As the days slipped by from Christmas to the new year, a certain household was not enjoying the festivities that others were. In fact, the patriarch of the house even turned down an invitation to join the New Year's gala being hosted by one of their family friends.
Instead, the man was sitting beside his daughter's bed, watching over her as she devolved into a coughing fit while her mother smeared a thick paste onto her chest. But despite the paste, as pungent as it was, the little girl, who wasn't even ten, showed no signs of recovering. Instead, she was laid back down onto her bed for rest once the fit subsided, and fed one of the many potions sitting on the nightstand beside her.
"Darling..." The girl's mother said to him, her voice uncertain in the face of their daughter's suffering. But a silent and slow shake of his head held whatever else she might have said at bay.
He stayed there, watching over his daughter attentively until she closed her eyes, and fell into a potion-induced sleep.
As the only sounds to be heard were the rhythmic rasp of her breathing, and the low crackle of the fireplace, the man slowly stood as he turned to leave. But not before sending a dirty look at the elf standing attentively beside his daughter's bed.
"Report to me if she worsens."
"Master!" The elf nearly wailed in affirmation as it groveled before him, and the man didn't even spare it a backwards glance as he strode from the room.
The hall he stepped into was dark and Gothic in design, thick red carpets beneath his feet, dark green wallpaper with twisting vines, and dark brown trim along the base.
None of it seemed to register to the man though, as he strode purposely through the halls to his personal study, willfully ignorant of the eyes of his eldest daughter as she watched him from her own bedroom door.
If his manor was Gothic in design, then his study looked as if it had been designed by Edgar Allen Poe himself.
There was a large roaring fireplace, which was currently the only source of light within. Shelves lined the walls on either side, filled with an assortment of tomes and macabre memorabilia collected by his family through the generations. And sitting in front of the fireplace, facing the fourth wall dominated by the window, was a large gnarled writing desk.
*Tap tap tap!*
*Tap tap tap!*
A tapping on his window drew the man's attention, allowing him to focus on the owl sitting outside in the falling snow.
The man crossed the room in a few quick steps, and opened the window wide to allow the owl inside. And the second he did so the bird swooped right in before perching on the back of his chair, right in front of the fire, and stuck out its leg with a letter tied to it.
Trepidation filled the man as he crossed the room a second time to untie the letter from the owl's leg, before quickly ripping it open to read what it said.
~~~
Magnus,
I am sorry, old friend. I have confirmed that young Astoria possesses the same symptoms of the curse that your father possessed.
How the curse manifested in her specifically instead of yourself or Daphne first, I do not know. But I do know that the complications from the curse will inhibit her growth, and put her at greater risk of diseases and illnesses.
I have enclosed a list of potions and ingredients with their proper dosage and schedule going forward, and I would also have you bring her to me for weekly checkups so that I can monitor her in case her condition worsens.
Once again, I truly am sorry my old friend.
Sincerely,
Healer Talbot.
~~~
The man, Magnus Greengrass, read the letter once, twice, a third time, before he immediately grabbed an expensive-looking vase that was sitting on his desk.
"GRAAAAAAAA!" He roared furiously as he chucked the vase at one of the shelves walls, causing it to shatter as pieces flew throughout the room.
The urge to destroy more filled him as he recalled his father, the precious patriarch of the Greengrass family, deteriorating over the course of weeks and then months from this damnable curse, until his body was so weak that a mere COLD killed him.
"Damn you Selwyn... DAMN YOU ALL!" Magnus roared as he prepared to go on a further rampage, startling the owl to the point that it quickly fled through the still open window.
"Having a rough night?"
"!?!"
A voice that Magnus never heard before made him stop right as he was about to start throwing a blasting hex, before he slowly turned to see a figure sitting in his chair.
The figure was small, like a child or an elf, and they were dressed in all black leathers so that no defining characteristics could be seen. They were also lounging casually in his chair, only adding to Magnus's enraged state.
"Who are you?!" The man snarled as he pointed his wand at the figure, preparing to blast them to gory pieces if they so much as twitched.
"No one of importance. Just the guild master of the Thieves Guild." The figure answered, and Magnus froze.
"The....Thieves Guild?" He asked slowly, his eyes darting to the morning paper that sat on his desk. It depicted Lucius Malfoy being taken into Ministry custody, after the numerous stories being reported in the Prophet the last several days thanks to Intel from the Thieves Guild. He wasn't considered guilty just yet, but there was enough for them to investigate. Especially with the claims of his service to the Dark Lord, as well as his bribery of Ministry officials.
"Are you here to rob me?" Magnus growled as his mind raced.
"If I were, then you wouldn't even know I was here." The figure answered lazily, even as Magnus narrowed his eyes.
