RA CH. 9 Baptisms and the Malfoys Guest
Harry was just back from the little vacation, and rather too well publicized sermon in New York, when he was approached with another concern.
"We have a couple of recordings of Lucius and Draco Malfoy you should listen to," one of the guards told Harry. Recording conversations was another one of those Magic/Muggle things Harry liked. It consisted of a variation of the Extendable Ears connected to a Muggle recorder. Prisoners and their visitors had no idea that their conversations were being recorded. So Harry listened to the recordings.
Lucius said, "You have the list of teachers?"
Draco said, "Half of them are dead or in prison, and half of the rest were known supporters of he-who-must-not-be-named."
Lucius said, "Those are the ones you want, the known supporters of us true, Pure Bloods."
"I remember a couple of them, Father. They are not nice people."
"I'm not looking for nice. I was too soft on you, and you went to school too soft and too nice."
"So what happens when Scorpius goes to Hogwarts?"
"Who says he is going to Hogwarts? If he and his bride are together he can get her pregnant when they are teens. As soon as she is pregnant and back home I get out of here."
"I still say that is a crazy plan, Father."
"Do what I say, Draco."
"Yes, Father," a dejected Draco said.
A couple of weeks later Draco had a list of teachers, and went over them with his father.
"She should be there soon, Draco," Lucius said.
"I will believe it when I see it," Draco replied.
"Jezebel is counting on us to succeed, and to train up her great-granddaughter to be a supporter of the Pure Bloods and against all the phony goodness of Potter and his supporters."
"Potter has the upper hand right now," Draco said. "I have no great desire to follow their narrow goodness, but I have to appear to play by their narrow rules."
"Why don't you have more children, Draco, if you have your doubts about Scorpius? You never should have let your mother raise him. She's gone soft. You need to get some of those hard teachers in to teach the children that they are better than other children. They need to learn that Malfoy's do not have to follow the rules of lesser people."
"Astoria is not sleeping with me."
"She has a duty to let you," Lucius said, giving an obscene gesture. "Take your pleasure with her. It has nothing to do with love and with what she wants."
There was a period of silence. The guard said that Draco was looking pretty uncomfortable after what his father had told him.
"If Scorpius is not the person we need to keep the Malfoy name unsullied by people like Potter and Kingsley then you need another potential heir, Draco," Lucius said. "Two thousand years we have been in England, blond northerners. Go to the farm and get a bastard son of mine or yours if you need to. It would not be the first time the Malfoy family had to pass over someone who was not strong enough."
"I can, if I have to," Draco said.
"You have no idea of the powers against Potter, Draco. It is up to us to raise Scorpius to be on our side, not on the side of that blasted Potter."
Harry asked his staff if anyone knew what Lucius was referring to when he talked about "The Farm." He was finally referred to Kingsley and Kingsley brought Hermione into the discussion. Kingsley said, "The elite of the Pure Blooded families still have some secrets. We guess there are secret, hidden farms, but we don't really know any more."
"Do you have any idea how many of the Pure Bloods have these farms?" Harry asked.
"The best guesses range from four families to ten," Kingsley said. "We are reasonably sure the people who work the farms are enslaved. The magic that keeps the farms hidden seems to be very powerful, however."
Harry brought copies of the recordings to the prophets in Switzerland. Steve and Valerie Bushman said, "We have been in consultation with prophets all around the world. Things are happening. I wish we could tell you what exactly is happening.
"If the person going to the Malfoy house is Jezebel Nukpana's great granddaughter, she is the other person who is the subject of prophesy. It is hard to believe her great granddaughter would end up in England."
"I find it difficult to imagine that Scorpius will not end up at Hogwarts," Harry said.
Harry had joined the Wizarding Christian Church. Harry had been baptized as an infant, and found out that the Potters had been members of the Wizarding Christian Church for many generations. Before the incident in New York they had scheduled a baptism for the three Potter children. Ron and Hermione were at the Potters talking about the upcoming ceremony.
