Chapter 1
So here is the first reworked chapter of the Tribe of Mystics. There were a few flaws in the story telling last time which I intend to cure this time around. I am not going to change the story too much but there will be changes that will suit the story line more.
There were certain aspects of story-telling which were glossed over by me when narrating this tale. This time around, I intend to weave the web in such a way that it will become more captivating to you all.
Thank you all for your continued support.
And thank you Hypergym. Your efforts made this story entertaining.
Somewhere in the magical mountains of the Himalayas, 1966
The Himalayas are known as the highest and the longest mountain ranges of the world and rightfully so. Even after all these years, there are still many parts of the Himalayas that are uncharted, unvisited, no human having set foot there. At least, that is true for mortals who have no idea how fascinating the world really is or that magic is real and exists in the world. There are witches and wizards hiding in different parts of the world, protecting their secrets from the prying eyes of muggles. It is a given that if the magical world and the mundane world were to confront each other, it would result in a disaster of untold proportions.
Across its length and breadth, the Himalayas have several secrets hidden on peaks too high to climb. Wizards and witches can do almost impossible things with magic like hiding an entire castle from the eyes of the world, making a colony in the icy wilderness of the Himalayas and the like. One such secret is the Tribe of Mystics. The real story of the origin of the tribe is known only to a handful of people.
The mystics were a lot of things but if you were to go by the job description, they were assassins, they were protectors of knowledge, they fought the good fight when no one else would. The tribe, though headquartered in the Himalayas, had branches across the entire world. Led by their fierce leader Harsh Vardhan, they were so secretive that Those few that heard of them at all, thought they were no more than tales and legends.
Harsh Vardhana, the master of the tribe of mystics was worried because they had encountered a foe so strong that they could not kill him. They had never failed to kill any adversary but this one could not be killed by him. It had been centuries since they had come across such an abomination of magic. The being who had called himself Voldemort reeked of the vilest form of soul magic, bore the gifts of serpents and came of the magical land of Avalon.
The primary duty of the mystics was to kill those who used magic for nefarious purposes and this Voldemort was one of them. Having duelled him for 2 hours, Harsh Vardhana had been able to subdue and capture him. During the subsequent interrogation under Veritaserum, he confessed to having made not just one of those abominations, but five! Just one transgression against nature was enough to offend mother magic and that vile being had made five!
Since he couldn't kill him, Harsh thought to put him in stasis and bury him in the base of a glacier where no one would ever find him. That way, the world would be spared a lot of anguish and pain. In fact, getting rid of the abomination would be fulfilling their duties. Harsh was of a mind to do that very thing but his hands were tied.
A visit from the seer Varah Mihir showed that Voldemort would not meet his fate by the hand of any mystic, but his destiny was intertwined with another, who was yet to be born. Harsh had personal encounters with situations where he had tried to change the path of the wheels of fate before. Attempting to do so had bought him nothing but pain. There were times when he had disregarded the advice from Varah Mihir and did what was prudent but without exception, that had come back to bite him in the backside later.
No matter how much they wanted to deal with the threat of Voldemort themselves, they could not kill him for he was fated to die at the hands of another. The mystics obliviated Voldemort and released him to wander in the wilderness of the Sahara Desert. They heard of him no more, until he turned up, years later, mutilated and vicious, offending mother magic, murdering wizards, witches and muggles. Some because they opposed his will, others just to amuse himself.
Feeling partially responsible for the carnage that he was causing in the world, they decided that they had to take action before Voldemort doomed the entire wizarding world.
They decided that if things did not turn for the better then they would send a message to one of the most powerful modern wizards, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore about Voldemort and his perceived immortality. They were not ready to tempt the fates or try to alter the course of destiny but they hoped Dumbledore would. They also hoped it would not be too late before Albus Dumbledore was able to stop him, at least for the time being.
October - November 1980, Magical Britain
The war with Voldemort had pared wizarding Britain down to its bone. Countless people had died in the war which had been going on for about a decade and yet no end was in sight. Several families had become extinct in the war and several more were standing on their last legs, threatening to topple over. The only reason that the end had not come was due to the intervention and courage of Albus Dumbledore and his vaunted Order of the Phoenix. If it were not for the Order and Dumbledore, the light would have fallen before Voldemort. Wizards and witches were dying every day and Voldemort was gaining power.
