In Defence Against the Dark Arts they had started studying the history of
the Death Eaters, but only those who had been caught and convicted.
"We do not entertain conspiracy theories in this class," Professor Figg said sternly, surveying the class with her icy blue eyes. "Only facts will be mentioned, not the names of alleged Death Eaters. Do you hear this? I want to teach you these things so you'll know what people are talking about when they mention Antonin Dolohov or Evan Rosier, both convicted Death Eaters. But if teaching you these things causes hostility between certain people, families or Hogwarts houses, I will not be allowed to teach again, ever. This is a very sensitive subject at the moment, what with the Death Eaters acting up again after the whole debâcle at last year's Triwizard Tournament."
Harry feared that she would draw attention to him, but to his relief she went on talking without even letting her eyes rest on his face. Everyone else was listening so intently that they didn't turn to stare at him either.
"Parchment and quills out, everyone," Professor Figg ordered. She flicked her wand and the blank slate at the front of the room suddenly filled with chalk writing. Professor Figg's tiny notes were crammed into every corner, sideways, upside, in spiral shapes, with a pretty border of coloured chalk that turned out to be-more writing. "Take it down. All of it. And listen while you write, I'm giving the lecture at the same time."
The class groaned but obediently began copying at top speed while keeping their ears open to her lecture.
"The first Death Eaters made themselves known in 1969, when one morning there was a giant explosion in the middle of Diagon Alley. They blew up Flourish & Blott's, probably an attempted to decimate the shops and flats all round. Forty-four were dead and seventy-nine injured, including myself. I was in the Apothecary at the time, when there was a great boom and all the windows shattered. The floorboards rippled under my feet, and things fell off the shelves on people's heads."
Professor Figg was standing at the window, staring outside. "When we ran outside into the street there was a strange cloud of green sparks hanging over the ruins of Flourish & Blott's. It formed a shape that would become all too familiar over the next fifty years. It looked like this."
She pointed her wand at a blank slate on the wall and a chalk picture of the Dark Mark appeared. The class gasped, and Harry shivered. Even in chalk the skull with a snake coming out of its mouth seemed to glow eerily.
"I hope you never see this again in your lives," Professor Figg said softly. "Some of you may have seen it already at the Quidditch World Cup last year. Some foolish Death Eater thought that his fellow lowlifes would enjoy the reappearance of their master's emblem. This is the Dark Mark, the sign of Lord Voldemort. The Death Eaters sent it up into the sky every time they killed someone. They thought it was funny, like a cat burglar leaving a calling card in the house he's pillaged. Less than one year after the first Dark Mark appeared in the sky, it had already become the most dreaded image in the wizarding world. Coming home from work, Ministry officials did not breathe until they saw the sky was clear over their houses." She paused and the class was silent, having forgotten the notes they should have been taking and simply giving her their entire attention. "I've seen it more times than I care to count. The last tally before I stopped was twenty-five. That was in that same year of 1969."
Professor Figg hesitated. "But I think I may be getting ahead of the subject. We have a lot of material to cover before your O.W.L.s in June, and it's mostly about Voldemort, but before him we had to study Grindelwald. Do any of you remember anything about Grindelwald, whom we studied last week? Yes, Miss Patil."
"The evil wizard Grindelwald emerged in the world circa 1890," Parvati Patil recited. "He had a gang of followers called the Black Beasts. He invented the Imperius Curse in. in 1917."
"1917 is correct," said Professor Figg. "Voldemort didn't exist yet, but Grindelwald began terrorizing the magical community in the late 1920s. I started at Hogwarts in 1937, and I became an Auror straight out of school. My career was inspired by the murder of my aunt Sophia by Grindelwald's Black Beasts when I was twelve. Sophia Neal, Neal is my maiden name, was an Auror, and her terrible death spurred in me a blazing desire to crush Grindelwald.
"Some of you may already have been touched by the hand of evil in your lives, and your experiences may also have created in you a desire for vengeance. What I learned, and what you need to learn, is that rage alone will get you nowhere. You must take your anger and focus it. I channelled my rage into my studies so that I could learn the skills an Auror needs and parlayed those skills into a career of Dark wizard-hunting. Light alone will not burn, but sunlight focussed with a magnifying glass becomes strong enough to create a fire. Rage by itself does nothing. But an Auror can do things. An Auror has the power to impact the world."
