Dumbledore currently sat at his office. It had been a long 24 hours for him. First of all there had been going down to the Chamber of Secrets and rescuing Ron Weasley and Terra Andrews.
Followed by the rather eventful re-sorting of Harry Potter and his argument with the Sorting Hat.
Then going to see Snape.
Only to return to his office to be deluged by the parents of Ron and Terra demanding to know just what had happened.
At his age it was all rather exhausting and it wasn't even over yet as he still needed to work out how he was going to work out the schedules for House Peeves. While still cursing the stubborn Sorting Hat, which he had now stuffed into a small drawer in his desk out of annoyance, he was notified by his wards of the presence of someone coming up the stairs to his office.
Madame Bones burst in, not looking very happy at the moment.
"Madame Bones, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Dumbledore asked, trying to be gracious, "May I interest you in a lemon drop?"
"We can dispense with the formalities." Madame Bones said, looking exhausted, "I've had just as long a day as you, I've only just gotten done filing the paperwork on the Chamber of Secrets and what happened to the two Aurors I just lost today and I still have a ton left to do so I think you and I would both prefer if I'm brief."
Grateful that she had to decided to let him off the hook for pleasantries he wasn't in the mood at all to show, he gave a motion for her to proceed.
"I was only just informed of the creation of this new House and my niece, Harry and his fiancees involvement in it." She told him in an unreadable tone.
"I wish to assure you that it was not my idea, in fact I've tried quite hard to get the Sorting Hat to change its mind." Dumbledore said in case she was upset.
"Do you really expect me to believe that you can't fix it, you are the Headmaster after all?" Madame Bones reminded him.
"I'm afraid not, as the Sorting of students is something that has always lied with the school itself and the Sorting Hat." Dumbledore answered her, "I would love to see it be changed but unfortunately my hands are tied. You are however free to try and reason with the Sorting Hat yourself if you wish."
"What did the children say when they were Sorted?" Madame Bones asked him.
"They seemed quite pleased to now all be together to be honest." Dumbledore admitted.
Madame Bones seemed to stew over this then said, "Well I suppose if they are happy and it doesn't affect their studies I can imagine I would have any further problems with it provided you take certain necessary precautions."
"I'm glad you seem to think so, perhaps you could handle all the logistical problems I now have to deal with as a result of it." Dumbledore told her.
As far as he was concerned on the issue he was fed up with it, he did not need any further problems with Madame Bones nor spend the time figuring it out himself, if she suggested something he'd likely do it.
"You could probably have them share with any of the other houses." Madame Bones suggested, "It's not like the class sizes are very large to begin with. You can have Fleur since she is in a different year from them do the same only in her year."
Dumbledore paused to consider this. It would be the most practical and easy solution.
"I'll keep it under advisement," He said diplomatically, "is there anything else?"
"I have to admit that I am concerned now that they are all together without any other supervision or any other students to deter them from any... activities that they may want to engage in in later years." Madame Bones remarked.
"I quite agree, which is why I was just trying to think of a Head of House for them who can check up on them from time to time." Dumbledore suggested, "I believe I'll ask Flitwick to do it in addition to his responsibilities in handling the Ravenclaws."
Madame Bones nodded, "I think that would be a good choice since they already know and respect him. Though I think there should be someone else as well, someone actually there in the House."
"I'm still working on that," Dumbledore said, "I do believe however that we will be safe for the time being."
"See that it does, Dumbledore." She cautioned in a tone that squarely laid responsibility in that regard on him, "The kids are already good kids, but I was a teenager once too and I know what they can get up to if given the opportunity."
She seemed to want to say something further but then his wards once again warned him of someone else coming up the stairs.
"One moment..." Dumbledore told her as the door burst open once again revealing Lucius Malfoy, causing him to then tell her, "If you'd be willing to wait for a moment at the end of the stairs I would appreciate it."
