Father and Son

~Chapter 22~
The Nova Romans

August, 2015

'You're in Gryffindor, right?' Amaris asked him.

Romulus nodded.

'Fifth year,' he said.

They'd found two armchairs and an old couch in the drawing room and had decided to settle there with the children. Amaris looked over to the group of rascals that was playing loudly on the other side. There were eleven Weasley offspring, the eerie raven-haired girl, who turned out to be Romulus Lupin's younger sister, Rihanna, and four children that she didn't know. Watching Rihanna made her think of Malice Lestrange. It seemed odd to her that Malice Lestrange, Rihanna Lupin and she herself all had one thing in common: They were offspring of the Black sisters. All three with raven black hair. Malice was said to be the daughter of the infamous Bellatrix Black Lestrange, but no one knew of her true origin. Amaris herself was the granddaughter of Narcissa Black Malfoy and Rhianna was the granddaughter of Andromeda Black Tonks.

'So why do you have this note from my boyfriend?' Amaris asked.

'He gave it to me shortly before he went off to fetch the rest of us,' Romulus told her.

'The rest of us?' Amaris asked surprised. 'You mean Sky is part of the Order?'

'Yes and no.'

'What does this mean? Could you please stop talking in riddles?'

'The Order didn't exist anymore. It wasn't necessary until now. So Sky asked if we could use this house for Headquarters.'

'Who is we?' Amaris asked impatiently.

'We are the Nova Romans,' said a female voice from the door of the drawing room. A tall blonde girl walked towards them, behind her a group of about five people. The last person entering the room was Sky.

'Anna Vance,' said the blonde haired girl and stretched out her hand.

'Amaris Malfoy,' Amaris said and shook her hand.

'Eleanor, Jessica, Jane, Eleasar, Ruben.' Anna Vance introduced the rest of the group in such a hurry that Amaris was sure she wouldn't be able to remember a single name. 'And these are Michael' - she pointed at Sky - 'and Isaac,' she finished, pointing at Romulus.

'Michael?' Amaris asked, raising an eyebrow at Sky.

Sky gave her his lopsided grin. 'I'll explain that later. Are you all right?' he asked, concerned. 'I heard the Manor was attacked...'

'I wasn't there. But my best friends and class-mates are all part of a coup against our government, my father and my siblings are Merlin-knows-where and I'm forbidden to do anything else but sit around watching the brats over there and now you tell me you are in a group called Nova Romans and your name is Michael, but beside that I'm fine. Really, I'm bloody great!' Amaris snapped.

Sky grinned and took her in his arms. Amaris wrapped her arms around his neck. She'd missed his embrace and the warmth of his body.

'I love you, Amy,' he whispered into her hair. 'By the way I'm sorry about what happened...'

'Don't do that 'by the way'! Don't you dare thinking this topic is closed with 'by the way'! And I'm certainly not in the mood to discuss this now!' she hissed.

'Good. I'd love to postpone it,' Sky said.

'I'm sure you do,' Anna said, laughing.

Sky glared at her.

Amaris scrutinized the other girl. She disliked her already. The moment she had walked through the door Amaris had disliked her. Her laugh, her hair, her perfect appearance, the way she looked at Sky... and Sky seemed to have told her about the other night. It was a strange mixture of jealousy and disdain that she felt for her, even though the girl hadn't done anything to her.

'So what's going on here?' Amaris asked, tearing her eyes from Anna.

'That's what I wanted to ask you,' Sky said. 'Do you know anything about the coup?'

Amaris sat down again. 'Yeah. More than I'd like to admit. But I didn't think a group of students could overthrow the whole ministry!' she defended herself.

'I didn't blame you,' Sky said calmly, but serious.

'So you know these guys?' a blond boy that had been introduced as Eleasar asked.

'They call themselves Neo Death Eaters,' Amaris explained. 'They are all Slytherins, some even friends of mine. I've been to one or two of their meetings at Hogwarts. They all believe in 'the lost cause' as they call it. They wanted to form a new army of Death Eaters that should force the Wizarding World to bow to their regime. Their aim is the purification of the wizarding race. No Muggle-born is allowed to do magic or to learn magic.'
'You sound rather pleased by this idea,' a girl with brown curls remarked.

Amaris glared at her. 'I'm from an honourable old pure-blood family. It would fit that I'd believe in their ideas, wouldn't it?' She sneered at the girl. 'But do you see me wearing a dark cloak and killing in the ministry? I have a half-blood boyfriend!'

