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Regulus and Andromeda exchanged a quick look. Although their marriage had been contracted for politics, and it had never kindled into romantic love, they had become friends and allies, and a kind of understanding had arisen between them about certain matters. They were, after all, both Blacks, but they also were independent thinkers. They understood each other... very well indeed. |
In the next moment, they rose from their seats. Uneasily, Cygnus followed, his decision apparently made. Druella glowered but rose reluctantly. "Someone in this room betrayed and murdered my grandfather," Regulus said severely. He eyed Bellatrix, then turned to Lucius and Narcissa. "He anticipated that this might happen after the death of his good friend Abraxas Malfoy. Given the close ties of kinship that we all have, this is worse than a mere disgrace. My wife and father-in-law and I will leave now, and we shall not return until we can be certain that we are not walking into a den of treacherous kinslayers." |
Castle Parselhall at Hangleton. |
"This is grim news," Severus said, spreading the letter from Regulus in front of Merope, Tom, and Hermione on the table. "Lord Arcturus Black is dead at Lucius Malfoy’s castle in Godric’s Hollow—killed by poison-dusted bed sheets." |
"They got him," Tom muttered. "Malfoy and Lestrange. Does it mean that Lucius Malfoy has taken their side now?" |
"Not necessarily. It could have been Lucius, but also present were Lady Lestrange, Lord Cygnus Black, and his wife Lady Druella. She was a Rosier, so...." |
"So she’s another treacherous Norman," Tom said venomously. |
"I would not have put it exactly that way," Severus muttered. He eyed Tom. "Her family is certainly allied with the Lestranges and Armand Malfoy, though." |
"Why would Lord Cygnus betray one of his own family? Or, for that matter, Lady Lestrange? She is at odds with her own husband and probably killed his vassal." Tom considered something. "Have you told that to Lord Regulus?" |
"I have," he said, "and that is why he is not sure about what side she is truly on. As for Lord Cygnus, he’s an odd one. He has lived as a comparative hermit, in a manor on the eastern shore." |
"The story has always been that it’s because he is from the cadet branch of the family, since he is the son of Arcturus’s late cousin Pollux, and he was just pleased to negotiate a marriage for his middle daughter with her cousin Regulus, the heir. But envy can be a powerful motivator to betray one’s kin," Merope said. "I am not accusing him, of course, but it could be." |
"That just makes Regulus’s father "Lord Black’ now, though," Tom objected, "not Cygnus." |
"Spite is powerful, even if one doesn’t get anything out of it," Hermione muttered sadly. Tom shot her a curious look, but she did not elaborate further. |
"No one is claiming credit for the poisoning," Severus said. "That means that either it was an independent act, and not at the behest of Lord Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange, who would pardon it if it had been—or that no one present at that feast actually did it. Though how that could be, they don’t know. They are going to examine the castle thoroughly for weaknesses. In the meantime, Lucius and Narcissa suspect they have been betrayed—or at least, they give the strong impression of it—and Regulus and Andromeda don’t trust any of the others now. Cygnus was going to live with the Malfoys, but he changed his mind, supposedly—but he won’t move into Castle Black or Regulus’s home Canis Manor either." |
"So even if Malfoy didn’t use any of the guests to do this, he and Lestrange managed to foment division," Tom said. |
Severus nodded. |
"Do you think..." Hermione hesitated. "What about one of Lord Lucius’s house-elves? Could Lord Malfoy have ordered them to do it?" |
"Only if Lucius has any that belong to the Malfoy family as a whole, rather than his own household. But it’s a good idea," Severus said, somewhat grudgingly, "and I will mention it to Regulus." |
This seemed to mark the end of that unpleasant topic, for there was a pause, and then Merope spoke up with a different subject. "I understand that your friend Rob Wilkes is coming today, Tom," she said. |
Tom nodded, his dark eyes eager. "I look forward to his visit." |
Hermione cast her eyes down at her plate in irritation. Every day that Tom spent time with one of these boys was a day that she felt obliged to avoid him. It really did seem that her future would not be that of the beloved equal and co-conspirator that she had thought it would be during her first Hogwarts year and half of her second, but rather, the sadly more typical fixture in a castle who had no part in her husband’s doings. It was a wretched idea. |
When Rob Wilkes arrived at the castle, Hermione greeted him properly, but then turned aside with her nose in the air, sauntering off with Crookshanks at her feet toward the library. Tom shook his head and headed out the doors toward the grounds, his friend hurrying to keep up with him. |
