A/N Thanks so much for the reviews. Laura I am positively blushing. Glad people liked the battle scenes.
Also I absolutely promise Dumbledore will finally appear next chapter. I bill this as a MM/AD story since as everyone knows he is the great love of her life, however be forewarned since this is something of a life story, there will be a few other pairings of both canon and a non-canon characters.
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After a few minutes of flying, Harry noticed how quiet Professor McGonagall was being. Looking back he could see she was shaking visibly. He wondered how much of it was actually from the cool night air, but still cursed himself for not having worn a cloak to offer her.
"Are you alright?"
After a moment of no response, Harry landed the broom in a secluded park area. Now that the adrenalin had faded, the actions of the last few minutes appeared to be catching up with her.
"Professor McGonagall?"
Her face had no color in it. The hair that had looked so beautiful flying in the wind a few minutes earlier, now just looked dull and matted from the wind. The blankness in her eyes was beginning to alarm him.
"Professor McGonagall? Are you alright?"
He reached out a hand to touch hers. She was still unresponsive, but when he made contact with her skin, it was there again. That pleasant burning sensation and the dull roar in his ears.
Harry's attention was distracted as several forms began to land around them. Panic rose in him until he recognized the electric blue eye of Mad-Eye Moody. His panic seemed to have reached through the physical connection between them because Professor McGonagall looked up.
Suddenly, she was moving. As she reached a cluster of bushes, Harry could hear her beginning to retch. Watching her from behind, he saw a series of butterflies flutter up from the bushes.
Loki chuckled softly next to Harry. "Gods Kitten! Butterflies? Heavens forbid you ever show weakness."
As Professor McGonagall retched again and more butterflies took flight, Harry realized they weren't coming from the bushes.
Removing his cloak, Moody began to approach Professor McGonagall. Even with her back to the group, she tensed visibly. Noticing this, Moody stopped where he was.
In a gentler growl, than Harry ever imagined possible, the older man asked, "Are you alright?"
McGonagall nodded her head sharply. "I just want to get the foul taste of that Lestrange woman out of my mouth."
Tonks' eyes widened. After an awkward minute, she said apologetically, "I'm all out of tic tacs."
A few minutes passed in awkward silence, everyone starring at McGonagall's back. Malone was the one to break the silence.
"So what do you say about the World Cup?"
Everyone except Professor McGonagall looked at him in disbelief. After only a second, Malone went on.
"Bulgaria still has Krum, but I just don't think he will be enough this year. One man can only do so much, I mean. He's been carrying the team for years now. No, I favor Scotland this year or maybe even England. Shame about Ireland. Don't you think?"
Still no one said a word so Malone added, "Which teams do you favor, Moody?"
The outraged look Moody had fixed on Malone faded as he caught on to what the young man was doing.
"I don't know." admitted Moody. "What you said sounded about right. I haven't followed professional Quidditch much in the last two years. Harry plays Quidditch, you know. Gryffindor team Seeker. What's your opinion on this year's crop, Harry?"
After only a few seconds with no response from Harry, Malone started talking again.
"I was on Gryffindor's team in my time at Hogwarts. I was Seeker for a while, but games ended so quickly, people were losing interest. So they changed me to Keeper. Then other teams complained because they couldn't score. Finally, I ended up a Chaser."
Listening to McGonagall's nephew in confusion, the panic in Harry began to rise again. Why were there only four of them? Where was Lupin? And the others?
He didn't have to wonder long, as that moment Lupin, Kingsley, and Fletcher landed around them.
Noting at a glance that Harry was alright, Lupin turned to Professor McGonagall. Before anyone could say a word to warn him, Lupin crossed over to her. Oddly, she didn't seem to flinch this time. In a fluid motion, Lupin removed his cloak and draped it around Professor McGonagall. Malone looked on with a dark expression as Lupin put a hand on her back and began to speak quietly so only she could hear.
Harry watched his Professor and former Professor together while listening to her nephew babble in the background. Tonks had begun chattering with him now, but kept stealing odd looks towards the other pair.
Moody approached Harry quietly. "You look alright Harry, but are you?"
Harry nodded. "I didn't really do anything." He concentrated. So many thoughts and questions whirled around in his head, which to ask first? His concern was evident in his face and voice when he asked, "Is Professor McGonagall alright?"
