Ever appreciative of the consistent reviews and positive words from my readers. Please keep it up, every scrap of encouragement feeds the raging beast that has grown cold as of late, despite my own personal best attempts, but I hope that the part at which I am writing for TSR will prove to be stimulating enough for me to write, as I know what your reaction to its contents shall be...
AT LEAST READ THIS SECTION EVEN IF YOU SKIP AUTHOR NOTES PLEASE! ~ I have placed a new poll upon my profile page, take a look and offer your opinion regarding what far flung future (I love alliteration) stories you'd want to see from me when STR and RoDV are said and done with, please choose the top three, so I can get a head start in my free time to poke at them. ~ THANK YOU FOR READING THIS SECTION AT THE LEAST, ENJOY THE CHAP!
Coming from this story, where I a significant ways ahead of where I am posting (upward toward twenty chapters I think was last count,) I submit that it is an example of the diligence that I can provide when I have ample time to build up a buffer between posting (Whenever that happens for these stories) and writing. No pressure for me, and consistent updates for you, win-win senario! And now, without further blah-blah-blah from me, your chapter for the 2 week interval! Enjoy! ~F
Chapter Thirty Two
Discovery
Nobu'tan had taken a short trip away from the school, after learning somewhat about the surrounding mountain regions. Ever since that first Halloween in Hogwarts, he had been desirous to make contact with the ogres of this world, and see if there was any possibility of the same spark of intelligence that had caused such powerful minds as Cho'gall or the other Ogre Magi that Nobu'tan had briefly interacted with.
There apparently was a sizeable collection of what these wizards considered 'trolls' in the nearby mountains, and while Nobu'tan had been advised against this course of action, he was determined to make contact and see if there was any potential to be found. So he had taken whatever he found that would keep him warm, cast powerful wizarding charms to maintain body heat and not interfere with any of his Fel-touched spells that he may need to protect himself in the midst of convincing these ogres that he was not their prey, but a hunter worthy of their respect.
It took a few days of intense hiking through the cold mountains, and Nobu'tan immediately was glad that he had dressed in his old frostwolf hide robes, which were used to the intense cold of both Khaz Modan and the Alterac Mountains back in Azeroth, so he was more than comfortable as he searched. After the fourth day, he finally found the ogre's lair. A massive cave-like mound was set into one of the cliff sides, sheltered from the biting wind and clearly something that the creatures had just happened to find rather than actually built, there were already three or four of the massive creatures sitting around a haphazardly built fire, warming themselves to make up for what little clothing they wore.
As Nobu'tan had expected, his presence did not go unnoticed, as long before he managed to approach, the Ogres had smelled him, and two of them already seized massive bone clubs and were advancing on him as he set foot in the sheltered crag that they had claimed as their home.
Nobu'tan watched them advance on him, bellowing their angry cries and raising the weapons, seeking any sort of intelligence within their eyes before he acted, allowing green Fel fire to envelope his body, before blasting the rocks a few steps before the Ogres, frightening the pair into dropping their weapons as they fell back from the sudden explosion of dark magic.
Nobu'tan walked forward, knowing that he had made an impression to at least these few, and amid the grunts and roars of the Ogres, which was starting to seem like a type of language rather than animalistic noises to Nobu'tan, he attempted to speak in the orcish tongue.
"Do you understand my speech, Ogre," he said to one of those that had stumbled and fallen in terror of his power, but it was clear that the beast was unable to comprehend his words. Instead, the creature tried to swat away the frightful thing before it, its massive arms like windmills as it tried to strike at Nobu'tan, but its own fear was preventing it from landing a blow.
Sighing in frustration, Nobu'tan tried another tactic. Quickly drawing his wand, he listened a bit longer to the ogre as it cried out in its half roaring, half screeching tongue, and made several quick gestures with the wooden implement. The language was crude, but he should be able to understand some of the ideas it was transmitting between these creatures now.
Even as he completed his spell, it started to take effect. The roars and grunts started to have meaning, not so much as full words, but more as a rudimentary idea transmitted, which Nobu'tan attributed to the baseness of the language. The ogre before him was, much as he suspected, trying to ward him away, but too full of fear to even make a serious attempt.
