Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
Later the same evening, Harry spoke with his parents about Lucius Malfoy's letter to Draco.
Severus shook his head in apparent annoyance. "Harry, bring him with you tomorrow evening, so that I can speak with him. Considering that he's my godson, I have certain responsibilities. Thus, I will offer to teach him telepathy."
"Thanks, Dad." Harry felt strangely consoled.
"Please tell him to not do as much as touch any letter his father might send. Lucius would not hesitate sending him a Portkey to get him home against his wishes. I will also alert Minerva to the problem, as she's his head of house."
"Thanks, Dad." 'Thank Merlin I have so wonderful parents,' Harry thought, feeling extremely happy.
"By the way, Harry, Regina and I would love to go on a holiday with you and Felix for a few days, even if only to get away from Hogwarts and the meddling headmaster for a bit."
Harry's eyes widened in excitement. "Oh, that's cool. Are we going to Inis Rún?"
Severus sighed. "While that would be reasonable, we were thinking of a small holiday in the Alps, in the South of Germany. Originally, we thought to spend the Christmas holidays there, but as you together with the Weasley children are supposed to spend the days between Christmas and the New Year training at the Unspeakables' Office, we decided to simply spend Christmas there. We've booked a small apartment in a magical resort for the week beginning on the first day of the holidays."
"Lucy can come with us, can't she?"
"Of course."
HP
Before Harry could further marvel the matter of their planned Christmas holiday, however, he became distracted by the Wizengamot meeting, during which the election of the new minister took place.
Harry sat next to his mother on the Lestrange seat as usual and observed how Remus opened the meeting. As Amelia Black-Bones was one of the candidates herself, she could not play her role as the Interim Minister for the election. Instead, Remus as the head of the Wizengamot led through the process of the election. Amelia, Dumbledore and Malfoy, the three candidates, were sitting in the first row of the visitors' gallery.
Harry somehow felt bored, when Remus explained all the details of the election process and introduced the three candidates. 'Everyone already knows all of that anyway,' he thought, feeling very impatient. On the other hand, he knew that it was not his godfather's decision to explain so much, but that Remus was most likely just following the rules.
'The Wizengamot is very much antiquated, isn't it?' he thought to Marvolo, who was sitting opposite of him.
The older wizard cast him a look of apparent amusement, before he replied. 'Your assessment is absolutely correct, and if Amelia wins the election, I will work on modernising the Wizengamot a bit. Let's see what's going to happen.'
'You should have run for the position. You'd be a brilliant minister.'
Marvolo smirked. 'Thanks, Harry.'
Finally, Remus pointed to three boxes on the table in front of him. "Please send out blue sparks for Albus Dumbledore, green sparks for Amelia Black-Bones or red sparks for Lucius Malfoy. You have two minutes to elect your candidate."
Harry observed in excitement how the green, blue and very few red sparks shot in the direction of Remus.
"1 percent of votes for Lucius Malfoy, 24 percent for Albus Dumbledore and 75 percent for Amelia Black-Bones," Remus announced. "Lady Black-Bones, do you accept the position of the Minister of Magic?"
Amelia rose from her chair. "Thank you all for your confidence. I gratefully accept the position."
The upcoming applause from all sides lasted until she had taken her position on Remus' right side in the Wizengamot.
'Yay,' Harry thought. 'She's going to be a good minister.' His unofficial godfather's wife was one of the most reasonable witches he knew, apart from Regina and Minerva.
Apparently, most of the people assembled joined his opinion, and the rest of the meeting was simply joyful – at least before Marvolo spoke up.
"Minister, congratulations for winning the election. I have a request for you to consider as the new minister. I believe that we should add more of the older families to the Wizengamot, such as, for example, the Weasleys."
"Lord Gaunt, thank you for an interesting idea." Amelia smiled. "May I ask you to put together a list of families, whom you suggest to add? We will then discuss the matter in another Wizengamot meeting. Anyone, if you have any ideas for families, who should be given a seat, please contact Lord Gaunt."
HP
Too soon for Harry's liking, the tests before the Christmas holidays began; however, he and his friends had studied enough, so that none of them had any problems.
In the morning after the leaving feast, Severus, Minerva and Harry accompanied the students to the train station as usual. During the last few days, it had snowed on and off, but it was just enough snow into annoy them, but not enough to do as much as a snowball fight. Every evening, Felix had asked Harry to build a snowman with him; however, with the bit of snow they had it was not possible.
"Harry, you're going to have much snow in the Alps. Enjoy yourself and try out Quidditch on skis," Minerva told him, before she pressed a small present into his hand. "Just tap it with your wand to enlarge it on Christmas morning."
