Son of a Black

Gringotts

Immediately after arriving on November 1st, 1981 Animus went directly to Gringotts to make the final arrangements.

Once in the office he arranged multiple vaults to be created. They would be set aside for certain death eaters for later. If they were not claimed within a decade they would be returned to his main vault. He also took out the money he was going to have to give to the Dursley’s.

Then he quickly went over the different things he had had Gringotts doing for him, including looking over the town he had had created, Avalar.

The town was beautiful from the few pictures included in the file. Already a few people had moved in. A grocery store, an apothecary, and a small restaurant had already been opened. Each of the houses were unique, and thanks to space expansion spells being built into them the small buildings were each large family dwellings. There were even two apartment buildings intended for single people or those that couldn’t afford their own home yet.

All he really had left to do with that was go to the town itself and finalize the wards.

Going over the final things he needed to set up he arranged to have the goblins go to the Black Castle to attend and verify the rituals he was planning for later that evening.

Privet Drive

After leaving the bank Animus had gone to Avalar and finished the wards before going to the garage where he said he would meet the Dursley’s.

It was only 5 minutes later that their car pulled into the garage. Rather than allowing them near his younger self he went and collected him from the car himself, completely ignoring Dudley in the high end carseat next to himself in the basket without even a seatbelt around him.

Once he had himself he laid out the paperwork he needed the Dursley's to sign, something they thankfully did without argument for once. Although he knew their agreeability was only because they had been offered money. After he left them he was going to make a quick stop at a group home in the next town over and slip them into a file in case anyone came looking.

With everything he needed signed he handed over the cash, 5000 to each Dursley. He knew from his time with them that it was better to split it between them as they were both greedy and didn’t necessarily like sharing, even with each other. If Petunia had money in her purse she would only hand it over to Vernon if she absolutely had to, and Vernon was the same. It didn’t matter that they really only got cash from the jar Petunia kept on the fridge where she put the 100 pounds she took out of the bank each month, they both saw any cash they had as theirs alone.

It was why he had offered them 5000 each. It would ensure they both kept hold of it. The reason he needed them to have equal contact was that each bill had been coated in a slow acting memory modification that was set to attach to the first person to handle it. From that point on, as they spent each and every bill, their memories would slowly be altered until by the time the money was gone they would have no memory of him, and no one would be able to detect the modification if they ever thought to look.

The memory he created was that they found him on the doorstep in the morning, they didn’t see a letter or anything with him. They covered him with a blanket and moved him to the car where they immediately took him to the group home and left him on their doorstep. From that point on they just chose to forget about the child that had been abandoned with them. If confronted about it they would claim they never saw a letter and would just assume it got blown away in the wind.

The paperwork he planned to file at the group home would show that they found a boy on November 1st. He also placed papers in the file showing that he had been adopted only a few weeks later, but none of the adoption papers would be there. Those at the group home would just assume it to be a clerical error by the overworked staff, but it would also serve to ensure no one would be able to figure out what truly happened. He didn’t think that James or Lily would go that far in looking for him, but it was better to lay a false trail and not need it than need one and it not be there. And to finish off he added a few memory modifications, but made sure they could be detected in case anyone ever looked, it would be a way to make them think who ever had taken Harry Potter was magical as another way to send them looking in another different direction.

Black Castle

As soon as Animus entered the Black Castle he was practically ambushed by Bronwen. The woman was looking much better since the last time he had seen her, it would seem life with the Black’s was doing good things for her overall health. Her main focus was of course the baby in his arms.

“Is this him?” She questioned excitedly before reaching for the child regardless. It had been so long since she had held a child, not since the loss of her own.

“Yes, this is him.” Animus had no problem handing the child over. Despite his long life he had never really dealt with children. He was a Lord of Magic, there wasn’t really anyone who was willing to ask him to babysit. He figured the only person that probably would have been brave enough to do so would have been Luna, but she had died before she had had the chance to have any children of her own and Andromeda had kept him away from Teddy.

“Hello my sweet boy.” Bronwen cooed at the little boy that was just starting to wake. “Hush now, you’re safe.”

“Did you file the birth certificate and choose a name?” Animus questioned as the two of them walked to the sitting room where the others were waiting for them.

“Yes. As far as anyone is concerned Hunter Loki Black was born July 13, 1980.” Bronwen said as she worked to hush the upset child. She fully understood why he would be upset given everything he had just been through.

“Hunter?” Animus questioned. “Doesn’t seem like a traditional Black name.”

“We talked about it. Hunter was my grandfathers name so it’s special to me. Reg wanted to give him a name connected to his dad, but it’s tradition in the Black family to put at least two generations separation before reusing a name, as I’m sure you know. But, in mythology Orion was a hunter so it fit. We thought Hunter would be a good way to pay homage to both sides of our family. His full name is Hunter Loki Phineas Aodhan Cian Animus Black, but his public name will be Hunter Loki Black. We have already planned his formal magical naming ceremony for once we get back to France so only we will be involved and no one but us will know his true name, but we trust you of course.” Bronwen finished just as they entered the room to greet the others.

“I approve.” Animus smiled as he moved towards Arcturus as Melania and Regulus both moved to greet the new child. 

Letting the others dote on his younger self he had Arcturus quickly catch him up on what had been happening. Like he had suggested Melania had gotten the school board to remove McGonagall as deputy headmistress due to her failures as head of house, and she was on probation for her head of house duties too. This had ended up causing some hard feelings with them and Sirius, but after confronting him with the facts about McGonagall not doing her duties, something he was well aware of since he’d been in Gryffindor, he had calmed down. 

They had even managed to get the woman replaced with someone surprisingly competent, Ursula Merrythought. Ursula was the granddaughter of Galatea Merrythought who had been the defence professor that Tom had wanted to replace when she retired. She had served as a member of the OWL and NEWT testers for over 3 decades and when the alterations being done to the marks was found she had been questioned and proven she had not altered a single mark, there were even reports that she had filed each and every time she had been approached. The woman had a sterling reputation and had dedicated her life to ensuring the children of the United Kingdom got the best education possible so she was a perfect fit for the job. It also didn’t hurt that she had absolutely no problem with smacking Dumbledore down when he tried to pass off his work to her or do something she didn’t feel was what was best for the students or the school.

Arcturus knew from what Regulus had told him that Severus had followed his instructions and had introduced the potion to assist in pregnancies at the exact time he had said and it was already having an impact. He had also introduced the potion that would allow werewolves to keep control over themselves and control their shift. He had of course given some credit to Animus himself, announcing at the potion conference he had presented it at that he had received a package of potions notes from him that he had used in creating the potion.

But there was one major change, Bartemius Crouch was dead. From how it was explained to him the man had finally pushed his wife too far and she had snapped. Afterwards she had contacted Arcturus in a panic.

Arcturus explained that Barty and Rabastan had quietly gotten married shortly after his last visit, something Barty’s father had been infuriated over. The man had only become angrier when a few months before the couple had had a daughter with the assistance of Severus’s potions. Charis had been spending the day with little Calliope Crouch-Lestrange when her husband had come home for lunch in a snit. He had started in on the baby since he hated her very existence, both due to who her other father was and her gender.

Charis had loved and been devoted to her husband for almost 30 years, but the instant he became a threat to her granddaughter was the instant that stopped. In that moment the calmest and most passive Black in generations fully embraced her Black heritage and removed the threat.

After realizing the full extent of what she had done she had contacted Arcturus as her head of family. Rather than turning her in as she had obviously feared he had had her take Cally to visit Melania and then gone to Lord Lestrange, as Cally’s grandfather, and they had arranged for it to look as if Bartemius had been killed in an accident in the floo. They had actually done such a good job of it that the Ministry had paid compensation to Charis.

And with Bartemius dead he was no longer the head of the DMLE. Originally, after he had been transferred Amelia Bones had managed to claim the position as her only competitors, Mad-Eye and Scrimgeour, had been busy. Mad-Eye had been taking great joy in rounding up as many suspected Death Eaters as possible, whether he had to kill them to do so or not he hadn’t cared, and Scrimgeour had been in St. Mungo’s after he had tried to arrest, attack, Thorfinn Rowle and gotten beaten into the ground.

But now Crouch had been removed while both were still viable options and Bones hadn’t had a clear shot at the job. This time Scrimgeour had gotten the position and was head of the DMLE. It threw a wrench in the works since there was no guarantee that he would behave the same as Crouch had the last time. But, at the same time, he was just as pompous, arrogant, and ambitious as Crouch had been from what he knew of the man so he could follow the same path. He knew for a fact the man wasn’t above putting innocent people in prison for appearances sake. He was just going to have to rely on time trying to hold to the original pattern as much as it could as often happened.

For the first time Orion had been included in one of their meetings. And after being filled in by his father just who this man was he was equal parts shocked and grateful. If not for this man his sons would have grown up being abused and controlled by Walburga, an idea he couldn’t stand. If there was one thing he would never regret it would be having his wife exiled to the cabin in Wales all those years ago. And then there was the fact he had arrived just in time to stop Regulus from getting himself killed.

“Is there any danger to Regulus now?” Orion questioned as he watched his son and surprise daughter-in-law bond with their new son. He had been extremely relieved when his father called him to visit 2 years before to tell him that Regulus had secretly left the country and that despite many people starting to believe he had been killed he was just fine.

“Regulus should be fine.” Animus said. “No one knows he’s back in the country, and he will be leaving this evening. He should stay out of Britain for another month or so. Not so much because he would be in any danger or anything, but so he can bond with his new son without any pressure or distractions.

No, the one that is in the most danger right now, is Sirius. At this point in time Sirius is off hunting down Peter Pettigrew. Sirius was the decoy secret keeper for the Potters, Pettigrew was the real one and he was the one that betrayed them too Voldemort. Pettigrew is much more clever than people give him credit for and will escape, framing Sirius for his murder, along with others, as he does so.

Originally Sirius was arrested November 3rd and sent straight to Azkaban without trial. The Potters finally took a moment from basking in their new found fame long enough to admit he wasn’t their secret keeper a few weeks later, but he still wasn’t given a trial for the murders he was accused of as they believed him guilty. Now, that may have changed. Bartemius Crouch was the head of the DMLE that signed off on not giving him a trial, as he ended up doing to quite a few, but now that he is dead it may not happen. However Bagnold also agreed to it and  Scrimgeour is a lot like him so he may take the same path. Either way, the Wizengamot needs to be ready to demand trials for everyone. And make sure to publicly name and shame anyone opposed to it in the press.”

Arcturus’s fist clenched at the idea of his grandson being treated in such a manor. “I will ensure it.”

Orion was stunned, then furious. He and Sirius may not often see eye to eye but he loved him with all his heart, and no one messed with his child. If they tried something like that with his boy he was going to make sure they paid for it, figuratively and literally. He worked at the Ministry himself, and he was in a position to make any who acted against his son suffer.

Animus then had Orion join him in another room. He needed to have a private conversation with the man.

“What is it you need to talk to me about that couldn’t be done in front of my father?” Orion asked.

“What we need to discuss is what was done to you.”

“Done to me?”

“Yes.” Animus was not looking forward to this discussion, it seemed he was having to have plenty of unpleasant conversations with some people, but it was almost done. “Walburga wanted to be Lady Black, and she was willing to do anything she had to to do so. You started mentioning wanting to cancel the contract between the two of you when you reached your teen years. I bet it was because you were starting to feel drawn to one of your house mates.”

Orion didn’t fidget, but it was a near thing. No one outside his parents, and Walburga’s parents, knew that he had asked about getting out of the contract. Following contracts and honouring your words or the will of the family was about family pride and dignity, even the idea that he had wanted out or didn’t want to fulfill the contract could have harmed his families standing, it was why he had ultimately married the horrible woman. But at the time, he just couldn’t help it, he had had such a massive crush on one of the upper years, Tom Riddle, who he knew had gone on to be the Dark Lord.

“In her desire to get her way Walburga made a deal with the most unlikely of people, Albus Dumbledore. Both had something to gain from keeping you separated from the person that was actually your soul mate.”

Orion froze at that, every magical being understood the importance of a soulmate. Interfering in that kind of bond was considered one of the worst forms of heresy possible as it was a direct insult to Lady Magic herself. “Tom was my… I could have helped him, and now he’s gone.”

Animus heard the despair in his voice, it was something he fully understood as he had lost his soul mate. “Not completely. Do not despair, you will still have your chance.”

With that Animus launched into a full explanation of what had happened. He covered the existence of the horcruxes, along with his belief of the compulsions.

“Tom can come back, and he will.” Animus assured. “Ten years from now he will return, and his soul will be repaired. Only the small portion that your soon to be grandson holds will remain separated from him. That portion can not be removed without killing him, but it is thankfully only 1.5% of his soul so it won’t cause either of them any real problems.

When he is returned he will be a bit out of it for a while, during that time you are going to need to keep him under control. He won’t be overly violent or anything, but it will take some time for him to sort out his mind and memories. You will need to take control and keep him as calm as possible.”

“Take control? Of a Dark Lord?” Orion was flabbergasted by that idea. Even as a student Tom was always in control. “Soul mate or not he’s not just going to submit to me.”

“Yes, he will.” Animus said knowingly. “All Lords and Ladies of Magic have a soul mate. In nearly all pairings it is the partner that is the dominant in the relationship. It’s to counter balance all the pressure they are under as a leader.

In day to day life a Lord or Lady of Magic is expected to have all the answers. They are in control of nearly everything to do with their faction. Their soul mate takes the pressure off and allows them to relieve tension by having someone else take over the responsibility, even if it's just little things. They need that relief.

If your bond with Tom hadn’t been messed with you could have served as a stabilizing influence, and Dumbledore couldn’t have that. But even then, nothing could have stopped Tom from losing it due to the rituals. Truthfully, having the bond intact as Tom lost it would have only put you in danger, and anything happening to you would have only increased his instability.”

Orion thought things through. It was horrifying to know that he had been denied his soul mate for decades. But at the same time, if he had been with Tom he wouldn’t have Sirius or Regulus and he loved his sons. And like Animus said, being around Tom as his mental health spiralled would have put him in danger, and if they had had children together they too would have been at risk.

“So I just need to go and have the goblins purge me of whatever Walburga and Dumbledore did?”

“No. While the goblin purges can remove potions from your system, and some magic, they have little to no effect on higher level magics like rituals since goblin magic and wixen magics are so different. I have already taken the liberty of making the arrangements to have you purged at the Oasis of Zerzura. The sandmen that live there are protectors of the desert. Their magic is as old as the desert itself and they will find little to no trouble with removing all foreign magics from you regardless of its origin or type.”

“One thing I don’t get…” Orion said. “What did Walburga think Dumbledore was getting out of it? Despite her craziness, she was still a Black, and no Black would ever accept someone offering their assistance without knowing what they would be getting for themselves.”

Animus smiled knowing it was the truth, Blacks were inherently suspicious people, even Sirius after over a decade in Azkaban had had his doubts about a lot even if he wasn’t in a position to do anything about them. “That is true. When Dumbledore offered to ensure she became your wife, and therefor Lady Black after your grandfather and father passed, he exchanged it for the loyalty of your first born son.

It was why Walburga was never willing to bond with Sirius, she had already offered up his future. She agreed to allow Dumbledore to use potions to control Sirius if he needed too. It was why she wanted to keep him separated from the family in an effort to disown him.”

“He…?” Orion growled.

