Harry Potter and the Peverell Legacy
Book Two of the Heritage Series
Chapter Twenty-Six
A Rat in The Heart of the Ministry
The Ministry of Magic to Sirius was like an adult version of Hogwarts, where the popular kids and the bullies ruled over those they thought were weaker and played many different games in order to achieve the status that they wanted.
As a child he had always thought the Ministry a boring and irritating place, now he found it tiresome and infuriating, whenever he arrived he was ambushed by the general public and the press for statements and petitions or otherwise harassed. So as a precaution he always tried to arrive unexpectedly or with a large group to avoid such a welcome.
Today was like no other day and he had expected to reach the golden lifts before anyone really took any notice of him, but today the moment he stepped out of one of the fireplaces he was surrounded by members of the British Press and to his shock some of the Continental Press.
"Lord Black will you care to comment on the news of the day?"
"Headmaster! What do you plan to do to Hogwarts School?"
"Do you think that the Exchange should continue with the rise of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
"Lord Black what is your comment on the giant attack at Durmstrang?"
Sirius drew himself up and held up his chin and walked through the crowds which parted for him immediately when they saw him glare and he chose not to answer a single question, he didn't have time for this and it made him feel uneasy as he was surrounded by people.
He had purposely only told Minerva that he would be going to the Ministry that morning and he knew that she would not have told anyone, and that left the Ministry, they knew that he would be arriving that day at some point which indicated to Sirius that someone had leaked information.
The news of his arrival in the Ministry offices spread quicker than he could move, no matter what floor he was on or which office, people were standing and waiting to see him and would watch and whisper as he walked by.
Eventually he arrived at the small office of the Department of Magical Education and was made to wait by the assistant without any offer of refreshment or apology. Choosing to ignore the rude assistant who probably was not accustomed to having people of his status waiting he sat down patiently and waited.
After an hour of waiting in the offices of Madam Vastra, an irritating notion pestered Sirius, he began to suspect that someone was playing a political game and he would not play to their rules so he decided that enough was enough and approached her assistant.
"Please inform Madam Vastra that I did come to speak with her but I am a very busy man and I must return to Hogwarts as there are other affairs that need my attention rather than being made to sit here and twiddle my thumbs." he had said in an annoyed voice. "I did send a notice to this office that I would be arriving today."
"Would you care to make another appointment?" the assistant asked hesitantly, she was intimidated by his stern glare which made Sirius feel a little guilty as it probably wasn't her fault.
"No. Please inform Madam Vastra that she will now need to contact me and I will choose a time that is convenient for me for her to come to Hogwarts and speak to me in person." He told her "And you should also warn her that my time is not a commodity to be used at her whim, snubbing me again will mean the end of her career."
"Oh – yes of course Lord Black" the assistant stuttered quickly and bowed slightly and then looked passed him and looked terribly relieved. "I – Here is Madam Vastra now!"
Sirius turned and saw that Vastra was indeed walking into the office and when she saw him she looked surprised.
"Lord Black?" she said shocked "I had not thought to see you today, I received a memo that said you cancelled the appointment and you would no longer be going ahead with your proposed changes to Hogwarts."
Sirius narrowed his eyes shrewdly, this was the confirmation he needed, someone was trying to stop him changing the school "I sent no such message to the Ministry, if I had it would have been sent by me to you directly I would not have my letters or notes sent via a memo. I have been waiting here for an hour."
"You have my most sincere apologies" She said looking very confused and a little flustered and turned to her assistant "Jasmine who sent that memo?"
"I don't know Naomi, it arrived this morning and was in my in-tray, it was one of the generic Ministry office memos." She said dutifully and pulled out a light blue sheet of paper with a Ministry seal on the top corner.
"Lord Black this must have been a clerical error from another department" Vastra apologised again with a bow "Please be assured that this will be investigated fully."
"I am sure it will." Sirius said and he pulled out his watch and checked the time, he could spare a little longer. "You have time to speak with me now?" he asked not that he was going to give her much choice.
She nodded diligently and indicated to her office but she turned to her assistant "Cancel my next meeting."
