Batty's Tale
A/N: Sorry for the delay. I suffer from an autoimmune disease and out of necessity have to push back treatment so that some biopsies could be taken. This has left me tired an unmotivated. But that is all done and treatment has commenced so onward with the new chapter. Thank you to all who have followed, favourited and left comments. 3
-o0o-
"He's fine, well at least he is now. He's asleep." Severus said reassured the face in the mirror.
"Thank the Gods," Sirius sighed. "I was worried when the boys said that you had taken him to the hospital wing."
"Yes, well it was smart of Percival to get Dobby to bring me the mirror when he saw you start to panic. Really Black, the boy was with me!"
Sirius' cheeks pinked, "He'd been missing, the map showed him with that wretched child and then you took him to see Pomfrey. You! You know how to heal most things, I know you do; I couldn't think of anything that could have happened to him that you would not have been able to deal with!"
The dour man did not know what to say to that. He was a bit embarrassed at the unexpected compliment and had to look away from the intense gaze of The Black.
"Well, it's all sorted now at any rate, and he is resting."
Sirius took several large shuddering breaths as he allowed himself to be placated.
"This cannot happen again," he said firmly.
"It will be difficult to prevent. An inordinate amount of trouble finds the boy, I cannot be with him every moment."
Sitting in front of the fireplace at Grimmauld Place, Sirius bit his tongue, wanting to demand why not? Did the other man not love Harry as a son? But he knew that was not fair. It was something he was still working through with the mind healer, the desperate need to prevent anything from harming Harry, to wrap him up and protect him.
"I know," Sirius acknowledged glumly. "Still we cannot do nothing."
"We will not, we will continue ensuring he knows the best ways to defend himself and perhaps once he has overcome the issues he has been having with his Runes project, he can work on developing a ward for personal protection."
"Hmm," Sirius mused. "I don't suppose you are available to come round for a nightcap?"
Severus blanked for a moment, did Sirius mean what he thought he meant? No the dog probably genuinely meant a drink, after the stress of the evening, "If you must have a drink I suggest you wake the wolf, Dumbledore has been checking how often the floo has been used. I am unable to get away."
Regret and concern swept across Sirius' face, "Will floo calling tomorrow morning cause trouble?"
"No," Severus shook his head, "I'll merely tell him that I was advising you that Harry was in the hospital wing and I did not see the point in disturbing anyone so late in the evening. However, I will still have the mirror, which I can return to the boy."
"But, I … we …" Sirius stalled, face still pink to the ears.
"Goodnight, mutt," Severus ended the conversation before it could become any more awkward.
-o0o-
Harry was done, so done. He knew there would be no support coming from the faculty. Not for this. Dumbledore had probably encouraged the girl. McGonagall and the others still needed to pretend they were in the headmaster's corner, and if Severus let anything out of the bag he would be ousted from the castle before you could say Quidditch. So yet again it was up to him. Hermione thought she was clever. Thought that she could get away with breaking rules others had to live by, but no more!
Madame Pomfrey had allowed him out of the Infirmary with enough time to return to his dorm to shower and ready himself before breakfast. Returning to the common room he found Lavender helping Parvati, down the stairs, her eyes swollen shut, skin reddened.
"Itching powder on her pillow, she's allergic," was Lavender's terse response to his enquiry. "If you don't hurry up and do something …"
"It's all ready to go. You stay in the hospital wing with Parvati until after lunch and I'll take care of it," Harry promised.
The blonde nodded as she helped her friend through the portrait hole.
Harry bolted up the stairs and into his dorm, quickly popping the lid on his trunk and withdrawing the package that he had received from Sirius only two days before. Stuffing the contents into his pocket, he flipped his cloak over his head and was gone from the room a moment later.
Breakfast was a quiet affair, Percival sat glued to his boyfriend's side, gently pushing bits of toast and fruit at the smaller boy.
"I'm okay, really," Harry reassured, when Neville pushed the bowl of yogurt at him.
"Madame Pomfrey didn't keep you in the infirmary overnight for no reason, Harry," Ron chided.
"So, what happened?" Seamus asked from the other side of the table.
The dark-haired boy shrugged, "Can't remember to be honest," he lied. "Woke up this morning, feeling like I'd had a really good nap. For all I know I accidently drank some dreamless sleep. Just made it back to the dorm in time to shower before you guys woke up."
"You clumping around was what woke me up, thank you very much," Dean grumbled.
"Sorry," Harry grinned unrepentantly.
"Come on, we've Charms this morning," Percival prodded, with much grumbling the group got to their feet and left the Hall.
Sitting further up the table Hermione watched them go, chewing on her bottom lip as she wondered whether there was any residual affect from her work, or if between Professor Snape and Madame Pomfrey they had managed to clear Harry of the effects of the spells she had cast. At the very least they had managed to solve the problem of his impulsivity, which she supposed was a good thing. Though she could not really figure out where she had gone wrong. The chime of a bell reminded her that she would need to hurry to make it to class. She dashed towards the nearest bathrooms.
-o0o-
With a huff Hermione joined the back of the group gathered at the door of the classroom, just as their smallest professor opened it to welcomed them all inside. Looking around she saw that the seats either side of Harry were taken by Ron and Percival, and the rows behind them had already been filled. The only vacant seats were on the other side of the room, next to Lisa Turpin and behind Padma Patil or the last desk in the row behind. Normally all the spots in this class were filled who could possibly be missing?
Oh!
Parvati and Lavender.
Oh, this was too good. Her prank had worked and in addition, both girls were bound to get a detention for skiving off class. After all being a bit itchy was not really a good enough reason to skive off lessons, and Hermione would ensure that McGonagall knew about it. It might just be enough to see Parvati ousted from the Prefects position. It was so satisfying to see people were getting their comeuppance, perhaps they would learn not to mess with her again.
She slid into the empty row, spreading her things over the entire desk and building a little tower of books so that Flitwick could not see what she was doing. Even better, today they were working on the Bubble-Head charm, which she was confident she could cast, so she could spend the time doing a little inventive spell creating. After all no one would be able to blame her for the results of a little mishap when learning a new spell. She smiled as she glanced down at her parchment. With a flick of her quill, she began trying to work out a way to modify the spell to achieve her desired results.
"Mr Potter if you please," Professor Flitwick called from the front of the classroom, leading to the Gryffindor boys good natured jeering. "Stand up, stand up, so we can all see you," the professor encouraged.
