Hamish McGillivray: "Blood Purity – The Delusion of A Family" – Excerpt 2: Wizarding Marriage
Wizarding marriage laws have changed greatly since 1900. Various security spells, introduced mainly in the second half of the 20th century, ensure that married couples these days cannot aim destructive magic at each other without their wands showing a similar reaction as twin wands do during Priori Incantatem. In addition, the traditional requirement of the bride and the groom's parents making an Unbreakable Vow to secure their children's future well-being has been on the decline from the 1950s onward. It was found that the wording of the vow could not be formulated unambiguously and that, according to Murphy's Magical Law, the vow "interpreted" people's words randomly to everyone's disadvantage. Incidentally, many scholars have pledged to outlaw this incantation entirely, but the process of making the "Unbreakable" Vow "Unforgivable", too, has never quite caught the attention of the wizarding world's political leaders, owing to the non-transparency of our Ministry's bureaucratic system, the details of which I shall discuss in a later part of this book.
In the Air
It looked as though a storm was about to come up. Ever bigger clouds were darkening the otherwise miserably white sky, and the air was dotted with tiny wet drops, not enough to constitute actual rain, but more than simple fog and definitely more than what was comfortable when you were sitting on a broomstick with a twenty-hour flight through the cold darkness in front of you.
"This is batshit insane!" screamed the high-pitched voice of Livius Toke through the upcoming sound of the approaching gale. "Have you any idea how cold I am?"
"He hasn't been outside for weeks!" Morgana shouted with excited laughter. She was visibly happy to be outside on a broomstick, whatever the weather conditions. "How was he supposed to know?"
Severus, still immersed in a lingering sensation of tension and queasiness said nothing at first, and then, when the manor was but a small speck of grey on a quickly darkening horizon, managed a retort: "I am told the climate gets warmer as you approach the equator."
"Not up here," Toke snapped. His words were lost in the wind and the rain, but because he was fairly close now, Severus managed to read the nurse's quivering lips and even caught a glimpse of a picture behind Toke's blue eyes, of a very lonely nurse on a very lonely broom, having been turned into a flying icicle. The boy seemed tempted to turn around and fly back home any moment, as, indeed, did Morgana, despite her excitement.
"I'm warming up to the idea of warming up again," she stated when they had been flying for several more minutes. "Like, in my own bed, with a cup of tea in my hands. Severus, I think I changed my mind. This is madness! I mean, I like flying, as opposed to you two, I am good at flying, as opposed to you two, but I'm not looking forward to taking this journey. Let's go by train!"
"Forget it!" snapped Severus indignantly, refusing to lower his speed as the other two had. "I refuse to accept your mutiny! Both of you promised to accompany me on this trip! And you," he glared back at Toke, "are my nurse. It is your duty to make sure that I cannot come to any harm."
His words had the opposite of the intended effect. Toke came to a soundlessly screeching halt in mid-air. Reluctantly, Morgana did the same.
"Are you thinking what I think?"
"I think you are bloody right!" shouted Toke angrily, his voice getting even higher with agitation. "I just realised what I am doing here, accompanying my patient on a potentially life-threatening trip away from the stabilising force of the time-turner. Wizarding nurses have to take the Hippocratic Oath, you know! I can't possibly follow through with this!"
"I shall go," stated Severus from a few feet away, having finally turned around his broom. He hovered closer, his expression stale and cold as the ice-layer on Morgana's glasses. "I shall continue this journey whatever you say and whatever the cost – if only to get away from here…"
And there it was, the truth, sneakily wrapped into a hasty side-remark. He was really losing his touch. Under the Dark Lord, this kind of slip could have resulted in a rather unpleasant and painful kind of death. Then again, he thought, he had been through this and there were worse things than snake bites.
"What do you mean to get away?" asked Morgana now. "No place is as safe as McGillivray Manor."
"Until a Malfoy finds a way to sneak in," Severus retorted sharply, struggling to keep his broom steady in the increasing rain. "He has thwarted your oh-so-unbreakable security system by getting into your grandmother's good graces – as, I believe, is the preferred tactic of my new set of mortal enemies. I found out what is happening and I refuse to be part of it!"
