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More Allies

Amycus and Alecto Carrow as well as Walden McNair entered the room Thaddeus Nott was leading them into.

"So, what is this important information you needed to tell us in person in a place that couldn't be overheard?" asked Alecto.

The room was dimly lit and a part of it was kept in shadows. Though when they reached the middle of the room, the chandeliers' candles lit up fully and the end of the room was visible. There, on a red-cushioned armchair sat a person they thought they wouldn't see again soon.

"My Lord?" exclaimed Walden surprised and shocked.

"Yes," replied Voldemort and stood from his armchair, walking towards the three, allowing them to watch him to determine if he was the real thing, "my friends, I am finally back."

All three sank to their knees.

"My Lord," they chorused deferentially.

"Please rise. Follow me, we will talk in the conference room, Thaddeus and Peter have prepared things for us there," informed Voldemort the group.

"Peter?" asked Amycus strained.

"Ah yes, I probably should clear one thing up before you start attacking poor Peter for the inclusion of your foster son in my ritual. Endymion was recruited for the ritual by Barty and willingly agreed to sacrifice his virginity to bring me back into a powerful body, Amycus. You can be proud of him. Just like Rabastan would have done, his son didn't hesitate to join my cause. It was unfortunate that Dumbledore figured out what had happened due to some unplanned circumstances, namely Barty Crouch dying inside the Ministry building from the trigger we installed in his magic, to be activated once Barty did his part in the ritual, which bound Jasmine Potter to him as his wife. We had expected him to die at home, which wouldn't have been noticed immediately, meaning the trigger couldn't have been suspected anymore once he was found.

"As I know that you won't like the fact that Endymion is married to a muggleborn, there I can calm you, she is Gilbert Rosenberg's daughter. We found that out after we tested both girls' magic and heritage to be prepared for the ritual. The main reason why he didn't try to court her before was that muggleborn status. Once we could tell him that she was at least a halfblood, as we aren't sure about her mother, as her name wasn't one we were familiar with, next to her magic being ninety percent compatible with his he was eager to make her his wife. His words were that she was intelligent, magically powerful and wouldn't annoy him all the time by being an airhead. I believe he was seriously frustrated with the choice of witches that were compatible with his magic at Hogwarts," chuckled Voldemort.

"He agreed? Then why…" asked Amycus, a bit assured now.

"Because I modified the memories of the ones involved in the ritual, as we needed to quickly adjust our plans. Follow me, then you will get the full story. But as you know, I am a master at adjusting plans to still benefit me," replied Voldemort and the group of four followed him into the next room.

There they were met by Lucius, Peter and Corban, who already had taken seats. After some greetings, Voldemort explained what had really taken place concerning the rebirth ritual for him and what plans were already set into motion by the other four. At the end, the three newly informed members of the group were extremely impressed.

"That is incredible. That means Dumbledore has no idea that he has two moles in his school now," understood Alecto.

"Correct. While Endymion's memories are further hidden and somewhat blocked than Barty's, he will fully remember as soon as he sees me again. He isn't as good at occlumency as Barty is after all. And Dumbledore needed to see what we wanted him to see. I knew that he would scan the memories of the three that are students at Hogwarts first, and with those three memories matching, a few small differences in Barty's wouldn't be noticed anymore. The main parts were true memories after all," pointed Voldemort out.

"So, the Girl-Who-Lived is eliminated as a threat, as she is totally submissive to Barty?" asked Walden.

"Yes. At least unless we target her directly, which we won't. The girl is extremely powerful, now that Barty lifted the bindings on her core and Peter and Barty fed her with all kinds of potions to remedy the dismal condition she was in thanks to the treatment by her muggle guardians. I also don't want to have Barty get creative if anybody harms his wife. No matter how loyal he is, he is smitten with the girl, probably soon he will be deeply in love. The bond goes both ways, even if he clearly is the dominant part of the couple. That is only increased by the fact that both girls will have a baby in September," revealed Voldemort.

Alecto and Amycus nodded, having already known about this, as Endymion had told Amycus the results of the examination by Madam Pomfrey.

