Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Meddling with Darkness	By : zoy_grey Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 32786 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 11
Disclaimer: I do not own nor make profit off of JK Rowling's world of Harry Potter, the characters or the timeline. Though I do own the plot that I came up with in this story.

Chapter List
- 28
- 29
- 30
A/N: Sorry for the delay,but I had to go abroad for a week and didn't have much time to update. But here it is...the next chapter. A bit more background story for the upcoming events, but don't get discouraged...a bit more Draco and Orion is coming after this chapter :D
Chapter 29
Like every other morning, Arthur Weasley flooed to the Ministry and headed to his office. Recently, he has been going to work earlier than usual, due to increasing number of visitors. There wouldn’t be anything out of ordinary about it, but the last few weeks there have been more and more people coming to the Ministry filing all sorts of complaints. The result was that almost every department had twice or even thrice as much work as they usually had. The situation was slowly starting to get out of control and many Ministry employees were more or less openly saying that Fudge should resign if he cannot get a grip on what was going on.
“Good morning Amos,” Arthur politely greeted his neighbour, who didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.
“Maybe to you Arthur, but it definitely won’t be a good day for me,” the wizard looked one last time at the growing number of visitors in the main hall, sighed heavily and followed Mr Weasley to the elevator.
“What seems to be the problem? We’ve been getting more complaints lately.”
“You saw the angry witches and wizards in the hall. I will have to deal with at least one fourth of them again,” Mr Diggory sighed exhausted. “I’m sure even you will be getting more complaints in your department. It seems as if everyone has gone crazy this summer. I’ve been getting so many reports of magical creatures attacking people out of the blue. Both wizarding and Muggle folk have been attacked…I’m telling you Arthur, it’s crazy.”
“I thought there were just a few incidents in Norfolk and Suffolk,” said Arthur surprised. He read in the Daily Prophet about some Hippogriff that attacked a group of magical children, as well as grindylows that drowned two Muggle siblings.
“It’s far worse than that I’m afraid. There have been more and more incidents like that happening all over the country. The lesser complaints start with Muggle houses being infested by pixies. We also got a few reports of erklings hurting children in the woods. But recently there have been also cases of hippogriffs and fire crabs getting dangerously close to the residential areas. To make things worse,” Amos leaned closer to the other man and whispered. “Just last Friday, an acromantula killed a young half-blood witch in Yorkshire and we also got a report of hebridean dragons roaming outside not far from Muggle villages. The MacFustys were already called in for a hearing, but they claim it’s not their dragons that have been flying freely.”
“In my department the situation is no better,” said Mafalda Hopkirk. She joined them in the elevator and overheard parts of their conversation. Normally, she wasn’t very eager to discuss professional matters with people from outside of the Ministry or even employees from other departments, but the situation they were facing at the moment, was seriously getting out of control; everyone was stressed out, because they needed a strong leader to take responsibility, find a solution to their problems and lead them into a better tomorrow; Cornelius Fudge however, was definitely not that leader. “The amount of reports that I’ve been receiving lately on underage witches and wizards who were using magic outside of Hogwarts is overwhelming. It’s almost as if they don’t know at all that it’s forbidden to do that. Just yesterday, Peasegood was complaining how unbelievably many Muggles he had to obliviate the last month, because people just keep casting spells left and right with no consideration of their surroundings.”
Mr Weasley kept on listening to the other two talking about the odd incidents, but he didn’t want to get involved into their discussion more than he already was. He had no idea the situation was this serious. He didn’t have any explanation for the unusual behaviour of the magical creatures, but he had a pretty good idea why so many teens have been using magic with no respect for the law. Arthur heard the rumours about Mad-Eye’s questionable teaching methods this last school year, but he wasn’t certain if he could believe them. After all, those were just rumours and Moody was a trusted member of the Order of the Phoenix. However, when his children got back from Hogwarts few weeks ago they confirmed everything he has been hearing about the ex-Auror; including the fact that the wizard was encouraging his students to target Slytherins, as well as any other students whose parents might have been agreeing with Voldemort’s ideals or supporting pureblood traditions. All in all, there was chaos in Mr Weasley’s head right now; he didn’t know what to think about it all.
It was a beautiful, quite warm and sunny early afternoon, when the Grangers headed back from their short walking trip. This last week they have been enjoying their summer vacation on the Isle of Wight with their two daughters. Both Mr and Mrs Granger were especially excited, because this was their first summer in a long time, when they could spend so much time together and it was the first time they have spent it as a family of four. Naturally, they couldn’t make too long trips, because little Chloe wasn’t ready for such adventures just yet. But it was still a wonder how nice and refreshing did it feel to everyone.
