Chapter 10: Fall of 1994
Harry's dreams got more and more vivid as the days went by leading up to Halloween. He had seen Wormtail return to the shell of Voldemort and another, faceless man with no name as well as a giant snake called Nagini. Had Harry been on speaking terms with Dumbledore, he would have run straight to him. As it were, Harry relied heavily upon Elizabeth's Sight and Sirius' counsel, when they weren't chasing after their twins. At 15 months, the twins were starting to show their own personalities and creating their own mischief. Harry loved his honorary brothers, but they were starting to agitate him. For Harry's birthday, the twins had accidentally changed his hair to green. Sirius had been appalled while Elizabeth had been thrilled her little angels were Slytherin at heart. Normally, whenever the two snuck out of their play pens or played the Kreacher's ears, it was always the eldest, Phoenix, who led them while Leo was more of the actor who, when caught, would cry and whine until the misdeed was forgotten and they were out of trouble.
"PHOENIX, LEO! PLEASE STOP TRYING TO BREAK MUMMY'S NICE JEWLERY!" Elizabeth screamed running into her bedroom from the office. The sound echoed throughout the house causing Sirius and Harry to share a small laugh while Walburga rolled her eyes.
"Phoenix and Leo, couldn't you have chosen better constellations or stars for your children's names, Sirius?" Walburga spat. She was still having problems with their naming over a year after their birth. Sirius rolled his eyes at Harry before answering his mother.
"No, mother, if I had, they would have had old fashioned, stuck-up inbred names of my ancestors and we're trying to bring the Black Family out of that stereotype and into the twentieth century. Or at least the 18th…" Rolling her eyes at her rebellious son, Walburga went back to Harry's lesson for the hour, Inheritance.
October 1994
"Scabbers is gone!" the exclamation was heard throughout the Great Hall as one Ronald Weasley sobbed into his girlfriend's shoulder. Hermione Granger, said girlfriend, hugged him back and made soothing noises to try to calm him down. Everyone in the Great Hall, except the Gryffindors, was wondering who Scabbers was. Half the Gryffindors were ashamed that one of their own had such a stupid outburst in public while the other half chose to ignore the fourth year and continue their dinners.
*In another area of the United Kingdom*
Peter Pettigrew transformed into his human form, shuddering from the effort it took after being a rat for the last 13 years. Walking up the steps of an old townhouse at the end of a darkening road, Peter knocked on the door and waited for the woman inside to answer. Subtly pulling his wand out of his inner coat pocket, Peter waited and waited until the door finally opened. In the doorway was a small, round woman with watery blue eyes covered by large glasses. She was hunched over with her white hair pulled into a tight bun at the base of her neck. Sneering down at her, Peter pushed her aside and walked into the house.
"Just you wait a moment young man, who are you and what are you doing in my late daughters home!"
"Oh Grandmother, don't you remember me?" Peter let a dark smile cover his face at his grandmother's gasp.
"You're dead! Your mother died from her grief after all of these years and you were only faking! How could you, you ungrateful boy! You're lucky your mother isn't alive but with your no good muggle of a father!"
"Father was a Muggleborn! He could do magic too you stuck up pureblood wench!"
The old woman gasped and went for her wand, but Peter was faster, pushing the tip into her saggy neck, chocking her a bit as he did so.
"Now, are you going to cooperate or what?"
Daily Prophet Special Edition!
Special Correspondent Gilda Jones
Early this evening, Lady Charis Bennett, Dowager of the Bennett Clan, widow of Lord Charlus Bennett III, mother of Lord Charlus Bennett IV of the Wizengamots, married to Lady Clarisse Dubois-Bennett, Grandmother of Charlus V, 13, Jacques, 10, Melania, 5, and Guinevere, 2, was found dead in her new home after a robbery. Lady Bennett is more famously known as mother of Mrs. Bertha Pettigrew, recently deceased as of January 12, 1994 and grandmother of Mr. Peter Pettigrew, thought to be deceased as of November 1, 1981. However, after the late Lady Bennett's body was analyzed, and investigation went into checking the house for signs of magic and fingerprints. Most of the prints and magical signatures picked up belonged to either Lady Bennett or her daughter, Mrs. Pettigrew, but those weren't the only prints picked up. Recent traces of magic from the wand of Peter Pettigrew as well as his fingerprints were found around the house as well. Could this evidence lead to new information about what happened that fateful night of October 31, 1981 and the early morning of November 1, 1981. Lady Amelia Bones, head of the DMLE has reopened the investigation as well as going back to interview the friends and family of the deceased Lord and Lady Potters. There is still no word about the whereabouts of Lord Harry Potter, who will be due to take his place in the Wizengamots, if he is still alive, on July 31, 1997, his 17th birthday.