“No.” Animus assured. “Since the Black family is once again close he was limited in what he could do. The family magics would have warned your father if a member of the family was under any dangerous or higher level potions, I ensured he would be on the look out for that before Regulus was even born.” Animus had made sure Arcturus monitored the family magic for that exact reason. “And since Walburga was removed from the boys lives long before they started school she wasn’t able to alienate him from the rest of you or start giving him the personality potions Dumbledore sent her last time. Sirius is a Gryffindor, but this time it is because that is who he is and not because of what Walburga and Dumbledore did.

I also made sure your father knew to watch over the family magics. And I told him to make sure it was known he was doing so… I believe your mother spoke of it during a tea party that was attended by a few that were loyal to the old man so it definitely would have gotten back to him. The most he could do was give him the most basic level trust or compulsion potions and those aren’t even guaranteed to work on a child let alone a teen.”

Soon enough it was time for Animus and Regulus to go the the Death Eater meeting he had arranged. Barty had already stopped by to drop off Cally, Bronwen had offered to watch her while he and Rabastan were at the meeting since Charis was in the hospital undergoing tests for the week. Without her husband ignoring and belittling her illness Barty had forced his mother to get herself checked when she started struggling, catching the illness early may just have been enough to save her life.

It was useful to be a parselmouth. All it had taken was a quick conversation with the snake in Regulus’s mark to learn anything he needed to know and make the arrangements for them to call a meeting when he was ready.

Death Eater Meeting

“QUIET!” Animus shouted out, his power fluxing around him 5 minutes after the meeting was set to start. There were over 700 people present, all those that were marked, and nearly all of them thought it was appropriate for them to behave with all the dignity of Hogwarts students when a good bit of gossip was going around.

“We are not here to gossip, we are here to get things under control.” Animus glared them all down, this time almost none of them were wearing their masks. The original members had joined him on the dais, but they were off to the side and he knew they were slightly suspicious of him since they had just lost their friend and Lord.

“THE DARK LORD IS DEAD!”, “POTTER KILLED THE DARK LORD!”, and “WHAT CAN WE POSSIBLY DO?” Was shouted out from a number of people.

“ENOUGH!” Animus raised his voice again and flexed his magic warningly, silencing them all almost instantly. Say what you will about Tom, but he had trained them all to respect the danger of power. “Take everything you have heard in the past 12 hours that has come from the Ministry or Dumbledore and forget it. None of it is true.”

“The Dark Lord?” A hopeful voice questioned.

“The Dark Lord is alive, he just isn’t here right now.” Animus saw the relief so many had, despite Toms habit of torturing them recently they all really were devoted to him. “The reason he isn’t here right now is due to a protection ritual placed on the child, nothing else mystical about it. But, as many of you know, the Dark Lord said he made plans in case of an emergency, I am one such plan.

Currently the Dark Lord has been temporarily disembodied, he is still alive in spirit form. I have already started gathering the needed materials to restore him to a body. But that will take time.”

“How long?” Many questioned as one.

“Ten years.” Animus said with a slight shrug, seeing the disappointment many displayed that it was going to take that long. “The Dark Lord will be restored in just over ten years and shall return to you. And when he does return, he will find you as loyal as ever…” The ‘or else’ wasn’t said, but they all heard it.

“And the Potter’s?” A voice hissed in fury as they thought of the girl that had taken their Lord from them.

“They do not matter.” Animus saw as those in the room started to grumble their dissent. “As I said, nothing you have been told by others is true. Marigold Potter had absolutely nothing to do with what happened to the Dark Lord.

Allow me to explain what led up to last night. A prophecy was given about a child that would be the end of the Dark Lord. He decided to investigate all children that matched the prophecy. What has been kept hidden is that the Potter’s in fact had twins. Marigold Potter is a perfectly average 1 year old witch, but her elder twin brother Harry Potter was in fact the child of power that had been prophecised. He moved to remove the threat but a protection ritual that had been placed on the children activated, disembodying the Dark Lord.

Dumbledore and the Potters arrived home to find the babysitter dead, Harry Potter unconscious, and Marigold Potter screaming her head off. The backlash of the magic cast had caused a portion of the roof to collapse, resulting in a gash on Marigold Potters head. 

Dumbledore, being the bright spark he is, saw one child screaming and the other unconscious and assumed it was the one awake that had done it. Not bothering to examine the children beyond that, if he had he would have no doubt found the reason the boy was unconscious was due to the magical drain caused by the ritual connected to him being activated. He and the Potters immediately started making plans to train Marigold Potter and declare her the saviour of the light, but they couldn’t have her elder brother getting in their way so they got rid of him.

Last night they left 1 year old Harry Potter on a muggle doorstep expecting the muggles to look after him until they came back to collect him when he turned 11. I hope I don’t have to explain to any of you just how monumentally stupid that was… The child may have been able to survive the Dark Lord, but Albus Dumbledore leaving him, magically exhausted, outside all night, in November is not something he could come back from.

The Potter’s, while an incredible annoyance and a disgrace to magic, aren’t worth your attention. Going after them will just give Dumbledore more he can use. Our best path moving forward is to treat them the same as any other light side fool. And that means there will be no attacks on their child, the girl is nothing more than a normal girl, and if anything we should have sympathy given just who she is being raised by and how much Dumbledore’s pro-light nonsense she is going to be surrounded by at all times.”

“So what do we do now?” One of the Death Eaters he didn’t know by face alone questioned.

“For now you are going to keep your heads down. I have placed lists on the walls.” Animus indicated the back wall of the hall and both of the sides. “Go to the one that has your name on it. A simple point-me spell will work so you aren’t running around like headless chickens, just cast the point-me spell on your name. I will meet with each group. 

I want to make this perfectly clear, there are plans. Some of you will be having your marks hidden, that does not mean they are gone, and it does not mean that you have betrayed the Dark Lord. All of you must be united to get through this. No one here is a traitor, no one here is your enemy. It is going to be a long ten years as you work your way into positions of trust and power, but it will all be worth it when the Dark Lord returns. 

As it stands right now the Ministry is trying to get their heads out of their collective backsides and they will begin their raids in three days. If they come for you, you will not oppose them. You need to appear as innocent as possible and fighting will just give them an excuse to attack. If you go quietly and they hurt you in any way or so much as damage a flower in your garden you will be able to sue them all you want after. I would also recommend you open a private artifact vault at Gringotts and store anything the Ministry can claim is even slightly dark. And so long as you only store artifacts and no money the goblins won't even put it on any tax forms they are required to submit to the Ministry for a flat fee of 100 galleons per year.”

With that everyone moved to their areas. Animus was pleased to see that Severus had done as he requested and there were over a dozen extra large cauldrons sitting at the back of the hall.

Of the over 700 people in attendance over 400 were congregated at the back of the room. And that was where Animus went first, bringing with him Voldemort's elite with him since he didn’t have the time to deal with every single one of them.

“Those in this group are going to claim to be completely innocent of everything, including having the dark mark. This potion, when applied to your mark, will make the mark disappear. It will be completely invisible until the ritual is complete and the Dark Lord is returned.

As I said, this is not a betrayal nor does it mean you are no longer a death eater. This is just to allow you to move freely amongst society without any stigma so you can gain higher positions. 

If you are arrested during the raids you will play the innocent victim of vicious gossip or mistaken identity. As each of you has the potion applied you will be swearing a vow to one of the elite, the vow is already written up for you. The vow is worded in a way that you will literally be incapable of saying anything to them about your time as a Death Eater. Your magic will force you to claim you had no involvement in any way. We have allies in the Wizengamot who will be able to influence any trial you are given to ensure you are declared innocent.”

Animus showed them how it was done by painting the potion on Lucius’s arm. With a tap of his wand and saying a basic invisibility spell the mark was completely gone. Then he handed him the vow he needed to take and allowed him to make the vow to his father, it wouldn’t work for him to make a vow to Animus himself since he was going to be gone in only a few more hours and that would end the vow. He instructed half of the elite to remain there and work their way through those who had already started lining up.

Then he went to the left side of the room. This group was the second largest numbering around 200.

“Those in this group can’t simply have their marks removed the way others can. This is due to the fact that the existence of your marks aren’t just rumours as it is with the others. Your marks have been seen or are known to exist since many of you were assigned the role of double agent by the Dark Lord.

This potion will fade your marks out but won’t remove them completely.” The potion would fade the marks to only a few shades darker than the surrounding skin tone, they would be seen, but only if one looked for them. “Each of you will then take a vow limiting what you can say. You will be able to acknowledge that you joined the death eaters, but you won’t be able to give any details about any crimes you may have committed. 

If you were identified earlier you will only be able to talk about how you were forced to take the mark, either by being tortured or by having family members threatened. For those of you that served as double agents you will be able to do the same and add on that you only remained to provide others with information.”

This group was the one that held those he knew had at some point or other passed information. He had specifically ensured they were in this group since between the wards he had added to the room and the vow they were going to have to take they wouldn’t be able to do so again. As an added precaution he would also be slipping a list of the names he knew to Lord Kaiden Selwyn just in case they tried to betray them. He trusted Selwyn to handle it objectively and not go on a killing spree the way some others might, the man had joined Tom out of loyalty to the dark, he had never taken part in the violence and almost always advocated against it. Although he was Elite he hadn’t been in Tom’s friend group at school, he had instead been the prefect in Toms first year and had taken it upon himself to help the boy find his footing in the magical world. The man had kept his family together and above suspicion last time so he knew he would be able to handle things.

Like with the previous group Animus showed the application of the potion and had his test subject, in this case Severus, swear his vow to Lord Lestrange. This group was going to be a little more complicated since the vows would need to be tailored to each person, but he knew they could handle it.

Then he moved on to the third and final group, this one numbering around 100.

“I wish I could tell you all that we can handle everything and it will all be fine, but it won’t. No matter what we do there is going to need to be a few that take the fall to ensure the survival of the whole, in this case, you. Each of you have been selected with diligence and care.

This is not an order, instead this is a request. We are asking you to take the fall to ensure the survival of our plans. Each of you will be given a vow to swear that will limit just how many crimes, and the types of crimes, that any of you can admit too. We are asking you to accept going to Azkaban so that the rest can go free.” Animus told the group. 

He had selected each of these people for a reason, some were lower level and really hadn’t done anything to illegal, while others were a danger and could cause serious problems in the future, including Macnair and the Carrow twins. Macnair had gone on to work for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures at the Ministry of Magic as their executioner, but he had secretly been going around killing all manner of magical creatures and beings without any permission or reason. He needed to be removed to mitigate the damage he would do to wixen and being relations. And since he would have been in Azkaban he wouldn’t be able to work at the Ministry and wouldn’t have their backing in killing. He had also made sure to leave a note that would be sent to Greyback if he started killing after his release, the werewolf wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of him if he saw him as a threat. 

The Carrow twins had much of the same issues. They had both gone on to work at the Ministry and had made things needlessly harder for those that didn’t agree with them completely, and they spent much of their time off torturing and killing people, he had managed to link over 30 deaths and disappearances in the muggle world two the two insane siblings. The two had actually liked Umbridge, and that said everything there was to say about them.

He was using this to remove the more dangerous or unstable people from the equation, even if it was just for a few years. Unfortunately there were a few lower level people that would need to be sacrificed as well, they weren’t a true problem, but the Ministry needed to believe they were accomplishing something.

“We will be applying a potion that will lighten your marks to match the others, they will darken again once the Dark Lord returns. You will also be taking vows to hide anything you do not wish the Ministry to know, as well as to force you to give certain answers if pressed about different topics.”

These vows were worded so they would only be able to confess to certain crimes. He wished he could completely remove those like Macnair and the Carrows, but he couldn’t, all he could do was trust that they wouldn’t change and would end up removing themselves in the end, either by ending up back in Azkaban or getting killed. They would only be able to admit partial culpability in any of the attacks that resulted in death. 

The second vow would force them to give certain responses, and he would make sure the elite on the Wizenagmot asked the questions he wanted. If asked about why it always seemed there were so many Death Eaters they would say they were given illusion rings to wear during raids that would create multiple duplicates of them making the numbers look more impressive then they actually were. If asked about people identified as having the dark mark but being found without it they would say that the Dark Lord had had them use glamours to make it appear certain people supported him, especially those from well known or powerful families. They were also encouraged to use any sob story they could, especially if a member of the Order or an auror killed or harmed a member of their families.

When he was finished explaining what the vows did and how they should act after being arrested he asked if any of them had any questions.

“Why should we allow ourselves to be thrown in Azkaban?” Macnair sneered.

“Do we really have to do this? Azkaban is horrible.” Another questioned.

“I understand this is asking a great deal from each of you.” Animus said in a soothing tone. “But you are not doing this for me, you are doing this to protect the Dark Lord and his plans. If you do not wish to assist him I will work out which of the other two groups you could fit into. The Dark Lord will of course be made aware of just who did what after his return naturally, so don’t be surprised if he is less trusting of you after, he will naturally make assumptions about your loyalty and devotion to the dark based on your actions this night.

And, as I said before, we were prepared for this. Those being sent to Azkaban will not suffer the way a regular prisoner would. Arrangements have already been made to have their cells warded and an illusion placed around it. While the guards will see a regular cell and will see the prisoner as they would expect it won’t be real. The cells will be properly furnished with a comfortable bed, sitting area, and a desk. There will be heating charms in the room to keep you comfortable. And you will be provided three proper meals each day. On the desks will be a list of books that you will be given access to to keep yourself from becoming too board. And, the dementors will be kept from feeding on you fully, giving you some protection from them. The only thing we really can’t alter is the shower situation as you will be given access to the communal showers twice a week and if we changed it we couldn’t hide it.

There are also arrangements for once you are released. After you are released you will visit Gringotts and find that a vault was set up for you. Each month you serve in Azkaban a predetermined amount will be added to your vault. Although, the cut off point is five years, anything longer than that and more money won’t be added so there is no point in trying for an extended stay, not that anyone would really want that, in an effort to get more money.”

After that they all agreed. He had known they would, none of them wanted the Dark Lord to think they wouldn’t do anything he wanted, and those that weren’t as fanatical weren’t willing to give up the money.

As each person went through the process he set up Animus watched and went to speak with each person he needed to.

“Karkaroff.” Animus moved over to the man he knew would have betrayed so many to save his own skin. He didn’t like the man, but he had his uses.

“Lord Animus?” Karkaroff questioned wearily.

“I have a task for you.”

“What can I possibly do now?” Karkaroff was in his own way incredibly relieved to have had his mark removed. While he fully supported dark magic he had long since lost his faith in the Dark Lord and wasn’t willing to go to prison for what he had done on orders. He would sell out anyone he needed to to protect himself.

“You will be brought in for questioning in a few weeks, you will just need to stick to your story as they have no evidence of anything and Dumbledore is just trying to unsettle you since he knows you are an expert in magical theories he wants banned.” He had been surprised to learn just how intelligent Karkaroff had been given what he had been like when he knew him. Dumbledore had had him arrested originally in an effort to discredit him, and it had worked better than the man had hoped given not only had Karkaroff’s reputation been damaged, but he had also given up the names of many others. “Once you are released you will leave.”

“Leave?”

“Yes. The magical theory professor at Durmstrang is planning to retire at the end of this school year and you would be perfect for that position. If you play your cards right you could be Headmaster in less than 15 years. Dumbledore has been trying to get one of his allies in in an effort to try and take control of that school and reduce it to the embarrassment that Hogwarts has become under his guidance and we can not allow even more students to be held back like that.” 

