Pregnancy Peculiarities
Minerva McGonagall had seen a lot of things in her career as a teacher but the results of the attempts of Hermione Lestrange, her star pupil, attempting a new spell to turn a mouse into a cat carrier had come out surprising. Instead of just turning the mouse into the carrier, Hermione had managed to create a huge box full of tiny, adorable kittens. Those kittens had climbed over the walls of the box and were running around the room curiously. To top it all, all the girls from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor that were in the class had cooed over the kittens and were busy petting them.
At least the ones that were caught. As there had been twenty kittens created by the spell, about ten were still running around the room, pawing at all kinds of things, trying to pull things out of places and generally being adorable mess makers. Especially as they were eager to chase the mouses that were still un-transfigured from the other students in the room.
"Mrs Lestrange, while this is an incredible piece of transfiguration, I ask you to say the counter spell to turn the kittens back into the mouse you were working with," she said.
"But Professor, they are so cute," protested Hermione, petting a red and white kitten on her lap, "Can't we keep them?"
Her opinion was shared by the other girls and she was confronted with countless versions of the kitten eyes look, much like the puppy eyes look, especially devastating when done by children and small animals.
"These aren't real cats though. They will vanish once the magic in the spell is used up," pointed the woman out.
The girls didn't care though and continued to pet the cats. As Hermione wasn't inclined to cancel her spell, Minerva tried it herself, expecting to have the mouse return, but to her immense surprise, the spell failed. She tried again, only to have the same results. By the end of the lesson all the mice were caught and the kittens had fun playing with them. For some reason they didn't kill them. Perhaps they weren't old enough yet to know how. To her helpless sufferance the girls took the kittens they had taken a shine to with them, happily chatting what they would name their new friends, ignoring what she had told them about the fact that once the magic ran out, they would vanish. Hermione was even telling her favourite kitten how her cat Crookshanks would be happy about a little brother.
Minerva suspected that it was connected to the pregnancy of Hermione that she became much less reasonable. The important question now was, what to do with the remaining eleven kittens from the class and how to prevent a repeat?
At the staff room after the last classes were over, two teachers were eager to talk to their colleagues, though for different reasons. All had been asked to watch the four teenagers that had been forced into the ritual to find out if there were side effects. When everybody was assembled, Albus started the round.
"Alright, let's begin this first meeting of the second term. Do we have anything out of the norm that we need to discuss, outside of the four teenagers that we decided to closely observe for the next weeks?" he asked the other teachers.
"I want to suggest having a close eye on Ron Weasley," stated Filius, "he didn't take the developments concerning his two female friends well at all and I noticed him giving them several jealous and nasty glares in my class. So far nothing escalated, but knowing how Mrs Crouch reacts to outside dangers, it would be safer to nip any escalation in the bud. If only for Mr Weasley's own health."
"Good idea," approved Pomona, "I noticed the same situation in Herbology classes this morning. Though I was also surprised by the numerous kittens that the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor girls brought with them."
"I saw at least half a dozen chasing around Mrs Norris's tail during lunchbreak," added Septima.
Here Minerva groaned.
"Those kittens are the result of Mrs Lestrange attempting to transfigure a mouse into a cat carrier. One of the more advanced spells for this term. Instead of a cat carrier, she created a large box including twenty kittens. And she refused to transform them back into the mouse, as they were so cute. And despite numerous attempts, I couldn't change them back," admitted Minerva.
"That is unexpected," commented Severus, "Normally a student's spell isn't a challenge for you to undo."
"I know. I have no idea why it happened and why the kittens were still around when I went to the meeting. Normally, a fourth year shouldn't manage a transformation that lasts more than one hour. It shouldn't be possible without the boost that children get on their seventeenth birthdays."
"My suspicion there is that both Mr and Mrs Lestrange as well as Mr and Mrs Crouch got boosts to their magic due to their marriage. It is well known after all that if both partners are virginal upon their wedding night, they gain a substantial boost. It's one reason why our kind tend to marry young and refrain from having intercourse before that point in time," pointed Bathsheba out.