For more information about Lord James and Lady Lily Potter go to page 2.
For more information about Lord Sirius Black, go to page 3.
For more information about the rise and fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, go to page 4.
For more information about Peter Pettigrew, go to page 7.
For more information about the Bennett Clan, go to page 8.
The atmosphere in the Black Manor when the Prophet Owl flew through the window of the Lord's office to deliver the news was both exciting and demure. On one hand, Sirius could find himself facing a full pardon and compensation in the next year, but on the other hand, Fudge could block everything and the case would be buried until he was caught from a slip-up.
"Sirius, we need to talk to Narcissa. She can pretend to be Lucius and ally herself with the Bennett Clan to get to Wizengamots to go over Fudge's power and get the DMLE to push through the case faster." Elizabeth exclaimed, rushing from the table to pen a quick note to the woman in question. Luckily, it was already well past the twins' bedtimes so the small family did not have to worry about the twin running around making a ruckus.
"Well, I guess she has a point", muttered Sirius before going to inform his mother of the latest development. Harry stayed in the office wondering about the rest of the article had to say. Skipping over the parts about his parents, Sirius, and Lord Voldemort, Harry sat down to read the last two, two-page articles.
Peter Pettigrew, Loyal Friend or Cowardly Enemy?
Special Correspondence by Gilda Jones
Peter Paul Pettigrew was born on March 3, 1960 to Mr. Paul Pettigrew and Mrs. Bertha Pettigrew, the only child after his older sister, Charis Bertha, died of Dragon Pox two years earlier at the age of 3. Peter was sorted into Gryffindor in 1971 and graduated in 1978 towards the bottom of his class. While he was in Hogwarts, he was described to have always followed around James Potter, deceased October 31, 1981, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, the other 3 Gryffindor boys. The four were thought to be responsible for most of the pranks that happened around the school while they were students there.
After Hogwarts, while James and Sirius became Auror Trainees and Remus went to work at different retail shops to try to save money to continue his education, to receive his teaching license, Peter went to work for the DMLE as a secretary to the then Head, Mrs. Wallis Robards, mother of Auror Gawain Robards, and the Assistant Head, now Head, Amelia Bones. As is and was protocol, Peter, James, and Sirius were all fingerprinted and had their magical signatures registered.
Peter resigned from his post as secretary after two and half years, in April of 1981, to try to pursue a career in Sales, taking up a job in Diagon Alley at Zonko's Joke Shop. This location of Zonko's has since closed down, giving rise to the second-hand junk shop, Waldo's Wonders.
Getting bored with that article, Harry started on the next one, the one with details about the Bennett Clan. Having heard about most of the Pureblood Families and Clans from Walburga, Harry was familiar with the name but decided he should know more about them if he was to interact with the Lord of the family once he took his place in the Wizengmots.
The Bennett Clan, History and Today
Special Correspondence by Gilda Jones
The Bennett clan can trace its ancestry back 8 generations before records get too old to truly make out. The first major Patriarch of the family, Lord Charlus Bennett I, was born in Scotland in 1744 and attended Hogwarts from 1755-1762. After Hogwarts, Lord Charlus Bennett I met Lord Justus Taft built up the Clan Empire of trading and selling items with the Far East, Bennett and Taft Trading Co., Inc. An arrangement of Marriage between Taft's only child and daughter and Lord Charlus was arranged and thus, the empire was formed. Lordship of the Taft family passed to Justus' nephew but left the business to his daughter and her family on his deathbed. Since then, the Bennett Clan has been one of the only Clans to have a still prosperous business of trading and selling with the Far East as well as the America's now. They sell most of the items they acquire to the shops in Diagon Alley and a few to the shops in Hogsmeade and other wizarding towns.
The current family, consisting of Lord Charlus Bennett IV and his wife of 15 years, Clarisse Dubois-Bennett of the Dubois Broom Company family, manufacturers of the Nimbus Line and the Comet Lines, have four children between the ages of 13 and 2. The eldest, Charlus Bennett V, is a third year Slytherin, while the younger three are currently not old enough to attend school yet. However, the girls will not attend Hogwarts, according to Lady Dubois-Bennett, but Beauxbatons, like she did, when they reach schooling age.
