AN: I do not own Harry Potter.

My idea about including Mr. Abbot: How quickly the Ministry allows Voldemort to take control means that either a lot of the men and women in charge do not really have a problem with how Voldemort runs things, enough are not willing to fight together to keep him out of the Ministry, there are more Death Eaters that were not caught than the Light are aware of, or any number of combinations thereof. I chose to make Mr. Abbot a Death Eater that the Light was not aware of.

Also, Lucius doesn't really have memory issues; I'm just using him as how I'm reminding people of where I am in the plot.

A Side Determined

Albus Dumbledore was waiting for his spy that was coming to visit. Yes, he was no longer running Hogwarts, but he was kept updated about what was happening inside the school as he kept returning despite what others tried to oust him from the position. He was quite sure that Minerva would do as much as she could, but he knew that she was still willing to go along with the flow a good deal of the time. He was living in his room in his brother's pub, despite the fact that they didn't really get along. However, they shared a few beliefs that kept the peace often enough between the two. It was enough for Albus to feel welcome.

A knock at the heavy wood door alerted him to the fact that someone was at the door before Severus Snape walked in. He was grim in a way that Albus had not seen in a while.

"Hello, Severus."

"Hello, Albus."

"Would you like some tea?"

"I would. It is cold enough out there."

"The spring wet can feel colder than the drier winter. I find I am keeping the fires burning as late as I would in winter."

"Albus, can I get to what I wanted to talk to you about?"

"Sure, son, get to it."

"Voldemort is in the school."

"And how did you find that out?"

"I was asked to make a journeyman level potion, and decided to follow through without stopping to think of the ramifications of the need for said potion. I was delivering the potion for the current Headmistress, and heard the Dark Lord talking to her when I was outside the room. I did not see or hear evidence in the room to suggest that there was another person there. I presume that his presence is something like when Quirrel was possessed, as the only thing of note lately is that the Headmistress is not seen without her hat."

"Surely not."

"I fear to think of what other reason would mean that I hear both the Headmistress and the Dark Lord in the same room."

"I think it is less likely to be the taking over the life of the Headmistress as much as that. In that case, the Dark Lord possessing the Headmistress Umbridge and living on the back of her head is most likely."

"That is what I think, also."

"Is Draco Malfoy still hanging around Harry Potter?"

"He is."

"I fear what the end result of that would be."

"Lucius Malfoy has switched from one Dark Lord to another."

"Really?"

"His mark has changed. It is no longer the same as mine."

"I fear what that could mean. Will you keep an eye out for this second Dark Lord?"

"I may not have much as most of the students will have left in a week, but yes."

"You will come back next week, right?"

"Same time as this week."

"Good. Stay safe, Severus."

Severus Snape nodded before he turned to open the door and left the room.


"Harry!"

"Yes, Sirius?"

Harry dashed down the stairs as quietly as he could.

"Yes, Sirius?"

"Since you have been called a Dark Lord, Bambi, I've got to teach you some stuff you won't hear from others straight. Let me teach you about the moralities of blood magic and what it is. Blood magic, indeed any magic that has any sacrificial component, is stronger than magic that is solely channeled from the core, whether with a wand or not. That is because you are making an exchange with magic. Whether that is because there is a god or goddess of magic, or whether it is involving some other higher being, or whether it is because we are using Einstein's Law of mass and energy somehow in a way that muggles cannot reproduce, it literally makes that magic permanent or very nearly. Now, do you see how this could apply to various pagan holiday celebrations?"

"Yes, I mean, there's the Yule log, and that other yule thing we did last Christmas. Were we performing sacrificial magic when we did that?"

"I wouldn't call it sacrificial magic, because of connotations. It's not like we're killing people or animals to get things done, but in a sense, yes. Modern day wizards and witches call it ritual or seasonal magic. Most ritual magics sacrifice something you've made or an article of clothing. Polyjuice is seen as potionized ritual magic, but since it doesn't necessarily require blood, it is still used because a hair works just fine and doesn't require another potion previously prepared to get you back your own body. I know you've read that really descriptive book about ancient celebrations, and we've found since then that sacrificing a small bit of your own blood purposefully usually receives the same benefits as sacrificing an animal. We don't need to kill a person, and that sort of necromancy has been illegal for decades anyway. Attaching a house to ley lines is just fine instead of harnessing a soul to the building. Since violent murders tend to leave angry ghosts or poltergeists anyway, it has lasting negative aspects. Which I'm glad you didn't jump to when you first got here, but you were really performing blood magic.

