Harry looked around at his friends questioningly. Ron made a face and shrugged, apparently he had never heard of the Slytherin Seven either. Hermione, however, was frowning at Michael, not sharing Harry and Ron's look of confusion.
"The Slytherin Seven," she said seriously, "were a group of Dark Wizards, led by Salazar Slytherin, who were dedicated to the total elimination of Muggleborns from Wizarding society. They were known to use methods even worse than Voldemort's. Slytherin formed the group shortly after his falling out with the rest of the founders. No one knows their combined body count before they vanished," she finished darkly
Michael raised his eyebrows, impressed. He hadn't expected her information to be so accurate. "Well you're partly right. But for starters, the Slytherin Seven wasn't just a group, the name also refers to the seven powerful items created by the group. Damn scholars…made memorizing all this a lot harder. Also Salazar wasn't the leader; he was only second in command.
"Yeah, I know," he added to the incredulous looks on their faces. "Its debated sometimes – mostly by people who forget about the Seven – if Slytherin was a Dark Wizard or not, but aside from Voldemort and Grindelwald, no one ever challenges his place as the most powerful. But as for the Seven, they were actually led by the current Dark Lord at the time, a man called Malos. No first name, Dark Wizards seem adverse to them for some reason. The group became known as the Slytherin Seven later in history because Salazar was their most memorable member. But of course they faded into obscurity over time, partially because of how long ago they lived, partially due to Slytherins playing down the whole group throughout history. Even they have shame sometimes, I guess," Michael shrugged.
"Who were the other five then?" asked Harry. "Besides from Slytherin and Malos."
Michael shook his head. "Well we only know four others, along with their rank. The name of the last member of what we'll go ahead and call the Seven, if only for convenience, is lost to history."
"Go on then" Hermione urged. "Tell us about the ones you do know."
"All right, well, like I said their leader was Malos. Slytherin was second in command. In third place was Tiberius Malfoy, he was the main financial backer for the Seven's agenda."
At this point Harry muttered "Some things never change…" Hermione gave him a look, but Michael smiled bitterly.
"Looks like you have the same opinion of the distinguished Malfoy clan as we do…but where was I? Oh yeah," he continued "Erer Darothil was the fourth strongest of them, there's rumors he murdered Helga Hufflepuff, but who knows? He was just a little more powerful than Aerin Bael, supposedly the most skilled swordsman of the era. He was fifth in order, magically at least. Number six was Syrene Lestrange; I know you've met two of her decedents too. There's some speculation she was the one who seduced Salazar and led him to the Dark side, but it doesn't matter now, right?"
"And nobody knows who last member was?" Harry asked. "Do you have any ideas?"
"Well people have some guesses," Sarah replied uncertainly "But not many know about the group at all…" She shook her head. "They've been overshadowed by more recent villains like Voldemort."
Jeff finally spoke. "If they only knew half of it," he muttered. "If they only knew what they had really done…"
That seemed to jar Harry's memory. "You said the Seven wasn't a group," he told Michael, who nodded. "You said it was something they made, tell us about that." Michael was glad Harry and the others seemed to be taking this seriously, but then, he supposed he could hardly have found someone this information could be more relevant to, at least if the rumors of a prophecy were true.
Michael waved a hand at Sarah, asking her to take over. She sighed and then picked up the story. "The legend is that each of the Seven created an item of incredible power, which they used to further their reign of terror. Now let's see…" She looked down at her hands. "No one knows who number seven was or what he made."
She extended a finger. "But we know Lestrange made the Robe of Six," she extended another finger. "Bael forged the Sword of Five, Darothil had Ring of Four" she paused and looked at the other two. "What's after that?" she asked. "The one Malfoy had?"
"That was the Mask of Three" Jeff told her. "Really the most dangerous of all, if you ask me…and Slytherin wore the Belt of Two. And then nobody knows what Malos had, right?" he asked the other two, who nodded.
"So there you have it" Michael said, leaning back into the couch. "The Slytherin Seven"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. Harry decided to voice the one question he knew they were all thinking.
"Why exactly are you telling us all this?"
Michael sat back up, mildly surprised at his oversight. "Oh, didn't I tell you the best part?" He grinned regretfully at them. "Apparently each of these items can only be destroyed by a descendent of the one who made it."
