Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything what you can recognize from the books. I do however own the plot of this story but I don't have profits because of it unless you count improving my English as a profit.
Thanks to omega13a for beta-reading and helpful suggestions.
Dedicated to all my wonderful Readers for their great patience with me.
Chapter twelve: United We Stand.
S. B.
He had been to Cologne many times over the years but no matter how he got there and where he was supposed to end up somehow he always managed to land himself in the Apparition point at Cologne Central Station thus, not always trusting himself with Apparating all over the town, he had to leave the station the same way Muggles did: through the main gates into the forecourt with a plain view of the Cologne Cathedral.
He had never seen a building that tall which made him feel so terribly small and meaningless. Technically he had seen taller buildings, like the World Trade Center when he attended a conference in New York few years ago but the two towers or any other building he had seen hadn't succeed in making him feel so… tinny.
He wandered off in the direction of the nearest café from where he could observe the entrance to Cologne's Wizarding Conferencing Centre which should be letting out the international congregation of Aurors right about now.
A cup of tea later he spotted the first wizard leaving the centre, through supposedly not overly suspicious phone box and he quickly paid the bill and hurried to the entrance.
He managed to remain unseen to the Spanish delegation as well as the Italian one before he finally spotted Frank leaving the building.
The man looked incredibly nervous and Sirius knew why. Without doubt Frank tried to floo back home and had found out that he couldn't do it. When the Ministry had collapsed so did Floo Network and the only means of communication in United Kingdom which had remained were Apparition, Brooms and Knight Bus and since Floo Network was down and the CWCC had anti-Apparition wards the only way Frank would try would be heading to the Apparition point at the station because he had no Portkey on himself.
Swiftly he laid his hand on the older man's shoulder and said quietly, "We need to talk Frank."
Frank whirled around to face Sirius, the tip of his wand was sticking out of his sleeve and the nervous expression strengthened as he whispered, "Sirius? What you are doing here? The Floo is down… Merlin you look horrible."
"Do you have a minute?" Sirius sighed.
"But the Floo…" Frank started.
"Please," Sirius said quietly as he looked down at his own boots. "I prefer to spend the rest of the night doing other things than Apparating all over the Europe in search of you…"
"Is it urgent?" Frank asked cautiously.
"It is… but it can wait till we get into less crowded surroundings," Sirius answered. "There is a café not far away from here."
"I prefer Rheine bank if you don't mind, I was copped inside the CWCC since nine o'clock," Frank said.
The walk to the riverbank wasn't very long for them. Finally Frank sat down on a bench and looked at Sirius expectantly.
Nervous about Frank's reaction Sirius first pulled a stray strand of his long hair behind his ear and thrust his hands into his pockets right after doing it. Then he took a deep breath and looked Frank in the eye.
"There had been an attack on the Ministry today," Sirius said slowly. "Huge attack, at half past ten… there are many victims, heavily injured… and…" his voice broke down.
Frank paled drastically as he lowered his hands to his knees and whispered, "Alice is dead."
Not being able to find the right words Sirius nodded slowly.
"How many others?" Frank said softly.
"Four hundred ninety-eight dead, over two hundred injured, ten missing," Sirius whispered.
"The Ministry…" Frank whispered.
"Ministry Headquarters has been destroyed," Sirius shook his head. "Explosive material was used in the attack and the explosion completely damaged the structure of the building. We managed to use Goblins enchantments to pick up the evidence but it was only for that long."
"Neville? Floo Network?" Frank chocked out.
"Neville is with Mirzam and the kids," Sirius reassured him. "He already knows… The Floo Network all over the country came down when the attack occurred. It will take a week or even longer to reset it up."
"How did you get here?" Frank asked weakly.
"Apparition, I will take you to Hogwarts," Sirius said as he pulled out his hand from the pocket and extended it to Frank. "Almost everyone is there."
"Was it worse than when Voldemort was in power?" Frank said softly.
"No comparison Frank," Sirius said quietly. "You simply cannot."
But deep in his heart he did. Voldemort had filled their hearts with fear, destroyed families… but Voldemort also brought their strengths to the surface, brought the courage to say no, to rebel. Voldemort was real, powerful and terrifying but he was real… Voldemort wasn't the threat one couldn't see, Voldemort could be spied on…
Had Yaxley operated all on his own? Did he have help? If he did then who helped him?
"If you are ready Sirius… I don't think that I would be able to do it on my own…" Frank whispered.
"Right, sorry, I got lost in thoughts Frank," Sirius shook his head as he gripped Frank's arm and Apparated over to Hogwarts.
They didn't Apparate directly to the castle itself but landed on the grounds in front of the entrance gates to the castle. The whole building was glowing due to the dim candlelight which was coming through the windows, probably no one really wanted to sleep that night, certainly not adults..
"Sirius, good laddie, a word with you if you will," Grandpa Archie's voice come from the direction of the door. "I'm truly sorry Frank dear boy… Alice was such a wonderful girl."
"I know… please Mr Black…" Frank whispered.
"I'm afraid that I'm not bringing good news as well," Grandpa Archie stepped out of the shadows of the entrance on the grounds. "Your uncle… Merlin bless his soul… had suffered a stroke this afternoon and had passed through the veil… Your mother contacted us just an hour ago…"
Frank groaned softly and swayed on his feet. Sirius barely had time to catch him before he collapsed to the ground.
"You appear to be greatly distressed," Sirius commented as he looked at Grandpa Archie, seeking help but finding none of it.
"I am Sirius, I am," Grandpa Archie sighed. "But it would be rude to burden Frank with this information when he has enough to deal with."
"It's a shock…" Frank murmured. "Will pass… Is it a safety issue Mr Black?"
"Frank…" Sirius hissed.
"Sirius!" Frank said harshly.
"It is," Grandpa Archie sighed as he pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket and held it to Sirius.
