Here's another update for you, guys. Good news is I've figured out how it's going to end, so hopefully the writing will come quicker now. I just don't want to rush it and have a rubbish ending after all the work I've put in so far, so it'll take time but there is a light at the end of the tunnel that hopefully isn't an oncoming train. Hope you like this bit, we've still got a ways to yet, but we're getting there. Enjoy, Istalindar.
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Much as Constantine loved Africa, she wasn't African. In her heart, she was Western, she didn't understand their ways in Africa. This was proven to her nearly three months after she had arrived in Africa, when she was out with the women walking for water. One of the women had been bitten by a snake, and once the others had established what kind of snake it was, they had opted to leave her. It was going to be near-dark when they got home anyway, and there wasn't any time to waste. Constantine just couldn't understand this. The woman was dying, but medicine could save her if they could get her back, but the women were unwilling to sacrifice the precious vats of water for her. Constantine just didn't get it, how could water be more important than the woman? In the end Constantine just waited with her, making her way home in the dark with the three others who had elected to stay, but when they arrived at the village, Tom was waiting for her. And he was furious.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" He hissed, grabbing her arm and hauling her bodily into the nearest hut, that luckily, happened to be both hers and empty. "Do you even understand that this isn't London? There are animals out there that will quite happily EAT YOU!" She jerked her arm away, rubbing at the marks where he had gripped it.
"She was dying, Tom, I couldn't just leave her." Constantine retorted. Tom looked at her as though she were mad.
"Constantine, if she was dying, leaving her was exactly what you needed to do." He said slowly, as though she were a dim-witted child. She glared.
"I am not going to leave a woman to die alone in the middle of some wasteland!" She shot back. "And yes, I am aware there are lions and hyenas and all manner of other big-toothed animals out there that would eat me, except I cast a repelling charm on them, and since I'm back here safe and sound, with the others, I think we can safely say its not a big deal!"
"It's a big deal, Constantine." He said flatly. "Not because you stayed out, or because you wandered home in the dark, but because it means you still don't understand Africa, for all your money and your projects." He sneered and her and strode out. Constantine stared, stunned, at his retreating back. The bastard.
He acted like she didn't bloody care. So she wasn't African, so she didn't understand how they could leave a sick woman alone to die in the African desert. That didn't make her a soft Westerner, that made her compassionate for fuck's sakes. And she was safe…one didn't become the best auror in Ministry history without learning to protect yourself from all the beasties the night could throw at her. And compared to some of the monsters she'd faced, lions were alongside kittens on the threatening scale.
Though, in Tom's defence, he didn't know she'd been one of the best Aurors in Ministry history. And if he asked Harry, Harry would say Constantine had never been an auror. Pfft. Tom should learn to trust her. But it did illuminate one thing: it was time for her to go home. She wasn't sure how or what or why…regarding anything. She hadn't decided whether or not she was speaking to Daniel-Draco again, although she was bound to come up against him and have to, anyway. And she'd have to find somewhere to live. And something occupying to do. She sighed. It seemed like a chore, just being alive. Not in the dreary, 'I want to kill myself' way, but every step she took seemed so complicated, like she couldn't move without being run off her feet. It was very frustrating.
"Connie?" Ginny ducked inside the hut and Constantine glared.
"I've told you not to call me that." She commented. Ginny grinned.
"It keeps you from becoming too high and mighty. Constantine is quite a presumptuous name, you know."
"How do you figure?" Constantine asked, leaning back against the wall and stretching her legs along the floor. Ginny shrugged.
"It just seems like one of those names. Hey, I heard Tom was spitting fire at you earlier." Constantine snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Yeah. I opted to stay behind with one of the women who got bitten by a snake. She was dying and everyone was just going to leave her there, but I decided to wait with her."
"Past dark in the African grasslands." Ginny added. Constantine sighed.
"You too?" Ginny winked.
"You know me." She said. "I'd've stayed with her too."
"You would have?" Constantine asked, hopeful. If even Ginny was doubting her, maybe she'd lost it worse than she thought.
