5th of November, Thursday, Regulus Comes Home, Morning
At ten that morning Arcturus arrived a Gringotts again to collect Regulus. Blackfang told him his grandson was still resting after the last healing session and he, himself had news.
He told the Lord that they had found a Horcrux at Narcissa Malfoy's home but assured the man that the woman had not known about the forbidden magic in her house.
Narcissa was Arcturus' cousin Pollux's granddaughter. One of his family!
He was told that the latest find had indicated that there were at least 3 unknown Horcruxes still out there.
It boggled Arcturus' mind.
"We are now looking through the vaults. The Lestrange boy asked us to look through his family vault, himself."
"Smart boy."
Just then a voice barked out of a bent pipe on Blackfang's desk.
"Unbelievable!" The normally unflappable goblin exclaimed. "We found another one! This one was half as big as the locket! So, there are two unknown ones now. If the idiot didn't make more…"
"Where did you find it?"
"In the Lestrange vault. The boy is incredibly lucky. If he hadn't tasked us to extract anything forbidden from his family vault, we would have fined him for half its contents. Now, it only cost him 10g, and all dark artifacts are gone or returned after being at the curse breakers.
"He even asked us to check for stolen goods and return them if we found any. The Horcrux was the cup of Hufflepuff that had been stolen in 1950 from the Smith family. We found some Black family heirlooms as well that were not part of Miss Black's dowry. They have been cleansed and returned."
"Thank you. Could you do the same with the Black vaults as well? The Lestrange boy seemed to have given smart orders. Could you list them for me?"
Blackfang nodded and did so.
1. Find everything that is dark or forbidden magic.
2. Sort the items under 1. In stolen or family-owned.
3. Return the stolen items to their rightful owners.
4. Cleanse all family-owned items and return them to the vault.
Arcturus added a
5. For items stolen more than 250 years ago or of deceased families collect them and show them to Arcturus. Do not return them or give them to the Ministry. He would decide case by case.
Blackfang charged Arcturus 15g for the service. There was more than one Black vault.
[The goblins started to drop hints about the search for cursed items in the Black vaults and the return of stolen goods and more and more of the old families ordered the service as well. The Blacks could not be the only honorable family, after all!
Many items found their way back to their lawful owners and in the end, the Black vaults were fuller than before.]
Soon after, Regulus had been collected and taken home to Castle Black. He was happy that Kreacher and his things were there, and his mother was far away. He really didn't want to return to Grimmauld Place. Ever.
His Grandfather was great! He left him in peace if Regulus needed quiet and was an amazing storyteller if Regulus wanted company.
Regulus heard about everything his Grandfather had learned in the last few days and was incredibly thankful that Poppy had shown her strength of character and had not chosen the easier path. Also, that his brother had started looking for him right away even if they had been estranged.
He was looking forward to meeting little Harry and seeing Sirius with his godson.
At lunch that day, Arcturus received a summons to the Wizengamot tomorrow at 9 am with a package of new laws, that were to be introduced.
In the last years, he had always put the letters aside unopened. But this time, he read it and the laws that were to be voted on. The most interesting one was to allow that pure-bloods with the mark could be forced to take veritaserum if a lawyer was present at their trial or it was an Auror investigation.
Arcturus raised his eyebrow and looked at Regulus. He handed the possible new law to his grandson and said, "What do you think?"
Regulus read it and thought about it. For him, it was no problem but for others? Hm. The only one he cared about was Sev. The young man had killed, to get the mark but it had been under special circumstances.
So, he said, "I agree with it, but I want the same question asked to everyone. First, who did you kill to receive the mark? And second, why did you kill that particular person?"
"That sound reasonable. I will add it to the proposal. – I have another law, that should be obvious. It should be mandatory that only persons who have had a trial should be incarcerated in Azkaban. Some of the Ministry people are a little too lax with that in my opinion."
"Yes! Absolutely! It is sad that it has to be written into law!"
"Quite. If someone protests, I will call for an audit of all inmates."
"Good idea."
Ministry, Morning, Same Day
Sirius arrived at the Auror's pen at 11 o'clock. He had a wide-eyed Harry on his hips and Alice, Frank, and Neville following him.
