5 - Disillusionment & Discoveries
30 September 1995
Hogwarts
The Silver Quartet had been at Hogwarts for a month now (and they were promptly renamed from the Golden Quartet to the Silver Quartet, by Draco, of all people, because Slytherin colours were green and silver, thank you very much, much to Alhena’s amusement).
Their timetables were a bit interesting, as Harry and Ron had allowed Alhena and Hermione to corral them into taking Ancient Runes to make up for four glaring absent periods. Alhena’s timetable consisted solely of double periods, Harry, Hermione, and Ron had to leave halfway through Alhena’s double History of Magic on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Care of Magical Creatures – which nobody batted an eye at, since nobody liked History with Binns. When the girls had Arithmancy, the boys had Divination, and Alhena just laughed as she showed them how to properly do the practical stuff afterwards, muttering something about sherry-soaked professors, before looking at the second years and saying with all seriousness, “Don’t take Divination. Trelawney’s classroom is a migraine inducer and these two wish they quit. Divination with Trelawney and History with Binns are the same: they would be better without the teachers.”
It took precisely one Defence lesson for each year before everyone was looking at Alhena in respect, although mutterings of Seer and Necromancer floated through the room. The Slytherins were also treated to one of Alhena’s legendary arguments with Linfred, which had even Severus pressed against a wall to avoid the legendary Black temper.
But now the quartet were in the corner of the common room, taking over a space beside a fireplace after Alhena and Hermione’s Runes Club was over. Alhena was idly twirling her wand while reading Hogwarts, a History (which she’d borrowed from Hermione), while Hermione was reading through The Grindelwald War: From Beginning to End (which she’d borrowed from Alhena), and Ron was glaring at his Divination textbook as if it insulted his ancestors, when Harry quietly spoke up. “Guys, am I the only one that’s slowly becoming disillusioned with Dumbledore and the Light?”
That was enough to focus their attention on him, and Alhena gestured for him to continue, so he did.
“When we were in Gryffindor, I didn’t bother questioning things. I mean, why should I have? Nobody did, to be honest.” Harry sighed. “But ever since Alhena’s ancestry became semi-public knowledge, I’ve been thinking over things. There isn’t any rhyme or reason to why certain magics, spells or potions are banned. There’s practically no information about the magical religions or necromancers that we can get from a source that isn’t one of the purebloods or Alhena. There are literally dozens of healing potions that are banned because they require the blood of the person that will drink it. Hell, the most effective diagnostic magic is borderline banned! There’s a literal permanent eye repair potion that’s nearly banned – and the others aren’t permanent. The religions thing makes no sense either. Why aren’t we allowed to practice the religion? It makes no fucking sense! And we don’t know what the Dark’s ideals are, because for all we know what Dumbledore said is propaganda, through and through.”
“Finally addressed the elephant in the room, cousin? Good to know I’m not the only one that has been thinking over things.” Alhena conjured a bookmark, and slid it into the book before closing it. “I’ve been thinking things over since Hermione was petrified, to be honest. And a lot of what I know about the Dark’s ideals come from Abraxas Malfoy and bills suggested in the Wizengamot – passed or not, it gets recorded.”
“At this point, I’d take any information. Anything.” Harry gave Alhena a pleading look.
Alhena just summoned her Wizengamot, Traditions, and Dark Sect folder, and flipped through it. “Okay, so… The original ideals I could drag out of Abraxas are pretty interesting. ‘Starting as early as the July 1945 Wizengamot session, the Walpurgis Group – at the time consisting of Lord Arcturus Black, Heir Orion Black, Lord Thomas Gaunt, Lord Lucien Malfoy, Heir Abraxas Malfoy, Lord Fulcran Lestrange, Heir Corvus Lestrange, Lord Algernon Mulciber, Lord Everard Rosier and Lady Irma Selwyn – advocated for a stricter enforcement of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, the setting up of wizarding orphanages for Muggleborns – in the case of family abuse from their Muggle relatives – and of more regular visits from magical authorities to the homes of Muggleborns to ascertain their treatment at the hands of their Muggle relatives.