Giving the new language an attempt, Nobu'tan said the equivalent of, "Bring leader to me," in halting ogre-speech, and it grated on him to use such crude vocabulary as the ogres had. He was teaching them orcish at the first opportunity. Luckily, the one line had enough of an effect to motivate the Ogre to action, and it ran in its attempt to get the 'Angry, scary wizard,' what he wanted.
Afterward there was a lot of roaring from inside the mound, and several ogres, much larger than the originals, exited, glaring down at Nobu'tan, but not approaching. These ones were somewhat intelligent, and probably had heard what Nobu'tan was capable of, so they warily kept their distance.
Finally, after several more minutes of waiting, the largest ogre yet appeared, wearing some armor made of bones and wood, and carrying a legitimate metal club in its hand. "What you want, little human…" The ogre lord said in their language, and Nobu'tan was suitably impressed with their sense of smell, as with his dark cloak and the vapor of fel fire and dark magic he ought to have been difficult to identify with his hood raised.
He had to phrase his demands carefully, as he wanted to show the ogre clan the advantages of willingly allying with him instead of dominating them through fear. Ogres respected power, and he got their attention with his bold approach and display of magic, but that was only the first step. "Me want take weak warriors, make them wizards, give them power, entire clan join with me, become strong." He said, and to his great surprise the ogre lord was actually listening intently. It seemed the novelty of speaking their own language was something that was able to hold their attention, even if it was grating and irritating for the orc-raised human to speak.
The chief was actually thinking it over, and casually beat the metal club against his leg, making the ground shake, but Nobu'tan refused to even flinch. It may be some sort of test, to see if the much smaller creature was worth part of his clan. "Me give you weakest warrior, see what you can do, if he become big powerful wizard, then we join you…" he said after a while, barking orders back at his guards, and they left to fetch one of the other ogres, which had all taken shelter within the mound.
Nobu'tan bowed slightly, "agreed, we return in two moon cycles, and you see how powerful he become." Two months would be all the time Nobu'tan predicted that he would need to recreate the ritual that produced the ogre magi, after the same fashion that Gul'dan did, aside from the lack of powerful elven Runestones. Nobu'tan would have to make his on his own, but as he looked at the smallest ogre, still reaching over eight feet in height and clearing weighting several hundred pounds, he figured that at least he had a servant that could manage a bit of heavy lifting.
Idly, he wondered if this was the way Gul'dan had felt regarding Cho'gall… at least initially perhaps. By the time Nobu'tan had entered the picture, the there had been some tension between the two, once the young human could understand it, and the two had become powerful chieftains in the Horde. While still allies, it was clear that they had developed their differences, which Nobu'tan supposed was acceptable, just dangerous with how mad the particular ogre mage had started to become.
A simple fix to that really, give the ogre mage less freedom, and more dependency on the master he was to serve. Nobu'tan looked up at the scrawny ogre he was to train. Not nearly as muscular or wide as his fellows, there was some certain shiftiness in the eyes of this one that Nobu'tan liked, a certain level of cunning that could easily be expanded upon. "Name?" he commanded, and was immediately answered by the ogre in question. "Tegramm."
Bowing slightly once more to the ogre chief, Nobu'tan beckoned for his new servant, and turned to leave, trudging the long way back up the slope to Durmstrang. He had six to eight weeks, and it would take time to make the trip back to the school, before even starting to prepare and finalize the ritual needed for the transformation of this ogre into a mage. The lumbering gait of the ogre was almost a comfort, reminding Nobu'tan of the long days he spent on the shores of Khaz Modan, and learning from his mentors as the Horde prepared to sail up toward Lordaeron.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione was more than ready when the appointed day of the joint ritual had arrived. Despite being in third year, and thus eligible for the Hogsmeade weekend trips, she had convinced all those of her little society, along with Draco and his contingent, to forestall the first trip, and come together to see if they could succeed where the Ministry had failed, and locate Harry through the power of the Arcane.