The Longbottoms had decided that the Auror's headquarters should be safe enough to leave the Herbarium together and with Neville. Especially as Dumbledore was in holding and could plot but hardly do anything to hurt them.
Everyone in the room stared at the visitors – well, mainly at Harry – until Moody let out a bang with his wand and baked, "Enough of the ogling, more of the working!"
Neville looked a little scared of the strange, loud man, but Harry clapped his hands and cried, "Adain!"
Many Aurors chuckled and went back to work. Harry Potter was just a cute little boy it seemed, not the amazing hero the Prophet tried to make him into.
A play-blanket was laid out on the floor next to Moody's desk and Harry and Neville put on it together with a mountain of strange plushies. No one had ever seen a plant plushie before!
Moody sat behind his desk and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "We aren't a kindergarten, you know?" He groused.
"Yeah, but Harry wants to stay with me. He is worse than a caterwauling charm if I leave the room. It's been like that since Halloween night. Well, and Neville didn't want to stay behind, so here we are."
Moody nodded in understanding, "Alright. For now, I will agree to it. – Now, I need your statement. Why don't you two play with the boys?" Alice and Frank nodded and sat down on the blanket and were soon involved in the great adventure the two had dreamed up. Not that they understood what the game was about, but it was great fun anyway.
Sirius told his story about the secret-keeper switch, his arrival at Potter Cottage, his rage, and his giving Harry to Hagrid of all people. Him chasing after the rat and being contacted by Frank in the secret Auror way.
"Well, that is quite different from what we were told by Albus on November the 1st. He clearly had his agenda then. But since everyone knows that you are Harry's sworn godfather and seeing you with him just now, there is no question that you are in the clear.
"Now, let me tell you about the results, or lack thereof, of the investigations we started because of your complaints. First, we didn't find Pettigrew yet but are working on it. Second, we have Dumbledore, and he is not talking and due to the ban on dosing purebloods with veritaserum…"
"This might sound silly but is it proven that Dumbledore is a pureblood?"
"Uh, now that you ask… I always assumed."
"What did you teach us about ass-u-me?"
"Right. Damn."
"Well, you could always ask Aberforth."
"The owner of the Hogshead? Why should he know?"
"Moody! You do know Abe's last name, right?"
"Sure! It's Dum… damn."
"Right, it's Dumdamn."
"Quiet, you! But how could I forget? Better get a throughout scan if I was or am influenced! You might have been, as well. You get one, too."
"Maybe make every Auror and Hit-Wizard get a check-over? Something is fishy."
"Right, I will order it."
"And document everything."
"No really? That would be a new idea! Document it, you say?"
"Alright, alright," Sirius held up his hand. "Another thing I need to talk about is my brother, Regulus."
"Why?"
"We all thought he was dead but found him in a cave, trying to go against You-Know-Who. He was in stasis for more than 2 years there. Would have died soon after You-Know-Who's fall and his enchantments fading. I will one day tell you the whole story. Now, my brother wants to turn himself in and has no problem with veritaserum."
"Good."
"Yes, but the problem is Reg tried to hinder You-Know-Who's usage of forbidden magics. Magic that could help resurrect him and we really don't want that information getting out, right?"
"Damn! No! And if he is under the truth serum, he might spill everything."
"Exactly."
"Where is he now?"
"At Castle Black. He still is not well as you can imagine."
"Well, then let's be proactive. I take Amy and we come to Castle Black. We ask the goblins to send an observer that silences your brother should the information spilling out be about these forbidden magics. If necessary, we will blacken the part of the protocol under the goblins' direction. Even Crouch cannot protest that."
"That sounds perfect. And you will take an oath of silence if something spills out?"
"Yes, but all in the know do need to take one too, you know?"
"Damn, you are right."
I will organize a visit to Castle Black. Do you think this afternoon is too early?"
"No, the sooner the better. Tomorrow is the Wizengamot meeting, so my grandfather and I have no time and who knows what will happen the day after."
"I can tell you. The first trials will happen. We need to start emptying the holding cells."
"That quickly?"
"If we get the law into place that pure-blood Death Eaters can be given veritaserum, yes."
"Right."
"Sirius, do you know the spells that scan another Auror thoroughly to see if they are compromised in any way or form?"
