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"I’m sure you are right," Tom said. He clenched his wand tightly. Hermione glanced at him and noticed that his eyes continued to gleam bright red. |
"Incidentally, Granger’s young son is a wizard," Sirius said. |
Hermione nodded. "We saw him do accidental magic." |
"So did I. It won’t be long before his father notices too. That concerns me, since he has such a negative opinion of it. I took the liberty of letting him know that his "allies’ who came by were themselves wizards...." |
Severus broke into a smirk. "Oh, well done," he said in spite of himself. |
"He was not impressed," Sirius said. "It didn’t matter to him that these wizards had come to protect his castle. He is deeply against magic. It’s ironic, because I think he may be a wizard himself. Not very powerful, if so... and I am not sure of it—it’s hard to tell sometimes with untrained wizards who are weak—but he might be." |
Hermione considered that. "He is my first cousin through both father and mother," she said. "He has the same blood I do in both lines. He could be." Oddly, her thoughts toward her cousin warmed once again at this idea. |
"After the war, we’ll have to go to them to persuade the man to change his views," Tom said. "But it’s not a priority now. As it is, we already have to fight on two fronts. It is a matter of honor now, not just wartime necessity, that I strike a crippling blow against Armand Malfoy soon... I have some ideas about that... but it appears that we must also keep an eye on the Muggle king and undermine these wretches at every opportunity. If they will use my lady’s personal tragedy to further their own blood-traitor agenda, they will certainly use a war between wizards to make the Muggle king see magic in the worst possible light." |
"Blood-traitor agenda’?" Harry Potter murmured half under his breath. Sirius’s wife nudged him, but Tom heard. |
"Why should Malfoy’s people own that term?" he proclaimed. "Wizards who act against other witches and wizards certainly fit. I fully intend to use it with that meaning." |
Sirius and Marlene exchanged uneasy glances. "As you like, my lord," Sirius muttered. He sighed and put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. "There was one more thing. You may notice that Harry’s mother is not present." |
Hermione suddenly felt trepidation. |
"She moved back into the Potter cottage after James left... I think that when he is not spying as a stag, he is with the Weasleys or in Hogsmeade. But we did look for her, and she wasn’t there. I will let my wife explain," he ended bitterly. |
Marlene stepped forward. "Lily and I have been friends since childhood," she said. "When she was denied the right to go to Hogwarts, I was outraged for her. I let her look at my schoolbooks whenever I was in Godric’s Hollow. She has a great talent for brewing potions...." |
Hermione nodded. "Harry told me so at Hogwarts." |
"Evidently, others knew it too. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy have conscripted her into their service as the family potionmaker," Marlene said bluntly. |
Tom, Hermione, and Severus all looked appalled. Severus spoke first, his voice cracked with disgust. "Are you implying that Lucius... that is to say...." |
"Oh, no," Marlene assured him. "Not that. It’s impossible for us to know for certain, of course, but there have never been any rumors or allegations around the village that Lord Lucius forced himself on women. He seems to have great respect for his lady wife, too. We think that he really did want Lily to make potions. Why, we do not know." |
"I have some ideas," Tom muttered, too low for the guests to hear. He raised his voice. "I thank you for your news. Later today we will hold the funeral for Peter Pettigrew, and I will consult with my ally Lord Regulus Black about what to do next in this war that has broken out. I expect that my other allies—five families, perhaps six, if the Greengrass family comes—may come as well. You will certainly have seats at my war table," he said, smiling for them. |
Hermione wondered if it was a real smile, but she supposed it did not matter. He at least understood that Sirius and Marlene Black had to be there, since the intention was for one of their future children to wed his eventual heir—and since Sirius’s knowledge of the Friends of the Founders was clearly vital. |
"Now," Tom continued, "you may retire to your quarters in the castle and make yourselves at ease. The house-elves will attend you as needed." He gazed out, clearly sending the message that the audience was over. |
Severus asked to be introduced to the nurse that Lupin had found. To his surprise, he knew her. Ailith Abbott, aunt of one of Tom and Hermione’s former schoolmates, had come to Parselhall with her husband and baby, eager for a better opportunity than Lucius Malfoy was apparently granting the family as villagers of Godric’s Hollow. |
"We were involved in... that incident," the woman said to Severus in a low voice. "The one years ago." |
Severus nodded curtly. "I understand perfectly. Your service here is much appreciated, and your husband... if he is willing to take the oath to the Regent, he may have the opportunity for advancement to a knighthood eventually." |