'What a disgrace for the family!' Eleasar mocked.

'Indeed!' Amaris sneered.

'Would you please stop picking on my girlfriend? She's not the enemy just because she's a pure-blood!' Sky defended her.

'She's a Slytherin,' the brown-haired girl pointed out, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

'And she comes from a Death Eater family,' remarked Eleasar offhandedly.

Amaris stood up so quickly that the young man took a step back. She glared at him, her eyes blazing with anger and rage.

'How dare you insult me? How dare you insult my family while staying in this house?' she spat at him, wand drawn.

Sky started to laugh heartily. He couldn't suppress his amusement over the shocked expression of his mates.

'What's so funny, man?' Ruben asked.

'You didn't honestly think Amaris would be easily intimidated, did you?' Sky grinned. 'And she doesn't care an ounce about my blood or yours for that matter. A bit snappy at times, but besides that she's the most adorable woman I've ever met.'

Amaris smirked at him. 'You can't buy yourself back into my good grace with compliments, darling.'

'Yeah well, I can try, can't I?'

He pulled her towards him and leaned down to kiss her and Amaris felt her knees go weak. Why did this bloody git have the talent to make all her anger vanish with one kiss?

'Take a room, you two!' Ruben muttered.

Sky released her.

'So the Order of the Phoenix's going to do something about the coup?' Anna asked her.

'Yes, they're having a meeting at the moment but we weren't allowed to be there,' Romulus answered for her.

'Are they going to take us with them?'

'Not likely,' Romulus said. 'They'll say we're too young!'

'So why did you want us to come?' one of the girls asked Sky.

'They'll need some people to back them up,' Sky explained.

'Sure, they do!' Amaris mocked.

'So you think the Order will just walk in and kill all these Neo Death Eaters?' Sky retorted.

'They won't kill at all if it's not necessary!' Romulus interjected.

'Amaris?' Ginny entered the drawing room. Amaris saw her mother's surprise at the presence of so many young people. 'Can I talk to you?'

'Are you going to leave?' she asked her mother, when they were standing in the dark, empty hallway of Grimmauld Place.

'Yes, in ten minutes. We'll meet up with the Aurors and discuss our strategy. We can't do much from here. There are so many things we need to check and that's impossible if we're not on the spot.'

'I'll go with you! Sky and the others in there want to come, too!'

'Amaris, it's not a game! I don't want you to be there. After all, I've heard your father and Blaise have been taken hostage, as well as Harry. If they couldn't do anything about these Neo Death Eaters, it's too dangerous for a group of students!'

'You were students, too, in the second Wizarding War!' Amaris protested.

'Yes, and many of us died!' Ginny snapped. 'This is my final word. I don't want you anywhere near the Ministry! Promise it!'

'Mum, I'm of age!'

'That's why I want you to promise me you won't go there on your own account!'

Amaris sighed.

'What do you want us to do then?' she asked, glaring at her mother.

'You could wait here. Inform Order members who arrive after we've left. And you could try to owl David.'

'You know that Diana has been missing for a few days?' Amaris asked her.

Ginny hesitated before she nodded.

'All right, but I want to know what you plan to do at least if I have to stay here,' the raven-haired Malfoy demanded.

Ginny sighed.

Her eldest daughter was not going to sit around and wait for her to come back, that was sure.

She wasn't supposed to tell anybody of the plan and Ron told her not to pass any information to Amaris, because he feared she was in contact with the Neo Death Eaters. But Ginny trusted her daughter. Amaris wouldn't be here with her if she'd known of the coup or was a part of the group.

So she gave away some of the information.

Afterwards, Ginny went up to the old dirty bathroom. She wanted to be alone for a while before they left for the Ministry. The message that both her best friend and her husband were hostages at the ministry had struck her hard. But thinking of the rumours which had carried through as far as the Order made her feel sicker than any illness she'd suffered in the past years: one of her daughters was among the abductors. Her precious baby girl, her little blonde angel was supposed to be one of those Neo Death Eaters. Killing, torturing, and destroying the peace which the Order had fought for so hard once.

Ginny hadn't dared to tell Amaris that her sister had betrayed them. She felt ashamed for not noticing. For being too absorbed in her self-pity that her daughter could not reach her and got influenced by people of the worst sort. Diana had written her letters. She'd written Ginny that she was needed at home. That she, Diana, required her help; that she was no longer capable of coping alone with all the things going on. Ginny hadn't listened to them, thinking it was a subterfuge to get her and Draco together again.