"Sure, you taught me, remember? You want me to scan you?"
"Yes. Let me get the forms to document it." Moody tapped the right rune on his desk to get it and Moody got scanned by Sirius.
He had compliance, forgetfulness, confounding, and loyalty spells on him. All of them had the same magical signature for the caster, but it had degraded. Some of the spells had degraded as well or had been partly broken. They were rather esoteric in nature and depended on the victim not knowing about them and trusting the caster, otherwise, they would deteriorate. Their main advantage was, they wouldn't get detected by the standard physical examination spells.
"Damn, some of them are old. I seem to have forgotten to do the mandatory yearly deep scans, thanks to them."
"We need to establish a fail-safe system, to make sure, everyone does them!"
"Yes." Moody wrote it on the form as a reminder.
"Can you do me? And Frank?"
"Let us do all four of the blanket dwellers, one after another."
"Alright."
They found the same spells on the adult Longbottoms and magic suppression curses on both boys. Sirius had a recklessness spell on him as well.
"Damn! How could neither Poppy nor the goblins have found this on Harry?" Sirius asked.
"It is a very obscure curse no medical scan will find. It was certainly used for exactly that reason."
"I'll talk to Poppy. The healing guild should be made aware."
"You do that. Now, we again have degraded signatures. The perpetrator seems to have found a way to hide their identity."
"Hm," Sirius said. Harry was sitting on his lap now and was listening intently. "But the pieces you have, share something and tell you they are from the same person right?"
"Yes, that is so without a doubt."
"What would happen if we combine all the pieces we have and eliminate any parts that are there already to prevent any duplicates? Darn, it is hard to explain. The bad thing is that it is three-dimensional.
"But let me give an example. In the Muggle world, law enforcement uses fingerprints to identify a person because they are unique. Like we do with magical signatures."
Moody nodded, "That is actually a good idea for us as well, right?"
"Yeah, but magical people touch things much less than Muggles for obvious reasons. Anyway, if Muggle law enforcement finds partial prints, they can print those on a transparent sheet and then they can put the sheets on top of each other. Everything, that is shown on both partial prints will overlap and not duplicate and so in the end, they will have a much more complete print, that is unique to the owner of the print."
"Smart. How do you know about this?"
"Lily."
"Damn. Now, my tasks are, to scan everyone, find a way to combine the magical signature tatters, find out about the Muggle ways to identify a person and possibly establish it here as well, and find out about the progress Muggles have made in investigation technics and see if we can adapt some!"
"That sounds smart, but the fingerprint thing might not work often. As soon as the criminals know about that technique they will just cast a cleaning spell."
"But then we have their magical signature."
"Damn, you are right."
Harry tried out the new word he had heard twice now, "Damn."
"Oh shit!"
"Sit!"
Sirius looked at Moody for help but only got an unrepentant grin.
"Well, Harry, why don't you go back to play with Neville?"
"Nevvi! Damn!"
"Darn."
"Dawn?"
"Good boy!"
"Now off you go." Sirius set Harry to the ground and watched, as he entered the blanket space and plopped down, next to Neville. Babbling at his friend. Alice looked up to send Sirius a scalding glare.
He looked back with a gaze full of contrition.
Moody's shoulders were shaking, and Sirius gave him the stink-eye.
"Ok, but how do we do that with the magical signatures?"
"Do we have a way to visualize them?"
"Sure. Here." Moody took one of the scan sheets and cast the appropriate spell. A green but transparent ball rose. It was lanced by many fine green threads that made a unique, organic, and delicate pattern that faded into nothingness more often than not.
"Great, now I will cast the same spell on another of the partial signature we found and try to align it with this one. Get ready to document the combined signature."
"Alright."
Soon Sirius had a similar ball floating next to Moody's and tried to find a common denominator. He made his ball spin slowly and after a while said, "Ha!" and moved the ball into Moody's, turning it until both aligned perfectly.
Moody grinned and had the new, more complete signature write itself on an empty parchment. He then cast again, and the new ball rose in front of him, and Sirius found similar tatters of the signature and aligned it to the new one as well.
After five combinations, the signature was complete enough, to be unique, but they combined every signature of every spell they had found on the six of them to the ball and had a near-complete one in the end.