Sirius slowly took the parchment and examined it. The parchment seemed to be of the best quality, so was the ink and the wax seal on it. Then he opened it and started reading.
Dear Fools,
You are idiots to assume that young Yaxley was working on his own. He was not and soon you will learn how many of us are out there to bring a new order to wizarding world. We shall start at the basics and proceed from there. Soon there won't any wizard left in Europe who won't know the power of the Brotherhood of Gethsemane and no Muggle who won't know their lowly place.
Yours,
Gethsemanian
"Madman or wanna be Dark Lord," Sirius muttered. "What do services make of it, Grandpa?"
"Not much. Everything we know is that Gethsemane itself isn't to blame and the community out there knows nothing of this Brotherhood. It might be an idle threat but we don't know that for sure."
"And if they wanted to size the control over the country Yaxley only made it easier for them," Frank mussed. "We will start at the basics… What does that mean?"
Sirius didn't answer, he knew what it meant. Swiftly he pulled out the mirror from his pocket and called Albus Slugtruckar's name. He was relieved when a second later he saw Albus's face in the mirror, the man looked as tired as Sirius felt.
"You've heard the news I take?" Albus asked tiredly.
"Where are you?" Sirius asked quickly.
"At Kells, evacuating the school. The Headmistress is a dear and she had no problems with announcing the evacuation to Hogwarts… and since we are at Hogwarts… well not literally but on the subject… Dumbledore dashed to France before I left… the word has it that he is heading to Albania to ensure that a certain Dark Lord remains there… He had given all responsibilities of the Headmaster to Brainslook… He might use some help with convincing McIntosh… Arthur's Convent had agreed to evacuate but in the morning… Common Magic is bemoaning the idea of evacuating but Kingsley went there, he can convince practically anyone and their grandmother to do anything he wishes…"
"What about Hogwarts?" Sirius asked sceptically. "We cannot close it… especially now."
"Of course we can't," Grandpa Archie said calmly. "Luckily for us Hogwarts is a big school and would be honoured to house the students from all over the country for as long as it is required."
"It was your idea," Sirius glanced at the older man.
"Drastic times call for drastic measures Sirius. We don't have enough Aurors to station groups around each school separately and Hogwarts is big enough to fit in the students from Kells, Arthur's Convent, Common Magic and McIntosh," Grandpa Archie answered. "Speaking about McIntosh… Brainslook could really use a hand in yelling at Headmaster McGowan."
"Perhaps he is thinking that Hogwarts is trying to resize the control over the education of wizarding children, McGowan I mean," Frank suggested.
"Like that would happen," Sirius snorted.
"My point exactly. Besides the schools keep their own schedule, teachers and discipline," Albus added. "I'm finishing with Kells… we should be leaving in fifteen minutes… Try to keep the grounds relatively empty for half an hour."
"Mirzam, Charity, Septima, Aurora, Pomona, Eileen and Minerva are arranging accommodations for the new students. Kells students and staff will be rewarded for their prompt arrival. Students themselves will receive the guest rooms under Gryffindor tower, the elves are already finishing putting things in place. If my memory serves me right you have one hundred and forty students with you Albus, don't you?" Grandpa Archie mussed.
"One hundred twenty students, ten teachers and ten kids under the age of eleven. The school is a closed cliché actually and all teachers have a spouse within the staff though kill me if I would have to explain it to you how it works. Each pair has two children warring with age between four to ten. Of course there is also the Headmistress, not married and childless but the dearest woman I ever had occasion to meet. Dumbledore would love her."
Sirius chose to not inform Albus that Dumbledore was gay, perhaps the younger man knew it or perhaps he didn't, then again babbling out that small piece of information in front of a known homophobe wouldn't be the brightest idea.
"What about the size of Arthur's Convent?" Sirius asked pensively.
"Roughly seventy students plus ten teachers," Grandpa Archie answered. "It would be easy to squeeze them on the ground floor close to the Puffs, students at least. Teachers would go to the first floor. Common Magic would be the biggest of them all, one hundred forty students plus ten teachers. McIntosh once McGowan will pull out his head out of his…" he looked at Frank and finished, "…anus will arrive with one hundred students and ten teachers. Naturally like Albus said we are counting without Headmasters or Headmistress, which come in equal numbers Mary Kelly, Headmistress of Kells School of Magic; Hannah Davies Headmistress of School of Common Magic; Malcolm McGowan Headmaster of McIntosh Boarding School for Wizards and Witches and finally Headmaster Hadrian Lowerbride from Arthur's Convent for Gifted. Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England if I remember correctly."
"We are still topping them, Common Magic I mean, by a hundred and ten in students," Sirius muttered. "Does someone know how logistically it's going to look like. Five different schools, five different Headmasters and Headmistress, fifty-two teachers and nearly seven hundred students… and I'm not counting the small ones."
"Suddenly I'm glad that I'm an Auror and not a teacher," Frank said with a small smile.
"There is no need for you two to wait for Kells, you have more important things to do at the moment Sirius, Frank," Grandpa Archie said simply. "Like grabbing a meal and heading to your families… oh and Sior take a shower, you stink worse than a fish market on a bad day."
R. B.
He tried to sleep, the operative word was, tried to… and failed to do so. Yet it seemed that he managed to catch a nap, a very short one because he remembered falling asleep with his head on his mum's knees and when he woke up he was laying on the couch, with a soft pillow under his head and a warm blanket cocooned over him.
He looked at the clock on the mantelpiece and groaned inwardly. Ten o'clock in the evening…
And yet when he woke up he hadn't feel tired at all, edgy, nervous and trapped yes, but not sleepy or tired.
He tiptoed to the room where the Weasley kids were put to sleep few hours earlier, Charlie was with them in the room and all of them were sleeping peacefully. Then Regulus made his way to the other bedroom where Neville was placed under the same circumstances. The other boy was sleeping peacefully, with a Golden Retriever curled around his feet and Teddy by his side… sleeping on the other bed was Draco Malfoy who definitely not sleeping peacefully, he was tossing and turning.
