A/N: posted 4/1172023 - Still not getting any E-mails from FF_net, I even changed mine to another one at some point, but nothing... By now I am a bit afraid of getting all of them at once, I must confess. *g*
Interlude IV
Once again Sirius woke slowly, by now he knew where he was. His brain worked much better now. He just didn't know whether the reason was his slow but steady recovery from his stint at Azkaban or the counter-curse Numthree had cast on him about five days ago.
Well, either way, his mind was much clearer.
The last few days had been filled with healing, cleaning, and reading.
So, both his body and mind were now improved. He was still very thin. That would take some time, but his now very short hair and clean-shaven face were as scrubbed as the rest of his body. It had been vermin-free when he woke here the first time, luckily. The holding cells were set up to ensure that, at least. And getting rid of his smell, he remembered. But then his body did have a meeting with a grooming, shaving, and showering spell which had been cast on him by a rather energetic house-elf. And his prison garb was a thing of the past now, too. He now wore plain black robes, which he adored as they were very warm and clean.
He looked at the small table that had appeared a couple of days ago and saw his breakfast sitting on it. It wasn't gourmet food, but it seemed to get more varied every day and was much appreciated. Today it seemed to have become even more sophisticated. It might also have something to do with the way he had gushed about it to the little elf yesterday. Who knew?
He ate the food and saw the newest Daily Prophet sitting upside-down on his table next to his coffee. Coffee!
When he wasn't cleaning up or being healed, he had spent the last days reading a selected number of editions of the Prophet that Numthree had brought for him to read. The Unspeakable didn't have much time because apparently, a lot was going on, but they had taken their time to go and get Sirius the highlights of the last decade.
The paper he liked the most though had been the one detailing The Spell, the counter, and Dark Magic.
He had laughed for the first time since that night when seeing the picture of Sniv… No! Of Snape. Let's keep old childhood grudges and mean name-calling in the past (and invent some new fun names like 'Numthree'). Back to the pictures. He had laughed until he cried when seeing the photograph and Snape's bafflement on his overly handsome face. Amazing!
He had sobered down real quick though when he saw what casting The Spell onto another had done to that idiot Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Hearing about it and seeing a picture of one of the monsters that had tortured him for a decade again were two different things entirely. He had then folded and refolded the paper while reading so that he didn't have to see the picture anymore. He didn't want to think about Dementors for the next dozen years!
The article about the Dark Arts was incredibly interesting. He had learned some of it during his childhood, but those lessons had been rather skewed. So, the article had been very educational, and he wondered for the first time if they didn't do the wizarding world a great disservice by distorting and suppressing the knowledge about Dark Magic, just like his grandfather had always said.
His mind went back to his family. He had learned in one of the papers of the death of his mother and in another of his grandfather. So, he was the last member of the primary branch of the Black family, it seemed.
He wondered how many of them had been a victim of the curse and concluded that the only ones were his grandmother Melania and him that had managed to escape it. Well, probably. His father, grandfather, and brother must've come into contact with it in Hogwarts at least. And the other branches of the family? Well, the Black sisters certainly had learned the spell from their mother Druella Black, née Rosier. That was for sure. Did they cast it as well? He didn't know. Andromeda? Nah. Narcissa, probably and Bella? Who knew? But had Bella been one of the victims of The Spell instead and had gone insane? Was the whole Black insanity a product of The Spell?
He had more and more questions!
He shook his head, turned the paper, and read the headline.
Dumbledore Retires!
New Headmaster Lucius Malfoy
Sirius sprayed the paper with coffee much to his dismay. He wiped it off and started reading.
Yesterday morning, we at the Daily Prophet, received a statement that read:
"Yesterday Professor Flitwick – Head of Ravenclaw House – found a missive on Headmaster Dumbledore's desk stating:
I retire. Have a nice life.
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
PS: The Greater Good will always prevail
Professor Flitwick was as baffled as you probably are right now. He contacted the other Heads of Houses immediately. After much deliberation, they decided to ask school governor Lucius Malfoy (whom Professor Snape had been visiting when he had been recalled) to take up the mantle as headmaster until the end of term. Who will become headmaster afterwards will be decided then.
In addition to Mr Dumbledore's retirement, Poppy Pomfrey resigned from her post as the Matron of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing and Minerva McGonagall resigned from her posts as Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor, but thankfully will stay on as Transfiguration Professor. Hogwarts' remaining staff thanks the three long-time colleagues for their service and wishes them luck in their future endeavours.
To immediately fill the post as the mandatory in-house healer, Narcissa Malfoy has agreed to take it until the end of the term, and Professor Flitwick agreed to become the Deputy Headmaster until then.
We are still working on finding a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and a Head of Gryffindor.
In the meantime, we hope to run the school as smoothly as possible for the students, who will arrive this evening.
Signed, Pomona Sprout (Head of Hufflepuff House), Filius Flitwick (Head of Ravenclaw House), Severus Snape (Head of Slytherin House), Lucius Malfoy (Headmaster of Hogwarts)"
Dear reader, we were as astonished and confused as you must be just now. And our guess is, as astonished and confused as the staff of Hogwarts was the day before yesterday.
