38-Winds of Change
Dinner at Hogwarts was never a silent affair. How could it be when almost four hundred children and teens were all assembled there? No wonder that many of the teachers preferred to take their meals in their office, in their lodging or anywhere else, except for the Great Hall. Yet even that level of noise could not mask the hooting of a few tens of owls that seemed to carry letters at this unexpected hour. Most of these owls headed to the Slytherin table, but some headed to other tables. Three landed in front of Sirius and another, very official looking owl, landed in front of Dumbledore.
The noise turned gradually into silence as several of the recipients turned pale and started to cry, some quite loudly. The noise then resumed and reached a new high, as the gossip flew around, when everybody was trying to understand what had just happened.
Sirius didn't pay much attention to the hall. He first opened the letter from Gringotts.
"Dear Lord Black,
Our team of curse breakers finished its work on the Gaunt shack, as requested. The only item of any value that it found there was a highly cursed ring. As previously done, all the dark magic was moved to another object (it was just a piece of wood, lifted from the ground, in this case). As expected, besides other curses, they also found the specific dark object that you suspected. The team dealt with it in accordance to our contract and the cleansed ring was moved to your vault.
Your account was debited by the sum agreed upon.
Since this mission was more dangerous and more tedious than usual, I suggest you give the team a small bonus. Two per cent of the total cost would be more than enough.
Respectfully yours,
Blackthorn, the Black account manager."
Sirius smiled to himself, content that another Horcrux was gone. He wondered how many remained.
The other official letter was from the warden of Azkaban.
"Dear Mr. Black.
As you are the head of house Black, it is my unpleasant duty to inform you the Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black has died today, at roughly 14:25, after screaming for about five minutes, along with the other convicted Death Eaters, who also died at roughly the same time.
Unless otherwise instructed, her body will be buried at sea the day after tomorrow with no ceremony of any kind.
Respectfully yours…" He didn't care for the signature.
The last letter was from Narcissa Malfoy. It really intrigued him.
"Cousin Sirius,
Since you're the head of house Black, I think you should know that my not so dear husband has died today at 14:25, after a screaming fit that took five minutes. When I checked, his dark mark seemed to have burned through his flesh before he died.
Since he's no longer my husband, I was wondering if you would be kind enough to take me back into the Black family, leaving the Malfoy name behind me.
Expecting your answer,
Your cousin Narcissa."
He lifted his eyes to the hall, finally noticing what was happening. He saw Draco Malfoy much paler than usual. Pansy Parkinson was hugging him, but he didn't seem to notice. His two cronies seemed just as pale and looked dumber than usual, an unexpected achievement all by itself. Some more Slytherins seemed to be either in shock, like Draco, or crying outright, some even seeming not to care about what their house mates would say of their public display of feelings.
The other houses seemed less affected. There were two or three Ravenclaws, he couldn't be sure, one third year Hufflepuff and one fifth year Gryffindor. It wasn't difficult to find the common cause – all their fathers (or mothers, in some cases) had been Death Eaters who either escaped trial or served short terms in prison. Sirius suspected that just like Lucius and Bella, they were all dead.
His eyes scanned the head table. Dumbledore seemed distraught, looking at the letter that he'd got as if refusing to believe it.
"What happened?" he asked.
Dumbledore looked like he'd been dragged out of a nightmare. "Severus is dead. He'd been shopping at Diagon Alley and suddenly fell on the ground, writhing in agony. Before anybody could help him, he died. The healers found that the dark mark had burned through his flesh and his bones, but the cause of death is not clear. It looked almost like AK, although no spell was cast."
Sirius pointed at the hall and then at his letters. "It looks like all the death eaters suffered the same fate. I suspect you'll need to help many Slytherin students and a few others."
Minerva, who was sitting on Dumbledore's other side was still confused by what was happening. "May I see your letters, if they're not too personal?"
Sirius held the Gringotts letter and passed her the other two. She scanned them quickly. "We'll have to arrange some escorts for those needing to rush home. I think I'll talk to Horace first."
Professor Slughorn was quick to notice the disturbance at the snakes' house table and was quick to move there, to see what he could do to help. There wasn't much, though. Some of those who got letters had already run away, presumably to their dorms. He made sure to collect the others around him and guided them back to the Slytherin common room. He could see there would be a lot of work for him and the other teachers to do. He only wrote a short note on a conjured piece of parchment and asked Daphne to take it to Professor McGonagall.
