In the chandelier of the ball room in a mansion the currently housed the dark lord of the current century, a vampire was hanging upside-down.
The vampire had hooked his knees in parts of the candelabra and was now swinging back and forth, using the chandelier as a sort of weird swing.
Down, below stood the house owner - Nott - and some other Death Eaters. They were watching the vampire in the candelabra wearily.
Each one had been at the other end of the vampire's mischief nature and not one of them wanted to actually be subjected to whatever idea the vampire was currently hatching in his devious mind.
Said vampire, unlike normally, wasn't grinning but frowning for once.
"It's Christmas in less than two days," he said to himself aloud. "And I still have no Christmas presents."
Again, the vampire frowned to himself.
"Not sure why I'm even concerned with Christmas presents this year - it's not as if I've had the habit of giving out Christmas presents before."
Then the vampire's face turned thoughtful.
"I don't think I can even remember my last Christmas." He scratched his neck. "Actually, I doubt that I ever celebrated Christmas in the past…"
He thought that last sentence over some more, his face now contemplative.
Christmas had never been a concern for him ever in the past - but at least for a time, he had celebrated Yule.
"Yule is also somewhen around Christmas," the vampire reasoned. "And this I definitely celebrated at least for a time… and I think, when I was young, there were even presents for that day."
He wasn't actually sure about that because his childhood… well, it was a while back when he had been a child.
"Ah… at least, I celebrated it," the vampire reasoned. "I still do work on my magic that day - that counts as celebrating, doesn't it?"
He thought about it some more.
"But… it doesn't involve presents, like Christmas does," he told himself. "So… that means I truly don't need to go out and find Christmas presents."
The vampire swung forwards and backwards on the chandelier a bit faster at that thought.
"But that doesn't mean that if I want to, I can't."
The vampire swung back and forth a bit longer.
Then he nodded to himself thoughtfully.
"I… I think I want to find some Christmas presents this year," he decided with a smile.
That smile turned into a frown the next moment.
"But… what do you give a Dark Lord for Christmas?"
And so, the vampire swung on…
It was the evening, two days before the students would be sent home for Christmas when Dolores Umbridge decided that all her legislations, all her new rules weren't enough.
Ever since the day Albus Dumbledore had been banished from Hogwarts, Dolores Umbridge had slowly but surely introduced her own rules to the school.
Over time, less and less people had been protesting and instead, most had resigned to her rule - most, because there was still one Harry Potter who was claiming that You-Know-Who was back and no matter what she did, he didn't take his statement back.
Maybe, her decision to add to her army of decrees had a bit to do with the fact that she had found one Harry Potter wandering into the castle doors just a few hours ago and had been confronted by his cheek. She couldn't stand Potter and his smugness and in her eyes it was high-time to finally put an end to his shenanigans.
"Hrm, hrm… students!" she said when she was sure that most of the students were at dinner. "Listen!"
The students stopped and turned to her, allerted by her high-pitched voice and wary of her intentions after the previous weeks of her rule and the tyranny she had conducted over the past first quarter of the school year.
"Since it's now obvious that this school is in a worse condition than I feared," she continued. "I will now ensure that proper measures will be taken to ensure that the school will return to its former glory!"
She looked around with her head held high, her pink bow sparkling in the candle light.
"This school has fallen from what it was for our ancestors," she continued and a nearly inaudible sigh could be heard from the student body when they discovered that they would have to listen to another long-winded speech of their new headmistress.
"I inspected all the classes and how the lessons are conducted," said headmistress continued meanwhile. "I also looked into the students themselves and I noted that there's dire need for change. I have a list which contains all the teachers who will find themselves out of a job the moment this school closes for the holidays. Additionally, there will be a list which contains all those students who will only be allowed to return to the school if they swear a magical oath to the Ministry and its laws. Otherwise, those students will be forced to leave Hogwarts and their wands will be snapped."
This time, there were unsure looks exchanged and one or two gasps could be heard.
It was Susan Bones, who stood up, looking resolute and yet, nervous.
"There's a law that ensures that students, if they didn't do grievously harm another student or teacher, can't be expelled," she said, her eyes meeting those of the headmistress steadily.
"Oh," the headmistress said. "But they won't be expelled. Those who don't swear the oath ask with their refusal to be removed from Hogwarts's student register. They leave the school willingly - so don't worry, my dear, everything will be perfectly legal."
"Did the Minister agree to that course of action?" another student ask, but unlike Susan Bones they didn't stand up. The voice was calm and quiet, yet powerful enough to be heard all through the hall. "Is there a written agreement from him or doesn't he even know about those new conditions, Madam?"
The headmistress frowned, her eyes searching the crowd for the speaker, but the only one who was looking at her was the Potter brat and no matter who it had been who spoke - Potter would have never ask so calmly and politely.
"The Minister knows," she said instead, frowning into the crowd. "It's all stamped and approved, so take your time over the holidays and think about your future, students."
"But what about the Slytherin Laws, Madam Umbridge?" a girl from Ravenclaw asked, her eyes dreamy and looking into nothing. "Wouldn't you disregard them if you actually go through with what you said right now? Don't you fear their consequences? I mean, the Quibbler already spoke about parts of them in the summer-"
"Quiet, girl!" the headmistress interrupted the blond Ravenclaw. "Those laws don't matter anymore. The Minister ensured that they were taken out of the law book! This will be a detention with me, tomorrow night, Miss Lovegood."
The girl just looked at her for a moment.
