A/N: So I am a productive procrastinator. When I am supposed to write essays, I write fanfiction instead.


Fear and guilt twirled around him like nefarious twin spirits, threatening to engulf him and cause him to plunge into panic. It took a few days for Nigel to digest just how serious his rendezvous with Uncle Albus was. He was stupid, he read the papers and he was not numb to all the surrounding chatter.

First, there was talk that Albus Potter broke into the Ministry of Magic and stole important documents. Then, the announcements were changed to reveal that the said intruder was actually an imposter. Then the furor, fear and backlash.

"I hope the incompetent Hermione Granger is voted out of office! Mum says she was decent when she first became Minister but she's growing increasingly out of touch!"

"Seriously, why are we skirting around the issue that Albus Potter is probably the most dangerous criminal the Wizarding World has witnessed since You-Know-Who? People these days are blind to the problem!"

"The Ministry needs to stop covering up for its mistakes — the people are not idiots!'

"Do they take us for fools? That's a really convenient location for a body to be dumped! Right in front of the ministry! Really! This is beyond insulting to our intelligence!"

"Harry Potter is really letting his love for his own son blind him! Let me tell you what should be done: immediate capture of Albus Potter and a life sentence to Azkaban!"

Being mindful that his family's reputation was at stake, Nigel somehow developed the ability to avoid critical questions.

He knew what people were saying about Uncle Albus. That other day, when Sophie had gathered a bunch Ravenclaws together in the Common Room to narrate her perspective of what occurred. "My father was hospitalized for weeks after a failed mission to retrieve Albus Potter and let me tell you, he does not mince his words when describing that man. According to him, Albus Potter had no problem with using all sorts of dark spells and murdered over one hundred people in the course of his life. Apparently, on the night of his escape — yes that night when we were all alerted about the Sons of Walpurgis — Albus Potter murdered his best friend and fiancé. There are some Aurors that even believe he was working for the Sons of Walpurgis the whole time. And I'm not even surprised!"

It was frustrating because he knew it was all false and yet he was too afraid to speak up, to challenge her. One because Sophie was an upperclassman with considerable clout, two because she was also friends with many of his friends and three because he did not want to be ostracized or arouse suspicion amongst his housemates. So he played along.

"It's just… I never thought this would happen to him. Dad said he never saw it coming," Nigel mumbled to his friends after an intense night-long conversation about current affairs.

"Not many did," Karen remarked with a hint of sympathy and understanding, "I know it must have been hard for your family."

"It was," Nigel conceded, frantically concealing his own conflicted views. Uncle Albus had always been nice to him and when they met again, he had given him tons of candy and seemed like a genuinely nice person. Part of him still wanted to tag along and travel the world.

"I hope there's no repeat of well, the Second Wizarding War," said Conrad, "Not that I think it's likely—"

"It absolutely is," Marius challenged him. "There are still many that covertly support You-Know-Who's ideals, that's why the Sons of Walpurgis gained so many supporters in the first place. Many old pureblood families — obviously not yours or yours"— he felt the need to assure Conrad and Nigel—"feel disgruntled by their loss of status in society. With the right kind of leader and figurehead, who knows what could happen. Which is why I instantly harbor a sense of distrust towards Slytherins, no offense Dorothea, not you of course."

"How's the talk like in your dormitory, Dory?" Conrad prodded, curious, though mildly insensitive towards how it might have come across.

"Not much," Dorothea said and after being met with silence, reassured, "I'm serious! Though most of us thought the problem with Albus Potter was blown out of proportion, I mean—"

"Out of proportion? Not to be rude or anything but when historians look back, this whole furor surrounding him is probably going to be an important chapter of events pertaining to this generation and era," Yiannis remarked, mildly incredulous.

"I am not saying — well, I mean, Analenna said her father said that Albus Potter actually protected his family from the Sons of Walpurgis when they refused to join it. But Albus Potter was too rough with his methods and the Aurors didn't like what he was doing so they banished him. Apparently, they went to school together, were in the same grade and they were buddies. Many think Albus Potter poses no threat to England, is not a Dark Lord wannabe and comparing him to You-Know-Who is ridiculous. Again, I'm not—" Dorothea uttered defensively when faced with accusatory glares.

"Okay, hang on a second, you are not suggesting that Albus Potter was innocent and the papers, the Aurors and, you know, every respectable pillar in the Wizarding World was wrong and this random girl in your house — known for its association and sympathy to Dark Wizards and Witches — was right?" Karen exclaimed

"No of course not! I'm just repeating what I said! All I'm saying is that some people hold different perspectives!"

"Yeah, well what can you say. They look after their own," muttered Marius.

"I'm not—"

"Guys, stop hounding in on her," Nigel finally found the courage to speak up. "She never said she agreed with those views."

"I never said she—"

"Let's play Exploding Snap instead, how does that sound?"