With all the things going on... - If she'd only been there! Diana had always come to her mother when she thought what she and her siblings did or planned was too bad to carry it out. Ginny had always believed her to be the one with conscience among her three brats.

This was the only real reason for her to go on this dangerous mission with the Order although she was pregnant.

She knew she had a small life to care for now. The child of her best friends.

But Diana was in there, was a Neo Death Eater.

And what kind of mother would she be if she didn't want to get her youngest daughter out of there.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Nova Romans, including Amaris, had settled down for dinner in the drawing room after the children were taken in hand by Molly and Arthur Weasley and put to bed in some provisionally set up camp beds. Two of Sky's friends - Amaris still had problems keeping all the names straight - had fetched some pizza from a pizza house near Grimmauld Place. Since Amaris had visited Sky for the first time during the summer holidays a few years ago, she'd developed a taste for all sorts of Muggle fast-food.

Scrutinizing the strange group of people while eating her piece of pizza, she wondered where Sky had met them. She'd never seen them among his friends or classmates. There were only two boys in addition to Romulus and Sky himself: the rather insolent Eleasar, the tall blond boy who had accused her of coming from a Death Eater family, and the shorter Ruben, who had a dark skin-colour and short but still slightly curled black hair and vivid brown eyes.

Then there were the four girls, who also seemed to be completely different and if asked, Amaris would have said they had nothing to do with each other. First of all the tall blond Anna Vance, then a tiny but cheeky girl with brown curls called Eleanor, who seemed to be younger than the others just as Romulus, the third girl was the quiet Jane with dark brown hair, who looked rather mousy in Amaris' opinion and last but not least the strawberry blonde Jessica a lively girl with a prominent laugh.

'So tell me, who are the Nova Romans?' Amaris asked. 'The new Order of the Phoenix?'

'God, no!' Jessica threw in.

'We...'

'Don't tell her!' Ruben cut Sky off.

'We can trust her. She won't tell anybody if I ask her to,' Sky assured them.

Amaris raised an eye-brow.

'The Nova Romans is a group of people who believe in Christ as the son of an almighty God,' Anna explained.

'That's a religion, right?' Amaris asked, looking sceptically at Sky. She'd heard about that Muggle religion in which only few wizards and witches believed. But, for example, St. Mungo's Hospital was named after a saint from that religion. Amaris remembered reading something about ancient pure-blood families who passed that religion from one generation to the next.

'It's dying out in the Wizarding World. Most wizards and witches believe they are God because they can do some magic,' Eleasar put in. 'At Hogwarts we're even persecuted in a way, especially the Slytherins but also other people think we are stupid freaks who disgrace the wizarding race with a Muggle sect. So we meet in secret and try to live our belief as well as possible. In the summer holidays, we always meet here since Romulus' father suggested this place.'

'And why do you call yourselves Nova Romans?'

'Rome was one of the cities where the early Christians were persecuted and had to go into hiding. And since we hide at Hogwarts, we thought it would be fitting to name us after them.'

'I never realized there were Christians at Hogwarts... well, at least I never heard about someone being bullied because of this.'

'That's because we don't tell anybody that we're Christians anymore. And because the Slytherins seem to have been a bit busy lately planning a coup against the government!' Ruben remarked sarcastically.

The girls giggled.

'And now you are here because you want revenge,' Amaris concluded. She wondered why Sky had never told her about his religion. Had he feared she'd scorn him like some of her house-mates had obviously done?

'No, we don't want revenge,' Sky said. 'We only want to protect our society from some barking mad pure-blood-fanatic Slytherins,' he explained.

'Do we?' Eleanor asked, her eyes growing wide. 'I thought the Order wanted to do that. If they wanted us to go with them they'd have said something.'

'We don't even know what's really going on there,' Jessica agreed.

'I asked my Mum what's going on at the Ministry,' Amaris said, while grabbing another piece of pizza. 'She told me, the Order only knows that the Ministry isn't completely overthrown. Most of the building was evacuated by the Aurors who weren't captured. The Neos stormed only level two, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but they also control the lifts which means Minister Bones, whose office is at level one, is caught like a rat in a trap.'

'They'll probably try to get her moving downstairs to sign something that makes their coup legal,' Sky put in.