Animus knew Dumbledore would destroy the school if he could. He had been surprised to learn the truth about the school in his later years. Yes, Durmstrang was predominately dark and did not allow muggle-borns in, but that didn’t mean muggle-borns were left out completely. It would be incredibly stupid, just because they couldn’t attend Durmstrang didn’t mean they didn’t exist, no one would leave that many magicals uneducated, it was a recipe for disaster. 

Instead, Durmstrang had a sister school, Kolwrath, which was where all those raised in the muggle world were sent. Each of the schools had their own Headmaster, and there was a Highmaster that managed both schools, keeping them connected and encouraging them and their students to interact. It wasn’t even just because of bigotry, Kolwrath specialized in teaching those from the muggle world the reality of being a part of the magical world, things those raised in the magical world already knew so it would be a waste of their time to force them to go through those classes. And it worked, in the UK over 60% of muggle raised students that attended Hogwarts returned to the muggle world since they couldn’t figure out how to live fully magical lives since they were never taught even the basics of how things like the government and taxes worked, less than 10% of those who attended Kolwrath did the same.

Despite Durmstrang and Kolwrath being sibling schools Dumbledore only included Durmstrang in the invitation to take part in the triwizard tournament. The man wanted to portray them as nothing more than dark bigots, and it had worked since most didn’t bother to look into why there were no muggle raised students in the delegation.

Karkaroff liked that idea. He had attended Durmstrang himself and wouldn’t like to see his alma mater destroyed by that lemon sucking fool. Agreeing he went home to start looking into moving.

From there he turned his attention to Corban Yaxley. “Auror Yaxley, you are going to need to conduct an investigation into what happened at the Potters. Many of the idiots you are forced to work with are going to blindly listen to Dumbledore and won’t bother to do so themselves and just let his insanity stand.

Since it has been publicly stated that there was some form of strange magical phenomenon you will have an unspeakable come with you as well. You will use Unspeakable Rookwood.” Animus looked over to the unspeakable he had waved over. “Over the course of your investigation you will look under the carpet in the nursery. There will be a runic array and a letter left behind by Lady Dorea Potter née Black.

Dumbledore is planning to hold a special session on November 9th where he will declare his story the absolute truth, with the full backing of the fools in the Wizenagmot and the Ministry. Attending and presenting your findings before Dumbledore gets the chance to spout his nonsense would be highly recommended. And they can’t even complain, after all, you were only following the law, unlike them apparently.”

After that he sent Yaxley off to go get some rest before starting to do his job properly the next day, but he requested that Augustus go to the Black Castle and wait for him there.

Augustus was more than happy to do as asked. He had done so before and it had worked out wonderfully. He had given Mira the short courtship she wanted and the two had bonded 3 months later. As he had been warned, her parents and brother did not approve and after her grandfather died and her father took up the title they tried to force her to break the bond, something that wasn’t even possible, and then tried to force her to be with one of her brothers associates regardless of her bonding. When she continued to reject their demands they had disowned her. It had saddened her, but since the Rookwoods were a higher ranked family it hadn’t harmed her social standing in the least, instead it was the Fenwick family that had suffered since many looked down on their treatment of their daughter, plus he was going out of his way to secretly make them suffer given what they would have done. And now, his lovely wife was at home with their 2 week old son, Julius. And none of that would have been possible without Animus’s warning.

It took a few hours, but eventually everyone was put through the process he had created and left. Some going to the Black Castle while the majority went home to get ready for the raids.

Gaunt Shack

After leaving the death eater meeting Animus cast a tracking charm to locate Nagini. He knew the maledictus had been with Tom since they met while he was on his travels. She was a cross between a sister and a mother for him and he knew she would be suffering greatly thinking him dead.

He had pieced together old stories and bits of legend of a giant snake being seen crossing the continent in the early 1980’s to make his assumptions. From all that he had found he believed that Nagini had found somewhere to hibernate for the winter before setting off to find the place she had first met Tom. He didn’t know if she really knew of his survival or if she was just going there out of sentimentality.

It actually did surprise him somewhat to learn that Nagini seemed to have ensconced herself in the Gaunt Shack. That was odd since it wasn’t exactly a nice place and wasn’t very much protection from the coming winter. But, at the same time, it made sense since there was a horcrux there so she would have been able to feel his magic around her there.

Apparating over he knocked before entering the shack. As soon as he entered he heard Nagini start hissing her outrage at her grief being disturbed and he went to his knees and bowed to the snake.

“Please Miss Nagini, I mean you no harm.”

“You are a speaker?” Nagini hissed in confusion. She had heard of this man, her Tom had often muttered about the time traveler that would show up from time to time, but he had never mentioned he was a speaker. She often didn’t attend meetings unless he was angry and wanted her to intimidate his followers lately. 

There had been a time when they were often together, but that time had long since passed. She still loved him, but she had seen the damage he had been doing to himself. She stayed out of loyalty, she had lost one friend to the anger before, she would not lose her Tom. But in the end she had.

“Yes, I speak.” Animus said, not knowing everything going through the snake woman’s mind. “I came here to collect you and bring you somewhere safe.”

“Why should I trust you? You knew the future yet you let my Tom be hurt. I heard them, I heard his followers talking about how he is gone. I know they are wrong, and I will prove it. I am going to find him. My Tom can not be dead.” The last part was practically a whimper and Animus knew that if a snake could cry Nagini would.

“Yes, Tom is alive. But there is nothing you can do for him right now.”

Nagini practically snarled as she reared up, ready to strike. “I will find him and I will help him.”

“I know you want to help him Nagini, but none of us can, not now.” Animus told her in a sympathetic voice. “Tom has broken Lady Magics rules. She has punished him, you of all understand just what that means.”

Nagini did. When one broke Lady Magic's laws they were punished most severely. It was what had happened to her, not that she had been the one to break the laws. Her grandmother had done it, and as a result they had all suffered for it. Their line was punished with the maledictus curse.

Her grandmother had sworn her fealty to a Dark Lord, only to turn around and kill him. Lady Magic had been furious at her breaking her vow and the maledictus curse on their entire bloodline had been the punishment.

It was one of the reasons why Nagini was so loyal to Tom. She had sworn to be loyal to him, and she didn’t what to think of what more Lady Magic would do if she broke her vow. Her curse was why she had never had children of her own, she didn’t want them punished for their ancestors crimes as she had been. Tom was the closest she had allowed herself to come to being a mother, and he had already been in his 20’s when they met.

“What is his punishment?” Nagini asked softly.

“He is being exiled for about 10 years. We will be able to restore him 10 years from now. And I know you will want to be there for that, which is one of the reasons I came here to get you.”

“Why didn’t you stop him earlier, rather than helping him after?”

“Because we were all already too late.” Animus summoned a chair and sat down, he could only stand for so long, especially since he was talking to a snake on the floor. “The ritual that started Tom’s decline was done when he was 16. Neither of us were around him then. He has done the ritual again a few times and that has exacerbated his issues, but it was already too late.

Now that he has been banished to a spirit form we can undo the ritual and heal him. That is another reason I am here, one of the pieces we need to heal him is hidden here. I figured you could come with me and stay safe while you and the others that are still loyal to Tom get ready for his return.”

Nagini thought about it. She had been planning to go in search of Tom, he had always said he couldn’t die because he had backup plans, but knowing that he was being punished by Lady Magic meant that she wasn’t going to be able to fix things by being there to support him.

“Will I be safe there?”

“Yes.” Animus assured. “You also will have someone to talk to eventually as my younger self is there so once he gets a bit older you will be able to talk with him. You will also get to meet Tom’s soulmate.”

“And just where have they been?” Nagini questioned in irritation, furious that her Tom had a soul mate and they hadn’t been there for him.

“He had their bond blocked when he was in his early teens so he and Tom never managed to make their bond.” Animus told her, not surprised when she started hissing in fury at the idea someone had blocked a soul bond, and it was even worse in her opinion since it hurt her Tom. “I’ve arranged for him to be cleansed so once Tom returns they will be able to bond finally.”

Nagini gave a decisive nod before she slid her large body over to Animus and he picked her up after casting a feather-light charm on her since she was so large and he was an old man. Then he went and collected the ring, the enchantments having no effect on him given the life he had lived and his own power levels, and left.

Black Castle

Animus returned to the Black Castle and swiftly passed Nagini off to Regulus before stepping into one of the side rooms for a quick meeting.

Lady Callidora Longbottom née Black and Lord Cassius Nott were sitting calmly in one of the smaller sitting rooms as if they were old friends despite there being over 20 years between them and never having really spoken more then a polite greeting in more than 40 years. He had requested they both meet him there as there was something he needed to discuss with both of them. He had made sure to have Melania give Callidora the basics of him being Lord Black from the future, but no more than that, Callidora had chosen to be neutral in the war and he had no intent to try and sway her.

“What is it you wished to discuss with the two of us Lord Animus?” Cassius was the first to break their silent staring contest after he had sat down.

“This is more of a heads up. I do so hope that I don’t need to explain to either of you the true purpose of Lords and Ladies of Magic.” Animus said.

“I do believe we both received a proper education in that matter.” Callidora said primly. “Lady Magic sends Lords and Ladies of Dark and Light to manage their sides of magic. Despite the behaviour of the two most recent ones here in Britain they are intended to work together to protect each side while advancing all magicals. One or two new potentials are sent every two or three generations. And, in times of great strife or destabilization a Grey Lord or Lady is sent to restore balance.”

“Correct.” Animus nodded his agreement. “And, as you both have no doubt noticed, there has been a great deal of strife and destabilization occurring in the past few decades.”

“Lady Magic has sent a Grey Lord?” Callidora gasped in shock and excitement. She had never thought she would live in a time of a grey. Not that she had liked living in the times she had been, all the fighting was stupid and a waste of life in her opinion.

“Indeed she has.”

“Who?” Cassius questioned in a neutral tone. Although his tone was neutral his mind was moving fast over all the information he had available to him. First, he had a grandson and the woman that had also been invited had a great grandson around the same age. Two, things had become so unstable that a Grey Lord was needed in the first place, and that was not a good thing. And three, he was going to need to make sure this Grey Lord leaned towards the dark.

“Hunter Black.” Animus said, using the name the child would have by the end of the evening, that was who he was going to be.

“Who?” Both questioned as one.

“Hunter Black is the son of Regulus Black.”

“Regulus?” Callidora questioned. “I heard he had died. Although, Arcturus has not called the family to inform them of such.”

“No, Regulus and his wife have been living in France, where their son was born.” Animus told the woman, as one of Voldemort’s Elite Cassius had already known about where he had been and had seen him himself earlier at the meeting no doubt.

“What can we possibly do about that?” Callidora questioned. “I may have been born a Black, but other than being distantly related I have no real connection with him.”

“Indeed. The reason the two of you are here is for a different reason.” Animus told them. “Lady Magic is trying most desperately to get the UK back under control, we are simply doing too much damage to ourselves and risking far too much. To do this this generation she has sent around a half dozen potential Lords and Ladies of Magic for each side. I do not know who most of them are, but I do know the identities of two of them.

Lord Nott, your young grandson Theo is a potential Dark Lord. Lady Longbottom, your great grandson Neville is a potential Light Lord. I am not telling you this so you can try and force them to reach their potential, if you know history you know just how badly that has turned out in the past.” Past attempts to force a Lord or Lady of Magic to reach their potential had always resulted in death and destruction. “Powers such as they may have need to be allowed to grow and mature in their own time, not yours.

I am telling you this so you can offer your aid if it is needed. Neville will excel more in earth based magics and charms, Theo in the more esoteric subjects of rituals and magical theory. It will also be beneficial if the children get to know each other young since if they each reach their potential they will have to work together for the betterment of all. I know Lord and Lady Black have already discussed getting a private tutor for any children in the family once they are older so that may be one way to let them get to know each other without pressure.

Callidora, you are going to need to pay particular attention to Neville whenever he is around Augusta and her brother, Algie. Both were rather cruel to him, constantly telling him he was a failure and generally insulting his intelligence. Algie even dropped him out a window when he was 8 while attempting to force accidental magic when he got distracted by dessert.”

Callidora clenched her fist in outrage, she had never truly liked Augusta, but her son had loved her dearly so had agreed to approve the match. Over the years she had of course seen the change in their relationship, after nearly 30 years of marriage the two acted more like acquaintances than husband and wife. Augusta was obsessively devoted to her son, but she was also very critical of him at the same time. Even when she offered him praise she always had to comment on how he could have done better or how his accomplishment didn’t measure up to others from previous generations.

With that information given they left the room. Callidora returned home and started making plans to ensure Neville was protected and taught everything he needed to know. Animus and Cassius went to another sitting room where the rest of the death eaters that had been invited were waiting for them.

In the large sitting room was those that had been invited to the meeting. This included the Elite, of the original twelve ten still survived. Both Wilhelm Rookwood and Zephyr Mulciber had been killed, Mulciber in the war and Rookwood by his mistresses brother. Lucius Malfoy had been invited, his wife and young son were in another room with Melania, Bronwen, Hunter, and baby Calliope Crouch-Lestrange. Severus Prince-Snape, Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, Rabastan and Barty Crouch-Lestrange, and Augustus Rookwood were also there.

“So how much of that was a lie?” Abraxas smirked once Animus had settled into the seat at the head of the table in the dining room they had congregated in.

“All and none.” Animus smirked back at the arrogant Lord. “It is the Slytherin way after all.”

“So what is the truth?” Graham Lestrange, recently named Lord Lestrange when his father retired to their summer home in France, questioned.

“Tom has lost his body, but he is still around in spirit form. But the reason we can’t restore him now isn’t because the ritual takes time to prepare.” Animus said.

“Then why must we wait?” Bellatrix demanded in a desperate voice, but Animus was pleased to see she didn’t have that maniacal look in her eye and settled when her husband took her hand, although that might not all be due to the different occlumency shields he had ensured she was taught but more due to not spending over a decade in Azkaban. She had also thankfully brought Hufflepuff’s cup to him.

“Because he violated Lady Magic’s rules. His spirit has been exiled. He will be able to return to Britain after 9 1/2 years, but will not be allowed to have a body until 10 years have passed. Due to the ritual I am using I can’t tell you when and how he will return, but I have left time delay letters to alert you once the warning signs of his arrival begin so you can prepare the body creation ritual.” Animus told them sombrely. “All is not lost, but you will need to bide your time.”

“Why didn’t you stop this?” Bellatrix demanded. She may be more stable, but she was still a Black, and Black’s were well known for their tempers. She, along with the others had been informed who he truly was, it was one of the things reining her in, despite being from the future he was still the Lord of her family.

“I couldn’t.” Animus told them in a subdued voice, he knew that many of them were blaming him for not stopping this. “By the time I arrived it was already too late. I have no direct evidence, but I strongly believe, that when Dumbledore used this ritual he used it to compel the Dark Lord to conduct the ritual that is responsible for slowly driving him insane over the past decades.

None of you that knew him when he first started Hogwarts can deny that he has been becoming less and less the man you first met when you were boys.” Animus pointed out when he saw some building up to challenge him and wasn’t surprised when he saw many give an acknowledging nod. “The ritual has been making him less and less stable as time went on and there was no way we could counter it previously. However, now that he is in spirit form the rituals can be reversed before his body is restored. I have already gathered everything, and when the time comes you will be given access to everything you need.”

“How could he have broken Lady Magics rules?” Amon Avery questioned, accepting Lord Animus’s reasoning. He had known Tom since they were first years together he had seen how he had changed.

“In a number of ways. The first is the ritual. Despite my belief that he is not exactly at fault he still did something horrible. I believe Lady Magic didn’t punish him immediately because she knew he was not at fault. But the main problem is what he did with Harry Potter.” Animus said.

