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"Pre-emptive strike against the Death Eaters in training, you mean?"
Nigel reluctantly nodded. It would have been a good strategy...if her fellow housemates had something in their hearts that the Gryffindors called 'courage'.
"And how would we incite them to do that? It could work...if we knew all the Slytherin leaders and my own House could be trusted to act."
"Lyre gave you a lot of names."
"Yes, she did, and don't think I'm not thankful." Alexandra paused. "But the names she gave are all the most vocal and purist imbeciles of the dungeons. There is no way that any of them is the mastermind behind the attacks."
"Really?"
"I did my research, Nigel. I am a Ravenclaw."
"Of course, of course."
A series of parchments was grabbed out of her school bag, before forming a pile on the library table.
"Let's begin by the worst. Lewis Wilkes, last of the Wilkes line. Already condemned for three attacks on Muggles in the last two years. Only the fact the victims were of non-magical background and the wealth in his family vaults allowed him to keep his wand. In my opinion, Wilkes should be at Azkaban right now. How Dumbledore allowed him to go back to Hogwarts for his last years, I haven't the slightest idea."
Lewis Wilkes was more or less the proof that Wizengamot families had been granted too much power when the ancient Council of Wizards had been founded centuries ago. The green-eyed girl passed to the second parchment.
"Thomson Carrow, the Heir of the Carrow family. I thought Hestia and Flora in our year were sadists and insane, but they may be the sane ones. There are rumours everywhere this sixth-year snake is regularly frequenting the dirtiest places of Knockturn Alley, and not for the thrill of walking in its streets. Never went in front of a judge, the proofs have a tendency to disappear at the first bag of Galleons."
Third parchment. Third grimace.
"Jared Miller, the Heir of the Miller family. Not a criminal in the British Isles, but there is an arrest warrant for him in Albania..."
"Certainly his family wanted to have...fun..." The face of Nigel was very pale.
"Death Eaters?"
"Never proved."
"Figures."
It was really appalling to know many of these Houses had practised these awful activities for decades and maybe longer. If the Ministry had had some guts, they would have sent all these assassins and criminals to Azkaban, and the world would have been a better place.
"The rest of the probable suspects are in a lesser league. Cassius Warrington. Graham Montague. Dermot Ardoch. Berrow, Lament, Rosier, Nott and plenty of other families having been noted in the past to have Death Eaters sympathies."
Alexandra widened her lips to make a half-grimace half-smile.
"Slytherin is really a cesspit of evil and darkness." Concluded the green-eyed witch.
"And you really intend to...do something drastic about them?"
"Nigel. These boys seem to believe petrifying our friends and considering us animals is perfectly acceptable. If they begin to send Unforgivables, I am not going to reply with Expelliarmus and Petrificus Totalus."
The library section went completely silent as the Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw eyes were fixed on each other, and some laughter of the other second-year students were heard in the distance.
"What if you started the enigma in the wrong sense of the term, Alex?" Demanded her friend after half a minute.
"What do you mean?"
"The reason all these persons have been attacked."
"Nigel, they've been attacked because-"
"-because they're 'Mudbloods', 'dirty Half-Bloods' and 'blood-traitors', yes we've been over that for hours. But why them in particular?"
"Because the Heir could target them easily?"
The Heir had profited from the Quidditch Matches, their aftermath or the Halloween Feast. Her theory had been that the Monster had struck whoever was available on these days.
"I don't think so. Look, some attacks have taken place on the second floor, but the other are dispersed all over the castle. I think the Heir targeted precisely every victim."
"That...doesn't make any sense."
Though it would explain why so few students had been petrified on the first attacks.
"You're the Ravenclaw. Logic is your domain."
"Touché. But that still doesn't make any sense."
"Assuming your theory the Heir attacked every victim because they represented a potential danger to him, Filch is easy to explain. Our lovely caretaker and his cat know a lot of secret passages and patrol very aggressively the corridors on night and day. Removing him is easy to explain."
"You see..."
Alexandra had not finished her reasoning however.
"But if Filch is easy to explain, the others are not. I suppose the Heir could have chosen Hermione and Morag because they did research on the Monster and the genealogy of the extinct Slytherin line."
"Yeah, about that..."
"What is done is done." Alexandra shrugged. "There is no turning back right now. But why Creevey? This photograph-lover Lion was rude and impolite in the extreme...but he was so focused in Neville Longbottom, that...well, you know..."
"Yes, I know."
Colin Creevey moves to stalk the Boy-Who-Lived had been strange, and many older years thought the apprentice in photography was going to declare his love for the Longbottom Heir before he was petrified. Apparently same-sex relationships were far better considered than they were in the non-magical world.
"Luna Lovegood. Why target her?" Asked the Ravenclaw twelve-years old to herself, both hands on her forehead.
"One of her bullies?"
"No. Not enough intelligence there." Alexandra was not kidding. Cho Chang might be pretty and lead her group of third-years girl, but in term of raw magical power and brains, she wasn't by far the smartest of the Ravenclaw. Putting in her place the Asian girl had not been difficult. Alexandra had not been happy after Hermione and Morag were petrified, and the revelations of bullying had not put her in a better mood. Unfortunately for Chang, Lightning spells had become a specialty for her...and they were really useful conveying her displeasure.
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