Slytherin's Warning

6 - The Brothers Black

"Walburga, it's good to see you. I trust you are well?"

"Indeed."

"And the boys?"

"I have no children."

-Caught on a floating recorder at the 1980 Ministry Christmas Ball (it also caught the Minister accidentally introducing his wife to his mistress. The next day's Prophet sold a record number of copies).

He'd only seen the adult Weasleys a few times, at King's Cross and the like. But Ginny was one of the most popular girls at Hogwarts. A large part of that came from her skills as a Seeker and a Chaser. Quidditch players were always mini-celebrities in the student body, and very popular. She was pretty and did fairly well in her classes, though not well enough to make the Ravenclaws jealous and irritable. And she was Potter's girl.

The Dark Lord would kill everyone Potter cared about. Draco had always known that. He'd seen Potter laughing with his friends at Hogwarts, the mudblood and weasels and the squib, and been darkly amused, knowing it would not last. But he'd spent most of the past year terrified that his own mother was about to be killed. He'd never lived with that sort of fear before. He had a feeling that, were he to meet the Weasel in that moment, not only would he not taunt the other boy, he wouldn't even be able to look Weasley in the eye.

He read the stories again. There was barely enough of Nott for the Aurors to identify him. A Portkey sent the body to the Ministry atrium during a press conference, a clear message to those who would deny the Dark Lord. And the Weasleys--there was blood on the floor that did not belong to either of the victims. They had fought back. And the Dark Mark, blazing overhead.

Did Lupin know? Perhaps that was why he'd been delayed. And that brought another thought: even if Lupin and Potter weren't as close as Draco suspected they were, Lupin was in the Order of the Phoenix. He would be a target, too. And what would that mean for Draco?

"Have you seen this?" he asked the next morning, sliding the paper towards Lupin's side of the table. Lupin took it and glanced over the headlines. He looked sad, but not surprised, so he probably already knew about the Weasleys. "Nott was in my House," Draco added.

"Yes, I remember. He was quiet, a bit standoffish, if I remember correctly."

"Yes...."

"He did good work in my class."

"Well, he wasn't a friend or anything."

Lupin looked up from the newspaper then and studied Draco. "Yet you still feel his loss."

Draco opened his mouth to disagree, but changed his mind. "Maybe a little." He gestured to the other headline. "Does Potter know?"

Lupin sighed. "I wasn't the one to deliver the news, but yes, he does." He threw the newspaper away.

On July 29th there was a knock on the front door. Draco wore the Glamour all the time now. When they had the option of disguising his features, to do otherwise seemed foolish. He put down his book and waited for Lupin to emerge from the office, watching as the older man walked to the door. His face bore a new scar from the full moon, but other than that he was recovered.

There was a woman on the other side of the door. She was fairly short, and had such long white hair her braids dragged on the ground behind her. She held out a roll of parchment. There was writing at the top, printed in large blocky letters. "Esmeralda Nettle. Lady Longbottom tells me you need a new wand."

"Do come in," said Lupin, stepping back from the door. "This is Jacob."

Instead of speaking, the old witch pulled her wand and jabbed it at the parchment, causing more words to appear. "Glamours interfere with the selection process. And before you ask, I took a vow of silence years ago, after Grindelwald killed my husband."

Lupin considered the former and tactfully did not comment on the latter. "It's important to Jacob's safety that he stay disguised."

Another flick of the wand. "I take the confidentiality of my customers seriously. None of this blabbing about all my other wands that Ollivander does. I'll sign a magical contract attesting to that, even if that boy is actually He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself." A pause. "He isn't, is he?"

Lupin smirked. "Not quite."

After Nettle signed a magically binding contract, Lupin removed the Glamour. If the wandmaker was surprised by his new appearance, she didn't show it. An enchanted tape measure began its work and Draco read on the parchment, "Your previous wand was...?"

"Elder and dragon heartstring."

"Yes, dragon heartstring is a good match for you, young Dragon. But Elder? Hmm...." Draco gave the old witch a sharp look at the reference to his real name, but she didn't seem to care, so he said nothing.

