Despite all his efforts, Loki hadn't come up with any solid plans. He couldn't fully trust Black, not until he had confirmation from another party. Black spoke the truth that he believed in, not necessarily the true truth.
As agreed upon, Weasley came to him with the rat a week later for 'magical check-up'. Pettigrew looked as battered as ever, though seemingly a tad less shaky. Loki held the tip of his wand to the rat's neck for no apparent reason but to intimidate Pettigrew, while the Rune painted earlier on his palm sunk undetected into the rat's body, a rune with a changing nature that allowed him to alter the spell from a distant.
'All yours.' Loki handed Peter back to Weasley, trying hard not to imagine a middle-aged man sleeping on the bedside table of a thirteen-year-old child.
'Yeah,' Weasley carefully placed the rat in his chest pocket and Loki had to fight tooth and nail to keep his imagination from running amok. 'You coming for the match?' Weasley awkwardly asked.
Loki looked up at the enchanted ceiling. Ominous grey thundercloud released an enormous amount of water, splattering on the great hall's window. Lightning streaked past, blinding flash of white.
'In this weather? I'd rather not.'
'Of course you wouldn't.' Weasley slighted. 'You snakiness called off your match for this reason. Sissy Slytherins.'
'A tactical retreat is more than preferred to an audacious advance under this circumstances.' Loki sighed. This rivalry was getting old fast. 'Off you go then. I will not keep you any longer from your sportsmanship.' He made a shooing motion with his hands and stood up himself, ambling past Weasley.
He had better things to do than squabbling meaninglessly.
Harry jerked awake, the woman's scream and Voldemort's shrill laughter replayed in his head. He blinked at the scarlet velvet canopy and just lay there, unmoving.
Madam Pomfrey had insisted on keeping him in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the weekend but when he showed sign of restlessness, she had agreed to let him go a day sooner. So here he was, awake at five on a Sunday morning, staring at the crimson velvet canopy of his own bed in the Gryffindor dormitory, a stark contrast to the pristine mind numbing white of the Hospital Wing.
The dormitory was quiet, save for rhythmic breathing and snores from his dorm mates.
Unwelcome silence.
It added incentives for Harry's memory of the Quitditch match to resurface. It pained him that they lost, after all the trainings they had done and the trust that Wood and the team placed in him. The shattered remains of his Nimbus 2000 under the bed just made that loss more pronounced.
Was the Grim going to haunt him until he died? He had had no trust in Trelawney's prophetic skill but he probably had to rethink that. The first time he saw the Grim, he almost got ran over by the Knight Bus. The second time it happened, he fell fifty feet from the air after encountering a swarm of Dementors.
He felt disgusted thinking about them. And ashamed. No one fainted when they were near Dementors. Except for him. No one heard their mother and her killer. Except for him. Lupin had said Dementors had this effect on him because of his past but surely there had to be protection against them that Lupin didn't feel inclined to enclose. Harry had Defense on Monday, if Lupin came to class, he would definitely ask.
Mind made up, Harry slid off the bed soundlessly. There was no way he could fall back to sleep knowing that he could hear his mother's haunting scream again so he might as well had some homework done.
Hermione should be very proud of him.
He yawned widely and looked around the dormitory. When his eyes landed on Ron's bed, however, he saw two lumps occupying the single bed. Fading candlelights provided little light, but it was enough for him to tell the lumps were both very much human, one was covered in red and the other curling next to the pillow.
Harry squeezed his eyes shut and viciously rubbed them until he saw squiggly lines. When he opened them again, Scabbers were twitching in his sleep where the lump with no blanket had been.
Harry shook his head to clear the image. His sleep-addled mind could conjure up some strange things.
Grabbing his school bag, he noiselessly closed the door behind his back, the strange image completely fled his mind.
It…worked?
It worked?
The diagram was active for a full six seconds now and he didn't get blown up in the face or something more humiliating.
Then yes, it did work.
Loki let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and cut off the steady stream of magic pulsing through the tip of his wand. The soft blue glow receded away, leaving behind a symmetric, mesmerizing work of geometry and scribbles to those who knew no runes. He leant back against the plush armchair of the Common Room, careful not to sit on any empty inkbottles. Loki had been up all night, working out all the kinks and quadruple checking for errors and finally firing the diagram up early Sunday morning when he knew the Gryffindor boys were highly unlikely to be awake and lucid.
