Headmaster's Office
Like had happened in his first year, Hadrian had once again received a note requesting he come up to the headmasters office just as the feast was finishing.
And, once again, he went up to where Flitwick and his papa were. But this time, his Uncle Sirius came with them when they went up to the office.
Up in his office, Albus paced. He needed to regain control of the boy. He believed that he had finally found a way to regain control, and he needed the boy for that.
When the death of his brother was announced, Albus had managed to spin it expertly. He had played the roll of loving brother that had done everything in his power to try and keep his little brother on the path of the light after the deaths of their parents. Although he made sure that no one knew that his father had died in Azkaban and his mother had been killed in a burst of accidental magic from his sister. To the public, he was a loving and supportive big brother, that continued to care for his brother even when he did bad things.
With the good press once again, he was sure he could get the public on his side to fix the dark creatures law. The attack on the Sea Cliff Home had come at the perfect time for him. The only way it could have been any better was if at least one of the children had been turned or killed.
Albus already had plans to challenge the changes that Sebastian had made to werewolf rights. They had proven themselves to be nothing more than disgusting, violent animals.
Once he showed that Sebastian had risked the lives of children, he was sure the public would turn against him. Without the support of the public, the man would fall. Albus would then be able to bring up all the different laws that he had made or changed. With Sebastian being proven to have bad judgment, he was sure that he could get them overturned.
If he had Harry at his side, it would go even quicker. By turning Harry away from the man, it would show the public that even his heir didn't trust him.
Albus had already collected the paperwork needed to declare a Lord unfit to lead a family. If Harry challenged Sebastians right to lead the Peverell family, Albus was sure he would be able to sway the Wizengamot to vote in favour of the boy. Harry would then be able to take the lordship, and Albus knew that he would be able to convince the brat to declare him his proxy. That would give him his power back, and it would also allow him to become Chief Warlock again.
Minerva arrived and told him that she had just seen the brat picking up the note that he had sent. She went to stand by his desk.
Having her their reminded him about what she had told him during the feast. Albus was once again annoyed that the brat had avoided his pawns. And, the fact that he spent so much time with the Weasley twins was concerning. Those boys were just more trouble then they were worth. The brat shouldn't be friends with anyone like those boys.
When the brat finally arrived, Albus was excited. Then he saw that not only had Fillius and Severus come, but so had Sirius. This was a set back, but he was sure he could make it work.
"Ah, hello my boy. Lemon drop?" Albus smiled as he made his eyes twinkle as Hadrian took a seat.
"No, thank you headmaster." Hadrian took his usual chair with Flitwick to his left. His papa and Uncle Sirius were leaning against the wall to either side of where he sat.
"What is this about headmaster?" Fillius asked. He knew that the headmaster was far to interested in his student, so he knew he wasn't going to like what was coming.
"It has been brought to my attention that you are in need of a re-sort." Albus twinkled extra hard as minerva turned to grab the hat. It had been enchanted to put the boy into Gryffindor immediately.
"No I'm not." Hadrian gave a quizzical look, although he had known this was coming. "I am perfectly happy in Ravenclaw, and I have no intention of being re-sorted."
"Now, my boy, I'm sure you are just fine, but a formal request for a re-sort has been filed, so there is no choice, it will be carried out." Albus said as Minerva started to make her way over to where the brat sat.
"And just who filed that request Albus." Severus growled as he cast a shield over Hadrian so that the hat couldn't touch him. "Hadrian clearly didn't file one. And I know neither Sebastian or I filed one. What about you Sirius? Do you know who might have filed that request?"
"Nope. Neither Remus nor I would ever file something like that without letting the rest of you know." Sirius smiled. "We all know that Hadrian is happy where he is, we would never try to force him to switch houses."
"Get that shield off the boy." Minerva snarled at Severus as she tried in vain to try and force the hat past the shield to reach the boys head a foot below.
"No." Severus said blandly. "Hadrian has said he does not want to be re-sorted. And none of his guardians filed for a re-sort. Therefore, Hadrian is not being re-sorted."
"That is enough." Filius snapped as he brought out his wand and sent the sorting hat back to its pedestal. "There will be no re-sort tonight. As none of his family filed a request, and Hadrian has said no, then the answer is no.
I will remind you both, for a re-sort to be valid, all heads of house must be present. Even if the hat had re-sorted him, it would be completely invalid. Now, I am taking my student back to his house."
Filius got up and escorted Hadrian out of the office, but both Severus and Sirius remained behind.
"Just what did you two think you were going to accomplish?" Severus snarled as he stalked forward.
"Don't you speak to us like that Severus Snape." Minerva snarled back. "Harry needs to be re-sorted. And he will be."
"No. And my name is Prince-Peverell, but then again it is obvious that you struggle with remembering names." Severus said, forcing himself to remain calm. "Hadrian has said no, so the answer is no.
Besides, he doesn't need to be re-sorted. He is happy in his house. He gets top grades, has lots of friends, and isn't being bullied or getting into trouble. There is no need for him to change houses."
"He is in the wrong house and you know it." Minerva said. "Isn't that right Sirius. You know that James and Lily would want him to be in Gryffindor."
"Lily maybe, she always was a judgmental person, but James would love Hadrian just as he is." Sirius said. "I still don't know why James even married Evans. Sure, he had a crush on her when he was younger, but then he got to know her. James used to say that Lily was the worst representation of what a muggleborn was. She was a rude, judgmental, prejudicial, little know it all that thought she knew better than those that had grown up in this world.
I know for a fact that James wouldn't care which house Hadrian was in, because he used to tell me that when Hadrian was a baby. All he wanted was his son to be happy, like any good parent would.
Hadrian is a Ravenclaw, and he will remain a Ravenclaw until he decides to change. I will not let anyone try and force him into changing."
With all that said, Sirius walked out of the office.
"Who does he think he is?" Minerva huffed.
"He is Hadrian's god father. He is acting like a god father should and protecting Hadrian from people that clearly don't care about what he wants." Severus said, smirking slightly as Albus and Minerva both jumped slightly, they clearly had forgotten that he was there.
"We just want what is best for the boy Severus. Surely you can see that he needs to be a Gryffindor." Albus tried to regain some of the control he had lost over Severus. "This war isn't over, and he needs to be ready for when Voldemort returns."
"If, and I do mean if, that man returns than it has nothing to do with Hadrian." Severus said. "He is a child, not an auror. Only those that are pathetically weak would rely on a child to fight their battles for them.