"That will be interesting for the developments at Hogwarts," commented Walden, "The staff will have to allow a lot of concessions for the two young mothers."

"Among them that their husbands get an easier time to be apprenticed either at the school or have them get a standing floo access to their suites. As Dumbledore doesn't want his little pawn to leave his sphere of influence, he will be very accommodating with reasonable requests. And Barty especially can use that. You know how good he is at using magic. He will ace the NEWTs and then work towards a mastery," stated Voldemort.

"Yes, he wouldn't have any records about scholastic progress thanks to his situation," nodded Amycus.

"And we don't want anybody to suspect him being anything but the unfortunate victim of his 'grandfather's' obsession with a proper heir. Barty also deserves to enjoy having got a real family. You know that Barty senior was a lousy example for a father and while Constance was much better as a mother, she was forced to split her time between her husband's social and ministerial obligations and the needs of her growing son. I know that Barty was forced to stay at Hogwarts four times over the Christmas break during his time as a student. And not one of them was chosen by him. It was always because Barty senior was too busy with his job to have his son at home, even if Christmas or Yule, I don't know what the Crouchs celebrated to be honest, is one of the most important family holidays in our world," added Voldemort.

"Four times?" asked Lucius incredulous, "The only reason why Draco stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas in his second year was that Narcissa and I were holding the traditional Christmas Ball for the Sacred Twenty-Eight that year and children under fifteen aren't allowed to participate. He would have felt pushed aside far too often, as the preparations for that event took up all of our time. The only other time was this year, with the Yule Ball at Hogwarts being an event that nobody that made the age-cut would want to miss. And that was his own decision."

"You react like a proper father should react, Lucius," nodded Voldemort, "That is also why I know that Barty won't allow anything that could hurt his new family. You can expect that the Crouchs will be very family orientated. Neither Barty nor Jasmine had a good childhood. Therefore, they will put more importance on the closeness among their family than others might do."

The others nodded, understanding that part. And honestly, as long as the so-called Girl-Who-Lived was neutralised, they would be able to let their plans unfold without interference.

Voldemort proceeded revealing his plans to his followers that hadn't been included so far and they worked out plans for the next steps to be taken, now that they had more people available that could play important parts in it.

Sirius Black waited for his goddaughter and her husband to arrive in the meeting room. He had been busy the past week and wanted to give the two an update on the condition of Potter's Keep. He had inspected the house and to his happiness there were only minor repairs to be done, some critters to get rid of but nothing troublesome. According to the portraits there, until last summer, a house elf that had survived until then had taken care of basic upkeep of the house. Thus, there was only dust of half a year to deal with instead of the dirt that simply assembled if a house stood empty and unused for years.

He heard the door open and found the two he was waiting for entering.

"Hello, Jazzy and Barty," he greeted them.

"Hi Padfoot," greeted Jazzy.

"Hello, Sirius," added Barty.

"I have great news for the two of you," started Sirius, "but first, sit down and take some drinks. Barty, I got some butterbeer for you, and Jazzy, I got you some orange juice, as you complained about only getting pumpkin juice here at Hogwarts normally and that you liked orange juice."

Both the younger ones smiled and sat down, taking their drinks. Jazzy sighed happily after taking a sip from the orange juice and then took a bigger bit. Barty also enjoyed the butterbeer. Due to the pregnancy, he didn't drink anything with alcohol, even if butterbeer didn't have much of it, when they were in their suite. Simply because Jazzy wasn't allowed to drink any alcohol while pregnant.

"I guess your inspection of Potter's Keep was successful?" asked Barty.

"Very much so, Barty. One of Aunt Mia and Uncle Monty's house elves survived until last summer when she died of both old age and lack of a full magical bond with the Potter heir, meaning Jazzy. She survived that long thanks to the magic of the house but that only goes so far in combination with age," explained Sirius, "Thanks to that, Potter's Keep was properly maintained until last summer. There is only a bit of dust to clean up, next to a few harmless critters that I can easily get rid of. A few superficial repairs and it is ready for you to move in there."

"That's great!" exclaimed Jazzy, "How large is the house?"

