SHAMELESS PLUG!

My first original novel, Strangers In Boston, is now available on Amazon under my pen name, T.S. Mann (get it?). It's free to Kindle Prime members and $4.99 to people who want to download the Ebook. Paperback copies are available for $12.99. Check it out, and if you like it, please leave a review. Basically, it's American Harry Potter. Except there's no school, no wands, and if you use magic improperly, it can drive you insane and possibly destroy the world. No pressure or anything.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled fanfic.

Harry Potter
and the Death Eater Menace

Harry Potter and all associated characters and situations are the property of J.K. Rowling. I make no claim to ownership.

Chapter 54: The Future All Around Us, Waiting to Be Born

The Office of the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister
4 April 1994

"Knock, knock," said Pius Thicknesse as he rapped the frame of the open door. In response, Dolores Umbridge looked up from her desk, and her face brightened.

"Pius!" she exclaimed. "Do come in. I've been meaning to pop round to the Auror Department to see how you were doing, but the Minister's office has been a madhouse for the last week."

"Well, I'm glad to have saved you a trip," he said genially. At that point, Dolores noted to her own surprise that he was carrying a bouquet of flowers. Pius coughed in mild embarrassment and then blushed.

"I brought you these as a get-well-soon present. I do hope I'm not being forward in doing so."

"Not at all," Dolores replied. If her voice suddenly went a bit higher in pitch than usual, Pius didn't notice it. She quickly conjured a vase for the flowers. "They're lovely, Pius. Thank you."

"My pleasure." His expression turned pensive. "How are you, Dolores? I know you had to spend a while at St. Mungo's for what those bastards did to you. And it must have been rough coming back to work where it all happened. I know you and the Edgecombe's were close."

Dolores sniffed. "We were. Violetta and I were at Hogwarts together and were always close friends despite our different houses. And Thomas was always kind to me. Of course, it's even more heartbreaking for their poor daughter, Marietta. Just 12 and an orphan! And I don't know if they had any close relatives who could take her in. I'm worried about what's to become of her."

Pius shook his head. "Oh, I know, I know. Thomas was my cousin on my mother's side, but we basically grew up as brothers. In fact, well, I'm actually her godfather. I want to do what I can for the girl, but I'm a single man and an Auror. I don't know if it would be proper for me to offer her a home. Aside from never having had children, I worry my job might be too dangerous for me to be the sort of father figure she needs right now."

The witch reached over and patted him on the hand. "I want you to know – if I can do anything to help, please ask."

"That's very kind of you, Dolores. Thank you."

She smiled and decided to change the subject. "So … how's the new boss treating you."

"Chief Bones?" Pius chuckled. "She's going to be a tyrant, I think. But that's what the Corps needs right now. If you ask me, we were getting a bit flabby under … well, under Potter's administration. I hate to speak ill of the man after everything that's happened to him, but James Potter had no business being Chief Auror. I'm sure that if Old Scrimgeour had been healthy and in shape, he'd have taken down those Death Eaters all by himself. Instead, he … well..."

Pius trailed off sadly, and Dolores nodded in sympathy.

"I … didn't see it happen. I'd been stunned by that point. I just wish I could have done more to help him." Her eyes began to water.

"Here now," Pius said firmly. "You mustn't feel any guilt! Those two were hardened killers. I'm just glad you were only stunned. If you don't mind me asking, did the Healers say what Rookwood hit you with?"

"No," she replied. "I don't clearly remember it myself. It's all just a blur. I just remember him standing over me with those cruel eyes." She shuddered. "I still have nightmares about those eyes. Anyway, next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed. The Healers think it was just an overpowered stunner. I've been fine since then. And you?"

"I was lucky. Just a concussion and a few broken bones from the explosion. I was right as rain the next day."

Then, he noticed the brooch on her jacket, a stylized white cat on a solid oval background. He smiled.

"I never got to tell you, but your Patronus is quite impressive. Half the Auror Corps can't do a corporeal one as good as that. Does it have a name?"

Pleased by the compliment, Dolores returned the smile. "His name is Wilberforce. At the home of the Muggle Prime Minister, there's a tradition of keeping a cat on the premises. The Chief Mouser of the Cabinet Office, it's called, and around the time I learned the Patronus Charm, Wilberforce held the post." She tittered softly. "I've always liked cats, and I loved the idea of a feline official who worked for the government."

Pius snorted. "Honestly, after what happened here, I'm kind of in favor of government cats for the Ministry now."

"I suppose I should suggest that to Cornelius. So what is the name of your Patronus?"

The Auror hesitated. "I call her … Shelly," he said with some embarrassment.

Dolores blinked, "Shelly … the turtle?"

To his own consternation, Pius blushed again. "When I was a little sprog, I had a turtle named Shelly. Being five years old at the time, I thought that was the height of wit. Anyway, my happy memory was one from my childhood and the original Shelly played a part in it, so that's what I named my Patronus."

"I should like to hear the story of that happy memory sometime," Dolores said indulgently. "If it's not too personal."

"Not at all," Pius said before taking a deep breath. "Perhaps, um, we could talk about it over dinner sometime?" he asked while struggling to keep his voice steady.

Now it was Dolores's turn to blush, and she fought down the urge to titter again. She'd always hated the sound of her own laugh ever since some of the other Slytherin girls had mocked her for it back in her school days.

"That would be lovely, Pius. If you're free tonight, I get off work at five, but I'll need to pop home and change."

"I'll pick you up at seven?" he asked.

"That would be wonderful."

Pius exhaled in relief. Despite his status as a Senior Auror, he had not, historically, had good luck in asking women out on dates. He pointed at the brooch.

"So is that supposed to be the real Wilberforce?" he asked mischievously.

Dolores glanced down at the somewhat gaudy piece of jewelry. "This? Oh, no. As I recall, Wilberforce was a black and white tom. I bought this just the other day, actually."

She paused and then sniffled softly. "Violetta had been telling me for years that I dressed too dowdily. That I needed to add a bit of color to my wardrobe. I was out in Diagon Alley, and this caught my eye. I decided it was time I listened to her advice, so I went in and bought it. Do you like it?"

"Yes," he said softly. "I like the way it brings out your eyes."

Despite her best efforts, Dolores tittered again. Then, she glanced down again at the brooch before adjusting it slightly. The splash of color popped against her dark tweed jacket. A lithe white cat set against a lacquered background.

A vivid pink background.

The Forbidden Forest
5 April 1994

It was an hour after sunset when Jim Potter and Acting-Substitute DADA Professor Remus Lupin exited the secret passage via a tree stump in the Forbidden Forest. (Neither of them knew or could have known the role the tree stump would have played in a different history.) Dumbledore had asked Remus two days earlier to fill in for the deceased Rufus Scrimgeour, and as the older man had left surprisingly thorough lesson plans and had already written out the final exams for all seven years, Remus was happy to accept the temporary position.

Once out of the secret passage, Remus quickly cast the Umbrella Charm, for the rain was already starting to come down, the beginnings of the first thunderstorm to hit the Hogwarts area in months. Jim followed, grumbling at the weather. Remus had advised him to refrain from casting the Umbrella Charm or any other magic, so he had to make do with a hooded rainslicker and a waterproof rucksack slung over his shoulder.

"Step lively, Jim!" Lupin called back. "We must move quickly to get there in time!"

The two wizards picked up the pace, and when the trail became impossible to follow, Remus disappeared, and a grey wolf took his place. Despite the cold rain, Jim smiled. He still wanted to fly, but a wolf might be fun as well.

"Just so long as it's not a stag, a rat, or a snake," he thought as he rushed to keep up with the wolf.

Moments later, the wolf and his boy stepped out into clearing to behold a cave set in a hill. The wolf became a man once more and led Jim inside. Remus cast a Drying Charm on himself before starting a fire with a quick Incendio on a pile of wood he'd set up here a few days earlier.

"Take off your wet clothes," he said to the boy while tossing him a towel. "I can't dry them off with you wearing them. Your body must not be subjected to any other kind of magic until this process is over."

Jim nodded and quickly stripped down to his boxers before taking a moment to dry himself off with the towel as best he could. He still shivered in the cold, so he moved closer to the fire to warm himself. Meanwhile, Remus dug through the rucksack and pulled out a wooden box carved with intricate preservation runes. He tapped it once with his wand and then opened it. Inside was a small glass vial containing a pale green liquid.

"Ready?" he asked Jim. The boy nodded nervously.