Countless hours she had spent pouring over Arithmancy numbers, battling over the placements of each of their twelve casters, and what runes to paint under their feet in order to guide the magic. It was surprising to her how well the side studies meshed with the Arcane, forming a strong link between wizard and mage magic, and allowed such compound rituals to be attempted.
Placement was key between the members of the ritual. Each trio of people out of their twelve had to be reasonable equal in power, or their segment could become unstable and ruin the entire process. after long consultation with Draco, Hermione had decided that she would be in the lead circle with Draco and Theodore Nott, who were by and large the most powerful of the other faction, while in the next circle Blaise Zabini would stand with Ravenclaw Terry Boot and Gryffindor Fay Dunbar, which ought to balance the power out quite well, the Ravenclaw boy being somewhat more progressed than the Gryffindor, but it would work Hermione thought.
The next circle would be Susan Bones of Hufflepuff, along with Colin Creevey of Gryffindor, standing with Vicent Crabbe, and the final circle would hold Gregory Goyle along with Hannah Abbot and Anthony Goldstein.
After the configuration of people was satisfied, then Hermione went to the Room of Requirement, which had been explained to her in great detail by Harry in the past, and strove tirelessly since the previous night to paint runes that would join their magic and aim it towards finding Harry for them. Four separate runic circles for each group, one being center to the other three to direct the flow of power, all within a seeking pentagram ought to give them what they needed. by the time she had finished, it was well into the morning that they had chosen to perform the ritual, and Hermione had wisely chosen to use her time turner to go back and get a full nights rest beforehand, so that her own levels of magic were at their peak.
Luckily it was a weekend, and early enough in the term that her homework from all her classes wasn't overwhelming yet, but she was grateful that they chose such an early time, as it was clear that she would be swarmed by the time exams came around. Hermione made her way down to breakfast with the others in Gryffindor, and looked around at the others who were participating, making sure that each seemed rested and ready for the task at hand.
There would many good signs, and even some of the younger students in the mage lessons seemed extremely excited to be participating in something this grand. Even for Hermione this was to be a learning experience. Rituals weren't touched upon in any of their classes, as the Ministry had strict control over what was allowed or not, and the majority, other than some Pureblood rites of heritage and so forth, had been restricted to use only within the Department of Mysteries.
Still, Hermione knew that they were all pioneering a new achievement in the world of magic, thanks to Harry, and it probably was up to them to make sure that their unofficial leader was safe. The ritual worked best at noon, when the sun's power was at its highest, so that was when they all had decided to come together, giving Hermione ample time to finish preparations from the morning to the appointed time. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws were the first to arrive, being closest in their tower common rooms.
Hannah and Susan arrived shortly after eleven, with the Slytherin group of five arriving just before the hour. "Good, we have arrived," Hermione said, the seriousness of the task settling into her voice as she spoke. "We have already decided upon who stands where in the ritual, and you needn't worry too much other than assisting in powering it with your respective magic; Draco, Theodore and myself will do most of the work directing the magic into the runes to achieve what we want."
The others nodded, consulting her sheet of parchment quickly, before going to stand with their respective partners in their assigned circles.
Turning to the two Slytherin boys who were to take the leader with her, Hermione nodded solemnly, "are you prepared?" she asked, not fully understanding why she was growing nervously formal.
"We are…" Draco replied, and together the three of them stepped into the center circle.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Draco knew that Granger had gotten the circles and calculations perfectly correct the moment she started to speak. The Muggleborn witch wouldn't understand, but magic knew when a powerful ritual was to be performed, and manifested itself in various ways to be in preparation for whatever magic a group of witches and wizards had devoted themselves as a group to, often with strange or slightly amusing quirks that affected the members of the ritual. Apparently that included the formality with which they start to use when speaking to each other.
Regarding this little ritual, as Draco knew exactly where Nobu'tan was hidden away, he had something of a conflict of interests. While he knew the reasons that the boy was away, and the importance of keeping that a secret, there was a small selfish and somewhat childish part of him that wanted his friend back. True, Nobu'tan wasn't the same kind of friend that Theodore had been before they met the warlock, but nevertheless Draco had enjoyed the time they shared, even in the most mundane of activities. The novelty of Nobu'tan first experiencing things that Draco had long taken for granted was refreshing, and it was something that he legitimately missed.
