Harry Potter and the Icemaidens

Hogwarts . . .

"You mean to say that young Grace WANDLESSLY moved a COUCH to catch her brother?"

"Yes."

"And then she -- also WANDLESSLY! -- shattered solid stone with a shove of her hand?"

"Yes."

"And even created a Protego shield -- also WANDLESSLY! -- to protect Neville from the falling debris?!"

"Yes."

Silence fell for a moment as Albus considered that, and then he paced behind his desk for a moment before turning to gaze on Minerva. "And Grace also confessed that she knew about Rose? And that she dreams -- and has done so for quite some time now -- of Rose? As well as Raven, Cassiopeia, Ariel and Charlotte?"

A nod. "Yes, Albus. Even more so, Grace is aware that Rose is currently at a location that cannot be spoken of. I somehow suspect that whatever magic now protects Rose and Harry also shields Rose's friends from possible prying by others."

The headmaster considered that, and then he breathed out, "My word. Ryuuji, what in Merlin's name did you leave us?" He shook his head. "It is now more than a pity that Glaston is dead. To find out something of this nature . . . "

"Some would say it's not a pity, Albus."

He perked. "What do you mean?"

"If he didn't use that spell, none of those girls would be alive, I suspect."

Albus blinked, and then he nodded, his cheeks flaming at his gaffe. "Yes, Minerva, you are quite right about that." He hummed before turning to gaze out his office window at the courtyard between the two main wings of Hogwarts. "And Augusta reported that when she met Cassiopeia and Raven at that levee, she noted that neither of them truly cared for some of the ideas their relatives fought for when they served under Tom?"

"I believe so. Or at least Augusta believes so."

A nod. "We must find a way to protect these girls. Especially the girls related to Tom's followers. Should he ever come back and realise how powerful they are, he will do everything in his power to either make them follow him . . . "

"Or kill them," she grimly finished for him.

A nod. "Unfortunately so . . . "

The door to the office then opened. "Albus."

Albus looked over. "What news, Severus?"

The potions master handed a slip of parchment to the older wizard. Albus took it in hand and looked at it. He then shook his head. "Incredible," he said. At Minerva's look, he added, "Raven is rated at 203, Cassiopeia at 204, and both Ariel and Charlotte are an even 200." He shook his head. "Oh, Ryuuji! What did you give us?!"

"A pity we have no way of communicating with him to ask him," Minerva noted. She had been a second year student when the Traveller had been in his NEWT year. "I do remember he did say once to Glaston and some of his other friends that he would leave a book that would detail all the rune work necessary to form an inter-dimensional gateway like what he used to come here in 1931 and return home in 1939."

"I know," Albus affirmed with a nod. "I actually saw him place that book in the restricted section of the library just after the graduation ceremony, before he boarded the Hogwarts Express to London so he could return to his dimension." He shook his head. "Sadly, the book went missing a few years later. Neither Irma or I could ever trace its whereabouts." A sigh. "A pity, too. I was never quite knowledgeable when it came to runes, but the ones I saw Ryuuji design were just utter works of magical art."

"Albus, did the Traveller ever give you a clue as to where the dimension gate was located?" Severus then asked. "Anything he might have told you?"

Albus hummed, and then he blinked. "Wait a minute . . . " he breathed out, and then he gaped. "Yes! I think he did! I even have pensieve memories of it!"

All three headed out of his office into the antechamber, where the headmaster kept his personal pensieve and a large cabinet of stored memories vials, protected by shatterproof shield spells that could resist even the most powerful magical attack. As Severus moved to get the pensieve set up, Albus undid the protection spells, and then moved the cabinet around. "Ah, here we are!" he then said as he pulled out one particular memory vial. "Is it ready, Severus?"

"Yes, it is, Albus," the potions master said.

The headmaster walked over, undoing the cap on the vial, and then he gently poured the memory into the pensieve bowl. Instantly, the bowl lit up as steam began to billow over it. "There we are," he then said as he placed the vial somewhere safe; he wanted to retain the memory as best as he could. "Shall we go back to 1939?"

"It's my first trip," Severus advised.

"True, my friend," the headmaster noted.

And with that, all three leaned their heads into the large bowl . . .

** ** **

The road between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, Friday 23 June 1939 . . .

"Ryuuji-kun."

The young Oriental man with the vibrant purple-red hair cut very short and the beautiful yet very intensive royal blue eyes tensed on hearing that voice call out to him, and then he turned to gaze at the fellow walking towards him from the gate of the school. "Dumbledore-sensei," he said in his native Nihon-go, and then he switched to nearly accent-less English. "I didn't expect you to be heading to London today, sir."

