Summary:

Meeting at Hogwarts, harry learns his first Dark magic and then has his own meeting.

Notes:

Man I suck at getting these out on a Wednesday. As such I will be moving to a slightly looser schedule of a chapter a week, probably on the weekend. Lab work is fun but sucks all of my day, who'd of thought that PhD's are a lot of work. I'm also going to be copying these summary and notes sections from my chapters of Ao3 where this was originally posted so you guys on ffn can get an idea of my posting schedule off my little vents in these note sections.

Chapter 6:

Severus Snape sat down at the end of term staff meeting with a hidden sigh, he just wanted to leave after suffering through another year of the Weasley twins wreaking havoc in his house. Why did the first Weasley's in 8 generations to be sorted outside of Gryffindor have to be those two. Sure, the pair were more than adequate Potioneers and would likely both be able to earn their magical masteries in the subject in the future. They were also however, compulsive pranksters rivalling that of James Potter and his gang. Thankfully, they were far less malicious, but so had Potter been when he was in second year.

He longed for the relaxing simmering sounds of his brewing room at spinners end but unfortunately had to sit through the meeting with all the other teachers to go over notable events that year, changes that are going to be made over the summer and notable students due to come in the next year. Across the table from him, sat the tall form of Lord Gaunt, or as other people close to him knew him as, Lord Voldemort. The fact that Lord Voldemort had been teaching at Hogwarts for the last 3 years did make him chuckle slightly in his head. The old man had no idea that his staff table held 3 death eaters and the dark lord himself.

Erwin von Schwarzturm, the current history of magic professor, bore the tattoo on his inner left forearm alongside himself, and Quirinus Quirrell, the Dark Lords apprentice. The man had been picked straight from school at the end of his seventh year, the first year the Dark Lord had taught here and had been tutored under him whilst helping his lord with classes. The man had gone from a studious, barely pureblooded, Ravenclaw into a formidable dark wizard in those three years and he privately thought that the Dark Lord was doing it just to spite Dumbledore. The pain in the old man's eyes whenever he saw the 20-year-old was greater than he had seen up until the revelations about the Potter spawns living arrangements.

Hadn't that been a shock, finding out that the old man was incompetent enough to trust his one silver bullet against the dark lord to the word of a squib and some failed blood wards was ridiculous. The man was clearly going senile if he thought that was enough precautions to absolve him of wrongdoing in this case. His Lord had been to visit the brat 2 days ago, and finding out that Lilly was the man's daughter was a revelation and a half as well. His lord had shared several of the memories with him and it was clear that the child, whilst superficially looking like his father, looked more like his mother in the small details. He was quietly optimistic at the good behaviour of the young boy but held out less hope for his prowess in potions. The boy would have lacked any of the tutoring his classmates would have had.

The other teachers began to arrive shortly after he sat down opposite the Dark Lord. First was Septima and Rowlanda, chatting about some new piece of gossip in witch weekly or something like that. After that came Quirinus and Filius, engaged in some sort of debate over charm creation theory. Behind them was Erwin and Pomona who seemed to be discussing something about the womping willow. Erwin was a middle-aged German wizard who had originally fought for Grindelwald in the war in the 30's, he had slicked back brown hair and always wore tight fitting duelling robes. The man always wore a smile across his pale face. It only became unsettling when Snape considered that time he had watched the man torture and kill an entire family of muggles with that same kind smile across his face.

Snape was distracted by his thoughts about the sadistic psychopath masquerading as a History professor and missed the arrival of the remaining teachers and the arrival of his own apprentice. He had been urged to take an apprentice by his lord and when that urging became an order earlier this year, he analysed his crop of NEWT students and offered two of them the position. One turned it down and the other, Nymphadora Tonks, jumped at the chance to earn her mastery under him. The metamorphmagus was devastatingly clumsy outside of the lab but the moment she stepped behind a cauldron she seemed to focus in and lose her penchant for tripping over her own feet.

He begrudgingly considered her more than adequate as a Potioneer already, knowing her NEWT results would be outstanding ahead of time, having sat in on her assessment using his master's right. Having the extra pair of hands around the teaching lab would be appreciated, especially in any lab containing Gryffindor's. It was ultimately that argument that stopped him resisting his lords order to take an apprentice. He hoped to fob off the first three sections on her given a year or two of tutoring.

The idea of having two teachers for each subject was something he wished for more than anything else and it seemed like that was in his Lords plans for the future. He had seen the conversations his lord had been having with Fillius and Pomona, breaking down their resistance to taking on mastery students. He knew Fillius was close and might take one on next year, but Pomona had more of a resistance.