‘However, they have consistently been blocked at every turn by Albus Dumbledore, who seemingly has a vendetta against Lord Gaunt for an unknown reason, although it could be tied to his personal vendetta against the late Lord Magnus Gaunt – who sentenced his father, Percival Dumbledore, to Azkaban for using all three Unforgivables in a particularly gruesome case of Muggle-baiting in retaliation for an attack on Ariana Dumbledore, and did nothing to stop the Daily Prophet’s reports on the sentencing.’ There’s more, but that passage did really jump out to me.”
“Bloody hell. That’s like, the opposite of what Dumbledore has said,” Ron muttered.
“Want me to go on?” Alhena asked, ignoring the fact that they had gained the other Slytherins’ attention.
“Yes, please. This is satisfying my burning curiosity about it, to be honest,” Hermione was leaning forward.
“Okay, here we go. ‘Between the September 1945 and the December 1970 Wizengamot sessions, various members of the Walpurgis Group have attempted to pass bills that would make inheritance tests mandatory for Muggleborn students in their first year at Hogwarts. Another series of attempted bills were in line with stricter enforcement of the Statute of Secrecy, as well as the building of magical orphanages, and regular screenings for abuse in Muggleborn students.
‘Chief Warlock Dumbledore has vetoed each bill, stating that, I quote, ‘They are not necessary. Muggleborns are Muggleborns, and parents would not hurt their children,’ despite overwhelming evidence that for every 10 Muggleborns born in the British Isles, only one makes it to Hogwarts, with most either dying from varying causes, or becoming Obscurials. There has also been research done by Unspeakables at the International Confederation of Wix that more or less proves that there is not truly such a thing as a Muggleborn – and that all Muggleborns actually have at least two squib ancestors, making Squib-born a far more appropriate term.’ And this information comes from Abraxas Malfoy, one of the most pompous purebloods I have had the pleasure of meeting, dead or alive.” Alhena paused to take a breath. “It’s a little too suspicious that Dumbledore keeps advocating for the welfare of Muggleborns, but vetoes bills that would potentially give them power, or ensure their safety.”
“Is there anything else that’s suspicious?” Hermione was refraining from grabbing the folder from Alhena.
“Yeah. ‘Another of the most common types of bills put forth by the Walpurgis Group were bills that advocated for equality for so-called Dark creatures in Britain, such as werewolves, vampires, naga and hags. These, again, were vetoed by Chief Warlock Dumbledore, and in the next session there were bills introduced by the Phoenix Group that restricted the rights of those creatures even further, which were oddly passed by the Chief Warlock.’ His whole spiel on werewolf rights is complete bullshit.” Alhena was annoyed by now.
“Damn. So, statistically, if I were to need help from anyone, but nobody I would trust is around, would I be safer asking a Light or Dark supporter?” Hermione asked.
“Dark or Neutral is your best bet. Less biased.” Alhena huffed quietly. “Their biggest issue with Muggleborns is that most Muggleborns don’t really bother with learning about the traditions and culture and such things. They come here and expect everything to be the same, and Dumbledore just reinforces it by swapping Samhain for Halloween, Ostara for Easter, Yule for Christmas, and so on, and then forbidding the purebloods from celebrating their religion, going so far as to make it illegal. It honestly screams Germany under Hitler to me, and Grindelwald was basically Wizard Hitler, in any case. To reinforce my point, Dumbledore’s catchphrase, For the Greater Good, is literally carved over the entrance to Nurmengard, and has been attributed to Grindelwald since the 30s, at the earliest.”
“Would they have an issue with me?” Hermione frowned.
“Hermione Jean Granger, you may have started out at Hogwarts in an this must be similar to the Muggle World mindset, but the fact that you’re willing to sit there and listen to what I’m saying and consider it carefully instead of jumping to Dumbledore’s defence as you were wont to do a mere year ago, tells me that you have grown up enough in the past year to use your brain and think for yourself, instead of following the masses. And that’s more than most people are willing to do.” Alhena gave her best friend a firm look. “It takes a lot to let go of something you’ve believed for your whole life, and I applaud you for doing so.”