Michael saw each persons' face change and knew they had an idea of what he wanted from them. Hermione fidgeted about for a moment, running her thumbs up and down the inside of her palms, then the question burst through her façade.
"You believe Ron or Harry is descended from one of the Seven?" she asked quickly. Ron and Harry shared a look. Michael had read enough to know Harry Potter had once been accused of being descended from Salazar Slytherin and probably hoped he wasn't about to be again.
"Well yes, we do" Michael admitted. "But first, I wonder why you assume it's not
you?"
"Well," Hermione said uncertainly, "because I'm Muggleborn. It's obvious all of the Seven were Wizards, so I can't be descended from them."
Michael considered at her for a moment. "You're right, you're not the one we came looking for, and you have no connection to the Seven. But don't assume you can't do anything to help because of that…we have something in common, you know, both Muggleborns. That's about it though. My hair only gets that bushy when I go a few weeks without a haircut and Sarah was top of our class. I think I fell somewhere around twenty-second."
"In a class of twenty people" Jeff smirked. "Doesn't matter anyway, you're a damn dropout."
Michael yawned. "Yes, because I'm sure you two learned so much more in your last year of school than I did over here locking wands with Death Eaters. Thanks for making me look good."
"Really, you're Muggleborn?" Hermione asked. Michael nodded. "I only ask because when I was a child, my parents sometimes saw me accidently doing magic and they didn't know what to think. I'm fairly sure they just told themselves they were tired or some other rubbish. But you seem…well, very magical, I wonder how they explained that. What?" she finished in confusion as both Sarah and Jeff reacted. Jeff suddenly looked over and around, examining every inch of the Weasleys' home while Sarah scuffed the ground with her feet a few times.
Michael smiled at his friends reactions. "I wouldn't know," he said. "They both died when I was a kid, about a year old."
Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh! I didn't….I'm sor-" but Michael interrupted her.
"Don't be sorry" he told her steadily. "Unless you have a time turner and some Death Eater robes lying around, you didn't kill them."
"They were killed by Death Eaters?" Harry asked. Michael knew by way of Harry's preceding reputation this was a tragedy held in common.
"Yeah."
"Do you know who killed them?" Ron asked quietly. "Or why? The Death Eaters mostly stayed in the UK, or at least that's what Dad always said. I don't know why they'd make a trip to America just to kill some Muggles."
Hermione kicked him, but Michael inclined his head towards Ron.
"No, actually, Ron, you have a point," he said seriously. "I didn't think about it much as a kid, but ever since I joined STRIKE I've been wondering that too…why come so far just to kill Muggles? Trying to scare the American government? I don't think so, because we mainly stayed out of the first war since Voldemort left us alone. In fact, when the Department of Secrecy did determine they were Death Eater killings, they finally sent some help to the Aurors. Really…killing my parents stirred up a lot of retaliatory feelings in the Wizarding world back then. Voldemort must've had a reason – whatever else he is, he isn't stupid. I like the way you think. Strategic minds are always a bonus." He briefly smiled at Ron, but it faded soon. "And I still don't know the name of the one who did it. I'm not sure if I want to know that name, either."
"Don't you want revenge?" Harry asked quietly.
"Of course I do" Michael said, scowling. "But the thing is, I probably already have it. I've put a lot of Death Eaters in sixty miles from civilization in Azkaban and a few others six feet under it, so I've possibly already avenged them, I just don't know for sure. But if I did know who did it…well, hell, I'm not really sure what I'd do."
Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione. Both looked equally startled by the information he had just divulged. "So you've…" Harry began, but Michael knew what was coming and cut him off.
"Yes I've killed people before. And no – it's not as easy as it seems. But how did we get on my life story anyway?" he said, suddenly agitated. This was supposed to be a briefing session about the Seven, not him.
"I start telling Ron he could destroy one of the Seven, and we ended up talking about my parents. Hell, I guess that's why my job is to fight, not negotiate. So back to Weasley. As you can imagine, not many of the surnames are still around, they were way too selective about who they married. The Malfoy and Lestrange names are still around, though that doesn't help much considering what we need them for. And no one knows who the last member was or Lord Malos' real name. There are however," he looked pointedly at Ron, "still descendents of Darothril and Bael alive, though they have different names nowadays."
