13 Chapter Thirteen- Letters, Vipers and Rats
The next morning the castle everyone was settling into their regular routines going to breakfast to prepare for the day of classes ahead.
Still sleepy students were making their way to their house tables and began to fill up on the various breakfast foods available.
Some were watching with anticipation if the previous morning's prank would be repeated on the head table, but as the half hour mark passed they were left disappointed when nothing happened.
Meanwhile up at the head table a few of the professors had taken some precautions to cast a few detection charms and spells around the table, not wanting to be caught by another prank.
Andromeda for her part had just taken her seat, Magnus hadn't warned her of any pranks so she knew nothing was going to happen. Though she had to suppress her smirk when she watched McGonnagal stand casting detection spells for five minutes before finally taking her seat.
Breakfast continued as normal and the hall filled with normal chatter as the students began to wake up properly, soon the beating of wings could be heard as the morning mail arrived.
As the owls swooped in Andromeda's continued with her breakfast not expecting anything aside from her copy of the daily prophet to arrive as usual. Which is why her interest was piqued when not only did it arrive, but a second delivery came by way of an elegant looking eagle owl who dropped only a single letter on the table in front of her plate before it made a sharp turn in the air and began to fly towards the Slytherin table.
Andromeda didn't have to watch it to know where it was going. She had immediately recognised the hand writing on the front of the letter that spelled out her name. The curves and slants were exactly the way she had been taught to use a quill when growing up, there was no doubt in her mind just who had sent the letter.
Interested in just what her sister was writing to her about Andromeda drew her wand and cast a few detection charms over it. Given who her sister had married and recent events she didn't put it past either her sister or Lucius to have hexed the letter in order to get some kind of vengeance.
But upon finding none her interest grew even more and after casting a subtle privacy charm over the letter that would make it read gibberish to anyone not holding it she took it up and began to open and read it.
"Dear Sister,
Andromeda, I know it has been too long since we last spoke, since before your banishment by our parents. I deeply regret that, and I make no excuse for it or for myself. We grew up as sisters and I should have taken a stand alongside you when you stood up to mother and father as you did, perhaps together we might have changed their minds on both our situations.
Regardless all I can do now is apologise for not doing so at the time and hope that you do not hold my lack of action, or contact, against me in my hour of need of which I now find myself in.
After Draco's duel with heir Black, Magnus, Lucius was furious upon his return over what had happened. But as always he believed to have found a solution, one that he hoped I would play a part in by birthing a second heir to house Malfoy that would reinstate Draco's status when the time came.
Needless to say I was not pleased with the idea of being touched by him once again and being used as such. Lucky when our parents were writing up my betrothal contract I had them word it in such a way that I was required to produce only one heir for the house and as Draco was the heir, though no longer, my part of the contract has been fulfilled and I am not bound by it to produce a second heir.
Needless to say Lucius was not pleased when I explained this to him and if not for my secretly keeping up my training and being as fast as I am with my wand I fear he would have forced me to aid him.
Since then I have secluded myself in my private chambers and kept wards up, he has not tried anything yet but I fear it will not be long until he does.
With my current situation as it is, I hope that you could arrange a meeting between myself and the new Heir Black so that I may plead my case with him and beg sanctuary with house Black under the olde laws. For both myself and my son. I fear that Draco doesn't realise that without his position as heir Malfoy and with no way to return it in the near future he will become expendable very quickly.
I beg of you sister, take my message and plead with our future lord for mine and my sons sake. I am prepared to meet any and all requests that are made of me to secure mine and my sons safety.
I hope that this finds you well, and that we may meet again soon.
Your sister.
Narcissa"
Upon reading the letter and it's contents Andromeda didn't know what to feel. The pain of her banishment and the shunning by her family had been something she had tried not to think about over the years. It had been painful turning her back on the traditions she grew up with but at the same time she knew it had been the right thing for her to do and to this day she had never once regretted her decision.
It had all proven to be a moot point now anyway, with her and Nymphadora being reinstated by Magnus. She knew that her parents if they were still alive would never have accepted her back and she didn't feel anything towards them now, the horrid people they had been in life.
Now though being reached out to by Narcissa made her pause. They had always been close growing up, her, Narcissa and Bellatrix had always been inseparable when they were little girls which was why their actions towards her had hurt the worst.
She still cared for her sister, that was something she couldn't deny, she was family, she was a Black and Blacks looked after their own.
