A/N New Chapter is here! Also, I'm thinking of possible animangus forms for the Twins. Ideas? Go a head and review! Or PM me. Either way will work. Also need forms for Terry and Anthony, but that wont be relevant as soon.
Ministry of Magic, January 2nd
The Ministry was in chaos. Minister Fudge sat behind his desk, barking orders at what ever unfortunate intern happened by. Six howlers. And that was since breakfast. Six howlers over Severus Snape and his current employment at Hogwarts. As it turned out, parents weren't happy about the supposed abuse the young potions master had heaped on his students. Why he, the Minister of Magic, was on the receiving end of these howlers, was beyond him. He had more important things to do, and dealing with a rouge professor was beneath him! Fudge huffed and opened the next howler. Some unimportant family rife with impurities. No better than muggleborns, the lot of them. He wouldn't even bother opening these letters if not for Madame Bones and her damnable curiosity. But, she was the head of the DMLE and he had to at least pretend to care about her complaints. She did seem to be on top of the investigation as a whole, so she could have Snape fired and put in Azkaban by tomorrow, and that suited Fudge just fine. He never liked the grease ball anyway. The problem was Dumbledore. So far, the all knowing Headmaster had sent letter after letter, trying to squash the case against Snape. It tickled Fudge pink to deny the great leader of the light. To Fudge, this was one long power struggle. The children involved were just points in his favor.
Amelia Bones paced her little office. Even thought the ministry was far under ground, she had a specially enchanted window. It was set to Germany countryside, so a sweet pre-spring air floated into the office. Amelia leaned on the window seal and inhaled as much air as she could. The countryside was beautiful, a thin layer of snow still trickling down from the mountains off in the distance. It calmed her greatly. Over a thousand reports of abuse, all by Severus Snape. Since he'd accepted the position in '82, he'd degraded and devalued every student that walked into his class. There hadn't been a new Potion Master in those years either. Less than ten years and the whole Potions area of study and business had gone to hell because of one man. Amelia sighed. She summoned a small team of Aurors into her office. Three young recruits popped in, hands to their foreheads in salute. Amelia didn't turn around and face them, opting to stay at her window.
"You now have an arrest warrant for Severus Snape. You'll be in a school, so don't use force unless necessary. If it ever stops being a choice, you have right to use lethal force. Don't let him hurt the students. He's already proven he doesn't care about their well being and I wouldn't put it past him to use a child as a shield. Be careful of his house students. It's still the holiday, but we know atlas a few of them stayed over. He's been training mini death eaters since he took the job, so the Slythrin students may give you problems. Stun any that attempt to stop you, portkey them to a holding cell. We'll deal with them later. For now, make your primary target Snape. Dumbledore may step in. Do not go head to head with him. You will lose. If nothing else, he'll beat you into the ground with experience alone. It's unlikely he'll use lethal force, but don't count on it. Go. A second team will be two minutes behind you as back up. " Amelia turned to face them, giving them the go ahead to leave. The three popped out and the second team walked in. She gave them the same run down before sending them off to Hogwarts. She walked to her desk and pulled out a dragon skin vest. Sliding it on, she prepared a portkey keyed into the Hogwarts wards. It was now or never.
Hogwarts, January 2nd.
The halls were quiet. Very quiet. Dumbledore loved days like this. The serenity of an empty castle was a peace unlike any other. He sat in his office, admiring his vast collection of trinkets. Fawks sat on a post nearby, giving him a thoughtful look. The pure bird knew exactly what was about to happen. He'd been waiting for it for weeks. Snape gave him a dirty feeling, being a man forged in hate and anger. The tell tale tug of a ward breached brought Dumbledore to his feet.
"Seems we have visitors. I shall go greet them." Dumbledore said. Fawks could never tell if he announced things like that for his benefit or for the sheer vanity of thinking that an empty room gave a damn about what Dumbledore planned to do. Fawks gave Albus an encouraging trill and went to sleep. Nothing too exciting was about to happen.
The first Auror team tried to remain in calm arresting mode, but the idea of taking down Dumblredore's pet death eater under his nose put them all on edge. They came prepare for a fight, and it showed. All three of were covered from head to toe in dragon scale armor and various emergency portrays littered their persons. Each of them had a spare wand, secured in holsters attached to their off hands. Their main wands were up and ready in hand. They crossed the grounds and climbed the steps. All hell was about to break loose, they could tell.
