The Afterlife Otherwise Known As The Realm Of The Dead.
Location Solomon's Mansion.
"Hum, I wonder when Lord Solomon will return to the mansion?" Thought Jack Silvers a middle-aged looking man who was wearing a stereotypical butler uniform which complimented his softly glowing silver eyes and raven hair which had been stylised into a flawless yet straightforward combed back style. "The Master was supposed to be back by now." The head butler for the Haunted Mansion kept his face emotionless as he walked through his Master's home politely greeting any servants that he came across and harshly scolding those who were caught slacking off while on the job. "Though knowing Lord Solomon, he's probably found something which as captured his attention and thus won't be back for quite some time." Those thoughts caused Jack to sigh in resignation while he entered the front entrance to the mansion.
"I'll have to inform the staff to go into standby, because if my suspicions are indeed correct, then Lord Solomon shall not return to the manor for a hundred years." The butler has served Solomon for many years and has thus grown accustomed to the antics of the ghost king. However, that certainly didn't stop Jack from internally praying to whatever deity that might be listening to his prayers that Solomon would come back soon and handle the mountains of paperwork which he was forced to do while his Lord was absent from the Manor.
Just before the butler could begin the mental preparations and plans for many long years of maintaining and cleaning the Manor whilst the Master of the house was gone. An oppressive and unbelievably powerful presence suddenly appeared at the outer reaches of Jack Silvers ghostly senses. One that the butler was quite familiar with and glad to sense since it meant that Lord Solomon had returned to the afterlife and was no doubt on his away back to the mansion.
"It would seem that my prayers have finally been answered." an amused Jack said out loud to nobody in particular while swiftly moving over to the beautifully handcrafted oak doors which served as the Manor's front entrance. "Still, I can't help but wonder why Lord Solomon has chosen to come back home so quickly?" It was honestly an unusual situation. Since if Jack had been correct about his Master having found something interesting whilst staying in the living world, then Lord Solomon should have typically been gone from the afterlife for a hundred years at the very least.
"Oh well, I'm sure that Lord Solomon shall inform me of his latest adventure upon his arrival." Thought the ghost butler as he stood at attention near the oak doors. Patiently waiting for the godly plasma energy that belonged to the ghost king to reach the oak doors. That was depicting a scene of two colossal red and black dragons fighting fiercely against each other in an epic battle atop a mountain that had happened around eight hundred years ago.
After a few hours of patiently waiting for his Master's energy signature to finally reached the entrance, Jack gently open the oak doors.
"Welcome back Lord Solomon," greeted Jack with a rehearsed bow of respect to the ghost king. "Shall I prepare dinner…" The ghost butler was about to propose a first-class dinner complete with an extensive menu for his Master only to pause in shock when he saw the sleeping form of Violet Potter held gently within Solomon's arms.
"Why, hello, Jack." Solomon happily returned the greeting while walking into the mansion, acting like nothing was out of the usual. "It does my aged heart good to see that you're in such high spirits." Jack felt one of his eyebrows twitch in annoyance at the bad pun his Master had just quietly spoken so as to not awaken the child from her slumber. "As for dinner, I'll have to decline for the moment." Jack swiftly followed after his Lord, who was heading for one of the many guest rooms. Which had been built into the mansion during its construction when the Roman Empire was still sat the hight of its power.
"Understood my Lord." Quickly replied Jack while keeping pace with the Lord of the house. "Though if I may be so bold as to ask," Jack's silver eyes gazed upon the sleeping child who seemed to be happy and content within his lordship's arms. "Just who is that ghost child your carrying?" Jack had to know because if his Master had suddenly decided to take up kidnapping as a hobby, then he'll need to intervene just like the time when Solomon had taken up poison taste-testing as a hobby. Honestly, Jack was still cleaning up the west wing of the mansion after that whole fiasco had happened forty years ago.
"Oh, She's just my new granddaughter." Cheerfully answered Solomon as both Master and servant entered the section of the Manor that usually housed visiting guests. "I'm temporarily placing her within a guest room until I've got her bedroom ready." Jack's silver eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second before turning to their normal calm state, and internally Jack breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that his Lord hadn't begun a new hobby that involved kidnapping random people off of the street. Though now the butler had to deal with this strange new situation.
"Congratulations, my Lord." Simply stated Jack while he stared at the tiny little child who was now thanks to being adopted by Lord Solomon, the princess of all ghosts and also by family ties his new mistress.
