Teddy and Yaxley appeared in Hogwarts' from courtyard.
"Ten fingers in a good start," Yaxley grunted, wiggling his left hand and glancing at the right hand in the sling. "Crazy way of traveling."
Teddy looked around at the students instead of at Yaxley's wounds, still blaming himself for them. The students had stopped and were staring at them. Being back at school was unusual, and not… wholly welcome.
This is part of my duty, Teddy told himself, get used to it!
"Hi Teddy," an older Ravenclaw girl said, waving.
Teddy recognized her as was one of Victoire's friends, Victoire being in Ravenclaw herself. Teddy's friends at school used to tease him about that, saying she was out of his league, as smart as she was beautiful.
He awkwardly returned the greeting, saying, "Olivia. Where's Vicky?"
"In the dorm I think," Olivia said. "I'll tell her you're here, Auror."
Teddy nodded, but noticed Yaxley had already started walking to the Headmaster's office. With a wave at Olivia, Teddy caught up to the older wizard. They found the students involved in the skirmish sitting on benches in the hallway outside, a cluster of Slytherin together on one side.
"Dad?" One of them asked, standing, confused.
"Hey Jay," Yaxley greeted his eldest, looking over him and the girl beside him.
They looked similar and Teddy thought it was Rue, one of Yaxley's daughters. He'd seen a picture of his kids on Yaxley's desk before.
"What's going on?" Jay asked.
"That's my question," Yaxley assured, walking over to stand in front of him. "You were attacked on campus? Is everyone okay? Were you hurt?"
"We're all fine," Jay promised. "Grindelwald killed it. He's pretty fast. It was just a stupefy though so no one's sure how it died. I wasn't there but Rue was."
Yaxley turned to the girl next, kneeling on one knee in front of the sitting twelve-year-old. "And how are you, Rue?"
"I'm fine dad," Rue promised. "I was doing homework with my friends. It tried to eat that Ravenclaw, not me."
She motioned to the other side of the hallway where there were more students.
"Well, it's good that you're okay," Yaxley smiled.
"You're still hurt, dad?" Rue questioned.
"Ah, the fiendfyre burns haven't healed yet," Yaxley shrugged, "but it's getting better."
The word fiendfyre caught the attention of an older Gryffindor student, who frowned. She apparently knew that was dark magic.
"Let my wounds be a warning to you kids," Yaxley addressed everyone in the hallway, "be careful about tampering with dark magic. It is very powerful and very useful but using it comes with a price and it always collects."
The students looked suitably unnerved. Jay sat back besides Rue at a motion from Yaxley. Yaxley then went up the staircase to the Headmaster's office, Teddy still following. The gargoyle that usually guarded the office was left stepped aside so they ascended without trouble. Potter was speaking to a Slytherin student inside, the two sitting near each other. There was no sign of McGonagall and Teddy wondered if she was out securing the grounds or getting the students indoors or something.
The two stopped their conversation when Yaxley swept in. The gentle concern he had when he was speaking with his children was gone now.
"Potter!" Yaxley called out. "What is going on around here? I thought we had this handled! How did something happen at school?"
"We're trying to figure that out," uncle Harry promised. "Two of my Aurors have gone into the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid to track where the creature came from."
Teddy should focus on the conversation they were having, but once Harry stood and they walked a bit away from the other student, he found himself glancing at the student. He knew his face of course. The Aurors had been startled to find out Gellert Grindelwald's grandson was transferring to Hogwarts. Yaxley found it funny in a morbid sort of way. Albus Dumbledore, one of Hogwarts' most famous headmasters, was the enemy of Gellert and later the one who defeated him, yet now, Gellert's kin was going to Dumbledore's school.
The Ministry of Magic still wasn't clear how he got expelled from Durmstrang. Five students died in an accident. Gabriel wasn't found to be at fault but the other parents hadn't wanted him to stay, so he transferred out. No one was sure why Hogwarts was the school picked either. Because it happened to be another European school? Shacklebolt approved the transfer himself, wanting the Alliance "prince" somewhere where he could keep an eye on him in case he tried to follow in his family's footsteps. It was a case of 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.'
