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Hogwarts, the Hospital Wing, a half-hour after mid-afternoon…

"Young lady, have you any CONCEPT of what you just did here?!"

The would-be warrior-priestess blinked before she turned to gaze tranquilly on a huffing potions master. "And what, pray tell, did I do, Wise Master Severus?"

Severus Snape sputtered in shock before he waved to the sleeping woman on what was nicknamed "Harry's Place," the bed in which the Man-Who-Won was always placed whenever he required the services of the school's mediwitch. "What did you DO?! You stupid girl! You don't go around and RESURRECT THE DEAD, not even if she WAS a…!"

"She is not the original Myrtle Warren, Master Severus."

Severus gaped, his jaw opening and closing for a moment. "What?" he finally eeped.

"The magic of the nŏksbae and the timeless power of the tre'cha both came into play here," Inada Mizuho stated as she gazed away from the window she was looking out from to stare at the young potions master, ignoring the smirks from Poppy Pomfrey as well as Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick. One thing about the Friend of Dragons that had ALWAYS been commented on was her diamond-hard sense of self-assurance; that was more than guaranteed to raise Severus' hackles since he had that same level of self-assurance when it came to many things…and the experience to back it up. "That which should have passed out of the Shadowlands through the Veil of the Te'a when the Lady Myrtle died in 1943 has done so, freeing her soul to embrace the Frašōkərəti after years of being trapped in that dreary bathroom thanks to Wise Master Salazar's pet. But thanks to Tom Riddle experimenting with what was required to transform things into nŏksbae as part of his horcrux research, Myrtle's spirit was infused with the power of the nŏksbae as her death allowed him to perform his first soul-split. Thus, she was able to allow her soul to be replicated so that her spiritual 'child' could live her own life…which is no different than what someone like myself will do at the time of final death to pass knowledge to a worthy heir via tre'cha. As you know, after that last fragment of Lord Voldemort's soul morphed into Thérèse Peverell, she became her own being thanks to the nŏksbae rituals her 'father' used to ensure his immortality. Thus it had to happen here, especially with a Life Debt bond also involved."

Severus blinked before he sighed. He knew all about Life Debts; what he had owed James Potter thanks to that stupid incident at the Shrieking Shack in their fifth year as provoked by Sirius Black had haunted him for years, forcing him into an emotional tug-of-war when it came to James' son — who was also the son of his oldest and dearest friend — until they finally reconciled in Harry's sixth year. Shaking his head, he gazed on Minerva. "And this was all because of the Yule Scream of 1941?"

"I told you that already, Severus. Why won't you believe me?"

He gazed on Myrtle, who was slowly sitting up in her bed. She was now dressed in a pair of jeans, a button blouse and a cardigan sweater; that had been created for her by Mizuho thanks to the Staff of Gihan. "I just find it hard to believe, Myrtle, that there was a Life Debt situation between you and Tom when he killed the other you." Back to Minerva. "Did you confirm this through Headmaster Dippet's portrait?"

"Aye, I did," she answered. "He remembered seeing Myrtle keep Tom protected from the banshees while he was busy trying to banish them from the castle. She even used a very good Summoning Charm to draw a table in the path of one of their screams to keep Tom safe. I'd say that's a valid reason for a Life Debt to have existed between them."

"Given that Tom killed Myrtle when he let that basilisk loose in '43, that might have contributed a lot to his insanity. Not that splitting his soul apart in that very same incident was bad enough for the foolish boy," Poppy added as she finished with the diagnostic spells. "Well, you seem quite healthy, Myrtle. I still would like to get you to Rose to have her give you a detailed look-over since I'm still not very familiar with Avalonian biology and how it would properly mesh with your 'mother's' magic."

"Indeed it would be best, Lady Healer Poppy, to have Lady Myrtle taken to Grimmauld Place," Mizuho stated. "While I suspect a marei'cha bond may come out of her meeting the Lady Thérèse, it would — as you just noted — also give Lord Harry's fiery sister a chance to ensure all is well with our newly-woken sister."

"Playing nakōdo, are we?" Poppy teased.

"And I shouldn't try?"

Laughter filled the room from all save an annoyed Severus and a blushing Myrtle…before one of the school's many ghosts drifted in. "Minerva!" Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington — "Nearly-Headless Nick" as he was better known — called out. "You must come see this! A mighty host has now appeared on the grounds by the quidditch pitch!"

"Calm yourself, Master Nicholas," Mizuho stated, which made the Gryffindor house ghost jerk before he gazed wide-eyed at this charming follower of the great sage Zaraϑuštra Spitāma who saved one of Nick's spiritual charges from a fatal accident back in March. "Methinks that host is one of the battalions of the Black Maidens, obeying the command of their liege lady to protect both bright Hogwarts and tranquil Hogsmeade from the hordes of the undead who now flock to merry old Albion to steal magic."

The ghost blinked before a delighted grin crossed his face. "You mean Jessica Gibbon and her friends, my good lady?!" he exclaimed before looking off to his left. "Helena! Brother Simon! Lord Ælfweard! Did you hear this?! Look who's come to visit us!"

An amused chuckle answered as a corpulent ghost drifted up through the floor to join his friend, wearing the simple robes of a member of the Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Mount Carmel from the early Middle Ages. "I know already, Sir Nicholas," Simon Ayles — the "Fat Friar" as he was commonly known — stated with a smile. "Elizabeth and Jessica are already coming this way, as is young Enid! I don't recognize the lady in charge of that host, though. They're all dressed in those modern uniforms soldiers wear when they're out performing their duties. I assume she must be a friend…"

"Indeed she is, Brother Simon!"

People turned…then Poppy clapped her hands in delight as Elizabeth Gibbon marched smartly into the room, arm-in-metaphysical arm with the spirit of Helena Ravenclaw. The leader of the Schwarze Mädchen was, as the Friar noted, once more in her combat uniform. Behind them was Elizabeth's twin sister Jessica as well as Enid Geraint and a tomboyish woman with short, styled dark brown hair and bright blue eyes; they were also dressed in combat uniforms. On seeing the unknown woman with the triband flag of Austria on her shoulders and the golden arrowhead-shaped frame with two side-by-side six-point star-like insignia over a solid gold mountain-shaped base on her epaulette slip-ons, Severus realized she was the commander of the First Battalion of the Black Maidens, Oberstleutnante Anna Wittmann. A native of Ramsau west-southwest of Vienna, she was second in her year at the Babenberg Academy of Sorcery for the Mistresses Class of 1937. A wicked dueller who had initially supported the Anschluss between the Third Reich and her homeland a year after she graduated from school, Anna was one of many Schwarze Mädchen who had won the right to wear the "tin necktie" on her uniform; she ended World War Two with the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords and the Pour le Mérite Magique.

"Friar Simon!"

That was a grinning Enid, who came over to bow politely to the Friar. A native of the Welsh city of Caernarfon on the Menai Straits separating the mainland from the Isle of Anglesey, she was a Hufflepuff alumnus from the NEWT class of 1934 and one of the older of the Black Maidens. She was also a veteran of the Spanish Civil War; atop winning the first class Iron Cross, she was also a knight of the Order of Asturias as well as having been awarded a gamut of Spanish awards for her participation in that conflict on the side of Francisco Franco's Falange movement. Enid had also been part of the raid led by Margareta Hecht on the Ministry of Magic in 1941; it was she who discovered what happened to the parents of the British Black Maidens…which unleashed a platoon of Grindelwald's deadly coven of combat hit-witches on a search-and-destroy mission that scoured Great Britain from Land's End to John o' Groats that ultimately saw over three hundred people killed off, including then-Minister for Magic Benedict Fenwick. To her brother and sister Hufflepuffs, the pretty green-eyed Welshwoman with the curly rusty red-brown hair normally styled in a thick and bushy ponytail at the back of her head to flow past her shoulders was something of a dark heroine; damned because of her willingness to fight for Gellert Grindelwald…but admired for honouring her old house's virtues of loyalty to family and friends no matter what stood in her way.

"Hello, Enid!" the Friar said as he allowed Enid to "embrace" him. "My heavens! You look like you did when you graduated from school!" He then smiled as she allowed him to "grasp" her hands. "I've prayed for you and the others constantly since I heard the awful news about what happened at Nurmengard. I knew you would never do evil, Enid! None of you could do such things! Yes, it was horrible you felt so persecuted…but you won the war, my dear! You all showed the way the Founders felt those blessed by God with the power of magic should behave, both among themselves and with those not so blessed. Be proud of yourself, my dear. Your heavenly reward will come."

"Indeed Friar Simon speaks the truth, Dame Enid," the Grey Lady added before she gazed on Elizabeth. "You as well, Lady Elizabeth. Even if it took a while for those native to this land to fully understand what you fought for, you won the war."

"And a spectacular victory it was, my dear," Nearly-Headless Nick stated with an approving nod. "Right from the day he returned back from trying to force the Lady Tsukiko to admit to things she never did, Lord Albus accepted that."

Elizabeth blinked before she smiled. "Well, better late than never," she admitted before slipping her arm away from the Grey Lady as she gazed on Minerva. "On behalf of my brigade, Headmistress McGonagall, I apologize to you for intruding upon the peace and tranquility of this old castle," she said with a polite bow. "However, as the Queen has so commanded in Her Royal Warrant, my brigade is now tasked to destroy those of the undead who now threaten us all, magical and normal alike. My friend's battalion now on the grounds will be directly responsible for the safety of all living within Scotland, including Hogwarts and Hogsmeade." She waved Anna up, the latter coming to attention and clicking her heels as she bowed her head to the headmistress.

"You people just came straight out of cryogenic suspension, Brigadier," Filius noted. "Are you sure you're ready to take to the field so quickly?"

"Fret not about whatever stiffness their bodies may demonstrate after sixty-five years in that cave, Wise Master Filius," Mizuho spoke up, making the Schwarze Mädchen stare at her. "Given the arrogance of their foes, I would suspect the Wise Mistress Elizabeth and her sisters could deal with them even if they were all drunk."

Elizabeth blinked before she squared her shoulders. "Miss…"

The would-be warrior-priestess sighed as she raised her hand to stay the other woman. "Say nothing towards what you're now inclined to say, sister," she bade as she gazed upon the leader of the Black Maidens. "Much that I understand the need to acknowledge Life Debts, I shall not and will not force you into a situation which might inadvertently hurt you, especially now."

"It still must be acknowledged, Fire Maiden," the Friar warned.

Mizuho blinked before she sighed. "Aye, my brother in faith, 'tis true," she said, nodding in acknowledgement. "Let us wait until Sewell and his lot are all dust and those who would support them forced to submit before speaking of this further, Lady Elizabeth. Hopefully by then, the veil that forces my silence — even of my name! — to so many can be lifted and you will understand where and when I come from."

