A/N – Not much to say this time. Thanks again for all your reviews. As I mentioned last time the updates will be coming less frequently over the summer but I am still really excited about where this story is going.
Oh yeah, DISCLAIMER – I have no ownership of these characters. They belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 21 – The (Hor)Crux of the Matter
"Severus this is a surprise," said Dumbledore as he invited the potions professor into his office, "I thought you would be gone for at least another week."
"Early this morning the Dark Lord announced we were coming back to England. I have to meet him shortly to continue our mission."
"Is there any way you can tell me what this mission is?"
"No, he made me take a special Wizard's oath just before we left."
"Any idea why he needed to come back this morning?'
"He wanted to speak with Draco and Bella."
"Any idea what he wanted them for?"
Severus took a breath and there appeared to me a look of regret on his face, "Apparently Draco swore a Wizard's oath on his magic to pledge the allegiance of the Black Family to the Dark Lord's service. He found out last night that the Will had been read early."
"How did he find out?"
"Do you think he confides that type of information in me or anyone else for that matter?"
Albus ignored the impudent response, "I fear for young Draco's life."
"Anyone summoned to the Dark Lord in the mood he was in has reason to fear for their life. However if Draco truly pledges the allegiance of the Black Family to the Dark Lord he may even get his Dark Mark."
"I'm afraid Draco will not be able to live up to the oath he gave," he saw Snape's confused look, "Harry Potter is the new Lord Black. He underwent a blood adoption ritual and is now recognized as Sirius' son."
Snape looked angry, "Now the little brat will be even more angry and insufferable. A Lord? For Merlin's sake! He'll be strutting around like a peacock in full rut. He will probably expect everyone to bow down and kiss his a…"
"SEVERUS!" Dumbledore interrupted his rant, "That is enough. I know your feelings about the boy but I would appreciate if you would not use that type of language around me. I will need your assistance in getting control of Lord Potter-Black, but…"
"Potter-Black?"
"Yes, once he was made Lord Black he was emancipated and received the title of Lord Potter after his parents' will was executed."
Severus looked murderous. Inside behind his Occlumency shields he was laughing hysterically.
"Like I was saying, I'll need your assistance. I had hoped to get Harry to marry Ginevra Weasley, however his appearance at the Will reading and the assumption of his titles allowed him to cancel that. In fact he has started another relationship which may prove to be disruptive to my plans."
"Who would be interested in Potter? He's arrogant, moody, impulsive, short tempered and has a knack for getting himself into dangerous situations. Not even that mudblood Granger would be stupid enough to," He looked at Albus' expression, "Its Granger isn't it?"
Albus nodded. "This is why I need your assistance Severus. We need to be able to separate Harry and Hermione. Together they will be too strong to have any influence over. I need two batches of love potion brewed. One must be for Harry and keyed into Miss Weasley and the other for Hermione keyed into young Ronald."
Severus nodded curtly, "I will see to it once I return."
"Return?"
"The dark Lord only came back to talk to Draco and Bella, Then we are off again."
"Any idea where?"
"He mentioned Poland, Romania, Ukraine and perhaps Siberia. I believe we are trying to get backing of the Werewolf clans and vampire covens."
"This is something I feared he may do. Please try and gather as much information for the Order that you can and report to us as soon as it is safe to do so."
The Potions Master nodded curtly. He said goodbye to the Headmaster and left quickly with his robes billowing behind him. Just as he was about to leave, he noticed the Headmaster had turned and was heading back to his room. Severus quickly and silently cast a series of minor wandless spells and charms at Dumbledore and then proceeded to make his way out of the castle. Once outside the grounds he allowed himself a smile as he apparated away. If anyone had been around to listen they may have heard him say, "Tag. You're it."
/Scene Break/
Amelia Bones arrived at her office on Monday morning to find that there had been an attack on the Ministry and several of the on-duty Aurors were either killed or wounded. She wasn't sure what pissed her off more – the fact that the Death Eaters attacked the Ministry and released the prisoners or that Fudge was suppressing all information about it and that included not alerting her last night.
