Hello All, welcome back to the story!
FYI - I do know that the story lately has been lacking in Emily + Atticus interaction as some have bemoaned but it is coming. Have a little patience. Some of you were impatient with the slow pace of Arc II with regards to the war and saying that I was 'stretching it' when I had the war closed in 19 chapters.
When it is a story like this, one that is moving towards a space opera in its sequel in Halo Time Line, there will be many spheres of theatre, spheres that will span all kinds of perspectives across many worlds and kinds of people, you can't expect the story to always to be central on two figures.
Saying that, I start my stories slowly and we're only a few chapters in. The state of the world has been explained and expanded and we're getting to more main character focus.
Without further adieu, please enjoy the post and let me know what you think!
Note: If you would like to read ahead, the next three chapters are available on P^A^T^R^E^O^N / Boombox117
The discord channel is d^i^s^c^o^r^d^.^g^g^/^v^r^8^8^t^6^4^Y^e^7
16th of March 1953 – British Ministry of Magic, Day of Bombing
Charlus Potter POV
"Jellings better realise he'll be assigned to a desk for the rest of his life" Junior Auror Alastor Moody muttered under his breath as they paced quickly towards the Wizengamot Chambers.
"Keep your wits about you" Charlus barked out harshly as they approached the twin doors of the Wizengamot Chambers. They'd received a message of a tense hostage situation within the Wizengamot with one of theirs held at wand point which was embarrassing and would later have consequences, that was certain.
Still, the protections within the Wizengamot made it a low risk problem which was why they would proceed at a careful pace and see what the offender wanted before subduing him once the opportunity arose.
The people in the halls parted ways as they gasped at the sight of their Auror Squad "De-escalati-"
An explosion outward from the twin doors rocked the second level of the Ministry as stone, marble and wood splintered and cracked under the force of the explosion, the air rippling from the shockwave of dust and violent air, slamming into them and throwing them off of their feet.
Charlus' mind slowed what happened even as he was in the air, dazed from the force of the explosion but had enough wits about him to protect himself further from any harm. His wand twisted around and with a sharp slash, halted his momentum before he let himself drop to the floor on his feet before he crumbled to his knees.
He winced, his ears ringing all the while, as he placed his hand to his sides and felt the unpleasant familiar feeling of cracked ribs.
Moans and cries and screams reverberated around him brought him back into the present and he glanced up, a chill travelling up his spine as he saw the devastation that was levelled within the Ministry.
Bodies lay scattered amidst rubble, unmoving and seemingly lifeless. He swallowed harshly as he glanced further away and saw the explosion had reached the far edges of the hallways to the point some rubble had smashed into other offices and chambers and in the midst of that, the casualties of the explosion were calamitous.
Screams and cries and desperate calls for help rang louder in his ears as his hearing returned back to a semblance of normalcy.
He looked around as he shakily stood up, turning towards the Wizengamot Chambers and he suppressed the urge to sharply intake a breath.
The regal doors that cornered off the Wizengamot Chambers from the outside world like gates to a sacred temple, was no more…having been pulverised into non-existence and the walls that separated the chamber had fallen apart like rotted wood wilting under the weight and touch of hands whilst the floor had cracked apart, spidery cracks that gave way to a new entrance to the lowest level of the Ministry.
If the explosion was bad enough to rip through the centuries old enchantments and cause this much destruction here, he was afraid to think what that would mean for those within the Chamber.
'Fleamont' Charlus thought grimly, his mind going to dark places.
He shook his head clear, he had to refocus.
He turned around and saw half of his Aurors were at best out cold and at worst…
His brown eyes snapped to Moody was amongst the least injured, blood caked around his head, his hair matted with dust and blood but his eyes showed that he was aware if only slightly dazed. Carlinger, Scamander and Conway were all more or less fine all things considered.
His eyes sharpened as he set his jaw and with blistering speed waved his wand around and levitated the rubble that had fallen atop some people before he banished them away.
"Conway" Charlus barked out as he continued whirl his wand around, removing the debris from people, something Scamander joined in doing whilst he paced quickly towards Conway.
"Sir!" Conway's response was slower than he wanted as he walked over to the man and pulled him to his feet. Charlus waved his wand over the man and his diagnosis spell made it clear the man had minor internal injuries, nothing life-threatening but enough that he could not rely on the man for further action.
"Go get help from St. Mungos and after that call everyone in" He ordered 'If they haven't already heard the explosion already' he thought to himself. Conway nodded dazed before he walked away.
Scamander and Carlinger were checking on the most critical and stabilising them as he walked over to them. Charlus turned a woman who was relatively uninjured
"You! Miss..."
"Vance" the shaken woman said, her face pale in shock and horror. Charlus snapped his fingers in front of her face and she jolted aware as she turned her gaze towards him.
Good. She was more or less fine.
"Miss Vance, I want you to gather all the largely uninjured individuals and help Auror Scamander with anything he might need." Charlus turned to his Aurors which now consisted of Moody "Carlinger, Moody, you're coming with to the Wizengamot Chambers."
Both glanced at the devastated place and turned back to him and nodded grimly. It wasn't hard to understand that they both realised that if things were bad here.
"I'll send through whatever reinforcements come." Scamander promised and Charlus nodded before they made their way towards the Chambers.
They vanished some of the dust and smoke away as they arrived within the Chambers, taking careful measure of the unstable flooring before they reached deeper into the domed circular chambers yet they collectively stilled as they realised the scale of the destruction, the dust and smoke having reduced in intensity and thickness only to reveal the sundered chamber that once housed those who ruled their world.
"Merlin…" Carlinger whispered shakily as he turned green and retched at what he saw. The calamitous situation outside of the Chambers could not be compared to the scenes before them.
"Animals…whomever did this…animals" Moody muttered, his expression ashen and his eyes expressive with restrained gloom at the horror before them.
Where before there was a gallery, high above the near top of the domed circular chambers, instead there was nothing more than crumbled stone and burning ash, the remaining structures that held up the gallery were broken, burning and torn asunder under the wave of destructive power from whatever had detonated.
Blood dripped from atop the remaining structures that pitifully held up a fraction of the famous gallery, a gallery filled with press or visitors that were kin or members of the Houses seated within the Wizengamot.
It was macabre…
Dead eyes in half torn faces stared out into the abyss whilst their faces remained fixed in shocking fear, hands and feet peeking out from rubble and broken marble, their bodies buried underneath the weight of the once great gallery.
It was the sight of horrors and grief struck within him at the desolation of what had happened, the senseless murder of almost a hundred civilians. It was sickening and it tugged at his mind, the sight of such horror reminding him of what he'd seen in the war and he had to pull himself out of the memories with heaving effort just as he physically swivelled around, pushing himself further and farther away from the sight of the innocent dead.
Yet that feeling of sickness only filled his core ever more as he grew fearful…fearful of seeing the same dead terrified expression frozen in torn faces in his own brother's face as he lifted his gaze towards the tiered seats of the Wizengamot and a sharp intake of breath escaped his restraint, his hands shaking wildly.
The Ancient seats that stood for centuries no longer resembled the tiered assembly, box seats were proudly belonging to those of ancient descent were now defiled with the remnants of their descendants' blood and flesh.
The elevated seats had crumbled under the force of the explosion and not even the Most Ancient seats had survived, seats that bore the original enchantments of Merlin Emrys and it was another shock to the system as an enchantment deemed unbreakable had been destroyed just as ably as the rest of the chamber had been.
It chilled him to his bones, the thought of whatever that explosion was, an explosion that could rip through as unbreakable through the enchantments enchanted by Merlin himself.
But there was hope…hope in the form of standing survivors. Hope that this day of horror that struck a blow against the heart of their nation had not struck a fatal blow…however costly the injuries would prove to be.
His eyes flickered towards the Progressives camps and he allowed a breath of relief as he saw his brother survive and giving aid to the few others with Harfang.
His brother looked injured but not overly so and he knew it was a minor miracle he had survived this. He glanced at where the Potter seat had been located and he noticed it was one of the few mostly intact even if it had sagged into the crumbled marble like most others, just the same as Harfang's.
His eyes travelled towards the rest of the Wizengamot and he saw only one more of the same deflection, the same pattern as that of his brother's at the Longbottom seat before he spotted similar deflections by Lady Slytherin who had survived with a few others of the Ouroboros who stood nearby her yet they were just as decimated as the Progressives though both were far better off than the Traditionalists who had none standing amidst the crumbled tiered section.
In that moment, he realised why that was, why his brother had survived, why it was likely Harfang and Slytherin had survived when nearly none other had…
"Ego Custos…" Charlus whispered to himself. A shield that Atticus had taught him when he'd been promoted as Senior Auror.
A shield that could defend against Fiendfyre just as much as it could defend against the most destructive forms of magic or physical objects and grew more powerful – and more magically intensive – the more desperate you were.
Something Atticus had told him had been inspired by his duel with Grindelwald and that he wished for him to have in case he ever needed it.
And he'd taught it to Fleamont…his brother who survived only because of this shield when many others had perished.
His throat felt tight as he began to speak.
"Moody, Carlinger." Charlus said quietly before he gathered himself, his mind drifting away from his thoughts.
"Go and help any survivors at the gallery. Stabilise them as much as you can before moving on to the others." He said sharply, breaking his Aurors out of their horrified shock with the way his voice managed to be unwavering despite the fact he was as shaky as the structures of the chamber itself.
"Yes boss" "Sir" Aurors Moody and Carlinger sounded out before they rushed away towards the crumbled gallery.
"Fleamont!" Charlus shouted as he made his way towards the Traditionalist section. His brother looked up from where he was huddled, applying some kind of treatment to the injured. His brother's expression was tired but grateful as the brothers met each other gaze.
His brother nodded to him and Charlus was relieved to know that his brother was fine and returned it before quickening his pace towards the Traditionalist section.
The magic in the air rose, thickening the density of the air, the dust that clogged up the surroundings began to slow, as if it was caught in a thick liquid slurry, unable to fall as unrestrained as it once was.
He turned his head and saw her, on her feet like an eternal wave of palpable power, aglow with thick strands of dark blue magic surrounded her like a torrential storm about to sweep aside mountains as her magic pressed against the boundaries of the destroyed chambers.
Her hands rose and it felt like an age as he stood still, her hands rising like slow moving glaciers yet it felt as it weighed a dozen times more than even the greatest mass of ice.
And then…
Reality shifted, the world responded to her demands, her orders, her command.
The broken stones, the burnt out husks of the formerly tiered Wizengamot rose in the air as if hung by strings, shattered burnt shards of wood and stone smelted into one another all the while bodies were separated from the debris, floating aimlessly but unharmed towards the centre of the circular chamber where the floor was gliding back into a semblance of what it once was, the cracks within the marble flooring disappearing like vanishing streaks of lightning.
The few that seemed to be awake and conscious were being attended to by the surviving Lords whilst Slytherin moved those who had been lost in the destruction.
He moved into action and brandished his wand as he carefully levitated the bodies down and quickly checked to see if there were any still alive but it was in vain. Lords Avery, Brown, Cornfoot, Crabbe, and even Malfoy were all almost unrecognisable and he could only identify them by the emblems of their rings.
Again and again he came across dead Lords and Ladies, a few having seemed to have lasted only slightly longer than others, having protected themselves better from the blast than other but they were all dead and he stilled when he came across the next body, his knees feeling weak as he crouched down, his stoic expression breaking as he saw the one person who he hoped not to see here.
"Arcturus" Charlus sighed quietly at the sight of his brother-in-law. He waved his wand around him and his diagnostic charm indicated what he thought had happened.
He bore a deep wound in his chest not far from his heart, a piece of banister buried into his chest having gone through the opening of his Wizengamot robes.
He had not died from the explosion or whatever magical effects it caused, no, Arcturus Black, the Lord Black, had died because he was unlucky.
He closed his eyes. 'Dorea…' This was going to break his wife, he knew. She loved her brother very much despite all appearances and he knew they were each other's favourite siblings.
To die in this fashion…
He checked on the others and found none lived. He turned towards Moody and Carlinger and saw that they had also arranged the dead in a cleared space and laid them down. It seemed there were would be no further survivors.
Charlus twisted his wand and conjured dozens of plain white sheets before flicking his wand and causing the sheets to cover the bodies. For Arcturus, he covered him with a sheet that bore the famous emblem of his House, a Grim.
'Rest in peace, brother. I will ensure they won't get away with this' he swore to himself as he crouched down and placed his hand on the emblem on the white sheet.
"Brother." He heard and saw his brother huddling over on a cane that he must have just created.
Charlus rose up from his crouched position and turned to his brother completely, a concerned look on his face.