"It's okay, Jim," Remus continued. "This next bit is easy if somewhat boring. Just sit at the edge of the cave and keep the vial held up so that it can catch the light of a lightning strike. You must hold the vial so that the light passes through the vial and into your eyes. You can only use your dominant hand, and once you hold the vial up, you can't put it down until the potion changes. If your arm starts to cramp up, let me know and I can try to massage it out, but I can't use any magic to relieve the pain nor help you to hold the vial up."

Jim nodded again and moved to the edge of the cave, with his wand in one hand and the vial in the other. The wand, he sat down beside him. It might or might not be needed later. Then, he did a few stretches, steeled himself, and held the vial up to face the night sky. He kept his Seeker's eye trained on it as if it were a Snitch ready to dart away in an instant. The rumbling in the distance grew louder as the storm worsened. Behind him, Remus quickly began to pull other items from the backpack: a few scented candles, an incense burner which he lit with a Muggle lighter rather than a wand, and several crystal goblets which he filled to varying levels with purified water and then arranged in a row near the fire.

After one minute of holding the vial aloft, Jim felt uncomfortable. After three, his right shoulder was starting to burn, and he began using his left arm to support the right at the elbow after confirming with Remus that it was allowed. Just at the five-minute mark, when he was grimacing in pain and just about to ask Remus to rub his shoulder, it happened. There was a flash of light and a crack of thunder, and luckily, Jim was holding the vial in the right position. Lightning lit up the sky, and for a second, the vial itself gave off a flash that left spots before the boy's eyes. He blinked rapidly, and when his vision cleared, the pale green liquid was now dark red. It was the color of blood.

"Well done, Jim!" Remus exclaimed. "Now, quickly! It's time! You must decide!"

Jim and Remus had discussed this decision point many times over the months. The Animagus Potion was now primed for use but had to be drunk tonight. If Jim drank it now and did nothing else, he would not become an Animagus, or at least not instantly. He would have powerfully vivid dreams over the next few weeks that would guide him to his Animagus form, but from there, it would be a painstaking process of self-discovery that would take months or even years before he would actually be able to transform. But even if he never did, he would still have forevermore the dual-mind characteristic of Animagi that made them naturally resistant to Legilimency, which was the whole point of this exercise from the start.

Or … Jim could drink the potion and say the incantation that Remus had taught him, while nearby, Remus invoked ritual magic he'd learned during a sojourn to Africa and refined over the last several years in Shamballa. If the ritual worked, Jim would become an Animagus within a few weeks at most. But he would be committed to the process. His Animagus form would become a part of his personality, influencing him in ways that were impossible to predict. Remus assured Jim that none of the resulting changes would be harmful to him, as they merely reflected hidden facets of his own soul. But they would be noticeable.

Oh, and he would also be an illegal Animagus too. If he got caught, it would be one more Potter scandal. Only this time, it would be his fault instead of his dad's.

Jim stared for one long terrible moment at the blood red elixir before pulling the stopper and throwing the foul-tasting liquid back. Fighting back the urge to gag, the boy coughed once before touching the tip of his wand to his heart. Then, he began to chant.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus! Amato Animo Animato Animagus! Amato Animo Animato Animagus!"

Behind him, Remus smiled at the boy's Gryffindor brashness. While he'd warned the boy thoroughly about the consequences of using the ritual tonight, he'd never doubted which choice Jim would make. Quickly, Remus moved the incense burner so that it sat close enough for Jim to inhale the fumes. Then, he sat down next to the crystal goblets and began to run his wet fingers around the rims. Suddenly, the cave echoed with the eerie tones of the goblets.

If he were completely honest, Remus would admit that this part of the ritual was what worried him the most. Not because of any danger – he simply worried that lack of experience with this particular focus might cause him to make a mistake and ruin the magic for his young friend. He'd used crystal glasses successfully before, but he was much more proficient with the African shofar or, in a pinch, the pungi. But shofars were made from the horns of animals, while pungis were most strongly associated with Indian snake charmers. Given Jim's resistance to either stags or snakes as Animagus forms, Remus elected to avoid risk of the instruments' symbology affecting the magic.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus! Amato Animo Animato Animagus!" Jim continued to chant, but his eyes began to swim in response to the sticky-sweet smell of the incense and the weird drone of the crystal glasses.

"Amato Animo Animato Animagus! Amato Animo Animato Animagus!" Then, just as the boy began to feel faint, there was a deafening crack of thunder, and his wand suddenly felt hot against his chest. It was time.

"AMATO ANIMO ANIMATO ANIMAGUS!" Jim screamed the incantation … and then screamed again as his body seemed to stretch and warp. Suddenly, every inch of his skin itched madly as if things were crawling from his pores. From somewhere in the distance, he heard Remus call his name. Jim's eyes clamped shut as he was struck by a sudden vertigo, a terrible feeling of plunging ever downwards. But then, he forced his eyes opened and realized that he was actually falling up. Up and up, ever higher into the night sky. Jim screamed in terror, but the sound that emerged was a loud, high-pitched "CAAAAW!"

And then, Jim laughed as he realized – he was flying! Granted, he was flying out of control through a heavy thunderstorm, but he was flying! Not even the fact that his laughter came out as a strange birdlike trill fazed him. He tried to turn his head and feel his body with his hands, but his new head didn't seem to work that way, and instinct rather than intellect told him that his arms would not be doing anything other than flapping. Against the darkened sky, Jim Potter could see nothing of his animal form save that it was darker than any shadow.

As he flew on through the worsening storm, a strange delirium overtook the Boy-Who-Flew. He looked down and then banked around in a circle, searching first for the cave where he'd left Remus and then for Hogwarts. But he could see neither, only an inky blackness all around occasionally shattered by a flash of lightning. When that happened, Jim's mental confusion worsened as he could now see in colors he'd never noticed before, colors visible only to the eyes of … whatever he was. Then, he felt himself drawn back towards the ground. To his surprise, Jim could see fires below. Strange green fires. He flew downwards.

As he descended, Jim's thoughts raced through his head, and he could hear a voice – his own voice – speaking in the language of birds. A strange babble at first, but it soon resolved itself into words he could hear in his own voice but which he did not understand.

I am thought and memory. I stole the sun and moon and gave them back again. Shani rides my back, bringing justice and misfortune in equal measure. I wander in treachery and travel with unkindness.

At last, he could make out the features of the ground below. The Forbidden Forest was gone. Jim didn't know where he was. But he knew a graveyard when he saw it, even if this one looked like it had been through a war, with smashed grave markers and grass blackened by fire. Dread overtook Jim, but he couldn't stop himself from flying closer. He was meant for this graveyard. He had always been meant for this graveyard.

I watched as they cut off the head of Blessed Bran, but I know he is with us still. I guarded the tower against all enemies. I perched on Cu Chulainn's shoulder to tell him he was already dead. You should have seen the look on his face.

With a loud squawk, Jim landed. He had a strange and terrifying sense of somehow being two things at once. He was a raven perched on a tombstone. He was a naked boy standing in a graveyard. He could see himself, boy and bird, with each of his twin selves staring at the other in confusion.

"Weird," said the bird. "Caw!" said the boy.

In the distance, at the base of the hill (much farther than he could have seen clearly before he gained a raven's vision), he could make out a huge cauldron with a fire burning underneath. Jim started towards it, though he could not tell if he were walking or flying or somehow both at once. He knew only that he could not stop moving.

I am bloodshed and battle. I spied for Apollo and Wotan, flew with the Valkyries, and perched on the Hydra's tail. When I look into eyes of the dead, I can see all things past and future.

On his left, Jim saw his mother and father standing hand-in-hand and gazing upon him with the adoration and pride.

"Mummy loves you," said Lily. "Never forget that."

"My little lion," said James. "Daddy loves you so much."

Lightning flashed, and then James and Lily were on the ground, their lifeless eyes still gazing upon him. Their arms were outstretched as if they were reaching for one another but were too far away to touch. Jim walked on.

To his right stood Ron Weasley, whose face bore a mask of profound sadness.

"I've got a secret, Jim," Ron said with a sniffle. "I'd give anything to tell you. But I just can't."

Lightning flashed, and now Ron was on the ground too, his eyes just as empty as Jim's parents, his face as pale and as cold as winter snow, as if all the life had literally drained out of him. A shattered wand, still smoking, lay near his outstretched hand. Jim walked on.

Nearer the cauldron, Jim saw Albus Dumbledore waiting for him and bearing an expression of immense pity. The old man's face was wet with tears.

"Jim, I'm sorry. I'm so terribly sorry."

Lightning flashed, and Dumbledore was on the ground as dead as the other three, though unlike them, his body bore the marks of a terrible battle: burns and cuts and a bloody gash from where the top of his wand hand had been sliced open. Jim walked on.

