18 Chapter 17

Quick A/N: It's some time for Fleur... And you know what that means... All of the 'TH' (There, the, etc.) changed to 'Z' (Zere, ze) and for all words starting with an 'H' (How, here, Harry, etc.) to be missing that 'H' ('ow, 'ere, 'arry). Hope you enjoy that... I sure did, there's so much more to come in the future too.

~ Beating a record ~

The Queen and Luna are inside the great hall, standing by the door for a moment.

The Queen sees most of the house tables almost full, she even sees a few teachers sitting at their table, Dumbledore, McGonagall is not that surprising... But Snape being here is quite interesting.

She looks at the Ravenclaw table and sees the Beauxbatons students, also, Fleur, time to finally spend some time together and why not bring her Moon along.

"Luna, we got some introductions to do," The Queen says and starts walking towards her target, Luna following along, already having figured that the Queen would want to sit with Fleur.

The Beaxubatons and Ravenclaw students are conversing between themselves. see the Luna duo walking towards them, stop what they are doing and start paying attention to them, while the older Ravenclaws don't know the full extent of what happened during the Queen's classes, they have already heard some things, rumors spread really fast in Hogwarts after all. While most of them have no fear for the young witch, the fact that she charmed a teacher... Their own house teacher puts them in a cautious state.

The third years know full well what happened and because of it, they don't want anything to do with her, there are a few that would want to get chosen as one of the QUeen's people only for the new clothes.

Fleur sees that everybody went silent and is looking at something from behind her, she turns sideways to glance back, herself. And she sees the crimson-haired, short girl from yesterday with a penchant for wild claims, such as making her one of her wives, but if nothing else, it's at least amusing. But she also sees somebody new, who's quite a pretty thing. Then the new clothes catch Delacour's gaze, those are pretty nice, definitely an upgrade.

"Well, hello there, Fleur, didn't have a lot of time to talk yesterday," The Queen says after getting close enough, she throws a glance at the person sitting close to Fleur, and just like that the seat is free, she moves to sit down.

"'Ello" Fleur greets back, following the girl with her eyes.

The Queen finally having sat down, throws one more look to a person near her, the person slightly tilted their head in confusion making the Queen roll her eyes.

"Please, move away a little, I am not alone this time" The Queen points lightly at her Moon, who's still standing.

"Oh... Um..." The Queen squints her eyes for a moment and the person gives up, they move and free up space for Luna, who sits down, softly thanking the person.

"Now then, Fleur" The Queen gets the lady's attention, she again points to her Moon "This is Luna Lovegood, she's my roommate, a third-year like me, a friend, and an amazing individual. Oh, and we share a name, pretty cool, right?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you, you are quite beautiful" Fleur holds her hand out for a shake, Luna gladly takes it "Likewise"

"Now that the greetings are out of the way, time to socialize..." The Queen looks at the teachers' table while saying that sentence, she spots Dumbledore still there... Well, time for some enjoyment "On the other hand, that will need to wait for a bit, I have something to do, in the meanwhile, ladies... You can get to know each other, or just spectate my glorious show" The Queen says and stands up, not waiting for an answer from the two, leaving them to stare at her leaving form.

Fleur turns back to face Luna, who's still looking at the Queen who's getting closer and closer to the teachers' table "Is zere somezing wrong, for her to go to ze professors?" The part-Veela asks the younger girl.

"No, but that's why she's going there, she will make something happen" Luna answers the question.

"Make somezing happen?"

"Mhm... Just like the speech from yesterday"

"Oh, well zis might turn out amusing"

"Yes, but I hope it's less 'amusing' than her earlier adventures"

"What are zose?"

"Long story, short? She talked back to a teacher, charmed another, insulted the third, challenged some students, oh and she gave me this" Luna pulls out the rotary dial to show off the gift she has gotten from the Queen.

"That's so many zings in one day, 'ow is she not punished for all of it? But most importantly, what is zat?" Fleur asks interested, looking at the strange thing.

"It's a muggle-born invention and it's 'amazing', that's what Lun describes it as"

"Ze girl who calls 'erself a queen, finds a Moldu device amazing?"

