Beta: Cloudy

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

Unlike in canon, when it was time to move to Grimmauld's Place, Harry and I didn't get an epic escort scene. Nope. Grimmauld's floo network was set up at our home, so all we needed was the Secret kept by Dumbledore and we could go through. I wasn't sure why the network was available to us—I felt like canonically it wasn't—nor did I care enough to question it.

We packed up our bags and stepped through the floo. It was the first time we'd see the Black home in several years.

Sirius and Remus had worked on clearing out the Dark magic and prepping it as an emergency home since I was a toddler. Their hard work had clearly paid off. I had anticipated a still dreary or dismal home covered in dust, but nope. It had been heavily revamped into a rather modern townhouse with shiny wooden floors, brick walls, and sparkly new furniture. There were plenty of lights so it wasn't dark at all.

I whistled loudly. "Wow. I was expecting something much... eviler with how much you bellyached about it, Paddy."

"You shoulda seen it at the start," he muttered from behind me, glaring at a spot in the wall that looked perfectly nice to me. "Bloody bitch hid curses in the walls. Curses. In. The. Walls."

"Sounds like a lady who appreciates a good booby trap."

"Traps everywhere. Everywhere! Argh! It took me years to take down her damn portrait."

I patted his arm as Harry stepped past me and further inside. He looked around. "I mean it looks nice, Paddy."

"Now it does, yes," agreed Sirius. "In you go."

There were hurried footsteps and none other than Molly Weasley emerged from a door at the far end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried toward us, though I was sad to notice that she was rather thinner and paler than I remember her being.

"Oh! Children, it's so lovely to see you," she said, pulling both of us into a tight hug. I let out a little squeak as the air was knocked out of me. Molly was dear, but I hadn't anticipated that I would ever become dear to her. I knew Harry had kinda become friends with Ron, and I was friends with the twins, but I hadn't dared to assume that meant she'd spiritually adopt me. I was a Slytherin, a trouble-maker, and an enabler of what she thought were the twins's bad habits. If anything I ought to have been on her wary list.

But I wasn't about to say no to a Molly Weasley hug. She was every bit as warm, soft, and cuddly as I imagined her being. She smelled like warm apple cinnamon buns.

I love you, I thought as I relished the hug.

She pulled back as she examined both of us, cupping our cheeks. "Oh dear you both look so peckish. You'll have to wait a bit for dinner I'm afraid, got a meeting."

"Meeting?" asked Harry, intrigued.

"No, don't even think about it. The meeting's only for members of the Order. Ron, Neville, and Hermione are upstairs, you can wait with them until the meeting's over and then we'll have dinner."

"Go visit your friends, kiddos," said Sirius, nudging both of us from behind.

"Lucky you, your best friends are here," I said as I elbowed my brother.

Harry gave me a fleeting smile. "Wanna join us?"

"Well, I think Paddy will literally chain me to my room if I sneak out again so sure."

Harry slung an arm around my shoulder. "It would be well-deserved, dear sister."

"Shut up," I chuckled.

Harry and I headed up the stairs, content with finding our room on our own—I assumed we'd end up sharing. We heard voices chatting in one of the rooms—the door was ajar—and we opened it to find Hermione and Neville on the floor playing some kind of card game while Ron sat on the bed and watched. As soon as Hermione spotted Harry she leapt over Neville and hug-tackled Harry.

"You're here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you alright? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless—but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got to tell us—the dementors! When we heard—and that Ministry hearing—it's just outrageous—" At that, Hermione pulled away from Harry and looked over at me, continuing in her breathless rant. "I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations—"

"Thanks, sweetie but I'm not worried about it," I said, carefully reaching forward and placing a hand on Hermione in a calming gesture.

"Hey Harry," came Neville's quiet greeting.

"Hey Neville. Hey Ron," said Harry as he took a seat next to Neville on the floor.

"Rosie," Neville greeted with a nod at my direction. I exchanged nods with him and Ron before I sat on the floor and pulled Hermione down beside me.