When he was almost at his destination, he saw Peter Pettigrew waving and smiling at him jovially, as if he was still Uncle Pete and always would be.

"Jim … Sport, remember what I said. There's no good and no evil. Only power. I hope when the time comes, you choose wisely. But I'll always love you, either way."

Lightning flashed, and now Pettigrew was on the ground. If Dumbledore had looked as though he'd died in a great battle, Pettigrew looked as though he'd been butchered by an animal. His body was drenched with blood, most likely from the gaping wounds that had torn open his stomach and throat, though some blood undoubtedly came from the stump remaining where his wand hand had been severed at the wrist. Jim walked on.

Finally, he reached the clearing where the cauldron rested, and he stopped at the sight of the cloaked figure who floated in front of it a few feet off the ground. Jim felt a wave of unearthly cold wash over him. The figure looked like a Dementor, but it was not a Dementor. Human hands, one bearing a ring set with a polished black stone, reached up and threw back the hood. The Dementor's face looked just like his own … save for the lightning bolt scar that marred his temple.

Creator, Trickster, Psychopomp, I fly in daylight and shadow, high above the living and deep below the lands of the dead. I watched Cain kill Abel and taught him how to hide the body.

"The two who should be as one, set against each other in reckless hate," said Harry in a cold impassive voice. "We were always on our way here. This was always going to be where everything came together."

There was a gurgling sound from the cauldron behind Harry. Jim watched in horror as a figure slowly rose from whatever foul liquid bubbled inside and continued rising until he was floating in the air above and behind Harry. Unearthly pale skin, reptilian scales, and a noseless serpentine face that had haunted Jim's nightmares for most of his life.

"Tremble, Jim Potter," said Voldemort. "Tremble at my Apotheosis. Tremble and die. AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Jim fell to the ground with a scream and began to convulse with his hands clenched over his eyes as if to block out a terrifying vision. Frightened by his reaction, Remus threw a blanket over the nearly naked boy and pulled him up into a sitting position.

"Jim! JIM! Speak to me!"

With some difficulty, Remus pulled the boy's hands away from his face. But then, he gasped. Jim's familiar green eyes were gone. Instead, his irises were jet black and so large that the whites of his eyes were almost nonexistent.

"Jim," Remus whispered urgently. "Please! Focus on my voice! Come back to me!"

Jim's rapid breathing slowed. He put his hands back over his eyes as if to block out what little light was in the cave. After a moment, he pulled them away again, and his eyes had returned to normal. Remus exhaled.

"How … how did I get back here?" Jim asked in a weak voice.

"You never left, Jim," Remus answered. "You had a vision relating to your Animagus form, but it was just a vision. You … you went into convulsions for a bit, but it was no longer than a few seconds."

Lupin swallowed nervously. "What did you see?" he finally asked. "What is your Animagus form?"

Jim closed his eyes.

"Death," he said in a leaden voice. "I'm Death. Everyone I care about is going to die because of me."

Malfoy Manor
6 April 1994

The message had arrived two days earlier, delivered by Lord Wilkes's beautiful and distinctive snowy owl. It was rather terse as formal messages go, but then, Lucius Malfoy was well-aware of the writer's tendency to play his cards close to the vest … when he wasn't gambling recklessly instead.

My Lord Malfoy,

With your permission, I would like to pay a visit to Malfoy Manor at a time of your convenience to discuss a matter of personal concern.

Yours sincerely,

Harry Black, Lord Wilkes

Intrigued, Lucius sent an owl reply inviting the boy to lunch on the 9th of April. At the appointed time, Harry passed through the Floo to Malfoy Manor where he was greeted by his host. To Harry's disappointment, Lucius was alone in the manor (save for his house elves, of course). Apparently, Draco had elected to remain at Durmstrang over the Easter Holidays to catch up on his assignments (and, Lucius suspected, get in some extra training with his Quidditch team).

Lucius gave Harry a brief tour of the manor before they sat down to lunch, over which they discussed current events. Lucius commented on how hard the boy seemed to be taking both the death of Rufus Scrimgeour and the escape of Pettigrew and Rookwood, and he reassured Harry that none of those events were his fault. Harry was noncommittal on what recent events he did and did not consider to be his fault. They moved on to a discussion of James Potter's recent reversal of fortunes. Upon hearing that Harry had bankrupted his father to the point of acquiring his erstwhile family's ancient manse for his own use, Lucius praised the boy for his "most excellent revenge" against his father for past abuses. Harry started to demure but decided against it. He now knew a few things about Abraxas Malfoy and consequently about Lucius Malfoy's thoughts on sons revenging themselves against their bad fathers.

At last, the time came to discuss the subject matter that Harry wanted to raise, but he hesitated. To his annoyance, Lucius's Occlumency was good enough to prevent the young Leglimens's preternatural charm from finding anything to latch onto. It was a rare sensation he normally only experienced when dealing with Snape, Moody, and occasionally Dumbledore, but it was always annoying when it happened. By this point in his psychic training, Harry's skill at reading people was so intuitive that he felt practically naked when talking to someone against whom it didn't work. Fortunately, Lucius took pity on him.

"Lord Wilkes," he began. "Let us speak plainly, no matter how antithetical that is to persons such as ourselves. True, we are both Slytherins. But we are also both allies of convenience and fellow Lords of Ancient and Noble Houses. And most importantly, we have both sat upon the Hydra Throne, and so, we share membership in a very select fraternity. Now, you obviously wish to ask for some boon but are concerned as to whether I would be willing to grant it. And if so, what I will ask in return. And so, I say to you: ask away. The worst thing that might possibly happen is that I either say 'no' or else ask a price too high for you to pay."

Harry nodded. "Alright. I believe I know how to free Theo No-Name from the Ultimate Sanction."

Lucius crooked an eyebrow. "Do you indeed? Well, like most of our peers in the Wizengamot, I have no love at all for the Outcast, but my disdain is so great that it would prevent me from aiding him if an important ally asked me to do so … and the price were right. You must know this, and yet you still hesitate to share your scheme. So why do you fear my disapproval of your plan?"

The boy took a deep breath. "Because if my plan succeeds, it will also rescue someone you hate a lot more than Theo from potential ruin. So I guess my question is: What do you want in exchange for helping my friend in a way that also helps Narcissa Black?"

Lucius leaned back in his chair, his eyes flashing. Harry proceeded to explain his idea, which did nothing to improve his host's disposition. After a few moments of tense questioning, Lucius directed Harry to depart, saying he would consider the proposal and respond within a few days, one way or the other.

Two days later, Harry received an invitation to return to Malfoy Manor. Once there, Lucius got straight to the point.

"Your plan is feasible," he said. "But not guaranteed. And of course, there are things I will want in return."

Luckily, Harry didn't consider any of the Malfoy Lord's requirements to be deal-breakers. But to call some of them surprising was a gross understatement.

12 Grimmauld Place
9 April 1994

Lord Sirius Black sat alone in the parlor at 12 Grimmauld studying the crossword puzzle from that morning's Daily Prophet when the fireplace flared to life and Severus Snape stepped through the Floo.

"Snappy!" Sirius exclaimed happily. "Good afternoon! What brings you to my humble commode?"

To Sirius's surprise, the Potions Master ignored both the "nickname" and the crude joke as he removed several potions from the satchel hanging from his shoulder.

"Nutrient potions," he said absentmindedly while placing the vials on the coffee table. Then, he sat down in the chair opposite Sirius's.

"Oh joy," Black snorted. "Between you and Ted Tonks, I'll be taking medications every waking hour. At least yours are good old-fashioned potions. Ted wants me to take some Muggle medicine that comes in pill form. Have you ever heard of Clonazepam?"

Snape shook his head in the negative, and Sirius finally noticed that the other man seemed utterly lost in thought.

"Severus? What is it? What's wrong?"

"On my way here, I had a meeting with my grandfather's former solicitor," he said slowly. "I am … still processing what he told me."

"Which was?" Black asked cautiously.

Snape stared at the other man for several seconds as he recalled their strange bonding experience from the previous December when Harry had locked them in a room together for several hours. They'd emerged with a new understanding of each other, including just how much they'd had in common. Bizarrely, Snape suddenly realized that his old enemy might well be the only person with whom he could share what he'd learned and what it might mean.

"Do your remember all those months ago when we discussed my … troubled childhood? And how I never understood how my mother could have ever ended up with my father? Or why she never left him despite his mistreatment of us both?"

Sirius nodded slowly.

"Well, now I know," Snape said darkly.

"From your expression, I'm wondering if we're going to need another bottle of firewhiskey."

"Perhaps later," Severus paused to collect himself before beginning the tale.