Albus chuckled as he fell in alongside the other man. "Actually, I was asked by Headmaster Dippet to ensure that you made it to wherever you need to go to return home, Ryuuji," he stated as he stared fondly at the younger man. "You've risked so much these last seven years -- which I actually know are much more given your summer trips as well -- to learn what you did, so it's only right that we make sure you make it home safe."

Ryuuji Hirosaki smiled. "Your concern is welcome, though not necessary. And it might be very risky to you, I'm afraid," he said as they walked slowly down towards the train station. "The place I actually used to come in now is too unstable for me to risk transiting back through, so I'll use a different point of departure." He gave the older man an apologetic bow. "Unfortunately, I regret to say that place is now under a Fidelius charm, so I can't reveal where it is, much less escort you there. Those that own the land around it will not allow it, I'm afraid to tell you. My apologies."

"Oh, don't apologise, please! I fully understand what happens when one is subject to the power of a Fidelius," the transfiguration teacher said, and then he stared intently at the younger man. "They are quite trustworthy, I hope."

"Be assured, sir, they are."

A nod. "Excellent."

"What will happen to Tom?"

A sigh. "I will try to plead again with the Ministry to allow him to stay with a wizarding family, but I strongly doubt I will get anywhere, I fear," Albus confessed. "I do agree with your assessment that Tom may become troublesome -- the accidental magic he demonstrated before he came here at the start of this school year was quite amazing -- but the rules have long been set in stone, I fear."

"A great philosopher of your classical era once proclaimed that an unjust law is no law," Ryuuji warned. "I fear Tom may one day take that idea to heart, then decide to rise up against your society. If that happens . . . "

"It's too early to equate a young boy like Tom Riddle to Gellert Grindelwald, I think," the professor warned with a chuckle, though there was a tremor in his voice. He had been wary of Thomas Marvolo Riddle ever since he had first met the lad at Wool's Orphanage. Still, he had much hope. And he was pleased that an observant person like Ryuuji had also picked up on it. Many of the people who had attended Hogwarts during this time had taken well to the visitor from another dimension, hanging off his every word and action. A lot of that had very easily been transmitted to others, both in Ravenclaw (Ryuuji's house) and among the other houses of Hogwarts. No doubt, if Tom did become troublesome in the future, people would be there and ready to help keep things under control. "Still, there is one last thing I would like to ask you, if I may?"

"Certainly."

"Why did you come here?"

Ryuuji blinked, and then he smiled. Albus Dumbledore had asked him that question on many occasions over the last seven years he had been attending Hogwarts. "Remember when I showed you my memories of my visit to the Mundus Magicus?" he then asked.

Albus perked, and then he nodded. "Yes, that was quite amazing." A pause. "And quite disturbing, too. I can see why you and Glaston both strove to keep what you did during that summer to yourselves. I don't know how people in my society would react if they learned of an entire world full of magical beings." He then gave the younger man a warning look. "And none of them fit our description of 'human.'"

"Hai," Ryuuji said in his native language, and then he sighed. "I too feared that, as did Glaston." A pause. "As did the leaders of the various Tribes we met there. As a matter of fact, many of their leaders are just as concerned of what might happen if they contact you." He waved to the professor -- he had allowed some Western mannerisms to become part of him so he didn't feel he was offending Albus by doing that -- and then he asked, "How will they react to how you treat the magical sentients here? They were happy to see me -- and Glaston -- give them the respect they truly deserve. But are all those of your society cut from the same cloth?"

"Sadly, no." Albus then hummed before he gave Ryuuji a knowing look. "There is a version of the Mundus Magicus in your dimension, is there not?"

A nod. "Hai, there is. The big difference between the Mundus Magicus in my dimension and the one here is this: The worlds in my dimension have been in contact with each other since the time of the Emperor Jimmu."

Albus gaped. "Over twenty-six hundred years?"

"Hai. What is worse, that has caused a great schism in the magical societies of my Earth. There are those like yours -- there's an International Confederation of Wizards there, too! -- who adhere to certain ways of doing magic."

"Wands, you mean."

A nod. "Hai. But there are many other societies -- especially in Japan -- who hold strong ties to the Mundus Magicus." Ryuuji then sighed. "What is worse, the Gellert Grindelwald of my Earth has made an alliance with a great power on the Mundus Magicus. A being calling himself the Mage of the Beginning." He then sighed. "I am very afraid, Professor. An alliance like this could spill out into the normal world . . . " -- Albus knew Ryuuji abhorred the word "muggle" -- " . . . and cause problems for people who don't deserve to have that forced on them. And with what's going on in the normal world, both in Europe and in eastern Asia . . . "

Albus nodded. "I think I'm beginning to understand the need for you to take such broad and deep travels," he then mused. "Is that all your planet is like?"