"I heard that you had important news for me," Tom said in a low voice as soon as they were alone. |
Wilkes nodded, glancing around. "Yes, Tom—my lord—I mean, your highness." |
Tom smirked. "What is it, then?" |
He took a deep breath. "It’s two things. The first one has to do with Caractacus Burke, the former shopkeeper." |
"The one who was given a Black family manor at the same time my mother was confirmed in her title? That one?" |
"The very one." Wilkes’s eyes gleamed. "I heard this from my father. Burke had dealings with your lady mother before you were born, and he...." |
Tom stopped cold. "Did that foul lowborn English blood-traitor hurt my mother?" he asked, his voice low and deadly. |
"Not to Father’s knowledge, but he did cheat her. She had an item... something that supposedly had belonged to Slytherin himself, something that opened only by Parseltongue and supposedly contained a map to... you know," he said pointedly. |
Tom’s eyes widened. "A map to Slytherin’s secret chamber? And Burke stole it?" |
"He took advantage of your mother’s desperation to give her a very low amount of money for it," Wilkes said. |
Tom gripped his wand. "That filthy bastard—how dare he—and now he cowers behind the Blacks. We shouldn’t have anything to do with them!" |
"I’m sorry, your highness? What do you mean?" |
Tom realized his mistake and tried to recover. "There are some who think the Blacks aren’t as much our enemies as the Malfoys and the other filthy Normans," he said. "If they have been sheltering Burke, a mere shopkeeper squatting in a manor house, after something like that, then it just shows that they are out for themselves alone. An artifact of Slytherin! It belongs to my family. My mother and I are the only people alive who have that blood, and some utter nobody holds onto it, an item he cannot even open! What sort of thing is it?" he asked, his tone more reasonable. |
"My father says it’s either a jewel box or a locket of some sort." |
"As soon as I can," Tom resolved, "I am going to go to that house and confront him over it. How dare he cheat my mother and then keep what belongs to us! And it contains a map to the Chamber...." |
"That’s what my father heard," Wilkes said hurriedly. "It may not be right." |
"Slytherin kept the information somewhere," Tom declared. "It is as good a possibility as any. As soon as I can, I’m going to pay Burke a little visit." |
After this effusive reaction, Wilkes was reluctant to tell the rest of his news to Tom, for fear of what kind of explosion it might produce. But his father had assured him that he had wanted to find out all that he could about the Riddle family after swearing an alliance with Tom’s mother—the more they knew, the more they could help their new allies, the wizard had assured his son—and this next was an interesting, and outrageous, bit of information indeed. |
"There is something else I have to tell you," he said hesitantly. "It has to do with your father." |
Tom stopped cold. "My father? My Muggle father? What about him?" He eyed his friend. "You knew I was a half-blood. I hope this isn’t suddenly a problem." His tone made it clear that it had better not be a problem. |
"Oh no, it’s nothing to do with that... sire," he said. "It’s just... I’m sorry to tell you that your lady mother lied to you when she said that he died." |
Tom gripped his wand, unsure whether to be angry that his friend had called his mother a liar or inclined to believe what he said. "What?" |
"I don’t know if your lady mother realizes this, but your father is actually still alive. He got married again, to a Muggle woman, and lives in a barony not too far away." |
"So he... abandoned my mother? He abandoned me?" |
Wilkes looked down. "My lord, he’s a Muggle. What did you expect?" |
Tom’s breath was heaving in fury. "Clearly, I should have looked to the past to know what to expect. King Arthur betrayed his wizard son, my ancestor, and turned to a Muggle woman, after all. That is what I should have expected. I just amended my plans, Wilkes. Burke can wait. My father and I need to have a little talk." |
Hermione took up her quill and sighed heavily. Tom was still off somewhere with Wilkes, and as much as she valued her correspondence with Luna, it did not offer the sort of advice that she really craved right now. Luna—and, for that matter, Ginny—had not been raised as she had. They had never experienced the specific variety of problem that she currently was. They... she sighed again... had the freedom to choose as they pleased for their spouse, if they even wanted to marry at all. |
Hermione could not even ask Merope for advice, because although she had been raised noble, Hermione was not sure if she had been betrothed to anyone—though whether she had or not, she had taken matters into her own hands. And, more pertinently, Merope was the mother of the person about whom Hermione wanted advice. It would not do at all. However, there was someone else that Hermione could write, and she was surprised at herself for not thinking of it before. |
