AN: FF likes to push out a notification for the poster of a fic, so I'm going to assume that since I got one the email notification issues they've been having have been fixed? No idea how many people didn't realize posts were happening since they weren't getting notifications, so I'm glad it got worked out.
When her mom starts taking a bit too long to start explaining, she leans forward, "Mom? What'd you find about the accidental Horcrux?"
She snorts, "That? It's pretty straightforward actually. That's not what's got me worked up."
She shares another confused look with her brother, uncertain what else could have their mom so agitated. Her grandpa shakes his head before anyone can ask, "One problem at a time. What's going on with the Horcrux?"
Her mom waves a hand near her head dismissively, "I'd like to point out to you that none of us have taken into consideration that while they were only half siblings, they were already twins, at least from the perspective of the fact they were in the womb and born at the same time and had a twin bond, which is all that really matters. And while the bond may have been limited due to being half siblings, they were in the same crib. And baby she may have been, but Marzanna is still a Devil. With the twin bond being wide open in babies, I didn't need to look at her memories to get the full picture. Namely, that her baby instincts felt it try to crawl into Mike's head and, given that even instincts age with us and stripping it down and absorbing anything useful from it before getting rid of it as I assume her older instincts would've pushed her to do is more advanced, her infantile instincts basically went 'destroy harmful intruder!' and started shredding it. Honestly, the only reason Mike got any visions, or his Parselmouth, from it is while it's not really… a soul, even a fragment of one, anymore after she was done, it's still somewhat connected to V-Mort. And while she didn't initially have it, she picked up her own Parselmouth from eventually absorbing power from it through Mike."
Her eyes go wide before she swings her gaze off her mom back to her brother and the tiny fragments of pools of the Horcrux, "...I did that to it?"
Her mom nods absently, "Yeah. It's still technically in the world of the living rather than having crossed the veil, but you practically killed it. On that note, while you aren't wrong that it wasn't properly anchored since it broke off due to how damaged his soul was and having the Killing Curse flung back at him rather than being made via ritual, it doesn't even matter since while it's vaguely connected, hence the visions, it doesn't even count as a soul anymore from what I can tell, which is why the detector only picked it up when it was presumably the last one left barring Nagini and V-Mort which were being ignored," She glances at Grandma there, getting an absent distracted nod, "and even then, as a rather weak signal that keeps flickering."
She nods slowly, and it's her dad who shifts forward, "Ok, so that covers the Horcrux and the fact we could do something about it just to be safe, but it's probably unnecessary. So what's got you so worked up?"
Her mom turns to stare at her and Mike, "The fact that I no longer have any idea which of them is the child prophesied to defeat V-Mort is the problem."
She rears back before turning to her equally confused brother, "Wait, what? How could I be the child in the prophecy?"
Her mom scrubs her hands over her face, "So, the prophecy, as I was told it anyway, is as follows: 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Born to those who thrice defy him. Born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark them as his equal, but they will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.' And I mean, at the time it was made, there were two pregnant women who, along with their husband's, had defied V-Mort. Myself and Alice Longbottom, specifically. Then Neville was born a full day before you two, and while that was still technically as the 'seventh month dies' since it was the thirtieth, you two were born on the thirty-first, with Mike being born at eleven forty-seven and Marzanna being born at eleven fifty-nine, however since her dad was known to have met me in America and presumably being American, they automatically disregarded her since there was no way he could've defied him three times from America. So everyone who knew was leaning towards Mike, and then V-Mort attacked and he got his scar, and everyone came to the conclusion that it was cinched right there."
She takes a deep breath, "But. Here's the thing. Mike's scar isn't from V-Mort. It's from a very oddly shaped piece of shrapnel hitting him at a weird angle because of the explosion that occurred when his Killing Curse was thrown back at him… by Marzanna who was who he was actually pointing his wand at because her power instinctively realized they were in danger and woke up briefly as much as it could in her infantile body. Which drew his attention, and made him decide that she was possibly a threat. Which as far as marking them as equal, points to her. And while I have no idea if Dante unknowingly defied him before Marzanna was born, in retrospect, the prophecy never says the defying happens before the birth. And he's definitely defied him three times since. Which all points to Marzanna being the child of prophecy. That being said, you could also, from a certain perspective, see V-Mort's soul fragment going for Mike as a sort of marking as equal, since his is the body it chose to be its host."
Shuraba suddenly manifests herself, expression a bit blank, "...Are you saying there was no reason for me to cause that mess by yanking myself into the path of the Killing Curse?"
Her mom shakes her head though, "No. While her partly awakened powers managed to shield her, which her Devil side did mostly by instinctively activating the Royal Guard Style, as best it could anyway given her age, and banish the black magic back, which her Seraphim side did, it knocked her out cold. And while she's obviously older, there's no way of knowing how it would affect her now. And her instincts don't have such strong control over her now that she's older, so there's no guarantee she could've replicated it anyway. And it's not like you had any way of knowing anyhow."
Shuraba nods slowly, but her brows are still furrowed, and her experience a bit guilty, likely thinking of Nephthys and that couple she killed in her mindless rampage. She doesn't say another word before she disappears back into her mind, and she briefly feels a bit guilty herself at letting what was currently going on though, even if her current thoughts were still blocked, given what it's undoubtedly stirred up.
She shakes her head, "But I mean, he's gone after Mike since?"
Her mom shrugs, "Which could also be interpreted as the marking the prophecy refers to, same as being utterly determined to use his blood to construct his new body. That being said, it could also be interpreted as him avoiding you up until the clash that saw you his prisoner for a bit as he was building up the strength to face you, and maybe even now since he hasn't made any attempts to recapture you since you got away and caused so much destruction in the process. I don't know what he's thinking, so I can't say. Though, if nothing else, Mike isn't the 'Boy-Who-Lived' that Dumbledore proclaimed him to be, since as I said, while a Killing Curse was fired that night, it wasn't at him."
To her side, her brother suddenly leans forward, burying his face in his hands, elbows propped on his knees. Unlike Uncle Sirius' earlier emotional breakdown though, he's laughing his ass off. After a moment he forces it back enough to lift his head, mirthful gaze locking onto their mom and fighting to calm down enough to speak despite his body's attempts to resume laughing, if the wildly twitching lips and huffs of laughter dotting it is any indication, "You're telling me. That Potter and all those other people. Keep trying so hard. To get on my good side and shit. Because they think I'm the Boy-Who-Lived. When the title should actually be Girl-Who-Lived. And go to Marzanna. Who they either don't know of. Write off as little more than a member of the Sparda family and my sister. Or outright look down on in the case of Potter and Dumbledore. That sister. Is the one the title they hold in such high regard. Actually belongs to?"
Her mom's lips start twitching partway through as she starts to catch on to his humor, ending with her barely holding back her own laughter by the time he's done, "The one and only."