Dumbledore entered the staff room, smiling at his employees. Although Snape noted the smile seemed a little fixed when he looked at Lord Gaunt, Quirinus, Himself, Erwin, and Nymphadora. Although, if Tonks found out he referred to her in his head as such she would find a way to spike his tea with laxatives. The old man swept over to his seat in his horrific canary yellow and bright pink robes. The man dressed like he was colourblind but unfortunately he knew the headmaster had perfect colour vision and merely suffered from extremely poor taste.

"Thank you for joining me in this end of year staff meeting." Dumbledore began. He looked over to Tonks.

"I want to welcome Miss Tonks as our newest member of staff, her apprenticeship under Professor Snape is a most wonderful development." The old man continued. Snape could see the mans smile become brittle at having to express such pleasantries.

"Are there any notices or points anyone wants to raise before we begin with the years debrief?" The twinkly old man asked. He looked around the room, baby blue eyes twinkling with that horrifically tacky glamour that Severus knew he used. No one spoke up and the man smiled slightly wider before snapping his fingers. The spell that the man had used that wandless cantrip to cast was a complex non spatial summoning charm he knew the old man liked to use to flex his powerful internal magic. He wasn't sure why the old man was bothering with such a show of power here, the people around the table were either so firmly in his pocket as to be A galleon in a knifflers pouch or were capable of the same spell. He knew for certain that his Lord could achieve a similar feat windlessly as well. The charm caused a small stack of parchments to appear before him and Dumbledore settled his pince-nez on his crooked nose before reading the top parchment.

"Preliminary NEWT and OWL scores are up this year by 3%, History of magic and DAD are our highest increases with 8% and 12% respectively. Well done, Erwin and Marvolo." Dumbledore continued. Severus always felt weird when he heard the headmaster refer to the Dark Lord in such a familiar manner.

"Let's see, overall incidents are down, Poppy reported a drop of 8% in students being injured in spell accidents wo that's always good. Right shall we move on to the changes for the summer. I have been asked by a good friend of mine, Nicholas Flamel, to look after a particular artifact of his for the year whilst he has his home re-warded. So, I thought, why not take this as an opportunity to remodel some classrooms and bring a little bit more of the old castle back to life. As such we will be setting up a holding area for my friend's artifact in the unused 3rd floor corridor beside the old DADA rooms whilst we remodel them into spell craft capable classrooms ready for use." The headmaster spoke. Severus rolled his eyes at the headmaster and wondered what sweet hell he was going to dump on their heads this time.

Harry stood in the great hall of Ravenholm castle. It had been 2 days since he had been to Diagon alley with Grandpa Arcturus and Grandfather Marvolo, and Amelia had sent an owl to confirm she would be there tomorrow, the 30th of June 1991. The room was huge, with a high vaulted ceiling, a flagstone floor with some of the largest stones Harry had seen comprising most of the central section, and huge stained-glass windows that let light in along one side of the large room. The furniture that had been in here had been levitated to one side and a shimmering blue ward placed around it. His grandfather had set up a series of targets along one wall and he was standing near a lectern which held the small red book his grandpa had given him.

"Ok, now you have the very basics of casting the Lumos and levitation charms down, we will begin your Dark magic training with the self-affinity revealing charm. It should be on page 4 of your book." His grandfather said as he watched him with an eagle eye. Harry opened the book and quickly found the page with the charm detailed upon it.

"THE SELF-AFFINITY REVEALING CHARM.

The first charm that should be cast upon embarking on the path of Dark magic is this charm. It is necessary to take into account one's magical affinity as this can have a multitude of impacts on how one should go about learning the wild magics. This charm is simple and not any form of dark magic in itself but is highly useful to know.

Wand Motions:

1.Downward flick.

2.Half circle up.

3.Tap Forehead.

Incantation:

Affinitas

1.Aff-

2.-ini-

3.-tas.

The tip of one's wand should shine on a scale from blue to red. A solid dark red indicates one had a strong Dark affinity and a solid light blue indicates a strong light affinity with a sliding scale inbetwixt."

The charm seemed simple, the levitation charm was more complex and so Harry readied his yew wand and began several dry runs of the wand motions. His grandfather watched him carefully and when he gave a small nod, Harry tried to cast the spell.