Now, I have a house meeting to get to. But I will remind you two of something. You are both still on probation. There are proper procedures that you are both required to follow in regards to re-sorts. And, if you attempt to force Hadrian to switch houses like that again I will personally file a complaint with the board and request that you both are fired for the emotional abuse of a child."
Severus turned and left the office, cloak billowing.
Hogwarts, Headmasters Office - September 2, 2003
After having breakfast at the Leaky Cauldron, although it was nothing like she was used to making, Molly flooed to Albus's office. She had spent most of the night trying to think of all the ways that Albus could fix Arthur.
"Albus, Albus, are you here?" Molly called as she walked into the office.
Albus looked up at the woman's annoying voice. He had been having a calm morning going over some of his ICW paperwork.
"What can I do for you Molly?"
"It's Arthur." Molly broke down in sobs.
Albus was confused once again. What could have happened now? "What has happened? I thought you were going to talk to Charlie, what does that have to do with Arthur?"
"That's it. I sat Charlie down and was working on convincing him to get together with Nymphadora. I had almost gotten him to agree when Arthur just snapped.
He started yelling at me and calling me a terrible mother. He is kicking me out. I have a week to get my things out of the house. He says he's going to be filing for divorce by the end of October. Where am I going to go?"
"Why the wait?"
"He says that he is going to find a lawyer and get everything in order before filing. He says he doesn't want to do anything that will upset the children. Albus, you need to fix him. Make him come back to me. Surely you know some kind of spell that will give me back my husband?"
Albus really didn't understand this woman. Their marriage had been in name only for years, and she hadn't tried to change that, now she was acting broken hearted because he wanted a divorce.
"Calm down Molly dear. Just give me a moment, there is something that I need to check. I will be right back."
Molly sat alone in the office and cried for about five minutes before Albus flooed back in.
When Albus came back, he had everything worked out. Despite Molly acting like they needed Arthur, Albus knew that the man was a liability rather than an asset. He needed to go.
When Arthur filed for divorce, he would discover the truth, and then he would die. And that was something Albus could accept. He really didn't need the man.
To ensure that, Albus was going to make Molly believe that he could fix everything, and then just let her believe that Arthur had discovered the truth before he could get everything set.
Albus had gone to his cottage in Godric's Hollow. He was going to have Molly move into the cottage for the few months it would take for Arthur to die, then she could move back into The Burrow. The best part of this plan was that when Arthur died, so would Fabian and Gideon. That would give him and Molly access to the Prewett money and properties. Up until the return of the twins, Molly's Aunt Muriel had maintained control. Although Molly would have primary control, Albus knew that it would be easy to make Molly give him most of the money.
James's body was still in the basement under spells to keep it from decomposing, you never knew when you would need to have access to the body of a dead Lord. So he had just sealed the basement off completely, leaving no trace that it even existed.
"Thank you for waiting for me Molly dear." Albus gave her a kind smile. "It will take me a while to get everything together to fix Arthur, so I have opened a little cottage that I own in Godric's Hollow. You can stay there while I work everything out."
"Thank you so much Albus." Molly sighed. She had known that Albus would know what to do.
"There is no need to thank me Molly dear. I would request a bit of a favour from you if you wouldn't mind?"
"Of course Albus, anything."
"As I'm sure you know, my brother was recently killed when his pub burned down. Aberforth never did look after his things properly." Albus put on a sad face. "The clauses in the insurance he had on the place make it so that the only way to get the pay out is if the pub is rebuilt.
I personally don't want to own a pub, so I was thinking about maybe making it a pub and restaurant. My old friend Dedalus Diggle has offered to help me get it built, and run it since I don't have the time, but I was wondering if you would help. I have looked over Dedalus's ideas, and I think it needs a woman's touch."
"I would love to help, Albus." Molly gushed. She really would like that.
It would allow her to be in Hogsmeade a lot, so she would be able to watch over her Ronnie whenever he came in on a Hogsmeade weekend. Molly knew that she would be able to make this restaurant the best one in the country.
A few minutes later, after Albus gave her a little more information on what he wanted from the restaurant, Molly flooed to the cottage he had arranged for her.
Department of Mysteries
It was just after lunch that Regulus finally had what he needed. He was exhausted, and starving, but he had finally done it. He had found the counter to the ritual that had been used on Arthur, Fabian, and Gideon.
Now, all he had to do was get permission from Unspeakable Chronos to inform the others of what he needed them to do. It was easy enough to do, but then came the hard part. Getting everything ready.
The ritual itself was actually fairly easy, but the prep-work for it wasn't. He was going to need three different potions, that would all take over a month to brew, they were difficult potions that needed down to the second steps, and required extremely rare ingredients. The ritual also needed to be preformed in a magically neutral area. Regulus figured that the goblins would have a room that would work for what they needed. The ritual also needed to be preformed under a full moon.
Regulus figured, that if they could get all the ingredients for the potions, and everything else was timed right so they wouldn't need to restart anything at any point, they could preform the ritual during the full moon on October 10.
After getting permission to tell the others, Regulus flooed home.
Wizengamot Chambers - September 8, 2003
Albus was, for once in a long time, excited as he made his way into the Wizengamot chambers. He had everything ready, and all his people knew what they were to do. Sebastian Peverell was going to fall from grace today.
Taking his seat, Albus glanced over towards where he knew Sebastian would be sitting. The man was right where Albus had expected he would be, but he wasn't alone. Both Amelia Bones and Gerald Greengrass were speaking with him, Gerald in particular looked extremely happy.
Only a few minutes later, Gerald called the session to order. After going over the minutes from the last session, Gerald made an announcement. "And now, there are some new proxies that have been assigned."
To Albus's horror, he watched as Sebastian stood up.
"Indeed Chief Warlock." James grinned wolfishly. "I have the honour of announcing that I have been selected as the proxy for the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Slytherin." The entire hall broke down in chaos. This meant that every single house of the Hogwarts founders was active. There was also the fact that Voldemort himself had claimed that the seat was his, although he had never come into the chamber to take his seat. "I have also been selected as proxy to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of LeFey." At this, the few members that had remained calm started to freak out. "As per the instructions of the Lord of both houses, the seats will be assigned to the Neutral party."
It took several minutes of Gerald constantly banging his gavel to regain some semblance of calm. "So noted Lord Peverell. Magic has accepted the assignment of the seats."
But, before Gerald could move them on to the next topic, a voice shouted out from the back of the light section. "That is the seat of You-Know-Who. He is a supporter of that monster."