Reading the letter a second time Andromeda couldn't keep a small smirk from showing on her face as she read how her sister had used the contract wording against Lucius. She knew that slippery prick would try to get around his oath, but the contract's wording had completely blocked him from using Narcissa to birth a second heir to get around it.
With a sigh she folded the letter up and put it away within her robe. For the time being regardless of her own feelings and the pain she felt because of her sister's actions, she knew she would have to show the letter to Magnus and advise him on the matter, Narcissa was family, and he was the heir Black. The final decision would be up to him.
Scene break
Meanwhile at the Slytherin table Draco saw still as stone as he looked at the letter in his hands, his eyes wide and a cold sweat on his forehead as he read over the letter a second time, sure that he had misread something.
"Draco,
I understand your situation. Many will no doubt see your loss of status as weakness and will seek to abuse your loss of power for their own gain. Do what you can to remain safe and keep strong. But I beseech you, do not attempt to seek vengeance against house Black or its heir, it will not change what has happened.
With your loss of status, though it may have slipped your notice, you have also lost any and all protection that it offered you. Particularly from your father himself.
As it stands he intends to try to restore your title by seeing another heir Malfoy is born and then have your status restored by them. But even if his plan is to work it will take up to ten years until they can do so.
That means you will be without your status as Heir Malfoy for ten years, and that is also ten years where at any time your father could decide you truly are not worthy of the title and as such seek to remove you from any chance of regaining it by ending your life.
And if you believe that I would be able to keep you safe from him, do not think so. As currently he is just as displeased with me as he is with you.
As it stands our only viable option to secure both our safety is to plead for sanctuary under the olde laws with my former house. I have already dispatched a letter to my sister to plead our case to Heir Black and to arrange a meeting with him so that I may do so myself.
In the meantime it is of the utmost importance that you do not antagonise House Black or its Heir further, for both our sakes.
Be well my son, and keep safe.
Your mother
Narcissa"
As he finished reading the letter a second time Draco felt his stomach drop even further than it had the first time.
He had of course considered that his father might have some plan to try to reinstate him as heir Malfoy, but he had thought that it would only take a few weeks or months at the most but what his mother revealed to him was not something that he could accept.
Even if his father did produce a second heir, the earliest they would be able to take up the heir title would be seven years old. That itself was unacceptable from his point of view. But what made him fearful was his mother's warnings about his father.
He had seen his father angry many times and knew what he could do in that anger having witnessed him take his anger out on others, muggles, on many occasions. It had been where he had learned most of the dark arts that he had used in his duel with Magnus.
He knew that his father didn't tolerate incompetence, or mistakes, and he had clearly made just that by accepting the duel with Magnus that caused this whole mess and lost their house so much money.
Regardless of what had been the original cause of the duel Draco knew that his father would see the whole mess as his fault for not winning the duel.
If he had to continue on through all of his Hogwarts years without his position as heir Malfoy he knew that sooner or later he'd make more mistakes it was inevitable and if he made too many then his father may just decide that he isn't worthy of the position after all and decide to remove him.
That thought alone made him nearly wet himself as he remembered the screams of some of those muggles which his father tortured in his anger. Would he scream the same?
Coming back to himself Draco immediately schooled his features and put the letter away within his robes as he tried to look as if nothing was bothering him. He was at the Slytherin table after all, he knew that showing any weakness would give others in his house cause to look more into his actions to find the right leverage on him to use him for their own gains.
Which with his current lack of status was something he couldn't afford. And as much as it stung his pride to admit it, his mother had a point, Magnus may have been the cause of his problems but right now he was the only one who could offer him and his mother any kind of protection from other dark families and his own father.
For the time being he would have to swallow his pride and keep his head down until he could tell just how things would go with his mother's bid for their future.
Time skip
Andromeda said in her chair behind her desk with her hands stapled under her chin as she watched Magnus as he read the letter she had received from Narcissa that morning.
She had waited until he had a free period to have him called to her class room so as not to disturb his lessons.
Magnus for his side of things found himself completely at a loss as he re-read the letter for a third time. Out of all the things he expected to happen because of his actions with the Malfoys this was not one of them.
That Narcissa would reach out for aid because of this had him at a loss. He liked to think that he had a good grasp of Narcissa's character from what he understood about her. He realised now that he had clearly underestimated certain aspects of her personality if this was her response.
After reading the letter a final time he began to understand just what it was that he had judged poorly about her. He had assumed that Narcissa had a deep sense of caring for her family, given how she had been the one to see her family away from the final battle instead of fighting. But apparently that sense of caring didn't extend completely to Lucius like it did for Draco.