Gabriel was looking away and Teddy hesitated, wanting to talk to him.
"What is it?" Gabriel asked, glancing at Teddy, having noticed him staring.
His tone was not friendly.
"I was curious about your fight with the beast," Teddy said, deciding to be honest and start with that. "You're only a third year but that was a really brave thing you did, helping the other students."
Gabriel stared back, expression surprised. "Not what I expected to hear."
"What did you expect?" Teddy asked.
Gabriel glanced away. "Something about what kind of curse I used or some snide about being so quick to kill."
"I heard it was only a stupefy though?"
"It was," Gabriel promised. "Durmstrang doesn't shelter its students from combat. I saw a threat and my training clicked in. And… I-I don't want to see anyone else die."
The other five students, Teddy guessed. Gabriel looked uncomfortable, glancing away, trying to keep a neutral expression, but he was distressed. There's no way he murdered them on purpose or while doing some experiments like Gellert did, Teddy thought. He's too upset.
Despite that, Gabriel still stepped up to fight without hesitating. Teddy wondered if Gabriel had bad dreams from battles like he did.
Teddy sat where his uncle had been sitting, across from Gabriel. "What do you want me to call you? Gabriel?"
It was more respectful to use last names, like at the Auror's office, but he didn't think Gabriel wanted to be compared to his grandfather.
"Gabriel János," Gabriel said, using a different surname, probably his mom's.
Like Teddy thought.
"I'm Edward Lupin," Teddy introduced back, "second-year junior Auror. But Ted or Teddy are fine."
"How do you get Teddy from Edward?" Gabriel asked.
"Um, I'm not sure, actually," Teddy paused, thinking about it.
His turquoise hair color darkening in color thoughtfully. It got a bit of a start from Gabriel.
"I'm a metamorphmagi," Teddy explained. "I can control my power except for my hair color. It still kind of does what it wants."
"It's strange," Gabriel agreed, "but cool. You're really lucky."
"Lucky?" Teddy repeated.
"Everyone knows me as Gabriel Grindelwald," Gabriel explained. "That's why I was surprised you were respectful enough to ask for my name. Most people even address me by my grandfather's surname, don't ask my first name, as if who I'm related to is more important than who I am."
Teddy supposed that did happen, but he didn't understand. "I don't understand why they wouldn't give you a choice. You haven't committed any crime."
"It's always been that way, ever since I was a first-year at Durmstrang and the rest of the wizarding world realized I existed," Gabriel scoffed. "Do they think my bloodline makes me so dangerous they need to single me out and make sure no one forgets who I'm related to? Just because of what my grandfather and father did? The other wizards hate me for that and even when I use my mother's surname, I have to deal with the fact she's a muggle and I'm only a half-blood. So I'm not welcome among those that traditionally associate with Dark wizards either. You're very lucky, Lupin."
"I am?" Teddy asked.
"Course," Gabriel told him. "I know who you are now. You're the godson of Harry Potter, the boy who lived, the one who finally slew Voldemort, and you're a metamorphmagi, which is cool on its own, and an Auror, which is a respected job. I've heard some of my housemates say you're another werewolf but I bet none of them would say it to you face. They'd only whisper behind your back. I have no protection whatsoever. My mother was even murdered by a British wizard after my father died during his spree."
"What?" Teddy didn't believe that. "I didn't know that! Are you sure?"
"Not really," Gabriel admitted, "but his accent sounds like yours. His Russian was pretty bad."
Teddy didn't like that. "You should report that."
"To who?" Gabriel questioned. "My mom was a criminal's wife. No one will care about her killing. They don't consider her an innocent victim."
"My parents were killed to," Teddy told him. "It was during the Battle of Hogwarts, but they were killed by Death Eaters – obviously bad guys, so they were seen as heroes. But that doesn't make what happened to your mom okay. Anyone being killed in a terrible thing and if she was a muggle like you said she wouldn't have been able to defend herself from her attacker! Whoever used Rikárd as an excuse to murder is no better than the Death Eaters. It should be investigated."
