Following the war and the trials that came after, the survivors have finally begun to move on. Harry, a trainee auror, knows he has one last person to thank, but little does he know that a well meaning social call will turn lives upside down as Harry begins to understand the strange world of his old enemies. Family, legal, drama.
HARRY
"So, who can tell me what the quickest and most accurate way to identify if this is a) a poison and b) what kind it is?" Barnabus Humphries asked the group of trainee aurors. On the little table in front of him was a rather innocent looking vial of strawberry pink liquid.
"Give it to crookshanks? If he lives no one will know and if he dies, then there's an excuse for a party." Ron muttered to Harry, who snorted with laughter. Humphries gave them a disapproving glare, but Harry could not help but feel this was another useless lesson. Yes identifying potions was important, but in what possible scenario would he secretly have to test and/or drink one without drawing attention to himself.
"Mr Potter and Mr Weasley, I'm going to assume you're laughing because you find this question easy, why don't you-"
But he was interrupted, for at that moment there was a knock on the door, the trainees all turned around to look at the door. "Constant Vigilance! I told you never to look away when a bottle of poison is in the room! Yes who is it?"
A frazzled looking intern peaked her head around the door.
"Um…excuse me…"
"Yes?" Humphries said exasperatedly
"Um…Harry Potter isn't in here, is he?"
Harry raised his hand with confusion.
"Potter don't identify yourself so quickly, I thought you of all people would know that. What do you want with him?"
"I'm supposed to bring him down to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures office. Mr Diggory asked me to bring him down."
"Sick of the Auror office already, are you Potter, looking for a transfer to 'Creatures'?" Humphries said rolling his eyes, but as Harry began to protest, Humphries waved him down. "Go on! If Weasley bothers listening you can get the notes off him."
Harry nodded, gathered his things as quickly as he could and shrugged at Ron's questioning gaze. Stuffing his quills, parchment and ink all in his satchel he followed the intern out of the room.
"I'm glad you were in there, Harry Potter. I thought someone was joshing with me?" She admitted with a nervous sigh, her eyes fixed on his scar rather than his eyes.
"Why?"
"They keep messing with me here. Like the other day, they told me I was being moved to the Centaur Liaison office. But it doesn't exist! Apparently, that's a metaphor for getting the sack!" She said wide eyed.
"Oh right…I'll remember that one."
"Not that anyone will sack you." She shook her head as they rushed in to catch the left before the door's closed. Harry quickly covered his scar with his fringe when the girl was distracted.
"What does Mr Diggory want with me?" Harry asked, he had not seen Amos Diggory since his fourth year, after his son, Cedric, had been murdered.
"I'm not sure. All I know is that Mathalda Hopkirk is there too."
"From Improper Use of Magic?" Harry frowned. The scenario was getting stranger and stranger.
Out of the lift they rushed speedily down the hallway of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and after a quick deliberation continued down a corridor labelled "Beast Division." There was a collection of posters displaying dragons and sphinxes, manticores and basilisks.
Now and then the sounds of squawks and roars could be heard in the distance and there were several wizards and witches walking down the corridors with singed robes and bandaged fingers. Finally they arrived at the office, he read the sign on the door;
Amos Diggory
Head of Beast Division
Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
"Ah, here we go." The intern said, with a sigh of relief. Without knocking, she twisted the handle of the door. It had opened only fraction, when there was a sudden gasp, a shout of "NO!", a flash of light and the door slammed shut on them immediately.
"Oops." The intern whined. "I'll be for the Centaur Liaison office again…"
They stood by the door as they listened to the sound of rustling for a moment before Amos Diggory appeared at the door. He barely opened it, and poked his head in the gap, dislodging his glasses to one side. He spotted Harry and smiled.
"Quick, get in!" He said enthusiastically, then frowned at the intern.
"I'll deal with you later."
As Mr Diggory edged away from the door. Harry squeezed in the small gap after him.
The room was dimly lit, the windows, were enchanted to present the night sky rather than a sunny day, as the other offices had done. The office was instead lit by candlelight. It was was a large neat office, that appeared strangely cluttered due to the vast amount of objects and filing cabinets in it.