Granger lifted her arms once they were all in place within their circles, and a torrent of arcane magic billowed upward, charging the lead circle and commencing the ritual. Draco and Theodore, in the same circle as the brilliant witch, waited only a few moments before reaching up as well, calling upon the power of the Nether, and adding the strength of the Great Beyond to the circle, in effort to locate their friend wherever he had gone.
Granger may have guessed that their magic was drastically different, but clearly from her look of surprise as new power flooded into the ritual she had not grasped the measure of that difference. But she had no time to comment, as the other four circles flared to life as the nine others began their chants and invoking, and the three in the center were busy directing the flow of one full circle to their needs.
Soon the levels of magic came to a crescendo, they were close to the rending of the veil around them, and Draco had to make a choice, seek Harry in reality, and reveal his location to the others, or turn the ritual to another direction and have it supposedly fail, while giving them other information that might be more useful to those warlocks still in Hogwarts.
There was no real choice in the matter, and Draco subtly altered his flow of power, asking the question that was not where was Nobu'tan, but where the powers they wielding came from, and where the knowledge had been had.
Between the three leaders, a shimmering window appeared, which according to what Granger had wanted should have shown them the place where Harry was hidden, but instead Draco saw something completely foreign to him. Towering spires of a clear violet hue rose over a mighty walled city, like something out of a strange alternate era of the Middle Ages. Within this city, a plethora of creatures, humans being one part of the beings there, walked and talked among themselves, while creatures of pure magic existed within their midst. It was clear that these wielded the same magic as Granger and her group, the Arcane, and their symbol, which Draco committed to memory, was that of a golden eye on a violet field. For his part, the young warlock was not sure what to think of an entire city of rival mages, except that it was highly likely that this was not on their world.
With the clear knowledge that there were beings that lived outside of their planet, such as the demons that they commanded, it was not a stretch to imagine that there were other humans or near humans out in the Nether.
But the vision that came next was equally chilling, and required Draco's attention, as a group of green skinned creatures floated into view, replacing the mage city completely. The group of magi seemed to be in the proceed of some sort of ritual themselves, powering an alter that stood between them, chanting in the demonic language of the Legion. Whatever they seemed to be doing however, was lost to them as one in their midst turned, looking directly at them with crimson eyes, the massive teeth forming into a sneer, before their ritual went black with a wave of the creature's arm.
The magic they had generated rushed out of the circles in a great wind of flowing magic, escaping into the Void and leaving them all drained. "I don't understand…" Granger said, back to her usual method of speaking, "I did all the calculations extremely carefully; we should have located Harry with little problems."
Most of the other mages looked drained, but Draco noted with a bemused smile that the warlocks in the group were still on their feet, unhindered by the power that had flowed out of them to power the ritual. "Not all rituals work they way we wanted them to," he explained briefly, "that's the primary reason why the Ministry cracked down on them so much. It's unpredictable magic at the best of times, and can be downright fatal at the worst."
He looked down at her, knowing that she was actually dead on with her methods to locate Nobu'tan, "Don't worry so much about it, it could just as easily mean that Harry is protected from such scrying on his person…"
Granger looked pensive still, probably going over the calculations in her head over and over, but soon she glanced up, "Thank you Draco, you are likely right. There couldn't have been anything wrong with my ritual, so that has to be the answer."
"We'll find him, eventually." Draco reassured her, "I wouldn't be surprised if he just doesn't want to be found right now…" then he kicked himself, knowing that he let something important slip.
And the blasted girl noticed, "I thought he was kidnapped…" she said, looking at him with suspicion.
"I find it hard to imagine that Harry, as powerful as he is, would remain a prisoner of anyone for long. I suspect he's on the run from those creatures, which is why we could see them, and they blocked the spell. They must be powerful if they dismissed a twelve person ritual so easily..." Draco said quickly, hoping to deflect her attention from the slip up.
It seemed to work, as the girl immediately frowned in deep thought, "Yes, those creatures are most concerning. If I recall they match the description of the ones that attacked the Ministry and kidnapped Harry. But what are they? And what is their plan?"
