Chapter 28 Blood and The Horseman

During the last year, the wizarding world had seen the Goblin Clan chief take his place on the Wizengamot, and plans put in place for a new university of magic in Britain As yet, this had not come into reality as matters were going through the muggle parliament to get the university accredited as an institute of further education, a fact that was hampered by the Statute of Secrecy.

Things were changing in my life as well, Gabby had just given birth to our second child, this time the expected daughter whom we'd named Amaryllis, following the tradition in my family of naming girls after flowers, and being close to Marie which had been Gabby's initial choice and Lily for my aunt whom I'd never met. She had another cousin, as well, Harry and Ginny had their third child a daughter they'd called Lily Luna, after Harry's mother, again Aunt Lily, and Luna Lovegood a friend of Ginny's from her schooldays. We'd had to put major fire prevention and fire-proofing wards on our house as our daughter was proving to be extremely active with her veela fire powers and nearly burned her bedroom down when I had been delayed with her bottle the one day. Although Henri also had this talent, he had never been one to vent his frustration in this way, he had been a very quiet baby all things considered, indeed he was still a fairly quiet boy, shy at school, and a bit of a bookworm these days.

I was completing the last of the paperwork that had been generated when I got a knock at my office door, I looked up and called for whoever it was to enter. It was not someone I expected.

Ernie MacMillan, the healer who had treated dad for his heart attack a few years ago in St. Mungo's. "Sorry for this unexpected call, but I think I finally have something for you on the project you gave the healers to look into!" My Expression was noticeably puzzled. What project had I given St. Mungo's? "The gene for magic, well I have to say after intense research we have come to the realisation, there isn't one!"(1)

"Sorry, you've lost me now, there isn't one?"

"Correct, this doesn't mean we haven't found the vessel for the transmission of magic!"

"Go on! This sounds interesting!"

"Present in the human body are bacteria which benefit it and indeed help it to function, with me so far?"

"Go on, I understand what your are saying!"

There's a bacterium present in most humans called Staphylococcus aureus, this is partially responsible for transmission of magic."

"Hang on if its this common bacteria how come muggles aren't magical?"

"I was getting to that, there is what muggles call a bacteriophage, a virus which lives in a bacteria, now this virus can have beneficial or harmful effects on the cell and ultimately the human host."

"OK, a bit beyond my O level biology, but I'm following you so far!"

"For a person to be magical they need this particular bacteriophage to be present in their body, I have no idea what the muggles call this particular virus, but for our purposes we have christened it magevirus1, this virus can live in the human host and gives them magic, but after several generations the virus weakens and its effects are not passed down, hence the line 'squibs out' so to speak."

"OK, with you so far! But how do explain muggleborns?"

"Two ways, if the line has squibbed out and the resulting squib goes to live in the muggle world, after a few generations of infusion of fresh blood from outside, the virus re-establishes itself, hence a muggleborn."

"And the second?"

"Infection."

"Pardon!"

"The virus is infectious, if a muggle comes across a person who is magical, the virus can 'jump hosts' so to speak, if the right circumstances prevail the virus will latch itself to their body and they will effectively become a squib, the bacteriophage is then passed onto their offspring!"

"The late professor Snape helped in this respect, he found out that in several instances there were instances where a child was born with magic and subsequent younger siblings also had magic. One case in point being a Colin Creevey, who attended Hogwarts during my time, he had a younger brother Dennis who is also a wizard, but I found out in the process of my research that they have an older sister who is not magical, and was in most likelihood conceived before the infection took place. But she is now a carrier so it's possible in future we may see her children attending Hogwarts." (2)

"Hmm! I remember him mentioning something, about an Alpha squib or something like that, is that what you mean?"

"Exactly, he thought it was the child who started the trend in the family, instead of it being one of the parents, but in essence he was on the right track, if and when this work is published I'd like to include his name as co-researcher!"

"That's up to you, I personally have no objections and I don't think there will be any!"

"On another point we have found one case where the circumstances are different!"

"Oh! Does this change anything in your findings?"