I have not lived with them in three years, she thought as she began to compose her letter, and perhaps it is that. But my mother experienced this. My grandfather offered my father and uncle for her and her sister, and my other grandfather agreed to it because it was such a good match. My mother knows. I don’t know if she ever argued with my father, but she must know about some of this. She was raised as a knight’s daughter—and she experienced this type of arrangement. I’ll ask her what to do. |
Hermione began to compose her letter, explaining that she and Tom had quarreled, that he had not hit her or otherwise harmed her physically, but that they were gravely at odds now—and she asked what she should do about it. She decided not to mention what the arguments had been about. As much as she wished she could tell her mother alone, she did not expect that her mother would keep certain kinds of information from her father. If her parents knew that she and Tom had slept together, her father would probably insist on a wedding immediately at swordpoint—and if they knew that Tom had argued with her the second time because he had been tortured over a murder that was related to the rape of a classmate, they would likely be horrified and take her out of Hogwarts. Either option would result in the end of her formal magical education. She regretted it, because since she was not going to lie about the causes of their dispute, she could not easily convey the severity of it. She just hoped that her mother did not think that it was some trivial dispute between young lovers. She wanted to know what her mother thought she ought to do to persuade Tom to be more reasonable and considerate of her. |
Elsewhere in the castle, Merope was reading a letter that she had just received from Armand Malfoy. Her eyes grew ever wider as she examined it. |
I apologize once again for the suffering of your son at the wand of my right-hand man’s vassal. Lord Carrow had been attending me in my castle, but I think the position must have given him airs and made him believe he could act as he pleased. I cannot otherwise account for his conduct to your son. |
"Sure you can’t," Merope muttered under her breath. Had Malfoy even written this, she wondered? Her previous encounters with him had shown him to be an impulsive, aggressive, questionably rational old wizard, certainly not one who could paint a false smile on his withered face. She half-believed that Lestrange had composed this letter... but then, he was not much better. With both Abraxas Malfoy and Arcturus Black dead, and Lucius Malfoy apparently not trusting anyone, including his own grandfather, who could have been the person behind this oily composition? Perhaps they are better at unctuous deceit when they can hide behind handwriting, she thought as she continued to read. |
He has been relieved of his duties to me and returned to serve the Lestrange family as a result of his disobedience. However, I understand why this punishment—and the fifty Galleons—may not assuage your wrath. I have pardoned Lord and Lady Carrow for repudiating their oaths to the Gaunt family, because of the circumstances, so do not expect that I will order the Lestranges to surrender either of them. Nonetheless, Lord Lestrange and I have considered your proposition of voiding the outstanding debt of Hangleton, and I have concluded that this is an offer I can make to you. Although I do have evidence that Hangleton cheated on its taxes while your late brother Lord Morfin Gaunt ruled as baron, this occurred before your ascension to the high seat. However, in this and coming years, I do expect full remittance of tribute owed to the Lord of Wizards and Witches. |
Merope glowered. "Evidence?" she spat. "Probably something that the Carrows told him." She pushed the letter across the table and thought about what she had just read. Something is up, she thought. I do believe either Malfoy wrote this himself or Lestrange for him, now that I have read all of it, but they obviously have something planned—and whatever it is, it is bad. They would not let that much gold go. It must be this scheme of forced marriage to Caractacus Burke that Severus has mentioned before. They must think they have a way of killing Sir Thomas. Even changing the official records to show an annulment won’t release me from my vows as a witch... it would delegitimize Tom... but I would still be bound by my own words, since Sir Thomas was the one who broke faith, not I. They must believe they have a plan to kill my former husband. |
Severus Snape had been in the room the entire time. When Merope pushed the letter at him, he picked it up gingerly and scanned it. As he finished it, he heaved a sigh. |