With a scrape of his seat, Harry stood. Pointed his wand at himself and a perfectly spherical clear membrane appeared completely enclosing his head and neck. Hermione glanced up at the smattering of applause. Argh, that should have been her, still she had more important things to be working on.
"Silently cast as well, well done Mr Potter, well done indeed, take five points for Gryffindor. Alright everybody, you've seen how it's done, quills down, time to practice."
Neville could be seen reaching over to slap Harry on the back as the other boys congratulated him. Hermione picked up her wand, if Harry could do it, it must surely be easy. Putting her practice of the day's work off until later she, instead pointed her wand forward.
A splash of pink light leapt from her wand striking Padma in the back. A small smile spread across Hermione's lips as she watched the grey-green membrane grow across Padma's mouth, the other girl's noises of alarm were particularly delightful. As it extended up and over her top lip and towards her nose, Hermione stifled a chuckle, Padma, the slimy snitch was starting to panic. Oh this was great.
"Padma!" squealed Mandy Brocklehurst. "Professor something's wrong."
"Oh my!" squeaked Flitwick, "Let me see what she has done."
This was even better, Hermione thought, he would think the stupid bint did it to herself, so much for the intelligence of Ravenclaw. She ducked her head, to hide the wide grin that would surely have given her away.
"But Padma didn't even cast the spell yet!" Mandy protested.
"It was Hermione," Lisa accused, turning to point at Hermione. "The spell came over my shoulder, if she had been pointing her wand at herself …"
"I was just practicing the wand movement!" Hermione said innocently, making a note of Turpin's accusation.
In the end it took a severing spell, cautiously cast by the professor, to allow Padma to breathe again and then Lisa and Mandy escorted her to the Hospital wing.
"Now Miss Granger," the professor turned to the curly haired witch with a frown, "show me the wand movement."
Hermione looked at him blankly, "I beg your pardon?"
"The wand movement, it will be crucial in resolving Miss Patil's issues, show me what you did."
She looked at him blankly, not having paid attention to the lesson. Knowing she had to do something, she made a vague stabbing motion with a twist and gave him a sweet smile. Flitwick winced.
"Well, I believe you might need a trip to the hospital wing yourself."
"I'm fine professor," Hermione said.
His frown grew, "If you are sure Miss Granger."
The little man returned to the front of the classroom, to again demonstrate the wand movement.
With a huff, Hermione wondered what he had been on about. That was two down, but with the rest of the class now casting glances her way, she would have to wait for another opportunity to payback the male prefects.
-o0o-
"Now to the Longbottoms," The Head Medi-Wizard unrolled the next parchment off the pile and looked at his notes.
"I swear Alice knows who I am," asserted the junior, Doris Landsborough, who had been looking after the couple most recently and was often assigned their care. "She gets frustrated when she can't say what she wants, you can see it in the corner of her eyes."
"Have we tried a communication board?"
"Not yet I wanted some advice on that, I'll do one up," the Doris nodded, making a note.
"Show it to Senior Healer Blake, he has some experience and can lead you in the right direction." Doris nodded. "What about magic?"
"No sign of that yet I'm afraid."
"At least there's evidence that the spell did something. Do we think it worth calling in a Legilimens yet?" he glanced around the group.
"It can't hurt," another considered.
"But would it get any significant results do you think?" An older witch sitting to the right of the first put forward her views, "I mean, what is the point in wasting someone's time if nothing happens. Can we realistically expect them to improve greatly after all these years?"
"Are you saying we should give up, Susan?" Doris protested.
"Well," the older Mediwitch responded, "How much improvement could there possibly be? How much more traumatic would it be to Augusta if we try and nothing happens, and their poor boy? There has to be a reason we never told them we were trying this in the first place. How far is too far? Legillimency is an invasive process. Is it truly warranted? Personally, I don't think that you've actually seen changes at all. I haven't when I've been looking after them, I believe you are imagining things."
"Do we have the right to decide when to stop treatment? Madame Longbottom has always been supportive of trialling new therapies, we never informed her because she has given us blanket permission to trial anything that will possibly improve the situation as long as it will do no harm," Doris protested. And we had every intention of telling her after we were sure of the results."
The Head Mediwizard cut in to derail the impending argument, "They are in our care, and they should receive the best possible care available, including all efforts bought about by advancements in magic."
"But is this the best use of our time and resources? Besides where would we even find a Legilimens with the necessary level of skill."
"Hogwarts," a small mousy junior Mediwitch said. She blushed when everyone turned to look at her. "Severus Snape is a Legilimens." She offered.
"As is Albus Dumbledore," suggested another.
"Yes, but he's a bit busy running the school to just pop in here. I'll contact Severus Snape," the Head of the department wrote a note on the parchment, "Hopefully even if he can't help, he might have some insight into what is happening and how much improvement we can expect to see."
The parchment was rolled up and placed to the side.
"Now, to Mr Lockhart …"
-o0o-
By lunch time, everyone knew that both Padma and Parvati were in the hospital wing, and the rumours had begun. Hermione was slightly dissatisfied. Her name had not been linked to either incident. Well, apart from it being said that it was a spell mishap in charms. She needed people to know that this was justice for their foul treatment of her. Perhaps the student body would connect the dots after the next prank. With a satisfied grin, she hoped that by the end of lunch everyone would know that the prefects were being punished.
She glanced around, frowning when she noticed that neither of the Gryffindor seventh year prefects were present for the meal, and neither was the Head Boy or Girl. Further up the table, the Gryffindor boys had their heads together and were whispering furiously, and over at the Hufflepuff's table, Susan Bones was watching aghast as Zacharias Smith toppled over sideways with a purple face, the only visible reaction to her prank. Hannah Abbot squeaked in surprise as the boy nearly fell on her, only to be caught and lowered to the floor by Anthony Goldstein.
Susan cast a small spell, causing a dome to appear over both Zacharias' and her own plate, as Professor Sprout ran between the tables.
"His food was poisoned," she declared to her Head of House. "Flowers of Nightshade, possibly rubbed on the cutlery as well."
"That's a rather harsh accusation, my girl," Albus Dumbledore protested.
"My aunt is the Head of the DMLE, Professor, I cast detection spells on all my meals, and have done, since I was five."
Madame Pomfrey had arrived, along with Professor Snape.
"Please don't contaminate the scene, my aunt will be arriving shortly," Susan informed the pair.
"I'll take my sample from Mr Smith's plate and leave yours for the Aurors Miss Bones," Snape informed her.
"Now, now, I don't believe that there is any call for that," Albus Dumbledore protested. "It's probably just a prank that's gone wrong, nothing to worry about." He knew, oh, he knew who had done this, he just hoped that there was no means of tracing it back to her.