"I'm not sure if the Nargles won't hide your office from me, Madam Headmistress," she countered calmly. "But I will ensure to be there if I can."
With that, Luna Lovegood nodded to herself resolutely and then reached for the chocolate pudding as if she hadn't just gotten a detention for her misconduct.
The headmistress didn't even know how to start on the wrongness that was that girl…
"Any other questions?" she asked instead, harshly.
When there was no answer, she nodded.
"Good," she said. "Now, have a good evening."
With that, she sat down and returned to eating.
"Do you truly think that trying to control the school like that will help you?" Minerva McGonagall asked her icyly.
The headmistress just stared at the older woman for a moment before her face turned smug.
"Don't worry," she said. "You are one of the first who will get their notice tomorrow. Your utter and… misguided loyalty to the former Headmaster of Hogwarts will just hinder the students while they learn how to be proper British magical citizens."
"Of course," the other woman said, her lips pressing together. "And I guess that my decades of teaching experience won't matter in comparison to the fact that I stood by my employer in the past."
"I considered it," the headmistress replied. "But since it's only Christmas, I think that keeping you would be more of a hassle than giving you your notice. Maybe, if it had been later in the year, I would have thought about keeping you for the rest of the year - but like it is, I am sure the children will be able to get used to a new teacher quite well before having their exams."
At that, Dolores Umbridge watched cold fury playing over the current Deputy's face, before the emotion vanished as if it had never existed.
"I think, you're making a mistake, Headmistress, " she said instead. "Hear my words! You will rue this decision even before the holidays start."
With that, the Deputy stood up from her place and left with a cool 'excuse me' - and while Dolores Umbridge never believed in prophecies, she couldn't help but think that there was something grave to the Deputy's words that couldn't be dismissed that easily.
Sadly, instead of listening to her feeling, she ignored it, quite happy with the deeds she had accomplished for the day and far too gone on her new ability to rule to actually understand what she had started - what she had broken by taking Hogwarts's rule in her own hands.
Tick-tock.
Tick-tock.
Tick… tock.
A day later, in the evening, Severus Snape was working furiously on his new theory. He was in the middle of creating a new formula of a potion that at least might lessen the symptoms Salvazsahar Potter was showing thanks to the wrong-gone ritual, when he was startled.
"You know, you shouldn't waste your life on the dead," a voice said from behind him. "Instead, you should devote it to the living."
At that, Severus frowned and turned towards the speaker.
"Are you telling me, you count yourself to the dead,… Sal?" He asked the boy - no, man - behind him. "As far as I know, you're still alive."
For a moment, his words were met with silence.
Then the other man sighed.
"I'm only alive in so far, that I haven't died yet," the other man agreed, his voice weary. "I know you don't want to give up - but the truth is, there is nothing to be done for me anymore. It's done. It has happened - and I will have to live with the consequences."
Severus frowned at that.
"How can you simply give up on life?" he countered, unhappy with the other man, yet unwilling to actually scream at the man who was once his student. "How can you simply accept that this is it?! I promised… I promised to your mother to keep you alive! You can't expect me to-"
"I don't expect you to give up," Sal replied, and sighed. "But… it was a ritual that went wrong. I've been doing these kind of rituals for longer than you were alive. I know them inside out. Surviving a mistake like that… it's unnatural . I could calculate you the whole thing with Arithmancy and there would still be the same answer: it shouldn't be. Something like this shouldn't happen, like travelling forward in time shouldn't. If I survive… there could be consequences. And not just for me, but for everyone."
Severus pressed his lips together at that.
He knew that the other man was trying to warn him, but something inside him - maybe that part that still loved Lily and would do everything to keep her child alive - refused to accept what Sal told him.
In the end, Severus decided to settle onto the most important part, instead of trying to argue against the other man's views.
"If I could save you - would you let me?"
For a moment, Sal looked at Severus in silence.
Then Severus urged him.
"Would you? Or would you refuse my help just so that you could die?!" There was a challenge in his voice this time around - a challenge to admit that the other man was ready… no, was basically waiting for the ability to abandon him.
For a moment, green eyes like a killing curse held the gaze of black as the night ones, then the green eyes closed.
"No," Sal said and he sounded defeated. "If I had the chance - truly had the chance - I wouldn't go and abandon you… or my son. I might crave those who went beyond the veil, I might miss them with an ache that's forever part of me, but in the end, if you'd ask me to choose, I'd always choose the health and safety of my children over everything - which also means that I would never abandon them if they need me… and if I had a chance to choose."
There was bitterness in his voice when he said that, bitterness but at the same time a sureness that Severus didn't even dare to question.
"I'm not your child," he pointed out instead.
Sal shrugged, looking a bit helpless.
"I know," he agreed. "You were my professor first, after all."
For a moment, he was silent, but before Severus had the time to point out that he hadn't just been a professor but the most hated one, Sal continued as if nothing had happened.
"But just because I got to know you as my professor first, that doesn't mean that you're not still part of my family - part of my son," Sal told him tiredly. "You might not be my child, you might not even be truly related to me anymore - but you're my son's child and no matter what, my son's child belongs to my family which means that you're something akin to my own child in the end."
"I'm a grown man," Severus countered. "I don't need to be coddled anymore."
"You're also floundering," Sal said calmly. "You need someone in your corner - and while family doesn't always provide that someone, in your case, you're desperately wishing they might."
Severus opened his mouth to object, but a single stern look from the other man made him close his mouth again, for once not denying that he needed a connection to the family - or maybe, it was just Lily, but in the end, it was one and the same.