Hermione was especially enjoying her precious time with her baby sister. She even volunteered every other day to take Chloe for a walk to the park; and today was one of those days. In the afternoon, when her little sister was already fed and taking one of her many naps, Mrs Granger put Chloe into the stroller, equipped her older daughter in all the necessary life savers, in case the little girl woke up in a bad mood, and watched Hermione enthusiastically leaving in the direction of the nearest playground. Luckily for the young witch, the nearby playground was not far from a small, not very frequented park. Hermione liked taking her sister there, because as long as she was asleep, Hermione could read her books in peace; and when Chloe woke up, she could play with her and give the tiny girl some of the toys that she just recently bought in Diagon Alley.
The witch was about to start her Ancient runes book for school, when she heard rushed, loud footsteps. She closed the book and put it into her bag so that no one notices what she’s been reading and she listened. After a moment it became clear that it wasn’t just any footsteps; what she was hearing was at least a small group of children running in her direction. There were two children, a boy and a girl, around six years old; and a group of around four other kids between nine and twelve, who were obviously chasing the younger two.
“Get those freaks!” shouted the oldest boy in the group. He seemed to be the leader of theirs since the other three children seemed to be encouraged by his words. “We’re going to show those gits how to be normal!”
Hermione was safely hidden behind the bushes, dividing the park alleys. She sat there and observed the situation, while at the same time checking if the commotion didn’t wake her sister up. The witch saw the two younger children running into a dead-end; they could have tried to hide somewhere behind the plants, but they would get sooner caught by the other children. The boy turned around to see how far their bullies were and nervously looked around to find some hiding spot, but there was nothing that they could use. The little girl however, breathed heavily and was so nervous as if she was about to start hyperventilating; she squeezed her eyes shut and trembled.
“A witch,” a quiet whisper escaped Hermione’s lips, when in a blink of an eye, the shivering little girl vanished from the alley and appeared on one of the nearby trees. The girl opened her eyes, not completely understanding how did she get there, but at least now she was somewhat safe from the older children.
“Abi?” asked the boy confused by the sudden disappearance of his friend. “Abi where are you?”
“Tim, I’m here,” she called out to him, but in a hushed voice. “I don’t know how I got here.”
The boy looked up and spotted Abigail holding onto the tree as if her life depended on it. His initially shocked expression was quickly replaced by a small smile. ”It’s alright Abi, just stay there no matter what. I’m going to help you get down later.” Now that he didn’t have to worry about keeping his friend safe, he decided to try jumping over the bushes and hide, but that’s exactly when the group of bullies caught up with them.
“Where do you think you’re going you git?” asked him a short, ten year old girl, who looked extremely displeased with her neon bright green hair. Judging by the looks of it, one of the two younger children must have accidentally used magic on the older girl, and now she wanted retribution. “I know it was you who ruined my hair. And it was also your fault that Simon and Peter got hurt.”
“You two did this somehow,” said the oldest boy in the group. “No brand new bicycle’ wheels explode out of the blue.”
“But we didn’t do anything. We didn’t even touch their bikes,” Timothy tried to be brave and stand his ground, but it was obvious that he was scared. “And they were trying to run over Mrs Griffiths’ cat.”
“I don’t care what they were doing, you little tosser” the oldest boy stepped towards the younger boy, grabbed his shirt and lifted him a few inches off the ground, forcing Tim to breath heavily through his open mouth. “When my brothers are having fun, you are not allowed to ruin it.”
Abigail, who was still quietly sitting on the nearby tree, gasped in horror when she saw Timothy desperately trying to get out of the other boy’s grip, but he was only held tighter. But then all of a sudden, the boy lost interest in Tim and released him from his grip. He also pushed him hard which ended in the younger boy losing balance and falling hard on the ground with his face downwards.
“Don’t feel so safe up there you little prat,” shouted the older girl. “We’re gonna help you get off of that tree.”
“Leave her alone!” shouted Tim, covering his bleeding lip with his hand, when all four older children tried to shake the tree, where Abigail was hiding. “I’m going to tell aunt Alison on you Claire if you don’t leave us alone.”
“And you think she’s going to believe you? After you broke her entire porcelain collection?” laughed viciously the older girl and pushed the boy away.