Dumbledore feared that it would not be long before Voldemort would make a move to besiege Hogwarts. Even the wards rumoured to have been erected by Rowena Ravenclaw herself would not last long under the weight of sheer numbers from such an attack. Then what would happen to the children, the future of wizarding kind? Albus feared that the wizarding world stood on the edge of doom.
A ray of hope arose in his heart when he heard a prophecy made by Sybill Trelawney which foretold that Voldemort's foe was about to be born but that also meant that it would take years before he would be ready to take down Voldemort. Based on that prophesy, Albus had already sent the Potters and the Longbottoms into hiding as their children most closely matched the promised one. Albus resolved to make it happen no matter the cost.
December 1980
The house in Godric's Hollow was generally very quiet because the occupants lived in complete secrecy there. The cottage was owned by one Lord James Charlus Potter, his wife Lilly Potter and their infant son, who was simply known as Harry.
Today, the cottage was bursting with activity since they had visitors. Their visitors were their school friends who had a daughter born to them a few months before Harry. Both sets of parents were active in the war, members of the secret society named The Order of the Phoenix which resisted Voldemort with all its might. Recently their friend Marlene McKinnon had been murdered along with her entire family by the death eaters. Before that they had also lost the Prewett twins, Fabian and Gideon, who were their friends. There was a traitor in their midst and everyone worried for their lives.
The Potters had no other living relative on James's side of the family so there was some apprehension in his mind about what would happen to Harry if they were to perish leaving him alone in the world. The Bones' had been in law enforcement for generations and Edgar feared for the lives of his family. He had a sister Amelia but she was a senior Auror and it was possible that she could be killed in the war. He also wanted to secure the future of his daughter, Susan.
To that end, both parents had met and decided to write up a marriage contract which provided that if either of the children ended up as an orphan, they would be taken in by the surviving pair and the two children will be wed on Harry's 18th birthday.
"James, are you sure about this? I mean is it fair to our children that we take away their right to choose their partners, to take away their chance to love? What if they do not like each other?" asked the brown haired man with blue eyes.
"Edgar, I wouldn't normally agree with this because I married for love and that was the best decision I ever made but we are in the middle of a war. No one knows who will survive when this is all over. I have no family left and I will not let Harry be raised by Petunia or her husband. As far as muggles go, they are the worst. If we do this and we die in the war, Harry will have a family who loves him", replied an exasperated James Potter.
"Let's hope we all survive this war so we can watch our children grow up.", said Lily but everyone knew the chances were very slim.
July, 1981
The mystics decided that it was time for them to intervene before Tom Riddle could bring the ruin of wizard kind. One of their number was dispatched as an emissary to Dumbledore with the information about Voldemort and his horcruxes. But before he made contact, little Harry Potter survived the killing curse. Instead of dying, little Hary was marked with a lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead where the curse had rebounded on its caster. Voldemort disappeared, his power broken, having marked Harry as the child of the prophesy. Although they knew that Voldemort was not dead and that he would return, the mystics happily kept their peace.
It was not their lot to worry about what the future would bring until it was their time for them to jump into things. They decided not to contact any party for they were neutrals in the game until fate brought them to the board. Since Voldemort was gone and peace was reigning, they decided to leave things to happen at their own pace. May be, Harry Potter would find his destiny without their help.
November 1981, Hogwarts
Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office in his rather large armchair, his finger-tips touching, looking over his half-moon spectacles at the young man sitting on the other side of the desk. The man who sat before him wept as his shoulders shook. He had turned traitor to Voldemort so Dumbledore could save the Potters from the Dark Lord. Dumbledore had done everything in his power but things will always happen as they are meant to be.
Severus Snape had made some bad decisions in his life and Dumbledore knew he would be haunted by the consequences. He also knew that one day he would need Snape to protect Harry Potter because Tom Riddle was not finished and will return one day. What they could do before that was to train Harry Potter and make him the best wizard he could be.
Severus raised his head and said in a hoarse whisper, "What will become of the Potter child, Dumbledore? The Dark Lord will return and he will be in mortal peril. How will we keep him safe?"