"Completely possible and probable," agreed Septima.
"Additionally, the winter solstice and the planetary constellations on the day the ritual was performed would add to the effect. I expect the four to show stronger abilities for a few weeks until they get used to their new levels of magical strength," stated Aurora.
"That could pose problems," frowned Albus.
"We will have to see how we deal with it," sighed Minerva, "It would be best if we arranged for intense training for all four to get a grip over that boost in their strength, but we simply are already at our limits."
"Yes, due to the tournament we can't free the time we would normally invest," agreed Filius.
"I will discuss this with Sirius Black. He already plans to be here regularly to help his goddaughter with catching up to the material she missed, of course also including Mrs Lestrange. It wouldn't be hard for him to adjust that to also work on more control for all four teenagers," he told the group.
He didn't like that he had to let Sirius have that much influence and input into what Jasmine learned but at the moment that was the lesser evil. And honestly, it was still limited. Thanks to the pregnancy, Jasmine would only have six months to work through all the material and learn spells before she had to cut back on casting actively, as that wouldn't be good during the last trimester. But this development was exactly what he didn't want. Looking at the situation, the pregnancy would probably be a good thing for his plans. Jasmine wouldn't have the time to do more than concentrate on the normal material covered in classes, as she would have to take care of her child most of the time. And that took strength.
Severus frowned, he hated Black, but he couldn't really say anything about the man wanting to support his goddaughter after her horrible experience.
"What shall we do about all the kittens? We don't know how long they will be around," asked Minerva.
"They are harmless enough. If they contrary to normal expectations stay around, I'm sure some of the children will adopt them. Otherwise, they will disappear during the night, I would say," commented Pomona, "It will cause disappointment in the girls, but they will get over it. Perhaps some will get reals cats as pets during the summer."
"Alright, what about the two young men?" asked Albus.
"Both show exceptional performance in their classes, but that isn't really new for Mr Lestrange," commented Filius, "I don't know enough about Mr Crouch to judge if he got a boost. I would say Mr Lestrange's spells were more powerful than before, but he always had a lot of control and that would make it easier for him to deal with it. Not to mention that both are of age and underwent four boosts to their magic already and were more used to their power growing."
"True. We will observe more to see if they were influenced that way as well. We can say for certain that it happened to Mrs Crouch," stated Severus.
"Yes, the poor skrewt," sighed Hagrid.
"Only you would mourn that beast," replied Severus exasperated, "I am personally glad for each of them that is gone. They are dangerous menaces."
"They are just misunderstood," Hagrid defended the beasties.
"No matter what, it made clear that it is best for the girl to learn control over her magic fast. I mean, she used a stunner of all things, something completely defensive," pointed Filius out.
"Yes, I will inform Sirius about that as well," promised Albus.
"At least we can postpone having their pregnancies known too early on," commented Minerva relieved.
"What do you mean?" asked Albus.
"Mrs Crouch and Lestrange used the fact that their spells are stronger and less controlled as the reason to explain why they weren't allowed to participate in certain classes, including potions. Those that are not close to them won't realise that there was a different reason for it than just the lack of control. In that part, the skrewt incident helped them along," she answered, "I overheard them talking to their classmates about it."
"Good, that is one bit of trouble reduced," nodded Severus.
He wasn't sad to not have Crouch in his class for the term. It was like a vacation. He only had to hand the two girls one of his study plans for the term's material, next to one for the previous one, which they had missed half of. Well, those were done already for his snakes, thus it wasn't more work than using a duplication spell to have two copies for the girls.
"Alright, the next point that we need to discuss is the upcoming second task of the tournament. Due to the current situation with the Crouchs and Lestranges, the security around the event is going to be increased, as I already told you. This morning, Rufus has sent me his plans to prevent that anybody can get to both couples using the cover of more spectators being around for the task. Due to the lake being the site for the task, it is a lot more difficult to prevent undetected entry.
