Chapter 581
That's when Sirius leaned forward with clearly feigned
nonchalance from where he was sitting back and
calmly drawled, "I have an announcement, if you don't
mind."
"Of course not," said Eugene, sitting back slightly to
listen and offering the 'floor' to Sirius.
Sirius gave a nod of thanks and said, "Because of the
resounding defeat of the emergency motion to have
the work of the Tapestry Circle made a High Secret,
we all know that means any similar motion cannot be
raised again for twelve months. However, that does
not mean a contrary motion cannot be raised."
When a few, including Ogden and Bones, nodded
back, he smiled and said, "Harry's little speech
against the motion, we would all agree, went a long
way to earning that three-quarter majority. It also, I
believe, gained a lot of support for The Tapestry
Circle's efforts.
"To that end, I have been working with Ted Tonks to
draft legislation that will make what the Tapestry
Circle have already researched and determined needs
to occur. We have drafted a recommended Statute to,
with the exception of specific cases, make
handfastings and concubinage between witches and
wizards who have an identical blood relative closer
than six generations back illegal."
That had a few give quiet gasps of shock or, in one
case, give a huff of annoyance.
"There would need to be exceptions, of course, for
those who are already handfasted or concubined, for
those in current unbreakable relationship contracts,
for those finding themselves in soul or life debt
bonds, etcetera. However, I believe Ted and I have
covered every possible contingency that would
require such an exemption."
"It won't pass," Puvingson firmly said, interrupting.
"By the reaction of the Members during the debate of
the emergency motion, I believe it will," said Sirius.
"It's a fool's quest," Puvingson shot back.
"Then I shall be a fool and quest it," said Sirius.
Before Puvingson could retort yet again, Sirius added,
"The House of Black has not moved a motion within
the Wizengamot in one and a half decades. I believe
this matter is important enough... and is sufficiently a
hot enough issue... for House Black to lead the charge
on this."
Ogden asked, "You're not doing it because Dowager
Malfoy is a daughter of Black?"
"No," he replied. "I acknowledge Narcissa being a
daughter of Black had a little to do with me deciding
to champion this issue within the 'Mot. However, on a
personal viewpoint, I also believe most strongly this
needs to be moved forward with haste. That's the
primary reason I'm doing this."
Frank asked, "May we see what you've got?"
Sirius smiled and called, "Chuckles."
When the little elf popped in, he said, "Bring me my
Bill for the Protection of the Well-being of the
Recognised Houses, would you?"
"Yes, Master Sirius," replied the elf, before it popped
away for a long moment.
When he came back, he immediately popped a
parchment folio onto the table before Sirius.
"Thank you, Chuckles," muttered Sirius, as he flipped
the 'cover' of it open.
Thanking the house elves for their service was
something both Harry and Hermione had impressed
upon him. He'd begun to do it for them. Now, he did it
automatically.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After a 'business as usual' start to the November
session of the Wizengamot, the call for New Business
was issued by Ogden. The only difference was, again,
the numbers of witches who filled the visitors' gallery;
though, to be fair, there weren't as many as the few
weeks previously for the emergency session.
Sirius stood and immediately got the call, which
showed Ogden was waiting for him.
"Thank you Chief Warlock," said Sirius. "I stand,
before you, representing the Noble and Most Ancient
House of Black offering for your consideration the
first item of legislature the House of Black has put
forward in over fifteen years. I stand before you for the
first time offering such legislature.
"The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black presents
in first reading the Statute for the Protection of the
Well-being of the Recognised Houses." And sent his
'original' copy to the Scribe.
After the meeting that original would be passed to the
WAS, where they would record it, copy it out as many
times as necessary and send one each to each
Member of the Wizengamot, including the Minister and
each department Director. Other copies would, of
course, be made available to any interested party who
wished to find out more about it.
Within a minute of Sirius speaking to the Bill many of
the Members were up in their wands about it. Sirius's
Statute, as he'd told Harry it would do, was to pass
into law the 'recommendations' of the Tapestry Circle,
together with the exemptions the Heirs let Sirius know
plus the views of a few other interested parties who
managed to have their views heard by Sirius and Ted.
Many of that last group were members of the Tapestry
Circle Narcissa told Sirius he should speak with to
hear what they had to say.
In a nutshell the Statute made it illegal for any
relationship agreement, let alone handfasting,
between any witch and wizard where they had a
common ancestor within the past five generations.
Plus, it included all the exemptions the Heirs had
discussed and let Sirius know about, together with a
few valid points the Tapestry Circle also 'submitted'
believing should be included. It then went into some
depth as to the penalties for breaching the Statute, the
least of which was a magical repudiation and enforced
disenchantment of any illegal handfasting not already
having an exemption. It wasn't a long Statute, but it
was certainly a contentious one.
During the 'reading' Sirius had to stop no less than a
half dozen times due to both the sheer amount of
noise and or at request by Ogden. And four supposed
Lords had to be thrown from the chamber for the
'crime' of 'Ignoble behaviour within the Chamber'
before Sirius, after half an hour, was finally able to
conclude his remarks.
It was while a Speaker against, some old crotchety
Lord of a Noble and Elder House Harry didn't care
much for, who was speaking about how 'even the
tabling of the Statute' impinged on the 'rights' of
Heads of Houses in the husbandry of their own
Houses, that Harry had an epiphany that had him a
little worried - the rights of muggleborns.
It was something he'd have to raise with the Sitting
alliance members at their debrief at the conclusion of
the meeting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 582
They'd been sitting in the Chief Warlock's office going
over the meeting of the Wizengamot when Harry
raised his epiphany.
At the conclusion of his views, which clearly had the
others worried, Ogden said, "Damn. I don't think any
of us thought of that."
He received concerned headshakes in denial back
from the others.
Harry believed that, once the Heads of the recognised
Houses finally accepted that the bloodlines were at
risk of birth defects and stillbirths from inbreeding,
there would be some who would attempt to find a way
to force muggleborns and non-ennobled halfbloods
into relationship agreements; specifically, Concubine
Bond Contracts.
"Those laws are going to need to be strengthened,"
said Samuel. "The one's covering forcing someone
into a relationship agreement."
"They're already there," said Bones, also concerned.
"They're unenforceable," sighed Harry. "Muggleborns
have bugger-all rights, remember? It would be easier
to enact laws protecting the muggleborns... no, the
Unhoused, which would include the muggleborns...
from such shenanigans than try to enforce laws that
have already been proven to be insufficient."
As the others nodded, he added, "However, the other
option is what my ladies want me to push forward as
part of the 'Potter Legislative Agenda', as Hermione
calls it; make contracted relationships involving sex
illegal, or make sex being included in contracted
relationships illegal. If the bride or concubine are
actually against such a relationship, she sees such
contracts as legalised sexual molestation."
Sirius winced. He quietly but firmly said, "I doubt
you'll ever get the chance to enact such a law, Harry."
"I know," he sighed. "That's why the first option is the
way to go. Hermione's just going to have to live with
it, for now.
"I think it might have to start with making it that
neither a regent nor magical guardian, other than a
magical parent, can enter a child into one. And that
such an agreement can only be agreed upon once all
parties have been checked for mind altering charms
and potions immediately prior to the signing of such
an agreement."
Ogden, not focussing on anyone because he was
deep in thought, was nodding along. He mused, "A
good start, but is it enough?"