"Severus, we have hidden him in the muggle world, with his aunt behind the blood wards. He will be safe there as long as he can call it home or until he comes of age. I hope that Mr. Potter will find love there and have a happy life.", Dumbledore replied. "They are his only living relatives. It is the best that we can do."
1991, Hogwarts
Ron Weasley was Harry's best and first friend. Who would have believed that before he came to Hogwarts, the famous Harry Potter had no idea who he was to the wizarding world and that his cousin, Dudley had seen to it that nobody would be Harry's friend. Ever since that day on the train, when people realized who Harry was, there were gawkers, groupies and, believe it or not, people who wished Harry harm. Ron kept them all away. Of course, there was Hermione Granger. She was buck-toothed, bushy-haired, bossy and annoying. But, being muggle born, she was no groupie and being the smartest person in their year, she was also handy with the homework, so Ron didn't drive her away.
With a careful combination of manoeuvres and tactless remarks, Ron managed to keep most of the groupies and gawkers away. Even Neville Longbottom with his story about being Harry's god-brother could not get close to him because Harry was happy being friends with only the two of them and did not even try to extend a hand of friendship towards others. Thankfully Neville took the hint and did not press the matter. The five boys in the Gryffindor dorm may be room-mates, but only Ron really basked in the reflected glory that came from being Harry's bestie.
February 1994
"Madam Bones, there is something that needs to be brought to your attention", said the Goblin account manager of the House of Bones.
"What is it?", asked Amelia. She and Susan were visiting the Bones account manager at Gringotts. It was Susan's birthday and having reached 14 years of age, she had been summoned to the bank by the Goblins to discuss some issues with her.
"Lord Edward Bones, when he was alive, entered into a marriage contract on behalf of his daughter, Susan Amelia Bones. The contract was made with James Charlus Potter who signed the contract on behalf of his son, Harry James Potter. One of the conditions of the contract stipulate that if, for some reason, the parties of the contract do not know about the contract then they shall be informed about the same by their account managers."
"Why was I not informed about this earlier?"
"The original copy of the contract with us expressly stated that we were to inform the parties only if they had no prior knowledge of the contract. From what I understand, the office of the attorneys they used for writing the contract was burned down during the war and their copies may have perished in the fire. You are being informed now because the contract will have to be executed when Harry Potter turns 18. As you can see, there isn't much time to introduce them to each other if you want them to be happy in life"
"Has Harry Potter been informed?"
"I am not the manager of the House of Potter", he said, "But I believe he will be informed about the same by his account manager when it is time for him. There have been a few problems on that front because the last Potter Manager has been dead for years now. There is no one left to perform this duty."
That evening, Susan confronted her aunt, "What do you suggest we should do, Auntie?"
"There is nothing to be done, Susie. The contract is ironclad and no loophole was left in it for you or him. It may seem like a burden but we can't do anything to change it. You can only try to make it work in your favour so things would end up nicely between you and him."
"I don't even know him properly", Susan said, "What do I tell him?"
"I think you should try to become his friend first. After you have been friends with him for a while, break it to him gently if he doesn't know about it. It would come as a shock to him but there is no other way. I remember I have heard you talk about him before. Do you like him?"
The blush on Susan's face was enough to answer her questions.
Susan tried to get close to him in the following term of school and the next year but she was snubbed by Ronald Weasley at first and then her house started hating him for cheating them out of their one chance at glory. She fought with her classmates about it, often to the extent that others feared she would hex them. The reason for her behaviour was not apparent to anyone except Hannah Abbott who was her best friend since they were children. Hannah's mother had practically raised her as her second daughter following the death of Edgar and Ellie Bones.
November, 1994
Harsh Vardhan bowed before the ancient wizard who looked too old to be alive, "You had sent for me, master?"
"Yes, I did", said the old wizard, "yesterday I was gazing in the stream of time and I saw something strange which merits our attention."
"What is it, master?"
"I was looking in the future and I saw two realities, a fractured future if you will."
"I am too old to ask this but is it even possible?"