"If it is, then I am sure it will be uncovered in the investigation," Susan said confidently.
"There's poison on my food too!" Pansy Parkinson called out. The noise around the room rose as the prefects clued in to who had been targeted and quickly had those who knew detection spells check their plates.
As that knowledge spread there was a swell of concerned muttering amongst the students and Hermione considered that she might have mis-stepped. Who knew that while she did not like the prefects, most of the other students did? She was disgruntled that only one of the prefects had actually been affected and that she would not be able to lay claim to her righteous retribution. Dumbledore had taught her well that often battles were won and lost in the court of public opinion. She had pulled her prank of vengeance forgetting this valuable lesson. A glance at the teacher's table revealed the headmaster and his frown, she grimaced.
The second-year girls on the other side of the table gaped.
"What are you looking at?" Hermione asked slightly offended by their stares. The girls shook their heads and looked away.
Moments later several Aurors entered the Great Hall.
"If all Prefects could raise their hands," the woman at the front of the group called out. "Stay where you are an Auror will come to you. Do not touch or move your plate or utensils please."
In moments the Aurors dispersed, and a tall man wearing a dark dragon-hide cloak moved over towards Ronald. Ron's place was cordoned off, and he and the others were led to the side.
"Now those of you who have been asked to do so please remain and the others may leave," the witch dismissed the waiting students, and moved off to begin interviews. "The house elves will provide food in the common rooms."
Hermione hurried away to the bathrooms.
-o0o-
"Argh!" Hermione screamed as she looked at her reflection. Who had done this to her? She bet it was that bitch Parvati! No, it could not be her she had been in the hospital wing all day. Lavender had gone with her, not that the blonde was bright enough to pull off something like this. And Padma had joined them soon after. It had to be someone intelligent, but who also had access to her school bag, so that ruled out all of the boys and the two other girls she shared a dorm with. Perhaps one of the seventh years knew what she had done to Katie Bell?
Shoving her toothbrush into her bag, Hermione hurried to the Hospital wing.
"Madame Pomfrey, Madame Pomfrey," she called urgently as she pushed open the doors.
"Take a seat, Miss Granger," the Mediwitch said not looking up from where she was stood leaning over the bed containing Zacharias Smith.
Parvati and Padma were lying in beds on against the opposite wall, with Lavender sitting on a chair between them. The three girls looking at the Mediwitch in concern. There was a swish and the curtains were suddenly drawn closed around the bed Madame Pomfrey was working at and the sound from that corner of the room ceased.
"Argh! Madame Pomfrey!" Hermione yelled. "MADAME POMFREY! I NEED YOU NOW!"
Madame Pomfrey did not appear, instead a young lady in the green robes of St Mungo's, emerged from the infirmary office.
"Madame Pomfrey is very busy at the moment, Miss …?"
"Granger, I am Hermione Granger," Hermione ground out. Did this witch not know who she was?!
"Lovely," She made a note on a piece of parchment, "And you've come in today because …"
"What do you mean, what have I come in here for?" Hermione snapped.
"Why do you need to see the Mediwitch this morning?" she was asked again, in a much slower cadence.
"I want to see Madame Pomfrey now!"
"I'm afraid Madame Pomfrey is busy at the minute …"
"I don't care, I want to see her now!"
Suddenly the visiting Mediwitch's manner changed, clearly having had enough, and her next words were spoken in a briskly clipped manner, "Miss Granger, Madame Pomfrey is required elsewhere, you're choices are to either sit on that chair," She nodded with her head at a lone chair resting against the wall, "and wait until she has finished, which I can tell you now won't be for many hours as she is in the middle of a very tricky procedure, or to tell me what your problem is and allow me to treat you."
"You! You can't even tell what is wrong! Just by looking!" Hermione was horrified.
"It might surprise you Miss Granger, but most of us aren't actually trained in Legilimency and therefore cannot read minds. Now I assume you have decided to wait, so sit down and wait …"
"How long until Madame …"
"Hours."
Hermione paused before she began to rant, and took a deep breath, this witch was just standing in, if she did not say anything then the situation would continue, and Parvati, Padma and Lavender who were all just on the other side of the room would see her like this. She made her decision.
"It's my … can you pull the curtains?" Hermione glared over to where Parvati, Padma and Lavender were now watching the spectacle with interest.
"Certainly," the Mediwitch said calmly.
"It's my teeth," Hermione said, once the curtains had drawn closed.
"Are they not like this normally?" Eyebrows furrowed, squinting a bit at the blackened, broken stubs of Hermione's once perfectly even white teeth.
"What? No!" Hermione was horrified, had the woman not seen her pictures in the Daily Prophet?
"Oh it's just some Muggleborn witches don't bother with the tooth cleaning charm, thinking that brushing their teeth is equivalent, and it's just not. Admittedly most with teeth this bad are much, much older."
"But what can be done?" Hermione whined. "I can't be looking like this, I have a photoshoot for Witch Weekly, next week!"
"Oh, not to worry it's easily fixed, I'll simply pull them all out and then you can have some Skelegrow, you'll be right as rain by tomorrow. It'll be a bit of a tough night I'm afraid, as I can't give you anything for the pain, it reacts badly with Skelegrow you see. Into the bed with you." With a no-nonsense manner, the Mediwitch, chivvied Hermione into bed.
-o0o-
Parvati flicked her hair over her shoulder as she approached the seats where the Boy-Who-Lived and his friends had settled to do their homework. Clearing her throat to garner their attention she and Lavender slid into the chairs opposite the group.
"I must say Harry," Lavender smirked. "When we were discussing Hermione, I was not expecting to be able to witness her karma myself. So, thanks for that."
Harry glanced up from his work with a small smile, "I don't know what you are talking about."
"Of course, you don't," Parvati giggled. "It was magnificent! She looked like a Hag." She glanced around at the assembled group. "This must be a first, none of you have detention tonight?"
"Nah," the dark-haired boy shrugged, "I heard that Snape had to leave the school." Green eyes flicked towards Neville, "So he made it tomorrow night instead."
"No quidditch practice?"
"Nope Katie wanted to run them in the mornings. She'd kill me if I didn't stick to her plan. It's worked really well actually, the other teams couldn't be bothered getting up early so there's been no conflict with the times we want the pitch, and it turns out that Demelza plays muggle sports in the summer, so she has plenty of ideas for fitness," Ron replied for Harry rolling up his parchment. "Well, that's me done."
