Friend Since Birth

*****
“Milady?” Ron asked, obviously torn between going after his older brother and staying to help.

“Give him a moment,” Arianna said softly. “I imagine he’ll be ready to talk in a few minutes. It’s a bit of a shock and he deserves to lose his composure for a bit.”

He deserved a right proper freak out to be honest. But he seemed the sort to freak out just enough then push it all away to deal with problems before allowing himself to break fully later. And sure enough, he marched back into the room, the oldest Weasley a step behind him and black fury on his face. The pair marched to the desk and Percy held his hand out for the parchment. Arianna handed it over immediately, careful to keep the words concealed. The man noticed but only nodded in thanks before handing it promptly to Bill. When Bill tore off in an impressive swearing streak, Percy took the page back and handed it over to the Twins. Soon, the parchment had made its way around the room and each Weasley was in a truly impressive fury. Each unique, from Bill’s black fury to the twins’ impressive swearing and promises of vicious pranks, and yet all incredibly protective of the middle child.

“So, why did we need to take these tests?” Percy asked, voice devoid of the anger still burning in his eyes. “As appreciative of finding out about all these spells and such, I doubt you’re doing it out of the goodness of your heart.”

“Surprisingly, she is,” Ron muttered, his anger still evident in his tone. Curious eyes snapped to him, but he only blushed before continuing. “She’s agreed to pay for all such tests for anyone that asks the goblins and can’t pay for it themselves. She’s also arranged to have you cleansed, just like she did with me and the twins earlier this summer. Even if you don’t want to join us, you still get that, with no conditions.”

“And why would you do that?” Hermione demanded. “Why help people for no benefit to yourself?”

“Who says there’s no benefit for me?” she asked in confusion. “The wizarding world gets more people acting without outside interference and I get the satisfaction of knowing there’s one less person under the control of someone else. No true changes or even an accurate understanding of Wizarding Britain can be enacted until we can see how people really feel.”

“Hufflepuff?” Percy asked with a small smile. Arianna beamed at him in return.

“Did you think just anyone would end up with access to Badger’s Den?” Hermione squeaked in surprise and excitement at the name but bit her lip. “But, you’re not wrong, dear Percy, that I do have hope that you’ll want to help us. We could really use an eye in the Ministry and more support for Harry at school.”

And with that, she handed over the copies of Harry’s and her own tests. A few minutes were spent in silence, exchanging nervous glances over the heads of the three studiously reading. Then Hermione finished, placed her copy of the parchment on the desk gently, and promptly fainted.

Only Ron’s quick reflexes saved her from hitting her head on the heavy wood of the desk and Arianna hurriedly tried to stand to help situate the witch comfortably on the nearby sofa. Only to collapse back with a huff. Stupid magical drain.

But the Weasleys didn’t seem to mind, making sure the girl was well cushioned before turning to the other two just in case they needed collecting as well.

“Arianna Potter,” Ginny seemed to breathe, staring at her in awe and a touch of fear. As though she was worried Arianna was going to be mad at her.

Percy just studied her intently, as though trying to puzzle out how he’d missed it.

“At your service,” she greeted with a smile.

“How can we help?” Percy demanded.

Arianna laughed. When Bill roused the brunette witch, she demanded the same before she was even able to sit up. The room chuckled and then, after a quick oath to add them to the Fidelius fully, Arianna started explaining, pulling the notes from the main discussion they’d had weeks ago from a drawer and handing it off when Hermione requested to review them.

“So, what’s Harry doing right now?” Hermione asked after the explanations were done and she’d stopped trying to demand answers Arianna just didn’t have at the moment. Arianna hesitated, distinctly remembering the reaction the witch had had at Olive’s appearance. And the witch seemed to understand instantly. “He’s bonding house elves, isn’t he?”

Ron nodded warily, studying his friend closely. Hermione just sighed and nodded, seeming to accept that it was a reality she would need to do more research into, now that she had a bit better explanation about the reality of the situation. Arianna made note to see if there were any books in one of her vaults or properties that gave a better history of the relationship with house elves magicals were supposed to have with them. Not the perverted one the trio had experienced so far. And she doubted the young Gryffindor would believe the explanations from an elf, even one as old as Zoe.

