Hi Everybody. I am happy that my new story has started off well. Here is chapter three. I also adjusted the description to warn about this being a female Harry story.

Preparations for a Ritual

Endymion Lestrange looked at the stranger in front of him. He may wear a Hogwarts uniform, but he certainly wasn't a student. He knew all students in his year and the one below him and this blond wasn't part of either year.

"Who are you? While your uniform is genuine, I would know if you were a Hogwarts student. Going by your probable age, you would be in my year or sixth year," asked Endymion.

"Smart, as expected of Rab's son," nodded Barty.

"You know my father? But you aren't older than me. And he was arrested when I was just four years old," replied Endymion, "And my memories of him are spotty at best."

"Understandable. But this appearance is thanks to a potion of the Dark Lord that I was given to help me with certain physical and mental problems, caused by both dementors and long-term imperius curse exposure," revealed Barty, "My name is Bartholomew Crouch, though people mostly called me Barty Crouch junior."

He had made sure that nobody could listen to what they were talking about. In fact, all people around them would hear was buzzing. Extremely useful spell of Snape's creation. Too bad that he wasn't trustworthy. They could use his abilities.

"I heard you died at Azkaban after you were sent there together with my father," commented Endymion.

"News about my death were a deception. My father, acting on my mother's last wish as she was dying, got me out of there. As head of the DMLE he had certain privileges. Among them a last visit to a dying prisoner. That's where the imperius curse exposure comes from. To prevent that I would search for my lord, he kept me under his control until I was freed by the Dark Lord," revealed Barty, watching Endymion closely.

"He is back?" asked Endymion hopefully.

"Somewhat. We are close to restoring his previous body. Which is something he wants you to help with. The ritual that will achieve it demands three servants of the one being restored and two sacrifices," explained Barty, hopeful that Endymion would play along, going by his initial reaction towards the news of the Dark Lord being back.

"What kind of sacrifice?" he asked, a bit worried.

Well, a teenager like him wouldn't have been exposed to rituals and know what could be included in them. But there were horror stories of blood sacrifices, which Barty would also shy away from.

"We will sacrifice the virginity of two powerful witches. Both of them are halfbloods and both are exceedingly beautiful. Meaning, if you agree, you and I will deflower the two witches we have already captured. I took care of that part weeks ago. Right under Dumbledore's crooked nose I might mention," grinned Barty.

"Potter and Granger," understood Endymion, grinning now, "Which one would I get?"

"The one you know as Hermione Granger, but a heritage test showed that she is the biological daughter of Gilbert Rosenberg, another Death Eater. He was a powerful and highly intelligent pureblood wizard from Germany. Meaning, as a halfblood we have a use for her beyond sacrificing her virginity in the ritual. Potter is mine. Ironically, she is a natural submissive and my magic dominates hers," answered Barty.

Endymion couldn't help but laugh.

"This is too good. The golden girls of Gryffindor will help in resurrecting the Dark Lord. Oh, this is perfect. But what about the magical compatibility?"

"Good question. According to the readings I did for the girls, Potter is perfectly compatible with me while Rosenberg has ninety-five percent compatibility with you. I took the liberty to sneak into the offices of several matchmakers until I found your file where the results of the test that was done for you after you sat your OWLs were recorded," answered Barty.

"I will help. Knowing that Granger, no Rosenberg, is a halfblood and that compatible to me makes her highly interesting for me. I have been looking for a powerful and smart witch to pursue. I would enjoy making Rosenberg mine. She is growing into her looks and if somebody told her a little about beauty potions and make-up, which are easy and quick to use, she would truly bloom. And she wouldn't bore me to tears like many of the airheaded witches that tried to date me," admitted Endymion.

Barty could see how much Endymion disliked being pursued by those witches. While he tried to not openly show it, which was what purebloods were taught from a young age, keeping their thoughts to themselves, he could see small signs of his feelings in the matter. He could also understand the young man. Airheads weren't what a head of the family needed as a wife by his side. That type of witches tended to bring down the reputation of a family with idiotic spending habits and behaviour in public.

"Perfect. The ritual will take place on winter solstice. I will place a charm on you that will prevent that anybody can use legilimency on you to take the information from you by force or trickery. You also won't be able to speak about it until the ritual is over. But I doubt you would want to boast with it, when currently the Ministry would take offence to it," mentioned Barty.

