Witch Way

Name suggested by Cateagle

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the recognizable characters, though I wish I did. They are all property of J.K. Rowling and her business associates, except for Lillian and the other characters I invented.

May 2006

Ch17: Memorial

Hogwarts was going to host the main memorial ceremony, just as it did every year since the end of the war. While Professor Binns didn't change his curriculum, he was also no longer the only professor of History. Special lessons about the war were added, mostly as part of the DADA class, and a few others were designed for the whole school attendance, taking place in the great hall, arranged as a conference room for the occasions.

It was no surprise that Harry Potter happened to be one of the lecturers chosen to tell the students about the war, along with Hermione Potter née Granger. It was much more of a surprise to find Narcissa Black among the lecturers. Some of the others who were invited were Ginny Thomas née Weasley, George Weasley and Luna Weasley née Lovegood. Neville Longbottom was also expected to lecture.

The guest lecturers with their spouses arrived Sunday evening and were allotted lodging in the guest wing. Lilly was happy to meet her parents again as well as her parents' friends which she liked. She was quite glad to introduce them to Dianna, who didn't yet have the chance to meet some of them.

Dianna was also surprised when both Harry and Hermione hugged her just as warmly as they hugged Lillian, yet these hugs made her extremely happy, understanding that she was now a full member of the Potter/Black family with no reservations.

The adults, on the other hand, were not as happy. This meeting reminded them of the most horrible part of their lives, of friends dying, of suffering and of pain. They were not too glad to dwell on that time, yet they were fully aware of the importance of letting the young generation understand the sacrifices and value the freedom.

Harry's lecture was no news to Lillian. She had already heard more detailed descriptions of the war growing up with two of the heroes. It was an eye opener for Dianna, though. All she knew before was what she had read in books. Her French family was not interested to talk about "internal English affairs" and her biological family didn't like to talk about that era either. She could now understand why.

The real surprise, though, came at Narcissa's lecture. She tried to let the students understand that even those close to the Dark Lord couldn't feel any safer than the general populace.

"I've never really supported the Dark Lord. My birth family was quite bigoted, teaching us the kind of pureblood nonsense so common at the time. My parents believed it was true, but neither I nor my sisters accepted their ideals. If you try to logically consider them then you can see the flaws immediately. When comparing them to what happens in the real world you see they are completely irrelevant."

"Can you elaborate?" a student asked.

"Sure. You all know what squibs are – people born into a magical family who are not magical themselves. I can tell you that almost every pureblood family has such children. I know my family had two such children. They both died before reaching eleven, presumably due to accidents. My ex-husband has a squib sister who was deported to America. She still lives there as a muggle. Now, those of you who come from pureblood families, I'd like you to think hard and try to remember any hushed conversation you may have heard about cousins, sisters or brothers who have not been as magical as expected and of what happened to them."

Some students blanched considerably. Others looked confused. Only the muggle-born didn't know anything about that.

"There was an aunt whom my French family didn't ever mention when somebody else was present and whom they only visited secretly," Dianna whispered to Lilly.

Narcissa waited a bit longer before continuing.

"Now, considering the fact that most purebloods also have only one child or two at most, you can see that the purebloods are becoming extinct. If not for the half-bloods and the muggle-born, the magical society would have ceased to exist many generations ago."

This had the expected impact. Some paled considerably. Others were busy whispering to their friends, some quite loudly.

"There's also evidence that first and second generations wizards and witches are usually much more powerful than purebloods. The best example is actually the Dark Lord himself. His original name was Tom Marvollo Riddle. He was the son of Merope Gaunt – a pureblood witch with no significant powers, descendant from Slytherin, and Tom Riddle – a muggle."

There was a wave of whispers in class, just as she expected.

"Now, you all know who eventually defeated him, don't you?"

Some cried "Your Husband!" Others said "Harry Potter", and some others pointed at Lillian and said "Her parents."

Narcissa took the lead again. "Yes, Harry Potter – also a half-blood. His father, James Potter, came from a long line of strictly light wizards, while his mother, Lilly Evans was a muggle-born witch. She was also the most talented and powerful witch that Hogwarts had seen for many generations."

Some more whispers were heard.

