Up in Smoke
Alethea27 and TheOneandOnlyEnigma
Disclaimer: The plot is ours, but the majority of the main characters belong to the imagination of J.K. Rowling. We do not gain any profit from writing this story.
Summary: With the Grimoire in safe hands and James Potter expelled, Severus Snape, Lily Evans, and their friends expected that their remaining time at Hogwarts would be smooth sailing. Unfortunately, the intentions of a few detestable individuals will make their lives more arduous. With the help of a few new friends, they all must join together to fight against the rising tide of evil in the Wizarding World.
A/N: This story is A/U (Alternative Universe) and is NOT canon compliant. If you don't like Sev/Lily fiction, don't read it.
The word spread like wildfire.
Professor Schell was going to duel Charles Potter.
Everybody was excited to see the duel take place. The students, the prefects, the ghosts, the portraits, even the other Professors. Minerva McGonagall herself was looking forward to seeing Charles Potter getting his arse kicked, even though she would never say this aloud.
Cassidy Doherty was busy taking bets on how long Charles would last against the DADA professor, because everyone knew there was no way Charles Potter would win.
Severus and his friends were looking forward to seeing Charles Potter get his comeuppance. However, it was hard to be excited for much with their moods being hampered by Dante's latest revelation.
Severus was in his room. The evening prior Remus suffered from a panic attack that led him to spend the night in the Hospital Ward. Everyone had to calm him down to reassure him to keep staying at Hogwarts.
It was Sunday afternoon and he was laying in his bed. Severus had been racking his brain about how Dante could possibly know about all of their secrets. Especially about the Grimoire of the Elements.
Severus had gotten up to change his shirt. As he did he looked at his body in the mirror. He welcomed a brief distraction from his troubles as he looked to see if anything had changed. He noticed his hair had grown a bit longer, perhaps he could get Petunia to cut it for him? He noticed he was a bit taller as well. He looked at his body, and noticed a little mole that he hadn't noticed before, but he assumed it was always there.
The door opened to show Bartholomew Braider coming into the room. "Good afternoon Severus."
"Good afternoon," Severus was wary of what he would say around Bartholomew. Even if he had no love for Dante, he was still part of The United. He groaned, his hands grasped his head as he grew frustrated. He laid back down on his bed and continued to stare at the ceiling.
"Are you just getting up? That's unlike you." Bartholomew looked at Severus, "Is something the matter?"
Severus looked at Bartholomew, "Yes."
"Anything I can do to help?"
Severus sighed as he sat up, "No. I…I don't know."
Bartholomew was a bit concerned, "Is it about Dante?"
Severus gazed at him, "How did you know?"
"Trust me, I know the look. I've seen it numerous times over the years." Bartholomew sat on his bed. "What's wrong?"
Severus sighed, he felt as if he was about to betray all of his friends by speaking to Bartholomew, but he had to tell someone. "Dante's found out some things about my friends, and we are all worried that he will use them against us."
Bartholomew nodded, "You worry he'll blackmail you with everything he's told you."
Severus shook his head.
"May I ask about some of the things that were revealed by Dante?"
Severus was unsure if he should share everything, but he did share a few of the secrets Dante revealed.
Bartholomew listened to Severus and thought to himself for a few moments. "As far as Dorian's father, I cannot help him with that. If there is evidence as to his guilt then the authorities will have to investigate it. Be it if he is guilty or innocent, that's what the evidence on the matter will show."
"Right, but don't you think that maybe Dante had someone frame Dorian's father about the evidence going missing?"
Bartholomew rubbed his forehead, "It's possible, yes, but highly unlikely. You would need to be high up in law enforcement, Wizarding or Muggle, to even attempt to hide, steal, or alter evidence on that level. With Dante's record there aren't many who would associate with him, even if he is Silas Yalarad's nephew."
"Okay," Severus took a breath.
"As far as Dumbledore asking Remus and Frank to report back to him about you and everyone else in your friend circle? He probably heard that little tidbit from Dumbledore himself, and made the right assumption that they didn't say anything to your friends."
Severus nodded, it was possible that was what happened.
"Now as far as Pettigrew and Dewhurst, it's a bit concerning how Dante found out about their situations. He could have paid some private investigators to find it out, but he may have done some searching on his own to find out that information."
"What can I do to help them?" Severus asked Bartholomew.
