A/N:So, there are issuers with posting reviews right now, I learned. Hope they get fixed. Also, it seems as if posting more than one chapter a day makes FF have hick-ups, but I will not post a chapter with only 150 words only alone. That's just mean. Anyway, here is the next one. Enjoy.
Meeting At Malfoy Manor
Three days later Severus flooed to Malfoy Manor again, to meet Narcissa and No. 15.
To his surprise, he was met by Lucius when he stepped out of the fireplace. Lucius didn't look different on the outside, but the man held himself somehow differently. Still posh, but not as haughty, maybe.
"Severus, welcome to Malfoy Manor, and happy new year! It's good to see you. You look good."
Severus ignored the comment about his looks and answered, "Happy New Year to you, too. How do you do, Lucius? I see you're back from your business meetings on the continent?"
"And overseas, yes. The papers there had picked up on the news from here and printed your pictures and the articles from the Prophet verbatim. It was quite a shock. We all cast the counter-curse onto ourselves, and it appears not only British folks had been casting that dratted spell."
"Dear me. It sounds like an international conspiracy."
"It does, but I don't think any villain planned this. No, it was just simple vanity. And our expectations that our women had to be pretty all the time. Hm. I need to think about that."
"So, you've changed?"
"Oh yes. I can think much more clearly and there's much less need for politics or any other power, I found."
"I'm glad. I wonder what would happen if we hit the Dark Lord with this spell. He isn't fully gone, you know?"
"I have a suspicion. That's why I asked my wife if I could join your meeting with the Unspeakable for a while actually. I've some knowledge to share."
Severus nodded and they walked toward the drawing room, where they found the other two waiting.
"Mr Malfoy, a pleasure," the Unspeakable said in their distorted voice.
"Likewise."
After some more greetings and introductions, they all took a seat, and a house-elf served them tea.
Severus noted that the little creature didn't look as downtrodden as it had before. It was wearing a pristine pillowcase and had a spring in its step.
Narcissa noticed his look and explained, "It seems as if the caster of The Spell might suffer some personality changes as well. I had treated our elves deplorably and they always should've been treasured."
"Or you've been a victim of the spell before you cast it yourself," No. 15 said.
"Hm, that would be more probable, as I've not cared about our elves after going to Hogwarts and I cast The Spell quite a few years later."
"So, Mr Malfoy has some news to share, but I would like to recap the last week first if that's alright with you?" No 15 asked.
The others nodded and so they told them what was happening on their side of things, "You all saw the articles, we had the Daily Prophet publish on December 29th. I can say, the response was immediate. Many people came incognito to the Atrium to swear the oaths. The idea of accidentally turning themselves into Dementors was a great incentive. We are estimating that nearly half of the perpetrators came on that very first day alone. It was quite wild. Especially when some of us had to go to Hogwarts because of an emergency Mr Snape will surely later tell us about later.
"By now, we believe only about a tenth of the casters of The Spell – as we've also come to call it – have not come forward. We hope some will come after school has started again, and some others when the counter has become so commonplace that it makes more sense to take advantage of the blanket pardon, as The Spell doesn't bring the former benefits anymore as they are dispelled left and right.
"The pictures Mr Creevey took and the article No. 11 wrote about the Dark Arts were of great help. It's a great disservice to our society that the knowledge of whole branches of magic is being repressed right now. We hope this will cause people to rethink their stances, as they can make a more informed decision now.
"What else? The counter-curse is being used left and right, and many people have changed. Of note are the Minister, Wizengamot members, and many others. You're in for a surprise, Mr Malfoy, I promise. To our dismay, the Minister's Undersecretary stayed the same, though. We had such high hopes… Anyway, it has quickly become common practice at the Ministry to cast the counter onto oneself when one's greeting another person. People who don't participate are now eyed with distrust. And they get hit in the back with the counter-curse when they leave more often than not. It's rather entertaining to watch. There's also talk of making it law that everyone arriving at the Ministry is hit with the counter somehow. We are looking into it."
Lucius listened with great interest, "Good to know. It does seem that I've missed quite a lot."
The others chuckled.
"Well, as it was international news, why don't you tell us how you learned about this and how people overseas reacted?"
"Gladly. Well, I was at the headquarters of MACUSA at the time the news hit on the 29th. Either your department sent the articles to some international news outlets, or they were very quick in picking it up from the Prophet."
"It was the former," No. 15 said.
"I thought so. Anyway, the whole building resembled a pierced doxy nest. There was some discussion about the validity of the counter-spell, but it was deemed safe, so people tried it on themselves, and each other out of curiosity. Some with quite amazing results much to everyone's surprise. Obviously, the blanket pardon had not been offered, so it was quickly discussed and implemented. Incognito oath swearing booths were set up and the papers published the promise of a full pardon until January 15th the next day. They are much less lenient in that country.
