"Hey, Remus, I have a question," Sirius said, putting his fork down. "When did Hogwarts drop rituals?"
"About the time we graduated," the werewolf answered, putting his cup down. "I asked Albus, and he said that there were too many muggleborns that didn't like rituals. He said it was like they thought it was summoning evil or something. I really couldn't get a good answer out of him." The man frowned at the vagueness of Dumbledore's reply. It smacked of lying without lying. Something the Headmaster was good at.
"That's horrible," cried Andi, appalled at what she was hearing. "How could he do something so monumental? Rituals are the backbone of this culture," she hissed, extremely upset by this news. "Nymphadora, why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know it ever was a class," protested Tonks. "I thought it was a family tradition. You know like the holidays and stuff."
"No, it most certainly is not," huffed Andi, looking at Remus for the answer.
"Like I said, Albus blames it on the muggleborn. Well, not blames, per se, but…" he shrugged. "That's his reason, like changing Samhain and Yule to Halloween and Christmas," he offered as if that explained everything.
"Shite, no wonder the purebloods are up in arms," Sirius reiterated his earlier comment. "We need to do something about that." He looked to all the adults, who looked confused as to what happened to the class. They, all but Tonks and Bill, had been taught rituals in school.
"Rituals?" Hermione asked, poising as if the answer was especially important. "What are rituals? I mean, I know what they are, but why would wizards need them?" she asked, thinking of the new age wiccans. She had read a few of the books over the summer, but it all seemed like hooey to her.
"Rituals are the bases of magic," Sirius repeated what he told Harry. "They are performed when wands don't do what is needed. There are many different types, but mostly it's used for family magic, nowadays. That and various Sabbats," he added, thinking of all the past ones he participated in.
"How?" she asked, not understanding how a summoning 'magic', was like casting spells.
"Well, first of all, magic is alive," the older man answered, knowing that more firmly after this morning's events. "I used it to reclaim my house. If magic didn't feel I was up to the challenge, then I'd still be an ex-con with no family."
"Honestly, magic is alive?" Hermione scoffed; her logical mind could not comprehend that.
"It is," Harry insisted, "I felt it myself, jus this morning," he added, frowning a bit at her.
"What did it feel like?" the bushy-haired girl asked, more than willing to believe Harry.
"Like a mum's hug," he stated, his eyes getting vacant for a moment. "That, and I've always thought Hogwarts was sentient," he said, shaking the warm feeling away.
"Well," Hermione started, then thought about all the times that she had simply found her way when lost in the castle, "I guess that does make a bit of sense. Does that mean wandless magic is the same as wanded, just more like praying?" she pondered.
"Not quite, but a bit like that, yeah. You see, wizards didn't always have wands," Remus started, taking a sip of coffee. "They used rituals to do their magic. Mostly, like Sirius said, for family magic and Sabbats. Chanting and dancing to call upon magic to assist them in things like crops, family, healing and other such things. When wands came about, they just changed the rituals into words. When you cast a spell, you are still calling on magic to do your deed. However, now you are doing it quickly."
"However, there are still things that need to be done by ritual," Bill added, looking at all the confused faces of the teens. "I use rituals a lot in my line of work. The goblins more so. Using a ritual is, like Hermione suggested, like saying a prayer, only instead of asking a deity, you're asking an entity."
"What's the difference?" Harry asked, having finished it meal. He was that hungry. Then a bit sheepishly, he scooped up some more eggs.
The Weasley children were hanging on every word of the conversation. They too were taught a few rituals for the holidays. Small things. They didn't, however, know that it had ever been a class. It made sense though, those like Harry and Hermione wouldn't have anyone to teach them.
"An entity is something has a distinct existence as an individual unit, like ghosts, or magic. It usually doesn't have a solid physical form. While deity is 'the state of being a god', 'a divine character', or a 'being of omnipresence'," the curse breaker said, leaning back in his chair. This was magic 101 to him. He thought it was taught in Magical Theory class. He wondered if that had been cut too. He voiced that question.
"No, we don't have a Magical Theory class, but McGonagall and Flitwick teach us the basics in first year," Ron answered, wondering just how messed up Hogwarts was.
