Divisions

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1959 – 1961

Arcturus' crackdown had the desired results. While it deepened and strengthened the splits between Light, Neutral, and Dark, it also simplified the battlefield the Wizengamot had become into four large factions with more or less united causes, rather than a dozen or more small factions. They had even begun to get more done than arguing. Not much, granted, but more than they had when the Wizengamot was so divided.

Dumbledore remained their largest stumbling block. It was entirely due to him that the Light siders remained split into two factions, rather than one. The man was a gifted orator, and a superb actor. He'd begun to cultivate a very grandfatherly and wise appearance and demeanor, and unfortunately it was working incredibly well. Septimus and Cedrella both could do little more than shake their heads in dismay as more and more people fell or the act. Because that was exactly what it was. Septimus didn't know exactly what end-game Dumbledore was working towards, but he was working towards something.

Ok, that was a bit of a lie. Septimus had a fair idea of what Dumbledore was up to. The slow gathering of power was kind of telling. It was pretty clear that Dumbledore wanted to rule the UK Wizarding World. The only thing that remained in question was what exactly his agenda would be if he did end up ruling them. Dumbledore gave every appearance of being the opposite of the Dark families and their anti-Muggle/Muggleborn agenda, but Septimus wasn't entirely sure that was the truth.

Worryingly, more and more rumors about thing in Hogwarts were making the rounds. None of it was good, either. The tales of changes in the curriculum for the worse were the biggest concern. It had also become clear that for whatever reason, Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers never returned for a second year anymore. Of a far more subtle concern to Septimus and Cedrella was the news that Samhain and Yule were no more. It was now Halloween and Christmas. On the face of it, it was not an overt concern. They were, after all, the same holidays, right? Except for the fact that the change in names came with a change from the traditional Magical celebrations to the Muggle versions thereof. It had largely been hailed as progressive step forward toward better relations with Muggleborns and their Muggle parents because of that.

Neither Septimus nor Cedrella agreed with that opinion, if for slightly different reasons. Cedrella deplored and grieved the loss of yet more traditions after the loss of the Children's Ball. Septimus thought that losing the traditional celebrations was doing the Muggleborn students absolutely no favors. They needed to learn that while the Wizarding world was anachronistic compared to the Muggle world, not all of it was because Wizards were contrary and backwards. Some of it was due to that, certainly, but not all of it.

Muggleborns' only exposure to Wizarding traditions and the reasons for them prior to graduation came from Hogwarts. By ending the traditional celebrations, they were missing out on learning about that. Most Muggleborns would be unlikely to seek to correct the lack as adults. Therein lay the problem.

Septimus wasn't fool enough to think that wasn't deliberate. For some reason, Dumbledore wanted to make the situation between purebloods and muggleborns worse. Without that grounding in traditions, most muggleborns would never discover or understand the deeper connections with magic that were made possible and/or encouraged by the traditional celebrations. Worse, their ignorance would annoy the purebloods and deepen the resentment aimed at Muggleborns.

To say he and Dumbledore had come to loggerheads over the issue was to understate the point. Septimus remained intractable and, to the bafflement of many of the Light-siders and everyone else, consistently voted against practically every bill Dumbledore brought forward. Weasleys had been Light-side for longer than Hogwarts had existed. For Septimus to apparently break with that and become effectively Neutral baffled practically everyone. Unfortunately, it did not seem to sound an alarm about Dumbledore and his motives, or if it did, Dumbledore successfully soothed them.

Arcturus spent most of his time in the Wizengamot with the Marauders. Just his presence lent their cause, and the Neutral party, more weight. That he had apparently shifted sides as well, becoming Neutral rather than Dark, baffled nearly as many people as Septimus defecting to the Neutral party.

Ironically enough, the Neutral party had nearly as many members these days as did Dumbledore. Most of the Neutrals that had come over in the last few years had done so more out of irritation with the hardliners on either side than because of pressure from Black family members or any truly Neutral leanings. They were just exasperated with the constant wrangling the extremists indulged in.

Late in 1959, it became necessary for Arcturus to enact the 'heir plan', as Orion and Walburga managed to procreate and produced a son. Arcturus managed to have young Sirius, who had been named to honor his unfortunate namesake, for a whole month before Dumbledore found out about it and attempted to intervene.

Septimus got a blow-by blow description of the resultant argument from Arcturus a few days later. It resulted in Dumbledore leaving with his tail tucked firmly between his legs, much to Septimus' amusement. Though really, why Dumbledore thought he could possibly have any say in the situation confounded him.

Two months later, Dumbledore attempted to bring forward legislation restricting a Head's powers. Septimus didn't even have to try to rally support to vote the bill down. Dumbledore got shouted down before he'd even finished reading the thing. It had been a spectacularly ill-thought-out move by the man - rather out of character for his established pattern, to be honest. Septimus figured that Arcturus taking Sirius had forced Dumbledore to hurry his plan for some reason. That did not bode well for what Dumbledore's eventual plans were, if he'd had in mind to try to control the Family Heads somehow.

Septimus had been more than a little amused when Cedrella found herself visiting Arcturus frequently in the wake of him taking custody of Sirius. With their own children long past the infant stage at that point, she had found she dearly missed having a little one to cuddle and coo at. Arcturus and his wife, both being older, were more than happy to let her watch Sirius fairly frequently. All of them were watching Sirius closely for any problems thanks to the closeness of his parents' blood relation. Fortunately, he had escaped any blatantly obvious physical deformities, but there was always the possibility of something more subtle that would show up later.