Severus threw more clothes into his trunk. They were coming for him. He had to get out. Another robes, some potions, maybe a bezoar stone. Anything he could get his hands on went into the trunk. The wards to his office went off. They were almost there. He slammed the trunk shut and pulled out his portkey. It's take him to Diagon Alley. Hopefully that would be far enough for his to apparate to safety at the Dumbledore Manor. At least, that was what Dumbledore had planned. Snape had other ideas. And he'd heard that the Americas were nice this time of year. A they had a notable lack of Dark Lords running about making like difficult. Snape shrunk his trunk and activated the portkey just seconds before the door to his chambers was removed from its hinges. The familiar tug in his navel was mixed with a sense of relief and freedom. He had escaped.
The small Auror team broke into the potion master's chambers just in time to watch him fade from view.
"We missed him." One said. His teammate laughed.
"No we didn't."
"He just portkeyed away. We lost him."
"Nope. Dumbledore only thinks that portkey was for Diagon Alley. Made the switch myself. Snape's going to wake up in a very dark cell."
Sure enough, Snape reappeared in a small, dark room. Anti-apparation wards slammed down on him before he could react. HE could feel the draining pull of syphoning wards as well. No magic, no way to apparate. He still had his potions. In a shrunken trunk that he couldn't resize without magic. Full of fury and hate, Severus slammed himself against the bars of his tiny cell. He was busted. The world went dark, a sinking feeling of hopelessness confirming his new residence in Azkaban.
Dumbledore was furious. He'd made a perfect plan to aid Severus in his escape, and the fool had still ended up in prison. It was a valuable resource, lost. He paced his office. How did he miss them? He'd practically run to the main hall to greet them, but they still managed to get to the dungeons without running into him. Albus blamed Madame Bones for this mess. And her niece. Mostly her niece. Little brat was too self important for her own good. She should know better than to mess with the leader of the light. Dumbledore sighed and paced. He'd have to contact Slughorn now, a task he was not looking forward to. Slughorn was far too full of himself to control properly. Too focused on making connections that would benefit himself and only himself. There just weren't any other Potion's masters in England anymore, a development of his own design. With out other potions masters, his own potions company would thrive. Snape would brew all sorts of expensive potions, using various student vaults to buy the pricier ingredients, and Dumbledore would turn and sell them for incredible profit. Practically 100% profit, since he hardly ever use his own money to buy things. Without that source of income, he'd have to resort to more drastic measures. Perhaps the Weasleys needed a tuition increase?
Hogwarts Express, January 5th.
Harry sat in the compartment with Draco and the Prewett twins. It was weird to think of them as Prewetts instead of Weasleys.
"We found the ritual we are going to use. It's the simplest. Less chance of something going horribly wrong." Fred said, pulling a book from his bag. The twins were dressed in the finest clothes, their wands replaced with ones made specially for them, and all their supplies replaced with new versions. It was strange seeing them as heirs to an ancient and noble house. It also alienated them from their siblings. Percy refused to acknowledge them at all. Ron probably didn't notice. He hadn't made the train, and probably wouldn't be returning any time soon. Emotional distress was apparently incredibly hard on someone so young.
"And?" Harry had to refocus on the book, instead of the twin's new look. Draco took the book and flipped to the marked page. His eyes scanned the pages, confusion building in his eyes.
"This is all in ancient Norse. How did you read this?" He asked. George smiled.
"Aunt Muriel insisted we learn as many languages as we can. Thankfully, we're magical. Languages aren't hard to learn when you know the right ritual. We both speak French, Ancient Norse, Latin, and Greek. Fluently. Well, as fluently as we can, since at least two of the languages are dead. It's hard to get a proper translation when no one knows exactly how to translate it. See, we'll use runes to add extra power. Berkana and Hagal for stability, Gebo to add our own magic to it. We have it all mapped out. We just need a place to go. And the ingredients. We want enough of the elemental make up to build an adult person, but we wont need it all. Better to have a bit too much than to have a bit too little." George took out a long parchment. It was a list of the necessary items. Harry took the list and read over it while Draco continues skimming the book.
"How long before we're ready?" He asked without looking up.
"Depends on a few things. One, we need the stone. Can't do anything without it. Second, we need a place to preform the ritual. Has to be a large, wide open space. An empty class room would be too small. And lastly, we need to collect some of Granger. Some hair, a tooth, maybe a fingernail, it doesn't matter as long as its a part of her. I suggest we check the bathroom she died in. There's bound to be something left over." Fred sighed. Harry handed the list back.
"I can take care of all that on my allowance, easy. I'll see if Terry or Anthony can find a place. Hopefully they've made it to the stone by now, or at least gotten close." He said. The others nodded, their worries to think to allow them to speak. They had too much riding on this to fail.
Ravenclaw Dorms, later that evening.
