Summary of last Chapter:

- Lord Bisonis Burke forms a new Wizengamot Block that will aid the Ministry and aims for national security at any price

- The Werewolf Containment Act of 1976 is proposed, voted upon and dismissed as Arcturus sees through Voldemort's plan at the last second

- Voldemort is furious with both Bisonis and Arcturus but knows he cannot make an enemy out of the Blacks yet so he plans to tour through the world to recruit more followers after Lucius Malfoy suggests such an action

- Voldemort amasses his inner circle to plan out the assaults on the Burkes and the Pyrites

Chapter 22:

Reviews please?

Trigger Warnings for the following topics: Depression, Suicide

3rd October 1976, England, Ministry of Magic, Press Room:

„I thank all of you for coming here today" Minister Minchum began the conference. Next to him were Lord Black and Chief Warlock Dumbledore.

„I will begin the press conference with the following statement, no questions. The ministry is disappointed that the proposal on the Werewolf Containment Act of 1976 has failed to get through the Wizengamot and we urge the Lord and Ladies who voted against it to reconsider their posititon. Nethertheless this is not a larger blow to the efforts of the ministry, efforts to find the culprits are already on the way and we have plans to hire more Aurors and Hit Wizards. The next months will prove to be crucial in the effort against You-Know-Who so we ask every of our citizens that they resist the temptation of joining the monster and to defy him for we cannot let a lunatic rule our nation, I will now leave the podiom to Chief Warlock Dumbledore. Now if you will excuse me" Minchum said passionately but quickly and left the room amidst a wall of questions that were thrown his way. After a minute of nothing happening the reporters in the room knew that Minister Minchum was not coming back and shifted their attention to the two men left in front of them. Dumbledore coughed to get their attention.

„Good evening my fellow Magicals, the past few days have been quite eventful, haven't they?" he said with the ever present twinkle in his eyes „I am sure you have many questions regarding the Werewolf Containment Act but please be assured that I have come prepared to answer them. Now I think all of you want to ask just why my fellow progressives and I voted against the Act . As you already probably know I do not hold ill will against the general werewolf population in Britain, my ire is limited to those revelling in the power their transformed state gives them which they use to hurt innocent people. But please keep in mind that most werewolves just want to live a normal life like the rest of us, something that they so far haven't been able to do because of senseless laws that the Wizengamot passed even before my time and this causes some of them to turn to Voldemort in hopes of a better life if he wins. That won't happen of course and it's no excuse for their crimes but it means we shouldn't push more of them towards Voldemort."

Dumbledore's time in the conference room after that was spent answering various questions while carefully avoiding more sensitive topics such as his private life. Then it was Arcturus turn as Dumbledore left the room but not before they gave eachother respectful nods acknowledging eachother's power and magical skill.

Then the questions came and Arcturus held up his hand to silence them for a moment.
„I did promise I would answer questions and I intend to do that but please allow me to give my statement first. Now most of you here probably ask yourselves why someone like me would vote against the Werewolf Containment Act. Well it is quite simple, my opinion on werewolves at large have changed. I had the pleasure to get to know a young werewolf over the last year and it surprised me when I realised that I had probably never met a more peaceful man in my life before I met the young man. This obviously surprises you and it did surprise me but it opened my eyes. Sure there are werewolves like Greyback out there but our laws are too harsh on the average werewolf who wishes to live a normal life. I agree with Chief Warlock's opinion that these laws only cause werewolves to follow Voldemort. If we want to lessen werewolf attacks we need to take away their reasons to resort to such attacks in the first place"

He also spent some time answering various questions after his statement.

3rd October 1976, England, Pyrites Courthouse:

Warning, the following is mostly background history of House Pyrites and a bloodline curse which you may not find interesting. If this happens to be the case for you, skip the parts until the words Boring Part is over appear :)

Both the Burke and Pyrites families were known for being quite fertile, maybe not to the same level as the Weasleys but nobody could reach their level anyway. This resulted in each generation having multiple children which was very nice for a pureblood family as children were seen as a blessing by Mother Magic if... well if it wasn't for the fact that both families had an ancient curse on them which meant only a few of those children ever died of old age.

