The Burrow - January 7, 1999
Today was the day that Bill Weasley would finally finish his first 6 months of training and see if he was going to be offered an apprenticeship. The past 6 months had been some of the hardest of his life.
Every day he went into the bank and would work and study until he was exhausted. He would go home and fall in to bed, sleep, wake up in the morning and do it all again. It was a never ending routine, he didn't even have weekends off. He was ready for it all to be over, one way or another, but he wouldn't change a moment of it.
The worst part of his training was actually the time he spent at home. His mother made her opinion of his choice of career perfectly clear. His two youngest siblings were following her lead. Ron and Ginny were both being complete brats to him. Ron was always going on about how he was never going to amount to anything, while Ginny was constantly making little digs about how he was going to fail.
When he went down to breakfast it reminded him a lot of the day he had received his NEWT results. His younger siblings, other than Ron and Ginny who were once again still asleep, and his father were there to support him. His mother was standing by the table with a sanctimonious smirk. Bill knew that she was expecting him to fail, he really hoped he didn't so that he could rub it in her face.
After breakfast was finished Bill got up to leave. He was surprised when his father, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George all got up with him.
"What are you guys doing?" Bill asked.
"We're going with you for moral support." Arthur said. "Molly?"
"I have no intention of supporting this idiocy. When he has his heart broken I will be here to pick up the pieces, like usual. Then we can try and get him a job in the ministry. Though, it will be harder now, but I'm sure we can convince Albus to assist."
All the other males in the kitchen rolled their eyes and flooed to Diagon Alley. Molly was furious as they left. The only solace she had in the blatant disregard from her family was that she knew that, thanks to Severus, though she would never admit she owed him, Bill wouldn't be getting a job at the bank. Once the boys were all gone she quickly flooed Albus to let him know that they were in the Alley.
Gringotts Bank
Walking down the Alley, heading for Gringotts, Albus Dumbledore himself appeared in the crowd.
"Arthur my boy, what brings you to the Alley on this fine day? Hello boys, lemon drop?" Albus was dressed in glaring magenta robes with lime green sparkles. All the children had to work not to shield their eyes from the painful sight. They all declined the sweets.
"Hello Albus. We were just on our way to the bank to see if Bill's gotten his apprenticeship as a curse breaker. The rest of us came along to see. What are you doing here today?" Arthur was a little wary when he saw the headmaster.
"I just came to order a few new robes and pick up some more lemon drops." Albus smiled and both his eyes and robes twinkled. "If it isn't too much to ask, I think I will come with you. William always was one of our brightest Gryffindor's."
When Bill didn't reject the idea, Arthur agreed.
Walking towards the bank, Bill took everyone in through the staff entrance. He made sure to show respect to any goblin they passed, he noticed his father and brothers followed his example, but the headmaster showed nothing but contempt. Bill had learned quickly that it was a bad idea to cross a goblin.
Entering one of the side rooms they all took a seat and waited patiently for Bills training goblin, Silveraxe, to arrive. Well, the Weasley's were waiting patiently, Dumbledore wouldn't shut up. He kept asking stupid questions and assuring Bill that he would be able to get him a job at the ministry if things didn't work out. He told them that Bill might have to accept a lower position since all the higher level positions would have been filled by the students that applied as soon as they finished school.
All the Weasley's let out a silent sigh of relief when Silveraxe arrived and Dumbledore shut up. Bill formerly greeted Silveraxe and waited to hear what he had to say, he had learned quickly to only speak when spoken too.
"Well, Mr. Weasley as of yesterday you have completed your 6 months of training. Your final scores are adequate." Bill almost smiled, adequate by Silveraxe's standards was glowing praise. "I sent out your scores to our curse breaking teams, if any want to offer you an apprenticeship they were informed to be here a few minutes from now. I have a job to do so I will be leaving. If you have been offered an apprenticeship then someone will arrive soon, if not, a guard will escort you out and you can apply again next year."
With that, Silveraxe left. Bill took in a shaky breath and waited.
"Now William. I understand that it can be disappointing to not get a job, but if you aren't offered the apprenticeship don't worry, we can still make arrangements. You should know how critical goblins are of wizards, they probably wouldn't be honest about how skilled you are." Albus said in a placating voice.
Bill just looked at him blankly. It was almost like his old headmaster didn't want him to get a job.
"There's no need to worry about that, Albus." A soft voice sounded from the door. Bill looked up, he had actually expected that Professor Snape might have offered to take him as an apprentice, but this wasn't him.
The man was tall, had brown hair streaked threw with a silvery grey, and his eyes were a soft green. He had a kind smile on his face, and a calming aura.
"Remus?" Arthur smiled as he got up to greet his old friend.
"Remus, what are you doing here? We are waiting to see if a member of Gringotts curse breakers is willing to offer young William an apprenticeship." Albus's hands were smoothing down his beard.
"That's why I'm here Albus. When I saw a report that 'William Weasley' had finished basic training with such high scores I jumped at the chance to have him join my team. I figured he was one of your's Arthur, I thought you might prefer it if he was with someone you knew." Remus gave his signature gentle smile.
"Thank you, Remus." Arthur smiled at his old friend, the same friend he knew had recommended him for his job at JT. "I will admit that I was a little worried about where he would go, and who he would be working with."
"But Remus, what about your little condition." Albus said, trying to sound caring while actually sounding patronizing.
"I really don't see how that would be an issue Albus." Arthur had never liked how people treated Remus because of his being a werewolf.
"It isn't a problem here Albus. The goblins are far less prejudice than most wizards. They don't care that I'm a werewolf. I'm capable of the job and that's all that matters to them. They aren't like wizards who think that, because I was the victim of an attack as a child, I am a monster." Remus forced himself to give the old man a little smile when all he wanted to do was rip out his throat.
"Of course, of course, my dear boy. I wasn't implying that you couldn't do the job, you always were clever. But there is always the danger of the full moon." Albus didn't like where this was going.