“You said the boy was dead.” Abraxas interrupted.

“Yeah, that was a lie.” Animus told them. “He was left outside, but he did not succumb. I arranged to collect him.”

“He’s here?” Bellatrix hissed, ready to track down the one that took their Lord from them, despite her anger she knew she wouldn't be able to truly harm the child, but she could glare.

“Yes, and you will not harm him in any way.” Animus said sternly. “As it is, one of the reason I had you come here is that you will be assigned as his protecters.”

“You want us to protect him?” Barty questioned in shock. He had no desire to harm a child, but he couldn’t deny his fury over what had happened to his Lord.

“Yes.” Animus confirmed. “The prophecy that was told is not exactly a lie, but it also isn’t the truth.

As I said, there was a prophecy about a child of power. But, the original prophecy was given in the headmasters office at Hogwarts. The one that was told publicly at the Hog’s Head was one that Dumbledore had altered. He changed it so the prophecy specifically mentioned the Dark Lord. The original version just states that the child of power will be the end of a Lord of Magic, it didn’t mention Dark or Light. It could just as easily be about the downfall of Dumbledore himself, which is why he changed it to have Tom target the child, effectively using them as weapons against each other and arranging a situation he thinks he can control.

But that isn’t why you will be protecting him. The reason for that is that due to the rituals the Dark Lord conducted his soul was particularly unstable. In the backlash of the failed killing curse a sliver of the Dark Lords soul broke off. It then latched on to the closest living thing, Harry Potter.

It is that soul piece that is anchoring him to this plane. Harry can outlive the Dark Lord, but the Dark Lord can not outlive him. There is nothing that can be done to change that. The souls were too entwined within the first 20 minutes to be able to separate them. Attempting to do so will kill them both. This means the very survival of the Dark Lord relies on Harry Potter. And that is why he is here. If any of the light fools discovered this they would try and kill him in order to kill the Dark Lord.”

“Does Dumbledore know?” Graham Lestrange questioned in a slightly worried voice.

“Thankfully no.” Animus told them all, seeing as they all relaxed. “If I had left Harry where he was left Dumbledore would have discovered the soul shard when the boy was around 5 due to his accidental magic as a result of being in an abusive home. That was when he made his plans for the boy.”

“Plans?” Rodolphus asked.

“For him to maintain his control and power as a Light Lord he needs an enemy to fight.” Animus said with a shrug. “As of now he believes the Dark Lord is still out there, but he has no direct proof, it’s why he wants to train the Potter girl. Last time, when he discovered the soul shard he planned to use the boy as a martyr. He left him in an abusive home to try and train him to be submissive and obedient. Once the Dark Lord returned he planned to arrange confrontations and have them kill each other. If one of them survived he would then step in to kill who was left, making him the ultimate hero. Allowing him to know about the soul shard is just too much of a risk for all those involved.”

This resulted in many muttered discussions as those present started to make plans to hide and protect the child. Each had their own ideas but he was just relieved they were going to be willing to work with him on this, not that he really doubted they would protect the one anchoring their Lord.

Severus was mostly ignoring the others talking. He knew the man before them was the adult version of the child they were making plans about, and he knew that he would have already had everything planned before he even came back. “What is it that you brought us here for?” If it was just about protecting himself he wouldn’t have needed to do all this, he just would have needed to hide him and leave them all ignorant.

Animus nodded to the severe man. “You are all here to assist me in a few things. The first is a transfer ritual. We can not separate the Dark Lords soul from Harry Potter, but we are going to need to move it.”

“Move it?” Rabastan questioned.

“Yes. There is a mark signifying the location of the soul.” Animus told them. “There is a rather large sowilo rune shaped cut on the boys forehead from where the soul latched on and it will leave a rather obvious scar. Along with that it’s location will effect his sight and given that he is protecting a part of the Dark Lords soul having him half blind will not be helpful.

The ritual room here has been prepared for us to use a transference ritual to move it. We will be shifting it onto his sternum as there it will not effect his development and will be much easier to hide. We will also be using the same potion we used to fade the marks for many to make it harder to spot.”

“And once that’s done how do you plan to make it plausible for us to protect him?” Bellatrix questioned, finally able to get a word in without any of the others starting to talk first. “I can’t just show up around a child. Even with my mark hidden those like Dumbledore and his light fools will lose it, claiming we are a danger to children, it’s why we all keep Cally’s existence quiet.”

“No, we will not be allowing any of the light to know about him. It would be for the best for many families to enact protections for any children they have from this point on. Last time even when many managed to bribe their way out of being convicted they, and to a lesser degree their spouses and children, received death threats.” Animus gave them the subtle warning. “No, you will not be protecting Harry Potter.

Instead Harry Potter is going to cease to exist. I left the muggles he was left with with false memories of them abandoning him at a group home and planted false papers at the group home about him being adopted. After the transfer ritual is done and the ritual room has time to settle those who wish to may attend the blood adoption we have planned.”

“Who do you want to adopt him?” Lucius questioned. He knew if it was possible he wouldn’t mind taking the boy, he knew Narcissa wanted more children. And looking after the one that protected a portion of his Lords soul would make him even more influential.

“My wife and I will be adopting him as he is of Black blood through his grandmother Dorea.” Regulus spoke up for the first time since arriving.

“WIFE?” Bellatrix looked to her cousin in shock. Of course she had known he was alive, but she had known nothing about him marrying, as it was she had always assumed he was gay.

“Yes, wife.” Regulus smirked at his cousin. “Lord Animus introduced me to Bronwen on his last visit. She has her own reason for agreeing to all of this.

We have already laid a false trail. We filed a birth certificate for a home birth last year. Those who know us in France are aware it was a complicated pregnancy and birth which is why none of them have gotten to see our son yet. As far as anyone knows Regulus and Bronwen Black welcomed their son, Hunter Black, July 13th, 1980. We will be heading back to France after the rituals and then moving back to Britain this winter. With all the upheaval Hunter’s existence will be placed under protection by the Black Family and no one we don’t allow will know of his existence until he begins Hogwarts.”

While the others were talking Animus quietly called a house elf and requested she bring Bronwen to him. With a knock on the door the others that had been there entered the meeting room, Melania bringing Cally over to her fathers and Narcissa moving with Draco over to Lucius.

“Bronwen, we are going to need Hunter for a little bit. But I promise he will not suffer any lasting harm.” Animus assured the woman that had already taken up the role of protective mother. “We need to do a ritual for that cut on his forehead, and it will cause him some pain and discomfort, but it will fade quickly and help protect him in the future.”

Bronwen smiled at the man, seeing him for who he really was. “I know. You wouldn’t do anything to harm yourself after all.”

Animus smiled at her, not really surprised she was the one to figure him out. “I guess they are right when they say a mother will always recognize her child.”

“You’re…” More than a few said in shock.

Lords Kaiden Selwyn, Abraxas Malfoy and Graham Lestrange were the more politically minded of the group and they each quickly worked through the implications of all this. And they all came to the same decision, the child was clearly not a threat to their plans given he had been the one to come back and help them to succeed.

Ritual Room

Once in the Black’s ritual room Animus left Harry in the arms of Regulus and quickly set up the ritual with Augustus Rookwood and Bellatrix. The three of them were the best when it came to ritual magics.

“So if your Harry Potter… And you carry a portion of the Dark Lords soul… He’s still around in your time?” Bellatrix questioned as she was putting together the herb bundles they would need to cleanse themselves and the room once they were done.

Animus looked up from where he was drawing runes on the alter they would be laying the child on. “No.” Many looked at him in confusion at that. “I said the Dark Lord couldn’t outlive me, but I can outlive him. In my time no one got me away from Dumbledore and his plans. Your cousin, my godfather, Sirius, and his best friend Remus Lupin did try, but they both ended up murdered for their interference.

Dumbledore got his way and arranged for the war to restart when I was 14 and a final battle when I was 17. The part of the soul that resided in me, the one that currently resides in Harry, is enough to be semi-conscious, but not enough to take control or do much of anything besides give vague warnings by causing an ache. It had been with me through my entire childhood with the muggles and had grown to care for me in its own way so when Dumbledore’s plans came to fruition and I was supposed to die it sacrificed itself so that I could survive.” Again he was stretching the truth to an extent, but it was needed.

“You said the Dark Lord broke Lady Magics rules in a number of ways but you only mentioned the ritual before we got distracted.” Amon Avery said from his position against the wall along with those that didn’t know enough to assist in preparing this ritual as he tried to adjust to the idea that even a part of his Lord would sacrifice itself for another.

“Right.” Animus said. “The other two ways was the attack on Harry. A little known or acknowledged fact is that two muggles are incapable of having a magical child, the magic has to come from somewhere.” Animus noticed the grumbles of those that looked down on those they deemed to have lesser blood. “Muggle-borns are descended from old squib lines or have a magical being in their ancestry somewhere.

It just so happens that Lily Potter née Evans is the granddaughter of the Dark Lords squib aunt who was abandoned. As I’m sure you all know the Dark Lord is Count Slytherin. The Slytherin Line is patriarchal, it is also a line that was blessed by Lady Magic so is more connected to her, meaning the day Harry Potter was born Lady Magic recognized him as the Dark Lords Heir. There is a protection on the Slytherin Line, the head of the family can not kill the Heir so long as they are underage and did not start the conflict or Lady Magic will interfere, as she did.

The third way is also related to Harry’s connection to the Slytherin line, he was born with the family magics, and that includes the gift of parseltongue. Parseltongue is the Slytherin gift from Lady Magic, and again, is closer connected to her. No of age parseltongue may kill an underage parseltongue, once again, if the child does not start the conflict. In his attempt to remove a potential threat before it had a chance to become a threat he created his own temporary loss of power.”

“Family magic backlash.” Augustus said understandingly. He was just wondering how he was going to edit that in a way that he could present it in the Wizengamot like Animus wanted him to.

“That combine with a sacrificial magic and blood ritual.” Animus shrugged. “It was a threefold protection.”

Once everything was set up Animus had Regulus lay his younger self on the alter. With simple white cotton strips of fabric he bound the toddlers arms and legs to the alter to keep him from hurting himself by doing something like scratching at the location of the soul shard or flailing and causing himself to fall off the alter. This was not going to be pleasant for Harry, it was actually going to be quite painful, but it needed to be done.

And as Animus knew was going to happen, as the ritual began Harry began screaming as the cut on his forehead opened fully before it started to move. It took nearly 20 minutes to move the injury and Harry screamed and cried the entire time.

None taking part in the ritual handled it well. Despite everything they had done, none of them felt anything other than self disgust at taking part in something that made a child cry like that. The idea that children were their future wasn’t just an idea to these people, even in the war they had done everything they could to limit underage casualties.

Once the shard was over his sternum the ritual was finished and Arcturus quickly applied the potions to heal it and fade the scaring. Rather than the livid red lightning bolt that he had grown up with this younger version of him had a silver white lighting bolt on his sternum that would be easily hidden simply by wearing a shirt.

Unfortunately since they were going to be doing a blood adoption later they couldn’t give Harry any potions since they would interact poorly with the blood adoption potion and ritual. Instead Animus just had Regulus collect his soon to be son and work to settle him as they headed back to the sitting room to allow the ritual magics to fade enough that they could preform another ritual. Doing too many rituals in the same place in too close a time frame could cause the magics to become skewed and result in unpredictable magical interactions and it could also be tracked by the Ministry given the large magical output.

From there the group went to the large sitting room, this time joined by all the others in the house.

Sitting Room

“You said the Dark Lord was killed protecting you when you were 17.” Lord Avery said in a questioning voice once they were all settled. “Did it really take you until this age to calculate everything?”

“No.” Animus said bluntly. “I know it might seem as if I specifically came back to save the Dark Lord, but that isn’t true. Saving him just assists me in my ultimate goal. Although, getting everything ready did take a very long time?”

“And just what is your ultimate goal?” Abraxas questioned in a clipped tone. The reason they had all trusted him for so long was because they believed he had come back to help them.

“To stop the magical world from being exposed to muggles.” Animus told them grimly. “Having a functioning Dark Lord will assist in that.”

“You act like that’s a bad thing.” Malcolm Rosier sneered. He saw muggles as little more than mindless farm animals.

Animus just raised his eyebrow at that foolishness and then called for one of the elves to bring a projector pensieve. He added a few memories of the war that had occurred once they were exposed. Those in the room watched in horror as entire towns were obliterated, the witch hunts and the numbers of dead.

“The current global wixen population is less than 10 million, that can be expanded to around 50 million if you include all magical beings. The current global muggle population is just over 4.5 billion, and by 2020 that will grow to be nearly 7.8 billion. Over the next few decades their technology and weaponry is going to expand drastically, in open warfare we will lose. There were of course those that defended us, but the majority were afraid of us and attacked.”

“And all that can be stopped by the Dark Lord?” Narcissa questioned fearfully as she held her son close, never wanting him to experience such horror.

“Not directly. Over the past half century Dumbledore has been working to instil an underestimation of muggles in Britains population. He has been working to lower the levels of secrecy we require. This will result in a number of his fools working together to expose us, thinking our worlds should merge.” Animus told him.

“I knew Dumbledore was the worst thing to happen to Hogwarts.” Lucius said, strongly reminding him of Draco when he was a child.

“Dumbledore can’t actually be given the full blame for it.” The man was indirectly guilty of it given it was his people, but he knew Dumbledore wouldn’t have done things the way Granger, Lily, Ron Weasley, and their co-conspirators did. “Despite how he acts, Dumbledore despises muggles nearly as much as the Dark Lord.”

“Yet he is constantly trying to force us to convert to the muggles ideology and way of life while getting rid of our traditions.” Avery snarked.

“And you might notice that as he does that he still always wears Wizarding robes.” Animus pointed out. “He also holds his own private rituals on magical holidays on occasion.”

“That’s right.” Regulus said thoughtfully, he and the youngest adults in the room knew the man had never worn anything muggle while they had been at school. “Why if he was the leader of the pro-muggle group has he had nothing to do with the muggle world? I really think the only real connection he had is his love of the holidays and the sweets.”

“He does it for a few different reasons. The main one is that it gets him the support of a majority of the muggle-borns and half-bloods. He basically sets himself up to be a god like figure to a bunch of impressionable 11 year olds. And as he does that he subtly, and less so subtly, implies that the pure-bloods that don’t agree with him do so because they hate them and don’t want them to be a part of the magical world, like he does with his comments about the Slytherins. It practically guarantees him followers.

And while he is a major sugar and lemon addict, that doddering old grandfather routine he uses at Hogwarts is just an act. He acts like that and dresses like that because it makes people see him as kind and quirky and encourages them to underestimate him. Plus he really does have horrible fashion sense.” Animus explained the downright horrible fashion choices the man often made. “Anyone that has ever been around him in battle can tell you he is not some sweet old man, he’s a war general that will sacrifice anyone, even the children he is entrusted to care for, to get what he wants.

Then we come to the main reason, power. And I don’t mean the power he gets by having so many people practically deify him, I mean the political power he wants. Despite all the power he’s managed to amass it is mostly just given to him and can be removed without much trouble. He only has his positions of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Grand Sorcerer, and Supreme Mugwamp of the ICW because he is popular with the public. The only positions that he has actually earned and can not be removed either by the public or a Minister that doesn’t like him is his position of Headmaster and his single vote in the Wizengamot he got with his Order of Merlin First Class, although he can be fired from his Headmaster position.