"I have already talked with the tribe of merpeople in the lake and they will set up patrols to cover the opposite shore to avoid that anybody interferes with the task. Rufus suggested to have the four possible targets placed in a special section of the stands. One where we set up runic wards that would prevent that they can be taken from their spots against their will. Next to that, he suggested that we place a team of aurors close by in civilian clothes to add to the protection. I see no reason to not agree with the idea, as long as we get the runic array in advance to check for possible holes. Bathsheba and Alastor, I would like the two of you to take care of that part. You are the best in the subject that we have on staff," asked Albus.
"Count on it," commented Alastor while Bathsheba nodded.
"Good. Additionally, I will give all four emergency portkeys that can take them back to Hogwarts into the hospital wing. That will allow them to flee, should any of the security precautions fail for whatever reason. I will not take any risks with the security of the students. It is already embarrassing that Pettigrew managed to sneak into Hogwarts on Halloween to kidnap the two girls without anybody noticing until the evening of the day, but we can't afford any more bad news. Cornelius is already on edge, as he doesn't like that Rufus and Amelia force him to allow several things that he believes will be unpopular with his supporters. But right now, the public is on Amelia's and Rufus' side, thus he has to cave in. It won't hold, but for now, the fallout from possibly permitting another kidnapping at Hogwarts would cost him his job, which he tries to prevent with all means," pointed Albus out.
He didn't mention that his own job was also on the line. But as he cooperated with the DMLE willingly, or at least it appeared to be that way to the public, he wasn't in the direct line of fire. The people wouldn't demand his sacking if he did all he possibly could to make the school completely safe again. The one thing that mustn't happen was that anything happened to the new couples. As long as he could prove that he protected them, he was safe.
Voldemort looked at the list of Death Eaters that were sent to Azkaban after his fall in 1981. Few of them had been among the valuable supporters he had had. Most of the ones incarcerated in the prison were the ones that enjoyed the violence and would be hard to control if he broke them out. Still, some were worth breaking them out of the prison. Perhaps he could perform a surgical strike. He needed to get back the smart and powerful ones, but they had to control themselves. He wanted his true goals to be realised, not the terror to be repeated that had cost them their wide-spread support in the people of Wizarding Britain.
Fear was useful but only in small doses. Fear of the corrupt government worsening their lives spurned people into following him and his Reform Party in the beginning. But fear of people like Bellatrix raging and killing people without restraint was counterproductive. And she was hard to control. Both she and Rodolphus were loose cannons. Rabastan meanwhile was smart, cunning and efficient. He mainly wanted his goals to be realised and knew to control his actions. It was honestly surprising that he had accompanied Bellatrix and Rodolphus to torture the Longbottoms. He would have thought that Rabastan was smarter. It could be that Bellatrix had forced him into it though. He would have to ask Rabastan when he got him out.
The question was how to achieve it. He mainly wanted a handful of his supporters back. Rabastan Lestrange, Augustus Rookwood, Eugene Cassastis and Brianna Evergreen. Those four he had use for and they would help him with his campaign. Augustus was an unspeakable and his knowledge of things was invaluable. While Antonin Dolohov had the bigger spell repertoire, Antonin was a sadist who liked to torture people. Not as much as Bellatrix but a not too distant second among the Death Eaters.
Eugene was an expert about magical races and how to work out ways to make them fall in line without causing new rebellions. It wouldn't do to have his plans hindered by a new goblin rebellion, which would only make the future students groan about more goblin names to confuse all the time in History of Magic. Not to mention that they held too much control over the economy due to running the biggest magical bank in the British Isles. No, for his plans to succeed he needed them to stay neutral at least. Eugene would know how to negotiate with them and what was worth agreeing to and what not.
Brianna meanwhile was a strategic genius. She had been caught coincidentally during a raid and only due to bad luck she ended at Azkaban. Mainly because some idiotic Death Eater couldn't keep his mouth shut about her being part of the team that was caught. She had been close to convincing the aurors that she had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. And her expertise would be invaluable for the future plans. Now he needed to work out how to free just those four without tipping the guards of the prison off and to not alert the ones that he didn't want to free. Yet or ever he hadn't decided so far.