She shook her head, "We'll just talk later in a few days. I've got to go see the children and then finish up that paperwork if I'm to get any sleep in before work tomorrow morning."
After she had left, Dumbledore turned towards Lucius Malfoy.
"What can I do for you?" Dumbledore asked.
"I was saddened to learn of the loss of the two Aurors and the kidnapping of two students." Lucius told him.
Evidently Lucuis was here to try and take advantage of the tragedy and try and disgrace him, not all fooled by the thinly veiled suggestion that he actually cared about any of the victims.
"Yes, a very unfortunate incident indeed," Dumbledore admitted, "but at the very least it appears the danger is over now and the school is once again safe."
"How wonderful," Lucius said sarcastically, "I must say however that if it weren't for your mismanagement of this school perhaps these incidents wouldn't have occurred."
Ah, there it was, the accusation already. Two could play at that game.
"Perhaps if you hadn't smuggled what was responsible for all of the problems they wouldn't have occurred at all." Dumbledore answered.
"That is complete nonsense," Lucius tried to argue.
"On the contrary," Dumbledore said, "before the spirit of what was possessing the diary, an imprint of himself left behind by a young Voldemort was destroyed, he confessed to me the method in which he came into young Ronald Weasley's hands. It evidently knew just where it had come from and to whom it once belonged to before then."
"There's no way of proving that." Lucius seethed.
"Indeed not, but at the very least I know and I'll have a pretty good idea of whom to look to should I find other such dangerous items in my school again." Dumbledore replied calmly.
He hoped that Lucius would not try anything further, not because he didn't think he'd be pardoned of any suggestions of mismanagement, but because he was already rather tired and didn't want to get into it with him at the moment. Fortunately however his mention of the diary had unbalanced him just enough to give it up, at least for now.
"We'll just see about that..." Lucius replied, turning away and leaving in anger.
Meanwhile, while Dumbledore was talking with Lucius Malfoy, Madame Bones descended the stairs to find a house elf currently standing at the foot of them.
"Are you Lucius Malfoy's house elf?" Madame Bones asked.
"Yes Madame." The house elf said respectfully.
"What's your name?" Madame Bones asked.
"Dobby." The elf replied.
Amelia's eyes widened, she remembered reading about Dobby from one of Harry's letters home to her. "Are you the Dobby that tried to warn Harry Potter about the danger being presented at Hogwarts?" she asked.
Dobby nodded, "Yes Madame, Dobby was only trying to save Harry Potter and Dobby didn't know of the true greatness of him."
"It's all right." She said as she noticed that the house elf looked scared and seemed ready to hurt himself.
"I'm guessing that you went against the wishes of your master in doing so and for that I thank you." She thanked him, "What will he do to you if you if he finds out you did so?"
"He will likely kill me." Dobby replied before he suddenly grew fearful again and began to hit himself with his fists.
She could tell that he had a deep fear of his master and him resorting to murder instead of simply giving him clothes certainly did not sit right with her even though the murder of a person's own house elf was perfectly legal under wizarding law. She was suddenly struck by a possibility that she could make the law work for her, although it would involve asking Dobby a question that most house elves would find deeply offensive.
"Dobby how would you like to be free from your owners?"
Dobby's eyes grew real wide, seemingly incapable of being able to believe such a proposal but not in the way she might have suspected; with absolute abhorrence like she had just uttered a dirty word.
"Dobby would be immeasurably grateful to be away from his master," Dobby answered before sighing, "but it is impossible."
"Actually, it is." She insisted, "According to wizarding law a house elf can buy his freedom from his master should he so choose. Having a house elf choose to leave their master willingly is extremely rare but the law does allow for it."
She did not add that the law had only been so easily passed because even Pureblood wizards rightly assumed that almost no elf would ever take or even be given such an opportunity. For Dobby to even want freedom from his master would no doubt disgust other house elves, but working for the Malfoy's she really couldn't blame him.