Minerva showed the note to Dumbledore, who nodded sadly, and then stood up. "Due to some unexpected events, we ask you all to act respectfully. Some of your fellow students have lost members of their families and I think we should all respect their mourning. I believe we shall have some more information before breakfast, tomorrow morning. Please finish your meal quietly and stay respectful. That's all for now."
Harry was just as surprised as everyone else. He looked to Sirius and the older man made a sign they had agreed upon for asking to meet him. Soon enough, Harry and Hermione were waiting near Sirius's lodging, quietly discussing what they had already heard before leaving the Great Hall.
"It looks like all the Death Eaters suddenly died. I wonder what could cause that," Harry said.
Hermione gave it some consideration. "Do you know if the ring was already found?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. It looks like Sirius got a letter from Gringotts, but I don't know what it is. Why does it matter?"
Hermione went into her lecture mode. "Well, as far as we know, the Dark Mark is some kind of connection between the Death Eaters and their master – old Tom. Now, supposing that he felt that he was dying, what do you think he'd do?"
"He'd try to take some powers from his minions, whatever that power might be."
"Do you think he'd make sure not to take too much?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't really know, but from what I've heard he never cared for anybody. He'd take as much as he needed and not care how it affected them."
"Don't you see what that might mean?"
Harry couldn't answer, since Sirius arrived, looking quite happy. He opened the door and let them in.
Hermione didn't let him speak. "Let me guess. The curse breakers had found the Horcrux and destroyed it. Since this was the last one, Tom lost his anchor in this plane and started to fade away. Trying to stop this, he accessed his death eaters through their mark and took whatever he thought he needed, killing them in the process and probably not helping himself either. Am I right?"
Sirius seemed overwhelmed by her. "Slow down, please. Most of us are not geniuses like you two, you know."
He led them to the sitting room and only spoke after they all sat down – Sirius on the big coach and the children on the love seat, sitting much closer than necessary. "I'll tell you what I know. The curse breakers found and destroyed the Horcrux. I don't know the exact time of that. Shortly before half past two, all Death Eaters, so it seems, had their Dark Mark burn through and after some agonizing minutes, they died. I have confirmation that all the ones at Azkaban are dead, and I won't mourn any of them, and so are Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. Judging by what I saw in the hall, many others probably died as well. Horace is trying to handle his students and get the facts. There were a few from other houses too. Does this mean that Voldemort is gone? I suspect he is, but I don't know for sure."
Harry clapped his hands. "That's very good news!"
Sirius stayed a bit reserved. "That's very good news for us and all those who oppose Voldemort and his ideas, but this is not the right time to celebrate. Some of the students lost fathers, mothers uncles or aunts, maybe even older siblings. Some of those who died may have even regretted their youthful mistakes, but they couldn't resign, you know. Being a Death Eater is a commitment for life and only death set them free."
He then thought some more and added, "You know, Severus wanted to get rid of the mark. Dumbledore spent much time on studying it and finally arrived to the conclusion that it couldn't be done. Any attempt to tamper with the mark would kill its bearer. That's why he died despite changing his loyalties."
Both children shook their heads. Snape had made himself the most loathed teacher at Hogwarts. Nothing could change their minds about him.
\/\/\/
The next morning, even before the mail owls arrived, Professor McGonagall stood up to give some announcements.
"As most of you already know, quite a few people died mysteriously yesterday afternoon. Students who lost a family member were escorted home as soon as we could help them. A few stayed here due to various reasons – please let them grieve in peace. Since each house has at least one student affected, there will be no lessons today. You should contemplate the news and try to help those who were affected. I believe some more information will reach us during the day."
Almost immediately after she sat down, the regular mail arrived, along with the newspapers. Hermione got her own copy of The Daily Prophet. Harry couldn't miss the headline on the front page: "Tens of people die mysteriously, all sporting the Dark Mark."
The article that followed didn't shed much light on the events, but gave a full list of all those who died. All of them bore the Dark Mark and it was probably what caused their deaths, although nobody seemed to know how it happened. The article made a point of showing that this death didn't skip those who claimed to be imperiused or those who were found not guilty for other reasons. Each and every person who had that ugly tattoo was killed by it.
"I think you were right in your descriptions of the events," Harry told Hermione.
"Am I not always right?" she teased him.
Harry decided not to grace her with a reply, although he actually agreed.
They did use the day for contemplation. Harry thought it was a kind of poetical justice that the Horcrux which Lucius Malfoy had tricked Ginny to bring to Hogwarts was actually the trigger to a series of events that brought an end to the death eaters and probably their master too. He felt proud that both he and Hermione, along with Sirius and even Aunt Petunia, to some small degree, had a part in this magnificent achievement.