“So, this year is going to be interesting and you’d like help keeping Harry from further danger at school while you work on political and societal changes,” Hermione summarized when they were done.

“Among other things, yes,” she agreed.

“Oi, we’re going to be there too!” the twins and Ron protested.

“Yes, and the twins are only going back because I pointed out the need for them to at least complete the majority of their last year. They need to sit their NEWTs in order to gain the respect of the wizarding world and make their business venture more palatable to the older generations. And Ron’s been known to follow Harry wherever he goes, regardless of the danger. While Hermione isn’t much better, of the three of you she is the more levelheaded from your tales,” she pointed out, causing the three in question to blush and the rest to laugh. She’d hold back her reservations about the girl’s tendency towards bullying and hitting for a later, private discussions with the brunette. It was possible she wasn’t as bad as reported or she’d realized the issues herself. If not, Arianna wanted to be sure to bring it up where no one would lend their own opinions.

“And you need me to make subtle inquiries at the Ministry to see who might be inclined to take a third option if the choice is between supporting You-Know-Who or Dumbledore,” Percy said.

Arianna nodded. “I’d also suggest getting people to question Dumbledore’s or Fudge’s decisions lately, up to and including Dumble’s decision to announce to a school full of children that Voldemort is back without doing the same to the wider wizarding world. It shouldn’t be too difficult if you just complain about the events that directly affected your family. There’s been enough of those in the last few years and more than one of them was covered up by Dumbledore or the Ministry. And all of that isn’t even including the shenanigans the twin menaces get up to. But only do so if it poses no threat to your own safety. You can’t help if you’re dismissed or dead. And at this point, I would not put it past either the idiot or old coot to arrange for a horrendous accident to befall you if he should get wind you’re trying to discredit him knowingly.”

“It was you responsible for that incident in Diagon a few days ago, wasn’t it?” Ginny asked, for once making a connection faster than the older two newbies in their group.

Arianna beamed at the younger girl, pleased. Ginny just blushed and turned her eyes away in embarrassment. Oh, so cute!

“Oh, it was so much fun!” Sirius crowed, speaking for the first time in a while.

“Wouldn’t a lot of this be easier if Sirius was free?” Hermione asked hesitantly. “I mean, I know he’s innocent, but why haven’t you demanded a trial for him yet?”

“Because-,” Percy said before she could. “Because she’s trying to hide her connection to Harry and posing as an American puts her at a slight disadvantage, even if she holds a title in Britain. She’s maintained that façade in public since that incident with Mum at the beginning of summer and I honestly believed it until this meeting. Since she’s not spent significant time in the country and would have been too young to really know much about the last war, she wouldn’t necessarily know about the terrifying escaped convict, since he’s not been in the papers recently. And there wouldn’t be a logical explanation about why she was looking into it.”

“All true,” she agreed with a proud nod. She was liking these three the more they spoke. They were very quick on the uptake. “But that doesn’t mean we’re not working on it anyway. My adopted uncle’s currently at the Ministry making as much of a mess of the DMLE as he can manage. Which, since he used to run the place, I’d assume is going to be quite the mess and cause a lot of people to start questioning what exactly is going on that he’s able to point out so many holes in their logic over the last fifteen years at least. War or not, there’s no reason Sirius should have fallen through the giant canyons that are the cracks of their precious justice system.”

“Yeah, you’re not bitter about it all, Arianna,” Ron said with a chuckle.

Arianna just grinned evilly. Hermione seemed disconcerted but nodded.

“Now, as much as I’d like to keep answering questions,” she admitted with some genuine regret, “you’ll all need to get back to Grimmauld. It’s getting late and I’m sure Molly is starting to actually worry that you all fell into your trunks and are in need of rescue. The goblins will be waiting for you tonight, after your parents are asleep, but your cleanses shouldn’t take too much time. They’re getting very good at breaking these kinds of blocks and other issues.”