"It's actually safer than it was when I attended Hogwarts. I don't have to hide what I am, my entire team and their families are aware. Because I'm not forced to hide they know not to follow me when I leave the night of the full moon. We've been working together for years, and none of them care." Remus grinned as he told the old man that. He would never see Albus as the kind old grandfather figure he once had. This wasn't the man that allowed him to get an education, that allowed him to make his first friends, this was the man that attacked and harmed his pack. He was the enemy.
"I don't have a problem with it." Bill added. When he thought about it he figured this was the friend that Professor Snape had said worked as a historian for the bank. He was also clearly a friend of his father.
"Well then, did you bring your things, or are you going to need to go home and pack?" Remus smiled at Bill as he asked.
"I brought all my stuff. I really hoped that I would get an apprenticeship." Bill pulled a shrunken trunk out of his pocket and showed everyone.
"Ok, good. I had built in a bit of time so that you could go and pack if you needed, but since your already ready, why don't you all go and get some ice cream and say your goodbyes. I have to talk to my boss for a little bit about where the team is going next. Just be back here by 11:30. We will be portkeying to our camp." Remus told the young man.
"Remus, my dear boy. Why don't you tell everyone a little about where your going and what your doing? I'm sure Arthur and the younger boys would like to know what is going to be happening." Albus said, clearly trying to gain more information.
"I can't do that Albus. The secrecy clauses in my contract are rather strict. The most I can say is that we are currently in North America, and we will be working on an excavation. Once Bill returns here he will be signing his apprenticeship contract and he wont be able to give any specifics either. Maybe in a few years after he finishes his apprenticeship, he might be able to negotiate weaker secrecy restrictions. I didn't see a point in wasting any of my limited influence weakening those restrictions." Remus knew that Albus wasn't going to like that answer.
"That's fine. We knew that Bill wouldn't be able to give us any specifics." Arthur told them.
Albus watched as the Weasley boys left to go and get some ice cream before Bill left. He was furious. Severus seemed to have managed to keep any of the other curse breakers from offering Bill an apprenticeship, but there was no way Lupin would listen to him. Lupin had been good friends will Arthur before the war ended.
Saying goodbye to Remus, making sure to add a little guilt over not giving him any extra information, he left.
The Burrow
Albus flooed directly to the Burrow. He knew that the only ones home were Molly and the two youngest so he didn't have to worry about anyone betraying him.
"Albus. What happened? Is Bill on his way home? Or did he go directly to the ministry to apply?" Molly was excited to see Albus.
"Unfortunately no. Bill was offered an apprenticeship. He will be leaving soon." Albus said with a sigh.
"What." She shrieked. "Snape was supposed to stop him. I bet he set it up so that I would lose my son. He has always hated anyone being happy. Now he's stolen my baby boy." Molly started to sob. She hated that Bill was leaving, he was to young to be so far away from her.
"It wasn't Severus. It was Remus Lupin that offered him the job. I placed compulsions on Remus to make him hate and distrust Severus. If Severus said not to offer Bill the job, then Remus would do it just to spite him. I didn't even know Remus was working at the bank." Albus was furious that his own plan had destroyed another one of his plans. His desire to make Remus and Severus distrust each other was the reason he had lost control of Bill.
"The werewolf." Molly stopped sobbing and started to get angry. "That isn't safe. He is to dangerous." Molly had never liked Remus. He was a nice enough man, but he was a dark creature.
"There's nothing we can do now. Since Bill has been offered the apprenticeship he will be signing a goblin contract. I have learned through the mess with losing control of Severus that goblin contracts are unbreakable. The best we can hope for is if Bill decides he doesn't like working at the bank and quits after his apprenticeship is done."
"I thought he wouldn't have the grades for it. You said that Hogwarts didn't offer the classes that he would have needed."
"I don't know. We're missing something." Albus was annoyed.
Once their conversation ended, Albus left. Molly sat at the table and fumed for a while, until Arthur came home with four of her boys.
"Everyone, good news." Arthur smiled as he came in to the kitchen. "Bill got a job as Remus's apprentice. Where are Ron and Ginny?" Looking around he didn't see their two youngest.
"Their still in bed. And as for the job, I still don't like it. He shouldn't be so far away doing such dangerous work." Molly huffed.
"Molly, enough. Bill is happy and that's what matters. It's his life, not ours. He is old enough to make his own choices. As for Ron and Ginny, they need to start getting up at a decent time. Their not babies anymore. For Merlin's sake, Ron will be starting school in just over 2 years. He needs to learn how to get up at a decent time now, before he goes to school and starts missing breakfast and his morning classes because he doesn't know how to get himself up." Arthur was getting annoyed with how much Molly babied the younger two children. She had never done that with the older boys.
Deciding it was better to leave, the boys headed to do their own things. Fred and George were working on something in their room, neither of their brothers really wanted to ask. And, Percy and Charlie still had to pack to head back to school in a few days.
Gringotts
Arriving back at the bank after saying goodbye to his father and brothers Bill went back to the meeting room where he first met Remus, he was already there.
"Sorry if I'm late Mr. Lupin." Bill didn't want to make a bad impression.
"Relax Bill, your not late. We aren't very formal on our team so I hope it's ok if I just call you Bill." Bill nodded at him. "We have about half an hour before we leave, so there are some things we need to discuss, but first you will need to sign this contract. It's just a basic apprenticeship contract. By signing this you agree to work with my team for 2 years, you will not be able to give anyone any specifics about what we are doing, or where we are doing it, you won't be able to tell anyone about anyone else on our team or living with our team. Now, since your father and I know each other, and he knows that you are working with me, you will be able to speak about me with your family, but no one else. The magic of the contract will stop you from breaking any of these rules so you don't really need to worry to much.
Now, this is not an unpaid internship, so you will be making some money, not a lot, but some. You will be earning about 7,500 galleons per year for the next two years, you will also get a share of any profit made from what we find. It's less than what a fully fledged curse breaker makes, but you are still an apprentice. There is also the fact that we will be responsible for housing and feeding you for this time, so you will be saving money there. The bank pays our travel expenses too, so you will actually be making a more than decent wage." Remus continued on explaining the finer details for a few minutes. Once Bill agreed, Remus pushed the contract towards him, and watched as he signed.
