Chapter 16
Angela was holding the newspaper with an expression of disbelief on her face. Pettigrew had managed to escape during his transfer to Azkaban. How the ministry could be that incompetent was beyond her. They knew he was an animagus yet they had not taken the proper precautions to deal with it.
Today was the day she was going to meet up with Sirius since she was no longer grounded. She put on a simple black sundress and went down the stairs to drop a kiss on Severus's cheek.
"Be careful Angela. Behave and do not let the mutt give you fleas."
"Don't worry cousin Severus, I'll be back before dinner!" she smiled before grabbing a handful of floo powder that she threw in the fireplace. "12 Grimmauld Place." She called out as she stepped in the green flames.
"Angela!"
Sirius' voice greeted her as she almost fell from the floo travel.
"Hey Siri!"
She took in her surroundings and grimaced. "No offense but this place is yucky, I hope you intend to do something about it before pushing for Harry's guardianship."
Sirius chuckled "No offense taken, I have a house elf but he doesn't like me very much."
"Kreacher, right? May I try something?"
"You may, but be careful he is not the friendliest elf. Kreacher!"
The old house elf appeared with a pop. "What does the worthless master want with poor old Kreacher?"
"Kreacher? I'm Angela Schiffer, heiress of the Schiffer and Prince family. I'm also a seer and I know what happened to your old master Regulus Black."
That caught the attention of the house elf who looked at her with suspicion. "And what does the young miss want with old Kreacher?"
"I know about the last order Regulus gave you to destroy the locket, if you gave it to me I know how to destroy it, I'm even willing to take an oath on my magic."
Kreacher looked about to tear up and he nodded frantically. He disappeared and reappeared a few seconds later with a locket in his hand. "Kreacher tried everything but he couldn't destroy the locket. Kreacher will give it to the young miss if she swears to destroy it as master Regulus wanted."
"I swear on my magic to destroy Salazar Slytherin's locket as soon as I can, so mote it be." she swore, wand drawn.
The old house elf gave her the locket that she put carefully in her pocket.
"Kreacher, now that Regulus' last will is taken care of, you need to go back to your other duty and clean the house. What would your old mistress say if she saw in what state her house is?"
"Mistress would be furious…"
"Exactly! Dobby!" Her elf popped in. "I want you to help Kreacher take care of this house and clean it up from top to bottom! Every cursed artifact you find will go in a vault at Gringotts. I already wrote to them and they agreed to open vault 895 for that purpose."
"Yes, mistress Angela." The two house elves popped away and Sirius looked at her like she was some sort of messiah.
"How did you do that? Kreacher hasn't listened to anyone since my mother passed!"
She chuckled and took a seat after casting a scourgify. "I know how your brother died and Kreacher loved Regulus, I could tell you the story if you want."
"Tell me, we never found Regulus' body." He sat down in front of her and she took a deep breath.
"You know that your brother was a death eater, at some point Moldyshort asked for a house elf so your brother offered Kreacher. Moldyshort used Kreacher to hide an artifact in a cave full of inferi. When Regulus discovered that the artifact was a key to Moldyshort's immortality he asked Kreacher to bring him to the cave. Instead of making the elf drink the potion that was protecting the artifact, Regulus drank it himself. He ordered Kreacher to go back and destroy the artifact while he replaced it with a fake and to not tell anyone about what happened. Weakened by the poison he drank, Regulus was dragged under the lake by the inferi."
"So that locket belongs to Voldemort? And Regulus died betraying him?" asked Sirius, his eyes surprisingly wet.
Angela nodded and when she saw he was about to cry she stood and approached to hug him, providing comfort.
"Thank you for telling me the truth about my little brother." He whispered in her arms.
"Don't worry about it, silly." She gave him a bit more time before taking a step back to go back to her armchair.
"Are there any other such artifacts like the locket?"
"I can't tell you much about it but yes there are others. Actually I intend to call part of your life debt to help me get my hands on one."
"How can I help you?" he asked, his face turning serious.
"I need you to help me access Bellatrix's vault. As lord Black you have the right to do so. One of the artifacts is hidden in her vault and I don't fancy stealing it from goblins, I kinda value my life now."