Abbott was more than willing to do just that, and it was accomplished quickly, while they still awaited the arrival of their noble allies. |
Tom felt strange about accepting oaths from others as lord of Hangleton. He had certainly made his school friends swear an oath of loyalty to him, but it was very different to accept one as the lord of a fief. Mother is not dead, he reminded himself after the little ceremony was concluded and the Abbotts had been given quarters in a little-used part of the castle that had been used to house knights in centuries past. She is just sleeping, in a way. And we are going to fight the war that will end in her restoration. In the restoration of many things, he amended. |
Although she was glad to see that the poor twins would be cared for, Hermione continued to fume about the imposition of the Friends of the Founders. Two of the wizards were the fathers of friends of hers—and possibly three, if Arthur Weasley had been present. Otherwise, the Weasleys were the brothers of a friend of hers. Clearly, that friendship meant nothing to them. |
Tom is right, she thought. My friendship with their children means nothing because of my sex and the fact that I’m married... into a family that is not allied with them, at that. |
And Dumbledore had been there! According to Sirius, Dumbledore had not been the leader in her cousin Charles’s eyes, even though he certainly had the most powerful magic of that group. That choice of purported leadership was probably intentional, Hermione thought. Of course a Muggle who knew about magic would be suspicious if a frail-looking elderly man appeared to lead a group of warriors. However, when they actually had put up the wards, Hermione did not doubt for one second that Dumbledore was the chief spellcaster. |
Thinking about that brought about a resurgence of outrage in Hermione. So, she seethed, Dumbledore will protect my cousin, but not my parents. I suppose my parents were of no use to him, but a man who is aggrieved at Dumbledore’s enemies is. |
She expressed that thought to Tom in the family parlor as they discussed what they had just learned. He frowned in consideration. |
"It wouldn’t surprise me," he agreed. "I’ve been convinced for a while that Dumbledore knew exactly what the Weasleys were doing and approved of at least part of it. There was that conversation he had with Professor McGonagall that you overheard. I’m also concerned, though, about this news about Lily Potter." |
Severus was holding the twin babies in his lap. When Tom uttered Lily’s name, he winced. |
"What do you think it means?" Hermione asked. |
Tom sighed. "Lady Narcissa is not stupid. If I could deduce that Armand Malfoy is drinking unicorn’s blood, I’m quite certain that someone intelligent within the family itself would also work that out." |
Hermione’s mouth dropped open. "You mean to say that—Lily—" She could not complete the sentence. |
Tom nodded. "Lestrange must be making it for Malfoy right now. I expect that is why the old man wants someone to wait on him. But the Malfoys of Godric’s Hollow would know that if Lestrange is killed, they are next in line for that task." |
"Of course the person who drinks it is cursed," she said. "Would the curse also afflict the slayer of the unicorn? Or the one who harvests its blood and prepares the potion?" |
"I don’t know," Tom confessed. "But it seems as though Lucius is not taking his chances." He gazed at her. "This is why I did not want to state my suspicions in front of Potter." |
"Of course," she said. "That’s horrible. And to think I thought we could ally with those Malfoys!" |
Tom gazed at her with a sardonic look in his eyes. "We may yet have to. My plan is to attack Lestrange, and question him about Malfoy’s Horcrux before I kill him, but he may be just as ignorant about that as Carrow was. But if the Malfoys of Godric’s Hollow don’t want to play Lestrange’s part...." |
"Then they might be willing to obtain that information to have vengeance against him," Hermione finished. She still found it extremely distasteful, but she understood Tom’s reasoning. "We should try to rescue Mistress Potter, though." |
Tom looked much older than his age. "Hermione, I don’t think that can happen except in the context of an alliance offer to the Malfoys." |
"Then let’s make that offer." |
"It is definitely something I will discuss with our allies when they arrive." |
Arrive they did. Regulus, Andromeda, and Nymphadora Black came first, and Tom made certain not to let Sirius see his brother’s family without being informed of that fact in advance. Tom found it petty and childish, but nothing could be allowed to jeopardize the Black alliance, including the ill-will of an estranged brother. |
"It might be a good idea to let Black—Sirius, that is—know of the long-term plan," Severus advised Tom after they had welcomed Regulus’s family. "And before the rest of the allies come." |
"You think there will be a problem?" Hermione asked him. |
Severus scowled. "My opinion of Sirius Black is rather well known in this household by now. I hope I am mistaken, but if the man does have a tantrum, better that nobody else see it." |
