Chapter 35
"It is said that Merlin was the last of the druids." Perenelle began her lecture for their second History of Magic class. "That statement is both right, and wrong. It is wrong, in that it implies he was not around at their inception, and that couldn't be further from the truth."
The immortal woman strode around the front of the room, eyes half-closed as she spoke, hands lifted as though in supplication to some ancient god.
"Merlin taught the first Druids how to perform ritual magic, harnessing the power stored within the earth itself. In fact, my Godson has spent his entire existence teaching and pushing humanity forward. It is he who sparked the first fire, in the dim reaches of the past. He who literally pulled the world from the dark ages by starting the Renaissance."
She paused to sip from a clear goblet of water, her audience completely stunned by these revelations. She ignored them, lost in her own memories, to continue.
"The statement is right in that there are no other druids still walking the earth, thus he is the last of them. The Druids and their rituals, became the focus of civilization here in the isles. It was they who were behind the construction of the Henge, and Standing Stones. The rituals performed there each season, led to larger crops and better yields. It ensured that more children lived to become adults and grow the community."
Perenelle Flamel paused to look around the chamber, everyone was writing diligently so she continued. "This cycle was maintained for nearly two thousand years, ultimately it infused the land with more magical power than most other regions of the world. Now, back to the Druids themselves. They each constructed a staff, allowed them to pull yet more power from the world, and focus it much like you now do with your wands. In fact the wand is a more advanced version of a staff, but it lacks the ability to handle the same volume of magic as they."
Suddenly an image of the Spear of Light, appeared on the stage beside the immortal woman.
Harry immediately grabbed the hilt of Hope, worried this woman had suddenly stolen the McKinnon artifact.
"This is an illusion, but since the Spear is a well-known staff, I will use it as an example. Merlin crafted this, along with the ancestors of Lady McKinnon, it is bound to their blood and when they wield it, can be used for world-altering magic."
Harry blushed, the ancient woman was looking right at him when she said that. He put his hand back on the table, and went back to taking notes.
"World-altering?" Hermione whispered from beside him, intently adding several more lines of notes to her parchment. Most likely she was making a list and would ask for details on their next meeting with the Flamels.
"The combination of materials and the size of the Spear, can focus and control an immense amount of magic. If the same were attempted with a wand, you would burn the core out and kill the wand before completing the effort."
"Now a single witch or wizard cannot possibly control that amount of magic, thus covens and circles were formed, wherein the participants would all pool their abilities and focus on one goal. These were often performed at the solstices, the largest was held on the Salisbury plain, within what is now called Stonehenge."
Perenelle paused again, this time walking up one of the aisles between the students. "What type of magic do we currently use here in Britain?" She suddenly asked the classroom.
Not even Hermione put her hand up, she was still busy writing questions and notes on her parchment and had likely not even heard the question. For several long seconds it didn't seem like anyone was even willing to make a guess. Finally Lavender Brown raised a trembling hand.
"Ah, yes, Miss Brown?"
"Um." Lavender said, letting her hand fall into her lap. "Roman."
"Hmm." Madam Flamel hummed and nodded once. "Yes, you use Latin words to shape your spells. In other regions of the world they use their own root languages. Ten points to Gryffindor. But why, after two thousand years of the Druids, is that the case? You see when the Romans invaded, they defeated not only the native armies, but the Druids as well. Along with their armies, the Romans had magicals. Each cohort, a standard division in the Roman legion, had casters. I won't call them wizards, but they were roughly equivalent to the Druids, except they specialized in combat magic. Think forming walls of earth for defensive positions, crafting crude healing potions or poultices, or making fog to mask a retreat or attack."
Harry glanced around their table, Susan had two separate papers in front of her, one was clearly notes, but the other seemed to be a list of questions. He couldn't quite read them as she was sitting on the other side of Hermione.
"British Druids were used to performing their magic in groups, very few of their abilities had anything to do with fighting. They were completely unable to help the native populace resist the Romans."
Daphne nudged him with her shoulder and he went back to taking notes, instead of wondering what questions Susan was writing.
"By the end of the Roman occupation, magic had advanced to the use of wands and incantations. No longer was it necessary to carry a staff and encant repeated stanzas to call forth magic. Very little of Druidic magic was incorporated into the resulting lexicon of spells. In fact about the only place you will find their lore is in Herbology."