He sighed, "I don't know. You would have to ask them. I don't know Pettigrew personally, so maybe he would appreciate the gesture, but maybe not. Some people don't appreciate handouts or gestures like that. With Emily's mother, if conventional treatments aren't working for her, then perhaps wizarding treatments could."
"Have we cured Cancer?"
"Unfortunately not, we have been able to come up with treatments and some potions to help with the symptoms and the recovery process, but we are still decades away from coming up with a cure for cancer. We'd come up with a cure for Lycanthropy before we'd ever find a cure for Cancer."
Severus frowned, "I see."
Bartholomew looked at Severus, "Now, is there anything else?"
Severus shifted in his bed a little before speaking further. "Bartholomew, did the House Ghosts ever ask you and The United to find something?"
Bartholomew grew quiet as his eyes widened, "Severus….did you find the Grimoire of Elements?"
Severus didn't say anything but he shook his head.
"Merlin's Staff!" Bartholomew sobered quickly, "Does Dante know where it resides?"
"I think he does. He says that he'll tell Dumbledore where it is, and that he'll make our lives miserable for keeping it from him."
Bartholomew cursed under his breath, "Dumbledore would use it as a weapon against Voldemort, and his followers." He looked at Severus, "It's imperative that The Grimoire doesn't fall into the wrong hands, and Dumbledore's hands are, I'm sorry to say, the wrong hands. You need to move it from wherever it rests, because we have to assume that Dante knows where it is, and that he has plans to get it!"
Severus nodded, "I'll speak with Irene, her family is related to Lady Ravenclaw, and it was decided that her family should keep it."
"All right, I would meet with her and her parents to talk about this, and bring your grandparents into the discussion. They able to help in this situation, you should have called them first to be honest."
Severus flushed in embarrassment, "You're right."
"Nothing to be done about it now, just make sure you tell them."
Severus had a thought and asked Bartholomew, "Why did the House Ghosts ask you first to find the Grimoire?"
Bartholomew shrugged, "Well that's branding, isn't it? We are called The United because we have members of each house in our friend group."
"Why didn't you accept their call? To find the Grimoire?"
He sighed, "That was Sam's call, and he said no."
"Was that because he didn't get Dante's permission to?" Severus crossed his arms.
"That's no fair, Severus," Bartholomew admonished him. "Sam declined to find the Grimoire because he had no idea if it would risk the lives of his friends, and we all agreed."
Severus frowned, he understood where Sam was coming from.
"Also, Sam didn't think that The Grimoire should have been found to begin with."
Severus looked confused. "Why?"
Bartholomew rubbed his chin, "Two reasons. One, he theorized that the Grimoire was safest where it rested."
Severus shook his head softly in agreement. His friends and himself had quite the challenge in finding The Grimoire to begin with, but they found the Grimoire at Rowena Ravenclaw's grave. "It was at her grave, The Grimoire I mean."
"I figured as much."
"However, it only appeared before us once we spoke a phrase before her tombstone. Without it, I doubt that anyone would have found it." Severus looked to the side, "So without the key phrase, I surmise that the Grimoire wouldn't have been found." He looked back at Bartholomew, "What was his other reason."
"Reason number two, was that he didn't wish to go against Rowena Ravenclaw's wishes. He thought that, who were we to go against her wishes to find the Grimoire?"
"But what about Lady Helena and Baron Roderick?"
Bartholomew shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you Severus. We didn't have all the answers at the time. We just did what we thought was right. Luckily for Lady Helena and Baron Roderick you found it for them. However, now that makes you responsible for whatever comes next."
Severus looked at Bartholomew, "What should I do in the meantime about Dante?"
Bartholomew sighed, "For the time being, until you get a plan together? Pretend he has the upper hand."
"He's going to make our lives miserable," Severus frowned.
"Only for the time being Severus, trust me, he'll get what's coming to him."
Severus could only hope so, in time. He hoped so.
~*~*Page Break*~*~
It was a beautiful fall morning as the teens gathered at the Gryffindor table. Lily, Alice, and Mary were the last ones to arrive. Lily looked around in surprise, "Where's Irene? She usually one the first of us here."
Caddaric cast a silencing spell and said. "I heard from a housemate of mine, who's cousin is in Ravenclaw, that Irene's cousin, Silas Attenborough, collapsed during the night. Apparently he had some breathing problem that Madam Pomfrey couldn't cure with a Lung Congestion Potion and she had him transferred to St. Mungo's immediately. Irene and her family are at St. Mungo's, too. You remember that Silas is her favorite cousin?"