His brother saw and waved it away "Nothing a day in St. Mungo's won't heal." Fleamont smiled bitterly "That shield of yours saved my bacon, brother."
"Seems like it saved more than just you." He peered over to Harfang who was speaking with Atticus' wife.
"Yes…Harfang used the same shield as well." Fleamont said with a sigh "In truth, Harfang's saved my life just as a part of my shield saved Abbott's life. He was the one who called out for us to raise shields when the man almost finished speaking."
It seemed like Harfang's battle intuition was still working just fine, Charlus thought to himself.
Charlus' eyes drifted to Harfang. "I'll have to thank him." He said with a relieved sigh before he looked at his brother. "How are the survivors?" as his eyes hardened into cold brown embers.
His brother seemed to pick up on this though he did not comment on it "Not good." He said with a gentle sway of the head, his expression pained. "Lords Abbot, Shafiq and Prewett will survive but they will not be able to live a long life from what we could tell. They had not been covered by my Ego Custos shield completely and it seems like the explosion had damaging corrosive elements that are dark in nature."
His brother sighed as he glanced away, over his should towards the injured Lords and the few Ministry officials that were being kept stable by Lords Lestrange, Prince and Harfang, the only Lords that were healthy enough to walk unaided whilst Slytherin went over to Carlinger to aid them with the couple of survivors he'd found.
"The others…the others…I'm not sure they'll live passed today." His brother more quietly as the sounds of coming people grew louder by the second.
"Who is responsible for this?" He asked with a cold tone, an arctic fury rippling underneath his skin as the weight of today's disaster.
"The man made references to Phoenixes." His brother with his eyes closing.
Charlus' lips tightened, the arctic fury that lay underneath his skin broke into a smouldering molten fury rising from a newly formed caldera just as a wave of healers and Aurors burst through into the Wizengamot Chamber.
"Dorea is here." His brother said quietly and the hot fury within him vanished just like that when he saw his wife amongst the healers and his expression turned sorrowful.
He hadn't realised that she was still on Emergency Call shifts as she looked at the Wizengamot in shock and dismay before she turned towards him and a clear sense of relief was apparent on her face.
She rushed forward towards him and hugged him tightly. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you're alright." She whispered in his ear. "I thought maybe…"
"I'm fine Dor…I'm fine, really." He said as he sighed contently in their embrace until he remembered what she had lost.
"Where's Archie?" She asked as he broke off the embrace, a pained expression on his face, something she noticed immediately.
Her eyes widened. "No…" she said with shock as his eyes flickered towards the body with the Grim emblem. She swivelled around and gasped despairingly.
"No…no….no…" she cried out as she walked over in stiltedly towards the body. She fell to her knees and uncovered his face and her cries turned silent and he walked over, crouching next to her with his arm around her shoulders.
"I'm sorry Dor…I…" his voice died in his throat and she clutched tighter onto him and he closed his eyes as he let her cry out in his chest.
She wasn't the only one amongst the reinforcements that cried or raged that day. Not when so many had lost family members in the bombing yet it was the cries of the one that matters by far the most to him that tore him to pieces.
It was a day and a half later that he met up with Emile Tiff, the newly promoted Acting Director of the MLE, several other Senior Aurors and Jeffrey Bracker the Director of the Department of Mysteries to discuss how they managed to devastate the Ministry like that, despite how exhausted he was.
The bombing of the Wizengamot had not been the only attack that was orchestrated…no, it seemed only the prelude of hastening escalation as several homes of noble families were razed to the ground with casualties on more than just one occasion.
The Ministry which was already left reeling was chaotic, in shock and these attacks only made it worse and the pressure on the Auror Department was almost unbearable. They were stretched and a massive recall of former Aurors, retired or fired, was made as news filtered through the public about the massive terrorist strikes that were being perpetrated.
One thing was for sure though…This had escalated to a degree that had hardened them and the Department was united in rooting them out completely.
There were already several Auror squads out apprehending suspects with links to both terrorist organisations leaving no stones unturned.
"The explosion was unique" Bracker said with a pursed lip as he waved his wand, the Wizengamot Chambers forming in a ghostly mist at the centre of the table as the scene was reconstructed.
"From the memories donated by Lords Potter, Lestrange and the Ministry scribe, we've managed to ascertain some idea of the nature of the explosion." Bracker said as the murderer that held Jellings began to dimly glow before erupting into an explosion that lay the devastation he'd seen.
"The magical residue that remained is dark in nature, true, but it is more than that. It is willingly sacrificial."
Intakes of sharp breath could collectively be heard before Bracker continued.
"From what we could ascertain, we are relatively confident that the man was under a form of ritual that was activated with a delayed trigger, requiring him to willingly sacrifice his magic and his life. We also suspect that this trigger set off a secondary reaction, possibly a potion he consumed prior to arriving within the gallery, that amplified the explosion that happened today." Bracker finished.
"How?" Senior Auror Kinston asked, his expression grim "How could that be enough to fuel an explosion that could rip through Merlin's enchantments?"
All eyes fell on Bracker who had thinned his lips and remained silent for a few moments. "We're not sure." Bracker admitted "But…we do have suspicions that it might have been the intent of the sacrifice that might have proved to be enough to destroy Merlin's Enchantments."
Emile Tiff frowned "Intent? What intent?"
Bracker hesitated for a second before he answered "The intent to break the power that resided within the Wizengamot."
The silence was eerie as the full implication of the attack settled on them.
"You meant to say…" One of the Senior Aurors trailed off.
"That Merlin's Enchantments are destroyed in totality?" Bracker finished. "Simply…yes."
Emile Tiff looked gravely at Bracker "You mean to say you don't know how to re-apply them? Any of them?"
"You have a high opinion of us, Acting Director" Bracker said with a thin smile "But in this instance, it is misplaced. We have never replicated Merlin's Enchantments nor do we know how he had done it, only theories." Bracker moved his hands to behind his back.
"Unfortunately, today's tragedy has larger consequences than most will realise. The Wizengamot tiered seats was almost sentient in a way and as it was expanded, some of Merlin's Enchantments had expanded to cover it…all of which is now forever lost." Bracker finished.
Silence reigned for a few moments until Charlus spoke up "You mentioned a secondary reaction."
Bracker turned him, a fleeting flicker of surprise crossing his face before he nodded, this time grimly and more serious "Yes. That potion I mentioned…there's a reason for why we believe he consumed something. The explosive residue once we removed the inherent magical residue indicated that it was dynamite."
"Dynamite?" Tiff asked confused "Is that some kind of obscure explosive potion?"
Bracker shook his head "No. It's a muggle invention." He said simply and the room tensed, the temperature dropping as if Death itself walked amongst them.
"Explain" Tiff said dangerously, his voice low.
"You are aware of gunpowder?" Bracker questioned the room and several nodded, likely those who took Muggle Studies in Hogwarts.
"It is similar to that, in that it is a chemical concoction consisting of several elements that explodes once it triggered by certain conditions." Bracker pursed his lips.
"We believe the potion altered him alchemically, perhaps his fat stores were converted into dynamite until a critical point had been reached and detonated."
Charlus exchanged a look with Emile Tiff, whose expression darkened substantially, something the rest of the occupants in the room noticed.
Tiff looked at Bracker "Are you certain?" he asked, his voice grave.
Bracker's gaze flickered to Charlus, an inquisitive look in his eyes before returning them to Tiff. "I am."
Tiff straightened stiffly in his chair, his dark expression worsening. His eyes swept across the room.
"This does not leave this room, not until we first apprehend the traitors to Magical Britain, is that understood?" Tiff said in a growling voice and once he'd gotten the affirmatives, he continued
"We have evidence that both groups, namely the Order of the Phoenix and the Isonomian Movement, have been provided funds and resources by the muggles." Tiff said blankly and Senior Aurors rose to their feet, outraged.
"You meant to say muggles are partly responsible for what happened tonight?!" Senior Auror Kinston asked furiously.
"I'm saying that they may be involved in more than just this attack." Tiff said calmly though the harsh glint in his eyes were obvious to see. "That is why it is utterly important that none of this escapes this room, not when the fervour of hate and anger is so high." Tiff's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"We do not need another element to this crisis." He said with a threatening tone and one that Charlus understood very well was needed.
The last thing they needed was for word to break out that muggles were partially responsible for yesterday's attack…not when some people were calling for all those who supported the two groups to be rounded up and executed.
The country was teetering on civil war and he, along with Director Tiff, knew that they were on the very edge.
The deaths of the Heads of Houses was shocking to the public but he knew that it was the death of the visitors that truly upset them. Much of the message of the Isonomian Movement and the Order of the Phoenix had elements that the public felt sympathetic to.
Thankfully, the attacks on family homes had lessened that support but it had not eradicated it completely and they knew that they had to apprehend them all before it could escalate any further.
Which would happen if the people who lost family or friends in the attacks knew of the muggle involvement. The last thing they needed is for some idiot to attack the muggles when all evidence was pointing towards their intent to take control of their world. If they have more of these weapons…
Tiff turned to Charlus who understood his look and Charlus picked the rest of the conversation
"We have evidence to suggest that the muggles have been thoroughly informed of our world and actively involved." Charlus said with a deathly calm tone despite the gravity of the situation "I met with the Lo-" he cleared his voice
"The late Lord Black just over a week ago informed me of what he had learnt. The muggles have magicals working for them and to make it worse, it has been the case for years." Charlus said grimly.
He'd been shocked when Arcturus had asked him some suspicious questions. It was only after point blankly asking him what the reasons behind the questions were that Arcturus admitted that he had evidence that the Magical World was intensely compromised…that there were traitors working with the muggles to undermine their world.
That it was happening ever since Underhill was assigned to guarding duties to the muggle Royals over ten years ago!
Arcturus had spoken that the muggles had their own form of magical researchers intently working on weaponry and this bomb was very likely to have been one of theirs.
"Why?" Senior Auror Blithwick asked disturbed "What's their motive?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Senior Auror Kinston asked darkly "To destroy us!"
"We don't know that." Bracker spoke up, his gaze falling on Kinston "Such thinking will only prove to change what is already a dangerous situation into a deathly one."
It was more likely it was as a result of their actions against the muggle royals, Charlus thought cynically. Arcturus had mentioned that he believed their motivations might have something to do about the Magical World supposedly not honouring their duties to the British Crown.
"Though Director Bracker is correct in some ways, Auror Kinston's thinking is not entirely without basis." Tiff said with his hands steepled in front of him "As for their motives, we have a clear picture of what they want." He turned to Charlus.
"Senior Auror Potter under the direction of the late Director Wilkins, headed interrogations of Liaison Underhill and with full authorisation under Section 14.4B of the Statute of Secrecy, Underhill was interrogated under the influence of Veritaserum." Tiff said with a cold tone, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"What we have discovered is that Underhill is utterly incapable of speaking in any capacity under the influence."
Bracker's eyes widened "He's under loyalty oaths." Bracker said musingly.
"Yes." Tiff confirmed "But that's not the worst of it. On more than one occasion, he came close to dying in breach of his oath and we had to apply the counter-agent several times. Still" Tiff said as he tugged at the edges of his sleeve "We managed to understand their motive nonetheless."
"Underhill did look relieved that we managed to understand the gravity of the situation." Charlus commented.
"So an unwilling traitor" Kinston mused.
"It seems so" Charlus said with a nod "We've interrogated him several times and obliviated him each time and that reaction so far has been genuine. We have under heavy surveillance and it seems that he is directly working with the muggle equivalent of the Aurors."
Charlus glanced at Bracker "We could use your help with this."
Bracker met Charlus' gaze. "That is not our purpose, Auror Potter. We will be providing you with whatever countermeasures to this form of bombing we can but that is all we can do."
"No, it isn't your purpose." Charlus agreed, his gaze not breaking "But your purpose is ensuring dangerous forms of magic isn't in the public domain, to ensure knowledge isn't used to create great harm to the Magical World." Charlus smiled bitterly "Surely this creation…this…bombing and the way it was done falls under that banner?"
"Not to mention" Tiff interjected "The fact remains that it is highly likely that we have traitors working with the muggles to come up with new muggle inspired weapons that we may see used in greater effects in our world." Bracker's eyes narrowed minutely at that as Tiff continued "Surely that warrants the involvement of your Department, Bracker?" Tiff said as he leaned forward.
Bracker remained silent for a moment "It does." He finally said as he met Tiff's gaze. "You will have the Department's assistance in dealing with this…problem."
Tiff smiled, his eyes shining with triumph before it flickered away as he nodded. "Good." Tiff's smile fell away, a cold look taking hold in his face.
