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[alt_poppy]

After the St Mungo's contingent left me alone, last night was reasonably quiet. Today? Chaos.

This always happens when exams and lessons have finished and the pupils have nothing in particular to occupy them, but it's far worse today than I remember it. The Maze has inspired mayhem. Pranks of sundry sorts and duelling in the corridors--either in imitation of the Champions or in furtherance of disputes about their conduct. (I've had no fewer than seven Durmstrang students in here with hex injuries because it's alleged that Viktor Krum used unsportsmanlike tactics against the Hogwarts champions. And there have been altercations between the French and others, though I cannot tell whether it was the task or the defection that set them off.)

Most spectacularly, someone managed to replicate the fire-breathing dragon illusion and set several of them racing through the corridors. I have been treating the singed and trampled for the past hour and a half, and have only now got through the lot of them. Meanwhile, my reception has filled up with other duellists, plus those with sun poisoning and other ailments attending on various overindulgences.

Which makes me think. Minerva, I would feel very much better if you would check in with me and let me know whether you are in need of my care.

Sirius. It was good to see you.

Kingsley. How goes it with your guest?

Albus. I would appreciate a word at your earliest convenience. Today, that is.

Comments

[alt_alice]

Merlin.

Sirius, love, I'm so sorry. That must have been hard to hear.

Why on earth did he want Harry to kill Mrs Ridley? I don't suppose it has to have any reason, but how awful.

And I wonder what was happening with those wands. I'm not sure if I've ever heard of that before. I'll ask Mellisandra what she thinks.

[alt_sirius]

I'm not at all certain, Alice. About the murder, I mean. I can't make sense of what Harry told me. He said that Voldemort told him he had a present for him, and he held out the very first Snitch Harry ever caught in a Quidditch match. He wanted him to hold the Snitch and kill Ridley. (Though from the sound of it, wanting to murder Ridley is a desire not exclusively Voldemort's. Tell Frank to tell her that her 'lover' says hello.)

Anyway. There was something about a potion that he wanted Harry to drink after the murder was done and a bunch of other instructions but Harry'd already decided he wasn't having any of it. He said he faked the spell as best he could, figuring it would be better to 'fail' than to refuse.

As for the wands, Allie, like I said, I think the description sounds like Priori Incantatem. I've heard of it but never seen it. (I mean to say, other than deliberately casting the charm. I've seen that. But I've never seen it happen accidentally.)

[alt_alice]

Sounds like a Dark rite. None that I'm familiar with, though. We might have to do some research.

Severus, Walden, any insights as to what he might've been doing? Does it sound like something he's had people do before?

I've briefly popped into Mellisandra's work room, and described what happened, and she said it sounded like the wands are linked somehow. What's Harry's core?