"Then why are you here?" He demanded.
The figure suddenly shifted their position in his chair, leaning forward while linking their gloved fingers as they seemed to regard him seriously. "I'm here, to form a partnership with you."
"..."
"What?" Magnus asked, scarcely believing he had heard correctly.
"I said that I'm here to form a partnership." The figure said, repeating themselves patiently before they launched into an explanation.
"The Thieves Guild is not some kind of dark organization or movement. We are merely business men and women out to make a profit.
"When we aren't lightening the pockets of our marks, we take on specific jobs from certain individuals who will then give the guild their support in various ways. We call these people our clients, or partners if you wish.
"Typically, we wait until these potential clients reach out to us to establish a working relationship. Since we aren't too well established in wizarding Britain just yet though, we decided to do the reaching out to get our feet settled."
As the figure stopped talking Magnus got the faintest impression they were smiling at him from under their cowl, a thought that annoyed him.
"Why me?" He asked irritably, trying to gauge their true intentions.
"Opportunity." The figure answered, as if it were obvious.
"As we were looking for a partner, our information network relayed your situation to us. So now here I am, offering my services in exchange for a partnership. If you are not interested though, then I can happily take my services elsewhere."
Magnus frowned as he considered the offer, and thought about if he even needed their services. The answer was yes.
"What would this partnership entail? I'm not signing over all of my family assets, am I?" He asked cautiously.
"Of course not. We would simply require you to open certain doors for us, including a new selection of jobs and clients, as well as provide us with any spare resources you may have available. Additionally, your family will receive protection from the guild, meaning that we will never target any of you, and may intervene if someone else does. The details can be hammered out over time, but that will more or less be the gist of our relationship." The figure said, and Magnus relaxed a little. It would basically be akin to a business relationship.
"Very well. Here is what's going on." Magnus began, before he gave the figure a brief rundown of what he was asking them for.
Basically, one of his ancestors ran afoul of a member of the Selwyn family a few centuries back. In retaliation, the family cursed his ancestor with the same curse that was afflicting his daughter now. A curse that would severely weaken them once it took hold, inhibiting their growth if it took hold young enough, like Astoria, and opening them up to possible illnesses or injuries that would otherwise be considered mild.
The worst part of this curse was that it carried through his ancestor's bloodline, inflicting all who followed him with it, and it would take effect at random points throughout their life. The point was not to eliminate his ancestor's family, but to make them all suffer because of him.
"For the actual job, I want you to locate and steal the book containing the ritual they must have used to inflict the curse on us. Not only will I know how it works, but we can also see if there is a counter to it." Magnus told him eventually.
"And you're sure that they'll have this book?" The figure asked seriously now that they were talking business.
"Of course. Every family, especially those amongst the Sacred 28, have their share of secret spells, recipes and even rituals, though they have been outlawed by the Ministry due to how dangerous they could be. They would definitely keep any records of those close to prevent anyone else possibly discovering them."
"Very well. I'll be back tomorrow night, with the book. I hope you'll keep your end of the bargain." The figure said, before vanishing suddenly right in front of him.
Wary, Magnus slowly waved his hand on the space where the figure had been, but felt nothing in that space. They had obviously already left.
...
As the next day passed Magnus felt a tension in his body as he waited for night to fall. A tension rivaled only by his urgency as he worked to care for his youngest daughter.
He alternated between dealing with his work, managing the entirety of trade regarding alchemical ingredients in magical Britain, caring for his daughter, and yelling at his house elves to blow off some of the stress. It didn't help.
He also arranged for the ingredients for the potions prescribed by healer Talbot to be brought to his manor, allowing him to begin brewing said potions just in case they were needed.
Finally, as his daughters prepared for bed, Magnus was in his office once more as he anxiously awaited the return of the thief.
"Someone's eager."
"!!!"
As before, Magnus hadn't even noticed their arrival as a voice broke the silence of the room, heralding the figure who was leaning against his shelves casually.
"Do you have it?!" He immediately asked.
"..."
The figure said nothing, and instead reached into one of the many pockets of their leather outfit to pull out a thick book.
"Page 394." The figure told him as they placed the book on his desk, allowing Magnus to open it with trembling fingers.
As interested as he was in the generations of notes from the Selwyn family, Magnus buried his interest as he quickly flipped to the page the thief told him. There, he found several pages detailing how to perform a ritual to curse not just one person, but their entire bloodline.
"This is..." Magnus uttered as he flipped through the pages that outlined exactly how to prepare for the ritual, the materials involved, and the ritual itself. Then finally, the last few pages of that chapter outlined how to undo the ritual.
Magnus sucked in a breath as he studied the counter ritual, knowing that this was it. This was how he could save his daughters and finally bring the Greengrass family back from the brink.