Sure, Bellatrix and Rodolphus had remained loyal to him, even after his fall but their methods were not tolerable. Even her own sister hadn't attempted to visit her at Azkaban, knowing that she deserved what she got. Honestly, after Barty got the information about the potential of Neville Longbottom not being a threat to him ever, the family should have been left alone. They were purebloods after all and all that spoke against Frank and Alice was that they were aurors and worked for the Ministry. Nothing to really concern himself about. They would have fallen in line, even if they were suspected to be members of the Order of the Phoenix. They had a baby to think about after all and that would make them accept the conditions he planned to give once he took over.
It was a waste what had happened to them. There were far too few magical families that produced strong children in any generation. No, they needed to avoid repeats of such events and for that, his followers couldn't be allowed to act that way. And it was improbable that Rodolphus and Bellatrix would learn to control themselves.
He thought about the matter and noted some ideas down how to smuggle four people out of Azkaban. It would only not cause alarms to be rang if nobody noticed that the prisoners were gone. But using the same way bore a risk. Except he could successfully fake their deaths due to one reasonable event hitting them all at the same time. Hm, perhaps that was possible. From Peter he knew that dementors didn't affect animagi in their animal forms as much as they did humans. He had got that information from Sirius Black when they met in the Shrieking Shack.
If he could completely neutralise the dementors' effect on Peter, he could smuggle the necessary items into the cells of Rabastan, Eugene, Augustus and Brianna. They could then take care of the means needed to get out of there. Meaning setting up a one-time portal inside the building. Azkaban didn't have wards that prevented travelling by portals. Mainly because few people in Europe knew about their existence, much less how to set them up. They were common in Asia, which was where he had learned how to do it.
There was a supply boat that travelled to Azkaban once a week. It was unloaded, all goods screened to not have anything that could help free the prisoners on board, and then returned to the shore. The normal time it was tied at the pier of Azkaban Island was about five hours. More than enough to allow Peter to deliver some items secretly before returning to the shore with the boat once everything was done there. And a rat could hide easily on the supply boat. And nobody would expect Peter to go to that place of all possible locations.
Yes, it would take a bit of work to create an item that could neutralise the effect of the dementors that wasn't noticed and could be carried in shrunken form by a rat, but Augustus had delivered the spells that the Ministry used when their personnel needed to inspect the prison back before his defeat.
Nodding to himself, he went to his shelf to find the book in which said spells were written down. Such a good thing that he always kept three copies of all important books in different locations just in case one base was found.
Hermione hated her current situation. She was bent over the loo inside her and Endymion's suite. She had felt fine when she went to bed with her husband. But when she woke up this morning and sat up in bed to get ready for the day, she suddenly felt sick and ran to the bathroom. Vomiting what was inside her stomach was a nasty experience. One she would rather avoid in the future.
"Mione, what's wrong?" asked Endymion concerned while holding her hair out of her face, knowing that she would hate it if she got vomit into it.
"I don't know. I was fine when we went to bed yesterday," answered Hermione.
Then she felt the urge to vomit again and lost more of the contents of her stomach.
"I'll send Inky to Madam Pomfrey. I don't know which potions you can take while you are pregnant in case of a stomach bug," admitted Endymion.
"Urgh, please don't tell me that I got hit by morning sickness," groaned Hermione.
"Morning sickness?" asked Endymion confused.
"Some pregnant women get stomach problems for a while, often when the pregnancy is in the early phase," explained Hermione, "It was in a book my parents let me read to teach me where babies came from."
"Huh, I never heard about that and I was instructed about reproduction by tutors that Amycus hired for me," wondered Endymion.
"Perhaps it is something witches can avoid by potions," replied Hermione hopefully.
"Yes. Inky!" called Endymion.
"Yes, master Endy?" asked Inky the house elf, appearing in the bathroom with a pop.
"Please pop to the hospital wing and inform Madam Pomfrey that Hermione needs her help. She is feeling sick and had to vomit. I don't know which potions are safe for her to take," explained Endymion quickly.