No one had an answer for him. Harry was relieved,
even glad, a pureblood like Ogden was supportive of
such a concept. It gave him hope.
Sirius looked to Harry and it was easy for Harry to see
he was thinking back almost a year ago when the
issue of Hermione getting caught in a sex slave
concubine bond contract was raised at the Grangers'.
He was doing the same.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
On returning to the school, Harry returned directly to
the apartment and changed before heading down to
lunch. Due to how long the Wizengamot meeting went,
he had to hurry to make it in time for the end of lunch.
And was down at the Great Hall with about fifteen
minutes before the end of the lunch and they'd have
to make their way to their next classes. For Harry, that
was Care of Magical Creatures.
Even before he sat he could see his two, especially
Hermione, were eager for news - Fleur was at
Gringotts.
He quickly said, "After classes, alright? I'll let you
know now, though, Sirius tabled his Bill for the first
reading."
That had both, and even the others, relieved.
"Any trouble?" asked Susan.
"Nothing we didn't expect," he replied. "Three Lords
and, I think, a head of a Ministry department got their
bums tossed out for 'ignoble behaviour', though.
That had both Sue and Daphne wince a little. It was a
major slap against one's House to be so firmly evicted
from the Chamber during a sitting.
"Ouch!" said Neville, although he clearly didn't mean
it as he didn't even twitch a wince.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After class, a double in Herbology with the Slytherins
this year so Daphne was with them, Harry and his two
headed straight back to the apartment to get changed.
Once redressed and before he could even ask about
the two double classes he missed in the morning,
Charms and Transfiguration, the two practically
dragged him to the 'triple' couch and sat him down
between them.
However, he was pleased to see neither started
demanding information; but both did stare at him
expectantly, not saying a word.
With a mental snort and light smile on his face he
wryly said, "I've got this feeling you both want to
know more about what happened during the session,
today."
Again not saying a word, both stares just morphed
into slight frowns.
"Okay!" he laughed. "Don't hex me for it. Here's what
happened..."
He told them about Sirius's Bill first, as he knew that
was what they were most interested in. However he
also covered what else happened and added what
happened in the meeting in Ogden's office after the
session.
When he told them about his fears the Heads of the
recognised Houses, once they finally recognised the
truth of the birth defect problem, would then try to
force through relationship contracts with the
muggleborns and/or halfbloods both girls looked at
one another in worry.
Hermione carefully asked, "What can be done to block
that?"
"Now that I've alerted the others in the alliance to the
problem, I think our best minds are going to come up
with yet another Bill that'll protect them," he replied.
"However, while it will be aimed at muggleborns from
our point of view, it's going to be aimed at the
Unhoused."
"Clever," said Daphne. "That way, it won't seem so
much to the traditionalists as giving muggleborn
better rights."
"That's the idea," he nodded.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Weasley was in 'his' potions lab in the basement of
the Nott manor when he heard ranting and raving
coming from Lord Nott from the floor above. He could
hear the man through a heating duct high up in the
wall, so stopped to listen.
"That damned Black mongrel is hell-bent on the
destruction of our world!" ranted Nott.
Weasley had no idea who the man was yelling at, but
he'd hate to be in his robes. The answering voice was
too quiet for him to make out what they were saying,
let alone if he could even recognise the voice.
"No!" ranted Nott. "I am not prepared to wait! Call the
faithful! I expect them all... every one of them... to be
here and before me by seven hours past noon this
very day!"
He heard no more after that. However, if Nott and all
his evil, slimy Slytherin friends were going to be here,
he could use that opportunity to duck out and get
things he needed he didn't want Nott to know he
would have.
He didn't trust that elf not to tell Nott and suspected
the elf was telling Nott everything he was doing, let
alone what he was buying on Weasley's behalf.
While Nott might have helped him by providing him
somewhere to stay and be hidden, that didn't mean he
was going to trust the man any more than he had to.
Weasley's Polyjuice Potion had, surprisingly, turned
out 'adequate' only that day; even if he did have Runt,
the house elf, buy him the 'pre-stewed' lacewing flies
to save time. However, the other potions he was
making, especially the poisons, needed ingredients
that were specific to those potions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 583
He'd looked to see if there were other potions that
contained those ingredients, but with the exception of
one of the antidotes none he could read up on did.
That meant there was a high likelihood if the elf did
tell Nott what he was buying for him, Nott would
quickly figure out what potions he was making. That
meant, after he'd killed Potter, Nott would have the
'evidence' that would point back to him. That could
not be allowed.
Besides, he might use the same method to take out
Nott later, if that was what he needed to do.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As the time reached 7.00pm, Weasley could hear
through the vent that Nott was again ranting and
raving about 'the Black mongrel' and 'Potter'.
He had no idea what Black or Potter had done, but
whatever it was certainly riled the man. All he knew
from what he'd heard was that Black and Potter were
trying to kill off all the purebloods and hand the
Houses over to halfbloods.
That had Weasley even more determined to do what
he had to do to stop Potter and his minions.
Right on 7.00pm he cast a wide area stasis charm over
his potions work bench, turned off the magical fume
extraction fan, donned his Disillusionment charm and
snuck out through a window high in the wall in the
storeroom off the main area of the basement. That
window only required him to move two crates under it
for him to easily climb them and open the window. It
opened just behind a bush in one of the garden beds
hard up alongside a wall of the manor about a foot off
the ground outside.
A quick brush off of loose soil from his clothes and he
was jogging across the grounds to where he thought
the nearest road could be found. Once outside the
grounds he'd be taking the Polyjuice Potion he
brewed and calling the Knight Bus to come and pick
him up.
Back inside the basement of the manor, the wide area
stasis charm Weasley cast over the workbench failed
almost before the boy had finished crossing the
grounds outside.
That had the three potions he was currently brewing -
a loyalty potion strong enough to be a slave potion
blended with almost a Draught of Peace, a compulsion
potion as strong as the Imperius curse and a fast
acting poison - continue to 'brew'.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At the Ministry, no efforts at that time were currently
being made to track Weasley down. For a start, it was
the night shift who were on; and they were more
focussed on dealing with the revelry and near riots
going on in the pubs of the Alleys, Hogsmeade and
Godric's Hollow. And, secondly, it had now been two
weeks since Weasley's attack on Potter and his ladies
and all attempts to track him down had been
unsuccessful to date. As such, no attempts were
being made that night to find him.
A young junior Auror had just stuck his head into the
auror bullpen. He spotted one of the on-duty Senior
Aurors and said, "There's a riot in the Warlock's Curse
in Knockturn. The proprietor requests auror
attendance."
The Senior looked to the RR Team, smirked and said,
"Looks like this one's for you lot. Best go settle them
down again."
The Senior in charge of that Team rolled his eyes,
sighed, stood up and looked to his Team. "Right. Let's
go bash some heads together."
They left fifteen seconds later via portkey.
That left those aurors manning the floos for incoming
emergency calls and those couple in the auror bullpen
remaining behind as backup. All other aurors were out
and about already, including the on-duty 'Desk' Master
Auror, who'd already gone out with one of the teams
to deal with another trouble spot in Hogsmeade, at the
Hogs Head Tavern.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
That evening, Harry received a somewhat thick letter
from Ted via HEED.
After casting detection charms over it and finding
nothing untoward, he soon had the envelope open
and had the parchment within slid out onto the coffee
table.