"You are right. The question is how to get to the site of the ritual without causing suspicion. I know that a Yule Ball is part of the Triwizard Tournament's traditions, which, as Dumbledore prefers to celebrate Christmas, will take place on the twenty-fifth of December. Winter solstice is four days before that. As a seventh year, it will be expected that I stay for the ball. It would cause suspicions if I missed it," pointed Endymion out.

"It would, but that isn't a problem. We can set up a ruse that would still allow you to attend the ball. I will also give you the location of a secret passage out of the school. You will only have to walk along it until you are outside of the wards to apparate to a location from where you will be collected by one of us that know the secret of the ritual site. To be sure that nothing can go wrong, we placed it under the fidelius charm," revealed Barty.

"Smart. Alright, just tell me when to be there and I will play my part in bringing the Dark Lord back, like my father would have done," promised Endymion and Barty started explaining the location and way to access the secret passage. Though he chose a different one to the one he used to kidnap the two girls. He also handed Endymion a two-way mirror that Peter had made, which offered a safe method of communication, as owls could be intercepted.

Hermione had read about twenty books over the past week, concentrating on history books she hadn't ever seen before in the school's library. But helpfully or not was up to debate, Pettigrew had also given her an up-to-date list of books banned by the Ministry of Magic. Some of the books she had were also written in French and German, where they were legal to get. They had auto-translation functions to allow reading them in one's native language. Not that she needed one for French. To her dismay, especially the foreign books painted a greatly different picture of Dumbledore than any books she had ever found at a bookstore in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade.

It was quickly clear to her that while Dumbledore was respected for his power, his manipulation of politics and society were seen as highly problematic. There were numerous examples of how he had influenced votes to his liking and how Hogwarts had changed over time since he became headmaster. Though it hadn't just been him that cancelled classes. Some had already been cut out of the curriculum by his predecessor Professor Dippet, as the school lacked funds to keep them running.

But under Dumbledore's leadership several that had been popular and important were dropped completely. One of the books she was given was an old edition of Hogwarts a History. She recognised many parts from her own copy, but this edition was printed in 1895. The list of classes from that time included Magical Culture, Ancient Runes, Languages and Magical Theory as mandatory subjects for the first and second years. From third year on Magical Theory stopped and the other three could be continued as electives, but it ensured that all students had a basic understanding of them. And with the magical materials described for the Language class, it was possible to learn two languages perfectly with perfect recall for life during those two years already. And the school knew how to replicate them at low cost for them.

Then there was a general physical exercise program, as magic was stronger and more potent if the body of the student was strong and in good shape. That was news to her. She hated how her own development had basically been stunted for not knowing that part. And that knowledge had been common since the time of the founders. How could that not have been continued? She had created lists with things from different books and the overall picture was not nice at all. Pettigrew had even added a list of Ministry employees sorted by blood status and position. He hadn't lied. And she recognised too many names to out the list as a lie. There were no muggleborns in any position beyond basic clerk. And even they were far and between. Mostly they filled undesirable and utterly unimportant jobs that no pureblood and nearly none of the halfbloods would want.

Halfbloods were the main workforce with the occasional one from an important family having a better and most importantly well-paid position. All leading positions were filled by purebloods. There wasn't a single exception. All those leading an office or bigger unit were purebloods. She also got a list of muggleborn graduates of Hogwarts, their grades in their OWL and NEWT exams and which jobs they took up after graduation. Most were shop assistants, even if they aced their NEWTs. A few ones had managed to become personal assistants to important businessmen, organising their daily schedules, basically making sure that things worked, and their boss could take care of the bigger picture. But not one was leading a company or something like that. There was also a statistic of how many of them returned into the muggle world, worked in low-paying positions for a few years to gain their A-levels and then worked in better positions in the muggle world.

It was clear that the wizarding world took the young muggleborns in to teach them how to use their magic but then didn't care for them anymore. No matter how good they had been at school. Probably it was just to prevent that the Statute of Secrecy was broken. A child going through puberty would be prone to bigger outbursts of uncontrolled magic than a small child, even if they could have terrible temper tantrums too. It was unfair to the extreme. Especially when she considered that by taking all those muggleborn children out of the muggle school system they set them up to fail. They lost seven years of education which they would have got if they hadn't believed in the promises of a good life in the wizarding world.

