40. When a Good Man Goes to War
Astoria hadn't been pleased when Harry buried himself in information about the child-murderers. Her first thought was that Harry should let the Auror's do their job and not exhaust himself in a miserable information overload. That wasn't his job. She carefully mentioned it to the Dark Lord and a day later he informed her that Harry had his reasons and to let him to it.
Then it became abundantly clear that Harry chose this task to the exclusion of almost everything else. Astoria liked that even less. He still ate, she asked Dobby to be sure about breakfast and lunch, but Harry did join them for tea and dinner. He still went for runs and swam laps in the pool in the new conservatory, and he made certain to attend the Patronus lessons he held, but that was pretty much it. She never saw him outside of meals and he never, not once, joined a meeting or a press conference. Neither did he leave the Manor to build new houses, even if she held a list for him of buildings that he was welcome to build and decorate, as that was what he liked the most. Not that the rebuilding stopped without him, not at all, even if one could get that impression without Harry tossing up houses all over the place.
Astoria could hardly believe it that first week, because she still saw Harry twice a day, but she missed him. Missed his presence, his insight, his banter. The damn man had snuck inside her cold, Slytherin heart and made himself comfortable.
When he finally felt done and searched her out for the first time in weeks, she was almost ready to rebuff him, that was how hurt she had been. But he had looked so exhausted, so sad and broken, that she had known that she couldn't do that to him.
Since then, he was almost back to normal. He joined meetings and built houses and met Head Bones either in the District or at Hogsmeade. Once, Head Bones was invited to the Manor, and the way Harry watched everyone around the table when he told them what he had done, the evening before Head Bones was supposed to visit, made it very clear that he was testing them, in his Gryffindorish way. The Dark Lord didn't bat an eye, just asked if he knew what room he wanted to meet with Head Bones in, or if he planned on decorating a new one.
That had made sure to keep Harry busy the rest of the day, decorating a new room to his heart's content. He let her sneak a peek late that night and she saw a very comfortable room with rich blue walls, carpets in swirls of blue and bronze, comfy furniture in the same colours with lots of pillows and blankets. The details were in bronze, and while there were no paintings on the walls, there were a lot of plants. She suspected Harry had moved around on a lot of the plants in that wing, to get this many in one room.
The visit went over without a hitch and Astoria could almost see how Harry relaxed, just a little bit more, knowing that he could invite an old friend to the place that was supposed to be his home. One part of her ached because she couldn't simply tell him that he was welcome to invite people and that any visitors of his would be both safe and welcome. Unfortunately, she knew that he still was too much of a suspicious bastard to believe that on words alone. An Oath, maybe, but not just words. Another part of her wondered if he hadn't soon reached that conclusion by himself, and what his next move would be.
She never asked him what he had ended up doing with all the information he had gotten from the Ministry, and had worked so hard on for three weeks straight. She should have asked.
She really should have asked.
This close to the Winter Solstice it was near dark by teatime, and it was that thought that suddenly made Astoria aware that even if she had started planning for parties, soirees and even a Yule ball, she had no idea whether Harry was one who celebrated Christmas and if he would even agree to celebrate Yule with them. After all, magical traditions like the eighth sabbaths was seen as a typical pure-blood custom, and Harry was not only Muggle raised and had a very close friend that was Muggleborn, they had also just ended a war where the side Harry had fought on generally perceived all pure-blood customs as a part of the pure-blood supremacy propaganda, at least as far as Astoria knew. Granted, she hadn't talked to Harry or anyone on the opposite side of the war about this topic, so it was mostly conjecture, and probably a lot of prejudice.
At least I can admit to myself that I don't actually know, she thought and looked at Harry on the other side of the little table that stood between them on the lawn in the conservatory. They had exchanged the straight-backed dining chairs and small table to four, soft wingback chairs and a low, oval-shaped table. The chairs were all in different, deep colours, burgundy, blue, green and purple. The first tea with the new furniture, Harry fell down on the green chair and looked expectantly up at the Dark Lord, who raised a brow and sat down in the burgundy one without comment. They hadn't swapped chairs since. Other than that, the only change in the conservatory where they had tea every day, were the fairy lights in bushes and trees and the two tall candelabra on either side of the lawn, because of the darkness that fell earlier every day.