James stood up, making sure that those in the press section had a good view of him. "I assume that the seat you are referring to is the Slytherin one. I can assure you, that man is not, and has never been the Lord of Slytherin house.
Just because some mad man once made a claim, does not make it true. I could claim that trees are made of marshmallow fluff, and as much fun as that might be, it does not make it true.
Yes, the man who called himself Lord Voldemort did indeed claim that he was the heir to Salazar Slytherin, but you might have noticed that he never provided any proof.
According to the immaculate records that are kept by the goblins, on November 24, 1963, a man named Tom Marvolo Riddle, under the alias, Lord Voldemort, did attempt to claim the Slytherin Lordship. He was unsuccessful. The family magics tested him, and found him unworthy of the title."
Once again the chamber broke down in a chaos of shouting. Those in the dark that had served the man were furious that James was publicly insulting their master. The neutrals wanted to know more about Tom Marvolo Riddle. While many in the light were still accusing him of being in league with Voldemort.
It took another 10 minutes for Gerald to once again regain order. Rather than tolerating their bickering, Gerald pushed forward with the itinerary. They went over a few basic proposals, before the light had calmed down and was ready to move.
It was Lady Griselda Marchbanks that spoke first. "Chief Warlock, I feel that we must address and reverse the normalization of werewolves. As we all know by now, on August 12, the Sea Cliff House was attacked by a pack of rabid wolves.
The normalization of werewolves was due to the use of a potion that would allow them to be in control, it is clear the potion is failing. If the potion does not work, and the wolves are once again attacking children, I feel we have no choice but to reverse the changes that this body has made, and acknowledge that although it was done with good intentions, those that supported it were wrong."
Hearing all that, Amelia nodded to Gerald, signalling her desire to speak. Edgar had retaken his place as Lord of House Bones, so Amelia served only in her position as head of the DMLE. Although she could only vote on anything that was directly connected to law enforcement, she could still give proper context to what had happened.
"It seems Madam Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement wishes to speak." Gerald announced.
"Thank you Chief Warlock. I feel that it is my duty to provide context to what Lady Marchbanks just said.
Yes, it is true that on August 12, a pack of 16 rogue werewolves did attack the Sea Cliff House, but the rest of that statement is incorrect.
No child was attacked that night. This is thanks to other werewolves. You see, many other werewolves saw or heard some unsettling things, and they sought help from my department. Because of the reports that we received, we knew well in advance of the attack.
The children were quietly moved out of the house, and sent on vacation out of the country at the private manor of a member of this body. At no point were any of the children in danger. Once the children were gone, a trap was set up.
It is because of the changes in the laws that we received the reports in time. Back when my department was forced to practically hunt them, none of them would have reported what they were seeing and hearing out of fear of what would happen to them. Since the werewolf community has started to feel safe reaching out to law enforcement, those children were saved, and the attack failed.
All 16 of the attackers are now in Azkaban, as we all know, given the fact that we sentenced them only two weeks ago.
16 wolves, not the entire population of wolves. We should not fall back into the habit of judging a group based off of the actions of it's worst members. There are witches and wizards that kill, but we are not judged off of their actions. It is a double standard to do so to others.
Also, the potion did not fail. The pack that attacked was that of Fenrir Greyback, a well known murderer. Greyback forbid every member of his pack from taking the potion. When taken, the potion works perfectly, but you can not expect a potion to work if it has never been taken.
I feel that we need to look at what happened that day as a good thing. Because we are showing kindness and compassion to those of another race we were able to stop an attack and save the lives of innocent children. And that would not have been possible under the old laws."
Amelia took her seat after that.
"With that in mind, I call a vote on the overturning of werewolf rights and normalization within our society. All in favour?" Gerald looked around, he knew immediately the vote would fail. "All opposed?" Gerald smiled as he saw the voting board show the clear winner. "Opposition has majority. The rights of werewolves will not be overturned. The normalization of the status of werewolves stands."
Albus was stunned. It had failed. And not even because of anything Sebastian had done, but because of Amelia Bones. She had just completely destroyed everything he had planned.
What was supposed to happen was that the werewolf rights were to be overturned. That would then be used as a basis to overturn other rights that had been given to dark creatures, as those that had proposed the bills had been shown to have faulty judgement.
But no, Amelia just couldn't keep her mouth shut. Now Albus was stuck. He couldn't call the other laws into question unless there was another attack.
After the meeting ended, James got up and was on his way out when he was bombarded with questions both by his fellow Wizengamot members and reporters. Everyone wanted to know who the Lords Slytherin and LeFey were, and if they were Voldemort.
James just laughed, promising that Voldemort was not the lord of either house. He explained that he currently didn't have permission to disclose who the Lord was, but he would let them know when he had permission.
Then questions turned to Tom Marvolo Riddle. James gave the reporters a sad look.
"I can't tell you if evil is born or made, but I do believe that the boy that monster once was, never stood a chance. If you want to know more about him, then I would recommend you do your own research.
He grew up at a place called Wool's Orphanage in London. He was born December 31, 1926 to Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr.. I will warn you, it is a tragic tale, both for him and the rest of us."
James walked away after that, answering no more questions.
The Burrow - September 19, 2003
After finishing up their classes on the third Friday since school started, the five Weasley children at Hogwarts flooed home. They had been told they were going home for the weekend weeks before.
Percy, Fred, and George were excited. Charlie had used Remus's contact mirror to call Hadrian and had him let him speak to his brothers. When he started with telling them that Arthur had finally reached his limit and kicked Molly out. They had all cheered quietly, although they still had the same fears as Charlie had had when Arthur had first said he was filing for divorce.
It had been Percy that asked what it had been that had finally been to much for their dad. When Charlie had explained about Molly's threatening to disown him because he was dating Oliver, he had gotten the response of blind fury from his three younger brothers. That woman had no right to treat their brother like that.
After calming his brothers down, he gave them the best news they thought they would ever hear, Regulus had found the counter-ritual.
All three boys shouted out in joy, cheering as they hugged each other, they were getting their dads back. Luckily all three of them took warding, so they were hidden and silenced so no one would notice their joy.
Now, they were home. Ron and Ginny with them.
Ron was excited to be home again, school had gotten so hard. He had chosen to take four electives this year, and there was just so much work involved. The classes he had decided to take were alchemy, care of magical creatures, arithmancy and ancient runes. Other than care, everything was just so hard.