Hermione said, "You are really going to baptize your three children, Harry?"
Harry said, "We are trying to schedule it now. Al really wants to be baptized, and if Al is going to be baptized then James does not want to be left out. I'm not sure it is such a good idea to be baptized just to keep up with your younger brother, but I figure it cannot hurt."
Hermione said, "I will be Godmother to your children. Thank you for being Godfather to Rose and Hugo . I feel good about that, and about my mother as their Godmother as well as their Grandmother."
Harry said, "You are welcome. I really do not mind taking Rose and Hugo, and your mother, to church when you are busy. I appreciate your help with our three when I am busy."
Ginny said, "I still don't see the point of becoming Christian, after all the bad things they did to witches. It is nice that the children are gone Saturday evenings, though. It helps me finish the Sunday Quidditch column."
"I know a number of the families that go to church, but none well enough that I would want them as godparents," Harry said. "Jack Lewis says he cannot be both the person baptizing and a godfather, so it looks like the ceremony is going to be in Switzerland Sunday afternoon, with Hermione as godmother and Jack Lewis as godfather.
"Apparently Apollo Scherica, the Patriarch, is going to do the baptisms. More Magi are Christians than any other religion, I guess, although most do not belong to any organized religion. I do know that the Patriarch has anointed some of the ruling family."
Being baptized by the Patriarch was a big deal. In addition to the three Potter children there were twenty-one other children, seven more from outside Switzerland and fourteen from inside Switzerland.
The Potters were the last to be baptized. As part of the ceremony Apollo anointed each child with oil. He anointed Lily first, and then James stepped up to be anointed and Apollo anointed him. Then Albus came up, and instead of standing like all the other children he knelt down and stretched out his hands. This must have rattled Apollo, because he ended up not touching Al's head with a finger dipped in oil, but spilling the entire jar of oil all over Albus.
The photographs from that day make it look like Albus was anointed. It made the papers again, although not on the first page. The headlines were mostly about the Patriarch spilling oil on Albus, but a few people at the scene and who looked at the photograph were curious if there was more to the incident.
Albus did spend a little time after the baptism talking to Nausicaa, but he did not tell anyone what they were talking about.
Early in September 2011 Molly and Narcissa met for what turned out to be a long lunch. Molly took one look at an obviously upset Narcissa Malfoy and said, "Narcissa, what happened?"
"I'm so mad I could spit fire like a dragon," Narcissa said. "I do not know what that idiot husband of mine, and our son, were thinking.
"Someone is at the door, and the house elves have me come. There is this five year old girl, terrified, and what I guess are her parents. There are documents giving US legal guardianship over her until she and Scorpius are MARRIED! The documents say that they need to be educated together, and by some of the nastiest tutors there are. I won't stand for it!
"The poor girl has had her memory wiped. She doesn't remember anything from before. She seems bright enough. Scorpius seems to like her, and I know they talk to the house elves. She even goes down to the kitchen to help cook, and then comes up with the food to eat with us.
"Both grandmothers seem to hate her, as does Astoria. They call her ugly and fat and I know it is hard on her. She is dark, and rather round, but she is not exactly fat.
"I want to keep home schooling Scorpius and home school Cleopatra at the same time. Draco called in the first of the Tutors on some list he and Lucius had. What a disaster! He wanted to torture them until they obeyed him. I threatened to call the DMLE on him. The children went upstairs and hid, and refused to be in the same room with him. Astoria and the grandmothers wanted him as a teacher, but the children and I refused!
"Is Draco still on probation? Tell Harry. See if we cannot get some sort of order keeping these horrible people out of Malfoy Manor."
"Why don't the grandmothers like her?" Molly asked.
Narcissa answered, "Godiva Greengrass Malfoy, my mother-in-law, seems to sort of accept her. She doesn't like her, says she is fat and ugly, but that we are stuck with; she won't call her by her name, Cleopatra or Cleo. Godiva just calls her 'that ugly thing.' I feel so sorry for Cleo.
