An Ill-Wind
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A/N: Thanks to my wonderful Beta, LtsHrIt4ThBoyz. Alix33, your help is always welcomed and appreciated.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by JKRowling. We own nothing but our castles in the sand. There are several nods to other fanfic authors in our stories as well 'borrowing' ideas. But we never, ever, ever copy another work in its entirety to claim as our own. We appreciate and honor your efforts!
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Welcome to the Fireside.
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Last time:
Alastor was sitting in an armchair, wrapped in a warm tartan blanket and had tea at his elbow. Well, it better be tea at his elbow.
"(Frank Longbottom)'s suffered several bouts of cruciatus curse, Head Auror Bones. I will check with his healer in the morning but just a bit ago, he was saying a week in bed. You're welcome to come, or you can send your younger brother, but I really don't want the entire DMLE on the wards."
"Understood. Please have Black update me at ten-hundred. Bones out."
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Chapter Five - Loss & Treachery
By the next morning, after a family breakfast where all were rather quiet, Frank insisted on going to Gringotts and had an appointment with a ritual room there. He needed to break the death wards and allow the aurors in. Amelia was sent a message that had the estimated time of the ritual ending so she could have her people in place at Cherry Hill.
Then Healer Greengrass would be escorting the new Lord Longbottom to his bed and he would be available in two weeks since he was being so reckless with his health!
But that wasn't the only correspondence going around. Dorea had sent a note to James about what happened and was so disappointed with him when he didn't show up to help escort his godmother, Augusta, to the bank. He didn't even send a note of any kind but Jam insisted that 'Master James had read it'.
The Longbottoms were immediately offered shelter there at Potter Hall, of course, but Augusta wanted the Longbottom clan to accept Arcturus' invite that came in on the wing that morning. She was already in mourning garb. Wasn't that Euphemia's old dress? Most likely. But where did Augusta get that hat?!
The Potter attics really was a historical museum going back and most items were safely in stasis. Dumbledore's 'new cloak' was an exception.
Why the Victorians had to have lots of colorful feathers was one thing but whole birds? In this case, a vulture? None of the other ladies liked it. They didn't understand it was a message.
After a quick health check before leaving, Marius couldn't believe Frank's progress. The new potions were quite efficacious and Healer Greengrass would be writing a paper for the Potions' Guild after he got back, with the creator's help if Snape allowed.
Frank asked Alice to stay with the Potters for the moment. Lily and she shared a look.
Both witches knew that safety was just an illusion that was only as good as the wards but both also knew that Charlus and Alastor would be looking at what happened at Cherry Hill to prevent their own breach here.
Arcturus showed up with some brutal looking bodyguards to escort Frank and Augusta to the bank. Sirius was already planning on offering to help but Marius went with them: Not to offer his wand in a fight, but to be there for his patient.
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Amelia's team was ready to act as soon as the death ward was dispersed during the ritual at Gringotts. Their goal was to find any other clues to who had attacked the previous night.
They also located and escorted Lord Longbottom's body to be prepared for burial, after scans captured the magical signatures present.
House-elves popped in to clean and repair the damage done to the manor, once the place was cleared by Head Auror Bones. While at the bank, unwilling to use the same Death wards again, Frank arranged to pay for hostile intent wards to be added to the home.
The results might be similar but no blood sacrifice on the part of the defenders were necessary.
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Alice, spending a quiet morning watching Neville and Harry play in the large nursery there, was quietly surprised to see her husband back so quickly.
He knelt down and took her hand, putting the Matron's ring of the House on her finger.
"But yer mother…" Alice started to say.
"Will be Dowager Lady Longbottom. I've set her as Regent of the House for the voting seat in the 'Mot. I'm…I'm so disappointed with James. I want to change Neville's godfather. We should have chosen your cousin Ian. Yes, he's younger but he's a seventh year and determined to be an auror."
"But Lily's still our baby's godmother. Where is James? Did he come and help?"