A shake of the head. "No. There's much more, I fear." Ryuuji then smiled as he gave Albus a knowing look. "Did you ever realise that the man who helped me come here in the first place is five thousand years old?" he then asked.

Silence.

"You're joking," Albus breathed out, his jaw dropping.

"I wouldn't joke about something like that, Professor," Ryuuji stated, and then he sighed. "He even introduced me to someone else. His martial arts student, a woman from Canada. A normal in all respects. Yet she . . . " He paused as he held up an open hand, a galleon coin within it. "She has a device. A device of clearly alien origins. The size of this coin, in fact. Set in a necklace she can wear around her neck, in fact." Ryuuji then stared at Albus. "And it gives her the power of a GOD!"

More silence.

"My word . . . "

A nod. "Hai."

Albus took a moment to consider what Ryuuji just said as they walked into the outskirts of Hogsmeade, slowly joining the other students making their way to the Express for the trip to London King's Cross and their futures. "I do not envy you your future, then," he said as he placed a hand on the younger wizard -- Albus would always think of Ryuuji as that, even if the latter had latched onto the term "magi" to describe what he was -- as they continued to walk towards the train.

"I envy you yours," Ryuuji admitted. "You only have magic to deal with. I will deal with much more. Some things . . . " He then sighed. "Well, they'll have to happen. Too much in too many places have been allowed to build up. Too much anger, too much hate, too much fear. It's going to explode. Change will happen." He then stopped before he turned to face the professor. "It will be terrible. But in the end, I think society -- in all its forms -- will go on. I'll do my best to make sure of it, Professor Dumbledore." He then stepped back as Albus lowered his hand. Standing to attention, Ryuuji then bowed deeply, which Albus immediately returned.

"Doumo arigatou gozaimashita, Dumbledore-sensei."

"Dou itashimashite, Hirosaki-kun." Albus then smiled. "Gambatte."

Ryuuji nodded, and then he offered his hand. Albus gave it a very firm squeeze as his other hand patted the young man's shoulder. "Have a safe trip home."

"I will. May your life be full and fruitful, Professor."

"Yours as well."

A nod. Both then pulled back before Ryuuji turned, walking towards the Express. Albus watched him go, and then blinked as the younger man stopped. "Albus."

The professor perked. "Yes?"

Ryuuji gazed at him. "In case it's necessary and Glaston can't help you," he then said before he smiled. "Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme. Please remember that."

Albus blinked. "The ingredients to an ancient love potion?"

Ryuuji smirked. "Learn to watch the outside world, Albus. You might find the lessons out there beyond the borders of Hogwarts just as interesting."

He then headed off. Albus watched him go . . .

** ** **

. . . as three heads pulled away from the pensieve. As the headmaster and two of his house leaders took deep breaths, Minerva then sighed. "I've never forgotten how handsome that man was," she breathed out, a giddy smile on her face.

"He was clearly a Seer of some sort," Severus concluded.

Albus shook his head. "No, he didn't show the power that Sybill Trelawney and Selena Lovegood's young daughter Luna have, though I suspect he might have later developed such abilities." He ignored Minerva's scowl on his mentioning the divination professor. "Ryuuji was a very well-prepared man. He had to be when he went off on those interesting summer vacation trips of his."

The potions professor hummed. "I see. Well, the clue is easy to understand."

Minerva perked. "What do you mean?"

Severus smirked. "Minerva, haven't you ever heard of the ballad Scarborough Fair?" he asked. As Albus and Minerva gaped, the raven-haired potions master then added, "Two muggle singers, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, did a beautiful rendition of that ballad back in 1968. It's still quite popular on muggle radio today."

Albus hummed. "And there was a magical fair at Scarborough during the time when the muggles held their fair back in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries," he added. "It was when the muggle fair began to decline in popularity that Diagon Alley became the main marketplace for English wizards." A chuckle. "Ryuuji was always a great student of history, even the parts of it Cuthbert Binns never bothered to teach, even when he was still alive." A nod. "Well, let's clean up and get down to the library. We need to find the old location of the magical Scarborough Fair."

"But Albus, Ryuuji warned that the dimensional entrance point at the Fair was too unstable to use," Minerva warned. "And that was FORTY-SEVEN years ago! How . . .?!"