"Lupin can be sent to guard the castle, then," Tom said. He rose to do that, returning to the parlor in a few minutes. |
"Regulus should keep an eye on his daughter," he remarked when he had returned, eyes glittering in amusement. "She and the werewolf are flirting. But," he continued, a more serious expression on his face, "it’s done. Let’s bring in the Black brothers... and their wives." |
Regulus, Sirius, and the two women were soon shown to the parlor. Sirius seemed on edge. He could not know what was afoot, Hermione assumed, but he must know that whatever it was, it was something he was not going to like. |
"I need to inform you," Tom said, "that your brother and my mother made an agreement last summer that concerns you. More accurately, it concerns your family." |
Hermione noticed something canine in Sirius’s response to this—almost as though he had hackles on his back that went up. |
"What I am about to say refers, of course, to the time after our war is over and won. But, in short, it’s a condition of our families’ alliance that my eventual heir will marry one of your children." Tom had decided it best to be blunt about it, rather than playing games. Sirius was a Gryffindor, after all. |
He began to question the wisdom of that decision as Sirius’s face turned a deep shade of pink. His wife glanced at him in alarm, and Andromeda in frustration, as if she had seen this before. |
"You made a decision like that without telling me?" Sirius finally exploded at his brother. Regulus flinched. "You bartered away my future children—no offense," he said to Hermione more so than Tom, which the latter noticed—"but this is the kind of scheming that made me leave my family!" He rose from his seat and stormed to the nearest window. "I do not want my children to live this way," he said, his voice suddenly savage. "I gave up being the heir to a great house because I could not stand noble scheming and blood politics—and you, "brother,’ have the presumption to pull me back into it! Without even telling me!" |
Regulus had been waiting for the storm to blow over before he spoke. He waited for Tom’s nonverbal permission, given as a nod, before attempting to calm his brother. "Sirius," he said, "this does not entail making you the heir again." He attempted to keep the pride and irritation out of his voice but did not quite succeed. |
Sirius’s nostrils flared. "So," he drawled, "you inherit, you speak for our accursed parents, but you still claim my children! You say you want one of them to marry a noble heir. What if Marlene and I have children all of the same sex as theirs?" |
"Then the contract will be renegotiated." |
"And what of the rest of our children?" he continued. "Won’t they be jealous of their brother or sister? Or perhaps one of the others turns out to like the Riddles’ child better than the one "chosen.’" |
"That wouldn’t happen," Hermione said, attempting to reassure him at least on that point. "I myself insisted that it would have to be the child of yours who most desired the match, if that happened." |
Sirius dismissed that. "That’s the least of the problems with it. Merely by being part of the same family in which this match takes place, our other children will get drawn into noble scheming and noble politics—which means that I will too." He walked over to the seats and pulled Marlene gently from her chair by her hand. "I won’t permit it. This is not going to happen." |
Severus was angry now. He rose from his own seat and glared Sirius down. "What is wrong with you?" he exclaimed. "I, I, I.’ You aren’t concerned about your other children—you don’t have any! It’s entirely hypothetical. You are concerned about yourself. That’s the only person you have ever cared about!" |
Sirius whirled around, glaring. "I would like to know what you have planned, Snivellus," he snarled. "Do you intend to usurp Riddle?" |
"Hold your tongue, Black," Tom said sharply. He got to his feet. "I am clearly named as my mother’s heir and regent. You would be wise not to try to obfuscate your own troublemaking by trying to drive a wedge between Severus and me. As for the issue at hand, I would phrase it in a more politic way. You know that Armand Malfoy and Rodolphus Lestrange have already struck a terrible blow against us. You know that James Potter and the Weasleys are betraying witches and wizards to the Muggle king. The alliance between our families is important. You cannot just throw that away." |
"All you nobles think the same way!" Sirius exclaimed. "Why can we not just fight by your side? Why do we have to give you one of our children?" |
"Do you want to know what I think?" Andromeda spoke up. "I think it’s because Lord Black, your father, would otherwise fight against the Riddle family for the high lordship! This alliance should forestall that sort of conflict." |
Sirius scoffed. "Father won’t be dissuaded from something he wants for a reason like that. No offense, but the Riddles’ children will be half-blood. I am not even sure if ours will be pureblood "enough,’ in his mind. Why would he sacrifice his own ambition, if he does indeed have it, over this match? It is not going to happen, Regulus. I do not consent. And... this means that Marlene, Cassandra, and I had best leave this castle. It is up to Harry whether he wishes to remain." |