Well, there is no time like the moment, Astoria thought. Why not just ask?
"Harry, I realise this might be a … delicate topic, and one that you might not like, and I do realise that I probably should have asked before now, given it is barely more than two weeks till the day, but I have to ask …" She frowned, was she really this nervous? "And I'm blathering. Apologies."
Harry smirked at her. He did that more and more often now. It was a good look on him, both the curve of his lips and the self-confidence that let him do it.
"You want to ask what my opinion is on the celebration of Yule versus Christmas? Because you celebrate Yule and have plans that I so far know nothing about, and you are afraid my sensibilities will be hurt by having to celebrate a tradition that I should, by rights, have grown up with?"
Astoria's frown grew deeper. "Yesss …" Well, when he put it like that.
"Do you remember the conversation where we discussed the use of blood freely given in potions and rituals? And I told you how angry Hermi became when she realised that so much useful, powerful and wonderful magic had been banned as Dark, just because there was blood in it?"
"I remember that discussion," Draco supplied, and Astoria nodded.
The Dark Lord watched Harry without comment, but Astoria thought she saw a bit of interest in his gaze, as she so often did when he watched Harry. She could understand that. A man like Harry, with so many secrets, so much mystery about him; you always had to wonder what he would do or say next.
By Salazar himself, as if the fact that he was an exceptionally powerful wizard wasn't enough, he was an actual shapechanger, too. The first Astoria had ever heard of. Astoria didn't really believe she would ever get over that fact, and Harry had let it slip, just casual like, weeks ago now. He had grinned like a hungry Manticore while he watched the shock set in, but she hadn't doubted him for a moment. Not only because the Dark Lord looked like he already knew and had accepted it, but because it would explain quite a bit about Harry and how he sometimes looked and sounded.
"That anger was nothing," Harry continued, "absolutely nothing, against the rage Hermi displayed the first time she truly realised that the yearly celebrations and tradition pure-bloods uphold isn't simply a different name for the same things that we celebrated at Hogwarts, but has to do with magic and traditions that goes back to before Christianity got a foothold in the world. As she is a Muggleborn, and I'm Muggle raised, we both assumed that that was all. Yule and Christmas were the same, just with different names. That went for Ostara and Easter or Midsummers Eve and Litha, and all the other sabbaths. She had realised that it sometimes was on different dates, but still, it was the same. Hogwarts made it seem that way with its celebrations and none of the pure-bloods we had any contact with celebrated any different, or told us that something was different, and Hermi's books were suspiciously lacking."
The Dark Lord made a small sound. "That is what happens after decades of censorship," he said dryly. "Dumbledore had not truly gotten around to his campaign against the pure-blood customs and traditions when I began at Hogwarts, but by your time, I should imagine he had done a thorough job. Not only in the Hogwarts library, but in books usually sold in the approved books stores too."
Harry nodded. "Hermi was furious that this information had been kept from her, furious that at least some of it would have changed how she saw the magical society and how she would have acted in meeting with it, even as a young girl. In her own words, traditions like that are what cultures are built on. She would much rather have celebrated Yule with actual magical rituals, and traditions that went back hundreds of years, than Christmas that meant nothing to her, outside of the family traditions she and her family had. Neither of us are Christians, in case that isn't obvious from the rest of my rant."
Astoria smiled. "I wish I had known that back when we were all in school, and not just assumed that your - as in all Muggleborn or Muggle raised children - obliviousness was chosen, as I was told from older students. I wonder how many of you would have felt the same? How many others would have been frustrated by the fact that school didn't let out until after the Winter Solstice, so that I never got to attend the ritual after I started at Hogwarts. Or the Ostara ritual, or Litha …"
Harry made a small grimace. "I don't know how many would have been frustrated, but I'm pretty sure Hermi would have insisted on doing something, either some kind of campaign, or she would have started her own Yule celebrations right there at school. After all, Dumbledore could hardly claim that the celebration was a pure-blood strategy to suppress Muggleborns, if there was a Muggleborn witch behind it. Even if it wouldn't have been anything like what you are used to, because of all the information she lacked.