He felt relief was all over him as they all agreed, putting this uncomfortable conversation behind them. Another bullet dodged.

~X~

Lily had just gotten another text, this time from an unknown number. But the contents revealed the identity to her with no challenge.

Is this Lily? This is Isadora. I was on your brother's Auror team as well as… well, your ex, Cynthia and Thomas. I work at the Department of Mysteries now though. I think I found evidence you would like to know.

She put her cellphone down again and took another sip of nutrients, which James, after hours of haggling, forced her to take and actually managed to cast a spell monitoring her progress. As if she was a baby.

She had locked herself up for over a week now and had no intention of listening to the news or stepping into the outside world. Work was taken care of by the fact that she was entitled to a month's paid leave per year anyway, courtesy to welfare legislation passed by her aunt.

A knock on her door.

"Lily? Is this Lily? This is Cynthia, Neil and Morrison! You haven't been to work for over a week and we're worried for you! You haven't been picking up calls or replying to texts either. We got you flowers and chocolate!"

Great.

She wished she could somehow convey it to them that all the lack of contact was deliberate. She did not wish to speak to them. In fact, she was in no mood to speak to anyone, James and his concerns be damned.

"Lily we know you're in there!" Morrison bellowed. "Take your time! We're in no rush!"

"For the last time, stop making her seem like a bad person if she's not answering," Lily could hear Neil's didactic voice lecturing the two of them, "She's going through a rough period and is entitled to take some rest."

"Lily you don't have to open the door or meet us today, but if you ever need to talk, we'll be here for you!" Cynthia shouted.

"That and your brother Albus probably even wasn't the person who attacked us in the Ministry," Morrison continued bellowing on the topic of his voice, "Ouch! Cynthia stop ribbing me! Ouch! Neil — boss, don't try to smack me — ouch—"

Lily's felt something drop inside of her. She rushed towards the door. "I'm listening," she said, huffing and puffing, facing three concerned teammates.

"See? That did the work!" Morrison bragged, puffing his chest.

"Morrison is right," Neil explained. "The attacker likely transfigured into Albus Potter. His unconscious body, along with the scroll capsule he was trying to steal, were found outside the Ministry by me. So that means the person who tried to attack you and kill all of us wasn't your brother."

Lily sighed and shut her eyes. This was supposed to relieve her, but the very fact that she found Albus behaving so violently a plausible scenario unnerved her. "I'm sorry I need some time to process this." She paused. "Then, what exactly happened? Is he innocent then?"

"Well, of the Ministry break-in, probably. Anyways, that's not what I came here for, but I hope you're doing okay…" Neil felt his voice trail off. She obviously wasn't. Her red hair was unkempt, her eyes were bloodshot, possibly from crying, her T-shirt had tea, coffee, hot chocolate, soup leftovers spilled all over it.

"I'm fine. You guys can come in," Lily offered. "It appears there's more that we can talk about than anticipated."

~X~

"You know Isadora?! How's she doing? I haven't heard from her for ages!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"Well, she's working as a researcher at the Department of Mysteries now," Lily said.

"That much I know."

"I only know that much," Lily quipped. "We've never talked but I just received a text message from her. She says that she's found 'evidence' that might interest me. I'm really not sure what it means."

"Cool, I'll keep that in mind," Neil remarked. "I've been… trying to work out all the connections, all the loose strings… it's all coming together, somehow—"

"It's all speculation, of course," Morrison noted.

"Yes, yes, but it's better than nothing and … ah shit! My parents are calling! Fuck! I feel like I forgot something…." Neil's voice trailed off warily as he frantically checked all his past unread text messages. "Fuck, I'm supposed to look after great-great-great gran…"

"The racist one?" Morrison said with a chuckle.

"Yes, that one."

~X~

Thomas MacLaggen was not happy about his temporary placement, though he sensed something similar would happen for a long time coming. Tobias would be hospitalized for more than a month due to the Cruciatus Cruse worsening his Maladictus-like symptoms. And Harry Potter was keen for him to firstly, keep track of Cynthia's progress, and secondly, he suspected, to keep a watch over Lily Potter.

He had not been fully introduced to the team yet because he was off in Europe for a security conference, but as he stepped through the immigration check-in, he wondered if not offering a stronger pushback against Head Auror Potter's insistence was a mistake.

~X~

Neil always hated spending time with his great-great-great (it was hard to keep track) grandmother Primrose Nott. Firstly because she was a bigot of the highest order who continuously complained about Muggles and Muggleborns, which made him feel like a bad person by association. Secondly, because it seemed that she never had anything nice to say about anyone whatsoever.