"You can count on me. Do you have any idea of how you want to collect the remainder of my debt?"
Angela beamed at him. "Actually I do! Make me the secret keeper of this place."
"You want to put this house under the Fidelius?" he asked in disbelief.
"You are going to be Harry's guardian so Harry is going to live here. I want all the protections I can think of for my brother and I won't take the risk of anyone betraying the secret so I have to be the secret keeper."
Sirius seemed to think about it for a moment so she waited patiently. "Fine, we can do it now."
They both stood up and drew their wands. "I, Angela Schiffer, become the guardian of the secret that Sirius Black lives at 12 Grimmauld Place. So mote it be."
Sirius pointed his wand at her and casted "Fidelius!"
"For such a strong protection, casting it is rather anticlimactic." She commented as she felt the magic wash over her and something settle inside her.
She took a bit of parchment that was lying on the table and a quill and wrote the address on it. "If you ever need to tell someone and I'm not here, you'll have this, don't lose it Siri!"
"I won't, thank you Angela."
They spent the remainder of the day chatting and planning the retrieval of the Hufflepuff cup from Bellatrix's vault that would happen the next week.
The retrieval went smoothly without an itch. It was a quick get in, grab the cup, get out. Angela stored the cup in a suitcase in her own vault along with the locket and the diadem that she had gotten from the room of requirement before the end of term. The horcruxes weren't hers to destroy so she would keep them until Harry was ready to destroy them.
Angela convinced Sirius to start seeing a mind healer to make sure he was fine after all this time in Azkaban. The wizard didn't talk about it but he was seeing a professional every week without a miss.
After a month spent with his aunt and uncle, Angela had come with Sirius to fetch Harry, a week before his birthday. Thanks to Dobby's and Kreacher's hard work Grimmauld Place was now livable and clean of any cursed artifact. The house was still dark but at least it was clean.
They celebrated Harry's birthday by throwing a party. They invited the Weasleys and Hermione for the day to Harry's greatest pleasure. Angela visited him almost daily but she tried to give a bit of space for the two wizards to bond properly without having her in the vicinity. She didn't mind though as it allowed her to spend time with Severus as well. Another visitor was Remus who hung out with them every now and then.
One day Harry asked her to cut his hair to be more like Sirius so she cut it right above his shoulder, a bit shorter than hers. He took it to wear it into a half bun and Angela found it adorable to see him emulate his godfather.
During one of Remus's visits she had managed to convince Sirius that they all needed more clothes and so they went on a shopping spree, Remus ending up with clothes too paid both by Sirius and Angela. The two wouldn't let him say no. They shopped both in the muggle and wizard world.
They talked with the Weasley about the Quidditch World Cup and it was decided that Harry and Angela would come with them to watch it and then Harry would stay with the Weasley for the last week of the holidays. Sirius had been tempted to attend but decided against it, wanting to let Harry have some time with his friends without being under a parent's gaze even if he knew Mr Weasley would be attending. He wanted to prove to Harry that he trusted him.
Sunday at 5 pm they flooed to the Burrow where Molly embraced the two teens as soon as they came out of the floo. Angela transformed back to her 'Weasley' self with bright orange hair before she noticed Bill and Charlie that she had never met. Embarrassed, her face and hair turned red and she hid behind Harry who greeted them with a handshake each.
Angela threw herself at Hermione when she saw the bushy haired witch with a loud "Hermy!". Her friend laughed and hugged her. "I missed you too, Angie."
"Angela you'll sleep with Hermione and Ginny, Harry you'll be in Ron's room." Mrs Weasley told them. Both teens nodded in understanding and followed the Weasley siblings to deposit their luggage in their rooms.
As they climbed the stairs they greeted Percy who seemed unhappy to have been bothered while he was trying to work making them scoff. They hadn't been that noisy when climbing the stairs, they had walked normally and chatted quietly so he had no reason to complain.
After Angela had deposited her bag in Ginny's room, she went to Ron where he was with Harry. In a cage there was the tiny owl bouncing like an overexcited feather ball and squealing.
"Shut up Pig!"
"Why do you call him Pig?" asked Harry.
"Because he is stupid, his full name is Pigwidgeon." Explained Ginny.
