End of Year

Draco Malfoy was surprised when he was called into his head of house's office the day after his last exam had taken place. The only thing that still remained to happen this year that would be somewhat interesting was the last task of the tournament. And honestly, he felt somewhat ashamed of Hogwarts' performance compared to Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Diggory had done the worst of the three champions during the second task. He already hadn't shone during the first one, but the second one had allowed the champions to prepare. And from the twenty-fourth of November, on which the first task took place, to the twenty-fourth of February there were three full months in between.

Even if the clue was difficult to solve, it was more than enough time to do so and then prepare for whatever task was given. But Diggory seemingly either underestimated the task or only figured out the clue shortly before the actual task took place. Honestly, a bubble head charm to breathe underwater and nothing else done by him? That was extremely unimaginative. Thanks to vacationing in Southern France several times over the years with his parents, he knew that there was a whole branch of tourism that offered solutions to this matter. For one, there were enchanted flippers that carried the one using them forward in water. One just needed to slip them over one's feet and swimming was easy, even for those that weren't strong swimmers. He had also got to dive while using gillyweed, which gave a witch or wizard gills for a limited period of time.

Clearly the Beauxbatons champion had known that because she used just those flippers to aid her in the task. And as she could prove that she had done the enchanting herself during the three months she had to figure out how to solve the task, it was perfectly within the rules of the tournament. She also used the bubblehead charm, but she did a lot better in the task than Diggory thanks to aiding her swimming speed. The mini harpoon shooters she had on her arms replaced being able to use much magic in the cold water. As a part veela she had limits of what she could do in the lake, but this was a clever way to work around her limitations. Draco didn't know why she didn't use gillyweed but perhaps there was a reason for it.

Diggory had failed to find and retrieve his hostage within the time limit and ended up with just twenty-eight points by the judges. Fleur Delacour was back five minutes outside of the time limit, but otherwise had done really well in the task, avoiding any kind of injuries to herself and her younger sister Gabrielle, who had been her hostage. It brought her forty-seven points, thus leaving her in first place of the tournament currently. Viktor Krum had managed a partial transformation into a shark. Daring, considering that animal transformations often came with the instincts of the animal in question if one hadn't managed the full animagus transformation.

But he made it work for him. He got to his hostage and brought her back to the starting point as well, even if he was two minutes slower than Delacour. He got rewarded forty-three points and was in second place now. Draco knew that there was talk about Diggory being so far behind the other two champions. The last task was this evening and he could only hope that Diggory didn't embarrass the school again, but he had little hope in that regard.

When he reached the door to the office of Professor Snape, he knocked and was called inside soon after. He stepped inside and was surprised to find his parents sitting there. As they were smiling, there clearly wasn't a worrisome reason for the visit.

"Good morning, mother and father," he greeted them politely, as was expected of him.

"Good morning, Draco," greeted his mother and walked over to him to hug him for a moment.

Bigger shows of affection were reserved for private places.

"Good morning, Draco. I hope your last exam went well," asked Lucius.

"It did, father. Though mostly due to self-study. That ghost is a disgrace for the profession of teaching," replied Draco.

"Too true," agreed Lucius.

"What brings you to Hogwarts at this time of the day? I expected you to only come tonight for the last task," asked Draco.

"That was the original plan, but we wanted to share great news for our family with you as soon as we could," answered Narcissa, smiling happily.

"Happy news are always welcome," nodded Draco, looking curiously at his parents.

"You might know that we have tried having more children after you were born, son, but we weren't blessed with a second child so far," started Lucius, "But recently, a friend of mine informed us that he had finally finished a project he had been working on during the seventies, which was delayed though due to events outside of his control. He worked out a ritual that works in combination with a specialised potion. Both combined and used correctly would result in a couple managing to conceive a child. For those with compatible magic, it would result in a magical baby being conceived, others would have squib children. We have come to tell you that we performed the ritual and that your mother has now been confirmed pregnant by our family healer just this morning."

"Really?" asked Draco shocked, "I thought it was impossible for her to carry a child to term anymore."

"It was. We were already incredibly lucky that I managed to carry you eight out of the normal nine months of pregnancy," nodded Narcissa, tears dropping from her eyes, "but the ritual corrected some things that were wrong with my body. I will still be careful during the pregnancy, as I don't want to lose this baby like it happened to many of your supposed siblings before. But with the blessing of the goddess of magic, I will have a baby in about seven months."