Remus smiled and let out a silent sigh of relief. He hadn't told Bill, but they had added a few extras, written in ancient gobbledygook in the fine print. It wasn't anything malicious. It just said that whenever Bill heard anyone refer to James Potter as James, or any variation of that name, the name would be replaced in Bill's mind with the appropriate variation of Sebastian Peverell. It also said that whenever Hadrian referred to his fathers as his fathers it would again be replaced with 'uncle' and the appropriate name. Remus was so glad for magic, it would allow them to keep everything secret even while living with a different person.
They still had about ten minutes before the portkey activated so Remus decided to explain everything first.
"Bill, I think there are a few things we need to cover now. There really isn't another way to say it, so I'm just going to come out and say it. One of the members of our team, and my husband, is Sirius Black."
Bill looked confused for a few seconds until he placed the name. "The mass murderer that is currently in Azkaban. The one who betrayed the Potter's"
"Yes and no. Sirius was indeed arrested and sent to Azkaban for mass murder, but he was innocent. Sirius was framed by the true traitor, Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew framed Sirius and then faked his death. He is currently alive and being hunted by select members of the DMLE. Sirius was thrown into Azkaban without receiving a trial and when it came to light a few years ago, he was questioned under veritaserum and he was able to prove his innocence. This information will be released only after Pettigrew has been caught, in order to keep the man from becoming more of a danger."
Bill blinked a few times. "Ok."
Remus smiled at him. "The other members of our team are Lord Sebastian Peverell, who you have no doubt heard of, and his, now, husband Severus Prince-Peverell, formally Snape, who I know you know."
"I was wondering if Professor Snape was involved in you being here." Bill was happy that his former professor was a part of the team, and was clearly happy, given that he was now married.
"Yes, he was originally going to offer you the apprenticeship but we didn't want that information to get back to the headmaster. He wasn't exactly pleased with Sev leaving his teaching position. I do hope you don't mind having a full house, because we also have four children living with us."
"Four children?"
"Yes. Sirius and my twin daughters Ariadne and Cassiopeia, and Sev and Sebastians daughter Kali. The girls will be two in May."
"You said four children, that's only three."
"This is another one of those surprising things. The fourth child is my and my husbands blood adopted godson. Hadrian Potter."
Again Bill just blinked a few times. Processing this information. "So what you're saying, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, our team consists of, a werewolf, an innocent suspected mass murderer, one of the most influential people in our world, my former potions professor, three toddlers, and the saviour of the wizarding world."
"Exactly." Remus just smiled at the droll look on Bill's face.
"Ok."
"We also have a few others, that have signed secrecy contracts and come to visit from time to time. That includes the Malfoy family, and the Longbottom family. We are old friends, and Hadrian is best friends with Draco and Neville.
Now, you are lucky. As of about an hour ago we have moved on to a new dig site. It's located in the mountains in Peru, near Machu Picchu."
"Why does that make me lucky? Where were you working before, if you can tell me?"
"I can tell you because you are under the secrecy contract. We were living near a dig site in British Columbia, Canada. We really didn't think that one through. It was great during the summer, but then winter came. And it came hard, and fast. When I left our tent looked like an igloo. It was completely covered in snow. The snow was a great insulator, but it's still snow, and there just aren't enough heating charms in the world that can keep you comfortable, living in a tent, in the middle of a snowbank. Although we all did enjoy the snow ball fights, sliding and skating."
"You were living in a tent, in Canada, in the winter." Bill just grinned at Remus.
Remus gave a shrug and little smile. "I said it was bad planning. But now we are going to be somewhere sunny and warm, so we'll be fine."
They talked for a few more minutes until it was time. Each of them took a hold on the rope portkey and they disappeared from Britain.
Aguas Calientes, Peru
The sun was just coming up as they arrived in Peru. It might almost be lunch time in Britain, but it wasn't even 6am in Peru. They saw Severus sitting with a rather large cup of coffee on the patio, everyone else had gone back to bed after they finished their move.
"Professor Snape. Or.. I guess it's Professor Prince-Peverell now." Bill said as he shook Severus's hand.
"No Bill, it's Severus. There is no need to be formal, you aren't my student anymore, you are a coworker." Severus made sure to stress their names. He didn't want to have to always be formal while working. He rather enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere that their team had.
When they showed Bill the room that would be his, Severus pulled out a message orb. This one was sent from Charlie to Bill. They told him the same story they had told Lucius. They suggested that Bill go into his room, cast a few silencing wards, so he could keep anything that was said a secret if he wanted to, and listen. If he wanted to talk about anything he learned, they would be out on the patio.
When Bill came out of his room he was pasty white. "She… She's not my mum."
"What?" Both Severus and Remus asked.
"Molly. She's not my mum." Bill drank back the small glass of fire whiskey Severus had had Dobby get. "According to Charlie, my dad was married to her twin brothers, Fabian and Gideon. From what they had been able to find out, Molly had drugged dad with love potions shortly after the twins were born. She got pregnant with Ron and Ginny after that. She and Dumbledore used some ancient ritual to make everyone who knew who dad was married to forget my other fathers, and remember her in their place. If dad finds out before the ritual is countered, it could kill him. He and George had searched for years, but never found out how to counter the ritual. They did it on their own, and in secret, because they didn't want to burden anyone else.
He also said that from what they were able to find out, with the help of the goblins, they found that my fathers, Fabian and Gideon, didn't die in that raid on Bones Manor like we were told. They didn't die until February 2007. Wait… That means there still alive. We need to find them. We need to…"
Remus lay a calming hand on Bill's shoulder to keep him in his seat. "We can help you with this Bill. We have access to all kinds of information about rituals that your brothers wouldn't have had. We will help to find a way to counter it. Now, as for your fathers, we will do what we can. If they are still alive it means that they were taken prisoner rather than killed. We have people that were spies within the death eaters. We can get information from them and try to locate the prison. There is time, we don't have to do everything right now, we actually can't do it all right now. We need to think things through and come up with a plan. If we go rushing in now, not knowing what's going on, we could get them, or ourselves, killed. Do you think there's any way we can get your father off those love potions."
