Chapter 30, Mirror Mirror, On The Wall, Who Has The Purest Blood Of All?
The conversation strayed from history for a bit while everyone, save for Bella, explained wands versus wandless magic to Arthur, and how the wand chose the wizard unless Mag Snape made them one. For her part, Bella sat staring thoughtfully into space, allowing the conversation to flow around her.
It was finally Rod who returned to the topic of history, picking up with the founders of Hogwarts creating the school after the last wizarding versus Muggle war of their own time. He told of the Ilvermorny school in America as well since Arthur was American. Then he touched on Durmstrang and the other European schools.
"There are magic schools in most countries," he concluded.
"It's fascinating that there is so much hidden in plain sight," Arthur marveled. "I mean, I knew there were things that exist that I can't see, like ghosts. I just never considered magic to be one of those things. When... we Muggles read of magic or watch stories about it on TV, it's called fantasy, because it all seems so wonderful. It doesn't seem anything but dangerous right now, though the fast travel is really nice!"
"Magic is just a way of life for us, but the few times I've had to venture out and exist, even for a moment, like a Muggle, it most definitely seems wonderful," Bellatrix said. "It allows us to do things far easier and faster for one thing. For another, it allows us abilities that Muggles will never possess, such as invisibility."
"Too right," Rod agreed, nodding fervently.
"Invisibility," Arthur breathed. "Yeah, that is a good one."
"And life extension, all sorts of neat creatures, and preserving ancient books," Hydra was quick to add. "I could go on and on. For us all that is normal, but that's why Muggle life seems so horrifying."
"Fine, fine, magic is great," Arthur conceded with a chuckle. "Point taken. Just the bits where wizards even go after one another and other magical creatures made it look not so enticing for a minute."
"Why," Hydra asked. "Muggles do the same, as we've already established."
Arthur nodded. "Yes, but wizards have ways of doing it that I could never combat so I feel unsafe when I think on it for too long."
"Yeah," Rod agreed. "There is that. A good thing you have us to keep you safe, then."
Arthur grinned. "Too right."
Hydra picked up the history lesson by expounding on the various Dark Lords who'd risen to power over the centuries. "The last few were Grindelwald, who you met today, Voldemort, who we're about to get into, and Delphini I guess, who we just killed the hell out of."
"Spoken like a Slytherin, even if you are a Ravenclaw," Rabastan told Hydra with a pleased grin.
"I killed faster than my Slytherin brother when we did simulations in Defense class at Hogwarts," Hydra bragged proudly.
"Damn, we never got kill simulations in Defense class," Rabastan complained. Rodolphus and Bellatrix nodded in glum unison.
"School has become far more productive," Regulus said with a pleased smile. "After Voldemort, more of us parents on the board pushed for a bit more practical knowledge against serious threats."
"Good for you," Bellatrix said with a nod of approval.
"So all these Dark Lords want to stir shit up for one reason or other," Arthur asked.
"Some just wanted to gather a lot of power, but these latest three, yes," Hydra said. "Grindelwald, at least, really did intend to help wizarding kind, where Voldemort and his baby girl were just evil and messed up."
"Baby girl," Rabastan snickered in appreciation. "Some fucking baby girl."
Rod smirked. "To become a Dark Lord you have to be above the rest in more ways than one, or it won't work," he told Arthur. "In Grindelwald's case he's a genius, and stronger in most areas of magic than anyone else, but there are a few on his level, though he lacks his former ambitions."
"Yeah," Hydra enthused. "The great thing about him being around to help against Delphini is, like, it was a matter of who could out Dark Lord whom, and he is older with more experience so we lucked out."
"Hey, it was more than that," Rabastan said. "All of us helped, yourself included, young lady, and we're all very brilliant wizards, I'll have you know."
Hydra nodded. "That's very true. The cream of the crop of several generations was here to help Gellert, yet Delphini still gave us a hell of a struggle."
"We had lots of things in the bag that we never even got a chance to use," Rabastan grumbled. "Like the linking of wands that Regi never sorted how to do in time, and the finding home shit."