"Thank you," Harry replied, smiling, glad that he had begun to make Christmas presents for all of his friends and family on time, including honorary godparents and grandparents. For most of them, he had brewed additions for their tea, coffee or milk; for some, however, such as his father, he had painted pictures.
"Harry, shall we return home quickly?"
"Yes." Harry grinned, before he reached out for his father's hand and Lucy's front paw and, seeing that no one but Minerva and Remus were around, wished them a merry Christmas and swiftly popped home.
HP
Felix was running around the living room, when Harry, Lucy and Severus popped up. "We leave now. Harry make nowman fow me."
"Yes yes, we'll build a snowman together, provided that we'll have enough snow."
"You will." Regina eyed them in apparent amusement, while Severus held out a long, yellow scarf for everyone to hold on.
When the Portkey dropped them, they found themselves on the terrasse next to what seemed to be a tiny house, one of many in the direct neighbourhood. To Harry's surprise, the house was surrounded by what seemed to be deep snow, and nearby, he could see many tall mountains, equally covered by snow. The snow was twinkling in the beautiful sunshine and made a nice contrast to the dark blue sky over them.
'This looks totally cool,' he thought, when his brother reminded him of his duties.
"Hawwy! Make nowman now!"
"Felix, please wait a moment. Let's go inside first."
Harry cast Regina a grateful look. "Give me a few minutes, little one," he replied to his brother, whose response remained unsaid due to Lucy giving the small face, which was just at about the same height as her snout, a thorough washing.
While Severus walked to the reception, Regina and Harry swiftly unpacked their belongings, making Harry realise that his room had a second bed in it. He should not have to wonder why for much longer, as Regina suddenly called Teddy over – much to Harry's delight.
Teddy appeared with a small bag in one hand and a large picnic basket in the other, wearing a dumb folded expression. "Mum told me to bring these." He put his luggage onto the floor.
Regina smiled and thanked the small elf, before she instructed Harry to show Teddy to their room and return right away to have tea together.
"We're here on holidays?" The small elf's eyes shone with apparent excitement. "Mum didn't tell me anything. Only when your mother called me, did she instruct me to take all the bags."
"I didn't know that you were going to come either. This is totally cool," Harry replied, feeling extremely happy.
Their bellies full with tea and cake, everyone finally headed out for a walk towards the mountains, a loudly protesting Felix sitting in a pram that was hovering just a little above the ground between Regina and Severus.
"Wanna wawk!"
Leaving the little tyke to his parents, Harry and Teddy hurried to keep up with Lucy, who was running ahead, obviously loving the snow. Only when they reached a large field at the bottom of one of the mountains, Severus took Felix out of the pram and allowed him to play in the snow.
"Now, are we going to play a snowman?" Harry leaned down to his brother.
"Yeah, nowman now!"
While Harry and Teddy obediently busied themselves building a snowman for the toddler, Felix inefficiently helped by throwing snow at Lucy, who fortunately was extremely patient with him. At one stage, however, she had enough and dashed away only to begin playing in the deeper snow out of Felix' reach.
Finally, the snowman was finished, and under the toddler's instructions, Harry and Teddy transfigured a snowball into a carrot for the nose, another into a hat and further made a scarf and several other accessories, which the little boy then used to decorate their work.
To Harry's relief, the cold, fresh air and the occasional walk through the snow made Felix tired. During the week they spent at the resort, he slept a lot, so that Harry, Teddy and Lucy could thoroughly enjoy their time without having to build snowmen every now and then.
In the morning of their second day, Severus invited Harry and Teddy to join him. He took them to a spot within the resort, which strangely reminded Harry of the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts – with the exception that the grounds were completely covered by more snow than Harry had ever seen at Hogwarts. A few people were flying around; however, instead of sitting on brooms, they were standing on skis.
Severus led them to a small hut at the edge of the pitch, explaining that the people visiting the resort would meet here every morning to play Ski Quidditch. "Do you want to try it out?"
"Of course." Their response came firm and simultaneous.
Harry immediately enjoyed flying in a different way from the usual; however, he was sad that he could not take Lucy with him. At least that was what he thought, before she once simply jumped up onto the ski in front of him and insisted on flying together.
=Don't leave me on the ground. That's unfair.=
"Is it safe for you? I don't want you to fall off." Harry stared at her and her paws, which were perched on the thin ski in concern.
=I have magic, you know, and I'm not stupid.=
"Hey, that's not what I was implying. Sorry, Lulu." From that time onwards, they always flew together as usual.
