A/N sorry about the delay folks, the chizpurfles were on site again and wouldn't let me post... you'll get as many days as were missed all in one go when the moderaters de-chizpurfle the system.

Chapter 12

The passage continued ahead; and there was an opening to the left.

"We're beyond the Forbidden Forest's southern boundary now, aren't we?" asked Kinat hopefully.

"Way past; we're almost at Hogsmeade" said Hawke.

"Wait a minute – how does this passage compare to the secret passage to Hogsmeade?" asked Romulus.

"We're somewhat below it and I think to the east" said Hawke "We'll map this on the map and then we'll find out once we've got it projecting up and down."

"The map'll make it easier for future marauders I guess" said Romulus.

"But not half as much fun" put in Lynx "Finding passages is part of marauding!"

The opening to the left led down a short passage that opened into a large chamber, filled with beds close together and trunks at the end of each. By the door was a well with a drinking dipper as well as a bucket. Another door led to a small room off that proved to be a toilet with half a dozen stalls and banishing enchantments instead of plumbing.

"And easier in a rebel establishment than trying to lay pipes" said Abraxus "Elegant."

"They had a wizard in sympathy with them then" said Kinat "It's not a goblin solution."

"They almost had to have a wizard in co-operation to lay a passage all the way to the castle" said Hawke "Though considering where it came out, I'm afraid I'm more inclined to believe in a treacherous type of Slytherin than someone who actually gave a damn about goblin rights."

"When was it built?" asked Fabian.

"Good question" said Kinat "The corpse was from the 1612 uprising but I'd say the passages are earlier. Cornelius Slytherin's portrait seemed to have a vague idea they existed but if they'd been built after he died his portrait would have surely know more; and if it was during his life I bet he would have known too. So….maybe in the fourteenth century? I'd buy that for the style of the stonework and the style of the mosaic at that. These beds are much later, I'd say they were renewed for the 'twelve rebellion. Our dead man knew to go there. I wonder what happened, what went wrong? I imagine they planned to swarm over Hogwarts and take it over, hold the youngsters hostage perhaps until their demands were met."

"There was a big battle just south of here wasn't there, in which the goblin forces were taken by surprise and defeated fairly conclusively" said Willow "And I wonder if the dead guy was a survivor from that, who got away."

"He'd not make it this far from the Field of Blood" scoffed Kinat.

"No; but what if he was pursued? And wounded later? Or headed for the funk-hole because he expected to re-group at this barracks and got caught in the Forest and killed by a vigilant Hogwarts wizard; or even by some guy he thought was his friend – if they'd found support in the person of another ambitious wizard who saw it as a fast-track to the headmastership – who was afraid this goblin might betray him and decided to change sides after so comprehensive a goblin defeat."

"Like our slippery uncle Lucius who changed sides more often than most people change their socks until he realised where his priorities really lay" said Abraxus. "Or he might even have been a double agent in the first place which is how the goblins were taken by surprise before they got as far as manning the barracks. I'd say, dust of ages notwithstanding, those beds have never been slept in."

"We'll never really know – unless we're lucky enough to turn up a diary of the time in the box-rooms" said Hawke "And I guess that is too much to ask for."

"Shall we go on? It's a little late" said Kinat, his eyes sparkling "But we could go a little further."

"The little ones are exhausted" said Willow glancing at the white faces of Lynx, Fabian, Senagra and Jade "If they are ill for your over-enthusiasm they won't be let come again and I guess they'd hate to be punished for your eagerness…tomorrow is another day."

Kinat looked disappointed; but nodded, shooting a concerned look at his little sister.

"Tomorrow then" he said.

oOoOo

The next day's exploration was to be postponed.

After breakfast – which was attended by an extra adult with ginger hair – Professor Dumbledore rose and said,

"Miss Black-Weasley, would you come to my office please?"

Lynx dropped a little curtsey which courtesy Krait had started instilling in the MSHG towards the head; and started searching her conscience.

"I haven't DONE anything" she said to Senagra and Fabian "Nothing he could know about, anyway; and not that the rest of the marauders haven't been involved in"

"That's your cousin Percy from the ministry, isn't it?" said Senagra "Maybe it's about your er, spiky little problem."

Lynx giggled. Naturally she had shared the joke with the others!