Runes was one of the most delicate factions of magic ever existed. Potions, while required precision and assiduity, were nowhere near as demanding as what Loki was attempting to do.
Contriving supplementary layers surrounding an already existing rune was a process Loki had never undertaken before. Runic diagram rarely contained a centre core, the innermost circle were always left empty for hand activation of the diagram. With the Fehu rune of control taking up said place, he had to imbedded magic into the rune for an alternative activation operation. Wonted procedure would invite explosion of ginormous proportion
Most diagrams Loki was familiar with performed flawlessly with just two or a maximum of four layers. The diagram he had been composing entailed six layers, not including one outer most layer working as a stabilising component. And out of the six, three were dedicated to spell translation. Runes diagrams were called runes diagrams because they contained nothing but runes, and wizarding spells were anything but runes. And it was not just a simple matter of translating and replacing Latin letters with rune characters; Loki had to break the spells down and then rearranging them into runic form, which lengthened the spells significantly.
This was merely a test to see if all his theories worked out the way he thought they did so Loki did not bother including a permanent transpose component, only a temporary switch one that stayed active for as long as the diagram was active so Pettigrew remained an unusually-long-lived pet rat of Weasley.
Loki studied the diagram one last time before gathering it and other different notes and early sketches into a neat pile on top of an advanced rune book he got from the restricted area thanks to Snape. The man had been skeptical at first but obliged nevertheless. Sometimes it paid to be a teacher's favorite. The book, however, was of little help so Loki gave it a use of an armrest.
Almost missing a step as he walked up to the dormitory with a tilting pile of parchment, ink and quill, he had to wonder why he went this far for someone he barely knew and would rather never come into contact with. Black reeked of annoyance and headache and yet, Loki was willing to deal with all that for nothing in return. Maybe he was getting soft but Loki could see a bit of himself in Black, someone who was misunderstood by the world, shunned for what he truly was, though Black looked to reconcile the misconception whereas he had resigned to that fact long ago.
For him, a runt and a lie-smith despised by both races, there was no changing people's feelings towards him.
Depositing everything into the trunk, Loki literally dropped onto the bed. He did not want to wake up anytime soon.
Schools passed peacefully and uneventfully.
A week before Christmas break, Narcissa sent him a box full of sweets with a separate pack of biscuits, the latter was no doubt made by her. An uncharacteristically one-sentence long note was attached to the box. 'Draco, do try to come home on time. Love, your mother.' it read.
So very suspicious and uncharacteristic.
Loki folded the note and put it in his chest pocket for later contemplating.
Thankful as he was for Narcissa's care and love, Loki had not had any taste for sugary sweet since Halloween.
He would hate to put these all to waste though.
Ginevra Weasley just crossed the threshold and was making her way to the Gryffindor table. Without reconsidering, Loki scooped up two handfuls of confectionaries and met her half way.
'Oh, Draco,' Ginevra cleared her throat, stepping back a little at his sudden approach, 'What can I help you with?' Her ears went pink at the tips.
'A lot, Miss Weasley,' Loki said, beckoning for her to raise her hands, into which he dropped all the candies in his hands, 'By enjoying these lovely and delicious sweeties.'
Ginevra hastily cupped her hands to stop the bonbons from falling off and looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes.
'What do you want me to do with these!?' She said, half a question, half an exclamation.
'Enjoy them.' Loki said flippantly, steering her her towards the Gryffindor table, 'Or share them with others. We all need a little sweetness for the holiday. I have to go now, class is starting soon. Enjoy your breakfast.' He swiftly moved away and out of the Hall before she could put in any more protests.
Waiting outside the hallway for Babbling to arrive for Ancient Runes, Loki absently played with his bag's pocket, where he had put the biscuit package.
This, he kept for himself.
The train would leave for London in an hour and a half time
Just enough to enjoy a cup of chocolate-scented tea.
Loki would gladly take his hat off to whoever invented this. He loved chocolate, especially hot chocolate when snow started falling from the sky, but he could do without the amount of sugar that came with every rich and foamy cup.
Tea that smelled like chocolate? Greatest discovery Loki had ever unearthed.