Moody made a face before answering. His face was so scarred and lined, Harry wasn't sure if it was a smile or a frown. "I think she will be fine."
"Bellatrix said things…She…They tried to use Crucio on me, but Professor McGonagall got in the way."
Moody's face darkened. "She will be okay, Harry. Just needs a bit of time. She's in shock. Harry, I need you to tell me what happened."
"I lost my wand and my Dad's cloak." was the first thing to escape his mouth.
"I lost my chess pieces."
Everyone turned. Harry hadn't realized how loud he had said it or was Professor McGonagall more aware than he had thought? He was relieved she was speaking again, but her voice wasn't right.
"Armando gave me that set."
Harry was confused. He watched McGonagall for a minute, her fingers toying with an emerald and diamond pendant around her neck. Armando? It took him a minute to remember, Armando Dippet was a former Hogwarts Headmaster. He had seen the man during his second year, inside Tom Riddle's diary. Knowing McGonagall's fondness for chess, he wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad sign that she thought of that before her wand.
"Professor McGonagall's wand is gone too. She transfigured the chess pieces - the Death Eaters destroyed them."
Harry blinked furiously as the realization hit him that his father's cloak was gone too. The cloak Dumbledore saved for him was the only thing he ever had that belonged to one of his parents.
Now that he thought about it, the loss of his wand weighed heavily on him too. Harry knew if it were not for the fact that his wand shared cores with Voldemort, Harry never would have made it out of the Triwizard Tournament alive.
As if reading his mind, Moody spoke. "Not to worry. Wands can be easily replaced - yes Harry, even yours. Fawkes only ever let Ollivander take two feathers, but that doesn't mean Fawkes won't give you another."
"Where did you lose them?" asked Tonks. "Maybe we can get them back."
"Certainly should try for the cloak. Invisibility cloaks are rare, worth quite a bit. If Harry ever decided to part with it, why I might know a few people interested in one."
"Enough Mundungus!" snarled Moody.
"Let's give it a quick try." Tonks extended her wand. "Accio invisibility cloak. Accio -"
Tonks was interrupted as both of Moody's invisibility cloaks flew at her.
The sight was enough to get Loki to laugh, but the others were still too unsettled by recent events to be amused.
Giving Tonks a dark look, Moody tried. "Accio Minerva's wand. Accio Harry's wand. Accio Harry's invisibility cloak."
After a moment, a fluttering noise could be heard getting closer. Heads went up as a tawny owl flew into view. Those with wands raised them. The bird swooped and dived erratically as if trying to dodge unseen spells. As the owl passed over Harry, it released the red envelope in its beak before quickly departing the way it had arrived.
Before the envelope even reached Harry it burst open. An outraged voice shrieked into the night air,
"MR. HARRY POTTER! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK A DEPARTMENT FOR THE IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OWL! YOU -"
Mundungus interrupted the Howler with a curse. With a grin, he admitted, "I always wanted to do that."
Moody raised an eyebrow. "It's not safe out in the open. Let's get moving."
"Professor McGonagall's broom is gone too." added Harry.
After a glance at a still pale looking McGonagall, Moody began searching the ground. "Try to find something to make a basket. We can attach it to one of the brooms and Minerva can travel in that."
Loki grinned. Harry wondered if there was anything in life the man didn't find funny.
"Hear that Kitten? Alastor thinks you are a basket case."
Moody was furious. "Damn it, Loki! That's not what I said."
Loki ignored him. "As for something to make a basket, we do have a Transfiguration teacher with us, so I think just about anything can be a basket -"
Loki was interrupted as he ducked to avoid a wand and cloak flying through the air to Moody.
Harry beamed. "My cloak and my wand!"
"Where is Minerva's?" asked Lupin
Moody frowned for a second before raising an eyebrow. "How stupid of me. Her wand won't answer to me."
Harry was glad for once he wasn't the only one looking confused.
Tonks firmly stated, "A wand can't tell who calls it."
Moody's only response to Tonks was a snort. Approaching McGonagall, Moody reversed his wand and offered it to her. "Call your wand."
Harry was happy to see though she was still pale, McGonagall was following the conversation. McGonagall shook her head. "No point, Alastor. If I use your wand to call mine, than you won't have a wand. Easier to have Ollivander bring me a new one to tomorrow night's meeting than for you to have to go to all the trouble of going to Diagon Alley and finding a wand that likes you."