"Dobby hasn't any money, his master would never allow him to have any of his own to buy his freedom from them." Dobby replied.
"Here you go, now you do." She told him, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a single galleon. With the price of a house elf having been set low as to make it more possible for a house elf to actually buy his freedom and the law having not been updated for inflation rates in a very long time, a galleon would be sufficient.
Dobby took it, looking at it like it was an entire treasure chest.
This would certainly not make Lucius happy, but it wasn't as if she really cared if he was unhappy, especially after all the garbage he had pulled and gotten away with over the years. Besides if she could save his clearly abused house elf she supposed it was worth it.
Lucius came down the stairs in a huff and he yelled at Dobby, "Come Dobby, you witless worm, let's get out of here."
He gave him a kick for good measure sending Dobby flying but he still managed to hold onto his galleon, clutching it for dear life.
"Here you go master," Dobby said, scrambling back over to him and handing the galleon to him.
"Did I drop this?" Lucius asked.
"This is Dobby's galleon to buy his freedom with." Dobby answered.
Lucius looked incredulous, "You fool, that isn't yours, probably just mine or someone else's that dropped it, that's stealing and you'll be punished for it."
He looked ready to kick Dobby again but then Madame Bones intervened.
"I gave it to him to buy his freedom with so he is now under house elf and wizarding law free from you." She told him.
Lucius looked livid, unable to believe that she would doing something like that. "YOU LOST ME MY SERVANT!" He roared, pulling his wand on her and hitting her with a spell that knocked her down and gave her a nasty cut on her arm.
She had chosen to let the spell hit her, realizing it was non-lethal and gave her an opportunity she had been yearning for.
Before she could do anything further however, Dobby used his own magic to freeze Lucius and prevent him from being able to move.
She got up and used the opportunity to cast a binding spell on Lucius hands and bound them up, pocketing his wand as well.
"I do believe you've just attacked a member of magical law enforcement, that's a fine and prison time for you." She told him.
"It'll never hold up in court, I'll bury you in paperwork from my lawyers." Lucius seethed as soon as he was able to talk again.
"I don't intend to fight it," She countered, "but I still am legally allowed to hold you for 24 hours while you wait to be interrogated for your crime."
"You wouldn't dare you crazy witch," Lucius roared, "I'll have your job!"
"Good luck," She scoffed as she began escorting him to the front of the school, "you've been trying for years to have my job, me putting you in a jail for a night wouldn't change that."
Madame Bones smiled as she held her wand on him and watched him walk, her job was based on a 4 year election from all of the wizards in Britain rather than as a direct post from the minister and she always won without anyone to oppose her. She knew quite well that Lucius had tried to get somebody to run against her but always failed, for good reason, nobody was stupid enough to try it.
After putting a silencing spell after he ranted and raved at her, she turned to Dobby who was still following her.
"Thank you, Dobby." she told him.
"It be Dobby's honor Madame." Dobby answered.
"So where are you going to go now?" She asked.
He seemed to look uncertain but finally said, "Since Madame gave Dobby the money to buy his freedom with, Dobby feels honor bound to now become Madame's house elf."
"You don't have to do that Dobby and I already have a house elf but if you would like you may serve me if you wish until you feel the debt has been paid." She suggested, "If you would like to go to my house, you have permission to go and wait for me there and I'll discuss it further with you later."
Dobby nodded gratefully and cracked out to where her house was.
After taking him to where Moody was, who seemed quite pleased to be given the task of escorting Lucius Malfoy to his night in prison, she headed over to where she had heard the children would now be living.
After getting to where the portrait guarding the entrance was, she realized she didn't have the password.
"I'm sorry I can't let you in unless you know the password." The jester acting as the guardian announced.
Stamping her foot, she wondered just what the password could be.
"Does old Missy Bonesy not know the password?" Peeves the poltergeist asked, appearing next to her.