The Great Hall was adorned in as extravagant decorations as ever. Enchanted red fir trees wrapped in white decorations. Red and white seemed to be the colour scheme of this year, seeing that the four long wooden tables were covered with rich red tablecloth with white lacing selvedge.
Potter approached him from behind and Loki turned just enough to see the boy's clenched fists.
He didn't say anything, waiting for the boy to begin.
'Can I go back to House of Black for Christmas?' Potter asked.
'What for?' Loki continued sipping tea.
'Can I?' Potter disregarded his question completely, putting in a way that told Loki he would just go to Black House either way, with or without Loki's consent.
'Is this about Black?' Loki queried, pretending not to notice Potter's intake of breath. It seemed the kid had learned something interesting about Black during his unapproved Hogsmeade excursion the other day. 'No matter,' Loki mentally shook his head. At least the kid started to stop taking things at face's value. 'As long as I don't have to see your head mounted next to the shrunken house-elf heads, do as you please. Just one question though,' he finally turned around to face Potter, 'Did you not tell McGonagall that you are staying for the holiday?'
'Is that going to be a problem?' Potter scrunched up his nose, clearly not perceiving the severity of his decision.
'Well no,' Loki overemphasized his one-shoulder shrug. 'Since you are the Golden Boy, everyone will just fly into a frenzy looking high and low for you if you vanish from Hogwarts when you clearly stated before that you would remain at school. With Black still out in the open, it is not impossible to imagine the state of panic the wizarding world will be in. As the last person to interact with you before you disappear from school, I am automatically suspect number one. Weasley has filled you with anecdotes of Malfoy's horrible doings, has he not?' Loki deliberately paused there for Potter to recall before continuing. 'It's not such a far-fetched thing that the son of a former Death Eater deliberately sends the Dark Lord's greatest foe to his early demise. So no matter how many connections my father has within the Ministry, public won't rest until either Black is caught or I am tried in court. Therefore, no, there will not be any problems for you.' He concluded without a smidgen of concern.
While Potter was absorbing his words, Loki returned to his tea. Blasted, it had gotten cold during his rant. Warming the tea up just a bit so he could down the rest without burning his tongue, he inclined his head towards the spot on his left as an invitation for Potter to sit.
'I can go and tell Professor McGonagall now.' Potter suggested after a while.
'What good would it do?' Loki sighed, defeated. Will the kid ever learn? 'McGonagall's alarm would immediately go off and she would alert others. You certainly would not want some higher-ups meddling with whatever you are trying to do.' Loki rapped his knuckles against the boy's temple, hard. 'I have yet a contingency plan prepared for the scenario of my mother's childhood house being sequestrated by the Ministry. So cast that idea away.'
'Then what do you suggest I do?' Potter demanded frustrated, not even acknowledging the phantom pain his head must be suffering from.
'Go to the station.' Loki said simply.
'What?'
'Do as I say.' Loki put his cup down and purposefully strode towards McGonagall, who was transfiguring overhead banners into majestic white and red bows.
'Professor,' Loki began. 'My parents wish for me to have my friends over for Christmas. Would it be all right for Harry to come over with him already signed up to stay at Hogwarts? It is such a sudden announcement that I have just learnt of that myself.'
'Mr. Potter?' The professor was beyond surprise. 'What about Mr. Nott?' She narrowed her eyes at him.
Good lord, the woman was astute.
'Theodore's father has arranged beforehand an abroad holiday so he cannot join me at the Malfoy Manor,' Loki smoothly replied. 'My parents would be deeply upset on my behalf and take their anger out on Hogwarts if no one showed up.' That was no lie he weaved. Lucius and Narcissa would certainly act out if they thought he was offended or hurt in some ways. 'The fact that I preferring to having few friends might not even register in their mind when they are dead set on blaming Hogwarts staff body for allowing discrimination to reach that high level.'
McGonagall completely forgot about the banner changing half way as she eyed him stonily 'Are you threatening your teachers?'
'I would not dare to do that, Professor, not in this lifetime or any other life times. I am simply concerned for the merriment of the holiday.' Loki sighed dejectedly. 'I could ask Hermione or Ronald, but I doubt my parents would be as welcoming towards them as they would be to Harry.'
The professor intently searched his eyes for indication of lies, only breaking the eye contact when she looked over his shoulders to call out to Potter.
'Mr. Potter, if you could come here for a moment.'