The Dark Lord now had most of his Inner Circle back. They needed to get them back into custody as soon as possible. The problem was Fudge – he seemed to be trying to stymie her investigations at every turn. Amelia knew that Fudge owed a lot of his power to Malfoy, but she didn't think that he would blatantly interfere with an investigation.
She needed a way to keep an eye on Fudge. It would have to be discrete and she would need someone she could trust without question. She furrowed her face in concentration and her eyebrows shot up as she got the answer. She quickly grabbed the report from the battle in the Department of Mysteries a few weeks ago. Maybe it was time she finished her own inquiry on this. She circled two names on the report and called her assistant in. Putting on her sternest 'Head of the DMLE' face she asked him to summon those two people to her office.
/Scene Break/
Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin were enjoying breakfast together. Both were the happiest they could remember being in a long time. Following the meeting they had spent the rest of the evening at her flat talking about their lives and dreams. It was not surprise that Remus spent the night and that they both fell asleep exhausted.
"Moony?" Tonks asked to get his attention. She had taken to calling him by that name. He looked up at her with a smile on his face, "Do you want to move in together? I understand if you don't, but …" she was interrupted as he came over and kissed her.
"I think it's a great idea. Why don't we look for a new place together?" he said looking into her eyes.
She smiled a great big smile and hugged him tighter. Just as she was about so speak, a familiar (to her) voice came from her fireplace, "Auror Tonks, are you home?"
She walked over to the fireplace tightening her dressing gown, "Yes Albert I'm here."
"Madame Bones would like to see you immediately."
This was unexpected. "Do you know what its about?"
"It's about the events in the Department of Mysteries in June. She's asked me to call Auror Shacklebolt as well."
"OK. I just have to get dressed. I can be there in 15 minutes."
"I'll let her know. Just let me warn you Tonks, she's not in a good mood right now."
Albert's face disappeared from her fireplace.
Remus saw a look of concern on Nym's face. "Are you worried about the meeting?"
"Not sure. I expected her to be talking to us sooner or later about it. I've always had a great relationship with her since I joined the Auror Academy. She saw I was being picked on and took me under her wing and taught me the ropes about being a witch in a wizard's profession. I trust her completely. But if she's pissed," she shook her head, "just let me say I've seen senior aurors get a reprimand by her that left them shaking and close to tears."
She walked back to the bedroom and continued speaking as she was getting dressed, "I guess I just have to go and get it over with. Moony. If you have nothing else on your plate today, start looking for a place to live. If I can get a day off this week we'll do something really special." She said the last part as she walked out the bedroom in her auror robes. She walked up to Remus and looked deep into his eyes giving him what she hoped was a very sultry look.
Remus coughed and proceeded to ask, "And what would that be?" His pulse quickened and he could feel his blood pressure rising.
She hugged him tighter and put her lips to his ear and said in a low, sexy voice, "Well, I'd like to try something you've never done before."
Remus felt warm all over. He anxiously asked, "What would that be?" He was excited – they had already tried many things over the past few days.
She felt his reaction. Continuing with the sexy voice she said, "Well, I've never really done this with a man before and I really think I would like to do it with you. Promise me you'll like it."
Remus was really excited (and I mean really excited) now, "I've loved everything we've done together so far. You've got me going spare right now. What is it?"
"Well, on our next free day together the two of us are going to …" she paused and kissed his ear.
He moaned. This was too much. "What are we going to do? Please, tell me."
She pulled back to face him and looked him straight in the eyes lovingly and said, "We are going to spend an entire day buying a whole new wardrobe for you. Bye." With that she kissed his nose and skipped to the fireplace and flooed to the Ministry.
Remus was left stunned and scared. He didn't like shopping for clothes to begin with. Now he was going to be in for a long day if Tonks put as much energy and enthusiasm into shopping as she did with everything else.