She suspected he had been hanging around just to wait for anyone else to go gloat to about having his own House. It also suddenly occurred to her that it being his House Peeves might actually know the password.
"Do you know the password Peeves?" she asked.
"Maybe," he answered, seemingly pretty happy about knowing something that she didn't.
"Give it to me then." She answered impatiently.
"What are you willing to give me for it?" Peeves asked.
Too tired to play games by that point she tried a strong arm tactic.
"I could always have Dumbledore install the Bloody Baron as House Peeves' ghost if you don't tell me what the password is." She offered.
Peeves wide smile suddenly disappeared as he seemed to realize she wasn't messing around. "Fine, you're no fun," He pouted, "the password is zzzzzipittyyyyy."
Peeves flew off even as he said the password, stretching out the word to make it harder to understand.
"Zippity." She told the jester causing the portrait to swing open for her.
She found the children just getting ready for bed and after finding out just how they were doing, pleased here that they were happy to be there, she said. "I just spoke with Dumbledore on how he plans to work things out." She told them.
"I'm sure he wasn't too happy." Su grinned.
"No, he wasn't." Madame Bones answered, returning the grin before then getting serious.
"He's going to have a Head of House be appointed to check on you, probably Flitwick." She informed them, "He'll be working on making sure someone is around on a more frequent basis to make sure that you're better protected and make sure you don't get into any mischief."
"Mischief, what mischief?" Susan asked, trying to look innocent.
"I think you know what I mean," she said, "besides I was your age too and then as I got older I suddenly encountered certain temptations to..."
Everybody groaned mid-sentence to that.
"Just promise me that you won't do anything and behave yourselves." She asked them all.
After extracting each of their solemn promises she turned to Harry again, "I'll especially be looking to you, if you take the virginity of any one of these girls underage I'll castrate you, do I make myself clear?"
Seeing at her totally serious looking expression, despite his better judgment, Harry shook his head. "If we feel we're ready we'll advance our relationship. You've taught us what we need to know so we won't be going into it blind."
He stared back at her, just as seriously. They held eachother gaze for what felt like an eternity for Harry before she gave a sort nod. She didn't like it, but she respected the students in the room and had faith in their judgment.
Giving each of them a kiss on the forehead, she toned it down a bit and talked to them for awhile how school was going and then made her leave, hoping that she was doing a good enough job raising them.
DUELDUELDUEL
Lucius had not had a good time as he was forcefully manhandled by the idiotic Auror Moody who happily escorted him to the cell usually reserved for people in line to be interrogated.
Quickly shoving him in, he was perturbed to find the ghastly conditions he was currently in, no running water or a bathroom, just a simple cell with no windows and two small cots to sleep on.
Once again promising that he would get Madame Bones fired, he sat down against the wall to wait things out before either his lawyer showed up or they finally hauled him for "questioning."
It was only a half hour later, however, when his cell door was opened again, only it was not his lawyer or someone wanting to interrogate him but someone else.
Another prisoner with long black hair that obscured what little face he could see as he was currently looking down at the ground entered and waited for Moody to shackle him to a metal ring on the other side of the room.
"I decided to bring in one of your death eater pals to help keep you company." Moody replied, "I figured that he could stand to be questioned right after you for at least one of the million crimes I've heard he's committed. Not like he has anything better to do."
"You can't put me in with one of these common criminals." Lucius insisted.
"Well, seeing as how we currently only have one holding cell for those up to be interrogated and you voted against spending the money to expand in the last Wizengamot meeting I think I'm well within my rights to." Moody claimed before his expression cracked and he began laughing.
Lucius shook his fist at him as he left, leaving him and the still unidentified prisoner alone.
He supposed it might not be so bad, he realized, as he knew most of the death eaters currently rotting in prison.
"What's your name prisoner?" Lucius asked him from where he sat on the other side of the cell, wondering if perhaps he hadn't already gone mad.