Unsurprisingly now, Hermione didn't immediately try
to pick up one of the documents to find out for herself
what was written upon them. However, she did watch
Harry most carefully. She was also very much aware,
now, she was to never touch any documents Fleur
might bring home, but at least his oldest bonded
didn't leave anything from work out in the open unless
she was there and working on or with them.
Picking the small stack up, Harry read the cover letter
provided by Ted and began to skim through the
attachments. "Ted's come through with
recommendations for International Real Estate agents
for me," he quietly said.
"International Real Estate Agents?" asked Daphne.
That's when Harry realised he hadn't told his ladies
he'd asked Ted to find some for him, or why.
"Sorry," he said. "I asked Ted to find some for me
because I'm interested in purchasing some properties
in areas that are now important to us." Then he
explained where and why.
"Perth, Australia; the French winery areas and New
York State in the US," said Hermione. "That's very
clever."
"I understand the first two, but why the third?" asked
Daphne.
"Somewhere within apparation range of New York City
while not being too close to that hustle and bustle,"
he replied. "The Hamptons, I believe, is where the rich
of New York go close-by to get away for a holiday by
the sea from New York City. I thought you ladies might
like somewhere nice to stay in the US that was close
enough for you to be able to visit the New York City
garment district, specifically Fifth Avenue."
That earned him three wide grins of pleasure from his
ladies.
"Ohhhh, you are so going to get lucky tonight, Potter,"
said a very pleased Hermione.
He never told them of his intent to purchase a very
decent property for Daphne, ready for if she decided
she'd had enough of him and would move herself out.
He was still feeling insecure about that relationship.
He knew Hermione wouldn't leave him unless he did
something really, really stupid to ruin their
relationship; and he knew Fleur couldn't leave him
due to the Veela life debt; but, Daphne was under no
requirement to remain.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Meanwhile and at Nott Manor, the 'Faithful' had
gathered. In all, over forty witches and wizards, mainly
wizards, had gathered in the manor 'Reception Hall'.
These were both or either of the Inner Circle of the
Death Eaters and Lords of Noble Houses of the Dark.
Even with expansion charms at their maximum, the
reception hall was the only room in the manor large
enough to hold that many, even if the room was
massively oversized for forty-plus.
A large 'U'-shaped table had been set up in the middle
of the floor with chairs around the outside of the 'U'
for those 'privileged' to be invited. Nott stood between
the tips of the 'U' and paced back and forth, going
over, in detail, what both Black and the 'so-called'
Tapestry Club had done. He was waving a copy of
Sirius's Bill about and reading from sections of it as
he did. Of course, many who were there already knew
this as they, too, held Lordships and were in
attendance.
What none of them knew, though, was the creeping
death that was, even then, sneaking up on them all.
Down in the potions lab the three potions that were
back to brewing after the failure of the stasis charm
had now passed the point of overheating. Instead of
just simmering with the lightest wisps of fumes rising
from their surfaces, all three potions had reached
boiling point and the fumes coming off them were in
great invisible clouds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Chapter 584
With no extraction fan in operation, the three separate
clouds blended into one whole and rose above the
workbench before being sucked into the very poorly
placed vent that led back up into the manor proper.
As it was a cold night, one of the 'modern'
conveniences of the manor had been activated; the
central heating.
The fumes were then sucked into a gas powered
heater and further mixed together before being
pumped back out into the air of the manor through
concealed vents low to the floor spread throughout
nearly every room in the manor. That heating both
mixed the fumes and distilled the potency of the
fumes even further.
Then being expelled through the air outlet vents by
the low powered magical fan at the boiler, even now
the fumes were beginning to fill the manor.
The quickest acting on the gathered 'Faithful' was the
Draught of Peace component. Those attending found
themselves becoming quite happy and calm as Nott,
who had started with ranting, was now more calmly
speaking about what needed to be done with the
'blood traitors' of the Tapestry Circle, specifically the
Malfoy bitch and Black.
Because of the calmness that slowly enveloped them
all, none of them were worried about what they were
now feeling.
Next was the rest of the slave potion together with the
Imperius potion. The latter of the two also added to
the calmness of the first with the sense of near
euphoria it created.
And, finally, was the poison.
When individuals of the Faithful began to keel over,
the rest were so lost in euphoria they simply didn't
care. Everything was just 'peachy', thank you very
much. So, if someone decided to take a quick and
unintended nap, that was quite alright and they should
be left alone to do that.
With his head a few feet higher off the floor than the
others due to standing, Nott was the last to fall. He
collapsed almost bonelessly to the floor, making very
little noise doing so. No one saw him fall. He was
unconscious before his head hit the floor.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Weasley nearly had a panic attack when, just after
he'd entered Knockturn Alley, a team of five aurors
charged down it seemingly coming right at him.
However, they ran right past him with barely even a
glance in his direction, heading deeper into the Alley.
Not thirty yards further along they suddenly turned
and set themselves up to enter a building that had a
shingle hanging from a pole outside that said 'The
Warlock's Curse'. A long moment later and the one
who had his off hand on the door hand and was
checking his fellow aurors over, suddenly yanked on
that door handle and led what appeared to be a charge
inside.
As soon as he'd opened the door, though, Weasley
could suddenly hear plenty of raised voices, shouts
and even glass breaking coming from within. That
same noise just as suddenly cut off when the door
closed behind the aurors.
With the aurors now gone, Weasley moved to stand to
the side near a shop-front and leaned on the wall.
Until then he hadn't realised his heart rate had spiked
due to the presence of the aurors.
A few minutes later he stood back up straight and
made his way to a shop he could tell was an
apothecary by the large and clearly fake bundle of
herbs hanging from it's own pole outside the shop.
Walking closer he saw the faded, peeling sign that
proved it was the apothecary he was looking for; the
same name as the name Runt gave him for the name
of the apothecary he told Weasley he'd purchased
some of the other ingredients for him, including the
pre-stewed lacewing flies.
Entering, he braced himself up, yet again trying to act
like a 'poncy git', and made his way to the counter.
A quiet demand and he was soon leaving again with
small amounts of the two ingredients he wanted.
Before Weasley had even made it back into Diagon
Alley on his way back to the street via the Leaky
Cauldron, back at Nott Manor the Faithful were all
down and unconscious. One, an elderly wizard named
Andrew Gibbon, was already dead.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At The Burrow, Molly and Arthur were sitting for a
somewhat late dinner - something they more and
more had due to Arthur working back at the Ministry
more often due to his job and new responsibilities -
when there came from the family clock, 'Dong!'
Both adults Weasleys immediately spun to stare at it.
Ron's hand had, again, moved to 'In Danger'. Both
were only a little relieved it had not also immediately
moved to 'Mortal Peril'.
"Shhhit!" muttered Arthur.
"Arthur?" whimpered Molly.
Arthur turned back, picked up his napkin and wiped
his face. "I'll let the aurors know. However, it's well
outside work hours; so I don't know what, if anything,
can be done."
Looking more firmly at her, he added, "We have no
idea where he is, anyway."
He rose and made his way to the floo.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Weasley disembarked the Knight Bus right outside the
front gate of the Manor and quickly got the hell away
from that point. He just hoped no one inside was
looking out one of the front windows and saw him get
off the evil contraption.