Albus grinned. "Fawkes, of course."

The transfiguration professor blinked, and then she nodded . . .

* * *

Malfoy Manor, Sunday 24 August 1986 . . .

"So you're saying this test proves that both my daughter and my niece are almost as powerful as Dumbledore himself, Severus?"

Severus nodded. "That's correct, Narcissa." He then looked at the two other women in the recreation room of the mansion. "Your daughters are the same."

Helena Crabbe and Phillipa Goyle -- Severus could gladly say that their daughters had taken after them while their sons were near-doubles of their fathers, much like Draco was to Lucius -- both gaped at him, and then they smiled, exchanging a delighted look. They had attended Hogwarts at the same time as Narcissa; all had been one year behind Lucius Malfoy and their then-future husbands. Also like Narcissa, the former Helena Bulstrode and Phillipa Ryan had married the elder Vincent Crabbe and Lance Goyle almost right after graduation. Like many pureblood mothers, Narcissa, Helena and Phillipa had expected to only have one child throughout their lifetime -- it was commonplace these days when it came to pureblood families with a considerable history of marrying close cousins -- and had been ecstatic to give birth to such beautiful daughters almost two years after they had given birth to their sons.

"What do you recommend, Severus?" Helena then asked before she sipped her tea.

"I would recommend you do everything to begin preparing your daughters for formal magical studies as soon as possible," the potions master replied. "Get them wands from the crafter in Knockturn. Given how powerful they can be, the chances are there that they should be able to have full control over their magic much sooner than normal, if they don't have it already." He then chuckled. "It turns out that Grace Longbottom, Frank's and Alice's daughter, already appears to have quite solid control over her own magic." At their questioning looks, Severus explained what Minerva had told him the previous day concerning the incident with her brother Neville.

Hearing that, all three women nodded. "It does explain something else about our daughters," Phillipa stated. Like Helena and Narcissa, she was quite beautiful, almost indecently thin when she was compared to her rotund husband. Despite the many differences between the husbands and the wives, Severus knew that Lance did love his wife very much, as Vincent Crabbe loved Helena and Lucius adored Narcissa. The feelings were quite strongly reciprocated. The men's loyalties to their families had always been stronger than their loyalties to the Dark Lord, even when he was still in a body and they were with him. "Ariel is horrendously overprotective of Gregory. She caught Lance about to use a Cruciatus at Gregory because he had broken his pensive. Lance wasn't able to stop the magic, but when it hit her . . . " She shook her head. "She didn't scream or say anything." As Severus gaped at her -- he knew some of the Dark-aligned families weren't above using the Imperius and the Cruciatus when it came to disciplining children; Severus himself thought the concept was loathsome -- the matriarch of the Goyle family then added, "And the look she gave him afterward . . . " Her voice then trailed off. "I doubt he'll ever do that to either of them again."

"Vince tried to do that to Vinnie once," Helena added. "Before he could even say the word, Lotti appeared right before him, glaring right into his eyes. I swear, he must have soiled his pants, it was THAT fierce!" As Narcissa and Phillipa both laughed, the matriarch of the Crabbes took a deep breath. "Who did this, Severus?"

"What do you mean?" he wondered.

"Severus, we know the concepts as much as anyone else. There was simply NO WAY that Cissa, Lippa and I could have a second child after we gave birth to our sons. And Bellatrix and Alice atop that?!" She shook her head. "One bearing a child while locked up in Azkaban, the other nearly comatose in Saint Mungo's after Bellatrix and her relatives put her there! You just told us what Alice's daughter is capable of doing. How is that possible?! There's no way this could have happened . . .!"

Severus sighed as he considered what to say, and then he took a deep breath. There was no harm in admitting this. "We believe the person responsible for saving all your daughters -- as well as one other we're aware of -- was Glaston Tore."

Silence.

"Glaston Tore. Never heard of him," Phillipa admitted.

"Wait!" Narcissa called out. "I have. Wasn't he Ryuuji Hirosaki's best friend when he came here to study at Hogwarts back before the war with Grindelwald?"

"He was," Severus said as Helena nodded. "We now know the Traveller created a very powerful, one-time use spell he called 'the Lost Child' spell. It couldn't be tested of course, but it's a spell of ultimate sacrifice. Glaston cast it in saving that other child I mentioned to you in 1981 . . . and obviously, that child wasn't the only beneficiary. In fact, she hadn't been even born yet when the spell was cast. It kept her mother alive -- she had been struck down by the Killing Curse -- so the child could develop naturally and be born. On Saint Patrick's Day in 1982, in fact."