"OOH, I do wish you could all be there!" she said.

"Quick, ask Hawke for his magic mirror" said Senagra "Kinat let slip once that the twins have a pair of mirrors they used to communicate between houses before they learned to telepathise."

Lynx did as she was bid; and Hawke grinned and slipped the mirror to her.

oOoOo

"Ah, Lynx, my child, you know your cousin Percy Weasley?" asked Dumbledore.

"Only by reputation, sir" said Lynx demurely "Hello cousin Percy, nice to meet you."

"Hello kid" said Percy "What's this nonsense about you being a werehedgehog or knarl or something?"

Lynx started giggling.

"Oh dear" said Percy "If she's anything like Ginny it'll be weeks before she stops."

"Miss Black Weasley pull yourself together NOW!" said Dumbledore firmly.

Lynx swallowed hard, hiccupped a couple of times and bit her lip.

"Hedgehogs" prompted Percy.

Lynx bit the inside of her cheeks to stop herself giggling again.

"May I ask what this means?" she said, batting her eyelashes.

"What it means" said Percy "Is that somebody has written to the Ministry complaining about a dangerous magical creature at their school; to whit, a wereknarl. He offers the theory that since the line of Black from which you are descended is shrouded in mystery, that you are also descended from Thaddeus Thurkell who was notorious for turning his seven squib sons into hedgehogs. He claims to have seen you under transformation at the full moon and that you have been kept under concealment by some young dark wizards. Whatever is the truth of this nonsense? My boss thought it was a serious problem until I pointed out that the likelihood of anyone with a name like Weasley anywhere in it being anything but a prankster was low. But he sent me to find out anyway."

Lynx started giggling. This time she needed a glass of water and to be patted firmly on the back until she could speak again.

"D-dark wizards? Oh dear!" she said "all we wanted to do was take a rise out of Derwent 'cos he's such a bully and was nasty to Myrtle. M-m-my t-transformation was a s-spiky wig….." she dissolved into giggles again.

"Accio spiky wig" said Dumbledore absently; and presently the masterpiece flew in the window "Hmm, a scary enough thing to see on someone in the daytime, I should think in moonlight it would be quite effective, wouldn't you, Percy?"

Percy was grinning.

"I thought there'd be at least one who kept up the twins' traditions" he said "Bully is he? Mean little creep as well by the way he writes, all sly innuendo."

"Oh he is" said Lynx "He tried to get Myrtle in trouble with the Ministry for having got better from being dead."

Percy blinked.

"We're talking about Moaning Myrtle here?" he said.

"Yes" said Lynx "And there's no law against using a ghost's own bones to build a body on to bring her back to life, so there!"

Percy blinked once more.

"That's rather exotic magic isn't it sir?" he asked Dumbledore.

"The people who killed Voldemort are rather exotic people" said Dumbldore dryly. "Why not ask your brother? Ron was one of the people there."

"RON pulled off a ritual that hard? RON? Well!" said Percy "I'll have to tell him, I'm that proud of him… good for them, Myrtle was such a scrap of misery but she was a good sport about comforting people when they were upset."

"Yes, young Witherspoon quite upset her" said Dumbledore.

"Oh that Ravenclaw loudmouth was it? I'm not surprised" said Percy "Is THAT why Lucius Malfoy gave him asses ears?"

"DID he now? Dear dear, how most unpleasant" said Dumbledore, not troubling to hide his delight. "Yes, Myrtle is the girlfriend of one of Lucius' nephews. He gave his hand for her."

"Quite a chap then" said Percy soberly "Not like most Slytherin."

"Oh Abraxus is Gryffindor" said Dumbledore proudly "Though his twin is Slytherin and each is as bold, brave and full of integrity as the other. The Malfoy twins rekindle the spirit of what used to be the friendship between Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. They and their friends – who I think will turn out to be your so-called juvenile dark wizards – epitomise the spirit of Hogwarts; they are an asset to the school. And as Lynx undoubtedly has a scrying device in her pocket for them to listen on, I hope they're blushing and are also well aware that it will make no difference if I catch them at mischief."

Lynx was giggling helplessly again.

"Well, young Lynx, I guess I'd better just use Scarpin's revelaspell you so I can say that I have" said Percy "But I intend to take this wig back to show my boss his wereknarl. That's the best story I've heard in a long time you horrid child! Now don't you DARE let the family down by getting as creative as Fred and George now!"