"Of course." Ginny said. She sat down beside Constantine, putting an arm around her shoulders. "In part, it is a Western thing, like Tom said. The women here will grieve for Nari, you know they will. And tomorrow the men will go and get her."
"She'll be ravaged by hyenas by that point."
"For a burial." Ginny continued, ignoring Constantine's interruption. "These people care. But survival long ago became a top priority, much more so than watching a doomed woman die." Constantine sighed.
"I'm thinking of going back to England." She said finally. Ginny nodded.
"And what?"
"I don't know." Constantine admitted. "That's what I was just thinking…I don't have a plan. I have to find something worthwhile to do when I'm not attending brunches." Ginny grinned.
"What about something like this?" She asked.
"Children in the UK have access to Hogwarts if they're magically talented." Constantine pointed out.
"Not the schooling." Ginny elaborated. "The safehouses. Get a bunch of unplottable houses, convert them into hostels, get staff and then make them safehouses. For kids who can't go to Hogwarts, kids that won't…basically magical kids that, for whatever reason, aren't at school and can't go home." Constantine thought about it. It made sense, actually.
"There were twenty first years this year." Ginny said quietly. Hermione stared, and Ginny snorted bitterly. "For the Golden Age of the Magical World, twenty first years from the entire United Kingdom isn't very many."
"That can't be right." Hermione protested. "Twenty is nothing!"
"I know." Ginny bit her lip. "McGonagall has theories." Constantine blinked and stared at Ginny.
"What theories?" Constantine asked slowly, theories of her own already spinning through her mind. Ginny shrugged.
"I don't know anything about it. But something is stopping a helluva lot of kids going to school, Constantine." Constantine smiled slowly.
"Alright." She said, taking a deep breath and letting it out. She looked at Ginny, who grinned.
"I'm ready when you are." Constantine smiled, rising to her feet and offering Ginny a hand. "Do you have a plan? Or are you just rushing into this?"
"Since when do I rush into anything?" Constantine questioned, one eyebrow arched. Ginny nodded, conceding the point.
"So you have a plan." Constantine smiled.
"No. But I will have, once I work out what's going on."
It didn't take long to sort out affairs in Africa so she could leave without the place falling apart without her. To be honest, she was mostly redundant there. The people she left in charge of the program didn't need her, that's why she'd chosen them to be in charge. Basically, she was their bank, not their boss. And she got the impression some of them were glad to see the back of her, so they could go back to running things the way they were used to. Constantine wasn't too worried, she knew all of them personally, and trusted them all.
So, to England.
Finding a flat wasn't hard. Constantine and Ginny decided to share, as it appeared Ginny was all in for this project too. Between the pair of them, they found a flat they both appreciated in central London, in the hubbub of the Muggle city. Most wizards didn't like being in the centre of a Muggle metropolis, due to noisy, stupid, clumsy Muggle 'contraptions' and the inability to do magic whenever the whim came to them. It made an ideal place for Constantine and Ginny to be.
And they both doubted very much that Harry would check for them on his doorstep.
Either way, the flat was beautiful, overlooking the Thames, and warded so strongly it made Constantine flinch every day for three weeks when she stepped inside. And to top it all off, while it wasn't unplottable, placing it on a map was difficult. That was the hard part, seeing as Constantine had to charm the entire building. But being a Muggle building, they couldn't completely remove it from the cartography table.
Once they'd been settled, furniture bought and Western clothes shopping accomplished, Constantine and Ginny made their plan of attack. Ginny would go to the Manor and inform Amadeo, and Daniel if he was there, of their return while Constantine went to Scotland to talk to the Headmistress, and possibly some of the older students, too. Then Constantine would join Ginny at the Manor to see what Amadeo thought of their plan. Then, once the two women had returned to London, they would start calling their contacts, trying to follow any leads McGonagall might have indicated while Constantine was in Scotland.
So.
Constantine was greatful she wasn't going to Wiltshire first, she admitted as she apparated into Hogsmeade. Wiltshire meant Malfoys, and Constantine wasn't sure she could face them yet. Amadeo, yes, Daniel, less so.