"He already is." Bill smiled at the confused look the other men had. "His financial advisor made him get a check before he signed the financial documents. That was when he found out about the potions. He now gets checked every month. He's also started casting nullifiers at all the food and drinks mum gives him, and has been taking potions to block the ones she's been giving him. He just didn't want her to know, as a precaution. I noticed he was acting different a few months ago and asked him. He told me he was just staying with her for us, as far as he's concerned their marriage is over. He told me he was trying to see if he really ever loved her, but he didn't think so. Now we know why they were together."
"So Arthur knows some of what she's been doing to him and is protected?" Severus asked.
Bill nodded. They went over the information that Bill had gotten and started to make plans.
Aguas Calientes, Peru - March 17, 1999
James, Severus, Sirius, and Remus were watching Hadrian in fear. Ever since they had first met him Hadrian had had some odd emotions. He would be extremely clingy just to pull away. He would spend nights in his own bed, just to have weeks of nightmares where he would barely sleep. Edward Brown had said that it was normal for abused children to have these issues. But these issues weren't normal anymore.
For the past few months Hadrian had been having magical and emotional outburst. The emotional they could handle, but it was the magical that was frightening them. They were terrified that he would hurt himself or someone else. Bill had even used his mage sight to look during one of the outbursts and said that Hadrian was straining his core, if it kept up, he would rupture it.
They didn't know what had caused todays outburst, he had just been sitting and playing with his sisters when he had suddenly gotten up and run away from everyone. Bill was working with one of the other teams for a few hours so he wasn't there. Hadrian always tried to make sure that he was no where near his sisters or family when he felt one of the outbursts coming.
Standing on the side of the mountain where they had their tent set up, Hadrian's magic formed a tempest around him. Rocks, sticks, and large bubbles of water swirled around him. They could all feel the heat pouring off him. The trees around him were starting to shudder and move towards him as well as smoulder. If they didn't get this stopped to soon they thought the trees would be destroyed, if the heat didn't just light the area on fire.
When his magic manifested around him Hadrian started to scream and cry. The adults all tried to get near him, tried to comfort him, but nothing was working. Everything started to swirl faster, and then… It stopped. Everything froze in place, not even the men could move a muscle. They could only watch as a tiny old woman walked towards their son.
The woman leaned down and spoke a few soft words to the crying child. Her voice was both quiet and loud, but none of the men could make out a single word. When she stood up she was a pretty little girl, about the same size as Hadrian. She took Hadrian's hand and led him to the patio attached to the tent. The men followed.
When they sat down the woman had once again changed. She was now a beautiful young woman. With a wave of her hand there was a full tea service set on the table, and the girls were sitting on their fathers laps. They all wanted to ask questions, but they couldn't get any words out.
"Hello." The woman's voice, still loud and quiet, was soft and lyrical.
"W…W…Who are you?" Severus managed to stutter out. Wrapping his arms around Kali, who had been placed on his lap.
"I have had many names. The one I most prefer is Rhian. But I am more commonly referred to as Mother Magic." She gave them a devious smile.
"You're Mother Magic. I thought your name was Hecate?" Remus was never one to pass up new knowledge.
"A slight misconception. Hecate was the name of one of my favoured daughters. When she was refer to in writing she was referred to as 'Hecate, who's mother is magic', over time it was mistranslated to 'Hecate, mother magic'. When you live as long as those like I do, it's the little things that seem to make the biggest changes. Like a pebble dropped in a pond, something small creates large ripples."
"But… What are you doing here? Why come to us?" James couldn't take his eyes of Hadrian. The boy was sitting calmly in the chair next to him, his face blank and his eyes unfocused.
"I came to fix a mistake my siblings made, and also to request your help." Rhian took a sip of her tea, it was just how she liked it, but since she was the one who summoned it, it was expected.
"What mistake? How can we help you, aren't you a goddess?" James was confused.
"I'm not a goddess, per se. These outburst young Hadrian has been having. My foolish siblings failed to take the emotional aspect into consideration when they sent him back. Our kind don't experience emotions like your kind do, so… It is to be expected. Hadrian had lived for over a decade with absolutely no emotions. During that time he bore witness to more atrocities than you can even imagine. When he came back, he suddenly had emotions again. The sudden influx of emotions would cause the echo from his past life to amplify. There was also the way they blurred his memory. They only blocked the conscious memories, not the emotional. His memories will return as he grows older, but so will the emotions. He has been experiencing the emotions he would have felt in his past life, when he was a child living in an abusive home. His magic has been reacting to the emotions of an abused child, but since he is in no physical danger, his magic doesn't know what to do. So it just forms up around him as a shield.
Right now, his mind is reordering so that he will feel those emotions differently. I do not want to make him completely forget, that time was what made him as strong as he was, but I don't want him to have to feel them. Now he will know what happened, but the emotions will only be a faint echo, like a sad story he heard. The spark within him has just made his reactions to extreme."
The adults just stared at her as she sipped her tea and smiled again. Eventually Remus managed to focus on something.
"What spark?"
"My kind made an agreement not to interfere with your kind, but that wasn't always the case. There was a time when we could come and go from your dimension without issue. While visiting many of us had children. Most of those children were unlike us, but a few shared what we called, a spark. The spark, was magic like ours. If you were to look far enough back in Hadrian's ancestry, you would find an Ancient. It is why those of his blood line have always been so powerful, it is also why both he and you, James, are still alive."
"What do you mean, why we are still alive?" James was scared.
"If you look at those delightful little inheritance tests you all had done you will see that the two of you bare the same curse, 'may you live in interesting times'. You would, undoubtedly see that it was placed by my brother, Time. He didn't just place it on you recently.