"I've told you that my mother was the daughter of the last Lord Prince, and that by expelling her from the family for marrying a Muggle, he caused House Prince to effectively become extinct. Or at least dormant until Lucius Malfoy found a potential Heir so that we could work around the problem. But there were … more details I didn't know until today."

"Go on."

"My mother was not just Lord Prince's daughter; she was his Heir. And in selecting her, my grandfather passed over her older brother and my uncle, Edward Prince."

"You never mentioned an uncle before."

"That is because I never knew he existed. My mother told me nothing of her family except her maiden name, and information about Edward Prince was kept out of public records. While my grandfather was undoubtedly a blood purist to some degree, Edward went farther. He vocally supported the Dark Lord from the earliest days of his rise and was recruited for the Knights of Walpurgis in the 1950's. This was long before the name of the movement was changed to the Death Eaters. Edward was never marked, but it wasn't for lack of trying. My grandfather disapproved of Edward's affiliation and so he declared that my mother would become his chosen Heir instead. House Prince is ambilineal, so my mother's gender was no obstacle."

"So what happened?" Sirius asked.

"My mother finished Hogwarts in 1957 and immediately began a Potions Mastery of her own. Apparently, she too was a Potions prodigy in her youth. But then, in 1959, she abruptly withdrew from her apprenticeship to marry my father. But more than that, she wrote to my grandfather to inform of her decision and to say that she was madly in love with Tobias Snape and he with her. Along with the letter, she sent the fragments of her wand which she voluntarily snapped herself. And to ensure that my grandfather would not interfere in their marriage, she also announced that she and my father had sworn mutual Unbreakable Vows to remain faithful to one another to death and beyond."

Sirius blinked in confusion. "To death … and beyond?"

"The vow not only ensured that theywould remain bound together for the rest of their lives, it also forbade each of them from remarrying or even pursuing a future romantic relationship after the death of the other!"

"But hang on! Can you even bind a Muggle to an Unbreakable Vow?"

"Oh yes," Snape answered while waving his hand distractedly. "An Unbreakable Vow requires a wizard to act as bonder. That is whose magic fuels the Vow. The participants must fully understand that the Vow can kill oathbreakers, and so the Statute of Secrecy generally prevents its use against Muggles, but if a Muggle knows about magic and willingly accepts the risk, then the Vow can bind him."

Snape's expression grew haunted. "The Vow not only removed my mother from the Wizarding world, it ensured that she would never be a viable marriage partner for any wizard nor ever be able to produce an Heir of her own that met the family's blood status requirements. The Prince family charter left my grandfather with no option but to replace my mother with Edward as the Heir. He formally struck my mother from the family tree but only after she had already rejected the family herself."

Sirius's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "That all seems … improbable. And since Uncle Ed was an aspiring Death Eater, I'm guessing there was more to the story?"

"Indeed. Just a few months before I was born, Edward Prince took the Heirship Oath. House Prince has a special oath that must be sworn by all Heirs upon taking the ring. Among other things, it contains a vow to preserve the welfare of all other family members. I suppose I don't have to tell you how unusual such an oath is among Pureblooded families. According to Mr. Fortescue, immediately upon swearing that oath, Edward screamed and fell to the ground wracked by agony. He had lost his magic! And the shock of it would kill him just a few days later! But before passing, he gave a deathbed confession revealing that Boruslav Lestrange had provided him with a potion – essentially Amortentia laced with a compulsion philter – that Edward illicitly gave to my parents after arranging for them to meet seemingly by happenstance.

"If the scheme had succeeded, Edward would have been rewarded with the Dark Mark upon becoming Lord Prince, which would have happened just as soon as my grandfather suffered a 'tragic accident.' But Edward failed to realize that the oath he swore treated what he'd done to my mother as a continuing violation. Even though he'd given my mother the potion before becoming Heir, the fact that she was still under its effects when he swore the oath meant that he was immediately in breach and suffered judgment."

Sirius stiffened in his chair. "Wait a minute! So your grandfather knew what Edward had done to your mother and still expelled her from the family?!"

"Apparently so," Snape replied. "He had two children. One was dead. The other was magically bound to a Muggle, which I imagine he considered a fate worse than death. My grandfather might not have been a supporter of the Dark Lord, but he was still as bigoted towards Muggles as the average Pureblood. In any case, there was nothing to be done to free my mother from her marriage, so he used his influence to sweep everything under the rug and avoid scandal. Then, he resigned himself to the inevitable extinction of his family name. According to Fortescue, he withdrew from public life and spent the next few years drinking himself into a continual stupor before he finally passed away."

"And in the meantime," Sirius said with a horrified realization, "I reckon the Amortentia finally wore off!"

"An accurate deduction. I was raised by two people from completely different worlds who had never loved one another and who, after the potion wore off, grew to hate each other instead because each of their lives had been ruined by the false love they'd experienced. And yet, neither could leave the marriage without them both dying. And so they stayed together to wallow in their mutual bitterness. Oh, and to raise a child that neither of them ever wanted, I suppose."

"Bloody hell," Sirius muttered. "One question, though. I know why your selfish prick of an uncle used that potion on your mother. But why did Edward pick your father of all people?"

"According to Mr. Fortescue" Snape said bitterly, "Tobias Snape was picked entirely at random. Edward arranged for my mother to visit Cokesworth for some reason and slipped her the potion there. Then, he gave the second potion to the first Muggle of the appropriate age who crossed her path."

He shook his head in amazement. "And it was all part of a scheme to align House Prince with the Death Eaters, a terrorist group I myself would later join because I thought they would help me reclaim the same birthright that they had helped to steal from me in the first place before I was even born! And do you know what the worst part is?"

Sirus shook his head silently.

"I don't even have anyone I can be angry at," the man snapped. "Because except for me, everyone involved is already dead!"

There was a lengthy silence from both men after Snape's final outburst. At last, Sirius spoke again.

"So … firewhiskey?"

Despite himself, Snape barked out a laugh. He'd been wise to come here.

"Merlin's Bones, YES!"

10 April 1994

On the morning of Saturday, April 10th, Sirius Black (and his various houseguests) were all understandably surprised by the Patronus wolf that suddenly manifested atop the dining room table at breakfast.

"Hello, Sirius," the wolf said in the voice of Remus Lupin. "This is Remus Lupin. If it is convenient, I would like to meet with you tomorrow for lunch at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. I will have a room reserved for us upstairs. A lot of things have changed for us, both over the last thirteen years and in the last few weeks. Out of respect for the friendship we once had, I think it would be best if we met face to face to discuss these changes, as well as what the status of our relationship will be going forward or if there will even be such a relationship. If that day is inconvenient, please send word to me through Severus Snape or Madam Rosmerta. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you at noon tomorrow."

As the wolf Patronus faded away, Sirius continued to stare in surprise at the spot where it had stood, while the others at the table (the Tonkses, Bellatrix, Buck, and Regulus) began to chatter. Most of them were bemused by the message, but Regulus's reaction was grimmer.

"Are you going?" he asked in clipped tones.

Sirius looked shaken. "I … suppose I should. I've wanted to get in touch with Moony once things calmed down a bit. This seems like a good opportunity."

"I'll come along then," Regulus replied, ignoring Sirius's objection. "I don't want you going out anywhere by yourself, seeing as how that little scheme Harry's cooking up with Lucius is probably about to put a target on your back. But you're absolutely not going into a meeting with a werewolf alone."

"Harry and Severus both say he's not a werewolf anymore," Sirius insisted.

"Indulge my paranoia," Regulus said commandingly. "I'll stay downstairs in a different form, but I'm going."

The Three Broomsticks
11 April 1994

The next day, the Black brothers stepped out of the Floo and into the Three Broomsticks. Regulus wore casual robes but otherwise resembled a Muggle named Gordon Brown who was presently serving in the British government as the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. Regulus had seen a photo of the Muggle in the Times, but he thought the politician was obscure enough that no one in Hogsmeade could possibly recognize him. He elected to stay in the common area and order lunch on his own while Sirius made his way alone upstairs to Room 12.

Sirius knocked on the door and entered when bade. Then, he froze in shock. The room had been cleared of furniture except for a large circular table with three chairs. Directly across from Sirius sat Remus Lupin. To his left … sat James Potter.

"Please come in, Sirius," Remus said.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sirius said in a low voice while glaring at James.

"I've had worse ideas I suppose," the erstwhile werewolf answered. "But if you will look around, you will notice the walls are covered by runic carvings."

Sirius pulled his eyes off James with difficulty and looked around. And indeed, the walls were covered with dozens of small wooden squares, each of which had what looked like Chinese characters painted on them, characters that had an oddly soothing effect on the wizard.