"Also, Hermione, Harry, we may say thanks to Merlin a lot, or even curse by him, but we don't really consider him a god," Remus explained. "Religion is not a big deal to wizards. Not when we can make miracles happen every day," he added.
"Isn't that blasphemy?" a confused Hermione asked, wondering when this dipped into religion. She wasn't a devout follower, but she did say her prayers every night.
"But wait," Harry said, his brow bunched in confusion, stopping anyone from answering Hermione's accusation for a moment, "don't you call upon magic, like Bill said, in a prayer like fashion?" His thoughts on what Sirius has done just this morning
"Yes, but magic is not a god. It's a source. To use it, you should call upon it," Remus tried to explain. "It more like asking for something to help you do what you can do naturally. Praying is more like asking for miracles that are out of your hands. We magical folk have magic given to us at birth. A core, if you will. If our core gets depleted, via spell casting, natural magic replenishes it. So, when we want something done, we ask our magic to touch natures magic to help us manifest what we need."
"This is confusing," murmured Harry, going back to his food. He knew that the voice he heard was magic. So, if it had a voice had a presence, didn't that make it a deity? He was going to have to do some research on that. Maybe he'd ask the entity, for guidance. Now that he thought about it, ghosts talk and mixed with the living, as if they were still thinking beings. Maybe he'd ask them.
"So, you're saying that the magical world doesn't believe in God?" Hermione said, thinking if she had ever heard anyone say that out loud.
"How can we worship a deity that says witchcraft is evil?" Harry asked, thinking hard on all he knew about the Christian religion. "I know my aunt and her family attend church every Sunday. They never took me, something about being evil as well as a freak."
"that is not a very Christian thing to say," she said, placing a hand on his arm.
"Well, their bigotry turned me off religion. I mean what if all churches subscribe to this belief?" Harry said, giving her a lopsided smile.
"No, not all of them do," protested Hermione, giving his arm and squeeze then turning to the older people at the table. "I mean, there are some churches that don't discriminate," she added.
"Let me stop this conversation right now. This has gone beyond magical theory. Religion is not to be discussed at the table," Andromeda said sharply. In her belief, religion and politics were not discussed while eating. Too much tension, made for a foul-tasting meal. "You have your beliefs, we have ours. It is not your place to tell us we are wrong," she kindly said to Hermione, who nodded firmly once.
"You're right," she said, softly. "My parents taught me better than that. I will stick to my beliefs, and not insult yours." The more she tried to understand and embrace the wizarding culture, the more confused she got. Was she supposed to suspend her beliefs, and embrace theirs? She wasn't sure she could do that.
"It's alright, Hermione. This debate is ongoing, and has been for thousands of years," Ted said, kindly, putting his hand on his wife's shoulder. "It is up to you who you pray to. I would suggest that you read a few books on magical theory, and make up your own mind, okay?" he said gently. After all, he had once been in her shoes.
She nodded and looked to Sirius, who nodded to her that 'yes, she would find them in the library'. She smiled and hurried to finish her meal.
"Back to rituals," Sirius said, looking at everyone seeing if they had dropped religion for now. "We need to get that back on the curriculum. I will teach anyone here what I know, but it needs to be taught at Hogwarts," he said firmly.
"You younger Weasleys need to ask your parents if that is okay. Though, I don't see why it wouldn't be, but that is not our call," Andi said, dropping her fork on her plate, finished with her meal.
"I tried to get him to see reason, when I was there, Sirius. Albus is firm in his resolve. I don't know how that will change," Remus said, shaking his head.
"Well, I know it wasn't taught to me," Bill added, rubbing his forehead in thought. "The goblins, like Sirius, are very upset that that those courses were dropped. They have to teach all new curse breakers. It's frustrating to them." He sat back a moment and pondered. "I know Mum might have something to say about you four learning more than you already know, but Dad will give his okay. So next time you check in, ask him."
"We will," the twins said, glancing around at all the stubborn faces.
"You need to ask your parents too, Hermione," Ted said, looking at the girl who was bouncing at learning something new.
Even if she didn't entirely approve, she still wanted to learn. Until she did, she couldn't make a decision. Mr. Tonks was right; she'd have to clear it with her folks. She resolved to write them after breakfast and ask Harry if she could use Hedwig. She could still read on magical theory though, that should be safe enough.