"The end of January," Draco quickly calculated.

"Yes, to improve our chances for the pregnancy going as well as it possibly could go, we performed the ritual on Beltane, the best possible date for rituals of this type," nodded Lucius.

Draco smiled at the happy faces of his parents. He was educated in the things that took place on Beltane, even if he was too young to participate in them. Not to mention that he planned to not do it before he was married. He wanted to have the boost to his magic that would occur if he was pure during his wedding night.

"Congratulations, mother and father," he said.

"Thank you, Draco. I know that this will be a change for you as well, but you are old enough to know that this won't change much for you, outside of us hoping that you will become a good big brother for your future brother or sister. You will be at Hogwarts for the first few months after the baby is born. You will of course be allowed to come visit after the birth. There are special permissions for this type of happy family events," Narcissa assured him.

"Yes, I would like to meet him or her once the baby is born," nodded Draco.

He knew his position as heir of the Malfoy family wasn't endangered by a younger sibling. And he had often heard his mother cry over losing other babies prematurely and it had hurt him. Knowing that this pregnancy would be different thanks to a ritual that a friend of his father had developed was great news. And honestly, in his opinion, the wizarding world needed more Malfoys anyway.

"Who is the friend that created this miracle?" asked Draco curiously, "He must be a powerful and extremely skilled wizard to have managed this."

"He is. I will introduce you to him during the summer break, Draco. I feared he had died during the early eighties, but he was merely trapped thanks to somebody begrudging him his position," answered Lucius.

"That's horrible! He was trapped for that long?" asked Draco, not being able to imagine something like that.

"Yes. It's also one reason why he looks younger than he is," nodded Lucius.

He wouldn't say too much here at Hogwarts, as the portraits reported to Dumbledore. While Severus had stepped out to allow them privacy to share their good news, there was a portrait guarding the door that needed to be taken into consideration.

"Will you stay for the rest of the day or return to the manor?" asked Draco.

"I will return but your father will stay," answered Narcissa, "It's best for me to regularly rest while I'm pregnant."

Draco nodded. It made sense, since she had said that she would be careful. Understandable considering the history she had with pregnancies taking a bad turn.

"I will join you for lunch, as Severus already arranged that I could participate like the families of the champions do. For the actual task, I was invited to sit with Minister Fudge. He is quite concerned about the performance of Diggory, as the tournament reflects the level of education our leading school for magic gives our youth. And sadly that isn't impressive right now," said Lucius.

"Embarrassing is the correct term, father," commented Draco, "Honestly, anybody that was on vacation at the coast in southern Europe even once would have known how to fulfil the second task better than him. Delacour did what I would have done except that I would have chosen gillyweed as a means to breathe underwater."

"Yes, I would have done so as well, but gillyweed as a deep-sea plant has adverse reactions with veela for some reason," explained Lucius.

"I suspected it would have been something like that. Otherwise, she worked around her natural weakness to cold water in clever ways and is rightfully in the lead for the tournament," acknowledged Draco.

"Does she interest you?" asked Narcissa curiously.

"Not in a possible romantic way. She is too self-centred for that. We wouldn't be a good match," denied Draco, "She is beautiful without a doubt, but we would clash horribly with our personalities. Honestly, if I had to say anything about a possible future bride, I would want a smart and supportive girl."

He had thought about the matter, as the time was close for him to seriously think about possible candidates. He knew how things worked in their society and as heir to an influential pureblood family, he needed to choose a good bride that wouldn't ruin the family.

"I have thought about the matter a bit and we feel it would be advantageous for you to get to know a few girls from foreign families over the summer break. Just get to know them, not decide on anything. If you find you like one of them, you could start a letter exchange to get to know each other better over time. You still have enough time to choose. We won't force you to marry a girl you can't stand, just because you coincidentally have compatible magic," informed Lucius his son.

"Thank you, father. That sounds like a good idea," accepted Draco relieved.

"The problem of only airheads that you can't stand?" asked Lucius knowingly.

"Yes. Or they are too closely related to me. I actually get along great with Davis and Greengrass in my house and year, but both are at most three generations away from me on our family tree," nodded Draco, "They are great to talk to in the common room and to work in study groups, but neither of us would want a marriage with each other, as that would be bad for future children. But there are far too many airheads that are only after the Malfoy fortune."