/Scene Break/
Severus arrived back at the guesthouse to find Tom already there. Tom looked up as he came in, "How did your meeting with Dumbledore go?"
"As expected. He now thinks we are after the support of werewolves and vampires," he said with a smirk, "I also managed to cast those spells and charms on him."
Tom chuckled, "Then Albus is in for a very hard time."
/Flashback/
Tom and Severus were getting ready to leave that morning. The previous day Tom had him practice a series of simple charms and spells until Severus was able to cast them quickly, silently and wandlessly.
"Tom, what will these do? Won't Dumbledore notice?"
"No, they are my own invention. Each is benign and almost undetectable. However, together they interact and can be used to track a person very effectively. However unlike traditional tracking spells, this one is nearly impossible to detect as such."
"Impressive. But why do you want to track him? Why take the risk?"
Tom smiled a mischievous smile, "Well, you know that Draco will los his magic today right?"
Severus nodded.
"I'm going to give Bella his previous assignment."
Severus burst out laughing. Once he calmed himself he asked, "You mean that Bella is going to be able to track Dumbledore?"
Tom answered with a smile, "I'll tell her to stay away from him at Hogwarts – I don't want any damage done to the castle. I'm not sure if she can take him down, but he's going to get very paranoid when she starts showing up every time he leaves Hogwarts."
/End Flashback/
"How did everything go with Draco?"
"The new Malfoy squib? Pretty much as expected. I'll share the memory tonight. Now, you need to get to Switzerland. Do you have the passwords and account numbers memorized?"
Severus repeated them back to Tom for the twentieth time. Once Tom nodded his satisfaction Severus left to retrieve the horcruxes.
/Scene Break/
Tonks sat nervously outside front of her boss's office. Kingsley had gone in ten minutes ago and she had heard Amelia yelling before it was cut short by a very obvious silencing spell. Albert looked over at her and smiled weekly. He had never known the Director to be so pissed off at anything before.
A few minutes later the door opened and a visibly shaken Kingsley came out. He nodded once to Tonks and left very quickly. "What the hell happened in there?" she thought.
Albert disturbed her from her thoughts, "Auror Tonks? The Director will see you now." He had a look of sympathy on his face as he saw her walk into the office. The Director and this Auror were very good friends but he wasn't sure if that would be the case after this meeting. One thing was for certain – he was glad the silencing charms were still in place.
/Scene Break/
Severus appeared in the 'Straße des magischen Handels' in Geneva. He made his way out and proceeded to the address in muggle Geneva provided by Tom.
As he got to the bank he was struck by the fact that the building looked nothing like a Bank. Gringotts always made its presence known with large and imposing buildings. In London, most of the banks shared many of the same characteristics so that you could tell it was a bank even if you didn't know which bank it was. But here in Geneva, discretion was the order of the day. There was nothing to distinguish this as a bank as opposed to any other office building. Severus knew that most of the workings were underground. He made sure the address was the correct one, ran through the passwords and account numbers, and went inside.
/Scene Break/
"Good morning Director. You wanted to see me?" Tonks said this with a noticeable hint of trepidation.
"Auror Tonks. Please have a seat." Amelia said with a stern voice. She needed to find out where Tonks loyalties were. Kingsley had shown he was loyal to Dumbledore and his group. He was now on his way with an assignment to be the next secretary for the muggle Prime Minister. She looked at her friend and continued, "Tonks, I'm looking into the battle in the Department of Mysteries, specifically your role in that battle. Now, based on the testimony already given, I believe I have a clear picture of the events – to a point. I'm pretty sure Dumbledore left a few points out of his report and he has effectively blocked access to the students who were present. The two people he can't block access to are the two Aurors who were somehow involved."
She paused for dramatic effect and let her words sink in before she continued, "Now, I just finished interviewing Auror Shacklebolt and his answers were, shall we say, less than satisfactory to me."
Tonks swallowed nervously but kept eye contact with Amelia.
Amelia softened her tone slightly and used her familiar name for Tonks, "Nym, we've been close for years. I value our friendship. However this involvement with an outside group is disturbing. I need to know what is going on."