As the prisoner finally looked up to look at him, however, he gasped as he looked into the gaunt, haggard face of who could only be Sirius Black.
Out of all the Death Eaters that Moody could put him with, Moody had chosen Black. He had evidently done his homework, correctly assuming that he and Black had never gotten along, even though he wasn't entirely sure how he had known.
The fact that Sirius Black was no Death Eater, something that Moody wouldn't know, but he did, seemed to be all the more cruel.
"Hello Lucius," Black said with a hoarse sounding voice as if he hadn't used it in a long while, "I'm pleased to see you in a place like this."
"It's only for 24 hours until they can no longer legally hold me," Lucius claimed, "then I'll be free and you'll still be rotting in prison."
"At least I never actually committed any crimes and got away with them." Black claimed.
"No, you just got put in prison for the ones you didn't commit." Lucius sneered, "Who got off better in the end?"
Black gave a dry sounding laugh, "I'm not surprised to find that you've known all this time that I was innocent Lucius, I always thought you were deep into your master's inner circle."
"I have no master!" Lucius exclaimed, "Now that the Dark Lord is dead I am far more powerful than he ever was. I'll have the entire Wizengamot in my grasp soon enough."
"Let me know how that works out for you," Black rasped, "unless the day count I've been keeping on my cell wall is incorrect, you've already had over 11 years."
"I'd already have it completely under control if it weren't for your half-wit friend's son." Lucius sneered.
This caused Black to scoot up a bit looking genuinely interested now. "Are you talking about Harry, my godson?" Black asked him.
"I don't believe I have to answer any questions of yours." Lucius argued.
"You know I still hear things that your fellow Death Eaters say in this place about you as they scream it in the night." Black suggested, "I'm sure that during my interrogation I might be willing to share such information with Moody. I might even get some extra food rations from it."
Lucius studied Black to see if he was bluffing but he couldn't really be sure, having no idea what one of the Death Eaters who knew him might have let slip in their mad ravings. He supposed what he told him really couldn't hurt.
"Your godson has been proving to be nothing more than a minor setback that's all, he probably has no idea what he's even doing." Lucius claimed, "My son Draco was set to marry the daughter of Lord Parkinson, cementing an alliance between us and allowing me to gain control of the majority of the Wizengamot. However the boy-who-should-have-diedended up winning her hand in marriage in a duel set up by my idiotic son."
"Harry is betrothed to someone?" Black asked in shock.
"To 3 different girls now if what my son has told me is correct." Lucius growled at the potential influence lost, "He's also got 2 Veela he's cavorting around with now, I wouldn't be surprised if the half-wit has them under some sort of contract too."
"I had no idea James' son would be quite the ladies' man so young, but good for him." Black cheered, obviously pleased at the news.
"I'll get to him soon enough, don't you worry." Lucius hissed in an effort to wipe the smirk off his face.
Black looked highly upset by this comment, "You do anything to hurt Harry and I'll kill you, you understand?"
Lucius scoffed, "Like you can do anything to me in prison."
"Then I'll break out of prison and kill you myself." Black said in a crazed sounding voice.
Perhaps Azkaban had had an effect on his mental stability after all.
"Good luck with that," Lucius uttered, "your boy is safe for the time being under Dumbledore's watchful care, but I'll get him the next time he isn't there to protect him, just you watch."
Sirius pulled at his shackles in an attempt to rush at him but found that they were simply too hard to break.
Lucius gave a laugh and chose to remain in silence until he was finally led out for the frivolous questioning and then quickly released by his lawyer.
DUELDUELDUEL
The next morning, Harry and the girls all headed down for breakfast to discover that a small table had been set up for each of them in the Great Hall along with a large banner just above it displaying the colors purple and orange with a large white unicorn in the middle of it.
"I wonder why a unicorn is our mascot?" Gabrielle commented.