"Anyway, all that to say; I'm willing to celebrate Yule with you, if you permit it. But if I have any role to play in any ritual, I need to know it beforehand. Will there be a lot of people?"
"Not for the Yule ritual itself, that night it is only the four of us," the Dark Lord answered, even if Astoria knew that many people awaited invitations to the Yule ritual the Dark Lord would lead. This was a decision the Dark Lord made at this very moment, because Harry had chosen to join them on a sabbath for the first time.
People would be disappointed and that wasn't good, but Harry would take one more step closer to acknowledging the traditions of the magical community they were trying to build. Later, at other sabbaths, he might agree to join in rituals with more people in attendance.
The Dark Lord would have taken all this into consideration. And as Astoria thought it more and more likely that Harry was one of the most important factors on the Dark Lord's list of things to consider when making decisions, she couldn't possibly disagree with his decision that only the four of them would do the ritual at the Manor this year. The Dark Lord was being a considerate husband, something she had feared he wouldn't truly try to be, back in the beginning of the marriage. Back when Harry had suffered so much and almost died because of the bond between the two of them. Back when she had been so disappointed in her Lord.
"I will go through the ritual with you, if you wish," the Dark Lord continued, "and we will talk about what part you want to have in it all. During the twelve days of Yule there will be various parties and a ball at the Manor, and we have invitations to numerous more. I have no choice but to attend some kind of gathering most days, but you do not have to attend as many. Though, I would appreciate it if you would join me to some of them."
Harry nodded slowly. "Would you tell me about the different parties and what to expect, and let me choose when I know more?" he asked carefully, but not as if he anticipated to be refused. Not anymore.
"Yes."
Harry gave the Dark Lord a small, cautious smile. "Good. What about Yule trees and gifts, is that part of your traditions? I would very much like a tree, because I have found that watching them makes me happy." This time he said it as if he half suspected to be rebuffed, but Draco smiled.
"You think we only will have one tree, Potter? What do you take us for?" Draco asked and raised an eyebrow. "There have never been less than four trees in the Manor, as long as I have lived here. We may even make it five, if you want one in your rooms?"
The smile was slow to spread, but spread it did, and soon Harry was grinning. "Brilliant! And yes, I would very much like a tree in my rooms."
It hurt Astoria to look at Harry right then, green eyes gleaming with childish delight for several seconds before he shut it down again, while she knew that Harry had never had something like a true family celebration at the height of winter before. Not Christmas nor Yule, nor anything else. She had heard enough from Harry these past months, from small hints to obvious statements, to know that he had had scarily little growing up. Not even what most people would call the bare necessities like proper clothes and enough food.
None of us are children anymore, Astoria thought fiercely, but I will do everything in my power for this Yule to be one Harry will remember with pleasure and happiness.
The impossible Gryffindor had truly managed to worm his way into her heart. Never mind that she had invited him.
Draco, with his sly sense for her thoughts and feelings, met her eyes across the table and smiled briefly. He would help her make this a memorable Yule for Harry, for all the right reasons.
They spent the rest of their tea talking about trees, decorations, gifts, food and traditions, and Astoria felt relief that Harry not only had agreed to celebrate Yule with them, but that it seemed he had would do so with fervour and quite a bit of former knowledge about what Yule was all about and traditions that often was found in old families. She wondered if they might get some new traditions in the years to come, when Harry would feel safe enough to admit that he already had his own, because she was quite certain that he did.
All their cups were empty, and they were just about to leave the table when a silver bright creature burst through the dark glass walls and stopped to hover in front of Harry. Harry paled and stared at the small otter Patronus.
The otter started to speak with the voice of Hermione Granger. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I checked and double checked. You were not wrong, and I have fetched. I hope your husband is willing to excuse my method of delivery."
Gradually the otter Patronus dispersed into mist.