The Weasleys nodded reluctantly and made their way to the door so the Twins and Bill could apparate the lot back. It didn’t really need to be explained that they were getting a lot of practice. She only hoped the boys were able to get the group out of Grimmauld with little fanfare. The last thing they needed was Molly catching them sneaking out right before heading to school…. But overnight was the only time that would guarantee them the needed number of hours for the cleanses without arising suspicion. After all, even the slowest packer didn’t need two days to do so.

“Hermione, Percy, could you stay a moment?” she called before they could leave. Sirius looked at her curiously, but she waved him off. He shrugged, then followed the line of redheads out.

“Yes?” Percy asked.

Arianna smiled at him and then turned her attention to Hermione instead of answering. “My understanding is that you are much more curious than your peers,” she said, studying at the witch for a moment. Hermione nodded. “And you’re considered by most to be the brightest witch of your age?” It was a moniker she was sure Dumbledore had coined, but judging by her quick wit and even quicker deductions, it wasn’t too far off. Add to the fact that she was the first of school age yet without a block on her intelligence and she was sure to seem a genius. Arianna suspected it was because, as a muggleborn, Dumbledore just hadn’t seen fit to place a block. And she’d been older than his usual victims seemed to be when he’d gained access to her. Though, if she was the most intelligent in her age group was yet to be decided, now that a number had had their intelligence blocks removed, Harry chief among them. However, she had a burning passion for knowledge that was unrivaled.

She nodded again and Arianna nodded in return, reaching into her desk draw to pull out a familiar item. She handed the small mirror to the bushy haired teen and leaned back into her chair.

“I’m giving you this so you can focus your need for answers on someone who might actually be able to give them to you and so you don’t pester your friends. Remember their tests. Neither is an idiot but they don’t have the resources to get you answers if needed. This is a communication mirror. Harry has one as well, but I’m not able to make them in huge quantities at the moment. It’s paired with another that I will have on me at almost all times, so should you have questions, which I’ve no doubt you will, you only need to hold the mirror and call for ‘milady Aiaia’,” she explained. They’d keyed the mirrors to that name so no one overheard the name Potter referring to anyone other than Harry. And to keep with the story they were spreading about who she was posing as for now. “Now, I’m not saying I have all the answers, but I will try my best. And if I don’t have the answer, I have access to books that won’t be in the Hogwarts Library that I can possibly send you. With the prevision that they are not seen by anyone else and not left lying around. If you’re as smart as you seem, you’re able to disguise a book easily, just like a majority of students I knew did when attending History of Magic. I would also request you don’t call at 2am to ask a question about your homework. Leave those calls for legitimate emergencies.”

Hermione agreed readily, eagerly taking the mirror and beaming at her. “I misjudged you,” she admitted as she quickly stored the mirror in her small beaded purse. “I thought you were just like You-Know-Who and I’m sorry about that. Though, you never did explain how we were to know no one was Imperioed.”

“It would have shown on the test and please do not make me regret changing my mind about you. I misjudged you as well, but let’s try to rectify that, shall we?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Hermione chirped with a small salute.

Arianna just chuckled and shooed her out of the room, sending her off to try and track down the group so they could take her back. Then she fixed her gaze on the single remaining person left.

“Hello, Percival,” she greeted softly. “I am so sorry,” she said, pushing herself to her feet with a bit of effort.

She made her way around the desk and leaned against it once she was closer to the stoic redhead. She opened her arms to him and waited. He’d either take the comfort or not, but she wouldn’t presume to touch him when he was so obviously feeling raw, the walls he’d put up quickly crumbling in the face of his missing siblings and the lack of judgment on her face. Within seconds, he was ensconced in her arms, crying brokenly into her shoulder as she held him tightly.

“I didn’t even know,” he wailed after a few minutes. “All this time, and I had no idea. My child was ripped from me before I knew and now I have no idea who my bondmate might be and I can’t trust my own memories or my own mother and anything I’ve thought was unshakeable.”