Mike purses his lips, trying so hard not to start laughing again, "I can't wait until that comes out. And I don't know about you. But I want front row seats to Potter and Dumbledore learning about it."
Her mom seems to be unable to look at them without potentially laughing at that, but her voice is just as full of humor when she replies, "Oh definitely. That's certainly not a show I'd wanna miss."
She rolls her eyes, "Humor at Dumbledore and Potter's idiocy being exposed aside, it's just what's left of that fragment that tried to cling to Mike and Nagini left?"
Her grandma, who had been smiling in vague amusement at her mom and brother, sobers up, "Yeah, I'm not getting any other readings since I still have Nagini and V-Mort being ignored."
She hums, "Given it isn't anchored properly, before we go to the worst case of having Mike get the skin of the scar surgically removed with one of you on standby to pull the tendrils out, could you just purify it from his body?"
Her grandma shrugs, "It's worth a shot. Honestly, I'm kinda surprised his own body hasn't dealt with it since he was blood adopted, given Marzanna's Devil abilities was what did so much to it to begin with and Mike now has his own as well as Angelic blood."
She tilts her head, "Maybe the damage I did to it made it hardly noticeable even to his own powers? I mean, none of us ever sensed it, but even with his advantage in that from the fact it's in his body, it's possible his own powers didn't really notice it either, especially since in its current state, it's not exactly a threat to him."
Her grandma hums in agreement even as she smiles at her brother, "Just relax, hun, ok?"
He nods, and his eyes slip shut as she places her palm against his forehead over his scar. For a few moments, nothing seems to happen, then Dark wisps start slipping through her grandma's fingers. There isn't any explosion of screaming smoke this time, but when her grandma pulls her hand away and glances at the Horcrux detector, the way she smiles indicates that it worked, "That was easier than I thought it'd be, but then again, Marzanna had already practically destroyed it." She glances over at her, "Do you mind taking a look to make sure I didn't miss any of it?"
She shakes her head as she turns her ocular ability back on as she gazes at her brother. She scrutinizes the area around his scar rather thoroughly, then shakes her head, "I don't see any of it left, no."
Mike runs a finger lightly over his scar, "...I can't believe it was that easy. Like, I know Grandma has been purifying the Horcruxes just fine up until now without having to destroy the containers, but to be honest, I thought it'd be different when the anchor was a living magical…"
She shrugs, "May have been if it had been whole or properly anchored."
He nods, then he gets a curious look, "Do you think the Parselmouth was lost with it?"
She tilts her head, "Probably not mine at least since I absorbed the ability through our connection and it being in you, and I imagine your blood adoption would've put you in a similar situation." She shrugs again, "Could check with Aite later, but she was dozing on my bed last I saw and I don't wanna wake her." Then she turns her gaze to her grandma, "So, do we find a way to take care of Nagini now, then take care of the ring once she's dealt with and we don't potentially need to track her down?"
Her grandma looks towards her mom, who hums, "Unless we can get away with poisoning her or something, if we did it any other way Severus would have to abandon being a spy."
Her brother tilts his head, "Is there any way to delay the effects of some of the venom from the Basilisk? So Uncle Severus wouldn't be right there when she suddenly died. And it would definitely destroy the Horcrux."
Her mom gains a thoughtful look, "There's a thought. I'll speak to Severus about it."
She gets up and her dad looks at her in surprise, "Now?"
She shrugs, "No point in delaying." She leans down to drop a quick kiss on his lips, "Remus said earlier that he'd been allowed to be exempt from the meeting earlier because he was supposed to be busy with V-Mort, and Eva said he managed to slip out of the house and to the edge of the ward when she pinged his disillusioned Ward ring. With luck, he's done or at least available to come to the ward line again. I'll take some of the Basilisk venom with me in case he's got anything on him to postpone the venom, and if he can, I'll stick around and wait on standby just in case things go south for him, so I'm gonna head to the base closest to where he is."
Dad hums, "Alright. See you soon. Love you."
Mom tosses a smile over her shoulder as she heads for the door, "Love you too."
Then she's gone. She turns to her brother, "I guess you should probably head back to Hogwarts?"
His brows furrow, "What about Ginerva and Ronald?"
Their grandpa straightens, "Ah, I almost forgot about that! The department of law enforcement for the ICW said they didn't need Hermione's statement given how damning the evidence and Mike's authenticated memories were, but they're so busy with people who can't go to the British ministry of magic and the mess made from the Demonic invasion that it isn't incredibly high on their priority list since you certainly won't trust anything from them again and as Nephilim there isn't a whole lot they can do to either of you, though they do have everything filed and in place to get started when they have the time. Until then, I got in touch with McGonagall, and she's putting you two in private rooms until then, though she will need to escort you to them and help you set a password, since even if the school year is over, she's not particularly inclined to chase a Sparda away until we start getting the signals from the Demon Detectors down to more normal and manageable levels."
Her brother relaxes, and grandpa continues, "Speaking of, we are getting a signal from a Great Demon in the area, so she's asked us to look into it. It hadn't pinged before because it seems to be hiding in the forbidden forest and staying away from Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, so the programming for what to prioritize has it lower on the list, but it's been making her rather… twitchy to have one nearby, so she's asked us to look into it. It's not a particularly strong Great Demon, so it should be rather easy."
She shifts, "If it's not too strong, I could take Kazuto as backup, and we could go deal with it." She glances at her mate, and he nods firmly in agreement, "Keep from tying any of you up if an emergency occurs."
Her grandpa nods, "That works. From the signal, it should be well within your capabilities, especially with Kazuto going with as backup."
She nods, then turns to her brother, "Well then, unless there's anything else you and Hermione need to do?"
Her brother glances at his soulmate, but she shakes her head, so he turns back to her as he climbs to his feet, "No, I think we're good to go."
He holds a hand out to Hermione and helps her up, and they head over to the fireplace, her brother glances back after grabbing some floo powder, "I'll see you all later."
He gets various farewells before flooing off to Uncle Severus' office, and it doesn't take long for Hermione, herself, and Kazuto to follow, though her mate does stumble out of the other side, still not too used to the methods of magical transportation that existed prior to their invention of the Gates.
She catches him, though she's fairly confident he would've regained his balance without falling himself, smiling at his grumpy expression. She turns to her brother, "Could you lead us up to the door out? All I know is that Uncle Severus' office is down in the dungeons."
He nods, "Of course."
He leads them out, and she looks around in curiosity as they head out, having never been to Hogwarts herself. While the school is vaguely interesting with all of its portraits and armors and the like, things don't get really interesting until she has the idea to look around with her ocular ability on. The whole castle is steeped in magic, and it's not still in the slightest, coursing through everything like a pulse.