"My mother, Druella, did a scan with her wand to see if Cleo is a Pure Blood. I guess she is over half Pure Blood but less than three-quarters. If you are seventh-eights Pure Blooded you are only a little tainted, from what I have been told. Mum is furious.
"Astoria almost acts like Cleo is a bastard child of Draco's. She calls Cleo fat and ugly too. Cleo is dark skinned, but she is not black. She's a little heavy, but mostly in the hips.
"Scorpius has been defending Cleo, like it is the two of them against the world, and as much as possible I have been on their side. The house is very tense, I tell you."
"Draco tolerates everything because he does not have the guts to confront anyone. At least Scorpius and Cleo seem to get along. I know that Scorpius and Cleo are friends with the house elves too, although they do not know I know. I guess that is a good thing."
Molly though of how well her family got along. Even the trouble makers were loved. All the children had not only two parents but grandparents and plenty of aunts and uncles to help them grow up. Even Teddy had Harry and Ginny as parents when he needed them, and Arthur and her as well as Andromeda. Narcissa was very isolated, with Molly Weasley, of all people, the only friend she could confide in.
Molly and Narcissa had a long talk that afternoon. Narcissa was in tears through part of it.
That afternoon Molly went over to Harry's office. She told Harry what had been going on at Malfoy Manor.
The next day Harry had a meeting with Hermione, Kingsley, Arthur, and other staff that was or had been involved with the Malfoy family.
"Draco is still on probation," Hermione said. "Neither you or I had any trust in the worm. Now, after hearing the conversations between him and his father, I have even less trust in him."
"Can we require that any teacher of the children be vetted by us first?" Harry asked.
"I do not see why not," Hermione said.
"I do not want to get Narcissa in any more trouble than necessary," Harry said. "How do we approach this?"
"I have been very involved in setting up the home schooling program," Hermione said. "I do not feel the least bit guilty working on the home schooling program while working at the Ministry. Kingsley and I feel it is critical to raising the next generation of Magi that we have a good educational program in place, and one that does not discriminate between Pure Bloods and other Magi."
Harry said, "You could go over to the Malfoy Manor and to talk to Scorpius's parents and grandmothers about his education, and tell them that the only approved curriculum is the one that you and Molly and others have developed."
Hermione said, "I could say that if they wanted to use anything else it had to be approved by the Ministry. Even a tutor would have to be approved by the Ministry."
The next day Hermione went to Malfoy Manor, accompanied by an Auror that was well known to be Muggle born. Hermione knew she should not hate Draco, but she did. Hermione was always surprised at how visceral her hatred for Draco was.
Narcissa greeted Hermione warmly, and had her come into their study. Draco and Astoria were sitting there, seething. Neither of them greeted Hermione, nor did they do anything to make her feel welcome.
Hermione said, "The Ministry has created an approved curriculum for teaching young Magi. Although we cannot impose it on everyone, we are strongly encouraging it. We feel any student who is taught using this curriculum is doing a good job of preparing their student for Hogwarts, and for life beyond Hogwarts."
Narcissa said, "I have been using it to teach Scorpius and Cleopatra."
Hermione feigned surprise and asked, "Who is Cleopatra?"
Narcissa looked at Draco, who said, "She is a girl Scorpius's age we are taking care of."
Hermione looked at Narcissa, and then at Astoria. Hermione focused on Astoria to see if she would say anything, and eventually Astoria said, "She is this big, black, ugly thing that Draco and his father want to have here.
"We are going to find OUR type of teacher for Scorpius, and for the ugly one."
Hermione said, "Draco is still on probation, and we are going to insist that any teacher or curriculum you use will have to be approved by the Ministry."
Astoria said, "When does Draco get off probation, so we can teach our child the way we want to teach him?"
Hermione responded, "NEVER, if I have anything to say about it."
Astoria said, "We will just send them away for educating in OUR ways."
Hermione said, "No, you will not. They are forbidden from leaving the country."