It shouldn't have been a surprise then that when Johnathan married Blossom Burke the curse disguised as a blessing doubled. Johnathan and Blossom ended up having 6 children of whom only their eldest son Hermes was still alive. Their second eldest son, Patroclus, died when he impacted the ground after being pushed off from his broom by an opponent player who ended up going to Azkaban.

Odysseus and his wife of 2 years Helena followed Atticus Sayre's call for war and went to help out Spain against Grindelwald where they were killed during a battle for the Spanish Ministry in 1942. Odysseus' younger sister Artemis had also gone to Spain after she learned of her brother's death hoping to avenge him. She too was killed in battle 2 years later, this time in Switzerland at a point where Grindelwald was on the retreat again. And finally Ajax and Achilles whose love for magical creatures ended up being their end. They were burned to death by an irate dragon in 1954 while they were travelling with a young Piers Scamander, the son of famous magizoologist Newt Scamander and father of Rolf Scamander.

The curse unfortunately continued with Hermes' own children. Even though Johnathan had advised his son against the idea, Hermes and his wife Ida Pyrites nee Weasley took the combined fertility to a whole different level as they decided on a magical number and had 13 children between 1933 and 1945 believing that they could break the curse by having as many children as possible, it ended up causing them a lot of heartbreak over the following 30 years.

It started just half a year after their 13th child had been born, Mother Magic must have had decided that enough was enough. Little Christina died after contracting dragon pox in 1946 and Charlie was killed by an Acromantula during his second year in Hogwarts. This by the way had caused Headmaster Dippet to force the Acromantulas deep into the forbidden forest.

It was then quiet for a few years. After a while everyone of them had begun to hope that the curse might have finally lessened in intensity. Jonathan's father Romulus died in 1949 but he had been well into his 90s already so it really didn't surprise the Pyrites.

Oh but how their hopes had been crushed when not one but two Pyrites died at the same time. Second Year Cedric had been attacked by his older brother Corban in 1953 who had been jealous of Cedric being a Potions prodigy. Their sister Charlotte had seen what was happening and had rushed to the scene to defend Cedric from Corban who was clearly the aggressor. She stood little chance against her brother however as Corban had already completely fallen to the Dark Arts and used that knowledge to kill both her and Cedric. Corban disguised the event as an attack from dark wizards and claimed that some people claiming to be Grindelwald's followers had attacked him and his siblings which caused their deaths. It quickly came out however that Corban had been the murderer all along sending shockwaves through the family and Corban was promptly thrown into Azkaban.

The death of his older sister and younger brother had been the last straw for young Christopher. He had now seen his twin sister, 3 other siblings and 2 uncles die and walked into the forbidden forest not even a year later. This had been witnessed by Albus Dumbledore however who quickly stunned him and brought him back to Hogwarts. Not knowing that Christopher had walked into the forbidden forest to die, Dumbledore believed Christopher to be just another curious child that liked to defy the rules. He had placed Christopher in an abandoned classroom and ordered the third year to stay there while he went to call his parents but Christopher had used the chance to throw himself from the top of one of the many staircases in Hogwarts.

The other Pyrites siblings still in Hogwarts were then closely monitored but that didn't prevent the traumatized twin sisters Carla and Caroline from following their brother's footsteps. House elves then followed Cecilia and Celine, the remaining Pyrites siblings at the time in Hogwarts, around at all times which prevented the two's suicide attempts from succeeding.

These events had greatly alarmed the adult Pyrites and Johnathan's older brother Jeremy and Calvin (Hermes' eldest son) then began intensely studying the curse bound to their family. It had then been quiet for a few years... well except for Corban's death in Azkaban in 1957 but nobody really cared for him anymore at that point. Calvin married and begun having children of his own at that point. Adolphus Pyrites was born in 1957 with his sister Jennifer following 2 years later.

The lack of incidents concering the Pyrites family unfortunately changed in 1960 when Celine who had been in her last Hogwarts year died when one of her potions exploded in her face followed by Jeremy's death of old age in 1962.