And maybe it was that thought that prompted his honest reply in the end.
"I can't give up," he said. "You're still alive. I won't give up until it's too late, until you're dead and buried."
Sal sighed.
"I guessed as much," he muttered and pinched his nose. "Somehow, I get the feeling that the only trait that passed through the centuries straight from my own make-up was my stubbornness - and of course it's that trait that'll bite me in the arse at the end."
Severus couldn't help but smirk at those words.
"Guess, we inherited the best part, then," he countered smugly which just ensured that Sal sighed for a second time.
"I guess I should be happy that at least one part of me survived through time - even if it was the wrong one," he agreed in the end and smiled tiredly. "I won't try and stop you, but I want you to take into account that no help might be found."
"If that's what you wish, then I will regard it."
But I'm not above disregarding it after a brief look, Severus's stern gaze added.
Sal rolled his eyes.
"Can you at least consider a request of mine or are you too engaged in your research to do so?"
Severus thought about it for a second.
"It depends on your request," he finally said slowly.
For a moment, Sal looked at him thoughtfully.
"Come to the Wizengamot with me," he finally said and Severus's eyebrows shot upwards.
"What -?!"
"Come to the Wizengamot and help me to turn their world upside down."
Meanwhile, Luna was walking through the halls of Hogwarts, humming under her breath.
She liked humming.
She had always liked humming.
Nevertheless, it wasn't the fact that she was humming that actually had her in a good mood.
No, neither that she was humming, nor the fact that she was on her way home and therefore searching the castle for all her missing possessions made her happy right now.
Of course, she shouldn't actually search her missing possessions right now, instead, she should have been in detention with the Headmistress, writing lines.
But Luna hated to write gibberish, so in the end, she had decided to follow the Nargles' demands and had started to look for her lost possessions.
Maybe, she should have felt bad for missing the detention with the Professor, but Luna had never attended a detention ever before, so she guessed that it could be forgiven if she didn't attend this one as well.
No, in her mind, she was in far too good of a mood to try and go to write something she would never believe. Nevertheless, it wasn't the fact that she was missing detention that had her in a good mood.
Instead, it was the feeling of anticipation cloaking the halls and walls of the castle that did it.
There was a coiled power spreading all over Hogwarts.
And while others might not notice, Luna had always been a bit more in tune with the world as everybody else… but then, that fact wasn't actually something surprising considering what family she came from.
"You might be a Lovegood, Luna," her mother had always told her. "But never forget, you're my daughter as well - and I'm not a born Lovegood unlike your father."
"The Lovegoods are an important family," her mother had said. "But their power is diluted. They aren't a main family. You on the other hand, my darling daughter, belong to one of the most important main families in Britain - even if you don't bear their name."
Lovegoods were commoners - but Luna had always been more than just a Lovegood.
She smiled and her humming changed to singing.
Her hand reached out to trace the walls, wherever she touched a golden line seemed to draw itself on the wall - invisible for everyone but her.
"Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!" she sung happily, her silver eyes tracing the spreading power with anticipation and a feral smile on her face.
"Double, double toil and trouble-"
"Luna! What in Merlin's name are you doing here?!"
"Oh, hello Neville Longbottom," Luna greeted the other boy, interrupting her singing. "How are you doing?"
"Er… fine?" For a moment the other boy looked stumped by the fact that she had even asked, then he shook his head to clear it.
"Actually, that doesn't matter," he corrected himself. "What are you doing here?"
"Walking," Luna offered and stroked the wall next to her lovingly.
Neville sighed.
"I see that," he agreed. "But… why do you walk here?"
Luna looked at him innocently.
"Do I have to have a reason?" She asked interestedly.
The boy in front of her frowned.
"Considering that you're heading straight for Gryffindor Tower I think you do," he agreed.
Luna cocked her head.
"Why?" She countered. "You're heading there every day after all - and you don't need to give me a reason for that as well."
Neville groaned.
"Yeah," he agreed. "But I'm a Gryffindor - you on the other hand are a Ravenclaw! "
"I know," Luna assured him. "That's after all the reason why I know how to find the Gryffindor Tower."
The boy in front of her gawked at that.
Luna wondered if she had said something odd.
"That… That's exactly the reason why you SHOULDN'T know where to find it!" he corrected her after a minute and twenty-three seconds - Luna counted - of silence. "No one but the Gryffindors should know how to find it!"
Luna frowned.
"That's rubbish," she countered. "I'm a Ravenclaw. My house is known for its intelligence and no matter how many of my housemates actually aren't what my house promises, I at least am intelligent enough to know where the other houses are situated."
That actually made Neville scratch his head.
"Huh," he said and Luna wondered why he sounded so surprised. "That actually made sense."
"Of course it does, Neville Longbottom," Luna agreed happily and patted the wall again before stepping around Neville to continue her way towards the Gryffindor Tower.
Neville stared after her for a moment, then he hurriedly followed.
"Luna…"
"Yes?"
"I… I still think it's a bad idea to enter Gryffindor Tower."
Luna blinked at him with dreamy eyes.
"I'm not going to enter it," she assured him. "I'm just passing by."
That stumped the boy for a moment, but in the end he just scratched his head again before gesturing for her to continue.
"If that's so… well, go on!"
"Oh, thank you!" Luna told him with a smile before she started to skip towards the Gryffindor Tower again.
First humming she skipped down the hall, her fingers grazing the walls, but after a second or two, she returned to singing - after all, she still had to visit two more dormitories after the Gryffindor one and humming alone wouldn't bring the message across clear enough to her liking.
"Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble!" She sung happily, making sure that she could be understood by the Gryffindors she passed. After that she would skip first to Hufflepuff House and then to Slytherin before she'd go to the Great Hall for breakfast.
And after breakfast, she would go home to her father.
"Not just a Lovegood," she reminded herself with a thought. "And yet a Lovegood anyway."
Her smile broadened, showing off her teeth and her silver eyes started to cloud in a dreamy way that only one other person managed to show beside her - and that person definitely wasn't her father.
Tick-tock.
Tick… tock.
Tick… tock.
"Double double toil and trouble, something wicked this way comes! "
The next morning, the castle seemed to have a shine to it that Dolores Umbridge couldn't remember having ever seen before.
In the end, she chalked the different atmosphere up to the fact that she would be finally able to change Hogwarts in what it should have been all along and went to breakfast happily - sadly enough, her mood didn't last.
The moment, her mood changed, the new Headmistress of Hogwarts was sitting in the Headmaster's chair at the head table in the Great Hall.
She was watching the students eating breakfast - their last meal at Hogwarts before the most of them would leave for home.
Only a few of the children had signed to stay.
Dolores Umbridge leaned backwards in her chair, feeling accomplished.
She was sure that after the holidays she would have the school so far that the students wouldn't protest her reign anymore and would finally fall into line with the Ministry's guidelines.
At that thought, Dolores smiled to herself - and that smile might have lasted for longer than a few seconds if the morning post hadn't come in just that moment.
Because, in the end, it was the morning post that changed her mood into one of the worst she had after entering Hogwarts as a professor.
Hogwarts indefinitely closed!
s
Yesterday, evidence was given by an unknown Master Healer about 79 confirmed cases of torture of students.
Responsible for those cases is a blood quill, used by the current Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher and now also Headmistress of Hogwarts in detention on the students.
"A blood quill, only used for magical contracts by the goblins, can definitely turn into a torture device when used like it was at Hogwarts," the healer responsible for the evidence stated. "But it's actually worse. The repeated use of a quill like that, acts like it's own kind of magic. It's like a curse, using blood magic to influence the minds of our innocent children."
But it's not only the children who will face consequences for the actions of the former Undersecretary of the Minister who took the DADA post this year after the former Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, was unable to find a teacher for the current school year.
"It wasn't the Headmaster's idea to ask the Madam," a currently retired ancient runes master of Hogwarts stated calmly. "And now, thanks to the Minister's insistence to influence Hogwarts in his own way, chances are that the school will be lost to us forever."
People might think the man would be joking, but the truth is far more sinister. Hogwarts, already from the founding onwards, is governed by laws that ensure its independence from the government and its integrity.
"Hogwarts, according to law, has to be independent from the Ministry or every control the Ministry currently claims will be fortified," one of the goblins explains - and the goblins should know since the have a recording of the laws governing Hogwarts. "If the Ministry breaks that law, Hogwarts will return to its master's hands. I'm definitely looking forward to its master's actions, now that Hogwarts will be back in the Prince's hands."
" Lies and rumours," the Minister said when confronted by the accusations. "Nothing but rumours. Hogwarts is ruled by the Ministry. It's been like that for centuries, it's always been like that."
Statements like that leave open how something like the rule over Hogwarts could have always been in the Ministry's hands if the Ministry is far younger than Hogwarts itself. Adding to that, according to the goblins, Hogwarts School has been founded in the privately owned manor of one of the more prominent magical families, so, if the statement of the Minister is really true, does that mean that the Ministry has the right to simply take over everybody's family manors just because they feel like that?
" There would be a rebellion if the Ministry even tried to take a family manor in this day and age," a passer-by in Diagon commented. "Just because the family manor in question also houses Hogwarts doesn't change the fact that the Ministry tries to take what isn't theirs."
It's actually horrifying to see that so many people just seem to stand by while the Ministry claims property that isn't theirs and breaks laws that existed long before it came into being.
" The moment the Ministry broke the laws that the Gathering of the Lords agreed to, magic got involved," one of the goblins explains. "If the Ministry makes even one wrong step now, magic will ensure that Hogwarts will be closed to everybody until its master agrees to reopen it. A Headmaster who hurts students might not be included into the laws - they are flawed like that, but the moment students are threatened to be expelled or forcefully removed from the school just because they don't follow the Ministry's guiding, Hogwarts will cease to be."
The Minister instead insists that even the idea of a breach like that is impossible.
" I have absolute faith in my Under Secretary," he declared. "I can't believe that a woman like her would do such a hideous crime like the torture she's accused off and I can say for sure that the school will continue to be open for all those students who are willing to do their best in our new, Ministry approved schooling."
But, can we really believe the word of the Minister? After all, today, without any warning, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, closed its doors - maybe to never open again.
Now, with the school closed, and unreachable, with its laws broken and the Minister's words, let's wonder who was telling old wives' tales - the Minister, or those who warned that this day will come if the Ministry doesn't stop to meddle?
Oliver Twist
"This… this is a lie!" the headmistress squeaked, staring at the paper in her hands. "The school isn't closed! The school won't be closed! This school is mine and I-!"
And surely, she would have gone into a rant and would have added a new decree that banished the news from Hogwarts, if the castle wouldn't have shuddered suddenly.
Dolores's disbelieving look vanished, instead, her eyes turned towards the walls she had thought to be brighter than normal this morning. Now, they visibly shown in a golden kind of light.