"Affinitas," Harry incanted and tapped his forehead. The flicker of the cold fire within him down his wand arm let him know that the spell had worked. Harry looked to the tip of his wand to find a lightly strobing dark red light adorning its tip. Harry marvelled at the light before he heard light clapping coming from his Grandfather's direction.

"Well done, Harry. That is a near perfect casting on your first try. With a little bit of practice, I'm sure you will fully master the charm. Now we have confirmation of your affinity. I know it is safe to move on with the next few spells. They are all minor dark jinxes and don't need any real knowledge of dark magical theory to cast successfully. Aim for the targets on the far wall and give it your best try." His grandfather praised and then sat down in an armchair that materialised beneath him with a flick of the man's hand.

Harry turned the page onto the next one seeing another spell detailed.

"THE BLOW-BACK JINX

The first actually dark spell many young dark wizards learn. This spell is a slightly more powerful variant of the neutral knockback jinx. Unlike that jinx however, it is much more amenable to being overpowered and less likely to explode. This gives it more utility in duelling and other escapades in which a short sharp input of force via a spell bolt is necessary.

Wand Motions:

1.Half circle down.

2.Stab forwards.

Incantation:

Geslen

1.Ges-

2.-len.

The spell bolt should be an orange red and move at medium speed towards the target. Increasing power in the spell will increase speed of bolt travel and force of impact. This spell can be augmented with emotions as any affinity bound magic can. This is addressed in chapter 4, Augmenting spells."

Harry took a deep breath and felt the cold fire of his magic. He practiced the wand motions once more and brought forth his anger at Dumbledore for keeping him from his real family. The fire flared up like somebody had just poured petrol over it.

"Geslen," he incanted. The spell bolt that shot from his wand was red orange around the sides but nearly white in the centre. It shot forwards very quickly and slammed into the barrier beside one of the targets with a ringing gong. He felt a little giddy with the cast and smiled and turned to his grandfather.

"Well done, child. Very good spell craft. My only comment is that you augmented your spell with anger by the looks of it. Whilst this is fine for simpler spells like this, if you did this with a lingering curse like the boil curse, it could result in less favourable outcomes. The book will touch on this later but anger fuels a spell and makes it fly faster and stronger. Excellent for single impact spells like the blowback jinx or the cutting hex, less good for spells that you want the effects to last a long time." His grandfather praised and explained. Harry nodded at the information and tried to do the same again, throwing several more Jinx's at the targets. His aim gradually improved, and he was able to hit the conjured targets after his sixth spell. The giddy feeling kept building until he was laughing, throwing spells with a nearly gleeful "Geslen" being incanted with each bright spell bolt.

Amelia Bones, Regent of house Bones, Master Spellwoman, and head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, sat in one of the parlours of Ravenholm castle with a determined expression. The last few days had been a hell of paperwork and annoying meetings with government officials looking to manage the PR of the whole sorry situation. Having two of magical Britain's most infamous lords come to her directly about an extremely troubling child abuse case that had come to their attention was not what she had expected when catching up on paperwork on a Sunday. Finding a child beaten and abused in a bloody boot cupboard was never a good thing and then to find out that one of the most powerful people in magical Britain had fucking known about it was just the icing on the cake.

She had fought on the side of the ministry in the last war and thus had often fought shoulder to shoulder with the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore himself. So, to see him weasel out of such a despicable charge by dumping all the blame on a squib was incredibly disheartening. He had been so quick to throw the shit onto another that she hadn't even been able to bring up questioning the man under Verita serum to confirm his statements. Fudge was so willing to roll over for the elderly wizard that she had lost whatever faith she had left in the current government.

The silver lining was that the Dursley's, being muggles, were very easy to prove to be at fault. Getting the despicable ape who called himself Vernon Dursley to spill everything he had done to the poor child had taken only the mildest of compulsions. The beast had been so willing to detail how he had beat the child, often explicitly to 'beat the magic out of him', it was too easy. The woman, Petunia Dursley actually required Verita serum, but she spilled all the psychological and physical abuse she had put the boy through nearly as easily. Basic mind scans had brought up a deep-seated hatred of magic that would have immediately precluded them from being guardians to any magical child. Actually, it would have prevented any magical children from being allowed to live with muggles within a mile radius of their house. On the off chance that they see any accidental magic and start attacking the child. They were going to Azkaban without a shadow of a doubt and if more perverse evidence had been found, the kiss wouldn't have been out of the question.