The remaining Pyrites of the youngest generation were absolutely depressed at this point. What use was trying to live and having any long term goals if you ended up dying before the age of 30 anyway? This was also the reason only Calvin ended up marrying and having children.

The siblings dealt with their depression in different ways. Calvin focused his attention on his studying of the bloodline curse and on his wife and children, becoming the father of two more children, Darius in 1963 and Evelyn in 1962.

Cecilia threw herself into her work in the Ministry and began to quickly rise through the ranks while Colin and Camilla became Hit Wizard / Witch immediately after graduating in 1962 and 1963 respectively. Both of them quickly became famous for their skills in hunting down criminals and dark creatures.

Colin then took on a job too big for him however and was killed by a vampire of the Dracula Clan in 1965. Camilla learning from her brother's death then focused on rising through her ranks aswell and managed to become the youngest Head Hit Witch ever just 3 years later while Cecilia became Junior Undersecretary in 1967.

Cecilia and Camilla had found themselves at that point in quite the important positions in the Ministry and the ICW respectively and this fact combined with their grandfather's seat in the Wizengamot meant that they had considerable influence in the Ministry. The time also saw their House being promoted to the Noble House of Pyrites and their electory seat on the Wizengamot becoming a permanent one.

This unfortunately had gotten the attention of the ascending Voldemort who quickly had them both disappear in the winter of 1968/69. They were found dead a few months later, nobody knew what had happened to them but their disappearences had followed a trend of people disappearing that started in 1966 so everyone knew that something was going on. It was then theorized that they had been killed by somebody displeased with the Pyrites' success over the last 5 years.

The now 7 year old Darius then died a year later after a long battle with health complications further dismaying the troubled family. But it had seemed like Calvin's strategy of having less (well 4 but still a lot less than his father's 13) children was succeeding as 3 of 4 children were able to start Hogwarts and one had even already graduated.

Boring Part is over

And then little Anton and Anna were born just 3 months ago. Calvin and Roxanna had been using magical protection methods since the birth of Evelyn but the family magic had somehow found a way around them.

But then the Battle of Hogsmeade had happened. Immediately after receiving the news the adult family members held a meeting where they discussed this new slap in the face for the family and what to do about it. It was decided that they would beg yes beg Jennifer to choose a career option that was as safe as possible.

Jennifer unfortunately was already hinting at wanting to join the aurors with her friend Marlene McKinnon once they graduated but surely they could convince her that something else could become her life's passion? Maybe a career as a teacher at Hogwarts? Hogwarts was pretty safe. What about a administrative position in one of the few shops the family owned? Or maybe even just being a housewife? Yes it couldn't be more safe than that.

„Well now that we've talked about that topic there is still something we need to address, young Adolphus. Yes I know Calvin it is an uncomfortable topic for all of us but he is literally our eldest son and thus your heir. Should something happen to us and he survives he's going to be Lord Pyrites. And I just don't really trust him when he says he has no intention to join You-Know-Who" Roxanna had said and they eventually agreed on forcing Adolphus to the Pyrites Courthouse where they would then force him to sign a blood contract which would prevent him from ever acting against the family.

4th October 1976, England, Pyrites Courthouse:

Adolphus sighed as he looked at the impressive building that was the home of House Pyrites. The Pyrites weren't noble enough to have a manor but they had enough money to have something built that looked very impressive.

„It certainly has been some time no?" he muttered. And indeed it had been. Adolphus hadn't been here since he had moved out 2 years ago. The only reason he was here was that his great grandfather had used family magic to come to the Pyrites Courthouse, likely to meet with Adolphus for some reason he didn't care for. Adolphus began to walk around waiting for his family to make a move, the family magic could only force him to the courthouse but not into the courthouse after all.

He was continuing his stroll on the grounds around what had once been his home when he suddenly couldn't move anymore, well he could move his head but that was about it. He looked around and his eyes fell on a masked man and an unknown masked man that were now standing in front of him.

Adolphus was absolutely terrified, he knew he was now in unfriendly terms but why didn't they just kill him when they had the chance? Was it because of the family wards? He looked towards the courthouse, no he had actually strayed to far away from his former home and likely passed the wards ages ago.

