The Awakening of a Magus

The Awakening of a Magus
Chapter 40 - Sat, Aug 5 - Day 16
Discoveries and Explanations

"She was some sort of cousin of yours, wasn't she Sirius?" Addie Periwinkle asked. The reporter was sitting in a quiet corner of the Leaky Cauldron having a late lunch with the two surviving Marauders plus the Magus Discovery Team. "Though as I recall, Narcissa never admitted as much."

"No," Sirius replied with a sigh, then a small, wicked smile began to light up his face. "Remember how I used to drive those two girls crazy, Mooney? I used to call Narcissa 'Cissy' and Bellatrix 'Trixie' and always tried to hex them with some sort of cutsie appearance. They just detested me!"

Sylvia and Erasmus looked at their co-worker, then at each other. "Why do I get the feeling," Sylvia muttered, "that this guy is dangerous for reasons besides being an escaped convict?"

"That's 'ex-escaped-but-finally-proved-innocent-convict' to you!" Sirius huffed.

Addie looked around the table. "They weren't called the Marauders for nothing, you know," she said with a smile.

"Well, I guess we're just doomed to be between generations ... after the Marauders, but before the Gryffindor Trio," Erasmus sighed with fake disappointment. "But Remus, you look too ... innocent to be a Marauder."

With a sly twinkle, the werewolf replied, "Protective coloration. Everyone expected James and Sirius to be the troublemakers. I could get away with more because I didn't look the part."

"Addie, were you ..." Sylvia began.

Acting overly dramatic, sniffing a bit, Addie cut in, "No ... I was never ... privileged to be a Marauder. I just wasn't ..." looking at Sirius and Remus '... what's the word ... *sniff* ... demented enough. Even though I did cover up for them almost as often as Lily did and probably knew all their darkest secrets." Addie ended with a martyred expression that had the rest of the table choking on laughter.

Sirius thought to himself, She's right ... she could have been an honorary Marauder, and was even less likely than Mooney to be suspected. Padfoot, my man, you've been blind in many ways where this girl ... lady is concerned. She's talented, trustworthy, stubborn, smart (even if she does look at you as though you're worth caring for) ... and influential as a journalist ... well respected ... /* Mooney, I just thought of something ... Arthur and Harry both could use a good propaganda minister ... what do you think of Addie? You know her better than I do ... */

/* I agree totally. I think we should tell her everything that's going on and get her opinion on the best way to handle the publicity. I wonder if Arthur would want to hire her. Let's ask the others ... */ and Remus quickly sent a thought-burst to Erasmus and Sylvia about the idea. They in turn sent the idea to Arthur and Harry, who were still at the Weasley picnic, and who agreed wholeheartedly. Harry even sent that he had been planning for Darius to have a long talk with her, but hadn't found the opportunity.

Addie, being the sharp-eyed journalist she was, glanced around the table at her suddenly-quiet companions. Hmm ... looks like mindspeech ... including Remus ... what are they up to? As soon as they seemed to 'come back', she asked, "Ok, people, what is going on? Remus, are you in the Circle, too?"

He looked startled, and sheepishly nodded. "She's a sharp one, just like we all agreed. Who's the best one at a silencing charm? We have a lot to talk about." To his surprise, before any of the others could reply, Addie herself had her wand out, placing a strong charm around their corner of the dining room.

"It's something you learn early in my business," Addie said matter-of-factly. "When talking with informants. Now ... tell me ..." she smiled.

Sylvia began with the Ministry version of the Magus discovery, telling most of the truth, without telling that Harry Potter was Darius, or of those powers that exceeded even Magus standards. Erasmus, Sirius, and Remus took turns bringing matters up to date. They told how both Arthur Weasley and Darius had agreed that they wanted her to be their voice to the press, since they could trust her to report honestly, and to keep secrets when necessary.

After digesting this information for a few moments, Addie asked, "Has Dumbledore started his resistance again, his ... Order?" She looked at Sirius, then at Erasmus and Sylvia. He nodded, realizing that she wondered if they knew about it.

"Yes, the Magus Circle knows about the Order and the Order knows more than most about the Circle," Sylvia answered. "And we know that most of the Order were and are animagi," glancing at Sirius. Addie smiled and nodded to convey that she knew Sirius was an animagus. "This time around, though, I think the Order will have more non-animagi. There is some overlap in the two groups, but not completely. So, are you 'in', Addie?" Sylvia smiled at the reporter, who nodded crisply.