"We'll hold you to it, meine Frau," Anna advised.

"Nick!"

Nearly-Headless Nick yelped. "What?!" he gasped as he stared wide-eyed at Jessica.

The Gryffindor alumnus pointed at him. "Your head's STILL stuck on your neck!"

"Jessica…!" Nick whined. He HATED it whenever Jessica teased him about that!

"JESSICA CAROLINE GIBBON!" Elizabeth shrilled out. "STOP TEASING THE POOR MAN!"

"OI!" Jessica shrilled back; she HATED it when Elizabeth acted like their late mother.

"Whatever is the matter?" Mizuho asked.

When his corporeal life was terminated in the First Year of Meiō, Controller, Nicholas John de Mimsy-Porpington did not have his head properly severed from his neck, the Staff helpfully reported. He has lamented the fact since that time, as you will recall what we were told about the one disembodied spirit who has tried for 518 years to join the group led by Patrick Stephen Delaney-Podmore we encountered 67.4 days ago.

"Ah! So Lord Nicholas wishes to join the Headless Hunt?"

That is correct.

"You encountered the Headless Hunt?!" Severus exclaimed as Nick gaped at her.

"But of course, Master Severus," Mizuho stated. "Two months and a week ago, I noted that the members of Lord Patrick's noble troupe of ghostly riders were entertaining the Young Mistress Victoria Delaney, a Meridiana student not even ten years of age who was visiting her parents at their home on the shores of the beautiful River Trent. Some drunken dolt came onto the scene, then began to accuse her of dealing in dark magics! His ignorance about such things was utterly disgusting to behold; those such as Lord Patrick and his friends — to say anything of the noble spirits who reside within this charming castle — mean no harm to the living!" As the ghosts present all preened on hearing that complement from her, she added, "And the Lady Victoria's home was properly warded and shielded from normal view! What, I dare ask you all, was the problem?!"

"What did you do?" Jessica demanded.

"On sensing they did NOT approve of their young host being so abused, Noble Mistress Jessica, I allowed my friend here to permit Lord Patrick and his friends to possess the twit and make HIM experience his worst fears!" Mizuho declared as she waved to the Staff. "He apparated to get clear, but left parts of himself behind."

Severus laughed as Minerva, Poppy and Myrtle giggled, Filius guffawed and the Schwarze Mädchen smirked. "He splinched himself?!" the potions master asked.

"Quite spectacularly so. And deservedly so, I add, especially given how distraught the Lady Victoria was at being so hurt by the 'mean man.' So I called upon some friends I made who inhabit the Cave of Annwn to come to give her cheer." Mizuho then smirked. "Not to mention feast on the fool's body parts so he would know not to do it again."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"You made friends…with the bloody Wild Hunt?!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

The would-be warrior-priestess blinked. "Shouldn't I have, Lady Elizabeth?" She then sighed. "In the meantime, an omiai beckons me back to old London before I rejoin my friends. Healer Poppy, are you satisfied with the Lady Myrtle's good health?"

Poppy blinked before shaking her head. "Um…I've no problems."

"Wonderful! Oh, Lord Nicholas, could you lower your arms for a moment?"

Nick — who had moved to make a warding sign with his hands on hearing that this strange lady from the Land of the Wa had dealt with the Wild Hunt of all things — blinked, though his arms did do as she had requested. "Whatever is the matter, my dear?"

The Staff's crystal then flared as a bolt of energy lashed out…

SHUUUP!

…severing that last half-inch of Nick's flesh which kept his head still tied to the rest of his body, sending said head tumbling off to one corner of the Hospital Wing. "Five hundred and eighteen years late, but done," Mizuho stated as she lowered the Staff while everyone else, living and non-living, gaped in shock at her. "Methinks the good Lord Patrick will be more kind to you when next you request the chance to join his troupe. If he still is hesitant, send a missive to Lady Victoria Delaney — she is actually a descendant of Lord Patrick, if you wish to know — either at Meridiana or at Swain's Forks near Gainsborough. Come, Lady Myrtle! The Lady Thérèse awaits us!"

Myrtle nodded as she ran over to slip her arm around Mizuho's, then both vanished from Hogwarts. Stunned silence then fell…before delighted laughter escaped the now-FULLY decapitated head of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. "Five hundred years…five hundred years…!" he moaned again and again, his eyes glistening with tears.

Both the Fat Friar and the Grey Lady beamed at their friend's joy. "A true Hufflepuff, that girl!" the former declared. "A truer Hufflepuff I've NEVER seen!"

"Nay, Brother Simon!" the Bloody Baron declared as he slipped into the room. "A child from the Land of the Wa that makes an alliance with the Wild Hunt?! If he was still alive, my master would curse anyone who would think her as not worthy of Slytherin!"

"In that, I now find myself agreeing with you, Lord Ælfweard," Severus dryly noted.

"'Wild Hunt?'" a confused Anna asked.

"Wildes Heer," Elizabeth translated.

The Austrian combat hit-witch's eyes widened. "Oh…!"


Diagon Alley, Rosa Lee Teabag, two hours before supper…

"Oh — my — God!"

For Hermione Granger, it was a most unique moment.

Either this was a sign from the Heavens that final victory would soon come…

…or it was a simple sign that the Fates had weird senses of humour.

No matter what…

"You're shocked."

The normal-born adviser to the DMLE blinked before she turned away from the private letter that had just been delivered to her from Blaise Zabini to gaze on the reporter seated nearby, calmly sipping her tea. "Wouldn't you be, Rita?" she wondered.

Rita Skeeter — who had stayed with Callie Norman at Rosa Lee Teabag after Linn Heinrich headed to Gringotts to check on her bank account and do the inheritance blood test; both were helping watch over a still-dazed Janina Neumann and a barely-conscious Elaine Mithwold — smirked. Having joined them were a couple of combat witches from 23 Jäger Company, one of the seven primary fighting sub-units of the Second Battalion; that part of the Black Maidens — now based out of Romney Marsh — would patrol the magical areas of London, the East Midlands, the East of England and the South East. Both women — Ylikersantti Marjatta Laine and Alikersantti Hannele Mäkinen — were alumni of the Aarnivalkea School of Magic in Finland, located in the northern reaches of Lapland close to the Norse border. That school, Hermione knew, was often nicknamed the "poor wizard's Durmstrang" due to it accepting any student regardless of blood ancestry…even if, in all respects, Aarnivalkea had been light-years ahead of its near-neighbour when it came to magical research and development ever since it was founded at the orders of King Eric XIV of Sweden — which then controlled Finland — in 1562.

Despite the heavier-than-average number of normal-born magicals living in their homeland at the time in comparison to other European nations, Marjatta and Hannele gladly joined 224 other Finnish witches in flocking to Gellert Grindelwald's banner; in interviews conducted during the war, both happily admitted that they had put on the uniforms of the Schwarze Mädchen in hopes of helping keep their homelands free of both the red hordes of Soviet Russia AND the staleblood idiots running things in Norway. Because of that, the Finnish contingent had been at the head of the charge when the Magische Reichsarmee targeted their leader's alma mater in the Battle of Durmstrang in 1942, nearly wiping the place off the map. After the war ended, it took that school a decade to recover…even if the leaders of post-war Durmstrang stubbornly kept to their "no muggleborns" policy that had ruled the institute since its founding in 1397.

That, Hermione knew, ultimately guaranteed that enrolment at Durmstrang would drop drastically as normal-raised half-bloods and purebloods elected to go to places like Aarnivalkea and its counterparts in Denmark and Sweden, the Læsø Søfort School of Magecraft on the island of Læsø in the Kattegat off the Jutland coast and the Tallemaja School of Magical Arts on the shores of Torrön Lake in Jämtland near the Norse border. Thanks to the fierce competition from the three "lesser" Scandinavian schools and how the overall drop in students came to threaten the very future of Durmstrang itself, alumni such as Ígor' Karkaróv (Masters Class of 1969) — a descendant of Russian nobility whose ancestors fled to Finland in the wake of the October Revolution of 1917 — felt they had ultimately no choice but to join Voldemort's ranks in hopes of expanding the British-centric First Purification War into a Europe-wide counter-revolution that would have expunged the changes the Americans and Soviets had unleashed on the Continent. Such, people like Karkaróv hoped, would see things restored to the "proper" way they were before Grindelwald's rise in the 1930s…even in the face of the ominous threat of Svetlána Múromeca — then being held in "strategic reserve" at Russia's version of Azkaban, the infamous Spemát — being recalled to duty to raise a magical army to destroy the "feudal imperialist bourgeoisie counter-revolutionaries" in Britain then threatening the future of the "equal societies" which had arisen from the ashes of Grindelwald's War thanks to the sacrifices of the warriors of the Moscow Magical Front of the Red Army and the Magical Corps of the United States Army!

Unfortunately, Karkaróv's efforts to foster revolution in Scandinavia — even with the threat of the Bloody She-bear of Siberia lurking like some dark demon beyond the Paatsjoki and Grense Jakobselv Rivers — did nothing more than put Durmstrang under direct threat of closure from King Olav V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Urho Kekkonen of Finland in 1977. All four national leaders were the spiritual inheritors of the throne of the Kalmar Union which first bound most of Scandinavia together under one crown the same year Durmstrang was founded; because of that, they had the power bequeathed on them ultimately by Queen Margrete I to force permanent changes on the school if they so chose…though like many of their counterparts elsewhere on Earth when it came to dealing with self-governing magical enclaves, a "hands off" policy was normally pursued save for times of emergency. With that threat hanging like the Sword of Damocles over Durmstrang's future, Karkaróv and his friends were effectively cut off and left to the mercy of the British…even if the Russian-Finn nobleman's grandson would escape a permanent stay at Azkaban and rise to the position of Highmaster at his alma mater in 1989.

Any attempts at trying to maintain the pureblood traditionalist agenda there would fail thanks to Karkaróv's murder in the summer of 1996; once such an act was confirmed by spies inserted in Durmstrang to have be provoked by Voldemort, it was the last straw for the leaders in Scandinavia. The school's charter was revamped in the Treaty of Oslo that was signed on New Year's Day in 1997. In that agreement, all pureblood traditional influences on the curriculum were eliminated, the teaching of the Dark Arts was more strictly regulated and the legal bonds with the rulers of Sweden, Denmark and Finland eliminated, making Durmstrang Norway's national magical academy. Those changes — as Hermione later learned from her friend and Harry Potter's former Triwizard Tournament opponent, Víktor Krum; these days, the Bulgarian quidditch hero was Deputy Highmaster of Durmstrang — were loudly welcomed by the current generation of students then in attendance…despite howls of protest from many alumni who were afraid that the "mudbloods" would destroy their beloved alma mater. Such outrage was swiftly silenced when news of Death Eater Season spread across the North Sea from Britain that summer. To ensure they stayed silent, a Magical Royal Resolution was issued by King Harald V, warning that if any protests concerning the future of Durmstrang turned to open revolt, His Majesty would have no choice but to request a favour of his "beloved friend" Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom…concerning the loaning of a set of keys for the use of the Norwegian authorities until the magical prison on Vesle Tavleøya in the Svalbard archipelago was upgraded to be the equal of Her Majesty's Prison Gonebren.