What really bothered her was that the beginning of Voldemort's campaign to take over the power in Great Britain had indeed been a political movement. There might have been aggressive propaganda, but it had only escalated in violence after the Ministry had tried to shut it down using violence through the aurors and hit wizards. And she would admit, even she would have fallen for the arguments that Voldemort had used against the government. Many things were wrong and if nobody spoke out against them, they would stay that way. Still, she couldn't get her head around the fact that so many people stayed with the movement after the followers of Voldemort renamed themselves into Death Eaters and returned violence.

No history book she had read ever since she was told she was a witch had ever given this kind of extensive picture on both sides. The books didn't justify the atrocities that had been committed, especially against muggles. But it clearly showed that this hadn't been caused by just one side. And Dumbledore, while he tried to portray himself as Leader of the Light was a lousy general and politician. From what she read about his Order of the Phoenix, it was a highly ineffective group, which was only seen in a positive light as the Ministry did an even worse job in confronting the Death Eaters. From what she put together from her different sources, including what she had read in her own books, this was a blown-up localised problem, which could have been solved easily, had the Ministry been willing to change and deal with the worst problems that the common witches and wizards suffered from.

Voldemort also wouldn't have gained as much support if there hadn't been a deep rot in the system before he stepped onto the stage. He just used the existing problem to polarise the masses and rise in power. This was really messed up. And from a book about political decisions and relations in Europe over the past twenty years, she could see that like in the war against Voldemort in the late seventies and early eighties, none of the other European countries would support Great Britain. They despised the way they British witches and wizards from the Ministry acted and would lock down their borders and let the people here deal with a problem that they had created themselves. It was a discouraging realisation.

Just when she noticed that it was close to lunch, the door to her room was opened. A young man she had seen before at Hogwarts stepped in. If she remembered correctly, he was a seventh year Ravenclaw. She would admit, she had admired him sometimes from afar. He combined what she found attractive in wizards. He was handsome and smart at the same time. He also had magical power, as far as she had heard, he was one of the top students of his year. She just didn't remember his name right now.

"Hello, Miss Rosenberg," he greeted her.

"Hello," she replied on guard, "I believe I have seen you at Hogwarts, but I can't remember your name, so you have me at a disadvantage."

"I shall remedy that then. I would want us to converse on equal terms. My name is Endymion Lestrange. A pleasure to properly meet you," he introduced himself, kissing the back of her hand, which made her blush a bit.

"Not that it isn't nice to have some company, but why are you here? Considering my situation, you will understand why I don't trust you," stated Hermione.

Endymion laughed lightly, which she found a pleasant sound.

"I can understand that. The way you were brought here was indeed something nobody would appreciate. To give you some facts, as I know you like having proper facts before making up your opinion, first things first, it is Saturday, therefore, it was easy to sneak out of Hogwarts to meet you before the ritual that Mr Pettigrew already told you about," started Endymion.

"Yes, he never gave any details about this ritual, only that it would help You-Know-Who come back," admitted Hermione carefully.

Endymion smiled at her, which she would admit to herself made him look incredibly attractive. But if he was here, he was working for Voldemort, therefore, she couldn't trust him.

"To understand fully, I will start with some basic information about rituals, which the Hogwarts library has no information about, as Dumbledore refuses to acknowledge that they have a place in our world. He sees things too much in black and white categories, ignoring that most of the life is made up by greys. In ancient times, wizards and witches developed rituals for different purposes. It could be to increase somebody's health, it could be to make their magic flow more smoothly, to gain a higher level of harmony with one's magic, which made casting spells a lot easier, they could protect the family's home from threats for a period of time and it could be used to save lives. Some rituals influenced the surroundings, like a coven of seven setting up wards to protect a village's fields from a plague of locusts, others just single people. Of course, where there is light, there are shadows. Other rituals were less benign, like sacrificial rituals that ended with the sacrifice dead to give the one performing the ritual more power or to cause some wanted effect.

"Were you aware that the Black Death, which plagued muggle Europe in the Middle Ages was the result of such a sacrificial ritual?" asked Endymion.

"No," replied Hermione, shocked to hear this.