"Merlin's gray hair!" Tav exclaimed. "It must be really serious if Madam Pomfrey can't handle it."
Severus had a very uneasy feeling about Silas' collapse and glanced over at Dante who was laughing and looking as if he was having the time of his life. He turned his attention back to the subject at the table. "I know he smokes a lot of Muggle cigarettes, but I don't know if they're responsible for his collapse." He wasn't yet ready to reveal that Silas was voluntarily spying on Dante and his gang.
"I know they're addictive," Lily said. "Dad used to smoke them and when he decided to quit, he had an awful time trying to stay away from them."
"Maybe, it's a blessing in disguise for Silas," Emily said, thinking of her mum.
There was suddenly a lot of squawking and hooting as the post owls flew in overhead.
Severus glanced up, looking for Callista because he had sent off a note to his grandparents yesterday morning, asking if his grandfather could meet him after the monthly meeting of the board of governors tonight. He wanted to talk to his grandfather about finding a way to save Pete's home.
Callista flew down and gracefully landed in front of Severus, offering him the message on her leg. Severus removed it and offered her a slice of bacon. She ate it and then flew off towards the Owlery so she could rest before her journey back to Mirrorvale.
The warning bell rang just then so Severus didn't have time to read the note. It would have to wait until lunch. He put it in a pocket inside his robe and cast the Snoop's Retribution Charm on it so if any of Dante's cohorts deliberately bumped into him with the intent of picking his pocket, they'd end up with bright red hands.
They headed to class. Severus planned to go and see Madam Pomfrey before lunch to see if she could tell him anything about Silas' collapse. Did she have the pack of cigarettes he'd been smoking and was there anything extra added to them, he wondered. He wouldn't put it past Dante to pull a shit stunt like that.
By lunch time, they were loaded down with assignments from their morning classes. Dorian laughed. "You think this is bad, wait until next year and the OWL's."
Tav nodded. "Yeah, they double the assignments and you have constant reviews of everything."
"I'm going to stop at the hospital wing and see if Madam Pomfrey has any news on Silas."
"Let us know what she says, Sev," Lily said.
Severus nodded and first went down to exchange his textbooks for the ones he needed for his afternoon class and then went back upstairs to the hospital wing. "Madam Pomfrey?" He called.
Poppy came out of her office. "Yes, Severus, are you ill?"
Severus shook his head. "No, Ma'am. We were just wondering if there was any news about Irene's cousin, Silas."
"Nothing so far," Poppy replied, frowning. "I've never seen any lung condition that wouldn't respond to the Lung Elixir or to the potion Mr. Pettigrew takes."
Severus hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Has anyone checked the pack of cigarettes he was smoking?"
Madam Pomfrey's eyebrows raised questioningly. "No, why?"
"Because Silas was spying on Dante. He's worried about Irene. I think Dante may have found out and decided to punish him."
"I'll send my Patronus to Filius and ask him to search Mr. Attenborough's room for this package of cigarettes. Thank you, Severus, for letting me know this."
Severus nodded and returned to lunch. He shook his head. "Nothing new about Silas." He suddenly remembered the note he'd received that morning and took it out of the pocket in his robe. He read it and was glad to see his grandfather would come to Slytherin House when the board meeting was finished. He had so much to tell him. He put the note back in his pocket and resealed his pocket.
After their last class, they met as usual in the Defense classroom. Severus looked nervous, but he had decided to tell the rest of his friends about Silas spying on Dante. He cleared his throat. "I have something to tell you. I just found out about it last week...Silas was voluntarily spying on Dante because he's worried about Dante trying to hurt Irene. I think Dante may have found out and did something to him."
Gabriel got up from his desk and joined the teens. "Do you have any proof of this, Severus?"
Severus shook his head. "No, just a strong suspicion."
"How would he do it?" Caddaric asked.
"I think he put something in his pack of cigarettes. I told Madam Pomfrey my suspicions and she was going to ask Professor Flitwick to search Silas' room to see if he could find it."
"Unless we can find definite proof of your theory, Severus, we can do nothing, but I believe your theory is right. I wouldn't put it past Dante."
Clive popped into the room with snacks and drinks for the teens and tea and ginger snaps for Gabriel. With him was a much older elf whom Clive introduced as Aegadar.