Now Harry worried. Maybe Professor McGonagall wasn't really improving. What she said, it just didn't make sense. Why couldn't she hand Moody's wand back after?
Apparently Moody could follow what she was saying though, because he began to gently insist. "I would rather have you duel wielding wands and me carry none, than have you unarmed."
Professor McGonagall considered this for a moment before coming up with an alternative solution.
"Remus, give me your wand hand. You try calling my wand."
Lupin shrugged at Moody and did as he was told. "Accio Minerva's wand."
"What's that noise?" asked Shacklebolt.
A high pitched whistle could be heard, rapidly getting closer.
Moody called out, "Wands at the ready!"
Harry raised his wand and looked into the darkness to see what was causing the noise. Suddenly, Loki jumped past him to knock Lupin and McGonagall to the ground. The whistling stopped abruptly as McGonagall's wand slammed into the trunk of a tree directly behind where Lupin and McGonagall had been standing. The wand hit with such force, half of it disintegrated on impact.
After getting to his feet, Lupin grinned at McGonagall and helped her up.
"Little less force next time, eh Remus." Shacklebolt laughed. "Nice pick up there Loki. You okay?"
Loki was on his knees, but hadn't stood up yet. Apparently the man had finally found something that didn't tickle his funny bone, because his face was twisted into an expression of absolute agony. Horrid, red blisters were beginning to form on the man's hands. Loki quickly tried to hide his hands in his cloak, but everyone had already seen them.
Moody was looking back and forth between the man on the ground and Professor McGonagall. Everyone looked shocked, even Professor McGonagall. It was Tonks who spoke first.
"You…you're one of them?!"
Loki blushed and smiled sheepishly. "You have a very firm grasp on the obvious, Tonks."
Harry wondered why no one pointed their wand at Loki. He raised his own to the man. "You're a Death Eater?"
"Gods no boy!" gasped Loki.
"Than … one of what?" asked Harry.
Moody shook his head. "Potter, the burns on his hands, they are from touching Minerva."
"I thought that was just a story to frighten children!" Tonks's eyes looked in danger of falling out. "You're a changeling!"
Harry remembered Bellatrix had called Professor McGonagall a changeling, but he just assumed it was a reference to her animagus ability.
"But how?" asked Mundungus. "The last of the line of Themis have been very carefully monitored for hundreds of years. Everyone knows how the Ministry missed Minerva, but how did you get by too?" He looked at the silver haired man before him. "Who's your mother? Never mind that was a stupid question, if you are a changeling you don't know. Exactly how old are you?"
When Harry still looked baffled, Moody snapped. "I know you were raised by muggles, but don't you ever pay attention in History of Magic class?"
Not wanting to admit the truth about what he did in History of Magic class, Harry tried to put a knowing expression on his face. He was getting more than a little tired of not knowing things that were common knowledge to other wizards his age. Hopefully someone would say something to explain things soon and if not he would wait and ask Hermione. She might be muggle born, but if there was a book written on the subject she would know the answers.
Lupin knew no students actually paid attention in Binn's classes so he tried to help. "Harry, Loki can't touch Minerva, Professor McGonagall rather, because they are blood related."
Seeing the look on Harry's face, he backtracked and tried again. "You know about changelings from muggle fairy tales right?"
Harry was a little uncertain. "Fairies steal children, usually babies and replace them with their own so people raise them for them?"
Lupin nodded. "Only it didn't start out a fairy tale. The fairy tale started from what the Themis line did with their male offspring. For various reasons we won't get into now, they only follow the matrilineal line and didn't want male children. Rather than destroy them, they used to put them in the place of children born to other powerful wizard families. Since changelings don't know who their real relatives are, an enchantment was used to protect the integrity of the blood line from… well from unintentional inbreeding. If they accidentally touch a female of their lineage, it burns the male as a warning."
"Is it permanent?"
"No." Loki answered. "I only touched Kitten for a few seconds. These will fade by the time we get to Headquarters."
What happens if you touch her for longer? Like if you hold hands?"
Loki grimaced. "My hand would turn to ash and fall off. Moody shouldn't we be going?"
