Friday, January 8, 1995 – Morning
Breakfast in the Great Hall was progressing. The mail arrived with the usual flurry of owls. Draco received a parchment from his mother. He opened it and read the first lines. He then rolled it up and put it in an inner pocket of his robe.
He leaned towards Pansy and whispered; “They have fixed it.”
Pansy leaned forward until her face nearly touched the table. Then she sat up straight and turned to Draco.
“I hope that your mother has not sent you another list of things that I am failing at.”
“Don’t worry Pansy. Mother is confidently expecting you to be her dutiful daughter-in-law.”
Draco gave Pansy a half smile and then looked around the hall. One place he did not look at was the top end of the Hufflepuff table where Merlin House gathered.
The Merlin House team walked out of the hall. Pansy glared at them, “There go the Merlin House hags. To think that I once called those Greengrass chits my friends.”
Daphne couldn’t help smiling to herself as she heard the new ‘war’ begin.
--ooOOoo—
The Daily Business Prophet
Friday, January 8, 1995
News from the estate management sector, Parkinson Estates has been sold to Crystal Investments. Crystal Investments is based in the Cayman Islands and is owned by international investors. The new owner has replaced the former management team and will continue to operate the company under the name Parkinson Estates. Lord Parkinson has declared that he and his wife will enjoy their new life on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. They have sold their properties in Britain and will not return here. Their daughter is betrothed to Heir Malfoy and is currently enrolled in her fourth year at Hogwarts.
--ooOOoo—
Merlin House students, Lord Greengrass, Unspeakable Davis and Professor Dawes met in the Merlin House office meeting room.
“How are things with Draco and Pansy now?” Lord Greengrass smiled at Daphne.
“The hallway banter has resumed. There seems to be a certain code in action. If Pansy says something hurtful and cutting, she is saying the exact opposite of what she means.” Astoria said.
“That will take a lot of getting used to.” Harry said.
Tracey responded. “It often happens inside Slytherin. In the give and take of a conflict, allies will sometimes agree to become opponents in order to conceal their real intentions.”
Professor Dawes shook her head. “I’m glad I’m not a student here anymore.”
“Which house were you in, Professor?” Hannah asked.
“I was in Slytherin. That was when Professor Slughorn was Head of House and Potions master. It was a very different place then. The whole of Hogwarts is different. We never had to contend with staff being put under a Confundus by the headmaster.” Professor Dawes stared at Eric Davis.
“Which brings us to the most urgent item of business. I want you all to take four of these each.” Unspeakable Davis passed out silver finished medallions.
“They are Confundus blockers. Your vassal and lord’s rings already have this function.”
“Confundus can be countered by using charms like this. They are widely used. All you have to do is carry one on yourself at all times and it will prevent you being affected by anything up to a strong Confundus cast by a powerful wizard. The charms being used here at Hogwarts can’t be that strong as they would become too noticeable. Give them out to prominent people around the castle, people like teachers, and prefects, and see if you can get the Tournament champions to take one and carry it around with them. The effect is quite interesting. If someone touches one, any charms on them will be broken. The victim may then realize that they have been under a Confundus. There could be fireworks after that. Then, if the original instigator wants the charm reimposed, they will have to cast it again. Then there will be a much greater possibility of them being caught.”
As the meeting wound down Harry asked some questions which had been troubling him.
“Cyrus, what is that company that paid for Parkinson Estates?”
“Crystal Investments is a shelf company. I keep several of them in places where company ownership is not that easy to trace. If you recall that parchment that I got you to sign back at Greengrass Manor, that was your agreement to buy half the company from me for one Cayman Islands Dollar. The next form was an application to borrow eight million galleons from Gringotts for investments to be made by that company. That loan will be paid back within a few years so we will then be partners in a company worth a lot more than sixteen million galleons. All for the investment of one Cayman Islands Dollar. If Lord Parkinson knew how to do that then he would have never had to sell. The thing is the risk. If the company fails, then we lose the company and our good will at Gringotts.”
--ooOOoo—
On Saturday, Harry planned to do an hour-long dive which is what it would be in the Tournament. The lake was cold and starting to freeze over again. Merlin House wands worked to keep the ice-free patch open for Harry to get out of the lake. Harry finally made it back. He wrapped himself in heavy robes and headed for the castle.
“Harry, can I talk to you?” It was Cedric. “Sure Cedric, by the way, can you look at this for me?”
Harry gave Cedric a medallion. His face changed. He frowned and stared at the charm.
“What is this? What did you just do?”
Harry plunged in. “That is a Confundus blocker. You have been put under a Confundus. The spell has been broken. I don’t know who put it on you or why it was done. It certainly wasn’t for your benefit.”
‘Confundus! Why? Who would do that?” Cedric was getting up a head of steam.
Harry stayed calm. “Who? Probably someone who wants you to lose. Possibly, someone who wants to break up you and Cho. Do you think that Cho has been behaving normally?”
“No! She has never been so bossy. She never did that before the Yule Ball, and I would never have taken it from her or anyone.” Cedric was ready to lash out.
“Cedric, take this charm and give it to Cho. If you see a significant behaviour change then you will know a bit more about what is going on.” Harry gave Cedric a different medallion.
“Keep the first medallion on you at all times. Cho should keep hers on her as well. I suggest you give these to Professor Flitwick to check them out. I don’t want you to suspect that these medallions are putting another sort of charm on you.”
We will also see if Flitwick is under a Confundus as well.
‘What did you want to talk to me about, Cedric?”
“Ah! I wanted to ask you about the vassalages. Cho is so furious about them, and the fact that the ministry is allowing you to keep all these vassals. She is also steamed up about Su Li not being in Ravenclaw, she was a terrific points scorer for the house.” Cedric was looking confused again.
“I’m going to have to give this speech a few times, I think. The vassalages were all terminated by the end of the first week. Merlin House students are not compelled to stay in Merlin house, Su Li and Luna Lovegood can return to Ravenclaw at any time. The Gods of Olympus allowed this because the Merlin house people all agreed to stay and support me through the Tournament. We are talking about powerful deities here; they can see into our minds and gauge our commitment. They don’t need signed pledges.” Harry watched Cedric’s face; he was obviously hearing this for the first time.
They walked towards the castle entrance. Cho was waiting. Harry held back and watched Cedric walk up to Cho and give her a medallion. Cho looked at it. Her hands went to her face. She seemed to sway, and Cedric put his arms around her to steady her. They then slowly went back into the castle. Cedric looked back at Harry and nodded to him before going inside.
Harry cast more warming charms on himself. He felt warming charms coming from the Merlin House girls behind him. They walked up into the castle.
Someone is messing with their minds; no prize for guessing who. Why?
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