Aegadar nodded. "I be at Hogwarts for many long time."
Dorian explained what they were looking for and Aegadar was suddenly very happy. "Yes, Aegadar was in the Come and Go Room to look for something and saw that there was a Come and Go box. Aegadar did not see it before."
"A Come and Go box?" Frank asked.
But Gabriel knew instantly what Aegadar was describing. If it was a Vanishing Cabinet, as he suspected, then there had to be another one somewhere else outside of Hogwarts.
"Aegadar, I have a time when I do not have a class tomorrow. Can you take me then and show me this Come and Go box?"
"I's be happy to, Professor Gabriel. Just calls Aegadar when you wants to go."
"I'll see you tomorrow then." He and Clive popped out again. Gabriel had obtained a copy of Dante's schedule from Minerva and knew Dante would be in class and not able to interfere at the time he'd chosen tomorrow
"You know how Doherty's getting out," Sirius said triumphantly.
"I suspect that's how he's leaving, but I'm not saying anything else until I can confirm it with my own eyes. In the case of this Come and Go box, there has to be two of them to be able to leave and return so I'm interested in seeing where I come out."
"Is it dangerous?" Lily asked.
"While I don't know who Dante and Doherty are mixed up with, I'm fairly certain it's not this person who refers to himself as Lord Voldemort."
"Who else could it be?" Reg asked.
"Unfortunately, there are some wizards who use their powers towards the bad, they may not be as bad as Voldemort, but they are not good people either."
"Like Mr. Potter," Sirius said.
"He's just an arrogant boob who for some reason feels he has to make everyone believe he's something special."
Frank and Remus looked at each other and then Frank cleared his throat loudly, drawing the attention of the other teens. "Remus and me would like to apologize for not telling you about Dumbledore approaching us to spy on you. We told him no so we didn't even think about it after that."
"It made us both angry, but once we told him no, we never gave it another thought," Remus added. "We're sorry we didn't say anything."
"I don't think this is a big deal," Gabriel said. "I think Dante just brought it up, hoping to sow distrust and you should pay it no mind."
The teens stayed in the room until dinner time, studying and quizzing each other on their subjects. Caddaric was collecting the assignments for Irene when she returned. They waited for Severus in the Entrance Hall while he fed and got Greymalkin fresh water and then they walked down to the Great Hall.
Severus knew the board meeting started at 7:00, but his grandfather had assured him that it was usually done by 8:30, mainly because the current board president would tolerate no meandering from the agenda.
Severus excused himself from the rest of his friends and was just headed downstairs when Madam Pomfrey called to him. Severus stopped. "Severus, Professor Flitwick found Mr. Attenborough's package of cigarettes hidden under his mattress and I asked Professor Slughorn to examine it. He found these cigarettes contained ground up common ivy. It's no wonder he woke up unable to breath. I've sent the information on to St. Mungo's and they will be able to help him."
"That's good to know." Severus replied. "Maybe it will scare Silas into stopping."
"I'm quite certain Miss Goshawk will have something to say to him about that," Madam Pomfrey replied.
Severus continued downstairs to Slytherin House and gave the password. He went straight to his room. Bartholomew was not around so Severus got his Charms and Transfiguration textbooks out of his book bag, opened them, and began practicing the wand movements since their exams included both a written and practical portions. Grey jumped up on the desk next to Severus, stretched out, and began purring loudly.
Bartholomew came back about 8:15. He smiled as he saw Severus studying hard. He liked Severus. He was well raised, polite, and quiet.
At 8:30, there was a knock at the door and Bartholomew opened it to find Horace. "I'm sorry to interrupt your studying, but I need to speak to Mr. Snape."
Severus came over and Bartholomew stepped aside. Severus went out into the hallway and Horace said, "Severus, your grandfather is waiting to speak to you. He's waiting in my office." Horace opened the door to his office and Severus went in. "Take as much time as you want. I'm going to be visiting with Minerva. I do hope she has some of those wonderful Scottish Shortbread's."
Severus gave Marius a tight hug. "I'm so glad to see you, Grandpa."
"And I you, Severus. Your grandmother sends her love and…" He reached behind him and picked up a tin and gave it to Severus. "Your grandmother's special blueberry tarts."
"Severus smiled. "Be sure to thank Gran for me and tell her I love her," he requested.