The extended family also included, on the Bennett side, Mrs. Christine Edgecombe nee Bennett, a survivor from the first Wizard War of that part of the Bennett Clan, wife of Mr. Marcus Edgecombe and mother of Marietta Edgecombe, fifth year Ravenclaw. Mrs. Edgecombe was one of two survivors of her family after a Death Eater attack on their home in July of 1978. The attack happened after 12 and the only one awake had been the mother, Mrs. Pansy Bennett nee Chambers, and was promptly killed after she screamed. This scream awoke Mrs. Edgecombe, who had been staying with her family after returning from her honeymoon with Mr. Edgecombe. Mrs. Edgecombe woke her sister, who was a 15-year-old Ravenclaw at the time, and is now married, Mrs. Juliette Quirke, mother of Orla Quirke, recently sorted Ravenclaw and Bradley, 7. Their father, Mr. Bertram Bennett, told Mrs. Edgecombe to take her sister and apparate to the flat she was sharing with her new husband that he would fight off the Death Eaters with his brother, Mr. Edmund Bennett, 20, and Mr. Lucas Bennett, 27, both unmarried and not dating anyone at the moment. The three died valiantly fighting while waiting for the Aurors, who came just as Edmund fell to a killing Curse. Between the Bennett brothers and the Aurors, the seven Death Eaters that attacked were either killed or incapacitated.
The group of Death Eaters that attacked included, Durst Jugson, currently in Azkaban, Arsenius Carrow, died, father of twins Alecto and Amycus Carrow, both in Azkaban, Ludwig Gibbon, in Azkaban, Gabriel Rosier, younger brother of Evan Rosier who was killed by Aurors in 1980, currently in Azkaban, Marcus Rowle, father of Thorfinn Rowle, died, Romulus Selwyn, cousin of Lord Octavius Selwyn, died, and Janus Rookwood, sister of Augustus Rookwood currently in Azkaban, died.
Harry admired the family from what little the article said but thought that this was going too into their privacy. An hour later, Sirius came in and told Harry he had to go to bed, as Narcissa was here and they need to plan their next political step.
Wormtail knew he was in a lot of trouble. With Barty Crouch, jr. finding their master first and helping to look up how to gain a new body from the stupid older witch lying in the basement waiting for her death, Bertha Jorkins, and now to getting caught murdering his hateful grandmother, the Dark Lord was not pleased with his cowardly servant.
"Wormtail", hissed the baby-like figure the Dark Lord now inhabited, "how dare you return to my side and expect a warm welcome after 13 years. There were more signs of my survival than I thought was even necessary. But it appears that all of my followers, except for Barty here, were too cowardly to even think about finding their master and resurrecting him to his former glory. But you will serve your purpose, I suppose. Go to Hogwarts and the London and see if you can find any information on Harry Potter. I do not believe that the boy is dead but someone is hiding him very well. I want the boy found and brought to me! The protection I encountered from his mother is strong and will not break until I posses his blood. I would also like to kill him now, save myself the hassle when I try to take over."
Shaking, Wormtail nodded and scurried out of the Manor in Little Haggleton and down the hill towards the village, where he promptly disapparated to a cave in Hogsmeade, before turning back into a rat and making his way up to the castle.
November 1994
"FLEURS BEEN CHOSEN AS A CHAMPION!" Harry had received several letters from Hogwarts since November had started. The first, from Daphne, which told him everything that had happened since their last correspondence, the next came from Blaise, who informed him of the Gryffindors' actions and his formed 'foster' family, and the last from Fleur, who informed him of her distaste in Hogwarts and its décor. The one thing they all had in common was that they all ended with Fleur's name coming out of the Goblet of Fire for the Triwizard Tournament. Elizabeth's jaw dropped while Sirius promptly swore, despite it still being Breakfast.
The twins, who were started to gain a vocabulary, copied their father with delight, much to Elizabeth's chagrin. Their new favorite word was now a variation of the word "shite".
"Was such harsh language really necessary? They're only just starting to talk, I don't need to have them memory charmed to unlearn all those awful words you will undoubtedly fill their minds with. We're trying to raise proper Heirs here. Keep your swearing around Harry who is old enough to know when it is appropriate, never, and when it is inappropriate, always." Elizabeth scolded her husband before taking the last scone Kreacher had made for the week.
"Liizziiieeee, you just took the last scone! It's only Friday and we're already out of scones! What will we eat for the weekend!" Sirius' minor panic abated quickly when Kreacher brought out a stack of pancakes and syrup. Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth turned to Harry, who was now reading the morning edition of the Prophet.
"What's new in wonderland?"