"The only witch to surpass Lilly Evans was eventually one whom you all know." She paused for the effect. "She is the one who helped Harry Potter in all his adventured and is still by his side today." Somebody shouted "Hermione Potter!"

"Yes, Mrs. Potter is the one I'm talking about. She started Hogwarts only fifteen years ago as a muggle-born, named Hermione Granger, and soon became the most knowledgeable student, surpassing even the Ravencalws of her class. Your headmistress, who happened to meet both Hermione Granger and Lilly Evans as students, says they were both about the same level."

Lillian seemed quite proud. Her professor was actually speaking of her parents and her grandparents.

"I believe this is about enough elaboration," Narcissa told the student who asked for it. He only nodded silently.

She looked at her notes before speaking again. "Back to our original topic though. As I've told you, we didn't really stick with that bigotry. My eldest sister went as far as marrying a muggle-born wizard. My parents were furious and disowned her. I wasn't so brave. I married Lucius Malfoy – the heir of another bigoted family – in a prearranged marriage and my sister Bellatrix married similarly."

She stopped and sighed, looking Dianna in the eyes.

"I married fresh out of school and was too naïve to notice the involvement of my husband with the Dark Lord. I soon became pregnant and then a mother to a baby and I stayed blissfully unaware of his actions until the Dark Lord was defeated for the first time, after killing James and Lilly Potter. Harry, who was then barely a year old, miraculously survived and got nick-named 'The Boy Who Lived' – a name he always resented."

Some more hushed conversations erupted and stopped immediately.

"I was becoming aware of my husband's monstrosities when he was judged after the Dark Lord disappeared. I was even more surprised to find my sister Bellatrix among the most devoted supporters of the Dark Lord. It looked like she had adopted her husband's opinions completely. Lucius managed to convince the court that everything was done under the Imperius curse and escaped prison. I wasn't convinced, though. Lucius continued supporting the same agenda and acting as bigoted as his parents and mine, disregarding everything I said to him."

She looked sadly into Dianna's eyes.

"Let me skip some years forward. These were not happy years for me, although Lucius acted quite nicely with me and never made me suffer. My daughter was almost one year old when the Dark Lord reappeared. Lucius went to his side immediately. At first I thought it was because he still supported that madman, but as time passed I understood it better. Lucius was simply afraid. He was afraid for his life as well as the lives of his children and his wife – me."

A student raised his hand. "Why was he afraid? Wasn't he happy that his leader was back?"

"A very good question indeed," Narcissa complimented him.

"I must tell you a bit about the Dark Lord. You named him a leader. Well – he wasn't a leader. He demanded to be called 'Master' and his supporters were treated as his servants. He used to punish them regularly, either for things they did or for things they didn't or even just because he could. His regular punishment was to 'crucio' his victims. You will not learn this spell at school. It is one whose sole purpose is to cause incredible pain and suffering to the victim. Even a short exposure to this torture can cause severe damage. Longer exposure may maim a person, up to turning him to mere vegetative existence, or eventually kill. The Dark Lord did that as well. If somebody failed to do as ordered, then swift death was a welcome punishment. In most cases death was preceded by prolonged torture. None of his followers could feel safe from punishment."

The class went completely silent. Some of the children looked as if they were going to be sick while others paled.

"I was eventually forced to join his followers. The Dark Lord didn't like neutrality. Anybody who didn't actively support him was considered an enemy. I couldn't afford being considered an enemy. I managed to sneak my baby daughter out of the country, pretending she died in her sleep. I could do nothing of the sort for my son, though. To my horror, the Dark Lord made Malfoy Manor his headquarters. I'm still unable to talk about that period. It was too horrible to even think about."

Nobody said a word. Everybody could see the moisture in the teacher's eyes. She swallowed hard and continued.

"Eventually, somebody managed to capture 'the golden trio', as you've already heard from Mr. Potter. You also know that he managed to escape, taking our wands with him. This didn't go unpunished, once the Dark Lord found out."

Everybody shuddered at the thought.