Meanwhile, still hidden behind the bushes, Hermione was analysing the situation and what to do. She just couldn’t sit there and pretend she didn’t see anything; but on the other hand, the oldest of those kids was only four maybe five years younger than her so they would definitely not listen even if she told them to stop. There was also the problem that she was there with Chloe, so in case things got out of hand, she could endanger her baby sister, and that was the last thing the witch wanted to do.
“Think, Hermione, think,” she muttered to herself. The simplest solution would be to cast some mild jinx or hex on the bullies, but that one good deed would only put her in lots of trouble with the Ministry, especially now, when there were so many reports of students using magic outside of school. But that’s when an idea popped into her head. “The Ministry can’t do anything if I use magic accidentally.”
The small group of bullies were still shaking, pushing and kicking the tree and they were already very close to succeeding in throwing Abigail off of it, when a low, frightening growl could be heard. The nightmarish sound caught their attention so they turned around and saw three large dogs baring their fangs, growling and getting closer to them. At first, they just watched the bullies, but the moment they tried to touch the tree or push Timothy again, the dogs quickly jumped closer ready to attack. Feeling more protective of their own skin then tormenting the younger kids, the four bullies ran away.
Tim slowly sat up, still on the ground and glanced terrified at the unknown dogs, that showed up out of nowhere. But to his biggest surprise, when the ferocious beasts that wanted to bite everyone just moments ago where just sitting there in front of him and starring at him; they looked curiously at the boy and one of them even tried to nuzzle into his arm.
“You don’t have to be afraid. I doubt they would want to hurt you two,” when the threat was gone, Hermione finally decided to reveal herself to the two kids.
“Who are you?” asked the boy as he now watched Hermione walking out of the nearby alley with a stroller and a little baby in it.
“I was just passing by,” explained the witch and walked over to the tree to help the scared little girl get out of there. She then walked to Time and gave him a hand so that he could stand back on his feet. She quickly examined his face and noticed that he was bleeding. “That doesn’t look so good. I think they might have broken at least one of your teeth. If you want, my parents are dentists. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind taking a look at it.”
“Why are you being nice to us? You don’t even know us,” asked the boy, not exactly certain if he should trust Hermione.
“I saw what happened…and you see, I don’t like it when people can’t accept the fact that sometimes some people can do unexplainable things without really doing anything,” the witch smiled to them and winked to the little girl seeing a grin growing on her face as the realisation struck her; Abigail understood immediately what Hermione meant; the teen was just like them; she could do extraordinary things without actually doing them.
“You told those dogs to scare them away, didn’t you?” asked Abi almost clapping her hands in excitement.
“Well I didn’t really tell them anything, but let’s say that I really wanted to help you two and they happened to be here somewhere in the park,” Hermione nearly laughed at the pure admiration that was clear in the little girl’s eyes; the boy also seemed to have decided to try and trust her and that was all enough for the witch to feel some satisfaction. She really wasn’t sure if after five years in Hogwarts learning how to control her magic, she would be able to do accidental magic, but thankfully it worked.
As she walked with the two children back to the cottage where she was staying with her family, she found out more about their families and lives. Tim and Abi were close friends, because their parents knew each other; and apparently, both kids were magical. Hermione wasn’t going to reveal the big secret to them; it wasn’t her place to just inform six year old children that in five years they were going to receive a letter from Hogwarts and their lives would change completely. But listening to their stories of how poorly they were being treated by their non-magical peers and even some of their family members, she couldn’t help but feel concerned about Chloe. She suspected that her baby sister might turn out to be a witch as well; especially that she seemed to be responding and enjoying some of the enchanted toys. Hermione knew her family wouldn’t treat the girl differently, but she hated the thought of other kids bullying or even physically harming Chloe when she starts to show some magical abilities.
A loud, persistent banging on the front door got everyone in the house on alert. It was still more or less bright outside, but the hour was definitely late enough, that the Tonks’ didn’t expect any guests. Nymphadora and Remus went to the room, that they have been sharing for the last few weeks and wanted to get ready for a visit to some of their friends in London; Ted Tonks was making himself comfortable in his favourite armchair to continue reading the book he recently began. In the meantime, Andromeda was finishing cleaning after dinner they have finished just moments ago.
The witch stopped in the kitchen door and exchanged surprised glances with her husband. When it became obvious that they weren’t expecting anyone, Mr Tonks got up from his seat and headed towards the door. He briefly peeked out through the window and noticed two witches and three wizards waiting and looking rather impatient. Ted didn’t know any of them, but they seemed only a few years older than his own daughter and he had an annoying feeling that he had seen them at some point in the Ministry of Magic.
“Who is it, dear?” asked Andromeda, whose curiosity made her leave the kitchen and stand in the hallway.