There wasn't any adult left in the room. There was no sign of Regulus's mum nor Mrs Malfoy or Mr Weasley… or more importantly Regulus's dad. Just when that thought entered his mind the door had opened and his dad stepped inside.
"Reggie!" his dad's face brightened upon seeing Regulus. "Merlin gracious. I hope that you didn't stay up all this time."
Regulus wasted no time and quickly hugged his dad.
"You look horrible dad," Regulus said with a weak smile. "And you stink."
"You are the second person who had informed me about it," his Dad answered. "But there is no time to waste Reggie. How do you feel about spending some time with you good old dad?"
"Is it dangerous?" Regulus asked sceptically.
"Not in the least," his dad answered.
"Sirius I don't think…" Mr Longbottom started.
"Frank, Reggie has lived at Hogwarts since he was a kid, he knows every nook and cranny as well as I do if not better. Seeing that I need to seal all entrances to the school he is the best companion one could ask for," Regulus's dad said simply.
"Have you seen Neville, Reggie?" Mr Longbottom turned to Regulus.
"In mum's bedroom… with Teddy and Draco Malfoy," Regulus grimaced slightly at the last name. "Mrs Malfoy and Mr Weasley are somewhere… around I guess."
"Will you be fine Frank?" Regulus's dad turned to Mr Longbottom. "I can give this task to someone else."
"Like Albus Slugtruckar?" Mr Longbottom asked sceptically. "Let's be realistic, if you won't do it yourself you will continue second guessing the one who does and in the end you will check all entrances by yourself anyway. Besides its quality time which you can spend with your son… I will be fine… I will sit with Neville for a bit and then take a nap… Something which you should do by the way."
"I will… after…" Regulus's dad said.
It took Regulus all but a minute to get fully dressed and ready to leave his mum's quarters.
While the idea of nightly wanderings didn't sound appealing to him after having so little sleep then most certainly spending some time with his dad was an opportunity he couldn't miss.
"Why do you want to seal all entrances to Hogwarts?" Regulus asked once they left his mother's quarters.
"Safety precaution Reggie," his dad answered. "Read for yourself," he added as he passed a piece of parchment to Regulus.
It read:
Dear Fools,
You are idiots to assume that young Yaxley was working on his own. He was not and soon you will learn how many of us are out there to bring the new order to wizarding world. We shall start at the basics and proceed from there. Soon there won't any wizard left in Europe who won't know the power of the Brotherhood of Gethsemane and no Muggle who won't know their lowly place.
Yours,
Gethsemanian
"Voldemort?" Regulus asked sceptically. "Or someone new?"
"I wish I knew Reggie, I wish I knew," his dad sighed. "What really matters at the moment is the threat it contains."
"Starting at the basics," Regulus muttered. "You don't think that the Brotherhood would attack Hogwarts, do you?"
"Not Hogwarts, certainly not yet… but let's take no chances with the safety of the kids. Hogwarts holds less than half, close to one third population of students in the United Kingdom and Ireland and with Dumbledore as headmaster it's well protected. That's something which cannot be said about Kells School of Magic or Arthur's Convent for Gifted or School of Common Magic or even McIntosh's Boarding School for Wizards and Witches, though the last one comes close to Hogwarts on the subject of security."
"Then why seal the entrances?" Regulus asked pensively.
"Because come next evening Hogwarts will be hosting other schools until the Aurors ascertain that their buildings are safe and the wards around them are strengthened considerably. You have to remember that students from other schools aren't Hogwarts students, they answer to different rules, different teachers, things which for you as a Hogwarts student would be an offence for them it wouldn't be."
"I thought that we are supposed to live in the same, or at least similar to one another cultures dad," Regulus said. "Why it's such a fuss to have students from other schools to come here? Has it happened before?"
"To my knowledge it hadn't. Other schools, except McIntosh are relatively young, barely two hundred, two hundred fifty years old. McIntosh is older than the others, but not as old as Hogwarts… but four hundred years is not something you would miss.
"For a long time there had been a great rivalry between Hogwarts and McIntosh, mainly because the first Headmaster, McIntosh was expelled from Hogwarts for some trivial offence and decided to make a school which would be better than Hogwarts and much more attractive for students. The rivalry is over but the current Headmaster doesn't wish to have his school closed because of Hogwarts being the bigger school."
"And better," Regulus muttered.
"Well not exactly," his dad chuckled. "Hogwarts is Hogwarts and McIntosh is McIntosh, Reggie. Each is different… McIntosh takes first and foremost students from Scottish families, while Hogwarts takes students from all of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Each school is different and singular… each has subjects in which teachers truly excel at and are masters of their subjects. Kells for example excels in Herbology and Transfiguration centred around Herbology… also Potions… and produced a lot of very highly educated Healers. Common Magic has excellent Charms and Defensive Magic tutors, also Arithmancy, produces good Curse Breakers, and quite a lot of Aurors. Then there is Arthur's Convent which provides Historians, Librarians and Lawyers. McIntosh excels in producing future traders, wandmakers, well not as good as Ollivander but certainly a creative lot, also musicians and entertainers."
"And Hogwarts?" Regulus asked eagerly.
"Hogwarts never truly excelled in teaching just one art Reggie," his dad shrugged. "That's the downside of being the biggest school and having First Class Masters as Professors. Sure there is the prestige but that also means teaching everyone equally rather than centring the course subjects around certain occupations with one or two core subjects in the lead and devoting other subjects to help students understand the core subjects better."
"So because we are better we are average," Regulus summed up.
"Have your classmates showed any interest in one subject, a true interest I mean?" his dad asked.