It's actually a bit headache inducing just from how much magic there is, so she doesn't leave it on for too long, though it's still fascinating to see the way it weaves and twists through everything. It doesn't take very long for them to reach the large double doors leading outside, and Mike starts walking them to the forest, explaining with a glance, "Easier just to come along so no one tries to stop you to basically interrogate you as to why you're here."
She nods, and he's not entirely wrong, given the strange looks more than a handful of people they see lounging around in the sunshine give them. Nevertheless, as Mike had predicted, they don't bother them, presumably due to Mike's presence, and it isn't long before they reach the edge of the forest. At it, Kazuto quickly fishes his phone out of his pocket even as his coat and swords appear from within him with a deep red glow.
It only takes a few clicks for him to hum, "I've got the position of the Great Demon."
Mike gets a relieved look, "That's good. Shouldn't really be a problem for you guys, but just for the record, there are Acromantula and Centaurs in the forest."
She nods and smiles at him, "Won't be a problem, we'll be back soonish."
He nods, "Alright. I'm gonna go check in with some friends. I'm sure they're worried sick after I kinda disappeared for about two days without a word. Especially since I… kinda forgot to write them."
She laughs, "Go get your apologies dealt with before one of them starts getting the notion to take drastic actions." He nods, then turns and leaves with Hermione with a wave over his shoulder. She turns to her mate, "So, fancy a stroll through a forest?"
He grins, "Been a while since we've had a proper date. It'll be just like old times in Aincrad."
She flutters her eyelashes at him jokingly, "With fights and everything. You really know how to treat a lady to a good time, don't you darling?"
He laughs, "Of course!"
She laughs as well, shaking her head, "Come on."
Without another word they head out. Perhaps it's because they can sense how dangerous they are, but for all that it's not too long before they start hearing the Acromantula around them, they aren't bothered even once, and the only glimpses they catch of them are while they're scurrying away.
While they could obviously get there way faster if they put the effort in to make use of their inhuman abilities, they aren't in any particular rush. They don't move at quite a casual stroll, but they aren't even running at human speeds.
Because of that, it takes about forty-five minutes before they find it. It's as weird as most Demons, looking kinda like a preying mantis but with a serpentine lower body instead of legs. Kazuto quickly tucks his phone away and draws his swords as soon as they see it, "Time to squash a bug. Hopefully it doesn't get guts everywhere. I just washed my hair."
She flashes a smile at him as she brings Shuraba out, "Aww. Dad would be so proud! You're starting to shit talk like a Sparda now!"
He snorts in amusement, "Well, if that's the case, then given how often your family likes to ask about dancing, shall we dance my fair lady?"
She laughs, "We shall."
It isn't particularly complicated. Her grandpa wasn't wrong about it being well within their capabilities, but to be perfectly honest, it was actually kinda nice to get back to more simple Demon Hunts after the cluster fuck that had been the invasion and the fact that most of the Hunts she's been going on since were for stronger, bolder Demons that go on the attack somewhere or another. It takes something like fifteen minutes, and that's with them taking it easy.
She gets a scythe Devil Arm similar to one of its mantis arms, but given she has Osiris, is not particularly useful to her. She turns to her mate, "You want it?"
He shrugs, "Not really my style."
She hums as they turn to start heading back, "No, I suppose it isn't, but given Osiris I don't exactly need it."
He flashes a grin at her, "Not to mention how jealous she'd get."
She shakes her head, even as she hears a mental sniff, 'I have no reason to get jealous of such a subpar weapon, even if you were so foolish as to use it, My Wielder.'
She huffs a small laugh. She was still getting used to Osiris switching to that form of address rather than referring to her by name, but while she'd never minded it, given that Osiris always said her name in a dismissive tone, she couldn't deny that it was nice to actually get some respect from one of her oldest weapons. At her mate's glance, she waves her hand mildly, "Just Osiris."
His lips twitch, undoubtedly all too able to imagine what she'd said. He tilts his head back with a hum as he stretches, "Y'know, other than occasionally hearing those Acromantula scurrying around out of sight, this is actually kinda nice. Even in VR, I think it's been a while since we took a walk like this. Without just traveling to a quest or something that is, or going around a city."
She bumps his shoulder with her own, "It'd be nicer without hearing them around, but I know what you mean."
He smiles over at her as he drops his arms, catching her hand and threading his fingers through hers, "Mmm. We should do something similar later." He glances away with an amused smile, "Without the giant spiders hanging around."
She laughs, "Just me and you, or did you wanna take Yui too?"
He hums thoughtfully, "Why not both? Go out with her first since we're getting a walk in now, and Yui would understand if we wanted a more proper date and would be more than happy to let us go without her the next time. Maybe have a picnic? We weren't together back then, but that was… kinda our first date. On the edge of Aincrad where we watched the sunset and then the fireflies?"
She leans over a little to brush a kiss against his cheek, "I remember, and that sounds like a plan."
This time as they make their way through the forest, it very much is a stroll, neither of them put off enough by the sounds of the Acromantula around them to ruin their enjoyment or put them in a rush. Giant potentially man-eating, if they have the opportunity, spiders they may be, but compared to their Demon Hunting job? Or even some of the stuff they've seen in VR? They aren't really worth much thought, nor are they particularly horrifying looking when they do catch glimpses of them. And while the darker forest may be somewhat creepy to normal people, it's actually nice and peaceful to them, not to mention beautiful. It'd be better without the occasional giant web from the Acromantula mind, but nothing is perfect.
With how casually they're strolling as they idly chat, it's a little over an hour before they're exiting the forest. The sun has set by the time they have, and she eyes the castle as they make their way towards it with a hum, "Should probably go speak to McGonagall to make sure she doesn't need anything else before we head out."
He shrugs, "Works for me."
She reaches for her brother mentally, 'Do you know where McGonagall is? We wanted to check to make sure there wasn't anything else before we went back.'
Her brother reaches back, 'I haven't seen her, but I could check the Marauders Map.'
She hums, 'Please do.'
She feels her brother's attention shift away, but it returns to her before she and Kazuto are three quarters to the castle, 'She's in her office. I was outside with my friends until recently, but it's close enough to dinner time that it felt like a waste to head up, so we've just been relaxing in the Great Hall waiting for dinner. I can meet you in the entrance hall and take you up if you'd like, or we could wait the half an hour or so for her to come down to dinner?'
She hums again, 'Might as well just head up.'
She gets a murmur of agreement and withdraws from her connection to her brother, "Mike's gonna meet us in the entrance hall and lead us up to swing by and speak to McGonagall. He's actually down here anyway, so he'll probably get there before we do."
Kazuto nods, "Alright."