A carriage met her at the edge of Hogsmeade, and Constantine climbed in gratefully, not anticipating the long walk up the hill in her rather expensive heeled shoes. It had been raining, unsurprisingly, and was muddy. And she had an image to keep up.
The carriage dropped her outside of the front door of Hogwarts, and Snape met her just inside.
"Miss DeVere." He said curtly, waves of displeasure at his current duty coming off him.
"Professor Snape." She replied back. He looked at her sharply at her tone, and she checked herself. Snape had spent too much time around Hermione.
So had Harry though, and he had never made the connection. On the other hand, Snape was so much smarter than Harry was it was like comparing a flea to an astrophysicist.
Well, maybe that was mean to the flea. Constantine restrained a smile.
"This way." Snape said, sweeping off up the stairs, expecting her to follow in his wake. It was quite like being at school again, Constantine thought. Though when she was back at school, she would have found him so much more intimidating.
How times had changed.
Snape knocked twice on the door to McGonagall's old office, and they both heard the curt 'Enter'. Snape opened the door and gestured for Constantine to go first, then followed her in, shutting the door behind them. McGonagall stood to greet her, and as they shook hands, Constantine looked her over. She was getting old. She suddenly noticed McGonagall looking at her, and when she met the woman's gaze, something seemed to click for the Headmistress, and she smiled, squeezing Constantine's hand briefly before releasing it.
"Miss DeVere." McGonagall said. Constantine smiled.
"Please, call me Constantine." McGonagall nodded.
"Then call me Minerva, please." Constantine smiled. "So, Constantine. I was most surprised when I received your letter." Constantine smiled.
"Thank you very much for seeing me." She paused.
"What is it you want?" Snape asked. Minerva frowned, and Constantine, once again, restrained a smile. Unbelievable as it may seem, but suddenly, she realised she had missed this. Snape, the one of the few seemingly capable of keeping her on her toes, sour-mouthed, embittered prick that he was.
"Severus." Minerva said warningly.
"Minerva, it's fine, I promise you." Constantine said with her most engaging laugh. She twisted in her chair to look at Snape, who stood gargoyle-like by the door. "Professor Snape, please sit down." She gestured to the empty chair beside her, and Snape scowled before doing as she asked.
"What do you want?" He repeated. "Someone like you doesn't really have much business in a school, I wouldn't have thought." Constantine didn't rise to the bait.
"Actually, I have a few questions." She said. "I found out recently that there were only twenty first years this year. Do you know why?" Minerva and Snape were immediately suspicious.
"How did you find out?" Minerva demanded.
"And why do you care?" Snape asked. Constantine looked at the pair of them, and realised she wasn't going to get anywhere with them unless she was honest. She looked piercingly at Minerva.
"Minerva, is this room safe? Warded?"
"Of course, why?" Minerva asked cautiously.
"Because I'm going to show you something which must not, under any circumstances, leave this room." She glanced at Snape, who met and held her gaze, before he raised his wand, muttered a spell she didn't know, then nodded.
"It won't get any safer without rousing suspicion." He commented. She nodded, her hands rising to the necklace at her throat, two opals and a diamond in a silver-set stack. The moment she set the necklace on the desk, she changed. When the change was complete, Hermione smiled at Minerva.
"You had me from the beginning." She said. "Why didn't you say?"
"Miss Granger?" Snape demanded. "What on earth-"
"It's just a glamour." Hermione shrugged. "Albeit a very powerful and old one."
"May I?" Minerva gestured to the necklace, and Hermione nodded, watching as her transfiguring professor picked up the necklace, inspecting it from every angle.
"Well, it explains a bit more." Snape commented darkly. "Though why you care about the student numbers-"
"Please." Hermione interrupted. "Why would I not? They're unbelievably low, Professor, quite literally. Something is stopping the students attending."
"Or someone." Snape added. He looked at her intently. "What do you plan to do about it?" She shrugged.
"Find out as much I can, for starters." She said.