“I think it’s some people from the Ministry,” he told his wife and reached for the doorknob to unlock it. “Dora will not be pleased if they call her in for work so unexpectedly.”
The moment the door opened, the group of five waiting outside changed their expressions to serious but neutral ones. A tall red-haired witch, who seemed to be their leader pulled out an envelope with the Ministry’s seal and handed it to Mr Tonks.
“Edward Tonks?” asked the same witch, while he read the document he was given.
“Yes, that’s me,” explained the man starting to get a bit nervous, especially after briefly going through the papers in his hands.
“We’re from the Aurors office. We were sent here as a part of the ongoing investigations. Can we come in?”
Ted was confused and not sure what to do. The documents were basically stating that the aurors had the authority to come into their house and thoroughly control it; in particular, they were authorised to search and confiscate anything that might look like a threat to other magical and non-.magical folk. There were also given a few reasons of why the Ministry was checking their house in particular, but Mr Tonks knew it would both hurt and aggravate his wife, hence why he preferred not to show those papers to the witch. On one hand, he knew he should defend his family and their privacy, especially that they weren’t doing anything wrong; but on the other hand, opposing the aurors might end up in a fight and being called in for a hearing at the Ministry or even serious repercussions for his daughter at work. Neither one of the options was good, but in the end Ted stepped aside and allowed the Ministry employees to enter his house.
The Aurors seemed to have quickly forgotten about Ted and Andromeda. The moment they officially got the permission from them to get in, they immediately started working. Revealing and tracking spells were being cast left and right, with complete disregard for the Tonks’, the aurors were checking everything they could get their hands on. They’ve checked every single book in the house, every magical object, every picture and even the very few family heirlooms that Andromeda managed to take with her before she eloped with Ted years ago. One of the wizards stopped by the bookcase in the living room and took out every single one of them out; the moment he found a title or book cover looking suspicious, he unceremoniously threw it on the nearby table.
“Please be careful with those,” Mr Tonks tried to keep himself calm, but it was rather difficult when a group of strangers were quite literally throwing his valuable books around. “Some of those books are very old editions. They are invaluable…”
“I can see that,” the younger man muttered in response and sent Ted a distrustful look, as if he was doing something against the Ministry.
The older wizard stopped immediately and couldn’t believe in what he was hearing and seeing; he was certain it wasn’t just his impression, but that young auror actually treated him as if he was some kind of a criminal. Even back in his Hogwarts years, when he told his classmates that he had feelings and intended to marry Andromeda Black, he hasn’t been treated like he was right now. He wanted to end this ridiculousness and throw the Ministry’s representatives out, but he knew it would only make things worse.
“What on Merlin’s beard is going on here?” shouted annoyed Nymphadora and stormed down the stairs to the main hall. She gave her parents a questioning look and stared outraged at her fellow aurors, who even after barging into her and Remus’ bedroom, continued their search unfazed. Lupin joined her downstairs and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. This small group of five looked like sniffing wolves, set on finding something incriminating they could throw in their faces.
“These people are from your department, Dora,” informed her Ted.
“I can see that,” she nearly snarled, infuriated by their actions. She knew as an auror they had to sometimes do raids and searches in the houses of suspicious wizarding folk, but she never thought she’d be one of those suspicious wizarding folk, whose house was being raided. Their family never did anything wrong; if anything, they were the good people who were trying to help out Dumbledore, the Ministry and in general serve the wizarding community. “I would like to know why is our house being investigated?”
“It’s nothing personal Tonks,” told her the witch that was the leader of the group. “The times are getting complicated…some witches and wizards don’t feel safe in the wizarding world anymore, that’s why we are forced to pay visits to…some wizarding families to ensure that everything is just fine. This is the Ministry’s way to prove to the public that our wizarding community couldn’t be safer.”
While the witch was occupying the Tonks’ with her explaining, the other four aurors took the liberty of casting the last few revealing spells. They also gathered some of the family’s belongings, including Ted’s books and his wife’s heirlooms.
“What do you think you’re doing with that,” Andromeda nearly hissed enraged at the impudent lot that dared to touch her mother’s locket and an enchanted, silver dagger, that belonged to her father. “Those are personal belongings. Those are the only mementos I have of my late parents. You have no right to take it…”
“As a matter of fact, we do have the right Mrs Tonks,” said one of the aurors matter-of-factly. “It’s all clearly stated in the document we handed to your husband. We are authorized to confiscate anything that might even remotely seem like a threat to the other magical folk.”