Mike has indeed gotten there before them when they enter, so they head over to where he's standing at the foot of a large staircase and start to follow him up. Except… when they get up the staircase, she sways as something pulls at her attention, the world fading out of focus around her gently. It was like she was ensnared by a silent siren's song. She vaguely feels herself turn away from the corridor she had started to follow Mike towards, beginning to walk towards the shifting staircases, her mate and brother quickly talking to each other in the background. It's fairly hazy as she walks, not particularly sure where she's going, but not bothered by her lack of knowledge. After a bit, she vaguely hears Mike hesitantly speak up behind her, causing something in front of her to swing open. She steps through without hesitation, finding the hazy blurry gray world suddenly a riot of red and gold around her as she keeps walking. Entirely on its own, she vaguely notices her body lean over and open something, before begins to rummaging through stuff.
She doesn't know if it's because they are speaking louder or what, but while it sounds distant like it's coming from down a tunnel, she actually hears her mate's words this time, "Should we be letting her go through… whoever that stuff in the trunk belongs to?"
Her brother replies, "It's fine. It's my trunk since I hadn't gotten a chance to move to my private quarters yet since McGonagall was a bit too busy to take me and Hermione to them earlier, and while I don't know what's going on, I don't mind."
Silence except for her moving things settles for a few beats before the haze disappears over something silvery, the only thing in focus in her world. Without input from her, one of her hands darts towards it and snatchers it up. The world coming back into focus, her mind clearing up, and her body reverting to her command as she straightens. She blinks, shaking out a silvery… blanket? She only has a beat to feel confusion before it suddenly moves, it's center and ends unraveling and traveling up her arms as the threads lose their silvery shimmer and begin to weave themselves into a black cloak. The fabric she's holding unravels last, though it doesn't lose its silvery sheen, instead becoming a lining on the edges for the most part, though some of it makes itself a stitch somewhat hidden by the folds of fabric around her neck into an all too familiar symbol. The symbol flashes the same AK green her ring had when it went from stone to ring, which itself flashes.
The Deathly Hallows. Seems she'd found the Cloak of Invisibility.
She turns to her brother, who looks just as shocked as she feels, "Where on earth did you get this?"
Mike blinks rapidly, "That… Potter gave it to me. I think it's a family heirloom, but he never said that when he gave it to me, just that it was mine now, and he hasn't tried to get it back, so I figured I had a decent case if he tried to accuse me of stealing an heirloom after leaving the Potters…"
Kazuto leans forward in curiosity, "And this is?"
She blinks at him, "Ah. You never looked up the Deathly Hallows after I told you guys about the Resurrection Stone, did you?" He shakes his head with a vague mumble about there not being time, "That symbol you saw glowing green? It's the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. Which means this is the Cloak of Invisibility."
Kazuto scrunches his nose cutely in confusion, "You aren't invisible though."
She hums, looking over her shoulder towards the hood, "Have to have the hood up in this form maybe?"
She reaches up over her shoulder a little to grab it and pull it up into her head. Before she can ask if that worked her mate tilts his head, "Still visible but… honestly I don't know if it's the story attached to the Hallows warping my perception of what, but while it isn't a robe, with the hood up there's something distinctly Grim Reaper like about it."
Her brother pipes up, "So it's not just me?"
Her mate shakes her head, and she feels a flicker of frustration as she wonders how she's supposed to use the Cloak of Invisibility, but a split second later, her brother and mate both gasp, and Kazuto steps forward almost in alarm, "Marzanna?"
She tilts her head, "Did I go invisible?"
They both jump at her voice and nod rapidly, and her mate hesitantly steps close enough to reach out and poke her shoulder, before tilting his head, "That is the weirdest thing ever…"
She hums. She's not entirely certain how she'd become visible, but since she had already tested the hood, so maybe… She focuses and a minute later her mate jumps again as he turns his gaze to meet hers, "Figure it out then?"
She shrugs, "I think it's just desire based now. Though I wonder."
She wills herself invisible again, knowing she'd succeeded when her mate twitches slightly as eyes unfocus from hers then reaches up and pushes the hood off. Immediately he refocuses, "Getting used to it?"
She shakes her head, "Testing whether I had to have the hood up. I didn't will the invisibility away, so I guess I do."
Mike steps forward in interest, "It's a good thing to know."
She hums as she looks down at it thoughtfully, "The question is, why did it suddenly call for me?"
Mike shrugs as they start to head back out to the castle proper, "Well, when you gave us the more detailed story, you mentioned Lucifer's theory that you were the Resurrection Stone's first true master, and the Hallows clearly do have some sort of connection between them, so maybe you getting is attention and becoming is master grabbed their attention too? And even if they didn't necessarily want you as a master immediately, given they're objects of incredible power, I doubt you resisting it this whole time, barring that slip up near the beginning, and only becoming its master when you decided to helped with not drawing their interest. With their power, while they aren't exactly sentient, I can only imagine that rather than deterring them it probably just made you more appealing to them." He shrugs again, "If that's true, it's actually not that surprising that the Cloak would call to you as soon as you were comfortably in range." Then he flashes a grin, "Just need the Elder Wand now to find out whether there's any truth to that whole 'Master of Death' thing."
She rolls her eyes, "I'm not interested. And even if I was, finding the Elder Wand? That's not going to happen any time soon. Who knows where it is nowadays."
Mike shrugs. She shakes her head, even as she glances down at the Cloak again, 'Grim Reaper like, huh? Well. Arguably the only real Master of Death is the Reaper. Fucking hell, if the Wand makes its way to me, it better not make me a Reaper or something…'
They make their way back towards the ground floor as she mentally grumbles and her mate and brother joke about the Elder Wand and where it is. It isn't too long before they're stepping off the grand staircase. Off to her right were the double doors leading into the Great Hall and she can hear an incredible amount of voices coming from it, no doubt the students sitting down to dinner. Before she can turn to her brother and say her goodbyes, since McGonagall is undoubtedly in the Great Hall by now and she's already assured, both herself and him, that there were no other Demons around, a commotion draws her attention to the main doors as they're thrown open and a sizable group comes stumbling in.
Mike hisses lowly, "The Order of the Phoenix? What are they doing here? Of all places, why here?"
The commotion only gets louder as they begin to talk frantically amongst themselves, each trying to be heard over the others. The noise in the Great Hall quickly peters out, no doubt the closest hearing the commotion and going quietly which lets the next closest hear, continuing on as the silence ripples out. After a bit of time of her trying to work out what's going on from their frantic discussion, if it can even be called that, she starts to hear more movement as people make their way to the Great Hall doors. They soon open to reveal McGonagall and the other teachers hurrying out and trying to find out what's going on, but the students were drifting over a bit behind them.
Mike gets his answer as Dumbledore, at the head of the group, glances over the Order, silencing them with a wave of his hand, "With headquarters destroyed, the Order of the Phoenix will have to make base here. Minerva-"
She scowls at Dumbledore, then cuts him off as she steps closer to him, "No."