That shut people up very quickly.

No one wanted ANOTHER version of the Maze Among the Rocks created anywhere in Europe!

Shaking her head as she turned her attention back to the people inside Rosa Lee Teabag, Hermione then focused on the two Finnish Black Maidens as they chatted away in literate Suomen kieli; unlike the Leaky Cauldron, the small teashop close to Gringotts had no universal translation spells active here, so Hermione had no idea what Marjatta and Hannele were chatting about. However, their excitement was quite understandable as they gazed on the dataPADD the senior sergeant brought with her. Noting that an image of the school crest of their alma mater was on the screen, Hermione smirked. These days, the Aarnivalkea School of Magic was seen as the leading school of technomancy in all of Europe. The drive to master that most modern form of magic had been born there in a reflection of the development of the Steel Angels in the 1920s and had become the main focus of the school's syllabus in the 1970s when the communications revolution launched by Nokia in Finland spilled over into the magical world; that saw many local wizards and witches travel to America, Canada, Japan and South Korea to further study the art before they began offering mastery classes in technomancy in 1985.

She then perked on hearing Rita sigh. "Politics only concern me when it comes to writing a good story," the reporter finally answered. "It's guaranteeing my future income, Hermione. As to how this'll affect what you and Harry have in mind…"

Hermione nodded before she sipped her own tea. "Why do you still doubt?"

The older woman blinked before she shrugged. "I've always doubted. It's one of the lessons you would have learned had you been sorted into Ravenclaw. Question everything around you." She then smirked. "I've always been an inquisitive person. If there are mysteries out there, they need to be exposed to the light of day." A shrug rolled her shoulders. "Deep down, I loathe being forced to write stuff I don't have proof about. I don't feel I'm doing my job even if the common wizard or witch in this country eats it up like it was fact. That's why I had to become an animagus. It gave me better chances to get the facts." She then canted her head. "Why?" she then asked.

Hermione smirked before she looked over. "Marja? Hanne? Can I interrupt you two for a moment?" she calmly asked, making the Finnish hit-witches look at her.

"What is it, Hermione?" Marjatta asked in accented English.

The normal-born from West Sussex smiled. "Rita, let me propose a new book title for you," she stated, which made Rita blink. "The Black Maidens: Light in Darkness. And I'll prove to you why." She then gazed on Rita's current bodyguard. "Why did you join Master Gellert, Callie? Even if you didn't have good job prospects here at the time you graduated from Hogwarts, you could have migrated to America, Canada, Australia or New Zealand. None of the magicals in those countries have ever allowed a pureblood aristocracy to rise. Why go across to Germany, especially with the Nazis in power?"

The native of Aylesbury nodded. "That's a fair question," she said before sighing, then she nodded as Rita pulled out her Quick-Quotes Quill. After making it accurately record what was to be said instead of being creative in its composition — as Rita had been often forced to do over the years when she didn't have all the facts — the reporter nodded. "I began hearing stories about Master Gellert while I was still in Hogwarts," Callie began. "He'd been the Reich Minister of Magic since 1930. And unlike other magical ministries in Europe, he'd been the catalyst for a lot of changes even before Mister Hitler was elected Chancellor in 1933. He revamped the Zauberrat into what eventually became the Magisches Konzil, with elected deputies that was modelled on the normal Reichsrat, divided by equality of the old imperial states — later the Reichsgaue after they were formed in 1934 — in lieu of landed gentry like the Wizengamot. In effect, Master Gellert — even if he was a pureblood himself from a cadet branch of a noble line — was saying that the stupid 'purebloods first' policies that had ruled magical societies for centuries was obsolete and had to be changed."

"That was when he started openly preaching his 'Greater Good' message," Rita noted.

"Yes. When he began preaching about bringing a 'greater good' for all of humanity in Germany, he explained that he was inspired by tours he made of places like America in the 1920s," Callie said with a nod. "There, magical innovation and spell development fired ahead at full speed, unlike what was happening in Europe. People were encouraged to invent new things and question the old dogmas. People — regardless if they were magically-raised or normally-raised — were encouraged to participate in government, to feel that they were doing something to contribute to the direction their society was taking. And he felt it was right for Germany to have something similar. I found that quite refreshing even if I didn't speak the language. So — since I'd been turned down four times after I got out of Hogwarts to pursue a mastery in herbology — I felt I had no choice but to go across the North Sea to Germany to seek a career. That's when I met up with Enid Geraint and was persuaded to join the Schwarze Mädchen."

"When was the Führerprinzip oath forced on you all?" Rita wondered.

"After Kristallnacht happened in early November of 1938," Callie stated. "By then, Mister Hitler was moving to prepare for general war and knew they needed help on the magical side…especially when it came to potential interference from normal-borns in the Slavic nations and among the Jews and Gypsies in those territories they were going to conquer. At the same time, Master Gellert was openly advocating the final abolition of the Statute of Secrecy since he felt it was utterly ridiculous to maintain such an 'obsolete' treaty in the face of the Steel Angels' existence…even if the Steel Angels themselves had disappeared over a year earlier. Since most members of the ICW thought he was as mad as a March hare for proposing something like that, they moved to isolate Germany from the rest of the world. By then, it was pretty much too late: Master Gellert had formalized his alliance with Tsukiko-sensei and the general plan for the launching of the campaign to destroy the ICW had been agreed on. When he found out what Master Gellert wanted to do, Mister Hitler invited him to the Berghof, his mountain cabin in Bavaria, to discuss what they were going to do. From what Master Gellert told us after the oath was lifted and we could think on our own, Mister Hitler was amazed by the sheer audacity of what Master Gellert had in mind; he later adopted it with the policies governing the deployment of the Übermenschen overseas."

"They just didn't count on the War Hawks," Hermione commented.

"Yes."

Rita turned to the two Finnish members of the Black Maidens. "What of you two?"

"Well, in the case of all of us from Finland, our primary motivation was the threat from the Soviets. The 'stalebloods' then in power in Norway and elsewhere were also a concern to many of us in the country, but the communists were the true devils in our eyes," Marjatta answered. "After our country became independent in 1919, we moved to establish a nominally democratic government in reflection of what was happening in normal society at the time. There would be a Maaginenministeriö and a separate legislature, but it would have elected representatives and be an equivalent to the normal Eduskunta. However, you have to remember what was happening just across the border in Russia at the time. Many Russian magicals who wanted nothing to with Lénin and his lot were getting out of the country in droves before the Magical Red Guards could shut the borders down and keep them trapped in. A lot came to Finland."

"Ígor' Karkaróv's relatives were among them," Hermione reminded the reporter.

Rita nodded. "So we were literally on the front lines against the godless hordes of Communism, both normally and magically," Hannele added. "Yes, Lénin allowed Finland to become independent, but that was obviously in anticipation of the Bolshevik Revolution being brought across the border; there was no doubt in many of our parents' minds that Finland would have been absorbed into the Soviet Union once there was a communist regime in charge of things in Helsinki. Fortunately for us, Lénin died and Stálin — once he secured his power base — concentrated on making the industrial improvements in the Soviet Union to bring it fully into the Twentieth Century. On the magical side, Lénin — and especially Stálin after him thanks to Svetlána Múromeca and her friends — was launching all sorts of purges and mass collectivization to ensure no potential challenge to the Bolsheviks could come from that quarter, especially since the Reds murdered off the Románovs in Ekaterinbúrg in 1918; that upset a lot of Russian magical purebloods even if the common folk supported any change which would improve their lot."

"By the time we were going through Aarnivalkea, the Soviets were making noises about conquering Finland like they would do eastern Poland in 1939 and the Baltic states the next year," Marjatta continued. "We didn't want that, so the people of the land — on both sides of the secrecy divide — supported making an alliance with Germany. And while Field Marshal Mannerheim didn't care to do that, we felt we had no choice. Master Gellert didn't care for what Stálin was doing and a lot of Russians were flooding the ranks of the Magische Reichsarmee, especially ethnic Germans from the Baltics, the Vólga River valley, the Black Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus and the Ukraine. A call for volunteers was spread out over Finland. Hanne and I answered."

"You'll find that a lot of the non-German and non-Austrian volunteers felt the same way," Hannele said with a smirk. "Especially the Spanish volunteers."

The reporter nodded. "What do you see as your mission now?"

"Simple," Marjatta declared. "Your Queen has requested our assistance in preserving the magical peace in the land and protecting Her Subjects by stopping the vampires and their supporters here from doing what they're doing. Once that's done, we will then move on with our lives. We, at least, have relatives back home we could reconnect with once we get a straight story about our absence for sixty-five years figured out."

"Callie and her friends from here don't," Hannele added…

…just as the door to the teashop opened to reveal a wide-eyed Linn Heinrich. Gazing at the interrogation specialist, Hermione moaned. "You too?!"

"Ja!" the native of Northeim declared as she sat down. Immediately, Rosa Lee — a native of Shropshire who had quietly tended her small teashop for over three decades after graduating from Hogwarts, yet another normal witch striving to make a life for herself in an uncertain world — came over with a cup of tea. "Danke!" Linn said with a nod to their host before sipping the tea; she took it straight. "Mein Gott…!"

"What?" Callie demanded.

"Fürstin of Swinford," Linn declared.

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

Then…

"Oh — my — God!"

Rita gazed on Hermione. "What?"

A wry chuckle escaped the normal-born from Crawley. "There's your Page One headline tonight, Rita!" she declared. "With Linn here becoming the Countess of Swinford, the Seven and Ten — for the first time since 1977 and the death of Tobias Vance thanks to Melvin Kneen — are whole and complete." As Rita gaped at her, Hermione smirked as she toasted her with her tea cup. "The Black Maidens have a quorum in the Wizengamot."

A delighted smile crossed the older woman's face…


Outside the urban part of Edinburgh, on a hill overlooking Glencorse Reservoir in Pentland Hills Regional Park (a kilometre north of Trunk Road A702 and two kilometres northwest of Penicuik), ninety minutes before supper…

"Lieber Gott, Elisa! If this is your new house, I want to live here!"

"At least they didn't turn this place into a damned golf course," Elizabeth breathed out as she gazed upon the beautiful home of her paternal ancestors.