He smiled at Ron, who looked at him blankly. "Me?" he asked. "You think I'm descended from one of these Seven?" he asked weakly.
"Yeah, looks that way" Michael sighed. "Some of our brightest did some digging and found out that through some cousin-lovin' and other…things that were common back then…that the Weasley clan is the most direct descendents left of Erer Darothril, fourth in command of the Seven and creator of the Ring of Four. Err…sorry."
Before Ron could do anything more than open his mouth even wider, Hermione quickly directed another question at Michael. "You said that the Slytherin Seven were powerful Dark objects, but you haven't told us what exactly they did."
"Do," Michael corrected her quietly.
"Hmm?"
"What they do," he repeated. "Of the five objects we are aware of three still definitely exist. The Sword of Five was destroyed in Russia and I tricked Bellatrix Lestrange into destroying the Robe of Six a few weeks ago. I've still got marks from that…." He smiled mischievously. "But we know that Belt of Two, Mask of Three, and Ring of Four are all intact, thanks to a little digging I did a few nights ago.
"Now then, 'What do they do?' you ask. I'll start with the Robe Lestrange created, also known as the Spirit Robe. When worn, the Robe would for all intents and purposes, give the wearer all the benefits of being a ghost."
"All the benefits?" Harry repeated. "What do you mean?"
"All the fun stuff ghosts can do that we can't. Like walking through walls for example. It also had a translucent quality that could be used to make the wearer virtually invisible. Very useful for, say, spying on enemy war rooms."
"Or bedrooms…" Sarah muttered, throwing Jeff a very dirty look. Jeff threw up his hands in a poor attempt at an innocent gesture.
"You say this like you know from experience." Hermione said quickly. "And that you fooled Bellatrix into ruining the Robe."
"Yeah, yeah I did" Michael said, who was looking at Sarah and smiling slightly. "I wore it once and got her to attack me, it wasn't exactly hard. Anyway, she shot the Avada at me and it hit me square in the chest. The Robe sort of disintegrated and I hit the floor thanking God all our information on the Robe was right."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all shared a look.
"Hold on a minute..." Hermione said slowly. "You said that Bellatrix destroyed the Robe of Six right? But she only married a Lestrange, she wasn't born one. So the connection passes through marriage?"
"Yep, that's what it looks like," Michael confirmed. "Marriage is a very serious and powerful bond, especially Wizarding marriages. It's just like an Unbreakable Vow. Magic recognizes bonds like that, it's why husbands and wives can use each other's wands with no issues. So, for instance, if you and Ron ever got married, then you'd be able to destroy the Ring too."
Both Ron and Hermione turned a deep pink and avoided each other's gaze for a while. Michael took no notice and carried on.
"Right, well after that was the Sword of Five, which as I said, we saw destroyed in Russia. The Sword heightened all the instincts of its user to near superhuman levels. Including the killer instinct," he added with a wink. "Not a very interesting story, really. Just found out some poor village kid was the last living descendent of Bael.
"Well it wasn't very hard to convince him what to do. Didn't bother explaining everything," he added at Hermione's questioning look. "The kid was only about ten, probably wouldn't have understood half of it. Anyway we put a bag of gold in one of his hands and the Sword in the other and watched him throw it into a furnace. After that, it was gone," he finished simply.
"What about this Ring?" Ron asked. "The one you said that I could destroy. What does that one do?"
"Well Darothril was always a greedy bastard. They say he nearly murdered Malfoy on a few occasions, out of jealousy. But he was also smart. When someone wears the Ring of Four everything they touch becomes gold. I think Muggles have a story about it, somehow attributed to some king…." He smiled at the look on Ron's face, then frowned slightly as he looked closer.
"I know what you're thinking, that doesn't sound too bad right, just turning stuff to gold. Well here's the thing. It doesn't just turn anything into gold, it can turn anyone into gold. Darothril used it as a weapon too. It basically gave him the ability to instantly kill anyone he could put his hands on."
Hermione stared at him. "You mean if you have the Ring on," she asked, her eyes wide, "just by touching a person…?"
"Yeah," Michael solemnly, "they're gone. I'm glad you understand the danger posed by such an item." He glanced again at Ron, who was slightly pale, then continued.