Hiding for about five minutes in the bushes between
the fence and the road, after not seeing anyone
coming down to check it out, he made his way further
along the fence to the place he was able to scale it
and get back onto the grounds.
A few minutes later, he was under a disillusionment
charm and hiding in the bushes up against the wall of
the manor, carefully listening to see if anyone inside
had detected him.
Not hearing a sound, he felt he was in the clear and
slunk back to 'his' window.
He had no idea that the only living beings still alive in
the manor were the owls in the owlery in their own
tower. And they were only alive because the owlery
was more a covered roof gazebo than a room.
As he climbed in the window, back in The Burrow
Weasley's clock hand suddenly shifted to 'Mortal Peril'
with a clear 'DONG!'
"Arthur!" Molly immediately wailed.
Arthur's mien just took on an expression of pain and
he closed his eyes. In a defeated voice he softly said,
"There's nothing we can do, Molls."
He had moved to sit at the table alongside her when
he returned from the floo. Unconsciously, they both
held hands, praying to Merlin and the Old Gods to
save their wayward son.
Even as soon as he was climbing back in through his
window, Weasley could smell something burning.
'My potions!' he thought.
He quickly jumped down off the stack of crates and
ran out through the door back into the main part of the
basement. As soon as he opened the door the fumes
hit him like a hammer of smell. He ran into the potions
lab.
He barely had a thought for the little elf that appeared
to be laying on the floor just inside the door of the lab,
almost subconsciously wondering why the elf picked
that place to sleep.
His eyes began to immediately water from the stench.
A quick few steps of a dash and he could see his
potions were now boiling over. He was coughing from
the cloying fumes.
He quickly extinguished the flames and turned back to
look at the elf.
As soon as his eyes rested on the little being, through
his watering eyes he could see the elf's eyes were
open and staring vacantly at the ceiling.
It took him a few moments to realise what he was
seeing. The elf, Runt, was dead.
Horrified, he quickly realised what must have
happened.
Now panicking, but beginning to feel light headed, he
thought, 'I have to... get out... of here!' And ran,
staggered, back out into the main part of the
basement.
With his head now feeling like it was stuffed full of
cotton wool he was now becoming confused and even
more light headed.
'The... win... dow!' he sluggishly thought. "I... have...
to...'
Staggering, he stumbled his way back to the door of
the storeroom.
He barely made it to the storeroom door before he
collapsed to the floor. 'Got... to... get...'
He passed out.
Less than a minute later his clock hand fell off the
clock face of the Weasley clock with a light clatter.
"Noooo...!" wailed Molly.
Arthur slumped to the table in defeat.
Ronald Weasley was dead.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 585
The next morning and at Hogwarts, Harry had just
seen Fleur off to work by way of the new floo recently
allowed in their living room and installed just for that
purpose, when a note was delivered to him by a
Hogwarts house elf.
After checking it, he opened it and read.
~ # ~
Lord Potter and ladies,
Late last night I was informed by his father via floo
that Ronald Weasley's hand had dropped off that
famous family clock of theirs earlier in the evening,
after first passing through In Danger and resting on
Mortal Peril for a short time.
Arthur tells me this could not happen unless Mister
Weasley the younger had died.
I assured him you could not have had anything to do
with this as you were, at the time, in your apartment
with your ladies. My map of the school confirmed this
for him.
Before the evening was over Professor Babbling went
and collected the three Weasley children who remain
attending Hogwarts from Gryffindor Tower, brought
them to my office where they were met by their father,
told what had happened regarding their family clock
and were sent home in their grief. Their personal
effects were sent home this morning a short time ago.
Do not fear any of them believe this had anything to
do with you, as I proved when I showed them the
master Map of the school.
Madam Weasley also tried to demand that you be
allowed to join the 'rest of her children' in going to
The Burrow to grieve, which I had to inform her would
not be possible.
It is unknown, at this time, of the events which
surround the death of young Mister Ronald Weasley;
or even where his body may lie. That is still being
investigated.
I just felt you should know both before you come
rejoin the main part of the school. Due to your oncefriendship with the boy, you and Miss Granger have
my and the staff's sympathy.
I shall inform the Alliance, if Amelia has already not.
Griselda.
~ # ~
After he'd finished reading the note, Harry was in
shock. However, he wasn't feeling grief.
He stood analysing his thoughts on the matter for
long moment before he silently handed the note to
Daphne. Without a word, he then walked to the
window and stood with his hands clasped behind his
upper bum, staring out into the distance.
It wasn't until he heard Hermione cry out, "Oh, my
God!" that he realised Daphne had passed on the note
to the other girl.
A moment later he felt one of them step up behind
him, wrap their arms around him from behind and lean
their head on his back between his shoulder blades. If
not for their height he'd have still quickly determined
it was Daphne, just from her light perfume. She'd not
said a word.
With a sigh, he finally gently turned about and Daphne
backed off to give him room as soon as she felt him
begin to turn.
His movement had Hermione, who was sitting forward
on one of the couches with the note held between her
hands, turn to look at him with a great deal of sadness
in her eyes.
"I know, Love," he said.
"Poor Ginny," she said. "And the others. They must
be... heart-broken!"
"I know," he said.
Bracing himself up, he went to Hermione and, as she
stood, he wrapped her in his arms as they stood in
silence.
A few moments later he pulled back and said, "I have
letters to write. Can someone go and inform the other
Heirs?"
"I'll go," said Daphne.
Hermione said, "We should let... no; Fleur will know
because she works with Bill. He'll have been informed,
already."
"No, let her know," he said. "He'd have been informed
last night. He wouldn't have gone to work this
morning and, therefore, wouldn't have been there to
inform his work colleagues."
As Daphne walked out the door to knock on the doors
of the Longbottoms and Finch-Fletchleys Hermione
made her way to the floo. They'd promised they'd not
use the floo to go anywhere, but all four were sure the
Headmistress would not have a problem with them
fire-calling others through it; especially, not for
something as important as this.
With the other two moving to their tasks, Harry
returned to the couch and called on Dobby to bring
him his school satchel.
A few seconds later he was in the middle of writing
extended notes cum short letters. He had a few to
write.
He'd just finished the first when Hermione returned
from the floo. "Fleur now knows," she sighed. "They
knew Bill would not be in at Gringotts today, but they
had no idea why. She'll pass on the information to
Bill's work colleagues.
"She also asked if she should return, depending on
how you were feeling. I hope you don't mind, but I told
her you were fine. She sends her love."
"No, that's fine," he said. "You were right. I'm actually
feeling alright about it, truth be told. I've never truly
seen Ron as a friend, seeing as I knew what he was up
to almost from the first day in 1991.
"My worry is you. You didn't know what I knew and
you actually thought he was a real friend. How're you
holding up?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 586
She sighed and replied, "Ambivalent. Yes, on one
hand until recently I thought he was a friend. However,
on the other hand I only really put up with him
because I thought he was your friend. I never truly
liked him."
"That concerns you," he said. "Don't let it. You were
right. He was quite... forgive me... a bastard to you. I
haven't forgotten he was the primary reason you
ended up in that bathroom in First Year."
She nodded back and nodded her chin to what he was
working on. "Any letters I can help write?"
He thought for a moment before he said, "Yes,
actually. Can you write a note to Ted to ask him to
inform the mind-healer I contracted to help Ginny
about what's happened? Hopefully..."