"It was one of the examples that was used to condemn all rituals. But it is like with potions. They can be used for good or bad. And it can happen that a useful and harmless potion if used in small amounts, can cause severe damage if the appropriate dosage is exceeded. Dreamless sleep potion is a perfect example of that. It can let those that experienced traumatic events gain some sleep without having their dreams invaded by their horrible experiences. This peaceful sleep is needed to let their bodies heal as well. But if taken too often, it can cause delusions and lead first to dependency and if that continues to addiction. To deal with the cause it needs further treatment, like visits with a mind healer for example. But for the intended purpose, if used in correct amounts and for a limited time period, the potion is highly valuable.

"There are also differences in sacrificial rituals. And the one the Dark Lord, Pettigrew and Crouch plan to use you and your friend for, is a sacrificial ritual of the middle level," revealed Endymion.

"What does that exactly mean?" asked Hermione scared.

"It will mean that you will lose something that you can't regain. But it won't be something that will influence your life negatively at all. The sacrifice of something irrecoverable is immensely powerful. It will allow the Dark Lord to regain his body with his full previous strength and physical appearance. The type of ritual that will take place will influence your future drastically though," explained Endymion.

Hermione's mind raced, trying to work out what they planned to sacrifice. There were several things that he could mean.

"What do they plan to sacrifice? And what is your role in this, Mr Lestrange?" she asked.

"I was chosen to be your partner in the ritual. I will sacrifice the same thing you do in fact, even if I suspect that my sacrifice is more willing than yours. I want the Dark Lord to come back, as he was the only one that had some success in changing the corrupt system that our country suffers from. I don't approve all of the methods used back at the end of the war. I believe that too many people were killed on both sides. But I know that the way the Ministry runs things will ruin our country in at most thirty years. We can't let that happen. We lose too much magical potential and waste huge amounts of money by first letting the muggleborns attend Hogwarts, which the magical families of our country pay for with their taxes, and then force them back into the muggle world, where they will have children that are infected by the muggle way of thinking.

"And once those children are eleven the circle repeats, but often with the children resenting the system at Hogwarts, as they heard how their parents were dropped like dragon dung after graduation. But as there isn't any other option than Hogwarts, at least in England, as Shamrock Fields only caters to muggleborns that live in Ireland, where the school is located, they can either choose to leave the country or swallow the bitter toad of going to the school. Because the only other option is sealing their magic and erasing the memories of magic. They believe that the muggle world is better than the magical one, but due to the requirements at the school, they won't manage the full muggle education at the side. There isn't enough time.

"I mean, for muggles, their way of living might work out, but for witches and wizards it doesn't. Technology doesn't have any worth for us, as electricity, their source of power, doesn't work around magic. I could accept if concepts that are convenient are taken and reengineered with magic, but things like charming muggle things to use them is dangerous. Your father was actually a pioneer in that field, Miss Rosenberg. He worked on creating something similar to what the muggles call telephones, as he felt it ridiculous that we always had to kneel in front of our fireplaces to talk to people in other places. He was an incredibly admirable wizard. One of the best in his craft."

Hermione didn't know that somebody had worked on that, her biological father at that. Still, the idea sounded great. While travelling with the floo might have some merit, even if she felt it could do with some improvements, it was inconvenient to always kneel on the hard floor, need a fireplace to connect to it and the soot was also annoying. But still, what did they want to sacrifice? At least she didn't believe it would be too horrible. If he was willing to sacrifice it too, and he didn't seem like an extremist who was insane, perhaps she would manage to deal with it. And she could agree to his opinion about losing potential.

"What will happen?" she asked, needing to know.

"During the ritual three highly magical components will be used. The first is the fluid from the womb of a pregnant unicorn mare. Mr Pettigrew caught a male and female unicorn and forced them to mate by using the imperius curse to be sure to have the substance available. And I was ensured that it wouldn't harm the unborn unicorn foal at all. I wouldn't want to harm a magical creature of that purity. It could lead to nasty repercussions. The mare and the stallion will in fact be returned to the Forbidden Forest after the ritual is done. When the normal pregnancy period is over, the foal will be born, perfectly healthy and whole. The second is the heart of a dragon. That was procured from an ingredients dealer already. Even after death, a dragon heart remains highly magically powerful. That's the reason why dragon heartstrings are used as components in wands. The last part will be the sacrifice of the virginity of two powerful witches and one wizard. You, your friend Jasmine and me," revealed Endymion.

Hermione was shocked. She hadn't expected this, but the picture was clear now.

"You will rape me?" she asked horrified, scooting back to the edge of her room.