The squib, one Arabella Fig, widow to the muggle Harvey Fig and born to the half-blood Greenson family in south Yorkshire, had been clearly lying in her letters to the headmaster but her lies had all been relatively minor, telling of visits that didn't happen and chats with the boy that wouldn't be out of place in any normal boy of his age. When she was informed of what she had helped cover up the woman had broken down crying. She admitted to her mild suspicions but had merely thought the small withdrawn child was merely shy at being foisted off on an old woman. The Dursleys had apparently bought a single nicer outfit for the boy and dressed him up in that when sending him to her house. The outfit, which was discovered in the airing cupboard, was quite thick and would have hidden his figure relatively well. She wasn't as sure as to what was to happen to the old woman, she was being charged with a class 3 breach of the WCP Act and would likely face around 6 months to a year in Azkaban if she was found culpable.

She went over the case in her head as she waited for the young Heir Potter-Black to be done tutoring from his Grandfather, Lord Gaunt. Wasn't that a surprise, she had accidently ended up being pivotal in saving not only the most famous child in the wizarding world, but also possibly the most politically connected child as well. Either way the boy was being tutored by the first Professor of the Dark Arts to grace Hogwarts ancient halls since Dumbledore had the position changed to be Defence Against the Dark Arts when he took that post in 1913. He trusted that the man understood that Dark Magic was a dangerous beast to deal with and not something that children should be thrust headfirst into. She actually approved of the switch back to the Dark Arts being taught, as she had seen a sharp drop in fresh Hogwarts graduates falling into Dark Madness due to their inability to control darker magic. Sure, the most recent two years of Hogwarts graduates had a repertoire of spells distinctly darker than their predecessors, but it was clear that Lord Gaunt was an excellent teacher besides anything else. Their repertoires of offensive spells were far larger than any of their predecessors and more effective to boot.

Her colleague from the WCP department was looking around with sharp eyes, analysing the environment, assessing its safety for a child. Amelia thought he was being a bit overzealous; the Blacks were a noble and very wealthy house and likely had House Elves to spare. Dedicating one elf to look after a child was a common practice in those who could afford it. The kid could walk through Knockturn Alley and still be safe with a suitably ordered elf protecting him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the large oak doors of the parlour opening to reveal a much healthier looking little boy wearing a very nice and expensive set of acromantula silk closed robes. The older man standing beside the boy, Lord Black, knelt down to look him in the eyes, rested a firm hand on the boy's shoulder and gave him a nod before letting him walk into the parlour. Amelia focused on the boy's face and was happy to see that his once gaunt features had filled out somewhat and whilst still definitely thin, he no longer looked like an inferius. She smiled at the boy, her cheek pushing against her monocle making it a little lopsided. Harry smiled back quickly and sat in the armchair opposite the chaise-lounge she and her colleague sat in.

"Hello Harry, It's good to see your doing better." She began, happy to see how much healthier he looked.

"Yes, I am. Thank you Madam Bones, for helping to save me." He said in a small voice as he struggled to meet their eyes.

"Your very welcome Harry. It was the right thing to do. Now, I'm sure Lord Black has told you why we are here. But I will go through the things we need to talk about now so we can be all on the same parchment." Amelia began and upon receiving a nod from the boy she continued. "The primary reason we are here today is to see how you are doing and to have a little chat about living arrangements. The next thing we need to do is talk a bit about your Aunt and Uncle and any more people who might have mistreated you. We want to be certain we get you justice, Harry. Beyond that, if you have any questions or concerns we are here as representatives of the Ministry of Magic and can try and help you in any way we can."

"Ok, Thank you." Harry thanked her again. She could sense he was a bit nervous and so decided to lead him into the conversation gently.

"So, what have you been up to this past week?" She asked the boy. He looked up from his hands which were clasped in his lap and smiled a little.

"Well once we left the hospital, we went to Gringotts and did an inheritance test. The day after that my grandpa helped me understand what happened with my parents and the Dark Lord on Samhain 1981. We then used the Black family tapestry to check my lineage in more detail and found out that Lord Gaunt is my grandfather on my mother's side. After that I met my cousins Draco, Delphini, Astra, and Regulus. The next day I met my grandfather, and he helped me confirm my place at Hogwarts. We then went to Diagon alley and did some shopping and got my wand. Since then, grandpa has been teaching me etiquette and grandfather has been introducing me to magic." Harry recounted.

"That sounds fun, what have you been doing for fun?" She asked, hoping to cover the bases that her colleague wanted her to in this less formal conversation than the interview he would insist upon if she didn't get the information he wanted.

