Roots
Chapter 1: Ambrosius
The light was just beginning to fade as a cloaked women made her way up the driveway of the house. Her pace slowed as she approached the front door, pausing briefly in front of the doorway where the once grand oak door had fallen in on itself. The house had a hollow chill about it, enhanced by an overpowering sense of foreboding a characteristic of most anti muggle spells. She had the right place then. But there was something else, a deeper much older magic. The women shivered slightly before stepping over the door and into the threshold.
"You're late" Came a soft slippery voice, she ignored it, making her way into the foyer and looking round eagerly,
"This is remarkable, quite remarkable, I can feel it..." The man stepped forward into the doorway the light revealing his silvery blonde hair and slightly gaunt but sharp features.
"I said your la..."
"It's a funny thing isn't it?" the women interrupted still not paying attention to the man,
"you know, power, it can rise and fall so quickly, destroying so many men who try and claim it" she looked up at the ceiling watching the moonlight slice through it from all directions "grinding them into dust...yet it always remains, ready to be discovered by the next person who seeks it"
Her eyes fell on to his, the smirk forming so lightly on her features. He had got old.
"Isn't that right Lucius?" Lucius's eyes narrowed and he made several steps towards her,
"How dare you..." she raised her hand,
"I have a deal to discuss with your employer, bring me to him now" he stopped, knowing that any delay would not be well received. He turned on his heal without a word and made his way into one of the rooms.
The wait as expected was short, Lucius appeared opening the door he had just been through for her "This way... if you please" she walked briskly passed him into a room that had once been a Library.
Over on the other side of the room stood a tall man, his silhouette outlined by the fire he was staring into. The silence was all consuming the only sound was made by her steps as she made her way across the room. Once she had reached an acceptable distance she stopped and waited patiently.
He was not like any other dealer she had met. He was tall and lean as revealed by the clearly expensive tailoring of his robes. Most dealers were ex-deatheaters. But this man was no deatheater, he was a dealer of secrets. Which meant he had to be able to weave and spin his way into all societies. Something a death eater could never do due to their innate disregard for the muggle world.
"Do you have it?" he asked not turning away from the flames, she reached into her cloak pocket and pulled out a small wooden box.
"Yes, do you have what I desire?" The man turned smirking
"I do and more" he had a scar that ran across his eye and into his hair line, his dark hair was smartly combed back and he spoke with a manor of a high born pure blood.
"But first let's get some drinks, Luciu-"
"I'm not here to drink" The women said plainly "let us share what we have and be on our way" The man stared at her a note of surprise in his face before smiling,
"You will at least let me introduce myself-"
"I know who you are, your Lord Henry Fortescue proud member of the muggles House of Commons oh wait or are you Cornelius Correlian the deputy minister of magic today?" He smiled clearly impressed,
"There are only two ways you can spot if someone is Metamorphmagus. If they reveal it to you or if you are one yourself and since I didn't reveal anything to you I'm going to suggest it's the latter? In any such case you can call me Henry" He smirked mischievously "and pray who do I have the pleasure of talking to?"
"You can call me Mrs…" She smirked slightly "Potter".
Fortescue laughed loudly, reaching for his wand "How very interesting, very well Mrs Potter let us begin"
He waved his wand briefly and the dealing table appeared before them. Two circles formed of white light, appeared either side of the table. They both stepped into the circles.
"The deal is for the both of us to provide what the other desires, do you agree with this?" Fortesue asked scanning her face with his dark brown eyes.
"I agree" she replied, her heart was beating rapidly, no practiced dealer would ever enter a deal if they were lying the consequences were too severe. This meant she was close so close.
"Please allow me to retain a semblance of manors and allow you to go first" The man said opening his arms wide for her to begin. She smirked before opening the box to reveal a small black stone. The effect was immediate the man's eyes once full of composure became eager and consumed in the stone. She placed it on the table, where it floated rotating gently.
"Now tell me what you know"
"I can do more than that, I can show you" he led her through into the drawing room where a round stone table stood illuminated by the wisps of light entering between the boards in the windows. She approached it cautiously touching the stone she could feel the magic emanating from its cold surface, even after so many years. She pulled her hand away rapidly. Fortescue made his way round the table.
"The muggles who owned this place left it to breakdown into disrepair without even realising the treasures it held within, I found this beneath the library, in what would have once been a priest hole along with a number of other artefacts" Fortescue explained, as the young women made her way around the table staring intently at the inscriptions written into the stone. "How it got there Merlin knows… ha well I suppose he does the old bugger" She looked up sharply glaring at him, before quickly regaining her composure and continuing round the table, before stopping to read the markings;
Merlin Ambrosius
"This is where he sat, next to Arthur Pendragon…" She spat disdainfully, before looking up to Fortescue "You said you had more for me?" her green eyes bore into his and he shifted uncomfortably. He had lost the upper hand as soon as he had entered this room and wished to get rid of this woman as quick as possible.
"Yes the parchments I mentioned, they contain something I believe you will find very interesting" He walked over to a rotten cabinet and pulled out some parchment from one of the draws placing it on the stone table.
"They are his memoirs, of sorts, most of the words have faded over time, but there was one name that kept cropping up" He pointed towards the faded letters that just made out the name,
"Ignotus peverill?" She questioned "the tale of the three brothers..." Fortescue smirked,
"Yes, he was the third brother, the wisest, he possessed the cloak of invisibility. An item I believe a Mr Potter is reputed to have?" She stared at the parchment,
"This is all very well, but this does not get me any closer to where she is" the women stated matter of factly "do you want me to remind you of what happens if a deal is not satisfied" Fortescue did not flinch, smiling smoothly,
"There was another item I found beneath the library" A old wooden box appeared on the table, she opened it slowly. A dagger encrusted with red rubies was contained within "Goblin made, I have only come across one other item like this in my lifetime... and that belonged to Godric Gryffindor"
She removed it from the box holding the blade to the light "It has always been rumored that Godric Gryffindor and Ambrosius knew one another, this finally confirms it" she stated not taking her eyes away from the blade.
"It has been established that two of the four founders had secret chambers within Hogwarts, Salizar Slytherin had the basilisk chamber, Rowena had the room of requirement and whose to say Godric didn't have one" Fortescue replied eagerly his eyes wide "...a perfect place to hide Merlins greatest enemy, after all there is no place safer than Hogwarts".
The blade was at his neck before he could react, he could feel the cool knife against his skin,
"I wouldn't kill me yet if I were you, I can't tell anyone even if I wanted to, it is part of the deal. Besides I think we could work well together and I'm not worth anything to you dead" she pulled the dagger slowly away, before placing it within the folds of her cloak.
"I will give you 5 seconds before the house goes up" she stated,
He nodded smiling slightly "Thank you" he replied, she turned on her heal making her way towards the door "Oh and one more thing, the dagger, the writing is in goblin. It means "My blood will unleash, my blood will conquer"" She stared at him her face showing no facet of emotion.
"5 seconds, I'm sure we will meet again" she said, he smiled nodding farewell.
She made her way down the drive striding quickly. The flames rose up rapidly, engulfing the house in wildfire. She could feel the heat on her back as she walked away. Nothing would be left. There would be no trace of her.
No one would know she was returning to Hogwarts.
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