7th of November, Saturday, Castle Black, Saturday Morning
Arcturus and Regulus were quietly having breakfast. Both were not very talkative at this time of day and were reading the newspapers. The only interaction was a wordless sharing of different parts of the papers.
Both were content. Arcturus, because he had his mind back to himself again and was not alone anymore, and Regulus because he was at a Black home but without the screeching and shrieking of his mother. He distractedly wondered what would become of Grimmauld Place now that it sat empty.
Arcturus cleared his throat and said, "I think it is time I contact the family again. What would you do? All at once or one by one?"
"It depends on whom you want to contact. Only the old group that is run by your cousin Pollux, or all of them – even the rejected ones?"
"I don't even know who is still alive. Sirius and I got distracted when looking at the tapestry after we saw you were alive."
"I am not up to date anymore, either. But I would recommend you contact the members one at a time. Or just let them come? They must have seen the papers yesterday and today. You and Sirius were featured heavily in the article about the Wizengamot meeting after all."
"Hm, let's wait a few days for who gets in contact and decide then. Now, let's go to the Tapestry Room and have a look again."
"Gladly, Grandfather."
Soon they stood in front of the huge tapestry and got some chairs to better see the lower parts. It had rolled back to the last generations again by itself since Arcturus had looked at it last.
"So, let's see. Of my generation, there are Pollux, Cassiopeia, and Callidora*. And the two my predecessor disinherited and threw out of the family, Marius and Cedrella**."
"the next Generation still has your daughter Lucretia*** and Walburga, my mother.
Arcturus nodded. "Alphard and Cygnus are both gone, as well as Orion," He said sadly and added with a much harder tone in his voice, "And Walburga will join them soon."
"Alright." Regulus swallowed.
"Well, then there is your generation, which includes you, your brother, and Narcissa, with Bellatrix in a Ministry holding cell and Andromeda, who you said was expelled unofficially."
"Yes, and no further generation born with the last name of 'Black'."
"Well, get on with it, then."
"I am 18!"
Arcturus chuckled. "At least we have a child with the metamorphmagus ability in Nymphadora."
Regulus nodded, "And that with her marrying a Muggle-born."
"We should look into it. Maybe the new-blood thing Charlus Potter kept talking about has its merits after all."
Arcturus felt someone of Black blood 'knock' and 'looked' to the gate and 'saw' a blond woman standing there, a toddler in her arms.
He let her in at once. "I believe, Narcissa and her child are visiting. Let's welcome her in the entrance hall."
"Cissa!" Regulus jumped up and raced to the said hall. His grandfather followed more sedately and soon they stood there waiting more or less patiently.
The great doors opened and Narcissa stepped through, looking drawn but hopeful. Her son clung to her and when seeing the two strangers hid his face in her neck.
Regulus rushed to her and embraced her, toddler and all. She hugged him back with one arm and burst into tears. "Reggie!" She sobbed.
After a while, the child started to fidget. Arcturus walked up to the young ones and said, "Welcome, to Castle Black, Narcissa Malfoy nee Black. You and your child are welcome and have free access to this property from now on."
"Thank you, my Lord. That is greatly appreciated as I came to beg sanctuary for my son and me."
"Granted. Now let's sit down and you tell us what ails you."
Soon they sat in Mel's room, Regulus and Arcturus in armchairs and Narcissa on a couch, with Draco sitting next to her looking around shyly but curiously.
After tea was served and Draco was busy with a cookie, Narcissa started to talk.
"I just could not stand being in that house anymore, where I felt trapped for so long. When I read the paper yesterday that Reg had been found and was staying with you, I hoped that you would take us in as well if that indifference curse they wrote about was gone. - I am trapped in a very restricting marriage contract that only the Head of the Family can change or invalidate. And I could not reach you."
"And your father or grandfather?"
"My grandfather was the one who trapped me in it in the first place. He doesn't care. And Father was too soft. He never stood up to Grandfather."
"So, it was an arranged marriage?"
"Oh yes. There was no love between me and my husband."
"Then the marriage is unlawful anyway as you are a Black family member."
"It is?"
"Yes," Arcturus stroked his hand over his face, hiding his eyes for a second. "I made it mandatory that every member of our family was allowed to marry whom they chose and only sign the marriage contract that I had approved. It included, that the woman was never to be hurt against her will and could say no whenever she felt like it. Her husband had to give her as little or as many children as she wanted and some other caveats like that."
"That one certainly was not used."
"Then your marriage can get dissolved whenever you want it."
Narcissa seemed to bloom like the flower she was named after, "That is amazing! But let us wait for what happens with my husband. If he gets imprisoned, I may stay Lady Malfoy and Draco can inherit the estate and name."
"Good thinking. Maybe we do not dissolve it, but you petition the Wizengamot to divorce you on grounds of his incarceration and install you as regent for little Draco here."
"That would be perfect. So, if he buys his way out of prison, the marriage will get dissolved, and if he goes to Azkaban I petition for a divorce." Narcissa beamed as much as a Lady of her standing would allow herself to and spontaneously kissed Draco's head.