The quartet shared a look, before smiling as Ron started speaking. “I overheard Mum, Dad, Bill and Charlie, plus Dora, Kingsley, Moody, Moony and Padfoot talking one night, towards the end of the summer. They were debating going Neutral at a minimum, since Dumbledore is starting to give them a bad feeling, especially with his treatment of Harry and Alhena, and how he just brushes off how underweight they can be after the summer. Mum said that she would rather have all her babies alive at the end of the war – including you three by proxy, even if you aren’t blood-related – than side with Dumbledore.” He finally noticed that most people were paying attention to them, even if they appeared not to. “Uh, Alhena, any chance you could perform a blanket Obliviate? I don’t need this getting out.”
“Nah, it won’t leave the House boundaries, not even by accident, because I say so as Lady Slytherin, the rest can deal with it,” Alhena muttered distractedly, not noticing the eyebrows shooting up around the room.
“What’s up?” Ron gave her a look.
“Magnus Gaunt. First time he’s spoken to me, too. Apparently, they found Carina. And it’s bad. Wixen may decompose much slower than Muggles, but after 16 years she’d be unrecognisable if it wasn’t for the fact that she’s under a preservation spell for some Circe-damned reason.” Alhena was turning green. “Oh, gods, no.”
“What?” Harry was instantly concerned, and Alhena could vaguely see Daphne and Theo getting up to head over to them.
“They found her in the basement of a house that used to belong to Galatea Merrythought, but was brought by Jamie Holmwood – an old supporter of Dumbledore’s that died in the mid-80s – after her death.” Alhena was gagging. “And, it’s heavily evident that Holmwood was a necrophiliac.”
Harry looked green himself, shaking his head when Hermione raised an eyebrow.
Alhena fought back her nausea long enough to summon her communication mirror. “Hey, Moony, you there?”
Remus’ face came into view. “Yeah, cub?”
“Are Dora or Kingsley around? And tell Padfoot to stay the heck out of view, I’m in the common room.” Alhena was breathing through her mouth.
Remus called for Kingsley, before handing the mirror over. “May I ask why you asked for either Dora or I – since we’re Aurors, Heir Black?”
“I just got a tip-off on a location for Carina Gaunt-Haydon. Don’t make me explain the necromancer aspect, or what exactly,” Alhena almost startled when Daphne handed over a vial of calming draught, with a whispered, “Courtesy of Professor Snape,” and gratefully drank it down.
Kingsley was immediately in business mode. “That’s a 16-year-old cold case, might as well follow the lead. Where?”
“Wizarding property in Kent. Originally owned by Galatea Merrythought after her retirement, bought by Jamie Holmwood after her death. Body’s in the basement, and it’s quite possible you might find others as well. I’m going to warn you, Holmwood was a necrophiliac.” Alhena gagged again. “Basic anti-trespass wards, but they’re decayed enough they can just be ripped down. That’s all I can give you.”
“Kid, that’s more than we could get in 16 years. What made you look?” Kingsley had summoned his outer robes.
“I wanted to know what in the name of Circe happened to my own mother. Don’t blame me for asking the dead to look around.” Alhena sighed.
“I apologise for the trauma, but thank you. I’ll see if Dawlish is in, and grab Bones, Dora, and Burnett for good measure. Thanks, kid.” The mirror went blank, and Alhena sagged against the cushions.
“May I ask why you just enacted a house-wide tongue-tying curse, Miss Black?” Severus’ voice was audible over the deathly quiet in the room.
“Ah. We may or may not have possibly been discussing defecting from the Light as a group, and that’s the last thing Dumbledore needs to know about his prized pawns and prophecy child, Professor.” Hermione answered in Alhena’s stead, noticing that she was still fighting nausea.
“Thank you, Miss Granger. I presume Miss Black’s distress is due to the mention of necrophilia?” His eyebrows were raised significantly.
“Yes. She mentioned once that necrophilia is a violation of at least 15 tenets that Necromancers are known to live by, and a crime she cannot forgive, by any means. I don’t blame her either, it’s awful.” Hermione had stood up, grabbing Alhena’s elbow. “And it’s horrible news to get mere hours before your birthday.”
Daphne moved over to help, and between the two of them, they coaxed Alhena to bed.