Gabriel stared again. "You're really not saying what I think you will."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Teddy hmphed. "If you were a criminal, you'd deserve to be spoken of badly but you're not so I don't. It's not fair. It's like how people dismiss me as some rabid werewolf first and only some get to know me. It's not like I'm venomous like a werewolf. I can't transform and my bite won't hurt anyone. The inherited curse is much weaker than the original. Where was your mom attacked?"
Gabriel was still staring, but he exhaled. "Czech Republic, well out of your jurisdiction. There's a case open there but it was never investigated properly and was abandoned after a week, deemed a cold case. It wasn't worth law enforcement resources. I suppose the status quo is as screwy here as it is there, huh?"
Teddy nodded agreement to that, upset. There was no way a British Auror could look at a case in east Europe. That sucked. He thought about how he could help Gabriel but nothing came to mind.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes a bit at Teddy. "Hey Lupin, can you tell me about that case?"
"Case?"
"The one that resembled this one, with Lazlo Hale and inferi," Gabriel explained. "I heard the conversation before you came."
"Um, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to," Teddy hesitated. "It's an ongoing investigation. I know it's hit the newspapers. You can read them."
"The reporters will not have the details as straight as an officer who is part of the case," Gabriel reminded.
"That's for sure," Teddy said, thinking about some of the scything articles Rita Skeeter had written about him, calling him a half-breed werewolf. "But it is an open case and you don't have security clearance. You'd have to talk to uncle Harry and see if he's willing to answer your questions."
Gabriel scowled, looking away again, not liking that answer. Teddy was sorry he couldn't help him. It didn't seem like Gabriel was a bad person. A bit defensive and withdrawn, yes, but he'd stepped up without hesitation and he didn't seem bothered by the battle afterwards. Teddy wondered if it was only a matter of training, feeling jealous of him for that. Which was stupid in its own way because he's only a third year, thirteen or fourteen, and I'm nineteen. I'm way older than him but he seems a lot more put together than me.
"Alright," Harry said in the silence, still talking to Yaxley. "Jay can show you were the beast's body is. You can look it over. Lupin."
Lupin looked over to where his uncle and Yaxley were.
"Thank you for bringing Yaxley but you're dismissed," Harry told him softly. "I'll take him back once he's done."
"You can go see Victorie," Yaxley added, "maybe join her for dinner."
That sounded wonderful to Teddy. "Yes, thanks."
"May I go as well?" Gabriel asked.
"Yes," Harry said. "I may want to speak to you later. I'll send an owl to find you."
Gabriel nodded and left, following after Teddy. Yaxley called Jay over to him to take him to the beast and Harry turned to the other students. He'd leave Rue until her brother returned but did have a pair of older Hufflepuffs come to make a statement. It was dull work, but Harry knew it was necessary to understand what happened. One problem with leading was delegating. He could send agents out but had to stay somewhere known to coordinate efforts, which meant a lot less field work nowadays.
Teddy thought about the beast's attack. While he wanted to see Victoire, he also wanted to know what was going on, not be dismissed. He knew his uncle was trying to take it easy on him though, and the intent was appreciated. I guess this is good enough.
"Hey, Lupin," Gabriel called out behind him.
Teddy suppressed a groan, stopping in the empty hallway. There were no other students at least, probably gathered in their dorms or the dining hall.
He turned back to Gabriel. "I can't tell you about the case. I'm sorry. I want to help but I can't that way."
"Muffliato," Gabriel cast suddenly, wand flicking.
Lupin flinched at the spell, startled. It was meant to prevent others from overhearing them.
"You may want to reconsider answering my questions," Gabriel told him, expression cold, wand still partially raised. "Lazlo Hale was an acquaintance of my father and I knew him to."
Teddy choked on that, turquoise hair flaring up a tense, unsettled yellow-green. "What? Lazlo Hale was part of the Alliance!"