"What-?"
But before she could ask what happened, the castle shook again. A second later, the golden glow that had spread over the walls turned into a burning, blood red colour.
The students stopped eating, their eyes wandering over the suddenly shining walls fearfully. Then the shine spread to the ceiling and the magic that made it look like the sky outside vanished, leaving behind the naked ceiling, glowing in a deep and dangerous looking red.
Next, it spread to the doors, the windows and then the floor, the banners and the tables.
Within seconds, everything, with the exception of the people, was covered in that fear-inducing, bloody red shine.
A lot of the students had jumped up the moment the red shine had spread to their seats and tables and were now standing unsure and nervously on the shining floor, stepping from one foot on the other to reduce the contact they had with the light.
Others had frozen in fear, staring at their plates, unable to move or turn away their gaze from the red light in front of them.
The Headmistress finally decided to do something.
She stood up, took a deep breath and was about to tell the students to sit back down and that she would look into it - when everything changed a second time.
There was a flash, blinding white and all through Hogwarts.
And when Dolores Umbridge, blinded from the light, was finally able to open her eyes again, the Great Hall in front of her was empty - with the exception of a young man she had never seen before.
He had some similarities with Potter, but his glowing green eyes were lighter, his hair darker and a lot longer. It hung in wild locks down to his shoulders, only tamed by a spider-net like hair ornament that spoke of the Lords of old.
He was wearing formal wear - heavily ornamented robes and a tunic with a stitched, green basilisk curled around his waist.
"What-? Who-?" The headmistress managed to say, but the gaze of the stranger seemed to freeze her on the spot. It felt like she was slowly turning into stone, the longer he looked at her.
For a moment, he looked her over, his eyes calculating and disparaging.
"Dolores Umbridge," he said, and his voice was dark and filled with a power that would have let her cower if she had been able to. Instead, her body stayed like it was, seemingly unwilling to bend to her will anymore. " Headmistress of Haugh's Wards, Academia of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
The way he said 'headmistress' ensured that a ball of fear made itself at home in her stomach.
Then he looked around, his gaze half amused, half dark.
"Headmistress of the former Academia of Haugh's Wards," he corrected himself, distaste in his voice. "Since the school is closed indefinitely for now, I guess that calling it a school right now is wrong, I fear."
"Who-?" She finally forced her lips to say. Her lips felt oddly stiff… stony .
"I'm Salvazsahar. I'm the basilisk's son," the stranger replied, his eyes cold and calculating. "And while my gaze might not be able to kill you as long as you bear just a small part of Hogwarts's wards, it's more than enough to start turning you into stone at my will… and with barely any power used on my part."
The stranger smiled at that, more a baring of teeth than a smile.
"Of course, as weak as my gaze is like that, you'd only take a day or two until you'd be free of it again - less, if you were a mediocre witch," he continued, staring at her still. "Not that it will matter after today."
She stared at him.
"Wha-?" but her mouth refused to cooperate more.
The stranger seemed to understand her anyway.
"I've always watched over this school," he said. "I've watched over it, killed for it, went to war for it. I wrote down your deeds, decried them to the magical world - and like the Headmaster I erased from history for his deeds, I will erase yours."
His eyes were cold and dangerous when he said that.
There was no chance that he didn't mean what he said.
Dolores's eyes widened.
"Naw!" she whispered, unable to say 'no' properly anymore.
The other just looked at her for a moment. There was no pity in his eyes.
Then he looked upwards to the ceiling.
" Atr," he said. "I've come to take your mistress down."
For a second, the golden light of a rune could be seen, which ended in front of Dolores's feet. A golden cage, a blinding light - and then…
" I warn you, Fudge, and I warn you now: Don't play with the Prince."
… nothing .
" But I guess that's a way too late warning, isn't it?"
Tick… tock.
Tick… tock.
Tick… silence .
"Dogfather."
It was that word, that seemed to finally relive the man who had once been James Potter's best friend… and who had once been friends with the man in front of him as well.
"Salvazsahar," Sirius repeated, before his brain actually caught up with what he was saying. "What are you doing here?!"
The other man looked at Sirius in amusement.
To Sirius's surprise, Salvazsahar didn't seem to have aged at all. He looked still the same - a man about twenty, with long curls and startling green eyes.
"You can't be here!" Sirius added when he understood where they were. "When the Headmaster finds you here or-"
"This is your home, Sirius," the other man replied a bit amused, yet calm. "No matter what Albus Dumbledore wishes to do - you are the master of this place. It's your prerogative to decide who's invited and who isn't."
Sirius blinked and closed his mouth at that.
"Who by Merlin's beard did teach you all that stuff?" he finally muttered to himself and shook his head. "Heaven knows, your father refuses to listen to me no matter what I say."
Sal raised an amused eyebrow at that.
"My father?" he asked.
"Harry," Sirius immediately responded. "I've sent him letters since third year, but he's more interested in anecdotes and such than my offers to teach him stuff about the magical world."
Then he frowned a bit.
"Not that I send a lot of letters lately," he added a bit guiltily. "With all those changes and me taking up my lordship… I fear I neglected him this year for most of the school year."
He was surprised when Sal just shrugged.
"Doesn't matter," he said. "He wouldn't have answered anyway."
That… actually stopped Sirius in his tracks.
"What?" he asked, and suddenly fear spread through his body. "What do you mean he wouldn't have answered?!"
For a moment, Sal just sat there, looking at Sirius tiredly and a bit sadly, then, he looked up at Regulus and the two of them exchanged a bitter look.