"We lost too many good pureblood families over the last century here in Great Britain," acknowledged Narcissa, "I have arranged that we will visit four families that I know and am on good terms with that have daughters around your age for a week on end each during the summer break. You can talk to the girls and see if you can forge any kind of connection. Maybe you will only become friends, maybe there will be a chance for more. Only time will tell."

Draco nodded. That sounded manageable. While it would cut his summer break short, visiting those families didn't exclude seeing something of their countries after all. And getting to know those girls would be easier if they went on nice trips to touristic sights or places to have fun. And perhaps he could really find a girl he could see himself spending the rest of his life with.

Hermione and Jazzy sat at the stands next to the huge maze that had been grown on the Quidditch pitch over the last month. To their huge surprise, few other students had caught onto the fact that they were pregnant. The robes hid their growing stomachs exceptionally well. And in a few days, the summer break would start and they would go home. It would be different, that much was safe to say. Potter's Keep was renovated and modernised in a way that Jazzy and Barty liked. Lestrange Manor was also ready to receive the young couple. Thanks to Sirius and Remus, Jazzy had had an easier time getting used to her new situation and they had trained her to become more advanced in her magical abilities to be able to defend herself and her baby in any possible future emergency.

It had been more difficult for Hermione. Her parents were muggles and they hadn't been happy at all that their fifteen years old daughter was married to a seventeen years old wizard when they went to visit them during a weekend when the second term had started already. Mainly because Hermione had been worried about another kidnapping attempt before certain security measures had been taken. And as muggles they couldn't come to Hogwarts. They were even unhappier about her being pregnant from the sexual intercourse that was involved in the ritual. Her father had actually demanded that she aborted the pregnancy, as it wouldn't do for her to fail in her education due to being busy with a baby.

Endymion hadn't taken that part well and shouted at his parents-in-law, making it clear that they would have to go through him before they murdered his child. He also yelled at them for risking Hermione's life with their demand, as magic took exceptional offence to somebody trying to abort a magical child. It was a short conversation, as after Hermione's father stated that it was just a simple procedure at the beginning of the pregnancy and they could have more children later, when they had both finished school, and he shouldn't get worked up and respectless over this, Endymion declared that he had enough of their ignorance and callousness and disapparated with Hermione, after telling her parents that they would only be welcome to visit them once they got over their arrogance and decided to actually read up on certain things.

Hermione had cried for days after that encounter. She had known that her parents were difficult at times and didn't have much time for her, but to not even consider her feelings in the matter, just demanding that she killed her child because they believed it was best to first concentrate on her education fully, not waste time with a baby, that was too much. Endymion had comforted her and Jazzy told her that it wasn't her fault but her parents'. After all, if they had been open-minded, they would have asked what the pregnancy included, what was different about pregnancies of witches and not just assumed that because they were doctors, they already knew everything there was to know.

But then again, ever since visiting Diagon Alley before Hermione's second year at Hogwarts, they had refused to learn more about the magical world, calling it backwards and rude. They let Hermione go to Hogwarts as they understood her need to have full control over her abilities, but they didn't invest the time to really learn about their daughter's world. She had sent them one book that explained the effects of pregnancy on a witch and what could happen when certain things were done, including the foolhardy idea of aborting the child. It was completely forbidden to attempt, as it regularly killed the witch carrying the child.

It could happen that a witch lost her child for several reasons, ranging from illness to attacks on her body to problems of carrying it to term, but intentionally terminating a pregnancy had horrible consequences.

So far, there hadn't been any return mail from her parents, and she sent an owl there after two weeks, which would have been enough time to let them read the book and know what exactly they had demanded of her. For that reason, Hermione would simply go home with Endymion and live at Lestrange Manor and not have any contact with her parents until they got over their idiocy.

The last weeks had been stressful as Barty and Endymion sat their NEWTs. Many evenings, their wives had needed to comfort them and help them relax from a hard exam they had done during the day. But now they were done with their exams and only wanted to do things that had nothing to do with studying or writing exams or performing spells. They would get their results the second to last day of school. There always was a grand ceremony for the graduates where they were handed their diplomas which took place in the Great Hall, with their families and friends present. Having them early was meant to allow them to start at their new jobs by the first of August. That was the normal date for apprenticeships and traineeships to begin in the wizarding world, as the employers needed the NEWT results to confirm the employment contracts. They all had clauses that would void the contract if certain results weren't matched by the one having secured the position before. July was traditionally a month to give them a last longer period of time to relax and perhaps travel a bit before starting their jobs. Few could afford a longer period to see more of the magical world in other countries.