Abruptly the tape measure rolled up and flew into Nettle's hand. She nodded a few times as though it was talking to her, then drew a sparkling circle in the air with her wand. Reaching inside the circle, her hand disappeared, and a moment later reappeared with a large leather case. She dissolved her dimensional circle and opened the case, revealing several wood cuttings. Two gleamed almost white, five or six were dark brown, and the rest had a rich red hue. "Which one?"

Draco reached for the first piece, but Nettle drew his gaze back to her parchment. "You don't need to touch them. Just look about them. Think about how you feel when you cast spells. Then tell me which one."

Draco took a step back and tried to do as she requested. Lupin looked curious, too. After a minute or so, Draco felt his attention drift to one of the pieces. Yes. That one. It was one of the reddish ones. He indicated it.

"Almond! Excellent choice, child. Almond calls to those with a very sweet natural being. Yes, yes, aspects of fruitfulness and virginity as well."

Well, fruitfulness wasn't too bad; he was expected to produce at least one male heir. But the other? "I'm not a virgin!" He caught Lupin hiding a smile and that just irritated him more. He wasn't "sweet," either!

Nettle snapped her attention back to Draco and quickly wrote, "Sorry, child. It doesn't mean you'll stay a virgin or even that you are one, just is associated with cleanliness and purity."

Like purity of blood? Maybe it was alright then.

"Almond also aids in self-protection. And your dragon heartstring has aspects to counter these. Yes... this will be a good, well-balanced wand." She closed the case and put it away as writing appeared rapidly on the parchment. "All my wands are crafted in my workshop by hand. The length and width are measured to the 60th of the inch to give you a wand performing like no other you've ever owned. This order comes to twelve Galleons."

Lupin sighed and reached into the pocket of his robes, coming up with seven of the large gold coins. He went into his office and came back with the rest of the money, counting out the last Galleon in Sickles. Draco was embarrassed, even though he'd already known Lupin was poor. "Thank you for your business," wrote Nettle. "Your wand will be owled out in two to two and a half weeks. Good day!"

"Good day," Lupin returned. He stood in the open doorway watching Nettle until she was past the ward boundaries and Disapparated. Then he turned to Draco. "I'm making a very large leap of faith here, getting you a wand."

"Why are you then?" Draco challenged.

"Because Augusta was right. Times are far too dangerous for anyone to go without a wand. You need only look at the newspaper to realize that."

"You think I'll attack you and run away?"

Lupin's eyebrows rose. "I've told you before that you're free to go when you wish."

"Or I might attack the Longbottoms."

"Are you trying to persuade me I shouldn't let you have the wand?"

Draco crossed his arms. "I'm just trying to understand."

"You're a Slytherin, Mr. Malfoy."

"Meaning what?" That came out more defensive than Draco intended.

"Meaning, self-interest is what concerns you. What advantage would attacking Neville and his grandmother serve?"

"It might please the Dark Lord." It was the first time he'd brought up the Dark Lord with Lupin.

Lupin sighed. "It might. Are you willing to stake your life on the odds that it will?" Draco had no answer to that. But Lupin wasn't finished. "You are not a killer, Mr. Malfoy, and I refuse to see another innocent sent to Azkaban. But neither are you for the Light, so I cannot offer you the resources of the Order. I will not send you away when you have nowhere else to go. That leaves--here." He headed back towards his office, pausing before he went inside. "And Mr. Malfoy? Rest assured that should you harm the Longbottoms and run, I will find you." It was a plain statement of fact.

Draco shivered days later just remembering that flat tone. No, there was no need to attack the Longbottoms. Once he had his new wand, he could start practicing. Training himself. Then, he'd do something that in one act showed the Dark Lord that not only was Draco with him, but had also overcome his weakness.

Now that he had a real plan, it was torture waiting for his new wand to arrive. He'd already finished all the books he'd originally picked out but two. One of course, was the satire he couldn't bring himself to finish. The other was the box with theories about the Dark Lord. He'd looked at it a little. It wasn't one long scroll, but rather a collection of essays, each offering the author's ideas and theories.

