Fourteen

James leaned forward, staring fixedly at the plump little man across from him. "Can you do it?"

Cornelius Fudge was used to bribery. Hell, it was practically a rule to be dishonest if you were a politician. That being said, there were those you expected to come to you and attempt a bribe to get what they wanted, and there were those who were honest and attempted to get things done legally. They were the ones that Fudge liked to call, "Stupid Idiots,' and the man sitting across from him fit perfectly into that group, until now.

Cornelius stared at James Potter thoughtfully. Yes, he could do what Potter wanted, and it might be handy to have the support of one of the so-called light families someday, but he would have to handle this carefully. He mustn't seem too eager. That wouldn't do at all. "I don't know, James," he said slowly. "You are aware that your wife could be arrested for even speaking to one of the Fae? It is against our laws for a reason, you know."

James winced. He'd known that this might come up. Lily couldn't go to jail. Brian needed a Mother. "Yes, but she didn't know that the woman was a Fae. She merely thought she was speaking to a powerful and extremely gifted witch."

"That is true," Fudge said. "Also, if I remember correctly, the Fae came to her in a dream, if what Dumbledore told me was correct. It is highly possible that she thought it was a dream, and that is why I am not charging her with a crime' However, this, Vivienne will need to be charged with kidnapping, and for speaking to a magical citizen of Great Britain. We cannot let one of 'them,' break one of our laws."

James smiled coldly. This was more than he could have hoped for. If they could pull this off, then Vivienne would be out of their way for good. He was so glad that he'd come to Fudge instead of going to Madam Bones, head of the department of Magical law Enforcement. Fudge knew how to get things done. "I was hoping you would say that."

HPC

Puck groaned. He slowly opened his eye. The dim light of the room nearly blinded him. He blinked. Something was different, or not different. He blinked again. Slowly, he raised his hand and touched the left side of his face. He felt his eyes, yes his eyes widen. It was back. His left eye had been restored as if it had never been gone. How did this happen? An image of the dark figure caused him to sit bolt upright in bed. He stared wildly around the room. Where was it? Had he dreamed that thing? 'No,' he thought. 'I am sane and mostly rational. It was no dream. That thing was here.' Looking down at the floor, Puck saw a blackened scorch mark in the carpet. It had been here, on Avalon, which should have been impossible. No dark creature could step foot on this land.

Puck leapt out of bed. With a thought, a pair of faded blue jeans, and a T-shirt appeared on the bed. He quickly got dressed and headed for the door. He had to get back to Harry and Vivienne. They needed to know what had happened.

HPC

A tall figure stood in the corner of the room. That had been close. If she hadn't had a feeling, Puck would have been taken to Voldemort.

Leaning back against the wall, she sighed in relief. What had that thing been anyway? Avalon needed to be protected. Vivienne was away tending to Harry. She had stopped this kidnapping, but that didn't change the fact that something had entered Avalon, something pure evil. That was supposed to be impossible. What was she going to do about it? Was it time to reveal herself at last?

'No,' she decided. It wasn't time for that yet, but she would watch over Avalon until Vivienne returned. She could do that much.

HPC

Voldemort was in a towering rage. "What do you mean it failed?"

Wormtail cringed. "Master," he whimpered. "I do not know why it failed. Something killed it."

"Killed it," Voldemort shrieked. "Do you hear yourself? It was one of the dementor lords, the oldest and most powerful of those beasts. Have you forgotten that nothing can kill dementors, especially not the elders?"

Wormtail shrank lower under his master's tirade. "Master, I only know what I have seen. The only thing left of the creature was its head. It appeared in the front room only a few moments ago.

Pain exploded through Wormtails body. He fell to the floor, twitching and jerking spasmodically. After a few seconds, Voldemort lifted his hand. Wormtail laid there, bloody foam dripping from his mouth. He felt as if every muscle and bone had been scraped raw with a dull knife.

Voldemort sat in his chair, panting from the effort of casting the curse. It was looking he'd placed a spell upon the dementor that would return it here in the event of its failure. He'd never thought the spell would be returning a corpse to him, however. "Bring me the head, now," Voldemort hissed.