Harry closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "Bloody hell," he whispered hoarsely.
"Harry, what was that about?" the Dark Lord asked.
Harry opened his eyes and looked at him. The green eyes shone with tears, but the rest of his face was like a stone mask. When tears slowly began to drift down his cheeks, it was disconcerting, like his eyes and the rest of his face didn't belong to the same person.
"I asked Hermi to check the facts I gathered from the information I got from Susan. I … reached a very unlikely, a very … disturbing, conclusion, and I wanted her to tell me I was wrong. But I wasn't … I wasn't wrong." More tears ran silently down his face, but still the mask held. "I wanted to be wrong. I needed to be wrong." He got to his feet like he suddenly had aged a hundred years, like every movement hurt. "But since I wasn't … she gathered them for me."
"Them? Who them?" Astoria hurried to her feet to follow when Harry slowly found his way out of the conservatory.
"The child-murderers," Draco muttered. "That was what the information he got from Head Bones was about."
"Are you telling me you found out who it was?! And you just … just sent that information to Miss Granger and she simply picked them up!?" Astoria could hear that her voice was closing in on shrill, but this was … this was too much.
"I wanted to be wrong," Harry said heavily and went through the Manor without another word, the Dark Lord a silent shadow at his side.
When they stepped outside the front door of the Manor, they could all see a Dark Mark hanging in the air outside the wards, green and glowing. Astoria was hard pressed to keep back a gasp.
They hadn't gone many steps out the door before Severus, Narcissa and Lucius joined them. Lucius and Narcissa were again allowed to stay in a wing far away from Harry's, so long as Harry didn't as much as see Lucius after work hours, and so long as Lucius didn't as much a look at Harry, at any time. Severus was brewing in one of the potions labs and waiting for Draco to join him to work on Draco's apprenticeship.
"Granger is not Marked, how then did she conjure the Dark Mark?" Draco asked halfway to the gates. "It's not possible to conjure that Mark without being Marked."
"As you can see, it's obviously possible if you decide to do it and you are stubborn enough," Harry waved at the Mark in the dark sky. "She figured it out years ago, but I told her to let it be. Apparently, she decided that this was the time to try it out." He still moved as if it hurt.
Astoria didn't completely understand his reluctance to figure out who the child murdering monsters were, but when she saw about a dozen people hanging upside down in the air by their feet under the Dark Mark in the sky, and one lone figure lying still on the snow-clad ground, she knew she soon would find out.
Harry was a bit in front of her, so she hardly heard his sob followed by a long, long stream of curse words. But she did see how his knees buckled and realised he would collapse at any moment. The Dark Lord caught Harry around the shoulders before he could get far, and let him slowly down to kneel on the ground.
What could get Harry to react like this, after the horrific and awful war he had been through? What truth could get Harry to collapse like he wasn't one of the strongest wizards in the whole world? What fact was so horrendous that he began crying at the mere thought of it?
The otter Patronus sailed up to Harry again, and somewhere in the back of her head, Astoria knew that it meant that Hermione Granger was close by. Maybe close enough to see them in the green light from the Mark.
"Mea culpa, Harry. He would not let me get him alive. Mea culpa. But at least I stopped any of the other buggers from making away with themselves. Honestly, you don't want to know how they did it, but that information, together with all the evidence I could gather, is in the box anyway. I am so very sorry. I love you. I miss you."
It took several moments of looking at the cold, harsh face of the man lying dead on the ground before Astoria recognised it, and suddenly she felt cold, so cold, and she couldn't look at Harry.
The fiery letters of a Flagrante spell began to work themselves out in the air over the body. Astoria blinked back tears she hadn't realised she was crying. She didn't know why this upset her so much. Maybe it was the despair that now hung heavily over Harry. Maybe it was the knowledge that such a good man, such a mild mannered and kind man, could fall so far. Many people had done things, terrible things, that they never thought they would do during the war. She was one of them, Draco and Harry too, but to kill children … To target and hunt down children … She shuddered and the Dark Lord began to recite the words that hung glowing in the air. His voice was slow, heavy, melodious. It reminded her of his chants during rituals. He had the voice for it. And her tears wouldn't stop.