She let him ramble for a while and waved off the concerned elves and brothers before they could garner attention from the broken man in her arms. Eventually, her weak legs faltered a bit and she allowed them to sink to the floor while Percy just followed, unmoving from his position in her arms.

“And I have no clue who you really are or why I feel so safe with you or why I’ve been telling you all of this!” he continued.

She kept quiet for a while as he kept rambling, knowing he couldn’t possibly hear anything she’d say as explanation for now. When he finally fell silent, she waited a bit more before checking to see if he was asleep. But he was just resting, breathing evening out as he got control of himself. Only when he was calm again did she speak.

“Percy, I wouldn’t even presume to say I can empathize with what you’re going through, having never experienced it myself. But I can sympathize. And rest assured, there is no one who will blame you for how you’re feeling. If anyone does, just point them out and I’ll hex them,” she said. Percy laughed weakly at the threat and she counted it as a success, even if she was serious. “As for the rest of it, it’ll come with time. You’ll figure out your bondmate. That’s the point of the bond. It will draw you to your bondmate. And with it completed but suppressed, I’ve no doubt the moment the block is clear, you’ll be pulled towards the person. Your memories will also be addressed and we have a dedicated mind healer to help you uncover any blocked memories. He’s also seeing a number of us for our now distinct trust issues. I can’t say why you feel safe with me but know that I’ve not lied to you. I’ll never willingly lie to you or anyone. It takes too much effort to keep track of the lies. If you’ll notice, even with my public persona, there are no lies, only omitted information. Even the story of how I met the Twins is true, since Charlie did take them ingredient hunting afterwards and I did meet them there in search of Snape. No one need know it was a month after I shocked the hippogriffs out of them in Gringotts. Will there be things I can’t tell you? Probably, but you’ll just have to trust that they have no relevance to you personally. Much like I’ll keep secrets for you that are only yours to share. I’m exactly who I say I am, though,” she said. “I’m Harry’s probably obnoxiously overprotective older sister, who wants to burn the world down for what it’s done to my precious baby brother. I’m the witch who probably holds more titles than anyone alive and yet can’t stand politics. I’m the stereotypical Hufflepuff that wants to protect everyone from everything. And I’m my parents’ daughter that wants to prank the lot just for fun.”

Percy chuckled at that and Arianna gave him an encouraging squeeze. “I’m not flawless, either,” she said. “I’ve got a temper to rival a Black, a propensity to ignore my own health if you were to ask my healer, a frankly unnecessary hatred for the Ministry and the corruption I can see flourishing in it, little care for the current system, and will gladly rip it apart for my own ends. That also means that I have no respect for authority.”

Percy gave a full laugh at that. “As if that’s news,” he said, voice rough from his tears. “I would have pinned you as a troublemaker within minutes if I were your prefect in school.”

“Of that, I have little doubt, as my prefects did peg me as such before I’d even been sorted.”

Percy huffed another laugh then pushed himself off the floor and offered a hand for the witch to help her to her own feet. He seemed concerned by her slow movements but when she explained about her house elves, he nodded understandingly.

“So, what now?” he asked.

“Now you go on your way and owl me if you need to. We’re still trying to figure out a better method for communication that isn’t monitored by the Ministry or Dumbledore, but so far, all we have are the goblin message boxes and communication mirrors like I gave to Hermione. Since the boxes are proving quite useful, I’m inclined to stick with them for now and as soon as I’ve got one from the goblins, I’ll be sending it on to you, though you’ll need to key it into your magic to lock it so only you can open it. And I’m working on the mirrors but between all the other things I have going on, it’s a low priority, since we have a method that works for now. The trouble will come when we have more people, as we’ll need to prioritize who gets a box, when the goblins finally run out.”

“If you’d like, I could give it an attempt,” he offered. “I may not be the Charms protégé that George is, but I’m a fair hand at it.”

“As much as I would love to hand that off,” she said with a soft smile. “It’s something my father came up with and I’d like to keep the exact method for creating them a family secret. I’ll let you know as soon as I discover something I can give you to help, though.”