Wormtail scrambled to his feet, and stumbled from the room. A few seconds later, he was back, carrying a severed head in his arms. He placed the head before his master, and waited breathlessly to see what Voldemort would do.

Voldemort leaned over the head, and examined it carefully. The skin was dry almost to the point of desiccation. It was drawn so tightly against the bones it had begun splitting, revealing a dirty yellow skull. "It is like the life was sucked right out of it," he muttered. His eyes stopped moving when he looked at the dementor lord's eyes.

Most dementors didn't have eyes, merely blank sockets covered with skin, but dementor lords were different. As the oldest and strongest of their kind, they had grown eyes at some point. A cold chill went down Voldemort's spine as he looked at the eyes, or rather eye.

The right eye was there, a cold black marble staring up at him; however, the left eye was gone.

The black eye was still there, but it was shriveled. It appeared to have shrunk from the size of a large marble to the size of a raison. Tentatively, Voldemort poked the damaged eye. At his touch, the eye crumbled into dust.

"What could've done that," Wormtail said staring fixedly at the head.

"I do not know," Voldemort whispered, "but I want it captured. If it can do that to one of the oldest dementors, think of what it can do to wizards. I want that power for myself."

Wormtail said nothing, merely listened to his master speak. What if this thing killed his master? What would he do then? 'No,' he thought. 'I mustn't think like that. My master is the greatest wizard alive. He can capture whatever this thing is.

Voldemort watched his servant closely. "Listen to me, Wormtail," he said softly. "It has become clear to me that we cannot hope to capture one of the Fae for long." He drew a silver knife about a foot long from behind his back, "so this is what we shall do."

HPC

James Potter strode down the halls of Hogwarts, feeling more confident than he had in weeks. Following him was Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of magic, and Albus Dumbledore, chief of the wizarding courts and headmaster of Hogwarts. Stopping outside the hospital wing, he kicked open the door and walked in. The first thing he saw was Lily and Vivienne sitting beside Harry's bed. There was no sign of the giant. James breathed a sigh of relief. That would make things a lot easier.

"Vivienne," he called in his most authoritative voice. "I am here to press charges of kidnapping against you."

Vivienne turned to James, raising one eyebrow. "On what grounds to you base these charges?"

Albus Dumbledore stepped forward. "You are under arrest for the kidnapping of Harry James Potter on the 31st of July, 1985."

Vivienne blinked. She hadn't expected Dumbledore to try this so soon. She threw a look over her shoulder at Harry's sleeping form. 'Damn,' she thought. 'Puck and I had planned for this, but I didn't think Dumbledore would try this so soon. What am I going to do now?"

As if in answer to her thoughts, there was a rustle of air, and Puck appeared standing right beside her. Luckily for Vivienne, he'd appeared in the form of a nineteenth century British gentleman, complete with silk top hat and oak walking stick. He took one look at Dumbledore and James, and turned to Vivienne.

He bowed slightly. "Jacob Redcap at your service, madam," he said affecting an upper class accent. "You did summon me, correct?"

Vivienne blinked, and stifled a laugh. She wondered vaguely how Puck had gotten here, but pushed that aside for later. "Yes," she said slowly. "I require those documents that you drafted about fifteen years ago."

"At once, Madam," Puck saluted smartly and clicked his fingers. A stack of parchment appeared in his hands, which he passed to Vivienne. Vivienne glanced quickly through the sheets of parchment. Nodding, she handed the stack to Dumbledore.

"What is this?" Dumbledore asked his stomach sinking.

"Those," Vivienne began, "Are documents stating that if Lily was ever under any type of potions or enchantment, I was to take Harry to a safe place, immediately."

"WHAT," James shouted. "How dare you. Lily has never been under the effects of any mind altering potions or enchantments."

Vivienne's smile was raiser thin. "I never said that the potions and or enchantments were mind altering, Mr. Potter."

James's mouth snapped shut. Dumbledore cleared his throat. The twinkle in his eyes had dimmed, but was not gone.