"Right away," nodded Inky determined and popped away. It didn't take long for him to reappear. "Nurse lady is on her way."
"Thank you, Inky. You may go back to your duties," nodded Endymion.
The elf disappeared and Endymion filled a glass of water from the tap to hand to Hermione to cleanse her mouth. She spit the water after washing out her mouth into the loo before sipping a bit of it.
"I really hope she knows what to do. This feeling is horrible," admitted Hermione.
Endymion put his arm around her shoulders.
"Don't worry. Madam Pomfrey is great and has years of experience. Additionally, I bet she freshened up her knowledge about potions for pregnant witches when she was informed about your and Jazzy's condition. She will be able to help you," he assured his wife.
Once he was sure that Hermione was done with needing the loo for the moment, he carefully helped her back to bed. It would be best for her to lie down until they knew what was going on and what to do to help her get better. Thankfully, it only took about five minutes until there was a knock at the door of the suite and he went to let the nurse in. She purposefully strode inside.
"Your house elf said that Mrs Lestrange suffers from stomach sickness?" she asked.
"Yes," he confirmed and described what had happened.
"Could be early pregnancy upheavals, it isn't common for witches, but it occasionally comes up," nodded Madam Pomfrey, "I will examine her and then we will know for sure."
She followed Endymion to the bedroom where Hermione lay in bed.
"Just relax, dear, I will have you sorted out as soon as I know what we are dealing with," she assured the young witch.
"Thank you, I hate feeling this sick," admitted Hermione.
Madam Pomfrey set to work and cast a few spells, then she nodded.
"Nothing too problematic. The sickness is caused by a simple disharmony of the magic of the baby and yours. It can happen in rare cases. I will have a special sort of tea prepared by Professor Sprout. She has the necessary plants in her greenhouses. For this morning, you are excused from classes. I want you to drink a cup of the tea with each meal and one before you go to bed. That will soothe your stomach. After a week of this, the symptoms will be gone completely and after a month, the disharmony will be dealt with," explained the nurse.
"That sounds good," accepted Hermione, "How does the disharmony appear if it is so rare, Madam Pomfrey?"
"Strong types of magic of the parents synchronising in the baby. The type of magic of a baby is constructed during the first three months of the pregnancy. The building plan so to say, is made up of half of the information from the mother and half from the father. While the magic of you two is highly compatible, it isn't similar at all, which is a good thing for the baby. But it can cause some stomach problems for the mother during that time," explained Madam Pomfrey.
"So, the baby will be strong magically?" asked Endymion curiously.
"Certainly. There hasn't been a single case of a witch suffering disharmony symptoms giving birth to a squib child and all those children did well in their future careers. It is impossible to say yet if it is a boy or a girl, but as long as nothing happens to harm the pregnancy itself, the child will be born strong in magic," she nodded.
Endymion smiled happily. That was something he liked to hear. Even if he wished that his wife wouldn't suffer from the sickness for it. Then they heard a pop behind them.
"Madam Pomfrey, please come to help Mistress Jazzy. She's being sick in the bathroom," urged Winky.
"Seems as if Barty and Jazzy are in the same situation as we are," sighed Hermione.
"I will head over there," promised Madam Pomfrey.
She concentrated and conjured a patronus in the form of a fox. "Pomona, I need you to get the ingredients for pregnancy tea from your greenhouses for Mrs Lestrange and Mrs Crouch," she spoke to the fox, which then ran off to deliver the message.
"I'll be back as soon as I have the tea," she promised, "stay in bed and rest. I will send your teachers a note that you are excused from classes for the day."
"Thank you," replied Hermione.
"Yes, thank you, especially for coming this quickly" added Endymion.
"No problem," Madam Pomfrey nodded and went to visit the second pregnant witch, a few doors down the corridor.
Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy sat opposite Voldemort. It had by now been four months since the ritual and they had been called here for a special purpose. They had exchanged a few pleasantries and done small talk before Voldemort got to the point.