"Do not call me that, Rabastan. You know how much I hate it!" Regulus scowled at Rabastan who pointedly and smoothly ignored him. Hydra struggled to keep her lips from twitching. When Rabastan wasn't annoying, he really was funny! Likely Daddy Regulus did not wish for Arthur to mistakenly believe he would ever answer to Regi. Though she was curious about how and why they had intended to link their wands, another thought struck her.
"I'd not worry about that," she murmured in reply to Rabastan. A pensive frown suddenly crossed her face as she propped her arms on the heavy oak table. As she leaned forward, her long, black hair fell across one shoulder and Kreacher reached fondly over to push it back. She gave him a distracted smile that she knew hadn't reached her eyes due to the growing pit of dread suddenly making itself known in her stomach. "As was said earlier, everyone is inherently shitty so things won't remain peaceful for long. The wizards that don't have their magic are going to start some sort of trouble that we likely won't be able to predict, because who can predict crazy ever? And if we restore their magic, they'll start trouble in a different way for another reason. At least that one is more obvious."
"You mean the elves, Acromantulas, goblins, and such being given proper jobs and opportunities etc," Bellatrix asked, and Hydra nodded.
"Exactly. So any contingencies that you worked out with Grindelwald like linking wands that you didn't get to use against Delphini will likely still be needed. Nothing was wasted."
"I would prefer some wasted effort if it meant a break," Rabastan whined, and Bellatrix nodded in agreement.
"Indeed," she murmured.
"Why don't a lot of the wizards have their magic," Arthur asked.
"Because we decided to completely restructure the rubbish Ministry that never protected us against Voldemort," Regulus explained.
Taking turns, they told Arthur what Grindelwald had attempted to do, and how he'd failed, then explained Voldemort and his downfall. The Lestranges and Regulus freely divulged their part in everything, and Arthur didn't seem to think less of them for it.
"Everyone fucks up," he said. "You all got yourselves out of it, and you're okay. That's all that matters."
"I think they're even stronger for it," Hydra said, reaching to cover Kreacher and Regulus's hands briefly with hers, before glancing around to include the Lestranges. "And certainly wiser. Considering how you were raised, what were you all supposed to do? It was Voldemort's fault for being evil. You all were just trying to help someone that you believed to be another Grindelwald give wizards the rights you believed they deserved."
"That was just more understanding from the young generation than we usually give ourselves at times," Bellatrix said quietly, giving Hydra an appreciative, slightly tremulous smile.
"So after Voldemort's reign of terror, Kereston and some others began making plans for how to make a better Ministry for when this sort of thing happened again. Also just a better Ministry in general," Rabastan told Arthur. "They worked with the goblins to create a stripper potion that when taken removes the magic from a wizard or witch. This is because they knew many magic users would not accept the improvements they felt it was necessary to make.
"Thing is, though, without said improvements, shit will never change, and we'll never be safe even in our own nooks of the world. Fuck, if we can't be safe from the Muggles, we, at least, deserve to be safe from our own wizarding bullshit!
"Though goblins, elves, and spiders are in many ways better at structuring defenses than wizards, many still would not trust them to work alongside us. Granted goblins and wizards have had wars too, but it's the same as any wars, both have a side, and shit gets out of hand. The spiders were made by wizards from little ass spiders like tarantulas or whatever, and they've eaten wizards before, sure, but if they're given opportunities, the ones who are interested are totally willing to play nice. Now they only eat the criminals who have it coming. Aurors are now allowed to kill if they feel threatened, which is a great improvement on locking criminals up so they can break out to take a go at you again."
"It's true," Hydra said. "We took Delphini down way faster than the previous Ministries got Grindelwald or Voldemort. Not that I feel Grindelwald was wrong, mind you, but he still had several Ministries across the world chasing their tails for decades."
"So are these wizards who had their magic…stripped, ever getting it back," Arthur wanted to know.
"Most of them will, yes," Hydra replied. "Eventually and slowly, once our new order is firmly established, and they can see it's actually working out fine. Our victory against Delphini should go a long way toward proving this, at least, to the smart ones. It only took us a few years instead of a few decades."