"Not really, this will not be included in the research you understand, the individual in question was exposed to magic from any early age, but unaffected by it, due to the genetics inherited from his father, his mother was a squib which could have meant he could have been born with magic. He was a muggle. Then a spell infected him with the virus, where it lay dormant in his blood for years; it didn't attach itself to the bacteria in the normal fashion just lived in his blood. Then another exposure to magic allowed the virus to go from inert to active so to speak, but he was unaware of this. Later in a surprising way he discovered he could perform magic and even later still, the virus became super-charged in his blood potentially making him the most powerful magic user on the planet from what we've learned so far!"

"Blimey! Who is this individual?"

"I'm surprised you haven't guessed; this person is you!"

"Huh! But I'm nothing special!"

"Yeah; I remember your cousin Harry saying the same thing, he's powerful, perhaps a Grand Sorcerer; there are a few mages in the world, not any in Britain at the moment, but potentially you are an Archmage, a couple of steps above a normal mage. The last one known to magical history was born Myddrin, he was later known as Myddrin Emrys or Merlin!"

"Bloody Hell!"

"Yes! Exactly. You should be aware that your children are normal in the magical sense, the viral component in them is in the bacteriophage aspect."

"Huh, What? I hadn't even considered that when you mentioned this to me."

"No, I thought not. This is all in confidence of course, any details of how you acquired magic and your power levels is covered by medical confidentiality, so it won't be included in the report. Someone else could work out it was you."

"Err! OK! Thanks for that I suppose, but another thing occurs to me! Are you aware of muggle anti-biotics, is there anyway that this bacteriophage thingy could be fought with drugs, perhaps wiping out wizards forever?"

"I don't believe so, you as a muggle are aware of the bacteria called MRSA?"

"I've heard of it! What of it?"

"It's a strain of the bacteria that is resistant to a particular strain of muggle anti-biotic, we've tested this variant against every known anti-biotic and potion we have access to. Its proved resistant to them all; as such we've christened it MaRSA, Magically Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus."

"I think I'm relieved by that, no chance of going to a muggle doctor and being cured of magic, something my parents would have like to have done to Harry when he was younger. Another thing, is it possible to re-infect a squib, say where a line has squibbed out and you infect the child to make them a wizard?"

"No, the virus is still present in the system, just inert, so infecting them with the virus would just add more inert virus to the body."

"OK! I think you've answered everything I can come up with as a semi-ignorant muggleborn can come up with, write your research and prepare a presentation for the old fogies in the Wizengamot, just try and make it sound a bit better than a common cold, don't want to offend their sense of pureblood superiority."

"I think I've got that covered, make it into some sort of powerful infection the muggles are unable to resist, they'll think themselves all superior."

Things went well with the presentation of the paper and research in the Wizengamot and even helped with some of the old fuddy-duddies seeing as a way of accepting muggleborns or as her Majesty had called them, first generation purebloods. There was even talk of offering a goblin heritage test to muggleborns as part of their introduction to the magical world to see if they were descended from a 'proper' house. The 'parent' house to then look on the child a distant cousin of their house. Whilst it was still basically a continuation of the old pureblood ideals both Kingsley and I felt it was a step in the right direction, especially as there seemed to be no animosity in the Wizengamot at this point to those who had no previous or provable connection to a pureblood house.

Things progressed well in the world, with no major problems occurring, the University opened in early 2010, with the name St Godric's, which was suggested by Mr Cameron, the leader of the opposition in the muggle parliament, stating 'it was an old tradition to name some institutes of higher learning after saints and Godric was the only one of the four Hogwarts' house to have a namesake saint, {St Godric of Finchale (or St Goderic) (c. 1065 – 21 May 1170)}. This St. Godric may have no connection to Godric Gryffindor, but he was from approximately the right time in history and with a long lifespan by the time's standards could have been the wizard in question.(3)

Our fledgeling university saw a few changes in the décor of the Ministry, an undergraduate student, Dean Thomas, had done several wizarding portraits of the previous Ministers that were still alive. Portraits of former ministers had stopped being commissioned shortly after the resignation of Nobby Leach, 1962 – 1968, the first muggleborn Minister who had resigned due to a mysterious illness amongst claims of tampering in the England World Cup Win of 1966 (4). Some of the old fuddy-duddies, had refused to commission his portrait being painted by a foreign artist as a waste of money, putting up a muggleborns portrait in 'these hallowed halls'. This set a preference and no portraits had been commissioned since. Portraits of Eugenia Jenkins, Harold Minchum, Millicent Bagnold, Cornelius Fudge, and Rufus Scrimgeour were added to the portrait gallery. Those of ministers who were deceased, such as Rufus Scrimgeour, were just plain muggle portraits. Pius Thicknesse was omitted as he was under the Imperius Curse for his entire term of office, and unconscious of anything that he was doing.