Barty had arranged that he would start in September, as an apprentice to Professor Flitwick. His performance in Charms class had convinced the professor that Barty had great talent in the subject and was worth sponsoring through an apprenticeship. The general idea Barty had also discussed with Dumbledore was that he would gain his Charms mastery within four years, which was more than possible, and study Defence Against the Dark Arts at the side, to have at least journeyman status in that subject by the time Jazzy was done with her NEWTs. It would be done by tutor lessons with Professor Snape.

Once he had the mastery in Charms and the journeyman title in Defence, he could apply for the Defence position. It was probable that it would still be available by then. One thing that Dumbledore didn't know was that Barty would arrange for Binns to be exorcised when he was ready to start in his position, as then he could remain as Defence Professor. Until then, he wouldn't mind if the candidates only lasted one year. He knew that his lord needed some more time to get things into position for the takeover to work out. He would find out how far the others had come when he was away from Hogwarts and had more ways to travel unobserved for some hours.

Now the opening speeches for the last task were given and he watched how the three champions got ready to face the last challenge of the tournament.

Peter Pettigrew kept silent and still on the boat that travelled towards Azkaban. It had been easy to sneak onto the boat after the security checks had been performed. He wore a simple bracelet that grew and shrunk with his animagus transformation that carried two powerful spells. A notice-me-not charm and a full protection charm against the effects of dementors. Thanks to listening to Sirius in the Shrieking Shack, he was aware that dementors couldn't determine animagi in their transformed form like they did witches and wizards.

Today was the day the last task of the tournament was held. It drew attention away from Azkaban, as the Ministry had sent every available auror to Hogwarts to prevent any type of interference with the task, and to also surround the four teenagers used in the ritual with the highest degree of safety they could. It would cost far too many people their jobs should anything happen during the task. But it opened a nice window of opportunity for his Lord's plans to get back the valuable members of the group that were stuck at Azkaban.

He was glad that Voldemort only wanted to free four of them. The ones that were sane and calculating back in the seventies and early eighties and knew how to moderate their actions. By now, many others had already died due to the horrible conditions at Azkaban. He shuddered to think about it. Making it appear that some incident had killed all the remaining Death Eaters at Azkaban would hide that they had freed those four that Voldemort wanted back in his ranks. It was better that people like Bellatrix and Antonin Dolohov were killed before they could ruin all their plans again.

They were sadists that derived pleasure from the suffering of others. No, while he wanted power and wasn't hesitant to do certain things to achieve their goals, torturing people just because he felt like it didn't serve any purpose. He wanted power and influence. He was willing to kill strategic targets or muggles, who in his opinion simply didn't count as important, but to torture people like Alice and Frank to insanity like Bellatrix and Rodolphus had done when there wasn't anything to gain from it, no that was idiotic. Especially openly without hiding their identities. It was actually a relief that they were incompatible in their magic and couldn't have children. He shuddered imagining the result of their successful reproduction.

He listened to the ones manning the boat. They bemoaned having got the duty to go to Azkaban and hoped to quickly manage to unload the supplies to leave the accursed island again. Even with protection against the dementors it was a horrible place to be. Peter wouldn't be here if not for his important mission either, but the gain would make it worth the discomfort. Soon they would reach Azkaban and then he would have a short window of opportunity to get his mission done and return to the mainland and report the success to his Lord.

Rabastan Lestrange lay on the straw mattress that all prisoners were given as a basic kind of bed. It was uncomfortable but he was used to it by now. He didn't know how many years had gone by since he was sent to this horrible prison. And to think he was only here because Bella and Rod had been morons again. He had wanted to make the attack a quick operation. Stun Alice and Frank Longbottom when they were surprised, use veritaserum on both of them to get the information they wanted to gain, meaning the location of their lord, and leave before any alarms could bring the aurors to the place.

But no, both Bella and Rod had to start off with a duel against the two aurors and then cast the cruciatus repeatedly to get the information they wanted. Idiots. He didn't have a close relationship to either his brother or his sister-in-law but at times like that he seriously wanted to wring their necks. If only he could have stayed at home with his son. He often dreamed of Endymion, his precious little boy. He didn't know how old he was now, but he had to be a teenager already. It wasn't a happy thought that he had missed so much time with his son, thus he could keep his memories of the boy despite the dementors.