Percy nodded, then noticed the stacks of parchment on the desk behind her. “Perhaps something to do with organizing your estates?” he offered instead.

The spark of interest in her eyes was obvious, she was sure, and Percy smirked. “I may just take you up on that,” she agreed. “If it won’t interfere with your work at the Ministry. The Twins said you’d been placed in International Relations?”

“Head, actually,” Percy said, puffing with pride and causing Arianna to smile happily at the way he was pushing past his grief and anger to talk about something he loved. “And it’s not too much trouble. I’ve got everything organized finally and with how little the Minister wants to interact with outside nations, there’s not much to do right now. I do believe I was misled when I joined prior to the TriWizard Tournament, as the entire lead up to that was quite hectic. After basically taking it over when Crouch decided to be a ponse about it, well, I doubt very much I’ll be that busy again soon.”

Arianna smiled and nodded. “I’ll get with Ragnok and see about sending some of the smaller inventories to you to sort through for now, to get a feel for how you’ll handle it and if we can understand each other. I would expect the first batch with the message box.”

“And what exactly are you looking for with the inventory? Surely you’re just getting a listing of your holdings. Not much to be done there,” he argued.

“Not entirely true,” she denied. “We’re having to sort through and compare lists, ensuring what should be in the vaults is actually what is in the vaults. There’s old inventories to compare with and anything not on one needs to be accounted for. There’s an ongoing Recall for many of them, so the goblins can track down missing pieces. And then we have to sort through the cursed pieces, to see if the curse needs to be removed or the piece destroyed or just left alone as ancient family magic that’s harmless to the family. Such as this,” she explained, pulling the necklace out from her robes to show off the glittering mithril. “This is a Peverell family heirloom that allows for a permanent, moveable privacy ward that rivals the goblin meeting rooms.”

Percy stared at the ornate necklace in shock.

“That’s why you felt free talking to us as much as you did before we took the Fidelius,” he wondered. She smiled and nodded before tucking the piece back.

“And that’s just the artifacts,” she continued. “There’s also thousands of scrolls, tens of thousands of books, if not more, weapons, wands, etc. You get the drift. There’s a lot to go through and decide what to do with. And I can’t read every page. Ragnok knows that but he still sends them, as if hoping I’ll somehow develop the ability to take the information in by sheer will if nothing else.”

Percy chuckled but nodded. “So a list of troublesome items or significant books that should be shared would be beneficial. Along with historic weapons and such.”

She nodded eagerly. “Yes, very much so.”

“Then send away, though it may take some time,” he warned.

“As long as I don’t have to do it, I don’t care. I’ve already resigned myself to doing little but going over my accounts and holdings for the next fifty years if I’m lucky. And I have plans ,” she said honestly, edging towards a true whine and earning a real laugh from the man again. She smiled that he seemed in a better mood, if not fully recovered.

“I’ll do my best,” he said after his moment of laughter.

“Deal, now best get you off to your bed,” she said softly, guiding him to the door and pointing the way to the nearest apparation point. She was glad she’d added another close to the huge hall after one too many complaints from Sirius.

Once he was gone, she slumped, allowing the exhaustion to flare through her body for a moment before stumbling to the room she’d been occupying for the last few days. She fell into the bed with a relieved sigh and an understanding that she’d only be able to relax for a few days before she needed to get working again. A few days to recover that would hopefully be enough to dispel this bone deep exhaustion.

When Harry stumbled in hours later, only to try and stumble out again when he realized the room was occupied, she just grunted and pulled him into the bed next to her, snuggling into his side and ignoring his weak protests. Then fell asleep promptly, secure in the safety of her brother for this one night.

*****
“You know, that’s not really the look that inspires confidence that everything went well with Hermione finding out,” Charlie said mildly as soon as Bill flopped into the nearest chair when he returned from his short trip to the Den.

“This isn’t the look that’s meant to,” Bill muttered, waving his wand so a glass and the firewhiskey Arianna had smuggled down to them floated to him. She may or may not have discovered what each of their favorites were, including the goblin caretakers, and ensured they always had a ready supply whenever she brought them meals or snacks or just came to visit.