You see, one of your ancestors was a part of the team that helped to create those interesting little time turners. My brother can be a bit… Territorial. He hates when anyone messes with his domain, so he decided to curse the bloodlines of those that had meddled with him. It was Destiny that suggested that he use that particular curse. He agreed with her because it would provide her with some entertainment and she would leave him alone. The curse has wiped out the bloodlines of all of the others, but your bloodline is still going. The spark of Ancient magic within you has soften the purpose of the curse from complete destruction to… Complications. It is why every member of your family has had such an interesting life. Without the spark, the curse would have simply wiped your family out, it may have taken awhile, but none of you would be here now. On a brighter note, I have spoken to Time and he has agreed to end the curse for all future children of your family. There is nothing I can do for your son, but your daughter will have a normal life… Or as normal a life as she can have in a family like this."
They all chuckled lightly. There was no denying that James and Hadrian did manage to find themselves in the oddest of situations, bringing anyone around them with them.
"I feel better."
They all looked to see that Hadrian's focus had returned and he was a happy, smiling little boy again.
"As you should. You won't have to worry about those nightmares and horrible feelings anymore." Rhian smiled at him and Hadrian smiled back.
"Now that that's settled, what is it that you wanted from us?" James asked. He reached out and pulled his son into his lap, hugging him close.
"As I said, we are forbidden from interfering too much, so, since I'm already here, I figured I would explain a few things to you, and you can make your own choices from there.
The olde magical religions developed for a purpose. That purpose was to strengthen and soothe magic, it also helps to bring in fresh magic. As Britain has stopped practicing the olde ways their magic has changed. Your society is falling. That fall will hurt us all. This fall is what has led to the problems within your society. Magic, like all things, needs balance, light and dark. Like with nature, to much rain and you get floods, not enough and you get a drought.
It is why you have self-proclaimed lords of magic. A true Lord of Magic serves as a conduit between your dimension and ours, they funnel magic to the people. But there isn't enough magic on your side to support one. It is a give and take. We give you our magic and you give us yours. Nothing dangerous. The Samhain ritual for instance connects you to my brother, Death. The barriers between your world and his is at their weakest that night. The ritual is simple. You enter a runic circle, a bowl filled with purified water sits on a pedestal in the middle, all involved in the ritual add 13 drops of blood to the bowl, go and sit around the outside of the runic circle and meditate. If it is done correctly it will allow your soul to visit the realm of the dead and greet your ancestors. When midnight strikes the barriers will go back up, and your soul is returned to your body, refreshed and renewed. There is no danger, only peace.
It is rituals like that that allow us to directly give you our magic. Without those rituals your magic is dying. If you look closely, you will see, all over the world there are true lords of magic in each major magical area, but not Britain. If a true lord was born there now, they would not survive the draining. Your people are starved for fresh magic. You have just been using the same magic over and over again. For each new magical child, another magic user must die. The young receive the magic of the old. But each new generation is growing weaker as the magic fails.
When the rituals are practiced it feeds us all. If we are all well fed, a true Lord of Magic may rise. The true Lord then funnels magic between our people, and we are well fed, which will give rise to stronger rituals, and so on. When magic is handled properly it is self-renewing."
"So… Magic is dying in Britain?" Sirius was for once, serious.
"Yes." Rhian's look was one of great sadness.
"Then we just start practicing the rituals." Hadrian didn't see why the adults were making this seem so hard, it was a simple thing.
"Hadrian, it's not that simple. Most, if not all of those rituals have been made illegal. It could take decades to change that," Remus told him.
"Just show them how it's making them weak. No one wants to be weak. Can I go play now?" When none of the adults said anything he decided that was as good as an agreement and went inside to grab his broom.
Rhian started to chuckle. "Not everything needs to be a big complicated plan. Simple can work best more often than not. I would encourage you to get Hadrian to start practicing the rituals. It often helps to calm the magic of growing children." Once done, Rhian simply disappeared, tea cups and all.
The men just kept looking at each other. Remus went to bring his tea up to sip, only to find the tea service was gone and his hand was empty.
"I blame you for this." Severus said as he looked at James.
"What did I do?" James asked indignantly.
"It was your ancestor that made Time angry enough to curse your bloodline." Sirius said, giving James a sidelong look.
"Ok. So. We have a crazy fake Dark Lord to get rid of, a controlling fake Light Lord to deal with, and now we need to save magic. Sev's right. This is your fault James." Remus summed things up.
James just huffed at his so-called friends.
Aguas Calientes, Peru - May 2, 1999
Severus was slow to wake. He slowly cracked one of his eyes open and yawned. The day before had been Beltane.
They had decided, since the visit by Rhian, that they would start to practice the olde rituals. Beltane had seemed like a good place to start. The Malfoy's and the Longbottom's had come to visit. It had also been Lyra's second birthday so they were going to have a party anyway.
The day had been spend decorating everything with bright colours and flowers, much to Severus's disgust. Neville had loved the planting that they did to celebrate the fertility of the earth. Everyone had danced and had fun for the rest of the day.
Once it was dark enough, Bill had helped Sirius and Frank set up the bonfire. The kids had all crashed well before midnight, but the adults had stayed up for a while. With each new thing they did, every seed they planted, every time they danced, all the fun they had, they had felt magic growing thicker in the air. By the time the kids had gone to bed the magic was almost palpable. The adults that had their animigus stayed up most of the night because it was a full moon. Moony had left by mid-evening and the others had gone with him to keep him distracted and entertained. Sitting up, Severus found himself feeling great. He was surprised by this, especially given all the fun they had had the day before and how late they had all stayed up. His mind felt clearer than it ever had. Like everything was perfectly lined up.
Slipping out of bed, Severus grabbed his potion books and went to eat breakfast on the patio. This would be the best time to work on his werewolf issue. Regulus had stayed true to his word and searched the Black library for information on werewolves. He had sent over a dozen books that Severus had found interesting.
They all said something similar. The original werewolves were not rabid beasts, they were mostly human, just, faster, stronger, had better intuition, lived longer, and could turn into wolves. Sometime before 1000BC they changed and became like the beasts they were known as today.
Going over the information once again, he noticed a passage that he had overlooked the first time, seeing it only as a made up story. This time he decided to read it more in-depth.
It told of two warring tribes. One tribe was mainly human, while the other had a large population of werewolves. Due to the wolves strength, they were winning the war. One of the stronger magic users in the human tribe had used a ritual to summon an enemy of the wolves from a far off land. The enemy was described as being small, the size of a cat or fox, with long fingers it used to grasp things. The most recognizable description of it was that its fur formed a mask over its eyes and had a ringed tail. A raccoon.