"I'll look into it, everyone," Sirius said, finishing off his eggs. "Kreacher," he called.
"Master calls," the elf said, popping next to the man.
"Yeah, can you get the book I loaned Hermione. I need to check some things," he ordered the elf.
"Yes, Master," Kreacher said, popping away. A few seconds later the book was on the table.
"You could have asked," Hermione stated, folding her arms. "I wasn't finished with that," the girl complained, putout that the house elf could just take anything from her room. Even if it was Sirius' to begin with.
"I'll let you use it again, later. I need it right now for my duties as a Lord. If I want things to change in Hogwarts, I need this information to get people on my side. I might not have to bribe for this, though," he chastised, though he really should have told her he was claiming it back.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"No, you're right, I could have asked, and I apologize for that. Still, I might copy it for you, if you ask politely," Sirius said with a wink to show he was just joshing. He then picked up the book and thumbing through the first few pages. "Not right now though. Harry, can you go and get dressed?" he asked, not looking up.
"Yeah, sure," the teen said, moving to do just that.
The rest of breakfast passed in quiet whispers, with Bill and Remus explaining what they could. Moody was just watching everyone, thinking of the things he was going to ask Albus. Something wasn't right at Hogwarts. Andi and Ted had left to get ready for the day. Kingsley and Tonks were sipping their cups, waiting for the time to leave for work.
Harry soon came down, dressed in nice green day-robes. "I'm ready," he said to Sirius, who looked up from his reading.
He saw Harry, closed his book, put it in his pocket and stood. "We're going to head to the Ministry," he said to the table. "Bill, we'll have that talk later. Moody, Moony, maybe you two can go to Wiltshire and look around. Don't try and get into the house and remember the wards."
"Did you teach your grandmum to suck eggs too?" Moody grumbled, getting up from the table.
"Right, sorry," Sirius said, rubbing the back of his head.
"We'll be careful," Remus said, joining Alastor.
"We have to go to work," Kingsley said, making his way to the Floo. Tonks joined him.
"We'll see you there," Sirius said to the two Aurors.
Everyone split-up to do their thing. The teens still discussing what they learned that morning. The Weasleys imparting what they had been taught by their parents. Since it was so little, they were sure it would be okay to let Hermione know.
Harry and Sirius used the Floo and were soon in the atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
"Oh my, what is that thing?" Harry asked, looking aghast at The Fountain of Magical Brethren. It was appalling. The only house elf he had ever seen with that look was Dobby. But Dobby was a special case. That elf was batshit crazy, in a good way.
"Yeah, ignore that," Sirius said, curling his lip at the depiction of magical creatures worshipping wizards. If he had his way, he and a few others would come when the place was closed and melt the damn thing.
"Not a problem," Harry said, shaking his head in disgust.
They made their way to the elevators and Sirius pressed the button for the DMLE.
"Why are we going there?" the teen asked, ducking the paper airplanes that were flying around the lift.
"We need to talk to Amelia Bones, then I need to register," his brother explained, reading the floor numbers, and listening to the voice telling them which floor was which.
"Who is she?" the boy asked, thinking of Susan Bones.
"The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement," Sirius said, looking at the ceiling, like he was trying to read the memos.
They came to their floor and stepped out with about five others. Sirius led the way to Amelia's office. The Aurors were giving him dark looks. They didn't like that he had gotten off on a technicality. They would have felt better if he had had a trial. Still, he was a free man and they could do nothing about it.
Sirius stopped at the secretary's desk. "I'd like to speak to Madam Bones, please."
"Is she expecting you?" the woman asked, charming her long shapely nails different colors.
"She told me to drop by," the dogman lied, slightly. She had told Ted she wanted to talk to him.
"Who shall I tell her is calling?" the woman asked, finally settling on lime green nails.
"Black, Lord Sirius Black," he said, his eyes boring into hers, now that she deemed to look up.
"Shite," the woman softly swore. "I'll let her know," she said, getting up quickly and waving them to chairs.
It only took a minute, they hadn't even sat down, before the woman came out and waved them over.
"She'll see you now," the secretary said, her voice quivered a bit as she held open the door.
"Thanks," Harry said when Sirius just moved past her.
