Chapter 11
“I’ll get some tea for everyone.” Molly announced as everyone else took a seat at her table.
“No thank you, Molly. I must head back to the school.” McGonagall declined. “I'll speak to you later, Albus.” She left with those parting words.
“Why did we come to the Burrow and not Grimmauld?” Sirius asked, sitting at the table confused. While he didn’t like Grimmauld it at least had more room.
Remus, Tonks, Hermione, Ron and Ginny, all looked to Dumbledore for answers. They had all been expecting to go back to Grimmauld.
“It would seem we are no longer welcome there. I tried entering to find out why the charm broke, and you were ejected from the house, but I could not get passed the wards.” Dumbledore informed them.
“How did the charm even break? That shouldn’t be possible.” Hermione inquired.
“The Lord of the house could do it, plus kick us out.” Remus interjected.
“It’s a Black family house. That means Lord Black did it.” Tonks snarled. She was angry over everything that had happened in the past 24 hours.
“Who’s the current Lord Black?” Molly asked, setting everyone’s tea on the table before sitting down. “I haven’t heard anything about it.”
“I don’t know.” Sirius wondered. “It can’t be the Malfoy kid, he's too young.”
“Malfoy would be bragging if it was him.” Ron sneered.
“Ron they just said he was too young.” Hermione whacked him.
“Too bad we can’t get into Grimmauld to look at the family tree.” Remus remarked.
“Well maybe I can.” Sirius grinned. “I’m still of Black blood and the wards let me in before.”
“It would depend on how Lord Black kicked us out.” Remus commented with a frown.
“I’ll try right now.” Sirius grinned and hopped up, making his way out the door.
Remus sighed, shaking his head.
“Do you think he’ll get in?” Hermione asked curiously looking towards the door.
“There is a chance he’ll get in.” Dumbledore said, his tone full of doubt.
Tonks snorted in disdain. “Doubtful. He was, after all, rejected with us.”
“Molly dear, would you mind terribly if we used the Burrow for headquarters until I find us another place?” Dumbledore asked with his eyes twinkling.
“Oh, course not Albus, though it’ll be a bit tight not just with room but food as well with Arthur not working and now these fines.” Molly frets looking at Dumbledore imploringly.
“I will take care of all the fines.” Dumbledore assures them all with his grandfatherly smile. Dumbledore knew he still needed them or else he wouldn’t have offered. He would make sure he got back every Knut from Harry.
“Thank you Albus. That’s so kind of you.” Molly smiles.
“Thank you.” The others chimed.
“I can’t believe this happened.” Hermione cried out suddenly. “It’s going to be on my permanent record. How will I be able to be the Minister of Magic now?”
“It’ll be fine, deary.” Molly consoled her. She still thought the girl was being ridiculous about being Minster; Hermione, after marrying her son, would be at home taking care of her Ronnie and grandchildren.
Tonks brightened. “As minister you can just erase this from all our records. As for being Headmaster, by the time you graduate our plans will be fulfilled.”
Hermione beamed at her. “True.”
“It didn’t work!” Sirius shouted entering the kitchen before dramatically dropping into an empty chair.
“Thank for trying, my boy.” Dumbledoor nodded towards him.
“How will we get our stuff?” Ron grumbled. He had been told it would be fine to bring his stuff to Grimmauld and now they were gone.
“All of our things are outside sitting on the end of the drive just on the edge of the property wards.” Sirius mentioned off handedly.
“Kids go gather up our stuff.” Molly instructed. “Hopefully its everything.”
“But-” Ron began.
“No buts. Now go. All of you.” She demanded looking at the three teens.
Grumbling, they did as they were told.
“Albus, what about Potter? Do you think he was the one that told the Aurors?” Molly questioned.
“No, there was no way he could get past the Fidelius charm.” He said confidently. “There is also the fact that Amelia did not recognize who gave the tip.”
“Harry is still recognizable as Harry Potter even with the long hair.” Lupin murmured.
“Sirius, I suggest when you go to Gringotts to make sure your vault is in order for the ministry compensation, you also see if you can find out who Lord Black is.” Dumbledore told him.
Sirius nodded, as a member of house Black he should be informed who the Lord is. “I plan to head there right away.”
It was silent after that as the adults contemplated what had gone wrong. Yes, Sirius was free but at what cost. They lost Grimmauld, Tonks was fired, fines were expensive and worse of all, people now knew James and Lily weren’t married.
--*--
Harry sat in Grimmauld Place, he was going through the Black family charter and talking to a few portraits about Sirius. He was trying to find out what to do about Sirius, all of the portraits told him to disown him. He turned on the family a long time ago and was now willing to steal and allow a member to be drugged.
Harry agreed and while he did want to do it during a dramatic time, he was informed that Sirius could find out it was Harry that was Lord Black.
“I, Harry James Licorus Potter-Black-Peverell-Garlot, Lord of the House of Black, hereby disown Sirius Orion Black for crimes against the Black Family. So mote it be.”
Shortly after Harry felt a wave of magic caress him before it seemed to join his own. Harry was confused by that, and it must have shown on his face.
“It is just the Family Magic from Sirius No Name.” A Portrait of a sophisticated man commented. “When you disown a member the Family Magic joins the Lord’s Magic.”
“Oh, I didn’t know that.”
“Most don’t for the protection of the Family. Lords of our house who disown family members only figure it out after.” He explained.
“Thank you for explaining.”
“Well, you carry my name so I will help you do it proud.” The portrait self-importantly stated. “I am Licorus Black.”
“Nice to meet you. I will do my best to live up to our name.” Harry assured him.
The portrait, Licorus, nodded. “I could tell he was never going to stay a Black, he was too much like my uncle Castor. Looks like him too.”