Tonks looked at the older woman and began to speak, "Director – Amelia – I was approached by Kingsley last year a few days after the Triwizard tournament. He explained to me how Dumbledore had told him that Voldemort was back and the story made sense. What didn't make sense was the Minister's reaction. He just ignored Dumbledore's warnings and never even tested the validity of Harry Potter's claims. The Prophet was already printing articles discrediting Dumbledore and Potter. Over the next couple of days I went through the investigation myself and I was surprised how little investigation actually took place. You've read the file – Fudge had Barty Crouch Jr. kissed before he could be properly questioned, he ruled out questioning Potter or viewing his pensieve memories, he even had the senior auror on scene tamper with evidence by removing all traces of the portkey charm from the Triwizard Cup. All of this was documented and then the records were sealed."
Amelia asked the first question that came to mind, "How did you get your hands on the file?" She gasped as she saw Minister Fudge now sitting across from her wearing Nym's clothing. Tonks changed back after a minute.
"That's how." She saw Amelia start to get angry and continued before the older woman said anything, "My parents survived the last time Voldemort was in power. My father is a muggle-born wizard and my mother's pureblood family disowned her for that. I'm a half-blood and a metamorphagous – an abomination in pureblood eyes. I needed to know if Voldemort was back. If he was, my family was in danger and I made a vow to myself to do everything I could to protect them. If that meant bending a few rules in a Ministry that was avoiding the threat and endangering the lives of other so be it. The one thing the pushed me over the edge was that I saw the Minister and Lucius Malfoy having lunch three days after the tournament. It was then that I realized that the Minister would never reveal the truth."
Amelia sat back in her chair. She had come close to arresting Tonks at the revelation she impersonated the Minister to look at confidential files. However Nym's explanation of her reasons and the passion and determination she displayed reminded Amelia of why she took Nym under her wing in the first place. She remembered Voldemort's first rise to power and the friends and family she had lost. She could not find it within herself to punish the young auror sitting in front of her. The other thing that was not lost on Amelia was the fact that Tonks could say Voldemort without the slightest flinch – a trait that immediately brought Tonks into even higher esteem with the Director.
Tonks continued, "So after that I contacted Kingsley and joined Dumbledore's group. They were the only people I knew who wanted to fight against the Dark Lord."
"Nym, I need to know where your loyalties lie. Are you loyal to the Ministry or Dumbledore?"
"Neither."
Of all the possible answers, Amelia was not expecting this one. Tonks, on the other hand felt like she was in a maze of her own. She valued her friendship with Amelia and, if her suspicions were correct, the Director could be a welcome ally of her new organization.
"Let me explain. I joined the Aurors because I wanted to learn how to defend myself and defend the people who could not defend themselves. I wanted to make a positive difference in this works and put my unique talents to good use. What I read in those files destroyed my trust in the Minister and thus the Ministry for as long as he is in power. I joined Dumbledore's group to fight for what I believed in. However over the past year we have not accomplished anything and Dumbledore seemed to focus all of our efforts on keeping Harry Potter isolated. The obsession with Harry got me worried about Dumbledore. His acceptance of the Minister and their continued working relationship over the past year even when the Minister was openly discrediting him got me questioning the dear old 'Leader of the Light'."
"In answer to your question though, I am loyal to my friends and family. I will not sit back and allow our society to be manipulated and destroyed. Amelia, I consider you my friend but I need to know what you are thinking."
Amelia didn't know what to think. If she were to follow the rulebook, she should either be firing Tonks right now at the very least or charging her with treason and sending her to Azkaban to await trial at the very worst. However, this young auror – her friend – showed a determination and drive similar to her to dig for information and the truth. Nym had already observed that Fudge was friendly with a suspected Death Eater and the Leader of the Light. Amelia had harbored suspicions about that as well, but without having people to trust she could not afford to move on her own.