"Who are you and what have you done with Ronald Weasley," Lavender teased. "Ron would never sit there doing homework before dinner when there's a chess board free." She pointed to a nearby chess board set up just waiting for two players.
Ron shrugged, "We're going to visit Hagrid after dinner, so thought it best to get it out of the way now. I can play chess when I get back."
A voice from behind them spoke up cheekily, "He's grown up and decided to take after Percy. It's really booooring." Ginny fell onto the couch dramatically across the laps of three occupying it.
"Geroff!" Ron pushed his sister so she rolled off onto the floor with a squeak.
"Right there, Gin?" Harry asked as she kicked his shin in her efforts to right herself.
"All good thanks," she nodded, tucking her feet under her skirt so she could set her books on a nearby coffee table. "So did you have anything else planned for the fluffy haired one?'
Seamus snorted.
"I'm sure, I don't' know what you mean," Harry said innocently, "but if I had to guess, I would say that as long as the situation doesn't escalate further, spending a night in the hospital wing should be sufficient."
"Hmm," Ginny nodded. "On an unrelated topic. Ron, what happened with the DMLE?"
Her brother snorted, "Not a lot. The official …"
Harry sneezed into his hand, it sounded oddly like he was saying, 'Dumbledore'.
"… line is that Zach had an allergic reaction to something that the House Elves had used that had gone off. Which is what was picked up on the detection spells. Given that Elves magic touches everything, the DMLE can't figure out anything else, even though it was only the prefects that were effected. Then someone mistakenly vanished all the samples, except for Professor Snape's, as they were waiting to be transported to the potions lab at the Ministry. And Snape had to use his to develop an antidote for Zacharias, so while they know what it actually was, they haven't any left to use as evidence."
"I heard Susan talking to Padma," Parvati added, "apparently her aunt is not pleased at all, and the junior Auror who destroyed the samples is going to be doing a month as security officer at the Ministry. You know the one who checks your wands as you enter, then another as lab assistant in the points lab preparing ingredients, as punishment."
Neville grimaced remembering long detentions with Severus cutting up flobberworms.
"On the upside. Amelia Bones held a session for the prefects and they can all now cast the detection spells. So it shouldn't happen again. But officially she couldn't rule whether it was a prank gone wrong or something worse, though of course she believes Susan."
"Do you think it was Her …?" Lavender asked.
"Possibly," Ron shrugged, "it wouldn't be the first time she's put stuff in food, but last time it was not deliberately harmful. We know she has a grudge against Parvati but it doesn't make sense for her to try something on the rest of the Prefects. We'll have to watch her, and if there is any evidence to suggest that it was her, I might accidently let it slip to the Head Girl. She has a vicious sense of humour. Right now who's up for a quick game of chess?"
-o0o-
"Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule, Professor Snape," Doris greeted her old professor. "I hope you don't mind."
"On the contrary Ms Landsborough, I am quite pleased to be able to be part of the process," he admitted to the young mediwitch's surprise. "Have you noticed any change in them since the spell was performed?"
"They are more responsive, they are trying to communicate, no magic yet."
Severus mused as he was led through the ward and into the Longbottom's room.
"Ee!" Frank said standing up and moving towards the other man, his movements stiff and unsure as he flapped his arms at Severus.
"Hello Frank, Alice" Doris said cheerfully, seeing both the rooms occupants were now on their feet. "We've asked Severus Snape to come and have a look and see if he can help you."
Alice raised a hand, that shook with fine tremors. Severus took it and gave it a squeeze.
"I promise I will not harm you," he said gravely. "If you both take a seat, who should I look at first?"
Frank moved behind a now seated Alice and placed both his hands on her shoulders. She turned her round face up to look at him and gave a gentle smile. Her husband moved to sit in the chair next to her, looking at Severus with a frown. He reached forward and took hold of Severus' hand squeezing it firmly.
"I am afraid I don't understand," Severus said softly, looking to the Longbottom's carer.
"He wants something," Doris moved to a small side table and bought back a board that had brightly coloured pictures on it and held it out towards Frank. With a grunt of frustration, he swatted at it sending flying to the side. "Oh he hasn't done that before."
Frank gave a low threatening growl and reached towards Severus wand hand, this time he lifted it towards the ceiling.
"Ah, he wants a vow," Severus said as understanding came to him. He looked Frank in the eye, "Believe me when I say that my reputation has been largely exaggerated," ignoring the small 'eep' from the Mediwitch, he continued, "Lily created the spell they used to help you. You know she was my best friend at school, I will not sabotage her efforts. I, Severus Snape, swear on my magic, that I will do my best to help Frank and Alice Longbottom, and my efforts will do no harm, so mote it be."
A faint buzz of magic blanketed the room, and both Frank and Alice smiled. Frank leaned forwards bracing his hands against his knees.
"Right, look this way, Legilimens," the spell was whispered.
The first thing Severus noticed was light. It reflected off every surface. A kaleidoscope of fractals and splintered rainbows refracted off a million pieces of broken mirror. His own reflection was peering back at him from all sides as he contemplated his next step. The room he was in held no opening; no door nor window was in evidence. Unless they were hidden? The flicker of an image of brown hair had him bending to touch the light at his feet, it moved. Raising it to eye level to inspect its sharp edges he wondered … there was a piece third from his left that seemed … complimentary. Grasping the second, he slotted them together, with a sharp chink they joined, the seam disappearing as if the two had never been separate. Now he just had to find a way to carry all the shards as casting magic in a mindscape as damaged as this one was surely a recipe for disaster. Another piece caught his eye and no longer frozen in indecision Severus reached for it and moved on.
-o0o-
"Oh, aren't you a beauty," the curly head bobbed as the man approached the Gamekeeper's hut. He wore a long blue coat and carried a rather worn suitcase in his left hand. With a happy hum he walked by the hippogriff, who let out a shriek, that caused him to stumble a little and made his way to the front door of the hut. "H-Hagrid," he called, hesitantly raising a hand to knock as he looked around.
"Newt? Newt Scamander?" Hagrid boomed opening the door. "I never though' you'd come."
Presenting the note he was holding clutched in his right hand, Newt said hurriedly, "I couldn't stay away!"
"Hmpf," Hagrid huffed, smiling widely. "'Arry said you'd come. Couldn't think of anyone else who'd help."
"What … what seems to be the problem, the note says a sick Acromantula. They're not native to these parts you know," he flicked his fringe out of his eyes and looked up at the half-giant. "This weather doesn't suit them at all. I shouldn't have thought that they would survive in the forest." He briefly glanced at the castle.