"As you know, I take a special interest in the life of Harry Potter ever since we faced that abomination. From what the future was at that time, I knew that we could not interrupt and were not to be bothered by it in the least. But recently something had changed and I saw two futures. In one future, we do not intervene and Harry Potter will face harrowing trials in his quest to defeat Voldemort where he will eventually become powerful enough to defeat him but before he gets there, everyone he loves will die. The boy will remain standing alone without any love or warmth and it is entirely possible that he would stumble on the path of the abomination. The other path is that we intervene in his life, take him under our protection, teach the things that are needed to be taught and he will emerge as a favourite son of mother magic."
"But would it be wise, master?"
"I am not the one who has to answer this. You are our leader and it is your decision to make. All the mystics, including me, will follow your lead."
"I will go to Hogwarts, meet the boy and see if he is truly a favoured child of mother magic. I don't want another Abbadon to emerge."
January 1995, Hogwarts
Dumbledore was sitting in his office behind his desk, immersed in paper-work, looking for the funds to keep the school running. The board of governors shouldered the burden with ministry funding but that had dwindled in the former years. There had been a sharp decline in all funding from the ministry which had him worried so he had tried to find his own ways to increase the funding. Being the headmaster of Hogwarts, he just couldn't go ask donations from people but there must be something that he could do.
As he thought on and on, he felt the wards flare telling him of an unauthorised apparition in the castle. But as young Miss Granger so often reminded her friends, it was not possible to apparate anywhere in the school grounds. The wards do not allow any apparition anywhere on the grounds of the school to prevent unauthorised access to the school. This had also helped prevent a lot of attacks on the school directly by Voldemort's forces in the war because the war wards which he had raised were able to deter any enemy from trying their luck at besieging Hogwarts.
If the person had just walked into the school like anyone else, the wards wouldn't even have registered the event. Whoever did this was doing this to make a statement about their style and power. Another curious thing had been that the anti-apparition wards which prevented anyone from directly appearing on the grounds had not been broken. In fact, the intruder hadn't even touched them but simply bypassed them as if they were no concern to him. They cared not that Dumbledore knew they were coming. Albus drew the elder wand and with a quick tap the Head Master's Map, similar to the Marauder's Map but a bit more sophisticated, showed that the intruder was in front of the gargoyle guarding the entry to the moving spiral stairs to his office and giving the correct password.
The special thing about the Marauder's map and the Headmaster's map was that it showed everyone's position in the castle along with their names on the parchment. However, to Dumbledore's astonishment, the bubble which should have shown the name of the intruder was vacant, as if the person didn't even exist. This was promising to be an interesting situation for Dumbledore.
Albus was getting tired of paper-work anyway. Friend or foe, this visitor was a welcome diversion. As the gargoyle admitted the visitor, Albus flicked his wand and cleared away the paperwork and the map. While the moving spiral stairs sprang into motion, another flick of the wand conjured one of Albus's favourite poufy chintz chairs. While the stairs carried the visitor upward, a more complicated flourish of the wand conjured two tumblers and a bottle of Madam Rosmerta's finest, oak matured mead. Then for a finishing touch, one more wave of the wand opened the office door just as the visitor raised his hand to use the knocker.
The man was a complete stranger to Dumbledore but magical power, strength and vitality vibrated from every inch of his six foot frame. He was deeply tanned with dark brown eyes and his black hair in a braid that went right down his back. He held a rather unusual looking wand out with his well muscled right arm. The man cleared the threshold in one step while giving a curious look to the office and taking it all in within the blink of an eye. He looked the part of a canine, alert and ready to pounce at the smallest hint of trouble.
It was not lost on Dumbledore that even with the elder wand, this man may be more than his match. The man watched the elder wand in Dumbledore's hand that was pointing at him but that did not bother him in the slightest. It was as if he was not afraid of anything or anyone. This thought offended Dumbledore a little.
Dumbledore reflected that he had only encountered such power three times in his entire 130 years. One was his old friend Gellert Grindelwald. Another was Tom Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort. And the third being this stranger. But, try as he might, Albus was sure that he had never met nor heard of this man before. A closer inspection of the stranger's wand showed that it was both thicker and longer than most. It was made of a wood not familiar to Albus and covered with runes in a language that was not one of the seven taught at Hogwarts. The man made his way to the freshly conjured chair and sitting, made himself comfortable.