"Well, I will run it against our samples in the secure database. Wait here."
Sirius nodded and then looked over to the blanket, where all 4 were sitting in a row, obviously having watched Sirius and Moody.
Sirius grinned at them and entered the now slightly crowded blanket.
"We just started developing a new technique to combine partial magical signatures."
"We saw! It was amazing and so pretty!" Alice gushed and the boys nodded emphatically.
"We have more than enough now to identify the caster," Sirius said.
"Well, we all know whose signature that must be, right?" Frank said.
"Yep." Sirius made the 'p' pop.
Harry was fascinated by that and tried it as well. Unfortunately, he had a hard time with the 'p' still, so it sounded more like a wet "Yeb".
The boys were getting cranky anyway and Alive noticed, that it was past lunchtime already and started packing everything up.
When they were finished, Moody came back, looking serious. "It's him," was all he said.
Unfortunately, his entering dispelled the silencing and hiding bubble around his desk entirely.
"Shoot. Well, we need to go now. When will you come to Castle Black?"
"At four. Does that work?"
"It does. Thanks, Moody!"
A green beetle buzzed out of the Auror's office with them. It just had spent a frustrating two hours trying to enter the privacy bubble around Moody's desk. Why did it have to be Moody? She could enter everyone else's bubble without a problem! But nooo, the Boy-Who-Lived (her new moniker for Harry Potter) was behind the wards of the most paranoid Auror in the force! It was not fair! Who was the 'him' Moody had talked about? Maybe she should have followed the Auror and not tried to enter the bubble after the Auror had weakened it by his exit.
She followed them to the Office for Family and Childcare and watched bored as Black signed that he would be the magical guardian of Harry Potter. Duh. Everyone knew that already.
At least she knew where they would meet this afternoon. Maybe she had more luck then.
Castle Black, Afternoon, Same Day
At the Herbarium, the adults discussed the possibility of developing a new spell that would quicken up the process of combining the partial signatures. So that only one person was needed to cast it.
The boys ate and slept and soon it was time to go to Castle Black.
Sirius arrived with Harry at Castle Black at half past three. Harry and Regulus were introduced, and Harry was very happy to finally meet his Bafoo's bosa Ledulus.
Regulus was easily charmed by the little boy and was soon roped into reading a picture book to Harry. Or Harry read it to him. One could not be sure.
Soon, Arcturus felt a 'knock' at the wards and allowed the two Aurors and lone goblin to enter, whom he could see through the gargoyle's eyes. As soon as they stepped through, the opening, the ward closed again.
(This was not healthy for the green beetle that tried to follow Moody, Bones, and Blackfang. The Black wards protected the property against all uninvited visitors, even Animagi. So, when the beetle flew full force into the wards, they reacted with great force themselves, and the beetle was burned to white ash within a second.)
Arcturus frowned, the ward had eliminated an intruder, but he hadn't seen anything. Hm. He shrugged internally. Well, everyone knew the wards of Castle Black were deadly.
The visitors were led into the formal living room and the Black men, including Harry, entered.
"Doblin!"
"Greetings Heir Potter."
"Hawwy," the boy said annoyed. Couldn't the goblin get it right?
"Indeed."
They all took seats and were served refreshments while Harry and Milky went to a warded corner where Harry could see his Bafoo but would not be underfoot.
The six discussed the handling of the questioning and agreed that Sirius would ask the questions and Moody and Bones would write theirs down and give them to Sirius, to avoid asking Regulus questions about You-know-who's forbidden magic.
It went off without a hitch. They talked about Regulus being coerced by Bellatrix and Walburga Black, to take the Dark Mark during the spring holiday of his sixth year, just after he had turned 17. How Bellatrix had stood behind him, casting the killing curse on the victim she had chosen for him. How the Dark Lord had noticed but burned the mark on Regulus' arm anyway while smiling.
"Did you ever commit anything considered illegal by the ministry, after your 17th birthday?" Sirius asked. Moody raised both eyebrows at the man. Sirius grinned at him.
"Not that I am aware of."
"Did you kill anyone?"
"No."
"Did you torture anyone?"
"No."
"Did you rape anyone?"