The meeting took no more than forty minutes, Madam Vastra signed the documents to give the changes to Hogwarts tuition and policies the Ministry's Official Seal. The entire meeting was something of a formality as Hogwarts was independent but it was better to try and keep the Ministry on side and it helped to get the Departments backing as they could cause them trouble like they did the year before at Fudges urging and bullying.
Madam Vastra was a half-blood witch in her mid-forties and Sirius found that she seemed to greatly admire the work he was doing at Hogwarts and fully endorsed the need to change the British Magical Educational system, but she had let slip that it was the Ministers Office that was pressuring her to hold up any changes and try to reject them.
Once the meeting was over Sirius headed directly to Level One, which housed the Ministers office and his support staff, Vastra's slip of the tongue was enough to tell Sirius that he needed to intercede with whatever the Minister was doing.
When he got onto the lift he had been alone and he slipped into the full Lord Black persona that so intimidated people for centuries and just to increase the level of intimidation and awe he allowed a touch of magical aura to escape his control and radiate out from him, it was a mix of his own magic and the Black Family magic and when the lift opened onto a floor where people were waiting they gasped and stepped backwards in fright and no one would join him.
It had amused him to watch people under his mask, it was a skill and one he used to great affect but knew that if he saw certain Ministry Employees that knew him that the spell he held over people would break, even on the Level One where the level of security was high the stationed security and aurors all seemed to hesitate and try to disappear as he walked purposefully toward the Ministers Office.
His own Hit-Wizard training and knowledge of the inner workings of the Ministry made him question why the floor was so quiet, normally this floor was bustling with assistants and secretaries and even visiting ambassadors and dignitaries, even the Ministers receptionist was not sitting at her desk instead there was a man behind it looking at whatever was on it but Sirius couldn't see his face and he was bent down looking like he was reading.
"Excuse me" Sirius said politely and watched as the man stiffened and his head darted up very quickly and looked at Sirius with what only could be described as dread. "Do you work in this office?"
"N…n….no sorry." He squeaked stepped backwards away from the desk and looking towards the nearest exit "I was looking for…. the receptionist…..We….erm…..we had lunch plans."
Sirius wrinkled his nose at the weak man in front of him, he wasn't even trying to intimidate him and had rained his magical projection when he realised no one was on the floor. But this man was sweating profusely and looked like he was about to wet himself in fear and he suddenly scurried away without another word leaving Sirius standing looking at the desks for the undersecretaries and assistants all of which were empty apart from one that was piled high with parchment and he had not noticed the man sitting behind it.
As he approached he saw the red hair and realised just who was still in the office, Percy Weasley, the wayward Weasley sibling who had fallen out with his parents and was something of an oddity as the Order and Weasley's didn't trust him but didn't want to alienate him.
"Mr Weasley" Sirius called "I was looking for the Minister of Magic, where is he?"
Percy who had been sitting with his head down scribbling furiously looked up surprised at being addressed and when he saw who was speaking to him his mouth fell open in shock but he recovered quickly and stood up and bowed his head respectfully.
"Lord Black" he said "The Minister was called away on urgent business and had to take most of the staff with him, I have been left to hold the fort."
"I see, and when do you expect the Minister to return?" Sirius questioned and watched as Percy became very uncomfortable under his gaze and he took a moment to answer him.
"I don't, - that is to say – the Minister did not inform me of when he would return to his office." Percy said and he flushed slightly.
It was obvious that Percy was lying or hiding something and he thought he knew what it was, it was at times like this where Legilimency would be useful to find out the truth, but he could tell it was a lie or lack of admission due to all Weasley's having a very obvious tell, and Percy's were glowing on either side of his head.
"Tell me did the Minister leave about an hour and a half ago?"
"Yes" Percy said surprised "How did you know that they left directly through the Floo here?"
Sirius shook his head and had to fight the urge to snort "That was the same time I arrived in the Ministry."
Percy paused and then frowned looking very confused "Were you, by any chance, down with Naomi Vastra in the Department of Magical Education?"
"Yes." Sirius replied shrewdly "I don't suppose you know where a memo telling her that her appointment had cancelled came from did you?"