Albus decided that confronting the man and fighting him at once would not be a wise course of action and that may be he could talk it out with the man first to find out about his intentions before he decided if the stranger was a threat or not.
"May I offer you some of Madam Rosmerta's finest?", asked Dumbledore as he began to pour.
"I will decline, hopefully without offense, young Albus.", the stranger purred, in a deep melodic voice, as he produced a flask from within his robes and took a swig from it.
"You have the advantage of me sir.", said Albus, "You know me very intimately yet I am sure I have never met you before. Who are you? And how did you come to be here anyway?"
"Trouble not yourself with such trifles, young holder of The Elder Wand. I have come for a purpose which will be beneficial to everyone at the end. My actions do not have any malice but the greater good at heart. As to how I could enter this place, I may enter and leave Nurmengard at will. And this," he said gesturing to the grounds and castle, "this is only a school. The wards which surround this place are ancient, strong and formidable but they weren't made to stop people like me."
Well, thought Albus, if this man could waltz in and out of the most heavily guarded place on earth, certainly Hogwarts did not present much of a challenge.
Albus was also taken aback by the stranger's presumptuous manners and his identification of the Elder wand. There were very few who even believed in its existence and a small handful that could identify it on sight, the only two in all of Britain being Garrick Ollivander and himself. For most of the world, the elder wand was nothing more than a fable, a bedside tale to be taught to their children but for those who knew, it was a weapon of mass destruction. The history of the wand was filled with blood and carnage through all its existence.
Dumbledore said in his most carefree tone "So, you know this wand and yet you behave as it if were any other wand." Then, Dumbledore thinking that he may gain some clue to this stranger's identity inquired, "May I enquire, the composition of your own wand?"
"This, my boy,", the stranger said gesturing to his own wand, "has a core of Ganda Berunda feather and is carved from the seasoned wood of the sacred Amaltas. It is 15 inches in length and the runes are in Brahmi script. It serves me well."
Wands like that, Dumbledore thought, are not common and, certainly are not made in Britain. Perhaps a test of this man's skill and intention is in order.
Albus had been an accomplished duellist in his days of yore and prided himself on the fact that he was the fastest wand in the world at the time. Recalling those days, quick as a lightning strike but subtler than the faintest twitch, Dumbledore tried a disarming spell while the visitor appeared to be distracted, focused on his own wand.
Dumbledore was confident that the stranger was about to lose his wand but shattering his expectation, the stranger casually batted the spell aside leaving Albus flustered.
"Albus, this is old trick. I never fell for it. Now, be a good boy and behave.", he cooed.
June 1995, Little Hangleton Graveyard
The third task of the tournament had proved to be a disaster for Harry Potter. In fact, the entire tournament was a disaster for him. He had been dreading something untoward happening since the tournament started and now his fears had come true.
He had faced so many monsters in the maze, got injured, bitten and was bleeding from the fresh wound in his arm and the spider venom in the wound on his leg was working its way through his system when he and Cedric Diggory had taken the cup together. It turned out that the cup was a portkey which carried him and Cedric to the graveyard.
They hardly had time to get their bearings before Wormtail murdered Cedric right in front of Harry's eyes, simply for being there. Then used Harry's blood to bring Voldemort back to life. When the death eaters had assembled, the resurrected Voldemort had ordered Wormtail to return Harry's wand to him and they duelled. Things did not all go the dark lord's way however, Harry resisted the imperious curse, then he darted through a gap in the circle to hide in the darkness between the tombstones.
With all that he had endured and the prospect of being with his own loving mother and father again, Harry thought that maybe dying would not be so bad.
Harry had time to think about how he had suffered at the hands of the Dursleys. Even a house elf would have been appalled with such treatment. Dumbledore had left him there for ten years without even bothering to check on him. He thought about how his best friend, Ron had turned against him when he thought that Harry had put his own name in for the Tri-Wizard tournament without bothering to tell Ron how he did it. He felt ashamed that he had not bothered to contact Remus during his fourth year at Hogwarts. Leaving all the pain and suffering and shame behind would be a relief.
"Come out, Harry Potter", Voldemort taunted him as Harry hid behind a tombstone collecting his thoughts.
