Friend Since Birth

*****
Arianna gasped in delight, trying to get up from the bed to hug her foster family, only to remember she was still spelled to it when all she managed was to tangle herself quite effectively in the cotton sheets.

“I’ll take this as my cue to leave, young witch,” Merlin muttered. “I am keeping close watch to the goings on around you, so feel free to call upon me whenever you need advice. I’ve a few ideas for those schools you were talking about.”

Arianna nodded absently and barely felt the magic cut off the connection as she struggled to untie herself.

“Uncle Grey!” she whined. “Help!”

“Oh, no, not a chance,” Percival Graves snapped as he stormed to her bed. “I’m not getting on Eir’s bad side. She explained your condition as she was showing us to the room and I’ll not risk pissing her off so you can be an idiot and overextend yourself more. She was already not pleased with the news of your overpowered cleanser. You’re lucky the marriage bond with Queenie wasn’t included or the poor man would have died, since he’s well over the age a normal no-mag usually lives to.”

“Uncle Grey,” she pouted. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“That’s beside the point,” the man growled as he waved his wand over her with irritated snaps. “You’re in better condition than I was expecting…. A decade under sleeping potions should have damaged you far more.”

“Eir suspects it has to do with my connection to Hogwarts and the proximity I had to her,” Arianna offered weakly. She’d been shocked but not displeased by the theory.

“Well, whatever it was, I’m glad it saved you,” Graves muttered. Once he was satisfied with his own scans, he enveloped her in a tight hug. “You gave us quite a scare, kid,” he whispered, the relief and lingering terror enough that Arianna felt tears prickling at her eyes.

“Is anyone else coming?” she asked weakly.

She wasn’t sure if anyone else would have the time. Last she knew, Aunts Tina and Queenie still worked for MACUSA, though their skills were more for consultation than field work at this point. Uncle Jacob had had to retire from the bakery, since he was well past the age where muggles usually worked, but he’d been talking about opening a similar bakery in the magical portion of New York, since he was so bored without his favorite hobby. And Uncle Newt was still saving the creatures, though he was far more likely to allow others to rescue them at this point. He was over a hundred, after all. But no one else really had the touch he did with some of the creatures. She remembered a particular incident with a nundu when she had just arrived that MACUSA itself had requested his assistance on, since no one else could approach the beast without getting bit.

“As if we’d stay away,” Aunt Queenie said imperiously as she swept into the room. Still as elegant as ever. “What a kind thing to say, honey.”

Sirius looked about a second from either hexing or pranking them. Arianna wasn’t exactly sure.

“This is why you basically demanded that book!” Remus exclaimed, all trace of the normally calm professor gone in his growing enthusiasm for the people in front of him.

“Yes?” she said, giving a small shrug and grinning sheepishly.

“What book?” Uncle Newt asked as he shuffled in, staring around him in fascination and blatantly ignoring the people in the room.

“Uncle Grey’s defense one,” she said promptly, smiling at her eccentric uncle. From the stories, he hadn’t really changed much in the years since he’d first traveled to the States. Still more comfortable around creatures than humans, though he’d gotten slightly better after his book tour.

“Oh, yes, that’s a good one,” he muttered as he studied some of the paintings of goblin battles that adorned the walls.

“Newt, dear,” Graves muttered. “Please pay attention to the girl in the bed we’ve spent the last decade looking for that even your most dedicated creatures couldn’t catch a whiff of?”

Newt smiled sheepishly before settling on Arianna’s other side and patting her leg gently. “Good to see you, Anna,” he greeted.

“Hi, Uncle Newt,” she replied, smiling at him. “I just might have some news that’ll pique your interest.”

“Oh, please don’t!” Graves protested. “He’s already being insufferable with his plans for a new book. Don’t give him more of an excuse to travel. I’m getting too old for this shit.”

Arianna cackled but put off explaining about her Animagus transformation.

“Oh!” Aunt Queenie exclaimed. “Oh, yes, I do believe he’ll enjoy that. Are there any others?”

“Not that we’re aware of besides Pads,” she denied. “But he’s been one for a while.”

Arianna could see the moment Sirius got it and smirked when the man grinned. But he held off transforming and she thanked the stars he understood they had more pressing things than showing off.

“Now, care to explain what the Hel happened to you?” Graves demanded, his surly nature taking over in his worry.

She locked eyes with Sirius and tried to convey just how much she trusted these people.