"Well I might have helped out some, when Aragog was just a wee spider," the large man admitted his voice fond. "'e was so tiny, wouldn't hurt a fly. I couldn't … well, you know."
An understanding smile, graced Newt's face for a moment, it was rare for him to find a true kindred spirit.
"'E got lonely, so I found him a mate, they bred a bit more than I expected to be honest but we've been friends a while, and I never 'ad any trouble with 'im but now somethings up. 'Ee seems, I dunno, tired., and cranky. 'is kids are getting restless."
"How … how old is he?"
"I got 'im in my third year. I suppose that would make 'im a bit over fifty."
"Goodness all that time in this weather! I simply must meet him."
Hagrid led the way into the forest.
It was several hours before the pair emerged and found a group of boys sitting on Hagrid's doorstop waiting.
"Hagrid!" they jumped to their feet as the men approached.
"Ah this must be Mr Graves, Mr Potter and I dare say you," Newt looked at Ronald, "must be a Weasley. I met one of your older brothers in Romania."
Ron blushed, "That'd be Charlie."
"Rather likes his dragons, doesn't he?" Newt grinned happily.
"Can you help Hagrid, Mr Scamander?" Harry asked. "I know spiders aren't for everyone, but Hagrid is rather attached."
"Ah," the older gentleman whose once reddish hair was starting to grey, looked sombre. "I'm afraid," his eyes flicked towards his newfound friend, "Hagrid's old friend is, as happens sometimes, coming to the end of his life."
"But what about the others?" Ron asked.
"Yes, well, them I can help," Newt gave a small smile. "I'll need to contact a friend or two, but I'll be back in a week or so and we will relocate them all to Borneo and re-introduce them into the wild. They'll be able to live out long and happy lives there. I rather think Aragog is looking forward to being somewhere warmer."
"Good," Ron nodded in satisfaction.
"Well, I best be off, Tina gets terribly upset when I am late for dinner." Newt nodded at them a bit awkwardly and began to amble up the path to the front gate, without waiting for a goodbye.
After watching Newt go, Harry turned to a sniffling Hagrid, "I'm sorry that nothing could be done for Aragog."
"'E's a nice man that. Asked me to call 'im Newt. Reckons that 'e can make Aragog more comfortable, so 'e won't be in any pain,"
"Well that's something at least. Like Mr Scamander said he'll probably be really pleased to go back home." Harry nodded, while Ron looked away pointedly. "Come on, let's go inside and we'll make you a cup of tea before we head back to the castle."
-o0o-
Time was oddly distorted in this place and Severus felt like he had been here for hours, barely moving as he slowly collected and sorted the mirror shards. Glancing up he realised he was in a maze. Perhaps the goal was to find the centre, but he could not guess in which direction it lay. Every now and then he though he caught a reflection of Frank that repeated off into infinity, he used that to guide him through the labyrinth. With another step he picked up a piece and slotted it into the puzzle of shards. It was quick work to slot the remaining pieces from his pockets together. Holding up the now torso sized piece of mirror. He finally felt he was getting somewhere.
Another hour passed as he made his way carefully through the mindscape, at some point it had opened up into, what Severus assumed was, a replica of Longbottom manor. Rather uninspiringly nearly all purebloods used their ancestral home as the basis for their Occlumency shields, it was why Harry's worked so well. It was interesting that Frank had the winding, twisting, fun-house like maze as well and Severus wondered briefly if it had been Lily who had introduced him to the idea.
Snape rested the full-length mirror he was now carrying against a wall and looked around.
"Frank!"
If he could not get through to Frank soon, he was going to have to leave, while Legilimency did not use magic in quite the same way as casting spells did, there was still a drain, and he was not sure how long he had already been in here.
He had at least made some good headway, sorting out the tangle of maze, though he suspected given how long it had been there, there would be some regression between treatments. How it would translate functionally he was unsure.
"Frank!"
The sound echoed through the empty manor. Severus looked around, then with a shake of his head, disappeared.
Black eyes opened, not having realised that they had closed sometime during the procedure.
A set of blue eyes starred back.
"Professor?"
With a click of his neck, Severus turned to look at the young Medi-witch.
"How long?"
"What? Oh, three … no four hours. Were you able to …?" the lass asked with the air of someone expecting a miracle.
"The damage is extensive."
"Oh," she seemed disappointed, "I had hoped …"
"Ms Landsborough, they have been in this state for fifteen years, there will be no sudden recovery here."
"Oh, right well, thank you for trying," her voice was tight as she fought back tears. "So …sorry for wasting your time."
Snape shook his head, at the girl's assumption and misunderstanding, "I did not say I would be unable to help, Ms Landsborough, just that there will not be a miraculous recovery. Lily's spell has created a path, but there was a lot of damage. I have tried to repair some of it but doing too much all at once is inadvisable. As with a disused muscle, he will need to get used to using it again. I need you to log any improvements, and I will return in …" he tipped his head slightly as he thought, "In two days to see what can be done next."
"What about Alice?"
"Ms Landsborough, I am not without limits. I need to rest. I am hopeful that next time, now that I know what to expect, I will be able to complete the same work for Alice as well as revisit with Frank."
"Right, you are right, of course. Sorry professor."
Severus stood, and moved towards the door, staggering slightly with fatigue.
"Sev'us," a voice called, "T'anks."
-o0o-
It was getting harder for Minerva to continue pretending to be Dumbledore's lackey. Without the support of the other teachers, she was sure she would have lost her cool and exploded before now. The impetuous woman she had been in her youth was swearing in rolling brogue somewhere in the back of her head and threatening to hex Dumbledore for what he had done to not only herself, but her dear friends and the worst crime in her opinion, the students. The lies, the obliviates, the manipulations, they all grated against her morals. Severus had managed to obtain the ingredients for another few doses of his potion (thanks in part to the generosity of Sirius Black), carefully noting down, any side effects as he administered it to each of the teachers. At least when all of this was over he would have yet another potion creation to his name.
They all now knew what Albus Dumbledore had done, and they all had agreed on a system of messages to be sent to the others when they thought they would be caught alone with the man. But for the time being, acting as if they were going along with him, was the only way they could protect the students. They had discovered twelve students still attending the school who had been returned to abusive households after the teachers had made complaints, each being forced by Dumbledore to recant their accusations, through a truly horrid combination of spells. This time they had sent through anonymous reports directly to the Department of Welfare of Children with enough evidence that the children's circumstances should be investigated.