Lynx giggled.

Percy waved his wand muttering,

"Specialis revelio!"

Naturally the spell revealed that Lynx was not any kind of lycanthrope; and Percy took the wig away still chuckling.

"A clever way to get around my prohibition and yet to show up a mean spirited boy" said Dumbledore "But I am still most annoyed at all of you for wasting Ministry time. I'm wondering if I should set you all lines."

"Sir" said Lynx "He didn't HAVE to write to the ministry. He could have gone to Professor Snape or to you. It wasn't our fault he really was that mean!"

Dumbledore considered.

"On reflection, I have to agree with you Lynx my child. He could have – and he should have – spoken to a member of staff about any concerns he had before going over our heads. Now run along and indulge in whatever weekend mischief you have planned."

He put his head out of the office as she was on her way down on the wafting breeze and added,

"And try not to get caught!"

"We shan't sir!" called Lynx cheerily.

oOoOo

The marauders and their junior branch were away as quickly as they could be, with plenty of provisions.

The passage on from the barracks led into a large octagonal chamber. From five of the other sides led doorways, the two sides on either side of the one on which they came in being blank.

"Right to left, or left to right?" asked Abraxus.

"Right to left" said Kinat.

The first passage sloped steeply upward; and emerged in a cave on a beach where a flotilla of badly rotted boats were drawn up. The rest of the cave was under water. They found enough of a ledge to peer out of the cave mouth and found themselves looking across the lake towards the castle.

"More of the anticipated invasion force" said Kinat "They were jolly well prepared."

"Had to have been treachery" said Abraxus "No commander who could prepare this carefully would have been beaten so easily without treachery in my opinion."

The others nodded.

Back in the octagonal room they found more signs of preparation. The next door opened onto a well prepared armoury containing barrels of gunpowder, flintlock pistols and arquebuses and crossbows, including repeating crossbow, in addition to armour and more mundane arms like swords. Most of the swords were well made and could be cleaned up; but without having that special sheen that marked them as being made with goblin magic.

The firearms and crossbows had been well greased and looked to be perfectly serviceable still.

The marauders were impressed.

"Of course there's a spell that protects from low velocity missiles now" said Willow "That would work adequately against the pistols. I'm not so sure about arquebuses; they could pierce toledo steel cuirasses. Maybe that's why the goblins were planning to use them. Personally I'd prefer a nice silent crossbow or longbow so the enemy gets hit and killed before he knows to cast a protective spell."

"Personally I'd rather have a Kalashnikov" said Hawke.

"There is that" admitted Willow.

The next door led to a passage that rose, came up steps, and came out in what appeared to be part of a huge barrel.

There was a door out of it; and the marauders found themselves in what appeared to be the cellar of an inn, with the rest of a genuine hogshead of ale joined to their exit.

Further cautious investigation led to the discovery that they were indeed in the cellar of the Hog's Head inn in Hogsmead.

"Dodgy sort of place, having two secret passages from it" said Jade.

"Well what does that make Hogwarts? There's zillions of passages there!" said Lynx.

Jade grinned.

"Well it's got zillions of dodgy sorts of characters like us there" she said.

"Anyway, the Hogs Head is mentioned in 'Sites of Historical Sorcery' as having been a headquarters of the 1612 goblin rebellion so I guess it's not surprising" said Willow. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the stonework of this passage more recent?"

"Yeah" said Kinat "And the armoury too. I guess they left the octagonal room as a node to add tunnels from. You studying to become Hermione Granger, quoting books, Willow?"

Willow grinned.

"Someone has to, now she's left" she said.

They stopped back in the octagonal room to eat their sandwiches and then pressed on.

The next passage also came out in Hogsmeade; in what appeared to be the disused cellar also of an inn. Undoing the trapdoor allowed it to lift only a certain amount before hitting a floor laid above it. Sounds coming through the floor of barrels being shifted suggested that this was the Three Broomsticks.

"We may have to do some guerrilla DIY here" said Abraxus.

"What?" asked Lynx.

"Surreptitious woodwork" Abraxus translated. "You never know when it might be handy to get someone out of a nice salubrious establishment like the Three Broomsticks in a hurry."