"Thank you, Jack." Solomon smiled at his loyal butler while entering Violet's temporary sleeping quarters. "You've known for many years now, how I've longed for a family of my own." The ghost king swiftly walked over to the queen-sized bed, which resided within the victorian styled room. "And now thanks to a strange twist of fate I've gained a cutie little granddaughter to spoil rotten." With quick and precise movements, Solomon gently tucked Violet into the velvet sheets of the bed without accidentally waking her up from her slumber.
"I know my Lord." Gently responded Jack, his silver eyes softened as he watched how his Master carefully tucked Violet into bed with such love and care. "And if there is any ghost within the afterlife that deserves a family than it is you." Lord Solomon had lived in the afterlife since its very beginning. Protecting the ghosts that wandered the spirit realm and bringing order to the chaos which had once plagued the afterlife. And there were even rumours that his Master had been the very first human to die and entire the realm of the dead.
After Solomon made sure that Violet was nice and comfortable, he left the bedroom followed swiftly by Jack, who quietly closed the door behind them, leaving Violet to sleep in peace.
Outside Of Violet's Temporary Bedroom.
"I want the adoption papers ready and upon my desk by tomorrow," Solomon told his loyal butler in a no-nonsense tone while casually adjusting his coat and tie.
"Of course, I'll personally see that it is done, Lord Solomon." Replied Jack as he bowed respectfully towards the Lord of the house. "Should I also have a small meal prepared for the little mistress?" The girl had looked undernourished and abused, which had most likely happened when she had still been alive. However, if given the right amount of plasma and nutrients, his newly gained tiny mistress should be restored to an expectable state of physical health.
"Please do so, Jack." The ghost king responded while heading towards his office with Jack at his heels. "After all, you are the most knowledgable between us when it comes to medicine." Solomon softly praised his servant who in life had been a talented doctor that during the year 1888 had worked at a small London hospital as a surgeon. Before dying a full three years later via drowning when the ship he was staying aboard that was heading to America sank to the bottom of the seafloor when another ship had suddenly crashed into the boat, he was travelling on.
"You flatter me, Lord Solomon." Jack smiled while mentally making a list of everything that his new mistress will need to make a full recovery.
"I'm only giving the praise you deserve Jack." Bluntly replied Solomon as they finally at his office after spending a few minutes travelling through the Manor, which had hundreds of sections decorated to match various art styles from different historical periods. "Besides when the other ghost masters find out about Violet they'll want to come and see her for themselves." The ghost butler kept a blank expression at the mention of the ghost masters while Solomon sat down behind his mahogany work desk which had a small pile of paperwork resting upon its surface.
"Should I prepare our welcome unwanted guest measures, Lord Solomon?" Jack questioned his Master while closing the office's mahogany doors.
Solomon seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding his head in the negative. "That won't be necessary, Jack." The first of the ghost masters grabbed a single sheet of paperwork from the pile resting upon the mahogany desk and place it in front of himself. "The ghost masters won't find out about Violet for quite some time so the unwelcome guest measure shouldn't be needed. At least for now." Plus Solomon was sure that the house didn't contain enough anti-ghost rockets to blast away every single ghost master or unwanted Spector that might decide to visit the mansion without first receiving an invitation from the ghost king.
"Understood my Lord." Jack once again bowed to Solomon in respect while slightly adjusting his white gloves.
Solomon smiled happily towards his favourite servant whilst grabbing a pen that had been resting nearby. "Now that's taken care of," the king of the afterlife raised his recently acquired pen into the air. "I can now leave the mansion to go buy expensive gifts for my cutie little granddaughter." Solomon's tone went from serious and regal to goofy and joyful within the time frame of six seconds. Which if anyone else besides Jack would have seen this sudden change in behaviour would have been so shocking that they would have literally have died a second time.
"Oh," in a flash of incredible speed Jack was beside his Lord, a dangerous gleam was held within the butler's silver eyes. "But my Lord just how are you going to buy the young mistress gifts," the butler's hand grabbed ahold of one of Solomon's ears causing the ghost king to release a cry of protest at the sudden harsh treatment. "When you're far too busy doing the paperwork that you've been avoiding for the past four decades." The tone in which Jack spoke was sweet and kind, but the gleam within his eyes told a different story altogether.