"So that leaves the Belt of Two and the Mask of Three, Slytherin and Malfoy's crowing achievements. Basically the Mask allows the person wearing it total persuasive power. Almost mind control, and it's absolute, not like the Imperius Curse, which can be fought. If the person wearing the Mask of Three tells you to do something, you do it, no questions asked. The only catch is that it can only work on one person at a time, but I agree with Jeff, it's still probably the most dangerous.
"When you face someone using the Belt of Four, it allows them to absorb most minor and moderate curses and use their energy to increase the user's own power. From the research STRIKE has done, it appears that the Belt can take a few hits from one of the Unforgivables before having to cool down for a while, how long I don't know."
Hermione looked thoughtful. "From what you're saying though, about the Belt absorbing magical energy, if it did channel the power of an Unforgivable Curse to you, you would probably be strong enough to beat just about anybody, especially," she added thoughtfully, "if your opponent didn't expect you to get back up if you were hit by the Killing Curse."
"Exactly," Michael said. "Now back to the Ri-" But he stopped talking and swore, reaching into his pocket. He retrieved a small, perfectly circular stone about the size of his palm. It was about an inch thick and covered in a network of shallow eteched Runes. Michael drew his wand with his other hand and tapped it against the stone.
A translucent figure of a young woman grew out of the disc, small enough to stand on the small object. Michael frowned and looked down at her as her full body materialized. "You're on assignment?" the woman asked. She looked around, staring at Harry and his friends as soon as she saw them.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"No reason to get snippy with me," the woman retorted. Sarah made an apologetic face at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Staffon wants to meet with you. As soon as possible."
"About what…?" Michael asked ominously. He had a feeling he already knew.
"I haven't a clue," the woman replied. "Didn't say. But it's obviously important. He wants you two as well," she added, nodding at Jeff and Sarah.
"We'll be there soon," Michael assured her. "Thanks for the heads up." Without allowing her parting words, Michael tapped the disc again and the woman was gone. He replaced both wand and stone in his pocket, then noticed the face Sarah was making at him. "I know I know," he forestalled her, "rude to the others. Whatever. Sorry about that," he told Harry. "Its…well, its STRIKE magic," he went on, answered the unasked. "I'll be happy to show you later but it looks like we're short on time…you too go on home, I'll be right behind you."
"What the hell?" Jeff grumbled as he stood up. "Can't I get a minute of peace today?"
Sarah stood up to and stretched, and Michael smirked as he noticed the boys' eyes wander as she grabbed arms behind her and pushed her chest forward.
Apparently she missed this as she waved brightly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "It was nice meeting all of you. I think we'll see you again soon!" And with that she and Jeff crossed the room and exited outside to Disaparate.
Michael watched them go then turned to the other three. "Listen, I know this is a lot to take in and I'd like to talk with you all, about things a little more mundane than ancient Dark relics. But…" he sighed dramatically, "duty calls. You'll probably be seeing us soon, hopefully under better circumstances."
"So what do I do?" Ron asked him as Michael stood up. He had tones of both anger and panic in his voice. "You've just told me I have to destroy some damn ring and now you're just leaving? What the hell's that about?" he said. Ron immediately blushed and Michael supposed he regretted the outburst, justified or not.
"What you need to do, at least for now," Michael said, putting a hand firmly on his shoulder, "is nothing. We don't know where the Ring is, though we have a few ideas. Maybe that's what this meeting's about…" he added as an afterthought. "And in any case, you're not the only one who can destroy the Ring, anyone born with the name Weasley can, you just seemed the most capable," he said coolly.
Ron looked greatly surprised and slightly embarrassed at this. He usually didn't receive such complements from anybody, let alone complete strangers.
"If you want to tell anyone in your family go ahead, just know that by doing so, you're putting yourself and them in danger. A lot of Dark wizards would love to get their disturbingly pale hands on any of the Seven, and they would probably view you as a threat to achieving that. So, just…use your discretion. We're all capable and reasonable people here." Harry seemed to like that description, based on his facial expression.
"Just one more thing," Hermione said. "Why exactly do you have to destroy these items? I know the Ring is dangerous but what about the Robe? And the Belt sounded like it could be useful in the right hands too."