"Well, the grounds are about the same size as half of Hogsmeade. Most of it is forest though, where several magical creatures live. One of your ancestors loved protecting and raising magical creatures, Jazzy. James couldn't tell me which one, as that got lost in time. He just knew that it was why there were so many different kinds. The house itself is about ten times fifteen metres, meaning a base space on which was built upwards of one hundred and fifty square metres. The house is separated into a staff wing and a family wing. That's why it's so large. The south wing was for family and the north wing for those employees that lived at the Keep. You have to remember that the Keep was built about eight hundred and sixty years ago.

"It has five floors, with the walls being made of special stone that can store magical energy better than other materials. The details will be written down in the Potter grimoire. I don't know where in Potter's Keep it is hidden, as I am no Potter, that secret was never revealed to me when I lived there with your grandparents after I ran away from home," explained Sirius.

"Who could tell me where to find it?" asked Jazzy, "I mean, if there aren't any house elves that survived until now?"

"The portraits of your ancestors are still there. They will reveal the secrets of the Potter family to you two," assured Sirius.

"Good to know," nodded Barty, "Will that pose a problem for your plans to add to the wards, Sirius?"

"Not at all. While I don't know the secrets of the Potters, I know how to add wards and activate existing ones. I was told how to do that by Uncle Monty. He wanted to make sure that in case of an attack while he and Aunt Mia were out both James and I knew how to secure the Keep," answered Sirius.

"Okay. With a house that size, it will take a lot of work to clean and get ready for us to move in there," pondered Jazzy.

"I bet you that Dobby and Winky will be done with the cleaning within a week. They will consider it like a second Christmas this year. That much work for their family will only see them ecstatic," pointed Barty out.

"True," grinned Jazzy, "And when we return to participating in classes, they will have more free time again. That would be a great time for them to start with that. I would like to see the house when it's clean to know what we need to get before we move in there. I mean, while there will be furniture of my grandparents, some things won't be in good condition anymore, like bedlinens and towels for example."

She frowned at the idea of using such old towels and linens. If Petunia had instilled one thing in her niece, it was a sense of cleanliness and hygiene.

"Good point," agreed Barty, "If we travelled there by floo on a weekend, it should also be safe enough for us. I just don't want to be out in public, but a place protected by powerful wards is a different matter."

"I doubt the floo would work. After the death of his parents, James disconnected the floo from the network," stated Sirius, "But Professor Dumbledore should be able to give you a portkey to just outside the gates. At that point, Jazzy can key you into the wards, Barty, as she is keyed into them already, due to her parents taking care of it when she was a baby."

"Yes, that makes sense," accepted Barty.

"Do you think we could go sometime the next weekend?" asked Jazzy, "it is the last one before school starts again."

"I don't think it would be a problem," pondered Sirius, "And if Remus and I accompany you there, it should also be safe enough in Dumbledore's eyes."

Jazzy nodded. Safety was an important aspect for her. She didn't really want to leave Hogwarts, but she needed to see her home for herself to know what she had to do before moving in there. If she got a home, finally after years of yearning for one, she wanted it to look the way she liked it. And the taste of her grandparents might not match hers. And with the wards being as strong as Sirius had described them, next to him and Remus looking out for both her and Barty, it should work out.

Rufus Scrimgeour read the report that the department of Mysteries had sent up about the location that had been determined as the place where the ritual in which the four teenagers had been forced to participate was performed. According to the report there was a fidelius charm set up, which muddied their readings. And while they had means to take down the ward over time, it would by then be too late to determine the exact nature of the ritual, meaning, whatever Pettigrew had done would stay a secret. Knowing that he was a Death Eater that wasn't a good thing.

While the public was currently happy that especially the Girl-Who-Lived was safely back at Hogwarts, he was too experienced to not see what was going to happen. The press would spin their stories, the more sensational, the better in their opinion, and one day it would get out that Jasmine Crouch and Hermione Lestrange were already pregnant as a result of the ritual. Some people would show support for the families, sending nice presents for the babies and their mothers, some others would berate them for getting pregnant at their age. Even if the latter ones were incredibly stupid and could be dealt with legally.