Demons run when a good man goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war
Demons run, but count the cost
The battle's won, but the child is lost**
There hung a heavy silence over them when the Dark Lord's voice quieted. With a small sob Harry got up on shaky legs and stumbled towards the dead man, the monster, on the ground. Harry bent forwards and for one sick moment Astoria thought he would kiss the pale and bloody forehead, but then she heard him whisper softly:
"I hope there is a Hell waiting for you, Lupin. I hope there is a Hell with demons that will rip you apart, bit by bit, every night, only to do the same the next night and the next. Never to know peace and rest again. Never to know quiet or kindness. And if I ever see you again, I will join the demons tormenting you, and I will enjoy it."
The voice, the words, the promise, made Astoria shiver.
Slowly Harry got to his feet again and turned towards the Dark Lord. His mask was broken now, his face was haggard, pale and tear streaked. His green eyes were big and unseeing.
The Dark Lord looked at her. "Astoria, summon the Aurors; inform them of this and get them to collect the prisoners and the evidence. I want a copy of everything. I will contact Head Bones and Head Auror Warrington later, tomorrow at the latest."
"Yes, my Lord." Astoria bowed and watched as the Dark Lord and Harry walked slowly towards the Manor, almost shoulder by shoulder. She didn't think she imagined it when it looked like the Dark Lord almost grabbed for Harry when he faltered, before he caught himself again. She hoped that Harry wouldn't be alone for the next few hours.
Then she turned towards the group that still hung upside down beneath the glowing Dark Mark, and towards the body of the unlikely monster. He was a werewolf, but she rather doubted that it held any significance in this case.
War makes monsters of us all, Astoria thought a bit dully while she conjured a black bag to put the body in. But sweet Circe, never in a hundred years would I ever have believed that war could make such a monster of Remus Lupin.
He had been her first Defence professor and she had rather liked him. Even when she found out that he was a werewolf. No other Defence professor had come close to him. She wished she could doubt what Harry and Granger seemed to think was the truth, but they were too certain and too heartbroken. They would never have made a mistake like this. Why would they claim Remus Lupin of all people to be a child murderer? No, she knew that the Auror's would find enough evidence in the box that was placed under the hovering people, to convince everyone of what had happened. She knew that the prisoners would confess under Veritaserum.
Remus Lupin had died fighting and while she watched his scared and bloody face the moment before the bag closed, she knew that even if he had surrendered, Granger would have killed him. To spare Harry the pain of having to do it. And remembering his whispered words over the body, she was sure he would have, had Lupin been alive when he had been delivered. She could feel it in every fibre of her being. Lupin would not have survived a meeting with Harry, and Granger had spared Harry that anguish. Even if Astoria still got to know Harry and knew Granger just from anecdotes and meetings on the battlefield, she knew this to be true.
Narcissa called the Aurors for her and they came. Head Bones were not with them, which Astoria found strange enough in this case to follow the Aurors back to the Ministry, together with Draco and Severus. Head Bones were not in her office and when the other witch arrived she moved slowly, carefully and with her face as a pale mask.
"Mrs Malfoy, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Snape, what can I do for you?" Bones nodded to them all and opened her office while sending her secretary a narrow glare. The wizard looked back at her, completely unflappable, and with a small smirk in his dark eyes.
Astoria hesitated, but ended up asking Draco and Severus to remain outside. There was something going on, and while she hardly would call the two of them friends, they had become friendly in the past months and Astoria stood a better chance of ferreting out what was going on, if she had Bones alone.
Bones sat down behind her desk very slowly and a moment later, tea arrived. She served them both with her wand.
Astoria told Bones about what had happened and that the Aurors had collected both the prisoners, the body and the evidence. Bones hardly reacted to the news that between them Granger and Harry had found and hunted down the murderers.
"You don't seem surprised," Astoria noted coolly.
