Bounty of Slytherins

"Get yourself comfortable"

Harry and Hermione walked in, looking around in wonder. Books upon books surrounded them, covering the wall; bookcases along the walls stacked atop each other going so high that Harry was not even able to see it end. Hermione looked like she was in Heaven, eyeing everything around with excitement.

Helena looked amused, guiding two excited eleven-year-olds to couches by the fireplace.

"Welcome to Room of Records!" Helena said with a chuckle, knocking two pre-teens from their spur.

"What is this place?" Harry asked.

"You can think of it as an extension of Room of Requirements, here every record ever written, any piece of knowledge ever brought, any true knowledge ever discovered in confines of Hogwarts is copied, categorized, sorted, and recorded."

"True knowledge? There is nothing like true knowledge. Truth itself is subjective."

"Valid point Miss Hermione, but that is the beauty of this room. Every record here is true, it was inchanted that way by Mother. I never could understand how she did it or how it works even after living here for thousand years."

"Why do you call us here?"

Helena's smile dimed, "See this." From the table, she removes a ruby paperweight and picked up two parchments, and handed one to both. The parchment had a large 'Bounty' written at the top, below them, a nonmoving portrait of Harry and Hermione was drawn. Harry read his parchment aloud,

"Harry James Potter, Bounty-5000 Gallons, Aim to maim..., or kill"

Hermione read her own,

"Hermione 'mud...blood' Granger, Bounty-2000, Aim to maim, or kill"

"What are these?" Hermione asked.

"There are bounties that adore the Slytherin common room. They are some really high ones, no one ever had bounties that high on their name."

"That is horrible.", Hermione looked green, Harry frowned.

Helena sighed, "This is how things are in Slytherin, if you hate someone, put a bounty on their name and someone will do your work for you. If a bounty is high enough, people are even willing to kill."

"I think that is why you were attacked, someone wanted to claim your bounty," Helena said gravely.

Harry questioned, "Why? Why would someone want to ki..hurt Hermione?"

"I have no idea. It could be that some Slytherin took offense at fact that a first-year...' mud blood' is ahead in magics than proper bred purebloods, or someone might not like the fact that she is friends with Boy-who-lived, Or some pompous kid with too much money just did not like her face and decided to do something about it."

Hermione traced the scar on her face at the last part. The scar was thin, and difficult to notice but it was there, a reminder of a cruel world, and a cruel fate that almost befell her.

Hermione looked at her hand and felt her missing finger. Closing her eyes, she remembered that horrible night, that mind-numbing attack at Hospital Wing, the Troll attack.

Harry shook her shoulders and gave her a reassuring smile. Hermione weakly smiled back.

Helena watched byplay and quietly sat on the sidelines. She wanted more time with Harry, but she could understand that Hermione needed a friend now more than ever.

.

.

"How did it go?"

A static-filled voice alerted Helena. She levitated an odd-looking transponder and brought it to her lips.

"I did not get much time to talk with Harry, his friend was still in shock over the last episode. But she is quite something, she did not allow me to heal her hand, saying it will serve as a reminder to her, and as a motivator, says she will reach a level where she could heal it on her own."

"Hmmm, I think I need to meet her sometime."

"I talked to her last night and from what I could gather, she is quite a prodigy. He parents

"And Dumbledore?"

Helena found it odd that she did not question more about Hermione but she answered nevertheless, "Still at his old habits. Most wards and ghosts are all under his control except for blindspots we created for the operation of Mages. Given that I am not under his control, he will soon try something to get rid of me but as of now Quirell is keeping him busy."

"Then make the most of time you have here. If I succeed, Dumbledore will not be here for next year."

"Oh and Ember" Helena's voice too a grave quality, "Your guess was right. Ruincurse Dumbledore did not cast on his own, he definitely had the help of a cosmic entity."

The voice on other side of the transponder stayed quiet for a second, "I will contact Sorcerer Supreme. Followers of both Dormamu and Mephisto are getting more active in the past decade. This could be a..."

"A sacrificial ritual, yeah I feared that. The sacrifice of the sole survivor of Killing cure, the boy-who-lived will have great power, especially if they used 'those' magics.", Helena finished, frowning. This did not bode well for them.

"The most I could do is neutralize Dumbledore, but rest Harry will have to deal with himself."

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Dumbledore sat in his office, thinking of the latest events. The attack on Miss Granger was sad but acceptable, it is truly a shame that he was not able to find Harry that day to steer him towards her. A tragic accident in front of him would have made him humble, and even if he had succeeded in saving her, it would have positively reinforced his self-sacrificing nature.

But no, the real dilemma here is how the troll was killed and who killed it. He might have said that Miss Granger had a powerful bout of accidental magic at the brink of death, but he knew better. Someone interfered, someone powerful enough to easily cleve magic resistant hide of troll in half, someone willing to save a mudblood.

That introduced a rogue element in the game, and there was nothing he hated more than an unknown piece on the board.

.

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In trunk's library, Harry finally finished the last book he had on Magical theory. The book automatically flew from his hand and into its place on a bookshelf.

Just them Game gave him new notifications, speaking to him in a soft voice,

[Skill level-up Magical Theory-Lv 20]

[New Perk Gained, Intuitive Magics]

[Perk- Intuitive Magics

You have mastered the in's and out's of magic, understanding it beyond most magic users thought possible. Magic comes easier to you now, its mysteries are now laid bare for you to know. Spells are now far more powerful for the same amount of intent and magic behind them.

Wandless magic unlocked.

Forbidden class magics unlocked]

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Author notes:-

This chapter feels all over the place. Not one of my best, but since the last chapter, I started to feel the pacing of the story is lagging. The Hogwarts arc is not meant to last too long, just some scuffle and a way to introduce some interesting elements early in the story that will be later uesd. But that is taking longer necessary, so now I will be increasing the pacing of the story and making it more dynamic and exciting.