"Neville, in Herbology… Hermione in Transfiguration… then everybody and their cat in History of Magic and Defence Against the Dark Arts… well the last one until we learned that Professor Quirrel is… an average teacher. So that leaves History but perhaps it's a novelty of not being taught by Binns and after some time it will wear off, give it a year or two."
His dad chuckled at the mention of Binns before he asked.
"What's with you kids and Brainslook. The girls adore him and so does Dumbledore. He practically adopted the man. You, Teddy and Charlie always speak highly of him and so does your mum."
"He is likable chap," Regulus shrugged. "I like him. He is logical and his heart is in the right place. And there is definitely more than meets the eye about him. You would like him too if you had given him a chance."
"Chance about what?" asked Grandpa Orion, who somehow come to walk just behind Regulus and his dad. "Regulus," he looked down at Regulus who only smiled dryly.
"Professor Brainslook," Regulus said politely. "How are you?"
"Old," Grandpa Orion snorted. "I don't know how Dumbledore does it but I officially confess to having a deep unyielding need to kill McGowan, slowly and painfully." Then he looked at Regulus and his dad again and asked pensively, "Are you sealing the entrances to school?"
"Yes," Regulus's dad nodded slowly. "Why are you asking?"
"I can help if you like," Grandpa Orion said simply. "I'd rather do something that is actually productive."
R. L.
Unlike Sirius, Remus Lupin happened to like Halloween. But then again Sirius grew out of his teenage fascination with everything remotely covered in chocolate while Remus didn't. Chocolate and kids delighted upon receiving it over the years managed to strengthen Remus affection towards the holiday even though certain events from ten years ago would be able to put off sweets for even him… but not for long.
The day itself started splendidly, though one could have doubts if midnight for most people was the start of a new day… Mere technicalities. Who really cared?
A year ago if someone told him that a year from now he would be in a relationship he would have laughed. He was too poor, too old and too dangerous for any woman to become her partner. Again mere technicalities because while Remus himself after the death of his parents and suffering long periods of unemployment discovered that moving in with Sirius and Mirzam and taking care of their kids made him Regulus's and Miranda's babysitter and later tutor and as such he was paid more than he needed (a subject which he refused to give a rest and Sirius refused to listen to his arguments). All in all over the years he managed to save up quite a lot of money which for a very long time he was afraid to touch without good reason.
Then there was too old issue. Thirty-one wasn't old, at least not old when long lives of wizards were concerned or even the lives of werewolves for that matter. One of the perks, or disadvantages of being a werewolf, depending from the point of view, was exceptionally long even for a wizard the life expectancy of werewolves, which was rumoured to be one hundred twenty in the very least… that's assuming that aforementioned werewolf managed to make it past the age of fifty without dying from magical exhaustion in their late forties, early fifties which was quite common amongst the werewolves. But since the condition was greatly connected to the normal health of a werewolf as a human Remus really had nothing to fear. The illness would miss him by a mile and it was more probable that one day he will shift from the mortal coil because of a heart-attack rather than magical exhaustion… Kreacher cooked splendidly and Mirzam herself was splendid cook.
Nevertheless the age of thirty for most wizards was the age when their kids reached, or were close to reaching the age of going to Hogwarts. So by the time Remus turned thirty years old ninety-five percentage of the women population from his generation had been married with children for a very long time. So the only women left for him were widows and recently graduated from Hogwarts females. Neither he considered as an option.
Being too dangerous for his partner was self explanatory. He was a bloody werewolf and no sane woman would be inclined to spend the rest of her life bound to a beast.
And yet he wasn't alone, even more he seriously started considering commitment. Maybe not marriage, but moving in together, devoting time to each other, spending evenings reading books together, cuddling and having sex, a lot of good sex.
And sex was good, great in fact, marvellous, wonderful and mind-blowing. If he was feeling particularly sarcastic deep in his mind he tried to decide if between the two of them it was him or Sirius who had a more… adventurous private life. Not that Sirius or Mirzam discussed such subjects at the table but for Merlin's sake after living with them for a long time Remus was able to read the sings pointing to the obvious conclusion.
Come to think of it, it was sex which had started his relationship, sex and some romanticised notion, based on a rumour (admitted jokingly a long time ago by his partner at the time she wasn't his partner yet) that werewolves have more stamina in bed than other men. At first Remus firmly refused the offer even though he felt greatly tempted to agree, just for the sport and the idea of finally getting laid (especially after listening to certain pair having a go in the library).
It took her nearly a whole year to finally convince him to admit that he had nothing to lose and at the worst he will get laid… No, that wasn't the worst, the worst would be, him finally getting laid and Sirius learning of that small fact and then having Sirius skin him alive because he had dared to touch his little cousin.
He was having sex with Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius's little cousin (and the rumour had it that Sirius was also her godfather but Remus had yet to get a definite answer to that question out of Sirius) and a woman junior to him by nearly thirteen years who just few months ago graduated from Hogwarts.
Yes, Sirius was definitely going to kill him, slowly and painfully.
Except it wasn't just sex, even if it was great. They connected, intellectually, emphatically and any other ally he could name from the top of his head. She was a great friend and companion and she had been one for a very long time. He had seen her growing up from a clumsy kid into a still clumsy woman with the biggest heart he ever saw in a person. She was funny, warm, full of ideals and hopes…
… and he knew the world and knew that reality will cut off her wings, painfully on that. He yearned to be the one to prevent it or to catch her when it would happen. He yearned to comfort her after a bad day, he yearned to give her everything she deserved and she deserved the world and certainly not the man like him…
Still, she had chosen him and it made him happy because she was happy and that was all that mattered. Well, except having Sirius degut him for touching Dora… but Sirius could be dealt with otherwise.