"No but I did overhear Felicity, the Ministers receptionist, mention Madam Vastra this morning, her morning appointment needed to be cancelled urgently as there was some emergency, Felicity believed that Madam Vastra was taken ill." Percy admitted "If a memo was sent from this office I couldn't tell you but if your appointment coincided with what Felicity was saying it must have gone through the floors, she is a bit of a gossip."
"Well she is a gossip and her taste in men is awful" Sirius sighed and looked at Percy critically, he however looked at the desk surprise but Sirius interrupted whatever he was thinking by speaking again "Please tell the minister that I stopped by and I look forward to the next Wizengamot session."
Sirius turned to leave but Percy called him back looking very uneasy and looked like he was fighting himself.
"Lord Black, You should know that the Minister is leaning heavily on the DMLE to make any arrests." Percy said hesitantly looking around in case he was overhead. "Last week he and Madam Bones had a very heated argument about her failures to arrest a single Death Eater, he wants an arrest and he didn't seem to care who it was so long as it went into the paper that the ministry was working hard."
"Thank you for that information." Sirius told him curtly and he turned and left the office and was forced to wait for the next lift and was annoyed to see that the weird little man from earlier was in front of him.
The man seemed to have sensed that Sirius was near him again and turned and gave a muffled shout of fright before excusing himself and leaving the line.
Sirius ignored the odd man and thought of more pressing matters, such as Scrimgeour leaning on Amelia for any arrest, the Prophet had written an article about him last week detailing how he was failing to deal with the current crisis, but while Amelia was in office he hoped that mistakes would not be made but he wondered how safe her job was.
The next lift arrived and they moved forwards at people got into it and Sirius moved forwards when suddenly that was a number of loud shrieks and people pushed out of the lift in fright.
"Eeak!" an old lady shrieked "get it away from me it bit my ankle!"
"Filthy creature, what is it doing here." Another said disgusted "what have the Magical Maintenance men been doing!"
Bewildered Sirius moved away from the queue to avoid being knocked over by the shoving and pushing and watched at the lift was emptied and the gates closed leaving only the odd man from earlier who had managed to jump the queue in the commotion which Sirius wondered at as he had walked back towards the Ministers office when he had seen him.
"Where did the rat go!" said a man looking around pointing his wand at the ground "it was in the lift a moment ago."
"A Rat?" Sirius asked and he felt like someone had hit him with a hammer on his head as the feeling of realisation spread through him and he turned back around and looked up at the lift as it began to move backwards and the man stood there holding the grill and the look of fear was gone and he was smirking and looking directly at Sirius.
"You're getting slow Padfoot" he cackled "I was right under your famous nose."
Sirius flicked out his wand from its wrist holster but no sooner than the wand was in his hand the lift shot upwards towards the next floor and he was pointing his wand at an empty space.
"Wormtail!" Sirius cursed under his breath and he was now alert and full of energy and surged forwards much to the protests of the people who were still waiting and jumped into the next lift as it arrived and punched the button for the Atrium and he danced and cursed impatiently at how slow the lifts were and ignored the looked he received from those still in the lift.
When he arrived in the Atrium he looked around for the man he had seen Wormtail masquerading as and could not see him anywhere and with the large crowds of people walking around and pushing to get through it would be impossible to see him and that was if he had tried to leave, he could be hiding in the Ministry still.
o-HP-o
The Aurors in the Ministry of Magic had locked down the entire building after a security alert was issued by Lord Black who had seen Peter Pettigrew on Level One under Polyjuice Potion.
The people who were trapped in the building began to panic and more of the Auror office and security officers were called in to keep them controlled, and Madam Bones arrived and was in the process of ordering a full sweep of the building when one of the fires activated and outstepped Minister Scrimgeour and he had been furious.
He had immediately demanded that the room be unsealed and demanded that both Lord Black and Madam Bones come to his office and to stop making people scared, that the Ministry was the safest place in the country.
One junior auror had watched these events unfold with avid interest and she blended into the background and was unnoticeable but she was watching for any kinds of threats just like her colleagues Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt and Retired Ex auror now freelance consultant and mentor Alastor Moody.
The young auror watched as Lord Black walked away and it was clear to her that he was angry with the minister as was Madam Bones and they were talking furiously in whispers, the Head of the DMLE especially looked angry as her orders had been countermanded at the highest level.