Frank shook his head. James hadn't answered his mirror or anything. He wasn't here when they needed him. He wasn't there last night when Potter was one of a few on the wards who wasn't there fighting last night. What a mistake!
Alice tilted her head, "There's always Marius. We saw what a gentleman he was when courting Lily. And he cured you."
Frank wanted a nap and yawned, "Actually, that was Severus. I'll talk to him, unless you object."
Alice nodded at first, as she too had made friends with the man. Then she winced, thinking that James would not react well to being replaced by Severus. But honestly! If he kept this up, it wasn't just his godfather's duties he'd lose to the brilliant potioneer.
She got up to put her husband to bed and tuck him but Marius had tracked Frank down and looked ready to use rope if needed to keep Frank in said bed the rest of the day.
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Once done with everything, Charlus asked Sirius to stop by the cottage to check on James before heading back to work. Padfoot hadn't flown in a while so used his motorcycle.
He parked down the way at Madam Bagshot's place. She didn't mind. Because he had the secret, Sirius could see into the cottage just fine. James was at the table with Dumbledore, looking over papers. He knocked at the door.
Albus opened the door from his seat, "Sirius, my boy! Come in! Come in! Terrible happenings last night. James is helping me with the wording of some new laws to try and prevent such a tragedy from happening again."
"That's great, but I don't know how. I mean, isn't it already illegal to try and sneak into wards to kill people?" Then he turned to his brother, "James, the family is missing you right now. Augusta is still in shock…"
James interrupted rudely, "Well, I would be if I were her, too. Her husband killed at least three people last night! I don't know what to say to her. I'd want to take a shower or something if it were me. What am I supposed to say? Albus and I are going to present a law making such wards illegal!"
Sirius shook his head like he was in his animagus form in the rain, and stood facing the men. He slapped the table with his bare hands. James, on his left, couldn't be serious, "Wait, what? Barty Junior, Frank's cousin, bursts into the house, throwing AK's around like a parade tossing candy, nearly killing your godson and his mother, and you're angry at Gerard? Please tell me I misunderstood."
Dumbledore picked up a garishly colored cup and sipped tea. Lily had packed away the borrowed china, she'd said. James' taste in plates left much to be desired. Or was this more Albus' style?
"Don't loom, Sirius, it's rude my boy. Pour yourself some tea, sit down, and help us if you like but if you're busy, go on about your day."
Sirius shook his head, ignoring the hot air from his right, "Harry was very upset last night and could have used you, James. Neville too. When are you coming home?"
James didn't look up, "I am home. Don't you need to join your goon squad or something?"
Sirius did a series of three spells, then accio'd Harry's missing black puppers (the stuffie had been lost behind the couch).
Albus had watched the magic with a curious look in his eye. James wasn't under the imperius; he wasn't potioned. He wasn't under any curse that Sirius could detect, except for the known hair curse. He was wearing a new ring that had a phoenix on it but could detect no strong magic - maybe a sizing charm and that was it.
Was there a way to dispel berk? If so, those two both needed it. Sirius took his leave as politely as he could manage. He started growling on the way to his motorcycle, using the sticking charm on the Padfoot plushie in front of him.
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Arcturus, when hearing of Gerard's murder was immensely sad for the loss. The Longbottom family was made welcome at Blackmoor. Charlus had offered to keep them there but with being members of House Black, the wards would help protect them all. With the ability to move Alice's greenhouses, she had no objection. Cherry Hill's further farmlands were worked by the villagers but Silvanus, their manager, had watched over that for years. The family was more than happy to avoid the place where kin had killed kin. Poor Gerard, tortured to death, and in that death had saved his family and partially attained a bit of hard justice. But he wasn't the one who had not betrayed his family.
Lord Black was not just sad but furious for how Frank was being treated in the aftermath of the attack. And doubly livid over Dumbledore's and James' newest legislation attempts. He had no reason to doubt Sirius' report; Arcturus watched from a distance, keeping his own counsel for now.