“Names?” he muttered quietly, grudgingly agreeing to add them to the Fidelius.

She listed them all, then waited for Sirius to finish the notes that would allow them to share in the secrets of the room. Graves studied the pair closely and she knew the moment he realized, because his eyes widened in alarm only to narrow in anger.

“What the fuck is going on that’s bad enough you’re under a Fidelius?!” he demanded hotly.

*****
Newt startled at the sudden burst of anger, but turned to study Arianna curiously. When the man with the somewhat familiar face, Pads?, was done with the notes that would read them into the secret, he handed them out, keeping two in reserve for the still missing Tina and Jacob as Newt read the short note. Jacob was being accosted by very interested goblins looking for a chance to be involved in the bakery idea and Tina was trying to extract him politely with promises to set up a meeting with a representative as soon as they were done with their business. He and Queenie had left them to it. When they had stumbled into the room, it was to the sight of a fuming Graves glaring at the woman they barely recognized as the kid they’d hidden so long ago.

And the room was a mess of windblown papers as his magic rolled off him in his anger.

Newt hadn’t seen the man this mad since that time Newt’d come back from France with tales of battling Grindelwald’s followers and Fiendfyre strong enough to vaporize the Lestrange crypt, a holding with so many protective wards it should have been impossible. To say Percival had been pissed to be left at home, still recovering from being held prisoner for two years by the darkest wizard of the age, would be to seriously understate things. He’d had to retreat to his case to escape the magical lashing Graves gave out, since the man who’d chose to stick around Newt was smart enough to avoid aggravating the Sphinx he’d had at the time.

“I will slaughter the man!” Graves growled. “First manipulating Newt into confronting Grindelwald, now this? The man is a menace and I do not envy you Brits the cleanup from this mess! It was bad enough undoing two years of Grindelwald as Head of Magical Security. This man has been at this decades!”

“Oh, trust me,” Arianna growled, “I have plans for the man. No one treats me that way. And with how he’s treated Harry? He’ll pay.” Newt was reminded of a mother dragon defending her eggs.

“You’re not far off, honey,” Queenie whispered, resting a hand on his shoulder. Despite his aversion to touch, he found comfort in the gesture. After all, she was one of his only friends. “That’s not true, Newt,” she denied instantly.

“Please stop that,” he muttered. “You know I don’t like it.”

“If you’d just learn Occlumency, you wouldn’t have to deal with it,” Arianna said cheekily, wincing at the smack Percival gave her head.

“You know he can’t,” his husband chastised. “It would interfere with his work with creatures. They don’t trust Occlumens.”

“Alright, alright,” she muttered. “Meanies…”

“What are you, five?” Percival asked with an exaggerated eyeroll.

“Maybe three,” she snarked back. Newt smiled at that.

“Infant,” Percival muttered. Then Tina and Jacob tumbled into the room, slamming the door behind them.

“Remind me to keep business ideas to myself around goblins,” Jacob panted.

“Duly noted,” Queenie said with a smile.

“Now that everyone’s here, explain,” Percival ordered.

Arianna waited until Jacob and Tina had read their notes then nodded and launched into a tale that had Newt grimacing quickly. She was sure to introduce everyone as she spoke, but her brother really didn’t need it. The siblings looked just like the pictures Arianna had of her parents, though the eyes were switched. When she finally finished, the man she’d introduced as Charlie was holding her tightly, comforting her. The explanation of her brother’s life had caused her to break down and the boy himself to panic that they knew so much. He hadn’t denied any of their speculations, though, so Newt had a feeling the boy had endured much more than they even suspected. He decided to approach the boy like he would a wounded creature until he knew for sure just how he was dealing with everything.

It wouldn’t hurt, to be careful of his state. He may be a Gryffindor, but even Newt would admit there were limits to that house’s ability to bounce back from adventures. After all, the Ilvermorny house of Thunderbird was similar and his own husband hailed from that one. And Percival had taken a long time to recover from his breaking point. Newt firmly believed that if Percival had attended Hogwarts, he’d have been a lion.

But when things turned to discussion of how to proceed, Newt had to overcome his discomfort with strangers to step in.

“You can’t start with political until you have a base story put together,” he denied. “Dumbledore is too used to manipulating people to not try it, even with someone unknown. It’s second nature to him. I’m not even sure he realizes he’s doing it at this point.”