Moody looked at Loki and snorted. In a false, sweet voice, Moody started talking. "Oh, don't worry Alastor. I'll take the kitten over to the Disposal of Magical Creatures Department and get her checked out to see if she is venomous. Let me borrow your cloak to throw over her, so she doesn't bite me too." In his regular voice he continued. "You knew all along. The burns on your neck weren't from some spell Grindelwald did."
Still Loki had that sheepish grin. "What would you have had me do, Alastor? Send a seven year old off to the Dementors? Or worse, let her go live with the Malfoys or Blacks?" Seeing Harry's shocked expression, Loki added, "Before his time, Harry. Even Sirius didn't like his family members." Loki shrugged. "So I took one out of the old Themis family playbook and left the matter up to the fates to decide."
Harry sighed. He really hoped Hermione would know what these people were talking about, because they certainly weren't making sense to him.
"And you!" Moody turned his outrage onto Professor McGonagall. "You knew what he was all this time and never said a word to -"
Moody trailed off as he saw the way McGonagall was holding her wrist. Again the concerned growl came out. "Is it broken?"
McGonagall nodded. "I landed on it wrong when Loki charged into us."
"We should get moving. We're only a few minutes from headquarters. Molly Weasley has had lots of experience with broken bones from what I hear. One of us could try to fix it, but better to wait if you can manage it."
McGonagall nodded again. Harry could see she was in pain from the wrist, but color had begun to return to her face. After handing Lupin the pouch that formerly contained Armando Dippet's chess set and ensuring he knew the spell needed to transfigure it to a basket, McGonagall turned back to Moody.
"And Alastor, I am just as surprised as you. Loki never told me either."
Moody frowned. "But if you didn't know, then why out of all the possible aurors, did you pick him?"
Now it was Minerva's turn to frown. She tilted her head, concentrating before answering. "It was the hair."
Moody just stared at her.
McGonagall blushed. "I thought he was a unicorn."
Moody frowned more.
McGonagall snapped at him. "And just how worldly do you think you would have been at seven if you spent your whole life shut up in the same six rooms? I just remembered unicorns had beautiful long silver hair."
Moody just shook his head and quietly expressed his disbelief. "How would you remember what a unicorn looked like?"
Not getting a response, he turned to Lupin. "What's the hold up?" He frowned after a glance at the scowling Malone who was trying to yank the basket off of Lupin's broom. "Oh for Merlin's sake just attach the bloody basket to Potter's broom so we can go before anything else happens."
"What about him?" asked Shackleton pointing to Loki.
Moody shrugged. "Males are useless. Ministry doesn't track them."
Harry felt a little better looking at Professor McGonagall. Sure she had a very annoyed expression during the whole discussion, but that was much more normal for her than her earlier behavior.
Once McGonagall was inside the basket they took to the air again.
For the rest of the short trip, everyone was quiet except Tonks.
"I thought changelings were just a story to frighten children. When I was little my mother used to always threaten me, 'Nymphadora if you don't start behaving I'm going to leave you out and hopefully get myself a nice changeling instead.' I thought she was full of it. I mean sure everybody knows about Professor McGonagall, but that is a little different. I didn't know there were more. So how exactly are you two related to each other? I mean do you know? Is there a way to tell? You don't keep records on that do you? Cause what if someone found them? Then they could finish hunting down all of you. Loki can you read my mind? Or see the future? Oh, or start fires with your mind? Do you even need a wand to do magic? Aren't you supposed to be really good at wand-less magics? Can you apporated other people? Or transfer your powers to other people? What about …
Harry was glad to see he wasn't the only one with questions.
When Tonks first started talking, feline McGonagall gave Tonks what surely would have been a scathing look in human form. In cat form, it wasn't nearly as impressive and Tonks missed it. Now, McGonagall had long since turned away and was ignoring the other woman.
Loki did turn to look at Tonks. "Why the hell would anyone want to read your mind?
Missing the point, Tonks continued, "Well, do you have any special powers or abilities?
You mean like can I turn myself invisible at will?" With that, both the annoyed Loki and his broom disappeared.
Tonks frowned. "Oh, that's terribly disappointing. I mean it is nice and all, but lots of other people can do that. Well, not lots of people, but well you know, people can do that. Dumbledore can do that." Tonks eyes widened again. "Dumbledore isn't a Themis too is he?"
Moody snorted. "I should certainly think not. If he were, he would be ash long ago."
From the way, feline Professor McGonagall whirled around in the basket and glared, Harry thought it a good thing for Moody that cats can't cast spells.