"I don't know what his political leanings were," Gabriel corrected, face impassive, emotions hidden behind a blank façade, "but I know he was a magizoologist and liked to experiment, breed new species. Rikárd warned him not to experiment with dark creatures, especially things that were already dead and couldn't be controlled. It seems he didn't listen after all. Now, will you tell me what happened? If we are thinking of the same person, I likely know more than you."
Even though Gabriel was years younger, it was Teddy that felt intimidated by the force behind his quietly spoken words. He sounded much older than he was. It also sounded like he knew what he was talking about.
Teddy hadn't seen Lazlo since the battle in his secret workshop, but he'd heard plenty about it. The Aurors had interrogated Lazlo but he seemed to have some kind of curse laid on his mind, and once they used legilimency, it damaged his mind, erasing vast swathes of his memories. There was probably some way to undo it and get the knowledge on what he was doing and who may be helping him, but the Aurors hadn't discovered it yet. They didn't want to give up custody of him until they got answers. That was why Lazlo's trial had been delayed so far. Not that there was much point putting him on trial for crimes he no longer remembered committing.
"Are Lazlo's friends behind this to?" Teddy asked.
"No!" Gabriel's reply was instant and sharp, horrified. "The born werewolf's madness cannot be related to us! The Alliance would never endanger wizard children!"
Teddy felt anger. But muggle children like those two sisters, young Chloe and Jessica, were fair game? Gabriel even said "us," counting himself as one of the Alliance. After what those sisters went through…
The pale coloration of Teddy's hair turned a more vivid red. He controlled himself before saying something. If Gabriel had information, that could help the Aurors to. We'll probably never get anything useful from Lazlo.
"Fine," Teddy said through grit teeth, a growl edging his words. "Let's find somewhere secluded and talk."
Outside, Jay pointed his father to the beast's carcass. A cloth pavilion had been set up over it so the students didn't see the animal being cut up, as that may be traumatizing.
"Thanks Jay," Yaxley smiled, ruffling Jay's hair with his good hand.
"Dad!" Jay complained, stepping back. "I'm not a kid anymore!"
"No," Yaxley agreed, "but you'll always be my son. Now look after your sister."
Jay hmphed a bit, "course."
He walked back inside. Yaxley smiled after him, a bit amused. His relationship with his children was complicated, especially Jay. They were father and son so there was natural affection, but Jay was an official Death Eater and loyal to Mathias. Jay was the only one of his kids old enough to be inducted into the Death Eaters. The rest were still too young to be allowed to join, although given their sympathies, they would probably join once they were old enough. On the other hand, Edmund was a spy for Mathias. No one was supposed to know he was a Death Eater, including his own kids, so as far as Jay and the rest knew, he was only sympathetic to them. He'd pass on information in Jay's letters to Mathias and any orders Mathias had for Jay in his responses, but he wouldn't fight for the Death Eaters. He couldn't be fully trusted. So Jay had started to distance himself from his father a bit.
It was unfortunate but inevitable. Yaxley knew it was a price for his cover. Everything was coming to a head so hopefully he would soon be able to explain it all to Jay. Until then, Yaxley had to turn away and go to the pavilion.
Yaxley brushed aside the entrance, freezing at the sight of the giant wolf lying on the ground, chest cut open, guts laid out. It was lying on a white tarp atop the khaki cloth floor of the pavilion, tables around the edges. A woman was standing over a table, examining a heart the size of Yaxley's head, slicing it open with a scalpel. She wore gloves and a cloth face mask along with safety glasses, brown hair back in a hairnet.
"Woah," Yaxley said, "big dog."
"It's a born werewolf," the woman said, looking up. "Who are you?"
"Ah, Edmund Yaxley, Aurologist and Vitatuor," Yaxley dipped his head in greeting. "Potter said I could come take a look at the beast. I recently helped the Aurors with a case involving unusual magical creatures so we weren't sure if this might be related."