"No."
"Tell us of the events, when You-Know-Who asked for a house-elf."
Regulus recounted that day.
"Tell us of the events of the day when you got Slytherin's locket."
That was masterfully done. Regulus recounted the day, that led to him drinking the enchanted water and ordering Kreacher to destroy the locket. The two Aurors had caught on that the locket had the forbidden magic on it and kept quiet. Sirius was doing a good job.
They ended the interview (for lack of a better word) with questions about the supporters and fellow Death Eaters of Lord Voldemort, trying to root everyone out. Not that Regulus could help much in this regard, his information was scarce and two years old. But one never knew, was Moodys motto in this.
Afterward, Regulus was given the antidote and sighed in relief. It was done.
The Blacks were asked about the last few days, Sirius told them that he found Regulus via the point me spell and that he had contracted the goblins then. Blackfang nodded but just said that they had successfully found Regulus and healed him. That due to the fading of the magic in the water he had been close to dying.
Arcturus also told them about the indifference spells on him and he was scanned with the same spell, that had kept Sirius and Moody busy this morning. Arcturus suspicion could be verified by it when they found tatters of the mostly deteriorated rest – Apparently, Poppy hadn't caught them all. The magical signature was not the same, as the one, they had encountered this morning. Moody would show Bones later how to do the alignment test for the signature with a sample they had of You-Know-Who.
Sirius then had a brainwave and asked if they ever compared You-Know-Who's signature with the ones in the secure sample archive. That way, they might find the real identity of You-Know-Who.
Bones said, "We must have already done that, right, Moody?"
Moody shook his head, feeling like an idiot. "Well, no, but as he is dead now do we still need the information?"
The Blacks and Blackfang exchanged looks and Sirius said, "It is not urgent, but it might become handy knowledge."
"Alright, then the next Auror class will check that. They need to spend time in the archives anyway. Why not have them do something useful."
"Good idea," Arcturus said. "Auror Moody, I would like to hear your opinion. Regulus and I talked about the new legislation to be voted on tomorrow. We are in agreement but would like an addition."
"I am listening?"
"Regulus wanted to add, that each accused is asked the same two questions at the beginning of an interrogation. First, 'Whom did you kill to receive the mark?' and second 'Why did you kill that person in particular?'"
Moody nodded thoughtfully. "That would show the mindset and motivation of the accused from the beginning. Good idea."
"Now, my question would be, could you propose them?"
Moody thought about it. It was obvious that Regulus wanted to help a friend in the ranks of the Death Eaters, but the questions were good ones, and every defendant should be asked the questions anyway, so he nodded and was handed a note with the questions.
Arcturus then said, "And I want to have it mandatory by law and deed, that only convicted persons can be incarcerated in Azkaban. I will propose that one myself."
"Well, damn. Yes! I will support that law. Some will dither and waffle, though."
"Yes, I am aware, but I have a plan," Arcturus grinned sinisterly.
Moody chuckled and nodded.
"Now back to your case, Regulus Black. I do not see any reason, to arrest you. What do you say, Bones?"
"No. You are in the clear now. But be aware, the interview will be on public record. Maybe write a statement for the press before they find the interview and twist it to their own purposes."
Arcturus nodded, "Good thinking! I should get right to it. When will you file the documents?"
"Oh, on Monday."
That was perfect since it was Thursday afternoon.
As the official part was over now, they called Harry and Milky and Arcturus went to write a statement about the miracle of finding Regulus. He tried to make it official but exciting as well. He noted down, to be prepared for Walburga's visit as soon as the paper hit the shelves. He wondered how she managed without Kreacher anyway. Hm. Should he have her arrested? Did he want the negative press? No, he would take care of her in-house. Azkaban was too good for her.
Amy Bones asked Sirius and Moody what they had talked about with the magical signatures, and they demonstrated the aligning of the visualization of some tattered ones.
Harry was happy. He loved watching it and Bones was fascinated. They all started to brainstorm how to find a spell to do that for them or who could develop it. Sirius got quieter and quieter until Moody barked, "Spit it out, boy!"
"Well, I know of someone, who is very good at inventing spells. He did it from 4th year on, but I do not like that guy." He grumbled the last quietly.