Nymphadora quickly snatched the permission letter from her father’s hands, before he could even protest. She needed answers as to why the Ministry felt the need to search their house; especially since she has never been included by her superiors on this particular case. She was aware of the fact that many witches and wizards lately have been filing complaints that the Ministry is not doing enough to make everyone feel safe, but that didn’t explain why she wasn’t even informed about certain measures being already taken. Her eyes hastily scanned the papers and without even noticing what she was doing, her haircut changed into a spiky, crimson red one and her eyes were almost throwing daggers at her fellow aurors.
“We are being investigated because my mother is a Black?!” she nearly shouted the question.
The aurors looked completely unmoved by what was supposed to be an accusation. But the fact was they didn’t feel like there was anything wrong in what they were doing; they were simply following orders. If the Ministry’s latest official policy was to keep a closer eye on anyone who might potentially be a threat then they would gladly do anything to help. It didn’t matter to them who these magical folk were; as long as the Ministry considered them to be a threat, they would investigate them. In all honesty, now that they have already paid a similar visit to a few pureblood families, they were able to agree on one thing – those families were in possession of some interesting and shady artefacts and one could not be certain that they wouldn’t use them against some Muggle or Muggleborn.
“You have to admit the Black family does not have a very good reputation. But I’m sure that if Mrs Tonks doesn’t share her family’s ideals, then she has nothing to worry about,” replied one of the younger men. “These objects will be returned to you as soon as the department of Magical Law Enforcement confirms that they are harmless.”
“This is outrageous!” Andromeda snarled infuriated. She hasn’t shown her more explosive side of the character for a long time, but this whole situation was downright absurd. “What difference does it make what family I was born to? I have never threatened anyone nor did I harmed anyone. My own husband is a Muggleborn, I deal with witches and wizards of different blood status on daily basis, my daughter is a halfblood and I never, even once acted hostile to a Muggle or magical being, so please, do pray tell me how is my blood status a threat to anyone? I doubt anyone here…my husband, my daughter or even Remus are even remotely feeling threatened by me.”
“I will not question my orders or discuss them with you,” the lead auror lightly bowed her head, keeping up appearances of being polite to Andromeda. But then she turned to Lupin and focused on him. “This however leads us to the last matter and then we will be finished here. Mr Remus Lupin, am I correct?”
“Yes, that’s me,” the wizard had a bad feeling as to where this question was heading.
“As a measure of precaution, we would ask you to come with us to the Ministry for a short questioning,” seeing that Nymphadora was about to protest, the witch added in a tone that didn’t take no for an answer. “In light of the mysterious, frequent incidents concerning magical creatures and being, the Ministry is calling every known magical being for a questioning. It’s a standard procedure…I would advise you Mr Lupin, not to resist.”
“That’s complete tosh! He is not going anywhere! You have no right to treat him like some criminal,” Dora protested fiercely, but Remus stopped her. He knew that arguing with the Ministry couldn’t end well for the witch or anyone else, as a matter of fact.
“It’s alright,” Remus reassured her. “I’ll go to the Ministry as long as this will mean the end of…investigation of this family.”
The aurors stepped out of the house; Remus following them. He couldn’t believe at what was going on. He wasn’t even worried much about himself, but if what he has heard right now was true, and the Ministry was raiding wizarding families’ houses and trying to justify it by saying that it’s supposed to make Muggles and Muggleborns feel safer than it really made him want to reconsider his ideals. On one hand there was Dumbledore, who seemed to be going paranoid about Voldemort’s return; although so far the dark wizard seemed completely disinterested in anything that Albus made them believe. On the other hand, there was the Ministry who pretended that Voldemort hasn’t returned, but at the same time they were claiming that there was some unknown threat. Either way, both sides seemed to be focused so much on their own plans that they were completely missing the biggest problem – with every day, mysterious attacks were happening and the wizarding community was only getting more and more conflicted. It was not just the old wizarding families trying to push the pureblood supremacy ideals. Right now everyone seemed to be threatened and distrustful of others, regardless of their blood status.
Sirius was sitting on the sofa in the drawing room of his house. It was yet another hot summer day of July, but he wasn’t enjoying the weather one bit. He found it extremely difficult to enjoy the heat with his overly large belly; he honestly didn’t remember or maybe already has forgotten if being pregnant with Orion was also this exhausting. The only thing he could think about lately was how much he wanted his second child to be already born; and he meant it genuinely. He couldn’t wait for his family to grow bigger.
