The Magical Side of Things I
Chapter 6: The Magical Side of Things:
Hogwarts, December 2001
After leaving the babies at the Tower, all the vixen went back to Hogwarts. There they found Auror Alastor Moody. He looked like he had been waiting there for the whole day and night.
“Alastor” said Albus, surprised “What are you doing here?”
“Hello Albus, my question is where the hell were all of you for the past week?!”
“We have been dealing with a sensitive issue concerning Harry Potter” explained Albus, worried about how his old friend was behaving
“Well, I hope your sensitive issue worked out, because while you were gallivanting on who knows where, Alice and Frank have been attacked by Bellatrix and the Lestrange Brothers. Neville was luckily unhurt, but his parents are now permanent residents at the Janus Thickey Ward!”
“What?” said Minerva, going still completely
“Yes, it seems that although Sirius kicked her out of the Black Family and took out Rodolphus' wand hand, they managed to break the Longbottom’s mind” , explained Alastor, saddened. He knew both of them since they had entered the Auror academy, and had worked with them in the Order.
“What about Neville? Lily was his godmother, but I am afraid that is no longer an option…” said Sirius.
“Augusta has taken the baby, and fortified Longbottom Manor with war wards once again.” explained Mad-Eye.
“I will send her a patronus in order to talk with her, see if we can manage to cure Frank and Alice.” said Albus, looking at Madame Pomfrey to see if she was optimistic. She was not.
Meanwhile, Sirius had been sitting on the ground trying to process it all: James’ death, leaving Harry in America for a while, Peter’s betrayal… and now the Longbottoms. He suddenly stood up, and walked straight to Dumbledore. Grabbing him by the cloak, he began to scream
“HAPPY NOW CHESSMASTER? HAPPY?! Tell me Albus, who else has to die for you to finally begin trusting us! You have been playing with us, risking our lives. Tell me! What about Remus?! Where is he? Why did you send him away? Did you think he was the spy?! Or worse, did you send him away because that way people would think I was the traitor and Harry would stay with you?!” Sirius was now crying while screaming, all his emotions flowing out of his body “Answer ME!”
“Sirius, lower Albus to the ground” began Minerva “Sirius, while I understand your anger and I share it, screaming at Albus is not going to solve anything” She held his hand while he released Albus, and then hugged Sirius while he cried.
“Albus” she said, sending him a glare “I hope you know I dissuaded Sirius not for your safety at the moment, but for the fact that Harry is going to need him. You are going to need a lot of time in order to get back into my good graces. This night has cost me 4 of my greatest friends.”
“That doesn’t mean we should not prepare for the future. Sirius, do you know if Peter still lives in his flat?” asked McGonagall.
“Yes, he still lives there. Or rather he didi, I don’t know if he could have escaped or anything” said Sirius, still a little constipated from all the crying.
“Well then, Alastor and you are going to go there. See if he’s still there.” at Sirius' murderous stare, she added “Sirius, we need him alive so subdue him by all means necessary but do NOT kill him. Understood?”
“Yes Professor” joked Sirius
“Very funny Mr. Black… I have not been your teacher for four years, yet you still managed to cause me grey hairs from the stress.” Minerva had worried endlessly when she first heard that the Marauders and Lily had joined the war effort, already picturing their funerals.
“Okay, then you will go to the Ministry where Albus, after he contacts Mr Lupin and tells him to come back to Hogwarts, will meet you. I’ll write to Madam Longbottom to see if she can also attend the emergency Wizengamot Session Albus will request. There, present Pettigrew and don’t let him leave until he has been thoroughly interrogated, do you understand me?”
“Yes,Minerva” the three men said at once.
While Albus had been the chief strategist for the Order, many a time Minerva had saved able fighters not only with magical prowess, but with her quick-thinking and cool head under pressure. She had been a hastall after all.
“Perfect, now go!”
Albus left, thoroughly chastised, to his office in order to contact Remus through Fawkes, while Alastor and Sirius began the trek back to the school gates.
“Now Poppy, I need to prepare the school for Christmas, care to help me?” asked Minerva
“Glad to Minerva, the students will need cheering up in any way”
Hogwarts Gate
Alastor and Sirius walked in silence until they reached the gates. Sirius had walked looking to the ground the whole time. Alastor understood him, Sirius was probably one of the few people hit hardest by the events of last month. He had lost his best friend to the betrayal of the other, the loss of his best friend’s wife and two of the best people he knew in the Auror Corps. And to top it all off, he had to leave Harry with a virtual stranger in a foreign land for his protection.
“Hey, Sirius, are you better” asked, for once, gently Alastor
“Yes Alastor, I think I am tiny bit better, thinking of Harry. You should meet him, Mad-Eye, in the future. He is a very good and powerful baby, and I have a feeling you will like him” said Sirius, going a bit starry-eyed when thinking of his godson.
Alastor, noticing this, decided to entertain Sirius a bit more, “I am sure” he began, voice kind “that if he's anything like his parents, I will like him”
“I think he will be even better, Alastor” said Sirius “or so I hope” finished the animagus.
