Thank you for the reviews yesterday!
Interlude yay! The formal chapter will follow in a while.
Interlude: Answers to the Calling
Malfoy Manor
September 22nd, 1994
Dear allies (for so I hope I may call you, though the link we share is Harry Potter and not anything more formal):
I think it is time for another gathering. The Minister has not yet been hooked out of office, for all that he flops like a landed fish. I have had word from a certain friend within the Ministry that the Starrises are growing closer to him, lending him the cloak of their reputation, and they may yet be able to draw him out of trouble. No one has been able to find any grime that stains that cloak of light, and believe me, I have tried.
I am sensitive to the difficulties that attend our travel to and meeting in one place, as well as the friends some of us have who would be most anxious for us to stay at home. To evade their gazes, I suggest we meet in Hogwarts itself, rather than force young Mr. Potter to come to us, on a night when no one would be surprised to see strangers on the grounds. May I suggest Halloween? There were ghosts in the corridors quite often when I was a student there. I suspect we may be both more silent and more dangerous than ever they were.
Awaiting your response,
Lucius Malfoy.
Wyvern's Nest
September 24th, 1994
Dear Lucius:
I find myself both charmed and offended that you would send me a letter you have duplicated with a charm, instead of written out yourself.
I must question when you have sent me this letter. It is true that I have met the boy, but I am hardly part of a circle of allies around him. I have only met him once, and that is not enough time to judge anyone thoroughly, even a powerful wizard. And I did not share the rather tight bond that once connected some of you. Why did you send me this letter? Answer that, and I might consider joining this gathering.
Eagerly awaiting enlightenment,
Arabella Zabini.
Malfoy Manor
September 25th, 1994
Dear Arabella:
The answers as to why I wished you to attend this gathering are very simple.
You have a son in Slytherin. I think you would know some things about Potter that most people do not, simply from his observations, and those could be used to supplement your own judgment.
Potter is a powerful Dark wizard. You are a Dark witch. There will not come another such chance—not in our lifetimes, certainly, perhaps not for three hundred years—to change the status of Dark magic so decisively.
I have had the chance to observe Potter closely on several occasions, and I can assure you, he has more qualities than he thinks he does. He will be a leader, but he will require advisers who know more about the world than he does, who know how to wield those qualities when he does not, who can direct all that immense magic towards worthy goals.
Finally, while it is true that you were not part of our merry little band thirteen years ago, it is not only those friends of mine that Potter is drawing in. He will reach many wizards, and many magical creatures, before all is done.
Are you interested?
Lucius Malfoy.
Wyvern's Nest
September 27th, 1994
Dear Lucius:
Indeed, you interest me. And Blaise has just reported something about Potter that interests me immensely. It appears that the future may be more open than I thought it would be. I accept your invitation.
Cordially,
Arabella Zabini.
Blackstone
September 25th, 1994
Dear Lucius:
I will certainly be there. I am young Harry's formal ally, and he will not have such a gathering unless I am in attendance. It would be wrong, and rude, and I am quite certain that Mr. Potter does not mean to be either wrong or rude to me.
Elfrida will be attending as well. It is true that by that time she will be five months pregnant, but she wishes to make a certain request of Potter. After hearing what her request is, I can only agree to it and wish her well in getting him to agree to it. I am certain he will. It would be wrong and rude of him to do otherwise.
Do you know a place in Hogwarts where we might go without everyone coming and gaping at my wife?
Yours in comradeship, under the brand and beyond it,
Adalrico Bulstrode.
Malfoy Manor
September 28th, 1994
Dear Adalrico:
Your attendance, as well as Elfrida's, gladdens my heart. I have received a formal letter from Mr. Potter, and I can assure you that he needs this meeting as much as we do. He has strength, so much of it, but there are unworthy corners that he will shed it into, just as the moon must shine on the intelligent and the discourteous alike. I am going to answer the letter, but not tell him about the meeting yet. I have the impression that it would not be wise to give him much time to object.
The Room of Requirement in Hogwarts will suffice for our meeting, I think.
Yours in comradeship both old and new,
Lucius Malfoy.
The Garden
September 30th, 1994
Dear Lucius:
I agree that a formal meeting would be a good idea, though I think you are underestimating Mr. Potter. He could arrange one himself if he wished for one. However, my husband has given his approval to the meeting as well, and most especially to the date, though he will not come with me himself to meet Mr. Potter. He says that it would not be proper.
Tell me, Lucius, because I am interested, and because I am another who once ran with you when we both served our Lord: what do you hope to gain from the boy? I do not think that you care only about having Cornelius gone from office, no matter how he has insulted you. He has served you at other times. Besides, with the political climate the way it is, you know that the majority of the public will only choose another Light-declared Minister, and changes that favor us will come about slowly, if at all.
What is it?
Cordially,
Hawthorn Parkinson
Malfoy Manor
October 2nd, 1994
Dear Hawthorn:
In the name of comradeship, and because my Narcissa assures me that you already know anyway, I will tell you. You may have seen the way my son behaves towards Potter. I have witnessed and heard about it now, and I am largely convinced that it is genuine. It may turn or change sometime in the next years, but even then, an alliance with Potter would still be a good idea. I cannot foresee the Minister, or Dumbledore, or even our Lord, lasting long in the world that Potter's power creates around him every moment of every day.
And, who knows? We may find ourselves facing a much closer alliance than that in a few years, when the boys know their own magic well enough.
We will be meeting in the Room of Requirement in Hogwarts—which reminds me, I must send a letter to Arabella. Excuse me.
Sincerely,
Lucius Malfoy.
Dragon's Eye
October 10th, 1994
Truly, Lucius, I am disappointed in you. I gave you a few weeks to send me an invitation to the gathering of Dark wizards on Halloween to meet young Mr. Potter. And I received nothing. It is not like you to be so discourteous.
Never mind. My eyes have revealed it, as you must have suspected they would. Perhaps your not sending me an invitation is a mark of great respect instead, because you knew that I would spy out the meeting and saw no need to repeat yourself in informing me. I think I shall take it as a sign of that respect, so that I do not need to kill you.
I will see you on Halloween. I am excited. I have not seen you in several years, after all.
Acies Lestrange.