'So what is the Order going to do?' Jessica asked.

'They want to break through their defences and get the Minister out there. Without Susan Bones they can't do anything,' Amaris informed them. Ginny had been rather tight-lipped about the plan, but Amaris knew how to get information.

'I hope they don't under-estimate them,' Anna said, looking concerned. Amaris thought that her concern was rather unsuitable. She should be the one worrying like hell.

'I think we should...' Suddenly she stopped in mid-sentence. David had just appeared at the door. Or so she thought.

'Oh, dear Merlin! I had completely... completely forgotten about you!' she stammered.

Draco just raised an eyebrow.

'Who is this?' Anna asked.

'My brother,' Amaris responded, turning towards Draco again. 'How did you get here?' she asked, when he came into the room and suspiciously scrutinized the group around Amaris.

'I used the Floo-network at Hermione's place. It was completely messed up,' Draco explained.

'I know, we had to flee from there. Some Neo Death Eaters led a coup d'état against the government. And it seems as if they attacked some houses of important people. The Manor was attacked, too. But how did you know where to find us?' she asked confused.

'Snape,' Draco answered, looking gloomily at the letter and parchments he held in his hand.

He handed it to his daughter, who was looking even more confused than before.

She read through the letter in a hurry handing the other things to Sky. 'What the hell...' she whispered.

Sky looked up from the parchments that came along with the letter.

Amaris brushed her black hair behind her left ear. Her eyes flew over the parchment restlessly. Finally she looked up again and her blue eyes met Sky's questioning look. 'Diana!' she whispered, not daring to raise her voice.

His eyes widened. 'She's not... don't tell me she's been taken hostage as well!'

'Worse,' Amaris said, reading the letter for a second time.

'She's a Neo Death Eater,' Anna presumed and Sky feared Amaris would bite her head off for this thought alone.

But his girlfriend just shook her head, frowning. 'Worse. She's a Neo Death Eater, she's part of the coup and she's going to betray them,' she resumed. 'In fact, she's already betrayed them.'

'What do you mean?' Ruben asked, his mouth full of pizza.

'She's a spy in their rows. Snape knows it. He knew it all the time. Diana told him all about their plans.'

'What?' Romulus exclaimed. The Nova Romans looked stricken.

'Look at that! These are detailed plans of the ministry building!' Eleanor exclaimed.

'Snape is in on their plans?' Anna asked, frowning. 'But why didn't he stop them?'

'He's a former Death Eater, as well!' Ruben pointed out.

'He was a spy in Voldemort's time!' Amaris snapped. 'He was part of the Order of the Phoenix!'

'Well, perhaps he didn't like working for Voldemort, but leading his own coup is another cauldron of potion, isn't it?' Jessica suggested, flipping back her strawberry-blonde hair.

'I don't think it's his coup, Jessica. Why would he send us all these information?' the girl called Jane contradicted. She hadn't said much up to now and blushed when everyone was looking at her.

'I think Jane is right,' Anna said. 'Snape is on our side. And your sister seems to be as well,' she said, looking at Amaris.

Amaris nodded.

'Snape sent me those plans to pass them on to the Order, but they are already gone.'

'The Order can't succeed without these plans. They say exactly which entrances are watched and someone seems to have marked those passages and floors which are safe.'

'You honestly want to go there?' Eleanor asked, her eyes wide. 'They'll kill us!'

'Not if we're faster,' Draco retorted nonchalantly.

'No one has to go,' Anna reassured.

'I already had a look at the plans,' Draco said. 'It should be easy to come in. The Ministry's not quite as protected as it used to be when the plan for the coup was made.'

'When the plan was made?' Sky asked, frowning.

'I happen to know who made these plans,' Draco responded haughtily.

'Don't tell me Diana worked them out!' Amaris exclaimed.

'No, they are from Lucius Malfoy. He developed this plan for Voldemort during the first Wizarding War. The plan never came into action,' Draco explained.

Sky whistled. 'Look who's paid attention in History of Magic.'

Draco was taken aback for a moment but tried not to let them notice anything. He smiled wryly.

'Let me get this right. This plan is from a Malfoy?' Eleasar asked, eyebrows raised.

'It's from a Death Eater who happened to be our grandfather.' Amaris glared dangerously at him.

'I just mean, couldn't your sister have gotten this plan from... say your attic? Found it under Grandpa's old Death Eater cloak?'