The Potters and Weasleys were, naturally, blood traitors and a deathblow to Wizardkind. Hogwarts was filled with left-wing nonsense and educating a new generation of blood traitors. Durmstrang, however, produced too many unstable and unintelligent idiots who were simply not up to the task of restoring the Wizarding World to its former grandeur. Mother and father are soft-brained airheads whose decadence was representative of the general decline of the Wizarding World. Lawrence was a mediocre pothead masquerading as a teacher who, again, was doing his part to consign the Wizarding race to the dustbin of history. The Malfoys were blood-sucking bankers and sellouts and blood-traitors now, apparently. The Lestranges, however, were too crazy and stupid for their own good. Her long-deceased husband Cantankerous Nott was a hypocrite who fulminated about blood-purity in public but privately entertained "little Muggle whores." Not even the former Dark Lord was spared for her incriminations, or as she would say, "That fraudulent little weasel of a half-blood… "

Hence why he groaned as he stepped into his old family home, ascending the stairs into her dusty little room. He used to always drew lots with Lawrence, as none of them wanted to look after her and their parents' patience can only last so long. Then they came up with more creative ways of determining who spends time with her, including broom racing, ice-cream eating, Wizard chess and creating 'viral' cat videos on this muggle thing called YouTube. Except now Lawrence was gone, off to America perhaps forever and also not on speaking terms with him anymore after a gratuitous session of both of them hurling vulgar verbal abuses at each other. Life was hard. His brother had complained that his connections and relationship with Albus Potter essentially saved their entire family from both being attacked by the Sons of Walpurgis and being suspected collaborators of the Sons of Walpurgis and that he had barely spoken with Albus Potter after the fiasco at the Ministry and certainly not during the day of recent break-in. ("But you guys communicated…." — "Once! Okay maybe twice! I had to at least thank him!") It was pointless.

"Hi gran, sorry I'm late, I was at my friend's house and forgot about the time. Mom called me and I rushed here right away—"

"With that vile muggle device?"

"I mean, yeah with the mobile phone—"

"Wizardkind is doomed."

"Whatever you say, gran."

"Did you know, your cousin — that idiot Vacillius — tried to escape from prison again? I told him a long time ago there's no point in saving us purebloods anymore. Soon there will be none left."

"Alright then. I mean, purebloods were never a majority even in the Middle Ages—"

"Nonsense! Is that what they teach you at Hogwarts?"

"No, I, ugh, read and research—"

"You need to read better!"

"Okay gran."

"Tell me, are you seeing anyone?"

"I see people every day."

"No, I meant a girl! A wonderful pureblood girl who would bear me wonderful great-great-great pureblood grandchildren! Even if it's a mere drop in the ocean of this… this filthy cauldron of barbarity."

"No."

"Pity."

"She'll come when she comes. I have other focuses."

"What with that dastardly organization known as the Aurors?"

"Yes."

"Ah, I've seen the furor. It's a load of nonsense! There's no way that Potter-son is a Dark Lord or terrorist or criminal. Anyone with brains could tell! He's far too full of himself to be dangerous."

"Have you met him?"

"No."

"Then how would you know—"

"I was just speculating. And I'm always right."

"No, you were not right about Voldemort—"

"Oh but I was! I knew he would fail and I never supported the Death Eaters!" She exclaimed matter-of-factly. Neil found it bizarre. "What, a half-blood leading an organization promoting the existence of purebloods, it was never going to work!"

"Sure, sure…" He mumbled, not wanting to start another aimless argument.

"Besides, he dabbled in some very Dark Magic. And by Dark Magic, I don't mean the ridiculous restrictions and standards set by the dastardly imbecilic governments in recent times — no. This… He crossed the line for many who would otherwise whole-heartedly support the cause. Although I must confess, I never knew about this until after he died."

"Oh? What kind of magic is off-limits even for you? I mean, I've seen you use the Killing Curse on spiders and flies just because they annoyed you—"

"They were spiders and flies! Besides… that was once! Once! And your mother and father thought I was insane afterwards. Nonsense! No— no, I am, of course, speaking about a Horcrux."

"A Horcrux? What is that?"

"Oh, the dim mind of the young generation. Never mind that, it's the one thing that I'm happy about you lot not knowing. They're terrible, foul things borne from murder but also profoundly unnatural… You kill someone and encase your torn soul in an object. And he's made seven of those apparently!"

"Horcruxes, you say?"

"Yes, do you need me to repeat that word ten-thousand times. Anyways, best if you forget it. It's not worth knowing. You know, I reckon that the new aspiring Dark Lord, the one your idiotic cousin was following, was trying to make one too— Kept asking your cousin to look for important rare objects. Such a stupid idea—"

"YES!" Neil felt as if he had stumbled upon something important. "The new one— you mean the head of the Sons of Walpurgis?"

"Well, yes—"

"The one whose identity was still unknown."

"Unknown and likely unimportant. This Dark Lord was even more useless than the last—"

"Eureka!"

"— couldn't even take over the Ministry."

"Alright, alright, I see. Anyways, I think I'll get some biscuits from downstairs for both of us. Love you gran!"

"Well that's a first." She looked piqued and amused at the same time.


A/N: Would really appreciate any comments in the reviews! :D