"Ah about that, Jack." Before Jack had the chance to react, Solomon suddenly used his ghostly powers to switch places with his servant. Meaning that Jack was now the one sitting behind the mahogany desk with a pen within his hand and a piece of paperwork patiently waiting to be signed. "I'll just be leaving the paperwork to you!" With a snap of his aged fingers, Solomon teleported out of the Manor, leaving Jack behind to do the vast amounts of nearly unending paperwork for him.
"Of course, Lord Solomon would pull something like this on me." Annoyedly thought Jack, who was already during the paperwork while keeping his face entirely blank. "I'll have to employ more unique methods if I ever wish for the master to ever actually do some government work for a change." With lightning-fast hands and a photographic memory, Jack speedily after a few hours managed to finish around 4% of the paperwork that his Lord and Master was supposed to do a few decades ago.
"Though honestly I've rarely seen Lord Solomon appeared so alive and energetic." Contemplatively thought the butler as he dutifully continued to sign and work through the mountain of paperwork that was upon the mahogany desk. "The Master has always been eccentric and strange by both mortal and ghostly standards." Jack's eyes drifted towards the area where Violet was peacefully resting. "Yet when he appeared with the young mistress something about him seemed more, well if I were to use a term for it, I would have to call it complete."
The head butler clicked his tongue at the thought before returning to doing the paperwork. "Still I'll have to assign a servant to watch over mistress Violet whilst she's still adjusting to living within the mansion." Softly whispered Jack as he signed another piece of essential documents. "After all, I can't allow mistress Violet to be left alone, especially for long periods of time with Lord Solomon." The butler wasn't going to allow his Master to corrupt the newly gained princess of the afterlife with his bad habits, especially the one that involves avoiding paperwork and other such vital duties.
"But who should I assigned to the task?" Jack's silver eyes narrowed in deep thought. "Perhaps the new maid Lily Potter." The head butler scratched his chin as he recalled everything that was known about the red-haired maid that had been hired to serve as part of the cleaning staff around a couple of years ago. "The women has done excellent work these last few years since she was hired." Jack hummed while speedily went through the paperwork which was slowly shrinking as the seconds ticked by. "Plus her loyalty to Lord Solomon has never been but into question." After giving the idea a bit more serious thought, Jack decided to assign Lily Potter as the personal servant to mistress Violet.
"I'll inform Lily of her new duties before the next scheduled lunch-break for the staff." Quietly muttered Jack which would give him a few more hours to sort through the paperwork currently in front of him. "Plus I'll have to hire some privet tutors for mistress Violet's education." It would make house Frost'Phantom look bad if their heiress wasn't properly educated and that was something that Jack Silvers wouldn't at any cost allow to happen. As the head butler of the mansion, it was his responsibility to look after the family members of house Frost'Phantom a duty which Jack had no intension of failing to execute.
"The work of a butler is endless and stressful." Jack breathed a sigh of relief once the last piece of paperwork was signed and put away for later review and storage in the archives. "But it is also the most fulfilling job that a servant could ever ask for." With a crackle of ghostly bones, Jack raised from the comfortable chair he had been sitting upon. "And no matter how stressful and tedious working for Lord Solomon can be at times," the head butler quickly exited his Master's office and calmly made his way towards the servants quarters. "It is a position that I wouldn't give up for anything, not even a second chance at life."
"And hopefully with the young mistress, Violet now living here at the mansion Lord Solomon might actually take his work more seriously." Jack knew that there was a better chance of pigs learning to fly in the mortal world than that ever happening, but hey a butler can dream can't he.
Meanwhile Within The Ministry Of Magic.
The Ministers Office.
"This is a disaster!" Cried Cornelius Fudge in a scared tone while he paced frantically around his office. "A Merlin damned bloody disaster." The current head of the ministry turned to the only other occupant within the office which was none other than Lucius Malfoy whose face was completely neutral and calm which a stark contrast to the Minister's scared and terrified expression "oh, Lucius what are we going to do?" The question hurriedly left the Minister's lips as he gazed towards the head of the Malfoy family for advice.
"First you'll need to calm down Cornelius." Calmly instructed Lucius to the man he had helped raise to the position of Minister of magic. "Otherwise you might make a rash decision that will cause more harm to our world than what's already been done." The words seemed to have the desired effect that Lucius was going for though the head of the Malfoy family had to restrain himself from sneering in contempt at the pathetic worm who held the most powerful political position in magical Britain.