Also I absolutely promise Dumbledore will finally appear next chapter. I bill this as a MM/AD story since as everyone knows he is the great love of her life, however be forewarned since this is something of a life story, there will be a few other pairings of both canon and a non-canon characters.
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After a few minutes of flying, Harry noticed how quiet Professor McGonagall was being. Looking back he could see she was shaking visibly. He wondered how much of it was actually from the cool night air, but still cursed himself for not having worn a cloak to offer her.
"Are you alright?"
After a moment of no response, Harry landed the broom in a secluded park area. Now that the adrenalin had faded, the actions of the last few minutes appeared to be catching up with her.
"Professor McGonagall?"
Her face had no color in it. The hair that had looked so beautiful flying in the wind a few minutes earlier, now just looked dull and matted from the wind. The blankness in her eyes was beginning to alarm him.
"Professor McGonagall? Are you alright?"
He reached out a hand to touch hers. She was still unresponsive, but when he made contact with her skin, it was there again. That pleasant burning sensation and the dull roar in his ears.
Harry's attention was distracted as several forms began to land around them. Panic rose in him until he recognized the electric blue eye of Mad-Eye Moody. His panic seemed to have reached through the physical connection between them because Professor McGonagall looked up.
Suddenly, she was moving. As she reached a cluster of bushes, Harry could hear her beginning to retch. Watching her from behind, he saw a series of butterflies flutter up from the bushes.
Loki chuckled softly next to Harry. "Gods Kitten! Butterflies? Heavens forbid you ever show weakness."
As Professor McGonagall retched again and more butterflies took flight, Harry realized they weren't coming from the bushes.
Removing his cloak, Moody began to approach Professor McGonagall. Even with her back to the group, she tensed visibly. Noticing this, Moody stopped where he was.
In a gentler growl, than Harry ever imagined possible, the older man asked, "Are you alright?"
McGonagall nodded her head sharply. "I just want to get the foul taste of that Lestrange woman out of my mouth."
Tonks' eyes widened. After an awkward minute, she said apologetically, "I'm all out of tic tacs."
A few minutes passed in awkward silence, everyone starring at McGonagall's back. Malone was the one to break the silence.
"So what do you say about the World Cup?"
Everyone except Professor McGonagall looked at him in disbelief. After only a second, Malone went on.
"Bulgaria still has Krum, but I just don't think he will be enough this year. One man can only do so much, I mean. He's been carrying the team for years now. No, I favor Scotland this year or maybe even England. Shame about Ireland. Don't you think?"
Still no one said a word so Malone added, "Which teams do you favor, Moody?"
The outraged look Moody had fixed on Malone faded as he caught on to what the young man was doing.
"I don't know." admitted Moody. "What you said sounded about right. I haven't followed professional Quidditch much in the last two years. Harry plays Quidditch, you know. Gryffindor team Seeker. What's your opinion on this year's crop, Harry?"
After only a few seconds with no response from Harry, Malone started talking again.
"I was on Gryffindor's team in my time at Hogwarts. I was Seeker for a while, but games ended so quickly, people were losing interest. So they changed me to Keeper. Then other teams complained because they couldn't score. Finally, I ended up a Chaser."
Listening to McGonagall's nephew in confusion, the panic in Harry began to rise again. Why were there only four of them? Where was Lupin? And the others?
He didn't have to wonder long, as that moment Lupin, Kingsley, and Fletcher landed around them.
Noting at a glance that Harry was alright, Lupin turned to Professor McGonagall. Before anyone could say a word to warn him, Lupin crossed over to her. Oddly, she didn't seem to flinch this time. In a fluid motion, Lupin removed his cloak and draped it around Professor McGonagall. Malone looked on with a dark expression as Lupin put a hand on her back and began to speak quietly so only she could hear.
Harry watched his Professor and former Professor together while listening to her nephew babble in the background. Tonks had begun chattering with him now, but kept stealing odd looks towards the other pair.
Moody approached Harry quietly. "You look alright Harry, but are you?"
Harry nodded. "I didn't really do anything." He concentrated. So many thoughts and questions whirled around in his head, which to ask first? His concern was evident in his face and voice when he asked, "Is Professor McGonagall alright?"
Moody made a face before answering. His face was so scarred and lined, Harry wasn't sure if it was a smile or a frown. "I think she will be fine."