"You are insulting the memory of your parents, Harry", Voldemort taunted him again, "They died bravely to save you from me. Are you not their child? Death will find you, Harry. You will die … by my hand."
Harry's blood boiled and he was about to step out and face him head on. If death was certain then he was going to die bravely. Dying would, in fact, be more welcome than living with the Dursleys who never loved him. He had no family left except his god-father, Sirius Black. Sirius had been absent for most of his life due to being incarcerated in Azkaban but he loved Harry so much that he broke out of Azkaban to protect his godson. He had risked everything to come to the aid of his god-son, had endured 12 years in Azkaban for a crime he did not commit, had become a fugitive and lived in caves feeding on rats to be there when Harry needed him.
His thoughts also wandered to best friends, Ron and Hermione who they had been there for him through all those unbelievable adventures and how lost and devastated they would be without him. He felt a feeling of shame thinking how his own mother and father had died that he might live. Thinking of dying to take the easy route out was a coward's way and he won't shame the sacrifice of his parents.
He mentally screamed, 'No! I will not die here! Not today. I will die only after having killed Voldemort.'
Harry stepped out and faced Voldemort who said tauntingly, "The hero comes out to face me? So be it, Harry Potter! Avada Kedavra".
In the same instant, Harry brought his wand to bear and incanted, "Expelliarmus."
It seemed a laughable thing to have cast the disarming charm against the killing curse and a few death eaters did laugh at him but the laughter ended abruptly when they saw the two spells collide. Threads of golden light emerged from the point where the spells collided and formed a dome around the two combatants, raising them a few inches off the ground. A battle of wills ensued and at first Voldemort was winning, sending the knot towards Harry's wand which was vibrating but the power of the twin cores and Harry's own unsullied soul forced Voldemort's wand to give up the shades of his more recent murder victims.
Shadows started to crawl out of Voldemort's wand. Shades of people that Harry knew had died. First it was Cedric Diggory, then an old man carrying a walking stick, followed by a woman which took Harry's breath away when he realised it was his mother. At last came his father, James Potter who looked so much like Harry that it hurt. The shades asked him to end the connection and make a run for it. The cup would work as a portkey and take him back to Hogwarts.
With a deliberate effort of will, Harry lifted his wand with both hands. Once the contact of the wands was broken, the shades distracted Voldemort so that Harry could escape. The last request that Cedric's shade made was for Harry to take his body back to his parents. A request that Harry felt honour-bound to carry out. In the darkness and the confusion, Harry took his best guess as to where Cedric's body and the Tri-Wizard cup lay and ran for it.
As he dodged curses and hexes, weaving his way through the grave markers, a stray killing curse blasted his wand to dust. The destruction of his wand felt like losing his right arm. The holly and phoenix feather had protected him and been a part of him. He felt his heart break with the loss.
As he dodged yet another crimson curse, he bowled over a short, pudgy death eater who yelped as they hit the ground in a tangle of limbs and robes. Harry recognized the traitor Wormtail and interrupted the "Incar..."*Ghack!", by kneeing Wormtail hard in the groin and claiming the wand as it fell from the silver hand. In the moment that it took Voldemort and his death eaters to realize where Harry had gone and re-aim their wands, with a strong possibility of hitting Wormtail, Harry did not hesitate nor did he even consider trying to get to his feet. In one swift motion he used the pilfered wand to stun Wormtail, summoned Cedric's body and summoned the Triwizard Cup, "Stupefy! Accio! Accio!". In the very same moment that the cup touched Harry's outstretched hand and he began to feel the familiar tug behind his navel, there was a rushing roar accompanied by the flash of green light and Harry knew no more.
Hogwarts
Sirius, in his dog form, was in the vegetable patch in Hagrid's garden waiting for the third task to complete. Once this wretched tournament was over, he would be relieved and could go to faraway places and recuperate. The entire tournament was too taxing on his nerves and the constant worry about the safety of his godson gnawed at him. It had been almost an hour since the task started when he fancied something had gone wrong. The people gathered in the stands were starting to fret and Sirius felt uneasy sitting in the vegetable patch. Cautiously he started walking towards the stadium where the maze had been raised. Softly he padded up to the stands where Ron and Hermione were sitting. The duo understood why he had come into the stadium risking everything.