"The runes will temporarily counteract the effects of the Oath of Enmity," Remus continued, "so that the only animosities you will feel for each other during this meeting are those based on legitimate emotions. Jim Potter asked me to meet with James, just as Severus asked me to meet with you. As neither of you sought me out, and as I have things to say to both of you, I decided to invite you here together under a truce so we could have it all out at once. Considering the friendship we shared in our youth, I think we all owe that much to one another."

Sirius nodded and cautiously made his way around the table to sit opposite James (who for once, looked quiet and chastened).

"I wouldn't have thought it would be that easy to get around an Oath of Enmity," Sirius said. Remus chuckled.

"Easy is a relative term. I spent eight hours yesterday carving and inscribing these Zen meditation runes. They cannot simply be transfigured into shape or the magic won't work. Each one must be done by hand, and all of them together will only last for an hour or so after activation. So their utility for creating 'neutral ground' is limited."

Sirius slid into his chair. "Fair enough. So, where do we begin?"

James started to speak, but Remus cut him off. "First things first. I believe the first order of business is to make sure we're all on the same page, at least in terms of what the Marauders were back in the day. Only then can we decide what, if anything, the Marauders are today."

With that, he turned to James. "Jealous Aardvarks Make Excellent Soup," he said, a phrase which confused Sirius even as it made James blink rapidly. Then, Remus turned to Sirius.

"Sinister Investment Returns Imitate Unusual Stocks."

Now, it was Sirius's turn to feel his mind reel as he too remembered the truth of the Marauders and their time in the Shrieking Shack. How he, James, and Peter had agreed to years of memory locks from the Unspeakables in exchange for learning to become Animagi. How the Marauders' Map had started out as an Unspeakable tracking device that Sirius had impulsively stolen and then, with help from the others, modified into a silly pranking tool.

Meanwhile, James suddenly realized that the life debt he'd been holding over Snape's head for over a decade was a fabrication, and he immediately recalled how Snape really came to harm in the Shrieking Shack. To his shame, he also recalled that on that fateful night, he'd considered trying to reunite Snape and Lily only to lose those memories completely before he could even begin. Meanwhile, Sirius was astonished to realize that Snape had never truly been endangered by The Prank, and that the guilt Sirius had both felt and repressed over the matter was ultimately pointless.

"Does Severus know the truth about the Prank?" Sirius asked.

"He does now, though his memories were only recently returned. Severus was the one who suggested I unlock both your memories."

James crooked an eyebrow. "Is everyone on a first name basis with Snape but me now?"

Sirius glared at his former best friend. "I'll put it to you this way, Potter. I strongly advise you to not call him Snivellus around me!"

"Likewise," Remus added. "Once Severus's own memories were restored, I immediately went to him and apologized for my behavior during our school days. I shall be returning to Shamballa for the summer if not longer, but I will remain in correspondence with him. As you might imagine, I've become something of an expert on Animagery, and I believe that it, rather than the Belby Formula, may hold the key to curing lycanthropy for good."

He chuckled. "Once you get to know him, he's surprisingly likeable in a 'surly curmudgeon' sort of way."

Sirius laughed as well. "You've got that right."

James looked back and forth between his two former friends as if he no longer recognized them. "I … literally have no response for that. Look, I didn't come here to discuss Sni… I mean, Severus Snape. But if you two want me to buddy up with him to make things right between us, I'll do it."

"James," Remus said sadly. "I didn't ask you here to offer terms for reviving our friendship. As I said, I just wanted to clear the air between us. And also, I suppose, to see what if anything can be done about the Oath of Enmity. I know Jim is very upset about the current state of affairs, and I suspect Harry is as well. I've grown quite fond of both boys, and I refuse to take any side in your ridiculous feud."

With that, he looked over to Sirius, who at least had the decency to look abashed.

"Well, first of all," Black said, "I suspect if you try to 'buddy up' to Severus, he may hex you into a stinky goo. As for the Oath of Enmity," he paused and looked away for a moment, "I … regret invoking it."

Then, he looked back at James with a stern expression. "Not that you don't deserve it, mind you. I still think your treatment of Harry was a travesty. But … it was wrong of me to invoke a House Oath without considering how it would affect him. And your other son, I suppose."

He took a deep breath. "If you and yours can make it the requisite year-and-a-day without reciprocating, I suppose I will rescind the Oath. Do not think that we're going back to being blood brothers, James. Not until you've earned Harry's forgiveness and mine."

James ran his fingers through his hair. "Sirius … have you talked with Harry about … about our situation since last week?"

Sirius glowered. "No. Harry's actually still angry with me over the Oath, and he's been avoiding me. Why?"

James licked his lips. "I've … lost everything basically, including my job. Peter mostly wiped me out financially, and the balance of the Potter fortune is going to Harry, including control of my House votes and possession of the Manor for at least the foreseeable future. I'm actually in the middle of packing the few things I'll be allowed to take with me, but I have to be out by the end of next month. I'll even have to give him my old Invisibility Cloak!"

"If you're expecting sympathy…!" Sirius began.

"I'm not! I swear! But Sirius … if you still want me to atone for how I treated Harry, I … I just don't have anything left to give. Well, except for my life, and I actually offered that twice and both times he came up with alternatives."

He gave a sad laugh. "Ironically, before you made the Oath against me, I'd actually had hopes that once he was out of House Potter, emancipated and financially independent, I could finally try to develop a real relationship with him. Not as father and son, obviously, but … something."

"But only after he was out of House Potter," Sirius said. "Why, James? Why was it so important to banish your own Heir?" He sneered. "Did you blast him off the Potter family tapestry like Walburga did to me?"

James shook his head. In retrospect, he could see how the whole situation must have looked to Sirius, although he wasn't thinking that way at the time.

"My reasons for wanting Harry expelled from the family …." He stopped and shook his head. "Look, all I can say now is that I had my reasons. And more importantly, Harry knew what they were and went along with them. So talk to him about it. He and I are both under secrecy oaths but … talk to Harry. If he says that he wants you to know why I had to do it, I'll take steps to reveal those secrets to you. But only if he wants it, and he may have good reasons to say no. It's … kind of an awful family secret."

Sirius looked at his old friend with a dubious expression before shaking his head and moving on.

"Alright, I'll set that aside for now," he said while turning to Remus. "Now that my memories have been restored, Moony, it occurs to me that … you spent a lot of time lying to us all when we were at school."

Remus was unrepentant. "Only from a certain point of view. Whenever we were in the Shrieking Shack, you always knew the whole truth, and you understood why you would not be allowed to keep those memories the rest of the time and acquiesced." He frowned. "Also, Moony isn't really a fitting nickname anymore since my furry little problem appears to have been solved. I am not at liberty to disclose the details, but suffice to say, I am no longer a werewolf but rather a wolf Animagus."

James stared in amazement and then broke out into a grin. "But that's wonderful, Remus! I'm so happy for you."

"Me too," said Sirius merrily. "I guess we need a new wolf-themed nickname for you."

Remus, who had never been a fan of Sirius's nicknaming habit, demurred. "Well, since my actual name carries a wolf-theme, perhaps we could just stick with that for now."

The three Marauders talked and reminisced, treading as carefully as possible around all the landmines that now littered their relationship. Sirius invited Remus to come visit him at 12 Grimmauld Place … and then immediately regretted inviting his ex-werewolf friend to the home where his werewolf-phobic brother still lived. James started to invite Remus to visit his home as well before freezing halfway through when he remembered where his home was going to be for the foreseeable future.

It was a difficult and fraught conversation between the three men. Each of them had made terrible mistakes that had hurt the others. Each of them knew dangerous secrets they couldn't reveal. And each of them still held powerful grudges that held them back from truly renewing their friendship. But it was a start. Then, after about forty minutes, Sirius abruptly stood and announced that the sound of James's voice was suddenly giving him the urge to cast Castration Hexes so the runes were probably running out of magic.

And that was the end of the Marauders reunion.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the common area, Regulus struggled to eat his shepherd's pie in peace while steadfastly ignoring the gaggle of upper-year Muggle Studies students who were revising for an exam at a nearby table. From what he could tell by eavesdropping, they were arguing in heated whispers about whether or not Gordon Brown, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, was secretly a wizard who'd come to the Three Broomsticks for lunch and if so, would he be willing to explain certain elements of the Maastricht Treaty for them.