Did Dumbledore snub people like the new Lord Longbottom on purpose or was he just mentally deficient? He basically said that Frank lied about the night Gerard was killed since all of the attackers were former Slytherins. When pointing out that Barty Junior had been a Hufflepuff, Albus just sneered and used that to prove Frank was biased. And wrong.
That Junior's mother, already very sick and in hospice care, passed away when finding out her son was not coming home ever again; this was also blamed now not just on Gerard but on Frank and Alastor (who wasn't even there!).
Alastor had been recuperating at Potter Hall at the time and had been seen in a wheelchair in the Ministry speaking to Barty Senior about it all.
Frank did more than just quit the Order; he stopped his monthly donation to the cause and sent the other members the reason why. Albus hadn't reacted to that yet but Frank wouldn't be surprised if he threw a tantrum about it.
Blackmoor Manor was a huge old estate and had more than enough space for the Longbottoms without causing the current guests one bit of bother.
The only thing they were asked to do was to keep Marius' and Severus' magical status a secret. No problem there; Alice wasn't working so would be visiting Potter Hall from time to time but otherwise trying to make herself useful inside the powerful war wards here.
Severus was very touched to find out that none of them knew or would have cared if he had been squibbed: they had still asked him to step up to be Neville's new godfather.
And Frank felt a debt of honor was owed to Healer Greengrass and Potions Master Snape. He'd had been tortured; having the cruciatus cast at him more times than he'd admitted and without this prompt medical care and Severus' creation, might have spent the rest of his life in the long-term care ward of Saint Mungos.
Alice, wanting to make sure that her stay at Blackmoor was beneficial to House Black, started on a list of finicky plants that Lord Greengrass requested. A high percentage of each sickle would go to the household account here.
The Potters secretly paid for more legal help through their clever barrister and while the Lestranges brothers and two others, yet unnamed, remained free, Frank was too.
And Frank was allowed to keep his death wards even though he'd already gotten better ones arranged for at Gringotts. The proposal Dumbledore was bringing was rejected, just barely, but enough people realized they had to have the ability to defend themselves and their homes.
None of them could believe that James had fallen so far under Dumbledore's influence, that he was ignoring family duties and responsibilities.
The other attackers would be revealed; Death Eater masks were unique and the new ones were shared via photographs. The magical signatures of all were recorded. Three were facing a higher justice than Augusta could call for. One day, the rest would too.
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Charlus' response to Albus' attempt at theft might have been delayed but it wasn't forgotten in the least.
'To Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress,
'Greetings and fondest best wishes to you.
'I have a favor to ask. It has come to my attention that Albus Dumbledore has been trying to collect my Family artifacts; in the past, he's asked to copy spells from our Grimoire, trying to claim kinship. I refused, not just because of facts; as I know of no common ancestors in the past several generations.
'Albus is far too interested in me for reasons I won't explain here. I have them written down in case of my sudden death though. And yes, you will get a copy.
'He has more recently tried to encourage my son to use Family Magic to compel Lily to act in a manner contrary to her vows to the House. She could have lost her magic!
'I'm asking you to please keep a lookout for odd behavior from the Headmaster as it appears that he has been cursed. I would offer to be the patron for a cleanse but he has told me that he thinks all rituals are evil.
'When I find evidence of theft, I will be pressing charges. I wanted to let you know I would support you for the new Headmistress if that was your goal, or to any other position in the school.
'You have repeatedly reached out to me to ask for my help with James when at school and I did a terrible, terrible, job with that boy. The more he slipped from us, the worse we acted - or failed to act. For that, I am more than sorry; I am ashamed.
'I ask you now to help me save my Family as surely as I breathe, there are forces around us trying to divide us; bring us down. The House of Potter. Forever gone.