The creature was feral. It was said to be extremely aggressive towards any who came near it. It avoided all water, and it's muscles contracted at odd intervals making it struggle to walk.
That night, one of the soldiers had snuck into the other tribes territory and released the creature. Over the next few weeks, a few of the humans in the tribe died from some strange illness. The humans would lose their mind and become excessively violent before they died. The biggest change was in the wolves. Most of them were completely fine in their human form, but on the night of the full moon, when they changed, they were rabid beasts. Those that weren't infected tried to protect the humans, but they were quickly infected. The humans that had survived the illness were slaughtered by the wolves. It was all for naught, the other tribe that had hoped to gain the land was also slaughtered by the wolves, only a few managed to escape by boat. After that, the wolves fled the area and spread the disease to others.
Severus smiled, he knew what had happened. The creature that had been summoned must have been a raccoon from North America that was infected with rabies. The racoon had then infected the local werewolves, who then went out and infected others. While most people and animals that become infected with rabies, and weren't given treatment, usually died rather quickly, their magic was most likely sustaining them. If he could find a way to treat the inner wolf, he might be able to return the wolves to the peaceful state they once were.
Grabbing his potions journal, Severus started flipping through to find a blank page where he could write down some ideas. While he was writing Bill came out to join him. Bill had stayed at the camp the night before because he was still working on his animigus form. He had learned that his form was a lion, but he hadn't managed the full transformation.
When Severus explained his issue with getting a potion into the wolves Bill sat back to think. The main problem was that the potion needed to be given to the wolf, but rabies cause a fear of liquids and made it difficult for them to swallow. There was no way they were going to be able to get close enough to a fully transformed werewolf and force a potion down their throat.
Bill smiled. "What if you used a pill."
"A pill?" Severus may have grown up in a muggle home, but he didn't really understand how a pill could be useful in this.
"My dad was talking to me about some of the ideas they've been considering at JT. One of the things they had considered was trying to make potions in pill form. It was so that people could avoid the horrible taste. Many of those muggle pills are advertised as being time delay. If you can make the cure in a time delay pill form, the wizard takes the pill an hour or so before they transform, the pill would release the potion after they were transformed. The potion would get into the wolves system, without you having to do anything."
Severus thought for a minute. "That would work."
Severus and Bill got to work going over what they would need. Other than Severus, Bill was the best at potions on their team so whenever Severus needed a sounding board for his potions ideas he would talk to Bill. He was proud of how much Bill knew. He knew he hadn't taught him during his last two years, but he was still proud of his former student.
Just as Severus was putting the final touches on his basic outline of the potion he would use, the other adults made their way back into camp. Severus was surprised to see Remus smiling. He was usually exhausted and sore after a full moon.
"Remus? What's with the smile?" Bill asked.
"I feel good." Remus's voice was a mix of shock and joy. "I've never felt this good after a full moon. I think it had something to do with the rituals we did yesterday. I think the residual magic helped to soothe my body. What evil plan are you two grinning about over there."
Severus and Bill explained what Sev had figured out, and what they thought they could do about it. Remus was so shocked he couldn't speak, tears started forming in his eyes. This could save his life, and the life of so many others. Being a werewolf was incredibly painful, and that didn't even take into account the suffering that came when most of the rest of the wizarding world labeled you a beast and saw you as unworthy of freedom. This potion had the potential to end all that. Severus reminded him that it was only a theory, but Remus told him they would test that theory on May 30th, the next full moon.
While Everyone had been talking Hadrian, Neville, and Draco had all gotten up. They were all excited, Neville in particular, when they saw that the seeds they had planted had sprouted. They weren't just seedlings, they had planted flower and fruit bushes, and all were in the beginning stages of blooming. When the girls got up, they ran after the boys as the boys showed them what they had all helped to create.
Aguas Calientes, Peru - May 30, 1999
It was the night that they were going to test Severus's attempt at a werewolf cure. He had spent a few hours everyday since the first time he considered it going over and over everything. It had been decided to use a magical gel to encase the potion. It would allow them to know the exact amount of time it would take for the potion to be released.
Severus had made and remade the potion at least once a day, changing little things, just to change them back to how he had originally had them. He would admit that he was starting to lose it. All the others just watched him with concern. They had learned not to try and talk to him about it after Sirius had tried and been hit with a dozen different curses in a matter of seconds.
Given the size and weight of Remus it would take 7 potion filled capsules to treat him. Half an hour before the moon rose, Remus took the pills while all the others watched. The kids all wished him good luck before Narcissa, Frank and Alice took them inside for the night.
All the other men had managed their animigus forms, Bill finally completing his transformation only a few days before, and would be going with Remus. Lucius was a hawk, Severus was a black panther, Bill a lion, Sirius a dog, and James a stag. Other than Lucius, they were all large animals and could keep Moony under control if they needed to.
When the moon rose, they all watched as Remus changed. It was always awful for them to see how painful it was. Seeing their friend in such agony was horrible.
Half an hour after Moony shifted, the wand alarm Severus had set went off. They all turned to look at Moony. At first nothing happened, but then, Moony let out a low whine and sank down until he was laying on the ground. His breath was coming in shallow gasps.
It took a few minutes, but then they saw changes taking place. The feral amber eyes gained focus and intelligence, he looked at them all and they could see recognition. The misshapen body took on the build of an overgrown wolf. His fur became smoother, and the bald patches filled in.
When it was all done, and Moony stood back up, they were looking at a large, majestic wolf. It took a slight step forward before letting out a happy bark and started jumping around in excitement.
Lucius the hawk shook his head as he watched a wolf, a lion, a panther, a dog, and a stag, jump around, from the top of one of the trees. He was happy for Remus too, but he had no intention of looking like a fool. He had every intention of using this memory for blackmail if he ever needed to.
The night was spent playing. When the sun was coming up, they watched as Moony shifted back. He showed no sign of pain, and told them there hadn't been any. Remus shifted back and forth a few times, there was no pain and he kept complete control.