In alchemy, they hadn't even gotten to go into the lab yet, and the professor, Prof. Zarno, had said that they wouldn't be doing anything practical until after christmas. Ron had been annoyed with that, it was supposed to be a fun class, but it was just more book learning. Ancient runes and arithmancy were awful, all it was was symbols and math, and he was supposed to make sense of it all. The only reason he stayed in the class was because they were required to take them if he wanted to get into spell crafting in fifth year. The only half way decent class was care. At least in care they got to do something other than just read, although there was still a lot of books in that class to. And they hadn't even gotten to see anything more interesting than a crup. Plus, Prof. Kettleburn, was a crazy old man that was missing plenty of body parts including an eye, half an arm, and part of his leg.
With all the extra classes, he had so much homework, especially when it was added to what he was doing in his other classes. Ron really hated just how much work he was expected to do. But at least he was home for the weekend and could relax.
Ginny was happy to be home, but she was also sad that she wouldn't be able to spend the weekend with Harry. Over the past three weeks she had repeatedly tried to get close to him, but so far, they had missed each other.
She had barely even managed to start to punish Luna for trying to steal her Harry. So far, she had gotten a few more people calling her Loony, but many had stopped again because they kept getting detention. She herself had had to spend last weekend in detention because she had 'accidentally' dropped a container of dragon dung fertilizer over the freak, it hadn't even been worth it because Prof. Gisborn, the second year herbology teacher, had managed to pull her wand and stop any from getting on Loony.
Arriving in the kitchen, Molly and Arthur directed the children to sit at the table. Percy, Fred, and George sat next to each other on one side of the table. Ron and Ginny both whined, they wanted to go to their rooms.
"We have an announcement to make." Arthur said in a soft voice. Over the past three weeks he had worked through a lot of how he felt about everything that had happened, and he knew what he needed to do.
"What now?" Ron whined. He just hoped there wasn't some new lost member of the family coming out of nowhere to make his life harder.
"After a great deal of thought… You're mother and I have decided that we are separating." Arthur broke the news. Molly had told him that he would be doing it since she wasn't going to look like the bad guy to her babies when she had done nothing wrong, in her opinion.
Percy, Fred, and George just nodded in agreement.
Ron, for what might have been the first time in his life, took a moment to think before he reacted. If his parents separated then it meant he got twice the allowance, twice the presents, and two rooms. That seemed like a good deal for him.
Ginny started to whine immediately. "But I don't want you to split up."
Arthur decided to try and cut her off before she really got going. "Well, I'm sorry Ginny, but this isn't up to you. It is already done. I will be filing for divorce next month. We love you sweetheart, but we can not be together anymore."
"But I want you to be, so you will be." Ginny said in a demanding voice. Like she would be able to get what she wanted just by saying it.
"Don't worry baby girl." Molly crooned to her daughter. "Everything will be fine. I am looking for a new home for us already. The place I'm staying right now only has one spare room, but it will all work out, I'm sure."
Ginny just huffed and glared at her mum. She didn't want them to separate. She didn't like it when anyone made a major decision like this without talking about it with her.
Arthur was surprised by just how well the kids were taking it. He had known how his older boys would handle it, but he had expected a lot worse from the youngest two.
"So, you're all ok?" Arthur asked.
"Of course." Percy said, speaking for himself and the twins. "We honestly have been expecting this for a while. Given everything we have learned over the years we know a lot more about what's going on than anyone would expect."
"And just what's that supposed to mean?" Molly demanded, looking towards Percy.
"You lived in a house with seven children, five of whom were and are, rather inquisitive. And, let's just say, you aren't as good at hiding your potions as you think you are. The older kids have all known about that for years. I mean, I think the twins had everything figured out before they even started their first year." Percy said, the twins nodded their agreement.
"What are you talking about?" Ron asked his brother.
"Don't worry about it Ron." Arthur said. "It doesn't have any real affect on your life. It's just about some issues your mum and I have had for the past few years."
Molly was furious. They had known. Now she knew just why the older children were so disrespectful, they thought they knew what was going on. Really, they didn't. They were just kids. Those potions were the best thing that had ever happened to this family.
There was a soft knock on the door and Fabian and Gideon walked in carrying take out from a muggle Chinese place that they had found.
"We brought dinner." Fabian announced.
"Everything ok here?" Gideon asked.
"Everything is just fine." Arthur smiled at his friends. "Ohhh, did you get any of those dumplings I love. Really, who knew that yak could taste so good?"
Fabian and Gideon just laughed at their friend.
When Molly was getting ready to leave was when things got dramatic. Molly had at first tried to convince Arthur that she should stay the weekend while the kids were there, but Arthur had refused. He didn't want to start backing down even slightly. Their marriage was over, and he would never let her back in the house again.
Then, after that little fight, that had been held just outside the backdoor in the garden, was over, both Ron and Ginny wanted to go and spend the weekend with Molly. They were both sure that since she was no longer with their father that they would be able to make her get them all the things he had denied them.
But Molly had told them that there was only one extra bed at her place. Both Ron and Ginny had had complete meltdowns. They both wanted to go with her so that they could get what they wanted first.
After a half an hour argument, Arthur had had enough. The children would stay at The Burrow until a schedule could be worked out. Since neither could agree which one would get to go first, then it would be up to him and Molly. He and Molly would work out a custody agreement for when they came home for Yule.
Molly had been furious that Arthur had said that the kids would stay with him, but at the same time she was glad. There really wasn't room for them at her place. The cottage that she was in was clearly only meant for one. And, none of the kids things were there, and there wasn't any room for them. She was just happy that Albus was working on fixing Arthur. Soon enough she would be back at The Burrow with her babies and her loving husband.
Gringotts, Ritual Room - October 10, 2003
Arthur, Fabian, and Gideon were all extremely confused. Everyone was acting extremely weird.
Earlier today, Charlie had come to them at work and asked them to take the rest of the week off and go to the bank with him. Of course, they had done what he asked, even though it confused them. When they arrived at the bank they saw Bill, Regulus, and Marlene.
The three men had been sent to purification baths and then made to dress in purified ritual robes. Whenever they started to question what was happening, Bill or Charlie would just ask them to trust them. And, of course, they did.
Hours of meditating later, Severus arrived with large caldrons of potion. The three confused men were made to drink vials of different, awful tasting, potions. Their questions falling on deaf ears.
Eventually, just before midnight, they were led into a large stone ritual chamber. All manor of runes were freshly painted on the floor in one of the potions. The three men were led to the stone slab in the centre of the room. Deciding if they had already gone this far they should finish, they all got up on the table, Arthur being placed in the middle of the twins.