The rules were exactly the same as with normal Quidditch games; however, playing while standing on unused skis was simply exciting. As could be expected, Harry soon became the Seeker of one of the teams, which found together spontaneously. Even on skis, he was always the first to catch the Snitch, which was not easy to see in front of the snow-covered mountains.
Too soon for Harry's liking, Christmas passed, and they had to return to Hogwarts, where Harry and Teddy immediately cornered Rolanda Hooch and asked about a possibility of introducing Ski Quidditch to the school.
HP
As they had agreed with Mento, Harry, Ginny and the twins met in the founders' quarters at eight o'clock the following morning. While Harry was slightly disappointed that Teddy was not with him, he consoled himself with the thought that he could at least bring Lucy.
He quickly fetched the Portkey from the shelf, where Mento had placed it the other day, and motioned everyone to hold on tightly, before he spoke the activating password.
An instant later, they found themselves in a relatively untidy office.
"Welcome to Team 5 of the Unspeakables."
Looking around, Harry realised that a very old wizard was talking to them. He was not wearing the Unspeakable robe that Mento had been wearing, when he visited them at Hogwarts.
They greeted the old wizard in excitement, which even spread to Lucy, who was running around the small room sniffing every corner.
An instant later, however, the Unspeakable donned the grey robe and pointed at the door. "Let's go and introduce you to Head Unspeakable Croaker and get robes for you lot. I am Unspeakable Ra, by the way."
They quickly followed Ra through a deserted corridor and into an equally untidy office, which was cramped with parchments on the desk, the visitors' table as well as on the chairs, shelves and the floor.
"Ah, Mento's new Mini Unspeakables." The Unspeakable, who had thrown his robes over the instant they stepped through the door, greeted them in a friendly voice. "Thanks, Ra." With a flick of his wand, the parchments moved away from the five chairs and piled themselves on other piles near the opposite wall. "Please take seats."
As untidy as the office was, Harry instinctively liked the atmosphere, especially as the two Unspeakables seemed very friendly.
"Now, tell me about yourselves. Do you have any special abilities, any faults, any experiences? I wish to know everything."
Harry felt incredibly relieved, when the twins spoke up, simultaneously. "Ladies first."
'Thank Merlin, I don't have to do that first. What should I tell them?' he wondered, while Ginny explained that she had entered Hogwarts a year early and was able to use telepathy. She told them that she loved Quidditch and magic in general.
Croaker and Ra listened patiently and did not ask questions. Instead, Croaker nodded at him.
Harry hesitantly told them how he had been blind, when Severus had rescued him from the Dursleys, and that he had developed several magical skills to make up for his blindness. "I can sense magic, and I am a natural healer."
"He's also good at Potions…"
"… and has received the Order of Merlin first class…"
"… and the Order of Albion."
Harry cast the twins a grateful look. Somehow, it was difficult to tell people about himself.
The twins did their part together, taking turns speaking as usual.
Croaker chuckled. "You remind me of Mento and Mento."
"Mento…"
"… and Mento?" The twins stared at Croaker, wide-eyed.
"Well, first of all, you're going to meet Devil."
"Devil?"
"Devil is our trainer. He will assess your Defence abilities."
Harry inwardly groaned, only to relax, when Croaker continued. "While we're going to assign you jobs considering your abilities, as an Unspeakable you'll have to be able to at least defend yourselves if necessary."
"Is he going to test us all together?" Ginny sounded as uncertain as Harry felt.
Croaker chuckled. "Devil has been our trainer for about sixty years. He knows what he's doing. Now, first of all, we need to decide on your Unspeakable names. Do you have any suggestions?"
"Let us introduce us as…"
"… Mon…"
"… and Jiji…"
"Together, we're the Monjijis," they finished together.
Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes at their antics, before Ginny explained to the Unspeakables, "You must know that they're monkey Animagi."
"Don't you think that you should have informed me about your Animagi forms, when I questioned you earlier?" Croaker sighed in apparent exasperation. "Well, I suggest to call one of you 'Mon' and the other 'Key'. How's that?"
"Perfect…"
"… Mr. Croaker…"
"… so we're the Monkeys…"
"… how fitting."
"Absolutely." Grinny grinned, broadly.
"What about you, Greeny and …"
"Flash."
"Sorry, Mon?"
"Err, we think that Flash would be good for Harrykins…"
"… as he's practising to become a phoenix Animagus."
"Is that so?" Croaker turned to Harry.
"Yes sir."