Potter nervously walked over, glancing his ways for guidance but Loki resolutely kept his eyes on the professor.
'Is it true that Mr. Malfoy has invited you to come over his house for the holiday?' she questioned.
'Uh, yes?' That was definitely a question coming out from Potter. Loki internally tugged at his hair; the kid possessed a non-existent amount of acting skill.
'Don't be so shy Harry.' He smiled cheerily in the boy's direction, 'My parents would do their best to make your stay as accommodating as ever.'
From the corner of his eyes, Loki could see McGonagall easing a little but the suspicion was still easily noticed.
'Alright, Mr. Potter, you can come with Mr. Malfoy and I will erase your name from the list.' She finally conceded. 'Now go, the train will leave soon.' She returned to her bow, not forgetting to add 'Merry Christmas, children.'
'A very merry Christmas to you too, professor McGonagall.' Loki courteously wished back, pulling on Potter's sleeve and taking off in a run.
He needed to leave before McGonagall changed her mind.
'I thought-you say not-to come directly-to professor McGonagall?' Potter panted out in broken sentence as they sprinted towards the scarlet train.
'That was only meant for-' Loki slipped on a melting puddle of snow, '-you.'
They swung onto the train and just stayed leaning against the wall, getting air back into the lungs.
'Remind me to reinforce your ring. Wouldn't want anyone tracking you.' Loki said after a minute of steadying his breath. The wards around Malfoy Manor and House of Black was strong enough to conceal an underage wizard performing magic, certainly they would shield Potter's presence against prying eyes.
Loki was paranoid.
When it was time to part way at King's Cross, he made sure that Potter remembered to send him a message about whatever information he found before blending into the crowd, searching for Narcissa and Lucius's familiar magic.
'Mother, this blindfold is a completely and utterly insensible choice of complimentary garment.' Loki tugged at the band around his eyes. He sounded a lot like a whining child but he could not care less.
'Now now, Draco, be patient.' Narcissa gently wrapped her hand around his, the other loosening the blindfold a little. 'Endure just a bit longer, until we reach the Main Hall. Mind your steps, we are walking up the stairs now.'
'Listen to your mother.' Lucius advised cooly somewhere from behind.
Loki harrumphed, not really angry, just letting his displeasure known.
Lucius usually Apparated them straight into the Manor, but today he had deposited them behind the iron gate. Before Loki could even form a question, Naricssa had conjured up a silken black cloth to cover his eyes and steered him forwards.
He had thought about offering a token of protest but decided against it. After all, he could not deny the warmth that wrapped around his heart and a thread of childlike curiosity and excitement at the prospect of surprise.
The air warmed up considerably as the oaken doors closed behind his back, a soothing scent of apple and cinnamon and fresh pine wafted through the air. Cold stone floor gave way to the warm wood and Loki blindly brushed off snow from his coat.
Narcissa finally removed the blindfold and planted a kiss on his cheek.
'Welcome home, my little dragon.'
The rush of light, warm golden light momentarily blinded him, Loki had to blink several times to clear away the tears before he could focus on something.
A magnificent fir tree occupied the middle of the room obscured his immediate line of sight. Bedecked in luminescent silver glass baubles and glowing gold ribbons, it was a wondrous sight to gaze upon. Snow, real snow, drifted lazily down from the ceiling, bewitched to swathe the branches in a blanket of pearly white but disappear as soon as it fell to the ground. Loki ventured closer, feeling flakes of snow melting upon touching his face. He lifted a floating silver orb from its place, not even bothering to hide a startled laugh as the orb morphed into a hand-sized horse prancing around on his palm.
'Every bauble is enchanted to take on different shapes whenever they are touched.' Narcissa explained, placing her index finger on an orb above Loki's head. 'Look, mine is a crown.' She smiled down at him, full of love and adoration. 'Fitting for you.'
Loki openly gazed at her, searching for deception and trickery. Her smile was so sincere it pained him to even consider this was nothing but an act.
No, this was true. It had to. Summer had proven Narcissa's love for him, even Lucius', though the man was inept in showing emotions in his own household.
It had to be true.
'Thank you, Mother.' He finally replied, putting the horse back into its place on the tree. It neighed petulantly for a second more before shaping back into an orb. Two down and, he estimated, 307 more to go. He would seeall the baubles secondary forms, even if it meant he had to lose a night sleep.