However, his thoughts were taken away from the unborn baby about two days ago, when he received a letter with Malfoy seal on it. Normally, he wouldn’t give it much thought, but letters that were sealed in such a way usually meant official matters – some business between the families. And it wouldn’t be even that shocking if not for the fact that the person who wrote the letter was Abraxas Malfoy, the current head of the Malfoy bloodline. To top it all, the older pureblood greeted Sirius in his letter as the head of the Black family; and that’s when he knew Abraxas wanted something. By now, Black has read the letter already a dozen times and he knew for a fact, that the Malfoys, or actually the oldest Malfoy, wanted to make an agreement with the Blacks. In all honesty, the letter did positively surprise Sirius, but he wasn’t sure if it’s wise to tell his husband and son about it; at least not yet.
He was brought out of his thoughts by sudden disturbance in the house’s wards. Sirius glanced out the window and saw his brother walking towards the front door. He knew that Regulus would let himself in or Hissy would do that, so he remained seated and waited for the younger man. He folded the letter into the envelope and put it on the coffee table in front of him.
“Looking…good Sirius,” greeted him Regulus as he walked into the room. He couldn’t help it and allowed a smirk to grow on his lips as he saw a bit of annoyed face that his older brother made in response to his comment.
“Getting old Regulus. I recall you using the exact same phrase when I was pregnant with Orion,” was Sirius’ riposte as he gestured for the younger man to take a seat. “Close the door and take a seat. I wanted to talk only with you.”
“Severus and Orion won’t be joining us?” asked Regulus genuinely surprised, but did as his brother wanted. He didn’t want to spent too much time away from home and his own son, so he decided to go along with everything so that he could go back sooner rather than later. “I thought you wanted to discuss family matters.”
“I do, but for now the topic concerns you and me more than anyone else.”
“What does that mean? I wouldn’t want to remind you how keeping secrets from the rest of our family ended last time,” said the younger wizard a bit uncertain if he won’t cause Sirius to snap at him, but he also knew his brother was hot-headed and a small reminder every now and then would do him well.
“I’m very well aware of that…but I am trying to look after the family. That’s why I wanted to talk with you before I make any official decisions,” told him Sirius calmly. “I was thinking about the future of the Black bloodline. Right now, I am still the official head of the family, but there has to be an official heir. Someone who will officially make decisions in the name of the Blacks.”
“I don’t see what do you want to discuss here then. Orion as your son has all the right to become the next head of the Blacks with all the privileges coming with the title of an heir,” Regulus stated the facts as if he was explaining the most obvious things in the world. However, he stopped his monologue when he saw his brother was having mixed feelings and it was written all over his face. “What is wrong Sirius?... Does Orion not want to accept this title?”
“Judging by how Draco ‘trained’ him how to be an heir of a pureblood family I’m fairly certain Orion would accept the title and the responsibilities, but…” the older Black hesitated for a moment, reached out for the letter from Abraxas and handed it to Regulus. “I am not sure that such title would make him happy. I believe it wouldn’t be in his or our family’s best interest.”
“This is an official letter. Why would the Malfoys be so official towards us?” asked the younger man, but when Sirius gestured for him to read the letter he did so. With every line he read his brows were rising higher in surprise, but soon after that expression was replaced with a frown. When he was done reading, he looked his brother directly in the eyes and tried to read him; but for the first time in his life, he had difficulties figuring out what it was that the older man was thinking. “Sirius this is…this is not a minor detail you can keep from the rest of the family and just decide on your own. You should know your responsibilities as the head of our family. It’s not easy, especially when you have to ask your child to make sacrifices, but…you can’t just tell Orion that he can do whatever he wants…not if that ‘doing whatever he pleases’ means the Blacks are left without an heir.”
“But this is exactly why I wanted to talk with you, and you alone,” he replied. “I don’t want to tell my son he can disregard his duties towards the family, but I also know that he will not be happy as the heir to our family. If there is a way that I can secure the Blacks’ safety and continuity and at the same time allow my son to be happy, then I want to go that way.”
“What exactly are you proposing here? Because the way I see it right now…this,” he pointed to the letter he just read. “This is unacceptable.”
“For now this indeed is unacceptable, but I know that Orion will be sixteen in a week and all I’m asking is for a little bit of time and trust in me. I want to make an agreement with you for now,” Sirius leaned forward, as far as his belly allowed him, and looked his brother directly in the eyes. “I do not know yet if this little one,” he put a hand on his belly. “Is going to be a boy or a girl. But I do know that right now there are two Black boys who could take on the title of the heir.”