"I trust that you won't go back on our deal?" The figure asked, drawing Magnus out of his stupor.
"Of course not. Whatever the Thieves Guild needs, you'll have it." Magnus immediately declared.
"Excellent. We won't need much right now since the guild is still doesnt even have a base, but I will hold your pledge of support to you when we need it." The figure said as they turned to leave.
"Wait!" Magnus called out before they could vanish, making the figure pause for a second.
"Who are you?" Magnus asked him seriously. "You have my pledge for support, but I would like to know the face of the man I will be working with."
The figure tilted their head slightly, as if considering the request, before suddenly pulling their hood back to reveal their face. And Magnus had to suck in a breath when he saw them.
Magnus's original suspicion was that the mysterious guild master was some elf or goblin, or one of the incredibly rare hybrids that occurred between them and humans. What he had gotten instead was a head of messy black hair, piercing green eyes, and a lightning bolt shaped scar.
"Potter..." Magnus uttered, his mind racing while his lungs suddenly felt empty.
"Yes. I am the guild master of the Thieves Guild." Potter replied casually as he approached Magnus once more.
"But-but..." Magnus sputtered, before glancing at his left arm suddenly.
He was a Death Eater. One of the followers and a member of the inner circle of the Dark Lord.
To work with Potter of all people...
"And I am going to destroy Voldemort." Potter suddenly declared, his tone deathly serious.
"Don't be ridiculous." Magnus immediately snapped.
"The Dark Lord is greater than all others. Not even death can hold him, and when he returns-"
"I'll kill him." Potter cut him off, his expression neutral and tone flat. As if he said he was going to collect the paper instead of killing one of, if not THE most powerful Dark Lord who ever existed.
"You know nothing about Him. The depths of His powers!" Magnus declared vehemently, to which Potter smiled.
"Is that so?" He asked, maintaining complete eye contact with Magnus. "Why not see for yourself how little I actually know?"
"!?!"
Magnus blinked as he realized what Potter was goading him to do, how vulnerable he was leaving himself to him.
The Lord of Greengrass pulled out his wand, and aimed it right between the seemingly younger boy's eyes.
A part of him urged the rest of his mind to use the Killing curse to end Potter right then and there, preventing anything from standing in the way of his master's return. But the rational part of his mind prevented him from doing so, since Potter would more than likely be expecting such a thing with how open he was seemingly leaving himself.
"Legilimens!"
...
When Magnus came too he found himself sitting in his chair behind his desk, with Potter leering over him as a casual smirk played on his lips.
"Well? See what you needed to see?" He asked, and a chill went down Magnus's spine as he recalled the images he had seen. The things that the 'boy' in front of him had done.
"W-what are you?" He asked in a shaky voice, prompting Potter's smirk to turn predatory as he leaned in close so that he was leering over the seemingly older man.
"I am Dovahkiin."
A few minutes ago, that word was foreign to Magnus. He would have never guessed what it meant, or the weight it carried. Now however...
Potter straighted up to his full, eleven year-old, height, and said with a casual smile on his face, "Anyways. Now that we have that covered, I look forward to our prospective partnership, Lord Greengrass. And I can assure you, there is no safer place in this entire world than on my side. And no more dangerous a place than to stand against me. Good night."
Magnus blinked, and Potter vanished. Seemingly Disapparated despite lacking the usual accompanying 'crack'.
Magnus Greengrass was left sitting there, behind his antique family writing desk. The fire roaring behind him offered no warmth to his bones as his mind struggled to contemplate the horrors he had just witnessed. The things Potter had experienced and done.
And now knowing who he was, WHAT he was, Magnus found it difficult to place the same unwavering faith and fear into the Dark Lord he once had.
Magnus didn't know how long he sat there, struggling to come to term with what he had just experienced. But when he did start moving, he did so with purpose.
First he wrote down a list of items and ingredients on a piece of parchment, before picking up a small bell on his desk and giving it a light ring.
"Master?" The house elf announced it's arrival as it appeared in the room.
"Take this list, and get me everything on it as quickly as possible. Before you go though, tell Daphne to come here." He commanded, his tone filled with authority that surprised even him after what he just experienced.
"Yes sir!" The elf proclaimed with a low bow, before disappearing from the room.
Magnus had a moment to think before his daughter arrived, specifically of his next step.
Of course he would give Potter whatever he needed for his Thieves Guild. He already proved that he could and would ruin an entire family within a matter of days if he so wished. But he also needed to know more about him, like the things he did at school. And, he needed to discuss a few things with his daughter at the same time.
'There is no safer place in this entire world than on my side.'
Potter's words echoed within Magnus's mind.