It was with a gasping shriek that Dorea Euphemia Potter woke from her fitful slumber during hours before dawn on the first of November in the year nineteen hundred and eighty one of the common era. It didn’t take her very long to realize the source of her terror, as the ring she wore as the Lady Matriarch of House Potter informed her that her only son had just been killed.
Dorea stood from her bed and quickly made her way over to her dresser to find appropriate clothing when another sensation of shock hit her, as the ring informed her that her son’s wife had just joined him in death. No longer caring if she was dressed, Dorea grabbed her wand and the most easily accessible of her daggers, and immediately Apparated to her grandson’s nursery, fully expecting to face a group of Death Eaters.
Only, it wasn’t a group of Death Eaters who greeted her on her arrival, but rather, the rapidly disintegrating form of Lord Voldemort himself. She could tell, just by watching it happen, that this man would eventually claw his way back into the world of the living, since as a Daughter of the House of Black, she knew all about the existence of the abominable magic he used to anchor his existence to the world of the living. However, that discovery took up only a fraction of her attention.
Rather, it was the fact that her grandson was actively in the middle of a temper tantrum, and visibly bleeding from his forehead, that caused her to sag in relief, as it meant that her husband’s family had not just been wiped off the face of the planet.
Once the Dark Lord had been completely vaporized, Dorea took the time to actively ward the area against those who bore the Dark Mark, and in doing so, ensured that the Ministry would be able to take custody of Voldemort’s wand, rather than allowing it to fall into the hands of the rat known as Peter Pettigrew.
She then walked over to little Harry’s crib and performed a few diagnostic charms, which immediately told her that the wound on his forehead was infected with a trace of the Dark Lord’s magical signature. Fortunately, that was all it was, a trace amount of his magic, rather than a sliver of his soul. She only managed to make that distinction, however, it was actually impossible to create an accidental Horcrux, and Voldemort would not have been so foolish as to place part of his soul in the body of someone he clearly intended to kill.
She then went about healing the cut, which took only a second, but still left a noticeable scar on his brow. Once that was done, Dorea knelt down and picked her grandson up and carried him down the hall to the master bedroom, since the nursery was quite badly damaged.
It was from here that she heard the loud rumbling that announced the arrival of her grandnephew, Sirius Black, who she had long since considered to be as good as her own son. Now, however, she found herself questioning whether or not he truly was as loyal to her actual son as he always claimed to be, since he had been the one to inform her of the secret which concealed her son’s cottage.
She listened as he discovered the bodies of her son and daughter-in-law, and based on the grief coming from him, she could say he was either a very good actor, or else that her son had changed secret keepers at some point. “Where! Where’s Harry! If that rat bastard took him, if my godson’s…”
“Peace, Sirius.” Dorea spoke as she returned to the nursery with Harry still in her arms.
“Aunt Dorea?” Sirius asked in a shocked tone of voice as he realized that he had failed to protect everyone he loved except for his godson.
Dorea gave him a sorrowful look, as she moved over to stand next to him, but her legs buckled halfway through the distance as the entire building shook from the footsteps of an absolutely massive individual. Turning around to face the entrance, Dorea found that the door was now being filled by the massive form of Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
“Sirius, Lady Potter.” The giantish man inclined his head to each of them, “Headmaster Dumbledore sent me ter collect young Harry.”
“Did the Headmaster bother to tell you that you would be guilty of kidnapping the last scion to a Noble House if you did as he asked, especially if you tried to take Harry from either of our custody, since Sirius is his godfather, and I am the Lady Matriarch of the Noble House in question?”
“Er… Well, no.” Hagrid admitted.
“Would I be wrong in assuming that he also failed to inform you that being found guilty of such a crime comes with a compulsory stay in Azkaban of no less than ten years?” Dorea queried. She didn’t even need to see the horrified expression on Hagrid’s face to know that she was correct. After she let that sink in for a moment, Dorea turned away from the half-giant and looked at her nephew, while saying, “Sirius, I know you want to punish someone for what happened here, I do too, but please don’t do anything rash.”
“We can’t just let Pettigrew get away with this!” Sirius roared as he stood and immediately Apparated away, which caused Dorea to release a disappointed sigh.
She then turned back to look at Hagrid and said, “Please return to Hogwarts, Hagrid. Feel free to share what I told you with the Headmaster, even if only so you can see how he reacts. Have no fear that the House of Potter will rise from these ashes stronger than we were before.”
Hagrid did his best to bow in a formal manner, before pulling himself back out of the partially destroyed nursery in as delicate a manner as his large frame would allow for. Once he was back outside, he disappeared with a noticeable crack.