Draco feigned ignorance, even as he motioned for the other warlocks to start preparing to depart. It was better for them to leave before Granger started to remember the differences in their magic and asked questions. There was still much for them to do in preparation for their studies in the Nether arts, including inundating new members from Slytherin that were starting to become interested in their power.
"I wouldn't know, Granger, but I have to say this was an enlightening experience, and we mutually thank you for the experience in ritual magic in conjunction with our powers. It is something for us to think on and try to incorporate in the future. As for the problems befalling Harry, we will find him, I trust that, and he will be safe, no doubts about that. He is simply too powerful to get killed quickly…"
Granger seemed to want to comment on that more, but Draco turned just then, and departed after the rest of the warlocks, fleeing the room and returning quickly to the dungeons and the chambers that they had set aside for their own practices. There were select places in the castle that they could practice, unlike the mages and their precious special room at the top of the castle, which clearly had wards and other safeguards to protect them from being discovered.
Not so with the rest of the school, and the Slytherin warlocks had to be careful with Dumbledore around, and especially with both Snape and the new Defense Professor, Lupin, who had the bad habit of appearing at jus the wrong times to potentially discover something amiss, like he could simply smell the dark auras that wafted off those that practiced the Fel magic.
Despite this, they're group was gaining momentum. Already several of the younger year Slytherins, and a few of the older, were starting to notice the levels of magical power, and the stark difference between the warlocks and their normal wand-based magic. Draco had noticed this as well.
Those who practiced the magic of the Nether, and to another degree those Mages who used the Arcane, were substantially stronger in all areas of their magical growth than those who did not, and the school at large was starting to notice. This was both good, and bad. Good as there would be more that wanted to join and become stronger themselves, giving each group more members and more power collectively, but bad as the professors would start to take note, and word would reach Dumbledore that there were more than one magical faction in his school.
Nevertheless, Draco would act as he felt necessary, as second in the Order of the Black Harvest, and start gathering as many new warlocks as he could, from all houses. Naturally they only started in Slytherin, but Blaise and Theodore had connections into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff through their new third year classes, and that would be an advantage to use later on, once they had all the Slytherins that would join set and squared away.
Surprisingly enough, with their many new members, it was Crabbe and Goyle who took the initiative of leading instruction in the ways of the Nether, both large boys actually displaying a noticeable increase in intelligence, and competence in leading discussion or providing demonstration of abilities. Draco was pleased that the powers of the Nether were changing these two to be far more capable as human beings, in addition to useful minions of the Order.
It especially took more work off of his shoulders, as maintaining their secrecy alone was becoming quite difficult, with Aurors dropping by every so often to consult with Dumbledore, probably regarding Nobu'tan. The greatest of these nuisances was Moody, who turned up at least once a week, his irritating eye sweeping whatever room he entered with a paranoid gaze, immediately singling Draco out whenever he could for more questioning. It was illegal, but the man was not a public servant anymore, and also something of a legend, therefore more or less immune from prosecution for his relentless behavior.
Draco wondered for a time, after the first month of this, if it was similar in regards to what Nobu'tan put up with from Dumbledore for those two years after he returned from his other world. it seemed something akin to the madness of having an strange figure looming over you with power to torment you in ways you don't want, but Draco still thought that Dumbledore would have to be far worse than Moody.
Like now for example, as they trooped back down to the dungeons right after the ritual, sure enough there appeared Moody, along with Severus and Lupin, watching the line of Slytherins as the trooped past. It must have been his imagination, but Draco swore that he spotted Lupin actually sniffing the air around them, and Moody immediately made a beeline for Draco. "Malfoy, what are you and this lot doing…"
Draco stopped, allowing Theodore and Blaise to move on past the Auror, "I don't see how it's any of your business what we, as students, do within our own school, sir. But, as you asked so politely, we were meeting with friends in the other houses for a lively magical theory discussion. We're all part of a relatively exclusive club that Hermione Granger started, still unofficial of course." he said, lying perfectly. Technically, it was a group meeting, and magical theory was discussed, but anything past that was not important for them to know.