"A Vitatuor," the woman was amazed. "How rare! Well, I'm Mathilda Grimblehawk from the Magic Beast Division. If you think it can help, you can look around, but please don't touch anything. This is a bit crude, but it's the best I can do with a field lab. I didn't want to risk bringing it back to our division until I could determine if it was infected with some new magical disease. It was acting almost rabid."
"Magical rabies in a country where we don't have normal rabies?" Yaxley asked.
"Essentially, although the blood sample I examined earlier didn't have anything resembling the lyssavirus virus that causes rabies in non-magical animals," Grimblehawk explained. "My knowledge in non-magical diseases is limited. I have a friend married to a muggle veterinarian so I might have to bring her to our workshop. I was hoping to get some answers first."
"I'll see what I see," Yaxley smiled.
Grimblehawk went back to the heart and Yaxley, looked around, trying to see. There was a faint silvery aura of magic everywhere except for Grindlehawk, who was gold as well as silver. The body of the born werewolf had a faint silver-gold haze. Despite being dead, some echo of its power remained. That was common among magical animals. Unlike non-magical animals, the aura never truly faded. It made it easy to tell real animal parts from counterfeits, useful when he got dragged into helping track down poachers and check for magical contraband coming into the country.
Yaxley turned his attention to the organs first.
"Was there any sign of tampering on the beast?" Yaxley asked as he walked around the laden tables. "Like stitches?"
"No," Grimblehawk said as she worked. "It had some hairs between its claws. I believe it's from an acromantula spider, which matches what we know. Regan, that vampire, was exploring the Forbidden Forest and saw the colony had been attacked. I spoke to her earlier and apparently, the lead acromantula said, 'They were of the forest. It was not.' An inhabitant of the forest infected with some new affliction might count."
It sounded right to Yaxley.
"From what Regan said," Grimblehawk continued to chat as she dissected, "she and some centaurs were attacked by gytrash acting strangely. They're also canines like the born werewolf. They're normally spirits but they can become physical enough to attack, so they're only semi-corporeal."
"What does that mean for actual werewolves?" Yaxley thought to ask, moving along the table to glance at the heart itself.
Grimblehawk paused. "I don't know. Most of the time they're human, closely related to primates, but when they transform, they are more canid. It's troubling."
That was one way to put it, Yaxley thought. Werewolf numbers were already dropping around the world, from Arclight recruitment or hate crimes.
What Yaxley saw was different from the inferi. Their aura had been somewhat lively because Hale put fresh blood in their veins, heightening their resistance to fire. Yaxley had seen normal inferi once. His family once used them. Hale's differed in a few ways. He would have used certain spells or potions on them when he was changing the muggle girls into something more efficient. It was likely Hale used a similar set of spells with his other experiments, creating unique scarring in the aura. It was like how a muggle bomb-maker always had a "signature" in their work that could tie a bomb back to a creator. There were no tell-tale traces of that here.
It was good Hale wasn't involved. But what was? Was it artificial? Something that evolved here?
He turned to the carcass itself. It all looked normal. Something made Yaxley pause and stare harder, some shimmer in the corner of his eye as he turned away. Yaxley knelt beside it, wondering if he could see it again. There it was. Movement in the aura?
He drew his dagger, holding it cautiously. "Grimblehawk! It's not dead!"
"What?" Grimblehawk said back, stopping and turning. "It's missing its organs! Of course it's dead!"
"No, there's movement in the aura," Yaxley assured, "right here."
He pointed to the shoulder joint of one of the forelimbs. Grimblehawk frowned, kneeling on the wolf's side.
"Where?" She asked.
Yaxley reluctantly knelt closer and pointed with his dagger, touching the spot that shimmered to him. Grimblehawk summoned a clean scalpel with a flick of her wand, put her wand up, and then started to cut through the fur and flesh where Yaxley indicated.
There were dark bubbles and then a black stain rose up from the wound, turning its grey fur black. Grimblehawk jerked back, perplexed, raising her scalpel. Both stared as the black stain came together to a small blob like a ball of oil. Yaxley leaned forward, trying to see its aura, but there was nothing?