Dead surprised silence falls over both the Order and the students who had gathered around the Great Hall doors at the commotion of the Order entering. His eyebrow twitches, "Miss Sparda, I am the headmaster of this school. Who can and can't be here is none of your-"
She barks a laugh, "I don't give s flying fuck who you are. This is a school. A place for children. Children who are currently taking refuge here, despite the fact that school is actually out." She shakes her head and gives him a mock smile, "Despite the fact my family has enough on you to see you get a life sentence in Azkaban, we've been holding back given the fact that regardless of how much of a piece of shit you are, you do make a good deterrent against V-Mort attacking Hogwarts. However, if you've decided to house your little Order here, painting a much larger target on Hogwarts, deciding that the safety of the kids is a lower priority…" She flicks her hand and draws her wand, leveling it at Dumbledore, who immediately brings his own up at her, "Then you have officially outlived what little usefulness you had."
He scowls at her, "The war effort-"
She cuts him off coldly, "Could easily base itself elsewhere."
Her brother steps up to her side, fingering his own wand, though his still isn't raised, "Quite."
She feels the wards shift around her, likely in preparation to throw her out, and though she hasn't earned her Ward Crafter Mastery yet, she still applies everything she does know to reach for them and attempt to rip control from Dumbledore before he can throw her out and endanger the students. It'd be easier to rework the master of the wards at the wardstone, but it wasn't strictly impossible to yank control away without it. She braces herself for one hell of a fight, however, to her surprise, it isn't needed since the Hogwarts wards almost eagerly hand themselves over to her.
Though, now that she thinks about it, given it's been a school since its creation and the founders weren't idiots, it's not actually wildly surprising that they may have designed the wards to abandon a ward master actively putting the children in danger in favor of someone trying to guarantee their safety. If she's right about that though, honestly the biggest surprise is that they hadn't abandoned Dumbledore before this, though given that anyone they could transfer to would either listen to whatever Dumbledore told them anyway or would not have the best in mind for all the students, including the non-magical born, then she supposes she can see why it might've just put up with him as grudgingly as wards are capable of being.
Dumbledore sucks in a sharp breath, "How-"
She smiles tightly at him, "Well. I wasn't expecting it, but when you think about it, this place was designed as a school from the get go, and in a time when things were much more dicey for magicals. It's not too surprising that the wards would prefer someone with the kids' best interest in mind over someone actively putting them in danger." She gives him a mocking look, "It's rather hilarious actually. Even the wards of Hogwarts agree with me over you. So much so they abandoned you as the ward master and practically handed themselves to me."
Eyes go wide and breaths are sharply sucked in all around them as people understand what just happened. The expressions of the teachers and Order members, already conflicted as the idiocy of what Dumbledore had been suggesting is pointed out, become even more unsure. As much as Dumbledore has carefully cultivated his image, Hogwarts was held in even higher regard, to find that even it was siding with her… And that's without even mentioning how the possibility that the world renowned Sparda's have proof of crimes Dumbledore has committed that could see him in Azkaban and have only been holding back because they still found him useful to protect the children has to be affecting his reputation.
He casts a stunner at her without warning, and she leans out of the way and can't help but smile mockingly at him, "Abandoning your reputation Dumbledore? I mean, you did just fire a spell, the first spell that was shot here mind you, at someone entirely unprompted just because things aren't going your way."
He grits his teeth, but it's too late, he's already fired, and the people around him, both the Order and the crowd by the Great Hall doors, are starting to eye him. He fires a leg locking spell at her, and she side steps and quickly snaps out a disarming charm.
Dumbledore tries to Transfigure the ground up into a physical shield, maybe with the intention of doing something with it after, but she'll never know since she can feel the distortion of the castle through the wards and they let her shove it back down into place, letting her disarming charm connect, ripping Dumbledore's wand from his hand, much to his clear shock, and she reaches up to catch it. As soon as her hand closes around it though, to everyone's surprise, herself included, light in the same shade of green as the killing curse flares to life in the air in front of her in the form of a well known symbol, as well as on the Stone still in its in its ring form on her hand, the stitching in the Cloak, and at the end of the handle of the Wand.
The Deathly Hallows.
She stares at them for a moment before looking up at Dumbledore, thoroughly unimpressed, but is almost immediately distracted by the numbers hovering above his head. A dark gray thirty, and above it a red twenty with a plus sign before it. A glance around shows everyone has the numbers above them, though they only have one set in bright cheerful green, and she has a sneaking suspicion that it represents how long they have left to live given the older she knows someone to be, the smaller the number is. Particularly given that neither Devils nor Seraphim have a natural end to their lifespans, which also means a Nephilim made from them don't either. Something always has to kill them, whether it be regular murder or more along the lines of a disease capable of harming them, and the only two people in the hall that don't have numbers above them are Mike and Kazuto. Neither does she when she glances up, but she has no idea if it's because she's the owner of the items or if she just can't see her own numbers.
Master of Death indeed.
The heavy incredulous silence lingers over the crowd for a few more moments, then her brother breaks it as he doubles over laughing, "That's hilarious! 'I have no interest in the Elder Wand' she said 'I'm not going to go looking for it' she said 'who even knows where on earth it is' she said. All of ten minutes ago! After the Cloak I unknowingly had called out to her because she got its attention after the Stone practically fell into her lap a few months ago and decided she'd make a good true master and basically fought her to get her to accept being its master."
She gives him a dirty look and points the Elder Wand at him in annoyance, "Shut up Mike. Or I swear I'll find out if this wand actually boosts your power and hex you."
He looks up at her, crying from the laughter still pouring out of him, "Worth it!"
Before anything else can be said, a house elf pops in, "The fightings is done?"
She glances down at the elf, "Yes. And you would be?"
The elf smiles up at her, "I's being Wokpey new Head Missy ma'am. Wokpeys being the head of the Hogwarts house elves ma'am. Wokpeys be coming to ask new Head Missy if Head Missy wants elves to clear out old Headmaster's stuff or if new Head Missy would prefer to do it."
She blinks, "Head Missy? You mean Headmistress? I'm not…"
Wokpey nods quickly, "Head Missy is being new Ward Master. Ward Master and School Head is being one and the same, so Missy is being Head Missy now."
She pauses as she takes that in, "Ok then, that's … something to think about later." She shakes her head, "Pack up just his clothes please." She eyes him, "One of the things we have on him is a tendency to take things that don't rightfully belong to him by various means, so I'd like to go through the rest. Actually," She pauses, before glancing down at the elf, "While I doubt he ever found any of them enchanted with anything worth taking, only pack up clothes with standard enchantments so I can check those too, since I honestly wouldn't put anything past him at this point. When you have them packed up, please take them down to Aberforth Dumbledore at the Hogs Head bar in Hogsmeade and explain the situation to him as well as the fact that I'm aware he doesn't have a good relationship with his brother after their sister died, but I'm just asking him to hold onto them until his brother can collect them. He can throw them at him and kick him right back out for all I care."