"So what's this place now?" asked Harry. "Why are you all here? I mean I'm happy to see you all of course, but pretty surprised."

"Mom and Dad thought it'd be safer here," answered Ron.

"Better here than home," added Neville with a shrug.

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, giving Neville a pointed look.

"Gran's not been happy with me this summer," he mumbled, looking away.

Whoa, what's going on with the Gryffindor boys?

One of the downsides to being Slytherin meant I was out of the loop when it came to what the Gryffindor kiddos were going through. I still hadn't managed to figure out how Neville and Luna met up so early and every time I asked Neville he evaded the question.

If he doesn't give me a straight answer I'll have no choice but to put a request for one of my babeh snakes to kidnap Luna so I can ask her.

"I thought—I thought you might want some company and my parents agreed," Hermione answered. "Especially when I saw the paper. This place—it's the new headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. That's—that's a secret society. Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the people who fought against You-Know-Who last time."

"Who's in it?"

"Quite a few people—"

"—we've met about twenty of them," said Ron, "but we think there are more—"

With two loud cracks, Fred and George had materialized out of thin air in the middle of the room.

"Rosie!" they cheered upon spotting me. They twins lifted me up into a hug and I joyfully returned. Twin hugs were always the best. I kissed both of their cheeks in return.

"Harry get in so we can get a double hug going," I ordered as I continued to embrace Fred and George.

"I dunno, I'm pretty comfy."

"Harry. Now."

Harry sighed as he stood up. George opened his arms and Harry joined us in the twin hug that tragically had to end after a minute.

"We thought we sensed our secret triplet," said Fred as he patted my back.

"Ah, my devious other halves," I purred. "How I have missed you. What chaos shall we get into today?"

"Rosie, you're still grounded," Harry pointed out.

I scoffed. "Like that's going to stop me."

Fred and George laughed.

George said with a grin as he spun me around, "Hear, hear, for our charming snake queen.

Fred held up something I could only assume was the famous Extendable Ears. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

"You want to be careful," said Ron, staring at the ear. "If Mum sees one of them again... "

"It's worth the risk, that's a major meeting they're having," said Fred.

The door opened and a long mane of red hair appeared.

"Oh hello, Harry and Rosie!" chirped Ginny, brightly. "I thought I heard your voices." Turning to Fred and George she said, "It's no go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door."

"How d'you know?" said George, looking crestfallen.

"Tonks told me how to find out," said Ginny. "You just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact the door's been Imperturbed. I've been flicking Dungbombs at it from the top of the stairs and they just soar away from it, so there's no way the Extendable Ears will be able to get under the gap."

Fred heaved a deep sigh. "Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to."

"Oooo! Professor Snape's here?" I squealed excitedly.

"Why are you so happy to see that git?" muttered Harry.

"He's not a git to me," I sang cheerfully.

"Mn." George carefully closed the door and sat down on one of the beds; Fred and Ginny followed. I got pulled to sit in between the Weasley twins on the same bed. "He's giving a report. Top secret."

"Git," said Fred idly.

"He's on our side now," said Hermione reprovingly.

Ron snorted. "Doesn't stop him from being a git. The way he looks at us when he sees us... "

"Bill doesn't like him either," said Ginny, as though that settled the matter.

"Is Bill here?" Harry asked as he sat back down next to Neville on the floor, Hermione scooting over to give him room. "I thought he was working in Egypt."

"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order," said Fred. "He says he misses the tombs, but," he smirked, "there are compensations... "

"What d'you mean?"

"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eeenglish —"

"—and Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons," snickered Fred.

"Charlie's in the Order too," said George, "but he's still in Romania, Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off."

"Couldn't Percy do that?" Harry asked.

At these words all the Weasleys, Neville, and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.

"Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad," Ron told Harry in a tense voice.

"Oh dear."

"Oh no. I'm getting sucked into someone else's family drama. Ugh. Being in Slytherin has me so out of the Gryffindor drama loop."

"Why not?"