Hogwarts
13 April 1994

On April 12th, the Hogwarts Express returned the students who'd left for Easter Break. To Harry, the journey was somewhere between amusing and aggravating. By now, his name change was common knowledge, as was his Lordship over House Wilkes. The reaction he'd gotten from students in the past from being the Potter Heir was nothing compared to being an actual Lord and easily the youngest in living memory. Likewise, Amy Wilkes was bemused by the reaction of her Slytherin peers after going from "orphaned waif from a disgraced family" to "adopted little sister of one of the richest boys in the world." Daphne Greengrass had come up to her as if they were best friends and offered her "a make-over," a suggestion that was almost met with derisive laughter before Amy remembered that she was still supposed to be acting like a blood purist in order to infiltrate the CPS.

To Ginny Weasley's chagrin, the CPS had also been a source of discord in the Weasley household. As she explained while riding in the carriage back to Hogwarts with Harry and Amy, her parents had thrown a birthday party for the Twins, their first one celebrated at the Burrow since they'd started at Hogwarts. It ended abruptly with the twins throwing cake at one another before devolving into a fist fight and then both of them getting grounded for the rest of the Easter Break.

Which was when Ginny's own club affiliation came up….

1 April 1994 (Twelve days earlier)
The Burrow

"Honestly!" George snapped at Fred while wiping cake from his face. "You're just getting worse and worse! You're already selling dangerous pranks to the CPS wankers. You'll be going to their Junior Death Eater meetings next!"

The Twins had been sent to their room by their furious parents, but the other three Weasleys in residence followed them upstairs.

"Are you calling our little sister a Junior Death Eater, you git!" Fred bellowed while reaching for his wand only for Percy to snatch it out of his hand.

Then, Ron piped up to try and change the subject. "So what are those CPS meetings like, anyway? Are they like Junior Death Eater meetings?"

Ginny snorted. "Well no one has been praising You-Know-Who or anything. Or at least not that I've heard." Then, she added ruefully. "I've been hearing the M-word more often than I'm comfortable with, I suppose."

"Then why do you even go if they're all a bunch of bigots?" George asked.

She shrugged. "Not all of them are. Not even most of them. And anyway, somebody's got to keep an eye on them. Might as well be me. Nobody gives me any guff for being there because I can just look down my nose at them and say something snide about The Sacred 28."

"Ginny!" exclaimed Percy in a scandalized tone. The Weasley family's membership in the so-called Sacred 28 was a source of perpetual embarrassment to the famously Muggle-supporting family. Ron had a different reaction though.

"I knew it!" he exclaimed in outrage. "Harry Black has turned you into a spy!"

Now …

"If nothing else, that at least distracted everyone from the Twin's feud. All four of them were furious over their little baby sister falling in with a bad crowd on your say-so."

Harry smirked. "Wonderful. Well, feel free to make me the villain if it helps you out at home. So did the Twins ever make up?"

"Not yet. In fact, George has started sleeping in Bill's old room since he's hardly ever home. For which Fred mocks George for 'trying to soak up Bill's head boy vibes,' whatever that means. I don't know what to do to get them on good terms again. Mum and Dad are very upset over it, and Percy's going spare."

"Hmm. Have you tried crying?" Harry asked. Ginny glared at him.

"I'm not a little girl, Harry!"

"Please," Amy said with a laugh. "I've seen you manipulate your brothers with strategic crying. If you've got a weapon in your arsenal that they don't have any defense against, don't be afraid to use it. That's just silly Gryffindor thinking."

The girl rolled her eyes. "I'll bear that in mind."

"Good," said Harry. "Next item of business: After dinner tonight, meet me next to the broom cupboard three doors down from Moaning Myrtle's toilet. I have something to show you."

At the appointed time and spot, Harry met the two Slytherin girls and ushered them into a broom closet full of especially pungent cleaning supplies.

"Phew!" Ginny said while waving her hand under her nose. "Great place for a secret meeting, Harry."

"Sorry, but the smell is necessary," he replied. "Otherwise, the upper years would be in here snogging all the time, and we can't have that. Now, pay attention."

He pointed out an odd, barely noticeable scratch on a shelf and then tapped it with his wand. The entire shelf rotated 45 degrees to reveal a secret passageway. He then led the two girls inside and down a long and twisting corridor. After a few minutes of walking, they came across a ladder mounted into the corridor wall. Harry climbed down through a hole in the floor, and after looking at each other in surprise, the two girls followed. At the bottom was another secret door which Harry opened with another tap of his wand. The three passed through the door to enter yet another corridor. Both girls looked around in confusion.

"This is Prefect's Row!" Ginny exclaimed. "Did you just take us through ten minutes of secret passages just to get somewhere we could have easily walked to in four?!"

Harry smiled. "Not just Prefect's Row, Ginny. It's the end of Prefect's Row, about ten feet past where the Notice-Me-Not Charms start. I decided it was too conspicuous walking straight down Prefect's Row to get here. There are other secret routes here I'll show you later."

"And where exactly is 'here' supposed to be?" asked Amy. Harry just smiled and turned to the blank wall at the end of the corridor.

"Fierce Blue Puppy," he said.

In response, a doorway appeared and opened. The two girls followed him through and then stopped to gape in surprise and wonder at the massive Hydra Throne. Theo No-Name and the two Slytherin Prefects, Titus Mitchell and Selena Harper, were already seated at the table in front of the Throne.

"Welcome, ladies," Harry said expansively. "To the Prince's Lair!"

"If you keep recruiting, Harry, we'll need some extra chairs," Titus quipped.

"Not yet," Harry said as he causally sat down on the Throne, to the surprise of both prefects.

"Congratulations, Harry," Selena said. "Or should we start calling you Your Highness now?"

"Pfft. Harry's fine, thank you."

With that, Harry gave the two confused Second Years a brief overview of the Prince of Slytherin, including the fact that he now held the position … and the fact that by entering the room, the girls were now bound by a nonconsensual oath to never reveal anything they'd learned in here.

"Oookay," Ginny said weakly. "Anything else we should know?"

"My brother Niles has a crush on you," Selena announced.

"I've noticed. But he's a bit too into the bad side of CPS for me. Speaking of which, I see you and Mitchell are surprisingly okay with Theo being here."

"Indeed," Titus drawled. "Neither of us is actually under the Sanction, so we worked out a schedule at the start of the year of when we'd each make a big show of being rude to him while also protecting him from Slytherin bullies 'under Snape's orders.' It's worked out so far."

Selena nodded. "As for Niles, I'll be having a little chat with him soon about the crowd he's hanging out with."

Conversation with the prefects (who Ginny noticed were both remarkably deferential to Harry despite him being a mere Third Year) continued for a few minutes before Selena and Titus had to leave. Selena had a study session scheduled. Titus, on the other hand, was off to a late-night poker game. Apparently, Blaise had introduced the Muggle game the year before and it had taken off among the upper year students. Even more surprisingly, Titus mentioned that Percy was involved and was a surprisingly good card player. Titus blamed it on the Gryffindor's NEWT-level Arithmancy studies.

After the prefects were gone, Harry answered a few more questions from the girls before dropping another bombshell. "Tom Marvolo Riddle is the dark wizard known as Lord Voldemort." Hearing the Secret spoken aloud was unnerving for both girls, even though they'd already learned from Theo that the list of things Riddle and Voldemort had in common could fill pages.

"So Voldemort is just a fake name Riddle assumed while hiding his true identity under a Fidelius?" Amy asked.

"Yes," Harry said before hesitating briefly. "And I think he may have had others, though Lord Voldemort was the only one magically concealed."

Even Theo was surprised at that. "What other names do you think he might have used?" he asked.

"Before I get into that," Harry replied. "What can you tell me about Cantankerous Nott?"

"Which one?

Harry did a double-take. "Seriously? There was more than one wizard cursed with parents dumb enough to name him Cantankerous?"

"Well, to be fair, one of them was the father of the other, so apparently the elder Cantankerous didn't mind his name too much. Cantankerous Nott Sr. was my great-grandfather. By all accounts, he anonymously wrote The Sacred 28. Horribly bigoted. Was into illegal Muggle-hunting. His son, Cantankerous Nott Jr. was my grandfather and a chip off the old block. Oh, and both of them were pretty openly supportive of Grindelwald, to the point that the family had to pay a lot of bribes to hush it up after Grindelwald lost. Senior died back in the 50's, some incident with Muggle-baiting that went fatally wrong somehow. Junior was working on an updated Sacred 28 when he was assassinated by an Irish Muggleborn terrorist named Rian O'Grady. That was in 1970, I think. My father became Lord Nott while he was still at school."

"What was Tiberius's relationship with his father?"

"A whole lot better than my relationship with him!" Theo spat. "He idolized both his father and grandfather as icons of blood purist philosophy!"