The ball leapt upward at Yaxley's face and he yelped, reflexes from his training clicking in. He swatted it aside with the flat of his blade and it splattered on the pavilion's floor. It drew itself together back to a blob, but it then stretched out, starting to move away like some slug. The two wizardkind started at the bizarre creature, if that's what it was, before Grimblehawk summoned a sample container and slammed it down on top of it, trapping it inside. She slid the lid underneath and flipped the container, screwing the lid on as the blob tried to jump again, hitting the lid, escape foiled. The lid locked.
"What is that?" Yaxley demanded, disgusted and horrified, dagger still raised defensively.
"I don't know," Grimblehawk said. "I've never seen anything like it."
The blob slowly moved in a circle around the bottom of the sample container, the sluggish thing looking for a way out.
"Do you see an aura?" Grimblehawk asked, holding it out to Yaxley.
Yaxley leaned back, not wanting it so close to his face, even if it was locked. Reluctantly, he looked. He trembled when he realized what he was seeing.
"It has an aura, but there's no color," Yaxley said, voice rasping, unsteady. "It looks like the air above the road on a hot day, shimmering. I've only seen a colorless aura once before when… there were dementors in the Ministry of Magic…"
"This is a Dementor?" Grimblehawk frowned.
Yaxley shook his head. "The aura shimmers differently. They are similar though."
Grimblehawk looked at the featureless black slug thoughtfully. "Regan passed on quite a bit of what the acromantula told her of its attackers. One thing they told her was that the attacker was like a shadow. They could not kill it to protect the nest because it did not live."
"Then this really is a new kind of amortal?" Yaxley questioned, shocked. "Is that possible?"
"There are stories about Dementors and Raczidian,"Grimblehawk recalled the stories of old. "But no one knows how they came to be or how they're created in modern times. So we have no way to know if something happened to allow the creation of a new species of amortal. This one parasitizes its host instead of feeds off it like Dementors. Its presence may have been responsible for the creature's madness and it likely it damaged it physically as well as mentally, potentially enough for it to drop dead at a stupefy. What a frightening thing. Do you see any other shimmers?"
Yaxley turned back to the wolf and looked closely at it, only to shake his head. That thing tried to get on me, Yaxley thought, maybe in me. Parasitize me as it did this wolf. This was terrifying. He needed to alert Mathias of it. The Death Eaters were planning to move at the end of the year and they didn't need more complications and this could be serious enough to send the children home. They'd lose their targets if that happened so this could be a disaster for their plan as well as their people.
"I'll get Potter," Yaxley said, knowing he needed to start with that.
Grimblehawk nodded, walking to a table and sitting on a chair, staring at the captured creature.
Within the Forbidden Forest, all traces of the experiment were swiftly collected. The black slugs, when put together in a vial, merged into one larger creature. The creature itself could self-segment into individuals or function as one larger being, an interesting side effect.
"What about the one that got away, Zane?" Esther Arclight asked.
Her cousin, Zane Arclight, shrugged. "It'll slip away from the corpse and burrow in the ground. Petal can collect it later. It isn't capable of surviving in our bodies like other magical creatures so she's in no danger. I don't see the mutes finding it."
Esther sighed, used to doing damage control, like picking up the pieces after Gabriel Grindelwald used an Arclight spell to accidentally kill his classmates. Her uncle Rafael had taken an interest in the Alliance members, coordinating with them, so she mostly left them to him. Her aunt, Valencia Arclight, worked with Kingsley Shacklebolt and the Ministry of Magic. Meanwhile, another uncle, Azrael Arclight, was in contact with Mathias Lestrange, helping him hunt down horcruxes. Esther went where she was needed, and right now, she was needed to help cover up Zane's crazy experiments.
"While it's good that you're making progress with your parasites," Esther supposed, "tell me again why father let you test it here in the Forbidden Forest?"
Zane smiled, one of the parasites in his hand. It went into the vial when he tipped his palm. The born werewolf it had been in was only stunned and would recover and stagger off.