And that is his focus on the muggle world. He wants to adopt their democracy. I don’t think he fully understands that Britain itself is a constitutional monarchy, meaning that while it has public elections there are still titles involved. If anything he wants to take a more American approach but doesn’t know enough about the muggle world to know that.

He has always resented those that were born to wealth and power, especially those that don’t see the world the way he does or question him. He is willing to pretend he likes muggles if it means gaining even more control. And no matter how much power and control he amasses it will never be enough. He is a massive control freak with a god complex. Things need to be his way and only his way.”

“Why does he hate muggles so much? Can we use it?” Orion questioned, thinking about using the press.

“No, we can’t use it against him. If anything he would be able to spin it to make himself even more sympathetic.” Animus told them. “And his hatred stems from when he was a boy. Albus was the eldest of three siblings.”

“There’s more of them?” Abraxas gasped in worry, the last thing they needed was more Dumbledore’s taking over.

“There were.” Animus said. “His hatred of muggles started when he was 10 years old. His younger brother, Aberforth was 8, and their younger sister, Ariana, was 6.

Aberforth and their father, Percival, had gone out for the day, leaving Albus and Ariana home with their mother, Kendra. While Ariana was out playing in the garden Kendra was inside with Albus going over his pre-school lessons. Kendra had always been rather focused on perception and wanted to make sure everyone knew just how smart and powerful her first born was.

I know you know that Albus Dumbledore is an incredibly powerful wizard, and his brother has power levels that are almost the same, but from what I’ve been able to find Ariana put both her brothers to shame. And, like most magical children with high enough power levels she had gained a little control over her accidental magic. That had been what she was doing in the backyard, playing with her magic.

Three muggle boys in their mid teens were passing by and just happened to glance over and see what Ariana was doing, it isn’t known if they just wanted to see more or it was something worse, but they confronted the child.

No one knows exactly what happened, but whatever it was was bad enough that it broke Ariana’s mind. She became absolutely terrified of magic and even ended up becoming an obscurial in later years. She became very childlike, never maturing.

When Percival came home and learned what had happened to his daughter he lost it. He hunted those boys down and attacked them, offering to show them magic since they were so interested. One died in the attack, and the other two spent the rest of their short lives in the hospital. He was arrested and sent to Azkaban. He died there a few years later.”

“Who would send him to prison for that?” Graham questioned. “He easily could have pled down given the attack on his daughter. If something like that happened we would most likely give them probation, a year in Azkaban at the most. It’s natural for the head of the family to meat out justice.”

“But Percival never told them why.” Animus said. “You need to remember, this was back before St. Mungo’s was monitored the way it is now. It was rather well known that they experimented on many of the patients. Neither Percival or Kendra wanted to risk Ariana being sent there so they never said what happened. Percival met once with his wife and then never spoke another word. Kendra packed the children up and moved them to a small place in Godric’s Hollow, never telling anyone that she had three children. Ariana was kept hidden away and the boys were taught to not speak of her. It was how Albus learned to manipulate stories and lies to get the best possible outcome.

For years Kendra managed to keep things mostly a secret, but in the end it cost her. While Ariana was afraid of magic she still had it, and when she got upset she had some very dangerous accidental magic. In one of her outbursts she killed her mother when she was 16. Aberforth wanted to drop out of his final year at Hogwarts were much to his brothers disgust he had been sorted into Slytherin. But Albus wouldn’t let him since he had become head of the family and said he would look after Ariana, but Ariana preferred Aberforth and he knew it. Not that it really mattered in the end, Ariana herself died only a few days later.

And that is the origin of Albus Dumbledore’s hatred of muggles, not that I can really say anything against it, the man does have the right given what happened to his family because of them. He lost everyone in his family because of that attack and he wants revenge on the entire world. Even as he talks about how we need to be more like them he actually wants to conquer them. He believes it will be easy for wixen to establish their dominance over muggles, but as you’ve seen that isn’t the truth.”

“Quick question.” Regulus said. “You said he lost his family, but what happened to his brother? Do we need to be worried about another Dumbledore?”

“Not in the slightest.” Animus had always liked Aberforth, they had gotten rather close before the old man had passed away. “After the death of their mother Albus, Aberforth, and Albus’s boyfriend had been arguing since Aberforth wanted to drop out, Albus didn’t want him too, and Albus’s boyfriend wanted Albus to let him so the two of them could go on the world tour they had planned. They were distracted and not paying attention when Ariana died. Aberforth has always blamed his brother for that.” Again, not the full truth, but he knew he couldn’t bring Grindelwald into this, they already had too much going on. “He’s the reason Albus’s nose is crocked, he punched him out at the funeral.

And most of you will already know Aberforth and know he isn’t a problem.” Animus saw the confused looks many of those there shared. “Aberforth finished his final year at school. He had decent grades, but hadn’t really cared that much about education. He took his portion of what little money their parents left them and started his own business. Aberforth Dumbledore is Abe, the owner of the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade.

And despite how Albus likes to word it, no, Aberforth does not have an illicit relationship with his goats. The illegal charms he was arrested for were his experiments attempting to make a miniature goat with fur the same texture of a cat. It sounds completely mad, but Ariana had loved goats but the feeling of their fur had agitated her. He had been trying to make a goat she would have liked as a way of honouring her, it’s also why he keeps goats.”

“Abe is… Wow.” Rodolphus said in surprise as a few others were also muttering their shock. A majority of Hogwarts students at least knew about the pub, and a few had visited even if just to get cheap booze for an upper year party, Abe was far more understanding than Rosemerta in the value of a good party. And many of those on the dark side knew of the pub since it was far more welcoming to those of their beliefs than a place like The Three Broomsticks, and Abe had never allowed Aurors to just raid the place or place any spying charms around.

“Yeah, a story like that isn’t one we can use.” Selwyn said focusing back on the politics of the situation. “But how do you intend to stop us from being exposed? And if Dumbledore hates muggles so much why were we ultimately exposed? Wouldn’t he have stopped it?”

“He would have, but he was killed in the war remember.” Animus said. “He had created this idea that we needed to merge our worlds as an excuse to try and push the government to a full democracy but he had no intentions of actually doing so. His thought process on gaining control of the muggles was through taking control of their government officials but his followers didn’t know that.

After the war it was his followers that were mostly left in charge since he had been arranging things to concentrate power in those he controlled. Even then they still struggled to an extent. Eventually a few of them just started making plans to expose magic to muggles directly since they couldn’t get the Statute of Secrecy rescinded. For years we used time turners to stop them if we found out in time, but we couldn’t stop their planning since they would plan for months before they did anything and time turners are regulated to 6 hours. We stopped over a dozen attempts over a decade span before they were finally successful in exposing us. Unfortunately, dealing with Dumbledore is actually preferable than dealing with his sycophants because he at least can control them to an extent, without him around there was no one to rein them in or distract them.

And as to how it can be stopped, it’s already been done. As soon as I arrived I sent messages to the Magical Beings Council alerting them to the danger. I sent them information on what to watch for and ways to improve their wards. They will deal with it as they see fit.”

“Magical Beings Council? Who are they?” Barty questioned as he gently rocked his infant daughter. He had never heard of anything like that, and he figured he would have given his fathers obsession with the ministry as he grew up. “And why would they be in charge of wards that are somehow connected to the Statute of Secrecy?”

“As I’m sure most of you know the International Council of Wizards was established in 1692. While they like to pretend they are in charge of the magical world they really only have the ability to control wixen. Magical beings in general just ignore them.

Instead, the magical beings follow the directives of the Magical Beings Council.” Animus glanced to Fenrir. In his youth, while Fenrir had been disliked for his habit of turning so many, the council had seen him as a decent alpha since he tended to look after all werewolves, except for Remus much to his ire. This time Fenrir was a bit more reasonable and wasn’t attacking everyone he could since the potions he and Severus had created the man was a bit more stable even as he still promoted werewolf rights. 

“The Magical Beings Council was established around 1205 BC, around the end of the Trojan War. They were the ones that created the law that magicals are forbidden from taking part in non-magical wars due to the events and destruction that took place there.

Originally they had Wixen members but in recent generations wixen have begun seeing themselves as being more important than other magical beings and treating them more like creatures rather than the beings they are. The wixen portion of the council seceded in 1438, when they first started making plans to start their own council. I was actually the first wixen member since that time. 

By the time the ICW passed the Statute of Secrecy the MBC had had something similar in place for over 200 years, and theirs is magically enforced rather than the voluntary method used by the ICW. When they created their secrecy statute they erected a network of wards all over the world. And those wards don’t just hide them, they also assist in hiding us.” Animus continued.

“The Ministry is the one that deals with muggles who see magic.” Lord Andrash Carrow, Uncle of Alecto and Amycus Carrow, said. And he would know, he worked in the obliviator headquarters, although he wasn’t one of those that actually had to go out into the muggle world.

“The Ministry deals with those that see and place some weak wards to keep people from noticing too much, but they really aren’t that great at it. I mean really, do you honestly think the basic notice-me-nots around the muggle entrance to Platform 9 3/4 actually have much of an effect.” He was actually surprised that every single one there seemed to believe it. “For the record, they don’t. The spellwork may work for the casual passer-by that is more focused on where they’re going, but not on those that actually work there. I’ve seen what happens when the wards the Ministry places around the platform as well as The Leaky Caldron fall, and do you know what, nothing changed.

The wards the Ministry uses have to be weak so that the parents of muggle-borns can find them, but that also means other muggles can catch glimpses. It’s things like that that result in muggle legends about magic. The wards used by the MBC are intent based perception filters. Unfortunately they aren’t as strong here in the UK as they are in other countries because the British Ministry refused to allow them to build an anchor point here.

But it’s only natural their wards would be better, they had them created by the fey, seelie, and unseelie. Their talent with wards far outstrip our own.”

“How can their wards be so much better?” Rodolphus asked.

“Tell me, how many of you know anyone that knows where their courts are, let alone been to them?” Animus wasn’t surprised none of them did. “The fey, seelie and unseelie haven’t just hidden their courts, they have hidden their entire countries since long before the idea of separating the magical and non-magical worlds were even thought of. In total there are 8 entire countries that I know of that have been hidden not just from the muggles but other magicals as well. And I only know of them due to having been accepted by the MBC.

Amongst the information I sent to them was ways to improve their wards so that advancing muggle technology won’t be able to see through their wards. From the notes they left for me at Gringotts they have already started implementing them so the UK will get some of the benefit, but not as much as other countries.”

“Is there advancing technology really that much of a danger to us?” Arcturus questioned. He knew from Marius who often spent time in the muggle world just how advance muggles had become, but he worried that that advancement was only going to become greater, especially after seeing those memories of what could happen.

“Yes.” Animus said bluntly. “In future muggles will work to have cameras constantly recording all over public places as a deterrent for crime and ways to gather evidence. We would need to have a group working with those in the know in the muggle government to map out their blind spots to use those areas as safe apparation points.

And those are just the cameras on the ground. Muggles have already started to explore space, including sending people to the moon. They have what they call satellites circling the planet. And attached to some of them are even more cameras. If they can take close up pictures of other planets they can certainly take pictures of magic, especially when it comes to things like dragons. The ward updates I sent should hold them off for another few decades or so, but it isn’t a long-term solution. Thankfully the MBC is dealing with it for the most part, and if we could just get an anchor point set here we would be much better off. I’ve even already had one built in Avalar, we just need to get the approval to connect it. But it will be difficult since the British Ministry of Magic doesn’t even recognize the MBC even exists.”

“What’s this?” Severus asked then. He had been listening with one ear as he had glanced through the notebook that Lord Animus had sent to him. Once again he found potions notes, most of them in his own handwriting. But what was interesting him was the section that was marked. “Altered dragon pox?”

“Yes.” Animus said. “Currently Dumbledore has been working with a small group of individuals that are creating a dragon pox strain that will target those with dark cores. It will still effect those with grey or light cores, but it will be far more virulent for those with dark cores.”

“Why aren’t you stopping them?” Narcissa gasped in horror.

“Because I know what is going to happen, and when, if I just leave them be.” Animus pointed out. “I only know that Dumbledore is involved due to having been able to force answers in the future. Despite being the one that started this he isn’t the only one pushing it forward, those doing the actual work have their own reasons for doing so, and there is no actual proof that he is involved. They could technically be arrested for their actions, but they won’t get a long sentence due to not having actually harmed anyone yet.

If I arrange for them to be stopped we can’t guarantee that Dumbledore won’t just find someone else to finish the job. And then we know nothing. If we leave those currently working on it I know the exact day it will be released, I know who will get sick, and I know exactly when the first person will die.”

“And will you tell us?” Arcturus questioned.

“Of course.” Animus smiled. “Thankfully while the pox spreads incredibly quickly it kills very slowly. The first person is admitted to St. Mungo’s March 17, 1984. The first death will occur November 28. 

There is plenty of time. Severus developed the cure, but it wasn’t until 1989, and by that time I am sad to say that most of those over the age of 50 in this room were gone, and so were many others. In the 5 years the pox was being passed around more than 600 had died.

My recommendation would be to wait until the first few people are hospitalized before making your move. Let it be known that a few families had commissioned Severus to find a treatment. Since this strain was created rather than developed naturally and the virus can be overwhelmed rather easily. The potion that can cure this strain can also be used to treat the original version, it won’t cure it, but it can reduce the symptoms and increase the survivability.”

Severus and the others easily agreed to his plan, as he knew they would. Despite being in a room full of mostly pompous pure-bloods they all were simply going along with whatever he wanted and it entertained him a bit given he knew how many of them still thought they were better than those they considered of lesser blood.

“Do you have any recommendations for who to elect as Minster once we get rid of that idiot, Bagnold?” Lord Selwyn asked.

“Not specifically. But I do have some recommendations on who to make sure don’t gain the position. Cornelius Fudge would be the first.

Right now Fudge is just the Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. In my timeline he managed to get himself elected Minister in 1990. He was useful in the fact that he was very greedy and would do anything you wanted if you paid him enough, and he was too stupid to understand the results of his actions. But, at the same time he really couldn’t be counted on since he sucked up to Dumbledore too much and would change his position on everything depending on who he was talking to at the moment. The man wrote to Dumbledore practically everyday for the first 4 years to get his advice on every little thing so a lot of bribes ended up being wasted. Then he became convinced Dumbledore was trying to steal his job and went all out against him, even managing to get him stripped of his major positions, including Headmaster, before screwing everything up like usual and Dumbledore regained everything and worked it to get even more power. An example of just how bad he was, was that after a breakout from Azkaban the idiot actually had dementors stationed in a ring around Hogwarts. Nearly got a lot of students killed when they ‘searched’ the train as it went to Hogwarts, and then again when they attacked the first quidditch match of the year, and even then they weren’t removed.”

“He did what?” The mothers of the group all snarled as one.

“Someone managed to escape Azkaban?” A few others questioned.

“Yes, Sirius Black became the first person to escape Azkaban on his own.” Animus said with a smile, it may not have been a happy thing, but it was a point of pride oddly enough, especially for the Blacks.

“Sirius?” Regulus questioned in worry. “What could Sirius have possibly done?”

“Not to worry, it has been handled.” Animus assured him. “He was originally framed for the crimes of another and sentenced to Azkaban for life without trial, but that won’t be happening this time. There will be a trial and when questioned with truth serum he will be able to prove he was innocent of everything.”

“Who else do we need to worry about?” Abraxas asked. 

“Rufus Scrimgeour. That man would be a complete disaster. He is just a power mad fool that will do anything to gain power, no matter who’s side he has to take. He managed to become Minister for barely 2 years. During that time he was a mess. He threw multiple people in Azkaban without trial just so it looked like they were accomplishing something. The man has no real morals and just wants power.