"Because every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying," Fred said.

"It's been awful," sighed Ginny sadly.

"I think we're well shut of him," said George with an uncharacteristically dark scowl on his face.

"What's happened?" Harry said.

"Percy and Dad had a row," said Fred. "I've never seen Dad row with anyone like that. It's normally Mum who shouts."

"It was the first week back after term ended," said Ron. "We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted."

"You're kidding," said Harry in disbelief.

"Yeah, we were all surprised," said George, "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realized Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain... "

Harry's brow furrowed. "So how come they promoted him?"

"That's exactly what we wondered," said Ron. "He came home really pleased with himself—even more pleased than usual if you can imagine that—and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts—Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think."

Fred's lips thinned as he muttered grimly, "Only Dad wasn't."

"Why not?" asked Harry.

"Well, apparently Fudge has been storming 'round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore," explained George.

"Dumbledore's name's taboo with the Ministry these days, see," said Fred. "Enough think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back."

"Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks," said George.

"Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession—"

"But what's this got to do with Percy?" asked Harry, confused.

"I'm coming to that. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family—and Dumbledore."

Harry let out a low whistle. "Bet Percy loved that."

Ron laughed in a hollow sort of way. Hermione and Neville exchanged uncomfortable looks.

"He went completely berserk. He said—well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been—you know—not had a lot of money, I mean—"

"What?" said Harry in disbelief, as Ginny made a noise like an angry cat.

"I know," said Ron in a low voice. "And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he—Percy—knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family anymore. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."

Harry let out a soft wow under his breath.

"Mum's been in a right state," said Ron. "You know—crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work—ignores him, I s'pose."

"But Percy must know Voldemort's back," said Harry slowly. "He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof—"

"Yeah, well, Rosie's word isn't good enough," said Ron with a furtive look. "The Prophet's been dragging her and Dumbledore for a good chunk of the summer."

"And Ministry," muttered George.

"'Course not that it matters right now. Percy's siding with Fudge and the Ministry," concluded Fred with an edge of bitterness.

I placed a comforting around each of the twins, pulling them into me for a hug. It ended with their heads bonking together because I was sadly Harry's height and the boys were taller than us. I hoped I got James' height in the end. Lily was adorable but she needed a step stool for the kitchen and I was not about to have that nonsense.

I figured the odds were in my favor since I was matching Harry's height and it looked like I had already surpassed Hermione.

There was the sound of footsteps climbing up to them.

"Uh-oh."

Fred gave the Extendable Ear a hearty tug; there was another loud crack and he and George vanished. Seconds later, Molly Weasley appeared in the bedroom doorway.

"The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now, everyone's dying to see you two. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"

"Crookshanks," said Ginny unblushingly as she coolly brushed her hair back in a way that reminded me of Daphne Greengrass. "He loves playing with them."

"Oh," said Molly, as I stood up to hurry down. I wanted a chance to see Professor Snape.

I hurried into the dining room that had been transformed as a meeting place, looking around. Sadly it seemed the thirty seconds it took to run was plenty of time for Professor Snape to Apparate away.

Oh well. At least I'd get to eat Molly's cooking.

"As soon as we get you a body we'll get you some of her cooking. It's amazing."

"It looks almost as unhealthy and greasy as Hogwarts."

"Tom Riddle are you dissing Hogwarts food?"

"Maybe a little bit."

"Since when have you cared?"

"Since I started reading what happens when someone lives off a butter-based diet."

"Oh gosh. Even you're susceptible to Second Year Med-Student Syndrome?"

"What's that?"

"Tom if I told you I had a cough, what would you suggest I do?"

"Dry or wet?"

"Doesn't matter."

"I'd advise you to see a Healer. It could be oncoming chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or bronchitis or—"

"Oh my sweet darling Tom, no. Sometimes when you hear hoof prints it's just a horse not a zebra."

He did not respond for several seconds, his magic twitching in an odd way. Gosh, if I didn't know any better I'd say Tom Riddle was embarrassed. Couldn't be!