"She meanders so much." Daphne whispered beside him. She had very organized notes, and since Lady Flamel kept switching subjects, she had huge gaps on her parchment to allow her to go back to and add lines if their instructor got back to that topic.
Harry shrugged. "Better than Binns."
"To get back on my topic, which is the tools used to focus our magic."
"When was that a topic?" Daphne whispered, flicking her blonde braid over her shoulder in irritation.
"After your O.W.L.S. you begin focusing on silent casting, eventually you should be able to cast with merely the will to form the specific spell. Neither Nicholas nor I have ever used a wand, we had staffs at one point, but no longer use them."
Perenelle had meandered up one aisle and back down another and now stood at the front of the room again. "For next class, each of you needs to present an essay on the other five main languages that spells are taught in around the world. Just the main ones, as there are over a hundred different languages that spells have been crafted in. I also want to see what those cultures have used to focus their magic. And no more than a foot of parchment on each language!"
She said the last looking at Hermione, who wasn't paying any attention, instead focused on writing the instructions down.
"Hermione?" Daphne said sharply, causing their companion to look up from her notes. "She was looking at you when she said only a foot."
"Oh." Hermione said, biting her lower lip in consternation. "But I like to write long essays. Why are they all telling me I can't this year?"
"Perhaps they are tired of reading them?" Susan said, flicking her wand at her parchments to dry the ink. Then she cast the spell on everyone else's notes on the table.
"Mine, perhaps you should consider publishing books on some of these topics." Harry said as he nodded to Susan in thanks and began gathering his things.
Instead of answering, Hermione got a glazed look in her eyes.
"Now you've done it." Daphne said with a lop-sided smile in his direction.
}-{
The Golem exercise had apparently not gone well for the class before theirs, though no one was willing to provide them details. The Headmaster was just finishing repairing a section of bridge as they rounded the corner.
In the distance, right on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, was a large fabric screen, it must have covered a hundred feet or so. Hagrid stood near it, speaking with someone, who wasn't recognizable from this distance, though was considerably shorter than the half-giant.
"Over here everyone." Lady McKinnon called. She was standing on one of the taller bridges, with a clear view of the fields around the castle.
The class organized by their groups, each looking fairly nervous, especially team one.
"Alright, the bridge where the Headmaster is standing will be your starting point. You have until that short wall, the one before the base of the northern end of this bridge, to stop the golem. Points will be deducted for damage to any of the structures and distance traveled. So the quicker you can stop it, with as little damage, the better."
"Any questions?"
Though half of the students seemed about to speak, none of them did.
"Team One, proceed." Marlene ordered.
Neville led his group down the trail and met the Headmaster at the bridge. After receiving a nod from him they continued off of the far side of the bridge, then Neville and Parvati started transfiguring the earth.
When Marlene saw this she shot a green light spell into the sky from her wand.
Hagrid grabbed the edge of the screen and hurried to pull it back. The person whom he'd been speaking with disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
Many of the students gasped at their first site of the golem. It was perhaps twice the height of Hagrid, and only roughly humanoid in form. There was no neck between its massive torso and bulbous head, a head with only two dark pools for eyes and a slit of a mouth. It walked on a pair of short legs, that were more like tree-trunks. It actually had four arms, one on each side, then the front and back.
"That's fairly slow." Daphne said after a moment of observing it.
"I don't know how deep they're going, but it's likely not enough." Harry said, having shifted his attention to Team One. Goyle and Bulstrode had continued beyond what Neville and Parvati were constructing. Now about a hundred meters further along the path they cast spells upon the surface, though only a shimmer could be seen from where everyone was watching.
"Slow but steady." Pansy said. "Should take it thirty minutes to reach the end point."
Daphne nodded, but kept her attention focused on the golem as it clomped noisily over the field. Behind it both Hagrid and the other man were walking, to either side of its path.
After casting the spell upon the ground, Goyle and Bulstrode waited where they were for it to get closer.
Neville and Parvati seemed to have a fairly deep ditch, in a half-circle, before the entrance of the bridge. They had used the dirt they pulled out of it to form a wall on the near side, creating a taller obstacle.
They collapsed, to sit on the ground and recover, that seemed to be the extent of their magical reserves.
The golem reached the shimmering section and continued upon it. That was when the waiting Slytherins began casting spells at the creature. Bludgeoning hexes splashed against the joint between the things left leg and torso. The purple spells didn't seem to have any affect, but they Slytherins continued as it proceeded to come closer to them.