'Why don't you go rest up? Dinner should be ready in a few hours.' She caressed his cheek with the back of her hand, so smooth upon look but upon touch, the merciless walk of life made its presence known.
'Yes, Mother.' Quick as lightning, Loki planted an air kiss on her cheek and bolted for the stairs, not even looking back. He did not give himself time to think, if he had, he would have talked himself out of it.
He grabbed the garland-bedecked handrail out of habit. Hundreds of firefly lights suddenly became airborne, floating just a finger length above the leafy garland for seconds before drifting back down.
Ethereal yet ephemeral beauty.
Loki played with the wind chime shape shifting bauble, jiggling and generally annoying Lucius so much that the man had to vacate to the library for some much-needed silence after watching him undertaking his bauble quest. So far he had seen more or less all the baubles on the bottom half of the tree. There was one that turned into a suit and one a dress, when Loki put them close to each other; they performed one of the most flawless dances he had ever seen.
Putting the wind chime bauble into his pocket, Loki summoned his broom. The top half was going to require some manoeuvring.
He was circling around, looking for a good place to start touching the baubles when he sensed Narcissa coming.
She followed his flight emotionlessly before stating, neither angry nor upset.
'Flying inside the manor is forbidden.'
'Yes Mother.' He agreed and continued zooming around.
'Are you disobeying me?' She asked without any feelings.
'No Mother.' He decided on a bauble and touched it. A grandfather clock with a cursive line 'Found my mom's letter' written on it. Loki discreetly traced 'when?' with his finger and watched as it appeared underneath the first line. The reply came immediately 'August 1981.' 'How was Uncle Sirius Black like, Mother?' Loki asked, wiping the conversation clean off the surface of the bauble.
'You have no Uncle with that name, Draco.' Narcissa's eyes turned hard.
'I am sorry, my mind must have abandoned me so early in the morning.' He swiftly apologized.
'Mine as well. I must be somnolent.' She concluded and made her way for the ballroom, leaving Loki alone, baffled.
It was almost six o'clock in the morning, not early per se. Lucius woke up an hour earlier and was completely lucid.
Narcissa, on the other hand...
No matter, the fact that he had obtained the information he needed was not to brush aside, even though the source of information was a bit drowsy and not herself.
Narcissa did not acknowledged Sirius Black's existence.
Lily Potter trusted Sirius Black even before her death mere two months.
Never doubt a mother's intuition.
He needed to comprise a letter, but not right now. He still had plenty of baubles to discover.
On the morning of Christmas, Loki woke up to a mounting pile of presents at the foot of his bed, the majority of which must have come from Lucius and Narcissa.
He dug out the four from his friends.
A book from Granger. A pot of vanishing ink from Theo. Weasley got him a pack of Exploding Snaps and Potter sent him a Muggle Rubik's Cube.
However the kid noticed his interest in this Muggle toy when they visited a toy store in second year?
He fingered the cube for a moment, turning it this way and that before stowing them all away in a secret cabinet that stored all the gifts his friends had ever sent him.
He was about to head downstairs when something in the corner of his eyes caught his attention.
Two long thin boxes sat innocuously on his bedside table, something he had overlooked from the eagerness for his friends' presents.
Loki took the silver white one in his hand. It was most certainly made of silver yet soft as feather to touch. It weighed nothing. Not even the box weighted anything. Intrigued, he turned the lock and was greeted with two most beautiful quills he had ever seen, not even the white peacock quills could hold any candles to these two. One was jet-black, a silky and sable blackness that it sucked all the light shining on it. The other was changing its colour even as he watched. Pink, orange, lime-green, and yellow. He picked both of them up and promptly let the black one slip from his finger as it shrunk to the size of his palm. He fisted his hand around it and felt the quill enlarging until he was holding a broomstick-long quill, still as black as midnight. One hand moving the black quill in the air, the other Loki squeezed the colourful one to see if something happened. The quill did not burst into fire or turn into liquid or pierce his hand, so the magic must be in the ever-changing colour. The back quill had gone back to a manageable size. By now Loki had no doubt that the black quill was from an Occamy, an aggressive, rare and choranaptyxic bird of the Far East. He should have guessed it sooner since no silver was as soft as the material used for the box, which, he was sure now, came from an egg of an Occamy. The other feather was of a Fwooper, Loki remembered seeing it in display at a fancy quill shop once.