Harry looked round. Some people were nodding their heads to show they understood. Some were staring at Professor Figg open-mouthed like she had just told them the meaning of life. Harry smiled.
Professor Figg laughed. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I tend to digress. Now, I was saying that I became an Auror right out of school. That's not an easy thing to do. To be an Auror you need perfect N.E.W.T.s, like all high-up Ministry positions."
Hermione raised her hand. "Are all Aurors directly answerable to the Ministry of Magic?"
"Generally yes. But there are different branches of Aurors. There are Hit Wizards, who are only technically considered Aurors. They belong to the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and are mainly skilled in combat. Not the duelling type of combat, mind you, but simply force. Aurors track down Dark wizards and try to catch them, and that may include duelling; but Hit Wizards are only called in to apprehend groups of criminals, or the most dangerous criminals. Hit Wizards need near-perfect N.E.W.T.s, but not in irrelevant things like Herbology and Divination, only in things like Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and most of all Defence Against the Dark Arts, obviously.
"The Dark Force Defence League is another branch of the Ministry. This is the kind of Auror career that requires perfect N.E.W.T. results in every subject because these are the most intelligent people in the Ministry, and really I'm not being conceited just because I used to work in this department.
"The Dark Force Defence League was once part of the Department of Mysteries, but when it began to expand in personnel to deal with Voldemort, the Ministry was forced to make it a department of its own, and gave it sweeping powers. The Defence League never abused of its powers, however; it was only to separate it from the Ministry's other departments. You see, at the beginning of Lord Voldemort's ascent, the Dark Force Defence League had been languishing for some time, since the defeat of Grindelwald several years before. There had been few attempts of evil wizards to take power, and it was a surprise when the threat of Voldemort could not easily be quelled.
"When Voldemort emerged, the Ministry of Magic had to place the Dark Force Defence League above the other departments because it was becoming increasingly more important. It went back into a state of obscurity after the fall of Voldemort fourteen years ago. Now that he may be back, the Defence League is again returning, ready to act.
"The personnel of the Dark Force Defence League are the best Aurors in Britain." Harry looked up quickly from his parchment. He'd heard that phrase before. Could the Order of the Phoenix be part of the Dark Force Defence League? Harry saw Professor Figg flash a smile his way and knew that Dumbledore had informed her that Harry was in on the secret. "But they found their match in Voldemort's Death Eaters. The Death Eaters were the best-trained Dark wizards in a long time. Not since the battles with Salazar Slytherin's own privately instructed students had the Aurors met such a challenge.
"At first there were only about ten or so suspected Death Eaters. Evan Rosier was in there from the beginning, as were Antonin Dolohov, Rufino Lestrange, and Travers. We'll start with Travers today. Five points to Gryffindor if someone can tell me his first name."
Hermione's hand shot up into the air, cuffing Harry's ear, and Ron also raised his hand. Professor Figg selected Neville.
"Halvard," Neville said softly. He looked glum. "Halvard Travers."
"Excellent, Longbottom, five points. Halvard Travers, born on June 27th, 1946. His father, Halvard Senior, was convicted and sent to Azkaban because he was a Black Beast."
They similarly went through the histories of Rosier and his son Sheldon, Antonin Dolohov, and Rufino Lestrange.
"Now I was saying before that evil people's children often get caught up in the frenzy and join their parents, as we've seen in the Rosier family and the Travers family. Certainly it's possible that a child of a Death Eater may turn out good, or that a child of a perfectly upstanding magical family may turn out bad, but evil succeeds evil, more often than not. The Lestrange family is another example of this. Every generation of the Lestrange family has had at least one convicted wizard in it. The first historical record of a Lestrange wizard is in fact an ancient Azkaban prisoner profile." Someone giggled. "You laugh now, but they're inordinately pleased of what they think is a history of martyrdom. The Lestranges have always been slightly rebellious and anarchistic. However, it doesn't look like there will be anyone else to carry on their proud radicalist tradition now. Rufino Lestrange and his wife had only one son, Derrick, who is now in Azkaban serving numerous life sentences back-to- back, with no chance of appeal. He will die in there, if he isn't already dead."