Indeed everything was progressing smoothly and at the end of January, Kingsley undertook to attend a conference in China on the use of certain magical items attained from dragons. I thought nothing unusual about this as he was often abroad on Ministry business, that is until China was put into Magical quarantine when a particularly bad epidemic of dragonpox broke out.

My first real inclination that anything was wrong was when Arthur Weasley approached me with a matter on muggle technology that Kingsley would normally have looked into, but as I was a muggleborn, I at first ignored it. Then later I was approached by Percy Weasley, who had finally finished collating all the information in the wand registration office and indeed improved it as was his wont.

"Surely, you should be going to your superior in this manner, I mean why me?"

"Before my posting to the wand registration office, I was junior undersecretary to the minister, he has not appointed a senior undersecretary, but it is understood by most of the staff that you do the work of that post. In the event that a Minister is unavailable to undertake his duties due to extenuating circumstances, the proper protocol is for his senior undersecretary to take his place temporarily, or until formal arrangements can be made for a new minister to be elected. As Kingsley is stuck in quarantine in China, you are effectively acting Minister of Magic."

"Bloody hell!"

"I appreciate the sentiment you're expressing!"

"I wonder if you can hire those bloody things or if I'll need to purchase one?"

"Pardon!"

"A running joke with Gabrielle, Harry and Myself. They've kept saying I'll be Minister one day and I keep threatening to get a lime green howler like Fudge had…"

"OK! I see … Well I happen to know you can't buy them, once whilst Fudge was in office, he sat on his and told me to get him another one, only for me to find nowhere stocked them, so I transfigured him one, he still had it when he was forced out of office… still has if that portrait of him is accurate."

"Right!"

"OK. Percy, being as you know more than I do about procedures and protocol around here than I do, until Kingsley gets back, you're my undersecretary."

"Very well, Acting Minister Dursley, now as you expressed the wish for a lime green bowler like Fudges, allow me," he took a couple of pieces of paper from my desk folded them into a paper hat at waved his wand at it. He handed me the resulting lime green bowler. "I'd advise you not to wear it in public, Fudge and that hat was one source of ridicule for the British ministry by other members of the ICW."

"Trust me Percy, I just need to go home with it tonight, and let Gabrielle see it, see if she gets the reference, then it'll probably end up in the fireplace. I have absolutely no desire to wear such an asinine piece of headwear."

That night as I apparated home, I carried my new fashion accessory with me, in the same hand as my briefcase and placed both on the coffee table as usual. Gabby was upstairs with Henri and Amaryllis.

I made myself a cup of coffee and sat at the table waiting for the inevitable questions soon to follow. Thunder sounded on the stairs as Henri came down, he ran into the lounge and jumped onto the sofa with me. He looked at the bowler on my briefcase. "Hey, Mummy, Daddy got himself a silly hat! Can I wear your silly hat Daddy?" I nodded and he grabbed the bowler and placing it on his head ran to the base of the stairs where Gabby was carrying Amaryllis down. "Mummy, look at me in Daddy's silly hat!"

"Dudley, does that ridiculous bowler that Henri is wearing mean what I think it does?"

"Why should I know what you're thinking, dear?"

"Dudley. Are you the Minister?"

"Acting only, while Kingsley's under quarantine in China, hopefully it'll be short-lived and nothing will happen while he's unavailable!"

"Probably right, nothing will happen! Enjoy it while it lasts though!"

A few days later at the office, I was approached by Percy, "Excuse me, Minister, but there's a couple of individuals in the lobby requesting an appointment with you. A Centaur who sounds American and what appears to be a muggle gentleman on some of those under-arm walking sticks."

"OK! Is there any reason I can't see them now, I don't think I have any outstanding appointments."