Glencorse Manor — located five kilometres west of south from Craiglockhart Castle — was a square stone tower about the size of an average townhouse, possessing three floors with an attic and basement. It had been constructed in the mid-Seventeenth Century for the magical friends of the Clan Lockhart of Lee as a place to hide from potential rhabdophobes in the last decades of the Dark Times of Magic. While the Gibbon family — ennobled as the Viscounts of Craiglockhart within the Wizengamot at the personal recommendation of Archibald Douglas, then the Earl of Forfar, who had married the daughter of the man who provided the land for Glencorse Manor, Sir William Lockhart — had been more than grateful at the time for such a gift, successive generations eventually warped the story of the construction of this estate around to say that the Gibbons had seized the land back from the "muggle pretender lords" who had tried to "steal" it from them; that was what Griphook had told the current Viscountess of Craiglockhart when he gave her a full run-down of her family assets that morning.

Footsteps in the grass announced the arrival of the commander of the pioneer company in the Third Battalion, Majorin Tresa Addis. A native of Munich in Bavaria and a graduate of the Rheinfelden Academy of Magecraft in the Mistresses Class of 1937, she was — like her counterpart in the Fourth Battalion, Jade Speer — a Gringotts-trained curse-breaker and warder who had turned three years of hard training into a successful wartime career that netted her the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, the Magical Assault Badge in Gold and the Wound Badge in Silver. Aboard the Freedom before everyone had gone to bed last night, she expressed hope of returning to her old employers once this madness was over with…though, as the professional soldier she was, she wouldn't allow such thoughts to distract her from her current duties. "My people are looking over the property right now, meine Generalmajorin," the tall, muscular Bavarian with the smoky grey eyes and the long, flowing brown hair — tied now in a French braid — reported. "It looks good. Just like Herr Griphook promised you. Your staff really cared for this place."

"Das ist gut," Elizabeth breathed out. "Linn?!"

"Ja?!" a still-dazed Linn Heinrich — Elizabeth had been told the news of her chief interrogator's inheritance — called from the west end of the property.

"We have enough room here for everyone?!"

"If we can use some of the inside rooms!" the interrogator from Lower Saxony replied.

"Right!" With that, Elizabeth — with Margareta Hecht at her side — marched to the main door. Holding up her right hand — which had the ring marking her as matriarch of her clan — she pressed that on the crystal over the handle to alert the house's wards that someone had come to claim the property. Immediately, the door opened and swung clear to allow the leader of the Schwarze Mädchen entrance, the interior lights flicking on to illuminate the brightly-painted walls and richly-carpeted floors. "Nice…!"

"Hello?! Is there someone there?!"

Elizabeth blinked before she noted a picture on a wall before the entrance to the main reception room, that covered by curtains. Before she could walk over to gaze on who was under the curtains there, a faint pop! allowed an elderly house elf to appear on the floor before the portrait. "Silly blood-traitors!" the small being snarled in a male-like voice. "You be quiet like poor Master and Mistress wanted of you! Shame on the House of Gibbon with your love of mudbloods and blood-traitors…!"

"Excuse me?!"

He gargled on hearing that magic-filled voice before spinning around to stare wide-eyed at the shuddering blonde woman in the strange mottled brown clothing at the door. As he focused his attention on the glowing ring on the woman's right hand, the silver-haired woman beside this stranger chuckled. "I thought you once said you'd never, in all your years, own a house elf, Elisa," she noted with an amused tone in her voice.

"Oh! Is that the new head of house out there?!" that odd voice called out.

Sighing, Elizabeth walked up to the portrait, making a dismissive wave of her hand to the house elf. As he shied away from her while his magical senses nearly overloaded on feeling the sheer power emanating from this strange woman, the leader of the Schwarze Mädchen wandlessly parted the curtains…before gaping. "Oh, my Lord…!"

"Oh, my! It's like looking into a mirror!"

"Except for the strange clothes, of course!"

In a beautiful scene which appeared to Elizabeth to hark to the days of the Victorian Age, there were painted twin sisters in beautiful period clothing…who could clearly pass as slightly-older versions of the Gibbon twins. As Elizabeth took a moment to absorb the sight before her, Margareta smirked. "Your pardon, meine Damen, for disturbing you this wonderful day. It appears my war matriarch is a little stunned at the sight of such incomparable beauty, which — in my humble opinion — simply rivals her own." As Elizabeth sputtered and the women in the paintings tittered in embarrassed delight on hearing that complement, the brigade sergeant-major of the Black Maidens clicked her heels together, bowing her head. "Your names, please?"

"Oh, I'm Amanda Gibbon," the woman on the left declared.

"And I'm Samantha Gibbon," the woman on the right added.

Elizabeth blinked before she nodded. "You were Thaddeus' older sisters, right?"

"Yes!" both women chanted.

The new matriarch of the Gibbons of Craiglockhart sighed. "As well as Josephus'?"

The twins in the portrait bowed their heads in grief as the house elf gargled. "No one must speak of the dirty squib, Mistress! Shame he was to the noble…!"

"BE SILENT!"

The poor elf was nearly crushed by the explosion of magic that burst from Elizabeth as she glared on him like an uncaring Pallas Athena would gaze upon the battlefield of Troy. As the elf shuddered on realizing that this strange woman — who WAS his mistress now; she couldn't wear the family ring that had last been worn by Helena Gibbon if she wasn't! — was most likely a blood-traitor herself, the twins on the picture exchanged a look before they gazed on her. "Are you related to Josephus?" Amanda then asked.

"I knew him as Grandfather Joseph," Elizabeth announced. "I'm Elizabeth Gibbon."

"A MUDBLOOD?!" the elf shrieked out before he began to cry. "Oh, the shame…!"

"I'd recommend clothes right away, Elisa," Margareta cut in.

The elf gargled on hearing that dire threat. Elizabeth hummed before she reached into her jacket pocket to draw out a certain skeleton key. "No, we can't afford a fifth column to strike us when we don't expect it, Gretta. I was thinking of allowing this filthy-mouthed creature to have a little taste of the Hollows…!"

A horrified shriek escaped the elf as the Key of Gonebren grew to the size of a sword. Instantly, he moved to prostrate himself before her. "No, Mistress! Please don't give Tangy to the horrible, nasty Hollows! Tangy is a good elf! Please, Mistress…!"

"SILENCE!" Elizabeth snapped, making Tangy yelp as another wave of magic slammed into him. "The staleblood filth that polluted this place for years are gone, having either fed the krakens off Land's End or had their souls shredded by the Hollows! Unless you wish to join them, you will not say anything that my friends will deem offensive! If you do, you WILL be given over to my parents' spirits in Gonebren for punishment!"

As Tangy trembled in horror at the idea of facing beings that made killing wizards and witches their raison d'être, Samantha asked, "Why would your parents be Hollows?!"

"Because they were executed on the order of the Minister for Magic in late 1940, Frau Samantha," Margareta answered. "All for the 'crime' of giving birth to two 'mudblood' daughters who had the audacity to move to Germany in the late 1930s to find better lives for themselves and help fight so others may have better lives as well. Which did not sit well to the leicheblut schweinhunde who governed magicals in Britain."

The twins in the portraits exchanged looks before they gaped in awe. "You mean to say, Elizabeth…that you joined the Black Maidens?!" Amanda squealed.

"Oh, my! To be related to such a dashing rogue!" Samantha teased.

"I'm their commander," Elizabeth stated before waving to her companion. "My brigade sergeant-major — and the woman who avenged my parents' deaths in 1941, not to mention the deaths of the relatives of my coven-sisters native to Britain — Margareta Hecht."

"Honoured," Margareta stated with another click of her heels.

"Pleased to meet you!" the twins in the painting chanted together.

Tangy howled. "EVIL MUDBLOOD! YOU KILLED THE MASTER'S GRANDPARENTS…!"

"GONEBREN, 'C' BLOCK!"

…before he disappeared in a flash of light thanks to being tapped by the Key. As Elizabeth breathed out in disgust, Margareta squeezed her shoulder in support…just as footsteps heralded Linn Heinrich walking in. "What happened?!"

"She just sent the elf that kept this place nice and neat to Gonebren, Linn," Margareta answered. "He was a foul-mouthed creature who didn't care for 'mudbloods.'"

The chief interrogator nodded. "Shall we examine the inside?" she then asked.

"Do it!" Elizabeth snapped. "I want Headquarters up and running in thirty minutes! We're on a clock! Send the liaison officers out to Anna, Jess, Aimée and Diana for updates!"

"Jawohl!"

As Linn ran out to alert the others — and to warn people that the "Boss" was in a bad mood, not to mention why — the leader of the Black Maidens walked into the reception room to gaze on what was there, allowing the Key of Gonebren to rest on her shoulder. Beautiful furniture, bright colours, glistening crystal chandeliers, books in well-ordered shelves…save for the absence of any modern technology, this could actually be the sitting room of a normal nobleman's house. One would think that if beings as ghastly and as evil as her second cousins three times removed had lived here, this place would be as dark and dreary as some parts of Hogwarts seemed to her.

"Hypocrites!" she muttered to herself before turning as people came inside…


Solway Lookout, the Malfoy summer home, suppertime…

"…Wizarding Wireless Network Six O'clock Evening News," the news presenter's voice echoed over the wireless set — a traditional unit in lieu of the more advanced versions that had come out of the Technomancy Shoppe in recent years — located at one corner of the sitting room. "Here are the headlines. An attack by daywalker vampires in Diagon Alley was rapidly put down just before lunch by the Black Maidens…"

"WHAT?!"

"Draco!" Narcissa Malfoy scolded as she gave him an annoyed look.

Watching her mother-in-law, Astoria Malfoy barely could fight down her smirk on seeing her husband turn especially pale on hearing what had just happened. Like Narcissa, the younger, raven-haired sister of Daphne Greengrass had been clued into what was going on thanks to Raven, who was now supervising quidditch practice with the Chudley Cannons at their stadium down in Devon. And while Astoria — who had got a crush on Draco during his seventh year at Hogwarts and never let go until they married shortly after her own graduation in 2000 — hoped that her husband would finally come to his senses and turn away from his current course, she was prepared for the worst. She knew Narcissa had, shortly after breakfast this morning, gone to Gringotts and — in her capacity as the matriarch of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Malfoy of Avebury, who could act in the patriarch's stead in cases of death or permanent incapacity until Scorpius came of age — prepared the groundwork for when Draco was deposed as Marquess and Raven was forced to take his place, either as Regent Lady for Scorpius or as Marchioness.

I wonder if this is something ALL Slytherin mothers go through, she mused to herself. Always trying to balance their feelings with the needs of their families…!

"…Man-Who-Won himself, as well as friends in both the Order of the Phoenix and the Hogwarts Defence Association who were in Diagon this morning," the WWN presenter continued. "In a battle that lasted mere minutes from the instant the vampires were detected by Brigadier Elizabeth Gibbon, the leader of the Black Maidens…"

"We really can't call her that anymore, Charles," the colour commentator cut in.