"Milky..." pop "... please open the blue suit in the family wing for Narcissa and her son."
"Right away, sir." pop
"If the suit is not to your taste, you might change it or take another."
"Thank you, my Lord."
"And if we are in informal company, please call me Grandfather, Granduncle, Arcturus, or something like this, yes?"
"I will, Grandfather. Pollux stopped being my grandfather when he sold me off to the highest bidder trying to save face."
Regulus saw that Draco was getting bored and said, "What does your little one like to do?"
"He loves to play with his plush animals. Especially his dragon."
"A dragon!" Regulus exclaimed in amazement. "May I see it?" He asked Draco who nodded shyly and looked at his mother questioningly.
She got out a small box, put it on the Floor, and enlarged it.
Soon Draco was proudly showing off his white plush dragon. It was greatly appreciated by Regulus and even Arcturus.
So, while Regulus played with the little boy, Arcturus told Narcissa about the law changes yesterday, which had her cackling to her own surprise. – She had yet to read today's newspapers, as she had been distracted with leaving the manor and worrying about her welcome at Castle Black.– Milky had to bring the pensive so she could watch the session. Afterward, she praised Sirius, Arcturus, and Lord Ogden to the moon and back. She was so much more hopeful now!
She then asked her grandfather about Andromeda and was told, that her sister never had been officially expelled from the family.
"If you want to contact her please do and tell her she and her family are very welcome here at Castle Black," Arcturus told her and she wrote a letter then and there.
An hour later there was another 'knock' and a family of three stood at the gate.
They were welcomed as well, and Andromeda could not get enough of hugging her sister and her young cousin whom she had mourned so intensely.
Eight-year-old Nymphadora had taken Draco under her wing and Arcturus and Edward found the other to be a great and open-minded conversationalist.
The house-elves nearly wept in joy at having so many people to pamper.
They decided to make Sunday the Black family day and meet again Sunday in 8 days and ask Sirius and Harry to come as well.
Lucretia, Arcturus learned, had moved to the south of France to escape the war. That answered the question of why she hadn't yet contacted him. He promised himself to write to her this evening.
Bellatrix had been kind of written off after Narcissa told them tearfully of her meetings with her sister and her dangerous craziness.
Arcturus asked if Bella had such a restrictive marriage contract as well and was told yes; Pollux had wanted the alliance with the Lestranges. Andromedas had been chosen to marry Lucius Malfoy but had escaped and so Narcissa had been chosen instead.
Andromeda looked tearily at Narcissa and told her how sorry she was but was waved off. The other candidates that had been talked about, before her marriage to Lucius, hadn't been any better. She told her sister that she had always been thankful that Andy had escaped.
Arcturus told Andromeda that she still had access to her vault. That it never had been closed or emptied.
Andromeda answered him that that might well be, but her key had been taken away. This was resolved quickly and the Tonkses were quite rich after a quick visit to Blackfang's office – not that they had been badly off before.
*Longbottom
**Weasley
***Prewett
Longbottom Hall, Lunchtime, Same Day
Remus had written back to Sirius at last, and Augusta had agreed to let them meet at Longbottom Hall.
Poppy, Alice, Frank, and Neville had come as well and so Remus was led into a room full of laughter and chaos.
"Unta Mooey!" Harry yelled and toddled to Remus as quickly as he could. Remus caught him and swung him up in the air.
"Harry, my little cub! You grew!"
Harry laughed proudly.
"And who is this?" Asked Remus, looking down at a second toddler who mustered him curiously.
"Dad is Nevvi, Unta Mooey!
"Well met, Nevvi," Remus bent down to shake Neville's hand, which made the boys giggle.
"Hi!" Neville piped.
"Unta Mooey, blay!"
"Play?"
"Yes, blay... play!"
"Good boy! Very well, show me where."
And Remus was led to the toys the boys had brought and they played for a while with Remus animating the plushy-bees and plushy-beetles, much to the boy's delight But soon lunch was served, and the boys had their naptime in their little cots with the one-way silencing charms.
So, Sirius and Lupin sat in a reverse-one-way-silenced bubble themselves in order to talk privately but hear Harry if necessary.
They were quiet for a while.
Then they both started at once with, "Look, Sirius..." / "Look, Remus..."
They chuckled and Sirius gestured to Remus to start.
Remus took a deep breath and said, "I am sorry for doubting you, Sirius. I listened more to others than what my mind, heart, and Moony were telling me."
Sirius nodded, "And I am sorry I didn't tell you about the switch and doubting you as well. I made the same mistake and listened to others rather than myself."
Remus nodded, "And who was it in your case?"
"Dumbledore."
"In mine too. But somehow, I still think I can trust the man. It is disconcerting!"
"Yes! You know, me and most of the Auror force had spells on us. We had very obscure and arcane compliance, forgetfulness, confounding, and loyalty spells influencing us. And I had a special recklessness curse on me. All of them very hard to detect and we forgot about scanning ourselves with the in-depth Auror-grade charms, even if it was in the rule book."