"Bellatrix said things…She…They tried to use Crucio on me, but Professor McGonagall got in the way."
Moody's face darkened. "She will be okay, Harry. Just needs a bit of time. She's in shock. Harry, I need you to tell me what happened."
"I lost my wand and my Dad's cloak." was the first thing to escape his mouth.
"I lost my chess pieces."
Everyone turned. Harry hadn't realized how loud he had said it or was Professor McGonagall more aware than he had thought? He was relieved she was speaking again, but her voice wasn't right.
"Armando gave me that set."
Harry was confused. He watched McGonagall for a minute, her fingers toying with an emerald and diamond pendant around her neck. Armando? It took him a minute to remember, Armando Dippet was a former Hogwarts Headmaster. He had seen the man during his second year, inside Tom Riddle's diary. Knowing McGonagall's fondness for chess, he wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad sign that she thought of that before her wand.
"Professor McGonagall's wand is gone too. She transfigured the chess pieces - the Death Eaters destroyed them."
Harry blinked furiously as the realization hit him that his father's cloak was gone too. The cloak Dumbledore saved for him was the only thing he ever had that belonged to one of his parents.
Now that he thought about it, the loss of his wand weighed heavily on him too. Harry knew if it were not for the fact that his wand shared cores with Voldemort, Harry never would have made it out of the Triwizard Tournament alive.
As if reading his mind, Moody spoke. "Not to worry. Wands can be easily replaced - yes Harry, even yours. Fawkes only ever let Ollivander take two feathers, but that doesn't mean Fawkes won't give you another."
"Where did you lose them?" asked Tonks. "Maybe we can get them back."
"Certainly should try for the cloak. Invisibility cloaks are rare, worth quite a bit. If Harry ever decided to part with it, why I might know a few people interested in one."
"Enough Mundungus!" snarled Moody.
"Let's give it a quick try." Tonks extended her wand. "Accio invisibility cloak. Accio -"
Tonks was interrupted as both of Moody's invisibility cloaks flew at her.
The sight was enough to get Loki to laugh, but the others were still too unsettled by recent events to be amused.
Giving Tonks a dark look, Moody tried. "Accio Minerva's wand. Accio Harry's wand. Accio Harry's invisibility cloak."
After a moment, a fluttering noise could be heard getting closer. Heads went up as a tawny owl flew into view. Those with wands raised them. The bird swooped and dived erratically as if trying to dodge unseen spells. As the owl passed over Harry, it released the red envelope in its beak before quickly departing the way it had arrived.
Before the envelope even reached Harry it burst open. An outraged voice shrieked into the night air,
"MR. HARRY POTTER! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK A DEPARTMENT FOR THE IMPROPER USE OF MAGIC OWL! YOU -"
Mundungus interrupted the Howler with a curse. With a grin, he admitted, "I always wanted to do that."
Moody raised an eyebrow. "It's not safe out in the open. Let's get moving."
"Professor McGonagall's broom is gone too." added Harry.
After a glance at a still pale looking McGonagall, Moody began searching the ground. "Try to find something to make a basket. We can attach it to one of the brooms and Minerva can travel in that."
Loki grinned. Harry wondered if there was anything in life the man didn't find funny.
"Hear that Kitten? Alastor thinks you are a basket case."
Moody was furious. "Damn it, Loki! That's not what I said."
Loki ignored him. "As for something to make a basket, we do have a Transfiguration teacher with us, so I think just about anything can be a basket -"
Loki was interrupted as he ducked to avoid a wand and cloak flying through the air to Moody.
Harry beamed. "My cloak and my wand!"
"Where is Minerva's?" asked Lupin
Moody frowned for a second before raising an eyebrow. "How stupid of me. Her wand won't answer to me."
Harry was glad for once he wasn't the only one looking confused.
Tonks firmly stated, "A wand can't tell who calls it."
Moody's only response to Tonks was a snort. Approaching McGonagall, Moody reversed his wand and offered it to her. "Call your wand."
Harry was happy to see though she was still pale, McGonagall was following the conversation. McGonagall shook her head. "No point, Alastor. If I use your wand to call mine, than you won't have a wand. Easier to have Ollivander bring me a new one to tomorrow night's meeting than for you to have to go to all the trouble of going to Diagon Alley and finding a wand that likes you."