"Hopefully," she continued, "She might be able to
help. That's a good idea."
Getting her own satchel she pulled out stationery and
set to write her note for Ted.
As she set up, she asked, "May I know who you're
writing to while I write this one?"
"Yes," he replied, "I'm writing a note for Angie
Johnson. Her and Alicia were quite close with Fred
and George. I think there might've also been
something going on between them and the twins.
"Plus, I'm asking them to take copies of the
assignments they'll be given over the next few days to
forward them and whatever notes they take in class
with the classes they share with the twins and forward
them on.
"It's their NEWT year. Something like this shouldn't be
allowed to hinder them in getting good marks on their
NEWTs."
"Good idea," she muttered, already making a start on
her letter.
When Daphne returned a couple minutes later, she
was followed by the other heirs in the Quarters of the
Grand Alliance.
"Harry," sighed Neville.
Harry looked up and said, "Yeah; I know, mate."
"What can we do to help?" asked Susan.
Harry thought for a moment before he said, "I'm
writing a note to pass on to Angie Johnson and Alicia
Spinnet at the start of breakfast. But I think one of us
will need to take Dean and Seamus aside to tell them
direct."
"I'll do that," Neville immediately said.
"Who else was Weasley close with?" asked Hannah.
"No one," replied Neville, before Harry could. "He
wasn't exactly the most likeable sort of person."
Once finished with his note, he passed it off to
Hermione, "Proof read that for me, will you, love? I'm
not that much good with 'feelings', you know?"
She just smiled back knowingly and switched with
him.
Harry gave what Hermione wrote a quick read through
and said, "I like it."
Turning his head to the side a little he called, "Dobby."
When the elf popped in he asked, "Yes, Master
Harry?"
Handing the note over he said, "To Ted Tonks, please,
Dobby."
Dobby, accepting the note, gave a firm nod of his head
back and popped away.
Hermione said, "It's fine, Harry. You're passing it off to
them as we walk in?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Then, are we done?" she asked. "No more letters or
notes?"
"Not urgently, no," he replied. "And we need to get a
wriggle-on if we don't want to be too late."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
As the group all walked into the Great Hall a few
minutes later, Harry headed direct to the Gryffindor
table, sought out the 'Flying Foxes of Gryffindor',
spotted them and walked over.
Silently, he handed his note to Johnson.
With a slight frown of curiosity on her face, she
looked up and asked, "Now?"
"If possible, yes," he replied. "There is some level of
urgency in this."
She gave a nod and handed the note off to Katie Bell.
As the girl had agreed, he walked back out of the Hall,
crossed the floor of the entrance hall and walked into
the antechamber. He only had to wait about a minute
and half before all three girls walked in.
As soon as they did, with all three looking curious, he
immediately asked, "Are any of you three aware of
why Fred and George aren't in the Great Hall, this
morning?"
"Lee told us Professor Babbling came and got them
last night, but not why," replied Johnson. "This
morning he said they didn't return to the dorm, either."
He gave a nod and said, "Professor Babbling came
and got them because the Headmistress needed to
see them. She had just been informed by their father
that their youngest brother, Ron, died last night."
That had all three look back, horrified.
"No!" Bell softly gasped.
He grimly nodded and said, "Ginny was also
collected. I have no idea how long they're going to be
gone, but I think it would be helpful to them if you
could ask one of the girls in Gryffindor Fourth Year to
collect notes and assignments for Ginny, while Angie
and Alicia do the same for Fred and George. Then owl
them to all three.
"They might not do them... or even be interested in
doing them... but it would be the right thing to do."
As Spinnet nodded back, Johnson blurted, "But...
we've got a game against Hufflepuff next week. What'll
we do for beaters and a seeker?"
Harry's expression instantly went flat and cold. It took
him a few moments to smash down on his anger
before he said, "I'm going to forget you just said that
heartless and cruel remark. How anyone could care
more about― Don't ever ask something like that in my
presence again. The consequences for you will be
exceedingly painful. And, whether or not you'll have a
Quidditch Team to play a stupid fucking game will be
the least of your worries."
Without waiting another jot, he stormed out of the
room slamming the door behind him.
Almost immediately after he was gone, Spinnet
whirled on Johnson and demanded, "Angie! How you
could ask something like that!? He's right. Don't ever
ask a question like that again... or, you'll also be
looking for another chaser as well!"
"Two chasers," snapped Bell.
With an expression of pain on her face, Johnson had
her eyes closed. "Sorry!" she blurted. Then sighed
and opened her eyes. "Sorry, girls. That was... that
was cold and, yes, cruel. I don't know why I asked
that..." And sighed again, her eyes full of silent
apology.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 587
When Harry walked back into the Great Hall, after
taking a long moment in the entrance hall to get his
anger back under control, he headed back to the
Gryffindor table.
Spotting Lee, he sat down opposite.
Looking back, Lee saw his expression and asked,
"Harry? What's up?"
"Fred and George were picked up by their father last
night," he replied. "They're probably going to be gone
for a while. Apparently, Ron died sometime yesterday
evening."
Lee looked horrified. "Damn!" he softly exclaimed.
"Yeah," nodded Harry. "I've asked the chasers to
collect homework and notes for them for the classes
they're going to miss. But, if you could do the same, I
think it would be helpful."
"Yeah," sighed the other boy. "I can see that." He then
gave a firm nod and said, "I'll start on that today."
"Thank you," said Harry. "I'm sure they'll appreciate
it." He rose and went to the Hufflepuff table, where the
other heirs were now sitting at the end next to the
Seventh Years.
"The chasers and Lee?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah," he sighed, sitting down. "They, at least, were
close to the twins. "I have no idea who Ginny's friends
are, though."
"I do," replied Hermione, giving a firm nod. As she
rose from the bench she said, "I'll go and talk to them
now."
"Good idea, love," said Harry, as Hermione left.
Once she was gone, CeeCee quietly said, "Ginny
Weasley. She's the red headed one in Gryffindor
Fourth Year, right?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"I don't think I like her," she said, almost depressed.
"She's sometimes a little cold towards me. I think it's
because she thinks I'm a Malfoy like Draco was."
Harry sadly looked back, thought about what to say to
her and said, "Here's the only piece of advice I think I
can give you on that: About one in ten people will
think you're wonderful, no matter what you do; about
one in ten people will not like you, again no matter
what you do; and the other eight will always fit
somewhere in between. Focus on those eight out of
ten, appreciate the one in ten who will always like you
and forget about the one in ten who won't like you.
Alright?"
CeeCee seemed to think on that for a while and said,
"You mean; because I'd be wasting my time trying to
get them to like me?"
"Yes," he nodded. "And it would be a waste of time.
Put your efforts towards those you have a chance of
being friends with and forget about the rest. And
accept it's alright for people not to like you. They're
allowed. Just as you're allowed to not like others."
CeeCee nodded and said, "I can do that. Thank you."
He just smiled back.
Susan smirked at him and said, "Profound, Potter;
profound."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Because the Gryffindors in their year did not have a
class on for first period, Harry hung back. Once the
Hall was nearly empty, he called Dobby to bring him
his communication mirror. It was now left on the
coffee table in their living room when not in use.
Handing it over, Dobby silently popped away again.
Calling his godfather it was a few minutes before he
answered. When he did he was wiping sleep out of his
eyes.
"Pup?" asked a groggy Sirius.