'It must be the family magics that urge her more to protect her son due to his being half Black' Magnus thought to himself now knowing the nature of the Black families magics.
Magnus could see now that Lucius and Narcissa's marriage was made more out of a political standing than of actual love for one another. And now with Lucius being persevered as a threat to Draco, Narcissa was acting against him as well.
Putting the letter down on the table Magnus sat back in his chair and frowned, "interesting, I didn't expect this" he commented glancing to Andromeda, "thoughts?"
Andromeda inhaled slowly before speaking, "it is a rather surprising outcome but not completely unexpected for me. Narcissa has always been a survivor, and an opportunist, she will seek out shelter beneath with whatever group will offer her the best future. She did so with house Malfoy, they were only settled here in London from France at the time and their influence was still growing Narcissa saw an opportunity with them and now it has turned against her, it's only natural she would seek another safe haven at this time"
Magnus nodded as he let those pieces fall into place in the mental jigsaw puzzle he was building in his mind of Narcissa's character, "I see, you believe she will have some ulterior motives by seeking house Blacks protection?"
Andromeda snorted, "of course she will, she's a Slytherin through and through, and a Black to boot. You can bet she will have an ulterior motive and several plans to make sure she gets it."
Magnus chuckled softly, "then that leaves only one option as to how to deal with this. As things stand a meeting will be required either way but with how things are at the moment it won't be soon" he mused as he glanced to the letter again, "as it is if the meeting were to happen right now then as much as she needs our protection she would still have time after to look for other options should our protection and terms not meet the standards she is expecting"
Andromeda eyes narrowed slightly and her lips quirked up as she realised what he meant, "you want to put it off until the last possible moment to leave her no other option but to do as you say in order to get house Blacks protection"
Magnus grinned and nodded, "exactly, if she plans on using house Black as you suspect, and has ulterior motives then if we put things off that will give us the high ground from which we can dictate the terms of her protection. As much as she says she is willing to meet any demands I doubt she means it completely as of yet. So we simply have to bide our time and let the situation develop until she has little choice left but to accept whatever we tell her"
Andromeda shook her head with slight bemusement, "that is certainly a very Slytherin move on your part, and rather cold."
Magnus shrugged, "it's only right, if she intends to abuse house Blacks protection she deserves to squirm for a while, and besides let's not forget that Draco was the next in line to be heir Black before I came along. I don't doubt for even a moment that if Narcissa had known about me beforehand that she would have allowed me to claim my place in the Black family. It's best if we keep her at arm's reach until we can be assured that she is on a tight leash before being brought back into the family's protection"
Andromeda nodded, "I understand, it's cold but necessary, Narcissa is a viper in the sense that she should be respected and treated with caution at least until her loyalties can be fully ascertained"
Magnus nodded in agreement, "good, I will leave the reply to the letter to you then, say that I need time to think on the matter and that you will owl her again when I have decided on a meeting date, but to keep you apprised should Lucy do anything largely stupid," He instructed as he began to get up.
Andromeda nodded back but before she could reply the sound of metal tapping repeatedly was heard from her top desk drawer.
Scene break
Ted was reclining in his office chair, having just got back from pulling an all nighter with Amelia calling in all the favours they both could manage in order to set events for Sirius trial in motion under the radar so that no one would be the wiser until it was too late.
He was dead tired after having not slept in close to thirty six hours but knew he needed to inform Andromeda of things, she could pass the news onto Magnus later while he got some much needed shut eye.
Fishing the communication mirror out of his desk he sat up and looked at the mirror before speaking, "Andy"
He felt the mirror pulse in his hands over the next few seconds waiting for Andromeda to pick up, and let out a yawn as he did so. But after a few more seconds the screen flashed and the faces of Andromeda and Magnus both appeared.
"Hello dear," Andromeda spoke through the mirror as she saw her husband yawn, "another late night I take it."
Seeing the pair Ted chuckled, "they never get any easier"
"You should get some sleep dear if you fall asleep at your desk again you'll be complaining about your back for weeks, remember last time" Andromeda teased.
"I know, I know," Ted sighed, "I was just going to let you know what's going on but as Magnus is with you now I can fill you both in and save time" Ted said before yawning again.
"What's the news Ted?" Magnus asked.
"Well I've finally managed to speak with Madam Bones, and I've presented all the evidence or lack thereof about Sirius not getting his trial and subsequent illegal imprisonment. Needless to say she wasn't one bit happy with those fools in the wizengamot" Ted mused.