"Because of the innate property that is common to all the items," Michael said heavily. "They corrupt the mind. They fill your head with," Michael paused and shook his own head, "with dark thoughts. They make you want to do…things. In short, they're pure evil. It would take an incredibly strong and incorruptible person to use one for any period without being taken in by it."
Michael waved at them and headed for the door. "We'll probably meet again right after school starts, so I'll see you then. Good meeting you." He opened the door and was about to step out when he stopped. He had been quite proud of himself so far, really projected the authority figure he was supposed to as a STRIKE Captain but…but now Michael felt less like a war leader and more like a teenager.
"Something wrong?" Harry asked, frowning
"What?" Michael said sharply, coming out of a daydream. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Hey, I wanted to ask you, before I left, about that business at the Ministry. I read all about it…you all were impressive. Harry Potter lives up to the legend," he nodded at Harry, who simply shrugged. "But it wasn't just you three, right?"
All three of them suddenly looked very uncomfortable and avoided Michael's eye. He rubbed the back of his neck and realized his mistake. "I wasn't asking about – about any other groups that might or might not have been there. I know there are some things you can't talk about," he said quickly. Michael didn't want Potter to think he was probing for information about the Order of the Phoenix…not that he didn't want any, STRIKE certainly didn't have much. "But you three brought some other students, right?"
Michael felt a strange pressure in the bottom of his throat. Something had moved up from his chest to cut off most of his air supply.
"Oh, yes, we did," Hermione breathed, looking relieved, "our friends Luna and Neville, and Ron's sister Ginny came with us." Michael nodded quickly.
"Everyone came out okay, right?" he asked. "I heard there were injuries. A lot of Death Eaters were there, some of Voldemort's best. Not…not all of you have experience fighting Dark Wizards. No offense to you three, I know you can handle yourselves, but well, your friends seemed out of place in a fight like that."
Michael had spoken much more – and much more quickly – than he had meant to. But in one breath, it was all out and he could only wait for an answer.
"Neville, Luna, and Ginny were all part of our defense group," Harry told Michael slowly. The look on his face confirmed that he was starting to confuse Harry. "We didn't want them involved…but they all knew what they were doing."
"She was able to defend herself?"
Michael went pale and six eyes narrowed at him. Michael was past embarrassed or worried, a near decade of hunger was finally being fed. He shook his head.
"Who?" Ron asked.
Michael paused. He knew if he said the name, there was no going back. He was starting something he couldn't stop, and he was turning his back on the organization that employed him. They would find out at some point, it was what STRIKE did. They also killed people for a living. But at that moment, Michael only cared about finding out one thing.
"Luna. Luna Lovegood. You know her?"
"Yeah she's our friend" Ron answered uncertainly. "Do you know her?"
Michael either didn't hear or ignored Ron's question. "That was some bad stuff you got into there. Is Luna doing alright, she didn't get hurt or anything did she?"
"No she actually came out of that in the best condition of all of us. There were Death Eaters everywhere, I don't know how she managed…" Hermione stopped talking abruptly and looked at Michael almost suspiciously. "Do you know her? Are you a friend of hers?" Hermione repeated Ron's question. "She doesn't have many."
Michael ignored her just as he had Ron. He had heard enough for now, enough to convince him what he was doing was right. His will was set. "Thank you," he said quietly, and sincerely. "I'll meet you all again soon."
Without another word a pillar of fire erupted around him, and Harry jumped up suddenly, thoroughly startling Ron and Hermione. "Hey wait!" he shouted after him. But it was too late, he was gone by the time Harry had gotten to his feet.
How had he let that happen? How could he have let that happen? This whole time they had been talking, Harry had been so entranced by what Michael was telling him he hadn't had a single thought for –
"Sirius!" Harry growled as Hermione and Ron stared at him. "He knew something about Sirius and I didn't ask him a single thing! Dammit!"
Harry swore again just as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley re-entered the room, looking nervous. "Harry dear, is something wrong?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking at Ron and Hermione for information, but they just shook their heads sadly.
"I'm going outside" Harry muttered, disappearing through the same door Michael and his friends did, slamming it behind him. He had missed his chance to hear news of his godfather, and instead passed on information about his friend to a man he barely knew. He had been played, tricked by these unknown people from a dangerous group.
He wanted badly to meet Michael Jacobs again.