"Of course you're right Lucius." Simpered Fudge as he continued to pace around the office though now at a much calmer rate. "Still we're in a real pickle what with our savour being killed by muggles and all." Lucius frowned since for once Fudge had a point. Since the whole incident had made the ministry look like fools and worse they couldn't punish the guilty party responsible since they were muggles and were thus out of there jurisdiction. Though thankfully the two muggle scum that the now deceased Violet Potter had the displeasure to call family was currently enjoying time in a muggle prison. And by the rumours he heard floating around the ministry, they were going to be staying there for the rest of their natural lives.
"Yes, it is truly a sad moment in our recent history," Lucius told the idiotic Minister, and surprisingly enough he meant every word. Because whatever the girl had done that night those many years ago had freed him and his family from Voldemort. Who had been slowly going insane during the closing days of the war, something Lucius and many other intelligent death eaters had noticed. And had become very worried about what might have happened if the slowly going mad dark Lord had managed to rise to ruler over magical Britain and most importantly to them, their families.
"Though thankfully, there is a way for us to avoid taking the blame for this tragic event." Lucius suppressed a venomous smile when Fudge gazed at him with hope. Not surprising really since the Minister was a simpleton and would gladly follow the commands of anyone who could help protect his position as Minister of magic. Though truthfully that mentality was honestly why the death eaters had manipulated the voting system during the Minister of magic elections to place Fudge in the minister position in the first place.
"How?" Asked Fudge who was looking to be hanging upon every word that left the head of house Malfoy's lips.
"Its rather simple Fudge," softly started Lucius while wondering just how many more years he would have to put up with the fool. Before the dark political faction finally found a suitable replacement for the idiot he was forced to be kind to for the sake of their cause. "We just shift the blame to the rightful party that's responsible for our savour's death." Malfoy faked a gently and humble smile towards the Minister who was eating up his every word like it was gospel. "I'm of course referring to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore who as we already know placed heiress Potter with those muggles and just left her there without any kind of magical supervision."
"Dumbledore." Fudge slowly repeated the name like the clueless man-child he indeed was. "Yes, yes, we'll make Dumbledore take the whole blame for this tragic mess." Lucius couldn't help but to mentally sigh at how easy it was to manipulate Cornelius honestly the man needed to be replaced and soon before the meddlesome headmaster got the idea to manipulate the brainless Minister. "And better yet make ourselves out to be righteous by delivering the rightful punishment that Dumbledore deserves." The head of the Malfoy family's eyes grew more alert at the last sentence the Minister of magic just uttered.
"Now, now, Fudge." Gently chided Lucius though he made sure his tone was respectful and humble so as to not gain an undesirable reaction from the Minister. "Let's not do anything like that yet." He had to stop the fool before the Minister did something stupid. "After all, Dumbledore has many influential allies both here in Britain and the other magical countries." Plus the annoying headmaster was the leader of the political light faction so trying to fight him right now in the political world wouldn't end well for him nor his own faction. "The smart thing to do at the moment is just pinning the blame for heiress Potter's death upon his shoulders and wait a little while to allow the damage to his reputation to take hold." And hopefully by then Lucius and his faction would have replaced Fudge with someone else.
"Right, right, of course." Agreed Fudge nodding his head like an obedient sheep. "We should strike when the iron is hot as the old saying goes." With the near political disaster for his group avoid Lucius breathed a quiet sigh of relief and right there and then he made a silent vow. That when the time comes for the dark faction to take over the magical government that he would personally end Fudge's life because merlin knows that he deserved the honour after putting up with the idiot for the past few years.
"Well, it has been a rather productive evening Minister." Softly and politely said Lucius as he elegantly move towards the exit. "But I'm afraid that I must be off," he offered a fake apologetic smile to the bumbling fool he had helped become the Minister of magic. "My wife and son are, after all expecting me to return home soon for dinner." The lie escaped quickly from his lips and just like always Cornelius Fudge swallowed the lie hook, line and sinker without even giving it a moments thought.
"Oh, well, do give them my best Lucius." Fudge gave a smile he must have thought to be charming, but to Lucius, all it did was make him want to curse the man with the Cruciatus curse until he died or went insane either outcome would have suited the eldest male Malfoy just fine though instead of doing just that he simply gave a fake smile towards the Minister and left the office without saying another word to the fool known as Cornelius Fudge.
At Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry.
Headmaster Dumbledore's office.