"I'm pretty sure it's either the castle, the Sorting Hat, or peeves' idea of a joke," Su answered, "Unicorns are supposed to symbolize purity and kindness towards others, the exact opposite of what Peeves is. Probably meant to be ironic." She grinned slyly at Harry, "There's also the untouched maiden aspect of it."
As Harry turned red as Su's exaggerated salacious look Susan answered, "I don't care who or why it was chosen, I think its gorgeous." while still looking up at it.
Sitting down at their new table, they mutually agreed to continue going from House Table to House Table, but were content for today to sit at this one.
They then continued to chat about how things would be different for them in their new house.
They didn't have to wait long to receive at least some answers as Dumbledore finally arrived with their new schedules, handing it to them without a word and leaving.
"Apparently he's still a little upset that the Sorting Hat got one over on him." Pansy said, giggling.
Looking through their new schedules they soon found that, with the exception of Fleur, who had been put in with the 4th year Gryffindors, they now had a schedule that had them sharing classes with each of the other houses.
"It doesn't seem to be too bad." Susan admitted, "At least we are all together now."
"It's going to be great," Gabrielle agreed, before suddenly a frown marred on her face. "What about Quidditch Susan?" She asked.
Susan frowned herself, "I hadn't thought about that."
"I'll bet you could probably try and get a waiver from Dumbledore or something since we don't have our own house team nor enough people to make one." Fleur suggested.
Susan nodded, seeming slightly more positive as the food arrived and they began to pile up their plates.
It wasn't long however before the Weasley twins decide to make their presence known.
"We just heard about you and the Hew house..." George admitted.
"Causing us to wonder, why are you in House Peeves and we aren't?" Fred demanded.
"Just lucky I guess." Su replied.
"Seriously, if there is going to be a House Peeves then we need to be in it." George insisted.
"Try taking it up with Dumbledore." Susan suggested.
"What do you think the first thing we tried doing before we even came over here was?" Fred answered, "Dumbledore just told us off, that it was a mistake and that the House wasn't even meant for pranksters."
"How can a House with the founder being Peeves not be a house for pranksters like us?" George asked.
"Dumbledore obviously isn't very happy about it, but I think it would be more than worrying about having created a new House just for pranksters for whatever reason." Su replied, "Besides, we're more than happy for the most part to have Peeves and you two actually do most of the pranks. I do like to come up with them for Peeves though."
"So you're the one giving Peeves all those great ideas..." Fred mused, "We were wondering how he was stepping up his game so well. We didn't realize it was because someone else was supplying him with ideas."
"Both Su and Pansy have really devious minds when they choose to use them." Fleur complimented.
At Fleur's words, both Fred and George couldn't help but stare at Fleur and suddenly forget about the conversation they were having.
Fleur sighed and gave Harry a kiss, who had been sitting right next to her.
The twins suddenly were broken from their staring and seemed to realize what they had been doing again.
"Sorry," Fred tried to apologize, "didn't mean to do that... well, we'd better go get some breakfast before classes start."
He and George left them, leaving them all alone again.
"Must you always do that?" Pansy demanded of Fleur.
"It's the only way I know to get my Veela allure to shut off." Fleur claimed.
"I don't really mind Pansy." Harry answered.
"I'm sure you don't Harry, I just don't want her to be using you for the wrong reasons." Pansy stated.
Fleur sighed, "I was afraid someone might feel that way, I'll stop if it bothers you, I just hate when people act like that around me."
Pansy seemed to soften at that admonition and said, "I suppose if it's the only thing that works and Harry doesn't mind..."
"To be honest it bothers me too, wondering if perhaps the only reason I kiss Harry so much is just for my own selfish reason." Fleur admitted, "I'd hate to think that I was using him in the same way he could so easily use me."
Now Pansy felt guilty as she realized she might have insinuated that Fleur was taking advantage of someone much the way a slave master might take advantage of their slave.
"I'm sorry," Pansy tried to amend, "I didn't mean it like that."