Laughter responded. "Yes, of course. That's the second headline this evening…and I WILL get to that, Gregory!" Charles Alda declared. As the colour commentator laughed, the presenter added, "As I was saying, Brigadier Gibbon detected the presence of the vampires — over two hundred of them — in Diagon and Knockturn, then moved to soundly defeat them, slaughtering them to the last with no fatalities in return and only SEVEN bystanders requiring emergency services at St. Mungo's. At the brigadier's side this morning was her own twin sister, Lieutenant Colonel Jessica Gibbon of the Black Maidens' Fourth Battalion…not to mention Lieutenant Colonel Aimée Sutone of the Third Battalion, Major Lila Fontaine of the Brigade Headquarters Company, Major Cara Walthari of the Fourth Battalion's Number 41 Jäger Company and Master Staff Sergeant Margareta Hecht, the Black Maiden Brigade's senior non-commissioned officer and the leader of the group's liberation mission to the Ministry of Magic in 1941 that freed the enslaved magicals of the British Empire from London's control."

"That's a surprising participant, Charles," Gregory Wolfe noted. "Master Staff Sergeant Hecht — as is well known — was the woman who also interrogated and executed Minister for Magic Benedict Fenwick in that attack…not to mention directed the hunting down of all the people who murdered the British Black Maidens' relatives."

"I personally thought she'd be a perfect Hufflepuff had she gone to Hogwarts," Charles noted. "Did they ever divide by houses at Nurmengard, Gregory?"

"Not that I personally know of. But remember, there WAS a 'Puff in that mission to the Ministry in 1941, Charles: Warrant Officer Class 2 Enid Geraint, who is the senior non-commissioned member of the Second Battalion and one of the many Black Maidens who had prior combat experience, gained in the Spanish Civil War of '36 to '39," Gregory stated with pride; he himself was a Hufflepuff alumnus, as was Charles. "She was the original British Black Maiden, graduating from Hogwarts in 1934 with ten NEWTs…but since she was a 'mudblood'…" — the colour commentator's voice dripped with scorn on saying that word — "…she couldn't get a job on this side of the North Sea, so she went to Germany and bought into that whole 'greater good' propaganda that Grindelwald was espousing at the time. Which — given how utterly clueless normal-borns were in those days when it came to magical societies — emphasizes the real tragedy behind these girls. I'm glad that Rittmeister von Taserich saved them."

"Amen to that, Gregory. Anyhow, as a side story to the lead story, it appears the Queen decided it was prudent to make extra sure of it. For the first time known since Death Eater Season, the Key of Gonebren is not in the hands of Her Majesty."

Draco croaked on hearing that, making Astoria whisper a wandless spell to put a bubble of silence on him so she could listen to the news. "Indeed," Gregory said. "Brigadier Gibbon was given a Royal Warrant to flush out any daywalkers trying to cause trouble in the country by Her Majesty this morning at Buckingham Palace. At that meeting — which was attended by Harry Potter — the director of the German Federal Museum of Magic in Berlin, Transfiguration Mistress Julia Hoffman, returned the Black Maidens' belongings to Brigadier Gibbon and Master Staff Sergeant Hecht, including their wands."

"Which the brigadier and her friends DIDN'T need in Diagon today," Charles added.

Laughter echoed over the wireless. "Indeed, it was just smashing to watch them go at it. The bloody vampires didn't know what hit them!" Gregory stated, making his friend laugh. "While it's not been confirmed as of yet by either the Ministry or the Black Maidens, the handover of the Key of Gonebren was no doubt done in answer to yesterday morning's incident at Nurmengard Prison, when the mysterious Friend of Dragons — known more commonly as 'her' — discovered the Black Maidens trapped in suspended animation in a cave west of the prison complex itself…then had to kill off over a hundred daywalker vampires while she teleported the Maidens to the Avalonian bioroid factory in orbit around the Moon so they could be freed after SIXTY-FIVE years in such a state."

"Let's focus on that a moment. How would those girls feel right now, Gregory?"

"I would say very disorientated…but given the Avalonians' psionic powers — which, as is well known, far outmatch any form of Legilimency or Occlumency that a Terran magical can do — they would have caught up to things real quickly. Looking outside our studio in Diagon, I can see members of the Second Battalion under command of Lieutenant Colonel Diana von Meißen — the 'Black Baroness of Brandenburg' herself who commanded the Maidens' first foray into the Soviet Union in 1941 — doing patrols. Half of them I've seen have dataPADDs — the Avalonian version of laptop computers — in hand."

"Well, we really can't call the Lady Diana a mere 'baroness' now, can we?"

Gregory laughed. "We can't avoid this one, Charles. The second story this evening is the fact that — as confirmed by Gringotts today — the Seven and Ten are effectively whole and complete for the first time in thirty-three years, since the tragic murder of Lady Vanessa Zabini's husband Lord Tobias Vance in 1977 by Death Eater Martin Kneen. Incredible as THIS will sound, the newly-confirmed Countesses of Droitwitch, Swinford, Romney and Clydeford — whose last seat holders in the Wizengamot, as noted just now, were all victims of Martin Kneen because of their tragically short marriages to Lady Vanessa — are all members in good standing of the Black Maidens themselves!"

As Draco looked almost ready to faint, Narcissa and Astoria exchanged a surprised look. "And with the Defunct Lords Act of 1957 having been done away with two weeks ago — atop the 1950 Statement of Exoneration concerning the Black Maidens issued by the ICMC in Geneva, which is binding magical law here in Britain — there is simply no legal path by which any objection to those four ladies taking those seats in the Wizengamot can be pursued as magical nationality laws in the United Kingdom do acknowledge that blood relations across international borders have the inherent right to claim British citizenship. And since these ladies — not to mention several others of their coven — had blood relations over here, they legally are British," Charles added.

"And that brings us to tonight's special guest this evening," Gregory stated. "The first commander of the Black Maiden Brigade — forced by injury to give up her command in early 1944 — and the first person who has the undisputed right to call herself the 'Destroyer of Azkaban,' Colonel Livia Dietrich of the Berlin suburb of Schöneberg. A graduate of Greifinswald from the Mistresses Class of 1936, she's a member of the Order of the Iron Cross granted the right to bear the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, a member of the Italian Military Order of Savoy at the rank of Commander AND a member of the Order Pour le Mérite Magique. She personally commanded the first strike on British soil in Grindelwald's War in the attack on Azkaban Prison in 1939. Colonel Dietrich, good evening to you. How does it feel to be in the Twenty-first Century?"

"'Horrendously shocking' as you English would most likely say it," a slightly-accented voice answered back, possessing a Prussian's clipped tones. As the two WWN reporters laughed on hearing that — that echoed by Narcissa's and Astoria's chuckles, which made Draco gape at them — Livia Dietrich added, "Before we begin this interview, if I may, I would like to personally apologize to those relatives of the Aurors that were killed in Azkaban that day in 1939 for their deaths when I led my jäger company there to destroy the Dementors and render the prison useless for the rest of the war. Much that killing people is a horrid thing, it's an undeniable fact of life when war is concerned."

"Did you hear of what Mun Aesup did in 1997?" Charles asked.

"Indeed I did. I should remind you, Herr Alda, that woman is a serving officer in Her Majesty's Royal Naval Reserve holding the rank of lieutenant commander as a member of the crew of Her Majesty's Ship President here in London. I consider it offensive that such an incredible woman would not be addressed properly by rank."

"I do apologize for that, Colonel," Charles stated.

"It's alright," Livia conceded. "To answer your question about what she did in 1997, I personally hold Lieutenant Commander Mun with high regard. We never considered using mesonium-based weapons during the war; that material was always under the full control of Rittmeister von Taserich and was used to create new Übermenschen for use in North America and in Russia beyond the Ural Mountains. I have to confess, the commander's incredible audacity in doing something like that when she supported Markgraf Potter in his efforts to destroy Voldemort and his allies in the summer of 1997 should have seen her — in my eyes — rewarded with more than just a second class Order of Merlin."

"What would you have suggested?" Gregory wondered.

"Ennoblement in the Wizengamot. That is the Queen's Prerogative, is it not?"

"Indeed, many have suggested that since that time. I personally suspect it's because she is Korean — even if her family's magical line can be traced back over four millennia to the court of King Tan'gun himself — that's blocked any support from the Wizengamot towards such an ennoblement," Charles mused. "But that's what your group ultimately fought against, isn't it? The elimination of all forms of racism."

"Ja, we did," Livia replied. "In our eyes, it didn't — and still doesn't — matter if you're human or not, magical or not, raised in magical society or in normal society. We are all the same in the Creator's eyes — to me, that is the Christian God I was raised to venerate — and none should be persecuted for such differences." She sighed. "That made what we were made to finally think on when Herr Hitler killed himself in 1945 all the more hurtful to us. We sought to free people from slavery, both in support to Tsukiko-sensei's campaigns in Asia…and in Europe as well. And yet, by an act of cruel Fate, we will be forever connected to the most evil group of mass-murderers in recorded history. Herr Hitler vowed once that the Third Reich would last a thousand years. When I was reviewing the history of the past sixty-five years, I read that someone said that it would take TEN TIMES that span of years to erase the stain of the Holocaust from Germany's heart and soul. I agree to that."

"Will your people do something concerning the remnants of the death camps in Poland?" Gregory then asked. "For years, people have warned about the sinkholes of dark magic that developed there thanks to the murders of millions — including magicals — during Grindelwald's War. The Polish Aurors have pleaded time and time again to their Magical Sejm to get the funds necessary to get exorcists and curse-breakers to places like Oświęcim — Auschwitz to you — to clear those places out. Would you help?"

"Ja, of course we would. I'll have to discuss this with Elisa — that's Brigadier Elizabeth Gibbon, my friend and current commander — when our current mission is over with. After all, each of our fighting battalions has a pioneer company, each with a hundred and nine trained curse-breakers, ward-breakers and magical engineers. The pioneer company of the Fourth Battalion, under command of Major Jade Speer, was here in Diagon early this afternoon to ensure all was safe after the vampires' attack."

"Speaking of Major Speer, how's she reacting to the news?" Gregory then teased.

Livia laughed. "Well, in our style, she would now be addressed as Majorin Jade Xìyù Burggräfin Speer und von McKinnon zu Mull. In your style, she is Major the Viscountess Jade Xìyù of the Most Noble House of McKinnon of Mull. In the simpler style the nobles — in one of their wiser decisions when they formed the Wizengamot in 1705 — in England use, acknowledging her father's family name, she is the Lady Jade Xìyù Speer of Mull."