"Nothing until Monday, you're due meet with the Muggle Prime Minister to discuss the latest interactions between our two societies."

"Very well, escort them down to conference room three and I'll join you in a few minutes."

I walked into the conference room unsure what was going on, only to see two faces I vaguely remembered. I paused for a few seconds to recall who these individuals were. Am I right in assuming I am meeting Theseus, Err Theseus Alexanderson and I would say Firenze, but if it is you, I must be impolite and ask what you did with your horses ass."

"You are correct in your assumptions, Minister," replied Theseus.

"As to my horses ass, as you succinctly put it," answered Firenze, "it's the reason I'm using these muggle crotches or whatever they're called. I have found that after transfiguring myself human, my sense of balance is upset, hence I need these things to stand up."

I looked at Firenze's crutches and noticed a couple of things, they were the wooden type that reached to just under the armpit, which I could see was causing him some discomfort in standing and that his grip on the handles was making it impossible for him to use his hands. "Hmm, Firenze, if you allow me to make a minor adjustment to your crutches, it could help slightly with your problems." Firenze nodded assent and I modified his crutches to the more modern type with aluminium shafts and elbow-grips, that enabled him to use his hands whilst still supporting himself on 'all four limbs' so to speak.

"Hmm! Thank you, much better, at least I can use my hands and don't have those annoying things in my armpits."

"Is this going to be the way that centaurs get about in muggle society then?"

"For some yes, others haven't the skill to transfigure themselves human or can't maintain their balance with these things."

I thought about a film I'd seen last year (5), and one of the characters in it who happened to be a centaur. I drew my and pointing it towards one of the chairs in the conference room, transfigured it into a wheelchair – with a few differences. "If you don't mind, Theseus, could you sit in the wheelchair."

"I don't think I'll fit," Theseus said looking backwards at his equine body.

"Trust me!" With a little trepidation, he lowered himself towards the wheelchair and the equine portion of his body disappeared into the 'seat' of the chair whilst his front feet were firmly on the floor in front. "That might be another option for those of your kind who can't handle the transitions. You could even go for the motorised version of a wheelchair and not have to have someone push you around."

"Fascinating, I'm sure, how did you come up with this idea?"

"Saw it in a film, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, one of the main characters is a centaur who uses this method to interact with the normal world. Its about a son of Poseiden, living in the modern world, I understand there's other books in the series about his further adventures."

"Must look those up, they sound interesting. Now as to why we're here, the British centaurs have come to an agreement amongst themselves that they would like to become part of the greater wizarding world, and indeed when I show this innovation to them possibly the greater muggle world as well, as this could eliminate many problems with interacting with muggles."

"What would you want in order to join wizarding Britain?"

"A lifting of the restrictions to our territory, chances to learn at Hogwarts for our children, the freedom of movement that ordinary wizards and witches possess and full legal participation in the governing of the wizarding world. In turn, we agree to conform to the restrictions posed upon us by the Statute of Secrecy and to assist wizards who wish to study with us in our studies of the future in the stars."

"I certainly think that's all possible, we'll need legal experts to put it into the proper language, but I don't see it taking all that long."

With that understanding, we parted company and Firenze and Theseus were introduced to some legal experts who could begin getting the treaty between wizards and centaurs written up in proper legalese.

I didn't know how long it would take to get everything in order for a proper treaty to be signed, but imagined it would probably be at least another few months, owing to the pace the centaurs worked and arranging everything according to the stars. I was therefore surprised when the services of the Wizengamot were requested at Hogwarts, specifically on the grounds towards the end end of February, less than a month after our meeting in the ministry.

Getting a majority of the Wizengamot members to go to Hogwarts for an unscheduled meeting proved a minor problem, as once the reason for the meeting was announced it was almost too easy, several of the members remembered the centaurs from their time at the school and were only too curious as to why they had asked for this meeting.

The Wizengamot was assembled on the Hogwarts grounds, all seated in much the same manner as they would be in the ministerial chambers, magic really was most accommodating in this; a few simple spells had comfortable seats, all arranged in the appropriate order for everyone to sit in their assigned positions in the 'Mot.