"You did of course file these documents with Gringots? If you didn't, I'm afraid that these," he gestured to the sheets of parchment he held, "are not worth the parchment they are printed on."

Vivienne looked at Puck/Jacob, expectantly. "We did file them with Gringots, Jacob?"

"Of course madam," Puck replied. "They were filed on November 1st, 1980."

Cornelius Fudge spoke up for the first time. "We only have your word that Mrs. Potter was under any sort of potion or enchantment. Also, why did you not file these documents with the ministry?" He smiled charmingly at Vivienne. "Besides," he said silkily. "How do we know you didn't potion her yourself?"

"First, I did not file these documents with the ministry because I didn't want them to get 'misplaced.' Secondly, I have only had contact with Lily three times before this year. Once, when I came to her and told her that I could help her have a child. Again, when she made me Harry's godmother, and lastly, when I came to take Harry.'

"You could have done something to her any of those times," Fudge blustered. "Besides, your appointment as Harry's godmother is illegal. The ministry doesn't recognize it. You are Fae; therefore, you hold no rights in the wizarding world."

Vivienne felt her stomach drop. They were right. She only had one more card to play. "My appointment was accepted by magic. I trust that is good enough for your ministry?"

Fudge scowled. The creature was right, but he wasn't going to give up that easily. "We haven't heard Lily's side of the story. I want to know if she signed those documents that Dumbledore is holding."

"I did," Lily spoke up for the first time. "You must remember, minister. Voldemort was alive during that time. I wanted to insure that Harry would be protected should Voldemort attempt to control me."

"What about Brian?" Dumbledore asked. "Didn't you want him protected as well?"

"Of course," Lily said, "I suggested the same agreement to James for Brian, but he didn't think it was necessary."

Dumbledore looked at James. "Is this true?"

James stared back helplessly. "Albus, I honestly can't remember if she mentioned anything like this or not. I can tell you that I would've probably seen it as unnecessary. After all, we all can fight off the imperius curse. What other mind control spell could there be?"

Dumbledore frowned. This complicated things. He did not think that Lily had been aware of the documents, but as long as she was vouching for Vivienne, there was nothing he could do about it. However, he still had two more cards to play.

"You still haven't produced proof that Lily was under any sort of enchantment."

"Ahem! I believe that I can help with that."

They all turned to see Madam Pomfrey coming out of her office. She walked straight up to Dumbledore, and thrust a piece of parchment at him.

"They are faint," she began, "but there is still residue of mind altering magic on Lily. I did not see any potions, but it is possible that the potions were flushed out of her system by now."

As he stared at the parchment, fear began to fill him. There it was undisputable evidence of magical enchantments. The only good thing was that the signatures were so faint that it would be impossible to determine who cast the spells. "Very well," Dumbledore said slowly. "Your contract prevents us from pressing charges, but we can file to have custody of Harry returned to the Potters."

"I would be happy to return custody of Harry to Lily, but not James."

"This isn't up for negotiation," Dumbledore said sternly. He turned to James. "I assume you will be filing for custody?"

"Of course Albus."

"I would be happy to represent you in this matter. I'm sure that Cornelius would be willing to judge this hearing in my place."

"Of course, Dumbledore, of course," Fudge simpered.

Dumbledore turned and bowed to Vivienne. "I shall see you in court, my lady."

Dumbledore beckoned to James and the minister, and they walked out of the room. At the door, James turned to look back at Lily.

"Are you coming Lily?"

Lily shook her head. "I am staying with Harry until he wakes."

"Brian misses you," James said scowling.

"Tell Brian I will see him later."

James nodded stiffly and followed the others out of the room.

HPC

As she watched the three men leave the room, Vivienne sighed in relief. "That was close," she whispered.

"I assume that you didn't know that was coming?" Lily asked.

"No, I thought he may try something, but I wasn't expecting that."

"How long have you had those documents drawn up?"

"We drew them up in case Dumbledore tried to charge Vivienne with kidnapping, but they were not submitted to Gringots until September first of this year. Luckily for us, the goblins helped us backdate them."