They retraced their steps and followed the final passage.

It opened with a little difficulty since there was some rubble on the trapdoor.

They had emerged in a ruined, half overgrown cottage further from the village than the shrieking shack, that had once perhaps had its own smallholding or belonged to some village notable; or indeed a pariah like a tanner, as Willow suggested.

"Once again we can do up this cellar to be a minor retreat" said Hawke "Clear some of the rubble and make safe the walls, build up the higher part to be a watch station and disguise it with climbing plants. It's a tremendously good place to overlook the railway line and keep an eye on the station if need be; if anyone ever took over the express."

"Gloomy, isn't he?" said Lynx.

"You weren't at Hogwarts when the Carrows were there" said Hawke grimly "And I expect you're too young to realise the terrible things the ministry was preparing to do, like putting muggleborn in Azkaban because they claimed their powers must be stolen if they had no immediate wizarding relatives."

"That's silly" said Lynx "Things can lurk for generations, can't they, like me having black hair not the usual Weasley ginger?"

"Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings –OW" said Hawke having earned a poke for that comment "What I mean is, you have more sense than any ministry geek."

"Because they don't understand genetics" said Jade "Because they assume that muggles can't think of anything on their own and so muggle science is only an attempt to copy magic."

"Isn't it?" asked Fabian.

"Talk sense!" said Jade scornfully "Why would they strive to copy something they don't even believe in? It's as different and parallel – if not more so – than the different traditions Professor Khan is teaching you about."

"How come you know about that, young Jade? You're not even at school yet!" said Fabian.

Jade sniffed smugly.

"Because he comes to tea with my dad and mum sometimes and they talk about things and debate. And when I understand what they're talking about it's really interesting" she said.

Fabian laughed.

"Putting in for your OWLs after the first year then are you?" he asked.

Jade grinned.

"I'll probably do some of them at least early" she said. "Waste not to really."

Willow was glad to find Sirius had returned when they got back and was wondering where she was, and also wondering, with an uncharacteristic lack of self confidence, whether she was staying out of his way because of the awful building he owned.

When Willow saw him at supper – the marauders having just arrived in time to make themselves presentable to eat with other human beings as Madam McGonagall put it to her two truants – her beaming smile of pleasure left Sirius in no doubt of her welcome.

Willow went to see him for the evening.

"It is rather dire, isn't it?" sighed Sirius after she had kissed him on the cheek.

"Yes; but you're going to do something about it" said Willow.

"Shall I tell you about the people there?" asked Sirius.

"Please. I might have suggestions as to how to surreptitiously help them" said Willow.

He grinned.

"You read my mind….there's an empty apartment where young Miss Strong and her mother lived; and the two apartments owned by the Haglings' mother and grandmother of course. Across from where the Strongs lived there's a thief, so far as I can gather, and I could find very little time for him I have to say because he reminded me of Mundungus Fletcher right down to the smell. A different smell but equally foul."

"Sure it wasn't the drains? Abraxus said that Mary Shipton was reporting half a splinched wizard to the ministry and you know how lackadaisical they can be about things that don't involve torturing schoolkids…"

"Have they been pestering poor Myrtle again?" demanded Sirius.

Willow laughed, and explained what the other marauders had been up to.

He grinned.

"Serve Derwent right, he's a poisonous little creep who makes trouble because he enjoys it. Even Percy Weasley at his worst was only a pompous prig with his priorities all wrong."

"Well he seems to have shaped up and got a life" said Willow "Though you know, he can be pretty relentless about pursuing irregularities, I think maybe you should make him an inspector of building safety. He'll do it meticulously and get up the noses of owners who DON'T care."

"You have a point" mused Sirius. "Anyway, the next one is an elderly wizard who's going senile; I took him to St Mungo's, it's the only place for him poor old boy. He's next to Hawke's great uncle that Wendy got sorted out into there. They have their own rooms and a few of their favourite toys and get fed regularly and fed wit-sharpening potion daily to try to preserve what few wits they have left. There was an elderly witch on the floor below him I took in too. She's not senile, but she's virtually bedridden, Jenny and Mary Shipton have been caring for her, but it's getting beyond them. I think I might put it to Narcissa, Charlotte and Wendy that a nice house for elderly witches and wizards might be branching out on their fund, but would help a lot of the helpless detritus of our society. There's the old Riddle house going begging; I know Krait was toying with turning it into another school, but with the old orphanage for squibs and mugglekin I think an old folks' community rest home might be more useful."