"I would prefer if you didn't resist during the act. It will happen anyway, and if you play along, I can promise you, I will make it extremely pleasant for you. I have come here to talk to you to give you time to come to terms with it. The Dark Lord has decided that this ritual will give him the best results of all possible methods to return. And to be honest, this way I believe his sanity will be fully restored. Historical reports show clearly that the more time passed, the less sane he became. If he was reborn in the condition he was in before that started, he would bring an era of glory and prosperity of all wizard kind in our country," stated Endymion, "And you can't deny that you find me attractive. Your facial expression was clear in that. If you don't resist, you will enjoy our coming together greatly."

Hermione shook from the information hugging her upper body with her arms. In one thing he was right, she was powerless to prevent it. But she didn't want to lose her virginity like this, to power Voldemort's new body. Even if Endymion was extremely handsome. Then her brain connected that Jazzy would be used the same way.

"Jazzy will never stand for this. She will fight with all she has," declared Hermione.

"Normally, she probably would, but a curious effect has taken place, which will have her participate in the ritual happily. Have you heard about compatibility of magic between a witch and wizard?" asked Endymion.

"No," admitted Hermione, wondering what that was about. She really disliked not having information, especially as it seemed that this information was common enough for Endymion to somewhat expect her to have heard about it.

Endymion proceeded to explain to her why most couples had the witches automatically being submissive to their partners and the ratio of that. He gave examples and also pointed out that it only concerned the relationship between these couples but not others. A witch could be totally submissive towards her partner but a strong fighter otherwise. It didn't have any connection to the general personality of the witch. He also revealed how Bartholomew Crouch, who according to Endymion was the seventeen years old grandson of Barty Crouch senior, coincidentally was the dominant partner to Jasmine Potter. The next revelation he dropped on her was that the ritual would bind the participating couples to their partners.

"You mean, like a betrothal?" asked Hermione carefully.

"No, like marriage," corrected Endymion.

"But why? Why would you agree to this? You can't choose your future wife anymore after this," she exclaimed in disbelief, "You will be bound to me and I certainly don't support You-Know-Who or his methods. I don't know enough about his possible true goals to say anything about them. Not anymore. Not after reading all those foreign history books," she admitted.

"You are a beautiful and powerful witch, Miss Rosenberg. More than that, you are smart. A misplaced eagle I would say, even if your courage is also very much present in your personality. I have been urged to find a potential bride by my foster father since I passed my OWLs. But the candidates among the ones of 'acceptable families' lack many qualities that I require my future wife to have. I could have any pureblood princess from the old families. I am the sole heir to the Lestrange family and fortune, as my uncle Rodolphus and aunt Bellatrix are incompatible in their magic and therefore can't conceive children. It was a huge disappointment for my grandfather when he found out after their wedding. He had hoped that a child with both Lestrange and Black blood would be powerful magically. My mother was killed by hit wizards, who were breaking up a demonstration against the Ministry in 1978. My father joined the Dark Lord afterwards and didn't look for a new wife, as he had loved my mother deeply and needed time to deal with her loss, next to having to raise me on his own, which is why I am an only child.

"But I would be bored to tears with a girl that didn't have a brain. While others might find it great to just have a wife that is content with being their sex toy and broodmare, I want somebody that can keep me on my toes intellectually. I want somebody that can participate in projects I want to see realised. Projects that require a deep understanding of magic and what it can do. Somebody that can think outside of set patterns. And you match that profile nearly perfectly. I find you immensely attractive and desire you. And as you are from a respected wizarding family, there would be no danger of me being branded a blood traitor for marrying you. My aunt might react a bit extreme after she is freed from Azkaban by the Dark Lord, but she will come around when she finds out how you have excelled at Hogwarts. She always had a soft spot for witches that showed that they could compete with the wizards around them," explained Endymion.

Hermione was both shocked and flattered by his words. She couldn't see any deception in his tone and on his face. He meant what he said.

"I don't want this," she said.

"I understand that. You are being forced into this position. And you weren't raised in this world, therefore you don't have experienced how the powerful families act," accepted Endymion.

He made sure to keep some distance, but not too far away to have to speak loudly to let her hear him clearly. He knew she was scared and horrified what was planned for her.

"What do you mean? I never noticed them being that different at Hogwarts," asked Hermione, trying to get more information, which was always the way she fell back onto.