Then there is Kingsley Shacklebolt. Right now he should just be a junior auror. He became Minister in 1998 after the end of the war. Since that war shouldn’t happen this time Dumbledore won’t be able to put him in a position of power. He isn’t a bad person, and in many ways is a decent auror, but he is too much of a follower. Even when he knows something is technically wrong he will do it if Dumbledore wants it. He’s all about following the rules, but if Dumbledore asks or even suggests something he will break any rule he has to to do so. Information didn’t leak from that man, it poured. And he was more than willing to falsify evidence to assist Dumbledore and his pet causes.

The final one that should never be allowed to become Minister is Amelia Bones.” Animus told them.

“Amelia?” Lucius said in a questioning voice. He had known Amelia, not well, but he had at least had some dealing with the woman. She had been head girl when he had been named fifth year prefect. “She is well known for being fair and unbiased. She’s always been all about the rules.”

“Has she really?” Animus questioned rhetorically. “Or has she talked about the rules while actually doing nothing? Amelia has created an image of a crusader for justice and equality, but it’s just an image. In truth she is a go along to get along sort.

Amelia became head of the DMLE in just a few weeks in my timeline, she held that position until she was killed in ’97. And in all those years she never really did anything worth mentioning. Don’t get me wrong, the woman is actually decent middle management type, but she isn’t really leader material.

She knew a number of high ranked ministry members were taking bribes, and she did nothing. She knew that members of her department were leaking information to both sides, and she did nothing. And she knew members of the ministry were abusing their powers, and she did nothing. For merlins sake, the woman’s own niece was tortured by one of her own co-workers and she didn’t even pretend to open an investigation. She isn’t a person you want in charge because she will leave things stagnant.”

“She allowed her niece to be tortured?” Narcissa gasped in horror, especially since she knew that Susan Bones was the same age as her own son.

“When Fudge was working at getting Dumbledore out of power he forced him to accept his undersecretary as a professor. Her name is Deloris Umbridge, she should be working in the Improper Use of Magic Office right now, she should never be allowed to gain too much power, or any if possible, she likes to blackmail her way up.

Either way, whenever anyone disagreed with her or even seemed to be opposing her authority in her mind she would give them detention. But her version of detention was forcing them to write lines with a blood quill.” Animus held up his old wrinkled hand that still bore the silver white scar that came from his own exposure to the dark magic of the quill. “Amongst those victimized was her niece, and yes, she did nothing, and neither did the staff. They all knew it was a crime, but protecting their positions was more important than protecting the children they had been entrusted with.”

There were more than a few angry growls at that. They really did believe in the protection of children. Although, it did make sense why while Umbridge had gone after the children of light, and in some cases grey, families she had kept her quill away from the children of dark families. He knew that if the children of any of the families here had been targeted the woman would have been horribly dead within a week, and all those who had assisted her with their inaction would have been publicly dragged through the mud if they weren’t outright killed too.

“Although I might be more than a little biased given her treatment of my own case.” Animus equivocated.

“Your case?” Bronwen questioned as she held her soon to be son even closer, worrying for his future.

“Just after I turned 15 a certain pink monstrosity at the ministry felt that I was causing too much trouble for the Ministry and decided to deal with it by sending two dementors to where I was living with kiss on sight instructions. I had to cast a patronus to force them back and keep them from kissing my cousin who was there with me…” Animus said before being cut off by Melania.

“You could produce a fully corporeal patronus at 15?” Melania gasped in surprised joy at just how powerful her great grandson was going to be.

“Yes. It’s why I suggested hiring Remus Lupin as a tutor if he can be turned away from Dumbledore.” Animus said, not missing Fenrir noticing the mentioning of the cub he had turned. “He was the defence professor during the year Fudge had dementors around the school that kept going after students when I was 13. He taught me how to produce a patronus in 7 months strong enough to hold off over 100 dementors when they attacked once again while they were guarding the school.

But, as I was saying originally the ministry ordered my expulsion, something the idiot Fudge was reminded they didn’t have the legal right to do. Then they moved on to pressing charges. It was supposed to be a simple meeting in Amelia’s office, but at the last minute Fudge had it changed to a full trial before the Wizengamot.”

“That isn’t possible.” Lucius argued. He had gotten his barristers licence as a way to improve his value in political situations. “A trial before the Wizengamot can only be called for an adult. You were 15. You would have only been able to be given a meeting with the head of the DMLE, like you said you were originally scheduled for. The worst that can be done is facing a tribunal of 6 Wizengamot members and 3 advocates for the child, but that is cases involving more serious crimes like assault. They also can’t change things at the last moment, a defendant is required to be given notices of any changes a minimum of 48 hours before the Ministry can do anything.”

“Yeah, that’s how its supposed to work, but you are forgetting I was dealing with Fudge, the grown man that was intimidated by a 15 year-old that hadn’t even given a single interview.” Animus smirked, he had long since stopped caring about how pathetic Fudge had been since he had much bigger issues to deal with. “Fudge demanded the full trial, and he got it.

I was alerted not only to the change in time, but the fact the location had been moved less than 20 minutes before the trial was to start, and that was only because I arrived at the ministry over an hour early since no letter was ever even sent to me. Bones knew about all of it, yet went along with it anyway. Fudge tried to railroad me, and while she asked a few questions she didn’t do anything that actually mattered. I was declared innocent regardless, but that doesn’t matter as much at the end of the day.

And when all was said and done, she did nothing. She didn’t even pretend to open an investigation into the fact two dementors were trying to kiss teenagers in a muggle town near London. Nor that a full trial was held for a minor or that both time and location were changed only 2 hours before the hearing was to be held in her office and the defendant wasn’t even notified. She goes on about how important it is too follow rules and laws but it's all just talk.”

“We will make sure those ones are watched closely.” Abraxas assured with a growl in his voice. He wanted to make sure the Ministry was actually functioning properly for when the Dark Lord returned. And although he wouldn’t admit it aloud he may not like mudbloods, but he wouldn’t even approve of them being tortured, let alone the heir and/or heiress of a pure-blood houses.

“What do we do about the likes of Dumbledore?” Abraxas asked in hopes of moving things along while still getting as much information as they could, the ritual room would be ready soon and he knew Animus had a limited amount of time.

“Truthfully, I want the man to suffer unspeakably for what he has done to the magical world, but for now the best thing to do is leave him be.” Animus didn’t miss the unhappy grumbles. “I know, I know. I wish I could say just kill the man and let us be done with him, but that is actually the worst thing you could do. 

I have seen the result of that mans death for myself. Surprisingly enough he serves as a distraction for his sycophants, and that distraction is needed. You think they are annoying on a day to day basis now, you don’t want to see what it's like when he isn't around to rein them in.

More than that they believe in the lies he uses are real. They think he actually wants us revealed to the muggles, and I have shown you what will happen if they were to actually do so. While he is alive we know he won’t allow them to expose us since he truly hates muggles.

More than that I can tell you if the man dies in any way that is suspicious he will be made into a martyr. They will turn him into a legend, and no one needs that. He portrays himself as the next Merlin far too much for it to help either of our causes.

Instead, the best thing to do would be to hobble him. Despite how he likes to portray it, his position of Supreme Mugwamp is actually more ceremonial than anything. The ICW deals with all kinds and isn’t nearly as bigoted against the dark as Dumbledore likes to pretend. They used the position to give him the illusion of power while making sure he can’t actually get in their way too much. And that is the model you should implement. Allow the man his illusion of control while at the same time limiting it. Between all those here it should be fairly easy to keep him from having too much authority in the Wizengamot despite his position as Chief Warlock.

Dumbledore likes to plan longterm and is always convinced that he is in the right. No matter what blows you manage to land he will always think that he will win in the end. You will need to monitor him, but that will be rather easy since the Black’s, Selwyn’s, and Crouch’s have had Headmasters in their family lines and they have portraits in Dumbledore’s office. They are perfectly positioned to watch and report on what the man is up too. Despite what the man likes to think, he isn’t really well liked by most of his predecessors and they would be happy to provide information.

Every now and then put a new hurdle in his way and it will keep him distracted for years. He is convinced he is always right and that he is destined to reach his goals so even when he has setbacks he will keep trying. You will just need to be careful not to push him too far so keep the distractions down to two or three a year so he doesn’t become suspicious of what you are doing. 

We need him to keep control of his fanatics until we can deal with them. And we generally won’t be able to fully deal with them until one of the Light Lords or Ladies Lady Magic has sent this generation come of age and takes control. As annoying as it is, we actually need him.”

  Animus didn’t really have anything left to say to the group so just let everyone break into smaller groups and talk amongst themselves. Once most were distracted he called for the Malfoy family, Bellatrix, and Severus to meet with him at the side of the room.

“What can we do for you?” Abraxas questioned as the eldest of the group, the others staying respectfully quiet, except Draco who was happily babbling away at all the people.

“I am offering to trade some information.” Animus said as he pulled out a stack of parchment.

“And what will it cost this time?” Abraxas asked ruefully, although he knew he was going to agree regardless, he had managed to nearly double the Malfoy fortune since first meeting this man.

“You have a house elf in your employ, Dobby. I would like for you to gift him to Hunter as his personal elf if he is in agreement.” Animus told them, he knew Hunter and Dobby’s relationship would never be like the one he had had with his Dobby, but in a way that was better. 

Both he and his Dobby had suffered more than any should have to and it was nice that this time they wouldn’t. Since he had managed to get most pure-bloods treating their house elves better Dobby shouldn’t have had to suffer through any abuse, so he should be more stable. He was still rather young, by elf standards at least. At this time Dobby was 29, but house elves live an average of 200 years, they generally weren’t considered out of childhood until at least 30. Basically, at the time he had met Dobby in his timeline the elf had been in his rebellious teenage phase.

“That’s all you want, one of our elves?” Abraxas said in confusion.

“I told you the first time we met that I knew house elves that had died to protect me, Dobby was one of them.” Animus told him. “Lucius gave him to me at that time when I was 12.” It hadn’t been willing, but it was all the same to him.

Abraxas called for Dobby. The elf was very much like Animus remembered, just in better condition. He was still jumpy and twitchy, but he wore a proper uniform and was uninjured. Animus took the little elf and told him who he was after he had erected a privacy ward around the two of them.

“The nice Magic Lady told Dobby he would care for one of her babies.” Dobby said giddily.

Animus gave a small smile. Dobby was odd, most of his fellow elves had thought him demented. It made sense that he would be more in touch with magic. It was like how it was with Luna, those with a stronger connection to Lady Magic would never be labeled as normal by those around him.

“Not me Dobby.”

“Is Dobby bad? Has Dobby been wrong?” Dobby instantly began worrying and Animus knew he was moments away from starting to hit himself.

“You have done nothing wrong Dobby.” Animus assured. “I used a ritual to allow myself to travel in time. I have my own Dobby, the you from the future.” Animus was not going to even consider telling the highly emotional creature that he had die protecting him. He knew Dobby would be proud of himself for his actions, but it would also just distress the elf more. “I have arranged for you to become the personal house elf of Hunter Black, the baby me.”

Dobby looked back and forth between Animus and the young toddler that was being indicated. He could feel the magics in the room and knew that the child had the same magical signature as the man before him. And the wixen man in front of him held the magical signature of himself so he knew their magics had mingled.Looking closely at the wixen before him Dobby knew he would be happy to serve his younger self. The Malfoy family were decent masters, he had heard legend that they had once been mean when he was very young, but this very wixen had taught them better, but he knew from the Magic Lady that Master Hunter was meant for him.

Dobby popped over to the couple that was holding his new master.

Bronwen and Regulus both looked over to Animus when Dobby told them he was their sons personal elf and he nodded his agreement. Both just accepted that Animus knew what was best for their sons since he technically was him. Plus they had been shown the memory of Dobby dying to protect him, although he had made sure not to allow them to see just who it was that had been the one trying to kill him. In all the memories he had shown them of his life he was very careful to ensure they never saw any of those they knew so they wouldn’t worry about the danger they presented to their son.

“What is it you have for us?” Abraxas asked, seeing that Dobby had been accepted.

“This is for Draco and his future.” Animus said as he handed the paperwork to Lucius.

“This just looks like some kind of ritual and potion thing.” Lucius said in confusion as he unrolled the parchment and looked at the first sheet. His skills lay in politics and law, not rituals or potions.

“That's because it is.” Animus smiled down at Draco who was reaching for him. “That can break the bloodline curse on the Greengrass families girls.”

“Why would we need to do that? And what does that have to do with Draco?” Bellatrix questioned, she would do anything for either of her niece or nephew.

“Because, the Malfoy Family owes the Greengrass family a debt of honour as a result of the gryphon issue in the 1800’s.” Animus saw that Abraxas knew what he was talking about. “Lord Greengrass will call in that debt in a few years when his second granddaughter is born. She will be born with the worst symptoms of the curse in generations. To ensure that she is able to make a decent match he will call in the debt to arrange a marriage contract between her and Draco.

Draco will follow through with the contract for the family honour, but in doing so he will lose his chance to be with his soul mate. His wife will pass away from the curse only 4 years after they marry, but by then Draco’s soul mate will have been murdered by one of Dumbledore’s sycophants. 

If you use Narcissa’s talents at healing, Bellatrix’s skills with rituals, and Severus’s potions you will be able to break the bloodline curse placed on the Greengrass family, repaying the Malfoy debt. Without that debt the Greengrass girls will live full lives and Draco will be able to be with his soul mate.”

Narcissa and Bellatrix had practically squealed when they heard Draco had a soul mate, the only thing stopping them from dancing in joy was their upbringing since they were in a room full of other people not in the family. Both women were happy to know Draco had been blessed by Lady Magic herself with a perfect match.

“Who is she?” Narcissa demanded. “Where does she live? Who is her family?”

Animus smiled at the woman he knew would do anything for her sons happiness. “If I know anything about my lovely soul sister she will find you when the time is right. That’s the benefit of dealing with someone that has seer blood. She may seem a little off to those who don’t pay attention, but once you learn to decipher her speech patterns you will understand what she means.”

Animus had known Luna had had a soul mate, but it hadn’t been until after she died that he had learned just who it was. Whenever he head questioned her about it before her death Luna had just smiled in her typical Luna way and told him that she would suffer in life to ensure she would be happy in her life. It had taken a few years to figure out what she had meant, but when he had learned of the ritual he knew she had been waiting for him to use it. 

Luna had been more of a sister to him than Mari ever had or ever would, and all he wanted was for her to live a good life. He had also left a time delay letter to be sent to her mother as a warning about the danger of the spell she was creating to keep her alive for her daughter.

Ritual Room

Before they could discuss anything else the three goblins Animus had called arrived. He had specifically requested Chieftain Ragnock, Director Ironclaw, and his personal account manager, Griphook. It would just be easier to take care of the legal paperwork there since he was running out of time.

“I mean no offence to you master goblins, but why are they here?” Melania asked Animus, making sure not to offend the goblins. She, unlike many, was not stupid enough to offend those that looked after her families money.

“They will be able to handle all legal paperwork from here, ensuring nothing can be questioned.” Animus told them as they all went into the ritual room that was once again magically neutral so they could conduct the next ritual. 

“What ritual are we going to use for this?” Augustus questioned as he and Bellatrix moved forward to help set up.