"I will," Marius promised. He put his finger to his lips and then cast a silencing spell. "I'm sure Horace already has one cast, but another one won't hurt. Now what do you want to talk about?"
"It's about the Pettigrew's. According to Dante they've fallen behind on their mortgage and are going to be foreclosed on. I was wondering if there was anyway we could save their home."
Marius thought for a moment then asked. "Peter is Muggleborn?"
Severus nodded and Marius continued, "It is possible that I could purchase their mortgage from their bank and then I could set up a payment plan whereby they would pay me at a much lower amount. I will need to talk to the Pettigrew's also which I will do tomorrow
"That would be great, Granddad!"
"Are you still having problems with Dante?"
Severus nodded soberly. "He knows so much about all of us and I don't know how he's finding out. We never talk about anything important outside of Gabriel's classroom and he always checks his quarters and classroom for listening spells so we know it's not leaking from there."
"Have you thought about the possibility of him casting a listening spell on one of you?" Marius asked. "It would likely be something that is worn all the time and which you would never give a second thought about it although not an article of clothing."
"How would we determine if there is?"
"I will show you," Marius replied. "Please stand up."
Severus stood up and Marius walked around him waving his wand in a clockwise motion while chanting, "Quid Audire Fabrica Revelare." He stopped suddenly in surprise as a blue light surrounded Severus, indicating the presence of a listening spell. "Severus, I am sorry to tell you this but somewhere on you, you have a listening spell."
Severus was horrified. "How do I get rid of it?"
"Calm down, Severus," Marius said. He walked around Severus waving his wand in a counter-clockwise motion while chanting, "Perdere Alica Audire." A purple light surrounded Severus, now indicating Dante's listening spell was gone. "I will give you another spell that will prevent Dante or any of his gang from casting any more listening spells on you and you can teach it to all your friends, especially the Gryffindor's."
"Okay," Severus said nodding.
"The spell is Ne Quid Auscultatio Ajiciatur." Marius had Severus repeat it several times to make sure he was saying it correctly.
Severus suddenly sank down in a chair. "Oh Merlin!"
"What's wrong?"
"Dante knows we know about the Come and Go Box and he'll try to remove it so Gabriel can't find it tomorrow. We need to summon Gabriel and Aegadar and get to the Room of Requirement right away," Severus said urgently.
Marius sent Gabriel his Patronus and within a few minutes Gabriel and Aegadar were stepping through the floo in Horace's office. "You stay here, Severus," Marius said.
Aegadar popped Marius and Gabriel to the part of the 'Come and Go' room where he'd seen the box. It was, as Gabriel had suspected, a Vanishing Cabinet.
"Well, well, well," Gabriel said. "I've heard of these and read about them, but I've never actually seen one."
Marius nodded. "They were quite popular during Grindelwald's time of terror."
Gabriel grinned, shrunk the Vanishing Cabinet, and put it in the pocket of his robe. "I don't believe Dante or any of his gang will be going anywhere tonight."
"For it to work, there has to be a second one," Marius pointed out.
Gabriel nodded. "Yes, tomorrow I will show this to Minerva and explain what Doherty's been using it for and we'll go through and find out where the second one is situated."
Aegadar popped them back to Horace's office and Gabriel flooed back to his quarters. He put the shrunken cabinet in a safe place and cast the same spell that Bobby had cast, on the door of his private quarters and the door of the defense classroom. If anyone tried to break into retrieve the cabinet, they would end up with a bright purple face.
Marius said goodbye to Severus and told him he would send him a note after he visited the Pettigrew's and their bank. Otherwise he and Vesper would see him and his friends at the duel between Charles Potter and Gabriel this weekend.
"I almost forgot to tell you, Dante also knows about the Grimoire, too. He knows Irene's parents have it in one of their vaults."
"I don't have any idea how he could get in to steal it, but I will warn the Goshawk's so they can have the Goblin's keep extra eyes out for any fraudulent attempts to acquire it. It would be disastrous if the Grimoire fell into Dante's hands."
Severus said goodbye to his grandfather and went back to his dorm room.
~*~*Page Break*~*~
In the Scottish Moors, the old man was in his study. He sat at his desk with his Black Great Horned Owl by his side. He was writing a missive to one of his spies. His current target, Robert Gold, had settled into West Berlin. Haldana Hardbroom had reported that she had also settled in as well. She would meet with the leader in charge of the mercenary group paid to help Haldana in secret. The man assumed the identity of U.N. Owen in his missives and told her to prepare accordingly and when the time is right to strike.