Minerva reached to the tray behind her and decanted a measure of whiskey into a chilled glass. She looked consideringly at the amber liquid for a moment, before with a frown she pulled out her wand. A second later the drink was vanished.
"Meddling old fool," she muttered, wondering if she could trust anything anymore.
A knock on her door interrupted her search for an uncontaminated tipple.
With a sigh, she wondered which of her lions needed her.
The sound repeated, in an irritating staccato, as she made her way to the chair behind her desk and called out, "Come in."
Just as teachers were not supposed to have favourites, they were not supposed to have students they liked the least but the student who appeared round the door was one who had descended from the lofty heights of one category to the depths of the other in Minerva's books. The girl looked more than a little tired, though apparently, she had spent the previous night in the hospital wing.
"How may I help you this evening Miss Granger?"
"Well," Hermione gave a self-satisfied smile. "I have a couple of things that I needed to tell you." She puffed out her chest, "The first was to let you know that both Lavender and Parvati were not in Charms yesterday."
"Really," Minerva hummed uninterestedly, already aware that the girls had been seeing Poppy Pomfrey at the time.
"And I will be able to take up prefects duties again, from the weekend. Though a couple of changes will need to be made, I don't know who came up with the current schedule for rounds but it just won't do. I don't know what you were thinking choosing those two as Head Boy and Girl but ..."
The first statement caused Minerva to pay a little more attention, "Whyever would you be taking up prefects duties again?"
"Because clearly," Hermione rolled her eyes at the dense old woman, "Parvati has broken her parole, and you must remove her from the position immediately," the girl stated as if her Head of House was stupid. Maybe McGonagall was getting too old to do her job, Hermione resolved to bring the matter to Albus' attention.
"Let me disabuse you of the notion, Miss Granger. Miss Patil will not be being removed from her position."
"But she was skiving off class!"
"Be that as it may, she has been exemplary in attending to her duties, and all of the other prefects have given her glowing reports."
"But Dumbledore said she had to meet a set of requirements to retain the position. If she doesn't meet them, then I get it back!" Hermione said aggressively. "One of them was class attendance. Non-attendance should mean that she is thrown out and also result in points loss and detention."
"Do you not think that there is a reason that all teachers mark the roll at the start of each class, Miss Granger?" Minerva asked benignly.
"I know that!" Hermione huffed.
"Well, then I perhaps you might consider that these matters are bought to the Head of House, and I happen to be aware of where Miss Patil was when she was not in class."
"Where was she?"
"Not that it is any of your business, but she was in the hospital wing."
"The hospital wing? But I saw her that morning and she was fine."
"She was decidedly not fine that morning Miss Granger, she woke and was taken straight to the hospital wing, with an allergic reaction."
"But nobody is allergic to itching powder," the girl protested.
"Ah, I believe that will be weeks' worth of detentions for you then Miss Granger."
"What, no! Why?"
"Because I never mentioned the cause! I believe it is time for you to return to the common room, you can report to Filch tomorrow evening at seven."
Ignoring the slamming door, Minerva rubbed her temples, thinking that while the evening had not turned out as she had planned, there had been something satisfying about it all the same.
-o0o-
"Severus!" his pocket buzzed slightly, and a muffled voice spoke towards his chest. It was a decidedly odd sensation. The tall man ignored it for the moment as he blinked and grounded his consciousness back into his own body.
"Your pocket, talking," the words came haltingly. Frank had been talking in short sentences and the amount he had been able to communicate had improved greatly since the first time that Severus had visited. Severus had needed to completely rebuild, what he had discovered was not a single mirror but multiple panels that lined the walls of the maze, and the progress had been slow. It was clear he had been held under the Cruciatus for much longer than his wife. To this point Alice had remained non-verbal, however he had managed to communicate with her once he was within her first layer of shields, she was trapped at the centre of her mind. He was hopeful that by the end of today's visit he would be able to find a way to free her.
"Yes," Severus agreed.
"I know voice," the other male in the room spoke.
"Yes, see if you can remember," he encouraged, pulling the mirror free from its confines. "I will speak to them, while I rest a little before I start with Alice." Frank nodded. "Hello?"
"Severus, can I talk to them now, how are they?" the Black asked impatiently.
"Be patient," Severus scolded. "Frank is trying to see if he can figure out who you are."
"Dog!" the word burst out of Frank in his excitement.
"Go on, that's close enough Sev, turn the mirror around. Frank!"
"You … dog!" suddenly his hand clamped over his mouth, and he looked upset.
"It's' alright Frank, everyone here knows, I'm even properly registered now."
"Frank knew?" Severus asked curiously.
"He discovered one night through necessity. We were called to a raid together; a building had been blown up then set on fire, there were kids trapped inside, but we were too big to fit through the spaces in the rubble, so I turned into Padfoot to get them out."
"Good man, burnt," Frank nodded. "Sssssss, S'rus."
"Yes, it is Sirius," the potions master agreed.
"What! You know I am never serious! Frank, you'll ruin my reputation," Sirius laughed.
"Alright, how about you two keep talking while I see if I can help Alice?" Severus passed the mirror over.
"Hey old man," Sirius smiled, "it's good to see you."
"Ne'il," Frank tried to force the word out, it was clearly important. Sirius thought that there was only one thing he would be wanting to know if the situation was reversed.
"Neville?" Frank nodded.
"He's doing well, better now. Turns out Algie had made a nuisance of himself, and Augusta had to sort him out, but that's over and Neville's doing really well. He's good friends with Harry. Once you are feeling a bit better, we've got a few things we need to talk to you about."
"Worried?"
"Yeah, not everything is as simple as it was before you were injured."
"Not simple! War," Frank disagreed.
"Simple, the bad guys were bad, and we were the good guys. Now, that line has blurred."
"Se'rus," Frank looked to where the potion's master was sitting opposite Alice.
"Yeah, apparently he's a good man."
"I know," Frank nodded, and lifted a hand to tap the centre of his chest with a thin finger, "feel it."
"Yeah, Legilimency will do that. But back to the kids. There are four of them that hang around together, Neville, Harry, Ron Weasley, and Percival Graves."
"Like you and Jam's?" Frank asked.
"Yeah, they only started getting close last year, once Percival arrived."
"Pranks?"
"Rarely, they're good kids. Studying hard."
There was a gasp from beside them, Frank put the mirror down on the bedside table.
"Ali?" he asked in concern.
"She's alright," Severus reassured as he swayed slightly in the chair. "Give her a moment."