What caused this sudden exodus of staff members of Hogwarts? Why did Professor McGonagall resign two of her three posts in such a time of upheaval? Where is Professor Dumbledore now? Why did he only leave a note, and didn't speak to anyone after more than thirty years of being the Headmaster of Hogwarts and a teacher at the school for approximately ninety years? What of his other posts as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards? Is there a hidden nefarious plot behind all this? Is the counter-curse to blame, which has brought quite a few changes to our world? There are so many questions and so few answers!
Be assured, dear reader, that we'll do our utmost to find them for you!
Sirius let the paper sink, his mind in turmoil, and stared sightlessly at the plain wall in front of him. It was like one of the pillars he had been standing on, had just popped away into nothingness, leaving him struggling to find his footing once more.
What was going on?
The paper expressed the many questions perfectly that had raced through his head while reading the article .
He also could see the Hogwarts staff scrambling after the news had hit them. What was Malfoy playing at? Was he reformed by the counter or was it a hidden hostile takeover? Both were possibilities. He really needed to ask Numthree about this. He hoped the Unspeakables still were incorruptible, as they had always been!
Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait for long. The door leading to the rest of the Ministry opened, and in came Numthree together with the first Auror Sirius had seen while being in holding. It was an Auror-trainee, though, fresh out of Hogwarts was his guess and she had pink hair!
"Nymmie? Is that you?"
"It's Tonks now, Siri!"
"But Tonks is your dad, Nymmie! And look at you! So grown up!"
"Please stop calling me that! I'm trying to train my fellow trainees to call me Tonks!"
"I'll think about it. Hello Numthree and Nymmie!"
Nymphadora pouted and the Unspeakable choked, trying not to laugh, and said, "Good morning, Mr Black, I see you didn't lose your sense of humour. I take it, you saw today's papers?"
"I did! Is this for real? Were you aware? Did the Unspeakables investigate?"
"They did, actually. No. 15 was at Malfoy Manor with Snape when the news reached them, and they accompanied the Malfoys and Snape to Hogwarts and read and scanned the note."
"So, this is real?"
"It seems to be. We concluded the reasons the three quit their jobs were unrelated, or rather an effect of the de-cursing of our society. It was unfortunate, but we believe more good than bad will come out of it."
"Huh. It just feels strange. Dumbledore gone. And like that…"
"I can relate!" Nymmie said. "Dumbledore was such an essential part of Hogwarts and our world..."
"… and now a Death Eater is running it," Sirius said looking incredulous.
"He did change quite a bit after the counter, we found. And we are observing him within his home, where he's letting his guard down. It might just be an elaborate plot to gain our trust, but we don't believe that to be the case. He couldn't have accounted for Lockhart's blunder and the resulting upheaval, nor Dumbledore's disappearance."
"True. He probably just seized the opportunity like any good Slytherin would," Sirius did not feel the old hatred for that house rise to his throat, choking him, and said, "Either I've grown up in prison or the counter changed something in my mind. My hatred for the house of Slytherin is gone. Just gone."
"The chances of personal development there are rather low," Numthree said. "So, you've probably come into contact with The Spell."
"Damn. What about Peter?"
"As far as we can ascertain, he did as well. We are still trying to figure out how culpable he has been for his crimes. It's a question that will haunt us for a while, as nothing's clear-cut anymore. Even the Imperious defence was less ambiguous than this one. "
"Damn. What about you, Nymmie?"
"It's Tonks! And I didn't feel any different, inside, and out. Mum did though. She said she knew The Spell but never used it herself. But she went to the Ministry to swear never to cast it anyway. She believes her mother as well as her classmates in Slytherin used it frequently, but she must've been rather immune in contrast to others."
"That's a relief. What House were you sorted into, anyway?"
"Hufflepuff."
"Great! Like your dad, then."
"Yup," she grinned. "The least corrupted House by The Spell."
"That's a relief. So, what happens now?"
"Well, we want you to have your trial as soon as possible, but we thought it would do you no good to have it so close to Dumbledore's disappearance," Numthree said.
"Right. That would sprout some wild theories and rumours."
"Exactly. So, we thought you might agree to live under house arrest at the Tonks' house for the time being. We are planning to ship all of the inmates of Azkaban here to the Ministry. Not all at once, mind you, and we'll start to retry them after the counter-curse has been cast."
"Huh, and you slip my case in among all the others?"
"That was our plan."
"And Harry? When can I contact him?"
"After your trial. We plan on having it at the end of January or the start of February, so you would have time enough to get in contact, get to know one another, and maybe spend his spring break together."
"When you put it like that, I can easily agree with this plan. Is Andy in on it?" he asked Nymmie.
"Not yet. But she was the only one who always spoke out for you. She never believed you were guilty, so I'm sure she'll be delighted, as she would put it."
"Well, I propose you and I visit her when she's at home today and ask her then. And your father too, naturally," Numthree said.
Nymmie beamed and answered, "Mum will be home at noon and Dad at four. But he'll agree if it makes Mum happy. So, we could ask her at lunchtime!"
"Very well, we'll go visit her at noon then. Auror trainee Tonks, your task for this morning is to keep Mr Black company until I come to collect you, understood?"
"Yessir!" Nymmie saluted Numthree smartly.