"The barony did owe a lot of money in taxes," he muttered in a subdued voice. He gazed at her with sad eyes. "I have another confession: Your late brother turned over all the accounting tasks to me, and I concealed the true income from him, because he was such a profligate. I believed he would run through it all and put the fief in debt to God only knows who otherwise. I am sorry for the repercussions. I never anticipated this." |
Merope smiled weakly. "You have no reason to apologize. To be honest, Severus, I suspected this at the very beginning of our acquaintance, when you showed me the accounts and the gold. It was good of you to protect the wealth of the fief from him, since I know you did not steal. This would not have been an issue if not for a spy—Carrow, most likely, the traitor—and Malfoy’s determination to harm this family." She sighed deeply. "They have something else planned, of course, and I assume it relates to the Burke scheme." She stretched her hands out across the table and did not look at him. "Severus... if it turns out that they have a plan to draw out Sir Thomas to his death, there is something to consider...." |
Severus looked pained for a fraction of a second, but attempted in the next to force the expression off his face. He knew what she was about to allude to, and his heart should have leapt for joy at the idea, but not like this. Not as a counter-move in a political game of lords. You are a nobleman now, he told himself. This is often part of it. At least she does care. |
"I will always do my duty to you and your family, my lady," he said stiffly. |
She glanced at him. "Duty, Severus?" she said, her voice low. She rose from her seat. "If that is how you see it, very well." Before he could explain—if he had even been capable, which, at the moment, he was not, in his embarrassment—she left the room in a swish of robes. |
Tom was trying to discover where his father currently lived—and to do so without his mother’s knowing about it. The older documents from before they became nobles were still in the castle, though Tom hoped they were not in his mother’s bedchamber or her private office. Those rooms would probably be locked, even against him. |
Asking her where he had lived was out of the question. It was too likely to rouse her suspicion, as he had always taken more interest by far in the Gaunt side—the magical side—than in his father’s family. Finally, four days after Wilkes arrived, the very day he was to return to his home, Tom asked him if he knew anything more. |
"I don’t know if it’s right, highness," the boy mumbled, "but my father mentioned that he lived in a village of the baron, the Muggle lord, just to the north of Hangleton. Which one, I don’t know. It’s a large holding." |
Tom considered that. "If he is a knight, he will be easy enough to locate amid streets full of peasants... unless he is fighting for one of the Muggle pretenders. Is he?" |
"Not to my father’s knowledge." |
Tom nodded. "Good." He clenched his wand. "I have some questions to ask him tomorrow." |
But the current day was not yet finished, and in addition to the expected event of Wilkes’s departure, another event not expected by anyone was to happen early that evening. |
Tom and Merope were seeing Wilkes off, with Hermione standing by stoically, ice in her generally warm eyes, when the Muggle captain of the guard for the barony knocked at the great doors of the castle hall. Displeasure showing in his distinctive face, Severus Snape descended from the platform to attend to the call. |
"What is this, Nigel?" he said sharply to the man once on the other side of the doors. |
"My lord, we have apprehended a wizard trying to gain entrance to the castle," Nigel said. "The device that her ladyship the baroness gave us was of infinite use. He claims he is a former liege lord of the baroness, seeking to take the oath again, but that’s not for me to know. I thought you should check it out first." |
Severus’s eyebrows flew up his forehead in surprise. Who could it be? Amycus Carrow would not dare... was this some new scheme of Malfoy or Lestrange? He gazed at the guard captain. "You did right," he said brusquely. "Lead me to this wizard." |
"We’ve kept him in the guard house," Nigel said conversationally. "He can’t wriggle out of that binding that the baroness gave us. I’m just glad it doesn’t work on us ordinary mortals who have no magic." |
Earlier that year, Merope had given the more important Muggles in her village some leather straps that were charmed to detect magic and wrap around the arms and legs of any wizard or witch on whom they were thrown. Since she was so short-handed with respect to magical vassals, she and Severus had decided that it was necessary to hand a bit of magic to the Muggles—a very small and highly ordered bit, since they could not control anything magical. |