At the beginning of this meeting she had set out to determine whether she could trust Tonks. She made her decision on that. "Nym, I need your help and I think you are one of the very few people I can trust with this. Fudge is actively covering things up. There was a Death Eater raid on the Ministry last night and they freed our prisoners. There is no news about it because Fudge is covering it up. He's effectively stopping any official investigations I order. I need to know why. If I can make a case, I will bring it to the Wizengamot to have him thrown out. I would like to ask you – off the record of course – if you would be able to do some covert investigation for me. I need to know what is going on and who is behind it."
Tonks sat back in thought. She knew from Harry's documents that the Bones family was not part of the Conspiracy. Amelia would be a great ally for the Order Eaters and was a very high profile person in the Ministry with a good public reputation. She was also a very good friend. Nym made her decision.
"Amelia, I can help you. There is someone who already has all the information you are looking for. Let me arrange a meeting."
"Who is it?"
"I can't tell you right now." She saw a worried look appear on the older woman's face, "Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything to cause you harm. You are my friend and that means a lot to me. I'm really unable to give you the information. I'll get in contact with the person who can and I will let you know where we will meet."
Amelia nodded her head in agreement. She trusted this young woman in front of her. "There's just one more thing Nym. We need a cover story for you. I can't have sent Kingsley out with his tail between his legs and then have the two of us leave smiling."
"I've got and idea. How about a suspension without pay?"
"That would work. Are you sure you would be OK?"
"I recently came into a fair amount of money when Lord Black's will was read and … what's wrong?" Tonks noticed Amelia had a strange look on her face.
"You said 'Lord Black' right?"
"Yes."
"As in 'Lord Sirius Black?"
"Yes, he was my cousin."
"Well then, how come the will of an ancient pureblood family was executed and there were no public notices or a story in the Prophet?"
"I would imagine that Fudge and Dumbledore do not want the identity of the new Lord Black widely known."
"And who would this new Lord Black be?"
"Well, it was supposed to be Draco Malfoy. However Sirius performed a blood adoption and the title passed to his new son. His son used to be his godson and is now known as Lord Potter-Black."
"Harry Potter?"
"Yes."
"But why would Fudge and Dumbledore try to hide this information."
"Because publicly it is easier to control and report on the boy-who-lived than Lord Potter-Black. You just can't go around slandering the head of two pureblood houses."
"I see what you mean. Wait a sec, you said two houses?"
"Yes, Sirius also emancipated Harry. Once that happened the Potter will was executed and he became Lord Potter as well."
"Well, you've given me a lot more information to dwell on. Please set up your meeting as soon as possible."
They both got up and headed to the door. Nym changed her hair to disheveled mousy brown and her face looked like she had been crying.
She followed Amelia through the door and heard the Director say, "Albert, please put Auror Tonks on suspension from duty without pay for one month."
As a distraught-looking Tonks left, Amelia instructed Albert that she was not to be disturbed under any circumstances. She went back into her office and closed the door deep in thought.
The wizarding world was on the brink of another change and she was convinced the new Lord Potter-Black would be at its nexus. She needed to prepare. She went over to the private floo in her office and called home.
"Susan are you there?"
"Yes Auntie. Is something wrong?
"No dear. Can you please come through? I need to talk to you."
A few seconds later the fire flared and Susan stepped out.
"What do you need to talk about?"
Amelia smiled warmly at her niece, "Have a seat. I want you to tell me about Harry Potter."
/Scene Break/
Neville and Luna were enjoying their morning spending time together in Diagon Alley holding hands, sharing the odd kiss and just taking in the sights. Neville had never felt so good. He had a newfound confidence in his own abilities and the fact that he was in the company with a very pretty witch bolstered his ego as well.
They were in Flourish and Blotts when they finally saw their favourite purveyor of misinformation and innuendo – Rita Skeeter. They saw their chance to put their part of the plan into motion.
Luna turned to Neville kissed him passionately. She then spoke up very loudly, "Neville, it's getting close to noon. Remember we have a lunch date."