Willow nodded.

"Krait wasn't sure what to do for the best with that; she was half inclined to sell it and use the money. But to use it for an old folks' home would be perfect, it could even be officially that, a private home for, I don't know, members of a particular labour club say, for the sake of muggle records, so they don't get muggles applying. And if any escape and go wandering, being senile will cover strange clothing or claiming to know magic you know."

"Brilliant!" said Sirius in admiration. "And now onto the younger but merely – for one reason or other – indigent. I wasn't counting the thief as I think he's just lazy. The werewolf is another matter. Poor devil" he said with deep compassion in his voice "He chains himself up every month. He hadn't even heard there was a move afoot to provide free wolfbane potion on request. I got him some and I need to ask Remus to pop in and see him. He's lost several jobs because of non attendance once a month; with Wolfbane he should be able to pursue a fairly regular life. I might employ him to go nose around for me and stick his fine nose into other people's buildings," He sighed "So many stories, every one a little tragedy, a failure of our society….next apartment was rented by two whores. Are we going to get through this without argument?"

"Why should we argue? Whores exist. Some of them I guess must enjoy their job, by the laws of averages. Most I guess can't do anything else. I'd prefer you not to sleep with any, but I'm not your keeper; and I reckon you're too fastidious anyway. Talking to them and looking out for their interests I have no problem with."

"You're a remarkable girl, Willow, did you know that?"

"Maybe I'm just not stupid" said Willow. "I know that when we're married you'll be faithful to me. If you have affairs before then I'll understand and I'll grind my teeth on my own time; because I'll know that jealousy when we're not yet together is irrational. It won't make it any less real; like Kinat's dislike of spiders. Oh wait, when it's acromantulas involved, I guess that's NOT irrational…. More like little Emily Bates' fear of bats that Sephara helped her with."

"I don't actually want to have affairs…when I was young, plenty of women threw themselves at me because I was the oldest scion of the great and noble Black family – one of the things that made me cynical about it as much as my other relatives – and after a while it got boring. Anyway, back to my whores…." He twinkled at her and she gave a gurgle of laughter as he knew she would for his way of putting it. "Christie is next to being a squib, she left Hogwarts with three OWLs, in History of Magic, Herbology and Muggle Studies. She's about twenty-five. Her friend Margaret is actually a muggle; her brother went to Hogwarts, at the same time approximately as Christie, and he wants nothing to do with her, his only relative. He's in the ministry somewhere and I plan to irritate him somehow….Margaret went to an absolutely dire school when in foster care after their parents died in a car crash – like our David – and left with about as many muggle qualifications as Christie has OWLs."

"They call them 'O' levels, for Ordinary, like Ordinary Wizarding Levels" said Willow. "I think there's one called a Certificate in Secondary Education which has numbers for the fail levels so you feel less dire."

"Whatever. Anyway, she managed to find her way into Diagon Alley, having been there with their parents to buy her brother's kit. He, little shit, got his hands on any money there was, being a year or two older than her, and refused to see her. I gather he managed to forge a family tree that had him look like he wasn't muggle born when the Deatheaters were in the Ministry and claimed his sister was a squib and disowned her. He was in there prosecuting muggleborn too by all accounts; terribly ashamed of his antecedents."

"He sounds like he could bear watching" said Willow grimly "At least he's a follower not a leader; or he could have been Tom Riddle again with even more resentment."

"Quite" said Sirius "Anyway, I passed those two's names to the Madams Malfoy; they have a very efficient organisation that I can't hope to best. Heh, I expect they'll sick Lucius onto Margaret's brother; that should prove amusing!"

Willow grinned.

"Lucius gave Witherspoon asses ears" she said dreamily "Serve him right for wanting to hurt out Myrtle. But for someone who abandons family…. Lucius may not have approved of his father siring half breeds but even the old unreconstructed Lucius was hot on keeping an eye on his family once they existed. Anyone else?"

"Two more apartments; first off a goblin who got fired from Gringott's; for fraud."