"Ginny named him that way, I tried to change his name but he only answers to Pig so it stays like that."
"Where is Crookshanks?" Harry asked Hermione.
The witch smiled. "Probably in the garden chasing gnomes, he never saw one before."
Angela chuckled. "Morte is with him as well, it's nice to see them play together."
They chatted a bit more before going downstairs to help Mrs Weasley with preparing the dinner and setting the ate calmly and Mr Weasley sent them to sleep as they would have to wake up early the next day.
They woke up before dawn and ate breakfast as Mr Weasley explained to Harry the danger of apparition and splinching. Angela pointed out that sidelong apparition was one of the worst feelings if one did not count portkey.
"Portkey? Like when you visited me at the Dursley?" asked Harry.
"Yep, that kind of Portkey, we'll take one today, you'll understand what I mean. I can't seem to be able to land on my feet no matter what." She sighed while braiding her hair that she sported longer than usual on that day.
After Harry was done with his breakfast, she followed him back to Ron's room to pick clothes for him to wear. After he had washed up and changed, she had him come close to her so that she could brush his hair and tie them up.
They met up with the Diggorys near the portkey as the sun started rising. Angela disliked Amos Diggory instantly for how he was bragging about his son while putting down Harry. She greeted Cedric politely before grasping Harry's hand. There were only two people but it was already too crowded for her. Just like in Hogwarts, she needed the physical touch to stay grounded.
They all put a finger on the old boot and all too soon Angela felt the familiar tugging sensation in her navel. She managed to land crouching instead of face first in the ground like Harry besides her. She chuckled as he let out a groan.
They followed Mr Weasley toward the camping site, Angela and Harry quickly helping him with the money when they dealt with the Muggle. Harry watched baffled as a wizard came and obliviated the muggle when he started getting suspicious of what was happening around him.
They heard the wizard talk about Ludo Bagman being careless around muggles and Angela grabbed the twin.
"Tic and tac come here. Speaking of Bagman, don't bet with him if you want to see your prize money. Bet with someone else and put those 50 galleons from me as well. You have the right bet, just the wrong guy. If you want to be sure, try accio-ing your prize money when you get it. Leprechaun gold can be accio-ed, real galleons can't." She whispered in their ears and both twins nodded as she handed them her money.
"Understood, my lady" "We'll follow" "your instruction!" they replied together in their usual twin talk.
"Good boys." She beamed at them and then went back to Harry who's hand she took once more.
They helped dress the tents, two brand new tents courtesy of Angela and Sirius who had argued that since they handled getting tickets, they would handle the lodging part. Mr Weasley had been embarrassed but had accepted after understanding that the two wix weren't going to budge on that topic.
Angela let Harry, Ron and Hermione go fetch some water while she showed Mr Weasley how to use matches to light the fire up. Mr Weasley looked like a kid during Christmas, doing everything the muggle way was highly amusing for him.
They met up with plenty of people including two unspeakables that Angela immediately roped into chatting with her, asking them questions on their job and more precisely how to get the job since they couldn't really talk about what is happening in the department of mysteries.
Ludo Bagman came by and Angela gave a look to the twins who nodded and went away to find someone else to be betting with. After that Angela retreated inside one of the tents with a book she had brought, not feeling very well with all those strangers around. Her social battery could only take so much.
After he bought omnioculars for all four of them, Harry dragged his sister away from her book, her hand firmly grasped in his as they made their way to the stadium. They climbed the stands up to the ministerial box where they sat calmly, Harry having a big smile on his face.
Angela winced internally when she saw the Malfoys coming. Of course she knew they would be there but witnessing another verbal spat between the two families was not her definition of fun. Watching minister Fudge try to communicate with the Bulgarian minister on the other hand… she knew he understood perfectly so it amused her to no end.
She greeted Draco with a hug and thanked him for helping her get rid of her fear of height. She was still a bit afraid but a few years back she could have never been in the box without fainting from the fear. Lucius gave her a court nod and Narcissa a smile as she greeted them both respectfully.
Then came the mascots, Angela had to physically hold Harry back from jumping from the stands when the veela started dancing. She then explained that the gold that was raining on them from the leprechaun was false and would disappear the next day so they shouldn't try to grab any.