"Don't worry, I know you didn't, it's something that I just worry about, not you." Fleur answered.
"I can't imagine any of us doing that." Harry said.
"Are you really kissing him that much just because of that or do you really like kissing him?" Susan then asked Fleur.
"While getting rid of my Veela allure is a good excuse, I really do like kissing him a lot." Fleur admitted without hesitation.
"Like I said, I really don't mind." Harry said, blushing himself.
"Then I suppose it's not really a problem." Susan concluded, before getting up and giving him a quick kiss herself, "Just as long as you always save a few kisses for the rest of us."
DUELDUELDE
During dinner, Draco and his two lackeys Goyle and Crabbe went over to their table.
"Well it looks like scarhead and his prostitutes finally joined a house worthy of them," Draco claimed, "I thought Hufflepuff was a worthless house, but evidently now there is a house even lower, House Peeves has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard of."
Both Crabbe and Goyle guffawed and laughed at that, although this wasn't saying much, they even laughed at Su's why did the chicken cross the road joke she had told them, failing to even notice that she had actually been making fun of them at the time.
"I heard that the sorting hat wanted to put you in Hufflepuff," Pansy countered.
"That's ridiculous!" Draco screeched, "who told you that?"
"I was thinking that it was just a rumor but after the way you just reacted, maybe there is some truth to it..." suggested Pansy.
"I am a Malfoy, and Malfoys only go to Slytherin," Draco tried to insist.
"It sounds like you are just insecure Draco," Pansy answered.
"I AM NOT INSECURE!" roared Draco.
"Sure you aren't," Pansy claimed sarcastically.
The whole school had seen Malfoy be sorted as soon as the hat touched his head but evidently Malfoy was still too insecure to realize that.
"I'll kill any mudblood or traitorous scum who claims I have anything to do with that lowly, pathetic house," Draco answered loudly, earning angry glances from a group of 7th year Hufflepuffs who happened to be walking by.
Seeming to realize he was now being angrily stared at by more than just them, he decided to make a hasty retreat but not before adding one last threat to Pansy
"I'll have you back one day blood traitor, and when that day comes I'll make sure you pay every last thing you've ever done to disgrace the Malfoy name," Draco claimed before finally turning and leaving.
"I do believe we need to teach him a lesson about how great Hufflepuff really is," Susan said.
"Yes we certainly do," replied Pansy.
DUELDUELDE
For their first Peeves House meeting, they all got together in the common room, along with Peeves himself who looked positively gleeful about having his first House Peeves meeting.
"It's about time we did something fun," Peeves said as he pulled out an entire birthday cake seemingly out of nowhere and set it on a table, "I managed to pilfer it from Filch's birthday party. There was no one there so I figured it would only go to waste."
Harry wasn't sure that he could trust a cake being brought by Peeves, but evidently Su was brave enough to test it and take a bit of the frosting.
"It's good," she announced to them after eating it.
"You didn't do anything to the cake did you Peeves?" Pansy asked adamantly.
"No," Peeves tried to say but when he saw Pansy's stern looking face he finally answered, "well yes, but just the lettering."
Harry had noticed that since joining House Peeves, Peeves had already shown them all a great deal more respect than he showed for the other students and had even stopped pranking them. When asked by Pansy he had said it wouldn't be right to be pranking his own house, especially when they already kept him so busy with everyone else.
However, that respect went even further with Pansy, who seemed to enjoy some ability to control Peeves, something that would have been highly coveted by others but which she was now making full use of.
As Harry went to go check out the cake for himself, he noticed that indeed, the letters for Happy Birthday Argus Filch now read:
sappy Birchday Argu Filth
Deciding that it was safe since Su had already cut herself a slice and was now eating it, he went and cut a slice for each of the girls and Peeves.
Of course, Peeves' slice simply went right through him and fell to the floor but he quickly cleared it up with a cleaning spell right afterwards.