Once they were on the table they were soaked in one of the other potions, just as Regulus, Bill, and one of the goblins started to chant in different languages.
The room got both extremely hot and cold at the same time. The different languages blurred together as the three men started to pant in exertion. They all felt like they had been running for hours rather than laying on a stone table. When the ritual reached its peak, the third potion was aerosolized and sprayed on the men.
Just outside the room, Charlie and Marlene waited with Cora. Both Marlene and Cora had chosen to be there because they were both healers. Since Marlene had been trapped in the hospital ward for months while she had been recovering, she had used that time to recertify as a general healer. She had even returned to temporary duty at the beginning of the summer, although now she was going to have to go off on maternity leave when the baby was born next year. Severus had had to get back to the school before anyone noticed he had left.
While Cora was in the process of trying to keep Charlie calm, a process that included offering to knock him out, which Charlie was considering, the others came out of the room. They were all exhausted, covered in sweat, and smelled strongly of potions.
"They're sleeping now." Bill said with a voice rough from the ritual.
Cora and Marlene both quickly rushed into the room. Each running their own scans as they went. Checking their own scans, they then both traded results and checked each others work. After conferring with each other, they smiled at the men still standing in the door way.
"They are just fine. A little dehydrated, but fine." Marlene told their sons. Both boys visibly relaxed at that.
"Now, you three need to get to the cleansing rooms. You wreak of potions and it would not be good for those particular potions to seep through your skin." Cora said, directing the two men and her husband to the same bathing chamber that had been used earlier.
Charlie just stayed in the doorway, watching his fathers sleeping, hoping that everything was going to work out.
The Burrow - October 11, 2003
After Bill and Regulus had finished bathing, it had been decided for everyone to go home. Regulus and Marlene helped Charlie and Bill to get their fathers home and tucked into Fabian's bed, after they had enlarged it.
Marlene had already started to remember Arthur marrying Fabian and Gideon, so they knew the ritual had worked.
Bill and Charlie barely slept at all that night, each took turns watching over their fathers to see if anything changed. After the sun had risen, Bill and Charlie decided that they needed to keep themselves busy, so they went into the kitchen to let their fathers sleep unwatched for a little while.
Charlie got to work making a full english breakfast, with all the sides. He just needed to keep his hands busy.
Bill pulled out some of the paperwork that he needed to get done so that his team could move on to the next section of the tomb complex they were working on. His entire team had the next two weeks off while he did the paperwork, so Bill wasn't even missing work to be there with his family.
The best part for them was that their memories were also returning. Since they had both been older, they had plenty of different memories of growing up with their fathers. They knew Percy would have a few memories too, but the ones they really felt sorry for were the twins. They had only been toddlers when their fathers were taken from them, so they had been to young to form any real memories of their fathers.
While Bill and Charlie were in the kitchen, Arthur was in the bedroom, slowly blinking his eyes against the light as he woke up. He could feel his heart sluggishly pounding his blood through his veins. His brain felt like mush. Every bone and muscle in his body ached.
Slowly he tried to force himself to sit up, but his body refused to follow his directions. Hearing a soft groan from beside him when he moved, Arthur turned his head from side to side. Gideon was on his left, while Fabian was on the right.
That confused Arthur. Normally, Fabian preferred the left and Gideon took the right.
Then he wondered about the boys. The twins weren't sleeping through the night yet, so he was wondering why he hadn't been woken up earlier.
Then he remembered. The twins were at Hogwarts.
Molly. He had never married Molly, he had married Fabian and Gideon. How could he have forgotten that?
Then Arthurs mind started to race. He had been forced to forget his husbands. He had been drugged with love potions. He had two other children.
Arthur was so caught up in his spiralling thoughts he didn't even notice that he had started gasping for air. His chest hurt, like his heart was encased in ice.
Fabian and Gideon both came to consciousness when they heard Arthur gasping for breath. It was far to early to be up in their opinion. They both went to reach out for him, but they were reaching in the wrong direction. Arthur was usually to Fabian's right, and Gideon's left.
Forcing themselves to sit up slightly, they looked around and saw that they were on the wrong sides of the bed. Rolling the other way than they were used to, they snuggled Arthur between them.
Then, like Arthur, their minds caught up with them.
Husband. Arthur was their husband. Those five older boys were their's. Their sister had stolen their lives from them, their husband and children.
Burrowing closer to each other, they let themselves grieve for all the time they lost.
Eventually, the three men forced themselves out of bed. Still keeping each other close. They could hear voices and movement in the kitchen.
Slowly making their way out of the room, they saw Bill and Charlie sitting down to breakfast.
The five adult men all started to tear up when they saw each other. They finally had each other back.
Bill and Charlie both quickly got up and ran to their fathers for a group hug. They were a proper family again.
The hug lasted for over 5 minutes before Charlie directed his fathers to the table and he and Bill dished them up some much needed food.
"What happened?" Arthur asked.
"How long have you known we were your fathers?" Fabian asked.
"What did that ritual do?" Gideon asked.
"What about your younger brothers, do they know?" Arthur asked.
"Whoa." Charlie said as he held up his hands. "Bill knew about this first, so I'll let him tell you."
The three men all turned to Bill.
"For me, it all really started when Remus brought me with him for my apprenticeship. He and the others had gotten access to a memory orb that was addressed to me. The orb originated in the time chamber in the DOM and was from 20 years in the future. And yes, I know just how insane that sounds.
The orb, and others like it, were sent back in an attempt to stop two different wars that were going to happen. According to what they had learned, Voldemort was supposed to come back at the end of the next school year. There would be a war, that he would eventually lose, but a lot of people were going to die, including Fred.
After that, it would get worse. In retaliation for what happened everything even classified as dark would be exterminated. I had apparently been attacked by Fenrir Greyback, so they had come for my family. Both my wife and I were killed. Dad, you were also killed trying to help us. The only member of my family that survived was my infant daughter. Hadrian helped to rescue her and got her to Charlie and George who got her out of the country.
That was when Hadrian and his allies decided to try to change things. Hadrian was working in the DOM at the time, and he decided to use what he knew to send the information back in time in the hopes that we could change the future. Charlie and George both sent orbs back for us, explaining what they had learned.
When I first started with Remus and his team, they gave me the orb that Charlie had sent for me. It explained about what had happened to you, and that you, Fabian and Gideon, were our other fathers, and that Molly had used a blood adoption on us to make us hers. Originally, you both were going to die in 2007 in that prison, but clearly, we changed that.