"Well, let me ask a question before I answer. Have you ever spent much time with the pureblood students in Gryffindor? Or Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff? Outside of classes that is?" asked Endymion.

Hermione thought about that.

"The only ones I spent more time with were the Weasley siblings. While Parvati and Lavender are purebloods, they are way too interested in fashion, beauty products and boys to stand spending too much time with them. I get along with them well enough, but I don't like the things they can't stop talking about," admitted Hermione.

"I expected this. And that type of girl is actually the reason why I don't have a girlfriend so far. I can't stand that idiocy. The Weasleys are one of the families that are called blood traitors. Not because they stood against the Dark Lord, that was merely a reason why the ones following him were more annoyed by them than they already were. But their being declared blood traitors goes back to 1789. Which important historic event took place at that time?" asked Endymion.

"The begin of the French Revolution," answered Hermione immediately.

"Correct. You may wonder why I know about an event that you probably think was a turning point in muggle history. But despite the Statute of Secrecy having been active for nearly a century by then, many magical families still had connections into the higher ranks of nobility in several European countries. It was the same on other continents, but I mostly know the history of Europe here. When the French muggles started their revolution, the magical nobles had to fear for their positions as well. While they had mainly kept out of politics at the royal court of Versailles, they still had their estates in France, which were some of the most beautiful and largest ones owned by nobles. Magic simply made it easy to keep them in good shape and a draught, which caused a major part of the problems for the muggles, as food was sparse, and they starved to death in many cases, didn't bother them. Conjuring water is taught at every magical school after all and watering plants with a wand, while it costs quite a bit of time if necessary, can solve all the problems caused by draughts. These estates were easily made self-sufficient and independent of food supplies from the outside.

"With the monarchy being toppled and the royal family arrested during the course of the revolution, they saw the writing on the walls. They knew that they had to put their estates under better protection. Protection that the muggles wouldn't be able to penetrate. Some families managed to hide. A famous example is an estate that was hidden behind an impenetrable hedge of roses that killed everybody that tried to get through. I think some muggle authors used that as inspiration in fairy tales. But others didn't have the means to protect their estates and needed to flee. As England wasn't far, many fled over the Channel to the British Isles.

"But here the story of the Weasleys begins. They were a wealthy merchant family back then. When the nobles from France arrived with just the things they could carry with them, you probably know that apparition was only discovered in 1850 and undetectable expansion charms were added to the curriculum of schools in 1814, the Weasleys sensed a chance to profit from the problems of the escapees."

Endymion watched how Hermione nodded, having indeed read those things in her books before. She had never thought how not having those means of travelling would influence people caught in wars that were caused by muggles.

"While muggle nobles could ask for help from the crown, during that time George III was King, the King was deeply religious, which meant he would directly condemn anybody with magic as being touched by the devil. Not to mention that the Statute of Secrecy would make things even more problematic, as they couldn't use their magic openly. The French magical nobles were basically cut off from any further money until they could reclaim their property if that was ever possible. But they needed some things to start setting up new existences in England. The Weasleys sold them goods, some overly expensive, but that wouldn't have been punished by branding them all as blood traitors. No, what condemned them to that title until three hundred years had passed was exploiting the desperate refugees for their magical abilities.

"They demanded family spells as payment when the refugees couldn't pay anymore. They demanded the service of family members in all kinds of positions to let a family live on warded property. After all, the refugees couldn't simply settle in muggle cities. They had just experienced how they had been hunted and chased away from their ancestral lands by muggles. They weren't about to trust them. And the ones that had fled to England were the ones without sufficient knowledge in warding. Otherwise, they could have protected their ancestral lands. Many times, the land that they rented to them was in locations that most people avoided for good reasons. And as payment included having pretty daughters be given to some more ruthless members of the Weasley family, the other wizarding families in Great Britain one day said it couldn't be tolerated anymore."

Hermione was shocked and disgusted. No wonder that with that kind of history the people didn't like the Weasleys. To demand those atrocious things. She would have shunned such people as well.