"Harry!" Ginny glared at him in apparent annoyance. "Don't forget to tell Croaker that you've already managed the transformation into a dog and a majaroo."
Harry shrugged.
"You're a multiple Animagus?"
"Yes sir."
"How about Paws then for you?"
Harry nodded, happily. "Yes sir. I'd like that."
"What are we going to call your doggy?"
"Lulu."
Turning back to the only girl, Croaker enquired, "Is Greeny all right for you?"
The twins beat her to a response.
"Considering that she's in Slytherin…"
"… it's definitely more than fitting."
"It's all right." Ginny glared at her brothers.
"Very well. Now, are you ready to meet Devil?"
"As ready…"
"… as we can be."
"I shall see you later on." With that, Ra returned to the team room, while Croaker led them into a side room to his office and instructed them to take the robes they needed out of the shelves and cover themselves.
"What about Lulu?"
Croaker sighed. "It's unfortunate, but we don't have robes for her right now. I'll see to it that she'll get them as soon as possible."
Once, they were all dressed in grey Unspeakable robes, he ushered them along the corridor and through a door at the end of it.
"Now, do you know what's in this room?" Croaker challenged them, causing the four to stare into the white mist in front of them of exasperation. Only Lucy let out a small growl in apparent discomfort.
"Fog." The three Weasleys replied, simultaneously.
Harry shook his head. "I can sense strong magic, probably coming from a person. It's not evil though."
Suddenly, he felt a series of spells coming in their direction. 'Duck,' he urgently thought to his friends; however, only Ginny and Lucy were fast enough to obey, while the twins were hit with stunning spells.
Croaker quickly enervated them. "Greeny, Lulu and Flash, that was good."
Ginny shook her head. "Flash warned me, telepathically."
"How did you know…" He interrupted himself, when this time all four children and the dog ducked, and five red spells shot over them and hit the door behind them.
"Flash?"
"I can sense magic, and I knew that a spell was coming. Lulu, please do me a favour and wait for me a bit to the side. I don't want anyone to hit you with a spell." To his relief, Lucy obeyed immediately and sat down in a short distance. 'That should be far enough for her to not be hit,' he thought, contentedly. 'Perhaps, I'd have better left her at home.'
During the following hour, Devil lured the four of them into the foggy area and cast random spells at one or the other of them; however, Harry managed to escape from his spells most of the time. Even when they played some sort of hide and seek game in a foggy forest, Harry always managed to find everyone quickly."
Afterwards, however, when Devil banished trees and fog all together and began to duel them, none of the four had any chance to retaliate adequately.
When Croaker returned to fetch them two hours later, Devil emphasized that they were all together good for nothing and did not even manage to cast the easiest defensive charms.
"That's fine," Croaker reassured them. "Devil never commends people. If he didn't kill you during the last two hours, it means that you're doing adequately." He then led them back into his office and motioned them to take seats.
"I will add three of you to Team 5," he then informed them. "For the other two, I have different plans."
'Too bad that we can't join Team 5 all together,' Harry thought in disappointment, when Croaker continued to speak.
"Paws and Lulu, I will introduce you to Felina and Whisker of Team 13. I believe that you know both of them in their other personas, which they occupy when they're not in the Unspeakable Office. In any case, you will be able to efficiently assist them with their work."
HP
Molly Prewitt stared at the family clock in confusion, when Ronald pointed out that Ginny and the twins were said to be at work. "Ginny and the twins are at work?" she repeated in disbelief. "They're supposed to be at Hogwarts. Oh well, who knows what your father is doing together with them." Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind. 'Arthur said something about Unspeakable Mento offering them a job. Perhaps, they're working for the Unspeakables. If that's the case, I should definitely accept the position as a cook in their canteen. Perhaps, I'll get to see my Ginny.'
That decision made, she immediately set to work and composed a letter to Unspeakable Mento. "Errol, please hurry up. And wait for a response. I'd like to begin right away."
"Mum, what are you doing?" Percy looked at her in apparent concern. "Remember to not write Howlers anymore."
Molly stared at her son, indignantly. "I won't. Otherwise, I'd lose my magic. Apart from that, you don't have to worry, because even if he kicked me out of the family, the two of you will remain Prewitts."
Percy nodded, seemingly contented, while Ronald went to the kitchen to look for something to eat.
Only when Mento's response arrived four hour later, she explained to her two sons, who were still living with her during the school holidays, that she was going to work in the Unspeakables' canteen from the beginning of January onwards.
"That's good. Then you won't be alone the whole time, while we're at Hogwarts." Percy nodded in apparent understanding.
