shook his head, smiling sadly. “Knowing you, Ron,” he said, ruffling his son’s hair, “that’s not the only reason. I advise you be careful in the future about what you do here. I’ll admit I wasn’t the best role model for rule-following in my time at Hogwarts, but this is a dangerous situation.”
“So was the Chamber of Secrets situation,” Ron pointed out, “but you still snuck out after hours.”
Professor Potter sighed. “Go, Ron,” he said dismissively. “You don’t want to be late for Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall is not in a good mood today; she’s been meeting with Ministry officials for the past few days about the incident on Saturday.” And with that, Professor Potter got up and retreated to his office.
Minutes later, Ron and Harry were hurrying to their Transfiguration lesson. “It had to have been Marilyn,” Ron said confidently. “Why else would my dad not have said anything? If it wasn’t her, he would’ve said no right away!”
“So why are you still going to try and interrogate Marilyn again?” Harry asked. “I mean, we know it was her; so what?”
“We aren’t interrogating her about her dressing up as a Death Eater, Harry,” Ron replied. “We’re interrogating her about meeting with other Death Eaters in the forest. We could find out where they are hiding!”
“But what could we do about it?” Ron said. “I mean, if we told a teacher, they know we did something illegal to get it out of Marilyn, and we’ll get in big trouble!”
“Maybe not,” Ron mumbled, as they rushed into the Transfiguration classroom seconds before the bell rang. He was still fine-tuning that part of the plan, as well, but he had a pretty good idea of how to get out of that one.
During Transfiguration, Ron brainstormed parts of his plan. It would require a certain object from the Potions cabinet, which Snape most likely guarded closely since the Polyjuice Potion incident in his dad’s second year. However, he thought he knew a way around that, as well...he and Ron had double Potions in the afternoon, and either he or Harry would create a diversion for a few minutes to try and get the item they needed. After the lesson, they had lunch, and Ron and Harry talked quietly about the plan.
“I’ll create the diversion,” Ron told Harry, “and you raid Snape’s cabinets. A simple ‘Alohamora’ should open the lock, but be sure to close it with ‘Colloportus’ when you’re done.”
“Right,” Harry replied nervously. “What if I get caught?”
“If my diversion works,” Ron replied, “you should have plenty of time to do it without getting in trouble.”
At the end of lunch period, Ron and Harry joined the rest of the class, most of them Slytherins, waiting to enter the dungeon classroom. Finally, Snape opened the door, and students began filing into the room. Ron winked at Harry, and walked casually towards one of the Slytherins, a tall, burly boy named Varsely, and tapped him on the shoulder. “Hey, Varsely,” he muttered, “get out of my way.”
“Back off, Potter,” Varsely snarled. He took a step forward and tripped on Ron’s outstretched foot, doing a face plant on the concrete ground. A bit of blood dripped from Varsely’s nose as he got up and faced Ron, who watched him nonchalantly. “You’ll pay for that one, you stupid Gryffindor,” he said.
He raised his wand, but was immediately blasted by a spell from Ron’s own wand. Everyone turned to look as Varsely began sprouting feathers, just as Trevor had in their first Potions lesson. Ron quickly pocketed his wand as everyone crowded around them, laughing. Harry took the hint and, when Snape came back out of the classroom to see what the commotion was, he slipped silently into the room, headed for Snape’s private cabinets.
“What is going on here?” Snape demanded, watching as Varsely turned into a giant chicken. “Who did this?”
“He did it to himself, Professor,” Ron spoke up. Everyone turned to look at him, including Varsely. “He tried to cast the spell on me, but I blocked it, and it rebounded on him, sir.”
Varsely opened his mouth (beak?) to retort, but the only thing that came out was a squawk. Everyone laughed, but stopped short when they saw Snape’s icy glare.
“And what,” Snape demanded, staring Ron down, “would prompt him to try to do such a thing?”
“He “ he tripped over my foot, Professor,” Ron said, “but it was an accident. He thought I did it on purpose.”
Snape saw right through the lie. “Ten points from Gryffindor for tripping another student,” he said, drawing angry looks to Ron from other Gryffindors, “and another five for lying to me.”