He'd read the introduction, which was penned by Headmaster Dumbledore... former Headmaster Dumbledore. All the essays were written by members of the Order of the Phoenix. The first essay was by a runes expert called Elphias Doge. Draco only managed the first paragraph, where Doge explained that he would be investigating runes and that his essay would thus only shed light on a single aspect of the Dark Lord's efforts. After that, Draco was completely lost and set the papers aside.

He wasn't sure why he wanted to understand what Doge--whoever he was--was talking about. A part of him was afraid if he understood how the Dark Lord became invincible, the other wizard would not be as mysterious and awe-inspiring to him. After all, he'd been brought before the Dark Lord at the start of the previous summer along with other Death Eater-hopefuls. They'd listened to a Song of Slytherin that in a strange way echoed the annual Sorting Song at Hogwarts, and the Dark Lord demonstrated his power in an unforgettable way. But he hadn't explained how he accomplished what he had, so perhaps he didn't want his followers to know.

So far, however, the new knowledge only made Draco even more awed by the Dark Lord. Draco was only a year from finishing school, took Ancient Runes, and did quite well. Yet he scarcely understood a word of the essay, and that comprised only a tiny part of what the Dark Lord had accomplished. So Draco found himself looking over the bookshelves again, paying more attention to the textbooks this time. Sure enough, there were several books about runes.

And... there! Advanced Rune Translation. That was one of his textbooks last year. If nothing else he was familiar with the book, and it would make a good starting place. He opened the book and it SHRIEKED at him!

Stunned, Draco slammed the book shut, biting back his own cry. A moment later Lupin burst out of his office, wand drawn. "What is it?" He stopped short when he saw Draco.

Embarrassed now, Draco said, "It was the book. Someone hexed it to scream when opened."

Lupin seemed to be fighting a smile. "Oh, I'd say someone did more than that."

Confused, Draco looked down at the book in his hands, which were darkened by the Glamour of course... there was a bit of colour in his peripheral vision. Colour where there should be none. Because the cottage was so small, a few steps took him into the bathroom. "Well," said the mirror cheerfully. "That's a new look for you, laddy."

A clown face. In the fraction of a second the book had been open, he'd gotten short curly hair the colours of the rainbow, bright red circles on his cheeks and a violently purple balloon-like nose. "What the hell!" Draco swore, dropping the book. He spun to face Lupin, who really had no right at all to look so amused, and demanded, "Turn me back!"

Lupin cleared his throat. "Better to tackle the book first, I think. The someone who set this prank wouldn't make the effects that easy to get rid of." He picked the book up and headed back into the main room, setting it on the table. First, he carefully examined the book. His smile had faded, an intent look taking its place. Then wand at ready, he opened the cover.

Immediately the book started shrieking again, and the same clown hair, nose and makeup appeared on Lupin. Draco covered his ears, but it didn't seem to bother Lupin, who looked thoughtful for a moment, then started what Draco could only assume was a long string of incantations, since he couldn't hear the other's voice. And as he lowered his wand, the screaming stopped... only to be replaced with a horribly off-key yodeling, just as ear-splittingly loud. In that instant the clown getup also disappeared, to be replaced with a cowboy hat, neckerchief, spurs, and a piece of hay between their teeth. Draco groaned, spitting out the hay, but Lupin actually grinned before lifting his wand to try again.

The bloody book effectively held them hostage for nearly three hours. The book whistled, told dirty jokes, sang an aria, played a tango, and made a sound like clapping hands, a doorbell, a phoenix trill, a church bell, and a waterfall, before closing with belching sounds. All the sound effects were the same volume. And each was also accompanied by a different visual effect as well.

They cycled through skimpy fig leaves, cat ears (which were involved in one of the jokes. Draco had never wished to be obliviated before), tuxedos, flamenco dresses (complete with a flower behind one ear), a Quidditch jersey--for the Harpies!--a house elf towel, red and gold feathers, a monk's robe with rosary, swimsuits and for the finale, some kind of bizarre Halloween costume that combined a grim (from black fur everywhere to a shaggy tail) and a deer (with antlers and hooves in place of hands and feet). It was difficult for Lupin to hold his wand with his hoof, which meant listening to someone exuberantly belching for an especially long time.