The old man had taken on several identities when dealing with other underlings. Yet, there was only one person who partially knew his true identity.
The floo roared to life as a head appeared in the flames. The old man looked and saw his apt pupil in the floo.
Dante Yalarad's visage was there among the green flames, "Are you there old man?"
"I am here Mr. Yalarad, come through."
Dante came through the floo and brushed his clothing of ash. He looked around, "You know this place can do with a new coat of paint," Dante joked.
The Old Man didn't laugh. "Report."
Dante's smile quickly vanished before he cleared his throat, "I've managed to get eyes and ears in all four of the houses."
"Good, but how did you manage with surveilling Slytherin House? From what I understand, you aren't the most popular person in their eyes."
"I'm not proud of it, but I made a deal with Corban Yaxley. I wouldn't mess with any of his Slytherin friends, and he would keep his eyes and ears on Snape and his friends."
Dante went over and sat on the couch before speaking further. "And I can safely say that Dumbledore trusts me completely, and I mostly have free reign of Hogwarts."
"Mostly?"
Dante showed a small frown, "Yeah. Professor McGonagall, the other Heads of House, and Gabriel Schell are giving me trouble to really make any headway into my plans."
The old man pondered at his desk for a brief moment. "Leave them to me. I'll send them a message."
"Good, because I don't need McGonagall breathing down my neck when I'm dealing with Snivellus."
"Snivellus?"
"Oh, that's what I call the Prince's brat grandson," Dante explained.
"Hmm..." The old man grumbled, "And where are you with 'Snivellus' Snape?"
"I have him right where I want him! He's compromised, afraid, and dependent on a Black Cloak for his own protection!"
"The Black Cloak must be dealt with, one way or another."
Dante cracked his knuckles, "This will be fun then!"
"Not you." The Old Man looked over a few files, "Everyone will suspect you. It will have to come from someone else." He took off his glasses to clean them, "Yaxley?"
Dante shook his head, "He told me he wouldn't, nor his lackeys either."
"Doherty?"
"No." Dante was firm, but respectful. "I don't want my closest friends involved. We talked about this."
"Ah, you are right. We did talk about that, and I agreed." He finished wiping his glasses on a cloth before putting them back on. "Summerset?"
"Not my gentle son, such a sight would inspire a country to take up arms against me," Dante jested. "The Black Cloak wouldn't expect it though."
"For his youth?"
"Yeah."
The Old Man was quiet, "Jonathan."
"No!" Dante looked at the Old Man. "Not Jed, not Dee-Dee. None of them."
The old man bowed his head apologetically. "Clarke or Myers?"
"They wouldn't be able to get close enough."
The Old Man tapped his chin, "Samuel."
Dante was quiet, "Maybe."
"Dain."
"Without a doubt, Renner Dain could kill him. The boy towers over the Black Cloak, and could rip him apart without the use of magic, but he does not answer to me. He answers only to Vienna, Sam and his siblings."
"MacTavish?"
"Rat-face?" Dante thought aloud, "Yeah. Given the right circumstances, perhaps he could, but he's not close to me or Snape, he's an outsider looking in."
"Let's circle back around to that. How is your mole working out?"
"Well unfortunately, Snivellus met with his wretched Grandfather, and he found one of the listening spells I had placed on him." Dante chuckled, "But he was unable to disable the mole, it's working beautifully! It's right underneath Snivellus' nose, and he doesn't even know it!"
"Excellent," The Old Man smiled.
Dante shook his head, "However the location of the Vanishing Cabinet was discovered." He raised his hand to his sponsor. "I was able to overhear him taking to some old elf about the Cabinet, and I was too late to take action to hide it.
The Old Man slowly shook his head, "I see, it is of no matter."
"No matter? They have the vanishing cabinet!
"A vanishing cabinet which the other end resides inside of Potter Manor. Which, in turn, will implicate Charles Potter, and not myself."
"Do you think that they will accept that Potter is really behind this entire plot?"
"For a time, I have a few little breadcrumbs that will implicate Charles Potter further. When they realize that Potter was nothing but a Scapegoat, it will be too late."
Dante leaned in his seat, "What about me?"
"Don't worry. I have several fail-safes in place. You will not be in any sort of danger, or trouble."
"What are these fail-safes?"