Lucius must have spent a fortune acquiring these two quills.
Putting the quills back in respective place, Loki studied the black box. It was significantly heavier and longer than the silver one, as if there was some sort of metal inside. He flipped the lid open and his mind stuttered to a halt.
In a daze, Loki lifted the carved piece of metal, feeling its familiar weight in his palm. It had been centuries since he held this blade, a treasured gift from Frigga lost forever among Yggdrasil's branches.
He sprinted towards the door, taking the blade, scabbard and all, with him.
He needed, no, wanted, to see Narcissa.
They were facing off in a game of chess, too engrossed to notice his presence.
He did not make his presence known either, standing in the doorway and watching.
A perfect scene of contentment, of a family.
'Rook to E6.'
'Bishop to E6. Do try to make it more challenging, husband dear.'
'Knight to H4. Need not worry, dearest wife, this is merely a stretch before the true battle.'
'I find myself hardly convinced. Rook to -' She glanced up from the board and notice him. 'Draco, right on time for breakfast. Your father should admit defeat shortly oh-'
Loki flung himself at her and wrapped his arms around her neck, hiding his face on her shoulder.
'Merry Christmas, Draco.' She rubbed comforting circle on his back. 'I see you have opened your gift. Is it to your liking?' No answer was forthcoming from Loki, so she continued. 'I have it fashioned after your sketch. Such a refreshing drawing in a stack of Rune sketches, don't you think? Though I have to apologize for my intrusion.' She asked at his muffled answer. 'Am I forgiven?'
Loki nodded against her shoulder.
'How did you know the blade is black?' He turned his head slightly to whisper into her ear.
'I know my child.' She threaded her fingers in his hair, placing her lips on his cheek. 'You would never pass up a chance to have it smithed with black steel.'
A tear trickled down his chin. He surreptitiously wiped it with his sleeve but it did not go unnoticed by the nonchalant but attentive eyes of Lucius nor Narcissa's acuity.
Four simple words.
'I know my child'
He knew now he truly had a family.
Narcissa lightly tapped his shoulder, prompting him to look at her. 'I am to assume that my gift is superior to that of Lucius, correct?' She gave a passing complacent smile to Lucius, whom expertly turned a blind eye. 'Why don't you give him a consolation thank-you, Draco?'
Loki stifled a laugh. 'Of course Mother.' Then he turned towards Lucius, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. 'Those are very lovely quills, Father. I express my deepest gratitude for your thoughtfulness and care.' He inclined his head as the man stood up and stood before him.
'You certainly have the gift for the gab.' Lucius patted his head, murmuring fondly. 'Shall we test out your mother's dagger against my sword? After having breakfast, of course.' He added quickly at Narcissa's passive aggressive glare.
Loki laughed, happy and full of hope.
He had a family.
Arthur Weasley stomped his feet outside the door, shaking off every last bit of snow that had gotten stuck on his shoes before entering. Molly would murder him if she saw just a drop of snow on the floor. He scourgified his patched wollen overcoat just to be sure he had not brought any snow into the Burrow.
The train should be leaving now, taking Percy and Ginny back to the Hogwarts.
It had been a quiet Christmas in the Burrow this year. Charlie and Bill were too caught up in work to come home. Of the five at Hogwarts, only Percy and Ginny came home. Ronald, Fred and George stayed, possibly to give Harry some company. Merlin knew that kid needed friends.
Though with only two out of seven home, it was by no means a low-spirited Christmas. Percy passionately talked about applying for a position in the Ministry, asking him for advice.
Percy would make a brilliant Ministry employee.
Arthur hung his coat and picked up a newspaper from the table, intending to use the morning all to himself when an envelope slipped through the crack in the window and flew into his hand.
No wax seal, no name, no address, nothing.
Nothing tried to bite him or put rash on his hand so he deduced it was not some sort of prank from the twins and deemed it safe to open.
The letter inside was short and written in such fancy cursive it took him a minute to get used to.
He gave it an once-over.
The letter left his hand and fluttered to the floor.