Lavender raised her hand. "Which wizard is from the famous Lestrange couple, Derrick or Rufino?"
"That would be Derrick. Rufino was actually a clumsy sort of wizard. He went to school at Beauxbatons, whose educational standards are far lower than Hogwarts' or Dumstrang's. He was also blind in one eye, which was how Alastor Moody was able to get him in 1969, by creeping up behind on the left, and pow! Stunned, Disarmed and Tranfigured into a harmless toad. Rufino died in Azkaban, apprehended after his first killing." She grinned. "Lord Voldemort must have been terribly displeased.
"Derrick Lestrange, however, did not turn out exactly like his father. He was sent to school here at Hogwarts, where he was sorted into Slytherin." Professor Figg frowned. "I didn't teach him, but I was an Auror and I knew who he was. Derrick was a most detestable boy. He must have been in the same year as some of your parents, I think, maybe they knew him. But he moved away to Russia in his fourth year, transferring to Durmstrang, and the next time I saw him was in London in 1975. I stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron and there he was, duelling an Auror in the middle of Charing Cross Road. In broad daylight, amidst the rush of Muggle traffic! It made for a massive load of Memory Charms, I tell you, and a giant pile of paperwork. Utter chaos at the Ministry, which I suppose was his goal.
"That was his first appearance since officially becoming a Death Eater, and what was peculiar was that he never denied his association with Voldemort. He openly challenged the Dark Force Defence League, and me in particular. I was already a senior minister with the Dark Force Defence League in 1975, and since he felt compelled to attack me personally, I was the one who dealt with him the most."
"Why did he attack you, Professor?"
"I don't really know," Professor Figg said. Harry thought she did but didn't want to tell them. "But we had our own feud going on, as a kind of subtext to the war with Voldemort. Whenever we met we duelled to near- death, and when he didn't feel like duelling he played tricks. It was a game to him. I sent a Death Eater friend of his to Azkaban, so he found out where I lived and set Horklumps all over my garden. In a duel I took off a chunk of his ear, so he broke into the Ministry archives office and performed a Whirlwind Spell. Eighteen hundred years of paperwork, mixed up together on the floor in a flurry of parchment. That was a dark day for the Ministry."
"Mum's told us about that day. Dad came home pale and shaking," Ron whispered to Harry. "Percy cries every time he hears that story."
Professor Figg was still talking. "Then I set up a covert operation to capture Derrick's wife, and he went after my husband and killed him."
All the students jumped.
"What?" Harry said.
"Well, I told you it was a personal war. Derrick Lestrange married in January 1975 and turned his wife into a Death Eater. Maldora Lestrange became just as bad as he was, killing anyone who opposed her. They claimed Voldemort would soon rule the world, and they would be at the forefront of his crusade. During their honeymoon in Paris, France, Maldora killed a girl named Honoura Prewett, who was part of the old Prewett wizarding family. In the wizarding world old bloodlines count for a lot, as you all know. The crime was the first in a long list of murders and uses of the Unforgivable Curses by the Lestranges, and a lot of pressure was placed on the Ministry to capture them and send them to Azkaban.
"So I formulated a plan to trap Maldora Lestrange in a location we suspected was a Death Eater meeting place. And it almost worked! We had her cornered. But then Voldemort arrived unexpectedly, and took her back. But. we were so close!" Professor Figg's hand clenched into a fist and she pounded Seamus' desk. "We caught some Death Eaters that day, but most of them escaped, including the Lestranges. Then the two of them tracked down my husband and murdered him. It was retaliation.
"In 1980 we finally we got them. An Auror called Mundungus Fletcher used inside information gathered by one of our spies to catch Derrick Lestrange. By order of the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, there was no trial, and Lestrange was sent straight to Azkaban. Then on Christmas in 1981, my department was successful in apprehending Maldora Lestrange. And there was no one to save her then. She, too, was sent to prison without a trial.
"And that's the end of today's lecture," Professor Figg said, smiling with a cheeriness that Harry could see through like glass. "Tomorrow we'll take a look at some specific mass killings. For homework, read the Death Eater biographies on pages 171-177 in the textbook!"
The bell signifying the end of class rang, and everyone began scribbling frantically because they had been listening to the lecture and not copying the notes as they should have been.