In the wake of that ordeal, the house's normal silence seemed bizarrely loud. "What the bloody hell was that?" Draco finally asked. Lupin was silent for a moment, looking at the closed book on the table, almost sad. But when he turned to Draco, there was a hint of humour in his eyes.

"That... that was the work of your great uncle."

At first, Draco didn't completely process the words. Once he had, he said, "I don't have any great uncles." He'd collapsed onto one of the kitchen chairs midway through the prank and Lupin now sat down as well.

"Perhaps not on your father's side; I confess to not knowing the Malfoy family tree. But your mother has two male cousins. Or rather, had."

Draco thought of the family tapestry. Although he'd studied it many times, he'd generally traced directly back, not gone in side directions looking at cousins once removed and the like. But he would think he'd remember cousins from only one generation back! "No, she doesn't," he argued.

"They were both blasted off the family tapestry, I imagine. One was Sirius Black."

Sirius Black he knew about. In third year he'd thought the escaped convict a pureblood ally, but later learned otherwise. It wasn't a surprise Black was stricken from the family tapestry. But his mother had always implied Black was a far more distant relation.

"And the other?"

"His brother Regulus."

"Never heard of him."

Lupin sighed. "Regulus was the younger brother. He did everything Sirius refused to do; sorted into Slytherin, upheld the Black family beliefs, and became a Death Eater right out of Hogwarts. We'll probably never know the details of what happened, but apparently he tried to leave Voldemort's service. Voldemort killed him for it, of course. You would have been a few months old, I think." He ignored the way Draco flinched each time he said "Voldemort."

Draco considered this. "So... Sirius Black did this?" It didn't make much sense to him.

"Sirius, James Potter and I were best friends at Hogwarts, along with another boy."

"Who?"

"That's a story for a different day. James and Sirius were both exceptionally brilliant students, and turned to pranks as an outlet for their boredom. The only comparison I can make is to the Weasley twins, except there are only two of them. There were four of us. And we had James' invisibility cloak as well. You've undoubtedly been aware of Harry using it."

"Yes...."

"After Voldemort was reborn at the end of your fourth year, Albus decided to reform the Order of the Phoenix, and set Sirius and I to finding and informing everyone. We spent a great deal of time here, but I didn't allow Sirius outside. The Ministry knew we were old friends and watched the house. Sirius got bored. Very, very bored."

"I see."

"Once he got a new wand he also had to get used to doing magic again, so I encouraged any magic that left my house standing. I thought I'd found all the traps he'd set, but obviously not. He knew I rarely open that book, and that it would be a long time before his prank was discovered."

"It wasn't very funny."

"Pranks rarely are to their victims. I'm sure he was laughing, wherever he is now. And funny or not, that was a nice piece of magic. Tell me, Mr. Malfoy, how did the prank work?" That was Lupin's "teacher voice." Draco decided to humour him.

"Well, lots of books have sounds embedded in then, either a single page or the whole book. But he must have shielded it from Finite Incantum and other simple stopping spells. Stopping one sound triggered another."

"And the visual effects?"

"They must have been tied to the sounds. When each sound first began, it triggered a silent clothing transfiguration spell on any person in the room." Draco thought over what he'd just said. "You're right, it was pretty advanced magic. A waste of his skills though."

"All our former teachers would undoubtedly agree." Lupin reached out and ran a hand down the book's spine before picking it up. Then he opened it, and Draco automatically winced in anticipation of shrieks or worse. But the book was silent.

Lupin closed it again and offered it to Draco. "I believe you wanted this." Draco took it, surprised by the momentary sadness he saw flash across Lupin's features. He had the sudden thought that had he not been there, Lupin would have let his dead friend's prank play longer, regardless of the noise.

For some reason, he didn't feel much like reading runes anymore.

Note: I spent quite a while trying to figure out how much to have Draco know about Sirius and Regulus (Not having access to the books made it a bit harder). I hope the way I played it makes sense.