"He's gone, Sirius," Sal finally said, before standing up and reaching for Sirius's hands. "Harry is gone - and he has been gone since summer."
Sirius opened his mouth, ready to deny, ready to-
"He's not dead," Sal added, as if he suddenly understood how his words could have been taken as well. "It's just that he's not anywhere near Hogwarts anymore."
At that, Sirius's mouth snapped shut, his thoughts racing.
"You… took his place and brought him to safety?" he finally concluded, frowning. "To France… with Katie Bell?"
Sal stared at Sirius as if he had lost his mind.
"Katie… Bell?" he repeated.
Sirius blushed and shrugged.
"Ah… I might have researched all the girls currently at Hogwarts when I was there in Harry's third year," he said, a bit embarrassed.
Sal frowned and looked at Regulus who looked as clueless as Sal seemed to be.
"Whatever for?" he finally asked and Sirius blushed further.
"Your Mum," he mumbled, and when Sal turned his questioning eyes on Sirius, the older looking man rubbed his neck nervously. "I wanted to know who your Mum is. You told me your parents French names: Henri and Cathérine - which means Harry and Catherine or Kate or whatever. Katie… well, it seemed… logical?"
Sal snorted.
"Only you," he said amused, burying his face in his right hand. "Only you, Sirius!"
"So… I was wrong?" Sirius concluded before frowning again. "So… Cathérine is French? Beauxbatons?"
Sal sent him an amused look at that.
"Mère was French," he agreed. "And she went to Beauxbatons."
"Oh…"
"And so did père," Sal added, amusement now clearly visible in his eyes.
Sirius blinked, but this time around, he had no idea how to arrange the puzzle he had been given.
"So…" he said slowly. "Harry stayed in France, married, had kids and you're… not James's grandson?"
Sirius wasn't too sure what to think about that revelation. On one hand, he should be happy that the family still lived who knew how many generations in the future - on the other hand, Sal was even less James's as Sirius had thought… and that hurt somehow.
Sal's lips just twitched at that.
"Yes," he agreed. "I'm not James's grandson."
"And you won't tell me more," Sirius said, feeling resigned.
To his surprise, Sal shook his head.
"The deadline I gave you ended this summer," he said. "The moment Harry was gone, I was free to tell you… not that I did, considering that I had a lot to do and a lot to change… part of that was waiting for your brain to heal enough that you returned to the man I once knew… part of it were things long since in the making… I guess, in the end, I decided that telling you the truth had to wait until everything that needed to be done, was done."
Sirius frowned.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
Sal just sighed and then closed his eyes.
"Albus Dumbledore is no longer the Headmaster of Hogwarts," he answered.
At that, Sirius just frowned.
"I already know that," he agreed. "It's most likely temporary. In the end, they always bring Dumbledore back."
He was surprised, when Sal shook his head at that.
"Dumbledore's ties to Hogwarts are severed. The Ministry added a new Headmistress who was partly inserted into the wards-"
"I don't like the sound of that at all," Sirius muttered.
"But her ties to them were severed as well this morning," Sal continued as if Sirius hadn't interrupted him. "As of now, Hogwarts is no longer a school."
That, actually ensured that Sirius stared at the other man.
"What?!" he cried.
Sal shrugged.
"It's what needed to happen," he said. "The students are safe. The most of them went home and those who didn't are currently at the castle which was once Hogwarts under sanctuary laws. The same can be said for most of the teachers."
"But… but…"
"The magical world has been informed this morning. I'm now waiting for the Minister's play - which will most likely happen in the January meeting of the Wizengamot," Sal said. "Tomorrow is Christmas and after that are a lot of events the most of the Lords and the Minister will attend. The first time the Wizengamot will meet again is in January - to the first meeting of the year. It's then that the Hogwarts problems will be discussed."
Sirius just stared at the other man.
"But… but… how? Why? I mean, Hogwarts is a school… how could you close the school ? How…?" he stuttered.
"It's not that hard if you know the laws," Sal replied amused. "Especially when you were there when they were brought into being."
Sirius definitely had a hard time to even think about the implications of that sentence.
"You planned that," he finally rasped. "You planned that all!"
Sal shrugged.
"Not from the start," he admitted. "But yes, I planned quite a lot for this year: Oliver Twist, the shut down of the school - which I only finished planning after meeting Madam Umbridge… and maybe another thing or two."
Sirius just gawked, his mind not computing anymore.
"Why?" he finally asked.
But instead of an answer, the door to the kitchen opened.
Sirius's eyes widened.
Dumbledore?
Black hair.
Snape?!
Pale skin.
Amused dark eyes.
Not Snape.
Who?!
"Hi Pater! Merry Christmas!"
Severus Snape watched warily when a happy vampire entered the room where the Dark Lord had gathered his loyal followers to speak of future plans.
"Oh!" The vampire said happily. "There you are!"
With that, he skipped through the rows of the Death Eaters… just to stop in front of Severus and envelope him into a hug before the poor man actually understood what was happening.
Something fell down on Severus's left foot but he refused to look down and see what it was because looking down while in the middle of a Death Eater meeting and in the embrace of a vampire would look too much like Severus burying his head in the vampire's shoulder - and he definitely didn't want to look as if he was a little child, hiding his face in the crook of his parent's neck.
If he did that, his reputation would be gone.
Like it was, all the Death Eaters around Severus took a step backwards and threw him a pitying look or two.