“We will be using a high level invocation.” Animus told them. “There are a few things that need to be done, along with the adoption of Hunter and an invocation will allow us time for that. We won’t have to continually stop and let the magic dissipate before doing the next thing. Although… I should warn you all that when I invoke Lady Magic things can become a little different.”

“Why?” Bellatrix questioned in confusion.

“Because I am a Grey Lord.” Animus said in a bland voice. “I was sent to restore the balance.”

Many of the others in the room that hadn’t yet figured out the meaning of his name exchanged looks. But it also explained why he was going out of his way to assist the Dark Lord without going all out and submitting to his rule. Many had noticed that although he had always shown respect to their Lord he had never accepted him as his own Lord and it made since given he was a Lord in his own right.

Once everything was in place he had those in attendance formed a circle around the centre pedestal where the child soon to be known as Hunter Black was placed Animus used the simple incantation to invoke both Lady Magic and Death, since they were so much a part of his life, along with a protection ritual. “Mist and air, fire and earth. Cleanse this home, and bless this hearth. Power of the wixen rise, course unseen across the skies. Come to me who calls you near, come to me and settle here. Lady Magic, Lord Death I summon thee, inhabit this space so you may see. We welcome you to this ritual to oversee, as we will, so mote it be.”

As Animus had warned things got weird. A warm wind blew through the closed room and they could all feel the hairs on their arms stand on end at the power flowing through with it. Then a silver mist started flowing down from the ceiling as a dark grey started flowing up from the ground. A few looked nervous so Animus motioned for them to be still, he knew what this was and didn’t want any of them disturbing the ritual by trying to flee because they didn’t understand what was happening.

From the silver mist a woman formed. She was incredibly lovely in her flowing silver and gold Grecian style gown, with long dark hair, golden tan skin, and flashing golden eyes Lady Magic’s beauty was both incredible and intimidating. 

From the dark grey mist formed a man. He was tall and slim, standing at 6’5’’ easy. A dark cloak covered his head, but Animus knew his hair was dark with just a few strands of silver. His skin was bone white and he had high cheekbones and sharp features. And like the woman next to him his eyes were the same gold.

Animus had of course seen them before, the last time when he used the ritual that sent him back. As both a Lord of Magic and the Master of Death he had a strong connection to both of them.

“We are here my child.” The woman said in a lyrical voice. 

“We shall observe my son.” Death said in a deep voice.

Those like Dumbledore believe becoming the ‘Master of Death’ meant that they could never die and could control death, that was in no way true. Death was an immortal, all powerful, being, they would never submit to the will of a mortal, no matter what accolades they gained in life. Being the Master of Death only meant that Death would aid you in times of great danger.

Animus watched as the two took place on either side of the pedestal and turned their attention to the toddler that was already getting bored. He knew they only had so much time to get everything done so he started his work, he wouldn’t need the child for a while yet.

“I, as Count Slytherin, call forth the Slytherin Family Magics.” Animus said as he dropped three drops of blood into a pre-prepared ritual bowl. When he felt the flow of the magics in the room and heard the hissing of the Slytherins snake totem he knew it had worked. “As Count Slytherin I disown and disinherit, by blood and by magic, Lily Evette Potter née Evans and Marigold Lily Potter from the Slytherin family. They shall bring nothing but embarrassment and dishonour to this great house. As I will, so mote it be.”

Animus felt the family magics judge his words, and then felt their agreement. The family magics couldn’t outright defy him, but if they had found his decisions lacking his own access to the family magics would decrease. 

In the far north of Scotland, in one of the guest rooms of an old castle, Lily Potter winced in her sleep as her blood and magic lost its connection to her ancestors. In the room next door Marigold Potter let out a grumbling whimper before settling back to sleep just like her mother. Neither had been recognized as members of the Slytherin family, nor had they accepted the families magic, so it wasn’t overly painful for them to be removed from the family. 

A puff of smoke came from the ritual bowl letting Animus know that the ritual had been completed. Setting it aside he moved another bowl in front of him and repeated the process.

“I, as Lord Peverell, call forth the Peverell Family Magics. I disown by magic and disinherit James Charles Potter and Marigold Lily Potter from the Peverell family. They deserve no benefit from our great house. As I will, so mote it be.”

Like before the family magic surged forth with the sound of its totem, in this case a thestrals cry, and judged his decision and approved of it. Not that it really mattered if the family magics didn’t agree since he was nearing his end so they couldn’t punish or abandon him.

“I, as Count Gryffindor, call forth the Gryffindor Family Magics. I disown by magic and disinherit James Charles Potter and Marigold Lily Potter from the Gryffindor family. They deserve no benefit from our great house. As I will, so mote it be.” He added just to be safe, he knew in this life he wasn’t likely to claim the Gryffindor title, but he didn’t want to risk Dumbledore convincing James or Mari to take the title and pass the power to him, as they no doubt would given how spineless they were. They all heard the roar of the Gryffindor lion as it accepted his decision, something that surprised a few since they had always thought the Potter’s were the definition of Gryffindor but apparently the Gryffindor Family Magic didn’t agree.

“Bronwen, Regulus, can you both come forward and hold on to your son so he doesn’t fall off while I do what I have to do next?” Animus looked to the other two.

“What do you have to do next?” Bronwen asked in a worried voice as she moved forward to the boy she had already fallen so deeply in love with. She didn’t want anything to hurt the little boy that had already been through so much in such a short period of time.

“I’m going to disown him from the Potter family.”

“What?” Most questioned in shock. Disownment wasn’t something to take lightly. None of them had said anything about what he had just done to James, Lily, and their daughter since Animus knew what they would become and knew the damage they could do to the families, although they all would privately admit to being a little leery about the disownment of the girl. Disowning a child for something that hadn’t happened yet was not something they were comfortable with, but they also still understood the girl never would have accepted the Slytherin family, especially given who her parents were, and disinheriting her from the Peverell line only made sense since she didn’t really need the money.

But to disown the young boy before them was another story all together. He hadn’t done anything wrong. His parents abandoning him the way they had would have already damaged his connection to the family magics, but to take it away completely? 

“He can not be connected to the Potter family.” Animus said calmly, he had been surprised no one had spoken up earlier about his disowning Mari. “If he has any Potter magic James Potter will be able to use it to track him down. The last thing any of you need is to be found with the boy. Once he turns 11 they will go to look for him at the muggles and I have no doubt they will try and claim he was kidnapped to cover up their abandoning him. If I fully disown him there will be nothing of Potter left in him so no one will ever know outside of those in this room, and the wards I have placed around here along with the secrecy spells will ensure it is never released.”

“I thought you disowned yourself from the Potter line after those idiots tried to use a marriage contract to force you to be with the Weasley girl.” Severus said, unlike most of the others he had plenty of information having seen much of the memories and remembered that part. “You would need to be Lord Potter to disown him, but how can that be possible?”

“I did indeed disown myself after the Weasley tramp incident, but I only disowned myself from the Potter family, not the family line. And, as some may have already realized, the Potter line descends from the Peverell line. I claimed the Peverell Lordship and in doing so gained access to claim the Potter title along with it since the line had ended.” Animus explained. He had hated having to take the Potter title before returning since he truly hated what it meant, but he knew it would come in handy. “Once he’s disowned you will be able to blood adopt him and magically accept him into your family lines and he will forever be free from the Potter’s.”

“Ok, let’s do this.” Regulus said with a slight shake in his voice as he took up a position next to the pedestal.

“I, as Lord Potter, call forth the Potter Family Magics. As Lord Potter I disown and disinherit, by blood and by magic, Harry James Potter from the Potter family. Through no fault of his own the Potter family is not a safe place for him. As I will, so mote it be.” Animus felt the Potter Family Magic surge forward, as expected it was much weaker since it was younger and didn’t have an animal sound as it wasn’t yet old enough to have developed a totem. While it accepted his decision he felt the difference, the Slytherin Family Magics had shown nothing but contempt for Lily, and a clear dislike of Mari, but the Potter Family Magics were much gentler as they removed themselves from the boy.

Even with the Potter Family Magic being as gentle as it could he still cried and tried to wiggle away from the pain. Every single parent in the room had to restrain themselves from trying to help him when they heard the pained cry. The magic itself leaving him wasn’t what was causing the pain, instead it was the physical changes taking place as all the distinguishing features that he inherited from his parents was taken away. 

Unfortunately he couldn’t do anything to remove him from the muggle Evans family since they had no family magic he could direct. But, it wouldn’t really matter in the long run since no magical test was set up to even acknowledge muggle blood, the only way they would be able to determine his relation to the Evans family was by using a muggle DNA test, and even then magic blood had a tendency to become corrupted during testing and it hadn’t been until 2038 that they had developed a test that would work a majority of the time. So in that regard he knew they wouldn’t be able to track him that way.

“Severus, the potion.” Animus looked to the potions master who pulled out two infant bottles, each holding a blood adoption potion. Animus smiled at the intelligence of putting the potion in a bottle since Hunter would need to drink it willingly and he couldn’t drink a potion normally, a sippy cup may also have worked but given that he was already upset the bottles would work best.

“I’ll go first.” Regulus said. “It will take longer since there are more Blacks here.” He didn’t want to upset Bronwen since he knew how much she was looking forward to being a mother again and was pleased when she agreed without any sign of anger or disappointment. Regulus added 7 drops of blood to the bottle and let it mix naturally, agitating it in any way could ruin the potion. 

As they waited for the potion to mix Arcturus stepped up. “I, as Lord Black, call forth the Black Family Magics so they may witness.” Everyone in the room felt a shiver go down their backs as the Black Family Magics surged forward and filled the room with the howl of the grimm.

Once the potion had blended itself he gently picked up the still whimpering boy and brought the bottle to his lips. He needed to drink it on his own as a blood adoption couldn’t be forced, although when it came to the very young they pretty much always willingly took it since they didn’t know any better.

“With this potion I welcome my son, Hunter Loki Black. Blood of my blood, bound together as father and son. Magic of my magic, I claim him as mine. May Lady Magic and Lord Death bless our bond.” Regulus said formally, adding the final line just for those there. He was relieved that Lady Magic and Lord Death both offered up their blessing by laying their hands over his own on his new son.

Then Arcturus stepped forward once again. “I, Lord Arcturus Phineas Black, accept Hunter Loki Black as a true son of House Black, by blood and by magic.”

Once Arcturus retook his place in the ring around the alter his wife stepped forward. “I, Lady Melania Helena Black née Macmillan, Lady of House Black, daughter of House Macmillan, accept Hunter Loki Black as a true son of House Black, by blood and by magic.”

From there each of those within two generations of the main Black line stepped forward and accepted Hunter. It wasn’t necessarily necessary, but it did make the Black Family Magics more open to accepting Hunter. Although, Animus could feel the magic and knew it had already accepted him, especially given the fact that he already had Black blood and magic from his late grandmother.

“As we will so mote it be.” Was said by all those present.

Animus watched as the Black magic flowed around the child now named Hunter. Once again he struggled slightly as his body changed and he began to look like the definition of a Black. And then, all the Blacks stepped back and allowed Bronwen to take her position and add her blood to the potion bottle she was handed. None of them knew which family she actually came from, not even Regulus, as that was a secret she kept to herself until this point.

“I, as Archduchess Emrys, call forth the Emrys Family Magics so they may witness.” All those in the room except Bronwen herself and Animus froze in shock at hearing who Bronwen descended from. They all heard the roar of the Emrys dragon. 

This was exactly why Animus had chosen her to be his mother. Not only had he grown to care for her as he had known her ghost and wanted to help her find peace, but she would give him more power while denying Dumbledore. The thing was if the bloodline of a Lord or Lady of Magic came to an end the future Lords or Ladies of Magic could claim their title.

It was how he had become High King Pendragon. Arthur Pendragon had been a squib, but Lady magic had still named him her Grey Lord of his time. His line had died out which allowed Animus to claim his title. But that was only if the line ended, another well known Grey was Grey Lady Boudica. Her line still survived in the magical British Iceni tribe which still survived unlike their muggle counter parts, and because of that he couldn’t claim her title.

The danger was that Dumbledore, as an acknowledged Light Lord, could claim the Emrys title if Bronwen and her cousin died. Even if it was just Bronwen that did Dumbledore would have control since her cousin was one of his sycophants. He had managed to claim the power without letting anyone know last time after Bronwen's cousin was killed as a result of one of Dumbledore’s set ups. He hadn’t been let it be made public since he hadn’t felt it was the right time, instead he had been planning to announce it after he claimed to have been the one to end the war but had died first.

With her Family Magic present Bronwen took Hunter from her husband and fed him the bottle of blood adoption she had already mixed her blood in while the Blacks welcomed her son. “With this potion I welcome my son, Hunter Loki Black. Blood of my blood, bound together as mother and son. Magic of my magic, I claim him as mine. May Lady Magic and Lord Death bless our bond. 

I, Archduchess Bronwen Rivena Black née Alyn, Archduchess of House Emrys, accept Hunter Loki Black as a true son of House Emrys, by blood and by magic.”

The Emrys Family Magic was far more powerful than any of the others that had come before. This time the totem didn’t just call out, it fully manifested. The large silver dragon wrapped itself around Bronwen and her new son. It then pressed its nose against his forehead and faded away, showing its acceptance.

Animus went to end the ritual but was stopped by Lady Magic.

She and Death stepped forward and both added their blessing. With their magic mixed in Animus knew that what they had done couldn’t be overturned or discovered by anyone, he knew they would ensure Hunters protection. 

Then they turned to the others in the room.

“Do not close the ritual yet.” Death said. “There are still things we need to do.”

Death moved over to Animus, who had gone over to stand by the new parents.

“Give me your cloak, your wand, and your ring.” Death demanded.

Animus wanted to protest, they had been with him so long they felt like they were a part of him, but he knew better. One thing he hadn’t used until much later in life was the fact that the cloak was reversible, when worn the usual way it made the wearer invisible, but when flipped the other way it looked like a regular, if slightly flamboyant, cloak.

Death first took the cloak, stroking his hand across the visible side the pattern of mixed colours he had originally created shifted to shades of grey, extending from nearly black to a silvery white with a patterned design around the trim. He placed it in a box he summoned. Next he took the Peverell ring, also known as the Gaunt ring. The stone floated out and the ring melted down, becoming a fine chain, and the stone reconnected, turning it into a necklace. That too was placed in the box. Last he took the wand. Running his fingers from the tip of the wand down to the handle. As he did so the nodules looked like they almost melted as they moved down the wand to form a twisted handle. Just before he added it to the box Lady Magic walked past and stroked her own fingers down the wand and a smoky silver joined the dark wood of the handle before she walked back to the others. Death then closed the box.

“Give this to Hunter on his 11th birthday.” Death said as he passed the box over to Regulus.

Both Regulus and Bronwen exchanged stunned looks as they both understood the significance of the items in the box meant for their son. Although, that information did make it more understandable that Death had been invoked and not just Lady Magic.

“Can two copies exist in the same time?” Animus questioned. “I know I brought mine back with me but that was only because the ritual allowed for it. Won’t it risk damaging the fabric of time?”

“If there were going to be two.” Death said slowly. “As of now I have withdrawn my magic from the others. Over time they will lose their power until they become what they appear to be. The cloak will start to wear and the magic will fade. The stone will become just a stone. And the wand will become an average wand. None will be able to detect the change in the magical signature, even as they notice the loss of power, and they will not be able to detect Hunters as I have changed them and in doing so changed their magical signature.”

“Thank you my friend.” Animus bowed to the entity. Over the past century he had been in and out of his life in times of need.