We have been working ever since then to change things. I explained everything to Charlie and Percy a few years ago. Fred and George knew even before them, they had had their own orb that George had sent back to them.
I have my orb with me now, so after you finish your breakfast, you can watch it."
His fathers just stared at Bill as he finished. Although it was a completely insane story, Bill had sounded and looked completely honest the entire time. When they looked to Charlie, he just nodded to them.
"So why didn't you just tell us?" Arthur finally asked a few minutes later after he had managed to find his voice.
"Because we couldn't." Charlie said as he looked between his fathers. "We weren't exactly sure what that ritual did. We didn't want to risk that it would force you to tell anyone any secrets. Molly would have loved to get her hands on information from the future."
"There is also the fact that the ritual that had been used on you was what is referred to as self-cleaning." Bill explained. "That means, that if any of the three of you learned about the ritual before we had been able to remove it, it would have killed all three of you."
The three of them were stunned. Their children had spent years working on saving them. And they couldn't be more proud of them.
"So who else knows about all this?" Gideon asked just as he was finishing his food.
"Well…" Charlie hesitated slightly. "You know everyone that was at the end of summer party?" When they nodded at him, Charlie continued. "All of them."
"All of them?" Fabian was slightly stunned that so many had known.
"Yup." Bill said. "Well, many of them had also gotten orbs, and those that hadn't have been actively involved in helping us. We actually only managed to find the counter ritual last month because of a combination of Regulus's work, and Marlene's memory.
She had remembered seeing Molly with a ritual book years ago, and described it to Regulus. Regulus found the book from her description and spent the entire night, and half of the next day searching until he found the ritual, and it's counter."
"So other than showing us the orb, that's everything?" Arthur asked in a delicate voice. This all really was overwhelming.
"One more thing." Bill smiled at his shell shocked fathers. "The man you know as Sebastian Peverell is actually not Sebastian Peverell."
"What?" Fabian and Gideon asked at the same time.
"Well… To put it simply, Lily Evans pulled her own version of a Molly." Charlie said, giving his fathers a sarcastic smile.
"Pulled a Molly?" Arthur asked, actually chuckling slightly despite everything he had just learned.
"James Potter never married Lily Evans. He really married Severus." Bill explained. "Hadrian is actually the son of James and Severus.
After James and Hadrian were kidnapped, Severus was spelled to hate James, though they don't think that the person that spelled Sev knew that he was Hadrian's father. James's memories were altered, and he was given love potions keyed to Evans.
Just before Voldemort attacked, Evans once again kidnapped James, leaving Hadrian alone in the house with two golems. James was kept in a coma, like the two of you, for years.
Sev and Remus learned all of this when the orbs arrived, and they set about saving their husbands.
Sebastian Peverell is an identity and glamour created by the goblins to hide and protect James Potter."
That was it. It might not even be 10 am, but Arthur got up and poured himself, and his husbands, a shot of fire whiskey. Fabian and Gideon took the shots gratefully.
Bill and Charlie just smiled at their fathers. They had spent hours the night before ensuring the house was clear of any monitoring spells, they had found more than a few, and then they had covered the house in secrecy and security wards. Because of that they knew that no one would ever know what they had discussed without their permission. Not that they ever thought their fathers would betray them.
After watching the memory orb, and hearing the message Charlie had sent back, Arthur, Fabian, and Gideon once again poured themselves shots. Their entire world had just shifted on it's axis.
So much had changed, and now they needed to decide what to do about it.
Fabian and Gideon had a quick and silent conversation about what to do about their little sister, while Bill and Charlie were talking to Arthur. Percy, Fred, and George had Hadrian's mirror, so they were going to call the mirror that Charlie had borrowed from Remus in a few hours, after they finished their lunch.
Making a decision about what to do with Molly, Fabian and Gideon both stood up and walked a little ways away from the table. Turning, they faced one another and clasped each others forearms.
"I, Fabian George Weasley-Prewett, co-lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Prewett, do call upon Magic.
I disown Molly Ginevra Prewett from the House of Prewett due to the betrayal of the Family and dishonouring the Family name.
May the magic of our ancestors judge her actions and pass judgement upon her motivations. If found unworthy, may the Family Magics be stripped from her. May she forever be barred from further besmirching the Families good name.
So mote it be."
"I, Gideon Fredrick Weasley-Prewett, co-lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Prewett, do call upon Magic.
I disown Molly Ginevra Prewett from the House of Prewett due to the betrayal of the Family and dishonouring the Family name.
May the magic of our ancestors judge her actions and pass judgement upon her motivations. If found unworthy, may the Family Magics be stripped from her. May she forever be barred from further besmirching the Families good name.
So mote it be."
Arthur, Bill, and Charlie all felt as the Prewett magic within them all shifted and judged Molly's actions. Then, with a swift shock, they felt as the magic ripped itself from her.
The reason that Arthur had felt the Prewett family magic was because when he had married the twins, he had gone with a full bonding. A regular marriage was just that, marriage. It was really just in name only. Using the olde magical bonding meant that a person was being brought into the family, and it bound the families magic to them.
"That was an edited version of a disownment." Arthur said, his voice confused. "We couldn't do the full one." Gideon said.
"If we had, then the family magic would have also punished Ron and Ginny." Fabian said as he walked over to Arthur to wrap his arms around him.
"And we wouldn't do that to you or them. It isn't fair to punish them for her actions." Gideon added as he joined his brother and husband in a hug.
Arthur gently wiped away the few tears that had formed in his eyes. Turning, Arthur gently kissed Fabian, before turning and kissing Gideon. It had been so long since they had last kissed, and they got a little caught up.
"Ummm." Bill said as he grabbed his paperwork off the table. "I have to go and deliver this to the bank. So… I'm just gonna go do that."
"And, I'm gonna… Help." Charlie added, following his older brother. "We'll just leave you three to… Get reacquainted."
Fabian and Gideon winked at their sons as they left. When Arthur went to say something, or call them back, Fabian quickly distracted him with a kiss that was then swiftly followed by another kiss from Gideon.
Taking Arthurs hands, the twins started to lead their husband back towards the bedrooms.
Without them noticing, the floo flared green and an elderly woman stepped through elegantly.
"Honestly you three, you are not teenagers anymore." Came a strict voice that reminded all three of the men of a school teacher.
"Hello Aunt Muriel." Fabian and Gideon sighed at the same time.
"Well hello to you too." She gave them both a look, making them feel like they were still little boys that she had caught doing something wrong.