"They put the leading members of the Weasley family on trial and they had to justify their actions. Which they couldn't sufficiently do. What many of them did was line-theft, meaning using young witches to have offspring with to gain access to the family magic of the refugees. And once the children were old enough, older relatives tended to have accidents or fall sick, which left the children born into their families as heirs. They were in the position of power over them, as back then, the Weasleys owned several acres of land, which they didn't use themselves. Most other families only had the places where they lived themselves. Due to their ruthless actions, they were declared blood traitors. It is a major taboo in magical society to systematically steal family secrets and family magics. And they did both. It couldn't be fully proven that they had committed murder, otherwise the punishment would have been even harsher. If they had shown any remorse, the punishment would have been less extensive. Normally, blood traitors were only marked that way for fifty years and then they could, if they had kept to the conditions of their punishment, free themselves of that mark.

"But without remorse, the verdict was severe. That's why so few people will marry into the Weasley family, even if two hundred years have passed since then. The fact that they dismiss even the most benign of our traditions doesn't endear them to the more moderate pureblood families either. It isn't coincidence that William and Charles Weasley went abroad for their professions. The stigma of being Weasleys is too negative in England. I wouldn't be surprised if they needed to look for brides elsewhere as well," finished Endymion.

"I never read that anywhere," admitted Hermione, "And Fred and George seemed capable of finding nice girlfriends easily enough."

"It is part of what Dumbledore likes to hide. He cleaned out the Hogwarts library of supposedly 'dangerous books' when he became headmaster. It isn't even secret that he did so. But what was forgotten is that he didn't just remove books about things like dark magic, which previously were only accessible to students of Defence Against the Dark Arts on NEWT level, to be prepared to counter them if they faced them, he also basically censored what the students were allowed to learn," stated Endymion, "It is known that he has been close to many Weasleys during his life. He would see to it that his allies weren't seen as badly by the younger generations going through Hogwarts as they were by the previous ones. And it wasn't as if he needed to forbid people talking about it.

"It is simple fact that people will talk about current events or things that concern them. The stigma of the Weasleys wasn't important enough to complain about the removed books about them. They complained about the removal of books in general, but not of certain history books in particular. And over time, Dumbledore managed to indoctrinate people enough to his way of thinking to let the true story phase into the mists of the past, not completely forgotten, but out of sight."

"Out of sight, out of mind," commented Hermione, which had Endymion nodding.

She wanted to deny it, she had admired Dumbledore, but that admiration had got holes over time. It started with the way Jazzy was treated time and again, and none of the teachers helping her. It was increased by him ignoring the dangers that were always present at Hogwarts that had no place at a school. The stone shouldn't have been kept there long-term. If she could figure out the monster of the Chamber of Secrets was a basilisk, shouldn't one of the teachers that had the same clues manage to do the same? Why did they allow that many dementors around? And she knew the state of the school's library. Many topics and subjects she was interested in were either kept in the restricted section, even if she didn't see the danger of those books, and others were completely missing from there. If she wasn't as dedicated to her studies, she wouldn't have got as far in learning magic as she did. For somebody like Jasmine for example, who, while doing well in classes, simply didn't enjoy reading so many different books about a topic, wouldn't even have her range of information.

And after reading just those twenty books she had started with, she would admit that somebody intentionally had kept the students uninformed. Binns was also horrible as a teacher, as he didn't teach enough variety in History of Magic. Nor the necessary depth. This way, nobody would learn that much, she realised. Nor would they be interested in true history. Why invest time when their general opinion of History of Magic was that of being dead boring, thanks to Binns. If she didn't have the ability to concentrate in all kinds of circumstances, she would have joined her classmates in taking a nap.

"What about the twins? Percy also had a girlfriend when he graduated at the end of last year," asked Hermione, coming back to that point.

"Ah yes, Percy Weasley is an exception to how the Weasleys are seen because he has understood how a little moderate adhering to the traditions of our world next to networking with important families is necessary to get anywhere in life. And he is ambitious. He wants to get to the top at the Ministry. That will only work if he presents himself as a wizard that distances himself from his family's practices. It is aided by many people having forgotten or having never been taught why the Weasleys were called blood traitors. After all, Dumbledore was made headmaster in the fifties. Old families like mine pass that kind of knowledge on to the children, especially those with roots in France like the Malfoys, who suffered from the actions of the Weasleys back then, but others don't bother as much. And as you may remember, Penelope Clearwater is a halfblood witch.

"Her father is a halfblood as well. It stands to reason that she wouldn't have heard about the reason behind them being marked as blood traitors. For the twins, well, they are good Quidditch players. That can make up for some stigma and they also have a great sense of business. Pureblood families will always keep an eye on those that show that they could build a profitable type of business from the ground. While other business owners wouldn't employ them in leading positions if they know about the history of the Weasley family and their blood traitor status, that doesn't mean they would prevent that they could make their business work if they build it up themselves.