Now Harry worried. Maybe Professor McGonagall wasn't really improving. What she said, it just didn't make sense. Why couldn't she hand Moody's wand back after?
Apparently Moody could follow what she was saying though, because he began to gently insist. "I would rather have you duel wielding wands and me carry none, than have you unarmed."
Professor McGonagall considered this for a moment before coming up with an alternative solution.
"Remus, give me your wand hand. You try calling my wand."
Lupin shrugged at Moody and did as he was told. "Accio Minerva's wand."
"What's that noise?" asked Shacklebolt.
A high pitched whistle could be heard, rapidly getting closer.
Moody called out, "Wands at the ready!"
Harry raised his wand and looked into the darkness to see what was causing the noise. Suddenly, Loki jumped past him to knock Lupin and McGonagall to the ground. The whistling stopped abruptly as McGonagall's wand slammed into the trunk of a tree directly behind where Lupin and McGonagall had been standing. The wand hit with such force, half of it disintegrated on impact.
After getting to his feet, Lupin grinned at McGonagall and helped her up.
"Little less force next time, eh Remus." Shacklebolt laughed. "Nice pick up there Loki. You okay?"
Loki was on his knees, but hadn't stood up yet. Apparently the man had finally found something that didn't tickle his funny bone, because his face was twisted into an expression of absolute agony. Horrid, red blisters were beginning to form on the man's hands. Loki quickly tried to hide his hands in his cloak, but everyone had already seen them.
Moody was looking back and forth between the man on the ground and Professor McGonagall. Everyone looked shocked, even Professor McGonagall. It was Tonks who spoke first.
"You…you're one of them?!"
Loki blushed and smiled sheepishly. "You have a very firm grasp on the obvious, Tonks."
Harry wondered why no one pointed their wand at Loki. He raised his own to the man. "You're a Death Eater?"
"Gods no boy!" gasped Loki.
"Than … one of what?" asked Harry.
Moody shook his head. "Potter, the burns on his hands, they are from touching Minerva."
"I thought that was just a story to frighten children!" Tonks's eyes looked in danger of falling out. "You're a changeling!"
Harry remembered Bellatrix had called Professor McGonagall a changeling, but he just assumed it was a reference to her animagus ability.
"But how?" asked Mundungus. "The last of the line of Themis have been very carefully monitored for hundreds of years. Everyone knows how the Ministry missed Minerva, but how did you get by too?" He looked at the silver haired man before him. "Who's your mother? Never mind that was a stupid question, if you are a changeling you don't know. Exactly how old are you?"
When Harry still looked baffled, Moody snapped. "I know you were raised by muggles, but don't you ever pay attention in History of Magic class?"
Not wanting to admit the truth about what he did in History of Magic class, Harry tried to put a knowing expression on his face. He was getting more than a little tired of not knowing things that were common knowledge to other wizards his age. Hopefully someone would say something to explain things soon and if not he would wait and ask Hermione. She might be muggle born, but if there was a book written on the subject she would know the answers.
Lupin knew no students actually paid attention in Binn's classes so he tried to help. "Harry, Loki can't touch Minerva, Professor McGonagall rather, because they are blood related."
Seeing the look on Harry's face, he backtracked and tried again. "You know about changelings from muggle fairy tales right?"
Harry was a little uncertain. "Fairies steal children, usually babies and replace them with their own so people raise them for them?"
Lupin nodded. "Only it didn't start out a fairy tale. The fairy tale started from what the Themis line did with their male offspring. For various reasons we won't get into now, they only follow the matrilineal line and didn't want male children. Rather than destroy them, they used to put them in the place of children born to other powerful wizard families. Since changelings don't know who their real relatives are, an enchantment was used to protect the integrity of the blood line from… well from unintentional inbreeding. If they accidentally touch a female of their lineage, it burns the male as a warning."
"Is it permanent?"
"No." Loki answered. "I only touched Kitten for a few seconds. These will fade by the time we get to Headquarters."
What happens if you touch her for longer? Like if you hold hands?"
Loki grimaced. "My hand would turn to ash and fall off. Moody shouldn't we be going?"
Moody looked at Loki and snorted. In a false, sweet voice, Moody started talking. "Oh, don't worry Alastor. I'll take the kitten over to the Disposal of Magical Creatures Department and get her checked out to see if she is venomous. Let me borrow your cloak to throw over her, so she doesn't bite me too." In his regular voice he continued. "You knew all along. The burns on your neck weren't from some spell Grindelwald did."