The match was intense and everyone cheered when Viktor Krum caught the snitch even if it was Ireland's victory. The twins were especially loud, knowing that they just won a good amount of money and Angela had a knowing smirk as they returned to their tents.
Mr Weasley begged the twins to not tell their mother they had been betting money. The twins nodded and went to Angela to give her her share of the money. The slytherin smiled and shook her head.
"Keep it and consider it an investment for your future shop. I believe in you and your products."
They stayed up to chat about the match they had just witnessed until Ginny fell asleep on the table, nearly knocking off her hot chocolate mug. Mr Weasley sent them all to bed at that moment. Angela pretended to change and go to sleep but she laid down, waiting for the second part of the night.
An hour later, Mr Weasley came to wake them all up and told them to grab their jackets and hurry. Outside was a mess, people were running toward the woods as a group of cloaked wix marched toward them. The Muggle family handling the campsite could be seen floating in the air.
"It's horrible." whispered Ron.
"We're going to help the ministry people. You, go to the woods to hide and stay together! I'll come fetch you once everything is over." ordered Mr Weasley.
Angela nodded and grabbed Harry's hand, her wand in the other. They started running with the twins, Ginny, Ron and Hermione but the mass of people ended up separating them. Angela stopped only when she reached the woods.
"Eli, stop, wait. Where are the others?"
"Ry'! Lumos." The light revealed a small clearing empty except for both of us. "We'll find the others, wait I have a spell for that!"
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
Harry and Angela turned to face one of the masked and cloaked wizards.
"My, my, isn't that Potter? The lord will be happy! Avada…" he started.
"Avada Kedavra!" Angela was faster and a shot of green light later the man fell to the ground like a puppet that just lost its strings.
"Eli, what have you done?" whispered Harry.
"He's dead, now quick before another one finds us. Point me Hermione Granger." She grabbed his hand more firmly and dragged him, following the direction indicated by her wand until they reached Hermione and Ron who were surrounded by other worried people.
"Angie, Harry!"
"Hermy, Ron! Are you okay?"
"We're fine, we were just lost."
"Oh no… I lost my wand…" came Harry's voice.
"Maybe it fell while you were running, we'll find it." said Hermione.
"Yeah maybe…" Harry shot a glance at Angela who shook her head.
"For now let's find somewhere safe to wait." Angela declared as she took the lead, leading them toward the heart of the woods where there were less people until they reached a small clearing.
Ludo Bagman appeared briefly, asking them what was going on before leaving with the distinct crack of apparition.
A few moments later, everything was silent around them.
"I hope the others didn't get in trouble…" whispered Hermione.
"I'm not worried about them." Ron tried to comfort her.
"Imagine if your father catches Lucius Malfoy. He always said he'd like to catch him."
"Draco wouldn't laugh as much." chuckled Ron.
"Still those poor muggles, I hope they'll manage to get them down…"
"Don't worry Hermy, as incompetent as the ministry is, they'll manage to do that just fine." reassured Angela.
"It's so crazy to do that with so many ministry officials here! Do you think they're drunk or…" Hermione interrupted herself and Angela tensed, grasping more firmly her wand that she pointed toward where the footstep noise came.
"Show yourself." she snarled, taking a protective stand in front of Harry.
They stayed in that position a few minutes until they heard a yell "Morsmordre" and a gigantic dark mark appeared in the sky.
"Run!" Yelled Angela before darting, dragging Harry with her.
They didn't get very far before they were surrounded by wizards with their wands drawn. Red jets of light fused above their head when Angela tackled Harry to the ground.
"Stop, stop! It's my son!" came a familiar voice.
Mr Weasley was closing in on them, seemingly terrified. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, Angela… are you alright?" He asked them.
"Move aside Arthur." Interrupted Crouch. "Which one of you did this? Which one of you summoned the Dark Mark?"
"It's not us!" defended Harry.
"We haven't done anything!" added Ron.
"Do not lie!"
Another witch tried to make Crouch see sense that they were too young and Harry Potter so it couldn't be them but the wizard didn't want to hear any of it. They argued for a bit until Amos Diggory found Winky's stupefied body with Harry's wand in her hands. A simple Priori incantatem proved it was the wand used to cast the Dark Mark.