"My 'business dealings' took quite a turn after the counter-curse. When I arrived, I was there to promote blood supremacy and anti-Muggle propaganda, I'm sad to say. But that changed dramatically, and I spent the rest of the time learning how MACUSA deals with the Statute of Secrecy. I'm not convinced they've got it right, but we sure don't, either."
"That's a good point. We really need to renew our approach to the Statute. The Muggle world is changing rapidly and will discover us within a decade if we are not careful, a colleague told me. Now that the brains of the Wizengamot members are working again we actually might have a chance," the Unspeakable said and added, "Narcissa, do you have any news?"
"I do. First, I already told you how my opinion on house-elves has changed dramatically and I can say I feel much more alive. It's hard to explain. Like the world is more colourful even if I had not been sad or suicidal before the counter-spell. More like – numb. Also, my magic has gotten as powerful as it was before my pregnancy, or even more so.
"Second, on New Year's Eve, because the Greengrass family cancelled their annual New Year's Ball, I hosted a small tea party for about a dozen of our high-society witches. It was very obvious who had partaken in using The Spell to bolster their looks and I got quite some envious, veiled comments," Narcissa coughed delicately. "I'm quite sure some hit me secretly with the counter-curse as well. But naturally, no one talked about The Spell. We were very politely ignoring the purple erumpent in the room. It was quite entertaining. But I'm much more curious about Hogwarts, Severus."
"I can imagine. Well, where to start? We, that's most of the teachers and approximately two dozen students, who are staying at Hogwarts over the break, were sitting at one table when everyone got a free edition of the Daily Prophet. – Good thinking, by the way.
"As I was watching Albus closely, it was obvious to me that he badly wanted to vanish the papers, but he must've realised that the horse had left the barn, as every household must've gotten the news at the same time. As for the students, I've never seen them read the papers so diligently. Particularly the younger ones. The articles were very well done and engaging, as everyone was quite interested. The children soon started to cast the counter onto themselves, and let me tell you, Messrs. Crabbe and Goyle are nearly unrecognisable now."
"Their mothers are as well, but I guess in the other direction. They were both exceedingly pretty before," Narcissa said.
"Undoubtedly," Severus agreed. "The two boys have been working diligently on catching up, since then. It's amazing to see. Your son's appearance didn't change much, Narcissa. He looks a little softer around the edges and behaves much less abrasively. Oh, and he has decided against gelling his hair back. – The children from light families didn't change, except maybe Miss Weasley. She gained a little more colour. But I cannot imagine her mother casting that curse. The exception and the biggest surprise was once again Mr Potter. When he cast the counter, he blacked out immediately. His friend caught him at the last second before he could plant his face on his used breakfast plate.
"There was some excitement, but I managed to levitate him to the Hospital Wing where Poppy Pomfrey and I tried to revive him. When that didn't work, I went to my office and called the DoM without telling anyone beforehand. No. 15 and a colleague of theirs came through the floo immediately and we went back to the Hospital Wing where things then got a little heated. Albus was not happy that I called on outsiders for help and in his anger, he 'lost' control of the hold on his magic, nearly suffocating us."
No. 15 nodded, "As impressive as that was, it was either an intimidation tactic or he requires some more training."
Severus huffed, "I'm quite sure he knew exactly what he was doing. Anyway, No. 1 yelled at Albus to pull himself together and then caught sight of the petrified patients in the Hospital Wing and called for reinforcements, much to Albus's displeasure," Severus smiled a little vindictively and said dryly, "Oops."
"Petrified patients?" Narcissa asked alarmed and Lucius squirmed a tiny bit. "Right! You did get a message from the Headmaster about that at the end of our first meeting before Yule," she remembered now. "And you sent a Patronus message right after you left, that it was no Slytherin student. I was a bit distracted at that time and as it couldn't have been Draco, so I forgot, I must confess."
"Indeed. The Unspeakables are investigating it right now. There was a message with the first victim – the caretaker's cat – saying 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir... beware.' This quite obviously points toward Slytherin's heir but as of now, the Unspeakables haven't found anything. They were more successful in helping Mr Potter. It became apparent that … how much may I tell?" Severus asked No. 15.
"All of it."
"Thank you. As I was saying, it became apparent that the scar of Mr Potter's had, until recently, housed a proto-Horcrux of the Dark Lord that took much of his magic to contain, apparently."
The Malfoys were understandably shocked. Such a thing was just not done! The price was much too high. The Dark Lord had lost any chance of an afterlife and of reincarnating again by ripping his soul apart and storing a piece in a separate place from the rest of his soul.
No. 15 said, "Sadly, the scans we took indicated that this had not been the first he made, either. We've no idea how many he managed to make, but we guess it must've been more than three as the one in Harry Potter seemed to have been an accidental one, that's why it so easily lost its hold, but also why Mr Potter blacked out when it did. The magical backlash rendered him unconscious."
The already very pale Malfoys managed to lose even more colour when hearing this news.
"By the way, do you think Albus knew about the proto-Horcrux in Mr Potter's scar?" Severus asked.