Still Loki had that sheepish grin. "What would you have had me do, Alastor? Send a seven year old off to the Dementors? Or worse, let her go live with the Malfoys or Blacks?" Seeing Harry's shocked expression, Loki added, "Before his time, Harry. Even Sirius didn't like his family members." Loki shrugged. "So I took one out of the old Themis family playbook and left the matter up to the fates to decide."
Harry sighed. He really hoped Hermione would know what these people were talking about, because they certainly weren't making sense to him.
"And you!" Moody turned his outrage onto Professor McGonagall. "You knew what he was all this time and never said a word to -"
Moody trailed off as he saw the way McGonagall was holding her wrist. Again the concerned growl came out. "Is it broken?"
McGonagall nodded. "I landed on it wrong when Loki charged into us."
"We should get moving. We're only a few minutes from headquarters. Molly Weasley has had lots of experience with broken bones from what I hear. One of us could try to fix it, but better to wait if you can manage it."
McGonagall nodded again. Harry could see she was in pain from the wrist, but color had begun to return to her face. After handing Lupin the pouch that formerly contained Armando Dippet's chess set and ensuring he knew the spell needed to transfigure it to a basket, McGonagall turned back to Moody.
"And Alastor, I am just as surprised as you. Loki never told me either."
Moody frowned. "But if you didn't know, then why out of all the possible aurors, did you pick him?"
Now it was Minerva's turn to frown. She tilted her head, concentrating before answering. "It was the hair."
Moody just stared at her.
McGonagall blushed. "I thought he was a unicorn."
Moody frowned more.
McGonagall snapped at him. "And just how worldly do you think you would have been at seven if you spent your whole life shut up in the same six rooms? I just remembered unicorns had beautiful long silver hair."
Moody just shook his head and quietly expressed his disbelief. "How would you remember what a unicorn looked like?"
Not getting a response, he turned to Lupin. "What's the hold up?" He frowned after a glance at the scowling Malone who was trying to yank the basket off of Lupin's broom. "Oh for Merlin's sake just attach the bloody basket to Potter's broom so we can go before anything else happens."
"What about him?" asked Shackleton pointing to Loki.
Moody shrugged. "Males are useless. Ministry doesn't track them."
Harry felt a little better looking at Professor McGonagall. Sure she had a very annoyed expression during the whole discussion, but that was much more normal for her than her earlier behavior.
Once McGonagall was inside the basket they took to the air again.
For the rest of the short trip, everyone was quiet except Tonks.
"I thought changelings were just a story to frighten children. When I was little my mother used to always threaten me, 'Nymphadora if you don't start behaving I'm going to leave you out and hopefully get myself a nice changeling instead.' I thought she was full of it. I mean sure everybody knows about Professor McGonagall, but that is a little different. I didn't know there were more. So how exactly are you two related to each other? I mean do you know? Is there a way to tell? You don't keep records on that do you? Cause what if someone found them? Then they could finish hunting down all of you. Loki can you read my mind? Or see the future? Oh, or start fires with your mind? Do you even need a wand to do magic? Aren't you supposed to be really good at wand-less magics? Can you apporated other people? Or transfer your powers to other people? What about …
Harry was glad to see he wasn't the only one with questions.
When Tonks first started talking, feline McGonagall gave Tonks what surely would have been a scathing look in human form. In cat form, it wasn't nearly as impressive and Tonks missed it. Now, McGonagall had long since turned away and was ignoring the other woman.
Loki did turn to look at Tonks. "Why the hell would anyone want to read your mind?
Missing the point, Tonks continued, "Well, do you have any special powers or abilities?
You mean like can I turn myself invisible at will?" With that, both the annoyed Loki and his broom disappeared.
Tonks frowned. "Oh, that's terribly disappointing. I mean it is nice and all, but lots of other people can do that. Well, not lots of people, but well you know, people can do that. Dumbledore can do that." Tonks eyes widened again. "Dumbledore isn't a Themis too is he?"
Moody snorted. "I should certainly think not. If he were, he would be ash long ago."
From the way, feline Professor McGonagall whirled around in the basket and glared, Harry thought it a good thing for Moody that cats can't cast spells.