"I've made a terrible mistake Minerva." Solemnly said Dumbledore as he sat behind his office desk while Fawkes his always loyal familiar sang a song of mourning in the background. "A mistake which has cost dear Violet her life." The aged headmaster gazed sadly towards his deputy-headmistress who was standing before him with an equally mournful and sad expression etched upon her usually stern features.
"It's not your fault Albus." McGonagall tried to reassure her superior, yet the words sounded hollow even to the Scottish witch's own ears. "I'm just as guilty since I didn't protest enough when we placed little Violet with those people." If only she had tried more strongly to convince Dumbledore to not leave Violet with the Dursley's. The Scottish witch had been watching that family for days before Hagrid had shown up at Number four privet drive and had thus known what kind of people they were which was the worse sort of muggles imaginable.
"That is kind of you to say, Minerva." Sincerely thanked Albus Dumbledore while he quietly listened to Fawkes's cries of mourning and loss. "Yet we both know that I'm the one responsible for little Violet's death." Dumbledore left his chair and walked over to the Pensieve, which was glowing with its usual haunting white light. "And the minister and those who pull his strings shall use that against me when Voldemort beginnings his return to power." Once he was in front of the magically infused bowl, Dumbledore placed the tip of his wand on the side of his head and slowly removed a strand of memory from his mind and once removed Albus put it within the glowing white Pensieve.
McGonagall scoffed scornfully at the mere mention of Fudge. "How that man became the minister I'll never know." The transfiguration professor and head of house Gryffindor moved to stand by Dumbledore. "Still, he can't be stupid enough to ignore such a grave threat as Voldemort."
"I'm afraid Fudge is that foolish." Bluntly retorted Dumbledore while staring into the bowl that contains many of his memories. "He cares only about his position and thus will ignore the truth about Voldemort." It truly saddened Dumbledore at how far Fudge had fallen. The man would hide from reality until the very end and if Albus didn't think up a new plan to deal with Voldemort and soon then that end might be closer than the Minister or anyone else within the magical world might have anticipated.
"How has Hagrid taken then news?" Gently asked the headmaster wanting to know how the gentle half-giant was handling the news of Violet's death at the hands of the muggles.
McGonagall grimaced a sure sign as any that what he was about to hear wasn't going to be pleasant.
"When I delivered the news," Minerva swallowed back her grief and sorrow. "Poor Hagrid started crying and wouldn't stop no matter what I said or did to try and console him." And after she had left Hagrid's hut, McGonagall had heard the sound of a whisky bottle being opened while Fang howled sadly for the whole school to hear.
"I see," Dumbledore's heart felt a little bit more burdensome upon learning about Hagrid's current emotional state. "And Severus?" The potions professor had been the next person that Dumbledore had ordered his deputy headmistress to inform about the tragic end of Violet Potter.
"He didn't say anything," McGonagall's face morphed into one of worry for her fellow professor. "In fact, after I told him what happened, he just politely thanked me for telling him and returned to his bedroom." She and Snape might not get along at the best of times, but they were still colleges, and thus the head of Gryffindor was concerned for her fellow professor.
"He is mourning like the rest of us, Minerva." Replied Dumbledore while removing another memory from his mind. "Severus just chooses not to show it in front of us." It was understandable the Slytherin mindset would have interpreted such an action as weakness and Snape was a true Slytherin and thus wouldn't under any situation allow himself to show such weakness to anyone especially the members of Hogwarts teaching staff.
"I suppose." Reluctantly agreed McGonagall. "So what should we do now Albus?"
Albus Dumbledore hummed in thought for a moment before answering. ""For today we shall mourn the loss of an innocent." Dumbledore turned to face McGonagall reviling the determination that was now blazing within his old yet wise eyes. "Because tomorrow we shall make plans to make sure that what has happened to Violet Potter doesn't ever happen again to another magical child." He had failed Violet, Dumbledore already knew that without a shadow of a doubt. But he would learn and prevent another incident like the one that had befallen her to happen to another innocent child.
"We cannot truly change the past nor bring back the dead." Thought Dumbledore while he and his deputy headmistress talked a bit more about the current political situation. "Yet we can learn and grow as people from both the past and from those who are now gone." After an hour of taking McGonagall left the headmasters office leaving Dumbledore lone with his thoughts. "Though the real trick is to remember the correct lessons that the past and those before us are trying to convey." The headmaster returned to his chair whilst listening to Fawkes's song.
"And I can only hope that I learn the right lessons from the recent events that have happened this year."