"For now" Tiff continued, his voice now deadly serious "For now we deal with the terrorists first." Tiff turned to Charlus "Charlus, I'm depending heavily on you on this. After Director Wilkins and myself, you have been the preeminent man dealing with both groups." Tiff paused for a moment, his eyes boring into Charlus.
"I want you to deal with this in however way you see fit." Tiff's voice was arctic and unforgiving "We may have been under Martial Law for months now however I expect you to completely adhere to it…is that understood?"
Charlus met Tiff's gaze.
Ever since Lowe declared Martial Law since January, the reality was they were still largely under the restraint of normal conditions with the exception of enforcing curfews. They had not used the authority to arrest individuals that normally required warrants or to carry out large operations without the approval of the Minister.
They did not think they needed to do so, not at the time. They'd believed preventing them from gathering in public, arresting those who were clearly guilty of being part of the two denounced groups, was enough.
Not anymore.
Charlus nodded stiffly "You have my word, Director. I will do all I can to end their threat." And he knew that also included dealing with the muggles.
He exited the floo and arrived back home, the feeling of guilt and sorrow he'd felt when he'd informed his wife of her brother's passing coming back to the front of his mind.
He walked down the hall and saw his wife still sitting where he'd left her though now it seemed she'd cried out all the tears she may have had from the way she was silent and unmoving, simply staring at the hearth.
He moved towards her and sat next to her, his hands seeking out her own.
"Dor…" he said quietly, almost beseechingly.
It seemed to be enough as she looked away from the hearth, finally realising he was there. "I've spoken with Cassie…the funeral will be in seven days." She said with no emotion in her voice.
"Alright." Charlus said delicately as he looked at his wife's composed expression that was unsettling him.
"Dor…I…" She raised her hand, her expression softening, a semblance of normality re-entering her cool violet eyes.
"I know Charles…I know." She said softly, her voice jilting ever so slightly "It was a miracle anyone survived that. I just…I always thought he was invincible…the Lord Black." She laughed croakily "I thought only Death or illness could take him for they were the only ones that could stand up against him."
"He almost pulled it off too." Charlus said with a weak smile "He protected himself against the blast…it's just that a piece of banister got him in an angle that made him drop the shield which ultimately…" he trailed off.
Dorea closed her eyes, fresh tears sprouting from the corner of her eyes. She reopened them, her beautiful violet eyes were hard. "Promise me you won't take it easy on them."
Charlus stared at those eyes for what seemed like an age.
"I promise." He said to her, entirely truthful of his intent to put them down.
-Break-
17th of March 1953 – Isonomian Movement Headquarters, past Midnight
Jason Harrison POV
Jason strode forward, pushing past the guard as he handed over his wand and into the beckoning open room.
"What have you done?!" Jason raged at Michael, his rage bursting out of him as he slammed into Michael's office uncaring that the door from which he entered remained open. He did not care if the others could see his rage.
"What must be done." Michael said calmly unwilling to look up as he carried out writing in his notes infuriating Jason only further.
"What must be done?! WHAT MUST BE DONE!?" Jason bellowed as he slammed his hands onto the table, the inkpot spilling over onto the desk finally resulting in Michael looking up at him with cold eyes.
"What do you think war meant, Harrison?" Michael said with cold disdain. Michael leaned forward. "That it was going to be some kind of glorious and honourable fight, old chappy?" Michael said with a cruel sneer "Like how those who've never been in it say it is?" Michael laughed coldly.
"There is a reason why your father and grandfather never speak about the war, Jason." Michael said with calm detachment "They have sacrificed more than just their blood, sweat and tears, kid. They sacrificed their souls for their cause and it is what we must be willing to do if we are to win this war."
Michael leaned forward and a shiver ran down Jason's spine. The same look was in his eyes, one that he had never seen before in Michael's. The same hateful vacancy that he'd seen in Samael's eyes.
"The Order of the Phoenix have delivered on their promise and with the deaths of ninety percent of the Wizengamot and all of the new administration" Michael raised himself, every bit seeming like a vengeful creature "We are halfway there. And the attacks on the families have only begun and we will continue to strike at the rest of the Wizengamot families!" Michael's gaze was terrifying, one of fervent fanaticism.
"Where will that end?" Jason asked shocked. He had not been privy to this…to this madness.
He had thought their quarrel was with the Ministry, with the discriminatory system that needed to be destroyed not this…scorched earth violence that would destroy everything they said they were trying to accomplish.
"Until we have what we want." Michael said coolly. "As we have always intended" he said as he leaned back in his chair.
"Equal rights. Democracy. An end to the wealth concentration in the few pureblood families." Michael thinned his lips "And…if need be…We'll go as far as ridding those families root and stem."
"Even children?" Jason asked in an appalled tone, his expression dismayed, the full reality of what was happening settling in his mind.
"This is war." Michael only said in return as his eyes hardened, confirming the worst as disgust settled in his core.
Jason noticed suddenly the entrance of other people and he glanced over his shoulder, a cold stone dropping in his stomach.
Jason turned back to Michael, the feelings of imminent betrayal oddly casting a disturbing calmness around him. "I have supported you when we needed to strike"
Jason began lowly, his voice quivering with hostile assuredness "I have orchestrated our strikes against targets that we knew would not garner sympathy from the public only increase our reputation and message to the masses, I have planned the steady path we needed to take to ignite this…this…" Jason trailed off as he exhaled deeply, his eyes once more setting onto Michael's detached ones
"This campaign of liberation into a campaign of revolution." Jason laughed bitterly as he shook his head "Yet all you have done is ensure our revolution is doomed in the cradle."
The people of Magical Britain would not stand for this. They'd had given the Ministry the tools they needed to survive and not only that, to make things worse for them all.
Jason sneered contemptuously at Michael as he was seized by the arms. "If you think you'll be seen as a modern day Guy Fawkes, you'll be mistaken, Michael!" Jason shouted as he was dragged out of the room.
He was hit in the stomach and Jason churned out what he ate for dinner and yet, despite himself, he laughed contemptuously even as he was dragged out of the room but not before hearing
"Take him to the new cells. We may have use for him still."
-Break-
23rd of March 1953, St. Mungos
Cassiopeia Black POV
She stared at the body of her brother as he lay there on the cold stone slab. The healers did a fair job, she thought as she stared morbidly at her mostly intact brother only one thing running through her mind again and again.
What did she miss?
None of her network suggested anything of this scale of attack! Not even her contact within the Order of the Phoenix had known anything about this attack.
A useless idiot that she had the pleasure of torturing every scrap of information from before she passed that along to her contacts within the Auror Department, something that allowed them to take out the cells the dead man had known about it.
Still, it did not bring her any comfort…not even making all of her resources available to the Aurors from the shadows knowing that their lives would shortly end did.
"Cassie." She heard and she glanced over her shoulder. Her younger sister…her now only sibling in the world was by the door of the private room in the mortuary at St. Mungos.
"Dorea." She said curtly as she turned back to her brother's corpse.
This wasn't supposed to happen, you damn fool…
Not when their House needed someone strong…now more than ever.
Her sister stood next to her. She glanced at her from the corner of her eyes. Dorea looked like she'd come to terms with the death of their brother.
For all of her soft-heartedness, she did have a core of strength about her.
She glanced back at her brother's corpse. It bothered her that he looked so peaceful. It was so unlike him.
Morgana, she could use a damn bottle of firewhiskey right about now.
"He looks unnatural without that permanent glare of his." Dorea spoke up suddenly.
She kissed her teeth. "Yes…he looks like he's just passed a particular troublesome kidney stone out." She murmured.
Dorea choked for a moment before she looked at Cassie with a scandalised look. Cassie looked to meet her gaze with a raised eyebrow. "You're only scandalised because you know it's true."
Dorea said nothing before she began to giggle which burst to a laugh, one that Cassie joined in soft chuckles.
Their amusement petered away, soberness settling on both of them.
"I thought he'd outlive us." Dorea confessed.
"So did I." Cassie admitted after a moment. Arcturus was many things but he was smart. Smarter than most give him credit for. And far keener to abandon things if he felt like it. It wouldn't been odd at all if he'd given up his Lordship to Orion decades from now and just…disappeared.
"How's Melania?" Cassie asked after a moment.
"Grief stricken." Dorea said quietly. "According to Druella and Cygnus, she's not left her room for days now. Kreacher's has been needed to bring her food."
Cassie sighed inaudibly. Melania had always been…soft. Softer than even Dorea. But the love between their brother and Melania had been true.
Which was remarkable given that Archie could be a bastard to care for.
"Will she make the funeral?" Cassie asked.
"Undeterminable." Dorea admitted and the conversation stopped for a few moments.
"They'll move him in the next hour to our family estate." Dorea spoke up and Cassie frowned as she looked at Dorea.
"I thought they'd do so later today?"
Dorea shook her head "The Mulcibers have been attacked" Dorea said a little jittery. "The entire mainline has been killed."
Cassie's eyebrows raised. "How? The Mulciber's may not be an Ancient family but they are certainly have the wealth to have some very good wards." She said as her mind whirled on what she heard.
More than a few families had been decimated in the attacks, several having happened directly after the bombing. Some had even taken to flee their ancestral homes to more private and secure homes not registered with the Ministry.
In truth, it perplexed her the scale with which this was all happening. The Order of the Phoenix and the Isonomian Movement were showing levels of competency that should have been far beyond them.
Their goals of wanting to rid the influence of the noble families were flights of fancy, delusional aims.
Yet…
Here they were, gaining far more success than she ever thought possible.
"I don't know." Dorea admitted. "Charlus has been quiet about the investigations. When I see him anyway." She said with a sigh.
Not surprising Cassie mused.
Charlus had risen up the ranks of the Auror Department thanks to this crisis and it was likely he'd take the position of Assistant Director once things were back to a measure of normality. He'd be the youngest to ascend to such a position ever.
"He did say they were getting close." Dorea added and Cassie hummed. She hadn't heard that yet.
She turned on her heel and began to walk away though she stopped momentarily when her sister spoke up. "I'll be at Black Manor in the evening." Dorea said and Cassie looked over her shoulder.
She met the gaze of her sister and nodded minutely before she paced away. Her soft hearted sister intended her not to be alone. It was a foolish sentimentality.
Foolish but so very Dorea.
The next day the funeral procession happened and in truth she barely paid attention, only doing so when she added her own flame to the pyre.
She had no patience to deal with the lickspittle that roused out of their damp holes only to hang off of Orion's teats. Their words of condolences were meaningless when she knew that they were only looking to see the mettle of the new Lord Black.
For once, she wasn't all that disappointed in him, not when he looked the part at least. Her eyes spotted the one person she was loathed to see, her mood darkening.
Riddle was here.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Riddle said with a commiserating look after she'd come over a little while later.
It even looked genuine.
"Those terrorists have taken much of our people and Lord Black did not deserve such a fate."
Cassie smiled with false sadness "Thank you, Lady Slytherin-Sayre. It means much, I assure you." She said with a hard glint in her eyes.
Riddle nodded magnanimously before she sighed long-sufferingly "And we were just turning a new leaf after the unfortunate differences we had." She turned to the burnt out pyre.
Cassie narrowed her eyes. So she was here for assurances that the deal that Archie struck was still in play?
In truth she had not thought about the 'peace' that was struck. Not when there were far more pertinent issues to deal with in the more immediate term.
She was tempted to sink the bitch's peace but she knew that now was not the time. She glanced at Orion. And Orion was not the man that could contend with her.
"The accord between House Black and House Slytherin will be honoured." She said curtly and Riddle turned around, their gazes meeting.
Riddle smiled and it was serpentine with the way her lips stretched. "I'm glad to hear so." She turned around and looked at Orion "Lord Black has alluded to such and I am glad to hear it from you." She said as she turned back to Cassie, a glint in her eye.
"These days, all of our noble houses must stand together if we are to triumph in these perilous times." Riddle said and despite her desires, a chill raced through her spine.
It wouldn't be the only time she wished her brother had survived.
Days later…
"You're going to her meeting?" Cassie asked, her voice devoid of emotion as she stared unblinkingly at her nephew…the new Lord Black.
He looked every bit the proud Lord Black yet it was a façade, a false mask to hide his timidity, his lack of will and strength.
Gods, how far had they fallen that now her timid nephew was the Black of the Blacks, the Lord that should be commanding the world to his will and instead they now had a man who was incapable of commanding his wife, let alone his family or his vassals
"I am." Orion said calmly. A flicker in his grey eyes indicated his hesitation "And it is not her meeting. It's Malfoy's meeting."