Naturally however, Moody did not seem amused or believing of anything that Draco said. "A likely story, boy… Then explain why you and your group reek of Dark Magic…"
Draco made a show of examining himself, checking his underarms as though the stink was a real thing, "I haven't a clue what you refer to Sir, perhaps something used in this batch of uniforms?" he said, posing a weak but distracting argument.
"Bah!" the man snorted, seeing through the flimsy lie, but Draco cared not for what the man wanted to do. He turned to his Head of House, "Professor, must I endure this man's constant berating and invasive questioning any longer? If so then I require my father to be present, as I am a minor, and neither a suspect nor a witness of any crime, with the dear retired Auror is investigating, and therefore immune from such questioning."
Snape seemed uncaring, as per his usual, but Draco could tell that the normal quickness to which he would defend his students was lacking as he spoke, "It would be best for you to move on to seeing the Headmaster, Moody, as he is rather busy this time of year."
The old Auror grunting angrily, shaking off the hand that Lupin had set on his shoulder before stomping away, with the other two in tow, but Lupin and Snape sent looks back at Draco, which caused the young warlock to become incredibly suspicious. Normally Snape couldn't stand the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but for them to be working together meant one thing, Dumbledore was on the move again with something.
Whatever it was, it probably didn't mean anything good in regards to Nobu'tan or their plans for this world, and escaping to the magic rich place that the black haired young man called home. Turning back to return to the dungeons, Draco hastily pulled out parchment and quill from one of the desks left standing in the chambers taken over by the Order of the Black Harvest, and wrote out a quick and encrypted message to his father, which could then be forwarded to Nobu'tan at the earliest convenience.
Till the reply returned there was only maintaining their secrecy, and training their new class of warlocks to worry about. Frequent trips into the forest were taken to ensure both of these. After learning what Nobu'tan had been teaching them with that venture, Draco had been quick to suggest its implementation wherever possible, albeit without dangerously entering the nest of Acromantula. That he was saving as a final challenge before the summer holiday, where all of them would go and see about wiping out that menace once and for all.
Handing the now sealed missive to Blaise, who was their runner for the Owlery right now, and turned his attention to the practice summoning circles that several of their younger students were tracing and memorizing. Naturally they wouldn't be using the Fel magic with Dumbledore in the castle, but it was practice for the next time they entered the forest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Moody refused to let the Malfoy boy out of his mind as he entered Albus' office. There was something at work there, he could both see and sense it with the arcane senses that he had started to learn. The boy and his friends gave off similar magic readings as Potter had, albeit far weaker. It wasn't too far of a stretch to guess that they had, and were still, learning the secrets that Potter used, to summon deadly creatures and twist the power of shadows and cursed fire to their whim.
Unfortunately, Albus had already stated that he was well aware of this, but for some reason the old Headmaster seemed willing to wait around and let these Slytherins do as they pleased. "Ah, Alastor, I had just been hoping that you would arrive with Severus and Remus," Albus said, standing from his desk and crossing to shake his hand.
"What did you want Albus, and your precious Slytherins are growing in their dark magical powers…" Moody replied, shooting a darkened glance to the floor with his magical eye, but the distance was too far for him to see the brats as they retreated to their underground holes.
"That is a matter for another time." Albus brushed off the concern, "but what we have to deal with now is the securing of an important witness to aid in the freedom of an innocent man."
"Who are you referring to?" Lupin said, looking somewhat hopeful, "Surely not Black…"
Alastor knew the background of the werewolf, and his friendship with both Sirius Black and James Potter. It was tragic, but so many things were during those days that Alastor had more or less hardened himself to those feelings. Constant Vigilance demanded that he not be clouded by emotion.
"I do indeed refer to Sirius… I have met with him already, and determined that he was innocent of the violence that took Lily and James from us." Albus said, much to the surprise of the others.
"That is not possible." Snape replied snidely, "he was the secret keeper, and only he could have told the Dark Lord how to enter Godric's Hollow."
"Except that he was not the Secret Keeper, merely posing as it to cover the real keeper." Albus replied, eye twinkling in that way that meant the old man had a brilliant deduction in store.
