Disclaimer: anything you recognize from cannon belongs to JKR, the rest is mine

Warnings: the same as always, dark, mention of child abuse, slash

If you want to archive the story or list it somewhere, please ask me about it.

Hope's Nest

Chapter 9:

Light was streaming through the infirmary's windows, enveloping the two resting figures in a warm, orange glow, while creating shadows on the walls and floor.

Draco straightened in the chair he had spent the night in, tiredly blocking the light from his silver eyes. His hair was a mess and his clothes rumpled.

Concerned and curious he surveilled the two sleeping patients. The young girl next to Nicodemus' bed looked terrible. He could see that most of her wounds had already been healed, but she still looked like death warmed over. Draco had seen pictures of resurrected corpses that looked healthier than the girl.

He didn't want to imagine what she had been through. It was hard enough to see the results; he really, really didn't want to know what caused them.

I wonder how she came to be here. She is too injured to have come here by herself. Really, now that I think about it, where do all the children come from? The ministry must hate this place, so why is it still standing?

His wonderings were interrupted by the entrance of a small crowd of children, varying between the ages of three and sixteen years old. The only thing they all had in common was their small height.

And no wonder, the body needs nourishment to grow, after all.

The children eyed him fearfully, but none the less crept nearer to Nicodemus' bed. Draco didn't move and didn't talk. He didn't want to send them into a panic like the boy last night. And now that their protector was ill, he reckoned that they were even easier to startle than usual.

So he watched amusedly as the children surrounded the bed, the youngest even crawling on top of it and snuggling up to Nicodemus' sleeping form. It was simply amazing, the amount of trust the children had in their keeper. He wasn't an expert, but he did know that abused persons often had trouble trusting other people. Yet, it seemed like Nicodemus was exempt from that natural distrust.

Sitting in Nicodemus' office, cradling a cup of strong black tea in his hands, Hogwart's most infamous professor currently wished to be anywhere else but here. He had known that by calling for his godmother he risked her inquisition, but he didn't have to like it. And damn if the woman didn't make him feel like a child.

It must be the centuries of practice she's had, not even Albus can make me feel like that anymore.

"Severus, I demand to be told what is happening in this country. There is no way that Nicos could have exhausted his powers by one healing. He is more powerful than half of the Council together, so he must have used an inordinate amount of power continuously over a long period of time.

He didn't mention anything that strenuously in his letters or during his visits, which he would have done if there was nothing to hide. I knew that he had an orphanage; I knew that some of the children had been abused.

Now, I want to know what the rest of it. Out with it, child!"

Duchess Storm crow's voice was icy. Her dark blue eyes were actually sparkling with green lightening and there was a dangerous set to her usually soft mouth. Severus sighed.

"Milady, you are a Keeper and therefore part of the Council. If Nicos had told you about what was happening here in the British Wizarding World, you would have been obligated to take the matter to the Council.

Nicos wanted to wait till he could prove his accusations without the shadow of a doubt. It hurt him to deceive you so, but you know him. Once he was set on his course it would have taken several deities to change his mind." He told her, his voice carefully modulated to be neutral.

His godmother's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Severus, I couldn't love you more if you were my own child, but if you don't tell me this instant what that matter is without your usual dodging and redirecting I will do something we will both regret."

Severus swallowed hard. He knew it wasn't his place to tell, but unfortunately the person responsible for this current disaster was still asleep in the infirmary, recovering from a life-threatening magical exhaustion.

Carefully taking a small sip from his tea, Severus finally started to speak: "When Nicos came to visit me he was unprepared for the sight that awaited him in Diagon Alley. I had done my best to keep him away, because I knew that once he witnessed the horrors of today's regime, he couldn't not help its victims.

The ministry believes that evil begets evil, Milady. So in order to destroy the evil of darkness they destroy the offspring of their former opponents.

They hunt those children down and punish them for being dark wizards. They use them as slaves of any kind, starve them, kill them.

And they can do it in broad daylight, because those children are only monsters in disguise. There will be no punishment for the abusers, because those children are lesser than even animals and therefore have no rights.

You know about the four Houses in Hogwarts? Any child that is sorted into Slytherin will be disinherited and is from that moment on marked as dark and evil in the eyes of the British Wizarding World.

Nicos helps those children. He gives them a home and his protection. And he is collecting evidence. Once he has collected enough he planned to bring the matter to the Council."

For a short moment a deadly silence reigned in the room. Then his godmother practically hissed: "Are you telling me, that the whole British Wizarding World is openly violating not only its own laws, but Old Law as well? That they are breaking the first law?"

Severus had believed that Nicos horror at the violation of that particular Old Law had been a result of his kind heart. Now, looking into his godmother's deathly furious eyes he knew better.

Severus didn't know the Old Laws. Nearly none but those of Old Blood knew them nowadays. There had been no need, because Wizarding law had always included its principles.

"I don't know about Old Law, Milady, but, yes, they are breaking their own laws."he answered.

"There are only three rules Old Blood has to follow, Severus.

Thou shall not harm children.

Thou shall not break the rules of hospitality.

Thou shall not abuse thy power.

There is no Wizarding Society on Earth that does not adhere to those rules. It has been centuries since last the Council had to take action. We do not interfere with your petty wars because you are the cause of them. Mortals shall reap what they saw or they will never learn from their mistakes.

I will talk with Nicos before bringing the matter before the Council. It seems we will have a very long discussion, indeed."

"Milady?"

"Do you know why every Line of Old has a Keeper, Severus?"

"To function as a Head of Family."

His godmother smiled wistfully and shook her head. "That is only partially correct. The Keeper does indeed function as Head of Line, but her primary function is to prevent the change."

"The change, Milady?"

"When the Old Blood awakens, it physically changes its host, so that his body may survive the influx of magical energy.

But if the awakened weakens his body and uses more and more power, the Old Blood will change him a second time. That second time is called the change, because it is irreversible and can only be prevented by a Keeper.

You have to understand that once the Old Blood awakens one has no limit in regards of power but ones own body. And if you wish to avoid the change you have to hold a precarious balance between your physical and magical power.

The change takes three forms. Most commonly one will lose his human appearance and become a higher magical creature. That is how the first phoenixes, dragons and unicorns came into existence.

Or one will lose all physical from and become a well of magical energy.

And very rarely one will become a Keeper, the beginning of a new Line."

Her eyes shone with both, sadness and pride when she continued: "Nicos will be the beginning of a new Line; it is only a matter of time. His blood has already changed and it won't be long till he awakens as one of us, immortal, the physical form of magic itself."

And he will hate it, because he will have to watch his loved ones die one after the other.

TBC