"We were just…" Arthur started, but stopped. He wasn't about to tell a woman that was well over 100, and had known him since he was a toddler that he was going to go and have wild, passionate sex with her great nephews.
"Ohh, I think I know exactly what you were about to do." Muriel had to force herself not to smile. It wouldn't do to ruin her reputation as a strict old woman. "But, now you are going to invite an old lady to tea, and you are going to explain why I just felt you call upon the family magics. Your shenanigans can wait until I have gotten answers."
"Yes Aunt Muriel." Fabian and Gideon responded on instinct. Hanging their heads slightly, they glumly walked over to the table.
"What sort of tea can I get you Muriel?" Arthur asked. "I think we only have regular black tea."
"Don't worry yourself Arthur. I brought my own leaves." Muriel pulled out a small little bag of her favourite jasmine tea leaves.
Arthur nodded and just brought a kettle of boiled water and four tea cups to the table. The room was silent as Muriel steeped and served the tea. They all knew better than to break Muriels rule about disrupting the steeping of tea.
After all the cups had been served, Muriel looked to her great nephews. "Well, what has happened? I seem to remember history in two ways. So who is it that will be explaining that to me? And, who will explain the family magics?"
Fabian and Gideon looked to each other. After a silent battle, Gideon had to answer.
"It would seem that Molly used an ancient ritual to force Fabian and I to forget that we married Arthur, and that the elder five boys are our sons. The boys discovered what happened to us, and they have spent the past years working on finding a way to counter the ritual. Which, they managed last night."
"That girl." Muriel growled. She was so disappointed in Molly, that girl had always wanted what she didn't have. "I should have expected her to do something like that after your father caught her trying to drug Arthur just before your wedding."
"What?" Both twins and Arthur said at the same time.
"Yes." Muriel sighed. "Your father caught her brewing love potions just before the wedding. He, of course, put a stop to it. From that point on, he and your mother always made sure to keep a close eye on her whenever the three of you were around. I guess without them there to stop her, she finally did it.
And the calling of family magics?"
This time Fabian was forced to speak. "We could not accept what she had done. Using a ritual like that on her own family, and using love, submission, loyalty, and control potions on our husband for years, and even blood adopting our children and claiming them as her own was just too much to be tolerated.
We called upon the family magics to judge her actions and the motivation behind them, and she was judged as unworthy of bing a member of the Prewett family.
She is, as of now, Molly Ginevra No Name."
"I agree with your actions." Muriel sighed. It was never easy when a member of a family was disowned, but she really didn't see any other option. "That didn't feel like any regular disownment though?"
"That is because it wasn't. If it were a normal disownment then Molly's children would have been disowned with her." Gideon said.
"In spite of what Molly has done, Ronald and Ginevra do not deserve to be punished for it. Through everything, they are family, and we will not disown them until, or, unless, they prove themselves to be unworthy." Fabian added as he took Arthurs hand.
Muriel nodded thoughtfully. "I must agree. There is still hope for those two, I hope. Molly has never let me spend much time with them. I can only assume that she didn't want me to notice anything untoward.
Now that that woman is gone, I expect to get to spend more time with my great great nephews and niece."
'Of course Muriel." Arthur said happily. "I must apologize. Molly had always told me that you didn't like children, so we shouldn't bother you with the children. Even after I was cleared of the potions a few years ago, it never occurred to me to question that."
"Do not worry my dear boy. The only one responsible for Molly's actions is Molly. You bear no blame." Muriel smiled, she always had liked Arthur. "I must ask, where is she?" Muriel looked around, but she saw no sign of Molly anywhere in the house.
"I kicked her out at the beginning of September." Arthur said. "I had actually been in the process of finding a lawyer and filing for divorce, I guess I won't need to do that now, since we were never married."
"Good, you must always be wary of involving lawyers." Muriel had never liked lawyers. "But what did she do that finally made you kick her out now, if you discovered the potions years ago, what could be worse than that?"
"She threatened Charlie." Fabian growled.
"What?" Muriels voice could only be described as a snarl.
"She wanted Charlie to marry the daughter of one of her friends, but Charlie didn't like the girl and was dating an old friend of his from school, Oliver Wood. She threatened to force him to marry the girl using an absolute contract, with Charlie in the position of 'wife'. When that didn't work because both He and I refused to sign the contract, she threatened to fully disown him.
I made it perfectly clear that I would always choose my son over her and that she was no longer welcome in this house." Arthur explained, his voice still holding the fury he had felt.
"How dare she threaten to disown a member of this family. Not only does she not have the right, she does not have the ability." Muriel made up her mind, she would never speak of Molly again, that girl no longer existed to her. "Oliver Wood you say, there is a Lacy Wood in my book club, her son is named Mathew, and her two grandchildren are Owen and Magda."
"Oliver is the son of Owen Wood." Arthur said.
"Hmmm. So he is a boy from a good family, good for Charlie." The matchmaking wheels had already started to turn in Muriels head. She had always loved matchmaking. "Well, I must be off, I'm supposed to have tea with my old friend, Edwina MacMillan."
Muriel left after that, leaving the three men alone once again. Fabian quickly moved forward, closing and locking the floo, while Gideon did the same to the door. They then both grabbed Arthur and started pulling him towards the bedroom. Fully intending to pick up where they had been before they had been interrupted.
A few hours later, Percy and the twins called. They were excited that they were actually finally able to call their fathers, their fathers. Since it was Saturday, they had the rest of the day off to talk to their fathers.
All three of their fathers made sure that they talked about everything that had happened, wanting to make sure that the boys really were ok with everything. At their age, emotional trauma could have longterm effects. The boys just reassured them that they agreed with every decision they had made.
After all this time, the boys couldn't believe that they really had their fathers back. It had taken them years, but they all agreed it was worth it. They just wished that they could be together.
Happily, the next weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend, so they were all going to get together then.
After hanging up the mirror phone, Fabian turned to Arthur.
"What's bothering you Artie?"
"It's Ron and Ginny. And don't call me Artie."
"What about Ron and Ginny?" Gideon asked softly.
"I think we all know what the chances are that I, as a natural barer, could have gotten Molly pregnant even once, let alone twice, in two years." Arthur sighed.
"We know." Fabian understood what Arthur was getting at. He wasn't Ron and Ginny's birth father.
"She must have used a blood adoption to make them mine since the Weasley family magics have acknowledged them." Arthur was trying to work out how he felt.
"Does that change anything?" Gideon asked.