'If the worst comes, I have set up a secret vault for you as Matron of our House. You will be our last hope; you are Harry's second godmother. If only I had asked for that position for James, this might not be the same mess.
'Charlus, Lord Potter.'
Charlus included a synopsis of what happened about the cloak attempted theft.
During the war against Grindelwald, Minerva's beloved Jamie McGonagall, a husband of only a few months and one of Lord Potter's soldiers, had been killed. Charlus then had adopted her into the House, making sure she knew she had a place forever. Dorea wanted her to be godmother to James but the honor went to Augusta, who doted on him and spoiled him more than the parents had.
Minerva had a dowager house at Potter Hall and would use it occasionally for a retreat.
The Deputy Headmistress was surprised at herself. She wasn't shocked at this villainy! Albus had an unnatural obsession with the Potters since James first came to school and seemed intent to make James his! As in try and get his loyalty and love.
Albus had gone so far as to imply James was his godson but Minerva had only recently found out that wasn't true at all! Hadn't she known that Alastor was? She was only eighty-seven - she wasn't that old to be forgettin' things!
She knew for certain that James would do anything Albus asked, up to sacrificing his life for him. A few family valuables as 'tribute' would mean nothing to the boy. Nothing at all.
She reread the letter and put it in a warded drawer. Most certainly she'd be keeping an eye on the headmaster. He didn't seem well and seemed to be getting more and more…dangerous was the only word she could think of.
She'd have a little private dinner with Filius and Pomona. Sluggy was too much a James fan to include. Minerva would share her concerns with her best friends within the castle and ask what her colleagues thought.
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Jam delivered a message to their recovering Master Auror. He was not happy. There was no way this came from Dung. Or Lily. She wasn't ever oot and aboot!
Alastor confronted Sirius about just how this information was being collected. Sirius had shared it was another perfectly trustworthy Order member. So the older wizard wanted to know why it wasn't being shared directly with Albus.
For certain, Master Auror Moody wasn't happy with the headmaster for treating those who fought and survived like criminals instead of saying, how about the criminals? But that was too much like consequences. The Chief Warlock had tried to get the Lestrange brothers' arrest warrant cancelled!
This time Peter's warning had been shared by Alastor with Head Auror Bones who didn't care about the source. She wanted to save lives! He also sent his faithful Bulldog patronus to Albus to give him the warning to share with the Order.
He also sent a message to Minerva as a heads-up and asked her to not mention anything to the headmaster but he'd just been informed. Alastor would touch back with her later to see what she observed with the headmaster's reactions.
Moody started to get ready to head out himself, when he suddenly found himself face to face with Dorea. Gulp. His medical instructions were in her hand and she was pointing to his comfy chair.
No fair! She'd put sleeping potion in the tea cup! It was an enchanted set to keep tea warm and clearly interfered with his detection charms. His wandless spells would reveal poisons and such. Even here, amongst the best of friends, he never stopped checking for attacks.
His magic didn't think of that draught as an attack…
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Heir Black arrived in the Alley to start his assigned patrol. Some of his cohort would soon join him. Hogsmeade was crawling with help. Here? Not so much.
Why couldn't all of the people who lived and worked in Diagon come up with a Black Watch type of unit? They were volunteers; they drilled to be ready to defend themselves! What did these Englanders do when Death Eaters showed up? Scream, run around like chickens, and wait for overworked, underpaid aurors to show up. Not much better paid than the volunteers and they didn't have Rosmerta feeding them cold butterbeer for free.
Which Sirius along with his assigned unit was doing.
And then the forewarned attack started. Disillusionments amongst the attackers were being set aside for safety reasons. Apparently, Moldy didn't like it when his people killed each other ignorantly.
That was his prerogative.
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Sirius crouched down behind a sturdy corner of the public library and started casting. Where was their backup?! Innocent people were cowering, too afraid to try to fight back. Or if they had gone to Hogwarts in the last thirty years, too ignorant to know what to do.