Vivienne turned to Puck. "We'll need to plan our court case, but we really don't have a leg to stand on, not without making both James and Lily look neglectful."

Lily looked thoughtful. "I'll see if I can't narrow down some of the potions that may or may not have been in my system. The Unspeakables had access to magic that not even Dumbledore was aware of."

"Good," Vivienne said. "It is a good thing that you were able to cast a notice me not charm on your changes, but that won't hold forever. I need to begin teaching you glamour. It will be a lot more effective than a spell that can be negated." Vivienne turned to Puck. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be resting?"

Puck looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "I'm fixed, haven't you noticed?"

Vivienne studied him intently. Her eyes widened when she saw his left eye. "How?" she asked finally. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you, but I thought no spell could fix your eye?"

"So did I, but apparently, I was wrong. This dark thing tried to kidnap me. I passed out and when I woke up, I had two eyes again."

"Whoa! Wait a minute! Slow down," Vivienne exclaimed. "Start from the beginning and tell me what happened."

Puck took a deep breath. "I woke up a little while ago. I had this feeling that I wasn't alone. I can't explain it any better than that. I looked around as well as I could, but I couldn't see anything, then I noticed this dark thing walking towards me. It looked humanoid, or at least as if it had two arms, two legs, and a head, but it looked like it was made of darkness."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"I could see the parts of the thing outlined in darkness, but I couldn't see anything else."

"What happened?" Vivienne asked.

"I saw a hand. It didn't look rotten or anything. It just looked like an ordinary man's hand. It touched me, and the socket where my left eye was hurt. I passed out, and when I woke up, I had two eyes again."

Vivienne scratched her chin. "We'll need to think about this. It sounds like some sort of dark creature tried to kidnap you from Avalon. That should be impossible. I need to get back there, but I want to be here for Harry when he wakes up."

"Go," Puck said. "I'll stay here with Lily and help explain things to Harry when he awakes."

"Are you sure? What if you are discovered?"

"Don't worry I'm used to hiding in plain sight. Go check on things at home."

Hesitating for a moment, Vivienne leaned over and kissed Puck on the forehead, causing him to blush. "Thank you," she said softly. She kissed Harry as well, gave Lily a quick hug, and headed for the door. Before leaving, she looked back at Puck. "You are sure you can handle things?"

"Go!" Puck waved a hand at her. "We'll be fine."

With one last look, Vivienne turned and left the room. "Now, we wait," Puck muttered. He pulled out a pack of playing cards. Turning to Lily, he held up the cards. "Strip poker?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "You do realize my son is lying right in front of us, right?"

"I'm not his Dad."

"And I am not taking off my clothes for someone I barely know."

"Damn," Puck grumbled putting the playing cards away.

Lily patted his shoulder. "Ask Vivienne to play with you, I'm sure she wouldn't object."

"OO, I like that idea, but no. She'd probably freeze it solid and then snap it off."

"I meant play cards."

"Oh."

HPC

Brian was restless. His Mother hadn't been to see him in days. What was the big deal about his brother anyway? Plenty of students ended up in the hospital wing. His Mum didn't have to stay with his stupid brother, constantly. 'Why did the stupid Fae have to bring him back to Hogwarts, anyway? Maybe it's time to talk to Dad about the potions again. After all, Harry had Vivienne. He doesn't need my Mother too.'

Allowing his mind to drift, Brian's eyes settled on Ginny bent over a table. He smiled as her red hair caught the firelight. She may be a dark witch, but she was cute. Maybe it was time he gave her some of his attentions. She should be grateful. He was the Boy-Who-Lived, after all. Standing up, he made his way over to Ginny.

"Hi Ginny," he said rubbing her shoulder. "Do you mind if I interrupt your work?"

Ginny looked up, scowling. "Yes, I do mind, now go away."

"Don't be like that," Brian said. "Look, I'm sorry that I said all those things, but people change, you know."

"In two months?" Ginny asked skeptically.