"Try to keep me out now," she said with a grin. "So, tell me what's coming up in the next few days." They proceeded to tell her about the arrival of the American, former Order member Amelia Crafter, and her niece; how Amelia had been on holiday in England 15 years ago, a honeymoon with her new husband Jacob Crafter, and her brother and sister-in-law, Evan and Anna Dragonrider; how a Death Eater attack had left her a widow and the sole blood relative of a 1 year old niece in America, who had been left with close friends; how Amelia had made the hard decision to stay in England to help avenge her family and the other families who had been harmed by the Dark Lord by joining the Order of the Phoenix in her animagus form of a sparrow. She had finally returned home to assume guardianship of her niece, Rachel a little more than a year later, November 1981, after Voldemort had disappeared, courtesy of The-Boy-Who-Lived. And that she would be taking over the Potions job, as well as instituting a physical training program for the students to prepare them for the coming battles.

Sirius looked at Remus and asked silently, /* How about Wednesday night? Are you willing to have an audience for the transformation? If this works ... no, I'm sure it will since Harry's sure, if we can announce that Darius has a kind of cure for werewolves, we might be able to keep them from siding with the Death Eaters ... what do you think? */

In answer, Remus quietly told Addie that Darius believed Remus could be freed of the werewolf curse, transforming it to animagus ability. Addie looked at her friend with tears in her eyes and hugged him gently. "I would be honored to be present, Remus. Are you sure it's alright with Darius?"

"I'm sure he would say it's my decision, but I'll ask." Remus went slightly vague as he asked Harry about an audience for the transformation. As expected, he answered that if it was ok with the werewolf, it was ok with him ... he'd just do it as Darius instead of as Harry.

As Sylvia indicated the silencing charm could come down, Sirius signaled to Tom the bartender for a round of drinks.

"A toast!" he said, gazing affectionately at their new colleague. "To friends and the future!"

The visiting Aurors still weren't used to the idea that some people could apparate into Hogwarts, so they were startled when Arthur Weasley suddenly appeared before the headmaster's desk. The deputy minister was quickly briefed on the ritual that had apparently been used against him.

Draco and Harry had been reviewing the Scanner's impressions and discussing how to get more information. "Harry, let's see if I can focus just on sound instead of sight on that ritual echo," Draco said wearily. "We need more information, and the feeling I have about this ritual is not good."

Draco moved to a straight-backed chair, and Harry stood behind him, hands on the Slytherin's shoulders. As he settled into a light trance, for several long moments, there was only the sound of slow breathing. Just as Moody was about to interrupt, Draco's voice began to speak, but it wasn't his voice exactly, but a harsh unfamiliar whisper.

"Blood of the caster, blood of the master, seek him and find him, binding him faster ... Iugum Inservio." The voice trailed off and Draco slumped in the chair, panting.

"What?" Arthur said, shakily. "The Yoke of Slavery ritual ... I don't feel any different, and you would have heard from Molly if I was acting strangely."

Moody was looking at Arthur with suspicion. "That's one of the darkest possession and mind control rituals around. I don't think we need to guess just who 'the master' is."

Albus quickly took over. "Harry, you know what Voldemort's magic is like from your experience with releasing Severus from the Dark Mark. I need you to thoroughly examine Arthur to see if the ritual was at all successful. Draco, I need you to Scan him for Dark Magic residue."

A very pale red-headed deputy minister sat quietly, trembling slightly, as the Magus and the Scanner conducted their examinations. In addition, Alastor Moody brought out his own gadgets for detecting the presence of Dark Magic. The others observed quietly, trying to conceal their worry. As the minutes ticked by, the tension in the room mounted. Finally, both Draco and Harry came back into focus, looked at each other, shared results via mindspeech, then turned to Arthur and Dumbledore, saying, "Nothing."

Arthur slumped in relief. "Nothing? It didn't work? Praise heaven!"

Severus queried, "No trace of the spell, or no effect?"

Harry looked at Draco, who answered for them. "No effect. There are slight traces of the spell hitting, and hitting hard, but it didn't take. It's almost as though ... " Draco looked thoughtfully at the Circle members, then at the Aurors, looking for something only he could 'see'. "I think it's the Circle bond. It protects those in the Circle from any form of mind control."

"Bloody convenient, if true," muttered Moody. "How can we be sure?"

Kingsley answered, "How else? Experiment. Tonks, Arthur, during training, I was particularly effective at casting the Imperius. Are you willing to let me have a go at you both? To make things interesting, Tonks, you fight the spell, and Arthur, try not to fight it."

With their agreement, the Auror brought out his wand, pointed it at his colleague, saying "Imperio!" After a visible moment of struggle, Tonks began to look around the room in a vague manner. Sighting Severus Snape, a coy smile appeared on her face as she walked slowly up to him. Snape gave Kingsley a look that warned of serious consequences if things got out of hand.