"Because I needed to test it somewhere full of magical creatures but we didn't want to damage the ecosystem of our reserves," Zane reminded. "The Forbidden Forest here is almost a reserve in itself with great variety and creatures dark and light, so it was a good area. You little sister's here to, and Petal has Em to alert her of pending danger. If something went wrong, Petal could warn us before it got out of hand. As she did when the host staggered onto campus."
"Yes, a very public display," Esther warned, running her fingers through some of her hair.
She wore most of her hair tied in a braid that wrapped around the back of her head but let the rest fall down her shoulders, a style called a waterfall braid that she liked.
"Well, that can't be avoided," Zane shrugged. "Em can only sense danger as it applies to her and the parasite wouldn't attack an Arclight, or compel its host to do so, and Petal was on the other side of the school grounds when that beast came out of the forest. Bad luck. I've got the rest now."
"That's something," Esther muttered.
"You have friends in the Ministry of Magic even if it's found," Zane waved it off. "If it is recovered from the Ministry, make sure your spy doesn't release it. Dementors represent despair, poltergeists chaos, boggarts fear, banshees' death, and these little buggers represent gluttony. Once infected by it, the host will gladly attack anything else living around them, always hungry. It puts such a strain on the host though that they become weak and can die more easily. They don't want to host one."
"Sounds a bit like those zombies in the Americas," Esther decided.
"I made these based off that," Zane agreed, "but it's ability to organically override the instincts of a living host and control the host is useful. We can potentially use it a bit like the Imperio curse once I finetune its mentality, or just let it feed and multiply and then spread among hosts. Whatever you like."
"How widespread are these slugs?" Esther wondered.
"They're not," Zane assured. "I turned the Forbidden Forest into an isolated pocket of space I modified with my ancient magic and they are tied to this space. The one that got away won't be able to divide itself and I haven't altered the fabric of the world by creating them among it so no more will pop up."
Esther didn't fully understand how her uncle's "counfoundable" magic worked. It did not affect creatures already living in it or prevent outside ones from entering or leaving, but it did create an isolated "cradle" for his experiments to exist in the world and yet separate, which prevented them from spreading prematurely. It protected his work.
When they were ready, they were created in the main world. Once the world's magic was twisted to allow the creation of a certain amortal once, others of that kind would pop up on their own where conditions were right. That was what happened two thousand years ago when Zane released his dementor creations on the mutes.
That was part of an earlier takeover attempt according to Arclight history. The Arclights made dementors possible and then taught mutes how to cast a patronus to defend themselves, an easy way to get in their good graces. However, it hadn't worked and they'd been on their island since, regrouping and waiting to be forgotten so no one would be on their guard when they reappeared. Nowadays, everyone had forgotten, seeing them as humans who looked a little different from self-experimentation.
Zane's new amortal children, once released, would help sew chaos like the dementors had. The more chaos there was, the more divided wizardkind was, the more they'd fight with each other and weaken each other, and the easier it would be for the Arclights to take over.
Hopefully the plan works this time, Esther thought.
"I'll tell Valencia about your pet," Esther promised Zane. "She's our kin working with Shacklebolt so she'd know about our spies in the ministry."
"Sound good," Zane replied, snapping his fingers.
The air shifted and faded, as if exhaling, and Esther knew this space was no longer a counfoundable. It was the same as the rest of the world. Then Zane apparated away with a smile, vial with his new pets still in one hand.
Esther stretched, knowing her role was not done yet. The Aurors had come to investigate and she had to make sure they left without finding anything. Fortunately, her magic was perfect for this.
Sure enough, Hagrid came with the two Aurors. They were moving a bit spread out but as one group. Esther didn't like the sight of Hagrid. He was half-giant so her magic wouldn't be as effective. Still, she could slip in their minds and but alter their thoughts, erasing the old memories and creating and implanting new memories.
The group would report back that they saw nothing, writing this off as an isolated incident. If the slug in the dead beast was found, that would change, but there was still nothing they could find to suggest this was part of a bigger incident.
Believe it or not, I wrote all of these new chapters in about three days...