It was only a minute later, when Auror Amelia Bones made her presence known, having already moved beyond Hagrid before he left so she would be largely unnoticed, and because of this, she had heard the entire conversation that occurred within the nursery. “So, um… will I actually need to arrest my favorite member of the Hogwarts staff?”
“Perish the thought, I was just warning him what he would be facing had he succeeded in the mission he had been sent on. Fortunately, Hagrid is much smarter than he sometimes appears to be, and only needed a gentle push to make the right decision.” Dorea explained for the young Auror’s benefit.
“Anyways, do you actually have a testimony to offer us, or did you show up after everything came to an end?” Amelia questioned.
“First, can I ask why you came into a potentially hostile situation without backup?” Dorea queried.
“Well, you have to understand, we wouldn’t have even known anything was going on if Sirius hadn’t made a Floocall, and unfortunately, I’m the only person on the Auror Force who’s been given the secret, and that’s only because Lily asked if I would look after Harry if something happened to him, since her first pick for his godmother was not someone that James agreed with.”
“I see,” Dorea admitted. She had of course been aware that Lily had friends within Slytherin House, and that her son was very vocal in his support of Dumbledore’s bias against those who call Slytherin their home during their Hogwarts years, it wasn’t helped by the fact that the vast majority of the Death Eaters were in fact drawn from the House of the Cunning.
The unfortunate truth, however, was that her son had failed to understand the fact that a witch or wizard was not defined solely by what house they were sorted into, and that was something she blamed herself for, as she failed to teach him that lesson over the years. It was something she would correct with young Harry.
Sighing, Dorea said, “As to whether I have a testimony, I do, but it is the sort of testimony that can only be given in the presence of the Minister, Chief Unspeakable, and Head of Magical Law Enforcement.”
Amelia’s eyes widened in shock as she quickly went through the list of situations when a testimony had to be given with those specific witnesses in the room. There were only three reasons she knew of off hand, and each one of them involved being witness to an act of High Treason, and the definition of that crime was the same in both magical and mundane Britain.
“Very well. I suppose we can take a quick detour to Potter Manor so you can have one of your elves look after Harry, but after that I’ll need to escort you to the Ministry so I can arrange that meeting.” Amelia offered in as formal a tone as she could manage.
“Thank you, Auror Bones.” Dorea agreed.
※※※※※※
It took about two hours for Amelia to arrange a meeting between Dorea, Minister Bagnold, Unspeakable Croaker and Bartemius Crouch Sr, and that was only because two of the three had tried to tell her that whatever it was could wait until after they had finished dealing with an influx of court cases that had just sprung up thanks to the Death Eaters all running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Eventually they agreed to meet the woman, and that was only made possible when Amelia had informed Unspeakable Croaker about who Dorea had invited to hear her testimony. He had grumbled but told her he would make it happen by the end of the day, and so she left to go sit in the room she had left Dorea while the grouchy old man did whatever it was he did to ensure they came to the meeting.
When the three entered, it was Millicent Bagnold who spoke first, “Is this really important enough to drag the three of us away from supervising the court proceedings, Lady Potter?”
“I suppose that depends on whether you want the peace my grandson bought us to last for more than a few relatively short years.” Dorea stated in a frosty tone of voice. “Now that you’re here, however, I suggest the three of you sit down and listen to what I have to say, as it won’t take very long.”
With a bit of grumbling, the three did as they were told, and then Dorea began her explanation. “Due to my upbringing within the House of Black, I know that there are ways to anchor your existence to the mortal plane, even in the event that your body is completely destroyed. In the event that someone has created such an anchor, then the only way to properly kill them is by finding and destroying the anchor itself.”
Bartemius Crouch scoffed and said, “Don’t be absurd. Death is the end of the road for everyone, and there is no coming back once you have passed into the hereafter.”
“You don’t listen, do you boy.” Croaker stated. “She just said that if you have one of these anchors, you just simply won’t die, even if your body is destroyed. And I can confirm, due to my vocation, that I know of such magic as well. The question, however, is what did you see to make you bring this sort of sorcery up inside the Ministry?”
Rather than answer, Dorea pulled out a wand that everyone in that room immediately recognized as having belonged to the Dark Lord, placed it on the table, and said, “I saw this wand’s owner turning to ash before my very eyes, and yet he continued to move around and scream as if in agony, and even after his body ceased to exist, his apparition flew from my son’s cottage for parts unknown.”
Millicent Bagnold was confused, because she didn’t see how this testimony qualified as a form of High Treason, as such she asked “Why did you decide to ask for the three of us to witness this testimony?”
Croaker grinned at the Minister and said, “Because, the creation of these anchors is a crime of such magnitude that it is the only one that is still punished by a mandatory jaunt through the Veil of Death, and as such, is now the only crime which counts as a legitimate act of High Treason within Magical Britain.”
