Schooled

Inspections

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SCHOOLED - CHAPTER 17: Inspections

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Sweet Vengeance

Peregrine snickered as he quickly switched today's lemon drops from Dumbledore's candy dish with the lemon drops the old man kept for himself. Tossing a cheerful salute to the amused phoenix who magically stepped on the wards designed to keep Peeves out of the Headmaster's Office, he popped out of sight and reappeared next to his Grandfather.

Professor Cuthbert Binns turned to look sternly as his mischievous grandson, the amused gleam in his eye the only evidence to his own complicity in Peeves' latest efforts to unseat Dumbledore Goblinbane. It vastly amused the old ghost to steadfastly teach of the dangers and folly of cheating a goblin, despite the Headmaster's sometimes furious orders otherwise. Dumbledore would greatly prefer it if wizardkind would forevermore forget that goblins were intelligent, dangerous beings who would make powerful allies for anyone so inclined as to seek their aid. He wasn't wrong to worry, either, considering what Goblin Griphook brought to the Conspiracy. After decades of investigation and increasing numbers of participants engaged in the effort to see daylight and justice for the numerous crimes by and fallacies about the "Leader of the Light" and his primary followers, they of the Conspiracy were finally beginning to see visible evidence that their efforts were bearing fruit.

And to think, the fact that the public was beginning to notice the manipulative old man's failings and strange behavior began with Binn's own, irrepressible grandson. He was so very proud of young Peregrine, and was immensely pleased that the boy-ghost had gained friends and mentors in the form of Godric Gryffindor's thrice-empowered portrait and the ghost of Gellert Grindelwald. Those two had spotted Peregrine's potential immediately, and bragged about the "true Marauder's" genius to any spirit or portrait (on their side) who would listen.

After all, it was Peregrine who observed how Dumbledore would consume two to three bags of lemon drops a day, apart from the "special" lemon drops he would push onto and often guilt-feed into his guests. And it was Peregrine who discovered that Dumbledore put one drop of calming potion into each of the lemon drops he consumed, resulting in him ingesting a full two to three doses of calming potion in a single day. Of greater value was the fact that the manipulative son-of-a-bitch also dosed his "guest" candy dish, inserting a condensed half-dose of trust-me/compulsion potion into each candy. It was the main reason why so many of Dumbledore's visitors ended up inclined to trust the old man's judgment and decisions without question.

For young Peregrine, it was a simple matter to switch the two, which had the happy result of very slightly calming guests to the Headmaster's office and allowing them to think more clearly.

Of greater benefit was the fact that, through his lemon-drop addiction, Dumbledore had begun to ingest heavy portions of a potion essentially telling him to trust himself. The old man's self-confidence went off-the-scale, along with his judgment and any sense of vulnerability. The results were immediate as well as cumulative, and were beginning to show in behavior such as the scripted "apology" by James Potter at which Dumbledore literally read the lines along with the young fool and never even thought twice about appearances.

Gently patting his grandson on his transparent shoulder, Binns gestured for the younger ghost to precede him to the school's Grand Boardroom. It promised to be a very entertaining afternoon.

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Little Imp

Marvolo tugged his beloved Consort's arm and led him from the unintentional procession of conspirators who were heading down the corridor to take lunch in the Great Hall before reconvening in the Grand Boardroom. Despite his surprise, Hadrian went willingly as Marvolo flashed a conspiratorial grin at an amused Tobias and Abraxas, before hissing a command and ushering Hadrian through the archway that appeared in the stone wall.