"We do not entertain conspiracy theories in this class," Professor Figg said sternly, surveying the class with her icy blue eyes. "Only facts will be mentioned, not the names of alleged Death Eaters. Do you hear this? I want to teach you these things so you'll know what people are talking about when they mention Antonin Dolohov or Evan Rosier, both convicted Death Eaters. But if teaching you these things causes hostility between certain people, families or Hogwarts houses, I will not be allowed to teach again, ever. This is a very sensitive subject at the moment, what with the Death Eaters acting up again after the whole debâcle at last year's Triwizard Tournament."
Harry feared that she would draw attention to him, but to his relief she went on talking without even letting her eyes rest on his face. Everyone else was listening so intently that they didn't turn to stare at him either.
"Parchment and quills out, everyone," Professor Figg ordered. She flicked her wand and the blank slate at the front of the room suddenly filled with chalk writing. Professor Figg's tiny notes were crammed into every corner, sideways, upside, in spiral shapes, with a pretty border of coloured chalk that turned out to be-more writing. "Take it down. All of it. And listen while you write, I'm giving the lecture at the same time."
The class groaned but obediently began copying at top speed while keeping their ears open to her lecture.
"The first Death Eaters made themselves known in 1969, when one morning there was a giant explosion in the middle of Diagon Alley. They blew up Flourish & Blott's, probably an attempted to decimate the shops and flats all round. Forty-four were dead and seventy-nine injured, including myself. I was in the Apothecary at the time, when there was a great boom and all the windows shattered. The floorboards rippled under my feet, and things fell off the shelves on people's heads."
Professor Figg was standing at the window, staring outside. "When we ran outside into the street there was a strange cloud of green sparks hanging over the ruins of Flourish & Blott's. It formed a shape that would become all too familiar over the next fifty years. It looked like this."
She pointed her wand at a blank slate on the wall and a chalk picture of the Dark Mark appeared. The class gasped, and Harry shivered. Even in chalk the skull with a snake coming out of its mouth seemed to glow eerily.
"I hope you never see this again in your lives," Professor Figg said softly. "Some of you may have seen it already at the Quidditch World Cup last year. Some foolish Death Eater thought that his fellow lowlifes would enjoy the reappearance of their master's emblem. This is the Dark Mark, the sign of Lord Voldemort. The Death Eaters sent it up into the sky every time they killed someone. They thought it was funny, like a cat burglar leaving a calling card in the house he's pillaged. Less than one year after the first Dark Mark appeared in the sky, it had already become the most dreaded image in the wizarding world. Coming home from work, Ministry officials did not breathe until they saw the sky was clear over their houses." She paused and the class was silent, having forgotten the notes they should have been taking and simply giving her their entire attention. "I've seen it more times than I care to count. The last tally before I stopped was twenty-five. That was in that same year of 1969."
Professor Figg hesitated. "But I think I may be getting ahead of the subject. We have a lot of material to cover before your O.W.L.s in June, and it's mostly about Voldemort, but before him we had to study Grindelwald. Do any of you remember anything about Grindelwald, whom we studied last week? Yes, Miss Patil."
"The evil wizard Grindelwald emerged in the world circa 1890," Parvati Patil recited. "He had a gang of followers called the Black Beasts. He invented the Imperius Curse in. in 1917."
"1917 is correct," said Professor Figg. "Voldemort didn't exist yet, but Grindelwald began terrorizing the magical community in the late 1920s. I started at Hogwarts in 1937, and I became an Auror straight out of school. My career was inspired by the murder of my aunt Sophia by Grindelwald's Black Beasts when I was twelve. Sophia Neal, Neal is my maiden name, was an Auror, and her terrible death spurred in me a blazing desire to crush Grindelwald.
"Some of you may already have been touched by the hand of evil in your lives, and your experiences may also have created in you a desire for vengeance. What I learned, and what you need to learn, is that rage alone will get you nowhere. You must take your anger and focus it. I channelled my rage into my studies so that I could learn the skills an Auror needs and parlayed those skills into a career of Dark wizard-hunting. Light alone will not burn, but sunlight focussed with a magnifying glass becomes strong enough to create a fire. Rage by itself does nothing. But an Auror can do things. An Auror has the power to impact the world."