Astoria said, "So we are stuck with this pap of lessons that come from…," and for the first time she read the names on a couple of the documents.
Hermione Granger Weasley
Molly Weasley
Audrey Weasley
Orpheus Smith
Nada Bloom
Winifred White
Astoria said, "White is a second cousin of the weasels, and she is married to a Muggle. One of their Mudblooded daughters was in my class. The weasels have taken over educating OUR children."
Hermione smiled and said, "As long as Draco is on Probation, I will insist on it."
Astoria stomped out of the room.
Draco sat there and did not say anything.
Finally Narcissa said, "Your curriculum is excellent. Both Scorpius and Cleo are learning fast. I will continue to use this."
"Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione said.
Toward the end of September Harry Potter told Ginny that he would have to go down to the Potions room after dinner, and as usual Al wanted to go with Harry.
"I have to make more map parchment," said Harry. "How do I make it?"
"You make a potion and put it in a big glass pan," said Albus, "and then you do some spell over the potion. Then you make another potion and put the parchment in it and do another spell."
"You have helped me measure the ingredients" said Harry. "Do you want to do it again?"
"Yes, please," said Albus. When they got to the part where Harry did the spell Al asked, "Can I learn to do the spell, please."
"You have to use a wand to do the spell, Al," said Harry.
"I know," said Al. "Can I learn to do the spell, please?"
"You are not supposed to use a wand before you are eleven," said Harry.
"I'm not supposed to do a lot of magic, but I love magic and I'm good at it and I really want to learn. I will not do anything outside of the basement. Please, may I learn how to do the spell?" pleaded Al.
"Al, you're 5 years old!" said Harry.
"I know, dad. You're just the best dad, and I know you want me to be a good wizard, and I promise you I will try to be so good," said Al.
Al looked at his father with a pleading look, and just kept at it. Harry though that Albus could be the most frustrating of his children. James was wilder, Lily would already fight with her mother, but Al, who tried to be so quiet and fit in most of the time, would quietly use magic that he was not supposed to use until he was in trouble. Finally Harry said, "Try this spell," and loaned Albus his wand.
Albus tried the spell once, and said, "This is your wand, dad. It feels like your wand. Is there another wand I could use?"
"It's not like I just keep spare wands everywhere, Al," said Harry. Then he remembered that there was a spare wand, Draco's old wand, in a drawer in the potion room. He said the spell to unlock the drawer, and drew out the wand. "Does this wand feel any better, Al?" asked Harry.
Albus took the wand, waved it around, and said, "You said that a wand chooses the wizard, dad. This wand does not feel like it has chosen me. It does feels better than using your wand, dad. May I use it? Please."
Harry let Al use the wand, and showed him the spell that you had to use to make the potion. Al did not do the spell correctly, but Harry thought he came closer than some very experienced wizards. Harry then took the wand and put it back in the drawer, and said the locking spell. Harry then looked at Al and said, "Can you get the wand out of the drawer, Al?"
Al levitated the wand in the drawer and said the unlock spell, and the drawer came open and the wand flew into his hand.
Harry looked at Al and said, "Don't tell anyone you can do that!"
"Yes, daddy," said Al.
"If that wand is ever out of the basement you are in so much trouble you will wish you had never been in this basement. Is that clear, Al?"
"Yes, daddy," said Al.
"Who are you going to tell about this wand?" asked Harry.
"Nobody," said Al.
"Not even Rose," said Harry, because he knew that Al and Rose were best friends, and were rapidly learning together.
"Not even Rose," said Al.
From then on if there was nothing else going on Al would disappear down the basement to practice magic with Draco's old wand. Within 4 months Al was able to do the spell to make the parchment. Harry never talked to Al about the wand, and Al never talked to his father, but they both knew that Al was practicing with the wand.
A few evenings after Al first used Draco's wand he was in the sitting room with the rest of the family. Al had found a guitar that had apparently belonged to Harry's father. Harry had brought it back from his parents' house, but he never tried to play it. None of the Weasley family played a musical instrument, although it appeared that James had courted Lily by singing to her and playing the guitar.