"Oh, my word, you're Harry Potter," the woman exclaimed. She had been so nervous being around the alleged ex-con that she hadn't even registered the teen.
"Yeah, uh, thanks again," Harry said and hurried to enter the room.
Sirius was sitting in a chair in front of the large desk that was covered with piles of parchment. Harry moved to sit next to him.
"You wanted to see me, Lord Black?" the woman with a monocle asked, leaning back in her chair.
"Yes, Madam Bones. I wanted to register my Animagus form. And I needed to talk to you about a few things that should not leave this room. Unless the person you tell takes an oath. I mean, not even Dumbledore… well, he knows what I'm going to tell you, but he doesn't know that I am going to tell you," Sirius explained, making the poor woman confused for a second, until understanding lit her face.
"Hmmm," she murmured, tapping her chin in indecision. "Very well, follow me," she said standing and leading them to a door at the back of the room.
Once they entered all the background noise seemed to vanish.
"Wow, what is this place?" Harry asked, extremely impressed.
"A room the Unspeakables dreamed up. No one can hear us, and we can hear no one. There's an alarm on my office door that lets me know if someone comes in. Most just think this is the loo," she explained with a smirk. then her face firmed.
"Wicked," Harry said with awe. "I love magic," he added with a grin.
"It is something, isn't it," she agreed with him. "So, what did you need to tell me?" she looked at the two males, wondering if this had to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
"What do you know of horcruxes?" Sirius asked, conjuring three chairs.
"Vile things," Bones spat. Then again, realizations came over her. "You were telling the truth," she said to Harry in a mere whisper. She sat heavily on her chair and put her face in her hands. She didn't need this. Not with the crap Fudge had been saying about the teen over the summer. If it got back to him that he had been wrong, then all sorts of things could happen. Fudge did not like to be proven wrong. People disappeared when that happened.
"I can relieve some of your worries," Sirius said, taking a parchment out of his robes. "This is the last test run, by a curse-breaker. We have two dealt with. The two in Wiltshire, are still there and we think one is the self-proclaimed Dark Lord. We're not sure what the other one is, but we think it might be his snake. I'll deal with the one at Gringotts, tomorrow. I hope," he mumbled under his breath.
"And the one at Hogwarts?" she inquired, looking over the list.
"We don't really have a plan for that one," the dogman confessed. "However, there might be a way," he added thoughtfully. "Let me think on it a few days," he offered.
She scrunched her forehead in deep thought, then realizing she could do nothing about Hogwarts. Not while Dumbledore rul... was headmaster. So, nodding her head she gave her agreement. "Keep me informed please," she said to the ex-con.
"I will," he promised. "We also got the one in Little Hangleton," Sirius said, grimacing at the reminder that they almost lost two of their people.
"That's good to know. What was it?" Amelia asked, looking up from the paper. She wasn't sure if she completely believed them. They weren't showing her proof, but they didn't come off as lying either. So, for now she'd give them the benefit of the doubt.
"A ring," was all the answer he would give. "It's safe," he assured her.
"I should send a team to Wiltshire though. That is something I can do," she said, standing from her chair. It was her job after all, but she wasn't sure if her Aurors could handle it. Not with all the budget cuts over the years.
"Wait," Sirius said, holding up his hands. "We have someone on it. I know it's your job, but do you really think that Fudge would let you raid Malfoy's home?" he added, stressing where the horcrux might be.
"Shite," she said, slumping back in her seat. "Are you sure?" she asked, hoping for a negative answer.
"Yeah, a few of mine were there yesterday. They have some impressive wards," he answered, cutting a look to Harry, who looked like he was putting pieces of a puzzle together while the corners were missing.
"I'll let you deal with that then, but I want regular updates," she said harshly. Not that she was angry at Black, more like she was upset that her hands were tied.
"That's why I wanted to see you," Sirius said, pulling another parchment out of his robe. "This is my address," he said, handing it to her.
"Fidelius?" she asked once the knowledge came to her mind.
"Yeah, things got a bit hectic and I had to hide from Dumbledore, and a few others," Sirius said, taking the parchment back.
At those words, her brow furrowed. "The last I heard, you and Albus were on good terms."