Heir Black even followed Albus' fighting guidelines. For a minute. Sirius felt a very dark spell glance off the shield charm he always had up in these situations. Twirling, he saw his deadly foes. Moody had trained them all in identifying 'known' Death Eaters.
The Lestrange brothers were clearly after revenge from anyone named Black and had targeted him just like they had with Moody. Hadn't they learned yet? Did they think the hit-wizards were going to just give up and go home? So what? They'd successfully taken out Master Auror Moody; who was supposedly still in the hospital recovering from the previous attack. It didn't mean the rest were cowed. Nor was said Master Auror.
To hear Alastor talk, it was just a wee 'owie'.
The Grim animagus wasn't alone, wasn't scared, and more than happy to put them down instead!
The blasting curse at short range put the younger Lestrange mostly through the brick wall. This left the oldest to mourn for just a moment. Rodolphus then sent another curse that was no tickling charm at his cousin-in-law. The diffindo severed the streetlamp, across the alley in twain! A killing curse was meant to be the final afters.
Heir Black dodged the diffindo and then the killing curse in a dance move that would have charmed Marius had he been there. He landed solidly and returned that curse with a spell-chain of his own device; a tickling charm that prevented most spell-casting, followed by a leg-locker.
The severing charm that divided his head from his shoulders stopped the senior Lestrange in his tracks. Nearly-Headless Nick would have been jealous. Of Rodolphus!
Sirius had successfully sent the Lestranges to wherever bad little minions went below. Well, at least they were together.
People were screaming, begging for help. Then Frank Longbottom came out of the apparition zone, already dodging and covering for Auror Proudfoot who joined him. Sirius nodded to him when Frank looked up from seeing Sirius' 'reproof' for them killing Lord Longbottom. Not to mention what damage they had done in the past for their dark doofus.
Sirius quickly formed ranks with the two aurors. They had practiced this before; Proudfoot shielding, the other two casting. Where was Dumbledore and the rest of the Order? Where was James for that matter?
BOOM! Something big had happened and bricks and more were blasted everywhere!
Then suddenly, there was a loud, eerie sound, and the dark mark hovered over the remains of the library. The new archivist, Serena Ryan, was a former head girl two years before, as brilliant as Lily, and came from the same sort of family. Sirius and she had just started dating before he entered the Academy. If she was working today, oh, no! He wanted to turn into his Grim form and look for her but was called back.
What a waste! What a waste! All those young people! The building was less than two hundred years old. All those books! He'd just been using that building for cover and now it looked like a bomb had hit it. No two bricks were left stacked, the roof was scattered across everything.
Was Serena alright? He couldn't gather enough happiness to send her a patronus. He'd have to look for her just as soon as he was cleared to leave.
Proudfoot as lead auror, tapped Sirius' shoulder, demanded his wand, and started the procedures for the after-action report. But Sirius just looked as burned pages fluttered in the light summer wind like too-large snowflakes.
Someone needed to stop this maniac, and stop him now.
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Frank took a moment to try and say something to Sirius. The new Lord Longbottom shook his head. Sirius patted his shoulders, unable to speak. The Lestranges had helped kill Gerard. Sirius put a stop to their madness. Three down initially, two more down now. Just a pair to go for that score. They'd be looking for those masks in the memories.
After that scare, Lord Black had taken the Longbottom family in but Frank wasn't going to step down as an auror until each attacker had been found, tried, and imprisoned.
Or dead. Dead worked just fine and he had a spot in Cherry Hill planned for these masks. Only two more and the ring around his father's picture would be complete.
And then Dumbledore finally showed up, acting as though he were Head Auror, asking for details of who did what. Proudfoot saw, and released the trainee with a vote of thanks and letting him know he did very well and to ignore pompous…people.
Sirius wanted to go shout in Dumbledore's face. Not only was he late, but he arrived without the Order!
