AN: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in the Harry Potter world, everything belongs to JK Rowling.
This chapter has a lot of discussion in it that I felt was important to explain why some things were different than how they were done in cannon. I understand that this may be too dry for some readers so I added a little fun to the middle of it. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter VII
Amelia looked around the room, waiting for anyone to get up and leave, or complain about having to perform an oath. She was surprised to see all the adults remain seated with their wands in front of them ready for the words to the oath they would be performing.
"Thank you all, that really means a lot to us," she said a bit chocked up on how trusting they all were.
Frank snorted, "if we can't trust the head of the DMLE, which happens to be my boss, then we have bigger issues."
"Thank you, Frank," she continued, "now I will ask for you to swear to never reveal the information we are about to disclose to anyone, under any circumstances, without the express permission of myself, Sirius, Frank, or Alice."
Everyone made the appropriate oath one by one, so that each one could be verified by the rest of the room.
Amelia once again called for attention, "now that that is over with, I would like to apologize to you all for keeping this from you, as well as lying to a few of you. Please hold your questions while I explain myself.
"Before Harry or Rose were born, Dumbledore heard a prophecy, this prophecy was then told to Lily, James, Frank, and Alice. It told of their children becoming targets of the mad man called Lord Voldemort," she was grateful that no one in the room flinched at the name, "because of this, they all went into hiding. The thing is, the prophecy spoke of a child 'born as the seventh month dies' to parents 'who had thrice defied him' which could have meant Rose, Harry, or Neville, as they were all born at the end of July. The next part however confuses us even now. 'and the Dark Lord will mark the child as his equal' which we assumed was the scar that the twins have.
"Let me go over the entire thing first before I continue. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the dark Lord will mark the child as his equal, but shall have a power the Dark Lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…' We assumed, or hoped, that that prophecy had been completed that Halloween nine years ago. And ask the Potters were marked, it would remove Neville from being one of the targets, but with the Dark Lord gone even the Potters would be safe.
"We discussed about the possibility that the prophecy had not yet been completed and so we have been giving them extra training so they can have every opportunity to excel if the need arises. Unfortunately, Lisa Abbott brought me news that Ollivander had a similar memory overlap as the rest of us that night. The difference is his involved one wand becoming two. That would have been fine if those twin wands didn't now belong to our beloved twins. That leads us to believe that the prophecy is not yet complete and those two will have many challenges ahead of them."
Sirius picked up from there, "like she said, we apologize for keeping this from you, but we hoped against hope that those two would be able to lead happy lives and the worst was behind them. But we have to plan for the worst just in case. No body was ever found at the scene, and even his wand was missing. No ashes could be found, a bone, blood, nothing. Its as if he completely disappeared. Thankfully, we could not detect any apparition residue in the house, so we believe that at least his body was completely destroyed and is now at best a spirit roaming the world." Everyone kept their eyes on Sirius, hoping for good news, "when we spoke to Dumbledore, he refused to tell us how the Dark Lord knew of this prophecy, or how much he knew of it. He hinted at only part of the prophecy being revealed to him."
Sirius looked over to the Longbottoms, "unfortunately that may mean that the Dark Lord did not know the portion about the child being marked which would, yet again, put Neville as a target," Alice started tearing up while Frank's eyes lit up with anger.
"What we know is that Albus had a spy in Voldemort's ranks, we know that he was very adamant about keeping Snape from Azkaban, and we assume that the prophecy is still active. With some guess work, we believe that Snape is the one who gave the Dark Lord the partial prophecy, which is why we have been very adamant about the children learning Occlumency, as well as avoiding him as much as possible. It is entirely possible that we are wrong, which is why we haven't gone all out against him, in the hopes that he was always under Dumbledore as his spy. But with the whole wand fiasco, we can't be too careful.
"To that end, we ask that you all help us in keeping all of our children safe, keeping them away from Albus and Snape, as they are both master ligilimens, and Albus likes to control people without ever telling them much in return. Do you have any questions?"
Allen spoke up first, "what are the chances of Voldemort returning?"
Amelia answered quickly, "minimal, however we all know that that bastard threw himself at the dark arts and performed many dark rituals. We cannot allow us to grow complacent when the possibility of his return exists. I have applied for a tutor's license to cover this house. Which means that the children once they complete the first year of Hogwarts, will be able to practice magic here."