Silence.

"You're saying that Rose is Lily Potter's daughter?!" Narcissa gasped.

Helena's and Phillipa's jaws dropped. Severus looked at her, and then he nodded. No doubt, Raven's mother had learned about an "imaginary dream friend" the girl called "Rose" and had just put it all together. "Yes. We learned this right after Harry Potter disappeared. He's been united with Rose wherever they are living now. Remus Lupin is looking after them, along with another werewolf James and Lily befriended -- Nancy Snagge -- and a small group that Glaston took under his charge. I believe there are others there, including the healer Hamilton St. John -- Poppy Pomfrey was his classmate when he attended Hogwarts back in the 1920s -- so there will be no worries about transmission of lycanthropy."

The women took in that in, nodding. They, like he, were Slytherins when they attended Hogwarts. The ability to analyse what was happening around someone, and then plot ways to take best advantage of it, was something the environment of the Snakes' Den ensured would be developed even in the least intelligent person residing there. Which -- if they were anything like their fathers -- would guarantee that the younger Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle wouldn't be academic stars when they finally came to Hogwarts.

"The Ministry won't like that," Narcissa then warned. "Delores Umbridge is passionately anti-lycan and she's got the Minister's ear. If that ever went public, the Aurors would be tearing the whole country apart trying to find Lily's children and get them away from Remus." While she never really liked the man, Narcissa could admire his many good points. And while she didn't like werewolves -- Fenrir Greyback soured her to all of them in the few times she had met the lycan leader before the Dark Lord fell -- she knew Remus would do his best to raise his late friend's children.

And she was glad for that, truthfully. While she did see herself as socially superior to the muggleborns who now lived among wizards and witches, what Narcissa Malfoy -- and Helena Crabbe and Phillipa Goyle as well, not to mention many of the wives and female relatives of hard-core Death Eaters; people like Bellatrix Lestrange, Alecto Carrow and the late Helena Gibbon were exceptions to this rule -- disapproved of was the influx of Muggle social thinking that came with muggleborns every September to Hogwarts. Wizarding society, despite its antiquity when viewed through the eyes of a newcomer, was quite stable. The Death Eaters had, in the beginning (when they were known as the Knights of Walpurgis), fought to ensure strict controls were put in place concerning the influx of outside social thought on British wizarding society and that muggleborns were indoctrinated in wizarding culture before being given the rights of purebloods. And it was a good idea in the end; Lily Evans, for example, had shown her willingness to accept wizarding cultural and social norms when she attended Hogwarts and later married James Potter. It was only the intransigence of people like Albus Dumbledore -- his willingness to open the doors to anyone without any thorough indoctrination into wizarding society -- that drove the Knights into making all-out war on muggleborns.

And that was a tragedy in the making. Narcissa, Helena and Philippa weren't blind. They knew the number of pureblood births was going down. Their own second children were sheer miracles . . . even more so now with what Severus just revealed to them! If they didn't do something soon, it could easily spell the end of wizarding culture as they knew it. What was worse, Lucius and his friends weren't seeing things that way. They didn't see that in muggleborns -- especially muggleborn witches -- that new blood could be injected into the wizarding world to make it grow stronger. All those people saw in the growing number of muggleborns was a dreadful disease that had to be burned out as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Hence Lucius' support for Helena Gibbon's "sacred" mission -- though Narcissa wouldn't dare speak of that part of it in the open -- and the Carrows' backing of Daniel Rosier the previous year.

Which now begged a question . . .

"Was Glaston affiliated with the people who just killed Helena and killed Daniel last year?" Narcissa then asked as she stared at Severus.

The potions master nodded. "We believe so. Romney Marsh was them, too."

Narcissa nodded. "That explains it," Helena noted.

"What do you mean?" Severus asked.

"Why Lotti doesn't like the words 'muggle' and 'muggleborn.' And don't get her started with 'mudblood,'" Helena explained. "When she heard Vinnie say that, she just glared at him so much that he broke down and cried." She tittered; while she could and did use "mudblood" in private as a curse, she felt herself cultured enough to not use it in public. Purebloods were held to higher standards of behaviour, of course.

"Oh, Drake went through the same thing a couple months ago," Narcissa noted. "We ran into that Korean family that moved here just after the Dark Lord's fall. As pureblood as one could be; they could trace back their ancestry almost four thousand years, in fact! And Drake called their eldest daughter -- Aesup, I believe her name was? -- a 'mudblood.'" She then laughed. "She called him a 'mudbrain' right back!"