Where had he been? Peter's timely warning had been shared with any willing to stand against the dark. No, Albus had just had to show up late for this like he did with Hogwarts staff meetings and Wizengamot tribunals.
Movement caught Sirius' eye and he adjusted to try and block the view of Frank by the lead auror.
Had Proudfoot seen that Frank sent both the Lestranges' real masks home and left copies behind? Was that his late father's wand in the son's hand? Clever way to hide spells from the wand check one didn't want to reveal; a second wand. Sirius, of course, saw nothing.
Auror Proudfoot then headed over to try and get the old wizard away; they no longer needed him there.
Sirius had to go first check in on Serena and indeed found her hurt but alive. If she hadn't been on her way to the bookstore when the attack happened, she could have been killed. They exchange a few hugs and a few innocent kisses. He'd been writing to her and she to him. Getting to know a witch was a unique experience. But now was not the time to start a snog session, not that she'd invited him to.
Happier than he'd been, Sirius headed to headquarters. He sent a brief note home saying he was fine, Serena would be fine, Frank was fine, and no loss of life for any of the LEOs. He then took a bath, had a snack and settled in for twelve sodden hours of sleep.
~~oOoOo~~
Barty Crouch, Senior could have lost his position if his son's death had been more public. But neither Potter nor the new Longbottom head pushed for family dirty laundry to be aired. Mother and son were laid to rest quietly but this didn't mean he intended for any of his son's 'friends' to get away with murder.
Especially when he had two teams ready to go for this latest attack! Someone had sabotaged Amelia's group. Her brother had been lost at sea for a time.
Only the safety feature of the homing portkey attached to his mirror made by Black had saved Edgar's life. Others in that group had other devices and they all wound up being found.
But they weren't where they were supposed to be when they were needed!
The mystery of the tampered portkeys had finally been solved. Unspeakable Augustus Rookwood had been tasked with this batch's portkey creation. Of course it was fobbed off as someone else interfering. But his coworker had gotten suspicious so tagged the ones that had been checked and verified as going to Diagon Alley.
Why were those perfectly good portkeys binned?
After a fair trial, Rookwood was given the choice of Azkaban or helping find a way to remove the dark mark.
He actually volunteered for being a guinea pig as he had failed his master and had no desire to be tortured through the mark, even with knowing he might be squibbed in any process developed by his coworkers.
He didn't know the Head Unspeakable had plans to use Rookwood should he survive such experiments with his magic. He was too good to let go to waste.
~~oOoOo~~
Peter hadn't meant to leave his mirror at his mother's house and was horrified to hear that he'd missed another raid. Was that today? He needed to not be so forgetful!
He worked steadily and got several days worth of meals prepped for her. He was actually a pretty good cook and knew how to cast the transfiguration for food multiplication well.
He would sometimes stop by the Weasleys to help with their children and do that for the Weasley pantry.
Getting everything into stasis/cold box/hot shelf as appropriate, he went to sit with her as she ate, eating only a bit of bread to be social; preserving her food.
Peter kissed her brow and she hugged him close, never feeling the theft of his mirror. After all, if he never heard the call-out, he'd stay safe. They were purebloods and shouldn't have to be afraid of You-know-who, not that she said anything to her Gryffindor boy.
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A/N: Story recommended by our friend csheila: Monbade's Ilha da Queimada Grande(Harry kills Voldemort at the Dept of Mysteries but Dumbles won't accept it's over; fanciful tale of escape) 13214674
https/s/13214674/1/Ilha-da-Queimada-Grande
A/N: Story recommended by Colt01's The Aftermath (Hermione accidentally leaves with Ron and Harry must finish the Horcrux Hunt without them.)
https/s/12408440/1/The-Aftermath
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Copyright: The original books are all owned by JK Rowling and her associates. This piece is the intellectual property of the writer VashonBeader and her beta LtsHrIt4ThBoyz and is not to be used or sold elsewhere under any other name.