Harry looked round. Some people were nodding their heads to show they understood. Some were staring at Professor Figg open-mouthed like she had just told them the meaning of life. Harry smiled.
Professor Figg laughed. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I tend to digress. Now, I was saying that I became an Auror right out of school. That's not an easy thing to do. To be an Auror you need perfect N.E.W.T.s, like all high-up Ministry positions."
Hermione raised her hand. "Are all Aurors directly answerable to the Ministry of Magic?"
"Generally yes. But there are different branches of Aurors. There are Hit Wizards, who are only technically considered Aurors. They belong to the Magical Law Enforcement Squad and are mainly skilled in combat. Not the duelling type of combat, mind you, but simply force. Aurors track down Dark wizards and try to catch them, and that may include duelling; but Hit Wizards are only called in to apprehend groups of criminals, or the most dangerous criminals. Hit Wizards need near-perfect N.E.W.T.s, but not in irrelevant things like Herbology and Divination, only in things like Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and most of all Defence Against the Dark Arts, obviously.
"The Dark Force Defence League is another branch of the Ministry. This is the kind of Auror career that requires perfect N.E.W.T. results in every subject because these are the most intelligent people in the Ministry, and really I'm not being conceited just because I used to work in this department.
"The Dark Force Defence League was once part of the Department of Mysteries, but when it began to expand in personnel to deal with Voldemort, the Ministry was forced to make it a department of its own, and gave it sweeping powers. The Defence League never abused of its powers, however; it was only to separate it from the Ministry's other departments. You see, at the beginning of Lord Voldemort's ascent, the Dark Force Defence League had been languishing for some time, since the defeat of Grindelwald several years before. There had been few attempts of evil wizards to take power, and it was a surprise when the threat of Voldemort could not easily be quelled.
"When Voldemort emerged, the Ministry of Magic had to place the Dark Force Defence League above the other departments because it was becoming increasingly more important. It went back into a state of obscurity after the fall of Voldemort fourteen years ago. Now that he may be back, the Defence League is again returning, ready to act.
"The personnel of the Dark Force Defence League are the best Aurors in Britain." Harry looked up quickly from his parchment. He'd heard that phrase before. Could the Order of the Phoenix be part of the Dark Force Defence League? Harry saw Professor Figg flash a smile his way and knew that Dumbledore had informed her that Harry was in on the secret. "But they found their match in Voldemort's Death Eaters. The Death Eaters were the best-trained Dark wizards in a long time. Not since the battles with Salazar Slytherin's own privately instructed students had the Aurors met such a challenge.
"At first there were only about ten or so suspected Death Eaters. Evan Rosier was in there from the beginning, as were Antonin Dolohov, Rufino Lestrange, and Travers. We'll start with Travers today. Five points to Gryffindor if someone can tell me his first name."
Hermione's hand shot up into the air, cuffing Harry's ear, and Ron also raised his hand. Professor Figg selected Neville.
"Halvard," Neville said softly. He looked glum. "Halvard Travers."
"Excellent, Longbottom, five points. Halvard Travers, born on June 27th, 1946. His father, Halvard Senior, was convicted and sent to Azkaban because he was a Black Beast."
They similarly went through the histories of Rosier and his son Sheldon, Antonin Dolohov, and Rufino Lestrange.
"Now I was saying before that evil people's children often get caught up in the frenzy and join their parents, as we've seen in the Rosier family and the Travers family. Certainly it's possible that a child of a Death Eater may turn out good, or that a child of a perfectly upstanding magical family may turn out bad, but evil succeeds evil, more often than not. The Lestrange family is another example of this. Every generation of the Lestrange family has had at least one convicted wizard in it. The first historical record of a Lestrange wizard is in fact an ancient Azkaban prisoner profile." Someone giggled. "You laugh now, but they're inordinately pleased of what they think is a history of martyrdom. The Lestranges have always been slightly rebellious and anarchistic. However, it doesn't look like there will be anyone else to carry on their proud radicalist tradition now. Rufino Lestrange and his wife had only one son, Derrick, who is now in Azkaban serving numerous life sentences back-to- back, with no chance of appeal. He will die in there, if he isn't already dead."