Andromeda was the next to ask a question, "so they will be free to use magic whenever they want without alerting the Ministry?"
Sirius smiled causing Amelia and Alice to sigh, "unfortunately that is the case, however we will be telling all the children that just like their practice wands, their regular wands were charmed to not notify the ministry while an adult was present. We will tell them that every adult here, and possibly Tonks, has been keyed into those charms so that they may practice while under the supervision of any one of us. This way, they will all be able to practice, while still being careful to not use magic without supervision. We can probably convince them that only the training room will allow the use of magic at home.
"Is anyone opposed to their children being able to practice while at our home, under the supervision of one of us?" she asked to the room.
Everyone remained silent, "Very well, any other questions?"
Allison Turpin had a question, "what about the children they make friends with? I'm sure our children would want to extend the opportunity to learn to their new friends."
"We will be speaking with the children as the year progresses. Whenever they make new friends, we will look into their families for any sign of trouble, such as political opposition, imperioused death eaters, Voldemort sympathizers, etc. etc. If we find them to be safe, we will ask whoever they are friends with to offer them the chance to learn along our children. We will also speak with their parents to ask them permission. If everyone agrees, then we can simply tell our children that we have added the charm to their wands as well."
Sirius spoke up, "we have already offered this to the Greengrass family, as Daphne is Neville's cousin. We obviously kept most of what we just talked about from them, only explaining that we wanted our children to have the best chance when it came to their education. Isabella even offered to help with potions as she is a potions master that was something we could not refuse. We have plenty of people able to teach DADA, and at least for the first few years we should be able to handle most any question about transfiguration and charms."
Phillipe Turpin spoke up for the first time in ages, "to keep up appearances that this is to keep their grades up, I can offer assistance with herbology and astronomy, as those were, and still are my favorite subjects."
"And if that dreadful Professor Binns has not been exorcised yet, I can give them an actual history lesson that does not involve goblins," said Andromeda, "and as a mediwitch, I can offer them knowledge on basic healing, such as healing small cuts, and some pain relief spells. Nothing that can be dangerous mind you, but if those twins are anything like the marauders, they may need some healing from time to time."
Sirius looked embarrassed, "I don't know what you're talking about Andy, however I'm very thankful for your help."
"I'm sure you don't know Siri, its not like you patched you up on your first year. Just be glad I was in walking back from the library and found you," she responded, "you never did tell me what caused that large knot on your head?"
"Ah, well you see, Lucy decided to call Lily names, and James overheard that so of course he had to charge in and make him apologize," he said while scratching the back of his head where he remembered that knot to be at all those years ago, "well Snivellus decided to help out Lucy, probably hoping that he would be accepted by the older Slytherin. Anyways, when I saw James was outnumbered, I jumped in to help, and well we got our asses handed to us."
Amelia looked at her husband, "really Padfoot, calling names after all these years."
Most everyone chuckled at the over-grown man-child. He decided to change the topic, "well anyways, do we have any more questions? Or should we go make sure the kids haven't gone full Lord of the Fly on Tonks?"
"What about the new DADA teacher?" asked Frank, "do we have any info on him or her?"
Everyone shook their head.
"I invited Minerva, Filius, and Pamona, to have a little chat too so we can ask them. They should be here at ten, which is in," Amelia cast a quick tempus "a little over half an-hour. Let's go check on the kids while we wait."
~~~IGYB~~~
Tonks was wondering how it all went so wrong. She remembered chasing after Neville and Harry, she remembered losing them on the second floor when she tripped over the last step, which she was sure was not there a second ago. Then Rose had caught up to her and told her that they had climbed out a window and would be outside. She quickly followed the girl downstairs and out the back door.
Rose had then pointed at a shed in the back, told her that Harry liked to hide in the back behind Sirius's motorcycle. But as soon as she walked through the door a small hand that had to be Rose pushed her forward knocking her off balance. Before she could catch herself, her two targets jumped down from either side of the door with a blanket in between them. Now she was sat on a bucket in the shed, a bedsheet tied around her, and Harry was twirling HER wand while smirking.
"Rose, how could you betray your favorite cousin like that!" She yelled at the girl she knew was behind her.
Harry decided to answer before Rose, "to be fair you're our only cousin, as Draco does not count, and Sue and Percy are more like siblings."