She scoffed derisively "As if that hides the damn truth that he's as good as her servant." She snapped harshly and he flinched causing her to look away distastefully from him and towards Walburga.
"And you're fine with this?" she asked disbelievingly. Walburga had been the most Black out of her entire generation. It was unfortunate she was a damn woman…and more than a little unhinged. And that was saying something as Cassie herself wasn't exactly the perfect picture of sanity.
Walburga scowled foully "I am not. We all know that this is a meeting for her to gain loyalty of the purebloods." Walburga looked away with a sneer on her face.
"Which doesn't change the fact that she is also the most powerful amongst the nobility and they all want to hear if the half blood has something worth to say."
Cassie's eyes widened before she sagged in her chair. "Kreacher!"
*POP* "Mistress" The elf said with a bow as a filled glass of firewhiskey floated towards her. She snagged the glass sharply out of the air and drank half of it before she refocused on Orion.
"You are the Lord Black. You cannot simply go like a dog running on a master's beck and call." Cassie said critically.
"I am not." Orion said with a flicker of anger in his eyes. "Not when the invitation has been sent to all those of importance to meet at Malfoy Manor. To not go is not an option, you know that very well, Aunt Cassie."
Cassie scowled. She did know. Orion did not have the reputation to simply not attend what would prove to be a meeting filled with newly invested Lords and Ladies.
He'd offend many of them and only alienate Houses that should be allies.
"Are you allowing our vassals to attend?" The Selwyns, the Crabbes, the Goyles…
Orion nodded "I am but the exception of the Selwyns. The heir will have his aunt as his regent for years to come and I see no need for a representative to go when I can speak on their behalf. The others will be my support." He finished.
She said nothing though inwardly she at least approved.
"She'll want your unconditional support." She said with a pained expression.
"I'm aware." Orion said with a sigh. "And I know I will be forced to give it."
Her nostrils flared as she sent a scathing look at him before he continued before she could speak.
"Especially now that the public have been informed that Merlin's Enchantments are gone."
Cassie expression shifted away once more to a pained one. A millennium of ancient magic shattered and destroyed by mudblood lovers completely intent on destroying centuries of tradition and history.
Magic that enforced the noble families' rule over Magical Britain and had never been questioned, not until now, not to this scale. Despite the support for the mudbloods and those traitors having been largely broken, there were still a sizeable number amongst the populace that wanted a change of government, that wanted a greater say.
The scars that Sayre left behind, the words he spoke still remained even years later and the Order of the Phoenix were capitalising on it even if they lost support. At this rate, even once they were eradicated, they might actually win if things didn't improve soon.
She shook her head in disgust. To upend centuries of ruling only because the peasants demanded it?
Foolish. What made uneducated peasants think they could do better…when they knew nothing, learnt nothing about the intricate aspects of power and governance?
Unfortunately, she also knew that with the Ministry as broken as it was at this stage, still without a Minister, even an acting one, was leaving the country on a perilous edge that could easily escalate to a civil war if things didn't settle down quickly.
Something she knew Riddle would offer and highlight to those weak fools and inevitably turn it into her advantage.
"Do you know what she might want?" Walburga questioned.
Cassie's expression flickered into annoyance "What does any mudblood want?" she said scathingly before she sighed deeply. "Before this debacle, I'd say she'd want to twist the country the way she wanted. Now…" she smiled bitterly. She might actually have an easier chance once the mudbloods and the traitors were dealt with.
She would take a mile, she knew now.
She shook her head as a headache settled in. She couldn't deal with this at present.
She downed her drink and sent a last glare at her weak nephew.
"Do not give her your support. Not without understanding what it entails. Let the others suffocate under her poisonous air. You're the Lord Black. Act like it." She said before she left towards the floo.
…...
She came to though she made no appearance of it as a cold gust of wind caressed her face like frozen fingertips crawling across her face. Her eyelids creaked open, slivers of light entered her eyes as she realised the cold, hard, unforgiving place she laid upon was mountain rock.
Fleeting memories of her time in the Alps came to mind and left as soon as they arrived as she glanced at the sky above and was struck by the unfamiliar stars…no…
She knew them but they were wrong. The stars were brighter, more pronounced, like the edges of the patterns of crystal glass, the stars were brought into greater focus than she'd seen before.
Where was she? She remembered leaving the Black Manor and then…
She heard something move, a trickle of rocks being displaced, and she moved towards her wand and stilled when she realised she had nothing with her.
"I'm aware you're awake, Miss Black." A smooth voice cut in, a voice she recognised yet had not heard for years.
Her eyes flashed open and she sat up. She saw him with his back turned towards he with his hands behind his back in a slackened grip, overlooking over the sharp downward ledge of the mountain. His hair was longer, falling free past his shoulder blades while he seemed to wear simple tunics.
"So you are still alive then." Cassie said as she raised herself from the cold rock she'd been placed on.
"Did you ever really doubt?" Sayre said musingly.
"Of course not." Cassie scoffed as she glanced around. Men like Sayre never died when you wanted them t…
Her eyes widened as she caught on where she was.
A massive ring of silver grey metal ringed the surroundings like elaborate city walls stretching far into the distance, curving and hugging the landscape like a mother bear. She saw three dim lights floating in the air in the distance, like still wet snowflakes, but didn't overshadow the luminous stars that painted the night sky.
She didn't think it was in the Alps…the Swiss were rather territorial despite their largely fractious history. Now that they were united, she doubted they would have let something like this go unnoticed.
Not to mention…the stars were too wrong to be there…it's almost like they were upside down…
Australia? No…she never heard Australia having mountains.
No…this was something else.
"So this is where you've holed up after your exile then." She stated, already realised that this place was built rather than it being somewhere isolated, her mind in overdrive as she thought on where this might be.
As she pilfered through her pockets she realised that she had nothing on her, not even her well hidden second wand.
How long was she out? She wondered grimly.
"Where are we?" she asked finally as she stretched out her hand and a piece of mountain rock fizzed into her hand.
"Illos. My home." He told her as he glanced over his shoulder "And no, we're not in Australia or anywhere near it. We're…further south if that helps."
She stilled when he mentioned Australia "How…" she said dully. How could he…
"You've improved your Sight." She simply stated, her concern rising evermore.
"Yes." He said as he turned her, his purple green eyes aglow with an ethereal sheen.
He looked older, more refined than the boyish Lord that once had his boot on the neck of British Magical society. The boy that'd been cast out for his threatening and radical beliefs and ideals.
He looked every bit pureblood Lord that many believed themselves to be but could never be.
"Why am I here?" she finally asked, breaking their gaze as she looked over the ledge and saw a city of some kind in the distance, a city with buildings that looked like they were fashioned out glittering marble stone.
Was she here to hear him gloat? That he outlived Archie, that he won in the end?
Her eyes turned cold and they flickered to his, locking onto them with a hardness that would turn lesser men into quivering messes.
Yet it did not affect him, he looked unconcerned, the calm almost serene expression on his face remained unbroken.
"You have tried hard over the past decade to find out what my motivations were…to find what it is I was really after." He allowed a small smile to come across his face.
"I thought it was time for you to understand." He said as a shattering noise reverberated around them, almost startling her and she looked to where it sounded it came from.
Her gaze went up, into the sky and she saw an arrow shaped creation impossibly speed across the face of the sky like it was nothing, gaining and gaining as it continued to grow smaller and smaller.
"That was Conatum Caeleste, the first Ilosian made ship." Sayre's words broke her out of her confusion.
"Ship?" she asked confused as she turned to him. What kind of ship was that?
"A ship. But instead of sailing the seas, it will sail through the space between stars." Sayre said with a proud smile on his face and she looked at him with disbelief.
"Impossible. Nothing can survive in the void. The tales of Icarus had proven that." She denied. "And the mages since who followed in his foolish endeavours had only confirmed that belief."
His expression changed, the corners of his lips creasing. "Confirmed that belief…" he said in a soft tone, his words were almost said in the way the sounds of beating hummingbird wings carried through the air.
"For all of our race's superiority, we often tend to latch onto beliefs that were long since established by people who knew very little." He said with an amused glint in his eyes.
"Not unlike the muggles in truth."
She bristled at the comparison but all she showed outwardly was the narrowing of her eyes.
"And where's this ship headed?"
"Towards Luna. The third mission since it was built several months ago." He told her calmly, his gaze turning upward. "They improved on the design of my first ship considerably." A smile tugged on his face as he kept looking at the sky.
She sprang forth, the stone in her hand levitating before dashing forwards headed towards his head. Her eyes widened when the stone disintegrated into cloud of dust that remained still just inches from his face before they thinned and twisted around his head before reforming into a crystal clear glass ball.
He turned her, an inquisitive look on his face. "Can you do more wandless magic?" he asked curiously, dumbfounding her.
"What?" she asked deeply disturbed. He had not even flicked his hands. She knew he was capable of wandless magic, everyone knew but to think he'd improved to this level…
"No." she told him, not quite the truth. She could do a wandless Confundus and Reparo but other than that, it was mostly banishing and levitating she excelled at.
"A pity." He said in a musing tone.
"So that ship…it's headed for the Moon." She stated uncomfortably.
He smiled at her and nodded slightly. "It is. They'll set foot on it and take a few rocks for examination." His smile took an amused quality "The researchers are excited to see if the rocks will have a different magical signature to native rocks here though I suspect they'll probably be more curious about the different gravity"
This was…
She had trouble grasping what this had to do with why she was here. Even if she chose to believe the insanity he was sprouting.
"And that is part of the reason you're here." His smile fell off, the density of the air surrounding them grew slightly as she felt waves of magic rippling out of them.
She stilled under the heavy magic, under the heavy gaze that oozed domination as they remained aglow though this time with far less magnanimity and more the gaze of a predator playing with his food.
"Progress…progress is never easy. Especially when it is fundamentally different to how things used to be." Sayre's gaze was penetrating, his voice seemed to weight like a mountain would on her chest as beginning of understandings was settling in her mind.
"Here in Illos, progress is cherished, desired, something that I have painstakingly fostered and will continue to foster for many years to come." He said, his words rumbling into the world like a thunderous storm despite the fact it was soft spoken.
"Yet I cannot be selfish, not when there are entire communities out there that are suffocating by those who wish to keep the status quo, that wish to keep their world the same for a thousand years more when the other side of the world is progressing faster than they can ever elect to understand like frogs sitting in a slowly boiling pan of water." He said, his words unsettling her gravely just as his radiant eyes sizzled with boundless passion restrained by the cold unforgiving logic of the intellect that hid behind his those chilling eyes.
"You're responsible for the troubles in Britain." She hated how her voice quivered out of fear, out of rage, out of grim realisation…
"Not quite" He said with an oozing fetid smile that felt so slippery. "Though it would be a lie to say that the events that led to this point had not been allowed to happen."
"allowed to happen?" she mimicked despite the precarious situation she was in.
His smile sharpened, his eyes growing dull and into hard shards of ethereal embers. "What is happening with the muggles, the ones that are using disaffected and subjugated Squib-descendants, muggleborns, will only be the beginning as time passes. The more magical societies refuse to change, particularly European magical societies, the more avenues the muggles will have to exploit the weaknesses in our world until they discover how to destroy us."
"And so you help them destroy us now so they don't destroy us later?" she said with a scoff
"Charlus will deal with them in time." Sayre said with almost a flippant tone, as if it was already done and it sent chills down her spine.
"No…I'm not helping them, rather I am ensuring our people are aware of the slippery slope of leaving the situation unattended, to leave the door open for them to burst through and to rip us apart. A house divided cannot stand after all and what I have done is ensure a new house will be built"
"Riddle…That's the play." She said with cold realisation. All of this…all of it was orchestrated to take out the old guard and leave the new Heads to fall under her influence.
"Part of it." He said calmly as his magic receded from the world. "Magical Britain as it is now is not to our liking nor is it capable of advancing society in the way that it needs to."
Not to their liking…
"You've never stopped wanting to change Magical Britain." She said as she closed her eyes. All of her efforts, all of her brother's efforts of ridding them of Sayre's dangerous ideas were all for naught.
"Illos is my home but Magical Britain is my family's. I was never going to let go." He said with a calmness that only exacerbated the defeated feeling she felt.
"Why…Why do all this?" she asked as she opened her eyes. "And don't tell me it's because you fear the muggles." She said with a mocking laugh as she waved her hand around. "You can do all of this…you can wield magic like I have never seen before…the muggles could do nothing if you led us in the world that made you!"
He looked away from her penetrating gaze and towards the skies. "Perhaps." He said after a moment. "Perhaps I could have left things as they were and simply led when the time of the destruction of the Statute of Secrecy came." He said in a contemplative tone.
