Lets meet at the Leaky
19/07/1996 (01:30 AM)
Harry examines the odd group of people present here in Black's room at the leaky cauldron. A muggleborn, two halfbloods and three purebloods.
After their last meeting at Grimmauld which had been abruptly interupted by the arrival of Lupin; Harry, Ron and Hermione have not visited Grimmauld because Lupin had been staying there and they did not want to take risk of him figuring out their presence due to his hightened olfactory senses. That is also the reason of Black staying here at Leaky . Thus there reading about defensive spells, law and general reading respectively had been distrupted along their practise duels. But they had asked Kreacher to bring books for them to read and coninued their initiative from their respective houses. Along with passing notes of any good discovery.
It had been easy for Harry to read as he had been locked in his room after the whole debacle with Black. Food was also not given for the initial 2 days and then only once a day for the next three days, after that aunt Petunia got tired of working alone in the house, so he was onlocked and asked to do chores, also recieving three meals a day after that.
Ron has written a letter to Neville stating criptically that the trio wants to meet him in relation to the events that took place at the ministry in June and that he should visit the burrow. Then Neville had written back and agreed to stay a few days at Ron's place. At night when everyone was asleep, Ron has called for Kreacher (who was asked to answer if Ron or Hermione calls for him) and then Kreacher had taken Ron and Neville to Hermione's home and brought Harry from his house as well. There in her room which was then made sound proof by Kreacher, the trio had explained to Neville about the Sirius situation leaving the topic of Regulus out and asked whether he would be willing to help in the ritual. They had told him that he can choose to stay out of it and in that case he has to promise in an oath to not tell anybody about whatever they had told him up untill that point.
If he agrees then also he will be sweared to secrecy about the ritual and the process of it and in return Harry will swear that they do not have any malicious intent in seeking Neville's help, Its sole purpose is to help in bringing his godfather back and that no it is not dark magic, simply an obscure branch of magic and in no way hurt him or any other individual in the process.
Neville had agreed to the 2nd oath and they had explained to him in detail about their learnings. They had told him that they will share one very important aspect of the Ritual in a few days and he can then decide ultimately if he is okay with it. That important aspect being Regulus's presence and role in the whole thing.
For Tonks, Hermione has sent a letter to meet her at her home one day for lunch, that she wanted to talk to her about something personal, whenever Tonks can spare some time out of her busy schedule. When they met, this time Hermione alone had explained to her the same things they had to Neville. Tonks appeared to be a little reluctant in giving oath of any type. Hermione explained that it is for her own benifit so that she is not duty bound to tell to the order about it. That they do not want this news to spread until they have reached an outcome and Sirius is back. That they are seeking her help in her personal capacity as Sirius's cousin and not of Auror Tonks or the order member. She agreed then both to the Oath and then to meet them at leaky.
They also explained to her to not be shocked at the person she is gonna meet there, just to keep an open mind and listen to them, inspite of reacting on impulse. They had to be careful with her because if she is spooked at seeing Black, her reaction would be quite fast due to her auror training as compared to that of Neville. They had also asked her to bring veritaserum with her and any other test which she will need to undertake to know the geniuneness of this person.
The Trio along with Black had decided that Kreacher will ward off the room as soon as everyone has arrived to make sure that Tonks or Neville cannot run off to tell anyone outside about Regulus's revival until he has fully explained his part to them.
As soon as Tonks and Neville saw Black, their reactions were as well as they had expected. Surprised, shoked and then suspicious and doubtfull. The trio then requested the both of them to first listen to him, that they trust him and they do not want to cause any harm to anyone.
Then Black has told them about his sudden arrival at Grimmauld place which even he does not understand fully. That as far as he knew he had died at 18 years of age, doing something to bring the dark lord down. That he himself is not sure about why he has been de-aged and why he arrived at the date at which he arrived. That his loyalty is only towards the House of Black, that he wants to work to bring the dark lord down and that in no way he is a death eater or a death eater sympathizer. That this ritual is to bring his brother back and that there is nothing nefarious in his intentions in asking for their help. He swore on his magic at last that everything he had told them is only truth.
Tonks being the auror she is, has then performed spells to check his identity which proved his name is Regulus Arcturus Black, along with his date of birth, death and revival. Then she used veritaserum on him and asked a few predetermined question and then she performed some spell which helps in knowing the nature of intentions of a person. At the end no one can say that she is not the protigee of Alastor Moody. The trio was also reassured that they were not fooled by someone from the enemy camp and that they had placed their trust in the right person.
She then surprised everyone by hugging her young?/old cousin and playfully teasing him about how she is older than him despite being born in later years.
Neville also was reassured by all the steps performed by the young auror and shook hand with the young Black.
Then Black had politely asked them to give an oath to not disclose the facts that he had given to them about his death and apparent revival , which once again the both party agreed.
Tonks told them that she needs some time to think about everything she has learned and absorb all the details. That she would give her final response about participating in the ritual after she had read their notes and understood everything properly.
Neville has also asked for a little time for all the facts to sink in and to make an informed decision thereafter.
Then four initial members decided to meet the next night at Grimmauld to discuss about the Ritual in detail and concluded the meeting. Kreacher dropped Ron and Neville to the burrow and then Harry and Hermione to their respective houses.