"Moldu?" Luna asks hearing an unfamiliar phrase.

"Zat's what we call people wizout magic skill back home, you call zem 'Muggles', translated it'd be Non-Magiques"

"That's pretty interesting, unfortunately, our conversation will have to be paused, it seems it's about to begin"

"What's about to begin?" Fleur asks quizzically.

"Whatever the Queen has on her mind"

Fleur realizes what she means, she actually forgot about the Queen for a moment all because of seeing the rotary dial. She turns her head sideways, to watch... something.

The Queen is in front of the teacher's table looking at them silently, with every teacher that is there, looking back at her, of course, the students who were eating, were already looking at her, having stopped eating the food midway through her slow walk towards the professors.

"Yes, is there something you need, Ms. Crimson?" Minerva finally asks, slightly unnerved by the child, there are so many things she has done in one day, some bad, some good, but Albus just doesn't do anything about it, something's not right. But there's also that note she received yesterday, that's the most disturbing thing that the Queen has done so far in her opinion.

"Oh, most definitely, otherwise I wouldn't waste my time standing here in wait... Now, Professor Dumbledore" The Queen answers McGonagall, but then turns to look at Dumbledore, who looks back at her already smiling, but tired from their previous conversation, realizing that she has something in store for his poor old health, can't she just let him quietly eat...

"Yes?" Dumbledore asks, smiling. The Students listening to their conversation, forgetting the food, most of them.

"I got a question... few actually"

"Okay, if I'll have an answer, I will answer"

"Oh, you will don't worry, these questions aren't hard"

"Of course"

"So you see, my first day at Hogwarts... It was so-so, could've been better, could've been worse"

"Oh?"

"Looking at all the students wearing these robes was one of the least favorite things I've ever done"

"That's why you changed your and a few others?"

"Of course"

"Care to tell me what's so wrong about them? I haven't gotten any complaints so far"

The Queen looks at Dumbledore in a moment of silence "Seriously?"

"Yes"

The Queen looks back towards the students who are looking at them, her face turns into a disappointed frown. She turns back to face Dumbledore again, her frown disappearing.

"Well, obviously not... Who in their right mind would question one of the strongest wizards... Oh and not to mention you're the headmaster"

"Hmm"

"Anyways, want to know what's wrong with them?"

"No" Dumbledore deadpans, he's starting to get back into his bantering side when it comes to the Queen, even if he isn't supposed to show it outside of their meetings.

"Well, too bad, I am going to tell you" The Queen deadpans back.

"Of course you are"

"Well, dear Professor, look around, you see your students right? Don't need better glasses, I hope" The Queen mocks the headmaster openly, making all the students look at her in bewilderment.

"I can see them perfectly, it's not like there's much in the way to block out the view" Dumbledore looks around the house tables ignoring the eye twitch that the Queen made from being called too short to be able to block somebody's eye view.

The students and the teachers are looking back and forth at the two in confusion at their interaction and McGonagall is the first to realize why Dumbledore did nothing against her for doing things as she pleases... They know each other... But how? She's just a child.

"Well, great, at least you aren't senile enough and can still see... But I don't think it's as 'perfect' as you describe it"

"Oh? And what might you mean by that?"

"Well, because when I look at the students, all that I see are clothes which belong in a retirement home"

The Queen turns around to look at the students, seeing a lot of confused looks from not quite understanding what she means.

"For those who don't understand what I just said, basically the robes that you're wearing are for old people, which is obviously due to the fact that it's made by them... They have no idea what looks good and the fact that professor Snape looks the best is a testament to that... And he's wearing ALL BLACK"

The Queen turns back to face Dumbledore again "So as I said, the robes of your school are just bad, I am so glad that I changed them, my eyes hurt just by looking at them, anyway, that's not important, I am here for something else, this was just an appetizer"

"So you're just skipping to the main course?" Dumbledore asks, already used to the girl's antics.

"Yes, the appetizer... wasn't all that appetizing, now I want the good stuff"

"Of course, so what is it?"

"Well, first, a question, is there any kind of record for house points?"

"Hmm" Dumbledore strokes his beard "Elaborate," He says actually getting intrigued.