Laughter filled the room. "I know of the Muns," Severus stated. Like many in England, he tended to pronounce the family name as "moon" instead of keeping the "oo" sound clipped and short though still deep as it was properly pronounced in Chosoun-mal. "Their eldest son, Yongjang, will start his third year at Hogwarts in September. He's a Ravenclaw. Quite smart . . . " -- Which was expected for the people in THAT house. -- " . . . and competent in his potions. His OWLs and NEWTs should be interesting."

"If he's 'competent' to you, Severus, he's brilliant," Phillipa noted. "Are you thinking of taking him on as an apprentice if you get the chance?"

He smirked. "My standards are much higher than that."

The ladies all nodded, giggling. "So how is Rose, anyway?" Narcissa then asked. "What does she look like, anyway? She must be just four or so, right?"

"All I was able to see is a picture," Severus answered. "She looks like Lily did at that age, though she's forced to wear glasses now." He then smiled. "I suspect Raven, Cassi, Ariel and Lotti will know much more about Rose than I."

The women nodded. "Well, thank Merlin that something else of Lily did survive. And that Harry was saved from James' prank," Narcissa mused. While she had long looked down on Lily Potter due to her mundane origins, she had admired the woman for doing all to conform to the standards of the society that she had become a part of -- understandable given the recent revelations concerning the Dursleys -- and standing up for what she believed in. While she suspected Harry and Rose would gladly oppose what the Malfoys believed in -- again understandable given the Dark Lord's actions against their family -- she could find it in herself to respect them as well. After all, the Potters, like the Malfoys, were a Noble and Most Ancient Magical House, the elite of the wizarding world.

Even if politics sometimes put them on opposite sides even to the point when civil war was unleashed, one always respected fellow blue-bloods.

"Agreed." Severus then took a deep breath. "There is a concern I have."

"Being?" Phillipa asked.

"What happens when the Dark Lord returns," he advised. Seeing the three women tense, the potions master gave them a knowing look. "He will return, ladies. Have no doubt about that. Albus believes it and so do I. And when he does, he will learn very quickly of what potential they possess. That will make them even more precious in his eyes than fighters like Cassi's mother. He will do all he can to get them under his control. And with these bonds they have with the daughters of two well-known Light families . . . " A sigh. "Albus is very concerned about this. Whether or not you agree or disagree with him isn't relevant now. Ensuring Raven, Cassi, Ariel and Lotti -- as well as Grace and Rose -- have good childhoods and the freedom to choose which side they will live on is very important to him. And to all of you as well. Agreed?"

They nodded. "All my husband seems to care when it comes to Lotti is that she would make a very good wife for someone," Helena noted. "He hasn't gone out to seek a potential future husband, though that might change in the future. I would prefer that she has the freedom to choose which person she takes on as a life-mate."

"As would I with Ariel," Phillipa added.

"As would I with Raven and Cassiopeia," Narcissa noted. "I don't think Bella or her husband would really see their daughter as anything more than a potential new fighter to serve the Dark Lord." She shook her head as she remembered some of the bloody battles that had rocked the wizarding world during Voldemort's war.

He nodded. "Then let's stay in contact so that I can keep Albus appraised as to how they are progressing. Minerva is watching over Grace. Remus, Nancy and Healer St. John are watching over Rose." He then smiled. "And when 1993 comes . . . "

They all laughed . . .

* * *

Beckery Hill, Monday 25 August 1986 . . .

"Good morning, Master Harry. How do you feel today?"

Harry smiled as he pushed away the blankets from his bed. "I'm okay, Tamara," he said as he stretched himself, and then he grinned on seeing the large breakfast she had brought to his bedroom, along with the potions Doctor St. John prescribed to him. Reaching over to drink them directly -- he only made a face with a couple of them -- he then drank his orange juice before digging into his bowl of cereal. He then noted the formal suit now sitting on a nearby chair. "What's that, anyway?"

Tamara smiled. "Mistress Rose has an audience with the Queen one Monday every month just after breakfast. If she's at school, she always meets Her Majesty privately on the Sunday before the normal meeting time," she stated as she moved to prepare Harry's suit. "All of Her Majesty's Magical Shire Reeves gather with her that day to provide a report on what is happening. As you are her brother and heir of the head of your house and Master Remus is your guardian, you'll be going with her, Master Hamilton and Mistress Nancy to Balmoral Castle today so that you can be presented to her."

Harry stared at her. "Uncle Moony is my magical guardian?"