"It's unnerving that it doesn't make any noise." Harry remarked.
"Yeah, if it looked more human this would be really creepy." Hermione said.
Apparently the spell on the ground was cold, white ice was now visible on the lower portions of the golem's legs. Nothing seemed to be having an effect on its progress though.
Bulstrode and Goyle had to retreat as it reached the end of their ice field. They continued to throw bludgeoning hexes at the same spot, though no one could see any damage from where they were observing.
Then they broke and ran back to where their teammates had gotten back to their feet. An argument commenced between the group, with much pointing at the transfigured construction.
The golem inexorably continued to amble forward, more machine than creature.
"It's a machine." Pansy said softly. She quickly tapped Daphne on the shoulder and gestured for the others to lean in close. "I think Potter's pit has merit. Machines don't think, right? We give it something outside of its instructions and we've got it."
"Possibly, let's see what it does to their construction." Daphne said.
"Well, yes, but we're not going to have much time to plan after they're done." Pansy said.
The golem had arrived at the semicircular moat and wall. It stepped down into the moat, about half of the creature vanished from their view, behind the wall. But it didn't slow, the wall that had been piled up collapsed, the front arm was sweeping from side to side, brushing it aside as though dusting crumbs from a table.
"A much deeper hole." Harry said. "I think we try to stop it early. I'm positive we can make that pit much bigger than they did."
With the golem simply walking out of their moat, Team One waved their arms over their heads frantically.
Marlene sent a red ball of light up into the air, signaling the end of the first attempt. The man walking with Hagrid sent a spell at the back of the creatures head. It stopped immediately, then, without turning, it reversed course.
The Headmaster flicked his wand and the transfigured earth returned to the pristine field it had been only minutes before.
"Team Two, you have ten minutes before your attempt begins. You may move down to the bridge."
While Team One began trudging back up the hill, Pansy led her team down the same path. "There's no word on its forehead, nor do I see a chain for a pendant hanging from its mouth. Therefore, if it follows the examples in the book, it will have a parchment in its mouth. We're going to have to reach it, and that means a pit deep enough to bury it to that point."
"Cool." Harry said, though at that point they were passing Team One, and received dark looks from them for his enthusiasm. "Sorry, they finally like my idea!"
"Luck mate." Neville called, but he didn't pause in his trip up the hill.
"Hello, are you ready for your attempt?" The Headmaster asked as they reached him.
Harry shrugged, but Pansy nodded. "Yes, we're ready when it is." She said, pointing to where the creature was just reaching the forest.
They kept walking and once they were off of the bridge Pansy kept talking. "It will be up to you Lady Black to check the thing's mouth. We'll pool our magic to make the pit and fill it in. After we fill it in, we've got to focus on keeping it down. I'm certain that thing will just climb out of the ground. We might be able to hold it for a bit, but I wouldn't bet any money on more than thirty seconds."
Daphne nodded, "I'll be fast."
"It's coming!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed, drawing her wand.
"We'll wait for it right here." Pansy said. "Not sure if you want to be with us or off to the side Lady Black."
"Yeah, I'll sort it." Daphne said and jogged off to the left side of the creatures path, pulling on a pair of long dragonhide gloves, she'd taken from an inside pocket of her robe.
"Won't we be giving away our solution to the other two teams." Harry asked.
"I'll put up a screen behind us." Hermione offered.
Harry nodded. "Daph! Use a Disillusion!"
The Ice Queen thought for a moment, then tapped the crown of her blonde tresses with her wand, blending into the background immediately.
"Good idea Potter." Pansy said. "You focus on depth, Granger and I will worry about the sides, well I will first, while she's casting the screen."
"Yep." Harry said, with a bright gleam in his eyes. He rubbed his hands together briskly and then drew his wand.
He shot a color spell at the ground about fifty feet in front of them. "When it gets there."
"Alright." Pansy said.
It was about five paces from that point when Hermione turned to face the class and raised her wand. A shimmering field, perhaps fifty feet high and seventy or so wide, appeared a dozen feet behind them. The screen shifted from clear to solid white a moment later.
"NOW!" Harry shouted and the ground erupted as though a massive explosion had gone off deep within the earth.
The golem fell as the ground under it could no longer support its weight.
"Deeper!" Pansy yelled, her voice strained by her constant effort to keep Potter's earth from dispersing too far from the hole to do them any good.