"Sorry to wake you, Padfoot," said Harry. "But, first
period is the only period I have free all day and I have
important news for you."
After a yawn, Sirius blinked a couple times and said,
"Alright; I'm listening..."
"Though I don't think anyone knows how yet, that
clock of the Weasleys showed that Ron died
sometime yesterday evening," he replied. "His hand
on the clock went to In Danger, then a few minutes
later went to Mortal Peril, then a few minutes after that
fell off the face of the clock. Apparently, that means
the one who's clock hand it is has died."
Sirius closed his eyes in mental pain for a long
moment before he quietly said, "Thank you for telling
me. Arthur was a member of the Order, back during
the war."
"I thought you should know," said Harry.
"You were right," sighed Sirius. "What do they know
about how he died?"
"Nothing, apparently," he replied. "I guess until they
find his body they're not going to know the answer to
that."
"And they may never find it," said Sirius. "If he's
under a Fidelius..."
Harry gave just a verbal nod back. "Uh-hmm."
Sirius nodded in return and said, "Right. I guess I'll be
speaking to Bonesy, sometime today, and seeing what
else I can find out."
"Bon chance," said Harry. It was one of the short
French terms he'd already picked up from Fleur.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After his mirror-call to Sirius, Harry's day was devoted
to his classes. A single in Ancient Runes was first up.
It was such an interesting class it very quickly had his
mind off Ron Weasley and his fate.
After morning tea was Transfiguration, then another
free period until lunch.
He used that second free period to return to the Potter
apartment and lay down on parchment his thoughts
and plans about what to do concerning this latest
'happening'.
BY the end of it and before his two ladies not
otherwise working outside of Hogwarts turned up
before lunch to switch out the contents of their
satchels, he thought he had some idea.
When Hermione walked in she said, "You look in
better spirits."
He nodded and replied, "I am. I've decided I'm not
going to let what happened to Ron bother me. I had
already decided, in the past, that if he had come after
you three or me I would not hesitate to take him out.
I'd also most recently decided that if I ever spotted
him again I'd kill him, just for what he did to me and
us when he attacked us on Hallowe'en. Therefore, all I
can be upset about is that he managed to get himself
dead before I had the chance to off him myself."
Daphne cocked an eyebrow back and said, "That's
one way of looking at it, I suppose."
Hermione sighed and said, "And I have to admit I had
already thought him dead. His body just did not know
that yet."
"Good," he firmly stated. "That's why I'm not going to
let it bother me any more than it already has. It's a
done issue. Time to move on."
"Very well," said Hermione. "I agree. So, may we ask
what else you've been up to this past hour?"
"After coming to that conclusion, I've been browsing
through other Potter House business
parchmentwork," he replied. "The only interruption
was when Benny, Ted's house elf, popped in with a
note from Ted letting me know he'd now been in
contact with that mind-healer and let them know about
Ginny losing her youngest brother. I didn't ask for any
more information than that and he didn't provide it,
either."
"So, lunch?" asked Daphne.
He nodded and said, "Once you ladies have replaced
the contents of your satchels we can go."
They were done in only a few moments, care of Betsy.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After their afternoon classes of Herbology and Care of
Magical Creatures, the Heirs returned to their
apartments to wash, change and ready for dinner.
They were about fifteen minutes away from dropping
downstairs to the great Hall when Sirius mirror called
them.
Harry, first to get to the mirror and activate it, looked
to the image of his godfather and drawled,
"Wussssuuuppp!"
Sirius just smirked and cocked an eyebrow back.
"Trying to sound cool?"
Harry just grinned as Daphne, who'd heard, snarked,
"Sounding like an uncultured ape, you mean."
That had Sirius's smirk turn into a full-blown grin.
Clearly, he'd heard.
A few moments later he dropped the smirk and said, "I
tried talking to Bonesy today, but couldn't until about
half an hour ago. Apparently, there's all sorts of crap
going on."
"Oh?" asked Harry.
Again starting to smirk, his godfather replied,
"Apparently, there's a whole bunch of purebloods
from dark families that have gone missing. Plus... this
afternoon quite a few of them have been confirmed as
being dead."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 588
That had the Potters sit up and take notice. Within
moments Harry had Daphne and Hermione jumping
onto the couch on either side, shoving him over a little
into the middle in the process, before leaning on each
of his shoulders.
Once Sirius realised Daphne and Hermione were also
now there and had finished getting comfortable, he
went on. "Some spouses of those who are being
reported missing have rushed into Gringotts and have
found their husband's lifestones have gone dark."
That had even Daphne give a little gasp of surprise.
Harry had never seen a lifestone, but knew of what
they were from finding out about CeeCee.
"Have any names?" he asked.
"Not yet," replied Sirius. "Bonesy's being very
reluctant to release any information yet. However,
she's already received enough similar news she's
caused to have sent a warning to the WWN for them to
air.
"She's asking for people to report in immediately if
'loved ones' have not turned up when and where they
expected them to be. From that, she's already
received a few more calls from people complained one
of theirs, usually a husband or father, hasn't returned
from somewhere they said they'd be going."
Hermione asked, "Do you think it might be related to
Ron's death?"
Sirius looked surprised before he said, "I don't think
that's occurred to us. I'll send Bonesy a note via HEED
suggesting there might be a correlation between the
two. She already thinks all these missing people and
darkened life stones are related to a single event that
she doesn't know about yet."
Suddenly, Sirius turned even more... well... serious.
"And Harry? Two that have contacted Bonesy to let
them know their husbands didn't come home last
night, as they expected, were Eliza Dallyhatch and
Dorothy Bancroft."
"Shhhyte!" Harry softly exclaimed as both his ladies
gave small gasps. Philip Bancroft was the Heir
Apparent of Newton Bancroft, Head of the Elder
House of Bancroft. And Eliza Dallyhatch was the wife
of Eugene Dallyhatch, Head of the Elder House of
Dallyhatch. Both Houses were member Houses of the
Grand Alliance.
"Both said that their husbands said yesterday
afternoon, soon after lunch, they had to attend an
urgent meeting with a 'close friend' that... last... night;
but not who that friend was. Both left via floo just
before 7.00pm. And neither came home."
"Alright," sighed Harry. "This has now more closely
impacted the Alliance. Keep on it, if you can; and let
me know what you know when you know. In the
meantime, make sure the Noble Houses of the
Alliance are made aware of this. Make Frank your first
call."
"Already planned to, Pup," said Sirius. "I'm flooing to
Longbottom Hall as soon as I get off the mirror with
you."
Harry immediately asked, "Take the mirror with you,
please."
"Again; I already planned to, Pup."
"Thanks, Sirius."
"Mirror off!"
When the mirror returned to being a normal mirror,
Daphne asked, "Gather the heirs?"
It only took a moment for Harry to nod and say,
"Yeah... I think it would be for the best."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Neville asked, "So, Eugene Dallyhatch and Philip
Bancroft are also missing?"
Daphne was quick to round up the heirs from the
Quarters and they all, once again, congregated in the
Potter apartment.
"Apparently," shrugged Harry. "I never liked Philip,
though. He was the one who sneered at Hermione
back at the first meeting of the Potter-Longbottom
Alliance held at your place, Nev."
"He did?" asked Hermione. "I... didn't notice."