"How are you, dearie?" The vampire asked Severus happily. "Did you miss Uncle Ana?"
"I… certainly didn't," Severus replied dryly, not sure if he should attempt to free himself from the hug he was imprisoned in or if he should throw the towel immediately.
The vampire patted his hair.
"Don't worry," he assured Severus. "Uncle Ana will teach you how to show emotions again. You won't be such a sour-puss for the rest of your life!"
Some Death Eaters next to Severus snickered and Severus decided to remember their names the next time he needed someone to test his potion ideas on.
The vampire on the other hand didn't seem too put out by the fact that Severus was currently trying to set him on fire with his gaze alone.
"Oh!" the vampire cooed at Severus. "How sweet you are! I can't wait to play with you more often!"
And with that, he pressed a kiss to Severus's forehead as if Severus was a small child and then moved on towards the Dark Lord.
The Death Eaters surrounding the Lord stepped backwards hastily.
Obviously, the vampire's ability to irritate the Dark Lord was well known by now.
The vampire just grinned at them and then turned towards the Lord.
"You won't believe it - but I have a Christmas present for you!" He told the Dark Lord happily before pulling out a small package and throwing it at the other man.
Said man instantly drew his wand and blasted it to bits.
The vampire pouted.
"Are you telling me you didn't like it?" He asked, looking terribly put-out. "And there I went and pulled it out of that nice cave all for you!"
The Dark Lord who had been about to try and curse the vampire stopped before he could attempt it.
"Cave?" He repeated, his eyes narrowed.
The vampire smiled but to Severus it suddenly looked more like a baring of teeth instead of a smile.
"Yes," the vampire assured the Dark Lord. "A wonderful cave full of Inferi and a basin full of a delightful potion."
The vampire's eyes sparkled with malicious light.
"It even contained a delightful message for you!"
The Dark Lord paled.
With a shaking hand he summoned the destroyed package and removed the still burning paper.
Beneath it, a smouldering locket was revealed.
It was golden and might have once been beautiful but wasn't more than a smouldering piece of twisted metal that only vaguely looked like a locket anymore thanks to the spell of the Dark Lord.
"Impossible," the Dark Lord murmured. "It's spelled-"
"Only for those who aren't the owner," the vampire said smugly. "Do you like my present?"
The Lord stared at the locket in his hands for a minute or two in incomprehension - and then fury in a way Severus had never seen before entered the Dark Lord's eyes.
"Like I said, there's even a delightful message-"
The vampire was interrupted when the first spell of the Dark Lord was hurled at him.
The answer was a cackle.
"So you didn't like it?" The vampire asked. "I can't even understand why! I basically went out of my way to find a present you might like!"
Another and another spell came the vampire's way - and this time around, the Dark Lord didn't even care that his spells were connecting with his Death Eaters who couldn't get away as fast as the vampire.
More than one of the Death Eaters fell to the spells of the Dark Lord and didn't stand up again.
"You! How could you, you-!"
"Ah! But I said it at the beginning, didn't I?" The vampire interrupted the Dark Lord, all amusement suddenly gone from his voice and face.
That actually stopped the Dark Lord in his tracks.
"What are you talking about, vampire?!" He asked, his voice deadly. "You swore me fealty!"
The vampire bared his teeth in a feral smile.
"No," he corrected. "I swore fealty to the Lord of Slytherin."
"I AM the Lord of Slytherin!" the Dark Lord countered, nearly hissing like a snake.
As an answer the vampire nearly doubled over with laughter.
"There's always been just one Lord of Slytherin," he countered amused. "And it's never been the man who belongs to a family that has been banished from the Slytherin line for centuries!"
Then the vampire's grin broadened and only when his hand touched Severus's back lightly, Severus noticed that the vampire had somehow ended up next to him again.
"One Lord - and one heir," the vampire said. "And you, Tom Marvolo Riddle of the disowned House of Gaunt, are neither."
The Dark Lord's eyes widened.
"Which you know," the vampire added. "Since you don't own the Lord's ring or the heir's ring."
"You came to me and swore-"
"My continued fealty to the Lord of Slytherin," the vampire said with a smirk. "Too sad you aren't him."
Obviously that was the most the Dark Lord could take because he let go of the locket in his hand and pulled his wand on the vampire again.
The locket fell clattering on the floor, opening thanks to the impact and a piece of paper fell out. It sailed through the air, drifted a bit and finally came to lie on the floor nearly directly in front of Severus's feet.
Severus stared at it.
"To the Dark Lord," he read…
To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be long dead before you read this,
but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match,
you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B.
Severus's eyes widened, but before he could actually fully comprehend what he had read right now, the Dark Lord send a Crucio Severus's way - well, he send it the vampire's way and it was only Severus's misfortune that he stood right next to the vampire.
Severus closed his eyes, expecting pain, instead he saw a red light through his eyes and when he opened them again he was just in time to see the red of the Cruciatus fade from a golden shield that seemed to surround him like a second skin.
"What-?" he murmured, staring at his body and the place the red and gold lights had been seconds before.
The vampire patted his hair fondly.
"Not letting my nephew get hurt," he murmured nearly silently. "See you later, Sevvie!"
And with that, the vampire picked up something from next to Severus, patted him on the shoulder once and then started to hum and sing while making his way towards the door, not bothered at all by the spells hurled at him from the Lord and the other Death Eaters who had finally understood that the vampire had turned traitor to the Dark Lord.
"Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble," the vampire sung amused and left the room skipping and dancing while using the other Death Eaters as shields for the curses hurled at him.