"I tried to tell Harry that we aren't at war anymore and that everyone has to follow the laws now. I tried to tell him to let us do our job. But no, no I'm not surprised. Not that he found them and not that Hermi went after them. Truth to be told, I'm rather surprised it took them this long."
"Oh?"
But she could hear Harry's voice, Harry's words whisper through her mind. So calm, so sure and so completely unbending, the night of the most recent Battle of Hogsmeade:
I married you so that the attacks on children would be stopped. That was the only reason. Adults are free to exterminate each other as they please. I do not care. Children are innocents and to be protected. I want this command.
Harry had wanted to stop the war not for the adults that died on the battlefield, but for the children who died in their beds or while playing in their garden. Susan Bones would know him well enough to know that, or at the very least to guess that.
Head Bones closed her eyes and drew a slow breath, wincing while she did so. She was obviously in some pain.
"Everyone has limits for what they will and will not do. For how much they are willing to sacrifice to reach a goal or to keep someone safe. War will push those limits in all of us, in some way or another. Harry and Hermi were hardly more than children themselves when they realised that it was little, if anything, they wouldn't do to protect children." Bones had spoken with her eyes closed, now she opened them and looked straight into Astoria's eyes.
"Believe me when I say this; if there is anything they wouldn't do to protect a child, any child, I do not know what it would be. Harry married his parent's killer to stop the attacks on the children. Hermi gave up her best friend to stop the attacks on the children. Getting nightmares because of too much information about the dead children while looking for the culprits, hunting down the murderers and killing a former friend and ally … That isn't really all that much compared to that.
"So, no I'm not surprised it happened. Would I wish it otherwise; sure. Will I yell at Harry and Hermi about it the next time I see either of them, no, I will not, because I expected nothing less." Her face spasmed once in grief and pain. "Though, that Lupin had anything to do with it … that is hard to understand. By Merlin, it is hard."
Astoria nodded slowly, because she agreed wholeheartedly. It was very hard to comprehend how that had come to be.
"What about Dragon?" Astoria asked. "I thought Harry looked for the child-murderers to appease Dragon, but it was Granger who hunted them down. How will Dragon like that?"
"Hermi would have kept Dragon informed. You don't have to worry about a ravaging dragon descending on us anytime soon, not now at least, when the younglings are safe again." Bones' wand buzzed on the desk by her hand and she gave a relieved sigh. "Morgana, finally." She touched her wand so the sound stopped, fished a potion vial up from her robe pocket and swallowed it down. The pain that had made her face taunt melted away and Head Bones gave a weary, but grateful, sigh.
Astoria looked at her with a raised brow in a silent question.
"The healing potion had to work for a while before I could take a pain relief potion. They don't mix well."
Astoria kept up her questioning brow.
"You know what the worst part of this is; my job in a world where half of my co-workers are former enemies and half are former allies? It's not the former enemies, believe it or not, even though sometimes the ugly looks morph into ugly words. You lot have always had an enviable control of the chain of command and discipline in your ranks …
"No, it's the fact that because I hold such a high position and work so close with the leaders of the opposite side of the war; I must be a traitor at heart, or so I'm told. Never mind I haven't actually fought for years. Never mind that I probably am the most qualified for my position and that I so far am doing a good enough job. Never mind that few others of my former allies would want to do my job and thereby make sure that there is something of a balance in our day-to-day governance. No, never mind any of that! Because I do my job well, because I'm able to have meetings and discuss options and find common ground; I am a bloody traitor to my cause! Never mind that the fucking wankers wouldn't know how to do my job if I used the Imperius to guide them!"
At the end Head Bones were almost shouting, then she looked at the empty potion bottle with an accusing glare, closed her eyes and rubbed her temple for a moment.
"Apologies. My pain potion was stronger than I thought it would be, and I am … rather upset about the whole situation."
"No apologies needed," Astoria said automatically. She didn't mind being shouted at when it was just an outlet for pain and frustration, and she got an apology afterward. And she had both seen and heard how Harry was treated and viewed because he was married to the Dark Lord. She had seen the letters that still came weekly. Letters that threatened and cursed him, Howlers that were loud enough to hurt your ears and envelopes with dangerous potions and curses on them. And Harry was extremely well protected, Head Bones was not.