"Well, Draco said that he is going to teach me how to fly tomorrow. But for fun, I've been mostly reading. Grandpa gives me books he says are safe for me to read from the library. Other than that, not much." Harry shrugged.

"That's fine Harry. Reading is a noble pursuit and if you enjoy that, good for you. What kind of thing's have you been reading?" She asked. Amelia knew that her colleague would insist upon knowing this. The Black Family was notorious for their hoarding of rare knowledge and Dark Arts books. She was certain if they ever got a warrant to search the library here they would find enough illegal information to bring the house of Black to its knees. She was also certain that getting a warrant to search an active Wizengamot Lord's abode would be like trying to conjure edible food, impossible.

"A few things, mostly my textbooks. Did you know one of my great-great-great grandparents wrote one of my textbooks. Other than that, I've been reading the first book in the All-Father's Garden series. Do you know it?" He said, looking excited that one of his ancestors had written a textbook. Amelia grimaced a little. She did know of the All-Father's Garden series. They were notorious for being basically pureblood supremacist propaganda. The series followed a young wizard in a fictional magical kingdom who is the latest in a long line of "Garden-keepers", wizards whose job it is to care for and protect a magical garden from outside influence. The first book was pretty tame but still wasn't something she'd want Susan reading; it had several uses of the M-word throughout.

"Yes, I do know of it. Let's move on shall we. How is it living here with Lord Black?" She said with a slightly strained smile. Honestly, she expected Harry to gain more conservative views living with Lord Black, the man had been a known Wizarding supremacist since before Grindelwald's war and had sponsored several campaigns for the Knights of Walpurgis before the last war. It was just a little jarring seeing it happen so quickly.

"It's so much better than before, I have my own bed and room. I have clothes to wear and food to eat. It's all I could ever ask for." Harry smiled contentedly.

"That's good, and what do you think of Lord Black?" She asked, it was good to hear that the boy was at least being treated better than he was although that bar was so low as to be in the dungeons.

"He's nice. He talks to me and is frank with most things. He doesn't really beat around the bush and always knows when I'm having problems. He… He's not very affectionate but I always feel better when he puts his hand on my shoulder and helps me work through things." Harry said, his eyes leaving her for the first time since she was able to get him to look at her.

"That's good. And for the record he sounds like he is very affectionate in his own way. Affection isn't all hugs and kisses. I'm satisfied that you are in a safe environment here." She looked over to her colleague and he nodded that he agreed. "Excellent, we will get the final paperwork sent to Lord Black on Monday but now we need to move on to a far more uncomfortable topic." Harry seemed to visibly shrink before her eyes, and she felt her heart clench. It was awful to see what these despicable muggles had done to this child, for the briefest of seconds, she thought she understood the hate that the death eaters held.

"Harry, you don't have to say anything you don't want to. Petunia and Vernon Dursley are going to go to Azkaban for a very long time even without a statement from you so if you are uncomfortable with saying anything we can move on, but I wanted to know that the two people who abused you are going away and the charges on the squib who covered it up are pretty serious as well. We just wondered if there was anything else we might have missed?" She continued, watching as a spark lit in the boy's eye as she mentioned two people.

"W…What about Aunt Marge? She used to set her dogs on me." Harry added. Vernon's sister wasn't someone they had really looked into beyond making sure she was fit for a muggle child, like Dudley.

"So, you are saying that Margery Dursley also contributed to your treatment?" Amelia wanted to confirm what he was saying.

"Yes, she was always really horrible to me whenever she was round and loved setting her horrible dog Ripper on me. I once spent an entire evening up a tree because it wouldn't leave me alone." Harry gained momentum as he talked and by the end of his statement he was nearly shouting.

"Alright Harry, we will look into this but based off what you have just told us we can begin an investigation into her." Amelia pulled a spiral bound parchment notebook from her pocket and made a quick note with the fountain pen attached to it.

"Thank you. It's so much better finally not being around 'Them'. Do you know that my teachers all bought into the Dursleys lies that I was a retarded criminal in the making. I was getting dirty looks from them every day and had my every action questioned." Harry said, his words were laced with so much hatred and anger that she almost wanted to cry. She understood exactly where the boy was coming from but found it disconcerting the amount of venom he put into the word 'them'.

"I know it must have been hard Harry. Is there anything else you want to talk about as that's all we needed to talk about on our end." She finished.

"No, not really. It's just nice knowing that those filthy muggles will get what's coming to them." Harry said, the anger still plain to see in his face.