Draco screamed — his voice blocked by Astoria's spell — as he stared wide-eyed at the wireless while Astoria and Narcissa exchanged another shocked look; She's complementing the founders of the Wizengamot?! both women silently asked each other, stunned that a woman who had gladly waged war on the purebloods of Europe would say something like THAT. "Would the Lady Jade seek residence at the old McKinnon home on the Isle of Mull?" Charles asked. "Does she still have relatives alive in Germany at this time?"

"If Jade still has relatives in Germany, that will be investigated. When she did the lineage blood test at Gringotts today, nothing magical was detected. To answer your original question about residing at McKinnon Keep, I would think her relatives who fell at the hands of the Death Eaters in Voldemort's first rebellion would welcome new blood into their family as there are no other known magical relatives still alive. And — given their membership in the Order of the Phoenix at the time of their deaths — I suspect they would probably see it as a perfect slap in the face to the pureblood supremacists in Britain to have a woman who is one-half Hàn Chinese as the new matriarch of the McKinnons. As that family has always been an accepted magical sept of the Clan MacKinnon, Jade is also entitled to wear the clan tartan with her clothes."

"There's a Highland native who was part of your coven who's also been acknowledged as the heiress of one of the empty seats in the Seven and Ten," Charles noted.

As Draco tried not to faint on hearing that, Livia answered, "Ja. That would be Suzanne Stuart, our chief mediwitch. In your style, she is Warrant Officer Class 2 the Countess Suzanne Darlene of the Noble and Ancient House of Kirk of Clydeford. She graduated from Hogwarts in the NEWT Class of 1935, alumnus of Hufflepuff." As both WWN reporters cheered, Livia added, "Which will make her tartan choice rather difficult!"

"How so?" Gregory asked.

"The Kirks of Clydeford were a magical sept of the Clan Erskine," the first commander of the Black Maidens stated. "Suzanne herself is descent in the father's line of the Clan Stuart of Bute. While the tartans are similar in my eyes, I know from learning of the history of Scotland that even the slightest difference in tartan pattern appearing in the wrong territory could have spelled war in the old days. Which way does she go?"

Both reporters laughed again. "Would you like to introduce the other new members of the Seven and Ten, Colonel?" Charles then bade.

"Ja. They are Lieutenant Colonel Diana Daniela Freifrau von Meißen zum Oberspreewald as Countess of Droitwitch, Major Linn Katarina Heinrich as Countess of Swinford and Staff Sergeant Christine Louisa Schultze as Countess of Romney. Of course, Diana's noble honorific will have to now be upgraded to Fürstin!" As the reporters chuckled on hearing that, Livia quietly added, "Freiherr Zabini has been told of this. From what I heard, he was simply overjoyed that elements of the clans of his mother's late husbands still lived. From what he told me, Freifrau Zabini's grief over their deaths at the hands of that monster Kneen haunts her to this very day."

"That it does," Narcissa whispered with a sympathetic nod of her head, making Draco's head snap in her direction for a moment before he looked away.

"What of this incident in Gringotts we heard about?" Charles then asked. "The incident concerning Lady Elaine Mithwold? Can you tell us about that?"

"I can," Livia exhaled. "Freifrau Mithwold was in Gringotts when the attack happened today…as was her nephew, Herr Zacharias Smith. I understand both have been estranged because of the tragic murder of Herr Smith's father during Voldemort's second rebellion. During the time they were kept inside Gringotts for their safety, Suzanne went into the bank to do an inheritance blood test as mandated by Elisa. When it was publicly revealed that Suzanne would now be the Countess of Clydeford, Freifrau Mithwold — in a shocking act of appalling disrespect to members of the Noble Tribe, who are tasked under the Treaty of 1779 to do such tests to locate potential magical heirs of lost families — violently objected to the fact that a 'mudblood' would now be one of the Seven and Ten. That — thanks to Elisa's calling for the Vengeance of Blood before she called out the Hollows to help deal with the vampires — cost that woman her magic."

Draco dropped to the floor as he stared at the wireless as Narcissa and Astoria both gasped in stunned shock. Silence fell over the airwaves for a moment before Charles then hesitantly asked, "Forgive me, Colonel Dietrich, but I'd like to confirm what you just said: Brigadier Gibbon — by the way, ladies and gentlemen, the brigadier is now the Viscountess of Craiglockhart as she is a distant relative of two of Voldemort's Death Eaters, the late Marcus Gibbon and his sister Helena, now imprisoned in Azkaban for her crimes — called down the Vengeance of Blood today in Diagon Alley?"

"Ja, mein Herr, that is correct," Livia confirmed as Draco shook his head over the fact that the leader of the Black Maidens was related to two of his father's closest friends.

"Why did the Lady Elizabeth do that?" Gregory asked.

"For the same reason all virgin witches call down the Vengeance of Blood, Herr Wolfe," the deputy commander of the Black Maidens coldly said. "When they are threatened by those who would do them evil. As the vampires who attacked us yesterday morning while we were trapped in the cave at Nurmengard did before die Freundin von Drachen came to save us all. And yes, before you ask, we believe that the vampires who attacked us are part of the same group that were moving to attack your countrymen in Diagon today. Dare we ask ourselves what they might have done with our power had they seized it?"

"Bloody hell…!" Astoria hissed.

"What's wrong, Mummy?"

Narcissa and Astoria both snapped around to see a wide-eyed Scorpius Malfoy standing at the open doorway to the sitting room. "Scorpius!" the latter breathed out as she walked over to gently lift her son into arms. "Did you finish your supper?"

He nodded. "All of it!" he declared with the bursting pride a four year-old boy would always show when he did something that pleased his mother. "What's wrong?" he then asked. "Why are you and Grandmummy mad, Mummy? You don't ever say bad words."

Astoria sighed. "Scorpius, do you know of the Black Maidens?" she asked.

He nodded. "Daddy says they were bad people."

"To some, they were bad," his mother stated, glad that Draco was just too distracted by the fact that whatever influence in the Wizengamot he could still exercise would now be wiped out once the just-ennobled Black Maidens would take their oaths of office to say anything in objection to what his wife was now telling their son. And knowing Blaise, the Black Maidens would be allowed to take such oaths tomorrow or Friday, Astoria mused to herself. "But to many others, they were trapped in something really bad, which hurt them a lot. They tried to make good lives for themselves, but they were tricked by an evil man to do very bad things. They were thought to have gone to Heaven to save all of Earth long ago, but the Friend of Dragons found them alive yesterday and freed them. They're all now Avalonians just like your Auntie Raven and your Auntie Cassie."

Scorpius blinked as he gazed on his father. "Daddy doesn't like them," he whispered.

"No, he doesn't. But right now, the matriarch of the Black Maidens has called down the Vengeance of Blood on those who would hurt them. Remember what I said about virgins?"

He nodded again. "They didn't go to school. They have to go to school to not be virgins anymore. If they don't, bad wizards could hurt them."

She smiled as she sat down in her chair; as she didn't personally care to explain the whole concept of sex to her son at this time in his life, she had explained the reasoning behind the Vengeance of Blood in a way Scorpius could understand. "Yes, that's true. But when it comes to the Avalonians, they're all born as virgins. It doesn't matter if their soul was born on the factory up in space or was moved over from an old body. They're all virgins when they're born. All the Black Maidens are virgins now, so their matriarch — because the bad vampires tried to hurt them yesterday — called on the Vengeance of Blood."

Scorpius' eyes widened in delight. "The bad vampires will go away!"

"That is what you think, boy!"

Astoria and Narcissa gasped on hearing that hissed voice…

…as thick clouds of smoke began to flood into the sitting room…

"NO!" Narcissa cried out as she tried to draw her wand…

…just as the picture windows nearby shattered inward, revealing seven women in German combat fatigues, wands drawn and ready.

"LAMIA AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Howls of outrage bellowed through the room as a green bolt of energy slammed into one of the dark clouds close to Draco while the other hit-witches lashed out with their own spells at the other vampires materializing in the room, that making the transformed vampire revert back to physical form before he collapsed dead on the floor. As Astoria dropped out of the way, holding Scorpius tight to her side, one of the vampires lashed out to rip open Narcissa's neck before he was dropped by the modified Killing Curse the Schwarze Mädchen created to deal specifically with the undead. Before the other attackers could react, more modified death spells nailed them. Once the last of the group of a dozen vampires was dead, the woman in charge of this field scout section — she had the domed frame rank insignia of a Stabsunteroffizier on her epaulettes — scanned around before she moved to the fallen Narcissa's side, quickly doing first aid charms to prevent her from bleeding out on the floor. "«Get one of the healers here!»" Erika Flade barked out in German. "«We're going to lose this one!»"

"Jawohl!" one of the privates barked back before teleporting away.

"AVAD-…!"

Draco's attempt at the Killing Curse on Erika was stopped when one of the other Black Maidens who came here — she had the five half-chevrons of an Oberstabsgefreiter on her epaulettes — spun around to deliver a devastating snap side-kick to his jaw, dropping him like a cut marionette. Scorpius — who hadn't yet seen what just happened to his grandmother — gaped on seeing such a wicked move before he clapped his hands. "Do it again! Do it again!" he cheered before Astoria moved to shush him.

The woman who had just dropped Draco, Lieselotte Kepler, chuckled before she wandlessly conjured up a lollipop for her new fan. As Scorpius took the sweet and began to suck on it, the native of Stuttgart placed her fingertips on the back of Astoria's neck. «Let him go to sleep so he doesn't see his grandmother hurt, Markgräfin Malfoy,» she telepathically bade. «Don't worry about her. We have access to the factory now.»

Astoria wordlessly and wandlessly charming her son asleep. With a nod of thanks, she carried him out of the room just as another woman came into the room, also bearing the rank insignia of an Oberstabsgefreiter on her epaulettes…as well as the lanyard of the Red Cross on her arm. "«My God! What happened?!»" Käthe Bien demanded.

"«Here, Käthe!»" Erika snapped.

The mediwitch of the Intelligence Company ran over as she drew her wand to put stasis spells on Narcissa's wounds. As one of the privates moved to assist, Erika got up to scan around. "Is there a house elf here?!" she called out in accented English.

Pop! "What do you need of Tiffy, Mistress?" a cute girl elf asked.

Erika knelt down. "Meine Herrin, your house matriarch is badly hurt and may need to be moved to the bioroid factory in space to be healed," she stated, making Tiffy gasp on being called "my lady" in German. "I need to know this for the safety of your family: Did these vampires here come with your master to this house in the last few days?"

Tiffy blinked before shaking her head. "There is no vampire here, Mistress. Tiffy is not sure what these things are, but they're not vampires! Tiffy is sure, Mistress!"