Harry said nothing at first. Then, he popped out his wand and spelled "Rian O'Grady" in the air with the Pyrologos Charm. After studying the name for a moment, he slashed his wand through the air. The letters of the name moved around to form a different name.

Dorian Gray.

"Who's Dorian Gray?" Amy asked.

"He's the main character from a book called The Picture of Dorian Gray by a Muggle named Oscar Wilde. Wilde was Tom Riddle's favorite author when he was a student. The novel was about a man who's secretly evil, but no one knows it because his evil nature is hidden in a magical portrait to which his soul is somehow connected. The portrait ages instead of him. As long as it's intact, he can't age or die."

Theo's eyes widened. "That … sounds kind of like a Horcrux, Harry."

The other boy nodded without taking his eyes off the name floating in the air, while Theo explained to the horrified girls about Voldemort's Horcruxes, one of which was the Diary that had enslaved Ginny's brother.

"Harry," Amy asked cautiously. "What does this mean?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Here's what we know: Tom Marvolo Riddle was Sorted into Slytherin in 1938. During his first five years, he was an active supporter of Muggleborn rights and made enemies out of the most prominent Purebloods at school back then. At some point during his Fifth Year, he became Prince of Slytherin. He then used the resources of the position to gain access to the Chamber of Secrets so that he could use the Basilisk to petrify Muggleborns as part of a plot to frame Abraxas Malfoy and other Slytherin Purebloods. That plan fell apart when he accidentally killed Myrtle Warren and then destroyed his own capacity for empathy in an Occlumency mishap. After that, he seemingly abandoned the cause of Muggleborn rights in favor of currying favor with blood purists. When he returned as a Sixth Year, he was already wearing the Gaunt Lord's ring. The Throne won't tell me much about Tom from his school days, but it did reveal that Cantankerous Nott—Junior, I suppose—used to mock him for wearing a Lord's ring when he wasn't really entitled to do so on account of being a Halfblood. Around that time, Riddle also developed close relationships with classmates Augustus Rookwood and Boruslav Lestrange.

"Riddle graduated in 1945 but then basically disappeared for over a decade before showing back up to apply for the DADA Professor's job in 1957. Dumbledore turned him down, but by an interesting coincidence, that same year was when the curse on the DADA job began! After that, Tom Riddle disappeared in 1962… which was right around the time his old school friend Nobby Leach became the first Muggleborn Minister for Magic! This was also around the time that Alexander McAvity started pushing for Muggleborn Rights throughout Britain … and Rian O'Grady first appeared on the scene as one of McAvity's top lieutenants. I looked him up. There's no record of Rian O'Grady anywhere before then.

"Throughout the 1960's, the Muggleborns pushed harder and harder for civil rights, but frequently in ways that provoked increasing fear and hostility from conservative Purebloods, including lots of extremist ideas that seem designed to provoke a backlash in the Wizengamot. In 1968, Leach died mysteriously in office and McAvity was framed for various crimes and exiled to Australia. In their absence, the civil rights movement they created turned violent. Most of the leadership died or fled Britain. In 1970, the last of them, O'Grady, murdered Cantankerous Nott Jr. in a very public way that stirred up more hatred against Muggleborns. Then, O'Grady himself simply disappeared.

"Meanwhile, Riddle had started using the name Lord Voldemort behind the scenes throughout the 1960's. He hid the connection between Riddle and Voldemort under a Fidelius, and under the Voldemort identity, he recruited a new generation of Pureblood followers who had been radicalized by the previous ten years of aggressive Muggleborn extremism – extremism that Riddle had also been pushing under a different fake identity. For instance, Cantakerous Jr.'s death at the hands of 'Rian O'Grady' cleared the way for Tiberius Nott to claim Lordship of an Ancient and Noble House, and right after he left school, Tiberius became a Death Eater, unwittingly serving the same man who killed his own father and, for all I know, his grandfather too."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ginny exclaimed. "Are you saying that all this time, You-Know-Who has been on both sides of the blood purity debate?!"

"Yes," Harry answered. "He's been pushing the extremists on both sides. Heightening the conflict between Purebloods and Muggleborns so that they fight each other, while using radicalized Muggleborns and later the Death Eaters to take out moderates on both sides as well as anyone, like Cantankerous Jr., who might have gotten in his way."

"But … why?" Amy asked.

Harry fumed. "That I don't know. But I'll tell you one thing. Lord Voldemort did not start a bloody insurrection that ripped the whole country apart just because of blood purity!"

Nott Hall
19 April 1994

With a loud crack, the cue-ball struck the last billiard ball on the table, and it flew unerringly into the corner pocket. Tiberius Nott turned to his house guest with a victorious sneer.

"That's two games to zero, Malfoy," Tiberius said snidely. "Have you never played nine-ball before?"

"I have actually," Lucius replied. "Though admittedly, I've always preferred traditional billiards over these modern Muggle variants. I'm sure my luck will change."

The other Death Eater snorted. "Tis a game of skill, not luck, Malfoy. But if you think otherwise, perhaps we should place a bit of coin on the next game. Say 100 galleons a ball?"

"Why not?" Lucius answered languidly while swirling his glass of port. "It will liven things up, I suppose, if we wager a bit of pocket change on it."

Nott's eye twitched at the reminder of his guest's substantially greater wealth. "… Indeed."

Then, he walked over to the nearby bar to pour himself another drink even as he re-racked the billiard balls with a flick of his wand. "I must say, Lucius, I was a bit surprised when you asked to meet with me to discuss 'Wizengamot business.' I wasn't sure we still had any common ground, politically speaking."

"On the contrary, I think you'll find that my politics have not changed at all. Merely the means by which I pursue them."

"Oh?" Nott scoffed. "The last time we sat together in the Wizengamot, I watched in disbelief as you helped a Mudblood claim a Noble Seat! What would our Lord think of that, I wonder?"

"Wonder all you like, Tiberius, but I imagine he'll think me quite resourceful for reactivating a wealthy Noble House and then delivering it for the next eleven years into the regency of Severus Snape, who also bears our Lord's Mark. Just as I'm sure he'll be delighted by the level of influence I hold over the new Lord Wilkes. You're good at sports, Nott. But you've never learned how to play a truly long game."

"Pah! Am I to be impressed at how you grovel before Potter's whelp?"

Lucius laughed. "Obviously, you've not kept up with the latest gossip. Harry Black is a Slytherin through-and-through. When the Wizengamot next meets, James Potter will announce his fealty to the House of Wilkes. Assuming, of course, that Potter isn't so humiliated by the financial ruin Lord Wilkes has visited upon him that he declines to show his face, in which case the Wilkes Seneschal can make the announcement instead."

Nott was temporarily speechless. "House Potter? A vassal to the very son he cast out?"

"Quite so," the blond aristocrat said in silky tones. "Harry Black will control 22 votes on his own without even counting the votes of those Houses allied with him. And I helped make it happen, a fact Lord Wilkes will not soon forget."

Malfoy gave a cruel laugh. "In fact, with luck and perseverance, I may be able to persuade Harry Black to take the Dark Mark as soon as he finishes Hogwarts. Assuming the plan to revive our fallen Lord has succeeded by then, of course."

Lucius's words hung in the air, and he scrutinized Tiberius's reactions closely while taking another sip of port. For his part, Nott's outrage over the thought of Harry Black joining the Death Eaters was instantly eclipsed by his worry over Malfoy's reference to Voldemort's resurrection. Narcissa Black had told him that Lucius was ignorant of their plans for that, but Malfoy's words suggested he might know more than she'd realized. Inwardly, Nott cursed the fact that Malfoy had requested a Lord-to-Lord meeting under the parley terms of the Wizengamot Charter, and so the price of murdering the arrogant popinjay here and now was far higher than Nott was willing to pay.

"So that's your game," he said sullenly before positioning his stick against the cue ball. There was a loud crack as the diamond pattern of billiard balls broke, though no balls went into any pockets. He stood up straight and glared at Malfoy.

"You want to control Harry Black," he continued. "And through him, you want to control the Wilkes estate! Has he found the lost vault yet?"

"We'll be addressing Mr. Toymaker's legacy this summer after school is out," Lucius said casually, even as he glided around the table. "But make no mistake. When Harry Black acquires whatever special project Mr. Toymaker was working on for the Dark Lord, I shall be standing by his side."

Then, he chuckled wryly. "And to think – I didn't even have to marry him and then rape him in order to achieve it!"

Nott's face clouded in anger. "Did you instruct the brat to cancel my marriage contract? To undo my plans and steal the glory I would have claimed and delivered to the Dark Lord?!"