As Lord Black walked away he turned his head in the most dog like a dog that had seen a rabbit dart out of its hole and look directly at the young auror and he gave her a small brief smirk and wink before returning to his hard mask.
The young auror huffed with annoyance at having being recognised even when she was trying to be incognito and she was being tested by Moody today.
"You have been made Tonks" Moody said bluntly "That would be a fail on this test."
"Damn him!" She cursed and she tried to look for him but assumed they had reached the lifts "he knew you were testing me."
"Aye he did." Moody said and she heard a gruff snort and turned to see a small smile on her mentors face which only annoyed her more.
"That's not fair!" She complained "I can't hide from Sirius, he can always tell where I am through that damn ring his wears."
"Who cares how he found you." Moody shrugged "you know that and you should have made sure that he didn't wink at you! CONSTANT VIGILANCE, he gave away your location."
"Alastor is right" Kingsley said soothingly and he looked around carefully "How did Wormtail get into the building?"
"Blood tests should have prevented him getting here." Moody said gruffly and Tonks knew that his magical eye was spinning wildly under the glamour spell he cast, "There is a breach somewhere."
"You two deal with that" Tonks said bored "I just clocked off and I need to get off home" she then lowered her voice "I will probably see you later?"
"Yes." Kingsley said "We need to discuss this further."
"Kingsley you take point" Alastor said leaving his corner "I want to get off too, I want to review my memories of today, we might have missed something."
Tonks quickly went back down to her cubical in the auror office and collected her stuff and pulled on a travelling cloak and left as quickly as she could, she had tried to bypass Gawain Robards the Head Auror who was holding a white memo and looked like he would kill someone.
White memos were only issued from one place within the Ministry, they were reserved only for the Minister of Magic and his assistants who were sending out notices on his behalf. The fact that he had one meant that the Minister had summoned him and they were both in the lift together.
"You know that Lord Black and Madam Bones did the right thing" he snapped to her "And you would think that Scrimgeour would know that! He was one of us once!"
Tonks stayed quiet not wanting to anger her boss and not knowing what to say to him, she was not senior enough yet to have interacted with him much, but she respected him greatly, he had trained under Moody and had even been his partner before Moody retired.
"Becoming Minister was the worst move he made." Robards signed and rubbed his head and looked at her "Dawlish overheard some chatter today, Pius Thicknesse is looking to run of Minister, and people prefer him to Scrimgeour! Can you imagine?"
Thicknesse worked in the DMLE under Amelia Bones in a senior position, he had never been an auror or hit wizard but was known to be a true politician and had climbed his way to where he now was, some believed he wanted Bones' job and Tonks had never really thought him capable.
"No Sir." She said quickly when he gave her a stern look.
"You are working under Moody still?" He asked.
"Yes Sir."
"Good, listen to what he says" he told her sadly "best auror the departments ever had, he has high hopes for you cadet make sure you don't disappoint."
Tonks blinked surprised, she knew that Moody seldom trained anyone these days but he had returned to the Ministry from retirement when the Azkaban convicts were broken out and all but demanded his Auror licence reinstated so that he could help without being a vigilante.
It took a week but Bones had managed to get it reinstated but Scrimgeour had demanded that Moody train an auror like he used to and he had picked Tonks instantly, out of the entire department he had chosen her.
Being mentored by Moody was not fun and it was not easy but she pushed herself every day to reach his high expectations, if she failed he would make her do it again until she succeeded, he was not easy to please and she would often be slapped on the head for getting side-tracked or distracted with a shout of Constance Vigilance to keep her on point.
Their relationship amused most, as many in the auror office were absolutely terrified of Moody, if they heard his false leg they would look for a reason to leave of otherwise hunker down to not get his attention, Tonks wasn't scared of him, if anything she found him amusing and annoying in equal amounts with his anecdotes of how things used to be done or how the ministry had gone downhill since he left, which she only made worse by baiting him or annoying him when he started lecturing her.
"Thank you sir?" she said uncertainly and she stopped her hair from changing colour as it would occasionally do when she was startled.
Robards looked at her "You know Lord Black better than most, he is the head of the Blacks and you are one yourself, a cousin I believe, how certain would he be of this infiltration?"