Knowing Randa and Regulus had paid off. The eve of any holiday or anniversary or birthday turned both kids into little devils on a sugar high. Since Regulus was at Hogwarts and Sirius and Mirzam had taken in Teddy and Alana Nott and Charlie and Minnie Potter and the boys were with Regulus at Hogwarts that left at 12 Grimmauld Place Randa, Alana and Minnie who around the lunch started showing signs of a sugar rush so Remus fire-called Dora with a question if she wanted to go to the cinema that evening and when she agreed he simply announced to a surprised Sirius that he was going out to the cinema and that Sirius and Mirzam were left on their own to deal with the girls.
A long time ago when Sirius and James were still on speaking terms and were still wallowing under a false misapprehension that one day their lycanthropic friend would go out for a date they gave Remus a set of rules which a man should and shouldn't do on a date. One of the rules was to allow the girl to pick the movie and suffering through a romantic comedy or even worse something teary.
But he had yet to see something romantic and/or teary. Three months and ten trips to the cinema and Dora still surprised him. "The Silence of the Lambs" wasn't a movie which a girl would pick eagerly but Dora did… and she clung to his arm for about three quarters of the movie. Not that he minded it, not in the least.
He hadn't minded the way the rest of the evening turned out too and more than once he sent a silent blessing to Merlin for his lycanthropic stamina. He wouldn't have minded either sharing a normal breakfast with Dora and lazing until noon in bed. However Dora had to head to Auror training and he had to sneak into the house before anyone would wake up.
At Grimmauld he was faced with three overly excited kids, thankfully meant to head to Hogwarts for their History of Magic lesson and close to half past ten in the morning he was finally able to sit down and take a breath: Mirzam was at Hogwarts and so were the girls. Sirius headed out to the Ministry and the whole house was empty.
He barely finished penning his article for the Auror Academy on the subject of dealing with werewolves when the girls landed on the kitchen floor. He frowned upon the sight, usually dispatched by the Floo, the girls came back the same way. It was extremely unusual for them to come back by a portkey.
"Randa," he eyed his goddaughter warily. "The Portkey?"
"The Floo wasn't working," Randa shrugged. "Mum is tutoring and told us to use it if the Floo still wasn't working after fifteen minutes."
"Probably the usual problems," Remus sighed. "For someone who works at the Ministry your father is extremely wary of using his connections to have the network set properly…"
"Can we turn on the wireless Uncle Moony?" Alana asked. "The Wand Wielder is going to be on in five minutes."
Upon the mention of The Wand Wielder all three girls squalled in delight… Personally Remus failed to see why the lot found The Wand Wielder so enchanting. After all it was a bloody vampire, supposedly allergic to human blood and therefore not inclined to lust for it ... yeah right and werewolves weren't werewolves, just big fluffy dogs with big teeth.
Nevertheless Remus turned the wireless on and returned to his article while the girls circled the radio.
He hardly managed to write down more than one proper paragraph when he heard the unmistakeable sound announcing breaking news… He never liked the sound, it was a sound of the past when each appearance of it forwarded information about yet another death or disappearance. How often he had heard it in the past, how often it left him feeling hallow and broken…
"… it had befallen on us… an accident at the Ministry… the extent of… unknown… Half past ten…"
The sounds muted and his world started greying on the edges. Half past ten… Sirius left the house at quarter past ten… even if he decided to take a walk to work he would reach the Ministry at half past ten at the very least.
Just before Sirius left he and Remus had a small argument over something he really couldn't remember… a trifle… and now Sirius… oh Merlin… the kids… and Mirzam…
Then he remembered more… Dora was supposed to be at the Ministry today…
… something cold and wet splashed his face and he came looking straight into Randa's eyes.
"Uncle Moony?" she asked carefully. "How are you feeling?"
He opened his mouth to say something but no sound emerged from his throat… He tried to clear his throat and only on his third attempt he managed to rasp… "Go to your room and play."
Randa only raised her eyebrows questioningly.
R. B.
When the news was announced her small heart filled with dread which she tried not to show to not alert her foster sisters. They had lost too much of their childhood already to worry about the accident at the Ministry personally.
But deep inside her heart was breaking and her soul was howling like a kicked dog. Her Papa could be in danger, grave danger if he somehow survived the accident. She wasn't his daughter for nothing. When her dad was heading to the Ministry at later hour he always left early enough to arrive with half an hour to spare.
So when the accident occurred Papa was inside the building…
How she managed to persuade Alana and Minnie to head upstairs to play without her she didn't know. All that mattered was her Papa and making sure that he wasn't… he couldn't be…
At times she accompanied her Papa to the Ministry, from 12 Grimmauld Place to the Ministry the distance was relatively short, barely fifteen minutes and not walking overly fast at that.
She wasted no time to transform and bolt out of the house. The dog was faster than any human in the least and before she knew how long it took her she was within the area of Ministry outer entrances.
There was an enormous crowd of extremely agitated people, it seemed as if no one knew what really happened but she really didn't pay attention to the other people… Until she heard her Papa's name being mentioned by some official. To her utmost relief the man was using present tense which meant that her Papa was alive and whole judging from how he was praised for taking action.
Papa taking an action was alive... Papa taking action and that was all that mattered. She would be able to head home with a lighter heart to calm down and tell her grey looking Uncle Moony that her dad was safe and sound. She stayed there for a moment longer before she managed to see her cousin Dora calming down some ill looking woman before she had turned on her heel in the direction of their home.
Just in front of the door she came to a halt.
She really should return home, she really should… to calm down Uncle Moony and to ascertain that Alana and Minnie won't break into hysteria but something stopped her. They lived on the north side of the Bloomsbury, a short walk to King's Cross Station and while they hadn't any close wizarding neighbours – well other than Hermione not far from their house, on Burton Street lived two families, the Slugtruckars, who if Randa's memory was working well were away on a vacation trip to Greece or some other warm country.
The other family she knew from sight were the Cavendishs, a quite average, mixed family where both father and mother were working for the Ministry and the kids were way smaller than her, ages four and five, a boy and a girl if she remembered correctly.