"Then who…" Lupin started, before shaking his head, "Surely not Peter…"
"Ah, but it was indeed Peter Pettigrew that was the Potter's Secret Keeper, if we are to believe Sirius, and I for one to trust him, however, he gave us means to verify his claim…" Albus said cheerfully, "Which is why I need you three to assist me."
"What are you planning Albus?" Alastor said, growing tired of the back and forth banter that the older man was enjoying as he revealed his scheme bit by bit.
"We just need to take a short trip to Gryffindor Tower, and inspect a rat for some peculiar markings…" Albus said, which seemed to once again trigger Lupin's memory.
"Albus… you mean to say that Peter is also alive?" Lupin said hesitantly, clearly afraid to consider the possibility.
"Let us go and discover the truth. I for one am already convinced however, and wish to remove a threat from my school. Remus I will need you to detain young Mr. Weasley while we inspect his pet, as it is possible that such a revelation would be quite traumatizing for a young man to learn of. Moody, you and Severus will conduct the investigation, while I prevent Peter from escaping if it turns out to be the truth."
Alastor sighed, but allowed himself to be led after the Headmaster out of his office, humoring the old man with this venture. While he felt it a waste of time, he knew that the Headmaster took threats to his school very seriously, and even if there was the slightest chance that Pettigrew was alive and a traitor, he would not rest till such was exposed.
The trek to Gryffindor Tower was short, and they only had to pause momentarily as the Headmaster chatted with the portrait guardian to make certain that the youngest Weasley boy was still down in the rest of the castle, and was pleasantly informed that the young man was still departed from the common room, to which the old man nodded, and requested access for the four of them to the tower. As Headmaster, there was no area that was denied him, and the Lady swung her portrait forward.
The common room was more or less empty, with only a handful of students studying in the chairs around the fire, who looked confusedly at their professors and Headmaster as they entered. Lupin went to casually chat with them, distracting them as Albus led Alastor and Snape up to the third year boy's dormitory. Outside the room, the Headmaster stopped and nodded to the pair of them, drawing his wand just in case.
Alastor sighed, before pushing his was inside, followed closely by Snape. One quick sweep of the room with his enchanted eye revealed the presence of a rat, and Alastor approached the rodent swiftly, which seemed to only mildly disturb the creature. Exchanging a silent glance with Snape, the ex-Auror snapped a quick stunner at the rat, which could little more than squeak before it was struck, going limp instantly.
"That was not the reaction of any rat…" Snape commented, picking up the creature by the tail, "I am starting to think that, much as I hate to admit it, the Headmaster is proving to be most correct."
Secreting the rat within an conjured and enchanted cage, Alastor return to the corridor and presented it to Albus, "best to do this thing in private, where none of your students would be able to hear," he muttered, magical eye glancing downward at the handful of Gryffindors being distracted by Lupin.
The Headmaster nodded, taking hold of the small cage and leading them back out and returning to his office, collecting Lupin as they passed through the common room. Only once they were safely behind the closed door of the Head's office, did Albus retrieve the rat from within the cage, and after setting the creature on the ground, cast the spell that would force an animagus into human form.
As the watery-eyed man appeared before them, both Snape and Lupin stood aghast as the proof of Black's innocence appeared before them.
"R…r…Remus?" the man said, almost starting to shake uncontrollably as Moody gazed at him with both eyes.
"Hello Peter…" Albus said, making the man whirl, "Such a long time since we'd seen you last… perhaps it's time we all had a little chat…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione didn't know what had gone wrong with her ritual. She had carefully triple checked everything. There couldn't be any other possibility for its failure except what Draco had mentioned, them being blocked from the other side. That alone also posed some great challenges for the future, as it meant to Hermione that these creatures were powerful in the arts of the Arcane, and perhaps whatever other magic that Draco and his faction had learned that was suitably different from what Hermione was teaching her followers.
Therein lay another great question, what exactly had been that magic that the other Slytherins had been utilizing in conjunction with the might of the arcane? Whatever it had been, she could tell that it was not of the same world that the mages drew their energy. It seemed to be pulled down from some faraway place out in space, and more wild and chaotic in nature.