But Bella and Rod had demanded he came with them and considering how likely it was that Bella used the cruciatus on him in case he refused, or worse, targeted Endymion to make him comply, he had given in after failing to convince them that the timing was horrible and people were still on high alert for their activities. He only hoped in his clear moments that Endy was raised by a good family. One that wouldn't teach him idiotic ideas like the ones Bella and Rod believed in. Sure, he was convinced that proper purebloods were superior to halfbloods and muggleborns, but honestly, that didn't mean they should all just be killed off like Bella often wanted to do. She was seriously messed up in her head. The example of Severus Snape proved that halfbloods could have enormous worth for their plans after all.

He listlessly watched how another rat hurried over the floor of Azkaban. There were several of the small rodents. He had learned to ignore them. Trying to catch them to eat something other than the sludge was a bad idea anyway. He didn't have the means to get off the fur after all and there was little meat on their bodies to bother with anything. To his surprise the rat hurried into the cell of Augustus Rookwood, stayed for a moment and then came out again, running across the floor towards his cell.

He was shocked though when the rat turned into Peter Pettigrew in front of his eyes. He sat up clumsily, his body not used to much movement anymore.

"Peter?" he rasped.

"Don't speak Rabastan," whispered Peter, "I don't have much time. Take this package. It entails instructions from our lord to get you out of here. I have limited time to explain things. Just tap the red dot five times with your finger, then it will enlarge. The instructions on what to do are inside. We can talk after you are out of here."

Peter handed him the package and transformed back, hurrying out of the cell again, into the one of Eugene Cassastis. Rabastan suspected that he would supply all death eaters on this floor with a means to escape, planned by their lord. He did as he was told and the small package enlarged immediately after he had tapped the red dot five times. There was a short letter, written by his lord.

Rabastan,

It is time for my followers to be freed from the prison the ministry threw you into after you were found to support the true cause. We will return to our pursuit of bringing the country under our control according to our true goals. I explicitly mean the ones before everything went wrong and the organisation became little more than a bunch of idiotic thugs that sewed terror. For that to work, I will free the ones that know the meaning of the words subtlety and cunning.

Inside the package I have placed six tags that will create a one-time portal that will circumvent the wards of Azkaban. They are marked on the back with the numbers one to six. Place the tag with number one on top of the space that you want to turn into a portal, I recommend an outer wall of your cell, not one leading into a neighbouring cell, and then the number two at the bottom. Number three goes to the upper right corner of a rectangle and four to bottom right corner. Five is to be placed bottom left corner and six upper left corner. The tags will activate on their own once they are in place. You have two minutes to step through the portal, which will take you to my base, where I have arranged for medical support for everybody that will be freed today.

Drink the potion in the package before you step into the portal. It will give your body a temporary energy boost to help with your atrophied muscles.

More information will follow once you have recovered from the effects that Azkaban will have caused for your mind and body.

Lord Voldemort

Rabastan was excited. Finally, he would get out of this horrible place. He trusted his lord to have worked out the means to make it happen. While he wasn't an expert on portals, he knew that they were used successfully in other countries. He got up from the straw mattress with some difficulty but took the tags out of the envelope that was inside the package. He checked which one was which and then set to work. He placed each tag into its position and then drank the potion in the small bottle that was the only other item in the package. He felt a rush of magic through his system. The tags glowed and lines spread from one tag to another. After about fifteen seconds, a golden, shimmering field appeared between the tags. Not wanting to waste any time, he stepped towards the portal and somewhat stumbled through it.

When he appeared on the other side, he was caught by strong arms on both sides of his body.

"Careful Rabastan, walk slowly now," instructed a voice he hadn't heard for a long time.

"Amycus?" he rasped, looking to his right.

"Yes, it's me. It's good to finally have you back," confirmed his old friend.

"Bring him over to the bed, brother," called Alecto from across the room, "He needs to rest and take the potions that will start the recovery process from Azkaban. Once they are inside his body and have started their work, he and the others will take decontamination baths."

"On it, Alecto," confirmed Amycus.

Rabastan felt himself be led over to the bed next to which Alecto stood. He was lowered onto the bed, propped up with cushions, which felt heavenly against his body, and then a glass with a potion inside was held to his lips. He obediently swallowed the whole dose, even if he made a face at the taste afterwards.

"Good Rabastan, rest for a while to allow the potion to begin its work," instructed Alecto, "We have enough time for the questions that I know you have when you have recovered as much as possible for now."