"Absolute." She answered immediately "He wants Pettigrew caught and brought to justice more than anyone, including his own son."
"I suppose he would." Robards nodded and shivered "Black had better be careful though, the Minister does not like him at all."
Tonks held her tongue as she knew that it was mutual, Sirius hated Scrimgeour with every passing day and it was well known from the Ministry gossip that the two of them clashed more often that Dumbledore had clashed with the ministry in the past.
Robards got off at Level One and Tonks continued to the atrium and managed to get into a fire and floo'd home to her parents' house.
"Mum, Dad I am home!" She called "I can't stop, I will eat at Black House."
"We thought you would." Her mum said walking into the room "What happened in the ministry, the WWN said that Sirius caused a commotion for no reason."
"Wormtail." Tonks said in explanation and Andromeda's eyes narrowed at the name that had caused such pain to their family. Tonks quickly explained what had happened while she got changed out of her auror uniform and her mum tidied up after her.
"Well I am sure that Sirius is furious with himself." Andromeda said shaking her head "Peter was never the clever or powerful one but that is twice that he has outsmarted Sirius."
"I know." Tonks agreed "And I will be sure not to mention that to Sirius when I see him, the look on his face when Scrimgeour cancelled the security sweep should have killed him on the spot."
"How is Remus?" Andromeda asked changing the subject and she passed the neatly folded robes to one of the Black house-elves.
The Tonks' often had an elf around the house of an evening and early morning, there was not enough work for the at Black House in London so they would help out where they could and the family wasn't big enough so they alternated.
"Tilvar?" Tonks said to the retreating elf "is Remus still at Black House?"
"Yes Mistress Dora." He said "Master Blacks guest has spent most of the day in the library."
"Thank you." Tonks said smiling, she had been forced to order each elf to only call her Mistress Dora after they called her by her full name one too many times. "Well that is an improvement; he is out of his room."
"Has Professor Snape still not found any antidote?" Andromeda asked her surprised "it's been months now."
"No, but Remus does get better but then he transforms with the moon and he gets sick and the wolf becomes dominant again." She explained and finished getting ready, "I don't know much else."
Her mother hummed and busied herself by straightening her dressing table.
"Where is dad?" Tonks asked her trying to change the subject.
"He popped round old Amos Diggory's, they haven't spoken in a while and Ted thought he should break the ice." She told her sadly "Diggory is still not coping with his son's death, and because we are family of Harrisons he had distanced himself."
Tonks had heard that at work, Diggory had never recovered from his son's death and had become a changed man, but he didn't blame Harry for Cedric's death, she had even heard him saying how humble and understanding Harry was when he was approached the year before and how he didn't believe the papers.
"Well I better go." Tonks said looking at the time "Don't wait up for me."
Her mother gave her a look of disapproval by Tonks didn't care, she was old enough to do what she wanted, but she did need to get her own place at some point.
She disapparated and went to The Burrow where she had a quick cup of tea with Molly who knew about her ongoing issues and picked up a double decadence chocolate cake and with it in her hand she left for the Black House.
"Mistress Nymphadora" Kreacher said bowing respectfully but he saw the cake in her hands and he narrowed his eyes at it "If you were wanting a cake you should have been asking."
"I will do next time Kreacher" she said promised but she gave him a firm look "But only if you call me Dora, I did give you a direct order."
Kreacher bowed low again and apologised but took the cake and scurried off without so much as a true apologetic look and she wondered why he was ignoring her order.
"You will have to speak to your cousin." Said a tired voice from the dark stairwell.
"Why?" she asked and she saw Remus walking almost normally and he looked himself.
"He is the only one who can countermand orders." He said smirking "I think he may have done just that, and was that Molly's chocolate cake that I smelt?"
"I shall be having words with him then!" she said with a determined look but she broke it with a wink "of course, but you cannot eat it all!"
"I would never" Remus said looking hurt "I would allow you a single slice."
Tonks laughed happily "How have you been?"
"Better, the effects are not as strong and with every passing lunar event the effects wane like the moon I am enslaved too." He said sadly "But I am still not myself."
"Have you been at the poetry again?" she asked rolling her eyes "Don't speak to me in riddles."
