A/N: koreankitten25 pointed out a very glaring error in this chapter. Thanks for keeping an eye on those things for me. As well, TristiLynne also pointed out a glaring error. I swear, I read from the beginning to make sure I don't make silly mistakes like this, but it's nice to know that others are out there, willing to call me on my boo-boos.
A Friend in the Castle
A quiet pop startled the prisoner from his slumber. Grumbling and rolling over in his bed, Dumbledore blearily glared at the intrusion. "Yes?" he barked gruffly, voice hoarse. "What do you want? It's not time to get up yet, and I'm not hungry anyway." Albus had decided to stage a hunger strike, to protest his unreasonable treatment, and his clothes were beginning to hang alarmingly off of his bony frame. He hadn't been a very heavy man to begin with, and the subsequent weight loss was beginning to endanger his health. He didn't care, however. He didn't see that he was acting like a petulant child, denied a sweet. He saw it as righteous indignation for being treated like a common criminal, instead of the god he believed himself to be.
"I is being sorry, master Dumbledore," the elf squeaked. "I is being the one who is being bringing youse the newsies. I is trying to being doing things to being help youse, but I is only being getting away in the night."
"Help me, you say?" the old man queried.
"Yes, master Dumbledore," the elf nodded enthusiastically, ears slapping his face with a thwapping sound.
"Excellent," the evil being purred with a malicious grin, that didn't look all that sane on his gaunt face. "You can bring me some food," he continued, suddenly starving. "I must regain my strength; the children will be returning to school in just over three weeks. That will be plenty of time to put my plans in place." The elf popped away with a tiny squeak of joy; he had been waiting for a very long time to be noticed by the great and powerful wizard. Now he would be revered amongst all elves as the greatest, noblest, most important one in all of house elfdom.
"All right, children," Lucius barked above the din, effectively silencing it. "I've been in contact with my own personal jeweler in Paris, and the rings I've ordered have been finished. Since you must return to Hogwarts next Tuesday, I thought we'd spend this week there, enjoying the sights. Hermione, your parents were also invited, but declined, saying something about exploring?"
"Yes, Lucius," the bushy-haired girl replied with a wide grin of excitement. "They had been invited on an outing with some of the couples to whom you'd introduced them."
"Ah," the blond sighed with a smile. "That is excellent news. They seem to be fitting in quite well here."
"Even with no magic, they're welcome because they're members of the Sacred Twenty Eight," the girl responded with a grimace. "I hope that they'll be able to make friends without the significance of their heritage."
"Fear not, Hermione," Severus told the girl. "Your parents are quite charming on their own. They'll have no trouble fitting in."
They went to the jeweler as soon as they appeared in the apparition chamber. The rest of the adults checked into the hotel they were staying at, leaving Malfoy alone with the kids. The blond wanted it that way; he didn't want anyone to feel guilty or beholden to him for what he was doing. Lucius was quite anxious to get the protections he'd ordered for the children, and was a little nervous at how they'd be received. Arriving at Rojer's, they went in, the man behind the counter smiling widely at his guests.
"Welcome to my showroom," he said with arms open as wide as his smile. "I am Rojer. What may I do for you this fine day?" His eyes scanned the group, before widening on Lucius' face. "Ah, Monsieur Malfoy. I see you are here to retrieve your order?"
"I am, Rojer," the blond patriarch replied with a smile. "I may also be persuaded to purchase some other baubles." He turned to the children with a fond gleam in his eye. "Why don't you lot take a look around. Mayhap there's something here that might catch your eye." Giggling and chattering, the kids dispersed to all corners of the shop, eyes gleaming in excitement. Malfoy made his way to the counter as Rojer pulled out the drawer with Lucius' order, placing it on the glass top of the showcase.
"As you can see," Rojer said softly, "they are of the utmost quality. I have made sure that all the protections you ordered were in place, as well."
"They are beautiful," Malfoy murmured softly, picking up one of rings. It had a gemstone made of amber, with the Ravenclaw crest carved into it. Around the band were actinolite cat's eye gemstones, embedded into the platinum. It was a lovely piece, and Lucius was sure that Hermione would love it. He looked over the rest of the rings as he replaced the one he'd picked up, marveling at their exquisite quality and detail. "You've done a marvelous job," he continued, reaching into his pocket to pull out a sack of galleons. Just then, Hadrian stepped up to the man, startling him slightly. Emerald eyes went to the tray, then back to Lucius' face, a raven eyebrow quirked in curiosity.
"I've found something I like," the boy said, glancing at the shopkeeper from the corner of his eye. "I think the others have also." Following the young Snape heir, they met the other children by a showcase in which a variety of blades and weapons sat. Lucius turned to Rojer with a quirked eyebrow and a small smirk. The French man blushed and smiled sheepishly at the older blond.
"I have been collecting special muggle weapons from people who have more need for money than the blades," he explained softly. "What most of them do not realize is that these weapons are made of either goblin or dwarven steel, and are imbued with a variety of protective spells and charms. I keep them in this warded display case, since I cannot include them with the rest of my wares."
"So, children, you've found something interesting here?" Lucius inquired with a grin. At the enthusiastic nods and mutterings, the elder Malfoy looked at Rojer indulgently. "It seems my children wish to have one of these blades," he said. "I am sure that there are enough galleons in the pouch to cover both the rings and the blades."