She turned on her heel once again and promptly headed to Burton Street silently cursing her conscience for bringing the idea up.
She reached the correct house quite fast and examined the surroundings. The house was not overly big but not too small either. But there was something amiss. Neither Mrs nor Mr Cavendish were idiots and only an idiot would leave the door to the house opened. In front of the house there was also parked a large van from a moving company.
'Easy idiot, they are simply moving out,' she chastised herself and was about to turn away but something stopped her dead in her tracks.
Surely someone meant to move away wasn't supposed to do it so hastily or to wear such heavy scarves around their faces on a warm day.
BURGLARS! Her conscience screamed.
But even if the Cavendishs were at the Ministry then surely at home with the kids was grandma Cavendish, the Muggle mother of Mr Cavendish. As a Muggle as she was she should be able to call the police… But they were nowhere to be seen.
Logic dictated, head home. But all her instincts rebelled against such a simple solution without checking on the kids.
Still cursing her conscience she waited for the two men to enter the moving truck with their hands occupied by a big TV and then she bolted into the house.
The Cavendishs house was similar in the layout to 6 Grimmauld Place. The first room in the hall was the kitchen, a very unlikely place to hide, behind it was the dinning-room. The door was open and she quickly ascertained that it was empty.
With her heart in her throat she made her way upstairs where the bedrooms were situated. She almost got a heart attack when she heard the men entering the house again just as she stepped on the first floor corridor.
Quickly she located Lucy's bedroom and peered inside. At first it seemed to be empty but then she spotted shoeless foot sticking from behind the desk. It was too big for Lily or Nigel… Mrs Cavendish!
She waited for a particularly loud enough noise downstairs before she pushed the door open and immediately left it ajar, transforming back into human form.
She glanced at Mrs Cavendish ashen face, she appeared to be barely gasping for breath. But when she saw Randa her thin lips formed in a smile as she whispered, "Prot…ect…"
With that her eyes closed and her chest stilled. Just in that moment she heard a softly whispered, "Grama…"
Without a thought to spare she had dove to the ground and looked under the bed.
Under the bed, huddled against one another were sitting Lily and Nigel. Quickly she took in their big, scared, blue eyes framed in angelic blonde curls. Immediately she brought a finger to her lips, wordlessly instructing them to remain silent.
They were between a hammer and a tight spot. For sure they couldn't remain here, not with the thieves downstairs, seeing that the men could be armed and dangerous. She needed a plan…
Her gaze fell on the window…
She could do it… She had enough of determination and was strong enough to do it, even if wandlessly.
"Get out from under the bed, quietly," she instructed younger kids briskly.
It took them a while to do it but soon enough Lucy and Max were standing by her side. Then, treading on her toes she approached the window and tried to open it. But it wouldn't budge, not even an inch and any attempts at opening it would alarm the men downstairs.
She cursed inwardly, with language which would earn her a hit with a rolled up newspaper if her Mum was around to hear it.
Just then she heard a slurry voice coming from downstairs, "Dispatch the trash…" She wasn't the daughter of an Auror for nothing to not realise the implications.
Then she stopped thinking and acted.
Just as the door opened she grabbed big vase standing on the table behind her and hit the man on the head. The man yelped, swayed on his feet and fell on the floor. Immediately she was on him, with a pillow in her hand and pressed it to the man's mouth. He tried to fight but it seemed that panic had increased her strength tenfold and soon enough the man stopped struggling.
As soon as she was done she grabbed the revolver the man was holding. Absent-mindedly she realised that the revolver had a silencer.
"After me," she barked to the kids. "Keep close and don't you dare peek from behind my back."
Both nodded quickly and followed her as she stepped on the corridor, then down the stairs. They were halfway through when through the door one of the men had entered.
He froze in midstep upon seeing Randa with the revolver in hand and so did she. She didn't think it over. She might have killed the man upstairs but she could as well have simply knock him out. But this man was different… She knew their intentions and she knew that they wouldn't rest until 'the trash was removed'… Behind her back were two innocent children, who most probably lost their only family, parents in the attack and grandmother most likely due to a heart-attack.
"Good girlie…" the man slurred. "Give it to me," he said as he stretched out his left hand to her while his right slowly started moving to his back. "Frank!"
"Is dead," she said icily. "I killed him," she added calmly. "And I will kill you too."
The man laughed and that was his mistake.
She was a witch, she used wands and the main part of casting spells was aiming them properly. The revolver was like a wand and the bullet hit with precision, right in the man's face, possibly through his palate and stopped in his skull.
The man swayed and hit the ground with a groan just in the moment the third entered the hall. The other too hadn't a chance to yelp or extract any other sound, the bullet landed in the man's chest within less than five seconds.
"Move!" she barked as she grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her and Nigel down the stairs. "Get outside and wait for me," she instructed as they reached the ground floor.
"I will find you… you sodding cunt," the last man coughed.
"I rather doubt so," Randa said icily. "I might be small but I can kill, I already did."
But deep inside she wasn't that much sure. Sure she killed in self defence a moment earlier, but this was harder. This was finishing off a seriously wounded man… who would have killed the three of them if he had the chance.
"Say goodnight," she barked. "Obliviate. Your companions were faulty. You never saw me or the other kids. You started arguing and you don't know who shot first."
With that she left, safely tucking the gun behind her belt.
Outside by the truck, griping each other hands were waiting for her were Lily and Nigel.
"All clear," she said calmly. "You will stay with me until your parents won't return home. Okay? My dad will find them."
Lily nodded quickly and so did Nigel, albeit more slowly.
"That was …" Lily whispered as she grabbed Randa's left hand. "Wow. You are cool."
"Thank you," Randa smiled at her as she grabbed Nigel's hand with her other hand.
But deep inside she hadn't feel all that great, she had taken a life… or maybe two. She was a murderer.