"Huh?"
"Listen, Harry, you need to be able to focus on more than one thing at a time, unless its bank statements or contracts, those need your undivided attention."
"Right. So what did you say?"
Sighing, Elizabeth asked in plain English what the Prophet had to say.
"Well, not much is new. They traced a lead to southern England before it went cold and picked it back up around Wales before it headed into Scotland. Seems the Aurors are on a wild goose chase at this time." Nodding her head, Elizabeth turned back to the twins, who had decided that breakfast looked better on their faces than in their stomachs.
Fred and George Weasley were your typical prankster with a dash of loving brother. On a cold night in the middle of November, the two were studying the Marauders map with Ginny, whom they had just passed the map onto, when they notices their brother, Ronald, and one Hermione Granger's dots very close to each other. Deciding it could only mean one thing, the trio of mischief loving siblings went off to the third floor corridor that had been off limits just a few years earlier. There they witnessed something they never could have dreamed of.
"Do we tell a Professor?" whispered Ginny.
"No" the twins responded in unison. Nodding at each other. They barged into the room the Three Headed Dog had once been housed in. There, Ron whirled around, pants around his feet wide eyed at the thought of being caught by a professor. When he saw it was his siblings, he went back to what he was about to do.
"RON! What are you doing?" screeched Ginny who was fond of the older girl despite Hermione's feelings for her older and stupidest brother.
Sneering at his siblings he replied, "I'm going to finally take what's mine." Fred quickly stunned Ron, not trusting himself to keep Ron alive if he kept talking.
Ginny rushed to Hermione's side while the twins discussed how to deal with this. Deciding to take matters into their own hands, George kept his wand trained on Ron incase he woke up while Fred studied the map and hoped nobody would notice him stealing potions from Snape's personal potions stock.
Hermione was bound and gagged and had a black eye forming. Her shirt was ripped, exposing old scars and fading bruises. Ginny wondered how she hadn't noticed a change in the older girl or how no one noticed or even saw a difference in her from first year until now.
Removing the gag, Hermione started to sob into Ginny's shoulder while the younger girl gently untied her and brought her to sit on the floor. "I don't know any healing spells, Hermione. You're going to have to see Madame Pomfrey. And do not protest! You can't be the first girl to ever have a dating violence experience! This schools been open for over 1000 years! Now relax. I'm going to help you stand up so we can get you to Madame Pomfrey's ok?". The older girl whimpered but nodded as Ginny gently took her arms and helped her stand. Just then, Fred returned with the potions. Seeing Hermione in pain, Fred quickly gave them to George, restunned Ron and lifted Hermione up into his arms before running to the Hospital wing with her crying into his shirt.
Ginny and George looked at each other and then to the potions they had before deciding Fred was better off hearing this second hand. Binding Ron the same way he had bound Hermione, George woke Ron up before Ginny dropped 7 drops of Veritaserum on his tongue. There was an instant reaction and George decided to take point on the "interrogation". What they didn't know, was three Slytherins had witnessed the entire thing after following the Gryffindors to try to get their own two-knuts into the "happy" couple. They decided to listen to the interrogation and report it in a letter back to Harry.
"What is your name?"
"Ronald Bilius Weasley"
"When is your birthday?"
"March 1, 1980"
"What were you about to do to Hermione Granger?"
"Rape her, obviously. She won't give me what I deserve and has been fighting the love potions I've been giving her. She is mine! And she should always obey me! But she was naughty, striking up conversation with Viktor Krum and throwing herself at him. I needed to teach her a lesson." He spat out every word as if they left a bad taste in his mouth.
Ginny, disgusted with what she was hearing, started to channel her mother and yell and rant at her fuck-up of a brother. Hopefully, the professors and their parents would take harsher action with him.
Hermione stayed in the Hospital Wing for a month recovering from all the abuse Ron put her through. During her stay she met a Durmstrang student named Adrianna who was continuing the apprenticeship she started under the healer at her school with Madame Pomfrey.
Blaise kept to the shadows as he watched the interaction between the fiancée of the international Quidditch star and the muggle born student. It was interesting to Blaise, who had developed an interest in psychology and human interaction. To him, Adrianna was an enigma. Having met Katrina, he knew what to expect when meeting/observing the woman. However, what he didn't realize was that the young woman was well on her way to having her mastery in healing and would be excellent with patients. If Krum allowed her to get a job before they needed children, St. Mungo's would pay dearly to get her into their program and on their staff for whatever time they could.