"Some people like Dumbledore have come to think that any ritualized magic should only be used in cases of extreme danger, such as Lily protecting you. Others like me think that bloodless ritual magic can and should be used to tend the amount of magic the area has, such as if one has a heavily magical house like this place. I wouldn't be surprised if two out of four houses use bloodless rituals to celebrate the seasons at Hogwarts; ie. the more traditional ones Hufflepuff and Slytherin. The third thought is that some blood magic should be used, as I've stated it is more permanent. This differs between the person whether a little is fine, such as blood drawn runes to cause magic to manifest in a specific way, or an animal sacrifice can be used because it is not human. The fourth division is different.

"The fourth division is that of human sacrifice. Now this division can be divided between personal sacrifice and sacrifice of others. Lily used either blood magic or used herself as a sacrifice for the magic to be there to save you. It was more than her just standing in the way and refusing to, there were other components involved as well. Voldemort liked using the sacrifice of others. As you know, he also doesn't care about human life, muggle or magical. Reggie found that out the hard way. Human sacrifices tend to be brought out when people think it is the end of the road otherwise."

Sirius took a deep breath and looked at his godson sitting on the other couch. He had gotten rid of all of the old padded furniture, and the new ones, while bright, were not the same combinations he had seen in his school days. For example, one in the room was brown with green vines and flowers of all colours. The other was a maroon with brown vines and blue and pink flowers.

Harry was looking a little sick.

"His resurrection ritual... Would that have been third or fourth division?"

"Most likely a mix of both. Using blood with a mix of body parts, living or dead, would have been required."

"It was both."

Both Harry and Sirius had a ghastly look on their faces at that thought.

Sirius thought that Harry was about to faint on him, so he said, "Here, pup. I think we both need chocolate after discussing that."

Harry stiffly took the chocolate, leaning with his arms on his lap.

"You're not there, pup. You're here with me, in this redecorated house, and Voldemort's not here."

Harry gave Sirius a sickly half smile.

Sirius nodded after Harry had swallowed his bite of chocolate and threw a pillow at him.


Ron cursed his big mouth. He had to go and stick his foot in his mouth. His mother had been muttering about the fact that there had to be another Dark Lord around if Malfoy had another mark, and the family discussion had started around that.

"Well, we know Malfoy's no longer with Voldemort at least. Isn't that a good thing?"

"We don't know who the new Dark Lord is. We've got to get rid of him before he becomes a threat."

"What if it's not a new Dark Lord? What if they've managed to basically free themselves?"

"Then they wouldn't have a mark."

"What if they've decided to follow someone good?" he asked. "Like Harry?"

"If they were good, they wouldn't have marked people."

Now, he couldn't leave right away. He sat there with as confused an expression he could manage, but he was sure that the twins at least could tell something about the conversation was bothering him. He was glad for the little bit of Occlumency he had, because trying to stay in the present was impossible without it. Otherwise, he would be relaying that stupid second two word question over and over to himself.

Finally, he could leave.

Not surprisingly, the twins followed him.

"Do you want to see my room?" Ron asked before the other two could say a word once they got up the stairs one level.

The twins tilted their heads and said, "Sure..."

They followed him to his room.

"Do you guys know any spells to stop eavesdropping?"

Fred nodded and started muttering, waving his wand in patterns around the walls of the small room before joining his brothers on the bed.

"So baby brother..."

"Is little Harrikins..."

"Involved in what happened to the Malfoys somehow?" Fred and George asked the last together.

"I have a question in return. If Harry offs Voldemort, and then has to go against Dumbledore, who will you follow?"

"Harrikins. Dumbledore has... what the muggles say... 'Fingers in too many pies'," said Fred.

"Harrikins. Harry rescued both you and little Ginny. Dumbledore put it off as if it was not his problem," said George.

"Same here," said Ron. "We've got to find some way to keep this secret, because tonight was too close I think."

He huffed.

"Well, at least the idea's out there. Hopefully, it will keep the family from fighting Harry blind?"

Fred and George shook their heads.

"No, Mum's too close to Dumbledore. It will take quite a bit to get her to change her mind."

"Maybe even seeing Harry hurt as a result of being targeted," muttered George.