“What on earth is the Veil of Death?” Amelia queried, having never heard of that before. In fact, it seemed like the Minister was just as clueless, as her face had scrunched up in confusion.
“Foolish nonsense that has never been proven to exist.” Bartemius Crouch explained in a curt manner, “Just like the so-called Deathly Hallows that the same myths claim were created at around the same time.”
“I can’t speak for the Hallows,” Croaker said as his gaze focused on Dorea, who narrowed her eyes at him, “But the Veil of Death is very real, and is actually located inside the Department of Mysteries. However, I am unable to say anything more on that topic, since my oaths prevent me from doing so.”
“In any event,” Crouch stated. “I suggest you refrain from mentioning this to anyone else, Lady Potter, or else I will have no choice but to charge you with fear mongering.” With that said, he stood up and left the room.
“While I appreciate knowing about this, I think it would have been better to simply hope for the best, rather than make us worry like this,” Minister Bagnold stated, as she too stood up and left.
Dorea sighed and said, “What about you, Algernon, are you also going to tell me I should have ignored what my own eyes told me?”
“Why would I do such a foolish thing?” Algernon countered. “If anything, you’ve given me a reason to do a very thorough background check on old Tommy boy, since I have no doubt he created more than one Anchor. It’s just a matter of finding them and taking them out of play.”
“Thank you for believing me,” Dorea said with a grateful smile on her face.
“On that note, I recommend you touch base with your brother and sister.” Croaker suggested as he stood and left the room.
Amelia sighed and said, “Well, that could have gone better.”
“On the contrary, dear.” Dorea stated. “It was always Croaker who I needed to convince. I had already known Crouch would focus more on apprehending the Death Eaters than countering a threat that is rather immaterial right now, and unfortunately, Bagnold isn’t the sort of person who ever wants to rock the boat as it were.”
Dorea’s expression grew distant for a moment, before she sighed, “Wonderful. Amelia, forgive me, but I need to return to my manor, it seems that someone is trying to bypass the wards.”
“Would you like me to accompany you?” Amelia questioned. “In my official capacity as an Auror, I mean.”
Dorea considered that for a moment, before nodding and saying, “But only because I think I know who this is.”
“Then grab hold, I can bypass the Ministry wards, but you’ll need to guide us past those protecting the Manor.” Amelia offered while extending an arm, which Dorea took, at which point they performed a Synchronized Apparition, which is different from a Side-Along Apparition, since in Side-Along only one person is responsible for directing the journey.
※※※※※※
Their landing was a bit rough, but the fact that they arrived well in advance of the wards being broken made it worth the effort, and from here, Dorea began buffering the wards with her magic, while Amelia walked out the front door in order to confront whomever it was that was attacking the manor.
What she found should have surprised her, but after what she heard Hagrid saying earlier, Amelia honestly wasn’t that surprised. “Headmaster Dumbledore, step away from the wardline and explain why you are attacking the wards of a law-abiding citizen like this.”
Headmaster Dumbledore adopted one of his disappointed grandfather looks, and said, “I’m afraid that this law-abiding citizen has abducted Harry Potter, I seek only to return him to his relatives.”
“Which relatives would those be? I only ask because the woman who lives in this manner is Harry’s paternal grandmother.” Amelia countered.
“Why his maternal relatives, my dear, as it was the sacrifice of his mother which ensured his survival against a terrible evil, which means he will be safest in her sister’s home.”
Amelia scowled at the old man and said, “I can’t speak for Lady Dorea, but I can say that if you were to try something like this with my niece, that I would be within my rights to declare a Blood Feud. As such, I encourage you to abandon your attempts to abduct, and yes I do mean abduct, the Potter scion and return to your duties as the Hogwarts Headmaster.”
“You should also know that a feud will begin if you fail to return my son’s cloak within the next four days.” Dorea interrupted from where she was observing the confrontation from well within the wardline.
Dumbledore narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out where she was standing, but in all likelihood, the woman had already begun moving to another location. In the end, he said, “Please see reason, Dorea. Harry will be safest where he can be protected by the bonds of his mother’s blood.”
“Depulso!” Dorea exclaimed from somewhere within the wards, and it was only due to his advanced age and superior skill as a wizard that Dumbledore managed to avoid the spell. “Expelliar---”
That was as far as Dorea got before Dumbledore Disapparated. At which point, Amelia walked back inside the ward line, since she was still welcome to do so, and said, “Not that I mind, but why the nonlethal spells after everything he said.”
“Most wizards can go their whole life without ever needing to replace their wand, so I find it curious then, that Dumbledore not only has a different wand than the one he had when I was a student at Hogwarts, but that his current wand is identical in appearance to the one that Gellert Grindelwald made famous throughout his reign of terror.”