“He knows,” Arianna growled, tone slipping deeper in her anger Newt noted. “Only conscious manipulation would explain burying me in a coffin under stasis charms and sealing our parents wills so he could place Harry with those horrible muggles that dare to claim blood-relation to us.”

“I still don’t get why, though,” Black muttered. “Why place him there? Why make him go back when it was obvious he was being abused? Surely he checked on Harry over the years. He had to have, as the one listed as Harry’s magical guardian.”

“Nope,” Harry muttered. “I’d never seen him before my Sorting…”

“He does that,” Newt muttered. “I think it’s because he wants pawns, not warriors. Cow them enough, and anyone will listen to almost anything. I would suspect he told the muggles to treat Harry poorly so Harry would look kindly on anyone that took him from that situation. Add in the Headmaster’s ‘grandfatherly’ charm he uses now, and you have instant hero worship.”

“Speaking from experience?” Black asked with a raised eyebrow.

Newt shifted uncomfortably. He did not like the piercing gaze the man was giving him, even at his age.

“There may have been a few bullies when I was a student,” he muttered.

“Pup, please let me hex the bastard,” Black whined.

“Later,” Arianna muttered. “Any chance Uncle Theseus will help? I have a feeling we’ll need all the help we can get to do a clean sweep of the Ministry. There are a lot of people either corrupted or blackmailed, I suspect, but I’m not nearly as adept at spotting them. We’ve all been away from the politics for too long or not involved at all.”

“Do we have to involve him?” Newt whimpered. “I was hoping to avoid him.”

“He’s married to Tina, and she’s here. Did you really think that would work?” Arianna asked curiously. Newt groaned. “Seriously, after all this time and the amount you’ve worked together, you’d think you’d’ve gotten over it…”

“He’s my brother. I’ll never get over it. It comes with the title,” he muttered darkly.

“I can’t agree with you on that,” Arianna said with a warm smile at her own brother.

“I can,” Black muttered. “When I find him and fix him, my little brother is getting hexed so bad…”

“Kreacher will hex Master Sirius right back for harming Master Reggie,” a house elf announced gleefully.

*****
Sirius startled at the house elf. He hadn’t even heard him come in.

“I’m your master!” he pouted.

“Kreacher knows and Kreacher will punish hisself for harming Master Sirius, but Master Reggie has been through enough. Doesn’t need mean Master Sirius hexing him after his sicky time,” Kreacher said dryly.

Sirius was a bit floored by just how snarky the house elf was proving to be now that he could stand him. Then the elf’s words caught up with him and only Remus’ quick hands had him on his feet.

“You found him,” he breathed.

“Yes!” Kreacher crowed happily. “Kreacher speaking with other elvies, seeing if anyone had seen Master Reggie or knew where wizards disappeared to and house elf from Lestrange family says old Missy had him bring bad wizard to special place for hidings. Elf now bonded to Black family again, since Master Sirius throw out nasty Missy, so elf was able to tell Kreacher. Kreacher go with elvies and goblinsies and find Master Reggie and others! Goblinsies bringing now.”

Without further warning, a troop of goblin healers entered the hall with a string of levitated patients behind them. Once all five were in beds, the room swarmed them to try and identify them. Regulus was easy, since he basically looked just like Sirius. But Sirius gasped in horror at the others. No wonder the twins had been unable to find them, if they were hidden by elf magics…. Fabian and Gideon Prewett lay side by side. And Sirius recognized Marlene McKinnon, one of Lily’s best mates in school, after Alice. The last was unknown, but he made the leap that the very familiar looking face belonged to Remus’ twin, Romulus, the twin Remus hadn’t even really known he’d had.

“You found all of them, Kreacher,” he said in awe. “You are an amazing house elf.”

Kreacher seemed to glow at the praise.

“They were in the Janus Thicky ward of St. Mungos,” one of the goblins said gruffly. “We’ve found another dozen or so that were listed as killed by Death Eaters and are treating them in another ward here in the bank. As these were part of a Recall issued, we figured we should bring them here. As it stands, all but the Black boy are under sleeping draughts and compulsions.”

“What’s wrong with Reggie?” Sirius demanded.

“Family magic, from what we were able to tell with the field scans,” the goblin grumbled. “We can’t combat that, but I’ll put a request in with the healers to cleanse the other four. The Prewett Lords are listed as bonded to the McKinnon woman, so we won’t be separating them. It would damage the bond, as it appears to be blocked somewhat.”
Sirius gaped at the male, shocked. He’d not known Marlene had bonded the pair. Then again, the twins had been years ahead of them, enough that they had been too involved in their NEWTs to prank with the Marauders, to McGonagall’s relief.