Al was fooling around with the guitar, and Harry asked, "Al, would you like to learn to play the guitar?"
Al said, "I would like to. Rose is taking piano lessons with a Muggle teacher, and I know they have guitar lessons there too. Could I go to lessons with Rose?"
Harry looked over at Ginny, and when she indicated she wanted to talk went over to her. They did a quiet spell so no one else could hear. Ginny then said, "Maybe if Al has to practice with that guitar he will not want to spend quite so much time in the basement."
"It cannot hurt to have him learn music, and going into a Muggle environment every week is probably good for him too."
So, once a week Albus and Rose went to music lessons.
A month or so later Ginny told Harry, "Al is still going to the basement to practice, and I know he is taking the first year text books down there."
"Has he said anything to you about what he is doing?" Harry asked.
"Well, not exactly." Ginny said. "He has pointed out spells in the books a couple of times, and indicated that he did not quite understand how they were done.
"I sort of feel like I did when my brothers did not let me use a broom. I had to sneak a broom to learn how to fly. So I have been telling him what he wants to know, but emphasizing to him that I had better never see him taking a wand and doing any of these spells. I do not know if I am teaching him magic, or how to be sneaky."
"You are probably teaching him a little of both," Harry said.
"Are we doing the right thing?" Ginny asked.
"I wish I knew," Harry replied.
In November at one of their usual meetings Narcissa told Molly, "Cleo never stops surprising me. We have a pipe organ in the big ballroom, and Cleo can play. She can sort of read music. She asked for music lessons, and I have hired someone to come in once a week to teach her.
"It is not like it is costing us any money. We get a stipend a month for her, and all her expenses are paid for out of an account at Gringotts."
Later that fall Nausicaa Scheria and Steven and Valerie Bushman were looking at several large maps of the world. Each showed growing or shrinking dots in various colors, with various colored lines connecting them. The magic that controlled the charts had been refined over 4,000 years, but it was still almost impossible to predict the future reading them. You first had to learn to see some of this magic in a crystal ball, and the best crystal ball to use was the one in Switzerland in the map room area. Once you could see this magic in the crystal ball you could see it on the map and on your own crystal ball if you had one. It was hard to discern a pattern; books had been written on how to interpret the charts. It was possible, however, to encourage something that looked good. That was one of the things that encouraged Dumbledore; the lines and dots around Harry Potter were way more good than evil.
Something was going on. Something that reminded Nausicaa about the map changes before the Battle of Hogwarts, not right before but in the years leading up to it. The major evil that had been in the Caribbean for over five hundred years was still there, but something even bigger was growing, and whatever it was the good was much bigger than the bad. Something big and complex was being woven to confront a major evil. There were lines leading to the Caribbean and strong lines leading to Switzerland, but there was a lot of activity in England, and even more than before the Battle of Hogwarts the house elves were involved. Kreacher had been over a couple of times asking about the house elves.
It was almost impossible to teach elfish to a grownup. Dumbledore tried to learn, but the subtleties of interpersonal relationships that the language conveyed were terribly complex. The house elves were teaching nineteen people, ten in North America, four in China, two in Switzerland, and three in England. A fourth was just being added in England. Nausicaa Scheria and Steven and Valerie Bushman looked at the four dots in England. Albus and Rose made sense, but the young Malfoy? The only reason they knew it was Malfoy was because the house elves told them. And now there was a girl living in the Malfoy Mansion, and there was a line leading back to one of the most evil beings and places in the world, but the person with young Malfoy was not evil, and young Malfoy was not evil either.
Nausicaa looked at the four dots, all close to the same age. The same patterns that brought Harry Potter together with Ron and Hermione, and eventually Ginny, was being repeated with these four. "Cleopatra Desiree Slytherin?" asked Nausicaa, who had been given the name by the house elves. "Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy?" She looked at the Bushman's. "Great opportunity but great danger" said Nausicaa. "We need to pray. Pray and watch."