The trip to Paris was the high point of the summer. As well as taking in all the sights, the kids, Severus, Narcissa, Remus, Sirius, and Lucius went to Parc Astérix in Picardy, where they enjoyed the rides and the six different worlds, from Egypt to the Vikings. It was an especially enjoyable day for Hadrian, because he could spend a lot of quality time with his family and friends. He loved his father and Lucius a lot, but the first few years he'd been at the Manor were a little rough. Severus was afraid to take Hadrian out anywhere because he knew that Albus was looking for the boy. He didn't want to risk someone from the 'old crowd' catching sight of the baby and telling Albus. After all, most of them had been present at Hadrian's birth, and knew what the child looked like. As well, it took time to break the snarky man out of his habit of hiding in the potions lab, but the efforts that Hadrian, Lucius, Sirius and Remus put in finally bore fruit.
When Lucius and the kids returned, the first thing they did was go to their rooms and drop off all of their souvenirs. The second thing they did was collapse on their beds and nap for a few hours.
"Hey, Dad?" Hadrian asked quietly as he walked up to Severus, who was in the middle of a potion. The older man held up a hand in warning as he finished the last, delicate process before putting the potion under a stasis charm.
"What do you need, son?" he asked softly, leading the child to a sofa in the corner of his private potions lab in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. They sat, and Severus called for a house elf to request some refreshments.
"Ron told me that we weren't allowed to do underage magic outside Hogwarts. That the Ministry has a trace on our wands, and registers all illegal magical activity, especially in the muggle world."
"That is true, Hadrian," the dark man concurred as he reached for a scone.
"Then how could Hermione practice the spells? Do you remember what she said when we first met her? About being able to master all the first year spells before she came?" At his father's nod, his son continued. "Well, if the Ministry is truly monitoring underage magic in the muggle world, wouldn't they have gone to her house to warn her?"
"That...is a very good question, Hadrian," Severus murmured, dark eyes distant in thought. "If the Ministry is not monitoring muggleborns, then how are we ensuring the Statute of Secrecy? The laws are very clear; magic isn't to be used in front of muggles under any circumstances. If Hermione was using magic in her home, in a muggle neighborhood, then the Ministry should've been out there post haste. I'll have a talk with Amelia Bones. Perhaps she has some answers."
The ride back to Hogwarts was unremarkable for the children's second year. Neville had begun to blossom more fully under the gentle love of his adopted parents. There were nights that the brunet would wake from a sound sleep, screaming in terror, but Remus and Sirius were immediately at his side to soothe him back to the land of dreams. It would take some time, but the pair hoped that their son would soon outgrow his night terrors.
They were in their car, talking and horsing around, when Hadrian sat next to Sirius and looked at his dad, who was across from him. "How did the headmaster make a magical contract with Aunt Petunia? She's a muggle. It's not possible to make a magical contract with a non-magical person."
"Petunia is not a muggle," Sirius told the child. Emerald eyes turned to his godfather curiously as the raven listened. "She's a squib. Since it's not possible for two purely muggle people to have a magical child, that means that one, or both of Lily's parents were squibs. Since the magic only showed in Lily, I would hazard a guess that only one of your grandparents was a squib. Though they don't have access to magic, they are still magical. They still carry magic in their bodies; they're just not able to access it for one reason or another."
"So, being a squib is like a birth defect?" Hermione asked softly.
"Yes and no," Severus replied, looking at the muggleborn fondly. "They are magical, but for some reason their core doesn't develop like other magicals. It's almost as if it's atrophied. I don't know if it's genetics, or inbreeding, but, for some reason, some magicals are born without the use of magic."
"You know, this would make an interesting class in Hogwarts," Hadrian said after a moment, smiling. "I mean, there are science classes in the muggle schools. Why can't we have the same in Hogwarts?"
"You do," Remus chimed in, happy with the intelligence of the children in his pack. "It's called Potions." Severus snorted softly, then chuckled at the put-out expression on Hadrian's face.
"No, I mean really. Potions could technically be called chemistry. I'd like to have classes in biology and earth sciences. And, before you say anything, Herbology doesn't count as an earth science. It's a class teaching you how to grow and handle potions ingredients. Not the same thing, at all."
"Yeah," Hermione chirped excitedly. "We also need maths, and social studies, and geography, and health, and English. I mean, the muggle schools have so many classes, and they learn so much! Why can't we do that?"
"Learning about the magical world economy would be a good thing, too," Seamus said as he came up to the group. "Learning about business ventures, and investments, as well as learning how to navigate the magical world using galleons, sickles and knuts would be grand. Muggleborns are completely lost when coming here, because we aren't accustomed to the money here. In the muggle world there are dozens of types of currency, depending on in which part of the world you live.
"It's harder here, because we don't know the exchange rate for the galleon, sickle or knut. I mean, how much is a sickle worth in muggle money? The knut? All I know is that the exchange rate for the galleon is five pounds, give or take. How would we know if we're being scammed, if we don't know how much each coin is worth?"
"The children raise some really good points," Remus said softly as the rest of the kids wandered away to continue the conversation elsewhere. "Muggleborns come here expecting a certain standard of learning, and when they arrive, they're completely lost, because, up until they get here, they've learned a whole host of other things that don't really apply in any way to the education here. It's no wonder they go back to the muggle world when they graduate here. Not only is the education substandard, but there are no real occupations that would appeal to them."
"I'll have a talk with Lucius when I have a moment," Severus said softly. "I'm sure that we'll be able to figure out something."
