Alliance
(_)(_)(_)
1973
The remainder of that school year was quiet, at least insofar as Hogwarts was concerned. The wider world, however, was not so lucky.
Voldemort's followers were getting bolder. The attacks on Muggles increased rapidly from one a week to nearly every day. Worse, the Marauders became aware that Voldemort's followers, the so-called Death Eaters (a name that had engendered much scoffing among the Marauders) were beginning to put pressure on the Neutral and Light pureblood families, trying to force them to side with Voldemort one way or another.
Thus far, the Neutral and Light families were holding firm, but how long that would last was anyone's guess, if things continued to worsen. Which they were going to. Because that was the other problem. The Ministry wasn't doing a damn thing about the situation.
The Ministry in general and the Wizengamot in particular seemed to have decided that this wasn't their problem, but a Muggle problem. That the Death Eaters' first victims had been Muggleborns and their families seemed to have been forgotten by virtually everyone.
What really pissed Septimus off was the fact that Dumbledore seemed to be at the head of the 'not our problem' club, somehow without people accusing him of being Dark, to boot. How Dumbledore was pulling that off, Septimus hadn't really figured out, but it was driving him up a wall, and making it increasingly difficult to not hex the bastard into oblivion.
Unfortunately, so long as Voldemort and his followers kept to Muggle victims, there wasn't a whole hell of a lot the Marauders could do about him on a private level, either. Until Voldemort and the Death Eaters were acknowledged as a threat to the Magical UK, any attempt to hunt them down would be very ill-received, regardless of the status of the people hunting them down. And that was if the Marauders stayed within the letter of the law. If they stepped outside the existing law, which would be all but assured to happen since their targets would be very unlikely to play by the rules, they'd find themselves with long stints in Azkaban.
The start of summer saw the elder Marauders and Arcturus Black having a council of war, to figure out what they *could* do until such time as Voldemort and company made themselves public enemies.
"We need to figure out a way to protect the Muggleborns." Charlus said. "They're going to be next on Voldemort's hit list."
"Agreed." Harfang said. "The question is what to do."
"The simplest solution would be providing them with an escape route." Arcturus said. "It would be a simple matter for all of us, as Heads of Families, to create portkeys. I know the Blacks have several properties that could be refitted as refuges."
"So do the Potters." Charlus said immediately. "Hell, I could open up the Castle to the Muggleborns. It's not like that place lacks for room."
That got amused chuckles from the Marauders, who had all seen the place personally. "Too true." Septimus said.
"That will take care of the school-age kids." Harfang said. "What the hell do we do about the kids too young for Hogwarts?"
That made them all go quiet, as that was truly a problem. Finding pre-Hogwarts age Muggleborns before the Death Eaters did was going to be a hell of a problem, as none of them had ready access either to the Department of Underage Magic or the Hogwarts Book of Names.
"Maybe we can appeal to the Hogwarts elves?" Charlus said after a few moments. "I mean, one of them has to know where the Book is. If we tell them we want the list in order to be able to protect the kids ... "
Septimus nodded. "They just might go for it." He had less experience with House Elves than Charlus and Harfang did, but he knew that house-elves were legendary when it came to protecting their charges if they were well-treated. It wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that the Hogwarts elves would be willing to protect future Hogwarts attendees, even if only just by offering up their names to wizards.
Charlus nodded. "I'll ask Jinx ... "
He got no further, as Jinx popped in upon hearing his name. "Jinx goes and talks to the Head Elf." He proclaimed. "Jinx makes him understand Master and Master's friends wanting to protects from the bad mens." And he popped back out.
The Marauders shared a deeply amused look and more than a little laughter. Nearly two decades on, they still hadn't gotten over their amusement at Jinx's antics where they were concerned. Truthfully, at this point, they'd all miss the little blighter if he suddenly went back to 'normal' house elf behavior.