"Right sweetie. We have to meet up with Harry and Hermione."
Bingo! At the sound of those two names Rita looked up at the couple and smelled a story. She maid up her mind to tail the couple and see what she could find out.
/Scene Break/
Severus emerged from the bank with a briefcase in his hand. Why it had to be a pink aluminum briefcase he did not know but apparently the bankers (or wankers in his opinion) did not have any others available. To top it all off, he could not risk charming it to another colour because of its contents.
"Oh well so much for being inconspicuous," he thought as he made his way back to the Straße des magischen Handels and from there back to England.
/Scene Break/
The lunchtime crowd at the Leaky Cauldron was not as big as normal. Business had begun to drop off since it was confirmed that Voldemort was truly back. Almost all the people were nervous – those who had survived the last time were busy looking around and bracing themselves for a Death Eater attack and those who were too young the last time were feeding off the paranoia of their elders. In fact the calmest people in the whole place were a young man with black hair and the couple he had just greeted. Harry sat back down as Neville and Luna took their seats.
"Hi Harry, where's Hermione?" Luna chimed in here sing song voice.
"She went to visit her new library this morning."
Neville looked up to see Hermione sneaking up on Harry from behind, "Well it's still a bit early. She'll be here."
Harry laughed, not knowing the Hermione was right behind him, "Yeah mate, after a search and rescue team drag her away from the books … OW" Hermione swatted him playfully in the back of the head.
Harry was worried until he saw the smile on her face. He got up and wrapped his arms around her and gave her a long heartfelt kiss. Now it was her turn to be caught off guard. "Hello beautiful. How was your morning?"
"Enlightening. I always enjoy having the time to read without prats around to pester me," she retorted. They all laughed as the couple sat down.
They made small talk and talk in very general terms about their morning. Shortly after they ordered, they heard a voice that – while not entirely unexpected – carried the threat of ruining the meal. "Well Harry. Long time no see."
"Hello Rita. Come to misquote me on something?"
"Harry do you have to be so rude? I just wanted to say hello."
"Hello then Rita. I assume you remember Hermione Granger and her entomology pursuits?" Hermione flashed Rita and evil grin and a small wave of her fingers. Rita's smile faded for a moment and then was back in full force.
"And these are my friends Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood."
Neville said hello to Rita while Luna spoke up, "I've always wanted to meet you Miss Skeeter. I'm a freelance reporter myself."
Rita looked at the blonde teenager, "Is that so dear? Have you had anything published in the Prophet? I can't seem to remember any of your articles." The condescending tone was not lost on anyone.
Luna was not fazed at all, "My stories have been published – just not in the Prophet. I find that it's become to complacent in reporting the news."
Rita's ire and interest were piqued, "Complacent?"
"Yes. The Prophet just seems to print articles handed to them by the Ministry. Take last year for example. The entire last year has been spent with the Prophet being the Minister's mouthpiece for the slanderous attacks on Harry Potter and our Headmaster for the simple reason they told the truth. No investigative reporting was done, just reprints of what was fed by the Ministry to your paper." Rita was about to interrupt as Luna continued. "Its endemic to the whole organization. Why just once look at today's paper tells you how much they care about actually getting the story. I mean one of the oldest pureblood family's gets a new Head and the Prophet doesn't even mention it. You probably don't even know who the new Lord Black is and you call yourself a reporter?"
"Are you telling me that the last Lord Black's will was executed yesterday?"
"Yes. And is it not pureblood tradition to announce the new head of a pureblood family especially one as prominent as the Black's?"
Rita was not used to this type of situation. The damn girl had put her on the defensive. "Yes, it is tradition. I was not even aware that Lord Black's will was being read. There were no notifications sent to the Prophet."
Luna barged right in, "well, that should be a story in itself. Why wasn't the will reading announced? Who is the new Lord Black? Will he exercise his seat in the Wizengamot? Don't you think those sound like questions a real reporter would chase down?"