"Are you telling me that you were in pain right now because you got hurt by one of your so-called allies?" she asked carefully.
"No, I got cursed by my so-called family!" Bones snapped and then she looked away, a bleak look in her brown eyes.
"You husband and children haven't moved here yet," Astoria said in a low voice and watched as the pale face grew paler. "Did you get cursed by the Ministry Leader, by your own aunt?"
"It was a Gutting Curse, but either she is really bad at casting them or she was too upset to do it properly, because while she did some harm, she didn't actually gut me."
"She tried to kill you!" Astoria couldn't believe what she was hearing, she couldn't believe what she was saying.
Bones just nodded, once, and refused to look at her again. Astoria remembered how belligerent Madam Bones had been towards Harry, how loudly she had proclaimed him a traitor and how she had tried to set him a trial date, instead of giving him a full pardon, as she was supposed to do. After the rather painful repercussions of that event, Madam Bones had stopped mentioning Harry being a traitor in front of anyone connected to the Dark Lord, but Astoria highly doubted that the witch had stopped altogether. Madam Bones did an adequate job, but nothing more, and Astoria knew with utter certainty that she wouldn't do that job for much longer. Not after she gave this report to the Dark Lord, and she would do that as soon as she could.
Astoria swallowed hard while watching Bones. "This wasn't the first time," she stated, and Bones finally turned to look at her, her warm, brown eyes a hundred years old.
"She raised me. For the longest time she was all I had. I know she was a good person, once upon a time but yes … now she has tried to kill me, four times."
Madam Bones will lose her job and her freedom tonight, Astoria decided fiercely, looking at the young, but weary witch across from her. To try to kill her niece once was unpardonable, to try it several times was the sign of sickness or corruption, mental or otherwise. As the Dark Lord's second in command Astoria could, and would, remove Madam Bones from power, effective immediately.
Astoria leaned forwards and slowly, carefully, she grabbed one of Bones' hands from the desk. For a pure-blood like Astoria, it was near unthinkable to do something like this unbidden, with someone she hardly knew outside of work, and yet … it felt right, it felt necessary. Bones looked at her with big, dark eyes.
"She will never get the chance to do so again," Astoria said earnestly. "The Dark Lord has contemplated finding a replacement for her for a while already, because people have been complaining about her conduct, if not also her ability to do her job. This is not your fault. Not that she has tried to kill you and not that she now will lose her job and be taken into custody."
"Now, it will happen now?" Head Bones asked, seeming more lost than Astoria had ever seen her. "Should I …?"
"It will happen now, and I will take care of it for you. I will tell Harry about it tomorrow, if you want, so you can meet and … maybe talk?"
"Thank you, please do," Bones said softly, blinking fast to keep away tears. "Please leave now." Her voice had gotten thick, and her eyes shone.
"Go home and rest, everything else can wait," Astoria said before she left the big office.
When the door closed behind her, the wizard who was Head Bones' secretary and whom Bones had glared at upon arrival, got to his feet.
"Mrs Malfoy, will Head Bones be alright?" he asked hurriedly.
"She will survive, and it won't happen again," Astoria said.
"That's what Head Bones said the last two times," the wizard muttered, and it wouldn't surprise Astoria one bit if he was the one who had pushed Head Bones to go to the healers. Bones hadn't seemed nearly concerned enough when she spoke of the botched Gutting Curse.
A Gutting Curse on her own nice, by Merlin, Morgana and Circe!
"It will not happen again because Madam Bones will retire tonight, permanently, and she will most likely not have her own freedom again for some years. It is up to debate whether those years will be spent behind locked doors at St. Mungos, or in prison."
Astoria turned to the two wizards that had accompanied her to the Ministry. "Draco, get Blaise Zabini here, he will be interim Ministry Leader until the Dark Lord has decided on someone else. I will stay here to brief him when he arrives. Severus, we will find some Auror's and convince Madam Bones that it is time to retire."