"Well, that takes care of that. If Jinx can't convince them, no one can." Charlus said after they'd all calmed down.
"Agreed." Septimus said. "And by transporting the muggleborns to your various properties, we'll neatly avoid Ministry notice. They'll assume it's you guys visiting your properties for whatever reason, if they notice the portkey going off at all."
"And once they're there, we can offer sponsorship or guardianship to protect them better, and force the Ministry and Dumbledore to keep their noses out - or at least give us a leg to stand on when they do stick their noses in." Harfang said.
"We need to prepare for ... well, where this is going to end up, sooner or later." Septimus said with a sigh. He'd hoped he'd been done with war, after the last one.
"Agreed." The other three men chorused.
"Especially me." Arcturus said with a sigh. "I need to put things in place against me being killed before the boys are of age. Otherwise, Orion will become Head, and worse, the boys will end up back in his home. That can't be allowed to happen. Even if I'm pretty sure the Family magics would reject him, it's not worth the chance they won't."
"Well, you can count on us to support them and take them in, if it comes to that." Septimus said, then made a face. "I'll have to put something in place as well. Arthur is a good man, but he isn't good Head of House material. He doesn't have enough teeth for it."
Septimus would have to arrange some sort of support for Arthur if he did have to become Head. Molly would help - she more than made up for Arthur's general lack of aggression, but she wouldn't be enough. Unlike Cedrella, politics hadn't been one of Molly's hobbies, so she wasn't as well informed about that end of things as Cedrella had been when she and Septimus had married. That lack of knowledge would end up with Molly advocating actions that would end badly. Septimus honestly hoped to be around long enough to discover if any of Arthur and Molly's children would be suitable, as that would be a better solution.
"Other than that, it's pretty much a repeat of our plans for the old war." Harfang said with a sigh. "Stock up on nonperishable goods, armor and weapons. Break out the backup wands again, just in case."
"And start teaching the kids as much defensive magic as they can manage to learn during the summer." Charlus said. "I'll not have any of them be helpless if they get separated from us at an inopportune time."
That got nods from everyone. "Teach them to become Animagi, too, if they're capable." Septimus said. "They'll be more than amenable once they realize being an animagus will make it safe to accompany Remus during the full moon."
They'd kept that information from the kids until now because their magic wasn't developed enough to manage the transformation. Hopefully, by the time any of them had succeeded in the preliminary steps, they'd be strong enough magically ... or have the patience to wait until they were.
"Good idea. They don't have to register until they're twenty-five, which will give them a good long while with no one the wiser as to their ability." Charlus said with a nod. "And it's not like they'd be the first animagi in history to never register."
That got several laughs, as they all agreed. It just didn't seem realistic that there were as few animagi as the register proclaimed there to be. The odds on most animagi just not registering was pretty high. Especially since the Ministry had no way to discover if someone was an animagi short of hitting every animal they came across with the spell that forced an animagi that was in animal form back into human form.
Not all forms would be of use outside of accompanying Remus. That said, if the kids lucked out and became something that had a known population in the Isles, they'd be in good shape. They'd be able to hide, and perhaps even blend in (if one of them became, say, a cat) and eavesdrop or attack the enemy without the enemy being any the wiser.
"We ought to try to teach Frank to become an animagi while we're at it." Septimus commented. "He's still young enough to be able to learn it and adapt. Hell, come to that, I'm tempted to try it myself." The good knew he was magically powerful enough to manage the transformation. They all were. The only factor their age would have was whether or not they'd become set in their ways enough to resist adapting to the changes being an animagus wrought on a person.
"I'm far too old to bother." Arcturus said, making a face.
The other Marauders looked thoughtful. After a bit, Charlus sighed. "I doubt it'd be a good idea in my case. Who knows how my injury would play out."
Septimus reluctantly admitted that Charlus had a point there. If Charlus' injury had been purely physical, it wouldn't be as much of an issue. Unfortunately, his injury had been magically caused, which had the potential to wreak havoc with the animagus transformation.