"Lucius and Narcissa, I am happy to tell you that I have finished my project and like I promised you, Lucius, you and Narcissa will be the first ones to be granted the treatment that will give you a guaranteed safe pregnancy," stated Voldemort.
"It is really finished?" asked Lucius excited.
"I, I can really have another child milord?" asked Narcissa shakily.
"Yes. As long as the couple has compatible magic of at least fifty percent, this treatment will work. I haven't worked out the adjustments for those with lower compatibility levels yet, but as far as I know, yours is beyond that level," replied Voldemort.
"Yes, it was measured at seventy-two percent," confirmed Lucius, smiling brightly understanding that this would give them their greatest wish.
"Then I wish to gift the two of you with the potion and instructions for the ritual. The next perfect date you can perform it is coincidentally soon, at the end of the month. Beltane is uniquely suited to give rituals like the one you will perform even more power than other dates. Generally, the ritual gains a boost on either the day of the full moon or the new moon. Beltane this year is a full moon, thus it is even more powerful," explained Voldemort.
"Thank you, milord, thank you so much," exclaimed Narcissa, tears running down her face, "You don't know how much this means to me. I had given up hope to have more children after it was already so difficult to carry Draco long enough to allow him to live when he was born."
"You're welcome, Narcissa. The best reward for me will be to see more children born from proper pureblood families, families that are smart enough to not ruin their bloodlines with inbreeding. Because this will ensure that our people will be strong in the future and have power and high standing among the magical nations of the world," replied Voldemort.
"Thank you, milord. This is an invaluable gift. We will perform it on Beltane. And when Draco comes home from Hogwarts during the summer break, we can surprise him with the news that next year he will become an older brother," declared Lucius, holding Narcissa close to him, barely holding back his own tears. After years of failures and heartbreak they would finally have another child.
Voldemort nodded graciously. This was a good way to reward his loyal followers. And he had told the truth that he wanted more proper pureblood children. Their society needed more children to be born from those families that had the compatibility, non or distantly related parents and the financial means to raise them to high standards.
"As we are talking about strong children, I got a letter from Barty about the development of his and Endymion's children," commented Voldemort.
"Really? Draco did write that he had by now collected enough information to be sure about the pregnancy, as we didn't tell him as that would have caused suspicion from Dumbledore, should he have noticed, but most of the school seemingly remains ignorant, which is actually surprising," said Narcissa.
"Yes, both Jasmine Crouch and Hermione Lestrange had strong disharmony symptoms during the second month of their pregnancies. Jasmine more than Hermione from what Barty wrote. He is actually blessing his decision to employ your old house elf for his family," chuckled Voldemort, "apparently Dobby knows countless recipes to help a pregnant witch deal with all kinds of pregnancy troubles. Next to ways to calm down hormonal witches."
Lucius had the decency to blush about that. He had forgotten how invaluable Dobby had been when Narcissa was pregnant with Draco. The elf had probably learned all he knew and now used from dealing with Narcissa's mood swings which made her Black ancestry shine through violently. He would admit to fleeing his own manor when Narcissa was in a certain mood, throwing Dobby to the wolves, figuratively. He was still annoyed how the girl had tricked him into freeing the elf. The new cooking elf was far lesser skilled in the kitchen, which Narcissa never let him forget.
"Oh, do the girls also show explosive behaviour?" asked Narcissa.
"Jasmine more than Hermione, but that could come from both the Potter and Black sides of her family. I also remember far too well how her mother gave our forces trouble whenever she was involved in battle. A shame that she was too strongly entrapped by the lies Dumbledore liked to weave. Having more children of that combination, raised properly in our world, would have given us some strong young witches and wizards. And the Potters didn't fall into the trap of marrying too close to their line. Their children would have made good partners for other pureblood families," commented Voldemort.
"Is there some heritage that we should be aware of my Lord?" asked Lucius.