Lavender raised her hand. "Which wizard is from the famous Lestrange couple, Derrick or Rufino?"
"That would be Derrick. Rufino was actually a clumsy sort of wizard. He went to school at Beauxbatons, whose educational standards are far lower than Hogwarts' or Dumstrang's. He was also blind in one eye, which was how Alastor Moody was able to get him in 1969, by creeping up behind on the left, and pow! Stunned, Disarmed and Tranfigured into a harmless toad. Rufino died in Azkaban, apprehended after his first killing." She grinned. "Lord Voldemort must have been terribly displeased.
"Derrick Lestrange, however, did not turn out exactly like his father. He was sent to school here at Hogwarts, where he was sorted into Slytherin." Professor Figg frowned. "I didn't teach him, but I was an Auror and I knew who he was. Derrick was a most detestable boy. He must have been in the same year as some of your parents, I think, maybe they knew him. But he moved away to Russia in his fourth year, transferring to Durmstrang, and the next time I saw him was in London in 1975. I stepped out of the Leaky Cauldron and there he was, duelling an Auror in the middle of Charing Cross Road. In broad daylight, amidst the rush of Muggle traffic! It made for a massive load of Memory Charms, I tell you, and a giant pile of paperwork. Utter chaos at the Ministry, which I suppose was his goal.
"That was his first appearance since officially becoming a Death Eater, and what was peculiar was that he never denied his association with Voldemort. He openly challenged the Dark Force Defence League, and me in particular. I was already a senior minister with the Dark Force Defence League in 1975, and since he felt compelled to attack me personally, I was the one who dealt with him the most."
"Why did he attack you, Professor?"
"I don't really know," Professor Figg said. Harry thought she did but didn't want to tell them. "But we had our own feud going on, as a kind of subtext to the war with Voldemort. Whenever we met we duelled to near- death, and when he didn't feel like duelling he played tricks. It was a game to him. I sent a Death Eater friend of his to Azkaban, so he found out where I lived and set Horklumps all over my garden. In a duel I took off a chunk of his ear, so he broke into the Ministry archives office and performed a Whirlwind Spell. Eighteen hundred years of paperwork, mixed up together on the floor in a flurry of parchment. That was a dark day for the Ministry."
"Mum's told us about that day. Dad came home pale and shaking," Ron whispered to Harry. "Percy cries every time he hears that story."
Professor Figg was still talking. "Then I set up a covert operation to capture Derrick's wife, and he went after my husband and killed him."
All the students jumped.
"What?" Harry said.
"Well, I told you it was a personal war. Derrick Lestrange married in January 1975 and turned his wife into a Death Eater. Maldora Lestrange became just as bad as he was, killing anyone who opposed her. They claimed Voldemort would soon rule the world, and they would be at the forefront of his crusade. During their honeymoon in Paris, France, Maldora killed a girl named Honoura Prewett, who was part of the old Prewett wizarding family. In the wizarding world old bloodlines count for a lot, as you all know. The crime was the first in a long list of murders and uses of the Unforgivable Curses by the Lestranges, and a lot of pressure was placed on the Ministry to capture them and send them to Azkaban.
"So I formulated a plan to trap Maldora Lestrange in a location we suspected was a Death Eater meeting place. And it almost worked! We had her cornered. But then Voldemort arrived unexpectedly, and took her back. But. we were so close!" Professor Figg's hand clenched into a fist and she pounded Seamus' desk. "We caught some Death Eaters that day, but most of them escaped, including the Lestranges. Then the two of them tracked down my husband and murdered him. It was retaliation.
"In 1980 we finally we got them. An Auror called Mundungus Fletcher used inside information gathered by one of our spies to catch Derrick Lestrange. By order of the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, there was no trial, and Lestrange was sent straight to Azkaban. Then on Christmas in 1981, my department was successful in apprehending Maldora Lestrange. And there was no one to save her then. She, too, was sent to prison without a trial.
"And that's the end of today's lecture," Professor Figg said, smiling with a cheeriness that Harry could see through like glass. "Tomorrow we'll take a look at some specific mass killings. For homework, read the Death Eater biographies on pages 171-177 in the textbook!"
The bell signifying the end of class rang, and everyone began scribbling frantically because they had been listening to the lecture and not copying the notes as they should have been.