She was impressed, but rather disconcerted, as she had also sensed the inherent darkness of the magic, and somehow she wondered if they had sabotaged her ritual through the darker magic and its working. Either that or malicious intent could have played a part, but she didn't know why they would want to prevent the return of their mutual teacher.
Still, Hermione continued on as she had the previous year, teaching those that showed promise and interest in the Arcane arts. Some of the younger years had joined them, after a few subtle invitations to those who seemed capable and willing to keep secrets.
Granted, Hermione was ironically quickly running short on time to do much for herself, even in the avenues of her own Arcane learning, despite now owning a time turner. There were only so many hours that one could feasibly go back in time before the risk of overlapping timelines became too great. And due to the massive number of classes that she had elected to take, even with the additional five to seven hours a day, there just was so much work that it was extremely hard to stay ahead of everything.
Hermione was unwilling to admit it, but she was slaking in her personal practice, and thus had slid in making any new steps in the arts of the Arcane, so focused was she on making sure her grades were passing.
It was probably past time that she delegated some of the work of understanding the Arcane to another, and perhaps she ought to consult with Professor Dumbledore again, as the man seemed far more than knowledgeable regarding mysteries of magic, if she ever found the time…
Casually, Hermione started to wish for something to drink, and while fiddling with her arcane power, was surprised when she managed to create, not just a water goblet, but what seemed to be some sort of water within it as well, although the liquid was overflowing with raw magical energy.
Curious, she tasted it, and widened her eyes in shock at how refreshing and energizing the mana-rich nectar was, as it refreshed not only her body, but her mind as well. perhaps there would be ways to make sure that she had the ability to keep up with everything after all, she thought with a smile, even as Hermione returned to the essays she had laid out before her in the library.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Line Break ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Albus learned quite a bit from Peter, regarding the events of the fated Halloween night that saw the deaths of Lily and James, without even needing to use Veritaserum, even if it was clear that Severus was looking for any opportunity to shove a vial-full down the man's throat.
However, even the pale Potions Master was nothing against the baleful gaze of Remus, as the werewolf glared holes into his old friend turned traitor, which served to loosen the man's tongue far more effectively. They also learned that it was Peter that faked his own death, destroying a muggle gas line and causing the explosion on the street after public blaming Sirius for the deaths of the Potters, which sealed the evidence of the other man's innocence.
Turning to Alastor, Albus gestured at Peter, "Are you satisfied that Sirius is innocent of all the crimes he was imprisoned for?"
The man grunted, but said nothing. Remus and Severus were equally silent, but Peter continued to blabber on about his own innocence in the matter, how he was coerced by Voldemort and whatever else he thought would bestow pity or mercy upon himself. "Alastor, you may take Peter to the Ministry, and allow Madam Bones to deal with him as she sees fit, I have a memory to extract and a letter to write to Cornelius that he now cannot ignore. Hopefully this means these blasted dementors will be sent away at last…" Albus said, dismissing the grisly Auror and their returned traitor.
"Now that that is cleared away, sending Sirius to seek out where Nobu'tan is hiding was indeed the best choice…" Albus said, more to himself then the others once Alastor had departed with the now stunned Peter in tow.
"You sent Black after Potter before verifying if he was telling the truth?" Severus asked flatly, the muted horror of what clearly seemed like a foolish action dripping from his voice.
"My thoughts were that, he would leave if he learned that Harry was not here, and whether he was innocent or not it would probably be equally difficult for him to locate Nobu'tan than it would be for us. Now that we know, I do not need the tracking charm that I placed on him when he met with me, but it will still be useful to give him directions if anything comes up in the meantime." Albus explained.
"We are still in agreement that Draco Malfoy, and probably a fair number of the other Slytherin third years know something," Remus said, "there is a certain quality of dark magic that I can smell on them that is quite different from the usual…"
Albus held back from sighing. He already knew about the little group of Draco Malfoy's, but he also knew that they would hardly act without Nobu'tan's permission. Calmly he instructed the pair to monitor the Slytherins, but not to move against them unless it was warranted for safety.