"Let's just say we don't play well together anymore. I, and a few others, don't think that a pacifist should be leading us," was the answer, accompanied with a wink.
"I can agree with you there," she said with a nodded, then narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't do anything I have to arrest you for."
Sirius just gave her a wolfish grin.
"Why are you hiding from him though?" she asked instead.
"You know he was asking about Harry. Well he knew where Harry was the whole time. Well, he knew he was with me under the charm. He had no reason to be asking. I am the boy's guardian," Sirius puffed up importantly.
"I'd like to hear more on that, but we need to exit this room before someone comes in," she said, standing and going to the door.
"Right," Sirius said, following her, while Harry trailed him.
"Wait, we have to tell her about the Dementors," Harry said, right before they left the room.
"What Dementors?" Amelia asked, her eyes narrowed.
"The ones that almost killed me and my cousin," the teen said, backing up a bit from the angry woman.
"When did this happen?" she asked, pulling out a small notebook and pen.
"Um, about a week ago," Harry hedged, he wasn't quite sure the exact date. It felt like forever agon. "If my house elf, Dobby, hadn't popped us away, me and my cousin would've been Kissed."
"I'll look into it," she stated firmly, snapping her notebook shut. With that she turned on her heels and left the room.
Sirius and Harry shared a glance and followed.
"You cannot register here, you need to go to the Department of Magical Creatures," she said, moving her head back and forth to try crack her neck, and ward off the headache she felt coming.
"Why there?" Harry asked, confused.
"When a wizard becomes an Animagus, he is classified as a magical creature. That's why they must register," Bones answered, distractedly. She was pulling parchments towards her, making plans that would help the two in front of her.
"Oh," was all the boy said. He didn't agree, but then again, he didn't agree with a lot of what the Ministry does.
"One question. Why did you bring this to me if you are handling it?" she asked, looking up from her papers.
"Just because we get the 'things' doesn't mean he'll disappear," Sirius explained. Looking to Harry to see if he clued in.
Harry's face as a mass of emotions. He didn't know what a horcrux was. Only that it was vile, and that it kept Tom here. And now that he thought about it, there had been on in his head. He wasn't sure if he wanted the definition of the word. Or if he should just be happy that he was no longer one.
Amelia sighed. "You're right, I'm going to have to beef up my people," she said, thinking on how she could do that on the sly.
"You might want to keep a few handy around you too. You are a threat to 'him'," Sirius suggested, thinking that she was high-profile.
"You are correct again. I'll deal with my department. You go and register. Oh, and you might want to take a walk down to the DoM, I'm sure you know why. James was your best friend after all," she said, thinking of the prophecy, and what it meant to the boy sitting quietly.
"Will do," the dogman said cheerfully. In all reality, he had forgotten he told Harry there might be one. Now was as good a time as any. "Come on, Harry, let's leave Madam Bones to her work," he said, standing and bowing to the head of the DMLE.
"Yes, you've given me enough to worry about. Off with you," she said, grumbling under breath over the vast conundrum they had landed in her lap.
"It was nice to meet you, Madam Bones," Harry said as he was pulled out the door.
"Oh, um, yes, nice to meet you too, Mr. Potter," she said, just realizing that she had only spoken a few words with the boy. Well, she could be forgiven, after all, Black hadn't introduced him.
"I guess, we'll be staying here a bit longer," Sirius said, heading to the lifts. "We really need to see if there's one of those 'things' about you," he added, looking around to make sure they weren't heard. Other than the glares they were receiving, no one was paying too much attention to them.
"'Things?'" Harry asked, thinking hard on what Sirius had told him this summer. Then he remembered what the DoM was. "Shite," he swore, "I really hope you're wrong," he whispered. "The last thing I need is the public tagging me with the title 'The-Chosen-One'," he hissed, just picturing the sheep doing just that.
"Well, if there is one, then I would seriously contemplate staying with me for your schooling. Can you imagine what would happen at Hogwarts if that got out?" he said, softly as they stood in the back of the lift.
"Yeah," Harry said, very much imagining that happening.
Just then Tonks came in and saw them hiding in the back. She moved towards them, pushing people out of her way. "We have a problem," she hissed in Sirius' ear.
"What, again?" was all he could say.