Chapter 22 Abeyance
The paper was much thicker than it normally was. Kane was laughing as he read the stories in it. It seemed like the whole thing was about the fiasco with his son yesterday. He poured another cup of coffee as his son walked into the room.
Yawning, Shadow made his way to the breakfast table and grabbed a glass of juice. Downing it he yawned again before asking his father, "What's so funny dad?"
"You son are a celebrity" Chandos said as he passed over the paper with a snicker. "Of course they got most of the facts wrong but that's nothing new when it comes to the prophet."
Shadow sat down and started reading. After about 10 minutes he moaned and asked, "Can we sue them?"
Corruption In High Places. By Rita Skeeter.
Yesterday this reporter was invited by the Prime Minister to attend a dinner being held at Hogwarts, the prestigious private school that many of us attended in our youth. The occasion for the dinner? To meet the Hero of the wizarding world. The Boy Who Lived: Harry Potter.
What we got instead of that honor was a young boy who had apparently been kidnapped from his loving family by none other than the headmaster of that school. During the presentation the boy rebelled against the illegal magical controls that the headmaster had placed…
…When a person is held hostage sometimes they begin to sympathize with the ones who hold them captive even to the point of beginning to agree that they deserve the treatment that they receive. See accompanying story page 4 Life as a Captive by Jarid Tallive
… the Kane's are being held in a secure location and will be subpoenaed as witness for the prosecution. See accompanying story page 6
"Has Mr. Snape come back yet dad?" Shadow asked.
Chandos smiled and ruffled his son's hair. "He wouldn't come to these rooms if he did you know. Most likely he would go back to Hogwarts first before he came here." After grabbing another piece of toast and taking a big bite Chandos cleared his throat before finishing, "Don't worry, we'll see him soon enough."
"You stayed up half the night reading that book. What did it say and what did that prophecy mean?" Shadow asked his father.
"I don't understand all of it son. I do understand this part though. Everyone is supposed to leave you alone till you grow up which you aren't yet. Albus jumped the gun when he tried to interfere with you and for that he will pay. That's something that is clearly spelled out in the diary."
Chandos went to the bathroom and washed his hands before he placed the book down on the hastily cleared table. Opening it to a marked spot he pointed out the correct passages to his son. 'If the gray or black try to rush a confrontation before the gold is grown then the results will not be as expected because the gold has not grown hard enough to effect a permanent solution to the gray or black the two will find themselves held in abeyance till the gold has grown into his powers.'
Shadow opened and closed his mouth after reading the passage. "huuu, that makes no sense. How do I put the gray and black in abeyance till I've grown up?"
Chandos grinned. "It doesn't say you will put anyone in abeyance. It says they will find themselves held in abeyance." Stretching Chandos smiled again at his son. "Want to come with me? I promised Fudge I would go to see him this morning at 9:00."
"What happens if he tries to arrest you again" Shadow asked.
"Oh, I wouldn't put it past him to try but I haven't broken any laws…weeell, let me rephrase that. I haven't broken many laws and the ones I have he doesn't know about so if he does try then he's going to find out what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a false arrest charge. It's an election year here in Jolly Ol' England and Fudge is nothing if not in love with his position as Minister of Magic. He won't want any bad press. Cides, he already gave a statement to the press saying that the two of us are in a safe location pending our giving testimony." Chandos waved his hand around indicating the room at large. "You can't get much safer than guest quarters at Gringotts under the protection of goblins."
Shadow grinned and said. "Let me get dressed. I'll only be a few minutes." He ran out of the room and back into the bedroom the two had shared last night after the excitement had died down.
After Shadow rejoined his father the two made their way to Raveark's office. Before flooing out a small contingent of goblins were assigned by Raveark to guard the two as they completed their business.
Reaching the Ministry the two were asked to check their wands by a bored security guard who didn't even look up from the copy of the prophet he was reading before they were allowed to proceed any farther.
"If we had wands we would check them but since we don't I guess we won't." Chandos explained to the security guard.
The man gaped at the two before he stammered out. "Staffs, I need to check your staffs."
Chandos smiled kindly at the man before he said softly, "No."
The man opened and closed his mouth before he said with a look of astonishment on his face. "No? What do you mean no? You can't go any further unless I check your staff sir."
"Fine" Chandos said. The guard smiled at having won that argument and held out his hand for the staff. Chandos quickly debased him of that notion. "Please tell the Minister that Chandos Kane was here for his appointment but that you would not let us proceed without taking the staff that I am using to protect my son and that I refused to hand it over. Tell him I will send him a letter instead." He smiled and said "Have a nice day."