Alastor went back to business, after all Pettigrew was still at large and could scape at any given time.
“Well Sirius, could you tell me where Peter lives?” asked Alastor, face and voice back to his characteristic seriousness.
“He lives, or lived, near Victoria Station in London” said Sirius, face transforming from calm to murderous.
“Well, let’s catch a rat.” declared Sirius.
Headmaster’s Office, Hogwarts
Albus reached his office and threw himself on his golden chair, Fawkes crooning in his perch by way of welcome.
“Hello Fawkes, I am afraid that we have a pretty big mess to solve ahead of us” Albus told the phoenix, who crooned sad on the face of his master.
“Fawkes, I need you to deliver a message to Remus Lupin. He needs to come back to Hogwarts immediately” said Albus, while writing a note to Remus explaining everything that had happened since Halloween. Remus had been sent to the werewolf packs, in order to gather intel for future wolf attacks.
Finishing the letter, he tied to Fawkes claw, and saw him flash out of his office in a flame.
Sitting back down, Albus thought back to Sirius’ dressing down of him and what he had told him. Was that how many at the Order felt about him? A Chessmaster? It was true that he created plans and used his people to execute them, but he did care about them! If he did not reveal his plans in advance it was because of the security risk it meant. Anyone could report it back to Tom, and he could not risk that.
Now, with a clearly distraught Sirius, who was evidently not going to trust him in the near future, he had to reform his plans concerning the prophecy and baby Harry. Sitting on his chair, he began to formulate new plans, thinking how he could ensure Harry would defeat Voldemort again. He did not realise, though, that what he was doing was the exact same thing that had caused Siris’s outburst in the first time.
Peter Pettigrew’s flat, London
Alastor and Sirius apparated to Victoria Station and headed directly to Peter’s flat. They reached the door and saw it had been blown off. At that, Moody moved his magical-eye around the house, and signalled to Sirius that there were 2 people inside the flat. Drawing their wands,Sirius and Alastor disillusioned themselves and began to walk inside the flat very slowly. There, they found Pettigrew scrambling to collect his essentials while Lucius watched him with barely hidden contempt in his eyes.
Getting into position, Sirius and Alastor crossed looks and began casting at the Death Eaters.
“Stupefy!” shot Alastor from his wand, aiming at Pettigrew. He had fought Lucius before and he knew that Malfoy was a dangerous foe to fight. He decided to take out the Rat first, allowing him to focus with Sirius on Lucius.
“Incarcerous!” Sirius, meanwhile, began to cast at Lucius. Going for the relatively harmless spell, he saw how Lucius just burned the ropes. Enraged, he began to up his game.
“Shadow Hand! Ignis iactus! Ventus Maxima!” The spell chain was designed so, if the Shadow Hand stuck, the receiver would be burned and thrown back. If the receiver ducked the Shadow Hand, Ignis Iactus and the Ventus Maxima could still cause a lot of damage.
“Is that all Black?! Clypeus Aureus!” Lucius teased Sirius, and cast a golden shield meant to protect Malfoys from elemental spells.
“Obscuro Impetu!” This Black Family spell caused temporal blindness to the victim, and was very useful in night attacks, as the spell’s colour adapted to the night’s lighting, making it almost invisible. As Peter had not bothered to turn on the lights, the spell worked, and Lucius was temporarily subdued. Sirius turned to help Moody to find him holding a stupefied Pettigrew. Sirius, wanting to be sure he stayed that away, cast the anti-animagus charm, Non-Transformare Animagus, ensuring Peter’s captivity.
Sadly, the spell Sirius cast on Lucius wore out and, when Malfoy noticed the scenario he was in, he apparated to the Manor on the spot.
Hearing the crack, Moody turned around, and said ragefully “Sirius! You let him escape! Why did you not trap him with anything?” Moody had taught Sirius, and he sure as hell told him to always subdue his enemies!
“I am sorry Mad-Eye, I charmed Peter and forgot about Lucius… At least we have what we came for. And you saw Lucius, and how he was eyeing Peter. He won’t lift a finger to help him once he is under Ministry Power.”
“You better be right Sirius…” finished Moody
“Well, shall we meet Dumbledore at the Ministry?” asked Sirius
“Yes, let’s apparate near the worker’s entrance. There is a floo there where we can transport Pettigrew” agreed Moody.
Minerva McGonagall’s Office, Hogwarts
Minerva had just finished penning her letter to Augusta Longbottom and went to her window, where a Hogwarts owl was waiting for her. Attaching the letter to the owl, she sent it off, hoping that the War Wards activated in the manor would let a letter of hers to go through.
Having finished that, she floo’ed Fillius in order to speak with him about what had happened these past few weeks. He deserved to know because if James had been her best student of the Marauder’s generation, Lily had been Filius’ and he deserved to know what happened to her child. Plus, she wanted to enjoy the array of faces that he would go through when she explained Harry’s living situation to the Charms Master.
“Oh Filius” she said to herself grinning “You are not going to believe me when I explain…”