Wokpey nods then pops away, and Minerva McGonagall steps forward, "I can understand not wanting to draw dangerous attention to the children at Hogwarts, but the Order is in need of medical attention, and Saint Mungo's isn't exactly safe at the moment. If you are going to insist they leave, you should at the very least allow me to take them to get patched up by Madam Pomfrey."
She glances over at her, then sweeps her gaze over the injured Order awkwardly standing around, "Alright." Then she glances at her mate, "Go with them please. If nothing else, I want to be certain Dumbledore doesn't try anything."
Then she gives her still laughing brother an annoyed look as she points the wand towards the staircase and kicks him in the butt, "While they're doing that, go make yourself useful."
She reaches out for the wards, feeling the tie to the headmaster office password and mentally changes it, once that's done she temporarily opens the floo inside, then mentally reaches for him, 'I made the headmaster office password Changes Are Needed, since this school sure as fuck needs them, so go up there and floo the ICW law enforcement branch. Let them know Dumbledore is still at Hogwarts for the moment, but that he's outlived his usefulness. Unlike your case against the younger Weasleys, that's very much higher on the priority list, so they'll probably come immediately.'
Her brother, still snickering, saunters off even as he sends back a feeling of understanding to let her know he got the message.
She sighs as she turns to the people from the Great Hall, still lingering in the doorway and staring at her with wide eyes, "Go back to your meals please, if you're concerned about an attack, they'll get medical attention and then be out of here."
There are murmurs as the crowd begins to break up. At the same time, she heads off towards the stairs down into the dungeon, walking for now, but as soon as she's out of sight she flips her hood up, makes herself invisible, then darts off, taking advantage of her Nephilim abilities. She'd pulled up the hood partially to keep the portraits all over the place from seeing her abilities, partially to see if she'd need to use a sticking charm when she's moving at speed, which she's pleased to note she doesn't, as despite her speed the hood stays on without assistance.
She follows Hogwarts' guiding draw, and it isn't long before she's stopping in front of a set of large double doors, which open on their own. She steps in, her eyes immediately falling on the ward stone which she swiftly approaches. Her mouth tightens when she gets near, reaching up to her Augma to get it to start recording. Dotted over its crystal structure were blocks of similar material. This, undoubtedly, was the reason the wards were a tangled mess, which was subsequently weakening them, and what had drawn her down here. She traces through a string of runes, which have to do with the detecting and barring of dangerous items from Hogwarts, but the added section says that they're only barred at the Ward Master's leisure. Reaching out and laying a finger on it, she huffs incredulously. It's only held in place by a sticking charm, but then again, given that all but the Ward Master are barred from the room, she supposes there's no reason to go for anything fancy.
Canceling the spell, she has her Augma essentially screenshot -or vision shot as it's called- what she's seeing before she pulls it off, or pulls it out as it turns seems, as the back has the Runes of the original line extending from it, placed in such a way so as to fill in the original rune carvings when it's in place so as to override it completely. The original reading lets her know that essentially Dumbledore had changed it so that dangerous objects didn't have to be kept out if the Ward Master left them alone, rather than being barred entirely. It wasn't even that it was altered later as opinions shifted as to what was dangerous and what wasn't, as it wasn't drawing from a list but rather gauging the knowledge and intent of the owner to see if they meant harm towards any residents of Hogwarts. You could outright bring a sword into Hogwarts as long as you had no intention of using it, or at least not using it for anything but defense, whereas you couldn't even bring a letter opener if you genuinely had the intention to stab someone. If it made it onto the grounds because you didn't initially have the intention to harm with it and then the intentions changed, the items were automatically confiscated, labeled as who they belonged to and what they intended to use it for, and transported to a room to be stored until they could be reviewed. She smiles grimly as she feels the wards notify her of dozens of confiscations happening at the same time.
She swiftly looks over all the other modifications, not finding any that were there for good reason due to changing times requiring updating, and removing them speedily as she looks them over, though she is dutiful enough to take more vision shots of each. There were dozens of them too, but thankfully her aspirations towards having Warding Mastery means it doesn't take long. The whole thing, even traveling down here, takes maybe twenty minutes at the most.
The moment she's done, the wards, which had steadily been untangling and gaining strength as she worked, suddenly flare up, and she's taken quite by surprise by a voice, 'Ah. That's much better. It's been so long since I've been unshackled.' She blinks rapidly, but before she can ask, the voice pipes up again, 'Ah, right, you didn't get a proper orientation from the previous ward master, for rather obvious reasons. The rumors of Hogwarts being sentient are true. I am Hogwarts, it's a pleasure to not only meet you but to finally find someone with the safety of the children as their top priority. In regards to this school anyway.'
She blinks, "Not that I'm not grateful that you backed me up regarding the safety of the students, but you do realize that between the fact I haven't yet had the opportunity to fully finish the education I want, since I haven't earned my Masteries yet, as well as my work regarding Demon Hunting, I'm likely not actually a good choice to be Headmistress? I wouldn't have enough time to give it the attention it deserves."
A sigh, 'I'm aware, and if anything I appreciate your honesty as well as the fact that you respect putting in the proper amount of care and attention that the position and this school requires. Something that Dumbledore certainly didn't, as you well already know given the other occupations he had at the same time. It's still a vast improvement over him and choices that would just bow to his whims even if I had tried to transfer the control to them.'
She glances back towards the door, and before she can say anything, she feels a flicker of amusement, 'Go on. You have things to see too and think over. While I cannot speak to you outside of this room, I don't mind.'
She nods, then turns, "Then I'll talk to you later."
She gets a murmur of farewell then heads up. With the wards back to what they're supposed to be, she can feel that the Order is still in the Hospital Wing, and with a vicious smile, she notes that she can also feel a group that's been steadily making its way from the Headmaster's office only a few corridors away. Undoubtedly the ICW law enforcement Aurors and Mike happily leading them.
Truth was, they had already handed over evidence of Dumbledore's wrong doings, as well as anything they came across later, and even the evidence against Potter, but they had spoken with the ICW and convinced them to sit on it until Dumbledore wasn't useful anymore, since the safety of the kids was more important than prosecuting them immediately and while they had to hold off on Dumbledore for obvious reasons, they had, unfortunately, been forced to argue that arresting Potter would likely tip Dumbledore off and possibly get him to do a runner.