That response made Erika blink before she gazed on the still forms on the floor all around the sitting room. "Go keep watch over your master's son, meine Herrin," she bade Tiffy with a smile. As the madly-blushing elf, who was not used to be addressed so respectfully by any human, popped away to do as she was bade — and as Käthe barked out for a litter to be made to get Narcissa transported into space — the field scout drew her wand and moved to do a diagnostic spell on a female vampire, whose features had shifted to a more human form. And a VERY gorgeous one at that, which made Erika blink for a moment on detecting some unique enchantments in her body…and nothing that would indicate this being was human, much less vampire! "«What the…?»"

"«What is it, Erika?»"

That was one of the senior privates in Erika's section, Ilse Henoth. "«Ilse, is this what I think this is?»" Erika asked of the native of Cologne, pointing to the vampire.

Drawing her own wand, Ilse did her own diagnostics…before she gaped. "Lieber Gott…!" she hissed out before she moved to unbutton the still woman's shirt to expose what was underneath. As a chiming noise in the background signalled the removal of Narcissa Malfoy and Käthe Bien to the factory, Ilse stared at the woman's breasts for a moment before she moved to gently feel under the band of her trousers. A second later, she gasped as she felt something QUITE unique at the nexus of the dead woman's legs. "«Erika…we need to get Linn here right away,»" she hissed out.

Erika nodded. "«Go!»"

"Jawohl!"

Ilse raced off to do as she was bade. Shaking her head, Erika rose before turning as Astoria came into the room, a cup of tea in hand. "Would you like something to drink, Corporal Flade?" the wife of the Marquess of Avebury offered as she held out the cup.

The native of Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate chuckled as she nodded her thanks. "Your mother-in-law will be fine," she assured her before sipping the tea. "Your son?"

"Asleep. What of Draco?"

Erika looked over. "He'll be turned over to my company commander — that's Majorin Linn Heinrich, by the way — for questioning. Did you know of your other 'guests?'"

"No! I even asked our house elves about them!" Astoria reported. "How could they not be vampires, Corporal?! You struck them down with a vampire-specific curse!"

"Ja, we did…but all that did was destroy their living souls that were possessing bodies that — if what I think they are is correct — should be in cold storage in a sealed underground bunker on the grounds of the Trischen Academy that was closed off by us a half-month before Freiherr Dumbledore and Minister Grindelwald had their duel." At Astoria's confused look, Erika added, "Bunkers are a type of dungeon."

"War golems?!"

Astoria's head snapped around. "Raven!"

She ran over to embrace her sister-in-law, who had just been escorted into the room by another Black Maiden bearing the rank insignia of a Konstabel in the Royal Danish Army. "Magistra Magi Raven Malfoy, Erika," the young hit-witch, a native of the island of Samsø named Rachel Krag, said with a polite bow of her head.

"Danke, Rachel," Erika stated as she set the tea cup aside before politely bowing. "And you're almost correct, Magistra Magi," she stated as she waved Raven to where the leader of this group of "vampires" was now sprawled out on the floor. "Ja, they're golems…but we think they might have been possessed by the spirits of vampires; that's how we were able to 'kill' them. Didn't you sense them when you were here?"

"No," Raven hissed out as she glared on Draco, who now was tied down with magic-dampening restraints. "Then again, I don't live here full-time. I reside with my lover down in Chudleigh; I only visit here to be with my mother. Where is she?"

"In orbit," Erika stated, which made Raven's eyes go wide as she immediately realized what the German hit-witch was implying. "Don't worry! Our mediwitch is a very skilled healer; you won't lose her! Your family is safe, Frau Markgräfin!"

Raven blinked before an emotionless mask crossed her face. "Not yet."

That made Erika blink — though her empathy was quick to sense an explosion of sheer FURY billowing from the other woman's heart — before she watched Raven march over to the unconscious Draco. "Excuse me, please," she bade the two privates who had tied down her brother, then waved her hand. "Rennervate!" she hissed out.

As Draco croaked out in shock before a pained moan escaped him from the nasty bruise now appearing on his chin, he then gasped as a pair of hands snared him by the neck and yanked him up before spinning him around to smash him back-first into the wall. "What the…bloody hell…?!" he snarled before fingers snared his hair to make his skull slam into the wall behind him. As a hiss of pain escaped him, he gazed at the person who just hurt him…before he paled on seeing a pair of burning eyes glare at him from the face of the woman he had come to hate and fear above all else.

"You stupid, idiotic, selfish, arrogant BRAT!" Raven snarled out as she waved her hand to wandlessly bind him to the wall. "What in the name of all that is holy in this Universe is WRONG with you, Draco?! Do you see this?!" she demanded as she pointed to the fallen "vampires" sprawled dead on the floor. "They came here to make sure YOU — not to mention your wife, mother and son! — didn't do anything to defy your delightful new 'friend' Mister Sewell! And if it wasn't for the Schwarze Mädchen coming in when they did, you'd all either be dead or TURNED! Why won't you wake up and finally realize the whole world doesn't revolve around you anymore, you fool?!"

"YOU STUPID BACK-STABBING GOLEM!" he screamed out. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT…!"

"SILENCIO!"

Draco's mouth flapped up and down soundlessly as Raven turned to stare wide-eyed at the woman standing at the doorway to the sitting room. "Mrs. Weasley?!" Astoria gasped.

Molly Weasley nodded politely. "Hello, Tori! Is Scorpius alright?"

The younger woman grinned. While she wouldn't have normally had anything to do with a person like Molly in the past, motherhood had changed Astoria's attitudes on a lot of things. "Sleeping peacefully right now, Aunt Molly," she answered.

"Thank Merlin for that." To Erika and the other Black Maidens in the room. "Guten Abend, meine Damen," Molly said in accented German, which made all of them smile as they nodded politely in return. She then walked over to stand protectively close to the intimate friend of her youngest son. "You foolish boy!" she hissed out as Draco shuddered on seeing the "Mother of All Blood Traitors" — as he had long nicknamed the Weasley matriarch — standing in his own sitting room. "I would think being sorted into Slytherin and being Severus' godson would have taught you something called 'intelligence!' It's not a quality that's restricted to Ravenclaws, you know! You need intelligence to succeed in life…and for all this time, you've never shown it! Now you've allied with vampires of all things just because you're afraid of your own SISTER?! Even if I had no reason at all to like your father, I knew how much he suffered when it was believed Raven was lost! Where's your compassion, Draco?!"

"Lucius ensured Narcissa could not fully teach him that, Molly," a strange voice hailed from the doorway, making Molly and Raven turn to stare in shock on seeing Severus Snape standing there, arms crossed and a scowling look on his face. "And given that Raven's very existence — not to mention her twice defeating her father — threatens Draco's place as leader of his clan…"

"Hah! If the stupid boy only accepted Raven as his sister, he wouldn't be lashed up helpless against a wall now!" a voice uttered from nearby, making people turn to gaze on the portrait of Brutus Malfoy, who was Marquess of Avebury at the time of the passing of the Statute of Secrecy and a passionate mugalophobe…which was quite understandable at the time given the massive persecution magicals in Europe faced at the hands of normals during the latter years of the Seventeenth Century. "We never abandon family no matter what, not even a child saved by Headmistress Helga's curse of all things! And this whole idea of these Space Angels being golems?! Ridiculous! How on Earth could the leader of these nice muggleborns here call down the Vengeance of Blood of all things if she was a 'mere golem?!' Anyone could tell you that!"

As Draco screamed at the portrait to shut up — with no words escaping from him thanks to Molly's silencing charm — Raven took a breath. "Potions Master Snape, Matriarch Weasley, Sister-in-Law, my sisters…I ask you all to bear witness."

Everyone stiffened on hearing that as Draco paled on hearing the Arctic-level chill in Raven's voice. "Do it!" Astoria bade, which made her husband croak.

Turning away from Draco, Raven snarled out, "I should have done this thirteen years ago, Brother Dearest!" She then closed her eyes. "Bona Spe Bona Vita Boni…!"

Hearing that activation phrase, Draco rapidly shook his head as he felt his sister's vast pool of magic billow to life…before he literally soiled his trousers on hearing the incantation that followed: "Marte Cruentum! Peto Iure Victoriae…!

"PRAEDA BELLICA!"

Her body flared star-white before a bolt of energy lashed out to lance into Draco's heart, causing him to shriek with ungodly agony as he felt the family magic ripped away from him to flood Raven from head to toe. As the house violently shook at such a sudden and unorthodox passing of the baton between the siblings as permitted by the Spoils of War benediction, Brutus Malfoy bellowed, "ALL HAIL THE MARCHIONESS RAVEN CHANDRA, THE MALFOY OF MALFOY! LONG MAY SHE GUARD HER MAJESTY'S REALM!"

"LONG MAY SHE GUARD HER MAJESTY'S REALM!" the voices of other portraits in all the other rooms of the mansion loudly chanted as one as the torrent of power now flooding the new Marchioness of Avebury finally faded…and the just-deposed Marquess of Avebury collapsed in an unconscious daze on the floor, a pained moan escaping him.

Raven blinked as she felt her eyes moisten before she gaped as Astoria ran over to embrace her, the latter sobbing as she held her sister-in-law tight. As the Schwarze Mädchen gazed in sympathy at the newly-ennobled matriarch of the Malfoys of Avebury, Severus sighed. "Raven, I will contact your aunt to tell her what happened."

She nodded. "Corporal Flade, where did your healer take my mother?"

"To the Freedom," Erika answered. "That's where we're based out of, Frau Markgräfin."

Another nod from Draco's sister. "Uncle Severus, will you pass that on to Aunt Bella?"

"Of course." And with that, he walked out of the room.

Silence fell over the scene before Raven reached up to gently thread her fingers through Astoria's hair. "It's alright, Tori," she whispered as the latter continued to weep. She then gazed on Molly. "Matriarch Weasley, with my complements, would you please ask your husband if he can spare time to meet me in parley sometime soon?"

Molly nodded. "I'll tell him that, Lady Malfoy."

With that, she headed out. Raven then sighed. "Tiffy!"

Pop! "What is it, Mistress?" Tiffy asked, a bright smile on her face.

"Is my nephew still sleeping?"

A rapid nod responded. "Yes, Mistress! Young Master Scorpius is dreaming now!"

"Good. Have Jinni move Scorpius' father down to the dungeons. Make sure Scorpius gets a good night's sleep. He'll need it, especially given what will happen when he learns what just happened tomorrow. When Corporal Flade's commander comes here to speak to Draco, make sure she's given all the assistance she requires. Major Heinrich — and our guests with us now — are acting on behalf of their war matriarch, who has a Royal Warrant with the power of Her Majesty's Prison Gonebren at her side. Understood?"

Another rapid nod from Tiffy. "Yes, Mistress!" Pop!

"What of them?" Astoria whispered as she nodded to the dead "vampires" in the room.