A ghost of a smile appeared but it disappeared quickly and he frowned "Why are you here?"
"Too see you of course."
"Haven't you got friends your own age?" he asked her pointedly.
"Remus I know what you are doing and it is not going to work." Tonks said firmly "You will have to get over yourself eventually."
"But I –"Remus began to say but was stopped when they both felt their necklaces heat up and they pulled out the phoenix pendant that had been made by Harry and Hermione, it was pulsing with heat. "Why is a meeting being called for –"he paused and counted he pulses "Nine? Has something happened?"
Tonks hesitated knowing that this would probably upset him but she had to tell him so she led him into the drawing room upstairs and summoned some tea from the kitchen which was served with the cake.
"Something happened in the Ministry today." She explained "Wormtail somehow managed to get in with polyjuiced. We don't know what he was doing but he was on Level One at the Ministers receptionists' desk when he was caught by Sirius."
"Wormtail was caught?" Remus asked looking elated "after all this time?"
"No he managed to get away, making use of his different appearance and animagus form to get passed Sirius" She explained "And by the time Sirius realised he was in a lift and escaped but he taunted him."
Remus became a little agitated and began to pace around the room and she let him as she saw his eyes glow amber like his wolf but he seemed to be in full control of himself and she finished telling him what had happened.
"Sirius was furious, he ordered the lockdown and his order was followed until the Minister arrived bypassing the security and ordered the lockdown lifted as "Lord Black was creating a panic to gain support and there was no threat within the Ministry's walls" or that's what he told the large crowds."
"Fool" Remus hissed uncharacteristically and his eyes flared again "Scrimgeour is no better than Fudge."
"He is trying to give people hope but I agree he is doing it wrong." Tonks agreed and she reached out and grabbed Remus's arm and made him sit down "Voldemort is trying to get into the ministry, his Death Eaters are in Europe and that's without the carnage and death they are causing here."
"I know" Remus said rubbing his growing stubble thinking "I think it is worse this time around."
"Why?" she asked surprised.
"Because this time our hope is Harry, and I would rather see him hundreds of miles away out of this growing war." He said sadly and a single tear rolled down his eye "This war is only just beginning and it is getting worse."
"Hey now" Tonks said quietly and she wiped the tear away and took the seat next to him ignoring the amber traces in his eyes and looked at Remus carefully "Even in the dark, light can be found, remember that."
They looked at each other, the amber flecked eyes searching the softer grey blue eyes.
And then Tonks through all caution to the wind and kissed him.
o-HP-o
The Order of the Phoenix was convened and they were just waiting on the Kingsley who was running late, Sirius had arrived and had told them just how useless Scrimgeour was being and he had refused to believe that Wormtail had been in the Ministry.
That day the Minister had been in the Leaky Cauldron with his staff taking them for a meal as a treat for their continued work and during that meal he had overheard none other than the useless lout Stan Shunspike talking about the Death Eaters and their regime and had him arrested on suspicion of being a member of the Death Eaters or being in collusion with them.
The Death Eaters had also killed five muggles in Liverpool when they brought down a muggle supermarket using magic and had crushed them and almost a hundred or so more had been injured, the Mark had been left above the carnage and the Ministry had sent out the DMLE and Magical reversal squad to remove the traces of magic and curses from the wreckage to allow the muggles to excavate.
Sirius sat quietly and was silently venting to himself while he waiting for Kingsley to arrive, it was unlike him to be late but he might have been caught up with the Muggle Minister or in the Ministry so they were not worried.
He looked out at the Order and saw that the news had hit them hard too, none believed that Scrimgeour was doing a good job, sure he created new departments to help fight but they were not enough and he was now trying to placate the masses through speedy arrests and convictions something that Sirius would do anything to prevent as it had happened to him.
One thing that Scrimgeour had implied was that Amelia was no longer up to her job and it might time for her to step aside. Amelia had looked ready to kill the man who had once served under her and had left the office with the a none too veiled threat that if he tried to force her then she would have him before the Wizengamot and would bring the full power of her political clout brought to bear against him.
The foo in the hall chimed and everyone looked out of the dining room door expectantly and smiled widely when they saw the towering black figure of Kingsley walk in but the smiled disappeared when they saw that his face.