„Well well well, who do we have here? Now why is a young boy such as you snooping around the family home of a Noble House? Especially in these dangerous times?" asked the masked man with a voice so full of authority that Adolphus immediately shrank into himself. He wasn't able to answer in time however.

„No wait Rockwood let me play a little with him before we kill him" said the unmasked man who looked very scary as he fletched his sharp teeth causing Adolphus to begin shaking which the masked man, Rockwood, must have had noticed.

„Cut it Greyback, look the boy is shaking already and we haven't even done anything" Rockwood said before turning back to Adolphus who was now pale in fear. Greyback? He had heard about that man, wasn't he a werewolf that preyed on children?

„Oh look the meal knows who I am" Greyback laughed before grumbling „But alright. Okay lad no killing will be involved and we'll let you go once you've answered our questions alright?.. Good now spit it out, who are you?"

Adolphus stayed silent for a few seconds to gain some composure.

„I am Adolphus Calvinus Pyrites, Scion of the Noble House of Pyrites uhm well err pleasure to meet you"

„Ohoh a member of House Pyrites? Well Rockwood that's quite convenient for us, isn't it?" Greyback laughed again.

„Indeed. Well Mr. Pyrites I am sure you have heard about our Lord's cause to cleanse Britain from the muggle filfth and I am sure you, as a proper pureblood, are willing to join the cause, am I right?"

Well that certainly answered his question on why they didn't immediately kill him.

Adolphus took some time to think about it. He didn't lie to his family when he said that he had no intention of joining You-Know-Who but it wasn't because he didn't agree with the man, truth be told he absolutely admired You-Know-Who and his cause to cleanse Magical Britain. He knew however that his fighting capabilities weren't the best and that he would likely either die or get caught and thrown into Azkaban pretty soon after he'd join.

'Well it looks like I may have no choice now' he thought to himself sighing while he did so. He felt no real affection to his family anyway. His parents and him hadn't spoken to eachother since his graduation which was shortly before he had moved out.

He had overheard his grandparents and great grandparents talk about how much of a disappointment he was even before that and the less said about his remaining sister the better. And now even Evelyn was gone, they didn't have the best relationship but atleast they didn't hate eachother as much as he and Jennifer did. The only exception had been Darius. Adolphus had truly loved his little brother but little Darius had died so early that the memories with him were slowly disappearing already.

„Come on boy, we don't have all day" said an impatient Greyback gruffly after 10 or so seconds. Adolphus looked from Greyback back to Rockwood.

„Alright Mr. Rockwood I will join your Lord"

„Hah I knew you'd choose the right option, really didn't have to kill a fellow pureblood you know?" this time it was Augustus who laughed. „Heh anyway Rockwood let's continue" said Greyback „So boy there is this little initiation process new death eaters usually undergo so naturally you will have to do it to. Ohoh I can see your excitement, I like it"

Rockwood stepped forward and freed Adolphus from his petrification.

„Usually a new recruit does this by entertaining us with your preferred method of cleansing a muggle family but I can see the potential in you to become more useful than the standart recruit so as an initiation process you will help us enter your home and assist us in cleansing your family home of blood traitors." This was quite the initiation process and since it involved Adolphus helping with the death of his family they were quite he'd try to make a run for it to warn his family. This meant they were quite surprised when he merely said: „Hmm? Yeah sure, I don't really care about them anyway"

They then began planning the attack. Adolphus would walk into the courthouse and deactivate the wardstone which would start the attack. After that it would be pretty simple, kill everyone in the courthouse.

Adolphus then walked through the edge of the wards and towards the courthouse, happy that he'd finally get to enact revenge for all the humiliating comments about him and his magical abilities.

Sorry once again for the cliffhanger xD

**End of Chapter**

Characters in this chapter and the amount of chapters they have appeared in so far:

- Harold Minchum (4)

- Arcturus Black (15)

- Albus Dumbledore (8)

- Adolphus Pyrites (1)

- Augustus Rockwood (2)

- Fenrir Greyback (1)

- Jonathan Pyrites (2)

- Roxanna Pyrites (1)