57.  The Vow

If you want, you can read 30 chapters in advance on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.

_____________________

"V-Vow? What vow? Why?" Rita stuttered.

Snape raised his wand towards Rita, preventing her from taking any action. Meanwhile, Happy grinned like a little devil. "A simple Unbreakable vow which will make you obedient to me. From now on, every article you write will be to my liking. If you fail to comply, you will die."

"N-No…You can't…I will nev—"

"Hold your horses there. There's money in this for you, more than you've been making until now. Consider this a job with somewhat... extreme clauses. You will earn five thousand gold galleons each month, a salary worth nearly three months of what you get at your current workplace. Not to mention, you will be working for me in secret. Hence, your job at the Daily Prophet will continue. You can continue to write provocative articles about the world, but leave me and Professor Snape out of them." Happy explained it thoroughly, but he knew better than to be too kind. "If you refuse, I'll have you killed right here. I'm sure people will celebrate your disappearance."

She cried her eyes out. "Why are you doing this to me? Is it because of the articles? I'll fix them. I'll write good articles about you—"

"Ms. Skeeter, your tongue is worth less than a dead insect." Happy spoke crudely, befitting an emerging pureblood leader. "You only have two choices. Accept and make the vow, or die. Professor, if she doesn't agree in five seconds, please kill her."

"One." Snape started counting in a cold voice.

"Two."

"Three."

Rita glanced fearfully at their faces, left and right. She couldn't escape by transforming into an animagus, as it takes time to completely transform. Nor did she have her wand to fight them, rendering her utterly defenseless.

"Four."

"I accept! I accept the terms, don't kill me, please." She lowered her head in defeat.

Happy extended his hand, which Rita reluctantly grasped. Then he nodded at Snape, signaling him to initiate the process.

Snape tapped his wand on their clasped hands once, and a shining golden string appeared on it, intertwining their hands.

Happy spoke the terms then. "Will you, Rita Skeeter, faithfully and unquestionably serve me, Happy Lestrange, in everything ordered, throughout your life?"

Rita's eyes widened as the vow Happy spoke was basically making her his slave. The word 'everything' had such a vast scope that it could mean anything. He could tell her to kill herself, and she'd have to do it.

But could she even say no at that point? The answer was clearly no, and that meant there were no options.

"I will."

Happy continued. "Do you vow to never reveal your servitude to me to anyone, or inform anyone what I ordered you through any means, be it magical or physical?"

"I do."

"Will you take your life in case you fail to maintain these vows or get exposed?"

Rita's chest rose and fell in fright. The price she was paying for her loose hand in the articles seemed too high at that point. "I-I will."

Three strings had wrapped their hands by the time Happy retracted his hand. The vow became valid at that instant, and Rita fell to her knees, utterly defeated.

Happy smiled warmly and gave her a glass of water. "Don't be depressed. As long as you don't go against me and be a good journalist as per my orders, we don't have any reason to cross paths. I will never meet you, nor will you meet me. The owls will bring you encrypted letters from time to time, and that's it."

With that, he was done for the day, and he had to agree, it was perhaps the most delightful and fulfilling day of his year. Even more so than defeating the snake or Tom Riddle. After all, now he had the power of propaganda in his hands.

"Professor, I'll go now. The wand situation I talked to you about…I think I should go and meet the creature myself." Happy decided to leave, as he had no interest in seeing Rita questionably robed.

"Dumbledore, I presume?" Snape asked. "He will know where to find it."

'Oh, he's quite friendly to me now, despite that cold face.' Happy noticed the slight change in Snape's demeanor toward him.

"I know where to find it too, Professor. But, yes, only Professor Dumbledore can lead me there. See you later, and oh…" He eyed Rita again. "About my interview—I need you to publish it as it is but edit the parts where I accused pureblood families of serving the Dark Lord. Make it sound more 'alleged' than a fact. Be creative."

Thud!

Happy shut the door with a loud slam, jolting Rita out of her fearful trance. She looked up, and there was Snape.

"Leave," Snape ordered her coldly.

Indeed, she wasn't going to find any warmth there.

…

With a delighted expression, Happy approached the Headmaster's office. He confidently stepped onto the Griffin elevator and waited for it to activate. Happy believed Dumbledore had likely placed magic there to alert him of a visitor.

Woosh!

