To sweeten your Monday, here is a new chapter. Feel free to read it and leave me a comment. I would be very pleased.
New Laws
The next evening, many of the students had already made themselves comfortable in their respective common rooms, Maxym was able to take Katelyn to another meeting of the Rebels.
"What's she doing here?" They were greeted by Dominique. She and Rose were already seated at the large table with the marauders.
"OK, that's it, I'm out of here." Katelyn wanted to turn on her heel, but Maxym held her back by her sleeve.
"No, come on. She doesn't mean it." With that, Maxym gave Dominique a mean look and pulled her best friend towards the table.
Lily came towards them with a smile. "Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Lily Potter and you are?"
"The marauders? You found the Marauders?" she whispered to Maxym and then spoke in a normal voice. "I'm Katelyn Zabini. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Is everyone allowed to join in now? She's a Zabini," Dominique continued to grumble.
"So what? Scorp and Max are Malfoys and yet I trust them. Sirius," Lily pointed. "He's a Black. Surely you can't judge by the name. That would make us no better than the Ministry."
"I agree." James, who had just walked in with the others, interjected into the discussion. "Glad to have you with us. We can use all the help we can get." With that, everyone sat down at the table.
"Firstly, I would like to say that it must remain a secret that the marauders are here. Under no circumstances are you to tell anyone outside our group. Their lives depend on it." At this he looked critically at Katelyn in particular, who was a newcomer. She nodded vigorously and swallowed hard. The seriousness began.
"Thank you!" said James Senior, rising. "We should put our knowledge together. In doing so, we had thought that we would write everything on blackboards so that everyone would be on the same level."
"A good idea. We can also put up the collected information from Professor Longbottom's office there," Elizabeth objected.
"You broke into the Headmaster's office?" asked Sirius in shock.
"Like you didn't do that before," Remus took the children in his stride and grinned at his friend.
Tonks rose to her feet. "Let's begin." Everyone followed her and large pinboards and boards appeared at the back of the room.
Elizabeth and Melania pinned the notes from the Headmaster's office on the walls. James and Maxym wrote down in bullet points what they could heard from the inspectors when they had observed them. The information Ted had given them even before his arrest also found its place.
The marauders drew a command structure and put the information together. At the top they drew a big question mark, below it other boxes, some of which they could already fill with names. First and foremost, they wrote down the names of Greg Broin and Giffor McManus.
On the other board Colin and Al wrote down all the names of the people who were in Azkaban or had been placed under house arrest. At the top, of course, were the names of their own parents and family members.
After a good several hours, they stood before their collection and proudly surveyed their work. "I think we have done a lot today. Let's continue tomorrow," Lily said, hugging her husband.
The children said goodbye to the adults a little later and went to the great hall, as the communal dinner was about to take place.
The students separated and ran to their house tables. "Why did the headmaster has called us together?" wondered Al. It was uncharacteristic to have impromptu assemblies.
"I guess we'll have to be patient," said Scorp, gesturing to the teacher's table where no one had yet been seated. Disappointed that he was still being kept in the dark, Al sat down on the bench with his shoulders drooping.
After almost half an hour, the house tables were full and some teachers had also found their way into the hall. Only the headmaster and the house teachers were still missing. "Where are they?" complained Katelyn. They were all fed up with the long wait.
After another ten minutes, the missing people finally came into the hall. Maxym did not like their expressions at all. It seemed to her that Professor Longbottom always had a smile for his students and let the light into Hogwarts in the dark times. But when she saw his expression, her breath caught for a moment. His jaw was tense and his eyes narrowed. He had his wand clutched tightly and the cloak that fluttered behind it had been only half-heartedly put on.
As he stood at the lectern and the owl spread its wings, all conversation in the great hall fell silent. Without clearing his throat again, the professor began. "Good evening. I do not wish to keep you from your dinner any longer than necessary. However, I have been instructed by the Ministry to inform you of the new rules."
"What new rules?" whispered Al.
But before the others could answer, the headmaster continued. "The Ministry, as a result of the latest incidents, has tightened security for us and issued new laws for safe coexistence." A man came forward. Maxym had overlooked him until now and wondered how he had come into the hall. "I ask you to listen carefully to this man."
The strange man, who was obviously an inspector from his clothes, cleared his throat and took out a roll of parchment. After rolling it up, he began to read aloud. "The Ministry is henceforth responsible for the registration, verification and updating of family trees and has all powers in this regard. Any union of purebloods is prohibited and no marriage will be allowed by the Ministry. Furthermore, the blood status is to be reported to the Ministry by every wizard and witch without any gaps. Those who have been reborn are to be handed over to the Ministry immediately. Travel to foreign lands is now only permitted with a permit and currently the large estates are being checked for legality." The man rolled up the parchment and took a step back.
There was silence. No one said a word and no sound resounded in the hall. Teachers as well as students sat shocked in their seats, unable to find words for what had just been said.
But then everything happened very quickly. As if there had been an agreement, conversations broke out simultaneously in several places in the large hall. The teacher's table was also talking, but in a more restrained way than the students. They became louder and louder and also shouted in the direction of the man.
"What are you doing? What possessions? Ours, for instance? And why are purebloods no longer allowed to marry?" Scorp had jumped up and his face was red with anger.
"Silence!" roared the headmaster, who had amplified his voice with the aid of the wand. "Please come to order. We will now eat our dinner in silence and later all your concerns, fears and worries can be shared with your Heads of House in the common rooms."
This at least calmed most and everyone began to eat quietly. But many had lost their appetite and quickly retreated back to the common rooms. Maxym and Katelyn were also among the first to go back to the dungeons.
But instead of lingering in the common room with the others, they ran straight to their room. "Professor Flanagon doesn't know anything either and can't help us." Maxym went in first and sat down at her desk.