Harry stared at Licorus. “Your uncle Castor?”
“Yes. Very impulsive and obsessive. Castor killed a man he was obsessed with, who rejected him, right outside the ministry. Everyone was frozen in shock. After a moment the anger seemed to drain away, and Castor seemed to realize what he had done. He gathered the dead man in his arms screaming the man’s name ‘Harrison’ before killing himself.”
Harry was shocked. He had wondered what had happened after he died.
“I know it's unbelievable, but I was there with my father who was Lord Black at the time. We were so ashamed, and my father disowned him post-mortem.” He continued.
“Well, I’m glad he didn’t stay a part of the family.” Harry was a little disappointed that Castor didn’t rot in Azkaban but at least he didn’t live a long happy life.
--*--
Sirius was walking with Remus to Gringotts. He was so happy to finally be free. He no longer had to hide. He was so glad Albus was finally able to convince the Wizengamot to give him a trial and just in time too. He could even become an active member of the Order again.
While he would have to keep playing godfather to James’s brat it was easy money. He was supposed to be James’s and Lily’s child’s godfather. But no James refused to marry the witch like he was told to. How he hated James for betraying him. He was supposed to always be on his side, on the light’s side. He never did find out why-
Sirius felt a wave of magic wash over him, cutting off his thoughts, and before he knew it, he felt his family magic being ripped from him. Screaming in pain, Sirius collapsed just outside of Gringotts.
The next thing he was aware of was Remy calling his name.
“It’s gone.” Sirius cried, “I’ve been disowned.”
--*--
INNOCENT AND DISOWNED!
By: Rita Skeeter
My dear readers…
Albus didn’t even bother reading the article. Sighing he sucked on an unaltered lemon drop. He couldn’t understand why this had happened. Everything seemed to keep getting worse. Lord Black, whomever he was, disowned Sirius before he could make it to the bank. He didn’t understand why he was disowned when he was. Sirius was deemed innocent. Maybe Lord Black was a Death Eater or a supporter of the Dark.
He wondered who this Lord Black is and if maybe he was the one mentioned in the prophecy, after all most Blacks are insane. It was possible that it wasn’t about Tom.
When Sirius and Lupin came back to the Burrow, Sirius had to lay on the couch, he was so weak from the loss of magic. He had to reassure Sirius that he would still get his compensation from the minister, even though he was now a No Name.
Sirius now either needed to marry or be welcomed back to the Black family which wouldn’t happen until they knew who Lord Black was. Lupin would offer to marry Sirius however there were laws against werewolves marrying. While none knew it, Albus had made sure that Bill had passed. He didn’t want to encourage werewolves procreating.
Albus had promised that he would look into what their options were.
Albus sighed. He couldn’t even blame this on the Potter brat. It was Lord Black who was now messing with his plans.
--*--
JAMES POTTER AND LILY EVANS NEVER MARRIED!
By: Rita Skeeter
My dear readers, as you know during Sirius No Name’s trial some interesting Truth were revealed. For more information on the actual trial, you can read about it in our previous paper. Now during the trial Mr. No Name, the following took place:
(AB is Amelia Bones and SN is Sirius No Name)
AB: Were you the James and Lily Potter’s Secret Keeper?
SN: No.
AB: Who was James and Lily Potter’s secret keeper?
SN: Peter Pettigrew was James Potter’s and Lily Evans’ secret keeper.
AB: Lily Evans? Didn’t Lily Evans marry James Potter, taking his surname?
SN: No, James refused to marry her.
There you have it my dear readers. No, I was still skeptical cause we all KNOW that James Potter married Lily Evans and had Harry Potter. I, your diligent reporter, went to investigate. I spent many hours in the Archives looking for the Potter’s Marriage Certificate, there wasn’t one. Now that doesn’t mean they weren’t married as some families don’t like to register their marriage with the ministry.
However, I came across Lily Evans’ Magical Death Certificate. (see picture below) As you can clearly see, she died an Evans and therefore did not marry James Potter. No, that's not all that’s shocking. I’m sure many of you, dear readers, understand the significance of me seeing Lily Evans’ Magical Death Certificate. To refresh your memory any witch or wizard who has died, unless allowed by the family, others are unable to access with the exception if they have no other living magical relatives. Yes, dear readers, according to Magic, Lily Evans has no magical relatives.
Harry Potter is in fact not the son of Lily Evans. So, who is the other parent of the Boy-Who-Lived?
I, Rita Skeeter, your assiduous reporter will make it my mission to discover the truth of this scandal.
--*--
Severus Snape was staring at the latest edition of the Prophet.
How could this be possible?
He was certain that his sweet Lily had married Potter. They had dated in their last year at Hogwarts after all. He was sure of it, even if their friendship had been over by that point. Hell, everyone knew they were together.
Did Potter not follow through and abandon Lily after Hogwarts? Or did Lily finally realize she could do much better? But why were they living together? And how did the Potter brat come in?
No, this article was obviously a lie in order to distract the people away from the Ministries shortcomings.
--*--
Harry wiped the sweat off his brow as he finished setting up the ritual he planned to do. He was down in the Garlot ritual chamber surrounded by hundreds of lit candles. The circle he just finished was made up of different runes, some long forgotten. Laying in the middle of the circle was the destroyed diary of Tom Riddle.
Hearing the chimes indicating it was midnight, Harry began to chant in ancient Greek. He felt the magic rise in the room. Electricity raced across his skin as the air thickened. As Harry finished chanting a gust of wind swept across the room, blowing out all the candles, submerging the room in darkness.
“Lumos.” Harry murmured, causing a ball of light to form in his palm. Looking around Harry spotted the Diary. It was in perfect condition and fully restored. Tom’s soul piece included. “Hello Tom.” Harry smiled.