As expected, it began to turn and go up, spiraling upward through the small lobby before Dumbledore's room. Happy opened the door at the end of that lobby and entered, finding Dumbledore not in his chair but standing near the wall adorned with portraits of old headmasters.

"What happened, Professor?" he asked casually, yet still respectfully.

Dumbledore stroked his beard and groaned. "They had a verbal dispute that went out of hand. I'm trying to calm them down by relocating their portraits. What brings you here?"

'His life sure seems interesting.'

"Professor, I was wondering if you could introduce me to Newt Scamander," he directly requested.

"Him?" Dumbledore abruptly turned to him. "Why do you want to meet him?"

Happy took out his wand and remained truthful. "My wand is acting strangely with me, making me feel incomplete. It has a rare Zouwu's fang as a core, so I thought seeing the real creature myself might help me."

"May I inspect your wand?" Dumbledore raised his hand.

Happy shrugged and gave it. "Sure, Professor."

Soon, Dumbledore checked the wand carefully, tapping it and smelling it as if some sort of a culinary master. "Peculiar…The texture is unlike any wand. Crude, if I must say."

"Looks hideous! Exactly what you deserve, Lestrange boy." All of a sudden, a portrait on the wall spoke. "It's a punishment for going to Gryffindor."

In response, another portrait spoke. It belonged to a woman. "Headmaster Black, it does not befit a man of your standing to say such words."

"I care not, Professor Dilys. I'm no headmaster anymore, and can voice my opinions." Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black replied.

Happy scoffed. "Then what? Join the ranks of slaves of the Dark Lord? Accept it, respected Headmaster. Slytherin has fallen to their lowest after favoring Volde…tart."

Headmaster Phineas Nigellus Black was a man who, in his time, held disdain for muggle-borns and half-bloods, and even supported the term mudblood. But, still, he was among those who celebrated with other portraits when Lord Voldemort was finally defeated.

"Pot calling the kettle black?" Headmaster Black retorted. "It was your family that became his closest aid."

Happy almost snorted, holding his laughter. "Old man, must I remind you about Bellatrix? Hehe, what happened? Can't speak?"

"..."

"Haha!"

"He got you, Black."

"Quite a quick mouth."

"Sharp mind, I'd say."

The other headmasters laughed at Black and praised Happy openly, much to the dismay of Headmaster Black. Sadly, even he knew that while Happy was there to continue the Lestrange line, the Black bloodline was doomed.

"There is certainly something strange about your wand, Happy," Dumbledore finally spoke. He ignored the verbal beating Headmaster Black got from Happy as he enjoyed it as well. Black was one of his most verbal protestors.

"So, can I meet him?" Happy asked.

"You can." Dumbledore handed the wand back. "I'll write him a letter so he may pick you up the day after tomorrow. Furthermore, I have prepared something for you, Happy."

Dumbledore walked over to his desk and took out a black stone locket. "This is a portkey that I made. If you ever find yourself in trouble, say 'Lemonland Lime,' and you'll be brought to me. If you are stopped by a blocking mechanism, I'll be informed of your location. Take this as my…token of apology.

"That day after you defeated Riddle, you said it correctly. Hogwarts is supposed to be a school for children. It shouldn't have life-threatening dangers—but I cannot promise there won't be anything similar in the future, Happy. We live in troubled times, and as you know by now, Lord Voldemort is far from his end. So use this if you find yourself in a situation you cannot solve."

Happy took the locket. It was made in the shape of a phoenix. It was mostly unremarkable, but certainly magically powerful. 'When did this old man become so emotional? Did I misjudge him? Did he truly not foresee Voldemort's schemes?'

It sure was food for thought, something to ponder later.

"Thank you, Professor. By the way, I wanted to discuss my food distribution plan with you—if you agree, I'm ready to share some of the profits with the school…in secrecy. I'm sure the school can use some extra money for renovation."

"Hoh?" Dumbledore took his seat and listened to him carefully. "Please elaborate, Happy."

Happy adjusted his tie like a businessman and began his pitch.

"Twenty-One million Gold Galleons—estimated earnings."

Dumbledore nodded with a satisfied expression. "Such yearly income is indeed quite substantial."

A huge, almost unnatural smile flashed on Happy's face.

"Per day! Professor."

"WHAT?!"

________________________

Join the Monke family - Discord https://discord.gg/misterimmortal

Special thanks to *phong thanh nguyen* *andy cohen* *Martin Bosley*