"Okay," he replied weakly. He knew he was in horrible condition and recovery would be a priority for the moment.

"Okay, Peter is good in his timing, Eugene is here," called another voice, which Rabastan thought belonged to Thaddeus Nott. It confirmed what he saw at Azkaban. Peter was using his animagus form to perform a rescue mission for them. The question was how this operation would be covered up in the end, as it would cause panic in the country.

He felt tired, which he attributed to the potion. He slipped in and out of full consciousness until he felt his body being levitated from the bed.

"Rabastan, you will be put into a special bath with potions to help your body get rid of any kind of infestations that you might have contracted at Azkaban. As the results would be too much to bear for you with your weakened body, you will be given sleeping potions. When you wake up again, you will feel a lot better already," explained Alecto.

He couldn't really say anything about it, he just took the potions he was given and then drifted off to sleep.

The news didn't get out immediately. A huge fire that killed a dozen Death Eaters and four dementors at Azkaban didn't rank as highly in the priorities of the Daily Prophet as the results of the Triwizard Tournament. Especially if the winner was a beautiful girl that had shown up her male competitors. There was an interview with Fleur Delacour on two pages of the paper, next to another page being covered by the analysis how it could be that the Hogwarts champion had always lagged behind the two other champions. Viktor Krum had been closer to the centre of the maze where the cup was located than Cedric Diggory, who was struggling with many of the obstacles placed into the maze.

Still, the tournament itself was a great success and there was an announcement that it would be continued with the new format in five years with Beauxbatons being the host at that time. The Ministry of Magic declared its happiness of having managed to bring back this traditional part of wizarding culture in a way that was a lot safer for the participating champions while still challenging them in all kinds of ways. Next to that, the goal of establishing connections among the wizarding youth of different countries had been promoted in a good way and they hoped that several friendships could be created over the year.

Another article written by Rita Skeeter claimed that a few inter school couples had started up, with some families working towards setting up marriage contracts for their children. Of course, she speculated if these were forced by unplanned pregnancies. She couldn't refrain from insinuating scandalous developments.

The students at Hogwarts spent the last days of the year relaxing as their exams were over and they only needed to wait for the results. Most could be seen outside enjoying the warm weather and the library was empty of any students, as nobody, not even the most studious among the eagles wanted to see another book for a while.

The only big event that took place before the train took the students back to London was the graduation ceremony of the seventh years. The four heads of house handed out the diplomas that entailed their NEWT results. All students were called up alphabetically to receive them. As their husbands were among the graduates, Hermione and Jazzy sat among the audience, Sirius sitting next to Jazzy, as a bodyguard in case any of the other guests tried something bad. It wasn't necessary in the end, but he felt better for it.

When their respective husbands received their diplomas, both Jazzy and Hermione needed some tissues. For some stupid reason they were more prone to crying than they had been before their pregnancies. Especially Jazzy hated it, as she felt that crying didn't solve anything. Stupid hormones messing her up. After the ceremony it was time for the end-of-year feast, which also bid farewell to the leaving seventh years who wouldn't return for the next school year. With the notable exception of Barty and Endymion, who would take up apprenticeships at Hogwarts, which was the easiest way to be close to their wives while they had to coordinate their studies with raising their babies.

Endymion would apprentice under Professor Babbling in Ancient Runes with a side apprenticeship to Professor Vector in Arithmancy. His goal was a career in enchanting, which would benefit from having those two masteries. And contrary to Barty he didn't enjoy teaching children too much. He was happy to help with some parts if there was already a base he could start from, like it was with Hermione, but idiotic kids that didn't appreciate the value of their education yet would sorely test his patience. He wasn't a good candidate for a general teacher.

Due to the situation of Jazzy and Hermione the apprenticeships for both young men had easily been confirmed though. Generally, it was a lot harder to gain apprenticeships under one of the teachers at the school and it was normal to have the applicants wait for a few years to not have them treated differently than other teachers by the older students that were close to them previously.

Rabastan sat in a comfortable armchair inside a brightly lit bedroom that was part of the mansion that his lord used as his base of operations. The armchair was soft but still supported his weakened body perfectly when he sat. He was a bit surprised how the escape of the four prisoners from Azkaban had been hidden, but honestly, he felt more relief than sadness at the news that his brother and sister-in-law were dead. Eugene, Brianna and he had got the same instruction with the packages that Peter had delivered to enable their escape from the prison. Augustus meanwhile was given one additional task. Setting off a device that would spread an invisible and scentless gas over the whole corridor. Once a dementor would come in contact with the gas, it would ignite and burn exceptionally hot. Nobody would manage to find any kind of remains from anything living at the floor where the fire raged.

