A Scoundrel's Staycation Ch. 63 (Harry Potter AU) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: In which most is revealed.

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As tempting as it was to find Ginevra and confirm his suspicions immediately, Harry refrains. His reckless actions had already led him into at least one trap and going off half-cocked because of what he suspected to be the truth would only cause more issues than it would help.

Ultimately… he needed to investigate further. He needed to confirm with certainty that Lucius Malfoy had indeed pawned off Voldemort’s Diary onto Ginny Weasley all those years ago. Which meant it was time to head to Flourish and Blotts, Diagon Alley’s premiere bookstore.

The place was still open at least, though it had certainly seen better times. Even with a complete lack of customers however, Harry didn’t bother trying to get permission to investigate during operating hours. No, it was much easier to wait until they’d closed up shop for the night and then break in, slipping through the wards without issue.

Once he was inside of the empty, closed shop, Harry could cast his recall spell just like he had back in the Malfoy Study, watching as years revert and the shades of thousands of people move around him at lightning speed. Eventually, he gets back to the time period he’s looking for… specifically the day after he’d seen Lucius take the diary out of his safe back at Malfoy Manor.

There, it doesn’t take more than a bit of searching for Harry to locate the Weasley Family, given their singular red hair. The group of gingers stand out like a bright spot in the store. And… there’s Lucius. Just as Harry suspected. The altercation between Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley is a bit different from Harry’s memory, mostly because Harry himself is not present to be a focal point of attention as he always was back in his original timeline.

The end result though, is the same. The moment comes and Harry freezes the recall spell entirely, stepping closer as he watches Lucius Malfoy, snake in the grass that he was, slipping a very familiar book right into Ginny Weasley’s cauldron.

So that part was confirmed now. The diary had indeed made its way into the hands of this universe’s Ginny. Truth be told, Harry doesn’t know what or how to feel about that.

On the one hand, it was good to know where it had gone and confirm that Lucius hadn’t used it on someone else for some strange reason. On the other hand… Ginevra Weasley didn’t seem like she was possessed by Tom Riddle in the modern day. And if his ritual had succeeded back in the Chamber of Secrets in her first year, Tom would have fully materialized while Ginny died.

And yet… Harry didn’t believe for a second that all of this wasn’t somehow connected. The wizard deaths had started shortly after Ginny’s First Year at Hogwarts and continued on since. Eight years of every magical male in Great Britain catching a common case of death.

He needed… he needed to go back to Hogwarts. He needed to see exactly what had happened with Ginny and the diary. What if someone else had gotten their hands on it like Harry himself had back in his original timeline? Ginny had gotten rid of it at one point, only to steal it back from him once she realized he had it.

What if this time around, she’d gotten rid of it… and never taken it back? What if someone else had been Tom’s sacrifice? But then why were the Lady Slytherins female? Why were there two of them? Why… ugh, this was such a fucking headache.

He should probably get some sleep, but Harry can’t possibly shut his eyes and just… stop thinking about all of this. Not when the answers feel like they’re staring him right in the face. It’s not often that he’s felt this stupid, but it really does seem like he should have already figured this out. The fact that he hasn’t… it pushes him to return to Hogwarts, even in the dead of night.

He considers alerting the Headmistress to his presence, but in the end decides it best if he remains… undetected. With everyone in the castle dead asleep, Harry gets to work. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to look into the past this time around for a bevy of reasons.

Number One, Hogwarts is an extremely magical place with ancient wards. The recall spell still works, but it acts a little weird around locations like this one. Number Two, Hogwarts is also a massive location… and Harry doesn’t actually know exact spots he should be checking like he has at previous places.

Indeed, finding Ginny interacting with the diary all those years ago is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack, in part because he’s not willing to invade the girls dormitory while they’re all asleep in their beds. But to be fair, there are still moments Harry does know about.

For instance… the killing of Hagrid’s roosters. Going out to the Groundskeeper’s Hut, Harry rolls back time there and is able to eventually find it… the moment when Ginny, possessed by Tom Riddle, kills every rooster at Hogwarts so that they can’t potentially kill the Basilisk with their cries.

There it is. There’s the proof that not only had Ginny been given the diary by Lucius, but she’d also used it enough to be possessed by it at some point. Another location Harry is able to check after that is the hall where the foreboding message about the Heir of Slytherin returning had been written.

It’s there and Ginny was the one to write it. Everything currently tracks with how things had turned out in his original timeline. However, Harry knows things didn’t actually go the way they did in his world because he wasn’t here in this one to take the diary or to save Ginny. So… how? How was Ginevra Weasley alive and the Captain of the Chudley Cannons today? How had Tom Riddle been stopped?

Finally, Harry makes his way back to the bathroom where the hidden entrance to the Chamber of Secrets lies. He doesn’t open the Chamber or anything like that though. Instead, he moves to one of the toilets… specifically the toilet where Ginny had tried to flush the diary back in his original timeline.

That was where he’d found it back then, after all. In Moaning Myrtle’s toilet. Thankfully the ghost herself isn’t here at the moment, nor does Harry need to interact with her like he did back then. All he needs to do is use the recall spell to see if this universe’s Ginny tried to dispose of the diary the same way.

As it turns out, she did… and once the diary is flushed, all Harry has to do is watch and wait to see who, if anybody, finds it. Someone had to have. Someone-

Harry blinks as a sniffling witch enters the bathroom and all but runs into the stall next to Moaning Myrtle’s toilet. She hunkers down on it, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs as she buries her face and cries.