"Oh, I hardly needed to instruct young Harry. He's quite clever, you know. For the most part, he defeated you all by himself. Besides, your plans would have taken years to come to fruition and would have drawn the scorn and revulsion of all Wizarding Britain. And still would have likely failed when Amaryllis Wilkes died on a Healer's table along with any unborn child that she tried to carry at such a young age while under the effects of a dangerous and highly-illegal Gender-Affixing Potion."

With that, Lucius bent over the table and prepared to take his shot. Then, he paused, stood, and studied the tip of his cue for a moment before pulling his wand from its hidden pocket. He tapped it three times against the cue before raking it quickly up the side. There was a loud POP as a few sparks shot from the top of the pool cue, a sign that Lucius had just casually sliced through the Bad Aim Jinx that his host had spent hours carefully inscribing onto the cue.

"A very droll jest, Nott," he said almost sweetly. "Or at least, I shall do you the courtesy of assuming it was a prank and not a deliberate effort to cheat me."

As Nott's teeth gnashed together in a fury, Lucius bent back over the table and struck the cue ball forcefully. It hit one ball at an angle and bounced off it to strike another. Both balls went into different pockets.

"I believe you said 100 galleons a ball?" Lucius asked mockingly.

"Damn you, Malfoy!" Nott snapped even as he slammed his glass down onto the edge of the table. Some of the port sloshed out onto the felt. "To hell with this game! To hell with all your games! Why did you even come here today except to mock me?!"

"It is as I said, Nott – Wizengamot business!" Lucius said while leaning back over the table to knock another ball into a corner pocket.

"I have gained Lord Wilkes as an ally, and one thing I've learned is that the secret to maintaining alliances is to keep your allies happy. Or at least, as happy as you can make them without losing more than the alliance is worth. Harry Black is a Slytherin and can be quite ruthless to his enemies. But he has an almost Hufflepuffian loyalty to his friends. One of those friends is … the Outcast."

Tiberius stiffened at the mention of his erstwhile son. Meanwhile, Lucius paused to take another sip of port before casually hitting yet another ball into a side pocket.

"What about the little bastard?"

"Young Harry has asked for my aid in helping his young friend in exchange for certain favors. And so, I did a bit of maths and realized that if the votes of those Houses allied with Wilkes and Malfoy were joined with those of Nott and Selwyn and also a few other Houses whose agreeance could be purchased or compelled, we would have enough votes to retroactively strike the Ultimate Sanction provision from the Inheritance Act, thus freeing Theo No-Name from the opprobrium of our society."

Nott's snarl was almost bestial. "I knew it! Don't play the fool with me, Malfoy! You want to save the Outcast from the Sanction because he's your illegitimate son!"

Lucius laughed and shook his head even as he sank another ball in a pocket. "I have often found your paranoia and jealousy to be amusing, Tiberius. But in this instance, they are unjustified. Theo No-Name is not my son. I was never unfaithful to Narcissa during our marriage, and I do not believe Christina was unfaithful to you. Or perhaps she was, and Theo is someone else's bastard son. I certainly wouldn't blame her for seeking comfort in another man's bed when the alternative was yours."

An angry vein bulged on the side of Nott's head, and he felt acutely aware of how the Oath of Unity he'd sworn upon becoming a Lord was the only thing that kept him from pulling out his own wand to attack Lucius.

That and the fact that Lucius Malfoy knew a lot of dark magic.

"No, Tiberius," Malfoy continued. "I finally decided to aid Harry Black in this matter not for the sake of your son, but rather my own. You see, I realized that, as much as I might utterly despise Narcissa Black for the sins and cruelties she has visited upon me, I do not quite have it in me to see Draco subjected to magic that would cause him to hate his own mother!"

That last comment utterly baffled Tiberius Nott, to the point that Lucius sank two more balls before he spoke again.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"What it means, Tiberius, is this: Sometime this summer, Sirius Black will stand before the Wizengamot and take his Vow of Unity. And immediately thereafter, the Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Black will invoke the Ultimate Sanction against his wayward cousin Narcissa! Or at least, he will if that silly law is still on the books by then."

Nott gasped and literally staggered back a step as Lucius continued.

"After all, there is abundant evidence that she was the one responsible for framing Lord Black and sentencing him to Azkaban for crimes he did not commit. Certainly more evidence than you had against your son when you invoked the Sanction against him."

"She did that to save us! To save YOU!"

Lucius laughed. "Really, Tiberius, I've no idea what you mean. After all, I was placed under the Imperius by Marcellus Frump, just as you were. Unless you want to challenge the DMLE's findings on the matter, of course."

Nott shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts. "No … he can't. Do you hear me? Sirius Black cannot be allowed to use the Ultimate Sanction on Cissy!"

Lucius's eyebrows rose at Nott's casual use of his ex-wife's nickname. He knew Tiberius Nott was besotted with the demoness, and he wondered if they'd actually had sex yet.

"Probably not," he thought. "She's an awful creature, but her standards are still higher than this." He said none of that, however, though he continued to speak even as he sank another ball.

"Alas, Tiberius, I fear neither you nor I can do anything to stop Black from acting as he chooses against a House member who betrayed him so egregiously. But Harry Black can! The young Lord Wilkes has Sirius Black wrapped around his finger, and I've no doubt he can persuade Sirius to forego vengeance against dear Cissy. And together, the two Lords are rich enough to bury all the evidence about the mysterious and sultry 'Ariana McFlossy' so that the DMLE will close its investigation into whether Narcissa is a secret Death Eater and a murderess!"

Despite himself, Lucius snorted contemptuously at the thought of Narcissa's ridiculous pseudonym. He personally had three different fake identities set up in case it would ever be necessary to flee Britain, and none of them was a bloody anagram!

Malfoy leaned forward once more and easily sank the 9-ball, thus ending the game. Then, he turned to face the anguished Tiberius Nott and ended their other game just as casually.

"If you truly care for Narcissa Black—and you truly wish to earn her undying gratitude—contact her and the other Houses that were loyal to our Lord. I'm sure the Selwyns at least understand what value dear Cissy brings to our master's cause. And if not, I'm sure they understand what a disaster it might be if she were caught, prosecuted, and forced to testify under Veritaserum about her time as a Death Eater. She does know where an awful lot of bodies are buried, after all. Literally as well as figuratively."

Lucius laid his pool cue across the table and then downed the last of his drink before summoning his cloak and heading towards the Floo.

"You can send me an owl with your response," he said over his shoulder. "And also a Gringotts draft for the 900 galleons I just won from you."

Then, he turned back towards his host with a much colder expression. "And Tiberius? Don't ever try to cheat me again. Next time, I might take it personally."

Lucius tossed a handful of powder into the fire and departed. A few seconds later, Nott's glass shattered against the fireplace mantle.

Next: As Harry's third year finally draws to a close, he helps out a few friends and gains an important insight into Voldemort's true agenda. Meanwhile, the Potters try to adapt to their change in circumstances while threatening storm clouds gather on the horizon.

AN1: Check out the Sinister Man's web presence on the POS wiki, the POS TV Tropes page, and my Discord server (through which you can see advance previews of this story as it is begin written). Also, the Sinister Man would be profoundly grateful if you checked out my P*****n page and supported my original fiction. Patronage is not necessary to get the free POS previews via Discord.

AN2 (What the Sinister Man is reading): "That Universe Over There" by mytimeconsuminghobby (AO3 only). A bit of a crack-fic, but a fun one. MOD Harry travels to another universe and finds a very young fem-Harry being put through the usual BS, so he adopts her and vastly changes the timeline. Manipulative!Dumbledore but still fun.

AN3: Special thanks to my Discord editors: Andrensath, Anne-athema Codex, BlueWater, Darkarus, Deaalethiae, Feynmanners, heyob, Jennifer Weasley, Kami, Krisni, LFGB (Head Priest of Bob), Magica, Megha Teresa, Miss LeFay, Mr Yarrow Dread Ellen Ink, Marq, Ondas, Pivosh(Knight of Ron aka Reg), Pokeflute, PrettyPinkCupcake, Pyroscorchr, RamsesZwei, Rinrael, Sielk, and Tuesday. Thanks, guys!

AN4: Vital Statistics: Reviews: 14,711. Followers: 15,324. Favorites: 13,475. Communities: 224. Discord followers: Over 3200! Go Team POS!

AN5: The title of this chapter and the next is derived from a line from one of my favorite episodes of one of my favorite TV shows. I'll reveal what show along with the whole quote next chapter.

AN6: Some advance notice – the next chapter is the final chapter of Year 3. Book 4 will (barring the unexpected) begin on September 1, 2020 with advance previews coming before for my Discord followers.