"What is it?" Molly asked "what has happened? Is it the kids?"
"No." he said and he held up his rolled up paper and unrolled it and placed it onto the table. "Nurmengard Prison was attacked and set ablaze with cursed fire and the Dark Mark was above the blackened prison."
"Have they done what they did at Azkaban?" Arthur asked "Released them all?"
"No, all of the prisoners were killed" Kingsley said "every single one."
"But that would mean –"Minerva said looking shocked.
"Yes." Kingsley said nodding "the fire killed him too."
"Why would He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named care about a foreign prison?" Diggle asked shocked "He never bothered before."
"I think that the reason he has done that is because of the sudden resurgence of the Army of Restoration." Sirius said over the raised voices and he knew this because of Harry's owl "Voldemort would have seen them as a threat and had decided to take out the last of the generals and kill the head of that snake."
"You mean Nurmengard, the prison that Gellert Grindelwald built to hold his enemies and opponents was used to then imprison him when Dumbledore defeated him?" Bill asked surprised "I always wondered what happened to him, I suppose there is some irony to it but it's a surprise."
"The Europeans Ministries had been undecided on what was to happen to him and his generals, and Dumbledore was opposed to the killing of anyone so he proposed that they use Nurmengard, as it was the most secure prison in the world and its magic would prevent their escape." Minerva explained to them all "eventually the ministries decided that to leave them all in the prison to know that they failed and that their movement would never take off was a better and longer punishment, Death would only be too easy, so they have remained."
"Why kill Grindelwald?" Hesita asked "Why go through all that trouble?"
"It shows strength" Moody said sternly "Grindelwald was the last great Dark Wizard, he is ranked number two only to Voldemort himself, killing him shows the world that he is stronger and better than the man who had once held all of Europe under his hand and it will push us further into isolation."
"Do you think this is what the Lestrange's and Carrow's were doing?" Arthur asked "Preparing this attack?"
"No, they were involved with the giant attack, that I do know but whatever that plan was it was ruined by this Markos" Sirius explained and left no room for that to be questioned, his source was Harry and in this case he knew he wasn't wrong "Voldemort wanted to attack Durmstrang but I do think what happened was according to the plan, and from what I have been told the Lestranges and Carrows were severely punished."
"Has anyone found out who this Markos is?" Arthur asked curiously "what is his last name?"
"We do not know." Moody said gruffly "I have asked a few of my old friends in Europe but they are being cagey about it, think I might have to pay them a visit in person."
"What about Snape?" Bill asked "he is supposed to be our man on the inside."
"Yes but I don't trust him" Sirius said honestly "And his position in the Death Eaters ranks has changed but from what I have got out of him, this Markos in unknown to him but he is from Europe."
"So Voldemort's plan was hijacked by this Markos who then used Voldemort's giants to attack Durmstrang for seemingly no reason, then in retaliation Voldemort kills the prisoners in Nurmengard? This seems a bit sloppy for Voldemort?" Bill pointed out frowning, "Have you got anything from Harry, Fleur or Viktor?"
Sirius paused not wanting to tell the full truth "I have spoken to Harry" he said carefully "But I agree this is sloppy of him but this attack on Nurmengard will have far reaching consequences, more than you possibly know."
"How do you mean Sirius?" Molly asked "they are just a bunch of war criminals."
"Not to the wizarding community on the continent, they were terrorised by the Army of Restoration and to this day some are still terrified of them coming back." Sirius explained "Charlus was there in the days after Grindelwald fell and he told me about it once, the people refused to help him and the international forces that came to help them for fear of reprisals, even when they knew that Grindelwald was defeated some still helped the old generals hide after out of fear.
"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is worse though" Mundungus stressed.
"No, their memories are long." Moody said "They remember the fear and terror of the Army of Restoration more than the terror of the Death Eaters who did not touch them last time, he will catch them unaware and if anything drive them further away."
"But this Markos, whoever he is, is a member of the Army of Restoration, is he still alive?" Hestia asked "We don't want to look for a dead man. Has he not been killed for tricking the Death Eaters?"