In January of nineteen sixty, the next Marauder generation was finally completed, as Charlus and Dorea finally managed to have a child, a boy they named James. There was much celebrating among the Marauders, as James' appearance was much desired and had been long in coming. Septimus quickly found himself having to reign in Charlus' tendency to want to spoil James rotten.

"I understand the impulse, brother, but you'll be doing your son no favors doing that." Septimus told him one day. "He'll grow up to be a menace, like Abraxas' boy."

Charlus had made a horrified face. Septimus, of course, had known that argument would work where all others might fail due to Potter stubbornness. The end of the Children's Ball had resulted in the end of the rule that children were not to appear in public until they'd attended the Ball. While most people didn't really mind meeting the new generation earlier, for some of them it was definitely a bad thing. Abraxas' son Lucius was a menace of the first order, and had made a rather bad impression all around on his trips out and about. The threat of having his own son turn out like that was more than enough to see Charlus reigning in his tendency to spoil James.

Nineteen sixty-one brought its own big change to the Weasley family. Namely, Arthur got his Hogwarts letter. Septimus wasn't entirely happy about it – it seemed like only yesterday he'd held a newborn Arthur in his arms. He grumbled more than a little about children growing up faster than they ought to, much to Cedrella's evident amusement.

"And you laughed when I started watching Sirius. Now who misses having little children about?" Cedrella asked.

Septimus huffed at her. "It's entirely different, woman." He mock-argued, unable to keep from grinning a little at her in abashed amusement at himself. "And I'll thank you to remember that."

"Of course, my dear. I do apologize." Cedrella said with mock contrition, all the while giving him a look that promised retribution later.

Septimus wouldn't have had it any other way. He dearly enjoyed their 'arguments', and the 'retribution' and 'making up' after. It kept life interesting, and they both knew it wasn't serious. They only very rarely argued in all seriousness, and those arguments had a markedly different tone. For one, there was a whole lot more yelling when they were arguing seriously.

The trip to Diagon Alley was a bit more hectic than usual. The pureblood families had enjoyed a bumper crop of children after the Grindlewald/World War Two, much the same as many of the Muggle countries involved in World War Two had. As a result, there were quite a number of children of varying ages running around the Alley in late August, of all blood statuses.

It was now that their early husbandry with their finances was bearing fruit. The Weasley coffers hadn't been this full in a very, very long time. While they were not in the same financial bracket that the Potters, Longbottoms, and Blacks enjoyed, they were not all that far from it. Not that anyone would notice on first look, though. Septimus and Cedrella were still very careful with their money, and only ever bought what they truly needed, even if they bought it of a better quality than they had before.

As a result, Arthur was going to Hogwarts better equipped than Septimus himself had been, a sight that made everything Septimus had done over the last few decades more than worth it. Arthur was going to be going to Hogwarts with all-new equipment and clothing, a first for a Weasley since disaster struck.

Arthur, true to his easy-going personality, managed to make several friends during their trip. He even exchanged contact information with two of them, one a pureblood (the Cornfoot scion), another a completely overwhelmed and confused Muggleborn.

Septimus had made sure their children could comfortably deal with the Muggle world via a number of field trips and encouraging them to earn spending money the same way he had – by doing chores for the elderly and less-able muggles in the nearest village. Phillip and Marcus were mostly indifferent about the whole thing, complying with Septimus' directive but not really invested in it. Arthur, on the other hand, was utterly fascinated, and pleased to spend time in the Muggle world. As a result of that and his newfound Muggleborn friend, Septimus and Cedrella didn't see much of him the last few weeks of August. He was always begging to be allowed to visit his friend. Both Septimus and Cedrella had been rather amused and quite willing to permit the visits.

Their amusement quadrupled once Arthur was at Hogwarts. They learned from Arthur's first letter home that the Marauders were not only still known, but apparently still active. Better, somehow the group had managed to retain its anti-bully policy, rather than becoming nothing but a group of pranksters acting at random. Interestingly, it seemed to have become something of a tradition to tell the incoming first years about it on the train to Hogwarts - a combined reassurance and warning, Septimus supposed.

From a later letter, they learned that the torch was apparently passed from one generation to the next, usually from sixth years to second or third years. At least, that was what Arthur managed to find out when he'd managed to organize his roommates in Gryffindor into a Marauders group and they got found out by the existing Marauder group. Arthur had even managed not to blab that he was the son of one of the first Marauders, though Septimus would have given real money to see the expressions on their successors' faces. Apparently, the 'First Marauders' were all but worshipped in certain circles.

The reason for that worship was rather easy to figure out. From Arthur's letters, it was clear the bully situation had only gotten worse since Septimus and Cedrella's day. The bullies were essentially operating under Dumbledore's beneficence, as he refused to punish as harshly as some of the rules being broken demanded. It wasn't like these kids were ten minutes late for curfew or anything. Broken bones and week-long stays in the infirmary were apparently very common results of the bullies' actions. It had been bad enough to drive Arthur to reform the Marauders in his first year, despite Septimus advising him to wait until second year if he could.

Arthur came home for Yule sporting several bruises from a fight that broke out on the train home thanks to several of those bullies. Septimus had shaken his head in dismay at the sight – not because Arthur had fought back, but because it was necessary. Clearly, Hogwarts was out of control.