Regulus was completely taken aback by Sirius’ implication. He knew the other man was correct, but this was very unexpected. “You can’t be serious about this. Phineas was born just a week ago and you’re trying to throw the fate of our bloodline on him?”
“No, I am not. I know how it feels…that’s how it always felt for me when I was younger…everyone in the family was watching me and expecting unbelievable things, which I wasn’t ready for,” explained the older Black. “All I’m saying is that I want you and your husband to take such a possibility into consideration. I don’t want to make any official decisions just yet…and especially announce them to the world. I am simply letting you in on the reason why I will not be officially announcing Orion the heir to the Blacks just yet.”
The younger man took a deep breath, stood up and started pacing around the room. He had to admit that he wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of his own son being the heir of their family; he was rather certain Tom would be actually delighted by such development. But on the other hand, he didn’t like this uncertainty; these secrets that could only cause distrust among them again.
“This will stay only between the two of us…either until Orion graduates from Hogwarts or the situation will require an heir to be announced,” Regulus told his brother after a while. “We can postpone the official announcements, but as soon as Orion comes of age, you can’t expect that other pureblood families won’t be pressuring you with official engagement contracts for the rightful heir of Blacks and Princes.”
“I can deal with those without a problem. But I want to know you are open to the possibility of Phineas being the heir,” Sirius was pressuring his brother; he really needed to hear that Regulus would agree to such turn of events.
“…if it will come to it…and none of your children will be able to take over your title, I will agree to my son becoming the Blacks’ heir,” he answered and looked sternly at Sirius. “But until then…you WILL ignore Abraxas’ letter.”
For the last two weeks, Charlie was travelling around Great Britain. Ever since Viviana received the disturbing letter and had to go back home, more and more ridiculous things seemed to be happening. At the beginning, he thought those were truly just some incidents that weren’t even related. However, the moment the Daily Prophet decided to expose the scale and complexity of the situation, there was no more denying it; something extremely odd was happening and Charlie feared that something dangerous was hiding behind those events. He couldn’t do much against students attacking each other outside of school, apart from lecturing Ron and Ginny never to do something like that. What he did care about and could do something about though, was the situation with the magical creatures. One of the creatures that were reported as dangerous and acting out of normal were dragons. So it didn’t surprise the Weasleys when one evening, Charlie announced that he will look into the situation and get to the bottom of the dragons’ unusually aggressive behaviour.
Mrs Weasley was not happy about his idea, to say the least. She didn’t want Charlie to get involved first and foremost, because she didn’t want him to get hurt, and secondly, because it was better to leave this situation to the Ministry; especially now that it wasn’t clear if it was Voldemort’s doing or was there some other dark reason hidden behind the magical creatures’ attacks. Charlie understood his family’s concerns, but ever since Viviana and her family showed him a different way of how to deal with dragons, he not only believed but he knew for certain that dragons didn’t have to be as ferocious and bloodthirsty creatures as most of the witches and wizards believed them to be. Thanks to his newly acquired knowledge, he knew that there were only a few things that could enrage a dragon and force it to attack, especially the breeds that were native to Great Britain. The dynamics between dragons and humans were simple; as long as no one threatened their little ones, stole their treasures or simply attacked them, the dragons wouldn’t even take interest in humans.
One warm, July evening when it got already dark, Charlie took the opportunity that his parents were busy with his siblings and didn’t pay him much attention. He sneaked out of the Burrow covered in a dark cloak and armed only with his wand and a few bottles of particularly potent calming potions, just in case he meets a dragon that was already enraged for whatever reason. Not waiting for his family to notice his absence, he apparated to the border of the Wychwood Forest, where some of the dragon incidents have happened.
“Now where are you my wonderful friends,” he said mostly to himself, cast a Notice-me-not charm and headed straight into the forest. Every five minutes he was casting tracking spells and checking his surroundings for any tracks or scent of the creatures he was looking for. So far he has only met two groups of pesky pixies and one particularly nasty group of Erklings, but even so, he could clearly sense the presence of at least one dragon in the forest.
He wandered deeper into the forest for about half an hour without any more interference; he also didn’t see anyone on his way. But after walking a few more yards he noticed more and more broken and burnt trees. He readied his wand just in case he would come eye to eye with either some dark arts’ user or an angry dragon and headed forward, following the track of ruined trees. The further he went, the more destroyed trees he has seen; and those weren’t simply broken branches, those were tall, old trees completely broken into pieces. At the same time, he could clearly sense more magic lingering in the area. That however, gave him a bad feeling, because it felt more like human magic than creature magic.