"I didn't either," said Neville. "However, his mother
certainly did. After I dropped them off in the dining
room I could hear her giving him a serve about it. I
never mentioned it because I shouldn't have heard it.
And I thought it wasn't my place to say."
Hermione frowned and said, "I thought you escorted
the wives through to the breakfast room."
"I did," said Neville. "However, she begged off me
doing that because she said she needed a quick word
with her husband. So, I left her in the formal dining
room and knew she'd easily find the informal dining
room, or I could escort her there when I brought the
next House in, which is what I did."
"Don't worry about it," said Harry. "Other than that
one-off sneer, he never did anything like that again.
So, I thought the matter dealt with."
"Any idea on the numbers missing, presumed dead?"
asked Susan.
"Nope," replied Harry. "However, it sounds like a lot."
He thought for a moment and said, "However, if any of
you want to contact your loved ones via floo to assure
yourselves they're not counted in the 'missing', you're
welcome to use our floo." And gestured towards it.
Hannah said, "Thank you." And immediately headed
to it.
Hermione called to her, "Floo powder's in the pot on
the mantelpiece."
A few seconds later, Hannah had the kneeling mat on
the floor before the fireplace and her head in the green
flames.
CeeCee went next. She didn't know, or hadn't thought
about, how Sirius was very likely to know if something
had happened to 'Mum Narcissa' and would have said
so.
Tracey went after her, then Daphne.
None of them reported a missing person among their
own loved ones.
Meanwhile, the others were discussing what might
have happened, just 'round tabling' it.
Fleur returned via the floo between calls by Tracey
and Daphne. She was a little miffed she couldn't
connect to jump through for a little while until she
learned why.
After she was quickly brought up to speed on what
was happening, she had her own information to add.
"There were only a couple of minor eencidences this
morning," she reported. "Then, after lunch, there were
quite a few witches come into the bank, all demanding
to be allowed to see their 'usband's life stones. Quite
a few of them left afterwards, in tears; or trying not to
show they were upset.
"It was clear to see that something bad 'ad 'appened;
and it 'ad to do with a lot of families known for being
dark. But no one who might know anything is
speaking about it, yet.
"Even the Account Managers are not speaking. When I
left, the bank management were all in a big 'ush-'ush
meeting. The Account Managers were all in on that."
"Then something big has definitely happened," said
Susan. "The goblins are well known for being stoic...
unflappable... even in the face of full-on war."
After Daphne had finished her floo-call, Neville put in
one to his father. When he came out of that, he said,
"Dad's confirmed for me that Eugene Dallyhatch and
Philip Bancroft are dead. But he's also added that
Cyril MacMillan is too. At least, old Augustus has told
Dad that his son's life stone has gone dark."
"Oh, poor Ernie," said Hannah.
"That's a point," said Harry.
"Dad says not to worry about finding some way to let
Ernie know," said Neville, already figuring out what
Harry was going to point out. "Apparently, old
Augusta's already come to the school to pick him up."
"Two Heads of House and an Heir Apparent," sighed
Harry. "It seems, even our Alliance has not escaped
whatever it is that's happened."
"I need to drop down to the Badgers' Cete," said
Justin. "I need to find out what they do and don't
know about Ernie."
"We'll come with," said Susan. Apparently she and
Hannah had one of those little female eye-to-eye
conversations and decided they'd be going, as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 589
All three left less than a minute later.
After they left, Daphne quietly said, "I don't think we're
going to get much sleep tonight."
On the contrary, they did. However, Harry's,
Hermione's and Neville's sleep were disturbed for the
hour on the Astronomy Tower, as was CeeCee's.
They heard no further news that night.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
The next morning, though it was another late start for
those who spent time in the Astronomy Tower, the
entire Quarters' residents yet again went down to the
Great Hall together.
When Fleur left to go to Gringotts she promised that,
if she heard anything of significant import, she'd send
a note by HEED to let them know.
Walking in, the Heirs were early enough to find a spot
up near the head end of the Hufflepuff table to sit
together. They even interacted a bit with that year's
crop of 'Puff Firsties.
However, the atmosphere of the Hall felt a bit... odd;
certainly much quieter than normal.
Daphne was the first to spot what was wrong.
She leaned in to get the attention of the others and
said, "Two things. First, we're missing quite a few
students, especially from Slytherin. And, second, look
at the expressions on the faces of the staff."
Looking for themselves, the others could see what
Daphne was getting at. The Slytherin table, compared
to the other three, was reduced in number. Though it
was not anywhere even approaching something like a
third of their number, it was still not normal. Plus, the
teaching staff were all sporting long faces. None of
them were so much as even gently smiling, let alone
laughing at something another said in jest as they
would be usually.
"Not good," said Justin.
When the mail-bomb came the delivery of the Daily
Prophet caused a bit of a ruckus. The lead and main
story was on the news that many 'fine and upstanding
citizens' had disappeared, with many already being
reported to be dead. That was based on their
extinguished life stones.
Of course that had many students, who were children
or grandchildren of those 'fine and upstanding
citizens', all a-flustered. Quite a few immediately
hurried to their Heads of Houses with demands to be
allowed to contact their loved ones to ensure for
themselves they were alright.
That had Marchbanks rise and call for silence.
"Students," she firmly called. "You will notice that
quite a few of your dorm mates and others have not
joined us for breakfast, this morning.
"That is because I was contacted two nights ago, right
through to late last night, with news loved ones of
some of our students have been reported as being
recently deceased. This is based on whatever magics
each family has employed to monitor the health of the
loved ones in their families. In every case I have asked
that students Head of House to collect them and bring
them to my office, where the news was passed onto
them. Again in every case that student was allowed to
immediately go home via the floo in my office. House
elves collected their personal effects and they were
immediately sent along.
"I assure you all, as soon as we became aware there
was an issue for one or more of our students, the
student or students concerned were immediately
informed.
"If you have not been asked to report to my office
then, as far as we and the DMLE are concerned, there
is no information something untoward has occurred
to any of your family members."
That had quite a few students immediately relieved.
What Harry recognised straight away, though, was
that there might not have been a family member left of
that family who could have discovered something had
happened to another family member, or that there
might not have been a life stone or similar monitoring
device related to that missing person. However, he
also realised pointing that out would cause undue
worry and or panic, so withheld.
She continued, "We assure you that the DMLE is fully
aware something has occurred that has impacted, as
the Daily Prophet puts it, many 'fine and upstanding
citizens'. We do not yet know what that something is.
We also hope and believe that the DMLE will discover
just what has happened some time today. And, when
they do, will also have answers for us as to just who
has been impacted by this."
She gave that a moment before she said, "I remind
you all that mail is only delivered to our students in
the mornings at the conclusion of breakfast.
Therefore, if someone tells you they have further
information, or that they know someone who has
further information, I ask you to remind them that mail
is only delivered once per day and at breakfast."
Harry had to mentally congratulate her for her words,
then. Marchbanks had not lied. However, he knew very
well she knew house elves could deliver mail at any
time; that there were magical devices, such as the
mirrors of which Harry had one and Sirius had the
other, that were communication devices; each
member of staff had access to a floo, which could be
used to receive or make floo-calls; and some students
had portable wizarding wirelesses, which were perfect
for receiving up-to-date news. And that was only what
he immediately remembered off the top of his head.
Later, he also remembered messenger Patronuses.