"Ah, I didn't tell you about this before, I guess I forgot," realised Voldemort, "Jasmine is actually a distant cousin of mine. Her mother descents from my grand aunt Maledicta Gaunt, the squib sister of my grandfather Marvolo. That's the source of her parseltongue ability. We tested that when the two girls had just been captured, as I wanted to know how it could be that she possesses the Slytherin family magic. Combined with Maledicta's husband being a squib from a Russian family of little importance, the combination resulted in magic returning to the lines when Lily Evans was born. I don't know if Lily had the active trait, but her daughter does."
"Incredible. I didn't expect that part," admitted Lucius, "While Draco told us about her being a parselmouth, all research into the Potter family that I conducted didn't result in any connection to Slytherin and there was nothing to find out about Lily Potter."
"Understandable. It took a highly advanced heritage potion to reveal it to me. But it also caused me to easily agree to Barty's idea of using his position with Jasmine to keep her under control, even after the ritual was performed. I mean, having more descendants of Slytherin, properly raised ones of a good combination of parents, around would be highly beneficial for our world. Not to mention that it also brings more prestige to my family line," explained Voldemort.
"That makes sense," agreed Narcissa, "The question is if Jasmine is safe from being influenced like her parents were. For the next three and a half years she will still attend Hogwarts with Dumbledore in charge until we can realise the take-over in our country and replace him. Which still won't be easy."
"We have planted the seeds of doubt about him and his actions into her mind while she was our prisoner, though admittedly, she had already started to see some of his manipulations and became aware of his disregard of her actual safety. After all, only one event at Hogwarts was caused directly by me. Everything else was connected to Dumbledore, including her horrible childhood. He chose her mother's muggle sister and her family as guardians and they hate anything they consider abnormal. Which of course includes our people. As they were the cause of her abysmal physical condition, next to Dumbledore binding a large margin of her magical core for whatever insane reason he might have had, she isn't happy about him at all. Add into that part the way Barty thinks and acts, and over time I am sure she can be made into a supporter of our way of seeing things. As long as we control the actions taken during the takeover. We mustn't allow extreme and harmful activities by our members like it happened at the end of the war back in the seventies and eighties. That way, we can win."
"The question is, how will we explain the change of mind, which many will question once we step into the open," pointed Narcissa out, "We lost a lot of support when our movement's behaviour and actions changed."
"As long as we manage to take out Dumbledore on the sly, that shouldn't be a problem. Few people on the opponent's side know my real identity. I agree that calling myself Lord Voldemort would be counterproductive. But I can claim that an imposter took over my chosen identity, my political pseudonym so to say, while placing me into a potion induced coma. That is possible and absolutely believable. I can claim that my loyal friends managed to find me in the place where the imposter placed my body to hide that he took my position. Everybody believes that Lord Voldemort was killed by Jasmine Potter back in 1981. We will leave them in that belief. I can choose another pseudonym to use, claiming that I want to distance myself from the harm that the imposter caused in my name. I might also decide on another way, it isn't urgent so far after all. We will need time to establish everything to then strike successfully.
"Nobody needs to know that some failed rituals caused my slip from sanity back then. The ritual restored me to full sanity after all and it is much easier to start from the ground in the eyes of the public than making up for wrongs committed in my name that caused grief and harm."
"True, my Lord. That would make the process easier. I can also claim that I follow you, because you are the one I initially pledged myself to, as I believed in your true vision for our world, which is the full truth. When I became aware that you had been rescued and revived, I joined the true cause again. Nobody can legally persecute me for that," nodded Lucius.
"Yes, that is believable, it would also give a good line for Peter to be integrated into society again in the future. After all, he is the most wanted wizard in the country right now," chuckled Voldemort.
"Though only after you took over control," added Narcissa.
Voldemort nodded, that was true indeed.
"Well, we can observe things with Barty's wife for a while. We will see how things develop. Right now, she isn't a concern outside of keeping her and once it is born, her child safe. She is just fourteen after all and she will be kept busy enough for the coming years," stated Voldemort.
Lucius and Narcissa nodded, knowing how much time went into raising a child properly. Doing it while also studying for OWLs and NEWTs was an additional difficult challenge in its own.