"What's the most points a single person has gotten for his/her house or for themselves alone in one day"

"Oh... Yes, I heard, you got quite a lot of points by unorthodox means"

"Indeed and I want to beat the previous record or if there isn't one, create it"

"Perhaps there is a record, but perhaps there isn't, do you think you deserve one?"

"Mhm... I can't tell because I don't know how many points I'd need for something like that"

"Well, you wouldn't be starting the record list, that's for sure, there were a few individuals that managed to get a lot of points in one day in past years, even before I stepped in as a headmaster"

"Great, it's way more exhilarating to beat somebody's record than to start one anyway, so what's the number that the Queen has to beat?"

"Which one do you want to hear first? The house points earned because of somebody or individually?"

"The latter," The Queen asks without a pause.

"306" Answers Dumbledore without a pause of his own, he already knew that she will ask for the second option.

"Ooh, I am only at 170, so that's not happening, at least not today, but I will beat it eventually, now, what about the former?"

"That would be 445 points, for Hufflepuff several decades ago or so"

"Now that's more like it, I, with help from some awesome people, earned 395 for Ravenclaw today, oh and added a random 20 for Gryffindor, just because I could"

"Well, unfortunately, you haven't beaten that one either, you're 51 points short for victory" Dumbledore plays around, still expecting something from the Queen.

"Exactly, I haven't beaten it... yet. So, seeing as the 'school' day isn't over, since a day passes once the clock strikes midnight, there's still plenty of time"

"You are right, I'll cut this short, what do you have in mind this time? Apparently, you made deals with some of the teachers today already"

"...Impatient" the Queen mutters quietly to herself, knowing that Dumbledore should be the only one to hear her "Right, I might as well do that. So back to the appetizer, it seems it was served wrong, it should've been the dessert, that's why it was so bad" The Queen does a little elegant spin, throwing the attention to her dress "75 points for Ravenclaw and 75 additional points to the person that I choose"

"Already know that I won't let you be the one to do it, don't you?" Dumbledore asks the Queen amused.

"Of course not, because there's no way I'd fail, you'd have no choice but to give me the points by default"

"Right, right, so what's the deal? Something do with clothes, I presume?"

"Yes, you're correct, two of the professors, I pick one, you pick another, then I choose the person that will do what I want them for me"

"I will only agree if you agree to choose the person you want to represent you first"

The Queen pauses and squints her eyes at the headmaster, tsks, and agrees "Fine"

"Now, can I continue?"

"Be my guest"

"So... Here's what will happen, the person that I choose, will have to charm their way through the professors' defenses and change their clothing if at least some of the design on teacher's robes change to anything that resembles my design, doesn't matter what it is, I win the deal and the points. If the teachers can protect themselves without fail, well, obviously they win and I don't get the points"

"Hmm... Simple enough, but don't you think that this is a bad match-up for whoever it is that you pick?" Dumbledore asks.

"Naturally it would be, but the person will get written instructions from me, so it should be enough," The Queen says nonchalantly.

"Hmm... So, whom do you choose?"

The Queen turns around to face the house tables, the students are still looking at the scene in front of them, quite interested themselves, but nobody wants to get chosen for something like this.

She looks towards the Ravenclaw table, at Luna and Fleur, those two are good options, but not ideal for what she has planned, Fleur would be an unknown to the professors, but she is an older student, so they'd be more cautious, while the professors most likely already figured out that her Moon is somebody she'd choose by default since that's what she has done prior.

She turns her gaze to the Gryffindor table, and looks at Hermione, she'd be the best bet for this, for multiple reasons... But... There actually may be a better-suited person for this one. A particular boy... That nobody would expect to succeed.

"Okay, I got it. Now, when I call out your name, please don't keep me waiting and just come up, not only would you have a chance to get points for your house, but the Queen will repay you for your aid, later"

The Queen stops looking at Hermione and snaps her eyes to the person she needs for this.

"Neville Longbottom, I choose you, come here"

The students start murmuring loudly, the boy who was named still not getting up from his seat, due to being stunned into oblivion just by the sheer utter of his name.