Mathalda Hopkirk sat at one of the chairs beside Amos Diggory's desk she smiled hesitantly at Harry, who was immediately distracted by the odd formation of a man's legs sitting on a chair. His top half completely shrouded by a huge flag of a Romanian Longhorn Dragon.
With the door closed safely behind them. Amos Diggory shook his hand silently and offered him a seat beside Mathalda Hopkirk.
"It's alright now Titus, the door's shut."
The man, who hid beneath the dragon blanket, removed it at once, to reveal his pale, shadowy gaunt face and ginger hair. He was dressed strangely too, his robes seemed rather old fashioned and a little ragged.
"You really should control your staff, Diggory. Letting daylight in indeed." He said pompously, then eyed up Harry."Who is this?"
"Just my good friend, Harry, who will be observing our meeting for training purposes." Diggory said, and rather strangely, patted Harry on the head and ruffled his hair. "Harry, this is Titus Higgins.".
"Good to meet you?" Harry said unsurely. The man ignored him.
"May I continue, Amos?" He asked. "Or is there some other interruption in store for us?"
"Please go on, Titus."
"What I was trying to say is that I feel hopelessly under represented in both the Ministry and my own country. I'm not allowed to establish my own colony, or even just a nest, I'm not allowed to hunt as I see fit, and I'm not allowed to use my wand."
"We've been through this before, Titus, you've been campaigning for 200 years, and I promise you, you are more likely to be able to keep an acromantula as a house pet, than establish a colony. It is just not going to happen."
Harry frowned. The reason for his presence in this meeting was no clearer now than it had been when he was called out of the auror office. Harry didn't even understand the context of the meeting. What was the colony?
"And yet mindless killing machines like werewolves are allowed to carry wands and marry and have children." The man said bitterly.
"Werewolves are not mindless killing machines!" Harry spoke out in defence of his old Professor Lupin. Higgins looked Harry up and down.
"No, apparently not. They just forget who they are and go on a killing spree every full moon. I on the hand, am a Hogwarts, Ravenclaw, who received an Order of Merlin second class for my contribution to research on Antidotes while I was alive and 100% compus mentis every moment of the day, 365 days a year!" His fist crashed against the arm of his chair, cracking it beneath him. "Excuse me." He apologised sheepishly.
"I understand you're angry, Titus, really I do."
"You're a vampire, aren't you?" Harry asked. Titus Higgins narrowed his amber eyes at Harry.
"Who is this fool?" He asked Mr Diggory. Mr Diggory nodded his head towards Harry,as if encouraging the vampire to take a closer look. Suddenly Harry realised why Mr Diggory had ruffled his hair. The Vampire's eyes narrowed at the scar. "Harry Potter? So what? How does this help me?"
"Oh come now, Titus? Aren't you just a little bit impressed?"
"Not particularly, no! Well yes I suppose in a way! But that's hardly here nor there! With all respect to Mr Potter, I've seen many a young hero throughout my long life. And while we're on the subject; that whole business with Lord Voldemort is another pet peeve of mine, I'll have you know! Those Death Eaters tried to get me on their side, were you aware of that? They offered my fellow campaigners and I a good deal if we joined them, INCLUDING wand use! But we refused. We still have our principles. Did we get a mention of loyalty towards the Ministry? Nooo! Did we have even a compliment in the Daily Prophet? No! In the same issue that reported the Dark Lord's defeat, was an advert for safety against British Vampires!"
"You didn't exactly help though, I don't remember any of you fighting on our side." Harry protested.
"No." Titus said pompously. "Why should we have? Besides, all that nonsense with Voldemort passed in a mere blink of an eye. A lot of fuss about nothing."
Amos Diggory let out a small groan and Harry was sure he saw him glancing at a photograph on his desk. Harry guessed it was of Cedric. "Excuse me, Amos. I know it's a sore subject. But I agree with the goblins on this one. It was a wizards' war, and if I'm not considered a wizard, I had no place in it."
Mathalda Hopkirk cleared her throat to catch their attention.
"Can we please get back to the issue at hand. Titus, the fact remains that you were not supposed to be using a wand and yet you have been called into the Improper Use of Magic office."