Amaris took a few steps towards the brave young man, but Sky held her back.

'Easy, Amy.' His arms held her tight and Amaris stopped trying to wriggle against them.

'He has a point,' Draco remarked. 'Where did these Neo Death Eaters get the exact plans? They are not printed in history books, are they?' The last question was less rhetorical than it seemed to be since Draco didn't know how much of his father's belongings were still at Malfoy Manor.

'I don't think Dad would have kept them,' Amaris said. 'He removed everything that had anything to do with his parents' Death Eater past. And I think the dangerous things were confiscated by the Ministry anyway.'

'It doesn't matter where these plans came from. They've become reality and we need to stop them!' Sky said fiercely.

'So what's our plan, mate?' Ruben asked, looking seriously at Draco.

'The letter gives us some instructions. Diana has provided a few of the cloaks, which the Neo Death Eaters wear, and Snape has hidden them in one of the kitchen drawers here,' Draco explained.

'Snape has access to this place?' Jessica asked, shuddering.

'He's in the Order, Jess!' Ruben said, rolling his eyes.

'So if I got this right, then the plan is to dress up like these Death Eater scum and sneak into the Ministry. And then?' Eleasar inquired.

'The letters say the plan is to bring all the hostages down into the dungeons, our plan's to free everybody. I hope we can still catch up with the Order and inform them of everything. And there's another thing: it'll be difficult to get into the dungeons since the Neo Death Eaters control the elevators with a certain spell. We need to make up something so they'll let us down to the dungeons.'

'That sounds a bit vague for such a risky undertaking,' Eleanor remarked.

'Don't worry. We'll think of something. Could somebody fetch the cloaks in the meantime?' Sky asked.

Jane nodded.

'I'll come with you,' Amaris said. 'I need some parchment and ink, anyway.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Diana immediately recognized the black owl that came floating into the room. It was Amaris' owl Hecate. She wondered how the bird had found her. Owls seemed to have a mysterious sense for finding people, no matter where they were.

The owl came flying towards her, landed on Diana's outstretched arm, and held the small parchment tied to her leg towards her. Cassius seemed to have recognized the owl, too. He stretched his hand out, when Diana had untied the parchment. She just glared at him and opened it, ignoring his request.

My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white!

The single sentence on the parchment was written in Amaris' neat handwriting. Diana was stunned. How did her sister know? Cassius snatched the parchment out of her hands. Diana just stared at him, pale-faced. Her heart was hammering against her chest so loudly that she thought, Cassius could hear or at least see it.

Cassius snorted. Then a triumphant smirk spread over his sharp-featured face.

'Your sister seems to regret that she hasn't joined us,' he said. 'I knew the eldest Malfoy heiress wouldn't refuse to follow her family's true destiny.'

Diana saw her father's head snap up. She knew he had also recognized Hecate. He looked at her horror-stricken and she wished she could tell him what Amaris had really meant. Her sister must have known that Cassius would misinterpret this phrase.

He thought Amaris wanted to express that she was like-minded. That she welcomed what they were doing, but didn't have the courage to fight for it. Diana knew that Amaris hadn't meant that. It was a quote from Macbeth, a Muggle play to which Hermione had once taken the two Malfoy sisters for Amaris' birthday. Amaris later told her that Lady Macbeth was a close relative of the Black family and therefore related to them.

Of course Cassius wouldn't recognize its true meaning, but Amaris knew that her sister did. My hands are of your colour - Amaris' hands were as bloody as Diana's were now. She hadn't stopped them, had known for ages of the Neo Death Eater movement at Hogwarts. But Amaris had chosen to close her eyes and now she was guilty of abetting murder and a coup d'état through nonfeasance. Not only from the legal point of view, but from the ethical one. But I shame to wear a heart so white - the second part said even more about Amaris' feelings at the moment. She was ashamed to have ignored it, yes. But she was also ashamed of not acting like Diana had, even if it had meant for her to become guilty. Amaris didn't want to have a clear conscience; she wanted Diana's heart that had gotten black spots. At least Diana felt like it had.

She was ashamed herself that she hadn't betrayed the plan before something happened. She wished she'd never listened to Snape, who had told her to act as her father had acted when he was a Death Eater.

But Amaris' message told her even more. It gave her hope that she would be helping her now. Her elder sister would come to her aid. After all, shame didn't sit well with Amaris. At least not for long.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~