After all, any ritual involving sexual intercourse had a high chance of that kind of result.

The more problematic part was determining what exactly Pettigrew had achieved with the ritual. According to Dumbledore the dark mark on his spy Snape's arm hadn't shown any kind of sign that You-Know-Who could be back. Dumbledore had informed him that back when he was powerful, all Death Eater's marks had been pitch black and clearly visible on the lower arms of their bearers. Now, the mark was still faded in a light grey colour. This seemed to mean that at least they wouldn't have to deal with another war like the one back in the seventies and eighties, especially the last four years of that period had been horrible.

It was honestly annoying to not have more information. But here the idiot Fudge and his hench toad Umbridge were a huge obstacle. According to them, the reward for Pettigrew's capture would be enough to get the job done in the future and deeper investigations would only be a waste of time and resources. It would also keep the press too interested in that matter, which the country didn't need with the increased interest thanks to the Triwizard Tournament. The kidnapped girls were back at Hogwarts, thus the case was solved in their opinion.

Rufus didn't agree at all and thankfully neither did Amelia Bones. She used her influence to put the idiots in their place to make it clear that they wouldn't interrupt the investigation when they didn't have the main culprit yet. And nobody knew what Pettigrew achieved with the ritual, if it perhaps was just the first one in a series that was planned or if he was already targeting more innocents for his plans. For the next three months at least he would be able to continue letting his aurors look into the matter.

It helped that for once Dumbledore was assisting with an investigation instead of hindering it with his second chances policy. But it was understandable. His school had taken a hit concerning the idea of it being a safe place for the children sent there to learn magic. He wanted the one that managed to breach the wards of Hogwarts locked up at Azkaban. And Rufus had to admit, a rat animagus was a tricky opponent to deal with. A small animal like that could hide everywhere. And it was impossible to set up anti-animagus wards in all places.

Barty sat under the Sorting Hat. It was strange to have the hat on his head for the second time in his life. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the hat to decide where to put him. Contrary to the last time he attended Hogwarts, he was made a Ravenclaw. Not too surprising, as he had developed a love for learning during the time he was locked up by his father, not having anything else to do and it distracted him from his hopeless situation. When he had been eleven, he had been sorted into Hufflepuff, the same house his mother had been in. It would probably help make people believe the story that he was his own son easier. If anybody suspected him being de-aged in some way, they would expect him to be placed in his old house again.

But time changed people and he was glad to be among the eagles during classes. It would make it easier to concentrate on his studies for the NEWTs in a few months. He needed to ace them, which would only be possible if he refreshed his memories of the material concerning details. He didn't worry about the practical part too much; it was the theory that he felt he didn't remember all details about. Well, he had until the start of June until he needed to be ready. Manageable. Even if he also needed to prepare things for the birth of his and Jazzy's baby in September and having their new home ready to move in there during the summer breaks.

And spend a lot of time with his wife. He loved the times they were alone, be it to make love or to just talk and get to know each other. It would need a good schedule to do justice to all parts, but he would manage. Jazzy understood how important it was for their family that he did well in his NEWTs, thus she was fully supportive of his plans. It was another great thing. Jazzy wanted to talk to him about his goals, his ambitions, his plans and ideas. She would give her own opinion while not talking down to him, which his father had always done when he had tried to do so when he was deciding which path he wanted to take in the future. Barty Crouch senior had wanted his son to follow him into the Ministry to increase his influence to have better chances to become minister.

It was no wonder that he overlooked that his son turned to another place and person to find a place where he felt welcome and understood. At the beginning the Reform Party had been exactly that place. Later, when the Dark Lord had turned insane, it became a nightmare. But with the Dark Lord back to his true and genius self, the path towards taking over their country and peacefully establishing the reforms that were needed to give them all a prosperous future was looking much more promising.

"Alright, Mr Crouch, I will arrange that Professor Flitwick adds you to the roster of seventh year Ravenclaws and gives you the timetable that your classmates have got for their chosen subjects. According to the list you handed in, you wish to take Transfiguration, Charms, Defence, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Potions and Herbology, correct?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, Professor. I would also like to simply sit the exams for History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures without taking the classes, as that would be too much for my timetable," confirmed Barty.