Harfang grimaced. "I doubt I'm good enough at transfiguration to manage." He admitted.
That made Septimus and Charlus both scoff. "That's shite, Harfang, and you know it. Just because you didn't outperform the two of us doesn't make you a dunce." Septimus said, beating Charlus to it by mere seconds.
"All right, all right. I suppose I can give it a try." Harfang said.
Their plans laid out, the men broke up their meeting. The Marauders headed for Potter Castle.
"I didn't bring this up with Arcturus, because I didn't think he'd go for it ... at least not without a lot of work." Charlus said. "But there's another way to protect at least ourselves, and our heirs."
"An Alliance Oath." Harfang said.
Septimus nodded. "We've all but got one in place anyway." He said. "The Oath would just formalize it, and ensure that if the worst happens to one of us, our House and heirs will have protection and assistance that no one could interfere with without magical, political, and personal repercussions." Severe ones. Formal alliances were fairly rare, but those that had existed had exacted horrific tolls from anyone who messed with their memberships, and every pureblood and wizard-raised halfblood knew those stories.
"We'd best floo home and get our gear." Septimus said, then snorted. "And our heirs." Another reason not to include Arcturus yet. Neither Sirius nor Regulus were of age. While James wasn't of age either, he was the only possible heir to the Potter Headship. That changed a lot of the usual rules that applied to heirs, both in the Wizengamot and in the eyes of Magic.
Septimus and Harfang immediately left for their homes, and to fetch their sons. Fortunately, it was the weekend and Arthur was at home. Frank, who'd graduated from Hogwarts this year and had been 18 for all of two weeks, hadn't even had time to decide if he was going to take a break for a year or try to get a job right away.
Within minutes, everyone had reconvened at Potter Castle, heirs, ritual athames and bowls in tow. They all went into the Castle's dueling chamber - one of a few places in the castle built to withstand the sort of magical whammy the Alliance Oath was liable to unleash without getting wrecked.
All six men arranged themselves in a circle. James, despite being the youngest of those present, had an unexpectedly serious expression on his face as he stood at Charlus' shoulder. The bowls were set on pedestals that put them at roughly waist height. One by one the elder Marauders called on their family magics. The sheer expectant weight of the magic brought to bear on them as a result took Septimus' breath away.
As the politically and socially weakest of the three Families present, Septimus began the Oath.
"I Septimus Weasley, Head of House Weasley, hereby acknowledge Harfang Longbottom and Charlus Potter, their designated heirs, future successors and Magical Houses as allies of House Weasley. I will support and defend them, their heirs, successors, and Houses as if they were my own. Their enemies, friends, and causes shall be as my own and those of my House until I and my House, or they and theirs are no more, so mote it be."
Arthur, as heir and witness, echoed the oath, confirming that he agreed with it.
Septimus had to set his teeth against the sudden vibration from the family magic. It wasn't that it hurt, but it was rather disconcerting, and was making his hair stand on end.
Harfang took the oath next, changing only the names in the appropriate places, with Frank echoing the heir's version of the oath. Septimus almost cringed as the air vibrated a second time, harder and longer than the first. Then Charlus and James took their oaths.
It was like the world's biggest gong went off. A deep, almost subliminal basso-profundo sound that defied description assaulted their ears the same instant an earthquake-like vibration rattled their bones and all the air in the room seemed to compress for several heartbeats. Then, with an audible snap, everything abruptly returned to normal. There was dead silence in the room for several long moments.
"Holy mother of Merlin." James finally sputtered, breaking the silence. "Is that ... normal?"
"No idea." Septimus said. "It's been several hundred years since the last Alliance Oath, I think. I don't know as anyone ever recorded what happened during and after the oath was taken. That said, not all things involving family magic go like that."
Little did any of them know just how much their alliance would change the coming war ... and the future beyond that war.