"I see. I understand what you're getting at."

"Besides, I'm sure between the two of us we could come up with a potion to clean out fat build up in arteries."

"That is... an idea. After I've perfected the homunculus body perhaps I'll move on to that."

"Or you could help me dabble in some pretty crazy rituals."

"How crazy are we talking?"

"I dunno. I'll find out when I start Alchemy next year."

Tom's magic curled, I thought maybe he was smiling. "I'll look forward to it."

Dinner was not quite ready, so I meandered about the revamped headquarters, admiring how clean it was. I vaguely remembered visiting it once when I was much younger, so Sirius could key my magic into the wards in case of emergency. From what I recalled it was pretty similar to the movie adaptation of it. Now it had been transformed into something remarkably stylish, leaning heavily into warm—

"Oh my gosh I just now realized this place looks so much like the Gryffindor common room."

"Wow."

"He took his family home, which used to only have Slytherins and had the most gung-ho Slytherin mom, and he turned it into a second Gryffindor house. LOOK! It even has some pictures of griffins on it."

I shook my head as I stared at some artwork. The sound of steps behind me drew my attention and I found that Neville had approached me with a shy smile. "Hey Rosie."

"Hey Neville," I said. "What's up?"

"Wanted to see how you were. Any more... shakes?"

"Nah," I said, holding up a steady hand. I still had phantom pains and nightmares, but that wasn't something sweet little Neville would want to hear about. Thankfully, I only screamed out loud twice—both times resulting in me, Sirius, and Harry transforming into our animagus forms and the three of us sleeping together under a fort of blankets. Nice and comforting, but not something I should become reliant upon. "And how are you? Talked to Luna?"

"We send letters," came his quiet response. The boy shifted his weight, and I suddenly noticed how fit he had become. He and Harry were naturally lithe boys, and the exercises had toned them. He didn't bulk out like Vincent and Gregory but it was clear he had muscles. Good for him. "Rosie—I know you're Slytherin."

"Yes...?"

"Are you... gonna be safe going back?" he asked hesitantly, brown eyes darkening with concern. "Harry—Harry's worried but he doesn't want to let on, you know?"

Sweet kid. I offered Neville a kind smile. "I'll be fine. It wouldn't be the first time some snakes tried to ki—usurp my throne."

Neville's brow furrowed. "You sure? If you—If you need help, you can always ask."

"I know. You're a good boy, Neville. I'm glad you're Harry's best friend."

Neville's cheeks tinged pink and he coughed as he looked away. "W-Well that's a spot tied with 'Mione. You're—you're a good person, Rosie. You've always looked out for us. Harry might be used to it so he may not have noticed, but I did."

I shrugged. "I only did what anyone would in my place."

"No. You've done more," he said. "Thank you."

I reached forward and affectionately patted the top of his head. "You're a good boy, Neville."

His cheeks tinged pink.

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

Harry's anger issues didn't magically disappear at Grimmauld's Place, rather it became visually apparent after certain people didn't want to tell us about Voldemort and the Order. It triggered him which turned into a rather heated argument between him and the adults.

Eventually, I got pulled into another meeting—literally, Harry took my hand and dragged me into the room while I was perfectly happy debating Tom on the merits of cloning cadavers for testing—where it was finally time for Harry to get the answers he wanted. I got squished in between him and Hermione as Ron, Neville, Fred, and George crowded around us on our side of the dining room. The adults—Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Molly, and Arthur—sat opposite of us.

"All right. We'll try to answer what we can," said Sirius. "What do you want to know?"

"What am I doing here?" I asked. "I was perfectly happy meditating."

"You're here because we have a right to know," retorted Harry.

"Sure..." I said slowly. "Know what?"

Harry made an annoyed noise at me that was oddly cat-like. He flicked my nose in frustration (I let out an offended scoff at that) then turned away from me to address Sirius. "Where's Voldemort? What's he doing? I looked through the past issues of the Daily Prophet and I haven't found anything."