Then he turned his attention to the goblins that were present. He had requested them be there so they could handle the legal paperwork right then. The first thing they had them do was sign the paperwork to recognize Hunter as Animus’s chosen heir so that all of his vaults would revert to his younger self once he was old enough. It was the only way they would be able to gain access to the vaults that held the horcruxes after all.

Animus also gave them the directive to keep Avalar up and running, naming Orion the regent of the accounts until Hunter was old enough. He was truly hopeful that Avalar could become quite successful given the time and protection it needed from the likes of a bigoted Ministry and Dumbledore.

He also handed over the goblet and diary horcruxes he had had Bella and Lucius bring with them and the ring he himself had collected. Griphook, as his account manager, with his permission, would be able to place them in the vault he had specifically set up to house the horcruxes until it was time to use them to return Voldemort.

The goblins already had pretty much everything ready since he had stopped by earlier, but this was their chance to get everything signed and sealed since they needed other wixen witnesses to sign a number of the documents. They liked what the Grey Lord Animus was creating as they truly disliked the situation in Diagon Alley and what it was becoming under Ministry and Dumbledore control. While they never outright took sides in wixen wars they did have their favoured sides. In this instance they supported neither dark nor light, but a Grey Lord would always have their support so long as they supported them.

As Death had been changing his hallows and the goblins were dealing with paperwork Lady Magic had chosen to address the others in the room.

“It has come to my attention that a number of those present have received information that muggle-borns take magic from other wixen and that is the reason for the rise of squibs and low fertility rates. I am aware Animus has already corrected you in regards to their ancestry, but I know there will still be resentment.” Lady Magic gave those she knew held that belief a severe look for a moment before relaxing her features. “In truth you can not necessarily be held accountable for that misinformation, nor is it completely wrong.

No, muggle-borns are not stealing magic from your children. Every single wixen that has magic has magic because I allow it. And muggle-borns have magic because it serves a purpose. An example is a muggle-born girl who attended Hogwarts in the 1940’s, who later moved to Australia. She herself is nothing special, but in 400 years one of her descendants will become a healer that will discover a cure to a new and deadly illness that if she hadn’t been magical never would have been born and over 30,000 wixen would die. My actions are on a much larger scale than you can comprehend given your short lives.

As to the part you are not necessarily incorrect about… There is a set amount of magic in each region, and with each wixen that pool of magic decreases. For the most part the amount of pooled magic does not change, but it can. Those I send can alter the flow of my magic, increasing or decreasing the amount of ambient magic and therefore effect the amount available to wixen children. For instance, if Lord Animus had not interceded the levels of magic in Britain would have decreased to an unsustainable level within the next century, you now have a chance to avoid that.

When the wixen world reaches an equilibrium between the three factions the ambient magic is sustained and can be grown based on the actions of my chosen. If they improve your world the magic grows, if they can not find a balance the magic decreases.

But that will not be a major issue for a time. A mad fool many hundreds of years ago tried to figure out how to steal magic and died leaving all the magic he had gathered contained, and his method to gather magic kept working after his death. Lord Animus released that magic back into the environment so the amount of ambient magic has been increasing allowing for the birth of more magical children.”

Glancing over Lady Magic saw Death was altering his hallows and she went over and added some of her magic to the wand. Not only would it ensure Dumbledore wouldn’t go after her chosen but it would also increase the wands ability to wield different kinds of magic. Once that was done she returned to the others.

Specifically, she went to Orion Black who had the maledictus Nagini wrapped around his shoulders. “Nagini.” The snake that had been keeping her gaze downcast raised her head slightly, but wouldn’t meet her eyes. “You bare the curse of the serpent for the disloyalty of your ancestor. But you have been, and will continue to be, loyal. In your actions you have earned forgiveness for your bloodline and I rescind the curse.”

All the wixen, barring Animus since he already knew of course, watched in stunned shock as the massive snake was floated up off Orion’s shoulders. Once she was suspended in the air she began to shift until before them stood a beautiful petite asian woman. Her tanned skin held a shimmer similar to what her scales had had, her long dark hair held a few streaks of grey, and her large dark eyes were filled with tears as she felt the release from the curse she had felt since the day she was born. She would have fallen since she hadn’t had legs for decades by that point but Orion was able to grab her and keep her upright.

Nagini just bowed her head and whispered her gratitude in her native language. She couldn’t believe that she had repaid the debt from her ancestors crimes and earned her freedom. It had never been something she thought was even possible. But her mind couldn’t deal with all that at that moment so she just stroked her hands across the soft cotton dress she had been wearing when she changed, she knew that the dress had to have been created by Lady Magic since it was in a similar style to hers while still being different. She curled ever so slightly into the body holding her up on her unstable legs, she knew she could trust him since he was her Toms soul mate.

“It is time for us to leave.” Lady Magic said as she turned to Animus who was moving towards them. “I tire of being in this limited form. I wish to return to my natural state. And your time is running out.”

“I agree my Lady.” Animus said as he moved to stand between her and Lord Death. He had one last thing he wished to do, glancing at the two all knowing entities at his sides and could tell they knew what he was planning. Turning he looked to those in the room, those that were going to give this version of himself a chance at a good life and smiled. “It has been a pleasure to get to meet you all, and you have my gratitude for assisting me in improving our world. I have once again left a few time delay letters for important dates but they will be few and far between, this is goodbye for me as my time is up.”

Lady Magic looked at those who she and Death were going to be trusting with their favoured child, she was sure she had set them on the right path. Then she noticed the present Regulus held that had been given by Death and felt a bit left out, she had added her own magic to the wand, but it wasn’t the same. Reaching her magic out she examined all magicals connected to her until she found the perfect one.

Reaching into her pocket Lady Magic pulled out a kitten. It was an 8 week old persephone cat that was already weaned and out on its own. Persephone cats originated in ancient greece and were linked to the demigoddess who was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter who became the Queen of the Underworld. Persephone was linked to spring and new growth as her mother was said to stop making things grow during the months she was in the underworld and once she returned spring would begin. Persephone cats held the same sort of duality she was associated with in life and death which was why they had been named after her. The same sort of duality her new little Grey Lord had.

The thing so many didn’t quite grasp was that the legends got all twisted about and interpreted in dozens of different ways by both muggles and magicals. The Olympians were a collection of half elf half wixen beings. That was one of the reasons muggles believed they were immortal, due to their heritage it was no problem for them to live 300 years. It also didn’t help that like many wixen families appearances tended to stay nearly the same generation after generation and they also had a habit of reusing the same names. Throughout the time the myths were created there had been over a dozen different Zeus’s.

Without all the different interpretations the truth of the matter was much more mundane and less dramatic than it was made out to be. Zeus, Persephone’s father, had created a marriage contract with Hades, her mother, Demeter, didn’t like it but was too late to stop it from being signed. Persephone herself hadn’t been happy with the contract, but had followed through with it for the sake of the family. Over time she did come to love her husband. Demeter too came to accept the relationship her daughter had and had created the first Persephone cat as a gift to show her acceptance since that cat would be able to travel with her no matter where she was, something most other animals couldn’t.

In their youth Persephone cats, or seph cats as they were usually called, were relatively unassuming. In the muggle world they would appear to be a clouded leopard with the colouring and fur length of a snow leopard. If they were familiars, as this one was going to be, they aged slowly with their wixen. This little one wouldn’t reach full size for at least two decades.

“Never let it be said that Lady Magic doesn’t leave a gift when Lord Death does.” Lady magic smirked as she handed the kitten over to the very young child that had been watching her with fascination before going goggly eyes at the appearance of the cat.

The little boy now known as Hunter was very confused and very excited. He had been through a lot in the last little while and he was too young to process it all.

What he did know was that a mean person killed the lady that watched him and his sister when mummy and daddy were gone. He then shouted at him and it hurt and he was gone. Then he woke up and mummy and daddy were hugging Mari, leaving him in his crib while he cried alone. Then they gave him to the white haired man that wore clothes that hurt his eyes.

Then he was left in a cold place and woke up to mean people. They wouldn’t hug him better no matter how much he tried to get a hug. He felt all weird, it was like his mummy and daddy weren’t his mummy and daddy anymore and just wanted some comfort. But they wouldn’t and the lady threw a bottle at him and yelled at him. He didn’t like those people, they looked at him like old mummy and daddy looked at dirty diapers.

Then he was in another new place, but these people were nice. They talked to him and cuddled him, making him feel better. But he hadn’t liked the ouchy he felt while on the cold table, it wasn’t nice. Then he had to drink two funny tasting bottles while people said things he didn’t understand. The bottles had caused more pain, but not like the cold table. But then he was cuddled again and told he had a new mummy and daddy that loved him and he was happy again. They felt like mummy and daddy in the way old mummy and daddy didn’t anymore.

He watched and listened as they moved around and others talked. There were other babies like him in the room, but they were being held close and he couldn’t get a good look at them. He didn’t want to play anyway, he was sleepy.

Then the shiny lady came over to him and gave him a kitty, his very own kitty. He felt she was his as soon as he held her. He knew to be very gentle with the kitty, he had always wanted one. Old mummy had a grumpy kitty, but he and Mari weren’t allowed near Pepper unless old mummy or daddy were with them cause she wasn’t well. They had said he couldn’t be rough with her the way he was when petting Uncle Padfoot. He was only allowed to touch her a few times but he knew to be very very careful, and since this kitty was much smaller he was even more careful.

Regulus quickly shifted the box Death had given them under one arm and used his other hand to make sure his new son didn’t drop the kitten as Bronwen shifted him so he was on his back with the kitten on his belly just to be safe. Once they were relatively sure the kitten and child were safe they turned their attention back to the man their son could have grown up to be if they hadn’t been there for him to say their farewells along with the others.

“Wait 22 minutes after I leave and then end the invocation.” Animus said. “Then you are all free to return to your lives.”

It was a sad moment for many of them as Animus had come to mean a great deal in their lives despite only seeing him a few times.

Country Side

Animus, Lady Magic, and Lord Death appeared in a random field close to the coast of Britain. Death threw up a barrier and the soul of Tom Marvolo Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, was stopped in place.

“Tom Marvolo Riddle.” Death said in an ominous voice as they approached the stuck wraith.

Animus worked hard not to snort, he knew Death was messing with him. The entity hated the likes of horcruxes and he knew that that would make him torment Tom.

“NO!” The wraith shrieked. “You can’t take me. I won’t go. I’m safe from you. You can’t take me.”

“He’s not here to take you.” Animus rolled his eyes at the dramatics. Honestly, the man acted like he was still a teenager.

“YOU!” Tom snarled as he tried to lunge at the man before him but was held firm.

“That is enough of that.” Lady magic snapped.

“Tom. Cleary you recognize Lord Death for who he is, but allow me to introduce you to Lady Magic.” Animus indicated the two next to him and that brought the wraith up short. He had indeed recognized Death, all those in his form would, but the idea he was before Lady Magic, without a body no less, was startling, and oddly embarrassing, it was like being underdressed at a ball.

“Tom Marvolo Riddle.” Lady Magic said in a booming voice like thunder. “I gave you magic. I blessed you with the powers of a Dark Lord. Yet still you defy me. Still you break my laws. You shall be punished, there is no way around that, but how much is up to my dear Animus.”

“You did this to me.” Tom demanded as she tried once again to attack the man.

“I did nothing to you.” Animus sighed as if exhausted. “I warned you about falling into Dumbledore’s trap, yet you did it anyway. You got reckless and overconfident and attacked a child… And failed.

As for the reason I am here.” Animus turned to look at Lady magic. “As it has been left up to me… I request leniency. I do know you will not rescind your original punishment.”

“What original punishment?” Voldemort demanded. He didn’t understand anything beyond that he had been ripped from his body and was being compelled in a certain direction. “What did I even do?”

“You attacked one of my favoured and a member of your own family.” Lady Magic informed him.

Seeing the confusion Animus knew he needed to explain. Entities like Lady Magic and Lord Death didn’t understand the limited view on the world mortals had. “I was born Harry Potter. Dumbledore manipulated and lied about the prophecy, that was the trap you fell into. I am Lady Magics chosen Grey Lord. And as to the family aspect, my maternal great grandmother was you mothers younger twin sister who was abandoned by their mother as a way to protect her since she was a squib. I am a parselmouth, and since we are both of the Slytherin bloodline I was recognized by Lady Magic as your Heir the moment I was born. Attacking the younger me was a betrayal of both Lady Magic and the family, hence the punishment.”

Voldemort was stunned, he had had more family and no one thought to mention it to him? But even he could admit that if he had known the likes of Lily Evans, an annoying sanctimonious little know-it-all from what he had heard, was related to him he would have made sure to kill her. “And just what is my so called punishment?”

“No ‘so called’ about it.” Lady Magic informed him. “You will be exiled from this region. You will only be able to return shortly before 10 years have passed, and no matter what ritual or spell you use you will not be able to regain a body until a full 10 years have passed.”

“Arrangements have already been made.” Animus reminded Tom before looking back to Lady Magic once again. “As I said, I request leniency. I know that you will not retract the original banishment, but I do not wish him to suffer during that time. I would request that once he reaches a safe place you place him in an enchanted sleep, only waking when it is time for his return. Albus Dumbledore bares a great deal of the blame for his crimes so Tom does not deserve to suffer for them.”

Lady Magic pretended to think about it for a few moments even though she knew she was going to approve it. After making sure Tom felt a little nervous she spoke. “I shall accept your request. When Tom reaches a safe location he will fall into an enchanted sleep, feeling no pain or suffering from being disembodied. He shall wake the day he is found and will be able to return to Britain then. Is that acceptable to you?” Lady Magic gave the wraith a severe look.

Voldemort didn’t like any of this. This was not how things were supposed to have gone for him. He was supposed to be winning a war. Instead he was being forced out of the country as a result of breaking rules he hadn’t even known existed. His mind was more than a little scattered, it had been getting worse for the past few years, but he was coherent enough to understand that the time traveler that had been assisting him was in actual fact the same child he had just tried to kill, which was weird. Even odder was that he was asking for leniency in his punishment.

Interpreting Toms silence to be him thinking about disagreeing Animus knew he had to speak up. The isolation coupled with the horcruxes just drove him madder, without the isolation there was a chance that Tom would be more rational upon his return, and they needed that. “Trust me, take the offer. I have seen what you become after nearly 10 years of pain and suffering in isolation, it is not good. At least this way you don’t have to wait, you just go to sleep and when things are ready to move forward you wake.  Please, take the deal.”

Voldemort looked closely and could actually see desperation in the mans eyes. Clearly whatever the pain and isolation did was not good. But more to the point, he didn’t want to hurt. He could admit he was a bit of a sadist, but he had never been a masochist. “I accept.”

“Wonderful.” Lady Magic shared a smile with Death, they had known this was going to be the outcome, since it was going to happen whether he agreed or not, but it was still good to have his agreement. “Well then, off you go.”

With a flick of her wrist the wraith of Tom Riddle was off towards the coast like a shot. “And now… It’s your turn.” Lady Magic and Death turned to Animus.

Animus smiled. He knew what was coming for him, and that was nothing. He had changed too much, the world he had come from no longer existed, there was nothing for him to go back to even if the ritual had allowed for that which it didn’t, and he was ok with that. Instead, he was going to cease to exist.

“I am ready.” Animus said calmly. “I thank you for your assistance in allowing me to do all of this.”

Lady Magic and Lord Death shared a smile as the final moments of the ritual passed and they watched as their favoured simply dissolved into the magic from whence he came. Lady Magic spread the magic across the land so that is could rejoin the magical cycle, and then, they too, disappeared.