Ron didn’t reply. He wouldn’t risk any more points by arguing. Waving his wand, Snape returned Varsely to his original body, and Ron, suddenly frightened that he would tell Snape the truth, saw that Varsely had decided that 15 points from Gryffindor was sufficient punishment, and breathed a sigh of relief. Just before everyone returned into the room, Harry slipped back out of the room quietly, joining Ron.
“Did you get it?” Ron asked in a hushed voice. Harry grinned, and pulled a small vial filled with clear liquid from his pocket, returning it to the pocket after Ron had seen it.
“Excellent,” Ron said, grinning.
***
At dinner that night, Ron and Harry carried out the second part of their plan. They knew that, if Marilyn was the one that dressed up as the Death Eater, and if she was suspended for doing so, she was still sure to attend meals, and sure enough, she was sitting at the Slytherin table when they entered the Great Hall, chatting quietly with a few people.
Regrettably, Ron and Harry had no classes with Marilyn that day, so they didn’t know for sure if she’d been suspended. They weren’t about to ask her, either.
Yet.
Instead of walking directly to the Gryffindor table as usual, Ron and Harry walked over to the Slytherin table, to Marilyn. “Hello, Marilyn,” Ron said as he stepped behind the blonde Slytherin. Marilyn turned to look at him and Harry, glaring when she saw who it was. “If it isn’t Potter and Weasley,” she sneered. “What seems to be the problem?”
“Well,” Ron said, leaning in closer to Marilyn, “we happen to know that a certain number of people broke out of Azkaban last week...”
“The whole wizarding world knows that, stupid,” Marilyn spat out.
“...and your father was among them,” Ron finished, not batting an eye at her outburst. “Now, normally, I don’t blame a girl for wanting to see her father once in a while, but isn’t dressing up like him and sneaking out to see him is a bit much?”
Marilyn smirked. “You think I was the one in the Death Eater costume, then?” she asked.
“Yes, I do,” Ron replied.
Marilyn put her face right up to Ron’s. “Then why don’t you prove it?” she challenged. When Ron didn’t reply, Marilyn sniffed and returned to her meal. Satisfied, Ron and Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table.
“Did you put it in?” Ron whispered. Harry showed him the empty vial.
“Every last drop,” Harry replied. He had poured the potion into Marilyn’s pumpkin juice when she wasn’t looking.
Now the only thing left to do was wait for dinner to end. Finally, after an hour of sitting and eating little, and watching Marilyn sip away at her goblet, Ron and Harry got up to leave. They waited outside the Great Hall until Marilyn left, headed for the Slytherin common room in the dungeons. They quietly followed after her.
When Marilyn was alone, they acted. Ron cast a Silencing spell on Marilyn, and Harry grabbed her and pinned her to the wall. Marilyn looked shocked. “Not a word,” Ron muttered, and released the Silencing spell from Marilyn.
“What do you want?” Marilyn asked, a touch of fear in her voice.
“Were you the one who dressed up as a Death Eater last Saturday?” Ron demanded.
For a moment, Marilyn was silent, and the two boys were sure they had her beat. “No,” she replied, and the boys started; how could she lie? After all, she had drank the potion...
Ron cleared his throat, heat rising up his neck. “Did-did you meet with other Death Eaters off-campus on Saturday?” he asked.
“No,” Marilyn replied.
“Were you off grounds at all last Saturday?” Harry asked tentatively.
“No!” Marilyn told them. The boys were in shock. They released Marilyn from the wall, letting her stagger off to the common room, coughing.
“It-it wasn’t her?” Harry asked, looking at Ron for help. He, too, was at a loss.
“I guess not,” Ron murmured. “She couldn’t have possibly lied. It must’ve been someone else.”
Author’s Note: Most of you have guessed that the potion they stole was Veritaserum, and you were right. Marilyn couldn’t possibly have lied, could she? She drank the potion, didn’t she? All these questions and more will be answered soon...oh, and Ch. 10 may take a while to get validated, but not to worry...it won’t take too long, I hope! Thanks for reading, and please review!