Rita was offended by the slight and excused herself quickly. She had a story to pursue.
Once she left, the four teens broke into giggles. Hermione looked at Luna and said, "Great job Luna. I was afraid I'd have to get my bug jar out again. Did you see the look on her face, she is going to track down the identity of Lord Black."
Luna blushed slightly at the praise and even more so when Neville leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Harry spoke up, "A lot of people want to keep that will a secret for as long as possible. I think that secret's days are numbered. Ragnok is ready with our scripted answer should she enquire there. The best thing is that we can just sit back and wait."
At that point, the food arrived and the teens ate their lunch engaging in more small talk.
Once lunch was over they walked to Florean's for dessert and then back to Potter Manor. They wanted to see if Severus had retrieved the Horcruxes successfully.
/Scene Break/
Rita apparated straight to the Ministry and headed to the Department of Records. When she got there she filled out the required forms and waited almost an hour before being told that all enquiries regarding the new Lord Black were denied since the Minister and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot sealed the records.
Frustrated she apparated to the offices of the Daily Prophet and scoured the genealogy records of the Black family. From this she found two startling bits of information. The first was the records showed that Sirius Black was Lord Black. She had heard rumors that he died in the Ministry of Magic fighting alongside you-know-who. The second thing she found out was that the first male heir in line for the title Lord Black was a Draco Malfoy.
She tried getting in touch with the Malfoy residence by floo and was constantly rebuked by the house elves. Apparently no one was home who could answer the call.
As a last ditch effort she walked across to Gringotts to see what information she could find there. She approached the head teller and asked to speak to the Goblin in charge of the Black account.
Griphook walked out to the lobby and escorted Rita back to his office. "To what to I owe this visit today Miss Skeeter. Why the interest in the Black Family fortune."
"Master Griphook," – she knew how to talk to the goblins with respect – "it has come to my attention that there is a new Lord Black. Can you shed some information?"
Griphook assumed an angry demeanour, "Miss Skeeter, our customer records are confidential especially for a valued client like Lord Potter-Black. Now, I insist that you go and ask no more questions – unless you want the guards to attack you."
Rita had been on the wrong end of their weapons before and knew that it was not the place to be. Besides she had the information she needed. When she got back to her desk she pieced together the bits of information and a story started to form in her mind:
Harry Potter is now Lord Potter-Black.
Fudge and Dumbledore don't want anyone to know this.
The young Malfoy was supposed to be the first in line for the title of Lord Black. How did Harry get it?
It wasn't much, but Rita never get the lack of facts or hard evidence get in the way of a good story.
/Scene Break/
The four teens walked out of the manor to the most secluded guesthouse. Tom had noticed them through the window and had opened the door for them as they arrived. They first thing they saw when they arrived was Severus in a muggle suit with his hair pulled into a ponytail. They tried to suppress their urge to laugh as much as they could but there were still grunts and squeaks coming out.
Severus just shook his head and said to them, "I had to pass for muggle in order to get these." He lifted up the briefcase.
The sight of the pink aluminum briefcase cause the teens to lose all self control and they burst out laughing. Severus handed tom the briefcase and went to his room to change back into some comfortable robes.
Tom set the briefcase on the table and opened it. Inside were six decks of playing cards. Harry raised an eyebrow, "Playing cards Tom?"
"Well, I thought I was gambling with my soul. I even had another deck on me the night I came for you."
The teens groaned at the bad pun on 'gambling'.
Hermione asked, "How can you tell if they are still intact?"
"There is a spell. Watch this." He started waving his wand and muttering an incantation. Slowly the card decks started to glow blue and then bright red.
He was interrupted by a scream of pain and as he looked up he saw Harry passed out on the floor. They all stood in shock as they saw a bright red glow around Harry's scar.
"This," Tom said in an understated tone, "could be a problem."
A/N – As always I appreciate the reviews and any suggestion you have are always welcome.
The street name in Geneva is German for "street of magical commerce." I thought the Swiss wizards would use a pretty boring and functional name.