The small group turned and floo'd back out as the guard stared in shock.
When the group once again stepped out of the floo in Ravearks office they found that professor Snape had showed up in their brief absence. He was seated at the table holding a cup of tea, talking to the director, Bill Weasley and surprise surprise Remus Lupen. Also present was Minerva McGonagall and Sirius Black.
Chandos scowled at the werewolf and Black. Great, two of his least favorite people.
Shadow smiled at Raveark, Snape and Weasley before turning to the other three who were there. "Mr. Lupen, Mr. Black and Mrs. McGonagall. Good morning to all of you." He directed his attention back to the potions master and said, "I was worried about you sir. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. I would have been back here last night but I was called to a meeting of Voldermorts inner circle. It appears that he has a new follower who brought him a report of what happened last evening at Hogwarts. He was…..pleased with the report he was given." Snape smiled, "He was even more pleased after I gave him my report."
Black stood up and faced Chandos, "I know we have some history behind us Chandos but you are the father to my godson. I want to be a part of his life now that he has been found. Can't we put our past behind us for the boy's sake?"
Chandos sighed, "If my son wants a relationship with you I will not stop him. I will even go so far as to try to get along with you provided you can leave the childish and immature teasing at home. I will not have my family ridiculed or belittled by you or by Remus. Understand?"
Black smiled. "Deal" He looked over at Bill before turning back to Chandos, "I had several compulsion spells placed on me that Bill removed. He said they were all tagged with the headmasters magical signature. Some of them were over 18 years old. Its kind of humbling to find out that a large part of my free will had been circumvented like that without my knowledge."
Minerva McGonagall also stood and approached Shadow. "Severus explained what had been done to you child. I am truly sorry. Had I known I would have helped you. Can you forgive me?"
"Yes, it wasn't your fault." Shadow glanced at Black who was looking at the floor in shame. "It wasn't any of your faults."
Remus sighed in relief that that was over. "Raveark told us about the prophecy that the goblins have been guarding. He also explained about the false prophecy that Albus has been using. I want Voldermort defeated but I don't want someone just as crazy to take his place and that seems to be what Albus is trying to do. Set himself up as a world power with a better smell than the dark lord."
Raveark cleared his throat. "Perhaps we can all be seated so that we can hear Severus's report?"
The group sat down and looked toward Snape waiting for him to speak. Blowing out a gust of air the man said. "Well, before I start you will all have to forgive my language. I am repeating what I was told word for word." Severus looked down at the parchment sitting on the table in front of him and began to read. "First thing we need to do is regain control of the boy. After we do that we can modify his memory so that he believes his adopted father abused him. We can take that to the ministry and make a case for having the adoption set aside. I will apply for custody of the boy and adopt him myself. I obviously need to come up with a stronger ward to use on him or else isolate him from everyone till he has adapted to being under my control. Hmmm, perhaps I should just memory charm him into understanding that he has no choice but to turn to me" Snape glanced around the table to judge the reactions of the others. He was not disappointed in the looks of outrage he saw.
"He also said, 'When I get my hands on that boy I will tan his bare ass for breaking my wand. I've had that wand for over 75 years.'" The adults around the table snickered as the boy's cheeks turned red with embarrassment at the mental picture that statement created.
Snape stopped grinning as he said. "I believe that Dumbledore started out with the best of motives but somehow, someplace lost track of what was right and what was wrong. Understand, I don't excuse his behavior and I believe that he represents an ongoing danger to Shadow unless we find a way to stop him but because of the debt the wizarding world owes him I would rather not see him go to prison unless no other way to control him can be found. I owe him a personal debt as well."
Chandos reached over and covered his friends hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I won't allow my son to be in danger if I can prevent it but to be honest, if Rowena Ravenclaw's diary is to be believed then we don't have to do much of anything. According to her, he will somehow be put into abeyance till Shadow is grown." Chandos shrugged, "I don't understand exactly what she meant by that but that's what her diary said anyhow."
Shadow shook his head no. "What she said was that if either of them did something then they would both be held in abeyance till I was grown up. I don't know what she was talking about either."
(The Ministry of Magic)
"How could you have let then leave you imbecile?" Fudge raged at the hapless guard. "Where did they go?"
"Sir, I'm sorry but I don't know. They didn't tell me where they were going." The guard looked panicked as he took in the red face of the minister. "Goblins" he practically yelled. "They were accompanied by goblins. The goblins would know where they were."
Fudge turned to his aide and demanded that the two be found before storming off back to his office.
His aide Percy Weasley went back to his office and penned a note which he took to the owlry to post. It was addressed to Bill Weasley, Gringotts bank.