"It would have been easy too. I would have had decades of research, decades of engineering a weapon that could eliminate millions, billions of muggles" he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, the glass ball that floated in the air breaking into dust that spread like a mist "Just like that."
He turned her, the picture image of quiet control whilst his eyes danced on the edge of a burning chill.
"Yet…what is the point of such slaughter? Of such waste of life? When we have the entire universe open to us?" He said in a chilling musing tone.
"You're insane." Cassie said with a biting laugh.
He only smiled at her "Perhaps from your perspective. Sometimes I do wonder though…" he said in a fleeting quieting tone.
He regained his sharpness and his gaze settled on her, his magic rising once more as spoke again "I see our destiny out there amongst the stars, Cassiopeia Black. And everything I do is to ensure our people rise towards our potential as a people." The emeralds in the sea of purple danced like twilight stars with the way they stood aglow. "And I will see it done. Whatever the cost."
Her eyes closed. This was insanity…
For years she wanted to discover what drove him to do what he said, to push for laws everyone knew would never pass, no matter how powerful or charismatic he was.
He'd let them believe that he could be ousted without war only for Magical Britain to be taken gratefully once Riddle was done with it.
She reopened her eyes and met his gaze. She understood then.
Why she was here…
"You're going to kill me." Cassie stated, her voice surprisingly calm.
Sayre said nothing for a moment, his gaze losing its glow and turned penetrating and she felt unbalanced under it "I am." He said finally his voice calm even as her calmness broke under the weight of what was going to happen to her.
She swallowed as she broke the gaze and peered out into the distance.
"I had not wanted to." Sayre continued a little quietly. "But you are a disruptive presence, one that could have been a boon to my cause had I your loyalty but I do not and I will not."
Cassie laughed hollowly "Spare me the routine" she said scathingly as she turned him, her eyes wild with fury "Do not give me some strung up Morgana damned nonsense of reluctantly" she mockingly sneered "needing to kill me." She straightened up, her nose in the air as she looked down her nose at him.
"I am your enemy and you're going to kill me. It's as simple as that." She said with a vicious look in her eyes as she met his gaze unflinchingly.
Sayre in his arrogance smiled wanly at her, one that was teemed with accommodation and misplaced gentleness "You're not my enemy. You've never been Cassiopeia. In truth you have been nothing more than you have ever been. An opposition I respect. Nothing more, nothing less."
She bristled at the dismissive attitude "You dare reduce to me to that" she almost raged. She knew she was going to die as soon as she realised who it was that took her but the fact that he was considering her little more than a filthy curb to step over rankled her. Her, the one who elevated the Black network greater than any before, her who had set up the motions to boot out the Sayres out of their homelands.
How dare he?!
"I dare, Miss Black because it is the truth. And you know it too." He said calmly with a tilted head. "You've known for a long time."
Cassie closed her eyes. "They'll look for me."
"They will." Sayre agreed quietly and she reopened her eyes and saw a minute expression of sorrow in his face "Dorea will be frantic in her worry."
"Keep my sister's name out of your lips!" she said with chilling, seething hate that masked her fear for her sister…her family.
Sayre remained unfazed. "They'll find your body with a number of dead suspected Order of the Phoenix members." His words took the fight out of her and she laughed bitterly.
"At least I will be found dead having fought." A lie that couldn't be further from the truth. A lie that was Atticus Sayre, a Dark Lord worse than she'd ever thought possible.
"Sol Black should have helped the Gaunts kill Henry Sayre." She said bitterly, hoping to at least leave one more mark, however she could, on him.
"It is to the good of the Black family that Sol Black had not otherwise the last male heir would have likely been dead in 1996 at the hands of his female cousin." Sayre said with a non-expressive look.
"And that debt my family owes to yours will be repaid a final time when your family reaches greater heights than you or your forbearers imagined." He finished as the magic in the air thickened.
Her throat felt tight and her eyes widened as she rose in the air, her feet dangling as she tried to touch the rocks with her toes.
He had not moved an inch and his gaze remained the same, impassive yet chilling in its indifference.
Arcturus…Our family needed you now more than ever…
She though despairingly.
"Goodbye, Cassiopeia Black." He said before she felt herself pass through oblivion after a loud crack and a fleeting moment of intense pain.
-Break-
25th of March 1953, Malfoy Manor – 9 days after Bombing
Abraxas Malfoy POV
Abraxas stared at the full assembly with a cool expression on his face, his fingers rotating the Head of House ring on his ring finger, as he sat stiffly on the right of Lady Slytherin's empty seat at the head of the table.
It barely felt real, the death of his father, a man he had thought capable of swindling decades from Death itself…yet he lay dead just as many former Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot had been just as the eve of the beginning of their victory had started.
A victory that would have felt like a loss had they not uncovered the devious plot of the muggles that allowed Ouroboros the opportunity to rise in the first place.
He clutched on the bout of hatred that was boiling within him. To think his father died because of them…it was unthinkable that the proud House of Malfoy was laid low because of their deviousness…just as it was unthinkable how close they were to being held hostage by the muggle filth.
His father would be rolling in his grave if he knew how close that plot had been to succeeding…
He stared down at his ring, his mind whirling with complicated thoughts of how he felt about his father's death. He had not…loved his father. Such a common thing was below a Malfoy but he had…cared for him.
His father had taught him all he needed to know to thrive in this world, all he needed to know to become a worthy heir of the Malfoy family that continued to grow as the decades passed, passing by failing families and usurping their positions, ever growing nearer to the top of the chain.
Something that seemed to be in their immediate destiny with the capitulation of the Black family and the victory of the Ouroboros faction resulting in its elevation as the dominant faction within the Wizengamot with one of their own elected as Minister.
His father had known the game had changed when Lord Sayre defeated Grindelwald, when he'd seen a sliver of her power and her ability to twist others into supporting her and more so when his father had seen his shaken form when he'd come back from that night when he'd seen them raise a foundation of Illos.
From that point onwards, his father had told him that he was to establish himself as her right hand man, to be to her what Agrippa had been to Octavian even if their roles were reversed, something he knew he was well on his way on achieving despite the challenges that Lestrange and Rockwood presented.
Yet he would not see it happen, not now when in one single mad night his father was killed in an attack that caused a Wizengamot to lay broken just as the ancient magicks that held it in place was broken.
He was now Lord Malfoy in the wake of his father's death in an event that shook the realm to its core just as it was an act that shook the very foundation of the nobility within the Isles but not with him…no…
He was burning with dripping fury, full of unrelenting and consuming hate at the thought of those that dared to strike at his father. The fact it was unlikely they'd live for long mattered not.
No…not when he knew that they had not acted alone.
He would have retribution, one way or another…in whatever form it may come.
His expression remained unchanged as he looked up, peering to his left and met the gaze of Rasmussen Lestrange, who had been there that night, only saved by the fortune of being near enough to their Lady whilst nearly everyone else lay dead with only Prince being the only other important survivor in that night. Next to him was Lord Theodore Nott, just as newly invested in his Headship as Abraxas was, his hard grey eyes were unyielding as they stared across towards the other Nobles within the Assembly.
Nott had not taken the death of his father well, a firm inflexibility was beginning to settle within him that reminded Abraxas of the late Lord Nott…just as cool cruelty was. It was unsubstantiated, he knew but he was sure Nott had taken care of one particular vocal supporter of the terrorists on the morn of his taking of the Nott Headship. The way the man had been butchered had been with a surgical hand, one of patience and professionalism and Nott was all that and more.
He stared contemptuously as the gathering tonight, at the looks of confidence and impatience as they waited on her yet he could see underneath the surface of their bravado, of their false confidence, an undertone of fear and longing for safety.
His eyes flickered across, his eyes measuring up each of the Lords and Ladies that were here tonight talking amongst themselves and there were many.
Every single Head of House or Regent from the Traditionalist, Ouroboros or Neutral camp had come, two thirds of the entire nobility that sat on the Wizengamot, filling the ball room that fashioned as an assembly hall nearly completely.
Yet what he saw…
He found them wanting.
Even Orion Black was nothing…the man who Arcturus Black had practically rewritten into a lesser than what he could have become.
Many of them had been his classmates, his fellow Slytherins yet all he saw was weakness, frightened little animals who'd forgotten what it was to be magical, resting on their laurels to the point that filth no longer had to dream to strike against them, not when they could so with near impunity or with a gleeful eye from afar.
He knew that many present today had personally pledged their allegiance to her as Salazar's Heir on that fateful day in Hogwarts but he also knew that it was support from a distance barring a small few who'd chosen to join Ouroboros.
Half-hearted support that had come from being unwilling to risk their positions as heirs of their Houses when Lord Black had wrung his hands around the necks of the Traditionalists, at most extending their influence over their Heads of Houses to ensure they kept the 'peace' that had been reached between themselves and Lady Slytherin during the Sayre crisis even though Lady Slytherin had ensured such actions would have devastating consequence anyway.
Something that many of them were hoping would not be brought up now that they had ascended to Head of House but he knew it was foolish wishful thinking.
She was far from the forgiving type.
And now, they had come because they were fearful of the violence that was levied against them, their purity and their vaunted position in society having turned into less than nothing, seeking her out for security and safety like children.
He allowed an infinitesimal smirk to grow on his face. At least now, with them feeling fearful and threatened, it would become easier for them to accelerate their plans for Magical Britain. The goal of herding them to their cause slowly was no longer needed, not in the degree they'd initially planned. Not when it was made so much easier with the filthy enemies they uncovered.
The doors thumped open and all eyes moved towards them. She strode forward with elegant grace, as if she was gliding over the floor.
She wore no smile, no expression, merely blankness on her pristine unblemished face yet the power that rippled out of her like waves of darkness was unmistakable, the presence she gave off stilled any conversation, stilled all into focusing their attention on her like she was a beacon of darkness and they were moths to the irresistible allure to the power she so effortlessly emitted.
Lestrange was the first to rise, then Rockwood until all of her faithful rose and the others were compelled to do so as well.
If any had doubts of who led this meeting, it was dispelled now.
Her dark eyes swept across the room, taking in face after face, a gaze that he saw many unable to meet for longer than a few seconds, before she arrived at the head of the table, the seat sliding across without her moving any of her hands, an act that left more than a few wide eyed at the blatant use of magic.
She sat down, the chair sliding across behind her and Abraxas took this as the cue speak. "Welcome my Lords and Ladies, to this meeting to deal with the existential threat we are facing." Abraxas said with a cool silky voice.
"And what do you mean by that, Lord Malfoy?" Lord Yaxley asked in a cold tone, his eyes flickered momentarily to Lady Slytherin who looked on impassively and Yaxley returned his gaze back at Abraxas.
"The Aurors have been rooting out the traitors and the filthy mudbloods" More than a few hissed out at the mention of the mudbloods, faces contorting in anger and hate.
Something he could more than understand. It might not have been them that killed most of family members of those present here today but they were complicit and they were partaking in the raids that Order of the Phoenix were leading.
As far as they were concerned, the mudbloods would pay dearly once the crisis was over.
"And once that is done, and the filth executed like the beasts they are, things will go back to normal, back to how they have always been." Lord Sykes picked up from Yaxley.
Rasmussen scoffed derisively as he peered down contemptuously at Sykes "You are delusional if you think the attacks on us hasn't changed things at all." Rasmussen leaned forward, his gaze dark as he stared at Sykes before turning his gaze towards Yaxley.
"The bombing destroyed the Wizengamot, the ancient magicks that reinforced our noble rights as rulers of Magical Britain is destroyed and the public knows it." Rasmussen said with a dangerous tone.
"The small part of the public that have withdrawn their support from the filth?" Lady Travers said with the shake of the head before she peered down at Rasmussen "The same public that are now decrying the attacks by the filth and condemning them instead of agreeing with them? You're making this an issue larger than it is."
"They have withdrawn their support, true, but they still support the idea of greater representation within the Ministry." Lord Prince said with a croaky voice. His injuries had not healed completely and likely never would.
"Once they are dealt with, they will return their attentions back to the core issue of the situation. The conversations in the Alleys have already moved towards this." Lord Prince finished.
"Why would they not support the measures the Ouroboros championed?" Lord Gamp asked with a frown as he looked at them with a concerned look "The public had been in favour of that."
"Why would they…" her voice echoed in the room as every gaze fell on her and a constricting wash of malice flashed momentarily as the magic in the room grew heavy. Wisps of shadows seemed to ripple around her even as her eyes were aglow.
"When they've started to think it's not enough?" She said as she leaned forward, her hand stretching out on the table.