She quickly heads that way, Trickster Blinking along, wanting to make sure the ICW Aurors don't have any trouble with Dumbledore. She gets there a little before Mike and the Aurors, tugging her hood off before she enters the hospital wing, and striding in. She immediately looks over at her mate, who's leaning against the doorframe to her right. He nods, "He's been whining, complaining, and trying to manipulate everyone, but no trouble otherwise."
Dumbledore bristles from where he's standing near some of the beds the Order are scattered over, "I have been doing no such thing! I was merely arguing that the Order has nowhere else to go! And that young Sparda is in no way qualified to be the Head of the School!"
She eyes him, "Like you're any better? I've just come back from the ward stone." She takes a few steps forward and holds up the added pieces of crystal he'd used to modify it, "A man who does things like stops the wards from either keeping out or confiscating anything anyone has with the intention of causing true harm is not particularly suited to overseeing a school."
Off to the side, McGonagall sucks in a sharp breath, then takes a deliberate step away from where she'd been hovering at Dumbledore's side with a conflicted expression, which disappears as she gives him a disgusted look.
Dumbledore flounders as he looks around, only to find that basically everyone is eying him with a similar expression to McGonagall, in suspicion, or in silent fury. Off to the side, Potter growls, "Should've just drowned you as a baby."
Breaths are sucked in sharply all around, and she eyes him with some hatred and disgust of her own, "You never did like my existence tainting your little forcibly made bubble of your perfect little life. Then again, it was a lie to begin with, given my mother was only ever with you because of constant love potions since she was sixteen."
Gasps ring out from the crowd this time, and Potter quickly flicks his gaze around, "That- That's nothing more than a lie her so-called husband spread to cover up him love potioning her."
Before anyone can respond, another voice pipes up from behind her, "The plethora of evidence submitted against you says otherwise ." She turns towards to find the Aurors and Mike entering. A woman walking beside Mike, who was clearly the one who spoke earlier given her voice, adds, "Which is why you, James Potter, are hereby under arrest by the ICW, on the charges of using love potion, false imprisonment, sexual assault, child neglect, child abandonment, and child abuse. All of which, I should note, were crimes committed against the Sparda's an Ancient and Royal family, and while the magical world in general doesn't put nearly the weight of nobility as the UK puts on it, when those crimes are against one of the four Ancient and Royal houses in the world as well as the house that is essentially the protectors of Earth from the denizens of Hell…"
Dumbledore steps forward, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, "Now, now, there must be some sort of misunderstanding-"
She flicks her wand and manacles appear on his wrists, "You are also under arrest, Albus Dumbledore, on the charges of aiding and abetting James Potter's pending crimes, endangerment of minors, and the manslaughter of one Ariana Dumbledore." She smiles sharply, "Honestly, you did us something of a favor by making the Sparda's decide you'd outlived your usefulness given how much the ICW Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been chomping at the bit since they submitted their evidence, which has only been getting higher and higher as more comes to light and you continue to commit crimes."
Proving Dumbledore's hand in killing Ariana in a way that was legally accepted had been hard, but she absolutely deserved to have justice finally done, so it'd been entirely worth it. Before Dumbledore can do much more than splutter in shock, she steps over to the Auror, "You have a cell phone, right?" The Auror looks over at her and nods, brow furrowed in confusion. She hands over the crystals, "You can add those to the evidence for his endangerment of minors, and I have both Augma video and pictures to prove those came from the Hogwarts ward stone. The very first one of those modifications that I removed was to a part of the wards that was designed to read intent to cause true harm, ie allowing practice duels but being able to differentiate a genuine attempt to cause harm, and either outright bar items intended to be used to cause the harm, or confiscate them if they were brought into the wards without such intent but the owner then began to possess such intent. It was altered via Dumbledore's magical signature to make it so it only kicked in if he allowed it to."
The woman's mouth pinches a little as she gives Dumbledore a disgusted look as she accepts the crystals and tucks them into an evidence bag, then tucks that away as she draws out a phone. She pulls her own out, pulling up the pictures and video her Augma had captured and sent to it before sending it over to the Auror after getting her phone number.
The Auror looks her phone over for a beat, then confirms the correct number of photos and the video have been received. Dumbledore shuffles a little anxiously, before trying to switch tactics, "Mike, you cannot let this happen. You are the Boy-Who-Lived. The child prophesied to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Who will prepare you for your destiny if I am arrested?"
Her brother tosses his head back with a brief laugh, then turns to her, "Can I? Please?"
She sighs, "I guess."
He turns back to Dumbledore with a shit eating grin, "You know, funny timing actually, but my mom discovered something rather interesting today. Do you know what it was?" Dumbledore's brows are already furrowed since Mike laughed, and he shakes his head a bit wearily, "It's that you were wrong when you proclaimed me the Boy-Who-Lived. For reasons that are none of your business, my mom had reason to dig into my baby memories, with my permission of course. She found that this scar? The one you all deem so important? Wasn't made by V-Mort. It was made by a weird piece of debris hitting me at a weird angle after V-Mort's Killing Curse was tossed back at him by Marzanna. She is rightfully the Girl-Who-Lived. And honestly? While my mom wasn't certain and pointed out arguments for what the 'marking' in that prophecy was referring to for both of us, I'm personally pretty damn sure that's also Marzanna. And considering she was raised practically her whole life by Demon Hunters? She certainly doesn't need any help from you. Or did you not get that memo when she got away herself just fine when a fight gone wrong saw her captured by V-Mort?"
Potter splutters in shock as everyone else stares at them with gaping mouths, "You- It- That- She can't possibly be the child of prophecy! It says born to those who have thrice defied him! Her father didn't defy him until recently! Years after her birth."
Mike grins, "The exact wording was 'born to those who thrice defy him' not defied him. That does not necessitate the defying happening before the birth."
She shakes her head as the stunned silent Dumbledore is led out with the spluttering Potter by the Aurors. She sweeps her gaze over the occupants of the room, "You can stay here long enough for Madame Pomfrey, I believe from what Mike has said?" She glances at the healer who nods, "For Madame Pomfrey to patch you up, but please leave after that. I'm sorry, but the presence of the Order will only draw V-Mort's attention much quicker." She sighs, "In fairness, Dumbledore getting tossed out will do that too, but we may be able to delay it without you here."
A young woman with purple hair chews on her lip, "I get that, I do! But if he's going to be drawn either way, shouldn't we be on standby for when they do strike?"
She sighs, "No offense, but with how injured the lot of you are, I'm not sure how helpful you'd be. You're welcome to set up in a safe house the Sparda family has in Hogsmeade or something similar if you're really determined to be nearby, might even be beneficial since V-Mort could try striking there first to cut off attempts from the children to escape there, but I still stand by the fact your presence here would likely speed things up, and not in a good way." She glances at her mate, "In the meantime, forgive me, but I can't take chances on any of you deciding to be stubborn idiots, so my mate here will stay here and wait for you to be ready to leave before escorting you out." He nods, both in agreement at her words for the Order and also to let her know he'll do it. She shakes her head, then glances at Madame Pomfrey, "I won't ask you to be sloppy, but please be swift about seeing to them, Madame Pomfrey." She gets a nod, so she glances at her brother, then her mate, "In the meantime, I am going to head up to the Head's office and floo Mom and the others to get some help in going through Dumbledore's stuff to make sure it's actually his as well as through the records to see how bad a mess he's made of things."