"We'll take care of them," Erika promised.

"Danke…"

To be continued…


WRITER'S NOTES

1) Translations: Nakōdo — A person who acts as a go-between for prospective marriage partners; Anschluss — Literally "connection," this is the term used for the absorption of Austria by Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938 (note that at the time of this event, the word was spelled Anschluß; this spelling would change to the current format in an orthographic reform done in 1996); Meiō — Japanese era name for the period between July 1492 and February 1501; Wildes Heer — Literally "wild army," one of the German titles of the Wild Hunt (the other is the direct translation, Wilde Jagd); Ylikersantti — Literally "over sergeant," this is the Finnish equivalent to a staff sergeant in the United States Army or a sergeant in the Canadian Army (NATO rank code OR-6); Alikersantti — Literally "under sergeant," this is the Finnish equivalent to a corporal in most armies (NATO rank code OR-4); Suomen kieli — Finnish language; Magisches Konzil — Literally "Magical Council," which was the German version of the Wizengamot from 1933-45; Reichsrat — Literally "Imperial Council," the upper house of Germany's parliament from 1919-33; Kristallnacht — Literally "Crystal Night" and more commonly called "The Night of Broken Glass," this was the pogrom against the Jews in Germany that occurred on the night of 9-10 November 1938; Maaginenministeriö — Ministry of Magic; Eduskunta — Literally "front house corps," this is the official name of the Parliament of Finland (though in Finnish, eduskunta is always spelled with a small "e"); Das ist gut — That's good; Raison d'Être — Reason for being; Und Von — And of; Die Freundin von Drachen — (Lady) Friend of Dragons; Lamia Avada Kedavra — An application of the Killing Curse on monsters (the word lamia is Greek for a type of creature that feeds on blood); Stabsunteroffizier — Literally "Staff Subordinate Officer," the German Army equivalent of a Canadian master corporal (NATO rank code OR-5); Oberstabsgefreiter — Literally "Upper Staff Freed Guard," the German Army equivalent of a corporal elsewhere (the base word gefreiter was a rank title traditionally applied to soldiers who were freed from sentry duty at a castle); Konstabel — Literally "Constable," the Royal Danish Army equivalent of a Canadian Army private (recruit) (NATO rank code OR-1); Guten Abend — Good Evening; Bona Spe Bona Vita Boni — Literally "Good Hope, Good Life, Good Spirit" (as demonstrated above, this is Raven Malfoy's activation keyword).

2) Harry Potter character and situation notes:

The real name of the Hufflepuff house ghost, the Fat Friar — much less his specific religious order — is my creation; both were first mentioned in The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone.

The middle names for Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and Patrick Delaney-Podmore mentioned by the Staff of Gihan here are my creation.

Patrick's group, the Headless Hunt, were first mentioned in Chamber of Secrets; that group came to help defend Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows.

The wizarding Clan McKinnon were first mentioned in Order of the Phoenix; their entire family was slaughtered by the Death Eaters in the First Purification War and Lily Potter was very close to Marlene McKinnon, who was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix. The Viscountcy of Mull (now Jade Speer) is named after the Isle of Mull (in Scots Gaelic, Muile), one of the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland a hundred kilometres northwest of Glasgow.

The other earldoms mentioned here were created for TI&tPS when I moved to flesh out Vanessa Zabini's other husbands. The Earldom of Droitwitch (now Diana von Meißen) is a twisting of the name of Droitwitch Spa in Worcestershire on the River Salwarpe twenty kilometres southwest of Birmingham. The Earldom of Swinford (now Linn Heinrich) is named after a village in Leicestershire almost twenty kilometres east of Coventry. And the Earldom of Romney (now Christine Schultze) is named in part after Romney Marsh (first mentioned in this story in Part Four) in the southern part of Kent close to the English Channel coast.

Brutus Malfoy was mentioned in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, published by JKR in 2008 as a companion volume to Deathly Hallows. In that note, Brutus was said to be the editor of the anti-normal periodical Warlock at War, in which he stated "muggle-lovers" were weak magicals and had low intelligence. However, given the times Warlock at War was published — BEFORE the Statute of Secrecy was passed, when persecution of magicals in Europe was at an all-time high — the attitudes of people like Brutus were somewhat understandable.

3) Notes on the magical schools introduced here:

The Babenberg Academy of Sorcery (Babenberger Akademie der Zauberei) is located on a mountaintop overlooking the north bank of the Danube River near Aggsbach, which is fifty-five kilometres north of west from Vienna. The school is named after the House of Babenberg that ruled Austria from 976-1246.

The Aarnivalkea School of Magic (Aarnivalkean Maaginenkoulu) is named in tribute to the Aarnivalkea, which — in Finnish myth — are spots where eternal flames similar to will-o'-the-wisps burn. According to some legends, an aarnivalkea mark a place where faerie gold is buried.

The Læsø Søfort School of Magecraft (Læsø Søfort Magiske Håndværkskole) is, as noted above, named after the island it is located on, Læsø, in the Kattegat that helps connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea and beyond. A søfort ("sea fortress") is a coastal fortification that — on high tide — becomes an artificial island, thus making it inaccessible by land.

The Tallemaja School of Magical Arts (Tallemaja Magiska Kulturskolan) is named in tribute to an interesting piece of Scandinavian folklore. The Tallemaja ("pine tree Mary") are seductive forest spirits similar to the Veela as presented in the Harry Potter novels…which are based on Slavic nymphs.

The Rheinfelden Academy of Magecraft (Rheinfelden Akademie der Magischen Handwerk) was a school located on the north bank of the Rhine River near the city of the same name in Baden-Württemberg fifteen kilometres east of the Swiss city of Basel. Rheinfelden ("fields of the Rhine") is one of a few towns across the world with a namesake city just across a political border, like Niagara Falls in Ontario has a namesake city across the Niagara River in New York. Before 1802, when the borders of Switzerland in this area was fixed down the middle of the Rhine River itself except immediately north of Basel itself, Rheinfelden was one single city and part of the Breisgau (the name is descent from Breisachgau ["Shire of Breisach"]), a state then under the crown of the Hapsburg family as part of Further Austria (Vorderösterreich, also known as die Vorlande).

As an aside, after World War Two when all of Germany's magical schools were shut down save for Nibelung, Rheinfelden was reformed with French help on the Swiss side of the Rhine, becoming the national magical academy of the Confederation; prior to World War Two, Swiss wand magicals normally went to schools in neighbouring countries — depending on their native language — such as Beauxbâtons in France.

4) A Magical Royal Resolution (Magisk Kongelig Resolusjon) in Norway as issued by the ruling monarch has the same legal and magical power on all Norwegian human magicals as a Magical Royal Proclamation would in the United Kingdom or any of the nations of the British Commonwealth which share the same monarch (like Canada, Australia and New Zealand), a Magical Imperial Rescript (Mahō Chokugo) in Japan or a Magical Executive Order in the United States.

5) The term Reichsgaue — a plural of Reichsgau ("Imperial Province" or "Imperial Shire") — as used here is partially incorrect. The Nazis divided Germany into gaue — they were local administrative districts where members of the Party could register — in 1926. After their takeover of the nation in 1933, the Nazis effectively eliminated the old imperial state governments and replaced them by the gaue. After Germany began conquering external territory with the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, the Nazis created the reichsgaue to control such territories. The leaders of the reichsgaue were designated Reichsstatthalter ("Imperial Governor") and had both Party and government responsibilities; the normal gaue in Germany proper were each controlled by a Gauleiter ("Shire Leader") and were effectively a Party-only organization.

6) Rhabdophobia is the diametrically opposite fear of Mugalophobia (introduced in Part Three). This word — and its adjective and personal title variants, rhabdophobic and rhabdophobe — are based on the Greek words rhabdos ("rod" or "staff"…which can also be used for a magical wand) and phobia. As I stated in A Nice Quiet Place — though I first saw this term when I writing my Icemaidens stories; sadly, I forgot the source — this is a more eloquent word to describe a fear of magic than "manaphobia" (or more properly, Mageiaphobia, which uses the Greek term mageía ["magic"]) to describe such feelings. In essence, rhabdophobia is the fear of magic being done using any sort of physical medium, like a wand.

7) As noted in TI&tPS, Her Majesty's Prison Gonebren is divided into three physical blocks — set in rings around the prison core where Salazar Slytherin's retirement home was located — that served different purposes. 'A' Block is the maximum security wing; this was for people condemned to life imprisonment at the Crown's Pleasure. 'B' Block is the medium security wing; this was for people who did serious crimes but would be imprisoned for a set period of time between five to ten years. 'C' Block is the low security wing; this was for people who did minor crimes and would be imprisoned briefly. However, given the sheer power of the Hollows within the physical structure of the prison itself, even being condemned to a brief stay in 'C' Block would be a harrowing, soul-warping experience.

8) The Military Order of Savoy (Ordine Militare di Savoia) was an order of chivalry established in the Kingdom of Sardinia — whose territory encompasses the northwest of modern Italy and the Island of Sardinia itself — in 1815; the order was later made part of the overall orders of chivalry for all of Italy after Unification in 1861. It was split into five degrees; the rank of Commander (Commendatore) was the third level. After the Kingdom of Italy was made a republic in 1947, the Military Order of Savoy was renamed the Military Order of Italy (Ordine Militare d'Italia) and exists to this day. Recipients of the Military Order of Savoy alive in 1947 were administratively transferred to the new Military Order of Italy, retaining their existing accoutrements and seniority.

9) The Praeda Bellica ("Spoils of War") benediction has appeared from time to time in various Harry Potter fanfic stories; as to which story used this concept first, I can't say. In the universe of these stories, this is one of the few magical spells that requires an invocation (as done in Mahō Sensei Negima) before the benediction itself is called on. As shown above, said invocation is Marte Cruentum! Peto Iure Victoriae! ("Bloody Mars! I claim my right of victory!"), which calls upon the blessings of the Roman god of war.

10) Brutus Malfoy's salute when Raven Malfoy became Marchioness of Avebury marking her as a "guard(ian) of Her Majesty's Realm" is because of the location of the former manor house of the Valances of Allerdale. The area around Allerdale was — from the time it was conquered by the Normans in 1092 to be incorporated into the territory of the Kingdom of England until the effective union of the crowns of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in the person of King James VI and I (1566-1625, ruled Scotland from 1567 to death, ruled England from 1603 to death) — locate on an international border with a neighbouring state that often went to war against the English, thus it had to strongly garrisoned. This also applied to the magical realms; despite the literal meaning of their family name — "Malfoy" is based on the French phrase mal foi ("bad faith" or "unfaithful"), which reflects the family's willingness to switch their loyalties to avoid danger or punishment — Raven's family was ultimately loyal to the supreme power of the land…which is naturally the Crown.