"That's because there haven't been any suspicious deaths yet," said Sirius, "not as far as we know, anyway.... And we know quite a lot."

"More than he thinks we do anyway," added Remus.

"How come he's stopped killing people?" Harry asked.

"Because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself at the moment," said Sirius. "It would be dangerous for him. His comeback didn't come off quite the way he wanted it to, you see. He messed it up."

"Or rather, Rosie messed it up for him," said Remus with a thin, dark, bitter smile. Hooray for messing up Voldemort's plans, but any reminder of my torture caused a dark look to flicker over my family's faces.

At the suggestion of what happened last year, Harry shifted closer to me and reached out. I grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. His voice had a subtle tremor of anger to it as he asked, "How?"

Sirius answered, "She wasn't supposed to survive. Nobody apart from his Death Eaters was supposed to know he'd come back. But she—you, Rosie—survived to bear witness."

"And alerted the very last person he wanted to know about his return," said Remus.

"Dumbledore," I murmured.

"How has that helped?" Harry asked. When given an incredulous look in return, Harry held up his other hand. "I know Professor Dumbledore is powerful and feared and I see he's put the Order together. But is it his presence alone that's preventing Voldemort's movements, or is Dumbledore actively moving pieces?"

Remus shifted his weight in a chair. "We can't answer with details. All we can say is that Dumbledore is working to make sure Voldemort can't carry out his plans."

"And how do you know what his plans are?" Harry pressed.

"Dumbledore's got a shrewd idea," said Remus, "and Dumbledore's shrewd ideas normally turn out to be accurate."

"Well, firstly, he wants to build up his army again," said Sirius. "In the old days he had huge numbers at his command; witches and wizards he'd bullied or bewitched into following him, his faithful Death Eaters, a great variety of Dark creatures. You heard him planning to recruit the giants; well, they'll be just one group he's after. He's certainly not going to try and take on the Ministry of Magic with only a dozen Death Eaters."

"'Course it hasn't been going that well this time around," said Remus. "A chunk of his army were werewolves and they've well and truly distanced themselves out of this. Word through the grapevine says a lot of his original supports are... on hard times."

"Broke," said Harry.

"Certainly not a position to offer assistance or be of any use except as an extra wand," said Sirius with a nod.

"The main issue we're struggling against is getting the public to believe he's back so they're on guard."

Harry squeezed my hand again. "'Cause of the Ministry?"

"Because of the Ministry's attitude," affirmed Tonks. "You saw Cornelius Fudge after You-Know-Who came back. Well, he hasn't shifted his position at all. He's absolutely refusing to believe it's happened."

"But why?" said Harry disbelievingly. "Why's he being so stupid? If Dumbledore—"

"Ah, well, you've put your finger on the problem," said Arthur with a wry smile. "Dumbledore."

"Fudge is frightened of him, you see," said Tonks sadly.

"Frightened of Dumbledore?" said Harry incredulously. "I'd sooner believe someone was frightened of Rosie than Dumbledore."

Sirius snorted darkly at that.

"Frightened of what he's up to," said Arthur. "You see, Fudge thinks Dumbledore's plotting to overthrow him. He thinks Dumbledore wants to be Minister of Magic."

"But Dumbledore doesn't want—"

"Of course he doesn't," said Arthur. "He's never wanted the Minister's job, even though a lot of people wanted him to take it when Millicent Bagnold retired. Fudge came to power instead, but he's never quite forgotten how much popular support Dumbledore had, even though Dumbledore never applied for the job."

"Deep down, Fudge knows Dumbledore's much cleverer than he is, a much more powerful wizard, and in the early days of his Ministry he was forever asking Dumbledore for help and advice," said Remus. "But it seems that he's become fond of power now, and much more confident. He loves being Minister of Magic, and he's managed to convince himself that he's the clever one and Dumbledore's simply stirring up trouble for the sake of it."