"This isn't the glamour's true form, is it?" Minerva asked suddenly. Hermione shook her head, taking the necklace back and transfiguring it back into it's original ring form before passing it back. Minerva took one look and gasped, getting the attention of both Snape and Hermione.
"What is it?" They asked together. They glanced at each other irritably, then back at the Headmistress.
"Where did you get this?" Minerva asked, setting the ring down on her desk gingerly.
"A friend." Hermione answered evasively. "Why?" Snape picked it up, looking on the inside.
"The inscription." He commented. "I know that inscription." Minerva snorted.
"Of course you do. Tribuo nos sto iunctus nos cado." Hermione frowned.
"I've never heard it before. Can I see?" Snape passed her the ring.
"Where did you get the ring, Miss Granger?" Snape asked.
"Hermione." She said absently, concentrating on the inscription. Actually, it did sound familiar. Kind of.
"Hermione, where did you get the ring?" Snape asked with exaggerated patience.
"A friend."
"Which one?" Snape questioned. She frowned at him, not understanding why it was so important.
"Severus, it's obviously not a danger to her if she's been wearing it for the last three years." Minerva pointed out.
"What danger?" Hermione asked. She sighed. "I don't understand."
"Tell me who gave you that ring." Snape said. "Then we will all understand a lot better and we can explain it to you." Hermione rolled her eyes, something she would never have dared as a student.
"Fine." She took a deep breath. "Draco Malfoy."
There was utter, complete silence. Until a window smashed downstairs. Which was ignored anyway.
"Draco Malfoy gave you that ring?" Minerva asked eventually, disbelief evident in her voice.
"Yes." Hermione said, a little defensively. "He did."
"We weren't aware you two were…involved." Snape commented. She turned to him.
"No one was."
"And he gave this to you. Freely." Snape said again.
"I hardly stole it." Hermione retorted. "It was a birthday present. He gave it to me and the gold ball that goes with it that allows me to control my image. Tribuo nos sto iunctus nos cado. It sounds Latin."
"It is Latin." Minerva said thoughtfully.
"And it means?"
"Divided we stand, United we fall." Snape said softly. Hermione was quiet. It was fitting.
"It's fitting, actually." Minerva said quietly.
"You have no idea." Hermione muttered.
"The irony of it, actually, is quite remarkable." Snape added. Hermione glared.
"I don't understand."
"This ring is actually quite infamous, Miss Granger." Snape said.
"Hermione." She corrected. "How? Why?"
"Well, although it's not been proven, the legends say it was given to Rowena Ravenclaw by Salazar Slytherin." Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Seriously?" She asked skeptically.
"It's not been proven." Snape reminded her. "Those are its big names. After that, it has bounced in and out of history, usually between couples that were never meant to be. Forbidden, if you like."
"It's just superstition." Hermione said. "Draco gave it to me to protect me. Nothing more."
"It's very creation was to protect the woman, Hermione." Minerva said gently. "And if Draco knew to give it to you, chances are he knew what it was."
"So what?" Hermione asked, exhasperated by all their pointless hints. "Look. Harry was trying to kill me. Draco kidnapped me to protect me and gave me that ring, which I started making ample use of when he was accused of treason and disappeared." Snape and Minerva were struck dumb.
"What do you mean, Harry was trying to kill you?" Minerva managed finally. "You're one of his best friends. You three were closer than anyone. He's been looking for you for years because he misses you!"
"Hardly." Hermione snorted. "I saw the evidence myself, Minerva. And I heard Harry admit it. And you know he's actually announced I've been accused of treason now, giving him a bit more of an advantage."
"And are you-"
"I'm fine with it." Hermione said quickly, cutting Snape off. "Right now I have other concerns."
"Like what?"
"Like why only twenty students came to Hogwarts this year." Hermione said. "Something, or someone," she nodded to Snape, "is keeping them away. And I intend to find out what."
"How?" She shrugged at Minerva's question.
"By asking questions, I guess. By seeing what you think before starting to talk to people I know, people I trust. Something's going on. There's goodness knows how many thousands of wizards in this country, and a fair amount of children. Twenty is absurd."