"Got it." Harry said and a secondary explosion came from deep in the earth.
"That's enough." Hermione said as the creature vanished behind the wall of earth, her wand dancing as she began filing in the hole.
"Too deep! Potter, hold it down."
"Blow it up, put it back…" He said, but couldn't keep the grin from his face, this was fun.
The trio focused everything they could for the next thirty seconds, packing the earth back into the hole and then tamping it down to prevent the golem from extracting itself.
The air in front of them shimmered and a yellow piece of parchment appeared. "Why are you guys still casting?" came Daphne's voice from its vicinity.
"You got it?" Pansy asked.
The Headmaster walked briskly through the white barrier, his concern immediately shifted to curiosity. The field looked like an explosion had happened, but all of the dirt had been put back, leaving a large earthen circle, and no sign of the golem.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Made a pit." Harry said happily, putting his wand in the holster up his sleeve.
"And I pulled this out of its mouth." Daphne said, shimmering back into view. She had dirt all over her, and a nasty scratch on her neck, but otherwise seemed quite pleased with herself.
"And the wall?" he asked, glancing behind him to verify the white barrier continued to shimmer.
"We didn't want to give away our solution to the other teams." Pansy said.
"Ahh, yes." The Headmaster said. "If you'll return that parchment to Mr. Flamel, we'll get it walking back to the starting point."
"We did it?" Harry asked.
"Quite neatly, if I do say so." The Headmaster said as Daphne ran over to the man who was now identified as Mr. Flamel by the golem's grave.
The Headmaster then waved his wand, extracting the golem a bit from the earth, so its head was visible.
Mr. Flamel took the parchment from Daphne and she ran back in their direction. When she arrived, panting a bit, but still flushed with her victory, the Headmaster pointed back up the hill. "You may proceed. Dismiss the screen in about a minute Miss Granger."
"Sure." She said and the four of them headed back to their waiting classmates.
Once they were back with their classmates, Daphne became nearly everyone's focus. She looked like she'd been in a nasty fight, while the rest of them had not.
"Are you alright?" Lady McKinnon asked.
"Yes." Daphne said, still smiling.
"Consort Potter, please tend to her injuries." Lady McKinnon said.
"Of course Lady McKinnon." Hermione said and promptly cleaned the dirt from her blonde companion before focusing on the bleeding cut.
"Is it really bad?" Daphne asked.
"No," Hermione said. "There won't be a scar."
"What did you guys do?" Tracey Davis asked.
"Sorry," Daphne said, though she remained motionless as Hermione gently traced the cut on her neck. "We'll tell everyone after all the teams have gone."
"You're no fun." Tracey said, but was smiling. "That Hat really should have put you in Gryffindor to begin with."
Hermione ended her spell and pulled her wand back just in time.
"Trace!" Daphne said, jerking to look at her friend. "You stop that. And don't go anywhere after class. I need to speak with you."
Her friend didn't answer, merely nodded and returned to where her team was watching Nott orchestrate his team's attempt.
"Now don't move, or you will have a scar." Hermione said.
"I've got her." Harry said, and proceeded to snuggle up behind the Ice Queen and wrap her in his arms.
Daphne sighed, turned her head to kiss Harry and waited while Hermione put her wand against her neck and commenced healing her.
"You guys are too sweet." Pansy said, though she didn't bother looking at them, she'd grown used to their antics over the last few weeks.
Nott's team managed to stall the golem before the bridge by briefly levitating it. But they couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds. Then they collapsed the bridge while it was on it, then piled all of the debris atop it. That seemed to work, but a minute after the stones settled they began to shift and the golem worked its way free.
"They didn't push the stones down." Pansy said. "They might have held it if they did."
"Perhaps." Harry said as Hermione finally finished running her wand over Daphne's neck.
Team three's attempt was over, all four of them were exhausted and sitting on the ground. It had been a good attempt, but they lacked the power to pull it off.
Team four waited until the golem was on the starting bridge and then cast several spells on the center of the span. When the golem reached that point it kept walking, but wasn't making any more progress. They couldn't tell what was happening from so far away.
While the four members of the final team kept their wands pointed at the bridge, the Headmaster and Mr. Flamel approached the golem from both ends of the bridge. After several minutes where nothing changed the Headmaster sent up a red ball of light, signaling the end of the attempt.