Tom’s patience finally reached its end. "How can you be so selfish?" |
"Selfish!" Tom shot back. "Are you going to destroy our families’ alliance over this? Whether you like it or not, those are the terms of the alliance! It’s actually quite generous for this type of contract among nobles. Have you any idea what kinds of sacrifices others of us have made for the war?" he exclaimed, his voice breaking at that. His dark eyes widened in pain. "If you knew what I have sacrificed... or Hermione," he added quickly, not wanting the Blacks to start to speculate what his sacrifice might have been. "What we are asking of you is a compliment!" |
"I am sure you see it that way," Sirius barked. "You have lived as a noble for just four years, but you think exactly like one. I am sorry, Lord Thomas, but I do not consent to this arrangement, and I will not impose upon your hospitality any longer." |
"I did not give you leave to depart," Tom said, his voice suddenly cold. Hermione glanced at him. Sure enough, his eyes gleamed red again. |
Sirius whirled around in fury. He took a look at Tom’s face, drew back in surprise, and sneered. "Unless you are making my entire family your prisoners, I do not require your permission to return to my own home." |
"You aren’t safe at that place!" Regulus protested feelingly. "Sirius—don’t do it!" |
Marlene took his arm anxiously. "Sirius, he has a point. It’s not safe there anymore." |
He shook his entire body in a very canine way, then turned to her. "You do as you like, then. I won’t endanger you and your daughter. But I will be perfectly safe as Padfoot." |
"Sirius—" Regulus’s sentence was cut off as his brother stormed from the parlor. |
The snap of the door behind him echoed potently. The remaining witches and wizards faced each other. No one was sure what to say. |
Finally Severus spoke. "What did I tell you?" he muttered. "A tantrum." |
"He’ll come back," Regulus said. "He’s angry right now. He will return once he thinks it over and sees reason." |
Marlene and Severus looked deeply skeptical. |
"I just hope nothing happens to him first!" Hermione exclaimed, upset. "Pettigrew likely knew of his Animagus form. Who knows whether he told Malfoy and Lestrange about it? And James Potter definitely knows what his form looks like." |
"I could send Lupin to track him down and attempt to reason with him," Tom mused, "but my other allies are expected soon. We have to discuss war strategies, with or without Sirius Black." |
The other allies arrived quickly in succession: representatives of the Flints, the Fawleys, the Notts, the Averys, the Wilkeses, and—Tom, Hermione, and Severus observed with pleasure—the Greengrasses. At Hermione’s urging, Tom invited Harry Potter to the conference as well. He proudly showed them into a room with a long oval table and several chairs and summoned a house-elf to provide food and drink. Hermione smiled; he was growing into his role as regent well. She was proud of him. He took her arm and sat down with her. Severus sat next, on Tom’s other side, the twins attached to him by a double sling made of two lengths of grey fabric. The others then took their seats. |
"My friends and allies," Tom began formally, fingering the silver goblet before him. He gazed outward. A banner of House Riddle, with its three-headed snake and elder wreath, hung behind him, and on the opposite wall was a Celtic Triquetra. He was proud of Mother for putting it up in blatant defiance of Armand Malfoy. "I have invited you here because, as you know by now, we have been attacked and have suffered losses. My lady wife’s parents were killed by Malfoy, Lestrange, and their allies. In the same day, shortly after being driven from the Granger castle by a likely Muggle-born wizard who is my lady’s cousin—" |
Hermione wondered when the speculations had congealed into "likelihood" in Tom’s mind. Perhaps it was simply better politics to designate Charles an untrained wizard, even a Muggle-born one, than a Muggle. Yes, she thought, that is probably it. The message is that he is one of us in blood, and that he also was harmed by the policies of the Malfoy regime. And it might even be true. It will certainly be true for his son if we don’t win. |
"—Lestrange and eight of his allies stormed Parselhall. Lestrange cursed my lady mother, the rightful Baroness of Hangleton, with a foul curse from the Continent that even the Frankish wizarding lord of the early ninth century saw fit to ban. Yes," he said as several of the lords present gasped, "it was the curse that they called "the Killing Frost.’ This evil, barbaric spell has been unknown in this beautiful country until Malfoy brought it inside the walls of this very castle. And yes, although Lestrange activated it, the caster was Armand Malfoy. This is why my lady mother is not among us today and why I speak in her stead as Regent of Hangleton. She will not awaken until Malfoy is dead. And as it is, that may pose a difficulty. Based on the description of the battle of Castle Grange by my lady’s cousin, I believe that Malfoy has rendered himself deathless by a Horcrux—" |