"Then the word arrived: Harry Potter was spotted at Hogwarts. The Dark Lord assembled all his forces for what he believed would be his final victory. Hogwarts was well protected, though. Not only were most of the staff and the students ready to fight against the evil. Many other joined them and although most were untrained, they were still a force to be reckoned with. The Dark Lord used giants, trolls and dark creatures, yet they didn't change the balance in his favor. He didn't go into the fight, of course. He sent his servants to die for him. Mr. Potter acted exactly opposite. He could be seen wherever the fighting was fiercest, along with his two friends. Then Harry acted unexpectedly. He came to the Dark Lord bare-handed, ready to be killed. The Dark Lord didn't hesitate in sending the killing curse to Harry, who didn't even try to dodge it."

There was a loud gasp from the audience. Although the information had already been printed in many books and was already told, not as dramatically, by Harry, it was still a breath-taking moment.

"Harry fell on the floor of the forbidden forest and so did the Dark Lord. It was several minutes before the Dark Lord recovered his strength and sent me to make sure that Harry was dead."

"Why did he choose you?" a student asked.

"I don't really know. The Malfoys were no longer his favorites by that time. He hadn't killed us until then only because he thought he could still have some use of the Malfoy name. He probably thought this might be also some kind of torture. Anyhow, I knew that my only hope for living anything resembling normal life was in defeating the Dark Lord. You may imagine how I felt seeing my hopes shattered on the ground. I approached him reluctantly and I then noticed his chest moving just barely. I suddenly felt a new hope. I touched his chest and felt his heart beat. I was too excited to speak. 'Is he dead?' the Dark Lord asked me. 'He is', I replied, knowing that he wouldn't bother to check by himself."

The class seemed to breathe a bit. Lilly had some moisture in her eyes.

"The Dark Lord made Hagrid carry Harry to the front of the school, calling the defenders to surrender as Harry was dead. People were shocked. Harry's body was on the ground in front of the Dark Lord. Then another student, Neville Longbottom defied the Dark Lord, promising to never surrender. The Dark Lord tried to make an example of him. He removed his wand and made the sorting hat burst into flame on his head. To everybody's surprise, Neville took Gryffindor's Sword out of the hat and sliced off the head of the Dark Lord's pet snake – Nagini."

"Is it Professor Longbottom you are telling us about?"

"One and the same. Although he is a very gentle man, as you all know, he was a fierce and determined fighter at that moment, one I would not have dared to face. While the Dark Lord was shocked at the loss of his snake, Harry also disappeared, casting shielding spells over the fighters for Hogwarts. The battle erupted again in full force. The Dark Lord's army was pushing the defenders in, despite suffering heavy losses. We also saw the Hogwarts house-elves join the battle. Eventually Harry came to face the Dark Lord again. They both sent their spells at the same time. Harry sent only a disarming spell while the Dark Lord used the killing curse. The outcome seemed to be inevitable."

She stopped a moment for the dramatic effect.

"The disarming spell hit first. It snatched the wand from the Dark Lord's hand and turned it around, effectively turning his curse back on him. The Dark Lord died, hit by his own curse, before the wand even landed in Harry's hand."

"So Dad didn't really kill him…" Lillian said.

"Right! Mr. Potter has never killed anybody. He even managed to dispose of the most powerful Dark Lord ever known without using the killing curse. That in itself is extraordinary."

"Did you get the dark mark?" someone asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. The alternative was being killed instantly, and I still hoped to be able to protect my children from the worst."

"Can you show us the mark?" another asked.

Narcissa's pale complexion turned almost white. "It is not something I like to see, yet you deserve to know."

She reluctantly moved her sleeve up, revealing an ugly tattoo covering her lower arm. She didn't look at it.

"Isn't it supposed to be black?" somebody asked.

"It is," she answered, still avoiding looking at her arm.

"It's only pale brown," Lillian told her.

Narcissa finally dared to look at her arm. She was surprised to see that the mark had faded considerably. She did not know why.

The lesson continued with Narcissa telling about the trials of the death-eaters and how she and Draco were saved from prison by Harry's testimony. The students had many questions and she answered them all.

Dianna and Lillian were the last to stay in the class at the end of the lecture. Dianna hugged her mother. "I'm glad to finally hear about what happened during the war and I'm proud of you." Narcissa hugged her back, hardly holding the tears back.

Lilly joined the hug. "I'm proud to have you both as my family," she told them. Narcissa just hugged her silently, unable to hold her tears any longer.

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