Her hair turned red, "that's besides the point, how could you betray me Rose."
"Well, they did help me this morning to make sure I didn't get pranked," she said in a small voice, "and I honestly thought you would be able to get out of this by now."
As she said that Harry and Neville ran out of the shed.
"Well, I could if you helped me a bit," she retorted.
Rose was quiet for a moment before she answered, "sorry Tonks, I figured you would use your metamorphmagus abilities to change your body to get out of there by now."
Tonks grew very still, her hair turning a very bright pink, along with her cheeks, "If you don't tell anyone about this, I promise to not prank you back for this deal?"
Rose nodded before remembering that she was behind Tonks and would not be seen, "deal."
As she started to change form to slip out of the rope and blanket, she heard a laugh that froze her, and a flash that terrified.
Sirius walked in, "I'm glad I never made that promise, and that I know to always carry this camera everywhere I go."
Tonks was red, not just her face, not just her hair, but all of Tonks. She looked up to her once favorite cousin, "just kill me now, please."
"If I did that, who could I blackmail with this picture? No, I think I will keep you around," He waved his wand and banished the blanket and ropes. He then put his camera in a pouch inside his robes. "I found them, they were taking a look at my bike," he said as he winked at them.
Tonks got up and retrieved her wand that Harry had thankfully left on the counter near the door before he ran away, "what do you want in return for your silence?" she whispered.
"I have to think about this," he responded, "its too good to let it go to waste on a spur of the moment idea."
Tonks had never wanted to hex someone so bad before, but knew that if she did, the picture would end up in some magazine or newspaper. She had to find something to blackmail him right back as soon as possible. For now, she would hold her tongue and her wand.
As they walked back towards the manor, she noticed the rest of the kids were playing exploding snap on a picnic table as if nothing had happened. She glared at Harry, obviously he was the mastermind behind the whole thing.
Sirius looked back and smiled, "hey Tonks, we are just waiting for some of the professors from school for another chat, do you think you can watch the kids a bit longer?"
She looked back towards Harry with a predatory smile, "with pleasure."
Harry shot up from the table, throwing his cards down and in the process made most of them explode. He quickly ran up to Sirius, "hey dad, can I ride my broom until you guys are finished?"
Sirius looked really happy for a moment before remembering how sneaky his godson could be, "you only call me dad when you are trying to get away with something, but I suppose since it is your birthday, I'll allow it."
"Thanks, da…"
"Under the condition that Tonks is to supervise you using my new Nimbus 2000," Sirius interrupted him.
Harry paled while Tonks ran up to hug him, "of course I'll watch over him, and make sure he doesn't hurt himself too much. By the way, I heard he is planning on becoming a seeker someday, do you happen to have some proper bludgers and a beater's bat handy to help him train?"
Harry's face could almost be confused with Draco's as he grew even more pale, "sure thing Tonks, they're back in that shed, behind my bike where you were just at. Help yourself."
The rest of the crowd simply wandered what was going on as they watched the horror that came over Harry's face while Tonks lit up with glee.
"Alright, kids, there are plenty of Cleansweep brooms available if you want to fly around a bit, just please be careful, and don't fly too high, Remus should be here in a bit and I can send him out to help watch you. Now for the rest of us lets go head back inside, they should be arriving in a few minutes."
~~~IGYB~~~
As the adults went back inside to the dining hall, Sirius sent Remus to help Tonks watch the kids. And to make sure she didn't hurt Harry too bad.
He soon arrived back at the dining hall where everyone was sat having idle conversation while they waited for him.
"Thank you for coming Professors," he said once he took his seat.
"Of course, Sirius, now if you can please inform us of what is so important that we had to come in two hours early for the birthday party?" asked Minerva.
Amelia answered the question, "we have an important matter to discuss with you three before school starts and figured this would be the best time to do so."
"Very well, what may we help you with Amelia?"
"Before we continue, we will need an oath of secrecy from you three," started Amelia but was interrupted by Minerva.
"Now listen here, we came at your request to discuss something important, we will not be subjected to secrecy oath if it could deal with the safety of the students."
"Peace Minerva, it has to do with the Prophecy," responded Amelia before she could anger the Scottish professor anymore.
"Oh," was all Minerva could say.