"What did they do?" Pansy asked.
"Not sure." Hermione said, gently biting her lip. "We won the task though."
"You're right, we did." Harry said and kissed both of his ladies.
Pansy was waving her hands in front of herself when he turned to face her. "Hold on." She was looking over his shoulder, where Draco was scowling at him.
"My apologies Miss Parkinson." Harry said formally. "May I kiss your hand?"
"I believe that's safe." She said and held her hand out.
He quickly took it and, being perfectly formal, brushed a kiss to the back of her knuckles.
"Alright everyone." Marlene said when Lavender's team had reached the class. "Team two is our winner, they actually deactivated the golem. Inside its mouth was a piece of parchment, which Lady Black removed while the remainder of the team temporarily immobilized it. Team four turned the bridge under the golem into a muggle people mover, each step forward was met with a stone that went backwards, keeping it in place. The Headmaster determined they would be able to keep it up for several hours. They are in second place for this task."
"That means they're well in the lead." Hermione said. "They won the first one, and none of us got anything."
"I'm awarding third place to Mr. Nott's team, and fourth to Mr. Longbottom's. The remaining exercises will be more involved. If anything, think of the final task of the Tri." She coughed and looked at Harry who had raised his eyebrow at her. "Pardon me, the Quad-Wizard Tournament from last year. There will be a course and obstacles, though not as involved, or as dangerous, as that."
"Well done everyone. Class dismissed." Marlene said and walked back towards the castle, the Spear making thumping noises every few steps as it hit the stone bridge.
"What did you want Ice?" Tracey asked as she walked over to them.
"I'll see you later." Pansy said quickly and hurried off to walk back with Draco and Nott.
When the four of them were alone Daphne cast a quick privacy spell. "I'm worried about you and Story. Nott's been watching my sister too much. She said she's noticed it, and has been trying to be with at least one of her friends."
"Yeah." Tracey said, narrowing her eyes. "He has, and frankly it can't be anything good."
"Right." Daphne said and lightly grasped her friends hands. "Blaise is suspect too, he's never shown any interest before this year."
"Idiot couldn't do anything right. He doesn't know his way around a girl's body. Couldn't get hard, and he's tiny. I had to use my wand on him, and he still disappointed."
Harry blushed and stepped back, half-turning to get away from the conversation. Hermione quickly slid tightly against his side and pulled him back into the conversation.
Tracey looked at him and raised her eyebrow at her friend.
"Harry is perfect in our bed, or floor, or wherever. He doesn't lack in any regard." Daphne answered the un-asked question firmly.
"And there isn't room for another?" Tracey said.
"No." Hermione answered with equal firmness.
"Can't blame a girl for asking. Besides I got me a seventh year Claw now."
"Trace." Daphne said, half-smiling and shaking her head slowly.
"Alright, so I'll keep an eye on Nott. Story will run to you or your aunt, right?"
"And Trace, you need to stay safe too." Daphne said. "They might try to use you if they can't get her."
"And they might." Tracey said. "And I'll make them pay dearly for the attempt."
"We'll help any way we can." Harry said.
Tracey nodded, gave Daphne a hug and walked back to the school with her head and shoulders back.
"She won't show them any fear." Daphne whispered to her remaining companions.
}-{
Andromeda had spent a day in her sister's room, talking and just being sisters. Bellatrix had run the gamut of emotions before finally settling down. Yes this was weird, but she was a pureblood witch, and magic could do almost anything. So with a firm grip on her, formerly younger, sister's hand, she left her room and then climbed the ladder out of this strange place she'd awoken in.
As she suspected, she'd been inside a trunk. Outside of the trunk was the patio of the manor house, overlooking the sea far below. The house was perched on the face of a cliff, without the need of roads or such, they were not restricted to the tops of the cliff.
"Wow." Bellatrix said, looking at the sight before her.
"Yes," a man said from her left. She spun and immediately knew this was Lord Black.
"My Lord." She said, and curtsied.
"Arise cousin Bella." Sirius said.
"So how are you doing?" Amanda asked, coming onto the porch with a tea service. She was followed by her mother with a tray of hard biscuits.
"Please join us for tea." Amanda said before Bellatrix could answer the question, and began pouring for everyone.
Sirius sat at the table first, and Javona quietly settled to his right. "My trial is in two days' time. The barristers claim it is a done deal and I will be officially freed within a day of that. Yet I am concerned that this will not go well. In the event something happens you must all go to England and locate my Godson and his betrothed. Do not linger here, where others might capture you."