"These attacks…are not going to go away." Her eyes swept across the room "Not even once the traitors are dealt with. They may not even violent either but the attacks on our nobility will continue, in one form or another. Maybe not for years, perhaps not for decades but eventually, when things continue to simmer into a boiling point, someone else will rise and take advantage."
Concerned murmurs sprang around and Lord Wilkins spoke up, the nephew of the late Director of the DMLE "And in that time, we will be ready for any such threats." Wilkins said with clenched teeth, a rhetoric that many approved of.
"Perhaps." Lady Slytherin said in a conciliatory tone, the corners of her lips sharpening as her eyes darkened further. "It is even likely such threats would be dealt with before they even crop up but…" she said as she leaned forward, her face darkening as the shadows around her twisted.
"You've already seen the length some desperate people will do to remove us from our positions…lengths that failed this time, lengths that may not fail next time but what about after that, to our future heirs?" She intoned softly as she looked around.
"Do you see how easy it can be for some clever ambitious filth to rise and to offer an alternative that would give the masses an illusion of power, a path to riches that would be confiscated from their betters?" she said alluringly, her words seeming to permeate within their minds.
"It will only take one clever man, or woman, to whisper in the ears of the masses…to rile them up in a way that is likely to be worse than what have faced only days ago. Truth is, the next movement may not be as incompetent as these fools were who squandered a golden opportunity." Lady Slytherin said in a cool voice.
"With your power, we can ensure we don't lose anything. You're the most powerful magical alive!" Lord Gibbon called out with more than a few murmurs of agreement.
"You want me to lead?" she questioned with a curious lilt to her voice.
"Yes!" "Of course!" "…Isn't that why we're here?!"
Lady Slytherin looked around before she laughed and it was chilling "And why would I do that?" she asked, her laugh having petered out as her voice shifted into menace, one that seemed to scratch and bite at the back of their necks.
"Because all of this is your husband's fault!" a chair scraped across the floor as the new Lord Burke stood up, an angry expression on his face. As far as Abraxas could remember, the man held a deep grudge against Lord Sayre.
"He was responsible for setting off everything! He was the one who put it in their heads in the first place, he was responsible for destroying the social order and he was responsible for destroying the economy!" Lord Burke said furiously as he waved his hand around angrily.
"You owe us." Lord Burke finished and Abraxas leaned back in his chair, his surprise kept off of his face. The fool must believe that she wouldn't act amidst a gathering of Lords.
He could see why Burke would think she wouldn't. She had kept her reputation pristine and even in those private meetings she had with the late Heads of Houses, she rarely allowed her true face to show.
But the game had changed…unfortunately for him.
"Are you done?" Lady Slytherin commented with a bored tone though her eyes were dimly aglow as they bored into Lord Burke who met the gaze defiantly despite the fact that her gaze was unsettling him.
"I'm far fro-" Burke began to choke, his hands wrapped around his neck. He jolted into the air, above all of their heads.
"My husband…" she began slowly, her eyes never leaving those of Burke whose face was growing redder and redder "recognised the pitfalls of our institutions and the exploitation that it allows madmen to take. Tell me…my Lords, my Ladies…how did a madman like Grindelwald rise to power?" she said with an easy calm as her eyes flittered across to the room, her eyes latching onto another set again and again before she continued.
"He rose to power in the ballrooms of the elites within the Austrian and German Ministries. His silver tongue swayed and charmed powerful families to his cause despite the fact that war and revolution are never in the interest of the wealthy families." Lady Slytherin's eyes began to gleam.
"In this instance, revolution was spoken and roused in the pubs, in the living rooms and in the streets. The pattern remains the same even if the environment changed." Her eyes were half lidded as she spoke without an ounce of care.
"Something that will happen again and again in time when the conditions do not change. The Isonomian Movement and the Order of the Phoenix have overplayed their hands with the brutal murders they committed and continue to commit but eventually? Someone smarter will exploit the same weaknesses to much greater effects." She said as she raised her open hand and slowly closed them.
The sounds of bones breaking reverberated in the deathly silent room as Burke's bones snapped and his screams dying in his choked up throat until Lady Slytherin flicked her finger and sent Burke flying into the wall before landing on the cold marble floor with a thud.
"You ask me to lead you against such threats…" she continued, the room spellbound in their seats as the thickness of magic in the room grew and grew, her dark eyes shining with cold cruelty.
"Yet I have sssseeen your weaknesssssssssssss and none of your sssssstrength" She snarled with disgust as she descended towards sibilant parseltongue.
It shocked the room into deathly silence as she leaned forward, her predatory eyes dark with menace as waves of magic rippled out from her.
More than a few bowed their heads, some in fear and some in shock.
"Do you deny…" her voice was soft but could not hide the deadly intent behind it.
"…that you're only here because you're fearful…fearing the threats outside of your homes, outside in the streets where you may be picked off like the rats those filth believe you to be?" Her eyes gleamed savagely as she looked around before she leaned back looking across the room with a bored look.
"I remember when many of you pledged your allegiance to me." She began, her voice calmer but no less chilling "When you pledged yourself to Salazar's Heir. Until it became inconvenient." Her lips curled into a savage smile as her eyes glinted.
Lady Slytherin's eyes flickered to Orion Black who met her gaze. "Some of you may not remember" she said clearly referring to Orion before she looked towards the others "But the rest of you…"
"You did little to honour your pledge to me."
"Lady Slytherin." Lord Crixus Flint spoke up, his voice intensely respectful. Not surprising given that he was amongst the first to pledge his personal allegiance to her back in Hogwarts.
"It is true many of us had pledged our loyalties to you in our days at Hogwarts, to you as Salazar's heir." Flint began with a bowed head before he looked up and looked across the table "Some of us had not kept that pledge of allegiance as well as we should have."
Several faces were shamefaced as Flint glanced at them "And there is no excuse for it. Even if it was largely done to keep our position so that we may aid you in the future."
"Aid that we will provide without restraint!" Lord Avery promised hastily much to the murmured agreement of many of the other Lords and Ladies.
Her eyes trailed across "We will see how true that is." She looked to Flint "For now, I can accept your reasoning."
"However…" she began her arctic cold eyes trailing across the room "Any further wavering will not forgiven so easily." Flint nodded wearily before looking at Burke's collapsed form.
"As to dealing with the threat the public represents, now or in the future, we can easily pre-empt that all the while dealing with the existential threat so…" shadows began to move
"Why let this perfect opportunity go?" she crooned, her eyes glowing like two dark stars adrift in a sea of shadows.
She turned her gaze around the table "Tell me…where does power lie?" she said as she outstretched her hands and a force of magic ripped out of her, the room descending into near total blackness had it not been for the lights of the candles twisting around her form as she stood up.
Her black eyes turned reminiscent of volcanic glass shards with the way they glowed, her eyes flickering from one Lord to the other as she placed her arms back her back.
The shadows around her writhed and wreathed before they flowed across the table much to the surprise and shock of those present which only increased when the table ceased to exist, replaced by a mass of shadows that parted as she strode forward.
"The public, the traitors, the squibborn and even yourselves believe it is within the Wizengamot, believe it is your seats that gave you the powersssssss…" she hissed out maliciously, something that sent shivers down the spine of all those present.
"…To rule the nation." She said with a vicious gleam in her eyes.
"We all know that it is an illusion that has been shattered in the wake of the Bombing and in the poisonous message that has been released into the world." She said, transfixing all to her words as truth rang with her message.
"Power…" she whispered softly, her eyes glowing impossible black as the shadows crept up at the back of each seats like serpents causing more than a few to rise up from their seats but it was to avail as the magic licked at their bodies, at their faces, its addictive qualities calming all under its effect "has always been within our blood, within our bodies. Magic is power and that has been the singular truth since Time itself began." She intoned with a vicious curl of her lips as the shadows withdrew away and back around her form.
Abraxas looked around and saw more than a few sigh in relief at the retreat of the magic but he also saw more than a few agree in principle with her.
"You have forgotten that a political seat is only a veneer of true power." She said with a deathly calmness as she stopped at the centre, turning around with a regal grace as she looked at everyone.
"Just as you have forgotten that the Wizengamot was nothing more than a way to keep those with power in check." She continued and it caused several to blink in confusion.
"Tell me...my Lords, my Ladies…do any of you know of the truth of the power vested within the Wizengamot, from whom that power had come from?"
Gamp spoke up nervously "It's the successor of the Wizards Council."
She turned to him and Gamp stiffened slightly under her gaze "Yes." She raised her hand "But it is also the means by which the muggle royalty ensured we were put in the place they wanted us to be in. It has been the means by which our loyalty was ensured to the muggle filth for generations. Merlin Emrys shackled our families to the muggle Crown, tying our bloodlines to our nobilities that had been ours long before the muggles even rose out of their mud huts." She said with malice, her magic rippling with the fury that shone in her eyes.
She snapped her fingers and a man dropped at the centre of the room beneath Slytherin's feet. He was on his knees, looking haggard but when he looked up, it was clear to see the hate in his eyes behind his horse rimmed glasses.
"This…is John Smith" she said as she raised her hand towards him. The man's eyes widened, his eyes bulging as he was raised into the air.
"It is not his real name, of course. His true name is Jacob Johnston, a muggle" the room gasped as they stared at the man "and the leader of the Magical Division within the Secret Intelligence in the muggle government."
At this there was uproar amongst the gathered nobility.
"What?!" "Magical Division?!"
"Yesssssss…." She hissed out sibilantly as she glanced around "The Magical Division of their spy agency. An agency that is dedicated to our world, infiltrating, learning as much as they can from us whilst also ruffling up unrest until an opportunity arose for them to intervene." The room was deathly silent at the weight of what was said.
"Did they have a hand in the current unrest?" Yaxley asked, his question causing several to draw in sharp intake of breaths.
Abraxas stared coolly at the muggle. He'd known that the muggles had traitors working with them for some time now, having been part of the investigation about where the Isonomian Movement had come from.
Mudbloods had betrayed them all but it was the muggles that were by far the more dangerous threat that would need to be dealt with…after the traitorous mudbloods were exterminated.
"They did. The bomb that was used was one of their designs." Lady Slytherin said with a cool calmness.
This caused several to walk angrily forward.
"Give me my wand" "Kill the muggle!" "Bastard filth" "Kill them all"
A massive bang exploded above their heads silencing them all but if looks could kill, the muggle would be dead a hundred times over.
"Control yourselves." Lady Slytherin chastised with a harsh glare. "If you cannot, leave. There is far more angering information for you hear and you will control yourselves if you remain…is that understood?" she said with a deathly tone.
Murmurs rang out but none left and none challenged her. She seemed to accept that before she turned her gaze towards him.
"Abraxas" she simply said and he bowed his head. He knew that she didn't want it to be known she was capable of this wandlessly.
"Dobby!" *POP*
"Master" the pitiful young elf croaked out.
"Bring Lady Slytherin her wand" he said with a harsh tone.
"Yes Master" *POP* and her bone white wand floated towards her.
Her wand fell into her hand and she turned it to the muggle "Imperio"
Abraxas glanced around and whilst it surprised some, it did not outrage any as it never should. It was only a filthy muggle.
Still, it was a good thing that he demanded they to swear a secrecy oath before accepting their attendance.
"How long has your government been plotting against the Magical World?" she questioned
"Since the late 1930s" the muggle said dully, his eyes blank.
The room descended into furious murmurs, shocked and outrage on their faces and more than a little fear.
"Why?" she continued to question
"Because we learnt you were responsible for Hitler and the Second Great War."
"That was Grindelwald." Lady Slytherin pointed out with a tilted head.
"He was one of you. That is enough." The muggle intoned blankly much to the anger of those present.
"Did you foment the unrest in the Magical World?" she continued to question
"Yes."
"How?"
"By providing funding, by providing spells and supernatural weaponry."
"Supernatural?" she asked the question on many lips.
"Magic is supernatural. Against nature. It is an abomination." This tested the limits of many
"He calls us an abomination" "They are the abominations without magic" Abraxas heard whispered.
"Why now?"
"We have enough supernaturals to make things difficult for you."
"Traitors!" "Mudbloods have betrayed us" he heard angrily and they were not wrong. They were betrayed…more than they could know.
"For what purpose?"
"To restore the Crown's authority over its citizens however unnatural and abominable they might be."
"And how would you do this?"
"By taking advantage of the Oaths of Allegiance tied to the nobility granted by Her Majesty."
This silenced the room to the point you could hear a pin drop.
Lady Slytherin continued "Then why have your terrorists bomb the very place that would have held us prisoner?"
The muggle spoke up blankly "That was not the plan. They operated without telling us what they were going to use the bomb for. We would have ordered them not to and requested they instead bomb Law Enforcement."