"It is that." Minerva agreed. Hermione quickly transfigured the ring back to the necklace and clasped it around her neck, feeling uneasy without Constantine's image. She could feel Snape watching her shrewdly, but she ignored him.
"So. Any theories? I need anything and everything you have to work on." Minerva sighed and shook her head.
"Not really." She said. "There's rumours of a Ministry department that watches people, keeps track of their movements, but eleven year olds? What are they going to do to endanger the government?"
"Perhaps it's the parents that are too afraid to send away their kids." Constantine offered.
"This is the Golden Age." Snape said mockingly, and Hermione smiled bitterly.
"So it is." She replied. There was a long pause.
"There isn't much I can say. Most of my thoughts are groundless, Herm-Constantine." Minerva corrected herself. "It could be because the parents are too afraid to send their kids away, could be because someone has told them not to. Could be, god forbid, that there aren't that many magical children left."
"That's not it." Constantine said thoughtfully. "In Africa there were loads of magical kids."
"Maybe we should move to Africa." Snape said unhelpfully. Minerva sighed.
"Constantine, there isn't that much we can do." She said. "We take the students we're given."
"How do you know which students are magical and which ones aren't?" Constantine asked.
"Some children, like the Weasleys, Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy and similar have been on the waiting list since they were born. Others, like Miss Granger, are found."
"How?" Constantine asked. "How are they found?"
"The Ministry detects magic." Snape said. "As children, many Muggle-born witches and wizards perform magic unknowingly, often when they're having temper tantrums. This throws up a flag at the Ministry, and they forward the names to us, and when the children reach eleven we write to them." Constantine nodded thoughtfully.
"What are you thinking?" Minerva asked. Constantine shrugged.
"They have to keep the lists somewhere." She commented. "I want to see whether there were really only twenty on this years."
"Barely ten." Minerva corrected. "Eleven of the students we received this year were already on the waiting list." Constantine nodded thoughtfully.
"Alright. I'll see what I can find out." She said, rising to her feet. She smiled at her ex-professors. "Thank you for seeing me."
"Of course." Minerva smiled. "And Miss DeVere?"
"Yes?"
"Be careful." Constantine nodded, and Snape unlocked the door and held it open for her, accompanying her downstairs.
"Draco really gave you that ring?" He asked suddenly. Constantine laughed.
"Yes."
"He must care for you an incredible amount." Snape said quietly. "Do you know where he is?"
"Yes." She answered equally as quietly. Snape nodded.
"Then some advice. Don't lose him." Constantine smiled.
"Professor Snape, I do believe you are becoming a romantic." She said mockingly. He looked at her seriously.
"I'm being serious." He said. "Divided we stand, united we fall? You think that inscription is just nostalgic? You know as well as I that there's power in words, Constantine." He paused. "If he gave you that ring as you say, then there's a link between you two that goes beyond this supposed Golden Age. If you've fought, I suggest you find him and make up." Constantine frowned.
"Sir-"
"And call me Severus. I was never your professor." The way he emphasised 'your' made it clear what he meant. "Goodbye, Constantine." She smiled, touching his arm briefly.
"Goodbye, Severus." She turned and headed down the steps, climbing into the carriage that would carry her to Hogsmeade, and when she turned back to look at the steps up to Hogwarts, he was gone.
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She aparated straight into the foyer of the Manor, mildly surprised that she hadn't been locked out. Though when she remembered that it was her complex that kept them from speaking, not the Malfoys, it made sense.
The engraving on the ring kept echoing in her mind. She shook her head resolutely, and had barely taken one step towards the study when Draco appeared in front of her.
"Hello." She said quietly, meeting his gaze.
"Hello." He replied.
"Minerva told me about the inscription on the ring." She commented.
"I did it to protect you." He replied, not clarifying about what it was he meant. There was a long pause. "I heard you have a new crusade."
"Yeah. Too few kids are going to Hogwarts." He nodded.
"I'll help, if you want me to." He sounded hopeful, but resigned at the same time, like he knew she would say no.