"And they don't antagonise those following traditions just for that. They prank everybody because they like it," pointed Endymion out, "Depending on how they continue with their plans, I overheard they want to own a joke shop and surpass Zonko's one day, they could step out of the negative Weasley image. And Mrs Weasley doesn't help it at all. Her horrible manners are frowned upon by most wizard-raised students. Honestly, she should know better than to send howlers that regularly. And for trivial things."

Again, Hermione couldn't deny that he was right. While she felt that some of the things Mrs Weasley ranted about in her howlers were justified, it didn't need to be aired in the Great Hall at that level of noise. It put others off their meals. And if she wanted to reprimand her children that badly, she should rather floo to Hogwarts and deliver the message in person. That would work much better and keep the problem within her family. It also didn't solve the problem itself.

She looked at Endymion. He really didn't seem like a bad guy or a fanatic, still he was determined to bring back Voldemort. She would also admit to herself that she found him highly attractive, still, she didn't want to be used like that in a ritual. After all, she felt that her first time should be something special, not a sacrifice while others watched.

"What do the wizarding families normally do concerning relationships? You mentioned that before Mr Lestrange," she asked.

"Well, some families believe that marriage or betrothal contracts are the way to go. They have fallen out of favour over the last fifty years though, as it can lead to unwanted results, like the incompatibility of my aunt and uncle, which condemns them to being childless unless they take lovers that they can have children with. But children that aren't born from wedded couples have lower standing than lawful heirs. Even if Uncle Rodolphus sired a son with a mistress, I would still stay the heir to the Lestrange family, as my parents were wedded. It would only change if his wife died, he remarried and then had a child.

"More common these days are matchmakers setting up meetings between possible couples based on the readings a diagnostic check on their magic gave. Our country's magical population isn't large, Miss Rosenberg. Therefore, it is important to let couples at least have a good chance to produce magical offspring. While many teenagers date at Hogwarts, unless they find a partner that is compatible with them magically, the relationships won't last forever. Fooling around and experimenting with attractive partners is normal for us. But you will not find any member of a pureblood or halfblood family that lives in the wizarding world that will agree to a marriage without the compatibility test being performed," explained Endymion, "Meaning, these couples will often at best be on amicable terms with each other. Love is secondary for them. It is too important to not have our lines weaken or even die out to put priority on loving one's spouse. Often the couples at least start caring for each other over time. Compatible magic makes that happen automatically. And if not, well, that is what love potions were originally developed for. To allow couples that were brought together in ways like those to manage to at least conceive a couple of children to continue the line."

"That sounds wrong," commented Hermione.

"But it is the lesser evil to our numbers dropping more and more."

"I take it this charm was also done on me and we are compatible," she concluded.

He nodded. "Otherwise, I wouldn't agree to a ritual that will make you my wife. I have to continue the Lestrange line."

"Could it happen that something similar to how Jazzy reacted to this Barty you talked about will influence me?" She worried about that.

"It is possible. But I don't think it would be as strong with you. But we can easily check it if you want to know for sure," answered Endymion.

"How?"

"Right now, I keep my magic controlled and don't radiate it overly. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or frighten you. But if I release that control and touch you again, we will see how you react to that. And there are different levels of submission between couples as well. I heard about ones that mainly show the behaviour while being intimate, others have the submissive partner look to the dominant one when they are torn between two options, and like in your friend's case, they allow their partner to take the lead fully. I can't predict what would happen for us. Something will happen, that is fact for all those that have compatible magic," answered Endymion.

"I would like to wait until tomorrow to try it. There was too much information today for me to work through," decided Hermione after pondering the things he told her.

"That is probably a good decision, Miss Rosenberg. There are still about two weeks until winter solstice. I will return tomorrow and the weekend after to simply spend some time with you so that we can get to know each other better. That might make things a bit more bearable for you," he suggested.

Hermione was glad for a chance to think without being distracted by him too much. She nodded in agreement. She needed time to wrap her mind around this. He stood from his chair and gave her a smile that would have otherwise been encouraging, but in her current situation it didn't help much. He knocked on the door and was let out before the door was locked again.

Until next chapter :)