"Mr. Longbottom, would you please come here" Dumbledore helps snap the boy out of his daze and he scrambles up from his seat and clumsily runs to the professor's table, standing a good few meters away from the Queen, he seems to be shaking from all of the attention suddenly put on him. The Queen smiles slightly, even this shaking will help him in this.

"Anyways, professor Snape is my choice for the professor, you can choose now"

"Hmm... McGonagall"

Minerva only nods, she won't fail at such a waste of time thing as a deal.

"Good, now wait for a minute or so while I write all the instructions to Neville, then we can continue, the professors can stand up and get ready for it as well"

The Queen turns and walks to Neville, lifting her hand to put it on his shoulder, only to get interrupted by Dumbledore.

"Ms. Crimson"

The Queen turns to look at him, only sees him shaking his head, she stares at him, tsks, and lets down her hand, the old fool knew already that she'd try and help him out in unconventional ways.

Anyways, the Queen starts magically writing the instructions on a small note, while everybody waits in anticipation. Snape and McGonagall have stood up and are waiting, the former is more annoyed than the latter, but both underestimating Neville immensely.

"And done," The Queen says loudly and looks over the note a second time, nodding, then smiles, perfect.

She floats the note to Neville, who takes it shakily, looks at it, and reads it.

'Look, no need to panic, or think that you can't do it, trust me, this will be so much easier than everybody thinks. Unfortunately, it's for a reason you might not like. The other students... And the teachers are underestimating you to the point that they don't expect much from you, which is an advantage, because it's hard to expect the unexpected. So, you got this, in fact, the more panicky you look, the better it is, so there is no need to relax. Now, this is the plan, if you follow it as best as you can, I can guarantee success. 1. Look above the teachers' heads or to the side of them, but ignore Snape completely, try to look and focus on McGonagall, while also pointing your wand at her. To trick them into thinking that your target is only McGonagall and not Snape. 2. By doing that, Snape will have let his guard down, to such levels, that a 1st year could surprise him with an attack, he not only underestimates you, he thinks that you're useless. So that's where the real plan starts. While you focus on McGonagall, your real target is him. 3. So you will cast multiple 'Flippendo' at McGonagall, you can add some other spells, doesn't matter, what matters is that you cast them in quick succession, do it as fast as you can and don't let up and the moment you cast three spells, your fourth spell will be a random 'Multicorfors' which won't work out, your fifth and final spell will be re-targeted on Snape, it's the first time you'll look at him, quickly flicking your wand at him. 4. And only target his feet, casting 'Multicorfors', this is the second part of not 'expecting the unexpected' everybody thinks that you have to change the emblem or put the stripes from my dress on the teachers... But they don't realize that changing the socks count too. That's your job, make red socks with golden crowns and just like that you'll succeed. 6. Have fun, even if you somehow fail, which I doubt will happen, it's fine, I can beat this record any day that I want, all of this is just in good fun. Now go, show them who's the champ!'

Longbottom raises his head and looks at the Queen, who only nods back at him and turns back and goes to sit down at the Ravenclaw table again, completely trusting this to work, there's no chance of failure. Snape is the key in all of this, McGonagall even with not expecting much from Neville will at least try to win.

"Are you ready, Mr. Longbottom?" Dumbledore asks.

"Y-yes, sir!" He says and starts following the instructions on the note.

The Queen has made her way back "Ladies, hope you had fun talking with each other, but the event is about to end, then we can talk between the three of us" She says and sits down.

Both Fleur and Luna just nod, then looking back at Nevile, to see him pointing the wand at McGonagall, only focusing on her, not being able to look back at her stern gaze, forcing him to gaze a little bit to the side.

"You may... Begin!" Dumbledore announces.

And in a blink of an eye, he starts shouting out spells, first a 'Flippendo', then another one, the third one being a cheering charm, McGonagall a little bit surprised at the speed of the spells coming, tries somewhat harder to defend herself, she tried especially hard on the third one, no way will she allow herself to have a chance of laughing uncontrollably in front of everybody... or at all in general.

Snape is to the side, watching both of them, seeing that the student that had a boggart of him is ignoring him just like he thought, lets his wand down a little, not suspecting anything. But he quickly realizes something, Neville got instructions from the Queen and she can be quite devious... So with that thought, he raises his wand again, in wait for something to happen.