"We don't know. Either is possible. But he must've known something of Voldemort was lodged in it." The other three flinched a little.
Severus nodded and went on telling his tale, "The Unspeakables concluded that the counter-spell must've hit the proto-Horcrux, and it rid that part of the Dark Lord of the negative effects The Spell had caused, and the proto-Horcrux must've lost its will to cling to Mr Potter or to stay alive at all costs and loosened its hold on Mr Potter."
Narcissa sighed with relief. No one, much less a child, should have to carry a Horcrux within them!
"Do you think the counter-curse affected the other Horcrux…es or the… how to call it… the main part?" Lucius asked, wincing at the near inconceivability of the thought of the Dark Lord committing such an anathema.
"We are still debating this exact question," No. 15 confessed. "We've no historical data to fall back on and therefore are very much in the dark regarding this question. We hope to find another of Voldemort's Horcruxes to have more to work with."
Lucius nodded (after flinching), feeling quite faint at the moment.
Severus concluded his story, "Mr Potter woke up a day later and appeared to be his cheerful Gryffindor self. His eyesight is still atrocious and his wand – which I learned is the brother-wand of the Dark Lord's wand – doesn't connect well with him anymore."
This was news to No. 15 as well, and they noted that information down, "Any other lost abilities?"
"Not that he could think of."
"Yes, it was a rather far-fetched thought by No. 1. How would a twelve-year-old know?"
"Indeed."
"Well, Mr Malfoy, you had something to tell us?"
"More confess than tell, I'm afraid. You see, during his reign, the Dark Lord entrusted an empty notebook to my father. He ordered my father to keep it safe and protect it with his life. That notebook was of Muggle origin but reeked of Dark Magic of the evil kind. Earlier this year, Arthur Weasley got the so-called Muggle Protection Act written into law and therefore now has the right to search any house. This caused me to get rid of any Dark artifacts I could find. I sold most of them, but who would buy a Muggle notebook? And I was not sure how the goblins would react if I had put it in my vault.
"So, to damage Weasley's reputation, I slipped the book to one of his children, I'm afraid to say. I was sure it would be found and Weasley would be pulled off his high horse because of it. But that wasn't what happened," Lucius uncharacteristically rubbed his hand over his eyes. "Now that I can think clearly, I feel appalled about it. The little girl had nothing to do with my fight with her father and should never have been caught in it. And after today's revelations, I have a horrible suspicion of the nature of that book. Or rather, my earlier suspicions appear to be true."
The other three were visibly shocked and it took some moments until Narcissa whispered, "You think you might've snuck a Horcrux to a child? How could you?"
Lucius swallowed and answered, "Yes. Additionally, I think it might be responsible for the petrifications. The Dark Lord was claiming to be Slytherin's Heir, after all."
No. 15 shook themselves and asked, "Which child, what does the book look like? Tell me everything."
So Lucius did. They soon discussed if "T. M. Riddle" could've been Voldemort's real name, and No. 15 got visibly excited. It was a lead into his possible origins at last, they told the three.
Narcissa and Lucius were against that theory, as "Riddle" was no known wizarding name but No. 15 countered, "And 'Voldemort' is? We aren't missing any Lords, that's for sure."
That shut the Malfoys up quite effectively.
Lucius was more worried about his own skin anyway, but No. 15 calmed him by saying, "As you've come forward as soon as the counter was cast on you and you returned to our shores, you will not get into any legal troubles for this, I can tentatively assure you. I need to check with my superior, but it should be all right. Especially as the problem can still be solved."
Lucius relaxed visibly and Narcissa asked about the petrified victims.
"We always have in-stasis Mandrake Restorative Draught in stock. So, the student, the ghost, and the cat could be revived again immediately. Albus Dumbledore would have made them wait till early summer when the Hogwarts-grown Mandrakes would've passed their adolescence. The whole thing is quite inconceivable."
Severus nodded, "It was a great relief to many. I'll brew the potion anyway, to repay you."
"That would be appreciated."
"But wouldn't the student's parents have protested the Headmaster's plan?" Narcissa asked.
"He's Muggle-born. The mother hadn't even been informed. Just that her son wasn't coming home for Christmas, I learned," Severus explained. The others winced.
Severus had one last question, "So, I forgot if we covered this before, but I think I remember you said that the counter-curse cannot help Lockhart anymore, correct?"
"Yes, I don't remember either, but when he cast The Spell in front of so many, it collected the ultimate price which cannot be reversed, as you know. In my research, I found that the inventor of The Spell – whoever that was – didn't want it to become known and therefore added this extremely high cost to The Spell.
"I just wonder what would happen if a hundred people cast the counter on a Dementor, but after your explanation just now, I now know it would be fruitless."
"Unfortunately, yes. We tried. – Well, I've collected more than enough work today, just one more question," No. 15 said. "Do you know if Albus Dumbledore has cast the counter-curse on himself, Severus?"
"Yes, he did. Nothing much changed, at least nothing visible."