The ones left behind were irredeemable and wouldn't have listened to orders to not go back to their old ways, the ones where they did what they wanted to those they deemed beneath them. If their Lord's plans were to succeed, they couldn't afford that kind of behaviour. The gas also sedated the ones inhaling it. They didn't feel any pain while they burned. That was the one thing Voldemort had ensured for those that had followed him in the past. A painless death.

It would mean that he needed a new identity, but he was informed that Voldemort was already working on that part. All their looks would be altered appropriately to let them start a new life once they were fully healed from their ordeal at Azkaban.

He was currently waiting for his Lord, as he wanted to tell him a few important things that were better to be discussed in private. Some tea and biscuits stood on the small table that was placed between the two armchairs in the room. He liked the biscuits, chocolate with some nut pieces, one of his favourites. Soon the door was opened and the man stepped inside.

"Please stay seated, Rabastan, you still need to recover. Pleasantries and manners can be upheld once you are stronger again," stated Voldemort when Rabastan tried to get up from the armchair.

"Thank you, my Lord. I still feel weak most of the time," accepted Rabastan gratefully.

"Completely understandable. You spent nearly fourteen years at Azkaban. If I may ask, what led to that idiotic attack on the Longbottoms? I mean, Barty had already got me the information that Neville Longbottom wasn't a threat to my power in any way," asked Voldemort after sitting down in the second armchair in the room.

"Bella and Rod being fanatical and threatening me if I didn't help them. When I realised that I didn't have a choice but to help them with their stupid operation, I wanted to have the Longbottoms stunned, fed with veritaserum to easily get the information they were after and leave again. Fully masked and thus unidentifiable. I mean, I had Endymion to care for, who had already lost his mother at the time. I didn't want to leave him alone. But in the mood which Bella showed that day, she would have been capable of harming my son, in worst case cast the cruciatus on him if I didn't comply. And then everything went to hell because Bella and Rod couldn't do the smart thing but had to vent their sadistic sides," growled Rabastan.

He had never forgiven the two of them what they had caused.

"I see, that matches their characters," nodded Voldemort, "Well, I wanted to talk to you on your own, as there were some developments that directly concern your family which were caused by the ritual that allowed me to return into a powerful body with my sanity completely restored to what it was before some experimental rituals that I performed left negative results. I will freely admit that in the late seventies I was quite mentally ill. But the ritual repaired the damage done previously."

"That sounds like a powerful ritual, my Lord," commented Rabastan.

"It certainly was. Your son Endymion was a core part of it, completely voluntarily on his part I want to say at the beginning."

"Endymion helped you?" asked Rabastan interestedly.

"Yes, you can be very proud of your boy. Just like you would have done, he was willing to assist in me getting back into a powerful body while sacrificing something irretrievable," nodded Voldemort.

Rabastan looked worried for his son, even if he was proud that he would serve his lord in a significant way.

"Endymion is perfectly alright. He just graduated from Hogwarts with exceptional marks in his chosen NEWT classes. Right now, his memories of his willing participation in the ritual are blocked, as he needed to fool Dumbledore, who accidentally got knowledge of some of the results of the ritual before I originally planned to let him know," explained Voldemort and then informed Rabastan about the type of ritual and how it had been performed.

"That would lead to Endymion being married to the girl that he deflowered," realised Rabastan.

"Indeed. He was eager to get the girl as his wife once he knew that she was Gilbert Rosenberg's daughter, even if she mistakenly was believed to be muggleborn. According to him, she was one of the few intelligent and ambitious girls close to his age that he met at Hogwarts. The only reason he didn't try to get to know her before was that assumed muggleborn status," commented Voldemort.

"Rightfully," nodded Rabastan, "He would have got trouble with the other influential pureblood families, had he decided to marry a muggleborn girl, no matter if she was perfectly suited to become his wife. I remember the scandal that James Potter caused with his decision to marry Lily Evans."