However, while it might do a lot to reduce the fodder
for the gossips, these kids were going to be harassing
the staff for the chance to floo-call their loved ones,
just to check for themselves they were alright. And, of
course, it wasn't going to take long for at least one of
them to remember the wizarding wireless carried
'news bulletins'; not just played the 'latest' hit by
Celestina Warbeck or The Weird Sisters.
He was surprised, though, that the news of it had been
kept, for the most part, unknown to the rest of the
students until then.
'An embargo, perhaps?' he thought.
What no one knew, though, was the answer was going
to be discovered very soon.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After a very long night and after only a few hours of
sleep on a conjured cot in her office, Bones was again
sitting at her desk. She was currently nursing a very
strong cup of coffee, trying to wake herself up without
resorting to Pepper-Up potions or the like.
She was about to demand another update when
Scrimgeour gave a quick knock on her office door and
walked in leading one of the junior aurors who
manned the floo-call room.
"Ma'am," he said, looking grave. "Young auror Wilks,
here, just received a call that I think you should hear
about."
When both turned to look at him, the auror gave a
quick swallow of nervousness and said, "Ma'am, as
the Seniors have demanded when one of these calls
has come in, I tried to get the person on the other end
of the call to give me more information about where
they thought their missing loved one might have gone
last... sorry... two nights ago.
"I... umm... the witch who flooed me was quite reticent
to tell me, but she eventually told me that her father...
that's Hugh Huntingdon, Ma'am... told her he was
going to an important meeting at Nott Manor; and that
he was not to be disturbed unless... as he apparently
told her... 'somebody important had died'."
When the young auror didn't say anything further, she
demanded, "Anything else? Anything... that she may
have told you that has you think she might not have
been honest with you?"
"No, Ma'am," the auror immediately returned. "I
think... actually, I'm pretty sure... she was telling me
the truth."
Bones gave a firm nod and said, "Thank you, Auror.
You may return to your duties."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Chapter 590
"Thank you, Ma'am," nodded the auror before he
braced up for a moment, turned tail and quickly
hurried from the office.
As he did, she turned her eyes to Scrimgeour and
said, "Rufus..."
Before she said anything further he said, "I'll form a
team and go there right now."
She nodded and said, "Good. Make sure you take at
least half a dozen with you and you let me know as
soon as you can what you find. I suggest calling one
of our house elves to carry the message for you,
Patronus me or send back an auror."
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied, before also walking out.
As he closed the door behind himself, she slumped
back into her chair, closed her eyes and massaged the
bridge of her nose.
'Please, let us know what happened from what Rufus
discovers,' she thought.
She didn't even know who she was asking, but it
didn't matter anyway.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
At Hogwarts the day, of course, started out being one
where the staff were doing their damnedest to distract
their students with school work and where the
students kept suffering from point deductions for 'not
paying attention in class' due to being distracted by
matters not relating to the distractions the staff were
trying to employ.
Even in double Charms with the students of his Fifth
Year Gryffindor/Ravenclaws, Flitwick was being firm.
His usually pleasant and affable demeanour was quite
suppressed.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Scrimgeour appeared outside the gates of Nott Manor
leading a team of six aurors, two ward breakers and
two curse breakers, just in case.
Immediately, the four 'breakers' turned to the gates of
the manor and began casting. The first thing they did
was cause the wards to 'ping', alerting whoever was
inside that there was someone at the gate seeking
entrance. It was the polite way to magically 'knock'.
When there was no response from either a wizard,
witch or house elf within thirty seconds, Scrimgeour
firmly said, "Right. Get us in."
The breakers set to work.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
With a few more reports of missing witches or wizards
coming in - mainly wizards - during the morning, no
one had any clue as yet as to what had happened.
However, with the exception of a few cases, almost all
of those reported missing or dead where 'onceImperiused' supposedly ex-Death Eaters.
'Did they all participate in another failed resurrection
ritual?' she thought. However, that was something for
her, only. That possibility would not be discussed.
She'd only ten minutes earlier received a report from
Scrimgeour that they were finishing the last few
minutes of bringing down the wards on the Nott
manor before they'd be going in. Now she had to yet
again experience that bane of all combat troops;
'Hurry up and wait.'
She'd only just had that thought when Scrimgeour's
messenger Patronus bound into the room. 'We've
found 'em, Ma'am. About fifty of 'em. All dead. We
need forensics.'
Bones didn't know whether to be relieved or alarmed.
A moment later, after accepting the message in her
own mind and going over what she needed to do, she
rose from her desk and strode from the office.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Standing in the middle of the Nott manor reception
hall, Bones was looking down at a line of forty six
magical body bags. All the 'occupants' of those bags
had been identified. Slightly less than a handful of
them, all witches, had been found upstairs in the
ladies' parlour. They'd been bagged and brought down
here to add to the line.
Over two dozen of her aurors were either standing
around and awaiting orders, or were combing through
the manor, looking for more bodies or evidence.
They'd also already found three house elves; one in
the kitchen, one in the parlour and one in here, the
reception hall.
Then a messenger Patronus entered and spoke to
Scrimgeour. 'Found another body. In the basement.
Young wizard. Looks like the missing Ronald Weasley.
There's another elf body down here, too.'
Just as that one completed its message, another from
the same auror entered. 'And I think I've found what's
caused this. Failed potions. Same location.'
Scrimgeour immediately spun to one of the Seniors
and ordered, "Send one of our Potion Masters and a
Healer to the basement."
The Senior nodded and hurried off to send the two
down.
When he turned back, Bones said, "Let's go join them.
I need to know for myself and with my own eyes what
happened here."
Scrimgeour nodded and turned to one of the Masters,
"Proudfoot. You're in charge up here. Ready the
bodies for portkey to Saint Mungo's, but don't send
them yet. I don't think even they'll have room for this
many bodies to turn up in their Mortuary all at once."
As the two headed for the door leading down to the
basement, Bones mentally kicked herself for not
thinking of that, too.
'Lack of sleep,' she thought. 'It'll get you killed.'
It was one of the golden rules they were taught in the
Auror Academy.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
An hour and a half later, after first reporting what she
knew to both the Minister and the Chief Warlock,
Bones stepped in front of the lectern outside the
DMLE she used to give 'doorstop' interviews to the
press. The press area was packed.
Quickly getting silence, with those barking questions
at her quickly force to shut up, she said, "Good
afternoon. At approximately 8.30am this morning, a
young auror tasked with monitoring the emergency
floo-call room in the department, was given what he
thought was a lead on what had happened to one of
the witches and wizards who had gone missing two
nights ago..."
After covering the background that led to her sending
her Head Auror and a large team of aurors to Nott
Manor, she then went over what their forensics had
quickly determined once they'd entered the basement
of the manor.
Once done, she firmly said, "Now, if you don't try and
bark your questions at me, I'll now try to answer
them."
One, clearly the fastest and who didn't seem to need
to take a breath first, snapped, "Who died?"
"That information, as always and as per the law, will
be withheld until the families of all the deceased are
notified," she replied. "I hope that will be
accomplished by late this evening."
"Can you at least give us some of the names?"
another demanded, loudest of those asking.
"No," she replied.
"Who murdered them?" another asked.
Glaring at the one who asked, she snapped, "No one!
As I've already said, our forensicists have already
determined it was a potions accident. As I said, it was
brought about by the failure of a potions stasis charm
covering three volatile and illegal potions. Next?"