"I thought they hanged, drew and quartered them for that" said Willow "It being a more serious crime than something mild like murder or being Voldemort."

Sirius grinned.

"Almost…anyway I persuaded him to tell me WHY he needed extra money… he wanted to pay for his sister to have an abortion so she could make a respectable marriage; she'd been raped. And goblins can be so sexist. Gulbrock's a good man; I hired him on the spot as my new factor. I hadn't fired the old one yet, as I told him, but as he was plainly either dishonest or incompetent I was going to. It was too bad to even THINK about threatening him into good behaviour like Lucius did. I made Gulbrock promise me one thing though; that if he was ever in trouble he would tell me and if needs be I would advance him a loan, or do what I could to extract him from trouble. I gave him an advance and left him listing all the things that need putting right and the costings. It will cost what it costs; but he was determined to get several quotes for things. It made him happy so I left him to it."

"Excellent; you won't do better than a goblin business manager, especially if he likes you."

"He seems to" said Sirius, embarrassed "He cried and tried to kiss my hands. Anyway, the last apartment is choc-a-bloc with a large family, five children all under ten. The father is a squib and the mother is a muggle, another sibling of a Hogwarts muggleborn, but her sister and parents were killed by deatheaters back when Harry was a baby….she was already dating the squib brother of her sister's schoolfriend, and his sister helps them out as much as she can. But it's still hard. I think the third child might make it to Hogwarts, but the others will be glad of the new school when it gets off the ground."

"Did you suggest they use two apartments now some are empty until it's sorted out with larger family apartments too?" asked Willow

"Yes, it made sense. And Gulbrock's to have the whole ground floor rent free to keep an eye on who goes in and out to make sure they're protected too" said Sirius. "I was thinking that if we have a school for squibs, it'll need a caretaker; I didn't say anything to John, the squib, but I did say I'd look out for suitable jobs that are better than casual labour sweeping out shops in Diagon Alley, which is what he does right now."

"I am sorry for them, but you know, people who can't afford to hardly live themselves have no right bringing too many children into poverty" said Willow "It's not as though there aren't contraceptive potions for those who can't use contraceptive spells. And I think you can pay for a long term contraceptive jinx can't you, and have it removed when you want to conceive?"

"That might be available but it's a stigma you know" said Sirius "I should imagine you could get one in a brothel; and yes, you can buy contraceptive potions, and abortifacient potions too, but they are looked upon as things for whores. And our society – in the main – is rather strait laced."

"Except amongst the wealthy who could afford all the children" sneered Willow "Double standards, one custom for the rich, another for the poor."

Sirius shrugged.

"I'm afraid so" he said.

"Tell me about your factor" said Willow.

Sirius gave a rather wolfish grin.

"I summoned him to the building" he said "And asked if he recognised me and knew who I was; and he was all kiss-my-arse at me. So I asked him if he knew this building; and he said, yes, it was mine. So I asked him who was in charge of taking rents and seeing to the upkeep; and he answered that he was. So then I asked him why he was cheating me and my tenants. Then he started blustering and telling me he was saving me money. So I asked where he had saved the money he had supposedly been hoarding for seventeen years, what account it was in in Gringott's. That was when he fell apart. I hexed him a few times, told him he was fired, and that my new factor would be presenting him with a bill for what he owed me, and that if it was not forthcoming I would see him before the Wizgamot. That was when he howled and cried real tears and kneeled at my feet and tried to kiss them; and I came over all noble-family-Blackish and kicked him as hard as I could. Oh boy, I enjoyed doing that!" he said with relish "And all the residents of the apartment were busy clapping. It felt almost like winning the quidditch shield at school all over again! I told him, if he ever showed his filthy nose around any of my buildings again, I'd ask the werewolf to bite him AFTER I'd finished casting the entrail expelling curse. He fled incontinently!"

Willow laughed.

"And so I should think! Sirius, you are a dear, and you care; and I'll always help you look after however many waifs and strays you end up installing in there rent free; because you're going to, aren't you?"

He looked sheepish.

"Well at a nominal rent anyway…for their pride" he said. "I told them they didn't have to pay rent for five years to make up for years of appalling conditions. Well that was only fair, wasn't it?"

Willow kissed his cheek.

"How very Gryffindor to sound guilty over doing something good that isn't also faintly violent" she said.