"No he is alive, and if I am honest I have no idea what he will do, we don't know what his motives are." Sirius stressed, "That is why we need information, do whatever you can."
"Do you not find this a terrible coincidence?" Remus asked "The day that the Bulgarian prison is attacked Wormtail was found in the Ministry, you said he was in the Ministers office."
"I do not know what Wormtail was doing in the Ministry, but if he has managed to get into the Ministry and even up to level One shows that there is a definite breach in security." Sirius said sadly "I however do not think that the Ministry or I should say the Minister wants to acknowledge what has happened, I have a friend who works in the Prophet offices and he said that the Minister asked for the news to be kept quiet for a few days, but I would bet he will try and make me sound like a paranoid idiot trying to scare people."
"Didn't you get a good wiff of him Black?" Elphias asked "Thought that nose of yours would have given him away."
Sirius frowned remembering what Wormtail had said "No, but I do not keep my canine sense of smell in human form." He then looked at Remus who was watching him attentively but he suddenly noticed that he seemed tense and they were a trace of anger in his amber eyes.
"In any case Wormtail may have been a idiot at school but he managed to hide his true allegiance to Voldemort in the last war from everyone, and I would bet he knows how to mask his scent, he spent enough time around me and Remus to know we can pick them up." Sirius said and he bit back a sharp remark about the rat, "scents can be masked and Polyjuice will blur a scent enough to confuse a bloodhound."
"Black is right, we must all keep extra vigilant, the Death Eaters are up to something and it cannot be good whatever it is." He said and his magical eye spun and turned to look into the basement probably looking at the elves "Bill what are the Goblins saying?"
"I have managed to speak with Lord Ragnok." Bill said rubbing his chin as he got a number of shocked looks.
Sirius was impressed, Lord Ragnok was the king of the British Goblin clans but also a high standing member of the Goblin nation, one of the eleven Goblin lords who made up their leadership, Ragnok ran Gringotts Bank and worked and trained like every other Goblin but he still had a reputation of being a fierce goblin who you did not want to cross.
"He believes that this conflict is a wizard war and will not have his own race caught in the middle." Bill recounted "He has no love for wizards at all, he does his job as it is all the ministry allows but he does not care to involve himself in our politics or civil war."
"Has their stance changed regarding You-Know-Who?" Molly asked her son proudly.
"No." Bill said conflicting expression playing across his face "It not easy getting a read on them and Ragnok is the hardest Goblins I have every met and I have worked for Gringotts for years, usually it is what they do not say that is important, but I do not think they agree with Voldemort and his forces attacking our world, they might not like the ministry but Voldemort will treat them worse."
Sirius realised what Bill was trying to say, Wizards treated Goblins as an inferior race and had done for centuries and it had caused wars between them, Azkaban had been repaired after Voldemort had broken into it but the plan to have the goblins carry out the repairs and be the wardens had been stopped in the Wizengamot and they were left with only their bank.
"They will not side with either." Sirius sighed "Voldemort gives empty promises and our ministry gives nothing."
"That's what I think" Bill nodded agreeing.
"What about the wolves?" Mundungus asked "I heard that Finir has been seen in England."
Sirius looked over to his friend and saw him sit upright and rigid at the mention of that name but answered tersely, the man obviously still touched a nerve with Remus and his eyes shone fiercely at even a mention of his name.
"I have not been able to speak with the packs in Europe for some time due to my condition, but I would bet they are conflicted over the tampered wolfsbane. It had the potential to free them and he took it away, others will see that it was a way to enslave us and he freed them. Greyback will use whatever he can to gain control over the packs."
They meeting went on for a few more hours with reports coming in from the many different contacts that the order had, they had intel on many different areas of the Death Eater camps and they were able to get a picture of what they were up to, but they had no idea what their next move was and they were trying to prevent further loss of life, they had been unable to prevent the prison fire but that was because of a lack of information, they only knew that Voldemort was going to strike.
Sirius knew that he was going to have to speak to Snape, something that he loathed to do as he had to fight the instinct to be spiteful or draw his wand, but also to not antagonise him at all, not that Snape reciprocated his restraint but Sirius was not going to allow his personal feelings for the greasy snake work against him.
But going forward the Order would need to act quicker and get better information and quicker.