The vampired sneered, revealing his fangs for the first time.
"Yes, Ms Hopkirk, indeed I was. Then I was referred to the Department for Magical Creatures office and shunted between beast and being divisions as I always am! So here I am not quite goblin and not quite flobberworm."
"I know there has been some debate in the past as to what division you fit into, you're officially regarded as a "Being"…but here you are in 'Beasts.' You've always maintained a good relationship with Amos so here he is, and here I am. We've done our best to cooperate with you. Now tell me… from whose wand was it that you cast "Scarpin's Revelaspell," otherwise known as specialus revelio?"
The vampire crossed his arms and looked away.
"Titus, we won't banish you for the sake of a spell like that. But we need to know. Did you steal the wand…or did the holder give you permission to take it?"
"I borrowed it." He snapped. "From a human friend of mine, who now has it safely back in their possession. No harm done, and don't go looking to blame them, for I will take the secret to your graves!" The three of them stared at him for a moment with reproach. "Sorry, its a popular saying among immortals…that's all."
"What did you want the spell for?"
"My research. I had to find the hidden information in a rare book that had recently got hold of."
"And why were you performing your research in front of a muggle?"
"Because she's my fiancé."
"Titus, you can't get married." Amos explained. "You know that."
"No, but is there a law against having a fiancé?" he deadpanned.
"A muggle fiancé? Whom you needed to perform a revelio spell in front of?" Amos asked.
"She's a vampire! Who cares? The statute of secrecy doesn't exist for her."
"Yes it does, Titus."
"Well what on earth for? Was there ever a more stupid rule ever written? Potter what do you think? You're a young boy full of revolutionary ideas, untainted by the quill pushers of the Ministry."
"Um…To be honest, I don't know much about Vampires…I missed my Seventh Year of Hogwarts. I know about vampire bats?" He offered.
Titus Higgins's nostrils flared in fury.
"Well then…I'm going to ignore that last comment. I've been compared to a beast far too many a times in my life. Let me explain something. May I Amos? Ms Hopkirk? Very well. Listen here, Harry Potter. I am Titus Jermiah Richard Higgins, a vampire, of 232 years of age, and of sound mind and body. I am a proud, half-blood wizard, and I actually completed my seventh year of Hogwarts with all O's in my N.E.W.T.s (which were far more trying in my day I assure you.)" He added snidely. "Despite all this, I am deemed a part-human, neither beast nor being, nor wizard, nor muggle. I was bitten by a vampire, when I was twenty-four years old. Admittedly, against my will, while I was performing my research in, what was in those days, a very dangerous territory of Hungary, and the vampires there were not as civilised as I am now. Follow so far? Good. I returned my home, England as a devoted British citizen, only to find, that the bite, against my will, remember, forced me to be stripped of all my rights!"
"Just like a werewolf." Harry argued.
"Far more so! However, you already know my thoughts on that one, Mr Potter. Anyway, despite this melancholy turn of events, I realised that I was not alone and joined the rather small British community of vampires; a very well behaved little community indeed, who chose to live as lawful as life as possible, rather than gallivanting off to Eastern Europe to behave like a bunch of savages. Now, you may or may not realise this, Mr Potter, but vampirism is not limited to magical members of the community (although this judgmental, elitist system known as the Ministry of Magic chooses to forget this). So although we wizarding vampires suffer, the muggle vampires have even less representation than us. You refuse to give them even the slightest bit of help because it is, apparently, a breach of the Statute of Secrecy."
"Muggle vampire rights has become a bit of a project for Titus." Amos explained.
"Don't you dare be so condescending, Amos! My Father was a muggle, God rest his soul!" Titus explained "Forgive me if I honour his memory. When I was human, I saw muggle rights as important as wizard rights and now that I'm a vampire I see no difference between muggle and wizarding vampires!"
Harry looked from Mr Diggory and Mathalda Hopkirk, they were watching him.
"Sorry…I do see his point." Harry said, Diggory looked exasperated at Mathalda, who sighed.
