Chapter Nine – The Shifting Currents

That same afternoon found Lady Aydin deep in meditation. The tingle she had been feeling for the past couple of months simply would not go away.

Her people finally got confirmation of Riddle's restoration. The pictures from Mr. Lovat were chilling. But even absent that the ritual site literally overflowed with evidence.

The forensic team that searched the site after Lovat left found traces of blood from at least four different people. They surmised two belonged to Potter and the mystery man orchestrating the Ritual although it would take DNA testing to confirm. The other two remained a mystery. Trace amounts of various chemicals and plants residue were found near the gravesite. According to Talerie they matched up to the elements needed for the Ritual of D'Karsh.

They also found snakeskin at the site; they were still waiting for DNA testing to tell them the species.

The team lifted over a dozen sets of footprints from the site, at least fifteen people had been present that night, again consistent with Mr. Lovat's sketches. The Elder Sinclair theorized that Voldemort had called his senior lieutenants to his side after his restoration.

What amazed Lady Aydin, indeed the entire senior staff, was the complete lack of evidence that anybody else had visited the site after that night. It made no sense. Surely Dumbledore could have surmised where Riddle performed the ritual. After all he had access to the Potter boy.

For that matter they could have used the Goblet to determine the location of the ritual. It was obviously a site specific Portkey and one charmed for multiple trips.

Even if the Wizarding world did not have people with Mr. Lovat's or agent Grayden's talents there was still enough evidence to confirm whatever story Potter was telling.

All he'd have to do is tell Fudge where to look and a team of Aurors could investigate the site. Of course the Aurors seemed quite willing to write off the death of an innocent child without investigation. But failing that Dumbledore himself could have investigated and brought the evidence to Fudge. It would end the cold war that seemed to be developing between the two.

Elder Sinclair was right Dumbledore clearly was playing his own game. That made him dangerous. And the Ministry was flat out incompetent. The former copper in agent Cromwell was outraged about the complete lack of any investigation into the death of Cedric Diggory.

Past experience taught Lady Aydin that the Ministry would discount any evidence brought to them by mere "muggles." Uncle Micah had tried to warn the Ministry of the plot to restore Riddle thirteen years ago and his warnings were met with deaf ears. He was forced to act on own. Unfortunately his actions came to late to save the Longbottoms.

Evidence MI5 provided about Death Eater attacks on British citizens had been similarly ignored during the trails. After all "muggles" didn't know anything. Not to mention the fact that the crimes against the "muggles" simply didn't rate as that important to the Ministry.

This time would be different.

The confirmation of Riddle's return gave MI5 one thing it needed. The Queen and the Prime Minister agreed that the Ministry of Magic was clearly unable to deal with this threat. Therefore they sanctioned Tom Riddle for assassination along with any confirmed Death Eaters. If bodies were going to start piling up again they preferred the bodies be inside the enclaves. The Queen said the time for dealing with the with Wizarding world with a gentle hand was at an end. Now all they needed was confirmed targets.

Lady Aydin knew she was following the correct current. That usually meant the warning tingle went away. But it refused to go away. She was still missing something. So she meditated and tried to sort through the currents.

She saw swirls and disruptions around the enclaves. The funneling her daughter had described weeks earlier seemed to be growing stronger. They went deep. Deeper then Lady Aydin's talents allowed her to see. She examined the currents around the enclaves. She saw the current she associated with her people moving around the enclaves. Trying to calm the waters. She knew on their own they were not strong enough.

For some reason Uncle Micah's words came to mind. "All the currents flow together in the end."

She expanded her search. She began to drift out, away from the enclaves to examine the broader currents. After a few minutes she saw something that made her stop cold. One of the more powerful currents was changing direction. For most of her life this current had been a small one. Powerful but small. It was almost always drawn to the most powerful and dangerous disruptions, the ones Lady Aydin would never dream of trying to navigate.

For the past few years the current had been growing steadily stronger and larger. Now it was on a path to enclaves. Lady Aydin knew what that meant.

The Slayers had discovered the Wizarding world.