They were all happy, they would just have to wait and see next month.
Wizengamot - June 7, 1999
James was standing and talking with Frank and Gerald Greengrass when they all saw Albus come into the session. The man was practically stomping. Albus was still furious.
The month before Frank had reassigned the Longbottom seats, and the Hufflepuff seats to the neutral section. Both Lucius and Narcissa did the same. James had decided that he was going to keep his known seats unaligned, but he assigned the Black seats and the Ravenclaw seats neutral.
All those seats going neutral had caused the neutrals to have control. Albus had lost his Chief Warlock position to Gerald. The man had been having a month long fit ever since, and it was clear it was still going strong. He wasn't the only one, many of the other light lords and ladies were angry too. James felt that there were still far to many that were blindly loyal to the old man.
When the meeting started it was the same as usual. James knew that Albus had managed to cause as much damage as he had because he added a few different lines in to larger bills. Most didn't read the bills in their entirety because they were so long, so the little things passed by unnoticed. But James didn't have to read the laws on his own.
After the bank had been attacked in the future, the goblins hadn't had as much to do, so they had started reviewing the laws for Hadrian. They hi-lighted these small little things and connected them to form the larger picture. The little one liners had formed the bases of all anti creature laws.
James, Lucius, Narcissa, and now, Frank, were using the information provided to call these laws up for review and having those sections removed. They were systematically dismantling all of Albus's work, and nothing could make them happier.
After a few hours of getting rid of some of the stupider old laws Gerald called everyones attention.
"And now, a new motion has been put forward by the Light Faction. This motion is to remove the historical classification of the Temple of the Moon on Morning Dew Alley so that it can be redeveloped. I am now opening the floor to debate. Lord Dumbledore, as your party is putting forward the motion I open the floor to you first."
Dumbledore put on his most grandfatherly look as he rose.
"My fellow Lords and Ladies. We feel that this 'temple' only encourages gullible children away from what is good in our world. It teaches out of date lessons that only hinder our world. We can not allow for the continued corruption of our society. Lord Peverell?"
James signalled his wish to speak. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Lord Dumbledore, but it sounds as if you are suggesting that the olde religions are bad?"
Albus inhaled deeply, oh how he hated this man. "Well, you must understand the dangers that they pose to the younger generations. They lure people in, by the time they realize what is going on, it is too late. They often promote the practice of necromancy."
"Lord Dumbledore, you must forgive me, but do you even understand the rituals involved in the olde religions? I can only assume your reference to necromantic rituals are the rituals preformed on Samhain." James really questioned this mans intelligence.
"Of course I know of the olde religions. And yes, everyone knows the dangers of the Samhain rituals, they risk malevolent spirits entering our world. Necromancy is one of the most dangerous branches of dark magic."
"It is true that necromancy is true black magic, and can be extremely dangerous, but I don't see what that has to do with the Samhain rituals. Now, I do understand that due to the lack of proper education on the olde religions in this country, there is a startling amount of ignorance on the subject. The Samhain ritual isn't dark, it isn't necromancy, and it isn't dangerous. The vail between our world and the next is at its weakest on that night. By properly preforming the ritual, your soul is able to pass through the vail to visit the souls of your ancestors for a few hours. How is that dangerous?
It allows a person to commune with those they have loved and lost. How is that evil? Our ancestors are there, on the other side of the vail. Our friends and family that we have loved and lost are right there, and for a few short hours we can feel them again. How is that wrong?"
"It's blood magic. That branch of magic is banned in this country. I do hope you aren't taking part in any of those rituals, they are illegal you know?" Albus gave him a sanctimonious smile.
"I must admit, I was surprised that blood magic was illegal here. It is a shame that this body has allowed the people of this nation to suffer due to their ignorance." More than a few people started to grumble at this. "I understand, no one likes to be called ignorant, but the actions of this body prove they have been in the past, all we can do is hope that that changes.
How many people here have lost a family member or friend to dragon-pox." James watched as over half of the people raised their hands. "Did you know that there is a cure for dragon-pox?" He heard the shouted denials. "Yes, there is. It was developed in Australia, 15 years ago. The reason your loved ones never received it is because the potion requires one ounce of blood from the patient. That is classified as blood magic, so it is forbidden in this country. Do you understand that, people are dying of a curable disease because of the laws this body made? The 10 strongest healing potions and spells, are classified as blood or dark magic. Think about that next time a member of your family falls ill.
And as for the rituals being illegal. That is only here. I work internationally, so I am usually out of the country. And I can tell you, every other country allows or encourages the practice of the rituals. Because they want their population to grow and be strong."
"What do the rituals have to do with a growing population?" James heard the question shouted out from the neutral section, though he didn't see who it was.
"Simple. The rituals refresh magic." James was so happy that they had been researching magical rituals. "I was actually planning on bringing this subject up during the next meeting, but we can do it now, you will just have to forgive me, I only have about half of my research here."
He handed over a large file of information, that he had originally intended to give to Gerald, to one of the support staff to copy and hand out before he continued.
"If you look at the average magical strength of the populations around the world you will see that our country ranks at the bottom, not near the bottom, at the very bottom. Now, I know correlation does not imply causation, but here is what I have found. Every other country's population and magical strength is stable or growing, except for here. Our magical population is both shrinking and weakening, we are the only one doing that in the world. We are also the only country in the world that bans the practice of the olde ways, but only for certain things. Life debts, unbreakable vows, marriage contracts, all of these are part of the olde ways, but for some reason they were allowed to stay while most of the practices have been banned.
Look around this room, really look. Do you see all the empty seats? Those are magical families that have been lost to this world."
"Many of those families were killed off in the past wars." Albus said, his voice trembled slightly with anger. What did this man think he was doing? He didn't want those rituals returned. "You can not say they were killed off by lack of rituals."
"They are not gone." James said with a smile. He heard people once again denying what he said. "If you look at the base magic of this room, you will find that it is tied to the families blood. If those families were truly gone, the chairs would have disappeared. If you look, you will see a few empty places where chairs used to be. Those families are sadly, truly gone, never to return. All the empty chairs mark a family that still exists."