'I can't believe that Xenophilus! Met him in the marketplace and do you know what he bought? A ruddy pack of bottle caps! Last week he purchased a pouch of broken glass. Oh poor his little child. She is the same age as our Ginny you know.' Molly bustled about in the kitchen, levitating her grocery bags to the table. 'Arthur, where did you take my spatula to again? Don't tell me it is being fitted in that Muggle contraption of yours. Arthur, are you listening to me?' She called out, walking towards her husband. 'Arthur?' She questioned, a touch worried. Arthur was not moving at all, save for the short breaths.
Suddenly his hands came up and grabbed her shoulders tightly. 'Molly, tell Ron to take Petti-, Scabber and come home immediately. I need to go to the Ministry now.' He said urgently and- fearfully, already putting on his coat.
'Wha-? Why should Ron come back? He is safe in Hogwarts! Arthur, what is going on?' She demanded hotly.
'Just do as I said!' Arthur shouted. He had never raised his voice at her, not even in an argument. He visibly reigned in his agitation, a pleading look entered his eyes. 'I cannot explain right now, Molly, but please, please, do as I said. It is for Ron's safety. I promise I will explain everything when I get back.' Then he was out of the door, without even a goodbye.
Alone and shaken, Molly sat down on the floor, hand reaching for the opened letter that must have led Arthur into this flustered state. She read and read and read. Fear overtook her mind and body.
Weasley,
Your family, especially your son Ronald Weasley, is in grave danger.
Twelve years ago, Sirius Black blew up the street, instantly killing thirteen Muggles and his friend, Peter Pettigrew. Subsequently, he was incarcerated without trial to Azkaban.
The only remaining body part of Pettigrew law enforcers found was his index finger.
Black was believed to have told the Dark Lord of the Potters' Fidelius house as he was their Secret Keeper. However, few had known that Potters had switched their Secret Keeper in secret.
It was Peter Pettigrew that told the Dark Lord of the Potters' whereabouts.
It was Pettigrew that blew the street up, killing the Muggles and blaming Black for everything. Pettigrew cut off his own finger in order to make his escape to the sewer as a rat Animagus.
Twelve years ago, Percival Weasley had his first pet, a rat that lost one finger no one would buy at the store.
Now the rat is in Ronald Weasley's possession and in the same room with the Dark Lord's target, Harry Potter.
If you value your child's life, take action at once lest terrible fate await him.
'No way.'
'What?'
'They say Sirius Black is innocent!'
'A pile of Hippogriff dung! And you believe that, Ernie?'
'Well-'
'It's true, Zach. Peter Pettigrew faked his own death twelve years ago and avoided suspicion by turning into a rat. He is an unregistered Animagus, you see. Good morning to you two.'
'Morning Susan. Where did you hear that? It's not in the news.'
'My aunt is heading Peter Pettigrews's case. She said Sirius Black was not tried in court twelve years ago. My aunt was furious with that so she demanded this case falls into her jurisdiction - omph. Sorry.' Susan apologised distractedly and walked past Loki, already resuming her story to the two Hufflepuff boys.
Loki pulled out his Occamy quill form his pocket and sketched a cancelling layer on top of the diagram.
Pettigrew tried to pull a stunt like twelve years ago, blaming his death on Crookshank during Christmas. But Loki had his eyes on him every breath he took so the rat could not evade for long. Loki whisked the rat away from his bough in a tree straight to Bones' office.
Loki channeled his magic into the rune, erasing every trace of magic he had put on Pettigrew.
His job here was done.
At a leisure pace, he made his way back to the Great Hall, where his friend was pouring over Black's newfound innocence.
'How are you feeling about Black?' He asked Potter as he sat down.
'Glad, mostly. I have a godfather.' Potter's smile was goofy and contagious. 'I won't have to return to the Dursleys anymore.'
'- I gave a grown-man a bath. I let him sleep next to me. I put him in my chest pocket. I tickled his belly-' Weasley muttered on, oblivious to Theo's unrelenting snicker and Granger's sympathizing shoulder rub.
'They still have persuade Black to come out of hiding in order to proceed with the trial.' Loki pointed out.
'I know, but it won't be long.'
Loki said nothing, leaving Potter to his daydream.
For once, things came out fine.
AN: My birthday present to you all! Thank you so much for waiting, it has been a deadline-filled month for me. Come December I will have more free time on my hands. Please leave a comment on your way reviews will be the best birthday presents ever.