Tightening the grip on the hands of younger kids she started walking in the direction of 12 Grimmauld Place, silently blessing her longer jacket for being long enough to hide the revolver tucked behind the waist on her back.
R. L.
Remus Lupin was having the worst day of his life. First the news of the accident and not a word about the dead or injured and then that…
When he recovered enough to remember that he had duties towards his wards he went upstairs to Randa's room where he had found Alana and Minnie but hadn't found any trace of Randa.
He called Kreacher and asked the old elf about her but Kreacher hadn't seen her anywhere. He was about to dispatch Kreacher to look for her when the entrance door opened and pale Randa walked inside followed by the Cavendish kids.
Without bat of an eyelid she approached Kreacher and said, "Kreacher could you prepare a bath for Lily and Nigel, and some fresh clothes, please."
The elf nodded and took both kids upstairs. It was only then when Randa threw herself at Remus and buried her head in his chest.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Remus," she choked out. "I was… I… I killed."
Remus felt floored, literally. A statement like that he could expect from Sirius or Dora, even Mirzam but most certainly not from a nine year old Randa.
"Explain please," he asked gently.
And she did.
Finally over tea, dosed with a safe doze of calming draught he managed to convince her that killing in self defence, more so in defence of little children who wouldn't be able to defend themselves against three armed men otherwise didn't make her a murderess.
Naturally killing, even in self defence, shouldn't be something which people should do if there was a chance to save a life. But she had no other choice but to protect Lily, Nigel and herself. It was terrible that a choice like that had befallen on her, but she had done right by Lily and Nigel. That was all that mattered now. Lily and Nigel were safe, had lived, when without her assistance most likely they would be brutally killed by the burglars.
The calming draught was effective and soon enough she was sleeping softly in his lap.
R. B.
When she opened her eyes she had felt different. Older, taller, somehow a different from the girl she was supposed to be.
And she was. In front of her was tall mirror and she could see her reflection, or the reflection of the girl she was. Tallish, bold-looking, with large dark eyes, a prominent chin and long black hair. There were some similarities to the girl she thought she would be in few years but not a lot.
Just as she was contemplating her strange reflection by her side materialised a head of a boy. He was taller than her. His eyes were green, hair messy and just as black as hers. He looked at her in the mirror and smiled wickedly at her.
"I would have never expected it," he said finally, his voice sounded familiar even if she couldn't put a finger on it. "Anything else but not this."
"I had to protect them," Randa said defensively.
"Them?" the boy asked and suddenly the rest of his body materialised under his head.
"Lily and Nigel," Randa explained. "They would have killed us otherwise. I had to protect them…" she started sounding panicked.
"And who am I to judge you?" the boy asked. "I killed more without aiming at them. Worse I killed those who mattered to me… Do you know how it is to be responsible for the death of the only father you ever knew?"
"No…" Randa whispered. "But I would have … I would have broke down if Papa died. Or Mama. Or Reg. Or Uncle Moony."
"Ah, you made me remember why I tried to reach you," the boy smiled at her more gently. "How about a seat Ro… Randa?"
"Seat?" she turned with her back to the mirror.
And suddenly the seemingly empty room changed in looks to the familiar sight of Papa's study.
"Nice," the boy said as he sat down on the couch. "Very nice. You are different than I expected… But I'm sorry … I have a different memory of you."
"Memory of me?" Randa whispered as she sat down on the other end of the couch.
"Memory of the girl you would grow up into, in another life," the boy clarified.
"You can't have another life," Randa said sceptically.
"But I did," the boy said simply. "So did you. I was there and so were you. Under different faces… different names… Excuse me but can you tell me the names of your birth parents?"
"Anna Miranda and Harry James Spencer," Randa answered quickly, more than once she had seen their names in the photo album of her, more than once she sent a small prayer to Merlin to let her parents know that she was happy and safe.
"Harry James Spencer?" the boy asked curiously. "Curious. Harry James…"
"Why you find it curious?" Randa asked sceptically.
"Because the name under which I knew you was not Spencer," the boy said softly. "Plus, my name is Harry James. Harry James Potter."
"Harry Potter?" Randa mumbled. "But you are dead."
"No I'm not," the boy, Harry, protested. "I'm as dead as you are and you are not dead."
"Harry is dead," Randa stated firmly. "He died when he and Charlie were fifteen months old."
"Harry is as dead as you are," Harry said simply. "He lives but he lives under a different name and face."
"I don't believe it," Randa shook her head.
"Harry is like you. He lives but under different name and has a hell of a memory problem if you ask me."
"I don't," Randa shrugged.
"But I asked you to come here Ro…"
"Ro what?" she asked harshly.
"I'm sorry," Harry smiled sheepishly. "I know that your name is Miranda Mirzam but I constantly keep thinking of you under the name I knew."
"What name?" she asked sceptically.
"Romilda Vane. Here, in this place you are on my territory and you assume the form of the one you were in my other life. Romilda Vane."
"I don't like it," she shrugged. "The Vanes are the disgrace of a proper law abiding family. The word has it that Mrs Vane used a love potion on her husband to make him marry her."
"That explains a lot," Harry said quietly. "Romilda attempted to dose me with a love potion but missed."
"That certainly wouldn't be me," Randa protested. "If I ever get married I would marry the man who would love me for the person I am."
"Good thinking," Harry chuckled. "Pity that you didn't have it in another life."
"I was born as Spencer, Mira Spencer to be exact, you call me Romilda Vane and my name is Miranda Black. Then who the hell I am?"
"You are you," Harry said simply. "You are Miranda Mirzam Black, born as Mira Spencer… You were Romilda Vane in another life, you won't be Romilda Vane but you could have been Romilda Vane if … if your parents had made different choices."
"Like?" she asked curiously.