"But Sirius?" Javona said, her hand lightly on his forearm.
He shook his head slowly, "No, if this goes wrong, they will come for my supporters. Daughters of the House of Black, you must obey."
"Yes, My Lord." Andromeda found herself saying and was echoed by the others.
"Very well, thank you." Sirius said and picked up his tea. He didn't drink it yet, but held it close to his lips to gently blow across the surface. "We are in a precarious position. Many once great houses are similarly affected. We must form alliances and bring more Blacks into this world. Andi, have you decided?"
"Yes, Siri." Andromeda said, slowly stirring her tea. "I will undergo the treatment as Bella did, though not quite so far." She said with a wink at her sibling. "I'll stay the elder, around twenty. Then yes, I will try for six months to have another child of my husband. I had a lot of trouble getting pregnant the first time. After that I will use potions to ensure at least two more children are born of my body and they will carry the name of Black, not Tonks."
"Good. Thank you." Sirius said and finally sipped his tea. "Now, as to Narcissa." He said, meeting Bellatrix's lavender eyes. "She is being punished. Amanda here was forced to switch bodies with her, while Cissy possessed her, she had sex for a month with her son and got Amanda's body pregnant."
"Yes." Bellatrix said softly, not looking away from his intense gaze. "I was informed, and find the concept repulsive my lord."
Sirius gave a sharp nod. "Then I'll allow you some time to speak with her, but remember I've given her to Remus for two decades. One of his punishments is that she is not allowed to wear any clothes when at a Black property. She will be nude unless we travel."
Bella's breath caught when she heard this, to be subjected to every man's leering gaze for twenty years. She calmed herself and gave her lord another nod. "Yes, my lord. I understand. I will do nothing to lessen her punishment unless given permission to do so."
"Good." Sirius said. "She will be in the sitting room shortly. Remus may, or may not be there, regardless he will not harm you. He is my best friend, and very honorable."
The young Black took a shuddery breath and nodded yet again.
"Really." Andromeda said from beside her, gently patting her arm. "I've been sleeping with him for a bit over a year, off and on mind you, and he's never harmed me. A bit rough sometimes, but only when I asked."
Bellatrix blushed, her skin tingling. One of the conditions of her contract was that she remain untouched by both man and woman before her wedding day. She had only superficial knowledge of sex and anything to do with it was difficult to ignore.
"Enough." Javona said firmly. "Do not taunt your sister so. Allow her to grow and learn at her own pace."
"Yes mother." Amanda said contritely, though she hadn't said a thing to embarrass Bellatrix.
"Bellatrix," Javona said gently to get her attention. "We've had Sirius' barrister draw up legal papers for you. If this is alright with you, I'd like to formally adopt you, under another name."
"Um." Bellatrix said, looking to her sister for advice. "I've been told I'm infamous throughout the wizarding world. My name cursed by many. I really can't imagine that, but both my Lord Black and my sister have told me it is so. Yes, but may I have a day to think of a name?"
"Yes, Bella." Sirius said. "I just wish the papers to be filed before my trial, in two days' time, remember your last name will be Furieux."
"I can show you the family roles, if you'd like to see some historical examples." Javona said.
"Yes, thank you."
The back door opened and a tall man with grey-streaked hair stepped out. He was dressed in rather nice clothes, though his face showed signs of a hard life.
"Remus." Sirius said happily. "Come, sit my friend."
A chair was quickly conjured and Remus sat between Amanda and Andromeda. "Hello everyone. I'm sorry Bellatrix, but I'm having a hard time separating you from my memories of you."
"I'm sorry." Bellatrix said softly. "I've heard I was dreadful. Like all Blacks I know a lot of darker spells, but never thought I'd have enough hate to cast them. And right now I don't even have a wand."
"We'll rectify that as soon as the papers are formalized." Javona said.
"Thank you. What of my final year of school? Hasn't it already started?"
The adults silently communicated for a moment before Javona spoke again. "Yes, it has. But we'll be hiring tutors, both for you and Amanda. My youngest is at Beauxbatons, but with Amanda's pregnancy and your sudden arrival, we thought best not to try formal schooling."
"Will I be able to take my N.E.W.T.S.?"
"Yes." Sirius said. "The house of Black grows strong once again."