Draco looked at his brother. The pair sat in Draco's room, Harry at the desk, Draco on the bed.
"Why is all of this so important to you?" It was a blunt question, and it caught Harry off guard.
"I..I don't know for sure." His hesitation informed Draco of his lie.
"Bull shit. You know. Tell me. We're in this together."
"I…I need to know if I can bring them back."
"Them?" Draco wasn't sure he wanted the answer.
"My parents." Harry's answer pissed Draco off. How dare he try and ruin their family? Didn't he love Draco and Sirius?
"Why?" was all he could voice.
"I don't know. Maybe if they were around, I could…"
"You could what?" Draco couldn't hold his anger anymore. "You could abandon me and Dad? Don't you love us?" He stood and paced. Harry gaped at him.
"What? No. No, I wouldn't be leaving you, or dad. You two are my family! I just want to meet them! They're my parents!" Harry was standing now, too. The boys stood toe to toe.
"But why? Why aren't we enough? Why aren't I enough? Why do you need them back? You've never known them, they'll just change everything!"
"You don't understand! You still have one of your parents, you know where you came from!" His words hit Draco like a brick.
"Yeah! I'm the bastard child of a Death Eater! My father murdered my mother because she tried to leave him! I'd rather not know, I'd rather they'd both died so I didn't have to know!" Draco stormed out. Sure, it was his room, but He really needed to get away from Harry at the moment.
Harry stood in the middle of Draco's room, tears pouring down his face. Draco didn't understand. He couldn't. He still had a connection to who he was, even if it was a bad one. Harry had to meet them. Even if it was only once. Just for a moment. He had to know them. He needed the stone to bring his parent back to life.
Gryffindor Common Room
Percy cornered the Twins in the common room.
"How could you?" He snarled. Both twins paled.
"How could we not?" Fred said, stepping between Percy and George. Percy's eyes narrowed.
"You could have thought about mum, and how you two leaving us hurt her. What, was money more important than the woman who gave birth to you?" Percy screamed at them. George stepped back, covering his head with his arms. He was certain Percy was going to hit him. Fred didn't budge.
"You don't understand! We had to!" He yelled back at Percy.
"Oh yeah? Had to abandon the people who raised you? Who exactly does that help?" Percy wouldn't let up. Fred made the split second decision to use a different angle.
"Ginny and Ron. Without us around, Mom and Dad have more time and money to focus on them. They don't have to keep worrying about us causing trouble anymore. And if mom would just drop her pride, Aunt Muriel would be more than happy to help out. She doesn't give a damn about her money, she's got more than she could spend in ten lifetimes!" Fred advance on Percy, who's anger faded with Fred's rant.
"I..but...You just left? You didn't even talk to us about it, you just left us." Percy looked away, trying to hide his tears. He wouldn't admit that he missed the chaos his brothers brought with them. They made life a the burrow exciting, with their constant shenanigans.
"You think we wanted to do it like that? We didn't have a choice. We had to corner Aunt Muriel and mom, surprise them with it. You know mom would never have let us go if we'd asked about it before hand." George stepped up beside Fred, supporting his twin with one arm. Fred nodded to him and gave him a sad smile. Percy sniffled.
"I didn't think about that." he said quietly. The twins nodded knowingly. "Bill said it might be something like that, in his letter. I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to think you had gone for our own good. I just wanted to be angry." Percy's voice started to crack and waver. His younger brothers pulled him into a tight hug, all three teens crying.
"We know, Perc. We didn't want to just leave like that." George said, wiping tears away from his face. They pulled apart. Fred blew his nose into a tissue Percy conjured for him.
"You know, with transfiguration talent like that, you could pull off some crazy mad pranks, Percy." Fred said, admiring Percy's tissue. Percy arched an eye brow at him.
"You think? Certainly be a surprise, the Weasley Twins pulling pranks on Hogwarts students all the way from Greece." Percy's grin was met with an identical pair of mischievous smiles.
"It would be the ultimate prank. Percy Weasley, prefect and future Head Boy, master prankster." George took one of Percy's elbows, Fred the other, and guided his elder brother off to the library, intent on teaching Percy a new Craft. Pranking.
Ravenclaw Common Room.
Terry and Anthony watched Draco storm out. Using the higher thinking that got them into Ravenclaw in the first place, they decided not to chase him. They had other things to work on any way. They'd made it as far as a giant chess game before running into problems. As it turned out, they were both shit at chess. So they sat in the common room practicing. It wasn't helping. Several of the older students had wandered by, some playing pick up games with either Terry or Anthony. Sometimes both. The boy had yet to win a single game. Total shit at chess.