Filius, who was sitting on a chair that had been transfigured to be taller, continued for his shocked colleague, "well if it has to do with that, I guess we can swear an oath of secrecy."
After the appropriate oaths were given by the three professors Amelia continued, "everyone here has also sworn an oath, so they all know as much as what we will be telling you. What you need to know is that the twins have gotten their wands. Unfortunately, that is where the trouble starts."
Amelia, Sirius, and Lisa retold everything from the night that the children were rescued to up until they were given their twin wands.
Amelia continued, "and now we have talked to our children about being especially careful at school this year."
Pamona was the first to answer, "of course you can count on us to look after your children, I am sure Albus will keep Severus handled. We can understand your concern the way he acts, he favors his Slytherin's and punishes anyone else. Its almost as if he is screaming, 'look at me, I favor the family of death eaters.' I'm surprised he still has his job."
"Thank you Pamona, but we also need to talk about who the new DADA teacher will be this year. Do you three have any idea who it is?" asked Sirius.
Minerva answered for him, "that would be Professor Quirrell. He used to be such a meek young boy, always had his nose in a book, Filius you should know more about him, he was in your house after all."
The diminutive professor was thoughtful for a moment before answering, "yes I do recall young Quirrell, he went to Hogwarts shortly after you graduated Sirius. He was a very smart young man, however that only translated to theory, when it came to actual casting, he was average. He was more focused in charms, I'm not sure why he took the DADA position as he only received an Acceptable on his DADA NEWT."
Frank got the professor's attention, "Filius, did he side with the pureblood dogma? Was he close to any of the known death eaters? Anything that could point to him having ulterior motives for taking the DADA position this year?"
Filius once again seemed to think back, "no, I cannot think of anything, he was very quiet and kept to himself. Before this, the last I had heard of him was that he was going to travel the world in search of something that would be his calling. Now he returns from Albania with a stutter and a fear of vampires if the stench of garlic is anything to go by."
"Can you keep an eye on him, just in case?" asked Amelia.
Minerva answered first, "Albus screened him, however I can understand you wanting to be especially careful. I will keep an eye out for him."
Pamona spoke up next, "if he does anything shifty, I'll be sure to let you know Amelia."
Filius finished up for the trio, "I'll be sure to keep him in my sights, I'll see if anything rings any warning bells, as I am the one that knows him best."
Lisa then brought the group to the next topic, "now the last thing that we wanted to talk about you is a sensitive subject that I would please ask you to hear us out before commenting." She waited for the three professors to nod before continuing, "while we all trust that Albus is trying to do his best with everything going on, we cannot help but be cautious around him. He has been keeping information from us that pertain to our children, especially Neville, Rose, and Harry. We understand that he may have his reasons, however we do not like it one bit. To make us all feel better, we ask that under no circumstances is he to be alone with any of our charges."
Minerva started to open her mouth before Filius grabbed her arm to hold her back.
"What we mean by that, is that we would like for one of you three to contact anyone of us in this room, to accompany whichever child or children have to go before the Headmaster. We all give every adult in this room approval to be witness to whatever conversation he has with any of our children. We would also like to ask as a favor if detentions with Professor Snape can be transferred to any of you, as we do not trust that man."
"While I trust Albus with my life, it is within your rights as parents to request to be present if a child goes before the headmaster. We will notify one of you immediately and wait for your arrival before he will see them. As for Severus, we will do our best to keep him from being alone with your children. Even we do not fully trust him. We only tolerate him due to Albus's trust in the man," responded Minerva.
"Thank you, Minerva. We thank all of you for your time and understanding, and as a show of good faith, we have a small donation to give to the school," said Amelia while waving towards Sirius.
He smiled, "from the Black family we offer you, fifty of the newest Cleansweep racing brooms to replace those god-awful sticks you call broom at the school."
For Minerva Christmas had come early, "thank you, we have been trying to get new brooms for the past fifteen years, and the board continues to say they are outside of our budget."
Filius and Pamona were excited as it meant that their poorer students finally had a decent broom that they could practice in, which could lead to better players in the coming years. No longer would Gryffindor and Slytherin be the only two fighting for the championship.
Sirius got up from his seat, "if no one has anything else to discuss, we have a party to get started."
AN: Please review, let me know what mistakes you find. Let me know if you liked it, and if not, please let me know what you did not like about it.