Frank went down onto one knee at the side of his wife's chair.
"Ali?"
"Frank?" her voice was immediately clearer than her husbands. "I thank you Severus. I would not have made it out without you."
"Will you be able to help Frank, he has a long way to go?" Severus asked.
"Maybe some, not just yet I think. Occlumency I could do, but I have no real talent at Legilimency, just some preliminary training."
"Then I will continue to visit."
"Can you? Do you think you could bring Neville?"
"I'll see what I can do?"
She smiled at him gratefully.
-o0o-
The candles and Jack-o-lanterns bobbed above the tables in a gentle wave of orange and gold.
"You heading off now?" Harry paused at the door to the Great Hall, as Neville moved to the castle doors.
"I need to meet Snape at Hagrid's hut," Neville paused, seeming to want to say something, "I'm sorry Harry," he blurted out.
"You're sorry?" Harry questioned.
"Yeah, that I'm getting this and you … you're not."
The thought had not even crossed the shorter boy's mind. With a shake of his head and a wry smile, Harry said with a great deal of fondness, "Neville sometimes you're an idiot." He stepped closer and reached up to grab his friend's shoulders. "I am so unbelievably happy that this is happening for you. Besides, you forget, this did already happen for me, I got Sirius," suddenly Harry snorted, "in some ways I think I ended up with Severus as well."
"Yeah, well better you than me on that one, mate."
"Go on, he hates it when people are late."
Neville suddenly looked uncertain, "Harry what if they don't like me!"
An in-elegant laugh escaped from Harry's mouth, "Now you're being ridiculous. What is there not to like? You're loyal, clever, talented. Go on. They're waiting for you."
"Right," Neville shook himself, "Right, I'm loyal and clever and …" he continued with his pep talk as he walked out of the castle.
Harry chuckled as he watched his friend go, then moved towards the tables for the feast.
-o0o-
Remus Lupin stood at the door to the unassuming cottage. Children dressed in all manner of costumes being herded through the streets by their parents could be heard calling out in excitement as they visited the local houses. A small girl of no more than four, dressed as a witch complete with wand, cauldron and pointy hat skipped passed the front gate causing Remus to smile. He had noticed a few, more sombre, visitors to the statue dedicated to the Potter's as he walked through the town. He had stopped to lay his own bouquet on his friend's graves before making his way to his current location. Finally taking a breath he knocked on the door.
Faint noises from inside the abode, alerted him to the occupant's arrival at the door a moment before it opened.
"As I live and breathe, it's Remus Lupin," the old woman smiled in delight, causing Remus pleasure at her positive response.
"Um, Ms Bagshot, I was wondering if I could talk to you a moment?"
"Certainly. Come in young man, we can't be chatting out here on the stoop."
They made their way into the cosy kitchen, where Bathilda began making tea saying, "As I remember you were always partial to a good cup of tea."
Remus took one of the seats at a wood table that showed a patina that could only be achieved through many long years of use. "Ms Bagshot, I'm sorry for asking but how did you know it was me?"
She smirked at him then, a look which contrasted with the slightly dotty persona she usually adopted, "You don't get to my age without learning a trick or two Mr Lupin. I've long discovered the knack of detecting someone's magic, regardless of the face they wear, though I must say, your transfiguration is rather good."
"Thanks, and please call me Remus."
"And as I told you years ago, you should call me Batty, everyone does. Now I am sure you haven't just decided to pop in and see me without reason, not even my family does that these days."
With a groan and a grimace, Remus nodded, "You're correct. I came to ask you a few questions." He paused awkwardly.
She reached over and grabbed a walking stick he had not seen leaning against the sideboard, and tapped him with it, "Questions about the past?"
Remus nodded again.
"Well drink your tea first then," she ordered. Remus obeyed.
When the first cup had been finished and the second poured, she looked at him with shrewd eyes, "I think for this conversation, we need to be a little more comfortable. Dragging up the past can be hard work." She stood then and led him to a small room off the side of the kitchen that held a sofa that was dwarfed by the inglenook fireplace. The room was warm and cosy.
"Sit," she said, "I am not so infirm that I can't get the tea tray here." With a subtle wave of her hand the teapot, cups and accoutrements were set upon a tray which drifted from the kitchen to settle on a table in front of the couch.
"Thanks Ms …" at her glare Remus corrected himself, "Batty," his voice squeaked upwards at her chosen name as she hit him, a little harder this time, with her walking stick.
"You'll learn Remus," she smiled in satisfaction. "Now what is it you want?"
"I want to ask about Albus Dumbledore."
"Albus? What has that boy done now?" the creases between her eyebrows grew deeper.
"We're not sure …" Remus began hesitantly.
"Well tell me what's going on then and I'll see if I can help."
"It's come to our attention recently that the line of the McKinnon's has not died out."
"You found Marlene?" Bathilda asked with a surprised intake of breath.
"We did. She thought she was a muggle, having amnesia after being hit on the head in the battle where her parents and brother passed. We still don't know how she escaped but she has now remembered that just as the wards fell someone came up behind her and hit her over the back of the head."
"Oh, blessed be!" tears welled in the old woman's eyes. "Lily!"
"Yeah, we had to break that news to her I don't think she has really faced it yet as she has been too busy trying to recover her memories and a lot of her emotions seem dulled."
"The poor lass. Tell her she can visit anytime."
"I will. One of the things she was trying to remember was a conversation she had with Lily that revolved around Dumbledore. Lily had sent her a letter, and the pair met. Apparently, there was something that you had told Lily about Dumbledore that she then passed on to Marly but we can't figure out what it was. It might have had something to do with his sister?"
"There were a great many things I told Lily about Albus Dumbledore," Bathilda said grimly. "I was trying to warn them, for the little good that it did. Sometimes acting the way I do is a detriment. Let me tell you the story." She blew the steam away from her tea and then took a sip, "I guess it all starts with Albus's sister, Ariana. Kendra and Percival had very much wanted a girl and doted on her. The two boys were no different, running all over the place at her every whim. She was closer with Aberforth being nearer in age. A fact that made Albus jealous. One day, while Albus was away at school, Ariana and Aberforth had been playing in the front yard. I believe little Ariana got thirsty and sent Aberforth into the house to fetch her a drink. While he was away, she entertained herself, practicing some wandless magic that Albus had taught her. She was conjuring little balls of light, but one of them got away from her, drawing the attention of a group of muggle boys that were passing by. They lured Ariana out of the garden and up the street a little way and tried to make her show them what she had done, when she refused they set upon her. It was only perhaps ten minutes before Aberforth and Kendra found them. Percival was furious. Three days later he was home when the boys tried to accost Ariana a second time, in his rage he beat them soundly and would perhaps have done more if the Aurors had not stepped in. He was sentenced to imprisonment in Azkaban. It was already too late for Ariana. Her mind was broken, and she lost control of her magic. Reduced to spontaneous outbursts stimulated by strong emotion. It was often violent."