"Now let's get to our first item of business," Pansy claimed.
"I don't like business," Peeves pouted.
"Pranking business," Pansy clarified which made Peeves a great deal happier.
"We need to prank Malfoy and in a big way," Pansy said.
"I've already got a plan laid out for that, all we'll need is a few knives and someone to get rid of the body," suggested Su.
"We don't want to kill him," Pansy replied, even while grinning at the idea, "well maybe not just yet anyway. No I've already got a plan less lethal, we're going to turn all of his clothes into Hufflepuff robes, only it will be a delayed reaction spell so he won't know that he is wearing them until he is already in the great hall for breakfast, set to go off at exactly the same time that McGonagall always walks past there on her way to the teacher's table. With any luck, the clothes and Malfoy's big mouth will get them into trouble with her if done right."
"How do you know that that will be when McGonagall arrives?" asked Gabrielle.
"McGonagall is the most punctual person I know," explained Pansy, "she always arrives precisely at 8:00 in the morning. I could set my watch by it. Every time I look over there at 8:00 she is always just arriving."
"How are we going to get inside his dorm room to steal the clothes though?" Susan asked.
"That's where Peeves will come in," Pansy answered before turning to Peeves, "can you do that for us Peeves?"
"It would be my honor," bowed Peeves.
"Can we also do it to Crabbe and Goyle?" asked Gabrielle.
"How about turn his hair Weasley orange?" suggested Fleur.
"We'll do all of those ideas," Pansy replied, "in fact I've already got at least a week's worth of constant pranking for the peacock, it'll serve him right. Peeves will be doing most of them, but this one at least I want as all involved in."
"I really like this house," Peeves claimed, grinning widely.
DUELDUELDE
The next morning, they all sat at the Slytherin table, a bit of a ways down from Malfoy and his two cronies, waiting with baited breath for the delayed spell to take effect.
Finally it did because Malfoy's clothes suddenly took on the exact color of Hufflepuff robes, anyone might have been convinced that he just stole them from a Hufflepuff.
Crabbe and Goyle's were soon to follow.
In addition, his hair turned Weasley red, and his shoes grew about 7 sizes too big.
As Malfoy began to notice the changes in a quite angry tone, spouting off a steady stream of curse words, Ms. McGonagall walked by on her way to the teacher's table and heard his language.
"Mr. Malfoy I do believe that will be quite enough," she exclaimed sternly, "we don't use that kind of offensive language."
"Some mudblood Hufflepuff must have...," Draco tried to say before realizing he had just said another curse word.
They had been counting on Draco's big, fat, dirty mouth to get him further into trouble and it appeared to already be paying off.
"That will be 5 points for your language and another 15 for each of you choosing to wear the wrong house attire," McGonagall exclaimed rather tersely.
"I don't deserve that you whore, do you really think I would actually choose to wear these ghastly clothes on my own?" Malfoy asked angrily.
If Malfoy had any hope of explaining himself it was quickly dashed by calling her a whore, and McGonagall was not pleased.
"That will be detention Mr. Malfoy," she said, "and if I ever hear you say that about me again I'll make it a week."
She walked past and then up to the teacher's table while Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle left to then go change before too many people could notice, even though most of the school was now staring at each of them now, some slightly chuckling and Colin Creevey in Gryffindor actually taking a picture.
Harry made a mental note to ask him for a copy later.
"That was fun," Peeves said quietly and invisibly into Harry's right ear, "10 points to House Peeves."
To Harry's amazement, a shower of purple crystals fell into House Peeves' tube that was meant to help keep track of where they were at in relation to the other houses in winning the house cup.
It was currently still sitting rather low since the house had only just been created, but the fact that Peeves could add points to his own house was certainly an interesting development, although as a recognized founder now he supposed he could see why this might have happened.
As both he and Peeves were the only ones to notice so far, he whispered back grinning, "let's see if we can win some more."