"That's right. Master Hamilton is Mistress Rose's guardian and Mistress Nancy is the chief constable of the Reevewick; she would be Mistress Rose's replacement in case something happened to her. Now eat your breakfast. We have to go soon."

She popped out of the room. Harry watched her go, and then he gaped. "I'm gonna meet the Queen . . .?" he whispered before his eyes widened, and then he moved to drink the rest of his juice before digging in to what Bessie had made for him . . .

* * *

London, the Ministry of Magic . . .

"Good morning, Amelia. How are you doing today?"

Amelia Bones perked on hearing that voice, and then she nodded pleasantly as Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the telephone booth that connected the Atrium to the alley beside a pub on Northumberland Avenue close to Whitehall, Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament. "Good morning, Albus. I'm quite fine today," the Chief Auror of the Ministry said with a friendly nod as she followed him past the Fountain of Magical Brethren to the nearby lift landings. "Thank you for not interfering with what happened on Friday. I know you'd be curious as to what befell Ms. Gibbon."

"Have you learned what might have killed her?" Albus asked.

She shook her head. "No, our examination -- like what happened to Daniel Rosier last year, it's actually Cornelius' department that's doing the post-mortem -- hasn't found a damned thing. Whoever did this knew how to cover their tracks." Albus was quick to sense the true feelings Amelia felt concerning the death of Helena Gibbon, though she was far too professional to express them in the open. "Whoever these people are, they can mask themselves very nicely. I'd admire them if I didn't want to see them captured and tried for what they did." She gave him a look. "Good luck."

Albus nodded as the lift arrived and Amelia got inside, pressing for her level. He remained in place as the doors closed and the senior Auror went to work. He then perked on hearing a voice noisily exhale, "Oh, damn! Missed her!"

He turned to look. "What seems to be the problem today?"

The person in question was a woman appearing to be in her twenties, currently in a ladies' business suit, the jacket taken off. She was quick to sense who was speaking to her, and then she smiled. "Professor Dumbledore!" she called out with delight, and then she reached out with her hand. "Caroline Edgecombe. I'm a monitor in the Floo Network Authority, Professor. I graduated from Hogwarts back in 1976, sir."

Albus perked as he took the hand. "Ah! I apologise for not recognising you right away, Caroline! Now, what seems to be the problem today?!"

A sigh. "Well, I wanted to speak to Madame Bones concerning some odd things we've just discovered about the Floo network, but . . . " Here, she shrugged.

"Well, perhaps you can tell me and I'll be more than happy to relay that to Amelia," he offered. "Come along, Caroline. We can take the lift up to Level Six; I don't need to be in the Wizengamot chambers for another hour or so."

She nodded, grateful that someone in authority had taken notice of her. They boarded the next available lift for the upper floors of the Ministry. "Now, my dear, tell me what seems to be so interesting today," Albus said. "I understand the people in the Department of Mysteries have developed some new detection spells for the Ministry to use. Your department was one of the ones that benefited, I believe."

"Yes, we were," Caroline said, shuddering with anticipation as the lift doors closed and the car began to ascend. "And once we had them in place, we were able to detect what we THINK is a whole separate floo network operating in Britain!"

He gaped. "Really?! That's odd! Have you been able to . . .?!"

She shook her head. "Not really. Our locator spells that we use to try to track down where the floo portals are aren't strong enough to give us an exact location." A sigh. "Most we can do is at least within a kilometre of where the floo portal is. And we don't have the people we need to go out there and find them."

"Indeed . . . "

The lift came to a stop on Level Six. Both stepped out, and then headed into the offices of the Floo Network Authority. One of the wizards there perked on sensing his subordinate return, and then he turned before his eyes widened on seeing who was with Caroline at this time. "Albus! What are you doing here?!"

"Many apologies for intruding on your work, Wilkie, but Caroline here told me about a most interesting discovery your people just made," Albus said as he nodded to Wilkie Twycross. The man in charge of the Floo Network Authority was a seasoned bureaucrat -- he graduated from Hogwarts back in the late 1920s, which made him a peer of Augusta Longbottom, Poppy Pomfrey and Hamilton St. John -- who was an expert in all forms of magical transportation. He taught Apparation classes at Hogwarts for the older students and was good at it. "So what have you been able to find?"

Wilkie waved to a glowing hologram of the British Isles. "Just in time for the Monday Morning Follies, Professor Dumbledore," one of the wizards that were monitoring the map said. "There . . . it's started!"