Hermione appeared to be thriving under her care and was soon getting restless and wanting to go back to class. Due to missing so much class, she was given tutors and would take her end of semester tests after the Yule Ball, which she would attend on Viktor Krum's arm as Adrianna had other matters to attend to at home and could not stay for the Ball. Viktor had understood, after all, they could spin it as "international cooperation" and Viktor getting to know how the English system worked while Hermione got to know how Durmstrang worked. It would also send one Ronald Weasley, who was currently serving an in school suspension for the rest of the year, into a tizzy to find out second hand what happened.
Blaise snickered to himself as he returned to the Slytherin common room to save one of his best mates, Draco, from the pug herself, Pansy.
December 1994
With Sirius' help, Harry was able to give Daphne an enchanted mirror for communication purposes, to supplement their letters. Since their letters (or at least Harry's for the time being) were now being read over and edited by their Head's of House, the mirrors were used in the dead of night to say what they couldn't in letters. It was one such night when Harry found out that he would be spending Christmas, and probably New Years, without his betrothed and friends.
"WHAT?"
"Keep your voice down, Harry. I might have a silencing charm up but that doesn't mean that people can't break it and find out about you and us."
"Sorry, Daphne."
"Its ok." Daphne smiled a bit, the dim candle floating over her bed was the only light for Daphne to see anything and Harry thought it made her look like an angel.
"So, you really have to attend this stupid ball?"
"Yes, it's fourth years and up as "Draco's Dad" or rather Narcissa had the board of governors make it so. Honestly, had it been open to only fifth years and up I would be home in a second. Gabrielle is also here. I think she is having a hard time keeping to only her sister and not running up to us, or rather Astoria, and hugging the life out of her. I think she's lonely."
"Well, she is what, 8? 9?"
"Really, you can't even remember her age! You're awful." Harry gave her a charming smile that sent her into a small fir of laughter before the two decided to part and go to bed. The next morning, Blaise sent her a knowing smirk when she almost fell asleep in her syrup-covered pancake. Daphne glared at him and for the umpteenth time, wishes she was with Harry as he had it so much easier.
Wednesday December 21, 1994
The Yule Ball was held on the Winter Solstice, allowing the first, second and third years that wished to go home leave over the weekend and allow dates to arrive in the castle during the days leading up to the event. Daphne had hoped and prayed for anyway Harry could escort her to the ball, but in the end, Fleur had introduced her to one of her more demure male friends, the son of a high ranking Veela and a pureblood Death Eater that had been killed in the first war. Luc had known about her betrothal, having his own with a Veela in his mother's circle, and the decision to go together was one of convenience for the two than a desire.
After the Ball, Ron found out and tore into Hermione, saying she was "his girlfriend" and she shouldn't go "whoring herself off to the highest pureblood bidder". Needless to say, Ginny slapped him and Neville, in a show of courage and strength, hexed him until he was black and blue. In her anger, Ginny raced out of the common room, knowing Lavender and Parvati would cheer up Hermione. Since Hermione was hospitalized, Lavender and Parvati had taken to flanking Hermione trying to cheer her up by incorporating a healthy amount of gossip into the going ons of what happened in class.
Running down the hall, heels clacking away and dress held up above her knees, Ginny raced, hoping to get as far away from her brother as she could. She needed to think and she needed to be alone. She didn't know how long she'd been running before she made it to the 7th floor and several older Slytherins. Not caring who she was seen with anymore, she decided to slide down the wall and continue to cry. At this point, Ginny wasn't even entirely sure the reason why she was crying, she just was. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she looked up and into the steely grey-blue eyes of Draco Malfoy
While the Yule Ball and the rest of winter break happened at Hogwarts, in London, the Black Family was having their own Yule and Christmas Celebrations. Walburga continued Harry's lessons until the night before the solstice and informed him of his end of the Year exams were to be held on the week after Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang started second semester.
Sighing, Harry wished Daphne could be there, at least then he wouldn't be surrounded by ridiculous lessons, screaming babies and ridiculous portraits with crazy house elves. Closing the door to his room, harry sat on his bed and thought back to how this had all started. They had yet to find Peter, but with the help of the Vampires through Elizabeth and several Lords on the Wizengamots loyal to the Nobel and Most Ancient House of Black. Looking around the bedroom he now occupied, it was filled with posters of Quidditch Teams, especially Bulgaria and Puddlemere United, as well as photos of his parents and Sirius, Daphne and his friends, and his cousins. Deciding he should get ready for dinner now, he hoped that Daphne was having a good holiday and decided he should write to her as soon as he could.