“And what exactly happened?” Graves asked, joining the pair of Weasleys and not so subtly dragging his husband in for a break.

“Well, first, Percy joined after he saw Ron taking Mum to task for going after the twins. They played a prank on Harry to give him more of an excuse to be gone all day,” Bill started with a sigh. Charlie had to bite his lip and take his own glass of the alcohol to keep himself from storming the Black townhouse to yell at her himself.

No one was sure exactly how much they’d been oblivious of with her interactions with Fred and George. Bill and Charlie had already discussed it and decided that however much it was, it was beyond too much, especially in the few interactions they’d seen since being back in the same country. Both had promised to do better, though, and make it up to their prankster brothers however they could. Not that they’d tell the menaces. That was just begging for the pair to take full advantage.

“But that doesn’t seem to be all,” Graves prompted when it was apparent neither brother was too eager to continue the discussion.

“No,” Bill grumbled. “Then Ginny grabbed me as I was apparating away with Ron.”

Charlie rolled his eyes and grumbled.

“Good on you for not splinching then,” Newt offered softly.

“Yes, well,” Bill said with an eyeroll and a pointed look at Charlie. Who did not blush and bury his face in his glass. “It’s not the first time and I highly doubt it will be the last. Just like I told Arianna when she started to worry. Adorable Hufflepuffs…”

Newt just rolled his own eyes and settled into a sofa, heedless of the grime and dirt he carried.

“So, both of them and Hermione today?” Charlie clarified.

“Apparently,” Bill muttered. “However, that was not even the most surprising and horrifying part.”

Charlie tensed at that.

“The tests went swimmingly then,” Newt said dryly.

“One could say that…”

“Bill,” Charlie almost growled.

“The same we expected for the most part,” said Bill. “Lots of potions to affect opinions on certain groups, the same loyalty potions for Gryffindor and the Order and Bumblefuck. Blocks on magic and intelligence. For Percy and Ginny, it started young. For Hermione, it started around when she would have received her Hogwarts letter, which makes me think he puts starter spells on the letter or envelope. That way he can start for any muggleborns and muggleraised and reapply them for all the purebloods and halfbloods he has access to much sooner as everyone wants to show the great Albus Dumbledore, leader of the Light, their new babies. Hermione and Percy only had a bit of their natural intelligence blocked and Ginny has an affinity for battle magics we didn’t know about. I’m not honestly surprised there, but it is what it is. Not too sure if she really took in the marriage contract with Harry, though. She seemed a bit stunned partway through her list and Hermione grabbed it before I can guarantee she finished it. Then again, none of us really realized the full extent of his until a third or fourth reading.”

Charlie could feel worry and apprehension pool in his gut. None of this was exactly horrifying, but then again, they’d suspected a good portion of it.

“Bill,” he said softly, an urging and an admonishment for dancing around the issue.

“Percy,” was all Bill got out before he had to take another deep drink. “Percy said I could tell those in the know for Arianna’s secret. Which is the only reason I’m not kicking you and your husband out, Mr. Scamander-Graves. I’d probably get my arse handed to me if I tried to force you both out, but I would try if necessary to protect my brother,” he continued, raising a glass sardonically at the magizoologist.

Newt only turned a questioning eye to Charlie before turning back to Bill once it was obvious Charlie could only shrug.

“He had an abortion potion used on him,” Bill said with deadly calm. “And no memory of it or the acts that would have produced the need. Which means he didn’t consent to its use and we can’t guarantee he consented to the sex either.”

Charlie froze.

Then tore off into a streak of swearing that would have gotten his mouth washed out with soap by his mother if she ever heard. If not another slap.

“That’s about how I reacted,” Bill commented before downing the rest of his drink and pouring another.

He wasn’t normally a heavy drinker, having seen too many of his fellows fall into the bottle only to succumb to a nasty curse they weren’t prepared for after. But this, this depravity by one of the men he thought he’d always be able to trust? Yeah, he needed the drink. At the very least.