The fact that he said ordered did not escape the notice of more than a few, Abraxas noted.
"What would you have done with the Oaths of Allegiances?" Lord Prince asked as he huddled over with cane, staring intently at the muggle.
"Control you like you should be. You are a threat that cannot be left uncontrolled. The threat of losing your magic would be enough to stop from being a problem." The muggle answered dully.
Lord Prince's face twisted slightly at the muggle's words and Abraxas knew that Prince was thinking that for many it was a cost too high to pay for freedom.
"This is the existential threat Lord Malfoy spoke off." Lady Slytherin's voice permeated through the deathly silent room, her eyes trailing across the room.
"Through the imagined power of the Wizengamot, the filthy muggles intended to chain us to their muggle royalty." She said in a whispered tone, the lights of the candles flickering furiously as the shadows writhed around her "Holding our very magic hostage as they seek to pollute and infect our very world with their filthy hands."
The anger of the gathered nobility was rising, the hateful looks the muggle was getting were intense and he could feel the malice pouring out of her, a symphony of rage, hate and cruelty that stroked the flames within the souls of all those present.
She turned her gleaming eyes towards the muggle, the muggle who looked upon with utter fear, something she only smiled cruelly at. She holstered her wand and flicked her fingers, black flames erupting from the tips of her fingers, dancing, writhing as the muggle stared helplessly the flames.
She flicked the black flames towards him, a torrent of black fires engulfed the muggle, and shrieks erupted from the muggles mouth, whatever silencing spell he'd been on having been cancelled whilst his shrieks echoed in the room.
Abraxas looked around and he saw that many were looking on approvingly, the dark fires dancing in their eyes, almost enraptured by the brutal death that he knew she was stretching along.
The shrieks petered out before dying out completely and with a twist of the wrist, the black flames took on a red tinge and within a second, the fires were dispelled, leaving nothing but miniscule amounts of floating ash before she waved her fingers lazily and vanished it away.
She turned her gaze towards the gathered nobility "Through providence, we have been granted an opportunity that has allowed us to escape the chains the muggles had intended to wrap around our necks."
"Through the incompetence of the very terrorists they aided." Rasmussen mocked derisively.
Her eyes gleamed as she inclined her head towards him "Yes…" before she turned to the rest of nobility again.
"However, that is not the end of the threat. The magic within the chamber enforced the Oaths of Allegiances yes but it was not the only thing that bound our noble families to the muggle Crown."
"It's bound to our titles." Lord Yaxley said perceptively, his expression grave. "We'd have to give up our titles to ensure whatever binding is upon is removed."
"You can't be serious!" the new Lord Avery said aghast. "You want us to give up our titles?!"
Abraxas glanced around, watching the reaction around the room. He knew that it would be something that many would be absolutely loathed to give up.
Lady Slytherin stared at Lord Avery with impassive eyes "Yes…and no." She said smoothly.
"The nobility we hold are tied to the titles that many of our ancestors had held centuries prior to the Statute of Secrecy, many of them having been affirmed by the Kings of Scotland and England in 1342." She paused momentarily as she looked around.
"Lands and titles that were relinquished in 1692 and further enshrined into law in 1707 when the muggle Queen Anne ratified the charter for the Ministry of Magic." Lord Parkinson spoke up for the first time.
Lady Slytherin turned to him with a nod "Yes…however." She said with a raised finger "There were provisions made in the event that should the Statute of Secrecy fall, the titles and lands that were held in the Crown's trust would be returned to the Magical nobility. It was meant as a safeguard by the nobility of the day to ensure their lands and titles would be returned to them."
Eyes widened "Which means the magic would never be dispelled unless we magically relinquish our claims." Lord Prince said with a deep frown.
"Correct. Until then, we are bound to the muggle Crown even if we personally have not sworn allegiance and not further enforced by the magic of the Wizengamot chamber."
"So how do you propose we keep our titles?" Lord Avery asked with a frown.
She turned him, her eyes unsettling Avery as he began to swallow nervously.
Lady Slytherin turned her gaze away and looked at the gathered nobility "By altering the system we have now and in a single stroke we remove our binds to the muggle world whilst at the same time placating the public by granting them the greater voice they've so desired."
"A two tiered system of governance, one that separates the ancient covenant of the Wizard's Council from the elected body of governance whilst ensuring the country is protected from dangerous elements and muggle infiltration." She explained to them.
He already knew of this plan days before she suggested it. After the bombing Lady Slytherin had been furious and had personally gone and captured a number of the muggles for interrogation and it was through them that they learned of this muggle.
To say it horrified those in the inner circle would be a lie. He'd even seen her disturbed by what the muggles planned on doing.
She'd known for some time about the muggle infiltration in the magical world and intended to use it when Ouroboros had command of the Ministry but it seemed they might have instead walked into a disaster had it truly happened.
"It would be separate from the Ministry of Magic free from the Charter that binds the Ministry to the muggles yet at the same time it would be enshrined into law."
"And what would be the purpose of this Council?" Lord Gibbon asked with a frown.
Her lips curled to a smile "The purpose of the Assembly of Lords would be to debate legislation and have the power to amend or reject bills through a majority vote amongst the Assembly of Lords."
A chuckle erupted from Lord Parkinson's lips "So effectively it would ensure that nothing would pass from the elected part of the government unless we agree?" he said with a growing smirk, something that many were also now sporting.
"Nothing would really change" Lord Avery said with interest in his eyes.
Abraxas wanted to roll his eyes at that.
"Not quite but essentially yes. There will be work needed to be done to cover the details of course but effectively we will give the public the representation they want closing out any threats of dangerous notions of revolution, representation that we will still have significant influence over given our wealth whilst at the same time we keep the prestige owed to us due to our heritage." Lady Slytherin finished and Abraxas could see she'd won most of them over.
"When will you bring this forward?" Lord Bletchley asked.
"When the Ministry reopens the Wizengamot for sessions again"
"3rd of April." Bletchley said with a nod.
Abraxas took the opportunity to look around as the Lords and Ladies began to ask questions and his gaze fell on Orion and saw him frowning.
Abraxas' opinion of Orion had dwindled much over the past decade. Whatever Arcturus had done, it had shackled that unpredictable side of his, one that was closely linked to his more loose sanity, and instead made him timid.
In truth, he wasn't sure if he was elated or disappointed that Orion was now the Lord Black. With the death of Lord Black, House Black was teetering at the top position they held for so long and Orion would prove to be unable to rise to keep them from falling.
It was a shame Lady Slytherin had plans for House Black.
"And the muggles?" Lord Black finally spoke after a while "What will you do with them?"
Murmurs broke out at the question.
"The Aurors are aware of the duplicity of the muggles" She said smoothly as her eyes glinted "And soon enough we will have them dealt with." She said with a cruel tilt to her voice something that many picked up, much to their approval.
Hours later, he was alone with Lestrange, Rockwood and their Lady.
"The Progressives might not agree" Lestrange commented after they'd talked about some of their future plans.
"Not all of them." She agreed "But we don't need all of them to agree...we only need three quarters of the vote to pass. A number we already we have close to given that the Ministry votes are ours anyway at present despite the fact that it hasn't been sworn in yet. Elbert Higgins is the next Minster in line after all."
"Wasn't he just an undersecretary? Not even an important enough figure to warrant to even be there that day?" Lestrange asked with grim bemusement.
"And now he is Minister as the only surviving member of cabinet." Rockwood muttered before he caught what he just said and spied an apologetic glance at Abraxas and the others "Apologies."
Abraxas didn't comment "I take it you will still speak with them?" Abraxas asked of her.
"I will" She confirmed "I have a somewhat cordial relationship with the Longbottoms and he has substantial influence amongst the Progressives…especially now."
"Speaking of support…how many of them do you think recant on their support?" Abraxas asked in a mild drawl before he sipped on his drink.
She chuckled lightly as she leaned back, crossing her legs "Several." She said with a dangerous glint in her eyes. Abraxas almost felt sorry for them. He knew she would no longer restrain herself as she had done over the past few years.
Rockwood smirked as his eyes sparkled "I take it you have a plan in place already?"
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Rockwood raised his hands in defeat "I know, stupid question." He said with a laugh.
"It's still risky." Abraxas commented with a serious frown "There's no guarantee we'll have as much influence then as we do now. We are giving up a lot of power."
She turned to him, her dark eyes lazily set on him. "Tell me…Abraxas. Where does true power lie?" she spoke with soft elegance.
Abraxas was silent for a moment "In whatever that makes the other behave as you wish." People believed it was in their bloodlines, in their names…some believed it to be their magic whilst others believed it to be whatever it was that allowed them to lord it over others.
Her lip curled ever so slightly "Exactly." Her eyes sharpened "My power will always remain the same as its always been. For us, little will change. For them…" her eyes darkened maliciously "They'll soon find out they hold little power" her words were spoken with deathly malice.
His eyes shone with restrained excitement, something that Lestrange and Rockwood did not bother to hide.
It was their time now.
-Break-
28th of March 1953, Leicester
Charlus Potter POV
He looked through his omniculars and saw movement through the windows of the dingy pub at the corner of the street in a sleepy part of this muggle town. He flicked on the alternate setting on the omniculars and heat signatures flashed on and he saw that there four main levels, one underground, and two floors up with the upper most floor only containing two individuals.
In total were twenty two suspects in the pub with most on the ground floor or first floor.
Charlus signalled the secondary force to make the entry at the back entrance once the curse-breakers confirmed that it was safe to proceed and the anti-apparition and portkey wards were up.
They'd been relentless in their pursuit of both groups, having captured over eighty percent of the terrorists over the past few days. They'd been smart, breaking their groups into cells that had only had one point of contact in each cell but they'd gotten lucky with a captured target who'd known more than he should have and from him, they'd taken out most of the leadership of both organisations.
Beli Allord was dead, one of the leaders of the Order of the Phoenix, killed during one of the raids whilst Samael Danton, the other major leader, was already in custody. From him, they gotten most of the information they needed to round up nearly all of the members of the organisation, including several high ranking members of the Isonomian Movement whose interrogation led to this pub as one of their safe houses.
The doors were smashed in and spell fire rippled through the neighbourhood and Charlus jumped on his broom and led his team to the second floor of the pub, and he smashed into the windows before righting himself and throwing up a shield.
A spell splashed against his shield before he flicked his wand up, a hardboard plank from the floor springing loose underneath the perpetrator, slightly unbalancing him and he twisted around evading a nasty bone breaker curse before rounding up with a speedy spell chain that the perpetrator unconscious and chained up.
The wall broke apart, splintering, and he ducked even as others of his team entered through the window "Hostile, three o'clock!"
Two of his Aurors rushed through the doors whilst he flashed a Depulso through the torn hole before steaming through it with a raised shield.
A gush of fire smashed into his shield and he swivelled around, crouching lower as he swept his arm in an arc and generated a whirlwind of wind that snuffed out the flames before twisting his arm up and creating spears of wind which he sent careening towards the source of the flame.
A cry pain hollered around him whilst his Aurors burst through the doors to the room and stunned the man before tying him up.
The rest of the Aurors arrived and he turned to them "We move in pairs, standard cover formation" He ordered and his Aurors nodded in agreement.
They moved through the pub, fighting as they descended down the stairs, the place turning into a narrow constricting battlefield but his Aurors were trained for this as they used their surroundings to discomfort and unbalance their opponents.
He rushed into an room on the first floor and he ducked under a spell that smashed into the wall behind him before he, with blistering speed, swept his wand across and let off several spell chains that the perpetrator had difficulty dealing before a Reducto struck the perpetrator on the shoulder and sent him flying.
Charlus drew back his wand after he flicked his wand in a flourish, the wooden planks of the floor twisting and turning into vines that shot up and seized the perpetrator by the ankle and tossed him into a wall though the perpetrator managed to get a nasty cutting curse off that Charlus evaded by turning his body slightly to the left.
Charlus flicked his wand, sweeping side to side and the vines smashed the perpetrator like a rag doll against the ceiling and the floor, knocking him out. Charlus removed the man's wand before stringing him up tightly with the vines before moving on.
The battle raged on for several more minutes before spell fire dwindled away and all perpetrators were captured.
Charlus walked down the stairs and saw the cuffed and chained suspects, most of them unconscious, before his gaze fell upon their most prized capture of the night.
Enoch was down, out, but it didn't stop him from smiling viciously at the sight of the last leader that still hadn't been accounted for.
A day after they processed all of the captured, he made his way towards the one of the interrogation rooms. He nodded to the Auror and walked through the door.