"You know Siri," Andromeda said, swirling the dregs of her tea. "Since you restored myself, and daughter to the family I have felt the family magic growing stronger." She finished her tea, grimaced at the fact that it had grown cold, and put the porcelain cup down. "I think it's Daphne, the family magic is using her stability and resolve. It's why she's already our Lady."
Sirius shook his head and gave a soft laugh. "I've never understood family magic. It's always been so lightly applied to me."
"Well." Remus said, slipping into his teaching role. "I have read how family magic can be almost sentient, and yours has seemed to act to help Miss…" he trailed off and then cleared his throat. "Sorry, I was going to call her Miss Greengrass, but if she is Lady Black, then she would be Daphne Black, right?"
"Yes, assuredly." Javona said.
"Then yes, it's possible that her magic, and it's connection to your family, is making the whole stronger." Remus said and finally poured himself a cup of black tea.
"When can she marry Lord Potter?" Javona asked.
"When he is seventeen." Andromeda said. "Daphne, and Hermione for that matter, are both older than he is."
"Who's Hermione again?" Bellatrix asked, leaning forward in her chair. She hadn't heard much about this young woman yet.
"Hermione Granger, the brightest-witch-of-the-age, has been the single person who stood beside Harry Potter since he stepped foot in the magical world." Remus said. "She's utterly devoted to him. Simply astonishing in school, snaps up knowledge faster than I've seen anyone. Always one of the first to learn spells, only Harry seemed to get them faster. Well if they were for fighting at least."
"You'll know her when you meet her." Sirius said. "She's got a strong presence, and will be glued to my Godson's side." He gave a chuckle, went to sip his tea and discovered the cup was empty. "And if there is any confusion, she's the brunette beside him. The blonde will be Lady Black."
"Formally, she is Consort Potter." Andromeda said.
"When will I meet them?" Bellatrix asked, nervously straightening her robes.
"Yule, I imagine."
Bellatrix nodded and took a calming breath. "Is Cissy inside?" She asked of Remus.
He simply nodded, sipping his tea.
"Give me a few minutes with her please?" Bellatrix asked as she stood. No one said a word as she walked back inside and headed for the sitting room and her other sibling.
}-{
Narcissa was standing, nude of course, facing the doorway from the porch. She wore a tall leather collar, with a pair of chains stretching down from it to her nipples. Each was attached by a pair of metal jaws to the thick nub of flesh. The large globes were pulled upwards by the short length of chain. She stood in three inch black heels, with her legs wide apart and hands in the small of her back.
Bellatrix froze at the sheer eroticism displayed before her. She could smell the private fluids that traced a line down her sister's inner thighs.
"You should be the one being punished." Narcissa's acidic voice bit into Bella, shocking her out of her stupor.
"What?" She said, stepping into the parlor.
Narcissa didn't move, and could only look down at Bella, the collar forced her head to look up a bit. "You've killed and tortured hundreds. I've never taken a life."
Bellatrix shook her head slowly. "I don't remember any of that Cissy. The last thing—"
"You liked torture." Narcissa said sharply.
"Andi told me some..." Bellatrix said, her voice barely audible.
"I can give you names, dates. My former husband is one of the Inner Circle of Death Eaters, he was there for many of the times you killed. He said you liked to do children especially, make them strip and then you'd fondle them under the Cruciatus spell. They'd climax in the middle of agony, time and time again, before you'd cut off their sex and stuff it down their throat."
"No." Bellatrix said, feeling ill. "I wouldn't."
"Oh, yes you would. Lestrange delighted in having you off the children in front of their parents, especially the mudbloods. Hundreds Bellatrix, hundreds, mostly children."
Bellatrix wanted to deny it all, but she couldn't remember one way or another. It had to be not fulfilling the marriage contract. Without bearing her required children, she'd lost her mind. That must be the reason for her insanity. It had to be the reason for it.
"Bell." Andromeda said, turning her pale sister to face her. When she didn't react she turned her attention to her other sibling. "What have you done?"
"Only told her what the rest of you refused to. What kind of a beast she is." Narcissa said proudly.
"Come Bell." Andromeda said, guiding her now-younger sister up the stairs of the large manor house.
Narcissa stood, gloating in spite of the pain her tits were in, until they were gone. Served the little bitch right. She thought as Remus and Sirius walked inside and she wiped the smirk from her face quickly.
}-{