For a few seconds, there’s nothing but sobbing. And then…

“You know, this is supposed to be my crying bathroom. I was here first. But now a whole bunch of you keep rushing in here and messing with my stuff! Even shoving things in my toilet!”

Moaning Myrtle makes an appearance, not in the modern times, but in the memory. She pushes her head through the wall, startling the crying witch for a moment. Only… if she was hoping for a good scare, it doesn’t work. The witch just lifts her head and stares back at Myrtle with tear streaked cheeks and an apathetic expression on her face.

Myrtle blinks back at her.

“Oh wow. That bad, huh?”

“You… y-you’re Moaning Myrtle.”

“Mm… yes, I am. And? What of it?”

Harry watches the exchange with a strangely cold feeling in his head and a sinking sensation in his gut. After a few seconds, the living witch bites her lower lip.

“What was that about someone shoving something in your toilet? Can I help?”

Myrtle immediately brightens up at that.

“Oh? Yes, please!”

And so Harry watches as Hermione Granger rises from her toilet, steps out of her stall, and steps into the next. And he watches as she wrinkles her nose but nevertheless reaches into Moaning Myrtle’s toilet to drag Tom Riddle’s diary out.

Well… fuck.

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“We underestimated him.”

“It should have worked. That level of power is ridiculous. How was I supposed to know he was capable of taking control of Hogwarts’ Wards? He ripped them right out of McGonagall’s hands and used them against us!”

“Well… he is the Master of Death.”

Hermione Granger and Ginevra Weasley stare at each other for a long moment, considering everything. Until finally…

“This changes nothing. We still need to capture him. Contain him. And if possible, use his magic for ourselves. Just as we’ve already done once before.”

Ginevra inclines her head at Hermione’s words, her gaze cold and unfeeling.

“Agreed. Perhaps a honeypot situation then. I’ve already slept with him once before. I can almost certainly lure him in again.”

But Hermione scoffs at that.

“Could you? As yourself rather than as the facsimile that you let parade around most days? If you tried I suspect he would see right through you, in the end. You’re far less obsessed with Quidditch than the other you is, after all. And he almost certainly already knows something is amiss… and neither of us can attend the Wizengamot as Lady Slytherin anymore without being unmasked.”

Ginevra scowls, crossing her arms over her chest in thought.

“The defenses on the Gaunt Shack were tripped before our encounter with him in the Chamber. He’s certainly doing everything he can to hunt us down. But so what? I’m not about to lay down and die… I didn’t back then and neither did you.”

Nodding slowly, Hermione frowns.

“You’re right, of course. We aren’t just going to stop. But we need a plan. We need a solution.”

Tilting her head to the side, Ginevra arches a brow.

“What about you? He’s interacted with your facsimile the least, right? You might be able to trick him and lure him into a trap.”

“… Perhaps. Unfortunately, we do not know what he knows. We do not know how much he’s figured out about us. He’s taken control of the Wizengamot and used that to hunt us to the Gaunt Shack and it’s obvious he knows about the horcruxes… but beyond that, I’m not sure.”

Ginevra grunts.

“Yes. It is a disadvantageous situation. We need more information. And we need leverage.”

Finally, both of them turn their eyes to the third woman in the room. Bellatrix Lestrange kneels before them, her head down and her eyes closed. She’s a loose cannon of a weapon, the kind that they have to be quite… careful with. After all, her loyalty was to the Dark Lord… and as his successors, they are owed it in turn. However, if she knew their real faces, she might turn on them.

“… Her sister has been reaching out to her, trying to find her for a while now. And she started doing so shortly after Lord Hallows went to Azkaban Prison.”

“A trap?”

“Almost certainly, which is why we haven’t let Bellatrix answer Narcissa Malfoy’s call. Until Hallows’ visit to Azkaban, Narcissa most certainly believed Bellatrix to be dead. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s turned her to his side in some way.”

“Hm… we could spring it.”

“Doing so might lead to Bellatrix’s capture or death.”

“And? She’s a tool… an expendable one at that. I do not care if she lives or dies.”

“… Nor do I. Very well, let us do so.”

Together, the two dawn their cloaks and hide their true natures once more. Only then do they wake Bellatrix up, her head rising and her eyes snapping to the two of them.

“Mistresses… please, command me.”

“Your sister has been trying to find out if you still live.”

“We have decided to allow you to make contact with her, to see what she wants and if she could be an asset in our fight against the wizard.”

“Go now… find out what you can and report back.”

Bellatrix nods happily and rises to her feet.

“I will not let you down.”

And with that, the sycophantic Death Eater is gone, off to visit her sister. They can only hope she won’t make a mess of things.

Turning to regard one another after her departure, the two witches pull back their hoods.

“… I suppose I shall remain, in case the opportunity to seduce Harry Hallows presents itself. But you must retake your facsimile’s form for the time being, just in case we are not fully discovered yet.”

Ginevra nods at Hermione’s words.

“Agreed.”

She moves to the center of the room and kneels down, allowing Hermione to approach and place her hands on either side of her head. Then, the brunette witch begins wandless and wordless casting, even as Ginevra’s eyes roll back in her skull.

There is no resistance. Together, they rebuild the false mind that Ginevra ‘wears’ outside of this place, the mind that has thrown itself into Quidditch and keeps her hidden from detection. And when it is done and Ginevra passes out on her, Hermione transports the other witch back to her home and bed.

Then… she gets to work.

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O6TdIpzaEGk4IjWTOQGOUXAgqBa65jtLQ1t8fn6cQPg/edit?tab=t.0