Ron saw him coming and scratched behind his ears, whispering, "Krum and Fleur Delacour were sent out of the maze about an hour ago. They are saying that Krum was Imperiused. Harry and Cedric haven't returned yet but some people are saying that the cup was lifted. Dumbledore and some others are trying to find out what happened."
As Ron talked, three bodies and the cup landed with a heavy thud and a clatter in front of the judge's podium. The band began to play an anthem and the crowd went wild as they supposed that the winner of the Tri-Wizard tournament had emerged from the maze. The euphoria was even more palpable because the audience knew that Hogwarts had won the Triwizard tournament. Both of their champions had seized it for them. They had won eternal glory. There was a brilliant display of fireworks in the sky and the band played louder. It was promising to be the party of a lifetime for everyone present. The crowd waited for the winners to stand and accept their congratulations.
But the band stumbled to a halt as the cheers turned to screams of shock and dismay when they realized that none of the bodies were moving. Now that they thought about it, there shouldn't have been three bodies which returned but two. And the third didn't even look like a student.
Two of the people lying in the field were Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory, but who was this third one, the short pudgy one with the silver hand? None of the students except two in the crowd knew him. A few people, mostly teachers, who recognised him at that distance, were shocked. "Peter Pettigrew was supposed to have died over 13 years ago at the hands of Sirius Black! How could he be alive after 13 years?"
Minister Fudge who was present tonight as the chief guest was also perplexed. This part of the tournament was new to him. Memories of last year came to his mind when Harry Potter and two of his friends had claimed that Peter Pettigrew was alive. He turned pale as a ghost thinking about the implications and stood rooted in his spot while Albus Dumbledore ran to the aid of the fallen champions with Madam Pomfrey following after him.
Padfoot recognized Wormtail and realised that something terrible had happened. For a moment, he even thought that his godson was killed by the rat. Blood rushed into his head and he charged over to tear Peter limb-from-limb. He didn't care about the consequences at that moment because he wanted to punish the rat for his betrayal and the murder of his godson. But before Padfoot could reach him, Alastor Moody who was standing near the three fallen men fired a dark cutting curse at the onrushing dog. The dog did not swerve out of the way and the curse surely would have ended his life but for another yellow coloured hex which was followed with a bludgeoning hex at Alastor knocking him out and finishing with the body-bind curse at the hands of the trainee healer.
Fudge, his face purple, finally found his voice and bellowed, "Albus, what is happening? Who is this man? Is this some kind of sick joke? I will not tolerate such shenanigans."
"This is no joke Cornelius, we will know more in a minute. For now, I believe we need to interrogate this man who lies before us on the ground before the dog can kill him", saying this, Dumbledore raised his wand and stunned the dog. Then he bound Wormtail with an anti animagus jinx and beckoned Severus to watch him.
Severus Snape had been feeling a persistent itching on his arm for the last hour. It was not normal because he felt the itch right over where the dark mark used to be. He could feel the magic flowing from that mark again. As he walked towards Pettigrew, thinking about what may have happened, his eyes fell on the dark magic masquerading as a hand attached to Wormtail's wrist and he recognized it for what it was. "Albus," he whispered, " I recognize this magic. It is his magic. The Dark Lord is back."
Albus meanwhile approached the new healer trainee who was standing menacingly over the stunned and bound Moody. Dumbledore wanted to know why the trainee healer had attacked a teacher for no reason. Whatever the man was in reality or whatever were his reasons for being in the school, it didn't give him the right to attack a teacher.