“This can’t be good,” he whispered to himself as he slowly and carefully sneaked closer to where he was sensing the magic was coming from. Only moments later he spotted spells and curses flying in the air not far away from where he was hiding. The spells were shortly followed by a melodious roar and fire blast. “This is bad,” he commented and nearly sprinted forward.
Charlie came to a halt and hid himself behind a pile of large stones. He immediately cast as many protective charms and notice-me-nots as he could and discreetly tried to observe the scene before him. The dragon fighting with the humans there was a female Common Welsh Green and it looked extremely enraged. Charlie was flabbergasted by what he saw, because it was hard to believe that that particular breed would attack anyone. Of course, there were a few incidents involving Welsh Green dragons, but those were very rare.
“Don’t just stand there! Stun that bloody dragon!” shouted one of the wizards to his companions and healed his slightly burnt and bloodied left arm.
Charlie peeked to the other side of the stones and saw a group of a dozen people, both witches and wizards. They didn’t bother to hide their identity, but even so, he couldn’t recognize any of them. He wasn’t sure if they were even locals, because some of them had a very heavy accent when they spoke English. It took about eight of them to simultaneously cast powerful stunning spells and make the dragon fall helplessly to the ground. The creature was unable to move, but its eyes were dangerously glaring at his oppressors just to shift towards another pile of stones, very similar to the ones Charlie was hiding behind. The young wizard glanced in the same direction and that’s when he spotted a baby dragon and two earthy brown dragon eggs next to it.
“They can’t get their hands on them. They don’t have a clue about how to deal with dragons,” Charlie whispered as he searched for one of the potions that would allow him to shortly gain the little dragon’s trust. He knew the effects of the potion didn’t usually last long, but a few minutes was all he needed to get the little one away from the other people.
His thoughts were interrupted by a pained noise of the baby dragon, as three wizards cast magical ropes around it. Seeing her little one being in danger, the adult dragon managed to somewhat get away from under the effect of the stunning spells and sent a few fire jets towards the group.
“I have had enough of you! You’re just another beast that no one needs!” an enraged shout came from one of the witches and she cast a series of gruesome cutting curses, which left the creature barely alive, but still with the will to fight. Charlie was left speechless at how cruel the woman was to the dragon that obviously only wanted to protect its territory; but no matter how much he wanted to help, he simply didn’t stand a chance against such a big group of magical folk who would definitely not like him standing in the defence of the dragons.
“Just take the pesky little beast and get rid of the eggs,” ordered the wizard whose arm was burnt earlier. “We have to report that this area is secured.”
“I agree. Let’s get it over with,” said the witch who tormented the adult dragon before. She looked annoyed at it again, as it started writhing on the ground in attempt to protect its little ones. The witch sneered unimpressed by the creature and sent a final blow towards the dragon. “We could sent someone here to retrieve as many ingredients from that one as possible.”
In that moment it became clear to Charlie that there was no chance of him being able to reason with these people. He wasn’t sure if they were working on the Ministry’s orders or alone, but they had absolutely no appreciation for these creatures. He felt anger growing inside him as he saw them sending blasting spells towards the two dragon eggs and then tightening the ropes around the baby dragon. It was exactly because people like them that he decided to get away from the Dragon Sanctuary, because as long as he was there, he didn’t have any real power to protect these magnificent creatures. Charlie made sure one more time that his protective charms were still in place as he pointed his wand at the magical ropes and attempted to cut them and allow the little one to escape.
“Can’t you even cast a proper Incarcerous?” shouted the violent witch.
“We’re not at fault here!” one of the wizards snarled at her and checked the ropes that fell to the ground. “Someone’s here! Those were cut by someone!”
“Reveal yourself you coward!” shouted another wizard and gestured for three others to check their surroundings. “You’re committing a crime by helping this beast escape!”
Thankfully for him, Charlie has not yet been spotted, but it was only a matter of time until they came checking his hideout. He hated the thought of leaving the little dragon to these people, but right now there was no possible way for him to save the creature without being caught in the process. With a broken heart he silently tried to get away from this place and people. He could vaguely here them yelling to each other about spotting traces of magic in the vicinity, but he was already far enough for them not to notice him, so he took that opportunity to apparate back to the Burrow.
The wizard walked towards the house as if he was in a daze. He felt angry at how anyone could order something like that to happen; but even more than that, he was disappointed at himself for not being able to prevent any of that. He left his job at the Sanctuary to protect dragons and now when an opportunity to do so has presented itself, he didn’t do anything.
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Meddling with Darkness