"That is horrible! Do you think I have the same spells on my person?"
"Those or others, since you are a werewolf."
"Right. Can you scan me?"
"Sure. I have the forms to record it with me. Hold still."
Remus was scanned and they had been right to suspect foul play. He had a specialized submission curse that worked best on werewolves and a loyalty spell on him, which made him fully trust the caster.
"Can you dispel them?" Remus all but growled.
"Easily, now that I know what to dispel. Hold still again."
As soon as the spells were off, Remus's eyes glowed yellow for a second and then turned into their warm brown again.
"What was that?" Sirius asked.
"That was Moony being freed. I think the curse bound him in a way."
"Do you think, transforming was so hard on you because of the curse?"
"Yes, probably. It would explain why Moony was always angry as well."
"Hm... We did read old books about werewolves that got into contact with their inner wolf and coexisted peacefully in the past, but you never managed and never met someone who did, right? Do you think other werewolves have the same curse on them? We need to check the magical signature!"
"That sounds like a conspiracy…"
"It really does. But between You-Know-Who and Dumbledore, who knows? When is the next full moon?"
"In 4 days on the 11th.
"Well, we will just have to wait and see then. As soon as Harry is asleep, I will join you in four days. Did you have a look at the cottage Lily and James left you?"
"Yes, it is perfect. Remote and within a huge, warded area in the magical part of Sherwood Forest. It is very cozy, and Lily filled it with books," Remus grinned.
"Will you give me the coordinates?"
"Certainly. And I will establish a little area where you can arrive and transform into Padfoot."
"Sounds perfect. So, let me say, you look much more relaxed now."
"Because I am! So, back to our apologies. We are both sorry we listened to someone else who cursed us to not be ourselves."
"Yep. I promise to try not to do that again!"
"I promise, too!"
They grinned at one another and hugged each other. They were all that was left of their group and would do their uttermost best now to keep their friendship and be there for their little pup/cub.
When they got back, the boys were still sleeping and so they told the others about the spells many, including Sirius and Remus, did have on them. Poppy immediately wanted to get a scan herself and learn how to do it so she could check her colleagues, especially Minerva. Sirius felt a bit stupid that he hadn't thought of that. Hogwarts was Dumbledore's home turf, after all.
Poppy also had half-broken loyalty, compliance, etc. spells on her. And after having dispelled them, Sirius remembered that he wanted Poppy to inform the Healers Guild about the spells that didn't get picked up on by normal health scans. Poppy was all for it and promised she would get hoping to do just that. After she learned all the spells herself, that was.
The boys woke up just as Sirius and Frank were demonstrating the signature alignment spell to Poppy and Remus. Great timing!
A/N: This would have been a great place to end the story, now that I think of it. But alas, once again I did manage to open another can of worms… Well, on with it! 😊
Holding cells, Ministry, Evening, Same Day
The damn bird still didn't come and Albus had lost much of his power, it seemed.
He still hadn't been interrogated. Most of the Death Eaters had been, and some had not come back. Four of his current students for that matter. The four he had potioned to do his will. One of each house except for Gryffindor. If the Aurors had found out that he had been involved... it didn't bear thinking about it.
He studied his fellow inmates. Severus and Dolohov were talking quietly. Lucius was ranting. It seemed, that he had spilled many of his misdeeds and was starting to get scared. Lestrange looked like he would kill Malfoy if he didn't shut up soon. Bellatrix had been silenced. Because after she had come back from being interrogated, she had been shrieking all the time. Something was seriously wrong with her, but none of the Aurors cared.
Of all things, what he came to hate the most while in holding was the special enchanted underwear they had to wear. It was very close to something like diapers. They had to just shit in their underwear – no toilette in sight. It was so gross, even if it vanished at once, leaving no traces. It went against his nature since he was two! But the only thing that cheered him up, at last remotely, was the fact that Lucius Malfoy had to be wearing them as well. It was the only thing, the man kept quiet about in all of his rants and that was quite telling. – Merlin, Albus used to run the magical world, and now his greatest concern was that he had to shit himself, literally…
He tried to distract himself and called out to Snape, "Severus, my boy, hand me the Newspaper you have there."
"No."
"Yes, you will!" Dumbledore was stumped. The boy was his!
"No."
Others started listening in, interested. Every entertainment was welcome.
"Severus Snape, you swore an oath! Hand me the newspaper!"
"I never swore to obey you."
"But you swore to me about something else!"
"So?"
"Do you really want me to tell everyone here, about your oath?"
"I don't care if you tell the world that I swore to keep the Potter boy safe."
The wind went out of Albus' sails. His last trump card. Gone. "Well, it might interest your cellmate that you turned your back on your Lord!"
Snape turned to Dolohov and asked, "Do you care?"
"Nah. Good for you, I'd say."
Albus sat down heavily. How was this his life? Where had he gone wrong?
Bellatrix kept screaming silently and started to scratch her face.
No one cared.