"Muggles cannot know about our world, unless they have a muggle born child, and even then it must be limited only to the parents involved, not even the extended family can know a thing about the child's magical abilities. Even the child must be mindful of the things they tell and certainly what magic they perform in front of their parents, if any at all. Vampire muggles are not defined from any other muggle." Mathalda said seriously. "And a muggle who can live…well, forever, knowing about our world….that could be a very dangerous thing indeed."
"Mathalda, for Merlin's sake, my dearest Polly is hardly going to announce to the whole muggle world that she's a vampire and her fiancé is a 232 year old wizard vampire, is she? She is as secretive as the rest of us. There is no reason she can't know about magic, and no reason at all why I can't perform it! It seems strange that she should still be considered a muggle but I am no longer considered a wizard."
"I'm sorry Titus, the law remains as it is." Mathalda said finally.
"So I get a fine and a slap on the wrists…not even the right to have a trial, hmm? Is that the law of the Being division or the Beast division?"
"It's both. It's a minor infringement, but it is still an infringement." Diggory shook his head.
"You can't even alter Polly's memory, she's a vampire, so there's nothing you can really do about it." Titus sighed, and put his pale hands over his face, running his long white nails through the routes of his hair. Diggory stood up and patted the vampire on the shoulder.
"There there, old boy. If it's any consolation I'm sure I can put a good word for you in with Melrose in Being division, for another appeal and another protest."
"Ugh, leave Melrose out of it, the poor man's a pathetic mess. What's got my interest is why Harry Potter is here."
"We thought you might be interested to meet him, Harry's a firm supporter of the Ministry, aren't you, Harry?"
"Uh…"
"Today's youth is so inarticulate." The vampire lamented. "So you're training to be an auror are you, boy?"
"Yes." Said Harry
"I thought as much."
Amos Diggory smiled,
"Well, its rather a right of passage for Harry, isn't it? But you know, once you're in the ministry, its good to keep your eyes open at all the departments. Did you know that when I started I was in Accidents and Catastrophes?"
Titus rolled his eyes.
"Am I stuck here until sundown, Amos, must I endure anymore of your autobiography?"
Arranging for Titus to leave was quite a performance. Apparently the Magical Creatures Department had a drill dedicated to the removal of vampires during daylight hours. It involved sending a memo down to Maintenance and having them dim the light in a series of connected corridors from the enchanted daylight to night (as the magical sun was as potent to them as the real thing). The vampire was then finally escorted down the fireplaces in the atrium to floo away out of the Ministry and out of their responsibility. As soon as the memo returned confirming Titus was safely away, Mr Diggory visibly relaxed.
"That's all sorted then, is it Mathalda?"
"I think so. With all Titus' protests he's always paid his fines and his dues in the past. Until next time then?"
"Inevitably," He sighed. Mathalda smiled weakly.
"Good to see you again, Mr Potter." She added before leaving. Harry remained behind, sitting awkwardly beside Amos Diggory.
"Um, Mr Diggory…why did you bring me down here, was I supposed to say something to Titus Higgins?"
"What? Oh…well, Titus has always been one to take advice from influential people, I thought if you stood up for the Ministry it might make him see sense. However, I had been thinking to invite you down for you to see the department, to see what we do down here, to see if you liked it?"
Harry frowned.
"I'm in training to be an auror though…I can't just move department."
"Nonsense, Harry." Diggory said jovially. "Getting into the ministry is the hard part, after that its hard to get rid of you…not that anyone is trying to, but I mean once you're in you can move around wherever you like very easily."
"But-"
"Don't worry about it, I only mean that every department would love for you to join them! After all…you're the one who did so much. So if you were ever unhappy with your current placement…or if things weren't going so well perhaps, you would always have a place. You and I have a personal history too…you avenged my son. You did far more than I ever did for him." He added sadly.
"Thanks…but honestly it was much more of…well you know…something I just had to do." Harry said, dreading the moment that Diggory would bring up Cedric.
"I had always imagined Cedric coming into the department…I think he fancied himself a Quidditch player more than anything…but I thought once that was over that he might…well…" he smiled. "No use thinking about the past. The future awaits." He sniffed. "I suppose you'd like to head back now…off you go Mr Potter. Best of luck!"
AN: Thanks for the reviews guys. I will be replying to your comments soon but I would like the story to develop a little first.