Regulus perked up, "Yes! My best friend Sev!"
"Hmpf."
"Who?" Moody asked.
"Sniv… no. Severus Snape. He was in my year but in Slytherin."
"Isn't he the broody one in our holding cells, Bones?"
"Yes, he is as quiet as his cellmate Lucius Malfoy is loud. He looks quite depressed. Was he a big fan of You-Know-Who?"
"No," Regulus said, "But he had nowhere else to go. The Dark Lord wanted him, and he had no one to turn to, to keep him safe. He had been stigmatized from year one," Regulus gave Sirius the stink-eye and added, "He comes from a very poor and abusive background. A cowed witch as a mother and a violent drunk Muggle as a father. He never stood a chance."
Sirius sat there pale as a sheet. And he had made fun of Sni… Snape's clothing from day one. Regulus's voice was repeating 'from a very poor and abusive background' in his mind. He felt like such a low-life.
For the first time in his life, he tried to put himself in Snape's shoes and he didn't like what he saw. Four against one was as cowardly as one could get. "Will he go to prison, Reg?"
"I don't know. To be honest, the two questions had him in mind. He might get a reduced sentence."
Moody listened and took note of everything. They obviously had dropped the ball on this boy as a society. Hogwarts really needed an overhaul and a new headmaster!
"I wonder, why Poppy didn't help him," Sirius said.
"She tried but only could do little."
"Maybe we should scan her as well?"
"Good idea!" came from Moody. "We scanned all available Aurors today and found quite a few, with spells on them. It took a while to get rid of them all, let me tell you. – Master Blackfang, do you think, we could commission Gringotts to come by twice a year and assure that the Auror Force is checking if it is free of any compromising enchantments?"
"Yes, I will send a representative or two with a proposal on Monday."
"Oh, Moody, did you talk to Abe?" Sirius remembered to ask.
"Right! Good that you ask, Black. Their mother was Muggle-born! He is a half-blood. So, veritaserum it is as soon as there is time. I want to be present when he is questioned!"
"Great! But make sure he has nothing in his system that inhibits veritaserum!"
"We do that for everyone, now. Crouch listened to me on that one."
Harry, who had been amazingly well-behaved, sitting on Sirius' lap and listening, decided that he needed to move again, "Down!"
"As his majesty commands."
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with the little one and chasing him around while some talked and relaxed (well, except for Blackfang. He left after the official part of the meeting was over.)
All were invited for Dinner, but only Sirius and Harry stayed.
The rest left after Bones had arranged a playdate for Harry, Neville, and Susan at Longbottom Hall. That house was still under war wards, so it should be safe enough.
Hogwarts, Same Day, Evening
Poppy sat with Minerva, Pomona, and Filius in Minerva's private quarters and sipped her whisky. She had visited the school and given Minerva her notice for the end of the year 1981. She would come back on Sunday evening and then help Minerva look for a young and fresh replacement. Provided that Albus didn't come back during that time. She refused to be in the same room as him. Even if it was the Great Hall.
She had spent most of her day with her friend and her substitute, Caspar Chain, at the Hospital Wing. He had a new appreciation for her job, which he had called 'cushy' until last week. He never would do so again. But he had looked at the Wing with fresh eyes and told her about the things, he thought could be improved. Poppy took many notes.
On their way to the Great Hall, for lunch, they had met Hagrid, who went at her like a bull. Only the quick thinking of Cas who conjured a brick wall that held off Hagrid for a minute made it possible for her to escape and for Hagrid to calm down enough so they could talk in the staff room later.
She told the half-giant that she certainly didn't kidnap Harry Potter, but had brought him to his rightful guardians, Alice, and Sirius. Hagrid was stumped when she told him she could not help him and Dumbledore in their kidnapping of the child.
She had left Hagrid gaping and went back to the Hospital Wing.
Later Minerva told her that they had to talk to Hagrid for an hour for the man to understand that what Poppy had done was the right thing.
Now Minerva was complaining, that since the headmaster was missing, the Aurors had come without anyone powerful enough there to stop them!
"Poppy frowned, "Why would you want to stop them?"
"This is Hogwarts, it is the safest place in the wizarding World!"
"The whole world? I think Japan would disagree."