"Yeah, what do they think we're going to do now? We can't do more than accept the laws." Katelyn closed the door and retrieved her pyjamas from her wardrobe.
"You can clearly see what the Ministry wants." At the questioning look, Maxym continued her thoughts. "They want to eradicate the purebloods. With the pedigrees, they want to be able to trace everything. Reporting blood status helps them with that. And the ban on intermarriage among purebloods prevents purebloods from continuing to exist."
"But why? It's no better than what the purebloods did twenty years ago." Katelyn changed in the bathroom and Maxym was still sorting through her school things. "I wonder what we do for school holidays." Depressed, Katelyn sat down on her bed.
"If you want, you can come to me and my parents. Well, I'll have to ask them first, of course, but I know they probably won't mind. You would definitely be safe there," Maxym offered her.
"Maxym, thank you! Really! But let's wait and see. Maybe things will calm down again too." After Maxym had changed and got into bed, the two girls turned off the light and fell asleep.
James also didn't go straight to the common room after dinner. He had more important things to do and wanted to report the latest developments to the marauders. He sneaked to the Room of Requirement with the help of the map he had received back from his grandfather. There he met the marauders setting up their sleeping places.
"James? Is something wrong?" Immediately his grandmother Lily came up to him.
"Well. Today at dinner one of the inspectors came and read us the new laws, or as Prof Longbottom called it, the new rules," James Junior told him.
"Rules?" Remus and the others paused what they were doing and everyone sat down at the round table. James Junior summarised in short form what was new.
"So the Ministry is getting serious." Sirius was unimpressed by this information. They had all expected the situation to get worse.
Remus agreed with his friend. "I think we are now in the next phase of a perfidious plan. The circle is being tightened."
"But what plan and who is behind it?" asked James Senior the crucial questions.
"The ministry is behind it, that's clear. They passed the laws," his grandson replied.
But James Senior shook his head. "No, an entire ministry can never do all that. Votes have to be taken and forms have to be drawn up. It was done through small official channels and only a few were privy to it."
"Broin?" guessed Lily. "He was the driving force in Ted's negotiation, just as your friend had reported, and as Grand Master of the Wizard Gamot, he has a lot of influence in the Ministry and on the Minister."
More guesses were made as the evening progressed, but they came to no conclusion and as James Junior yawned more and more he was sent to his room and the meeting finished.
The next morning, the owls came to deliver the students' mail. Of course, the Daily Prophet was there, which Maxym was reading excitedly.
"And what does it say? Has anything been written about the new laws?" pestered her brother her.
Maxym nodded. "Yes, but unfortunately only good things."
"What? What's good about it?" complained Al.
"You get it well presented. The article is straight from the head of the paper, too. He wrote a separate editorial for it. He thinks the laws are for the safety of the citizens and help so that history doesn't repeat itself. He portrays the purebloods and their inbred behaviour as wrong. The reborns are also a result." She handed the paper to Scorp, who immediately started reading the article.
"Unbelievable, the newspaper as a free institution should be on our side." Al was next to his friend.
"So you read it too." James came over to their table. "I'm going to see Father this afternoon. This can't go on any longer."
"And then what? Have you forgotten that your father is under house arrest and can't do anything? They are probably even bugged and you can't even talk to him freely," Maxym stopped him.
"And what are we supposed to do then?" he asked.
"I don't know. But we don't do anything rash. Let's check out if the marauders have a plan." Maxym wanted to give everyone hope. But the mood around the table continued to be bad.
Later that day, everyone met in the Room of Requirement. There, the marauders had already added the new laws to the boards.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Colin.
"There's not much we can do. Not yet, anyway." Remus pushed one of the tablets to the round table and turned it over. "We've come up with tasks for you. That way everyone has a job to do and can support the whole team."
"We desperately need someone to get us food and drink. Magenta, we've heard you have a good relationship with the house elves. Can you take over?" asked Lily and Magenta nodded.
"Well, sure, that's no problem."
"Very good. We also need people to keep an eye on the inspectors in the castle. And preferably unnoticed. We need someone from us on the upper and lower floors. Colin and Elizabeth, can you spy on the inspectors?" continued Remus.
"Eavesdrop on inspectors? I'd love to do that," Colin agreed and Elizabeth also agreed.
"We'll need more as well. Preferably from the other houses as well. Can any of you do that?" asked Tonks to the group.
"I can do that," Melania volunteered.
"Good, Katelyn, we've learned that you have good connections with the, how shall I put it, darker wizards and witches. Maybe you'll get some new information there." Remus looked questioningly at Katelyn.
She was relieved to finally be able to do something. "I'd love to help. I can ask a lot of friends and their parents. Some owe me favours as well."
"Great, that's what we wanted to hear. Maxym, you have the most influence with the Slytherins. And since this is the house with the most purebloods, it would be good if you could bring some control over them," Sirius suggested.
"Easier said than done, but I'll do my best," Maxym said.
"James, you should teach combat training. Along with Maxym, you seem to be the most experienced and you all need more training." James Senior looked at his grandson who nodded enthusiastically.
"Dominique, can you get in touch with the other schools? Maybe through your mother's relatives?" asked Lily.
"I can definitely try. I have several cousins in Beauxbatons and in Ilvermorny. I'm sure I can reach the other schools somehow, though." Dominique sounded confident.
"Rose, you and I will take care of any injuries. I learned from your mother, when we were still living with Harry, that you are very skilled at this. I'm sure I can show you a trick or two," Lily turned to Rose.
It was getting serious with all the duties, Maxym thought, as each task was handed out and everyone turned to their new activities.
The Rebels and marauders are now working together. What do you think? Do you like the story so far?