"Thanks." She said. "I'll need you." His gaze flew to her face.
"I'm sorry I lied to you." He said. She nodded.
"I'm sorry I didn't understand." She replied. There was another long pause.
"Ginny and Amadeo are in the study." He gestured to the slightly open door off the foyer. "Shall we?" She nodded, and proceded him into the room, taking the empty seat across from Ginny and Amadeo, Draco sitting beside her. Amadeo and Ginny look at them speculatively, then Ginny broke out of her reverie.
"Find anything interesting?" She asked. Constantine nodded.
"A lot of things, actually. But regarding the kids, not that much. Both Severus and Minerva think there is something or someone preventing the kids going to school. Chances are its in government."
"Why would Harry do that, though?" Ginny questioned. "Stop kids going to Hogwarts? He loved it there, why would he have a grudge against them?"
"Minerva and Severus don't think the way he does." Draco said quietly. "They wouldn't teach the Ministry way."
"But the Ministry can't interfere like that in Hogwarts." Constantine argued. "That was Fudge's problem, too."
"Harry's no Fudge, Constantine." Amadeo pointed out. "Harry's the Boy-Who-Lived. Fudge was the man-who-didn't-quite-make-the-grade. There's a significant difference." Constantine nodded in acknowledgement.
"True. But how would he get away with it? It doesn't make sense." Nobody could answer her question.
"I could ask him." Draco said eventually. Constantine snorted.
"Ask him?" She said skeptically. "Good luck."
"Actually, Harry and Daniel are good friends now." Amadeo said. "Something about you ditching them both."
"You said I ditched you?" Constantine asked incredulously. Draco met her gaze evenly.
"Well, you did." Constantine sighed.
"I never ditched him though."
"You never gave him the opportunity." Ginny said with a smile. "You trampled all over his poor, aching heart."
"He was engaged to you." Constantine protested.
"Which made it all the more fun, I imagine." Ginny replied, her smile widening. "You ditched him." Constanine closed her eyes in defeat.
"So, what?" She questioned. "You're just gonna wander in, say, 'Hi Harry, we know no one is going to Hogwarts. Wanna tell us how you did it?' I'm not sure how well that's going to work."
"Not everyone has your lack of tact." Amadeo commented drily.
"Not everyone needs it." Constantine smiled back. Amadeo rolled his eyes.
"Actually, with an invisibility cloak, I could go in with someone wearing the cloak. They could get what they need and when I leave could go with me." Constantine thought it over.
"It's a good idea." She said. "And if you and Harry are as good friends as you say, you could possibly even get him out his office. Say he needs to get out more or something." Ginny nodded.
"Leaving Constantine in his office by herself to look through his files." No one questionned the fact it would be Constantine.
"Then what?" Amadeo asked. "Supposing you even find something incriminating, what are you going to do? Who are you going to take it to? I imagine Harry's got most people in his pockets."
"Some of the older generation would be harder to sway." Constantine mused. "Like Minerva and Severus."
"But they're not in a position to help." Amadeo pointed out. She nodded.
"Madame Bones." Ginny said suddenly. Everyone looked at her.
"Susan Bones grandmother. She's on the council, and she's stayed pretty straight through everyone."
"She favoured Harry at his trial though." Constantine argued.
"That was over a decade ago, though. Harry's changed, and I bet she hasn't."
"Crochety old witch." Draco muttered. The girls looked at him and he shrugged. "She never liked me."
"That's because back then you were thoroughly unlikable." Constantine reminded him. "Alright. So I'll go in with Draco to the Ministry, get the papers and take them to Madame Bones. And hopefully she won't call me out and get me thrown in jail."
"We'll give you a portkey." Draco said nonchalantly.
"Won't work." Ginny broke in. "Portkeys don't work any more in the council chambers than they do in the Ministry, being part of the same building and all. If Constantine gets stuck in there, she's stuck until we can get her out."
"This is getting more dramatic by the second." Constantine complained. Amadeo grinned.
"You wanted a revolution."
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