They both nod and without another word, she turns to go, quickly making her way through the school, though she doesn't bother with Blinking this time. She sighs as she finally steps into the Headmaster's office. Glancing around before striding over to the floo. She grabs up some floo powder and tosses it in, "Devil's Den."
The floo call connects and she kneels down to put her face in, just in time to see her grandpa shake his head, "He really is childish sometimes. Given he's a megalomaniac, I'm not surprised he was more focused on resolidifying his power after Mundus died and the Demonic Invasion occurred, and practically right after Marzanna and Osiris did so much damage to his forces back when her Nephilim Blade broke apart and she got captured, rather than on attacking the Order since he'd only found their base during the Demonic Invasion, but really, responding to Nagini's death by throwing a tantrum and going after them? Utterly childish."
She hums, "So that's why they were attacked the same day the Locket was destroyed and we went after Nagini. Does that mean we can go after V-Mort now?"
Her family, which was basically all gathered in the living room, all turn to her. Her mom tilts her head, eyebrows furrowing, voice absent, "No, he immediately went to ground after, and while the Detector led us to him, the wards were strong enough that they would be practically impossible to get through either sneakily or at least before he could get away." Then her voice becomes more focused, "Anyway, why are you floo calling instead of coming through? Did something come up?"
She snorts, "You could say that. Short version? We went and dealt with the Demon, then when we went up because I wanted to see if McGonagall needed anything else before we left and I was… drawn somewhere else. Specifically to Mike's trunk, which my body started rooting through without any direction from me. Turns out Mike had the Invisibility Cloak, the Deathly Hallows one."
There are choking noises from her family, and she shrugs, "He's got the theory that my managing to resist the Stone other than that initial slip up and only becoming its true master because I chose to got the attention of the other Hallows. Especially since it looked like a square of some silvery fabric, but practically the moment I grabbed it, it started unraveling and moving up my arms before it eventually wove itself into an actual cloak. Anyway. It was dinnertime by then, so we went down since we figured McGonagall was in the Great Hall by then. Just in time to see the Order come stumbling in. Hogwarts has enough of a target on it already as far as V-Mort is concerned, by pure virtue of being outside of his control, so the moment Dumbledore started talking about housing his little Order there and undoubtedly drawing more attention to a school full of children taking refuge, I put my foot down. He started to say some shit about how it wasn't up to me since he was Headmaster, so I straight up told him he'd outlived his usefulness if he was endangering the kids further by bringing the Order here, so there was no longer any reason to keep back the ICW Law Enforcement waiting to arrest him. Felt the wards start to shift, presumably as he prepared to toss me out, reached for them with the intention of wrestling them away from him. Turns out that Hogwarts doesn't like him either, and between him, who was actively putting the kids housed in it in danger, and me, who wasn't going to stand for it, it picked me and basically handed the wards over to me without a fight."
They all stare at her. She scratches her cheek, "So, considering the Headship is tied to the Ward Master as it turns out, I kinda… unintentionally stole the Headship of Hogwarts from him? So I could kinda use a bit of help over here. Both in going through his stuff to figure out what's actually his and to untangle the mess I'm sure he's made of the school with his own megalomania. Oh, and Dumbledore and Potter were arrested. And also, before I forget, I told the Order they could use the Hogsmeade safe house. Both so they had somewhere to keep their heads down if necessary, and because they realized that it probably won't take long for V-Mort to find out Dumbledore is gone and attack, and they wanted to be close by to potentially help. Still didn't want them at the school itself since that'd put even more of a target on Hogwarts, and we may be able to at least delay things without them around, and also because I wouldn't put it past him to attack Hogsmeade first to try and cut off possible escapes for the kids so I figured if they were that determined to help they could hang around there to protect it."
There's a brief stunned silence before her mom breaks it as she starts laughing, which sets the others off. She pouts at them, and her mom shakes her head, "Sure honey, I'll be right through." She glances over at one of the couches, "You could probably be rather helpful with the paperwork given how good you are at getting to the root of things under all the smoke and misdirection if you're up for it Kat?"
Aunt Kat stands up as she nods, "Sure. Not a whole lot for me to do lately anyway, since there's so many Demons around that there's a little too much heat for me to go poking around anyway."
Her grandma also climbs to her feet, "Considering I just finished up my main focus with the Horcruxes, I could come help too if you'd like?"
Her mom nods, "The more the merrier. And the faster it should go." She turns to her, "Any particular floo address, or is it more standard."
She shakes her head, "Standard. Just Hogwarts Headmaster's Office."
Her mom nods, "Alright. Back up and we'll come through."
Before she can pull her head back, she sees her grandpa shake his head in amusement, "You girls have fun."
She pulls her head out before she hears any more, and it's only moments after she's stood up and backed away that the floo flares up, letting first her mom, then her Aunt, and finally her grandma through.
Her grandma immediately starts looking around, scrutinizing everything she comes across, and she waves over towards the desk and the almost hidden filing cabinets behind it, "Guess the paperwork would all be over there. Suppose we should go through it for any crimes before we try and figure out an actual Headmaster I can hand the wards off to." She glances at her grandma, "Also, keep an eye out for a Philosopher's Stone. I have a sneaking suspicion that the one Mike saw in first year isn't as destroyed as Dumbledore claimed it was."
Her grandma nods, and her mom tilts her head vaguely over her shoulder as she rounds the desk, "Wouldn't surprise me. Anyway, McGonagall will probably be more than up to the task, provided she's gotten a good wake up call about Dumbledore, but I agree that we should wait at least until we have a chance to go through all of this."
She hums, "Considering she was there when I handed over both the add-on crystals he'd stuck to the Ward Stone to modify it to his liking as well as photo and video evidence of where I got them and what the sections he modified are supposed to be, and outright told them that the first one I'd fixed allowed the wards to keep out or confiscate anything that the owner intended to use to cause genuine harm so that the wards could only do it if he allowed them to? She stepped away from his side and started looking at him in disgust right then and there."
Her mom snorts, "I'm not surprised. Harm to Hogwarts and the children inside is unquestionably something McGonagall would never abide by." She shakes her head, "So let's get this done as soon as possible so she can drop the Deputy part and just be Headmistress. Me and Kat have got the paperwork for now. Go help your grandma to speed that part up."
She laughs lightly as she moves over to do just that.