"Nine NEWT classes are extremely ambitious, Mr Crouch. Do you think you can manage that with your other obligations?" asked Dumbledore.

"I am certain. I have studied all kinds of history books that my grandfather gave me to read, as he insisted that I would be much better informed than any student at Hogwarts would ever manage thanks to the ghost teacher he complained about so much," answered Barty, "And the subject itself is interesting. For Care of Magical Creatures I already know all the theory and some of the practical parts. I plan to ask Professor Hagrid to let me work with the most common magical creatures that come up in NEWT examinations when my wife meets with him for her compressed course of the subject."

After the last examination of Jazzy and Hermione, Endymion had asked if it would perhaps be safer to already switch them into a personalised course of COMC, as the risk of a creature lashing out while they were in class was too large to take with the babies being vulnerable to physical hits against the stomachs of their mothers. It had been approved and therefore the two expecting mothers would have two hours each week with Hagrid to be shown how to handle the different creatures that came up in OWL examinations.

"That would definitely work and I suspect you planned to accompany your wife to these classes anyway, to have an additional pair of eyes on her during a potentially risky situation," understood Dumbledore.

"Yes. I won't allow any harm to come to Jazzy and our baby."

Dumbledore nodded. It made sense that Barty was protective over his wife and unborn child. And it would be easy to let Hagrid cover a few more creatures that were often tested about in NEWTs. He would probably be happy about that chance.

Barty left the headmaster's office, glad that this had only taken about five minutes of his time.

Hermione and Jazzy looked at the new timetables that had been handed out for the first day of the second term. It had come as a surprise as normally the timetables stayed the same for the whole year, but some changes had been made. When Parvati asked Professor McGonagall about it when she returned from her walk to the end of the table, they were surprised about the reason.

"Due to the tournament some teachers are going to be busier than normal at specified times to prepare things for the next two tasks. To make it possible, their timetables needed to be adjusted, thus the new timetables for the students," explained their head of house.

Further questions about what they did were ignored though.

"Let's see. We start with Charms today and then Herbology," read Hermione, "Both are double periods. Then History of Magic before lunch for a single period."

"Meaning I better pack the earplugs for History," commented Jazzy, "Then I can get some work done."

"Earplugs?" asked Neville surprised.

"Endy suggested that part," grumbled Hermione, "he says that the only reason why the Ravenclaws are as good at History of Magic as they are, is that they have a special supply of earplugs that they put in for each History lesson. They also have a list with the topics that can be tested for both for OWL and NEWT exams, which they use to study the material on their own."

"That's smart," nodded Lavender, "why did nobody tell us that?"

"They will probably say it was obvious to do so," replied Jazzy.

"So, you got your own supply?" asked Parvati.

"Yes. Next to an address for study guides," nodded Jazzy, "I sent Hedwig with a request to get the material for Potions, History and Runes."

"Runes?" asked Lavender surprised.

"You don't take Runes," stated Ron annoyed.

"I found a talent for the subject while I was captured. It was something I got to read while I was stuck in the room they gave me. And it's interesting. Barty is also excellent at the subject and convinced me to switch out of Divination into Runes to have a subject I can use much better for my future career, whatever it may be," explained Jazzy.

"But Divination is an easy high grade," protested Ron, not liking that Barty would again meddle in his position close to Jazzy, as he saw it. He still hoped to get something out of hanging out with her, even if he knew that the chance to marry her and get rich that way was gone.

"I hate the subject because Trelawney always predicts my death," deadpanned Jazzy, "Any way to get out of that is great in my opinion."

"But she is a real seer!" protested Lavender and Parvati.

"You wouldn't be happy if she chose you as her doom prediction victim either," countered Jazzy snappish.

"So, you got permission to take Runes classes?" asked Seamus, wanting to stop the cat fight, which all Gryffindor fourth year boys knew could get vicious if not stopped early on.