"Then where are they?" It was Gerbot Ollivander that asked this time.
"If you look into their history you will find a record of squibs being born. Now, when a squib is born, many families will historically, leave them in the muggle world. Now, I understand that squibs can not inherit, but they still carry the blood. In that file you will find a study that was conducted in China about 20 years ago. They tested over 5000, of what we call muggleborns, and what they found was very interesting. Every single one of them proved to actually be squib born. You see, when two squib lines meet there is a 50/50 chance of a magical child. That is where the heirs are. They are the children that we throw away, they are the ones we overlook.
As for what that has to do with the rituals. I will again point out, the rituals refresh magic. So, as to the motion to allow for the tearing down of the Temple of the Moon, I will be voting against it. I am also making a motion to strip away the laws that ban the practice of the rituals associated with the olde ways."
Chaos erupted as James retook his seat. Those in the dark and neutral seemed to be supportive while those in the light were acting as if he was the second coming of Voldemort. When he started to hear shouts that he was trying to get people killed, that the rituals were dangerous and often times lethal, he once again stood up.
"These rituals are in no way lethal. I will tell you this. In all my research, I have not come across the case of a single person losing their life to one of these rituals. If you believe they are so dangerous, than prove it. I have provided evidence to support my claims. If you want to be taken seriously than you will need more than just fanciful rumours that were just made up. Provide the evidence and I will listen, until then, we should not be limiting our population due to the small mindedness of certain people."
The arguing continued for over an hour. James just sat back and enjoyed watching those on the light side practically frothing at the mouth in anger, but they were unable to provide any proof to their claims.
One of the other unaligned lords just looked at James. "Well you certainly know how to create chaos." James just smirked at him.
When Gerald finally managed to regain control he called for the votes. The vote for the destruction of the Temple of the Moon failed epically. The vote to allow the return of the rituals was a little closer, but it still passed. James was happy as he walked out of the Wizengamot.
Hogwarts, School Board Meeting Room - June 9, 1999
James and Alice walked into the latest school board meeting. James hated the fact that the school board meetings and the Wizengamot meetings were so close together. There wasn't enough time for him to recover from the repeated exposure to such high level idiots.
When Albus came in, James could see that he was even angrier than he had been at the Wizengamot meeting. Molly and Ted stood to either side, both were glaring in his direction.
As they sat down and started the meeting, James was slightly relieved. The past few board meetings had passed relatively easily, and this one didn't seem to be much different. James was actually surprised at just how many of the governors wanted to add extra classes to the curriculum. Albus seemed to have decided to sit back and wait.
James knew this subdued version of the headmaster wasn't going to last. He was just playing possum. Once he gathered his strength back, he would start changing things back to the way he wanted.
During the last meeting they had managed to get some muggle subjects approved. Starting next year the students would be able to take english, the class focused on literature as well as the appropriate way to structure and format written work. They would also be able to choose different languages they wished to learn, this was made easier by spells that could allow a person to learn entire languages in a few months without difficulty. There was also going to be physical education, there was a direct connection between the fitness of the body with magical stamina. All of these classes would be available from first year on, but, like the comparative religion course, it was up to the students and their families if they wanted to take them.
This meeting, they discussed bringing back warding, spell crafting, and alchemy. In the end, they were all approved. Alchemy would be an option from third year on, but the students would be required to have a EE grade or higher in potions to get in. Spell crafting would b available starting fifth year, but they would need an EE in arithmancy and ancient runes and a basic understanding of latin was suggested. Warding would also be available starting in fifth year, but the students would be required to pass a magical strength test to take part in the active casting portion of the class, attempting to cast a ward if you didn't have the appropriate amount of power could be dangerous.
They also discussed the difficulties Albus was having hiring staff to cover all the new positions. Albus just said that many people didn't want to work at the school because they had spouses and children that they didn't want to have to leave for the entire school year. James just smiled and explained that there had been cabins built on the Hogwarts grounds for that exact reason.
The cabins were on the other side of the Black Lake and hidden under wards to keep the students from going in them. The goblins would be able to get them ready for habitation and each teacher that had families and children could stay there. They would just hook the floos up so that the teachers could floo directly into their offices at the school every day.
Albus started to plan different ways he could use the cabins to turn a profit until James brought out the guidelines to gain access. Only a staff member that had children would be able to live in any of the cabins.
The real drama started after the meeting was closed.
"Alice." Molly's shrill voice broke through James's good mood. "You need to talk to Frank. He aligned your seats with the dark."
"No, he didn't, he aligned my seats with the neutral faction, he did so at my request." Alice told her calmly. She and James both noticed that they were drawing a crowd looking for some good gossip.
"Why would you do something like that? I thought you were a light witch?" Molly was horrified that she might have allowed her precious Ronnie and Ginny to spend time with a child that had a dark parent.
"No, Molly. I'm a light witch, not dark. I chose to align with the neutral party because I have been finding the views of the light to be too extremist. I fought in the last war against extremism. I do not want to have to do that again." Alice said in a bland voice.
"Surely you understand how dangerous dark magic is."
"I understand how dangerous black magic is. But not all dark magic is black. As Sebastian pointed out in the last Wizengamot meeting, the top healing potions and spells are classified as blood magic, which is considered to be dark magic. Just look at what the light has done to Remus."
"We haven't done anything to Remus."
"Yes, the light has. Remus risked his life everyday during the last war, like many others. He did everything he could to help our side, but he was abandoned as soon as the war ended. All those people that promised they would be there for each other turned their backs on him in a heart beat because they no longer needed him, and he was a dark creature. Many of those restrictions that came in that made it almost impossible for him to get a job in this country came in after the war ended. He fought for us, and our side turned their backs on him, what does that say about us if we so easily turn on our allies. He deserved better." With that, Alice linked her arm with James's and they left.
Albus sent Molly and Ted home rather than meet with them in his office, he didn't think he would have the patients to not curse Molly if she started screaming about things again. He had just had enough, he was going to need to sit back and plan a new approach.