"What? That's not what I meant; you know that."
"But Minerva, bad guys can still hide here so Aurors should not be stopped, wouldn't you agree?"
"There are no bad guys here, Poppy! What are you talking about!"
"Well, then they assured themselves of that and left again?"
"No! They took Severus Snape, our new Potions Master, and 10 sixth and seventh years!"
"So many?"
"Yes! You see, they had to be wrong!"
"Minnie, did they have the Dark Mark?"
"Yes. So? Three of them were Gryffindors, so having the dark mark cannot be too bad. There even was one Hufflepuff."
"And the rest?"
"Four Slytherin and two Ravens."
"Minerva, did you know what a person had to do to receive the mark?"
"No? What do they 'have' to do?"
"They have to show, that they can cast the killing curse. On a human."
Minerva McGonagall gasped and cried out, "No!"
"Yes. For example, Rabastan Lestrange did not have a mark despite his relations because he could not kill."
"But… but…" Minerva stammered.
"You still think in black and white? Gryffindor good, Slytherin bad. – Well, the numbers say something else, right? And I am sure the pressure on most of the Slytherins was much greater than on your Gryffindors."
"It can't be."
Filius interjected, "On the positive side, one can say, that the Aurors consist predominantly of two houses. One of them is Gryffindor."
Minerva sighed in relief.
Unfortunately, Filius added, "The other one is Slytherin."
"No!"
"Yes, Minnie. Those two houses are the fighters and/or the rebels."
Minerva threw back her whiskey and leaned back looking thoughtful. "I bought into the propaganda."
"Yep," Pomona agreed.
"What will happen with the students now?"
"As far as I know, there is a motion that marked purebloods can be given veritaserum. If it goes through, the trials will happen soon. Maybe some of the students can cite mitigating circumstances. But some will go to Azkaban for sure." Poppy said.
"Oh dear, Albus will not like that."
"If you say so." Poppy would not tell Minerva that Dumbledore was in holding. She would find out soon enough. Hopefully, Poppy would be far away then.
"Did you know that Fawkes had a burning day yesterday? It will be at least 4 more days until he can fire-port Albus from wherever he is. "
Poppy raised her eyebrows. The bird did not want to come to Dumbledore's help, it seemed.
"And little Harry is well?" Minerva asked.
"He sure is. He is still a little traumatized and sticks to Sirius like glue but otherwise, he is a happy child. He and Neville are great together."
"That is so good to hear! When Albus made noises to give Harry to Lily's Muggle sister I observed them in my cat form for a day. They are the worst kind of Muggles. The boy would not have had a good time with them."
Poppy nodded, "I wonder, what Dumbledore's intentions were and why he thought this was alright in any form."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember the will reading and what the Potters said about Lily's sister?"
"Yes, but Albus could not have known, that they excluded the woman from possible guardians."
"Minerva, now you are being willfully blind!" Poppy exclaimed.
Filius nodded, looking at Minerva strangely.
"What? Why? How would Albus have known?"
Filius said gently, "Who witnessed the will?"
Minerva's brain provided the answer at once, but she just could not admit it. How could that be true? Gryffindors were Death Eaters, and the Leader of the Light was ignoring the will of the parents of an orphan.
The only right thing to do now was to get more whiskey, she decided and topped up everyone's glass.
"Who?" Pomona asked, having waited patiently for the answer but it was not coming.
"Albus," Filius said. It seemed that information wasn't covered by the secrecy spells the goblins had them under. They wanted that information to spread, Filius decided.
"Oh."
They sat in silence for a while until Poppy excused herself and went back to her current home.
Minerva's night was sleepless.
Barnabas Cuffe, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet waited for Skeeter until midnight. She had promised a scoop but refused to tell him more. She didn't even say where she was going. And now she was missing. Stupid bint. Relying on her secret Animagus form so much. He had warned her many times that she was very vulnerable in it, but she had laughed it off.
He cast a 'point-me Rita Skeeter' and his wand spun, without finding her. So, wards, or dead. Damn. He sent the order, to print the version, they had made as a backup, should the 'scoop' not work out.
She would never return. Cuffe filed a missing person report and the Aurors investigated her disappearance, to no avail.