And so he told her. About himself. About Harry James Potter. About growing up with the worst family she could have imagined. About Hogwarts. About Voldemort. Chamber of Secrets. His godfather, who happened to have the same name as her Papa. About Triwizard Tournament. About Voldemort's return. About the death of his godfather. About the death of grandpa Albie. About a second war.
"I chose to come back… Chose to change what happened… I knew I could do it. But then something went wrong Miranda," Harry said finally. They were sitting closer than at the very beginning, their knees and arms were touching slightly as they were sitting with their faces turned to one another. "Something went wrong and I was there… In a crib… and Voldemort was laughing, laughing maniacally. I knew that I wasn't alone… Everything hurt and I was so scared. I remember seeing Sirius's face… and Mirzam's… I never knew her in my other life… I wonder what happened to her when Sirius was taken to Azkaban…"
"They talked about a potion… Blood Adoption Potion I think, or something very similar in effect… But everything hurt and was blurry and before I realised what happened I was here… In that room you found yourself in… I think that it's some part of my mind… But quickly everything turned black and before I knew it the infant had grown into a boy… I started seeing him in the mirror a few months ago… I see him but he doesn't see me… doesn't react… I tried everything to make him… make me remember but I failed…"
Randa ran her hand through her hair and looked Harry in the eyes.
"So you are saying that you are the soul of an older, different Harry who grew up in another world but very much the same," she said finally. "You were supposed to remember your past but Harry, Regulus has no memories of your previous life."
"Nil," Harry confirmed. "I wouldn't mind it if it wasn't for Voldemort. I woke up for some reason when Charlie touched me. I have his memories… they are still there for me but he sees none of mine."
"He does," Randa objected softly. "He had nightmares… and then he stopped. Something is blocking the magic connecting the flow of your memories."
"You think?" Harry asked hopefully.
"I know my Mama," Randa shrugged. "And I know my Papa. They are so much the same as you described them, at least Papa and yet they are different."
"So I have seen," Harry nodded. "I envy him, Regulus, you know. I never had a family in the Dursleys, not until the very end and even then it was just Dudley. When I was all but a kid I wanted to have a Mum and Dad, even some brothers and/or sisters. I'm glad that Reg has you for a sister. I got used to your presence."
"You want to join with him," Randa tapped her lips as she said it. "Merge your souls…"
"Soul," Harry corrected her. "I had enough time to ascertain that the soul is the same, the key lies in Reggie's amnesia, in the memories."
"Then it's easy," Randa shrugged. "If the key lies in the memories then in memories you should seek the solution. A memory that you have in common, try to bring it forth to his mind and perhaps then he would remember his previous life."
"You think?" Harry asked quietly.
"I know," she hit his arm. "I know Reg, so I know you."
"I know that you know Reg… but you aren't Romilda and while I'm Reg and have his memories you have no memories of Romilda, and thank Merlin for that. I don't want you to have her memories," Harry said. "You are pure… untainted by that life and I ask you to remain this dear girl for as long as possible Miranda," Harry said fiercely.
"I'm afraid that it's no longer possible, Harry," Randa sighed and she told him about today's events.
"You've done what you considered the best and safest for the three of you, Miranda," Harry said. "You were forced to make a decision which wasn't supposed to be yours. It wasn't easy… but by Lily and Nigel it was right… I'm afraid that they don't have any other family left though… From what you were saying the accident cost many lives, their parents might be amongst the dead."
"I'm afraid so too," Randa admitted. "But I don't want to be the one to tell them. It was bad enough to play ignorant in front of Alana and Minnie. I know more because … well I'm the daughter of Sirius Black, that counts for something… Papa never wanted us to be ignorant about the threats to our world."
"For that even I can ascertain," Harry nodded. "He wanted me to be prepared… he lost his life because I wasn't prepared. I don't want it to happen again. I have so many memories of him… Good memories because of Reg and … memories of the man who had been broken by Azkaban… I had been so relieved when I realised that he never has been to Azkaban other than for an inspection."
"I'm glad that it had missed him too," Randa said quietly. "He wouldn't be the same… It would have broke Mama…," she paused and touched Harry's hand as she added, "I think it had broken her in your world… They loved each other very, very much…"
"But I still cannot believe that you were Romilda Vane… My sister Romilda Vane."
"Shut it!" Randa smacked his arm in indignation. "Me? A Vane… what a vain."
"I prefer Miranda over Romilda. You are a way more pleasant person than your other self was," Harry smiled at her. "I'm glad that you are my sister."
"I'm glad that you are my brother, I always was," Randa smiled back. "I'm glad that you spoke to me about the deaths of those men. I can live with keeping others and myself alive." She paused and looked at him as she asked, "Will I see you again?"
"Of course you will," Harry smiled at her. "I'm always here," he reached his hand and touched her forehead. "I will be always with you when you need me the most and when Reg starts to remember we would be able to talk in the normal way."
"I hope that he does, soon," Randa sighed. "But you will stay Reg… Not that I don't like Harry."
"Harry would complicate things more than they already are, Miranda," Harry sighed. "Here in your mind I will be Harry… but once Reggie remembers I will be Reggie and I will answer to Reggie. But can you answer me why you are called Randa?"
"Because Papa calls Mama Mimi. Besides I like Randa more than Mira. As you said I was born as Mira Spencer, I hadn't grown up as her, nor as Romilda Vane."
Harry smiled cheekily and said seriously, "My sister Romilda Vane."
"Keep it up and you would wish that Voldemort got you first," Randa said cheekily.
"Been there, tried before, always escaped," Harry shrugged. "Voldemort doesn't know what would hit him once the memories will come back."
Awaiting criticism - like always. I'm replying as long as you leave me your email or you log in while reviewing.
Surprised, aren't you? There might be another chapter before or around Christmas and I solemnly swear that I will answer to all reviews in the meantime. Last month had been quite stressful to me and I hadn't time to write as fast as I was used to.