Enoch's gaze fell upon him and it was one of impassiveness, one showed no emotion at his predicament. His face showed bruises and there were untreated cuts on the right side of his cheek, likely done by one of the more unrestrained Aurors. Charlus couldn't find it within himself to care one bit. Not after they'd learnt.
Enoch had already been questioned on the night of his capture with Veritaserum and they'd wrung out every little secret they could have out of him.
And what secrets he held…
The involvement of the muggles went deep and it was something they would have to deal with very soon.
Charlus glanced at the chair opposite him and took it, settling into it with dragging intent.
He stared at Enoch, who stared back, who remained impassive. This went on for several minutes before he decided to break the impasse.
"Michael Enoch" Charlus intoned as he leaned forward across the table, his elbows digging into the hard wood like knives.
The man gave no visible reaction to his name, something that annoyed Charlus but he didn't let it show. "It's over." Charlus said, a cold glint shining in his eye "The terror you have induced is over. As we speak, every single one of your brethren has been captured or will be captured and soon enough, your organisation will be dismantled just as the Order of the Phoenix has been."
Charlus allowed a cold smirk to form on his face.
"Do you think you have won?" Enoch spoke up for the first time, his voice rough.
Charlus said nothing but he allowed his smirk to grew wider something that seemed to irritate Enoch.
"I accepted my death." Enoch continued, his voice descending down to a whisper "I always had but I will live on long after I die in what I have done." Enoch's eyes shone with fanaticism.
"I have shown you and your ilk can bleed like the rest of us mortals. That the blood you so cherishingly hold onto is just as red as the rest of us. Those fools might have recanted their support for my people but in the back of their minds, they will remember what it is I have fought for and the next time your precious Lords" Enoch spat out, his eyes shining with malice
"The next time your Lords abuse their power, this will only happen again and again." Enoch said a victorious smile.
"With ample support by your muggle friends?" Charlus asked leadingly.
Something flashed in Enoch's eyes "They were a means to an end. A means you no doubt will do your best to remove." Enoch leaned back "In the end though, you'll do nothing more than delay the inevitable. You and your kind will continue to make enemies and one day you won't be able to wipe it away with the wave of a wand." He finished before he closed his eyes, his breathing a little laboured.
Enoch said little else after that and Charlus left not long after. The conversation had little purpose but for Charlus to simply speak with the man, to let him know he failed yet all it left him with was a feeling of incompleteness.
Not long after, he met with Emile Tiff who sat with his arms crossed, intently staring Charlus "You seem bothered. Talks with Enoch not go as well as you wished?"
Charlus met his boss' gaze "Not so much." Charlus glanced away. "He believes himself to be a martyr. And I can't seem to disagree with that."
Tiff hummed for a moment. "For a small minority he might become one." Tiff said as he stood and walked towards his cabinet. He pulled out two glasses and poured firewhiskey in them.
He walked over and handed one glass to Charlus. "But we won't let what happened ever again." He said with a tone of steel.
Charlus met the gaze of his boss and finally nodded after a few seconds. He downed half of the glass, wincing as it burned his throat "Agreed."
Tiff smiled thinly as he nodded before he grew serious "Good. We still have more work to do."
"The muggles." Charlus said with a firm nod.
Their conversation lasted well into the night.
-Break-
30th of March 1953 – British Ministry of Magic, Atrium, 14 days after Bombing
Rupert Scrimgeour POV
The atrium quieted down to a hush as Lady Slytherin stepped up to the podium.
He wasn't sure why she decided to call this public conference. Most of his colleagues had excitedly speculated that it was in relation to the bombing and the subsequent complete dismantling of the terrorist groups but he wasn't so sure but he couldn't place why either.
The Lady Slytherin, the Lady Sayre, did not comment politically at all, not since the early years since Grindelwald's defeat and he did not think she would break that streak.
She was a beautiful woman up close he admitted to himself. It was odd that none of the publications ever mentioned that even if they quoted her when she spoke about education or about some tradition or some such.
Perhaps it was because of who her husband was, he mused to himself. Sayre might have gone from the Isles but the weight of who he was still carried heavily in Magical Britain.
He shook his head clear as she began to speak "The past couple of weeks have been some of the darkest of this great nation" Lady Slytherin began, her melodic voice carrying a sense of loss and heaviness.
"I saw men and women murdered enmasse in cold blood within a blink of an eye. Bodies of long serving members of society, of innocent individuals who had the misfortune of attending the first session of the new administration…" Lady Slytherin trailed off solemnly and the room quieted down to a very quiet murmur.
None of the Survivors-Of-The-Bombing had spoken up about the bombing despite the heavy interest.
"People who had wished to improve the current conditions that has so divided our nation for too many years, died before their time and it is a great loss that we will feel for many years to come. Yet they were not the only ones who suffered in the past couple of weeks. Men, women and children" a spike of anger flashed across her face before it disappeared though not before people noticed and several journalists placed their notepads down as they looked on with saddened expressions.
"Who had nothing to do with the conflict were murdered simply for the name they carried, simply for the relation they carried to those who the terrorists deemed to be guilty in their insane and addled minds."
Some among the public were teary eyed, others angry and grieving but all were listening intently.
"And in those acts of terrorism, those acts of supreme evil, they twisted the good and the just grievances that many people had with the Ministry." Lady Slytherin said much to his surprise.
Was that…?
Was that truly an acknowledgement? He wondered in great surprise. It was unheard off!
It seemed more than a few realised that too as he glanced around.
"Yes, my fellow citizens, I acknowledge the just grievances the public has had with regards to the unjust treatment of a large part of the public. The forcing of good British citizens to work in low paying and hard jobs, the harassment of the Ministry of squib-borns and the unfair business practices that have caused many lives to be harder than they should have.
I along with many recognise the true fight for the rights of others, the fight to cast away the chains of oppression, discrimination and inequality that is rife in our society. The true fight that was spoken with words, with dialogue, with debate, not with the mindless violence that was perpetrated by the terrorists who selfishly wanted to destroy what had been a noble cause and turn it into something that none of us wanted." She paused for a moment
"They wanted a civil war, my fellow citizens." She said to shock of the crowd.
"They used the mistakes of the Norton and Lowe Administrations as fuel for their propaganda, that there was no other option but to fight with violence yet that was a lie." Lady Slytherin said firmness.
"Before the Bombing" Lady Slytherin continued with a more sombre tone "The Ouroboros party, after the economy had been righted, wanted to start a conversation to heal the nation more than just economically…no we wanted to heal the nation by healing the divide that has grown between us as a people, a divide that those like the Isonomian Movement and the Order of the Phoenix wanted to exploit." She said as she looked around the room.
"My fellow citizens, they are but the latest amongst a long list of Dark Lords and ignoble people who have wanted to exploit the divides in our society for personal gain and it is partly our fault that these keep happening." Murmurs rang around the atrium at this.
"The divide of blood purity, the divide of economic circumstances…and the divide of those whose voices count more than others" She said with a shake of the head.
She looked at the crowd "I have remained out of politics until recently instead choosing to improve our nation through education and offering opportunities to those who need it and have sought it out yet I can no longer remain quiet when I see the chance to make a difference, a lasting difference that takes our nation to greater heights." She paused momentarily.
"Some of you may have forgotten but I have not come from a privileged background, far from so. I have grown up with less than nothing at an underfunded orphanage in muggle Britain where I often went hungry. I have entered Magical Britain as someone considered as a mudblood" Rupert winced at the derogatory term just as few others did "and I have left Hogwarts as the Head of House of Slytherin, one of the Founding Houses of Hogwarts and one of the storied Houses in all of Britain."
"I have been many things in my life and that has allowed me certain perspectives on how things are." Lady Slytherin looked around.
"What I have seen in all of the former administrations is that they are incapable of change, of reform because they are not held accountable to their actions, to the public. Despotism has established itself for ages in this country and instead of law being the ruling principle of Magical Britain, it is instead family heritage that matters more than the good of the rest of the realm and it is something I and many others believe needs to be changed wholesale"
The crowd gasped at that and honestly he was tempted to do the same.
This was…
This was beyond the pale!
"We are a nation that has lost itself ever since the days of Camelot. In the loss of King Arthur, we have lost a champion for the people, a king that strove for equality amongst the races and championed justice and fairness and commonality." She paused for a moment, her eyes flickering around the room.
"However…what we do have, is the people. People who want society as a whole to grow and prosper, people who want the best for their family, for their neighbour, for their fellow countrymen." Excited whispers broke out amongst the crowd as no doubt this was far more than any of them, himself included expected.
"The Wizengamot system has been a system that in its time served a purpose, a purpose that has not reflected the new age we are in and I personally believe that it is lacking." The whispers grew louder.
"It has not kept with the changes in society where there is a greater need of moral, civil and political responsibility to the public and from the public and that is why I am advocating for a systematic change in governance that reflects the needs of the public whilst still holding true to the storied history of Magical Britain.
True representation in form of an elected body by the public that is voted by the public for the public whilst separating the noble seats into a different function of governance that is ensures the heritage of Magical Britain is preserved."
"I believe that this is the best way of compromise that begins to heal the divide that has grown between us for all those within Magical Britain are kin in one way or another." The whispers grew much louder as several stepped to their feet as they sensed Lady Slytherin is close to finished but none had been prepared for what she said next.
"And to signal how much I believe that this way is the best way forward for our people, to heal the divide and begin the true path of equality and prosperity for all" Lady Slytherin raised her wand and he gaped.
She wouldn't!
"I, Lady Slytherin of House Slytherin, renounce my titles as Lady of the Realm of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." She swore and a glow emitted from her.
It silenced the crowd "Thank you for your time." Lad- Ms Slytherin said and the crowd erupted into chaos.
-Break-
6th of April 1953 – Illos, 21 days since the Bombing
Emily POV
She breathed a little louder as she stretched herself out in the soft bed. Her eye creaked open and saw that she was alone in bed. She reclosed her eye and sighed for a moment before she rolled over onto her back and both eyes flickered open.
She sniffed the air and could smell blueberries.
A small smile grew on her face as she lifted herself out of her bed, the silk covers gliding off of her body in slow ripples. The smell of blueberries this far up had been done to entice her to come down. She would oblige him for now.
She got out of bed, wearing nothing and she strode out of their bedroom though not before stopping and sparing a look out of the bedroom windows. It never got boring to see Illos this far up in the mountains, the full vision of the city below and the highest peak of Mount Celestis directly in front of their bed.
Moving Sayre Manor here was an inspired choice, she mused before she walked out of their bedroom. She could hear the faint sounds of music now she was out from their bedroom after she'd walked out of the sound muffling charms that was bespelled in the corner of the door.
An amused smile tugged at her lips as she thought that they still hadn't bothered to remove that despite it being years since Atticus' mother lived in the same manor.
She still wasn't sure how the old woman had managed to permanently emplace that charm within the corner of the door but it had been worth leaving there if only to remind her of how red Atticus' expression was that day.
For all his sex drive, he was rather prudish when it came to discussing anything about it with anyone but her.
She walked down the last step of the stairs and made her way towards the origin of the music, the beautiful music that teemed with magic.
She arrived at the room that lead towards the back gardens and she saw him sat there with Cana's Harp on the porch and she walked over towards the recliner chair beside him which had by it a plate of blueberry muffins on top of a small table.
She sat down, taking the plate of food and took the fork before she leaned back in the recliner chair and intently looked at him play the harp as she ate.
She could feel the magic emanating from him, the soft ripples that hummed and drummed as he strummed the strings, minor strands of magic mingling within the notes with beauty and care that she could practically see and feel.
He swayed ever so slightly as the music increased in tempo, his fingers dancing across the strings, and she closed her eyes for a moment as the piece of muffin melted on her tongue.
The song was different than the ones he usually played…those of eeriness, of melancholy or those that imbued as a sense of greatness.
No…this one was smaller but not lesser only…smaller in scope, a song that spoke of taking joy of the small moments as they arrived.
Her magic reached out to his magic that poured out him, magic that rolled off him in line with his music and she fell in a mild enchantment, and enchantment she'd given over to completely.
She loved hearing him play and feel his magic, a love that grown in time as she'd grown to appreciate the beauty he created with nothing but passion, magic and talent.
She wasn't sure how long the music went on, she often lost track of time, yet she already missed it when it ended. She reopened her eyes and saw him looking at her with that same soft smile he only reserved for her.
"Morning." He said to her with a gentle tone, as gentle as a spring's breeze.
"Morning." She returned with a soft smile and the corners of his eyes creased.
For all the satisfaction she felt at her plans succeeding, none compared to the satisfaction she felt when she was in his presence.