"No." Arthur said immediately. "I… I really don't care who their birth father was, what matters is that they are mine now. And, in spite of everything, in spite of all the trouble I have with them, and what Molly has done, I love them.
I just worry about you."
"What about us?" Gideon asked.
"Arthur." Fabian stepped forward and took his husbands hands. "It doesn't matter to us. They are your children, whether it is by birth or adoption, they are yours. It has been you raising them, not that other person, they are yours in every way that matters."
"We would never do anything to change that. Or try to separate them from you." Gideon reassured
Godric's Hollow
When Molly woke up that morning, she started on her regular routine. She made her breakfast and then ate it. Once she did the dishes, she would go over and start working on the plans for the restaurant.
In truth, she hated it. She hated that she had to even pretend to do work. There was just so much involved with setting up a restaurant. She needed to talk to different builders and look over different materials. She had to talk to different suppliers and furnishers. Then there was all the inspections by the ministry. Really, who cared if you used one type of wood or another, it was all just wood. And everyone kept getting angry at her when she made changes.
The only thing that kept her going was the knowledge that soon enough, Albus would have fixed Arthur, and she could go home. Then she wouldn't have to worry about any of this stuff. Sure, she would continue to help Albus, but it wouldn't be like this.
The entire morning had been off though. Something was missing.
It was just after 10, when she was once again reworking the blueprints that she felt it. Molly collapsed to the floor screaming as she felt the Prewett family magics examine her and then rip themselves from her.
Forcing herself off the floor, Molly made her way back to her room and crawled into bed once again. It took her over an hour before the pain finally stopped.
What had that been. What could have happened to make her family magic act like that.
Rolling over, Molly heard a clinking sound under her pillow. Lifting the pillow, she saw the worst thing she could ever imagine.
For the past 14 1/2 years, she had always worn the same stone necklace. The stone pendent was actually the sealing stone for the ritual she had used on Arthur and her brothers. The stone was broken in half. The only way that could have happened was if, somehow, the ritual had stopped working.
Then she knew what the pain had been. Fabian and Gideon had disowned her.
How could they? Molly was furious. Who did those two think they were? They had no right to disown her. She hadn't done anything wrong. What right did they have to kick her out of the family, she was the family.
Forcing herself out of bed, she went to the mirror over her dresser. She looked awful. Her eyes were sunken in, and there were dark circles under them. Her skin was sallow, and she looked weak and frail.
Turning away from the mirror, Molly looked around the room. Her purse was glowing. Going over, she opened it. The glow was coming from her money pouch.
Looking in, she could see that her vault key was glowing brightly. Pulling it out, Molly looked at it and screamed.
The key that had once held the engraving 'Molly Prewett' now read, 'Molly No Name'.
She was a No Name. Fabian and Gideon had stolen her husband, her magic, and her name. Molly started to sob with how unfair everything was. She knew that she deserved so much better than this.
Rushing forward, Molly grabbed the pieces of the broken stone and rushed to the floo.
Hogwarts, Headmaster's Office
"Albus, Albus." Came the screeching of Molly's voice before she had even stepped out of the floo.
Albus wanted to slam his head on his desk. What was wrong with that woman? Did she really think he cared about every little bit of drama in her life? But, he knew the roll he needed to play.
"What is wrong Molly dear?" Albus asked in his usual kind voice.
Molly threw the ritual stone on the desk in front of him and started to sob.
"They… They… Disowned me. I'm a No Name. Albus, what am I supposed to do? Everyone is going to find out." Molly was hysterical.
Albus froze. This was bad. This was beyond bad. Over the years, Albus had used Molly as an example of everything light and good in their world. If anyone found out the reason behind her disownment it would ruin everything. It would almost immediately be linked back to him, and then his own reputation would be destroyed.
He needed to find a way to fix this. There had to be something he could do. This could ruin everything.
Then there was the question of just how the ritual had been broken. No one had known that they had used that ritual. And, even if they did, his copy of that ritual book had been destroyed, and that had been one of the last dozen copies left.
Albus just let Molly cry while he worked through his own thoughts. He needed to think of a way that would make this better, but wouldn't make him look bad. Now there was no way he could force Arthur to take the woman back. He knew he didn't have enough control over the Prewett twins, so he couldn't force them to accept her back in the family.
That meant the only path left to him now was to have Molly accepted into another family. But who was stupid enough to take Molly in. The woman was a complete nightmare. Only the stupidest, most gullible person would ever let her into their family. And that person needed to be the head of a good light family.
Albus smiled momentarily as he thought of the only thing he could do.
"Hush now Molly. It is going to be ok." Albus reassured the woman.
"How?" Molly kept sobbing. "How is this ever going to be ok?"
"I have an idea. What I need you to do, is to go back to the cottage and wait for me there. Do not go anywhere, or speak to anyone. Do you understand me, Molly?"
"Ok Albus." Molly sniffled just before she flooed away.
It was late in the evening that Albus finally returned to his office. He was exhausted, and more than a little annoyed.
The only way to save Molly's reputation had been for her to soul bond with someone else. But it couldn't be just anyone, it had to be someone in good standing in the wizarding world that he could control. Albus had chosen Dedalus Diggle.
He had been friends with Dedalus for decades, and thankfully had enough control over the man to make him marry Molly. It had actually taken a great deal of encouraging and many guilt trips to convince the man to do it.
Albus had ended up telling Dedalus that Fabian and Gideon had been cursed and then forced to disown Molly, just like Arthur had been cursed into leaving her. He had said that Molly was going to lose everything unless someone like him saved her.
Sometimes even Albus was amazed at just how stupid some of the people that followed him were. Ultimately, the man had agreed, just to help Albus. But, he had made it very clear, the bonding was in name only.
Molly had been another issue all together. She had hated the idea. All that stupid woman cared about, once again, was getting Arthur away from her brothers. She hadn't wanted to marry a man that was over 20 years older than her.
It had taken Albus over three hours to convince her to do it, although, he had to lie a lot. He had repeatedly reassured Molly that he was going to work on finding a new ritual that would allow him to make Arthur hers again. And, he had told her that the soul bonding was reversible, so that she could leave Dedalus and return to, and marry, Arthur. The truth was a soul bond was until death, but thankfully Molly had never learned about all that pureblood stuff.
In the end, it had been well after dinner when he had finally managed to preform the soul bonding of Dedalus and Molly Diggle.
It was far from perfect, but it would have to do. At least now, Molly wouldn't destroy his reputation. This time.