"How can he think that?" said Harry angrily. "How can he think Dumbledore would just make it all up? Does he think my sister Crucio'd herself?"

"Because accepting that Voldemort's back would mean trouble like the Ministry hasn't had to cope with for nearly fourteen years," said Sirius bitterly. "Fudge just can't bring himself to face it. It's so much more comfortable to convince himself Dumbledore's using Rosie and lying to destabilize him."

"You see the problem," Remus went on. "While the Ministry insists there is nothing to fear from Voldemort, it's hard to convince people he's back, especially as they really don't want to believe it in the first place. What's more, the Ministry's leaning heavily on the Daily Prophet not to report any of what they're calling Dumbledore's rumor-mongering, so most of the Wizarding community are completely unaware anything's happened, and that makes them easy targets for the Death Eaters if they're using the Imperius Curse."

"It helps that the Daily Prophet is adding returning fire with some... pieces, but until the Daily Prophet and Ministry start publicizing Voldemort's return there are plenty of people who'd rather pretend otherwise."

Harry sighed roughly. "Okay. Aside from followers, what else is he after?"

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look. After a long pause Sirius admitted, "Something like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time."

"When he was powerful before?"

"Yes."

"Like what kind of weapon?" said Harry. "Something worse than the Avada Kedavra—?"

"That's enough," snapped Molly. "You've given them plenty of information. Any more and you might just as well induct them into the Order straightaway."

"Why not?" said Harry quickly. "I'll join, I want to join, I want to fight—"

Neville was quick to add, "Me too—"

"No," Remus cut in. "The Order is composed only of overage wizards– Wizards who have left school. There are dangers involved of which you can have no idea, any of you... I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough."

"What do you think the weapon could be?" asked Tom as we were ushered out. The children and I congregated to another bedroom. Harry wouldn't let go of my hand so it looked like I was forced to listen to the whole pow-wow.

"Knowledge."

"Knowledge of what?" Tom's magic curled thoughtfully. "Some type of Dark item? Although I can't imagine it being a spell or ritual. Maybe an artifact."

"Why not a spell or ritual?"

"Because I could invent or reverse-engineer it myself."

"You could. Could Voldemort?"

Tom's magic twitched, a touch of dark bitterness laced through it. "I... I suppose not. It is clever enough to use the basic tactic of laying low, but not smart enough to take advantage of it."

"What would you do?"

"Depends on my goals. What is Voldemort's ultimate desire?"

"Me and Harry's death, genocide of Muggles and Muggle-borns, and I guess maybe rule the world."

Tom sighed irritably. "Are you certain?"

"Definitely sure about the first two."

"Why is he so fixated on you two? What made him try to kill you two as infants in the first place?"

I didn't get a chance to answer because Harry started talking as soon as Neville shut the bedroom door behind us. Harry asked, "What d'you reckon it is, that weapon?"

"Could be anything," said Fred.

"But there can't be anything worse than the Avada Kedavra curse, can there?" said Ron. "What's worse than death?"

"Crucio," muttered Neville. "But he already knows that, doesn't he?"

They glanced in my direction. I pretended not to notice by pointedly looking away. Ah, what a nice ceiling.

"Maybe it's something that can kill loads of people at once," suggested Fred.

"So who d'you think's got it now?" asked George.

"I hope it's our side," said Ron, sounding slightly nervous.

"If it is, Dumbledore's probably keeping it," said Fred.

"Where?" said Ron quickly. "Hogwarts?"

"Bet it is!" said George. "That's where he hid the Philosopher's Stone!"

"A weapon's going to be a lot bigger than the Stone, though!" said Ron.

"Not necessarily," said Fred.

"Yeah, size is no guarantee of power," said George.

"We're looking at this wrong," cut in Hermione. "Why is he now looking for this weapon, and not before? If it was so important, why did he not have it in his prime? What prevented him?"

"Lack of knowledge, I s'pose," said Harry.

"And now he has it? What's different?"