Once everyone was properly seated, there came from the forest, the sound of many hoof-beats in formation, and a spectacular sight met our eyes, the entire herd of centaurs, about 150 came out of the forest all walking in step. At the front of the group was Firenze, Theseus, and a third centaur I didn't know. The 'new' centaur stepped forward and spoke aloud for all to hear, "As the king of the heavens is in the house of Cetus, the whale, we come forth from our home to make peace with the wizards of Britain, according to prophecy."(6)(7)

The entirety of the Treaty was then read out; centaurs would have unrestricted access to all areas of Britain, whenever they were in muggle locations they would take all precautions necessary to appear human, in accordance with the law, they would undertake to get their young educated at the wizarding schools and they would undertake the education of other races in their knowledge of the stars. The centaur I didn't know then came forwards and taking the quill by the treaty slowly and meticulously printed his name Magorian Braeson; Firenze the came forwards and in similar manner printed his own name, Firenze Braeson, followed by Theseus who signed his own name with a flourish.

I stepped forward and signed my name, as Acting Minister of Magic; there was a flash if gold as the treaty was accepted magically and the centaurs as one stamped their hooves in appreciation. Two copies of the treaty, each with signatures manifested, Magorian and Theseus each took one. Theseus, then stepped forward, "In accordance with ancient prophecy, we the centaurs of New Sparta of the United States of America, recognise the wizarding government of Britain as a nation in good standing and open our borders to its citizens of all races.(8)

The centaurs then made their way back into the forest to the tumultuous applause from the seated Wizengamot.

Now that this had all been achieved, the seated members of the Wizengamot began talking amongst themselves, as the impromptu meeting broke up. I was satisfied that yet another part of magical Britain had taken major steps to become a part of the whole. After accepting congratulations I didn't think I deserved from several of the members, I made my way via my portkey back to the ministry with the Ministerial copy of the treaty.

After the treaty was placed in the Ministry Archives, I made my way back to my office only to find Percy at the door, along with a wizard I didn't recognise, a distinguished looking gentleman with a neatly trimmed moustache and beard. I was sure I had seen someone similar looking to this gentleman, but I was unsure where. He looked about 60 years of age, which with wizarding lifespans meant he was probably over a hundred. He held a black smoky glass sphere in his hand the size of cricket ball, "Minister, I believe this belongs to you!"

I looked at the sphere, and at the man holding it, "I beg your pardon, but what is it, apart from a paperweight?"

He tapped the sphere with his wand, and an image of myself when I took my N.E.W.T.s appeared above it; "The Horseman will make peace from his home, when the king is in the house of the whale."

"This is a copy of the prophecy you made during your divination examination, the colour of the orb shows the prophecy has come true. I believe it has been twice fulfilled at the same time!" I looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Jupiter is indeed in the house of the whale and the horseman has made peace," I nodded accepting this, wondering what the other interpretation of the prophecy could be. "You are the head of state of wizarding Britain, its monarch, king, and you have referred to yourself in the past tense as a whale referring to your weight, so the king is in the house of the whale; bit of a stretch, but prophecies are like that. Several meanings, several interpretations."

I took the sphere from him, and shook his hand, "thank you, but who exactly are you?"

"I am the head unspeakable, at this time, that is all I can tell you, however, the next time we meet I will tell you my name." He slowly faded from view, leaving Percy and myself looking at each other.

"Hmm, you might be privileged, usually no-one gets to know the names of the unspeakables, they work in the shadows, some having a cover in other departments. I nodded at this and wondered when this next visit would happen. This had been an altogether momentous day all told and it seemed there was another to come for me…

AN. I apologise to my readers for the extortionate delay in the writing and posting of this chapter, I am sure some have given up hope of ever seeing it finished. I hope the next and last chapter will be a lot quicker. Having to get a new laptop, along with starting a new job, all hindered the writing of this chapter.

Look out for the next one: 'The Duke and The Prince.'

See The Start of Something New chapter 31

See Wikipedia for more on St. Godric of Finchale

Pottermore Ministers for Magic.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief 2010

The Start of Something New Chapter 34. Date: Wednesday 23 February 2011 Time: 06:24 PM ET, according to google.

The Start of Something New Chapter 6

New Resolutions Chapter 1