Only when the vampire had reached the door, Severus finally understood what the other man was carrying.
It was a snake - and not any kind of snake.
It was a lifeless looking Nagini.
"Double, double toil and trouble, something wicked this way comes!"
And with that, the doors of the ball room slammed shut and no matter who tried, they were unable to open the doors again until the Lady of the manor did it from outside four hours later with a confused look and the question on her lips why her husband hadn't come for dinner…
By then, a lot of Death Eaters had suffered the wrath of the Dark Lord and only Severus and a few others hadn't been hit by at least one curse or two.
The vampire had turned traitor.
Uncle Ana had turned traitor - openly and with a smile on his face…
Somehow, Severus had the troubled thought that the impending wizarding war had suddenly moved up quite a bit.
Sal had never known that the most convoluted and most difficult discussion would be with his godfather.
To Sal's utter frustration, it felt nearly impossible to talk to the man who was once one of his best friends - or maybe it wasn't talking that was the problem, but the truth that he tried to tell the man.
A truth, Sal had kept from the man since the summer - not that Sal regretted it.
He trusted Sirius to keep quiet in front of the former Headmaster of Hogwarts, but at the same time he also knew that Sirius was still struggling with his time in Azkaban.
Telling the man at all only came into consideration after Regulus found out that his agreement for an alliance with the Longbottoms had been accepted by the new Lord Black - which meant that Sirius was back in the game.
And not just Sirius, but a man who was definitely more like the Sirius that once existed instead of the shadow who had existed after Azkaban.
This man, the one Sal was talking to right now, wasn't that childish, dependent man anymore that Sal had left behind when he left for Hogwarts. Instead, the other man had grown and reshaped himself into the man Sal had already seen growing when Sirius had been not even twenty years of age.
Telling the truth, nevertheless, wasn't easier because the other man had changed.
Of course, the moment Sal shaped up to actually say what he had come to say, they were interrupted…
"Hi Pater! Merry Christmas!" a cheerful voice called and in, through the kitchen door, walked…
"Ana."
The vampire grinned.
"What are you doing here?" Sal said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And how, by wind and fire, did you get into this house?"
"Ah," the vampire waved it off. "Archie added me to the wards and the Fidelius doesn't fully work if the wards draw me in… well, the wards and your blood, Pater."
Sal just sighed at that.
"Of course," he agreed, still pinching the bridge of his nose. "Only you would run after me by smell alone - no matter that for you it must have seemed as if you were walking straight against a wall."
The vampire blinked at him innocently.
"Are you telling me you expect me to run into walls just because I follow you by smell?" he asked, mock-hurt.
Sal raised an eyebrow at his son.
"Are you telling me you wouldn't?" he countered.
The vampire crooked his head.
"Touché," he agreed and Sirius nearly choked on nothing at that.
"What… who?"
"His name is Ana," Sal replied. "He's my son."
Sirius's eyes nearly bugged out at that.
"Son?!" he exclaimed. "Are you telling me you had your time-travelling adventure together with your son?!"
Ana turned and looked at Sal in confusion.
"Shouldn't he know that you didn't have a son when you started your journey, Pater?" he asked with a frown and sat down a long, scaly something on the kitchen table. "I mean, he met you before you travelled. I think you even said something about him… being your godfather? Isn't that reason enough for him to know if you had children or not?"
Sirius opened his mouth at that, gawked, spluttered and paled when he choked on his own spit.
Sal sighed, drew his wand and then ensured that his godfather didn't die from the revelation Sal's son had just inflicted on him.
"You… you… Harry!" Sirius finally spluttered.
"Actually, it's Salvazsahar Serendu Harryjames Salvatio Amethyst," Sal replied, his gaze suddenly accusing. "And I'm so blaming you for the name Amethyst - expect my revenge."
Sirius paled even further.
"I… Is this revelation not revenge enough?" he croaked. "I mean… you let me think you are your own son for more than fifteen years… that should be revenge enough, shouldn't it?"
Sal just stared at him flatly.
"What were you thinking, naming me Amethyst?" he asked instead. "It's bad enough that mère did it - why did you have to do it again?! Well… or first, if you look at it differently…"
Sirius looked a bit guilty at that.
"Uncle Charlus told me about Sal Sanctuary's second name and I… liked it?" he stated the end of it like a question, not even looking at Sal.
Ana snickered.
"I think it's fair," he declared. "After all, you named me Anastasius Arthur Lucidarius!"
Sirius blinked.
"He named you?"
The vampire shrugged.
"He found me in the past, adopted me and named me," Ana agreed. "And then, instead of calling me by my full first name, he started to call me Ana."
Sal rolled his eyes.
"As if you'd call yourself by your full first name if you had the chance," he countered and then turned his attention to the long and scaly thing on the kitchen table.
It was a snake.
A very huge snake.
Sal raised an eyebrow.
"Nagini?" he asked interestedly.
Immediately, his son beamed at him again.
"Merry Christmas, Pater!" he repeated.
Sal just raised an eyebrow at his son.
"We don't celebrate Christmas," he reminded the vampire who shrugged unrepentant.
"Yule, then," Ana just corrected himself.
Sal looked at the snake, back at his son and again at the snake.
"Do I actually want to know how you got her?" he asked in the end.
Anastasius just beamed at him.
"I swore fealty to the Lord of Slytherin!"
And while Sirius choked on his spit and Regulus wheezed, Sal buried his head in his hands and sighed.
This would be a long day, he could feel it already…