"I had a talk with Professor Babbling who teaches Runes and she said that I could study the material that is covered until OWLs on my own and sit a few tests when I have finished certain parts. Basically, a compressed course outside of the classes which will have me at OWL level by the end of next school year to allow me to sit the OWL exams for the subject as well," answered Jazzy.

"In her situation that is the most reasonable course of action," added Hermione.

She certainly approved of her best friend taking a better subject than Divination as an elective.

"And you were allowed to simply drop Divination?" asked Dean surprised, "I mean, I get the taking of Runes as a course in self-study with support of the teacher, but dropping the other subject?"

"They were afraid that Jazzy would blow up the Divination Tower," giggled Hermione.

"Hey, it's not my fault!" protested Jazzy, "And how should I have known that it would cause such a reaction?"

Hermione giggled even more, which surprised the other fourth years.

"What exactly happened?" asked Lavender curiously.

"My darling wife despises blast-ended skrewts," commented Barty from behind, holding his timetable in his hands, for which he had sat at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast this morning, instead of with the Gryffindors.

"Who doesn't?" asked Neville sarcastically, "But why would they allow her to drop Divination because of that?"

"Well, let's say that when Jazzy gets really angry, her magic causes explosions that extend those of the skrewts by far in power. It has to do with the changes she underwent due to the potions and treatment that Pettigrew used to have her in the best-possible condition for the ritual. A certain bull-headed skrewt came too close to us and she shot a stunner at it, which caused an explosion on the ground, the skrewt was blown into the air to a height of fifteen metres and fell down at a rapid pace. Useless to say, there is one skrewt less around. We were just talking to Professor Hagrid about possibilities for me to get some practical lessons for my NEWTs when that beast stormed towards us.

"Madam Pomfrey didn't know if Jazzy is now generally prone to these explosive spells, but until more tests were done, she isn't allowed to cast any spell on people and has to do calming exercises before classes. It would be far too dangerous if it were triggered by high emotions, like the constant annoyance she told me about caused by the Divination teacher. I can understand it as well. That kind of constant death predictions is horrible and she shouldn't do it," stated Barty.

"You blasted a blast-ended skrewt?" laughed Dean hysterically.

"It shouldn't have attacked," quipped Jazzy.

"Let me guess, that is also why you are banned from Potions," said Neville after looking at her timetable.

"Yes," nodded Jazzy, using the excuse to hide that the real reason behind not going to the class was her and Hermione's pregnancy.

"You don't have Potions on your timetable either, Hermione," complained Ron.

"Well, it could be that the ritual caused side-effects for me as well and in a class that is already prone to accidents and explosions, it was too much of a risk to let me or Jazzy participate until it was sure what the ritual did to our magic. Spells are less likely to cause the kind of damage that can't be remedied by a teacher or Madam Pomfrey. But in case our magic influenced the Potions at a critical point of the brewing that could endanger the whole class," explained Hermione.

"So, you will test what you can do and what not and then your timetables will be adjusted again?" asked Neville.

"That's the plan," nodded Jazzy, "For the same reason Hermione and I will take separate classes in COMC with Hagrid as well. It's safer to have a limited number of students for him to observe in case we have some reaction or the creatures react to us in some way."

Ron grumbled about it being unfair that they got special treatment, but the others simply accepted it. After what had happened to them, it was logical that the teachers would want to be careful.

"I have classes the whole day and only get out of class at four thirty," Barty told Jazzy, "How about we meet at the suite then and do our homework before we go down to dinner?"

"Works for me. I have classes until two, as the others have Potions in the afternoon. Hermione and I can do our Potions self-study papers that Snape set up for us after we were forbidden to go to his class next to perhaps a few other things our year covered while we were captured," agreed Jazzy.

Barty bent down to kiss her, which she returned and then he joined Endymion and the other seventh year Ravenclaws to go to their first class.

"You are such a lucky girl, Jazzy, to have him as your husband," sighed Parvati dreamily.

"I know," smiled Jazzy.

Then the Gryffindors stood from their seats to make their way to Transfiguration class.

And another chapter done :) Until next time