"Hopefully they will see through our successful actions that magical divisions aren't working, and that the strength we have in unity is the way to go," Regulus said.
"This is a lot to take in," Arthur said, clutching at his head. He was grinning, though, so no one was truly concerned for the state of his mind. Though Hydra had given him a quick rundown earlier, they were going much more in depth now so that Arthur would have a clearer understanding of what he may be helping to deal with. "So the wizards don't like Muggles because they have no magic and were shitty to them. They don't like the goblins, and spiders, and probably elves, considering they made them slaves, because they have more magic and can potentially be shitty to them?"
"Didn't we decide earlier that it's basic human nature with everyone being fundamentally rubbish," Bellatrix asked and Arthur nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so. So your goal is away with the Muggles, but all magical races should unify? That's the message of your new order?"
Bellatrix grinned, shaking her head. "No. It's some of our personal messages, sure, and we're always going to feel that way, but many, our little Minister included, feel that Muggles are too plentiful and dangerous to do anything about. So we're back to leaving them alone and avoiding them."
"Yes, Kereston uses the term avoiding over hiding from, and we all like that a lot better," Hydra said brightly. "It's intent and energy. Everything has it, and avoiding something isn't as fear-filled as hiding from it."
"So back to Grindelwald, because I'll probably see him a lot, and so I want to understand him. He wanted to help wizards, and they weren't interested," Arthur asked.
"Some were, and some were too afraid to move forward… or rather move back to when Muggles knew of magic," Hydra said. "In some ways, he wanted to help Muggles too. He has psychic abilities and knew both Muggle world wars were coming. He wanted to stop them and was not allowed to do so."
"Stop them," Arthur asked. "By using magic?"
Hydra nodded. "Yes."
"Like a pissing contest of 'put your guns down because I have a spell for that,'" he asked and everyone laughed in appreciation.
"Yes," Hydra said. "Only now with Muggle technology so advanced, they have so many deadly weapons that unless done very carefully, we're not sure who would win, so it isn't worth the risk."
Arthur nodded. "So what gives some people magic and some not," he wondered.
"One would think genetics, but some Muggle-borns have it," Hydra said.
"Well, it could skip several generations and still be genetics," Arthur said. "Sucks I didn't get any if my family have any wizards way back in the blood lines."
"It has to get into the genetics, though," Bellatrix said thoughtfully. "So magic is in the genetics, but what put it there?" she continued. As she spoke her musings aloud, her gaze rested on Hydra. "If you ask me, it was probably humans breeding with goblins and elves long long ago. There were likely no Muggles or wizards, just humans, and humans had no magic. They weren't called Muggles as there were no wizards to call them anything.
No wizards at all until the humans began to breed with elves and goblins. Then they had half-breeds and those half-breeds had children and so on. If the half-breeds had children with other humans, over time they'd just look entirely human again. And yet the magic is still in the blood. So a human with magic breeds with another human with magic, then more and more wizards are born."
"Now that's a theory," Hydra exclaimed. "And a bloody good one too. I bet it's even true! You're very smart, Bella."
Bellatrix smiled proudly. "It is always pleasing to receive compliments, but especially so from a bloody Ravenclaw, even if it is only family. So... if I am correct, which I quite probably am, that means that the true purebloods are goblins and elves,' she said. "The ones who have been shit on the most by wizarding kind."
She let out a cackle at that, then the laughter became more intense until she was shrieking with hilarity. "Oh gods," she managed through her mirth. "Wizards and witches, myself included, were always so stuck on pureblood, and they had no true bloody idea where they'd likely come from! "At least I was always nice to you," she told Kreacher, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes as she struggled to catch her breath. "And the goblins...I was nice to them too, so that's alright then." She chuckled again, clearly unable to keep her laughter down, though she was beginning to look pained. "Gods my sides hurt," she complained.
Rod grinned at her. "What? Is Kreacher king now?"
"Well, hopefully bloody not but his blood is purer than ours," Bellatrix said, then she burst into laughter again.