Tonks walked up to Snape, put her arms around his neck, saying, "Hey, Sevvie!" and was just about to kiss the man, when she blinked, dropped her arms, and turned on her fellow Auror. "Oh ... just you wait, Shacklebolt. Bloody Hell, you're good." Turning to the Potions Master, she muttered, "Sorry, Snape. Couldn't help it."

Most of the people in the room were doing their best not to laugh out loud, trying to decide who was more unsettled, Snape or Tonks. Dumbledore then commented, "I think we have sufficient proof that Kingsley can properly cast that spell. Now, I believe it's Arthur's turn."

Snape and Arthur looked at each other, and Snape said icily to Kingsley, "You send Arthur after me, you take your life into your hands, Auror."

"I wouldn't dare!" Kingsley laughed. "However ... " The Auror looked at the deputy minister carefully, decided on his directive, then intoned, "Imperio!"

Arthur looked around in confusion. "Did I do something that I don't remember? What's going on?"

Even though this was the aim of the experiment, everyone in the room was stunned. Kingsley whispered, "You should have stood up and started singing, 'I've Got a Loverly Bunch of Coconuts', but ... it just didn't get through. Malfoy?" he asked the Scanner for his impressions.

"It wasn't repelled, it just sort of ... melted away ... dispersed. Like the ritual, there is a faint residue, but no effect." Draco sighed. "I think it's safe to say, tentatively, that the Circle bond offers at least some protection in the area of mind control spells. I don't know if it would hold up to a direct spell by Voldemort himself," a bit of flinching even from the Aurors at the Dark Lord's name, "but anything less won't get through."

Kingsley glanced between Harry and Dumbledore. "I would recommend that you keep that information secret. However, I'd suggest looking into some kind of trap spell or alarm that can record any attempt made. Draco, are you able to identify the spellcaster from the residue?"

"It's very faint ... not enough as is. Harry, suppose we work together on the trap spell to see if we can 'collect' the residue enough to identify it?" Draco's plan was accepted immediately. "Now, I think there's a small matter of security issues regarding Circle business, such as the identity of the Magus and this resistance the Circle members have. /* Headmaster, are the Aurors part of the Order or will other spells be needed? */ Draco sent to Dumbledore.

Aloud, Albus answered, "Alastor was part of the original Order, so the old Sodalis will be sufficient. Kingsley and Dora will be part of the Order, but will need lesser security spells until the new Quadralis is formed next week. I had already begun the framework for both of them. It only remains to identify the secrets that will be protected by those spells."

Looking at the Aurors, Dumbledore continued, "Have all of Draco's tests been completed to your satisfaction?" His tone of voice indicated that he would be highly displeased if the answer was negative. He felt Draco had been put through quite enough, even if he hadn't been dealing with shock and grief. The Circle members were aware that the convulsions were not the only side effect that Draco had experienced ... there was also severe emotional trauma from the isolation based on previous abuse, but they wouldn't humiliate Draco by sharing that outside those Circle members present.

Kingsley, as Head Auror (even though Moody had more tenure) answered decisively, "We will be recommending immediate certification to the Minister. I will, in fact, attempt to convince Fudge that phase two is completely unnecessary, but I probably only have a 50/50 chance of doing that. Draco," he addressed the Scanner with sympathy, "if I cannot bypass the second testing, will you be up to another workout by Monday or Tuesday?"

"If I don't have to go through the Nolo again, I'll be fine. If they will require isolation, I'd like a couple more days, if possible." Draco had, on the surface, pulled himself together, but the Circle members knew he was still very shaky.

"Deal!" said Kingsley. "First choice is no test. If another test is required with isolation, I'll tell them no sooner than next Friday. If no isolation, I'll tell them Wednesday.

"How about Wednesday or Monday instead ... I'd like to get this over with," Draco counter-offered.

He's tough, I've got to say that for him, Kingsley thought to himself. "Done. Moody, Tonks, I believe we're done here. Shall we go back and prepare that report? We should also report that Nott attempted the Yoke of Slavery ritual against Arthur, but for security reasons, we can report the ritual was flawed and the Magus was able to counteract the effects that did get through. Does that sound reasonable to everyone?" All present agreed.

As Tonks prepared to leave, Draco said, "Well, cousin. We should probably get to know each other better, since I've joined you and Sirius as Black-Family-Outcasts."

Tonks smiled and shook hands with Draco, saying, "It couldn't happen to a nicer guy!"

(to be continued)