Severus was rarely conversationally inclined even in the best of times, but he certainly did not feel the inclination to chat with this man before seeing who had been detained. He huffed, silencing the captain—who was intimidated both by magic and by titled aristocrats—for the remainder of the walk to the guard house. |
Once they reached it, the man moved to unlock the door, but Severus flicked his wand, wide black robe-sleeves draping from his wrists and waving slightly in the air. The heavy door swung open. There in a hard chair, his arms and legs bound tightly by the leather, was a pudgy wizard with beady little eyes and sandy brown hair. One of his hands was missing its little finger. He was certainly not dressed well, and he smelled unclean, as if he had spent a great deal of time in the wild, but Severus recognized him. |
"Peter Pettigrew!" |
The wizard gazed back, his eyes darting from one spot to another in the room before settling nervously on Severus’s face. "Severus Snape!" he exclaimed, his voice sounding wheezy but enthusiastic. |
Severus glared. "There are ways of disguising oneself by magic. I will not admit you to Lady Riddle’s presence until I examine you thoroughly to ensure that you are not an impostor." |
Pettigrew swallowed. "Severus, my lord, I have come here to swear the oath—" |
"And if you truly are Pettigrew, you will be allowed to do just that. But I have been told that you attempted to get into the castle, which is not a great start." |
"I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!" he whined. "I just forgot about protocol. You must understand, Severus, I have been living rough for five years, after my mother’s death—" |
"Do not speak of it to me. If you are sincere, you can tell Lady Riddle and me at the same time. Nigel," he said to the captain, "I will return shortly with potions to test this man’s claims. Thank you for your good work." |
Severus returned to the guard house shortly with a vial of Veritaserum in one hand and a bottle of enchanted water in another, purportedly from an ancient sea cave that figured in several Celtic wizarding legends, which would wash away physical disguises. With his signature scowl adorning his face, he strode to the wizard and doused him with the water. |
Pettigrew coughed and shivered, but his appearance remained the same. A thin smile of satisfaction appeared on Severus’s face. He supposed he shouldn’t, but he enjoyed this. This wizard had vanished, abandoning his duties, while he—Severus—had stayed on, putting up with numerous indignities, for the sake of the decent members of the family. He had been stripped of his title and reduced to being a castle employee because of his blood status. He had been sent on increasingly outrageous errands to procure expensive items. He had, finally, been ordered to go to London to bring back Merope, Morfin’s own sister, so that he could force her to be his "wife." He had risked a traitor’s death to kill Morfin and clear the way for Merope. What had Pettigrew done? Apparently he had hidden in the wilderness for a while, but how much hardship was that, really, to a wizard? Severus had not the least problem making the wretch suffer a bit. |
He forced open Pettigrew’s mouth and poured the Veritaserum down his throat. Pettigrew’s face grew slack and expressionless. Severus gestured for the Muggle captain of the guard to leave. |
"Why did you abandon your vassalage?" Severus asked Pettigrew once they were alone. |
"Lord Morfin killed my mother," Pettigrew said. "He ordered her into his bed, and when she refused, he set a nest of adders on her. She did not even have a witch’s funeral. Her body was dumped in a midden." |
Even knowing how vile Morfin Gaunt had been, Severus was appalled, and his ill feeling toward Pettigrew softened a bit at this. "Did you think your own life was in danger?" |
"I was sure it was. The Carrows had fled already, and it seemed the wise thing to do." |
Severus considered what to ask next. Suddenly a question occurred to him. Glaring at the wizard, he asked in harsh tones, "When did you learn that Lady Riddle was alive?" |
"Three years ago." |
Severus’s black eyes widened momentarily, then narrowed. "And why did you not return then?" |
"She was born a Gaunt. I did not know what kind of baroness she was." |
Severus considered that. It was still cowardly, but he supposed that it made sense, given the appalling history that Pettigrew had narrated. And—he realized with a pang—he was far from clean himself. Who was he to pass judgment on this man’s cowardice? To Pettigrew, it had been self-preservation. |
Something else occurred to Severus, something that he had tried to discover from Sirius Black but had been unable to do so. "Are you an Animagus?" he pressed. |
That did not surprise Severus as much as he thought. He supposed he had always known it, on some level. "What is your form?" |
"A garden rat. It is how I survived in hiding for so long." |
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