There were some glances. Feeling a little sneaky I said, "Well, think about the Death Eater that escaped third year. Rookwood? He wasn't there at the resurrection party, but Voldemort didn't seem bothered by it."

"Rookwood," repeated Hermione as she screwed her eyes shut. "I read about him... He was... He worked in the Department of Mysteries."

Neville gasped. "He was an Unspeakable! They do loads of dangerous experiments. They keep all sorts of powerful artifacts and mysterious items. Maybe he got arrested before he could tell V-Voldemort about one of them?"

"Department of Mysteries..." Tom trailed off thoughtfully. "Hm..."

(≖‿‿≖)ノ⌒●~*

I underestimated how damn notorious that stupid cursed position was.

I had some takers, but unfortunately, none of them were from the same continent which meant I had to pay for their magical visa and deal with ugh paperwork. And ugh of all the departments that couldn't be bribed to move fast enough it would be the International Relations department.

But that was fine.

There was light at the end of the tunnel. I had seven solid candidates. Dumbledore graciously offered to help with the paperwork in an official capacity while I paid for their fees, housing, and transportation. It made the most sense for the headmaster to put forward their names for the position and request their visas—it'd draw the least attention at least. No one was going to ask where Dumbledore was getting the money, nor why he would want to hire them. Everyone knew the position was desperately needing to be filled.

While only one would obtain the position, the others were still talented witches and wizards that I'd like to keep in the country on retainer. I could put them to work at Lunar's Orchid. My werewolf town had grown large enough to need a school, but not all the teaching positions had been filled. The candidates lucky enough to avoid the position that year would teach at Lunar's Orchid. Next year another one would go on a year-long contract at Hogwarts then come back to the Orchid and so on.

That'd give Hogwarts at least seven years of professors and I got to bring in international talent to teach my fluff babehs.

Wins all around.

The only stinky side was how long it took for the paperwork to go through. Visas were submitted by batches, not processed every day. Dumbledore estimated it'd take at least a month for it to normally go through, and considering how much the Ministry hated Dumbledore someone could go out of their way to drag out the process.

I'd really hope that wouldn't be the case. My alliances as my alias weren't aware of my connection with Dumbledore and I'd like to keep it that way. A good chunk of them weren't in a position to help, and the ones that could, I'd rather not call in my favor from them yet.

Nothing else I could do about it. I moved when I could, and I used the pieces at my disposal. Worst case scenario I cashed in all my favors to remove her instead of using them for the election after I got rid of Fudge and the Dark seats. It'd suck, but not the end of the world.

Actually, worst case would be she pissed me off enough to cause me to impulsively murder her and I'd have to rapidly deal with clean up. I thought I was someone who had a good hold of my temper, but if she hurt my brother...

Mn... I was someone capable of destroying entire families through lies purely because they were in my way. I was comfortable with murder. The law meant nothing to me. Rules were meaningless.

Life in general held little to no value to me.

What I placed above all else was my family. And if I was being completely honest, it wasn't out of some righteous need to protect the concept of family.

It was because my family made me feel. Lily and James taught me to love and open again. I owed them something far more valuable than my life to them—I owed them my happiness. It was a debt I did not think I could repay within a single life.

Sirius, Harry, Remus... they were my anchors. They kept my eyes privy to a world of colors. Because of them I got to taste and feel so many sensations I thought impossible before. They motivated me, inspired me, and above all else they genuinely cared for me. I loved them as much as I could love anyone because of it.

Losing them would darken my world.

I would do anything to prevent that.

If Dolores Umbridge harmed them in any sort of way... I could not imagine how I would react.

For her sake, let us hope her instincts to survive are strong enough to keep her at bay.

After all, the moment she stepped foot onto Hogwarts she'd be walking into the fox's den.

ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

Transition chapters are important but can be rather dull. Soooo double update. :) 

Answer: Same thing as Rosie, but I don't want to spoil what'll happen this year so I'll only say that much.

Question: What kind of Dark Artifact would you create—its name, purpose, how to use it, and the price to pay for using it?

Reviews are love!