"I would say not," Andromeda chuckled.
"So she's going to help us?" Magnus asked.
Ted nodded, "she is and already has, she and I spent the better part of yesterday evening and last night calling in all the favours we could and giving the ministry the run around. All going well Sirius will be secreted out of Azkaban in the next two to three days and tucked away into a ministry holding cell. It only took us this long because he was in the maximum security level with a number of other death eaters, getting him out under the radar was no easy task"
"That's great news," Magnus said, sounding very pleased to hear that Sirius would be getting out of that place.
Ted yawned again, "yes it is, but it's only half the battle I'm afraid. Once Siri's is out it will only be twenty four hours until the guard shift changes and when that happens the next guards will notice that he is gone, that will cause a huge ruckus and Madam Bones will then be forced to reveal his location, if she doesn't and he's found she will be the one taking the hit.
"So you have only twenty four hours to bring the matter to trial once he's out in order to secure his innocence so that others can't hush things up" Andromeda frowned and Magnus looked pensive like he was racking his brains for some thought.
Ted nodded, "yes, and that's no easy feat let me tell you, everyone still believes Sirius betrayed the Potters, and a simple lack of evidence might not be enough to persuade them, at best it will only solidate a mistrial for the mishandling of the case and evidence" Ted sighed.
"Isn't there anything else you can do?" Andromeda asked worried what would happen if Sirius wasn't cleared.
"At the moment no, Amelia plans to secret Sirius out into an auror safe house in the last hours if she's not convinced we can win the trial out right. She knows as well as I if Sirius isn't cleared completely the ministry will pull something to save face and have him arrested on some other charges and if that happens we're afraid that something may just happen to him in his cell before the next trial date" Ted said with a grimace.
Andromeda muttered a curse under her breath, "and just what would you need to secure an absolute win in court"
Ted sighed and rubbed his face, "a miracle at this rate, given how long ago this all happened unless we can figure out who really betrayed the Potters and haul their arse in for questioning to clear Sirius, short of that we're in a bind"
The three of them fell into a grim silence at that, neither Andromeda nor Ted could think how to progress and Magnus eyes were flickering back and forth as if reading something before after several more seconds they seemed to widen.
"That's it," Magnus exclaimed, making both Tonks look at him.
"Have you thought of something" Ted asked as he wiped his face with his hand trying to stay awake.
"Yes, I can't believe I didn't see it before" Magnus said before looking hard at Ted, "Ted what exactly was left over of Peter when Sirius supposedly killed him"
"A finger, that was all, why?" Ted asked not sure where he was going.
"A finger," Magnus nodded before looking at Andromeda, "remember what I read about the Marauders, they were all secret animagi, James Potter was a stag, Sirius a large dog and Peter.."
"A brown rat, yes I remembered you mentioned it," Andromeda said, nodding her head urging him to get to the point.
"Well what if Peter isn't really dead, what if he just faked his death by cutting off his finger and then used his animagus form to disappear in the confusion" Magnus suggested, "and he's been hiding all this time because he is the one who betrayed the Potters"
"It's a theory Magnus" Ted said as he shook his head, "but that's all it is, even if it's plausible we would have no way to find him to confirm this"
"What if I had an idea of where he might be," Magnus asked and both Teds and Andromeda heads turned to him fast.
"What do you mean?" Ted asked as he pushed through his sleep to focus.
"I think Peter is here in the castle, and has been hiding with a magical family all this time to keep his ear out for trouble," Magnus explained.
"It's a possibility but what makes you think so?" Andromeda asked considering his words.
"I overheard Ronald Weasley talking about his pet, Scabbers, apparently the rat has been passed down from his older brothers, and is over ten years old at this point and is missing a digit on one of its front paws" Magnus explained himself, "ten years, that's way too long for a normal rat to live, so either it's magical or it's…"
"An animagus" Andromeda finished his sentence for him before the mirror moved to just show her face as she stood up from her chair.
"Ted, get ahold of Amelia again as soon as you can. Get her to send a squad of Aurors to Hogwarts as soon as she can, if Scabbers is really Peter and he is the traitor then there is every chance he might be planning to avenge his master by killing Harry, we can't take any chance" Andromeda said before the call cut off.
Ted's mind was racing from how everything had just come full circle and he quickly got to his feet and began to run out of his office, it would seem that sleep was going to have to wait a few more hours.