“Who else?” was all Sirius could think to ask, ignoring the foreign magicals watching the developments with curiosity and, in the case of Mr. Graves, growing wrath. He hadn’t thought the man could get angrier and mentally noted to prevent pissing him off in the future. He did not envy Dumbledore the man’s response.

When the goblin was done listing the names, Sirius had to sit down. So many they’d thought lost. So many pureblood families believed to be extinct now. So many titles gone unclaimed. And he couldn’t figure out why they’d been kept alive in the first place.

“Breeding stock,” Scamander muttered to himself, only to draw the gaze of everyone in the room.

“Excuse me?” Sirius snarled, vicious enough to cause the timid man to flinch and Graves to shoot a sticking hex at the Black lord.

“Breeding stock,” Scamander said again, hesitantly. “All the people you just named, Master Goblin, are from Sacred 28 families, some of them the last of their lines. I can only imagine that, since Voldemort couldn’t sway any to his side, he kidnapped them and put them in stasis to preserve the lines. But the only reason to do that would be to have heirs they could control. With the adults too against them, the only way to get heirs would be to breed them…. Take the babies, raise them with the needed ideals and loyalty to the man, and kill the parents once they were of age to inherit or the adults too old to bear more.”

Sirius felt his blood run with ice at the thought. Especially since he could see the logic in it.

“The sad part is, I can see both sides taking that strategy,” Arianna muttered darkly. “Could be why Dumbledore didn’t kill me outright.”

“Wow, you Brits are a strange lot,” Mr. Kowalski said.

“I can assure you, very few of us would stoop to the level it seems Voldemort and Dumbledore exist in,” Sirius said with a growl.

“Any chance the healers will say something about the goblins kidnapping over a dozen patients from their long-term ward?” the more serious Goldstein asked.

“No,” the goblin denied. “The ones that were angry were obliviated and the rest were quite happy to be rid of the extra patients, especially when we explained that a visiting lady from an ancient and quite comfortably well-off house was willing to pay for goblins to take over the care of the group.”

He grinned at Arianna and the woman just huffed. “You all really need to stop taking cues from Eir…. Just because I probably would have offered doesn’t mean it should be assumed… What if I’d said no?”

The goblin just chuckled before heading out.

“Like you would have,” Queenie said with a smile.

“Like I would have,” Arianna agreed with a sigh.

“So, more cleanses at the very least,” Eir muttered as she bustled in, already assessing the new additions to her charges and glaring at the visiting magicals. “I’ll have you know, I do not normally involve myself so much in the healing of witches and wizards! I haven’t been this busy in years and I’m not sure I appreciate you kidnapping my mate so frequently.”

“I’m sorry,” Sirius said with an eye roll. “If we could trust anyone else, I assure you, we would. I’m not too fond of inconveniencing the Nation so much either, but at least we know where we stand with you.”

“See that you don’t forget it,” Eir muttered darkly. “Now, get over here and wake your brother. He needs our attention first, since he’s suffering a prolonged separation from his bondmate. Seems he was a little smarter than you and actually completed his quite young.”

Sirius startled at that but followed Eir’s instructions. When he connected to his Head ring and felt the family magic surrounding his brother, it was only the combined magics of Eir, Graves, and the twins that kept him from going hunting.

“He’s pregnant!” he shouted when he was coherent enough to explain his renewed anger. “He’s fucking pregnant and that bastard had my mother use family magic to freeze him so it wouldn’t grow! If she wasn’t already dead, she would be now! How dare she! And he used my proxy to reinforce it when she died!”

“You realize, we’ll have to bring Severus in on this now,” Remus said.

“I give no fucks what the hels went on when we were kids!” Sirius shouted. “He’ll make an honest man out of my brother or he’ll face my wrath. They’ll be lucky if I can remove the magic without killing the feotus and there’s still whatever potion Kreacher mentioned. I’ll not have his firstborn die so easily but this is going to be bloody difficult.”

Without further comment, Sirius channeled his anger towards healing his brother and dove into his magics, reaching to his connection with his brother, granted by the Head ring. A vicious tug on the bond with Snape was all he gave for thought of the git, enough to give Snape a driving need to see his bonded and a vague idea he’d find him at the bank, before he launched into the task of delicately untangling the web of magic around his baby brother.