"What are you talking about?" asked Toke, very alert. The rain was lashing against his round, white face and he looked younger again than he actually was, much like he had in Hogwarts's steam-filled Potions classroom. Morgana, too, was flying closer now, to hear.
"Lady McGillivray and her guest are having a battle of minds," Severus snarled. "Both are bluffing, both have not much to lose, except for me. I am the prize in a fight in which I am not allowed to participate."
"Rubbish," called Morgana, steadying herself against a gust of wind. "Lucius Malfoy isn't even on grandma's radar! She might decide to give him the feeling that they are having a battle of minds or whatever, but I'm telling you, she never listens to youngsters! Ever!"
"There is a first time for everything," Toke threw in, shoving a wet strand of blond hair out of his face with difficulty. "Times are changing, Morgana."
"Not enough, though!" called Severus impatiently, and then, to Morgana, "Your grandmother won't take Lucius seriously until he starts murdering people again, and Lucius has found a dangerous ally among those who have no problem with shedding precious wizarding blood! Have you not seen him knitting his social net recently?"
Morgana frowned. "No!" she called. "I don't take an interest in politics, you know that!"
"Well, maybe it's about time you started!" Severus called back, relieved to get this off his chest. "Since it is on your doorstep! She is on your doorstep, that is, with one foot inside already!"
Morgana clasped the handle of her broomstick a bit tighter and Toke blanched, although it was impossible to tell if this was just a trick of the last white light vanishing behind the storm clouds. Severus nodded slowly. At least both of them seemed aware of whom they were up against.
"Lady Warrington-Selwyn," he shouted (unnecessarily, for both Morgana and Toke had come so close that they could hear each other well now, despite the wind and the rain), "is Lucius's new superior, so to speak. Their views are similar, with the small difference that he lacks social influence and the lady lacks a sufficient number of followers to act on her beliefs. Sounds familiar? Thought so! And your grandmother is fuelling the fire by entrusting Lucius with information he really should not have."
"Such as?" This was Morgana.
"The knowledge that I live!" shouted Severus, not entirely clear why this upset him so much. He had always been a pawn in mightier people's games. This was not, strictly speaking, a new situation. "She is using me as bait!"
"What for?" This was Toke.
"I have no idea! Is this relevant?"
"Grandma wouldn't use you as bait for no reason," said Morgana firmly, "Knowing her reasons is going to tell us what we need to know to protect you!" And then, out of the blue, she turned around. "I'll go back and talk to her."
"Don't!" called Severus quickly. "It is pointless! Your grandmother made it abundantly clear which path she will take, even if it is not entirely clear to me what she intends to achieve by it!"
"I'll talk to her," said Morgana stubbornly. "It's grandma. She doesn't want to see you harmed, I'm sure of it!"
It was useless. When she was in this mood, Morgana would follow through, no matter the inadequacy of her plans. She would not listen to reason, Severus knew this much by now.
"Please yourself," he therefore said, turning South once more. "But don't think for a moment that I'll join you. I intend to be out of this country before the two of them can finish their little tête-à-tête."
He was full of tension, panic even. This was not normal. Something in the back of his mind told him to turn around and just do as Morgana and Toke suggested, but when had he ever gained anything from following people's advice? Had becoming a Death Eater been particularly advantageous? Had Dumbledore survived his own schemes?
"Fine," snapped Morgana. "Run away, like the Slytherin you are! I'll let you know when I find out how grandma is planning to protect you better than you ever will!"
They nodded at each other, curtly, and Morgana returned in the direction from which they had come. Severus watched her with a pang of regret. The journey was going to be difficult enough as it was. With Toke and him alone, it would be a nightmare.
"So fierce," marvelled Toke, looking like a love-sick teenager (which he essentially was, as Severus had to remind himself), confirming his former Head of House's worst nightmares about what lay ahead. "So determined."
"Impolite is the word you are looking for," said Severus sternly. "Now, shut up and follow me. While I doubt that Minerva's mother is going to allow her meeting to be interrupted, my past experience with Morgana tells me that she all too often gets her will quicker than one would expect."