Brian scowled. This conversation wasn't going at all like he planned. "Look Ginny, he began. "I know you like me and I was thinking that maybe we could go to Hogsmeade together, what do you think?"

Ginny turned back to her work. "No," she said shortly.

Brian glared at the back of her head. "Why not?"

"Because you are a jerk, a bully, and a braggart. Are those good enough reasons?"

"Why you," Brian went for his wand, but Ginny was faster.

"STUPEFY!" she shouted.

Brian was struck square in the chest by the bolt of red light. He flew backwards, and crashed into the wall behind him. Ginny looked around at the silent common room for a few moments, before putting her wand away and turning back to her essay. She wanted to get this done, so she could go visit Harry.

HPC

Harry groaned. He felt like he'd been kicked down a flight of stairs. Every bone hurt. Where was he anyway?

"Harry? Are you awake?"

Was that his Mum? What was she doing here?

"Come on, Harry, wake up."

Puck? Was that Puck? Wasn't he on Avalon? Slowly, Harry opened his eyes and looked around.

The first thing he saw was his Mother sitting beside the bed. "Hey sweetie," she said smiling. "It's good to have you awake."

Harry took in her blood red hair and golden green eyes. "What happened to you and how long have I been here?" Harry croaked. "Where's Vivienne?"

"Why I look this way is a long story. As for Vivienne, she had to return to Avalon," Lily said leaning forward. "You've been here for about a week."

"What'd I miss?" Harry sat up in his bed. "Did anything exciting happen while I was out?"

Ginny, who'd been sitting a little farther away, stood up and pushed Harry back on the bed gently. She looked at Lily and Puck. Harry felt his stomach clench. "What?" "Did something bad happen?"

"We have a lot to catch you up on," Ginny said handing him a glass of water.

"Let us finish before you interrupt, alright?" Lily said gently. At Harry's nod, she began to explain what had happened while Harry was unconscious.

HPC

"So James is suing Vivienne for custody of me, Puck was going to be kidnapped, but escaped and somehow got his eye back, and I'm a half-elf now, is that about right?"

"Yes, that pretty much sums everything up."

Harry lay back on his bed. "So Mum, how do you like being an elf?"

HPC

The Erlking crept closer to the abandoned mansion. Here it was the place Puck had been attacked. He could sense the dark magic resonating from the building before him.

He'd never seen this Voldemort before. He'd been in Elphame when the sorcerer had been in power last time. Normally, he'd have kicked in the door and gone in ready to tear the evil creature to shreds, but this Voldemort knew sorcery, and that was worth being cautious. So how should he handle this? Should he contact Arrgante? No one knew he was here, and it was highly possible she would order him to leave this place, but they needed information. If he left, it was highly possible that Voldemort would move somewhere else, and they would have to search for his new hide-out.

He had to act now. They needed to know why Voldemort was so interested in the Fae. There was a rustling sound behind him.

The Erlking froze, listening intently. The rustling sound grew closer. He could hear short panting breaths behind him. Swiftly, the Erlking spun around.

The silver blade plunged deep into his stomach, causing him to grunt and double over in pain. He looked up at the short man with watery eyes that stood before him, grinning maniacally.

"Hello, giant," Wormtail said cheerfully. "My master thought you might show up. I am sorry about stabbing you, but Fae have such an annoying tendency to leave before we can question them."

The Erlking slowly lowered himself to the ground to keep from falling on the knife. "What do you want?" he croaked.

"Blood," Wormtail said simply. "My master has decided that Fae are too much trouble to capture. The secret of your immortality is in your blood. If my master adds your blood to the ritual he is creating, then he will grow even stronger."

The Erlking watched helplessly as the man stepped closer. The man took a small jar from his pocket and held it close to the wound on the Erlking's stomach. Blood dripped steadily into the jar.

When the jar was half full, Wormtail stood up. Screwing the lid back on the jar, Wormtail put the jar away and drew his wand. "I always wondered what this spell would do to one of the Fae. At full strength, you might be able to block it, but you aren't at full strength are you?"

Wormtail stepped back, and pointed his wand at the Erlking's heart. "Avada Kedavra."