The fourth spell is cast by Neville, a 'Multicorfors' leaves his mouth and McGonagall quickly blocks it, but just as she does, she hears a second 'Multicorfors' thinking that she's the one to be targeted, she goes for another counter, only for nothing to happen, she quickly looks to Snape, seeing him with a raised wand in what seemed to be a counter.

But he didn't even need to counter it, for Neville simply missed the spell and it hit the ground near Snape's feet... While Snape was right to be cautious because of the Queen being a factor, he was also right in thinking that Neville was a poor choice for this, he couldn't even handle casting the fifth spell and messed it up. So Snape only shakes his head and starts walking away to sit back at the teacher's table so he could finish his dinner.

Neville lets his head down dejected, he couldn't do it after all. "Well, it seems that we have ourselves a victor, don't we?" Dumbledore asks, everybody hearing it clearly, Slytherin snickering prematurely at Neville and also at the Queen.

"The winner is Neville Longbottom and Luna Crimson" Dumbledore announces loudly, making Snape pause in his step.

"Oh, dear Professor, lift your robes, why don't you?" Everybody hears the Queen and looks at her, Snape does the same, he looks at her for a moment and then widens his eyes a little in realization. Neville didn't miss, he was aiming for his feet.

He quickly raises his robes and sees one of his socks has changed color. He moves down one of his shoes, also seeing gold crowns on it. He looks back up and sees the Queen doing the same, but instead of a sock, it's a stocking, of course, it's barely raised, only showing off the red color and the crowns at the bottom. He grits his teeth, casts his own 'Multicorfors' to change it back, and just leaves the great hall through the entrance behind the professors' table, having lost appetite and not caring for the unfinished food.

Everybody sits in silence, the Slytherin have stopped snickering but they are still confused, just like everybody else. But that quickly changes once they realize what just happened. Neville won, the Queen won, and all because of a sock...

"75 Points to Neville Longbottom, for succeeding expectations" Dumbledore congratulates smiling.

The Gryffindor house explodes in cheers and applause and Neville goes back meekly while blushing hard. He almost fainted when he heard that he succeeded.

It goes on for a while, Dumbledore doesn't stop it either, Neville deserves it, he accomplished something, with nobody but the Queen believing in him.

As it finally starts to calm down a little, he clears his throat, gaining everybody's attention again.

"And now, 75 points to Luna Crimson for... Making up interesting situations" The Queen rolls her eyes at the obvious nonsense from the old man. Of course, she barely gets any applause, most of the Ravenclaw are still apprehensive about her.

"And with that, the previous record for the most points a house has received because of a single student. Ravenclaw beating the previous record held by Hufflepuff, with 470 total points to theirs 455. And also at the same time has taken a huge lead towards the house cup"

And unlike when Dumbledore called out the Queen's name specifically, this time the Ravenclaw burst out in cheers, rivaling that of the Gryffindor house.

The Queen only shakes her head, how can they not realize how stupid they look right now? At first, they didn't cheer for her, yet they are cheering now... When she is the one that beat the record anyways... So technically they are doing it for her.

In fact, let's cut their cheers prematurely. The Queen takes something out of her bag, floats it to a wall behind the teacher's table, and casts 'Engorgio' on it. Then casts a few more spells and voila! The Queen nods in approval at her own work.

"For those who are clapping right now, look towards the teacher's table" The Queen's loud voice because of the amplifying charm cuts through the cheers. Everybody does just like she said, instantly stopping and their cheery mood goes back down to a frown.

All they saw was. A big unmoving painting of the Queen and above it a paper that scrolls over and over the same paragraph clearly, for all to see.

"House points record beaten by Luna Crimson, the Queen. with an astronomical number of 470. Thank you for all of thy applause and cheers. The Queen appreciates her subjects for knowing what to do when the situation arises"

Dumbledore looks at it too... He might as well keep it up there for this year, why not...

He just doesn't want to hear from the Queen if he does remove it... That would be one disaster of a conversation.

~ End of Chapter 17 ~