Albus watched as small circles of light seemed to appear all over the British Isles -- even Northern Ireland -- and then began to form tracers of energy that all merged together at a point in central-eastern Scotland, west of Aberdeen and not seventy-five kilometres east of northeast from Hogwarts itself. "My word!" he breathed out. "And none of these floo points are registered with you, Wilkie?"

"None whatsoever, Albus. At least according to the official Floo registry," the supervisor reported. "But that's not all. Watch what happens in a few minutes."

Albus nodded . . .

* * *

Balmoral Castle . . .

The butler stood to attention as the floo burned to life. "Announcing the presence of Dame Rose Jamie Potter, Her Majesty's Magical Shire Reeve (Presumptive) of the Loyal County of Somerset," he called out as Rose stepped out of the fireplace, followed by the rest of her entourage. "The Dame Rose's brother, Lord Harold James Potter, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient Magical House of Potter of Taunton Deane. The Dame Rose's guardian, Master Healer and Doctor Major Hamilton Colin St. John, Royal Army Medical Corps, retired. Lord Harold's guardian, Master Remus John Lupin. The Lady Chief Constable of Her Majesty's Loyal Magical Reevewick of Somerset, Lady Auror Nancy Heidi Snagge, retired." He turned and bowed deeply to the new arrivals.

"Welcome to Balmoral, Dame Rose."

Harry and Remus both gaped on seeing who had been awaiting them. "Your Majesty," Rose stated as she and Nancy both curtseyed to the Queen while Hamilton -- who was in a modern military uniform, his medals on his chest and sparkling in the morning light -- saluted. Harry and Remus then caught themselves before both bowed to the lady before them. "We're sorry for intruding on you this day."

The Queen smiled. "Do not apologise to me, Dame Rose. And is this your brother?" she said as she focussed her eyes on Harry. "How are you, Harry?"

Harry bolted up, and then he flushed. "Um, I'm f-fine, Your Majesty."

Rose giggled. "Don't mind big brother, ma'am."

"We will try not to, Dame Rose," the Queen assured her, and then she gazed on Remus. "Mister Lupin. Dame Napaeae speaks of you with great fondness. We are more than pleased that both Dame Rose and her brother will be raised by a very good friend of their late parents. We hope also to speak to you about the state of Our magical subjects forced to become lunar therianthropes, how they live to this day."

Remus blinked, and then he deeply bowed as he gently grasped her hand. While he was a werewolf, he was also descent of an ancient pureblood clan -- despite he himself being a half-blood; his mother was normal-born -- that held close ties to both the magical and normal worlds, thus he was familiar with the proper protocol when dealing with the Sovereign. "Your Majesty is too kind. I would be more than pleased to explain all concerning my brother and sister therianthropes at your convenience."

"We are pleased." The Queen then breathed out. "Well, since you're the last one here -- as usual, Rose . . . " -- Rose giggled in embarrassment on hearing that from the older lady. -- " . . . let's get on to the main meeting room, shall we?"

"Okay!" Rose said.

Harry offered his arm to her. Rose took it as they headed down the hallway, staying beside the Queen as Remus, Nancy and Hamilton remained the proper number of paces behind them. "Your brother is quite the gentleman, Rose," the Queen noted.

"He's learning, Grand-auntie!" Rose stated.

The Queen smiled. They soon arrived in a meeting room where a whole group of other people were awaiting them. Remus was quick to spot Napaeae Runcorn, along with her husband and their daughters, in the group. Napaeae was -- as was Rose, along with a considerable group there -- dressed in black hooded cloaks with the insignia of their home counties, the Royal Cypher and the crossed duelling wands of the various Magical Shire Reeves over their hearts. Everyone else -- including Xenophilius Lovegood, now standing beside the publisher's wife Selena (in a cloak with the symbol of the Magical Shire Reeve of Devon over her heart) and a young girl that had to be their daughter Luna; she was the virtual double of Selena Lovegood -- were in quite plain and modern civilians; there wasn't a single wizard's robe or more out-of-date dress in sight. As the herald at the doorway announced the arrival of the Sovereign, everyone there bowed or curtseyed to her as a trumpet blared a fanfare in the background.

"Be at ease," the Queen said as Rose's party made their way to join the others while Rose herself joined the other Shire Reeves to form a school circle before their Sovereign. "We are once again more than pleased that you all can spare your time to join Us and report to Us on the state of Our magical subjects and the many species that call Our Realm their home. Before we begin, Dame Wilma, will you be so kind . . .?"

Wilma Skegness bowed her head. "Of course, Your Majesty."

She drew her wand and aimed it at a corner of the room.

"Gunjun: Transporto Porta Evanesco!"

* * *

To be continued . . .