12
Strength and Support:
You-Know-Who and Supporters Responsible for the Murder of Several Muggle-born Ministry Employees
Yesterday evening at 10:43 p.m. the dark wizard known as You-Know-Who and his faithful supporters killed three ministry employees. All of the victims were Muggle-born. Greta Rasbowl, Marcus Colby, and Wendy Withers were all found dead in their homes with the dark marks above them. The attacks were motivated by You-Know-Who's stance on muggle-born witches.
" He believes they stole their magic from wizarding families and that they don't deserve to practice magic" an insider reports.
The recent tragedies have proved the strength and determination of the dark lord's influence and the prophet urges all to be aware of danger.
The article on the front page of the prophet sparked conversations all over the Ministry the next day, Everyone was either grieving the loss of the three victims or discussing the influence of Voldemort.
It had put all of their teachers on edge, and every time you turned a corner in the ministry, you heard the hushed whispers of predictions about what he was planning next.
At lunch, Sirius had gotten a hold of a copy of the prophet and read the full article to the table.
" Thats terrifying, he's actually targeting muggle-borns now" Lily said anxiously.
Doe watched as James wrapped a comforting arm around her.
" He is gaining a lot of support" Remus said reading the article again, " It surprised me that enough wizards are foolish enough to stand with him"
" Some pureblood families are very set in their ways" Doe said with a shake of her head.
" I mean his influence is kind of impressive though" Peter said quietly.
James eyed him strangely, " Any lunatic can gain support, it doesn't make him right"
" Let's stop talking about this" Lily said looking very anxious, " let's talk about something less depressing. Like Halloween, any plans?"
Halloween was two weeks away, and it was something none of them had ever experienced outside of Hogwarts. Doe's last Halloween's had been full of feasts, parties, slug club dinners and expeditions in the Forbidden Forest.
" Well, I don't know if you're interested" Sirius said, " but James and I were talking about maybe throwing a little party at our place, and we could invite some of our recent graduates"
" Another marauder party?" Lily asked in disbelief.
" Please tell me no costumes" Doe said quickly.
Sirius laughed, " Calm down Meadowes, no costumes. And yes Lily, contrary to your beliefs some people enjoy a good marauder Soiree"
" Funny how I was not informed of this idea" Remus commented.
" Moony, be quiet. You love our parties" Sirius said with a wide smile.
" Love? I wouldn't go that far" Remus said.
Sirius waved him off, " So Evans, you can join us on Halloween. It'll be fun"
" I like your parties better when McGonagall was there to monitor them" Lily said quietly, " I can't even imagine how bad they'll be now"
Sirius grinned over at James.
" It's going to be epic" James said happily.
Oddly, the excitement surrounding Marauder parties had not dissipated since graduating. Sirius had invited all of the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff graduates in addition to the other auror student's, and some of the patrons of the Lively Portkey to the party, and it was all they could talk about.
It was all that the auror trainees were talking about in between classes on Halloween day.
In Stealth & Tracking, they were supposed to be studying the common identifying features of wizards who had become dark when all she could focus on was the chatter between to Durmstrang boys about what the party would be like.
" Alice is so excited" Frank told Sirius, " I think she hopes it will feel like Hogwarts again"
" Oh it will" Sirius assured him, " only better"
"... something more interesting than identifying a dark wizard, Black?" Moody called to Sirius from the front of the room.
" Nope, nothing at all" Sirius said, turning back to the notes he was taking.
Moody gave him one last look and went back to discussing how to tell if a wizard has performed a dark curse.
Doe also had trouble focusing all day. The substances she was supposed to be identifying were all incorrectly matched and she had to endure a lecture from Auror Raindell, detailing the consequences of ingesting poisons without the proper antidotes.
And in Concealment, She had accidently given herself a duck bill instead of changing her mouth shape and it had to be fixed by Auror Greenboil, resulting in Sirius calling her 'Duckas" for the rest of the day.
By the time it was time to leave for the day, she was more than ready to get out of there.
Doe left quickly, Sirius was already gone. He had been anxious to go home and start setting up.
Doe told Remus she'd be over around 7:30. She had been so busy with classes lately that she hadn't had time to grocery shop, and all she had in her kitchen was several bottles of firewhiskey and a half-empty jug of pumpkin juice.
Doe apparated into the alley of the London street where the market was. She always loved going into the muggle markets.
Lily ordered most of their food from the shops in Diagon Alley, but Doe loved going to the muggle markets. There was something comforting about it.
She walked into the shop and grabbed a few of things they were running low on. As she grabbed a small box of tissues she saw someone she never expected to see walk into the aisle.
Severus had walked into the aisle and reached for a package of napkins.
It was strange to see him like this. He was wearing muggle clothes and carrying a grocery basket. She realized then that she had never seen him out of his robes, or outside of Hogwarts for that matter.
" Severus?" Doe called softly.