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the secretary grin maliciously and she realised that she knew him, or knew of him, but that it went farther back than to the beginning of the peace treaty and collaboration to rebuild their society. He had been a fighter for the Dark forces, though not a Death Eater. She turned towards him.
"Hussain, Rashid Hussain, isn't it?" Astoria said slowly and dragged up everything she could remember of the man.
Five years older than me, Hufflepuff, half-blood, male partner, no other family in the country, he is both a fast caster and he has an extensive spell repertoire, including enough healing spells to be useful.
Hussain bowed smartly. "At your service, Mrs Malfoy, as always."
"You and Head Bones get along?"
"When I don't pester her into doing something she thinks is foolish, like going to the healers when she is hurt, yes, I would like to think so."
"Good, and you have my thanks for pestering her like that. Everyone should have someone like that in their life, no matter how annoying it might be."
"Thank you, Mrs Malfoy, and I agree wholeheartedly."
"See if you can't get her to go home now, preferably to eat and relax, and if she has anything straining scheduled tomorrow, postpone it if at all possible."
Of course, the reason I came to the Ministry in the first place and the fact that I will now retire the Ministry Leader probably makes for a busier schedule for everyone tomorrow.
He hesitated. "There are only two meetings on her schedule tomorrow, and neither is long nor challenging. She will have my head if I postpone them."
Astoria smiled. A very good secretary indeed, who knew when to pester and when to yield. And that they had such a relationship when they would have been on opposite sides mere months ago … It was such things that made Astoria hope. Hope for more than just peace.
"Very well. We must go now. Draco, Severus."
Hussain bowed again, but didn't sit down. The least she saw of him was that he knocked once on the door and then entered Head Bones' office.
Draco went to get hold of Zabini and Astoria and Severus picked up a few Auror's on their way to the Ministry Leaders office. Walking down the long corridor towards the office at the end, Astoria finally let herself feel the incandescent rage she had forced down since Head Bones' admission that her own aunt and the leader of their Ministry had tried to kill her, not one, not twice, but four times! What kind of example was that for the rest of their society? What kind of witch did that to their own flesh and blood, to a mother of three that only did her job and did it splendidly?
Not a witch Astoria wanted free to roam and create more havoc, that was what!
She drew her wand and with a flick, the double doors to the office slammed open with a massive crack. Madam Bones didn't manage to even raise her wand before Astoria met her eyes and cast.
"Crucio!"
The older witch fell to the floor screaming. The Unforgivable Curses were no longer unforgivable, just strictly monitored and Astoria were one of few that were allowed to cast them at her own discretion.
Rage against Madam Bones and everyone like her burned through Astoria together with the power high she always got from casting the curse. Rage against everyone that did their utmost to make rebuilding harder, everyone that cursed their former allies because they chose to try and find common ground and rebuild, everyone that looked at someone like Bones and Harry and thought traitor.
She let up on the curse to let Madam Bones breathe. The older witch coughed and gasped for breath.
"Did my ungrateful niece finally sell out her own blood?" the woman rasped. "Didn't expect any better from that bitch."
Severus actually made a sound behind Astoria, and she quite agreed with his surprise. The audacity of the woman!
In moments like this it felt like the war had never ended, simply morphed into something that was harder to define, harder to control. She would not have it; she would not have any of it!
"Crucio!" she whispered and let all her rage, all her fear, all her hurt and all her need to punish, flow out of her wand and into that abominable woman that didn't know when the war was over.
A/N:
**Again: This is from a Dr Who episode that was first aired in 2011, which is, in terms of this story's timeline, after this chapter. I decided that Harry and Hermi are fans of both fantasy and science fiction shows and books, and that the real-life timeline is unimportant. Hope that works well enough for people.
Please tell me what you thought of the revelation of the child-murderers. Did anyone see it coming? Are people alright with my decision to make Lupin the culprit? Not alright? Was it okay to end that mystery like his?
Thank you so much for your support! I love to hear what you think about the story and the characters! It makes writing this story even more fun! Each and every comment makes me smile!
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