"That's a secret Mr. Yalarad, but I will tell you that one of them involves your illustrious Headmaster."
Dante's eyes widened, Dumbledore was involved in this? He nodded his head as he got back on his train of thought, "Back into my mole, you should have Snivellus' face when I revealed some of his friend's secrets to him and his friends."
The Old Man looked at Dante. "What exactly did you reveal to them?"
Dante stopped laughing, "Oh, about Dumbledore asking Lupin and Longbottom to spy on their friends."
"Okay."
"Pettigrew's family being evicted from their home."
"Go on."
"Dewhurst's mother undergoing treatment for his cancer, and it's not working."
The old man hesitated before continuing, "What else?"
"Andrew's father for being investigated by internal affairs."
The Old Man grew cold, his demeanor grew hard. "What?"
"What?"
"What do you mean, what? You told them that? When was that?"
"A couple of days ago."
The Old Man growled, "You fool! I was only just able to manufacture those charges on him this morning! And you told them that a couple of days ago?! They would be able to figure out that something is amiss." The Old Man stood up, "I was able to make certain evidence disappear, but barely. They keep a meticulous record of things, and if the altered timeline of events gets found out, DI Andrews walks, and your friend, Doherty gets even closer to the jail cells!"
Dante sighed, "Look I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"Yes, you weren't! I should have let The Grey Twins have him, had I not found out about your friend misusing the vanishing cabinets to go gambling. Then they would have gotten their hands on him and would have worked him over for his transgressions." The Old Man pondered, "Perhaps they can be useful. Maybe I'll pop in for a visit at one of their casinos."
Dante stammered, "Right, of course. With their connections your reach will increase tenfold."
The old man cackled, "Worse comes to worse, I'll have one of my agents kill DI Andrews." The Old Man studies his pupil and walked over to him, "I tell you these things about the allies of our enemies not to just use them as weapons, but to understand what their mindset is like. To see what we can use their secrets against them, and to see how we can get them to defect."
Dante shook his head in understanding, "I understand that, Sir. I apologize."
The old man smiled as he knew the lesson had been learnt, "You didn't happen to tell them anything else?"
"I did as you previously instructed, and told them that I knew about the Grimoire."
"Excellent." The Old Man smiled.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Mr. Yalarad?"
"Why did you have me do that? Isn't the element of surprise out of our hands now?"
"Yes it is, but for our plan to work, we need them to move it. Once they take it from their vault we can pass off a fake to wherever they desire."
"Your contact inside Gringotts is…reliable, right?"
"Of course he is, I recruited him. He knows his role to play."
"What if he tries to screw us over, and tries to take the Grimoire for himself? Or, what if he rats us out to the MLE?"
"Let me worry about it." The Old Man looked at Dante, and then went to his desk. There he pulled out a box and handed it to Dante.
"What is this?"
"Inside is another Vanish Cabinet. This one is connected to a cabinet inside a safehouse in a muggle neighborhood called Spinner's End. I have made extensive use of it in the past. So, for your sake, don't let it be found! If another elf happens across it ..then handle it."
Dante shook his head.
"Now is there anything else?"
"No."
"Then you are dismissed." Dante rose from his seat on the couch, went to the fireplace, but stopped before flooing away. "There is one more thing."
"Yes?"
"There is a duel happening at Hogwarts between Charles Potter and Gabriel Schell, and I suspect that 'He' will be there. What should I do?"
The old man thought to himself before answering, "You will do nothing, don't even attend the duel."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am." The old man said.
Dante bowed his head respectfully before leaving the dilapidated manor and flooring back to Hogwarts.
The old man took a breath of air before he started coughing. He took out a handkerchief to cover his mouth. When his coughing fit was over he saw that his handkerchief was covered in blood. He folded it, and put it back into his pocket.
He walked over to his study, and the old man stood before the urn upon the mantle piece. He bowed his head, as if he were praying to it. "Deliver me from my enemies, Starshine. Defend me from those that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. Behold, the mighty and corrupt that gather against me. Awaken my love, witness my triumph, and my righteous vengeance."
The old man thought to himself. The Family Prince, their allies, their friends, they will pay. Most of all his true target. His hated foe, the murderer who killed his heart, his love, his Starshine.
His gaze turned back to the board, to the center of it all. There in the picture, his most hated enemy stood. The object of his concentrated hatred, and ire. The former champion duelist, Vesper Prince.