He looked up quickly, almost on edge. She saw his hand move instinctively to his wand in his pocket.
His expression changed quickly when he saw her.
" Dorcas" he said evenly.
She sighed, so we were back to formal. The last conversation they had was a fight but Doe had hoped they could be adults and move past it.
" How have you been?" she asked.
Severus raised an eyebrow, a permanently angry look on his face.
" Funny, I don't recall us being friends, Meadowes" he snapped.
Doe sighed, " I was being polite, Snape".
Severus narrowed his eyes, " Still spending time with your werewolf boyfriend who tried to kill you? and the best friend who sent you there?" he said his voice full of disgust.
" Better than spending time with people like Malfoy" she snapped, " you know he threatened that the same thing that happened to my dad would happen to me? Excellent company you keep"
Severus rolled his eyes, " He has specific beliefs, and they just don't happen to agree with yours"
" Yeah, evil ones" she snapped.
" Why don't you go back to your pathetic shallow Gryffindor friends" Severus said coldly.
" Why don't you go find your foul, spineless elitist Slytherin clan" Doe practically spat, pushing past him.
He grabbed her forearm stopping her and looked at her with a look of pure hatred,
" You know, I would watch out if I were you, there are powerful people who are itching to rid the world of people like you" he said venomously.
Doe pulled her arm from his grip, " You sound just like the rest of them" she snapped angrily and walked away from him quickly, abandoning her basket in the isle and leaving the market quickly.
She waited until the street was empty and apparated to her apartment quickly.
Lily was sitting in one of the large armchairs reading the prophet.
" There you are, I was wondering where you had gotten too" she said.
" Oh I went to the market, but...they didn't have what I was looking for" she said quickly.
She didn't want to tell Lily about what had just transpired with Severus, it would just anger her.
" You know the weirdest thing happened at work today," Lily said, " Marlene stopped by my office and told me she thought she saw Mary in Diagon Alley"
Doe turned around quickly, " Did she?" she asked.
Lily shook her head, " No, she just looked like her".
Doe felt herself sadden instantly, She missed Mary dreadfully. Especially now. Marlene had been so busy with her healer training that Doe hadn't seen her since she started at St. Mungos. She spent most of her time with Emmeline Vance now.
If Mary was here she probably would have forced them to all stay close. Right now, Lily and Sirius were her closest friends.
" I miss her" Doe said softly.
Lily nodded, " I do too, sometimes there are things I hear and I know she would just love them"
A thought occurred to her.
" Do you think she's why Peter doesn't want to date?" I asked Lily.
Lily's face contorted while she thought, " I dunno. He did like her, but don't you think he would have gotten over it"
" Would you have if it were James?" Doe asked her.
She shook her head, " But that's different, just like you and Remus. Were together, Peter and Mary never went out"
Doe shrugged, " Sometimes that doesn't matter, look at how obsessed James was with you before you finally agreed to go out with him"
Lily smiled, " I tortured him didn't I?"
" Lils, you were ruthless" Doe told her.
She laughed and a small smile stayed on her face.
Lily and Doe left later than they had intended and the party was already in full swing when they got there, Sirius had assembled about fifty people in his apartment. Music was blaring and everyone was drinking and dancing.
" There you are" Remus said when she finally arrived, " I was worried about you"
Doe wrapped an arm around him, " I'm here now, I was just avoiding the insanity I knew would be here"
Remus laughed, " I don't know how James and Sirius do it"
" Five years of practice" Doe told him.
They watched all of Sirius' guests enjoy the party, drinking and dancing wildly around the lavish apartment.
James and Sirius had both gotten very drunk and were walking around the party chatting happily with people, having conversations that they likely wouldn't remember in the morning.
Meanwhile, Doe had told Remus all about what had happened when she ran into Severus in the grocery store.
" What?" Doe asked, reading the concerned look on his face.
" Well Doe, it's just with all that talk about 'ridding the world of people like you' it sounds like he's supporting You-Know-Who" Remus said rationally.
It was a stretch. She knew Severus had a tendency to be more Slytherin than he let on, but joining forces with a dark tyrannical wizard? It didn't seem possible.
" I don't think so, Remus," she said, " I mean this is Severus we're talking about, he was probably just being a slimy little git"
Remus laughed, " Well that is definitely true"
She shook her head, " I can't believe we were ever friends"
" Me either" he admitted.
" Okay, no more Slytherin talk" she promised.
Remus smiled, " You know, the last time the Marauder's had a Halloween party, I asked you out"
She smiled widely remembering the hazy memory from fifth year.
" Do you realize we've been together for three years?" she said in amazement.
For some reason it had just occurred to her that they had been together for that long.
" Best three years of my life" Remus said happily.
She hugged him around the waist and buried her face in his shoulder.
He laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
" Best of mine, too" she told him honestly.
Remus smiled softly and kissed the top of her head, " Come on let's go keep Sirius from trashing the apartment"