Albus opened his mouth to ask the questions in his mind when it happened. In front of his eyes, Moody began to transform. The grizzled grey mane smoothed and darkened to a full head of sandy hair. The scars on his face and body vanished, his half nose being replaced by a complete nose. His Claw-foot wooden leg fell off with a deep thud because a leg of flesh and bone replaced it. The magical eye which had been a part of Alastor's life for 15 years popped out and a natural one replaced it as the polyjuice potion finally wore off. In the place of Alastor (Mad Eye) Moody was a much younger man with aristocratic features. Dumbledore recognized him as Barty Crouch Junior, a man who was supposed to have died in Azkaban over 12 years ago. Seeing the dead man alive before him, he realised that he had to think fast to secure him because he knew that Fudge would act stupidly and destroy the only evidence of what happened tonight. Luckily, Fudge was still blustering over how Peter Pettigrew could be alive and that the man before them was posing as Peter. He needed someone with authority who could act swiftly and salvage the situation before it was ruined. Without even raising his wand, he raised a notice-me not ward around the unconscious death eater and looked into the crowd to find a friendly face. To his delight he noticed Amelia Bones, the head of the DMLE in the crowd, who was rushing towards them, anger etched in every line of her body and a scowl on her face. To top it, she was surrounded by a contingent of Aurors which included Senior Auror Robards, Proudfoot, Savage and the hit-witch Emmeline Vance.
As he waited for the head of the DMLE, he cast a look towards Madam Pomfrey who had already determined there was nothing that could be done for Cedric and was taking comatose Harry Potter to the infirmary on a stretcher which was following her. He noticed the Diggorys who were crying over the body of young Cedric, clutching him. The teachers were herding the students away from the stadium telling them to return to their dorms.
The scene tore at Albus's heart. Things were beginning, just like the last war. And perhaps Voldemort had risen again, but he needed proof. And the only reliable witness was on his way to the infirmary and in a coma. Here were two less reliable witnesses, only stunned, but they would require some persuasion before they would divulge anything useful.
By this time, Amelia had reached him. Her Aurors surrounded both of them so no one would interrupt them. Without preamble, Amelia launched into her interrogation, "Albus, what is happening? Is that man Peter Pettigrew? How is it that Peter Pettigrew is alive? And what happened to Mr. Potter and Mr. Diggory? I demand an explana...'
Her words caught in her throat when Albus dropped the charm long enough for her to see the impostor Moody. Without meaning to, she exclaimed, "Barty Crouch Junior! But Albus, he was supposed to have died in Azkaban. How can he be alive?"
Dumbledore hurriedly whispered to her, "Amelia, I cannot explain everything right now. Just keep Cornelius from finding out about Barty Crouch Junior. He is essential for us to answer the questions which you have. And take Peter Pettigrew into your custody before our minister gets him killed. I fear that in his idiocy he may perpetrate our doom."
Nodding her head reluctantly, she barked orders to Robards and Kingsley to disillusion Barty Crouch Junior and move him to one of the safe houses. As the Aurors secured him and left with him for the safe house, she proceeded to take Pettigrew into her custody.
She hadn't noticed but the minister had already thought of a way to deal with the problem in his own way. He had summoned two dementors and was directing them to administer the kiss to Pettigrew. In a second she realised what was about to happen and growled at the minister, "Cornelius! What do you think you are doing? You cannot bring those infernal monsters in here!"
Fudge blustered, "Amelia, I remind you that while you are the head of the DMLE, I am the minister and I will have you sacked if you don't stand aside and let me deal with this my way! As the minister, it is my right to deal with this problem the way I see fit."
Fudge, the idiot, thought Amelia, if he wants to throw his weight around, it is time that I reminded him of the law and what the name of Bones really means.
With a casual flick, her patronus erupted from her wand and drove off the dementors. Then, commanding Fudge's attention with a rock-hard glare, she began in a calm and measured tone, "Mr. Cornelius Fudge, this is an ongoing investigation. I do not need to remind you that while you are the minister and the top authority in the bureaucracy of the ministry of magic, even you don't have the power to interfere with an ongoing investigation. Trying to do so will result in severe repercussions for you since the Wizengamot will not take kindly to your unreasonable interference. Law and enforcement is my department. Minister or not, if you attempt to interfere again, I will arrest you for obstruction. And, if you threaten me again, then as regent of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Bones, I will call an emergency session of the Wizengamot and present a non-confidence motion against you. I don't need to tell you that the houses don't take kindly to any interference or subversion of their authority and laws by a man like you. You will be out of office before you can say, 'Non-confidence motion.'"
Fudge could say nothing but only gasp in shock at her.
A/N- Here is the first chapter of the reworked version of the Tribe of Mystics. I know a lot has changed but these changes were necessary to correct the tone of the story as it develops in the later chapters.