"Who actually wasn't muggleborn either," added Voldemort, "A heritage test done for Jasmine Potter revealed that her mother descended from my grandaunt Maledicta Gaunt. Meaning, they have Slytherin blood in their bloodline, but due to being squibs before Lily was born, the talent was dormant. A project for the future to determine if it could be acceptable to marry supposed muggleborns if they can show magical heritage. It could bring back a few old lines that were thought to be extinct."

"That is an incredible development, my Lord. So, I now have a daughter-in-law," stated Rabastan, working through that news, "What is her name?"

"Hermione Lestrange nee Rosenberg," answered Voldemort, "Even if people believe her name to have been Granger, which is the name of her muggle parents."

Rabastan nodded.

"Additionally, the ritual, like we planned also led to the two girls conceiving a child each," continued Voldemort.

"I'm going to be a grandfather?" asked Rabastan surprised.

"Yes, congratulations. According to a letter Barty sent to me, both expecting mothers showed strong disharmony symptoms in their second month of the pregnancy. Meaning, you can expect your grandchild to be a powerful wizard or witch," nodded Voldemort, "Endymion and Hermione have a high-level compatibility of their magic, which was increased by them not having any common ancestors."

"Incredible. It is rare these days that disharmony symptoms are strong. Most witches don't show any," said Rabastan.

"Indeed. I have high hopes that the couple will have more children that powerful in the future, even if I am aware that they will wait to have more children until Hermione has finished her education at Hogwarts," stated Voldemort.

"Yes, that makes sense. How did the public take the news of the pregnancy of two underage witches?" asked Rabastan.

"They don't know yet," chuckled Voldemort, "Mainly because of Barty's wife Jasmine. Her magic turned a tad bit explosive when she was angered or threatened and for that reason, the two girls were excused from any kind of class that could cause extreme reactions of their magic, including Potions. Therefore, the other students haven't realised that they would have been excused from that class anyway due to the fumes posing a danger for unborn children. The robes and probably some notice-me-not charms did the rest. The students will only find out next school year, when the babies are born. Both girls will stay at home until the babies are born and only return to classes a bit after that."

Rabastan had to digest the news. He hadn't expected to become a grandfather this early on. His son had just turned eighteen after all. But he was also happy. Perhaps he could get some of the experiences he missed out on with Endymion with his future grandchild.

"When can I see my son and his wife?" asked Rabastan.

"When you are stronger. While I don't think that Endymion will pose a problem, his wife is a different story. As I told you, we modified the girls' memories in major parts and she doesn't remember that Endymion participated in the ritual out of his own free will. She loves him by now, that is clear, but she has a strong will and temper at times. It wouldn't be good if you weren't in the condition to deal with that," explained Voldemort.

"That makes sense," nodded Rabastan, "it would probably also be better for her to find out after the baby is born. It might work if I first met my son and then introduce myself to her as a cousin of myself. That she would probably accept a lot easier."

"A workable idea, Rabastan," approved Voldemort, "It is actually along the lines I planned to use for your new identity. After all, officially you will be dead, even if I know that the goblins will know differently. But due to being convicted to Azkaban for life, Endymion was already listed as the next head of the family. Now that he has graduated from Hogwarts, he will be available to take up the head of house position."

"Good. I wouldn't do the position justice with my condition anyway. Amycus already told me that he took him in and raised him as his foster son. I'm glad that Endymion at least had a good family growing up," admitted Rabastan, "Even if I wish that my brother and sister-in-law wouldn't have cost me my chance to hold the position myself."

"I understand, Rabastan. I can promise you that I will support you in any way possible to regain a good life for yourself. I know that you never committed any crimes that would have deserved life at Azkaban. You are cunning and ambitious, but you aren't a murderer. Your methods are more along the lines that Lucius used to climb the political ladder over the years. I would like you to think about your wishes for possible professions to take up once you are back to full strength. You will be included in our plans when you are ready for it. Until then, just concentrate on healing," said Voldemort.

"Thank you, I will do that, my Lord," accepted Rabastan gratefully.

Voldemort nodded satisfied.

"I believe that it would be good for you to go back to bed, Rabastan. You will find yourself tired a lot of time for at least two weeks. That is normal for those that were exposed to dementors for long periods of time. Don't force yourself to stay awake for now. Take your potions and rest when you need to. I will see myself out," stated Voldemort.

"Alright, that would be a good idea," nodded Rabastan.

Voldemort stood from his armchair and left the room while Rabastan slowly got up and walked to the bed to lie down again. Sleeping sounded like a great idea right now.