Bathilda stopped talking to take a further sip of her tea.
"A wedge developed between the two boys, Albus blaming Aberforth for not keeping a closer watch over their sister and Aberforth … well … I think he was mostly angry at himself for the same thing. Though what he could have done to prevent it I don't know. The little family muddled along like that until Albus graduated Hogwarts. Then when Kendra died, the two boys fought over who would look after Ariana. Albus accused Aberforth of having already failed keeping their sister safe and so refused to let him drop out of Hogwarts. Besides how would it look if the older brother went galivanting off on the world tour he had planned with Elphias Dodge while the younger was denied an education to look after poor Ariana? No Albus was always very aware of the look of things, so he stayed, and it grated at him. I often saw him stomping around the yard talking tersely to the neighbours. Around a year later my nephew came to visit. He had been expelled from Durmstrang, and I thought I could lead him along a better path, but it turns out the draw of Albus Dumbledore was too great. The moment they met; they became fast friends. Always together and murmuring away at little plots and plans. I 21annot say which of the pair came up with the idea or if it was both of them, but they made plans to subjugate the muggles to build a better world for the magicals."
She paused and looked at Remus with a deep serious look, "I know you have heard otherwise, but I do not believe that all the years that have passed have changed Albus' plan much."
"But he seems so welcoming to the Muggleborns, changing the holidays for them, the curriculum."
"He does, doesn't he," Bathilda agreed before continuing with her tale. "Gellert, my nephew, and Albus had great …"
"Your nephew was Gellert Grindelwald?" Remus gasped.
"You caught that did you, well done," Bathilda gave him a satisfied smile. "Anyway, the pair had great plans. However, both being strong willed, intelligent individuals they argued. Now if there was one thing that was sure to set Ariana off after the attacks, it was raised voices, so anytime they argued she would become agitated and have bursts of magic. They set her off one day while Aberforth was home for the holidays and he interrupted the fight, accusing Albus of caring more for Gellert than his own sister. Sadly, it was true. Anyone could see that her condition had deteriorated after the arrival of my Nephew. This only caused more upset and raised voices, I do not know who raised their wand first or last, but I do know by the end of it Ariana had died, and Aberforth blamed Albus."
"That's … that's …" Remus could barely think.
"Shocking, yes?"
"Yeah," Remus poured another cup of tea.
"That night Gellert returned home, subdued. He told me that he was going away, that he no longer trusted Albus. He fled Albus' accusations following him."
"So he planned to make muggles our slaves?"
"In essence yes. Though he thought of himself as a revolutionary. He thought that he was saving us from the muggles, rather than anything else, they both often used the attacks on Ariana as their justification."
"What about Albus?"
"Oh Albus believes that he should be raised on a pedestal above all others, he does not just want to subjugate muggles, but wizards too. His greater good is that the world is remade as he wishes it to be."
At that pronouncement Remus was struck dumb. It was one thing to be aware that the headmaster was not the kindly old man they had all assumed but to learn he was a true Machiavellian villain was something else.
"But you've known all this time? Why have you not done anything?"
"Who would I tell?" she gave a self-depreciating chuckle. "Besides he cast so many spells on me after he became aware of all I had seen and heard, everything that Kendra and Aberforth and even young Ariana had told me, that for a great any years I was truly as batty as my name. It was only Gellert visiting just before the end that led to the discovery and he ensured I was cleansed before he departed. Since then, I have kept up the image, it is after all a very useful disguise."
"Wow," Remus breathed. "Will you be safe?"
She smiled at him reassuringly, "I am an old woman, Remus Lupin and I have not been idle. If it comes to it, I have lived a full life. What of you, will you be safe? Can you keep this a secret?"
Remus considered it, "I guess I am as safe as I can be, given that Dumbledore thinks me dead. Unless he knows your trick of reading people's magic."
"I had not heard that he does, still he has dabbled in magic that should be left well alone, so there are no guarantees."
"I promise I will only tell the story and not where I came by the information and only to people that need to know," Remus said grimly.
"You are planning to bring him down," she said with a knowing gleam in her eye.
"I can't say," Remus denied.
"Thank you for the visit," she said in polite dismissal, "But it is time for this old woman to head to bed."
She stood and showed her visitor to the door.
"Take care," she waved him off, watching him walk up the now vacant streets. A chill wind blew, scattering the fallen leaves, causing her to shiver and draw her shawl tighter around her shoulders. Ducking quickly back into the house, she set the wards to their highest setting for the first time in many years.
-o0o-
Cut –
"Well that is unfortunate," Rookwood glanced over at Lucius Malfoy as he held up a beaker half full of a deep red fluid.
"What seems to be the problem?" the blonde frowned.
"It seems Bellatrix had too much fun with the mudblood, and now there is not the volume we require."
"I'll leave it to you to tell our Lord," the Malfoy said before enquiring, "Does it matter if the rest comes from an alternate source?"
"I suppose not, what did you have in mind, Lucius?"
"That woman who said she would ensure Potter came to the Ministry, is still in dungeon four. She keeps saying how she would like to be helpful to the Dark Lord."
"Helpful? Well yes, I suppose this could be considered helpful," he chuckled darkly. "From what I've heard she's so repugnant no-one will miss her. We can't let Bellatrix help this time though."
"I'll have a word to Narcissa about keeping her sister entertained and out of the way," Lucius promised.
"Good. I have found a ritual to return our Lord to a full body, but again, finding the necessary ingredients will be a little troubling."
"Is this the reason for the new occupant in dungeon two."
"Oh, I apologise I should have told you, the sampling did not go the way I had planned, so dungeon two is vacant again, but in essence yes. I have put steps in place to acquire more, however the requirements are rather specific."
"How did you dispose of the remains?" Lucius asked, dreading the thought that the corpse was still waiting for removal.
"Oh I had your house elf drop it off, in a forest near where it came from."
The next day there was an article in the Wiltshire Gazette that the body of Isla Parker who had been missing for several days had been found near Coulston Hill, the local police were investigating, however had no clues and were pleading with the public for any knowledge of what had occurred. The cause of death was unknown.