Several of the nobles groaned. Tom observed their reactions and, to his relief, did not see any shocked disapproval among them. He did not intend to tell them his own secret, but it was possible that over the course of the war, he would be found out. The nobles’ reaction now was annoyance over the difficulty that this posed for removing Malfoy, not moral outrage. |
"—and I obtained proof in the same interview that Malfoy drinks the blood of unicorns to restore physical health." |
There was the moral outrage. Lady Greengrass huffed in contempt. Lords Nott and Fawley gasped. The others were too stunned to physically respond. |
Grimly satisfied, Tom continued. "We also lost a vassal in the battle of Parselhall, Peter Pettigrew." He decided not to tell them that Pettigrew had betrayed the family in the first place. "Fortunately, the invaders suffered losses too. The traitor werewolf Fenrir, a former vassal of my mother’s family who assumed the name Greyback, is dead, as is another traitorous former vassal, Amycus Carrow, and a knight called Rowle." He paused, and the guests dutifully raised their goblets in a silent toast. |
"However, this is only the beginning. Lestrange and Malfoy still live. As you all know, they have restricted the traditional English—and Scottish and Welsh—rights of witches over the past four years. They have also shown contempt for the native culture of these islands, the Celtic heritage that everyone in this room has in some part." He gave Hermione a quick smile. She supposed that it was probably true. "They have made it illegal to observe the old magical holidays, the most potent days of the year, which our ancestors in their wisdom marked as such. They have made it illegal to cast spells in Gaelic, restricting an entire body of magic from usage. They dissolved our ancestral ruling body, the Wizengamot—a body on which most of you would have been seated—and replaced it with a tiny Council representing only three families, only one of which was from Britain. And then they murdered the patriarch of that great house, whose representative and heir, Lord Regulus Black, is among us today." |
The families toasted Regulus in respect. |
"This is the magnitude of the threat we face on one side. It is nothing less than a threat to our magical customs, traditions, history, and knowledge as a people. However, a different threat lurks in the shadows as well. A self-appointed group of dispossessed wizards curries favor with the Muggle king, answering to no witch or wizard but themselves. They have made a bargain with the king that will be just as restrictive for witches of Britain as the vile laws that Malfoy has made, and they have an agenda that threatens the freedom of all magical people. These people, who include the well-known blood-traitor family the Weasleys—" |
Several of the nobles snorted in disdain. Hermione wondered momentarily why he had left out Dumbledore’s involvement. She supposed that that might be too intimidating. These people already knew that they had to defeat the High Lord of wizarding Britain and his deputy. They had just learned that another threat awaited them as well. It might scare them away if they knew that they would have to work against Albus Dumbledore, to boot. I hope he is not that involved, she thought. In the conversation he had with Professor McGonagall, he seemed convinced that the Weasleys did not mean what they said about witches. He never treated witches differently to wizards at Hogwarts when I was there, either. Perhaps he has simply blinded himself to the truth about his allies, as McGonagall said. After all, he might not have known that Tom was serious about his challenge to Malfoy. He might have thought that the Weasleys were the only alternative to the current order available. |
"—have gone to the king to tell him of the murder of my wife’s family, using her tragedy for their own ends, without her permission or even prior knowledge! This too shows the degree of their disdain for witches. They also intend to let the goblins of the Continent plunder wizarding homes of every piece of treasure that these goblins claim to own." Tom paused and sat back smugly, certain that this would garner a response. |
He was correct. The guests shouted in outrage. Lord Flint, that loudmouthed, somewhat loutish nobleman who had catcalled at both Riddle family weddings, exclaimed an oath above everyone else in the room. |
Hermione glanced quickly at Harry. He looked utterly miserable. He had, of course, already known about the Weasleys’ plans, and Tom had not named James Potter as a conspirator in the scheme—probably for Harry’s sake, Hermione realized—but he still was taking this hard. |
Hermione decided to speak up. "We have good reason to believe that the children of these conspirators—some of them—do not support their parents’ plans," she said. "It is our hope to recruit them to our side and offer them sanctuary." She gazed at Tom pointedly. They had not discussed that openly, but now that she had said it, it would not do for him to publicly contradict her. He looked surprised but did not seem to object even privately. |
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